Florida's Policy Model Focuses on Law and Order and Education Reform

0:00 Speaker 1 Sunday Morning with us today is Governor DeSantis of the great State of Florida, and he was on with us last Wednesday, but he has a lot more to say. Well, Governor DeSantis, welcome back to WABC and on. There’s so many things going on in the country. And tell us about education in Florida. Tell us about making Florida drug

0:24 free in quality of life, and quality of life is very important because New York was suffering.

0:33 Speaker 2 Well yeah, I mean, look, I mean just think about education. So we were the first state in the country a few years ago to not allow cell phones in class in K twelve and when I did that, MSNBC called me a fascist for not having cell phones. Now all the data is in. Even blue states are following suit

0:52 because you know, you can’t have kids buried in their phones the whole time. That is going to pay big dividends for us going forward. We’re also in terms of higher education, we’ve really reoriented our university system away from the traditional liberal bias towards more classical education. And we even have an ability for all tenured professors. They have

1:16 to undergo review now in Florida every five years. They can be terminated. These tenured professors and that’s had a hugely positive impact on that. So, you know, education part of it is you’ve got to provide the right framework so that your K twelve and universities can succeed. And we’ve done that in Florida and we’re proud of that.

1:36 Speaker 1 Now.

1:37 Speaker 2 In the drug use you and I mentioned it the other day, Florida’s had a forty six forty eight percent decrease in fentanol related overdoses. And part of the reason we’ve been able to do that, we’ve been very strong on the illegal immigration and the drug cartels. We have led the country and working with the Trump administration for

1:57 the identification and removal of the Leegal aliens, including unfortunately, we have cartel members that were let in under Biden. You’ve got people that are running drugs. Our view is we need to get them out of our communities. So that’s been a huge thing. The other thing that we’ve done that’s been really important is when people go into

2:17 hospitals from an overdose, if you just discharge them, then they’re going to use again, right, And so we now have a coordinated program where we’re staying with some of these folks, helping them to get weaned off the addiction to the opioid. That has reduced the relapses as well.

2:33 And the thing about it is, there’s all kinds of things that happen in society that you got to deal with. But I would say one of the things that has touched almost everyone in some way in the last five or ten years has been the opioid overdose and the fentanyl overdose. Everybody knows that either a family member, a friend,

2:53 a loved one who has some connection to these tragedies. And no one thought we’d be able to make this much headway, but we’re doing it. I do think the border under Trump has made a positive difference by not having everyone and their brother coming in. But we’ve obviously done a lot in the state of Florida that’s helped

3:11 set the pace and we’re proud of that.

3:13 Speaker 1 Well, thank you for what you’re doing down there. And let me ask you another question. You know, education is very important, the you know, drugs are very important. Why, I mean, do you have any common sense Democrats left in Florida? I mean, I could not understand from up here in the north where I’m at that they were

3:35 they were objecting to President Trump shooting down the boats coming in drugs. They’re gonna kill our kids.

3:43 Speaker 2 Yeah, you know, I think it’s tough. I think that there are common sense voters who are still considered themselves Democrats. But I think the political class on the Democratic Party has just lost their marbles. They just aren’t doing basic things that appeal to regular people. And I can tell you a good example. You look at California. They would

4:05 let you steal nine hundred and ninety nine dollars worth of stuff and they wouldn’t prosecute you unless you stole one hundred. So all these convenience stores and the drug stores were getting looted. In Florida, we did the opposite.

4:19 We did the strongest crackdown on retail theft anywhere in the country. What has that done. Yes, it’s meant less theft in Florida than in California. And in fact, there was a group, a gang that would steal in New York actually, and then they would come down when they would sell all the pro get the proceeds, and they’d

4:39 party in Florida.

4:40 Speaker 1 Then they’d go back.

4:41 Speaker 2 To New York and steal again. And they actually did an interview with CNN and the lady was like, well, why don’t you just steal in Florida since you want to be down there partying. They’re like, well, you steal in Florida, they put you in jail, so we don’t steal in Florida. So that’s had a good, good thing.

4:56 But I’ll tell you when you start to see shoora shelves being looted, when you see some of these quote smaller crimes that are allowed, it creates a negative impact on the overall quality of life. It leads to more serious crimes being committed. Rudy did that back in New York.

5:14 He understood that in the nineties when he did all what he did. So we take that very seriously, and I think that we have contributed to a much higher quality of life than we would have if we adopted these Democrat policies in places like New York in San Francisco.

5:31 Speaker 1 One last question, Governor judges. We’re having a lot of problem with judges in New York allowing people that have committed violent crimes back into the streets of New York. And we’re depending on our US Attorney Jake Clayton, who works the directly for the President, to make sure that if it’s a federal crime, he goes after them. Are

5:56 you having similar problems in Florida?

6:00 Speaker 2 Not as bad as New York, but we have had problems, and at the state level the remedy if a judge is not going to do what is necessary to protect the public. It’s one thing to just have a different view of the law, but when you’re releasing dangerous people and then those convicts end up killing somebody or raping

6:19 a child or something horrific, that judge should be impeached. And unless you start holding these judges accountable, they’re going to continue to pull this crap. So I’m in favor at the state level for state judges of the legislature bringing impeachment cases in these rare and they’re rare in Florida, but in these rare instances where there’s been a complete

6:43 neglect of duty to protect the public, I think that’s absolutely appropriate. I also think it’s appropriate for federal judges when they go off the reservation. The problem is the Congress. They really can’t get much of anything done, so I don’t have high hopes that they’re going to be able to do it. But the reason why judges are out

7:01 of control, particularly trial court judges in this country, is because they’re never held accountable for the damage that they cause with these bad rulings and bad decisions.

7:11 Speaker 1 Well, Governor DeSantis, thank you for everything you’ve done in Florida. Everybody’s headed to Florida. We built the tallest condominium in the west coast of Florida and Saint Petersburg and we’re about to start another one.

7:26 Speaker 2 And yeah, you did a good job there. People really rave about it.

7:30 Speaker 1 Congrats, Thank you so much and look forward to seeing you in the near future. And God bless you, and God bless America. God bless