McDonald’s is periodically used for political purposes by both Democrats and Republicans. Just not in the way it’s been this year.
The Chicago-based fast-food giant was thrust, again, into the center of one of the most divisive presidential campaigns in history, when former President Donald Trump spent some time working fries for a closed McDonald’s location in Pennsylvania.
The franchise-owned restaurant agreed to close its doors temporarily. Trump, with the help of a trio of employees, served fries to a group of pre-selected customers, while the campaign paid for the food. The moment was a gimmick to connect with middle-class consumers. But it was also done to further one of the oddest issues: Whether his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, actually spent a summer in the 1990s working at a California location.
Trump has claimed, without evidence, that Harris never worked there, an unfounded claim he repeated again on Sunday, according to media reports.
For McDonald’s, however, the issue is both a potential landmine and an opportunity.
The landmine is the willingness of the operator, Derek Giacomantonio, to close the restaurant’s doors for a photo opportunity for Trump. The move generated intense criticism from backers of Harris, given that Trump was using it to further a lie that she never worked for one of the chain’s restaurants.
At a time when voters are as evenly split as ever—polls show a tight race for this coming November—the move risks alienating a large swath of consumers.
McDonald’s in an internal message, publicized on the social media platform X, took steps to address that issue.
“McDonald’s does not endorse candidates for elected office and that remains true in this race for the next president,” the message notes. “We are not red or blue. We are golden.”
An internal McDonald's message shared widely on X, formerly Twitter
The opportunity, however, is in showing off McDonald’s role in the community and the hard work the restaurants’ employees put in on a day-to-day basis.
One out of every eight Americans has worked at McDonald’s, and one out of every three Americans has worked at a restaurant. The industry is one of the country’s biggest employers, responsible for about one out of every 10 jobs. While the positions are frequently derided as “McJobs” and the workers as “burger flippers,” it remains a key cog in the U.S. economy.
The operator himself noted in a message posted on the restaurant’s door that he started as a crew member at the chain 30 years earlier. A lot of McDonald’s operators started their career that way.
McDonald’s, in its message, noted that Giacomantonio was approached by “local law enforcement” asking for Trump to visit the restaurant. “He was proud to highlight how he and his team serve the local community and make delicious food, like our world-famous French Fries,” the message noted. “Upon learning of the former president’s request, we approached it through the lens of one of our core values: We open our doors to everyone.”
The company noted that franchisees have invited both Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, to their restaurants, “in order to share how McDonald’s provides meaningful pathways to economic opportunity and feeds and fosters local communities.”
Indeed, despite the controversy surrounding the visit, both candidates have talked favorably about McDonald’s. “I love McDonald’s,” Trump said. “I love jobs.” Trump himself famously loves fast food.
Harris, meanwhile, has noted that there are many people who count on those jobs to raise families. “There is no such thing as a little job,” she told MSNBC.
Trump’s stunt on Sunday did what it was intended, however: It got a lot of attention. The story dominated the mainstream media and was all over social media. In the process, he gave McDonald’s a bunch of not-quite-free publicity.
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