May 2, 2022
• 38 mins
He's the most talked about Governor in America. He led Florida through COVID successfully by rejecting Anthony Fauci and the CDC. Now he’s fighting woke culture, the media, and protecting our children from indoctrination. On every issue, Gov. Ron DeSantis has led the way and he sits down with Lisa for an in-depth interview where he opens up about his life and family. Together, they break down the culture war, his future ambitions, and so much more! You don’t want to miss this interview.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Guess what. I'm back. This is the second season of
the Truth with Lisa Booth, and I have big news
for you guys. We're moving to twice per week, every
Monday every Thursday. Every week you can expect new episodes
of the Truth with Lisa Booth, and we are starting
with a banger. He's the most talked about governor in
(00:21):
America and he's also my governor. Governor run to Santi's.
He led Florida through COVID by rejecting Anthony Fauchery, rejecting
the CDC, showing the rest of the country that lockdowns
don't work. And I don't want to know what this
country would look like if it wasn't for Florida and
Governor Ron de Santa's leading the way for freedom, standing
(00:42):
against their totalitarians. And now he's taking on what culture.
He's fighting the left, fighting the media, and protecting children
from indoctrination. And for this episode, I wanted to get
into all those issues, and we do, but I also
wanted to get into the governor's thought process. How does
he make decisions? Who is Governor Ron de Santis. We
(01:04):
talked about his family and his upbringing as well, and
if you haven't checked out his bio. It's insane. The
guy's a complete stud He went to Yale University, where
he graduated with honors from the captain of the varsity
baseball team. He graduated with honors from Harvard Law School. There,
he earned a commission in the U. S. Navy as
a JAG officer. Then, during active duty service, he deployed
(01:24):
to Iraq as an advisor to YOS Navy commander, and
his military decorations include the Bronze Star Medal for Meritorious
service in the Iraq Campaign Medal. This was also my
first in person interview, and I went to a press
conference he gave about the Stock Woke Act. We're gonna
get into that and so much more. I hope you
love this interview. I know I do. Here's my conversation
(01:45):
with Governor Ron de Santis. All right, this is the
first episode of my second season of The Truth with
Leaves and Booth, and I am sitting that to the
best governor in America who happens to me, my governor,
because I fled Communists New York to come here. Governor,
(02:06):
it's such an honor to have you on the show. Well,
thanks for having me, and I think you, how long
have you been in Florida now over a year? It's
like a year and a half. You should put me
on the board of tourism. There we go, there we go.
I'm constantly selling the state. So most people who have moved,
in fact, everyone that talks to me, none of them regretted.
And I know you've really enjoyed it. So it means
a lot to us. It's like living in paradise. It's well, actually,
(02:26):
if you're conservative, come here. If you're not at stale, Well,
I think that's what's happening. I mean, I think we
really because of what we've done. People are so sensitive,
particularly with COVID, about the type of state government they
live under, and they know it can affect everything from
their kids education to even being able to work and
doing all these things. Like we saw the crazy policies,
and so they are voting with their feet and we
(02:47):
have seen a huge shift towards Republicans since I've been governor.
Well and speaking of crazy policies, So you just held
a press conference for the Stop Woke Act? What is it?
Why was it needed? Told the audience about it? Whoa
in this context stands for Stop Wrongs against Our Kids
and Employees Act, and so part of it is giving
parents the ability to hold school districts accountable who do
(03:10):
critical race theory, which is not allowed in Florida's schools.
Part of it also is to give employees, particularly from
these big companies of civil rights protection against having this
oppressive woke ideology imposed on them for job trainings. People
are having to be told that they have to confess
their white privilege and all this other stuff, and honestly
it's asinine. And so we really, with this bill are
(03:32):
doing more to battle wokeness and CRT than any state
is done in the country. And stop woke at Did
you come up with that on your own? That's that's good.
That was my That's good. I like it. So I
wanted to sincerely thank you for providing me safe refuge,
because if it wasn't for you keeping Florida free, I
might be in a gulag somewhere for the unvaccinated. And
(03:52):
like I say that in jess but also in sincerity.
I don't know if you saw that Rasmussen poll from
not too long ago where you looked at Biden supporters
of UM favored the government putting the unvaccinated and designated
facilities of Democrats more broadly supported taking children away from
parents who weren't vaccinated. How far were we and how
(04:12):
far are we from those kinds of scenarios taking fold well.
I think if Florida had not stood up against that
and many other bad policies, I think that those would
have taken hold of the whole country. We'd look more
like Canada right now. We were the first state over
a year ago we banned vaccine passports. And when we
did it, the left had a connection. But even some
of these quote libertarians like, oh, you're banning passports with
(04:34):
a private business, and I'm like, yeah, I am, because
your rights should not be circumscribed in terms of just
participating in society based on this COVID shot. It's a
private matter, and if one business does it, then people
are gonna say, Florida has passports and we don't allow them.
The result of that was we had the biggest domestic
tourism yere in and we had in the history of
(04:57):
the state, and we had more foreign visitors to f
or the New York City did. New York City has
led for like the last twenty years. They wouldn't be
coming here if they had to show paperwork to go
get a hamburger. What we did was good for the individual,
but it was also good for our state. And I
think if you look at what we did to ban
school districts from forcing the kids to get the COVID
(05:18):
vacs very very early on, that gave so many parents
a good peace of mind. We have had families moved
to Florida just because of that issue. I don't know
how it went from make it available to people, particularly
senior citizens, to all of a sudden being you know,
you're not gonna even be able to leave your home.
Some people have said, if you don't get this COVID shot,
I know, by the way the COVID say what you
(05:40):
want about it, it does not prevent you from spreading
it or getting infected anyways. And so I thought it
was a huge, huge threat to freedom. I think we
held the line, and I think because we held the line,
I think other states in fall. In fact, it's been
reported in some of these liberal publications that Fauci and
some of these people in Biden's White House wanted him
to do more draconian restrictions particularly with interstate travel and
(06:04):
vax passes, and some of his political guy said, you know,
if you do that, Governor de Santis is going to
light you up, and I would have and good for
you for that. I mean, you know, I think that's
why conservatives are just loving hearing what you're doing, seeing
what you're doing here in Florida, really holding the line
and going on the offense. And right now we're sort
of seeing these diverging viewpoints in the Republican Party, like
(06:24):
particularly when you look at what's going on with Disney,
and there's one school of thought where, you know, Republicans
were based to sort of see those numbers that I
mentioned with Rasmussen and understand that there's some of the
left that would put you away or take your kids
away for your beliefs, right, And then there's this other
side of the Republican Party who thinks you can reason
with people who hold those thoughts. You know, for instance,
on Disney, Charles Cook with the National Review, so that
(06:46):
there was no need for you in the Florida legislature,
Dessault the earth, take revenge or make Florida's policies worse.
You know, how should we approach today's left. Well, look,
all I would say is if you think one California
ace company having their own government and having separate rules
from everybody else in Florida is good policy, I'd like
(07:07):
to know how you're coming to that conclusion. I mean,
the fact of the matter is this was an aberration
when it was done in the sixties to draw them in,
and maybe it was the right thing then, I don't know,
but now, uh, it is just not justifiable at all.
And so the question is is not that, oh, you're
doing it to for quote revenge. The issue is is
Disney really damaged his political standing in Florida. The legislature
(07:30):
would never have considered doing this even six months ago.
But because Disney is coming out and supporting transgender ideology
and young kids, kids education. You saw the zoom calls
where these higher ups in Disney are talking about, we
have this agenda to really get in the kids programming.
There's not a lot of defenders of Disney right now,
so you're able to look at this with a fresh
set of eyes and say, you know, what, is this
(07:51):
really the partnership that the state of Florida once and
I didn't think it was. I would have. I would
have signed this bill if they had passed it two
years a just on on substance, but particularly now when
their corporate culture is dedicated to that. And they also
came out saying they're going to make an admission to
repeal parents rights in Florida. So yes, we signed the bill.
(08:12):
We quote quote one politically whatever that means. But they
said they're coming to really do damage in Florida, and
so we've got to take that seriously. Why would corporations
need to be involved in the first place in Florida
politics or politics of a state. Well, I think what
I've always said is these businesses have every right. It's
a free country. You ever right, But if you get
into the political thicket, then just understand. You know, we're
(08:33):
gonna tussle, we're gonna fight back, and we're gonna expose
what you do. When Disney criticizes Florida, they don't say
a word about the Communist Party in China. In China,
they don't say a word about the Weakers, they don't
say a word about a lot of the places they
do business in who will actually execute homosexuals, and so
saying that there's somehow this big l v g q
uh not when it affects their bottom line. They're willing
(08:54):
to do business in a lot of very bad places.
