A tale of two candidates: Trump serves up lies at McDonalds while Harris targets Swifties’ voting era
Harris and Trump are bagging up the election right in front of us.
Election Day is just two weeks away, and oscillating poll numbers predict no clear winner between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. So, you might be asking, “Can’t we all just get along?”
The short answer: No.
If there’s one thing we can be sure of, it’s that these two candidates speak to completely different and extremely polarized worlds.
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Just take a look at the latest Gay Twitter X Discourse Du Jour: in a since-deleted Instagram post, a New York-based gay man (sporting a Harris-Walz cap) shared a shirtless pic with his lover, who proudly wore a Make America Great Again hat.
The caption was simple: “We’re boyfriends and I don’t care who he votes for.” Nevertheless, the blowback was immediate.
Considering Trump’s well-documented homophobic and racist viewpoints, as well as the terrifying promises of the Republican Party’s Project 2025, it’s understandable why his potential win has Americans and Gay Twitter X experiencing duress.
And the differences between both candidates become even more apparent when you look at the starkly contrasting ways they spent their weekends.
Donald Trump served up some lies, erm, fries
On Sunday, October 20, Trump stopped by his idea of a 5-star restaurant a McDonald’s location in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, and learned how to serve fries.
The staged photo-op followed his campaign’s fixation on refuting Harris’ assertion that she worked at a McDonald’s while attending Howard University. Which they still haven’t been able to do fully.
After barely putting on an apron, the former president reportedly told customers: “I’ve now worked for 15 minutes more than Kamala … she never worked here.” Oh, brother.
BREAKING: McDonald’s replaces The Hamburglar with another well known felon pic.twitter.com/ernM41FucA— Adam (@adamgreattweet) October 20, 2024
While the pictures are ridiculous, the details about his so-called Mickey D’s shift are even crazier. Who needs AI generations when you’ve got Trump’s IRL antics.
According to The Washington Post, the restaurant “was closed to the public during Trump’s visit,” and any customers he served “were screened by the Secret Service and positioned [in the drive-thru] before his arrival.”
The report seems to confirm an unsubstantiated letter apparently posted on the door of the Feasterville-Trevose location, which circulated on social media and stated the location would “be closed” to “accommodate a visit at the request of former President Trump and his campaign.”
Did the orange-faced monster really work a shift if all he did was just line up a bunch of supporters to chat with through the drive-thru window?
After all, what’s a customer service job without dealing with… actual customers?
Plus, his campaign only captured him scooping a few fried potato chunks out of the oil and handing brown bags through the window.
(Contrary to the former president’s dietary practices, we’d like to clarify that french fries are not a meal, and we hope these Trumpers got some actual food elsewhere.)
At least the entire media circus gave us some hilarious memes, which seemed to see through the entire stunt: Trump is not like your local fry cook.
In fact, he’s got a lot more in common with the golden-arched franchise’s clown-faced mascot, Ronald McDonald.
Kamala Harris sought out the Swiftie vote
While her opponent stunk up a fast food joint, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign appealed to a more hopeful demographic: the Swifties.
According to Vanity Fair, the Democratic National Committee targeted another battleground state, Florida, timing it with Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour stops in Miami.
The massive campaign spawned billboards with sayings playing on Swift’s lyrics, as well as a custom “In My Voting Era” Snapchat filter, which allowed users to “choose what they are ‘fearless for’ this November, with options like reproductive rights, racial justice, student loan debt relief, and LGBTQ+ rights.”
OK, so maybe we’re giving the friendship bracelet-makers a lot of credit in deciding the election.
But you’ve got to admit, it’s a better use of time and funds than putting on a show in the kitchen. (We’ll let you insert your own joke about how Trump can’t take the heat….)
Furthermore, Swift’s Instagram endorsement of Harris and Tim Walz (whose longtime advocacy for “LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body” she specifically called out) was huge.
In a recent interview for WIRED‘s Autocomplete series, Harris said she was “very proud” to have support from the “incredible artist.”
“I really respect the courage that she has had in her career to stand up for what she believes is right,” Harris explained, admitting that they were on “different sides of the Super Bowl last year.”
Though the VP’s beloved 49ers lost to the Chiefs, a.k.a. Taylor’s boyfriend’s team, she harbored no hard feelings: “Who’s mad at anyone for being loyal to their team, right?”
Perhaps that’s the kind of energy we need to harness if we’re going to get through these last few weeks.
Is there any debate when the two candidates are bagging up it for us in plain sight?
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