DeLorenzo’s Pizza Offers “Trumped Up” Discount

DeLorenzo’s Pizza of Hamilton, New Jersey raised havoc when it offered a one-day 50% discount to all patrons as celebration of America’s new President-elect Donald Trump.

Per restaurant owner Rick DeLorenzo’s Facebook page, the discount for Donald Trump meant support for American democracy and a new chapter in the country’s history. He admits he doesn’t always support what the President-elect has to say, but he does support his right to say all of it. He asserts his pizza discount applied to every patron, regardless of his or her political affiliation.

In response L.A. Parker, a notorious contributor to local newspaper The Trentonian, penned a tirade connecting the DeLorenzo’s discount to partisan politics and race relations in their shared community. His argument suggested support for the President-elect means support also for his more distasteful comments and that DeLorenzo’s Pizza would’ve been better served by a “Peace-a-Pie” discount than a “Trumped Up Discount.”

The showdown between DeLorenzo’s Pizza and L.A. Parker exposes a Free Speech clash that gained steam during the Obama tenure and came full circle with the election of Donald Trump.

In 2016, is there still no limit to Free Speech?

Conservatives tend to say yes – liberals tend to say no. “Political correctness,” though long a part of American vocabulary, has become the rallying cry of those on both sides of the spectrum.

To conservatives like DeLorenzo, a vote for Donald Trump was in-part a vote for Free Speech and against political correctness, an idea they say threatens to erode one of America’s core principles. And though anti-Trump activists like Parker successfully forced millions of Trump supporters behind closed doors during the campaign, this demographic spoke out in the one place Free Speech will always reign supreme – the voting booth.

DeLorenzo’s vocal support for the President-elect and L.A. Parker’s contention he keep quiet suggests the Free Speech debate is not at an end. Donald Trump and supporters will continue their pursuit of limitless Free Speech, and anti-Trump activists will continue pushing back. But as 2016 demonstrated, the voting booth will always be where Free Speech matters most.