Despite the myriad political failures of his second term, Donald Trump still has an annoying skill. His reality TV-style antics create the illusion that he’s relatable, even though, having grown up with unimaginable wealth, he’s probably never performed basic everyday tasks like grocery shopping, filling a gas tank or DoorDashing an order from McDonald’s.
On Monday the president emerged from the Oval Office to receive two bags of his beloved cheeseburgers and French fries from Sharon Simmons of Arkansas, a 58-year-old who quickly became known as “DoorDash Grandma.” The staged photo-op was meant to showcase Trump’s near-meaningless “no taxes on tips” policy. But White House reporters, clearly starved for a break from the stress of covering the administration’s non-stop scandals, lapped up the opportunity for a feel-good story. As Parker Molloy detailed in her Present Age newsletter, the press played along with the stunt, pretending in headlines — and sometimes in the stories themselves — that Simmons actually drove in from Arkansas to deliver food, ignoring that she’s an anti-tax activist who has previously played this Everywoman role for Republicans in need of her services.
