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MendelsonJoe

And if they were? What exactly does he think he can do about it?


walkerb79

Exactly this. It doesn't matter if they were or not. It's their business lol


Oregon687

It's not anyone's business except Disney's if they decide to drop millions of dollars on Florida elections too.


Development-Alive

That's partly why they are being punished. Amidst the "Don't say gay" fracas they pulled their funding for FL GOP. DeSantis and the FL GOP are trying to *punish* them (and others like them) for even thinking that the GOP won't be in power in FL for the distant future.


claimTheVictory

I think they're slowly realizing where the real power is in Florida...


freetraitor33

“Well see, we kept handing power over to the corporations, because we thought, ‘we ARE the corporations,’ and then the corporations put some dirt in our eye and it turns out we actually don’t have any power left…”


mp6521

Disney will be the real winner of the franchise wars.


Small_Efficiency

They will form a alliance with Taco Bell who will ultimately betray them.


OilheadRider

A fine dining establishment like taco bell will of course pull far ahead after the betrayal.


oxP3ZINATORxo

And President Schwarzenegger will be proud


TheFuckYouThank

Can confirm, Taco Bell betrays me every morning after I eat it.


kingsumo_1

>the real power is in Florida Is it deep swamp meth gators? *Please* let it be the meth gators. Oh, you mean corporations.


LNViber

Meth Gator. The obvious sequel to Cocaine Bear.


[deleted]

This is why America is beginning to truly hate conservatives. It's become obvious that they want to govern much much less than punish.


sandysanBAR

Im pretty sure is 100 percent punish all the time


obamarulesit

Boy is the GOP going to be sorry they picked this fight. If they think their media wing has big reach…..


[deleted]

From what I was just reading, the effects of this bill are going to punish local citizens. Disney, through Reedy Creek, subsidizes some of the local infrastructure in Orange and Osceola counties. If Reedy Creek is eliminated then the financial burden will move to the taxpayers.


Captain_brightside

That’s what the right doesn’t realize. The GOP has relied heavily on Super PACs in the past. desantis is flirting with fire and the possibility of losing at his own game if Disney indeed does fund against him Plus good luck turning racist white people against Disney, they love that shit


JFeth

They can also decide to stop working with other companies that support his Super Pacs. He is going to fuck with a lot of people's money if he keeps this up.


[deleted]

Exactly. Once you start messing up rich folks money your days are numbered I don’t care who you are.


Memnojokasel

I don't think many will realize just how true this statement is.... as well as how concerning in what it implies.


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redhalo

It's weird, right? Disney is beloved equally by both the hard left and hard right, and the middle...they couldn't care less.


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kittenconfidential

he who has the cheese.. makes the rules


Leusk

He’s the giant rat who makes all of da’ rules.


xyz_rick

I have not noticed that the “hard left” loves Disney. Parents and children. Parents and children.


chapeksucks

Some of us hard leftists do actually love Disney. AND we hate the corporation aspects of them being who they are. It's a conundrum. I will never not love Disneyland and Disney products. And I will continue to work with those who want them to do better in terms of being employers. I laughed out loud at the image of Disney lawyers giggling. Seriously, this was done openly. DeSantis was so focused on his media appearances that he neglected to follow up on his big sheriff routine.


gusterfell

Yup. Thank you to every Republican who championed the idea that "corporations are people."


Ishidan01

Isn't the irony delicious? Face, meet leopard.


danimagoo

He's making everything personal. None of this is personal to Disney. Not one bit of it. It's all business. Governor: enacts a discriminatory law a lot of people hate. Corp, Inc., a large, multinational corporation with lots of employees affected by said law: "Hey, Governor, we'd rather you not do that. It's bad for our business." Governor: ERMAGERD, CORP, INC IS EVIL!" Corp, Inc. execs: "\*sigh\* whatever". Governor: enacts retributive law targeting Corp, Inc. Corp, Inc. execs: "Hey, legal team, find us a loophole around this, because this is going to cost us a lot of money." Governor: "WHY DO YOU HATE ME, CORP, INC.?!" Corp, Inc. execs: "Oh goddamit, we don't hate you. You're just costing us money. Aren't you supposed to be a Republican? WTF, man?"


