DeSantis Campaign Press Release - ICYMI: Ron DeSantis on the Doug Wagner Show

"We will, in short, save the American automobile."

Tallahassee, FL - Ron DeSantis joined The Doug Wagner Show on WMT News Radio. The highlights are below.

Listen to the full interview HERE.

On reversing Biden's harmful electric vehicle mandates:

We're going to rip out all the Biden mandates, all this stuff that they're doing to try to promote EVs. I have no problem with you purchasing one on your own, if that's what you want. There's nothing wrong with that. This is a competitive market and that's how it should be, but what he's doing makes us more reliant on China because China mines the critical minerals that go into things like these batteries. We actually could do that here in the United States. Biden won't let us do that. So he's intentionally making that decision. It will weaken biofuels in Iowa and throughout the Midwest, no question, because it's an attack on liquid fuels. It's bad for the auto companies, it's bad for the auto workers, because most Americans don't want electric vehicles. I mean, you know, I'm a former Ford F-150 owner, the most popular truck in America, and I would not want that to be electric. I want it to be gas.

On reviving America's energy dominance:

We put out our energy plan last week in Texas and my goal [is to] be energy independent from these hostile regimes, but even more importantly, we need to be the dominant energy producer in the entire world. That'll be good for people going into the pump, it'll be good for businesses, it'll reduce inflation, it's good for our industrial base and jobs, and it is good for our national security to be energy dominant. I think the push for electric vehicles and the Green New Deal cuts totally against that. And what I've found in Florida, we've had a massive reduction in carbon emissions but it's because of natural gas being used in the power plants instead of things like coal, so it's much cleaner. The environmentalists and the left, they oppose using natural gas. So we're not going to allow the electric vehicle stuff to go through. We're going to make sure people can make cars that people actually want to buy and that you as an American have the right to buy what you want. We will, in short, save the American automobile.

On protecting farmers from the weaponization of government:

Think about all the Iowa farmers that had to deal with the waters of the United States. You have a puddle on your property, and then the federal government can come in and have jurisdiction. It's insane. Now the Supreme Court gave us relief from that. But Biden's people, they're gonna go at it again. They're going to try to get their nose in everything they can. And that's why one of the things we've got to do when I'm President, we're going to end weaponization of government, we're going to end this fourth branch of government. We're going to have the government returned to its rightful owners, which is we the people, as the Founding Fathers intended. They only created three branches of government back in 1787. They did not create an administrative state that imposes its will on us without our consent, and we need to change that.

On his support from Iowans:

We've now done 58 of the 99 counties. We're going to be back the week after the debate to do more, and we're going to knock out all 99, just like I promised. And I think that what you see when this happens is, Iowans really appreciate you showing up. They appreciate, particularly in the smaller communities, that you go, listen to them and [give them a] chance for questions. And what you find is, people are concerned that the country is just in a state of malaise; our government's off the rails. Just making ends meet now is difficult for people who are doing everything right and working hard.