DeSantis’s Disney dishonesty

Since early 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been a man on a crusade against the one and only Mickey Mouse. But his ill-advised weaponization of government to silence and punish dissenters at Disney has reached an unceremonious and frankly embarrassing turning point. The man who once triumphantly crowed, “If Disney wants to pick a fight, they chose the wrong guy,” is now attempting to brush off the squabble with, “Where we are today, you know, we’ve basically moved on.”

DeSantis has done a complete 180 from the position that once formed the backbone of his presidential campaign. But after witnessing such a transparent abuse of power, the public is unlikely to “move on” so easily. 

DeSantis used his position as Florida’s governor to retaliate and attack the Walt Disney Co. — a private organization — through targeted legislation because the company spoke out against Florida HB 1557, which opponents dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law. The precedent that conduct sets is both terrifying and demoralizing. Is this the future the founders envisioned when they created our democracy? A presidential candidate is praised for attacking the freedom of speech of a private entity, going as far as writing a book bragging about stripping legally binding rights for disagreeing with his political decisions? The Republican Party has always touted that they strive to protect constitutionally guaranteed freedoms. DeSantis seems to have missed that memo, or he simply doesn’t care.

Violating Disney’s constitutional right to express its opinion is not the only mess DeSantis wants to “move on” from, and some aren’t cheap or easy fixes. DeSantis fixed a problem that didn’t exist when he restructured and installed his own group of sycophants to run the special district where Disney World resides, changing precedent that had been set since 1967. This overt attempt to punish Disney led the company to cancel plans of moving more than 2,000 jobs to Florida, resulting in the loss of a $1 billion Disney office complex that would have brought revenue and growth to central Florida. 

Does Disney get to recover lost revenue from the canceled plans, or is the company expected to “move on” and let bygones be bygones? What about the Florida residents who would have benefited from the additional state tourism, tax revenue and potential jobs? Do they all just “move on” as well? How about the huge legal bill that DeSantis is amassing from his decision to take on the largest single-site employer, taxpayer and income generator in the Sunshine State? 

While DeSantis can try to shrug off his role in this political stunt, unfortunately the Florida taxpayer cannot, and Florida residents will continue to fund the litigation costs of DeSantis’s culture wars regardless of his current disposition.

This new posturing by DeSantis should also call into question the seriousness of the tacit and implicit rhetoric that DeSantis and his supporters espoused about Disney sexualizing young children. If DeSantis’s actions toward Disney were intended to somehow uncover the company’s alleged “grooming” conduct, why is he so eager to give up on exposing Disney and ultimately protecting children? We’d all better hope those accusations were manufactured to rile up his base, because DeSantis has apparently “moved on.” 

However “over it” DeSantis feels, it may be too late for the governor to pivot from his Disney quarrel and salvage his presidential campaign. A recent national poll of the GOP presidential primary has DeSantis at 18 percent — his lowest point since his ill-fated Twitter, now called X, campaign announcement — trailing former President Trump by 39 points. Earlier this year, DeSantis only trailed Trump by 6 points, but that was before Disney clapped back with a lawsuit of their own. It’s safe to say if DeSantis wanted to pick a fight, he chose the wrong mouse.

If DeSantis truly wants to get past Disney, declaring it to the public isn’t the right way. DeSantis will need to show humility and accountability for a failed political stunt and do what all other litigants do: concede points and settle. Otherwise DeSantis will perpetually be caught in the mousetrap.

Addison J. Hosner is the chief operating officer of Young Voices based in Washington, D.C., and is a licensed Florida attorney.