GOP Governors DeSantis and Abbott are Screwing up Enough to Force Corporations to Pick a Side
The days of being able to donate to both sides and remain above the fray are clearly over.
If you care about growing diversity, equity and inclusion then you care about the draconian legislation being put forth by GOP governors and the political battles that are resulting.
A new trend we’re seeing on discussions of Governor Ron DeSantis’ “Don’t say gay bill” is a rush online to correct the language being used, saying “the bill isn’t called that.” That those words are “nowhere in” DeSantis’ Florida bill. Which tells us that the “Don’t say gay” name the bill has been tagged with by LGBTQI activists is hurting the GOP.
The beauty of tagging DeSantis’ bill as “The don’t say gay bill” is it speaks directly to the silencing the bill creates. People are sensing the truth of “Don’t say gay” and it’s polling badly for Republicans.
The GOP is stoking anti gay hate in this bill to motivate their extremist base and it’s back firing, primarily because there is broad acceptance of homosexuality across the political spectrum.
DeSantis screwed up again by attacking the resulting so-called “woke” Disney by rashly eliminating their tax status without reading the fine print, dumping a billion dollar tax burden on Florida tax payers as rents also skyrocket in the state. DeSantis, Abbott and other Republicans are clearly more interested in throwing red meat to their base by attacking the rights of women and minorities than in addressing the real economic challenges being faced by working folks in their states.
Look no further than Abbott’s refusal to address Texas’ disastrous power grid problems to see the cost to Texas voters. Abbott’s stunt holding up trucks at the border was another catastrophic political miscalculation. The backlash by trucking and trade associations have been harsh.
But the real question is how will corporations address the increasingly anti-DEI, anti-business, and pro-authoritarian stance of a GOP moving ever further towards extremism? As the GOP becomes more authoritarian, the days of corporations being able to donate to both sides and remain above the fray are clearly over. Companies like Disney can not profess to support diversity, equity and inclusion and continue to fund the new authoritarian Republican Party, because their own employees will not sit quietly by and allow it. Disney learned this the hard way.
