On Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) called on the week's special session of the legislature to consider abolishing all special taxing districts created prior to 1968 — a direct shot at Disney, which has used a special district in Reedy Creek to run its Walt Disney World resort complex for decades.
Republicans in Florida have been threatening this action for days in retaliation for Disney's criticism of the so-called "Don't Say Gay" law, and subsequent decision to suspend political contributions in the state.
But DeSantis didn't stop there. He also took a shot at Twitter for adopting a shareholder "poison pill" plan to prevent tech billionaire Elon Musk, increasingly a hero of the far right for his stance on social media content moderation, from launching a hostile takeover of the company.
And he vowed to "look at ways" to hold Twitter's board of directors "accountable" — an unclear threat, given Twitter is not headquartered in Florida.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) threatens Twitter after it activated \u201cpoison pill\u201d plan to prevent Elon Musk\u2019s acquisition:\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re gonna be looking at ways the state of Florida potentially can be holding these Twitter board of directors accountable for breaching their fiduciary duty.\u201dpic.twitter.com/55OFO90AjJ— The Recount (@The Recount) 1650384846
In reaction to all of this, Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) stepped in — and invited both Disney and Twitter to set up shop in his own state, free of political interference from Republicans.
Florida\u2019s authoritarian socialist attacks on the private sector are driving businesses away. In CO, we don\u2019t meddle in affairs of companies like @Disney or @Twitter. Hey @Disney we\u2019re ready for Mountain Disneyland and @twitter we\u2019re ready for Twitter HQ2, whoever your owners arehttps://twitter.com/therecount/status/1516450074292801548\u00a0\u2026— Jared Polis (@Jared Polis) 1650398076
The fight with Disney, which provides huge benefits to the Florida economy with family tourism, comes as Republicans are pushing an increasingly hardline culture panic in states around the country, seeking to roll back rights for gay and transgender Americans while limiting discussions of race in schools and trying to purge libraries of certain books.
