Brian's Unedited ONE NATION interview with Gov. Ron DeSantis

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To explore their thinking, go to KPMG.us. What are your thoughts being here right now? Yeah, I mean, this is, it's interesting. I mean, this was all here. Those batting cages were there. They built some more stuff over that way, but it looks, I mean, it looks basically the same. I mean, we used to have all dirt or all grass, and then they were just the baselines were that, so they've changed that a little bit, probably easier for upkeep. But yeah, no, I mean, it looks good.

It looks good. How many days a week were you down here playing baseball? Well, for our 12-year-old All-Star year when we went to the World Series, so you play the race, so they're playing regular season now.

They choose an All-Star team out of the regular season, probably at the end in May, and then you start playing June, July, August, if you go to the World Series. We were seven days a week. Now, the parents were there six days a week. Technically, we had Sunday off, but we would just come on our own and do it on Sundays, and so we did it. I mean, that was the whole summer, every day. Were your parents, those parents bringing you every time?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Did they want to go to all your games? They went to every game. You know, most of the parents just dropped us off for practice. They didn't necessarily stay for the whole practices, but every game, travel, and the thing is, is like, you know, we went, you know, your initial district is like in the general area here. Then you do a sectional, which I think wasn't too far, but then we had to travel for state, and then the southern regional was in Gulfport, which is in this county at the time, but we were in dorms because they have all the teams at 13. At that time, it was the U.S. South, 13 states, Texas.

All the way to Virginia and everything southeast, so you're in the dorms there as the parents came, but then the Williamsport, everyone went to Williamsport. It was a big deal, and you know, like at the time, as a kid, you just kind of assume like, well, of course, they got to drop everything for us, but, you know, now that I have kids and I'm an adult, you can't necessarily, I mean, it was a major sacrifice that the parents made. I mean, for sure, no question about it.

And like, by the way, it's more and more costly these days, too. Oh, well, that's the thing. This was kind of Little League as it used to be. This was not technically considered a travel team or anything, but that started to come as I got older, and that's like a whole cottage industry with what they're doing with all that now. So, but yeah, and then, so, you know, those, that's like a soft, big softball field where they'll play, and so as once we went from 12 to 13, we just play out on that field because it's bigger fences, so you can hit the ball a little bit.

See, this is like, you know, 200 feet for a 12-year-old. A lot of our guys, I mean, we could blow it past there. We hit a lot of home runs that year, but once you become 13, I mean, you've got to get on the bigger fields, and so, yeah, we do that, so that all three of those are softball fields, and then they got the city tennis courts. So this is all city of Dunedin stuff here. So some of your best friends made here, your relationships? Yeah, I mean, I would say like growing up, I mean, the kids that I was friends with, all of them played sports with me, most baseball, most all baseball. Yeah, and we would come, I mean, the thing is, though, we would play tennis. We had a bunch of kids playing tennis at certain times of the year. They had basketball courts down there. We would do that.

We pretty much did it all. Wow, so this seems like a great place to grow up, just looking around. So the interesting thing is, and I know you saw my book, we have the spring training home for the Toronto Blue Jays and Dunedin, and so if you guys go down the other side of town, you can see the stadium. The city owns that stadium, so when I was a kid in high school, that was our home field, not just for games but for practices, so we literally would wait for the spring training game to finish.

The big leaguers and the visitors would clear out. We'd go in, and we'd practice from like four to six or something like that, and then I played in college for four years all around the country. I never played on a field better than my home field in high school, but we had access to all those facilities, so if you like baseball, this is a great place to be because the community supported it. You had access to facilities above and beyond.

It isn't like this is a super wealthy area, but it was just the city wanted to support, and you just had everything at your disposal. And then, of course, the weather. I went to college in New England, and it was so cold.

Here, you play year-round. That was tough for you, right? Yes, yes, yes. All right, so we were able to get into the Little League offices, and we were able to see these pictures. So Crystal, let's see over here. So these are the individual folks, and then they did the house, and we got a lot of play for that around the community, and then that's Williamsport.

And we don't see Ron, we see Dee. That was your name. That was what they called me, and so that's how I signed. So yeah, so this game, I don't know if that's actually, if that's our team.

