DeSantis’ tactical blunder has sunk his battle with Disney: ex-GOP lawmaker

A tactical error helped fuel blowback against Ron DeSantis over the Florida governor’s battle with Disney, a former Republican state lawmaker said.

DeSantis has been stuck in a brutal legal fight with the Happiest Place on Earth since March last year when the company spoke out against Florida's "Don't Say Gay" education bill. DeSantis hit back, effectively taking over a special zone that oversees Disney – Reedy Creek Improvement District that's now known as the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.

The district had effectively let the theme park govern itself. Disney has been fighting DeSantis changes in court.

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This week, the governor said that he wants the fight to end.

Former Florida state Rep. Anthony Sabatini writes in a column for The Telegraph that the fight has gone on so long, it's led to a “lethargy of voters.”

The self-described conservative is a supporter of the merits behind DeSantis’ squabble with Disney, but argues that a poorly conceived strategy led to the “Never Back Down” Florida governor being forced to back down on his feud with The Mouse.

“Here in the greater Orlando area, Republican voters will tell you that they feel the fight has gone on for far too long: they’ve grown tired of hearing about it, absent a successful resolution,” Sabatini writes.

“But the fight against so-called ‘woke capital’, spearheaded by DeSantis and other GOP politicians, is still an important cause that a large majority of conservatives support. It’s not the battle itself that Republicans are sick of, but the manner in which it was fought.”

Sabatini attributes the failure to a timeframe that he writes “didn’t make sense then, and makes even less sense now. Kicking the can that far down the road was a big mistake that DeSantis almost certainly regrets.”

Sabatini suggested this episode indicates that DeSantis lacks political skills.

“Passing a bill to dissolve the tax district over a year out bought him time to work out the details of a plan. But the delay brought growing public weariness over the issue. Even with a righteous or popular cause, the public can get bored and move on,” Sabatini writes.

“That’s something any seasoned politician should know.”

Read the full article here.