And so to single Florida out just by saying that
you shouldn't have this transgender ideology and young kids classrooms
was was really weird. But I think that what's happening
in corporate America is some of the executives are woke
and they think that they have this um. I think
most of it, though, is there's cabals of employees who
are very radical, and I don't think they represent the
(09:17):
kind of the overall viewpoint of the employees. But I
think most of these other employees are scared to speak
out because if you speak out against this stuff, people
will attack you. They'll come after you. Mean, for example,
with the women's sports, you know we were very strong
and saying what they did in that five yard freestyle
to have a male swimmer who swam for three years
on the men's team then switched to women, and you
say that's the women's champion. You're depriving these other women
(09:40):
of fair opportunities and wanted the second place finisher quote
unquote should have won the Championshiship was from Florida. So
we put out a proclamation and people would tell me, Governor,
thanks for standing up for this. We're too scared to
speak out because we're worried about the consequences. So I
think what's happened in these companies is they just have
a lot of momentum. There's really nobody that's pushing back
again in STEM and so they end up having an
(10:02):
outsized influence. But I do not think that woke impulse
represents a majority of of employees, even in Disney in California,
certainly not Disney in Orlando. I mean they when they
did the big day of protest, they had one employee
protests in Orlando. I think most of those employee, Yeah,
I think most of those employees either supported the bill
or just didn't think Disney should get involved with it.
(10:23):
And so but but I do think this is going
to increasingly be an issue. And so what do we
do as conservatives? Do we allow massive corporate power to
get behind a very pernicious ideology and impose that on
society and what we just say free market and don't
do anything while everything is getting steamrolled. I don't think
you can do that, So I think you get in
the arena and you fight back, and that's what we're doing.
(10:46):
Do you think corporations will think twice before weighing in
on some of the stuff now? Think they will? In Florida? Yeah?
I think so too. You know, I wanted to ask
you so that the Florida Department of Health has issued
guidelines for treating gender dysmorphia, recommending against gender transition, purity
block gers, and hormones. But would you support a state
law banning any of those medical interventions for children? I
would ban the Yeah, I would ban the sex shade
(11:08):
of the operations. I think that it's something that you
can't get a tattoo if you're if you're twelve years old.
When they say gender firm and care me, what they
mean a lot of times is you are really you're
catstrating a young boy, you're sterilizing a young girl. You're
you're doing missectomies for for these very young girls. And
here's the thing what our guidance pointed to in the
Surgeon General did a great job for these young kids.
(11:30):
Eight percent of the cases resolve themselves as they grow up.
And so you're doing things that are permanently altering them
and then they're not going to be able to reverse that,
and so I don't think it's appropriate for kids at all.
I think the guidance is right, but I think that
there should be additional protections because you know, when you're
growing up, there are things that you know, it's an
awkward time, and it seems like there there's a concerted
(11:53):
effort ince society to push these kids in to do
some type of medical intervention. In our judgment, that's not healthy.
Well's gonna ask you, why do you think the left
is digging their heels in so hard on some of
these issues. I mean, there's literally a Netflix series right
now called He's Expecting, which you know, I wasn't aware
that's possible, but you know, and obviously they have attacked
to you for the parental rights bill. You know, they've
(12:15):
stood behind men playing in women's sports. So why why
are they digging their heels in on this? I can't
explain it. I just think they're they have a very
militant left to ideology. I think their view is, you know,
they want to assault the earth of society and upend
all these different conventions. I mean, you know, the House
of representatives under Pelosi. At the beginning of this current Congress,
they voted to ban using the words on the house
(12:36):
floor mother, sister, daughter, things like that. They said it
was not inclusive enough. And I think most people see
that and they're like, this is nuts. When they see
that picture of the swim, you know, champion versus and
then you have the other three girls hugging off to
the side. They're looking at that. They're like, come on,
when you tell me that a man can get pregnant,
I'm not down with that. I know that that's not true.
(12:57):
So I think it's been very a damaging to them
politically because the more the left is, i mean fairly
tagged with those views, I think it's abhorrent to a
lot of folks. And I think that's part of the
reason why you see so many particularly working class constituencies
fleeing the left and gonna probably vote Republican this year.
Quit commercial break and then back with Governor Rhnde Stantis.
(13:24):
I think if you're out there having to explain where
you're not a groomer like, you might be losing the debate. Yeah,
And I think it's interesting because the parents rights in
education we did to stop woke AC was one of
my big initiatives, and we also did curriculum transparency. Every
parent has the right to know what curriculum is being
used in the schools. You think that would be common sense.
The left fights you on that. They believe when your
kid goes to school, they get their hooks into the kids,
(13:47):
and you, as a parents should budd out. And that's
a that's a seminal battle that we're fighting parents rights
in education. When they were doing it, you know, it
wasn't necessarily something that that I was terribly involved with
because I didn't realize the extent to which this was
happening in these young grades. But you see the curriculum.
They have the gender unicorn which says, oh, you know,
you can do this or that, the gender bread man
(14:09):
they have that clearly is all geared towards very very
young kids, these kids that are in first and second
third grade. And I was like, when the media started
making a big deal about it it was going through
the legislative process, I had my staff pull the language
and I read it. I'm like, are you kidding me?
Are they really going to fight this battle saying that
we need to have sexuality and transgender and grades K
(14:31):
through three. It's like, I can't believe that that would
be a winning issue, and so I started speaking out,
and we you know, we made sure it got across
the finish line, be signed the legislation. But I do
think that there's a school of thought that is, you
gotta get this ideology into them when they're young. If
you don't, the parents are going to raise them differently,
and then it's gonna be harder to kind of change
(14:51):
their due. So I think it's you know, I don't
think it's necessarily you know, from a sexual perspective. I
think what it is is an ideological perspective. They're trying
to grow people to be uh more ideological in their viewpoints,
and they think starting younger is going to get them there.
I mean, it's indoctrination, of course, and that's when Florida,
that's the bright line we draw. We want quality education.
(15:13):
We have no tolerance for indoctrination in our schools. That's
why we're doing the critical race theory. That's why we're
doing stuff with the curriculum transparency. That's why we're making
sure that all the textbooks meet state standards in Florida,
and we are going to be vigorous and enforcing that
distinction between education and indoctrination. It seems like people were
(15:34):
sort of very submissive and taking a lot with COVID,
and then once they started seeing some of the stuff
their kids were being taught with critical it's sort of
race theory. It's sort of woke a sleeping beast, right,
Like we saw with Virginia, parents really rising up, going
to school boards, getting more involved, and you really just
speaking out in a way that they weren't about some
of these COVID issues. I mean, where do you think
this goes with? You know, now they're pushing against parental
(15:57):
rights on this transgender stuff, and where does this all go. Well.
I think what they've done is they have really changed
the political landscape to where now some of the most
important elections for voters are these school board races. If
you go back even four years ago, no one really
cared about the school board I mean some did, but
they were not hot button issues. They were not high profile.
(16:17):
These are in Florida. They're gonna be some of the
most high profile races. Part of the reason is our
school boards races are nonpartisan, so you'll have these kind
of deep red counties that will elect somebody who is
running kind of as a fake conservative, but really back
by the Union and the Left. They get in and
they force mass kids. They have the the the indoctrination
and all that stuff. So now parents are on high
(16:39):
alert about this, and I think you're going to see,
particularly Republicans, they're gonna come out with a vengeance and
they are going to want to make sure they hold
some of these bad school board members accountable for what
they did over the last two years. But I think
it's a beautiful thing because that your parents should be
involved in their kid's life. They should be involved in
what their kids are being taught. Its parency is a
(17:00):
good thing. And you know, speaking of fatherhood, so you
recently signed a bill addressed the addressing the decline of fatherhood.
You have three adorable children. Why do you think we've
had this decline of fatherhood and a decline in recognizing
the importance of it. Well, I think if you look back,
you go back to the nineteen fifties, I mean, the
(17:20):
family was very strong across the board, and I think
you've seen increasingly fewer and fewer kids have fathers. In
the home. You know, people will point to how that's
happened in the black community, and it has, but it's
happened in all communities to a certain extent. And so
I think it's a problem, you know, that's not just
confined to the inner city. I think it's something that
is we've really seen society wide. The fact of the
(17:42):
matter is, when you have a father in the home, uh,
the kids chance of dropping out of school declines, the
kids chance to get trouble with the law declines, the
chances they will do drugs declines. And these are just
very very powerful metrics that are repeated across every community,
every state, UH, and every country. And so our view
is is we want to make sure that we're promoting
(18:04):
this is something that parents understand. Fathers understand this is
their responsibility they need to be involved, but also providing
the type of resources that would help some of these
guys get back into their kids lives. So, for example,
one of the things that bill does is it allows
some of these nonprofit groups to apply for grants. So
we had Tony Dungee was the former coach of the
Colts and the Bucks. Great guy. He has on all
pro Dad's Group, and so we've worked with them since
(18:26):
I've been governor. They do a great job. And he
told the story of why he founded that because he
went to a prison with one of the ministers in
the Tampa Bay area when who's the coach of the Bucks,
and he looked at all everybody who had gotten in
trouble and he noticed that and what in his words,
he's like, it wasn't because they were poor, or because
of their race, or because of their religion. The reason
they ended up in prison was because they did not
have a father in the home. That was the one
(18:48):
thing that was there. And so their organization really works
to help to help some of these dads play a
more meaningful role in their life. And so there's a
lot we talked about in politics and public policy. If
you could snap your fingers and just guarantee that every
kid had a loving father in the home, you would
see huge benefits and all these other metrics in societies.
