The Charlie Kirk Show - February 28, 2023


The Florida Model for America with Governor Ron DeSantis


Episode Stats


Length

18 minutes

Words per minute

183.5925

Word count

3,424

Sentence count

231

Harmful content

Toxicity

3

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Ron DeSantis talks about his time as Governor of Florida and his new book, The Courage to Be Free. He also talks about how he became the first Republican Governor to win every statewide office in Florida since Reconstruction.

Transcript

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Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
00:00:00.000 Hey everybody, today in the Charlie Kirk Show, Ron DeSantis joins us.
00:00:04.000 He talks about his record as governor of Florida and talks about his new book.
00:00:08.000 You guys can get it at DeSantisBook.com.
00:00:11.000 That is DeSantisBook.com.
00:00:14.000 Subscribe to our podcast by opening up your podcast app and typing in Charlie Kirk Show.
00:00:18.000 Get involved with Turning PointUSA at tpusa.com.
00:00:23.000 That is tpusa.com.
00:00:26.000 Buckle up, everybody.
00:00:27.000 Here we go.
00:00:28.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.
00:00:30.000 Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campuses.
00:00:32.000 I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk.
00:00:35.000 Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.
00:00:38.000 I want to thank Charlie.
00:00:39.000 He's an incredible guy.
00:00:40.000 His spirit, his love of this country, he's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA.
00:00:49.000 We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.
00:00:58.000 That's why we are here.
00:01:00.000 Brought to you by the Loan Experts I Trust, Andrew and Todd at Sierra Pacific Mortgage at andrewandTodd.com.
00:01:09.000 Leadership is so hard to find in today's America.
00:01:14.000 Florida is a blueprint, or you could say it's a red print for the rest of the nation.
00:01:21.000 Whether it be holding Disney to a transparent standard, getting rid of critical race theory, not mandating the vaccine, functioning schools, not just functioning schools, but flourishing schools, a booming economy, incredible achievements across the board on educational issues, anti-crime bills that are being passed to actually hold criminals accountable.
00:01:50.000 It's one thing after the other.
00:01:52.000 And Florida has done such an exceptional job.
00:01:56.000 Every time I see something that happens in Florida, I ask myself the question, why are the Republicans not doing this?
00:02:01.000 Well, joining us now is America's governor and author of the new book that you could find at DeSantisBook.com, The Courage to Be Free.
00:02:09.000 Governor Ron DeSantis.
00:02:10.000 Governor, welcome back to the program.
00:02:12.000 Hey, thanks for having me.
00:02:13.000 So Governor, tell us about your new book.
00:02:17.000 Well, The Courage to Be Free is answering the question, kind of, how did Florida become the focus of freedom in the country and even around the world, people that will have come over the last few years?
00:02:28.000 And we lay out one, our approach to leadership and then a lot of the issues that we tackled and then the results that we were able to produce.
00:02:37.000 You know, I got elected, Charlie.
00:02:38.000 You remember in 2018, B2,000 votes.
00:02:42.000 I was 40 years old, taking the helm of the third largest state in the country.
00:02:47.000 And a lot of the advice, listen, you barely won.
00:02:50.000 Trim your sales.
00:02:51.000 You got to be careful about what you're doing.
00:02:54.000 And I rejected that advice because my view was I may have gotten 50% of the vote, but I earned 100% of the executive power.
00:03:02.000 And I intend to use it to be able to advance the best interests of Florida and to fulfill the promises I made to the people that elected me.
00:03:09.000 So we studied all the different constitutional provisions in Florida, statutory.
00:03:14.000 So I had a keen sense of the pressure points, how the governor can act unilaterally.
00:03:19.000 What do I need the legislature with?
00:03:21.000 What can I do to local officials?
00:03:23.000 You know, we remove bad election officials and Soros-backed prosecutors and all these things.
00:03:28.000 So we did that because as a governor, you're not just able to snap your fingers.
00:03:33.000 You've got to put an agenda through constitutional checks and balances.
