Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis plowed ahead with his controversial fight against Disney as his hand-picked board is set to start flexing its muscle over the theme park giant.
The GOP presidential contender’s appointees are set to meet Wednesday and expected to rubber stamp proposals to assert its “superior authority” over Disney World, eliminate a planning board and prohibit mask mandates and COVID-19 vaccine requirements in a quasi-municipality covering the 27,000-acre entertainment mecca.
A day after DeSantis was roasted by President Donald Trump and other potential Republican primary rivals, he showed no signs of backing down in the fight with the Sunshine state’s largest private employer over its supposedly “woke” politics.
Pro-DeSantis members of a once obscure board that oversees the Reedy Creek Improvement District hope to repeal several last-minute measures passed by the former Disney-controlled board that effectively prevent any major changes for decades.
The Republican-run state legislature is also considering new laws that would overturn the pro-Disney rules and impose expensive new state inspection rules for the theme park’s famed thrill rides and monorails that shuttle tourists.
DeSantis even suggested building a new prison nearby unless Disney caves.
DeSantis picked the fight with Disney after the powerful Mickey Mouse media company opposed his “Don’t Say Gay” law restricting discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.
Looking to score points with the right-wing base of the GOP, DeSantis retaliated by reshaping the Reedy Creek board that had allowed Disney to run its sprawling entertainment empire mostly as it saw fit.
Disney appeared to out-fox DeSantis when its board quietly used its final meeting to strip the incoming board of most powers and giving Disney ongoing control over design and construction at the theme park resorts.
DeSantis allies didn’t even notice the action until several weeks later, leading Trump to whack DeSantis for getting “absolutely destroyed” by Disney.
GOP presidential rivals like former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Nikki Haley and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu all slammed DeSantis for betraying pro-business Republican principles with what they called a petty and self-defeating squabble.
DeSantis is battling the larger perception that he is losing ground in the Republican presidential race.
With poll numbers sagging, DeSantis was upstaged during a trip to Washington when Trump’s campaign unveiled the endorsements of more Florida congressmen.