Hampshire. And now, please welcome governor Chris Christie [applause] good afternoon, everybody. Thank you very much for having me and thank you for being here. Thank you for caring about our country and our party enough to be here this weekend to put us all through the paces. What i want to do is speak off the top about what is going on in the world right now. And then what i want to do is take questions from you rather than you hear a speech from me. I want everyone to understand that from my perspective what we see happening in israel right now is connected with Everything Else going on in the world. It is connected to what we see going on in ukraine. It is connected to what we see happening in the South China Sea with the chinese and taiwan. It is connected to the other things we see happening in the middle east. We have four real bad actors in the world right now. China, russia, north korea, and iran. And they are now working together to try to disrupt the world, to fill a vacuum that unfortunately has been left, and my opinion, by our country in world leadership. And to try to move the world towards a dictatorship, authoritarian type of rule. And what they look to do is create fear because when fear is created, people worry about not having a person in charge. And the fear they are trying to create they start to create in a place like ukraine and then the iranians get their handmaidens, hamas and hezbollah, to do their dirty work. But please understand that iran is behind what is happening in israel right now. They are paying for it they are encouraging them. They are arming them and giving them what they need to be able to cause the level of death we have seen. And i also think we need to be very, very conscious as a country that what we see in some parts of our own country and what we see around the world in reaction to this, the antisemitism that we see is opinion up against. Dr. King was right, you should not judge anyone by the color of their skin or their religion, but by the content of their character. But to see the types of things that are going on on college campuses, that are clearly antisemitic rhetoric, every responsible person in this country who does not have prejudice in their heart, who sits by silently and says nothing to counter that, in my view is complicit. The good people in this country need to stand up and say that that type of language and conduct is unacceptable. If you are jewish, in this country or around the world right now, you are living with the reality that this is the most jewish people that have been killed in one moment since the holocaust. So when you watch what israel is now doing in gaza, you need to remember that context. This is not theoretical to the jewish people. Only 80 years ago they lived through a time when an authoritarian government rounded them up, from all over europe, and exterminated 6 million. And we then had to go and solve that problem and we sacrificed half a million american lives in the process. We need to stop this stuff now before it gets to that stage, and that is why i have said these things are all connected. Because if you dont think the russians are happy this morning that we are now distracted in israel, you are kidding yourself. Every minute we spend in our news coverage, and our political discussion talking about israel, are moments that we are not talking about ukraine. That makes it easy for the russians to try to continue their aggression. And you have some candidates in the race who say we should not be involved in ukraine, and that putin is someone they can go and talk to and convince that he should move away from china and come with us. This is a bipartisan problem. Every president since george w. Bush has made the same mistake. Bush thought he could talk to putin, he was wrong. Obama thought he could talk to putin, he was wrong. Trump thought he could talk to putin, he was wrong. And biden in the beginning of his presidency thought he could talk to putin and he was wrong. Vladimir putin is a communist authoritarian dictator, former kgb agent. He is not our type of people. And we need to give him the same treatment that he tries to give the rest of the world. We need to make sure he understands that if he attacks one of our friends, we will act to help them and we will deter what he is trained to do. The last time we ignored a shooting war in europe, hundreds of billions of dollars later, and half a million american lives, we pushed back naziism. If you think that putin, if we give him ukraine, is going to stop there, he said the were state in his life was when the soviet union was taken down. He wants to put the old band back together, everybody. And poland will be next. And if he goes into poland, they are a nato country, that means we are going to. Lets let the ukrainians win this fight now so that we dont have to send american men and women to poland or to one of the baltic countries. And there should be no equivocation from anybody in this country about where we stand with israel. They are the only democracy in the middle east. If we dont stand with israel, israel will not exist. And that will cause tumbled tumult in this world. So when we have people in our own party, some people in this race, who equivocate about it, who criticize Prime Minister netanyahu. Who carry off old grudges in the context of the extermination that is going on in the middle east, that is not leadership. It is wrong. It is a sober time, there are dozens of issues we could talk about and i hope we do when i go to your questions. But i dont think anybody who wants to be president in this we can talk about anything else when you come out here. Because in the end, this is what happens when america does not lead. When america takes a step back. When america fills in the moat and pulls up the drawbridge. And all that does is make a spend more money to dig out of that hole and spend more american blood to dig out of the hole later. Lets not do that. And last, i would just say, for any of you out there who have been watching all of this coverage, lets make her make