On Monday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dismissed attacks from former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley in regard to his ongoing battle with Disney as the two 2024 Republican presidential candidates continue their feud.
Haley had said during a town hall on Sunday night with CNN’s Jake Tapper that she thought DeSantis was a hypocrite for accepting $50,000 in political contributions from Disney in the past and then targeting the company when he disagreed with it.
“He went and put their executives and their lobbyists on prominent boards throughout Florida,” Haley said. “And he went and basically gave the highest corporate subsidies in Florida history to Disney. But because they went and criticized him, now he’s going to spend taxpayer dollars on a lawsuit. It’s just like all this vendetta stuff.”
Haley went on to say that during her time as the governor of South Carolina, businesses “were my partners” and when she had problems with them she would not speak out publicly but would try to deal with it on “the phone.”
DeSantis responded to Haley’s attacks the next day during an interview on Fox News Radio with host Brian Kilmeade.
“How utterly bizarre,” DeSantis said. “I mean, somebody does a campaign contribution and you’re supposed to lay down for them? That’s not how I operate. People can support me or not support me. I call them as I see them. And if you’ve supported me, but you’re wrong, I’m going to do what’s right.”
DeSantis also debunked Haley’s claim that he had given Disney subsidies, pointing out that the Reedy Creek Improvement District, a special district in Florida that gives Disney governmental control over the land around its theme park, has been in effect since 1967.
“Reedy Creek has been there for decades, you know that. That was there since the 1960s where they had their own government and had these massive subsidies,” he said. “Yes, we unwound that and we ended their self-governing status, but it wasn’t anything that I gave for them. But I do think it’s interesting, all these other Republicans have basically sided with Disney on this.”