Conservatives have long embraced cancel culture

Republicans have issued increasing warnings in recent weeks to major businesses that have dared to oppose voter suppression laws in Georgia and elsewhere. From Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) deriding “oligarchy” and threatening trust busting to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s warning businesses to “stay out of politics,” Republicans have signaled that opposing their agenda on voting will carry consequences.

Although these threats might seem jarring given that Republicans have long been seen as the allies of business, this push on the right is actually nothing new. For members of the conservative Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), “canceling” insufficiently conservative businesses has been a historic point of pride. The group’s efforts illustrate how conservatives’ commitment to free enterprise has always been conditioned upon support for their broader political and cultural agendas. This history also shows the irony of the right’s purported opposition to “cancel culture” in 2021.

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