Bookstore Owner Calls The Cops On Customer Who Confronted Steve Bannon

The plan for “progressives” to target and harass members of the Trump Administration until they leave public life has hit a snag: an open-minded bookstore owner in Virgina.

Nick Cooke, the proprietor of Black Swan books in Richmond, Virginia, called the police on one of his customers Saturday after she approached Steve Bannon, who was shopping quietly in another section of the store, and called him a “piece of trash.”

“Steve Bannon was simply standing, looking at books, minding his own business. I asked her to leave, and she wouldn’t. And I said, ‘I’m going to call the police if you don’t,’ and I went to call the police and she left,” Cooke told The Hill. “And that’s the end of the story.”

Once she realized she wasn’t in friendly company, the woman took off. Cooke eventually canceled the emergency call, but was clear that, while he doesn’t agree with Bannon’s politics, he’d call the police again on anyone who harassed a member of the Trump Administration in his store.

“We are a bookshop. Bookshops are all about ideas and tolerating different opinions and not about verbally assaulting somebody, which is what was happening,” Cooke said.

This is the first time the owner of an establishment hasn’t complied with protesters looking to harangue a Trump official. Department of Homeland Security Chief Kirstjen Nielsen was ushered out of a Mexican restaurant after anti-immigration demonstrators interrupted her meal, and White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a Virginia eatery after staff members said her presence made them uncomfortable.

Reportedly, the owner and other staff of that establishment, the Red Hen, followed Sanders’ family to a restaurant across the street and heckled outside while they ate.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) has drawn criticism from her own party for encouraging more harassment, telling a rally last week that progressives should seek out and harass members of the Trump team wherever they go.