As the feud between Florida governor Ron DeSantis and
Disney continues, Disney has decided to finally pull
a nearly $1 billion project out of the state of Florida.
And they're doing so in order to send a very clear message that Ron DeSantis's
political stunts and retaliation against Disney is not something that they're in
favor of and not something that they will stand for.
Now, no one is happier about this than Donald Trump, and he engaged in some
proper dunking, which we'll get to in just a moment, so buckle up for that.
But first, let's tell you a little bit about the nearly
$1 billion project that Disney was planning on accomplishing in Florida.
So apparently, the $864 million office complex,
known as the Lake Nona Town Center, was supposed to involve the relocation
of more than 1000 employees from Southern California.
The complex would have brought more than 2,000 jobs to the region,
with $120,000 as the average salary,
according to an estimate from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.
So the complex was first announced back in 2021 and
was set to open in 2026, but it appears that is not gonna happen.
So let's get into, as you can see, Florida was gonna get something out of that deal,
it was gonna increase jobs, but Disney had a lot to gain as well.
Of course, Florida is a little more pleasant for
business interests who are looking for tax cuts and less regulation.
Most of the affected employees complained bitterly about having to move from
Southern California to Florida.
Some quit, but Disney largely held firm, partly because of a Florida
tax credit that would have allowed the company to recoup as much as 570
million over 20 years for building and occupying the complex.
When he announced the project back in 2021, Josh D'Amaro,
Disney's theme park and consumer products chairman,
cited Florida's business-friendly climate as justification.
And don't be mistaken, Disney still has some pretty massive plans for
investment in the state of Florida.
So the same person, D'Amaro, noted that 17 billion was still earmarked for
construction at Disney World over the next decade,
growth that would create an estimated 13,000 jobs.
He said, quote, I hope we're able to.
And so the withdrawal from Lake Nona Town Center is likely a warning
shot to DeSantis, but nonetheless, Donald Trump loved it and
used it as an opportunity to dunk on DeSantis.
Before we get to that, Cenk, what do you think so far?
>> Well, I have mixed feelings.
So I liked it, Bob Iger was strong because I'm so
tired of the theater, everything is theater.
And in this case, he wasn't bluffing, it wasn't theater.
He's like, okay, you're gonna threaten me?
Okay, why don't I take a billion and 2,000 jobs off your hands and
see how you like damn apples, okay?
So I appreciate that strength, but at the same time,
I hate that corporations bully states on a regular basis.
This happens to be very, it's got a huge spotlight on it, and
it's because DeSantis originally did it for theater.
He doesn't actually hate Disney, he loves taking their corporate donations,
their campaign contributions, all of those things.
The Republican Party loves their campaign contributions.
And that's why when DeSantis did this theater,
a lot of the Republicans turned on them, the Republican politicians did.
They're like, how dare you?
That's a beloved corporation we all serve.
And so when Disney says, give me $570 million in tax cuts, otherwise, I
don't come, I hate that move, I hate that almost all the governors give into it.
>> Yep.
>> And there's also a little bit of chicanery here because they also had
construction problems on that project and
a labor revolt because their employees were like, you're gonna move.
Remember they're not creating new jobs, they're just saying 2,000 jobs from
California, and they were gonna move them to Florida.
But those people actually lived in California, and they're like,
we don't want to move to Florida, and a whole bunch of them quit already, right?
So the project was on the edge anyway.
So it's a good opportunity for Iger to come and go, yeah,
I'll show you who's boss on a project he might have canceled anyway.
>> Yeah, that's fair to say, that's absolutely fair to say.
But with that said, I mean, everything in politics is about optics.
And so the way that Disney can spin this, and honestly,
that's what it appears is happening as we speak,
is Ron DeSantis catching feelings over our statement against
the Don't Say Gay bill is really hurting the state of Florida, right?
And so that's what they're doing here, it's a bit of a game.
And what's helping them in this effort, in the optics, is Donald Trump.
So I wanna get to him because he loved this.
And so the Trump War Room on Twitter,
which is Trump's 2024 campaign Twitter account,
basically wrote this, RON DESANCTIMONIOUS GETS CAUGHT IN THE MOUSE TRAP.
The Culture Of Losing Continues.
DeSantis's weakness leads to job losses and loss of $1 billion.
Okay, so let me just note,
Ron DeSantis taking jabs at Trump by saying that Republicans need
to get past the culture of losing definitely got under Trump's skin.
Even though he didn't name Trump, even though he didn't mention Trump's name,
it didn't matter, Trump heard it, he hated it, you can tell by that tweet.
The Trump campaign also issued a statement called President Trump is Always Right,
which simply reposted a truth social post by Trump from last month.
And I'm not gonna read all of that, but he's basically going after
Ron DeSantis and making fun of him in this battle with Disney.
>> Yeah, so, look, first of all, we were right about the culture of losing
being a good tagline for DeSantis, and you could tell by Trump's reaction.
But is DeSantis strong enough to fight back against Trump?
Because either he's gonna sit here and eat his meatball and like it, okay?
>> My God.
>> Or he could go back at Trump and go, so you want groomers in our school?
I hate this, don't get me wrong.
>> No, I don't like that strategy.
>> No, I hate the strategy, but it would work with right wingers, okay?
And he could say, my God,
I can't believe Donald Trump wants our children to be exposed to gay people.
Okay, now, for us decent human beings, we'd be more turned off by that, right?
But the base loves it, that's why he did it in the first place.
So are you gonna fight Trump or are you gonna surrender?
And my guess is DeSantis is a fairly regular politician,
he's not gonna fight back.
And he's chastened because this is the one thing that he lost all
the Republican support on.
His main strength is he has the establishment on his side,
he's got establishment media, he's got right wing media,
he's got right wing politicians on his side.
And as soon as he touched the third rail, which is corporate donors,
they're like, they got fried on it.
And so he's gonna run for the hills, and so
score one for the mouse easily defeats the meatball.
>> Now, final thing that I wanna mention in the context of this story,
because I was entertained by it, and I think you would appreciate it as well.
Donald Trump also, or Donald Trump's War Room,
[LAUGH] decided to go after DeSantis for a very good reason, which was this.
Trump War Room tweets a screenshot of yet another awkward Ron DeSantis face.
This is the more recent one that we also talked about, and
I love it, I enjoy it, and I will allow it.
>> Yeah, so look, it's a Hobson's choice, they're both horrible, right?
But we do like it when they hit each other.
>> Absolutely.
>> And I like this new trick that Trump's doing,
because if he tweets on Twitter, it could cost him a ton of money
because Truth Social depends on him only putting posts there, right?
Otherwise, their valuation collapses and Trump loses a lot of money.
So he's invented the Trump War Room that says things like the Sanctus and
the Sanctimonious.
It's obviously him,- >> Yeah.
>> [LAUGH] Okay?
>> Truth Social depends on Trump and depends on Trump.
>> [LAUGH] okay, hey, Ron Desanctimonious, that's a freebie from us, okay?
>> Feel free to take it.
>> That's right.
>> Yeah. >> But he won't because he's too scared.
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Grumpy Cat says, Ron's meatballs just got smaller.
>> My God.