
<p>In recent days, President Trump engaged in a symbolic outreach to the working class – specifically the officially declared “unskilled workers” at an iconic fast food outlet, McDonalds. ; Coincidentally, Vice President Harris held a “townhall” meeting with former Wyoming Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney.</p>



<p>Trump’s event had him working the french fry maker and drive thru window at the fast food outlet. ; It was a photo op to reflect Trump’s concern for those working at the bottom of the wage scale. ; It was a fun event – with seemingly happy co-workers and drive thru customers. ; No one looked happier than Trump – who was smiling and joking throughout the event. ; He came across as a fun guy. ; By most objective accounts, it was a win for Trump.</p>



<p>That is not how Team Harris and her media cronies saw it, however. They jumped on it as if Trump was caught robbing a McDonalds rather than working at one. They called it a staged event. Well duh! Presidential campaigns are mostly staged events.</p>



<p>They said that the McDonalds was not really open for business – and that the customers were simply folks recruited to drive up to the drive-thru window. ; They said Trump looked silly slipping fries into the little cardboard holders while wearing a white shirt and his iconic red tie. ; They put up memes of Trump as Ronald McDonald. ; They even claimed that his event was insulting to fast food workers. ;</p>



<p>Of course, the event was staged. ; Do Democrats really believe that a President – who has had two serious attempts on his life – can walk around in unvetted crowds? ; McDonalds had to be shut down from random customers – just as businesses and roads are shut down every time Harris travels someplace. ; It is called security. ; ;</p>



<p>The criticism was so intense, I knew Trump’s Micky Dee’s event was a huge political success. ; It was an image event – not an issue event. ; When it comes to addressing the major issues – and responding to press and voters’ questions – Trump engages in real unscripted events virtually every day. ;</p>



<p>Not so with Harris. She is locked down and isolated more than any candidate in modern American history (with the possible exception of her boss, President Biden). When they talk about Harris traveling to be with the voters, they do not mean casual or open exchanges. No. No. No. She remains in a bubble that is not to be penetrated by random voters. Hell &#8230; she does not even hold press conferences.</p>



<p>The best comparison between the Trump approach and Harris’ was the Vice President’s recently (mis)named town hall meeting with Republican apostate Liz Cheney. A town hall meeting implies that the candidate will take to the stage to respond to questions generated and asked by average voters. That does not happen with Harris.</p>



<p>The Harris/Cheney town hall meeting could not have been more staged and scripted if it had been produced as a scene from a movie. Of course, Cheney and the others on the stage were programmed. That is not surprising or unusual. But what made the Harris/Cheney town hall meeting a complete fraud was the fact that all the questions were pre-arranged – pre-scripted. It was an infomercial billed as a town hall meeting.</p>



<p>We know this because the moderator of the town hall meeting – Kennedy clan-er Maria Shriver (nee Schwarzenegger) – spitted out the truth in a moment of uncontrolled candor. Just prior to the beginning of the town hall meeting, Shriver was asked by a member of the audience if they would have an opportunity to ask questions. Shriver said “no” because all the questions were pre-arranged.</p>



<p>That is understandable when you consider how badly Harris flubs questions that are not in the script – questions that require more than a robotic talking-point response. ; This becomes more noticeable when the media – usually Fox News – runs a dozen of her appearances in which she says the same exact words at each appearance –and in response to each question.</p>



<p>So &#8230; when taking a deeper dive into these two political events, what do we see? ; We see one staged event with no pretense of being anything other than a positive photo op – and one event that is designed to appear to be what it is not.</p>



<p>Voters are smart. ; They understand that McDonalds’ event was for optics and image. ; It was not a serious issue event. ; Trump has many of those on a daily basis. ; That is true whether one likes or dislikes his stand on the issues – or even his personal style.</p>



<p>The Harris/Cheney event was designed to hopefully fool voters – to make it appear that the Vice President was actually responding to real questions from average voters. ; Since one of the questions in the campaign is how well voters know the real Harris, such scripted repetitions of standard talking points add nothing to public knowledge. ; It is reasonable to assume that Harris &; Company do not want voters to know what she really thinks and what she really would do as President. ;</p>



<p>One of Harris’ cliché phrases is “I want to be very clear” even though the campaign goes to the extreme to prevent her position on critical issues from being very clear. That was again seen in the Harris/Cheney mock town hall meeting.</p>



<p>The irony of the criticism of the Trump/McDonalds event is that it gave it a lot more exposure over a longer period of time. ; It was a good event for Trump that the hapless Harris team’s criticisms turned into a great event.</p>



<p>So, there ‘tis.</p>

A tale of two political events – Trump’ at McDonalds versus Harris’ CNN townhall
