DeSantis Campaign Press Release - Ron DeSantis on America's Newsroom

"She [Nikki Haley] is the liberal candidate running, and now she's come under scrutiny, and she's not been able to handle basic questions that people are asking."

DES MOINES, IA - Ron DeSantis today joined America's Newsroom live. The highlights are below.

Watch the full interview here.

On his upcoming debate with Nikki Haley:

We're going to do a debate, and we're going to be able to have a sharp contrast in our visions. And I think she's had a very difficult time recently because her, she had been pumped up by liberal media, which I understand she's the liberal candidate running, and now she's come under scrutiny, and she's not been able to handle basic questions that people are asking. She's not been able to defend her record as governor of South Carolina, where she was the number one governor of bringing in Chinese Communist Party investment into her state. In Florida, I banned China from buying land in Florida. I kicked them out of our universities. So it's just a contrast in visions, contrast in records, and clearly, Republican voters are going to prefer my vision to hers.

On his strong organization ahead of the Iowa Caucuses:

We're excited by the support that we have. We've now top 1500 precinct captains who are going to actually be there on the caucus. This is what you have to do. It's an organizational intensive effort. And so we've really put our mind to doing it that way. You know, what I have, I think that no other candidate has, is I have a record of delivering on 100% of my promises. If you look at all the problems in this country that the left is inflicting -- from open borders, to crime, to the bad economic policies -- I've beaten these people in Florida. Whether it's the teachers' unions, whether it's George Soros, whether it's the Democratic Party, we took a state that was evenly divided, and the Democratic Party now lies in ruins. We've shown how to win. You guys have been covering the issue with the Harvard President getting fired. I'm the only one running for president that's taken on the rot in higher education in Florida. This whole idea of DEI, they say it's diversity, equity, and inclusion. It really stands for discrimination, exclusion, and indoctrination. We eliminated it from our public universities. We are focusing our universities on the core mission of what academia used to be: pursuing truth and preparing our students to be citizens of the Republic, not to be indoctrination centers. So I've taken on the left and beat them in ways that Donald Trump and other candidates just simply have not. And this is the do or die time for this country. We're in a period of decline. We need to reverse it. I'll get it done.

On the president of Harvard's resignation:

Places like Harvard had been captured by a militant left ideology. And so it's not about academic excellence, like universities used to be geared toward in this country, it's really about promoting their vision of so-called social justice. So it's got a massive endowment. It's basically a hedge fund with an indoctrination camp attached to it. That is academia run amok. That is not going to be successful for this country. They are not going to be producing the type of leaders that they may have been able to produce in the past. And so we've taken this on in Florida. We've said our state universities are funded by the taxpayers of Florida. They should be focused on things that are in the best interest of the people of Florida. That means we want academic integrity, we want merit based academia, and we do not want discriminatory policies like DEI. So we stepped up, and we did something about it.