Transcripts For CSPAN2 Campaign 20240705

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome governor chris christie. [applause] how are you doing, robert . Thank you. Thank you, guys for being here. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Happy to be back. Thank you, everybody. Well, you knew that we would have to play springsteen, right . I guy from new jersey comes up to New Hampshire whiffed remind you about what youre going to get tonight. Youre going to get some Straight Talk from new jersey. Im glad to be back here. And i have to tell you, it was not a layup that i would be here. Far from it. If you asked me a year ago whether i would be up here to talk to all of you about the future of our country and where we would go, i probably wouldve said to you, life is pretty good in new jersey and i think ill stay down here and let you all fight it out appear like you always dol every four years and get a new crop of folks come up here and talk to you. But i have to tell you as i watched the last year evolved theres been just one question that kept going back and back and back into my mind. And it was about our country and its future and i wondered what our choice was going to be. Were we going to be small or were we going to be big . And let me tell you what i see. Ive watched our country over the last decade, it seems to me get smaller and smaller. And smaller in every way. Smaller in a way we talk to each other. Ch smaller in the way we look at each other. Smaller in the things that we talk to each other about. Smaller in the issues that we cared enough to get angry about. The issues that we cared enough to get involved in. And i thought to myself, why do i continue to get this feeling that american, for the first time inr its history, is gettig smaller. And what i i conclude is becae weve had leaders who have led us to being small. Small by their example. Small by the way they conduct themselves. Small either things they tell us we should care about. Smaller and smaller, and we do other ways, too. They are making a smaller by dividing us. Its a smaller and Smaller Group. And they sell to you that we should get into these Smaller Groups because we will be more comfortable. You see, because a smaller and Smaller Group you get into, then youre probably not going to do anything you disagree with. The small group you get into, you just watch the news that you want to hear. The smaller the group you get into, the less chance that you will ever be offended by anything. This is not just the right problem. This is a right and left problem. We to school about it from different ways. Im not just talking about the leadership of my own party. Talking that the leadership of both parties. Barack obama made a smaller by dividing us and trying to make his party was divided into smaller pieces so that he could leave the small pieces that he wanted to. And donald trump made as smaller by dividing us even further and pitting one group against another, different groups pitted against different groups every day. And by definition making those groups smaller. Because even when youre talking to the small groups, youre going to Say Something that offends them and the leader instead of trying to bring people together says its okay to leave. Its okay to go. Move to another group that you agree with even more come which by definition will be even smaller. R. And now joe biden is doing the very same thing, just on the other side of the political divide. He ran promising us that ts going to bring the country together, that he is going to unite us, that he is going to bring a new sense of unity to the United States. And instead what he decided to do was to take his groups and dividing even smaller and actively pit them against republicans. To paint all republicans with just one brush, even though all of you in this room who may be republican like me knows that there isnt just one brush to paint our party with. So whats the i problem with th . In some respects maybe you feel a littlee bit better. Uturn on a new show and you hear things that come back to you that you agree with. You probably smile, maybe you nod. You go to dinner parties where only the people that you agree with our around the table. Theres no arguments here everybody agrees. You go to a college or university where you see people who only agree with you, professors only agree with you. And you learn only the things that you already know. See, thats not the america that i grew up in. And if you look back at our history when we have had great leaders and every Pivotal Moment in our history there was a choice between small andd big. And america became the most different, the most successful, the most fabulous light for the rest of the world in the history because we always picked big. 1776, there were so many people in the Continental Congress who argued against independence, said lets just make a deal with the king. Im sure he will lower those taxes a little bit, maybe youll let us elect a few people who can say some things. We dont have to go to war for our independence. But thank god for all of us who are sitting here right now that George Washington and john adams and Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Rush said no. We are going big. We want a country of our own. We know that to liberty is a gift from god and on the way to acceptpt that gift is to be independent. To be able to govern ourselves. To have the miracle that so few people in this world have ever had come to choose for themselves their own form of government. How they were going to be governed. Imagine if we had gone small. We would all have british accents, everybody. We would alls. Have british accents today. Some of us lost the Court Coronation of king charles iii. All of us wouldve been required to if we had gone small. And then you had 1861, when the country and many people in it literally wanted to make it smaller. They wanted to divided in half because we disagreed. We disagree on some fundamental issues like slavery, like how the federal government interacts with the State Government and who should really be in charge. And if we had had a small leader sitting in the white house in 1861, we would not have become the greatest continental country world has ever seen. And who knows . Who knows how that wouldve ended . But it would not have ended with a country as fast and great and rich and free as it is now. Because Abraham Lincoln said am house divided against itself cannot stand. And he knew when he said it that he was going to cause the death of citizens all throughout this country. The greatest loss of life in any american war, the civil war. When we killed each other. But lincoln knew that in the choice between a smaller america and the bigger america, that any sacrifice was worth it to make america bigger. He made that choice and he gave his life for that choice. Thats a great leader. And in 1917 when europe was at war and dictatorships were taking over the entire continent, and america had followed the admonition of George Washington since its founding to stay out of foreign entanglements, Woodrow Wilson saidn no. If america allows for europe to go under dictatorship, we will be next. And we dont want to do this, but if we want america to be big, and influential and free, we need to do it. And Franklin Roosevelt said the same thing 24 years later. When hitler and mussolini and hirohito decided that dictatorship was what was going to rule the world, and roosevelt and the restlt of america said o and sent hundreds of thousands of our men to europe and to the pacific because they said america is better than this and were going to help the world be better than this. Again, imagine what wouldve happened. We know what wouldve happened if america had pulled away and decided to go small. Europe would have been dominated by germany, by totalitarianism andot holocaust. And who knows what wouldve happened next if the United States was a germany that ran all of europe. We said no. America will go big. And 20 years later john kennedy stood at his speech and said with absolutely nothing to base it on other than his belief in us that we are going to the moon. And were going to the moon before the end of the decade. We didnt have a rocket. We didnt even know what an astronaut was. Im confident he didnt. So how could he possibly have been so audacious to do it . He was that audacious because he was an american leader. Who watched all those examples before him and knew his history, wrote a book called profiles in courage, about courageous leaders in this country. And what did he do . He put us on that path, and even though he wasnt there to see it to its conclusion, we would have never gotten there if john kennedy were to its thought small, would not have believed in American People, would not have believed in our ingenuity and our industry, and our faith and our hope. And then 20 years after that, there were those who said that the United States should just coexist with the soviet union, that we shouldnt care that the dominate Eastern Europe. We shouldnt care that they kill their own people. We shouldnt care that they starved and we shouldnt care that they do that to everyone else that the dominate in Eastern Europe. We should just survive. And while reagan said they are an evil empire, and america stands up against evil. We fight evil anywhere in the world to prevent people from becoming a part of us. And it was Ronald Reagan who, in eight years, went from pronouncing that on the front of the capitol in his inaugural address, to watching from his home in california as the berlin wall came down. And all of Eastern Europe was made freend again. All throughou, there have been moments when we have had to choose between big and small. And i would tell you the