day next week. 7:00 p.m., "life, liberty and levin" with the great one mark levin is up next. ♪ ♪ >> hello america, i am mark levin, this is "life, liberty and levin," one of the most prosperous, successful states in the union is florida, also third most populous state, i think, people are leaving blue states, and are leaving red states, heading to florida, they like the government there, the leadership of the governor, they like the weather. and they like the no income taxes, they are moving to

florida. hopefully it is not a bunch of democrats moving to florida to vote democrat as they ruined by beautiful state of virginia, governor ron desantis how are you. >> great, mark, how are you. mark: great. there has been a lot written or said about you, i do not believe in funneling in through the media, need where thank you not like you -- media for some reason does not like you, did not like ronald reagan, does not like donald trump. it is a liberal media, i want to give you an opportunity to cover areas, you are successful, your popularity ratings in florida are significant and a very diverse population and industries and businesses in florida. it is quite remarkable. and so i want to get started and cover few areas with you. if i might. first and foremost, the virus. the coronavirus. what did you do out of the box

and what have you done since then protect your population? >> we looked at data that we had from other parts of the work as we got into march, we saw this was a virus that had a disproportionate impact on elderly people, we're the second oldest state in the country, that is something very concerning to us. we viewed it as taking action to protect the vulnerable, first thing we did was protect nursing homes, preventing people from visits and barred hospitals from discharging sick nursing home residents back into the nursing4 states did the opposite -- other states did the opposite, at the time was there a lot of movement to send nursing home residents back, people said you are going

to run out of hospital beds and you have to clear the hospitals, they were based on flawed assumptions, not validated in real-time. but -- i said, if i have to build a field hospital across the state, i will before i send the patients back into the nursing homes and endanger the elderly, i think having done that early is one of the main reasons, looking now at florida, we have one of most vulnerable populations, we're 28 in per capita mortality. i think it is because we have tried to do focus protection of elderly, this is not something that you could completely stuff but i believe we successfully mitigated. mark: testing, originally the

cdc did in the have a test, trump administration developed a test then various tests, have and have them manufactured and distributed. i want to ask you before we go to other aspects of the virus. i listened to the biden administration and critics of president trump, we have an administration in the trump administration hit wean the between the eyes by this virus were there no ppe, or nothing, they addressed it immediately and as quickly as they could, including testing. there were no vaccines, we had this operation warp speed, something that was done, never been done in modern history. that is to develop two vaccines in a period of 9 months. now we're talking about distributing it, producing enough and so forth. even director of national up

insuite of hield said -- institute of health said it typically takes 5 years, and then i see biden administration complaining every step of the way, saying there was no distribution plan, it was in, the trajectory of ordering and producing the drugs goes up, they have not changed anything, what your take on how trump administration handled this? >> i think in terms of vaccines and tests, logistics was really good. if you look at how the vaccine has been distributed. the vaccine is arriving, you have millions of doses on a weekly basis, very difficult -- logistical operation and warp

speed got it done. i was not a believer that everyone healthy person walks down the street needs testing. but we do have nursing home staff, and elderly, we established covidon nursing facilities. if you have a positive result, we have a place where you could. they could be discharged from a hospital to a covid facility. but having the testing to identify those folks, really offered an additional coat of protection. mark: how have you handled the distribution of vaccines? there is a limited number. it is increasing every day, you are right.

how are you distributing them. >> we were simple. seniors first. that was against the recommendation, cdc initially did not want to put seniors in the front, they wanted young workers, their initial guidelines would have a 20-year-old grocery store clerk get a vaccine before a 74-year-old grandmother, that did not make sense in terms of where the risk is on this i was first governor to reject the guidelines, and i said we'll do your 65 and up community, that 4.5 million in florida. but it is important to be able to do, that we set a clear standard, 65 and up. we continue to go all over the state to get that done. we now done millions of seniors. we're not done yet, but we're getting closer every day, i think those states that

prioritize the elderly for vaccination, when the dust settles on this i think you will be able to show that you were able to produce mortality more -- reduce mortality more than states, some are doing prisoners before their elderly that is crazy. i didn't' politics to be in into this i wanted to focus on where the risk was and what happened sense then, and i was criticized because whatever i do they try to hit me, then, other/8-- stats followed flood, we were right on that. we were right because we had a firm grasp of the data, we understood where the risk was, we were making sure we were applying the live. mark: give us a little bit on your background. >> i'm a native floridaian. i grew up playing sports, baseball, public schoolkid.

