Evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats says Trump is just "not the same"

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Go to lifelock.com slash Fox pod and save up to 25% your first year. So if it comes down to Trump and Biden, which it most likely will, you're going to vote for Trump then. I am a Republican.

Okay. So you will vote for Trump. It's not going to be Trump and Biden.

I'm telling you. So here's another Republican and Biden. I will say this, and I mean this quite sincerely. The party that chooses to move on from Trump or Biden first wins. If the Democrats choose before the Republicans to move on from Biden, before the Republicans choose to move on from Trump, Democrats will win. America is just looking for something new.

So a new generation, enough of this old, old school crap, we need to move forward. And so any new candidate on either side is going to win this, this election. That is Governor Sununu and he never thought that Trump would get the nomination.

Right now he's, he hasn't gotten anything, but he's primed to take it and no one's within 20 points. But it's all going to come down to Iowa. If Rhonda Sanders is so strong in Iowa, he gets momentum going into, to New Hampshire.

If he doesn't, then it's hard to see how he survives. And Nikki Haley seems to be picking up a lot of money and hopes to, by attacking DeSantis, be the last one standing. Bob Vander Plaats knows all this. He's the president CEO of the family leader.

It didn't stop him from choosing the Florida governor to endorse. Bob, welcome back. Oh Brian, good to be on your show. It's been a while.

I know. I mean, I gotta, I gotta get over to Iowa and see some of the, see some of the intensity on the ground and see some Iowans and find out about the deliberative process. To see those caucuses in action was really educational for me. We'd love to have you.

Yeah, that'd be great. I mean, first off, how organized are you when you guys looked around and seeing how the caucuses are coming out? We know the Democrats were a mess last time.

They couldn't even get, I don't even think they ever picked a winner. What about the Republicans? Well, the Republicans will have their game on. They're ready for the caucuses.

They've done this before. When the votes come in, you'll be able to trust the votes here in the state of Iowa. So what went into you picking Governor DeSantis?

I know you, I know you know, you know him well. Well, I know him well, but my, my big thing is I really believe I'm one of those guys who believes it's time to turn the page, time to turn the page to the next generation leader. This is not a vote against Trump.

It's a vote for the future of the country. And really Ron DeSantis is kind of his endorsement to lose from early on how he's led in the state of Florida. He's been a bold and courageous leader without us trying to push him to be a bold and courageous leader.

He took a toss upstate. He won it decisively, won a demographics we rarely win in, and he just makes it clear. He can win. He can lead on day one. He can lead for two terms.

He can be focused on defending this country versus defending himself. And to me, that was key. He made that argument at our Thanksgiving family forum.

That kind of sealed the deal for me. He did. He made, I think he's one of the few candidates ever outside, Senator Grassley does it all the time to go to all 99 Iowa counties. That matters a lot to you.

It matters a ton to me and it matters a ton to Iowans because what he's saying is I'm not taking anything for granted. I'm going to go to every Casey's General Store, Hy-Vee grocery store, whatever it is. I'm going to visit with you.

I'm going to be accessible. And so we're going to celebrate his 99th county on Saturday in Jasper County. Governor Kim Reynolds and I'll be speaking at that along with Casey and Governor DeSantis. When you look at Iowa though, it still trumps about 49%.

It's still got a substantial lead. What should we know about that with all your years of experience about Iowa and the caucus system? Well, first of all, as you know, Brian, Iowa always breaks late. It broke late for Huck to be in the late, Santorum in 12 and Cruz in 16. But the other thing I'd say in the polling I'm looking at is that Trump's like in the low 40s, like at 42% in the state of Iowa. And when you're a former Republican president in the Iowa caucus, that's not a great day.

And I think that's his high watermark here. I think he's gonna be more like 37, which means you got 63%. And DeSantis is way better organized and structured in the state of Iowa for a caucus ground game than say Ted Cruz ever was or Mike Huckabee ever was or Rick Santorum ever was. So I think caucus night DeSantis is tailor made to upend the former president here. So what do you like about his team? What worried you about his team? You said it was his endorsement to lose. So did you see enough because you've heard they lost some major donors. So what do you like about his team?

What needs to change? I remember Jim Clyburn said, I'm going to endorse President Biden if he straightens out his team. He had a bad team. He bombed in Iowa, bombed in New Hampshire. So what did you notice and what should we know?

Well, first of all, it's nothing that I didn't like. He did everything right. He came in and he worked exceptionally hard. He did Iowa the right way. He's got over 40 state legislative endorsements. He's got the historic endorsement of Governor Kim Reynolds, who's one of the most popular governors in the country and the most popular governor of my lifetime in the state of Iowa. He's got all the key endorsement.

He's got all the key factors. He's got 120 county chairs for 99 counties. He's got the precincts covered and his message is resonating. And I think what it is, people just need to be assured that it's okay not to vote for Trump and vote for DeSantis. That doesn't mean you're betraying Trump. That means you're looking out for the future of this country, your kids and your grandkids. That would be every message for almost every candidate. So what's the last time, Bob, I'm sorry, Bob Vander Plaats, what's the last time you lost after your endorsement?

I'm three and all. But it's not necessarily my endorsement. I mean, I always tell people my endorsement's worth one vote. But what I try to do is make sure my endorsement sticks. Our base is very influential here. I think that the Iowa caucus electorate will be like 64 percent evangelical Christian. These people take time out of their night on a cold night in the middle of January to discuss with their neighbors who they should vote for. They take it very, very serious.

And I see that kind of commitment and energy with the DeSantis people on the ground. I'm Dana Perino. Join me for my brand new podcast, Perino on Politics, as we analyze the 2024 election cycle.

