Digs heels in deeper. Restaurant owner Tony Angelini goes all-out to link President Trump to his cause. Unclear: Does Angelini feel misogynist connection. Or is he asserting merely that Trump would endorse his right to proclaim whatever he wants. Images: Steve Lunde
Trump décor overwhelms Italian fare signage
ONALASKA, Wis. — In what can be described only as a bizarre business decision, Tony Angelini bedecked his ristorante with Trump posters, some as vulgar as his sexist insults to women in a podcast that went viral. The posters were there at dawn — ahead of a street protest being organized against the podcast insults. The protest was planned for 4 p.m. The link between Angelini’s policy against women servers and Trump was unstated, although Trump has a history of misogyny. One photo-shopped poster showed a defiant Trump with a two-fisted middle-finger message. Other carried the date of 2028, as if Trump could run for an illegal third term. Inexplicably a couple posters expressed support for the neurodevelopmental condition of autism.
Under the eaves. But impossible to miss. Hardly a welcoming invitation to diners.
Business savvy
Data bespeak the questionable wisdom of a business that explicitly espouses dubious moral and the also goes overboard for the est popular U.S. president in history. Census, voting and polling data:
> Gender: 51.06% women, 48.94% men in LaCrosse County, in which Onalaska is a major suburb.
> 2024 election: Trump lost LaCrosse Couny by 9.3 points (Harris, 39,000; Trum, 32,200).
> 2020 election: Trump lost by 13.5% (Biden 37,800; Trump, 32,200).
> 2016 election: Trump lost by 9.5 points (Clinton 2,400; Trump, 28,600).
> Current polls: Trump approval status nationally averages 38%
Exception
Sources say Angelini has one female sevrer on-call as a part-time staffing back-up. She has full-time employment elsewhere.
Earlier: Protest targets ristorante’s sexist attitudes
Earlier: Earlier: Readers riled by ristorante’s sexist talk