We are officially now on Day Three of the Donald Trump appearance at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s location. (What should this be called? The Gold-Arch Standard -The 2-Patty System – Whataburger-gate?) What has been remarkable is the press has been incapable of stopping themselves from overreactions and crafting shame for themselves.
And today brings more amusement. To start, we have the slanted impressions of CNN’s media maestro, Brian Stelter. If anyone should possibly refrain from commenting on Donald Trump whipping up a batch of french fries, it might be the guy derisively referred to as an Idaho Spud. But Stelter is renowned for his lack of self-awareness as well as his reflexive defense of the industry he allegedly covers as a media correspondent.
For the latest Brian comes out to declare that it is those disturbed souls on the Right who are making the Trump Drive-thru photo-shooting a lingering story on the third day.
The right is making Trump’s McDonald’s photo-op into a three-day story by saying liberals are losing their minds over it >> pic.twitter.com/06l3U26nUv
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) October 22, 2024
As we have covered here, looking at the reactions across the media spectrum over the past couple of days, you can conclude that saying the press is “losing their minds” might be charitable. They became indignant that a scheduled and planned visit of a campaign stop for photo-ops was “staged.” As if that is a novel development. Some outlets had to notify that Trump was not technically working, and Newsweek went so far as to note that he did not even work a full shift! (We await the disclosure on whether he clocked out properly.)
Now we get the latest stunted report, this one from the New York Times. The vaunted “Paper Of Record” decided that it was vital journalism to send out journalist Stefanos Chen to area McDonald’s locations and have the workers assess the work by the former president. Yes, seriously – he went out to the burger dens and had the professional fry cooks criticize Trump for doing the job wrong. Some of the critiques:
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“The box is, like, backwards. He doesn’t seem to know how to do it.”
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“You don’t throw salt like that.”
(For the record: It WAS Trump’s first day on the job.)
In total, Chen visited half a dozen McDonald’s locations around Manhattan to glean these hard measures. We might also add that in none of the photos did it appear the candidate wore a nametag, nor did it indicate he was a TRAINEE.
“He doesn’t seem to know how to do it.”
After Donald Trump served fast food during a campaign stop at a McDonald’s, several actual McDonald’s workers who examined a video of his performance earned mixed reviews from workers and patrons alike. https://t.co/nXW7FpDBPg
— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 21, 2024
Look, not a soul is shocked that Brian Stelter has a biased approach to politics and the media, but as the election approaches and Kamala’s prospects appear to be about as likely as the McFlurry machine working on a given visit, Stelter is getting even more desperate. How else to explain his assumption that only those on the right are talking about Trump picking up a weekend shift?
Like the rest of the press, the New York Times could not help themselves, as they ordered up yet another serving of shameful reporting. Being extra-salty about it in the process only makes their delivery all the more unpalatable.