00:03:37.000 And so we were able to do that.
00:03:39.000 We also said, we're going to lead by conviction.
00:03:42.000 I never took a poll because the poll's not important about what people think initially.
00:03:47.000 What's important is if you set the vision and produce results, you can get people to join your side.
00:03:54.000 And then finally, we said we're going to lead on offense because so many Republicans sit back and they let the media define the terms of the debate.
00:04:03.000 They get take pot shots from the media.
00:04:05.000 And what I did is, I'm going out there.
00:04:07.000 I'm going to be making the news.
00:04:09.000 I'm going to be leading on all these issues.
00:04:10.000 And I think it makes it very difficult for them to hit you properly.
00:04:15.000 And really, it's like the best defense is sometimes a good offense.
00:04:18.000 So we did all those things, took on all the issues, and then we ended up winning not by 32,000 votes, but 1.5 million votes.
00:04:26.000 We took a state that had a decade until I became governor of one point races, whether it's president or governor, and we turned it into a nearly 20-point win that took every Democrat out of statewide office.
00:04:40.000 We have 100% Republicans in statewide office in Florida for the first time since Reconstruction.
00:04:45.000 We have super majorities now in the Florida legislature, and we won 29 of 34 school board races that we got involved in.
00:04:54.000 And so this was not just me that had success.
00:04:58.000 This was top to bottom.
00:05:00.000 The state of Florida now, the Democratic Party is basically a little more than a rotten carcass on the side of the road.
00:05:06.000 And as you mentioned, it used to be a total battleground state, you know, one or two points.
00:05:11.000 And you expanded it.
00:05:13.000 People were wondering, hey, where did the red wave go?
00:05:15.000 Well, it happened in Florida.
00:05:16.000 And not just on the state level, but members of Congress, Ana Paulina Luna benefited from that.
00:05:21.000 I do not think that there would have been a Republican majority if it wasn't A, for your courage to stand up on the bad maps that were first offered to say, hey, we just want fairness.
00:05:31.000 And then B, actually the red wave that occurred in Florida.
00:05:35.000 But that's an incredible transformation from 32,000 votes to 1.3 million votes.
00:05:40.000 Republicans are kind of going through a soul-searching moment.
00:05:43.000 If you were to just offer a public vision, which is what your book is about, the courage to be free, what should Republicans learn from Florida's success where other states floundered and had lackluster and mediocre results in the midterms?
00:05:57.000 Well, one of the themes of the book, particularly early on before I became governor, was just how kind of the entrenched D.C. Republican Party was just out of touch with our voter base.
00:06:08.000 And it left a lot of them disappointed and left a lot of them demoralized.
00:06:13.000 And so I think what we did in Florida is the people that are our core supporters, when you tell them you're going to do something, follow through and do it.
00:06:22.000 And when they see you doing and delivering on what you say you're going to do, man, they got your back.
00:06:27.000 They're going to be out there.
00:06:28.000 They're going to be flocking to the polls.
00:06:31.000 And so you really have got to be able to do that.
00:06:33.000 Now, you also do that in a way that wins the argument with kind of independence and the middle of the electorate.
00:06:40.000 And we want independence in Florida by 18 points.
00:06:43.000 And so whether it was COVID, whether it was education, crime, all these things, we decisively won the argument.
00:06:50.000 But, you know, what we also ended up doing is we demoralized the Democrat base because, you know, some of their voters had to acknowledge Florida's doing okay.
00:06:59.000 The governor's doing okay.
00:07:00.000 And so it's not that a lot of them came and voted for me, you know, but some of them just stayed home because they knew that what the Democrats were offering, you know, wasn't better.
00:07:09.000 So we did all those things.
00:07:10.000 But I think the root of it is, you know, some of these entrenched DC-centric, whether it's consultants or other type of stuff, they're typically going to give you bad advice.
