Transcripts For FOXNEWSW Democracy 20240704

Can. Welcome to columbia, South Carolina, we have a crowd, arent primary is less than a week away, 50 delegates cup are grabs, winnertakeall. Evening, former South Carolina governor and former u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations nikki haley is with us. First, a look at some of the headlines that were following. Former President Trump slamming a new york judge for fining him more than 350 million in his civil fraud if trial and banning him from Running Companies in the state for three years. The former president denied overvaluing his properties on financial statements. He says that the ruling will make businesses leave new york. Listen here. The decision yesterday in new york, you may have read about it, crooked judge, crooked judge. [background sounds] hes a crooked judge. By a radical leftwing judge was a lawless and unsal a atrocity. Its a sham case. There were no vix, no defaults, no damages, no complaints, no nothing. There was nothing. John President Biden apparently mixing up ukraine and nato as he was making the case for more military aid to that country. Watch here. So its about time we make sure that Congress Come home, pass the legislation funding nato. John and A Positionman For Russian Opposition Activist Alexei Naval is demanding the Government Hand over his body, Accusing Moscow of lying about how he died. The Prison Service says navalny felt sick and passed out after taking a walk. A spokesman calls it murder. Alexei navalny was just 47 years old. All right, lets bring in the former South Carolina governor and u. N. Ambassador, nikki haley. [cheers and applause] governor its good to spend time on with you oneonone. Youve been in the studio on occasion, but its good to spend a good amount of time with you. Thank you. Its a great day in South Carolina. Welcome. Wouldnt john always enjoy South Carolina. [applause] weve got a number of questioners who are going to ask questions, some of them have already decided to vote for you, some of them havent is. Some of them are on the fence including this young man, asa forest, hes from greenville. Hes a senior in high school. Hes leaning toward voting for you, so well see if you can close that deal. His first time voting, by the way, folks. He turned 18 just in september. [applause] asa, take it away. Hey. What message do you plan on sending to putin and other World Leaders when you get into office about the United States position in World Affairs . I think the first thing you need to know is were so proud of you that youre going to be voting. This is going to be the first time youve really shown the power of your voice at the ballot box, so thats a great moment for you. The second thing ill say is, look, when you look at what putin has done, we have to remember russia is not our friend. If putins mouth is open, he is lying. And if we need to be aware of that. And i think thats why it was so damaging when trump said that he would choose putin and actually encourage putin to invade nato allies instead of standing with our allies that stood with us at 9 11. Putin knows exactly what he did with navalny. You look at that situation, this is what he always does. He murders his political opponent, he a arrests american journalists and holds them hostage, and he has made no bones about the fact that he wants to destroy america. And so the best thing we can do with russia is let them know were on to them and make sure they know well hold them to account on anything they do, and that the includes are hurting our allies. Thank you. [applause] john [inaudible] you have been very critical of what former President Trump said about nato. A number of years ago when he was trying to encourage countries and really trying to twist their arms and get them to spend 2 of their gdp if on defense. In terms of his comments about i would let russia do whatever the hell hay wanted to you, the secretarygeneral, jens stoltenberg, of nato was asked about that last week and he said, quote the criticism that we hear is not primarily about nato, its about nato allies not pending enough on nato. Thats a salad point, and its a point on valid point, and its been conveyed by successive u. S. Administrations. The european allies and canada have to spend more because we havent seen burdensharing in the alliance. I remember there was a lot of Pearl Clutching and handwringing back then when president was leaning on other countries. Jens stoltenberg was quite happy because suddenly billions of dollars was coming over to help fund its defense. Well, and ill say that i will absolutely put the hammer on our nato countries that they do have to carry their weight. But you do that behind closed doors. You let them know that the United States is not going to carry the burden. You dont do it in the eyes of our enemies. Right now nato has been a 75year success story. We havent had war in the region because theyve stood so strong. Russias actually very intimidated by nato. Chinas intimidated by nato. But the one thing we dont do is we dont leave our Brothers And Sisters who make us strong. With we dont separate ourselves from our friends In The Name Of trying to appease an enemy. Thats what the europeans did, and thats whats gotten them into this situation in the first place, is they tried to appease russia. Instead we should be strong about russia, we should make sure we tell our partners its in their best interests and the alliances best interests to pull their own weight, and we should make them do that. Theres a way to do it the right way and theres a way to do it the wrong