Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump campaigned in a branch of the McDonald’s fast food restaurant – the action is a swipe at his Democratic rival Kamala Harris. “I’ve wanted to do this all my life. And now I’m doing it,” said the 78-year-old before his short visit to a branch in Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania. After arriving, Trump took off his jacket and put on an apron. He then went into the kitchen and was shown the deep fryer, fried potato strips and finally filled a cardboard bowl with French fries.
He then stood at the window of the restaurant’s drive-through area, handed out an order and had his photo taken. “I will never forget this experience,” said Trump after the campaign appearance, with which he primarily wanted to appeal to working-class voters in the important swing state. The job requires specialist knowledge, he emphasized.
Harris said during the campaign that she worked at the fast food chain over the summer while studying. The Democrat’s campaign team says Harris was employed in Alameda, California, in the summer of 1983. Trump has been constantly claiming for weeks that Harris made it up – he has no evidence for this. The New York Times writes that McDonald’s ignored media inquiries about the issue. The newspaper said it spoke to a childhood friend of Harris’s who remembered that the current US vice president worked at the chain.
Donald Trump keeps fueling conspiracy myths
Part of Trump’s political strategy is to spread conspiracy theories and sow doubt among the population. To this day, the Republican lies about the 2020 presidential election and claims that voter fraud robbed him of victory. Trump was also one of the most prominent representatives of the racist conspiracy theory that former President Barack Obama was born in Kenya and therefore should not have become US President. Obama, the first black president of the United States, was born in the US state of Hawaii.
Trump’s visit to the fast food restaurant was a huge media spectacle. The Republican tells the journalists present that he has now worked 15 minutes longer at McDonald’s than Harris. When asked about the Democrat’s 60th birthday, Trump said: “Happy birthday Kamala. (…) I think I’ll give her a few flowers, maybe a few fries.”
Harris, for her part, performed at two Atlanta-area churches on Sunday and was sung a birthday serenade by soul singer Stevie Wonder. Instead of talking about her birthday, the Democrat once again made Trump’s age a campaign issue over the weekend. The 78-year-old is avoiding debates and canceling interviews “out of exhaustion,” explained Harris. Trump has become the oldest presidential candidate in US history since President Joe Biden withdrew from the election campaign.
The billionaire presents himself in the election campaign as a representative of the common people. He was born in New York City, the son of a real estate mogul, and went into business after college. In the presidential election on November 5th, it comes down to a neck-and-neck race between him and Harris.
