“I like Ike.” President Nixon wiping his face off with a handkerchief in the first nationally televised debate in history. William McKinley’s “Front Porch” campaign in 1896.

These are all extremely iconic moments from political campaigns, but recent campaigns seem to have lacked these iconic moments, with most of the memorable events being arguments or insults between candidates.

That all changed when Donald Trump decided that the price of everyday goods were simply too expensive and that he needed to get two more jobs in addition to being a political candidate. These jobs were of course, the fryer at McDonald’s and a garbageman. Two jobs that are overlooked and underappreciated, but two jobs that the former president embraced with joy for a few minutes on two separate occasions, with mixed results from both sides, creating a lasting impression nonetheless.

Trump has faced backlash from the media for these staged events. Several Democrats have called him out for these stunts that were clearly staged. However, that creates the opportunity to raise an extremely important point.

Maybe Trump could start doing events on the fly without the need to plan in advance if people would stop attempting to assassinate him.

In the span of 91 days, Donald Trump had three assassination attempts on his life, one which resulted in the death of Corey Comperatore, a man who died while shielding his family from the gunfire, and two that were fortunately stopped before they could be brought to completion.

All of these assassination attempts are the embodiment of the astounding hate that Donald Trump has received from his political opposites.

Let me be clear. The hate absolutely goes both ways, but the outlets used to convey that hate are not comparable. I have fortunately not seen any assassination attempts on Kamala Harris’ life, something that I pray continues. There is absolutely no room for political violence in any setting from any side on any scale.

However, this hate has started to trickle down from Trump to his supporters.

After being called “deplorables” by Hillary Clinton in 2016, Joe Biden called Republicans “garbage” while rebutting an extremely ill-timed and inappropriate joke from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe.

Republicans are starting to embrace the hate they are receiving from the left that has become less and less tolerant by day. Trump is the embodiment of taking advantage of this hate, as his garbageman campaign was entirely a response to his supporters being called garbage.

“I call you the heart and soul of America,” Trump said at his rally after hearing about Biden’s remarks.

Both of these political stunts have been a response to claims that have had no backing. Biden’s claim that Republicans are garbage are completely unfounded. Yes, Republicans are far from perfect, but we are all human. Not garbage. Seemingly more unfounded were Kamala’s claims that she worked at McDonald’s while in college. 

“I’ve now worked [at McDonald’s] for 15 minutes more than Kamala,” Trump said while looking out of a McDonald’s drive-thru window.

Did Kamala actually work at McDonald’s? I am not convinced, because if she did I am sure there would be several workers talking about their experience working at a fry or a burger station with the now Vice President. Does it really matter? I also am not convinced that it truly matters, but the fact is that Trump knows how to get under his opponents’ skin, bearing a smile on his face while he does it.

Love him or hate him, the man knows how to run a campaign. He knows how to capitalize.

The idea of a multi-billionaire salting my fries and being excited about the fact that the food never touches the hand of a human is unbelievably appealing to me, and I imagine it was extremely appealing to workers at many fast-food restaurants that have flown under the radar for too long.

Has Trump taken the title of the campaign of joy? It seems so.