(19:09):
It's not that simple to do. What we did is
not like what we did is going to wholly solve
the problem. But that basic reality about whether the father's
president involved or not is going to tell you a
lot about that kid's prospects in life. I mean I
was kind of a handful growing up, if people can
imagine sis. I was very fortunate to have, you know,
two parents who have supported me and kept steering me
(19:30):
in a better direction. Quick break back with my governor
and the governor of Florida, Governor Ron de Santis, what's
your favorite thing about being a father? You know, I
think it's just being able to to watch them have
new experiences. I mean I think, like, you know, you
take them to to go to a baseball game and
their eyes light up. You take them to that. We
(19:51):
take them to like the fairs in Florida. So we
took them to Florida State Fair, the Strawberry Festival, playing City,
Clay County, you name it, and they get so happy.
So we're fortunate. I mean, on the one hand, we
are unique family situation five four And to our kids,
their whole real uh recollections are all since I've been governor.
(20:12):
I mean my daughter had just turned to right after
I had gotten elected, and so this is kind of
their frame of reference. And you know, I also often
think about, like, you know, how is that going to
work as they grow up? I mean, we want to
make sure that they're grounded and know that that's kind
of not a normal experience. It certainly, and I was
a blue collar kid growing up, and it was the
farthest thing that I would have thought of, So we
think about that. So that's a challenge. But the good
(20:34):
thing is is we're able to do a lot of
different stuff just by going around the state and showing them.
Offering my oldest daughter to press conferences. She will just
stand right next to the podium, behaves very well. I do.
I do the questions other people, and then I'll take
her to grab my scream or whatever, and then we
go back. And so they're able to get these experiences
and then to see how they react about it and
to see kind of what they really like and what
(20:55):
makes them happy. Is something that I that I just
get a lot of a lot of gratification about. But
it's a big responsibility and it's something that my wife
and I take serious. You know, we had our first
daughter right before my third term in Congress, and so
the first two years, you go up three nights of
the week, you come back and whatever. You spend probably
more time in your home district, and not that that
was ideal. But the minute we had Madison, I'm in
(21:17):
d C. And I'm like, what the hell am I
doing here? Like, honestly, it's like talking on zoom. Just
that are talking on the FaceTime just doesn't work. And
so I was like, all right. That was one of
the quite frankly, the reasons I ran for governor. It's
more family friendly. I can go out and here we're
here in Miami together, in Miami area. I can be
back home and I have an engagement tonight. It just
so happens. But normally i'm home. I mean it worked
(21:38):
for me. I mean I'm home doing a lot of
different stuff, even having a full day around the state,
And you could not do that in Congress. And so
but it's something that we're we really work hard to
make sure that we're spending time. You've mentioned you grew
up in a blue color family. Talk a little bit
about that, Talk a little bit about your childhood. Yeah, so,
I mean we I grew up in Dunedin, Florida, which
(21:58):
is in Panellas County, that Ampa St. Pete area. I
was born in Jacksonville. My mother was a nurse. My
father worked for Nielsen TV ratings and so back then,
you know, the Nielsen families had to put a box
on their TV in any given area to be able
to rate what they were watching. So that was what
he did, and so we That job took us from
Jacksonville to Orlando, and then when I was in first grade,
(22:19):
we ended up in Dunedin in the Tampa Bay area,
and so I grew up. There was great place to
grow up in the sense I love baseball and it
was a great baseball town. And we did well and
Little League go into the Little League World Series. I
had a good program in high school. It ended up
sending me to play baseball at Yale. But you know,
I never had anything handed to me. I mean I
had to work hard. I never expected anything to be
(22:40):
handed to me. And I think I was able to
develop that work ethic as a young age and that
really propelled me as I got into college, beyond the military,
and then even as as a candidate for for office,
really uh having to earn it. The mentality has kind
of changed, though. I Mean you look at a lot
of these younger generations, they sort of think that things
should be handed Tom And here's the thing too, and
(23:01):
it kind of plays in the CRT. So they will
tell certain kids, you know, based on your race, you're oppressed,
and they will say how bad the country is. Well,
if I'm a young kid and you're telling me I
have no chance, why would I want to work hard? Then?
The reason I worked hard is because I believed if
I worked hard, I would be able to make things happen,
I'd be able to open doors, I'd be able to
have more opportunities. And so what we're doing here today,
(23:23):
what I said at the event is do not let
anybody tell you you can't succeed in Florida. You can succeed.
And the most important thing to your success is what
you do as an individual. Are you gonna work hard?
Are you going to make sure you don't waste the
talent that God gave you? Are you gonna get everything
out of what you got? And if you do, and
if you make that decision and you follow through, you
(23:44):
will find success. You may not find success immediately, you
may have some doors closed in your face, but eventually
you will get through the door. That has got to
be the message. You know, Look, if the kid honestly,
kids honestly don't believe they have a chance, that our
country is bad or all this other stuff. You know,
then I can understand why they wouldn't want to put
in a lot of effort because it wasn't easy. I mean,
I did all kinds of low paying jobs as an
(24:05):
eight year old kid, and I had to do it
to make my way in the world. And I would
never have done that if I thought there was no
reason to do it. Yeah, I started off as a
staff assistant. I always like to say I was saving
the world one flag requested. You know, it's sort of
a bankleish job, but you know it got me to
where I am now, so you know it was fun.
So I that mentality is probably, as you said, prepared
(24:26):
you for the job that you have because you face
a lot of criticism. Right, So you've got some of
your critics. Nicki Freed called you a dictator. The Democratic
governor of Colorado called you a socialist. How would you
define your governing philosophy? Well, first, I would just say
how ridiculous some of these criticisms are. And you can tell, like,
if you're over the target and they're lobbying these these
phony criticisms, then they must not have substance to critique you. On.
(24:49):
I mean the idea that taking away special rights for
one favored corporation is socialist. That's the opposite of that.
It's making them live under the same laws as everybody else.
She'll say. You know, when you have people say like
I'm dictating just because I'm leading and winning, because I'm
getting things through the legislature, I have a good relationship
with them. We put big win after big win on
the board, and they will say that I'm dictating the
(25:11):
outcomes when no, I'm going through the constitutional process to
be able to enact really significant legislation. And that's what
you should want to do. So when I became governor,
I sat down in the in the desk the first
day and I said, I looked around. I said, you know,
whatever s ob succeeds me, they ain't going to have
very much to do because I'm gonna take every meat
there is off the bone. I'm gonna get involved and
(25:33):
do all the issues I can. I'm going to make
the most you know, in Florida you have at most
eight years to four year terms and there's a term limit.
So I'm going to make sure we get all that
we can get out of this and that means leading
on issues and not sitting around and waiting to see
how it develops politically. For example, I have never taken
a poll since I've been governor. I just don't. I
(25:54):
believe what I believe. I have confidence that if you
set the vision and you execute that, people will support
that if it's the right thing to do. If I
sat around and waited on poll results all day, I'd
be paralyzed. I wouldn't be able to go out when
I see things that need action. Yeah, we debate, and
we're deliberative about the type of policy we want. We
make sure we formulate good policy. But man, I'm out there, um,
(26:16):
and I'm leading. And that's the thing. When you're leading
and the left attacking you, that is good feedback because
it means you're over the target. I mean, if if
some of these left wing outlets like MSNBC, if they're
ignoring me, and then that must mean I'm not getting
very much done. If they're constantly attacking me, while they're
attacking me for a reason because they know I'm winning
(26:36):
and they know Florida's really setting the standard across the country. Well,
and what's hilarious, m you were called death Stantus and
then originally with COVID because you're taking positions that were
contrary that's the word to the group think narrative and
what other states were doing, particularly left wing states and
this left wing administration. But then everyone sort of came
around to where you were originally. Well, I think it
(26:58):
became a cottage industry. Whether it was schools, whether it
was making sure businesses were open, whether it was making
sure that seniors were prioritized for medication, whether it was
banning vax mandates. We would do something, there'd be a
spasm in the media and amongst the left, and then
six to twelve months later, everybody else would end up
(27:18):
doing what Florida was doing all along. And that was
something that was pretty much. Uh, they became a cottage
industry throughout the last two years. Like how annoying was that?
Though seeing all the criticism and then knowing that Andrew
Cuomo literally sent elderly people to their death, it doesn't
bother me because a lot of these legacy outlets, they're
not trustworthy. I don't consume any of it, and that
(27:40):
would be true if I wasn't governor. Why would I
want to do that? When I know what they're doing
is trying to concoct narratives. They're not interested in telling
the truth. So you knew what they were doing by
trying to elevate Cuomo. But if you think about the
two people they tried to elevate the most, Cuomo and
Fauci not the best judge of who to try to
elevate during this because obviously quota well, you know, like
(28:00):
COVID is something you can't quote, just stop it. I mean,
it was a highly contagious respiratory virus. But if you
are taking somebody and you're sending a sick person into
the most vulnerable population nursing home residence, that's on the governor.
When you have somebody like Fauci who's agitating for school closures,
who's attacking me in Florida for having businesses open, knowing
(28:22):
that if I followed him, we would add hundreds of
thousands of people that would still be out of work today.
You know that is on him in the destruction that's
happened for people that have followed his policies. Now, he's
the worst. Um. Would you ever run for president? Would
you ever want to be a president? I've never been
asked that question before. It's it's it's it's funny. So
(28:43):
you know the interesting thing is is, um, I'm running
for for twenty two, so you'll be a Florida voter. No, No, obviously,
I'm one of my last for that and so we
do it. Um. But you know the interesting thing is,
you know people will have paraphernalia about me in the future.
