California v. Florida Cagematch

Ron DeSantis:

California has more natural advantages than any state in the country. You almost have to try to mess California up. Yeah, that's what Gavin Newsom has done since he's been governor.

Gavin Newsom:

When are you gonna drop out and at least give Nikki Haley a shot to take down Donald Trump in this nomination? She laid you out.

EDUCATION

Ron DeSantis:

So this is a book that's in some of the schools in California. In Florida, this is not consistent with our standards. It’s called “Gender Queer.” Some of it’s blacked out; you would not probably be able to put this on air. This is pornography.

Gavin Newsom:

This is an agenda made-up issue to divide this country. You talk about dividing this country? This is part of the culture war – the weaponization of grievance. We're focusing on math, science. We're focusing on reimagining our school system. He’s criminalizing teachers.

ABORTION

Ron DeSantis:

They will take your tax dollars, and they will fund abortion all the way to the moment of birth.

Gavin Newsom: Ron DeSantis signed the most extreme anti-abortion bills in America. He signed a bill banning any exceptions for rape and incest, and then he said it didn't go far enough and decided to sign a six-week ban – before women even know they're pregnant, Ron. Before women can even access a doctor's appointment. So extreme is your ban that criminalizes women and criminalizes doctors that even Donald Trump said it was too extreme.

Ron DeSantis:

Well, I believe in a culture of life. I think we're better off when everybody counts, when everybody has an opportunity to do well. Uh, and that bill attaches when there's a detectable heartbeat.

Gavin Newsom:

You want to bring us back to a pre-1960s world, America in reverse. You want to roll back hard-earned national rights, on voting rights, on civil rights, on LGBTQ rights, on women's rights, not just access to abortion, but also access to contraception.

CRIME

Ron DeSantis:

People are leaving California in droves because he has failed to stand up for public safety.

Gavin Newsom:

He has a 66% higher gun death rate than the state of California. He has a higher murder rate.

Ron DeSantis:

We back the blue. I was walking the streets of San Francisco a couple months ago and I had some of the cops in San Francisco do a beeline to come over to me and I didn't know what they were going to say. And they're like, “we want to thank you for standing for law enforcement, because we don't get that support in the state of California.”

So people understand quality of life matters. They understand that Florida is doing it right.

Gavin Newsom:

I love this guy talking about backing the blue when you dangled pardons for January 6th insurrectionists, 85 of them that were literally charged with attacking law enforcement.

CLIMATE

Ron DeSantis:

Government dictated green energy policies. They want to kneecap fossil fuels and reliable energy. We've already seen what's happened in California… they have rolling blackouts.

Gavin Newsom:

Now you're running away from climate change as things have gotten worse. Hurricanes, wildfires, droughts, and floods. The same climate crisis that Ron DeSantis celebrated as human-caused.

Ron DeSantis:

They say the border is secure. They are lying to you. We know that that's not true. California is a sanctuary state. They thumb their nose at federal immigration law. Those policies are deadly. They do not work.

IMMIGRATION

Gavin Newsom:

I support border security. I think the asylum system is broken.

Ron DeSantis:

There's criminal aliens, there are terrorists, there's a lot of fentanyl. There will be, unfortunately, a terrorist attack at some point.

Gavin Newsom:

And your immigration policy can best be described as a governor from the state of Florida going into another state – the state of Texas – lying to migrants, promising them jobs and housing, sending them to an island, Martha's Vineyard, and then sending them to a parking lot in Sacramento, California. That kind of gamesmanship… using human beings as pawns, I think, is disqualifying.

Ron DeSantis:

They're poisoning our people. And Joe Biden is sitting on his hands. He refuses to take care of the border. He refuses to hold the drug cartels accountable. This is the vision of Biden, Harris, Newsom. Open borders. Americans suffer.

Gavin Newsom:

You're trolling folks and trying to find migrants to play political games, try to get some news and attention so you can out-Trump Trump. And by the way, how's that going for you, Ron? You're down 41 points in your own home state.

But there's one thing, in closing, that we have in common… is neither of us will be the nominee for our party in 2024.