Knowledge Fight Interactive Search Tool

Aug. 26, 2023 - Human Events Daily - Jack Posobiec

03:05:29

THOUGHTCRIME: Special Debate Edition

It's the first Republican debate of the 2024 cycle — but the most important man in the debate is the one who decided not to even show up. Still, it is sure to be an entertaining night. Join Poso, Charlie Kirk, Andrew Kolvet, and Blake Neff as they give their live reactions to Wednesday night's debate, then discuss it afterwards.Support the Show.

Large

Audio Only |

Scroll

Time	Text
	.
	All right, Jack Posobiec here.
	We're live for a special live impromptu session of Thought Crime.
	We are here.
	It is debate night.
	Now, normally we do these on Thursdays.
	This week, we are doing it on Wednesdays.
	So right now, we're in the pre-debate setup.
	But I want to also let you know that we've got a bunch of the gang.
	Everyone is here.
	So let's go back over to Phoenix.
	Who we got there in the hot seat?
	Andrew Colbert.
	Andrew's in.
	I'm in Blake.
	I'm in sunny South Dakota, where it feels like it's Phoenix because it was one hundred and six degrees today.
	But I guess we're waiting on Charlie to show up.
	You guys are actually in Phoenix then, huh?
	No, no.
	We're waiting on or waiting on Charlie to show up.
	I believe he's I can't remember where he's at right now, but he'll be in time for the debate, I think.
	So he's coming.
	I think he's he's coming.
	I think he's doing family dinner for a little bit, but then he'll be here in a minute.
	No, Charlie, we've got producer Andrew as well.
	Yes, sir.
	Here I am in the West Coast, holding down on the West Coast.
	You guys see me?
	Hear me?
	Ah, there I am.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Now I got you.
	On the West Coast.
	You guys get rain or what?
	Did you get hit with that with Hurricane Hillary?
	It was just a great little drink for the plants, Jack.
	It was fine.
	Much ado about nothing.
	It reminded me of when I went to Israel and they told me I was going to get blown up by a terrorist bomb or something and everybody was living.
	Happily as could be and things were fine.
	So anyways, and then did you I don't know if you saw this, Jack, but all those images of Dodger Stadium, that was totally it.
	They have a almost like a reflective concrete top.
	So it looked like it was flooding.
	But Dodger Stadium is completely fine in Los Angeles.
	So unfortunately, God will smite them eventually.
	Yeah, no, it's good.
	We Jack.
	We've got a lot to unpack tonight, but you made a special request in the group chat, and I think it's a good one.
	You're going to give us an update on what's going on in Russia before we get into all of the debate night stuff.
	So as people file in, as the stream builds, tell us about that.
	Right.
	So we got news, and this was just as I was going to air with human events at the 2 p.m.
	Eastern Show today, that essentially There was an assassination, it seems like, an assassination of Prigozhin, the head of, former head I should say, of the Wagner group, this mercenary group that had been involved in years of operations with the Russian military or alongside the Russian military.
	in Syria, in parts of Africa, and then most recently in Ukraine.
	I think most famously, they were involved in the taking of Bakhmut, the city which ended up being a strategic choke point for a lot of the Ukrainian forces.
	So they were fighting out that battle while Russia was building their defensive lines and counter defenses throughout the entire area that they were able to control since the invasion of Ukraine last year.
	So Prigozhin led this activity, right?
	About two months ago today, some people said it was a coup.
	Some people said it was a fake coup.
	Some people said it was a mutiny.
	It was hard to say outside exactly what was going on, whether or not it was real.
	Because he sends these tanks up through these main highways, main thoroughfares of Russia, And then eventually says that he's going to not take out Putin, but he's targeting some members of the Russian high command, the Kremlin high military command, Sergei Shoigu, the head of their government, or head of the military, rather.
	And so all of a sudden Putin says, okay, turn back and no harm will come to you.
	Charges will be dropped.
	We're going to send you off to Belarus.
	We'll send you off to Africa.
	You'll do other things.
	But all will be forgiven.
	All will be forgotten.
	Or so it seemed until about 2 p.m. today when his aircraft was shot out of the sky outside of Moscow.
	And pretty much every source has come out now, Russian, Ukrainian, Western, all saying that it looks like this was shot down by an anti-aircraft missile.
	And so it seems it seems as though we got our answer as to whether or not the coup was real or not.
	Well, I think we saw there was a sort of a foreshadowing of this for anyone who's seen the movie The Godfather.
	Where he's like, all right, you know, my brother-in-law, I'm going to send you into exile in Las Vegas.
	And you're just not part of the family business.
	I think anyone who's seen that remembers how that ended.
	Hey guys, can you hear Blake, or is that just on my end?
	Nah, Blake, you're cutting in and out, buddy.
	Yeah, well, that sucks.
	I know, after all that.
	We'll have the tech team work with you, Blake, and get back.
	Hey, Tyler Boyer joins us.
	Tyler, give us an update.
	You're in Wisconsin.
	Приветствую вас.
	How are you doing, Jack?
	Things are looking ugly in Russia, huh?
	Очень хорошо, очень интересно.
	We should just do the whole thing, just really confuse everybody, do this whole thing in like Russian, broken Russian.
	Why am I speaking in Russian?
	We are free to speak in Russian.
	I don't know Russian.
	I can speak Chinese.
	I'm voting publicly.
	I just don't know what I'm saying.
	Tyler, what do you think about it?
	You're not at the debate.
	Why don't you fill in the audience here for us?
	Everybody's chopping up here on me, but hopefully you can hear me.
	Yeah, I'm here actually in Milwaukee.
	I tweeted out a few weeks ago that even though I'm on the RNC, I'm semi-boycotting the debate because I don't think that any real conservative should go support Fox News.
	So I am in my hotel room hanging out with you guys on livestream here tonight while everybody's down watching the vice presidential debate.
	I'm here in Milwaukee for RNC meetings that are in conjunction with the debate that's happening and yeah it's just been really interesting.
	It's been really funny to see everything kind of playing out here while we've been in Milwaukee for the last couple days.
	You know I think that it's just like it's such a clear and away situation now where everybody's just like understood that this debate and everything moving forward is Is really for the second spot.
	And so it's going to be really interesting to see how the reaction is, because I, I, I got a couple of things that I think are going to happen.
	Uh, Blake's probably going to disagree with it, but, uh, well, uh, we'll go and we'll see how that works.
	So I don't know when we want to jump into it.
	Well, then we've also got to talk about the fact that we have Tucker and Trump, which is going to be launching in about 15 minutes here.
	So we're going to have to see if we can, uh, get some of that before the debate starts.
	To see whether or not we can get some clips, have some salient moments here because of course he's asked about his decision and Tucker released a little trailer of it earlier, just a one minute clip.
	So this was recorded several days ago.
	At Bedminster, and there was that moment where I think one of the staffers posted a selfie with Tucker, and then she had to delete it, but people kind of, you know, the cat was sort of out of the bag at that point that Tucker had been up at Bedminster to record this interview.
	It looks like Trump was asked why he didn't decide to go to the debate.
	And of course, we already knew that the charges were imminent.
	I don't know if they knew that the arraignment would actually be happening tomorrow, so that one day after the debate.
	But now, of course, we do know that.
	And that really is going to be the big elephant in the room tonight.
	You know, these candidates are going to be on stage in an eight pack of these guys and gals who are going to be trying to have their breakout moment.
	Well, at the same time, they know the front runner of the entire thing is being indicted by like a local prosecutor tomorrow morning or tomorrow afternoon.
	Yeah, I mean, guys, this is a reminder for everybody that's just joining too.
	Charlie's going to be joining us here live in just a little bit.
	So we're excited for what's coming up.
	So, Andrew, what time is Charlie, do we think, joining before we jump into this thing here?
	He'll be joining in a couple minutes here.
	But either way, I want to break down.
	Can you guys hear me OK now at this point?
	No, unfortunately not, actually.
	It's still pretty choppy, man.
	If you guys can hear me, maybe.
	Nah, it's still choppy, like Caitlyn Jenner levels of choppy.
	Yikes.
	I think Rumble's sabotaging all these other feeds so that everybody watches the debate on the livestream.
	Well, Tyler, you're there.
	You were going around today a little bit.
	Can you give us some color?
	What was it like on the ground?
	What was the mood?
	What was the sense you were getting down in Milwaukee?
	Let's get a little report from on the ground.
	So the RNC is meeting today.
	It was a little, it was a little crazy.
	These things are always crazy, but they're doing the debate over at the FiveServe Forum, which is where the Milwaukee Bucks play.
	So everybody's kind of shuttling over there.
	Like they went over there about 5, 5.30 is when most everybody went over.
	And so they've just been kind of chilling and camping out, but I've been really surprised.
	There's really not that many members of the media that are here.
	So I know they were all getting set up probably over at the forum.
	But I was expecting a whole lot more to be wandering around.
	It's gonna be really interesting to see what happens tomorrow.
	I actually think tomorrow is gonna be the most interesting day here in Milwaukee because everybody that's hanging out and hanging over are going to, all the media, everyone else are gonna be wanting to get reactions.
	And again, like I said, I'm ditching the debate.
	We're watching it here together and commenting on it.
	But, you know, I just think that this whole thing's stupid.
	I mean, there's, you know, I'll just give you my take.
	And I've tweeted this out quite a bit and talked about this.
	I think the RNC completely screwed this up.
	There's two reasons for that.
	One is nobody likes Fox News.
	Everybody hates Fox News.
	What they did to Tucker was disgusting.
	They tried to silence Tucker Carlson.
	And so I'm so happy to see Tucker just sticking it to Fox tonight with Trump.
	That's an incredible thing that they're doing.
	And good for Trump for not just going along with the corporate Fox media that really hates us all.
	I think that that's a big deal.
	The second thing, though, is this is most people don't realize this, but the sponsor, the key sponsor of this debate outside of Rumble is an organization called Young America's Foundation.
	And the Young America's Foundation was the original youth organization that kind of came about in a big way during the Reagan years.
	Before that, it was really got founded in the 60s, but then took on new legs in the 80s.
	And beyond that, in the 90s, they really dropped the ball and just became this kind of just like, you know, for all our listeners, our viewers, to give some context, they became like kind of this neocon light type organization.
	Anyways, long story short, they're a 501c3, they're a nonprofit, and they're sponsoring this Republican debate, which is totally crazy to me.
	But Mike Pence, after he came out of being vice president, Basically went to work for them full-time.
	He became a fellow of Young America's Foundation, of YAF, and he was getting paid to be a fellow and speaking and doing all this stuff.
	So I think it's absolutely insane.
	You know, it doesn't matter that it's, you know, Young America's Foundation and they hate us because, you know, they're a bunch of neocons and they're mad that, you know, Turning Point got bigger than them and everything else.
	That's not the point.
	The point is, is that any organization that's paying one of the presidential candidates that's going to be on the stage, you know, should be one of the sponsors.
	So between that and Fox News being being sponsors, I think it's totally insane that everyone just is should just be cool with that because it's not cool.
	And that's part of the reason why I'm not there entirely.
	So I do want I do want everyone to know that we are going to be posting.
	We're going to if the technical.
	side of this worked out for us.
	We have 15 minutes out, but we are actually gonna be streaming the debate here.
	And this is because Rumble also has the digital rights to this stream.
	Now we know that Fox News, and this has been widely reported at this point, is making some claims that you can only show up to three minutes of the debate if you're on another stream, that only certain portions will be allowed or three minutes, two times.
	Yeah, that's ridiculous.
	We have a thing in this country called the first amendment.
	We have a thing in this country called fair use.
	We have a doctrine that is fair use for use reporting and commentary.
	That's obviously what this is.
	And when it comes down to it, I don't think there's anything more newsworthy than a debate for the office of the presidency of the United States.
	These are longstanding, uh, longstanding and well-known, uh, standards within the United States system.
	And we intend to uphold them.
	Amen.
	Can you guys hear me now?
	No.
	I'm still breaking up.
	You're literally like... It's like, what if Darth Vader was a retard?
	Don't use that word, Jack.
	What?
	Darth Vader?
	Because he's black?
	It's different.
	No, remember, Darth Vader was black.
	He was black and white, right?
	So he was black when he was, like, the robot.
	But then when they take the helmet off, it was a white guy inside all along.
	He was black on the outside and white on the inside, like Obama.
	Yeah, basically.
	Charlie was having some fun talking about that today on Twitter.
	That was about it, Jack.
	He got some comments about a certain tweet about that earlier today when he was basically saying there was a, you know, that he said it's okay to be whiten.
	In fact, it's great.
	And you can be proud of that.
	And there's nothing wrong with being proud of that.
	And a lot of people were attacking him.
	A lot of people saying, no, no, Charlie, you're not allowed to talk like that.
	And, and, you know, I saw other people responding saying, okay, um, well, would, would you say that to any other group in the entire country?
	No, of course you wouldn't.
	And so, It's an interesting debate that Charlie has sparked here, and I've been making some posts of my own, because look, this is where we're at.
	If we've decided that identity politics is going to rule the roost, then you know what?
	Fine.
	Lean in.
	Lean in and give them a little taste of their own medicine, as far as I say.
	Yeah.
	So Tyler, walk me through something here for a second, because you said the Young Americans Foundation is is hosting the debate, but that's a 501c3 and this is a partisan event, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that's something you're allowed to do.
	You guys, everybody has to understand like the background of this thing.
	So, you know, part of the reason why the Republican Party sucks so bad is that you got all of these beltway organizations that have existed forever that basically do a whole lot of nothing, right?
	They've just, they've taken, you know, you want to talk about organizations that are grifty and grifters, like basically this entire sentiment of grifting comes from, Consultants that are in D.C., that live in Washington, D.C., and what they do is they basically take a buck that gets donated by a donor, and they pass it around eight times until everybody takes a cut, and then what's left is just a small percentage.
	And this is what's totally insane.
	And this is actually something that Charlie and I talk about all the time.
	And we try to avoid, you know, with Turning Point and everything that we do, is you can't have all these consultants involved in your business.
	You gotta, you gotta, every donor dollar that comes in has to go directly back to the people.
	And that's what we've done, I think, so effectively at Turning Point and Turning Point Action, Turning Point USA and Turning Point Action, is every dollar that comes in, we put directly back into programming.
	Well, you know, We actually have bodies out there.
	We've got the largest field staff.
	We've got hundreds of people all across the country.
	And so it's really frustrating when you see organizations like Young America's Foundation, who basically did nothing.
	They're known because they bought the Reagan ranch and they've been operating that for years.
	And God bless them for that.
	That's a great thing.
	But, you know, they were supposed to be the vanguard for years of the youth movement with conservatives.
	And I'll tell you, when I was in college, Which was about a decade ago.
	A little over a decade ago.
	I couldn't get in touch with these people.
	I couldn't get help.
	I couldn't get support.
	And allegedly they were telling donors that they were the preeminent force that was helping college kids and young conservatives get on their feet.
	And, and, you know, you look at, you fast forward to today.
	So the guy that used to run it, he got kicked out and they put Scott, they installed Scott Walker.
	But we, we love Scott when he was a governor and we worked with, with his family pretty closely on a number of different things years ago.
	So but, you know, he's kind of become this squishy guy who hangs out with Doug Ducey and Mike Pence.
	And, you know, and he took this job, this gig at Young America's Foundation, where he's getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to virtually do very little.
	And they decided, hey, this is our comeback moment.
	We got to sponsor the debate.
	Well, there's only one problem with this, guys.
	A 501c3, a nonprofit, can't do partisan activities.
	And in fact, this is like a really great spotlight on the great work that Charlie's done, that we have done at Turning Point.
	Andrew knows all about this because we spend all of our time worrying about this is we don't do anything partisan on our C3 side.
	We do nothing.
	We don't, we don't even have, uh, you know, candidates running for, for office for president speak as a C3, at the C3.
	And so it's mind boggling that Young America's Foundation is sponsoring a partisan debate because they're probably going to get busted by the IRS significantly.
	This is like a really dumb thing to do.
	And I'll tell you why it's frustrating.
	Because like, again, if I was just a nasty person and I hated, you know, YAF and I was like, oh, those neocons good.
	Yeah, stick it to them.
	I would say that.
	But the thing that's frustrating... By the way, I'm all for bullying neocons.
	We should be bullying neocons as much as possible and as often as possible.
	Yeah, but here's the deal.
	They're making the entire conservative movement look bad because we all look stupid when organizations that are C3s make glaring mistakes like this.
	And trust me, they're going to get hit.
	The guys at the IRS, there's a bunch of people that the IRS are ready to smack back on this thing because they sponsored this debate.
	It is just so stupid.
	And so that's a little bit of like the background of what's going on here.
	So I'm looking around, I'm seeing this like there's C3 sponsor stuff on partisan debate.
	Like we would at Turning Point, we would never do anything like that.
	At Turning Point USA, we would never do anything like that.
	And it's just so funny to me.
	That's like they're probably going to end up getting majorly for this.
	Hold on, Tyler.
	Tyler, the key is That Yaffe actually pays one of the candidates that's gonna be on stage tonight.
	Namely, Mike Pence.
	It's not even that they're paying one of the guys.
	Like, it would be one thing if you're paying Doug.
	Right?
	Doug Burgum.
	But, like, nobody cares about.
	They literally pay Mike Pence, who's, like, the most detestable character in the conservative movement right now.
	Again, you guys realize this.
	The sponsor of the debate tonight on Fox pays Mike Pence.
	How is that fair?
	Like, how is there any way that that's fair to all these other candidates?
	I mean, they probably vetted the questions through Mike Pence.
	No, I mean, Tyler, let me have your back on this really quick, because the fact of the matter is, I have been in all these- Andrew, you're coming through with like a megaphone right now.
	I don't know if your audio is cracked or something they have in the booth, but it's like- It sounds like you're not choppy anymore, but now it's like a military commander in a 2000s video game.
	Tyler, let me talk to you a little bit about my guns.
	Sarge, you need to destroy the enemy guns.
	Wait, Blake, you're... Can you hear me now?
	Blake, you're... Yes, I can.
	Wait, Andrew, go ahead.
	I'm here.
	Can you hear me now?
	Yes, I can, Blake.
	Can you hear me?
	Can you hear me now?
	Yes.
	Yeah.
	Wow.
	You've got everybody.
	You've actually got everybody.
	There we go.
	All right.
	Can you guys hear me, though?
	Yeah, we can, but I know we only have a couple of minutes left until the debate starts, and I wanted to get this clip in of Trump and Tucker that we promised everybody.
	So let's get that in, because, guys, this is a huge moment.
	A huge moment for everybody.
	It's clip 90.
	A huge moment for the country.
	We've got the best moderator in the country and the frontrunner for the primary who won't even be there.
	Let's play that now, clip 90.
	Why aren't you at the Fox News debate tonight in Milwaukee?
	Well, you know, a lot of people have been asking me that.
	When you say there are people on stage who shouldn't be running for president, who do you mean?
	Whatever happened to Mike Pence?
	He's out there attacking you.
	What is that?
	Do you think Epstein killed himself?
	Sincerely?
	Do you think we're moving towards civil war?
	It's good to have you at Bedminster.
	It's very nice.
	I love it.
	You're saying they stole it from you last time.
	Why wouldn't they do the same this time?
	Oh, well, they're trying.
	They're going to be trying.
	Mitch McConnell was trying to get senators to impeach me.
	Crooked Joe Biden is so bad.
	He's the worst president in the history of our country.
	I don't think he's going to make it to the gate, but, you know, you never know.