reason i am here tonight is because this is one of those moments. You see it everywhere. We have candidates for president who say we shouldnt care about what is happening in ukraine. We shouldnt care that russia wants to take a freedom loving country and put it back under their thumb. But that is not america. We have candidates for president who are talking about issues that are so small that sometimes it is hard to even understand them. But let me tell you why they are talking about those small issues. For the very same reason that leaders who are pretenders have always talked about small issues, to divide you further and to make it easier for them to rule over you. The more divided we are, the more likely we are to be dominated. By a single leader. We have fought against that. 245 years ago. And as i sat in our home in new jersey, living a very comfortable existence, i want to make clear that after eight years of being a republican governor in new jersey, any existence would be comfortable. So this is not a high standard. But it was a bar we were clearing every day. Mary pat and i said to each other, we cannot sit by and watch this. We cannot sit by and watch this happen. There is a big argument in our country right now about whether character matters. And we have leaders who have shown us over and over again that not only are they devoid of character, but they dont care. And they tell you you shouldnt care. Just look at what results i produce. There is some fiction in that, and we will talk about that tonight. But the greeks said character is destiny. And if you think about the stuff i just talked about, at every one of those moments, we had men and women of character to make the big versus small decisions. Whether we agreed with them politically or not, washington, adams, jefferson, franklin, hamilton were men of character, as was Abigail Adams, a woman of character, who told john adams what to do most of the time, if you read their letters. And if George Washington had not destroyed all of the letters between him and martha, i suspect we would have found the same thing about him, which just shows you why washington was the first president and john adams was them or lincoln and his team of rivals that ran the government during the civil war, or wilson, or fdr, or jfk, or Ronald Reagan, these were men of character. We cannot dismiss the question of character anymore. If we do, we get what we deserve. And we will have to own it. So lets talk about candidates for a second. I just will tell you this. If you are in search of the perfect candidate, it is time to leave. [laughter] i am not it. And not only am i not the perfect candidate, i am far from the perfect person. I have lived a life at 60 years old now that has had enormous size, honors and privileges that as a child i could have never ever imagined, meeting the queen of england, traveling around the world to meet leaders and heads of state in the middle east and in europe, to have the opportunity to lead my state through the worst Natural Disaster it ever had, and have people come up to me during Hurricane Sandy when i would see them, and they would say to me, thank god you have not forgotten us. Those moments that you become so significant in peoples lives, that they believe you can get them out of the worst moment of their lives, is the highest high you can ever have as a public official, and i have had that. But i have also made mistakes. I have made judgments at times that were wrong. And i have trusted people i should not have trusted. And it resulted in me being, at one point in my career, admitting that i was publicly embarrassed and humiliated by the things that had happened on my watch. And those are days when you wonder whether it was worth it to do this, but i will tell you, there has never been a day where the great moments are the thing that got me out of bed, or the horrible moments are something that kept me in. What got me out of bed is that in public leadership, you have the chance to do something great every day. You give men like me a chance to do something great every day. That is what gets me out of bed. That is what got me out of bed for those years on the good days and the bad days. When i made those mistakes, i admitted them. I think what true leaders do is not try to pretend to you that we are perfect. Because we are human just like you. In our country, in our democracy, we are no better and no worse than any of you. We are you. We are you. If your leaders are not willing to admit to you that they are fallible, that they make mistakes, that they hurt like you, that they bleed like you, and that they suffered disappointments, and letdowns, beware. Beware of the leader in this country who you have handed leadership who, who has never made a mistake. Who has never done anything wrong. When something goes wrong, it is always someone elses fault. And who has never lost. [laughter] i have lost. You people did that to me in 2016. [laughter] all of you. I have two of my children here tonight who reminded me of that all the time. They said youre going back to New Hampshire . They beat you. But beware of the leader who will not admit any of those shortcomings. Because you know what the problem is with a leader like that . A leader like that thinks americas greatness resides in the mirror he is looking at. I believe that americas greatness resides out there. Among all of you. And that any of us who get the and that any of us to get the opportunity to serve our merely temporary stewards of that greatness who just want an opportunity to make it a little bit greater. And if you cant admit to the people you want to lead, then youre not going to be perfect, and if you decide that the people you asked to come with you to lead will always be the ones who are blamed, when anythingng goes wrong, that they will be called names, that they will be dismissed, and that after they leavess your service they are nothing but idiots. Beware because that leader not only will not serve you, they will not be able to find anyone who will serve them. And a lonely self consumed, selfserving mayor hogg mirror hogg is not a leader. So now we have pretenders all around us who want to tell you pick me pick mee because im kind of like what you picked before but not quite as crazy. [laughing] but i dont want to say his name because for these other pretenders, v is for those of you who read the harry potter books, like baltimore. [laughing] he is he who shall not be named. Well, let me be clear. In case i have not been already. The person im talking about who is obsessed with the mirror, who never admits a mistake, and never admits a fault and you always find someone else and Something Else to blame for whatever goes wrong but finds every reason to take credit for anything thatto goes right is donald trump. And if we dont have that conversation with you, we dont deserve to ask for your vote. We dont deserve the leadership here we dont deserve to have you think of us as people worthy of leadership. Will end with this. I read a great quote from a letter that john adams wrote to Abigail Adams during the beginning of the revolutionary war. She asked him in a letter to him, what didid he think was gog to happen . Where we going to win . And his response to her was, i can guarantee success in this war, but i can guarantee something better, that we deserve it. So ill say to you tonight that i cant guarantee you success, and what im about to do, but i guarantee you that at the end of it you will have no doubt in your mind who i am and what i stand for and whether i deserve it. So thats why i came back to sty came backd to manchester, and thats why came back to New Hampshire to tell all of you that i intend to seek the republican nomination for president of the United States in 2024, and i want your support. [applause] thank you. All right. All right. So now, so now we will do what i like to do much more than that. When i was going and to jews ended over 150 town Hall Meetings in my first four years as governor. And then i came up. I did another hundred. And so just so you know, this is my favorite stuff, to find out t what youre thinking, whats on your mind and a to be able to ty to answer you honestly and directly and let you critique it as you walk out tonight. So i want everybody to feel free to asksk whatever questions they want to ask. And ill try to give you the best answer i possibly can. But remember something, please never forget this. I am from new jersey. So im always interested in mild, polite, but intense conflict. So happy to go back and forth with anybody tonight, but remember with guys who new jersey what you need to know, and women, is that if you give it, you are getting it back. [laughing] and thats the way we engage. So before i take your first question i do want to do one other thing. I talked throughout the beginning of this about we, and we have been the same we for the last 37 years, and despite all odds against it, shes still here. My wife mary pat. Stand up. [applause] now, for all of you who have more than one child, we have four. Once they get to the ages of 30, 27, 22 and 20, if you can get any of them to come to anything you are doing, you are incredibly lucky. So i am lucky times two tonight. I have our oldest son andrew and oldest daughter sarah here with us tonight as well. [applause] and i will tell you beside being the second person i get asked about all the time when i come back up here because apparently he made such an impression when he came up here eight years ago at the age of 82 to go door to door, big upset everybody, hes still here. [laughing] and he will still be going door to door i suspect here in New Hampshire so get ready for this guy, my amazing 90yearold father to come knock on your door. He gets toay