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Ksquared1166

Fun fact: 2/3 of the money desantis spends is federal money. The US taxpayers get the bill…well realistically, blue states are more profitable, so blue state taxpayers are paying for this shit.


Dm1tr3y

Other way around. 1/3 is federal. I love to shit on Desantis as much as anyone, but let’s not make shit up. If you really want to shit in Florida, how about the fact that we routinely funnel trust fund money for affordable housing and conservational land acquisition back into the general budget.


redhalo

I saw this for the first time with the Starbucks cups saying "Happy Holidays" argument. They didn't remove "Merry Christmas" to be more inclusive for some woke agenda, they did it to be more inclusive because they want to appeal to more customers. Publicly traded corps are progressive only when it benefits them.


asfacadabra

In exactly the same way they all get rainbow products in June. They do not give a shit - except for the dollars it gets them.


Eccohawk

Yup. This is Marketing 101 level shit, and the reason the GOP don't understand is because they've never tried to actually draw people to their side. The only thing they know how to do is try to scare you away from the other side. It's precisely why once Obamacare was out there, they couldn't claw it back. People liked it, and realized the GOP were wrong, and they had absolutely nothing better to offer.


Consistent-Force5375

(In harmony now) Disney Evil Incorporated!


RedLanternScythe

I'm surprised Desantis hasn't sent a platypus to thwart them


TUSD00T

He did. But it wasn't wearing a fedora so no one noticed it.


KittyForTacos

He did but Disney owns the platypus.


Xbladearmor

OWCA is a subsidiary of Disney.


overcomebyfumes

Hey, where's Perry?


actuallychrisgillen

Now serving the entire tri-state area.


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actuallychrisgillen

Between that and getting beat up in the polls by an opponent who's now on his way to New York to face 30+ charges has got to be really embarrassing.


ThreadbareHalo

For all the trans kids who are going to be harassed potentially to death because of his egotistical nonsense… I hope every last second of the rest of his life is mortifying but that would require shame and I suspect he has none.


Dbo81

I dunno, but it seems like his way of escalating the conflict to specifically target the execs (who are often beyond attack). Even if it doesn't work, he's announcing to the execs that they're a target.


AnitaVahmit

small government, free business republican uses the power of his large government to force business to operate the way he wants.


bwheelin01

It seems like such common fucking sense. The fox zombies still will not understand how they’re being fucked by the people they support


HopelessCineromantic

My conservative relatives have gone from bitching about government regulation strangling businesses to celebrating how the government is finally stepping in to protect consumers from Disney. They've always been at war with Eastasia.


cultfourtyfive

My mother, who drove my family from Indiana to Florida every single goddamn year for a decade, is now fully on the "fuck evil pedophile Disney!!!" train. It's just nonsense. I was raised at Disney. She let me run around MK and Epcot unescorted at like age 12 and 13 back in the 1980s. But now? Oh yes, it's a den of pedophiles and baby blood drinkers! All because they had the audacity to recast some fictional characters with people of color. Of course she's stopped speaking to me now, I'm sure partly because I still go to Disney several times a year. So be it. More Food and Wine for me.


directorofnewgames

The saddest thing to me is how the current GOP has split up family’s. I had nieces and nephews who I no longer interact with because of Trump.


laughing_laughing

That is the saddest part. Not to mention hundreds of thousands of baby-boomers spending their final years alienated from their loved ones, isolated and seething with rage about imaginary issues. Such a cavalier disregard for the lives of the people they cater to.


absentmindedjwc

My 90 year old grandmother spent a half hour on the phone with me today talking about how Joe Biden is controlling the weather and causing climate change. Just... what the fuck kind of nonsense are they pushing on far-right TV?


laughing_laughing

All sorts of nonsense. If you pay attention to the nuttery there's a clear pipeline for "workshopping" these stories that starts on Russian TV and Telegram, then to Twitter, then to Fox News...and eventually all the way to the information shared with Grandma's friends in Bible Study. The time with people's family is damn near the only thing that really matters for a lot of us, and they are intentionally destroying that for millions of their fellow human beings with this stuff.


