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00:00 - Thank you for joining us, Governor Ron DeSantis.
00:01 Governor, thanks for the time.
00:02 - Yeah, sure.
00:03 - You know, I ask every presidential candidate
00:05 that we've had on this first question,
00:07 and that is, what do you think the most important issue
00:10 facing our country is?
00:12 - Our country's in decline.
00:14 I don't think it's inevitable, I think it's a choice,
00:16 but I'm running for president to reverse the decline,
00:18 and that's, of course, our economic decline,
00:21 the decline of our military power,
00:23 the decline of our culture,
00:25 and so we have it within our power
00:26 for the next 18 months to choose a better course,
00:30 and I'm running for president to lead that effort.
00:31 - You're here in New Hampshire today,
00:33 you had a press conference,
00:34 you had an economic unveiling of some bullet points
00:37 about your economic plan.
00:39 - That's right, I mean, at the end of the day,
00:41 you know, when you talk about economic policy,
00:42 yes, it involves dollars and cents,
00:44 but at the end of the day, it's like,
00:46 what kind of a country do you wanna have?
00:47 And we're a country with an economy,
00:48 not the other way around.
00:50 We're citizens of a republic,
00:51 we're not just cogs in the wheel
00:53 of a global economic empire,
00:55 and so I think to have a good economy means
00:57 if you work hard, you play by the rules,
00:59 you get the most of your God-given talent,
01:01 you should be able to succeed in this country,
01:03 you should be able to raise a family,
01:04 afford a home, a car, all these different things,
01:07 and we've lost a lot of that in recent years,
01:09 we need to get it back.
01:10 - I wanna talk about substance and policy,
01:12 and you've got a lot of history
01:14 about how you handled Florida and what your plans are,
01:16 but this week, there's a lot of focus
01:18 on politics and your campaign.
01:21 Is this the start of a campaign that you envisioned?
01:25 - Well, look, at the end of the day,
01:27 I'm a leader, you put out a commander's intent,
01:30 and you delegate for people to do it,
01:33 then you evaluate, and if it's not up to what you want,
01:35 then you just make adjustments,
01:37 but at the end of the day,
01:38 that happens all the time, it happens in governing,
01:41 and the question is, are you gonna be able
01:42 to identify whatever may be getting a poor ROI,
01:45 change it, so we've done that,
01:47 and I think at the end of the day,
01:48 no one's gonna care about what happened in early July,
01:51 six, seven months before the primaries.
01:53 What they wanna know, the voters here in New Hampshire,
01:55 is, okay, why you?
01:57 I could talk about my biography,
01:59 for example, being the only war veteran running.
02:02 I could talk about my accomplishments in Florida.
02:04 We're the number one state in the country
02:05 in terms of people wanting to come,
02:07 and then the vision for the future,
02:08 and that goes with the economy,
02:10 and it goes with strengthening our military,
02:11 all these things that are so important,
02:13 at the end of the day, it's gonna be about substance.
02:16 - Your campaign says it's resetting,
02:17 it says that you're gonna be sort of more insurgent,
02:20 leaner and meaner.
02:22 That has happened.
02:23 You've recently laid off a third of your campaign staff.
02:27 It's happened before on campaigns historically.
02:29 Ronald Reagan did it, John McCain did it.
02:31 They went on to win the nomination.
02:33 Obviously, Reagan went on to the White House,
02:35 but what happened to you and your campaign?
02:39 - Well, look, at the end of the day,
02:40 everything you do needs to have a return on the investment,
02:44 and so we have a little bit of a different structure.
02:46 We don't pay consultants, we hire people to work in-house,
02:49 so some of the reasons we may have some more
02:51 is because we're just bearing those costs.
02:53 Ultimately, we'll make money off doing it that way.
02:55 It's just a different model,
02:57 but some of the other stuff, if there isn't value in it,
02:59 then I get changes, and then that's just the reality
03:02 of what you have to do, so I'm not a political operative.
03:05 I'm not a campaign professional.
03:07 You set out the vision, and you execute on it,
03:11 and if it's not being executed,
03:12 you just make the course correction,
03:13 but at the end of the day, a lot of those changes,
03:15 it wasn't like, I mean, we could have continued
03:17 on that path.
03:19 We out-raised Biden and Trump in the second quarter,
03:21 and I was only a candidate for five and a half weeks,
03:23 and we spent less than President Trump
03:25 in the second quarter, but still,
03:27 the value has to be there,
03:28 and that's if I go speak somewhere.
03:30 It's if we run a commercial, no matter what,
03:32 and so we're just assuring we have good ROI.
03:34 - This is the last part about this process stuff here,
03:37 but a political operative who has been around the block,
03:41 Ed Rollins, longtime Republican political consultant,
03:43 supported former President Trump,
03:45 jumped over to you and your PAC, Ready for Ron PAC,
03:49 told The Rolling Stone this week this,
03:52 "I don't think it's the campaign's fault at all.
03:54 "It's his.
03:55 "I think he's a very flawed candidate.
03:57 "He's not a particularly articulate candidate.
03:59 "He does not come off as warm and fuzzy.
04:01 "When you get into those culture wars the way that he has,
04:03 "the vast majority of people don't understand what they are.
04:07 "That may work in parts of Florida,
04:09 "but not these other places.
04:10 "He needs to win.
04:11 "That's not what sells."
04:13 - Harsh, but what do you say to that?
04:15 This is from a guy who's obviously been around the block
04:17 and who's been a central figure
04:18 in your political action committee.
04:20 - Well, it's obviously nonsense.
04:22 I mean, I came into a state that had been decided
04:24 by one point for a generation.
04:26 You've covered some of those races.
04:28 I govern boldly, I govern unapologetically,
04:31 I delivered big results, and we won by 20 points.
04:34 You don't win a state like Florida that big
04:37 if you're not doing things that are resonating,
04:39 and I would push back.
04:41 When I hear about, oh, culture war,
04:43 standing up for the rights of parents,
04:45 standing up for the well-being of children,
04:47 that's not some, quote, culture war.
04:49 That is central to the lives of tens of millions of people
04:53 throughout this country.
04:54 It is the right thing to do to stand with our kids.
04:56 It is the right thing to impose indoctrination
04:58 in the schools, and I totally reject
05:01 being in Iowa and New Hampshire
05:03 that people don't think that those are important.
05:05 They do think they're important.
05:06 These families with children are thanking me
05:08 for taking stands in Florida
05:10 and bringing that type of vibrancy to the White House.
05:13 - So you look at the polls, and I know you can look at polls
05:16 until you're blue in the face, especially national polls,
05:19 but the latest one, New York Times/Siena poll out today
05:21 has you down 37 points.
05:23 Now, to former President Trump,
05:26 22% of the support for Trump comes from registered voters
05:30 who believe that he has committed serious federal crimes.
05:35 I mean-- - Some of these polls,
05:36 I mean like-- - I got it,
05:37 but it tracks other polls.
05:39 - But you gotta just take,
05:40 that's what I think you have to do.
05:42 - How do you turn it around is my question.
05:43 - Well, this is a state-by-state process, right?
05:45 So I get the national stuff, but I'm not trying
05:48 to necessarily be in some of the states
05:50 that aren't gonna vote until later,
05:52 and so they're reflected.
05:53 If you do a national poll,
05:54 there's probably one or two people in that
05:56 from Iowa and New Hampshire.
