Newsmax’s Jeremy Frankel cheered a then-upcoming stunt by Donald Trump in a Oct. 15 article:
Former President Donald Trump plans to work behind the counter and “work the fry cooker” at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania this weekend.
Trump’s trolling of Vice President Kamala Harris is due to her having repeatedly claimed to have worked at McDonald’s in the past but has not shown any evidence of having done so.
“Kamala never had a job at McDonald’s. Her resume talks about McDonald’s, McDonald’s, McDonald’s,” Trump said at a New York press conference last month.
Eric Mack dutifully served as Trump’s press agent in an Oct. 20 article, parroting the campaign’s narrative:
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump planned to troll Vice President Kamala Harris for allegedly continuing to lie about having worked for McDonald’s, rolling up his sleeves as a McDonald’s fry cook in a campaign appearance Sunday.
And the Trump campaign is trolling Harris for having made baseless claims devoid of evidence.
Citing the past silence of Harris on ever having claimed to work for McDonald’s until she ran for president and painted the picture of her being from “middle class” roots, The Washington Free Beacon dug into Harris’ past to find evidence she has ever worked as a McDonald’s french fry cook as she has claimed.
“It is possible that Harris did indeed work at McDonald’s in the early 1980s,” according to the Free Beacon analysis of the McDonald’s mystery. “But the absence of that detail in public records and her campaign’s coyness and refusal to provide any further details raise questions about what is now a foundational narrative.”
But neither Mack nor the right-wing Free Beacon offered no proof that Harris never worked there — after all, few people keep memorabilia or other evidence of minimum-wage high school jobs, and it’s increasingly unlikely as the years go on that such evidence survives decades of moves and other upheavals. But Mack is such a Trump toady that will credulously repeat the most ridiculous claims he makes, like this:
At recent campaign rallies this week, Trump noted he has a well-placed friend at McDonald’s that has looked into Harris’ employment records at the company and has been unable to find any evidence. Trump said he has had to do the investigative research the media should have been doing to vet Harris’ claims.
Mack offered no proof of this, either.
As for the stunt itself, Newsmax unsurprisingly offered fawning coverage and fealty from Trump-toady talking heads:
- Crowds Support Trump as He Works McDonald’s in Pa.
- Matt Schlapp to Newsmax: Trump McDonald’s Visit Shows Harris Not Ready
- Danielle Alvarez to Newsmax: Trump ‘Leader for Working Americans’
Of course, Newsmax columnists joined the fawning over Trump’s trolling stunt. James Hirsen gushed in an Oct. 22 column (later re-dated to Oct. 28 for unexplained reasons):
It was an amazing sight to see.
Former president and current GOP presidential candidate Donald J. Trump dressed up in a white shirt, red tie, and black and yellow apron.
Very recently, he was hard at work at a McDonald’s franchise cooking up some French fries. A super-sized crowd was gathered nearby the fast food establishment, and they were “Lovin’ It!”
Footage of the former president serving up fries at McDonald’s almost broke the internet.
It was another unprecedented event for the surging Trump campaign.
[…]Personally, I have to believe that most of the country as well as onlookers globally were equally impressed with the blue-collar billionaire, as well as the respect, admiration, and humbleness he displayed toward his “employer,” co-workers, and customers.
I don’t know if he meant to, but in those beautiful moments at a Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania McDonald’s franchise, Trump single-handedly re-ignited one of our most important values — the American work ethic.
[…]When the value of work is celebrated by our leaders, our people are inspired to become more productive, which paves the way to a more prosperous nation. And that’s good for everyone.
Here’s to those who pitch in every way they can, those who step in when others can’t, and those who never fail to keep the French fries coming.
Trump only took part in his stunt for 15 minutes, meaning there was barely any “work ethic” on Trump’s part.
Josh Hammer did much the same in his Oct. 28 column:
But if Trump’s campaign was already on the up and up, his brilliant, pitch-perfect stop to serve hamburgers and french fries last Sunday at a Bucks County, Pennsylvania, McDonald’s might have sealed the deal. The 45th president of the United States ditched his signature suit for a chef’s apron, manning the fryer and dishing out Happy Meals to drive-thru customers.
Trump, a longtime McDonald’s aficionado, was affable and came across as genuinely thrilled to be interacting with the fast-food franchise’s employees and customers.
The main photo of the visit that went viral, which saw Trump smiling as he waved goodbye to a drive-thru customer, has emerged as this presidential cycle’s second-most iconic image — following only Trump’s mesmerizing raised fist and bloodied face in the aftermath of his brush with death on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Once again, Trump has proven he is the people’s billionaire — someone who, as I wrote for TomKlingenstein.com earlier this year, “may hold ‘elite’ ruling class credentials, but whose hearts, minds, concerns, and general sensibilities are decidedly with the country class.”
Hammer closed with more gushing: “Donald Trump, in short, has always been a class traitor. And following his large helping of french fries and Happy Meals in Pennsylvania, that class-traitor status may well win him a second term in the White House come Nov. 5.”