📄 Extracted Text (10,223 words)
[00:00:00] decisions and part of the reason it was
[00:00:02] so lonely is because there was a
[00:00:04] concerted effort to try to stifle
[00:00:06] dissent there was an official narrative
[00:00:08] about lockdowns about closing schools
[00:00:11] about Force masking about all these
[00:00:13] different things that we had to navigate
[00:00:15] during covid and it was an Orthodoxy
[00:00:18] being enforced by the major Tech
[00:00:20] Platforms in conjunction with the
[00:00:23] federal government and if we can't have
[00:00:25] an honest debate in a free country about
[00:00:28] issues that affect hundreds of millions
[00:00:31] of people like lockdowns then what good
[00:00:35] is the first amendment at that point
[00:00:36] those are precisely the times when we
[00:00:39] needed to have debate be robust you
[00:00:42] should not be taking down articles that
[00:00:44] criticize uh those Draconian policies
[00:00:47] and yet that's exactly what happened so
[00:00:49] it occurred to me that if that had
[00:00:51] continued uh I think free speech in this
[00:00:53] in this country uh was on its way out
[00:00:56] the door and so when Elon Musk stepped
[00:00:58] up to purchase Twitter uh he paid a lot
[00:01:01] of money for it uh and I'm sure because
[00:01:03] he's a good businessman I'm sure you'll
[00:01:05] you'll end up making money off it but
[00:01:07] the bottom line is you had to put your
[00:01:08] money where your mouth is uh because I
[00:01:10] think you recognize that uh you can't
[00:01:13] have a free Society uh unless we have
[00:01:15] the freedom to debate the most important
[00:01:18] issues that are affecting our
[00:01:19] civilization that did not happen during
[00:01:22] covid the truth was uh censored
[00:01:25] repeatedly and now that Twitter is in
[00:01:28] the hands of of a free speech Advocate
[00:01:30] that would not be able to happen again
[00:01:33] on this Twitter platform so I think what
[00:01:36] was done with Twitter is really
[00:01:38] significant for the future of our
[00:01:40] country we cannot have a society in
[00:01:42] which government is colluding with major
[00:01:44] Tech platforms to enforce an Orthodoxy
[00:01:47] well thank you um yeah we're absolutely
[00:01:51] committed to freedom of speech and Level
[00:01:52] Playing Field
[00:01:54] um and just a vigorous debate and
[00:01:55] hopefully uh this can be a platform that
[00:01:59] uh brings people of Divergent political
[00:02:02] views uh to exchange those views and and
[00:02:05] perhaps some Minds will be changed one
[00:02:07] way or the other and um but it's just
[00:02:10] incredibly important as you as you
[00:02:12] highlight that the the first amendment
[00:02:15] is irrelevant if uh all the media and
[00:02:19] all the and the government are operating
[00:02:22] in lockstep it's uh it makes you know
[00:02:26] the most important Amendment the one
[00:02:28] that was most urgently added to the
[00:02:30] Constitution
[00:02:31] um moot if you if you cannot have a free
[00:02:34] and open debate
[00:02:35] um so
[00:02:37] so Twitter was indeed expensive uh but
[00:02:41] free speech is priceless
[00:02:43] awesome
[00:02:46] um thank you so uh Governor let me I'm
[00:02:49] going to ask some questions while we get
[00:02:51] some other uh kind of speakers in the
[00:02:53] queue to ask questions
[00:02:54] um I think maybe some people knew this
[00:02:56] announcement was coming because there's
[00:02:57] been no shortage of hip pieces on you
[00:02:59] yeah in the Press over the last week or
[00:03:01] two I want to ask you about some of
[00:03:03] these accusations that are being uh
[00:03:05] leveled at you uh last week uh the NAACP
[00:03:09] issued a travel advisory against your
[00:03:12] state claiming that Florida is not a
[00:03:14] safe place for minorities to visit uh
[00:03:18] what do you say to those who've been
[00:03:19] advised that somehow they aren't welcome
[00:03:21] in your state
[00:03:23] claiming that Florida is unsafe is a
[00:03:25] total farce I mean are you kidding me
[00:03:27] you look at cities around this country
[00:03:29] they are awashed in crime in Florida our
[00:03:32] crime rate is at a 50-year low if you
[00:03:35] look at the top 25 cities for crime in
[00:03:38] America Florida does not have a single
[00:03:40] one amongst the top 25 and if you look
[00:03:44] at cities like Baltimore and Chicago you
[00:03:46] got kids more likely to get shot than to
[00:03:49] receive a first class education yet I
[00:03:51] don't see the NAACP batting an eye about
[00:03:54] all the outrage and the Carnage that's
[00:03:56] happening in those areas so this is a
[00:03:58] political stunt these left-wing groups
[00:04:01] have been doing it for many many years
[00:04:03] and at the end of the day what they're
[00:04:04] doing is colluding with Legacy Media to
[00:04:06] try to manufacture a narrative now the
[00:04:09] good news is is fewer and fewer
[00:04:11] Americans are gullible enough to believe
[00:04:13] this dribble and platforms like Twitter
[00:04:16] are there where people can debunk these
[00:04:18] lies in real time and I would just say
[00:04:21] as an American citizen if you are are
[00:04:23] uncritically accepting narrative spun by
[00:04:26] Legacy Media and left-wing groups you're
[00:04:29] failing at your job of being a
[00:04:31] conscientious Citizen and I think people
[00:04:33] just see right through it and oh by the
[00:04:35] way have any of these travel advisories
[00:04:37] because they've been doing this for for
[00:04:39] a while these left-bring groups have any
[00:04:40] of them worked well we're the number one
[00:04:43] state for net in migration and have been
[00:04:45] every year since I've been Governor we
[00:04:47] just capped the highest quarter for
[00:04:50] tourism in the history of the State of
[00:04:52] Florida and our view is we want
[00:04:54] everybody to succeed regardless of their
[00:04:56] skin color we don't divvy up people by
[00:04:58] race at the same time it is worth
[00:05:01] pointing out that we have in Florida
[00:05:03] more black owned businesses than any
[00:05:06] state in the nation and we've also had
[00:05:09] more African-Americans lead state
[00:05:11] agencies under my Administration than at
[00:05:13] any time in Florida history but with us
[00:05:15] you know they're there because of Merit
[00:05:17] not because we're trying to play
[00:05:19] identity politics and if you want to
[00:05:22] look at education uh the black students
[00:05:25] in the in Florida perform much higher
[00:05:27] than black students in most other states
[00:05:29] we rank number three in fourth grade
[00:05:31] reading and number two in fourth grade
[00:05:33] math amongst our black student
[00:05:35] population and oh by the way the head of
[00:05:38] the NAACP lives in Florida and a lot of
[00:05:41] their board members have put out on
[00:05:43] social media during my governorship
[00:05:45] Florida vacations where they seem to be
[00:05:48] having an awful good time
[00:05:51] foreign
[00:05:53] that's great
[00:05:55] um well I mean Florida's great state and
[00:05:57] I think everyone the the people people
[00:05:59] realize that um the the some of the
[00:06:01] things that are being said are just
[00:06:02] truly absurd
[00:06:03] um I mean I I saw some headline from the
[00:06:06] Atlantic uh basically claiming that
[00:06:08] anyone who listens listens to this uh
[00:06:10] spaces on Twitter is basically a Nazi
[00:06:14] um so uh or yeah
[00:06:16] and then Vanity Fair said that uh that
[00:06:20] you were you were uh hosting or
[00:06:22] interviewing because David Duke wasn't
[00:06:24] available oh yes although I'm not
[00:06:26] totally sure who they were saying was
[00:06:28] David Duke I don't know if it was you or
[00:06:29] Governor DeSantis sort of a little bit
[00:06:31] unclear but uh but I think this is a
[00:06:33] function of these the Legacy Media these
[00:06:37] corporate journals they're in their
[00:06:39] little bubble and to to draw Illusions
[00:06:42] to stuff like that I mean how crazy do
[00:06:45] you have to be but in their little
[00:06:46] bubble it sounds like they're making
[00:06:49] some type of profound point and so part
[00:06:52] of I think what Twitter is standing for
[00:06:54] is people should be exposed to different
[00:06:57] viewpoints and I think the Elites in our
[00:06:59] society have tried to Cluster themselves
[00:07:01] to where their assumptions are never
[00:07:03] challenged and that's not a good way I
[00:07:06] think to live it's also not a good way
[00:07:08] to to be a critical thinker because no
[00:07:10] one's ever gonna question uh obviously
[00:07:12] wrong assumptions because everybody
[00:07:14] around you shares them absolutely and I
