Tangle - Trump's visit to McDonald's.

Episode Date: October 22, 2024

On Sunday, former president and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump manned the fry station and handed out drive-through orders at a McDonald's in Feasterville-Trevose, a Philadelphia suburb in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania. Afterward, he held an informal press conference with reporters.Ad-free podcasts are here!Many listeners have been asking for an ad-free version of this podcast that they could subscribe to — and we finally launched it. You can go to tanglemedia.supercast.com to sign up!You can read today's podcast⁠ ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠, our “Under the Radar” story ⁠here and today’s “Have a nice day” story ⁠here⁠.Check out Episode 7 of our podcast series, The Undecideds. Please give us a 5-star rating and leave a comment!Take the survey: How does Trump’s McDonald’s event affect your view of the candidates? Let us know!You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here. Our podcast is written by Isaac Saul and edited and engineered by Jon Lall. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75. Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Will Kaback, Bailey Saul, Sean Brady, and produced in conjunction with Tangle’s social media manager Magdalena Bokowa, who also created our logo. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Searchlight Pictures comes A Real Pain, one of the most moving and funny films of the year. Written and directed by Oscar-nominated Jesse Eisenberg and starring Eisenberg and Emmy Award winner Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain is a comedy about mismatched cousins who reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the pair's old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history. A Real Pain was one of the buzziest titles at Sundance Film Festival this year, garnering rave reviews and acclaim from both critics and audiences alike. See A Real Pain only in theaters November 15th.

Whether renting, renewing a mortgage, or considering buying a home, everybody has housing costs on their minds. For free tools and resources to help you manage your home finances, visit Canada.ca slash it pays to know. A message from the Government of Canada. Based on Charles Yu's award-winning book, Interior Chinatown follows the story of Willis Wu, a background character trapped in a police procedural who dreams about a world beyond Chinatown. When he inadvertently becomes a witness to a crime, Willis begins to unravel a criminal web,

his family's buried history, and what it feels like to be in the spotlight. Interior Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. From executive producer Isaac Saul, this is Tangle. and thinking, and a little bit of my take. I'm your host, Isaac Saul, and on today's episode, we're going to be talking about former President Donald Trump's visit to McDonald's. Yeah, this became controversial somehow. Actually, I'm not confused about how it's because it's election season. Everything's controversial. I know it sounds like maybe a dumb story. I actually think, I mean, in some senses, it is a dumb story, but there's some interesting layers here and some stuff that I think is worth talking about and some debates worth fleshing out. So we're going to do that. Before we do, though, a couple of things. First of all, we have fixed our subscriber issue. So if you were somebody waiting to subscribe who wasn't able to over

the weekend because of the technical difficulties, you can do that now by going to tanglemedia.supercast.com. Second, very excited to announce that we're up for a Shorty Award. For those of you who don't know, the Shorty Awards are one of the biggest, most prestigious awards in the kind of internet web business realm. And we are a finalist in the news and media category. This is big. It's a really big deal for us. As part of the award process, there is a public vote. So this is a chance for you to make your voices heard about us.

I know it's annoying. I know that I honestly almost never do this. Like if I'm listening to a podcast or even, you know, supporting some group and they're like, hey, go vote for us in this public poll. I don't do it. So I know many of you are not going to do it, but I'm pleading with you anyway. Go do it. There's a link in our episode description. You could do it in like 30 seconds. It would make a huge difference to us i will tell you right now there is one small annoying thing which is you're going to be asked to log in or create an account to vote which sucks but it is how the shorty awards make sure that people aren't just spam voting

so please go vote and if you are really super fans super want to support us i think you can actually vote once a day. They allow that. So go create the account. The link is in our episode description. It literally takes 30 seconds. I did it. You can go vote. I would really, really appreciate it. All right. With that out of the way, I'm going to send it over to John for the main topic, and I'll be back for my take. take. Thank you, Isaac, and welcome, everybody. Here are your quick hits for today. First up, the House Task Force investigating the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump released its interim findings, calling the shooting at Trump's rally in Pennsylvania on July 13th a preventable incident caused by a lack of planning and coordination between the

Secret Service and local law enforcement partners. Number two, the trial of Daniel Perry, who is charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for putting a homeless man in a chokehold in New York City on a subway car in 2023, began on Monday in Manhattan. Number three, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel to push for a ceasefire deal for the last time before the election. Separately, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine and announced that the U.S. would be sending

an additional $400 million in military aid to the country. Number four, the Biden administration paused student loan repayments for roughly 8 million borrowers enrolled in the administration's SAVE plan for an additional six months. Separately, President Biden proposed a rule that would mandate that health plans cover over-the-counter birth control. And number five, Moldovans narrowly voted in favor of a referendum to join the European Union after applying to join the union in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Former President Donald Trump campaigned in the swing state of Pennsylvania yesterday, a little more than two weeks before Election Day. One of his stops was a McDonald's restaurant north of Philadelphia.

