DeSantis Campaign Press Release - ICYMI: Ron DeSantis' Sit-Down with Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday

"[Americans] don't really care who the speaker of the House is, they just want to see the job get done."

Tallahassee, FL - Ron and Casey DeSantis joined Shannon Bream for a sit-down interview that aired on Fox News Sunday today. The highlights are below.

Watch part one HERE, part two HERE, and part three HERE.

On the contrast between his leadership in Florida and the chaos in D.C.:

At the end of the day, you got to be focused on results. And what I've seen up there in Washington for both parties is a lot of theater. There's a lot of things that are done, it's performative, but it's not ultimately leading to anything. And the contrast between what's going on there and say with Florida is, I'm not running a soap opera down here, I'm not an entertainer, my job is to be the leader, to be able to lay out a vision, execute that vision and deliver results. And so as President, I'll provide the leadership. We know that we're going to need to go to tackle the budget, tackle the border wall in the southern border, all these key issues. But we're going to be judged by what we deliver for the American people, you know, the people that are struggling to buy groceries, the people that can't afford a mortgage or can't afford a new car. They don't really care who the speaker of the House is, they just want to see the job get done. We've got to not focus so much on what's happening inside DC and focus on what's happening throughout the rest of the country.

On how he will get things done in Washington:

My first four years, we earned veto proof majorities by winning the biggest reelection victory that a Republican governor has ever had in the history of the state of Florida. We delivered results, the people responded, and we took Florida from being a very competitive state politically, a one-point state, to now making it one of the strongest Republican states. And of course, we're leading on the policy. So we earned the opportunity to do that. The first four years, we didn't necessarily have that. So how is it done? It's not about me, it's not about personalities of the legislative leadership, it's a bottom-up approach. Your vision resonates with the people and then the people tell the representatives, 'get in line.' President Reagan did not have a Republican House at all when he came in. And what did he do? He went over the heads of the people, of the legislators, spoke directly to the people and people said you know what, this country is going in the wrong direction, work with the President and let's turn things around. The majority of the public knows this country is in a state of decline. And so we need to reverse the decline. We need to usher in an American revival. What we did in Florida is a model that can work for the country.

On following through with campaign promises:

The average person, they get engaged in this as it gets a lot closer to the caucuses and to the primaries. So I think you'll see that, but now for example, on right to life he said that pro-life protections like in Iowa and Florida, he said it's a terrible thing. And so I think a lot of people were shocked when he said that. Then he was saying in Iowa the other day about building the wall and having Mexico pay for it, probably the most famous political promise this century, certainly one of in American history. And he said, 'Well, there was never a mechanism for me to have Mexico pay for the wall.' He acted like it was never possible to begin with. That was a core promise. The thing is, you actually could have had Mexico pay for it, not just tell them the pay. Of course not. You impose fees on the remittances that people who are working in America are sending back to Mexico and other countries, it would generate billions of dollars, you'd be able to build a wall. So what I've told people is, I'm the only guy running that I've made good on 100% of my promises. I will do the same as president and I will even make good on Donald Trump's promises from 2016 that he wasn't able to do_.

First Lady Casey DeSantis on campaigning as a family:

This time goes by so fast, right? It's like, what do they say, the years are short, the days are long, and it just goes by in the blink of an eye. And so, even before this interview today, I was out doing a field trip with our six-year-old and came in here and got ready and tried to come because, you know -- and that's why you see them on the campaign trail with us because we don't want to miss these opportunities.

On why he emphasizes the economy and culture fights:

I think if people fairly look at what I've done as governor, and then what I talk about on the campaign trail, the number one thing I talked about is, people are paying too much for everything, people are falling behind, the American Dream has slipped away. In Florida, we're one of the few states where we've had a big increase in personal income. We have no income tax, of course, we have a big budget surplus. Since I've been governor, we've paid down almost 25% of our state's total debt, while cutting taxes, and being the number one state for new business formations. And so we have a record second to none on all those issues. I do think though, some of these cultural issues affect things far beyond whatever-- for example, we had the fight about the gender ideology in the elementary schools. We can't as a country succeed if kindergarteners are being taught that their gender's a choice, or that they can change, they were born in the wrong body. That's just wrong. And so yes, I'm the father of a six, five, and a three-year-old, my wife and I are sensitive about what's going on in the schools. But I also think this society needs to be rooted in truth. And so many of these fights are based on things that are just not true. And we have a responsibility to fight back. The truth will set you free.

On winning in Iowa and the early voting states:

What they're saying is just not true. We're going to win Iowa. We think that that's very important. We are going to be in New Hampshire a lot more. I think we've got plans to do that, and you'll see all that stuff is very volatile in those early states. We're going to have four weeks in South Carolina after New Hampshire between that, so we're going to get the job done. But it does start with Iowa. That's where we're going to make the mark. But we're going to be all-in on all those states. And you know, all those guys, all the chatter that they do, they've been wrong for years. People were chattering about my reelection as governor, saying we weren't running a good campaign, that we were sputtering, and I won the biggest victory that we've ever seen in the state of Florida for a Republican.