WASHINGTON – Who hates Disney more: Former President Donald Trump or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis?
The two leading candidates for the 2024 Republican presidential ticket butted heads over the House of Mouse on Monday, with DeSantis accusing the 45th president of siding with Disney in the governor’s feud with the entertainment company.
Asked to explain to Iowa voters why they should choose him over Trump in 2024, DeSantis cited his fervent stance against Disney following its criticism of his “Don’t Say Gay” Parents Bill of Rights law.
“There may be some differences with me and Donald Trump, and I think that those differences redound to my benefit in a place like Iowa,” DeSantis told Fox & Friends. “For example, you know, he’s taken the side of Disney in our fight down here in Florida.”
“I’m standing for parents. I’m standing for children, and I think a multi billion dollar company that sexualizes children is not consistent with the values of Florida or the values of a place like Iowa,” he added.
But just hours before, the former president criticized Disney in a Truth Social post for becoming “a Woke and Disgusting shadow of its former self, with people actually hating it.”
The comment was a notable turn for Trump, who has previously criticized DeSantis for picking a fight with Disney – one of the Sunshine State’s top employers.
“Must go back to what it once was, or the ‘market’ will do irreparable damage,” Trump wrote. “This all happened during the Governorship of ‘Rob’ DeSanctimonious. Instead of complaining now, for publicity reasons only, he should have stopped it long ago. Would have been easy to do – Still is!”
Trump also apparently watched when DeSantis took his jab, calling out the Florida governor’s remarks and criticizing the Fox hosts for not correcting him on the former president’s changing position.
“Ron DeSanctimonious just stated, without correction on Fox & Friends, that I was ‘backing’ Disney,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Wrong! Fox should have read my posted TRUTH on Disney, but that’s not the game they play.”
The former president added that recent polls indicate that the average Republican voter still favors Trump to DeSantis, who officially entered the race just last week.
“Also, in the polls, I am beating Biden by a lot, ‘Rob’ isn’t! Also, WAY UP ON RON,” Trump said on Truth Social. “Check out the DeSanctus speech at the Trump Rally I gave to get him elected. Not easy! p.s. I got 1.2 Million more votes in Florida than Ron, a little reported fact!”
Trump, who launched his third presidential campaign more than six months ago, was leading DeSantis by a margin of about 30.8 points in the latest RealClearPolitics polling data.