Megyn Kelly grilled 2024 GOP hopeful Ron DeSantis over his continued war with various corporations and pointedly asked the Florida governor if he was “using government to punish citizens for political wrong think.”

The exchange took place on the Friday edition of SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Show where Kelly asked DeSantis if his treatment of Disney, which spoke out against a Florida bill on teaching gender ideology in school, and Bud Light for their partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney, was “viewpoint discrimination.”

“You, in my view, are pretty quick to use the power of the state against certain corporations you don’t like,” Kelly began. “Aren’t you doing the very thing to these companies that conservatives are mad at left-wing leaders for doing?”

“No, not at all. So taking Anheuser-Busch, I mean, we’re not punishing them. They departed from business practices by indulging in social activism,” DeSantis said.

The Florida governor explained that the pension fund in Florida holds stock in Anheuser-Busch and as a result of their stock falling, it has affected citizens who rely on the pension.

“Didn’t you support the boycott against them?” Kelly pressed, noting DeSantis himself may have hurt Anheuser-Busch’s stock price.

“No, I did, but that’s just as a personal thing. But I mean, we didn’t have like the state government necessarily putting power about it,” DeSantis said reiterating that they “departed from their fiduciary duty.”

“I’m not in favor of the Bud Light thing at all, but how can you say they departed from their fiduciary duty, they sent a beer can to this very controversial person, which upset the consumers and the consumers had their say. But how is that a departure from — and how does the state get involved in that?” Kelly asked.

DeSantis questioned if the partnership with Mulvaney would help shareholders or company values.

“But how is that for you to weigh in on?” Kelly pressed.

“I have people in Florida that were injured by the company’s decline as a result of that,” DeSantis insisted.

The conversation pivoted to Disney.

“They started going down the road of sexualizing children. We just could not be joined at the hip with a company that was doing that,” DeSantis said, elaborating that as a result Disney should lose long-held agreements made with the state.

“So you are suggesting you would’ve done this irrespective of them criticizing and fighting your parents in education act?” Kelly asked.

“Obviously, they’re supporting sexualizing kids in Florida schools. I mean, they were putting their corporate weight behind ensuring that that could happen. So of course that was a factor,” DeSantis said, making a very harsh allegation against Disney.

“That’s an admission that they were punished by you in part by the state for their political viewpoint,” Kelly said. DeSantis denied that it was a punishment. Disney is suing Florida in federal court for allegedly violating its right to free speech.

Kelly then asked how his tactics were “not viewpoint discrimination.”

“Why can’t Disney oppose your law?” Kelly pushed. “Why can’t they promote this agenda in their viewpoint without being punished by the state,” she asked referring to their opposition of the Florida bill.

“They’re not being punished. We’re just simply removing special benefits that they have had,” DeSantis said.

The full conversation regarding DeSantis’s corporate wars lasted over eight minutes and can be listened to in full here.

Listen above via SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Show.

The post Megyn Kelly Grills Ron DeSantis On Free Speech, Asks How His War Against Bud Light and Disney Isn’t ‘Viewpoint Discrimination’ first appeared on Mediaite.

from Mediaite https://ift.tt/7fW4bGE