Trump spent some time working the fry station and greeting customers at the drive-thru window. The franchised shop was closed much of the day as the former president worked the fryer under detailed instructions. Then, during the highly stage-managed campaign event, Trump delivered fast food through the drive-in window. The pre-selected occupants of all six cars expressed their support before driving away. And there'll be no charge Trump is paying for. Is that okay? Afterward, Trump talked to reporters through the window where he repeated his unproven claim that Vice President Kamala Harris never worked at McDonald's during college,

as she has asserted. I've now worked for 15 minutes more than Kamala. Outside, hundreds gathered to cheer him on. On Sunday, former President and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump manned the Fry Station and handed out drive-thru orders at a McDonald's in Feasterville, Traverse, a Philadelphia suburb in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania. Afterward, he held an informal press conference with reporters. Trump's visit to the McDonald's comes after weeks of claiming that Vice President Kamala Harris, despite what she has said while campaigning, did not work at McDonald's while in college. Trump has not backed this claim with evidence, though Harris's claim has only been verified by

a friend who recalled her working there in the early 1980s. On Sunday, McDonald's sent a memo to franchisees noting that it did not have employment records for all employees dating back to the 1980s. During the roughly 30-minute event, an employee showed Trump how to dunk fries in oil and boxed them up. While handing out orders to customers, Trump addressed reporters saying he would respect the results of the vote next month if it's a fair election. Asked if he would support a minimum wage increase for McDonald's workers after seeing them in action, Trump deflected, saying, these people work hard, they're great. Trump's visit became an immediate source of controversy. Many liberal pundits criticized that the visit was a photo op, while a Harris campaign spokesperson said,

the visit showed exactly what we would see in a second Trump term, exploiting working people for his own personal gain. Conversely, Trump supporters said it was a perfect example of the former president's ability to connect with the working class voter. Shortly after the visit, McDonald shared a statement with franchisees saying the company is not a political brand and is not endorsing candidates. Meanwhile, the owner of the Feasterville Traverse McDonald's defended the decision to host Trump. It is a fundamental value of my organization that we proudly open our doors to everyone who visits the Feasterville community, Derek Giacomo Antonio said in a statement. That's why I accepted former President Trump's request

to observe the transformative working experience that one in eight Americans have had, a job at McDonald's. Today, we're going to take a look at some commentary from the left and the right about the visit, and then Isaac's take. We'll be right back after this quick break. Based on Charles Yu's award-winning book, Interior Chinatown follows the story of Willis Wu, a background character trapped in a police procedural who dreams about a world beyond Chinatown. When he inadvertently becomes a witness to a crime, Willis begins to unravel a criminal web, his family's buried history, and what it feels like to be in the spotlight.

Interior Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. Are you sure you parked over here? Do you see it anywhere? I think it's back this way. Come on. Hey, you're going the wrong way. Feeling distracted? You're not alone. Whether renting, considering buying a home, or renewing a mortgage, many Canadians are finding it hard to focus with housing costs on their minds. For free tools and resources to help you manage your home finances and clear your head, visit Canada.ca slash ItPaysToKnow. A message from the Government of Canada. All right, first up, let's start with what the left is saying. The left views the visit as a stunt, though some note that both campaigns are using McDonald's to appeal to voters. Many criticize Trump's comments about the minimum wage during the event.

