A viral video from a Florida Starbucks has sparked a #TrumpCup trend, in which customers give their name as “Trump” so baristas have to write it on the cup and shout it out in the store. The video shows a Starbucks employee refusing to write Trump on a cup and threatening to call the police on the calm, polite customer who has already ordered and paid for his drink.
Starbucks SJWs call cops on customer for requesting “Trump” name on his coffee cup.
You know what to do, folks. pic.twitter.com/0kMzvtCkBg— America First! (@America_1st_) November 18, 2016
The video took off when it was tweeted by “grizzly bear trap” music artist and Milo Yiannopolous acolyte “Baked Alaska,” who also shared #TrumpCup instructions to his legions of fans.
Operation #TrumpCup
1) Go to Starbucks & tell them your name is Trump
2) If they refuse take video
Pls share & spread the word pic.twitter.com/huPj4g6cqY
— Baked Alaska™ (@bakedalaska) November 18, 2016
Critics have tried to attach the trend to a different video, taken in a Miami Starbucks, that shows a man accusing a barista of refusing to serve him because he is white. The Florida Man, ever the reasonable and upstanding member of society, calls the barista “trash” and “garbage.” He did not ask for Trump to be written on his cup – he was a freelance jerk, not affiliated with the #TrumpCup movement.
There is at least one additional unverified incident in which someone claims to have been fired by the coffee chain over her refusal to serve Trump supporters.
The Trump Cup trend is evidence that publicly supporting Trump carries a large social cost. For any baristas reading this, that means a “Venti” social cost.
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz ensures that every cup of coffee comes with a free side of progressive politics. Schultz endorsed Hillary Clinton and even used the company’s annual meeting as a platform to state his support for same-sex marriage. Back in 2013, Schultz asked that those who carry firearms either skip the coffee run or leave the gun at home, calling the exercise of Second Amendment rights “unsettling and upsetting for many of our customers.” Perhaps best known is the short-lived #racetogether campaign, in which baristas would engage customers in conversations about race relations in the wake of police shootings and ensuing protests.
This is not the first time that people have tried to teach Starbucks a lesson by spending more money on coffee; last year, people who thought the red holiday cups were deliberately ignoring Christmas decided to visit the vendor and give their names as “Merry Christmas.” Regardless of the outrage of the moment, it seems that we cannot stop buying Starbucks products. (What do they put in the whipped cream? Heroin?)
The creator of #TrumpCups maintains that it is not a protest or boycott. It’s just a way for people to make a statement as they go about their daily lives. The name of the president-elect is not threatening or harassing – it’s just a fact. #TrumpCups is less of a protest than it is a convenient reason to make a Starbucks run, Instagram the cup, and feel like you’re standing up for something.
