As he tries to show the ‘Mouse’ who’s boss, Florida business leaders must stand up to DeSantis | Opinion
For a guy who loves to surround himself at the podium with white guys in law-enforcement uniforms, Ron DeSantis has no self-control when it comes to his own behavior.
The governor constantly oversteps his executive powers — and feels not a shred of shame.
His political war of words with Disney World, now shoved into the legal arena by a vindictive DeSantis and the extremist-dominated Florida GOP, is no small development.
DeSantis announced Tuesday that he‘s using the Florida Legislature to pursue a personal political vendetta against Disney World for the company’s supportive stance on gay issues.
He’s crossing a dangerous new line.
DeSantis is going after a major business in the state that he perceives to be a political enemy — and he’s tasking a legislative body that had already wrapped up for the season with hastily eliminating the way the corporation has operated for more than five decades.
READ MORE: DeSantis asks Legislature to eliminate Disney World’s self-governing status
Florida’s unchecked tyrant is getting away with this by calling for the short, special legislative session on redistricting, scheduled for this week, to become a forum on Disney World and its embrace of the gay community.
It’s more political theater to stoke the base, but this time with far-reaching consequences for a major business that once supported DeSantis with hefty political donations and could do no wrong.
Until now.
DeSantis is taking blatant revenge against Disney’s CEO for criticizing the “Don’t say gay” bill that muzzles gay children and educators passed by the Legislature and that now is law.
With little time to review something as complex as the corporation’s operations in Orlando, DeSantis wants lawmakers to repeal the 1967 Reedy Creek Improvement Act that allows the Walt Disney World Resort to run as a self-governing body.
DeSantis is ready to turn this company upside down and invade its operations with the force of his politics.
And no one who could has the political will to stop him.
Somebody has to rein in the fascist — and it won’t be his Republican minions in the Legislature.
They, too, have it in for Disney and have said so in public, in lock-step with the governor.
All of them, and the right-wing media charged with supporting them, are spreading misinformation throughout Florida about the company — including the outrageous falsehood that it’s a grooming place for pedophiles — to justify their intrusion.
READ MORE: Florida GOP threatens Disney over pro-gay stance. What a vindictive bunch! | Opinion
It’s time for Florida’s private sector, its business owners and professionals who largely make up the political system’s donor class, to step in, take action and stand up for democracy.
Politicians have bosses, too: donors and voters.
Unfortunately, the voters are no help; polls say at least 58% of Florida’s approve of the governor.
These voters are so far down the rabbit hole of made-up fears and prejudices DeSantis stirs up that they can’t understand how democracy works anymore.
But when DeSantis and the GOP get their way with unconstitutional anti-gay, anti-women and anti-Black legislation, when they ban books and meddle in how corporations train employees, as they have this session, they’re chipping away at the very definition of democracy.
To them, total party domination is the only goal. To them, seeking bipartisanship is an outmoded concept and the definition of a perfect union isn’t one that makes room for all, but only for the views of the dominant party at the moment.
The battle with Disney should be the last straw for Florida’s business establishment.
Its leaders better stand up and speak up, because DeSantis is setting the kind of precedent that has repercussions for all who operate companies of all sizes in Florida.
They didn’t speak up when DeSantis manhandled cruise ships trying to safely restore operations under a lingering worldwide pandemic. They didn’t speak up when he ordered the Legislature to pass “anti-woke” legislation telling businesses how to address and train a diverse workforce — with care only toward white sensibilities when imparting information about historical discrimination.
Imagine that in a multiracial, multi-language, multicultural state like Florida.
Acting in cahoots 100% of the time, the GOP-dominated Legislature and DeSantis have left Florida without a proper system of checks and balances, the primary insurance a democracy has against overreaching by the executive branch. Stacked with Donald Trump and DeSantis political appointees, the judiciary, too, has been tainted to a certain extent.
A lawyer himself, DeSantis has shown he doesn’t care about lawful principles when he goes against Florida’s Constitution and takes over the job of redistricting to ensure his map-making generates more Republican-majority districts by diluting minority districts.
It’s called gerrymandering, an unlawful practice, Florida courts have ruled.
But rigging elections isn’t enough for the power-hungry Republican with Trumpian aspirations.
He’s got to show Mickey Mouse, too, who’s boss.
If the governor gets away with steering the law to punish a business as powerful as Disney for a difference of opinion, you can’t call Florida part of the union anymore.
Somebody has to stop DeSantis.
If business leaders don’t stand up to him, we’re in for some darker days.
This story was originally published April 19, 2022 at 2:10 PM.