People always bring it up to me and stuff, But
you know, I have never done anything along those lines.
I've basically just done my job. And so I think
(29:05):
what it shows is is that people just want to
see people that are willing to lead and willing to
fight for the people. Knowing you're gonna face arrows, knowing
you're gonna be able to uh to to to have
to be in the in the in the kitchen when
it gets hot. But who's gonna stand there and lead
us out of this morass? And so we just do
what we can do to help Florida. But it really
has had implications beyond the country. And really I get
(29:28):
people that right into Florida from other countries saying we
look to Florida as kind of the beacon. And that's
not something that I've tried to do. I'm just trying
to do my job here. But it has had a
resonance and it's it's something, quite frankly, is surprising to
me because when I got elected governor, I wasn't even
that well known. And then as I was governor before COVID,
I was known, but I was not known the way
(29:48):
the way I've become since COVID and all the other
issues that that we've taken on. So yeah, yeah, that's
a great answer to your club. Come on, give me
something that was a great you're avoiding it any I mean,
any desire at any point. So I've done nothing to
do anything other than just do do my job here.
(30:10):
This is a good job. I mean, I think if
you look at political jobs, I don't know that there'd
be very many that have been better, especially at this
point in time in the state's history, where we're really
doing things that this state has never done. There's a
lot of excitement. I think that after the election, my
goal would be, you know, if we if we win
the election, really big people like you who analyze these
things are going to say the days of Florida me
(30:30):
and a swing state are over. Florida is a red state,
and I think that's because of a lot of what
we've done. I mean, I hope so because I moved
down here, so I'm now a Floridian, so I want
to keep living. Well, here's what I'll tell you. Since COVID,
we've led the nation and in state my in migration.
If you look at all forty nine other states and
who has come from those states to Florida, each one
of the forty nine states has had more Republicans moved
(30:53):
to Florida than Democrats. New York, California, Illinois, you name it.
The results since I've been governor. We were down through
inner thousand registrations to the Democrats when I got elected.
Now we're up a hundred and twenty thousand registrations. That's
a four hundred thousand registration shift in favor of Republicans
since I've been governor. At this pace, we're probably gonna
(31:13):
be over five hundred thousand by the election. So that
is a huge sea change. So that's telling me the
people like you who came for a reason are the norm.
And some of the people who would come from these
blue state dumpster fires and then still vote the same
way when they come here that they are indefinitely the
distinct minority, which is which is a good thing. It's
a very good thing. So I wanted to ask you,
(31:34):
how how is your wife doing? I know she recently
had a cancer battle. Now she is cancer free. How
how's she doing. So she's doing well. So she had
to go through a lot of the treatments and all
that she was declared cancer free, but they still do
the radiation stuff and so she's in the process of
finishing that. So basically at this time next week she's
going to be done with with everything, and she'll still
(31:55):
have to go in and get periodic tests and scans.
But uh, it's not an easy thing to go through.
But but from a prognosis perspective, I think it's gone
about as well as we could have hoped. But I
think you know, one thing I would just say to
women out there, having gone through this with her, is
you know this is something that you can be you know,
you get that diagnosis, it's it changes your world. It's
something that's very scary for a lot of women, of course,
(32:17):
but just know that that they do very well with
this and it's not going to be easy to go through.
But but you're gonna get through it. And I think
my wife has really been an inspiration for a lot
of people in this state. You know, the hospitals will
go to will say, some of the ladies that have
come in since she went public with that have said, oh,
you know, the first lady's got it, she's battling it.
I got a battle it too, And so you know,
(32:38):
I'm proud of her for the way she's handled it. Uh.
You know, it's a private matter, but at the same time,
she thought that she could help publicly to talk about
kind of her her situation, and I think it's had
a very positive impact throughout the state, said, I've had
the pleasure meeting. I mean, she's just an incredibly kind
and lovely woman, which is obviously why you married her.
Uh So I want to so I heard that she
(32:58):
is actually at your close is political advisor? Is that true? Well,
I mean here's the thing, Um, she's got a very
good nose for bs and she's kind of like you know,
Middle America, like you know, type of voter that we need.
I mean, she's conservative, of course, but she really sees
through a lot of the BS. And so there'll be
times when she'll something will happen. You're like, you gotta
(33:20):
be kidding me that they're doing this, and she got good.
But it's I think people say that because you know,
I'm not a consultant driven governor. I mean, I'm a
I'm a principal driven governor. Conviction driven. That's what's driving me.
I'm not calling political consultants saying, hey, what do I
need to do? What do I need to do? How
do I need to handle this? I just handle it
and I make I do what I need to do.
Um and so. But she is a great, uh kind
(33:42):
of sounding board for what happens, and they'll be It's
funny because there'll be times when we go out there
if we really do some good singers, you know, if
I'll walk home and you know, she'll give me a
high five. And she gets fired up at some of
the stuff because she believes and a lot of the
stuff that we're doing, you know, she really believes in
and she uh, you know, the Disney stuff really and
she's a huge, huge Disney fan or whole life. And
(34:03):
then to see kind of them do all this, you know,
it's like it stinks, But I know that's probably true.
For a lot of families throughout throughout the country having
to see this and just wondering, like, you know, what
happened there? Well, And that's you know, sort of like
a lot of things in the country, like again that
Folix says a series called He's Expecting It. You know,
we sort of live in this clown world a little bit.
It's sometimes it's hard to imagine that you know, these
(34:25):
things are going on. The thing about it, though, and
I think what we've done has shown this. There's a
desire for truth. People know something is off kilter. They
know that they are allied to by a lot of
the powers that be and the media and the bureaucracy
and all this. They know that, and so when you
come through and speak the truth, you can cut through
the clutter, because it is powerful when you're living in
(34:48):
an age where so much of what's true is they
try to suppress and they try to impose these fake
narratives on us. And I think that's one of the
reasons why we've been able to do good, just because
we're telling the truth and people are responding to it.
I mean, Governor, I feel like you are on the truth.
With Lisa Booth, that's literally the reason why I named
the podcast, and the whole purpose of this podcast is
(35:09):
trying to get to that truth in this insane, environed
me living. You know, one more question I want to
I feel like conservative media should put more folk. Florida's
really sort of the epicenter of the Republican Party right now,
and you know, less of an emphasis on DC or
New York. And I mean, I think if you look
at what's going on in the state, we've done more
legislatively in Florida than almost all these other red states combined.
(35:34):
I mean, some of them have done well. I mean,
like you know, Tennessee, Georgia. You know, they've done some
good stuff, But I mean we are leading on issue
after issue here. What starts in Florida, usually other states
will then follow the mantle. And it's not we didn't
ask for that responsibility, but that's basically what's happened. And
so I think this is ground zero in terms of
conservative political movements. Part of it was that built on
(35:57):
it was when COVID was here, these political groups, this
is the only place they could have meetings, and so
like all these major groups, they're having their conferences in
Florida one. We were happy to host those. But yes,
I think Florida is where it's at and a lot
of people have got a lot of people in your
UH profession have gravitated here who were involved in politics
and commentary, and we're proud of that, and so we
(36:20):
we encourage more people to take an interest in what's
going on in Tallahassee and throughout the state. Well, Virginian
by birth, which has gotten better with Nan, but you know,
Floridian by choice, sir, You know, I know you've got
a really busy day, You've got a luck going on.
Anything else you want to leave my listeners with before
we go, Well, look, I think we've got a lot
of of of problems in the in the country. I
(36:41):
think you look at some of these big institutions. We
see it with corporate America, big tech censorship. We see
our bureaucracy totally out of control. Obviously, Brandon in the
White House is a total disaster. Um, it's tough to
be on the side of truth right now because you've
got a lot of people who will come down on you.
They'll attack you. You've gotta face smears and and flaming
arrow and all this stuff. But we're really called upon
(37:03):
right now to yes, stand for the right things, but
show courage, show backbone, and not back down from these people.
I mean, if we back down, they're going to steamroll us.
So when I look for candidates, who are you know,
could be promising, that's one of the things I look for. Yeah,
you can tell me these things, but everyone says those things.
Who's running as a Republican? When the cleg lights get hot?
(37:24):
Are you gonna stand strong? Are you're gonna fold up
your tent? And we need people that will stand strong.
And I think in Florida we've been willing to stand
time after time when it gets hot, you know, when
we're facing the fire and we do not back down.
I mean, I feel like we should end it with
a let's go Brandon. You know, it's funny the media
doesn't like that when you say Brandon. But what I
(37:44):
tell him is as long as he's treating my state
the way he is, stiffing seniors of relief from disasters,
not doing anything to lower gas prices, allowing all these
illegals across the border, as long as he's doing that,
he's Brandon to me, let's go Brandon, Governor, it's an honor,
such a fan of yours, and thank you for being
such an amazing governor, and thank you for your time.
(38:04):
It's an honor. And thanks for being a Floridian. Oh
you're welcome. Thank you. M Hey, guys, I hope you
enjoyed that interview. I found it fascinating. Governor Rohnda Santas
is brilliant. I was so impressed by him, so engaged
(38:25):
during the interview. I hope you were too. And this
Thursday we have Steve Bannon, another amazing interview, another amazing
conversation for you. I think you guys are going to
love it. I wanted to thank you for listening at home.
