This week, my column focused on the fight between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (and the state of Florida, more generally) and The Walt Disney Company. The battle commenced a little over a year ago during the height of Florida's debate over its Parental Rights in Education Act and recently flared up anew due to Disney's ham-fisted attempts to avoid Florida's phasing out of the cronyist and special privileges-laden Reedy Creek Improvement District outside Orlando.

I explain how Disney attempted to secure for the Mouse a 30-year period of unfettered control over land use and zoning decisions, notwithstanding the fact the purported development agreement entered into between the Reedy Creek Improvement District and the suits at Disney explicitly frustrates Florida law and is blatantly illegal on its face. At this point, DeSantis has made his fight against Disney—which embodies his approach to state power and the culture war—a core part of his gubernatorial legacy.

In the first episode, I provided examples of recent woke insanity from corporate America and explained that contra decades of libertarian- and corporatist-inspired "simp"ing for corporate America from the GOP establishment and its various media mouthpieces and advocacy organs, it is now time for the American Right to more properly treat corporate America as the enemy it so clearly now is.

On the second episode, I opined on former President Donald Trump's unhinged and utterly baseless recent attack on the state of Florida before bringing on Arthur Milikh of the Claremont Institute's Washington, D.C.-based Center for the American Way of Life for a conversation about the state of the "New Right" and what it means to be on the "Right" in 2023, among other topics. Please give both episodes a listen and subscribe to "The Josh Hammer Show" on Apple, Spotify or here.

In terms of media appearances over the past week, I joined my friend Yishai Fleisher on his eponymous podcast to discuss U.S.-Israel relations and Israel's still-roiling debate over judicial reform, and (as always) co-hosted the latest episode of the Edmund Burke Foundation's "NatCon Squad" podcast. I also have a forthcoming long-form podcast conversation with my fellow Floridian Paulo Figueiredo Filho, a prominent Brazilian conservative commentator; the video is here on Locals if you are a subscriber.

In terms of public appearances, I was in the Northeast this past weekend to attend The Heritage Foundation's lavish 50th Anniversary Gala in Washington, D.C., and I also spoke at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute's Society Leaders Conference in Wilmington, Delaware. Next week, I will actually be traveling to Budapest (where I also visited last year) to speak at the CPAC Hungary conference. It should be a great time, but you may not get a newsletter from me next week because of it.

Our highlighted right-leaning Newsweek op-eds this week include selections from Liel Leibovitz, Paul du Quenoy, Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX), Tyler O'Neil, and Rafael Mangual.

Thanks for subscribing! Please share the word about this newsletter throughout your social circles.