Much like his former mentor Trump, DeSantis wants to be seen as a fighter, even if his “stock and trade is bombast and bravado, providing solutions to problems that do not exist,” Stipanovich said. We don’t subcontract our leadership to a woke company based in California,” he told the crowd, which erupted in applause. In Iowa earlier this month, he described Disney as the “800-pound gorilla of Florida politics” that “fought us when we were trying to protect kids.” He’s repeated that rhetoric on his book tour, which has been a kind of soft launch for his campaign. “Leaders must be willing to stand up and fight back when big corporations make the mistake, as Disney did, of using their economic might to advance a political agenda,” DeSantis writes. Ron DeSantis is following a trail blazed by a Hungarian authoritarian And he writes about how he orchestrated a surprise special session to eliminate Disney’s special status - the “Florida equivalent of the shot heard ‘round the world.” He describes corporations like Disney as caving to the “woke gender theory” being pushed by the media by taking a stand on issues such as LGBTQ rights that he thinks they shouldn’t get involved in. He writes about how he got married in Disney World, something he says was really his wife’s idea, not knowing that he would later be “squaring off against Disney in a political battle that would reverberate across the nation.” The governor’s battle with Disney is the subject of an entire chapter titled “The Magic Kingdom of Woke Corporatism” in DeSantis’s latest book, The Courage to Be Free. And he wouldn’t be the only Republican candidate to lean on that rhetoric: Right-wing activist Vivek Ramaswamy, who kicked off his campaign in February, has been dubbed “ the CEO of Anti-Woke, Inc.” by the New Yorker. “When faced with real opponents, whether it is Donald Trump or Mickey Mouse, he does not fare well, as is often the case with bullies.” DeSantis wants voters to think he won his fight with DisneyĪ key part of DeSantis’s pitch for the presidency is his willingness to take on “woke” corporations, with Disney as the primary example. “His comfort zone is Fox and carefully controlled public performances from which independent media and dissenting voices are excluded,” said Mac Stipanovich, a former Republican consultant in Florida who endorsed Joe Biden in 2020. DeSantis says about the future of the American right And it adds to a mounting list of recent troubles - from declining poll numbers to backlash over his dismissive remarks on Ukraine to escalating attacks from Trump - that could doom his candidacy before it’s even formally begun. Disney says that the agreement was “appropriate” and “discussed and approved in open, noticed public forums in compliance with Florida’s Government in the Sunshine law.” The Sentinel reported that Disney did in fact hold a public meeting and briefly discussed the agreement before it was unanimously approved, but all that went unnoticed at the time.įor DeSantis, it’s a setback on a culture war issue that was supposed to be a winning one for him as he gears up for a potential 2024 presidential campaign. It completely circumvents the authority of this board to govern.”īut it’s not clear that the company will back down - and it has little, if anything, to gain by doing so. “It’s a subversion of the will of the voters and the Legislature and the governor. “We’re going to have to deal with it and correct it,” board member Brian Aungst Jr. The board is exploring the possibility of challenging the agreement in court, or at least cutting a new deal with Disney. The agreement limiting the board’s powers is effective for perpetuity or - should that be successfully challenged in court - at least “until 21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, King of England living as of the date of this Declaration.” The new board’s only purview is to maintain roads and other essential infrastructure. Also, the five-person board, known as the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, would need the company’s approval to make any significant changes to its property. How Disney found itself in the middle of a culture warĪs part of that agreement, Disney is authorized to build another theme park in its special tax district, known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District, so long as the company follows local laws on building parameters.
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