DeSantis Campaign Press Release - ICYMI: Ron DeSantis on Media Buzz: "When we're able to make that case to voters directly, we get a tremendous response"

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Today, Governor DeSantis joined Howie Kurtz on Fox News Channel's Media Buzz. See the highlights below.

Watch the interview HERE.

On combatting false media narratives:

"I think the good thing about it is Republican primary voters are very smart. They know where these corporate outlets stand on the political spectrum. And so the extent that they become convinced that the media does not want me to be the nominee above all else, that will in the long run absolutely help me. And I think it's interesting that they're talking about some of this campaign process. We were five and a half weeks as a candidate in the second quarter for fundraising. We raised more money than Joe Biden did in the second quarter, who's the sitting president, and we raised more money than Donald Trump did into his campaign, who of course was the former president, and yet they tried to spin that negatively. So I think they have a predetermined narrative. But here's the thing, Howie, we were just in Iowa on Friday at the Family Leaders Summit. That was effectively the kickoff to Iowa caucus season so Iowans are starting to pay more attention to it. We were able to talk to thousands of people over a two-day period. The number one thing I hear from people is this, they come up to me [and say] ' know you did good in Florida. I heard good things, but I hadn't seen you yet, and now that I've seen you, I'm for you.' And so that's going to be what we're going to do over the next six months."

On participating in debates:

"I'm going to be at the debates. I think it's a great opportunity. And especially for a guy like me, there's a lot of Republican voters out there - they like what we've done in Florida. They know I'm a good governor, but they haven't seen a lot about me up close and personal. So that gives us a great opportunity to be able to share our vision. How are you going to beat Biden, how are you going to be able to get this stuff done? What are the key things that you want to be able to do, from getting rid of Biden's damage, to stopping the invasion at the border, to slaying the administrative state, all those things are really, really important. And I think that first debate, you're going to have, millions and millions of people are going to tune into it. So I look forward to it. I think it's great to be in an environment where you're asked tough questions and having to articulate why you should be the next president of the United States and what we found on the campaign trail, [in] these early states when we're able to make that case to voters directly, we get a tremendous response. And so we're excited for the debates in August."

On his plan to break the swamp:

"Some of these people have proven to be fiercely partisan in how they actually apply power, and that's a huge, huge problem because you can win the electoral college as a Republican, you get in there, and then what the executive branch continues to go left because these are "supposedly nonpartisan people," but they're acting partisan. So we're going to reduce through attrition. We are going to remove - we're going to order every Cabinet Secretary to reduce the footprint of employees within DC by 50%. So some of that may mean more people retire, some you don't fill the positions, but people are going to be transferred to other parts of the country and I do think Presidents have more ability to fire bureaucrats than they've tried. So for example, we're going to create something called Schedule F. Anybody that has any policymaking role is going to be recategorized, not subject to civil service and can be fired at will. So we have a lot of levers at our disposal and we are going to push those levers because we cannot have a situation where we the people have the bureaucracy unelected constantly imposing its will on us. We're going to impose our will on it."