When Donald Trump appeared on CNN last weekend, State of the Union Anchor Jake Tapper made a point of wearing one of the neckties from Trump’s signature clothing collection, in part so that he could quiz the real estate mogul and glorified carnival barker about the propriety of using Chinese factories to make products for sale in the country he now wants to run.
If Tapper picked up his tie at Macy’s however, he’ll have to look elsewhere for his next one. On Wednesday, bowing to public pressure, the department store chain became the latest high-profile corporation to sever ties with Trump after he called immigrants crossing the southern U.S. border “rapists” and “criminals.”
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Trump, who made the remarks in the announcement of his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, doubled down on them in the interview with Tapper. This was apparently too much for the retail chain that has carried his clothing line for more than a decade.
A statement released by Macy’s on Wednesday morning said:
“We are disappointed and distressed by recent remarks about immigrants from Mexico. We do not believe the disparaging characterizations portray an accurate picture of the many Mexicans, Mexican Americans and Latinos who have made so many valuable contributions to the success of our nation.
“In light of statements made by Donald Trump, which are inconsistent with Macy’s values, we have decided to discontinue our business relationship with Mr. Trump and will phase-out the Trump menswear collection, which has been sold at Macy’s since 2004.”
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Macy’s becomes the third major corporation to cut ties with Trump over his remarks. The Spanish-language television network Univision last week announced that it would no longer carry the Miss Universe pageant, which is partly owned by Trump. This prompted a string of nasty tweets from The Donald suggesting the U.S.-based station is actually controlled by the Mexican government, as well as a decree barring Univision employees from using one of his golf resorts in Miami. On Wednesday, Trump announced that he had filed a $500 million lawsuit against the broadcaster.
NBC, the network that hosted Trump’s successful reality show The Apprentice, this week announced that it too would sever its ties with Trump’s beauty pageants. The mogul, somewhat incoherently, took to Instagram to try to spin the separation as his decision. “If NBC is so weak and so foolish to not understand the serious problem in the United States, coupled with the horrendous and unfair trade deals we are making with Mexico, then their contract violating closure of Miss Universe/Miss USA will be determined in court.”
Predictably, the Macy’s announcement on Wednesday produced another Instagram rant from Trump, claiming that it was Trump – not Macy’s – that had terminated the relationship. And not only that, Trump did it as a favor to the department store chain.
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“I have decided to terminate my relationship with Macy’s because of the pressure being put on them by outside sources,” he wrote.
Besides, he didn’t need them anyway.
“While selling Trump ties and shirts at Macy’s is a small business in terms of dollar volume, my principles are far more important and therefore much more valuable.”
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