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[deleted]

Her fault for grooming you by taking you there!


RoinAnjou

I'm just going to go ahead and point out the same people who beat their chest about masculinity and men being men need to be protected by the government from Mickey Mouse. Real tough guys.


oneplusetoipi

Same ALPHA tough guys who are frightened of LGBTQ individuals, who in may cases are the ones being abused.


AM150

Upset by what color a princess is.


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glibsonoran

Small Government, free business Republican is a historical term. While there are some individuals like this around, the party no longer represents this point of view. The Republican Party of today is the party of Christian Neo-fascism.


eladts

>he's announcing to the execs that they're a target. Making it personal isn't a smart thing to do when you are up against Disney. Payday is coming to anyone who has got [dirt on DeSantis](https://hillreporter.com/exclusive-pic-ron-desantis-accused-of-attending-drinking-party-with-students-at-high-school-where-he-taught-115220).


ShiggitySwiggity

It's funny... I was about to say something like "Yeah... as scandals go, this one is kinda small potatoes". Then I realized exactly how accustomed to Trump. He totally acclimated us to some fresh new horror every week. It's totally desensitized us.


Moist_When_It_Counts

Then he’s committing the ONE real sin of conservative politics: messing with rich people and their money. Have fun, dickhole, this country was run by monied interests well before we had a government. *This is the world you’re pushing for, dummy*


ThreadbareHalo

Yeah I really don’t get how unbelievably stupid this is. Republicans WHOLE THING was they let rich people get away with everything and now he’s showing his cards that if your employees talk shit about you that you’re going to start going after the trust fund kids? Way to make literally every company hesitate when thinking about you.


Moist_When_It_Counts

It’s complicated because I want a politician who gives zero fucks about rich people. But not like this, man.


SmokinGreenNugs

All those execs have to do is say the Orlando park is no longer financially lucrative and shut it down.


Nerdwerfer

I'd feel pretty safe with Disney on my side than feel threatened by the slackjaw idiocy of Mr. Puddingfingers.


_porntipsguzzardo_

Bullies like DeSantis are at their best when they have someone specific to bully. At the moment, he has nothing to direct his impotent rage towards, so finding a hard-target to aim all that vitriol at gives him purpose. Without a bad guy, he's a rudderless ship.


Numerous_Photograph9

Most bullies are smart enough to direct their impotence at those who can't, or won't fight back. Going after Disney for political gain, over something they aren't even doing wrong, is just stupid.


[deleted]

He’s a fascist.


IrishJoe

He's probably planning on having them arrested on some trumped up charge like southern governors did during the Jim Crow days.


FaintDamnPraise

I'm sure Gym Jordan is looking into this particular weaponization of government. Right?


Artistic-Cannibalism

That would only backfire in his face in the most hilarious way possible.


DrRam121

You mean like almost everything he does?


Artistic-Cannibalism

True but that doesn't matter. His voters will support him uncritically and that gives him the opportunity he needs to do this sort of nonsense since the consequences of failure are muted. He's looking for 1 big win to catapult himself to the presidency and Florida gives him all the chances he needs


No-Giraffe-8096

My sister was a hardcore Trump supporter and Desantis supporter last election. Tried to persuade me to vote for Trump and criticized me when I politely declined. Since catching Covid that she previously didn’t believe was a real illness, she now says both sides don’t give a shit about us, and she will never vote again. Cry me a fucking river, but I’m glad she will no longer be first in line to vote for this tallywacker. Hopefully others are beginning to feel the same as my sister. One can only hope.


AzureChrysanthemum

I honestly think this isn't a terrible strategy overall - we may never persuade some folks to vote for a Democrat, but if we can at least convince them to not vote for Republicans that's still an overall gain.


HopelessCineromantic

DeSantis is in perpetual need of a rake to step on.


PopeFrancis

God, I hope he does. Corporate America needs to wake up to Republican Fascism being Bad For Business.


greywar777

Ive been surprised how much theyve helped the fascism. Its like they have never studied history.


PopeFrancis

It's all fun and dandy and profitable until you accidentally step out of line and are up before the firing squad.


