Trump threatens to take Goodyear tires off presidential limo 'The Beast' after company ban on MAGA hats
President Donald J. Trump threatened to take Goodyear tires off his presidential limousine after the tire manufacturer banned his campaign’s trademark MAGA hats in the workplace. “I would swamp 'em out,” the commander-in-chief declared at a press conference on Wednesday.
Famously called ‘The Beast’, the presidential limo, as well as other cars in the POTUS’ motorcade reportedly use Goodyear tires. The president bemoaned that the company had banned the distinctive red 'Make America Great Again' caps sported by his supporters. He said the multinational tire manufacturer was 'playing politics' and declared, in quintessential Trumpian fashion, that he polled very well with its employees.
“They say that you can't have Blue Lives Matter,” he began. “You can't wear a MAGA hat.” “They're using their power over these people and these people want to wear whatever it is that we're talking about,” he continued. “So I would be very much in favor of people who don't want to buy there.”
“I think it's disgraceful that they did this,” he noted.
Earlier that day, Trump called for a boycott on the company as a tit for tat. “Don’t buy GOODYEAR TIRES,” he tweeted Wednesday morning. “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!).”
Shortly thereafter, a photograph that showed the presidential limo equipped with Goodyear tires went viral on social media. Trump's comments came after the company announced it would not tolerate politically-affiliated material worn by employees at the workplace. However, a leaked internal slide from a company training session later appeared to discriminate against varying viewpoints.
“The slide listed as acceptable: Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride (LGBT),” the Daily Mail reported. “Under unacceptable it listed: Blue Lives Matter, All Lives Matter, MAGA Attire, Political Affiliated Slogans or Material.”
It later emerged that a worker at the Topeka plant had provided the slide to WIBW before it went viral and was picked up by other media outlets.
Goodyear admitted the image had “sparked a strong reaction” on social media. “Yesterday Goodyear became the focus of a conversation that created some misconceptions about our policies and our company. For those not aware, a widely circulated image sparked a strong reaction, and we wanted to take the opportunity to provide some important context to the visual and our policies,” the company said in a statement after the president's tweet.
“The visual in question was not created or distributed by Goodyear corporate, nor was it part of a diversity training class,” it wrote. The statement claimed that company officials were only trying to foster “an inclusive, respectful workplace” which was “another reason we ask associates not to engage in political campaigning of any kind in the workplace – for any candidate, party or political organization.”
Goodyear was founded in 1898 in Akron, Ohio and its involvement with the presidential fleet dates reportedly back to Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency in 1964. According to Reuters, the latest presidential limo is equipped with “run-flat tires, bulletproof glass, and a completely sealed interior to ward off a chemical attack, among many other high-tech security features. It also has extensive electronic communications equipment.”
White House Press Sec. Kayleigh McEnany lashed out at Goodyear for targeting “certain” ideologies, including support for the president. '‘What was clearly targeted was a certain ideology. They have not denied that image was presented at one of their facilities,” she said during a briefing Wednesday.
McEnany pointed out that the company supported Black Lives Matter but refused to support the nation’s law enforcement since it deemed Blue Lives Matter was unacceptable. Furthermore, she defended the president’s call for a boycott on Goodyear, saying that it was his way of showing his support for the police. “The reason he called for the boycott was MAGA. That's pretty unanimous with Blue Lives Matter these days”' McEnany said.