‘Facts Come First’: MS NOW Host Repeatedly Fact-Checks Byron Donalds During and After Live Interview

Leading Florida gubernatorial candidate and Congressman Byron Donalds (R-FL) tried to stretch the truth during an MS NOW interview on Monday, and anchor Peter Alexander was having none of it.

Alexander repeatedly tried to interject as Donalds rattled off several falsehoods during the interview on State of Play With Peter Alexander.

Pretty much from the jump, Alexander interjected to present his own fact-checks on the congressman’s remarks, beginning with inflation.

“First and foremost, the president, when he came into office, was having to unwind one of the largest inflations most Americans have ever seen in their entire lifetimes,” Donalds said. “The Biden administration-”

Alexander then cut in: “Can I just fact-check quickly, just to be clear.”

The cross-talk continued as Donalds tried to make his point, when he finished, Alexander fact-checked Donalds again.

“I do want to just make one factual clarification,” Alexander said. “When the president, recognizing that inflation hit historic highs, 40-year highs during Joe Biden’s term, when he handed the reins over to Donald Trump, inflation was at 3%. Right now it’s 3.5%. So in fact, it’s gone up since the president took office.”

When Donalds accused Democrats of creating “high prices in our country,” Alexander interjected again.

“For clarity, the president, of course, said that on day one, prices would come down. Orange juice is up 22%, ground beef up nearly 20%, coffee up 33%.”

Another tense exchange erupted as Alexander and Donalds discussed the sailors who have been forced to endure record deployments at sea because of the Iran war.

“I know how we want to talk about issues today, but you also have to look at what was happening in this country three years ago, because, three years ago, everything was growing — going wrong, especially in our military, where recruitment levels and morale was at an all-time low in the United States military under the previous administration,” Donalds said.

“Obviously, we’re now obviously — we’re now talking about what’s going on today, and I think we would both agree that the morale of these individuals who are reaching out to family members sharing their experience,” Alexander fired back.

Before cutting to commercial, Alexander delivered one last snipe at Donalds: “We should be very clear, again, despite the congressman’s assertions there, when President Trump took office, inflation was at 3 percent. There were 40-year record highs before he took office. Those are now at 3.5 percent. The inflation has only gone up since President Trump took office, just because facts come first.”

Read the full exchange below:

PETER ALEXANDER: And joining me now is Republican Congressman Byron Donalds. He is running for governor of Florida. He is leading the Republican side in the polls. Congressman Donalds, I appreciate your being here on STATE OF PLAY.

REP. BYRON DONALDS (R-FL), GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: It’s good to be with you.

ALEXANDER: Let me ask you, if I can, after nearly six months of this war that the president said would be, in effect, a short-term excursion, his words, the president is now basically delivering the message to voters that the extra cost at the gas station is something they should — they should be able to accept, they should swallow for now.

Here’s what he described it as. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So I just say this. So, for you to pay a tiny little bit more for your gasoline, just remember you’re doing it so that a very evil country cannot have — a country, really, it’s the number one state sponsor of terror in the world.

We don’t want to have them have a nuclear weapon. So, remember that when you have to pay a little bit more. You’re at $4. It’s OK. I mean, it’s — I’m not — I’m not — I will never apologize. I did the right thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXANDER: I’m reminded that, in early March, he said that the war is very complete, pretty much. In April, he said that the core strategic objectives are nearing completion.

We’re now almost six months in. How much longer should Americans be willing to pay more, Congressman?

DONALDS: Well, let’s be very clear. First and foremost, the president, when he came back into office, was having to unwind one of the largest inflations most Americans have ever seen in their entire lifetimes.

ALEXANDER: Can I just fact-check quickly? Because, when he took office, it was at 3…

(CROSSTALK)

DONALDS: The Biden administration had prices rising — they had prices rising nine months year over year over year.

With where we are right now in our economy, wages…

ALEXANDER: But, Congressman, but to be really clear — I don’t want to interrupt, but just to be clear, when he took over…

DONALDS: Hold on. Where we are today in Florida, in the American economy, wages adjusted for inflation are actually rising in the United States.

Listen, I know people do not want to see the higher prices at the pump. Neither do I. But we also have to understand that, when it comes to so many aspects of our economy, we have been able to stabilize prices from the major run-ups under the Biden administration.

