I’m Sorry, Sir, This Is a McDonald’s
Well, yes, Donald Trump did what he does what he is good at: have fun. Several days ago in PA, Trump strapped himself into an ill-fitting apron and manned the fry cooker at a McDonald’s outside of Philadelphia. “Never touches the human hand,” said the known germophobic, filling the order and remarking approvingly. Donald Trump, notes Jeffrey Blehar, was clearly having an enormous amount of fun. Patrons were also.
What! You Find This Amusing?
If the tenor of the coverage from the media and Democratic commentators online is anything to go by, what Donald Trump just did with this quotidian and upbeat campaign stunt was the worst affront to the sanctity of American politics since January 6.
As Mr. Blehar was writing this article for NRO, he noted that MSNBC was then 18 hours deep into a recurring series of mini-tantrums about it, “the most telling of which came in the afternoon as they broke free from other news to both run footage of Trump learning the ropes of the fry machine and to wail in agony about it.”
Meanwhile the online commentary from the media world’s elites was best captured by Bill Kristol muttering that “McDonalds hires convicted criminals” and the reliably odious David Frum averring that every politician has worked the fry cooker, pretty much, and then attempting to prove it by posting picture after picture of famous people performing unrelated acts with food.
The Overreaction Is Deafening
Despite the New York Times huffily focusing on how Trump was “smearing Harris” by making “unsubstantiated claims” that Harris never actually worked at a McDonalds, nobody really cares why Trump did it.
It just gave (Trump) an opportunity to mingle with the masses and show off his retail political skills to the national media.
The Joy Is Gone
Is there anyone out there who believes or cares if Kamala Harris is telling the truth about having worked at McDonald’s?
It’s understood by all that this was a lie she told back in 2019 without expecting it to haunt her — so you really don’t want to pursue that angle too far. (The New York Times itself pointedly refuses to investigate: it hilariously argues that Harris’s employment there was “confirmed by the campaign and a friend” — in other words, it hasn’t been confirmed at all.)
No More Happy Meals
Yes, the “joy” is truly gone from the Harris campaign, and perceptibly seems to have found lodging in a defiantly upbeat Trump operation instead. Trump has a truly demotic touch — this will reach precisely the sorts of regular-person voters both sides desperately need — and the ease with which he does stunts like this is all the more enraging for Democrats saddled with a bubble-wrapped, awkward ignoramus as their avatar.
There’s no doubt that fast-food jobs provide young people many lessons, especially in treating customers courteously, showing up on time, and taking and following orders, all of which can serve them well throughout their careers. Why, then, wonders the WSJ, does VP Harris want to make it harder to work at places like McDonald’s?
Harming Low-Income Workers
Joe Biden/Kamala Harris would like to make it easier for unions to organize workers at franchises.
The rule would reduce franchisee autonomy and increase their costs, resulting in fewer jobs.
Ms. Harris has also backed raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour, though she hasn’t specified a level. The Administration has endorsed a $15 federal minimum, and some on the left want to increase it to $20. This is a recipe for more jobless teens.
How about “Price Gouging”?
Progressives like to accuse McDonald’s of “price gouging,” but McDonald’s prices have increased in line with its cost of goods and labor.
Yet Ms. Harris wants to give the Federal Trade Commission authority to punish alleged price gouging by the food industry—that is, fix prices. FTC Chair Lina Khan’s agency would determine if McDonald’s franchises are charging too much for a Happy Meal.
Former President Donald Trump, so often on the defensive back-foot throughout this campaign, is now riding high and content to listen to tens of thousands of enraged Harris fans rant at him about his evil ways.
Because he, like the old joke, got for once to honestly respond: “I’m sorry sir, this is a McDonald’s.”
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