Disney sidesteps DeSantis Board

[Rogue 9]

I don't think Trump has ever really said it, but a common thought is that the 2011 White House Correspondent's Dinner was the moment he decided to make a run at it.

They spent the whole night roasting the shit out of him, and Trump 2016 became a crusade against Obama.

Was that the Comedy Central one that featured Marlee Matlin and Michael Sorrentino? Because he was in way over his head, they spent more time roasting each other than they did Trump.

Seth Meyers hosted that year, but the reason it pissed Trump off is because Obama released his birth certificate that week and spent his whole speech roasting the birther movement in general and Trump in specific as its leader.

[LadyTevar]

Disney has smacked Florida in the pocketbook.

Disney Scraps $867mil Expansion in Florida

The Walt Disney Company has scrapped a plan to invest nearly $1bn (£806m) to build a new corporate campus in Florida, it announced.

The reversal comes amid an escalating feud between the entertainment giant and the state's Republican-led government headed by Ron DeSantis.

The plan would have seen about 2,000 employees relocate to a Disney-owned complex at Lake Nona, near Orlando.

Mr DeSantis' office has called the announcement "unsurprising".

The cancellation was announced in an internal email to employees on Thursday.

The email, seen by BBC News, said the company's decision was the result of "considerable changes" that have taken place since it was first announced.

In the email, Josh D'Amaro, the head of Disney's theme park division, also referred to "changing business conditions".

While the email does not mention politics or Mr DeSantis, it has been interpreted as alluding to mounting tensions between Disney and Florida lawmakers.

"Disney announced the possibility of a Lake Nona campus nearly two years ago. Nothing ever came of the project, and the state was unsure whether it would come to fruition," Mr DeSantis' office said in a statement.

"Given the company's financial straits, falling market cap and declining stock price, it is unsurprising that they would restructure their business operations and cancel unsuccessful ventures."

The internal Disney email noted that the decision to scrap the project comes after "new leadership" at the company, referring to ex-CEO Bob Chapek, whose sudden departure in November shocked Hollywood.

The Lake Nona campus, which had not been built, would have been a new home for employees at the firm's secretive theme park research and development arm, known as Imagineers, who were asked to move from California to Florida.

Mr D'Amaro's email said relocation would no longer be required and it would discuss next steps with those he said had already done so.

Many of the jobs that were supposed to relocate to Florida were higher paid, white collar and tech-focused positions.

The Orlando Business Journal reported the project was valued at about $867m and that the average annual wage for the positions was $120,000.

Bob Iger, the former chief executive who made a stunning return to replace his successor, Mr Chapek, has announced sweeping changes to boost the firm's business, which has come under pressure as the traditional movie and television industries decline.

Disney launched a streaming offering, Disney+, in 2019, but it remains loss making.

Unlike other media companies, Disney has been shielded by the popularity of its theme parks, which have kept the firm profitable.

But the value of its share price has halved since peaking in March 2021, as investors predict a tough road ahead.

Earlier this year, Mr Iger announced a plan to save $5.5bn, involving a sweeping reorganisation of the company's operations and roughly 7,000 job losses.

Among the cuts, announced separately on Thursday, was the closure of a 100-room Star Wars-themed immersive hotel experience at one of its Florida theme parks.

The relationship between Disney and Florida - where it employs more than 70,000 staff - began deteriorating last year after Mr DeSantis condemned the company for opposing a state law banning discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in public schools.

In April, Florida also moved to take control of the Reedy Creek Improvement District - covering the 25,000-acre area known as Walt Disney World - a self-governing zone, with utilities and a fire department.

State lawmakers voted to give Mr DeSantis the power to appoint members to the district's governing board, removing that authority from landowners, of which Disney was by far the biggest.

The move prompted a lawsuit from Disney, accusing state officials of conducting "a relentless campaign to weaponise government power against Disney in retaliation for expressing a political viewpoint unpopular with certain state officials".

Days later, Florida filed a countersuit against Disney.

Disney's parks in Florida have long been one of its most-popular attractions, bringing in about 50 million visitors each year.

In a call with investors a week ago, Mr Iger questioned Florida's interest in having Disney grow in the state.

"Does the state want us to invest more, employ more people and pay more taxes, or not?," Mr Iger asked.

Aubrey Jewett, a politics professor at the University of Central Florida, said he believed Mr DeSantis and his allies "did not think about the longer-term ramifications of their actions" when they moved to "punish Disney for speaking out".

"They weren't going to move the Disney World complex someplace else. But as Disney has just shown, that's not the only investment and jobs they were talking about creating in Florida."