00:07:20.000 And the fact that I didn't take a single poll in four years and went from winning by 32,000 to 1.5 million should tell you that following that advice is usually not necessary.
00:07:32.000 And indeed, it can be harmful.
00:07:34.000 So if it's not polls, then walk us through then what is, how do you make the decisions?
00:07:39.000 Is it instinct?
00:07:40.000 Is it obviously some experience?
00:07:41.000 Do you have a council of people around you?
00:07:43.000 I'm just curious because if it's not then public polls, you know, something is dictating, or is it just like, hey, I'm going to do the right thing and we're going to just keep fighting?
00:07:53.000 Well, I think it's a combination of things.
00:07:55.000 I mean, some of it is just instinct.
00:07:57.000 I mean, here I am as governor.
00:08:00.000 And so you look at things like our fight with Disney on parents' rights in education.
00:08:04.000 I'm obviously judging this stuff based on being a governor, but I'm also a dad.
00:08:08.000 And I've got two, four, six, a four, and a two-year-old at home.
00:08:12.000 And I'm sensitive to some of the influences that we can see in some of these schools around the country.
00:08:18.000 I think it's wrong that a parent would have to worry about.
00:08:21.000 some of the stuff like gender ideology be in their kids' second grade classroom.
00:08:26.000 So some of it's just personal experience.
00:08:28.000 Some of it is like, I have a foundation of what I vision for a free society based on understanding our constitutional tradition.
00:08:36.000 Now, I think one of the differences now between maybe even 20 years ago, but certainly when someone like President Reagan came on the scene in 1980 is that, yes, government is a problem, particularly the federal administrative state and the weaponized bureaucracies, but you also have a woke agenda being pursued by big corporations, universities, all these other institutions in society.
00:08:59.000 And so my view is the free state of Florida means, at least in part, that we're going to protect your freedom from having the pathologies of the left imposed on you, whether it be through legislation or whether it be through kind of this extra constitutional power that seems to be wielded.
00:09:17.000 And then finally, and this was really important during COVID, you know, I dig in there and kind of take the data in or read the different things that I need to read so that I'm able to make decisions.
00:09:29.000 I think that you do have good people that are around you that can provide you that, but I don't think that that's a substitute for you kind of grappling with it yourself and then asking the tough questions.
00:09:40.000 I just want to narrow in on that.
00:09:42.000 You've been one of the few courageous leaders on a state level to actually understand how big corporations and government get in bed together.
00:09:51.000 This is something that is a new development in the conservative movement because typically, especially, yes, sometimes in Florida, kind of representing, you know, the big chamber of commerce, you don't care about that.
00:09:59.000 You represent your voters.
00:10:01.000 Just tell us a little bit about the Disney thing, what you learned in that entire chapter and how that could be applied to conservatism more broadly across the country.
00:10:10.000 Well, I think Florida, when I became governor, you know, was really driven by the chamber's agenda.
00:10:16.000 And, you know, some of this stuff was positive, like, you know, better legal climate, what have you.
00:10:21.000 But I think I've really changed that to where, yes, just because you're a corporation and you're, quote, private, you know, if you're going to try to be exercising public power, you know, we're going to take that very seriously and we're going to fight back, particularly when it's injurious to education and our children.
00:10:38.000 And so the Disney thing was a situation where, yes, they were getting involved in trying to tank a bill that was very important to a lot of parents.
00:10:46.000 Yes, they were advocating things in Burbank about their programming and sexualizing their programming, which as a parent I found very, very problematic.
00:10:55.000 But they're doing that while getting subsidies from the state of Florida.
00:11:00.000 They had their own government given to them in the 1960s.
00:11:03.000 And so they were exempt from laws, had big tax breaks, were able to do all kinds of things that no other individual or company can do in Florida.
