Hello, you come to us right in the middle the ongoing culture war between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Walt Disney Company. This week, DeSantis seems pissed that people are (rightly) saying Disney duped him and his cronies. And he promises to escalate the war between him and Disney with new taxes and more.
Before we continue, some brief background on this ongoing feud. The Reedy Creek Improvement District was founded in South Florida in 1967. It was formed because Walt Disney wanted more control over the area surrounding its soon-to-be-opened Walt Disney World Resort. He had plans for a private city, and even after that it remained a special district. Since then, Disney World has not had to obey certain Florida laws, essentially giving the company its own mini-government. But after a 2022 dispute between DeSantis and Disney over the company’s (lukewarm) support for LGBTQ rights, DeSantis used Florida House Bill 9B to restructure the district.
As part of this, he appointed a new board to oversee the district. But when the new board showed up for its first meeting, he learned that it was in its final hours Disney’s outgoing board had legally transferred almost all control of the district back to disney. This greatly upset DeSantis who called the deal a “collusive and self-contained” arrangement that “undermines Florida’s legislative process.” He also urged Florida authorities to investigate the situation. In other words, he was totally mad about fooling around and finding out with Disney’s lawyers.
DeSantis plans to escalate his war against Disney
However, DeSantis isn’t done being angry or done with his fight against Disney. As reported by meetingthe Florida Commander-in-Chief visited Hillsdale College in Michigan on Thursday and spoke about the ongoing Disney battle, claiming that he and the state would win in the end.
G/O Media may receive a commission
“What Disney was trying to do is they were trying to say that they should be able to operate outside of the context of our Florida constitutional system,” DeSantis said. “Well, we took that action before the election. We won overwhelmingly. They are not superior to the people of Florida. And so come hell or high tide, we’re going to make sure that this Florida policy carries the day and so they can keep trying to do things, but ultimately we’re going to win on every single issue that Disney affects. I can tell you that.”
meeting further reports that DeSantis seemed upset by media reports that Mickey Mouse’s company “pulled one across the state,” which makes sense. When you are being fooled, you tend not to enjoy the experience. But DeSantis also suggested the legislation would “void everything” Disney’s board did before the departure. And also indicated that further penalties would be imposed on the company.
“Now that Disney has revived this issue, not only are we going to rescind the development deal that they were trying to, we’re going to look at things like taxes on hotels, we’re going to look at things like toll roads, we’re going to look at things like see the development of some properties that the district owns.”
Why DeSantis is fighting Disney and stripping it of its special district
And to be clear, DeSantis isn’t after Disney because he suddenly became an anti-capitalist out to destroy the company and make it pay its fair share of taxes. No, instead, as he explained during his Michigan visit, it was all because Disney dared to speak leniently against its horrific, fascist laws and policies against LGTBQ and trans people, including Urging schools to take students to their parents. The head of state didn’t like it one bit, adding he doesn’t want Florida “to subsidize Wake activism.”
“We just had to look at that and say, ‘Okay, do you have a citation, First Amendment right to advocate for gender ideology in kindergarten? Yes I believe. Has that honestly stayed true to their fiduciary duty to their shareholders? I don’t believe. But that’s not really in my wheelhouse as governor, but what I can tell you as governor is that under no circumstances should the state of Florida subsidize woke activism by allowing them to have their own government. So we took it away,” DeSantis said at the time.
It’s clear that Disney and DeSantis aren’t done yet, and while I hate promoting a giant company like Disney, I don’t mind seeing one Asshole like DeSantis keep losing. And really, the only winners in all of this are (as usual) lawyers who bill by the hour.
