681: Why Ron DeSantis COULD Be Our Next President

Brian Nichols  0:05  
The love is real for Ron DeSantis. Yeah, let's talk about that. Instead of focusing on winning arguments, we're teaching the basic fundamentals of sales and marketing and how we can use them to win in the world of politics, teaching you how to meet people where they're at on the issues they care about. Welcome to The Brian Nichols Show. Valentine's Day and welcome to The Brian Nichols Show. I am your host, Brian Nichols. Joining me live here in our Stratus ip studios, here in lovely lovely Houston in the adult like cyber attacks are outdated business technology, but your company at risk. Learn more at the Brian Nichols show.com forward slash Stratus ip Yes, the love is real and how fitting as we're recording here on Valentine's day to talk about that love for one, GOP presidential potential candidate in one Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Now we have already had Bob Bob here on the show talking about the ready for Ron campaign. But we're gonna dig a bit deeper today. Joining us from ready for Ron, the executive director for ready for Ron Gabriel. Jana is joining us here on The Brian Nichols Show. Gabriel. Welcome to the program.

Gabriel Llanes  1:13  
Ryan. Thanks for having me.

Brian Nichols  1:14  
Absolutely. Gabriel, thank you for joining us looking forward to digging into things because obviously folks are curious, will we see Ron DeSantis officially toss his hat in the ring there in which I'm assuming is going to be a potentially crowded GOP field. But first, do us a favor, introduce yourself to The Brian Nichols Show audience and what is ready for Ron.

Gabriel Llanes  1:37  
So I'm the executive director for any fraud I've been with running for Ron since the inception. I've been part of the Republican movement, if not liberty movement for quite some time, I worked for a number of organizations in politics since 2010. Whether it was with Americans for Prosperity, getting a lot of the economic agenda through or going or work for Donald Trump in 2016. Until you know, I was brought on board by the great Ed Rollins, who's our chief political strategist to help out with this awesome project to kind of get Ron elected in 2024. And drafted, of course,

Brian Nichols  2:13  
all right, well, let's talk about this. Because yeah, we some there's a lot of discussion is Ron DeSantis. In fact, the real deal now we've had some folks who have even your run against Ron DeSantis, in the libertarian camp in one of our mutual friends, Hector Roos. But you see there is some skepticism towards Ron DeSantis. Does he have the bone a few days to actually bring the Liberty message to the masses with that big GOP platform? Talk to as Gabriel, you, I'm sure have an opinion on this being the executive director for ready for Ron. So give us the pitch? What is the argument? Why should folks not be as skeptical as they are?

Gabriel Llanes  2:55  
Yeah, look, Brian, I think you and I kind of fall into a lot of the same. I know a lot of people fall into this, where we have a number of Republicans that have promised to cut the deficit. And it seems like just no matter who's in office, it continues to inflate. So I would say the best the best way to make the pitch for Ron DeSantis and often make his own pitch and see how he's governed in Florida. Governor, you know, being an executive allows you the opportunity to govern. And you know, Florida is one of the few states in the country. But a lot of people might not know this, it's actually cut their deficit and cut their state debt. I think this year here or end of last year, rather, because we're starting off the year, he announced the DeSantis administration announced they cut another $1.3 billion from the state debt. I think they've cut it every single year since he's been in office. And I think he's pledged to continue to do so in the time being, but by the way, at the same time, he sent money back to the people. So this whole notion of you can't be cutting spending and taxes and see prosperity and see what because you're gonna see inflation, not inflation, the debt exposure is nonsense. So I think somebody's like, that's exactly what we love to see on a presidential level, instead of seeing, you know, the national debt reach up to 31,000,000,000,033 40 trillion, where it seems it's never going to stop and be great. I mean, for me, particularly somebody in office has done it number one has done before, and number two, could actually start to cut down those deficits. Otherwise, you know, I'm not gonna get into the Federal Reserve and and their antics here I'm sure that you know a lot about this in your audience knows a lot. And Jerome Powell, of course, has got has been dealt a tough hand by the Biden administration. But at this point, the solution is just let's just print more money, raise raise the interest rates, it's kind of maybe trying to tank the economy, or so it seems like to me to bring down inflation and let's just keep spending like like there's no tomorrow who cares? And hopefully you know, with a DeSantis presidency will finally get it. rid of that stuff.