00:11:13.000 So we had to make the decision, okay, how can they do that and have all that and then turn around and use the subsidies to advocate against us.
00:11:22.000 So we nixed that.
00:11:24.000 They no longer have self-governing status and there's a new sheriff in town in the state of Florida.
00:11:29.000 God bless you for that.
00:11:30.000 Everybody, check out Governor DeSantis' new book, The Courage to be Free, Florida's Blueprint for America's Revival.
00:11:38.000 The facts speak for themselves.
00:11:39.000 Florida was a narrowly Republican state and it is now overwhelmingly conservative across the board, thanks to the leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis.
00:11:50.000 Hey, everybody, Charlie Kirk here.
00:11:51.000 Renroe versus Wade fell as the law of the land last year.
00:11:54.000 All it did was increase what pro-abortion states are doing to entice and mislead women to abort their children.
00:12:01.000 States are now advertising to travel just to get an abortion.
00:12:04.000 It's become abortion trafficking.
00:12:06.000 So the need to provide the truth as girls and women are contemplating what to do about their pregnancy is greater now than ever before.
00:12:13.000 Ultrasounds save babies because ultrasounds give the truth at a time everyone else is saying it's not just a baby, it's just a clump of cells.
00:12:21.000 When you introduce a girl to her baby by providing an ultrasound, you are giving her the truth at the most important time of her life.
00:12:28.000 And more than 85% of the time, she will choose life.
00:12:32.000 You don't have to make a lot of noise to make a big difference for life.
00:12:34.000 Just give an ultrasound at preborn.org to be a hero for life.
00:12:37.000 That is preborn.org.
00:12:39.000 $140 gives five mothers a free ultrasound and saves babies.
00:12:42.000 $200 can save 10 babies.
00:12:44.000 Go to preborn.org.
00:12:46.000 I love this organization.
00:12:46.000 I'm a donor to it.
00:12:47.000 Check it out: preborn.org.
00:12:52.000 So, Governor, your blueprint in Florida has amazing success, and you contrast that with what Governor Newsom has and has not done in California.
00:13:03.000 It's not because of the weather.
00:13:05.000 That's what they always blame.
00:13:06.000 They say, oh, you know, people are moving to the Sunbelt only because of the weather.
00:13:09.000 No, they're leaving California to other states.
00:13:11.000 Can you just compare and contrast over four years, Newsom versus DeSantis, Florida versus California?
00:13:18.000 And if you had a direct message to Gavin Newsom, what would that be?
00:13:21.000 Well, it's interesting.
00:13:22.000 So California, for the entire history of the state up until four years ago, had always gained population.
00:13:29.000 It was viewed when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s, it was viewed as the place people went to experience the American dream.
00:13:37.000 And now what you've had in the last four years is you've had a massive hemorrhaging of people.
00:13:41.000 They have net population loss in the hundreds and hundreds of thousands.
00:13:46.000 Meanwhile, Florida is gaining the most net population and we're the fastest growing state.
00:13:52.000 And here's the thing that I think is interesting.
00:13:55.000 When I was growing up in Florida, I never saw a California license plate.
00:13:58.000 I never, because people will never leave California.
00:14:00.000 I mean, it just wasn't you do.
00:14:02.000 We started to see it when I became governor, particularly in response to the California and Newsome COVID policies.
00:14:09.000 You start seeing California license plates in Florida.
00:14:11.000 I can tell you a lot of Florida voters freaked out because they're thinking about, oh my gosh, what are these Californians going to do in terms of their voting?
00:14:18.000 Well, it turned out a lot of them were people that think more like us who just had enough.
00:14:23.000 And yes, part of it was the lockdowns where he's locking down his people, his businesses, then he's going and eating without a mask at the French laundry.
00:14:33.000 And a lot of people got upset about that.
00:14:35.000 But it's also the crime.
00:14:37.000 They let people out of prison.
00:14:38.000 You have district attorneys elected with support from people like George Soros who say they're just not going to prosecute criminals.
00:14:45.000 If you're walking in LA and you get mugged, the chance that they hold that person accountable is very, very low.
