Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has criticized an upscale bar employee who allegedly spat on Eric Trump earlier this week.
At a press conference on June 27, Lightfoot denounced the employee while calling for civility.
“Civility matters. We may not agree and, in my case, I don’t agree with a lot of the things that President Trump stands for. Our values are different. But you cross the line when you assault someone. And you absolutely cross the line when you intentionally target someone for that kind of treatment. No one deserves that. No one,” Lightfoot said.
“This is America. People have a right to have their views, no matter if we agree with them or not. But we can not countenance people who go out of their way to express themselves in such a repugnant fashion,” she added.
She also called Eric Trump’s decision to not press charges “gracious” and urged the restaurant to take “appropriate” actions against the employee.
“For a party that preaches tolerance, this once again demonstrates they have very little civility,” he said. “When somebody is sick enough to resort to spitting on someone, it just emphasizes a sickness and desperation and the fact that we’re winning.”
Breitbart reported that the female employee had approached the president’s son as he entered the bar with companions. She allegedly uttered some anti-Trump statements that could not be made out distinctly and then spat at Eric.
Eric Trump took to Instagram not long after the incident sharing a quote by the Greek philosopher Socrates: “When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the losers.”
The cocktail lounge said in a statement on June 26 that they had suspended the employee temporarily and condemned her behavior.
“What is certain is this: no customer should ever be spit on,” the statement said. They also criticized people who are “calling for the demise of our business.”
“We hope this incident can, at least, serve to illuminate the current absurdity of the discourse in our politics,” they added.
There have been other public confrontations involving those associated with Trump and his administration.
In June 2018, The Red Hen restaurant in Virginia refused to serve Trump’s outgoing spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The restaurant was subsequently criticized by the president.
