McDonald’s has become the talk of the 2024 election — but it won’t be taking political sides anytime soon.

“McDonald’s does not endorse candidates for elected office and that remains true in this race for the next president,” the company said in an internal message that was verified by Bloomberg. “We are not red or blue — we are golden.”

The statement was issued after President Trump stopped at a Pennsylvania-based McDonald’s on Sunday to pose for pictures of him working the french fry station and handing out bags of food to “customers” — all of whom had been screened by the Secret Service — through the drive-thru window. The restaurant was located at Bucks county, a key swing voter region of the battleground state. 

“Upon learning of the former President’s request,” the fast-food staple wrote, “we approached it through the lens of one of our core values: we open our doors to everyone.” 

The fast food chain added that several franchises have since invited Vice President Harris and Governor Walz to their locations, “in order to share how McDonald’s provides meaningful pathways to economic opportunity and feeds and fosters local communities.” 

While Trump’s supporters cheered the photo op as a brilliant stroke of political theater, his critics tried to undermine the visit by claiming that what was obviously a campaign stop was “staged.” 

A former federal and state prosecutor turned podcast host, Ron Fillpowski, attempted to diss the 45th president by sharing what appears to be an announcement that the restaurant would be closed to accommodate Trump’s visit.

“So the place wasn’t even open. It was all staged and fake. He didn’t work for real at a McDonald’s. It was a staged fraud just like every other event,” Mr. Fillpowski wrote on X. 

A Fox News radio commentator, Tomi Lahren, pointed out the irony of Mr. Fillpowski’s accusation in a sarcastic comment she left under his post: “lol hey Ron, Not sure if you were under the impression Trump was going to end his campaign for president to work at McDonald’s as his next career move but normal people understand this was a campaign stop and don’t have their panties in a bunch. Get some air, fella.” Her comment has received 36,000 likes and counting. 

Newsweek got in on the action too, publishing an article about the campaign event with the headline: “Donald Trump’s McDonald’s Shift: Was it ‘Staged’?” The article took things even further by questioning whether Trump’s criminal history would prevent him from being hired at the fast-food joint: “Does McDonald’s hire convicted felons?” 

McDonald’s was pushed into the spotlight this cycle with Ms. Harris’s claim that she worked at the fast food chain while she was a student. Throughout her campaign, she has touted her former employment at McDonald’s as evidence of her humble, middle-class upbringing. 

Her time under the Golden Arches became the unlikely subject of debate, however, when Politico reported in August that Ms. Harris’s campaign staffers quietly re-cut a campaign advertisement claiming that the vice president worked at McDonald’s to “pay her way” through college. The narrative, Politico wrote, “wasn’t quite right.” So the ad was tweaked to align with the fact that “she really took the summer job just to earn a bit more spending money.” 

By that point, the story had already been voiced repeatedly by Ms. Harris’s camp. Earlier in August, a campaign spokeswoman, Lauren Hitt, claimed that “Being president is about who you fight for. Ms. Harris is the daughter of a working mother and worked at a McDonald’s to put herself through college. She knows what middle class families go through,” Ms. Hitt said in a statement. “Now, she’s running for president to make it easier for families to not just get by, but get ahead.” 

The Free Beacon raised further questions about Ms. Harris’s stint at the fast food franchise when it reported that up until she launched her first presidential campaign in 2019, the vice president had made no mention of her employment at McDonald’s. The claim was first brought up at a labor rally that same year at Las Vegas, when she said: “I was a student when I was working in a McDonald’s.” 

Trump, for his part, has repeatedly accused the vice president of outright lying about her employment at the fast food chain. He used his recent visit to McDonald’s to further drum up doubt over her claims.  

“I’m looking for a job, and I’ve always wanted to work at McDonald’s, but I never did,” Trump said to the franchise owner of the Pennsylvania McDonald’s. “I’m running against somebody that said she did, but it turned out to be a totally phony story.” While working at the drive-thru window, Trump added, “I’ve now worked for 15 minutes more than Kamala… She never worked here.” 

In spite of all the hoopla, McDonald’s is staying out of the controversy, and has opted instead to offer a unifying message. “As we’ve seen, our brand has been a fixture of conversation this election cycle,” the company wrote in its internal letter. “While we’ve not sought this, it’s a testament to how much McDonald’s resonates with so many Americans.”