Former Vice President Mike Pence took a shot at his fellow GOP presidential candidate by siding with Disney in its nasty feud with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a stance that isn’t likely to endear him to socially conservative voters who are fed up with “woke” corporations forcing their left-wing values on Americans.
The Sunshine State Republican took off the gloves with the groomer-friendly entertainment colossus that chose to enter the political arena when it attacked him over the so-called “don’t say gay” parental rights bill and soon found out that it isn’t smart business to bite the hand that feeds you after DeSantis moved to revoke the special privilege of the tax district near Orlando where the company’s sprawling theme parks are located.
In a column for the libertarian website Reason, the ex-veep invoked iconic Republican President Ronald Reagan to condemn DeSantis for using government to punish Disney, perhaps inadvertently aligning himself with the company that built a golden reputation with its family-friendly content but in recent years has served as a powerful propaganda machine for transgenderism and the sexualizing of children.
NEW OP-ED: Confidence in Market Principles | @reason https://t.co/1vVQToOkB0
— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) June 26, 2023
In touting the success of recent conservative boycotts against Bud Light and Target, Pence stated, “Another prominent example is Disney, a company that trumpeted its left-wing values by condemning conservative education and parental rights reforms in Florida. Governors around the country are right to pursue these policies and protect our kids. But when the governor of Florida decided to launch a full-scale campaign of governmental retribution against Disney, he wasn’t taking a page out of the conservative playbook—he was following in the footsteps of the radical left.”
“In doing so, he not only risked billions of dollars of investment and thousands of jobs for the state, but even more importantly, he turned his back on the principles that make our country great,” Pence added, suggesting that money is more important than principle when it comes to defending traditional American values and protecting kids from sexual predators.
A sampling of Twitter user reactions could be an indication that defending Disney might not be the key to Pence’s electoral success.
Isn’t Pence smart enough to know that all DeSantis did was remove a special privilege that only Disney enjoyed? It was a conservative move.
— 10% for the Big Guy (@KeepUrDoctor) June 26, 2023
Serious question; Does a guy like Pence know how hated he is by Republicans out here in the real world, or is he that isolated?
— Magic Man (@hellinoisdotcom) June 26, 2023
Thanks, Mike Pence, for making it clear that DeSantis is different from people like you, who bend over backward to take whatever a big corporation asks for, and then smile and say thanks afterward.
— ridiculously good-looking (@Conservagator) June 26, 2023
lol. Lmao, even. I am sick and tired of corporate America defecating on my values. The muh free market worked on me in 1997. Not so much these days.
— John (@Opposed_Twin) June 26, 2023
Your “belief in market principles” seemed to have dissipated in March 2020 when the Task Force that you led shut down our country. The fact that multinational corporations were still able to operate while small businesses were shuttered seem to dovetail with a Corporatist mindset https://t.co/iPGfTCwhgl
— Hampton Prescott (@hampprescott) June 26, 2023
Another corporatist clown who thinks a corporation is entitled to special privileges that others don’t receive.
— Theo Ford supports #DeSantis2024 (@ChimayBlue) June 26, 2023
Government intervention is playing favorites… ending the special favors is not.
— Skell (@Skelly363) June 27, 2023
Just tone deaf to the base. Tone freaking deaf.
— NantucketShop (@NantucketShop) June 26, 2023
Are you smoking crack with Hunter?
— Rudy Mut (@JT8000000009) June 26, 2023
Pence isn’t the only 2024 GOP White House hopeful to suck up to Disney. His fellow Trump administration alum, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley tried to stick it to DeSantis by offering to use her clout to facilitate a move of its theme parks from Florida to the Palmetto State.
Nikki Haley makes pitch to Disney after it sues Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL):
“If Disney would like to move their hundreds of thousands of jobs to South Carolina … I’ll be happy to meet them in South Carolina and introduce them to the governor and the legislature.” pic.twitter.com/Mbv7pumRHL
— The Recount (@therecount) April 26, 2023
Common sense dictates that when one finds himself standing in a hole the answer is to stop digging, Pence just keeps asking for a bigger shovel.
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