'The American economy is going to be stronger than ever'_ Rep. Byron Donalds

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00:00We are approaching 100 days of the second Trump administration.

00:03My next guest is a Trump surrogate and working on his own run for governor.

00:07Joining me now, Republican Congressman from Florida, Byron Donalds.

00:10Byron, good to see you and thanks a lot for being with us. We appreciate it.

00:13Good to be with you. Thanks for having me on.

00:14All right, Congressman, our new poll with Washington Post and Ipsos finds

00:17Trump has the lowest 100-day approval rating of any president in 80 years.

00:22That's since approval polling began, and I imagine you disagree with that sentiment.

00:25So why aren't the president's policies connecting with voters so far?

00:30Well, look, first and foremost, let's look back on the first 100 days

00:33and compare it to the previous administration.

00:35The border is now closed. We're sending home criminal illegal aliens.

00:40The president campaigned on both, and he's doing it.

00:43You have now a three-day ceasefire in Ukraine.

00:46You have the hostilities in Gaza coming to an end.

00:49Those hostages are going home. Gas prices are down. Egg prices are down.

00:54So a lot of the things that the American people were furious with the previous administration with

00:59the president is now executing on.

01:02So I think when you look at polling, that's just a snapshot in time.

01:05Look at the last 100 days, all that President Trump has accomplished.

01:08It's been the same policies he campaigned on.

01:11He received a mandate on.

01:12And the changes are happening at warp speed here in America.

01:16You talk about egg prices and gas prices.

01:18Let's talk about the economy.

01:19The president ran on Turn It Around the economy,

01:21but now a majority of Americans think the economy has gotten worse since Trump took office.

01:25Is that a lot of that disapproval is coming from people who voted for Trump in the last election?

01:30What's your response to Americans who are worried about the economy and a potential recession?

01:35Well, I think people were looking at the stock market from a couple of weeks ago,

01:37but let's be very clear.

01:39American businesses and America's economy has been taken advantage of for a very long time

01:44by China and other countries around the globe.

01:46The president is trying to reset global trade for the future of our country.

01:52That is a good thing.

01:53But none of this stuff is going to come easy.

01:55It's a work in process.

01:56Last thing I will say to the voters of America, Donald Trump's not an ideologue.

02:00He's a realist.

02:00He's going to look at the data as it's coming in and make the right decisions on behalf of the

02:05American people, which is different from previous presidents who saw our trade deals being taken

02:10advantage of, who would not enforce our trade deals to the betterment of American business,

02:15American workers, and American families.

02:17So you cannot just judge everything by what happened two weeks ago or so in the stock market.

02:22Take the totality of the entire agenda, and that's still knowing that the big, beautiful bill

02:27is going to get passed on Capitol Hill in the next month or two.

02:30We are going to get the job done.

02:32The American economy is going to be stronger than ever.

02:34All right, Congressman, we've seen growing backlash to some of these policies across the

02:38country, especially at town halls.

02:40Republicans, including yourself, have gotten an earful from voters over the past couple of

02:43months, and they've been very contentious.

02:45But it's not just these town halls.

02:46Our polls found 57 percent of Americans disapprove of the work Elon Musk is doing in the government.

02:52Does Elon Musk have too much power, and why do you think Americans disagree with the changes

02:56that he's making?

02:57Well, first and foremost, let's just say in these town halls, this is not indicative of

03:01the American people.

03:03These are Democrats.

03:04They're very organized.

03:05They're coming into town halls, and they're screaming and yelling and carrying on, but they

03:09have no real solutions.

03:10Specific to the Doge effort in Elon Musk, we need to get federal spending under control,

03:16and it is not going to be an easy proposition.

03:19I guess we could do it the old school way, where you have a blue panel commission that

03:24never gets anywhere for two and a half years, puts out a report that nobody ever sees, or

03:29you can go in and assess these agencies on the fly.

03:32At the end of the day, Congress has a responsibility to put into actual appropriations the cuts that

03:39Doge has identified.

03:41But if you ask the American people, away from all the hyperbole, they want to see our

03:45government be more efficient.