No, I don't know if that is. We had yellow uniforms. Man, but it's 91. Look at the style, how different it was. I did not seem odd at the time. But yeah, so that whole stadium to field, and then where this is, there's rolling hills, so you could fit 40,000 people in the whole thing, and the nicest ball field you'll ever see. Was that the first time you signed your autograph? No, you know, actually, when you got to Williamsport, all the fans would ask you to sign, and so we started signing. How was that?

It was neat. So we played California first game. We lost. That was single elimination at the time.

They've changed it since then, because we were a really good team, but we lost 5-4. So then the second game, we played Europe, and I pitched. Europe?

Yeah, Europe. It was, I think it was from Saudi Arabia, so it was basically American kids at the military bases. So I pitched, and then I think, like, and I didn't even realize this, I got announced for a game to throw out the first pitch, like a year ago. They looked up the stats. They said I got four hits, one home run, and struck out 12 people. I don't remember all that. I do remember hitting a home run there on that field.

That was pretty neat. How could you forget that? No, I remember the home run. I don't remember, like, how many innings I pitched or anything like that, but yeah, it was, I think a lot of it was just, you know, we were, we had been eliminated in a single elimination. So it was like, it was kind of bittersweet. I mean, it was great to hit a home run.

It was great to do some of that stuff. But we really believe we were the best American team. What they did the next year, they changed it to round robin. So if it was round robin when we were there, we would have ended up going to the finals. So it is what it is. So what we did for the summer when we went to Little League World Series, we put on the, underneath our hat, WWT was our model.

We want Taiwan, because Taiwan was the Little League powerhouse at the time, and that was everyone ever... They still kind of are, right? Well, the thing was at the time, it's like, you know, they're like machines and you're like, how do you do? Turns out, like, yeah, when you play 13 and 14 year olds in a 12 year old league, you can do a machine. And you're shaving in between innings. So it was a little bit, yeah.

So we, but that was the goal and we came, we got to the World Series, came very close, but we played a team from California. I mean, this dude was just throwing absolute cheddar 82 miles an hour from this distance. So you figure like a big league 82, not a big deal from 60, but when you got it from 45, that's the equivalent of like 109 miles an hour.

I mean, it's just lightning fast. But what I would imagine might've been the first time you had the goal. You understand what a team means and have a goal set yourself before the season starts.

That's where we go. A goal is to get to Taiwan. Does that actually help you the rest of your life? What's my goal? Get to college. What's my goal?

Start every game, you know, whatever it is. It was, you know, so at that time, there's four teams in the entire United States that make it to Williamsport. And we were one of the four right here in Dunedin, Florida.

And so the fact that we did it, it just showed, you know, you can do. And I was very provincial. Most of my teammates were pretty provincial. Like, I didn't travel very much. Like, I didn't know very much. And so to go from here to there was a huge, huge deal. I know, I know. My town, actually, you want to take a walk a little. My town actually made it, and that unglued them when they got separated from their parents.

Yes, yes, yes. Master Beagle got through. But by the way, there's still signs all over Master Beagle when you get to the Little League World Series.

Well, so when we did, we were two years after Trumbull, Connecticut, won the whole thing. That was, like, a big deal. And anybody that was on that team, and I've met a couple guys along the way, it's like still something people talk about. Well, here in the Little League World Series, as much publicity as he is, that's not what got you recruited. What got you recruited? Another coach saw you play, contacted the Yale coach, Coach Stupor, and he said, this guy can hit.

How did this guy can hit turn into a four-year starter at Yale? Well, I mean, the thing for me was I didn't, I'd never been in New England in my life. I didn't know anything about it. But, you know, I wanted my career to go. But I also understood, you know what, if you could go to a, and I didn't know colleges were liberal at the time, okay? I had no clue, like, what I was getting into with Yale. But, you know, it was a historic institution. I figured, hey, I'm coming from Dunedin.

If I can get a degree there, that's going to open doors for me, right? And so it was a combination of being able to do that baseball-wise, but also just feeling like, hey, this is a great ticket to have to do that. And so that was kind of what it boiled down to. And, but I'll tell you, I show up my first day of school, I talk about it in the book, you know, in Florida, we would wear flip-flops, jean shorts, t-shirts. Well, that's what I showed up on my first day at Yale.

