Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that his state has already won the debate against California ahead of his upcoming debate later this year against California Governor Gavin Newsom.
DeSantis made the remarks during an interview with Newsmax while discussing a recent poll that showed former President Donald Trump blowing out President Joe Biden in a hypothetical rematch in 2024.
“Just understand, the media, if [Trump] ends up being the nominee, they will not be putting polls out like that,” DeSantis said. “It’ll be the opposite. I mean, they use this to juice a narrative. I think people were showing that that poll had Trump beating Biden with under 35 by 20 points. No Republican has ever won that. So when you see that, you wonder, okay, what are they trying to do?”
“I think they’re trying to do two things. I think the corporate press does want Trump to be the nominee. I think you see that in the coverage, I think you see it how they attack me,” he continued. “But I also think they’re trying to get the Democrats to dislodge Biden. They want to show that Biden is weak, and they would like to see a Newsom or somebody else. So I think when the corporate press is doing this, I think people should take it with a grain of salt.”
DeSantis was then asked if he thought Democrats were going to nominate someone else in 2024 like Newsom.
“Well, that’s why he said he would debate me, so I said, let’s do it,” he said. “I think it’s an important debate for the country. Not like saying who’s better, Florida or California, because that debate is over because people have voted with their feet. They’ve left California and come to Florida, not the other way around. He has lost massive amounts of population. No governor in California history has ever witnessed population loss at all on net.”
“The future for the country, for what the left would want to do, is just double down on the California policies,” he continued. “And so, I think it’s going to be an important debate. I think, I mean, I think he’s definitely angling for it. I think Biden, I don’t think Biden is going to step down willingly. I think it’s harder to dislodge somebody who’s an incumbent president than people assume it would be. But I think the Democrat establishment really, really is concerned, particularly if they have to run against somebody like me. I think that their view on Trump is that he will help energize their base to come out in ways that maybe some other Republicans won’t.”
DeSantis concluded by saying that it was “really embarrassing” to see Biden “floundering on the world stage.”
WATCH:
“It’s an important debate for the country,” @RonDeSantis says about his November debate with Gavin Newsom.
It’s not about “who's better, Florida or California, because that debate is over…People have voted with their feet. They've left California and come to Florida, not the… pic.twitter.com/4II3LbXdjA
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) September 25, 2023