If you haven't already, please subscribe to the podcast. Anywhere
you find your podcast you can subscribe. I also want
to thank John Castle, my producer, You're my boy Blue.
(38:47):
Thank you to everyone at home. Thanks again for listening
and tune into the Steve Banner interview coming up on Thursday.
Guess what. I'm back. This is the second season of
the Truth with Lisa Booth, and I have big news
for you guys. We're moving to twice per week, every
Monday every Thursday. Every week you can expect new episodes
of the Truth with Lisa Booth, and we are starting
with a banger. He's the most talked about governor in
(00:21):
America and he's also my governor. Governor run to Santi's.
He led Florida through COVID by rejecting Anthony Fauchery, rejecting
the CDC, showing the rest of the country that lockdowns
don't work. And I don't want to know what this
country would look like if it wasn't for Florida and
Governor Ron de Santa's leading the way for freedom, standing
(00:42):
against their totalitarians. And now he's taking on what culture.
He's fighting the left, fighting the media, and protecting children
from indoctrination. And for this episode, I wanted to get
into all those issues, and we do, but I also
wanted to get into the governor's thought process. How does
he make decisions? Who is Governor Ron de Santis. We
(01:04):
talked about his family and his upbringing as well, and
if you haven't checked out his bio. It's insane. The
guy's a complete stud He went to Yale University, where
he graduated with honors from the captain of the varsity
baseball team. He graduated with honors from Harvard Law School. There,
he earned a commission in the U. S. Navy as
a JAG officer. Then, during active duty service, he deployed
(01:24):
to Iraq as an advisor to YOS Navy commander, and
his military decorations include the Bronze Star Medal for Meritorious
service in the Iraq Campaign Medal. This was also my
first in person interview, and I went to a press
conference he gave about the Stock Woke Act. We're gonna
get into that and so much more. I hope you
love this interview. I know I do. Here's my conversation
(01:45):
with Governor Ron de Santis. All right, this is the
first episode of my second season of The Truth with
Leaves and Booth, and I am sitting that to the
best governor in America who happens to me, my governor,
because I fled Communists New York to come here. Governor,
(02:06):
it's such an honor to have you on the show. Well,
thanks for having me, and I think you, how long
have you been in Florida now over a year? It's
like a year and a half. You should put me
on the board of tourism. There we go, there we go.
I'm constantly selling the state. So most people who have moved,
in fact, everyone that talks to me, none of them regretted.
And I know you've really enjoyed it. So it means
a lot to us. It's like living in paradise. It's well, actually,
(02:26):
if you're conservative, come here. If you're not at stale, Well,
I think that's what's happening. I mean, I think we
really because of what we've done. People are so sensitive,
particularly with COVID, about the type of state government they
live under, and they know it can affect everything from
their kids education to even being able to work and
doing all these things. Like we saw the crazy policies,
and so they are voting with their feet and we
(02:47):
have seen a huge shift towards Republicans since I've been governor.
Well and speaking of crazy policies, So you just held
a press conference for the Stop Woke Act? What is it?
Why was it needed? Told the audience about it? Whoa
in this context stands for Stop Wrongs against Our Kids
and Employees Act, and so part of it is giving
parents the ability to hold school districts accountable who do
(03:10):
critical race theory, which is not allowed in Florida's schools.
Part of it also is to give employees, particularly from
these big companies of civil rights protection against having this
oppressive woke ideology imposed on them for job trainings. People
are having to be told that they have to confess
their white privilege and all this other stuff, and honestly
it's asinine. And so we really, with this bill are
(03:32):
doing more to battle wokeness and CRT than any state
is done in the country. And stop woke at Did
you come up with that on your own? That's that's good.
That was my That's good. I like it. So I
wanted to sincerely thank you for providing me safe refuge,
because if it wasn't for you keeping Florida free, I
might be in a gulag somewhere for the unvaccinated. And
(03:52):
like I say that in jess but also in sincerity.
I don't know if you saw that Rasmussen poll from
not too long ago where you looked at Biden supporters
of UM favored the government putting the unvaccinated and designated
facilities of Democrats more broadly supported taking children away from
parents who weren't vaccinated. How far were we and how
(04:12):
far are we from those kinds of scenarios taking fold well.
I think if Florida had not stood up against that
and many other bad policies, I think that those would
have taken hold of the whole country. We'd look more
like Canada right now. We were the first state over
a year ago we banned vaccine passports. And when we
did it, the left had a connection. But even some
of these quote libertarians like, oh, you're banning passports with
(04:34):
a private business, and I'm like, yeah, I am, because
your rights should not be circumscribed in terms of just
participating in society based on this COVID shot. It's a
private matter, and if one business does it, then people
are gonna say, Florida has passports and we don't allow them.
The result of that was we had the biggest domestic
tourism yere in and we had in the history of
(04:57):
the state, and we had more foreign visitors to f
or the New York City did. New York City has
led for like the last twenty years. They wouldn't be
coming here if they had to show paperwork to go
get a hamburger. What we did was good for the individual,
but it was also good for our state. And I
think if you look at what we did to ban
school districts from forcing the kids to get the COVID
(05:18):
vacs very very early on, that gave so many parents
a good peace of mind. We have had families moved
to Florida just because of that issue. I don't know
how it went from make it available to people, particularly
senior citizens, to all of a sudden being you know,
you're not gonna even be able to leave your home.
Some people have said, if you don't get this COVID shot,
I know, by the way the COVID say what you
(05:40):
want about it, it does not prevent you from spreading
it or getting infected anyways. And so I thought it
was a huge, huge threat to freedom. I think we
held the line, and I think because we held the line,
I think other states in fall. In fact, it's been
reported in some of these liberal publications that Fauci and
some of these people in Biden's White House wanted him
to do more draconian restrictions particularly with interstate travel and
(06:04):
vax passes, and some of his political guy said, you know,
if you do that, Governor de Santis is going to
light you up, and I would have and good for
you for that. I mean, you know, I think that's
why conservatives are just loving hearing what you're doing, seeing
what you're doing here in Florida, really holding the line
and going on the offense. And right now we're sort
of seeing these diverging viewpoints in the Republican Party, like
(06:24):
particularly when you look at what's going on with Disney,
and there's one school of thought where, you know, Republicans
were based to sort of see those numbers that I
mentioned with Rasmussen and understand that there's some of the
left that would put you away or take your kids
away for your beliefs, right, And then there's this other
side of the Republican Party who thinks you can reason
with people who hold those thoughts. You know, for instance,
on Disney, Charles Cook with the National Review, so that
(06:46):
there was no need for you in the Florida legislature,
Dessault the earth, take revenge or make Florida's policies worse.
You know, how should we approach today's left. Well, look,
all I would say is if you think one California
ace company having their own government and having separate rules
from everybody else in Florida is good policy, I'd like
(07:07):
to know how you're coming to that conclusion. I mean,
the fact of the matter is this was an aberration
when it was done in the sixties to draw them in,
and maybe it was the right thing then, I don't know,
but now, uh, it is just not justifiable at all.
And so the question is is not that, oh, you're
doing it to for quote revenge. The issue is is
Disney really damaged his political standing in Florida. The legislature
(07:30):
would never have considered doing this even six months ago.
But because Disney is coming out and supporting transgender ideology
and young kids, kids education. You saw the zoom calls
where these higher ups in Disney are talking about, we
have this agenda to really get in the kids programming.
There's not a lot of defenders of Disney right now,
so you're able to look at this with a fresh
set of eyes and say, you know, what, is this
(07:51):
really the partnership that the state of Florida once and
I didn't think it was. I would have. I would
have signed this bill if they had passed it two
years a just on on substance, but particularly now when
their corporate culture is dedicated to that. And they also
came out saying they're going to make an admission to
repeal parents rights in Florida. So yes, we signed the bill.
(08:12):
We quote quote one politically whatever that means. But they
said they're coming to really do damage in Florida, and
so we've got to take that seriously. Why would corporations
need to be involved in the first place in Florida
politics or politics of a state. Well, I think what
I've always said is these businesses have every right. It's
a free country. You ever right, But if you get
into the political thicket, then just understand. You know, we're
(08:33):
gonna tussle, we're gonna fight back, and we're gonna expose
what you do. When Disney criticizes Florida, they don't say
a word about the Communist Party in China. In China,
they don't say a word about the Weakers, they don't
say a word about a lot of the places they
do business in who will actually execute homosexuals, and so
saying that there's somehow this big l v g q
uh not when it affects their bottom line. They're willing
(08:54):
to do business in a lot of very bad places.
And so to single Florida out just by saying that
you shouldn't have this transgender ideology and young kids classrooms
was was really weird. But I think that what's happening
in corporate America is some of the executives are woke
and they think that they have this um. I think
most of it, though, is there's cabals of employees who
are very radical, and I don't think they represent the
(09:17):
kind of the overall viewpoint of the employees. But I
think most of these other employees are scared to speak
out because if you speak out against this stuff, people
will attack you. They'll come after you. Mean, for example,
with the women's sports, you know we were very strong
and saying what they did in that five yard freestyle
to have a male swimmer who swam for three years
on the men's team then switched to women, and you
say that's the women's champion. You're depriving these other women
(09:40):
of fair opportunities and wanted the second place finisher quote
unquote should have won the Championshiship was from Florida. So
we put out a proclamation and people would tell me, Governor,
thanks for standing up for this. We're too scared to
speak out because we're worried about the consequences. So I
think what's happened in these companies is they just have
a lot of momentum. There's really nobody that's pushing back
again in STEM and so they end up having an
(10:02):
outsized influence. But I do not think that woke impulse
represents a majority of of employees, even in Disney in California,
certainly not Disney in Orlando. I mean they when they
did the big day of protest, they had one employee
protests in Orlando. I think most of those employee, Yeah,
I think most of those employees either supported the bill
or just didn't think Disney should get involved with it.