way. And the way trump did it, by saying he was going to encourage putin to invade our allies, thats the wrong way, and it makes the situation much more dangerous. John youve said in recent days that the former president is siding with a thug. However, in an interview with cbs, may 6th, 2018, you said this of the former president i dont think that people are fair if to what the president has done because, first of all, russia a has been a tough friend to have. Hes given Military Equipment to ukraine. He basically expelled 60 russian spies which no other country has done. He beefed up our military, beefed up our energy system, all of which russia doesnt want. He keeps kicking them constantly. Thats a very different description of donald trump than youve been giving in the last few days. But the point is this is not personal about donald trump. This is the about whats right for the United States. And when you look, there were a lot of things that donald trump did well. Putting sanctions on them was a good thing. We wanted to make sure we gave missiles and equipment to ukraine so they could defend themselves. Those were all good. There were things that he did pg wrong. His Press Conferences in helsinki when he was trying to buddy up with pilot, i called him out for that. I explain that deeply in my book with, how he was completely wrong because every time he was in the same room with him, he got weak in the knees. We cant have a president that gets weak in the knees with putin. We have to have a thats going to be strong with putin in every sense of the word. And so what we saw was inconsistencies. And whats worse is i was really proud of trump when he gave that equipment to ukraine to defend themselves. I am crind by disappointed in trump that now hes walked all of that a back and now hes actually putting the ukraine in harms way which is putting the United States in harms way. Lets not forget, putin said once he takes ukraine, poland and the baltics are next. If that happens, those are nato countries, that puts america at war. That is what were trying to prevent. We have to prevent war. John all right. Another question from one of our esteemed audience member, janet from columbia. He says that she is voting for you. Shes retired, shes 64 years old. Janet, take it away. John roberts, did you have to tell my age . [laughter] hi, janet. John i apologize. No worries. Welcome back to columbia, governor. Thank you. Goo good to see you again good to see you again. My question is regarding our borders. Right now they are wide open, and taxpayers are forced to pay for all the living and social services for people that have illegally entered our country. How will you stop and then reverse all the illegal immigration . Thank you for that question. You know, our borders right now is a Huge National security threat, and i think that lets go back to what we did together in South Carolina. When i was governor, we passed the toughest illegal Immigration Law in the country. President obama if sued us other it, and we won. We need to take what we did in South Carolina and go national with it. 8. 5 million Illegal Immigrants have crossed that border. Weve had nor fentanyl across the border that would kill every single american. Number one cause of death for adults 1845, or fentanyl. And dont think for a second china doesnt know what theyre doing when they send it over. So we would do a national everify program that would require every business to prove that the people they hire are in this country legally. We will defund Sanctuary Cities once and for all. No more safe havens in america. Well put 25,000 Border Patrol and i. C. E. Agents on the ground and let them do their job. We will go back to the remain in mexico policy so so that no with one even steps foot in the u. S. And instead of cash and catch and release, well go to catch and deport. That is what will happen at the border. But, john, lets talk about what didnt happen last week. Here was an opportunity for congress to go and pass something that would have secured our border. Now, the bill that was, that came forward was not perfect. The thing it did right, it strengthened asylum laws. We have to do that. 3 million Illegal Immigrants came urn trumps watch because our asylum laws werent strong enough. The thing that was weak is it didnt have the remain in mexico policy, and it had a 5,000person threshold. We cant allow a 1person threshold. But the problem is that Congress Needs to go in there and stay in d. C. Until they figure it out and get it right. We cant wait one more day to secure that border. But the other side is President Trump [applause] but the other side is President Trump went and told the republicans, dont pass anything until the general election. We cant wait on that. Americas acting like its september 10th. We better remember what September 12th felt like. It only takes one person for a 9 11 moment. And instead, congress has left, they have gone on break for two weeks, and that is wrong on everyones part. Congress needs to get in a room and figure it out and do it the right way, and President Trump needs to stay out of it and let us secure our border. [cheers and applause] john if i could, governor, on that point, President Trump said in michigan yesterday to workers that the biggest threat that they face not necessarily from china, not necessarily from putin, but from people coming across the southern border who will take their jobs. And a lot of people are wondering, what would you do to stop people from coming across the border illegally . And further porks what would you do with the some 16. 