	It started with protests against you.
	Then it moved to impeachment twice.
	Right.
	And now indictment.
	Are you worried that they're going to try and kill you?
	Why wouldn't they try and kill you, honestly?
	They're savage animals.
	They are people that are sick.
	So do you think it's possible that there's open conflict?
	I can say this.
	There's a level of passion that I've never seen.
	There's a level of hatred that I've never seen.
	And that's probably a bad combination.
	We're doing this interview, but we'll get bigger ratings using this crazy forum that you're using than probably the debate.
	Wow.
	So there's a lot there.
	Obviously, the Civil War comments are going to get a lot of play.
	I really want to hear what Trump's full answer is.
	But can we just talk about how absolutely clean Tucker's logo looks?
	Andrew, you seeing this?
	I love that logo.
	Tucker X. That's the good part about X. Tucker on X. That's the good part about X. It's the drug that he's on.
	He's taking X and it's making him.
	It's new vengeance, Tucker.
	He's got nothing to lose.
	I love that Tucker asked the questions that we all secretly text about in our chats, right?
	Like all these chats we're a part of.
	Well, it's not secret anymore now.
	We asked the question openly.
	Do you think Trump's going to get assassinated?
	He asked it.
	I mean, we talk about that kind of stuff because we're watching this regime be so weaponized.
	Trump, there's a lot of conflict in America.
	Do you think it's time for civil war now, Trump?
	I mean, it's a big question.
	I mean, obviously we advocate for peace.
	Many people are asking this.
	We advocate for peace.
	We advocate for keeping the nation together.
	We don't want to lose this beautiful thing.
	We're not on team, like, rebel, right?
	We're not trying to take up arms.
	But at the end of the day, it's a question that's out there.
	Civil War?
	Are we at a national divorce?
	Hats off to Tucker for going straight at it, which a lot of the polls would lead you to believe the number one candidate for president in the country right now, who's under indictment four different times, two at the state level, two at the federal level.
	You know, bravo.
	I can't wait.
	By the way, by the way, everybody watching on the live stream, we are going to be clipping Tucker live.
	We're going to pull out all the best parts, throw it up here.
	We're going to react to it in the middle of the debate.
	You're going to be able to watch the debate.
	And we're going to take some of the clips when they're right and throw them up.
	So we'll just we'll just we'll put the videos up anytime Asa Hutchinson is talking, because yeah, it's basically we promise we're going to do what we can.
	You know, it's double duty.
	Right.
	So we're going to do what we can, folks.
	So I guess I feel bad.
	We've basically been prepping for half an hour and we haven't actually said anything about the debate itself.
	Do we have anyone we think is going to surprise during the debate itself?
	Like, is it just, is it going to be DeSantis versus Vivek?
	And do we have a favorite of those two?
	And why wouldn't it be Vivek?
	Here's what's going to happen.
	Here's what's going to happen in the debate.
	Ron DeSantis is not a good debate guy.
	He's not a good debater.
	I hate that word, debater.
	Not a great debater.
	And he is absolutely going to crumble with everybody focusing on him.
	Vivek is I mean, we've seen him.
	He's like a freaking genius when he speaks.
	And so he's he's going to be able to work himself out of this whole thing the entire time.
	So I think Vivek is naturally going to be the person because he's impossible to attack.
	And he's already the the insurgent candidate.
	DeSantis is already flailing.
	He can't debate.
	And then Chris Christie's going to absorb, he's going to suck up all the air in the room, and he's going to inject himself all night long.
	And I don't know if you guys remember this eight years ago, when some of the people that were on the stage would just inject themselves and be like, oh, let me talk, like John Kasich and stuff.
	They would just start doing that.
	Chris Christie's probably going to do that.
	So he's just going to become detestable.
	He's already detestable as he is.
	You know, he's like the guy at the front of the line at Dunkin Donuts that's like buying four boxes of donuts and he's taking forever ordering each one.
	So like he he's going to be hated by everybody by the end of this thing.
	That's my that's my guess.
	Christie's only purpose for being at this debate was to be like the one guy who really energetically attacked Trump and Trump's not there.
	So what's he what's he going to do now?
	Well, I think I think what what what I haven't heard from anyone on the DeSantis side is that nobody's really taken a direct target on DeSantis ever in person.
	You've seen by the way, sometimes people in the audience will get up and ask him hard questions and he kind of has a tendency to snap He has a tendency to be very snippy.
	I think he's thin-skinned.
	I'm just going to say it.
	I think he's thin-skinned.
	And I think you have a real possibility that if Vivek is just going at him, you're going to have a potential situation like, do you remember when Tulsi Gabbard absolutely brutalized Kamala Harris at, I think it was, I don't know if it was the first debate or second debate, whatever, but she just went in and like kamikazed herself to blow up Harris completely.
	you could see DeSantis have a situation like that, either with Vivek being the one to just lay him out or potentially DeSantis imploding because of his own personality quirks.
	And that's something that I haven't heard anyone on their side even discuss whatsoever, even in these leaked memos.
	So what do you guys think?
	Hey, Jack, can you hear me?
	Yeah, yeah, gotcha.
	So, I got a call from, and by the way, the debate's about to start and we have our first Tucker clip coming, so just bear with us on that.
	This is a live show, live stream, so bear with us on some of this.
	So, I got a call from a reporter the other day.
	For those in the audience who don't know, part of my job is dealing with the media, dealing with the press.
	They asked me, what does success look like for those on stage?
	And my answer was simple.
	Remain viable in 2028.
	That's what success looks like.
	Here we go.
	We're just getting started.
	Apparently, it's Black Rifle Coffee Company is in the corner.
	That's interesting.
	Guys, can we actually up the sound so that the audience can hear?
	Here we go.
	Good evening, everybody.
	I'm Martha McHale.
	And I'm Bret Baier.
	This is the very same stage on which the Republican choice for president will accept the party's nomination next summer.
	The eight contenders are positioned by the order they sit in the polls, with the highest-polling candidates in the middle standing center stage.
	Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
	Next, entrepreneur Vivek Romiflani.
	Yeah, Vivek.
	Yeah, Vivek!
	Former Vice President Mike Pence.
	Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.
	Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
	South Carolina Governor Jim Scott.
	Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson.
	And North Dakota Governor...
	Doug Burgum.
	Some ground rules for tonight.
	We'll ask the questions and then candidates get one minute to answer.
	If someone is singled out, you get 30 seconds to respond.
	And when the time runs out, we all will hear this.
	Very pleasant.
	So tonight, these candidates have a big opportunity to break out of the pack and to explain why they are best prepared to be the Republican choice for president, at a time when the likely Democrat nominee, President Joe Biden, is working to convince the country that with Bidenomics, things are looking up.
	They call my plan Bidenomics.
	I'm not sure they meant it in a totally complimentary way at the time.
	But guess what?
	But, is it?
	More than 65% of Americans say the country is headed in the wrong direction.
	And here's the reality for some voters we talked to here in Wisconsin this week.
	We have noticed a dramatic increase in prices at the grocery store just across the board.
	Gas is high.
	And food is high.
	A lot of people out here are homeless because they can't buy food.
	It's tough when you got mortgage rates at 70% versus 2 to 3.
	It's just, you can't afford a house anymore.
	Inflation is ridiculous.
	It's killing us out here.
	As we sit here tonight, the number one song on the Billboard chart is called Rich Men North of Richmond.
	It is by a singer from Thornville, Virginia named Oliver Anthony.
	His lyrics speak of alienation, of deep frustration with the state of government and of this country.
	Washington DC is about a hundred miles north of Richmond.
	All right.
	These rich men know the rich men.
	Lord knows it all.
	Just want to have total control.
	Want to know what you think.
	Want to know what you do.
	And they don't think you know.
	But I know that you do.
	Because your dollar ain't shit.
	And it's taxed to no end.
	Cause the rich men know the rich men.
	So, Leonardo DeSantis, why is this song striking THEIR PEOPLE ARE GOING TO What do you think it means?
	Our country is in decline.
	This decline is not inevitable, it's a choice.
	We need to send Joe Biden back to his basement and reverse American decline.
	And it starts with understanding we must reverse Bidenomics so that middle-class families have a chance to succeed again.
	We cannot succeed as a country if you are working hard and you can't afford groceries, a car, or a new home, while Hunter Biden can make hundreds of thousands of dollars on lousy paintings.
	That is wrong.
	We also cannot succeed when the Congress spends trillions and trillions of dollars.
	Those rich men north of Richmond have put us in this situation.
	And finally, we need to lower your gas prices.
	We're going to open up all energy production.
	We will be energy dominant again in this country.
	I showed it could be done in the state of Florida.
	I pledge to you as your president, we will get the job done and I will not let you down.
	Governor DeSantis, thank you.
	Governor Christie, do you agree with what Governor DeSantis just said there?
	And why would you be better on the economy than him?
	Well, look, I do agree predominantly with what Governor DeSantis just laid out, and I think that if you asked every one of us up here, that we would agree predominantly with what he just laid out.
	Here's the difference.
	The difference is that we're going to have to work and make sure that we sell these ideas, and be able to put ourselves in a position where we get a majority of the vote, not only by winning the Congress and the Senate, Yawn.
	in 24 but also by having someone who's had the experience of doing it now i was elected as a conservative republican in a blue state with 61 of the vote with a democratic what was your approval when you left and we still through hard strong decision making brought them around to our point of view if We cut taxes in New Jersey.
	We cut debt in New Jersey.
	We made sure that each and every time we were confronted with bad democratic ideas, we stood and stopped them.
	And when there were good ideas, we brought people together to make progress going forward.
	Truth and accountability are the things we need to do to fight waste.
	And I'd say the last thing is this, Brett.
	We cannot sit by any longer and allow the kind of spending that's going on in Washington, because every dollar they spend is a dollar that these people are not allowed to spend on their children and their grandchildren.
	It's robbing our country and it's wrong.
	Well, Governor, let me just follow up very quickly.
	New Jersey, when you were governor, had the second lowest credit rating in the nation after Illinois, and it was downgraded 11 times.
	Yep.
	Yeah, and that's what happens when you inherit a blue state that has done that.
	But when you look at what we did on debt, Brett, in that state, we cut debt in that state.
	Debt that had been left to us by three Democratic gubernatorial predecessors of mine who ran up that debt tremendously.
	And what you also saw us do was to cut the unemployment rate in half.
	It was over 10% when I became governor in 2010.
	What we also did was cut pension payments to public employees to make sure that taxpayers were not being soaked by a public employee union system that was killing the taxpayer.
	Thank you, Governor.
	Governor Scott, I mean Tim Scott, Senator Scott, excuse me.
	The song also goes after welfare programs.
	As a senator, now President Biden, argued for freezing federal spending, this was back in the 80s, and dealing with sacred cows.
	He does not talk about that anymore.
	You have been a senator, though, for 10 years.
	So what have you done to rein in the increasing size of government?
	Well, thank you for the question.
	Over the last several years, I've had an opportunity to vote against spending package after spending package after spending package.
	What we also need to understand is that Joe Biden's Biden nominates has led to the loss of $10,000 of spending power for the average family.
	When you see 16% inflation, your gas is up 40%.
	Your food is up 20%, your electricity is up 20%.
	We can stop that by turning the spigot off in Washington, sending the money back to the states, and allowing the decisions to be made at their own houses.
	I helped write the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017.
	We cut taxes for a single mom like the one that raised me by 70%, for dual households by 60%, returning to the average family $4,000.
	He's talking about what he did with Trump.
	We can't spend it.
	That's good news for the American people. - Okay, but just to follow up, you did, during the Trump administration, you approved 4.4 trillion, 4.1 trillion, 1.7 trillion over the course of that administration.
	That's a lot of money. - There's no doubt that during the Trump administration, when we were dealing with the COVID virus, we spent more money, but here's what happened at the end of our time in the majority.
	All right, I was just praying.
	I was praying.
	Mr. Ramaswamy, you're listening to these answers.
	If I may, that was our administration, so I don't know if I get a chance to respond.
	He didn't mention you specifically, but we'll be with you in a second, Mr. Vice President.
	Listen to all of this.
	Why should voters choose you over more experienced politicians on this stage?
	Mike Pence just got shut down.
	You're basically a blank slate for people.
	You're 38 years old.
	You've said that you only voted in two presidential elections before this moment, this political race.
	Here we go.
	So first, let me just address a question that is on everybody's mind at home tonight.
	Who the heck is this skinny guy with a funny last name and what the heck is he doing in the middle of this debate stage?
	I'll tell you, I'm not a politician, Brett.
	You're right about that.
	I'm an entrepreneur.
	My parents came to this country with no money 40 years ago.
	I have gone on to found multi-billion dollar companies.
	I did it while marrying my wife, Apoorva, raising our two sons, following our faith in God.
	That is the American dream.
	And I am genuinely worried that that American dream will not exist for our two sons and their generation unless we do something about it.
	And I do think Brett is going to take an outsider, because for a long time we have professional politicians in the Republican Party who have been running from something.
	Now is our moment to start running to something.
	To our vision of what it means to be an American today.
	If you have a broken car, you don't turn over the keys to the people who broke it again.
	You hand it over to a new generation to actually fix the problem.
	That's why I'm in this race and we're just getting warmed up.
	- How are you better positioned to turn around this economy that we've heard all of these voters talking about tonight than Mr. Ramaswamy, who is a successful entrepreneur, nationally right now, he's beating you in the polls. - Well, I don't care about polls.
	What I care about the fact is that no one is telling the American people the truth.
	The truth is that Biden didn't do this to us.
	Our Republicans did this to us, too.
	When they passed that $2.2 trillion COVID stimulus bill, they left us with 90 million people on Medicaid, 42 million people on food stamps.
	No one has told you how to fix it.
	I'll tell you how to fix it.
	They need to stop the spending.
	They need to stop the borrowing.
	THEY NEED TO ELIMINATE THE EARMARKS THAT REPUBLICANS BROUGHT BACK IN AND THEY NEED TO MAKE SURE THEY UNDERSTAND THESE ARE TAXPAYER DOLLARS, IT IS NOT THEIR DOLLARS.
	AND WHILE THEY ARE ALL SAYING THIS, YOU HAVE RON DESANTIS, YOU HAVE TIM SCOTT, YOU HAVE MIKE PENCE, THEY ALL VOTED TO RAISE THE DEBT AND DONALD TRUMP ADDED $8 TRILLION TO OUR DEBT.
	AND OUR KIDS ARE NEVER GOING TO FORGIVE US FOR THIS.
	SO AT THE END OF THE DAY, YOU LOOK AT THE 2024 BUDGET, REPUBLICANS ASKED FOR $7.4 BILLION IN EARMARKS.
	Democrats asked for $2.8 billion.
	So you tell me who are the big spenders.
	I think it's time for an accountant in the White House.
	I noticed they had to get the Indians to fight each other.
	54% of voters say the cost of groceries is a, quote, major problem for them.
	You blame the Biden administration's spending for that increase.
	But as vice president, your administration spent more than any prior $7.8 trillion added to the national debt, $3.5 trillion of that before COVID.
	So does that mean that you're part of the spending problem?
	Well, first off, thanks for the question.
	Thanks for letting me respond to a reference to our administration's record.
	I'm incredibly proud of the record of the Trump-Pence administration.
	I mean, in four short years, we rebuilt our military, we revived our economy, we unleashed American energy, and we appointed three conservatives to the Supreme Court that gave the American people a new beginning for the right to life.
	Martha, you asked earlier who's the most best prepared for this job.
	And I must tell you, with all due respect to all of my friends on the stage, and even to one that's probably looking on, I think, unquestionably, I am the best prepared, the most tested, the most qualified and proven conservative in this race.
	I was a leader in the Congress of the United States.
	I led Indiana where we balanced budgets and had a AAA bond rating.
	Hey guys, unpopular thought.
	Thought grind.
	Haley had a good moment there.
	to backfill on the military cuts of the Obama administration.
	And then we were there in the worst pandemic in 100 years.
	Haley had a good moment there.
	It's a fair critique.
	We've got to deal with the long-term national debt issues.
	You've got people on this stage that won't even talk about issues like Social Security and Medicare.
	Vivek, you recently said a president can't do everything.
	Well, I got news for you, Vivek.
	I've been in the hallway.
	I've been in the West Wing.
	A president of the United States has to confront every crisis facing America.
	Yeah, we know how you face crises, Mike Pence.
	You fold.
	You fold and you side with the regime.
	That's what you do.
	Just as I did in Congress and as governor.
	Just as I did when I was president.
	This isn't that complicated, guys.
	Unlock American energy.
	Drill, frack, burn coal, embrace nuclear.
	Put people back to work by no longer paying them more to stay at home.
	Reform the U.S.
	Fed, stabilize the U.S.
	dollar, and go to war.
	The only war that I will declare as U.S.
	President will be the war on the federal administrative state that is the source of those toxic regulations acting like a wet blanket on the economy.
	So, I'm not sure I exactly understood Mike Pence's comment, but I'll let you all parse that out.
	For me, it's pretty simple.
	That's something a U.S.
	President can do with focus, and I'll deliver on it.
	Well, let me explain it to you.
	Let me explain it to you, if I can.
	I'll go slower this time.
	You know, I sometimes struggle with the rating comprehension.
	Look, I was a House conservative leader before it was cool.
	I actually pushed the Deficit Reduction Act.
	It was it was never cool.
	The national debt in the United States.
	When I was the leader of House conservatives, I balanced budgets and cut taxes when I was governor.
	I mean, look, Joe Biden has weakened this country at home and abroad.
	Now is not the time for on the job training.
	We don't need to bring in a rookie.
	We don't need to bring in people without experience.
	-God's fired.
	-Wait a second. Wait a second. -It's 30 seconds when you have a rebuttal, okay? And you are up, Governor DeSantis. -So here's the thing. Why are we in this mess? Part of it, and a major reason, is because how this federal government handed COVID-19 by locking down this economy. It was a mistake.
	It should have never happened.
	And in Florida, we led the country out of lockdown.
	We kept our state free and open.
	And I can tell you this, as your president, I will never let the deep state bureaucrats lock you down.
	You don't take somebody like Fauci and coddle him.
	You bring Fauci in, you sit him down, and you say, Anthony, you are fired.
	There's no evidence that Ron DeSantis ever said anything about Fauci in 2020.
	None.
	That's a good point, Jack.
	That's a really good point.
	DeSantis was not on the Fauci train in 2020.
	He got on it, though.
	Not really, Mike, actually.
	We're just gonna have some fun tonight.
	And the reality is, you have a bunch of people, professional politicians, super PAC puppets, following slogans handed over to them by their 400-page super PACs last week.
	The real choice we face in this primary is this.
	Do you want a super PAC puppet or do you want a patriot who speaks the truth?
	Do you want incremental reform, which is what you're hearing about, or do you want revolution?
	And I stand on the side of the American revolution.
	We're going to take control back here.
	We need everyone to have a moment on the economy.
	I think that's fair.
	There are two people who have not.
	We're going to get back to that.
	We are.
	There are two people who we have not heard from yet, so let's hear from Governor Burgum and then from Governor Hutchinson.
	I have to say, I'm excited.
	Great, thank you, Martha.
	Okay, Doug Burgum.
	Of course, I'm from a town of 300 people.
	Let's play a Tucker clip, Jack.
	It's a big deal to make it on this stage with all these folks.
	Hey, can we play... Can we play cut... Let's see here.
	92, about assassination.
