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Breaking down list alleging companies like McDonald's and Walmart donated to Trump

While FEC records confirm people associated with some companies on the list did donate to Trump, the list itself isn't trustworthy.

by Jack Izzo, Published March 3, 2025 Updated March 7, 2025


Image courtesy of Snopes illustration/Getty Images/Wikimedia Commons


Just after U.S. President Donald Trump retook office on Jan. 20, 2025, posts appeared on social media platforms like Facebook, X and Reddit claiming to provide a list of companies and brands that donated to "Trump and Project 2025." Project 2025 was a conservative blueprint for Trump's second term published in 2023.

The social media posts urged readers not to support these companies and brands, and to share the list around. Many Snopes readers wrote in asking us if the list was real and accurate.

(X user @TheAfrocentricI)

A working knowledge of campaign finance laws is necessary to fully assess the claim. However, to put it simply, Snopes found that on the whole, the list was inaccurate and unreliable. Individuals associated with some of the companies on the list did primarily support Republican candidates and causes, while others did not.

Companies can't donate directly to campaigns, but there are workarounds

First, U.S. campaign finance laws block companies from directly donating any money to political campaigns. As such, it doesn't make sense to say that a "company" donated to Trump — at least not directly. Additionally, the post clearly implies that Trump plans to use the agenda proposed in Project 2025, and the companies on the list are therefore supporting that agenda by donating to Republican causes. Donating to "Project 2025" itself doesn't make sense because it's a document produced by the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, not a PAC or campaign.

There are plenty of ways that companies wishing to influence an election get around the law banning direct contributions. The most common is through Political Action Committees, or PACs, which became popular after the 2010 Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court decision that lifted restrictions on corporate spending on elections. 

Companies can set up connected organizations called Separate Segregated Funds to allow them to indirectly donate small amounts to campaigns. (A PAC affiliated with a company must keep its finances separate from that of the company but can receive donations from company employees.) The real money is in Super PACs, however, which have no contribution limits and can receive donations from companies, but are not allowed to directly spend money on campaigns. (In practice, however, Super PACs work closely with campaigns.)

All campaign contributions, including those to PACs, are required by law to be reported to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), and that information is publicly available. In order to make the numbers for corporate spending even easier to access, the nonprofit organization OpenSecrets collects and republishes data from the FEC, allowing anyone to view political donations and lobbying efforts made by individual companies. 

All company pages on OpenSecrets carry a disclaimer that contributions to political campaigns do not come from companies directly. Instead, they come from individuals associated with that company (members, employees, owners and family members), with a small portion of contributions occasionally coming from PACs affiliated with companies.

Where did the list come from?

Snopes was unable to pinpoint the exact origin of the list being shared on social media. 

Some posts showed it as a screenshot of a post on DemocratsAbroad.org, the official website for the Democratic Party Committee Abroad. However, there was no evidence of such a post on the Democrats Abroad website. 

Sharon Manitta, a spokesperson for Democrats Abroad, said in an email that the list originated from outside the organization, and the post containing the list was removed "after examination of the document." According to Manitta, it was published by "a simple mistake," and she didn't know where it came from.

Simplifying the list

The original list urged a boycott of 119 different entities. While some names on the list were standalone companies, like Perdue Farms or McDonald's, it also featured a host of subsidiary companies, brand names and a few sports franchises. 

As a result, the first step in fact-checking whether the list was true was figuring out who actually owns each brand or company. For instance, Star Furniture, Geico, Helzberg Diamonds, Dairy Queen, Brooks Running, Fruit of the Loom, Spalding and Dudley are all owned by Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company owned by Warren Buffett. 

Several chain restaurants on the list, like Arby's, Baskin-Robbins (and its sister chain Dunkin' Donuts), Buffalo Wild Wings, Cinnabon, Schlotzsky's, Carl's Jr. and Hardees, are all owned by the venture capital firm Roark Capital.

The clothing company Hanes owns several brands on the list, including Bali, Leggs, Maidenform and Playtex. 

Four General Motors brands (Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac and Buick) appeared on the list separately, as did several different beer brands owned by MolsonCoors (Miller, Milwaukee's Best, Molson and Coors).

But there were even more problems with the list.

Some entities didn't make any sense — Snopes couldn't identify what companies "Young Brands," "Horizon Bank," and "Rail Vac" were. It was also unclear whether "Sonoco," a packing products company, was meant to be "Sunoco," the gas station chain. Other entries didn't have any campaign donation history on OpenSecrets, like Old Dutch Foods or Alamo and Enterprise Car Rentals.

Finally, a few of the companies on the list had folded in recent years, like Fry's Electronics and Dean Foods.

Already, there were red flags that the list was inaccurate. Investigating the donation history of individuals associated with the companies on the list revealed that while some did primarily support Trump, others did not.

Who donated? Who didn't?

Snopes used OpenSecrets' records for companies on the list to examine donations across the three most recent presidential elections. Contributions came primarily from people associated with the company (and their family members), with some smaller donations from PACs associated with the companies. Under the "totals" tab, donations were broken down by which political party the donations went to. 

Overall, the entities on the list could be divided into the following groups:

  1. Donated primarily to Trump and other Republican campaigns without donating much to Democratic campaigns in 2016, 2020 and 2024.
  2. Donated primarily to Trump and other Republican campaigns in 2016, 2020 or 2024, while donating a roughly equal amount to Democrats in the other years.
  3. Donated roughly equal amounts to both Republican and Democratic campaigns in all years.
  4. Donated primarily to Democratic candidates in 2016, 2020 and/or 2024 while donating a roughly equal amount to Republicans in the other years.
  5. Did not donate much to political campaigns at all.
  6. Did not have any publicly available record of campaign contributions. 

Since some companies on the list massively supported Republican causes while others massively supported Democratic causes, the list was falsely described as showing companies that "donated to Trump and Project 2025."

Of the companies on the list, individuals associated with the following donated primarily to Trump and other Republican campaigns without donating much to Democratic campaigns in 2016, 2020 and 2024:

Individuals associated with the following companies donated largely to Trump and other Republican candidates in some, but not all years:

Individuals associated with the remaining companies on the list either donated roughly equally to both major parties (e.g., Garmin), donated primarily to Democratic candidates (e.g., LL Bean), didn't appear to donate much to political campaigns in general (e.g., the New York Yankees, except when they were campaigning for a new stadium), or had no record of campaign donations on OpenSecrets (e.g., Enterprise and Alamo Rental Cars).


By Jack Izzo

Jack Izzo is a Chicago-based journalist and two-time "Jeopardy!" alumnus.

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