- Florida Politics publisher Peter Schorsch posted a photo from a Disney cruise on Friday and tagged Ron DeSantis.
- A pro-DeSantis PAC quote tweeted the photo and accused Schorsch of being bribed by "groomers" and Trump.
Yesterday, Florida Governor and GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis' campaign told Disney-owned ABC News that it would announce new policy proposals next week. Today, a super PAC aligned with DeSantis attacked a Florida journalist for posting a photo from a Disney cruise.
"We get it, you're bought and paid for by the groomers and Trump," Never Back Down tweeted at FloridaPolitics.com publisher Peter Schorsch, who had posted a photo from a Disney cruise he was on with his family.
"Just want to share the door decor from our @DisneyCruise we are embarking on this weekend. It celebrates the 25th anniversary of the cruise line. We booked this cruise to celebrate that anniversary AND to spite @RonDeSantis's lunacy with his war on @Disney," he wrote.
—Never Back Down (@NvrBackDown24) June 23, 2023
Schorsch responded by quote-tweeting the PAC. "I get that we're in a Trumpian political environment, but don't let it just go by that this is a 9-figure funded presidential campaign super PAC trolling me for taking my family on a Disney cruise," he wrote. He also tagged Taryn Fenske, a former communications director for DeSantis, and said she was having "too much fun" during her first week at Never Back Down.
When reached by Insider, Schorsch initially quoted Anchorman's Ron Burgundy. "But seriously, given the libelous tone of the super PAC's argument, I am exploring my legal options," he said. "Lord kows, Jeff Roe has the money."
Roe, a veteran Republican strategist, is a top adviser for Never Back Down.
Matt Wolking, a communications director for Never Back Down, said in a statement to Insider that "everyone knows Peter is a pay to play swamp creature who is paid by individuals and corporations to attack DeSantis."
A former political operative and a registered Republican who is perhaps best known for breaking the news of the raid at Mar-a-Lago, Schorsch started FloridaPolitics.com in 2013. The site has since become "a must-follow source for Florida political obsessives," as the Washington Post put it, though Schorsch's tenure as a publisher has not been without controversy.
DeSantis' feud with Disney dates back to 2021 and has only escalated since, with the governor making it a key part not just of his successful 2022 gubernatorial campaign but also a key selling point of his national brand. Disney, for their part, recently outmaneuvered him to maintain its control of a key district in Florida.
Nevertheless, DeSantis' positioning of himself as someone willing to wage battles against large corporations over ginned-up cultural issues shows no sign of slowing down soon.
"We oppose the sexualization of children. We will do battle with anybody who seeks to rob our children of their innocence," he said at a Faith and Freedom Coalition event Friday. "And on those principles, there will be no compromise — we will fight the woke corporations."
Never Back Down will be a hugely consequential organization in the GOP primaries. Representatives from the group told the New York Times last month that it plans to have a $200 million operating budget to support DeSantis' campaign for president, and expects to have some 2,600 field organizers by the fall.
"No one has ever contemplated the scale of this organization or operation, let alone done it," Chris Jankowski, the group's chief executive, told the Times. "This has just never even been dreamed up."
In February, Trump reshared a 20-year-old photo of DeSantis that shows him with students at a high school where he taught before attending Harvard Law. The person who initially posted the photo shared by Trump accused DeSantis of using alcohol for "grooming" high school girls. The New York Times reported last year that the photo was taken after the 2001-2002 academic year that DeSantis spent teaching at the Darlington School in Georgia.