President Trump on Wednesday called for a boycott of Goodyear Tires after the company initiated a “zero-tolerance policy” against “MAGA attire,” as well as the slogans “Blue Lives Matter” and “All Lives Matter” in their stores. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, according to an employee, does allow messaging from the violent Marxist group Black Lives Matter, as well as LGBTQ attire in their stores.
“Don’t buy GOODYEAR TIRES,” the president wrote on Twitter. “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!).”
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 photo of a diversity training slide that was posted on social media, shows what’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable as part of Goodyear’s zero-tolerance policy.
Acceptable: Black Lives Matter (BLM), Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride.
Unacceptable: Blue Lives Matter, All Lives Matter, MAGA Attire, Political Affiliated Slogans or Material.
Goodyear has released a statement after an employee said the slide presented in a training was discriminatory. https://t.co/H9B1gRu2r7
— WIBW (@wibw) August 18, 2020
According to WIBW-13, the slide was presented at the Topeka plant by an area manager and came from their corporate office out of Akron, Ohio.
“If someone wants to wear a BLM shirt in here, then cool. I’m not going to get offended about it. But at the same time, if someone’s not going to be able to wear something that is politically based, even in the farthest stretch of the imagination, that’s discriminatory,” said the employee who took the photo.
The employee spoke to WIBW “under the agreement of anonymity due to fears they could lose their job.”
A former chief of police who now writes for Law Enforcement Today also called for a boycott, pointing out that Goodyear tires are currently the tire of choice for police vehicles.
Interestingly, Goodyear is more than happy to sell their tires to police departments across the country. In fact, Goodyear tires are the tire of choice on a majority of newly manufactured police vehicles.
Perhaps it is time for police departments across the country to insist that perhaps another tire manufacturer which actually supports police have their tires installed on police vehicles. Maybe Firestone or Continental, who may be less woke than Goodyear, would like the opportunity for the police tire business.
At the very least, police agencies should look elsewhere when the time comes to replace the tires on their vehicles.
As a matter of fact, if the 800,000 police officers across the country, along with their families implemented a boycott on Goodyear, perhaps they would change their tune.
WIBW asked Goodyear if the slide was part of a training from their main office, but the company refused to answer, sending them politically correct corporate boilerplate in a PR statement instead.
Goodyear is committed to fostering an inclusive and respectful workplace where all of our associates can do their best in a spirit of teamwork. As part of this commitment, we do allow our associates to express their support on racial injustice and other equity issues but ask that they refrain from workplace expressions, verbal or otherwise, in support of political campaigning for any candidate or political party as well as other similar forms of advocacy that fall outside the scope of equity issues.
The employee who took the slide, however, suggested that Goodyear’s attempt to “foster an inclusive and respectful workplace,” has resulted in a discriminatory policy.
“If we’re talking about equality, then it needs to be equality,” he said. “If not, it’s discrimination.”
Update:
Goodyear put out a statement Wednesday after the president called the company out, denying that the visual was “created or distributed by Goodyear Corporate,” nor part of a diversity training class.
The statement did seem to confirm that it is company policy to ban any form of advocacy that falls outside what they deem “racial justice and equity issues.”
“In a bizarre and poorly written statement (“upmost,” really?), Goodyear confirms that it endorses “Black Lives Matter,” an openly Marxist organization, as a “racial justice” matter, while banning the phrase “Blue Lives Matter” for being too political,” tweeted the Federalist’s Sean Davis.
Update:
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany stood by the president’s call for a boycott against Goodyear Wednesday afternoon when pressed by a reporter, who argued that the company’s discriminatory policy was “pretty standard and not that unusual.”
“I will stand at this podium and say Blue Lives Matter is an equity issue and Goodyear needs to come out and acknowledge that,” McEnany said.
.@PressSec is asked about President Trump calling for a boycott of Goodyear:
"I will stand at this podium and say Blue Lives Matter is an equity issue and Goodyear needs to come out and acknowledge that." pic.twitter.com/YKET9VryJy
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 19, 2020