[00:07:17] think they become totally hysterical
[00:07:18] because they don't like the idea that
[00:07:20] their control over the media is being
[00:07:22] you know just intermediated yeah because
[00:07:25] now you know candidates for president
[00:07:27] can just speak directly to people
[00:07:29] through platforms like Twitter yeah I
[00:07:32] mean the the amazing thing about Twitter
[00:07:34] and things like spaces are that
[00:07:37] um although I happen to be hosting it it
[00:07:39] it well I I I had to switch over to
[00:07:42] David hosting it because my account was
[00:07:44] actually there's too much interest my
[00:07:46] account was breaking the system
[00:07:48] um but uh it's it's uh there's really
[00:07:51] never been a
[00:07:52] mechanism before where someone could
[00:07:55] address the nation or anyone who wanted
[00:07:57] to listen to them could from anywhere in
[00:07:59] the world uh the United States or
[00:08:01] anywhere so this is a I think this is a
[00:08:04] really profound uh change
[00:08:06] um and it's also like the it's not just
[00:08:07] whether the media reports something uh
[00:08:10] an article is is true or not uh even
[00:08:12] more powerful is deciding what the
[00:08:14] narrative is and so uh you know so it's
[00:08:17] just like if there's only so much you
[00:08:19] can actually fit in newspaper or a
[00:08:21] magazine and what and there's only one
[00:08:22] thing you really put on on the cover of
[00:08:24] magazines so uh that that whoever's
[00:08:27] deciding that is is deciding to not talk
[00:08:30] about other things
[00:08:31] um whereas with a public digital Town
[00:08:34] Square like we have here
[00:08:36] is possible for the public to choose the
[00:08:38] narrative it empowers the people instead
[00:08:40] of a very tiny Elite cabal which I don't
[00:08:44] recognize the irony of using that phrase
[00:08:46] but but nonetheless it's it's true uh um
[00:08:50] and judged by the results that uh this
[00:08:53] is a means for the people to decide the
[00:08:55] narrative and for the people to decide
[00:08:57] uh What uh you know which way a debate
[00:09:00] will go not sort of five editors and
[00:09:04] Chiefs of a few newspapers basically
[00:09:06] yeah and I think one of the really crazy
[00:09:08] things that happened during covet is
[00:09:10] that that social networks really started
[00:09:13] censoring dissenting viewpoints on covid
[00:09:17] medical viewpoints that ended up being
[00:09:19] totally correct in in lockstep with what
[00:09:22] the mainstream media was doing so
[00:09:23] basically big Tech platforms were
[00:09:26] undermining their main reasons for
[00:09:28] existing which is giving people a choice
[00:09:29] and actually there's there's somebody
[00:09:31] who I think knows more about that than
[00:09:33] any of us which is Dr Jay bhattacharya
[00:09:36] who's a professor of medicine at
[00:09:37] Stanford I want to pull him in here uh
[00:09:40] Jake you go and unmute yourself if you
[00:09:42] can uh it'd be great to to hear from you
[00:09:46] um I know that during covid you worked
[00:09:48] with Governor DeSantis it'd be great
[00:09:50] just to hear a little bit about your
[00:09:52] interactions and if you have a question
[00:09:53] for the governor
[00:09:55] yeah thank you David yeah I mean it was
[00:09:57] uh it was an absolute honor to work with
[00:09:59] uh with Governor uh DeSantis and I was
[00:10:03] really impressed by his decision making
[00:10:06] in the face of of an absolute Firestorm
[00:10:09] of criticism
[00:10:11] um but he you know Governor you did the
[00:10:13] right thing when you opened the schools
[00:10:15] and uh my kids in California for a year
[00:10:17] and a half didn't see the inside of a
[00:10:19] classroom whereas Florida kids were in
[00:10:22] school and you can see in the results in
[00:10:24] the learning loss numbers are so much
[00:10:26] better in Florida uh I I I'm really
[00:10:29] curious Governor um
[00:10:31] you as you're running for president what
[00:10:33] are your thoughts about reforming uh you
[00:10:36] know the the public health authority in
[00:10:39] the United States and the federal
[00:10:40] government that you know the CDC the FDA
[00:10:43] the NIH how do you see reforms we need
[00:10:46] so that the mistakes of the lockdowns
[00:10:49] that happen during the pandemic don't
[00:10:51] happen again when there's another
[00:10:52] pandemic
[00:10:53] well first we need an honest Reckoning
[00:10:56] about what happened during covid and the
[00:11:00] only honest Reckoning is that all of
[00:11:02] those agencies all of the elites the
[00:11:04] public health establishment they failed
[00:11:07] they instituted bad policies uh
[00:11:11] obviously it's a novel virus but I think
[00:11:13] what happened was when the data was
[00:11:15] becoming more and more apparent that the
[00:11:17] path they were on was wrong they doubled
[00:11:20] down and wanted to do it even more and I
[00:11:23] really believe had Florida not just kind
[00:11:25] of stood in the way I think this country
[00:11:28] would have had rolling lockdowns for
[00:11:31] probably a two-year period And so their
[00:11:34] impulses were authoritarian they were
[00:11:37] not following the data and I think the
[00:11:39] U.S government needs to acknowledge the
[00:11:42] failures and I think all of those
[00:11:44] agencies need to be cleaned out what I
[00:11:47] saw just dealing with them was I saw a
[00:11:51] interest in the narrative and in
[00:11:53] politics over evidence-based reasoning
[00:11:56] and evidence-based medicine and so I
[00:11:58] don't have confidence that those
[00:12:00] agencies are up to the task and I think
[00:12:02] you need major major overhaul of the
[00:12:06] whole enchilada with respect to Public
[00:12:09] Health in this country
[00:12:12] can I so can I follow up with that with
[00:12:14] that I mean I think the um the the other
[00:12:17] thing that I saw during the pandemic
[00:12:19] governor and you you uh was subject to
[00:12:20] it just as much as I was when we were
[00:12:22] talking about covid YouTube censored a
[00:12:25] video of us speaking about in a round
[00:12:28] table that you hosted on covet policy uh
[00:12:31] there's so much of the federal
[00:12:32] government infrastructure went into
[00:12:34] suppressing honest scientific discussion
[00:12:36] during the pandemic so it's not just
[00:12:38] Public Health agencies but other
[00:12:40] agencies inside the federal government
[00:12:42] that worked to suppress the speech of
[00:12:44] Americans and I'd love to hear your
[00:12:45] question no question so I'm actually in
[00:12:48] Florida we we recognize that the the
[00:12:50] danger there so I'm actually going to be
[00:12:52] signing a digital Bill of Rights for
[00:12:54] Florida pretty soon which will bar all
[00:12:57] state and local government officials
[00:12:59] from colluding or working with a
[00:13:02] technology company for the purpose of
[00:13:04] censorship of speech because you're
[00:13:06] exactly right you had people in the
[00:13:07] White House you had people and all these
[00:13:09] other agencies uh working with these
[00:13:11] platforms forms to try to take it down
[00:13:13] and oh by the way what did they censor
[00:13:15] Dr bhattacharya for it was a round table
[00:13:18] discussion that I led and convened we
[00:13:20] had Dr bhattacharya MD PhD from Stanford
[00:13:24] we had Martin caldorf from Harvard
[00:13:26] Medical School and we had cynetra Gupta
[00:13:29] from Oxford who was generally viewed as
[00:13:31] one of the best epidemiologists across
[00:13:33] the pond until she became anti-lockdown
[00:13:36] so these are all eminent people and what
[00:13:38] are we discussing we're discussing
[00:13:40] whether there's any scientific basis to
[00:13:42] force a school child to wear a mask for
[00:13:45] eight hours a day they all agreed there
[00:13:47] was no basis to do it and that you
[00:13:49] should not have school Mass mandates
[00:13:51] YouTube thought that that was quote
[00:13:53] anti-science and that that should be
[00:13:56] taken down but even at that point we had
[00:13:58] already had enough experience in Florida
[00:14:00] where you had some schools that had done
[00:14:03] it before before the state banned the
[00:14:04] mandates you had some schools that had
[00:14:06] done it some schools didn't and the
[00:14:08] results were no different and yet his
[00:14:10] video was taken down by Google YouTube
[00:14:13] so it was a huge huge problem and yes I
[00:14:15] think the federal government FBI DHS any
[00:14:19] of the health agencies it's
[00:14:21] unconstitutional for them to be
[00:14:23] delegating speech restriction to a
[00:14:26] private company you can't do indirectly