	And I think I took a little too literally when they said 92 and break about assassination 92 from the Tucker Trump interview We'll get back to the debate folks, but we're gonna we're gonna keep when but people like Bergam are talking we're just gonna we're gonna do it It started with protests against you, massive protests, organized protests by the left, and then it moved to impeachment twice, and now indictment.
	I mean, the next stage is violence.
	Are you worried that they're going to try and kill you?
	Why wouldn't they try and kill you, honestly?
	They're savage animals.
	They are people that are sick, really sick.
	You have great people in the Democrat Party.
	You have great people that are Democrats.
	Most of the people in our country are fantastic, and I'm representing everybody.
	I'm not just Republicans or conservatives.
	I represent everybody.
	I'm the president of everybody.
	But I've seen what they do.
	I've seen the lengths that they go to.
	Hmm.
	So, he didn't say yes or no, but it sounded like he's open-minded to the fact that he could get assassinated.
	Yeah.
	Well, RFK Jr.
	has basically said the same.
	Yeah.
	Should we go back to the debate?
	Oh, it's Asa.
	Asa.
	Asa.
	No, I want more Trump.
	More Trump.
	All right.
	Let's play.
	Let's play cut.
	Here we go.
	Did we play 92?
	How about 93?
	Did Epstein kill himself?
	Arkansas as governor.
	All right, let's play.
	Let's play cut.
	Let's play cut.
	Here we go.
	Can we play 92?
	Did we play 92?
	We have 14% fewer state employees in Arkansas.
	How about 93?
	Did Epstein kill himself?
	Cut 93.
	It was kind of far afield, but it was just interesting.
	I read Barr's account of his time.
	He wrote a book about it.
	His autobiography.
	And in it, he lies about Jeffrey Epstein's death.
	Clearly lies.
	Do you think Epstein killed himself sincerely?
	I don't know.
	I will say that, you know, he was a fixture in Palm Beach.
	Yeah.
	I don't know what Barr said about it, either.
	I have no idea what he said.
	What did he say?
	He killed himself, probably?
	He said he killed himself, and that they were going to do this investigation.
	They never did the investigation.
	It's never been public.
	And they hid it, and, like, why are they doing that?
	And clearly, Barr knew.
	But why would Bill Barr be covering up the death of Jeffrey Epstein?
	Bill Barr didn't do an investigation on the election fraud, either, OK?
	He said he did and he pretended he did, but he didn't.
	Tucker's going there.
	Talkers going everywhere.
	Let's get the debate back up, guys.
	Okay, next topic.
	More than 1,000 people are still unaccounted for in Maui.
	After the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century, Hawaii's governor and White House officials said that climate change amplified the cost of human error.
	And a tropical storm hit California for the first time in 84 years.
	The ocean hit 101 degrees off the coast of Florida.
	And in the last month, the heat wave in the southwest broke records nearly 50 years old.
	So Alexander Diaz from Young America's Foundation has a question for you.
	Polls consistently show that young people's number one issue is climate change.
	How will you, as both President of the United States and leader of the Republican Party, calm their fears that the Republican Party doesn't care about climate change?
	So we want to start on this with a show of hands.
	Do you believe in human behavior is causing climate change?
	You have to ask about climate change?
	Raise your hand if you do.
	Look, we're not school children.
	I mean, I'm happy to take it to start.
	Alexander, so do you want to raise your hand or not?
	Let's hope DeSantis gets this right.
	I don't think that's the way to do it.
	So let me just say to Alexander this.
	First of all, one of the reasons our country's declined is because of the way the corporate media treats Republicans versus Democrats.
	Biden was on the beach while those people were suffering.
	He was asked about it, and he said, no comment?
	Are you kidding me?
	As somebody that's handled disasters in Florida, you've got to be activated.
	You've got to be there.
	You've got to be present.
	You've got to be helping people who are doing this.
	And here's the deal.
	So is that a yes?
	Is that a yes?
	Is that a hand raise?
	You do not- I think it was a hand raise for him and it's um, my hands are in my pockets because the climate change agenda is a hoax.
	Let us be honest as Republicans.
	I'm the only person on the stage who isn't bought and paid for so I can say this.
	The climate change agenda is a hoax.
	change agenda is a hoax and we have to declare independence for it and the reality is the anti-carbon agenda is the wet blanket on our economy and so the reality is more people are dying of bad climate change policies than they are of actual climate change is governor haley bought and paid for
	i've had enough already tonight of a guy who sounds like chat gpt standing up here And the last person in one of these debates, Brett, who stood in the middle of the stage and said, what's a skinny guy with an odd last name doing up here, was Barack Obama, and I'm afraid we're dealing with the same type of amateur standing on stage tonight.
	Give me a hug just like you did to Obama.
	The same type of amateur.
	Hold on, hold on.
	Governor Haley, would you like to respond?
	So Brett, what I would like to say is the fact that I think this is exactly why Margaret Thatcher said if you want something said, ask a man.
	If you want something done, ask a woman.
	First of all, we do care about clean air, clean water.
	We want to see that taken care of.
	But there's a right way to do it.
	And the right way to do it is, first of all, yes, is climate change real?
	Yes, it is.
	But if you want to go and really change the environment, then we need to start telling China and India that they have to lower their emissions.
	That's where our problem is.
	And these green subsidies that Biden has put in, all he's done is help China because he doesn't understand all these electric vehicles that he's done.
	What that does, half of the batteries for electric vehicles are made in China.
	And so that's not helping the environment.
	You're putting money in China's pocket.
	And Biden did that.
	So, first of all, I think we need to acknowledge the truth, which is these subsidies are not working.
	We also need to take on the international Absolutely.
	Absolutely!
	THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE DECIDED TO BE ABLE TO SAY, OKAY, INDIA AND CHINA, YOU'VE GOT TO STOP POLLUTING AND THAT'S WHEN WE'LL START TO DEAL WITH CONNECTION.
	ARE YOU BOUGHT AND PAID FOR?
	ABSOLUTELY.
	ARE YOU BOUGHT AND PAID FOR?
	ABSOLUTELY.
	HERE'S WHAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DESERVE.
	IT'S A DEBATE ABOUT THE ISSUES THAT AFFECT THEIR LIVES.
	GOING BACK AND FORTH BEING CHILDISH IS NOT HELPFUL TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO DECIDE ON THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
	I WONDERED, WAS THE AMERICAN DREAM REAL FOR KIDS WHO ARE DEVASTATED BY POVERTY, DEVASTATED I came to the conclusion that America can do for anyone what she's done for me if we focus on restoring hope, creating opportunities, and protecting America.
	If we want the environment to be better, and we all do, the best thing to do is to bring our jobs home from China.
	If we create 10 million new jobs in my Made in America plan, we will have a better economy and a better environment.
	Let me tell you why I say that, Brett.
	America has cut our carbon footprint in half in the last 25 years.
	The places where they are continuing to increase, Africa 950 million people, India over a billion, China over a billion.
	Why would we put ourselves at a disadvantage Devastating our own economy.
	Let's bring our jobs home.
	We have a lot of different topics to get to.
	We do.
	We thank you all.
	Thank you, Senator Scott.
	So coming up next, the candidates will weigh in on what could be a defining issue in the 2024 campaign.
	All right.
	That was admittedly way more fun than I was anticipating.
	Way more fun.
	A couple observations.
	Vivek is coming out freaking swinging.
	And I have to I mean, the the chat GPT line was was solid.
	I cannot believe that that audience was booing climate change as a hoax.
	That shocks me to no end.
	I have no idea who the RNC got to be in here.
	Tyler, do you have any insight into who got invitations into that room?
	Did we lose Tyler?
	I think Tyler was having an audio thing, but I mean, Vivek coming in with just shots fired.
	And honestly, I think Hailey and Tim Scott both sounded like they faded.
	They completely faded.
	People don't want to hear the canned responses.
	They want to hear the candidates going back and forth at each other, because this is where you're actually getting the substance out.
	And people say, oh, is it really substance?
	Is it really positive?
	No, no.
	Show us you have the fight, because if you're going to take on the deep state, if you're going to take on everything that the swamp in Washington, D.C.
	has to throw, you have to show you want it.
	And I'm sorry to the guys who are like, oh, well, you know, down in the South, we talked, you know, Tim Scott.
	You know, I'm sorry.
	You know what?
	It isn't that it isn't the 1980s anymore.
	We're not going to have that anymore.
	You need to put up or shut up.
	Do we have a I don't know how long this break is, but do we want to play some more of the Trump clips?
	Yeah, we should.
	I think we've got... Let's play 94.
	I don't think we've played that one yet.
	Chris Christie, the guy left with an 8%—think of it—8% approval rating in New Jersey.
	Now he's running for president.
	And he runs solely on the basis of, oh, let's get Trump.
	He's like a savage maniac.
	He's like a lunatic.
	And that's all he talks about.
	His poll numbers are very, very low.
	He's at about 2%.
	What's he like?
	You know him well.
	I've been friendly with him over the years, but I couldn't give him a job because I just never trusted him very much.
	Uh, I was just never one of his people that really trusted him.
	I never gave him the job, and that's one of the reasons he feels so hurt and so betrayed.
	And I understand that.
	I really do.
	I understand it, but I never gave him.
	You know, he wanted to be different things.
	He was looking at different, uh, elements of the administration, and we decided, uh... I decided just... I didn't wanna... I didn't wanna do it.
	I think, um... Listen, guys, I think Christie is...
	eminently hateable i really do i i found that chat gpt line was a good it was a good one-liner but it actually made me kind of despise him even more and to trump's point he's got an eight percent approval rating in new jersey and he thinks he's going to be president someone's his moment is past jack that's my take real quick someone just told me that no i don't i know we don't have it up but someone just told me that uh fox news played a climate propaganda ad a republicans for ukraine ad and a tick tock ad tick tock
	of course being a chinese-owned firm what in god's name has fox become well it's you guys saw you guys saw this yeah this yaf question what what So first off, what we were talking about, GAF has their logo, their C3 logo right next to this kid's head on the Republican debate, which is so crazy to me.
	Like this is so crazy.
	And it's a climate change question.
	Did I hear that right?
	I was messing with my head.
	He said, how are you going to fight?
	He said, how are you going to fight climate change?
	He didn't ask, will you believe in climate change?
	He didn't believe he didn't ask you if you believed in and, um, What do they call it?
	Anthropocentric climate change, basically that humans are to cause.
	No, he said, how will you fight climate change?
	That's Young America's foundation that's illegally sponsoring this debate.
	Oh, did I say that?
	Oh, sorry.
	Yes.
	Yeah, we talked about that earlier, Tyler.
	I mean, the lengths to which Turning Point USA has gone to create a C4, to create a PAC, to fundraise for that, build team around that, like a whole different staff around action.
	To stay in the IRS's good graces and the fact that YAF just goes in and just goes full RNC, full party endorsement is, I mean, it's...
	And then you get that question.
	I mean, I think back to Rush Limbaugh, and Charlie always remembers this.
	Rush Limbaugh's one of his last public speeches was at a Turning Point USA event introducing President Trump, right?
	It was his final speech.
	It was his final speech.
	I was there.
	Yeah, and he, the first thing he does, he comes up and he says, the climate, uh, climate change is a hoax.
	I can't, I had been waiting to say that for years and the room went crazy.
	And now you have that by contrast, YAF going on, getting their first questions about climate change.
	Oh, dude.
	I mean, so yeah, very first question.
	Oh, sorry, Tyler.
	Go ahead.
	We got, I think we got your audio fixed.
	I was just going to say, this is like the total Yap moment here.
	Like, of course Yap is asking a climate change question at the RIC debate that they should be hosting.
	This is crazy.
	So funny.
	Yeah, I mean, it's, this is, but here's my take, Vivek is winning.
	Hey guys, I think big picture though.
	Yaf aside, Vivek is winning this.
	He's coming out hot.
	They're all coming after him because they know that he's just running away with it.
	Pence is like, I'll say it slower.
	And now it's like, Pence, you are probably the slowest talker on that stage.
	You do not need to say anything slower.
	Wait, guys, I think they're back.
	I think they're coming back.
	Are they back?
	Do we have to go back?
	Yes, we have to go back.
	I want to go back.
	Yeah, I was actually enjoying it.
	They all have to go back.
	They all have to go back.
	Can't we all agree that doctors and nurses who don't believe in abortion shouldn't have to perform them?
	Can't we all agree that contraception should be available?
	And can't we all agree that we are not going to put a woman in jail or give her the death penalty if she gets an abortion?
	Let's treat this like a respectful issue that it is and humanize the situation and stop demonizing the situation.
	We're not mentioning Vice President Pence.
	Governor DeSantis, you signed a six-week abortion ban in Florida.
	One of your biggest financial backers said that you need to quote shift to get moderates or you will lose.
	What do you say to him and others who say politically that is a tough thing to sell nationally?
	Well, I would say we sold the biggest election landslide victory in the history of the Republican Party in the state of Florida in 2022.
	That's what I did.
	We can win.
	But second of all, look, you got to do what you think is right.
	I believe in a culture of life.
	I was proud to sign the heartbeat bill.
	I remember one of the most impactful moments of my life was when I heard the heartbeat of my oldest daughter in my wife's womb and then saw the sonograms of all three of my kids.
	What the Democrats are trying to do on this issue is wrong to allow abortion all the way up to the moment of birth.
	I know a lady in Florida named Penny.
	She survived multiple abortion attempts.
	She was left discarded in a pan Fortunately, her grandmother saved her and brought her to a different hospital.
	We're better than what the Democrats are selling.
	We are not going to allow abortion all the way up till birth, and we will hold them accountable for their extremism.
	But just to be clear, Governor, would you sign a six-week ban federally?
	I'm going to stand on the side of life.
	Look, I understand Wisconsin is going to do it different than Texas.
	I understand Iowa and New Hampshire are going to do different.
	But I will support the cause of life as governor and as president.
	Vice President Pence, you're shaking your head.
	Hold on, hold on, hold on, Senator.
	Vice President Pence, you're shaking your head.
	Well, look, I'm not new to this cause.
	After I gave my life to Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I read the book and I read Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.
	And see, I set before you life and death, blessings and curses, now choose life.
	And I knew from that moment on, the cause of life had to be my cause.
	And I've been a champion for life in the Congress, a champion for life as governor and as vice president.
	And to be honest with you, Nikki, you're my friend, but consensus is the opposite of leadership.
	When the Supreme Court returned this question to the American people, they didn't just send it to the states only.
	It's not a states only issue.
	It's a moral issue.
	And I promise you, as President of the United States, the American people will have a champion for life in the Oval Office.
	Can't we have a minimum standard in every state in the nation that says when a baby is capable of feeling pain, an abortion cannot be allowed?
	Sounds like an abortion ban.
	Hold on.
	whose time has come.
	It's supported by 70% of the American people, but it's going to take unapologetic leadership, leadership that stands on principle and expresses compassion for women in crisis pregnancies.
	I'll do that as president of the United States.
	He called my name, so I want to respond to that.
	30 seconds.
	So first of all, I will say it is in the hands of the people and that's where it should be, But when you're talking about a federal ban, be honest with the American people.
	We haven't had 45 pro-life senators in over 100 years.
	So no Republican president can ban abortions any more than a Democrat president can ban all those state laws.
	Don't make women feel like they have to decide on this issue when you know we don't have 60 Senate votes in the House.
	70% of the American people support legislation to ban abortion after a baby is capable of experiencing pain.
	70% of the Senate does not.
	You have to be honest with the American people.
	Let's get Governor Bergman for one minute here.
	But the Supreme Court did overturn Roe v. Wade.
	All right.
	This is a sticky issue, by the way.
	But again, I have to say that I think Nikki Haley, it's like the 1990s Republican Party called and wants, you know, wants its candidate back.
	I do think, though, she presents well.
	I think she's going to have a small, small but insignificant boost.
	I don't know.
	By the way, where's Vivek been in this?
	They're like they're like apparently ignoring Vivek on purpose now because he's causing a ruckus on stage.
	Social conservatism, a huge thrust of his, either.
	Whoa, whoa, guys, we're missing Bergamentum here.
	Oh, gosh, you're in the Dakotas, Blake.
	Yeah, Blake's biased here.
	We've got to find out about Bergamentum.
	He gave me $19.
	The Burgermeister!
	We can turn it back up.
	Hold on, hold on.
	Is it a Bible?
	I THINK THAT'S A PHONE CHARGER.
	DUTY IS ALLOWED TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DELEGATED TO THEM BY THE STATES.
	THE REST ARE LEFT TO THE STATES, COMMA OR IMPORTANTLY, OR TO THE PEOPLE.
	WE NEED TO GET BACK TO FREEDOM AND LIBERTY FOR THE PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY.
	AND WE CAN'T HAVE REPUBLICANS WHO FIGHT FOR 50 YEARS FOR THIS GREAT CAUSE TO RETURN IT BACK TO THE STATES AND THEN THE NEXT DAY THEY TURN AROUND AND GO, NO, THE FEDS SHOULD DO THAT BECAUSE THE FEDS ARE STEPPING INTO PEOPLE'S LIVES, THEY'RE IT'S NOT A LITTLE BIT OF If we say that the Fed should be in on this one, where do we stop?
	I say that we follow the Constitution, and this is return to the states.
	This is where it should be.
	But Governor Burgum, you signed a six-week ban.
	You signed a six-week ban.
	Governor Burgum, you signed a six-week ban.
	So you're saying, federally, it's all going to go to the states.
	Yes, and what is going to work in New York will never work in North Dakota, and vice versa.
	This is too important of an issue that I have to address.
	First of all, the Supreme Court gave it back to the elected representatives, whether it's the states or whether it's the United States Congress.
	So there is authority, and that's why President Biden is pushing for Asa and Burgum, like, arguing on stage is not nearly as good as before the previous break.
	Oh my gosh.
	This is like, this is like, I know what the Dems say.
	Yeah, it was Vivek versus Pence versus Christie.
	That was good.
	I want more of that.
	I don't want to hear Burgum.
	They should have just, the RNC should have just been like, yo, you don't have a chance.
	Sorry.
	Sorry.
	We're going to up the threshold.
	Yeah, I agree.
	I think that, yeah, I mean, I think that they should have had a different way of going about this.
	Sorry guys, I don't know what's going on with the camera, like, I literally can't, like... Tyler's camera!
	It's literally, it's literally, like, if I... Only see his mustache!
	It's the mustache cam.
	If I sit at the camera, it's like all... This is... Oh my god.
	Tyler, you're a Milwaukee mustache cam.
	Yeah, just... I don't know if we can, like, back up the camera at all.
	Yeah, but I have to like, I'm like literally six feet away.
	Blake is sorry.
	I'm like literally- Let's go back to- Wait, what are we missing with the debate?
	You know what it's like?
	This is like, this is like what the debates would be like if 2016 had never happened.
	Okay?
	This is what the debates were like in 2008, 2012.
	This is- What about the debt ceiling?
	What about the- This is what all, this is what all debates are like.
	Because, like, U.S.-style political debates are just a mistake.
	Like, they're terrible soundbites.
	They're basically aimed at the lowest common denominator of voter, which is, like, technically in America you can have an IQ of, like, 60 and vote.
	And so, you know, you get- Blake, are you dissing democracy again?
	Yes.
	Yes, I am.
	And the truth is it's just very depressing.
	Like 50 years ago, if you watch a debate, it's higher quality.
	And it's because, like, we didn't know the truth yet.
	We we hadn't created the Internet that gave us Twitter and TikTok and Instagram that just revealed that everyone was terminally stupid.
