Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pledged Wednesday night during the first Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee that, if elected president, he will not allow the deep state to shut down the U.S. economy the way it happened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Here's the thing: Why are we in this mess?" DeSantis said, noting the fragile state of the U.S. economy. "Part of it — and a major reason — is because of how this federal government handled COVID-19 by locking down this economy. It was a mistake. It should have never happened."
DeSantis then remarked about the job he did as Florida's governor during the pandemic while taking a shot at Dr. Anthony Fauci, former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and an adviser to former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden during the pandemic.
"In Florida, we led the country out of lockdown," DeSantis said. "We kept our state free and open. And I can tell you this, as your president, I will never let the deep state bureaucrats lock you down. You don't take somebody like Fauci and coddle him. You bring Fauci, in, you sit him down, and you say, 'Anthony, you are fired.'"