DeSantis supports abolishing the IRS, Department of Education, and more — but he also has a backup plan

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is currently running for president, has indicated that he would support abolishing the Department of Education, the Department of Energy, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Department of Commerce.

He named the four government entities after Fox News Channel's Martha MacCallum asked him if he would support nixing any agencies.

DeSantis, who previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives, indicated that he would support eliminating those four government entities if Congress would work with him to do so.

But he also said if the legislature will not support such a move, he would utilize the agencies to counter "woke ideology" and "leftism," such as by using the Department of Education to "reverse all the transgender sports stuff."

DeSantis said that either route would mark a "win for conservatives."

In the Republican presidential contest, the Florida governor, who just won re-election last year, has been polling in second place, far behind former President Donald Trump. But while DeSantis is trailing Trump, he has been polling higher than the rest of the GOP presidential primary field.

The first Republican presidential primary debate will be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on August 23.

Earlier this week, during remarks in Texas, DeSantis said that he would support rules of engagment that allow for using deadly force against drug cartel operatives who cut through America's border wall. "If somebody were breaking into your house to do something bad, you would respond with force. Yet why don't we do that at the southern border?" he said. DeSantis also said he would designate the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations or transnational criminal organizations.

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