8 Million People who currently are in this country illegally . I remember debating this back in 2012 when there were half that number. I think the first thing is exactly what i just said in terms of closing off the border. Thats hugely important. The second thing is understanding that we dont have to choose between supporting ukraine and israel and securing the border. Securing the borders priority number one, but we can do both of those at the same time, and thats really important that people understand that as well. But ill also say that goes to the heart of you should see the commercials donald trump is running in South Carolina. If hes saying that im not for securing the border. Well, first of all, if we pass the toughest illegal Immigration Law in the country when i was governor of South Carolina, we absolutely want to secure the border. And if you want to protect peoples jobs, the first thing you do is dont let them cut the line. But if hes going to lie about a me, im going to tell the truth about a him. [laughter] [applause] donald trump needs to answer whether he thinks putin is responsible for navalny. Donald trump needs to answer to the fact that why hid did he propose an 18centpergallon gas increase in 2018 when he was president . Why is he saying hes not going to touch Social Security so by the time he leaves everybodys going to get a 24 cut . Those are legitimate questions that we should be asking. We all deserve that right. Why is he saying now hes going to tax every American Family by increasing tariffs on all the goods from anything on anything from Baby Stroarls to appliances . Theyre going to cost every American Family more than 2800 a year. Those are the questions we need to answer. I would ask him myself but he wont debate me. [laughter] [applause] john governor, we will talk about Social Security and the plans that you have to reform if it coming up. But when we come back, were going to take a quick break now, Ambassador Haley on the age question thats plaguing her opponents and how she plans to close the polling gap with less than one week to go until primary day here in her home state of South Carolina. Stay with us, dont go away. [cheers and applause] who do you think is going to win . Ni e kki better win. If not here, afterwards on big tuesday. Is there an issue thats most important to you . There are many issues, as you know, but character comes number one. Weve got a person whos going to be honest with you, whos going to get things done and is not going to be creating crazy e things just off the cuff that get the country upset. We need some competence in the whit my name is sister monica claire. Because of tiktok, ive created a community where people can feel safe asking questions about spirituality. I try to provide a really accessible way of them learning about religion and spirituality, thats not intimidating. 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[cheers and applause] john welcome back to our South Carolina town hall with republican president ial candidate nikki haley. All right, we are on now to talk about the campaign and and some of your opponent as a well. Next up weve got becky. Shes from here in columbia, South Carolina. She says that shes voting for governor haley. She is a former teacher and a current sales associate. Becky, go ahead. Thank you. Governor haley, were so proud if to have you back in our state for a while. Thank you. Ive always thought that running for office is a right and not a privilege. What would you say to the naysayers who have made such negative comment regarding your continuing this president ial race . Its interesting because, you know, i look at where we started. There were 14 candidates in the race. Weve defeated a dozen of the fell a las. I just have one more fella to catch up. To. [cheers and applause] and through it all there have been naysayers, and thats okay. Im used to being an underdog. I was an underdog when i ran for office the first time and defeated the longest serving legislator in a primary. I was the underdog when i was one of five candidates that a ran a for governor. Im okay being the underdog now. But the issue is if you look at the fact that we started at 2 , in iowa we got 20 , then we went to New Hampshire and we got 43 of the vote. But the night that we got 43 of the vote 43 of the vote, President Trump literally became unhinged and went on a temper tantrum. And all he did was talk about revenge. And then the next day he said anybody who supported me was barred permanently from maga. Now, think about that. A president a candidate for president should want to bring people in. Its about a addition. Its not pubbing people out of your club can pushing people out of your club. And then the day after that he pushed the rnc to name him the presumptive nominee, and he got pushback on that. We dont anoint kings in this country. [applause] we let the people vote. [applause] but what bothered me about that and what i wish people would have focused on is through all of that, trump never talked about the American People. He never talked about the fact were 34 trillion in debt. He never talked about the fact that only 31 of eighth graders in our country are proif efficient in reading proficient in reading. Never talked about an open border that was out of control, the lawlessness in our cities, and he never talked about the wars around the world. All he did was talk about himself. So the naysayers can say what the naysayers are gonna say. But we are working every ounce of this state because i think we have a country to save. And i dont think this should be