Florida Governor responded to criticism over the weekend from former President Donald Trump, who slammed DeSantis for signing a pro-life heartbeat bill into law that bans abortion at 6 weeks.
Trump made the remarks during a Sunday interview with Kristen Welker on NBC News’s “Meet The Press” in which she pressed to get specifics on where Trump stood on the issue, telling him that her goal was to “give voters who are going to be weighing in on this election a very clear sense of where you stand.”
“I mean, DeSanctus is willing to sign a five-week and six-week ban,” Trump said.
“Would you support that?” Welker asked. “You think that goes too far?”
“I think what he did is a terrible thing and a terrible mistake,” Trump answered.
DeSantis responded to the remarks during an interview with O. Kay Henderson on Radio Iowa, saying: “Protecting babies with heartbeats is not terrible.”
“Donald Trump may think it’s terrible, but I think protecting babies with heartbeats is noble and just, and I’m proud to have signed the heartbeat bill in Florida,” he said in a clip tweeted out by the DeSantis War Room. “And I know Iowa has similar legislation.”
“I don’t know how you can even make the claim that you’re somehow pro-life if you’re criticizing states for enacting pro-life protections for babies that have heartbeats,” he continued. “And so I thought him saying that those bills were terrible, I think, was a terrible statement, and I think it’s a window into how he’s changing as he’s running this campaign. I think he’s changing in a way that is not consistent with the values of the people in Iowa.”
🔥 LISTEN: DeSantis reacts to Trump pledging to appease Democrats in a second term.
“It’s a window into how he’s changing as he’s running this campaign…I’ve given him credit for his accomplishments…but anytime he did a deal with Democrats whether it was on budget, whether it… pic.twitter.com/ZZ18SREGVw
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) September 18, 2023
DeSantis said that people needed to stand up for what they believe in and fight for it.
“I think that there are issues that come from your beliefs, and I think that you advance those because you think they’re right,” he said. “And that’s true for me in terms of the heartbeat bill. It’s also true for me in other stands I’ve taken as governor. I mean we leaned in against Fauci, against the COVID lockdowns, we made sure kids were in school just like your governor in Iowa did. We fought for businesses and individuals. And that was probably very unpopular. Certainly in the media, I got attacked relentlessly. And I didn’t know how it worked out politically. But you know, I’m a leader. I’ve got to do what’s right, and we can let the chips fall where they may.”