Florida governor Ron DeSantis went back on the campaign trail on Wednesday, Sept. 6, after spending more than a week helping his state prepare for and recover from Hurricane Idalia.
DeSantis spoke with Dave Rubin and spent the majority of the interview discussing his differences with former President Trump. And Mr. Rubin asked Mr. DeSantis to share his message to the “Ride-or-Die Trump people.”
“Nobody in the United States–in the Republican Party–has delivered more on America-first policies and principles than me,” he said.
Summarizing his actions over his going on two terms as Florida governor, Mr. DeSantis attempted to hit the voters’ pain points of immigration, China, Second Amendment rights, fighting against corporate Environmental Social Governance (ESG), and the overall “woke agenda.”
Examples he gave included the banning of sanctuary cities, banning the purchase of land by the CCP and its affiliates and Confucious Institutes, and the passing of a constitutional carry law. He also referenced his fight against Disney regarding education and protecting profit-first investing.
“You want to talk about ‘draining the swamp,” he asked. “There’s one guy in this entire country that’s ever taken action against (George) Soros-backed prosecutors, and that’s me. And we’ve removed two of them from office in the last year and a half who were not following the law and who were putting their political agenda over public safety.”
Lastly, he touched on his efforts to ensure election integrity, replacing election supervisors, banning ballot harvesting, and Zuckerbucks–Mark Zuckerburg’s nonprofit that was accused of altering the 2020 election.
Florida also has universal voter ID and an election crimes task force that prosecutes voter fraud.
Trump’s Attacks ‘Obviously Bogus’
The governor also addressed the attacks on him made by the former president, calling the attacks–especially Trump’s criticisms of Florida’s handling of COVID-19 that New York did a better job handling the pandemic–“Obviously bogus.”
“He doesn’t believe it because he said for years how good Florida did,” Mr. DeSantis said. “He said I was one of the great governors in America. All of this stuff was kind of gospel. Nobody ever questioned it until about three days before the midterm elections. He saw that I was fixing to win a landslide, and he started attacking me, and then that’s basically because he believed that I’m a threat to his ambitions.”
Mr. DeSantis said he was not offended or concerned about the attacks, accepting that it “goes with the territory.”
“I think some of it’s so ridiculous that I just think people are smart enough to know that it’s a bunch of bull, and I think that they just discount it, and they understand this political silly season,” he said.
But attacks have not come solely from Mr. Trump. Mr. DeSantis has faced significant national backlash for his government’s policies, specifically banning Critical Race Theory, passing the Parental Rights in Education Bill–which was nicknamed the “Don’t Say Gay Bill,” and removing the two state attorneys from their positions.
People on social media have referred to him as “DeathSantis” and travel advisories have been put out, reportedly warning minorities and LGBT people looking to visit Florida.
He said that standing up for what is right is not going to come cost-free.
Trump’s The Media’s Choice
Continuing to appeal to the Trump voters, Mr. DeSantis also argued that the mainstream media was aligning itself with Mr. Trump’s campaign to attack him.He highlighted how the former president’s campaign operatives were wining and dining with journalists from NBC, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.
“All these outlets that he had always, always said were the enemy of the American people. And yet they’re colluding to basically try to put dirt out on me,” the governor said.
Mr. DeSantis told Mr. Rubin that he believes Mr. Trump and the mainstream media developed “a really unhealthy symbiotic relationship.”
“The corporate press wants Trump to be the nominee, partially because he’s better for ratings but partially because they think that means the Democrats will win, and they don’t want me to be the nominee because they know I will run better,” he said.
“The corporate press does not want to see me up there,” he said. “And the Democrats don’t want to see me up there because they realize I don’t just say this stuff in a campaign season. When I tell you I’m going to do something, I follow through, and I do it.”
The latest polls still show Mr. Trump with a commanding lead over Mr. DeSantis. Over 50 percent of the prospective vote still reportedly side with the former president.
