From the Times:
"Birtherism, meet burgerism.
Vice President Kamala Harris has recalled her stint at a Bay Area McDonaldâs 41 years ago in introducing herself to voters â a biographical detail relatable to millions of Americans who have toiled in fast-food restaurants.
But former President Donald J. Trump has repeatedly accused her of inventing it. Lacking a shred of proof, he has charged that she never actually worked under the golden arches â recalling his earlier false claim that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
Mr. Trumpâs latest allegation also appears to be false.
Whether a presidential candidate actually flipped burgers as a college student is a far less serious allegation, of course. But Mr. Trumpâs seeding of doubts about Ms. Harrisâs story, while insidious and outside the lines of traditional fair play in politics, advances his goal of portraying Ms. Harris as a fraud.
It exploits the fact that her life story is not as well known or as well documented at this late stage of the campaign as those of most presidential nominees have been. And it gives voters who may already harbor doubts about her another invitation to dismiss her and doubt what she says....
But The New York Times interviewed a friend who had known Ms. Harris as a teenager and remained in touch with the family for years afterward. Wanda Kagan, a close friend of Ms. Harrisâs when they attended high school together in Montreal, said she recalled Ms. Harris having worked at McDonaldâs around that time.
Answering questions by email, Ms. Kagan said that Ms. Harrisâs mother, who died in 2009, had told Ms. Kagan about the summer job years ago. Ms. Kagan said she herself had also worked at one of the fast-food chainâs many franchises in those years.
âThatâs what us regular folks did,â Ms. Kagan wrote. Still, she indicated that it had not been a frequent topic of conversation for Ms. Harris. âWe didnât talk much about our McDonaldâs days back then,â she said.
Ian Sams, a spokesman for the Harris campaign, said Mr. Trumpâs claims were typically false.
âWhen Trump feels desperate, all he knows how to do is lie,â Mr. Sams said. âHe canât understand what itâs like to have a summer job because he was handed millions on a silver platter, only to blow it.â
Ms. Harrisâs stint at McDonaldâs may be one of the few blue-collar jobs she has held, according to a copy of her rĂ©sumĂ© from 1987 when she applied for a summer position at the Alameda County district attorneyâs office. Her other work experience listed on that document includes an internship with former Senator Alan Cranston of California, a student assistant position in the public affairs office at the Federal Trade Commission and a summer clerkship at a San Francisco law firm.
The rĂ©sumĂ© does not mention her time at McDonaldâs â a fact that The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative news outlet, used to suggest that she had never worked there, and which seems to have propelled Mr. Trumpâs claim that she made up the job. The summer of 1983 is not listed on the rĂ©sumĂ© at all. It is also unclear, of course, why Ms. Harris would have included a fast-food job on an application for a legal position.
In subsequent years, Ms. Harris talked so little about her long-ago job at McDonaldâs that even some of her friends and close aides did not know she had worked there. She also did not mention the job in her memoir, although she talked extensively about her time at Howard and the various jobs mentioned on that old rĂ©sumĂ©.
The first time Ms. Harris appears to have prominently brought up her summer job was during her first presidential campaign in 2019, as she joined striking McDonaldâs workers on a Las Vegas picket line calling for a $15 minimum wage.
âIf we want to talk about those golden arches being a symbol of the best of America, well, the arches are falling short,â Ms. Harris said back then.
On the campaign trail this year, she has mentioned the job to underscore her middle-class roots and her support for workers. She has also pointed to it as a contrast with Mr. Trump, a billionaire who inherited his wealth.
âShe grew up in a middle-class home,â one early campaign ad said. âShe was the daughter of a working mom. And she worked at McDonaldâs while she got her degree.â
Ms. Harris has said that McDonaldâs was just a summer job to earn spending money. She has often noted that many Americans rely on such low-paid work to support themselves and their loved ones.
âSome of the people I worked with were raising families on that paycheck,â she said during an economic policy speech in August. âThey worked second or even third jobs to pay rent and buy food.â
Now cue up The SPOAT, who will bleat about how the Times is a lefty rag. And then go on to cite The Washington Post. It's called hypocrisy. Righties feature it in all they do.