Barn Talk - Governor Ron DeSantis on America's Future: Border Control, Ag Policies & Taking Washington Head-On

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Starting point is 00:01:24 We appreciate you. We love you. Now, let's get into the episode. Welcome to Barn Talk. What happens at the barn stays in the barn, but not today. We're going to let it all out for you guys. Today is going to be a real, real special episode. We got a real special guest coming on today.

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Starting point is 00:02:02 The more that you guys do that, the more credibility it gives our show, the more we can have fantastic guests like we are going to have on today. we can have more of that. So keep doing that. And if you have any questions for our Q&A episodes, you can email us, email us your questions at Barn Talk Show at gmail.com. How are you doing today, Chief? I'm feeling good. I just got back from a lumberjack convention. There you go. Flannel, fall flannel season. Oh, yeah. Yep, yep. I could be the new face of brownie, but I don't know if I made the cut or not. I'm not quite tall enough to stand in front of the tree. today as you said is a special special episode and really this is a testimony to all of you out there

Starting point is 00:02:44 we are humbled by all the reviews and all the five stars and sharing our stuff out because we got an email a week 10 days ago our guest today is running for the position of CEO of America, Inc. We've got Governor Ron DeSantis with us, and none of this would have happened without you. We really appreciate it. It's going to be really good. I'll just tell you, we've got a whole list of questions, and I'm not sure how much time we have, so we're going to try to get through as many as we can. I think he's got a lot to say, and we got a lot to ask, so it'll be a pretty fast-paced, fast-paced episode, but I think it's going to be some good stuff. So let's get started. Governor Santis, welcome to Barn Talk. It's an absolute pleasure to have you.

Starting point is 00:03:43 Thanks for having me. Yeah. Yeah, of course. So the Iowa caucus is 25 days away. So as you've traveled around the state, what's an issue that to you has stood out that is on everybody's mind or on most people's minds here? The border. And there's a, there's a narrative that, oh, if you're not a border or a border state, then why would you care about it? But I was in small towns in Iowa where they have drugs coming in from the border. They've had issues with illegal aliens. And I think it's also just they saw what happened in Israel with the attacks. If Israel is the most, they have the best border security in the world. If they are having a massacre of people, we've had eight million people come illegally. You don't think any of them are terrorists? Of course they've sent terrorists. And so I

Starting point is 00:04:30 think that there's just a real understanding that this is just ridiculous what's going on. It's harmful for our country and it needs to be fixed. And it's humiliating that we can't even defend our own borders. We'll send money across the world, but we won't even take care of our own business here at home. How is that work? Yeah, a thousand percent. Correct. In our opinion, you and Governor Reynolds are at the top of the game when it comes to governors across the country. How much did it mean to you to get her endorsement for your campaign? Oh, men, a lot. And it's interesting because people would ask me, as I started to become more nationally known,

Starting point is 00:05:11 and I was getting a lot of attention, a lot of negative attention because I was bucking Fauci on COVID. But that turned me into somebody that Republicans were looking to, hey, this guy's fighting. And then we had that we fought and beat Disney and we did all these other things. People would then come to me like, well, you know, why aren't other governors doing this? Or who else is out there? And I would always point to Kim. because Kim really came in and, you know, she had a tough election like I did in 18, and she took a lot of the tough decisions during COVID, having kids in school and whatnot.

Starting point is 00:05:40 She faced a lot of flack, and she's been able to deliver a really, really big results. So I've been telling people this for many, many years because she's earned it and she deserves it. And then to be able to get her to support me is a big deal. I think Iowa caucus goers when they see that, that's a huge, huge thing because probably 99% of the people that are going to caucus have a positive opinion of Governor Reynolds. Yeah, 100%. Yeah, you guys' philosophies, I feel like, are very, very similar, just how you want to get stuff done, you know? Yeah, and I can just tell you, this is off the cuff, but, you know, people's COVID experience living in the state of Florida, living in the state of Iowa,

Starting point is 00:06:19 I've got a brother that lives in Texas, I've got a brother that lives in Pennsylvania. When we talk during all that, our experience much more positive than a lot of people. and can't say enough. And that's another thing. I saw it first hand. So as governor of Florida, I get a window into what's happening in this country because when some of these left-wing states do dumb things, people flee to Florida. We're like the first place people go.

Starting point is 00:06:44 And so I would talk to people who fled Illinois. They were very upset about what was going on. Not just limited to COVID, all these other things. I mean, even though the governor of Illinois attacks Florida for being open but then sent his family to live in Florida and not have to live under the lockdowns. Minnesota, very upset when Minnesotans come here about what's going on. But the Iowans that are here, they're very happy about what's going on in Iowa. And you see that and you see the difference and you talk to people.