and recruited to play at yale university. i never been to new england in my life, i go up there i showed up first day of school with jean shorts and a t-shirt, this is standard for florida, not well received in yale. i blaifed baseball there 4 years, and within to harvard law school, and commissioned with the navy, and served state side and iraq. and a number of other things and a prosecutor for a 12, and elected governor in 2018. they have showed me is, role that leadership plays, in politics. you and i could sit and inter view candidates, they may do the conservative check list, they may say, all of the right things, but the question is, is when you get into a position,

whether in congress over governorship, and the lights are on and pressure on, they are coming at you and pounding at you, do you have the backbone to stand up and do what is right. i think that i was prepared to be able to do that when i got elected, no one was thinking we would have a global pandemic, but i always had courage in my convictions to toes whatever --s right, and stand up for folks, who had their world turned upside down. i looked out for them. and i think florida has been better for it. mark: during the course of program, i'll ask but other areas, voting and big tech. but before i do, simple answer. given what you have done, your focus. unlike new york and california. you have not locked down florida

like some kind of a prison camp, your schools are open. has dr. anthony fauci picked up the phone and called you, saying governor desantis. tell me what you are doing, tell me what works? >> no. >> thank you. >> we'll be right back. [laugh] dad i got a job! i'm moving out. [laugh] dream sequence ending no! in three, no! two, keep packing! one.

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mark: welcome back, governor desantis of florida. it is important that american people hear from you, your words without propaganda in media twisting everything you say, and cherry picking it. i live in the state of virginia. which a state of confusion. the teachers union here control, we have a democratic governor, and attorney general, and assembly and senate. and so, they abide by what the teachers union tell them. let's year in my county, teachers got 7% salary increase. the schools were not open.

i want to ask, in florida, are schools open, is there an option for kids physically to did to school. >> in florida every florida parent, has the right to sustained their kid to in-person instruction. typical school district, charter, public, private, we give the parent option to opt for virtual, fewer and fewer are opting for that. i think this is a really seminole issue, where did you come down on the school, people on left say, they quote believe. >> science. yet these same people who fight to keep schools closed. there is no scientific evidence or data to suggest that schools should be closed. we were one of first over summer to say get kids back, typical

firestorm, but it has been a huge success. without parents able to have that opportunity, i think you would have seen our students fall behind more and more every day. we were able to announce this week, year number 2 in ap intos out of 50 states, we're proud of, that one thing we looked at on data. it was so clear, looking at europe, and countries with kids in school, there were no significant outbreaks from the kids in school, you have to take that, and you have to use that in an influenza outbreak that is school, schools often are germ factories. but for whatever reason, covid-19 was different. the kids were not big spreaders, and classroom interact was not driving community transmission, from a scientific perspective there is literally no basis to

say they should be closed. as you suggest this politics this democrats honoring a special interest, a union, over the well being of parents and families, and union sued us what we tried to did this we beat them in court, we got it done, now if you would even suggest in florida to close schools, man, the parents would rebel, we had full sport seasons for everyone, activities for kids, and they are better off for it i look at some of the places where schools have been locked down since march of 2020. they are not going back in, in the spring. earliest will be fall of 2021, almost a year and a half without having any in-person instruction, the number of people who will fall by the way side because of the bad policies will be astronomical, the problems from this will last not just months and years but potentially a generation.

mark: it is troubling to me. we hear the same people like fauci talk about following science, they did it zig-zag, now it is either pass biden 1.9 trillion massive pork barrel spending bill. which subsidized democrat states, or maybe we can't send the kids back-to-school, the infectious disease guy, she nots not a expert on health. >> florida is not some little state like delaware. it is a massive state with a diverse population. you have metropolitan areas, and suburban, and rural. you have people pouring into the state every day to move there you have a huge school system in florida. that is a perfect example.

look at florida, there is is not a massive outbreak of virus insn the classrooms, that is the data, that is reality, look add california the whole damn thing is shut down, and new york the whole damn thing is shut down, isn't this common sense? >> without numbers, the numbers are clear look at pediatric case to 17, the numbers in california are higher than florida, when kids infected it is in the community, having them do virtual does not solve, that the evidence is clear. this is just purely being subservient to a special interest. biden has been one of the worst in it. he said, i -- my goal to get 50% of schools in person in 100 days, we have had, that his goal should have been yet to get

everyone back in school, he kp can't do that, because he does not want to upset the teacher union, that is a pathetic leadership. the kids that are most impacted and families most impacted are the low income, blue collar, middle class kids. the wealthy, sun and daughters s of elected officials, they are sending their kids in person in private schools, but they are not affording that right to the folks who need to go to public school system. mark: right. ed by -- opposes option to public education here, is not leading an effort to open schools, you are right, if you are a poor family in a poor school, you have no choice. there you are, you are stuck,

we'll be right back.

