Pete Buttigieg slams Donald Trump for mocking McDonald’s workers in just one sentence

Out Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg mocked former President Donald Trump for repeatedly claiming that his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, lied about working for the fast food restaurant McDonald’s when she was a college student. Trump even said that he would get a job at McDonald’s to prove that it’s not hard to work there.

Harris has often mentions working at McDonald’s as a vignette into her working-class origins and understanding of the economic needs of lower- and middle-class Americans. She has said she cooked French fries and served ice cream while working there.

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“Kamala said she worked at McDonalds — She never did. Lie!” Trump wrote in a September 1 post on Truth Social. He has repeatedly accused her of lying about the job as part of his larger effort to cast her as someone who changes her story, identities and policies to suit her ever-changing purposes.

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“She said she worked, and grew up in terrible conditions, she worked at McDonald’s, it was such—SHE NEVER WORKED THERE!” Trump wrote. “And these FAKE news reporters will never report it. They don’t want to report it because they’re FAKE! They’re FAKE! They don’t want to report it.”

Trump brought it up again at a rally yesterday, saying that he would get a “French fry job” at McDonald’s and work “about a half an hour” to prove that such work isn’t that hard.

Trump: I'm going to go to a McDonald's next week. I'm going to go to a McDonald's and I'm going to work the french fry job for about a half an hour. I want to see how it is.. pic.twitter.com/5EXIqDdMz4

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 24, 2024

Frustrated that Trump was making light of wage labor, Buttigieg responded to Trump later that same day, bringing up Trump’s policy proposals: “If we’re really going to have to talk about McDonald’s for a couple online news cycles, then let it be about how and why Trump and the GOP oppose increasing the minimum wage, but made sure to cut taxes for McDonald’s Corporation.”

If we’re really going to have to talk about McDonald’s for a couple online news cycles, then let it be about how and why Trump and the GOP oppose increasing the minimum wage, but made sure to cut taxes for McDonald’s Corporation.

— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) September 24, 2024

The federal minimum wage in the United States has been $7.25 per hour since July 2009, the last time that the U.S. Congress raised it. That amount isn’t enough to buy most of the value menu meals on McDonald’s menu.

During his presidency, Trump signed the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a tax overhaul which was largely passed by Republicans in a party-line vote. The law cut the federal corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, saving America’s largest corporations billions in taxes.

Harris has repeatedly said that Trump’s policies for a second term would continue to favor the wealthy and hurt working-class people. While this small McScandal might seem like a “nothingburger” to some, to Buttigieg, it points to larger issues of economic fairness that’s hard for most working Americans to swallow.

McDonald’s hasn’t confirmed Harris’ claim of being employed there in the 80s, and it’s unclear if the company keeps employment records from three decades ago from all of its thousands of nationwide locations, which aren’t owned by the corporation itself but by individual franchisees. The fact-checking site Snopes.com has said there’s no evidence (such as a photo, employment record, or confirmation from a friend or family member) to verify Harris’ claim. Harris also didn’t list the job on past resumes, but this alone doesn’t disprove her claim since post-college job-seekers don’t always list every single position they’ve ever had on resumes.

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