I can tell you the kids from Andover Academy were not dressed the same way as me. So it was a major culture shock, much different. But, you know, at the end of the day, it honestly, I wasn't thinking about this at the time, but it did help me with getting political philosophy because I was exposed to leftist ideology. I had never been exposed to that. And I reacted the other way. You know, some people say, oh, you know, the kids go, they get indoctrinated. I saw this, I was like, you know what, where I come from, people care, they love the country, you know, they trust in the Lord, all this stuff.

I didn't know who was a Republican or Democrat back then. It was just, that was the foundation. But do you parents deserve a lot of that credit?

I mean, they must have put that foundation into you. The Kennedys famously would say, what was the headline, and make everyone talk about one news story. Was there in your house that sensibility, that Midwest sensibility of, we're lucky to be in this country. We bleed red, white, and blue.

And our illustrious history that allowed you to be an 18-year-old and not have that seep in? So I think if you look, I talk about the book, you know, Florida, there's a mix of everything, right? You know, Miami's more Latin America, you've got other places, more Northeast transplants. Here is, you do have Midwest, you have some traditional Southern. And so my parents from Western Pennsylvania, Northeast Ohio.

And so while you're part of Florida, and that has an impact, you know, that really, I think, was kind of just salt of the earth, blue collar, you know, God-fearing values. And I didn't think twice about it. I didn't know it was any different than anybody else. But until I got to college, then I realized. Now as a parent, you can appreciate this, and this is what I think about. Can you imagine what your parents must have been thinking when, number one, you're in the Little League World Series, that's your kid. And number two is Yale wants you to play on the baseball team, and you can get in and you're going to go. Can you imagine how proud they are and were?

Oh, yeah, yeah, no, for sure. Although my mom, I joked at one time, she's like, I'm going to have to tell your grandfather he's going to be disappointed you're not going to Notre Dame because that was like their big thing. So no, it was good, and it was definitely like a really, it was out of the ordinary for someone like me to be going there.

I want to sit down and talk about issues. The last thing, I called to Coach Stupor a short time ago, and he said, he talked about he loves your sense of humor. And he said, for example, after his first book, I get a book in the mail and say, Coach, I hope the pros lives up to your slippery rock level of education because he got his graduate degree from slippery rock. And when he went up to you, he said, I was proud to vote for you as a Florida resident. You said, yeah, and those two votes really put me over the top.

You are a wise ass. So, you know, Coach Stupor is a great guy because we would kid him. He played in the big leagues.

He won a game in the World Series, a starting pitcher, all this stuff. And then he ends up the coach at Yale. And honestly, I was one of the big reasons why I went there because, you know, yeah, I mean, he was, he had the pro background, all this stuff, and it was good.

So do that. But, you know, he, there was an article, I think even New York Times, the pitcher who saw beyond the plate, and it talked about him getting the Masters from slippery rock and writing and all this stuff. So we had fun with it. He wrote me a letter of recommendation, I think, when I went to law school.

To law school. Yeah, and I was just like, Coach, I was like, I was like, just because, you know, if you're training at slippery rock, this thing is going to make all the difference. Right.

He chuckled. You, and that's why I think that got you ready for the press because that locker room gets you ready for the press, right? Because your teammates, if they like you a lot, they rip you all the time. Do you get that sense sometimes?

Yeah, in fact, yeah. It feels natural when you spar. The way you know that people like you is if they're making fun of you. In baseball, like, if you don't like someone, then you just kind of just leave them alone. But when they're ribbing you, that's really what it's going to be. So you really have concluded the press really likes you because they're always ripping you. I'll tell you, though, the press has helped me because they elevate, they fight with me on these things.

They sharpen you. And then I end up showing them that I'm right on it and, like, they'll try to do a narrative. People say, wait a minute, you know, the governor's right. And that pattern's repeated. So we just did a thing about some of these school books. They're trying to say we're banning books. We played on a video the graphic stuff in these books for, like, nine- and ten-year-olds.

Everyone in the audience, like, the news stations had to cut the feed because it was so graphic. And so we're saying, okay, you're talking about what we're doing in schools. We're giving parents the ability to make sure everything's appropriate.