sure we take time over this weekend, after a week of this to pray for the people over there. To pray for those hostages, both the israelis and the americans. That they get returned to their families and their homes safe. Because every life is an individual gift from god. Every life is precious. And we have to fight to make sure we protect those lives. If i am president , you can count on the fact that we will. Without any doubt, without any equivocation, and not just with bluster, but with strong talk backed up with strong action. That is what the American People have always responded to. I am going to stop there, and there are microphones, you raise your hand, the questions can be on anything. Anything you want to talk about, i want to talk to you. Yes sir, right there. Chinese and iranian money in our elections in the u. S. , including in New Hampshire. We saw this happen in 2016 where the russians in particular were doing things on social media to try to influence our elections. The fact is, what we need to do is make sure that everybody in this country is following the law. Every person is following the law and letting Law Enforcement do the job they need to do to catch the people trying to do those things. That is our first line of defense. If that first line of defense does not work, we are in trouble. We need to make sure Law Enforcement officers and Intelligence Officers are empowered to intercept what is going on, and to capture the people who are doing it. Candidates can help by making sure they follow the law as well. Because winning at any cost is not what we should be doing. Winning within the law in this country and the system of justice is the way we have to do it. Right back there. He is coming with the microphone so people can hear you. You said that silence in the face of evil is complicity. President trump, for four months attempted to overthrow an election. Are you ok with your fellow republicans and what they are saying about that . So far you have referred to the people who everyone in this room knows who that person is, donald trump. This is the first time i have been accused in this race of not being tough enough on donald trump. [laughter] if you live long enough you will see everything. I have been very clear. About the fact that what president did in the aftermath of the 2020 election was beneath the office that he was privileged to hold. That we are nearly three years since then and he has not presented a shred of evidence to prove that the election was stolen, and because it wasnt. And i love everybody who says of course it was. But that comes forward with no evidence to prove that it was. If you are wondering where i stand, all you need to do is watch for first debate. When people were asked flat out, if he were a convicted felon, would you support him for president of the United States . And everybody but me and Asa Hutchinson raise their hands. Seems to me that if adams and jefferson and franklin, and hamilton, and washington had known that someone would have the audacity to be under 91 counts a federal indictment and still offer themselves for the presidency . They would have added a clause to the constitution about 35 years of age and not a convicted felon. We cannot nominate nor elect a convicted felon to be president of the u. S. And i have been clear about all of that. [applause] thank you governor. I am a New Hampshire businessman. The one thing that most businesses in New Hampshire struggle with is finding enough people to employ. It is an ongoing problem. Statistics say that there were 10 million open jobs in the United States and there are 6 Million People unemployed. The math is easy, if every unemployed person in the u. S. Got a job today, he would still have 4 million jobs unfilled. If you are president , how would you combat that problem . You have to fix the immigration system. Because what you have to do with the immigration system is a few things. First. You have to secure the southern border because if you dont, no one will be incentivized to come here legally. If they have to wait to come here legally but you dont have to wait to come here illegally, why are they waiting . My first day as president i would sign an executive order to send National Guard to the border. I would increase customs and Border Control by 10,000. The average number of apprehensions in the last 11 months are 200,000 a month. Do you know how many beds we have . 38,000. I am a lawyer because i couldnt do math or science. But even i can do that math. That is not going to work and so we need to double the beds, and we need to triple the number of Immigration Judges we have. Now if you capture somebody, it is four years before they get a hearing. When they run the risk of being taken out of the country. You need to do all of those things and then you need to set up a meritbased system for people to come here legally. You talked about the 4 million net open jobs. We need to look at where those jobs are geographically and what expertise do people need to do the job. Have to go and say these are the people, with these types of skills, who we want to come into the country. We are not going to be able to growth the country the economy, to grow and reduce our debt problem, if we do not fill those jobs. And no president of the last four has been willing to step up and fix the immigration system along with talking tough on the border. Lets make Something Else clear. We are not sending the u. S. Army over the border in mexico to kill people. It is not going to happen. This is one of those things that get said in the campaign that makes people feel good but will never happen. The same way i stood in the state eight years ago and heard that we are going to build a big, beautiful wall across the entire border. And the mexicans were going to pay for it. Well, 52 miles of new wall in four years of the trump administration, and not the first peso from the mexican government. Lets make sure people give you answers that can actually be done, and they have the experience to show they know how to get it done. Rather