Patinkin: Some advice for Gov. DeSantis – don't mess with the Mouse

Politics have gotten so divisive it's dicey to weigh in, but on this one, I can't stay silent.

Ron − leave Mickey alone.

Immigration, guns, Ukraine and abortion are one thing. But coming down on Mickey is over the line.

Speaking for all lovers of the Jungle Cruise, Tower of Terror and Spaceship Earth − Governor DeSantis, knock it off.

Actually, the Tower of Terror scares the daylights out of me, but my kids force me to ride it.

I have standing on this since, over the last three decades, I think my family has been responsible for 2% of Disney World's revenues. Now that they’re young adults, I feel a bit guilty I didn't take them to Paris or Rome instead, but we always went to the France and Italy pavilions at Epcot, which I think is the same thing.

To paraphrase the great, first sentence about fly fishing in "A River Runs Through It" − in my family, there was no clear line between religion and Disney World.

I have long thought there's no clear line between America and Disney World, either. It was always where red and blue staters ate side-by-side at the Hoop-Dee-Doo review.

Ron − why attack that?

I understand the initial reason. Disney opposed the so-called "Don't say gay" law. But Governor, your response has been like trying to kill Tinker Bell with a sledgehammer. Except she's proving too nimble for you.

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I at first figured this would be a brief kerfuffle in a whirling tea cup, but Ron has been at it for a year now. When he got to the point a few weeks ago of saying he might build a prison by land Disney was eyeing for its next development, he’d clearly gone off the Space Mountain rails.

I get that Ron figured a culture war like this would raise his profile as a White House prospect, and at first, it probably did. But it’s begun to look like a rather unconservative and peevish attack on business.

Plus, Ron, it’s the wrong target.

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Bud Light sales may be down since featuring a transgender influencer, but as for Disney attendance after the Ron attack? It’s fine. People are willing to give up their beer, but not their Pirates of the Caribbean. I almost said Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, but I remember they shut it down a while back because after the oncoming train, you ended up in hell, and devout riders didn't appreciate that.

Ron should give Disney credit on that one − it proves they are not the ultra-liberal heathens he's branding them as. It was the same six or so years ago when an audio-animatronics President Trump got the starring role in the Hall of Presidents. Disney didn’t play liberal politics with that, either.

I’m sure Ron would say Disney “started it” by opposing the "Don’t say gay” law. But the DeSantis counter-attack is so over-the-top that were I to go to Disney World tomorrow, I’d feel an apoplectic Ron was spitting bile over Main Street. He's become a huge buzzkill around a beloved destination.

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Let me quote a major Disney authority, my daughter, Ariel.

“Why is he doing this to us?" she asks.

By the way, that's really her name; I gave it to her a few years before "The Little Mermaid" came out. I was tempted to sue Disney over that, but decided to give them a bye.

Like Ron should. But he’s become as rabid about this as Captain Hook chasing Peter Pan. And it's costing him. Lately, DeSantis has fallen faster in the polls than that dreaded car in the Tower of Terror.

Why? In part, his weird Disney crusade.

It’s one reason many folks have begun to think the once mighty Ron DeSantis is a small world after all.

Governor, leave Mickey alone.

mpatinki@providencejournal.com

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: As DeSantis battles Disney World a bit of advice - Leave Mickey alone