A business owner in Albuquerque has announced that, due to his opposition to "fascism," he will henceforth refuse to do business with Republicans and President-elect Donald Trump supporters.
According to KOB 4 News, Matthew Blanchfield runs the online marketing company 1st in SEO, and he’s so upset about the presidential election he’s willing to shed customers to show his disgust.
"America has elected Donald Trump, a racist, sexist, fascist, to be our next president," Blanchfield says in a blog post two days after the election. "If you are a Republican, voted for Donald Trump or support Donald Trump, in any manner, you are not welcome at 1st in SEO and we ask you to leave our firm ... 1st in SEO will do everything in our power to ensure that we break ties with any person or business that supports fascism."
While it’s illegal for most businesses in the U.S. to discriminate on the basis of sex, religion, or race, there are no federal laws barring discrimination based on political ideology. A handful of states prohibit such discrimination. New Mexico isn’t one of them.
Blanchfield told KOB 4 he’s already lost one client due to his declaration, and he’s prepared to lose more.
"The expense financially to me is immaterial," he said. "Morality, justice and doing what’s correct far supersedes financial gain for me."
Blanchfield could be alienating a big swath of his potential customer base, though. In Bernalillo County, where Albuquerque is located, 34.5 percent of the population voted for Trump. Furthermore, a survey indicated that small business owners, likely a key client base for Blanchfield, were substantially more likely to support Trump than the country at large.
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