Not appropriate at pornography with nine-year-olds. All right. So that was then. It led to now. You're now a two-term governor in the middle of a second term. Let's talk about what's next.

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So, Governor, the book's number one in the country? Yeah. Must be a good feeling? Yeah. You're a competitor? Is that the goal?

Yeah. I mean, we wanted it to do well. We did a number of events not only in Florida but around the country. But people were interested in it. There were a lot of sales organically online, of course, and at some of our book events. But I think that we've gotten good reviews about they said, you know, this is genuine because I did write it. And they're like, it's clear you wrote it and didn't just have some ghostwriter write a bunch of platitudes.

I mean, we're talking about, I think, things in a way that people view as authentic. So, Governor, you just gave you a state of the state this week, state of the state address. You're going to cut taxes. You're going to cut tolls. You're going to raise teacher salaries. You're going to tackle illegal immigration, fentanyl, the buying, the purchasing of land from China. You're going to put a stop to all that. Is that what you mean? You haven't seen nothing yet? Give me an idea of what's straight ahead because your legislature is a supermajority and they are fully in support of you. Yeah. I mean, when I became governor, it was a blue wave year.

I snuck in. We had a narrow majority in the Senate. Now we had a big landslide and we've got the biggest majorities we've ever had.

It makes it a lot easier to be able to get a lot of good things done. But if you look, the tax relief is by far the most we've ever done in Florida history. If you look at what we're doing in terms of the teachers, yes, we're increasing teacher salaries. We're also protecting them against union coercion. So no more automatic deductions for teacher union dues. If someone wants to join, it's their choice.

But they've got to write that check every month and give it. And I think you're going to see a lot of them are going to opt against doing that. And that's going to make, I think, protect their freedoms in the classroom. You want kids and parents have a choice of where they're going to go public, private. And critics say you're going to ruin the pirate's private schools because the kids are going to be going elsewhere using government. Public schools. Yeah.

Well, that's what. So we've had school choice in Florida long before I got here. We've expanded it more than others.

And guess what's happened? Those public schools up their game. They've had to they've had to compete to get the bodies. We have a lot of school choice within our individual school districts now. So if you're in like Miami Dade, you have to go to the school right in your neighborhood. You can go to other Miami Dade schools there.

You can also go private and public or in charter and all that. So I think it's done well. We were in the most recent NAEP results. Number three and four in the country in fourth grade reading fourth grade math. Like when I was growing up, we were nowhere close to that. So I think it shows you that Florida empowering parents has worked.

And I think what it does is it lifts all boats. You were at the Reagan Library. And it's the 40 year mark this month of Reagan's speech, evil empire speech. He labeled the Soviet Union, the evil empire, all that's wrong in the world, to paraphrase, is from them.

Are they still? And is China to belong in that category, too? Would Governor Ron DeSantis say that? I would say that China is our most significant military, strategic and economic threat. If you look compared to what Reagan did with the Soviet Union, we were closer to nuclear war then, because if you had one misstep, both sides were hardwired and we had the mutually assured destruction, which we had to rely on to keep that China. But the Soviet Union didn't have a lot of influence over our society.

They had a relatively weak economy. China, you know, we're very much active. We've become economically dependent on them. They wield a lot of power over our. You found that out in the pandemic.

Oh, yeah. Every single thing we get in the pandemic came from China. Critical infrastructure, critical materials all coming from China. So I think China has more power that they were wielding.

Now we're working. That's why we're saying no more no land buys in Florida from CCP link businesses, because I think the policies to be, you know, decouple us from China, because right now I think we're just too dependent on them and it hurts our national security. So would that be your priority?

Should you ever run for president, become president? Yeah, I think I think we need to recapture supply chains. All the supply chains have ended up tangled up in China. Then you're at the whim of President Xi. You know, Xi is he is ruthless about how he wields power. He's more of a Marxist Leninist and probably his couple of immediate predecessors. He wants to impose his imprint on society.

The CCP has to be in charge. That's his view. And so I think he's willing to subordinate the economy to those goals. Do you think Washington realizes that? Do you think President Biden realizes that? Do you think that your two Republican senators realize that? I think our two senators do. I don't think Biden does. I think he's got a lot of history with China that doesn't put him in the... Do you think it's figuring it into policy? I think so.

