Disney v DeSantis: Why the happiest place on Earth is suing Florida's governor

Like an old-fashioned bar room brawl, the back-and-forth public relations, political and legal battle between Ron DeSantis and Walt Disney World began with a few sharp words.

Now it has spilled out into the street and is crashing through neighbouring shops and homes.

In its latest salvo, Disney has filed suit against Mr DeSantis, alleging that he had "weaponised government power" to punish its theme parks division for exercising its constitutionally protected free speech rights.

"In America," Disney said in its legal filing, "the government cannot punish you for speaking your mind".

The fight began in March 2022, when the Florida governor bristled at Disney criticism of his state law limiting public school instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation - the so-called "don't say gay" bill.

That began an escalating series of action and response. The state revoked Disney's self-governing pact for the 40 square miles of land occupied by the Walt Disney World theme parks and associated enterprises.

Disney countered by enacting a provision that preserved its interests in the land until "21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England living as of the date of this declaration".

Mr DeSantis - who exchanged vows at Disney's wedding pavilion - pledged to push the state legislature to retroactively invalidate that move and possibly tack on a few more punitive tax and policy measures.

Now Disney has deployed its army of lawyers in the courts to ensure that does not happen.

Each move - in the moment - may have seemed like a logical response by each side.

But as the months go by, the notion that the governor of a major state could end up in such a dogfight with a corporation that employs about 80,000 of his constituents and brings tens of millions of tourists to what otherwise would be a flat, nondescript stretch of landlocked real estate becomes increasingly astounding.

It is the kind of escalation where no one is likely to come out a winner, the price for backing down becomes too high to contemplate and everyone ends up diminished - a World War One scenario played out on a sun-scorched, swamp-filled peninsula.

Mr DeSantis's political opponents now appear to sense vulnerability on an issue that the governor once made a bullet point on a culture war resume he hopes to tout during all-but-announced 2024 presidential bid.

"DeSanctus is being absolutely destroyed by Disney," former president Donald Trump posted on social media, using one of his preferred nicknames for the Florida governor. "His original PR plan fizzled, so now he's going back with a new one in order to save face."

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley - all current or possible Republican presidential candidates - are among the others who have joined the DeSantis pile on.

"If Disney would like to move their hundreds of thousands of jobs to South Carolina," Ms Haley said, "I'll be happy to meet them in South Carolina and introduce them to the governor and the legislature."

For his part, Mr DeSantis is pledging to fight on, even as he appears to be vigorously defending the use of big government power against a private entity exercising what it claims to be constitutional liberties - a peculiar position for a conservative politician to take.

"Come hell or high water, we're going to make sure that that policy of Florida carries the day," he said. "And so they can keep trying to do things, but we're going to win on every single issue involving Disney, I can tell you that."

A World War One general planning the next guaranteed-to-win-the-war offensive could not have put it any better.

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