Did Trump stage working at McDonalds for publicity

Question

There is an article linked that suggests Trump faked and staged working at McDonalds for publicity and the customers were just actors.

Answer 1

Former President Trump did in fact stage working at McDonald’s for publicity as Newsweek and this article’s author, Billal Rahman, are reliable sources and many other outlets recorded the “shift” as staged. CNN’s article: McDonald’s didn’t give Trump permission to serve fries. It didn’t need to | CNN Business describes the desperate reach for attention: “At the staged event, Trump put on an apron to work as a fry attendant and handed people food at the location, which had been closed for the campaign stop.” MSNBC also classified the event as theatrics, as Trump was trying to prove a petty point in front of cameras. Their article titled The difference between work and Trump’s staged McDonald’s theatrics states that, “In recent months, Trump has been fixated to an unhealthy degree with Vice President Kamala Harris having worked at a McDonald’s,” and Trump simply wants to one-up her by saying he would “have worked longer and harder at McDonald’s than she did if I do that even for half an hour.” The Republican candidate appears to have been held to his word, but only used the McDonalds’ fries for photo-ops and bragging, as the restaurant in Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania was closed during the campaign according to Newsweek. Good thing McDonalds’ hires convicted felons!

Comments

I thought this was a great response to the claim, especially how you included various sources and added insight to them. It's important that you brought up this act was out of petty to one up Harris, which is important to note as the intent of his action wasn't out of work ethic or to connect with his voters, but to be petty towards Harris. This is good for voters to know the difference. I would also add that a shift at McDonalds is 6-8 hours, and Trump worked for about half an hour, which makes his claim that he worked a whole shift incorrect as well.

Answer 2

The claim made that Donald Trump working at McDonald for a couple of hours was ‘staged’ is true. If we look at the article posted from the claim Trump Working McDonalds , the specific McDonalds made an announcement stating that the store was going to be closed for a period of time because of President Trump and his campaign. There’s also a reddit post (Reddit Post) with a tik tok explaining that the “customers” coming through the drive-through line had been paid (were basically actors/actresses) to go through the line and act as a normal customer would.

Comments

Reddit is a well-known for being an opinion based website, so that makes it unreliable while talking about the facts of this claim. However, the article does list that the Washington Post had also claimed the same thing as the Reddit post. So that may have been a better source to mention rather than Reddit. It would also be a bit more helpful to add resources other than the ones listed in the article to back up your claim.

Answer 3

The claim is that Trump showing up to McDonalds was staged and a publicity stunt. After reading the article this claim is true. The article talks about how Trump had an impromptu visit to McDonals. The article brings up the fact that all the customers that the former president served were screened by the secret service and the McDonalds was closed to the pubic that were not screened. Overall the claim is true, Trumps impromptu visit to McDonalds was a publicity stunt.

Comments

This is a good summary of the situation. True, such gatherings frequently require some sort of planning for security concerns. While it was dubbed 'impromptu,' the screening procedure certainly adds a layer of coordination.

Answer 4

This is true, I believe that it was staged. In the article below, it states "The franchise in Feasterville was closed for normal business during Sunday’s photo op. The customers who went through the drive thru were pre-selected by the franchise and the local Trump campaign team, according to a person familiar with the event. The cars were also screened and searched, and the people in them were wanded down, according to the source." 

This information was collected by NBC news. 

source: https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/difference-work-trumps-staged-mcdonalds-theatrics-rcna176365

Answer 5

The claim that this was staged stays true as in the news week website it shows that the restaurant is closed for the day and as it gives apologies to the reader that it would be closed, it says how Secret service screened each person that were able to but the McDonalds was closed to the public as this was a publicity stunt.

Answer 6

The claim is that Donald Trump's visit to a McDonalds in Pennsylvania was staged. According to an NBC News report, "The franchise in Feasterville was closed for normal business during Sunday’s photo op. The customers who went through the drive thru were pre-selected by the franchise and the local Trump campaign team, according to a person familiar with the event. The cars were also screened and searched, and the people in them were wanded down, according to the source." Based on the published account of a source at the event by NBC, we can see that this claim is true.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-tries-troll-harris-serving-french-fries-mcdonalds-rcna176294

Answer 7

NBC news reported that when Donald Trump " worked" at Mcdonalds last weekend the store was actually closed to the general public and the costumers seen in the drive through were actually paid actors. 

NBC News

https://www.nbcnews.com › video › trump-serves-fries...

 

Answer 8

The article mentions that there was an employee signaling the drive-thru cars outside, at the location where Trump was said to be “working”. In another article there are claims and photo evidence of the McDonald’s being temporarily closed at the location. As well as a photo of an employee outside the drive-thru where Trump was “working”. 

https://www.snopes.com/news/2024/10/22/trump-mcdonalds-visit/

Answer 9

The initial claim of the post is that former President Trump faked and staged a visit to a McDonalds in Feasterville, Pa in order to gain publicity.

There are several factors that support this claim although some of them lack validity. According to an article published by NewsWeek, and several posts on the social media site Reddit, it is said that the customers President Trump allegedly served were in fact pre-selected campaign donors. It is important to note that outside of videos on social media these specific claims cannot be verified.

According to an article by The Washington Post, "The restaurant was closed to the public during Trump’s visit, and the motorists whom Trump served were screened by the U.S. Secret Service and positioned before his arrival." This supports the idea that the stunt was much more planned than the Trump campaign initially let on. "No one ordered food. Instead, the attendees received whatever Trump gave them." This claim was further supported by NBC news, who said this, "The customers who went through the drive thru were pre-selected by the franchise and the local Trump campaign team, according to a person familiar with the event."

In summary, it seems that the initial claim of the post is largely true, and that large parts of Trumps service were exaggerated or genuinely disinformation.