I mean, I think he just, and forget about even some of the stuff that's been out, the allegations. He's just had relations there where he bought into this idea 25, 30 years ago, that if you give them most favored nation status, put them in the WTO, that they'd end up becoming democratic. That's what they were saying then. And instead what's happened is China has gotten very rich. They've gotten very powerful. They've gotten a lot of key manufacturing that they now control. And they've gotten more authoritarian.

And I think they've gotten more belligerent. And do you think that is along with Russia and Iran? Is that the new axis of evil as we see this playing out overseas? So I think that Russia's hostilities to us remain. Iran, they're a mortal enemy of ours. I think that Donald Trump did a good job of getting out of that deal and putting some economic pain on. Biden would want to go back to the Obama deal, but he realizes because Iran's working with Russia on the situation in Europe, that it's going to be hard for him to do it.

But I think an Iranian bomb is a big problem. Our Western Hemisphere, though, we have more leftist governments in the Western Hemisphere today than we did at the height of the Cold War. So we just had the Cuban ambassador trying to meet people in Florida. You still have a communist regime in Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua. You just got Brazil just flipped socialist, and we seem to be happy about it. Colombia flipped. Brazil flipped. And we've got a lot of Brazilian Americans, Colombian Americans in Florida who were voting in that election.

And it was a huge, huge letdown. And those countries are going to really go down. So the reason why that's important is this is our backyard. They will invite countries like China to exercise influence in our hemisphere. I think we need a 21st century Monroe doctrine to say, wait a minute, this is our hemisphere. We want it to be a hemisphere dedicated to freedom. We'll be a good neighbor to everybody. But we're not just going to sit there while you bring in some malevolent forces. The border, you know, is out of control.

You know that firsthand. You took action with what would happen with being able to take those illegal immigrants, whether it's Jacksonville or at the border. We just had four Americans killed, kidnapped and killed.

Two Americans, four Americans kidnapped, two killed in Mexico. So Senator Lindsey Graham is somebody who said, you know, we have to think about military action there. Do you think we have to think about military action? So what I would do, I mean, one, you know, you do need a border wall because what happens is, is anyone that doesn't want to fully enforce the policy like Biden, people are going to be able to come in. And we just can't have that.

So I think you need to do that. And I think you need to designate the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. I mean, think about what they've been able to do. Where were our overdoses 10 years ago to now?

They've gone up dramatically all because of the fentanyl that they've moved into our country. And think about it, tens of thousands of people. What are you supposed to do? Just sit there and let that happen? Right. Lastly, when you talk about you running for president, Tom Cotton came out and said, my kids are too young.

I'm going to wait. Would that factor into your decision, your kids being young and bringing them into that environment and where if they come to play little league, they'll have secret service with them probably the rest of their life? Well, it's something we think about already as governor, because really their whole six, four and two go back. We were governor for four years. So this is what they know. We're in a bubble. Now, granted, the president is much different, but that's what they've kind of lived in. And we do worry about, OK, are you going to have the right foundation and perspective on life? So we try to keep them grounded on it. But I will tell you, going through politics like we've done, they're too young to really know what's going on. And so we think that that has actually been better. I mean, if they were 13, 15 and 17 when we were going through some of this stuff, you know, that the kids and soak it in a lot more, a lot of the negative.

So so I think they have not been been affected in terms of the stuff that swirls out there. And you're always getting smeared because of how young they've been. And so it's in some respects, the younger they are, the easier it is to do as they get a little bit older. I think it may become more so it wouldn't stop you. You thought about it.

That would be something you do. You have no problem going back at Gavin Newsom. He's love sparring with you. But when it comes to President Trump, it doesn't doesn't seem to feel right with you yet. Well, the thing is, is like, OK, my view is, is I'm here to do my job and I'm here to fight the left. And so I fight Biden a lot. And then some of these governors, although I don't deal with Newsom nearly as much, he deals with me. He's obsessed with dealing with Florida.

