DeSantis says in New Hampshire diner there’s ZERO chance he’s backing down in Disney war
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took his war on Disney to a New Hampshire diner, blasting the company for taking ‘corporate welfare’ after it announced it was pulling the plug on a $1 billion campus in this state.
The attack came just days before DeSantis is set to launch his official presidential campaign, on a day when he once again went after ‘woke’ culture and said ‘men are men’ in his home state.
‘They want to have their own government at Disney, they’ve had their own government for 50 years. It’s massive corporate welfare, and we’re not going to do that,’ DeSantis said Friday.
He made his comment at the famed Red Arrow Diner, a venue that hosted rival former President Donald Trump weeks ago as the two men circle each other in a state where Trump holds a substantial polling lead, but where DeSantis announced a raft of local political supporters. .
Retail: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis visits the Red Arrow Diner in Manchester and meters voters as he prepares to launch a presidential campaign. He took more shots at Disney after the company announced it was pulling the plug on a $1 billion campus in his home state.
His pushback came a day after his battle with Disney and its powerful CEO Bob Iger experienced a major escalation, after the company announced it would scrap a new $1billion planned Orlando campus that would have brought 2,000 jobs to the state.
Development officials said the average salary there would be $120,000 in a complex totaling $1 billion – the type of home-state development politicians might tout at a ribbon cutting or brandish as proof of their political juice.
DeSantis is already trying to run on Florida’s record following the end of the legislative session, touting its low unemployment rate and comparing it favorably Friday to New York’s.
Standing behind the counter before a screen flashing ‘famous visitors,’ DeSantis said of Disney: ‘They’re going to live under the same laws as everybody else. They’re going to pay their fair share of taxes and they’re not going to govern themselves. We the people are going to govern, and to put one corporation on a pedestal and let them be exempt from the laws is not good policy,’ he said.
DeSantis spoke with customers at an event where media members also filled the establishment.
His trip to the early primary state came days before an expected campaign launch.
The Walt Disney Co. and its powerful CEO took its war with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to a new level Thursday, announcing it will scrap a new $1billion planned Orlando campus that would have brought 2,000 jobs to the state
Trump, who holds a 20-point lead in New Hampshire according to an April poll, blasted DeSantis again on his Truth Social platform
It’s not free market economics. And it’s not something that our state is going to be involved in. And so we will not change from that. They can do whatever they want. I know people try to chirp and say this or that. The chance of us backing down on that is zero.
The company’s stunning decision follows a year of attacks from Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida legislature, with Disney filing a First Amendment lawsuit against him and other officials last month.
The company cited ‘changing business conditions’ in its statement on Thursday.
In other comments Friday, DeSantis tore into ‘woke’ culture on campus, and said his Florida has ‘got moxie,’ riffing on a magazine piece about his state as he prepares to champion his home state with a launch in Miami.
‘Basically they said, you know, it’s the free state of Florida where woke is broke, where men are men and where business is booming,’ he said. ‘And I’m like, you know what? That’s not a bad slogan.
DeSantis’ chief rival, former President Donald Trump, tore into him again on Friday.
‘Sorry, but Ron DeSanctimonious is UNELECTABLE, and everyone knows why,’ Trump wrote on his Truth Social website.
‘I’m leading Biden by 11 points. RAN TWICE, WON TWICE, AND DID MUCH BETTER THE SECOND TIME (ELECTION WAS RIGGED!). MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! he wrote, describing an election where he trailed Biden by 7 million votes and beat him 306-232 in the Electoral College.
Trump leads DeSantis by 56 to 19.9 in the latest RealClearPolitics average. That lead has only grown since Trump was found liable for sexual abuse in the E. Jean Carroll trial while still facing a federal January 6 and federal documents probe, a New York trial related to his business, and a Georgia probe of his election overturn effort there.
Trump led DeSantis 42-22 in New Hampshire in a UNH poll released last month.
Trump visited the same Manchester diner three weeks ago, where a crowd developed both outside and inside. Back in 2016, when he made an appearance there, an exiting patron yelled ‘Enjoy your burger, racist!’ while he was eating.