Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis blasts "lockdown states" at CPAC 2021

florida ron desantis and the chairman of the american conservative union matt schlapp [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] it does a heart good doesn't it governor yeah well i'll tell you welcome to florida i i know you probably wouldn't have been able to even do this in a lockdown saying i'm just glad i could attend cpac because if you did do it in a lockdown state i have a policy i only travel to free state so i don't have any problem being in florida we as you all know because many of you made the trip we often have cpac in another state to be not named that state decided to cancel us because they said this was unsafe and i said to myself i'll be damned if i'll be the the first acu chairman in 50 years to not have cpac and we and we looked around the country governor and there's you have some competition tennessee [Music] texas georgia we kind of moved away from georgia no offense i'm sorry marcy and we decided we'd come to florida and thank you for welcoming us with open arms absolutely 100. you know governor some of your colleagues get emmys for acting we're happy to be in a state that has a governor who deserves the people's choice award yeah thanks i now give you governor ron desantis all right well thank you we love you too for those of you who aren't from florida welcome to our oasis of freedom we are an oasis of freedom in a nation that's suffering in many parts of the country under the yoke of oppressive lockdowns we look around in other parts of our country and in far too many places we see schools closed businesses shuttered and lives destroyed and while so many governors over the last year had kept locking people down florida lifted people up florida is leading in protecting our vulnerable residents saving the economy and safeguarding the freedom of our people in florida schools are open every floridian has a right to earn a living and all businesses have a right to operate now we are stronger as a state and much happier as a people because of this leadership florida has lower per capita coveted mortality than the national average and lower than 27 other states our unemployment rate is lower than the national average even though tourism isn't fully back and our budget is in great shape we have not touched one red cent from our rainy day fund throughout this whole time florida got it right and the lockdown states got it wrong florida has also led and continues to lead on ensuring the integrity of our elections now 20 years ago if you had uttered the word florida and the word elections in the same sentence you would have been met with snickers well when i came into office i didn't wait for a crisis i took early action to make sure we'd have a smooth election one of the first things i did when i took office in 2019 was accept the resignation of brenda snipes as a supervisor of election in broward county and removed the supervisor of election in palm beach county we got those going in a good direction and then when covid hit i rejected pressure to make hasty and ill-conceived changes to our election administration like mass mailing of unsolicited ballots and the result on election night by midnight the state of florida had counted tabulated and put out 11 million votes but we're not resting on our laurels this year florida is leading on banning all forms of ballot harvesting and banning third party and banning third-party political groups like those funded by billionaire mark zuckerberg from interfering in the administration of our elections bottom line is this in florida your vote counts and we will continue to have a process that is transparent and that inspires confidence florida is also leading and protecting our people from political censorship and in holding big tech accountable when our legislature convenes next month it will pass and i will sign the most ambitious reforms yet proposed for for combating political censorship and d platforming for preventing big tech from interfering in our elections and for safeguarding the privacy of your personal data in florida we are not going to let the terms of the debate in our country be set by allah corks in silicon valley [Applause] now can florida is leading on the issues that matter to conservatives we don't spout hollow rhetoric we take decisive action and what's true in florida is true for conservatives across the nation we cannot we will not go back to the days of the failed republican establishment of yesteryear we reject open borders and instead support american sovereignty and the american worker building a movement on the foundation of amnesty and cheap foreign labor labor is like building a house on a field of quicksand we reject weakness in the face of the threat posed by china including their actions in international trade we reject military adventurism instead support a strong defense solely for the purpose of protecting our nation and its people now the battles ahead will be made more difficult without the voice of one of our greatest field generals my friend rush limbaugh on wednesday the state of florida had the flags flown at half staff in honor of rush in honor of his legacy rush displayed the courage of his convictions time and time again rush was one of the first to fight and win against cancel culture rush showed that fighting the left requires strength and that conservatism devoid of backbone is doomed to fail so at this moment in our history and i think russ showed us this but particularly now standing for the right things comes at a cost you will be attacked you will be smeared and you may even be cancelled by the major organs of the political left now anyone can spout conservative rhetoric we can sit around and have academic debates about conservative policy and i'm not saying you don't do any of that but the question is when the clegg lights get hot when the left comes after you will you stay strong or will you fold so enjoy cpac in florida as you leave to go back home although if you're not from here i don't know why you'd want to leave here but when you do and you engage in the battles ahead hold the line stand your ground and don't ever ever back down thank you god bless you thank you

Channel: Forbes Breaking News

Views: 389,750

Keywords: Gov. Ron DeSantis, CPAC, CPAC 2021

Id: abUDbHBf0J4

Length: 10min 22sec (622 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 26 2021