Ron DeSantis thinks his feud with Disney will pay off. Here's why

Ron DeSantis is refusing to back down from a fight with Disney over how issues of sexuality and gender identity are taught in schools. It's a high-stakes gamble the governor is making about what Republican voters - and ultimately the American public - want from their next president.

Steve Schussler sits in the front seat of a car bobbing in the middle of Lake Buena Vista and surveys his Disney Springs empire.

While discussions over the political strategy - and wisdom - behind Mr DeSantis's fight with the Walt Disney Company touch on larger, theoretical debates about the direction of the Republican Party, for a businessman like Mr Schussler the feud has very real consequences.

To the left is the Rainforest Cafe, a jungle-themed restaurant chain he founded in 1994 and sold in 2000. His prehistoric-themed T-Rex cafe is in the distance, where once an hour the interior comes to life with animatronic dinosaurs, roaring and screeching in a primordial din.

All of Disney Springs is owned by the Disney Company, and Mr DeSantis' attempt to wrest oversight of the land from Disney - with accompanying hints of new regulations, taxes, toll roads and even prison construction nearby - has prompted Mr Schussler to speak out against what he says are the governor's strong-arm, anti-business tactics.

"We as business owners feel disgusted and betrayed by the governor's proposed taxes and rhetoric," he says, adding that his only political goal is to have "peace, quiet, harmony and not to be attacked".

Mr Schussler is the kind of businessman who might naturally be a Republican - in favour of small, less intrusive government, reasonable taxes and limited regulation. He's once donated money to a Republican senator's campaign and features a quote from Donald Trump on the back cover of his autobiography.

Now he bristles at allegations that he's siding with Disney as part of a woke liberal agenda.

"How is it a liberal agenda to not want to be overtaxed">Republicans have won control of both chambers of Congress, yielding Trump limited congressional oversight for at least 2 years.