Two Scoops

Overview

Two Scoops refers to a TIME magazine article reporting on President Donald Trump's special dinner in which his chef brought one scoop of ice cream for each his guests but two scoops for the President. "Two scoops" quickly became a joke online as people mocked the president's two scoops as indicative of his apparent domineering personality, as well as the news media's coverage of his dessert.

Background

On May 11th, 2017, TIME magazine published an article entitled "Donald Trump After Hours,"^[1] an exclusive, behind the scenes account of President Trump's life living in the White House. One paragraph in the article, which described the president's particular dining habits, specifically his wait staff brining him two scoops of ice cream with pie, while his guests got one, receieved immediate attention. Reporters Michael Scherer AND Zeke J. Miller write:

The waiters know well Trump’s personal preferences. As he settles down, they bring him a Diet Coke, while the rest of us are served water, with the Vice President sitting at one end of the table. With the salad course, Trump is served what appears to be Thousand Island dressing instead of the creamy vinaigrette for his guests. When the chicken arrives, he is the only one given an extra dish of sauce. At the dessert course, he gets two scoops of vanilla ice cream with his chocolate cream pie, instead of the single scoop for everyone else. The tastes of Pence are also tended to. Instead of the pie, he gets a fruit plate.

Developments

Online Reaction

Shortly after posting the article, people online began mocking the President's dessert choices, referring to it as an example of his lavish lifestyle and personality.

Others online made ironic jokes about the outrage to the article. On the /r/The_Donald subreddit, one redditor, Jalapenopepe, posted a picture of a screaming Stephen Colbert holding a gun (shown below) under the thread title "TWO SCOOPS?!?!?!? TWO SCOOPS?!?!?!? RREEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!", which received more than 700 points (95% upvoted) within 24 hours.^[2]

Additionally, others made similar jokes while criticizing CNN's coverage of the "Two Scoops" controversy. Tweets lambasting the news network began appearing around 3pm that day, as CNN's chyron read "PRESIDENT GETS 2 SCOOPS OF ICE CREAM, EVERYONE ELSE 1."

One report from CNN became the subject of ridicule on YouTube. The video "Two Scoops for Trump (shown below), published on May 11th, received more than 114,000 views, but an upvote-to-downvote ratio of 365 to 5,920, as of May 15th. In the coming days, several other news sites reported on the "Two Scoops" controversy, including Buzzfeed,^[3] New York magazine,^[4] Uproxx^[5] and more.

Saturday Night Live Sketch

Saturday Night Live made references to the controversy on the May 13th episode. In the sketch (shown below), a parody of Donald Trump's May 2017 interview with NBC's Lester Holt,^[6] Trump rings a bell, and Paul Ryan delivers "two scoops" of ice cream to him.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References