Free Republic

Byron York warned Monday of the rising "toxicity" of the anti-Trump resistance movement, highlighting three troubling developments in recent days. In a Washington Examiner column, titled "Anti-Trump fever takes threatening turn," York points to two op-eds specifically in the New York Times and Washington Post that he characterized as "rationalizations for denying Trump supporters public accommodation and for doxxing career federal employees." Appearing on "America's Newsroom," York noted that the co-owner of a Virginia restaurant who refused to serve then-White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said she believes the "rules are changing" when it comes to businesses or their staffers...

The owner of the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, penned an op-ed in the Washington Post Friday defending a Chicago server who spit on Eric Trump. Stephanie Wilkinson, who co-owns the restaurant known for kicking out former press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, wrote in the op-ed while “no one in the restaurant industry condones the physical assault of a patron,” Trump administration officials can be targeted for assault and battery in public places. Wilkinson added: Restaurants are now part of the soundstage for our ongoing national spectacle. Whether the bar or restaurant serves merely as the backdrop, as in...

The Virginia restaurant owner who kicked Sarah Huckabee Sanders out of her restaurant last year is defending the Chicago cocktail bar server who spat in Eric Trump's face last week, saying politicians involved in 'spreading hate' should consider dining at home. Stephanie Wilkinson made headlines last year when she booted Sanders out of her restaurant the Red Hen in Lexington, Virginia. Now she's backing the unnamed server at the upscale Chicago bar The Aviary who spat in Eric Trump's face as he walked in on Tuesday night and was briefly detained by Secret Service agents. Stephanie Wilkinson, the owner of...

Stephanie Wilkinson is the owner of the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, VA. That’s the restaurant that refused service to White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders last June. Friday, the Washington Post published a piece in which Wilkinson offers her thoughts on the recent spitting incident involving Eric Trump. You’ll be shocked to learn that Wilkinson is for it (or at least willing to defend it) though it takes her a while to admit it. After recounting what happened to Trump, she writes, “no one in the industry condones the physical assault of a patron.” That seems sensible but we’re...

LEXINGTON — One year ago today, the owner of The Red Hen in Lexington asked White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders to leave her restaurant. News of the incident spread across the country within minutes after Sanders tweeted about what happened. Protestors traveled to the 7,000-person city and gathered outside the restaurant with signs, chants and in one case, chicken poop. The restaurant’s phone line was hacked, fake Yelp reviews caused its rates to plummet and dozens of people made fake reservations. The Red Hen closed for 10 days as national media converged on Lexington. President Donald Trump joined in...

“Hello Intolerant, intellectually-challenged, psychotic, socialists! Your so-called business is in jeopardy. Rest assured this is not a threat but simply a warning that predicts your downfall. When your treasonist hypocrite lowlife Obama took our nation into despair (for 8 yrs) we didn’t do or say the things you do. Get over it, before it’s too late! BTW, there are a lot more of us than there are of you.’’ I’ve been getting hate mail for almost a year now, ever since I asked White House press secretary Sarah Sanders to leave my Lexington, Va., restaurant, the Red Hen, last June....

<p>LEXINGTON, Va. — A small town in Virginia is trying to recover its image after The Red Hen restaurant famously refused to serve President Donald Trump’s spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders.</p> <p>The Roanoke Times reported Sunday that a regional tourism board is pulling together emergency funds to boost its digital marketing campaign.</p>

The co-owner of the Virginia restaurant that refused to serve White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has resigned from a local business group. News outlets report Stephanie Wilkinson, co-owner of the Red Hen, resigned Tuesday as executive director of Main Street Lexington. […] The Red Hen has not reopened since that night. Protests continue, with one man being escorted away by police after throwing chicken manure. …

It’s only been five days since the Red Hen’s owner Stephanie Wilkinson refused service to White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her family in quiet Lexington, Virginia. What followed next was five days of raucous outroar of epic, nay, biblical proportions. Not wanting to miss the action, RVA Magazine arrived in Lexington on Wednesday morning to dig the vibe. Tempers were running hot and expectations were looking grim–a certain sting was in the air. The protests the day before saw one arrest and a hot mess of chicken shit (yes, actual chicken feces) splashed across the restaurant doors....

Lexington is a politically blue spot surrounded by a sea of red. It went with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 president election by a 2-1 margin. As the burial site of Confederate Gens. Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, Lee-Jackson Day festivities stoke strong emotions and debate. “I believe this city is losing its identity,” said Simon Islam, a senior at Washington and Lee University, which is in Lexington. “It’s become too liberal, and it’s had a negative impact.” John Findlay, executive director of the Republican Party of Virginia, showed up with a roll of Trump 2020...

