The Washington Post’s editorial board on Sunday advocated for high-profile Trump administration officials to be able to “eat in peace” following White House press secretary Sarah Sanders being asked to leave a Virginia restaurant.
“Those who are insisting that we are in a special moment justifying incivility should think for a moment how many Americans might find their own special moment,” the Post’s editorial states. “How hard is it to imagine, for example, people who strongly believe that abortion is murder deciding that judges or other officials who protect abortion rights should not be able to live peaceably with their families?”
“Down that road lies a world in which only the most zealous sign up for public service. That benefits no one,” it continues.
The Post’s piece was published amid public debate over the treatment of Trump aides after both Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller this heckled by protesters while dining at Mexican restaurants in Washington.
Sanders then on Saturday wrote on Twitter about being booted from Red Hen in Lexington, Va., while trying to eat there on Friday night.
“Her actions say far more about her than about me,” Sanders wrote of the restaurant’s owner. “I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so.”
Last night I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for @POTUS and I politely left. Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) June 23, 2018
While Democratic lawmakers like Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., on Sunday agitated for more action, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that “the restaurant should have served them.”
David Axelrod, who was a special adviser to former President Barack Obama, also tweeted Sunday that he was “amazed and appalled” by the controversy.
“This, in the end, is a triumph for @realDonaldTrump vision of America: Now we’re divided by red plates & blue plates! #sad,” Axelrod wrote.
[Related: Trump slams ‘filthy’ Red Hen restaurant after it kicked out Sarah Sanders]
Kind of amazed and appalled by the number of folks on Left who applauded the expulsion of @PressSec and her family from a restaurant.
This, in the end, is a triumph for @realDonaldTrump vision of America:
Now we’re divided by red plates & blue plates!#sad— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) June 24, 2018
[Also read: Online critics blame the wrong Red Hen after Sarah Sanders controversy]
