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Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis, a possible presidential candidate, is ramping up his feud with Disney, demanding that a special legislative session this week terminates the theme park giant’s decades-old right to self-governance.

DeSantis and Disney have been at odds over Florida’s new “don’t say gay” bill, which prohibits classroom discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity.

After initial hesitancy, Disney, which prides itself on diversity and inclusiveness, issued a blistering statement condemning the law and promising to fight to overturn it.

DeSantis sees an opportunity for revenge by eliminating the Reedy Creek Improvement District, created by Florida legislators in 1967 to allow Disney to raise taxes and conduct operations autonomously.

Until today, DeSantis has expressed loose support for a proposal by loyal state congressman Spencer Roach to terminate Reedy Creek. But at a press conference this morning in the ultra-Republican central Florida retirement mecca of The Villages, which, ironically, operates under its own special purpose districts, the governor declared he was widening this week’s legislative session.

“Yes, they will be considering the congressional map, but they also will be considering termination of all special districts that were enacted in Florida prior to 1968, and that includes the Reedy Creek Improvement District,” he said.

The “don’t say gay” law is one of several culture war bills laws that Florida has advanced in recent weeks, including a 15-week abortion ban and the DeSantis endorsed Stop Woke Act that bans discussion of critical race theory (CRT) but which critics say eradicates discussion of important historical events.

This week, Florida education officials rejected 54 math textbooks they claimed promoted CRT.

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