>> live from america's news headquarters, i am jon scott, latest coronavirus vaccine clears a final hurdle. today they voted to endorse the johnson & johnson one-shot vaccine, millions of doses are shipped across the nation, with company promising 100 million

doses by end of june, the johnson & johnson vaccine is easier to handle and ship, requiring a single shot, and not have to be stored at extreme ly,low temperatures, former president trump speaking against at cpac in orlando, he is not forming a new political party. the 45th president criticize biden administration for being antijob, antienergy and antifamily. i am jon scott, back to "life, liberty and levin." mark: welcome back, we're here with governor ron desantis of florida. i touched on this. california has shut down that entire economy, the schools, until the court intervenes, churches temples, new york the

same, new jersey and so forth. run by governors of the opposite party, you have taken a different tact. what have you done different from the others, what caused you to do things different from the others? >> if you go back to the middle of march, almost like a dime the country started to shut down, we had our theme parks, all places they voluntarily shut down, i did not tell them to. and so, we had late march, to april, i think people calmed down. i told the folks, we want to get everyone back open and we worked really hard from probably middle of april to get folks back up and running, our parks and everything el we offer here in florida. we understood because you had such a massive disruption to tourism, we had potential budget

problems, i line item vetoed a billion from the budget, and agency spent less of money appropriated to them, but what happened is because we were open. because we put people back to work. the revenues to the state have exceeded the estimates every month. in december was 330 million more than estimate. we're in a situation now where we're going to have a budget insurance surplus, our benefit in florida is half of new york state. we have been fiscally prudent. i think that fact we were so attentive to that we would make sure we were living within our means as well as keeping the economy open. i think they reinforced each other, now we're in a situation, where unemployment rate is less than national average, revenues more robust, we're looking to be

able to hopefully build off that, over the next few months, and this is all without tourism close to what it was, i don't have flights from brazil or europe like we did. when that goes back that will help, and when cruise liners are able to start sailing against that will help. fact that we're below national average with all of those handicaps, they are beyond our control, i think it say -- testament that freedom works, trusting people to make decisions for themselves is what works and using heavy han of government to suppress people, is just not something that is proven to be successful, it's not successful in fighting the virus and it can be destructive to your economy and give rise to a host of other downstream problems. >> now i understand why you are under attack by media and the democrats, now i understand, you have demonstrated in reality

that capitalism works, science when applied properly works, liberty work. and you demonstrated that americanism works, you have not used the iron fist of police state or totalitarian mine set mind setto reach into of store, restaurant, school and aspect of the state, to say i have governor and power. so you are a threat to the biden administration. you are a threat to the media that supports the democrats. you are a threat to dr. anthony fauci and individuals like him. you have demonstrated the opposite. a responsible governor, using common sense, applying his conservative, constitutional principles, it actually works, how many people do you know are moving to florida every day,

ormonth. >> it getting hard to keep track of, these are folks people want to move their businesses and retire here but they want to do it faster clips, we had family move just because our schools were open. because maybe their son played football, you could not play football in the lockdown states or they needed to get kids in palace rooms -- classrooms. when people come from lockdown states, they remark about how people in florida are just happier. it a much vibrant society, i think that lockdowns have really done a lot of damage in terms of psychology and mental health in some places, there will be people that visit here they cannot believe that schools are open or people playing football or basketball or the other things. some have said like you are landing in west berlin. because so much different, i

think about, that i am proud we're trusting people and viewed at free state. but i will want i see, that it tells me as a country, mark, we can never let this happen again. where people are shut down like this. it was wrong to to this, we have to learn our lessons, i don't think that anyone can look at this say rather be a lockdown state than be florida, we have done better per capita on covid stuff. we have done bet or education, much better on economy. and much better on the other health consequences of lockdowns, there is going to be a reckoning look at this statistics, there are deaths caused by the lockdown. those are going to be concentrated in the states with most restrictions. mark: i don't see the graphs and charts of people who passed away or horribly ill from other

diseases as a result of decisions by so-called kind scientists and politicians of other states, 2.95 million people die of year in this country, we will determine what they are dying from. we'll be right back.

