DeSantis Campaign Press Release - ICYMI: Ron DeSantis with Tucker Carlson at the FAMiLY Leadership Summit: "Had I been president in 2020, Anthony Fauci would have been fired."

Watch the full interview HERE.

On his plan to stop the invasion and secure the border:

"I wish the DC elites cared as much about our border as they do about the Ukraine-Russia border. There's people pouring into this country. We have people dying from fentanyl overdose. The cartels are running the show. And what I've said is this is something on day one: declare a national emergency, mobilize all resources, including the military, stop the invasion, yes, build the wall, but most importantly: authorize the Border Patrol, authorize our military to deal with the cartels. If they're breaking into our country bringing product, if I'm in charge, that's going to be the last thing they do, because they're going to end up stone-cold dead."

On how his military experience shapes his view on foreign policy:

"I served in Iraq, during the Iraq campaign in Fallujah, I was attached to US Navy SEAL Team One. Remember, it started on WMD, then we had Al Qaeda in Iraq, then it was creating a democracy. The lesson that I learned from there is if you're going to commit to do military, whether it's aid or whether it's troops, you need to have a concrete idea of what you're trying to achieve. From the time I got out of the sandbox and landed back in the United States, 15 years ago, until the present, I've always felt that. My critique of the DC foreign policy elite, is that they are doing a blank check policy, without telling us when we will have achieved our objective. I believe that today and I believe that then. Now, because you descend from the D.C. foreign policy elite, they then try to smear you and say, 'Oh, you must be for Putin.' I've always thought Putin is a bad guy. I still think he's a bad guy. But that's a separate question. For a leader who's got to look at the world in very clear eyed glasses, you know, that it's not all peaches and cream out there. You have to make a judgment about what's in America's national interest."

On the threat of the Chinese Communist Party:

"I would prioritize the threats to our national security. The top threat to this country is China. It's China's ambitions. It's China's industrial capacity. It's the CCP's ability to pollute our culture, impact our universities. Incidentally, in Florida, we got rid of the Confucius Institutes that they put in universities, we cracked down on them being able to do research dollars to our universities, and we banned any purchase of land by the CCP in the state of Florida... you have to do what's based on our interest, you can't subcontract out our interest to a foreign leader. You can't want it to go on because it'd be good for defense contractors or, you know, globalist investors. It's all about what's in our interests. And I think we're basically in a situation with our foreign policy, we're providing a blanket security to Europe, they're not paying their fair share. And we're not doing what we need to do to project power in the Pacific. At the end of the day, the CCP respects hard power. A strong America can deter conflict, I think a weak America may be on the path to inviting conflict with China. And if we continue to be weak abroad and allow our culture to deteriorate here at home, we can have a situation where our kids or grandkids are studying, memorizing 37 different pronouns in Mandarin, and we can't have that. So, we've got to do better. As a country, we need to reverse the decline of this country, because it is happening very, very quickly."

On day one action to stop the weaponization of the federal government:

"I believe Article II of the Constitution means the President has the executive authority. We just say these bureaucrats somehow can't be held accountable. I disagree with that. I think you can fire him. If we have an FBI agent going to harass a pro-life activist like they did Mark Houck, and send a SWAT team, I'd fire them immediately. When you have the FBI colluding with big tech to censor dissent, I would fire those people. Had I been president in 2020, Anthony Fauci would have been fired, and you've got to be willing to do it."

On beating the Democratic nominee:

"I go back and forth, because as an incumbent president, unless he's willing to step aside, I don't think they can get [Biden] out of there. On the other hand, I'm fully prepared to have a Florida-California showdown and let the people choose what's the better vision for the United States of America because I'm very confident that the freedom in Florida is what more people would choose, rather than the public defecation on the streets of San Francisco."