Former President Donald Trump’s brief stint as a fry cook at the Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania, on Sunday was a stroke of genius. For liberals, the photos and videos of the affable Trump, easily mixing it up with his new “co-workers” and the fast-food chain’s customers, had the effect of waving a red flag in front of a bull. The freak out among the left made it clear: it was an effective – and memorable – way to troll Vice President Kamala over her dubious claim that she worked at a McDonald’s restaurant in the 1980’s. The event achieved its purpose – and then some.
At first, the reaction was predictable. Liberals scoffed that the event was staged. Keith Olbermann reminded users on X that “the whole Trump McDonald’s thing yesterday was fake. Just like him.”
Of course it was staged. All campaign activities are staged, and that’s particularly true of Harris’s events.
Trump running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, defended his boss during a Monday morning interview on Fox News. He said, “The fact that these people are accusing him of a ‘stage-managed’ thing … of course, the president has to have security because there have been two attempts on his life in the last eight weeks. He can’t just walk into a McDonald’s and sign a W-9 and actually go on the payroll. That’s just not how this works, especially given the security threats on his life.”
The Rolling Stone called the stunt “bizarre.”
In the clip below, faceless MSNBC commentators question the “logic” behind it the event.
For its part, the New York Times performed a fact-check on the claim and concluded that Harris did once work at a Bay-area McDonald’s. Their proof? “Her campaign and a friend say she did.”
How’s that for a rigorous fact-check?
Perhaps the most unexpected response from the left was their targeting of the restaurant itself for having participated in the event.
One conservative commentator who goes by the handle @RBPundit on X reported: “A White House staffer who runs @harris_wins and now Newsweek are trying to destroy a McDonald’s franchise because Trump had a wildly successful campaign event there.
“This is who the left is. These people need to lose and lose hard,” he added.
Newsweek reported that the particular restaurant that Trump “worked at” failed its last health inspection.
According to the article, “Trump, a big fan of McDonald’s food and a self-professed germophobe, wore an apron over his shirt and tie but did not wear gloves or a hairnet during his visit, stating that his hands were ‘nice and clean.’ According to the Meidas Touch, he went straight to work without washing his hands.
“Employees not washing their hands was one of the reasons that restaurant failed its most recent inspection.”
Below, the Harris campaign repeats Newsweek’s message.
Cenk Uygur, the co-creator of the left-wing program The Young Turks, called out his fellow liberals for criticizing the photo-op. In a post on X, Uygur wrote: “Some in the press called Trump’s McDonald’s photo-op bizarre. This is how you lose credibility. That was a home run photo-op. He looked like a real person there, connecting with the average American. If you can’t see that, you’re totally blind.”
Uygur was right. This was a brilliant move by the Trump campaign. Not only did it draw attention to what is likely a Harris lie (if it’s true, why hasn’t she offered some proof?), it was humorous, and it showed how easily Trump can relate to Americans of all stripes. The event may have been staged, but his easy ability to connect with people is real and will be remembered.
Vance summed it up best in his appearance on Fox: “But look, he was interacting with people. He was talking to the employees. He was giving people food, and he was just [doing] I think what he does best, which is just being among the people, talking to them about what they care about. He showed genuine interest in the employees and their lives and where they came from and what they were actually doing in their job, and that’s something you can’t stage, and you can’t fake.”
He continued, “That is just a genuine person that Donald Trump is, and it’s why I think a lot of working people, even though, of course, he’s a successful real estate billionaire, have this emotional connection to Donald Trump, you can’t make up that kind of connection.”
Elizabeth writes commentary for The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a member of the Editorial Board at The Sixteenth Council, a London think tank. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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