We came across multiple posts on the social media platform X about the following topic:

The posts, which claim that the fast-food giant had endorsed the Republican candidate Donald Trump for the 2024 US presidential election, follow a visit by Trump to a McDonald’s outlet to work a short shift. The visit was reported across multiple media outlets, including in Singapore.

Many social media posts claim that this gave Trump more experience of working at McDonald’s than the Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris, with the suggestion that Harris had lied about working previously at McDonald’s.

Harris’s Work History

When we investigated Harris’s claims, we found that she had mentioned being an employee of McDonald’s in California after her freshman year at university in the summer of 1983.

She made this claim when she ran for president in 2019, and has since raised the story several times during her political career, notably in a recent video advertisement released by her presidential campaign and in a post on X.

Her campaign has also confirmed the story, though it did not provide any information beyond this, such as how long she worked there, or any documentary evidence.

A fact-check conducted by Snopes found no evidence, such as photos or employment records, to verify the claim. As such, they rated the claim as unproven.

The New York Times, meanwhile, was able to contact a close friend of Harris who confirmed that Harris had worked at McDonald’s (paywall). The story was not independently verified, with the Times noting that ‘tracking down… documentation from so long ago would be a difficult task’, and that McDonald’s representatives had ‘ignored media requests for corroborating information’.

While Harris’s story is plausible, the only evidence supporting Harris’s claim is anecdotal. Without stronger evidence to support it, we find her claim to be unproven.

Cooking Up a Conspiracy

The lack of evidence to support Harris’ claims has since been exploited by Trump and his campaign, who have repeatedly accused Harris of lying about her fast food credentials.

Following Trump’s claims about Harris, rumours began to spread on social media that McDonald’s had made a statement confirming that there was no record of Harris working for them.

These claims were debunked at the time by Lead Stories, Politifact and USA Today, which all found no evidence that McDonald’s had made any statement regarding Harris’ claims of working for them.

The issue was called into focus on 21 October, when Trump visited a McDonald’s outlet in Pennsylvania while disparaging Harris’ claims of working for the chain in the past.

Trump cooked some french fries and served them to customers in the drive-through during a half-hour shift. Ironically, Trump’s stint appears to have been a carefully managed photo op, with the franchise outlet he visited closed for normal business during his time there and the customers pre-selected by his campaign.

A McDonald’s Endorsement?

Following Trump’s appearance at the McDonald’s outlet, more allegations spread that the fast-food giant had endorsed the Republican candidate, though our search again revealed no official statement from McDonald’s.

The only indication of a statement by McDonald’s at the time of writing appears to be a purported internal memo for the McDonald’s US system, which was posted on X by an account claiming to be a McDonald’s franchisee.

In the memo, McDonald’s states that it is ‘not a political brand’ and that it ‘does not endorse candidates for elected office’. The memo noted ‘former President Trump’s love for McDonald’s and Vice President Harris’s fond memories working under the Arches’.

The memo also invited Harris to their restaurants, while noting that ‘we and our franchisees don’t have records for all positions dating back to the early ‘80’s’.

According to Snopes, reputable outlets such as the Associated Press, The Washington Post and Bloomberg Law all reported having ‘obtained’ the memo to use in their reporting, but Snopes was unable to independently confirm the memo’s authenticity, and there does not appear to be a public confirmation by McDonald’s of such.

Appearance not an Endorsement

Whether or not the memo is authentic, Trump’s appearance at the McDonald’s outlet is not an endorsement by the chain.

The misguided claims appear to be a misunderstanding of the company’s franchise business model, where the vast majority of its restaurants are independently owned and operated.

While franchise owners have to follow certain guidelines by the parent company, there is no restriction against them inviting political candidates to their restaurants without seeking the approval of the parent company.

Unlike Harris’s claims, which may be true despite the lack of evidence, and as such are rated unproven, the claims of the McDonald’s endorsement are false, as any such endorsement would have been publicly made. This claim was also debunked by Newsweek.