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A Washington, D.C. pizzeria owner who came under heavy backlash for congratulating President-elect Donald Trump believes businesses should work on unity and not on sowing more division.

Although Mariya Rusciano is a registered Democrat, her nonpartisan congratulatory message following Trump’s election victory put her on the receiving end of the left’s hypocritical hate. Rusciano and her husband, Ettore, run Menomale Pizza in Brookland and the November 6 post on social media set off a wave of insults and boycott threats.

“The people have spoken. @realDonaldTrump won the popular vote and the electoral college. Congratulations!” the pizzeria posted on X. “Can we gift @WhiteHouse a nice Italian wood burning pizza oven?”

But in a town where more than 90% of voters backed Vice President Kamala Harris, this was a declaration of war.

“Made it pretty easy to skip your business. I live in Brookland too,” one social media user wrote.

“What an odd tweet! You were on my radar as I spend a lot of time in Brookland but I am so confused – are you trying to go out of business?” asked another.

“Thanks for exposing who you are! Will never be buying anything from this business,” one angry X user declared.

“I expected some unhappy comments. But at the end of the day, both candidates called for unity and emphasized that unity is so important throughout their campaign. So I did not think it would go viral as much as it did,” Rusciano told Fox News Digital.

(Video Credit: Fox News Digital)

She noted how much “more heated” and “more personal” discussion has become over the last decade.

“When I first voted in 2012, it was okay to still talk to people who voted for the other candidate,” she said. “At the end of the day, we have to respect the will of the people regardless of which party we ascribe to.”

“Sometimes it’s good to get off social media and go out there and talk to real people in real life,” Rusciano said. “Everybody has their opinions. But that does not mean that you have to treat people with less dignity or less respect because of their political beliefs or anything else, really. We all deserve that respect.”

Rusciano did note that the business which opened 13 years ago has received  “many more messages of support,” which she found  “encouraging.”

The pizza brouhaha comes amid a recent report of Washington, D.C. food workers threatening to not serve Republicans and members of the incoming administration as they move into town.

Menomale Pizza may have been buried in hate messages on social media, but as the owner noted, there were still plenty of supportive responses on X.

Frieda Powers
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