Imagine if a business establishment told those who voted for Hillary Clinton that "you have no place here" and demanded their resignations. There would be wall-to-wall press coverage, calls for a boycott, street protests at company headquarters, and years of payback in the form of "diversity" and "sensitivity" training.
There will almost certainly be none of that at Chicago-based Grubhub, whose CEO and Co-Founder Matt Maloney, in the wake of Donald Trump's presidential election victory, told employees in an email, after a four-paragraph lament on how awful it was, that "If you do not agree with this statement then please reply to this email with your resignation." The Associated Press, in what will probably typify the minimal degree of press interest, posted an unbylined five-paragraph item Friday morning which avoided portraying how truly unhinged Maloney became, and created a sense of contrition not supported by his weak attempt at a walkback:
Let's compare what the AP wrote to what Maloney's email actually said (bolds are mine throughout this post):
SUBJECT: So... that happened... what's next?
I'm still trying to reconcile my own worldview with the overwhelming message that was delivered last night. Clearly there are a lot of people angry and scared as the antithesis of every modern presidential candidate won and will be our next president.
While demeaning, insulting and ridiculing minorities, immigrants and the physically/mentally disabled worked for Mr. Trump, I want to be clear that this behavior - and these views, have no place at Grubhub. Had he worked here, many of his comments would have resulted in his immediate termination.
We have worked for years cultivating a culture of support and inclusiveness. I firmly believe that we must bring together different perspectives to continue innovating - including all genders, races, ethnicities and sexual, cultural or ideological preferences. We are better, faster and stronger together.
Further I absolutely reject the nationalist, anti-immigrant and hateful politics of Donald Trump and will work to shield our community from this movement as best as I can. As we all try to understand what this vote means to us, I want to affirm to anyone on our team that is scared or feels personally exposed, that I and everyone else here at Grubhub will fight for your dignity and your right to make a better life for yourself and your family here in the United States.
If you do not agree with this statement then please reply to this email with your resignation because you have no place here. We do not tolerate hateful attitudes on our team. I want to repeat what Hillary said this morning, that the new administration deserves our open minds and a chance to lead, but never stop believing that the fight for what's right is worth it.
Stay strong, Matt
Points:
- Maloney didn't "suggest" that Trump-supporting employees resign, as the AP claimed. With only perfunctory politeness (responding to a "please" from a CEO is not optional for an employee), he demanded it.
- The AP story, as written, agrees that Trump's policies are "nationalist, anti-immigrant, and hateful." Nationalist, yes, while being friendly to those countries who are friendly to us; anti-immigrant, no (anti-illegal immigrant, yes, a stance with which even a majority of Hispanics have often agreed); hateful, no (for genuine hate, see below). If the wire service wanted to stay neutral, it would have written that "Maloney said he rejects what he called Trump's 'nationalist, anti-immigrant, and hateful' policies." But it didn't.
- The AP didn't do anything with Maloney's paranoia that "the community" needs to be "shielded" from Trump's "movement." If anyone needs shielding right now, it's property owners and police experiencing likely left-funded riots in sore-loser deep-blue strongholds like Portland and Seattle.
The AP's report also whitewashed Maloney's stubbornness, as described in a report yesterday at Fox News:
Maloney tells Fox News that "almost 20 percent” of his employees have personally thanked him for the note. “I am not embarrassed by it,” he said.
The CEO said that he deeply respects the right of people to vote for whoever they decide, but that he simply wanted to “reassure our employees that our company will actively support diversity and inclusion -- regardless of national politics."
Apparently the not-embarrassed Maloney got enough blowback from somewhere — perhaps his legal advisers or key shareholders — that he reconsidered, sort of. He issued a mealy-mouthed and decidedly non-apologetic follow-up email on Thursday (full email here; underlining is his):
Some of the statements in my email (please see full text below) have been misconstrued. I want to clarify that I did not ask for anyone to resign if they voted for Trump. I would never make such a demand. To the contrary, the message of the email is that we do not tolerate discriminatory activity or hateful commentary in the workplace, and that we will stand up for our employees.
Sorry, sir. Even the AP figured out that that you were "suggesting" that Trump supporters resign — and again, if the "suggestion" is coming from the CEO, it's a demand. Unfortunately, the AP's opening paragraph creates the impression for many readers that Maloney apologized. He clearly did no such thing.
I'm probably dreaming that this will ever happen, because the left has too much of a psychological investment in demonizing others, but those who believe that Trump's election is the single-worst moment in U.S. history need to understand why he achieved his narrow electoral victory, best summed up by Heather Higgins at National Review:
How they voted was not about endorsing the worst of Trump but about the future of the country. Indeed, in focus groups we did this year, as well as anecdotally, Trump voters were better versed and more keenly aware of Trump’s warts than repelled and consequently undecided voters were. And while most had not favored Trump at the beginning of the election season, they were convinced that the gravity of this turning point for our country superseded their concerns about Trump’s flaws.
There's that, plus Trump's Democratic opponent, who was, in Victor Davis Hanson's spot-on Wednesday assessment, "irreparably disconnected" and "a haughty moneybag, with a huge staff, lots of opposition researchers and internal pollsters, surfeits of questionable cash donations, and politically correct endorsements that the left used to find plastic and inauthentic."
Sadly, what Higgins found in her focus groups doesn't matter to leftists, because they robotically assume that if you don't agree with them, you simply must be "racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic" — in other words, exactly how their standard-bearer Hillary Clinton described fully "half" of those who supported Trump in a speech to donors on September 9. Hillary Clinton and Matt Maloney are on the same contemptible page.
If a CEO, especially of a publicly held company, as Grubhub is, demanded that Hillary Clinton supporters resign, he or she would almost immediately (and deservedly) be fired, and there would be no end to the grief that company would endure from the diversity crowd, which would dictate all manner of brainwashing disguised as "training." But since the controversy concerns the outrageous bigotry of a leftist, Matt Maloney's intolerance will likely fade into oblivion, and his career will continue intact — leaving it up to New Media to remember this incident if or when he makes another stupid, intolerant move.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
