Elder Patriot – As usual the Washington Post only told half the story – the half that painted the self-indulgent youth, David Hogg, as having successfully forced Florida-based Publix to abandon its support of Second Amendment advocate Adam Putman who is running for governor of Florida.
Virtually every other liberal outlet took their lede from the Washington Post without doing any deep dive into the facts for themselves.
From the Daily Kos:
And, this gleeful headline from Hot Air:
As usual, the impetuous youngster’s plan wasn’t very well thought out and the supermarket chain hadn’t only cutoff contributions to Putnam but it suspended – at least temporarily – political contributions to every other group and politician as well.
So what other groups are recipients of Publix contributions? Well, it would seem Hogg stepped on his own rake on this one.
Publix had contributed to the YWCA – a member of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. CSGV happens to oppose stand your ground and concealed carry laws. Oops.
The YWCA also supports same-sex marriage. Oops!
Then there are also Publix contributions to the United Way and the Susan G. Komen Foundations that both fund Planned Parenthood!!
The irony of all this is sweet:
https://twitter.com/DeTroyes1/status/1000367198546907136
Hogg had also demanded $1,000,000 from Publix for his political advocacy. I guess Publix smartly outmaneuvered Hogg on that attempt at extortion by suspending all political contributions.
The reality is Hogg’s actions targeted the livelihoods of 190,000 Publix employees most of who probably own guns themselves. That just a fact of life down here in the South where Publix conducts its business:
The vast majority of Publix 1,184 Store Locations are located in Florida where virtually everyone I know owns multiple firearms.
- Alabama (68 stores)
- Florida (786 stores)
- Georgia (186 stores)
- North Carolina (36 stores)
- South Carolina (58 stores)
- Tennessee (42 stores)
- Virginia (8 stores)
9 Distribution Centers
- Boynton Beach, Florida
- Miami, Florida
- Deerfield Beach, Florida
- Orlando, Florida
- Jacksonville, Florida
- Sarasota, Florida
- Lakeland, Florida
- Dacula, Georgia
- McCalla, Alabama
11 Manufacturing Facilities
- Atlanta, Georgia (bakery plant)
- Deerfield Beach, Florida (dairy plant, fresh foods)
- Jacksonville, Florida (fresh foods)
- Lakeland, Florida (bakery plant, dairy plant, deli kitchen, fresh foods, printing services)
- Dacula, Georgia (dairy plant, fresh foods)
Hogg has no idea about attitudes across the geographical footprint of Publix enterprise. He’s from the one area of Florida – the east cost above Miami – to where Northern liberal elites relocate. The remainder of the state remains unspoiled.
Frankly, Publix probably faced a bigger backlash from gun toting conservatives if they had caved into the high schooler’s demands than if they had rejected him outright.
It’s time for everyone on the left to abandon their reflexive call for boycotts every time they meet a political enemy. The fact is, when forced to choose, America chose Donald Trump. And so did the residents of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. This was after Trump made his support of the Second Amendment a central focus of his campaign.
There’s just no political leverage to support Hogg’s anti-Second Amendment agenda down here.