Others say the entire event was built around promoting a lie about Harris's work history. In the New York Times, Marcia Chatelain wrote about the enduring symbolism of McDonald's. In presidential politics, you have to meet potential voters where they are. So every four years, churches, college campuses, and even barbershops become the mainstays of the presidential campaign circuit. But this year, the contenders have added the McDonald's fry station, Chatelain said. The public's image of the typical McDonald's employee has overlapped with the elusive voter both parties are hoping to secure in the last days of the race. The Trump and Harris campaigns have relied on the American dream of industry and

unbridled capitalism to tell a story about social mobility and who can deliver it more to Americans. The story of who owns and who works at McDonald's is part of that story. By the 1980s, when Ms. Harris was donning her McDonald's uniform, the restaurant was a beacon of hope for minority entrepreneurship, but also a symbol of economic marginalization of workers of all colors, Chatelaine wrote. Although there are many things that Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris disagree on, their view of the role of McDonald's in economic mobility is something they share. Both candidates appear to be running on the idea that Black voters are enamored of promises of the free market more so than guarantees for fair wages and labor protections. In Salon, Ashley D. Stevens said Trump's McDonald's stunt highlights his disregard for minimum wage workers. While the

scene might seem like typical campaign theater, it highlights a larger irony in Trump's relationship with fast food, and more specifically with the minimum wage workers who typically make it. For years, Trump has cultivated a populist image, frequently exalting his love for McDonald's, Burger King, and other chains, Stevens wrote. However, while Trump is known for his love of fast food, this latest stunt highlights a stark irony. While Trump is known for his love of fast food, this latest stunt highlights a stark irony. The same man who celebrates McDonald's burgers seems to belittle the workers who serve them, as evidenced by both his past policies and current attitudes. And Trump's latest attempt to turn Harris' work history into a punchline simply underscores his broader pattern of thoughtlessly dismissing the value of minimum wage jobs. For instance, while standing in the McDonald's drive-thru,

Trump was asked multiple times if he supported raising the federal minimum wage jobs. For instance, while standing in the McDonald's drive-thru, Trump was asked multiple times if he supported raising the federal minimum wage. During his first presidential campaign, Trump seemingly toyed with the idea of supporting a $10 minimum wage instead of the current $7.25 per hour, but ultimately said he'd rather leave it to the states. Let the states decide, Stevens said. Ultimately, Trump's McDonald's stunt serves as a reminder of the contradictions at the heart of his populist appeal. He may love fast food, but his rhetoric and policies often undermine the people who make it. In USA Today, Rex Hupke suggested that the event promoted a really dumb and dishonest point. On Sunday, the Trump campaign took over a McDonald's in Feasterville, Pennsylvania, thanks to a franchisee, Derek Giacomo Antonio, who agreed to close the restaurant to the public for the day.

That allowed Trump's handlers to stage manage a fake shift, with Trump making some fries and working the drive-thru window, Hupke wrote. Trump wearing a McDonald's apron drew comparisons to Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis' disastrous 1988 photo op in an M1 Abrams tank. Both moments featured candidates looking dumb and wholly out of place. What made the elaborates done particularly ridiculous was the reason behind it. Trump wasn't trying to appeal to voters who work in the fast food or service industries. He was trying to make an inconsequential and unfounded point, Hupke said. He has literally nothing to back up the accusation. And also, who cares? It's a tiny part of Harris' background and work experience. But because Trump is the smallest person on the planet,

he has to make a big to-do about it because he thinks it's a sick burn. All right, that is it for what the left is saying, which brings us to what the right is saying. The right says the visit showed Trump in a favorable light and reinforced the negative impacts of the Biden administration's policies on the working class. Some call the event a tactical success for the Trump campaign. Others criticized the media's and Democrats' reaction to the visit. The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote about Trump, Harris, and McDonald's. It was a nice photo op, but the fast food aficionado missed a bigger opportunity to highlight how Kamala Harris' agenda endangers such jobs and franchise restaurants, the board said. restaurants, the board said. Fast food jobs provide young people lessons in treating customers courteously, showing up on time, and taking and following orders, which can serve them well throughout their careers. So why does the vice president want to make it harder to work there?

Like other restaurant chains, McDonald's has had to cope with a tight labor market and inflationary costs. This has contributed to higher prices. The average cost of a Big Mac meal nationwide has increased to $9.29 from $7.29 in 2019. A hamburger Happy Meal has risen to $4.69 from $3, the board wrote. Progressives accuse McDonald's of price gouging, but its prices have increased in line with the costs of goods and labor. Yet Ms. Harris wants to give the Federal Trade Commission authority to punish alleged price gouging by the food industry, that is, fixed prices. FTC Chair Lena Kahn's agency would determine if McDonald's franchisees are charging too much for a happy meal. In Fox News, David Marcus said Trump's McDonald's visit served up four brilliant political moments. In one event, Trump's savvy campaign team slew

