For the uninitiated, tribalism refers to the present phenomenon in which the nation's two parties, those for and against President Donald Trump, cannot agree on anything—even facts—and have zero tolerance for the views of each other.
The latest brouhaha erupted when White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her party were asked to leave the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Va., by manager Stephanie Wilkinson last Friday night.
Wilkinson explained her reasoning to the Washington Post:
Sarah Huckabee Sanders had just walked in and sat down, the chef informed her.
"He said the staff is a little concerned. What should we do?" Wilkinson told The Washington Post. "I said I'd be down to see if it's true." ...
Several Red Hen employees are gay, she said. They knew Sanders had defended Trump's desire to bar transgender people from the military. This month, they had all watched her evade questions and defend a Trump policy that caused migrant children to be separated from their parents. ...
"Tell me what you want me to do. I can ask her to leave," Wilkinson told her staff, she said. "They said 'yes.'"
"I said, 'I'm the owner,' " she recalled, " 'I'd like you to come out to the patio with me for a word.' "
They stepped outside, into another small enclosure, but at least out of the crowded restaurant.
"I was babbling a little, but I got my point across in a polite and direct fashion," Wilkinson said. "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.' "
Wilkinson didn't know how Sanders would react, or whether Trump's chief spokeswoman had been called out in a restaurant before — as the president's homeland security secretary had been days earlier.
Sanders's response was immediate, Wilkinson said: " 'That's fine. I'll go.' "
Most news reports tied the dismissal not to gay rights but to the current immigration/family separation controversy.
Wilkinson continued, "I'm not a huge fan of confrontation. 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."
The White House Press Secretary tweeted on Saturday morning that she "politely left" The Red Hen in Lexington after it was made clear she was not welcome "because I work for POTUS."
Sarah Sanders furthermore characterized Wilkinson's actions stating: "Her actions say far more about her than about me."
Sanders' father, Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas and Republican presidential candidate, slammed the decision to evict his daughter.
"Bigotry. On the menu at The Red Hen Restaurant in Lexington, VA. Or you can ask for the 'Hate Plate'. And appetizers are 'small plates for small minds'," Huckabee tweeted on Saturday.
However many supported the restaurant, including model Christine Teigen, who replied to Sanders' tweet by saying: "Didn't you morons get your panties in a wad defending the baker that didn't want to make cakes for gay couples?"
MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell wrote: "You do NOT treat reporters 'respectfully.' You lie to them and personally insult some of them in full public view."
The Red Hen is now being bombarded with positive and negative reviews online. It also has a month-long wait for reservations.
My take is that in accusing conservatives of hypocrisy, Chrissy has trapped herself in a hypocritical argument.
Her logic is false. If, in the opinion of same-sex marriage advocates, it is immoral and even illegal for a Christian bakery to refuse service to same-sex clientele, then why is it moral and legal for a restaurant to refuse service to "employees" of President Trump. How is this not discrimination?
If it's wrong to refuse service to one "group," then why is it permissible to refuse service to another?
Red Hen manager Stephanie Wilkinson, reportedly a New York transplant to Virginia and unconfirmed Meryl Streep-relative, seeks to make a "moral" argument in excluding Sanders, but I ask, in what kind of morality do two wrongs make a right?
A sign posted outside the Ren Hen, put up prior to this incident reads, "Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend."
Perhaps the Red Hen should practice what it preaches.
I ask, what would the Civil Rights-era pioneers who sought to desegregate lunch counters and buses say about this? I admit I'm in no position to assume, but I can't believe Martin Luther King Jr. would approve of the Ren Hen Restaurant manager's actions.
