As many people are painfully aware, The Walt Disney Company and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis are locked in a heated battle. It’s been more than a year, and neither side is slowing down. In fact, things seem to be getting worse by the day. DeSantis has stripped Disney of its right to self-govern and has put the monorail under state inspection. He has also appointed a new board to oversee the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which is now called the Central Florida Tourism Oversight Committee. Disney is suing the governor, claiming that he is retaliating against them for speaking out against one of the governor’s bills.
In its lawsuit, Disney has used the governor’s own words against him. The governor has written a book and spoken at multiple venues, where he has admitted that his attacks on Disney began because the Mouse House spoke out against his Parental Rights in Education Bill. Even though Disney keeps citing what DeSantis says, he doesn’t seem to care, and keeps talking.
DeSantis recently sat down with the publication, The American Conservative, and once again, spoke about Disney. The Governor claims that Disney has been given special privileges in the state for too long.
Disney had “extraordinary privileges for decades that allowed it to police itself and be its own government,” Lawson later stated. “Regardless of political party, if you generally ask people, is this a good idea to put a private for-profit corporation in charge of its own government without any accountability of government, most people would say no, that that’s not a good idea. When the legislature acted, it simply restored things to normal order for Disney under [a] legitimate governmental body.”
DeSantis said the board will continue to “systematically put Disney under the law of the state of Florida, which is what we promised.”
During his interview, DeSantis also claimed that Disney is attempting to “wage a jihad” about his controversial Parental Rights Bill. Traditionally, a “jihad” refers to a struggle or holy fight against those who are enemies of Islam.
“If you’re a libertarian, how do you justify Reedy Creek? That’s the opposite of libertarianism,” DeSantis said with a firm, instructive tone towards his detractors. “It is corporate welfare,” DeSantis added. “We are under no obligation as a state to continue that arrangement.” Failing to act when a massive company with quasi-governmental powers vows “to wage a jihad against this bill legislatively means we’re subsidizing that activity” amounts to subsidizing that behavior, DeSantis suggested. “Why would we want to subsidize that?”
With the lawsuit against the governor moving forward, his legal team has formally asked Chief Judge Mark E. Wallace to recuse himself. DeSantis’ legal team said that they did not feel that the judge would be able to remain impartial. Citing the changing business climate in the Sunshine State, Disney has decided to cancel its billion-dollar Lake Nona Project. That will cost Florida thousands of jobs and millions in tax revenue.