On Friday night, a farm-to-table restaurant in a small town of 700 people controversially asked US president Donald Trump‘s White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave.
Lexington, Virginia is a unique town in that the town voted overwhelmingly against Trump, in a county that is incredibly Pro-Trump.
When the co-owner of the small restaurant, Stephanie Wilkinson, was alerted to the presence of the politician in her restaurant by concerned staff, she made a plan.
“I’m not a huge fan of confrontation,” Wilkinson told Washington Post.
“I have a business, and I want the business to thrive. This feels like the moment in our democracy when people have to make uncomfortable actions and decisions to uphold their morals,” she continued.
The owner of the restaurant told Washington Post she was worried that the presence of a politician who defended “inhumane and unethical” policies would be bad for business and employees alike, as several of the staff at the restaurant are gay.
Sanders also defended Trump’s policy to ban transgender people from the military, and this month, has defended the separation of migrant children from their parents.
“I was babbling a little, but I got my point across in a polite and direct fashion,” Wilkinson told Washington Post.
“I explained that the restaurant has certain standards that I feel it has to uphold, such as honesty, and compassion, and cooperation,”
“I said, ‘I’d like to ask you to leave.’ ”
While the politician offered to pay for the cheese boards they had already eaten, Wilkinson told them it was on the house.
On Saturday, Huckabee Sanders tweeted about the incident, saying “I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully”.
Others, however, pointed out the irony of the Press Secretary previously stating that the administration supported the right of a conservative baker to refuse to make a cake for a gay wedding, and then herself being offended by being refused service.
Others also said her Tweet was a violation of ethics laws – as she used an official government asset (her Twitter account) to threaten a small business owner.
There were, of course, some who claimed Red Hen had destroyed their business in refusing to serve the Press Secretary. But somehow, we don’t think that’s the case.
Top Comments
So the Democrats want more women in politics and they want their supporters to find people in politics going about their private business and confront them in an aggressive way, even if they are with their families and give them a hard time.
Yeah, it’s obvious that will encourage more women into politics...
Shes a government worker, not a politician.
I expect the CEO of Red Hen to call her and personally apologise and then close all sites for half a day to conduct sensitivity training for all staff so this doesn’t happen again, just like Starbucks.