Gov. Ron DeSantis is behind Donald Trump in most 2024 GOP polling, but the head of his super PAC suggests the Governor’s theme park tempest may be a political winner after all.
During an interview on the Fox Business Network, Never Back Down PAC founder Ken Cuccinelli suggested the Governor’s ongoing feud with the The Walt Disney Co. will prove potent with Republican Primary voters in 2024.
“Only one candidate, only one Governor has ever protected America against the scourge that Disney has become in the last couple of decades,” Cuccinelli told host Neil Cavuto.
From there, the PAC head went on to question the entertainment company’s Americanism.
“The fond memories people have, that you refer to, of Disney are from a long time ago, and Disney has become more of a force to undermine good, healthy, positive, patriotic American culture than it is a supporter of it,” Cuccinelli said.
Cuccinelli, a former official in the Trump administration, contended DeSantis “didn’t start taking on Disney until Disney started interfering with the efforts to protect children in schools in Florida.”
That was a reference, of course, to the company’s opposition to the Parental Rights in Education law of 2022, which forbade discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity through third grade. On Wednesday, the state Board of Education expanded that law to include the entirety of K-12 education, which was never part of the pitch by proponents of the law last year.
The Governor has recently been out of state frequently for political events, but during an increasingly rare in-state appearance, he threatened more potential actions on Disney’s turf.
On Monday, when discussing new legislation to wrestle control back from Disney, the Florida Governor suggested the state had every right to do what it wanted on land in the former Reedy Creek Improvement District, which is now known as the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.
“People are like, well, ‘What should we do with this land? Maybe create a state park? Maybe try to do more amusement parks,’” DeSantis said, before adding the prison quip. “Somebody even said, ‘Maybe you need another state prison?’ Who knows? I just think that the possibilities are endless, and so that is now going to be analyzed to see what would make the most sense.”
While DeSantis is in South Carolina, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District is making moves against the so-called scourge, with a lawyer for the board saying Disney acted like “Scrooge McDuck” in its attempts to evade the intent of the Legislature’s restructuring of the former Reedy Creek Improvement District, which governed Disney from 1967 until the company ran afoul of the Governor.
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Gabrielle Russon of Florida Politics contributed to this report.
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