'This Week' Transcript 1-14-24: Gov. Ron DeSantis & Gov. JB Pritzker
Interview
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Your vote matters a great deal on Monday night.
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They can throw a blizzard at us, and we are going to fight.
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We're in it for the long haul.
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Yes. Absolutely.
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If Trump is the nominee, it's going to be about January 6th, legal issues, criminal trials.
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Well, Donald Trump's running for his issues. I'm running for your issues and your family's issues and solely to turn this country around. I've delivered on 100 percent of my promises. Donald Trump, obviously, didn't build the wall, didn't drain the swamp, and didn't reduce the debt. I've also taken on and beaten the Democrats and the left. And in reality, Donald Trump, as president, oftentimes got beat by the Democrats at the border. He got beat on debt. And so we have an opportunity to have a two-term president, someone that's going to be able to win decisively, and then actually bring all this stuff into fruition. And I'm the guy to do it.
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Well, he's focused a lot on things that concern him. Obviously, the distractions of everything that's going along with all these legal issues has been a huge thing for him. You're going to have criminal trials. You're going to have a lot of focus on things like January 6th by the media. And I think that ends up focusing the election on things that are going to be advantageous for Democrats because you're not going to be talking about the border, you're not going to be talking about the economy. You're going to be talking about all these things to make the election a referendum on Donald Trump.
And I think when Republicans have had those elections, whether it's 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, the Democrats have -- have benefited for that, whereas if I'm the nominee, we'll be solely focused on the issues that matter to the American people. I'll be able to hold Biden or whoever their nominee is accountable. And I think it will be a crisp opportunity for a crisp victory for Republicans. And so we have an opportunity to make that choice starting in Iowa, and then through this process, but the notion that somehow all this stuff that's swirling around him is going to be a positive in a general election, that's just not true.
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Well, I think it's a couple of things. I mean, I think, one, our voters understandably see Biden as a very feeble, weak, and poor president. And so, I think some of it is they think anyone can beat him.
You know, my argument on that is, is that would have been a case in 2022, in the midterms. We probably never had circumstances more favorable for the party. Biden was unpopular, inflation was hot, the border was a disaster, crime -- all these issues.
We should have been able -- every Republican with a pulse should have been able to won -- win, and yet the Democrats made it a referendum on Trump and his adjacent candidates, and there's just certain swing voters that just aren't going to go there at that point. And I think that's been the case over and over again.
But I think when people just look at Biden as Republicans, they're, like, well, obviously, this is not a strong candidate.
And then I think there's been an effort to talk about national polling a year in advance or even more, showing that Trump is winning. Now I do think they're starting to come -- poll showing the opposite that Biden wins these swing states. But I would imagine as the year goes on, and should Trump be the nominee, all those polls I think are going to show Biden with a lead over Trump. And so, there -- I think it's been somewhat of a mirage, but people see that, and I think that that does register with them.
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Well, look -- one of the reasons I'm running, Jon, is because after the midterms of 2022, we saw very clearly the pathway forward for the party was like what we did in Florida, what Governor Reynolds who's endorsed me here in Iowa, what she did winning big. Governors and Republicans that had their own brand and focused on results performed extraordinarily well. The other Republicans who were more aligned with Trump and his issues, they under performed. That's just the reality.
So my fear is, is doing 2024 with a rematch would have a lot of the same dynamics that we had in 2020, only Donald Trump won't be an incumbent. I mean, the advantages of incumbency are incredible, and yet we are where we are.
So I think we -- I have the best path forward for the party, to both unite the party because you've got to have somebody that can -- that can energize the base, and I think that Trump obviously has done that in the past. I've done that in Florida. I can do it nationally.
Haley cannot do that. I mean, she is not getting support from conservatives. She's relying on Democrat-leaning independents for her support in the primary, and that's just not the way you can win and galvanize support from the party faithful.
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Iowa, we have the best ground game by far right now.
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We're going to win in Iowa.
