Elections

Trump supporters are using his name at Starbucks in a protest against Starbucks

By Greg Hadley

ghadley@mcclatchy.com
Justin McCartney of Hampton, Va., holds up a cup with the words "Come Together" written on it outside a Starbucks cafe in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 27, 2012. Starbucks is using its coffee cups to jump into the political fray in Washington. The world's biggest coffee chain is asking employees at cafes in the Washington area to scribble the words "Come Together" on cups for drink orders on Thursday and Friday. CEO Howard Schultz says the words are intended as a message to lawmakers about the damage being caused by the divisive negotiations over the "fiscal cliff."
Justin McCartney of Hampton, Va., holds up a cup with the words "Come Together" written on it outside a Starbucks cafe in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 27, 2012. Starbucks is using its coffee cups to jump into the political fray in Washington. The world's biggest coffee chain is asking employees at cafes in the Washington area to scribble the words "Come Together" on cups for drink orders on Thursday and Friday. CEO Howard Schultz says the words are intended as a message to lawmakers about the damage being caused by the divisive negotiations over the "fiscal cliff." Evan Vucci AP

Another chapter in the fraught relationship between President-elect Donald Trump and coffee giant Starbucks unfolded Friday, as the Republican’s supporters used his name while ordering in an apparent show of solidarity.

Last year, while Trump was still a candidate, he told supporters at a rally that “maybe we should boycott Starbucks” because the global chain had removed symbols associated with Christmas from its holiday cups. Many Christians who also took offense at the new cups started the hashtag #MerryChristmasStarbucks and began saying “Merry Christmas” when asked by Starbucks baristas for a name to go with their order. Trump also promised as a candidate that “we're going to be saying ‘Merry Christmas’ at every store,” when he became president, according to CNN.

At the same time, Trump also suggested he might not keep a Starbucks store in Trump Tower in New York City over the controversy, while a petition called for Starbucks to leave Trump Tower over his controversial statements about women, Latinos and Muslims, according to Fortune. Starbucks continues to operate a location at Trump Tower in New York.

In April, actor and Trump supporter Scott Baio tweeted that he used Trump’s name while ordering for his wife at Starbucks but the barista refused to call out the name, as is common practice for the chain.

And in September, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz endorsed Trump’s rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, for president and said Trump had displayed “bigotry and hate and divisiveness,” according to Business Insider.

More recently, a video of a man screaming at a barista in a Coral Gables, Florida, Starbucks because he felt he was discriminated against for being white went viral on Wednesday. David Sanguesa yelled “Trump” and “I voted for Trump” at the server while demanding his money back and calling the server “garbage” and “trash” before storming out of the store.

On Thursday night, a Twitter account supportive of Trump tweeted out a video reportedly showing a Starbucks employee refusing to accept “Trump” as the customer’s name and calling the police while the customer, who is unseen but heard in the video, tells him “That’s the name I want to be seen and heard as today.”

“You know what to do, folks,” the Twitter user wrote in the caption for the video.

And thus was born #TrumpCup, which trended on Twitter for several hours Friday morning as users sent out pictures of their Starbucks orders with Trump’s name attached.

This story was originally published November 18, 2016 at 1:57 PM with the headline "Trump supporters are using his name at Starbucks in a protest against Starbucks."

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