5/19/2023, 7:24:17 AM · by Red Badger · 52 replies
The Verge ^ | May 18, 2023, 4:55 PM CDT | By Emma Roth
Posted on 05/19/2023 9:01:19 AM PDT by conservative98
As Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gears up for an expected jump into the 2024 presidential race next week, his powerful adversary, Disney, trampled his pre-launch buzz by scratching a $1 billion plan for an office campus that could have brought 2,000 jobs to the state.
The move was the latest twist in a bitter feud between DeSantis and one of the most important corporations operating in the Sunshine State, rooted in a political collision over the Republican governor’s hardline conservative ideology that will become his pitch to GOP primary voters. And it raises the question of whether Floridians are paying a big price for his political ambitions.
Disney’s power play showed that CEO Bob Iger wasn’t bluffing when he asked whether Florida wanted the firm to “invest more, employ more people, and pay more taxes” last week. The timing of the Thursday announcement seemed calculated to damage the governor ahead of the most important week of his political career to date, when he is expected to soft launch his White House bid and make the all-important sell to fundraising bundlers. Disney did not specifically blame DeSantis for the move, partly citing “changing business conditions.” But the message was clear.
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Disney’s latest swipe at DeSantis set off multiple political reverberations. It offered a huge opening for ex-President Donald Trump and other Republican primary candidates to argue DeSantis is blundering through an ill-conceived battle with the corporate giant and to accuse him of squandering jobs and business in pursuit of higher office.
Trump’s campaign gleefully declared that DeSantis got “caught in the Mouse Trap,” after predicting weeks ago that the governor would lose his face-off with Mickey Mouse. (In that same statement, the campaign claimed the GOP front-runner, while in office, was known as the “job’s President.”)
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
DeSantis rivals pounce
Whatever the economic backdrop of this dispute, it has enormous political implications, as could be seen from the swift reactions of some his potential GOP primary rivals.
Trump’s camp issued several statements, including one that crowed that “President Trump is always right,” and recirculated his previous prediction that DeSantis would be “absolutely destroyed by Disney.” The situation is a win-win for Trump: It allows him to portray DeSantis as weak and politically naive and also to take shots at an impressive economic and political record in Florida the governor is using as a bedrock of his campaign. Trump has long styled himself as a famed dealmaker, and while this persona may not be justified by his years of questionable investments and business failures, it remains a powerful one among GOP primary voters, and could help him drive home his attacks on the DeSantis business record.
“Ron DeSantis’ failed war on Disney has done little for his limping shadow campaign and now is doing even less for Florida’s economy,” the Trump campaign said in a statement.
Another possible GOP primary candidate, former Vice President Mike Pence, also leveraged the Disney announcement to jab DeSantis. He argued the governor should have simply taken the win in the legislature over the teaching of gender issues in schools.
RON DESANCTIMONIOUS GETS CAUGHT IN THE MOUSE TRAP
The Culture Of Losing Continues
DeSanctus’ weakness leads to job losses and loss of $1B. https://t.co/MVnPrOIvLP— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) May 18, 2023
But C98, DeSantis is right to go after Disney and fight the woke, “stop attacking”, go, Ron, go! Yes, but how you do it is another matter. He has no personality, no negotiating skills, he is not a good debator, he is not a salesman. You have to be able to sit down and negotiate. If he is not good at Disney, what else will he not be good at?
2,000 fewer groomers
Sounds like a win for Florida.
We are over crowded in Florida, we don’t need any more people here. We don’t need any more gay pedophilia Disney people especially.
First, people sure are getting upset that Disney isn’t bringing in 2000 lefties from California to staff at this Florida office.
More importantly though, that is not the reason the project was killed. The reason is really that the staff scheduled to be relocated banded together and said they would all quit.
Disney caved to their employees, but sold it as a punch in the face to DeSantis. So they got a twofer.
Disney is just using this as an excuse for their own incompetence.............
In the article I read it said Disney is still going ahead with 17 billion in addition investment and n Florida over the next 10 years, this decision by Disney is more to do with their financial problems than anything to do with DeSantis
No need to worry about the 2000 jobs. Taxes are coming in from all those blue state residents who fled to Florida.
Or maybe, just maybe, Disney couldn’t afford to build it, with all the cutbacks and layoffs that Iger has been making lately.
Disney is lying. They were already going to cancel this project as They are cutting $5 billion in spending. They just announced they are closing the Star Wars themed hotel that cost $4500 a night, that was a failure from day one.
Are they going to blame Desantis for that also?
Governor Ron DeSantis a MUCH better negotiator than Donald Trump.
Perhaps DeSantis should write a book about it.— Chris Nelson 🇺🇸 🏝 (@ReOpenChris) May 19, 2023
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Ron DeSantis never negotiated anything in his life. I can just see him meeting with Putin in his glossy white boots.— Joseph Pino (@JosephPino_) May 19, 2023
He “negotiated” FL out of a billion dollar deal.— Dazzledown (@MAGAORBUST2024) May 19, 2023
Like Disney lol— Sandra (@thatgirlsandra9) May 19, 2023
How much do you get per tweet? And also are they hiring?— Matthew Schaefer (@Matthew74586248) May 19, 2023
He did really well with the recent Disney debacle considering he is a career politician who has never held a job in the private sector. Oh wait. No he didn't. Never mind. You just can't help yourself. Fascinating.🤡— Buck Stars (@buckstars999) May 19, 2023
You know, the more you only Trumpers dig up bottom feeding leftist talking points against DeSantis, the more foolish you look and the more people will gravitate to DeSantis as the more mature, more conservative candidate.
You really need to think what you’re doing.
And keep doing it.
Given how many businesses and new residents have come to Florida in the last three years, I’d guess they’ll be OK without Disney’s development.
How does anyone think that Disney would open a shiny new office park with 2000 employees when they are laying off literally thousands of employees?
As Russell Brand might say it, “We were planning to open a big shiny new office park in your state. It was going to be big surprise, but you ruined everything. You’re just like your father!”
I am trying to forget about Ron’s “Howard Dean Moment” (a rookie mistake) and trying to remember his main purpose in challenging Disney is to protect the right of parents to send their kids to school without having them indoctrinated into the LGBTQ so called lifestyle, and at the expense of learning the academics.
THAT, to me is one of my main reasons for supporting Ron DeSantis for our next president.
Donald Trump can repeat the line ‘Trump is always right’ as much as he pleases. It’s not a true statement, but during campaigns, a lot of hyperbole and big claims are commonly made. Not everything needs immediate Fact Checking, certainly not right now, ahead of the real grinding campaign season.
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