four political dragons, leaving Vice President Kamala Harris's central argument strewn across the floor like a spilled McFlurry, Marcus wrote. First, Trump's playful manner with employees and supporters alike clearly humanizes a man that Democrats need to convince voters is some kind of combination of Stalin, Hitler, and the Hamburglar. Second, Trump's campaign completely dominated the news cycle all day. At a stage in the campaign when winning each day is the central and most important goal. Third, Trump had the opportunity to further mock Harris over her alleged stolen McDonald's valor. After all, this is a woman who wanted to inspect Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's high school yearbook,

but can't recall where the Mickey D she worked at was. Finally, and most importantly, the spectacle made it completely obvious that Trump is neither exhausted nor senile, a lie that the entire liberal media sang in chorus all weekend, Marcus said. Whether it's putting on an apron at McDonald's or chopping it up at a barbershop in the Bronx, Donald Trump is just a gifted retail politician. In hot air, David Strom called the visit, There is something glorious about how Donald Trump keeps breaking the minds of the elite. It is his most charming characteristic,

and probably one of the key reasons why there is a preference cascade that may carry him to victory in just over two weeks, Strom wrote. You can see their heads explode as Trump served french fries to the proles. It was so gauche and popped Kamala's bubble by exposing her phony claim that she worked at McDonald's. Nobody cared whether she actually worked there. They cared that she so casually lied about it in a vain attempt to seem relatable. She puts on McDonald's employee the same way she adopts a phony accent, with contempt for her audience. Trump doesn't cosplay being a pro.

He is who he is. He is a billionaire and proud of it, and is also pure Americana. He's not all about transnational high culture. He loves fries like the rest of us, Strom said. Trump's McDonald's stunt will not win him the election, because no one event will win him the election. But it is symbolic of what makes Trump a force in American politics. He is who he is, and even if he is not like us, he understands us in a way that nobody on the left ever could. All right, let's head over to Isaac for his take.

All right, that is it for what the left and the right are saying, which brings us to my take. So obviously this McDonald's video was staged, and I think that's important to say, but I want to start by describing just how staged it was. Feastiville was well briefed about Trump's visit. I saw a friend from home post about it on Instagram before it happened. Thousands of people lined the streets before he arrived. Drivers rehearsed their drive-thrus. The customers were vetted by the Secret Service before going anywhere near the window, and so on. We didn't witness some impromptu shift in McDonald's, and Trump wasn't really putting himself out there randomly with the public, which, by the way, is understandable given he's a former president who's also been

the target of two assassination attempts since July. This isn't to say Trump didn't serve up some authentic or genuinely endearing moments. He's a known germaphobe and seemed to delight in the fact that he didn't have to touch any of the fries to make his order. His ability to casually chum it up with the other workers inside the McDonald's and some of the fries to make his order. His ability to casually chum it up with the other workers inside the McDonald's and some of the customers is exactly the kind of retail politics that he's always been much better at than most other politicians. He can make people laugh and look comfortable chatting with the employees. Moments like this are a core part of Trump's appeal, and he executed the visit to near perfection. My point is just that in the final days of the

presidential campaign, you should remember that visits like this are all theater. Trump obviously wanted to use this visit to draw attention to Harris's purported record of working at McDonald's. I've now worked at McDonald's for 15 minutes more than Kamala, Trump said from the drive-thru window shortly after arriving. Candidly, I can't say for certain whether Harris did or did not work at McDonald's. There's plenty of reason to doubt her. Harris only mentioned working at McDonald's for the first time publicly five years ago, in the middle of running for president in 2019. She never mentioned it in two autobiographical books, and it has only been verified by one friend who said she heard it from Harris's mom. The lack of hard evidence bolsters the point. Five years after college,

she applied for a law clerk job and was asked to list every job she'd held in the last 10 years. She left out her time at McDonald's. McDonald's itself says it has no record of her working there, but it also says it does not have complete work records going back to the 1980s when she purported to work there. None of that looks great for Harris. At the same time, I could tell you honestly that I worked as a busboy at several restaurants, as a janitor at a veterinarian's office, as a landscaper throughout college, but I would not have listed those on applications for full-time journalism work. And if you wanted me to prove to you that I had all those jobs, I think it would be pretty difficult to produce records or photographic evidence.

