'The guy I'm gonna focus on is Biden'
Ron confident that if he's in, he'll win
RON DeSantis knows everyone is waiting for him to say if he’s running for president. But in our talk, he made it very clear that if he does, he can win.
“If I were to run,” he said confidently, “I’m running against Biden. Like we [DeSantis and Trump] are competing for the Republican, potentially, I get that, but ultimately you know the guy I’m gonna focus on is Biden because I think he’s failed the country. I think the country wants a change. I think they want a fresh start and a new direction and so we’ll be very vocal about that.”
“Do you think you could beat Biden?”
“I think so,” he replied, unhesitatingly, and emphatically.
Bipartisan appeal
He plans to follow the same path to success he had in the recent midterms.
“I won with independents by 18 points,” he said. “And so that will be the same formula that we would take, and honestly forget about me, I think anybody should take the formula like that nationally. You can’t win with just Republicans. You’ve gotta win with independents and you need to convince some of these Democrats, which I was able to do in Florida, because they’re not woke, they don’t like some of the nonsense going on. They want their streets safe, and they want quality education. So I think you could appeal to people across the canvas.”
While Trump currently leads DeSantis for the Republican nomination, he loses in the general against Biden because of those very independents, while DeSantis fares much better.
DeSantis is convinced his wildly successful, if divisive, Florida playbook can work for all of America.
“One of the things that was interesting about my election,” he said, “is that voters in Florida overwhelmingly thought the country was on the wrong track, but they thought Florida was on the right track. So, they saw the difference in terms of how things are governed. We run big budget surpluses . . . the federal government’s $31 trillion dollars in debt. We’re very tough on crime, the policies in Washington are to be more weak on crime. We believe in being good stewards of the environment, but I don’t want to control everyone’s behavior with some of the stuff that’s going on.
“And we have really fought against the woke ideology. People know we cannot be governed by a woke agenda and some of these mayors and prosecutors that have gotten elected around the country on that agenda, their societies have decayed as a result of it. So, I think just some common sense, some leadership, some courage and being right on the issues I think could go a long way.”
He thinks being governor has prepared him well for a possible presidency.
“What I’ve been called upon to do as governor is make the right decisions when it wasn’t easy. A lot of people thought I was dead a few years ago because I was charting my different course and my view is I got elected to save the jobs of the people I represent. It can’t be looking out for my own job.
“I can’t worry about getting criticized. I can’t worry about the political fallout. I’ve gotta do what’s right and I’ve gotta stick by that and I’ve gotta be willing to take the arrows, and I think we need more of that in terms of our leaders now, because when you want to do the right thing with the media environment, social media and all this stuff, people come after you and that’s just the price you’ve gotta pay for leadership but I think it’s an ingredient that’s essential.”
‘Stay tuned!’
So, is he ready to run?
“I haven’t made a final decision on it. I’ve told people that I’ve got a lot to do over the next few months in Florida. We’re gonna put a lot of points on the board. And then we’ll see how the dust settles after that, but I can tell you a lot of people realize the country is not going in the right direction and believe that what we’ve been able to do in Florida, if we can apply that nationally, we can get America back on track and back on our foundations.
“And so, I take that very seriously, it’s humbling that people have come to me and asked me to do it or urged me to do it. So, stay tuned.”
“That sounds like almost a yes . . .”
“It’s a stay tuned!”
Why wouldn’t he go for it? “Well, because I’ve got a young family. I’ve got different obligations and it’s not the easiest thing in the world to go through and I also want to make sure that I have a very clear rationale for doing what I’m doing. All I’m interested in doing is getting things done and accomplishing things. I don’t need a title. I don’t need fanfare. I just want to know that if I put my mind to this, if we ever did that, and we’re successful, what could I do to make a difference and that’s what I have to have.”
Do you think you have what it takes to be president of USA?
“I think what it takes is to have a vision for the country, have the ability to exercise leadership and being willing to stand in that fire when it gets really hot and not back down under pressure . . . and I think I have all those things.”
COMING TOMORROW: DeSantis reveals what he REALLY believes about the Ukraine war and Vladimir Putin.