no once 90, so bill christie, thanks for being here tonight. [applause] all right. Whos got the first question . Right there. I am ready and they will bring you a microphone. Are you readys rex. Im ready. Im from pittsburgh. Thats good. Thats competition. But i live in New Hampshire. Im going to say this up front. Im a clinical psychologist for 40 years, all right . So given that, i want to read this because i want to get it right. It seems to me that our amazing nation has actually been traumatized by all the divisive screaming, yelling that has been happening in politics and elections. I would say as a psychologist that we have been traumatized as a nation. I want to know how youre going to take that to the white house. You have a forceful, ill call it strong approach to things. Look at him, he raises his eyebrows. I do that, too. So can you address that up . What are we going to do . We are in trouble. Yeah we are and i think i think its a great question at a think youre right that, has been thrust on our country in a number of different ways. And see i dont think that the American People are traumatized by strength. They are traumatized by chaos. The American People arent traumatized by being direct. The American People are traumatizedng by line. I dont think the American People are traumatized by somebody who is going to be forceful. I think they are traumatized by someone who only cares to be forceful for themselves. See, when i used to fight things in newgh jersey and my democratc opponent uses it all the time they used to come boldly all the typing they pulled that in the said if we can get them to be seen as h a bully his numbers wl go down. But what we found was that people said yeah, hes a bully, a bully for us. I think it depends on where you direct that strength. If you dreck that strength to aggrandize yourself, if you direct that chaos to aggrandize yourself, if you direct the anger to benefit yourself, well then, you are traumatizing a nation. If you harness our energy, our anchor, our concerns, our disappointments,s, our hopes, or aspirations and you put the force of the personality behind it for the betterment of the whole country, thats leadership. And so i dont think we need some weak person in the white house who would be mealy mouth and not speak and not leave. I think we got that already. Okay . We have that now. And look, ive known joe biden for 40 years. I went to the university of delaware. I was the president of the student body there when he was the United States senator kirk hes a nice guy. Ive known him for four years turkeys in nice man. He is outs, of his depth because hes not the guy he used to be. And im going to be honest. I know it for me. Lots of people in this audience that note. E father timeop always wins. He always wins and hes not what he used to be. So we dont need someone timid, quiet is not speaking to us regularly and white house. But by the same token we dont need someone whos entire life is defined by never admitting youre wrong, never admitting he made a mistake, and when the mistakes happen, by definition you have to traumatized somebody else because you cant take the blame on yourself. Thats what i taught you about what ato did near the end of my talk. Iof made mistakes. Ive made bad judgment. Im human, but none of my mistakes, none of myon judgments were ever meant to aggrandize me. Aboutere decision i made the Public Policy that was wrong or a judgment i made about a person that turned out to be wrong. And when i always would say is even if im not directly responsible, im accountable. Because imbl the leader. And but we need to someone whos going to be strong and accountable. And someone is going to look at this country and say, youre not perfect, im not perfect but we are better than anyplace else in the world and we better get back to aspiring to that rather than worrying about the fighting each other into groups that we agree with all the time. So i agree with you that trump has happened but i dont think it a strength. Thats faux strength. That is so strength that is built out of an absolute lack of confidence. And its damaging to everyone starting with the person who is doing to it who cant see it or doesnt care to, and to everybody else who that person is supposed to be leading. Thats why were in the genetic situation were in now. Because we have gone from chaos and constant yelling, screaming, blaming, to now quiet. The divisions now are happening more quietly but theyre still happening. So thats the way i would consider leading now, which is to show your strength but to show your humanity. And to let people know that i know im not always going to be right. I know im not but what you were going to know about me is that every day on not only trying to be right, im trying to be right for you. Thank you. [applause] bring your microph. Thank you, governor. My name is quinn mitchell. Im 50 years old and last week i went to an event and while going in i saw a huge group of trump supporters, flagwaving and it really highlighted what a division there was at the party. For example, you would never see supporters doing that in 2020. So my question for you is how will you win over trump voters who are so attached to one charismatic man, considering you do not seem to be appealing to the larger republican voters. Thank you. Im not nearly as pessimistic as you are. [laughter] and after saying that im glad you are 15 and you cannot vote. [applause] but despite that, in three years, you will be voting and i intend to seek your vote for my reelection as president in 2028. So we will start right now. Look, there is no such thing as trump voters. He does not own them. He did not take title to them. They are not one of his buildings. They are not one of his failed casinos in new jersey, ok . Theyre not that wreck he has got in las vegas, ok . He does not own them. They voted for him. By the way, i voted for him twice. Ok . Mia trump loader . No, man. Ok . Elections in the United States of america are not about anything other than a choice. I tried to explain this. Mary pat and i had the opportunity to go to great written and visit with the Prime Minister. At 10 downing street. He was getting ready to start his reelection campaign. In Great Britain they do this in an incredibly civilized way. Their entire election is 48 days. You are not allowed to campaign before 48 days before the election, you can only campaign in those days. He looked at me and i remember, he came in after coming off the treadmill and he was like i was just like this to meet the Prime Minister and he comes in at gym shorts and a sweaty tshirt and hes like sorry, the campaigns going to start soon, i have to be working out. No problem, mr. Prime minister. Explain your country to me. You guys are already doing this. It was 2015. He said how do you do this . I hate doing it for 48 days, how will you do it for a year and a half . Or member this for the american political system, in america, we do not get to vote for who we want to vote for. We vote for who is left. Ok . Trump voters are trump voters in 2016 when their choice was among 17 of us. And then when it was trump or hillary clinton. It trump voter in 2020 in the Republican Party had no contrary competition so who else are they supposed to vote for . They either vote for him or they stay home. Then in the fall, you are a trump voter or a biting voter until biden won the election. So i do not understand this concept of trump voters. Yes, they have people outside waving flags. Let me tell you something, for a guy from new jersey, its like being home. Its like being home. If i walked up to a town hall in new jersey and there were no protesters, i would be like get me out of here. I am not going to be able to stay awake during this thing. This is a contact sport. And the way im going to appeal to any voter in New Hampshire is to do what i just did and make the case i can make. And if someone in here was a trump voter four years ago, maybe this time they say let me give this guy a shot or let me give one of the other candidates a try. I do not think he owns them. He thinks he owns them. He think she owns them, ok . Let me guarantee you something, he thought he owns the general electorate in 2016. And what did they show him in 2020 . Not so fast. Not so fast. So, you know, i do not have a specific strategy. I am going to be myself. I got advice from one of President Trumps former chiefs of staff. I set up the key about doing this, what do you think . And he said to me, for you, be yourself. And that is exactly what im going to be. And like adam said to abigail, i cannot guarantee success in the war but i can guarantee something better. That we will deserve it. I am going to give you a campaign that by the end of this, you will say whether you would decide the vote for me or not if you could and ive still got to vote for you, you are going to say he made me think. He made me think. That is the first step. Toward getting somebodys respect. And i want you to think about the last time donald trump made you think. Yes sir, right there. Governor ill get you next. Kurt from vermont, weve got our own problems. I want to let you know because im from burlington, it was not my fault. Lets talk some policy. Governor, we just had the debt ceiling deal in washington and a lot of people on the farther right did not like the deal and people on the farther left did not seem to like the deal. Governor desantis trashed the deal. I have not heard from donald trump i think about it but i would like to hear what your thoughts were on the debt ceiling deal. Do you think Kevin Mccarthy got enough . What do you think of that deal . Well, thank god they did it. Look, governing is about choosing. Governing is about compromising. When did compromise