Donald Trump works at McDonald's drive-through counter in latest campaign event

The United States presidential election is almost exactly two weeks away on November 5, 2024 (U.S. time).

So of course, the big fight over the weekend was over McDonald’s.

Campaigning in the Golden Arches

On Oct. 20, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump visited the vital swing state of Pennsylvania, and took part in a campaign event held at a local McDonald’s franchise.

Arriving in his customary blue suit and red tie, the former U.S. traded his suit jacket for a McDonald’s apron.

He proceeded to fry a batch of French Fries, under close supervision, then packed them in the customary red cardboard sleeves before handing them out a drive-through window to pre-screened supporters.

According to several news outlets, including NBC News, Trump seemed quite amused by the whole process, apparently marvelling at the fry scoop.

The whole process took about 15 minutes.

The Washington Post noted that Trump had previously described himself as a germaphobe, quoting him as saying, “Never touched by a human hand, nice and clean!”

Proof of work

Trump took the opportunity to make a few swipes at his opponent, the Democratic Party’s Kamala Harris.

Harris has said on numerous occasions that she worked at a McDonald’s to help pay her way through law school in Alameda, California for a single summer, in 1983, over 41 years ago.

Harris is using her work experience to show that she is in touch with the needs of working Americans, contrasting herself to Donald Trump, who is from wealth and did not have a summer job.

However, those opposed to Harris have cast doubt on whether she worked at McDonalds at all, with The Telegraph reporting that Harris has not provided documentation for a job she had briefly worked at before the rise of computers.

Donald Trump’s appearance at McDonald’s and serving fries was likely in an attempt to mock Harris about this job.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that Harris is lying about having worked at McDonald’s and said during the event that he had worked at McDonald’s for 15 more minutes longer than Harris.

Staging a drive through

Fox News took issue with other mainstream media outlets, covering the event, pushing back against the claim that the event had been staged.

Trump had served customers through the drive-through, with news footage showing customers expressing surprise to be served by the former president.

All of the customers shown, in a very closely contested swing state, were Trump supporters.

The customers had all been pre-screened by the Secret Service, with social media posts showing that they had taken part in a dress rehearsal before Trump arrived.

Fox News said that that was an entirely understandable precaution, considering that Trump had nearly been assassinated once with at least one additional known attempt on his life, having been made in recent months.

The participants apparently did not order, but took whatever Trump handed to them, although he did offer to pay.

Barbs and brickbats

The New York Times’ coverage of the event revolved around the acrimony of the people gathered outside.

Several hundred Trump supporters, and about 50 Harris supporters, had gathered outside the McDonald’s location in order to either support or protest Trump, with the NYT noting the numerous verbal, and sometimes physical, confrontations between supporters and detractors of Trump.

McDonald's has issued an internal memo saying that the corporation was politically neutral saying that it was not "red or blue", the colours of the respective political parties, but was instead "golden".

The event was approved by a local franchise owner in Pennsylvania, and McDonald's said that Harris's campaign was invited to visit a McDonald's location as well, saying that the restaurant was "open to everyone".

This is an internal statement to the McDonald’s system from the US Senior Leadership Team regarding today’s visit by the Trump campaign to a local franchisee in Pennsylvania. The statement outlines the origins of the event, the company’s response, and an invitation extended to… pic.twitter.com/1GntbmDbbY

— McFranchisee (@McFranchisee) October 20, 2024

Too close to call

Pennsylvania is an important swing state in the upcoming election.

Due to the electoral college system used by the United States, the upcoming election will likely turn on the result of about six or seven states out of a total of 50.

Because of this, both Trump and Harris are largely ignoring the other 43 states, and spending their campaign time and money in these swing states, with the results in the others considered forgone conclusions.

The Washington Post's election coverage shows that Harris is leading in the polls nationally, as well as in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Trump leads in Arizona and Georgia, with Nevada and North Carolina remaining too close to call.

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Top image via Donald Trump/Facebook