Virginia GOP Calls For Boycott Of Restaurant That Turned Away Sanders

White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders takes questions during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC on June 18, 2018. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP) (Photo credit should read BREN... White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders takes questions during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC on June 18, 2018. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP) (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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The Virginia state GOP has seized on news that White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a restaurant in Virginia on Friday night and has called for a boycott of the business, Red Hen.

In a tweet on Monday morning, the state Republican Party painted the incident as the “intolerant left” showing its “true colors.” It asked followers to sign a “boycott petition” to “show Red Hen that patriotic Trump supporters are the silent majority in Virginia!”

On the petition page, the group claimed that Sanders was thrown out “in the middle of dinner” because she works for President Donald Trump. However, Red Hen co-owner Stephanie Wilkinson told The Washington Post on Saturday that she pulled Sanders aside on the restaurant patio and asked her to leave after her chef and other staff members expressed discomfort in serving her.

In order to sign the boycott petition, the GOP asks for a participant’s address, email and phone number. The petition had received a little more than 50 signatures as of Monday afternoon.

Trump himself used his Twitter platform to weigh in on the fiasco and insult the business for having “filthy” canopies.

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Notable Replies

  1. If the thing you’re asking me to tolerate is stealing children from their parents, then yeah, you can call me intolerant. I’ve never knowingly dined with children-stealers and don’t feel like starting any time soon. You checked that new Gallup poll? This might not be the hill to die on, but if you want it to be, fine.

  2. Actually the GOP in Virginia is pretty much dead already…

  3. So, I guess a business can refused to provide a service to somebody for ethical reasons only if they are ethical reasons that the Virginia GOP agrees with. Do you even think they recognize their own hypocrisy?

  4. This should work about as well as “Freedom Fries”. In a majority blue part of a “purple” state, they should see an increase in business.

    From the republican point of view, it is fine and good to separate children from parents, lose both in the system, then try to extort voluntary deportations based on false promises to reunite families. However, the indignation meter hits the top of the scale if someone insults one of the nations most prolific and public liars by refusing them service.

  5. Guess I’ve been doing this all wrong – been boycotting the Red Elephant for decades.

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