It’s no secret that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has picked an ugly and unnecessary fight with his state’s largest employer and taxpayer: Disney. The corporate giant last year made some mild and inconsequential criticisms of the Republican’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” policy, leading DeSantis to take multiple steps to retaliate against the company ever since.
But we’re occasionally reminded that the dispute isn’t limited to the Sunshine State. My MSNBC colleague Ja’han Jones had a great piece yesterday highlighting congressional Republicans taking an interest, too.
Late last week, several House Republicans introduced a bill that would rescind special no-fly zones federally authorized above two Disney properties: Disney World in Orlando, Florida, and Disneyland in Anaheim, California.
Evidently, a trio of far-right GOP lawmakers with familiar names — Texas’ Troy Nehls, Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Colorado’s Lauren Boebert — are championing the Airlines Independent of Restrictions (AIRA) Act targeting no-fly zones that were created for Disney in 2003.
“Theme parks like Disney should not receive special treatment just because they are well-connected,” Nehls argued. Abandoning all subtlety, Boebert added in a statement of her own, “Go woke, go broke.”
To be sure, there’s room for a policy conversation about federally approved corporate benefits, but as Ja’han explained well, “I’m not a fan of illiberal weaponization of the federal government. … And that certainly appears to be the case here.”
But as it turns out, we can go further down this same road — because as provocative as the Airlines Independent of Restrictions Act is, it’s the latest in a series of steps congressional Republicans have taken, or are preparing to take, as part of their dissatisfaction with Disney.
For example, Disney’s Mickey Mouse copyright is set to expire next year, and several Republicans have already indicated their intention to vote against the company’s request for an extension. “Next year, the woke Disney lobbyists will ask Congress to extend Micky Mouse’s trademark,” Boebert wrote on Twitter. “I think not.” (She misspelled “Mickey.”)
As we’ve discussed, it’s not that GOP lawmakers have discovered deeply held concerns over copyright extensions as they relate to intellectual property law. Rather, the resistance is the result of the Republicans’ culture war — and the degree to which they see Disney as an opponent in a larger social conflict.
What’s more, in the Senate, Sen. Josh Hawley last year introduced federal legislation that would strip the Walt Disney Company of special copyright protections. The Missouri Republican made clear exactly which company he intended to punish and why: “Thanks to special copyright protections from Congress, woke corporations like Disney have earned billions while increasingly pandering to woke activists. It’s time to take away Disney’s special privileges and open up a new era of creativity and innovation.” When Sen. Bernie Sanders held a hearing last year on Amazon.com’s business practices, Sen. Lindsey Graham expressed outrage. The South Carolina Republican accused the Vermont independent of using his Senate powers “to get an outcome you want.” Graham called it “very dangerous” for a senator to target a corporation because he’s “determined Amazon is a piece of crap company.” I can’t wait to see whether Graham and his GOP colleagues raise any related concerns about the Republican campaign against Disney. This post revises our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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