Man versus mouse

Written By:

Oliver Wiseman

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Man versus mouse

https://thespectator.com/newsletter/man-mouse-desantis-disney-dc-diary-05-01-2023/

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When Florida governor Ron DeSantis first squared up to Disney last year, he presumably hoped to deliver a short, sharp counterpunch. Instead, he finds himself locked in a protracted legal battle with one of the most recognized and beloved brands in America, which also happens to be one of his state’s largest employers.

A year after the governor first locked horns with the mouse, the row risks overshadowing DeSantis’s carefully planned presidential launch, reportedly scheduled for mid-May. Last week Disney announced it was suing DeSantis, arguing that DeSantis is punishing the company for criticizing a Florida…

When Florida governor Ron DeSantis first squared up to Disney last year, he presumably hoped to deliver a short, sharp counterpunch. Instead, he finds himself locked in a protracted legal battle with one of the most recognized and beloved brands in America, which also happens to be one of his state’s largest employers.

A year after the governor first locked horns with the mouse, the row risks overshadowing DeSantis’s carefully planned presidential launch, reportedly scheduled for mid-May. Last week Disney announced it was suing DeSantis, arguing that DeSantis is punishing the company for criticizing a Florida law that places restrictions on how gender and sexuality should be taught to young children. Today, the DeSantis-appointed board that oversees Disney World announced it is retaliating with legal action of its own.

Politically, the fuss has moved to center of the stage. At the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night, Joe Biden quipped that he “had a lot of Ron DeSantis jokes ready, but Mickey Mouse beat the hell out of me and got there first.” Not that funny, but a sign that America is being introduced to the Florida governor as the man taking on the mouse.

On Disney, there is clear water not just between Ron and Don, but between DeSantis and the field; 2024 contenders have lined up to caution tut-tut at DeSantis’s action against Disney.

With every move the Florida governor makes, it becomes clearer that Ron DeSantis no longer occupies the “moderate alternative to Trump” lane. He is running to the right of the former president on abortion and, in this Disney case, on the culture wars too.

It would, though, be a mistake to view the Disney row’s impact on the nomination fight as primarily ideological. The risk for DeSantis is what he sold to his state as a straightforward stand against woke capitalism has become something much messier. Advocates for DeSantis’s hard line have maintained that Republicans have for too long been reluctant to use the levers of state power against corporations who side with the left. But pressing the anti-woke button has proved far more complicated than DeSantis promised. On the line is DeSantis’s reputation as a pugilist who wins the fights he starts and a conservative who, unlike Trump, doesn’t get caught up in personal feuds. But is laser-focused on delivering for his state.

DeSantis owed his rise to the pandemic. He took a brave stand and won a clear victory. But lockdowns seem like a long time ago now: something DeSantis knows. Hence his self-styled war on woke. But in this fight, whether it’s with school boards or Disney CEOs, the outcome is not as likely to be so clear-cut.

On our radar

2016 ALL OVER AGAIN It’s been quite some time since Donald Trump had anything to do with CNN. But the match that worked so well for both sides in 2016 is back on this cycle, with the network announcing a town hall with the former president at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire on May 10. Kaitlan Collins will host the program. That sound you can hear is dozens of Fox executives shifting nervously in their chairs.

CRUZ GETS 2024 CHALLENGER Democratic congressman Colin Allred is reportedly set to announce a run against Ted Cruz as soon as this week (as teased by Cockburn in his gossip column two months ago). Were he to win the nomination, the former NFL player who represents the Dallas suburbs in Congress would find himself in one of the election’s highest profile and most expensive races. Were he to fail in toppling Cruz, Allred could follow the Beto model: spring-boarding from statewide failure into an attempt at national relevance. How’s that working out for you, Beto?

GERONTOCRACY GIBE Roy Wood Jr., the comedian given the difficult job of making tipsy journalists laugh at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington on Saturday: “When the retirement age went up two years to sixty-four [in France] they rioted because they didn’t want to work till sixty-four. Meanwhile in America, we have an eighty-year-old man begging us for four more years of work.”

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McCarthy delivers full-throated defense of Ukraine funding

Much has been made of Republican ambivalence on the question of Ukraine. But the party’s leader in the House was in no mood to mince his words today. Taking questions in a press conference on a trip to Israel, Kevin McCarthy was asked by a Russian journalist whether he supported funding Ukraine’s defense. He delivered a blistering response, attacking Russia’s “killing of the children” and urged Moscow to “pull out.” He emphasized his support for continued funding for Ukraine saying, “the rest of the world sees it just as it is.”

–OW

Taiwan, and the West, win in Paraguay

Santiago Peña won Paraguay’s presidential election on Sunday, garnering almost 43 percent of the vote, well beyond Efraín Alegre, his main challenger, who received about 28 percent. The scale of the win is notable given that polling showed Alegre either ahead or neck and neck with Peña. A third candidate, Paraguayo Cubas, came in at about 23 percent.

Peña’s conservative Colorado Party has been at the helm since the late 1940s, interrupted only by the left-wing Fernando Lugo from 2008 to 2013. While many issues were at stake in the election, including corruption and the economic direction of the country, the one that stood out for America was Taiwan.

Paraguay is the last South American nation to recognize Taiwan instead of China and is the largest country to maintain diplomatic relations with the island. Alegre had committed to pursuing ties with Beijing instead in order to open up more trade opportunities for Paraguay’s soy and beef farmers. Peña said he would preserve ties with Taiwan, and his victory prevents — at least for the time being — the loss of yet another Latin American diplomatic partner, after a slew of countries including El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras switched to China.

Beijing has made severing Taiwan’s thirteen extant diplomatic ties a top priority, dangling economic incentives as bait that are far greater than Taipei could hope to offer. As a result, the few countries that still recognize Taiwan are largely small island states for which Taipei’s smaller checkbook still goes a long way.

While the issue will surely arise again — the underlying incentives to switch to China remain — Peña’s win gives the island democracy some breathing room. It also gives America time to figure out how it will contribute to preserving Taiwan’s ties in Asunción going forward.

–John Pietro