November 30th, 2023 was the day that activist investor Nelson Peltz threw his hat into the ring to wage a proxy battle against The Walt Disney Company leadership. Though unsuccessful for Peltz, November of 2024 is shaping up to be, perhaps, even more formidable for CEO Bob Iger with headwinds at every corner. It’s not just the opportunity for a new activist investor to take on a company that has struggled to stay north of $100 per share — it’s the dawning of a sociopolitical environment in stark contrast with the vision of a mega-corporation that wants to “reimagine tomorrow”.
Let’s play what is looking like the less-likely scenario for a moment and explain why Disney faces a struggle no matter which way the presidential elections turn out. For a moment, think about what happens if Kamala Harris wins. The Walt Disney Company threw the candidate a major assist with an ABC News Debate where moderators admitted they practiced to fact-check one candidate with the motivation to prevent another CNN Debate result.
With co-moderator David Muir, Davis had studied hours of campaign rallies and interviews to prepare for the much-anticipated event at Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center, and were ready to counter the candidates’ most egregious statements.
Davis, wearing pink glasses while speaking to The Times over breakfast at the Ritz Carlton in Philadelphia, said the decision to attempt to correct the candidates was in response to the June 27 CNN debate…
“People were concerned that statements were allowed to just hang and not [be] disputed by the candidate Biden, at the time, or the moderators,” Davis said.
— LA Times, featuring Linsey Davis
Of course, ABC News is under the direction of Disney VP Dana Walden, and Walden just happens to be very, very good friends with Kamala Harris. In fact, they’re such good friends that Walden introduced Harris to her husband. They’re that close. So with ABC News having seemed to work hard on the behalf of Harris, someone has to be rewarded down the road. If you’re Disney, you not only probably owe that reward, but you also might be keen to have your next CEO be bestie with the most powerful person in the world. That’s an enticement you just can’t avoid. Yet putting Walden in charge of the company in 2026 with Bob Iger (presumably) exits his role once more is a risky situation. After all, Walden is the head of all of Disney television and streaming. As we’ve covered here, the results of her leadership have not been overwhelmingly great. If you need evidence of that, check out the Nielsen ratings week after week and you’ll see they’re now dominated by Netflix, Amazon and even Paramount or Max. Disney tends to only make it on the charts these days with acquired properties.
(L-R): Teen (Joe Locke) and Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) in Marvel Television’s AGATHA ALL ALONG, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. © 2024 MARVEL.
That’s problem number one. And trust me, it’s the least bad situation Disney has. They can surround a lackluster CEO with a team of handlers if it gets them access to all the benefits that come from presidential coziness. But don’t for a moment think that I’m blustering here with crazy-speak; even the entertainment and investment intelligentsia now openly admit Disney has lost faith in their internal candidates for the next head of the company (including Walden).
The move by Gorman to say that Disney is targeting a 2026 CEO announcement suggests that the board thinks the internal candidates — which include Dana Walden, Josh D’Amaro, Jimmy Pitaro and Alan Bergman — are not quite ready to take over yet. But the 2026 date does not mean Disney can’t make moves in 2025.
— Alex Weprin, The Hollywood Reporter
So then what about the other scenario — the one that seems more likely?
According to polling commissioned by The American Thinker, Michigan is looking like a nail-biter in the presidential election… and it’s the most friendly state in the supposed “blue wall” rust belt swing states for Democrats.
According to the poll, Michigan’s likely voters (LVs) have Harris at 49% and President DJT at 48%. However, the ranking is reversed when it comes to competency, with likely voters giving President DJT a one-point advantage (48-47%). Meanwhile, they’re pretty darn sure that Harris poses the greater threat to democracy (49-44%). In the upcoming contest for U.S. Senate, the Republican, Mike Rogers, is also ahead of the Democrat, Elissa Slotkin, by one point (46-45%).
— Andrea Widburg, The American Thinker
Indeed, Real Clear Politics currently has the former president up in the likely national vote. Most pundits believe even getting within two points would make it difficult for democrats to hold the executive branch. And there’s some worry for the left that a few polls with strong outlier tendencies have skewed this to hide just how strong turnout might be for the right this election cycle.
Now, we’re not a political analysis website. We’re not here to debate Rasmussen versus Atlas Intel or anything of that nature. Our point is simply to say that there’s a very viable scenario here that Disney faces a US government come January that reflects a society that has largely turned against their ultra-progressive views of the world.
RCP Graph; Courtesy Real Clear Politics
So what happens if Republicans take back the White House… and even do so convincingly? What if they have control of both houses of Congress? Things get a little bit more dicey for the House of Mouse then too.
For example, Disney has been strongly pushing an agenda called “Reimagine Tomorrow”. It’s a program inside the company with powerful impacts across all of their storytelling, creative processes and hiring practices. It’s so egregiously malignant that the company will actually promote the program by rapidly playing older movies from Disney in a way that suggests they believe Walt’s legacy is one of a pale patriarchal force that must be torn down. Forget for a moment that Walt himself worked very hard to make sure a black man starred in one of his movies and received an eternal Oscar for doing so (an award only two people have ever received).
As storytellers at Disney, we strive to reflect our audiences in our content and experiences. With the launch of our new digital destination, we’re more committed than ever to making that a reality. Let’s #ReimagineTomorrowTogether Explore more: https://t.co/h2jWExQJZS pic.twitter.com/umZLxsDyDR
— Walt Disney Studios (@DisneyStudios) September 1, 2021
Likewise, Disney has worked very hard to decimate their own theme park industry with questionable decision after questionable decision. Tearing down their most popular attraction, for example, to replace it with something that rarely functions (sorry, Tiana), has been an abysmal mistake. But it’s one they don’t acknowledge and are therefore likely to make again. Replacing all language in the parks that references any kind of biological reality for their guests is also something only true-believers in a niche world view could come up with. Disney no longer says “ladies and gentlemen” in their theme parks… it’s “dreamers of all ages.” To avoid mislabeling someone, cast members are not allowed to call you “sir” or “madam”… instead it is “friend”. And believe me when I say that being called “friend” fifty times a day by strangers will have you feeling like you’ve stepped into a Mickey Mouse version of the Truman Show at the end of the vacation.
The results for attendance could not be more stark for Walt Disney World:
Graph courtesy Thrill Data; https://www.thrill-data.com/waits/chain/wdw/
But despite the ongoing corporate calamities caused by Disney devoting itself to divisive policies, nothing would cause the company more damage than government oversight and investigations into their company. Disney could see their executives wheeled in front of Congress to testify about relationships with China, on agendas within children’s content, as well as what the heck has been going on with municipalities in Florida that are largely gone-quiet now. It’s the sort of thing that only happens to corporations that turn themselves into particularly partisan entities. You might think of it like the reverse-Tesla situation. If Harris wins, Elon loses big. If it goes the other way, we may feel sorry for Bob Iger for the first time ever.
But it’s not like they didn’t earn this one. Both a hostile executive branch and a potential proxy battle are both on the table… especially if the theme parks don’t turn things around in November fast.
SCOOP: I’ve obtained video from inside Disney’s all-hands meeting about the Florida parental rights bill, in which executive producer Latoya Raveneau says her team has implemented a “not-at-all-secret gay agenda” and is regularly “adding queerness” to children’s programming. pic.twitter.com/eJnZMpKIXT
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) March 29, 2022
