Thursday was not a happy day for “DeSantisland,” as the anticipated entry of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis into the 2024 presidential race was overshadowed by a significant setback.
Disney, a powerful adversary, dealt a blow to DeSantis’s pre-launch momentum by scrapping a $1 billion plan for an office campus that could have brought 2,000 jobs to the state.
The clash between DeSantis and Disney is rooted in a political collision over the governor’s hardline conservative ideology, which he intends to highlight in his pitch to GOP primary voters. This bitter feud has raised concerns about whether Floridians are paying the price for his political ambitions.
The move by Disney demonstrated that CEO Bob Iger was serious when he questioned whether Florida wanted the company to “invest more, employ more people, and pay more taxes.”
The timing of the announcement seemed calculated to undermine DeSantis as he prepares for a crucial week in his political career, during which he is expected to soft launch his White House bid and appeal to fundraising bundlers. While Disney did not explicitly blame DeSantis, citing “changing business conditions,” the message was clear.
The latest move by Disney sent political shockwaves, providing an opening for former President Donald Trump and other Republican primary candidates to criticize DeSantis for mishandling the battle with the corporate giant. They accused him of jeopardizing jobs and business opportunities in his pursuit of higher office.
Trump’s campaign gleefully proclaimed that DeSantis had been “caught in the Mouse Trap,” a prediction they had made weeks ago regarding the governor’s confrontation with Disney. This statement also claimed that Trump, as the GOP front-runner, was known as the “job’s President” during his time in office.
The hard fact that some of the anticipated jobs from the Disney project were expected to be relocated from California undermined DeSantis’s narrative that businesses and citizens are fleeing liberal areas to join the dynamic state that his supporters call “DeSantisland” and he refers to as “the free state of Florida.”
On a more fundamental level, Disney’s successful maneuver against DeSantis has the potential to highlight damaging perceptions that Trump and other critics are attempting to sow about his candidacy.
Josh D’Amaro, the head of Walt Disney Co.’s theme parks and consumer products business, has stated that the ongoing feud between Disney and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has not negatively impacted the company’s business.
“Some of the things that have been taking place have not impacted our business results,” D’Amaro remarked during a media and technology conference hosted by JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Furthermore, D’Amaro clarified that the cost of a new corporate campus in Florida, which will no longer be built, was not included in the forecast for $17 billion of investment in the state over the next decade.
“We’re thinking pretty aggressively about where we can take things in Florida,” D’Amaro commented, referring to potential new attractions.
Disney’s theme park business has been at the center of an ongoing dispute between the company and Governor DeSantis. The conflict escalated after Disney opposed legislation in Florida that prohibited discussions about sexual identity in schools.
In response, Florida officials passed a law enabling the governor to appoint a new board overseeing municipal services at Disney’s parks.
Despite DeSantis’s resounding reelection victory in November, questions have arisen regarding his political skills and strategic acumen. This narrative gained momentum following a series of missteps by DeSantis, who was once seen as a serious threat to Trump, as he prepared for his campaign. The clash with Disney also raises doubts about whether the governor’s bullying persona, adopted to appeal to the conservative base, is grounded in reality