In 2015, a government inspector at a Michigan meatpacking factory found some offensive material in the lunch room: a “tract” – we don’t know if it was a book or a leaflet – in defence of the traditional definition of marriage. It had been put there by the factory owner, Donald Vander Boon.
The inspector did his duty: he reported it to his superiors, who threatened to shut down the factory unless the tract was removed. Mr Vander Boon made an official complaint. The dispute is ongoing.
This is the kind of thing that happens fairly frequently in modern Western democracies. But it was not supposed to happen under a Donald Trump presidency. “The first priority of my administration,” Trump promised in 2015, “will be to preserve and protect our religious liberty.”