[00:14:29] what the Constitution would clearly
[00:14:31] forbid you to do directly
[00:14:34] let me let me pull in uh we have uh
[00:14:38] Congressman Thomas Massey
[00:14:40] if you're there uh go ahead and unmute
[00:14:43] yourself I mean what we're talking about
[00:14:44] here is I think really unconstitutional
[00:14:48] actions by federal agencies
[00:14:51] uh Congressman Massey I know that you've
[00:14:53] been involved in in uh this problem of
[00:14:56] you know government agencies being
[00:14:57] weaponized uh and and used against the
[00:15:01] American people in an appropriate way uh
[00:15:04] do you have a comment on this and do you
[00:15:06] have a question for governor DeSantis
[00:15:08] well first of all let me say uh a big
[00:15:10] thank you to Elon Musk for buying
[00:15:12] Twitter and exposing all of this uh on
[00:15:15] our weaponization committee we wouldn't
[00:15:17] know so much of it if he hadn't done
[00:15:20] this almost as a public service to the
[00:15:22] First Amendment it's a disturbing Trend
[00:15:25] government as the governor said the
[00:15:27] government is colluding with big
[00:15:29] corporations we found out this week from
[00:15:31] an FBI whistleblower that Bank of
[00:15:34] America
[00:15:35] voluntarily gave names of and and uh
[00:15:38] information on anybody who bought a hot
[00:15:40] dog in Washington DC from January 5th to
[00:15:43] January 7th and then overlaid that with
[00:15:45] gun purchases
[00:15:47] that they had on record anywhere in the
[00:15:50] country for any period of time it just
[00:15:52] they say they voluntarily gave that to
[00:15:54] the FBI so that's disturbing to me uh by
[00:15:58] the way I've never met Elon Musk but I'm
[00:16:00] one of your biggest fans and the first
[00:16:02] Congressman to have a Tesla uh monster
[00:16:05] I'm on starlink and uh I would have
[00:16:08] bought a power wall but I'm off the grid
[00:16:10] and you wouldn't sell me one so I had to
[00:16:12] make one with a wrecked Model S and it's
[00:16:14] been running our house for five years
[00:16:16] but
[00:16:17] um my my and just for the record
[00:16:21] um I I as a I was with Thomas our first
[00:16:24] year as in Congress he's got the Tesla
[00:16:26] but his license plate is Kentucky coal
[00:16:29] so it's uh he's probably one of the only
[00:16:31] people that have that in the country
[00:16:32] thanks for outing me Governor DeSantis
[00:16:36] um but no so
[00:16:38] um Governor DeSantis my question to you
[00:16:40] is you know you served here in Congress
[00:16:42] for six years with me and um why is it
[00:16:46] that Congress is so feckless at reigning
[00:16:49] in these government agencies and and
[00:16:51] what do you think we need to do and if
[00:16:54] you were president what what would you
[00:16:56] urge Congress or what bills would you
[00:16:58] like to see and sign to reign in this uh
[00:17:02] you know sort of overreach of government
[00:17:04] bureaucracy
[00:17:06] well first I think there's a lot that
[00:17:08] the executive branch can do and I all I
[00:17:10] will say when it comes to these agencies
[00:17:11] we'll put we'll we'll go into this a
[00:17:13] little bit more as the campaign goes on
[00:17:15] but buckle up when I get in there
[00:17:16] because the the status quo is not
[00:17:19] acceptable
[00:17:20] um and we are going to make sure that we
[00:17:22] reconstitutionalize this government and
[00:17:24] these agencies are totally out of
[00:17:25] control there's no accountability and we
[00:17:28] are going to bring that in a very big
[00:17:29] way now part of the reason it's gotten
[00:17:31] so bad power's been Consolidated and
[00:17:33] effectively a fourth branch of
[00:17:35] government because Congress hasn't used
[00:17:37] its two main powers that it has under
[00:17:39] the Constitution first the power of the
[00:17:41] purse if an agency is gauging in conduct
[00:17:45] that is outside the realm of what is
[00:17:47] legal or you think it's not good for the
[00:17:49] public interest then you can remove the
[00:17:52] funding for those for those operations
[00:17:54] there's nothing that they're not
[00:17:56] entitled to get the same level of
[00:17:58] funding every year and yet Congress runs
[00:18:00] the government on autopilot either
[00:18:02] continuing resolutions or massive
[00:18:04] Omnibus spending bills so these agencies
[00:18:06] are all bulletproof they know that
[00:18:07] they're going to end up getting
[00:18:08] something similar or more every single
[00:18:11] year and it creates an incentive for
[00:18:13] them to to abuse their power the other
[00:18:15] thing you you can do is actually
[00:18:17] legislate so you're not delegating to
[00:18:20] the bureaucracy key issues regarding how
[00:18:24] to enforce federal law you should Define
[00:18:26] what you want all they should be doing
[00:18:29] is implementing instead Congress will
[00:18:32] basically give an invitation for the
[00:18:34] bureaucracy to make really important
[00:18:36] substantive decisions and so Congress
[00:18:38] may never vote on something and the
[00:18:41] bureaucracy will cite a law from 20
[00:18:43] years ago and do things that are going
[00:18:45] to transform our society or our country
[00:18:47] that is not the way the founding fathers
[00:18:50] Drew up the Constitution so would you
[00:18:51] sign the reins act we passed it out a
[00:18:53] Judiciary today oh yeah no that's a no
[00:19:00] for that I also think that we're going
[00:19:02] to have a good chance to see some of the
[00:19:04] Chevron deference uh really curtailed or
[00:19:07] maybe even eliminated uh based on the
[00:19:09] U.S Supreme Court's upcoming
[00:19:11] jurisprudence and I think that's another
[00:19:13] reason why the bureaucracy has become so
[00:19:16] powerful because courts have basically
[00:19:17] been told they can pretty much do what
[00:19:20] they want and and courts are supposed to
[00:19:22] just defer I don't think that that's
[00:19:23] actually correct I think the courts uh
[00:19:26] they have to make a judgment about what
[00:19:27] does the law actually say and you can't
[00:19:29] just defer to quote-unquote experts in
[00:19:32] the bureaucracy thank you
[00:19:35] all right shifting gears Governor I want
[00:19:38] to ask you another topic that's been in
[00:19:40] the news a lot is Disney uh they blamed
[00:19:43] you for canceling plans for a billion
[00:19:46] dollar investment in Florida said it
[00:19:48] would they were canceling 2 000 jobs I
[00:19:51] saw other reports that suggested Disney
[00:19:52] was going to make the cuts anyway uh and
[00:19:55] due to a larger you know budget cutting
[00:19:57] initiative uh regardless of why they did
[00:20:00] it uh why do you feel your fight with
[00:20:03] Disney remains important uh considering
[00:20:06] you already beat them on the parental
[00:20:08] rights bills they opposed and what would
[00:20:10] you say to some of your opponents in
[00:20:12] this race who argue that the fight has
[00:20:14] dragged on too long
[00:20:16] so first of all Florida stands for the
[00:20:18] protection of children we believe
[00:20:19] jamming gender ideology in elementary
[00:20:22] school is wrong Disney obviously
[00:20:24] supported injecting gender ideology in
[00:20:27] elementary school they did oppose our
[00:20:29] parents rights legislation and the fact
[00:20:31] is when they opposed that that was a big
[00:20:33] deal because for 50 years anytime Disney
[00:20:36] wanted something in Florida politics
[00:20:38] they pretty much got it but not this
[00:20:40] time I signed the bill we did as you say
[00:20:43] went on the issue but what happened was
[00:20:47] Disney's posturing some of the other
[00:20:49] statements that their Executives were
[00:20:51] making kind of the corporate culture had
[00:20:53] really been outed as trying to inject
[00:20:56] matters of sex into the programming for
[00:20:59] the Youth and I think a lot of parents
[00:21:01] including me look at that and say that's
[00:21:02] not appropriate I mean we want our kids
[00:21:04] to be able to just be kids and that's
[00:21:07] kind of our Mantra so you had this this
[00:21:09] setup that Disney engineered many
[00:21:11] decades ago where they actually had
[00:21:13] their own government that they
[00:21:15] controlled with no accountability they
[00:21:17] were exempt from the laws that all their
[00:21:19] competitors had to follow massive tax
[00:21:22] breaks and they even racked up Municipal
[00:21:24] debt and Florida basically put them on a
[00:21:27] pedestal many decades ago and joined the
[00:21:29] state with this one company at the hip
[00:21:31] we just didn't feel that that we were
[00:21:34] comfortable maintaining that
[00:21:35] relationship and so we ended their
