presidential debate the candidates were fighting each other. i'm harris faulkner and you are in "the faulkner focus." with fewer people on the stage this time it was the third debate, everybody could have more talk time. some of it was pretty chippy. we learned a lot, though. like where they stand on the economy, abortion, foreign enemies, and former president donald trump. why it should be them instead of him. that was an interesting segment. and the spirited back and forth got pretty personal. >> do you want a leader from a different generation who will put this country first or want dick cheney in three inch heels? we have two of them on stage right now. >> i would like to say they're five inch heels and i don't wear them unless you can run in them. >> we have two of you on stage. >> the second stage i will say i wear heels not for a fashion statement, they're for ammunition. >> ambassador haley said i wasn't doing -- she welcomed them into south carolina, gave them land near a military base, wrote the chinese ambassador a love letter made fun of me for joining tiktok while her daughter was using the app for a long time. take care of your family first. here is the truth. >> if you didn't hear it clearly. the ambassador called him scum. in "focus" now voters voices. special panelists watched the debate and strong reaction to who did well and who didn't. the debate was in miami. bryan llenas reports now. >> the candidates spent much more time talking about the substantive issues than the frontrunner former president trump. former ambassador nikki haley and governor ron desantis attacked trump more aggressively than at other debates. >> donald trump is a lot different guy than he was in 2016. he should explain why he didn't drain the swamp and he said republicans were going to get tired of winning. we saw last night i'm sick of republicans losing. >> i think he was the right president at the right time. i don't think he is the right president now. i think that he put us $8 trillion in debt and our kids will never forgive us for that. >> the candidates also talked about how to counter democrats on the issue of abortion as president biden's campaign made clear they plan on putting abortion front and center in 2024. >> i am 100% pro-life voting record. as president of the united states i would have a 15-week national limit. >> we have had 60 senate votes in over 100 years. we might have 45 pro-life senators. no republican president can ban abortions any more than a democrat president can ban state laws. let's find consensus. >> on the issue of social security, chris christie and haley leveled are w voters that cuts were inevitable. >> any candidate that tells you that they are not going to take on entitlements is not being serious. right now you have ron and trump joining biden and pelosi saying they won't change or do any sort of entitlement reform. >> if we actually tame the tiger. you don't pick on seniors. >> when i say the seniors in america, promise made, promise kept. >> trump held a rally some ten miles away from the debate stage and explained why he feels like he just does not need to debate. >> i'm standing in front of tens of thousands of people right now and it's on television. that's harder to do than a debate. [cheers and applause] that's a lot harder. >> trump called the debate unwatchable. his campaign says he won't participate in the fourth debate but added a caveat, until he does. >> harris: we'll be hanging for the caveat as we always do to see if he will debate if everybody else. good to see you, bryan. we heard a lot of republican candidates last night and time to hear the voters' voices. let's get to our special panel today. dwayne who serves oz the chairman of the american latino coalition. rueben, i think they got these out of order. let's start with dwayne. hello and welcome. i think the prompter got it wrong. rueben, good to see you and thank you and yes, you are with the latino coalition. great to see you, dominic, you are here, good to see you, and dakota, our youngest voter, 18. your first presidential election that you are voting in. that will be exciting. diane is here with us today along with adrian. you were with me for election night, right? okay. let's get started. dwayne, i will start with you. who did well last night? >> i feel that desantis really asserted himself and gave presidential demeanor to him. ultimately none of the candidates really gave me a reason to feel excited about the future. they really didn't give me a reason we're moving toward something. overall i think desantis asserted himself and looked the most presidential on stage yesterday. >> harris: rueben. >> in the brief time i watched it. i didn't watch the whole debate. i got there a little late on it. a lot of friction, a lot of fighting. issues weren't brought up important to me. how about medicare and medicaid, what do we do about the budget? how are you finances that and find the fraud and abuse that exists in medicaid and medicare. i'm a 70-year-old man and being so as a senior, those are important issues especially in my latino community. with stay with our parents, our parents stay with us, christians also. for us to stay together it's important. with that in mind will we attack that? there are some solutions to that. we need to hear it from the right people. i have bone talking to a lot of people about that. >> harris: they got into social security but medicare and medicaid isn't something that was focused on. dominic, what didn't land well? >> i think haley disappointed me a little bit when she was being attacked by vivek. she seemed very frustrated and a little red in the face and called him scum and shut your voice. if she becomes elected she can have a lot more pressure than that. i would have liked to see her more calm and collected. her response was a moment of weakness for her. >> harris: dakota, who do you think didn't land as well last night? >> well, i definitely