Just two weeks before what is shaping up to be one of the closest US Presidential elections in history, Republican candidate Donald Trump has done something nobody would have ever imagined him doing: an actual job at McDonald’s… or did he?
In a truly bizarre campaign stunt, the billionaire and convicted felon has stripped off his signature blue suit and donned the uniform of the world’s other most powerful Donald — Ronald Mc.
That’s right folks, Trump clocked on for a shift at McDonald’s. Meaning his skillset is now finally on par with your average 14-year-old Australian.
No, this isn’t a joke, peep the footage of Donald Trump working the fries and drive through of a McDonald’s in the swing state of Pennsylvania.
@pedestriantv lol please, that man wouldnt last 10 mins at the fry station on $8 an hour #maccas #mcdonalds #trump ♬ original sound – PEDESTRIAN.TV
Customers of the store who might have been expecting a cheap and sleazy Big Mac were surprised when the person serving them was none other than the former president, who paid for every meal he served.
Now, politicians have been known to do some pretty weird things in the lead-up to an election — with Donald Trump being the king of weird — but this McStunt is truly odd.
So what’s the backstory here, and how are people reacting to Trump’s shift under the golden arches?
How are people reacting to Trump’s McDonald’s stunt?
Naturally, the image of a billionaire and former president doing a campaign stunt at a fast food venue has gained the attention of the entire globe.
And while many of Trump’s supporters are applauding him for the “meaningful gesture” that shows he cares about the people earning a minimum wage…
Jokes aside, this is one of the most meaningful gestures I’ve ever seen from a political leader. Donald Trump is showing Americans through his actions—not just telling them with words—that every worker is important, that every job matters, and that there’s dignity in all labor,… pic.twitter.com/K06QwK7Jfu
— Robert Sterling (@RobertMSterling) October 20, 2024
There are a tonne more people who are frying Trump harder than a batch of McNuggets, making all sorts of memes about the former president’s new job.
Trump, in his element, at McDonald’s. pic.twitter.com/orGjai1dWI
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) October 20, 2024
trump getting ready to work the fryer at mcdonalds pic.twitter.com/iPXriSYcK7
— wyatt.today (@wyatttoday) October 20, 2024
Me bullying Trump during our McDonalds shift pic.twitter.com/5Yvl7FtPOr
— High Yield Harry (@HighyieldHarry) October 21, 2024
Some punters were quick to point out that although he is having no difficulty running for US President again, his criminal convictions would actually make it harder for him to get a job at the fast food chain.
The irony is that Trump’s 34 felony convictions would prevent him from getting a job at McDonald’s. pic.twitter.com/k4ZAtx2kGM
— Jon Cooper 🇺🇸 (@joncoopertweets) October 20, 2024
What’s so ironic about this entire saga, however, is that Trump actually didn’t even work at a McDonald’s for the stunt.
Despite saying he’s “worked 15 more minutes than Kamala Harris” it was revealed online that the store the former president appeared at was closed for the day of the appearance.
Trump did not work. The place was closed. It was a stunt but not reported as such. https://t.co/elZ3ZzoOlP pic.twitter.com/bcWoCa6n1M
— melissa “cancelled student debt” byrne (@mcbyrne) October 20, 2024
Which, once the news was revealed, made people realise that the entire stunt had now backfired, as the real “phoney” was the person lying about working in a store for a day.
I was going to vote for Kamala Harris because Trump is an existential threat to the nation, but then he closed down a McDonalds and pretended to make French fries…and now I'm not sure.
— Smite ⚡️ (@7Smite4) October 20, 2024
You mean to tell me this was all staged, and that these "customers" rehearsed in advance to make it seem like a genuine interaction and that the McDonald's was actually closed to the public! I am shocked! I am appalled! Iam shocked and appalled! 😏#Mcdonalds #Trump… pic.twitter.com/uypxq3FBQy
— Shayla Sweatt (@shay_sweatt) October 20, 2024
Why did Donald Trump work at a McDonald’s?
As with all things this close to the US election, Trump’s surprising shift at Maccy D’s is all a ploy to make voters doubt in his political opponent, Kamala Harris.
As Chas Licciardello from the ABC’s Planet America explained, this political stunt follows Trump’s long-running line of attack on Harris that she is “a phoney”.
“Trump has been running a line against Kamala Harris from basically as soon as she took over that she is inauthentic and fake,” Licciardello told PEDESTRIAN.TV.
In her campaign to win the White House, Kamala “is brat” Harris has tried to show how she came from a more relatable upbringing than her “small loan of a million dollars” rival. One of the ways she has illustrated this in the past is by stating she worked at a McDonald’s in her teens.
“Trump is trying to make the case that she’s just making that story up to seem like a regular person, as part of his attack on her as being a phoney,” Licciardello explained.
“The problem for Trump is that he has no evidence at all that she made this up, so he’s just asserting it over and over again.”
However, mere assertion from a convicted fraud doesn’t get the attention of the world — but what does is big, attention-grabbing stunts with a billion cameras per square inch.
Which is why every media outlet in the world (including us, teehee) is now posting photos like the ones above, much to the delight of the Trump Republican campaign.
“He can say approximately 10,000 times during this stunt that Harris never worked at McDonald’s,” said Licciarello.
im crying Donald Trump is so unserious, someone recorded him working at McDonalds and he said “I’ve now worked 15 more minutes than Kamala” 😭 pic.twitter.com/3JzGNSQp04
— ryan 🤿 (@scubaryan_) October 20, 2024
“And if he says it enough while he’s handling fries and wearing awkward aprons and looking kind of goofy, he’s hoping people will cover it, and that then the media will ask Kamala Harris to prove that she used to work at McDonald’s to prove him wrong.”
Surprise surprise, that’s exactly what he’s doing all over his Twitter and TikTok.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 20, 2024
Along with attacking Harris, Trump’s other motivation is with 14 days left of the 2024 campaign, every day that he dominates the news cycle is a success.
And while it may seem just like a hair-brained scheme from the Big Don to put his voters off Harris, the ploy could be more effective at winning voters than you’d think. Particularly when it comes to winning favour from (terminally) online conservative voters.
“They are really into trolling in a big way, and they also are really into this McDonald’s story. There have been a lot of memes and a lot of AI images involving Kamala Harris in McDonald’s,” Licciardello explained.
“I feel like this is Trump trying to appeal to the online base, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Elon Musk might have been involved somewhere along the way, too.
“Those two very much focus on Twitter and Twitter’s views.”
At the end of the day, if I want to see an out of touch politician cosplay as an everyday (poor) person, I prefer when the master Scott Morrison does it.
Anyway, just put the fries in the bag please Trump.
Lead Image: AP Images
The post Donald Trump’s McDonald’s Stunt Cops A McRibbing For Being Entirely Fake: ‘The Place Was Closed’ appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
