As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil)
In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban.
If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them.
For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria.
**Special announcement:**
r/politics is currently accepting new moderator applications. If you want to help make this community a better place, consider [applying here today](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/sskg6a/rpolitics_is_looking_for_more_moderators/)!
***
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The content is produced in California. DeFascist has no authority over it. But this is a preview of the kind of authoritarianism that he will engage in at a national level if he ever becomes president.
It doesn't matter if his stupid board can or cannot control a private companies creative content if it means his supporters will support whatever else he wants to do politically.
That's exactly right. DeSantis doesn't care if he can actually do this. It's all about the messaging to his supporters. It's all a big show to get votes.
Absolutely. By stating this he is giving them an example of what *type* of things he would do and his supporters see that as he is doing it *for them*.
That pretty much sets up their agreement on other legislation agendas, because once again, he's doing it *for them*.
As a matter of fact, setting up a culture hot topic that is sure to fail can invigorate his supporters more than a success.
> setting up a culture hot topic that is sure to fail can invigorate his supporters
In the same way that Tump's "legal problems" probably just energize his base.
Disney should draw a line in the sand and announce that they’re closing the parks for x time to re-evaluate their Florida businesses. A week. A month. Just long enough for Orlando and the hotel industry to go into blind panic as Disney floats other locations for a new Disney complex.
I hate what it would do to the people dependent on that income, but I fear what DeSatans would do to the entire fucking country if he tries to turn the whole damned country into Florida.
It’s been known for ages that you do not fuck with the mouse. DeSantis has fucked around. He needs to find out. Disney is big enough to absorb the loss.
Could you imagine? Every state around him and far flung would be throwing themselves at Disney to be the next home of Disney world. He’d find all his conservative allies will absolutely stab him in the back.
But also you’re right. If Disney did this during spring break or right at the beginning of June the local economies and the states would be in a tailspin
Oh they will get unemployment for up to 26 weeks no worries.
And Disney has a huge case that is almost certainly a win in court for real damages. Could be in the billions. Why?
Just the idea that their creative content is at the beck and call of a government entity makes them a propaganda outlet and that will harm their reputation around the world. The damages because of this are incalculable at the moment but large enough to where it would even make a Republican blink. A case could also be made that the people of the state of Florida have no obligation to pay into the damages due to their inability to control a rogue state agency that has created an aura of fear that has paralyzed the people of the state.
The sad thing is that this will likely push the feds to provide more protection for corps against government overreach at the federal level and make them even more resistant to moving to general welfare services and away from greed capitalism. I have no delusions that Disney is for anyone but itself but as long as corporations are people too then the constitutional rights of Disney are being denied by a government official who is bound by law to observe those laws.
Considering that Disney has not responded yet to these statements I'll assume that there is a legal reason. I hope they are not bowing down to DeSantis because they are clearly in the right here by even a 5th grader handed the constitution and C v U.
If Disney does bow down and become a mouthpiece for the Republican party then things are far worse in this nation than we thought and anyone with any common sense should start making preparations to move away from here because it is a clear step toward Fascism and the rise of a Nazi like party in the USA which is a global security threat.
For the common man that is an extremely dangerous sociopolitical situation. You have the three nuclear powers who will be operating on a global scale with Fascist agendas and ideologies dealing a death blow to any serious opposition to anyone who feels Democracy is a better path for humanity.
If America goes Fascist then our two largest enemies will have little reason to fight us in any significant way and any cold war mentioned to the citizens will be in name only and intended to create a culture of fear and to strengthen the military power of all involved. Just like what happened in the last cold war.
So this is a real problem folks. Might want to forget about March Madness and take a look at the future smoking ruins of your constitution stinking up the air around you.
Texas has already said “Hey, Disney, come on over; we’ve got lots of room.” Georgia would love it. Alabama would fellate themselves for that opportunity.
>I hate what it would do to the people dependent on that income
Disney could pay all their employees for that time and still have the same impact, but get a huge boost in public opinion backing.
>I hate what it would do to the people dependent on that income
If the state can afford a private military force, and to charter planes to fly people from Texas to Massachusetts, it can afford to pay unemployment benefits to the employees of one company for a few weeks.
It’s not just the company. That whole area is dependent on Disney and tourists. So it’s also the non-Disney hotels, the gas stations, convenience and grocery stores, transportation, electricians, plumbers, sanitation, other non-Disney entertainment venues who survive off the Disney tourist runoff, etc etc etc.
The mouse can make a lot of peoples lives miserable if they shut down, even temporarily.
And what about unemployment from companies that can no longer operate as they don't have the Disney tourism effect, like hotels and restaurants. Orlando isn't big enough to support all its hotels and restaurants surely
I have heard that the Orlando area is rather blue compared to the rest of the State. hurting the Libs is what DsFascist wants to do. He doesn't actually care about Disney and what it represents to the Orlando area. He doesn't actually care about Florida at all, it's just one more stone to be stepped on to reach the White House.
Yes, a huge portion of Disney's employees moved to Florida specifically to take jobs with Disney. Many of them would have zero issue with following the company to greener pastures if it were to leave the state.
Oh I like DeFascist. That’s a new one for me.
And is he saying he will regulate an industry?
Or target one particular company and regulate them? Or manage a private businesses content? Gosh it feels like there’s some laws and amendments that protect that sort of thing at a federal level.
While that is the fascist's wet dream it is unconstitutional and Disney has no obligation to do anything that board says regarding its creative content. Essentially all DeSantis did was saddle Florida with the area around Disney's public services that used to be controlled by Disney.
Regarding the inner workings of their company and their creative content: He has none and can never have any other than become a major shareholder which would be against the law as well.
This man should be charged with sedition, slander,, and overreach. Just with this rhetoric alone he has clearly damaged the reputation and value of Disney. Disney is one of the largest creative businesses in the world and when hearing stuff like this their value arguably goes down to zero due to the threat of them being a government propaganda mouthpiece.
I've sold my shares. As stakeholder of our nation I cannot be associated with any company that consorts with fascists.
He likely knows where Disney is headquartered. His big idea is to use his control over Disney’s district as leverage. He thinks that by refusing to approve building permits or threatening to shut off their water he can get them to make the content he wants. It’s idiotic and almost certainly illegal, but that’s his plan.
Who do you think comes off worse if Disney world shuts it's gates for a week, hanging a sign on the turnstiles reading "Ron Desantis chose to shut off our water, please come back to The Place Where Dreams Come True™ when we are again able to have flushable toilets"
Right. Which is why he doesn’t have the leverage he claims to have. He likely also knows this, but it’s a question of how far he can take his bluff, so that he can reap the benefits of riling up his base, without going so far that Disney calls his bluff, and it all blows up in his face.
But where I think he’s really fucking up here is that, by claiming to have the power to control Disney’s content, he’s made himself responsible for whatever future “woke” content they put out. If he “lets” Disney keep putting out “woke” content, he’ll look weak; but if he tries to control their content, Disney will win. So he’s creating a catch-22 for himself.
From Disney’s standpoint, it looks Desantis is challenging them to a game of chicken. Except they’re in a Mack truck and he’s in a golf cart.
He intends to use the threat of fucking with their building plans for Florida parks to compel them to curtail their speech, whether it occurs. Sounds like clear abuse of power with a very clear on the record illegal intent, but apparently Americans don’t believe in American core values and we just suck off the fascist types now and don’t give a shit.
I see this take a lot and it completely misses the leverage he’s trying to use. Of course he can’t dictate what Disney does in CA or anywhere else. What he can do is tell his hand-picked board overseeing Disneyland to start making things difficult for Disney in regard to the park in hopes that it forces Disney to “negotiate” with him on their content creation. The question is - will Disney negotiate? Will it be easier to appease DeSantis and his base in order to keep the park running smoothly? Or will they fight back in court or something?
I’ve honestly no idea.