than these wild things that people say that may make us feel good for a moment. But they are not going to happen. And we saw that eight years ago, and that is why we still havent immigration problem today. Joe biden has made it even worse than it was before. So we need now to make sure that we do practical things that will solve that problem and provide businessmen and women in this country the workforce they need to be able to grow their businesses. I think i can take two more. In the back, young man. Hold on, get the microphone. You just got booed for saying the 2020 election was not stolen, what does that tell you about your party . Thank you. It tells me that there are differences of opinion. Thats fine. We could have differences of opinion. I am going to argue my side of the argument. That is what this democracy was set up to do. I dont hold any grudges against anybody who has a different opinion than me even though they hold a grudge against me for having a different opinion. I am fine with you having a different opinion about the 2020 election, i would like to argue on it based on facts. Because everyone is entitled to their own opinion but not entitled to their own set of facts. I have known donald trump for 22 years. Believe you me, if he had the evidence to prove the election was stolen, we would have seen it years ago. And he has not presented it. Because he does not have it. Now, in the end, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and our party is always going to have differences and we showed. We should argue with each other but we should argue with each other towards a result. Not just to keep arguing. Because the country is stalled, and you watch it in washington right now with our party in charge of the house, they cant even pick a speaker. That makes us look like they gang that cant shoot straight and it will make people wonder if they should continue to put us in charge. We need to stop the petty arguing and what we need to get to is a result. And that is what i did for eight years in new jersey with a democratic legislature. Last question. The microphone is making its way. Thank you for being here. Is a godsend if you are in extreme pain but the components of it coming over the border, who are the 350 people it is killing every day . It is the people who would join our military and four or five years. Make no mistake, dina is preemptively china is preemptively killing our troops. The war with china has already started. I totally agree with you. This is another one of the naive type of positions being put forward by other folks in the race. This proxy war with china has already begun in at least two ways. One, the war in russia which they are funding and at exactly what you just said. The precursor chemicals from fentanyl come from china and are sent into this country to kill our people. Until we confront china about that, in a way that actually is effective and makes them understand there is a penalty to pay for committing an act of war on our country, then they will not stop. And all the talking in the world will not do it. We had our last three president s, all they have done is talk about it. Tell you how good they are at it. Except the results show that every year the deaths are going up, 110,000 americans dying of overdoses in the past year. The number one killer for young men 1834. And you feel it in New Hampshire , and you know it. What we need to do is not only put the National Guard at the border to try to stop some of it and take actions against china to get them to stop sending it, but we also need to make treatment more available in this country. This is a disease and we can help to treat that disease before it is fatal. But we have to stop pretending that it is a moral failing. It is not. It is a disease like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, people get addicted. I will end with this. I am prolife. I believe that every life, in the context of the israeli conflict as i said before, its a gift from god. But if we are the prolife party, we need to be prolife for the whole life, not just the nine months in the womb. It is easier during the nine months in the womb, when they come out, is when it gets complicated. That is when it gets hard. The 16yearolds, a young girl on the floor somewhere in New Hampshire, her life is precious. The 50yearold lawyer who is addicted to percocet, who is ruining his life and the life of his family, his life is precious. The 70yearold woman who is in chronic pain and gets addicted to painkillers and winds up committing suicide because of the depression that comes, her life is precious too. And every one of those people can be treated and made better. But we have to tell people it is ok to ask for help. We are not going to judge you. We are going to treat you. And we are going to help return you to being a good mother and father, a good son and daughter, a good brother and sister. The fabric of our country will be torn apart if we continue to lose 110,000 lives a year that way. Yes get tougher on china, be stronger at the border, but that will only fix part of the problem. That is the part that is easy to say, the hard part to say is that we created the problem in this country through our demands for this stuff. We need to lower that demand by giving people the treatment that will allow them to survive. And to turn their lives around. We need a president who once again will talk about our better angels, who will say, we can do better and be better as a country. Not talk about vindictiveness and anger and desperation. This country is still the shining light for the rest of the world. And yes we have problems but they are problems that can be fixed with strong leadership and honesty. Character matters, everybody, the truth matters whether you like it or not. We need a president who will act with character and stand for truth. We have not had one for quite some time. I want to be that president for you. Thank you all for having me today, i appreciate it. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2023] competitiveness first