Starting point is 00:07:09 So there's an appreciation about how this state is governed versus how a lot of the other states in this region are governed. And I reckon with what Minnesota is doing, you're going to get more in migration into Iowa from Minnesota. I know you get it from Illinois all the time. I've run into, I've run into a lot of people from California who moved to Iowa. to escape the nonsense that was happening there. I actually have the ability to say that the governor of California's in-laws actually fled California to move to Florida in my state. And I think that's been a source of very sore-soreness for him for a long time.

Starting point is 00:07:46 Well, speaking of that, we were going to ask, so what was your takeaways of that debate? I think it was people saw a very sharp contrast, and people saw. saw that Florida was getting it done. Conservative policies work, freedom works, and whatever the heck he's selling was not working because he basically just had the lie about what the actual facts are, but it wasn't persuasive. And that's the thing. He's a very slippery politician. But you've got to be within the realm of believability. And I was in Sioux City a couple weeks ago and a fellow came up to me and he just looked at me. He's like, you did a great job. We've got Gavin Newsome. Nobody believes.

Starting point is 00:08:28 that California has lower taxes than Florida because that's what he was saying. He was attacking me saying because I attacked him for closing schools in California for a year while he had his own kids in private school. Typical liberal elite do as I say, not as I do. And he tried to say that California was open and Florida was closed. Are you kidding me? Nobody believes that. So it was a sharp contrast, but the fact that he just can't accept the fact shows you the policies are failing. When I was in the Navy, I was down in Coronado, I was down in Coronado with the amphib base before we deployed to Iraq. Beautiful natural beauty in that state. They have more advantages than any state in the country.

Starting point is 00:09:12 They have great coastline. They've got great agriculture. They've got mountains, desert communities, you name it. And yet people are fleeing there like never before because of his policies, because they can't keep the streets safe. There's homeless. There's even poop on the streets of San Francisco. which is just crazy that that's happening. So it does show you all the stuff, these campaigns and stuff,

Starting point is 00:09:35 a lot of it 90% of what goes on is all just nonsense. But the overall debate in this country is between a philosophy that has proven to work in Iowa and in Florida and a philosophy that is proven to fail. San Francisco, Los Angeles, California, Chicago, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, you name it. It has failed everywhere it's been tried. Couldn't agree more. The news lately we've seen what the Supreme Court of Colorado has chosen to do, taking Trump off the ballot.

Starting point is 00:10:07 What are your overall thoughts about that? And is there anything you want to share about what they've... Oh, I think the U.S. Supreme Court is going to reverse that and they should. Look, to kick somebody off the ballot based on the 14th Amendment, when there's not been a criminal conviction, I mean, the 14th Amendment does say if you've been involved in a rebellion or insurrection against the country, you're ineligible for office. But okay, where's the conviction on that? To just have a court just say that with no due process, what are the implications of that? Well, can we just say Biden can't be on the ballot because he's allowed eight million illegal aliens to come into this country? That's an insurrection on the border, we could say. And you could do,

Starting point is 00:10:46 so this would just be any partisan court could take a candidate they don't like off the ballot. So I think it is going to get reversed. And I don't think it was a decision that. that was consistent with the Constitution. Every Republican running and anybody that claims that they're Republican, we all want smaller government. We all talk about waste. We all talk about we got to get control of our finances. But every year in this country, government seems to grow 2%, 3%, 5%.

Starting point is 00:11:20 I saw a statistic the other day, and I think this is accurate, that in 2023, there's now over 23 million government employees in the United States. It's grown from, I can't remember what it was, but that's like 10% of the population now employed by the government. So how do we slay that dragon? How do we get back to a more responsible government? Well, both Iowa and Florida show models for that. I mean, your governor just reduced a lot of agencies and did that. is phenomenal. I've eliminated two since I've been governor of Florida, but here's our picture. We've cut taxes every year, and yet we've run surpluses, and I've paid down 25% of our state's total

Starting point is 00:12:06 debt. Our population in Florida is millions more than the state of New York now, and yet our budget is half the size of New York state's budget. We have the lowest per capita number of state employees in the country, and yet, when people move from New York to Florida, what do they say? Oh, your services are so much better. Your roads are so much better. Your schools are better. So we're doing that at half the cost and with such a small bureaucratic footprint. So so much in the federal government is not essential.

