What’s a Republican got to do to his enjoy his Cubano in peace these days?
Sitting there in quiet befuddlement isn’t going to do it, if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s meal with his wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, is any indication.
Perhaps some pushback from other patrons is the answer
It all started when the two were out at popular Cuban restaurant Havana Rumba on Friday and some angry diners decided to approach their table, including the man in this snippet from TMZ:
“Oh yeh, why don’t you get out of here?” the protester says. “Why don’t you leave our entire country.”
TMZ reported that the protester, before the camera started rolling, slammed his fists on the table and threw food out of the restaurant.
Chao actually engaged with the man, but McConnell, who’s dealt with this kind of public treatment before, appears unruffled, sipping his drink.
BuzzFeed reported that, off camera, another woman approached McConnell and started screaming at the top of her lungs, yelling ‘you’re a traitor to this country’ repeatedly and told him how he was ruining this country.” The woman then left the restaurant and flipped the middle finger at McConnell through the window.
Not everybody was bashing him, however. Some diners shouted down the protesters, saying “leave him alone” and gesturing him to move away from the table. McConnell reportedly later thanked his supporters and shook their hands.
“The Leader and Sec. Chao enjoyed their meal in Louisville last night and they appreciate those who spoke up against incivility,” a McConnell spokesman said in a statement. “They hope other patrons weren’t too inconvenienced by left-wing tantrums. As the Leader often says, the Senate will not be intimidated by the antics of far-left protestors.”
Chao reportedly asked the manager to comp the meal because she and here husband were “treated so badly.”
Like the diners in the restaurant, Twitter offered up a range of responses:
Stop doing this. It's wrong, period.
And if that's not reason enough (it is), it also helps them.
Be smart. Be in control. Do the work to win. https://t.co/AGL3dh5VYm
— Dan Shapiro (@DanielBShapiro) October 20, 2018
HOW MANY MEN ARE WISHING THIS JOKER HAD TRIED THIS WITH THEM RIGHT NOW? - ANGRY DEM MOB Confronts McConnell in Restaurant - Man Slams Fists on Table - Then Throws McConnell's Food Out the Door (VIDEO) https://t.co/e80rQfFrEY via @gatewaypundit
— Bill Mitchell (@mitchellvii) October 21, 2018
frankly our """"""forefathers"""""" would be very surprised that we haven't gone to mitch mcconnell's house and literally ripped it apart and thrown the pieces in a river
— Laura Michet (@lmichet) October 20, 2018
people need to stop doing this crap. personally harassing elected officials is wrong. not how politics should be conducted. if you want change, work/vote for change https://t.co/2plkKpfdJY
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) October 20, 2018
This incident is just another in a long line of encounters in which protesters have confronted Trump administration officials such as Department of Homeland Security Chief Kristjen Nielson, Senator Ted Cruz, former EPA head Scott Pruitt and White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, to name a few.
