Sanders blasts Trump for dodging question on raising living wage at McDonald’s

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) criticized former President Trump on Sunday for dodging a question during last week's campaign stop at McDonald's about raising the minimum wage to a living wage.

“You may recall, just a few weeks ago Donald Trump did his photo opportunity at a McDonald’s. All right, he loves McDonald’s. Great. But he's asked the question, ‘Do you think we should raise the minimum wage to a living wage so that people at McDonalds and millions of other workers don't have to live on starvation wages?’ He ducked the question,” Sanders said in an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press.”

“Now, how does that happen, that a billionaire cannot support raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to a living wage?” Sanders asked. “Kamala Harris supports raising the minimum wage to at least 15 bucks an hour. I would go higher. But for a billionaire to force people to be working for 9, 10, 11 bucks an hour is absolutely absurd.”

Trump visited the fast-food chain in Bucks County, Pa., last Sunday, donning an apron and briefly working the drive-thru and the french fry station.

Many Democrats have sharply criticized the former president for holding the photo opportunity.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) spoke at an event with the United Auto Workers (UAW) last week and said, “You’ve got Donald Trump putting on a little McDonald’s costume because he thinks that’s what people do.”

“They’re not trying to empathize with us. They are making fun of us,” she continued. “Donald Trump thinks that people who work at McDonald’s are a joke.”

The Trump campaign has sought to capitalize on the visit, selling T-shirts with a photo of the former president working in the drive-thru.

The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.