On MSNBC’s MTP Daily Thursday afternoon, host Chuck Todd and Florida-based NBC political reporter Marc Caputo wailed that Governor Ron DeSantis preparing to sign legislation revoking Disney World’s special economic status in the state had a “mafia feel.” The pair ranted that Florida was “only a good place to do business if you’re a private corporation that shares the ideology of the Republican governor.”
“Disney will no longer be able to govern the Magic Kingdom by its own rules anymore as the Florida state house voted this afternoon to pass a bill that will strip Disney World of its special self-governing status,” Todd lamented at the top of the 1:00 p.m. ET hour segment. He further whined: “The move is likely an attempt by DeSantis to punish Disney for pushing back on this so-called – and simply for saying this phrase, he got mad that Disney’s executives called it a ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill earlier this month.”
Moments later, he asked Caputo: “Is this new-found interest in this going to expanded beyond Disney or this just about punishing Disney politically?” Caputo replied: “Oh, it’s about punishing Disney politically, that’s pretty clear.”
While Caputo acknowledged that Disney’s special self-governing district was “massive, like 25,000 acres, it spans two counties” and that “they even have the ability to build, with less regulation than even a county, a nuclear power plant if they want,” he insisted: “...the legislature’s like....‘we want to punish Disney for saying Don’t Say Gay,’ and that’s what’s happening.”
Todd hoped that DeSantis “picking a fight with Disney” would be “a little riskier of a move than maybe he thinks” politically. However, Caputo admitted the opposite was true: “I mean, currently when you look at the data, polling, fundraising, the amount of media attention he gets, which is kind of the coin of the realm nowadays, DeSantis is doing quite well.”
Caputo then seized on “critics” comparing DeSantis to a mob boss: “This, you know, to a degree, especially when you talk to critics, has a bit of a mafia feel, which is, ‘Nice theme park you have there, shame if something happened to it.’” Todd similarly pretended that DeSantis – not the far left – was the culture war aggressor: “Is Florida a good place to do business if you’re a private corporation or is it only a good place to do business if you’re a private corporation that shares the ideology of the Republican governor?”
“Or if you’re a corporation that keeps its mouth shut when the Republican governor wants you to,” Caputo interjected. He then bitterly complained:
But so far DeSantis has drawn his line in the sand at quote, unquote, “Woke Corporatism,” you know, some of the – he calls it CRT, but it’s more of the anti-racism training. If you engage in that and you engage in sort of progressive social justice values publicly, the legislature right now and the governor right now has shown a willingness to come after you if you happen to get some sort of public benefits that others don’t really have.
Todd chimed in: “Well, as many of us analysts have been saying for a couple of years now, small-government Republicanism is dead. It is strong government, that is what the ideology on the right is these days.”
That kind of hand-wringing was not applied a month ago when Disney put out a partisan, political statement lying about Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Law: “Florida’s HB 1557, also known as the ‘Don’t Say Gay Bill,’ should never have passed and should never have been signed into law.” The powerful, bullying corporation vowed to do the bidding of Democrats and lobby to get the bill “repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts.”
Do Todd and Caputo think that kind of rhetoric has a “mafia feel”?
MSNBC’s hysteria over Disney no longer getting immense special privileges that most companies would never receive was brought to viewers by Priceline and AT&T. You can fight back by letting these advertisers know what you think of them sponsoring such content.
Here is a full transcript of the April 21 segment:
1:56 PM ET
CHUCK TODD: Disney will no longer be able to govern the Magic Kingdom by its own rules anymore as the Florida state house voted this afternoon to pass a bill that will strip Disney World of its special self-governing status. The bill that will make Disney part of the real world, or at least part of Florida again, will go into effect next summer after it’s signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis.
The move is likely an attempt by DeSantis to punish Disney for pushing back on this so-called – and simply for saying this phrase, he got mad that Disney’s executives called it a “Don’t Say Gay” bill earlier this month. So DeSantis decided to fight back. Disney, formerly a DeSantis campaign contributor, condemned the law last month after outrage from its own employees. And they went so far as to call out DeSantis by name and announce the company would work to repeal the legislation. Disney has also paused all Florida – political donations in the state of Florida.