The Lexington, Virginia, restaurant that kicked out White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Friday night instantly became the target of online harassment and conspiracy theories, and things have escalated quickly: Owner Stephanie Wilkinson is being doxxed, with users posting her home address and phone number on various message boards and social media platforms. As Vox explains, “Doxxing is a common internet practice used to punish or shame someone and is a particularly common practice among the alt-right and other white supremacist organizations who operate online in places like Reddit, 4chan, and Twitter.” Last year, Reddit shut down three...

A Virginia state delegate for the town where Sarah Huckabee Sanders was refused service Friday night criticized the restaurant owner with the ultimate Trump-country insult — she has ties to Hollywood. Del. Ben Cline, a Republican who also is running for the U.S. House this November, dropped the “Meryl bomb” Saturday in a tweet apologizing to Mrs. Sanders, the chief White House spokeswoman. “On behalf of my hometown of Lexington, I want to apologize for the rudeness of one liberal New York transplant (who also happens to be Meryl Streep’s cousin),” he wrote of restaurateur Stephanie Wilkinson, who since Friday...

Four days after the owner of the Red Hen restaurant stirred national debate by asking White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave her establishment, all the fire and ire of social media was made flesh at the corners of Washington and Randolph streets. The quaint red restaurant, its dirty green awnings made famous by a disapproving tweet Monday from President Trump, was scheduled to open for dinner service at 5 p.m. Protesters began showing up around 3. At first, it was just two guys holding Trump banners, a Confederate flag and a Corey Stewart for U.S. Senate sign....

LEXINGTON, Va. - Stephanie Wilkinson has resigned from her role with Main Street Lexington, a volunteer-based organization. Elizabeth Outland Branner, the president of the organization, accepted Wilkinson's resignation Tuesday morning.

After kicking White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders out of her restaurant, Stephanie Wilkinson, has been forced to step down as Executive Director Main Street Lexington organization. Wilkinson is a co-owner of the Red Hen restaurant, and up until she kicked out Sanders, was well-respected in her community. Her resignation came over email from the President of her local board who stated: “Considering the events of the past weekend, Stephanie felt it best that for the continued success of Main Street Lexington, she should step aside.”

Vice reported: The co-owner of the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, has had a hell of a time since she decided to 86 Sarah Huckabee Sanders from her restaurant on Friday, coming under attack from an army of Trump supporters. But despite all the backlash she’s gotten from the right, Stephanie Wilkinson says she doesn’t regret a thing. “I would have done the same thing again,” she told the Washington Post. “We just felt there are moments in time when people need to live their convictions. This appeared to be one.” When Sanders came to the Red Hen with...

As a longtime resident of Virginia, I am well aware of its sordid history when it comes to slavery, racism and discrimination. I can still remember "colored only" restrooms, water fountains, poll taxes and African Americans forced to ride in the back of the bus. Virginia public schools in the 1950s were mostly segregated, as they had been since first established in 1870. Segregation was so bad in my home state of Virginia that even Native Americans were largely excluded from public education. It wasn't until 1963, nine years after Brown v. Board of Education, that public schools were open...

WHEN STEPHANIE WILKINSON, the owner of the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Va., asked White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave that dining establishment last Friday, she opened up yet another front in America’s ongoing cultural war. Those on the right and some on the left have bemoaned the decline in civility reflected by Wilkinson’s decision. “Let the Trump team eat in peace,” wrote the Washington Post editorial board, which expressed concern that “justifying” such “incivility” will leave only the most “zealous” to pursue a career in public service. “Kind of amazed and appalled by the number of...

Gov. Mike Huckabee said Monday on the Laura Ingraham Show that even after Red Hen restaurant owner Stephanie Wilkinson threw his daughter Sarah Sanders out because she worked for President Donald Trump, she also stoked a protest at a nearby business where some of Sanders’ party had relocated. Sanders, Trump’s press secretary, wrote on Twitter about the incident. “Last night I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for @POTUS and I politely left. Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat...

1 1/2 min video at link. Fmr. Gov. Mike Huckabee (Screenshot) The owner of the Virginia restaurant that banned his daughter, White House Press Sec. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, organized a mob and followed her family to their next restaurant where they yelled and screamed at them, Former Governor Mike Huckabee said Monday. While national media have reported Sarah Sanders’ ouster from the restaurant on Friday, “There’s a part of that story that has not been told,” Mike Huckabee told radio host Laura Ingraham on Monday: “Once Sarah and her family left – of course Sarah was asked to please vacate...