Trump’s obsession with Harris and McDonald’s gets even creepier

Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump explained, “never worked at McDonald’s. It was a made-up story. It was a made-up story; the press refuses to write about it now because it’s such a, you know, easy story. She said she worked at McDonald’s, but she didn’t. … It was a lie. She never worked at McDonald’s because of the hot fries.”

The Republican candidate quickly added that he plans to go to McDonald’s “in two weeks” — it’s always “two weeks,” right? — and he plans to “serve the fries.” Trump concluded, “I’ll have worked longer and harder at McDonald’s than they did if I do that for even a half hour.”

If this rhetoric sounds familiar, it’s because Trump is obsessed to an unhealthy degree with the fact that the vice president worked at McDonald’s as a student.

It’s not entirely clear why the Republican is convinced Harris lied about the case—by all appearances, she did work there—but whatever the trigger, his fixation on the story is becoming increasingly sinister.

In fact, the day before his recent event in North Carolina, Trump was in Georgia, where he drew attention to Harris and McDonald’s.

The day before, Trump had been in Pennsylvania and expressed his outrage at the lack of interest in Harris and McDonald’s.

A few hours before the event in Pennsylvania, Trump wrote on his social media platform: “Kamala should retract and retract all of her statements that she worked for McDonald’s” – despite the fact that she apparently worked at McDonald’s.

Three days earlier, Trump whined online that Harris had made her McDonald’s experience “a major part of her campaign.” (The only person who has made this a major part of the campaign is him.)

Two days earlier, Trump held a rally in North Carolinawhere he complained that Oprah Winfrey interviewed Harris but didn’t ask about McDonald’s.

A week earlier, Trump had held a press conference in California, where he also drew attention to Harris and McDonald’s. A few hours later, the Republican was on the campaign trail in Las Vegas, where he spoke even more about the issue.

That same evening, Trump again insisted on his online platform that the Democratic candidate “has NEVER worked at McDonald’s – a blatant lie. LAMESTREAM MEDEA REFUSES TO REPORT THIS FACT.”

This is not reality and news outlets “refuse” to participate in Trump’s obsession because there is no evidence of his hysteria.

But we can move on. In the week before the Las Vegas event, Trump insisted that Harris “never worked at McDonald’s.” He wrote the same thing two days earlier, after repeating that claim a day earlier at the Washington, DC, event.

In other words, with just under six weeks to go before Election Day, the Republican candidate seems to be focusing on this issue at least as much as anything else.

This is, of course, utter nonsense, firstly because there is literally no evidence that Harris lied, secondly because Trump has not even attempted to back up his attack with anything other than repetition, and secondly because his obsession is unlikely to have any impact on the election results.

The other facts, meanwhile, remain notable. The Democratic candidate has been in public service for decades, serving as a prosecutor, attorney general, U.S. senator, and vice president. If the Republican candidate and his team want to take a close look at her record, there should be plenty of accurate information to choose from.

So why does Trump rely so heavily on made-up nonsense? If Harris is as bad as her partisan critics claim, why can’t Trump just tell the truth and shift his focus away from Harris’ fast-food experience during her college years?

This post updates our Related previous reporting.