Morning Mix

‘In Trump We Trust’: Ice cream shop resists town orders to take down its impeachment banner

By Teo Armus
Jan. 31, 2020 at 7:21 a.m. EST

Days before the 2016 election, when the Long Island town first ordered an ice cream shop to take down a sign expressing its support of Donald Trump, the owners of Roger’s Frigate begrudgingly complied.

After they hung up a 3-by-20-foot banner for Inauguration Day that read, “In Trump We Trust,” the store again succumbed to orders from the mayor, who insisted the signage was illegal.

But now President Trump has been impeached, the Senate is sparring over his trial, and the confectionary in Port Jefferson, N.Y., refuses to budge. So what if it’s a code violation? The banner outside Roger’s Frigate will stay up — even if the shop ends up having to fight a fine of $2,000 a day.

“We are being specifically targeted for supporting our president, when we’re only trying to express our love of country,” said Roger Rutherford, the store’s general manager.

In a phone interview with The Washington Post, he said that local officials had violated freedom of speech by ordering the cavernous, pink-and-white shop to take down the banner earlier this week. (Store owner George Wallis had authorized Rutherford to speak on his behalf.)

But Margot Garant, the village’s mayor, said that the government’s notice is a purely apolitical one. Port Jefferson has strict sign codes, and Wallis should know better as president of the town’s business improvement district. (Garant is a registered Republican, according to public records, though her post is officially nonpartisan.)

“It’s not about whether you support the president or not. It’s about having a uniform look,” she told WABC this week. “We’re a beautiful village and that’s the purpose of the code.”

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Teo Armus
Teo Armus is a reporter for The Washington Post's Morning Mix team. He previously covered race, immigration and identity issues for the Charlotte Observer. Follow https://twitter.com/teoarmus