DeSantis Speaks After Second Place Finish in Iowa Transcript

Between whether or not we're going to return to someone who has proven all he knows how to do is lose to Democrats, him and his candidates for the last three cycles, that's all they've done is lose to Democrats. Or if the rest of the country will say, you know what? I'm tired of losing to these guys. Let's go with the guy who actually knows how to beat them, and that is Ron DeSantis. So thank you all very much for everything you did. I love that God Over Government sign. That's my heart right there. What I love also is we are undergoing a generational shift in America. DeSantis did very well, even won the youngest voters here tonight. That's very exciting for the future, and that is because Ron DeSantis is the future and that future is now. And we're going to move forward after Iowa and keep this fight going. No Coronations. You're going to have to actually win this thing regardless of what Fox News thinks. And with that, I want to bring out my good friend, Bob Vander Plaats, thank you.

I am so proud of Iowans. Not the snow, not the ice. Not the wind chill. You still turned out. Congratulations. I said right away early on that the goal of this is you punch two tickets out of the state of Iowa. And Ron DeSantis is one of those tickets coming out of the state of Iowa. When Darla and I raised our boys, we used to say, you're never going to be right when you do what's wrong, but you'll never be wrong when you do what's right and supporting Governor Ron DeSantis was the right thing to do. So I've been thrilled to stand with him in the state of Iowa. I'm thrilled we accomplished our goal. That he now goes on to New Hampshire and South Carolina as one of the two, where now America gets a choice and America gets a chance to choose. But I'm also thrilled to stand with somebody else who you know very well. And when she went in and endorsed Governor DeSantis, I thought that's a clear about who I should endorse. Please welcome your governor, Kim Reynolds.

Let's go Iowa! Thank you to each and every one of you out there for working hard, for knocking the doors, for talking to voters, for showing up. It made a difference. This man doesn't quit. He's in it for the long haul. He's ready to keep going. We're getting two tickets out of Iowa. We're sending him to New Hampshire. We're sending him to South Carolina. Watch out America. Ron DeSantis is not done. (03:22) I just want to thank the Iowa GOP and the Republican Party for a successful first in the Nation Caucus. They did a great job and I want to thank them for all the work that they put in, but I have been so proud to stand up and endorse Governor DeSantis. His record is undeniable. This is the man that can step in on day one and reverse the madness that we see happening from the Biden administration. He has the record, he has the resolve. He's a bold, principled leader. He is a hard worker. This guy will take it to the end. So let's keep supporting him. Let's keep the momentum going. Thank you for everything that you did. Let's welcome to the stage the next President of the United States, Ron DeSantis.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Well, thank you. Thanks so much. They threw everything but the kitchen sink at us.

Ron, Ron, Ron, Ron, Ron, Ron, Ron, Ron, Ron.

We love you too. They threw everything but the kitchen sink at us. They spent almost $50 million attacking us. No one's faced that much all the way just through Iowa. The media was against us. They were writing our obituary months ago. They even called the election before people even got a chance to vote. But they were just so excited about the fact that they were predicting that we wouldn't be able to get our ticket punched here out of Iowa. But I can tell you because of your support, in spite of all of that, that they threw at us, everyone against us. We've got our ticket punched out of Iowa. (05:44) And what I learned by going around Iowa is that this country has a basic decency. We've got hard-working people, God-fearing people, patriotic people. You just don't see it every day because of all the nonsense that gets spewed out there by the media, by social media, all this other stuff. People want to have hope for this country's future. And that's what we represent. We represent a chance to reverse the madness that we've seen in this country, to reverse the decline of this country and to give this country a new birth of freedom and a restoration of sanity. That's what we are going to do. (06:27) So we have our marching orders. Our marching orders are to do all we can to preserve what George Washington called the sacred fire of Liberty. The same fire that burned in Philadelphia in 1776 when our founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, the same sacred fire of liberty that burned at a cemetery in Gettysburg when our first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln pledged our nation to a new birth of freedom. The same sacred fire of liberty that was on the beaches of Normandy in 1944 when our Band of Brothers stormed those shores and helped free the world. The same sacred fire of liberty that was at the Berlin Wall in 1987 when Ronald Reagan stood there and said, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. (07:16) This is our responsibility to carry this torch and to preserve this sacred fire of liberty. Don't run away from this responsibility. We welcome this responsibility. We thank you for your effort. We thank you for your support. You helped us get a ticket punched out of the Hawkeye State. We have a lot of work to do, but I can tell you this as the next President of the United States, I am going to get the job done for this country. I am not going to make any excuses and I guarantee you this. I will not let you down. Thank you all. God bless you.