Yesterday, the Florida Legislature passed legislation enacting Governor DeSantis’ personal vendetta against the Disney corporation, dissolving the special district status it enjoys, where it supplies all its own services, such as security and sanitation. Disney is a huge economic boon to the state, drawing millions of tourists to Florida every year. DeSantis wanted to punish Disney for criticizing his anti-gay law. Some pundits think this will backfire because it is likely to raise taxes in the counties that will have to pay for those services.
But Greg Sergeant of the Washington Post says that DeSantis’s retaliation against Disney is very dangerous for democracy. This is the behavior of a banana republic thug. Will he next punish corporations that encourage diversity, inclusion, and equity, another of his obsessions?
He writes that DeSantis’ thuggishness is admired by other Republicans, and that’s ominous:
What’s at issue is the use of such a policy as retaliation against Disney for taking a stand on DeSantis’s law. The measure bars or restricts instruction on sexual orientation and gender orientation in a way that’s plainly designed to chill even the most routine discussion of LGBTQ topics.
Disney opposes the law on the grounds that “it could be used to unfairly target” LGBTQ kids and families. And this is an absolutely understandable fear.
But here again, the law’s specifics are beside the point. You don’t have to back Disney’s stance to agree that the company should not be punished with a change in government policy for expressing its opinion of the law.
So what does this tell us about a possible GOP future? Well, on multiple fronts, the Republican Party is growing much more inclined to use state power to fight the culture wars, well beyond just DeSantis.
In an interview published this week, J.D. Vance told Vanity Fair that he envisions a kind of “de-Baathification” or a “de-woke-ification” of the “institutions of the left.”
Vance, who’s running for Senate in Ohio in the New Right nationalist vein, said that if Donald Trump is elected president, he should “fire every single midlevel bureaucrat” and “every civil servant in the administrative state,” and “replace them with our people.”
It’s worth taking this seriously. Other members of that New Right movement recently told me they envision a ramped-up use of the state to impose a post-liberal moral order, justified by hyperbolic visions of the supposedly hegemonic power of the left over our institutions.
Meanwhile, GOP elected officials seem to be moving this way. Congressional Republicans have vowed retaliation against companies for opposing Georgia’s voter suppression bill and for cooperating with the congressional investigation into Trump’s coup attempt.
And DeSantis is a front-runner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. Importantly, he’s flaunting his willingness to use state power this way as a selling point for the presidency.
So let’s run a thought experiment. What might it look like if a President DeSantis took this view of the administrative state and decided to wield his power this way?
Donald Moynihan, an expert on the administrative state at Georgetown, says you can envision various scenarios. Such a president, he said, might use regulatory agencies staffed with right-thinking political employees (which Vance explicitly wants) to harass or investigate companies perceived as “culturally disloyal.”
Another possibility, Moynihan said, might be to change the tax status of liberal-leaning foundations. Those are already another favorite target of right-wing populists.
Faced with a president “who’s fully willing to use the powers of the administrative state,” Moynihan told me, such foundations might refrain from advocating for various causes or fund certain types of research, “because it’s not worth the potential risks.”
What if such a president were backed in this project by congressional leadership? Josh Chafetz, a Georgetown law professor who studies Congress, says you could see legislation targeted at offending companies, and even if it didn’t survive the courts, it could still function in a punitive way.
Those companies would sink large sums of money into litigating against such measures, even as Congress relied on taxpayer-funded lawyers on their side, Chafetz told me, meaning “the onus of the expense would fall on the companies, which would have a chilling effect.”
So a lot is at stake in how DeSantis’s war with Disney turns out. To glimpse the future, just look at what DeSantis is saying and doing right now. And given all the accolades he’s getting from the right, does anyone doubt that this could get a whole lot worse?
Da Mouse should be looking for a new home …
I wonder what the backlash will be from Orange County tax payers after their taxes spike.
DeSantis is the Putin of Tallahassee. Most unfortunately for all of us, others are competing for the title. The fear in Florida, even before this week’s votes, is palpable. Foundations, educational institutions, individuals are all uncomfortable saying anything in opposition to the “right” perspective, even if they feel that way. People are being silenced; they do not want to associate with anyone willing to state an oppositional point of view. DeSantisopia has wormed its way into everyday life and will only get worse as November approaches. The Climate Crisis is real, but the death of democracy as we know it has come.
Previously, I thought that hysterical op-eds about a looming civil war were ridiculous. Now I’m not so sure.
and so scary that the larger world sees the same thing coming: violent nationalism and “cleansing” are both ideas on the rise
DeSantis cannot endure a difference of opinion. He is a narrow minded authoritarian with an intolerant, heavy hand. My hope is that DeSantis’ out of control culture war blows up in his face. I doubt this will happen in Florida. He is an unprincipled opportunist. If he moves on to the national stage, my hope is that the public will understand the danger he presents to democracy and the country.
There is an obscure, obsolete English language word that means a legally binding concurrence: astipulation. The word should probably be revived, but with another s added. The stipulation of one’s agreement with an ass, with extremely negative consequences for not doing so. Just ask Disney. Or the Florida Department of Health data scientist who was fired for publishing Florida Covid rates and then had her home raided with armed police when she continued to do this on her own.
raided by armed police
Did you mean to type “astipulation” or “a stipulation” in your first sentence?
