Full Panel: Disney power move against DeSantis oversight board happened in ‘plain sight’

welcome back Florida Governor Ron DeSantis learned an important lesson this week: Don't mess with the mouse: The Walt Disney Corporation has emerged victorious, at least for now, in the ongoing

power

struggle between the company and scientists to control the formerly independent area that houses the Disney parks in the state of Florida, a new document first reported by the Orlando Sentinel reveals that just weeks before the

board

established by DeSantis to take control of the area entered into

power

, Disney took steps to limit the control of that new

board

without the governor and the board knowing. and they did so at the time perfectly legally.

To do so, the company also invoked a rare legal clause that makes the measure valid in perpetuity or until 21 years after the death of the last living descendants of the real King Charles, yes, the king. There, the board said they will challenge the document that started the fight between Disney and DeSantis over Disney's political activities, namely its support of the lgbtq community as DeSantis continues his push to reduce lgbtq visibility. Our Florida-based senior national politics reporter Matt Dixon. joins me now and Matt like I said it feels like a plot twist in succession you're like Logan Roy did what um and I guess this is what

happened

here is it in King Charles III like the theme of the Disney ride we were talking about, right?

There is a lot going on so ex

plain

to me how this

happened

, I think 24 hours before the new board was set up, yes it happened on February 8th and one of the strangest twists was not a secret meeting or some kind of private thing behind. Behind closed doors, it was done during a public meeting and we later got to see her attend. The Orlando Sentinel did a great job of obtaining some of those documents from the meeting, so this was something that the governor's office simply overlooked. It was one, 24 hours, one day before the house approved the DeSantis-appointed board, he sort of took over what was the old Disney Reedy Creek board and it happened in

plain

sight

, but we're talking about King Charles here III and something like that. from uh governor and Disney Intrigue what they think they can do from the government side here that's not totally clear at this point, we've certainly been asking around and we don't have a clear legal strategy as to how the governor's office is going to

move

forward with this without a doubt, they're going to say, you know, Governor DeSantis, this kind of motto is Never back down, never apologize for doubling down and we completely anticipated that and I think Disney does as well. but at this point, as far as you know the plan or how they're indicating that they're going to reject this, we're not too sure, but it's definitely something to watch.

Certainly I am the Administration of the Saints. You're not just going to let this slide, you've basically defanged this whole new board, right? The new board's own admission, um, some of the quotes from the Orlando Center yesterday had the board members essentially saying that Walt Disney is the new board. We're talking about now being toothless because of this February 8th agreement that the old board signed before the legislature in the census could make these changes Matt, you know this Administration pretty well, is this arrogance and naivete what you're talking about? are you attributing? How do they miss this?

I mean, it seems like six one way, half a dozen another, in the sense that they're generally pretty good at these things, but we don't get the sense that they saw it coming and it caught a lot of people. off guard and again I'm going to go back to the point I said initially this happened in a public meeting this was not a secret thing in the upper management of Disney that that was over without Spotlight, so all that everyone had to do in the Orlando Sentinel decided to do so was to follow the agenda. Well, Bob Iger always said he wanted to run for president.

I guess he could say he beat Ron DeSantis anyway, uh, Matt Dixon, at least at least. At this point, at this point, he's won a round against Ron DeSantis, okay, Matt Dixon, uh, our Florida-based national political reporter, Matt, thank you. Join now. I have the

panel

here. Congressional political reporter Nicholas Wu, former Democratic senator from North Dakota and CNBC IDI camp Contributor and former North Carolina governor, fellow Republican Pat McCrory, gentlemen, how are you, Nicholas, let me start here? I just have to say be careful when going after corporate lawyers. Yes, there is something ironic about this whole situation.

Governor DeSantis is trying to win these culture wars and show that he can take on Disney and, you know, make a mark with his policies here and well, clearly Disney had the best lawyers and, you know, I don't know if this says all that about how he, you know, might fight these future culture wars in the future, but you know, maybe the governor's lawyers will look a little more closely, but Pat, I see this as kind of leadership 101. If you decide, you know . when the thug hits and then the thug takes the hit, the thug says what the hell, what do you mean you're not supposed to hit back if you leave pugilistically?