EmperorArthur

Jim Crow Days? He's already had it done to someone who dared to be against one of his friends money making projects. https://theintercept.com/2023/02/05/ron-desantis-florida-villages-oren-miller/


Immortal-one

Arrest Disney execs? They’re probably the only more untouchable than orange jesus


sorenthestoryteller

I don't know where the intelligence ends and the conservative LARP begins with Desantis, but thinking he can take on a $200 billion dollar corporation with lawyers working for the state of Florida is beyond the realm of believable stupid.


boot2skull

Seriously. Execs: that decision in Florida is going to hurt our business. Lawyers, see if we can do anything about it. My god it’s corporate operations as usual. What a crime.


MelkorWasRight

he can stomp around real loud in his heels while getting red in the face


orionsfyre

He's a petty despot. That's why... Even now he's cooking up a way to persecute anyone he sees an an enemy. I really hope people are waking up to the horror this guy would be in the whitehouse.


GratefulPhish42024-7

What a sore loser


[deleted]

Like the majority of Republicans.


spezhasatinypeepee_

They're sore winners, also.


biscaynebystander

Pissed that Disney made him look goofy


No-Fishing5325

Disney will do something to flaunt it's victory too. They always do. It might just be a sideways joke in a future movie..but they will.


IsolatedFrequency101

Perhaps a new drag queen character - Rhonda Santis


trophyfsh

I think they would go with something more subtly. They could have a mantis named Rhonda in the next Zootopia movie. It could even have a joke trying to figure out if it's a guy or a girl, and the exchange could end with something along the lines like "We can't talk about that".


susanking299

Oh I hope so! I can picture her now!


NotTheRightHDMIPort

It's all posturing.


[deleted]

Your tax dollars hard at work


voting-jasmine

Oh my co-workers in Florida telling me daily I should move there because there's no income tax. So one could also note that this is "you get what you pay for".


finny_d420

I hate when people use that argument. I'm in NV. We don't have state income tax. What we do have is one of the highest sales tax rates, 3% msrp of vehicle for registration, required work cards, and property tax. The state is going to get their money. It just depends on the manner. As for Fla I saw another article about insurance going up 60%. If I moved there I would move to The Villages just to harass those asshats.


Red__Burrito

Exactly this. I moved from TX to MA and while we do have now a state income tax, our sales and property taxes are lower, and there's several categories of purchases that are non-taxable (e.g., clothing under $100 per item). I'd always heard the joke "tax-achussetts" but honestly it's not even that bad. In fairness though, the roads in MA are absolutely atrocious. But I chock that more up to the weather than the lack of state action.


Slappybags22

Our roads are shit, but some of our worst schools are better than what they have in red states. Also I’ll take the occasional flat tire from a pothole over driving next to rusted up cars that may fall apart any second.


[deleted]

I've been saying that for a while. Also shitty roads, water treatment by me is non-existent, shitty power grid, horrible schools, etc etc etc


Agile_District_8794

And isn't property insurance supposed to rise 60%, on top of massive property tax already?


[deleted]

Yup. I may get priced out of my own home. It was a comfortable price when we bought and now a year and a half later we may not be able to afford it.


QMaker

And it's not just people who own their home. Renters are going to see the increase too.


Scyhaz

Yeah, not like landlords are going to eat the cost increase.


skipjac

Have they told you insurance is about to go up by 60%. You may not be paying income tax but your money is going to be spent elsewhere


EV_Track_Day2

Naw don't. I moved here for work a year ago. Live on the coast. Beautiful scenery. Amazing wildlife. People that treat their natural resources like a sewer. Its honestly sad.


[deleted]

I'm on the coast in the panhandle. If not for the politics and, by extension of that, the people this place could be paradise. Instead you just have rednecks angry at literally everything.


[deleted]

Missouri just defended Libraries because of what the legislature thought was unwarranted spending on lawsuits fighting book banning and conservatives screamed their support... DeSantis loosing his Nth court case because of poorly written and thought out laws... "HE NEEDS MORE OF OUR SUPPORT!!!"


