DeSantis Makes Campaign Stop In Glenwood
Florida Gov. and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is greeted upon his arrival Satuday afternoon at Tom & Tiff’s restaurant by Iowa State Rep. David Sieck, Mills County Republican Chair Sandi Winton and Mills County Attorney DeShawne Bird-Sell.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addresses his audience in Glenwood.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis mingles with his audience in Glenwood.
Alan Koziol and his son Collin sign Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ bus parked outside of Tom & Tiff’s restaurant Saturday afternoon.
Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis made a brief, 45-minute stop in Glenwood Saturday as part of his effort to visit all 99 counties in Iowa.
DeSantis addressed a standing-room crowd at Tom and Tiff’s restaurant late Saturday afternoon.
The Florida governor covered multiple topics during his address in Glenwood, including Israel’s war with Hamas, fiscal responsibility in Washington and border security.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever seen terrorist attacks this barbaric, where you’re beheading babies, you’re going after elderly people and doing all this very, very evil stuff,” he said of Hamas’ actions. “Israel has the right to defend itself.”
DeSantis said the United States needs to take a stronger stand against people that “hate America” and if elected president, he would stop of the “invasion” of illegal citizens coming into the country.
“We have to stop importing people that hate our country,” he said. “We have left our country vulnerable by having our border wide open. You have been 7 million people just since Biden has come in. Do you not think our enemies have looked at that and exploited that? Of course, they have. We’ve had people from China come in, we’ve had people from Iran, we’ve had people from Russia, the Middle East – all these places coming through our southern border.
“We’re going to do something about it. On Day 1 as president, we’re going to declare the border a national emergency.”
DeSantis said he would employ military troops to protect the southern border and he would follow up on the failed promise of former president Donald Trump to get Mexico to pay for a wall along the border.
“Of all the things Trump ran on, that was the thing I was most supportive of in 2016,” he said. “He said Mexico was going to pay for the wall and it didn’t happen. He said the reason why is there’s no legal mechanism to make Mexico pay for the wall.
“That’s actually not true, The way you make Mexico pay for the wall, you impose fees on the remittances people who work in this country send back to Mexico. We’ll have billions of dollars going into the coffers and that will fund the full construction of the border wall.”
Concerning other issues, DeSantis said as president he would work to eliminate several agencies, including the Department of Education.
During an interview with The Opinion-Tribune at the conclusion of his appearance in Glenwood, DeSantis said he feels good about the direction his campaign is headed in Iowa.
“We’re doing good, I think now that we’re at 80 counties out of 99. That builds support. I’m the only one that’s doing all 99 counties,” he said. “People want to see you. You have to earn it. Nobody’s entitled to be nominated – you have to earn it and we’re in the process of doing that.”
With its first-in-the-nation status, DeSantis said Iowa’s Republican caucuses will play a vital role in the electoral process and his campaign understands the importance of winning the state.
“We’re excited about what’s going on, we’re going to win Iowa,” he said. “The voters here are very discerning. I think they take the process very seriously and it gives me the opportunity to really go out and make our case.
“We’ll be here an awful lot over these next 90-95 days.”