While some on the right have gone weak in the knees regarding the Bud Light controversy, Ron DeSantis got it right on Monday, unequivocally supporting conservative efforts to boycott the company.
Anhueser-Busch, which owns the Bud Light brand, has found itself between a rock and a hard place following an ill-advised advertising partnership with transgender “influencer” Dylan Mulvaney. The company produced a can to celebrate the biological man’s supposed “365th Day of Girlhood” (because we are talking about a grown man who pretends to be a pre-teen girl).
Two videos put out by Mulvaney showing off the can and doing advertising hits for Bud Light set things ablaze, and Anheuser-Busch has been working to put the fire out ever since. Unfortunately, some Republicans weren’t up for the fight. Donald Trump Jr. urged an end to the boycott on his podcast, noting that Anheuser-Busch had given money to Republicans in the past. That obviously didn’t go over very well, as it gave the impression that conservatives should be beholden to the donor class instead of standing up for what is right.
DeSantis took a different path, though. On two separate occasions, he made clear that he’s not wavering against these woke corporations, whether it’s Disney or Anheuser-Busch.
DESANTIS: Why would you want to drink Bud Light? I mean like, honestly, that’s like them rubbing our faces in it, and it’s like, these companies that do this, if they never have any response, they’re just going to keep doing it. So if you as a consumer are like, “yeah, they’re basically,” and it’s such a fraud what they’re doing with that, “like yeah, they’re doing that, but I’m going to keep drinking it anyway,” well they’re just gonna keep doing it.
So I think we have power as consumers to make our voice heard, and not on every company because sometimes conservatives consumers aren’t gonna make a dent in some companies. This one is one, if you don’t have conservative beer drinkers, you’re gonna feel that.
And so, I think it’s a righteous, uh, I think it’s a righteous thing. You know, some of these controversies, they come up, and people can kind of just say, “Oh well, it’s kind of a one-off, yeah it was stupid to do.” But it’s part of a larger thing where corporate America is trying to change our country. Trying to change policy, trying to change culture, and you know, I’d rather be governed by “we the people” than woke companies. So I think pushback is in order across the board, including with Bud Light.
JOHNSON: Will we ever see you drinking a Bud Light again?
DESANTIS: No, I don’t think so.
Everything DeSantis said was on the money, but I think one of the key points there is that conservatives don’t have influence over every company. Heck, they don’t have influence over most companies. That’s what made some on the right folding in this situation so frustrating. If we can’t keep Bud Light in line, what companies can we keep in line? When you’ve got leverage, you must use it to send a message, and given that Anheuser-Busch hasn’t even fired the woke Vice President of Marketing who came up with the Mulvaney idea and doubled down with an insulting statement afterward, I don’t quite think they’ve gotten the message yet.
I tend to fall on the side of those who say that conservatives need to follow through and take a scalp. Short of an unequivocal apology and repudiation of the insanity of a grown man pretending to be a pre-teen girl, the boycott should continue. These companies have gotten far too used to ignoring half the country, and the time to apply the pressure is now while conservatives still have some sway.
There’s a lot that’s being said about DeSantis, specifically in regard to a possible 2024 run. Namely, ridiculous accusations that he’s bought and paid for by donors. Yet, his actions continue to prove that’s absolute nonsense. He defied the donor class on Disney. He defied the donor class on Florida’s new abortion law. And now, he’s defying the donor class on Bud Light. DeSantis clearly operates with real conviction, and that’s a good thing for a politician when so many others clearly don’t.
