- Donald Trump visited a McDonald’s in a key Pennsylvania county on Sunday.
- Kamala Harris said she once worked at a McDonald’s, which is a key part of her biography.
- Trump has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that Harris did not work at McDonald’s.
Former President Donald Trump has long been known for his love of the Golden Arches.
After landing at Philadelphia International Airport on Sunday, Trump and his team traveled to a McDonald’s franchise in Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania, where he donned a formal employee apron and began delivering orders to customers waiting in the drive-thru lane. He also helped cook the restaurant’s signature fries.
Trump’s visit, however, had little to do with his love of food.
For weeks, Trump has tried to cast doubt — without providing evidence — that Vice President Kamala Harris ever worked at McDonald’s, which has become a key part of her resume.
Harris said she worked the cash register and made fries during the summer of 1983. At the time, Harris was an undergraduate at Howard University, and her campaign says she worked at a McDonald’s on Central Avenue in Alameda, California, a city in San Francisco Bay Area.
The former president said in Detroit on Friday that Harris “lied about working at McDonald’s.”
Senior Trump adviser Jason Miller also cast doubt on Harris’ hiring at McDonald’s on Saturday, telling reporters that Trump was going to the restaurant “so that a candidate in this race could have actually worked at McDonald’s.” .
Trump came at Harris again on Sunday. While at the drive-thru window, he said he had been working at McDonald’s for “15 minutes longer than Kamala” and once again accused her of never having worked at the chain.
Trump served briefly as a McDonald’s fry cook during his visit. Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images
Harris has been staunchly opposed to Trump’s accusation.
“When Trump feels down, all he knows how to do is lie,” Harris campaign spokesman Ian Sams told Business Insider. “He can’t understand what it’s like to have a summer job because he’s been handed millions on a silver platter just to blow it.”
Harris’ campaign has touted the vice president’s experience at McDonald’s as part of a middle-class upbringing that could resonate with millions of Americans — and that separates her from the affluent life led by Trump.
Harris and Trump remain locked in a historically close race. Trump has sought to promote his handling of the economy, an issue he used to his advantage when President Joe Biden was the presumptive Democratic nominee.
But when Biden dropped out of the race in July, and Harris became the nominee, she quickly went to war with Trump on the economy and succeeded in eroding his once-large advantage on the issue in key swing states.
McDonald’s, headquartered in Chicago, is the largest fast food chain in the world, with over 40,000 locations. It is also a great employer. In Pennsylvania alone, the company says its franchises employ over 25,000 people.
In a statement provided to BI on Sunday, the owner of the McDonald’s location Trump visited said he was honored to “showcase” the restaurant chain.
“As a small and independent business owner, it is a core value of my organization that we proudly open our doors to all who visit the Feasterville community. That is why I accepted former President Trump’s request to observe the transformative experience of the job that 1 in 8 Americans have had: a job at McDonald’s,” said Derek Giacomantonio.
“As a former crew member, I can attest that this job is more than burgers and fries, but a meaningful path to opportunity.”
Trump’s appetite for McDonald’s — and other fast food chains — has been well documented.
After winning the necessary number of GOP delegates needed to secure the party’s presidential nomination in 2016, Trump was photographed eating a McDonald’s Big Mac on his private jet.
And in January 2019, Trump hosted Clemson University’s college championship-winning football team at the White House, where he ordered a variety of fast food for the players from McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s and Domino’s Pizza.
Business Insider reached out to the Trump and Harris campaigns for comment.