McDonald’s became a part of the 2024 election conversation after Donald Trump spent a day working there.
The campaign trip raised questions about the beloved fast food chain.
And one change for the worst at McDonald’s had Franklin Graham up in arms.
Trump steals the show at McDonald’s
One of the best moments of the 2024 election was when former President Donald Trump traveled to a McDonald’s in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and spent his time behind the counter helping cook and prepare food for hungry customers.
Vice President Kamala Harris claimed to have cooked french fries while she was in college, but no proof has ever been provided that she worked there.
She started talking about working at McDonald’s and her alleged middle class roots after she began running for President to empathize with voters struggling in the Biden-Harris economy.
Trump learned how to cook french fries at McDonald’s and even handed out orders at the drive-thru.
Democrats and their media allies fumed at how successful the event was for Trump.
Others used it as a chance to look at the changes McDonald’s made over the years.
Rev. Franklin Graham – the son of the late, great evangelist Rev. Billy Graham – joked that Trump could bring back fried apple pies to the McDonald’s menu.
“President [Donald Trump] must love [McDonald’s] as much as I do! Maybe he can help bring back FRIED APPLE PIES! MMGA – Let’s Make McDonald’s Great Again!” Graham wrote on X.
Graham commented on a trip to Poland earlier this year that McDonald’s there still deep-fried their apple pies.
McDonald’s used to fry its apple pies in the United States but switched over to baking them in 1992 because fried food was considered unhealthy.
RFK wants to make fast food healthier
Former independent Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. also weighed in on Trump’s McDonald’s visit.
He’s leading an effort to Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) after he exited the Presidential race and endorsed Trump.
Kennedy is opposed to preservatives, dyes, artificial ingredients, and seed oils like vegetable oils being used in food.
He wanted to return to the past when McDonald’s used beef tallow to fry its french fries in.
“Fast Food is a part of American culture. But that doesn’t mean it has to be unhealthy, and that we can’t make better choices. Did you know that McDonald’s used to use beef tallow to make their fries from 1940 until phasing it out in favor of seed oils in 1990?” Kennedy wrote on X.
Beef tallow is made from the fat of cows.
The decision was driven by concerns over saturated fats being unhealthy.
“This switch was made because saturated animal fats were thought to be unhealthy, but we have since discovered that seed oils are one of the driving causes of the obesity epidemic,” Kennedy continued. “Interestingly enough, this began to drastically rise around the same time fast food restaurants switched from beef tallow to seed oils in their fryers.”
People who enjoy a burger with fries on a night out aren’t to blame, and Americans should have every right to eat out at a restaurant without being unknowingly poisoned by heavily subsidized seed oils. It’s time to Make Frying Oil Tallow Again,” Kennedy added.
The changes that McDonald’s has made over the years haven’t always been for the better.
