Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis is running well ahead of his challenger, Democrat Charlie Crist. Or, at least, he was.
Sure, DeSantis might be beating Crist by 11.5 points in the RealClearPolitics polling average with just days until the election. However, that was before The Washington Post broke a scandal that’ll doubtlessly end DeSantis’ hopes at retaking the governor’s mansion, much less challenging for the presidency.
And, let me tell you, this is a hot one. You know how DeSantis has been locking horns with Disney over the company’s performative opposition to his anti-grooming legislation, with the governor eliminating the company’s tax breaks in a state where its flagship theme park is located?
Well, do you know that, before Disney got woke, DeSantis was actually married at Disney World? Bam! Scoop! Take that truth bomb, mega-MAGA maggots!
Oh, wait, you think that proves absolutely nothing? Huh? Why are you not outraged, conservatives? Why doth thou not wring thine hands and curse thee ground, GOP rabblement?
Yes, in the ultimate example of journalists misunderstanding cause-and-effect and/or the time-space continuum, this constituted news with less than a week to go before the 2022 midterms:
Before he attacked the company, Ron DeSantis — who is up for reelection next week — was a groom walking down the aisle in a Disney wedding. https://t.co/WoLHVU9bl1
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 5, 2022
It doesn’t actually get much better when you read the article.
Was the Washington Post’s piece a blatant hit on DeSantis?
Yes: 0% (0 Votes)
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“Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has been on the offense against the Walt Disney Co. for months, criticizing the entertainment giant for opposing legislation he championed and signing a law to strip the company of its special taxing district,” the Post’s Hannah Sampson wrote.
“Before he attacked the company, DeSantis — who is up for reelection next week — was a groom walking down the aisle in a Disney wedding. He and his wife, Jill Casey Black, a former anchor at Jacksonville news station WJXT who goes by Casey, wed at Walt Disney World on Sept. 26, 2009.”
This actually wasn’t the Post’s scoop, either. It was technically first reported by Business Insider on Friday, although The New York Times confirmed last month that DeSantis’ marriage license said he was married in Lake Buena Vista, a city that’s controlled by Disney as part of the Disney World complex.
Unless he got married in the parking lot — and I doubt the Harvard Law grad was that penurious — he got married at Disney World. Thirteen years ago.
That’s nine years and change before he became governor and 12 years before Disney gave him a solid reason to actively battle the company’s blatant mischaracterization of the Parental Rights in Education Act, referred to colloquially by the left as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The animus isn’t due to the fact Belle from “Beauty and the Beast” wanted the town bookstore to stock up on critical race theory or because Mickey’s helium addiction sets a bad example for the kids — and it certainly didn’t exist 13 years prior.
But, no, this is what passes for news at the Post: “Bruce Hamilton, a longtime anchor at WJXT, told The Washington Post on Friday that he was at the 2009 Disney wedding. Another station employee, wedding guest and former co-worker of the bride confirmed the Disney location in an email to The Post.
“Hamilton said the ceremony, at the wedding chapel of the Victorian-style Grand Floridian Resort, was ‘very elegant.’”
I totally thought this was a nothingburger until I heard it characterized as “very elegant.” Now I’m going to send Charlie Crist a huge donation — and Florida-adjacent Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, too, just to hem the poor sod in.
Mediaite’s John Ziegler may have best summed up the foolishness at work here:
I once liked O.J. Simpson a lot too… until, weirdly, something changed in June of 1994… pic.twitter.com/OihpXK0Q2s
— John Ziegler (@Zigmanfreud) November 6, 2022
He wasn’t the only one who noticed how desperate this seemed:
Imagine being the editor who greenlit this story. Just imagine.
— Andrew Wagner (@andrewwagner) November 5, 2022
I don’t think you appreciate the level of hatred and contempt the average person feels toward your publication.
— Michael Malice (@michaelmalice) November 5, 2022
This is what the Post, once the nation’s premier outlet for political reporting, is reduced to. The paper that broke Watergate is now tracking down people at Ron DeSantis’ Disney wedding to find out how elegant it was and pretending it all means something.
It doesn’t. None of it does. The only reason anyone is going to remember that DeSantis got married at Disney is because of the terminally silly coverage the media has subjected us to in the vain hope that some of it will stick. Good luck with that.