Starting point is 00:12:36 You could cut the number of bureaucrats in half and you would not miss a beat in actually performing the functions that we would actually want government to do. So we want to reduce the size of the bureaucracy through attrition and layoffs and recategizing employees. under different schedules. We've got a lot of levers we're going to pull to do that. We also are going to fight Congress on spending money, I'll veto bills if they're spending too much. I do think you need Florida and Iowa and most states have a requirement for a balanced budget. I think the federal government needs that because we could sit here and hammer out a budget deal today, but five years from now, new people get elected, they can unwind it. So the long-term trajectory in our country is not good. You need term limits for members of Congress, a balanced budget amendment, and then give

Starting point is 00:13:22 the president a line item veto. I have line item veto as a governor. So they put a budget on my desk. I can hack out a lot of individual spending items. I vetoed 3% of the budget a year and a half ago. So if the president had that, your money's going to promote transgenderism in Bangladesh? Well, veto this, veto that. But right now, you have to accept everything or nothing. So if you want to fund the military, then you have to accept all this other nonsense. That is not the way to do business. But I'd also say this, the debt is a big problem. This borrowing, printing and spending, particularly since COVID, has caused the high prices people are grappling with.

Starting point is 00:14:00 It's caused the high interest rate. So this is a government-induced problem. And from an economic perspective, that's all very important. But it's also the scope of government. What is government getting involved in? When you have the EPA say, well, if you have a puddle on your farm, then we can regulate that as waters of the U.S., that is just a gross violation of the proper limits. of the Constitution. And so I want less government, but just as important, I want a narrower scope of

Starting point is 00:14:28 government. You should not have a bureaucracy be able to mandate electric vehicles. First of all, people can't afford them. People don't want them. It'll bankrupt the car companies. It has impacts for liquid fuels and things that are important in the Midwest and throughout other parts of the country. And that's just that, the bureaucracy should not be making those decisions. So we're going to do the scope and we're going to be a change agent in that direction. Here's the just the honest truth. Other than since Ronald Reagan, we really haven't had a president who's really tried to reduce the size of government or to reduce spending. That's just a reality. I mean, Bush 43, he created New Department of Homeland Security. Trump obviously added a lot to the debt. And during COVID,

Starting point is 00:15:13 they were expanding government. So now's the time, I think, to have somebody that's going to push back against those tendencies in Washington. You think we can get a budget because I, this is an interesting point. We were talking to a guy the other day. And because there hasn't really been a budget in, I don't know how many years, are the Federal Reserve and the Treasury are kind of, but they've been, they've become kind of the mechanism of fiscal policy because we haven't had a budget to run off of. and the gridlock is as bad or worse than it's ever been.

Starting point is 00:15:54 How can we get people together? Is there any middle left? Well, I think what happens is if you look at the last however many years, I mean, there's just always the sense that, okay, so Trump got in in 16, the Democrats are like, we're going to change this in 18, and they took the House back. And so their incentive was to play for the next election, right? then Republicans wanted to win re-election for him in 2020. And so that was that. So those

Starting point is 00:16:22 are those short-term incentives are just so powerful in Washington. And also it's just the fact that, you know, by virtue of me having an R by my name, I can stand on a platform and say the sky is blue. People that don't like that R by my name, they're not going to like me. That's just the reality. If I had a D by my name, a lot of those same people when I said the sky is blue, they would clap their hands. So we've become very tribal politically and very polarized politically. And what I try to do is, and I've taken stronger stands than anybody, and you have to have these fights. But, you know, if I'm fighting somebody on, say, I want to keep transgender ideology out of elementary school, I'm not going to back down from that. I'm going to win that fight.

Starting point is 00:17:07 But that person who's on the other side of that, a month from now, maybe there's an issue that we do agree on. And you've got to be willing to work in those situations. So I don't think it's about like watering down your beliefs or principles, but I just think it's a understanding that there can be different coalitions for different issues. And you don't have to be entrenched in one side or the other on 100% of issues because that's not actually how things break down. But there are incentives on like social media and with these people that are very active in politics that if you do have someone on the other party who would want to cooperate with us and say on conservative stuff, you know, they, will go after these people. I mean, in Florida, for example, doing our school choice, I had some African-American Democrats who were with us on school choice, and the teachers' union took them out in the Democrat primary. They got liberals with teachers' union because how dare you

Starting point is 00:18:00 work with a Republican governor, right, on all this stuff? And so they went after them. So those are just the incentives in our political system right now, unfortunately. John Kerry gave a speech at the UN Climate Conference in Dubai a few weeks back. and, you know, he pretty much, the gist of it is he pretty much demonized agriculture farmers and saying that we're the number one, one of the biggest causes of climate change and environmental issues. And us as farmers, you know, we look at that and we see what's happening in Europe where they've demonized farmers. Farmers are fleeing Europe, they're moving to America, or, you know, they're just getting out of the business altogether because they're sick of it.

