Former Vice President Mike Pence attacked Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in an op-ed published in Reason, a popular libertarian magazine. In the piece, Pence accuses DeSantis of betraying free-market principles and aligning with tactics more typically associated with the radical left, particularly in his approach towards the Disney corporation.
“The bottom line is this: Conservatives can either be for politically motivated government intervention in the private sector, or we can be against it,” Pence warned in the op-ed, clearly highlighting his dissent over DeSantis’s methods.
Pence’s criticism centers on Governor DeSantis and the Florida legislature’s backlash against Disney, following the entertainment giant’s public condemnation of conservative education reforms and parental rights measures in the sunshine state.
Pence argued that this governmental retaliation was not only uncharacteristic of conservative values, but also posed a direct threat to fundamental American principles.
“Another prominent example is Disney, a company that trumpeted its left-wing values by condemning conservative education and parental rights reforms in Florida. Governors around the country are right to pursue these policies and protect our kids,” Pence wrote in the piece. “But when the governor of Florida decided to launch a full-scale campaign of governmental retribution against Disney, he wasn’t taking a page out of the conservative playbook — he was following in the footsteps of the radical left.”
DeSantis has not yet responded to Pence’s criticism.