Freedom Caucus cofounder and former Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ) told SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Saturday that he would stand as strongly against President Joe Biden as Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) does if he were elected governor of Arizona.
Salmon, who hopes to become the next governor of Arizona, said he would lead in a similar manner to his former colleague and fellow Freedom Caucus member DeSantis.
Salmon told Breitbart News Saturday host Matthew Boyle, “Ron DeSantis and I are very, very close friends. We were two of the founders, original founders, of the Freedom Caucus. Ron is doing a marvelous job in Florida. I’m very proud of him. And absolutely, I will stand just as strongly as he is and beat back the federal government and tell them: You know what, we’re a sovereign state. Our founding fathers understood it. They got it. They put most of the responsibility for the laws of government, people’s lives in the hands of the states and the people.”
Salmon also promised on day one of his administration to rebuild the border wall on the southern border. He said his conversations with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) have given him additional options for combating illegal immigration on the state level when the Biden administration cannot curb the migrant crisis.
Salmon said the “first press conference that I hold after I’m governor is what a posthole digger on the border saying that we’re going to reconvene building of the wall ourselves. If you’re not going to do it, we’re going to get it done.”
“You may want to illegally immigrate to the United States but not here in Arizona. And that’s the message that we want to send if the federal government’s not going to do it,” he added.
Salmon predicted that many Republicans will take back the House and many GOP candidates for governor will win due to Biden’s failures as president. He said,
“Arizona has got more growth and freedom and opportunity than just about any state in the union. In fact, just, in fact, more than any state in the union. We want to keep it that way. Arizona loves its freedom. And I truly do believe that we’re going to go ahead and take back the U.S. House in a big way, nationally, and I think governors all across the country are going to be successful because Biden isn’t anywhere near what he said he was going to be. He said he was going to be the governor of all the people. Well, it’s clear. He just wants to be the governor of the far left. And that’s what he’s done. Those are the policies he’s pushing. He’s spending money we don’t have. A year ago, you know, we had energy independence. Now we’re begging OPEC for oil. A year ago, we had a really, really good strong economy. Now we got inflation all over the place. I just saw reports that I mean, the inflation is somewhere around six percent. It’s crazy. And the border that was under control is now a joke, and we’re being invaded. And we’ve got to do everything we can to stand up and fight this stuff. Ronald Reagan’s proclamation said that you know, we’re going to be sitting on the porch someday; we’re talking about when people used to be free. And that’s not something that we can allow to happen on our watch.”
Breitbart News Saturday airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Eastern.
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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