A few years ago, a rodeo clown in Missouri wore an Obama mask and it became national news. It shouldn’t have. The following story won’t become national news, and it shouldn’t. Americans have the right to mock and criticize their leaders, even if stupid people think it’s inherently racist. The silver lining of the Trump administration is that the following sort of free speech is socially acceptable again.
Over the weekend, the Facebook page for Ella’s Americana Folk Art Cafe turned into a microcosm of the polarized state of American politics, as commenters debated the Seminole Heights restaurant’s Sunday fundraiser for Planned Parenthood.
By donating $5, Ella’s customers were given three softballs to toss at a target on a carnival-style water tank placed on the eatery’s outdoor back patio. A direct hit dunked a man costumed as President Donald Trump.
Some wrote on the Facebook post promoting the event they were disgusted by the fundraising means and would stop dining at Ella’s. Others were so in favor of the event, or of supporting Planned Parenthood, that they pledged to eat there more often.
Here’s what that looked like:
I’m unlikely to ever visit this restaurant. Not because I’m offended by their disrespect for POTUS, but because I don’t like Florida. Plus, a name like “Ella’s Americana Folk Art Cafe” is my kryptonite. But this dunking booth is fine. It’s not hurting anybody.
Well, except for the babies killed by Planned Parenthood. Okay, so it’s hurting people, but at least the funds are being raised voluntarily.
If you want to donate money to kill babies for a chance to ruin a Trump impersonator’s suit, you get to do that in America. And I get to tell you that you’re a pathetic loser.
Can you even imagine if Election 2016 had gone the other way and somebody put up a Hillary dunking booth? I prefer the alternate reality I’m stuck in now.