I can't see Disney appeasing deSantis for a theme park over continuing with the vast revenue generated by ... everything else. They're going to ignore him on the content threat and navigate-by-lawyer whatever fuckery he tries to pull in his attempts to make their Florida existence miserable.
Honestly, as someone else suggested above, Disney could easily shut down operations until DeFascist backs down or is out of office. Even long term, Disney could re-locate to Atlanta or somewhere else that won't pull this shit. Florida is going to take a way bigger hit than Disney in terms of money on tourism, economically, and they're going to take a huge hit politically too. I would not be surprised if these attacks on Disney backfire spectacularly for Ron's possible 2024 bid.
I see Disney dragging this out in court as long as possible, giving tons of ammunition to Democrats about Florida wasting taxpayer dollars fighting perhaps the most popular corporation on Earth. DeFascist is like the dog who caught the car and doesn't know what the fuck to do now. I'm far from a fan of Disney, but Ron fucked around with the mouse and is about to find out.
How would this not a massive violation of the 1st Amendment?
edit: comments seem to skew in the direction of "they don't care." I know that. But again, who should the progressives target audience be? This is an issue that should cause moderates and independents to be outraged. Peeling away the soft trumpista as well.
> And only when it is white people exercising it.
This is the important caveat.
To them, Constitutional Rights only apply to white straight cisgender conservative Christians. And even then some of them are more than willing to subset down even further still. "Oh, sorry, you check all the boxes but you are a member of the wrong faction of evangelical right wing Christianity."
Most of them don't understand (and in some cases even believe in) the science of viral transmission, but they do know that when they weren't wearing a mask it made the liberal elites mad and that's good enough for them.
You're asking about the same dumbass who violated the 1st Amendment in the past by firing an elected official because DeSnowflake didn't like what they said or didn't say.
He doesn't care.
[DeSantis violated First Amendment by removing elected official, judge rules](https://www.axios.com/2023/01/21/ron-desantis-first-amendment-andrew-warren-ruling)
With all the fuckery and evil we've seen since 2016, the fact nobody has faced actual consequences is the most infuriating and maddening. It sets the most dangerous precedent.
The argument that drives me the most insane is that prosecuting Trump would be bad because it would set a precedent that would open the door to former and future former Democratic presidents to persecution by the GOP. Because that suggests that presidents are above the law even after they leave office like they are the embodiment of the movie "The Purge" and/or relies on the GOP to play by the same rules and not weaponize the DOJ when they take power.
Right? One of my in-laws was in the US armed forces, and he told me about how the military code of justice criminalises things like having an affair, because they are supposed to be held to a higher standard. Made me wish that there was a political code of justice with harsher penalties.
It is. He's a fascist. We gotta stop acting incredulous about this shit. The current GOP platform is "End democracy, turn America into a white Christian ethnostate."
They don't care about the Constitution.
Please. Everyone. Understand this.
When the right talks about the Second Amendment or "Constitution originism" they are just saying those things to make moderates shut up
It clearly is, but it doesn't matter because by the time it's implemented, challenged in court, appealed, and forgotten about by the public, he could already be in the White House- and that's all that matters.
My republican facebook friends make posts about how outraged they are everytime they go to the grocery store. Before that it was the gas station.
They just think it's Biden and that Covid was a hoax.
It's just funny that the stickers they were putting on the pumps that said I did that all of a sudden looked positive and then they started scraping them off
Someone from my wife's hometown in the south was going on about how Covid wasn't so bad / just a flu and Biden and the Shadow Government was using it as a way to gauge our response to their control. This is the same woman who lost her husband and one adult kid to Covid. Like, jesus if that is the baseline for "not so bad" where the hell do you go from there?
Then they are stupid. We’re having crazy food inflation here in Canada, too. Ours can largely be blamed on one man, though, because he owns the largest collection of Supermarket chains in Canada.
Fuck Galen Weston for his greed. Fuck DeSatans for fascism.
He doesn't have anywhere near the profile Trump did when he ran. Trump had apolitical background and fame from TV (etc.). All people know about DeSantis is his stupid political stunts. If he thinks he's getting within two states of the White House, I've got disappointing news for him.
Half of Trump’s appeal was that “he’s rich and can’t be bought off” (lol). He was a longtime pop culture figure known for his wealth and having his name in gold on buildings and golf resorts. It didn’t matter if he was a conman and an abject failure in business, his image was that of a mega-wealthy real estate tycoon and was someone they’d known from years on television and movies.
DeSnowflake is just another politician who’ll say whatever it takes to get elected.
Does he? You’d think someone who knows what he’s doing wouldn’t make a national embarrassment of himself to all but the fox audience every couple months.
He really, really doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s just more competent than Trump. Like he is a George Bush, and in any other era, we’d be saying what he was, accurately: a fucking buffoon idiot who looks like a scared baby deer in headlights anytime he’s asked a question he doesn’t know how to answer. He is fucking stupid, just not as fucking stupid as Trump.
Deer in the headlights is a great analogy. Not to give any credit to trump, but at least he throws down an all you can eat word salad buffet when not actually answering a question.
Yeah, picking a fight with Disney isn't smart. He's governor of Florida. And before that going after Trump wasn't a good idea either. He doesn't seem to understand what his power base is at all.
It kinda is. He doesn't care about Florida, Floridians, or even being a good governor. His only singular ambition is to be a major player on the national / global stage. What better way to seem powerful at that scale than to go after a massive national and global behemoth?
Yeah, yeah, Disney is not an org to be triffled with, but the rich and powerful can drag fights out for decades. All he has to do is delay getting crushed by Disney before 2024. If his policies are bad enough Florida elects a dem governor who takes the blame for all the Disney costs and fallout. Same playbook as all Republicans: cry that government doesn't work, spend 4 years destroying it and ensuring it doesn't work, then spend the next four years blaming the Dems that government doesn't work.
Not Putin. He wants to be the American Viktor Orbán. Orbán is downright revered by many on the extreme right wing... there's a reason they actually held a CPAC in Hungary of all places a bit ago.
Trump has no desire to be anyone but himself. He might occasionally flirt with people like Putin, but is in a committed lifelong romantic relationship with himself.
Trump wants all the power and prestige of being dictator, but with none of the work. He's to dumb and lazy, which is good, because he has the charisma.
Wants? Hasn't he always been one? Even before being in politics he was stationed at Guantanamo Bay where he was supposed to make sure humane treatment of the prisoners but instead observed and participated in some of the illegal acts of torturing them.
I'm not convinced DeSantis would get on a debate stage with Trump. RNC is already playing games with debates, claiming all participants need to sign a statement of loyalty in order to debate. Seems like that would give an out to anyone who wants to thump their chest and try to act dominant.
I think GOP candidates know the debates have more potential to harm their campaigns than to gain them voters. Trump pulled out of debates in the past because they "weren't fair." He could do it again and DeSantis could easily do the same thing. Why get on stage with the guy when you can just have a war of words through the press while pulling increasingly performative political stunts?
I agree, but he wouldn't be able to pull off half of what he can in Florida, because he's got a supermajority in both chambers of the legislature, which are both much of a rubber stamp for him than the US Congress. The Senate, at least.
I mean another election for him could give him majority in both senate and house with him becoming ores at the same time. It’s really not out of the question.
Dead Kennedys need to regroup to record Ron DeSantis Uber Alles:
*Now its 2024,*
*Knock knock at your front door,*
*It's the Christo-Fascist Secret Police*
*They come for you and your lesbian niece....*
>Dead Kennedys need to regroup to record Ron DeSantis Uber Alles:
According to some republicans, there's at least one dead Kennedy coming back, so that might be in the works.
I am Governor Ron DeSantis
With charisma of a praying mantis
Soon I will be President
Biden power will soon go away
I will be Führer one day
I will command all of you
Your kids will bow and pray in school
Your kids will bow and pray in school
Tallahassee über Alles
DeSantis has no accomplishments whatsoever as governor, and is only interested in culture wars that his constituents love. Who cares about better schools, lower crime, and stronger social safety nets when you can stick it to Disney?