Brian Nichols  5:01  
So I know another area, a lot of folks in the liberty movement are a little skeptical is a Ron DeSantis approach to foreign policy. Now, Ron DeSantis really hasn't had too much to say with regards to a lot of foreign policy in recent months, and namely, because he's governor of Florida, it's not in his purview. So obviously, you're running for president. And that means that will turn into his purview. So when you look back to well, what can we look to see in terms of what will he do in the future? You look to his past, and I'm looking to the past. I know a lot of folks raise up his record in Congress with a lot of question marks there when it comes to foreign policy. Could you address some of those concerns a little bit there?

Gabriel Llanes  5:44  
Sure. Look, I think, Brian, I think the best way to particularly somebody in the liberty movement, it's kind of a natural home. I think, for a lot of veterans, which we've noticed, a Ron DeSantis is himself a veteran, he served overseas, he hasn't Bronze Star, he was a JAG officer attached to one of the SEAL teams. So I think when you have somebody who's a veteran who served overseas, they're going to be much more careful about how they wield not only the military, but our but our, our power overseas. You see currently what's going on in Ukraine, unfortunately, it seems like nonstop money, we're gonna give it we're giving over sending over there, whether it's an equipment or cash itself. And unfortunately, it's incredibly dangerous. We don't know what's what this is going to manifest into its puts our troops very close to danger. I mean, it's one mistake away from us having to put combat troops on the ground. And that's far more than we want to see not just far more than anybody would want to see. Not that we're not getting weary of continually sending the money over there, that having a veteran office is always going to be more much more we're about using that manpower, putting American troops men and women in harm's way. And that's why I think Ron DeSantis meet a phenomenal president, particularly when it comes to foreign policy. He's served on the ground, he knows how difficult it is to put troops in front of to be to have actually people and to be himself in harm's way. And I think it'd be incredibly careful about how he wields that.

Brian Nichols  7:12  
So I was over on Tim Poole, back in March of last year. And when I was on the show, the topic of conversation was down in Florida, the the so called Don't say gay bill, which I think the actual name was the stop the sexualization of Children Act. So you saw there, there was an absolute attempt by the corporate media to direct a narrative and the Democrats directed narrative. But let's talk about the cultural issues, right? When I was on Tim Poole, I was saying I think Ron DeSantis is doing something smart politically, because he's now setting a narrative he's forcing Democrats to respond to, and it is focusing on Yes, this cultural conversation that a lot of folks are paying attention to now, in the liberty movement, I see a lot of people saying, We shouldn't be focusing so much about the cultural issues people need to know about, you know, where they're going to get their next paycheck. And can they buy groceries? And I say, yes, that's part of the conversation. But as the tagline to my show alludes to, we should be meeting people, where they're at on the issues they care about, which includes cultural issues, like parents, saying, What's my kid being taught in school, all the sudden, I'm seeing what they're being taught in school because of COVID-19. And the school is being shut down. And now me seeing what my kids are actually learning air quotes in school. And it raised a lot of red flags from parents. So I see the value in Ron DeSantis, having the cultural conversation, but to those folks out there, who say, is this worth the time, energy and effort? Gabriel? Let's say you,

