Donald Trump Uses Barron-Approved Move At McDonald's Summit To Feed His Ego

Donald Trump's been hitting some hard times in recent weeks with tanking approval ratings and ongoing controversies, perhaps most notably over the Epstein files. We've noticed some signs that Donald is likely feeling the strain behind the scenes, so he was probably pretty happy to be received with applause when he spoke at the McDonald's Impact Summit on November 17. In fact, he seemed so desperate for more that he was seen holding his hand to his ear. This was the same move that Barron Trump made at the inauguration, showing that his ego could be shaping up to be as big as his dad's. Like father, like son.

🚨 BREAKING: President Trump receives a massive standing ovation as he enters to "God Bless the USA" at the McDonald's Impact Summit.

"The one and only MCDONALD'S! I've been there a couple times." 😂 pic.twitter.com/NJbQOyKZ8l

— Digi Gal 🌸 (@DigitalGalX) November 17, 2025

Some people on social media were confused about the event and how it seemed to be all about feeding Donald's ego. "So the McDonald's Summit is basically a Trump rally?" one person asked on X. It sure looked like Donald thought it was.

After receiving what he apparently felt like was enough applause for his ego, Donald opened his speech by talking about the time that he "worked" at a McDonald's during the campaign; Donald's brief shift at McDonald's in 2024 was largely staged and done seemingly to troll his opponent, Kamala Harris. And then Donald confirmed that he always had McDonald's available on his campaign plane. It's not a huge surprise; Donald's love for fast food is legendary. Though he did complain that he doesn't get enough tartar sauce with the fish sandwich.

But then, as you might have guessed, Donald Trump didn't stay focused on McDonald's or even the economy during his speech; it derailed into rambling, marking yet another moment that had people questioning Donald's mental acuity. At one point, when he was on the topic of the type of sugar that Coca-Cola uses, he inexplicably pivoted to asking why the Gulf of Mexico — which he had renamed earlier this year — was called the Gulf of Mexico. "And now it's the Gulf of America," he said (via The White House). "Has nothing to do with McDonald's, but maybe it does." It does not.

He also talked about bombing Iran and fighter pilots, and he unexpectedly managed to get in a dig at Tom Cruise's height as he did so. The fighter pilots "look like Tom Cruise," Trump said, "I don't want to be a wise guy and say but taller. I'm not going to say that." That's a bit ironic considering Trump has lied about his own height. Then the whole thing ended with another of Donald's cringeworthy dance moments as "YMCA" played.

In a post from The White House about the event that Karoline Leavitt shared on X, it included some of the highlights from the speech. The Gulf of Mexico, sugar in Coke, and the fighter pilots didn't make the cut.