DeSantis Campaign Press Release - ICYMI: Ron DeSantis on Need to Know with Jeff Angelo

"I'm the only candidate that will do all 99 counties; and I'm the one candidate that actually believes I have to earn your vote."

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Ron DeSantis joined Need to Know with Jeff Angelo live on WHO Radio. The highlights are below.

Listen to the full interview HERE.

On the importance of hitting all 99 counties in Iowa:

I visited 58 of the 99 counties. We're going to be through Iowa this weekend, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. I think we're going to probably hit close to 70 by the time we're done with this trip, which is really, really exciting. And I think, you know, being an Iowa, sometimes people outside of Iowa don't understand, when you're showing up at all 99 counties, you know, that's not something that's going to show up in like poll results or anything. You know, you're laying groundwork, you're building relationships, you're earning support, that come to fruition on caucus night. I'm the only candidate that will do all 99 counties. And I'm the one candidate that actually believes I have to earn your vote. I'm not entitled to your vote. I'm going to be there making the case of why I should be the next president. And you know what, we've gotten a great response from all segments of Iowa, it's been great. We've got great endorsements from political leadership, got great support from evangelicals, agriculture leaders. I mean, it's really, really been good. So, we've got the makings of a dynamite campaign, and we're going to run it all the way through the Iowa caucuses, and we look forward to doing that.

On illegal immigration and making Mexico pay for the border wall:

I started the transportation program when Florida transported 50 illegal aliens to Martha's Vineyard in 2022. And you see what the border towns are going through. This is just 50 in a very wealthy area that had advertised itself as being a sanctuary jurisdiction. And yet, what did they do? They freaked out, and they sent them off the island the next day. New York City used to virtue signal about how they were a sanctuary. Now the mayor is out there saying that the open border is going to destroy the city. We have liberal governors in Illinois and Massachusetts and New York now saying that this just doesn't work. And the reality is, this is stuff we've been saying from the very beginning, just the sheer number of people is overwhelming health systems, schools, you do have criminal aliens, you have the cartels moving in massive amounts of product that's killing Americans in record numbers. This is a massive dereliction of duty by Joe Biden. You have a responsibility as President to secure our country. That should be the first order of business. And what I've said is as President, we're going to declare it a national emergency on day one. We're going to have military at the border. I will build the border wall, and I'll actually have Mexico pay for it. You know, Donald Trump was actually in Iowa last weekend, and he's like, you know, there was no way I could have Mexico pay for it, even though he had promised that; he said there's no legal mechanism to do it. There actually is. It's not telling Mexico to pay, it's imposing fees on the remittances that people send from America back to Mexico -- mostly Mexican nationals, also central South American nationals. So, you could do that. It'll generate billions of dollars. You'll have the funds to be able to do the full wall construction. And then I was the first candidate to say that we're going to use lethal force against the drug cartels because they're invading our country, they're killing our people. Commander in Chief not only has the right, you have the duty to fight back.

On fixing the problems in Washington:

We're at a situation in our country where we are going in the wrong direction, where people see that, and even people who are not Republicans -- people that may disagree with me and you on a lot of issues -- they understand things need to change. And so, we have an opportunity to harness a lot of people. It'll be bottom up. It'll be people pressuring their representatives to do the right thing. The last time we really saw that was when President Reagan came in. President Reagan had a Democrat-controlled house, and he got his whole agenda through. Not because the Democrat leadership wanted to do it. It is because that's what the people were demanding. So that's one thing, and that's really the secret of how we did it in Florida. It wasn't me browbeating legislators -- because everything I promised I'd do, we got 100% done -- it was people throughout the state who were like, you got to get behind the governor, his vision is what we need. Do that, and it'll be the same thing. I'll come in with a mandate. The other thing is you've got to be -- in Washington, it's such a cesspool. The media is going to want you to fail, the bureaucracy is going to be against you, obviously, the institutional left, all these different things. So, you've got to know where true north is. And you've got to be focused. You've got to be disciplined. You can't get distracted. You can't be causing side controversies. It's all about the mission. And that's -- when I was in the military serving in places like Iraq, you check everything else at the door, and it's all about accomplishing the mission. So, I'll be a very determined President, I'll be very focused, and my issues that I'm going to be pursuing are going to be your issues. They're not going to be issues that are unique to me. I'm going to make sure we get the job done, and you have got to be ready to hit the ground on day one. You're going to have 100, 150 days where you're going to be at your high watermark in that first term. You got to strike. We're going to have all the executive orders ready on day one. We'll have all the legislation -- working with the key members of Congress -- ready to go January 2025. And we're going to have thousands of personnel and appointments ready to go to deploy, so that we can rein in the administrative state and the bureaucracy. But that's got to be day one, and it's just got to be focused and discipline. And it's all about delivering results. It's not about -- I think some of what I see in Washington, I see a lot of fanfare. I see a lot of virtue signaling. I see a lot of entertainment. Look, I'm a leader, I'm not an entertainer. My job is to turn this country around and to make sure that you, your kids, and grandkids have a shot at the American dream. And I will get that done.