Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. celebrated his birthday over the weekend by posing for a photo cutting into a steak with three lit candles — a post that left online critics confused over its “deeply weird” messaging.
“No cake, just steak,” reads a social media post from HHS wishing RFK Jr. a “happy birthday,” a post shared by RFK Jr. himself.
The post’s messaging aligns closely with the Trump administration’s efforts to end the purported “war on protein,” one that Wired contributor Sam Eagan bluntly argued “doesn’t exist,” but “goes hand in hand with the Trump administration’s appeal to traditional masculinity.”
The odd post drew immediate scrutiny from online critics, with some making humorous comparisons between RFK Jr.’s birthday cake substitution and what pet owners might feed a dog.
“This is the meal you feed your dog before you have to put them down,” wrote Epic Games principal engineer Evan Kinney in a social media post on X to their more than 18,000 followers.
“They gave him a steak with candles like he’s a dog about to die,” wrote another, Sean O’Connor, a writer and comedian with more than 41,000 followers on X.
And Neil Stone, a doctor specializing in infectious diseases with more than 127,000 followers on X, simply expressed confusion at the HHS secretary’s birthday meal.
“Every single thing about RFK Jr is deeply, deeply weird,” Stone wrote in a social media post on X.
The HHS unveiled its new dietary guidelines last week that put greater emphasis on the consumption of saturated fats and protein, the latter of which had actually been received positively by health organizations. However, as Eagan noted in his analysis published in Wired on Friday, no such “war on protein” exists, with “consumption levels in the United States reaching record highs, even as protein deficiency is nearly nonexistent.”
this is the meal you feed your dog before you have to put them down https://t.co/E7wgNcJDo1 — Evanosaurus “Unrawrl Engine 5.7” Rex (@evankinney) January 18, 2026
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