President Donald Trump has just reacted to a small, local Virginia farm-to-table restaurant asking his press secretary to leave by targeting the establishment via his Twitter account. Trump has 53 million followers on Twitter.
“The Red Hen Restaurant should focus more on cleaning its filthy canopies, doors and windows (badly needs a paint job) rather than refusing to serve a fine person like Sarah Huckabee Sanders,” Trump said in a statement on Twitter. “I always had a rule, if a restaurant is dirty on the outside, it is dirty on the inside!”
There is, in fact, no evidence the restaurant is “filthy.” But Trump’s own Mar-a-Lago restaurant has been slapped with over a dozen health code violations, and the resort has been cited by inspectors for poor maintenance.
Trump has also described neo-Nazis as “fine people.”
Sarah Huckabee Sanders illegally used her government Twitter account on Saturday to announce she had been “told to leave” the restaurant Friday night. The owner says after asking her staff if they would be uncomfortable serving the White House press secretary, they said yes and she asked for Huckabee Sanders to speak with her outside. It was there she asked her to leave.
It is unprecedented for a President of the United States to target a small private business in this manner, and the Trump administration went to great lengths to ensure private businesses, specifically the Masterpiece Cakeshop, be allowed to refuse service.
There is a GoFundMe campaign that has been set up to help the restaurant. The far right has targeted the restaurant, leaving stunningly vile comments on their Facebook page, and leaving bad reviews on Yelp. They also have been waging a campaign, telling those who are angered by the restaurant using its right to ask Huckabee Sanders to leave, to make fake reservations so actual patrons are unable to attend, and the restaurant will lose business.