Former President Donald Trump went viral this week for making a campaign pitstop in Pennsylvania to work the fry station and drive-through at a McDonald’s.
But Trump’s visit at McDonald’s was more than a publicity stunt—it represents the core of what makes him appealing to voters and, ultimately, what will carry him across the finish line in the swing states: He respects the dignity of work.
To the American worker, seeing Trump at the fryer is a reminder that they’re not forgotten. They know Trump cares about the American Dream—and that he has the better policies to give them that opportunity.
If you look back at 2016, blue collar workers in the Rust Belt were the linchpin of Trump’s success. They saw that Trump genuinely wanted to bring jobs back to their failing communities, and they embraced him at the ballot box. The same thing is happening again, but this time, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
And Trump delivered. In 2019, the unemployment rate dropped to 3.5%, its lowest reading in 50 years. The jobless rate for blacks maintained its lowest rate ever at 5.5%.
Five years later, those gains have been lost. As Sen. J.D. Vance recently stated in a New York Times interview, “7 million prime-age men … have dropped out of the labor force” and are no longer counted for unemployment statistics. According to Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antonio, Ph.D, job growth over the past year has gone to foreign-born workers, while American citizens have lost a net 300,000 jobs.
Blue collar workers have families, too. Inflation has hit them hard—harder, in fact, than it has hit the laptop class, and the bureaucrats who set inflation in motion.
Polling from Gallup shows that voters who place the economy as the nation’s top problem are near an all-time high for the current administration. To add to that, in another recent poll, more than half of Americans say they’re worse off today than they were four years ago.
The data backs this up. Inflation under the Biden-Harris administration has increased over 20 percent, compared to the roughly 8 percent increase during Trump’s first term in the White House.
Everyday expenses for Americans look even worse. While the price of eggs actually declined under Trump, it’s doubled over the past four years. The increase of rent prices has likewise skyrocketed, with the increase over the past four years about triple what it increased in the four years before that.
That means your average hourly McDonald’s cashier might need to work twice as long to put food on her table and a roof over her head.
Harris calls her economic plan “a new way forward,” but when asked what she would have done differently than Biden, she said, “There is not a thing that comes to mind.”
Continuing down the same path won’t cut it for workers.
Her policies of central planning and government handouts only disincentivizes Americans to work and incentivizes companies to cut costs with automated machines and illegal aliens—another area where the Biden-Harris administration has dropped the ball.
“Why try to re-engage an American citizen in a good job if you can just import somebody from Central America who’s going to work under the table for poverty wages?” asked Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, in a recent interview.
Frederick Douglass in 1882 famously described his joy realizing his own economic liberty following his hard-won freedom. “To understand the emotion which swelled my heart as I clasped this money, realizing that I had no master who could take it from me – that it was mine ….”
By putting on an apron and rolling up his sleeves. President Trump was making more than fries at that Pennsylvania McDonald’s on Sunday; he was making a point. To the star-struck McDonald employees lucky enough to work side-by-side with a former president, Trump’s point was to say, “I value you, and I respect you.” Hard work is a critical component in achieving the American dream. Leading by example, Trump showed that he would Make America Work Again.
The Honorable Robert Henneke is the Executive Director and General Counsel at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.