DeSantis Campaign Press Release - ICYMI: Ron DeSantis on Early State Radio

"I stood up for parents, I stood up for kids, she [Nikki Haley] sided with a woke corporation."

Tallahassee, FL - Ron DeSantis this morning joined morning radio shows in Cedar Rapids, IA, Florence, SC, and Greenville, SC to discuss the state of the 2024 race and why he is the best candidate to lead the country. The highlights from each are below.

Listen to DeSantis on the WORD's Tara Show with Tara Servatius here.

On the key contrasts between him and Nikki Haley:

I think people see, we were endorsed in Iowa by the governor there, Kim Reynolds, who's a fantastic conservative governor, very popular. They see us building this support there. And they're concerned about it. And so they want to do whatever they can to stop it because they know if we take off there then it's going to be a great race for us. So but look, you know, some of these people, I mean, like Nikki Haley, you know, she's never fought for anybody. You know, when she was governor, her number one thing she did was to bring in the CCP, Chinese Communist Party dollars into South Carolina. She was the number one ranked governor for bringing China in to their state. I banned China from buying land in Florida. I kicked them out of the universities, these things like these Confucius Institutes, so it's just a huge contrast. I think she really represents manage decline of this country. She is not going to fight for you. She's not going to take on. I mean, she criticized me for standing up for kids and the innocence of their curriculum against Disney where they wanted the sexualized curriculum in elementary school. So I stood up for parents, I stood up for kids, she sided with a woke corporation. So that is just I think what you see in terms of that, it's just par for the course.

On how he refuses to align himself with "surrender Republicans:"

Well, look, Romney, you know, he's attacked me as saying I mean, I don't even know he uses, like the left wing cliches to do that. I don't really know Mitt Romney. But clearly, he views Nikki as more in line with what the direction he wants to go, which to me is just a surrender caucus of Republicans who are never going to fight for anybody who are going to go to DC and just let business as usual take hold, we cannot afford that this country is declining. We have to reverse the decline. And we need a new birth of freedom here. But it's not going to happen with kind of the same old same old Republicans who've never fought for us in the beginning.

On how Nikki Haley killed legislation to protect girls and said George Floyd's death should be "personal and painful for everyone":

Well, in Florida, we said girls and women should be protected in bathrooms and locker rooms. You should not have boys barging in men going in there. It's not appropriate. And so we did that without any question. Of course, we're going to do that. She killed that legislation to protect girls in the bathrooms and the locker rooms. And she bragged about it. I mean, she later said, 'oh, I stopped that in South Carolina'. So that's really where she is. She will kowtow to elite opinions, the media, and big corporations. That is how she falls down. You can pretty much set your clock to it. She has never fought any big fight on our behalf as conservatives and won any big fight. Anytime that guns come out anytime the left does, she cuts and runs. You know, I remember when the George Floyd riots were happening. I called out the National Guard. I said I'm standing with police. She was tweeting that it needed to be personal and painful for every single person. And I'm thinking to myself, why does that need to be personal and painful for you or me, we had nothing to do with it? It just shows an example of her adopting this left wing mindset and accepting the narrative. We need leaders who are going to fight the narrative. We need leaders who are going to fight back against the left and beat the left. And I'm the only one running that has a firm track record of defeating the Democrats and defeating the left on all these issues.

Listen to DeSantis on AM 600 WMT's Doug Wagner Show here.

On his path to win the Iowa Caucus:

I think the more consolidation, the better. I mean, Tim Scott had, he had a following, I don't think he was in a position to really compete to win or to show very well. But he was a good guy, he, you know, he's got a good, solid record, and he did marshal support. So I think having those people up for grabs will help me for sure. Especially just given where we've gone. I mean, you know, we've been endorsed, of course, by Governor Reynolds. We also have a really strong record of delivering on the conservative principles that people in Iowa who are going to attend this caucus really care about. And I think I'm unique in that in this race at this point. So I think we're going to continue to build support. We have well over 30,000 commit to caucus right now, and we're two months out, and most people haven't made up their minds yet. So we're going to be able to bring a bunch more people on board. I think the governor weighing in when she did was incredibly important, because one she's universally respected, but two she's explaining well, why, because it's one thing to say you endorse someone, but she's been able to articulate, this guy is a leader, she said I'm the most effective leader she's witnessed, and that I'm the type of guy that can not only win the election but turn the country around. And that's the thing. We need somebody that's going to fight for you, which I've shown I'll be able to do, but we need somebody that's going to win for us. And that means yes when the election, but it means deliver on all these key things. Because if we don't do the border, if we don't do the energy, if we don't do all this stuff, then we're not going to turn the country around. I will get the job done.

Listen to DeSantis on WFRK's Wake Up Carolina with Ken Ard here.

On how he'd combat bureaucratic spending:

I think you got to do a couple things. One, inflation is driving the budget problems, because as interest rates go up, the cost of service, the debt has ballooned, and that's going to keep going. So we're gonna with the energy with with fighting back on spending, getting the bureaucracy off people's back, we're going to bring the prices and the inflation down and get the interest rates down. And look, I'm going to be willing to veto bloated spending bills that Congress passes. I mean, now they're talking about doing another continuing resolution, which is going to lock in all of the bad Biden policies, all of these excessive levels of spending. And I'm just thinking to myself, they don't care. They're just business as usual, as if none of this stuff is happening. But if you look, just in the last five or six years, the debt has exploded like never before. And that's because of the mismanaged COVID. And they've done a lot of excessive spending. But it's been Republicans and Democrats. I mean, that's just the honest to God's truth.

On why he would be a better president than Donald Trump:

I've proven that I'm willing to fight for people and I'll give Donald Trump credit he would get in fights. But I've proven I can win for people. And Donald Trump would not win when we need it. Yes, he won in 16. But we've been losing elections. Since then. He was not able to build the border walls promise, he was not able to drain the swamp. And he promised to eliminate the debt. But he added 7.8 trillion to the debt. I have fought these fights and won and delivered victory. That's what I'll do as President, I'm not going in there just for a title. I'm going in there to deliver those results. And then finally, I've shown an ability to lead. I don't worry about what a poll says I don't worry about which way the winds blowing. I know where true north is. And when you're leading in this country, the left's not going to like it, the media is not gonna like it, they're gonna come at you, but I'll take the hits, I'll take the blows, people can attack me because it's ultimately not about me, it's about you, and it's about the future of this country. So I'll be able to also be able to serve two terms, I'm more likely to get elected than Donald Trump. I won Florida by a record margin. 20 points. Donald Trump wanted just by a couple points when he was on the ballot in Florida. And I would argue Florida as a microcosm of the country, we have people from all across the country that come there, you can win in Florida, you can win anywhere. Also, I don't think Donald Trump will be able to get the personnel necessary to actually hold the swamp accountable, I'll be able to attract the good personnel because you can have a good president, you can make good decisions. You need a whole bunch of people around you that are going to discipline this bureaucracy and all have hundreds and hundreds of people ready to go. And I think being able to serve two terms is also very important. You know, Donald Trump, he did a lot of good policies. Biden came in and reversed almost every one of them on day one. It can't just be executive orders. You need to do this over an eight year period. You need to get this stuff to stick.