[00:21:37] self-governing status so Disney has to
[00:21:40] live under the same laws as everybody
[00:21:42] they got to pay the same taxes as
[00:21:44] everybody and obviously they'll be
[00:21:45] responsible for those debts so the
[00:21:47] reason why there's a quote fight is just
[00:21:49] because they filed a lawsuit against the
[00:21:51] State of Florida trying to get their
[00:21:54] special privileges reinstituted but I
[00:21:57] don't think that that's good good policy
[00:21:59] and I think some of these Republicans
[00:22:00] that are taking Disney side uh they're
[00:22:03] basically showing themselves to be
[00:22:04] corporatists because these are all
[00:22:06] corporate goodies this is not the way
[00:22:08] you would run a competitive economy and
[00:22:11] the the arrangement had really outlived
[00:22:14] its usefulness but it but it persisted
[00:22:15] because as Disney was so politically
[00:22:17] powerful I think the company's ethos
[00:22:19] have changed in a way that's alienated a
[00:22:21] lot of people in our legislature and in
[00:22:23] Florida and so there was really no
[00:22:25] justification to keep it but make no
[00:22:27] mistake they're suing to try to get
[00:22:29] special privileges people are making
[00:22:32] money in Florida hand over fist because
[00:22:34] we have a great business climate that's
[00:22:36] not good enough for them they want to be
[00:22:38] treated differently than Universal in
[00:22:40] Sea World and we don't think that that's
[00:22:42] appropriate so you know I think that
[00:22:43] they should withdraw the lawsuit but
[00:22:45] obviously we're going to defend our
[00:22:46] actions because we think we have the
[00:22:48] right to do what we did
[00:22:49] you know it's funny the the media used
[00:22:52] to criticize Republicans for being in
[00:22:53] the pocket of big corporations and now
[00:22:55] they're attacking you because you're not
[00:22:57] well not only that David it's
[00:22:59] interesting because the media in Florida
[00:23:00] for years had had hammered Disney and
[00:23:04] they would they would point out like
[00:23:05] that this was this was not a good
[00:23:07] arrangement because you know Disney was
[00:23:08] not accountable to anyone I mean when we
[00:23:10] when the state control board took over
[00:23:13] the this District the firefighters came
[00:23:16] to the board and they said hey we
[00:23:17] weren't getting survivor benefits for
[00:23:19] for some of these widows and so the
[00:23:21] state control board actually paid out
[00:23:22] some of the benefits that they were
[00:23:24] getting stiffed on there were a lot of
[00:23:26] people in Central Florida who were
[00:23:27] really thankful that there was some
[00:23:29] accountability being brought to bear
[00:23:31] because I mean you know it's human
[00:23:32] nature if there's no accountability over
[00:23:34] any individual or entity of course
[00:23:36] they're going to behave differently than
[00:23:38] if you have a normal accountability but
[00:23:41] the media was always very hostile to
[00:23:43] that but just because I happened to be
[00:23:45] involved in bringing it back to reality
[00:23:48] and making sure that they were under the
[00:23:50] same laws well then all of a sudden
[00:23:52] they're running to Disney's defense I
[00:23:54] mean are you kidding me and oh by the
[00:23:56] way on this project you know they had
[00:23:57] announced this many years ago they had
[00:23:59] not done anything for it but that is
[00:24:00] actually not in Reedy Creek so that was
[00:24:02] in a different part of Orlando and so
[00:24:05] none of the issues that are involved in
[00:24:06] their suit would have made would have
[00:24:08] made a difference there obviously as a
[00:24:10] publicly traded Corporation you know
[00:24:11] they have a fiduciary duty to do what's
[00:24:13] best for their shareholders so I'm
[00:24:15] assuming if they were in better
[00:24:16] Financial shape and they saw the project
[00:24:18] as lucrative they would have gone
[00:24:20] forward with it but I think clearly
[00:24:21] they've had some problems with their
[00:24:23] stock price and a lot of other issues
[00:24:24] and I'd also just finally point out
[00:24:27] nobody probably has made Disney more
[00:24:29] money than me because they were open
[00:24:31] during covet and they were closed in
[00:24:34] California and that went on for many
[00:24:35] many months where literally I had all
[00:24:38] the theme parks in Florida opened in
[00:24:40] 2020 people are going it's safe they're
[00:24:43] having fun and the California Parks were
[00:24:46] closed I think they were closed for over
[00:24:47] a year out in California so we were I
[00:24:51] think a much better place to be doing
[00:24:52] business certainly since I've been
[00:24:54] governor
[00:24:56] great let me shift gears here to the
[00:24:59] topic of Education I want to pull Chris
[00:25:00] Ruffo into conversation if I go work
[00:25:03] with you on some initiatives I think you
[00:25:05] know one other thing that the mainstream
[00:25:08] media has I think passed on is they've
[00:25:12] kind of started promoting this narrative
[00:25:14] that you want to ban books from school
[00:25:16] libraries you refuse to teach kids about
[00:25:19] slavery or other unpleasant realities of
[00:25:22] American History uh or pretend that gay
[00:25:25] people don't exist uh since many people
[00:25:28] I think in this room we're now up to wow
[00:25:30] over 271 000 people so uh this is I
[00:25:34] think totally unprecedented in terms of
[00:25:36] the numbers of people we have
[00:25:36] participating by the way I think
[00:25:38] Twitter's working much better now I
[00:25:39] think it crashed because when you
[00:25:41] multiply half a million people in a room
[00:25:43] buy an account with over 100 million
[00:25:45] followers yeah which is elon's account I
[00:25:47] think that great the scalability level
[00:25:50] that was unprecedented but with my
[00:25:52] meager followership it seems to be
[00:25:54] working much better uh yeah no it's we
[00:25:58] have some scaling issues specifically
[00:25:59] related to my account
[00:26:01] um at one point in January uh if I
[00:26:04] tweeted it maybe above a certain size uh
[00:26:07] it would crash the surface yeah and uh
[00:26:10] and and then anyone else who is tweeting
[00:26:12] at the same time would lose their tweet
[00:26:14] as well
[00:26:15] um
[00:26:19] yes you know you're breaking your ground
[00:26:21] when there are bugs and scaling issues
[00:26:23] but any event back to the question I was
[00:26:25] asking Governor DeSantis about education
[00:26:27] the media has been you know saying
[00:26:29] you're trying to ban books you're
[00:26:30] refused to teach kids about slavery you
[00:26:32] want to say that gay people don't exist
[00:26:34] what what is the truth of the matter for
[00:26:37] people who maybe have never heard from
[00:26:39] you before and then I want to pull
[00:26:41] Christopher in on this as well
[00:26:43] yeah so the whole book ban thing is a
[00:26:45] hoax there's not been a single book
[00:26:46] banned in the State of Florida you can
[00:26:48] go buy or use whatever book you want
[00:26:50] what we have done is empowered parents
[00:26:53] with the ability to review the
[00:26:54] curriculum to know what books are being
[00:26:56] used in school and then to ensure that
[00:26:59] those books match state standards and
[00:27:01] our age and developmentally appropriate
[00:27:03] so for example uh parents have flagged
[00:27:06] books in schools that for example teach
[00:27:10] middle school kids how to use sex apps
[00:27:12] that provide graphic depictions of sex
[00:27:15] acts and sex toys for people as young as
[00:27:18] fifth grade and so clearly that is not
[00:27:21] appropriate to be in a middle school
[00:27:23] classroom and so parents object and and
[00:27:25] the schools take them out I did a press
[00:27:29] conference that we called exposing the
[00:27:31] book ban hoax and before I had the
[00:27:33] parents come up before I spoke I just
[00:27:35] played the video that had the images of
[00:27:38] the books that the parents had objected
[00:27:40] being in their kids classroom and the
[00:27:42] local news had to cut the feed because
[00:27:45] they said it was too graphic well if
[00:27:47] it's too graphic for the six o'clock
[00:27:48] news how is it okay for a sixth grader
[00:27:51] or a fifth grader and so nothing's being
[00:27:54] banned they're basically ensuring that
[00:27:56] we make curation choices uh that are
[00:28:00] consistent with state standards and on
[00:28:02] the the racial history we eliminated
[00:28:05] critical race Theory from our K-12
[00:28:07] schools that was the right thing to do