Starting point is 00:18:43 how do we how do we try to eliminate that coming that ideology coming over here and happening here because when we see that see people like that say those things for us quite frankly it pisses us off and you know this land we we care about passing it on to the next generation more than anything and keeping it intact environmentally and just fertility-wise and all that that means a lot to us and so you know what what are your thoughts on that and how do we how do we um don't let what's happening over there happen here you elect me president because i will end this esg nonsense on day one i kneecapped it in florida and we will do it nationwide it's absurd first of all this stuff what they want to do take into its conclusion it will cause a food crisis in this country um they don't know

Starting point is 00:19:36 what they're doing and uh and it's not something that's feasible it's not economical and and we're not going to let it happen. And so anyone involved in agriculture could know all this stuff from like the World Economic Forum, people like John Kerry, all this not, that's dead on arrival in my administration on day one. We're not going to go down that road. We need agriculture is important for the economy, obviously. It supports jobs and whatnot, but it's part of food security is national security. I don't want China buying farmland here. I view that as a national security asset that we have so that our country can remain free and independent. So we need viable, prosperous agriculture sector,

Starting point is 00:20:20 and all the stuff that they're talking about in Europe is just deadly to that. And so we're not going to allow that in the United States. I'll make a snotty comment about that before we move on. It's really surprising to me how short of memories, and we could apply this to a lot of things going on in the world. but, you know, Europe, Europe learned a really hard lesson after World War II because they've dealt with food security. And there was a time where they tried really, really hard to incentivize agriculture,

Starting point is 00:20:52 and they actually subsidized it. And now they moved away from that, and I'm with you. I think we're headed to a time where there's going to be food crises or food insecurity for countries. And it's just surprising how short of memories, some, like people just don't learn. They learn from history. It just doesn't last very long,

Starting point is 00:21:17 and it feels like it's painful that we have to relearn what we already know. Yeah, and I mean, I think that if you look, I mean, you guys know better than me, but it's, you know, there's enough challenges as it is with agriculture. I mean, you're at the mercy of the weather. And you're at, there's all these other factors. that are even beyond your control, why would they want to put this big weight on your back that's going to make it impossible to do it right? Yeah, and I think it's another thing about that is I think a lot of

Starting point is 00:21:46 the public or people that aren't necessarily involved in agriculture like to just paint all farms with a broad brush and say, well, all your all cattle should be grass fed or all pigs should be pasture raise or everybody should no till. But there's somebody should eat crickets. Everybody should eat crickets, right? Like everybody, you know, they want to apply these rules on all these farms. And this is just another, you know, example of that. And it's just, it's not possible for a guy in Minnesota that, you know, has to plant into the ground for him to do no-till because he has to tilt up because Minnesota is obviously a little bit cooler. And not everybody understands that. But yeah. Well, you also have the situation where a state like California could adopt something like Proposition 12.

Starting point is 00:22:28 and that ends up having a devastating impact in Iowa because of the size of California's market. I don't think California should be able to dictate how people are producing pork. I mean, that's just not good for the economy. It's not the way the system was designed to work. And I want states to be able to make their own decisions. But when they're trying to do things that have effect outside their state, well, that's a different beast there. And I think what they've done, they do these initiatives. people don't even know what they're voting on.

Starting point is 00:23:00 They have no sense of how that would impact people who are actually in the industry. It's just kind of a thing that someone gets on the ballot. It sounds good, so they do it. That is not the way you do policy, particularly, and you don't want any industry, agriculture or others, to be at the mercy of the whims of the state like California. Like that is just not going to work for this country. Were you surprised by that ruling when that was taken to the Supreme Court? Because I, you know, I, obviously I'm deeply embedded in, in pork production.

Starting point is 00:23:34 And I really felt like I was naive by that because when I knew it was going to go, I just said to, in my mind, that is a direct violation of interstate commerce. And I'm like, there's no way they're going to, they're going to rule against that. And they did. And I was like, well, son of a bitch. I mean. It's interesting. So there's, you know, because this is like, so you have like,

Starting point is 00:23:57 very excellent justices like Clarence Thomas voted for California on that. And Clarence, you know, he doesn't ever, usually didn't get anything wrong. So why do you do it? I think it's because Clarence's view is Congress under interstate commerce has the right to put down a rule for pork and say, you know what? You don't have to follow what California is doing. But in the absence of that, states can do until Congress acts. In other words, he doesn't think there's a dormant commerce clause that just kind of there

Starting point is 00:24:27 that's never been enacted, and that's why he did it. But there were other conservatives, so there was a split on the court. It wasn't the typical ideological split. So, you know, it was disappointing to see on a policy level. But I do understand there's some of those issues that get thorny and they actually cross ideological lines. Yeah. And if we had a, if we had a well-functioning legislature, they could fix it. You're 100% right. You may be able to. I mean, we'll see. I mean, I'll be to. I'll be to look. I'm going to look. to see what administratively we have the authority to do federally to provide relief to Prop 12, because there may be some things you can do under existing statutes.

