Former President Donald Trump’s latest campaign photo-op — where he staged working the drive-thru at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s for a few minutes, presumably to troll Vice President Kamala Harris over her claims that she briefly worked for the fast-food franchise as a young person — belongs in the annals of absurd campaign “just regular folks” stunts.
The former president, before cosplaying as a successful businessman, was the quintessential elitist.
From Michael Dukakis poking his head out of the top of an Abrams tank to Hillary Clinton’s infamous “just chillin’ in Cedar Rapids” Snapchat clip — the people who seek political power often make themselves look very silly as they attempt to present relatability while they plead for our votes. MAGA diehards insist that the image of the 45th president donning a McDonald’s apron triggered spasms of “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” but, for the most part, commentators who aren't Trump supporters and sympathizers reacted with bemused mockery. And well-deserved.
There is, however, something actually revealing about Trump’s “How do you do, fellow working-class people?” cosplay.
The former president, before cosplaying as a successful businessman, was the quintessential elitist. After turning a fortune of his father’s money into six bankrupt businesses, Trump regularly patched holes in his leaky finances on the backs of working-class contractors and various low-level employees. And he’s long bragged about avoiding paying income taxes or changing his own children’s diapers as signs of his superior intelligence compared to regular people, for whom civic and personal responsibilities are facts of life.
So what are MAGA diehards and faux-centrist Trump apologists talking about when they praise his drive-thru stint as “amazing and hilarious,” and evidence that he’s “connecting with the average American” and he “respects their tastes”?
Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance — speaking on Fox News over “Breaking News” chyrons reading, “Dems Seethe Over Trump’s McDonald’s Appearance” and “Trump’s McDonald’s Shift Sends Media Into Tizzy” — praised the former president for “showing genuine interest in the employees and their lives and where they came from.” He added, “That’s something you can’t stage and you can’t fake,” and it’s why “working people … have this emotional connection to Donald Trump.”
There’s no question Trump’s “anti-establishment” messaging has struck a chord with huge swaths of this country, including noncollege-educated white males whose votes could end up being a determining factor this election. But the image of the average fast-food worker as a teen or young adult making some side money or killing time until they graduate into middle class salaries is not belied by the data.
According to Data USA, the average age of fast-food workers is 25.4 years old and makes about $14,328 (the national average salary is $64,683).
There is something actually revealing about Trump’s ‘How do you do, fellow working-class people?’ cosplay.
People at that age (and since it’s an average, many are quite older) who are working hard jobs for low wages, in businesses where career growth moves very slowly, would benefit from greater labor protections, the kind which are generally won by labor unions. It’s unlikely a massive corporation like McDonald’s or a bottom-line worshiping CEO like Trump is going to hand them health benefits or better working conditions or cost-of-living increases because they respect the plight of the working class.
At his Pennsylvania photo-op, Trump dodged a question about whether he supports raising the minimum wage — something that would directly affect the very same McDonald’s employees whose work he pantomimed for the cameras. He’s also an avowed union buster and, according to the pro-labor think tank Economic Policy Institute, his administration “rolled back worker protections, proposed budgets that slash funding for agencies that safeguard workers’ rights, wages, and safety, and consistently attacked workers’ ability to organize and collectively bargain” and “systematically promoted the interests of corporate executives and shareholders over those of working people.”
While Harris has been rightly criticized for the vagueness of her policy proposals to help boost the American worker’s station, Trump’s pitch to the working class includes tax cuts for corporations and the ultra-rich, inflation-ballooning tariffs and cutting regulations across the board (because if there’s one thing working people don’t need, it’s drinkable tap water).
I’m not sure how or if Harris’ proposed economic policies will help the working class, but I’m convinced Trump’s won’t. An analysis conducted by Trump’s alma mater, the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, found that working class Americans would see about $1,750 more a year under a Harris presidency than a second Trump administration — that’s a significant number for most people, but particularly for a fast-food worker making 14 grand a year.
Trump’s McDonald’s stunt was likely just as motivated to spite Harris as it was just another typical attempt by an electioneering politician to prove “I’m one of you.” But what it wasn’t was a meaningful display of empathy for low-wage workers who live in a country with no guaranteed health care, where you can lose everything if a family member gets sick or a breadwinner breaks a leg, and is unable to earn a living.
Much like the reality TV-created myth that Trump possesses any particular talent in business, his friend-of-the-working man posture is transparently phony.