For many generations, an American proverb stated that “Money talks, (other stuff) walks.” Maybe that old saying needs revision, though, as the sixth largest publicly traded corporation in California right now has plenty of money but appears intimidated by raw political power.

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Of course, the Walt Disney Corp. has been through a lot in recent years. Much of it was because the firm — whose Disney World resort near Orlando makes it the largest employer in Florida — tried to take a principled stand against a Florida law (nicknamed the “don’t say ‘gay’ ” law) forbidding teachers from discussing the LGBTQ community in classrooms below grade three and in many others at higher levels.

Anyone believing most Floridians object to this censorship might want to consult election returns subsequent to that law’s passage. Republicans have dominated elections in once-purple Florida during that time span like never before. Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Florida, likes to say his state is “where woke goes to die.”

DeSantis took revenge on Disney quickly after the firm opposed his pet policy. He altered the nature and makeup of a local board governing development around Disney World, replacing company appointees with his own.

That substantially contradicted the terms under which Disney created its vast Florida amusement park, sports and hotel complex, but no one outside Disney seemed to mind. The company could not stop the change despite its more than $91 billion in annual revenue. Now Disney, whose animated film “Strange World” featured the company’s first biracial gay teenage hero, appears done with principle.

Disney wants to be beloved by all, as it was in the heyday of Mickey Mouse, Goofy, the little mermaid and others among its cartoon characters. One poll of Florida voters last year, though, showed just 27% of Republicans in the state had a positive view of Disney, compared with 76% of Democrats.

Altogether, only a bare majority liked Disney, but previous surveys had showed almost universal love of most things Disney. The company can’t tolerate such limited positivity from potential fans and customers when corporate profits and executive survival require across-the-board approval, maybe even love.

Disney is now aware that its image can be affected negatively by aggressive politicians, and it knows no politician is more aggressive than the recently restored President Donald Trump. So Disney will now bend over backward not to offend.

That’s why its wholly owned subsidiary, the ABC television network, paid a $15 million libel settlement to Trump’s presidential library fund rather than fight his lawsuit, which looked to most legal experts like a sure loser.

It’s also why Robert Iger, Disney’s chief executive officer who once tweeted that Florida’s “don’t say gay’ ” law “will put vulnerable young LGBTQ people in jeopardy,” changed his tune. He subsequently told an investors’ meeting he would discourage overt company political stances.

“The stories you tell have to really reflect the audience that you’re trying to reach, but that audience, because they are so diverse … can be turned off by certain things,” said Iger.

So Disney will avoid politics, he said.

“Our primary mission needs to be to entertain,” Iger said. “It should not be agenda-driven.”

Of course, movies have often driven public opinion without direct preaching. That was the case with classic films such as Columbia Pictures’ “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” and “To Kill a Mockingbird,” distributed by Universal-International Films. During a hiatus in Iger’s tenure as Disney chief, the company also did release some films catering to more diverse audiences, like “Black Panther” and “Coco.”

Those movies may have been unusual for Disney, most of whose 20th century films avoided edgy content, instead featuring characters like Bambi, Pinocchio and Donald Duck. So expect Disney’s movie fare and its conduct around other corporate assets to revert to the kind of tame content for which the company was long known.

As one pop culture professor told a reporter the other day, “You don’t want to get in a fight with the head of a government. Politics is not good business.” At least not for Disney, which gave it a brief try and has now meekly implied that for it, profits come before principles.

Email Thomas Elias at [email protected], and read more of his columns online at californiafocus.net.