On Thursday, news broke that Disney had canceled an office complex project that was set to add 2,000 jobs to Florida’s economy. That was the headline at least. Of course, there was more to the story.
In reality, the project had been placed on hold back in 2021 and postponed to 2026 due to various financial concerns. When current CEO Bog Iger took back over the beleaguered entertainment company, that was the final nail in the coffin because he long thought the entire project was a terrible investment. Obviously, he’s right, as building large office buildings post-COVID is like setting money on fire. The fact that Disney has been hemorrhaging money overall didn’t help either, and nixing the entire project was an easy cost-cutting move.
Regardless, leave it to the press to suck up to Disney and misrepresent the entire situation. That’s exactly what The New York Times did by conflating Gov. Ron DeSantis’ battle with the company with the decision to cut the project. If you read deep enough, the Times reveals there’s no solid connection, but once a narrative is established, it’s hard to neutralize it.
Read far enough into the story and you'll find the real reasons Disney pulled the plug: 1) It was a Chapek brainchild which Iger hated; 2) affected employees didn't want to move; 3) Disney is losing money and the first two reasons make this an easy cost-cutting move. https://t.co/fpezHiJfO9
— Varad Mehta (@varadmehta) May 18, 2023
But while I’d expect the mainstreampress to spread misinformation in an attack to take a cheap shot at DeSantis, I don’t expect that from Republicans. Unfortunately, some in the GOP felt attacking the Florida man was more important than continuing the fight against woke corporations.
For example, here’s Mike Pence and Alyssa Farah practically begging DeSantis to cave to Disney.
Mike Pence, who is reportedly close to announcing a long-shot presidential campaign, comes out and sides with woke Disney (and Democrats) over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. pic.twitter.com/w6Ik4TiK0g
— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) May 19, 2023
Having a major corporation come out and say they left your state because of the uncertain business environment is a huge blow when one of the biggest selling points on the Right abt “the free state of Florida” has been the business environment.
— Alyssa Farah Griffin (@Alyssafarah) May 19, 2023
even Donald Trump fell into that rut because he’s so blinded by his desire to best DeSantis in the Republican primary. Here’s his spokeswoman, Liz Harrington, playing the same game with the misleading reports about Disney’s project cancellation.
President Trump Is Always Right pic.twitter.com/9shL8V1B2E
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) May 18, 2023
Yeah, except Trump wasn’t right. Disney has not announced that “no more money will be invested in Florida.” Rather, they still have plans to spend $17 billion in the state on projects that actually make financial sense. Further, there is not even a hint of a “slow withdrawal or sale of certain properties or the who thing.” What Disney did was make a business decision that would have gotten made no matter who was Governor of Florida.