Donald Trump isn’t going anywhere. Unfortunately. Trump has been totally nutter-butter for a while, but over the past few years, he’s become something of the go-to stunt-queen/tin-foil-hat conspiracy theorist for a particular brand of wingnut. I don’t even want to list all of the stupid crap that’s come out of his mouth or on his Twitter feed, so let’s just say this: the left sees Trump as a symbol of a larger problem within the GOP and the right should dump Trump because he’s making them all look really bad.
None of which means that Donald Trump doesn’t have every right to say whatever he wants. He does have the right. He has the right to say crazy sh-t, and everyone else has the right to call him on it. That’s free speech. But when a petition was started to urge Macy’s to Dump Trump, it was no longer simply a free speech issue. It was a pocketbook issue. As in, people might stop shopping at Macy’s if Macy’s continues to use a wingnut in their commercials. So a petition was started (go here to see it and sign it) and within a few weeks, hundreds of thousands of people signed it. And now Macy’s spokesperson had to issue a statement about the Dump Trump movement:
Macy’s is standing by its man — for now, at least. The department store giant has faced significant backlash in recent days over its longtime employment of billionaire Donald Trump as a spokesperson for the brand. More than half a million people have signed an online petition calling for Macy’s to sever ties with the 66-year-old business magnate, who has drawn fire recently for his tirades against President Barack Obama, NBC’s Brian Williams, and global warming.
But a rep for the retailer says the company’s spokespeople — Trump included — have no bearing on its business practices.
“Macy’s marketing and merchandise offerings are not representative of any political position,” the store said in a statement. “Many of the individuals associated with products sold at Macy’s — or at any retailer, for that matter — express personal opinions that are not related to the merchandise we sell or to the philosophies of our company.”
Angelo Carusone, who created the petition, told NBC’s Today that he was inspired to take action after seeing one of the brand’s new holiday ads, which features cameos from a grumpy Trump and his fellow spokespeople Justin Bieber, Martha Stewart, and Taylor Swift. Carusone, 30, thought the ad represented an “embracing” of Trump’s brand, which he said is built on “consequence-free bullying.”
However, Macy’s insists there’s no hidden agenda. “A longtime focus of Macy’s holiday advertising has been to celebrate the season’s spirit of generosity and goodwill through our ongoing ‘Believe’ campaign,” the store’s statement read, “and that is the sole message of our holiday television commercials.”
Carusone and his half a million supporters aren’t backing down. “Donald Trump does not reflect the ‘magic of Macy’s,'” the petition states. “Macy’s says it has a strong obligation to be ‘socially responsible’ and that ‘actions speak louder than words.’ Indeed. It’s time to act.”
The petition also cites Trump’s “especially unpleasant, nasty, and despicable behavior” and paints him as a sexist hypocrite who has used his fame as a public platform to spread lies and conspiracy theories. (The longtime Republican is a noted “birther” and has said that he thinks global warming “was created by and for the Chinese.”)
Yeah… Macy’s isn’t going to do anything until they’re forced to do something. Like, a petition is easy enough to ignore. But if liberals threaten to picket the Macy’s Day Parade? Or what if they actually boycotted Macy’s during the holidays? I would do that… because I don’t shop at Macy’s anyway (okay, I shopped there once in the last year – but never again!).
Incidentally, I do think the Macy’s spokesperson is being too cute by half when he’s acting like Macy’s isn’t giving a wink-and-nudge to Trump’s birther conspiracy. Check out this ad – Trump is satirizing his own birther words.
Also: the dude who began the petition, Angelo Carusone, sent out emails to the signers this morning. His email basically said that we’ve gotten Macy’s attention but that they’re still not going to dump Trump because Macy’s and Trump have a full-on partnership. He encouraged everyone to sign the petition and called Trump a “bully”/
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Wtf is wrong with his wife’s face? Bitch is giving me all sorts of extra-terrestrial vibes….
You know what it is? She has a manly face and she does that Victoria Beckham thing where she never smiles.
Come on, don’t she looks like she belongs in RuPauls Drag Race? Yet a couple of years back D_ck Trump had the nerves to say that Angelina Jolie was not that attractive.
I wonder if it is even possible for her not to look angry with those eyes
A bully, a sexist pig, an orange who insults everyone viciously who dares disagree with him while also calling for a political revolution.
See ya Macy’s, I dumped Papa Johns. I can certainly dump you.
I on the other hand will shop more at Macy’s, buy more Papa John’s pizza, etc. This petition will have the Chick Fil A effect – they are doing better after the boycotting because folks in general are tired of good businesses being shaked down.
I’m just thankful buying chicken and not electing Romney is where folks showed their strength. I can live with that.
What’s wrong with Papa John’s?
@Dusty Businesses are not being shaken down. People are stating that they do not wish to give money to businesses that have shown willingness to support discrimination, sexism and racism. If you choose to support discrimination, sexism, and racism, that is certainly your choice to do so. No one is going to force you to not give those businesses your money.
@Lamb Well other than the fact that Papa John’s has disgusting food, the CEO is a jackass. He through a fit about how pizzas will cost about $0.14 more if the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) stays in place.
It grosses me out that anyone thinks that food service employees should not have have health care insurance. If there is anyone that I want to have health care insurance, it is anyone preparing or working around food.
Thank you Merritt,
To add to that the CEO admitted it would have only cost them an increase to an average of .12 cents more per pizza to cover their employees health, but you know…that’s unacceptable.
These people have no respect for those they consider lower than them.