Don't be surprised when people respond pugilistically if he wanted to. something and worked with Disney maybe they would be in a different situation. I just think this is an exposure of him as an inability to be a leader. He may be a pugilist but he is not a leader. I don't know if I take it that far. because one thing I learned as mayor and governor is that you stand here and you assume that you have this incredible legal staff under you, but the fact is that the legal staff and the mayor's offices in the Governor's Office are entry-level.

Level jobs are one starting point for another and then you're fighting a corporation, they have the top law firms in the country charging a thousand dollars an hour and these lawyers were looking long before that meeting, I mean, at the time that started this fight, I had hundreds of lawyers watching this and you are taken by surprise. The governor is probably working on another issue at the time. It's a staff failure, but it happens a lot in government. Still, I would say that in the long run, I think Disney is making a mistake. Well, it's interesting if you're now DeSantis, Heidi, me, you know, are you still fighting them or not, because it was a good policy for him for a while?

Now you're embarrassed because it doesn't look good for you, you know, number. one, everyone looks at the lawyers, the mistake was made when they passed the law that changed the membership of this board, just like there is a reason why people are told they get fired and out the door the same day , yes, etc. the mistakes that were left to them, they were left to create this mischief and that is a major problem, but in general what it does to the rest of the country is that it makes Ron DeSantis look weak, it makes him look heavy, it makes him look less than a leader and I think that's going to be problematic for him in the future and the president, President Trump, has already added to this.

Look at this like he knows any real estate agent would have known. It also shows that it is difficult to run for president and be Governor at the same time as well. I don't think he's going to run for president. Oh yeah, why do you say that? Because I think he has no lane. It's the same when you had your previous guests chatting away saying why. Why you and not Donald Trump, but the second coming of Donald Trump? Do you know how you can do it? No one can argue that case. Why can't DeSantis argue? He doesn't have a lane if Trump stays there, they are recruiting people.

Right now, as we speak, Nicholas, that's what struck me with Vivec uh Ramaswami is his inability to explain why not Trump, he sat there and said, hey, Trump could have done all these things but I couldn't criticize him. . I mean, that's a fundamental problem in the Republican primaries right now for anyone not named Trump, why not wait until 2028, when you know that either Trump wouldn't be in the race or you know something else could have happened? but, as my colleagues reported today, there is still a lot of interest within House and Senate Republicans in someone other than Trump, and in some ways they are almost waiting for Gato, but what?

Do you make them a first-time candidate for president? Pat um, you know, I think we have too many people. I admire anyone who is willing to get into politics, especially jumping directly to the president, be honest, I want more than above. business people have been successful would run for school board and county commission and mayor and city council because that's really where the hard work is and that's coming from a former city council member and I'm a little discouraged that the business community is out of the bailout and up and running. for local office they want to jump right to the top of government when, frankly, they need to learn about government and see if they can handle the Dynamics, and there's no better Dynamics than sitting in a County Commission meeting or a school board meeting or a municipal council meeting every four. years, there's someone we've never heard of running for president, a mayor of South Bend, a businessman in Andrew Yang, right, maybe he fits into that category who will find some success, you think you know, it depends on how What's interesting is that I kept thinking while he was talking that he basically called Donald Trump immoral.

I don't know if he hit him hard and he also said no, he didn't unify the country, that was essentially the number he tells you. it didn't unify the country and to call someone immoral is a pretty big leap and I kept thinking, you know, man, you've never been in a fight like you would be in a fight with this president with President Trump, so I kept thinking. How could I say how I would survive the kind of scrutiny and the kind of belittlement that that president gave to anyone on stage who disagreed with them? I think it would collapse, well we don't know, I mean, that's been the case. with everyone else coming back up, yeah, right, yeah, I mean, that's what we saw on the debate stage over the last few years and anyone who stood up to Trump ultimately, even when it came down to two people True, Trump still won. on the debate stage, you know, it's funny.

