Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday trashed Ron DeSantis for “getting absolutely destroyed” in his escalating feud with Disney.
A day after DeSantis vowed to retaliate against the Mickey Mouse corporation for its supposed “woke” policies, Trump accused the Florida governor of overplaying his hand.
“(DeSantis) is being absolutely destroyed by Disney,” Trump wrote on his social media site. “His original P.R. plan fizzled, so now he’s going back with a new one in order to save face.”
Trump predicted that Disney would respond by scaling back job-boosting investment in the Sunshine State.
“Watch! That would be a killer,” Trump added. “This is all so unnecessary, a political STUNT!”
DeSantis launched his feud with Disney months ago after the company criticized a measure he signed into law that limits discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida schools.
He used his control of the state legislature to engineer a takeover of a special municipal district that allowed Disney to act as a quasi local government in its home turf near Orlando.
But Disney outflanked him by passing a series of restrictive rules that prevent any major changes for decades.
DeSantis on Monday upped the ante by suggesting he would target Disney for inspections of its rides and even build a new prison near its child-friendly amusement park.
Trump won an ally in his only-in-Florida fight in former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who blasted DeSantis for putting petty politics ahead of traditional Republican business-friendly policies.
Christie said the fight has exposed DeSantis as not being a true conservative.
“if you express disagreement in this country, the government is allowed to punish you?” Christie said in an interview with the news site Semafor. “That’s what I always thought liberals did. And now all of a sudden here we are participating in this with a Republican governor.”
Trump is currently the front-runner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination and extended his lead over DeSantis as the ex-president’s legal woes spur MAGA conservatives to rally around him.
Polls say DeSantis is Trump’s only serious rival at this point, even though the Florida governor has not officially announced his candidacy.
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