become a dirty word . If we do not want compromise, set up a dictatorship, but the dictator in charge, they will make all the decisions and we wont have to worry about compromise. We may get trampled but we wont have to worry about compromise, thank god. Look, are there things that i would have done differently . Sure, sure there are things i might have done differently. But im not going to trash Kevin Mccarthy over this. He had a responsibility. What the debt ceiling is, it is not future spending, its money we already spent. Are we going to pay the bills weve already ran up . And i will tell you, a great donald trump aside on this. When i became governor of new jersey, we had an 11 billion deficit on a 29 billion budget. And we had pension and benefit debt of over 300 billion. My friend donald trump calls me and he says heres what you do. Dont pay it. He said chris, go bankrupt. I said the law does not allow states to go bankrupt. He said screw it, fight it out in the courts. Dont pay it. Youre never going to be able to fix this, so just let the debt go. Thats not leadership. That is not leadership. And everybody who says they hate the debt deal, they can tell me what particular parts they dont like, but they need to tell me how they would have gotten it done because let me tell you what wouldve happened everyone in this room, me included, if they did not do it. The economy would have cratered. We already have a bank crisis going on. If you think we have one now wait until you see what happens if we default on the debt. Way to you see what would happen to our trade around the world. Look at what would happen to your 401 k s and your iras in your College Funds for your kids. It wouldve been a disaster. Governing is choosing. I think Governor Desantis does not like it because he never had to compromise. When he was in the house of representatives, he was in the Freedom Caucus and he just said either yes or no. And as governor of florida he had a Republican Legislature who would do whatever he wanted. So he never had to compromise. I had a Democratic Legislature for eight years. Every hour of eight years. Every minute of eight years. And i had to make a fundamental decision. On a particular issue, is 60 enough . Is 70 enough . Can i do it with 40 this time in order to get something done and move the ball down the field . By the way, that is how we passed property tax of 2 in new jersey that had averaged a 7 increase for the 10 years before i was governor. That is how we saved 150 billion dollars on our pension and Health Benefit system because i compromise with the democrats. What i have like to fix it all, i would have but guess what . I retired half of the problem. Is that a failure . Under that definition, it is. So look, im not going to be one of those guys if i become president of the United States who is going to go in and say my way or the highway, got to be what i want every day and if its not im going back to the oval office, holding my breath and ignoring. You all know me. It does not mean that im not going to fight. I am going to fight every day until the minute i think we have reached the time where compromise has to happen. Thats how you negotiate. If you went into your boss and you said i would like a 10 raise in your boss that i dont really think we should do that, i can only do 2 and you said ok, goodbye and you walked out, you did not fight, well, you could gotten 2 . If you said to is too low you could get to seven and the boss comes back and says i might be able to get the 4 . You know what im seeing . Here comes the six, baby. Ill take the six. And you have tripled what the boss originally offered you. Under the definition of some people on the left wing of the Democratic Party and some of the people in o and some of the people on our party, thats a loss. Not to me. M so ive got a criticize Kevin Mccarthy. I was in negotiation. I couldnt tell whether she could a a squeezable bore out whether he reached the end of what i do know is he knew that if he failed that the American Economy would fail. [inaudible] yes, he did. He said we should default. Thats why i told the story. Its not news baby. He told me to default in 2010. And when i said to them if he does lock him in the course. We lose and you go for god sake dont be stupid, just default. Now look, thats not leadership everybody. Its just not. And when he was just a developer at trump tower in new york city calling to giveca advice, who cares . Hes one of thousands of people given the advice and it was my job to decide but when you put them in the chair to decide and you know thats what he thinks, get ready. Get ready for bad things to happen. And thats what happened. [applause] hes going to bring you a mic. Chris, ted from andover massachusetts. I only came herege to get a jobn your cabinet when you get elected. Do not if but when. That started early. I wanted a picture with mary pat and it got that done. What if you want since the last time you ran for president . What if ignorance at celestine i ran for president . Because we want to help you. Look, theres a lot. The first thing i learned is motion is a progress. So people tell you to do all these Different Things and sometimes its just because they like to see do all those Different Things but theyre not making you any more electable, not moving the ball down the court. I think a much more extreme to the how to do this now. And what really matters in being able to get the job done. Every endorsement doesnt matter. Last time i was obsessed with all the endorsements and i get or local endorsement that any candidate in the race and i came in sixth. I dont know from my commonsense tells me maybe not that important. At [laughing] maybe i spent too much time on that. Maybe the fifth meeting with the member of the New Hampshire house to get his or her endorsement may have been a little bit ofwa a waste of time. Second thing i learned is that even though i did 100 town halls and a lot of this, you have to do even more. You have to do even more. Thats why didnt do some big podium speech tonight to announce. To me at the want to win this is the best way to do it come find out what you care about. Third, i think if you look at our politics now, back in 2015 and 16 i played a conventional game. I thought you just do politics the way you always done it, just talk about yourself, dont really worry about anybody else, keep your eye on the ball and keep going. Thats not the politics today. This time you have to differentiate yourself from the person in thee lead. I said this at a town hall i came up her a months ago right here. It was a mistake in 2016 not to confront donald01 trump early. Because i knew that so much of what he said was complete baloney. Like i knew it. Im going to build the greatest most wonderful wall across the entire mexico border in mexico is going to pay for it. Well, like, i knew, as someone who is governed, that that was complete bull. But i was like, people arent going to believe that. Theyre not going to believe that. Mistake. But guess what . You got no excuse now. He washe there for four years, o with the republican congress. He got a quarter of the wall built in mexico hasnt given us our first peso. We pay forhe all of it. And only for a quarter of it. And when you watched illegal immigration poring over our southern border, dont wonder whose fault it is. Itse his. Its his fault. Because he never change one Immigration Law in the two years that he had republican control of congress. Not one Immigration Law did he change. He didnt build the wall like you told us to an mexico is laughing at us at the idea they were going to pay for a walk on their border. And if you listen to him, he will tell you i totally succeeded and now biden, biden is a a reason that this is not happening. Well, biden has made it worse but if the wall was there like he promised us, biden wouldnt be able d to be doing this. He wouldnt be in office if it wasnt for trump. Joe biden never beat anybody outside the state of delaware in 45 years except for one guy, donald j. Trump. Joe biden ran for president three times, and never won. Never won anything outside the state the state of delaware. Not once in chile ran up against a guy who the American People knew in theirir heart was full f it. And they had enough. They watched chaos began watched this order. That watched the disrespect. They watched the narcissism in the line for four years and they said you know what . The people in the middle said enough. We took a chance on a four years ago, were not taking a chance again. So i made a fundamental judge a. I thought something that was so apparent to me would be apparent to everybody. Let me guarantee youo somethin. I aint making that mistake this time. [inaudible] of course he is. I would love to see some of the press coverage of me getting ready to run it kristi does really care about winning. Is all he cares about is doing is destroying trump. Now let me ask you something. How are those twoe things mutually exclusive . [applause] [laughing] seriously . Are they the only connected. The guys head in the polls. Who must most worried about, nikki haley . Seriously, if i came in here tonight and spent 15 minutes railing on nikki haley and ive known her for 13 years now, we are friends, so thats why bring her up because i know that she will take this in the spirit that its given. If i came out here and railed for 15 come 20 minutes about nikki haley you all would leave going is he nuts . Hasnt he read the papers . Doesnt he know trump is a leading . The reason im going after trump is twofold. One, he deserves it, and two, its its the way to win. So these two are not divided. And this is what dont understand about thehe coveragei hope hes not just going after no. I am going after them. Let