Ha very nice. I believe he was referred to as a “vibrating potato” on Gawker during the post-election commentary & your comment reminded me of that!
While I’m certainly no Trump fan, can Macy’s dump him if they’ve signed a contract? I mean, unless Trump says something really incredibly racist or offensive, I don’t see it happening. Besides, can’t you just hear it now…Trump going on another Twitter-rampage about how Macy’s “violated their agreement” and he’ll sue the pants off them?
I’m not sure he would have much of a law suit. Companies ending endorsement deals, is not new. Companies ditched Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods (some have resigned Woods) easily enough.
Also don’t forget B-Baller Kobe Byrant lost some endorsement during his alleged rape scandal.
I don’t know why, but this line delighted me:
‘…who has drawn fire recently for his tirades against President Barack Obama, NBC’s Brian Williams, and global warming.’
Focus Donald.
Yeah, Donald Trump says stupid stuff. However, the real bully here is the man spreading this petition. If Donald Trump offends people and they don’t want to shop at Macy’s anymore because of it, so be it. Macy’s will quickly drop him if he affects their bottom line.
What’s offensive to me, from any part of the political spectrum, is this attempt to strong arm companies based on a publicized backlash from relatively few people, who probably already dont shop there anyhow. And if they picketed the Thanksgiving parade, I think a lot of people would hate them.
oh come on, Trump is a total bully. there is nothing wrong with someone putting a petition together to get the attention of a major corporation, and other than using the public sphere, what other venue is there to draw attention to a topic like this?
Yes! This. While I agree with the general consensus here that Donald Trump is awful, this trend of trying to strong arm companies into changing things based on their contractual association with a 3rd party who says things that people disagree with is so backwards. You say things that offend me and are intolerant? I’m going to be intolerant of you and everything you’re associated with.
Again, can’t stand trump and his misogyny and general personality, wouldn’t hire him to be my spokesperson, but trying to bully a company into breaching their contracts for hiring a bully is backwards. And yes, don’t shop there, by all means! But taking it to morning tv shows makes it a step closer to the bullying this guy is apparently trying to fight.
As I said in the last Trump post, how is this any different than any celeb/athlete endorsement? So an athlete like Kobe can lose endorsement deals because he cheated on his wife but a man who is blatantly racist and sexist can keep his deal without any repercussions?
Trump decided long ago to turn his name into a “brand”. Once you make that decision, you have a responsibility to maintain the image of that brand. One can’t expect to make shamefully disrespectful, ignorant statements in a public forum without their “brand” taking a hit. I doubt that Trump is unfamiliar with the political component involved with branding one’s name/image so this shouldn’t be a surprise to him.
I think people are trying to make this about his political affiliation when it’s not-it’s about Trump as a HUMAN BEING. There are a lot of business owners as well as celebs with endorsement deals that are conservative Republicans, they don’t go around making comments like the ones he made about Arianna Huffington or the rude, crass comments about Rosie O’Donell’s appearance OR the racist comments about Obama.
If I was paying money to a celeb to represent my company, I would expect them to maintain a level of class-it’s really that simple. Trump failed, ergo the chump gets fired.
EDIT: To be fair, Trump has always been this way and Macy’s knew how he was from the start, so Macy’s must take the blame for hiring him in the first place. That being said, Trump is still a dipshit and I don’t think he’s a good “face” for ANY brand.
I don’t know if they are strong arming Macy’s though. In the petition it says nothing about boycotting the store or anything of the sort, just that Trump’s behavior does not reflect well on Macy’s “social responsibility policy”.
If people take it beyond that, picketing and the like, then I could see it being strong arming, but I don’t see one guy writing a petition being that big a deal. However, over 600K people agreeing with it and signing it should at the very least cause Macy’s to consider the passion behind it.
Yeah, Donald Trump says stupid stuff. However, the real bully here is the man spreading this petition. If Donald Trump offends people and they don’t want to shop at Macy’s anymore because of it, so be it. Macy’s will quickly drop him if he affects their bottom line.
What’s bothers me, from any part of the political spectrum, is this attempt to strong arm companies based on a publicized backlash from relatively few people, who probably already dont shop there anyhow. And if they picketed the Thanksgiving parade, I think a lot of people would hate them.
Insead of boycotting Macy’s, maybe people should stop buying this a-hole’s products…. He is such a d**che!!!
This is giving Trump more of what he loves–attention. He’s like the hydra–cut off one head and two more will grow in its place.
Macy’s will not be able to dump Trump the Idiot, this close to Christmas. They have warehouse full of his sh*t to sell.
But lets be real. If his product does not move this Christmas. It will not be on their floors come Spring. Or next Christmas.
So the real question for me. Will Trump let his big mouth kill off his retail line?
No one wants to deal with petitions and a big mouth bully. Including Macy’s.
And I suspect he has been told this directly by Macy’s management by now.
cool, one less store for me to shop at. i won’t support a bully, ever. we can have a disagreement about politics, but i will not support someone who is an ass.
It’s their decision not to dump him, and it’s my decision not to buy another thing from Macy’s until they do.
How about we boycott Macy’s for opening at Midnight, same with Target and Walmart, so that for future holidays their employees can actually enjoy their full Thanksgiving. I am sick of commercialism defining the holidays, it completely ruins the purpose of them.
Amen, Hot Pockets!
I think some of us will agree Donald Trump is tame compared to some of the people we know on Facebook when it comes to political rants.
Spot on. I know A LOT worse, unfortunately.