The first rule of a healthy business is that the customer is king. Even if your customer seems unreasonable or is being unfair, the onus is on the business owner to find a way to communicate with said customer and meet their needs. At the very least, that business owner should save their criticisms until the customer is out of earshot.

The party that is supposedly the champion of small business could use a refresher lesson in customer relations.

On Sunday Townhall’s Kurt Schlichter took to Twitter to complain about the aggressive fundraising tactics of the National Republican Congressional Committee. In a text message, the NRCC chastised recipients for not responding to earlier calls for donation matching.

Hey @NRCC – WTF is wrong with you?

Stop this. Do it now. pic.twitter.com/BTQ3bnCU4q

— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) July 26, 2020

If this fundraising text had come from a Democrat organization the conservative response would have been robust and round ridicule. Not only does it smack of desperation, it’s just rude.

But this is 2020 and ugliness seems to be on the menu every day, even from those who claim the ugliness is exclusive to “the other side.”

Kurt Schlichter is one of the most vocal supporters of the Republican Party and Republican candidates in the media right now. He is unapologetically and unashamedly Republican. One would think a criticism like this coming from a guy like him would be taken seriously by the NRCC. At the very least one would think they would simply ignore it. Instead, the NRCC chose to shame the customer.

The race for the House is not only vital for a Trump second term, it is a heated and close battle at the moment. Some pollsters have the Democrats even increasing their margins. While it may be too early to put much stock into polling, what isn’t advisable is insulting the very people you will be depending on to carry your message  come November.

The ensuing responses from Republican supporters illustrate just how thoughtless NRCC’s tweet was.

This was a huge and insulting misstep for the NRCC. The fundraising tone was tragic enough, but to rudely respond to a hugely influential Republican pundit is beyond the pale. Snapping at the annoyed customer you’re asking to support your cause isn’t going to cut it. Leave the condescension to the Democrats.