Gabriel Llanes  8:47  
of course, it is, Brian, for a number of reasons. I mean, first of all, of course, you always have to go to what the voters care about, you don't talk to the voters about what they don't care about hope that they care about you care about, you have to go to where they are. But this is much deeper than just, you know, post your conium measures that we saw in a number of states where we have we've of course seen the student testing go down and students lagging behind in most states, Florida actually leads the way now perfect, but doesn't lead the way in, in education. However, we have to think about something rather than teaching kids, you know, the fundamentals, which is reading, arithmetic, his history, we're teaching them these woke ideologies. And in the meanwhile, you have the kids overseas in China eating our lunch. This this century is going to be about data. It's going to be about AI. It's going to be about programming. And we're focused on all this woke nonsense. It's a kind of indoctrinate your kids for what I mean, where does that get us in 1020 years? What's the workforce that gets us in 1020 years? The What do you want to what do you want to build a society of uninformed, uneducated people? So that what they end up on the government dole, I really do think that's what the Democrats are trying to get to in the long run. I think this is a distraction. It's the it's the method that they're using to get in there. They've been doing this since the 1960s. This is the this is their next thing, their distraction to get away to get our youth indoctrinated early and unfocused from the things that should be focused. So he could be the workforce of the future. At some point, it's going to come back to bite us if we don't nip it in the bud right now.

Brian Nichols  10:28  
All right, Gabriel, we got so far into the episode and I was able to avoid the one question everybody in the audience has been asking and waiting for us to address and that is, well, what about the former president one Donald John Trump, because he is one of two currently confirmed confirmed right? Yeah, confirmed GOP nominees we have with Donald Trump and now just recently announced sacrificial lamb Nikki Haley. So looking at Ron DeSantis. I think everybody is aware it's it's going to come down to Trump versus DeSantis. Right. And with that being said, there's a lot there. I guess, with that being said, but let's start to unpack Where do you see Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis differing and Ron DeSantis, truly standing ahead on on various issues when it's a compare and contrast directly to Trump?

Gabriel Llanes  11:27  
Well, luckily, as I mentioned before, you know, Governor DeSantis is in office, and he's an executive and we've been able to see what he's been, how he's governed over the last couple of years when President Trump has been out of office. No knock on President Trump, you won't get me to say anything negative about the man. I think history will be fairly positive towards him. We're not a lot of these woke historians are gonna get out of the way. But Brian, quite honestly, look at how he's governing. Look at how he managed COVID. You know, the, the Democrats were, we forgot about this. But here in Florida, I'm in Florida, we didn't have these draconian measures. And over in California or New York, Connecticut, you name it. We were hearing every day, oh, dear fat death sentence, and all these hysterical things that they would say about the guy. Well, that's his record. That's That's exactly who it is. Who He is. Now, President Trump, of course, is going to come out with all kinds of awesome nicknames. I'm sure he's gonna have some better ones and wrong to sanctimonious or whatever it is that he's come with. He's come out with lately. And I'm sure he'll come up with some good ones for Nikki Haley, or Mike pumpin, whoever it is that comes in. But if again, I don't work for the Ron DeSantis campaign. But if I did, I would tell them focus on your own race focus on being the next generation of conservative leaders, somebody who could bring the Liberty message to the next generation of folks in a way that President Trump probably can't just because of his, his his time that he's had an office because of the divisive nature, and again, be deferential to the guy be thankful for the man for having thrown his hat in the ring. You know, he served for years when he really didn't have to do so a billionaire who lived a very nice life who sacrificed a lot. We see all this stuff, whether it's with Twitter files of the fake Russia hoax or everything, they threw out the guy that America owes the man a great deal of debt, particularly all the warnings that he gave us when it was about China and all the things that that they call them hysteria came to be true. So there's something to be said about that. But Ron DeSantis, should run his own race, he shouldn't be focused on President Trump, take the nicknames. I'm sure. There'll be some good, entertaining ones that, like I mentioned, to go around. But let's just stick on the Ron DeSantis and how we can move forward.

