The toxicity of this election cycle reared its ugly head again in a Miami Starbucks last week when, according to the Miami News Times, David Sanguesa claimed that he was denied service on Thursday afternoon because he supported Trump.
Sanguesa then started yelling at the Starbucks employee, a black woman. Sanguesa called her “trash” and “garbage,” yelling “I voted for Trump! Trump! You lost, now give me my money back.” The employee denied that she had refused service to Sanguesa. Others said that Sanguesa just got mad because he had to wait for his drink.
Sanguesa also screamed at and threatened to punch customers at the store who tried to step in during the confrontation.
Another customer in the Starbucks, Jorge de Cárdenas, recorded most of the exchange on video and posted it to Twitter.
#trump supporter in #miami @Starbucks attacks & threatens patrons & staff bc coffee took too long, blames anti-white “discrimination” pic.twitter.com/HRj9EahrMy
— jorge dc (@Jbdcl) November 16, 2016
The Miami Herald reports that Sanguesa has been charged with two DUIs and domestic violence, and has been sending emails to the paper “with rants against Cubans, women, immigrants, gays and lesbians, President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton,” for years prior to last week’s confrontation.
When the Herald talked to Sanguesa about the Starbucks incident, he said he had apologized for what he said to the barista, but continued to assert that he’d been discriminated against. He said he was thinking of suing Starbucks.
Starbucks released a statement to The Washington Post in response to the incident, saying, “embracing diversity and treating each other with respect and dignity is core to Starbucks values and something our partners take great pride in showing. We are committed to providing an inclusive, supportive and safe work environment for everyone.”
Many Trump supporters seem to have taken issue with Starbucks lately—several have tried to make a “statement” by ordering their drinks under the name “Trump,” allegedly just to see if the barista will say it. The #TrumpCup phenomenon has been referred to as a boycott, but since it involves people giving their money to Starbucks, it doesn’t really fit that definition.