Trump calls to boycott Goodyear [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• President Donald Trump called to boycott Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company after apparently restricting its workers from wearing his “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) hats.
• Goodyear issued a recent policy that prevents employees from wearing attires in “support of political campaigning for any candidate or political party as well as similar forms of advocacy that fall outside the scope of racial justice and equality issues.”
• Democrat officials such as presidential nominee Joe Biden and Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown slammed Trump’s comments, suggesting that it would affect thousands of jobs.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday criticized and called to boycott Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, saying that the company was “playing politics” by restricting its workers from wearing his “Make America Great Again” captioned caps.

“Don’t buy GOODYEAR TIRES – They announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS,” Trump wrote on Twitter Wednesday, referring to his slogan which was imprinted on baseball caps.

“I’m not happy with Goodyear because what they’re doing is playing politics,” Trump said at a White House briefing.

The president told reporters that if there would be an alternative, he would change the Goodyear tires on his presidential limousine.

The Ohio-based company, which prohibited its employees from wearing the attire of the ‘Blue Lives Matter’ movement that backs law enforcement, was described by Trump as “disgraceful” as it permitted other movements which he said was “Marxist.”

According to Kayleigh McEnany, the support for police officers was much of a fair concern as the “Black Lives Matter” movement. Police officers across the country were being targeted by mass protests.

Shortly after Trump’s remarks on Twitter, WIBW news, a CBS affiliate TV station in Kansas, reported a discussion about Goodyear’s training session on political attire.

According to Goodyear, an image that circulated internally has sparked the controversy regarding the employees’ attire. The photo did not come from the company’s corporate group.

The images contained the slogans “Black Lives Matter” and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride,” as acceptable outfits, while “Blue Lives Matter” and “Maga Attire” were not.

“To be clear on our longstanding corporate policy, Goodyear has zero-tolerance for any form of harassment or discrimination,” the company said in a statement.

The company said that it ordered its employees to avoid “workplace expressions in support of political campaigning for any candidate or political party as well as similar forms of advocacy that fall outside the scope of racial justice and equality issues.”

Trump’s presidential rival Democratic nominee Joe Biden said that the president’s remarks were another one of his “petty political grievances” resulting in “collateral damage.”

Representing Goodyear’s home state of Ohio, Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown also slammed Trump’s comment.

“It’s absolutely despicable that the President would call for a boycott of an American company, based in Akron, that employs thousands of U.S. workers,” he wrote in a tweet.

The largest tire company in North America, Goodyear tires supplied 24 percent of new vehicles in the US in 2018, the Tire Business said.

Source: Reuters