Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump (left) arms off an order of fries after working alongside an worker throughout a go to to McDonald’s in Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (Doug Mills/The New York Occasions through AP, Pool)
FEASTERVILLE-TREVOSE, Pennsylvania (AP) — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump manned the fry station at a McDonald’s meals outlet in Pennsylvania on Sunday earlier than staging an impromptu information convention, answering questions by way of the drive-thru window.
As reporters and aides watched, an worker confirmed Trump dunk baskets of fries in oil, salt the fries and put them into packing containers utilizing a scoop.
Trump, a widely known fan of quick meals and a infamous germophobe, expressed amazement that he didn’t have to the touch the fries together with his arms.
“It requires nice experience, truly, to do it proper and to do it quick,” Trump mentioned with a smile, placing away his go well with jacket and sporting an apron over his shirt and tie.
The go to got here as he’s tried to counter Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’ accounts on the marketing campaign of working on the fast-food chain whereas in faculty, an expertise that Trump has claimed — with out providing proof — by no means occurred.
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A big crowd lined the road exterior the restaurant in Feasterville-Trevose, which is a part of Bucks County, a key swing voter space north of Philadelphia.
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Later Sunday, Trump was attending a night city corridor in Lancaster earlier than catching the Pittsburgh Steelers house recreation towards the New York Jets.
After serving baggage of takeout to individuals within the drive-thru lane, Trump leaned out of the window, nonetheless sporting the apron, to take questions from the media staged exterior.
The previous president, who has continually promoted falsehoods about his 2020 election loss, mentioned he would respect the outcomes of subsequent month’s vote “if it’s a good election.”
He joked about getting one reporter ice cream and when one other requested what message had for Harris on her sixtieth birthday on Sunday, Trump mentioned, “I might say, Completely satisfied Birthday, Kamala,” including, “I feel I’ll get her some flowers.”
Trump didn’t immediately reply a query of whether or not he would possibly help elevated minimal wages after seeing McDonald’s staff in motion however mentioned, “These individuals work arduous. They’re nice.”
He added that “I simply noticed one thing… a course of that’s stunning.”
When aides lastly urged him to wrap issues up so he may hit the highway to his subsequent occasion, Trump provided, ‘Wasn’t {that a} unusual place to do a information convention?’
Trump has lengthy questioned Harris’ story of working at McDonald’s
Trump has fixated in current weeks on the summer season job Harris mentioned she held in faculty, working the money register and making fries at McDonald’s whereas in faculty.
Trump says the vp has “lied about working” there, however not provided proof for claiming that.
“When Trump feels determined, all he is aware of do is lie,” Harris marketing campaign spokesman Ian Sams mentioned Sunday. “He can’t perceive what it’s wish to have a summer season job as a result of he was handed hundreds of thousands on a silver platter, solely to blow it.”
In an interview final month on MSNBC, the vp pushed again on Trump’s claims, saying she did work on the fast-food chain 4 a long time in the past when she was in faculty.
“A part of the explanation I even discuss having labored at McDonald’s is as a result of there are individuals who work at McDonald’s in our nation who’re attempting to boost a household,” she mentioned. “I labored there as a pupil.”
Harris additionally mentioned: “I feel a part of the distinction between me and my opponent consists of our perspective on the wants of the American individuals and what our duty, then, is to fulfill these wants.”
Trump has lengthy unfold groundless claims about his opponents primarily based on their private historical past, notably ladies and racial minorities.
Earlier than he ran for president, Trump was a number one voice of the “birther” conspiracy that baselessly claimed President Barack Obama was from Africa, was not an American citizen and, subsequently, was ineligible to be president.
Trump used it to boost his personal political profile, demanding to see Obama’s start certificates and 5 years after Obama did so, Trump lastly admitted that Obama was born in the USA.
Throughout his first run for president, Trump repeated a tabloid’s claims that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s father, who was born in Cuba, had hyperlinks to President John F. Kennedy’s murderer, Lee Harvey Oswald.
Cruz and Trump competed for the occasion’s 2016 nomination.
In January of this yr, when Trump was going through Nikki Haley, his former U.N. ambassador, within the Republican major, he shared on his social media community a put up with false claims that Haley’s dad and mom weren’t residents when she was born, subsequently making her ineligible to be president.
Haley is the South Carolina-born daughter of Indian immigrants, making her mechanically a native-born citizen and assembly the constitutional requirement to run for president.
And Trump has continued to advertise baseless claims throughout this marketing campaign.
Trump mentioned throughout his presidential debate with Harris that immigrants who had settled in Springfield, Ohio, had been consuming residents’ pets — a declare he steered in an interview Saturday was nonetheless true regardless that he may present no affirmation.
Trump’s go to created a spectacle in Pennsylvania
Police closed the busy streets across the McDonald’s throughout Trump’s go to.
Authorities cordoned off the restaurant as a crowd a pair blocks lengthy gathered, generally 10- to 15-deep, throughout the road straining to catch a glimpse of Trump.
Horns honked and music blared as Trump supporters waved flags, held indicators and took footage.
John Waters, of close by Fairless Hills, had by no means been to a Trump rally and had hoped to see the previous president so near his home after lacking different close by rallies.
“Once I drove up, all of the automobiles, unbelievable, I used to be like, ‘He’s right here. He’s coming. He’s undoubtedly coming with this all visitors,’” Waters mentioned.
Trump is particularly keen on McDonald’s Massive Macs and Filet-o-Fish sandwiches.
He’s talked usually about how he trusts huge chains greater than smaller eating places since they’ve huge reputations to take care of, and the previous president’s workers usually decide up McDonald’s and serve it on his airplane.
Barrett Marson, a Republican strategist in Arizona, mentioned utilizing a marketing campaign go to to deal with the claims about McDonald’s 4 a long time in the past is a “puzzling detour,” however that Trump is “not above throwing something on the wall to see if it sticks.”
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“When Donald Trump isn’t speaking in regards to the economic system and unlawful immigration, he’s off subject in regards to the issues that individuals care about,” Marson mentioned.