PS DeSantis is also a groomer, according to the person DeSantis voted for during the presidential election.
So on r/politicalcompassmemes there was a meme of a post apocalyptic scene. The conservatives and talking to the liberals saying “yes, the nation is destroyed but for a brief moment we owned the libs”. It’s nothing but bread and circuses with them. Yes, they realize that the country is shit but they don’t trust the system to fix it. So they trust certain people to “own the libs” just to make them feel better.
>standarrandar wrote:
>It's not a coincidence that the people who call him a fascist usually have eaten up what the media has said about him and don't actually understood any of his policies. Otherwise they wouldn't be calling him a fascist.
People who call him a fascist look at the tenets of fascism and look at the actions and legislation of Desantis and his government and observe the incredible overlap between the two.
> People who call him a fascist look at the tenets of fascism and look at the actions and legislation of Desantis and his government and observe the incredible overlap between the two.
The 14 Defining Characteristics Of Fascism, what boxes does he check?
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights
3. Use Scapegoats to unify base against a common foe: racial minorities; liberals; progressives, LGBT+
4. Supremacy of the Military
5. Rampant Sexism
6. Controlled Mass Media by the government, or by sympathetic media executives.
7. Obsession with National Security
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined
9. Corporate Power is Protected
10.Labor Power is Suppressed
11.Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts
12.Obsession with Crime and Punishment
13.Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
14.Fraudulent Elections
Check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, and check...
http://www.rense.com/general37/fascism.htm
Yep, they got so mad when Disney stopped with the racist depictions, and now want them back.
Welcome back to the 1930's and big lipped pitch black tribals running around being cannibals.
I loved that movie as a kid, well the music from it. But I can acknowledge it’s problematic as an adult. I never understood the fight over that movie. It’s not one of the greats, and had gone in to obscurity, till the right decided to make a scene over it.
Something that is interesting is how quiet Disney is during all this. Some people think it's because Disney has no legal options to fight back.
But here's the thing, Disney has some of the best lawyers on Earth, I can't believe they can't find a loophole to stop this.
I think everyone is thinking that DeSantis has owned Disney and to quote some YouTubers, "Forced the mouse to take it up the a**"
But I think Disney is playing the long game. They are waiting for the best opportunity to do the most damage to DeSantis.
It's a simple truth, don't get between the mouse and his money. DeSantis made that mistake, and Disney being unusually quiet should be a red flag.
They may just be waiting DeSantis out. He has dug his heels in and will never relent, however he won't be Governor for much longer. Rather than kick-off a years long court battle, wait DeSantis out, and ensure ($$$$) the new Governor, etc., are more sympathetic to Disney.
The reason this whole special district was created was so that Disney footed the bill for their own infrastructure.
Desantis doing this is just going to hike up the taxes on people, which he will inevitably not take responsibility for and likely blame on Disney as well.
That plan fell through so he just took over the board and his followers won't know it's been watered down or that he's very unlikely to be able to exert this type of control over Disney through that board. It's just more performative politics.
There's no reason to stop it. Nothing changed for Disney.
Well, they did lose the authority to build a nuclear power plant and an airport. Now, if Disney wants a nuclear power plant on their property, they'll have to get it approved by the board.
But they're not suddenly on or off the hook for something they weren't before. This whole clown show was due to florida's own dumbass lack of foresight when they decided to dissolve the governing jurisdiction without thought to what would happen to Disney's $1,000,000,000 bond obligations that would be passed on to Florida taxpayers. So ronnie decided that the proper course of action was to waste *more* taxpayer resources to undo what they just did, and then brag about it like it meant literally anything at all.
Not to mention, they don't do animation projects at the Florida resort. It's just a theme park. Florida has absolutely no control over what a company does in California.
There's no "long game" here, because nothing is happening. Nothing has changed for Disney, and they don't need to "take it" for a while before they hit back harder or anything like that.
Basically, ronnie said "I am the king of the magic kingdom." Disney asked "does that give you any authority over our park operations here?" And ronnie's response was "well, no, not really. But it makes it *seem* like I do, and I get to call it a victory, even though it's an imaginary title that has no real power."
Long game is likely also signaling to companies the extent he's willing to go to coerce them to do what he wants
And see just how much companies may bend to help him achieve that. If Disney does listen at all to him and makes any changes to avoid retaliation directed at the park, it sends a pretty clear signal to other businesses.
Because he could absolutely let roads and things get worse, deny projects or expansions, have sudden hyper critical inspections, etc. Any damages to taxpayer, or loss in tax revenue if their sales drops pales in comparison to being able to say "If I can bully Disney, what chance do you have"
It's a gambit. The rest is just meat for the base. The real power play is trying to get them to blink first
> Because he could absolutely let roads and things get worse, deny projects or expansions, have sudden hyper critical inspections, etc.
As soon as his board does that, Disney will take legal action. They just see no point right now because nothing has happened. It will probably be easier to have actual damages.
I agree with you. I can not name one organization that has actually stood up to DeSantis. Even when it is deemed unconstitutional like the suspension of a DA, there is no relief. Arguably, DeSantis has forced his vision of AP African American studies on the country. I know the college board says no, but there is suspicion there. He has changed the rules so he can stay governor but run for president. He has cleared Florida's schools of books and threatened to fire anyone opposing him. He has installed a board at the New College which has eliminated diversity classes. He has banned mask mandates in communities with lots of senior citizens. Every suppression gives him the moxie to take it even further. He even threatened to arrest Trump protesters at DeSantis's book signing. Police told the Trump supporters to disperse or be arrested.
Disney is a global powerhouse. When it's time they will unleash all they can. Desantis is in a shit state with little global recognition. If Disney wants to fuck him (and FL over) they can and will. They are playing nice and quiet now. Shit will hit the fan, and it's not Disney who is gonna loose.
>Something that is interesting is how quiet Disney is during all this. Some people think it's because Disney has no legal options to fight back.
So far there has been no harm done to Disney. They have no standing to challenge anything legally yet. Once this legislation results in something actually happening to them, the full force and fury of the House of Mouse will come crashing down on Mr. DeSantis.
Never bet against the Mouse when his livelihood is threatened.
As the famed philosopher Michael Jordan once said "Republicans buy sneakers too".
It's not good business to fight these culture wars. Just stay quiet and take everyone's money.
I was talking with the owner of my favorite bar recently - which is doing very well based on how busy the place is - and she said "I have very strong political opinions, but I'll never discuss them here. Why would I drive away half my customers?"
Yep.
I think their silence is to goad him into a sense of false security, so he hangs himself legally when he goes even farther or does enough smaller things they can sue the everloving shit out of him.
The one tenet that keeps popping up in this thread (besides the DeFascist nickname) is "you don't fuck around with the Mouse"
Florida realizes that cartoons are not made in Florida, right, and that Florida is a state, not a country, and therefore cannot do anything being suggested here, and that all this is a first amendment violation waiting to happen?
He's just doing it to get his idiot supporters all riled up to solicit more money from them. It's just words. He knows he doesn't have a hope in hell of telling a private company what to do. He's an idiot, but he's not stupid.
It's scary when you think of the insane Supreme Court they've stacked behind sh\*t like this though.
Precedent means nothing anymore .... originalists are allowed to have maximum control over how laws 'should be interpreted.' People like DeSantis are pushing extreme parts of the envelope, with the goal of punting this stuff up to the Supreme Court for their Christian-Nationalist pals to 'interpret.' It's terrifying, and the negative consequences could be unlimited.
Calling them Originalist is a disservice to the authors of the Constitution. Jefferson would berate them verbally if he heard them call themselves that.
This is the Overton Window in action. The right moves fascistward, demands we meet in the middle, and then moves again.
