Trump Campaign Sells Plastic Straws Because ‘Liberal Straws Don’t Work’

There are only 471 days until the 2020 presidential election. There are so many issues to be debated over the next year and a half. The Trump campaign has planted their flag into the adamantine ground when it comes to the controversial subject of plastic straws. Everything is a political issue in 2020.

Many people and corporations have rallied against plastic straws because the plastic utensil can get into the ocean and affect wildlife, especially sea turtles. However, there are many arguments against plastic straws especially that paper straws are not exactly user-friendly, tending to become too soft or add unwanted paper flavor to drinks.

President Donald J. Trump has declared where they stand in the great plastic straw debate of 2019 — they are against paper straws. The Trump campaign is selling a 10-pack bundle of Trump-branded “laser-engraved” plastic straws for $15. The 9-inch straws are recyclable and reusable.

Not exactly the bargain considering that you can get 300 non-Trump-branded straws for only $6. But if your heart truly wants a Trump straw than you’ll be happy to spend the $1.50 per straw cost.

The President-approved drinkware is “laser engraved.” The Trump campaigns recommend using their plastic straws because “liberal paper straws don’t work.”

The Trump straws were originally introduced by Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale. “I’m so over paper straws, and I’m sure you are too. Much like most liberal ideas, paper straws don’t work and they fall apart instantly,” Parscale wrote on Twitter. “That’s why we just launched our latest product – Official Trump Straws.”

“Now you can finally be free from liberal paper straws that fall apart within minutes and ruin your drink.” Parscale said. The campaign of course says: “Making Straws Great Again.”

President Trump argued in favor of the plastic straws. “I do think we have bigger problems than plastic straws,” President Trump said at a press conference. “You have a little straw. But what about the plates, the wrappers and everything else that are much bigger, and they’re made of the same material? So the straws are interesting. Everybody focuses on the straws. There’s a lot of other things to focus. But it’s an interesting question.”

The plastic Trump straws initially sold out, but became available again soon after going on sale.

There were plenty of people who opposed the Trump straws including Stephen Colbert.

Last summer, Starbucks announced that it would stop using plastic straws by 2020. McDonald’s said they would ban straws at their U.K. and Ireland stores. Alaska Airlines promised that they would prohibit the use of plastic straws and stirrers.

Several cities in California, Seattle and Washington D.C. promised to ban plastic straws. However, the bans had to make several exceptions since many disabled people rely on straws to live a normal life.

Australian scientists estimate that there are nearly 7.5 million plastic straws lying around America’s shorelines and there are 437 million to 8.3 billion plastic straws are on the entire world’s coastlines.

Many opponents to the paper straws have pointed out that numerous other products that are plastic are happily handed out to customers, including cups, lids, stirrers and chopsticks.

One study alleges that 500 million straws are used every single day, meaning that every single American uses over 1.5 straws per day. Reportedly, eight million tons of plastic flow into the ocean every year, but straws comprise only 0.025 percent of that waste.

Another study found that cigarette butts are much more dangerous to the environment than plastic straws, since there are an estimated 4.5 trillion cigarette butts littered globally each year according to researchers at Cambridge University.

Many point out that straws are more environmentally friendly than huge plastic sippy cup lids.

Others point out that San Francisco hands out 4.45 million plastic syringes each year, which are far more dangerous and thick than plastic straws.

https://twitter.com/AdrianNormanDC/status/1152340261403389952

Bloomberg points out that metal straws are discarded, lost or stolen before the metallic straws are used enough to benefit the environment.

[Slate]