On Thursday, news broke that Disney had canceled an office complex project that was set to add 2,000 jobs to Florida’s economy. That was the headline at least. Of course, there was more to the story.
In reality, the project had been placed on hold back in 2021 and postponed to 2026 due to various financial concerns. When current CEO Bog Iger took back over the beleaguered entertainment company, that was the final nail in the coffin because he long thought the entire project was a terrible investment. Obviously, he’s right, as building large office buildings post-COVID is like setting money on fire. The fact that Disney has been hemorrhaging money overall didn’t help either, and nixing the entire project was an easy cost-cutting move.
Regardless, leave it to the press to suck up to Disney and misrepresent the entire situation. That’s exactly what The New York Times did by conflating Gov. Ron DeSantis’ battle with the company with the decision to cut the project. If you read deep enough, the Times reveals there’s no solid connection, but once a narrative is established, it’s hard to neutralize it.
But while I’d expect the mainstream press to spread misinformation in an attack to take a cheap shot at DeSantis, I don’t expect that from Republicans. Unfortunately, some in the GOP felt attacking the Florida man was more important than continuing the fight against woke corporations.
For example, here’s Mike Pence and Alyssa Farah practically begging DeSantis to cave to Disney.
It’s just astonishing to me that in the year of our Lord, 2023, there are still Republicans who are so spineless. Watch Pence speak and read Farah’s tweets, and the message is clear: The GOP should do whatever corporations want and operate as bought-and-paid-for lackeys of the donor class.
Is that the kind of party you want? Because it’s not the kind of party I want. Heck, I’m pretty sure we just spent the better part of a decade expelling that weak, spineless contingent from the leadership of the GOP.
And yet, even Donald Trump fell into that rut because he’s so blinded by his desire to best DeSantis in the Republican primary. Here’s his spokeswoman, Liz Harrington, playing the same game with the misleading reports about Disney’s project cancellation.
Yeah, except Trump wasn’t right. Disney has not announced that “no more money will be invested in Florida.” Rather, they still have plans to spend $17 billion in the state on projects that actually make financial sense. Further, there is not even a hint of a “slow withdrawal or sale of certain properties or the who thing.” What Disney did was make a business decision that would have gotten made no matter who was Governor of Florida.
Again, is the Republican Party going to be the party that pushes back on woke corporations or not? Because it’s starting to feel rather swampy in here, and that includes what’s coming from Donald Trump. I’m pretty sick and tired of being told we need to bend the knee to corporations that spit in our faces because they might cut a few jobs or not donate money to the RNC anymore. Grow a stinking backbone already because this fight is too important to give up for menial political gain. Grooming children isn’t a joke, and if Republicans can’t be counted on to stand up against that, what can they be counted on to do?