The word is “astipulation”
This is the guy who has been anointed by the big money on the right to be your next president. As of this month, he has raised over 100 million, most of this going into the political action committee Friends of Ron DeSantis, which, being a PAC, can receive unlimited donations.
In comparison, Crist, who is running against him for governor in 2022, has raised about 6 million.
Crist left the Florida Republican party after he dared to shake O’Bama’s hand when Obama visited the state after sending hurricane relief. It was a sign of a slippery slope to Jim Crow for Republicans.
Maybe Disney will write a check for Crist or Fried.
Good to read that Josh Chafetz and Donald Moynihan appear to want to have impact by warning/advising Americans.
Now, about their own house, the religious Georgetown University, what have the two men written in opinion about Georgetown Law’s appointment of Ilya Shapiro (Koch network)?
Please Floridians, keep DeSantis confined to FL, do not inflict him on the nation. The same goes for Trump (though he does have an estate in NJ). Why do people keep voting for these monsters?!
Nope. The big Republican money is behind him. He will be the 2024 Republican nominee for president.
Maybe I’m optimistic . . . but the front runner 2 years prior to an election may not be the nominee. A lot can happen between now and then. There has been a lot of discussion about DeSantis on Morning Joe):
https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/florida-house-passes-bill-stripping-disney-of-self-governing-status-138306629839
Oops – posted wrong link:
https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/-big-part-of-the-right-doesn-t-like-freedom-when-opponents-exercise-it-david-french-138322501695
Well, Disney certainly has the money to fight this in court. We shall see.
Florida is a place where we really cherish our freedom [to agree with an all-powerful state].
Do you mean the “freedom” to impose beliefs on others? The “freedom” to censor free speech? The “freedom” to say “my body my choice” while enacting laws to control women’s bodies? I don’t call any of that freedom.
Neither do I. I was being satirical. Warm regards!
It’s just the Freedom to Oppress … it’s in the Cons-titution …
LOL
What happened to Disney in Florida shows American corporate leaders the clear and present danger that Republican ideologues and ideology present for corporations and for corporate leaders. Any corporation that contributes support to any Republican politician is contributing to the end of corporate freedom and profitability.
This is a very dramatic move. What it demonstrates to the Republican Party is that this is a power player who will not back down. Exactly the guy that the current party wants. Someone who plays hardball. A Trump with brains.
Do you find this troubling? You should.
Yes, Bob, & this is way beyond troubling.
Ras-Putin in Russia
Traitor Trump who refuses to shut up and stop lying.
Abominable Abbot in Texas
Deplorable DeSantis in Florida.
Because of those four and more Republicans, I have concluded that anti hero assassins only exist in movies.
Florida Teens and All USA Teens Now Have A Library That Will Forever Stand Up Against Any Hate In Any State. Welcome To Brooklyn!
The Brooklyn Public Library has announced that any teenager in America is now eligible for a Brooklyn Public Library card.
Teens can sign out ebooks + audiobooks from wherever they live.
The move is designed to combat censorship, with some titles listed as “always available.”
DeSantis is another strong-man-autocrat-wanna be. Crying “personal freedom” and “religious freedom” he wants to impose his own biases and prejudices on others. This trend in the GOP is extremely dangerous for our democracy.
Agreed!!!
This reminds me of something that happened at the NY Times a year or two ago…employees, you know, the paid “help”, objected to the inclusion of an editorial by a sitting United States Senator on the editorial page. For some reason, the idea that the READERS of a newspaper get to read all sorts of opionion, and decide for themselves who makes the better argument, has been lost to the new paradigm of only “one politically correct opionion” that EVERYONE MUST follow. The woke owners of the Times actually listened to the employees and prevented the publication of any more right/conservative opinions on their editorial page. Now, in Florida, we have a large corporation, Disney, that makes movies, streams content, runs theme parks, etc. — wisely, they took no position on DeSantis’ recent education legislation. But, “woke” millenial/gen X Disney employees insisted that Disney do something about that tyrant, DeSantis. So the unqualified management of Disney, forgetting that their first duty is to maximize shareholder value, waded into politics. DeSantis, who loves being “king” of Florida, decided that a California based corporation wasn’t going to tell HIM how to run anything in HIS state. DeSantis took away their sweethart tax district. As a Disney stockholder, I suffered losses. I should’ve seen this coming…I have let my investment advisor know that she should get me out of any corporations that worry more about “social credit scores” than they do the bottom line of profit/loss.
Mike, do you prefer corporations and politicians who are sleeping on the job, completely indifferent to today’s problems? I applaud Disney for defending their employees against a publicity hound and cheap shot pol.
I prefer corporations that remain neutral in political and social matters.
Unfortunately, government is making corporations subject their employees to mandated “diversity” and “racial awareness” training which is nothing more than convincing white workers they’re somehow guilty of every social inequity and injustice, even the ones that happened before they were born.
If you lived in Nazi Germany, would you commend the corporations that remained silent?