DeSantis Campaign Press Release - ICYMI: Ron DeSantis Live on the PBD Podcast

"A lot of those people in DC, they don't want me to be the candidate. That cabal of Republicans, they're like the surrender caucus. They don't actually ever win victories. I fought those guys the whole time."

Tallahassee, FL - Ron DeSantis today joined Patrick Bet-David for a live sit-down interview that aired on the PBD Podcast. The highlights are below.

Watch the full interview HERE.

On the need to secure the border and protect America from terrorism:

I am worried about terrorism in America, largely because of what our own government has done to let people in illegally from all around the world. You've had almost 8 million people come in. We know people have come in from China, Russia, Middle East--all these places. There's 140 people on the terror watch list that our own government acknowledges, I mean, so you figure there's a lot more than that. And if you look at 9/11, part of the reason that happened was a failure of the immigration system too. I mean, those people did not--they weren't here on valid visas, or they had their visas expired (the hijackers). So my fear is just, you have so many people that have flooded in. Some of them are part of the drug cartels, some of them just want to work. Some of them are criminal aliens, and then some of them I think, would be potential terrorists. And I think there's going to be a terrorist attack in this country that we're going to be able to trace back to the border.

On Donald Trump's unkept promises:

Remember "build the wall and have Mexico pay for it?" What he now says on the campaign trail, I mean, honestly, honks me off because he says that if you believed what he said, then you're somehow a loser. That's what he said the other day, and then before he says, 'All these people saying that I'm going to have Mexico pay, there's no legal mechanism in Mexico.' Then you look at what he said in 2016. He was saying he's going to have Mexico pay. But here's the thing about execution--there actually is a way to have Mexico pay. The way you have Mexico pay is you impose fees on remittances that people send back to Mexico who work here, Central America, anywhere in the world. You'd raise billions of dollars, and you would actually be able to construct the wall. I'll tell you, I was disappointed. You know, as he's leaving office, did he use that time to fire Fauci or to do any of that? No, he actually gave Fauci an award, a presidential commendation, on January 19 2021.

On his upcoming debate with Gavin Newsom:

What it is a debate on, is about the future of the country. California represents the petri dish of American leftism. They're five years ahead of whatever Biden's people are cooking up in DC. So if you want to know what America would look like... just look to California. California is a recipe to accelerate the decline of this country. Florida is a model to reverse the decline of the country and engineer a revival of the American spirit and a new birth of freedom. And finally, the reason to debate is he might be the candidate. I mean, I think that the Republican voters, we want, we need a candidate that's going to be able to take on all comers. I mean, we look at Biden, we say he's over the hill, he's weak. And I think that's true. But they may go with Newsom, they may go with Harris, they may go with somebody else. That could happen, and we just have to be prepared for that. But it isn't because I think that necessarily he's going to be the candidate. I think it's an important debate.

On the need for real leadership in the White House:

I think what they're missing in Washington is, so much of what the party is doing is theater. You have guys out there that are that are putting on a show and that's on all sides. I mean, ultimately, these Lincoln project people, it's all about clicks for them and money and all that stuff. And it's like okay, that ultimately is not what you're judged on in terms of being a leader. You're judged on, are you actually producing results? Are you moving the electorate in a way that is going to be better? You need to unify the Republicans and you need to win enough independents. If you can't do that, you're just not going to win. And I'm the only one that really has a track record of doing that in Florida. We won independent voters by 18 percentage points. I mean, that's really what you need. But we didn't do it by contorting ourselves, or trying to put our finger in the wind. We did what we believe. We told people the truth. We delivered results. And we were able to attract people. There are people out there, they don't need to agree with you on everything. But if they see that you're telling them the truth, that they know you'll fight more when the chips are down, they will support you. So we've got to do more of that, I think as the Republicans.

On fighting the DC establishment:

I was conservative against the Republican establishment before Donald Trump ever ran. And I'm the same. You know, a lot of those people in DC, they don't they don't want me to be the candidate. They opposed me, everything we did in Florida. They opposed us having the state open, they opposed us having schools open, they opposed us fighting the vaccine mandates and stopping those. They opposed us beating Disney in the parent's rights fight. They've opposed us on getting critical race theory out of our schools, they have opposed us on banning sanctuary cities. They opposed me when we sent illegal aliens to Martha's Vineyard. So that cabal of Republicans is basically a surrender caucus. They don't actually ever win victories. They're totally fine being the junior partners to the Democrats in the entrenched DC ruling class. That is totally unacceptable, and I fought those guys the whole time. I'm really the only guy that has just beat the left on issue after issue.

On Donald Trump's false attacks on Florida:

The reality is, he did that because he cared more about himself than he did about the greater good. The greater good was clearly I win reelection in Florida, we win super majorities, and we continue to implement the agenda. That's the greater good from a conservative perspective. There's no reason you should have been out there taking potshots at me, or anybody in Florida. And of course, he's trashed Florida repeatedly over the last year. He gets on social media. He said Cuomo did better in New York. I wasn't a candidate when he was doing that. He was doing that because he was upset. So it's all about him. He says Newsom did better. He said Cuomo did better. Now his whole family moved to Florida under my governorship. Put that aside, he has used very left wing media sources to say crazy things about Florida. So that's what he's done. So what is-- he's not held accountable for anything. I mean, there's a strain of people that he can go out and say whatever he wants, and somehow that's fine. And then you say anything, then all of a sudden, no, that's not the way it works. You put your big boy pants on, you're held accountable for your conduct. He chose to make those statements and that's fine. But those are false statements.