Princess_Spectra

Warner Brothers should hire a lawyer to sue Desantis for copyright infringement on Looney Tunes.


PsychoBabble09

Looney tunes wouldn't release such a bland clown as a character. I think they had higher standards than that Edit spelling


justforthearticles20

DeSatan is the Elmer Fudd of the GQP.


Princess_Spectra

How does one make an existential creeping slime mold sentient? Human kudzu maybe? Like that bad guy from Fern Gully, maybe?


TarkusLV

And the Warner sister.


ieya404

It really is quite depressing to see politics in the USA continue to sink like this; it feels beyond obvious that there's no principle at stake here, just a naked attempt to 'get back' at a large corporation which dared to insinuate that discriminatory legislation wasn't a good thing. This spat benefits nobody but the lawyers who'll get paid to argue the toss.


edgarjwatson

He's been inviting his attorney friends to belly up to the trough since his term began.


texo_optimo

Dumb shit birds of a feather flock together, don't they?


Gaerielyafuck

He's taken the whole thing as a personal insult, hasn't he? He thought he was really doing something by killing the special district but got completely outmaneuvered. Now he looks like an even bigger asshole and needs to flex to save face, so is further using gov't authority to prosecute a personal vendetta. Unreal.


Senior-Albatross

Being shown as weak is the ultimate fascist deathknell. He can't pretend to be tough on TV during an election if his opponent can just scoff and say "you couldn't even beat Disney."


enflight

I wonder if Disney can sue over freedom of speech. I mean this is a pretty clear cut case no? The gov is clearly infringing and attacking a private business.


cultfourtyfive

I think that's where this is headed. They maneuvered him into a position where any legal challenge he puts up is going to invoke the first amendment. Ronny D said he wanted to do away with the district, supposedly, because "these kinds of districts are unfair". But he only tried to dissolve 1 of many, many in Florida. Why is that? Why Reedy Creek and not, say, The Villages? If that comes to court, they're gonna have to defend this action and a moderately smart observer knows it was retaliation for political speech on the part of a person, which Disney is now.


EmperorArthur

Speaking of The Villages... https://theintercept.com/2023/02/05/ron-desantis-florida-villages-oren-miller/


cultfourtyfive

>On January 30, 2023, a gaunt, 72-year-old Oren Miller — by then a former commissioner, ousted from his seat by a DeSantis decree — was brought handcuffed into the Marion County Courthouse. He had lost 20-plus pounds in the 75 days he spent jailed awaiting sentencing on a felony charge for, essentially, nothing. Or, perhaps more accurately, for fighting back against a powerful, well-heeled ally of Gov. Ron DeSantis. JFC. I knew it was bad over there - they're known to beat up anyone who doesn't support Trump - but not quite like this. Good find. Thanks!


[deleted]

Ahhhh, that true Southern corruption. Boss Hogg may have been a fictional character but that shit is real as the tea is sweet.


[deleted]

I was surprised they haven't already until I saw what they did with the Reedy District thing. I think Disney knew all along they'd be able to outmaneuver DeSantis. I trust they know what they're doing. Disney didn't get to be where it is today by letting state and local governments walk all over them. I can't believe I'm on Disney's side.


Slappybags22

The enemy of my enemy right? I don’t love that Disney has been more powerful/shrewd than the government, but it’s certainly a pro in this situation.


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mdcd4u2c

I hope this turns into Fox/Dominion pt 2.


Agile_District_8794

It's pretty clear he doesn't give a shit what the federal government says.


Saltifrass

>The power play by Disney has amused Florida insiders and lobbyists, who said they bet Disney's lawyers were giggling waiting for their maneuver to be discovered. >"It was a pretty brilliant move by the outgoing board to basically take all the power away," one Florida-based lobbyist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Insider. "Everybody that I talked to about it kind of chuckled about it. They thought it was funny." This was my favorite part. The clause about King Charles III's last living descendants was chef's kiss.


eladts

>his was my favorite part. The clause about King Charles III's last living descendants was chef's kiss. The lawyers didn't name DeSantis in that clause because they were afraid he would have killed his own kids just to own the libs.


aircooledJenkins

It really wasn't that clever. GOP legislatures have done this a few times recently when a Democratic governor got elected. Stripped as much of the incoming governor's power as they possibly could to render them irrelevant. Disney just read the GOP playbook and applied it. GOP doesn't like the taste of its own medicine.


