Pence Slams DeSantis’s Disney Punishment As ‘Beyond the Scope’ of Limited-Government Conservatism

Former Vice President Mike Pence publicly broke with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) over his battle with Disney and even went so far as to slam the governor for using government to go after the private company. Both Pence and DeSantis are widely seen as potential 2024 Republican presidential candidates.

In a CNBC interview with Squawk Box host Andrew Ross Sorkin, Pence was asked to weigh in on DeSantis doling out “retribution” against Disney for publicly denouncing what critics labeled the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, a controversial measure that sparked employee protests at the company.

“What do you think of what DeSantis did with Disney in Florida?” Sorkin began, adding:

Because there’s sort of two ways to look at it. One is to say Disney spoke out on a political or social issue, but then there clearly was retribution politically against them. I think it’s empirical what happened. He said as much when he did it.

And so people talk about cancel culture. Some people say, well, you know, they’re canceling on one side and the other, said, ‘well, look, DeSantis used his political power to cancel them.’

“Well, I would say to you two things. Number one is I fully supported Florida’s initiative to protect kids and protect parental rights. I was just in Iowa last week where literally there’s a school, the landmark community school will allow a student to get a gender transition plan without parental notification or approval,” Pence replied.

“So I fully support what Florida did about protecting kids under the third grade. But I have concerns about the follow on. Look, Disney stepped into the fray. They lost,” Pence added as Sorkin tried to jump back in.

After some cross-talk, Pence concluded, “But the idea to go after their taxing authority, I — you know, that was that was beyond the scope of what I, as a conservative, limited government Republican, would be prepared to do.”

“Interesting,” replied Sorkin.

While DeSantis moved to strip Disney World’s designation as a special tax district, the state legislature came up a bit short, but in early February did pass a bill granting the governor the power to appoint the board overseeing development on Disney’s 25,000-acre resort in Florida. The New York Times reported at the time, that while the outcome wasn’t exactly what DeSantis had aimed for, the move would restrict “the autonomy of Disney, the state’s largest private employer, over its theme-park complex and strips some perks enjoyed by the company for 56 years.”

Other potential GOP 2024 presidential candidates have also criticized DeSantis for attacking Disney. In April 2022, then-Gov. Larry Hogan (R-MD) went after DeSantis for criticizing “Disney for expressing how they feel about that bill.”

“They have every right to, we have a thing called freedom of speech and they can come out say what they think,” Hogan added.

Watch the full clip above via CNBC.