Rift among conservatives over Bud Light response has clarified that it’s hardball time

Unexpectedly and unintentionally, the hiring of Dylan Mulvaney as a celebrity endorser of Bud Light has provided a clarifying moment for conservatives.  Two prominent Trump administration veterans have emerged as embodiments of the two strategic options that Republican officeholders and activists have traditionally embraced:

1. Defer to major donors because “money is the mother’s milk of politics.”
2. Go scorched earth on those who side with the forces trying to destroy our culture, society, and/or economy.

It appears to me that while option 1 characterized the GOP establishment for decades (see, for example, border enforcement, with big corporate donors favoring cheap labor via illegal immigration), the GOP base is now convinced that option 2 is required.  The reason: It is utterly clear that the other side plays scorched earth, so there is no advantage in restraint.  The underlying premise is that the left intends to make permanent the “fundamental change” that Barack Obama promised if the Democrats control Congress and the Oval Office starting in January 2025.  They are playing for keeps now, with censorship, a dual system of justice, and outright totalitarian political oppression in prospect.

A couple of days ago, Donald Trump, Jr. was advocating for option 1 to deal with Bud Light’s parent company: “Donald Trump Jr. calls for an end to the conservative-led boycott of Bud Light and ‘iconic’ Anheuser-Busch over a partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney.”

Donald Trump Jr. is calling for the end of a conservative-led boycott against Bud Light, which is owned by Anheuser-Busch, over the parent company’s partnership with the trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney. (snip)

“I’m not for destroying an American, an iconic company, for something like this. The company itself doesn’t participate in the same leftist nonsense as the other big conglomerates,” he said, arguing that Anheuser-Busch had a conservative lean in their political donations.

According to OpenSecrets, Anheuser-Busch and individuals affiliated with the company donated $514,375 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee in the 2022 election cycle; individuals with ties to the company also gave $464,505 to the National Republican Congressional Committee for the same cycle.

“Frankly, they don’t participate in the same woke garbage that other people in the beer industry actually do, who are significantly worse offenders when I looked into it,” he continued. “But if they do this again, then it’s on them! Then, screw them.”

A year or two ago, there would have been lots of nodding heads agreeing with this view.  But I am sure that Don Jr. was surprised at the extent and intensity of the blowback he received.

So, IF you give the GOP enough money the company can do anything they want to society. Check. https://t.co/35FGpDhhJW

— Jon Nicosia (@NewsPolitics) April 16, 2023

Don’t ever give money to the @GOP . Gutless wonders. Always. https://t.co/o4FacSWkhA

— NPP Lincoln (@LincolnFresno) April 16, 2023

We have them on the ropes right now.

And then…this? https://t.co/arYXJ69lEg

— Josh Hammer (@josh_hammer) April 14, 2023

Yesterday, Stephen Miller’s group, America First Legal, announced:

America First Legal Files Federal Civil Rights Complaint Against Anheuser-Busch for Illegal, Racist, and Sexist Hiring Practices

Today, America First Legal (AFL), as part of its initiative under the Center for Legal Equality, filed a federal civil rights complaint against Anheuser-Busch requesting that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) open a civil rights investigation of Anheuser-Busch’s systemic and discriminatory hiring, promotion, and job-training employment practices.

Under the cloak of “equity,” woke companies like Anheuser-Busch proudly discriminate based on race, color, national origin, and sex in their employment practices. 

For example, Anheuser-Busch created a Leadership Accelerator Program that provides “formal mentorship, executive interaction, and leadership development curriculum for those who identify with historically underrepresented groups as they join our organization in a full-time capacity.” Only specific individuals of specified races, colors, and national origins — notably excluding White and Asian Americans — are invited to apply:

In Anheuser-Busch’s 2022 Annual Report, the company highlights its “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” initiative as a “global priority for AB InBev’s Senior Leadership Team.” The company created a Global DEI “Council”, chaired by its CEO, “dedicated to collaborating on impactful decisions and championing DEI at the highest levels of the organization.” This “DEI” initiative, however, appears to be nothing more than a vehicle to implement race, national origin, and sex quotas in hiring and promotion. 

Notice that this attack corners A-B as violating civil rights law in order to be “woke.”  One the one hand, this is not at all different from almost any other big corporation, who all have surrendered to the pressures for affirmative discrimination against heterosexual white males in particular, but more broadly against all who do not claim victim status.  While dominant among the big institutions, this approach is not popular among the public, and it is illegal according to the letter of civil rights laws.

I think conservatives as a whole have decided that the time to accept partial victories and revert to the posture of compromise has passed, and that even the GOP establishment sees that this is the case.  Look at the behavior of even the likes of Senator Susan Collins in opposing the replacement of Dianne Feinstein on the Senate Judiciary Committee.  “Republicans line up against replacing Feinstein on critical committee“:

Praising Feinstein as a “trailblazing” senator, moderate Maine Republican Susan Collins said that “during the past two years, it has become crystal clear that there has been a concerted campaign to force her off the Judiciary Committee, and I will have no part in it.”

The Democrats have been playing by UFC rules, while the Republicans, especially in the Senate, have been deluding themselves that the Marquess of Queensberry rules were the gentlemanly thing to do.  I think that era is fading away so rapidly that even Don Jr. missed the signs.

Photo credit: Twitter screen grab (cropped).