The American media has a new shiny thing to be upset about: The president tweeted about an American company.
They are furious, as usual.
After all, Goodyear employs 60,000 people.
They even employed 4,000 folks in an Alabama plant until a deal with a labor union saw them close their facility in Gadsden with the last 400 workers losing their jobs, but there is more to that story than that.
Goodyear didn’t close the plant to save jobs, they did it to move those jobs to Mexico.
As reported by the Gadsden Times:
Since a plant expansion five years ago, however, the plant has fallen off Goodyear’s radar, particularly after a facility opened two years ago in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, that can match Gadsden’s full-strength annual output of 6.2 million tires at significantly lower costs.
“Goodyear decided to put their business in Mexico, exploiting cheap labor, instead of employing U.S. workers,” Williams said. “It seems like that’s the American way now, but I don’t agree with it.”
But now that Trump has decided he is mad at them, the American media must offer their embrace, because that is how this works. If Trump said he loved Joe Biden, they wouldn’t know what to do.
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
But because Trump said Goodyear is bad, the media said they are great.
https://twitter.com/SteveHofstetter/status/1296141787837263872
Please note, over 60,000 people are employed by Goodyear.
30+mm Americans are currently without jobs & @realDonaldTrump– The President of the United States gave his 85.3MM followers intructions that would do harm to a company founded 121 years ago in Akron, Ohio https://t.co/nQ7l1DH3MK— Stephanie Ruhle (@SRuhle) August 19, 2020
“How dare he!” they declare. This is just a good American organization doing good American things.
When an employer makes it clear via a diversity presentation that you can only say certain political things but not other political things, there is a problem.
Make no mistake: “Black Lives Matter” is a political organization. Forbidding “Blue Lives Matter” is a slap in the face of Americans and police officers.
If you are going to be a company that is dumb enough to straight-up encourage some political speech while denying others, you open yourself up for scrutiny and criticism.
However, I also believe that Trump shouldn’t call for a boycott, because boycotts are generally stupid and embarrassing for everyone involved.
I don’t care who makes my tires, as long as they aren’t evil. I don’t view my political adversaries as evil.
But why are liberals and the media so upset that Trump is artfully employing the boycott here and forcing liberals to oppose it?
They do this all the time.
Do we not recall how people tried to cancel Domino’s Pizza earlier this year because they tweeted now-Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany?
Welp. It's unfortunate that thanking a customer for a compliment back in 2012 would be viewed as political. Guess that's 2020 for ya.
— Domino's Pizza (@dominos) June 16, 2020
Can confirm! We love @dominos!!! https://t.co/mB4KHGTEPO pic.twitter.com/coyaSDvAuJ
— Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) July 2, 2020
This absurd boycott game and “cancel culture” are weapons that are readily deployed by the American left every-single-day.
The American media even uses their massive assets to target other members of the media they view as their political opponents while appearing shocked when Trump offers the mildest criticism of them.
Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show has once again become a no-go zone for some advertisers, this time due to his comments about the Black Lives Matter movement. https://t.co/6REjnq3g83
— CNN (@CNN) June 13, 2020
Back to the issue at hand: Trump said, “We have to start using it now,” referring to boycotts and corporate attacks.
If American corporations wish to allow political speech, great.
If American corporations don’t wish to allow political speech, great.
But if American corporations want to allow some speech and demand others not share their opinions, be prepared for some pushback.
Be prepared for powerful figures to push back and your customers being upset.
That pushback came in the form of a Trump tweet.
It worked.
Goodyear stock falls after Trump tweet urges a boycott of the tire maker https://t.co/kkGcSTiYqO
— MarketWatch (@MarketWatch) August 19, 2020
Isn’t it strange how most of these calls to boycott things come from the left, just like social media moderation and media bias?
Weird.
Truthfully, most people don’t care what their tire maker thinks about anything. They care about the tires.
Businesses would be wise to keep it that way, but if they want to enforce some sort of speech code on their employees they need to be prepared for some blowback.
But there is more. Now, Goodyear has come out and clarified that they did not make this graphic.
Yesterday, Goodyear became the focus of a conversation that created some misconceptions about our policies and our company. Goodyear has always wholeheartedly supported both equality and law enforcement and will continue to do so. pic.twitter.com/oO6jUg2rTR
— Goodyear (@goodyear) August 19, 2020
So the President of the United States has now forced an American company to show their support for the police and make it clear that there is not a speech code in their workplace that places one form of political expression over another.
This is a win for the president and a clear message to other American businesses that might think about weighing in on the political activities of their employees, an area where they should absolutely butt-out.
Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 AM weekdays on WVNN.
