The Florida Republican Governor thrives on confirmation …
It works with his supporters even though it is developing a problem with establishment Party members….
Months before Disney CEO Bob Chapek tiptoed into a roiling debate in Florida and before the legislation that opponents would call the “Don’t Say Gay” bill was even filed, Gov. Ron DeSantis delivered a threat to business leaders who got in his way.
“If you are in one of these corporations, if you’re a woke CEO, you want to get involved in our legislative business, look, it’s a free country,” the Florida Republican said last June. “But understand, if you do that, I’m fighting back against you. And I’m going to make sure that people understand your business practices, and anything I don’t like about what you’re doing.”
DeSantis this month made clear he wasn’t bluffing. A day after Chapek publicly condemned a controversial Florida bill that would ban classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity before fourth grade, DeSantis ripped Disney to a room of supporters. He called Disney a “woke corporation” and criticized its business interests in China. Fox obtained and posted a video from the private event, and DeSantis and his staff helped spread it on social media.
For DeSantis, already considered a future presidential contender, the episode has only further bolstered his standing within his party, and it has exposed a widening chasm between the current crop of Republican leaders and the corporations that have traditionally curried favor with the GOP. More and more, Republicans, once loath to criticize big business, have adopted former President Donald Trump‘s approach of calling out corporations whose stances on hot-button issues they disagree with.
One longtime Republican consultant in Florida, who asked not to be named in order to speak freely about DeSantis and Disney, told CNN it was “a different day for the corporate-loving GOP in Florida.”…