former new jersey governor chris christie. at the top of that list, it s florida governor ron desantis, the far-right culture warrior against abortion rights, the lgbt community, and disney. one of his states largest employers. desantis has said his term as governor will serve as a, quote, blueprint in his quest to remake america and florida s image. that would be more impressive if you were not losing an all out war with a cartoon mouse, but more on that later. donald trump may be a disgrace to twice impeached criminally indicted former president who fermented insurrection, and was recently found liable for sexual abuse and defamation, and is currently the subject of several federal and state investigations. but a new harvard capitalist poll shows none of that has hurt his standing with the republican base. joining me now, david jolly, the former republican congressman from florida who left the party in 2018, and
in 2009. who would have thought that when we re leaving disney world as newlyweds that, you know, a decade and a half later, you know, we d be staring them down over a fundamental fight about, you know, what is appropriate for our kids. ironic, huh? governor desantis has said that disney should not get special privileges that other companies don t get, but despite scrapping plans for that office complex, disney does say that it still plans to invest billions of dollars in the state over the next decade. but clearly a lot of high stakes over the next few years, a lot of financial stakes as this battle plays on. sounds like a love/hate relationship. thank you, gabe gutierrez, appreciate it. and joining us now is nbc s senior national politics reporter jonathan allen and susan del percio, republican strategist and msnbc political analyst.
you tell them, donald trump can t win. i m the only republican who can win, so fund me. it may work with donors. i don t think it works with average voters. i don t think the average republican voter is, a, convinced that donald trump can t win a general election, because he surprised everybody in 2016. i think trump has this magical aura around him amongst republicans. and i just don t know if it is an inspiring message. it may be the best message desantis has, but i don t know if it inspires or motivates actual republican voters. so, claire, if you read into this readout the new york times had of ron desantis phone call with supporters and donors, the characterization is he didn t talk about the cultural stuff. he sort of presented himself as the general election candidate, the guy who can beat joe biden, and stayed away from this. a lot of these are big businessmen and women who don t
six-week abortion ban, which desantis signed into law. pretty popular with the republican base, but could be difficult for a general election candidate. how has trump managed this issue? this isn t the first time that the former president has indicated some of these bans might be going too far. he s expressed concern about some of the fallout after the dobbs opinion even though he does victory laps about putting the justices on the court. it s because the politics of abortion have become very fraught since that opinion, but desantis has jumped in with both feet thinking that the winning side is to push farther and farther on this to try to lock down particularly the evangelicals that back donald trump and should help form his coalition of support that led him to victory in 2016. this is fraught. also an opportunity for donald trump to take a swipe at
law and the people of this state. reporter: this is just days after disney filed it own lawsuit against desantis and his board. he is embroiled in this battle which a lot of people are snickering about because it is now desantis versus mickey mouse. reporter: desantis has said that disney s lawsuit is political and doesn t have merit. they are upset because they are actually having to live by the same rules as everybody else, they don t want to have to pay the same taxes as everybody else. reporter: as he gears up for a likely run for president, desantis has been retaliating against disney. he recently threatened to raise disney s taxes or build something right next to disney s land near orlando. some even said maybe you need another state prison. who knows. i just think that the possibilities are endless.