[00:28:09] in other words we're not going to take a
[00:28:11] kid who comes in
[00:28:13] um at six years old and say they're an
[00:28:15] oppressor or oppressed based on what
[00:28:17] their race is that's divisive that's
[00:28:19] wrong we're also not going to be
[00:28:21] teaching people to hate their country
[00:28:23] but what we are going to do is teach the
[00:28:25] accurate history so in the same bill
[00:28:27] that banned critical race Theory we
[00:28:30] required teaching thoroughly about
[00:28:33] racial discrimination that occurred in
[00:28:36] American history and Florida's history
[00:28:38] standards require all of those subjects
[00:28:41] From Slavery reconstruct destruction
[00:28:43] segregation all of that to be taught and
[00:28:47] will continue to do that so I think what
[00:28:49] you see is the the left and the media
[00:28:52] colluding on this they don't want to
[00:28:54] actually defend what it is that we are
[00:28:56] actually legislating or regulating uh so
[00:29:00] they create these hoaxes that somehow
[00:29:02] you don't want uh kids to learn uh that
[00:29:05] slavery existed in America which is
[00:29:07] preposterous no one actually defends the
[00:29:11] offending material and the question is
[00:29:13] is why are there people intent on trying
[00:29:15] to get this stuff into the classroom uh
[00:29:19] and I think it's part of a political
[00:29:20] agenda so our our Mantra in Florida is
[00:29:23] the purpose of the schools is education
[00:29:25] not indoctrination yes I think it's very
[00:29:27] inappropriate to have sexually explicit
[00:29:30] material in a fifth grade Library a
[00:29:32] hundred percent but it's also the case
[00:29:34] that if you're focusing on that type of
[00:29:36] of instruction There's an opportunity
[00:29:38] cost involved why won't we why shouldn't
[00:29:41] we be doing more on science or reading
[00:29:42] or math and so I think we're getting it
[00:29:45] right and I think almost invariably and
[00:29:47] Chris rufos had to deal with this too
[00:29:48] when they're trying to craft these
[00:29:50] narratives you just peel back the onion
[00:29:52] you realize that this is something
[00:29:54] they're Manufacturing
[00:29:59] yeah that makes a lot of sense I mean uh
[00:30:01] I was actually on the impression that
[00:30:03] that there were some Books banned so
[00:30:05] this is news to me
[00:30:07] um and they actually there was a the one
[00:30:08] this week was that Miami-Dade County
[00:30:11] took a book that was about like poems
[00:30:15] from um from I think like Biden's
[00:30:18] inauguration and they moved it
[00:30:22] um from elementary school library to
[00:30:24] Middle School library the media tried to
[00:30:26] act like somehow this is being banned
[00:30:28] and you actually had Miami-Dade County
[00:30:30] Public Schools spokesperson have to come
[00:30:32] out and say there's nothing that's been
[00:30:34] banned or removed it was basically just
[00:30:37] determined that this particular uh book
[00:30:39] was better suited for middle school and
[00:30:42] so they put it in the middle school
[00:30:43] media center and the media tries to act
[00:30:45] like somehow that is offending uh
[00:30:48] something with a with a book ban so um
[00:30:51] but I think part of the reason that
[00:30:52] they're doing that is because you know
[00:30:54] there is actually a movement to ban
[00:30:57] books from like Amazon and some of these
[00:30:59] others California some municipalities
[00:31:01] have banned things like to Kill a
[00:31:03] Mockingbird what they're trying to do is
[00:31:05] see if some of these books pass a woke
[00:31:08] test and if they don't they are going
[00:31:11] against some of those books whereas in
[00:31:13] Florida you can buy whatever book you
[00:31:14] want but that's a different question
[00:31:16] than what would be appropriate for a
[00:31:18] third grader or what would be
[00:31:19] appropriate for a sixth grader
[00:31:21] government by definition has to make
[00:31:23] those choices about what type of
[00:31:26] curriculum we want to put in front of
[00:31:27] our students and the parents obviously
[00:31:29] have an important voice in that
[00:31:31] absolutely well in fact uh a friend of
[00:31:34] mine Tim Urban who has a Blog called
[00:31:36] wait wait but wine is really one of the
[00:31:38] most reasonable people on Earth and one
[00:31:40] of the most recent people I've ever met
[00:31:42] had a lot of trouble actually publishing
[00:31:45] his book simply because it debated uh
[00:31:49] sort of sacred cows of work ideology
[00:31:53] um incredibly reasonable book so
[00:31:56] um that that's that that is the kind of
[00:31:59] de facto book Banning and de facto book
[00:32:02] suppression that that I see quite a lot
[00:32:03] of is is that Publishers are unwilling
[00:32:06] to take risks
[00:32:08] let me let me shift gears here for a
[00:32:09] second because I know we're running out
[00:32:10] of time
[00:32:11] um we're supposed to end I think around
[00:32:12] four but four Pacific but thank you for
[00:32:15] giving us a little bit extra time here
[00:32:17] Governor uh shifting gears to a major
[00:32:20] federal issue immigration
[00:32:23] um we see kind of I've seen these videos
[00:32:25] uh on social media and on TV of what
[00:32:29] looks like just Insanity at the border
[00:32:31] uh what what is your take on what's
[00:32:34] going on there and how would you address
[00:32:35] that as as president
[00:32:37] I'd reverse what Biden's doing you need
[00:32:40] to shut the border down you should not
[00:32:42] be entertaining these Asylum claims for
[00:32:44] people crossing illegally now Asylum is
[00:32:47] a legitimate thing but these are people
[00:32:49] that uh when they come I mean they're
[00:32:51] being persecuted these people come in
[00:32:53] overwhelmingly are economic migrants
[00:32:55] that are coming across many other
[00:32:57] different countries they should be
[00:32:58] applying for Asylum there if they were
[00:33:00] you know truly um uh qualifying for that
[00:33:03] uh but they're not they know that if
[00:33:05] they just show up at the southern border
[00:33:06] and these are people all over the world
[00:33:08] uh that are coming illegally they know
[00:33:10] that they will get a sheet of paper
[00:33:12] saying okay come back for a court date
[00:33:14] in three years and they get released to
[00:33:16] the interior of our country it's an
[00:33:18] absolutely insane system so we'll stop
[00:33:21] that we will move on day one by
[00:33:23] declaring a National Emergency we will
[00:33:25] construct a border wall we will make
[00:33:28] sure we have remain in Mexico and that
[00:33:30] we're not entertaining those claims in
[00:33:32] that way and we really need to hold the
[00:33:35] Mexican drug cartels accountable because
[00:33:37] as they're facilitating a lot of this
[00:33:40] migration they obviously make money off
[00:33:42] of it they treat a lot of these people
[00:33:44] very horribly as they're trafficking
[00:33:46] them through Mexico and into the United
[00:33:48] States and of course the cartels have
[00:33:50] been responsible for moving massive
[00:33:53] amounts of fentanyl into this country
[00:33:54] and that's killing tens of thousands of
[00:33:57] Americans every year now and what
[00:33:59] they're doing is they lace the other
[00:34:01] types of drugs with the fentanyl so you
[00:34:04] may have like a teenage kid doing
[00:34:07] something they probably shouldn't do but
[00:34:08] in Prior Generations would not have been
[00:34:11] fatal and now if it's laced with
[00:34:13] fentanyl you know these kids can
[00:34:14] overdose and die and so mothers are
[00:34:17] losing kids as a result of this fentanyl
[00:34:20] epidemic and I just don't think you
[00:34:22] could allow these criminal organizations
[00:34:24] to continue poisoning our population so
[00:34:27] it'll be a day one issue we will bring
[00:34:30] uh overwhelming amount of resources to
[00:34:33] deal with it and we are going to stop
[00:34:35] this Insanity once and for all
[00:34:38] there's a I think follow-up question on
[00:34:40] immigration from Steve Dace who is a
[00:34:44] national radio personality and um I
[00:34:47] think uh important commentator in the
[00:34:50] great state of Iowa Steve Do you have a
[00:34:52] you have a comment or question
[00:34:55] I think you just need to unmute
[00:35:04] if
[00:35:06] Steve can unmute then we'll go ahead and
[00:35:07] ask him for a question if not
[00:35:10] um we'll we'll keep rolling here
[00:35:13] all right three is going going I'm all
[00:35:16] right sorry I'm there guys
[00:35:18] my bad
[00:35:20] um first of all I want to Echo what
[00:35:21] Congressman Massey said to Elon
