DeSantis Campaign Press Release - Ron DeSantis: "It's tough for me to take something from somebody that goes to another state, and then says Iowa's votes need to be corrected."
DES MOINES, Iowa – During the Fox News Town Hall, Ron DeSantis said:
"It's tough for me to take something from somebody that goes to another state, and then says Iowa's votes need to be corrected. You know, I found that to be deeply offensive. I've traveled all 99 counties. I've met folks here in Iowa, folks here represent the best of America and are patriotic, hardworking, God fearing, that's what we need to engineer come back to this country. So she can swoop in here and try to do that. But what she did was wrong.
Here's the issue. We have a lot of challenges and national security. One is our own southern border. And you have people like Nikki Haley that care more about the Ukraine border than she does about our own border here in the United States. How can you be a sovereign country and let in 8 million people from all over the world, including people that are affiliated with terrorist groups, and we know that and yet send another 100 billion dollars out of the $200 billion that they've sent out overseas while ignoring problems at home.
Second, the number one threat to this country in terms of foreign is China, China, Biden is not doing anything to deter China. My posture is, Commander in Chief, and I'm the only one that served in the military. And I'll be the first president elected since 1980. It's actually served in a foreign war. And I'm a Navy guy, and we need more naval power in the Indo Pacific to be able to deter China's ambitions not just for Taiwan. But getting out of the first island chain, we're the only ones that are going to be able to have the hard power to deter them. Now, if I could snap my finger, I give all of that territory back to Ukraine. Russia had no right. They had no right to go into Crimea in 2014, or Donbass. And what they've done now is wrong. At the same time, they're sending your money to do things like pay salaries for Ukrainian bureaucrats. They're paying pensions for retired Ukrainian government workers. Is that America's role to be doing that? I don't think so. Now, in a military perspective, I'm going to be a good ally to those who are allied with us. And so those European countries, you know, they're good allies of ours, but they're not pulling their fair share. They're not pulling their weight. With respect to NATO, you only have a third of the countries that are meeting their obligations of 2% or more GDP. So I think we need to have an end game two to stop this. I think we need to work with the Europeans for them to do more. I am willing to work with them, because we have military relationships to help to do that. But we can't just have a blank check. And we can never send American troops over to fight in Ukraine."
Watch HERE.
Ron DeSantis, DeSantis Campaign Press Release - Ron DeSantis: "It's tough for me to take something from somebody that goes to another state, and then says Iowa's votes need to be corrected." Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/370607