	And so, you know, they tried to appeal to the smarts of the people.
	But now we accept the truth, which is we're just going to get like stupid soundbites about Big Bird or whatever until the end of time.
	So, the best... Jack, just... I was gonna have you judge Nikki Haley just based on body language.
	They drastically allowed more people to vote that never voted before.
	We've drastically opened this up.
	Oh, they're getting into it.
	- Jack, I was gonna have you judge Nikki Haley just based on body language.
	All right, should we listen to the next question?
	- Yeah, let's get into it.
	- Studio, let's bring the volume up, please.
	- Accelerated, they did accelerate during the pandemic and are still rising, actually.
	Murders in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, all up 30% between 2019 and 2022.
	Homelessness is up 11%, the largest jump in recorded history.
	Vice President Pence, a lot of this began in the COVID era.
	How much of what we're seeing happening around this country is a result of those COVID lockdowns and is your administration in part to blame for how we got here?
	Well, I think what's in part to blame is that Democrats have been talking about defunding the police for the last five years.
	And we ought to be funding law enforcement, particularly in our major cities, at unprecedented levels.
	I mean, it's extraordinary to think about the violence that's claiming innocent lives literally every week in every major city in this country.
	And yet Democrats and liberal prosecutors in major metropolitan areas continue to work out their fanciful agendas, to do bail reform and go easy.
	What we need is strong commitment to law enforcement.
	We need leadership in Washington, D.C. that will marshal the resources of the states, marshal the resources of the American people.
	But let me also say it's about opportunity.
	I mean, a lot of people don't know that those Trump-Pence tax cuts that we got signed into law go away at the end of 2025 if we don't have a Republican president and a Republican House and a Republican Senate.
	When I'm president of the United States, we're actually going to cut taxes further.
	We're going to extend those tax cuts, and we're going to close the Federal Department of Education, block grant all that funding back to the states.
	With a growing economy and educational choice and law enforcement, we will bring our cities back.
	Governor Christie, another issue.
	This weekend, here in Milwaukee, reports say there were 30 shootings, and a number of them including kids.
	Add that to the big increase in school shootings around the country.
	Democrats blame this crisis on easy access to guns.
	They also blame Republicans for blocking gun control legislation.
	What would President Christie do?
	You know, I'm proud of the fact, Brett, that I'm the only person, along with Governor Hutchinson, up on this stage who's actually running United States Attorney's Office.
	I ran the fifth largest office in America in a state where there is significant urban crime.
	And the problem is not going to be solved by more money.
	The problem is that these prosecutors in these localities in the states are refusing to do their job and to arrest violent criminals.
	So what President Christie would do is appoint an attorney general who would instruct each of the 93 U.S.
	attorneys that they are to take over.
	Did Governor Christie just say that he's going to have AFSA as his Vice President?
	I hope not.
	We have plenty of room in the federal.
	The governor Christie just said that he's going to have clean up what's going on as his vice president.
	This country in these individual cities.
	Secondly, what we need to make sure that each and every one of these criminals.
	A Christie Hutchison.
	The laws of everybody and when Hunter.
	It's a good answer.
	It's not a bad answer.
	Fills out a fake application, a false application for a gun permit.
	And then is facing a 10-year mandatory minimum, which was mandated by legislation sponsored by his father.
	And then you have a Justice Department that walks away from those charges.
	We're telling people that the law doesn't apply to everybody.
	In a Christie administration, he would go to jail for 10 years.
	What about a President Ramaswamy?
	What is a President Ramaswamy? - Gotta say, we're gonna give him the death penalty.
	So the reality is we have a crime wave in this country and we know how to fix it.
	The question is do we actually have the spine to do it?
	More cops in the streets who are on the streets able to do their jobs without looking over their shoulder for getting sued.
	And we also have a mental health epidemic in this country.
	Just over the same period that we have closed mental health institutions, we have seen a spike in violent crime.
	Do we have the spine to bring them back?
	I think we should.
	As president, I will.
	But it's not just drugging up people in those psychiatric institutions with Zoloft and Seroquel.
	It's a deeper issue.
	I think faith-based approaches can play a role here, too.
	We're in the middle of a national identity crisis.
	And I say this as a member of my generation, the problem in our country right now, the reason we have that mental health epidemic, is that people are so hungry for purpose and meaning at a time when family, faith, patriotism, hard work have all disappeared.
	What we really need is a tonal reset from the top, saying that this is what it means to be an American.
	Yes, we will stand for the rule of law.
	Yes, we will close the southern border where criminals are coming in every day.
	And yes, we will back law enforcement because we remember who we really are.
	And that's also how we address that mental health epidemic in the next generation that is directly leading to violent crime across this country.
	Governor DeSantis, really quickly.
	Governor DeSantis.
	We don't have an identity crisis.
	We're not looking for a new national identity.
	The American people are the most faith-filled, freedom-loving, idealistic, hard-working people the world has ever known.
	We just need government as good as our people.
	Well, Mike, I think the difference is you might have, as some others like you may have on this stage, it's mourning in America speech.
	It is not mourning in America.
	We live in a dark moment, and we have to confront the fact that we're in an internal, sort of cold, cultural civil war.
	You are equating the American people with the failed government in Washington, D.C.
	We just need government as good as our people again.
	Governor DeSantis, Governor DeSantis, I want to weigh in here.
	I want you to weigh in, Governor DeSantis.
	Crime has been on the rise in Florida, Governor DeSantis.
	How do you stop crime?
	Well, actually, crime's at a 50-year low in Florida, and we're happy with that.
	Well, statewide, it's a 50-year low.
	And so here's the thing.
	These hollowed-out cities, this is a symptom of America's decline.
	And one of the biggest reasons is because you have George Soros funding these radical left-wing district attorneys.
	They get into office.
	THE INMATES START RUNNING THE ASYLUM.
	THEY ARE GOING TO GO INTO THE OFFICE AND THEY SAY THEY ARE NOT GOING TO PROSECUTE CRIMES.
	THEY DISAGREE WITH.
	THE INMATES START RUNNING THE ASYLUM.
	THERE IS ONE GUY IN THIS ENTIRE COUNTRY THAT HAS EVER DONE ANYTHING ABOUT THAT.
	ME.
	WHEN WE HAD TWO OF THESE DISTRICT ATTORNEYS IN FLORIDA ELECTED WITH SOROS FUNDING WHO SAID THEY WOULDN'T DO THEIR JOB, I REMOVED THEM FROM THEIR POST.
	THEY ARE GONE.
	AND AS PRESIDENT, AS ASSISTANT, I THINK THEY ARE INNOCENT PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY ARE HURTING THE QUALITY OF LIFE AND THEY ARE VICTIMIZING INNOCENT PEOPLE IN EVERY CORNER OF THIS COUNTRY.
	AND IT WILL STOP WHEN I GET INTO OFFICE.
	OKAY.
	But, Rhett and Martha, I just thought it was interesting.
	You asked your question about the problems we're having in big cities.
	Nobody ever asked the question of, what about the crime wave in small towns?
	Because in a small town, neighbors help neighbors.
	People understand each other.
	If a farmer gets sick, everybody comes together and helps him get the crop off.
	There's accountability, there's transparency.
	- All right.
	- Some of you in the House that understand small town values.
	- They actually got to, I have to say, in all fairness, Chris Christie had a good crime answer.
	- Doug Burgum is running for president of like 1932.
	- I understand the drug crisis in America.
	- Oh yeah, now we got the East on it, dude.
	- Can we put that back in the Senate?
	- Has Trump even been mentioned?
	No Trump mentions.
	It's like they have a secret deal or something.
	Yeah.
	Secret handshake, no Trump mentions.
	It's also about education of our young people.
	Making sure that we have the tools that are needed for addiction counseling.
	That's what we expanded in Arkansas as well.
	Whenever you look at the underlying challenge of America, though, no one likes to see an America with smash and grab in our inner cities.
	As president of the United States, that will stop.
	It starts at the top with the respect for our justice system that a former president who's under indictment has undermined.
	Boo!
	by attacking judges, by attacking prosecutors, by attacking the system and saying he's aggrieved.
	And so we have to have respect for our justice system and the rule of law, and it starts at the top with the president of the United States.
	We'll have respect for them when they have respect for us, Mr. Hutchinson.
	So, speaking of that, right now you are looking live at Fulton County Jail, where four- All right.
	All right.
	Hey, guys, let's go ahead and play this YAF question.
	I think it's 99, I believe.
	Is that it?
	Is that it, studio?
	Dude, this is so embarrassing.
	All right.
	All right.
	Hey, guys, let's go ahead and play this YAF question.
	I think it's 99, I believe.
	Is that it?
	Is that it, Studio?
	Dude, this is so embarrassing.
	Climate change question.
	This is so embarrassing.
	Studio, play the YAF question, please.
	Thank you.
	Thank you.
	Polls consistently show that young people's number one issue is climate change.
	How will you, as both President of the United States and leader of the Republican Party, calm their fears that the Republican Party doesn't care about climate change?
	So we want to start on this with a show of hands.
	Do you believe in human behavior is causing climate change?
	Raise your hand if you do.
	Okay, that was ridiculous.
	This is a perfect example of why the old right never actually conserved anything.
	What you're doing is, you're adopting the positions of the left, and then coming to it from a complete leftist perspective, putting it inside your presupposed question, saying that climate change is real, everything that you say about it is real, and we just need to fight because that's how it is.
	And at least, I think Vivek actually did call it a hoax after that, at least to the point where we're saying that it's climate change is some sort of Apocalyptic future that we're all going to live in in dystopia.
	It's ridiculous.
	It's absolutely ridiculous.
	And for Young America's Foundation, who's supposedly a conservative organization, what have you ever conserved the last 50 years?
	Maybe the people the last 50 years who conserved absolutely nothing, who put our country in the position and our movement in the position that it's currently in.
	How about you step aside and when it's time for some new guns to come in?
	Tyler, I want to get your input on this.
	No, I mean, I'm telling you right now, it is so crazy to me that Young America's Foundation, this is why people, I was trying to tell people, when the RNC picked this non-profit, Young America's Foundation, who we know so well, I knew this is what was coming.
	A bunch of rhino, weirdo, neocon questions that are super lame, super stupid.
	Guys, there's so many things going on in the world right now.
	And you have Young America's Foundation?
	The best thing they could come up with was a climate change question?
	Like, what the- Hey guys.
	Yeah.
	I agree, Tyler.
	Let's play Vivek's answer, because this was interesting.
	I felt like the audience booed when this happened.
	Let's play it, 97.
	Let us be honest as Republicans.
	I'm the only person on the stage who isn't bought and paid for so I can say this.
	The climate change agenda is a hoax.
	The climate change agenda is a hoax.
	And we have to do it.
	And the reality is the anti-carbon agenda is the wet blanket on our economy.
	They were booing the fact that he was calling everybody out.
	They were booing the fact that he was calling everybody out.
	Because, I mean, it's true.
	Because, I mean, it's true.
	Vivek has lost billionaire financiers to fund his candidacy because he hasn't towed the line on Ukraine, on climate, and a bunch of stuff.
	Vivek has lost billionaire financiers to fund his candidacy because he hasn't towed the line on Ukraine, on climate and a bunch of stuff.
	So, I mean, he did receive $50,000 as a college graduate student from George Soros.
	So, I mean, he did receive $50,000 as a college graduate student from George Soros.
	True story.
	True story.
	Who cares?
	Who cares?
	I know.
	I know.
	If you're going to pay a 21-year-old $50,000, I'd take it.
	If you're going to pay a 21-year-old $50,000, I'd take it.
	I mean, this is why Vivek's winning, though.
	I mean, again, don't get me wrong.
	Everyone in the chat, chat, we know all the issues with Vivek.
	We know all the issues.
	We know the background.
	It's sketchy.
	There's a lot of things we disagree with Vivek about, by the way.
	We won't get into all of them.
	But let's focus on the reason why he's winning.
	The reason why he's beating Ron DeSantis now in a lot of polls and a lot of places, and he's coming up in the rears in Iowa, is because he's speaking to the base on these issues the right way.
	He's the only guy on stage that was, like, forceful about climate change.
	Like, this is a slam dunk.
	It's crazy.
	It's a generational dynamic that we're seeing play here.
	It is the old the old gorillas versus, you know, the old silverbacks versus this new guard and Vivek and to some extent DeSantis, but DeSantis still feels flat-footed.
	I can't he can't when he his first answer.
	I thought he was going to get off the block really really fast.
	He was He was passionate, but then he's kind of receded back into a flat-footed, on-his-heels posture, which is, I think, not doing him any favors.
	Again, Vivek, just every time they come to him, he's throwing haymakers.
	So, let's see.
	Are we back to the debate yet, guys?
	Does our suffering resume?
	Let's see here.
	We're not gonna miss the... Okay, Charlie is now here in studio, apparently.
	He's gonna be seated in just a second.
	He's been watching.
	He's been commenting in our chat.
	We're still at a commercial break, but Blake, what's your take?
	Give us your take right now.
	I mean it's very funny how they've totally avoided Donald Trump until now the debate hosts are like forcing them to talk about him because there was a lot of chatter about how they would handle you know the elephant in the room and the answer apparently is they would prefer to not handle it and they would just man I just don't even know who they're pandering to with this we've got Other than that, I'm mostly distracted by Chris Christie.
	You all signed a pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee.
	If former President Trump is convicted in a court of law, would you still support him as your party's choice?
	Georgia at the Fulton County jail for charges relating to the 2020 election loss.
	You all signed a pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee.
	If former President Trump is convicted in a court of law, would you still support him as your party's choice?
	Please raise your hand if you would.
	Bill Strader.
	A little slow there, some of you.
	Hold on.
	So just to be clear, Governor Christie, you were kind of late to the game there.
	No, I'm doing this.
	Look.
	Look, I'm doing this, not this.
	And I know you didn't.
	What's new?
	Look, here's the bottom line.
	Someone's got to stop normalizing this conduct.
	Okay?
	Now, whether or not Whether or not you believe that the criminal charges are right or wrong, the conduct is beneath the office of President of the United States.
	And, and, and, you know, this is the great thing about this country.
	Booing is allowed, but it doesn't change the truth.
	It doesn't change the truth.
	Mr. Romney, you raised your hand in support of... Hello, everybody.
	I'd like to get in and respond.
	Let's just speak the truth, okay?
	Hey, Charlie.
	President Trump, I believe, was the best president of the 21st century.
	Good for Vivek.
	It's a fact.
	And Chris Christie, honest to God, your claim that Donald Trump is motivated by vengeance and grievance would be a lot more credible if your entire campaign were not based on vengeance and grievance against one man.
	And if people at home People blindly bashing Donald Trump without an iota of vision for this country.
	They could just change the channel to MSNBC right now.
	But I'm not running for president of MSNBC.
	I am running for president of the United States.
	We're skating on thin ice and we cannot set a precedent where the party in power uses police force to indict its political opponents.
	It is wrong.
	We have to end the weaponization of injustice in this country.
	30 seconds, Covered Christian.
	No, no, I'm sorry.
	30 seconds, Covered Christian.
	You make me laugh because you sit here and answer.
	You sit here and answer.
	You sit here and answer.
	Hold on, Governor Christie.
	Just smiling through it.
	The more time we spend doing this, the less time they can talk about issues you want to talk about. - Yeah.
	So let's just get through this session.
	Let him move, Brad.
	Governor Christie.
	You sit here talking about how you want to stand up for the rule of law.
	Yes.
	And law and order.
	And the fact is that it can't be selective.
	In your book, you had much different things to say about Donald Trump than you're saying here tonight.
	That's not true.
	Well, it is very true.
	That is not true.
	It's very true.
	I read it.
	Because there's a difference between bad behavior and illegal behavior, Chris.
	And you as a prosecutor should know better.
	You know what?
	I know a lot better.
	There's a difference between bad behavior and illegal behavior.
	I know a lot better than you do.
	You've never done it like you've never done anything to try to advance the interests of this government except to put yourself forward as a candidate tonight.
	And here's the thing.
	We've stood up for law and order.
	I did it as U.S.
	Attorney.
	I did it as governor.
	And I am not going to bow to anyone.
	Can he bow?
	That's the question.
	- Did he get up if he did? - He said, - He said, - Hey, your MSNBC contributor. - He said, - Okay, hold on.
	- He said, - He said, - Marth, - Marth, it's important to say that the president said, Donald Trump said, "It's okay to suspend the Constitution." Now, the oath you take is to preserve, protect, and defend, not suspend.
	I WILL ALWAYS STAND UP FOR OUR CONSTITUTION REGARDLESS OF THE POLITICAL PRESSURE.
	WE HAVE ANOTHER QUESTION FOR YOU.
	WE'RE GOING TO GET EVERYONE IN ON THIS ISSUE.
	I HAVE ANOTHER QUESTION.
	I HAVE ANOTHER QUESTION.
	HOLD ON.
	YOU WILL.
	ALL RIGHT.
	SO PRESIDENT TRUMP'S FORMER VICE PRESIDENT IS ON THIS STAGE He has faced hecklers on the campaign trail over his actions on January the 6th.
	On that day, the vice president moved forward with the certification of the election.
	So do you believe that Mike Pence did the right thing, Senator Scott?
	Do you believe he did the right thing?
	Absolutely.
	He did the right thing.
	Number one.
	The fact that there's a crowd doing this, this is not a Republican crowd.
	No way!
	We should be asking ourselves a bigger question about the weaponization of the Department of Justice.
	When I'm president, the first thing I'll do is fire Merrick Garland.
	Secondly, I'll do fire Christopher Wray because we need Lady Justice to wear a blindfold.
	No way.
	That is such a tough position.
	Why don't you do something in the Senate, pal?
	in our justice system.
	17% of Republicans have confidence in our Department of Justice.
	Here's why.
	We keep seeing not only the weaponization of the Department of Justice against political opponents, but also against parents who show up at school board meetings.
	It'd be nice if you had political power.
	This deal, Jay?
	They're called domestic terrorists.
	Firing Christopher Ravis.
	But that's not it.
	But that's not it.
	Shut down the FBI.
	Actually, I have the courage to get it right.
	Mr. Ramos. - Let me finish my comments. - Yes. - Not only that, In addition to that, we see the SWAT team show up at pro-life activist homes with guns drawn.
	And why do you keep funding the DOJ?
	Because this DOJ uses their power, uses their authority, not just against political opponents, but against conservatives and conservative causes.
	It is time for a change in America, and I will bring that change to the greatest nation on God's green earth.
	He's doing the Obama jive thing.
	He was doing like MLK cadence.
	Here we go.
	He memorized this.
	What do we need to do?
	We need to end the weaponization of these federal agencies.
	But that's not the question.
	I know, but here's the thing.
	This election is not about January 6th of 2021.
	Here we go.
	It's about January 20th of 2025 when the next president is going to take office.
	I know what the Democrats would like to do.
	They want to talk about all these other issues, but we've got to focus on your future.
	We've got to focus on reversing the decline of our country.
	I learned in the military, I was assigned with U.S.
	Navy SEALs in Iraq, that you focus on the mission above all else.
	You can't get distracted.
	So Republicans, we've got to look forward and we've got to make sure that we're bringing the message that can win in November 2021.
	THE PRESIDENT IS GOING TO GO TO THE PRESIDENT.
	THE PRESIDENT IS GOING TO GO TO THE PRESIDENT.
	PRESIDENT PENCE, WHAT DO YOU THINK IS TO SUPPORT THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES?