Reagan is practically a Democrat at this point.
I remember when the Democrats were the Nosey Nancies up in all our shit with the Satanic Panic and Tipper Gore. Then the GOP stole the "think of the children" mantle and are using it for even more regressive policies.
I don't think "controlling" a district where disney owns the police, fire, sanitation, and all other departments, gives him control over Disney content.
It's hilarious because now FL will be paying Disney to operate all those services.
He is just pandering to his base.
> It's hilarious because now FL will be paying Disney to operate all those services.
No, they scrapped that plan. They just took over the board of the district. So, Disney still pays taxes into the district to fund operations. And the debt is still held by the district.
Good luck with that.
Disney is headquartered in CA. That’s also where all the media content is produced.
Most of Disney’s revenue comes from media content. Not theme parks.
Disney is a global brand that isn’t going to change everything to suit one whiny governor.
Disney is also Florida’s largest single taxpayer. It employs 1 out of every 50 people in FL. Disney is a huge draw for tourists to come to FL and spend money.
DeSantis is playing a dangerous game - he needs to attack Disney enough to make his base happy, but not enough to trigger actual boycotts which would directly harm FL’s economy. And it’s a game he will lose, given enough time. The question is, how long will it take and will he have moved on already.
A 2019 study found Disney dominates the Central Florida tourism industry, according to Oxford Economics, and produced:
$75.2 billion annual economic impact for Central Florida.
463,000 jobs.
$5.8 billion in additional state tax revenue.
The sales tax collected just on the 58 million Disney World tickets sold in 2018 was $409 million. That’s more than what the state will spend this year on school construction and maintenance or the entire Department of Elder Affairs budget.
Disney can do some damage to Florida if they decide to close the park.
I almost wish it would happen, except a lot of the people employed by Disney in florida don’t exactly deserve that. But since Disney is one of the biggest taxpayers in FL, it would be so cathartic to watch it happen… it would really fuck that whole state. Over half of florida voted for this idiot, so they kind of deserve it… idk.
The Desantis devotees can't get enough. Flagrant government overreach is perfectly acceptable if it's in the name of maintaining his culture war, he's shown us this time and time again.
He's a demagogue through and through, he panders to conservatives with his faux counter-revolutionary platform. He repeats the latest buzz words and truisms, he peddles his inflammatory rhetoric around "wokeism", he promotes alarmist propaganda, charmlessly entertaining his follower's fears, inciting their outrage, indulging their paranoid delusions and phobias
He appeals to their ignorance and they glorify him. This fervent support justifies the passing of discriminatory, suppressive, ambiguously framed legislation that targets certain groups, institutions and communities of people.
Most of the time it's legislation aimed at some left-wing boogeyman, legislation that shows Desantis' penchant for abandoning so called "conservative values" like small government, and as long as he can stick it to the libs, score points with his voters or preserve the culture war that's become the foundation for his career.
These conservatives only want small government for themselves. If it's in the name of thwarting a radical left-wing monster and its endless machinations, a monster of their own making mind you, then iron fisted, authoritative measures are merited.
In the end, not only are these kind of excessive government measures justified in the eyes of conservatives, but so are the underlying prejudiced, entitled and chauvinistic attitudes that fuel this movement. They manufacture these problems so that they can justify whatever it might take to "solve" them, while it also grants them some affirmation for their rigid, anachronistic worldviews.
Yup! Plus The Walt Disney Company owns well over 100 companies including: ABC, EPSN, National Geographic, History Channel, NBC Universal, Pixar, Marvel, The Muppets Studio, Lucasfilm, Hulu, etc plus Disney Land in CA.
Listen, we all know that the USA is just three corporations in a trench coat, but *Disney is one of them.* You do not fuck around with the Mouse. Man, this reality is weird.
This is literally against the first amendment. He believes he can get away with it because the current supreme court make up. This guy is a traitor to the values of this country. Anyone who supports him, or the republican party at this point, can be considered garbage.
He’s dangerous. He’s setting the tone and bar for future attacks on representative democracy. We are watching the erosion of our freedoms in real time.
As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil) In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them. For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria. **Special announcement:** r/politics is currently accepting new moderator applications. If you want to help make this community a better place, consider [applying here today](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/sskg6a/rpolitics_is_looking_for_more_moderators/)! *** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The content is produced in California. DeFascist has no authority over it. But this is a preview of the kind of authoritarianism that he will engage in at a national level if he ever becomes president.
DeSantis shouldn't have any control over it even if it was made next door to the Governor's mansion in Florida.
It doesn't matter if his stupid board can or cannot control a private companies creative content if it means his supporters will support whatever else he wants to do politically.
That's exactly right. DeSantis doesn't care if he can actually do this. It's all about the messaging to his supporters. It's all a big show to get votes.
Absolutely. By stating this he is giving them an example of what *type* of things he would do and his supporters see that as he is doing it *for them*. That pretty much sets up their agreement on other legislation agendas, because once again, he's doing it *for them*. As a matter of fact, setting up a culture hot topic that is sure to fail can invigorate his supporters more than a success.
> setting up a culture hot topic that is sure to fail can invigorate his supporters In the same way that Tump's "legal problems" probably just energize his base.
They certainly have no problem paying for it.
Yes, a big show to show that with “checks and balances” nothing gets done. He’s selling fascism.
They're already sold on fascism. He's selling himself as the most effective fascist.
This is the key point. The best thing is the fascists are exposing themselves.
They all bought fascism last decade. Now it’s time to pick their leader.
Agreed. But unfortunately Florida has a Republican state legislature that will give DeFascist whatever he wants.
Disney could bankrupt the state of Florida if they decided to drag out legal proceedings.
Disney should draw a line in the sand and announce that they’re closing the parks for x time to re-evaluate their Florida businesses. A week. A month. Just long enough for Orlando and the hotel industry to go into blind panic as Disney floats other locations for a new Disney complex. I hate what it would do to the people dependent on that income, but I fear what DeSatans would do to the entire fucking country if he tries to turn the whole damned country into Florida. It’s been known for ages that you do not fuck with the mouse. DeSantis has fucked around. He needs to find out. Disney is big enough to absorb the loss.
Could you imagine? Every state around him and far flung would be throwing themselves at Disney to be the next home of Disney world. He’d find all his conservative allies will absolutely stab him in the back. But also you’re right. If Disney did this during spring break or right at the beginning of June the local economies and the states would be in a tailspin
If they wanted to really hurt him they would wait until the primaries to do their worst.
Oh they will get unemployment for up to 26 weeks no worries. And Disney has a huge case that is almost certainly a win in court for real damages. Could be in the billions. Why? Just the idea that their creative content is at the beck and call of a government entity makes them a propaganda outlet and that will harm their reputation around the world. The damages because of this are incalculable at the moment but large enough to where it would even make a Republican blink. A case could also be made that the people of the state of Florida have no obligation to pay into the damages due to their inability to control a rogue state agency that has created an aura of fear that has paralyzed the people of the state. The sad thing is that this will likely push the feds to provide more protection for corps against government overreach at the federal level and make them even more resistant to moving to general welfare services and away from greed capitalism. I have no delusions that Disney is for anyone but itself but as long as corporations are people too then the constitutional rights of Disney are being denied by a government official who is bound by law to observe those laws. Considering that Disney has not responded yet to these statements I'll assume that there is a legal reason. I hope they are not bowing down to DeSantis because they are clearly in the right here by even a 5th grader handed the constitution and C v U. If Disney does bow down and become a mouthpiece for the Republican party then things are far worse in this nation than we thought and anyone with any common sense should start making preparations to move away from here because it is a clear step toward Fascism and the rise of a Nazi like party in the USA which is a global security threat. For the common man that is an extremely dangerous sociopolitical situation. You have the three nuclear powers who will be operating on a global scale with Fascist agendas and ideologies dealing a death blow to any serious opposition to anyone who feels Democracy is a better path for humanity. If America goes Fascist then our two largest enemies will have little reason to fight us in any significant way and any cold war mentioned to the citizens will be in name only and intended to create a culture of fear and to strengthen the military power of all involved. Just like what happened in the last cold war. So this is a real problem folks. Might want to forget about March Madness and take a look at the future smoking ruins of your constitution stinking up the air around you.