Erin Huntley, the chair of the Republican Party in Orange County, where Disney World is located, said "it's a different ballgame" now compared to when Walt Disney first realised the area's potential in the 1960s.

"People are still wanting to come here, no matter what battles are going on," she told the BBC. "Central Florida is more than just Disney."

Mr DeSantis is expected to announce a 2024 presidential bid next week. His likely rival, Donald Trump, said in a statement that Mr DeSantis was being "absolutely destroyed by Disney" and that his "political stunt" of battling them was "all so unnecessary".

[LadyTevar]

The article mentions that Disney is closing the 100-room STAR WARS Hotel, the one that they'd set up as a LARP that no one liked because the rooms were too small for the price and no one wanted to stick around in the hotel when they had so many other things to do in the Park itself.

It was a decent idea, but it just. Did. Not. Work.

[Solauren]

Part of the dip in Disney's share price is going to be Covid related. It will recover in time.

But stopping nearly 1B in development? That's a fuck you to Flordia's current leading political party.

[LadyTevar]

Part of the dip in Disney's share price is going to be Covid related. It will recover in time.

But stopping nearly 1B in development? That's a fuck you to Flordia's current leading political party.

Oh yeah.. that's a big Fuck You DeSantis.

They were ALSO going to open some affordable housing complexes in the area, non-tourist stuff, residential Only.

[Rogue 9]

Part of the dip in Disney's share price is going to be Covid related. It will recover in time.

But stopping nearly 1B in development? That's a fuck you to Flordia's current leading political party.

Better tell DeSantis, or at least his spokesman, who dismissed it as unsurprising from a "failing business," in the "go woke, go broke" sort of theory.

[LadyTevar]

Part of the dip in Disney's share price is going to be Covid related. It will recover in time.

But stopping nearly 1B in development? That's a fuck you to Flordia's current leading political party.

Better tell DeSantis, or at least his spokesman, who dismissed it as unsurprising from a "failing business," in the "go woke, go broke" sort of theory.

"Failing Business"??!
Wow... the mental break there is staggering.

[Khaat]

Somewhere it was pointed out that DeSantis is done as governor in 2024 anyway, until Florida overturns their term limits (2 consecutive terms rendering him ineligible for a third directly after.) They did overturn the limitation that kept him from declaring candidacy and "still keeping his day job" as governor, so I wouldn't be surprised.

[LadyTevar]

Somewhere it was pointed out that DeSantis is done as governor in 2024 anyway, until Florida overturns their term limits (2 consecutive terms rendering him ineligible for a third directly after.) They did overturn the limitation that kept him from declaring candidacy and "still keeping his day job" as governor, so I wouldn't be surprised.

I wonder how long before they overturn the "2 and Done" term limit? Probably very soon after DeSantis loses his Presidential Bid?

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Somewhere it was pointed out that DeSantis is done as governor in 2024 anyway, until Florida overturns their term limits (2 consecutive terms rendering him ineligible for a third directly after.) They did overturn the limitation that kept him from declaring candidacy and "still keeping his day job" as governor, so I wouldn't be surprised.

I wonder how long before they overturn the "2 and Done" term limit? Probably very soon after DeSantis loses his Presidential Bid?

What are the chances Trump would try to get the 22nd amendment repealed if he becomes president again?

[Solauren]

Somewhere it was pointed out that DeSantis is done as governor in 2024 anyway, until Florida overturns their term limits (2 consecutive terms rendering him ineligible for a third directly after.) They did overturn the limitation that kept him from declaring candidacy and "still keeping his day job" as governor, so I wouldn't be surprised.

I wonder how long before they overturn the "2 and Done" term limit? Probably very soon after DeSantis loses his Presidential Bid?

What are the chances Trump would try to get the 22nd amendment repealed if he becomes president again?

I'd say 50/50 if the Republicans control the house

[Eternal_Freedom]

Doesn't repealing an Amendment need another amendment? (I tihnk that's how Prohibition worked). And doesn't that need 3/4ths of the state legislatures to approve it? Frankly, if the US gets to the stage when that many would go along with it y'all are totally fucked already.

[Rogue 9]

Doesn't repealing an Amendment need another amendment? (I tihnk that's how Prohibition worked). And doesn't that need 3/4ths of the state legislatures to approve it? Frankly, if the US gets to the stage when that many would go along with it y'all are totally fucked already.

Yes, and 2/3 vote of both houses of Congress. It wouldn't happen. Doesn't mean the MAGA caucus wouldn't introduce the bill.

Alternatively, 3/4 of the states have the ability to call a constitutional convention and bypass Congress, but once they do the delegates can do basically whatever the fuck they want, so while the convention can ostensibly be called for a specific purpose, it's a hazardous thing to do. This has never been done since the Constitution was first established.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Thanks to Trump a lot of things have been done that haven't happened before in the USA so can't rule anything out.

