As ballots were starting to be cast across the nation, former President Donald Trump worked a shift at McDonald’s, serving fries, working the drive-thru and making time for plenty of photo ops.
The PR stunt was a brazen attempt to appeal to Trump’s working class voter base, especially those who work minimum wage jobs at fast food restaurants like McDonald’s. Still, it was strategic, as the presidential race in Pennsylvania, where Trump worked his shift, is tightly contested.
But Trump didn’t pull off the minimum-wage charade. Rather, he appropriated the lives of the millions of Americans who work in fast food service without empathy for the struggle of living paycheck-to-paycheck. Trading a suit coat for an apron doesn’t make Trump a fry cook, just as serving customers for an hour doesn’t make him a humble working-class icon.
Beyond the surface-level motives behind the shift, like fighting for traction in a battleground state or propagandizing himself as a man of the people, working at McDonald’s also served as a direct shot at Vice President Kamala Harris.
According to USA Today, the move was a response to Harris’ publicizing her time working at McDonald’s in college. Trump has called Harris’ time at the fast food chain “phony,” a claim that has been debunked by multiple news outlets, including the Associated Press.
While perpetuating falsehoods isn’t new for Trump, going so far as to fly across the country to serve McNuggets is, and it signals a panic within his PR team, as the entire event seems like a desperate attempt to drum up support in a key state.
Light-heartedly dipping his toe in the churning riptide of lower-class American life shouldn’t increase Trump’s approval in Pennsylvania; it should sink it. Trump was pressed by reporters at the McDonald’s about his stance on raising the federal minimum wage – which was last upped over 15 years ago – but he deflected, saying that working for McDonald’s is a “process that’s beautiful.”
Additionally, it’s ironic that Trump is tying himself to the working class when he seems to work so vehemently against it. The Heritage Foundation, which Trump said would “lay the groundwork” for his future plans, stated in their Project 2025 Mandate for Leadership that labor protections should be slashed in order to boost corporate profits.
Working at McDonald’s also boosts Trump’s image in that it draws attention away from ever-increasingly concerning news from inside his campaign. The event, which took place just five days after Trump’s 30-minute dancing interlude at a town hall, filled front pages across the country and spread some not-so-negative press for Trump.
Trump’s inauthentic attempt to wear the costume of minimum-wage working without engaging with its inherent issues represents a greater issue with the former President – he has no understanding of the way of life of millions of Americans, and he has little interest in solving the problems of the lower class.
It’s what makes Trump such a frightening figure. And, if he were to win the election, it’s what will make America a dangerous place to live – and work.