So it's totally plausible that Harris had this job and only introduced it as part of her political biography recently in an obvious attempt to build some working-class connection with voters as a national candidate. Trump is capitalizing on ambiguity, and it might be smart. Even though wrongly disputing a political rival's background is something Trump has done before, see Obama's birth certificate, fudging working-class bona fides is just the kind of thing a politician like Harris would do, too.

Setting aside his motivations, I think the visit was unambiguously smart politics from Trump. It's Bucks County, and you all know how I feel about that. The margins in my home county will decide Pennsylvania, which could decide the election. Visiting places like Bucks is not particularly novel, but working the shift, throwing on the apron, dishing out a few orders, it worked. The visit and the Harris campaign response also says a lot about how both Harris and Trump are trying to appeal to working class voters. Trump wants to turn out specific kinds of working class voters that doesn't just eat at a place like McDonald's, but works there.

His brand of politics is to make these voters feel something, to make them feel seen. These visits communicate the message, I know you were there, that Trump recognizes their day-to-day lives. That feeling he gives normal Americans is still the central advantage of how he campaigns. Harris and Democrats writ large tend to approach these voters differently. In this case, her team responded to Trump's visit by just claiming that he's never worked a real job and was handed his wealth on a silver platter. They responded by deriding Trump. In other contexts, Democrats want to convince voters that they can change their day-to-day livelihoods. The common refrain from Harris or Democrats during this election has been, I will do X thing for you. In this case,

it's to raise the minimum wage, which Harris has described as poverty pay. So Trump tries to make these voters feel seen without promising anything, and Trump tries to make these voters feel seen without promising anything, and Harris tries to make them feel hope for a different future. I'm not passing judgment on either approach. I think each strategy has worked in past campaigns, and they work differently for different voters. Now, if Trump had used this visit to announce he supported raising the minimum wage, I think he could have made days of headlines and political hay. He didn't. So voters have to decide whether they care about Trump's gesture, and they'll land in different places. In the end, it was smart stuff from Trump, and it allowed him to give off some quote-unquote normal vibes amid a slew of headlines comparing him to Hitler or claiming

he's lost his marbles. Given where we are in the campaign, that's a win for him. We'll be right back after this quick break. From Searchlight Pictures comes A Real Pain, one of the most moving and funny films of the year. Written and directed by Oscar-nominated Jesse Eisenberg and starring Eisenberg and Emmy Award winner Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain is a comedy about mismatched cousins who reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the pair's old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history. A Real Pain was one of the buzziest titles at Sundance Film Festival this year, garnering rave reviews and acclaim from both critics and audiences alike. See A Real Pain only in theaters November 15th.

The flu remains a serious disease. Last season, over 102,000 influenza cases have been reported across Canada, which is nearly double the historic average of 52,000 cases. What can you do this flu season? Talk to your pharmacist or doctor about getting a flu shot. Consider FluCellVax Quad and help protect yourself from the flu. It's the first cell-based flu vaccine authorized in Canada for ages 6 months and older, and it may be available for free in your province.

Side effects and allergic reactions can occur, and 100% protection is not guaranteed. Learn more at FluCellVax.ca. Got a mortgage? Chances are you're thinking about your payments right now. Need help? Ask your bank about relief measures that may be available to you. Learn more at canada.ca slash it pays to know. A message from the Government of Canada. all right that is it for my take which brings us to your questions answered this one's from david in boulder colorado david said tangle is basically my only source of news and i don't make

time to seek out news from any other sources i often don't even follow up on the topics covered by clicking the links to the sources in the newsletter. My question is, what is your honest opinion on this practice? Do you find it morally or ethically justifiable for a Tangle reader to make Tangle their only source of information? All right, this is a tough one. I appreciate the honesty and the question. The short answer, if I can give it to you in two sentences, is if you are only going to read one

news source, then Tangle is a great option. But I would not suggest doing this, at least not every day. The longer answer is this. One of the reasons I created Tangle was specifically for people like you. I know there are a lot of political junkies out there who read or listen to Tangle amid a dozen other news sources every day, and I very much appreciate their business and readership. But I also recognize that finding a wide range of opinions should be easier than spending hours a day reading or consulting dozens of different sources.

So I wanted to put them all in one place. I wanted to make it easy for people to do. Ideally, to me, Tangle will get people like you, who only have 10 to20 minutes a day, to spend on political news a well-rounded breakdown of really important issues, something with balance, nuance, and multiple perspectives. If 10-20 minutes is really all you can manage, then I think you will genuinely be more informed with us than with any other single news outlet. At the same time, I also recognize that we are limited.