me beme very clear. I am going out there to take out donald trump, but heres why. I want to win. And i dont want him to win. And guess what . If you put desantis and haley and mike pence and tim scott, thats it, ill stop there, on truth serum, they would tell you the same thing. Heres the difference pictures of the difference. You have to put me on truth serum i ido tell you, okay . So thats why there are not multiple lanes the republican nomination. That is a Political Science professors dream. There is one lane to the republican nomination, and hes in front off it and if you want to win you better go right through him. Because let me guarantee you something from knowing him for 22 years, everybody, hes going to try to go through me. Hes going to try to go through ron and nicky and tim and anybody else who stands in his way. And you watched this show. To me this show looks like its on reruns now. This is like watching seinfeld. [laughing] right . Weve all seen it, and the jokes are not quite as funny as they were the firstfu time we heard them, right . So the mexican wall, i guarantee you if you have been to one of the fence yet and you go, you walk out of there thinking jesus, the whole wall was built. How did i miss that . [laughing]. Eight years ago it was amusing. Eight years ago you were entertain. I forgiveyo you. [laughter] but it aint funny anymore. Its not amusing anymore, its not entertaining anymore. S the last throes of a bitter or, angry man who wants power back for himself. Not for you. If you think for one minute what he says when he says i am your relately abuse retribution, if you think he wants to be your retribution, forget it. Hes going to be relately abuse for one person and one person only, himself. And all the things hes angry about and all the ways he thinks he got snookered. If thats the kind of president you want, let me tell you, no one can compete with him. Hes the runaway winner. But if you want somebody whens actually going to fight for whos actually going to fight for you. I learned a few things. Hi, golf christie. Hello. Hi names anya, i apologize, i am of voting age. [laughter] you spent a lot of time tonight talking about freedom, hearn values and the people this our history that have fought for freedom and rights, im wondering if you could talk about your opinion on the Dobbs Supreme Court decision and Abortion Access in america and if you support all of our freedoms or maybe just freedoms for a choice few. Ce i think that the Dobbs Decision was the right decision because i believe it was roe v. Wade was constitutionally flawed. It saidd that there was a right to an abortion in the constitution. And,hton look, uma lawyer, i pld guilty im a lawyer, i plead guilty. Im a recovering lawyer but, nonetheless, a lawyer. Look, its not there. And so i think what dobbs did was exactly what it should have done which is to say its not in the constitution, and as a result, we send it back to the states for them to decide. And what i favor is what ive argued forat my entire professional life both as a lawyer and politically, let every state decide what they want to do. Ii think each state should have the right to make the decision. Im tolife. I prolife. I ran twice as a prolife candidate for governor of new jersey which is now now a state that allows abortion up to the ninth month of pregnancy. So not a place that was hospitable to my point of view. But i think the reason people vote for me was they knew thats what i felt in hi heart. I believe that this my heart. Now, i also believe even greater than the things i believe in my heart as someone who governs is i believe in our constitution. And i believe in the rule of law. And it means that the people in New Hampshire get to decide on issues thatmp are not protectedy the constitution. They get to decide how they want to deal with this really difficult, horriblere issue. Because it is. Tragedy no matter what happens. [inaudible] look, because i think that when theres an unwanted pregnancy, that is something that is tragic for the person can ask people that are going and people that are going through it. I think, you know, when you have someone that gets pregnant or they become pregnant, that should be a moment of joy for bringing life into the world. But when its an unwanted, unplanned pregnancy for some people, it doesnt become that. Thats e what i mean on that side. And on the other side, i think any taking of a life like that, of an innocent life, is wrong and its tragic. And so here we are in this horrible situation of having to make a choice. But, you know, no one with ever said this was going to be easy. Governing ourselves is not easy. There are going to be lots of really difficult questions. This is probably one of the most fraught moral questions that this country has dealt with and that countries all over the world deal with, and thats why i think best decided by the people in each state individually. So in oklahoma they have decided to ban all abortions. In new jersey theyre allowing abortion up to nine months. I think people would argue that either one of those position is wrong. So if you dont believe in that position, go out and fight for it in your state. Fight for what you think is reasonable, fightna for what you think is fair. And thats what i think should be done. And i dont think the federal government should be bigfooting around in this thing. I think each state should make the decision becausehe thats te way the founders set it up. They said it very clearly, if its not i numerated as a right in this document, it reverts to the states. Its not like theres some crazy dictator whos going to decide. Some people put it on the ballot, some let the legislature and governor make theak decisio, but it gets down closer to the people, to your local culture, mores, values. And thed majority of the people will rule. On an issue like that at the state level. Now, i disagree with what my states doing. I fundamentally think that abortion in the ninth month is just wrong. But i got two choices. Fight to try to change it or move. And thats what our democracy is all about. And so thats e the way i look at it, thats the way i feel about it. And i think that as conservatives, weve been saying for 50 years roe is wrong, the states should decide. Well, we won. Why cant anybody in the conservative movement or not everyone inn the conservative movement declare victory . Our argument won out ultimate hi. The statements are going to decide, and so now theres other people who want to impose their will from the federalpe government. I think that unless you can get 60 United States senators and the majority of the house of representatives and the president of the United States to agree on it, which i think is unlikely, we should allow the statements to make their decisions, let them decide what to do. And if it is such a fundamental issue to anybody, the great thing about america is we have the right to pick up and move if we want. And we have the right to go fight the fight here or someplace else. And thats the way i look at it, the way ive always believed it. And i think a prochoice person could feel exactly the same way. Thats the beauty, i think, of this argument, its the genius of our constitution. We can build consensus in each state, state by state, around what the right thing to do is for the people in that state, and ii think thats what we should be encouraging people to do rather than just flipping it around. And then well just go back and forth like this depending on whether conservatives or liberals are in charge of the federal government. I think the supreme courts trying to stop that and put it back to the states. Thats the way i feel about it. Sure. Yes, sir, on the aisle there. Shes going to come with a microphone for you. Thank you, governor. Welcome back to st. Annals helm. Im an all lumbar alum. Im glad you mentioned ukraine. Like to hear you talk a little bit about Foreign Policy, putin, china. Its not an emerging threat, it is a threat. So can you speak to our Foreign Policy . Sure. Look, i think there have been great Foreign Policy mistakes that have been made by the last five president s. That were now living with that all built on each other. George w. Bush head the fundamental mistake of iraq. Now, we can all talk about why he did it, got bad intelligence, maybe a flawed Decision Making process, but whatever it was, iraq was a flawed decision. And i think even the president himselfwe would even admit that today givenhe what he now knows that there were no weapons of mass destruction, etc. , which was the basis for going to war. And what it did was steal some credibility from us around the world, because we said that this was there, colin powell went in front of the u. N. And said it was there, and we turned out to be wrong. So first problem on american Foreign Policy is we must be honest and we must be credible. Because the chinese are not, and the russians are not, and whats always distinguished us in Foreign Policy around thewh wor, weve told people the truth and weve built friendships based upon that truth that we believe in freedom and democracy, and we support those who do the same. And when we make a promise to a friend, well keep that promise. Thats how we get to the next mistake which was, in my view, barack obama allowing the continued encroachment on ukrainian for story by the russians and doing nothing. Nothing but sending them blankets and human rights aid. Sometimes saving some money on the front end saves you hundred on the back end. And i think if president obama had sent weaponry to the ukrainians to send a signal to the russians dont do this, because these people willing to fight for their country, and were giving them the darts to be able to effectively fight for their