Tucker interviews sitting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis
“I’m very confident that the freedom in Florida is what more people would choose rather than the public defecation on the streets of San Francisco.” ~ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
The Blaze held a summit over this July 15, 2023 weekend where Tucker Carlson interviewed the current field of 2024 Republican Party presidential primary candidates one on one (except Trump).
This post is a quick summary of Tucker’s interview with sitting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. You can watch the full video here, and I’ve include a 4 minute clip below.
What I heard
Here’s what I heard when I listened to Tucker interview sitting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Pro-life “every day of the week and twice on Sunday.” DeSantis says he’s been a pro-life governor and will be a pro-life president. He suggests he lost supporters and donors but fostering a culture of life is “the right thing to do.” He’d do it again “every day of the week and twice on Sunday.” [0:45–2:25]
Fighting woke ideology parrots. DeSantis says Republicans have an opportunity to convert voters by representing a platform of common sense, sanity, and traditional American values. Here, he brings up the issue of men in women’s sports and points out that a lot of people don’t buy that you can swim on the men’s team for three years and then transition to the women’s team. [6:15–7:45]
China is more important than a border dispute. DeSantis was asked directly, what is the goal in Ukraine, and when will we know we achieved it. In response, he said “I think the goal should be to have a sustainable peace in Europe.” He added that “Europe needs to do more” and as President he would pull levers like shipping US energy to Europe to reduce reliance on Russian gas. He repeats again the goal of achieving a “sustainable peace” without rewarding aggression. On the other hand, DeSantis seemed intentional when he said the dispute was not about whether the Ukrainian government in Kiev would fall but instead was about land somewhere in the east “between Ukraine and Russia.” He also signaled he will focus on China, which he believes to be the biggest threat. [10:20–15:20]
No central bank digital currency (CBDC). “If I am president on day one we will nix central bank digital currency. Done. Dead. Not happening in this country.” He noted that Florida passed a law stating the State does not recognize CBDCs. He explains the Federal Reserve is signaling an intent to act unilaterally to introduce a CBDC, despite lacking authority. He explained that the federal reserve wants to get rid of cash and crypto and issue a digital CBDC as the sole form of legal tender. He identifies CBDC as one of the greatest threats to American liberty—it would allow governments to implement a social credit system and ban people from making “undesirable purchases” of things like gasoline and ammunition. [15:55–17:45]
(If you’re not familiar with the potential impact of CBDCs, see the short clip below.)
The President can fire executive branch bureaucrats. On day one, DeSantis says he’ll be ready with a slate of nominees to fill the positions he controls—e.g., FBI director, attorney general, etc. He made points like: (1) You can’t wait two years to fill those positions and (2) You have to select an attorney general with a backbone who can handle media criticism. DeSantis says he would have fired bad actors in the executive branch (e.g. Anthony Fauci), and he reads Article II of the Constitution to permit the President to do so. DeSantis rejected the idea that the President could not fire someone like Anthony Fauci. [17:45–20:15]
Ending weaponization of government. Asked about censorship and jailed Wikileaks reporter Julian Assange, DeSantis did not directly answer if he’d pardon Assange. DeSantis did respond with something like: I will consider pardon applications on day one in office and won’t wait until my last days in office to consider them. DeSantis indicated pardons will be case by case and considered carefully. He understands the pardon process as a State governor. He believes there must be a reckoning for the Covid-19 censorship complex, or else they will do it again. He suggests he will fire and pardon with the goal of ending and redressing the weaponization of government. [20:15–22:48]
Declassify declassify. Asked about the federal government spying on American citizens, DeSantis says he will aim to declassify as much as he can, including things that happened 60-70 years ago and more recent events where possible. He suggested that the federal government abuses classification authority to maintain power. [22:50–24:16]
Freedom trumps poop! To close the interview, DeSantis said that, while the Democrats may be unable to push Biden out, DeSantis is ready for a Florida vs. California showdown (i.e., a race against California Governor Gavin Newsome). “I’m very confident that the freedom in Florida is what more people would choose rather than the public defecation on the streets of San Francisco.” [24:16–25:20]
My Thoughts
DeSantis is very good. He distinguished himself from Trump without alienating his supporters. Let me identify some of those distinctions—unlike Trump, DeSantis suggests he: 1) will fire the FBI director day one and any other subordinate executive; 2) will identify nominees for agency leadership day one; 3) will nominate an attorney general with a spine; 4) will declassify the JFK files.
DeSantis intentionally loaded his answers with words, phrases, action items, experiences, and accomplishments that present him as a person who can and is ready to defeat the villains that plague Trump. If this were the Matrix, maybe DeSantis would be Neo (the one) and Trump Morpheus? (I cannot confirm, but I suspect DeSantis had the benefit of hearing Tucker’s earlier interviews.)
I thought DeSantis gave a weak answer on Ukraine with his “sustainable peace” goal. But, unlike Tim Scott and Mike Pence, I cannot characterize DeSantis as blindly pro war.
Kudos to The Blaze for having Tucker interview the current field of Republican presidential candidates. It’s worth watching the various interviews if you haven’t.