(10:23):
And so but but I do think this is going
to increasingly be an issue. And so what do we
do as conservatives? Do we allow massive corporate power to
get behind a very pernicious ideology and impose that on
society and what we just say free market and don't
do anything while everything is getting steamrolled. I don't think
you can do that, So I think you get in
the arena and you fight back, and that's what we're doing.
(10:46):
Do you think corporations will think twice before weighing in
on some of the stuff now? Think they will? In Florida? Yeah?
I think so too. You know, I wanted to ask
you so that the Florida Department of Health has issued
guidelines for treating gender dysmorphia, recommending against gender transition, purity
block gers, and hormones. But would you support a state
law banning any of those medical interventions for children? I
would ban the Yeah, I would ban the sex shade
(11:08):
of the operations. I think that it's something that you
can't get a tattoo if you're if you're twelve years old.
When they say gender firm and care me, what they
mean a lot of times is you are really you're
catstrating a young boy, you're sterilizing a young girl. You're
you're doing missectomies for for these very young girls. And
here's the thing what our guidance pointed to in the
Surgeon General did a great job for these young kids.
(11:30):
Eight percent of the cases resolve themselves as they grow up.
And so you're doing things that are permanently altering them
and then they're not going to be able to reverse that,
and so I don't think it's appropriate for kids at all.
I think the guidance is right, but I think that
there should be additional protections because you know, when you're
growing up, there are things that you know, it's an
awkward time, and it seems like there there's a concerted
(11:53):
effort ince society to push these kids in to do
some type of medical intervention. In our judgment, that's not healthy.
Well's gonna ask you, why do you think the left
is digging their heels in so hard on some of
these issues. I mean, there's literally a Netflix series right
now called He's Expecting, which you know, I wasn't aware
that's possible, but you know, and obviously they have attacked
to you for the parental rights bill. You know, they've
(12:15):
stood behind men playing in women's sports. So why why
are they digging their heels in on this? I can't
explain it. I just think they're they have a very
militant left to ideology. I think their view is, you know,
they want to assault the earth of society and upend
all these different conventions. I mean, you know, the House
of representatives under Pelosi. At the beginning of this current Congress,
they voted to ban using the words on the house
(12:36):
floor mother, sister, daughter, things like that. They said it
was not inclusive enough. And I think most people see
that and they're like, this is nuts. When they see
that picture of the swim, you know, champion versus and
then you have the other three girls hugging off to
the side. They're looking at that. They're like, come on,
when you tell me that a man can get pregnant,
I'm not down with that. I know that that's not true.
(12:57):
So I think it's been very a damaging to them
politically because the more the left is, i mean fairly
tagged with those views, I think it's abhorrent to a
lot of folks. And I think that's part of the
reason why you see so many particularly working class constituencies
fleeing the left and gonna probably vote Republican this year.
Quit commercial break and then back with Governor Rhnde Stantis.
(13:24):
I think if you're out there having to explain where
you're not a groomer like, you might be losing the debate. Yeah,
And I think it's interesting because the parents rights in
education we did to stop woke AC was one of
my big initiatives, and we also did curriculum transparency. Every
parent has the right to know what curriculum is being
used in the schools. You think that would be common sense.
The left fights you on that. They believe when your
kid goes to school, they get their hooks into the kids,
(13:47):
and you, as a parents should budd out. And that's
a that's a seminal battle that we're fighting parents rights
in education. When they were doing it, you know, it
wasn't necessarily something that that I was terribly involved with
because I didn't realize the extent to which this was
happening in these young grades. But you see the curriculum.
They have the gender unicorn which says, oh, you know,
you can do this or that, the gender bread man
(14:09):
they have that clearly is all geared towards very very
young kids, these kids that are in first and second
third grade. And I was like, when the media started
making a big deal about it it was going through
the legislative process, I had my staff pull the language
and I read it. I'm like, are you kidding me?
Are they really going to fight this battle saying that
we need to have sexuality and transgender and grades K
(14:31):
through three. It's like, I can't believe that that would
be a winning issue, and so I started speaking out,
and we you know, we made sure it got across
the finish line, be signed the legislation. But I do
think that there's a school of thought that is, you
gotta get this ideology into them when they're young. If
you don't, the parents are going to raise them differently,
and then it's gonna be harder to kind of change
(14:51):
their due. So I think it's you know, I don't
think it's necessarily you know, from a sexual perspective. I
think what it is is an ideological perspective. They're trying
to grow people to be uh more ideological in their viewpoints,
and they think starting younger is going to get them there.
I mean, it's indoctrination, of course, and that's when Florida,
that's the bright line we draw. We want quality education.
(15:13):
We have no tolerance for indoctrination in our schools. That's
why we're doing the critical race theory. That's why we're
doing stuff with the curriculum transparency. That's why we're making
sure that all the textbooks meet state standards in Florida,
and we are going to be vigorous and enforcing that
distinction between education and indoctrination. It seems like people were
(15:34):
sort of very submissive and taking a lot with COVID,
and then once they started seeing some of the stuff
their kids were being taught with critical it's sort of
race theory. It's sort of woke a sleeping beast, right,
Like we saw with Virginia, parents really rising up, going
to school boards, getting more involved, and you really just
speaking out in a way that they weren't about some
of these COVID issues. I mean, where do you think
this goes with? You know, now they're pushing against parental
(15:57):
rights on this transgender stuff, and where does this all go. Well.
I think what they've done is they have really changed
the political landscape to where now some of the most
important elections for voters are these school board races. If
you go back even four years ago, no one really
cared about the school board I mean some did, but
they were not hot button issues. They were not high profile.
(16:17):
These are in Florida. They're gonna be some of the
most high profile races. Part of the reason is our
school boards races are nonpartisan, so you'll have these kind
of deep red counties that will elect somebody who is
running kind of as a fake conservative, but really back
by the Union and the Left. They get in and
they force mass kids. They have the the the indoctrination
and all that stuff. So now parents are on high
(16:39):
alert about this, and I think you're going to see,
particularly Republicans, they're gonna come out with a vengeance and
they are going to want to make sure they hold
some of these bad school board members accountable for what
they did over the last two years. But I think
it's a beautiful thing because that your parents should be
involved in their kid's life. They should be involved in
what their kids are being taught. Its parency is a
(17:00):
good thing. And you know, speaking of fatherhood, so you
recently signed a bill addressed the addressing the decline of fatherhood.
You have three adorable children. Why do you think we've
had this decline of fatherhood and a decline in recognizing
the importance of it. Well, I think if you look back,
you go back to the nineteen fifties, I mean, the
(17:20):
family was very strong across the board, and I think
you've seen increasingly fewer and fewer kids have fathers. In
the home. You know, people will point to how that's
happened in the black community, and it has, but it's
happened in all communities to a certain extent. And so
I think it's a problem, you know, that's not just
confined to the inner city. I think it's something that
is we've really seen society wide. The fact of the
(17:42):
matter is, when you have a father in the home, uh,
the kids chance of dropping out of school declines, the
kids chance to get trouble with the law declines, the
chances they will do drugs declines. And these are just
very very powerful metrics that are repeated across every community,
every state, UH, and every country. And so our view
is is we want to make sure that we're promoting
(18:04):
this is something that parents understand. Fathers understand this is
their responsibility they need to be involved, but also providing
the type of resources that would help some of these
guys get back into their kids lives. So, for example,
one of the things that bill does is it allows
some of these nonprofit groups to apply for grants. So
we had Tony Dungee was the former coach of the
Colts and the Bucks. Great guy. He has on all
pro Dad's Group, and so we've worked with them since
(18:26):
I've been governor. They do a great job. And he
told the story of why he founded that because he
went to a prison with one of the ministers in
the Tampa Bay area when who's the coach of the Bucks,
and he looked at all everybody who had gotten in
trouble and he noticed that and what in his words,
he's like, it wasn't because they were poor, or because
of their race, or because of their religion. The reason
they ended up in prison was because they did not
have a father in the home. That was the one
(18:48):
thing that was there. And so their organization really works
to help to help some of these dads play a
more meaningful role in their life. And so there's a
lot we talked about in politics and public policy. If
you could snap your fingers and just guarantee that every
kid had a loving father in the home, you would
see huge benefits and all these other metrics in societies.
(19:09):
It's not that simple to do. What we did is
not like what we did is going to wholly solve
the problem. But that basic reality about whether the father's
president involved or not is going to tell you a
lot about that kid's prospects in life. I mean I
was kind of a handful growing up, if people can
imagine sis. I was very fortunate to have, you know,
two parents who have supported me and kept steering me
(19:30):
in a better direction. Quick break back with my governor
and the governor of Florida, Governor Ron de Santis, what's
your favorite thing about being a father? You know, I
think it's just being able to to watch them have
new experiences. I mean I think, like, you know, you
take them to to go to a baseball game and
their eyes light up. You take them to that. We
(19:51):
take them to like the fairs in Florida. So we
took them to Florida State Fair, the Strawberry Festival, playing City,
Clay County, you name it, and they get so happy.
