Tim Walz teamed up with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for a Sunday campaign appearance on Twitch as they played video games and the New York Democrat promoted a McDonald’s conspiracy involving Donald Trump.
AOC began the stream with a tour of her own farm in the mega-popular indie game Stardew Valley before being joined by Walz shortly after. The stream was part of the Democrat’s effort to turn out younger voters while peeling young men, in particular, away from the former president.
Walz and the New York congresswoman played a quick quarter of Madden 2025 before pivoting to a straight interview format. The two talked policy issues such as housing and abortion rights, and discussed topics including the challenges and opportunities faced when one legislates with a razor-thin majority.
They also tore into both Donald Trump and JD Vance for recent campaign appearances by the pair, including Trump’s spiritual journey to a McDonald’s franchise where the ex-president used the fryers and other machines, had an apron put on him and stuck his head out the drive-thru to talk to the media.
Walz and Ocasio-Cortez even went as far as floating a conspiracy of their own to match the stream of nonsense Trump has embraced regarding the 2020 election and other issues by linking the former president to a deadly E. coli outbreak tied to the fast food chain’s popular Quarter Pounder sandwich.
Explaining that Trump “always makes up stories,” Walz snidely remarked: “Did you notice a lot of people got sick after he worked at McDonald's?” Then, jokingly, he added, “I’m not saying...”
But the congresswoman had caught on, and quipped in response: “That man stuck his hands in the fries, and McDonald's had E. coli like, the next day. The next day!”
The two ended the stream with Walz breaking out his “surprise” game: Crazy Taxi, the arcade hit known from waiting rooms across 1990s America.
Walz did not, however, take a question from the chatroom following along the pair’s stream; many in chat were calling on AOC to ask the vice presidential nominee about efforts aimed at reaching an end to the Israeli military assault on Gaza. He did respond to a question about what he would say to voters despondent about that issue and others which they don’t see the party making progress towards addressing. He didn’t mention Gaza in his response, though Ocasio-Cortez had mentioned it directly.
Instead, he alluded to left-leaning voters, particularly in states such as Michigan that has a sizable Arab American community, who are considering staying home or voting for the Green Party (or even Trump) over their anger towards the Biden administration for its unequivocal support of the Israeli government.
“If you think you're going to vote for a third party candidate or something, or you're going to stay home, that doesn't work,” Walz said. He added: “And again, I say this at this point in time, don't judge me against the Almighty. Judge me against the other guy.”
