DeSantis Campaign Press Release - ICYMI: Ron DeSantis on MSNBC's Morning Joe

Tallahassee, FL - Ron DeSantis today joined MSNBC's Morning Joe. The highlights are below.

Watch the full interview HERE.

On the importance of standing with Israel:

I'm down in Bal Harbour. We just did an event at the Shul here, and it's raw for our community down in South Florida. We have the second biggest Israeli-American community in the country. We have a large Jewish population that's really expanded a lot in the last few years, particularly with the Orthodox Jews. So everybody knows somebody who's been over there. People know people that are missing, and unfortunately, people know people that had been killed. This is perhaps Israel's darkest hour. This is a country that had to fight for its inception in the late 1940s. The Arab armies wanted to extinguish it in the crib. Then they were going to get invaded in '67, and they preempted that in the Six-Day War. Then they did get invaded with the Yom Kippur War, and they were able to win that. And then they faced Intifada after Intifada. And then this, the level of barbarity, it's hard to comprehend. The images and the videos are absolutely disgusting. And I just think it's important as Americans that we all come together -- Israel has a right to defend itself, and that means do that to the hilt. You have to uproot the terrorist infrastructure, these networks, and Hamas needs to be no more. I fear, what happens in these situations is you have people say Israel can respond, then a week later, then two weeks later, then people start to blame Israel. There's no moral equivalence between a Hamas terrorists and an Israeli civilian. And they have every right to see this through to the hilt.

On how the election needs to be a referendum on Joe Biden's failures:

I think a referendum on Joe Biden means we win if I'm the candidate. I think a referendum on Donald Trump, if that's it, then I think the Democrats would win. Joe, there are millions of voters out there who don't like what Biden's doing, think that the country's going in the wrong direction. They want to vote for a Republican. But once it's Donald Trump, that's just a deal breaker for them. They just won't do it. I saw a report I think on your network where someone said he was a Republican, he said it didn't matter. He would do Biden. That's just the reality that Republicans have to face up to if we want to win, and we saw these losses in the most recent elections. 2220 2018. Let's give them a fresh America chance for a fresh start. And I think that the results will be very positive for us.

On his military service:

In terms of Iran, look, this is personal for me in the sense of I served in Iraq back in 2007, 2008. We were in places like Volusia and Ramadi. Mostly Sunni Arab al Qaeda fighters at the time, but most of the casualties US troops were suffering were at the hands of Iranian-backed Shia militias. They killed hundreds of our troops in Iraq, probably over 1000. Of course, they were responsible, through Hezbollah, for killing our Marines back in 1983 in the Beirut barracks bombing. So Iran has a lot of American blood on its hands. Look, I think that Israel should be focused on uprooting Hamas. To make this a larger role, I think, does have some risks, but I would say the United States should turn every screw so that Iran is not getting money flowing into its coffers, particularly with their oil.

On cracking down on Iran:

I've always supported, from the time I was a congressman to now, the strongest possible turning of the screws on Iran and their energy. My view is anything that goes to that regime, they are not trying to make life better for the Iranian people. They are going to use that, and they are going to try to fund terrorism with it. And I think that that's a lesson, but I will also say this, Donald Trump's approach to Iran was stronger than his predecessor's was, and it's been stronger than the Biden was. I think both Obama and Biden thought you could have a reproachment with them. I don't think that that's possible.