don't think chris christie had the same night he had in the past two debates. i don't think he has a chance anyway. at least in previous debates he was speaking from a position of confidence and like a person who doesn't have to worry about poll numbers. now it seemed as if he was weaker and more withdrawn. i think that reflects -- i don't know if i see him making it to the next debate stage. >> harris: you are from new jersey so you have watched chris christie be governor from when you have a little kid. so you've seen him at his best and you think last night was not one of his better performances. did he hurt himself last night? >> i don't really think that anybody really hurt themselves last night. i think everybody pandered to whom they were hoping to get to. that being said i think christie helped himself the least. i think that's going to reflect in the coming days. >> harris: you know, diane, i'm looking at the things you told us were so important. free speech. i think of ramaswamy's open last night against the media and let's watch a little bit. this is ramaswamy addressing the anti-israel protests and what he sees is a turning point for free speech on college campuses. let's watch. >> i think it's really important we do this through leadership, not censorship. leadership means fill the void with purpose and meaning. dilute the wokeism and anti-semitism to irrelevance. these kids don't know what they are talking about. they are fools. we don't quash it with censorship. we call it out through leadership. >> harris: how did he do there? >> i think he will be good to be a freedom czar. he is strong and direct in his point. however, i would not consider him for presidency because i believe he just came on the scene to the political spectrum and i believe that he still needs a few years of experience before he takes up that higher seat. but i think he has a great future. >> harris: that's interesting. a freedom czar. that would be really interesting to have now during the biden administration. that person would be busy. all right. adrian. you are focusing right now on the war in israel. what stood out last night that worked for you from the candidates on that topic? >> well, i thought all of them pretty much pro-israeli. they did a good job expressing their opinions on what they think should happen with the war. some of them differed in how. chris christie was more trying to say that he thinks that maybe we don't go into israel directly, you know, where as people like ron desantis we have to go in and obliterate hamas. they differed in that respect. >> harris: i didn't hear anybody directly say that we would get involved if that war but that israel had the right to obliterate them. i am curious to know, because it was talked about so much after the elections on tuesday, who did well on abortion? dwayne, what do you think? >> i think nikki haley actually did pretty well because she spoke to, i think, the middle of the issue. someone i believe that women should have the right to choose but also understanding we don't want to encourage people to make bad decisions. we want to make sure we are getting this country back to a family environment. she spoke to the middle saying listen. we can't make your policy work completely. we don't have the votes and the democrats don't have the votes as well. let's find common ground and go toward the european structure to make sure people have access but also make sure that as a society we are not encouraging bad behavior. >> harris: articulating the point is something that donald trump has been very critical of with the republican candidates. he says that they have not been able to articulate well. she has done it across two debates, the first one and last night where she made the same type of argument you are making there and you say it stuck. i want to show everybody the closing remarks from each of them. parts of that. let's watch. >> i do not just want to win the battle against joe biden. i want us together to win the war, the war for our christian conservative values that changed my life. >> i'm running for president of the united states because i'm tired of seeing the division. >> we're in the middle of a war here at home between those of us who believe in our founding ideals and love this country, and a fringe minority who hate the united states of america. >> the world is on fire. it is very important that we know how to defend our freedoms and how to defeat terrorism and socialism. >> we must reverse our country's decline. it will require leadership. i will take the hits, i will take the arrows, i will take the barbs because it is not about me, it is about you. >> harris: dominic, your response to that. who nailed it and who didn't? >> i think it was by far the best debate of the three. as a registered independent i'm trying to be fair with my views. senator scott knocked it out of the park with his closing statement. >> harris: what did he say that you liked? >> i like bring back faith. i like the idea of people earning their lifestyle as opposed to just everything being given away which our country is doing. come back to the roots of america. working hard, family. he impressed me last night. >> harris: when you said it was the best debate of the three everybody nodded. dakota, quickly, your first presidential time to vote. why did that work so well last night? what happened? fewer people, too. >> fewer people. i feel like they focused oh more on issues. it wasn't so much mudslinging, a symptom of larger debates but they were focused on the issues that mattered to me and the american people more broadly. >> harris: anybody else have something? show of hands. how many people last night thought those candidates were ready to take on democrats on the issue of abortion? it was definitely going to be a driver for that side of the political aisle and their voters. no one. how much work do they have to do, last quick one, adrian? >> yeah, they can't