So we're fortunate. I mean, on the one hand, we
are unique family situation five four And to our kids,
their whole real uh recollections are all since I've been governor.
(20:12):
I mean my daughter had just turned to right after
I had gotten elected, and so this is kind of
their frame of reference. And you know, I also often
think about, like, you know, how is that going to
work as they grow up? I mean, we want to
make sure that they're grounded and know that that's kind
of not a normal experience. It certainly, and I was
a blue collar kid growing up, and it was the
farthest thing that I would have thought of, So we
think about that. So that's a challenge. But the good
(20:34):
thing is is we're able to do a lot of
different stuff just by going around the state and showing them.
Offering my oldest daughter to press conferences. She will just
stand right next to the podium, behaves very well. I do.
I do the questions other people, and then I'll take
her to grab my scream or whatever, and then we
go back. And so they're able to get these experiences
and then to see how they react about it and
to see kind of what they really like and what
(20:55):
makes them happy. Is something that I that I just
get a lot of a lot of gratification about. But
it's a big responsibility and it's something that my wife
and I take serious. You know, we had our first
daughter right before my third term in Congress, and so
the first two years, you go up three nights of
the week, you come back and whatever. You spend probably
more time in your home district, and not that that
was ideal. But the minute we had Madison, I'm in
(21:17):
d C. And I'm like, what the hell am I
doing here? Like, honestly, it's like talking on zoom. Just
that are talking on the FaceTime just doesn't work. And
so I was like, all right. That was one of
the quite frankly, the reasons I ran for governor. It's
more family friendly. I can go out and here we're
here in Miami together, in Miami area. I can be
back home and I have an engagement tonight. It just
so happens. But normally i'm home. I mean it worked
(21:38):
for me. I mean I'm home doing a lot of
different stuff, even having a full day around the state,
And you could not do that in Congress. And so
but it's something that we're we really work hard to
make sure that we're spending time. You've mentioned you grew
up in a blue color family. Talk a little bit
about that, Talk a little bit about your childhood. Yeah, so,
I mean we I grew up in Dunedin, Florida, which
(21:58):
is in Panellas County, that Ampa St. Pete area. I
was born in Jacksonville. My mother was a nurse. My
father worked for Nielsen TV ratings and so back then,
you know, the Nielsen families had to put a box
on their TV in any given area to be able
to rate what they were watching. So that was what
he did, and so we That job took us from
Jacksonville to Orlando, and then when I was in first grade,
(22:19):
we ended up in Dunedin in the Tampa Bay area,
and so I grew up. There was great place to
grow up in the sense I love baseball and it
was a great baseball town. And we did well and
Little League go into the Little League World Series. I
had a good program in high school. It ended up
sending me to play baseball at Yale. But you know,
I never had anything handed to me. I mean I
had to work hard. I never expected anything to be
(22:40):
handed to me. And I think I was able to
develop that work ethic as a young age and that
really propelled me as I got into college, beyond the military,
and then even as as a candidate for for office,
really uh having to earn it. The mentality has kind
of changed, though. I Mean you look at a lot
of these younger generations, they sort of think that things
should be handed Tom And here's the thing too, and
(23:01):
it kind of plays in the CRT. So they will
tell certain kids, you know, based on your race, you're oppressed,
and they will say how bad the country is. Well,
if I'm a young kid and you're telling me I
have no chance, why would I want to work hard? Then?
The reason I worked hard is because I believed if
I worked hard, I would be able to make things happen,
I'd be able to open doors, I'd be able to
have more opportunities. And so what we're doing here today,
(23:23):
what I said at the event is do not let
anybody tell you you can't succeed in Florida. You can succeed.
And the most important thing to your success is what
you do as an individual. Are you gonna work hard?
Are you going to make sure you don't waste the
talent that God gave you? Are you gonna get everything
out of what you got? And if you do, and
if you make that decision and you follow through, you
(23:44):
will find success. You may not find success immediately, you
may have some doors closed in your face, but eventually
you will get through the door. That has got to
be the message. You know, Look, if the kid honestly,
kids honestly don't believe they have a chance, that our
country is bad or all this other stuff. You know,
then I can understand why they wouldn't want to put
in a lot of effort because it wasn't easy. I mean,
I did all kinds of low paying jobs as an
(24:05):
eight year old kid, and I had to do it
to make my way in the world. And I would
never have done that if I thought there was no
reason to do it. Yeah, I started off as a
staff assistant. I always like to say I was saving
the world one flag requested. You know, it's sort of
a bankleish job, but you know it got me to
where I am now, so you know it was fun.
So I that mentality is probably, as you said, prepared
(24:26):
you for the job that you have because you face
a lot of criticism. Right, So you've got some of
your critics. Nicki Freed called you a dictator. The Democratic
governor of Colorado called you a socialist. How would you
define your governing philosophy? Well, first, I would just say
how ridiculous some of these criticisms are. And you can tell, like,
if you're over the target and they're lobbying these these
phony criticisms, then they must not have substance to critique you. On.
(24:49):
I mean the idea that taking away special rights for
one favored corporation is socialist. That's the opposite of that.
It's making them live under the same laws as everybody else.
She'll say. You know, when you have people say like
I'm dictating just because I'm leading and winning, because I'm
getting things through the legislature, I have a good relationship
with them. We put big win after big win on
the board, and they will say that I'm dictating the
(25:11):
outcomes when no, I'm going through the constitutional process to
be able to enact really significant legislation. And that's what
you should want to do. So when I became governor,
I sat down in the in the desk the first
day and I said, I looked around. I said, you know,
whatever s ob succeeds me, they ain't going to have
very much to do because I'm gonna take every meat
there is off the bone. I'm gonna get involved and
(25:33):
do all the issues I can. I'm going to make
the most you know, in Florida you have at most
eight years to four year terms and there's a term limit.
So I'm going to make sure we get all that
we can get out of this and that means leading
on issues and not sitting around and waiting to see
how it develops politically. For example, I have never taken
a poll since I've been governor. I just don't. I
(25:54):
believe what I believe. I have confidence that if you
set the vision and you execute that, people will support
that if it's the right thing to do. If I
sat around and waited on poll results all day, I'd
be paralyzed. I wouldn't be able to go out when
I see things that need action. Yeah, we debate, and
we're deliberative about the type of policy we want. We
make sure we formulate good policy. But man, I'm out there, um,
(26:16):
and I'm leading. And that's the thing. When you're leading
and the left attacking you, that is good feedback because
it means you're over the target. I mean, if if
some of these left wing outlets like MSNBC, if they're
ignoring me, and then that must mean I'm not getting
very much done. If they're constantly attacking me, while they're
attacking me for a reason because they know I'm winning
(26:36):
and they know Florida's really setting the standard across the country. Well,
and what's hilarious, m you were called death Stantus and
then originally with COVID because you're taking positions that were
contrary that's the word to the group think narrative and
what other states were doing, particularly left wing states and
this left wing administration. But then everyone sort of came
around to where you were originally. Well, I think it
(26:58):
became a cottage industry. Whether it was schools, whether it
was making sure businesses were open, whether it was making
sure that seniors were prioritized for medication, whether it was
banning vax mandates. We would do something, there'd be a
spasm in the media and amongst the left, and then
six to twelve months later, everybody else would end up
(27:18):
doing what Florida was doing all along. And that was
something that was pretty much. Uh, they became a cottage
industry throughout the last two years. Like how annoying was that?
Though seeing all the criticism and then knowing that Andrew
Cuomo literally sent elderly people to their death, it doesn't
bother me because a lot of these legacy outlets, they're
not trustworthy. I don't consume any of it, and that
(27:40):
would be true if I wasn't governor. Why would I
want to do that? When I know what they're doing
is trying to concoct narratives. They're not interested in telling
the truth. So you knew what they were doing by
trying to elevate Cuomo. But if you think about the
two people they tried to elevate the most, Cuomo and
Fauci not the best judge of who to try to
elevate during this because obviously quota well, you know, like
(28:00):
COVID is something you can't quote, just stop it. I mean,
it was a highly contagious respiratory virus. But if you
are taking somebody and you're sending a sick person into
the most vulnerable population nursing home residence, that's on the governor.
When you have somebody like Fauci who's agitating for school closures,
who's attacking me in Florida for having businesses open, knowing
(28:22):
that if I followed him, we would add hundreds of
thousands of people that would still be out of work today.
You know that is on him in the destruction that's
happened for people that have followed his policies. Now, he's
the worst. Um. Would you ever run for president? Would
you ever want to be a president? I've never been
asked that question before. It's it's it's it's funny. So
(28:43):
you know the interesting thing is is, um, I'm running
for for twenty two, so you'll be a Florida voter. No, No, obviously,
I'm one of my last for that and so we
do it. Um. But you know the interesting thing is,
you know people will have paraphernalia about me in the future.
People always bring it up to me and stuff, But
you know, I have never done anything along those lines.
