DeSantis Campaign Press Release - ICYMI: Ron DeSantis on the Howie Carr Show: "I think a strong America with hard power will successfully deter China. But I think the direction that Biden's going is inviting a conflict with China."

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Ron DeSantis joined Howie Carr on WRKO's Howie Carr Show. Read the highlights below.

Listen to the full interview HERE.

On his path to the White House:

"Howie, the corporate press in this country does not want me to be the Republican candidate because they know I will beat the Democrats, I will beat Biden. But I think more importantly, they know I will actually get all this stuff done. I mean, what we were able to do in Florida is take an evenly divided state politically, go on a leadership where we were doing huge things from illegal immigration... we're leaning in on all these issues, delivering big results. Stood up during COVID, and we ended up winning reelection by 20 points. They see that, and so ever since our reelection, they've been doing whatever they can to try to create narratives that trip me up. Here's what I can tell you, you know it better than anyone because you're up in New England, we don't have a national primary. We have a state-by-state process so, what we focused on is getting footholds in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina. I'm going to be in Iowa the next few days, we're going to be back in New Hampshire very soon, same with South Carolina, and you build support. It doesn't happen overnight. And I can tell you what we found with Republican voters, we get very favorable views, in terms of, they know I've done a good job as governor, when they come out and hear me, they sign up and they want to support us. Now that's not going to be 100,000 people at one time, it's going to be slowly but surely. So, we do that, we have the path, and we've been able to do a lot of great things. And oh, by the way, you mentioned donors, they were saying this four or five months ago, and yet we, first five and a half weeks, we raised 20 million. No one as a nonincumbent has raised that much in that period of time, you know, big support on PACs, and all this other stuff. So all that stuff is going great. And at the end of the day, it's just about putting in the work and letting people know, who am I, my bio, my family, my achievements, and my vision for the country as president. And once that's clear, we do very well."

On the importance of putting in the work to earn the nomination:

"Nobody is entitled to this nomination. You have got to earn the nomination and do things like The FAMiLY Leader event in Iowa, doing things like these debates, they're important parts of the process. So, I'm going to be in Iowa for that. I will be in Milwaukee for the first debate, and I'll be at all the debates because the American people deserve to hear from us directly about our vision for the country, and about how we're going to be able to defeat Joe Biden."

On the Biden administration's failed foreign affairs policies in China:

"There's a whole host of things around the world that we've got to be concerned with, and I think Biden is ignoring a lot of other threats. Of course, they think China is just a healthy competitor. I can tell you, China's not a healthy competitor. China is an adversary. China has very significant ambitions. I think a strong America with hard power will successfully deter China. But I think the direction that Biden's going is inviting a conflict with China."