Exclusive Q&A With Presidential Hopeful Ron DeSantis
Ron DeSantis, candidate for 2024 Republican presidential nomination and current Florida governor, joined AgriTalk to share his plans for the agriculture industry if successful in his run for president.
AgriTalk has extended an invitation to all presidential candidates to join Chip Flory and answer the same set of questions.
Q: What’s your motivation to be President? Why do you want the job?
A: We're in jeopardy of being the first generation of Americans to leave our kids and grandkids in an America that is less prosperous and less free than the one we inherited. As a father of a first grader, kindergartener and preschooler, that is not acceptable to me. I am not going to sit idly by and watch the managed decline of this country. We are going to reverse the country's decline, we are going to usher in a new birth of freedom and we are going to create a revival of the American spirit. I'm running for president to get the job done.
Q: What’s the No. 1 issue or challenge for America? How and when will you address it as President?
A: I think it's multifactor. I think it's the economic struggles, the lack of sovereignty at our southern border and then the poor energy policy. So, we'll do all that on day one. We're going to take “Bidenomics” – the rules, regulations, executive orders – we're going to reverse that. We need to get inflation prices and interest rates down. There's more to do than just the “Bidenomics,” but we are going to do the “Bidenomics” and get rid of that.
We also need to declare a national emergency for our southern border on day one. I'm going to end this invasion. I'm going to build a border wall and I'm going to hold the Mexican drug cartels accountable for poisoning our people and killing them by the tens of thousands.
Then we're going to reverse Biden's disastrous Green New Deal energy policy. We're not going to force people to buy electric vehicles. We are going to open up our domestic energy for production. We need low price and reliable energy in this country. It's good for individuals, it's good for businesses and it's good for national security.
Q: Let’s talk rural America and ag, farming, ranching, etc. What issues will you address as President?
A: We're going get the federal bureaucracy off the back of the agriculture industry, particularly our family farmers and ranchers. EPA is not going to be able to go on your property because you have a puddle and say it's Waters of the United States. We're going to rein in the EPA, we're going to rein in the USDA. Farmers know how to take care of their land better than government bureaucrats.
We're also going to reverse Biden's electric vehicle mandate so we can support liquid fuels. We're going to do year-round E15 and also allow for higher blends to be sold as people want to do it. I think there's a market for it.
We are going to go against states like California who are doing things like Proposition 12, which is impacting how people are producing pork in Iowa. California should not be telling Iowa pork producers how to do their job. We're going to provide relief there.
We want to eliminate the death tax, particularly for family farms. We shouldn't have to sell the farm just to be able to pass it down to the next generation. It's very important we do that.
Then we're going to work to make sure what our farmers are producing can be sold all over the world. We want to increase access to markets in other parts of the world.
Q: When you say "rein in USDA," are you talking specifically about some of the climate-smart farming programs at USDA?
A: We're going to absolutely kneecap all of the climate-related impositions on agriculture, and I think it's more than just USDA. This whole ESG movement – they’re trying to do it through the Securities and Exchange, all these other things. Ultimately, the movement behind this views agriculture as a big problem to what they're trying to accomplish, so they target agriculture as being a source of all these problems. If those policies go into effect, it will create a food crisis in this country. It is not going to work. It's very dangerous. I'm going to provide relief for that not just in USDA, but across the board. ESG will be dead on arrival in my administration.
Q: The Iowa Corn Growers and the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, and others, say you are the only candidate who checks all the boxes with your support for biofuels. Describe your energy and renewable energy policy plans.
A: We want American energy and yes, that means opening up federal lands. That means doing things like Keystone and Marcellus Shale, but it also means producing biofuels here in the Midwest, here in the United States. [It’s an] important part of the economy and helps with affordability, so we're going to be a supporter of that. Yes, we’ve checked all the boxes across the board because we understand how important it is.
As these issues come up with agriculture and biofuels, I have so many great people I'm friends with here in Iowa who will provide great counsel. From Gov. Reynolds, the members of your legislature, to so many great members of your farming community. I'm excited to be able to work with the folks here in Iowa as we advance good policy for them over many years in the future.
Q: One of the policies from the Trump administration made rather liberal use of the small refinery exemptions. Where would that stand in a DeSantis administration?
A: That would be a case-by-case thing. I know Trump had done some of that stuff. I don't know really what all went into it. But obviously we understand there are stakeholders here in Iowa on that and we want to make sure we make everybody happy.
Q: How will businesses (small and large) view your fiscal policies?
A: It would be a big improvement over what we're seeing now. You can just look at my record in Florida. We've cut taxes every single year, we've run big budget surpluses and I've actually paid off 25% of our state's total debt that we've accumulated since the inception of Florida as a state in the 19th century. Imagine if you could do that in Washington. We're the No. 1-rated economy in all 50 states. We're No. 1 for new business formation, No. 1 for entrepreneurship, No. 1 for talent development and No. 1 for education. We're going to downsize the federal bureaucracy.
In the state of Florida, we have one of the lowest, if not the lowest, state employees per capita, anywhere in the country. Our budget, even though we have millions of more people than New York state, is half the size of New York state. Yet, when people move from New York to Florida, they tell me our services are better, our roads are better and our schools are better. So, we're doing all this at half the cost and in a much smaller government.
The bureaucracy that small businesses have had to contend with is way out of bounds. It's way excessive. We're going to be taking that off the backs of our small- and medium-sized businesses. The big corporations tend to do fine with big government because of all the rules and regulations and red tape that give them a competitive advantage over smaller companies. The people who get killed by the federal bureaucracy are the small family-owned businesses. Those are going to be the businesses I want to see succeed in this country. Washington's no longer going to be a roadblock for their success.
Q: On trade policy, former President Trump says he's going to invoke at least a 10% tariff on all imports into the U.S. Is that something you would consider?
A: No. First of all, that would raise prices for Americans. It would hurt the inflation we're seeing, and then it would lead to retaliation from other countries. That would end up hurting farmers because they would cut off access to some of our agricultural products. I will be willing to use, strategically, trade policy to make sure we could restore key elements of our economy visa vie China. I think that's important, and I think Trump talked about that. I don't think they had great success at it. But if he does a global tariff, Americans will pay more for things, and there will be reverberations in the agriculture community.
Q: Final question. Yes or no: Should former President Trump be on the primary ballot in Colorado?
A: Yes, he should. That was a mistake the Supreme Court there made.
