Vivek: Actually it was before I hired this staffer. She was evaluating an opportunity with the DeSantis campaign, which is actually a non-campaign right now. You know, the shadow campaign; which reveals why I think Ron DeSantis is not going to be our guy.
I think he cannot be the person who sits across the table with Xi Jinping. I think we need somebody with real fortitude who comes from the outside.
I think Ron DeSantis is a fine governor of Florida. He has done a great job done there.
But I think when you're talking about filling this national identity crisis; you can't have somebody who says I won't talk to a particular news network if they're not nice to me.
Or won't tell you if I got the second Covid shot or not because I'm scared of what the reaction will be.
Or that flip flops 3 times in a week on where he is on an important topic like Ukraine based on the reactions he gets.
I think there is a, and it's not specific to him, it is a fact about professional politicians that they are beholden to the system that created them. In many ways they are beholden to a donor class that has to fund them.
I am not beholden to that. Trump for his part is not beholden to that either.
I'm not beholden to that either. I've put an 8 figure sum of my money earned through my own hard work and dedication to this country. I've already put that into my campaign.
There is no limit we'll go to make sure that I'm independent of not being anybody else's puppet. I don't bow to any master from the CCP to the party of power in the United States but to the donor class in the Republican party either.
And I think when you have a professional politician, a career politician, like DeSantis, they are going to be good foot soldiers in the fight. But the person in the White House can't just be a follower; we actually need somebody who is a courageous leader.
Not just appearing to be courageous to a bunch of people who agree with you, but exhibit courage when it is most difficult to do it. And he's not going to be that guy.
If he were I wouldn't be in this race. I was actually rooting for him as a citizen for awhile but I think what we need is somebody who is a true outsider.
The Republican party needs to make it our tradition to nominate the outsider for the White House. The Democrat party - let them be the party for professional career politicians.
The Republican party is the party of the outsider and I think that's what it is going to take to see this agenda through.