Starting point is 00:25:08 And if there's an existing statute that would be on point federally and it's constitutional, well, that would trump what a state is going to do under the supremacy clause. But yeah, I think Congress should fix that problem. And, you know, I actually think that would be one where, I mean, you know, if you're like Democrat senators from Minnesota, I got to think you would want to with your farmers on that. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, no doubt. Let's go back just a little bit. I mean, you've provided some solutions on all the topics that we've kind of ran through, but I didn't ask you, what is your plan to fix the border, the southern border, the number one concern for most Americans right now?

Starting point is 00:25:42 So day one will declare it to be a national emergency, will mobilize resources, including the military, to put on the border. We're going to stop the invasion. We're not going to entertain asylum claims people can wait in Mexico. We will send people back home who've come illegally. I'm going to do the border wall and quote have Mexico pay for it. Now, that was a favorite promise of mine when Trump ran. I thought he was going to, obviously Mexico is not just going to give us money. I thought he was going to do what I'll do, charge fees on remittances that workers send to foreign countries, Mexico, Central America, wherever. You'd raise billions of dollars and you could construct the wall. And if we had a border wall, Biden would not have been able to let in 8 million illegals. It's a physical fact of life,

Starting point is 00:26:26 and that's why I think it's important. So we are going to do that. But maybe the most important, we're going to designate the Mexican drug cartels to be foreign terrorist organizations. They're invading this country. They're poisoning our people by the tens of thousands. I've met parents. I met way more than I can even count at this point who have lost kids to fentanyl poisoning. And what you find is these are not kids, by and large, that are drug addicts. You know, maybe they're in college and they buy a pill thinking it's something else. It's laced with fentanyl and it can poison them to death. We actually had a situation in Florida.

Starting point is 00:27:00 A family was renting an Airbnb rental and an 18-month-old baby was just crawling on the carpet. And there happened to be residue from fentanyl just on the carpet. Baby died just from the residue from fentanyl. So this is happening all across our country. People in D.C. don't seem to care about the deaths. I care about it. And so I think a president not only has a right, I think you have a duty to respond to the Mexican drug cartels using military force. And when the Twin Towers got knocked down, there was no question.

Starting point is 00:27:30 We were going to go out and take care of the people that did that. But yet, you can have Mexican drug cartels killing tens of thousands of people every single year. And we're not supposed to defend our people on that. I'm going to defend the people on that. Yeah, it's crazy. And, you know, the other side of another part of that is if you stop, if you stop, if you close that border right now, we have no idea. I don't, I feel like there's no way to know how many bad actors have come through the border that are here, that those problems are just beginning. Yeah, I mean, think about it. The people that come and then get intercepted, they usually, the federal government just releases them.

Starting point is 00:28:15 into our society, they don't have the goods on any of these people. We have no idea who these people are. And the people that have, and even if there was a way you could check their record, the people that have no record are probably more likely to be strategically put in there, because they're not going to send somebody that's an obvious red flag. And then there's all these millions of people. We don't even know that they just came in. They were never interdicted at all. Any country worth its salt, any terrorist group worth its salt, seeing a vulnerability like that for the United States, if we're their enemy, they are absolutely going to exploit that. The bang for the buck is so small to be able to infiltrate people into this country.

Starting point is 00:28:55 I've said for months now, there will be a terrorist attack in America that will be able to trace back to the southern border. I'm not wishing for that. I hope I'm wrong. But you can't tell me eight million people that that's not going to happen. And then Iran sent people, China sent people, Russia. I was down. I was one of the first states to send. people to the border when Biden took over in 2021. So I sent National Guard down and I took a trip kind of just to thank them for what they're doing and just see. And the people that were coming across the border, there were like Libyans, Haitians. People think like it's Mexico and Central America. Yes, that's part of it. But there's people from all over the world coming in. Are you trying to tell me

