President Joe Biden is giving lots of love to Mickey Mouse while trashing the GOP at the same time.
The president told a Democratic fundraiser that the Republican Party has swung so far to the right that it’s even attacking Disney because the family-friendly media company stood up for LGBTQ rights.
“This is not your father’s Republican Party,” Biden said at a Seattle fundraiser Thursday night. The White House released a transcript Friday. “The far-right has taken over the party.”
“It’s not even conservative in a traditional sense of conservatism. It’s mean, it’s ugly,” he said. “Look at what’s happening in Florida: Christ, they’re going after Mickey Mouse.”
Biden was referring to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ plan to retaliate against Disney, the biggest employer in the state, for the company’s opposition to his so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law that allows schools to restrict discussion of gender identity and sexuality.
Stung by the stand by the firm known in its Orlando home base as The Mouse, DeSantis is pushing to revoke a state edict passed in 1967 that effectively lets Disney run and fund its own local government.
“There’s nothing conservative about deciding you’re going to throw Disney out of its present posture because ... you think we should not be able to say, you know, ‘gay,’” he said.
Riling up big Democratic donors, Biden told a later event in Portland that he thinks the party could flip two Republican-held Senate seats in the midterms, a feat that would defy most political prognostications.
He said the GOP was shooting itself in the foot by putting its radical conservative base ahead of the moderate voters that determine elections.
“This is a MAGA party now,” he said. “These guys are a different breed of cat.”