Trump is one of those who during a convention called me a loser and then he called me in front of 2000 people and I was sitting there stunned because they called me a loser and then he said he doesn't represent my values, he's saying Pat McCrory doesn't represent Donald Trump's values. and part of me now, in retrospect, wishes I had stood up and said, damn it, I don't, but at the time I was in that kind of situation. character and I'm not one yet and I can't imagine doing it but someone will have to do it right I think someone will have to do it I think Chris Christie stayed pretty close I agree that he is getting close yes, but is it believable? person, this is the person who became, I mean, I think of all the people, Chris Christie, the guy who became the mainstream Republican who gave Trump credibility by being the first to endorse them and sit there and stand next to them. to him for all those who the rest of the primary season, I mean how does he have any credibility here?

I think he has credibility being the only one willing to say he can't be the person, there's nothing to lose, I'm waiting for someone who does it and has something. lose, I don't know what Chris Christie has to lose, all the other candidates, I think, who are good friends of mine and I think would make great presidents, are sitting on the fence trying to have it both ways and I think in this fight you can't have it. You have to distinguish both things, yes, and step out of the box and say, I'm the guy who will face them.

I'm going to pivot to a story that I think I'd better lose if I'm going to lose, I'll lose the fight, so I can't explain the rule against perpetuity. You want to explain King Charles. I love King Charleston. I'm a lawyer, so all the property tax offices, but we were all pretty excited because finally. in popular media it's the rule against perpetuity, well, that was something else, Nicholas. I want to

move

on to another story, it's not getting as much attention because it doesn't involve Trump and it's this kind of growth where House Democrats are getting white votes.

They think the White House has their back, and then they find out the White House is going to sign the bill they voted against. First it was the D.C. crime bill, then I think it's this coveted emergency. Is it creating bad blood or just? Uncomfortable blood gnawing To this day there was a lot of bad blood toward House Democrats. I mean, everyone I talked to was really angry about the way the White House had handled these last few votes where there were vulnerable frontline Democrats who accepted these tough votes on the assumption that the White House would just veto a bill if it ever makes it through the House and then through the Senate to the president's desk, but then you know they have to be told athing and then Biden privately tells Senate Democrats the The totally opposite right caused a lot of heartburn and that's why the White House is trying to do a lot of housekeeping now that we saw the White House come out early today and say Biden would veto explicitlythis new DC crime bill is in the works so there are attempts to fix crimes but it may be too little too late Heidi, it seems like the Biden White House loves being, actually, This is almost what some see, it seems like you are looking for. a progressive contrast or the Democratic contrast Democrats want to go that way, he will happily side with some of these moderates and let me tell you good luck maintaining discipline when that's how you run the caucus, yeah, and you think right, but you fool me He wants me to be ashamed, you know, what a shame, you fool me twice, what a shame, there's no discipline now, right?

So if I'm a moderate in the House caucus and the administration calls, he says I need your vote. I say no, you don't. Obviously you don't need my vote, so I think that's the damage that's been done to the unity that unifies the caucus. I think they have great leadership in the caucus, but whether they can keep it together is another question very quickly. Pat McCrory. House Republicans can have a debt ceiling negotiation with the White House without passing a budget. Unbelievably, it's good, this will be the first to blink, yes, it will be a battle to the end and who blinks, well, let me tell you item one. doesn't start You will negotiate with the president he says you will legislate I think the president has a responsibility to say we need to negotiate and they are both playing hardball and they are appeasing their base because everyone is afraid of the primaries, the House Democrats and the House Republicans , the president presented a budget.

I was going to say yes, I mean, in that sense, he presented his budget, he did, but he also knows that he has a, he has to come and we. You have a significant budget until they move first. Well, here we go. You know you can't move the chest. You don't have two shifts at once. Why should you do whatever you want? You will discover everything. right, Heidi Pat and Nicholas, thank you all, thank you for watching our YouTube channel. Follow today's top stories and breaking news by downloading the NBC News app.