Starting point is 00:29:38 that that's good for this country? Get me a break. Common sense is in short supply. Yeah, that's what it feels like. You know, we have heard that Chinese leader Xi Jinping has, you know, kind of purged all descending voices in his cabinet or group around him, team around him. Is it harder as you've got more established in your political career to keep a team in your circle that tells you the actual truth? Has it been harder to find people like that as you get more and more popular? How do you keep that together? Well, I mean, yes and no. I mean, I think that I look for people that are independent. Obviously, they've got to share the vision, but as issues come up, you know, they've got to give their best judgment on all this stuff. And you don't want to just have a bunch of yes men around. And so you want them to be able to articulate, hey, I think this, I think that, and not fear that they have to just tell me what I want to hear. Here's the thing, I don't want anyone blow and smoke up my rear end. I just don't care. If I'm looking to hire somebody and somebody's flattering me, that may. makes no difference to me. I'm looking at what type of the job you can do. Do you share the vision? Do you

Starting point is 00:30:49 have the aptitude? And most importantly, do you have the backbone to be doing this stuff when you're going to have opposition? And that's doubly true when you get to Washington because anything worth doing is going to be opposed by the bureaucracy, by the media, by the left. And so you've got to have people that have some strength and have some fortitude. So that's what I look for. And I definitely don't want people to just kind of flatter me. That does not go anywhere with me as a leader, and that's not how leaders should function. Okay. So it's pretty widely believed by most people that losing the vote of suburban women in the last election cost Trump that that election. one of the main criticisms of you of you personally your campaign has been that you're you're too

Starting point is 00:31:49 vanilla or you're not aggressive enough and do you think that's accurate or do you or uh it's more a reaction of our polarized landscape that we have it's so hard to find that middle ground what are your thoughts on that? Well, look, in Florida, I won women by 9%. Republicans usually get killed in there. I want 50% of single women. So we showed an ability to deliver big results from constituencies that don't always support Republicans. I mean, I was when in urban areas, like Miami-Dade by double digits. No one thought that was possible. So I have a record of doing that. I do agree. There are people in the suburbs. women, but not just women, I think that there are other suburban voters who just aren't going to do Trump.

Starting point is 00:32:41 I mean, like, he's just a deal breaker for them. I've seen it personally. In 2018, I was running for governor. And there were people that, they didn't even know me. They just like, if Trump's forum, I'm against. That was it. And then in 22, the people that voted against me in 18 who flipped for me, Trump was the number one reason. He wasn't a factor in 22. He actually was throwing shade at me before the election. So that is just the reality, I think that Republican, and I think that that hurdle is going to be tough for him if he were to be the nominee, whereas I think I've shown an ability to necessarily get the job done. Look, I don't know what they're talking about in terms of not being aggressive enough. I mean, I've delivered on more wins than any Republican. I would put it up with, I mean, Steve Dase, who's the great talk show host here in Iowa, you know, he says that we have done more conservative victories in Florida than any Republican. in the 21st century. And look, there's other good ones, Kim and others. But we have a record of

Starting point is 00:33:41 achievement that is second to none. And I am beating the left on all these issues. You know, we're beating the teachers union on universal school choice. I'm beating Fauci on COVID. I'm beating George Soros on removing two of these radical prosecutors. I'm beating the Democrats on election integrity, having voter universal voter ID and no ballot harvesting. I beat the left on banning China from banning buying farmland. So on all those, we're not only fighting for the people, we're winning these fights. And that's what you want out of a leader. And we've shown an ability to do that time and time again. This is kind of a fun one. I just wanted to throw in there. But I know this is close to your heart. So what is your opinion on the college football playoff? So here's the thing. So I didn't go to

Starting point is 00:34:30 any of the state schools, but I grew up in Florida when Florida football between Miami, Florida, and Florida State, 80s, 90s, even in the 2000s, I mean, it was the cream of the crop. If you were the best team in Florida, you were probably the best team in the United States. And since Florida State won in 2013, it's been relatively slim pickings in Florida. And this occurred to me. But my rooting interest is just, I want to get back to there. We have great high school football. So my first year as governor, I said, you know, I told my stuff, I want to sign congratulations letters to all of our Blue Chip high school recruits. And so they give me a stack of letters. So I'm doing it. And I'm reading this

Starting point is 00:35:10 because they type it up. It's like, dear Johnny, congratulations on signing with the University of Alabama. Dear Mike, congratulations on signing with Clemson. Dear Ted, congratulations on signing with Georgia. And I'm like, wait a minute. They didn't used to leave the state like this. Why am I congratulating them for leaving the state? So I could kind of see how those other programs were getting a lot of great talent here. And it makes sense that we are the, so Florida State this year was really the first time a Florida team has been competitive for a national championship in a number of years. And obviously as governor, I was rooting for him. We live in the

Starting point is 00:35:47 governor's residence in Tallahassee. So my kids, that's where they've grown up. I mean, my daughter, who's now in first grade, was two when we moved in. My son who's in kindergarten was nine months. And our third wasn't even born yet. So they have become null. And so they, you know, I told them a month ago, they're asking about college football, what other games left. I said, guys, listen, if Florida State wins the rest of their games and wins the conference championship, they'll be undefeated. They will make the playoff. They have to make the playoff. And so they go undefeated and they don't make the playoff.

