WASHINGTON — A new effort in the D.C. area seeks to express local displeasure at some of the comments Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has made on the campaign trail.
This push comes in the form of a petition, whose signers pledge that they will boycott the businessman’s Trump International Hotel when it opens on Pennsylvania Avenue, in Northwest, next year.
“The Washington D.C. metro area is home to millions of wonderful people,” the three-day-old effort’s preamble reads. “While Donald Trump appears to have supporters on the campaign trail (as of Dec. 2015), we the vast majority of the people of the D.C. area are appalled by his words and ideas — he has crossed the line in many ways, offending everyone and our nation’s values.”
“It certainly doesn’t represent the city that I live in and that I help represent, which is a very open, inclusive, and welcoming, respectful place,” Ward 6 Councilman Charles Allen told WTOP. “To me, it’s a no-brainer to try not to patronize and support something that’s got the Trump name on it.”
The petition, hosted on GoPetition.com, says Trump has the right to develop and open his hotel. But petition creator Gary Thompson writes, “We do not welcome Mr. Trump’s values and we do not welcome his brand, which he has tarnished by his own words and actions. Trump made his choices and now we can make ours.”
The hotel took a hit earlier in the year when celebrity chef and restaurateur Jose Andres announced he would no longer open a restaurant in the venue, after Trump made remarks about Mexican immigrants. More than 2,700 signers backed a petition to discourage Andres from opening the restaurant.
This latest petition has several dozen supporters.