Brian Nichols  13:36  
I think you look at the strategy versus the principles, right. This is the conversation we have in the greater libertarian movement is what what do we do? Do we be strategic? Or do we be principled, and this is almost the same church, different pew kind of conversation for the GOP, not saying Trump is principle principle by any stretch, but more so that it's, I think you hit it right there that Trump is so disliked by so many people. And there comes a point, I think a lot of GOP ears have to have their come to Jesus moment that you just you will not be able to convince a certain proportion of Americans because they have that preconceived notion. So you have to then weigh in the strategic portion of this, this pendulum that's swinging back and forth. And I guess that's something that Rhonda Santas will hands down being able to do better at especially with the folks in the middle. And I think we can wrap up as we go towards this part of the conversation is let's talk about that independent, dare I say just apathetic middle of the road. Americans have not voted or just have not gotten involved in a political process. I think it's imperative for any political organization be that the Republicans, the Democrats, the libertarians, or question mark for the future, in order to have true political Access, you have to involve that that actual majority of Americans who aren't involved in the political process now. So Gabriel, what would you say is the best means that we would see a Ron DeSantis actually reaching out to that squishy center slash majority of Americans who just are kind of tired of the whole thing.

Gabriel Llanes  15:21  
I remind people this all the time, Brian, people in my family people around me I live in real America, I, I don't live in DC. So I remind people, it's very simple. Talk to people about what it is that they care about right now, people are hurting or their pocketbooks and they're worried about what their kids are learning in school, because they're worried about whether kids are going to have jobs the next 10 to 20 years. So I think that's the opportunity that Ron has to talk to these people about these issues. Of course, there's all the other red meat issues are based, absolutely loves. And He's great on. But simplify. I mean, you talked about the liberty movement, I think those some of us in the liberty movement, get bogged down a little bit too much in the weeds of things when we start talking to people about maybe fiat currencies and the gold standard, and things of that nature, which I absolutely love. But the average American, you know, people are not picking up the books, and reading, reading about this stuff, as much as I wish that they would, that people real Americans on things that they have to worry about everyday people were working, you know, from early in the morning till late at night and are coming home and sitting around the dinner table. And we can't sit there being tone deaf and talking about things that I really don't care about. So we have to make a good case of explain to them how it is that we're going to make their lives better how we're going to put money back in their pockets, and how we're going to make sure that their kids have a bright future. I think one big one big, big part of this one big component of it is and I talk about this often is something that neither will particularly us on the right don't do very often anymore. And it's probably a word that you haven't heard in some time. It's called the grassroots. You remember that word?

Brian Nichols  16:50  
Oh, yeah, I love that word. It works really, really well.

Gabriel Llanes  16:54  
And what Brian, what's happened, you've been? I know, you study this stuff. What's happened the last three cycles when we haven't been doing the grassroots stuff?

Brian Nichols  17:02  
No, we've lost,

Gabriel Llanes  17:03  
we lose. And you know, we can we can stay down that path. And it's not sexy. It's not, it doesn't make any consultants money. It doesn't make them rich, which unfortunately, there's too much money in politics and too many people getting wealthy and when you get into that if you want to. But it makes people gravitate towards the things that do make them money and do get them rich. And that might be television ads. I'm not against television ads, we do our own TV ads. But you always have to look at what follow the money where the money is going. And unfortunately, if you don't invest on the ground, if you don't invest in the churches in the pews, if you don't invest in the schools in the school system, apparently parent teacher conferences and local elections. And of course, in the ground game, which is the nitty gritty get out there and knock on doors, go get people out there to vote, talking to your neighbors, talking to people at the grocery stores, you're not going to win. And by the way, the Democrats are so good at doing this. I will remind people that they when people think that they win by they want to stay and they want it by big numbers. No, they're usually less than 5000 votes, a lot of these things, and what's the difference? It's literally people telling their neighbors we're gonna get out there and vote. There might be George Soros money involved and all that stuff that they're that they're that they're influencing the elections. But definitely, they are so good at organizing, and we've let that fall off. For what, eight years now. And what has it gotten us a whole lot of nothing and just angry people about how we underperform? Well, guess what, if we don't get back to that, yeah, a lot of a lot of these consultants will have really nice new beach houses on the coasts. And we'll keep losing and the national debt will continue to rise. And we'll be getting into all kinds of foreign conflicts and and see the destruction of our currency. So I hope your viewers choose.

