Trump slams 'dirty' Red Hen restaurant, but let's not forget Mar-a-Lago's 13 health code violations

Nice try, Donny.
 By 
Nicole Gallucci
 on 
Trump slams 'dirty' Red Hen restaurant, but let's not forget Mar-a-Lago's 13 health code violations
U.S. President Donald Trump seems to be confused about health code violations. Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

It took Donald Trump more than two days to comment on Sarah Huckabee Sanders being asked to leave the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, but alas, he's finally settled on a comeback.

Rather than claiming he would treat people "respectfully" like his press secretary, who tweeted about the event on Saturday, Trump did what he does best and straight-up trash talked the establishment.

"The Red Hen Restaurant should focus more on cleaning its filthy canopies, doors and windows (badly needs a paint job) rather than refusing to serve a fine person like Sarah Huckabee Sanders," the 72-year-old grown-ass man tweeted on Monday morning. "I always had a rule, if a restaurant is dirty on the outside, it is dirty on the inside!"

Since Trump clearly has such high standards and is incredibly concerned about restaurant cleanliness and business upkeep, Twitter users felt it was their duty to remind him of the several health violations his very own beloved Mar-a-Lago resort and other businesses have received.

Florida's Division of Hotels and Restaurants cited 13 health violations at Trump's resort in January 2017, including but not limited to serving raw or undercooked fish, meats being stored at unsafe temperatures, and coolers filled with rusty shelves.

Sounds like a quality place!

And the violations don't stop at Trump-owned properties. As The New Yorker reports, in the past the New York restaurant that's home to Trump's favorite burger has renovated without proper permits. Not good!

Meanwhile, the Red Hen reportedly passed its Feb. 2018 inspection with no violations. Interesting...

Since Sanders tweeted about the Red Hen incident, the restaurant's been hit hard with an influx of severely positive and negative Yelp and Facebook reviews. However, since the majority of recent reviews only comment on Red Hen's political views, which is a violation of the platform's guidelines, there's a good chance they'll be removed.

In response to being asked about the off-topic reviews, a Yelp spokesperson gave Mashable the following statement:

"When businesses make the news, their Yelp business page can be affected. Media-fueled reviews typically violate our Content Guidelines, one of which deals with relevance. Yelp reviews are required to describe a firsthand consumer experience, not what someone read in the news. Our user support team ultimately removes reviews that violate these guidelines. More info on how Yelp handles these types of circumstances on this page of our Support site."

Many people are also highlighting the fact that both Sanders and Trump addressed the incident using their professional, rather than personal, Twitter accounts, which will undoubtedly draw a great deal of attention to the business. (It's also an ethics violation!) One would think this would be some sort of violation of Twitter's rules, but Twitter has made it known time and time again it refuses to censor Trump on the basis that his words are newsworthy.

I don't know about you, but I always had a rule: "If a resort has 13 recorded health violations, it is most definitely dirty on the inside!"

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Nicole Gallucci

Nicole is a Senior Editor at Mashable. She primarily covers entertainment and digital culture trends, and in her free time she can be found watching TV, sending voice notes, or going viral on Twitter for admiring knitwear. You can follow her on Twitter @nicolemichele5.

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