Florida Governor Ron DeSantis just gave Donald Trump some reassurance about a potential Xi Jinping summit.
The president is nearing a major trade deal with China.
And Ron DeSantis promises no poop on the streets if China's Xi Jinping visits Florida.
President Trump's ongoing Asia trip could bring Chinese President Xi Jinping to Mar-a-Lago as early as this week.¹
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CBS's "Face the Nation" Sunday that a preliminary trade deal framework is ready.²
Trump suggested Xi could visit either Washington, D.C. or Mar-a-Lago for future meetings to finalize the agreement.³
During a Monday night interview with Fox News host Jesse Watters, DeSantis offered a striking contrast between Florida and California's handling of high-profile foreign visits.
"We are not going to have to clean up all the homeless and all the poop off the street, like Newsom had to do in San Francisco and do that charade for him," DeSantis stated. "And then it went back to being bad. It's nice and people will enjoy it."⁴
https://twitter.com/JesseBWatters/status/1982972982881390715
California's embarrassing cleanup for communist dictator
DeSantis knows exactly what he's talking about because he's been hammering this point for years.
Back in November 2023, San Francisco underwent a dramatic transformation ahead of Xi Jinping's visit for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit.
The city cleared homeless encampments, scrubbed graffiti from streets, and installed decorative planters in downtown areas that had been overrun with tents and human waste for years.⁵
Governor Gavin Newsom essentially admitted the cleanup was specifically timed for Xi's arrival when he told reporters, "I know folks say, 'Oh, they're just cleaning up this place because all those fancy leaders are coming into town.' That's true because it's true."⁶
San Francisco residents and business owners were furious that their government only acted to address the humanitarian crisis when a Chinese communist dictator came to visit.
More than 118,000 San Francisco residents reported human feces on city streets between 2011 and 2019 according to the city's non-emergency line data.⁷
DeSantis memorably used this against Newsom during their Fox News debate in 2023, pulling out a map covered in brown dots representing reported feces locations.
"This is a map of San Francisco. There's a lot of plots on that. You may be asking, what is that plotting?" DeSantis said during the debate. "Well, this is an app where they plot the human feces that are found on the streets of San Francisco."⁸
"And you see how almost the whole thing is covered, because that is what has happened. And one of the previous greatest cities this country's ever had, human feces is now a fact of life, except when a communist dictator comes to town. Then they cleaned up the streets," he added.⁹
The temporary cleanup fooled no one because San Francisco quickly reverted to its previous conditions after APEC ended.
Restaurant owner Tony Pankaew told CBS News Bay Area, "They cleaned up the people, they cleaned up the streets. They made the city look good and look impressive for the foreigners, for the politicians. Now they have started to come back. Slowly but surely. [In] a couple weeks [the city] will be back to where [it was] before."¹⁰
Florida doesn't need emergency cleanups
DeSantis's confidence stems from Florida's vastly different approach to quality of life issues.
While San Francisco cycles through crisis management and temporary cleanups for VIP visits, Florida maintains consistent standards year-round.
The governor connected Trump's strengthening Asian alliances to the administration's negotiating position with China.
"I think that one of the things that you're seeing is strengthening ties with other Asian nations. You know, that helps to isolate China economically. It helps to strengthen the United States economically. And I think [it] adds to the President and the administration's hand when it comes to brokering a deal with China," DeSantis explained.¹¹
"I think what you're seeing develop is a very strong coalition, and I think it helps bolster the United States in the region. I think it helps weaken China," he continued.¹²
https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/1982970046193234238
Trump's Asia tour is already producing results beyond the China negotiations.
At the ASEAN summit in Malaysia, Trump secured separate trade and mineral agreements with Malaysia and Cambodia, plus framework deals with Thailand and Vietnam.¹³
He also brokered an expanded ceasefire agreement between Thailand and Cambodia, ending border skirmishes that killed dozens and displaced hundreds of thousands earlier this year.¹⁴
Trump described his ASEAN counterparts as "spectacular leaders" and promised them, "The United States is with you 100%, and we intend to be a strong partner and friend for many generations to come."¹⁵
The contrast between Florida's everyday excellence and California's emergency cleanup mode reveals everything voters need to know about conservative versus liberal governance.
Florida maintains standards that make the state welcoming to world leaders and regular citizens alike.
California lets its cities decay into dystopian wastelands until a communist dictator visits, then pretends everything is fine for a few days before letting it all fall apart again.
Xi Jinping won't need to worry about stepping in human waste if he visits Mar-a-Lago because that's simply not how Florida operates.
¹ Josh Lederman, "U.S. and China say trade deal drawing closer as Trump and Xi prepare for meeting," NPR, October 26, 2025.
² Scott Bessent, CBS "Face the Nation," October 26, 2025, quoted in NPR.
³ Ibid.
⁴ A.G. Gancarski, "Ron DeSantis promises no poop on streets if China's Xi Jinping visits," Florida Politics, October 28, 2025.
⁵ Gitanjali Poonia, "San Francisco cleaned up before President Xi Jinping's visit," Deseret News, January 31, 2024.
⁶ Isabella Kwai, "Gavin Newsom slammed for only cleaning up San Francisco 'for Xi Jinping,'" Newsweek, November 14, 2023.
⁷ Louis Jacobson et al., "Fact-checking the Newsom-DeSantis debate," Poynter, December 1, 2023.
⁸ Ibid.
⁹ Ibid.
¹⁰ "After Xi Jinping visit to San Francisco, SF is falling back into drug use and homelessness: business owner," Fox News, November 22, 2023.
¹¹ Gancarski.
¹² Ibid.
¹³ Evelyn Cheng and Ruxandra Iordache, "Trump says U.S., China close to trade deal ahead of Xi talks," CNBC, October 27, 2025.
¹⁴ Lederman.
¹⁵ Ibid.