NBC’s national political reporter, who is based in Florida, is Marc Caputo, he joins me now from lovely Tallahassee. Marc, first I want to start with, this is such, to me, like when you watch Governor DeSantis as sort of a political analyst here, this special session was about his congressional map. Are we even having a conversation about the congressional map? And he quickly flipped it to be about Disney. Is this an accident or a coincidence?
MARC CAPUTO: Well, it's not an accident or a coincidence, however, Democrats just seized the spotlight a few minutes ago by shutting down the Florida House for about an hour in a protest over the redistricting maps. They took to the center of the floor, they weren’t recognized, the speaker had to throw the Republican-led House into recess...
TODD: Interesting.
CAPUTO: ...while the members, the Democratic members chanted. And then they came back and then the Republicans just steamrolled the Democrats, just finished the redistricting bill, and then without any discussion, they brought up the Disney bill as three black lawmakers were chanting and they passed the Disney bill without much discussion. So it was done pretty quickly after quite a kerfuffle, let’s say, on the House floor.
TODD: After the conversation I just had, this is an example of people in power wielding power. When you have it, you wield it.
CAPUTO: Yes.
TODD: Sometimes without emotion or anything else. Let me talk about this Disney fight. A month ago, the Florida legislature didn’t care about this. You know, I’m a former Floridian, you’re one, we’ve always joked about Disney’s special status, but they’re not the only entity that has it. The Daytona Speedway, for instance, airports have it. Is this new-found interest in this going to expanded beyond Disney or this just about punishing Disney politically?
CAPUTO: Oh, it’s about punishing Disney politically, that’s pretty clear. Understand though that Reedy Creek Improvement District, which is what we’re talking in relation to Disney, that’s different from all the other special districts. It’s massive, like 25,000 acres, it spans two counties. And they even have the ability to build, with less regulation than even a county, a nuclear power plant if they want. I’m not making that up.
TODD: No, I remember that punch line.
CAPUTO: Now that having been said, it’s not like the legislature’s – yeah – yeah, well it’s not like the legislature’s like, “Oh, we need to stop nuclear power. No, we want to punish Disney for saying ‘Don’t Say Gay,’” and that’s what’s happening.
TODD: You know, it’s interesting, picking a fight with Disney. I’ve seen some polling on this. Those that are politically following the story, I think DeSantis is building his base, but there’s a vast middle of America that’s sitting there going, what’s with the fight against Disney? This seems to be a politically – a little riskier of a move than maybe he thinks.
CAPUTO: Maybe. I mean, let’s wait and see the polling. I mean, currently when you look at the data, polling, fundraising, the amount of media attention he gets, which is kind of the coin of the realm nowadays, DeSantis is doing quite well. I mean, you know, for what it’s worth, he’s able to launch attacks that his base loves, that his opponents hate, that the media covers, that produces more campaign gold. And so right now, all the incentives for him are to continue to do that.
One thing in that kind of campaign gold territory or discussion, this bill doesn’t instantly go into effect by dissolving Reedy Creek Improvement District when the Governor signs it, it waits about 13 months. It’s gonna happen in June of 2023. What does that mean? The legislature is gonna have a year to decide, “Do we really want to do this?” And Disney is gonna have a year to kind of come to heel and say, “Okay, we’re sorry, we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do that.” So hey, you know, Disney paused its donations.
This, you know, to a degree, especially when you talk to critics, has a bit of a mafia feel, which is, “Nice theme park you have there, shame if something happened to it.” So that discussion’s gonna go on for about 13 months.
TODD: Well, and that – and that’s sort of a larger question here. Is Florida a good place to do business if you’re a private corporation or is it only a good place to do business if you’re a private corporation that shares the ideology of the Republican governor?
CAPUTO: Or if you’re a corporation that keeps its mouth shut when the Republican governor wants you to. Now that’s going to be up to these varying corporations. But so far DeSantis has drawn his line in the sand at quote, unquote, “Woke Corporatism,” you know, some of the – he calls it CRT, but it’s more of the anti-racism training. If you engage in that and you engage in sort of progressive social justice values publicly, the legislature right now and the governor right now has shown a willingness to come after you if you happen to get some sort of public benefits that others don’t really have.
TODD: Well, as many of us analysts have been saying for a couple of years now, small-government Republicanism is dead. It is strong government, that is what the ideology on the right is these days. Marc Caputo in Tallahassee. Marc, thank you.
