Piers Morgan spent an hour with Governor DeSantis yesterday in an interview where he asked a lot of questions about Trump.
While the interview will air on Fox Nation, Morgan wrote about the interview in the New York Post.
I would caution you to differentiate Morgan’s characterizaion of what DeSantis says and what DeSantis actually says. I found that while reading it, Morgan would make the words of DeSantis sound far more salacious than they actually were when reading them.
Now it’s possible that DeSantis was more salacious in the actual interview itself, but since we can’t see it we have to rely on the quotes from DeSantis in the article. And they sounded a lot less ‘attacky’ than Morgan makes them sound.
First up DeSantis cites diffences between himself and Trump, noting their approaches to COVID were different and that he would have fired Dr. Fauci:
It was clear that the governor has had enough of Trump’s constant baiting and felt ready to take him on in what could end up being a ferocious battle for the White House.
And in a series of jabs at his likely biggest Republican nominee rival, DeSantis slammed Trump over his character failings, chaotic leadership style, and for his handling of the COVID pandemic — especially in keeping controversial health chief Dr. Anthony Fauci in his post helping to run the White House Coronavirus Taskforce.
Trump even awarded a presidential commendation medal to Fauci in one of his last acts as president.
When I asked DeSantis to cite specific differences between him and Trump, he said: “Well I think there’s a few things. The approach to COVID was different. I would have fired somebody like Fauci. I think he got way too big for his britches, and I think he did a lot of damage.”
DeSantis also slammed Trump’s chaotic, self-obsessed, and divisive management style, saying:
“I also think just in terms of my approach to leadership, I get personnel in the Government who have the agenda of the people and share our agenda. You bring your own agenda in you’re gone. We’re just not gonna have that. So, the way we run the Government I think is no daily drama, focus on the big picture and put points on the board and I think that’s something that’s very important.”
DeSantis was also asked about Trump giving him insulting nicknames. He said “you can call me whatever you want, just as long as you also call me a winner…”
As for the rude nicknames, he mocked:
“I don’t know how to spell the sanctimonious one. I don’t really know what it means, but I kinda like it, it’s long, it’s got a lot of vowels. We’ll go with that, that’s fine. I mean you can call me whatever you want, just as long as you also call me a winner because that’s what we’ve been able to do in Florida, is put a lot of points on the board and really take this State to the next level.”
Until now, DeSantis has never engaged with any of Trump’s regular attempts to provoke him and he doesn’t intend to make a habit of it.
“To me, it’s just background noise,” he said. “It’s not important for me to be fighting with people on social media. It’s not accomplishing anything for the people I represent. So, we really just focus on knocking out victories, day after day, and if I got involved in all the under tow I would not be able to be an effective Governor. So, I don’t think it’s something that makes sense for me.”
They also discussed how Trump was a great supporter of DeSantis until he got very popular after leading Florida to epic victories in the midterms. That’s when things changed:
I reminded him of what Trump had tweeted before that 2018 election: “Ron DeSantis is a brilliant young leader. Yale and then Harvard who would make a great Governor of Florida. He loves our country. He’s a true fighter.”
DeSantis, 44, chuckled: “Things have changed a little bit, I guess. It is what it is.”
Then he spoke about their previous friendship.
“We had a good relationship [when I was a Congressman and I think one of the reasons he got to know me is because I saw the Russia collusion thing as a farce from the beginning. Very few people said that. We had a handful of us in Congress that were fighting back against that. So, I would go on TV, and I would defend him when it wasn’t popular and when it was kinda politically risky, but I just thought it was the right thing to do and then I thought that he had good ideas for the country. And then when I became Governor, his last two years as President, we worked very well together. He had a place in Florida and worked well with us to serve our state.”
But then came the big break-up.
“You made a fatal error in your relationship with Donald Trump,” I suggested.
“What’s that?”
“You got too popular.”
DeSantis laughed loudly.
“Well, I would say if you look at some of the change from that . . . the major thing that’s happened that’s changed his tune was my re-election victory.”
