Ganesh Kendale
One of politics’ greatest drawbacks is that it favours gifted thespians or orators over able administrators. How natural one appears while serving takeout at McDonald’s or buying Doritos shouldn’t decide who gets to hold the nuclear football and become the leader of the free world. Sadly, that’s not how the ball rolls, and ever since being shoehorned in at the last minute after Democrats refused to accept the reality about Joe Biden, Kamala Harris has been going all out to prove she’s relatable, which has been a hard sell so far.She also appears to have a bizarre strategy of media engagement, where she first avoided interviews, but then started giving more, getting stuck in David Sacks’ prophetic “doom loop”: the more interviews Harris gives, the more her ratings suffer. On the other hand, Donald Trump appears to have found a second wind in recent weeks and is looking stronger than ever, the bumbling old man of the ABC debate completely forgotten.
Trump’s mini-renaissance appears to have started from the Flagrant podcast. He was in fine form during the Al Smith Dinner that Kamala Harris skipped, a curious choice given Catholics aren’t just a significantly high voting bloc but consist of much of the “haves and have-lots”, who George W Bush once joked was his base. Of course, Harris’ decision to skip the Al Smith Dinner could have been mediated by her strong pro-abortion stance, given Donald Trump’s role in overturning Roe vs Wade.
Trump chose his McDonald’s stint to coincide with Kamala Harris’ 60th birthday. During the gig, Trump appeared to have been doing this his entire life, the bankrupt billionaire looking like he had finally found his most natural habitat. Of course, Trump has always been fixated with McDonald’s, being a huge fan of the Big Mac and even greeting guests at the White House with fare from the Golden Arches.
In its own way, McDonald’s is America, and Trump appeared to have morphed into Mr America in his red tie and golden hair. He joked with the owner (“How much are you paying me?”), before putting on the apron, working the French fry counter, and handing out a few bags of food to drive-in customers. The customers, carefully handpicked, included a black couple and an Indian-origin couple, clearly designed to show the new diverse MAGA that includes the likes of Vivek Ramaswamy.
The fact is that McDonald’s isn’t just a fast-food chain; it’s an enduring symbol of American capitalism and everything great about it. It unifies beyond race, gender and creed, the North Star of the American story where any hardworking individual could – through grit and hard work – own a joint that fuels obesity and diabetes. There are nearly 14,000 McDonald’s outlets in America, and a ‘like’ from McDonald’s on social media is the American equivalent of a knighthood. They serve 25 million people a day, and 85% of the American population visits an outlet at least once a year. It’s also an enduring symbol of Americana across the world, and the fact that Russia had lost the Cold War was confirmed when the first McDonald’s opened in Moscow in 1990. Much like NASCAR or WWE, it’s an American institution that Donald Trump has been associated with for a very long time.
After working for fifteen minutes, Trump announced that he had already worked at McDonald’s longer than Harris. Despite Harris’ claim to have worked at a McDonald’s on Central Avenue in Alameda, California during her freshman year at Howard University, the Harris campaign hasn’t been able to show an iota of proof that the event actually took place.
There were no pay stubs or any sort of documentation, and the campaign has refused to let any friend or family member of Kamala Harris speak about her memories of her time at McDonald’s. Recently, the Nostradamus-like data analyst Nate Silver shared 24 reasons he believed Donald Trump could win. If he had seen Donald Trump’s performance at McDonald’s, he might have been tempted to add a 25th.
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