Make sure you subscribe to this series on Fox News podcast dot com or wherever you download podcasts and leave me a rating and review. The holidays mean more travel, more shopping, more connecting online and more personal information potentially being exposed to identity thieves. But with a lifelock U.S. based restoration specialist, you don't have to face drained accounts, fraudulent loans or other financial losses from identity theft all alone. If your identity is stolen, they'll work to fix it. Backed by the lifelock million dollar protection package. Spend more time on more holiday fun, not identity worries.

Go to lifelock dot com slash Fox Pod to save up to 25 percent your first year. Also, what is Governor Reynolds endorsement do as well? She also endorsed Rhonda Sanders.

It's huge. And what she's saying to me and she was a big supporter and proponent of Donald Trump. I still think I still consider Donald Trump a friend.

He always doesn't like what I do or what I say, but I still consider him a friend. But what she's saying to show this isn't against Donald Trump. This is about we need someone who can lead and lead for two terms, someone who can defend this country versus defend themselves. And someone's got a history of taking on the woke agenda, taking on corporations, as well as standing up for the values that we hold dear. And DeSantis has done it.

If I was an NBA coach and he was an NBA player, he'd be my top pick. And that's why we went with them. So when you look at the Trump's track record among evangelicals, you know, he might not be the traditional religious candidate that you often heard. You also heard that a lot from George W. Bush. But in terms of track record, evangelicals, he's produced for you guys, right?

Yeah, but he's not the same guy, Brian. He produced by giving us three judges, which led to the overturn of Roe v. Wade. We give him credit for that. But then he throws pro-lifers under the bus for the midterm election, says the heartbeat bill was too harsh. He wants to make a deal on the sanctity of human life. He can't define what a woman is.

There's a lot of things today that he's just done. It's like, are we into principle or are we into personality? If we're into principle, I think you're going to vote with Ron DeSantis. If you're into personality, yeah, you're going to vote Donald Trump. So when you say he's not the same guy, you should say, but he's also seeing the results of these elections. And you could be, if you're the most pro-life person in the world, you're not winning in a lot of these battleground states. Well, you take a look at those, that Governor Reynolds who signed the heartbeat bill, Governor DeSantis who signed the heartbeat bill, they won and they won in landslides.

Why? Because they led with authenticity and they led with a compassionate voice for the mom, for the dad that's involved, the community that's involved, and people trusted them. What they don't trust is when you're trying to nuance and get talking points on the life issue. People respect where you're at, but they don't want you to be making up games on messaging. And I think where Trump is saying to Caitlin Collins on CNN, we're going to make a deal that everybody's going to be happy with. That makes everybody more than nervous on that issue. And have you talked to Trump since you made your endorsement?

No, I haven't. Now, he's talked to me through the media because he's not happy with my endorsement. But first of all, I mean, they said, you know, my endorsement doesn't matter.

And it may not matter because I tell them it's worth one vote. But I think what it shows is that he's very concerned about my endorsement. He's very concerned about Kim Reynolds' endorsement. I think his team and he also see what's happening on the ground in the state of Iowa. And Governor DeSantis knows that Iowa is ground zero. If you upend Trump here, or if you come in a close second to him here, I think it's game on to the nomination.

It's a two-person race. If Trump wins by 20, 30 points, it'll be a hard sell for anybody to say, well, we're going to move on. I think Trump then just steamrolls to the nomination. How active has Trump been in Iowa? He's been very, I mean, he's really picked up steam by coming here more and more.

Now, the venues are smaller, they'll be packed, but they're small venues. He's up on advertising in Iowa. I think he knows that he could be in danger of losing here. Remember, he was supposed to beat Cruz here by five points and Cruz beat him by four.

That's a nine-point turnaround. This time there's more ground to make up, but there's less candidates. And I think there's more open sky to make that happen. Are you going to be watching tonight on Fox, Sean Hannity, 9 to 10, 30? Yeah, I think it's a crucial debate. And as a matter of fact, I think a lot of Iowans are going to participate in the caucuses are going to watch that. And the reason is it's going to be a tale of two states, California and Florida, a tale of two governors. And I think, and I hope that people will be able to see this is what's going to take to not only beat the Democrats in 2024, but how do you lead and make America look a whole lot more like Florida than like California. And Ron DeSantis, if you do your opposition research, you'll be fine.

He's got a stronger hand. I think even Democrats will tell you that. But it's very interesting to see if a debate, the big difference between a primary debate where everyone agrees on maybe 80 percent of the things, maybe more, as opposed to they probably agree on 20 percent. So this could be really interesting.

But you could also get caught. You could also get caught if you're not prepared to understand what Gavin Newsom's strengths are and if Newsom doesn't understand ahead of time what Governor DeSantis has. Yeah, you know, and I think for both of them, Newsom and DeSantis, this is kind of their natural habitat. They like having a debate. Newsom, because he's very slick and he's a salesman, but he's really operating on a house of cards, so to speak.

Where DeSantis, he's very knowledgeable, he's very articulate, he's intellectual, but he's operating off of a firm foundation. These are things that have been true for a long time. These are timeless truths and they're shown to work in Florida. As people flee California, they're running into the state of Florida. I think that's enough.

I mean, that would be enough said for me where he could just drop the mic and exit the stage. All right, we'll see. We've got the holiday break. It's over. Thanksgiving's over. A sprint to Christmas, a slight pause, and then in January, we finally get this thing underway. A week later, it's New Hampshire.

Next thing you know, it's South Carolina, Nevada, and we have a Super Tuesday, and it all starts in Iowa. Bob Vander Plaats, thanks so much, Bob. Great to hear from you. Well, Brian, really appreciate it. God bless you, man. Listen to the show ad-free on Fox News Podcast Plus, on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music with your Prime membership, or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.