And what’s happening right now is, we are trying to stop the Iranians from having a nuclear weapon. This is the same Iranian regime that would — that does not care about people’s human liberties, human freedom. They don’t care about women’s rights. They don’t care about anybody’s rights.

They just want to breed terror around the globe and they want to have nuclear weapons. And so what’s happening with the Strait of Hormuz is, they’re using it as an economic weapon against the West, against the American people and the people of Europe. That’s what’s happening.

ALEXANDER: So, let me…

DONALDS: So when you’re having to negotiate with that kind of an enemy, you got to be tough. You can’t be soft, because all they will do is continue their journey towards nuclear weapons.

ALEXANDER: Again, and, to be clear, I guess the question is how much longer Americans should be prepared for this to go.

But I do want to just make one factual clarification. When the president — recognizing that inflation hit historic highs, 40-year highs during Joe Biden’s term, when he handed the reins over to Donald Trump, inflation was at 3 percent. Right now, it’s 3.5 percent. So, in fact, it’s gone up since the president took office.

On the issue of affordability, though, if I can ask you, there’s new polling from CBS that says Republican policies are doing more harm than good. A CBS/YouGov poll shows 55 percent of Republican — voters say Republican policies are hurting their cost of living. Only 24 percent believe they are helpful.

Why do you think Republicans appear to be losing this argument on the topic of affordability?

DONALDS: Well, let’s be very clear.

One, people want to see their prices come down. The reason why President Trump and Republicans won so decisively in 2024 is because Democrats had wrecked the economy when they were in charge. But people still want to see those prices come down.

That’s why, in Florida, as running to be the State’s next governor, we are laser-focused on these issues. We want to push insurance costs down 20 percent in our state by reforming the regulatory side of Florida’s insurance market, something that hasn’t really occurred since we set it up after Hurricane Andrew.

The second thing we want to do is, we want to push down property taxes. There’s a ballot referendum on — for voters in our state. Whether it passes or fails, we’re going to do a review of all taxes and fees in Florida and find ways to still balance between public safety and essential services with making sure people keep more money in their pocket.

That is the strategy for how you deal with affordability. The Democrats, what they’re processing — what they’re — what they’re promising, a whole lot of nothing, when they are the ones that created these high prices in our country. Now they’re saying that they’re the ones that can fix it. It’s simply not true.

They’ve not put forward any policy that will actually fix the cost issues in our country. That’s what we’re proposing in my campaign for governor of Florida.

ALEXANDER: Understood. And, for clarity, the president, of course, said that, on day one, prices would come down. Orange juice is up 22 percent, ground beef up nearly 20 percent, coffee up 33 percent.

On this issue of affordability, though, there is a policy that I think is specific to your expertise into what’s going on in Florida, and that relates to health care. You live in a state where roughly I think it’s 22 percent of the population is in retirement.

But the president’s move to end temporary protected status for Haitian immigrants has left a lot of nursing homes, as well as restaurants and others, with a real void in terms of staffing that they need to care for individuals there.

This obviously is a significant community that is affected by this. How will you correct that shortage immediately?

DONALDS: Well, first of all, it’s how you train staff to come into that work force.

We do have a lot of jobs in our state where there is new training that is needed in order for other parts of our economy in our state to be able to go into some of those high-need areas. But, number two, let’s be very clear. The reason we’re in this position is because Joe Biden and the Democrats once again eviscerated every program and policy around immigration in our country.

And so what happened with TPS is, they took off the T. They just have protected status with no end in sight because they were not serious about protecting this country, securing its borders, and making sure we had a legal process for immigration based upon assimilation.

You can’t — you can’t essentially let the borders of this nation be blown up, have 10 million people come into the country illegally, and then, when you step in to actually fix the problem, which the American people have wanted fixed for a very long time, then you say, oh, well, what about this community or what about that community?

These are tough situations to handle. We all recognize that, but there has to be a following of the rule of law. There has to be a standard when it comes to immigration and naturalization in our country. And that’s what President Trump and that’s what Republicans are doing right now.

ALEXANDER: And, to be clear, in terms of — well, and to be…

DONALDS: What the Democrats have always done is, they blow up the borders, and then, when you try to bring in real solutions, then they point fingers and say, oh, this is so unfortunate.

But I didn’t hear Democrats drop a tear when there were young girls who were murdered in our country because of illegal immigration.

