Political pressure on Bud Light eases as Donald Trump offers a 'second chance'

Former President Donald Trump was one of many right-wing figures to criticize Bud Light and its parent company over a partnership between the beer maker and transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

Now the likely GOP nominee appears to be putting the campaign in his rear-view mirror.

"Anheuser-Busch is a Great American Brand that perhaps deserves a Second Chance?" Trump wrote on Truth Social.

It was a message that immediately helped Anheuser-Busch (BUD) spike over 3% Tuesday.

What Trump didn't mention is that his about-face came just hours after a firm run by a top lobbyist for Anheuser-Busch formally announced a massive fundraiser for Trump's reelection campaign.

The events — which were also noted by outlets like Politico and the National Review — offer the latest surprising development in an ongoing war between right-wing figures and businesses under fire for seeming to take a side in America's polarized political debate.

Trump's reversal is sure to mark a significant lessening of the political pressure on the beer maker. The controversy has been raging since last April, when a social media campaign featured a specially commissioned beer can containing Mulvaney's image and immediately became a cause célèbre on the right. Singer Kid Rock infamously used a rifle to destroy cases of Bud Light as a form of protest. The issue has even had an impact on this weekend's Super Bowl with football star Travis Kelce coming under right-wing attack for endorsing the beer.

A mega-fundraiser for the likely GOP nominee

The easing of tensions appears to be at least in part the work of a well-connected Republican operative named Jeff Miller. The former aide to Kevin McCarthy now runs a government relations firm and has Anheuser-Busch InBev on his client list, according to disclosure records.

He has tried to rein in the GOP's antipathy towards his client in recent months.

Now, Miller's firm is organizing a March 6 fundraiser that will cost up to $10,000 per person, according to a posted invitation. It will feature dozens of members of Congress including House Speaker Mike Johnson as well as Donald Trump Jr., who has also softened his tone towards Bud Light in recent months.

"Let's go! Look forward to seeing you @DonaldJTrumpJr !" Miller posted on X at about 10 a.m. Tuesday. Former President Trump's own social media post came just a few hours later.

Anheuser-Busch paid $260,000 to Miller's firm in 2023, according to public records. Representatives for Anheuser-Busch didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the two events.

According to NBC News, Miller has been marshaling support for the fundraiser in recent weeks by saying there's "no doubt" Trump will be the GOP nominee and "we need to unite."

A year of controversy

This week's news may mean Bud Light's era of controversy is coming to an end after a campaign to promote last year's NCAA's March Madness basketball championship featured Mulvaney.

The controversy drew the attention of countless figures on the right in the months that followed. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis launched an investigation into the company and congressional Republicans launched their own probe of whether the company was marketing beer to children.

Mulvaney, who said she participated in the campaign simply because she loves the beer, has said the backlash and Bud Light's response "gives customers permission to be as transphobic and hateful as they want."

The furor even caught up with Kelce, the Kansas City Chief tight end who is set to play in the Super Bowl this weekend and has been a spokesman for Bud Light. That sponsorship deal has been a key element of a flurry of baseless right-wing conspiracy theories in recent days targeting Kelce and pop superstar Taylor Swift. The two are dating, with Swift also expected to be in attendance this Sunday in Las Vegas.

Bud Light is also set to be featured in a Super Bowl ad this Sunday with a spot featuring celebrities like Post Malone and Peyton Manning.

Trump's announcement this week is just the latest example of lessening political pressure on Bud Light. Kid Rock announced in December he was done boycotting the beer. But Trump's reversal is the highest-profile pivot the company could have hoped for and comes after the beer-maker saw its stock drop for much of 2023 before recovering late last year.

In a Yahoo Finance interview last year, Marcus Collins of the University of Michigan Ross School of Business highlighted the company's challenges at the time, saying they were trying to "get back to some neutral zone."

It also remains to be seen what lessons, if any, the episode holds for other companies — from Disney (DIS) to Target (TGT) to Starbucks (SBUX) — that have at times found themselves in the crosshairs of Trump and his allies.

But even as one controversy appears likely to fade into history, Trump himself made sure to note that he likely isn't done with efforts to punish companies that he feels deserve it.

While Trump wrote this week that he no longer considers Anheuser-Busch "woke," he was quick to add "I can give you plenty that are, am building a list, and might just release it for the World to see."

Ben Werschkul is Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.

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