For starters, we are often aggregating or summarizing original reporting that other people do, and I always recommend reading original reporting. We also are literally limited in length. As a newsletter, if we go too long, our emails get clipped or cut off. And we have a harder time including multimedia, like videos or photos, that might be important context for some stories. Finally, we are perhaps best used as a jumping off point. I think you can always find more depth and valuable information in the stories we cover by following links in Tangle, so if you want to have a deeper understanding of an issue, I encourage you to do that. So yes, it's morally or ethically okay to just read our coverage, but I also encourage you to

read us with a skeptical eye and to go deeper on topics we cover whenever you want more information or find yourself with a few extra minutes. All right, that is it for your reader question, and I'm going to send it back to John. Before I go, though, I do want to let you know I am traveling tomorrow. I will be out of the studio out of Philadelphia for a few days. As those of you in the Frisbee world know, this is a big weekend in our niche little sport. It is Club Nationals out in San Diego, California. So I'm going to be headed west to go coach the team from New York. I'm bringing my microphone with me and it's possible you hear my voice in the coming days,

but it's also possible not, depending on how my travel goes. So there is a chance you may not hear from me for a few days, in which case you're in the very capable hands of John and Ari and maybe even Will, who might hop on the pod while I'm gone. So I hope you guys enjoy the next few days. If you don't hear from me, you know that I am out west coaching. I'll be overseeing things from afar, but a little bit limited on the studio and audio stuff. And I'll be excited to get back with you next week as the election nears. So see you then. Peace. Thanks, Isaac. Here's your under the radar story for today, folks. With two weeks until Election Day, two critical Senate races are shifting away from incumbents.

On Monday, Cook Political Report revised its rating for the Pennsylvania Senate race between Democratic Senator Bob Casey and Republican challenger Dave McCormick from lean Democrat to toss-up after internal polling showed the contest within the margin of error. polling showed the contest within the margin of error. Additionally, Cook Political shifted the Nebraska Senate race between incumbent Debbie Fisher, the Republican, and Dan Osborne, independent, from likely Republican to lean Republican. Polling in both races has tightened over the past month, with Casey currently leading McCormick by 4.1 points in 538's polling average and Fisher leading by just 1.1 points. The late shift means Democrats are now defending four seats rated by Cook Political as toss-ups, while Republicans now have two rated lean Republican but no toss-ups. Cook Political Report has this story, and there's a link in today's episode description. All right, next up is our numbers section.

The number of Americans who have worked at McDonald's at some point is one in eight, according to the restaurant chain. The approximate percentage of Americans who consume McDonald's in a given year is 90%. The percentage increase in the average price of a Big Mac in the U.S. between 2019 and 2024 is 21%. The percentage of Democrats who say they would be less likely to purchase from a company that endorses a candidate from the opposing party is 68%, according to an August 2024 Gallup survey. The percentage of Republicans who say they would be less likely to purchase from a company that endorses a candidate for the opposing party is 61%. The

percentage of U.S. adults who think businesses should take a public stance on current events is 38%. And the percentage of U.S. adults who think businesses should take a public stance on political candidates is 17%. All right, and last but not least, our Have a Nice Day story. For 20,000 Americans living with a severe form of sickle cell disease, there has been little hope for a treatment option. But last December, the FDA approved a new gene therapy. The treatment itself is still arduous and difficult to obtain, but the end result leaves individuals able to enjoy movement in a way they couldn't before.

I haven't felt all the amazingness yet, said 12-year-old Kendrick Kroemer after completing his treatment, but I am slowly starting to feel better. The New York Times has this story, and there's a link in today's episode description. All right, everybody, that is it for today's episode. As always, if you'd like to support our work, please go to retangle.com and sign up for a membership. And you can now also sign up for premium podcast memberships, providing you with ad free daily podcasts, as well as Friday additions, Sunday additions, and future bonus content and interviews that we'll be posting there. We'll be right back here tomorrow for Isaac and the rest of the crew. This is John Maul signing off. Have a great day.

Peace. Have a great day, y'all. Peace. Our podcast is written by me, Isaac Saul, and edited and engineered by John Wall. The script is edited by our managing editor, Ari Weitzman, Will Kabak, Bailey Saul, and Sean Brady. The logo for our podcast was designed by Magdalena Bacoba, who is also our social media manager. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet75. If you're looking for more from Tangle, please go to readtangle.com and check out our website.