Ron DeSantis accused Disney of “transsexualizing children” and said Nikki Haley was “invited; Still, the company traveled to South Carolina as the debate between the two Republican presidential candidates continued its combative tone.
“It is wrong to tell a kindergartener, as Disney wanted, that you can change their gender, or a third-grader that you were born in the wrong body,” the Florida governor said. “I stood there and fought for the children. We took on Disney, we beat them and won, and our kids are better for it. Nikki Haley sided with Disney. “She invited them to South Carolina even though they were involved in child transplants.”
Haley hit back, arguing that DeSantis was anti-business and fought for children.
It was another standout moment in a bitter, head-on debate in which each candidate called the other a liar and damaged his opponent's record while barely mentioning the front-runner: Donald Trump.
Trump qualified for Wednesday night's debate, hosted by CNN in Iowa five days before the Iowa caucuses, but declined to attend.
One of the many topics Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley argued about in their debate was DeSantis' war on Disney and transgender children
DeSantis criticized Haley on the issue of transgender identity and children's education. In his state of Florida, he took on Disney, one of the state's largest employers, replacing the board that governs it, while using his fight to boost his national profile ahead of his announced presidential bid.
During the debate, he bragged that taking over Disney would take on the “800-pound gorilla in the state.”
The fight began in 2022 after Disney opposed a DeSantis-backed bill that banned certain sexual orientation and gender identity lessons in Florida classrooms, dubbed the “Don't Say Gay” bill by critics. The bill passed and was signed by DeSantis.
The dispute with Disney continues in both state and federal courts.
And DeSantis used it to attack his opponent.
“When she was governor of South Carolina, there was a bill to protect girls from men going to the bathroom. “She killed it and bragged about it for years,” DeSantis told Haley.
He then repeated a criticism of her from earlier this month when, at a town hall in New Hampshire, she initially did not list slavery as the cause of the Civil War but later said it obviously did.
“Back to that little boy at City Hall where he said, Nikki Haley, you're the new John Kerry, you're for it before you were against it,” DeSantis said.
The transgender issue has become a culture war embraced by the GOP base.
Republicans have escalated attacks on transgender people, with several Republican-led states passing laws on issues ranging from bathroom use to medical care for transgender people.
In 2016, when Haley was governor of South Carolina, a lawmaker in that state introduced a bill that would require the use of public restrooms and school bathrooms in the Palmetto State based only on the gender listed on a person's birth certificate.
Haley said such a law is not “necessary.”
During the debate, she realized that the topic of bathrooms was not as relevant back then as it is today.
“First of all, when it comes to the toilet bill, that was ten years ago. We have had a handful of children who may have had this problem. “What I made clear to the state back then is that girls go in girls’ restrooms, boys go in boys’ restrooms,” she said.
She remarked: “I have always fought to protect children and said that boys should go to boys' toilets, girls to girls' toilets.”
She added: “I have fought for women's sports and ensured that there are no biological boys in women's sports and I will continue to do so. “I have always said that we need to raise strong girls. Strong girls become strong women. “Strong women become strong leaders.”
“We took on Disney and we beat it and we won that fight and our kids are better off,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said of his battle with Florida’s Disney World
In 2023, Haley capitalized on DeSantis' fight with Disney by inviting the company to her state of South Carolina, but added the caveat that her state was “very anti-woke.”
The Disney feud cost Florida 2,000 jobs and Haley criticized DeSantis for his attacks on companies.
“When they went and criticized him, he became thin-skinned and suddenly started fighting back,” Haley said. “We don’t need a government fighting our private industries.” We haven’t woken up in South Carolina. I will always invite companies to come to South Carolina. But the one thing you don’t do is stop the government from harassing our businesses.”