Ron DeSantis is responding to Chris Christie's characterization of him as a "big-government conservative" regarding the Governor's fight with the Walt Disney Company over Parental Rights in Education legislation.
"You have some of these Republicans who are going after me because we fought Disney to ensure that we wouldn't have sexualization of our elementary school curriculum in Florida," DeSantis said in response to a question about the former New Jersey Governor.
"Look, a leader who is not willing to stand up for the well being of children and the innocence of children, that's not somebody that you can count on," DeSantis added.
The Governor made the comments during a Never Back Down townhall in Newport Saturday afternoon, finally responding after months of Christie critiques.
"I don't think Ron DeSantis is a conservative based on his actions towards Disney. I believe, as a conservative, the job of government is, in the main, to stay out of the business of business. I don't think we should be heavily regulating business," Christie said in April.
Christie made similar comments in Miami Friday.
"We're having a lot of arguments in this country about transgender issues, and there are some — including the Governor or this state — who believe that he should decide what can happen in your family, with your children and not. I don't want him deciding what happens inside my family," he said.
"We have this group now, folks like Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump and Vivek Ramaswamy who believe in big government conservatism and if there's something going on in this country they don't personally like, they want the government to pass a law to stop it. Sorry, no one knows (or) loves my four children more than me and my wife. I think that applies to every parent out there, (and) I want parents and families to make those decisions."
DeSantis framed Christie and other Republicans as corporatists, meanwhile.
"We had a battle where Disney was fighting us on that legislation. And I think there's a lot of Republicans, historically, whatever the big corporations want, they just roll over and cry uncle, not this guy, I fight back and I'm going to fight for our kids and that's just an appropriate thing to protect the well being of our children. And we're going to continue to do that," DeSantis said.
"These big corporations generally, I don't want to have a dog in that fight, but what they're doing is they are using their economic power to try to change society, they're trying to change policy," DeSantis added.
DeSantis and his political action committee have defended the Governor's war against Disney against not just Christie but also Nikki Haley, with Never Back Down spending money on ads mocking the former South Carolina Governor for suggesting the company should move operations to the Palmetto State.
DeSantis has said he's moved on from the fight with Disney, but what's clear is that conflict still casts a shadow over the 2024 campaign, and how "conservatism" is being defined.
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