Dylan "Pickle" Harbin, the 9-year-old boy who is a huge fan of President Donald Trump, was reportedly refused a pro-Trump birthday cake from a bakery in his hometown in California. Harbin, who is called "Pickle" by his friends, wrote President Donald Trump a letter that was read at the July 26 press briefing, where he expressed his admiration for the president, told him that he had a Trump-themed birthday party, (complete with a Make America Great Again hat-shaped cake), asked a few questions about the White House, and asked to be friends with the president.
When the Washington Post tracked down Pickle and his family, there was one interesting tidbit they uncovered: Pickle's mother, SueAnn, had to make the MAGA cake herself, as she was unable to find a bakery in Stockton, California, that was "willing and able" to make one.
But she is always behind her children “100 percent,” so when Pickle asked for “a Donald Trump suit” for his birthday, she bought him one, and when he asked for “a Donald Trump cake,” she made him one herself, because she couldn’t find a bakery willing and able to do it.
“Do you think Donald Trump will live to be 100?” he asked her one day. She told him she didn’t know, and asked why he was asking. “Because then he can watch me be president,” Pickle told her. He’d been talking about writing the letter for at least a month before he got up the nerve to compose and send it. (Washington Post)
Interesting.
While the lengths that WaPo went to find Pickle and his family were kind of absurd, (as was the short lived #PickleTruther movement on Twitter that alleged he was fake) it's curious that this detail was kind of skimmed over in the piece. Stockton, CA isn't exactly a small town, yet Mrs. Harbin was denied a cake without creating a media ruckus. Christian bakers are regularly subject to lawsuits for refusing to make a cake for a gay wedding, but apparently refusing to make a pro-Trump birthday cake is absolutely fine. Which, of course, it is.
All bakers/artists/florists/screenprinters/etc. should have the right to refuse service for things that they're not comfortable making, regardless of their political beliefs. If bakers in Stockton didn't want to make Pickle a MAGA cake, they have a right to do that--just as a devout Christian who isn't comfortable with gay marriage shouldn't be forced to make a product or provide services for a same-sex wedding.
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