Florida Governor Ron DeSantis just can’t stop winning against the “woke” mob.
In his latest victory, DeSantis is backing anti-woke banking legislation, clamping down on the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) anti-business agenda that does nothing to serve consumers. Sick and tired of the woke business, the governor understands ESG is just a codeword for radical leftism, which most Americans don’t want anywhere near their retirement accounts or personal finances. If they did, they could certainly find it on their own.
Woke banking is compulsive, bad for business, and even worse for America. And its about time people like DeSantis spoke this truth to powers who have never received any meaningful pushback so far.
Corporate elites who have marched Vichy-esque to the woke mob’s tune are reeling as a result. The biggest loser of DeSantis’ pro-America platform is Disney, a company actively betraying its customers—parents and children alike—by pushing a woke ideology that plays politics with entertainment.
For years now, Disney has broken its nearly 100-year deal with consumers. Generations of parents have given Disney their hard-earned dollars and their children’s eyeballs in exchange for non-problematic, wholesome entertainment. But now, Disney has decided that it doesn’t have to earn our money. The company is apparently entitled to it, pushing whatever Hollywood radicalism it wants—from blatant racism and open transgenderism to anti-Americanism that has no business reaching kids.
Too often, Disney executives failed to hold up their end of the deal, leaving parents and children in the lurch. Millions of customers in Florida and across America had nowhere to turn for accountability, until DeSantis stood up and fought back. Stripped of special perks through legislative action, Disney has resigned itself to defeat, with Bob Iger back as CEO and retreating from his company’s divisive culture war.
Gone is Disney’s bravado that it could play the woke game unencumbered and even emboldened by elected officials in Tallahassee and Washington, D.C. Gone is the company’s unchecked autonomy, with even the likes of The New York Times and The Guardian acknowledging Disney’s drubbing. Thanks to the Florida governor, the pendulum has swung back against the woke crowd that has infiltrated our national institutions for too long. And in the process, it has sent a warning shot to other woke institutions that they might want to think twice.
The College Board is now on notice, rejecting the “Critical Race Theory” brainwashing and indoctrinating that goes on across America. Any form of “education” that makes young kids feel like they are racists just because of their skin color needs to be exposed and roundly condemned. It is racist and un-American.
DeSantis’ major achievement is not just talking the talk to speak out against it, but actually delivering results in a pushback that for far too long Republicans have been shy to carry out.
Unless the radical Left is checked, there will be no end to the madness and chaos. From Hollywood to finance and academia, liberal elites have hijacked institution after cherished American institution, simply to impose their will on the rest of us. Their endgame is power by any means necessary — from cancellation to shaming and propagandizing. Radical leftists are trying to destroy the social contract that binds our nation together in the name of money and greed for more, and it cannot be allowed to stand. The melting pot works, but only if those who believe in our unifying American culture stand up against the forces of division.
Unity works when Americans believe in the constitutional set of ideals that has stood the test of time—individual liberty in a free market of commerce and ideas. America means freedom from the compulsive power of a limited, restrained state. But that vision of America is not inevitable. It is not a foregone conclusion. The identity-hustlers balkanizing our nation for their own self-enrichment are destroying our nation.
Making America great again — uniting our nation as a melting pot — is the opportunity we still have. And as Ron DeSantis has shown, it cannot be accomplished without fighters. In a game of power, playing nice isn’t going to work. We need those willing to eschew nice, stand up for their constituents and win. Republicans best pay attention, because Florida is showing how it’s done. Not with platitudes, but with action.
Dan Backer is a veteran campaign counsel, having served more than 100 candidates and PACs, including Ready for Ron. He practices law as a Member of Chalmers, Adams, Backer & Kaufman LLC.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.