Texas Police Department Puts Local Business On Blast for Being Conservative

Grapevine Police caved to the "defund the police" rage mob over Patriot Mobile

Last week Patriot Mobile, a Texas-based conservative cell phone company, donated a certificate for pizza to the Grapevine Police Department where the company’s offices are located. (Full disclosure: Patriot Mobile is a sponsor of the nationally-syndicated Dana Show.) Grapevine PD initially marked the donation with a simple post of thanks on Facebook and Twitter.

It was swiftly followed by an eruption from Mt. Rage Mob who only recently stopped sputtering “defund the police” only because it hurt their candidates in the last few election cycles. From the post’s comments:

I doubt even half of the vitriolic commenters live in or near the area.

Grapevine Police responded with a lengthy second post tinged with DEI word salad about “vowing to do better going forward” and concerns for “dignity.” They acted as if they received a paid trip to to watch a drag brunch at Mar-a-Lago instead of simply receiving pizza. They added that they donated the pizza certificate to an area need.

Ever notice how “inclusivity” usually means “excluding” anyone not on the left?

Their reaction stunned many in Grapevine — the celebrated Christmas Capital of Texas — and neighboring towns, prompting a response from Southlake Mayor John Huffman:

I shared Grapevine PD’s post on my own Facebook page and Twitter account and was flooded with replies, many from people who actually live in the area and were unaware that their police department negatively viewed donations from local businesses if the business was a faith-based, conservative entity.

On Monday I spoke with Glenn Story, the Co-Founder and CFO of Patriot Mobile, who incredulously recounted the situation. Had Grapevine PD reached out to him before posting online that they had refused the donation? No.

“I had a bunch of friends reach out and say ‘Hey, have you seen this?’ Quite frankly, I was blown away,” said Story. Watch the full interview below:

“It’s a nonpolitical entity. And we’re not trying to buy anything — that’s just foolhardy, and that’s what I’ve read in some of these posts. At the end of the day we put God first in everything we do and we think it’s the Godly thing to do.” He felt like the Grapevine-based business was being shamed and hasn't heard from anyone in the police department since.

Story noted that the critics, clueless that companies and their political action committees are legally required to be separate entities, claimed that the cell phone company was it’s PAC. Every other cell phone company has a PAC and they operate as two different things, these are not uncommon practices. What is uncommon is trying to cancel a business over ignorance.

So the police department didn’t even give the local business they serve a heads up before essentially shaming them at the demand of the rage mob, which grew only louder and more empowered after the department’s posting.

So the Grapevine Police Department puts a local business on blast after conservatives have spent the past handful of years heavily targeted by the FBI and DOJ if they spoke at their children’s school board meetings, by the IRS if they organized with tea party groups, and big tech. Leftists are torching crisis pregnancy centers, and doxing people over differences in opinion. Are police no longer expected to deescalate tense situations and keep the peace? How is unnecessarily creating a firestorm over a pizza donation in any way helpful? Story said that there has been an increase in hateful communication towards the company online as a result of the police department’s post.

Story says the police department’s reaction hasn’t tempered his support for the police and he doesn’t believe that it’s representative of the entire department. “We don’t need anything in return. We want our local police officers to know that we love what they do. We know that they have a very difficult job and we want them to know that we care about them.” He added of the mob “I think this is a small minority that blew this out of perspective.” He’s kinder than most.

Remember when Grapevine Police were falsely accused of sexual assault by this woman? Their loudest accusers were some of very rage mob excoriating them for accepting a donation from a local business — now they’re bending a knee to the very same rage mob that, just last year, demanded they be defunded. A business that, along with my radio program, was one of their loudest defenders?

The Grapevine Police Department did not answer to requests for comment about this story.

*Update: Here is Patriot Mobile’s official statement