Republican presidential candidate and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley took a jab at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday amid the governor’s ongoing battle with Disney.
“We’ve got great weather, great people, and it’s always a great day in South Carolina! SC’s not woke, but we’re not sanctimonious about it either,” she said, harkening to former President Donald Trump’s nickname for the Florida governor — “Ron DeSanctimonious.”
Hey @Disney, my home state will happily accept your 70,000+ jobs if you want to leave Florida.
We’ve got great weather, great people, and it’s always a great day in South Carolina!
SC’s not woke, but we’re not sanctimonious about it either. pic.twitter.com/uf1PWQjGc5
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) April 26, 2023
Her cheeky remark follows news of Disney escalating the ongoing war with the DeSantis administration, filing a lawsuit in federal court Wednesday in which the supposedly family-friendly company accuses the DeSantis administration of waging a “targeted campaign of government retaliation.”
The battle intensified last year after the Florida legislature passed and DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education bill into law. The law, in part, prevents classroom discussions on sexual orientation and gender identity for children in kindergarten through third grade. At the time, left-wing activists falsely labeled the measure “Don’t Say Gay,” even though a particular word or phrase is not mentioned nor banned in the actual text of the legislation.
Disney, as a result, went full groomer, listing defeat of the law as a central tenet of the company’s overall goal.
“Our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts, and we remain committed to supporting the national and state organizations working to achieve that,” it wrote at the time.
“We are dedicated to standing up for the rights and safety of LGBTQ+ members of the Disney family, as well as the LGBTQ+ community in Florida and across the country,” Disney added:
Statement from The Walt Disney Company on signing of Florida legislation: pic.twitter.com/UVI7Ko3aKS
— The Walt Disney Company (@WaltDisneyCo) March 28, 2022
Florida eventually revoked Disney’s self-governing privileges — the Reedy Creek Improvement District — and now, DeSantis-approved members, known as the Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board, oversee the area. However, the new board quickly ran into trouble after Disney snuck through a 30-year development agreement prior to the power shift, essentially rendering the new board helpless.
In an update provided this month, DeSantis said the sneaky agreement violated the will of voters and asserted the agreements “have a plethora of legal infirmities that render them void anyways.”
“And I think that the board, our state board, that meets again on Wednesday, I think that they will find as such, and I fully expect them to take the board out of those agreements,” DeSantis said, adding that the legislature is taking action as well. Florida Statutes, he said, “provides the legislature with the authority to revoke development agreements in this exact type of instance.”
“And so I’ve worked with both leaders of the House and Senate. There is a bill that will be put out in the Florida legislature that will make sure that the agreements purported to be entered into by Disney are revoked and the people’s will is established and is upheld,” he added at the time.
Disney upped this ongoing war on Wednesday with a lawsuit.
As Breitbart News reported:
Disney’s suit alleges DeSantis has waged a “relentless campaign to weaponize government power” against the company amid the ongoing fight over the law. It also claims the Republican governor “orchestrated at every step” a campaign to punish Disney in ways that threaten the company’s business.
The lawsuit was filed the same day as DeSantis’ latest countermove against Disney that sought to undo a development deal Disney struck to maintain its power over the district.
Haley’s jab at DeSantis comes as the governor remains overseas as part of what his office has described as an international trade mission. All the while, speculation over his political future continues to grow.