I've basically just done my job. And so I think
(29:05):
what it shows is is that people just want to
see people that are willing to lead and willing to
fight for the people. Knowing you're gonna face arrows, knowing
you're gonna be able to uh to to to have
to be in the in the in the kitchen when
it gets hot. But who's gonna stand there and lead
us out of this morass? And so we just do
what we can do to help Florida. But it really
has had implications beyond the country. And really I get
(29:28):
people that right into Florida from other countries saying we
look to Florida as kind of the beacon. And that's
not something that I've tried to do. I'm just trying
to do my job here. But it has had a
resonance and it's it's something, quite frankly, is surprising to
me because when I got elected governor, I wasn't even
that well known. And then as I was governor before COVID,
I was known, but I was not known the way
(29:48):
the way I've become since COVID and all the other
issues that that we've taken on. So yeah, yeah, that's
a great answer to your club. Come on, give me
something that was a great you're avoiding it any I mean,
any desire at any point. So I've done nothing to
do anything other than just do do my job here.
(30:10):
This is a good job. I mean, I think if
you look at political jobs, I don't know that there'd
be very many that have been better, especially at this
point in time in the state's history, where we're really
doing things that this state has never done. There's a
lot of excitement. I think that after the election, my
goal would be, you know, if we if we win
the election, really big people like you who analyze these
things are going to say the days of Florida me
(30:30):
and a swing state are over. Florida is a red state,
and I think that's because of a lot of what
we've done. I mean, I hope so because I moved
down here, so I'm now a Floridian, so I want
to keep living. Well, here's what I'll tell you. Since COVID,
we've led the nation and in state my in migration.
If you look at all forty nine other states and
who has come from those states to Florida, each one
of the forty nine states has had more Republicans moved
(30:53):
to Florida than Democrats. New York, California, Illinois, you name it.
The results since I've been governor. We were down through
inner thousand registrations to the Democrats when I got elected.
Now we're up a hundred and twenty thousand registrations. That's
a four hundred thousand registration shift in favor of Republicans
since I've been governor. At this pace, we're probably gonna
(31:13):
be over five hundred thousand by the election. So that
is a huge sea change. So that's telling me the
people like you who came for a reason are the norm.
And some of the people who would come from these
blue state dumpster fires and then still vote the same
way when they come here that they are indefinitely the
distinct minority, which is which is a good thing. It's
a very good thing. So I wanted to ask you,
(31:34):
how how is your wife doing? I know she recently
had a cancer battle. Now she is cancer free. How
how's she doing. So she's doing well. So she had
to go through a lot of the treatments and all
that she was declared cancer free, but they still do
the radiation stuff and so she's in the process of
finishing that. So basically at this time next week she's
going to be done with with everything, and she'll still
(31:55):
have to go in and get periodic tests and scans.
But uh, it's not an easy thing to go through.
But but from a prognosis perspective, I think it's gone
about as well as we could have hoped. But I
think you know, one thing I would just say to
women out there, having gone through this with her, is
you know this is something that you can be you know,
you get that diagnosis, it's it changes your world. It's
something that's very scary for a lot of women, of course,
(32:17):
but just know that that they do very well with
this and it's not going to be easy to go through.
But but you're gonna get through it. And I think
my wife has really been an inspiration for a lot
of people in this state. You know, the hospitals will
go to will say, some of the ladies that have
come in since she went public with that have said, oh,
you know, the first lady's got it, she's battling it.
I got a battle it too, And so you know,
(32:38):
I'm proud of her for the way she's handled it. Uh.
You know, it's a private matter, but at the same time,
she thought that she could help publicly to talk about
kind of her her situation, and I think it's had
a very positive impact throughout the state, said, I've had
the pleasure meeting. I mean, she's just an incredibly kind
and lovely woman, which is obviously why you married her.
Uh So I want to so I heard that she
(32:58):
is actually at your close is political advisor? Is that true? Well,
I mean here's the thing, Um, she's got a very
good nose for bs and she's kind of like you know,
Middle America, like you know, type of voter that we need.
I mean, she's conservative, of course, but she really sees
through a lot of the BS. And so there'll be
times when she'll something will happen. You're like, you gotta
(33:20):
be kidding me that they're doing this, and she got good.
But it's I think people say that because you know,
I'm not a consultant driven governor. I mean, I'm a
I'm a principal driven governor. Conviction driven. That's what's driving me.
I'm not calling political consultants saying, hey, what do I
need to do? What do I need to do? How
do I need to handle this? I just handle it
and I make I do what I need to do.
Um and so. But she is a great, uh kind
(33:42):
of sounding board for what happens, and they'll be It's
funny because there'll be times when we go out there
if we really do some good singers, you know, if
I'll walk home and you know, she'll give me a
high five. And she gets fired up at some of
the stuff because she believes and a lot of the
stuff that we're doing, you know, she really believes in
and she uh, you know, the Disney stuff really and
she's a huge, huge Disney fan or whole life. And
(34:03):
then to see kind of them do all this, you know,
it's like it stinks, But I know that's probably true.
For a lot of families throughout throughout the country having
to see this and just wondering, like, you know, what
happened there? Well, And that's you know, sort of like
a lot of things in the country, like again that
Folix says a series called He's Expecting It. You know,
we sort of live in this clown world a little bit.
It's sometimes it's hard to imagine that you know, these
(34:25):
things are going on. The thing about it, though, and
I think what we've done has shown this. There's a
desire for truth. People know something is off kilter. They
know that they are allied to by a lot of
the powers that be and the media and the bureaucracy
and all this. They know that, and so when you
come through and speak the truth, you can cut through
the clutter, because it is powerful when you're living in
(34:48):
an age where so much of what's true is they
try to suppress and they try to impose these fake
narratives on us. And I think that's one of the
reasons why we've been able to do good, just because
we're telling the truth and people are responding to it.
I mean, Governor, I feel like you are on the truth.
With Lisa Booth, that's literally the reason why I named
the podcast, and the whole purpose of this podcast is
(35:09):
trying to get to that truth in this insane, environed
me living. You know, one more question I want to
I feel like conservative media should put more folk. Florida's
really sort of the epicenter of the Republican Party right now,
and you know, less of an emphasis on DC or
New York. And I mean, I think if you look
at what's going on in the state, we've done more
legislatively in Florida than almost all these other red states combined.
(35:34):
I mean, some of them have done well. I mean,
like you know, Tennessee, Georgia. You know, they've done some
good stuff, But I mean we are leading on issue
after issue here. What starts in Florida, usually other states
will then follow the mantle. And it's not we didn't
ask for that responsibility, but that's basically what's happened. And
so I think this is ground zero in terms of
conservative political movements. Part of it was that built on
(35:57):
it was when COVID was here, these political groups, this
is the only place they could have meetings, and so
like all these major groups, they're having their conferences in
Florida one. We were happy to host those. But yes,
I think Florida is where it's at and a lot
of people have got a lot of people in your
UH profession have gravitated here who were involved in politics
and commentary, and we're proud of that, and so we
(36:20):
we encourage more people to take an interest in what's
going on in Tallahassee and throughout the state. Well, Virginian
by birth, which has gotten better with Nan, but you know,
Floridian by choice, sir, You know, I know you've got
a really busy day, You've got a luck going on.
Anything else you want to leave my listeners with before
we go, Well, look, I think we've got a lot
of of of problems in the in the country. I
(36:41):
think you look at some of these big institutions. We
see it with corporate America, big tech censorship. We see
our bureaucracy totally out of control. Obviously, Brandon in the
White House is a total disaster. Um, it's tough to
be on the side of truth right now because you've
got a lot of people who will come down on you.
They'll attack you. You've gotta face smears and and flaming
arrow and all this stuff. But we're really called upon
(37:03):
right now to yes, stand for the right things, but
show courage, show backbone, and not back down from these people.
I mean, if we back down, they're going to steamroll us.
So when I look for candidates, who are you know,
could be promising, that's one of the things I look for. Yeah,
you can tell me these things, but everyone says those things.
Who's running as a Republican? When the cleg lights get hot?
(37:24):
Are you gonna stand strong? Are you're gonna fold up
your tent? And we need people that will stand strong.
And I think in Florida we've been willing to stand
time after time when it gets hot, you know, when
we're facing the fire and we do not back down.
I mean, I feel like we should end it with
a let's go Brandon. You know, it's funny the media
doesn't like that when you say Brandon. But what I
(37:44):
tell him is as long as he's treating my state
the way he is, stiffing seniors of relief from disasters,
not doing anything to lower gas prices, allowing all these
illegals across the border, as long as he's doing that,
he's Brandon to me, let's go Brandon, Governor, it's an honor,
such a fan of yours, and thank you for being
such an amazing governor, and thank you for your time.
(38:04):
It's an honor. And thanks for being a Floridian. Oh
you're welcome. Thank you. M Hey, guys, I hope you
enjoyed that interview. I found it fascinating. Governor Rohnda Santas
is brilliant. I was so impressed by him, so engaged
(38:25):
during the interview. I hope you were too. And this
Thursday we have Steve Bannon, another amazing interview, another amazing
conversation for you. I think you guys are going to
love it. I wanted to thank you for listening at home.
If you haven't already, please subscribe to the podcast. Anywhere
you find your podcast you can subscribe. I also want
to thank John Castle, my producer, You're my boy Blue.
(38:47):
Thank you to everyone at home. Thanks again for listening
and tune into the Steve Banner interview coming up on Thursday.
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