Progressives Target Conservative News Site for Revealing How They Viciously Destroyed a Pro-Trump Business

By Rachel Alexander Published on October 18, 2017

We’re used to hearing about Antifa and radical left-wing activists attacking conservatives and Trump supporters. But now they’re taking it to a new level, attempting to destroy a conservative news site — yeah, the free press. The Arizona Daily Independent exposed their efforts putting a restaurant out of business over the eatery’s one pro-Trump, pro-right post on Facebook.

Cup It Up American Grill posted the message on its Facebook page on Friday, Oct. 6. It was standard GOP views. The post supported President Trump, standing for the national anthem, supporting “In God We Trust” and The Bill of Rights. It stated the business didn’t believe in or support the violent left-wing group Antifa. It opposed kneeling for the national anthem, fake news, political correctness and global warming. Pretty tame stuff.

The lead organizer of the attack, radical activist Zaira Livier, bragged on Facebook after hearing of the restaurant’s shutdown, “We did it y’all.”

Many hostile comments were left after the post. Cup It Up deleted the post three hours later. The two co-owners who wrote the piece apologized in a statement for bringing “our personal political beliefs into a business forum.”

Not Enough For the Left

But that wasn’t enough for the left. They barraged Cup It Up with harassing and threatening phone calls over the weekend. As a result, several employees quit. Activists posted negative reviews about the company on Yelp. The next day, Saturday, the operating partner and chef quit. Julian Arcon said staying “wasn’t worth it.”

The restaurant removed itself from Facebook on Saturday. It shut down on Monday. The owners left a note on the door thanking their customers. It explained that “The safety of our employees and our families is of great concern and is our #1 priority at this time.” 

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The leader of the attack, radical activist Zaira Livier, bragged on Facebook after hearing of the shutdown, “We did it y’all.” She had started with a Facebook post declaring “This place is run by racists.”

Even that still wasn’t enough for the vicious left. They went after the right-leaning news site covering the story next. The ADI, one of the most popular conservative news sites in Arizona, ran an article critical of the activists. It explained in part why the local leftists acted as they did. “Tucson, the fifth poorest metropolitan area in the country, has earned a reputation as inflexible and intolerant. That reputation has kept the area from experiencing the recovery from which the rest of the state and country has benefited since the end of the Great Recession.”

ADI quoted an anonymous Hispanic business owner, “Absent from this whole fiasco are the City of Tucson Mayor and Council, who let the intimidation of small business owners go unchecked as Tucson slides further and further down the poverty scale. It’s no wonder we are viewed as the laughing stock of the nation.”

Progressives Wild With Rage

ADI called out Livier, who is president of Progressive Democrats of Southern Arizona. The newspaper linked to an article on the website Vivala discussing how Livier’s family figured out how to enter the country illegally. It notes that Livier is a “politically active feminist Bernie Sanders supporter.” The state’s Democratic party hired her as a field organizer.

Led by Livier, progressives went wild with rage over the article. They launched a campaign threatening ADI’s advertisers. They told activists to demand the Arizona Newspaper Association drop ADI as a member. The leftists instructed people to give ADI low ratings on Facebook, driving down the newspaper’s score from five out of five stars to one and a half stars. They told them to report its articles as fake news.

The left attacks President Trump for suggesting to shut down dishonest news media. Yet it’s OK to shut down down right-leaning news media?

Ironically, Livier has been complaining on social media that people are attacking her for attacking Cup It Up. She can dish it out but she can’t take it. Squelching free speech and media because she can’t take criticism isn’t going to work. The left attacks President Trump for suggesting to shut down dishonest news media. Yet it’s OK to shut down down right-leaning news media?

Patriots Fight Back

Free speech patriots fought back. Right-leaning Tucson talk show host James T. Harris, who has a huge online following, spread news of the attack. The newspaper’s Facebook score went back up to almost four stars. The leftists noticed and whined

Shutting down a small local business for one right-leaning Facebook post is a step toward totalitarianism. She’s denied to citizens the same First Amendment right to share their thoughts that she expects for herself. Arizona’s hard left may have gotten away with that, in this case. They won’t get away with stamping out the freedom of the press. 

In another instance of irony, Livier’s attempts to squelch bad publicity about her actions have resulted in blowing up those actions virally. She will forever be known not just for what she did to this poor restaurant but how she tried — and failed — to shut down the freedom of the press.
Follow Rachel on Twitter at Rach_IC.

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