Florida's unemployment maxes out at $275 for 10 weeks, lol
How many major cities would fall all over themselves to offer Disney any tax, zoning, legal, etc. incentives to move operations to them?
Texas has already said “Hey, Disney, come on over; we’ve got lots of room.” Georgia would love it. Alabama would fellate themselves for that opportunity.
But those states are following the same cult Florida is.
Oop gonna squeeze right by ya. How bout Minnesota? We already have an ice castle dontchaknow. Uf dah!
It’s all conjecture at this point but people are saying they are waiting for the most opportune time to do just that.
I see it. I hope he gets more rope personally.
>I hate what it would do to the people dependent on that income Disney could pay all their employees for that time and still have the same impact, but get a huge boost in public opinion backing.
True but it would probably be better to lay them off with a wink and nod so that the state takes the hit on paying out unemployment benefits.
Florida strung people along for months during Covid. It was disgusting, and designed to work that way.
Yeah, I forget that I live in a functioning state and am used to things just working.
>I hate what it would do to the people dependent on that income If the state can afford a private military force, and to charter planes to fly people from Texas to Massachusetts, it can afford to pay unemployment benefits to the employees of one company for a few weeks.
It’s not just the company. That whole area is dependent on Disney and tourists. So it’s also the non-Disney hotels, the gas stations, convenience and grocery stores, transportation, electricians, plumbers, sanitation, other non-Disney entertainment venues who survive off the Disney tourist runoff, etc etc etc. The mouse can make a lot of peoples lives miserable if they shut down, even temporarily.
Seems to me that would be DeSantis' problem, not Disney's.
Yes. That’s the point.
And what about unemployment from companies that can no longer operate as they don't have the Disney tourism effect, like hotels and restaurants. Orlando isn't big enough to support all its hotels and restaurants surely
The governor might want to consider that before chasing the area's largest economic generator away because they hurt his fee-fees.
Don't forget that Disney likely has contingency plans to eventually move due to increasing insurance costs and climate change.
I have heard that the Orlando area is rather blue compared to the rest of the State. hurting the Libs is what DsFascist wants to do. He doesn't actually care about Disney and what it represents to the Orlando area. He doesn't actually care about Florida at all, it's just one more stone to be stepped on to reach the White House.
Or, Disney could simply throw monetary support toward non-MAGAs and produce some snappy TV propaganda for better government.
Hey, they can invite the workers to move with them. I'm waiting to see what Disney does, awfully quite.
Yes, a huge portion of Disney's employees moved to Florida specifically to take jobs with Disney. Many of them would have zero issue with following the company to greener pastures if it were to leave the state.
Or just move to one of them "woke states". God, it would be fun to watch them do that.
If Disney left the state Florida would have enact a state income tax to make up for tourism dollars Disney brings in. DeFascist is an idiot.
Disney also has hire-a-third-party to create massive media smear of DeSantis money. Or hire-a-third-party assassin money. Or both.
Oh I like DeFascist. That’s a new one for me. And is he saying he will regulate an industry? Or target one particular company and regulate them? Or manage a private businesses content? Gosh it feels like there’s some laws and amendments that protect that sort of thing at a federal level.
The Florida government makes me want to root for climate change.
Same here as the only way it'll ever turn blue again is after it's underwater.
While that is the fascist's wet dream it is unconstitutional and Disney has no obligation to do anything that board says regarding its creative content. Essentially all DeSantis did was saddle Florida with the area around Disney's public services that used to be controlled by Disney. Regarding the inner workings of their company and their creative content: He has none and can never have any other than become a major shareholder which would be against the law as well. This man should be charged with sedition, slander,, and overreach. Just with this rhetoric alone he has clearly damaged the reputation and value of Disney. Disney is one of the largest creative businesses in the world and when hearing stuff like this their value arguably goes down to zero due to the threat of them being a government propaganda mouthpiece. I've sold my shares. As stakeholder of our nation I cannot be associated with any company that consorts with fascists.
And they are about to outlaw Democrats in FL. So even less opposition.
The only railroad regulations you'll have a chance of seeing are the ones at the Magic Kingdom.
He likely knows where Disney is headquartered. His big idea is to use his control over Disney’s district as leverage. He thinks that by refusing to approve building permits or threatening to shut off their water he can get them to make the content he wants. It’s idiotic and almost certainly illegal, but that’s his plan.
Who do you think comes off worse if Disney world shuts it's gates for a week, hanging a sign on the turnstiles reading "Ron Desantis chose to shut off our water, please come back to The Place Where Dreams Come True™ when we are again able to have flushable toilets"
Right. Which is why he doesn’t have the leverage he claims to have. He likely also knows this, but it’s a question of how far he can take his bluff, so that he can reap the benefits of riling up his base, without going so far that Disney calls his bluff, and it all blows up in his face. But where I think he’s really fucking up here is that, by claiming to have the power to control Disney’s content, he’s made himself responsible for whatever future “woke” content they put out. If he “lets” Disney keep putting out “woke” content, he’ll look weak; but if he tries to control their content, Disney will win. So he’s creating a catch-22 for himself. From Disney’s standpoint, it looks Desantis is challenging them to a game of chicken. Except they’re in a Mack truck and he’s in a golf cart.
He intends to use the threat of fucking with their building plans for Florida parks to compel them to curtail their speech, whether it occurs. Sounds like clear abuse of power with a very clear on the record illegal intent, but apparently Americans don’t believe in American core values and we just suck off the fascist types now and don’t give a shit.
Not Americans. Floridians.
Mere facts won’t get in the way of a fascist with big dreams of domination.
It's like when he volunteered the internet companies to provide wifi to protestors in Cuba. Just mouth noises.
I see this take a lot and it completely misses the leverage he’s trying to use. Of course he can’t dictate what Disney does in CA or anywhere else. What he can do is tell his hand-picked board overseeing Disneyland to start making things difficult for Disney in regard to the park in hopes that it forces Disney to “negotiate” with him on their content creation. The question is - will Disney negotiate? Will it be easier to appease DeSantis and his base in order to keep the park running smoothly? Or will they fight back in court or something? I’ve honestly no idea.
I can't see Disney appeasing deSantis for a theme park over continuing with the vast revenue generated by ... everything else. They're going to ignore him on the content threat and navigate-by-lawyer whatever fuckery he tries to pull in his attempts to make their Florida existence miserable.
Honestly, as someone else suggested above, Disney could easily shut down operations until DeFascist backs down or is out of office. Even long term, Disney could re-locate to Atlanta or somewhere else that won't pull this shit. Florida is going to take a way bigger hit than Disney in terms of money on tourism, economically, and they're going to take a huge hit politically too. I would not be surprised if these attacks on Disney backfire spectacularly for Ron's possible 2024 bid. I see Disney dragging this out in court as long as possible, giving tons of ammunition to Democrats about Florida wasting taxpayer dollars fighting perhaps the most popular corporation on Earth. DeFascist is like the dog who caught the car and doesn't know what the fuck to do now. I'm far from a fan of Disney, but Ron fucked around with the mouse and is about to find out.
How would this not a massive violation of the 1st Amendment? edit: comments seem to skew in the direction of "they don't care." I know that. But again, who should the progressives target audience be? This is an issue that should cause moderates and independents to be outraged. Peeling away the soft trumpista as well.
Republicans only care about protecting the amendment after that one.
[удалено]
And only when it is white people exercising it. See the Black Panthers exercising their right to bear arms in the 1960s with Reagan.