	I THINK THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DESERVE TO KNOW WHETHER EVERYONE ON THIS STAGE AGREES THAT I So answer the question.
	I've answered this before.
	So yes.
	Why are we... Mike did his duty.
	I got no beef with him.
	But here's the thing.
	Is this what we're going to be focusing on going forward?
	The rehashing of this?
	I'll tell you.
	The Democrats would love that.
	They will win if we let them get away with it.
	This crowd is so disconnected from the Republican base.
	It's like a throbbing middle finger.
	Well, it's the R&C.
	Governor DeSantis, we spent a lot of time on the R&C.
	Former President Trump is beating you by 34 R&C.
	Well, Trump supporters not showing up where Trump isn't is a pretty common theme.
	Governor Hutchinson, you did not raise your hand.
	I did not raise my hand because there's an important issue we as a party have to face.
	Chemical castration for kids.
	And over a year ago I said that Donald Trump was morally disqualified from being president again as a result of what happened on January 6th.
	More people are understanding the importance of that including conservative legal scholars who says he may be disqualified under the 14th amendment from being president again as a result of the insurrection.
	This is something that could disqualify him under our rules and under the Constitution.
	And so, obviously, I'm not going to support somebody who's been convicted of a serious felony or who is disqualified under our Constitution.
	And that's consistent with RNC rules, and I hope everybody would agree with me.
	Martha, can I answer the question?
	Can I get in on this?
	I'd like to answer the question you asked and not give a pre-canned speech.
	- Vice President Pence. - All right, I'd like to answer the question you asked and not give a pre-canned speech.
	Mike Pence stood for the Constitution and he deserves not grudging credit, He deserves our thanks as Americans for putting his oath of office and the Constitution of the United States before personal, political and unfair pressure.
	And the argument that we need to have in this party before we can move on to the issues that Ron talked about is we have to dispense with the person who said that we need to suspend the Constitution to put forward his political career.
	Mike Pence said no, and he deserves credit for it.
	Yeah.
	The fact that there's applause shows.
	This is not the base, guys.
	Let's be honest.
	This is a joke.
	THE BASE, GUYS, LET'S BE HONEST.
	THIS IS A JOKE.
	THIS SHOWS WHAT THE RNC IS.
	WE NEED TO GIVE HIM CREDIT FOR THAT.
	BUT WHAT I WILL ALSO TELL YOU IS, LOOK, I MEAN, WHEN IT COMES TO WHETHER PRESIDENT TRUMP SHOULD SERVE OR NOT, I TRUST THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
	Let them vote.
	Let them decide.
	But what they will tell you is that it is time for a new generational conservative leader.
	We have to look at the fact that three quarters of Americans don't want a rematch between Trump and Biden.
	And we have to face the fact that Trump is the most disliked politician in America.
	We can't win a general election that way.
	Yo, Nikki's... Nikki's not popular either.
	Happy to answer the question.
	Mike Pence did the right thing on January 6th.
	But I want to keep going.
	Hold on.
	I want to hear a Vivek answer.
	Yeah, just hold on.
	Ukraine education.
	China is the number one threat I want to hear it.
	Just hold on.
	Just keep it going.
	We're good.
	You know who loves it?
	Biden loves it, but China loves it when we're talking about the past.
	Okay.
	As promised, we were going to spend a few questions on it, let people say what they wanted to say, and now, indeed, we are moving on to the subject of the U.S. has has committed nearly 77... Did I speak on this issue?
	I was kind of involved.
	You didn't.
	You answered on this issue.
	You did.
	Why are they skipping?
	I thought we thought you were done, but you... No, I wasn't done.
	Well, Mike, why don't you say this?
	Join me in making a commitment that I'm the only candidate on this stage who had the courage to actually say it.
	That is how we move our nation forward.
	And turn the page forward.
	That's exactly right.
	I don't know why you assume that Donald Trump will be convicted of these crimes.
	You should be able to make a commitment, the same justice system that was this corrupt.
	There's a difference between you and me.
	I'm not a professional politician, that's the difference, you can answer the question.
	I've actually given pardons when I was governor of the state of Indiana.
	It usually follows a finding of guilt and contrition by the individual that's been convicted.
	So, if I'm president of the United States, we'll give fair consideration to any pardon request.
	But if I may, if I may.
	You know, it's not about looking back at January 2021.
	It's about January 20th, 2017.
	I put my left hand on Ronald Reagan's Bible, I raised my right hand, and I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.
	And it ended with a prayer, so help me God.
	It was a promise that I made to the American people But I also made it — And this fake preacher routine is so tired.
	Oh, my gosh.
	Every day for four years, I sought to keep that oath.
	And everyone on this stage needs to make it clear whether or not they'll do the same if they earn this job and the confidence of the American people.
	If it was clear, why'd they have to change the law?
	Look, I've made it clear.
	I had hoped that the issues surrounding the 2020 election and the controversies around January 6th had not come to this, had not come to criminal proceedings.
	I would rather they had been resolved by the American people, and the American people alone.
	But no one's above the law, and President Trump is entitled to the presumption of innocence that every American is entitled to, and we will make sure and extend that to him.
	But the American people deserve to know that the President asked me In his request that I reject or return votes unilaterally, power that no vice president in American history had ever exercised or taken, he asked me to put him over the Constitution.
	And I chose the Constitution, and I always will.
	I had no right to overturn the election, and Kamala Harris will have no right to overturn the election when we beat them in 2024.
	Thank you, Vice President Pence.
	Now we are moving on to other issues.
	The U.S.
	has committed nearly $77 billion in aid to the Ukraine war.
	The administration is now asking Congress for $24 billion more.
	Regardless of the specifics of that plan, is there anyone on stage who would not support the increase of more funding to Ukraine?
	We would not support it.
	Europe needs to step up.
	I mean, I would have Europe step up and do their job.
	Mr. Amaswamy.
	Wow.
	Only Vivek.
	Every DeSantis answer is so bad.
	Europe pull their weight.
	Right now, they're not doing that.
	And I think we need to do, and I think our support should be contingent on them doing it.
	And I would have support in China to be able to take China and do what we need to do with China.
	Let's go, Vivek.
	YOU WOULD NOT SUPPORT AN INCREASE OF FUNDING TO UKRAINE?
	I would not.
	And I think that this is disastrous that we are protesting against an invasion across somebody else's border when we should use those same military resources to prevent across the invasion of our own southern border here in the United States of America.
	We are driving Russia further into China's hands.
	The Russia-China alliance is the single greatest threat we face.
	And I find it offensive that we have professional politicians on the stage that will make a pilgrimage to Kiev To their Pope, Zelensky, without doing the same thing for people in Maui, or the south side of Chicago, or Kensington.
	I think that we have to put the interests of Americans first.
	Secure our own border instead of somebody else's.
	And the reality is, this is also how we project strength by making America strong at home.
	We heard the names.
	Governor Christie first.
	I did go to Ukraine, and I went to Ukraine because I wanted to see for myself what Vladimir Putin's army was doing to the free Ukrainian people.
	And let me tell you, I want you all to look around this arena tonight and imagine that every one of these seats was filled.
	And if every one of them was filled, there would still be 2,500 more children outside to make over 20,000 who have been abducted, stolen, ripped from their mothers and fathers, and brought back to Russia to be programmed to fight their own families.
	They have gouged out people's eyes, cut off their ears, and shot people in the back of the head, men, and then gone into those homes and raped about America.
	The daughters and the wives who were left as widows and orphans.
	This is the Vladimir Putin.
	This is the Vladimir Putin who Donald Trump called brilliant and a genius.
	If If we don't stand up against this type of autocratic... How about we stand up against Joe Biden, Chris Christie?
	We will be next.
	I have a question for Governor Haley.
	We'll come back.
	Vice President Pence was mentioned.
	You get 30 seconds.
	Yeah, well, let me be clear.
	Anybody that thinks that we can't solve the problems here in the United States and be the leader of the free world, That's a pretty small view of the greatest nation on Earth.
	This is the big, big, small neoliberal talking point.
	That's Christie's deal.
	He wears it better.
	We've been the leader of the free world and the artificial democracy for years.
	The Reagan doctrine years ago made it clear.
	We said, if you're willing to fight the communists on your soil, we'll give you the means to fight them there so our troops don't have to fight them.
	Vivek, if we do the giveaway that you want to give to Putin to give him his land, it's not going to be too long before he rolls across Uh, domino theory embedded in the lie of neoliberalism in real time.
	Shallow thinking.
	Brought by the war industry.
	This is the entire Mitt Romney campaign. 100%.
	I have a newsflash.
	The USSR does not exist anymore.
	It fell back in 1990.
	It's a real threat.
	You talked about the communists.
	And the real communists that we have to address right now... Do you not have any idea what Vladimir Putin's aims are?
	Hold on.
	He's gonna say the real communists are in our government.
	Hold on.
	You've made your point, shut up.
	You've insulted him by calling him a communist.
	He is a dictator and a murderer and the United States of America needs to stand against authoritarianism.
	The real threat we face today is Communist China.
	And we are driving Russia further into China's arms.
	The Russia-China military alliance is the single greatest threat we face.
	Nobody in either political party is talking about it.
	And I am the only non-Bernie O'Connor on this stage.
	But it will keep us out of war.
	Mr. Vice President, we came here to give Russia everything they've got.
	Mr. Vice President.
	Mr. Vice President.
	THAT WE WILL NOT THINK ABOUT TAKING TAIWAN. WE WILL NOT THINK ABOUT TAKING TAIWAN. WE WILL NOT THINK ABOUT TAKING TAIWAN. WE WILL NOT THINK ABOUT TAKING TAIWAN. WE WILL NOT THINK ABOUT TAKING TAIWAN. WE WILL NOT THINK ABOUT TAKING TAIWAN. WE WILL NOT THINK ABOUT TAKING TAIWAN. WE WILL NOT THINK ABOUT TAKING So, Mr. Vice President, we appreciate your aggressiveness here.
	Okay.
	30 seconds is 30 seconds.
	Mr. Ramaswamy, you were mentioned, you get 30 seconds.
	The reality is that today, today, Ukraine is not a priority for the United States of America.
	The fact that Vivek is being booed by Republican donors makes me love him and you should support him too.
	These are warmongers that have done nothing good for our country.
	I think we gave you more than the 30 seconds in the rebut.
	So I do want to get to some other people because everybody, we respect everybody's time here.
	That will be my top priority for the policy.
	I think we gave you more than the 30 seconds in the revise.
	So I do want to get to some other people because everybody, we respect everybody's time here.
	Nobody cares about Doug Burgum.
	Governor Haley, you did not raise your hand, meaning that you would support more funding for the Ukraine war.
	You have said of Governor DeSantis that you didn't appreciate it when he initially called it a territorial dispute.
	Why?
	First of all, the American president needs to have moral clarity.
	They need to know the difference between right and wrong.
	They need to know the difference between good and evil.
	When you look at the situation with Russia and Ukraine, here you have a pro-American country that was invaded by a thug.
	So we want to talk about what has been given to Ukraine.
	Less than 3.5% of our defense budget has been given to Ukraine.
	If you look at the percentages per GDP, 11 of the European countries have given more than the U.S.
	But what's really important is go back to when China and Russia held hands, shook hands before the Olympics, and named themselves unlimited partners.
	A win for Russia is a win for China.
	We have to know that.
	This is such failed neoliberal crap.
	And the problem that Vivek doesn't understand is, he wants to hand Ukraine to Russia.
	He wants to let China eat Taiwan.
	He wants to go and stop funding Israel.
	You don't do that to friends.
	What you do instead is you have the backs of your friends.
	Ukraine is a front line of defense.
	Putin has said, if Russia, once Russia Did he take the COVID shot?
	She is bought by the war lobby.
	That's a world war.
	We're trying to prevent war.
	Look at what Putin did today.
	He killed Progozin.
	When I was at the UN, the Russian ambassador suddenly died.
	This guy is a murderer.
	Did he take the COVID shot?
	And you are choosing a murderer over a pro-American country.
	Stop talking about Anthony Fauci.
	First of all, first of all.
	First of all, Mr. Ramaswamy, you have 30 seconds.
	Mr. DeSantis, you're going to be a good one.
	Nikki, I wish you well in your future career on the boards of Lockheed and Raytheon. - Not on the back of the matter.
	Boeing came off of it, but you've been pushing this lie all week, Nikki.
	Okay, let me address that.
	I'm glad you brought that up.
	I'm gonna address each of those right now.
	The false lies of a professional politician.
	There you have it.
	So the reality is, you have no foreign policy experience and it shows.
	And you know what?
	The foreign policy experience that you all have shows in the proudest words of Donald Trump.
	So our relationship with Israel will never be stronger than by the end of my first term.
	But it's not a client relationship.
	It is a friendship.
	And you know what friends do?
	Friends help each other stand on their own two feet.
	So I will lead Abraham Accords 2.0.
	I will partner with Israel to make sure Iran never is nuclear armed.
	But you know what I love about Israel?
	And I've been there probably in the last 10 years more than most people on this stage.
	You know what I love about them?
	I love their border policies.
	I love their tough-on-crime policies.
	I love that they have a national identity and an Iron Dome to protect their homeland.
	And so, yes, I want to learn from the friends that we're supporting.
	And what puzzles me— No, you want to cut the— No, I want to learn from those and apply those to protect our homeland, Mickey.
	It's not that Israel needs America.
	That is the answer.
	Can we move on?
	America needs Israel.
	Okay, Governor DeSantis, Governor DeSantis, you were mentioned in the territorial dispute.
	Not only— No, it's not a territorial dispute either.
	As President of the United States, Your first obligation is to defend our country and its people.
	And that means you're sending all this money, but you're not doing what we need to do to secure our own border.
	We have tens of thousands of people who are being killed because we're not handling both.
	And so I am going to declare it a national emergency.
	I'm not going to send troops to Ukraine, but I am going to send them to our southern border.
	Okay, that's the right answer.
	And these Trump pushers are bringing fentanyl across the border.
	That's going to be the last thing they do.
	We're going to use force and we're going to leave them stone cold dead.
	We're actually going to move on to China.
	We're going to talk about China.
	Governor Burgum, China has the biggest navy in the world, the biggest army in the world.
	Now they have warships off the coast of Alaska.
	They are threatening Taiwan.
	In coming years, China will have 1,500 nuclear warheads, it's believed.
	The U.S.
	just arrested two sailors accused of spying for China within our military.
	So the question is, how would you deter China as a president, Burgum?
	Well, this is the number one issue we're facing and of course we haven't been talking about it and we act like that letting Russia win in the Ukraine is like a gimme as opposed to a gift to China.
	Russia has become China's gas station.
	But how would we do it?
	The Biden administration is a complete fail.
	China imports 10 million barrels of oil a day more than any other country in the world.
	They do not even have all the food they need to feed everybody in that country, so they don't have energy security or food security.
	But the Biden administration sends Blinken, Yellen over there.
	They don't even bring up energy because they're too busy trying to kill the U.S.
	energy here.
	And what we need to do is not meetings, not press releases, because something that would send a lot more than a press release is actually harpoon missiles.
	We need anti-ship missiles on Taiwan.
	The way that you have a war never start, which is the goal, the way you have peace through strength, is that you actually have strength.
	You actually have deterrence.
	And what we have in—what we've got going on in Ukraine is an example of when deterrence fail.
	What is an example there of Biden's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, the fact that he green-lighted Putin moving into Ukraine, and then now they see weakness, and when they see weakness they make a move.
	And we have to be strong, and we have to be strong.
	Both in Ukraine, and we can solve the southern border.
	Absolutely, we can do that.
	Because guess what?
	There's only 19,855 authorized people for the border patrol.
	But they're not all staff, because the Biden administration doesn't enforce law enforcement.
	But Biden administration wanted to put 87,000 people in the IRS, as opposed to giving the money in this fort we need to our own border patrol.
	Senator Scott on China.
	That same question.
	Let's fire the 87,000 IRS agents and hire double the number of Border Patrol agents.
	I just left Yuma, Arizona about two weeks ago.
	The most pressing need for the American people from a national security standpoint is our southern border.
	It has led to the death of 70,000 Americans because of fentanyl.
	Plus, 6 million illegal crossings since President Biden has taken office, and 200 people on our national security watch list have been caught at our border.
	How many have not been caught at our southern border?
	If we just spend 10 billion dollars, we could finish the wall.
	For $5 billion more, we could have the military-grade technology to surveil our southern border to stop the flow of fentanyl and save 70,000 Americans a year.
	That should be the priority of this government.
	And as the next president of the United States, I will make that border wall complete.
	There are many more questions on China.
	I do want to ask about it.
	I want to say I couldn't agree more.
	It's not just the 70,000 from fentanyl.
	We've lost 200,000 people to overdoses since Biden took office.
	That's 300 people a day.
	We're taking mass casualties.
	And that's a statistic.
	But these are sons and daughters, nieces and nephews that we're losing.
	We've got North Dakota troops down there flying night helicopter missions from San Diego to the Gulf Coast, trying to stop these transnational criminal organizations.
	They've got better funding on their side than we've got on our side.
	Speaking of which, images from earlier this month, Governor Hutchinson and Vice President Pence.
	Images from earlier this month.
	Vice President Pence, it really doesn't help.
	I'm asking a question.
	Earlier this month, images showed suspected cartel members crossing into Texas with rifles.
	Do you consider this an invasion?
	That's a good question.
	Would you authorize lethal force along that border?
	There would be lethal force used by the Border Patrol, law enforcement as needed to protect the border.
	Absolutely.
	When you look at the military, the military has to be used for intelligence gathering purposes.
	This is not unusual.
	Whenever I was in the Bush administration, we went down there and met with President Vincente Fox of Mexico and asked his help in going after the cartels.
	And he looked at me and said, there are problem to us as well.
	And so we joined together and we took down the Ariana Felix brothers leading the Tijuana cartel.
	And that made a difference.
	Ramon was shot and killed and Benham Bean was captured.
	Cooperation makes a difference.
	We cannot be successful going against the cartel unless we bring in Mexico as a partner.
	We have to use economic pressure to accomplish that.
	President Obrador has not been helpful.
	And we have to use economic pressure that this administration is not using.
	The rule of law has to matter on both sides of it.
	This is critical.
	I've done it.
	We know what needs to be done.
	The military has to be limited in its use.
	After 9-11, we had the global war on terror, and guess what?
	We protected the border at the same time.
	You can do both.
	Let's go to Governor DeSantis.
	So as president, would you support sending US special forces over the border into Mexico to take out fentanyl labs, to take out drug cartel operations?
	Would you support that kind of American military Yes.
	Yes, and I will do it on day one.
	Here's the thing.
	The cartels are killing tens of thousands of our fellow citizens.
	You want to talk about a country in decline?
	You have the cartels controlling a lot of part of your southern border.
	We have to re-establish the rule of law and we have to defend our people.
	The President of the United States has got to use all available powers as Commander-in-Chief to protect our country and to protect the people.
	So when they're coming across, yes, we're going to use lethal force.
	Yes, we reserve the right to operate.
	How many more tens of thousands are we going to let to die?
	I am sick.
	I've met angel moms throughout this country.
	I met a lady in Texas named Tracy, and her son took one Percocet, That is happening all across this country because of the poison that they are bringing in.
	So as president, would I use force?
	Would I treat them as foreign terrorist organizations?
	You're darn right I would.
	Vice President Pence, why would you be better at this issue than Governor DeSantis?
	Governor DeSantis on the campaign trail refers to your administration as not finishing the wall.
	Right, right.
