Ron DeSantis in Second GOP presidential debate

On Budget & Economy: Federal bloated spending and $7.8T debt is reckless

DESANTIS: The people in Washington are shutting down the American dream with their reckless behavior. They borrowed, they printed, they spent and now you're paying more for everything. They are the reason for that. They need to change what's going on. And where's Joe Biden? He's completely missing in action from leadership. You know who else is missing in action? Donald Trump is missing in action. He should be on this stage tonight, to defend his record, where they added $7.8 trillion to the debt. That set the stage for the inflation that we have. As governor of Florida, we cut taxes; we ran surpluses; we've paid down over 25% of our state debt. And I vetoed wasteful spending when it came to my desk. And as your president, when they send me a bloating spending bill that's going to cause your prices to go up, I'm going to take out this veto pen and I'm going to send it right back to them.

On Budget & Economy: Throw Bidenomics in the trash can on Day One

DESANTIS: Well, I think this is a symptom of our overall economic decline. Everything has gotten more expensive. You see insurance rates going through the roof. People are hurting out there. So, we've got to address the underlying problem, with Bidenomics, the overspending. Taking all Biden's rules and regulations, I'm going to throw them in the trash can, on day one, you're not going to have to worry about that. We're going to open up all of our energy. We will be energy-dominant, in this country that will lower your gas prices. And what we need to do with health care is recognize our health care is putting patients at the back of the bus. We have Big Pharma, Big Insurance, and Big Government. And we need to tackle that, and have more power, for the people, and the doctor-patient relationship.

On Crime: Back the Blue; fight Soros-funded prosecutors

DESANTIS: Crime in the cities is one of the strongest signs of the decaying of America. We can't be successful as a country if people aren't even safe to live in places like Los Angeles and San Francisco. In Florida, we back the blue. We support the men and women of law enforcement. They are keeping us safe. We have a 50-year low in the crime rate. And, yes, when I had two progressive prosecutors that weren't following the law in Florida, I removed them from their posts, and the people of Florida are safer as a result of it. As president, I will use the Justice Department to bring civil rights cases against all of those left-wing, Soros-funded prosecutors. We're not going to let them get away with it anymore. We want to reverse this country's decline; we need to choose law and order over rioting and disorder.

On Technology: Free speech for American tech; free market for Chinese tech

DESANTIS: No. I think you look at how our societies developed, they have huge amount of power over our society. They've cracked down on free speech. We're not saying you don't want them to do business, but you want with it to be a free market. And right now, they're monopolies. But this issue of China is really going to be fundamental. We have subcontracted out so much of our national needs to the CCP [Chinese Communist Party]. We rely on them for a whole host of issues. We need to reshore, and we need to decouple all those important industries. We need to get that back in the United States. They are our top geopolitical adversary by a country mile. [Chinese President] Xi Jinping's got huge ambitions not only in the Asian-Pacific, but as you mentioned earlier, in our region. But ultimately, we've got to beat them on the economy.

On War & Peace: No blank check for Ukraine; end war with Russia

DESANTIS: It is in our interest to the end this war, and that's what I will do as president. We are not going to have a blank check. We will not have U.S. troops. We are going to make the Europeans do what they need to do.

Meanwhile, our own country is being invaded. We don't even have control of our own territory. We have got to defend the American people before we even worry about all these other things. These guys in Washington, D.C. don't care about the American people. They don't care about the communities being overrun because of this border. So as commander-in-chief, I will defend this country's sovereignty.

U.N. Ambassador Nikki HALEY: But it's not a territorial dispute. It's never been a territorial dispute.

On Welfare & Poverty: We believe in work; hence lowest welfare & unemployment

DESANTIS: It's not. Our State's a dynamic state. We've got a lot of folks that come. Of course, we've had a population boom. We also don't have a lot of welfare benefits, in Florida. We're basically say, "This is a field of dreams; you can do well in the state." But we're not going to be like California, and have massive numbers of people on government programs, without work requirements. We believe [if you can] work, you got to do that. And that goes for all the welfare benefits. And you know what that's done? Our unemployment rate is the lowest, amongst any big state. We have the highest GDP growth of any big state.