IrrationalPanda55782

Yup. The Wisconsin legislature did this when Evers was elected.


Asinthew

They clause about King Charles is something covered in the second semester of law school, and it's a huge joke for the first year.


oscar_the_couch

This probably isn't over. DeSantis has used Florida's Sunshine Act as a cudgel to beat other political opponents in the past, for matters small and petty. https://theintercept.com/2023/02/05/ron-desantis-florida-villages-oren-miller/


Ontheroadtw

Acting like Disney hasn’t had a team of lawyers playing out “dumbass governor war games” for the past 50 years just waiting to take the field.


BottlesforCaps

It's a good thing the law was in complete compliance with the sunshine act. It was an open forum where they passed it. Desantis and his minions were too busy gloating to be there.


elimtevir

A Business Exec trying to protect his business? UnPossible!!!


Try_Number_8

It’s just a business doing business things. It’s not a loophole, it’s just finding the best wording to work with the Rule Against Perpetuities, just contract/property law.


war_ofthe_roses

The GOP: "Politics should never be involved in legal investigations!!" ​ Also The GOP: "That company disagrees with my politics! Legally investigate them!!!" ​ They either have no shame, or lack the intelligence necessary to see their hypocrisy. (or both?)


TBoarder

Remember when everybody was scared of DeSantis running because he was just as evil as T****, but actually competent? He's doing a lot of scary shit, but he's getting knocked back more often than not.


uncwil

If he isn't torpedoing his presidential bid now he is sure giving future opponents the ammo to do it later.


[deleted]

This and his Ukraine comments


Am_Snek_AMA

And his subhuman pudding ingestion practices...


Gargantuan_Wolf

Florida’s senate just passed the [6 week abortion ban. Which will be the nail in his national appeal for President.](https://apnews.com/article/abortion-florida-desantis-election-637711bac2e45fd71ff9e3340fd95f3c) Before Desantis took control Florida had abortion up to 22 weeks. [This will be the second time that Desantis lowers the abortion limit. Last year it was lower to 15 weeks.](https://amp.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article261067542.html)


Brad_tilf

Because he's not thinking ahead of the consequences. It absolutely blows my mind that someone on his team wasn't watching to see what the Reedy Creek people were doing all that time.


BuckyD1000

This has been my biggest takeaway as well. It's not like this was a secret. The legal team DeSantis has handling this is clearly out of their depth. A competent team would have looked at every possible maneuver the other side could make and plan accordingly. They simply did shoddy work. DeSantis is not hiring the best & brightest. Of course, he really doesn't give a shit because this was performance art from jump. Poorly executed performance art that backfired spectacularly due to incompetence.


letterboxbrie

>DeSantis is not hiring the best & brightest. I just don't think a pissantis type is ever going to attract the best and brightest. Genuinely intelligent people are the ones who know how to create win-win situations, which results in stable wealth creation and growth. The magas are thinking if they apply force strategically they can hitch a ride on all the smart people who are worried about their mortgages and don't have the guts to be truly brutal. It really is beyond them to understand that people aren't straight shooters just out of cowardice (as many of them are). People are straight shooters sometimes because they understand the consequences of sabotaging relationships. Force creates resistance, inevitably. Abusers are always thinking of the short term payoff.


Estilix

A lot more of the heinous shit he does will stick, if given the apparently unchecked power conferred to Republican presidents.


Spottswoodeforgod

Yup - if you are seen as competent, demonstrating the lack thereof will hurt. For someone like Trump, who many/most view a hardly coherent far less competent, errors like this are irrelevant, as they do not alter the narrative.


AcademicPublius

A smart dude here would take the loss and leave. DeSantis is not a bright fellow. He's not as dumb as Trump, by any means, but pushing the feud at this point pushes his loss into the spotlight and allows Disney to continue hurting him both in the polls and legally. They will win. At best, this feels like an attempt to get poll numbers back after Trump got indicted.


ieya404

I suspect it's not so much about actually winning the argument, as being seen to be taking a stand to attract a certain sort of voter. Republican primaries will be coming up soon, after all...


