Donald Trump Ordering At Chick-fil-A

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About

Donald Trump Ordering At Chick-fil-A refers to a viral video and photograph of former President Donald Trump talking to workers at a Chick-fil-A location during a campaign stop in Atlanta, Georgia on April 10th, 2024. Video and photographs of the event spread widely on social media that day, with many commenting on the scene as an illustration of Trump's fame, power and appeal to diverse audiences. Trump himself used the opportunity to talk about how he would appeal to minority voters in the upcoming 2024 presidential election.

Origin

On April 10th, 2024, after a campaign stop in Atlanta, Georgia, Donald Trump went to a Chick-fil-A followed by members of the press and reportedly ordered 30 milkshakes and some fried chicken.^[1] During his stop, he joked that, as a habitual eater of fast food, he knew the menu better than the employees themselves.

A photograph and a video taken of the all-Black staff at the Chick-fil-A greeting Trump as he ordered spread widely online, and Trump took it as an occasion to discuss his supposed appeal to Black voters, commenting that Jews and Blacks only voted for Democrats "out of habit."

On X / Twitter, an early post of the video by The Daily Loud earned over 120,000 likes and 12,000 reposts in a day on April 10th (seen below).^[2] Other outlets also posted videos from the event as it garnered virality online.

Spread

On X, right-wing media personalities like Benny Johnson (seen below) reposted the video on April 10th, 2024, with commentary about how it purportedly proved Donald Trump's popularity. Johnson's post earned over 17,000 likes in a day.^[3]

Some posters, like X user @uberboyo, remarked on what they perceived as Trump's "memetic power" in the image. Posting on April 10th, @uberboyo's tweet earned over 12,000 likes in a day (seen below).^[6]

Others argued that the photo-op must have been a setup since they found it unlikely that the entire staff of the Chick-fil-A location would be enthusiastic about Trump. For example, the X account @PalmerReport earned over 6,400 likes in less than a day for arguing the video was staged.^[7]

Users also shared the video on Reddit, posting it on political subreddits like /r/trump but also more general interest subreddits, such as /r/mildlyinteresting, where Redditor /u/Go_PC earned over 750 upvotes in less than a day and over 150 comments for an April 10th post.^[4]

The video was also posted to TikTok as it continued to spread. The most-liked post about it as of April 11th was one made on April 10th, 2024, by TikToker @independentreporter9495, a right-leaning news repost account, which earned over 680,000 views and 61,000 likes in less than a day (shown below).^[5]