West Hollywood Mayor To Trump: We Always Make Room For Free Speech And Celebrate Diversity… Except When It Involves You
[guest post by Dana]
Liberals, always pushing that free speech for all stuff:
Lindsay Horvath, mayor of the liberal enclave of West Hollywood, is adding her voice to those of many other city leaders across the country to say she is fed up with Trump’s campaign tactics and inflammatory rhetoric. As the primary campaign heads to California for its June 7 contest, the mayor let the Republican presidential candidate’s campaign know, and also urged other city and county lawmakers to do the same.
“Where other cities or other communities might roll out the carpet we’re rolling up the carpet,” she told The Times in a recent interview.
The practical effects? If Trump’s campaign were to apply for a permit to hold a rally in West Hollywood, for example, Horvath’s city officials would reject the application.
The city attorney immediately did an official CYA:
“The mayor was expressing her distaste for hate speech that marginalizes and disrespects people; that such speech is inconsistent with the city’s values and unwelcome,” Jenkins told The Times in an email after the story was published. “Her comment reflected her understanding that the city’s consideration of special event permit applications take into consideration a variety of factors, such as size of anticipated crowd, security arrangements, traffic and parking management, noise control and the like.”
Riiiiiight… Sure, those are her main concerns about a possible Trump visit…
Anyway, here is an open letter from Mayor Horvath to Donald Trump:
I am compelled to state for the record how deeply disturbed I am by the Trump presidential campaign. The hate speech and implicit calls to violence coming from your campaign are beyond the pale and have no place in any community in our country.
The people of West Hollywood have seen the devastation and destruction that hatred and hate speech can bring. We are home to Jewish immigrants who escaped Nazi occupation in Soviet Russia, to LGBTQ people of all ages including survivors of the AIDS crisis, and to many other diverse constituencies, of which we are most proud. We know firsthand how charged language can incite dangerous activity that puts our residents and neighborhoods at risk — and at great cost. While we must always make room for free speech and reasonable — even passionate — debate, your reckless rhetoric is wrong at every level.
With the primary making its way to California, as West Hollywood’s mayor, I want to make very clear that your campaign of violence and intimidation is not welcome in our city. I demand that you renounce calls to violence and consider the role you play in shaping public discourse, specifically with the words you choose and the behavior you exhibit and encourage.
We do not have to agree or like one another, but as Americans and political figures in the public eye, we share a responsibility to lead by example. I take that responsibility very seriously, and I ask that you do the same.
This week, Horvath was interviewed on MSNBC and said that this isn’t about free speech, it’s about hate speech:
This is just remarkable. She has no clue who Trump is. With every sanctimonious word the mayor utters, she repeatedly throws down the gauntlet with the one person lacking any ability whatsoever to restrain himself and turn the other way. This is the sort of red meat a consummate victim like Trump craves. Neither can help themselves.
Anyway, I’m not a Trump fan, but I’m far less a fan of speech being stifled. Anyone’s speech. So if Trump applies for a permit and West Hollywood rejects it, I’m pretty darn sure it would be the only time I would ever cheer him on in a lawsuit.
–Dana
Hello.
Dana (0ee61a) — 4/12/2016 @ 6:31 pm#Failifornia is not a serious place…
except for being seriously disturbed.
as a native, i’m disgusted and ready to leave.
redc1c4 (8f379a) — 4/12/2016 @ 6:33 pmTolerance is only for things we like. And you have to tolerate them, too, you bigot!
Kevin M (25bbee) — 4/12/2016 @ 6:38 pmpoor weho trash is poor
and weho
happyfeet (831175) — 4/12/2016 @ 6:42 pmWhen did “diversity” start to mean “conformity”?
Kevin M (25bbee) — 4/12/2016 @ 6:42 pmIf Trump calls me and asks me to go out on the town, maybe see Taj Mahal at the Old Town School of Folk Music, I am going to tell him “No!” Because I have my principles.
Has Trump’s campaign indicated in any way that it’s interested in holding a rally in West Hollyweird?
nk (dbc370) — 4/12/2016 @ 6:44 pmThings like this and the UIC rally are much-needed reminders that Trump is mere factionalism and the loony Left is all-out war.
nk (dbc370) — 4/12/2016 @ 6:46 pmSeems the person doing the h8ing is the Mayor. I wonder what would happen if “Bois for Trump” wanted to hold a rally. Would the city really turn them down? I am almost positive their insurers would be on the phone in an instant.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 4/12/2016 @ 6:47 pmI don’t like Trump. The man is a pig. His policies range from stupid to ridiculous. Many of his supporters need to learn manners. But the 1st Amendment (speech, assembly and petition) applies to Trump as much as it does to me, and he IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT (much as I would wish that different) and deserves the same treatment I would want my candidate to receive.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 4/12/2016 @ 6:52 pm(of course, my candidate would probably GET the same treatment in boystown, but I digress).