	Look, we secured the southern border of the United States of America and reduced illegal immigration and asylum abuse by 90%.
	When Joe Biden took over, he threw open the southern border of the United States, and the wave of humanity, the wave of fentanyl that's been eloquently described here is a wave of human tragedy across this country.
	But, Marthy, you began this evening talking about who is best prepared to be the next president of the United States.
	Yeah, who's been a politician the longest is how he answers that question.
	And I have to tell you, with all humility.
	I was there when we negotiated through the government shutdown and got the funding available to build the wall.
	I was negotiating on Capitol Hill around the clock.
	I negotiated the remaining Mexico policy on behalf of the President of the United States.
	And AC, you're so right.
	It's because we used economic pressure to bring the Mexicans to the table, and they allowed us to have people wait in Mexico while they applied for asylum and ended asylum abuse overnight.
	We got the Mexicans to deploy their National Guard to their southern border and our southern border as never before.
	And I want to promise you, as President of the United States of America, I will engage Mexico the exact same way and we will partner with the Mexican military and we will hunt down and destroy the cartels that are claiming lives in the United States.
	Thank you.
	Another issue that is related to this is that almost 7 million migrants have crossed this border, our southern border, during the Biden administration.
	So, Governor Christie, what would you do about the 7 million who are here?
	How would you handle them?
	What would you do?
	The first thing we need to do is to stop any more from coming.
	That's the first thing we need to do.
	Then, the next thing we need to do with the folks that are here is to, again, as we've talked about all night tonight, we have to have law and order in this country.
	We have to enforce the law.
	And what that means is to make sure that people who come here illegally are not rewarded for being here illegally.
	We have so many wonderful people from around the world who are waiting in line, following the law, to try to come here and pursue the American dream.
	And those people are waiting and waiting and waiting because we haven't dealt with the problem of the folks who are here.
	We have to have them detained.
	We have to make sure that they are not rewarded for having broken the law.
	And one last thing on this fentanyl issue.
	With China, we can't take our eye off of that ball.
	Yes, it's important that we secure the border.
	Very important, as I just said.
	But China is sending these chemicals to these drug cartels for them to create the fentanyl that is killing hundreds of thousands of our citizens.
	The Chinese are engaging in an act of war against us, killing our citizens.
	We better make that priority one in our conversations with China and to try to straighten that relationship out.
	Because if we don't, we're going to lose more and more of our citizens.
	I just want to clarify.
	Would you send those people back?
	Of course.
	You'd have to.
	We have a lot of issues that Americans care about.
	Next up, we're going to talk about the crisis in education.
	As millions of American children are not perfect in reading or math.
	Charlie, lead us.
	No, I thought it was really interesting.
	I mean, it just goes to show first what the Republican Party is without Trump.
	I mean, outside of Vivek, if Vivek would not be in the race, it would be a complete agreement on money in Ukraine, soft answers on immigration, kind of kid gloves with the administrative state.
	It's completely, completely different.
	And was I processing that right?
	Was the Young America Foundation commercial about climate change?
	I mean, their little thing that they paid for?
	Did I see that right?
	Their ad was that.
	It was like, what are you going to do to convince young people that you really care about the climate change?
	Oh my god!
	Oh my god!
	I'm being told that there's a clip here.
	This is not the premier youth organization on the right.
	That would be Turning Point USA and Turning Point Action.
	Play cut 98.
	Polls consistently show that young people's number one issue is climate change.
	How will you, as both President of the United States and leader of the Republican Party, calm their fears that the Republican Party doesn't care about climate change?
	Calm their fears that the Republican Party doesn't care about climate change?
	That's like what a hit another group would do on YAF to like discredit them.
	To like have a guy ask that question with a big YAF logo right off to the side.
	This is like literally like an SNL version of YAF.
	It's like it's literally if they were making fun of YAF on SNL right now.
	It's so crazy.
	Jack, are you back?
	No, Jack was having an IFB issue.
	He's going to join us for the post.
	Oh, he's back.
	Okay.
	All right.
	He is here.
	I'm here.
	Yeah, no, I was having this weird IFB issue where basically I couldn't hear the debate when there was crosstalk and I was just getting all mixed up.
	Anyway, it's my thing, but I'll be here during and after.
	Look, I have a question.
	Does anybody know Why was it that Governor Ron DeSantis also decided to skip the debate tonight?
	Because I know that President Trump didn't show up, but I was really expecting Governor DeSantis to show up, and yet I have yet to see him do so.
	Yeah, you know, Jack, my take on it, and I was reading some of the comments online, a lot of people keep saying, DeSantis is doing fine.
	I think Charlie, Charlie, you tweeted out something just a second ago.
	I forget what you said exactly, but you were like, he's doing his answers are like technically correct, but he's just not having a standout moment.
	He needed.
	Yeah, but Vivek is soaring.
	Vivek's answers about go back on the board of Boeing or Lockheed Martin, Nikki.
	Perfect.
	This is a great, this is a tweet.
	I just was forwarded by a friend by some, I think it's like a crypto guy.
	Pence is so old, he's still talking about defunding the police.
	He needs new talking points.
	He needs to call Chris Crispy a fat loser and to tell Vevek that his H-1B visa is about to run out to have a chance.
	But the biggest takeaway I have, we're gonna really dwell on this, Guys, throw the debate ones back.
	Who the hell is in the debate audience?
	Tyler, you and I know a couple really good people there.
	But generally, Tyler, you're there.
	Tyler has boycotted this.
	Tyler's in Milwaukee.
	He had a ticket and he decided to be with us.
	Tyler, I am getting angry at how disconnected this RNC group is with the Republican base.
	Charlie, you have no idea.
	I'm like walking around.
	It's so funny.
	Today, you'll be so proud.
	I wore those little badges that Rana sent.
	It's so funny.
	I wore these on my jacket today.
	You know, all the things that they trick old people with?
	You know, all the living... You're a living legend.
	This is how scary it is.
	So I printed out those emails, the fake awards that they give people on emails to get them to donate five bucks, and I wore them all over my jacket.
	And I walked up and some of the old people that are on the RNC were like, Oh, how do I get one of those?
	I'm like, oh my god.
	Oh, this is exactly... This is manipulation.
	This is terrible.
	We need, like, it would be such a free line.
	It'd be such a free line if you just had, like... Debate is back.
	Let's cut back.
	Let's enjoy.
	...for 15-year-olds and 13-year-olds.
	Governor DeSantis, you would eliminate, you said, the Department of Education.
	But as president, would you still have a responsibility to fix this crisis as we see it?
	Absolutely.
	The decline in education is one of the major reasons why our country is in decline.
	We need education in this country, not indoctrination in this country.
	He's got to stop with this scripted stuff, man.
	Florida, we stood up for what was right.
	First, we had schools open during COVID, and a lot of the problems that we've seen are because these lockdown states lock their kids out of school for a year, year and a half.
	That was wrong.
	We stood up.
	I took a lot of fire for that.
	I was pilloried by the media, but I stood for our kids.
	And as president, I'll stand for you and your kids as well.
	But we have to make sure that what our schools are doing is focusing on solid academics.
	In Florida, we eliminated critical race theory from our K-12 schools.
	We eliminated gender ideology from our K-12 schools.
	And we have elevated the importance of American civics in teaching our kids about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
	As president, I'm going to lead an effort to increase civic understanding and knowledge of our Constitution.
	We cannot be graduating students that don't have any foundation in what it means to be an American.
	It's DeSantis' strongest sweet spot.
	Mr. Ramaswamy, hold on, Senator Scott.
	You said that the Department of Education, the FBI, the ATF, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the IRS, the Department of Commerce, many of these should not exist.
	That's correct.
	So, to the education question, how would you deal with the crisis?
	So look, we have a crisis of achievement.
	Let's shut down the head of the snake, the Department of Education.
	Take that $80 billion, put it in the hands of parents across this country.
	This is the civil rights issue of our time.
	Allow any parent to choose where they send their kids to school.
	End the teachers' unions at the local level to allow public schools to compete.
	And then revive our national identity where every high school senior should have to pass the same civics test that frankly every immigrant, including my mother, had to pass in order to become a citizen of this country.
	And the fact of the matter is, look, there's a part of education policy that also rests with the family.
	Anchor baby!
	Anchor baby!
	He said it!
	He said he's an anchor baby!
	You're not allowed to become president if you're an anchor baby!
	- It's the ultimate privilege of two parents in the house with a focus on educational achievement. - He said it.
	- And I want every kid to enjoy that. - He said he's an anchor baby. - So part of the problem is we also have a federal government that pays single women more not to have a man in the house than to have a man in the house, contributing to an epidemic of fatherlessness.
	I like the vague, but you're an anchor, baby.
	You can't do that.
	With the education crisis as well, because we have to remember, education starts with the family, and the nuclear family is the greatest form of governance known to mankind.
	Governor Haley has said that biological boys playing in girls sports is a women's issue of our time.
	You said that even though you signed a ban on this in North Dakota that there hadn't been one instance where it was actually needed.
	Are you saying that you think that too much is made of this issue?
	No, I'm saying in North Dakota we made a priority of protecting women's sports, and we've done that in our state.
	But I would absolutely do that.
	But I do think when we start talking about education, and we think that we're going to have a federal government one size fits all, we're just completely losing track of the fact that education differs by state.
	Some school districts are doing a fantastic job, some less so.
	But the idea that every school district in the state and every teacher is somehow indoctrinating people is just false.
	Whoa!
	- When I was building a company from scratch, with small town kids, and we grew up in a town of 300, but we built a global company in 132 countries - And you sold it to Bill Gates. - With over 100,000 customers.
	We listened to those customers, we spent time with them, we talked to them.
	We did that, and as governor, well, education's one of the biggest part of a state budget.
	So as a governor, I go, I shadow a student.
	The night before I find out the student finds out, I'm going to go to every class with them.
	I don't sit and lecture school districts how to do it.
	I go and see the experience.
	And there's a lot of things that have to change, but what needs to change in education is innovation.
	We're doing it the same way we did it 50 years ago, with innovation, not regulation.
	I would get rid of the Department of Education.
	I would give block grants to schools, but I'd give them on merit based on who's doing the most innovative.
	I just got done holding the seventh annual Governor's Conference on Innovation and Education.
	You should see what the people are doing when you cut loose the red tape, get the burden off their back.
	They care.
	Teachers in this country, the vast majority of them care about those kids.
	They're working in low-paying jobs, and they're fighting, fighting for those kids and their families.
	First I'll tell you as you know as a parent the one thing you want is for your child to have a better life than you did and we can talk about all of these things and there's a lot of crazy woke things happening in schools but we've got to get these kids reading.
	If a child can't read by third grade they're four times less likely to graduate high school.
	So we need to make sure we bring in reading remediation all over this country.
	We need transparency in the classroom because parents should never have to wonder what's being said or taught to their children in the classroom.
	Parents need to be deciding which schools their kids go to because they know best.
	And let's put vocational classes back into the high schools.
	Let's teach our kids to build things again.
	When we do that and we allow that innovation, that's when it'll get back.
	And yes, I will always say I'm going to fight for girls all day long because strong girls become strong women, strong women become strong leaders, and biological boys don't belong in the locker rooms of any of our girls.
	The lightning round and the first question is going to go to you, Vice President.
	So this is a lightning round of questions.
	30 second answers, please.
	President Biden will be 82 years old on Inauguration Day.
	Nearly 70% of Americans say that he is too old to serve.
	Should presidents have to pass a mental and physical test in order to serve Vice President Pence?
	Well, it might be a good idea to have everybody in Washington, D.C.
	pass a medal.
	Thirty seconds.
	No, the American people can make those judgments.
	But let me say, I'm running for president of the United States because we don't need a president who's too old.
	Because you care about Ukraine?
	And we don't need a president who's too young.
	We need a president who's been there.
	We need a president who knows how Congress works, how the White House works, how states have worked, and on this education issue, Martha, I was fighting against No Child Left Behind when Republicans were doubling the Department of Education.
	I'll also shut down the Federal Department of Education, and when I was governor, we doubled the size of the largest school choice program in America, and we'll give school choice to every family in America when I'm in the White House.
	This is a lightning round, Mr. Ramaswamy.
	I think you were mentioned there.
	You're 38, you're the youngest on the stage.
	You've said, and you just said, you want a civics test or public service for those under 25 to be able to vote.
	So the question is, do you want a mental acuity test for presidents over 75?
	IQ!
	I believe in the people of this country to tell the difference between somebody who's an automaton and somebody who's actually a thinking agent in the White House, which we don't have in there today.
	And I will tell you, I want to address Vice President Pence's comment.
	I think we do need somebody of a different generation to lead this nation forward.
	Look at the way I've run this campaign.
	Going to the south side of Chicago, to Kensington, in the middle of Philadelphia, where traditional Republican candidates don't go.
	We have an opportunity to build a multi-ethnic, working class majority to deliver a landslide, and I think I'm the only candidate in this race, young or old, black or white, to bring all of those voters along to deliver a Reagan 1980 revolution.
	We're gonna do it in 2024.
	Listen, listen, we're getting control of the debate.
	I WILL ANSWER THAT.
	I WILL ANSWER THAT.
	30 SECONDS.
	WHAT ARE THEY FIGHTING OVER?
	EVERYBODY IS GOING TO HAVE TO GET CONTROL OF THIS DEBATE.
	THIS IS A LIGHTNING ROUND, NOT ROLLING THUNDER.
	GOVERNOR HUTCHESON, YOU HAVE 30 SECONDS ON THE SAME QUESTION.
	On education, first of all, look at Arkansas.
	We have to compete with China.
	I built computer science education.
	We led the nation in computer science education.
	Going from 1,100 students to 23,000 students taking it.
	Thank you, sir.
	This is how you compete with China.
	As president of the United States, I will make sure we go from 51% of our schools offering computer science to every school in rural areas and urban areas offering computer science for the benefit of our kids, and we can compete with China in terms of technology.
	Thank you, sir.
	President Biden is— This is coming to you.
	We're trying to do a quick round of different topics here.
	So Senator Scott, faith is on decline in this country.
	You talked about it a little bit before tonight.
	So is there a role for a President of the United States in changing that?
	What would you do to change that?
	Well our nation was founded upon the Judeo-Christian values that has made us the greatest nation on God's green earth.
	I'm a big believer in Ephesians 3.20 that God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or imagine.
	Our responsibility should be to model the behavior we want others to follow.
	On education, the only way we change education in this nation is to break the backs of the teachers' unions.
	They are standing in the doorhouse of our kids, locking them into failing schools and locking them out of the greatest future they could have.
	As President, Governor DeSantis, would you support some mandatory military service for all Americans?
	I think it should be voluntary.
	I'm somebody that volunteered to serve, inspired by September 11th, and I deployed to Iraq alongside U.S.
	Navy SEALs in places like Fallujah, Ramadi, and it's something that I think has taught me, you know, when you go in that type of environment, anything you have, your personal agenda, you check it at the door.
	Without Trump, this stuff gets so boring.
	You go there, and it's about focusing on your mission.
	So boring, right?
	I mean, can we not take Trump for granted ever again?
	and they get it done. - This is how I would view the President of the United States.
	It's not about me.
	It's not about all these other side issues.
	My sole focus would be on your future and reversing this country's decline.
	- Can we not take Trump for granted ever again?
	I mean, this is all just the same thing back and forth and back and forth.
	- Governor Christie, do you believe that the recent spike in UFO encounters? - I get the UFO question?
	We've been hearing a lot of testimony in Congress, and people are taking this a lot more seriously, and we're hearing that there are things going on that people aren't aware of.
	So, if you were president, would you level with the American people about what the government knows about these possible Look, Martha, and especially coming from a woman from New Jersey, I think it's horrible that just because I'm from New Jersey you ask me about unidentified flying objects and Martians.
	We're different, but we're not that different.
	Look, of course, the job of the President of the United States is to level with the American people about everything.
	The job of the President of the United States is to stand for truth.
	The job of the President of the United States is to be a role model for our children and our grandchildren.
	And so whether it was UFOs or this problem of education, and Tim's right by the way, and I started this in 2010 by going right after the teachers unions in New Jersey and drove them down to an all-time low popularity rating because they were putting themselves before our kids.
	That is the biggest threat to our country, not UFOs.
	Okay.
	Well, coming up, we've got Closing Arguments Plus right after the debate.
	Hannity is live from the spin room right here.
	We're gonna continue our stream, too, everybody, so don't go anywhere.
	We're gonna... Alright, so, Tyler, can you elaborate?
	Who the heck is actually in the audience here?
	I mean, they're applauding, like, when Chris Christie says we need to, like, indict Trump.
	Half the audience is applauding.
	Who are these people?
	Yeah, so let me, so on the floor is the RNC and the RNC guest.
	So that's the floor that's like right in front of the stage.
	That's where my empty seat is, is right, right in there.
	So, and then along the wings, you have all of the candidates have brought their, as many people as they, they could.
	I mean, this is Pfizer Forum.
	This is where they play the Milwaukee Bucks games, right?
	So this is where I got carded by the NBA for standing up and, uh, and counting down So this is a huge, huge venue.
	They could basically have brought – they could have filled this thing with like 20,000 people.
	They only brought a few thousand people, a few thousand people in, and it's mostly campaign staff and supporters.
	So yeah, so to the point that I think Jack brought up or I think Blake brought up here was like there's no Trump supporters in that.
	And these guys are still getting booed about Trump stuff.
	Yeah, so each campaign gets tickets, that's obvious, right?
	A bunch.
	But then also, like, the very moderate consultants get a bunch of tickets.
	It's so clear, because, I mean, we know the base super well.
	The RNC has to answer for this.
	This is not a Republican debate.
	Donald Trump has 60% support in this primary.
	6-0%.
	It's more than that, Charlie.
	It's more than that, because of the undecideds, the frontrunner always gets about 50% of the undecideds.
	Yes, yes.
	So there's about 20, there's about 15, between 10 and 15 percent undecided.
	So Trump is really actually, I've seen polls between 60 and 65 percent.
	He's actually closer to 70 percent now at this point, based off of the historical precedence of undecided voters.
	Jack, you're here for a second, then we're going to cut back in when they get back.
	Jack?
	Yeah, one thing I've noticed though is, um, clearly if we're talking about candidates with standouts, it's going to be Vivek, but I've noticed that he and DeSantis have largely steered clear of each other.
	I think he had sort of a, you know, pre-planned nickname for him.
	He keeps saying Super PAC Puppet, Super PAC Puppet, which is, it's okay.
	I don't know if it really lands though, because it's kind of wonky.
	I don't, I just, as a nickname, the analysis there, I just don't think it's a great nickname.
	It's something that you have to explain a couple of times.
	And any nickname that you have to explain isn't a very good one, but that being said, there really only seems to be one candidate who's got any fight up there, and that's Vivek.
	The other ones, they only seem to, well for some of them, like Asa Hutchinson and Chris Christie, the only time they ever get actually activated is now obviously when Chris Christie sees a cream puff or when he gets the opportunity to attack Donald Trump.
	So you can tell that these guys are absolutely being propped up by the same forces that want to see this ticket split to stop Trump from being able to To scoop up the nomination.
	But at the same time, you know what else I haven't heard from anyone?
	An actual explanation of reading the room and understanding that none of these candidates are anywhere near in contention for actually winning the presidency.
	It's like they're all going through this situation like it's completely meaningless.
	And I just gotta say, you know what?
	Charlie, look, look.
	I thought this when DeSantis was giving a speech last year at Turnpoint.
	He said it again.