Starting point is 00:36:17 And my kids are like, Daddy, you told us that would do. Now they understand that it was the committee that did it. And so they've kind of learned. And so my son will be like, oh, the committee, you know, they won it. Alabama. And I think there's a lot of reason. First of all, Alabama and Texas are good teams. I mean, it isn't like they're not. And I think Florida State was downgraded because we lost our quarterback, Jordan Travis. And if Jordan had been healthy, I think they probably would have gotten in. So I get that. But it's like, okay, you do everything right. It's a team. It's a team game.

Starting point is 00:36:48 right as a as a as a as a team and then you're not in it's interesting so my son is five he's like a sports nut so he knows all this stuff about about sports so we were in sue city the morning of the oh iowa michigan big 10 championship game and you know we've got a crowd of people there i get called up i bring him up we're wave i'm getting ready to do my thing and i'm like you know what i'm going to ask him a football question i didn't rehearse it with him and i was like mason who's going to win the iowa versus michigan game And as I'm putting the microphone down in front of his face, I'm thinking of myself, if this kid chooses Michigan, he's going to get booed at age five, right?

Starting point is 00:37:25 So I put the microphone down and he just kind of looked and he's like, Iowa and everyone started cheering and everyone was happy. So he has rooted for that. It's interesting now. We were in, on Sunday night, because my wife and kids have been in town campaigning recently with us, we were, she called me. I was done at five o'clock from all our events. And so she's like, I'm thinking about taking the kids to Cracker Barrel.

Starting point is 00:37:48 And that obviously in the southeast is like a big deal. But I told her, I said, wait a minute, I've talked to all the people here in Iowa. They all say machine shed is the place to go. So we ended up doing machine shed. First of all, it was excellent. But they have a whole bunch of gifts and everything you do. So my son found an Iowa State football field checker board. And he was so obsessed with this.

Starting point is 00:38:11 So he's learned how to play checkers because of that thing. So now he's like he's always talking about Iowa State. And then last night, we stayed in a hotel right across the street from the University of Iowa football stadium. So he's like looking out the window, like so excited about the stadium. So our kids are big into sports. They're disappointed about the Florida state stuff. But I think ultimately we'll be able to compete for a national championship in the future. They just got to extend the playoff.

Starting point is 00:38:39 That's coming, though. That's coming. Yeah, it would be interesting to see on the 12 to 12 team what that does to the regular season. because clearly for someone's going to be unhappy, as you get to 12, there's usually not 12 teams that are going to compete for national title. So it'll just be interesting to see. Well, last question, Governor. How do we get America back on track?

Starting point is 00:39:01 What's your game plan? What's the blueprint? And what are some final thoughts you want to leave with the listeners, viewers? Well, we have to recognize that the decline we're seeing in our country across economy, culture, educational, that that's not inevitable. Ultimately, it's a choice. It's a choice we as Americans get to make. It's a choice Iowans will get to make and who they caucus for. It's a choice that other Republicans and other states will be able to make in primaries and, of course, general election in November 2024.

Starting point is 00:39:31 It's not inevitable. We can reverse the trajectory. We need a new birth of freedom throughout this country. And we need to usher in a revival of the American spirit. Every generation of Americans, when freedom has been at risk, they've stepped up, sacrificed, did what they did, needed to do so the future generations would have opportunity. As it's going now, my kids, your kids, grandkids are going to have less freedom and less opportunity than what we had when we were growing up. And if we allow that to happen, we're breaking faith with every generation of Americans that have come before us. And so my mission is very simple. We can't let that happen. I am not going to accept the managed decline of this country. I am not going to accept this idea

Starting point is 00:40:13 that we can't succeed again. So we're going to reverse the trajectory. I'm going to be a change agent in Washington. I don't want to be liked in Washington. I don't care about the media, the bureaucrats, any of that. I want to return this government to we, the people. It's gotten way outside its skis. It's focusing on issues that these entrenched elites care about,

Starting point is 00:40:36 and it's leaving Americans behind. And we need to change that. And I think if we change that, you're going to see success across the board. I'll take care of the border. That's the one thing about me. When I say I'm going to do something, I do do it. I don't just believe in campaign slogans. We're going to get the economy in a better shape. We're going to downsize the bureaucracy. We're going to crack down on crime in these liberal areas in particular. We're going to rebuild our military. We're going to make sure education is not about indoctrination, but classical education again.