It was, mainly because while most of Trump’s big endorsements did badly in the midterms, his previous pet student was by far the biggest Republican winner, landing a massive new majority by more than 1.5 million votes in a stunning validation of his leadership by Florida voters.
“If you’re [Trump] desperately trying to get back to the White House this was a nightmare,” I said.
“My view though is we should want the country to do well,” DeSantis replied. “I want other Republicans to do well. I want them to eclipse me. We’re setting a great standard in Florida, have everyone up their game.”
DeSantis was asked about his comment yesterday about Trump alledgedly paying off porn stars. But despite how Morgan makes it sound, he really didn’t weigh in on Trump’s purported conduct. But he did talk about what he believes true leadership looks like:
We met just two hours after he poked a disapproving moral stick at Trump over his Stormy Daniels legal scandal.
When I asked if he meant to be as censorious as he sounded when talking about Trump allegedly paying off porn stars, he doubled down and replied: “Well, there’s a lot of speculation about what the underlying conduct is. That is purported to be it, and the reality is that’s just outside my wheelhouse. I mean that’s just not something that I can speak to.”
And when I followed up by asking if personal conduct in a leader matters, he contrasted Trump to past presidents with a higher moral code.
“At the end of the day as a leader,” he said. “You really want to look to people like our Founding Fathers, like what type of character, it’s not saying that you don’t ever make a mistake in your personal life, but I think what type of character are you bringing? So, somebody who really set the standard is George Washington because he always put the Republic over his own personal interest. When we won the American Revolution, Washington surrendered his sword. [King[ George III said he’s the greatest man in the world if he gives up power. I think the person is more about how you handle your public duties and the kind of character you bring to that endeavor.”
I asked him how important truth is to him in a world where leaders like Trump, and recently ousted UK prime minister Boris Johnson, have played so footloose with facts. “People feel whether it’s being in the US or the UK, there’s been a departure from the truth being an important factor of leadership?”
“100%,” he replied. “Truth is essential. We have to agree that there’s a certain reality to the world we live in and if we can just create our own facts then we’re never gonna be able to agree on anything or never really be able to do policy in a way that makes sense, and so yes, it’s not your truth or my truth, it’s THE truth.”
Morgan tried to suggest there’s a Frankenstein thing going on here with Trump and DeSantis, but the governor shrugged it off and wouldn’t really go there:
There’s no doubt that DeSantis is now preparing to take on the man who claims to have made him what he is.
I asked him if he was familiar with the story of Frankenstein, and he said he’d seen the movie.
“And you’re alluding to what?” he smirked, knowing full well what I was alluding to.
“Dr. Frankenstein creates a monster then loses control of the monster and then the monster ends up killing him,” I reminded him. “You know the parallel I’m making . . .”
He chuckled. “Let’s put the country first rather than worry about any personalities or any type of individual . . . at the end of the day, I’m a vessel for the aspirations of the people I represent. It’s not about me, as Ronald Reagan said, ‘there’s no limit to what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.’ ”
“That’s true,” I replied, “but you’re up against somebody who definitely cares who gets the credit, and who’s desperate to want to win back the White House.”
“Well, I’m not up against anybody quite yet,” DeSantis replied.
Morgan wrote a separate article in the Post about the portion of the interview where DeSantis talked about how he could win the election. I’m not going to copy much of that here, only a blurb:
Ron DeSantis knows everyone is waiting for him to say if he’s running for president.
But in our interview, airing on Fox Nation’s “Piers Morgan Uncensored” on Thursday, he made it very clear that if he does, he can win.
“If I were to run,” he said confidently, “I’m running against Biden. Like we [him and Trump] are competing for the Republican, potentially, I get that, but ultimately you know the guy I’m gonna focus on is Biden because I think he’s failed the country. I think the country wants a change. I think they want a fresh start and a new direction and so we’ll be very vocal about that.”
“Do you think you could beat Biden?”
“I think so,” he replied, unhesitatingly, and emphatically.
He plans to follow the same path to success he had in the recent midterms.
You can read the full article at the New York Post.