During the 2008 presidential election, Republican candidate John McCain was confronted with a test of his honesty and integrity when audience members at a campaign event in Minnesota spouted bigotry and false rhetoric about his opponent—then Illinois Senator Barack Obama.
The late Arizona Republican and military veteran told a woman the Islamaphobic conspiracy theory she was parroting was false.
When another audience member said Obama frightened them, McCain responded:
"I have to tell you. Senator Obama is a decent person and a person you don’t have to be scared of as President of the United States."
Now, 16 years later, that level of decency is nonexistent in the GOP's 2024 presidential candidate.
Instead of countering false conspiracy theories or bigoted rhetoric, former Republican President Donald Trump spouts them.
Trump's MAGA rallies are marked by racist rants, chants, flags, and slogans lifted directly from known White supremacist and Christian nationalist organizations. And, as with his 2016 opponent former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a great deal of sexism and misogyny that Trump supports, encourages, and spouts.
In the MAGAsphere, powerful, intelligent women who oppose their worldview are either referred to as unattractive animals or as whores who traded sex for their position. People of color are all DEI hires who didn't earn their spot.
At a Saturday campaign event in Greensboro, North Carolina, the MAGA minions continued that narrative.
And Donald Trump not only failed to counter an audience member's attempt to slut-shame his BIPOC female Democratic opponent, he encouraged it by laughing and calling the place it happened "amazing" because of it.
You can see the moment—which quickly spread across social media—here:
An hour into his rambling monologue, Trump said:
"It's terrible when Kamala says that she worked in McDonald's. And you know she labored, she labored over that french fry stove."
Again proving he has no idea how the McDonald's corporate model of independent franchises works, Trump then falsely claimed:
"So they went to, so the fake news went to McDonald's and they said no, she never worked here."
"They don't want to report it, they—but I, I bring it up as much as it—'cuz, you know why? It's so simple."
According to a survey conducted by McDonald's in 2023, one out of every eight people in the United States worked in one of their restaurants for a corporate location or one of thousands of franchise locations that have opened and closed since the company was founded in 1955.
That's approximately 42 million people alive today added to the former McDonald's employees and franchise owners that have passed away. The absurdity of the McDonald's Corporation having a master list of those tens of millions of people and being able to find a single part-time employee from the early-mid 1980s—before computer records were commonplace—seems to escape Trump and his MAGA minions.
In a demonstration of either projection or a complete lack of self-awareness, the former President who publicly lied over 35,000 times, said:
"She's a liar, a real liar, top—not a good liar, but she's a...she's a significant liar. And when you lie about something so simple."
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As Trump mumbled about his photo op at a closed McDonald's franchise:
"So, uh, she never worked there, but I did, I did a little bit."
A male audience member could be heard clearly yelling—in reference to Vice President Harris:
"She worked on the corner."
Trump laughed at the misogynistic, sexist attempt at slut-shaming.
He then remarked:
"This place is amazing."
After playing to the crowd, Trump added:
"Just remember, it's other people saying it. It's not me."
While Trump's MAGA minions in attendance loved the puerile display, people online were appalled by Trump's continued delight in the denigration of women and minorities.
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The presidential election culminates with in-person voting on Tuesday, November 5, although if 2016 and 2020 are any indication, it won't bring an end to Trump's ego-boosting MAGA rallies.
After polls close, it will take several days to tabulate all of the absentee and early votes in states where counting isn't allowed until election day.
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