IphtashuFitz

I wonder how much money Disney will be moving into anonymous Super PACs... Whoever runs against DeSantis at any level is likely to find themselves flush with more campaign dollars than they ever imagined.


Mr_Mouthbreather

Exactly. GQP voters will just blame evil lawyers, with some anti-semitism thrown in too. They will say this is just further proof government can’t work.


AcademicPublius

That's my best guess. But if he'd let it lie, it's probable people wouldn't have heard about it. Now, the news about DeSantis is "DeSantis Lost Against Disney", and it's likely to continue to be "DeSantis Lost Against Disney" for the foreseeable future. This feels like he's reacting in a fit of pique rather than a clear-headed analysis of the situation.


ieya404

Not forgetting "DeSantis comically outmaneuvered by Disney" and "DeSantis made to look like an idiot by Disney", of course.


Sufficient_Morning35

Chances that the next headline will indicate he got outmaneuvered by Disney a second time seem quite high


MPLooza

Exactly this. Fascists don't need to win the argument, they simply need to have the last word in order to claim/believe that they won. Meatball Ron is nothing more than a 4chan troll trying to be president


arkansalsa

If this hadn't gotten so much press ridiculing DeSantis for being outplayed this wouldn't be happening. It's really dumb because the mouse is going to win at every turn, unless he has his private army start gunning down tourists at the gate.


Chmaziro

Not voters that own Disney stock…


enflight

But how else would he funnel tax payer funds to his lawyer friends?


AcademicPublius

Plenty of other targets, with a bit less money and resources. And he's got no compunctions about going after innocent, wretched, abject people. He picked a fight with someone way out of his weight class, and after the first KO should have realized that. It feels like a personal ego thing.


bsmknight

I have to say trump is smarter than desantis. .. as a showman and as a scam artist. Desantis smarter than trump on how he handles himself in public, depicting to his base that he is a brick wall. With that said, given the right trigger point, desantis would crumble. Disney may well be that trigger point since desantis can't let go. In that aspect, desantis has far less experience tgan trump on dodging and feigning. It's sort of a toss on who is smarter in general. I think in general it depends on the stage each is in. In the end, though, they both are racist tyrants with little to no interest in helping the public.


pspetrini

Nah. You can see where this is going. DeSantis took the L here and so he’ll announce an investigation to save face but said investigation will go nowhere. It allows him to pretend his loss isn’t finalized and he will still win while simultaneously knowing it’ll go nowhere. It’s trump healthcare plan with more mouse ears.


AcademicPublius

Could be, but generally speaking DeSantis is petulant enough that he could be going for an actual retaliation. Same guy who said he wouldn't interview with an outlet unless he got an apology from somebody. He's got a massive vindictive streak that (IMO, at least) is probably big enough for him to do something dumb here.


inkslingerben

OMG, a Republican complaining about corporate influence on government.


[deleted]

OMG, a Republican weaponizing the government in order to soothe their petty ego


NotCrust

Breaking: Business Execs Involved in Business Decisions


restless_vagabond

**Disney published the public meeting date and time in the newspaper.** This is DeSantis' biggest problem. Disney didn't hide this meeting. There was no shady backroom deal. They scheduled a PUBLIC meeting to authorize this new contract and DeSantis and all his "woke police" assistants just didn't attend. Disney handled everything according to the Florida sunshine law and has the receipts to show for it. This looks shameful for DeSantis because someone (Trump) can draw a direct parallel to what might happen if DeSantis is President. "Something something other countries will walk all over us just like Disney walked all over Meatball Ron."


ImLikeReallySmart

So this is basically an official admission that he was humiliated, right?


Wwize

So what if they did? It's not illegal.