It's like his number one thing. And the thing is, is I was out there and I'm just thinking to myself, you know, they've got a lot of problems. I mean, we all have problems going to do it, but they have power problems. You know, they were dealing with a natural disaster. You would protest or so. Governor, what was that like? Honestly, I was disappointed that there weren't more. I'm like, come on, this is California. You can't produce more protesters than this. But I think, though, the thing with with California, New York, some of those is we've had a great experiment over the last four years.

Americans have voted with their feet and the results have been overwhelming. They are leaving California, New York, Illinois. They're coming to Florida, Texas, Tennessee, these other states. And you kind of get it. I mean, like, you know, New York, there's a rhythm of life where, OK, maybe you retire, then you go to Boca Raton or you're in Minnesota, escape the winters as you get older, go to Naples.

Fine. But nobody left California for our entire history until the last four years. You tried to get to California. It's the state has more natural advantages than any other state in the country.

Beautiful weather. And yet people are beelining. I just did a book signing in Brandon, Florida, and I had 10 of the people move from California that when I was growing up here, you never saw a California license plate. Why would anyone want to leave California?

That's where I like the dream for the middle class. But it's been the leftist policies that have caused this. That is why people are leaving. And, Governor, I know you're going to wait for the legislature to get done before you make a final decision. There's a lot of people that want you to jump in.

I don't really know too many people who aren't expecting you to jump in. But are you worried of being defined before you do it? Because you watch President Trump come out and try to label you as a Paul Ryan, Jeb Bush type of Republican.

And are you worried about being defined because you're governor and you're not a candidate yet? So when you have a record of achievement, people can call you a name, but that's not going to trump the achievement. And so we've built an astounding record of achievement. The best is yet to come.

We're going to do a lot more over the next few months. And that's what people look to. Now, if I was just like, you know, some random maybe like a senator that didn't have accomplishments, then maybe someone could try to define you. But I'm defined by my accomplishments. I'm defined by leading this state. And I'm defined by having a state which is the number one destination for Americans who are looking for a better way of life. And so I think what you'll see over the next few months is by doing that is the best thing I can possibly do, not only for this state, but for people looking at me and sizing me up.

Hey, just look at the results. Casey, OK. How's she feeling? She's fantastic. So we recognize her at the state of the state last year. State of the state, I said we hope to be able to announce next year she's cancer free. We can announce that she's cancer free and she's looking better than ever and she's involved in a whole bunch of stuff. She just started this great cancer initiative where we're going to try to really be more effective at how we're doing that. And so and she's obviously a great wife and a great mother. So we're we're really fortunate.

We had so many people praying for us during those first months in October of 2021, November. And it wasn't easy to go through. And, you know, for me, I'm not going through it, but just to see someone that you love going through that was was difficult to see because you don't want to see anyone like that. But she's gotten through it and done a remarkable job.

Right. And she would be on board for whatever decision you make. She's been the best supporting the best spouse you could have. She supports me 100 percent. And like, look, she's a very patriotic American. I mean, you know, this whole governor thing, it's not that there's been inconveniences to it.

It wasn't like that. But but she's like, you know what? We need we need a guy like you to kind of do this. So she has a very can do attitude.

And I think one of her things, I just noticed you'd also talk about Djokovic Novak Djokovic. If you come out, he wants to come here. We will bring once to play Florida says, OK. But the federal government says since he's not vaccinated, even though the pandemic's over, he can't play.

And even though he's had covid already, he's got natural immunity. So we're willing to vote him in. His team, I think, is like, look, we don't it's a U.S. government's going to oppose this.

I think they're a little wary about that. So I wrote Biden a letter. I said, come on, green light this. Let's go.

Let's get real here. But we think he may be able to come on boat. So we're kind of working with the feds.

Just the way they wrote the order. It may be that there's kind of a little loophole so we could bring him in from the Bahamas. So we're working on doing that. Here's the thing. I would do it anyway. You would put him on a boat in the Bahamas.

If he's willing to get on a boat, we'll get him to Florida to be able to participate in the Miami open. And lastly, I know you've had your spouse with Anthony Foushee, the revelation that he helped generate a memo that said that this virus came from a natural occurrence and not from a lab. Does that reinforce some of your doubts about some of his decisions? So why would he do that? He didn't have the evidence to do that. I think they did it because they did not want the Wuhan lab to be subject to scrutiny because they were involved in sending money to the Wuhan lab through these different organizations. And they should not have been doing gain of function research. I think that he thought he could do whatever he wanted to because he was this big fish in the medical community. And I think he served us very, very poorly with that.

