DeSantis to Newsmax: College Presidents 'Disgraced Themselves'

The presidents of Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Pennsylvania "really disgraced themselves" with their testimony before a U.S. House Education Committee's hearing with their comments on campus antisemitism, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, said on Newsmax Sunday.

"It shows the rot that has developed in academia over many years," DeSantis told Newsmax's "Sunday Agenda." "Those institutions — what they're doing to indoctrinate these kids — they're talking about it's OK to say 'genocide of Jews' because they believe in free speech."

However, he continued, "They'll fire staff members who articulate normal conservative positions on garden-variety issues. So it was all a big fraud that they were perpetuating on the public, and I hope they're all held accountable and lose their jobs."

DeSantis also on Sunday discussed the actions he's planning if he is elected, pointing out that he "delivered on all the things I said as governor of Florida."

"We're No. 1 for the economy, No. 1 for education, No. 1 for immigration, have paid down 25% of our state's debt, parents' rights and education, eliminating things like DEI in our public universities," he said, referring to diveristy, equity, and inclusion.

And on day one in the White House, "we will declare a border to be a national emergency that will free up resources we'll deploy to the southern border to stop the invasion."

Most importantly, he said, "we're going to hold the Mexican drug cartels accountable. You know, I get some of these people in the media saying, Wait a minute; you can't hold the drug cartels accountable with military force. They're invading this country. They are poisoning tens of thousands of our fellow Americans."

The cartels, he said, would be categorized as foreign terrorist organizations, which would allow the military to use lethal force against them.

He also promised to "rip" out President Joe Biden's executive orders on the economy and the Green New Deal.

DeSantis also promised to fight against bureaucracy and the weaponization of the federal government.

"During COVID you had people like [Dr. Anthony] Fauci, the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], the NIH [National Institutes of Health] — all these agencies did immense damage to this country, and yet nobody has been held accountable. So I'm going to usher in a reckoning of all those health agencies, because we can never let this happen to our country ever again," the governor said.

Meanwhile, when asked about claims that former President Donald Trump would act as a "dictator" if elected, DeSantis said he would have liked for Trump to have acted "more swiftly" when he was in office before.

"A lot of us wanted to see Dr. Fauci fired — and [FBI Director] Christopher Wray," said DeSantis. "I think he had a lot of opportunities to pull the trigger under Article 2 where he didn't pull the trigger ... he didn't do enough when he had presidential power, so the idea that he's some kind of dictator is not something that I think is consistent with history."

He also dismissed claims that Trump has the nomination sewn up.

"A lot of people have spent a lot of money against me here in Iowa; so if it was a foregone conclusion, they wouldn't be spending millions and millions of dollars," said DeSantis. "I've had more incoming directed at me than all the other Republican candidates combined, so that should give you a sense that here on the ground people realize it's a competitive race."

DeSantis also commented on allegations of criminal action on the part of President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.

"My fear on this is it is being set up in a way that the Democrats are going to say, Well, you can't complain about Trump being prosecuted because they're prosecuting Biden's son."

He also said he thinks the president will pardon his son, who is facing federal tax charges, "so I'm not sure that this is going to end up leading where we think it should lead. Obviously, the corruption has been significant. But I want to see how this unfolds, because I'm just skeptical that the fix may be in."

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