Trump Calls His Own DoorDash Stunt ‘A Little Embarrassing’ 

President Donald Trump said Monday’s DoorDash public relations stunt at the White House “was a little tacky” and “a little embarrassing.”

The president spoke Thursday at an event in Las Vegas, where he touted his “No Tax on Tips” policy, which was included in last year’s omnibus budget. Employees who receive tips may deduct up to $25,000 in tips for tax purposes.

On Monday, “DoorDash Grandma” Sharon Simmons was summoned to the White House to deliver two bags of McDonald’s as part of a public relations gimmick.

“You’re really nice. Would you like to do a little news conference with me?” Trump asked Simmons. “These are not the nicest people. They’re not nice like you. You know that, right?”

“I’ll do whatever you ask me to do,” Simmons said.

In Las Vegas, the president recalled the moment, which he admitted he was not exactly fond of:

Earlier this week at the White House, I met a wonderful woman named Sharon Simmons, a grandmother driving DoorDash to help support her husband’s cancer treatment. He’s got serious cancer. He’s gonna be ok, I think.

Sharon delivered McDonald’s to the Oval Office. It was a little bit of a, you know, I mean, to be honest, it was a little tacky. You know, they come up with these crazy ideas like McDonald’s, although that was the biggest ever on Google, they say. [?] Number one, ever. The garbage truck. I mean, we do these things in politics. They’re a little embarrassing. They’re a little tiny embarrassing, but we do them and you win by landslides, you know? It’s one of those.

So, we gotta keep doing them. No, we’ve gotta knock the Oval Office door. This has not happened. That’s a first maybe in the history of the Oval Office. And it was a very beautiful woman standing there with two big bags of McDonald’s hamburgers. And I say, “Is this really believable?”

DoorDash received backlash online from users who noted that Simmons testified before Congress in July to promote No Tax on Tips. At the time, she identified herself as a resident of Nevada. She has since moved to Arkansas and ostensibly became a D.C.-area DoorDash driver this week, if only for a day.

“No one is claiming it was a real delivery,” DoorDash flack Julian Crowley responded. “It was clearly and obviously a planned event to mark a new policy starting. To claim Sharon is a prop, plant or an actor is totally wrong and off base. She is a Dasher and she participated to support the policy that benefits her.

Watch above via C-SPAN.

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