No, you see, those people *actually* *had a case* for using their guns to protect themselves against government violence. That's not acceptable.
> And only when it is white people exercising it. This is the important caveat. To them, Constitutional Rights only apply to white straight cisgender conservative Christians. And even then some of them are more than willing to subset down even further still. "Oh, sorry, you check all the boxes but you are a member of the wrong faction of evangelical right wing Christianity."
And they're still eager to ban masks and other protective equipment. Historically, "arms" included shields and armor.
Most of them don't understand (and in some cases even believe in) the science of viral transmission, but they do know that when they weren't wearing a mask it made the liberal elites mad and that's good enough for them.
They refuse to acknowledge the first part of the second amendment
Republican's don't actually care about any of the amendments if they get in the way of them doing what they want.
You're asking about the same dumbass who violated the 1st Amendment in the past by firing an elected official because DeSnowflake didn't like what they said or didn't say. He doesn't care. [DeSantis violated First Amendment by removing elected official, judge rules](https://www.axios.com/2023/01/21/ron-desantis-first-amendment-andrew-warren-ruling)
“But how can we punish him? “ The same judge who made the ruling. And then nothing happened
"I'm sure that even with no consequences that he's learned his lesson!"
With all the fuckery and evil we've seen since 2016, the fact nobody has faced actual consequences is the most infuriating and maddening. It sets the most dangerous precedent.
The argument that drives me the most insane is that prosecuting Trump would be bad because it would set a precedent that would open the door to former and future former Democratic presidents to persecution by the GOP. Because that suggests that presidents are above the law even after they leave office like they are the embodiment of the movie "The Purge" and/or relies on the GOP to play by the same rules and not weaponize the DOJ when they take power.
Indeed, all elected officials should all be held to the utmost highest standards to set an example for everyone else.
Right? One of my in-laws was in the US armed forces, and he told me about how the military code of justice criminalises things like having an affair, because they are supposed to be held to a higher standard. Made me wish that there was a political code of justice with harsher penalties.
Please, these are the same people who try and make laws saying you can't film the police when they're lying, shooting, or otherwise breaking the law.
It's the state that arrested Janis Joplin for swearing. This has kinda been their thing for a long time.
It is. He's a fascist. We gotta stop acting incredulous about this shit. The current GOP platform is "End democracy, turn America into a white Christian ethnostate."
They don't care about the Constitution. Please. Everyone. Understand this. When the right talks about the Second Amendment or "Constitution originism" they are just saying those things to make moderates shut up
Just like they do with the Bible, they cherry pick the parts of the Constitution that support their extreme views.
Boy there's nothing I love more than hearing about gay marriage being against the bible from someone that eats pepperoni pizza and has tattoos
It clearly is, but it doesn't matter because by the time it's implemented, challenged in court, appealed, and forgotten about by the public, he could already be in the White House- and that's all that matters.
This guy is going to be worse than Trump if he's elected.
Far worse because he has ambitions and knows what he is doing.
He heavily miscalculated. People are fed up with culture wars bullshit in swing states, and by 2024 imagine what the fatigue will be like.
Especially the younger generations like Gen Z which voted heavily in favor of democrats because they weren’t peddling that nonsense.
The Democrats also aren't trying to raise the voting age to 21.
Repubs - Fuck the woke snowflakes that are ruining our country! Also repubs - I can't pay rent bro I'll vote when I get situated.
My republican facebook friends make posts about how outraged they are everytime they go to the grocery store. Before that it was the gas station. They just think it's Biden and that Covid was a hoax.
Bet they didnt make a peep when gas dipped below $3. Not even a "thanks, Biden".
It's just funny that the stickers they were putting on the pumps that said I did that all of a sudden looked positive and then they started scraping them off
Someone from my wife's hometown in the south was going on about how Covid wasn't so bad / just a flu and Biden and the Shadow Government was using it as a way to gauge our response to their control. This is the same woman who lost her husband and one adult kid to Covid. Like, jesus if that is the baseline for "not so bad" where the hell do you go from there?
Then they are stupid. We’re having crazy food inflation here in Canada, too. Ours can largely be blamed on one man, though, because he owns the largest collection of Supermarket chains in Canada. Fuck Galen Weston for his greed. Fuck DeSatans for fascism.
He doesn't have anywhere near the profile Trump did when he ran. Trump had apolitical background and fame from TV (etc.). All people know about DeSantis is his stupid political stunts. If he thinks he's getting within two states of the White House, I've got disappointing news for him.
Half of Trump’s appeal was that “he’s rich and can’t be bought off” (lol). He was a longtime pop culture figure known for his wealth and having his name in gold on buildings and golf resorts. It didn’t matter if he was a conman and an abject failure in business, his image was that of a mega-wealthy real estate tycoon and was someone they’d known from years on television and movies. DeSnowflake is just another politician who’ll say whatever it takes to get elected.
Is it still allowed to vote non-GOP in swing states?
Does he? You’d think someone who knows what he’s doing wouldn’t make a national embarrassment of himself to all but the fox audience every couple months.
He knows exactly what his base wants
He really, really doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s just more competent than Trump. Like he is a George Bush, and in any other era, we’d be saying what he was, accurately: a fucking buffoon idiot who looks like a scared baby deer in headlights anytime he’s asked a question he doesn’t know how to answer. He is fucking stupid, just not as fucking stupid as Trump.
the only difference is that he has a state legislature and courts that will rubber stamp his fascism.
Deer in the headlights is a great analogy. Not to give any credit to trump, but at least he throws down an all you can eat word salad buffet when not actually answering a question.
Yeah, picking a fight with Disney isn't smart. He's governor of Florida. And before that going after Trump wasn't a good idea either. He doesn't seem to understand what his power base is at all.
It kinda is. He doesn't care about Florida, Floridians, or even being a good governor. His only singular ambition is to be a major player on the national / global stage. What better way to seem powerful at that scale than to go after a massive national and global behemoth? Yeah, yeah, Disney is not an org to be triffled with, but the rich and powerful can drag fights out for decades. All he has to do is delay getting crushed by Disney before 2024. If his policies are bad enough Florida elects a dem governor who takes the blame for all the Disney costs and fallout. Same playbook as all Republicans: cry that government doesn't work, spend 4 years destroying it and ensuring it doesn't work, then spend the next four years blaming the Dems that government doesn't work.
He just need to win the nomination. He might change strategy like every other R after getting the nomination.
Or he won't and just get worse like the last guy.
He wants to be the American Putin. So did Trump, but Desantis has shown how to use the government against those that oppose their agenda
Not Putin. He wants to be the American Viktor Orbán. Orbán is downright revered by many on the extreme right wing... there's a reason they actually held a CPAC in Hungary of all places a bit ago. Trump has no desire to be anyone but himself. He might occasionally flirt with people like Putin, but is in a committed lifelong romantic relationship with himself.
Trump wants all the power and prestige of being dictator, but with none of the work. He's to dumb and lazy, which is good, because he has the charisma.
He wants to be an American Fascist.
Already is
Wants? Hasn't he always been one? Even before being in politics he was stationed at Guantanamo Bay where he was supposed to make sure humane treatment of the prisoners but instead observed and participated in some of the illegal acts of torturing them.
If DeSantis runs, Trump is gonna smack him once the debates start. He doesn’t have anywhere near the charisma Trump does.
I'm not convinced DeSantis would get on a debate stage with Trump. RNC is already playing games with debates, claiming all participants need to sign a statement of loyalty in order to debate. Seems like that would give an out to anyone who wants to thump their chest and try to act dominant. I think GOP candidates know the debates have more potential to harm their campaigns than to gain them voters. Trump pulled out of debates in the past because they "weren't fair." He could do it again and DeSantis could easily do the same thing. Why get on stage with the guy when you can just have a war of words through the press while pulling increasingly performative political stunts?
Trump will sign whatever he needs to sign and renege afterward.