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mark: welcome back governor desantis, of florida. we talked about your state has everything, people, and geography. all kinds of governments, -- local, state, regional. yet you manage to get through this election without any real controversy. look at my home state of pennsylvania, you had a rogue supreme court like your rogue supreme court in 2000 that interfered and changed election laws to tip balance for biden,

that is a fact, violated april 2 >> and that was not only state. you had a number of battle ground states where democrat operatives and lawyers and biden campaign officials went in there pressured their people to change laws, they did it not even talking about fraud or machines or anything. the constitution. and the law, in your state, a disaster in 2000. we hear crickets. it went smoothly, early voting. was it because the system is so strong? you all anticipated there mightbe issues. >> it is interesting, 20 years ago no one would have looked to florida for the way conduct election. things were done over the years by some of my predecessors, i

came in looking at broward and palm beach, and accepted resignation of snipes. they had been two problem counties, we did that right off the bat, took election integrity seriously when covid hit, i refused to do any kind of mass mail balloting. the fact is in florida we had our system. if you want an absentee ballot you can request it and send it in but we're not sending millions of ballots into the ether then figure it out. >> florida we knew how many people were voting in person early, and how many mail in ballots received by election day, when election is over, 7:00, people who are in line to vote, can still vote, whatever mail ballots are received count. but you are not voting past the

election. you are not having ballot just pour in 3 days later, we took that seriously, result was, by midnight on election night we couped 11 million -- counted 11 million votes that is 99% of precincts reported, it was pran transparent and fair. i appreciated those results, i also could tell you if the results did not go my way, i would have no problem certifying the result, it was free, fair and trans parent and efficient efficient. you can't have an election take 4 weeks to count the ballots or a situation where morning after the election, the election supervisor secretary of state cannot even tell you how many ballots are still outstanding, that saps confidence in the system. florida did it right.

we're not resting on your laurels, we'll do more election integrity this year. full ban on ballot harvesting,ure not allowed to be paid in ballot harvest in florida now, we see volunteers that get involved, we don't want to go down that road. and prohibit mass mails of ballots. we're going to ban third party groups from spending steps of millions to administer election like zuckerberg's group did in pennsylvania and others. we're ahead of the curve. mark: every state, did okay. with the election, it was one targeted by democrats, the one that was mostly led by democrats other than georgia. this hr 1, pelosi and pushing, pushing pelosi of california,

schumer of new york, replicate the disaster that exist in their states, not because they believe in counting every vote, not because they believe in election security. not because they are fighting election oppression, suppress and repression. it because they want to turn the country into california. they want to one-party state, you walk through, rationaly and logically, in person voting, make sure right people get ballots, matching signatures, we can do early voting but not so voting. and no late voting, that used to be the norm, now that controversial, it is what are you talking about? we let every vote count. no, you let every legal vote count. the problem, i see that democrat party does not want real reforms

to make sure the that the system works, they are trying to collapse the system. >> you look at states you mentioned california, new york, they take weeks to count the ballots. you don't know how many votes are outstanding, you could be up third on election day, then you end up lead gets whittled away or visa verse athat does not inspire confidence, that is the way you don't want to conduct an election. you want it to be transperson, efficient and a crisp result, people can accept it and move on. they want to be able to get more democratic in power. they are willing to change any rule. i would note they will fight thing like signature verification when it comes to republicans asking for that, and maybe in a place like pennsylvania. you know what they do for california call? they are insisting on draconian standards to do signature verification, they don't want

the recall petition to succeed. i think we see through this. and that bill would be i think unconstitutional. but that would not lead to more confidence in the elections in and way, shape or form. mark: i agree. hard to get enough justices to hear a case and rule the right way, we'll be right back. a choice he'll never regret... ...unlike using perm plus, a shampoo which attracts cats. lots and lots of cats. visit amerisave.com now. lower mortgage rates mean higher savings. we've got drones that can delive fridges that tell us when we're out of eggs, and people with diabetes are still pricking their fingers? meet the dexcom g6. see your glucose right on your phone without fingersticks. finally, a better way to manage our diabetes.