agree with what happened with the abortion issue. all the federal government did was take away the right for states -- sorry all they did was say that states should have the right to, you know, deal with this rather than keeping it as a federal issue. i don't think that message has been explained or said clearly and the republicans should probably try to make that a little more clear. >> harris: you have a last word? >> i believe the reason that they are not being relatable in regards to this topic is simply because they are not relating to the issues of women. i think they are more reading the issues by text and they are not really allowing themselves to interact with women who have been in this situation or who are going to face this situation. i think they need to get their hands on -- boots on the ground and really go into some of these centers, perhaps have some interaction with women who have either have had this happen to them or who will face this in the future and they will be able to be not abell have a better judgment but they will be able to bring a solution that will be more fitted for everyone. >> harris: what i appreciate about what you just said it doesn't have to be a woman giving that message but it is interesting, dwayne, it was a woman who gave a message that resonated like that. that connective tissue with voters can come from anybody. they need to lean in according to what you are saying. fantastic to have you guys always. you rock, thank you very much, the voters' voices. the humanitarian crisis in gaza right now is pretty unreal to watch. some hamas leaders are billionaires, many times over. and let me tell you they are living in the lap of luxury while the people they are supposed to care about are suffering and dying because of what they started with the massacre on october 7th against the israeli citizens. the united states responding to repeated attacks now finally. it's been 21 days since we did everything and we've been attacked 42 times. finally it's responding for only a second time to those attacks by iranian-backed forces with an air strike last night. is biden's administration even close to getting the job done? 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[ting] ♪ live in the moment. ask your doctor about otezla. >> harris: here is what's happening on national security spokesman john kirby just saying the administration believes that israel will begin to implement four-hour pauses in areas of northern gaza. that's where the heaviest fighting has gone on and concentrated on killing the hostage-taking serial killers, hamas. they'll do that four-hour pause each day with an announcement to be made three hours beforehand. gives the enemy a healthy heads up. we'll see how it goes after day one. israel is going farther inside gaza. remember they surrounded that area on three sides already this week. now they are pushing their way forward. the israeli defense force says hamas has lost control after 50,000 people evacuated through the humanitarian corridor which the israelis were protecting with their tanks. israel says its military has destroyed 130 hamas tunnels and killed a top arms maker there. those are big developments. earlier today the idf hit two of hezbollah's anti-tank terrorist cells in lebanon. that's on the northern border of israel. so it's basically like one and a half fronts. they aren't on the ground in lebanon but they are shooting at each other. israel said hezbollah operatives opened fire on an idf drone before the attack. back and forth but from a distance and from the air. the united states delivering what some say was a delayed response to continuous attacks by terrorists paid and trained by iran. last night the u.s. launched its second round of air strikes against iran-backed groups. one of those strikes took out a weapon storage facility in syria. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell said this. >> i welcomed yesterday's strike on iranian facility in syria, it will probably take more than striking ammunition warehouses to restore the deterrents the biden administration's policies have actually squandered. >> harris: this is mitch mcconnell a short time ago and he is right about that. look at how many times we've been hit. two american strikes, both in syria, going after weapons depots and equipment of an iran-backed proxies but we've been hit 42 times for american troops in 21 days. we hit them twice. a couple of buildings from the air. the easiest thing we could do. fox business's edward lawrence is at the white house this morning. more on that if you have it. >> you talked about it. the u.s. strikes back. immense pressure on president joe biden to respond on this and you did talk about that. just look at the imbalance on this map. since october 17, '42 times iranian proxies have struck u.s. positions and iranian proxy in yemen shot down a reaper drone over the red sea. one attack on two targets several weeks ago and a message of don't. that didn't seem to resonate with american proxies but last night the president order air strikes on the weapons warehouse. >> why do you strike iran's revolutionary guard? >> president biden: because they struck us. >> it was a warehouse they struck. a senior defense department official said it housed rockets or drones or artillery shells calling what was in the warehouse bad things. >> we're not looking for a war with iran but do what we have to do to protect our troops and forces. so these proxies groups and the irgc have a choice to make. we struck again last night and we'll do it again if we feel like we need to. >> mike pompeo says president biden refusing to call out iran and going after softer targets still gives proxies a green light. >> my experience is this is anything but a strong response. you lay it against the context of 40 plus strikes attacking american soldiers and civilians inside these countries and we go after a munitions dump. >> he would like to see