When Netflix announced that it was crying “uncle” on its effort to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, it was the latest example of a successful political pressure campaign backed by Americans who cherish traditional values and who resist the radical left’s assault on the culture.
Throughout the course of the Biden administration, Americans who love the traditions and values that made our country great found themselves under constant political fire. If they believed in Donald Trump’s call to Make America Great Again, they were called racist. If they put their trust in God over science, they were accused of being ignorant and backward. If they believed in keeping boys out of girls’ sports and locker rooms, they were labeled as haters and bigots.
What passes today for the “mainstream media” leads the charge in portraying traditional, hardworking Americans as remnants of a bygone era. If you believed what you read and hear across most media platforms, you’d be convinced that commonsense conservatives are a tiny, shrinking minority standing in the way of progress and the inevitable leftward societal march.
But then comes an occasional wakeup call reminding everyone that, in reality, the world is a much different place than those with the biggest media megaphones pretend it is.
In 2023, for instance, Budweiser – the self-proclaimed King of Beers – decided to revamp its image to cater to a more “woke” clientele. It decided to celebrate transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney by sending a customized Bud Light can featuring Mulvaney’s smiling face plastered on it to mark a transition milestone.
After Mulvaney posted the video, the blowback was fierce. Boycotts of Budweiser resulted in sales plunging by an estimated 24%, and it lost its long-held spot as the country’s best-selling brand.
Eventually, two Budweiser marketing executives were placed on leave, the corporation was forced to compensate wholesalers and distributors who lost money, and the company is still fighting to reestablish itself with the core consumers responsible for its success. Turned out, the country wasn’t nearly as woke as Budweiser seemed to think.
What about the Cracker Barrel fiasco? Last summer, the country diner decided to update and streamline its famous logo, despite the fact that the restaurant’s entire motif is centered around tradition and nostalgia. Most significantly, “Uncle Herschel,” the old-timer featured in the logo leaning on a barrel, disappeared, leading many critics to complain that Cracker Barrel apparently believed that an older, white symbol was out of place in today’s society.
Once again, consumers had the last word. The backlash was fierce. Even President Trump criticized the move. The company reversed its decision within weeks, backtracking on a $700 million rebrand, and Uncle Herschel was back where loyal customers wanted him, holding up that barrel. Chalk up another win for tradition over woke.
Back to Netflix. Soon after the streaming giant announced a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), Paramount Skydance entered the fray with its own bid for WBD. A congressional hearing brought to light serious reservations about the Netflix-WBD plan. Public sentiment against the megamerger was palpable as concerns over competition and pricing began to spread, and WBD board members started to waver.
When Trump recently demanded that Netflix remove Trump-hater Susan Rice from its board, Netflix boss Ted Sarandos was flippantly dismissive, saying that Trump “likes to do a lot of things on social media.” Not smart.
Eventually, Paramount upped its offer, and Netflix backed away. What’s significant is that Paramount is run by David Ellison, part of the Ellison family that is supportive of President Trump. As CNN reported, “Ellison has been a repeated visitor to the White House during Trump’s second term, as has his father, Oracle’s billionaire co-founder Larry Ellison, a close Trump ally.”
Why does this matter? For one thing, along with HBO Max, guess what’s also under the WBD umbrella? CNN. That’s right. One of the cable news channels most historically hostile to Trump and MAGA World in general might soon be owned by one of Trump’s biggest supporters. There’s one more “L” in the woke column.
Of course, the biggest recent example of traditional Americans exhibiting their political will was in the election of 2024, when voters returned Trump to the White House thanks to awarding him the popular vote, all seven swing states, and a grand total of 31 states for Trump, only 19 for Kamala Harris. So long, woke America.
Time and again, what appears to be the inexorable march to the hard left turns out to be another example of fake news. Traditional, right-of-center Americans are usually too peace-loving to take to the streets and too respectful of law and order to vandalize stores or set buildings on fire when things don’t go their way. Often, it looks like most of the momentum is on the left by their frequent shows of riotous force.
But every once in a while, when it really counts, traditional Americans flex their muscles and set things right again – pun intended.
The culture doesn’t take a day off—and neither do we.
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