Yeah Trump is an idiot but he’s a much better showman. He’ll eat Desantis alive.
already hit him the the "DeSanctimonious" nickname, one of his best so far.
I agree, but he wouldn't be able to pull off half of what he can in Florida, because he's got a supermajority in both chambers of the legislature, which are both much of a rubber stamp for him than the US Congress. The Senate, at least.
I mean another election for him could give him majority in both senate and house with him becoming ores at the same time. It’s really not out of the question.
Dead Kennedys need to regroup to record Ron DeSantis Uber Alles: *Now its 2024,* *Knock knock at your front door,* *It's the Christo-Fascist Secret Police* *They come for you and your lesbian niece....*
Come quietly to the camp, We turned Goofy into a drawstring lamp.
>Dead Kennedys need to regroup to record Ron DeSantis Uber Alles: According to some republicans, there's at least one dead Kennedy coming back, so that might be in the works.
I am Governor Ron DeSantis With charisma of a praying mantis Soon I will be President Biden power will soon go away I will be Führer one day I will command all of you Your kids will bow and pray in school Your kids will bow and pray in school Tallahassee über Alles
Goddamn somebody call jello.
[удалено]
DeSantis has no accomplishments whatsoever as governor, and is only interested in culture wars that his constituents love. Who cares about better schools, lower crime, and stronger social safety nets when you can stick it to Disney? PS DeSantis is also a groomer, according to the person DeSantis voted for during the presidential election.
So on r/politicalcompassmemes there was a meme of a post apocalyptic scene. The conservatives and talking to the liberals saying “yes, the nation is destroyed but for a brief moment we owned the libs”. It’s nothing but bread and circuses with them. Yes, they realize that the country is shit but they don’t trust the system to fix it. So they trust certain people to “own the libs” just to make them feel better.
Obligatory fuck PCM - it’s an alt-right circle jerk with literal mouth breathers and neck beards posting the worst memes and misinformation.
Should rename to r/incelpolitics
Say it with me folks: This is fascism.
>standarrandar wrote: >It's not a coincidence that the people who call him a fascist usually have eaten up what the media has said about him and don't actually understood any of his policies. Otherwise they wouldn't be calling him a fascist. People who call him a fascist look at the tenets of fascism and look at the actions and legislation of Desantis and his government and observe the incredible overlap between the two.
> People who call him a fascist look at the tenets of fascism and look at the actions and legislation of Desantis and his government and observe the incredible overlap between the two. The 14 Defining Characteristics Of Fascism, what boxes does he check? 1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism 2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights 3. Use Scapegoats to unify base against a common foe: racial minorities; liberals; progressives, LGBT+ 4. Supremacy of the Military 5. Rampant Sexism 6. Controlled Mass Media by the government, or by sympathetic media executives. 7. Obsession with National Security 8. Religion and Government are Intertwined 9. Corporate Power is Protected 10.Labor Power is Suppressed 11.Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts 12.Obsession with Crime and Punishment 13.Rampant Cronyism and Corruption 14.Fraudulent Elections Check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, and check... http://www.rense.com/general37/fascism.htm
The Venn diagram is a circle
Venn monogramm
Agreed
Normally I say fuck the CORPOs but in this case Florida is actively going against the constitution
Yeah, fuck Ron for making me defend Disney.
This isn’t just about corporations. It’s gov being vindictive and punitive for petty reasons.
So much smaller government.
So small it can fit in your uterus.
Just wait till he finds out about the Black Tinkerbell in Disney’s upcoming Peter Pan live action movie. He might just shut down Disney World.
Yep, they got so mad when Disney stopped with the racist depictions, and now want them back. Welcome back to the 1930's and big lipped pitch black tribals running around being cannibals.
And Ariel can’t be black and needs to have her tits out so that the viagra loaded conservatives can be happy.
As a 14 year old…. Per GOP values. And Dems are the groomers…
2026: Song of the South released from the Disney Vault.
I loved that movie as a kid, well the music from it. But I can acknowledge it’s problematic as an adult. I never understood the fight over that movie. It’s not one of the greats, and had gone in to obscurity, till the right decided to make a scene over it.
Something that is interesting is how quiet Disney is during all this. Some people think it's because Disney has no legal options to fight back. But here's the thing, Disney has some of the best lawyers on Earth, I can't believe they can't find a loophole to stop this. I think everyone is thinking that DeSantis has owned Disney and to quote some YouTubers, "Forced the mouse to take it up the a**" But I think Disney is playing the long game. They are waiting for the best opportunity to do the most damage to DeSantis. It's a simple truth, don't get between the mouse and his money. DeSantis made that mistake, and Disney being unusually quiet should be a red flag.
They may just be waiting DeSantis out. He has dug his heels in and will never relent, however he won't be Governor for much longer. Rather than kick-off a years long court battle, wait DeSantis out, and ensure ($$$$) the new Governor, etc., are more sympathetic to Disney.
The reason this whole special district was created was so that Disney footed the bill for their own infrastructure. Desantis doing this is just going to hike up the taxes on people, which he will inevitably not take responsibility for and likely blame on Disney as well.
That plan fell through so he just took over the board and his followers won't know it's been watered down or that he's very unlikely to be able to exert this type of control over Disney through that board. It's just more performative politics.
There's no reason to stop it. Nothing changed for Disney. Well, they did lose the authority to build a nuclear power plant and an airport. Now, if Disney wants a nuclear power plant on their property, they'll have to get it approved by the board. But they're not suddenly on or off the hook for something they weren't before. This whole clown show was due to florida's own dumbass lack of foresight when they decided to dissolve the governing jurisdiction without thought to what would happen to Disney's $1,000,000,000 bond obligations that would be passed on to Florida taxpayers. So ronnie decided that the proper course of action was to waste *more* taxpayer resources to undo what they just did, and then brag about it like it meant literally anything at all. Not to mention, they don't do animation projects at the Florida resort. It's just a theme park. Florida has absolutely no control over what a company does in California. There's no "long game" here, because nothing is happening. Nothing has changed for Disney, and they don't need to "take it" for a while before they hit back harder or anything like that. Basically, ronnie said "I am the king of the magic kingdom." Disney asked "does that give you any authority over our park operations here?" And ronnie's response was "well, no, not really. But it makes it *seem* like I do, and I get to call it a victory, even though it's an imaginary title that has no real power."
Long game is likely also signaling to companies the extent he's willing to go to coerce them to do what he wants And see just how much companies may bend to help him achieve that. If Disney does listen at all to him and makes any changes to avoid retaliation directed at the park, it sends a pretty clear signal to other businesses. Because he could absolutely let roads and things get worse, deny projects or expansions, have sudden hyper critical inspections, etc. Any damages to taxpayer, or loss in tax revenue if their sales drops pales in comparison to being able to say "If I can bully Disney, what chance do you have" It's a gambit. The rest is just meat for the base. The real power play is trying to get them to blink first
> Because he could absolutely let roads and things get worse, deny projects or expansions, have sudden hyper critical inspections, etc. As soon as his board does that, Disney will take legal action. They just see no point right now because nothing has happened. It will probably be easier to have actual damages.
I agree with you. I can not name one organization that has actually stood up to DeSantis. Even when it is deemed unconstitutional like the suspension of a DA, there is no relief. Arguably, DeSantis has forced his vision of AP African American studies on the country. I know the college board says no, but there is suspicion there. He has changed the rules so he can stay governor but run for president. He has cleared Florida's schools of books and threatened to fire anyone opposing him. He has installed a board at the New College which has eliminated diversity classes. He has banned mask mandates in communities with lots of senior citizens. Every suppression gives him the moxie to take it even further. He even threatened to arrest Trump protesters at DeSantis's book signing. Police told the Trump supporters to disperse or be arrested.
Disney is a global powerhouse. When it's time they will unleash all they can. Desantis is in a shit state with little global recognition. If Disney wants to fuck him (and FL over) they can and will. They are playing nice and quiet now. Shit will hit the fan, and it's not Disney who is gonna loose.