ALEXANDER: Well…

DONALDS: I didn’t watch them shed a tear when there were young girls who were immigrants who were human-trafficked and sold into sex slavery by the drug cartels. They didn’t care about that because they wanted open borders.

(CROSSTALK)

DONALDS: We got to have a standard. The standard is legal immigration.

ALEXANDER: As we speak to Democrats, we will push the Democrats on that.

Obviously, the question is for you, as someone who wants to be the next Republican governor of that state. And the question is how quickly you can fix this issue. It’s not a question about whether the immigration policy was working or not, but then how you resolve it for the 22 percent of individuals in your state that are retirees.

Let me ask you, if I can, very quickly about the USS Abraham Lincoln. We have been talking about it here this morning. The president’s been talking about it in recent days. Floridians are among the nearly 5,000 crew members who are aboard that ship right now.

The president said that that deployment was not long enough. Do you agree with that assessment? They had been there for a record length of time.

DONALDS: Well, listen, that’s a question for the commander in chief. I’m not in charge of military deployments.

ALEXANDER: You represent the people of your state, yes.

DONALDS: I’m in charge of running to lead the state of Florida into the future.

What I will tell you is that, our state, we are the most veteran-friendly state in all of America. And so the conditions and, quite frankly, the retirement of our service members, that is of my top priority and what’s important to me.

And so the president, he’s the one that’s in charge of how these deployments go. He’s the commander in chief. I think it’s — I think what we have got to be careful of is not trying to do Monday morning quarterback on one story over — or another.

If you look at our military today, morale in the United States military is at the highest levels than it’s been for a long time. Recruitment in the United States military today is at its highest levels than we have had it in quite some time.

ALEXANDER: Let me…

DONALDS: And, once again — and I know how we want to talk about issues today, but you also have to look at what was happening in this country three years ago, because, three years ago, everything was growing — going wrong, especially in our military, where recruitment levels and morale was at an all-time low in the United States military under the previous administration.

ALEXANDER: Understood.

Obviously, we’re now obviously — we’re now talking about what’s going on today, and I think we would both agree that the morale of these individuals who are reaching out to family members sharing their experience.

Let me ask you this.

DONALDS: No, we are talking about what’s going on today. We are talking about what’s going on today.

And when you set these policies in place, you have to recognize the damage that was caused before, and you have to work diligently to fix them. Of course we would all want to have these things fixed immediately on day one.

ALEXANDER: Understood. Tomorrow…

DONALDS: But, unfortunately, when you’re digging out from terrible economic policy, terrible military policy, and, quite frankly, terrible border policy from the previous administration, it takes time to work through these issues.

ALEXANDER: Congressman, let me ask you one final question, if I can.

DONALDS: And we’re going to diligently work through them.

Sure.

ALEXANDER: Obviously, the president’s been in office for nearly two years. Some could argue that these should be his responsibilities at this point.

Let me ask you about Floridians, because the election, the primary is tomorrow. Floridians are famously independent thinkers. What is one issue or policy where you differ, where you think independently from President Trump.

DONALDS: Well, actually, it’s the topic of A.I.

I know the president wants to see a national strategy, if you will, or a national regulatory framework on A.I. I think Florida should lead. I want to see the same thing actually Governor DeSantis was pushing for. We want to make sure that children are protected from A.I. chatbots.

We don’t want children just exposed to them forever. We have seen some of those cautionary tales, and the stories are heartbreaking. Two, we want to make sure parents have access to these chatbots, so they can monitor what’s going on with their children.

Three, we want to protect name, image, and likeness of people online and through other aspects of communication. Look, when you’re running for a political office or running for governor, people are going to use A.I. against you all the time.

ALEXANDER: Congressman…

DONALDS: But people who are not in that position, we want to make sure that their name, image, and likeness is protected. Florida can lead on this. We can get that done, and actually have a regulatory framework that allows A.I. to thrive, while protecting our kids and protecting people’s image and, quite frankly, their good name.

ALEXANDER: Congressman Byron Donalds, be safe on the trail. We will be watching what happens tomorrow. Appreciate your making time for us here. Thank you.

DONALDS: Thank you.

ALEXANDER: We should be very clear, again, despite the congressman’s assertions there, when President Trump took office, inflation was at 3 percent. There were 40-year record highs before he took office. Those are now at 3.5 percent. The inflation has only gone up since President Trump took office, just because facts come first.

Watch above via MS NOW.

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