FOLLOW US

As part of his presidential campaign as the Republican nominee, former president Donald Trump visited a McDonald’s drive-thru on Sunday. Trump took off his suit jacket, donned an Apron then the fry station at the restaurant outlet in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Trump has a well-documented love for the McDonalds franchise. In his 2022 memoir Breaking History, Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law, mentioned that when Trump got COVID-19 in 2020, one sign that he was recovering was his craving for McDonald’s.

Trump Accuses Harris of Lying

For the businessman-turned-politician, this Pennsylvania visit is instrumental to his campaign in two main ways. First, the state is known as a crucial election battleground. Securing Pennsylvanian votes could be the key to a total victory at the Nov 5 election. As such, both he and Harris have been making frequent stops in the area.

Speaking of Harris, secondly, Trump has used his McDonald’s experience to throw jabs at his Democrat opponent. Vice President Kamala Harris and her campaign team have stated that she worked at a McDonald's in California during a college summer in 1983. This is part of her team’s efforts to strengthen her connection with working-class voters. 

However, Trump has repeatedly challenged this claim, calling her a liar, though he provides little evidence to back up his accusations. His allies have pointed out that her résumé doesn’t mention McDonald’s, and Trump used his time working at the drive-thru as an opportunity to bring it up again.

“Now I have worked at McDonald’s,” he said. “I’ve now worked for 15 minutes more than Kamala. She never worked here.”

Varying Responses

People have responded in various ways. There have been comments on the internet about Trump dodging the minimum wage question. Joseph Costello on X described Trump as a puppet for billionaires when it comes to policies that affect regular working people.

On the other side of things, Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, shared a video of Trump working the fry station on X, with the caption,

“This is awesome.”

For Trump, his affiliation with McDonald's seems to be a point of very pointed pride. As an employee showed him how to operate the fryer, salt the fries, and box them, Trump brought up Harris again, saying,

"I've really wanted to do this all my life. And now I'm going to do it because she didn't do it."