Right Winger Outrage Over Kamala Harris College Resume Brutally Mocked

A conservative news website is getting thoroughly mocked on social media for attempting to gin up some controversy about Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Washington Free Beacon did a deep dive into Harris past work at McDonalds that was breathlessly headlined, I Did Fries: Kamala Harris Claims She Worked at McDonalds, but She Never Mentioned It Until She Ran for President. Did She Really Toil Beneath the Golden Arches?

The Democratic presidential nominee has previously mentioned that she worked at McDonalds after her freshman year in college to earn extra money.

She discussed the experience in an interview earlier this year with Drew Barrymore,  saying, I did fries, and then I did the [cash register].

Former President Bill Clinton mentioned Harris McDonalds job during his speech at the Democratic National Convention, joking, I will be so happy when she actually enters the White House as president, because she will break my record as the president who spent the most time at McDonalds.

Harris formerly working at a fast food restaurant may make her relatable to Americans, so apparently, the Beacon wanted to ensure she was on the up-and-up. The article noted that Harris didnt mention the Mickey Ds gig until a labor rally in June 2019, and it wasnt mentioned in either of her memoirs.

However, what likely aroused suspicion for the Beacon reporters is that she left her job at Mickey Ds off her October 1987 job application for a law clerk position in the Alameda County district attorneys office.

The Beacon notes that Harris did list several jobs in a section that asked for every position she had held in the last 10 years, but not McDonalds.

Snopes was also unable to verify Harris employment at McDonalds. HuffPost also reached out to McDonalds, which didnt immediately respond. 

A Harris campaign official said on background that the vice president worked at McDonalds during the summer of 1983 in Alameda, California, where she handled register duties and manned the fry and ice cream machines.

But after Free Beacon editor Peter J. Hasson promoted the story on social media, many people expressed that the publication was grasping at straws to make Harris look bad.

And, yes, there was mockery. And snark. Lots of snark, because, as many people noted, people applying for professional careers usually dont list their high school or summer jobs in their applications.

Some people wondered if the three authors who wrote the piece had ever actually worked a regular job.

One person ironically noted that Beacon editor Peter Hassons LinkedIn resume only goes back to 2021 and doesnt include any fast food or retail jobs.

But while the Beacon article was brutally mocked, one person credited it with bringing people together, saying, Its nice to see Twitter united in the idea its idiotic to slam Kamala Harris for not including McDonalds on her resume when applying for a job as an Attorney.

CORRECTION: A prior version of this article incorrectly stated that Harris discussed her McDonalds job with Drew Barrymore in 2019 when the interview actually took place in April 2024.