Rick Scott Faced Lawfare as Florida Governor. Here’s His Advice to Trump Today.

OXON HILL, Md.—Rick Scott served as governor of Florida for eight years, cutting regulations as the Sunshine State became an economic powerhouse. He faced lawsuits from leftist groups then, and he gave advice for President Donald Trump—who faces lawsuits seeking to block his policies—today.

“That’s what happens,” Scott, now a U.S. senator from Florida, told The Daily Signal in an interview at the Conservative Political Action Conference Thursday. “If you do your job, the Left is always going to sue you. They did when I was governor. You just have to fight every day.”

Many of the same leftist groups that staffed and advised the Biden administration have now filed lawsuits against Trump’s policies. Many judges have issued nationwide injunctions purporting to block Trump’s policies, and Trump is fighting back in the courts.

“You just have to be active, you have to fight, you have to have good policies, you have to be able to explain them,” the former governor added. “Get out there and sell them every day.”

He suggested pivoting to a new strategy in order to achieve policy goals, if necessary.

“You fight all the lawsuits, and if you lose, you figure out how to get what you need done and do it in a different way,” the senator said.

Scott expressed full confidence that Trump will do this.

“I think that’s what Trump’s going to do,” he said. “He’s absolutely committed to making America great again, making this the golden era, and I think it’s going to happen.”

“The Left is going to try to block common sense,” Scott explained. “They want big government, they want wasteful government, they want men taking over women’s sports, they want all these crazy things. The American public doesn’t.”

Praising DOGE

Scott also praised the Department of Government Efficiency, headed by Elon Musk, for rooting out waste and abuse in the federal government.

“We should have no nonessential federal workers,” the senator said. “They’re showing waste, they’re showing inefficiencies.”

He suggested that Congress should reduce wasteful spending and balance the budget as the House of Representatives and the Senate move to consider bills through the process of reconciliation (a strategy by which budget legislation can pass the Senate with just 51, not 60, votes).

“If we solve a problem, we should be saving money,” Scott said. “If we get people back to work, then we have fewer people that need food stamps, fewer people that need Medicaid, fewer people that need unemployment [insurance checks].”

The senator touted his record in the Sunshine State.

“When I was governor of Florida, I balanced the budget every year,” he recalled. “Florida had not balanced its budget in 20 straight years. We paid down a third of the state debt, and guess what? The number of jobs skyrocketed.”

Scott said he achieved this by cutting regulations and streamlining the process of permitting. In this way, “we made it a state that people wanted to move to. They knew they could get a job, their kids could get a good education because we had unbelievable school choice, and we had when I left a 47-year low crime rate.”

He also championed returning decision-making to the states and local governments.

“Education should not be a federal issue,” Scott said, calling for the abolition of the Department of Education.

He also urged federal law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI, to focus on national issues where they are necessary, and leave local crime to local law enforcement.

The Importance of a Job

Scott also lamented that many able-bodied Americans aren’t working. He said that doesn’t just disturb him on an economic level—it saddens him on a personal level.

“I grew up in public housing, never met my dad,” he recalled. “I watched my mom struggle to put food on the table. I know the importance of a job.”

“So, the biggest thing I try to do every day is make sure kids like me, their parents can get a good job,” Scott said. “It’s a hell of a better life.”

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