[Rogue 9]

Fortunately, to take that route the MAGA wing of the GOP would have to control 2/3 (I was mistaken; 2/3 of the states can call for one but 3/4 have to approve the results) of the state governments, and they're not quite there. It only takes a quarter of the statehouses to be controlled by sane people to prevent that from happening.

[Steve]

Fortunately, to take that route the MAGA wing of the GOP would have to control 2/3 (I was mistaken; 2/3 of the states can call for one but 3/4 have to approve the results) of the state governments, and they're not quite there. It only takes a quarter of the statehouses to be controlled by sane people to prevent that from happening.

Apparently there's a group of them who are shooting for that. To take control of enough states to force a Constitutional Convention.

[Rogue 9]

There is, but they've got a tough row to hoe. They need four more statehouses to call the thing (worryingly doable if they flip the Virginia senate, Pennsylvania house, and Michigan statehouse entire) and eight more to pass anything such a convention would produce. The slight complication is that unless they have a sunset date included (and a nakedly partisan convention would have no incentive to do that) amendments can hang around indefinitely waiting for states to approve them, so the ebb and flow of statehouse control might eventually pass amendments once proposed, but they'd have to break Democratic control the west coast or New England to get enough to do it.

[bilateralrope]

Florida Man Attacks! Ron DeSantis Says “Zero” Chance He’ll Back Down In Disney Battle; Wants “Woke” Judge In Mouse House Suit Tossed

By Dominic Patten
May 19, 2023 3:46pm

If you figured the war between Disney and Gov. Ron DeSantis was going to take a breather for the weekend, think again.

A day after the Bob Iger-run Mouse House gave the aspiring White House candidate a pro-business black eye and pulled the plug on long-time plans to move 2,000 California staffers to Florida and build a $1 billion new facility for them, DeSantis is trying to throw haymakers on the trail and in the courts – trying being the operative term.

Daring Disney to “do whatever they want,” the ambitious Sunshine State governor said up in New Hampshire today, adding “I know people try to chirp and say this or that, but the chance of us backing down from that is zero.”

Straggling way way behind former mentor Donald Trump among registered Republicans as their preference for the 2024 GOP nomination, the much mocked DeSantis has uniquely managed to unite Disney, the ex-Celebrity Apprentice host and many in his own MAGA party against him in distain for the attacks on Florida’s largest private employer.

As a clearly deeply engaged and sometimes taunting Iger has said repeatedly, and as has been reiterated in filings commencing when Disney took DeSantis and his hand-picked replacement Disney World jurisdiction board to federal court on April 26, the governor has been conducting a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” against the company based on its eventual opposition last year under ex-CEO Bob Chapek to the discriminatory ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law.

“They want to have their own government in Disney,” DeSantis declared on Friday in a stop in the key 2024 primary state. “They’ve had their own government for 50 years. It’s massive corporate welfare. We’re not doing that.”

What it also seems that DeSantis is also not going to do is let the judge in the Disney instigated suit remain in the place.

“The Court’s unprompted suggestion, on two separate occasions, that the State punished Disney by eliminating its ‘special status’ gives an appearance of partiality that would lead a reasonable observer to question whether the Court is predisposed to ruling that the State retaliated against Disney,” exclaims a motion Friday from Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody to disqualify Chief Judge Mark E. Walker (read it here).

Don’t stop me if you’ve heard this before, kind of.

The federal District Court judge is indeed the second judge in this matter in as many weeks.

A few days after Disney first filed its action against DeSantis and others, U.S. Magistrate Judge Martin Fitzpatrick recused himself. Judge Fitzpatrick on April 29 revealed that he is related “in the third degree” to an individual employed by one of the parties in that suit, and stepped aside.

In this instance, Team DeSantis feel that Judge Walker won’t be opened minded enough about the governor trying to throw shade on Disney by constantly calling them a “woke” for disagreeing with him and his red meat policies.

“Many of the allegations feature quotes from elected officials who described Disney as being a ‘woke’ corporation or having a ‘woke’ ideology or viewpoint; indeed, the word ‘woke’ appears more than a dozen times in the amended complaint,” claims in the Florida AG of Disney’s pretty amended complaint of May 8 and its depiction of DeSantis expressed opinions on the company. “Days before Disney filed suit, this Court in a written order expressed …its views about political rhetoric directed at ‘woke’ ideology, calling ‘woke’ the ‘boogeyman of the day,'” adds the motion of why Judge Walker should exit the case.

All of which sounds a bit more wimp than woke for a recently reelected governor who is poised to formally announce his bid for the White House in the next week or so.

