Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s move against Walt Disney Corp. this week shows he’s willing to take the Republican Party’s culture war to new heights — with a frontal assault on one of his state’s biggest and most iconic employers — as he jockeys for position in a potentially crowded 2024 presidential field.
Republican governors like Texas’s Greg Abbott have laid down starkly conservative positions on abortion and transgender students that show their bona fides. Corporations have at times banded together in protest, often saying those policies discriminate against their workers, but Abbott’s moves generally haven’t been aimed at a single employer.
DeSantis took it further. A month-long feud between the governor and Disney escalated this week when the state legislature capitulated to DeSantis’s call to strip Burbank, California-based Disney of its special governing rights, a move that could challenge the company’s ability to operate its iconic theme park, which employs 70,000 people and brings in $780 million in tax revenue to the state DeSantis governs.