[00:35:24] um Elon if I put down money on January
[00:35:26] 1st 2022 that Twitter was going to be
[00:35:29] the last Bastion of free speech on Earth
[00:35:31] brother I'd be about as rich as you are
[00:35:33] on that BET right now I mean it's
[00:35:35] incredible what you have done here uh
[00:35:37] and the restoration of a lot of uh
[00:35:39] accounts of people that were truth
[00:35:41] tellers and were ran from here for
[00:35:43] telling the truth I saw a meme the other
[00:35:44] day that said of course you have
[00:35:46] scientific consensus when you censor all
[00:35:49] the scientists who disagree so I wanted
[00:35:51] to just say first and foremost on behalf
[00:35:53] of a lot of grateful people around the
[00:35:55] country in the world really uh thank you
[00:35:57] very much for that uh and the investment
[00:35:59] you made in that cause thank you
[00:36:01] um a question is a follow-up to you
[00:36:03] governor on this very issue with
[00:36:05] immigration we have heard a lot over the
[00:36:08] years Locker up drain the swamp go to
[00:36:12] build a beautiful wall Mexico is going
[00:36:14] to pay for it and crowds cheered and
[00:36:16] everybody loved it and Brands got built
[00:36:18] and nothing got done
[00:36:20] what is the bottom line assurance that
[00:36:22] you can make to the people that are
[00:36:24] listening right now all over the world
[00:36:25] and all over the country that you can
[00:36:28] actually do the agenda that you just
[00:36:31] articulated when others tweeted about it
[00:36:33] and talked about it it then couldn't
[00:36:35] actually follow through
[00:36:38] it's a great question because I share
[00:36:40] that frustration I think even my worst
[00:36:42] critics in Florida will acknowledge when
[00:36:45] I tell people I'm going to do something
[00:36:47] I don't I don't make promises or say I'm
[00:36:50] going to do something lightly I've
[00:36:51] thought it through and I know that I am
[00:36:53] going to follow through on what I tell
[00:36:55] people I'm going to do so this is one
[00:36:57] there will be follow through number two
[00:37:00] I understand the different leverage
[00:37:03] points that you would have under article
[00:37:06] two of the Constitution I studied that a
[00:37:08] lot at becoming Governor about Florida's
[00:37:10] Constitution doing the same thing for
[00:37:12] the Federal Constitution and you've got
[00:37:14] to know how to use your leverage uh to
[00:37:17] advance what you're trying to accomplish
[00:37:19] so for example you know there's a
[00:37:21] leverage that we can use vis-a-vis
[00:37:23] Mexico that I think presidents have not
[00:37:25] been not been willing to to do I think
[00:37:28] sometimes for political uh purposes uh
[00:37:30] but I'll look at okay what are all the
[00:37:32] variety of options we can do which
[00:37:34] buttons can I push and I will do that to
[00:37:37] be able to to bring this issue to a
[00:37:40] conclusion once and for all we had
[00:37:42] hurricane Ian come through Southwest
[00:37:45] Florida category four plus storm
[00:37:47] September of 2022 and it did a lot of
[00:37:50] damage but one of the things that did it
[00:37:51] knocked out a bridge going from the
[00:37:53] mainland to Pine Island and it's severed
[00:37:55] the Sanibel Causeway in three different
[00:37:57] locations and the locals were being told
[00:37:59] it's going to take six months to get
[00:38:01] that stuff repaired and so they came to
[00:38:03] me even though these were not
[00:38:04] state-owned Bridges and they said can
[00:38:06] you help us and I said okay I'll do it
[00:38:08] so I got my guys together I said listen
[00:38:10] no bureaucracy no red tape and no
[00:38:14] excuses get it done we need to open
[00:38:16] these Bridges back Pine Island Bridge
[00:38:19] reopened three days later Sanibel
[00:38:21] Causeway opened two weeks after that way
[00:38:24] way ahead of schedule because we
[00:38:26] wouldn't take no for an answer and we
[00:38:28] wanted to make sure we got it done so
[00:38:29] for me it is not a campaign uh slogan
[00:38:33] that you get in and then forget about it
[00:38:34] I'm as an American citizen if I wasn't
[00:38:37] running this this would be an issue that
[00:38:39] bothers me I've put a lot of my Capital
[00:38:41] as Florida Governor involved in
[00:38:44] combating illegal immigration we banned
[00:38:46] Sanctuary cities my first year we just
[00:38:48] did a strong anti-illegal immigration
[00:38:50] bill in Florida that's working I put
[00:38:53] Marine Assets in the Florida Keys to
[00:38:55] help the Coast Guard repel boats from
[00:38:57] places like Haiti I have people at the
[00:38:59] southern border right now helping Texas
[00:39:01] and we've even been able to relocate
[00:39:04] illegal aliens to places like Martha's
[00:39:06] Vineyard so I don't think any Governor
[00:39:08] has probably gone out of his way to do
[00:39:10] more to try to make an impact on this
[00:39:12] issue and I'm not going to take no for
[00:39:15] an answer and I think our voters are
[00:39:17] sick of the empty promises they want to
[00:39:20] see action
[00:39:21] thank you Governor well governor
[00:39:23] yeah I saw a cover of Time Magazine this
[00:39:26] week and I think they were trying to do
[00:39:27] a negative story because they had you
[00:39:30] were sort of scowling in this portrait
[00:39:32] they made of you uh and in the article
[00:39:34] they call you uh that they compared you
[00:39:37] to the Terminator and I think they meant
[00:39:39] insult but I thought it was kind of cool
[00:39:41] I thought it was a good thing because I
[00:39:44] think we need a cool-headed ruthless
[00:39:46] assassin to go in and basically take on
[00:39:49] the woke mob take on our out of control
[00:39:52] government and take on problems like the
[00:39:55] ones at the border so again I thought it
[00:39:58] made you sound great even though that
[00:39:59] may not have been their intention
[00:40:01] well look at the end of the day this
[00:40:04] whole business that we're in is about
[00:40:06] producing results I don't care about
[00:40:09] Fanfare you know I'm the governor like
[00:40:11] that is I'm known right and I go around
[00:40:14] the state and everything and people are
[00:40:15] very nice and so I mean I appreciate the
[00:40:17] well wishes but but I don't need any of
[00:40:20] the Fanfare I don't need any adulation I
[00:40:22] just know I'm in a position where I have
[00:40:24] a chance to make a difference and I'm
[00:40:26] either doing it or I'm not and I
[00:40:28] remember sitting at the desk in um in in
[00:40:30] the state capitol my first day as
[00:40:32] Governor four and a half years ago I
[00:40:34] looked around the room and I thought to
[00:40:36] myself I don't know what SOB is going to
[00:40:38] succeed me in this chair but they are
[00:40:40] not going to have anything to do because
[00:40:41] I'm getting all the meat off the bone I
[00:40:43] am going to make sure that I'm leaning
[00:40:45] into issues and making an impact and we
[00:40:47] have done that in the State of Florida
[00:40:49] and I bring that exact attitude uh up to
[00:40:52] uh 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
[00:40:55] Governor I'd love to to to jump in and
[00:40:57] follow up on that this is Chris Ruffo
[00:40:59] and you know I've had the honor of
[00:41:00] working with you in the past few years
[00:41:01] on critical race theory gender ideology
[00:41:03] and the Dei bureaucracy and what I've
[00:41:05] seen up close and personal is that while
[00:41:08] many conservative politicians going back
[00:41:10] decades have made headlines and got on
[00:41:13] television uh playing culture War they
[00:41:16] never actually get anything done and
[00:41:17] what you've done over the last few years
[00:41:19] is really astonishing you've eliminated
[00:41:22] CRT from all Florida's public
[00:41:24] institutions you've stopped gender
[00:41:26] ideology dead in his tracks in K-12 and
[00:41:29] just last week you eliminated the Dei
[00:41:31] bureaucracy in all of Florida's public
[00:41:32] universities they'll be shut down
[00:41:34] completely and I think what you've done
[00:41:36] is established a blueprint for fighting
[00:41:39] back against the left's Long March of
[00:41:41] the institutions and making sure that
[00:41:43] those institutions reflect the value of
[00:41:44] Florida voters not left-wing activists
[00:41:47] and the partisan press so my question
[00:41:49] for you is you know DC is another animal
[00:41:52] it's quite different the scale uh of the
[00:41:55] federal government and how are you going
[00:41:58] to deliver results and what is your
[00:41:59] cultural culture war strategy uh facing
[00:42:03] down the swamp in DC