Starting point is 00:41:07 So we have so much to do. I've got the energy and the aptitude to do it. I have the leadership ability to bring people together. And I can do it for two four-year terms. I don't think a one four-year term is enough because the next guy comes in and they can reverse the progress. If you want this stuff to stick for the long term, you need a two-term president. Thousand percent. Well, it's been an absolute pleasure, Governor. Thank you for coming on. How do people learn more? How can they help you? So you go to our website, which is just rondasantis.com. You can sign up. You can volunteer. You can donate. obviously we want you to sign up if you're in Iowa or Iowa Republicans. We want you to caucus for us.

Starting point is 00:41:47 I'm asking for you to do that. I'm asking for you to bring out friends, family, neighbors, loved ones to be able to do because ultimately the people get to decide this. I know the media has narratives about what they want to see. We're not going to let the media decide this stuff. We're going to decide this stuff. You can also text Freedom to Five, One, Two, Three, Four, Five. Freedom to Five, One, Two, Three, Four, Five. and we'd be honored to have your support. Awesome. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir.

Starting point is 00:42:14 Well, what did you think about that? Well, I think when we first started, I was shitting my pants a little bit. I was definitely a little nervous. But I think it went well. I think it went smooth. It's hard when you, I mean, that was the first time we ever interviewed somebody or had a conversation with somebody like his caliber. And, you know, they tell you beforehand, okay, we got like 35, 40 minutes.

Starting point is 00:42:37 So get it out. Get as much as you can out. And like, you know, some of that we'd love to, we'd love to dive in deeper, but you're just, you got that clock ticking in the back of your head that you're thinking, okay, well, let's get through what we think the American people want to hear, you know. So that's just the hardest part about it, I would think. But overall, I thought it went pretty smooth. I think, I think it was, I think it was good.

Starting point is 00:43:02 We asked, I feel like we asked good questions, but I agree with you. One thing that I think you'll notice, all of you will notice is, I don't think. that podcast will it obviously doesn't flow like it usually does because you're so limited on asking a follow-up that you have to go from one subject to the next to try to get them all through and honestly that did go really well because at one point I was looking at my sheet when he was talking and I looked at the I looked at the monitor and I for just a minute I was like oh shit we're going to run out of questions because we were really getting them through but we ended up fine.

Starting point is 00:43:42 I would have liked to have asked him about his military history, you know, about, because he played, he went to, he went to college on a baseball scholarship. In fact, he went to Harvard on a baseball scholarship because his team was state champions, you know, and he was a really good baseball player. And then when he got out of college,

Starting point is 00:44:03 9-11 happened, and he was going to law school. Actually, I think he went to law school after Harvard, and then 9-11 happened, and he joined the military. And I think it'd be a really interesting story, but it's not, you know, here we are, it's, it's caucus season, and like, that's not a, yeah, I feel like what we wanted to do was really speak to you guys, you know, and what we think most people are thinking and try to get his answers on some of that. I think, you know, the game plan going in was like, okay, could we, let's get some questions on policy, questions about ag, because I'm sure he's not going to get that everywhere.

Starting point is 00:44:42 And then the football question was kind of just a fun one. Maybe we could have threw them a little bit more fun ones in, but it's like you said, you're thinking about that clock. So I thought I went, like I said, I think I went pretty well. And he said that, you know, they would be interested in coming back on again, maybe in the future, and maybe we'll have a little bit more time to run. But to any of you other candidates out there on either side of the aisle, we would love the opportunity to sit down with you and have a conversation and really just hash stuff out.

Starting point is 00:45:13 And we will go as long as you want to go. So if you want to go long, we'll go long. But like Dad said in the beginning of this podcast, none of this would be possible without you guys. The fact that you leave a review or share the show or put it on social media, we're just absolutely humbled and blown away by it. And we're loving every second. and like we're joking before we got started today like you would ask my government teacher in high school or my history teacher in high school if this would have they would have never thought that i would have ever been in a position to do something like this so it's pretty cool but thank you guys seriously yep 100% i always i always tell the story that i got to write the study hall rules a lot because i'd get detention i seem to talk a lot in class and my study hall teacher told me once that uh torque you'll never get anywhere just running your mouth. And I'm telling you, I'm going places. So anyway. Okay, well, uh, that's going to do it, guys. If you got any value from the show, which I hope you did, please share it out. Leave review on Spotify or Apple. Uh, submit your questions for BarnTalk

Starting point is 00:46:24 Q&As at BarnTalk Show at Gmail.com. And we'll see you back here next week for another episode.

Barn Talk - Governor Ron DeSantis on America's Future: Border Control, Ag Policies & Taking Washington Head-On

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