Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

Ron DeSantis Says Nikki Haley Will Allow Dimon, Big Business ‘To Call The Shots’

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Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida said Friday that former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley would defer to business executives like J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon.

Dimon called on liberal Democrats to support Haley in the Republican primary as a means of stopping former President Donald Trump Wednesday. Haley is currently in third place in the RealClearPolitics average of polls at 9.6%, trailing Trump and DeSantis.

“When you see things like that and those types of folks gravitating and they’re the ones that are elevating her, that just tells you that that that’s just the managed decline of this country. She is not going to change anything,” DeSantis said. “If she’s catering to those people, she is not going to change this country. She will basically be somebody that will allow them to call the shots and not do the real, significant heavy lifting that we need to do.”

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Haley reportedly has met with the J.P. Morgan CEO to discuss economic issues.

“They don’t want a guy like me to go in there and be tough on China, they make money from China, these Wall Street guys,” DeSantis said. “You know, they don’t want us to close the border. They make money with cheap labor coming into this country. They don’t want us to actually drain the swamp and bring in the administrative state and neuter that, because a lot of times they can control some of these bureaucrats and these agencies.”

DeSantis also took aim at Haley over his feud with Disney, during which the former South Carolina governor suggestedthe entertainment conglomerate move to South Carolina. The Florida governor and Disney have sparred since DeSantis signed parental rights legislation in March 2022 over the company’s opposition.

“The question is, are you going to stand for the people when the media is coming at you, the left, or some of the entrenched interests, and hold your ground like we did when we beat Disney, like we’ve done so many other times, or are you going to run for cover and not be willing to fight people?” DeSantis said. “And I don’t think she’s shown a willingness to fight for you when it’s tough. It’s easy when the wind’s at your back. But when it’s tough, she is not going to dig in, she’s not going to be someone you can count on as conservatives.”

“He went after my record as governor because he is losing,” Haley told Fox News host Martha MacCallum Friday.