As the baseball season enters the dog days of summer, the campaign trail continues to heat up and take shape. What does Major League Baseball have to do with the upcoming presidential campaign? For attendees of a Friday night GOP dinner in Iowa, the opportunity presented itself to take the “mound” and loosen up the old rotator cuff while firing baseballs at a hilarious target; cans of Bud Light.
Bud Light continues to be the butt of jokes nationally as its sales continue to dip and dive like an old-school spitball. Since partnering with Dylan Mulvaney for perhaps what is the most ill-advised collaboration since Garth Brooks became Chris Gaines, the embattled brand continues to absorb enormous losses.
Bud Light’s sales were down 31.3 percent for the week of June 24 as compared to the previous year. There has even been speculation that Ab InBev, the parent company, could perhaps kill the brand altogether and rebrand and relaunch it with another name. It has indeed gotten that bad for Bud Light.
Scores of conservative celebrities and athletes have eschewed the brand, from Kid Rock shooting cans on social media to Nashville bars like John Rich’s Rednck Riviera simply no longer stocking it; the hits for Bud Light keep on coming.
Friday night, at a Super Pac event in Iowa for GOP hopeful Ron DeSantis, photos emerged of the embattled light beer taking more abuse, this time with baseballs.
A group called “Never Back Down” had a stand at the Iowa GOP’s Lincoln Dinner in Des Moines which featured stacked cans of the beer and a bucket of baseballs so attendees could take out their frustrations in a constructive fashion, all while sending yet another strong message that no one likes Bud Light anymore.
The event was attended by a number of GOP hopefuls, including former President and heavily favored Donald Trump and Florida Governor and presumed second choice Ron DeSantis. The New York Times political correspondent Shane Goldmacher witnessed the event and wrote: “In hospitality suite at Iowa GOP dinner, the DeSantis super PAC has set up baseballs to throw at Bud Light cans, per pic from NBD [Never Back Down].”
In hospitality suite at Iowa GOP dinner, the DeSantis super PAC has set up baseballs to throw at Bud Light cans, per pic from NBD pic.twitter.com/dvuR45pshs
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) July 28, 2023
Social media was, as usual, divided on their responses. One Twitter user said: “That’s funny,” while liberal artist Misha Fitton failed to see the humor: “Even if they are throwing baseballs at them, they still… um… bought the beer.”
Meanwhile, the event featured more fastballs coming from former President Trump, who took the opportunity to slam DeSantis at his own Pac by calling him an “establishment globalist” and calling him “DeSanctis,” which apparently is the short form of his common nickname, “DeSanctimonious.”
While DeSantis took the high road, not mentioning Trump by name, an unknown candidate from Texas named Will Hurd didn’t. Hurd heard a chorus of lusty boos after making the claim that Trump is only running to stay out of jail. It’s unclear why Hurd thinks running for president while under political attack is a good strategy for staying out of prison, and the crowd wasn’t receptive to his message.
Hurd continued: “I know the truth is hard. But if we elect Donald Trump, we are giving Joe Biden four more years in the White House.”
While that remains to be seen, and it even isn’t a slam dunk that Biden is going to make it to 2024 as the candidate as RFK Jr continues to gain traction, Hurds characterization that Trump can’t beat Biden is only going to embolden the former president and his fanbase, as Hurd discovered.
It was a wild night in Des Moines, with Bud Light, baseballs, and loud boos. It is surely going to be a wild ride to the finish line for GOP contenders, and as campaign season approaches is likely to get wilder.
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