Why Democrats are so afraid of McDonald’s

Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), Harris’s running mate, appeared Monday on The View and claimed Trump showed “disrespect” to McDonald’s workers by donning an apron, frying french fries, and serving food at the drive-thru window. If Walz knows any McDonald’s employees who feel that way, he should let everyone know who they are. Otherwise, people might unkindly think he is making it up in the hopes that voters will accept his BS as gospel. Actual McDonald’s employees, in many videos of the event, were clearly having a great time interacting with the former president.

Walz’s attempted spin to control the damage inflicted on the Harris-Walz campaign by Trump’s stint under the Golden Arches rings wholly untrue. How does it diss anyone to go and try out their routine for a while? Rather, doesn’t it show respect for them and let them know they are not too low to be on the candidate’s mind? It is the critics scorning Trump’s stunt who denigrated the lowly workers.

Trump was relaxed, cheerful, and natural working at the McDonald’s, which really separated him from Harris. While on the campaign trail, he has visibly enjoyed interacting with voters and working the crowds. Democrats complained that the McDonald’s event was staged and the restaurant was closed to real customers. However, after two assassination attempts against Trump, it is neither surprising nor wrong that the Secret Service should want control over the situation. It would indeed have been culpably derelict if they had not. 

Even as a staged event, however, the videos show Trump happily working alongside McDonald’s employees to serve food to his many fans waiting in line outside the drive-thru window. The event is destined to go down as an iconic campaign moment, such as former President Bill Clinton’s stop at a McDonald’s in 1992.

Trump also shone at the annual Al Smith Dinner just days before, which was at the opposite end of the social and economic scale from a fast food restaurant. It was at the top rather than the bottom. The black-tie affair held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City could not have been a more different setting than a suburban Pennsylvania fast-food restaurant. Yet, in both settings, Trump was perfectly at ease. Perhaps this is due to the fact that he was born rich but has spent much of his time with workers on construction sites. However, whatever the origins of his evident comfort in varied circumstances, it is an attractive and effective quality in a politician.

Harris, in contrast, can’t stop looking inauthentic even when surrounded by her own supporters. This past week in Georgia, after a participant shouted “Jesus is Lord,” during her speech, Harris responded, “Oh, you guys are at the wrong rally.” This is an odd, not to say repellent, thing for someone who is supposedly Christian to say.

Harris’s awkwardness aside, there are real policy disputes behind Trump donning an apron at McDonald’s. Last year, the Biden-Harris administration issued a new Standard for Determining Joint-Employer Status under the National Labor Relations Act, undoing the previous standard set by the Trump administration.

For decades after the NLRA became law, there has been a distinction between the owners of franchise locations, such as McDonald’s, and the owners of franchise brands. Under current law, to be considered an employee of an entity, a person must show that the entity exercises “substantial, direct, and immediate control” over the terms and conditions of employment. The Biden-Harris administration wants to change that standard to just “co-determines” one of seven conditions of employment, including wages, hours, duties performed, supervision, methods of performance, hiring and firing, and safety.

This is a direct attack not only on McDonald’s but on all McDonald’s franchise owners, thousands of whom are black entrepreneurs. Under Trump’s rules, McDonald’s would not be considered the joint employer of a McDonald’s franchise employee just because the McDonald’s corporation set standards on how french fries should be cooked. 

However, under Harris’s rules, if McDonald’s undertakes any quality control at a franchise, every member of staff there would be considered a McDonald’s employee even if McDonald’s did not hire them, set their wages, or tell them when to work. This change would make it easier to unionize every McDonald’s store at once — the Democrats’ whole idea — and would make McDonald’s liable for every unfair labor practice at franchises. 

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Harris and the Democratic Party hate the franchise model, but local entrepreneurs and consumers love it. According to research, the average McDonald’s customer “is a married white woman who lives in the Southeast and is between 41 and 56 years old” — a key swing demographic in this race. Black people not only eat more fast food than most other demographics, but black men, in particular, eat fast food the most.

Trump’s ability to parachute into a random McDonald’s location and naturally connect with its staff and customers is a talent Democrats cannot match. People know Trump loves McDonald’s and respects its customers and employees. Harris and the Democrats simply can’t say the same.