BUCKS COUNTY, Pennsylvania — Jim Worthington, a Bucks County businessman and avid supporter of former President Donald Trump, handed crisp $20 bills to the cashier at the Pennsylvania McDonald’s where Trump campaigned this month as Americans donning Trump merchandise lined up to place their orders.
To Worthington, the leader of Pennsylvania’s delegation at the Republican National Convention and one of the key orchestrators of the Trump McDonald’s visit, the crowd of Trump supporters converging on the restaurant was all about standing up for the former president and the franchise in Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania, for taking risks by welcoming Trump.
“The individual that owns the franchise went out of his way, and you never know what the reaction is going to be from people that don’t agree with hosting something political,” Worthington told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “For me, I’ve had experience where they actually boycotted my business because of my support and it cost me millions of dollars in lost revenue. It takes a lot of guts to do that. I don’t know how his business has been impacted or not impacted, but I just wanted to show my appreciation.”
In the wake of Trump’s widely-publicized campaign stop at the “Golden Arches,” Yelp disabled reviews for the location amid a flood of negative comments, and the franchise’s owner retained private security to ensure the safety of employees and patrons in response to threats made against the eatery.
Several of the scores of Trump backers who came out to the McDonald’s told the DCNF that they wanted to show their support for the former president and the location that hosted him after the restaurant became a lightning rod for negativity.
Beyond the issues with negative Yelp reviews and the threats, Newsweek also ran a story after the Trump visit highlighting that the franchise failed a health inspection in the past because of things like employees not washing their hands frequently enough. While working a brief shift at the restaurant, Trump also poked fun at Vice President Kamala Harris, whose claims of working at a McDonald’s in her youth have been disputed.
“I heard that [the McDonald’s owner] was getting hassled by people on the other side, the Harris people, and they were threatening him, and they were going on social media, Yelp in particular, and they were saying, ‘Oh, the food stinks and it’s got diseases,’ or whatever,” one Trump supporter in attendance, identifying himself as Dave, told the DCNF. “So I heard that, and then finally, I just heard through the grapevine that they were going to do this tonight, so I came.”
The Trump campaign stop was such a success because McDonald’s represents “Americana,” and Trump was able to tap into that emotion with his visit, Dave told the DCNF.
To Bill, a Vietnam War veteran and Trump supporter who ate his dinner at the McDonald’s on Wednesday night, showing up was a way for him to stand behind the franchise for hosting the president despite the predictable risks of doing so.
“The sad thing is, the owner here had threats against his business and his employees, and it definitely wasn’t the Trump supporters that were doing it,” Bill told the DCNF as he chipped away at a quarter pounder and french fries. “That’s a big reason why I am here.”
Bill attended the McDonald’s get-together with Rob, another Trump voter and Vietnam veteran. Rob decided to make the trip to the Feasterville-Trevose location for the same reasons as his friend Bill, he told the DCNF.
“I heard about all the negativity that people were showering upon this particular McDonald’s, for all the positive things that Trump was showing that he was trying to do,” Chris, a Trump voter who has supported the former president ever since he came down the golden escalator in 2015, told the DCNF as he held a double quarter pounder. “What happened to this McDonald’s is not deserved, all the negativity that is being showered upon it. It’s American-owned and locally-owned. So these people don’t deserve all that. You have working Americans here, they’re trying to make a living just like everybody else in America.”
This story originally was published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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