	Does he not understand that the Iraq War is incredibly unpopular?
	That Americans do not see this as a positive thing that took place?
	At Turning Point Action Conference, 95% of our attendees said no more money to Ukraine.
	And they're all, like, shocked.
	Shocked!
	That neoliberalism is on the way out.
	On the way out of the Republican Party.
	Are they coming back?
	They gotta be, because they're almost done.
	And they have to get closing statements in.
	Let's throw back to them, guys.
	Not yet.
	They're still doing Ukraine commercials.
	Not a joke, actually.
	So, I just want to say one thing.
	I cannot... I can't get over... The most surprising thing for me tonight is the lack of DeSantis' show up.
	Like, he is just simply not...
	Elevating.
	This is not his medium.
	I mean, I want, I love DeSantis in front of, in a press conference, like ripping on reporters when he's the man.
	But when he has to compete for alpha status, like I just, it's just not his medium.
	And the guys on the team will tell you, I'm very, very favorable towards DeSantis in general.
	And so I'm personally very surprised that DeSantis is just simply not wowing me.
	He's not having his breakout moment.
	He's a good governor.
	He's not good at the one-upmanship debate or any of that.
	That's right.
	Yes?
	Look, there's managers and there's leaders.
	I'm just gonna say it.
	There's managers and then there's leaders.
	Okay, let's cut back and then we're gonna have a post-stream.
	...Republican presidential debate on September 27th.
	It looks pretty nice there.
	20 years ago, 70% of American adults said they were extremely proud to be an American.
	That number has now plummeted to just 39%.
	In his pitch to get to the Oval Office, President Reagan called America the shining city on a hill, a beacon of hope and optimism.
	So in your closing statement tonight, please tell American voters why you are the person who can inspire this nation to a better day.
	These are 45 seconds and we begin with Governor Burgum.
	I understand why America is hurting.
	Biden's inflation is choking us.
	I grew up in a small town.
	My dad died when I was a freshman in high school.
	My mom, widow of three, went back to work.
	Every job I had growing up was one where I took a shower at the end of the day, not at the beginning of the day.
	Our cities are less safe because of the fentanyl pouring into this country.
	Our economy is being crushed by Biden's energy policies, which are raising the cost of every product you buy, not just the gasoline at the pump.
	One thing that I'll do as president, I'll secure the border.
	I'll get this economy sprinting, not crawling like it is right now.
	And I would say that other thing is for sure, when I'm on a horseback in the Badlands of North Dakota, it looks like the horizon is just limitless.
	And when you can almost see beyond that horizon, you can see that this great country, our future is unlimited.
	But we've got to focus on innovation, not regulation.
	We've got to cut the red tape.
	We've got to drive ourselves forward.
	The way we win the Cold War with China is by growing our economy and through innovation.
	And as president, I will bring out the best of America.
	I will improve every American life.
	Governor Hutchison?
	Our nation is in trouble.
	And it's in trouble because of failed leadership.
	And the solution is not four more years of Joseph Biden.
	The solution is not four more years of Donald Trump.
	The solution is new leadership that can bring Bold ideas to America and to bring out the best of America.
	A president's number one responsibility is to bring out the best of our people.
	That's what Ronald Reagan did.
	And he did it with optimism and hope for our country with consistent conservatism.
	That's exactly what I bring.
	As president, I'll bring out the best of America in terms of individual responsibility, building our economy, in terms of securing our border, enforcing the rule of law.
	I'll bring out the best of America in terms of our national character, our faith, and our hope for the future.
	Join in this fight.
	Asa2024.com.
	Thank you.
	Senator Scott.
	The website plug.
	Thank you.
	I was a disillusioned young man growing up in a single-parent household mired in poverty.
	I wondered if the American dream was real for a kid like me.
	I can stand before you today and say the dream is alive, it is well, and it is healthy.
	I had the good fortune of a mom who worked 16-hour days making sure we had food on our tables.
	She taught me that if you're able-bodied in America, You work.
	If you take out a loan, you pay it back.
	If you commit a violent crime, you go to jail.
	And if God made you a man, you play sports against men.
	I'm Tim Scott.
	I'm asking you for your vote.
	And if you're in Iowa, I'm asking you to caucus for me.
	You can go to VoteTimScott.com for more information or to make a contribution.
	But wait, there's more.
	Thank you, Brett.
	Thank you, Martha.
	Look, everybody on this stage wants to be the next president of the United States.
	And the only way that's going to happen is if we beat Joe Biden.
	I'm the only one on this stage who's ever beaten a Democratic incumbent in an election.
	I did it in a deep blue state, being outspent three to one.
	Beating a Democratic incumbent is not easy.
	The last Democratic incumbent president who was defeated was Jimmy Carter.
	And he was defeated by a conservative governor from a blue state who knew how to get results, who stood for the truth.
	Thank you.
	cared about accountability, and stood strong and hard against waste.
	Those are the very things that I did in my eight years as governor of New Jersey, and it's exactly what I'll do as president of the United States.
	Believe me, the Democrats want some other nominee who's never beaten a Democratic incumbent.
	I'm the one who can win this race, and if you give me the chance, I will restore our country by winning it.
	Thank you.
	Governor Haley.
	Several weeks ago, I dropped my husband, Michael, a combat veteran from Afghanistan, off at 4 a.m., for another year-long deployment.
	I watched him and 230 soldiers pick up their two duffel bags of belongings to go to a country they had never been, all in the name of protecting America.
	If they are willing to protect us from there, we should be willing to fight for America here.
	I will beat Joe Biden, and he knows that.
	I will strengthen our economy, and we'll bring this inflation down.
	We will put transparency in the classroom.
	We will secure our borders.
	We will have the backs of our law enforcement.
	And we will make sure we have a strong national security.
	And once again, we will make sure we have an America that is strong and proud.
	We have a country to save.
	Join us.
	Go to NikkiHaley.com, and let's get it done.
	Vice President Pence.
	Well, she definitely brought in her supporters.
	Thank you, Brad and Martha, for this evening.
	It's an honor to be here.
	Joe Biden has weakened America at home and abroad.
	The disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, their war on energy, runaway spending that launched the worst inflation in 40 years, a crisis at our southern border, an assault on our values and liberties, and the American people have had enough.
	I need that pillow, Jack.
	But I know we can bring it back.
	But different times call for different leadership.
	The Republican Party owes the American people the choice.
	Proven leadership at the national level that knows how to move a conservative agenda forward.
	We proved in the Trump-Pence years you can turn this country around faster than you can imagine.
	And I have faith we will again.
	Because I have faith in the American people. -This whole cadence thing. -Good, decent, I know.
	They're getting there like... They're not delivering a line.
	Thank you.
	I'm a regular person.
	And I have faith that God is not done with America yet.
	And if we will renew our faith in one another and renew our faith in him who has ever guided this nation since we arrived on these wilderness shores, I know the best days for the greatest nation on earth are yet to come.
	Thank you.
	Mr. Ramaswamy.
	I was born in 1985 and I grew up into a generation where we were taught to celebrate our diversity and our differences so much that we forgot all of the ways we are really just the same as Americans, bound by a common set of ideals that set this nation into motion in 1776.
	And this is our moment to revive those common ideals.
	God is real.
	There are two genders.
	Fossil fuels are a requirement for human prosperity.
	Reverse racism is racism.
	An open border is not a border.
	Parents determine the education of their children.
	The nuclear family is the greatest form of governance known to man.
	Capitalism lifts us up from poverty.
	There are three branches of government.
	Not for.
	And the U.S.
	Constitution, it is the strongest guarantor of freedom in human history.
	That is what won us the American Revolution.
	That is what will win us the revolution of 2024.
	Thanks for letting me introduce myself tonight.
	Thank you.
	Governor DeSantis.
	Governor?
	This is our time for choosing.
	We will send Joe Biden back to his basement and we will reverse the decline of this country.
	I'm a blue collar kid.
	I work minimum wage jobs to be able to make ends meet.
	I understand the importance of the American dream and I know how that slipped away from so many millions of Americans will restore it.
	I'm a veteran who served in Iraq.
	I know what it means to put service above self.
	I'm also a dad and a husband to six, five, and three-year-old.
	I understand the importance of protecting parents' rights and the well-being of our children.
	In Florida, we showed it could be done.
	I made promises and I delivered on all of those promises.
	2024 is make or break.
	We're not getting a mulligan.
	No excuses.
	I will get the job done.
	And as your president, I will not let you down.
	God bless you all.
	God bless you all.
	Did he just say Bulls fans?
	He did.
	Wow.
	Did Asa Hutchinson get a closing statement?
	I don't even remember.
	Alright, let's cut.
	Okay, well that was quite a thing.
	Welcome everybody.
	Now that the debate is over, we are going to give you our thoughts.
	Let's just talk about the obvious.
	The Republican Party without Trump is a total disaster.
	Jack Posobiec.
	Charlie, you know, one of the things, and I said this on the show, on Human Events earlier this week, that, you know, I was really looking forward to tonight was, okay, this is a look at the bench, right?
	Four years from now, five years from now, six years, whatever it is, President Trump after his second term, you know, we're going to be looking at the Republican bench.
	We're going to be looking at the movement.
	And supposedly these are the brightest luminaries.
	And I got to tell you, some of them look like burned out bulbs up there sitting or like a, you know, a smoke detector with the battery hasn't been changed.
	I mean, this is the best we have, really?
	I mean, I see some, I will say I see some lights.
	I see some interest there, but by and large, this does not look like a good bench.
	And I think that the Republican Party really needs to get its act together and start attracting new blood into the system, because quite frankly, if this is all we got, we're going to get absolutely bored going into 2028.
	And the Republican Party could become a regional party again.
	I thought Vivek was, Andrew, by far the winner of the debate.
	He understood and read the room the best and the base, and he's going to be the, um, He's going to be the great beneficiary here.
	Andrew?
	Yeah, I think a couple things.
	I think Vivek, hands down, stood out tonight.
	I think unpopulous is thoughtcrime.
	Don't shoot the messenger.
	It's just my opinion.
	I think despite sounding like a complete neocon, you know, 90s, early 2000s Republican, I thought Haley had a couple of good moments. - I actually agree with that.
	No, objectively I agree.
	I think you're right. - Yeah, I think Christie actually was entertaining.
	This is something that gets under Blake's craw a little bit that we want somebody who can entertain and kind of hold the stage.
	I mean, is that a qualification to be president?
	No, not on its face, but if you combine that with know-how and experience, sure.
	I thought Christie had a couple good moments.
	Yeah, but I would say Vivek, Haley, Christie, they all stood out to me.
	I was entertained when they were on.
	Honestly, I liked when Mike Pence got on, almost as like a foil though.
	I again go back to this point.
	I cannot get over how much Ron DeSantis completely did not show up.
	And again, you guys know me in the chats.
	The audience doesn't necessarily know all of my personal opinions.
	I really, really like DeSantis.
	I was wavering on whether or not I was a Trump or DeSantis guy early in January, February.
	I think like a lot of the base, we were sort of expecting him to do more.
	Andrew, we had some conversations, all right, back around this time.
	I remember some late nights.
	I know our audience is going to hate me for that.
	We had some conversations about that.
	I know the audience is going to hate me for that, but I'm just being honest.
	I wasn't sure, OK?
	I would say around March or April, I went back to saying, listen, Trump's got this.
	He's got it.
	And I'm really disappointed.
	I was really disappointed when DeSantis did not come out with Alvin Bragg, when that indictment fell down and did not stand up and say something very strong.
	Instead, I think that was it.
	That was the end of his campaign.
	Yeah, that he ended it right there for me.
	And I remember I had a reporter call and I said, listen, you mark my words.
	His his polling is going to drop 2010.
	I said 10 to 15, maybe even 20 percent.
	People laughed at you, Andrew.
	Remember, people thought that you were I mean, like, oh, but we know the base.
	We speak to the base every single day.
	They thought they thought I was I was overstating the issue and I wasn't.
	And so, again, as somebody that wants to retain DeSantis as a viable candidate for 2028, I want to see him excel.
	I want to see him have these great moments.
	I want to see him nip at the heels of Trump.
	I still think this is Trump's moment.
	I've become convinced that this is Trump's moment.
	I want to see him nip at the heels, and I'm just not seeing that.
	That's my biggest surprise.
	I'm not surprised that Vivek came out as articulate and commanding.
	But I was surprised the other candidates came after him as much as they did, I will say that, because he was sort of alpha on that stage and they were coming after him.
	I don't know, that's my take.
	I'm just surprised that DeSantis can't rise to this occasion.
	Glenn Greenwald has a great tweet.
	Jack, why don't you read it?
	Because we're getting so many messages about the audience.
	And Tyler, I want you to chime in here.
	And remember, President Trump called this out.
	When, on the very same topic, when President Trump was attacking the Iraq War.
	I think it was at the Reagan Library.
	It was at the Reagan Library.
	Yes.
	And he was calling out Jeb.
	Well, really, actually, no.
	So he was in it with Jeb, and then he was calling out George W. Bush, and he said, your brother lied to us and got us into the Iraq War lying about WMDs.
	Then the entire audience turns on him.
	The entire audience is booing.
	Yeah.
	And then Trump goes, that's all your donors.
	That's what the RNC does.
	They put your donors in here.
	Listen to this.
	Glenn Greenwald, who was at the debate tonight, sitting, I believe, next to Merger Taylor Greene.
	Glenn Greenwald just tweeted, all the seats that are heard on TV in the middle at the front, so where the microphones are.
	So in the very front near where those microphones are, they're reserved for big GOP donors.
	Trump pointed out in 2016, when anyone criticizing Jeb got booed, the party establishment connived to maintain control.
	We should see if we could actually find that clip.
	I see Tyler's got his pieces of flair.
	Required pieces of flair, sir.
	Required pieces of flair.
	Got the flair right there.
	Did we spend $17 million on that at Turning Point Action?
	This cost me a dollar to make.
	I made this for a dollar and I think it's going to save the RNC maybe 10% of our fundraising budget if it was successful.
	So I thought tonight that DeSantis was going to get attacked the way that Vivek got attacked.
	So I thought DeSantis was going to have to step up.
	DeSantis was nowhere to be found in this debate.
	He took this so pedestrian, I think so pedestrian, he's going to drop even more in the polls.
	Vivek came out as a fighter, so he was the one that got attacked.
	But Chris Christie did exactly what I thought he was going to do.
	He tried to dominate the stage.
	I think it makes him hated.
	He's the villain.
	He's the villain of this story.
	And everybody else is kind of like forgettable.
	Nobody even thinks about Nikki Haley.
	Nobody thinks about Tim Scott.
	So, I mean, Vivek is going to come out and probably bounce like 5%, I think, out of this thing.
	Yeah, go ahead.
	If you made a list of the top 10 moments in this debate, would DeSantis even be in any of them?
	I suspect no.
	He just felt invisible to me, to be honest.
	And I don't think that's what he needed.
	It's what he didn't need.
	He doesn't have moments.
	Yeah, it's just... He didn't need that.
	He didn't need that.
	DeSantis needed to show up and show that he was presidential material, and I disagree with Andrew.
	Andrew said that we need DeSantis to be, well I'm not disagreeing with Andrew, but Andrew said we need DeSantis to be the guy for 2028.
	I'm telling you right now, everything I'm seeing out of DeSantis, he's the candidate from 2012, there's no way he's ever gonna get there.
	He's never gonna be the guy.
	He'll never, no.
	I'd say, I think he's definitively done.
	One, he, I don't think you're gonna fix like, Asperger syndrome.
	And two, like, it's just, he's going to have a 15% approval rating when all is said and done.
	That's just how it happens.
	This is how it unfolds within the Republican Party now.
	Are you regrowing the beard, by the way?
	No, I just, I'm in South Dakota and I didn't bring a razor with me.
	Yeah, that's right.
	Grow a mustache!
	Grow a mustache!
	Do it!
	And all right.
	Do we have some clip clips?
	I think we do.
	Right.
	We got some.
	And by the way, there are some spicy Vivek Nikki Haley memes, very spicy Vivek Nikki memes.
	But we're not we're not show them.
	We will not show that.
	You can't.
	No, Charlie, I didn't send that to you for or the I want to say for the for that.
	No, we're going to I'm actually going to go back and delete that now.
	It's very, very spicy.
	I already saved it.
	That was an accident.
	I didn't mean to send that.
	I already saved it.
	I don't know.
	I don't know what you're talking about.
	So, um... Charlie has an alternate Twitter and Telegram channel that no one will ever know about.
	I feel bad leaving our audience out of these games.
	PlayCut99.
	PlayCut99.
	Vivek the Slayer.
	Lord Indra.
	More people are dying of bad climate change policies than they are of actual climate change.
	Governor Haley, are you boggling people?
	The temperature rate is down by 98% in the last century.
	Listen, listen, listen.
	No, no.
	Hold on, hold on.
	I've had enough.
	I've had enough already tonight of a guy who sounds like ChatGPT standing up here.
	His best moment.
	And the last person in one of these debates, Brett, who stood in the middle of the stage and said, what's a skinny guy with an odd last name doing up here was Barack Obama.
	And I'm afraid we're dealing with the same type of amateur standing stage tonight.
	Come over and give me a hug.
	Give me a hug just like you did to Obama.
	The same type of amateur.
	And you'll help elect me just like you did to Obama, too.
	Give me that bad hug, bro.
	The same type of amateur. - Yeah.
	I love that.
	Give me a hug.
	I love that.
	Give me a hug.
	Just like Obama.
	Obama and help him win their election.
	Let's play cut 98.
	Let's keep going through it.
	Oh, there was a meme.
	No, then we'll do the meme flash because it's gone.
	It's like Snapchat.
	It's like it's Snapchat.
	It shows it for two seconds and go and then go.
	If you're listening on podcast, I don't know what you're talking about.
	This is so bad.
	You're just not going to make it.
	Play cut 98.
	Lord Indra, strike down these neocons.
	Play 98.
	No, no, not 98.
	97.
	Not that crap.
	Play 97.
	Let us be honest as Republicans.
	I'm the only person on the stage who isn't bought and paid for so I can say this.
	The climate change agenda is a hoax.
	The climate change agenda is a hoax.
	And we have to declare independence from it.
	And the reality is, the anti-carbon agenda is the wet blanket on our economy.
	So what are they booing exactly?
	Were they booing the idea that he wasn't the only one bought, or were they booing the climate change thing?
	Anybody?
	I think they were booing—again, the donors remember what was said, right?
	The donors are the front row.
	And so he was saying, everybody here is bought and paid for, and so the donors are going, Boo!
	Vivek!
	I'm never gonna support Vivek!
	I support Nicky!
	That's the first three rows, right?
	That's why Nicky has an overwhelming presence here.
	Nicky remembers best friends with Rana.
	Nicky's like Rana's BFF.
	They literally talk all the time.
	So she has a significant, overwhelming presence in this stadium.
	It's crazy.
	Yeah, I mean, one of the top things I've received emails is just how disgusting the audience is.
	How the audience is just configured.
	Cut107, this was PlayCut107, this is live.
	Vivek responds to criticisms about his honor.
	Play cut 107.
	That was...
	You know it's Christie, you can't get by him.
	That was simultaneously both Pence and Chris Christie on the ground.
	You know it's Christie because you can't get back.
	That's Chris Christie going for the munchkins.
	It's OK.
	We're on Rumble, Blake.
	We're not on radio.
	Oh, my gosh.
	I shouldn't laugh that hard.
	All right.
	So, hey, I want to address I want to address something with Vivek.