country, we would not be in the situation that were this today. You go forward to President Trump, and President Trump bartered ukrainian to get dirt on joe biden. You know, i dont know beyond reprehensible what you would really call that, but here are a freedomloving people who just want the weapons that they were at that time promised by President Trump, ask now that theres and now that sends another signal to pilot on. Well, hes willing to barter for that. I can make a trade with him on something. Thatll help he get to ukraine. And trumps coddling of putin, the way he idolizes putin and talk about him as a great leader, this guy is a kgb communist thug. Thats what he is. And he steals from his people. Hes one of the richest men in the world. Howd thatic come about by being president of russia . Well, i mean, i know they pay okay butkn not that good. [laughter] and that leads to the next problem which is joe biden comes in who appears weak and said right at the beginning of his presidency, well, or a small incursion probably wouldnt be a problem. Well, heres the problem, everybody, everybodys definition of small is different. Vladimir putins is ill take it all, and i wont go to poland if youre lucky. And now biden has tried to come back byy supplying them with the types of arms they need. And i will give him credit for having united most of europe, ask hes given the ukrainians a fighting chance. But make no mistake, this is the begin requesting of a hot proxy war between the United States andot china. China ised supporting russia. China is buying russian oil to be able to support their war effort and prop up their economy. China went t to russia and said there is no limit to the friendship between china and russia. And i heard one of the candidates say this is just a territorial dispute. Let me say what a territorial dispute is, everybody. You know when you get your property surveyed and the surveyor says, bad news, your neighbors fence is 4 inches on yourop property. Thats a territorial dispute. [laughter] when you roll tanks and artillery into a free country to, by force, murder them and take their land, that aint a territorial dispute, thats war. That is an act of dictatorial aggression. And if we dont stand up, why will china not go to taiwan . And if you say, okay, why do i really give a damn about taiwan, put a aside humanity, freedom, liberty. Y. If you dont care about any of that stuff, put that aside. Lets a be practical. The majority of semiconductors in the world are made in taiwan. Who do you want controlling that, the chinese . That work out really well during covid, didnt it . When the chinese were controlling the majority of, you know, personal protective gear and we had to be on a knee begging the chinese to give us things toth protect ourselves during covid. It is naive to say this is anything but a proxy war. And guess what in the ukrainians arent asking us to come over ask fight the war for them. Theyre just saying give us the ability to fight it, we want to fight for our own country. And i heard vivek on tv the other day, on sunday, ramaswamy, say this isnt in Americas National interest. Why would we care about ukraine, why does it matter, you know . He, donald trump, ron desantis all saying the same thing, they are the modern day neville chamberlains. Why should we worry about hitler . If hell stop at some point. And if you dont think putins as bad as hitler, youre wrong. Because putin killed his own people in his own country based on their religious views, based on their politicaled views, basd on anything that disagrees with him. We may not call it a holocaust, its gone on in russia for a very long time. And so what are we going to stand up for and believe in . The second part of it on a Foreign Policy basis is this americas greatness in part comes from our friendships. We have more friends around the world than any country has now or has ever had. And the bases of those friendships are we say were going to helphi you when youren a jam. We want you to trade with us, we want you to work with us on your form of government, on the way you act with other governments around the world, ask weve never had and weve never had to bribe outright anybody to be our friend. The chinese, on the other hand, have to bribe think about to be their friend. The russians. When you look at their government, you know what you say . Ill take the money but not the government. Thank you. I dont want xi jinping telling me what to do. Well, if thats the case, we are giving it away. Now, i love the phrase America First. Is there anybody in this room who is against America First . Anybody . Neither am i. Im not, like, no, me, im for luxembourg with. [laughter] finish belgium second, lets be third. Its a ridiculous statement. The question is not if you want america to be first or not, its how. How doic we become first. And you have people in my party, our party who are saying fill thee america oat, pull moat, pull up the drawbridge, weve got plenty of problems here, and weve got to fix these problems we have here, and we cant afford a to engage with the wor. Guess what, when we stop, were no longer going to be the biggest economy in the world. Were not. Theyre going to trade with china. Hey, you want to continue to tradetr with us, you cant trade with america anymore or you have to give all the best technology to us, not to the americans. Thats what theyre going to say. Foreign policy is complicated, very complicated. But in another sense its very simple. The more friends you have in a finite world, the better off youre y going to be. And sometimes that friendship costs. It costs having to provide arms, it costs having to provide economic aid, it costs having to provide comfort the people who are in trouble. Became the greatest country in the world, the the great power in the world because we were willing to engage. And we understood that the sacrifices we made in the process of that woulden end up with us, as i said in the beginning, being bigger. Being greater, not lesser. And so if you wonder what Foreign Policy looks like, im not sending troops all over the world to fight. It would be a last resort for me. But i want to engage with every country whos willing to engage with us. I want to sit with every leader of goodwill, and ill even sit with the ones of bad will. The conversations will just be a little different. And we need to be doing that. And the idea that we can allow this country to fill the moat and pull up the drawbridge, America First, were all for America First. Lets stop it. This is, w again, its a tv sho. America first, whos for it . Yeah, great, good. But have these policies led to us being first . I dont think so. You think were better now around the world than we were eight years ago . I dont. I dont. And so thats the way i would engage. And, yes, ukraine and supporting the ukrainian people, are they perfect . As i said in the beginning, nub of us are. Are they making every decision like we want them to make it . Do they run the government exactly the way we want . No. But the same way american elections are choices, so are these. Do we wantia them or the russia . Ill take the ukrainians. And i think its not that these choices are without cost, but to me avoiding those choices is have a much, much greater cost both in the near term and in the long term. Thats the way id deal with it. [applause] z hes going to come get you a microphone, sir. Yo hello. Im tom, original ally from thats, texas, but im also a geolittle call consultant in asia geopolitical consultant. I have yet another Foreign Policy question. Some of my concerns, i have to deal with a lot of lets just say complex diplomatic issues. And what i often hear from, say, other countries and their criticisms of america is that they see themselves with big power andhe that all others shod listen to what the u. S. Does. And so my concern is by you emphasizing this campaign of bigness, how are we going to address the issues between other countries including rival countries, and are you going to be, oh, were big, youre small . Or, for example when youre talking to china, i know a lot of us are very critical of china, but in one sense we still have to find ways to Work Together with china, and i just would like to know your opinion in this regards. Sure. You put a lot in there. First off, i am insulted by the idea that you think i would like anything overbig, right . [laughter] so were not going to do that. But i will tell you this, you can become bigger and not be dictatorial. The greatness of america was after world war ii after we had given and given and given more than any country had ever given without asking for anything in return. And what happened as a result . We engenderedded trust and friendship all around the world that inuredded to our benefit. Its kind of like, you know, when i think some of this stuff, as you said, its a very complex negotiation, but some is of it is simple too. Like, im sure all of us who had great mothers in this room, our mothers taught us be good to others, been kind to others, and it will ultimately come back to benefit you. She couldnt exactly explain how. It wasnt a direct financial transaction, but the goodness and the kindness you give, i really believe it comes back to you multifold. Secondly, look, i dont think we should be dictating to other countries around the world. We should be trying to provide an example. That they want tome late. They want to emulate. When we try to dictate what governments should be, usually that ends up in disaster for us. But whenll we provide a shining example and people look at this country and go, wow, id like to be like that, id like to have those l things, those freedoms, those economic benefits, those educational benefits, people want to emulate