05:57 So it's a grassroots thing.
05:59 You gotta go meet people.
06:00 You know, there have been folks
06:02 that have told folks that support me,
06:03 "Oh, I love the governor, he's great."
06:04 They're like, "Well, will you caucus for him?"
06:06 They're like, "Well, I haven't met him yet.
06:07 "Once I meet him, maybe I'll do it."
06:08 So there's just a process you have to do.
06:10 - Exactly, but I'd also caution this about polls.
06:13 There were polls that had me losing re-election
06:16 that would get churned out.
06:17 Some of this stuff is not great,
06:18 and most of the polls,
06:20 they did have me winning re-election,
06:22 but nobody had me winning by what we knew
06:25 we were gonna win by, and so I think that
06:27 it just seems in previous cycles,
06:29 the volume of polls that are being put out there
06:31 is so much more this time.
06:33 So the question is, a good poll costs money,
06:35 so who's putting all this out?
06:37 So I think polls have become a way to shape the narrative
06:40 rather than to reflect accurate opinion,
06:43 but I can tell you, being on the ground,
06:44 heck, in New Hampshire, we did the economic part.
06:46 I had three guys come up to me separately.
06:48 They said, "You know, I was with Trump,
06:50 "but now I'm with you, you won me over."
06:51 But that's what it's gonna take.
06:53 People gotta see you.
06:54 I think most of these Republican voters,
06:56 they know I've done good in Florida,
06:57 they know Florida's done well, and they like me,
07:00 but they wanna know why me as the leader
07:02 and what am I gonna be able to do as president,
07:04 and once we're able to fill that in, we gain support.
07:07 - We asked viewers for social media questions for you.
07:10 Here's one.
07:11 Does the governor understand that he must win the MAGA base
07:14 to his side in order to win the nomination?
07:16 If so, how does he think he can do it
07:18 as the almost but not quite Trump
07:21 when the genuine article is still in the running?
07:23 - Well, look, I mean, I think I'm somebody
07:25 that's more likely to actually win the election.
07:27 Like a state like Georgia, I'll be able to win Georgia.
07:30 - You don't think President Trump could win?
07:32 - He's losing pretty significant now.
07:34 I think you talked to the governor there,
07:36 all the political leaders, they say Georgia
07:38 would be a Democrat favorite if he were the nominee.
07:41 Two, I'm more reliable on policy,
07:44 and three, I'm more likely to get this stuff done.
07:47 Everything I promised I would do in Florida, I delivered.
07:50 Most people run, they overpromise, they underdeliver.
07:54 I've delivered and then some,
07:56 and I think the president is, former president's running
07:59 on a lot of the things he promised to do in 2016.
08:02 He said he was gonna drain the swamp.
08:03 No, he did not drain the swamp.
08:05 He didn't fire Christopher Wray,
08:06 didn't fire Anthony Fauci,
08:08 let the swamp basically run amok.
08:10 He said Mexico was gonna pay for a border wall.
08:12 That didn't happen.
08:14 We see a massive influx thanks to Biden's ineptitude,
08:16 but there is an open border.
08:18 He said he was gonna eliminate the national debt.
08:20 They added $8 trillion to the debt.
08:22 In Florida, we run budget surpluses
08:24 and we've paid down 25% of our state's debt
08:28 since I've been governor, and he said,
08:30 every rally, lock her up, lock her up,
08:32 with respect to Hillary and the classified.
08:34 Two weeks after the election, forget about it.
08:36 Don't do that.
08:37 So I will deliver on the things that we want,
08:42 and I don't make promises that I don't intend to keep.
08:44 I mean, if I tell you I'm gonna do something,
08:45 and my worst critics and opponents in Florida
08:48 will acknowledge, the governor says
08:50 he's gonna do something.
08:51 You can take that to the bank.
08:52 He's gonna do it.
08:53 - So just to read between the lines here to clarify,
08:55 you don't believe that former president Trump
08:57 could win a general election against Joe Biden?
09:00 - I don't think so, 'cause I think that there's too many
09:03 voters who just aren't gonna vote for him going forward.
09:06 I saw it in Florida in my re-election.
09:08 You know, I won the first time by less than a percent,
09:11 second time by 20.
09:12 Why did people vote against me in '18
09:15 but then voted for me in '22?
09:16 The number one reason they gave was because of Trump,
09:19 because in '18, they said that they were voting
09:22 against Trump, voting against me to vote against Trump,
09:24 even though they didn't know much about me.
09:26 By '22, that was there.
09:28 So I think in states like Georgia and Arizona,
09:30 and look, I don't put a stock in the polls,
09:32 but you guys talk about 'em.
09:33 The polls that come out that put,
09:35 I beat Biden in Georgia, Trump doesn't.
09:38 I beat Biden soundly in Arizona, Trump doesn't.
09:41 Those are just the realities.
09:42 And I also think in terms of the base,
09:44 you need to have a cadre of personnel.
09:47 If you wanna slay this administrative state,
09:50 you gotta be disciplined, you gotta be focused,
09:52 and you gotta have people surrounding you
09:54 that are gonna go and support the mission.
09:56 I think the former president would have very difficult time
09:59 getting the type of personnel to join the administration
10:02 that you would need to actually bring this stuff to fruition.
10:05 - And you think he over-promised and under-delivered?
10:08 - Well, he did not drain the swamp.
10:10 I mean, of course he did. - I know,
10:11 you went through that list, but I'm just clarifying.
10:12 - He did not meet the core promises that he laid out.
10:16 - Okay, speaking, you don't like to call it culture wars
10:20 or culture war issues, but three quick questions on this.
10:23 You've said repeatedly, Florida is where woke goes to die.
10:28 We've made the state of Florida
10:30 the place where woke goes to die.
10:32 - We have fought woke in corporate America,
10:35 we have fought woke in our education system,
10:37 we have fought woke in the halls of the legislature.
10:40 - So in Florida, we said,
10:42 we're the state where woke goes to die,
10:44 and we have made that a reality.
10:46 - This week, there's been some pushback
10:48 to Florida's new slavery history curriculum.
10:51 - Slavery was really about separating families,
10:55 about mutilating humans, and even raping their wives.
10:58 It was just devastating.
11:00 So I would hope that every person in our country,
11:04 and certainly running for president,
11:06 would appreciate that.
11:07 - My issue is with one sentence of the entire thing,
11:10 one sentence of 200 pages,
11:12 and the DeSantis team wants to make a big issue out of it.
11:15 The fact that they made this a story is dumb, in my view.
11:18 - Now, you've doubled down, and you said anyone saying that
11:22 is essentially siding with Vice President Kamala Harris
11:25 or the Democrats.
11:26 Is this a fight worth having?
11:29 - We didn't pick the fight, Brett.
11:30 Kamala Harris got on a jet at taxpayer expense
11:34 and flew to Florida to lie
11:36 about the African American history standards
11:39 that were developed.
11:40 - Understood.
11:40 - Why is this important, though?
11:42 - Well, you're asked about it a lot,
11:44 but that's what you're saying.
11:45 - No, no, I'm saying it is important.
11:46 Why?
11:47 You can't bend the knee to the left's lies.
11:50 When the left lies and creates these phony narratives,
11:53 you've gotta push back.
11:54 They've been doing this to Republicans for years and years.
11:57 Republicans bend the knee,
11:59 and it's just one thing after another.
