On Sunday, there was a special McDonald's Value Meal served up by Donald Trump: He made a successful extra-large campaign stop with a super-size order of trolling, and with that came a free side order of media distemper. As most of you know by now, Trump donned an apron and worked the fry station at a Feasterville, Pennsylvania, McDonald’s location and then moved to the drive-thru station to serve orders and hold a press conference out the window.

It was a master class in media attention, and it served a number of purposes; along with campaign publicity, he called attention to one of the aspects of the perpetually curious Kamala Harris campaign: her previously unknown claim of employment at the fast food chain. (As she put it, Kamala “worked fries," in notably inauthentic fashion.) The added bonus to all of this is the press choking on this serving of Trump’s appearance.

This event was obviously arranged to play off of Kamala’s claimed vocational past, a twist of the political knife, and having a laugh at her expense. The media, as expected, took to the cameras and keyboards to lambaste this appearance, and in the process, they exposed their own bias and contempt. These journalists sound like consumer activists who vow to be heard by downvoting a restaurant on Yelp.

As Nick Arama first covered, MSNBC sought to beat back the visuals in real-time Sunday afternoon. They spoke with Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) to carp about Trump’s stunt, wailing that it was "bizarre" and a sign that he is “unstable." But the reveal is in the delivery. For the bulk of her segment, Rep. Lee lapsed into Kamala Harris talking points and policy positions. This means she knew his appearance was effective and wanted to steer attention. If she truly thought Trump was being bizarre and unstable she would have highlighted this instead of deflecting. 

Newsweek had the big expose on this restaurant visit: They feel this election season press stop made for a photo-op in order to promote his campaign could maybe, possibly, have the chance at potentially being considered a staged event!

Rumors have been circulating on social media that former President Donald Trump's visit to the popular fast food chain was staged. https://t.co/NIfynvKBfO

— Newsweek (@Newsweek) October 21, 2024

You have to ponder how this was made into a story, unless they were operating from the standpoint that Trump was an employee at the start??? And it gets worse: Newsweek breaks the story that Trump did not even complete his scheduled time slot! “A full shift generally implies 8 to 9 hours of work, yet posts circulating on social media suggest Trump worked there for less.” 

Trump didn't "work" in a McDonald's. He posed.

— David Frum (@davidfrum) October 21, 2024

The Washington Post was also caustic about this performance, further breaking the story that this appearance was orchestrated. (GASP!) The detail they exposed is that the location had been closed ahead of time, and the “customers” in the drive-thru were pre-screened by the Secret Service. Seriously, who is at all surprised that a photo-op was prearranged and set up as a press event?! They basically ordered ahead, as we heard about this days prior. 

But note, too, this is the same press gaggle that was not only unbothered when Kamala Harris and Tim Walz staged a visit to Primanti Brothers and went so far as to describe the campaign workers bussed in for the private event as just “diners” the duo had popped in to chat with that day.

At the Primanti Brothers campaign photo-op they ushered out customers and brought in campaign workers for a “private party”.
The press reported it as Harris and Walz dropping in on regular customers.https://www.snopes.com/news/2024/08/22/harris-restaurant-paid-actors/ https://twitter.com/MartiniShark/status/1848185338839146591/photo/1

— Brad Slager: A Folksy Coach & Joyful As a K-Hive! (@MartiniShark) October 21, 2024

Then, of course, there was the need to deflect away from the intent of this appearance, which was to highlight the claim that Kamala Harris had ever worked at a McDonald’s. Many news outlets took to her defense, declaring that Trump was accusing her of not actually working at the restaurant – and he did so without giving any proof!

Virtually every media outlet -- AP, LA Times, CNN, Forbes, BI -- complains that Trump has "no evidence" Kamala didn't work at McDonalds

They do not mention that Kamala has no evidence she *did* work there, or that McDonald's hasn't backed her up. Classic burden-shifting pic.twitter.com/O2IT98cVUg

— Gregg Re (@gregg_re) October 20, 2024

I don't mean to get too pedantic about things, but what they are doing here is demanding that Donald Trump disprove a negative? How exactly does he “prove” that she did not do something? After all, it was Kamala Harris who made the claim. If there is a burden of proof, it rests with the woman who “worked fries,” and questions abound about her resume. She had not previously mentioned this stint in her past work histories nor her memoirs, no location has proudly touted her time on staff, and the McDonald’s corporation gave a statement that it had no prior knowledge of her working at a location. 

But the press is incurious about this fable and instead calls out the staged shift Trump worked. This shows how successful it was. Almost exclusively, these types of campaign events deliver unsatisfying orders. We will see a candidate wander into an unfamiliar setting and pose and posture – say behind a counter or in another worker position – make strained comments for the cameras and look wholly uncomfortable in a photo-op that mostly delivers cringing visuals over compelling scenes. 

Trump, though, seems able to immerse himself and enjoy what he is doing, somehow managing to look comfortable even while wearing formal wear under an apron to serve fries and chat with drivers out a window. Think back to Kamala and Tim Walz at a convenience store stop and “bantering” over a bag of Doritos; they were about as natural as a patch of an astroturf “lawn” on the deck of a houseboat.

So the press had to leap to the fore and complain about the service, apparently ignorant of what they were falling prey to all the while. They swamped the zone with reports of his event, all while delivering the images of his visit and re-churning the story of Kamala’s false time working at the Golden Arches.

In other words, the press is delivering exactly what Donald Trump ordered.