03:47President Trump hired Elon Musk to lead that effort.

03:50He has been leading that effort.

03:52Elon made the announcement he's going to be going back to his businesses very soon.

03:55But the mission of making sure our federal government is efficient is here to stay.

03:59We have to clean up the waste here in Washington, D.C.

04:02But Congressman, it's not just Democrats at these town hall meetings.

04:05It's also Republican voters who are pushing back.

04:07Look, like I will tell you, I held this town hall meeting.

04:11I've held them for years in my congressional district.

04:14I knew who came in.

04:15A lot of Democrats.

04:17Those are the people that were coming in, yelling and screaming, upset with everything,

04:21but have no solutions.

04:22I even brought up the fact that Joe Biden, during his administration, gave similar access

04:26to the access that Elon Musk has.

04:28They didn't care.

04:30They were just mad about Elon Musk.

04:31If you want to actually have our government become more efficient, wouldn't you want somebody

04:36that's actually run businesses very successfully in the United States to help with that effort?

04:41Or do you want it just to be the same bureaucrats who come up with the same political solutions

04:46that never get anywhere for the American people?

04:49I would rather have people come in from the private sector to help us do the right thing.

04:53All right, Congressman, let's move on.

04:54Another issue where Americans have big concerns is immigration.

04:57The president gets some of his highest marks on this issue right here, but still 53% disapproved

05:02of Trump's recent immigration crackdown.

05:04Now, borders are Tom Homan was asked about that by our Diane Macedo today.

05:08Here's what he had to say.

05:10I'm not running a popularity contest.

05:12I'm enforcing the laws.

05:13And by securing a border, like I said this morning, we have the most secure border in

05:17the history of the nation today.

05:19President Trump's policies are saving lives by the thousands.

05:22And that's something the American people don't hear enough about.

05:25And I think I'll turn those polls around.

05:29All right, Congressman, so why do you think this is the right approach, given what we are

05:32hearing from Americans, a lot of whom voted to put Trump back in office?

05:36It's the right approach, because look at the signs behind me.

05:39Illegal criminal aliens led into this country by Joe Biden.

05:43What are we supposed to do?

05:44Let them stay?

05:45Victimize the American people?

05:47Do we need more young girls like Jocelyn Nungere and Rachel Morin who are killed or are

05:52brutalized?

05:53Is that what we need?

05:54No, Donald Trump campaigned on securing our nation and sending home criminal illegal aliens.

06:01If the Democrats and the media want to now make a Kilmar Garcia, the cause celeb, be my

06:07guest.

06:07But that does not make the American people safer.

06:10It does not make our country safer.

06:12We are following the law, doing it the right way.

06:15And if there are judges who want to disagree with that, that's fine.

06:18But we are going to follow the law and we are going to execute the law on behalf of the

06:22American people.

06:23That is what they want.

06:24That is what they voted for.

06:25And that is what they deserve.

06:27All right.

06:27Finally, Congressman, there is some tension in Florida ahead of the upcoming governor's

06:31race.

06:31Governor DeSantis, who cannot run again, is being investigated by the state legislature over

06:35whether he illegally used federal money to defeat a ballot measure legalizing marijuana

06:40there in that state.

06:41Do you think Ron DeSantis has been a good governor for the state of Florida?

06:44And what would you do differently if you get elected?

06:48Well, first, specific to the allegations around Hope Florida, my hope is that the governor

06:53answers those questions fully that the legislature has brought.

06:57Overall, Ron DeSantis has done a great job for our state from COVID-19 and ever since that

07:02point forward.

07:04But what I bring to the state is being focused more on business opportunities, diversifying our

07:08economy, finishing the job on Everglades restoration, which the governor started, and making sure

07:13that Florida remains the number one state in America to live and to do business.

07:18And I also want to make sure our kids are getting a world-class education, not just the best in

07:22America, the best in the world.

07:24That's going to be the focus of my administration.

07:26All right, Congressman, we'll have to leave with a representative Byron Donalds.

07:29Again, thank you.

07:30And good to see you as always.

07:33You bet.

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