Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis defended his high-profile fight against Walt Disney Co. during a debate Wednesday night, while GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley criticized his treatment of the entertainment giant.
“The proper role of government, if it means anything, is to protect our children, and I have stood up for our children's innocence. It's wrong to sexualize the curriculum,” DeSantis said when asked if his feud with Disney DIS.
It is consistent with the conservative view that small, limited government is best.
The battle erupted after Disney publicly opposed a 2022 Florida law banning classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in the early grades. DeSantis has supported the law, which critics have called a “don't say gay” measure, and last year he and GOP state legislators took over a district taken over by Disney in retaliation.
“It's wrong to tell a kindergartner, as Disney wanted to do, that you can change your gender, or to tell a third grader that you were born in the wrong body, so I stood against that,” DeSantis said Wednesday.
“Yes, the media didn't like it, the left didn't like it, Disney didn't like it, and they're the 800-pound gorilla in Florida. Most people, most corporate Republicans, would have given up. I stood up and fought for the kids.”
He then criticized Haley, saying she was part of the “establishment” element of the Republican Party.
Haley responded by saying that Disney has been “long woke,” and that DeSantis only started fighting against the company when it criticized him for having “thin skin.” This was not the correct approach, in her opinion.
“We don't need a government war against our own industries,” said Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and former US ambassador to the United Nations.
“We are not awake in South Carolina. I will always invite companies to come to South Carolina. “But the one thing it doesn’t do is the government doesn’t bully our businesses.”
In a separate attack against DeSantis, Haley criticized how successful his presidential bid was even with its heavy spending.
“You've got $150 million, and you're down in the polls in Iowa. Why do we think you can run or do anything in this country?,” she said.
Their comments came Wednesday night during the final debate of the 2024 Republican presidential primaries, held in Iowa before the state's first caucuses on Monday.
Former President Donald Trump appears on track to win the Iowa caucuses, where he has enjoyed a significant lead in GOP polls in the state for months.
Trump skipped Wednesday's debate, making it a one-on-one contest, and instead participated in a separate town hall event. Trump has 52% support in Iowa polls, according to the RealClearPolitics moving average, while Haley has 17% and DeSantis has 16%.
New Hampshire's Jan. 23 primary is expected to be close, especially after former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie dropped out of the GOP presidential race on Wednesday afternoon. Christie was not eligible to debate in Iowa.
