Florida governor Ron DeSantis sidestepped several attempts from “Fox & Friends” to get him to announce a run for president during an appearance on the conservative cable news network on Monday.
Gov. DeSantis, who is widely predicted to become a presidential candidate in 2024, was visiting Staten Island, New York, as part of a pro-police tour.
“Are you recruiting officers to go from these liberal cities like New York, Chicago and Philadelphia down to Florida or is this one of those things people who might be running for president would do to go ahead and start to get the ball rolling?” “Fox & Friends” co-host Steve Doocy asked.
DeSantis replied that it is “definitely the former,” noting that Florida has put a lot of money into police recruitment.
“We want to let people know we’re here, we’ve got a lot of great benefits. You’ll be appreciated and you’ll have policies that work,” he said. “But I think also just the broader message, and not even about president or any of that, but just about for our country. It’s important to admit that these left-wing policies have failed. They’ve empowered criminals, they put the public at risk, they put law enforcement officers at risk. And so I think that this experiment has concluded and we need to move in the direction where across the board from sea to shining sea, we have a commitment to respect for law enforcement and for law and order.”
Co-host Brian Kilmeade then asked DeSantis more directly about what his timeline is to decide whether he will run for president.
“Well, I’ve got two big things coming up. One, I have a book coming out on Feb. 28, and you can see it at DeSantisBook.com. It’s called ‘The Courage to Be Free.’ It talks about Florida’s blueprint for American revival. So we’re going to go on a tour on that. We’re going to sell some books, we’re going to spread the message of Florida,” DeSantis replied. “And then on March 8, I have our Legislative Session that’s kicking off. As you know, we won a big victory in Florida, which is great for the governor but we have supermajorities in the legislature. I think people look at Florida like, ‘Man, the governor has gotten a lot done,’ and we have and we’re proud of it. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”
DeSantis teased that the session would be the “most productive” the Sunshine State has had “across the board.”
“I think people are going to be really excited,” he added. “So those are what we’re going to be doing over these next few months. As we get beyond that, then we can decide from there.”
Co-host Lisa Boothe then asked DeSantis about recent criticisms made against him by Nikki Haley and former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan. (DeSantis’ unspoken dissenter in this case was former president Donald Trump.)
“If you’re an officeholder and you’re just sitting there twiddling your thumbs and not getting anything done, no one ever says anything, you can kinda just fly under the radar,” he said. “But when you’re out there leading, when you’re out there setting the agenda, not just for Florida, but really for the nation, which we’ve done over the last few years, people see that. And the people that don’t necessarily like that are going to respond accordingly. I can just tell you if people are not firing at me, then I must not be doing my job. And so I view it really is positive feedback.”
The trio then tried one more time to get him to announce a presidential bid.
“You could get some positive feedback if you just stood up, turned around and said, ‘Hey folks, I’m gonna run for president.’ Just saying, you would wind up with a standing ovation right now,” Doocy said. “We’ll give you 20 seconds…”
“Wouldn’t you guys like to have that announcement on ‘Fox & Friends’?,” DeSantis responded, teasingly.
“Come on, governor, I’m a Floridian, help me out!” Boothe said before the conversation turned into awkward silence.
“All right, that’s called a standoff,” Kilmeade concluded.
Watch the full segment in the video above.
