Culture warrior Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida, is laying the groundwork for a 2024 presidential bid. That includes a new manifesto against the way corporate America tries to navigate shifting attitudes on race, gender, climate change, and other issues pitting those who want power against those who have it.

DeSantis has been waging a very public war with the Walt Disney Company (DIS) that now looks like a template for a broader crusade against companies practicing “woke capitalism,” as DeSantis and other conservatives put it.

“The left has pressured big corporations like Disney to use their enormous power to advance woke political ends,” DeSantis writes in his new book, “The Courage to be Free,” which The Wall Street Journal excerpted on March 1. “There is little upside for big companies to take positions on contentious political issues.”

Republicans fed up with former President Donald Trump’s antics think DeSantis could be their nominee in 2024. His book became an instant bestseller, and DeSantis won reelection to the governor's mansion last year in a rout, establishing strong momentum should he run for president. He’s also a military veteran with a Harvard law degree who’s only 44 and could bring the generational power shift many voters crave.

But DeSantis is badly misreading corporate America and, by extension, the convulsive societal forces CEOs are grappling with. The CEOs that DeSantis dings aren’t craven tools of the left or rudderless weather vanes. Big brand-name companies sometimes have no choice but to take a stand on controversial issues, because large blocs of their customers and employees want them to. They mess up sometimes, but as an alternative, staying silent or doing nothing is often worse.

'The target was purely political'

The Disney flap arose over a 2022 Florida law that limited what schools can teach young kids about sex and gender issues. Opponents dubbed the measure the “Don’t say gay” law and pressured Florida companies to lobby against it. Disney initially took no stance that angered some Disney employees, who staged walkouts and other types of protests. The CEO at the time, Bob Chapek, then apologized for the company’s silence and said Disney would work to overturn the bill.