Mike Huckabee: Chick-fil-A ‘Betrayal’ Will Have ‘Far Broader’ Consequences Than the Company Itself

Protesters hold signs and shout slogans outside a Chick-fil-A food truck in a mid-day demo
Robert MacPherson/AFP/GettyImages
Dr. Susan Berry

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said the decision of Chick-fil-A to end its charitable donations to Christian organizations such as the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes “does not win them friends” but will, instead, “cost them friends.”

Appearing as a guest Tuesday on Family Research Council President Tony Perkins’ radio show Washington Watch, Huckabee said the decision by Chick-fil-A is a tremendous “disappointment” and added its consequences will be “far broader” than the popular fast-food chain itself.

Perkins pointed to the many organizations and politicians who have supported Chick-fil-A’s right to express its Christian beliefs in the public square.

“Many people have fought for Chick-fil-A, and for them to capitulate to the bullies is betrayal,” he said.

Huckabee continued that what is so offensive about Chick-fil-A’s yielding to the pressure from left-wing activists is that the company, essentially, “affirmed the lie that has been told from the far left about the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes,” which is that these organizations are bigoted and discriminate against LGBTQ individuals.

They will cause a lot of people to say, “Oh yeah, you know the Salvation Army, boy, they’re a bigoted organization,’” Huckabee said, emphasizing the reality is that the Salvation Army “serves everyone” and serves “more people who are homeless” and without food and shelter than any organization in the world.

“The great irony was Chick-fil-A said, ‘We’re not going to work for the Salvation Army anymore because we’re going to focus on homelessness and feeding people,’ and they disassociated themselves from the number one homeless and feeding organization in the world,” the former governor added. “That makes no sense.”

Huckabee said he was happy the Salvation Army responded to Chick-fil-A’s betrayal “with a strong statement pushing back and showing how they help anybody regardless of who they are.”

Besides the betrayal of Christian charitable organizations, Huckabee said Chick-fil-A also betrayed the millions of supporters who have waited in line, sometimes for hours, to buy a sandwich to show their support and affirmation of the company’s right to the free expression of faith.

“They have to feel deeply disappointed,” Huckabee said, noting that Chick-fil-A has experienced tremendous growth since its chairman and CEO Dan Cathy voiced support for traditional marriage in 2011.

“This is a sad day, and I’m afraid that Chick-fil-A thinks that the left will leave them alone, and this LGBT community is going to love them,” he continued, but then added that left-wing activists “never have enough.”

“The left is never satisfied until we’re completely out of business,” Huckabee stressed.

As a case in point, Perkins pointed to the Boy Scouts of America, who caved to LGBT activists as well and now are filing for bankruptcy.

Perkins asked Huckabee why he thought Chick-fil-A made the policy change, considering the company had been very successful until the announcement Monday.

“I have to think they must have a bunch of consultants from New York who told them that they need to act more woke because that’s the trend in corporations that know better,” he said. “What is so remarkable about this decision by Chick-fil-A is that it does not win them friends, but it’s going to cost them friends.”

Huckabee said Chick-fil-A’s damaging decision will also “send a message to the left that it can hammer a Christian organization long enough, and they’ll eventually cave in.”

“And I think that this is going to invite an enormous level of pressure on other companies that have up to now, tried to be distinct, serving everyone, loving everyone, being kind to everyone, but also maintaining their right to be Christian and their right to hold fast to their faith and their principles,” he lamented.

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