At the annual meeting of the Florida Chamber of Commerce this week, Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis went after corporations for what he called “wokeness,” pettily lashing out in what the Miami Herald described as a “rambling” speech that went on for some 30 minutes. Apparently — and unsurprisingly — many of those in attendance didn’t exactly seem enthusiastic to be the audience for DeSantis’s sweeping complaints. At one point, DeSantis wheeled out a line that had apparently repeatedly received applause from his supporters, but the Chamber of Commerce crowd remained silent. Across the entire span of his speech, there were just two rounds of applause, both of which responded to relatively mundane lines.
DeSantis’s self-confident anger at businesses for their supposed “wokeness” reflects a common thread among prominent right-wingers these days, although when such individuals bring their complaints on outlets like Fox News — which is very much a corporate, mainstream media outlet — the hypocrisy becomes glaring. At the Chamber of Commerce event, DeSantis said that when “you’re using your power as a corporation, and you’re leveraging that to try to advance any ideology, I think it’s very dangerous for this country and I’m not just gonna sit idly by.” It’s worth noting, though, that conservatives certainly don’t seem to have problems with Fox News leveraging its own corporate power to push an ideological agenda.
Complaining about the push for booster shots against COVID-19, DeSantis said that it “started as 15 days to slow the spread. Now we’re at three jabs just to keep your job.” The Herald notes how “[that] line has drawn applause at press conferences stocked with his supporters, but at the chamber event it was greeted with silence.” The DeSantis administration has filed a lawsuit challenging a mandate from the Biden administration for government contractors to have their personnel vaccinated, although the science is clear regarding the ability of vaccines to keep people from getting ill and dying.
The Herald also notes that DeSantis “received only two rounds of applause during the address, once when he spoke about working to get more goods to market by resolving the pandemic-related supply chain hurdles, and when he said that high schools should offer apprenticeship programs for trade skills.” Organizations involved in putting on the event distanced themselves from DeSantis, at least in some respects. A spokesperson for Veterans Florida, which is a non-profit organization created by the state of Florida to assist veterans with day-to-day life, said that the group had “no comment other than the forum allows us an opportunity to reach employers and workforce thought leaders in Florida’s business community to open new avenues for veterans’ career advancement.” In other words, there was no sudden rush to DeSantis’s defense following the event. Read more here.
