Michael Hiltzik: Heaps of campaign cash got Disney what it wanted in Florida, until now
The Walt Disney Co. has dominated Florida for so long that the very idea of a backlash from the state's political leaders has been unimaginable.
Yet here we are. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and his GOP colleagues in the state legislature are threatening to bring the hammer down on the entertainment behemoth.
Why? Because Disney is expressing disapproval of their latest effort to pander to their far-right base, the so-called "Don't Say Gay" law aimed at oppressing transgender people.
DeSantis and his fellows are threatening to revoke Disney's near-dictatorial control over the 43-square-mile site of Walt Disney World and its related theme parks and resorts outside Orlando, the product of a deal that Florida's Republican governor, Claude Kirk, signed into law in 1967.
Is this threat plausible? That hinges on the question of whether Florida's Republicans are so obstinate about appealing to the most conservative wing of their political base by campaigning against Disney's perceived "wokeness" that they will risk slaying the golden goose that the company has been for them.
"Right now it's a shot across Disney's bow, a warning to 'stay in your lane,'" says Aubrey Jewett, a political scientist
