DeSantis Campaign Press Release - ICYMI: Ron DeSantis with Eric Bolling on Newsmax: "We're going to focus [the military] back on mission."

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Ron DeSantis joined Eric Bolling on Newsmax's The Balance. Read the highlights below.

Watch the full interview HERE.

On his reaction to the IRS whistleblower hearing:

"I think that the Biden family and the amount of money that's been flowing into their coffers and yet most people in the Deep State have wanted to look the other way what a contrast that is to how they handle Republicans. And so I think the Biden family needs to be held accountable."

On his "Mission First" military policies:

"I'm a Navy veteran, I served in Iraq, I got to do a lot of things. And I was always very proud of that. I think most veterans are very proud of having worn the cloth of their country. Many of them come up to me now and they say I would not want my kids or grandkids. joining today's military. Why? We see things like the Navy, using drag queens, for recruiting. You see the military services, indulging in social experimentation at the expense of readiness, lethality, and it's not good for morale. They have driven a lot of warriors off by those policies, as well as the unscientific COVID 19 Vax mandates, which were not justifiable, particularly for the service members that had already recovered from COVID. And so now you have the worst recruiting since the end of the draft during the Vietnam era, you can't possibly compete with China, if we're not attracting good people to want to serve in the military in adequate levels. And I look to see some of the stuff that they're doing with the wokeness, with the politicization, China is laughing at us. Our military right now is concerned about things like climate change, and how they do operations to ensure that they're reducing so called carbon emissions. China doesn't care about that. China's going to burn all the coal, they need to be able to get the job done. So we're at a competitive disadvantage. We're at a recruiting deficit, morale is low, and we need to change. So we're going in day one, no more wokeness in the military. We're eliminating so called DEI diversity, equity and inclusion, which is basically dividing people based on identity politics. I mean, Eric, you know, you've been in team endeavors. When you join the military, it's not about you, as an individual. Everyone's got their own things, but the question is, can that be put aside for the good of the unit? And I think what they're doing now is they're trying to elevate these differences and play social experimentation. So we're going to get rid of all of that we're going to focus it back on mission. We'll have some changes for the for the top brass, of course, but I think it's going to set a very good standard. And I think you're going to see recruiting rebound as a result of getting it right."

On weeding out the woke in the U.S. military:

"Right now, the things that are rewarded in the military is more about whether you're following the social agenda that the civilian elites want you to follow. I don't think George Patton could get beyond colonel in today's military because of what they're looking for. So you need a secretary of defense that's going to change those incentives. We want people who are going to be hard chargers, we want people who aren't going to deal with the political nonsense. Our military should be unique in society. It should not be a reflection of values at places like Goldman Sachs or civilian bureaucracies and so we'll have a secretary offense that understands that it's going to have the backbone to be able to challenge the entrenched military industrial complex, and that's going to do things to increase morale inside the Pentagon in our services."