Is Donald Trump on a roll in wake of Al Smith Catholic dinner?

Former President Donald Trump seems to have a bit of extra bounce in his step currently after he stole the show at the 79th Al Smith dinner in New York last week.

Admittedly, it wasn’t hard for him to steal the show at the Catholic charitable function and New York City society event on 17 October, as the former president turned up, whereas Vice President Kamala Harris didn’t. Traditionally attended by the opposing presidential candidates for the main political parties, Harris opted to decline the invitation and remain on the campaign trail, instead sending in a pre-recorded message for the dinner.

It left Trump delivering what Spectator World describes as “some choice one liners” during his speech, often at his opponent’s expense – “Instead of attending tonight, she is in Michigan receiving Communion from Gretchen Whitmer,” Trump said, referencing the controversy around the Michigan governor feeding a Dorito chip to a Canadian influencer who looked like she was kneeling – as well as demonstrating impressive comic timing and delivery.

That performance has now been easily surpassed, with another that’s getting far more attention already, after the former president took the standup-esque routine to the drive-through window of a McDonald’s in Featersville-Trevose, Pennsylvania, on Sunday 20 October.

Wearing an apron, the Republican presidential nominee cooked, salted and handed out fries through the kerbside window, chatting with drivers and fielding questions from journalists in what “made for a masterful PR stunt”, says Spectator World (the US version of the Spectator).

It notes how Kamala Harris has previously talked about her time flipping burgers at McDonald’s “in an attempt to appear sympathetic to the concerns of the working class”. But that claim has continued to garner contention – especially from the Republicans – about whether the vice president ever worked for the chain, representing “a punch-back at her purported working-class bona fides”.

While the former president was humbly serving fries, Kamala Harris was visiting the swing state of Georgia to boost her religious credentials with voters there. She attended two church services, during one of which she spoke about how her exposure to religion during her youth in California had influenced her politics, while also drawing on the famous parable of the Good Samaritan.

Whether the Trump campaign knew where Harris would be, Spectator World says that “there is something innately amusing” and striking about Trump at the same time “visiting a very different kind of American temple”.

Whether that comedic value might resonate with voters is impossible to say. But there are increasing indications that among various concerns for the Harris campaign, one of them is her potential lack of appeal with young men, who, conversely, it is feared are being drawn to the Trump vote.

At the same time – and which may have been a factor in the Harris visit to Georgia – Trump has also make a big play for the religious, and especially Catholic, vote already. So much so that he may well have judged that Catholics would view his stint at MacDonald’s on the Sabbath sympathetically (if not favourably, in terms of seeing the funny side to it).

Presently, almost a quarter of voters in the battleground state of Pennsylvania identify as Catholic, according to the Pew Research Center. Other critical states like Nevada and Michigan are 25 per cent and 18 per cent Catholic respectively. Arizona, another swing state, is 21 per cent Catholic.

It’s notable that in regard to Trump’s involvement at both events – the Al Smith dinner and the drive through at McDonald’s – much of the mainstream press has done its best to paint Trump in an unfavourable light.

During the Al Smith dinner, the Guardian provided a helpful live feed on everything Trump said, in which they made sure to highlight any contentious, risque or “phobic” joke or comment the president made.

Reporting on his appearance at McDonald’s, the New York Times went with the headline of “As Trump Served Up McDonald’s Fries, Vitriol Boiled Outside”, reporting that “supporters of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, some in weird costumes, gathered along a roadside and screamed at one another”.

While neither case of reporting is inaccurate, they are slanted, if not overplayed, while at the same time very much leaving aside other inconvenient factors. Such as how during both events the former president looked relatively confident, at ease and as if he was rather enjoying himself. This at the same time that many media are trying to raise questions about his age, stamina and cognitive abilities, etc.

Those questions aren’t unjustified (though the same media never raised such points in regard to Joe Biden until the last moment when it was impossible not to). Either way, it seems that the former president, despite the increasing years, can for now still at least tell a joke and connect with ordinary voters.

And that ability alone could go a long way during the next 15 days, as Americans start early voting, and then do so on the big day of 5 November itself – especially if the former president can keep it up.

Photo: Republican presidential nominee former US President Donald Trump works behind the counter making french fries during a visit to McDonald’s restaurant in Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania, USA, 20 October 2024. (Photo by Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images.)

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