Kevin M (25bbee) — 4/12/2016 @ 6:53 pmTook Mayor Horvath until the second paragraph to invoke the Nazis. She needs to get that in the lede next time around. Why beat around the bush any longer than necessary?
JVW (9e3c77) — 4/12/2016 @ 6:54 pmthey hung another candidate in effigy, eight years ago, for thought crime, so not surprising,
narciso (732bc0) — 4/12/2016 @ 7:02 pmnow he’s not notably antigay, so it’s another squirrel!
Trump is pro-gay, actually. What does Perez (not Paris) Hilton think of this?
For my part, if I am in West Hollywood and Lindsay Horvath approaches me and offers to perform a sexual service me for $20.00 I will say “No!” Because I am a moral person.
nk (dbc370) — 4/12/2016 @ 7:05 pmRemember, it was WeHo that exampled their special brand of tolerance with an effigy of Palin hanging from a rooftop as well as John McCain burning in a chimney during Halloween, 2008.
Dana (0ee61a) — 4/12/2016 @ 7:41 pmyes, but that is freedom of expression or something,
narciso (732bc0) — 4/12/2016 @ 7:45 pmTypical hyperbole and intolerance from another twit who claims to champion tolerance. These people do not embarrass easy.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 4/12/2016 @ 7:50 pmThe irony is that she just made it almost impossible for the city to turn him down on any of those grounds. If she’d shut up, and the city then denied him a permit on some legitimate pretext, the denial would be scrutinized with a presumption of validity. By saying “we’re rolling up the carpet” she ensured that any subsequent denial will be subject to a strong presumption of pretextuality. “Riiiiiight…” is exactly what any court will say.
Milhouse (87c499) — 4/12/2016 @ 7:52 pmHas West Hollywood gotten around to making special restrooms yet?
AZ Bob (d6a3a9) — 4/12/2016 @ 7:54 pmI truly believe that these fascists are really getting closer and closer to talking themselves into building camps. If we don’t turn things around, in a generation these lefties will be driving “intellectuals” out into fields for collective farm harvest.
SPQR (a3a747) — 4/12/2016 @ 8:26 pmMaybe Trump can retain Mark Randazza to provide an “open letter” to Her Honor is response to her letter. That might be an interesting First Amendment lesson for her. If she thinks Trump is bombastic…
And referring to her second paragraph: What the hell is the “Q” for; I’ve seen the rest of the letters before, but Q?
Gramps (39f97a) — 4/12/2016 @ 8:32 pmI admit that when I observe idiotic liberals like Horvath, then observe manically repressive Islamic jihadists, and find it fascinating the way those two groups are becoming enablers of one another (in the US and Europe), I do like the notion of such people eventually meeting in sort of a Thunderdome setting (“two men enter, one man leaves”), where, yea, I’ll be rooting for the two groups to annihilate one another. And, in so doing, open up breathing space for sane human beings everywhere.
Mark (19afaf) — 4/12/2016 @ 8:34 pmI thought it was for “queer” but I was told it’s for “questioning”.
nk (dbc370) — 4/12/2016 @ 8:39 pmIt amazes me that the decent people who are left in California seem to be maintaining their senses of humor.
I’d be crabby beyond any reasonable bounds.
Beldar (fa637a) — 4/12/2016 @ 8:52 pmHmm, that (#23) might have been ambiguous.
The mayor is a dolt; this kind of outrage seems pervasive throughout modern California life; it must be annoying as hell to the decent people who are left there (e.g., our host & Mrs. P), so accordingly:
It amazes me that those (sadly, too few) decent people who are left in California seem to be maintaining their sense of humor despite these outrages, for I would be crabby beyond any reasonable bounds if I lived there.
Beldar (fa637a) — 4/12/2016 @ 8:55 pmThis calls for Project Veritas to do a little undercover work to find out exactly what type of public speaker the Mayor of WeHo would actually embrace. I bet someone representing themselves as a jihadist or member of NAMBLA would be greenlighted with a permit to speak and assemble.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 4/12/2016 @ 9:08 pm#21, Which is why we should set up a New Peace Corps and send the volunteers right to Syria to work their magic.
Natural selection at its finest.
Rodney King's Spirit (db6706) — 4/12/2016 @ 9:12 pmWhen “inclusiveness” meant excluding women from “gender neutral” locker rooms, showers, and bathrooms because they didn’t want to strip down in front of leering men who figured out they can save a few bucks that otherwise would have gone into a professional stripper’s g-string by claiming to be “trans.”
Seriously, women who complain about having their privacy violated in this way have been kicked out of fitness clubs. Excluded in the name of inclusiveness. “Gender neutral” locker rooms are supposed to be a “safe, welcoming space for all.” Except for the women who feel monumentally unsafe by the obvious dangers of this lunacy. They’re not welcome in the “welcoming space” because in the name of tolerance such prudes must not be tolerated.
My head hurts. Leftist Orwellian Cognitive Dissonance isn’t my first or even second language.
