Whereas on a visit to Disneyland in California on Saturday along with his spouse and kids, Vice President JD Vance rode the theme park’s journey that’s most related to racial reconciliation, regardless of Vance railing for years in opposition to “woke” tradition.
Vance was caught on video jogging towards his kids—and was mocked for not having an “alpha male” working type regardless of the suitable’s obsession with phony masculinity—and driving “Tiana’s Bayou Adventure,” which opened in November 2024.
The journey, which is predicated on the movie “The Princess and the Frog” that includes the Black princess Tiana, changed “Splash Mountain,” which was based mostly on the traditional Disney movie “Song of the South.”
Disney determined to refurbish the journey to make a break with that movie’s racist previous. “Song of the South” has been controversial because it was first launched in 1946 for depicting a falsely idyllic setting on a southern plantation following slavery. In accordance with the NAACP, the movie “helps to perpetuate a dangerously glorified picture of slavery.”
When it introduced that Tiana would turn into the brand new theme of the journey, Disney stated, “The new concept is inclusive—one that all of our guests can connect with and be inspired by, and it speaks to the diversity of the millions of people who visit our parks each year.”
Folks driving “Tiana’s Bayou Adventure”
That is exactly the form of inclusive racial reconciliation that has been underneath sustained assault by the Trump administration since Day 1.
President Donald Trump and Vance have used the terminology “woke,” which was initially utilized by Black activists to debate racial consciousness, as pejorative, falsely claiming that addressing racism is discriminatory. And so they’ve used their warfare on “wokeness” as a canopy for attacking authorities efforts to deal with racism and to push bigoted insurance policies and rhetoric.
Earlier than he rode the log flume journey, having fun with the newly “woke” theme park attraction, Vance attacked Disney for being culturally conscious.
Vance was a part of the right-wing assault on Disney led by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis forward of his failed presidential marketing campaign. In 2022, Vance claimed that Disney had “declared war on America’s children” and complained a yr later that Disney was “woke” and supported immigration insurance policies that stole from U.S. residents.
Vance’s go to additionally attracted the eye of protesters in opposition to the Trump administration’s ongoing abuse of immigrant communities.
The Disney journey underlined one other side of Vance’s character that has triggered mockery and criticism previously: his lack of rules. He as soon as referred to as Trump “America’s Hitler” and described himself as a “never Trump guy,” however he threw these criticisms to the facet when he was given a shot at being Trump’s vice chairman.
Now, regardless of being a part of the suitable’s disingenuous anti-Disney marketing campaign, Vance was clearly glad to get pleasure from a “woke” second on the Happiest Place on Earth.
