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Former president Donald Trump spent his Sunday afternoon sporting an apron standing in the drive-thru window of a McDonald’s in Featersville-Trevose, Pennsylvania. From the window, the candidate handed out some fries and fielded some questions in what made for a masterful PR stunt. Oh and it was also Vice President Kamala Harris’s birthday.
“Happy birthday Kamala! She’s turning sixty. I think I’ll get her some flowers. Maybe I’ll get her some fries… I’ll get her a McDonald’s hamburger. Happy birthday Kamala,” the former president riffed from inside the fast-food restaurant.
While the odd — yet politically effective — practice of visiting fast-food establishments has become more commonplace, Sunday’s proved particularly well executed. This was not only because having the billionaire-candidate sprinkle salt on some fries is one hell of an attention-grabber, but also because it comes at a time when the Trump campaign is seeking to portray Harris as dishonest and inauthentic.
In an interview with MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle last month, in an attempt to appear sympathetic to the concerns of the working class, Harris talked about her time flipping burgers at McDonald’s. “Part of the reason I even talk about having worked at McDonald’s is because there are people who work at McDonald’s in our country who are trying to raise a family,” Harris told Ruhle. “I worked there as a student.”
“I think part of the difference between me and my opponent includes our perspective on the needs of the American people and what our responsibility, then, is to meet those needs.”
Alright, that’s good messaging, but in a 1987 résumé uncovered by Trump’s allies, the Democratic candidate makes no mention of her purported professional experience at Mickey D’s. Furthermore, Trump’s campaign has noted the overall lack of proof that she ever worked for the chain — a punch-back at her purported working-class bona fides.
The Harris campaign has responded by calling Trump’s attack a baseless allegation, but they are yet to offer evidence of her employment at the restaurant. “When Trump feels desperate, all he knows how to do is lie,” Harris campaign spokesman Ian Sams said Sunday. “He can’t understand what it’s like to have a summer job because he was handed millions on a silver platter, only to blow it.”
With the presidential election just over two weeks away, the candidates are dedicating most of their time to touring the swing states. Today that meant a very Pennsylvanian day for the Republican; Trump went on to attend the Pittsburgh Steelers’ game versus the New York Jets tonight. Meanwhile, Harris spent her Sunday visiting two churches in Georgia.
There is something innately amusing about Trump visiting a very different kind of American temple in a time when the RFK Jr.-backing “Make America Healthy Again” folks throw their hats in the ring for the Republican.
Unlike Harris, there is no scarcity of evidence of Trump’s love for the franchise. During the 2019 government shutdown, with the absence of the White House’s chefs, he ordered over 300 burgers from the restaurant and other fast-food chains to honor the Clemson Tigers for winning the College Football Championship. His son, Donald Trump Jr., once joked, “I think my father knows the McDonald’s menu much better than Kamala Harris ever did.”
