Gov. Ron DeSantis: 'I’ll keep Donald Trump’s promises as president' – Iowa Capital Dispatch
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addressed a crowd with a megaphone outside Smokey Row in Ankeny, Oct. 7, 2023, during his first stop of the day on the Iowa caucus trail. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told Iowans Saturday that if elected president he will deliver on promises made in 2016 by former President Donald Trump, one of his rivals for the 2024 Republican nomination.
DeSantis spoke to a packed room at Smokey Row Coffee in Ankeny on Saturday morning, the first of six events over three days in Iowa. At the morning stop, DeSantis told the crowd about his conservative victories as Florida governor, pointing to issues from banning sanctuary cities to signing into law a six-week abortion ban similar to that passed in Iowa.
DeSantis said he has proved as a governor that he will “deliver on 100% of my promises.” He said Trump – who currently leads by a wide margin in Iowa and in national polling – did not enact the policies he ran on in the 2016 presidential election cycle.
He pointed to Trump’s campaign promise to “build the wall” along the U.S. southern border and have Mexico pay for the construction. DeSantis said that Trump talked about his border wall proposal during an Iowa event earlier in October, where the former president told Iowans there was no “legal mechanism” to make Mexico pay for building a wall.
“When you hear these lunatics back there,” Trump said in Ottumwa, referring to the news media covering the event, “say, ‘Trump didn’t get anything from Mexico,’ well, you know, there was no legal mechanism. … How do you go to a country, you say, ‘By the way, I’m building a wall, hand us a lot of money?’”
DeSantis criticized Trump for backtracking on the issue in 2024.
“Now, that wasn’t what he was saying in 2016,” DeSantis said. “He was saying the wall would get higher or whatever. But here’s the thing … you actually can get Mexico to pay, if you know how to use your authority. No, they’re not just going to hand you money, I agree with that. But you can levy fees on the remittances that people send back to Mexico.”
The Florida governor said that he would implement a fee for all money sent from the U.S. to Mexico, or other countries people are immigrating from, that would go toward financing a U.S.-Mexico border wall.
“So I can tell you – not only will I keep my promises as president, I’ll keep Donald Trump’s promises as president,” DeSantis said, met with some laughs and cheers.
Linda Barnum of Colfax said she likes DeSantis as a presidential candidate – but that she is currently evaluating who she thinks is most likely to win in a general election. While DeSantis is more aligned with her personal values, Barnum said that she believes Trump may be stronger in an election against President Joe Biden – or other Democrats like California Gov. Gavin Newsom or Vice President Kamala Harris.
While the two candidates have sparred on the campaign trail, Barnum said she would love to see both elected to the White House.
“What I really would love to see would be, get Trump back in for four years, and then you get DeSantis in for eight – wow, that might be my ideal situation,” Barnum said.
The Florida governor also made sure to highlight an Iowa connection: As a child, he said, he got a signature from Bob Feller, a Major League Baseball player from Van Meter. He brought up Feller’s decision to join the military following the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor – a story similar to DeSantis’ decision to join the military following the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.
Feller is an American hero who “exemplifies that generation,” DeSantis said.
“We’re now in a situation where we are the inheritor of their sacrifices, in their fights. And yet we stand here today as being perhaps the first generation of Americans who are going to leave to our kids and grandkids an America that is less free and less prosperous than the one we inherited. … I’m running for president because I think that decline is not inevitable.”
by Robin Opsahl, Iowa Capital Dispatch
October 7, 2023
by Robin Opsahl, Iowa Capital Dispatch
October 7, 2023
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told Iowans Saturday that if elected president he will deliver on promises made in 2016 by former President Donald Trump, one of his rivals for the 2024 Republican nomination.
DeSantis spoke to a packed room at Smokey Row Coffee in Ankeny on Saturday morning, the first of six events over three days in Iowa. At the morning stop, DeSantis told the crowd about his conservative victories as Florida governor, pointing to issues from banning sanctuary cities to signing into law a six-week abortion ban similar to that passed in Iowa.
DeSantis said he has proved as a governor that he will “deliver on 100% of my promises.” He said Trump – who currently leads by a wide margin in Iowa and in national polling – did not enact the policies he ran on in the 2016 presidential election cycle.
He pointed to Trump’s campaign promise to “build the wall” along the U.S. southern border and have Mexico pay for the construction. DeSantis said that Trump talked about his border wall proposal during an Iowa event earlier in October, where the former president told Iowans there was no “legal mechanism” to make Mexico pay for building a wall.
“When you hear these lunatics back there,” Trump said in Ottumwa, referring to the news media covering the event, “say, ‘Trump didn’t get anything from Mexico,’ well, you know, there was no legal mechanism. … How do you go to a country, you say, ‘By the way, I’m building a wall, hand us a lot of money?’”
DeSantis criticized Trump for backtracking on the issue in 2024.
“Now, that wasn’t what he was saying in 2016,” DeSantis said. “He was saying the wall would get higher or whatever. But here’s the thing … you actually can get Mexico to pay, if you know how to use your authority. No, they’re not just going to hand you money, I agree with that. But you can levy fees on the remittances that people send back to Mexico.”
The Florida governor said that he would implement a fee for all money sent from the U.S. to Mexico, or other countries people are immigrating from, that would go toward financing a U.S.-Mexico border wall.
“So I can tell you – not only will I keep my promises as president, I’ll keep Donald Trump’s promises as president,” DeSantis said, met with some laughs and cheers.
Linda Barnum of Colfax said she likes DeSantis as a presidential candidate – but that she is currently evaluating who she thinks is most likely to win in a general election. While DeSantis is more aligned with her personal values, Barnum said that she believes Trump may be stronger in an election against President Joe Biden – or other Democrats like California Gov. Gavin Newsom or Vice President Kamala Harris.
While the two candidates have sparred on the campaign trail, Barnum said she would love to see both elected to the White House.
“What I really would love to see would be, get Trump back in for four years, and then you get DeSantis in for eight – wow, that might be my ideal situation,” Barnum said.
The Florida governor also made sure to highlight an Iowa connection: As a child, he said, he got a signature from Bob Feller, a Major League Baseball player from Van Meter. He brought up Feller’s decision to join the military following the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor – a story similar to DeSantis’ decision to join the military following the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.
Feller is an American hero who “exemplifies that generation,” DeSantis said.
“We’re now in a situation where we are the inheritor of their sacrifices, in their fights. And yet we stand here today as being perhaps the first generation of Americans who are going to leave to our kids and grandkids an America that is less free and less prosperous than the one we inherited. … I’m running for president because I think that decline is not inevitable.”
Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and Twitter.
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Robin Opsahl is an Iowa Capital Dispatch reporter covering the state Legislature and politics. They have experience covering government, elections and more at media organizations including Roll Call, the Sacramento Bee and the Wausau Daily Herald.
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Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site.