US Politics
‘Let them eat liver’: RFK Jr. mocked as Marie Antoinette after suggesting Americans eat liver over beef to save on groceries
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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been mocked online, with some comparing him to the last Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, after suggesting Americans eat liver over beef to save on groceries.
Speaking at an event for MAHA Action, an advocacy group aimed at advancing the Make America Health Again movement, Kennedy said, “Most of the cheap cuts of meat are very inexpensive.”
“If you buy a Porterhouse steak or a strip steak, it is gonna set you back,” the health secretary said. “You can buy liver or the cheaper cuts of steak that are very, very affordable.”
A clip of Kennedy’s comments was shared on X Friday and was met with a series of mocking posts, suggesting the secretary was out of touch.
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Democratic Representatives Ted Lieu of California and Nikki Budzinski of Illinois shared photos of Kennedy’s face edited onto the body of Marie Antoinette, who became a symbol of selfish luxury as her people went hungry.
As the story goes, the French queen was told the public had no bread, so she said, “Let them eat cake.” While there is no evidence Marie Antoinette actually said those words, the quote stuck and is now being used to call out the Trump administration’s response to Americans’ cost-of-living concerns.
“Let them eat liver,” Lieu and Budzinski jokingly quoted Kennedy as saying.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer asked President Donald Trump in an X post, “Is liver on the menu tonight at the Mar-a-Lago dining room? Or is that just for the rest of America?”
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Representative Jimmy Gomez shared an ad from the president’s former “Trump Steaks” business venture with a photo of a platter of steaks and the tagline “The World’s Greatest Steaks.” Next to that photo was an edited image of the same ad but with the words “Trump Liver,” a platter of the iron-rich organ meat and the tagline “The World’s Cheapest Liver.”
“What Trump promised vs what we got,” the California Democrat said.
Comedian Jay Black wrote: “For the masses: liver and cheap cuts. For the rich: steak and zero consequences. For RFK Jr.: bear carcass and toilet seat cocaine. It’s not a fair world.”
Black was referring to Kennedy’s admissions that he once dumped a dead bear in New York City’s Central Park and used to snort cocaine off toilet seats.
X user Jamie Bonkiewicz wrote, “We could afford beef when [former President Joe] Biden was president. Now RFK Jr. says, ‘Just eat liver, peasants’ Are we great yet?”
The Independent has reached out to the Health and Human Services Department for comment.
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Uncooked ground beef was up 17.2 percent and uncooked beef steaks were up 12.9 percent last month compared to the same time the year before, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index.
These beef prices make it harder for Americans to follow the Department of Agriculture’s new dietary guidelines, which suggest Americans eat more protein and less whole grains.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins was also mocked online last month for suggesting an affordable, but dull meal of “a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, corn tortilla and one other thing” during a NewsNation interview.
Rollins’ suggestion was called a “depression meal” and compared to prison food.
“Private jets and tax breaks for them and their rich friends, and one piece of broccoli *AND* a tortilla for you!” Chasten Glezman Buttigieg, the husband of former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, wrote on X.