But here's the thing. Where is the accountability? Nobody has been held accountable. China has not been held accountable. NIH, CDC, they have been held accountable. In fact, the omnibus bill flushed them with massive amounts of cash after they've done so poorly. So I'd like to see some accountability. You know, we're working on that in Florida, but it's very, very important because the way that was handled was a total disgrace.

Not just the lab leak, but so many other things over the last three years. Well, we're on a baseball field. You've had a busy day, but you wanted to come to this field because it means so much to you, obviously.

Even though I'm a soccer player, do you have time for a catch? Let's do it. I'll do it. This episode is sponsored by State Farm. Buying insurance can be complicated, and you might have a lot of questions like, what if my policy doesn't cover that? Or, what if I need to make a claim in the middle of the night?

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Call or go to StateFarm.com to get a quote today. So, did you have major league aspirations? Oh, everybody did. I mean, you know, it's a... But you start college, you're thinking about it. Yeah, I mean, but, you know, at the same time, it's like I was always very realistic. I mean, you can be great. That's the top 0.1%, and it's very difficult to get to the big leagues. I was also someone like, you know, I could hit, if you want to throw me a fastball, I don't care if it's 95, I'll hit it. You're able to throw like a real hard slider, it becomes a little more difficult. I mean, you know, that's just the nature of it. Well, it's getting heating up. So, the coach said that he put you on the outside.

You could have played center, but he thought your arm would fit better on the outside. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it was good. I mean, we had a good... 500 at-bats, 313 average. Good four years. Started all four years. Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, we basically, if you figure, you get like 45 games a season at a four, and I missed some from injury. So, it's basically the four years college equivalent to like one major league season, you know, the 162 games, and I think I had over 100 RBIs for the career.

I think I had like 10, 12 home runs and stole probably 30, 40 bases. So, you're a goal-oriented guy, if not this time to run for president. Would you think at some time it's safe to say that that would be one of your goals? I would only do stuff if I thought there was a rationale for me to accomplish things on behalf of the people. It's not about me attaining a status. I mean, you know, being governor, it's great and stuff because you can do a lot. You get a lot of fanfare sometimes, but that doesn't... I don't care about the fanfare. I just care about the results. So, it's all substance driven about whether I could serve or not serve in a variety of capacities. But I'll tell you, you know, as governor and if you're a determined executive, you know, you can make things happen, and we've done that in Florida, but we've always got a strategy for what we're doing, and we're always working hard to advance the ball.

Understood. Man, I feel like I can maybe play a little bit. You know what? He's growing to get a little faster. I told you I'm a soccer player.

I'm limbering up, man. My son is four. He's now really into baseball, all sports, but he does not like to do the T-ball. He's like, Daddy, you got to pitch it to me, and he wants to pitch balls.

Wow, he's too good for T-ball. Yes, yes. And you're like, okay. Well, he hit a T-ball at the house when I was there. Oh, yeah. And your daughter could hit, too. And then I got a young one that's about to turn three, and she is really good. So, she's going to have her first T-ball season coming up in a little bit.

All right. So, now are you going to – if you were ever in the White House, famously George W. Bush loved baseball. He had the T-ball game. He had a T-ball league at the White House. Would that be something?

Yeah, yeah. I mean, honestly, I think promoting sports is something – we've tried to do that here in Florida a lot because we've got so many sports. We've had – since I've been governor, we've hosted two Super Bowls.

Of course, we've had NFL teams in the playoffs and then golf – we're in the golf season right now. So, we just – we have the TPC. You were just in Ponte Vedra. So, that's our big event in Northeast Florida. All right, Governor. All right. I guess – how many more events do you have today?

I think I only have one more. So, we're going to do a book signing in, I think, Pinellas Park and then head on back to Tallahassee. It's going to be an exciting two months. Yeah, yeah. Hey, thanks a lot. Thanks for coming to Florida. When can we expect a big announcement?

Depends how good we do in this legislative session. Thanks, Governor. Thanks. Thank you.