[00:42:05] well some of it is is similar in this
[00:42:08] respect when we're taking on things like
[00:42:10] Dei you get blowback from Legacy Media
[00:42:14] and the far left but that's an example
[00:42:17] of an issue where they are out of step
[00:42:19] with the vast majority of Americans it's
[00:42:22] not just Republicans it's Independence
[00:42:24] and a lot of Democrats because you think
[00:42:26] about if you're if you're a parent and
[00:42:28] you've got kids you want to know when
[00:42:30] they apply to college they're going to
[00:42:32] be judged based on their Merit and
[00:42:34] they're not going to be roadkill in some
[00:42:36] type of woke Olympics where they didn't
[00:42:38] fit some category and so they're denied
[00:42:41] opportunity they want to make sure that
[00:42:43] achievement matters and so we get a lot
[00:42:46] of quiet support for a lot of those
[00:42:48] things and so I think what I do just
[00:42:49] because look I'm a blue collar kid I
[00:42:52] grew up in the Tampa Bay area working
[00:42:54] minimum wage to get through school my
[00:42:56] grandfather worked in the steel mill in
[00:42:58] Western Pennsylvania
[00:42:59] I just know instinctively kind of what
[00:43:02] like normal people think about all this
[00:43:04] stuff and I have a good sense of when
[00:43:07] the Legacy Media and the left are are
[00:43:10] outside of where the average American is
[00:43:12] because people want you to be using
[00:43:14] common sense and things like Dei I mean
[00:43:17] when I was growing up I think it things
[00:43:20] were were better because people were
[00:43:21] actually told you should try to get
[00:43:23] along now they're told you need to
[00:43:25] segregate and it's just crazy that
[00:43:27] they're trying to do all this stuff so
[00:43:29] by eliminating that there's a lot of
[00:43:31] people that were really happy about that
[00:43:33] including people that certainly are not
[00:43:35] traditional Republicans and I think
[00:43:37] there's similar issues when you do in
[00:43:39] the federal level it's also the case
[00:43:40] that there are some tools at the federal
[00:43:42] level that we don't necessarily have at
[00:43:44] the state level for example some of the
[00:43:46] problems with the university and the
[00:43:47] ideological capture that didn't happen
[00:43:49] by accident can trace back all the way
[00:43:51] to the accreditation cartels well guess
[00:43:54] what to become an accreditor how do you
[00:43:56] do that you've got to get approved by
[00:43:58] the U.S Department of Education so we're
[00:44:01] going to be doing alternative
[00:44:02] accreditation uh regimes whereas instead
[00:44:05] of saying you will only get accredited
[00:44:07] if you do Dei you'll have an accreditor
[00:44:10] that will say we will not accredit you
[00:44:13] if you do Dei we want a colorblind
[00:44:15] merit-based accreditation scheme and so
[00:44:18] as president controlling that agency you
[00:44:22] can then approve other types of
[00:44:25] accreditation so I think part of it is
[00:44:27] just knowing where are all the pressure
[00:44:28] points how does it get to the point that
[00:44:31] we then see and that somebody like you
[00:44:32] will run a report on like when you see
[00:44:34] some of the outrageous stuff that's
[00:44:36] generated in some sociology department
[00:44:38] at a university that didn't just happen
[00:44:40] at a thin air there's a reason why we
[00:44:43] got to that point and I think that there
[00:44:45] are some tools with the federal
[00:44:46] government where you can push back and
[00:44:49] try to get these institutions moored in
[00:44:52] a more uh foundational Direction about
[00:44:55] hey we're pursuing truth here uh and
[00:44:57] we're not here to try to impose one
[00:44:59] Niche ideology on the entire student
[00:45:01] body
[00:45:08] great shifting gears
[00:45:10] um uh Daniel asked you you uh you have a
[00:45:13] question or comment for the governor I
[00:45:16] do and thank you both so for your time
[00:45:18] for joining us in a very new way I
[00:45:21] really appreciate that I think it's
[00:45:22] really cool uh and for your support of
[00:45:24] free speech too and Elon I have to say
[00:45:26] thank you for taking the arrows and for
[00:45:29] unthrottling the accounts of all of us
[00:45:31] who got in trouble for sharing a New
[00:45:32] York Post story about a laptop uh and
[00:45:35] Governor I wanted to thank I wanted to
[00:45:37] thank you for your leadership and your
[00:45:39] unwavering support of second amendment
[00:45:42] rights and you're on my program tomorrow
[00:45:43] and I just gotta say you got my vote in
[00:45:45] the primary so I appreciate it very much
[00:45:48] I you were talking about Dei just a
[00:45:50] minute ago and I I want to ask you both
[00:45:52] about this growing threat against
[00:45:55] Natural Rights and free enterprise it's
[00:45:57] this threat of debanking now I know that
[00:46:00] you know Elon I've read so much about
[00:46:02] you and what you've gone through you've
[00:46:04] called ESG criteria evil incarnate uh
[00:46:07] Governor DeSantis Florida Saw
[00:46:09] financially weaponized wokery earlier
[00:46:12] this year when Wells Fargo Bank dumped
[00:46:14] both the business and business and
[00:46:16] personal accounts of a very prominent
[00:46:17] and well respected gun dealer in Florida
[00:46:19] they've been together for 25 years
[00:46:21] working with Wells Fargo and they cited
[00:46:23] new ESG guidelines now similar to the
[00:46:26] doj's previous operation choke point all
[00:46:30] these activists for various causes are
[00:46:32] using this regulatory guidance to debank
[00:46:36] what they consider to be politically
[00:46:37] incorrect businesses for the sake of
[00:46:40] risk management now we say that our
[00:46:43] rights should not be infringed upon by
[00:46:45] the government but what can and should
[00:46:48] be done about activist-guided financial
[00:46:50] institutions and these you know payment
[00:46:52] processors who are essentially cutting
[00:46:54] off while abiding citizens and
[00:46:56] businesses
[00:46:58] well I think it's just it's a
[00:47:00] fundamental issue that I think not
[00:47:01] enough conservatives have been wise to I
[00:47:04] think more and more are but at the end
[00:47:05] of the day we have certain fundamental
[00:47:07] rights and so maybe you're somebody that
[00:47:09] is uh you know really excited about your
[00:47:11] second amendment rights and obviously if
[00:47:13] the government comes in and infringes
[00:47:15] that we know you blow the whistle on
[00:47:17] that that's a problem but what if Wall
[00:47:19] Street banks are colluding uh so that
[00:47:22] somebody can't function in that space
[00:47:24] whether it's running a store or or
[00:47:26] anything involving that your rights are
[00:47:29] still being infringed upon uh in that
[00:47:31] situation and so I think this whole ESG
[00:47:34] movement is really trying to do through
[00:47:37] the financial sector what they could
[00:47:39] never achieve Through The Ballot Box and
[00:47:41] so they're trying to do an end run
[00:47:43] around the Constitutional system and
[00:47:45] they're really trying to change policy
[00:47:47] they're trying to change society and
[00:47:50] they're trying to change the scope of
[00:47:52] people's rights and so in Florida I just
[00:47:54] signed into ESG legislation which said
[00:47:57] things like no ESG criteria in our
[00:47:59] pension fund we got 180 billion dollar
[00:48:01] State Pension Fund uh no social credit
[00:48:04] scores uh for consumers when they're
[00:48:07] going to bank in other words if you
[00:48:09] apply for a loan that loan should be
[00:48:11] judged based on your credit worthiness
[00:48:13] not whether you're genuflecting to the
[00:48:16] appropriate left-wing causes but one
[00:48:19] thing we did do is we did provide
[00:48:21] protection against this debanking with
[00:48:24] the woke banking no discrimination uh
[00:48:27] based on your religion and other things
[00:48:29] which we are we know is happening so I
[00:48:32] think it's it's a it's a fundamental
[00:48:34] question but we will not be a free
[00:48:36] Society if major financial institutions
[00:48:40] can do through the economy uh what
[00:48:43] people could not achieve Through The
[00:48:46] Ballot Box our rights will be restricted
[00:48:49] uh will be the end result and that's not
[00:48:51] healthy for a free country
[00:48:53] you know as a follow-up to that uh
[00:48:55] Governor Dana mentioned operation choke
[00:48:57] point and that is a term that's very
[00:49:00] familiar to uh crypto companies in
[00:49:02] Silicon Valley and fintech companies
[00:49:04] basically it refers to an effort by the
