During McDonald's stunt, Trump dodges question on raising the minimum wage

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21 October 2024

A view shows a McDonald's sign in New York City, U.S., October 4, 2024. REUTERS/David 'Dee' Delgado

Standing in the drive-through window of a McDonald's in the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Sunday, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump dodged a direct question about whether he supports raising the nation's paltry minimum wage after employees at the low-paying restaurant briefly walked him through the process of making french fries.

"I think these people work hard, they're great," Trump said in response to the minimum wage question. "I just saw something, a process, that's beautiful. It's a beautiful thing to see, these are great franchises."

When reporters attempted for a second time to get an answer on the minimum wage, the former president moved on to a different question.

Trump's visit to the Pennsylvania McDonald's during the final stretch of the 2024 race was widely characterized as a political stunt aimed at bolstering the former president's claim to be a champion of the U.S. working class, despite his record of assailing labor protections and weakening an overtime pay rule put forth by his predecessor, leaving millions of workers behind.

After winning the 2016 election, Trump selected fast food executive Andrew Puzder—an opponent of raising the minimum wage and subminimum wage for tipped workers—as his pick to lead the U.S. Department of Labor. Puzder withdrew after it became clear he didn't have enough Senate support to be confirmed.

"Ending the subminimum wage and raising the minimum wage would be the real happy meal for American workers," Saru Jayaraman, the president of One Fair Wage, said Sunday. "While Trump panders to the wealthy, workers across Pennsylvania and the nation are still earning poverty wages."

The New York Timesreported that the McDonald's was closed to the public during Trump's visit and that the GOP nominee "handed bags of food to preselected drive-through customers." McDonald's is viciously anti-union and, until 2019, lobbied against minimum wage increases.

Trump used the visit to attack his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, whose campaign said she worked at a California McDonald's in 1983 after her freshman year of college.

"McDonald’s representatives have ignored media requests for information," the Times reported. Trump claimed, without evidence, that Harris is lying about having worked at McDonald's.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris' running mate, hit back at Trump on social media, writing, "This guy spent decades stiffing workers pay, cut overtime benefits for millions of people, and opposed any effort to raise the minimum wage."

Nina Turner, founder of the advocacy organization We Are Somebody, said Sunday in response to Trump's stunt that "workers don't need gimmicks—they need the power to organize and demand the wages and dignity they deserve."

"McDonald's workers don't need photo-ops; they need living wages," said Turner. "We all need to come together and push back against a system that keeps them in poverty while corporate executives make billions. Real change is possible when workers unite and demand it."

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