First Disney, now beer. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ woke wars are ever more ridiculous | Opinion

Not content with going after Disney, Gov. Ron DeSantis has fired up the grudge machine yet again.

In his sights this time? Bud Light. Yep, the governor going after a light beer for being “woke.” Gravitas, thy name is Ron.

This has become so predictable. Find a target. Claim they’re “woke” and therefore terrible. And then hit them until they fight back or buckle. Either way, it’s a win for the governor — Look at me! I’m taking on big corporations! — even if Florida continues to look worse and worse in the nation’s eyes.

He’s only talking to one group, anyway, the MAGA base. (And he’ll desperately need to get their attention to compete with Donald Trump.)

What is the governor’s grievance this time? Anheuser-Busch sent a transgender social-media influencer, Dylan Mulvaney, some custom-designed cans of beer with Mulvaney’s face on them. It was to celebrate Mulvaney’s “365 Days of Girlhood.” The company had partnered with Mulvaney on a March Madness promotion.

The guv, of course, saw his opportunity. Another LGBTQ target? Right up his alley. His team released a vicious satirical ad that mocked Bud Light by showing transgender athletes in a “real men of women’s sports” video — a play on Bud Light’s “Real Men of Genius” ad campaign from decades past.

“You couldn’t cut it with the boys, so you pushed women off the podium . . . Because without you, sports would be fair. Without you, women’s sports would be for, well, women,” the ad says.

DeSantis, in an interview reported by the New York Post, called Bud Light’s actions “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, and so I think pushback is in order across the board, including with Bud Light.”

Then he threw in a shameless plug for Guinness Draught, which he said he and his wife enjoyed in Dublin, Ireland. Hard to know how to process that one. Was he trying to be all “regular guy,” to combat his image as man without charisma?

In any case, Brendan Whitworth, the CEO of Anheuser-Busch, might be able to give him a lesson or two on likability. Whitworth issued a statement that didn’t apologize or express regret for the Mulvaney campaign. Instead, in a refreshing change for Floridians, it stressed connection.

“We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer,” Whitworth said.

We’ll drink to that.

This story was originally published April 18, 2023 at 8:13 PM.