[00:49:08] federal government including the SEC to
[00:49:11] basically regulate uh blockchain and
[00:49:13] crypto companies out of existence they
[00:49:15] really feel like they're being driven
[00:49:17] out of the country and I'm not talking
[00:49:19] about scammy ones or the totally fake
[00:49:22] ones like FTX but really high quality
[00:49:24] good companies including companies that
[00:49:26] are public like coinbase and these guys
[00:49:30] are basically begging the government for
[00:49:32] just a framework they're just like tell
[00:49:34] us how to operate legally and we'll do
[00:49:36] it
[00:49:38] um you know I guess where do you come
[00:49:40] down on this what is your view I guess
[00:49:42] broadly of Bitcoin and people's right to
[00:49:45] hold Bitcoin into transact Bitcoin and
[00:49:47] those coins you have every right to do
[00:49:49] Bitcoin the only reason these people in
[00:49:52] Washington don't like kid is because
[00:49:54] they don't control it and they're
[00:49:56] Central planners and they want to have
[00:49:58] control over society and so Bitcoin
[00:50:00] represents a threat to them and so as
[00:50:03] you're saying they're trying to regulate
[00:50:04] it out of existence look could Congress
[00:50:06] enact a statute to uh ban things like
[00:50:10] Bitcoin under the Constitution they may
[00:50:12] be able to do I would oppose that I
[00:50:14] think we should people should be able to
[00:50:15] do Bitcoin but Congress has never
[00:50:17] addressed this
[00:50:19] um in this in this fashion and for the
[00:50:21] bureaucracy to just do it
[00:50:23] um on their own and make it so people
[00:50:24] can't operate in that space that's what
[00:50:27] we mean when we say we've got to return
[00:50:29] the government to the people's elected
[00:50:33] representatives who are our voice to be
[00:50:35] able to make these decisions and so uh
[00:50:38] as president we'll protect uh the
[00:50:40] ability to do uh things like like
[00:50:42] Bitcoin I think these are people that
[00:50:44] are that are sophisticated they can make
[00:50:46] decisions there's risks involved with it
[00:50:48] uh but but let them do that I just do
[00:50:51] not have an itch to have to control goal
[00:50:54] um everything that people may be doing
[00:50:56] in this space and I think that the
[00:50:58] current regime clearly they have it out
[00:51:01] for Bitcoin and if it continues for
[00:51:03] another four years you know they'll
[00:51:05] probably end up killing it
[00:51:06] yeah I think you're right and I think
[00:51:08] that is the strong feeling of people in
[00:51:10] Silicon Valley who are in this space and
[00:51:12] I think will be uh heartened to hear
[00:51:14] your answer on that I mean the weird
[00:51:15] thing is that and there is a huge uh
[00:51:18] constituency of crypto Twitter so for
[00:51:20] people who are maybe part of political
[00:51:22] Twitter who are wondering why we're
[00:51:23] talking about this it really is a has a
[00:51:25] big audience for this topic don't
[00:51:27] explain to us
[00:51:30] yeah Bitcoin and Dogecoin
[00:51:33] um so shout out to all the the Doge uh
[00:51:36] the Doge fans out there but the weird
[00:51:38] thing is that this this uh
[00:51:40] Administration
[00:51:41] uh they seem to want to ban Bitcoin but
[00:51:44] they want to create a cbdc which stands
[00:51:47] for a central bank digital currency uh
[00:51:50] what what's your take on that
[00:51:52] so we were the first state uh just last
[00:51:55] month we actually got the Florida
[00:51:57] legislature to pass a law that says
[00:52:00] Florida does not recognize Central Bank
[00:52:03] digital currency because some states
[00:52:04] were actually adding that to their
[00:52:06] uniform commercial code uh you know the
[00:52:08] federal government's studying this we
[00:52:10] did the opposite and say we didn't now
[00:52:11] the reason why we did that is because
[00:52:13] what the Federal Reserve has said as
[00:52:14] well uh you know we're going to consult
[00:52:16] with Congress we'll consult with the
[00:52:18] executive branch we don't have a cbdc
[00:52:20] right now and ideally we would get
[00:52:22] authorization for congress well wait a
[00:52:24] minute it's not ideally you must get
[00:52:27] authorization from Congress I don't
[00:52:28] think Congress would authorize it so
[00:52:30] they unilaterally try to do this we're
[00:52:33] trying to provide protection for people
[00:52:35] here in Florida I know Biden executive
[00:52:37] order they're studying it I can tell you
[00:52:39] uh if I'm President we are not doing a
[00:52:42] central bank digital currency I think
[00:52:44] that that would be a huge huge
[00:52:46] imposition on people's Financial
[00:52:48] freedoms and financial privacy and oh by
[00:52:51] the way what would the law logical
[00:52:53] result of this be if the central
[00:52:55] Authority has oversight over this of
[00:52:58] course they're going to start imposing
[00:52:59] ESG criteria oh wait a minute you you
[00:53:02] filled up your gas tank three times uh
[00:53:05] this week you can't you can't do any
[00:53:06] more the sky of how they would be able
[00:53:09] to manipulate this so I I see it as a
[00:53:11] massive transfer of power from
[00:53:13] Individual consumers to a central
[00:53:15] Authority and I don't think that that's
[00:53:17] good for a free Society so I'm I'm a no
[00:53:20] on Central Bank digital currency
[00:53:23] sounds good yeah great
[00:53:26] well Governor I want to thank you for
[00:53:28] the time um I mean we could go for hours
[00:53:29] here but I know you only had an hour and
[00:53:31] we've gone over that so I want to be
[00:53:32] respectful of your time
[00:53:34] um I know there's so many people who
[00:53:35] want to ask questions and we should do
[00:53:37] it again I mean I think it was fun I
[00:53:39] think
[00:53:41] I think sure that um uh that we come
[00:53:43] back and do it again this this is a this
[00:53:45] is a great platform I mean we I would
[00:53:47] like to see other platforms going in the
[00:53:49] same direction but um you know a healthy
[00:53:51] Democratic Society needs the robust
[00:53:53] debate so I just want to thank everybody
[00:53:55] uh for listening in uh and I'll just
[00:53:58] make that pitch again you know we want
[00:53:59] you on the team we'd love for you to go
[00:54:02] to rondasantis.com and make a donation
[00:54:04] so that we can get this done on this
[00:54:07] nomination
[00:54:08] um and win the election in November of
[00:54:10] 2024. God bless everybody and thank you
[00:54:13] well thank you governor and yeah we have
[00:54:15] over 300 000 people in the room it's
[00:54:17] really been pretty incredible and you
[00:54:19] know we started with some technical
[00:54:20] issues because of the sheer scale and
[00:54:22] unprecedented nature of what we're doing
[00:54:24] but it's not how you start it's how you
[00:54:26] finish and I think this finished really
[00:54:28] strong so yeah I think it's just it's
[00:54:30] just really great for the people to hear
[00:54:32] directly from uh presidential candidates
[00:54:35] um and to have have it in in a
[00:54:37] conversational tone which obviously
[00:54:39] results in you know it's it's going to
[00:54:41] be imperfect because it's not scripted
[00:54:43] so uh but it's genuine um and I think
[00:54:47] that that really gives the people an
[00:54:49] opportunity to understand who who might
[00:54:51] be their president uh in a way that's
[00:54:53] real
[00:54:54] so thank you very much for coming on and
[00:54:56] doing this and the invitation's open to
[00:54:57] any other candidates who might want to
[00:54:58] do this absolutely
[00:55:00] um it is important for people to hear
[00:55:02] directly from candidates so
[00:55:04] um thank you for working with us on this
[00:55:07] historic uh event and uh uh yeah looking
[00:55:11] forward to Future conversations and and
[00:55:13] just uh having a great natural dialogue
[00:55:18] alrighty everybody thank you bye-bye
[00:55:22] cool
[00:55:25] foreign
[00:55:25] guys that's it that was Elon and Ron
[00:55:29] DeSantis
[00:55:31] given his whole Spiel of what he's going
[00:55:33] to be doing when he's in office
[00:55:36] um I believe this is Gonna Save so if
[00:55:38] you didn't want to listen to the whole
[00:55:39] thing just now you're gonna be able to
[00:55:43] listen to it later
[00:55:45] um and then I'm gonna I'm gonna head out
[00:55:46] of here I got some stuff to go do
[00:55:48] thanks so much for being a part of the
[00:55:50] first live ever never done this before
[00:55:52] so I I didn't know if it would work but
[00:55:55] it did and we're good so I'm out of here
[00:55:58] peace
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