If you’re looking for a two-bedroom apartment to rent in Grand Junction, Colorado, and you like Donald Trump, don’t even bother calling Mark Holmes.
The avowed liberal activist—who is trying to rally support for several “Gandhi-style” civil disobedience events—is trying to rent out a downtown apartment, right on Main Street, that includes organic garden space, a hot tub and a “great backyard.” It’s even pet-friendly, if your dogs have “references as good as yours,” but if you’re voting for the GOP front-runner, he won’t even consider your application.
“I don’t know what to do anymore about what’s going on in this country,” he told his local newspaper, The Daily Sentinel. “It’s just a mess.
“He’s preaching hate, and he’s preaching … a lot of venom, spit and vinegar. And I live in the top part of the house. I don’t want anybody that even thinks that Donald Trump can be a good president to live in my home.”
Refusing to rent based on someone’s political leanings is entirely legal, since political affiliation isn’t a protected class under the Fair Housing Act. Holmes, however, told the newspaper he already has a potential renter lined up. His ad was meant more as a message to the rest of his community.
“I didn’t do it as a gimmick to rent at all,” he said. “I think people just don’t understand that this is going to happen.”