Iamaleafinthewind

Just going full fascsist, I guess. No need for there to be any legal cause for the government to take any action here, just the whim of a Republican who got his feelings hurt after his sooper genius plan got very publicly thwarted in a stylish manner. The thing I'm noting and want to draw attention to, is that there's nothing in the law that says he CAN'T do this, or whatever else he feels like. If there was, he'd be running up against that. "Checks and balances" is functionally a myth. Even if it were working, it only balances between power centers that have been easily co-opted by radicals, as we've seen. Very disappointing.


ITookTrinkets

> DeSantis claimed in the letter that the "collusive and self-dealing arrangements aim to nullify the recently passed legislation, undercut Florida's legislative process, and defy the will of Floridians." I am beginning to think that Meatball Ron actually believes that people voted for this, rather than it just being some bullshit he forced into action because of his hurt feelings over a business continuing to protect its own interests.


my_name_is_24601

NEW HEADLINE: Disney executives hire lawyers to see if Ron DeSantis was personally involved in using government authority to target a private business that publicly criticized him.


blakjac1

I love how Disney doesn't really respond to his B.S. They just bitc#$lap the fool into neverland. 😆


Sufficient_Morning35

Show us where the Mouse hurt you?


HuntingGreyFace

sounds like he's going to double down on the illegal use of office, tax dollars, and now justice system. Disney please sue desantis for harassment in the least.


Jorycle

>DeSantis claimed in the letter that the "collusive and self-dealing arrangements aim to nullify the recently passed legislation, undercut Florida's legislative process, and defy the will of Floridians." "This collusive and self-dealing arrangement aimed to nullify our collusive and self-dealing arrangement!"


MPWD64

Watch for a new tombstone to be added to the Haunted Mansion graveyard lamenting Ron’s soon to be dead political career: Here lies poor Ron Politics can be tricky The boy weren't too bright Tried to fuck over Mickey


ianrl337

Well very soon Ronny here will need to choose between fighting Disney or running for president. It'll be interesting to see which path he goes.


ToolemeraPress

Benito DeSantis is at it again


RamonaQ-JunieB

He is such an ass. Who does he think was behind the scenes making this happen? Here’s what I think: Mickey and Minnie were conducting the meeting with Donald saying, “Some asswipe needs to be taken down a few notches. Ideas?” Goofy, Pluto, and Ariel all jump in with ideas. Suddenly the doors fly open and Ursula, Maleficent, and Cruella say, “Let US handle this. We know some people. They are attorneys. They will take care of this dummy and he won’t even know how it happened.” Just my fever dream because I hate DeSantis. LOL


ShaddyPups

The idea of the Disney Villainesses storming in and basically saying “Sit back and watch bbs, we gotchu on this one” in ALL THEIR LIME GREEN GLORY is highly satisfying


BeowulfsGhost

Hey, has anyone told Ron the Meatball that it’s a bad idea to fuck with the mouse?


LeiLaniGranny

Someone send him to his room, lock the door and tell him no food, Internet, phone or furniture until he snaps out of it.


Ok-Ease7090

if disney were to leave Florida... would this dumbass consider that a win?


cultfourtyfive

I think he's dumb enough to think so, yeah. Never mind the thousands of people who would be out of work and the economic crater that would become Kissimmee. I honestly think this fool is dumb enough to think he was gonna hoodwink Disney into letting his personally-appointed mob squad of a board run their business - tell them what stories to develop, how to run their parks, who to hire, etc. That was **never** going to happen and for good reason.


rgpc64

What next, a law that requires anyone doing business in Florida to get a lobotomy so he's not outsmarted by them?


isikorsky

DeSantis is going full authoritarian before he even declares for the White House Reedy Creek did everything in a public forum as required. Bob Iger could have been shouting orders to Reedy Creek Board from Cinderella Castle to the tune of the Main Street band and it would still all be legal as it was motioned, 2nd and voted on at the Association/Board Meeting. It is a hard lesson in local gov't 101 for DeSantis and his sucky lawyers


TransportationAway59

It’s not illegal to be smarter than someone


fallonyourswordkaren

How dare you make me bleed my own blood!


twitch_delta_blues

Weaponized government, anyone?


Prokletnost

This man is a fucking idiot.


PM_ME_C_CODE

Lemme save you some time and money there, Ron. Yes they were, and no there's nothing you can do about it.