(LifeSiteNews) – Days after dissenting from conservatives on aspects of transgenderism, former presidential son Donald Trump Jr. urged conservatives not to boycott Budweiser owner Anheuser-Busch over its embrace of gender confusion on the grounds that the company donated more to Republican candidates than to Democrats.
Anheuser-Busch has come under fire for a promotional partnership with celebrity Dylan Mulvaney, a man who “identifies” as a woman, in which it congratulated him on “365 days of womanhood” with commemorative Bud Light cans bearing his face. The news sparked a substantial backlash against the brand and its owners.
During a Thursday podcast, Trump Jr. suggested that conservatives were “shooting first and aiming second” in this case, Mediaite reported, first noting that “no one at the senior level” was reportedly aware of the partnership, according to The Daily Wire.
“We looked into the political giving and lobbying history of Anheuser-Busch. And guess what? They actually support Republicans,” Trump Jr. said, including House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and new U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio. “Last cycle their employees and their PAC gave about 60% to Republicans and 40% to Democrats. That’s literally almost unheard of in corporate America, where it’s really easy to go woke, where they do so constantly, where there’s a consequence to actually being a conservative. So 60/40 to the conservative side is kind of a big deal.”
“On the lobbying front, we looked into the bills that Anheuser-Busch was working on,” he continued. “You know what they’re focused on, guys? They’ve focused on taxes and trade things that actually impact their business. They haven’t done any lobbying for like the random pet issues of the day and the nonsense and the BLM crap — I didn’t find that — they focused on the things that affect their job.”
“So here’s the deal, Anheuser-Busch, totally shit the bed with this Dylan Mulvaney thing,” he said. “I’m not, though, for destroying an American and iconic company for something like this […] I’m not gonna blame the whole company for the inaction or the stupidity of someone in a marketing campaign that got woke as hell. The company itself doesn’t participate in the same leftist nonsense as the other big conglomerates.”
Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth issued a statement that “[w]e never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people” and “are in the business of bringing people together over a beer,” which did not apologize for or end the association with Mulvaney, or otherwise disavow or distance the company from the notion that men can attain womanhood.
As for Trump Jr., the issue follows the presidential son receiving pushback for declaring that, while he opposes transitioning children, “I’m fairly liberal on” transgenderism overall and is indifferent to adults who “wanna be trans.” The comments sparked a conversation about the mixed record of his father, former President and 2024 contender Donald Trump, on LGBT issues.
Trump Jr.’s latest comments angered various conservatives at a time when they are working to impose a financial toll on Anheuser-Busch to demonstrate that public pressure can be an effective deterrent to so-called woke corporations. Some also suggested that opposing a boycott on the basis of the company’s political contributions undermines one of his father’s most potent talking points, the claim that his personal wealth makes him unsusceptible to donor influence.
Trump currently leads national polls for the 2024 Republican nomination by a substantial margin, though his closest competitor, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (who has not yet announced his candidacy), remains competitive in state polls.