you then. So i think part of it is just the art of persuasion rather than being a dictator. On u. S. China relations, look, weve tried it a bunch of different ways with china, right . Starting back with nixon and him opening the door the china. And it was a a brilliant stratec move to divide china and russia. Its taken 50 years to screw that up. Now wevean put china and russia back together, right in so 50 years later nixons looking down going, all right, it wasnt perfect, but i got that right. And r weve missed messed it up. Im not saying we should isolate china. Its impossible. Theyre the second largest economy in the world. They have billions of people. Okay, its not there, its not there, its not there. Its there. But we have given in to their demands of saying were a developing country, we need the more guess what . The development is over. Youre now near our equal if not our equal in many ways. So you know what . Now we compete with each other on an equal basis. No more advantages that weve given to china over time. Go ahead. [inaudible] ad yeah. [inaudible] well, but hold on a second. [inaudible]ec exactly where i was going, okay . China allowow facebook in china . No, no. No, no, they dont. Do they allow twitter in china . Do they allow tiktok and our version of it in china . They do not allow our technology in, but they insist that our technology be accepted by us. Andy so my point is im willing to have a fair relationship with china. But its its got to be a fair relationship. And if they want to start doing that stuff, blocking, stealing our technology which they do on a regular basis, coopt it and thumb their nose at the World Trade Organization and anybody else who tries to enforce things, well, then you do have to go and block some things that they want because theyre not following the rules that they said they were going to follow. When we allowed them to join the World Trade Organization, they agreed to a whole bunch of fair tradinghe rules, most of which they dont follow. So after a while, you have to let them know, in my opinion, enoughs enough, okay . Doesnt mean enoughs enough, therefore, were putting a wall up and were not going to talk to you anymore. That would be destructive to both of us, both economically and militarily. But theyve had a good run. And to some extent, at our expense. Some weve benefited from, some weve had to pay for. Were in a new year now. And hen they go around and Start Playing the game of Foreign Policyre building artificial islands in the South China Sea and claiming jurisdiction over them, messing around with our, our ships this both private sector ships and trading lanes and military ships like they did just last week, when they come to brazil and stand next the to the new president of brazil and encouragee him to denounce the United States in ouril hemisphe, o. K. , thatss fine. You can play that game. But remember that we will play it back. We play it back. And so, you know, my concern about this is that we have allowed and to some extent in the beginning of the relationship foren good reason, weve allowed them to have advantages. It needs too stop, in my opinio, and we need to make this a level playing field. And then respect to for our intellectual property and respect for theirs. Respect for our manufacturing and respect for theirs. Respect for their ability to trade and respect for ours. And we dont have that now. And thats my concern about it because, in the end, youre much less likely to go to war with someone who respects you. And we need to rebuild that respect with china in both directions, and then e well be much less likely to go to war, in my view, if we do. Yes, sir, right in the front of front. My name is earl, former politician. Theres going to be somewhere between half a dozen and a dozen republican candidates for president. Seven years ago donald trump only neededded 30 of the vote or whatever it was in order to walk away with enough primaries to be our candidate. Whats going to change this year . Well, first off, theres going to be nine, it looks like now, with governor sununus announcement that hes not going to run and really theres seven right now including me, and i think we got mike pence tomorrow makes eight, and it looks like the governor of north dakota is getting in. Look at that guy, just shrugged his shoulders. [laughter] i had somebody say to me recently, doug the governor of north dakota . They dont know the governor in south dakota [laughter] but everybodys got a right to run, and dougs a nice guy, so hell show up here soon. Lets start off thats half of the thurm of candidates who were on the ballot in New Hampshire seven years ago. So weve made some progress. Secondly are, you dont know if all of us are still going to be here come february when you vote, you know . Remember, scott walker was the frontrunner, and he left in september. Right . So, you know, things change in this business, and you all have a way of making your voices heard even before you vote. So thats another to part of it. But the last r part of it is i think we always headache a mistake politically when we run the next election through the prism of the last one. Remember in 2015 at this point inin the race donald trump was t 4 . So when he mocks everybody whens in single digits, like, i love it. Yeah, like you. Seven years ago. [laughter] i was ahead of him when he came into the race seven years ago. I certainly never expected him to pass me, believe me. But this is not a static situation. Seven years ago there was very little any of us could say about donald trump. He didnt have a record in public office. He made up his record in the private sector. Like, you would think the Trump Organization was, like, that he was, like, running microsoft. He was running a family business. That had about 70, 80 employees, real employees, in the headquarters. Now, its thousands if you count every greenskeeper and waitress and bartender, but he wasnt really managing those folks from daytoday. He had made a lot of money in his life, he inherited a lot, turned that inheritance into something bigger. Congratulations, thats really good. Thats what everybody in america would like to do. But there wasnt a record for us to talk about. There is now. If were willing to talk about it. Now, before tonight i havent heard one candidate for the republican nomination talk frankly about his record. Not one. They wont even mention his name. Theyea wont mention his name. I watched and this shows you what a sad, sad life i really have [laughter] i watched large portions of the joni ernst roast and ride in iowa [laughter]te a a sad, sad existence. But i watch parts of it, and i watched a little bit of every candidate. Not one of them mentioned his name. They would say cute Little Things hike we need new generational leadership. Oh, oh,k i get it. Trumps old, youre youngerrer. Oh, i should vote for you. [laughter] or we need a leader who lookses forward, not backwards. Oh [laughter] i get it, youre talking about the way he still thinks the 2020 election was stolen, and you wont say it wasnt stolen, but you wont say it will, so youre going to keep us all guessing, but youre better than him. I mean, hook, the reason look, the reason this is going to be different this time, sir, is at least one of us is gonna call him on the fact that eight years ago he stood on the stage in New Hampshire and said he was going to balance the budget in four years. And he left with the biggest deficit of any president in american history. He said he was going to eliminate the National Debt this eight years. He added 3 trillion to the National Debt in four or years. At least three. He said eight years ago that he was going to we repeal and replace obamacare. He neither repealed nor replaced even though he had a republican congress. You all remember john mccain coming in and going voted no. That is a failure of president ial leadership. And why do you think john mccain voted no . Now, look, john mccain is gone and we cant ask him anymore. And it may well be that john mccain, who i found to be a pretty principle guy, really didnt believe in the bill. But ill tell you Something Else i know about john mccain, john mccain had a long memory. John mccain listened to donald trumpba beat him senseless day after day after day after day starting with the beginning of his campaign when he said he wasnt a war hero because he got captured. Now, i would just suggest something on a human relations basis, if youre looking for somebodys vote who was kept in the t hanoi hilton for years asa prisoner of war and beaten and abusedca and didnt leave becaue he said i will not leave unless my men leave with me, if you want his vote, how about trying not to say hes not a hero . How about we tart at that minimum amount of start at that minimum amount of public discourse. [applause] and now i heard him say if we made a president again, he would settle the ukraine war in 24 hours. Did you hear that one . Thats a beauty. Thats really in a career of complete falsed hoods. Falsehoods, that makes the top five. But lets give him the benefit of the doubt. Lets say donald trump could settle it in 24 hours, let me tell you how he would. Hed give ukraine to russia. And he said it. He said it on television. He said it. He said, look, russia over ukraine anyway, so whats the difference . Hed call zelenskyy and say, hey, guess what, time to raise the russian flag up on the pole, were outta here. So im going to talk about those things and a lot more. Because i dont want to do it all tonight because, you know, i want you to come to the next one. [laughter] buts, that didnt happen last time. He was given a free pass. Did he ever do this with you . Did donald trump come to New Hampshire seven years ago and stand in the middle of the room