Satirical Website Wrote DeSantis Was Sending National Guard to Disney World, New Florida Law Would Let Him

Last year, amid the feud between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the Walt Disney Company, the satirical website Mousetrap News published an article about the Governor sending the National Guard to block the entrance to Walt Disney World. As is the case with most stories on the internet, some people believe it. However, it was quickly debunked as satire from a source that is famous for creating it. 

Now, it appears that real life is about to start imitating satirical fiction. The Florida Legislature is debating a bill allowing Governor DeSantis to use the Florida State Guard at “any…time deemed necessary and appropriate” with just his signature, including to block the entrance of Walt Disney World.

What is the Florida State Guard?

In World War II, the Florida State Guard was started as a National Guard-type group to defend the state from possible German invasion and Florida’s coastline from U-boats. After World War II, it was disbanded.

That is until Florida Governor Ron DeSantis brought it back in 2021. He pitched it as a way to quickly deal with natural disasters in the state without waiting for the Federal Government to intervene. But he wanted much more than that. According to Jason Garcia of Seeking Rents, who reviewed records from the Governor’s office through a Freedom of Information request, the Governor wanted:

A force of unlimited size that could be activated for a wide variety of reasons, deployed anywhere in the country, and had powerful legal protections from criminal prosecutions or civil lawsuits.

Ron DeSantis has come back to Florida…and state lawmakers are poised to give him essentially unlimited military power. pic.twitter.com/o30pw9hom2

— Jason Garcia (@Jason_Garcia) January 25, 2024

The Florida Legislature did not grant DeSantis unlimited power, but a year later, it did increase the Florida State Guard to 1,500 members and allow the Governor to use the National Guard however he saw fit, including sending it to other states. But that still limited what it could do in Florida.

But now, the Florida Legislature is taking all restraints on the Florida State Guard. A new bill making its way through the legislature would allow DeSantis to use the Florida State Guard for any reason and force the state to pay for the defense of any member charged with a crime while executing the Governor’s orders.

Given the hostility between Governor DeSantis and the Walt Disney Company and his willingness to use Florida law to punish Disney for speaking out, there would be nothing to stop the Governor from using the Florida State Guard to shut down Disney World completely.

First, the bill would allow the governor to active the state guard for literally any reason at all. pic.twitter.com/o2jyyFAHmO

— Jason Garcia (@Jason_Garcia) January 25, 2024

He has already stripped Disney World of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, replaced it with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, and taken over the Walt Disney World monorail system inspection. 

And if this power is given to the Governor, who knows what the next person in the office plans on doing with it once Governor Ron DeSantis is out of office following the 2026 election?

We will continue to update this story at Disney Fanatic.