Disney did not reply to a request from Deadline for comment today on both DeSantis pseudo-campaign comments or the motion filing.

With presidential magic kingdoms in his eyes, and thinking he had a winning issue with the base, DeSantis earlier this year stripped the company of control of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the special district that has overseen its Florida theme parks, resorts and other property for the past 55 years, and appoint his own members.

After being out maneuvered by Disney in the 11th hour over what power his board would actually have, DeSantis then quickly encouraged state legislation to void development agreements that gave the company autonomy over its properties and surrounding land. Amidst the game the game of corporate and political chicken, soon after Disney slapped DeSantis’ and team with that suit claiming its First Amendment and other constitutional rights had been violated in retaliation for opposition to the state parental rights bill a.k.a. “Don’t Say Gay”

Or as Iger put it nearly poetically in Disney’s last earnings call on May 10: “Does the state want us to invest more, employ more and pay more taxes or not?”

Looks like DeSantis doesn't understand that the tactics that work on the campaign trail aren't effective in the courtroom.

[Solauren]

DeSantis doesn't seem to understand that people want jobs and the freedom of speech.

Therefore, picking a fight with his States largest Employer, for Saying what they want, and affecting Jobs (and costing Jobs), makes him an undesirable candidate.

After all, he now has a record of picking fights with major employers, and causing them to change plans and cost jobs. All the US would need is him becoming President, and then picking fights with Walmart, Amazon, Apple, IBM, Microsoft, and a few of the other major employers, and then they go 'fuck it, we're moving operations to Canada' (with Walmart closing on the way out).

That would kill the United States economy, all for one mans ego.

[Ralin]

Sounds like the perfect Republican candidate.

[Highlord Laan]

DeSantis doesn't seem to understand that people want jobs and the freedom of speech.

People do. Republicans are perfectly happy with being able to persecute whomever their pastors tell them to. They're too stupid to think for themselves. Barely even human, really.

[madd0c0t0r2]

DeSantis doesn't seem to understand that people want jobs and the freedom of speech.

Therefore, picking a fight with his States largest Employer, for Saying what they want, and affecting Jobs (and costing Jobs), makes him an undesirable candidate.

After all, he now has a record of picking fights with major employers, and causing them to change plans and cost jobs. All the US would need is him becoming President, and then picking fights with Walmart, Amazon, Apple, IBM, Microsoft, and a few of the other major employers, and then they go 'fuck it, we're moving operations to Canada' (with Walmart closing on the way out).

That would kill the United States economy, all for one mans ego.

For working class white republicans, that's attractive. The mega-corps don't care about you or yours. You're getting poorer anyway under hyper capitalism, why not wreck the elites while you are at it?
A simialr motivation in some of the uk brexit vote I think.

[Broomstick]

I wonder how long before they overturn the "2 and Done" term limit? Probably very soon after DeSantis loses his Presidential Bid?

What are the chances Trump would try to get the 22nd amendment repealed if he becomes president again?

I'd say 50/50 if the Republicans control the house

Nope, not even close

This is why:

Doesn't repealing an Amendment need another amendment? (I tihnk that's how Prohibition worked). And doesn't that need 3/4ths of the state legislatures to approve it? Frankly, if the US gets to the stage when that many would go along with it y'all are totally fucked already.

And...

Yes, and 2/3 vote of both houses of Congress. It wouldn't happen. Doesn't mean the MAGA caucus wouldn't introduce the bill.

Is is possible in theory? Sure. In reality, though, so much more is required than simply the Republicans controlling Congress and the White House. Also, the more sane portion of the Republican Party would also know that repealing PotUS term limits would apply equally to a Democrat in that position as a Republican.

[Ralin]

In reality, though, so much more is required than simply the Republicans controlling Congress and the White House. Also, the more sane portion of the Republican Party would also know that repealing PotUS term limits would apply equally to a Democrat in that position as a Republican.

You realize, of course, that long-term their goal is to just block any successful Democrat president from taking office?

[LadyTevar]

In reality, though, so much more is required than simply the Republicans controlling Congress and the White House. Also, the more sane portion of the Republican Party would also know that repealing PotUS term limits would apply equally to a Democrat in that position as a Republican.

You realize, of course, that long-term their goal is to just block any successful Democrat president from taking office?

Yes, that is the point EXACTLY -- to stop the Democrats from ever being elected again.

However, this is all about NATIONAL Politics, and not FLORIDA Politics, so it might be better off in another thread.

My question that started this sideline was if FLORIDA could/would drop THEIR Term Limit, not if the GOP Would change the Constitution (even if they would in a heartbeat).