Entertainment giant Disney and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have been at loggerheads for more than a year. The group is a thorn in the flesh of the Republican shooting star and likely soon-to-be challenger to ex-President Donald Trump in the race for the White House.
What began as a backlash from the left has now degenerated into one of the main battlegrounds in DeSantis’ right-wing populist Kulturkampf. Even the billionaire feel-good manufacturer has had enough – Mickey Mouse shows his claws.
A review in three acts.
It all started when DeSantis signed into law an ominously titled Parental Rights in Education Act — better known as the Don’t Say Gay Act — in March 2022. According to the draft, teaching and discussing sexual orientation and gender identity should be banned in the first three years of primary school and kindergarten.
The radical approach was part of DeSanti’s crusade against what he saw as a “woke” elite, with which he primarily wants to put the supposedly left-wing indoctrinated education system back on the right track. Conservatives hailed DeSantis’ advances and retreats as a long overdue act. Of course, critics saw this as nothing more than an encroachment on self-determination.
Disney, which is one of the largest employers in the state with its world-famous theme park near Orlando, initially did nothing. This was surprising, since Disney has recently been very keen on diversity in its films. Only the pressure from the employees caused the management to react. In addition to a public protest against the law, Disney’s then CEO Bob Chapek was critical of it several times. It is questionable whether he wanted to throw down the proverbial feather glove to DeSantis. However, DeSantis understood it that way (or wanted to understand it that way). “If Disney wants a fight, they picked the wrong man,” he wrote in an email to potential donors. The incumbent was chasing votes – the midterms and thus the race for his re-election were just around the corner.
In the end, the “Don’t say gay” law was overturned. In his own way, DeSantis still kept his word. Instead of bowing to economic pressure, he continued to intensify his Kulturkampf. The governor (DeSantnis had won the fall 2022 election with a landslide victory) finally only called Disney with the addition “woke”. Right-wing commentators at the conservative broadcaster Fox News also gratefully blacklisted Disney.
Now, Disney World isn’t just any Florida company. There are dozens of hotels on the 11,000 hectare site. More than 75,000 people work here today, and the trend is rising. Due to its economic importance, the park has had a special tax status since 1967 (eleven years before DeSantis was born). Essentially, according to US media reports, the departmental complex can act like a district government. “Central Florida Tourism Oversight District” is the name of the Disney World special zone on paper. As a result, “the rulers” can approve building projects themselves, operate their own ambulances and fire brigade and even generate some of their own electricity. The company saves millions of dollars every year.
DeSantis wanted to withdraw this extra sausage from Disney on July 1, 2023. The problem: Then the two “real” counties on whose land Disney World is de facto located would have to take on the bill for fire protection, patient transport, police work and infrastructure in the future. In addition, $1 billion in special zone bond debt would have passed to the counties proper. So DeSantis backtracked in February, at least in part. Only the composition of the local control body had to be handed over to the governor. That should cause trouble.
DeSantis was not happy with the PR defeat, his revenge was inevitable. The park’s board of directors, meticulously selected by the governor, voted on Monday to withdraw the agreement under which the group decides on design and construction projects.
Then, on April 26th, the interim armistice happened. The company is personally suing the governor in federal court in Tallahassee. Eventually he would wage a “targeted campaign of retaliation” against the company. The management has no other choice if you want to protect employees, guests and partners of the amusement park. The ambitious governor had previously threatened to approve another amusement park in the immediate vicinity. He did not even rule out the construction of a prison.
Whatever happens now: DeSantis has found his role – and he plays it perfectly. He is the conservative statesman who is not intimidated by anything or anyone. Neither by the Washington elite, nor by powerful corporations. It wouldn’t be the first time a Republican with such an aura has gone far. Presidential material, so to speak.
Stepping in the ring with Disney, however, means messing with a living piece of American history. It remains to be seen how that will be received in the patriotic United States.
Sources: “New York Times”; “Philadelphia Inquirers”; “vox”; “Southgerman newspaper”