Donald Trump Sides With Disney

He knows all about stunts. Mr. Trump thinks Mr. DeSantis’s dispute with Disney is hurting the Governor politically, so he’s piling on.

Mr. DeSantis had a strong case last year when he championed legislation revoking special self-governing privileges that provided favorable tax and regulatory treatment for Disney World that other companies don’t enjoy. The move was a response to Disney’s unnecessary decision to attack Florida’s mislabeled “don’t say gay” law. As the Governor wrote in these pages in February, Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act merely limits classroom instruction on sexuality and gender ideology in grades K-3 and requires that sex instruction in other grades be age-appropriate.

But while Mr. DeSantis was distracted by other matters, Disney in February clawed back some of the authority that the legislation had sought to cancel. The press mocked the Governor for being out-maneuvered. Not wanting to look weak, Mr. DeSantis attacked the company in Trumpian fashion.

Disney responded by announcing that it will host the largest LGBTQ+ conference in the world at its Orlando resort, which may not endear it to parents who are dismayed by its aggressive promotion of woke culture. So now Mr. DeSantis is escalating the feud and threatening to set up a rival state amusement park or even a prison next to the Magic Kingdom.

Nobody emerges from this looking good. Mr. DeSantis is escalating a feud with a business that risks alienating moderate and independent voters who otherwise support Florida’s sex-education law and his good policies such as school-choice expansion. CEO Robert Iger risks further damage to Disney’s Florida assets when its stock price is in the tank. Both would benefit from settling the dispute.

But as is his wont, Mr. Trump is trying to goad the Governor by siding with Mr. Iger. You’d think the former President would be critical of Disney’s woke turn, but his only abiding political conviction is personal advantage. He recently sided with plaintiff attorneys against Mr. DeSantis’s sensible tort reforms.

Mr. Trump these days attacks Republicans more than Democrats. On Tuesday he trashed his former chief of staff Mick Mulvaney as a “born loser” and “perhaps the dumbest person, along with John Bolton,

working at the White House.” So why did he appoint them? If he gets elected President again, who would volunteer for such abuse by working for him? Maybe he can ask Mr. Iger for a hand.