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mark: welcome back america, governor desantis. big tech is now one of most powerful anti-speech entities in the world. repressing speech based on content. republicans, you as governor have watched and took actions, what do you do in florida? >> our country cannot allow the terms of debate to be set by leftist oligarchs in silicon valley, that is unacceptable. we're tackling it on three areas, data privacy and personal privacy, you have a phone, they always pull data from that, they sell data. we think individual should be able to opt out of that.

you buy a phone, you pay your money, you can use it, they should not be able to monetize off your use. also election interference we saw with hunter biden story, and president trump. we have penalties if they platform a candidate for office, and if they suppress or else el. if you had a party for me at your house, we would document how much money you paid for food, that would be considered a contribution, but they can do this to help their candidates? that is something that does not -- escapes scrutiny that does not make sense. we want average citizen to have recourse if they are deplatforms or sensors, we providing a way to sue big tech. i think it fits, big tech will

market themselves as being about open debate, but they are always changes their ways of service and ways. we think that will be important check. you look at power they can have not just science you off of like twitter but -- but wipe you off e-mail and text messages, they are exercising powers in a monopolist fashion. this is an important issue for the time. and i think conservatives need to be leading on this in florida, we're leading the charge from the state level, and i believe other states will follow, but the status quo is not acceptable. mark: i think this is so purpose. people say, what can we do? there is nothing we can do. you say, i'm going to try something. defend the citizens of florida. federal and state constitutions,

these entities, operate welcome the boundaries of florida. they are violating our regulations, we're pass a law to advance the cause of liberty, and protect their data. then you have some of trade pick law professors, saying that not work, supremacy clause and states cannot control, i want to remind, to remember massachusetts, versus the epa. supreme court bent over backward to give massachusetts standing, to dictate terms of carbon dioxide that took off, what you are doing it crucialy important, i hope that catches on like a wildfire across republican states, this is federal implement this is state sovereignty, this is defending the citizens of the state, if it takes off it will be because of

a governor like you and maybe other governors to followed suit and defend their citizens, it sure as hell not happening in biden white house, and democrat controlling congress. you have pushed for legislation. maybe it passed with respect to vie on thing and violence this summer. >> it is going to pass so, when rioting started, i called up national guard, we said we're not tolerating. i see this size a persistent problem, we need to be swift in florida if a locality defunds police we'll work to penalize them for defunding law enforcement. someone who is rioting or looting, they are going to jail. we're figure to make sure when they -- making sure when they are convicted they serve jail sentence. i think if you do those,

throughout the country you will have problem, but people know, i'm not coming from portland to florida, i'll end up in the jail. if i get caught, we'll continue to to be really strong. and continue to stand by, men and women of law enforcement in florida. mark: all right governor desantis, thank you. this why i am transitioning from virginia to florida my entire family. thank you very much. >> thank you, mark, god bless. mark: we'll be right back. quit cold turkey are you kidding me?! instead, start small. with nicorette®. which can lead to something big. start stopping with nicorette®

we made usaa insurance for members like kate. a former army medic, made of the flexibility to handle whatever monday has in store and tackle four things at once. so when her car got hit, she didn't worry. she simply filed a claim on her usaa app and said... i got this. usaa insurance is made the way kate needs it - easy. she can even pick her payment plan so it's easy on her budget and her life. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa. mark: welcome back, america, the reason why i wanted to you hear from governor ron desantis, rather than focusing on cuomo or

now some, this works. a highly populated state, number 3 in the nation. people are moving, they are talking with feet, they are leaving the dark blue states. what desantis has demonstrated, conservatism, constitutionalism, liberty, civil society, it works, the answers without of washington d.c. for the most part don't work, yes, they listen to the cdc, but they look at date themselves and listen to their own scientists, they are better for it their population is better for it, he was not shoving covid-positive patients into nursing homes, he knew that was the wrong thing to do. and dr. anthony fauci doesn't praise him, he raises questions about florida. biden does not praise him, he is

considering cutting off florida, and a massive 2 trillion-dollar bill they want to spend with vast majority of subsidies to states and cities go to democrats, amazing their voting system works, the governor and government there have integrity, they are not looks for ways to stuff ballot boxes. by violating state and federal constitution, they want a system with integrity that people can support, step after step that is what good government looks like, that is what constitutional conservative government looks like, he did not lockdown his state, the restaurants are open, but level of contagious is not different in florida than did where else. and look, death rate is lower than most states. it is a successful state. i go to florida. i go to restaurant. people are accountable. they take care of themselves, they don't want to get the virus they don't want others to get it i want you to hear from a

successful governor. that things can work. things can work if we apply our principles and common sense, next time on "life, liberty and levin." >> i am steve hilton. let's set the scene. to sign an executive order written by the woke leftist. biden used them to lie about his signature legislation, he said hi