Steve57 (99e913) — 4/12/2016 @ 11:02 pmWhat if she dropped the price to the cheapest non-supersized Happy Meal on the Mickey D’s menu?
Steve57 (99e913) — 4/12/2016 @ 11:08 pmThis is all pretty much a tempest in a teacup anyway. Couple of points: 1) the city council works on a rotational basis. I don’t know how long the rotations are, but Miss Horvath is the keeper of the flame this month. 2) it’s the city manager who actually runs the city, not Mayor McCheese. 3) the city attorney has warned her that she can’t take away Trump’s rights to speech and assembly because of butthurt. And 4) she has no authority to do so anyway. This is all just a bunch of blather and saucy foot stomping designed to impress her rather specialized constituency. It’s doubtful Trump would bother with West Hollywood anyway. Simi Valley would be far more fertile ground.
Bill H (dcdd7b) — 4/13/2016 @ 12:13 amThis woman should never be a mother.
sickofrinos (31009b) — 4/13/2016 @ 2:17 amWhat if she dropped the price to the cheapest non-supersized Happy Meal on the Mickey D’s menu?
Animal products, gluten, GMOs, saturated fats and added sugars? Never!
nk (dbc370) — 4/13/2016 @ 5:11 amThere is no such thing as hate speech. Just “speech I like” and “speech I don’t like”.
MrScience_ (cd3d49) — 4/13/2016 @ 6:36 am@29– Thanks Mr 57. Boy, am I glad I’m old. I will only have to watch this disintegration of society for a little longer.
Gramps (39f97a) — 4/13/2016 @ 7:18 amThe Trump Show only hired a California director yesterday and he as to find delegates and alternates for 53 Congressional Districts to fill a slate with a May 7 deadline. He may be a little too busy to respond to WeHo virtue signaling.
The Cruz organization has been on the ground in California for a year and has a full slate with alternates ready to go. The California political director for Cruz is a former state GOP chairman so a great howling and gnashing of teeth by the Trump Show is to be expected when it arrives in the outer darkness on June 7.
Rick Ballard (44777c) — 4/13/2016 @ 7:21 amBillH:
This is a great sentence. It communicates important ideas using efective images and alliteration. Well done.
DRJ (15874d) — 4/13/2016 @ 8:08 amI like this because it’s exactly how Trump would talk about speech he doesn’t like if he were in charge of anything.
Remember how he kicked those veterans off Park Avenue, which wasn’t his property, because he felt their businesses made undesirable neighbors.
Ms. Horvath is just screaming to the crowd. Her words have no meaning beyond being a cheer for votes in her political future. Yes, they are lawless and contrary to a free society and should be condemned, but I bet if Trump asks to speak from that very same podium Horvath would roll the red carpet out happily while screaming about how bad it is, giddy with the attention.
This is the superficial politics of outrage.
Of course, the only impact this could have would be to help Trump get a few more votes.
Dustin (2a8be7) — 4/13/2016 @ 8:45 amNot that Caroll O’Connor would say it to Ms Horvath. But his Archie Bunker would listen to this load of horsemanute from Ms. Horvath and say “Stifle yourself!” Go Archie!
Skeptical Voter (1d5c8b) — 4/13/2016 @ 9:37 amRick Ballard @35, I noticed. I commented on that just now on the “Trump Losing Delegates in State After State Through Incompetence” thread. It took Schroeder five months to put together a complete slate of 169 delegates; ten at large, plus three delegates and three alternates per congressional district. The state and national GOP hasn’t even campaigned in many of those districts for years. Until now, for decades GOP candidate has had the nomination locked up before Kali votes, and in the general election they’re just not a factor.
As of this morning Trump’s Kali political director, strategist Tim Clark, has 25 days to do what took Schroeder five months to accomplish. Then there’s the small task of organizing 53 CD elections by June 7. I seriously doubt Trump can do it given his klown kar kampaign’s comical performance at such tasks thus far. For instance, I also provided a link to an article about how just five minutes ago Trump woke up to the fact that he has to compete for delegates at the state level. For instance, Indiana doesn’t hold its primary until May 3. So the Trump campaign is getting organized to compete for delegates. There’s just one problem; the deadline for a Republican to file to become a candidate to the national convention was last month, March 15. 27 delegates of Indiana’s 57 delegates, the 27 who represent the state’s congressional districts, have already been chosen at CD caucuses. As I understand it, Cruz was so well organized that there are no candidates for the 27 at large spots who aren’t Cruz loyalists. No one in the Indiana delegation, with the slim possibility of an exception of some rogue among the three unelected RNC slots each state automatically gets, would be loyal to Trump after the first ballot. It’s the same song in many other states as well. He’s already too late to participate in the delegate selection process for states that have voted, and for states that haven’t even held their primaries yet.
So I say Trump may as well just go ahead and make peace with the inevitable. He’s blown it. Why not have fun and go to West Hollywood and hold a rally and annoy all the right people.
Steve57 (225587) — 4/13/2016 @ 8:52 pm