President Trump is calling on his followers to not buy Goodyear tires, despite previously railing against “cancel culture,” after an employee posted a viral photo of a company policy banning “Make America Great Again” and other political attire in the workplace.
Coincidentally, the President’s custom limousine, known as the “Beast” has custom Goodyear Tires.
“Don’t buy GOODYEAR TIRES – They announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS. Get better tires for far less!” Trump tweeted Wednesday morning, adding in parentheses, “This is what the Radical Left Democrats do. Two can play the same game, and we have to start playing it now!”
Don’t buy GOODYEAR TIRES – They announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS. Get better tires for far less! (This is what the Radical Left Democrats do. Two can play the same game, and we have to start playing it now!).
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 19, 2020
A local NBC News affiliate in Topeka, Kan., reported Tuesday on a slide purportedly shown at a Goodyear diversity training that listed “Black Lives Matter,” “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender pride” under “acceptable” while branding “Blue Lives Matter,” “All Lives Matter,” “MAGA attire,” and “politically-affiliated slogans or material” under “unacceptable.”
An anonymous employee snapped a photograph of the slide that has since circulated on social media.
The individual alleged that the company’s policy is discriminatory.
Goodyear subsequently issued a message saying that the image created “misconceptions” about the company and its policies, stating that the visual “was not created or distributed by Goodyear corporate, nor was it part of a diversity training class.”
The company said that it does not tolerate any form of harassment or discrimination in the workplace and as a result asks associates to “refrain from workplace expressions in support of political campaigning for any candidate or political party, as well as similar forms of advocacy that fall outside the scope of racial justice and equity issues.”
The company also said that it supports the “diverse viewpoints” of its employees and “has always wholeheartedly supported both equality and law enforcement and will continue to do so.” Goodyear denounced suggestions that the company is “anti-police” after the image circulated on social media.
The statement, issued on Twitter, did not explicitly mention Trump’s tweet.
Yesterday, Goodyear became the focus of a conversation that created some misconceptions about our policies and our company. Goodyear has always wholeheartedly supported both equality and law enforcement and will continue to do so. pic.twitter.com/oO6jUg2rTR
— Goodyear (@goodyear) August 19, 2020
Goodyear’s stock declined 3.4 percent Wednesday morning, following the president’s message, which was broadcast to his over 85 million Twitter followers.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is headquartered in Akron, Ohio, and has facilities across the world.
Ohio remains a battleground state in this years election.
It looks as if, of the four major tire companies, Goodyear is the one that’s U.S. based. So here again it’s Trump First, not America First. https://t.co/S2HTq7QJnh
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) August 19, 2020
Trump, who railed against political correctness during his 2016 campaign, is campaigning this year as a warrior against what he says is a left-wing “cancel culture” that seeks to get people punished or banished for supposedly objectionable words or acts.
“One of their political weapons is ‘cancel culture’ — driving people from their jobs, shaming dissenters and demanding total submission from anyone who disagrees. This is the very definition of totalitarianism, and it is completely alien to our culture and our values, and it has absolutely no place in the United States of America,” Trump said in a July 3 speech at Mount Rushmore.
Trump’s Goodyear tweet is far from the first time he’s called for boycotts, cancellations and firings of people and a wide variety of products and entities.
CNN compiled a non-exhaustive list of more than 30 examples since 2012, which include television hosts and networks, other media publications, the Macy’s department store, and the country of Mexico.