April 26, 2023 02:42 PM UTC

Haley Sideswipes DeSantis on Disney, But Colorado's Got Dibs

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• by: Colorado Pols

The conservative Washington Examiner reports from the early stages of the Republican 2024 presidential primary, where former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has joined in the recent collective dunking on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for his “anti-business” hostile relationship with one of his state’s largest employers, The Walt Disney Company. If Disney is tired of being harassed by their governor over political quibbles, a much friendlier Palmetto State is just up the road:

Haley’s invitation comes shortly after Disney filed a lawsuit against DeSantis in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida over what the company called “a relentless campaign to weaponize government power against Disney in retaliation for expressing a political viewpoint unpopular with certain State officials.”

“South Carolina was a very anti-woke state. It still is,” Haley said on Fox News. “And if Disney would like to move their hundreds of thousands of jobs to South Carolina and bring the billions of dollars with them, I’ll let them know I’ll be happy to meet them in South Carolina and introduce them to the governor and the legislature that would welcome it.”

Haley also said that when she was governor of South Carolina, businesses were her partners “because if you take care of your businesses, you take care of your economy, your economy takes care of the people, and everyone wins.”

Politically, it’s true that South Carolina isn’t all that much better than Florida in terms of tolerance. Haley’s point, and it’s not a bad point assuming it became true in practice, is that the state no matter how politically conservative has no interest in hostility towards a major economic engine like Disney. From a purely free market economic perspective, it makes no more sense to persecute Disney while they fill tax coffers and employ tens of thousands than to boycott major Republican Party donor Anheuser-Busch over a minor marketing ploy to the LGBTQ+ community.

When DeSantis originally announced his intention to politically persecute Disney in retaliation for the company’s vocal opposition to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, Colorado’s Gov. Jared Polis rolled out the welcome mat if the Magic Kingdom needed to relocate:

We will grant Mickey and Minnie full asylum in Colorado https://t.co/xpkqvEYoCu

— Jared Polis (@jaredpolis) April 19, 2022

After all, Colorado doesn’t have to fake tolerance. We do tolerance for real, and that’s the best business climate of all.

As for Ron DeSantis, his delayed campaign rollout has given the undisputed GOP 2024 frontrunner Donald Trump a long runway to consolidate his position, while taking on water continuously as DeSantis’ lack of charisma becomes painfully obvious. With even DeSantis forced to defend Trump against criminal indictments or face the wrath of the MAGA base, the next available target for prospective primary opponents is to hammer away DeSantis at every opportunity–despite the fact that none of them appear to have any better chance of beating Trump themselves.

It is, we suppose, a good way to run for vice president.