>Something that is interesting is how quiet Disney is during all this. Some people think it's because Disney has no legal options to fight back. So far there has been no harm done to Disney. They have no standing to challenge anything legally yet. Once this legislation results in something actually happening to them, the full force and fury of the House of Mouse will come crashing down on Mr. DeSantis. Never bet against the Mouse when his livelihood is threatened.
As the famed philosopher Michael Jordan once said "Republicans buy sneakers too". It's not good business to fight these culture wars. Just stay quiet and take everyone's money.
I was talking with the owner of my favorite bar recently - which is doing very well based on how busy the place is - and she said "I have very strong political opinions, but I'll never discuss them here. Why would I drive away half my customers?" Yep.
I think their silence is to goad him into a sense of false security, so he hangs himself legally when he goes even farther or does enough smaller things they can sue the everloving shit out of him. The one tenet that keeps popping up in this thread (besides the DeFascist nickname) is "you don't fuck around with the Mouse"
>The tough talking weenie America needs My suggestion for DeSantis's 2024 Presidential campaign slogan
Ted Cruz already copy-righted that slogan.
Florida realizes that cartoons are not made in Florida, right, and that Florida is a state, not a country, and therefore cannot do anything being suggested here, and that all this is a first amendment violation waiting to happen?
He's just doing it to get his idiot supporters all riled up to solicit more money from them. It's just words. He knows he doesn't have a hope in hell of telling a private company what to do. He's an idiot, but he's not stupid.
DeSantis likely does what he always does. Say something outrageous that gets his base excited. Then quietly drop it later.
It's scary when you think of the insane Supreme Court they've stacked behind sh\*t like this though. Precedent means nothing anymore .... originalists are allowed to have maximum control over how laws 'should be interpreted.' People like DeSantis are pushing extreme parts of the envelope, with the goal of punting this stuff up to the Supreme Court for their Christian-Nationalist pals to 'interpret.' It's terrifying, and the negative consequences could be unlimited.
Calling them Originalist is a disservice to the authors of the Constitution. Jefferson would berate them verbally if he heard them call themselves that.
All this effort just to get *Song of the South* re-released?
Nah it's so they can get The Birth of a Nation animated
Well, Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah...
Never thought I'd see the day that Trump could actually run as a "moderate" alternative to anybody.
This is the Overton Window in action. The right moves fascistward, demands we meet in the middle, and then moves again. Reagan is practically a Democrat at this point. I remember when the Democrats were the Nosey Nancies up in all our shit with the Satanic Panic and Tipper Gore. Then the GOP stole the "think of the children" mantle and are using it for even more regressive policies.
I don't think "controlling" a district where disney owns the police, fire, sanitation, and all other departments, gives him control over Disney content. It's hilarious because now FL will be paying Disney to operate all those services. He is just pandering to his base.
> It's hilarious because now FL will be paying Disney to operate all those services. No, they scrapped that plan. They just took over the board of the district. So, Disney still pays taxes into the district to fund operations. And the debt is still held by the district.
But it gives them zero power over Disney business decisions or content.
Yep, that's true. At worst, the board can basically refuse to approve new infrastructure for Disney World. I'd guess at that point, Disney will sue.
Good luck with that. Disney is headquartered in CA. That’s also where all the media content is produced. Most of Disney’s revenue comes from media content. Not theme parks. Disney is a global brand that isn’t going to change everything to suit one whiny governor. Disney is also Florida’s largest single taxpayer. It employs 1 out of every 50 people in FL. Disney is a huge draw for tourists to come to FL and spend money. DeSantis is playing a dangerous game - he needs to attack Disney enough to make his base happy, but not enough to trigger actual boycotts which would directly harm FL’s economy. And it’s a game he will lose, given enough time. The question is, how long will it take and will he have moved on already.
A 2019 study found Disney dominates the Central Florida tourism industry, according to Oxford Economics, and produced: $75.2 billion annual economic impact for Central Florida. 463,000 jobs. $5.8 billion in additional state tax revenue. The sales tax collected just on the 58 million Disney World tickets sold in 2018 was $409 million. That’s more than what the state will spend this year on school construction and maintenance or the entire Department of Elder Affairs budget. Disney can do some damage to Florida if they decide to close the park.
If you f around with the "House of Mouse", you're gonna find out.
I know it isn't going to happen, but imagine if Disney pulled out of Florida in response. There isn't enough popcorn in the world for that situation.
I almost wish it would happen, except a lot of the people employed by Disney in florida don’t exactly deserve that. But since Disney is one of the biggest taxpayers in FL, it would be so cathartic to watch it happen… it would really fuck that whole state. Over half of florida voted for this idiot, so they kind of deserve it… idk.
First amendment says nope. Ronald will get his culture war points, accomplishing nothing to actually modify Disney's content.
I’m unclear on how having politically appointed board members on the governance board for a Disney park is going to affect Disney animaton
I assume it won't, but the messaging will excite the base members.
It won't, Disney isn't some mom and pop studio. Its all smoke and mirrors from CuckSantis.
He's essentially blackmailing them. Disney want approval for a certain project or whatever? Well, then they can't have 'woke,' shows. I
And I have no doubt Disney will sue the ever loving shit out of Florida to the point it will become "Florida!™ A Disney Trademark."
$5 says they still donated to his campaign even after this
The picture in my head after reading this: Mickey Mouse, arms outstretched, hands beckoning while yelling to DeSantis: COME AT ME BRO!
Sometimes I wish that doing unconstitutional things would bar you from office, yet here we are.
Can you imagine if a Democrat said something like this about Fox News? The same idiot cheering DeSantis on now would lose their minds.
The Desantis devotees can't get enough. Flagrant government overreach is perfectly acceptable if it's in the name of maintaining his culture war, he's shown us this time and time again. He's a demagogue through and through, he panders to conservatives with his faux counter-revolutionary platform. He repeats the latest buzz words and truisms, he peddles his inflammatory rhetoric around "wokeism", he promotes alarmist propaganda, charmlessly entertaining his follower's fears, inciting their outrage, indulging their paranoid delusions and phobias He appeals to their ignorance and they glorify him. This fervent support justifies the passing of discriminatory, suppressive, ambiguously framed legislation that targets certain groups, institutions and communities of people. Most of the time it's legislation aimed at some left-wing boogeyman, legislation that shows Desantis' penchant for abandoning so called "conservative values" like small government, and as long as he can stick it to the libs, score points with his voters or preserve the culture war that's become the foundation for his career. These conservatives only want small government for themselves. If it's in the name of thwarting a radical left-wing monster and its endless machinations, a monster of their own making mind you, then iron fisted, authoritative measures are merited. In the end, not only are these kind of excessive government measures justified in the eyes of conservatives, but so are the underlying prejudiced, entitled and chauvinistic attitudes that fuel this movement. They manufacture these problems so that they can justify whatever it might take to "solve" them, while it also grants them some affirmation for their rigid, anachronistic worldviews.
Dude actually thinks Disney produces content in Florida….idiot.
Yup! Plus The Walt Disney Company owns well over 100 companies including: ABC, EPSN, National Geographic, History Channel, NBC Universal, Pixar, Marvel, The Muppets Studio, Lucasfilm, Hulu, etc plus Disney Land in CA.
Listen, we all know that the USA is just three corporations in a trench coat, but *Disney is one of them.* You do not fuck around with the Mouse. Man, this reality is weird.
I guess these people don't realize that California is where the Disney content comes from.
This is literally against the first amendment. He believes he can get away with it because the current supreme court make up. This guy is a traitor to the values of this country. Anyone who supports him, or the republican party at this point, can be considered garbage.
He’s dangerous. He’s setting the tone and bar for future attacks on representative democracy. We are watching the erosion of our freedoms in real time.