In his latest pandering for votes, Donald Trump jumped on the Christian bandwagon against Starbucks for their 2015 holiday cups.
As everyone now knows, Starbucks recently unveiled their 2015 holiday cup. This years design is very simple: an elegant red cup with the Starbucks signature green logo affixed in its normal spot.
The coffee giant has been unveiling holiday cups since 1997. The designs have varied over the last 18 years, but the designs usually depict the winter season, with the rare holiday ornament displayed. Starbucks stated that “[t]his year [they] wanted to usher in the holidays with a purity of design that welcomes all of our stories.” They intentionally left the cup with a blank canvas to inspire customers to draw what the holidays mean to them.
Nothing screams Christmas like red and green, but those on the religious right have become enraged by the very simplistic design. As a result, they have declared that Starbucks is waging a war on Christmas. Though there are some Christians who understand the Starbucks sentiment, others are outraged by what they feel is a growing problem with retail domination over the Christmas season. They are angry that Americans celebrate “holidays,” rather than exclusively celebrating the birth of Christ.
Of course, Trump had to shout his opinion during a campaign stop on Monday, in Springfield, Ill.. During this event, Trump proclaimed, to loud cheers from the crowd:
“If I become president, we’re all going to be saying ‘Merry Christmas’ again. That I can tell you.”
In a nation founded on religious freedom, proclaiming that everyone will be saying Merry Christmas goes directly against our First Amendment rights. If Trump is elected president, Trump should leave this fight to keep Christ in Christmas to the Christian church and to Christian believers, rather than creating law that favors one religion over all others.
It is doubtful Trump even cares about this issue. Instead, this is another ploy to earn more votes. As we have witnessed, Trump has a real talent for for reacting to the latest hot button issue, In turn, he loves to pander for votes with ridiculous campaign promises. Hopefully voters on both sides of the aisle will see through his unrealistic political promises and start demanding discussions on real issues.
