DeSantis Campaign Press Release - ICYMI: Governor Ron DeSantis at the Fair-Side Chat with Governor Kim Reynolds

"If I tell you I'm going to do something, you can take it to the bank. We are going to follow through and we are going to deliver on our promises."

Today, Governor Ron DeSantis joined Governor Kim Reynolds onstage at the Iowa State Fair for her Fair-Side Chat. The highlights are below.

Governor DeSantis spoke with Governor Reynolds about the conservative policies he delivered for Floridians and his plan to do for America what he did in Florida. He capped off the discussion by presenting Governor Reynolds with a "Get S*** Done" mug, a replica of the mug she gave DeSantis on his first visit to the Hawkeye State. Click here to read more about the story behind the mug and the friendship between the Iowa and Florida governors.

DeSantis will continue on today at the Iowa State Fair flanked by 11 Iowa state legislators who have endorsed his candidacy.

Watch the full video HERE.

On the importance of reversing American decline:

I understand the stakes of this election. We're a country in decline. It's not inevitable. It's a choice. It's a choice we as Americans are going to make over the next 18 months. I'm running for president because simply managing the decline of our country a little bit better than the Democrats isn't going to cut it. We must reverse the decline of this country and I am somebody who I mentioned is a blue collar kid. I worked minimum wage jobs to be able to get through school and to give myself an opportunity because I always believed in America, [you] get the most out of your God given ability and America gives you a chance to succeed. And yet that American dream is slipping away for millions and millions of people throughout this country, the most powerful country in the history of this earth. And yet our country today is weaker than it's ever been in our lifetime. We need to restore American strength. We need to revive American civic pride. As a father of three, I understand the importance giving our kids opportunities and we've discussed many of those here today. We need to leave this country better off than we found it. And we are in danger of being the first generation that turns over less opportunities to our kids than the opportunities we've inherited. And that is unacceptable. As governor, I showed how all this can be done. We led with purpose and conviction. We did not use polls, we did not put our finger in the wind. We set out a vision, we executed that vision and we fought for people. We fought for their freedom. We fought for their education. We fought for their rights and Florida now has never done better as a result of our leadership, not just in terms of the results, but also in terms of the political success that we've had. We need to do that nationally. We need to win the election. The time for excuses for Republicans is over. We must get the job done in 2024. I will get the job done and we will take office in January of 2025. And you can talk to people that know me. When I tell you I'm going to do something, I'm not just doing that to put something out for fodder in a campaign. If I tell you I'm going to do something, you can take it to the bank. We are going to follow through and we are going to deliver on our promises. And so I will get the job done as president and we will give this country a new birth of freedom that it deserves.

On protecting parental rights in education:

Well what it goes back to is, you have the left that wants to use the school system for indoctrination of the kids, rather than education. And they know if the parents are involved, that creates a roadblock for them to be able to indoctrinate. And so they would rather have the parents butt out. A teacher would want the parents involved because if a parent is involved in their kid's academic progress, they're going to do much better. If a parent's not involved, it's harder to get the student to perform up to potential. So it's all about they want to reduce the role of parents so that they can impose their agenda. That's why Biden says things like 'they're not your kids they're all of our kids.' No, they're not your kids, Joe, I'm sorry. And it also took you four and a half years to even acknowledge your own granddaughter in Arkansas. I'm sorry. That's just the truth.

On his plan to put an end to Bidenomics:

We've got to hold Congress accountable. We can't let them spend us into oblivion anymore. And we need things like a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution and term limits for members of Congress. We're also going to help middle class families and jobs by utilizing all of our domestic energy resources and being energy independent in this country. And we have a great competitive advantage in that we're not going to force people to buy electric vehicles. First of all, that's expensive, a lot of people don't want [it], it's not good for liquid fuels, like in Iowa with the biofuels. We're not going to do the electric forcing. That that benefits China. China produces a lot into that. We're going to use our resources here. that's going to be good for jobs, lower prices, it's going to be good for our industrial base, and it is going to be good for our national security.

On slaying the federal bureaucracy:

The agencies in Washington have increased by 50% since 2019. 50%. Do you feel 50% better as Americans, the fact that that government has grown that much? I don't think so. We need to pare government back to where it was many, many years ago. We're going to reduce the number of bureaucrats in Washington by at least 50%. We're going to make sure that agencies that abuse their power, like the FBI or the DOJ, that when they do that, they get fired for abusing their power. So buckle up, we're gonna do a lot and I think the swamp is not gonna like it. But you know what? I've had enough of the swamp imposing its will on us. Now it's the time we the people impose our will on it.

On military readiness:

If you look at our military now, we have the lowest recruiting that we've had since the draft ended after the Vietnam War. And why is that? Well, part of the reason is because the military is indulging in social experimentation [and] woke ideology politicization. You have talked about drag queens and pronouns and all this stuff. China is laughing at us when they see this. This is not the way you do [it]. So we're going to get rid of all of that on day one as commander in chief, and we're going to restore the military mission first.