No Mercy for Disney or Bob Iger

Of all the corporations in America currently going broke because they went woke, I find Disney to be the most interesting, not in the least bit because they had arguably the most significant hold on the minds and hearts of Americans than any other company. While Bud Light was a popular beer and Target was a popular store, they were easily replaced…but Disney is Disney. 

Was…Disney. 

Loyal RedState readers can review our extensive reporting and commentary about the Magic Kingdom and see the decline happen on a timeline. It’s a long, sad story. Disney went from being America’s company to being a corporation that saw it taking on some of the biggest names in the Democrat Party in order to defend its reputation to slowly sliding further and further left until it became a hive of activism and radical ideologies willing to openly take on Republicans wanting to pass legislation to give parents more rights over their children. 

Disney CEO Bob Iger was the architect of this woke takeover of Disney and he’s dug himself into a hole he can’t now climb out of. 

According to the New York Post, Iger’s inner circle often complains of being “overwhelmed and exhausted,” half-jokingly asking out loud “Why did I come back?” His efforts to turn the company around by hiking prices on Disney+ subscriptions, laying off 7,000 employees, and vowing to pull Disney out of the culture war haven’t proved successful. The company’s stock is still falling, dropping 50 percent in just a few short years. 

This is causing some internal strife. Activist investor Nelson Peltz is now positioning himself and his company, Trian Fund Management, for a controlling grip over the House of Mouse. Trian bought a massive amount of stock in Disney, taking Trian’s holdings from 6.4 million shares to 30 million over the course of the summer according to the Post: 

That makes Trian — which has over $8.5 billion under management — one of Disney’s largest investors with a stake valued at some $2.5 billion — and sets Peltz up to finally get the board seats he’s been vying for since early this year.

While Peltz describes himself as a “centrist,” he’s demonstrated himself as being far more Republican-leaning, even organizing a fundraiser for the reelection of Donald Trump and now seems to be a supporter of Ron DeSantis. 

This is hilarious given Disney’s open war against DeSantis was one of the driving forces for a great number of Americans to turn their back on the company. 

I’ve expressed my doubt that Iger can turn Disney around. Not only is it infested with radical leftists to the point where conservatives and centrists within Disney live and work in fear, but the company’s actions have so damaged its relationship with America that its goodwill has turned to bad blood. The feminist, LGBT, and radical leftist propaganda that has infested nearly every corner of the company, even going so far as putting men in dresses and make-up in front of boutiques for little girls, has caused America’s parents to walk away. 

Iger lit the fire that is burning down Disney and it’s now too late to stop the collapse. Parents have expressed their disgust with the company and will not be returning. It betrayed their trust and actively denounced their importance in the life of their own child in their war against Florida’s parental rights bill. 

Disney isn’t dying, it’s dead…it just doesn’t know it yet. We’re just waiting for the time of death to be announced. 

This Disney deserves to die because it is an imposter. 

But it’s my honest opinion that the old Disney is still somewhere in there, buried under the radical nonsense that took it over. Perhaps Disney can come back, and I personally hope it does. Again, not in its current state, mind you, but as the cultural force of family-friendly entertainment that it used to be, and as the great Walt Disney had imagined it. Not as a delivery system for radicalized political messaging but as a company that plays a part in defining the spirit of American exceptionalism, imagination, and creativity. 

In order for Walt’s vision to return, Disney must change hands. It has to be taken out of the control of the radicals that have seized it and put into hands that understand the business and the vision. Iger must not just step down, but he must also step away. Disney must disassociate themselves from Iger as a clear show that they’re leaving that era behind them. Perhaps, at this point, Peltz and Trian, who clearly want to see Disney return to profitability and greatness, can find a new CEO worthy of guiding the company and capable of inspiring the people to believe in Disney again.

It must also reduce, selling off pieces of itself such as Star Wars and Marvel and various television properties. Under Iger, Disney has effectively murdered these brands, taking them from cultural goliaths that inspired untold fandoms and led to great success to failures that few still have any enthusiasm for and talk about in negative tones. 

Disney must focus on revitalizing and reviving its core. It must return to the status of the home the “Imagineer,” and focus on creating original and breathtaking spectacles. It has to stop attempting to drudge back properties that better men and women created in order to cash in on nostalgia that becomes hyper-politicized anyway.  

Perhaps most importantly of all, it has to step away from the realm of politics. There is a miasma in the political realm and any business that steps into it begins to poison itself. There are few corporations that step into it and emerge unscathed or successful and Disney is one of the brands that entered into that realm and was choked by it. 

Moreover, it has to win parents back by making it clear that it is no longer Disney that challenges the parent’s authority over their child, and in fact, will highlight the importance of the parent’s sovereignty over their child. While there will be very loud leftist groups that will become furious over this, it needs to be understood that Disney doing this will not be a political move, but an anti-political move. Parenting isn’t political, it’s natural, and Disney needs to stand with this fact of nature, not fight against it. 

This will require that Disney purge a great deal of its employees, many of whom have pushed radical activism from policing its employees in how they behave and act, to hiring practices, and even how they handle promotions. Management positions and high-ranking officials within Disney will have to be terminated so that the company can rid itself of the hyper-political influences within it.