12:01 Second, this goes into the whole fight
12:04 on indoctrination in schools.
12:05 We eliminated critical race theory a couple years ago.
12:08 When we did that, the media lied, and the left lied,
12:11 saying you don't wanna teach
12:12 about African American history,
12:13 equating political activism and CRT with black history.
12:17 Said no, not only do, in the bill,
12:18 it says you've gotta do all these things.
12:20 Teach about injustice, teach about discrimination.
12:22 So these standards were born out of the fight against CRT,
12:26 'cause this is true history.
12:28 It was done, and oh, by the way,
12:30 we're one of only 13 or 14 states
12:32 that even have African American history standards.
12:34 So it was done by black history scholars.
12:36 The head was the former chairman
12:38 of the US Commission on Civil Rights.
12:40 Most of them were black.
12:41 If you read those standards,
12:43 there is no way you can come away from that
12:45 with anything other than this is the gory details,
12:49 this shows the injustice.
12:50 So to take something and demagogue it like that,
12:53 that's bad faith, and here's the thing.
12:55 This was a public process.
12:57 These guys were going through it.
12:59 People could have raised objections.
13:00 No one said anything about this.
13:02 They were being lauded for the job that they did
13:04 by people across the political spectrum.
13:06 Now Harris comes in and parachutes.
13:09 What Republicans should have done is push back against her,
13:12 say you are operating in bad faith.
13:14 These guys down in Florida, they didn't have an agenda.
13:17 They were just trying to shoot straight.
13:18 And finally, I will say, there's an AP
13:21 African American history course that we rejected in Florida
13:24 'cause it had Marxism and gender ideology,
13:26 but it had a lot of good stuff too.
13:28 That course that Harris endorsed had the same provision
13:32 about developing skills.
13:34 And so this is something that they're making
13:36 a mountain out of molehill.
13:37 We know what the left does.
13:39 Republicans, you cannot take that bait.
13:41 You've gotta fight back against these people.
13:43 - And that's a very detailed answer.
13:45 And you have a lot of legs to stand on
13:48 in Republican circles.
13:50 And we've heard from the head of that curriculum,
13:52 who's very articulate about what he was thinking.
13:54 But these are two very successful
13:57 black Republican politicians
13:59 who are telling people how they feel.
14:01 - Do you think that they read those standards?
14:05 Do you honestly think that--
14:06 - I think Byron Donalds refers to one sentence.
14:08 - Okay, well, but look, I think to take something
14:10 out of context and mangle it and accept bad interpretations,
14:13 I would just challenge people to read them.
14:15 And here's the thing, I feel a need to defend my state.
14:19 These guys, I didn't appoint them.
14:21 They were there.
14:22 This went to the State Department of Education.
14:24 They were following state law.
14:26 It's wrong to demean their work.
14:28 And here's the thing, if I wasn't running for president
14:31 or I wasn't who I was, no one would have cared about this.
14:34 - I wanna move on because you're right.
14:37 It's not all about these culture issues.
14:39 However, your campaign has focused on them a little bit.
14:43 Here's another one.
14:44 - You win.
14:45 - Another culture issue, your campaign ran an ad
14:49 that focused on former President Trump's support
14:51 for LGBTQ citizens.
14:53 USA Today called it bizarre and staggeringly homophobic.
14:57 Log Cabin Republicans called it extreme, naive,
15:00 dangerous, politically stupid.
15:02 Why did you do that ad?
15:04 And what do you say to people that you're subtracting,
15:06 not adding, to potential supporters?
15:08 - What they hit him on was injecting men
15:12 into women's competitions,
15:14 which he did with his beauty pageants.
15:16 And then he's expressed support for allowing men
15:18 to use women's locker rooms and bathrooms.
15:20 So those are the two issues.
15:21 I think those are totally legitimate.
15:23 I don't believe in demeaning anybody.
15:25 And we have not done that since I've been governor.
15:29 You know, these things get shared or whatever,
15:31 and I'm responsible for it, don't get me wrong.
15:33 But the idea that like I was sitting there like,
15:34 "Oh, share this video."
15:35 No, it's a rapid response thing.
15:37 But on those issues about injecting men
15:39 into women's competitions, that's wrong.
15:41 We've taken a strong stand with respect
15:43 to women's athletics, protecting women's sports.
15:45 We've also protected women's bathrooms and locker rooms.
15:48 And at the end of the day, you know,
15:50 we can't go down this road
15:51 where there's 37 different genders.
15:53 That's not true, there's two.
15:55 And I do think we have a difference of opinion on that.
15:58 - After Roe v. Wade was overturned,
15:59 the issue went to the states.
16:01 Abortion became a bigger issue in the 2022 midterms
16:04 than really anybody thought it was.
16:05 They thought it'd be big, but not as big as it was.
16:08 And now beyond, some of your top supporters
16:11 had issues with you signing
16:14 a six-week abortion ban in Florida,
16:17 suggesting that 15 weeks maybe is more defensible,
16:20 more politically viable in a general election.
16:23 Why did you do that?
16:24 Were you trying to get to the right
16:26 of former President Trump on that issue?
16:29 - I am pro-life, I've always been pro-life.
16:31 I ran as being pro-life.
16:32 I've always said I supported the heartbeat bill.
16:35 The 15 that we did was prior to Dobbs.
16:38 This was after Dobbs.
16:39 And this is still all being litigated
16:41 under Florida's constitution.
16:42 We've got a case going on now.
16:44 So it'll take some time to play out.
16:45 - But you support it.
16:46 - But I signed the bill.
16:48 At the end of the day,
16:50 when there's a detectable heartbeat,
16:52 is that a life or not?
16:53 And does that deserve protection?
16:55 And in Florida, the legislature put protections in
16:57 for rape, incest life with mother, all that stuff,
16:59 which I know have been difficult issues for a lot of people.
17:01 But at the end of the day,
17:02 when there's a detectable heartbeat,
17:04 the right thing to do is to protect that life
17:06 and welcome that child into the world.
17:08 I think we're better off when everybody counts,
17:11 when everybody has an opportunity.
17:13 Now, I also acknowledge and understand
17:17 that in my region of the country
17:19 and down in the Southeast,
17:21 it's a little bit different
17:22 than where we are up here in New England.
17:23 I don't think New England states would probably
17:26 adopt something along the lines of a heartbeat bill.
17:29 - So they wanna know what you're gonna do as president.
17:31 - Well, what I'm gonna do as president is a couple things.
17:33 One, we are gonna lead as a pro-life,
17:37 leading a culture of life using the bully pulpit.
17:39 We're not gonna fund it with tax dollars.
17:42 The military's abortion tourism policy,
17:44 we're gonna eliminate.
17:45 We are gonna assure that we have conservative justices
17:48 appointed to the Supreme Court
17:49 who are gonna respect the Dobbs decision.
17:51 And we will absolutely be able to block,
17:54 if there is a democratic Congress, their attempt.
17:57 They wanna impose abortion on demand
17:59 up until birth nationwide.
18:01 And that is a horrific practice,
18:03 and so we would not let that happen.
18:05 - You mentioned the Pentagon's policy.
18:07 Do you support Senator Tommy Tuberville from Alabama
18:10 blocking the military promotions
18:12 for Pentagon policy, abortion policy?
18:16 - I do, because I think the Pentagon's violating the law.
18:20 They're basically being told by the Biden administration
18:22 to do this.
18:23 This is not consistent with longstanding US law.
18:26 And I think it plays into a larger problem
18:28 that we've seen in the military.
18:29 You have a lot of civilians forcing them
18:31 to engage in political and culture issues
18:35 that are detracting from mission.
18:37 This is one of 'em, but the pronouns
18:39 and the drag queens and all those other things.
18:40 So we need to get the military back
18:42 on focusing on mission first.
18:45 And I think if we can do that,
18:46 you can solve the recruiting crisis that you see.
18:48 - I mean, you were in the military,
18:49 you know how it works,
18:50 but there's 250 stalled military promotions because of this,
18:54 and the Pentagon's saying it's really doing damage.
18:56 - Well, at the end of the day, though,
18:58 the Pentagon, largely because of civilians
19:01 telling them to do this,
19:02 they're the ones that pick this by violating the law.
19:05 And so I think at some point,
19:07 we talk about the executive branch
19:09 and the administrative state,
19:10 part of the ways that you make sure
19:12 they're within their bounds,
19:13 and look, the military hasn't been as bad
19:15 as DOJ, FBI, EPA, all those others,
19:18 but Congress is the one that does oversight.
19:21 They have to ensure that they're following the law.
19:23 And so I think that standing up for that's
19:24 the right thing to do.
19:26 - Okay, I'm gonna wrap up this section
19:28 with your supporters who worry
19:31 that these wedge issues are hurting you
19:34 instead of the focus of you did win all those counties,
19:37 including Dade, in a historic election.
19:41 - With the same stuff.
19:42 I have not changed at all.
19:43 Brett, so I'm just telling you what I hear.
19:45 - No, I know, but here's the thing.
19:46 - And you hear it too, I'm sure.
19:47 - They raise, well, here,
19:48 so I have, there have been donors
19:50 that tell you don't do this, don't do that.
19:52 I do what I think is right, okay?
19:53 I am not here to please donors.
19:56 I have a lot of great supporters.
19:57 We've been able to raise a lot of resources.
19:58 It's part of the game, but at the end of the day,
20:01 you just gotta look in the mirror
20:02 and do what you think is right for the right reason.
20:04 Let the chips fall where they may politically,
20:06 but here's what I would say on some of this stuff.
20:09 When you talk about parents' rights,
20:10 when you start talking about dealing
20:12 with progressive prosecutors,
20:13 which I removed one in Florida,
20:15 when you start talking about a lot of those core things,
20:17 that has huge support amongst the public.
20:20 The idea that those are somehow minority positions,
20:23 those are just not true.
20:24 We've been talking about a lot of other stuff.
20:26 We just did the economic policy today.
20:29 - And I wanna talk about that.
20:30 - We've led the nation in education reform, school choice.
20:33 All those different things are very important.
20:35 We've talked about military readiness,
20:37 and so we're doing a lot of that.
20:39 I think it's just people kinda wanna caricature--
20:41 - You think it's a media problem and not a focus problem?
20:43 - Well, I think people,
20:45 I can give a speech and do five different things,
20:47 and they'll say all he talked about was one thing,
20:49 which just isn't true.
20:51 So it's fine to say you should never talk about it.
20:53 I disagree with it because I think at the end of the day,
20:55 when people say, take WOKE, for example.
20:57 Some people say, "Ah, don't worry about it.
20:58 "What is it, all this stuff?"
21:00 First of all, you have to be rooted in the truth.
21:02 Don't tell me a man can get pregnant.
21:03 I'm not gonna accept that.
21:05 But also, when WOKE overtakes policy,
21:07 it does affect people's lives.
21:08 Things like ESG taking over the economy,
21:11 going after our energy industry,
21:13 that will make the average person poorer as a result.
21:16 When it overtakes education, that leads to indoctrination.
21:19 I think students end up dumber.
21:20 And then when it overtakes criminal justice,
21:22 like San Francisco, Chicago, you get a Soros prosecutor.
21:25 This is all driven by ideology.
21:27 And what happens?
21:28 Those communities have frayed because crime's gone up
21:31 so much, and so there's not a single jurisdiction
21:34 in this country governed by leftist ideology
21:37 that has had success.
21:39 San Francisco, LA, California, Illinois,
21:41 people are leaving those places
21:43 because the ideology is destructive.
21:45 So it's an important battle that we have to win.
21:47 - And you make the direct linkage.
21:49 I wanna talk about your top issue
21:50 that you talked about today here in New Hampshire.
21:52 How do Republicans effectively campaign on a weak economy
21:56 if the unemployment rate remains low,
21:59 inflation starts coming down,
22:01 maybe it's not completely tamed,
22:02 and we do in fact reach what they call a soft landing?
22:06 How do Republicans capitalize on that
22:09 if a strong economy or semi-strong
22:12 is the case heading into the election?
22:14 - Well, first of all, I think it's important
22:15 to point out nationally,
22:16 whatever you say about the quote strength,
22:19 a lot of that's driven by Florida and Texas
22:22 and the red states.
22:22 Let's just be honest.
22:24 We have way more people employed in Florida
22:26 than we did prior to COVID.
22:27 That's not true with a lot of the blue states.
22:30 And so as Biden would hype all these job gains
22:32 over the last couple of years,
22:34 it's like Florida and Texas
22:35 and a handful of states are really driving it.
22:37 And so I think we've been able to push back effectively,
22:41 but even if inflation quote is less,
22:44 those prices are not going down.
22:46 So you have a situation now,
22:48 middle-class family affording a home is prohibitive.
22:52 If you look at the median income
22:53 compared to the median home price,
22:54 there's a bigger gap in that
22:55 than there was when the financial crisis hit
22:58 after the big housing increase in 2006 and seven.
23:02 Cars are becoming less affordable.
23:04 People feel that squeeze.
23:06 And it's because Biden,
23:07 he's more interested in pursuing
23:09 his ideological agenda through the economy.
23:11 And when he's attacking American energy,
23:13 that is not good for the average person.
23:16 It's not good for businesses.
23:17 It's not good for national security,
23:19 but they care more about that agenda
23:21 than they do about the wellbeing of middle-class families.
23:23 And so that's not changing.
23:25 That's gonna be the case.
23:26 And I think I also,
23:27 ultimately I have a good record to be able to say,
23:29 you know, whose economy has led the way
23:31 over these past many years and Florida's has led the way.
23:34 - Well, about Florida, even with no state income tax,
23:38 Florida has become one of the most expensive states
23:40 to live in.
23:42 Why is that?
23:43 - Well, partially because we've had massive inflation
23:46 through the whole economy.
23:47 We're not immune to that, of course.
23:48 Second thing is, is demand.
23:51 We are the number one place that people wanna move to.
23:54 There were times where homes would go on the market
23:57 in the last few years,
23:59 and literally the same day they would be gone.
24:01 People coming in, they can leave California,
24:03 sell a three bedroom, two bathroom house for a million
24:06 dollars and buy it twice the size of Florida for less.
24:09 But that still causes, you know, the prices to go up.
24:12 I think that these interest rate hikes have been devastating
24:15 'cause it's locking in homeowners who probably would sell
24:18 'cause they know if they buy another home,
24:20 their interest payments are gonna be so much more.
24:22 We've actually, though, we just did a big housing bill
24:25 in Florida that I signed a few months ago.
24:27 You're seeing capital move in.
24:28 For us, it's just increasing the supply
24:30 'cause the demand has been so torrid that, you know,
24:33 in some ways, it's a function of our success,
24:36 but the demand is real and we need more housing,
24:39 and we're gonna get it.
24:40 - There is a problem with home insurance,
24:42 and that's, some people call it a crisis in Florida.
24:46 Property insurance jumped in 40% or more this year,
24:50 about 200% since you took office.
24:52 There's some lawmakers calling it a major crisis.
24:55 What do you do about it?
24:57 What are you doing about it?
24:58 - So first of all, one, the general inflation has hurt that
25:01 'cause it's twice as expensive to repair a roof
25:03 as it was five years ago.
25:05 Second, you know, you have issues where we've had
25:07 three major hurricanes since 2017.
25:10 That has hurt the market.
25:11 So those are things, obviously,
25:12 for a state government, it's gonna be hard to do.
25:14 The third one, though, is our market had been
25:17 8% of all property claims
25:18 and 78% of all litigation nationwide.
25:22 And so we've done bills in '21, '22, and then this year
25:26 to get those incentives out to stop the junk lawsuits.
25:30 What that is now doing is,
25:32 companies like State Farm have said, you know, we're here.
25:34 You're seeing other companies interested now in expanding.
25:37 The reinsurance was supposed to go up at a record.
25:40 It did go up, but it didn't go up as much
25:42 because of those reforms.
25:44 So capital is forming.
25:45 The market is better in that regard,
25:47 but there's no way that you can have inflation
25:50 be as high as it is in three major hurricanes
25:52 and have rates go down.
25:53 But we have taken action over many years
25:56 to be able to do it.
25:57 And we just did a program, $100 million.
25:59 Floridians get grants to make improvements
26:02 to fortify their home,
26:03 and then they get a reduction in rates.
26:05 - All right, foreign policy.
26:06 Here's a tweet.
26:08 John asks, "How does he, the governor,
26:09 "plan to support Ukraine if he's elected?"
26:14 And I guess I add, "Or do you?"
26:16 - So here's what we need.
26:17 We need a sustainable peace in Europe
26:19 without rewarding Putin's aggression.
26:22 We don't want this to be an issue
26:23 for the next 10, 20, 30, 40 years.
26:26 Well, how do you get there?
26:27 The Europeans need to do their fair share.
26:31 They're our allies.
26:32 Their economy, Europe's economy
26:33 is 10 times the size of Russia.
26:36 And so I think they need to step up.
26:38 I think the fact that we have drawn down our ammunition
26:41 to crisis levels, some of our weapons stocks,
26:44 we have other contingencies we have to be worried about.
26:46 So as president, I would prioritize the China threat first.
26:51 I would have more resources and power in the Indo-Pacific.
26:55 I would also deal with issues in our own hemisphere,
26:57 starting with our border and some of the threats there.
26:59 And then I'm willing to work with the Europeans,
27:02 but I think the goal needs to be,
27:04 let's bring it to a sustainable conclusion
27:06 to do this for another three years
27:08 where nothing changes on the ground.
27:10 A lot of people are gonna die.
27:11 A lot of weapons are gonna be used in that.
27:14 So they're doing this offensive on the other side of that.
27:17 You know, I think the Europeans really need to take the lead.
27:20 We'll help to try to bring this in for a landing.
27:22 -Early in your campaign, when you were asked about Ukraine,
27:24 you used two words.
27:25 You said "territorial dispute."
27:27 Your opponents jumped on that.
27:30 -And for them to sit there and say
27:31 that this is a territorial dispute,
27:33 that's just not the case.
27:34 -This is not a territorial dispute.
27:37 Vladimir Putin is not a genius.
27:39 Rolling tanks and artillery into a free country,
27:43 mercilessly killing their people
27:46 and taking their land by force, Governor DeSantis,
27:49 is not a territorial dispute.
27:51 -So the question is, do you stick by that characterization?
27:54 -Well, first of all, they're taking that out of context.
27:56 The initial invasion was for Putin
27:59 to decapitate the Ukrainian government
28:02 and install a Belarus-style puppet regime.
28:05 He failed at that, and he's not gonna succeed at that,
28:07 and that's a good thing.
28:08 So the fight is really on that far eastern flank
28:12 of the border region between Ukraine and Russia.
28:15 So the result of that -- Look, if I could snap my fingers,
28:17 I'd put Russia out of all those places.
28:20 But the result of that is not gonna be the viability
28:22 of the Ukrainian government.
28:23 And so, in that sense, it's not gonna topple Zelensky.
28:28 They are fighting over that border region.
28:30 They read that to mean that somehow I said
28:32 Putin didn't invade or had a right.
28:34 Of course he invaded. I said that at the time.
28:36 He doesn't have a right to do it,
28:38 but the reality is that's where the fighting has been.
28:40 -Do you think a weakened Russia helps the United States?
28:44 -Yes, I do. I mean, I think one of the things
28:45 we're gonna do is when we do our energy policy --
28:48 See, one of the problems I have with Biden,
28:49 he invited this with his weakness,
28:52 the Afghanistan debacle, saying,
28:53 "Oh, you can do a small invasion.
28:55 It's not gonna be a big deal."
28:56 But his energy policy has helped sustain Putin's war machine.
29:01 We open up domestic energy,
29:03 that's gonna lower the price of oil.
29:05 That's gonna hurt Putin.
29:06 The other thing that Biden's done,
29:07 he's given relief to the Iranians.
29:09 They're the number-one benefactor for Putin.
29:13 I'm gonna turn the screws on the Iranians.
29:14 That's gonna dry up support for him.
29:16 -Would Ukraine be allowed to join NATO
29:19 under President DeSantis?
29:21 -So, here's how I view NATO is the countries
29:25 need to do their fair share, right?
29:27 And so to just bring in a country,
29:29 all that it does is add obligations to us.
29:31 -Article 5. -I would say,
29:32 "What are the benefits?"
29:34 And right now, none of the countries --
29:36 I mean, some are, but not all the countries
29:38 are meeting their obligations.
29:39 So I think what we need to do in NATO is like,
29:41 "Okay, what's the vision of NATO?"
29:43 Clearly, they want to be a check against Russia,
29:45 just like they were the check against the Soviets.
29:47 Most of those NATO countries, though,
29:49 don't agree with us necessarily on China.
29:51 Some do. The Brits do.
29:52 The Poles do.
29:53 But I don't think France and Germany agree with us
29:55 on the China threat.
29:57 So I think we got to figure out what do we want out of NATO,
29:59 and then everyone needs to do their fair share.
30:01 -So if Russia moved on Finland,
30:04 would President DeSantis stand up for Article 5
30:06 and move military?
30:07 -We are obligated under that to meet those obligations,
30:12 and that's why I think we got to be careful
30:14 about adding new obligations
30:16 to what we would have to respond to.
30:18 -Would you be willing to pressure Ukraine
30:20 to cede some territory to Russia if it meant stopping this war?
30:24 -So, look, at the end of the day,
30:25 it's not for us to say give or not give.
30:27 I think the reality is we want a sustainable peace in Europe.
30:32 You're not going to have a sustainable peace
30:34 if Russia is making out like a bandit
30:37 because that will sell Putin that he can do more
30:39 in the future.
30:40 But on the same time, I mean, are you going --
30:42 you have a lot of things that have happened
30:44 over a decade there that they can work out
30:46 and make judgments for themselves.
30:47 But it wouldn't be for me to tell them to do that.
30:50 -The former president says he can end it in 24 hours.
30:53 -Well, he also said that Mexico would pay for a border wall
30:56 and all these other things.
30:57 So, clearly, that's not going to happen.
30:58 I think that you need to bring leverage to the table.
31:01 You know, I've talked about the energy in the Iran,
31:03 what I would do to squeeze Putin.
31:05 I think getting the Europeans to be more forward on it
31:07 would also be good.
31:09 But it's not just going to happen with a phone call.
31:11 -So, you've called Putin a war criminal.
31:15 Does that mean you think he should be jailed or executed?
31:17 -Well, I was asked in the context of the ICC.
31:19 We're not parties to the International Criminal Court.
31:22 We will not be.
31:23 It's not something that I support.
31:25 However, if you invade another country,
31:27 that is a violation of the laws of war.
31:29 It just is.
31:30 -Do you think you could negotiate with a war criminal?
31:32 -You have to be willing to negotiate with unsavory people.
31:34 This world is not all peaches and cream.
31:37 You got to be very mindful of what you're walking into.
31:40 You got to understand that some of these people out there --
31:43 I mean, some of these guys are killers.
31:44 And you just have to understand that.
31:46 But to say that you're not going to deal with unsavory people,
31:48 I don't think that that's the way it's gone.
31:50 I mean, Ronald Reagan met with all the Soviet leaders,
31:52 and that's just what you have to do.
31:54 -I mentioned you served in the military.
31:55 You also served at Gitmo.
31:58 How has that influenced your U.S. foreign policy?
32:01 -Well, one thing I noticed was how Gitmo was portrayed
32:04 in the popular press was so much different
32:06 than when you'd actually go down there.
32:07 When you go down there --
32:09 and there were different levels of security
32:11 for different detainees, but it was basically,
32:13 like where Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was,
32:15 it was basically just a maximum-security prison.
32:17 It was very professionally run.
32:19 These guys were not there abusing the detainees every day,
32:22 but that was kind of what was put out there
32:24 in popular press.
32:25 And so both being in Gitmo and being in Iraq
32:28 and then seeing how the press was portraying
32:30 what was happening in Iraq
32:31 versus what was actually happening on the ground,
32:33 I saw a major gap in what was being the narrative
32:37 and the reality.
32:38 And so that's honestly helped me in politics,
32:40 because I understand -- I mean, I think what's going on
32:42 on the ground in New Hampshire is different
32:43 than some of the narrative politically.
32:45 In terms of national security, I would say Iraq
32:47 probably had more of an impact on me,
32:49 just because we're there in Al-Anbar province.
32:52 I was attached to Navy SEALs,
32:54 and they're going after the al-Qaeda in Iraq.
32:56 And every time they were on a mission,
32:58 they succeeded, no problem.
32:59 But the larger mission was to create a democracy in Iraq,
33:03 which was outside the capability of the U.S. military to do.
33:07 You could kill a terrorist 100%,
33:09 but establishing a rule of law
33:11 and thinking that they wanted to have
33:13 a Western-style government,
33:14 that was something that was not necessarily in the cards.
33:17 So I think I've developed just a skepticism
33:20 of things like nation-building
33:22 and extra international social engineering.
33:25 - Last hypothetical, China invades Taiwan.
33:28 The real question about what the U.S. does.
33:31 What does President DeSantis say?
33:32 - So my policy is going to deter --
33:34 is going to be to deter that from happening.
33:36 I mean, we're going to have a strategy of denial
33:38 so that China is not going to be able
33:40 to pull the trigger on that,
33:42 given the amount of hard power that's in the region,
33:45 given the levers we can pull on the economy.
33:47 But that's kind of the main crux of our strategy,
33:50 is to be able to deny that.
33:51 I think China -- I think Taiwan is an ally.
33:54 I think that Taiwan is of significance
33:56 to our country, of course,
33:57 both militarily, diplomatically, and economically.
34:00 And our goal should be to stop --
34:02 China respects hard power.
34:04 If they don't think that --
34:05 if they think the costs are going to exceed
34:06 any potential benefits, they are not going to do it.
34:08 I do think under Biden, we're on a course
34:10 where in the next five or 10 years,
34:12 they probably would be able to take it.
34:14 If we change course, I think we can prevent it.
34:17 - Former President Trump has been critical of you
34:18 on a number of different things,
34:20 on a number of different fronts.
34:21 But interestingly and specifically
34:24 about your handling of COVID.
34:26 Here's what he said in my recent interview.
34:28 - I told all governors, "You do what you want.
34:30 You can shut it down or not."
34:31 Florida, by the way, he shut it down tight.
34:33 No highways, no beaches, no this.
34:35 - But then he pushed back pretty hard.
34:37 He opened up. - I know.
34:38 - But is it fair to criticize him on that?
34:39 He was credited for how Florida dealt with COVID.
34:41 - Because he has better PR than other governors,
34:43 but other governors did a better job
34:45 than Ron DeSanctimonious.
34:46 - He used to say the opposite.
34:48 Let's just be clear.
34:49 You go back a year or two,
34:50 he would say, "What a great job I've done in Florida.
34:52 How I'm one of the country's great governors.
34:54 How Florida is such a great state."
34:56 He always said that for years and years
34:59 until about three days before the midterm election,
35:02 then he started to attack me.
35:03 And I think it's because he saw
35:05 that we were gonna win a big victory.
35:06 And I think he viewed me as a political threat.
35:08 So now he's flip-flopped on all that
35:10 and is trying to say we did a bad job.
35:12 I fought his administration to keep our state open,
35:16 to have kids in school.
35:18 Fauci, the task force, all those people,
35:20 they were sending me missives.
35:22 And the press in Florida made a field day about this.
35:24 They'd send me missives to my office,
35:26 July of 2020, close businesses, no schools.
35:31 Fall of 2020, close businesses, impose a mask mandate.
35:34 Even January of 2021, right before he left office,
35:37 his task force was telling us in Florida to close.
35:41 And so he didn't have control over his own government.
35:45 He didn't have control over Fauci.
35:47 Fauci ran that government his last year in office.
35:50 Trump should have fired him.
35:52 He did not do that.
35:53 He elevated Fauci,
35:55 and he made Fauci an international celebrity.
35:58 And here's the thing.
35:59 I fought back against it.
36:00 And you know all the flack
36:02 that I got from the media during that.
36:04 And people fled to Florida because we were free.
36:06 And I was happy to make that stand.
36:09 But the reality is Fauci's policies
36:12 were adopted in a lot of the blue states.
36:14 Kids were locked out of school for a year.
36:16 You had businesses shuttered for good, small businesses.
36:19 - Should the US have locked down at all?
36:21 - No, no.
36:22 It was a catastrophic mistake to do that.
36:25 Sweden did it right.
36:27 Italy and Britain did it wrong in the United States.
36:30 Trump would criticize Sweden at the time.
36:33 He said they were making a big mistake,
36:35 that they had all this death.
36:36 That's not true.
36:37 Sweden had one of the lowest pandemic death rates
36:40 of any country.
36:41 They kept things going.
36:42 The CARES Act, $2 trillion.
36:45 Thomas Massey was the only one that stood up against that.
36:48 Trump said Massey should be ejected
36:50 from the Republican Party.
36:51 Massey said, "If you do this,
36:53 you're gonna pay people not to work.
36:55 You're gonna screw up the economy
36:56 and you're gonna cause inflation."
36:57 That's exactly what happened.
36:59 So here's the thing.
37:00 Back at that time, there was a lot of uncertainty.
37:02 I get it.
37:03 But knowing what we know now,
37:04 that was a catastrophic mistake
37:06 and we can never let that happen to our country again.
37:09 - Did the vaccine work?
37:11 - It didn't stop the spread.
37:12 I can tell you in Florida, all these people took it
37:15 and then you had a wave, a Delta wave.
37:17 You had other Omicron waves.
37:19 And here's the thing.
37:21 There would be these celebrities and these left-wing people.
37:23 They would take the vax.
37:24 Then they would get infected and they would tweet,
37:26 "I've just been infected with COVID.
37:28 I'm so thankful for the vax."
37:29 No, no, no.
37:30 If you take an MMR vaccine and you get measles,
37:33 you don't thank the vax.
37:34 You get upset that the vax didn't prevent it.
37:36 We were told if you take the vax, you will not get COVID.
37:40 That is not true.
37:41 And now for CDC to say they should be doing annual boosters
37:45 like a flu shot,
37:46 there is not sufficient data to support that.
37:49 One of the things I'm gonna do,
37:50 we're gonna bring a reckoning to the medical swamp in DC.
37:53 CDC, NIH, FDA, they failed the American people.
37:57 You're gonna see big changes.
37:59 - You raised eyebrows when you said Robert F. Kennedy
38:01 could be a part of some task force or head up to CDC.
38:05 - Well, I didn't say that.
38:06 - Or be a part of.
38:08 - Well, I was asked about should he be VP
38:09 and I pointed out, look,
38:11 conservatives agree with him on Fauci
38:13 and against the lockdowns.
38:14 And we need more Democrats to stand up and admit
38:17 that that was wrong.
38:18 But I said, he's liberal on a lot of issues.
38:19 Of course, I'm not gonna be VP.
38:21 I was like, let him go after these organizations.
38:23 That didn't necessarily mean from an appointed position.
38:25 And certainly the CDC,
38:26 we're gonna have either a MD or a PhD in all those positions.
38:30 - You ever get sick of hearing Ron DeSanctimonious?
38:33 - Not really.
38:34 I mean, like at the end of the day, it is what it is.
38:35 I don't think a lot of that stuff
38:38 really tracks with the voters.
38:40 - He says it because you weren't loyal to him
38:43 and he stood up for you when you needed him in an election
38:46 and you wouldn't have won because of it.
38:47 - So here's the thing.
38:49 I'm loyal to my family, the Constitution and the good Lord.
38:54 Politicians don't deserve fealty.
38:57 They have to earn support.
38:59 I fought for him on the Russia collusion.
39:01 I was one of only a handful of people very early on
39:04 to publicly go out and defend him.
39:06 And I did that for years.
39:07 And yes, he supported me for governor,
39:09 but then I supported him for re-election.
39:12 I raised him more money than any elected official.
39:14 We helped deliver Florida.
39:15 Remember, his people were saying,
39:17 "Oh, if we don't win Florida, it's all the governor.
39:18 "We're relying on the governor."
39:19 Well, we won it.
39:21 And so we were there for him.
39:22 Then three days before my re-election,
39:25 I've never done anything to the guy.
39:27 He starts attacking me and does this.
39:29 And so why would he be doing that?
39:31 And so I think the whole thing
39:33 is not the way people view this.
39:36 You have to earn the nomination.
39:39 I'm running because I think our country's in decline.
39:41 We need to reverse it.
39:42 I think I'm the only candidate running who can win
39:44 the primary, win the general, and then actually deliver
39:47 on all these things over a period of eight years.
39:50 And so I feel an obligation to run.
39:52 - You've said you're gonna show up in Milwaukee
39:54 for the debate. - That's right.
39:55 - August 23rd.
39:57 And there are a number of people who are qualified.
40:00 You're among them.
40:01 So is the former president.
40:02 He says he hasn't decided whether he's going or not.
40:04 In fact, he moved today on his Truth Social
40:07 and said maybe all of the other candidates should debate
40:10 and I'll determine who might be a vice presidential candidate.
40:14 - You gotta earn this nomination.
40:16 Nobody's entitled to it.
40:18 You gotta go work.
40:19 And I think the debates are part of that process.
40:21 I think being on the ground in Iowa and New Hampshire
40:23 is a big part of that process.
40:24 And so you'll see me showing up in all these places.
40:27 We look forward to being able to speak directly
40:29 to the American people.
40:30 And I think it'll be a very worthwhile endeavor.
40:32 - People like New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu here
40:35 have been critical of some of you all who are running.
40:38 Saying, barring a few,
40:41 they're not going directly after former President Trump.
40:44 That you're not taking him head on.
40:46 How do you deal with that criticism?
40:47 - Well, look, I mean, I think,
40:49 and I like Chris and I think he's been great in this process.
40:53 Some of the candidates that are doing Trump,
40:55 it's more personal for them.
40:56 You know, they're attacking him on personal stuff.
40:58 That's just not my cup of tea.
41:00 You know, I'm a leader, I'm running for you,
41:03 I'm not running for me, so it's not about me.
41:05 And I also think some of the criticisms of Trump
41:07 from the left, to me, those don't land.
41:10 I mean, you know, I've been critical when he attacks me,
41:13 I hit back on substance on things like, wait a minute,
41:16 you said you were gonna eliminate the national debt,
41:18 you added $8 trillion to the debt.
41:21 You know, you said you were only going
41:23 to appoint the best people.
41:24 You know, you actually asked him about that in interview,
41:26 and yet all these people that he hired,
41:28 even he admits now that they weren't good appointed.
41:31 So I think all that's fair game,
41:33 but I'd be very careful,
41:35 do not accept left-wing media talking points
41:38 to try to attack any Republican.
41:39 I don't think that's effective.
41:41 - That said, stories that he's using political funds
41:43 to pay legal fees and the legal troubles that may lie ahead,
41:48 do you think that that factors in
41:51 for the former president in this primary?
41:54 - So it's interesting.
41:55 I mean, that was a lot of money for legal.
41:56 The second biggest expense was almost 25 million
41:58 attacking me, and he started attacking me
42:01 before I was even a candidate.
42:02 I'm down in Florida, we're doing win after win.
42:05 I mean, Second Amendment, school choice, tort reform,
42:08 just a massive string of successes,
42:11 and he's running commercials, you know, smearing me.
42:14 And I'm like, is that really the best use of money?
42:16 We wanna be using that to face Biden.
42:18 But here, I think just the meta thing, two things.
42:20 One is I am gonna end the weaponization of government,
42:24 DOJ, FBI, IRS, all these agencies.
42:27 We're gonna have a new FBI director on day one.
42:29 We're gonna clean out the DOJ.
42:31 I don't have confidence in the DOJ or the FBI right now,
42:35 and I know most Republicans don't,
42:37 and we've gotta fix that.
42:38 So that's just first thing, and they will get that with me.
42:40 Second thing is, if this election is about Biden's failures
42:45 and our vision to get the country in a better spot,
42:47 we are going to win.
42:49 If the election ends up about all these other side issues
42:52 and it becomes a referendum on Trump,
42:55 Biden's gonna be in the basement again, hiding out,
42:57 no scrutiny, and I think he's gonna get away with it again.
43:01 - Do you think Republicans are doing the right thing,
43:03 focusing on Hunter Biden and this investigation?
43:06 Breaking news today is that his business partner,
43:09 Devin Archer, said allegedly that some 20 times,
43:14 then Vice President Biden was on a speakerphone
43:16 talking about the businesses.
43:18 Your reaction to that and the focus on this investigation?
43:22 - Well, this is why we say there's two standards of justice.
43:26 If Hunter were a Republican, he'd be in jail by now.
43:30 You look at all this smoke, and yet the FBI,
43:33 where's the search warrants?
43:35 Where's the grand jury?
43:36 Where's the aggressiveness that they've shown
43:39 going after some Republicans?
43:41 You just don't see it.
43:42 - Including former President Trump.
43:43 - Including former President Trump.
43:45 I mean, compare how they handled the Mar-a-Lago.
43:47 They went through everything they could
43:49 to get any piece of information.
43:50 They are not doing that with Hunter.
43:52 Of course, they didn't do it with Hillary back in 2016.
43:54 So we look at that, but look at all the possible corruption.
43:57 I mean, Hunter, he's selling paintings
44:00 for over a million dollars?
44:02 You know, my six-year-old daughter
44:03 does better paintings than him.
44:05 Maybe we'll put ours up and see
44:06 what kind of things she can fix.
44:08 I don't think we're gonna get a million dollars on it.
44:10 - Is it tough, though, to make that case
44:12 about two-tiered justice and how it's egregious,
44:17 how they're going after people?
44:19 You said Republicans, and I mentioned
44:20 former President Trump, when in Republican circles,
44:23 former presidents, some of them,
44:25 he is a sympathetic figure in this case.
44:27 Is it tough to run against that?
44:30 - Well, look, I mean, I think that on the one hand,
44:33 how he was treated in the collusion was a total disgrace.
44:38 And these were people in the intelligence community,
44:40 law enforcement, DOJ, who were basically
44:43 trying to nullify the 2016 election.
44:45 We've had abuses of power in my lifetime.
44:47 You know, that has gotta be the top of it.
44:49 And so everything I see, and I think a lot
44:52 of Republican voters have seen since then,
44:54 'cause there's never been accountability for it,
44:56 we see it all through that lens.
44:58 At the same time, I think our voters look and say,
45:01 yes, we know that needs fixing.
45:03 The question is, who's in the best position
45:05 to actually be able to win the election and get that done?
45:08 And I'm in a better position to do that.
45:10 Clearly, we will go in there and we will make
45:13 all of this stuff better very, very quickly.
45:15 And, you know, look, Donald Trump was president
45:17 for four years.
45:18 This problem got worse under him.
45:20 He did not succeed in draining the swamp.
45:23 - Two more quick things.
45:25 Joe Biden is 80.
45:26 Donald Trump is 77.
45:28 Senator Dianne Feinstein, who's 90,
45:30 and Senator Mitch McConnell, 81,
45:32 both had issues last week that raised some questions
45:35 about their fitness for office, given their advanced ages.
45:38 Nikki Haley is calling for mental competency tests
45:42 for politicians over the age of 75.
45:45 Do you agree with that?
45:47 - Look, I think voters can sort it out, but I do think
45:49 we need an energetic executive as president.
45:53 We need somebody that's gonna get in there on day one
45:55 and spit nails and not look back.
45:57 You only have a finite period of time to get things done.
46:01 You know, two terms, eight years,
46:02 but as you know, the way the political cycle works,
46:04 there are times when the iron's hot,
46:06 when you first get in, maybe you get reelected.
46:08 You've gotta be able to capitalize on all of this.
46:11 And so with me, they will get somebody in there
46:13 who's gonna run ragged.
46:15 We're gonna have the media,
46:16 they're not gonna be able to keep up with us.
46:18 The left's not gonna be able to keep up with us.
46:19 And also during the campaign,
46:20 I am not gonna let Biden get away
46:22 with being in the basement for the campaign.
46:25 We're gonna run him ragged around this country,
46:27 and we are gonna show a huge contrast
46:29 with energy and vitality versus somebody who,
46:32 you know, really is not fit to do the job.
46:34 - Should there be age limits?
46:36 Should there be term limits?
46:37 There's obviously two terms for a president,
46:38 but should there be term limits?
46:40 - Well, there should definitely be term limits
46:41 for members of Congress.
46:43 We have it in Florida with our legislature.
46:44 It works so much better.
46:46 People say, "Oh, if you have term limits,
46:47 "the media's gonna run the show, the staff."
46:49 They already run the show.
46:51 It would not get worse in that regard.
46:52 So yes, do term limits.
46:54 If you did the age limits, you'd need to do it
46:56 so you're not targeting, you know,
46:57 candidates running right now.
46:59 - What's the best advice you've received
47:01 about running for president or being president?
47:05 - Well, I think at the end of the day,
47:06 probably the best advice I have,
47:07 'cause I can kind of, you know,
47:09 use Governor as a reflection is,
47:11 you know, make sure you have people around you
47:14 who believe in the mission
47:16 and be willing to leave it all out on the field.
47:18 Because the knives come out.
47:21 That town does not want you to succeed,
47:23 the media, the left, the bureaucrats.
47:25 And so you've gotta have that core group of people
47:27 who are doing it based on conviction,
47:29 not because they think they're gonna get ahead in life.
47:31 - Why do you want it?
47:32 Why do you wanna be president?
47:34 - Because this country's in decline.
47:36 I think it can be reversed,
47:38 but it's not gonna be reversed
47:39 if we're content with just managing the decline.
47:42 We've gotta give this country a new trajectory
47:44 and a new birth of freedom.
47:46 I think I'm the only guy that's running
47:48 that's able to get that job done.
47:50 Some people say, "Oh, well,
47:51 "you could have run later in life."
47:52 I'm not running to be president.
47:54 I'm running to do things as president,
47:56 and now's the time the country needs the help.
47:59 - Your family's okay?
48:00 This is a tough process.
48:01 - So it's interesting. - It's a tough road.
48:03 - My wife launched the Mamas for DeSantis in Iowa
48:06 with Governor Reynolds,
48:08 and she started getting attacked by MSNBC,
48:11 all this other thing.
48:12 And I'm just thinking to myself,
48:13 this is a mother of three,
48:14 great first lady, a breast cancer survivor,
48:17 inspirational figure.
48:18 She's adored in Florida,
48:19 and they're trying to smear her.
48:21 But then she and I talked about it,
48:22 and you know, they're not going after the other spouses.
48:24 Why are they gonna?
48:25 'Cause she's effective.
48:26 Because they know she's striking a chord
48:28 on these mothers' issues and these parents' issues.
48:30 And so we view it as honestly positive feedback
48:34 in the sense that people do see her as a threat.
48:37 And I'll tell you,
48:38 she's gonna be great on the campaign trail,
48:39 and she will be a great first lady.
48:41 - Governor DeSantis, we really appreciate the time.
48:43 We'll follow you on the campaign trail,
48:44 and we'll see you in Milwaukee.
48:46 - Thank you.
48:47 (silence)
48:49 [BLANK_AUDIO]