Sununu: Not DeSantis’ Job to ‘Fix Woke’ — Slippery Slope if Government Punishes Business

Governor Chris Sununu (R-NH) said Wednesday on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront” that it is not the job of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) or any government entity to tell a corporation not to be “woke.”

In a speech in November 2022, DeSantis said, “We fight the woke in the corporations. We will never surrender to the woke mob. Florida is where woke goes to die.”

Burnett asked, “Is that effective? There are many in your party saying this touches on a cultural trend.”

Sununu said, “I think he’s absolutely right that the wokeness is really invading this culture in a very negative way. Now, where we might disagree is should the government come in and fix woke? Well, the government is never useful at coming in and fixing a cultural issue.”

He continued, “I think we have to attack it in America. But I’m a free market guy. I don’t think the government should be here trying to fix everything. If a business wants to be woke, I don’t agree with it. I completely disagree with it. But it’s not up for the government to come in and punish a business or penalize a business. Because now you’re setting a precedent for Democrats to come in. And when they take the reins of leadership to penalize a business for being too conservative, that’s crossing a very, very slippery slope when you start penalizing individuals or businesses. I think the free market will take care of that. If people don’t like what Disney’s doing, they’re going to stop going to Disney. If people don’t like what BlackRock or Bank of America is doing, they’re going to stop using those types of services. I’m more of a principled free market guy.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN