by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Last June, as was noted in this blog post at the time, three prominent members of the Trump administration were met with protests as they attempted to enjoy a meal at a public restaurant. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and a friend were bonding over guacamole dip at a trendy Mexican restaurant near the White House one day during a "working lunch" when a fellow diner recognized the cabinet secretary, surreptitiously took her picture, and then sent it out - along with the restaurant's location - over social media. Within mere minutes a group of protesters showed up and began heckling Secretary Nielsen over her department's treatment of Mexican families trying to enter the U.S. across our southern border. The protesters questioned her commitment to motherhood - in reference to her department locking child immigrants in cages - and noted the irony of Ms. Nielsen choosing to dine at a Mexican restaurant.
That same week another group of protesters showed up at another Mexican restaurant in the D.C. metro area - this time making a scene about the presence of Trump aid, Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump's effort to make America whiter and restrict immigration from Latin America and other third world nations. Again, the irony of the white nationalist, Miller, trying to eat at a Mexican restaurant was unmistakable.
A third incident, also in that same time span, happened when Trump Press Liar Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her family showed up at a fried chicken emporium in a Virginia suburb of Washington, DC, and were soon asked to leave by staff because they were making other diners uncomfortable. Sanders and her group left - quietly - and she then spent several days whining about the incident to any press outlet that would listen.
Then, inexplicably, the stories about politicians and the rigors of dining out died down for awhile - but now they are once again surging.
Last week Florida Governor Rick Scott, a former medical charlatan who is now in a tight race for a U.S. Senate seat from Florida, was "booed" out of a Cuban restaurant in Venice, Florida (Scott's hometown). Protesters were angry with Scott over the red algae that is plaguing much of Florida's Gulf Coast, a condition they blame on Scott's de-funding and debasement of the state's environmental programs. The embattled Republican politician was forced to flee the restaurant through the back door.
A few days after Rick Scott's dining debacle, Texas GOP Senator Ted Cruz and his wife were forced to leave an Italian restaurant in Washington, DC, after hecklers surrounded their table peppering the senator with questions about his support for embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Cruz's opponent for re-election, Congressman Beto O'Rourke, later issued a statement supporting the Cruz family's right to dine peacefully.
Some are regarding these very public protests as impolite and unfair to working politicians who just want to get away from the pressures of their jobs and enjoy a meal in semi-private circumstances. But others would counter those arguments by noting that the titular leader of the Republican Party, Donald John Trump, is quite likely the most impolite human in the history of politics, and that he has created an America where polite discourse appears to no longer be an option. People flaunt their anger in public because that's the way it's done in the Time of Trump.
Meanwhile, if politicians want to relax away from home over a quiet meal, they should brown-bag it and eat at their desks - like many of their constituents do.
Citizen Journalist
Last June, as was noted in this blog post at the time, three prominent members of the Trump administration were met with protests as they attempted to enjoy a meal at a public restaurant. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and a friend were bonding over guacamole dip at a trendy Mexican restaurant near the White House one day during a "working lunch" when a fellow diner recognized the cabinet secretary, surreptitiously took her picture, and then sent it out - along with the restaurant's location - over social media. Within mere minutes a group of protesters showed up and began heckling Secretary Nielsen over her department's treatment of Mexican families trying to enter the U.S. across our southern border. The protesters questioned her commitment to motherhood - in reference to her department locking child immigrants in cages - and noted the irony of Ms. Nielsen choosing to dine at a Mexican restaurant.
That same week another group of protesters showed up at another Mexican restaurant in the D.C. metro area - this time making a scene about the presence of Trump aid, Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump's effort to make America whiter and restrict immigration from Latin America and other third world nations. Again, the irony of the white nationalist, Miller, trying to eat at a Mexican restaurant was unmistakable.
A third incident, also in that same time span, happened when Trump Press Liar Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her family showed up at a fried chicken emporium in a Virginia suburb of Washington, DC, and were soon asked to leave by staff because they were making other diners uncomfortable. Sanders and her group left - quietly - and she then spent several days whining about the incident to any press outlet that would listen.
Then, inexplicably, the stories about politicians and the rigors of dining out died down for awhile - but now they are once again surging.
Last week Florida Governor Rick Scott, a former medical charlatan who is now in a tight race for a U.S. Senate seat from Florida, was "booed" out of a Cuban restaurant in Venice, Florida (Scott's hometown). Protesters were angry with Scott over the red algae that is plaguing much of Florida's Gulf Coast, a condition they blame on Scott's de-funding and debasement of the state's environmental programs. The embattled Republican politician was forced to flee the restaurant through the back door.
A few days after Rick Scott's dining debacle, Texas GOP Senator Ted Cruz and his wife were forced to leave an Italian restaurant in Washington, DC, after hecklers surrounded their table peppering the senator with questions about his support for embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Cruz's opponent for re-election, Congressman Beto O'Rourke, later issued a statement supporting the Cruz family's right to dine peacefully.
Some are regarding these very public protests as impolite and unfair to working politicians who just want to get away from the pressures of their jobs and enjoy a meal in semi-private circumstances. But others would counter those arguments by noting that the titular leader of the Republican Party, Donald John Trump, is quite likely the most impolite human in the history of politics, and that he has created an America where polite discourse appears to no longer be an option. People flaunt their anger in public because that's the way it's done in the Time of Trump.
Meanwhile, if politicians want to relax away from home over a quiet meal, they should brown-bag it and eat at their desks - like many of their constituents do.
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