Can you separate the donor from the doughnut?

That was the dilemma faced by liberal-leaning customers of George’s Donuts & Merriment in West Portal after SFist reported last week that co-owner Andrew Dudum was linked to a $1 million donation to Donald Trump’s inauguration fund. Immediately, the rather grand, marble-and-brass, doughnut-centric restaurant that opened at the beginning of the year became a target not just of food influencers’ sweets-obsessed reels but of raucous political protest.   

To be clear, Dudum, a millennial San Francisco native, did not himself donate this boatload of cash to Trump’s inaugural committee. It was given through Hims & Hers, the public telehealth company of which Dudum is the founder and CEO, and which has become known for the discreet and stylish delivery of discounted erectile dysfunction and GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. 

Though Dudum’s political views have been diverse — he has donated to progressive causes and candidates in the past — his revised “court politics” stance became clear Jan. 20, when he posted to X a pic of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. alongside Hims & Hers COO Melissa Baird. Dudum wrote: “Our shared commitment with @POTUS, @RobertKennedyJr, and other leaders to address the US obesity epidemic will help millions of Americans with the chronic conditions too many are struggling with.” The post has since been deleted.

Even putting aside the irony that a guy hawking weight-loss drugs is also selling deep-fried dough, it was a perfect setup for a backlash — a simple way to exert control in a time when we’re all feeling spun. For some San Franciscans, George’s Donuts became an instant target, a way to release some of the burbling anxiety over the new administration and make a statement. 

Immediately, there were protests — on Yelp. People went to the platform in an attempt to one-star the restaurant to death. In response, Yelp put the George’s page on pause, posting this notice: “This business recently received increased public attention, which often means people come to this page to post their views on the news.” 

There was more of a dialogue on Reddit, which has a thread of over 350 comments. “Happy to say I haven’t been, now I never will!” wrote BigRefrigerator9783. “I didn’t vote for Trump and never would, but I can get behind political freedoms,” countered yankeevandal. Others pointed out that Dudum, who is Palestinian American, is not a typical MAGA warrior. He has been vocal about his opposition to Israel’s war against Hamas and has donated to progressive Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who also is Palestinian American. Dudum has also posted that his family includes Polish survivors of the Holocaust. 

Other Redditers took a principled stand in defense of George’s Donuts, pointing out the hypocrisy of canceling one’s order for Valrhona chocolate crullers while likely typing on an Apple device. “If you truly want to NOT support someone that is actively supporting The White House,” yankeevandal wrote, “then you’re going to have to start deleting a lot of things from your life. Delete Facebook, Instagram, ChatGPT, X/Twitter, and when you’re done with that throw your iPhone and MacBook away because, yes, Tim Cook was at the inauguration as was Bezos, so yeah no Whole Foods or Amazon/AWS either. Also the most obvious one, sell your Tesla.”

Not everyone heeded this advice. On Wednesday, Marcia Gagliardi used Meta-owned Instagram to link to her popular newsletter Tablehopper, where she indignantly wrote that she had cancelled her press RSVP for a tasting at George’s and would be sticking with Bob’s Donuts. “I know, some folks will just want to go eat the doughnuts and forget about the whole mess, but personally, I can’t and won’t,” she wrote. “That’s not why I live in San Francisco, and this is not the version of America I’m going to idly sit by and watch people buy into and sell out for. It makes food taste terrible.” 

It is important to note that before George’s Donuts were glazed with Trumpism, they didn’t taste terrible. When the restaurant opened less than a month ago, the waits were 90 minutes long, and initial Yelp ratings were mostly upward of five stars. “The donuts? Phenomenal,” one Yelper wrote about the decidedly fancy selection crafted by pastry chef and partner Janina O’Leary, who has been caught in the crossfire. “I never imagined a bacon and egg donut could be so delicious.”

For the ribbon cutting, Mayor Daniel Lurie stopped by to hold the oversize scissors alongside George Cawog, Dudum’s 93-year-old grandfather, a lover of doughnuts and the restaurant’s namesake.

Myself? I got a sampling before I was aware of Dudum’s leanings. Without politics to sway me, I scribbled in my notebook that the doughnuts were very good — particularly, the key lime pie flavor, which was filled with curd and had a clever graham-cracker crumble sprinkled on top. Were they so amazing that I needed to make a political decision about whether to return? Maybe not. (But let’s face it — I’m typing this on my Mac. If I really want to make a difference, I should abandon all technology and get a scroll and pen.)

I was curious to see if all of the hubbub had affected George’s business, so on Wednesday I stopped by again. On that day, RFK Jr. was 3,000 miles away in D.C., in the midst of heated Senate confirmation hearings, and Trump had signed enough executive orders to make half the country hyperventilate. Considering the uproar, I expected a ghost town. Or maybe a picket line of signs: “Down with a-holes selling donut holes.” 

But at 10 a.m., the aroma of sugar floating in the air, there were at least 20 people in line. Classical music was being pumped outside. Servers were cheerily giving out free coffee. Standing along the red velvet stanchions, everyone was blissfully waiting for brioche doughnuts filled with strawberries and Champagne. 

One employee, who wished to remain anonymous, told me that when the news came out, the managers sat everyone down to explain that it was the board of Hims & Hers that had donated to Trump, not Dudum himself. The employee initially thought she’d have to quit, but this rationale seemed to calm her.

“For a couple of days, people actually came in wearing MAGA hats,” she said. “They even gave the name ‘Trump’ for their order.” Other than that, things seemed to be back to normal. “It’s easy to tear down a small business, but the neighborhood has been super supportive.”

Another couple, one holding a box of doughnuts, hadn’t heard about the Trump connection but did not dramatically toss their little treat into the trash when I told them. One man, who identified himself as progressive, said, “Well, that’s democracy.” The only person I spoke to who said “no way” to George’s was leaving the shoe repair shop next door. 

Rian O’Neill, a copywriter who lives in the Outer Sunset and does not support Trump, was also waiting in line. His son, celebrating his ninth birthday, had on one of the gold crowns that George’s hands out to kids. O’Neill was rather blasé about the news. “I can separate my pastry from my politics,” he quipped.

I’d say this was the case for the majority of people in line. Most were neither pro-MAGA nor leaping to the defense of a small business in the cultural crosshairs. They were just there for the doughnuts — and the merriment.