Trump Voters’ Threats Force Florist To Close Shop

A florist in Tennessee is forced to close her doors after threats from Trump voters. Donald Trump’s campaign focused on hatred of the LGBTQIA+ community, immigrants, and numerous other marginalized groups. As a result, one would reasonably assume that anyone who voted for Donald Trump is not a safe person to be around.

Recently, Kristin Wolter, the owner of Everbloom Design in Memphis, announced that she will not do business with people who voted for Trump.  “I won’t do business with people who support the president-elect,” Wolter said in a short clip on her social media. “It is because I need to create a safe place for me, my staff, and my family.”

For decades, conservatives have been pushing the idea that “religious freedom” and other right-wing catchphrases provide business owners the ability to deny service to anyone for any reason. We saw this every single time conservatives have passionately argued that bakers don’t have to make cakes for gay people and other ridiculous things. But when someone turns the tables and — for legitimate safety reasons — doesn’t want a bloodthirsty mob of Christian nationalists trapsing through their store, the Right goes nuts.

Trump Voters’ Threats Force Florist To Close Shop

The video that set Redhats off might seem familiar. Someone contacted Wolker and asked for flowers for their “yay, Trump won” celebration, the florist says in a video posted to her Instagram. “I want to make it perfectly clear,” she says. “Absolutely in no way will I support that. In no way.” She says the person is a past client and asked if she was willing to alienate “50 percent” of potential customers. “Yes I am,” Wolker says. “That’s how strongly I feel about this.”

Naturally, Wolker immediately began receiving threats from the “loving Christians” on the Right who feel it’s OK for someone “deeply-held personal beliefs” to allow them to discriminate against LGBTQIA+ people but not reasonably decide not to serve folks with a dangerous, hateful, and violent political ideology that has resulted in terrorist attacks and attempts to overthrow the government. As a result, she was forced to temporarily close her store for the safety of everyone there. She also made her business social media accounts private. Despite the threats, Wolker is sticking her her guns. In a Facebook post, she addressed the media, explaining that celebrating a man like Trump conflicts with her values.

“Posting this again and leaving it public,” she says in the post. “Those of you coming here to leave terrible comments are wasting your breath. You are only proving my point. And journalists that are lurking here’s my side of the story.”

Simply put, the business owner’s values do not include serving people who want to ruin the country. Perhaps conservatives should learn to respect that.