When you wish upon a star, makes no difference where you are.
Unless you’re in Florida, and happen to own an amusement park. Or if you happen to be governor there.
I believe Donald is now living in Florida.
Donald Duck, that is.
Donald Duck has generally seemed like a pretty laid-back character. A little neurotic, perhaps, but not the kind of duck that would get involved in a political battle.
Of course, during World War II, when the Disney Studios were on the verge of bankruptcy, Donald was hired (as an actor) to help out with the war effort, by acting in propaganda pieces like this one:
Apparently, Donald’s income that year (1942) was $2,501, and he owed $13 in taxes — dollars that were used effectively by the U.S. government to help defeat the Axis Powers.
Donald was willing to do much more to help the war effort, but maybe just paying the income taxes he owed that year, was a good enough contribution?
Later on, Donald Duck actually joined the military, as did most of the Disney characters. Dwarves, pigs, squirrels, rabbits, mice, everybody. Bambi rigged up his antlers to broadcast radio signals. and Dumbo became a fighter plane.
Is this really a company that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wants to be in a pissing contest with?
DeSantis really wants to threaten the revenue of the biggest private employer in the state? A corporation that contributes $1.1 billion in state taxes annually?
The state’s most popular tourist attraction?
He signed Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law in 2022, knowing full well that most of the employees working for the Disney corporation — especially the ones living in California — are either gay or lesbian, or have children who are gay or lesbian, or have parents who are gay or lesbian, or have grandparents…
… anyway, DeSantis probably made a mistake signing that law.
Initially, the “Don’t Say Gay” bill affected classrooms up to the third grade; last week, however, the state board of education expanded the prohibitions to cover all grades through high school.
That’s not the worst part, however. (I mean, the worst part for DeSantis.)
Yesterday, the Walt Disney Co. filed a lawsuit alleging that Governor DeSantis has overseen a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” that’s threatening the media giant’s operations.
After the Disney company spoke out against the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law, DeSantis made moves to gain control of the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID) — a government entity that oversees the region where the Walt Disney World resort is based — and reconstituted it as the “Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.” Next, he appointed five people to replace the elected members of the RCID, and publicly threatened to impose taxes on Disney’s hotels… or even build a new state prison adjacent to Walt Disney World.
Yesterday, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District voided Disney’s development contracts.
Just minutes later, Disney filed its lawsuit, claiming that the move was “patently retaliatory, patently anti-business, and patently unconstitutional.”
I personally think the state prison was a good idea. The prisoners would be forced to listen to happy, screaming children all day and night. If there’s anything that might make a criminal think twice about how he has lived his life, it would be happy, screaming children.
But voiding development contracts? For a corporation that pays $1.1 billion in Florida taxes? Does Governor DeSantis have any idea how many high-priced lawyers the Walt Disney Co. can afford to hire?
Even former president Donald Trump appears to be on the same side as Donald Duck. Trump posted, on Truth Social:
“…this is all so unnecessary, a political STUNT!”
Like so many of us, the former president is probably a big fan of old Disney movies.
Disney World recently announced it will be the site of the “Out & Equal Workplace” conference this year, which claims to be the “largest LGBTQ+ conference in the world” with yearly attendance of about 5,000 people.
I assume Mickey and Donald will be in attendance.
Donald Duck, that is.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all.