DeSantis: ‘People just need to chill out’ about potential 2024 face-off between him and Trump Transcript

Governor, do you hear that there may be a civil war brewing with the GOP and people have to choose between you and Donald Trump?

Nah, look, I think we just finished this election. Okay? People just need to chill out a little bit on some of this stuff. I mean, seriously, we just ran an election.

(00:21)
We have this Georgia runoff coming, which is very important for Republicans to win that Georgia runoff. I mean, I know around the country, Florida was kind of the biggest bright spot. It was not so bright in many other parts of the country. It was a substandard performance given the dynamics that are at play. So hopefully we’ll be able to do that. But I think what people like me who’ve been given the opportunity to continue is, okay, let’s do something with that. And the reason why we won historic victory is at the end of the day, we led, we delivered and we had your back when you needed us. That is why we won big.

(01:06)
So, I mean, just think literally we have this election on two last Tuesday, the next morning I’m in the Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee because of this storm on the east coast of Florida. And of course we’re back here within a week of that help in Southwest Florida. So at the end of the day, I think what we showed in Florida is just produce results, lead with conviction. I never put my finger in the wind or took polls, I just did what I thought was right. But what the election gives us the opportunity to do is to continue to deliver.

(01:42)
And so we’re going to continue to deliver. We’re not going to look back. And I think that that’s very, very significant. But what I think Florida has shown is that you look at all the problems that the country is having, the inflation, the open border, all these different things, a lot of failures. Florida’s an example that, you know what? You can get the big things right. You can get things right. Imagine if you had a bureaucracy and leadership like they did in New York, would that bridge have been fixed in three days? Is there anybody here that thinks that bridge would’ve been fixed in three days with that bureaucratic mindset? Of course, it wouldn’t have. If anyone does believe that, please talk to me after this because I have ocean front property I would like to sell you in Arizona and I don’t think it would work. So, no, of course not.

(02:31)
So I think at the end of the day, it’s been a long election. We’ve got the Georgia runoff, but for me it’s like, okay, what more do we need to do to continue to make Florida lead the way? And we’re going to be focusing on that and I think we’re going to be able to deliver a lot. The good thing about winning a big victory, we’ve got super majorities and enough legislature now and really I think have an opportunity to continue great momentum. So we’re excited.