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I think so, yeah. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
We're going to win the caucus. We're doing everything that we need to do it.
We're going to win Iowa.
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But you know what? Since then, I've learned that it's good to be an underdog. When folks want to count you out, when they want to say, oh, you know, this, when they want to cite these polls -- I mean, the -- our supporters here, and I think Iowans generally, I think they roll their eyes at some of these polls because how you can poll a caucus, much less one in negative 22?
So our voters are ready. They're going to turn out. We've built this great organization. We've got great enthusiasm on the ground. Yes, I visited all 99 counties. So, that's the -- that's what you need to be able to do well.
So, we're going to do well, but I'd rather have people count us out. I'd rather have people lower expectations for us. I tend to perform better like that.
I think our vo -- our voters that we've lined up and we have tens of thousands that have committed to caucus for us. I've got thousands of people that have come in just to volunteer in Iowa. People that are just paying their own plane ticket from Washington state and Texas so they can trudge through snow in the middle of a blizzard and knock on doors and ask Iowans to support me in the caucus.
So, we're really excited about what we put together here. Our voters have an opportunity to have their vote count in a really meaningful way because there was 186,000 people that came last time 2016 to participate. A lot of people thought it was going to be less anyways. But now with this weather, it could be significantly less.
So, any one of our voters who are out there bringing friends and family -- man, that's going to pack a punch. So we're going to do well, but I would -- I like the fact that they're -- that they're viewing me as an underdog. I think that's better.
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For me, leadership is not about yourself, it's not about showmanship or any of that, it's about producing results. So, when you make promises, do you deliver? And if you break the promises, then that's not good leadership. So, he was -- he ran in 2016. You covered that campaign. He said he was going to build the wall and have Mexico pay for it, drain the swamp, hold Hillary accountable, eliminate the debt. None of that stuff came to fruition. And so the way I view it is simply, I make promises to people and I am fully intent on following through with it. And I'm going to be willing to sacrifice whatever's in my own personal/political interest to be able to deliver on those big promises.
And so he didn't deliver on those key promises the first time. So, the question is, even if he could get elected, you know, he's close to 80 years old. He'd be a lame duck president. He's got a lot of issues surrounding him personally that he's very concerned about. Is he going to be able to deliver on all those things? And so for me it's just -- the end of the day it's about results. You got to deliver on what you promised.
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Well, you'll -- you'll have to ask them. I mean I can tell you this, I mean, I do know elected officials who encourage me to run and say they're going to vote for me in a primary, but yet have endorsed Donald Trump. That's just the reality of the situation. But here's the thing, what I would tell elected Republicans. You know, when you stand up and you're delivering on conservative issues, you know, Donald Trump's not going to be able to say you're bad if you've delivered on those issues. The voters are going to look at what you've done. I think Trump can be effective in a primary for people who are not delivering on conservative issues and who are going more wobbly or more left on things. But then that's always been the case that people can be exposed in these primaries.
So, we're doing it. I've got guys like Chip Roy, I've got guys like Tom (ph). I mean they guys are out there. They're fighting the good fight. You know, they've got a lot of incoming. But what we can't have as a party is that our movement is detached from the underlying principles and issues that we're trying to advocate on behalf of the American people. And I think Trump is trying to make it to where someone that kisses the ring, even if they're not faithful to the core conservative values, somehow they're a member in good standing just by doing that, whereas a Chip Roy, who's fighting on all these conservative issues that all the Republican base has always wanted to do, but the fact that he's endorsed me and hasn't kissed the ring that somehow he's bad or he's somehow a rhino, that is what you don't want. You want it to be rooted in -- in a larger principle and not an individual.
And, also, you've got to hold people accountable. I mean, I -- you know, me as the nominee should be held accountable, Donald Trump, anybody. So, we're doing it, I think, the right way. The people that are attracted to us. Yes, they -- they like what I've done in Florida, but -- but I'm really just the vessel for the values that they believe in.
Well, I think I did answer it in just -- I just didn't answer it in the way the media wants me to.
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