donald trump mcdonalds with fries
(Doug Mills/The New York Times)

‘They let him in the store for 15 minutes’: Donald Trump’s McDonald’s visit sparks the same joke about E.coli outbreak everyone’s thinking

Shares in McDonalds have dropped after the fast food company was linked to an E. Coli outbreak. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed it: the onions of McDonalds Quarter Pounder burgers are likely contaminated, and though McDonalds is taking action it’s too late.

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One person has unfortunately already died of the 49 cases that have been reported. Obviously, the outbreak itself is not remotely funny. But social media users have seized upon an aspect of the situation that is darkly funny—this happened right after Donald Trump “worked” at a McDonalds and made headlines.

The presidential candidate and convicted felon did a stunt this week where he pretended to work at a McDonalds in Feasterville, Pennsylvania. It was reportedly in response to Kamala Harris having once worked at a McDonalds, a claim MAGAs constantly insist is untrue despite there being no evidence this is the case. Trump serving fries was everything one would expect from a Donald Trump appearance—it was pointless, it was rambling, and it was fake. All the “customers” at the McDonalds were screened in advance and the actual store was closed.

Oh, and it was also unhygienic, since Trump neglected to wear a hairnet. (What did we expect, really. This is a man who looks directly at solar eclipses.) And now, people are jokingly linking him with the E. Coli outbreak.

The ironic thing is, the E. Coli outbreak can actually be linked to Trump … just not in that way. Trump’s administration gutted safety regulations, including those that have to do with the making and distribution of meat. Outbreaks of diseases like E. Coli are inevitable under those conditions. Trump, though, despite his love of McDonalds, sadly isn’t the one contracting the illness. But even if he did, it’s unlikely he’d be able to make the connection between his policies and public health problems. All he cares about is power and pathetic little stunts.


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Sarah Barrett
Sarah Barrett (she/her) is a freelance writer with The Mary Sue who has been working in journalism since 2014. She loves to write about movies, even the bad ones. (Especially the bad ones.) The Raimi Spider-Man trilogy and the Star Wars prequels changed her life in many interesting ways. She lives in one of the very, very few good parts of England.