00:14:51.000 They just release him and then he can do it all over again.
00:14:54.000 And then, of course, you've had economic policies to where they have like a $25 or $30 billion deficit right now.
00:15:01.000 Florida, we have a record $20 plus billion dollar surplus.
00:15:05.000 And so the results speak for themselves.
00:15:07.000 People vote with their feet.
00:15:09.000 And it's interesting.
00:15:10.000 We get a lot of comparisons with New York because New York and us are relatively close in population.
00:15:16.000 We've got a few million more people now than they do.
00:15:19.000 But even with a few million more people, Charlie, New York State's budget is twice the size of the budget of the state of Florida.
00:15:27.000 And yet our services are better, our roads are better.
00:15:31.000 We have higher performing K through 12, higher performing public higher education, and no state income tax.
00:15:37.000 So where is all this money going that they're spending?
00:15:41.000 And how come it's not helping the quality of life for the people that live in New York State?
00:15:47.000 And some of the numbers here, Florida population, 22 million, New York, 19.4.
00:15:52.000 Florida's budget is 110 billion.
00:15:55.000 Florida is 110 billion.
00:15:56.000 New York is 221 billion.
00:15:58.000 Florida's education budget is 24 billion.
00:16:01.000 New York education budget, 39 billion. 0.99
00:16:03.000 And their schools are crummy and garbage compared to Florida. 0.98
00:16:06.000 Florida's welfare budget is 29 billion. 0.99
00:16:09.000 New York's welfare budget is 79 billion.
00:16:10.000 So they're spending more.
00:16:11.000 They're taxing more.
00:16:12.000 They're getting less and they have less people than Florida.
00:16:15.000 Going into 2024, Governor, I think the story of the contrast between states is a winning message that can maybe heal the country and also make Republicans victorious.
00:16:27.000 Your thoughts?
00:16:28.000 Well, I mean, if you look at the New York governor's race in 2022, I mean, Lee Zeldon came was like a seven-point spread in a state that has, I think, three times more Democrats than Republicans.
00:16:39.000 And honestly, if you took all the Republicans that moved to Florida over the last four years and let them vote for Zelda, it would have been even closer.
00:16:46.000 And so that's telling me that, yeah, you have the woke left and you have some people that are just never going to see the light.
00:16:53.000 But, you know, you've got a lot of people who have voted for Democrats in the past who realize we can't let the criminals run the streets.
00:17:02.000 We can't have children in school being told that they were born in the wrong body.
00:17:08.000 We can't have these draconian COVID mandates.
00:17:11.000 And even today, you have universities in blue states that are forcing the college students to get booster shots.
00:17:18.000 After all we know, they're still doing that.
00:17:20.000 And so I think we probably have a better opportunity than we've ever had, maybe since 1980, to get people to vote for our side who've not necessarily done that in the past.
00:17:32.000 Part of it is I think we have records of success.
00:17:34.000 You know, not just Florida.
00:17:35.000 We're proud of Florida, but you look at what some of the governors have done in some of the other Republican states.
00:17:40.000 There's a lot of great stories to tell.
00:17:42.000 And it really does go down to the fact that are you based on solid, tried and true principles?
00:17:49.000 Are you indulging in this woke insanity?
00:17:51.000 You cannot show me one jurisdiction, a city or a state in this country governed by woke ideology that has done better as a result.
00:18:01.000 Most of the time, not only do they do worse, the whole society starts to fray like San Francisco and Los Angeles.
00:18:09.000 Seattle, that's right.
00:18:10.000 The courage to be free, Florida's blueprint for America's revival.
00:18:13.000 America's governor, Ron DeSantis, has really showed us how we can win in 2024 and beyond.
00:18:19.000 Governor, thank you so much.
00:18:20.000 Talk to you soon.
00:18:21.000 Godspeed.
00:18:22.000 Yep.
00:18:25.000 Thanks so much for listening, everybody.
00:18:26.000 Email me your thoughts as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.
00:18:30.000 Thank you so much for listening, and God bless.
00:18:35.000 For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to CharlieKirk. com.