Massive DeSantis $130 Million Bill Emerges in Wake of Disney Victory

Governor Ron DeSantis may have won a momentous legal victory over the Walt Disney Company yesterday, but that might be somewhat tarnished by the emergence of a colossal $130 million bill spent to try (and fail) to get him elected president.

DeSantis was widely considered a strong contender to become the Republican Party nominee for President for the last several years, but a series of high-profile lawsuits with Disney and the perception that his public persona was awkward abruptly halted that. He officially shut down his campaign on January 21 and shortly thereafter endorsed former President Donald J. Trump, despite their very public animosity in the months prior.

Related: Mickey Mouse Mocks DeSantis Campaign, Height, Calls Him a Loser

Now, Federal Elections Commission filings have revealed that DeSantis’s canceled presidential campaign cost more than a staggering $130 million, the vast majority of which was contributed by individual donors. According to filings from Never Back Down, the political action committee that supported DeSantis during his campaign; of that, $130,523,966.67 was raised from individual contributors alone.

This alone is not terribly unusual. Many political candidates raise money from individual contributors (often referred to as “grassroots”), but Ron DeSantis regularly made fiscal responsibility and his ability to balance the budget of Florida a huge part of his campaigning platform.

Not only that, but his proposed 2024 budget for his state asks for a huge $19 million increase to combat lawsuits that he arguably instigated in his war against “woke culture.” In fact, $5 million of that budget is specifically earmarked for lawsuits in which Ron DeSantis is specifically named, which is a pretty massive chunk.

Related: DeSantis Board Takes Bids To Change Disney World Forever

Notably, three of those lawsuits involve Disney, which means that a lot of that money goes specifically to legally battle one of the largest employers in the state, even as a political action group (which, per Politico, frequently acted as his de facto campaign management) took in tens of millions of dollars of contributions for his political future.

DeSantis is currently facing a lawsuit appeal regarding the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (formerly the Reedy Creek Improvement District); although the governor received a decision in his favor, it took Disney less than a day to file against it, still claiming that his actions against Walt Disney World were a violation of the First Amendment. Hopefully, he still has some of those campaign millions.

Do you think $130 million worth of donations is acceptable? Tell us in the comments below.