	I'm getting a lot of this.
	I think, Blake, you were mentioned you were in a chat that was having this response to Vivek.
	I mean, a lot of people and there was actually some some comments, Charlie, in your Twitter feed about how Vivek comes off kind of like a young whippersnapper, like a twerp.
	I think that chat GPT line.
	Who uses that kind of language?
	Yeah, what's that, Jack?
	No, sorry, I was just saying, yeah, I think there's a generational thing, right?
	That same type of language.
	You know, this guy comes across like a young whippersnapper.
	I mean, like, look at the people on this show right now, right?
	You know, I don't think any of us are over 40, right?
	So, to be clear, this was young friends of mine who were saying this.
	They're all in, like, my age range.
	And they were, it was that, like, it seemed like, He was interrupting a lot throughout the debate, more than other people, and that the one line a friend of mine said is it was like he was really, he was like an aggressive salesman.
	He was trying to sell me something in a way that was not entirely flattering.
	On the other hand, I have a friend whose wife, until tonight, did not know that Trump had been indicted, and she thought Vivek was great, so we can take that for what it's worth.
	I think the takeaway is total chaos.
	Vivek won, but like there's no winner, because Trump is up 50.
	That's the point, right?
	But Vivek showed something really important.
	I think the turning point for Trump back in 2015-2016 was when Trump showed that he could take on all these people at the same time.
	So Vivek was up there taking on Mike Pence, and taking on Chris Christie, and taking on Nikki Haley.
	And so I'm telling you right now, what's going to come out of this is people are going to go, oh my gosh, I really like Vivek.
	You know why?
	Because he smiled and laughed at fat Chris Christie while he was going after him.
	He smiled and laughed at Nikki Haley, who's a neocon, who was arguing for Ukraine and World War.
	He smiled and laughed at Mike Pence because Mike Pence said, I'll go slower for you because you little brown man.
	No, that was so bad.
	It was like, what are you, the help, Vivek?
	Like, whoa, Mike.
	It reminded me of that.
	It reminded me of that.
	Oh, go ahead, Tyler.
	Go ahead.
	I was just going to say this one thing.
	Remember on The View, when What's Your Face Osborne was like, "Donald Trump, if you kick out all the Mexicans, who's gonna clean your toilet?" It was like a much more nuanced thing.
	But it was like, basically, Mike Pence did the same thing in a much more nuanced way, which was like, "I'll go slower for you, you dumb little brown guy." Like, oh my God. - In a serious country, most of these candidates would actually be scrubbing toilets rather than anywhere near their presidency.
	But when it really comes down to it, I think one of the reasons that Vivek, and maybe this isn't for everybody, and I get that, but I think one of the reasons that he's able to resonate is that some of these candidates talk about like it's some kind of bygone era, like it's the 1980s, and oh, we're just going to focus on the debt ceiling, and we're going to focus on tax reform.
	He actually seems like he's dealing with the country as it currently is.
	He feels like he actually lives in the world and is talking about things that are going on all around us.
	I mean, he's the only one who actually addressed the prosecution of Trump in the way that I think it deserves.
	Wait, what's funny?
	What's funny?
	This is so good show that Ryan put it up on screen.
	A new picture has been found in the archives.
	Oh no.
	Oh no.
	In 1992, Donald Trump was trying to build Trump Tower New Delhi.
	Oh no!
	When he was trying to build Trump Tower New Delhi, he bends over to a very awfully impressive young man and says, one day you will fight my fights for me.
	You will be my vice president.
	I think there is a question that will emerge.
	There is a question that has to come out here, which is like, okay, Vivek did the best here.
	DeSantis didn't do great.
	So let's say that plays out.
	DeSantis drops in the polls.
	Vivek goes up, gains momentum.
	We actually have to look towards a reality where Vivek is polling at 25, 30% in the polls.
	Oh yeah, absolutely.
	About the narrative, he's rising.
	And so the question that they didn't ask him at this debate, and I wish someone would ask him, is one, like, okay, Vivek, you're the most pro-Trump guy of all these candidates.
	Why are you running against Trump?
	What is your reason to people vote for you over Trump?
	And I'd kind of be interested in seeing that and I do wonder how does this entire primary play out if suddenly like now you actually have to pick between Vivek and Trump and it's not just Vivek as this like Trump cheerleader mascot guy in a field of 10 people.
	Then Trump does what Trump does and Vivek will go down.
	I'm just being honest.
	Yeah, but then I do wonder what will that look like?
	We've settled these nice things about Vivek and then Trump says something funny about Vivek's H-1B visa expiring and then it's just like, you know, blows up all of his popularity and then where are we then?
	I don't know.
	Okay, I mean I do have a piece of tape.
	Go ahead.
	Oh, you go ahead. - Go ahead. - I was gonna make one point though.
	I mean, do we, you know, Trump said, he kind of joked on True Social that he wanted to watch the first debate so that he could pick up, see if any of them would make a decent vice president candidate.
	Now, Charlie, you have publicly floated two names, I think prominently. - Ron Johnson and Byron Donald.
	- Yeah. - Byron Donalds and Ron Johnson.
	Yeah, Ron Johnson, kind of, we say it's his superpower because he's, like, super base, but he's boring and can talk to, like, the people that were in that audience, right?
	The donor class get Ron Johnson.
	They can go, like, play around a golf with him at the country club.
	None of them.
	None of them.
	None of them?
	and the Byron Donalds.
	Besides that, do we have any clarity?
	If you're Donald Trump tonight, do you look at that stage and you say, who could be my number two?
	Who could be my running mate?
	None of them.
	Not a single one of them.
	None of them?
	Not even Vivek?
	Your best people up there are DeSantis, who's 2012.
	You have Vivek, who's 2032.
	You have Nikki Haley, who is a distant third, in my opinion.
	It's 2,000.
	And everybody else is weak, is way too weak and useless.
	and the process.
	Let's play... Sorry, I was... This was probably Vivek's best moment, and honestly, the part that I was looking forward to, which is the foreign policy contrast.
	Play cut 1-11.
	Credits of Vivek Ramaswamy.
	This takes courage, and he was clear about it, and all the other neoliberals, they're all on board for Ukraine first.
	Play cut 1-11.
	The U.S.
	has committed nearly $77 billion in aid to the Ukraine war.
	The administration is now asking Congress for $24 billion more.
	Regardless of the specifics of that plan, is there anyone on stage who would not support the increase of more funding to Ukraine?
	We would not support it.
	Europe needs to step up.
	I mean, I would have Europe step up and do their job.
	Anyone want to take this?
	Blake, you know, your own personal feelings aside, this is significant.
	Only one candidate really stands with 95% of the voters.
	Well it really does, it stood out to me the most that even on this like very easy thing that DeSantis is just not like he's like not alert enough or not paying close enough attention to the questions so he just sort of he has to pause and sort of awkwardly raise his hand and so he just gets wrecked on this extremely easy thing because Vivek has the energy to just throw his hand up really quickly and nope I win this question now because I put my hand up the fastest and
	That's what stood out the most to me, is that this is an easy freebie where you could have at least tied Vivek on it, and instead you just let Vivek run away with it, and he's awkwardly being like, Europe has to step up more.
	So wait, what do you even want?
	And it just looked very blah for him, and that's what the debate was over and over for DeSantis.
	It's not that his answers were specifically horrible, they just weren't very good.
	I, so I screenshotted that, um, on Twitter and it, it's being, I mean, it's going pretty hyper viral right now because, and I don't know if we have it.
	Oh yeah, the picture.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
	We have it.
	Let's put that up.
	This moment.
	Do we have the actual picture of that?
	Yeah, I got it.
	I put it in.
	I'm grabbing it.
	I put it in.
	I'm grabbing it.
	Cause this is, this really is, all right, well, we'll talk about it, but I think that, When you saw that, it was a natural reaction.
	And obviously, there are so many moments within these debates that are pre-scripted, that are pre-panned.
	Every debate does it.
	Every, every candidate does it.
	And I really do think, by the way, that towards the end of the debate, I think DeSantis was getting tired.
	I think he was getting gassed.
	And I thought his final closure was quite scripted.
	So this is a, this is a, and I wrote, this is the difference between a hand raise and a limp wrist.
	And so you can see the two candidates of which I'm referring.
	One has his hand raised just the normal way someone would raise their hand.
	And the other one is sort of flippantly in the middle, you know, flailing his wrist around saying, well, I want Europe to do that.
	And it exactly matches.
	So his body language here actually matches his answer, which is his true answer, where he's not saying, He doesn't have the ability to come down on one side or the other on Ukraine because on one hand he wants to win the nomination and on the other hand he is absolutely beholden to super PAC donors and Vivek Ramaswamy is right about this.
	He's beholden to these donors who will not let him say that he is beholden to them and so he's caught in this weird sort of, you know, phantom zone where he can't actually come out and say what needs to be said about Ukraine.
	Yeah.
	OK, let's play another piece of tape.
	Anyone have a comment here?
	We're going to go for a little bit longer, not too much longer, because we all have shows tomorrow.
	Tyler, please.
	I was just going to say, I think coming out of this thing now, you basically have a clear four people.
	I think everybody's going to dismiss Chris Christie as a reasonable candidate, even people that like him back East and in the Northeast.
	You've got, you've got Vivek, you've got Nikki Haley, you've got Tim Scott, you've got Mike Pence, and you've got Ron DeSantis.
	So you've got five.
	And I think that's probably, if the RNC's smart, they'll narrow the field so they actually have a debate in the future and maybe can get Trump there.
	But they're not going to do that.
	And so what I think is going to end up happening is you're going to see more divide.
	I think people are going to really come away from this thing and go, I miss Trump.
	I want to see Trump.
	I want to see more of Trump.
	Like, I'm really angry at, you know, the party for not making this happen the right way.
	And if Trump's smart, he's going to have a really important stage tomorrow to say, you know, I really would have liked to be there.
	I think Vivek did a really nice job.
	I think X, Y and Z is, you know, his normal responses.
	But, you know, I have to be able to not just get attacked 24-7 by my own party.
	And so when you can create that ecosystem, that space, that environment for me, where we can actually have a debate about the policies and issues that I've been talking about since day one, then I'll come.
	But I don't think he's going to do that until they can demonstrate that.
	And I don't think the RNC is capable of doing that.
	I really don't.
	Yeah, and I mean, Tyler, just to go back, I just want to remind our audience, drumbeat, the basic stuff, the staffing and ballot chasing, that's what should have received a ton of attention, not, you know, whoever's opinions on it.
	Excuse me.
	Charlie, you're exactly right.
	Where was the discussion of how we're actually going to win in 2024?
	Where was the discussion of ballot chasing, ballot harvesting?
	That would have been a really good question, right?
	Where is the discussion of election integrity?
	So we can talk about January 6th, but where's the question of challenges of getting these votes these states down.
	You know, we're talking strategy here, but we haven't even focused at all on the actual logistics and tactics of winning an election in the real world, rather than saying, oh, I'm president, I'm going to do this.
	Yeah, when I'm president, everyone can have free ice cream.
	But how the frick are you actually going to win the election?
	I want to blow up a bit about that, or it's like, I think it's not going to come up, but like Fox should get some crap for, you know, I know they did their best to manage the debate, but I thought the questions were actually very bad and not just like It was what CNN or something would often do to try to set up Republicans.
	One, they throw in this big abortion question to really hotbox them and be like, are you going to sign your six-week ban federally?
	Which is exactly what CNN does in 2012, where it's like, objectively, we just know that's not going to happen.
	And so they're only doing this so they can be like, the extreme Republican Party won't stop talking about abortion.
	But, like, we don't have a question that's, like, what are you going to do at the federal level over people having their kids, like, taken by the California state government to tranny them?
	Precisely.
	Or, like, on immigration.
	This is what happens, though, Blake.
	I mean, look, I will say, I think Brett and Martha, given the marching orders from corporate, did a good job.
	Better at regulating the fire.
	But, Blake, why do we not have questions the Republican voters care most about?
	This is a Republican primary debate, right, Blake?
	Yeah, you'd think.
	But even if it's not what most of them, because I feel like most of them would say, what do you want to hear about?
	And they would be like, I want to hear about how they're going to stop the indictment of Donald Trump, which, OK, throw in the question about that.
	And they kind of did like they asked about pardons, but they all should have asked like, I do think TV debates are kind of horrible because they're designed for very canned statements, they're designed for soundbites, and they're designed to just suck.
	But you could at least try and be like, okay, you say you're going to stop, you know, the weaponization of the DOJ.
	What are you going to do besides, one of them said, like, I'm day one, I'm going to fire Merrick Garland.
	Merrick Garland is a Democrat AG, he'll probably resign anyway.
	Like, who cares?
	Oh, I'm gonna fire Anthony Fauci.
	Fauci's like 84 years old.
	He'll probably be dead in 2025.
	Why are we worrying about this guy?
	He's probably already retired.
	I think that was Mike Pence, wasn't it?
	And he said he was gonna fire Chris Wray, to be fair.
	There was definitely someone who was gonna fire Fauci and there was definitely firing Merrick Garland in there.
	Yeah, Tim Scott.
	Tim Scott said, I'll get rid of Merrick Garland.
	Was that Tim Scott?
	You're gonna appoint a different Attorney General?
	Like, here's a question they could have asked.
	Like, here's something I would love to know.
	Like, if we want to put some heat on Vivek, just be like, Vivek, what's your policy on legal immigration?
	Like, that would be fun for people to know, because, you know, we've asked him that, and he's like, been like, I'm not, you know, I wasn't sure yet.
	And I'd love to know that.
	I'd love to have them talk about that.
	And there's a lot of issues you can ask about and be like, hey, Republican candidates, give us your 15 second spiel on what you want to do.
	And instead, like it's we deliberately are leaning into the lamest soundbite version of GOP politics.
	And yeah, no surprise if you do that, you're going to get a really lame soundbite version of GOP politics.
	And it's going to be unbearable because none of these guys are as entertaining as Donald Trump is.
	Donald Trump can make any debate exciting.
	Like we could at least I don't know.
	I hate debates so much.
	Honestly, though, I thought that one instance, and Jack, I actually would love your perspective as like, you know, the Catholic vote and Tyler is, you know, the kind of like, you know, the Latter-day Saint vote.
	Well, yeah, exactly right.
	Yeah, there's the certain variations of Catholic.
	I get that.
	But I did actually find myself Keying in on this abortion topic, and a lot of them sort of like hemmed and hawed.
	Nobody was willing to sort of like take a very firm line, was my impression.
	But you know, I do think it's an open question for how do you handle it, right?
	I mean, and actually, I go back to Trump during the CNN town hall with Caitlin Collins.
	When he said, you know, listen, it's a very sticky issue.
	Acknowledge the fact that it's a sticky issue.
	And then he said, I'm going to make the best deal for both sides.
	I mean, that's a very Trump answer, but I, and I understand that that leaves a lot of wiggle room, but I think that's what he wants.
	And I think we all understand that about Trump.
	I don't know, at this point, as somebody who's deep into the weeds on this, how we're going to handle the abortion topic when these propositions are getting shot down across the country.
	I think it's an open political question.
	I know we're all pro-life here, but how do we handle it politically?
	I don't have clarity after this tonight.
	So Jack, you just put something on Telegram, and we're gonna go about five or 10 more minutes, probably five more minutes.
	Jack, read us what you just put on Telegram.
	It's really smart.
	Look, I'm just gonna say this.
	Wait, I put both things on Telegram, but do you mean about the thing that's happening tomorrow?
	The last one.
	Donald Trump is being arrested by the Democrats.
	Donald Trump is being arrested by the Democrats tomorrow for the fourth time, and the candidates were up there shouting about school choice.
	Help me understand.
	Help me understand if this is where we are.
	Do you understand what time it is?
	Do you understand what part of the movie we are in?
	This is not the beginning of the movie where everyone's trying to have a conversation and figure out what's going on.
	No, this is open political warfare.
	This is the opposition candidate being put in, he's gonna get a mugshot tomorrow.
	He's actually gonna be put up against a wall and have his photo taken like a common criminal.
	And you've got members of his own party up there acting like it's all completely normal, normal course of business.
	It's a joke.
	It's an absolute joke.
	And I'm this close to Fed posting about it.
	Andrew, we're going to talk about this on our show tomorrow.
	Jack will as well.
	But we really didn't talk much about the Tucker-Trump interview.
	What is the initial reaction, Andrew, on the Tucker-Trump interview?
	Well, I said it before, to Blake's point, where he was talking about how the questions just didn't address the heart of the issue.
	I give Tucker credit.
	I thought his promo was maybe better than the interview itself, I have to say.
	His promo had everybody salivating over watching this thing.
	But I think some of the stuff, I mean, Tucker asked Trump.
	It's loaded as 113.
	If you're asking, Charlie, it's a longer clip.
	We could play it.
	But do you think we're moving towards civil war?
	I mean, he asked about Epstein.
	He asked about, do you think, are you worried about getting assassinated?
	I mean, he asked some very, very pointed questions.
	And so like hat tip to Tucker Carlson, I think he asked the right questions.
	I think, you know, whether or not Trump's answer is satisfied, I think it's up to the audience.
	I don't know yet.
	I'm, I kind of, I'm going to disagree there where I think the temptation everyone falls into with Trump is they'll ask him, you know, do you worry about getting assassinated?
	Do you worry, like, what do you, what's your thing on Epstein?
	And what's your thing on JFK?
	And they'll ask that because it's like, well, Trump's a really wild guy.
	He does a lot of interesting things.
	So if we also take the most wild, interesting questions and make him answer that, we'll get something amazing.
	And it really almost never happens because he'll kind of just divert and talk about something else.
	He's actually insanely disciplined about the like 10, 12 wild topics.
	That's what people actually don't like.
	He's way more disciplined than even like your typical politician.
	For sure, and to complete the thought, what- actually, where you get the most interesting Trump things is... Someone good, sorry.
	Uh, where you get the most interesting stuff, uh, it's not mine, uh, is where you get the most interesting stuff is...
	You'll get the most interesting Trump takes when you ask him, like, about policy stuff.
	Like, what's the most famous stuff he did in 2016?
	Oh, what's my solution on immigration?
	I'm gonna build a wall, and Mexico's going to pay for the wall.
	Or this cycle, where they ask him about, you know, drugs coming over the border, and he just sort of wings it.
	Yeah, we're gonna execute the drug dealers, and, you know, all those people I released from prison under criminal justice reform, if they reoffend, They're getting executed.
	And we're getting wild stuff on sort of very mundane topics.
	So what's sort of strange is I think the missed opportunity is if you ask Trump a very basic policy question, you'll often get a very interesting answer that can totally shake up the debate.
	Like they would ask him about schools and he would just be like, yeah, I think our public schools aren't doing great.
	We should, We should fire all the teachers.
	We should make all the teachers nationwide reapply for their jobs.
	You know, he'd just make up something like that and then five years from now it'll be the GOP platform because of that.
	That's a fun take.
	I like that.
	All right, we are going to pick this up tomorrow.
	Jack, you are, what, 2 p.m.
	Eastern every day, right?
	2 p.m.
	Eastern, sir.
	And you can check our show at noon Eastern, 9 a.m., so it's a couple hours from now.
	We've got to start show prepping.
	Something tells me, Andrew, we're going to have a lot of content tomorrow to go through.
	Email us, as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.
	Hit the subscribe button, guys.
	We'll see you next Thursday.
	This counts as our ThoughtCrime for the week.
	Obviously went Wednesday as a live reaction.
	I'm glad we did.

▲