Are Disney and DeSantis making up? Both look ready to work together

‘Raised the white flag’

Aubrey Jewett, a political scientist at the University of Central Florida, sees the political dynamics somewhat differently. State officials prevailed in the courts, and DeSantis succeeded in both reforming Disney’s special district and boosting his political profile with conservative voters by making Disney into a national issue, he said.

“Disney has raised the white flag and surrendered over Cinderella’s castle,” Jewett said. “It is pretty clear they just folded, legally speaking.”

Disney likely made a calculation that its chances of winning in court weren’t good, and its financial interests were best served by working with Florida’s GOP leadership, he said.

As of late, DeSantis seems to be backing away from fiery rhetoric slamming Disney, instead focusing on how he reformed the special government district, Jewett said. While some Republicans embraced DeSantis’ battle with Disney, other business-minded and libertarian GOP voters found it off-putting.

“It is an opportunity for him to pivot and for him to revise history a bit and downplay the punishing Disney for speaking out and instead say this was about good governance,” Jewett said.

It appears the DeSantis administration extended an olive branch with the appointments of two new leaders to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, the Disney World governing district at the center of the dispute, he said.

New district administrator Stephanie Kopelousos is a strong DeSantis ally, having worked on his presidential campaign and as his legislative affairs director. But she also has a long resume of government experience, serving as county manager of Clay County and head of the Florida Department of Transportation.

She isn’t known as an outspoken culture warrior, working mostly behind the scenes. She helped to broker a carveout for Disney in one piece of legislation targeting Big Tech censorship before the Disney-DeSantis feud.

She is replacing Glen Gilzean, another DeSantis ally whose resume lacked experience leading a local government.

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