House Republican: 'Only' Donald Trump has the 'ability' to stand up to Russia and China

21 May 2023

United States Representative Byron Donalds (R-Florida) argued on Sunday's edition of Meet the Press that former President Donald Trump is the only person with the guts to stand up to Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom Trump has repeatedly praised and attempted to emulate while he was in the White House.

Byron shared his thoughts during a discussion about Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' anticipated entry into the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

"I wanna play your celebration of Governor DeSantis and ask you about on the other side here," NBC News moderator Chuck Todd began before rolling footage of Donalds congratulating "the newly reelected Democrat-beating, freedom-standing-for, America's governor, Ron DeSantis" in 2022.

"Obviously you chose to support right now Donald Trump instead of who you described as America's governor there. What could Governor DeSantis had done to convince you to stick with him and not the former president?" Todd asked Donalds.

"Well, first of all, that, that speech was pretty good, Chuck. You gotta acknowledge that. That was good stuff. Anyway. Um, look, to me, it's not really about Donald Trump versus Ron DeSantis. It's about what America needs. And that's where I've been really since day one. We, I talked a little bit about foreign policy in the last block. We have a situation right now where Russia's on the move and China is on the move. We need somebody who can step in day one, look at Vladimir Putin, look at Xi Jinping and say, 'Okay, enough, I'm back. We're gonna get everything in order the way it was before,'" Donalds replied.

"You don't think DeSantis has that ability?" Todd wondered.

"I think it's gonna take him time. I think there's only one person who has that ability right now when it's Donald Trump," Donalds said. "And for all the naysayers who would say, 'Oh, he's unpredictable.' Oh, we don't know what he's gonna do.' Let's be very clear. When he was president of the United States, the world was in a much safer place. Nobody can say that the world is safer now than when it was when he was president."

That prompted a question from Todd.

"He called January 6th, a beautiful day. That is not something many people associate January 6th with. You really think that's an electable position?" Todd pressed.

"Look, I think what happened on January 6th was a terrible day for the country," Donalds conceded.

"You don't think it was a beautiful day," Todd noted.

"I was on the House floor. It was a terrible day for the country. But that also being said, we have a situation where we gotta get the country back on track. I made a comment the other day that as, as bad as January 6th was, the American people aren't consuming January 6th the way the media and Washington is consuming January 6th," Donalds continued as Todd pushed back.

"Pretty scarring in Washington. In fairness to Washington, it was a pretty scarring day for Washington," Todd recalled.

Byron admitted that and then deflected.

"It was. It was," he stated. "But what's happening in our Southern border right now, that's scarring for the people who live at the Southern border. What's happening for middle-income families when their wages are being eroded by a massive inflation brought to us by Joe Biden? That is the stuff that the American people are concerned about right now."

Watch below or at this link.

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