Vice President Kamala Harris called for ending political division in the U.S. over the weekend by visiting a store that is openly hostile to the Republican Party.
The Democrat presidential nominee made the remarks while visiting Penzeys Spices on Saturday in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
“It’s time to turn the page on the divisiveness. It’s time to bring our country together, chart a new way forward,” Harris claimed. “A lot of what I think is happening, and I was just talking with some folks here in Pittsburgh about it, is that people are exhausted about the division and the attempts to kind of divide us as Americans.”
The store, owned by Penzeys Spices CEO Bill Penzey, has made highly inflammatory statements about Republicans for years.
In 2022, the business lost 40,000 followers on Facebook after declaring that Martin Luther King Jr. Day was “Republicans Are Racist Weekend!” the New York Post reported.
The store has an entire “About Republicans” page set up on their website, which is visible on every page on their website, in which Penzey attacks the GOP.
Penzey conspiratorially claims on the page that the party has embraced “insanity” on purpose as part of an “intelligently crafted” goal “of preserving the position of those who profit from the inhumanity that is at the very roots of pretty much every problem we are facing.”
“From the environment, to racism/discrimination, to health, to saving our democracy at home and growing it abroad, half the time Republicans are intentionally blocking the solution to the problems we face. The other half of the time they are the problem we face,” he said. “The truth of our time is we’ve arrived at the point where there’s no way to respect the nonsense the Republican Party is promoting and have any hope of overcoming the problems we as a nation and we as a planet face. Given the choice between saving America and planet Earth or saving the feelings of Republican voters, we are choosing to side with saving our country and our world. I’m sorry it’s come to this.”
Penzey claimed that there was “no HATE!!! in any” of his statements and that it Republican “propaganda” has convinced people that his words “are nothing more than HATE!!!”
Penzey continued:
Remember when your distrust of big city types, and your deep rooted beliefs in paying your debts, respecting your marriage, raising kids willing to serve, honoring your word, and going to church every week had you voting for Donald Trump over Joe Biden all because Biden’s son had a computer? Or how you couldn’t vote for Hillary because she was over-prepared and used emails? I know that to you your actions seem rational and in keeping with your values, but when it comes to voting you are now consistently voting in people who are the exact opposite of you and the values you hold dear.
What does any of this mean? Going forward we would still be glad to have you as customers, but we’re done pretending the Republican Party’s embrace of cruelty, racism, Covid lies, climate change denial, and threats to democracy are anything other than the risks they legitimately are. If you need us to pretend you are not creating the hurt you are creating in order for you to continue to be our customer, I’m sad to say you might be happier elsewhere.
He said that if customers “don’t need us to respect” what their beliefs are then he is happy to have them as customers but he will work with or “without Republicans to solve the problems we face, but it sure would be nice to get back to a time where Republicans were equal defenders of equality, the environment, and democracy.”
WATCH:
Kamala Harris: “I’m honored to have” Cheney endorsement … “Them stepping up to make this public statement I think is courageous. .. .Time to turn the page on divisiveness.”
— Penzeys Spices in Pittsburgh pic.twitter.com/ZeoFOa9GZz
— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) September 8, 2024
[#item_full_content]
[[{“value”:”
Vice President Kamala Harris called for ending political division in the U.S. over the weekend by visiting a store that is openly hostile to the Republican Party.
The Democrat presidential nominee made the remarks while visiting Penzeys Spices on Saturday in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
“It’s time to turn the page on the divisiveness. It’s time to bring our country together, chart a new way forward,” Harris claimed. “A lot of what I think is happening, and I was just talking with some folks here in Pittsburgh about it, is that people are exhausted about the division and the attempts to kind of divide us as Americans.”
The store, owned by Penzeys Spices CEO Bill Penzey, has made highly inflammatory statements about Republicans for years.
In 2022, the business lost 40,000 followers on Facebook after declaring that Martin Luther King Jr. Day was “Republicans Are Racist Weekend!” the New York Post reported.
The store has an entire “About Republicans” page set up on their website, which is visible on every page on their website, in which Penzey attacks the GOP.
Penzey conspiratorially claims on the page that the party has embraced “insanity” on purpose as part of an “intelligently crafted” goal “of preserving the position of those who profit from the inhumanity that is at the very roots of pretty much every problem we are facing.”
“From the environment, to racism/discrimination, to health, to saving our democracy at home and growing it abroad, half the time Republicans are intentionally blocking the solution to the problems we face. The other half of the time they are the problem we face,” he said. “The truth of our time is we’ve arrived at the point where there’s no way to respect the nonsense the Republican Party is promoting and have any hope of overcoming the problems we as a nation and we as a planet face. Given the choice between saving America and planet Earth or saving the feelings of Republican voters, we are choosing to side with saving our country and our world. I’m sorry it’s come to this.”
Penzey claimed that there was “no HATE!!! in any” of his statements and that it Republican “propaganda” has convinced people that his words “are nothing more than HATE!!!”
Penzey continued:
Remember when your distrust of big city types, and your deep rooted beliefs in paying your debts, respecting your marriage, raising kids willing to serve, honoring your word, and going to church every week had you voting for Donald Trump over Joe Biden all because Biden’s son had a computer? Or how you couldn’t vote for Hillary because she was over-prepared and used emails? I know that to you your actions seem rational and in keeping with your values, but when it comes to voting you are now consistently voting in people who are the exact opposite of you and the values you hold dear.
What does any of this mean? Going forward we would still be glad to have you as customers, but we’re done pretending the Republican Party’s embrace of cruelty, racism, Covid lies, climate change denial, and threats to democracy are anything other than the risks they legitimately are. If you need us to pretend you are not creating the hurt you are creating in order for you to continue to be our customer, I’m sad to say you might be happier elsewhere.
He said that if customers “don’t need us to respect” what their beliefs are then he is happy to have them as customers but he will work with or “without Republicans to solve the problems we face, but it sure would be nice to get back to a time where Republicans were equal defenders of equality, the environment, and democracy.”
WATCH:
Kamala Harris: “I’m honored to have” Cheney endorsement … “Them stepping up to make this public statement I think is courageous. .. .Time to turn the page on divisiveness.”
— Penzeys Spices in Pittsburgh pic.twitter.com/ZeoFOa9GZz
— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) September 8, 2024
“}]]
