'Make America great again' by sending women back to the kitchen, couple tells waitress

Hey ladies: Have you ever wondered, “How can I, a mere woman, Make America Great Again?” Turns out the answer, according to some, is by quitting your job and making your husband dinner. Slap on that apron, whip out that rolling pin, and get cookin’, wives!

This is the gospel according to at least one couple, a pair from South Carolina who gave their female server this “tip,” in the form of a handwritten note in lieu of something with actual value. Everyone knows restaurant servers love that.

The note, which was uploaded to social media by the server’s friend, started out pretty well. “Thank you for your excellent service today–your a good waitress,” wrote the nameless couple. Then the note got super offensive, super fast.

“Here’s your tip … The woman’s place is in the home. Your place is in the home. It even says so in the Bible. You may think that you’re contributing to your household by coming into work, but you’re not. While you’re in here ‘working’ this is the reason your husband must see another woman on his way home from a long day at his work.

Yes, you read it right. They blamed a working wife for her husband’s supposed infidelity. But there was much more where that came from. The note continued:

Because you should be home taking care of the household duties, you may think what you are doing ‘working’ is right, it is really essentially a disgrace to his manhood and to the American family. So instead of coming to your ‘job’ and looking for handouts to feed your family, how’s about going home and cleaning your house and cooking a hot meal for your husband and children, the way your husband and God intended, and help make America great again. Praying for families and our nation. Love, [Guests’ last name].

The note is obviously appalling. It’s hard to fathom how this couple saw a link between a woman quitting her job to make her husband dinner and the ongoing quest to—in their and Donald Trump’s words–Make America Great Again. Sigh.

Make America Great Again (MAGA, in shorthand) is the now-ubiquitous Trump presidential campaign slogan. Not only did this couple invoke the spirit of MAGA, their advice for the server is actually straight from Trump’s mouth.

In a 1994 interview with ABC’s Primetime, Trump said he didn’t approve of his then-wife Marla Maples joining the work force because she wouldn’t be at home to make him dinner. He said:

“I have days where I think it’s great. And then I have days where if I come home and—you know, I don’t want to sound too much like a chauvinist—but when I come home and dinner’s not ready, I’ll go through the roof, okay?”

Short of speaking to the couple, there’s no way for us to know for sure where their political allegiances lie. For all we know, they could be Jill Stein fans. But it sure sounds like they were simply telling it like it is—a quality many Trump supporters have said they admire about the Republican presidential candidate.

But words have consequences, something the couple failed to keep in mind. “I felt mortified, embarrassed, humiliated even. I felt hurt, and a bit heartbroken,” the waitress, who asked to remain anonymous, told FOX Carolina. “It is a bit disheartening and discouraging that things like this happen in this day and age.”

If the way to Make America Great Again is to send women back to the ’50s again, then I’m perfectly happy with America just the way it is.

Taryn Hillin is Fusion’s love and sex writer, with a large focus on the science of relationships. She also loves dogs, Bourbon barrel-aged beers and popcorn — not necessarily in that order.