and take any question from anybody without knowing who you were or what your question was going to be . Oh, no. He went over to the hockey arena and stood in front of a large crowd and gave his normal speech, waited for all of you to cheer and chant his name, and then heme left. Got on his airplane and went home to sleep in his apartment in new york. Im at the Hilton Garden Inn tonight, in case youre wondering. [laughter] the bars open until 11. [laughter] finish is guess what . Im calling him out. Its time for him to stand in the y center of this room and ak a question. Its time for him not to look at somebody and when he doesnt like the question, just call them a mean person, right in guess what . If youou want to be president of the United States, stand in the center or the room of the room in front of the people that you ask to govern and take their question. And if hes unwilling to do that, send him back to maralago. Plays golf every day anyway. Hell go back to playing golf. And, by the way, thats one other promise. Im glad i brought that up. [laughter] remember, i stood on the stage in 2016, he said with all the problems america has, how can barack obama play 120 days of golf . How can he do it . I wont play one day of golf. Ill be so busy solving your problems that i wont play one day of golf. 265 days of golf in 4 years. Now, look, i dont golf, so i can guarantee you i wont be golfing. [laughter] but thats not the point. Thehe point is it was all a lie. He plays golf all the time. He owns golf courses. So when he told you he wouldnt play one day of golf, heres the worst part, he never meant it. He never meant it. Now, seriously, if character is destiny, how to do we reward that anymore its one thing to a mistake, its one thing to make a bad judgment, but when his whole life is about golf, when most of his profits are in owning golf courses and then he comes in front of you and says i wont play a day of golf as president , i dont care whether he plays 500 days of golf with. In fact, having him out of the of the oval office might actually be better than having him in it, but dont lie to me. Dont treat me like a fool and is tell me youll never play when you m have every intentionf doing it and, by the way, making the secret service stay at your hotel and pay the rates on the taxpayer dime. Let me tell you something, everybody, the grift from this family is breathtaking. Its breathtaking. Jared kushner and Ivanka Kushner walk out of the white house and months later get 2 billion from the saudis . 2 billion from the saudis. You think its because hes some kind of investing genius, or do you think its because he was sit next to the president of the United States for four years doingtr favors for the saudis . Thats your money. Thats your money he stole. And he gave it to his family. You know what that makes us . A banana republic. Thats what it makes us. So he may get 30 again. Im not sure. Maybe hell get more. Maybe hellth get less. But let me tell you what hell know in 2024 that he had no idea of in 2016, hes in for a a fight to get it. [applause] we cant ignore or the people in front of the flag for questions. [laughter] thank you, governor christie. Hi name t is jane torrance, im0 years old, ive had [inaudible] and im an advocate for those with feeding tubes and [inaudible] one of the things ive noticed is, for example, i just got a new prescription for my stomach. My mom and dad are as well. For them its 10. For me, its 480. We have the same insurance. What would you doo to insure tht the pharmaceutical industry would make it fair for those who are on the same meds but not have to pay four different prices . [applause] we have to find a balance in this country between two things, between you having to pay 4 80 when your parents are paying 10 and us not inventing any new medicines. I this think everybody goes to i think everybody goes to ebb treatments on these issues extremes. Some people dont want requirements on pharmaceutical companies and all thehe rest, jt let them do what theyre going to do, d and some people want to control prices and control what goes to the pharmaceutical industry. When covid happened, the hearn people American People got the treatments first and the vaccines first because we live here, because we have a pharmaceutical industry in this country that we support in this country that is changing the face of medical treatment here and throughout the world. But we get it first. Andoe we get it first because places like pfizer invested billions of dollars of their own money, not government money they didnt take any government money billions of dollars of their own money on a technology they didnt even mow exactly how they were going to use it. And when covid came, the mrna technology they were using turned out to help significantly in getting rid of the pandemic we have in this country. So im very concerned about us going to a system like canada or Great Britain where we we control prices, fix prices and we fix profits. Because then theres no reason to take risks. Our system is built on the idea that if you take risks, you may lose. But the you win, youll win big. And we should continue to have that incentive, i think, built in. However, let me tell you what drives me crazy and just one example of the waste. Let me assure the Major Pharmaceuticals in this country here is not there is not a man in this country who is 55 or older who doesnt know that you could take a pill for a certain problem. Okay . Like, if you watch football, baseball, hockey, basketball anywhere, we get it. Stop with all these commercials. Like, these r commercials drive you crazy. Ask your doctor for this treatment for cancer. How about this, id like my doctor to decide what i should take if i have cancer, if i have high blood pressure, if i have diabetes, if i have other medical issues. And these commercials and the waste of money on these commercials undercuts [inaudible] i dont think we need to be advertising drugs. We never did before. And everybody seemed to get the medicine they needed because the pharmaceutical Companies Went to the doctors, explained to the doctors what their medicine did, and and then the doctors decided for you or me when that would help my particular medical problem or yours. I really think if we stopped allowing advertising by the pharmaceutical companies for prescription iftm discussion, yu want to advertise for over the counter drugs that are relatively inexpensive, i got no problem with that. Tylenol, advil, any of the other the over the counter meds, allergy me sin, great. Lets say you like a particular drug that you see on tv. Hey, id like to try that, that seems pretty good. You cant go to the store and buy it. Youve got to convince your doctoring to write a prescription for you for it. I think this is an incredible waste, and i think there are other places where they waste as el as well, and i think thats where we have to get at. And and by telling them youve got to make a choice, if you want to keep advertising, keep advertising, but then were going to restrict your profitses. I my if theyre given that choice, i think well see a lot less commercials. And thats what annoys the American People. Its when you go home and you see the company that charged you 480 for that bottle of medicine now turning around and spending tens t of millions if not hundrs of millions of dollars on advertising every year. And the other thing to remember too is this, its not just the pharmaceutical companies. There is a real i evil agent in all of this, and those are the pharmacy benefit managers. Now, some people know who these people are, some people dont, but they are the middlemen between the farm suit to call industry and your local pharmacy whether at the local familyowned pharmacy or a cvs or wall greens or whatever it is. And the pharmaceutical industry gives hundreds of millions of dollars every year in discounts off of their drugs. Guess who keeps most of the discounts . The pharmacy benefit managers. They keep most of the discounts and pass this much on to you. And they are making a a fortune for literally doing nothing. Pharmaceutical company invent the drugs, the doctors prescribe the drugs, and these people in the middle are just pushing paper and moving medicine. And theyre making billions of dollars. Look at some of those stocks Like Cardinal Health and others who make a fortune. We need to have some common sense reform of that because for middlemen to be keeping the majority of those discounts that theli pharmaceutical Companies Give to try to decrease the rate that you pay at the counter, its just wrong. Its just wrong. And i dont know who their lobbyists are, but they must be pretty damn good because they fly under the radar screen. But they shouldnt. So those are two ideas that i have that could bringin those prices down while not destroying the ingenuity and the invent isiveness of the american pharmaceutical industry or which are changing lives every day and saving livese every day. So weve got to find that balance, but thats the way i would go about it. All right. Yes, maam. Thank you sofo much. Thank you and thanks for being here. My name is nancy ryan, and i live in lee, New Hampshire. I am New Hampshires field door nateer ford the National Breast cancer coordinator for the National Breast Cancer Coalition. And i really liked what you said about thinking big because that is exactly what the National Breast Cancer Coalition does. We want to end Breast Cancer for everyone. I dont know if you know this were going to leave this taped program, but you can finish watching it at cspan. Org. Senators are returning to the chamber following their party lunches, working on president bidens executive and judicial nominations. Youre watching live coverage on cspan2