Brian Nichols  18:50  
Well, and you couldn't have set me up for a better infomercial for my Well, what I've been really focusing on here since January, and that is trying to help local candidates who need the help when they're trying to reach their average voter. And yeah, guess what, we're doing grassroots approach to politics, because it works. So what I'm doing is Well, number one, I wrote an ebook for everybody to go ahead and reach out to you can go ahead at our website, Brian Nichols show.com. Find the link to the ebook right there at the the homepage. The eBook is free by the way it is how to win your local election. But Gabriel also you are talking about the consultants who are usually getting hand over fist in cash for all the different consultancies they do. I saw that and I said, Well, this is a big barrier to entry for your average folks who are running for local office. So that's when we started our candidate school here at The Brian Nichols Show Patreon. 10 bucks a month is what we're charging for local candidates to literally get awesome roundtables with yours truly plus other candidates who are running for local office. Candidates who have run for local office in the past won those elections but also and sometimes more importantly, those who have lost their elections. We get to learn more What they did that they felt they should have done differently. And I think that's important for folks to actually put into their campaigns learn from other mistakes. So you're not repeating those same mistakes from yesteryear, just like you mentioned, Gabriel, when we don't go the grassroots approach, we will lose, we have lost. So let's go back to what works. And that's what we're doing here at Candidate School. So I guess that kind of counts for my final thought as we're going towards wrapping things up here. So do me a favor, Gabriel, as we go towards wrapping this a nice bow on the episode today. Give us your final thoughts. And also where can folks go ahead and continue the conversation? If they are, in fact, ready for Ron,

Gabriel Llanes  20:38  
not just continue the conversation, but I implore everybody who wants to see Ron DeSantis run to visit ready for ron.com Fo are ready for ron.com and signed a petition signed a petition to get him to run for president, you know, we're going to we're planning on delivering every single one of these signatures to Governor DeSantis himself here, hopefully pretty soon. We know last year alone, in the midst of midterms election, we're able to garner over 125,000 particular petition signatures. We're close to our announcing our next milestone. We'll probably announce it here tomorrow or the day after. So stay tuned, but in between now and then please visit the website ready for on.com. Sign the petition, donate. And if you can visit us on Twitter ready for number four? Run at ready for Ron and share our stuff and follow

Brian Nichols  21:30  
us. All right, folks. Well, there is your call to action for today's episode. And I'll give you one more call to action. And that is if you enjoyed today's episode, do me a favor, go ahead and give it a share. Also, if you particularly want to go ahead and dig into those links that were shared will go ahead into your podcast catcher, go to the show notes and you'll find everything pretty much listed there. But click on your podcast catcher artwork, it'll bring you over to Brian Nichols show.com, where you can find today's episode, which is episode 681. Say. And also you can find all 680 other episodes. But for today's episode, you can find all those links plus you can find the entire transcription of today's episode, you can find Gabriel's bio, and you can find the video version of the show which I know 99% of you are listening to us on the earbuds in the podcast version of the show. Yes, we do have a video version of the show. So head over to YouTube to Odyssey or to rumble wherever it is you go ahead and consume your video content. Whatever you do, just please do me a favor and hit that little notification bell and subscribe button so you miss a single time we go live. And by the way, if you are joining us here on YouTube. Well, YouTube's gonna go ahead and give you a little video right here somewhere, I think actually, no, it's gonna be right here. That's better. And it's gonna be yesterday's episode where we sat down with Fred Carey, who is a business expert, and we talk about fundraising because, Gabriel, I'm sure you you're aware, right? It's tough running for office. And that means that you often need to have some funds available in order to do so. So how do we raise those funds? Well, he's a fundraising expert. He's going to tell us what he learned in the business world and how we can apply it to the world of politics. So I will see you guys over there to continue that conversation. But with that being said, We're gonna sign off for today. So it's Brian Nichols signing off. You're on The Brian Nichols Show for Gabriel Yanis. We'll see you tomorrow.

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