Ron DeSantis Endorses Joe Biden During New Disney Feud

in Disney

A composite image showing two men in front of a Disney castle with a rainbow in the background. The man on the left is speaking, wearing a suit and tie. The man on the right is smiling and raising his fist, also in a suit. Trees are visible in the foreground.

Credit: Inside the Magic

National politics just got a little stranger, as Governor Ron DeSantis unexpectedly reignited his feud with Disney while endorsing President Joe Biden in the upcoming 2024 election.

Collage with the U.S. Capitol in the center flanked by illustrations of Mickey Mouse and photos of three politicians, including DeSantis, gesturing as if in discussion.
Credit: Inside The Magic

DeSantis Renews His Attacks on Disney World

For a brief moment, it seemed as though Ron DeSantis and The Walt Disney Company had come to an understanding and a year of conflict between Florida’s chief executive and its most powerful economic force had come to an end. Now that the former presidential candidate is out of the state and in the safety of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, however, he seems comfortable resuming his attacks.

Governor DeSantis and Disney made national headlines for battling in courts (and in public opinion) over the Parental Rights in Education Act, a signature piece of legislation for the far-right politician that has been widely condemned as anti-LGBTQIA+ rights.

While Disney initially tried to stay out of the cultural conversation surrounding the “Don’t Say Gay” law, former CEO Bob Chapek eventually bowed to left-wing pressure and publicly came out against the act.

Disney Image with logo in the middle as a background; Gov. DeSantis on the left, former Disney CEO Bob Chapek on the right
Credit: Inside the Magic

Governor DeSantis responded by dissolving the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the special tax area around the Walt Disney World Resort, and relentlessly lobbing criticism at the Mouse in the media. Disney hit back with a First Amendment lawsuit and accusations that DeSantis was stocking the new Central Florida Tourism Oversight District  (CFTOD) with political cronies with massively inflated salaries and ethics violations.

Related: Ron DeSantis’s Balloon Ban Takes Over Disney, Defiant Behavior Reported

The feud raged on for months until the CFTOD board of supervisors abruptly announced that it had reached a settlement with Disney World.

In a bizarrely short time period, DeSantis, the CFTOD, and Disney made nice, dropped all pending lawsuits, and authorized a decade-long, $17 billion investment in the Orlando area, which the New York Times described as the “ability to build a fifth theme park, add three small parks, expand retail and office space and build 14,000 hotel rooms, for a resort total of nearly 54,000.”

Then, Ron DeSantis headed to Milwaukee for the RNC, and things got heated once again.

Ron DeSantis giving a thumbs up in front of the Magic Kingdom entrance sign under a blue sky.
Credit: Inside the Magic

“I Will Be Rooting for Him”

Governor Ron DeSantis is currently a speaker at the Republican National Convention, where he is both aggressively coming after The Walt Disney Company once again and, oddly enough, endorsing Joe Biden as the presidential candidate for the Democratic Party.

While speaking at a Moms for Liberty panel yesterday, DeSantis renewed his attacks on Disney, saying, “Over the years, so many Republicans, any time some big bad corporation opposes what they want to do, they cower in the corner like little scared kitties. So we said no, we’re going to lead the state of Florida. We’re not going to subcontract leadership to a woke corporation based in Burbank, California.”

The iconic entrance gate, featuring the stylized logo of the Walt Disney Company with a Mickey Mouse silhouette, is set against a clear blue sky.
Credit: Disney

It is one of DeSantis’ most typical strategies to claim a victory over an opponent after he has signed a legal settlement.

For example, though a settlement was reached between LGBTQIA+ activists and the DeSantis administration that largely de-fanged the Parental Rights in Education Act, the politician has consistently pushed the idea that, because it did not go to an appeals court, it was a victory for him. In fact, at the RNC, he claimed, “We won that battle with the parents’ rights bill.”

Related: ‘The Mandalorian’ Star Crushed by Vicious Backlash After Trump Assassination “Joke”

DeSantis continued his Disney attack, saying, “We also won the battle eliminating all the corporate welfare that [Disney] had, and the result is now, they want to build all these new parks, and they’re going to end up paying us a lot more money than they would have before.”

Joe Biden gives a speech
Credit: @POTUS via Instagram

Later, speaking to the RNC Iowa delegation (per the Des Moines Register), Ron DeSantis mockingly endorsed Joe Biden. He said, “I hope and pray that they don’t take that nomination away from [Biden]. We want him to be the Democratic nominee. And I will be rooting for him.”

Presumably, Governor DeSantis, whose own presidential campaign ended unceremoniously with a far second place in the 2024 Iowa caucuses, is endorsing Joe Biden because he views him as a liability to the Democratic party. But it seems one thing is certain: now that he’s surrounded by fellow Republicans, DeSantis is suddenly willing to talk a lot of trash.

Do you think DeSantis will continue his Disney attacks when he returns to Florida?

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