- California Governor Gavin Newsom was in Florida on Saturday.
- He told Insider about the battle between DeSantis and Disney World.
- “There’s a new sheriff in town. Mickey Mouse is back on top,” Newsom said.
PALM BEACH, Fla. — Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom of California has said he put Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis back in his place after creating a loophole for the company to retain control of its land. I admired Walt Disney World’s “Master Class”.
“I think there’s a new sheriff in town,” Newsom told Insider on Saturday, in a not-so-subtle reference to comments DeSantis made when he appointed a new board to oversee Disney’s districts.
“It’s Mickey Mouse, back on top,” Newsome added.
Walt Disney Studios is headquartered in Burbank, California, but the company has a powerful influence in Florida through the jobs and tourists Disney World brings. News broke this week that a law giving the governor of Florida the power to take over Disney World’s governing board is unlikely to take effect.
But the battle isn’t over yet. DeSantis promised “you haven’t seen anything yet,” and the state’s attorney general demanded texts and emails about Disney’s machinations with former board members. there is
DeSantis spokesperson Taryn Fenske said the Disney-brokered contract “may have material legal flaws that make it legally void.”
In a wide-ranging interview, Newsom told Insider that he was confident DeSantis would retaliate. But he argued that Disney’s operation hurt the governor politically. slide in the polls When placed in a virtual matchup for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
“It’s a bit of a yellow flag, if not a red flag, for DeSantis, and it’s also a very dangerous time politically, because he’s having a hard time right now,” Newsom said, adding that he’s given a nationwide push to DeSantis. Attention to “excessive hype.”
Newsom said he had an “emotional reaction” to hearing about DeSantis’ threat to Special Olympics.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images, Octavio Jones/Getty Images
DeSantis showed up in New York on Saturday night
DeSantis is on a book tour widely seen as a soft launch for the 2024 presidential election. As part of that tour, he often talks about his feud with Disney.his next stop Located in Long Island, New York.
The Florida governor set Disney’s example after saying Disney leaders will work to repeal the Parent’s Rights in Education Act. identity and sexual orientation.
In response, DeSantis took aim at Disney’s special tax district, which essentially allows it to run its own government with arrangements that do not apply to other theme parks. Disney was free to take a position on the bill, but “they are not free to force us all to subsidize their activities,” DeSantis explains his position. said inside.
He and the Republican-dominated Congress first tried to dissolve the Disney district last year, but when it became clear that the county’s residents could pay more taxes, he decided to drop the board this year. Disney signed a bill on behalf of the board.
Newsom accused DeSantis of getting involved in feuds with Disney to gain attention and displaying “arrogance” and “semi-authoritarian tendencies” in his “going too far” policies. It said it was defending itself against “attacks on our private freedom of expression as a corporate citizen.”
Noting the removal of certain books from classrooms in Florida, Newsom said, “It’s not just people in classrooms who have to worry about what they say. They are trying to ban not only speech, but speech.”DeSantis is broadcast part of the content.
Asked about what Newsom said in his latest interview, the governor’s office pointed to comments DeSantis made earlier. book tour event “My job is to stand up for the kids in my state,” DeSantis said Thursday in Georgia.
The governor also said it would be appropriate for state governments to intervene in “awake” business practices to “give individual citizens space to participate in society and speak their minds.” I think that it is
DeSantis and Newsom – right and left darlings respectively – have frequently clashed over policies on crime, COVID-19, abortion and LGBTQ rights.Newsom a year ago inspired disney A parental rights law has gutted the company’s plan to move 2,000 employees from California to Florida.
Newsom met the insider in a conference room at the oceanfront O’ Palm Beach Resort & Spa. The Democratic Governors Association was having a meeting there.Newsom is DGA policy chairman.
The Democratic governor has frequently criticized DeSantis’ policies in Florida, and DeSantis last month accused people of being “found on a beach vacationing somewhere in Florida” despite doing so. ridiculed. The Palm Beach area is so chock-full of big donors that political events are held on both sides of the aisle.
Newsom told an insider that he came to Florida “to remind people how bad elected officials are.”
He next went to other red states, including Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama, where his new political group democracy campaign, We fight against looser gun laws, abortion restrictions, and restrictions on LGBTQ rights.
The DGA meeting was held less than seven miles south of Mar-a-Lago, the private club where former President Donald Trump lives. Trump was indicted on Thursday, but Newsom said he wanted to reserve comment until he read the sealed indictment.
Otherwise Newsom gave me kind words He praised Trump for his accessibility and support for California during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Regarding a possible 2024 Republican nomination race between the former president and DeSantis, Newsom predicted that Trump would “clean up his watch.”
