Chris Christie on Florida-Disney Feud: ‘I Don’t Think Ron DeSantis Is a Conservative’
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Speaking to Semafor in a no-holds-barred interview, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who is mulling another presidential bid, questioned Ron DeSantis’s judgement and maturity in his drawn-out feud with Disney.
The Florida governor was incensed when Disney World’s parent company criticized his Parental Rights in Education Act, commonly dubbed the “don’t say gay” bill by the media. DeSantis retaliated by signing a bill that stripped Disney of its 56-year-old “independent special district” status, which had granted it the privilege of creating its own regulations, building codes, and other municipal services. When it became clear that taxpayers would have to foot the bill for Disney’s various municipal services and also assume the tax district’s debt of around $1 billion, DeSantis relented, instead settling for control of the board which oversees the district.
This week, DeSantis launched a fresh round of attacks on Disney after the members of the district’s outgoing board passed agreements to nullify governmental intervention.
Christie now joins Mike Pence in attacking DeSantis on limited-government grounds, saying during the interview: “I don’t think Ron DeSantis is a conservative based on his actions towards Disney.”
“I believe as a conservative the job of government is in the main to stay out of the business of business. I don’t think we should be heavily regulating business. I don’t think we should be telling business what to do, what to say, how to think. I believe that’s what conservatives have believed for as long as I’ve been alive,” explained Christie. “Where are we headed here now? If you express disagreement in this country, the government is allowed to punish you? To me, that’s what I always thought liberals did.”
Christie said that if DeSantis can be outmaneuvered by Disney, he won’t fare well against China and Russia.
“For him to have taken that action against Disney and to not have foreseen that Disney was going to do what they did in response which was to completely take over the millions and millions acres and the zoning decisions before they got the authority, I’ll tell you this much: That’s not the guy I want sitting across from President Xi and negotiating our next agreement with China or sitting across from Putin and trying to resolve what’s happening in Ukraine,” Christie explained. “If you can’t see around a corner that Bob Iger created for you, I don’t think that’s very imposing.”
The ex-New Jersey governor argued that “sometimes in politics you just have to admit when you screwed up and you got taken.”
“Now [DeSantis is] doubling down,” Christie added. “Why do you want to punish a place that creates enormous tax revenue for your state, enormous tourism for your state? And you want to punish them because they disagreed with you?”
Christie also pointed out that Republicans would be “going berserk and saying it’s an overreach” if the tables were turned and former Florida governor Charlie Crist had attacked and used the levers of government against Disney for disagreeing with liberal legislation.
“Believe me, you’d hear Republicans speaking differently,” Christie said.
DeSantis press secretary Bryan Griffin defended the governor’s actions to National Review, saying “Disney had extraordinary special privileges and an unfair special advantage compared to other businesses in the state.”
Griffin explained that that is not appropriate, especially in light of Disney’s threats to work to overturn the legislation. Neither was Disney’s “legally deficient, 11th hour agreement to preserve their special privileges,” he said.
“That’s an attempt to subvert the will of the people of Florida, and Governor DeSantis will not stand for that. Good and limited government (and, indeed, principled conservatism) reduces special privilege, encourages an even playing field for businesses, and upholds the will of the people,” Griffin added.