about any person, i think it should be about the american peep. And were going people. And were going to continue to make this about the American People until we get this done. [cheers and applause] john governor, a quick question, if i could, about where you sit now just eight a days away from folks voting. Youve got 43 of the vote, as you said is, in New Hampshire. You did better than a lot of people expected, but you also said of that second place finish, i need to show im building momentum. Certainly South Carolina has to be better than what i did in minnesota. The closest in New Hampshire. The closest that a poll has gotten you to donald trump is you at 38 . Most of the polls have you in the 20s. How do you make up that ground between now and next saturday . They said we were 30 points down in New Hampshire, and we gained 25 points in the last three weeks of that election. This is the time when people are starting to care. What we have told everybody is general elections youre given a choice. In a primary if you make your choice. This is the about getting every Single Person out to vote in this primary if because this is our opportunity. If you look, if you want to talk about a poll, this is the poll ill talk to you about 70 of americans right now say they dont want biden or trump in this election. The majority of americans disapprove of joe biden, the majority of americans disapprove of donald trump. Both of those men put us trillions of dollars in debt that the our kids are never going to forgive us for. And are we really going to put our, all of our problems and issues in the hands of two 80yearolds running for president . We need someone who can serve eight years fully working, fully disciplined and ready to get the job done. Finish we cant go and and take the chance of doing this with two 80yearolds. Think about pilots. Pilots have a limit. If they go and you have to be 65, and then you stop. Look at the military. They have a limit. How are we we going to continue to do in this . Its why ive pushed hard for congress and everyone else to have to do Mental Competency tests for anyone over the age of 75. Its not because im being disrespectful, its because these people are Making Decisions on the future of our economy. Theyre Making Decisions on our national security. We need to know theyre at the top of their game. And you look at the World On Fire right now and so Many American families out of sorts, weve got to get this right. And so thats, thats what i think. Thats the poll that were talking about, those are the people im fighting for. And at the end of the day, were going to keep Touching Every hand, answering every question and make sure we do everything we can to earn every South Carolinians vote. Jon all right [applause] want to go to another, another question from the audience here. John heir began is a retired teacher. He is undecided. John, where are you . Thank you very much. Hi, john. Governor haley, if you were elected president , would you pardon donald trump if he was convicted of a crime in Federal Court . Well, thank you for that question. You know, if youre talking about pardoning trump, its not a matter of innocence or guilt at that point because that means he would have already been found guilty. I believe in the best interest of bringing the country together, i would pardon donald trump. Because i think its important for the country to move on. Weve got to leave the negativity and the baggage behind. I dont want this country divided any further. I dont think its in the best interests for america to have an 80yearold president sitting in yale and having everybody upset about it in jail. I think this would be the time that we would need to move forward and get this out of the way. [applause] john [inaudible] the president is facing in new york city with the fraud case, the alvin bragg case, what we see happening in Fulton County with now the District Attorney and the Special Prosecutor he hired in the spotlight. Do you believe whats happening to the president healey in some cases legally in some cases is fair in. I think its been chaos. But thats e what we see, chaos just follows him everywhere he goes. And and is some of this has been very politically motivated. We see that for what it is. Some of it has not been fair. Some hes going to have to defend himself, and were going to find out whether, you know, theres something behind it or not. But the problem is this is someone were talking about could win the republican nomination, and hes going to be in court march and april, may and june. He, by his own words, said hes going to be spending more time in court than he is on the campaign trail. Thats a problem. Republicans will not win if donald trump is the nominee. Its not going to happen. Every poll shows that he cant beat with biden. Some are down by 5, some are down by 7. On his best day its margin of error. Im in every one of those same general election polls, and i defeat biden by up to 17 points. When you look at that, thats the focus we need to have. What good is saying we want to go fix our country if we dont win . We have to win to get that done. Because there will be a female president of the United States. It will either be me, or it will be kamala harris, and and thats the focus that we have to have. [applause] john President Trump did say if hes in court all day, hell campaign at a night. I followed him for six years, he probably [laughter] no. I mean, he says if hes in court all day, hell campaign at a night. Hes not campaigning a lot now. And the problem is you look at the fact that not only that, hes using 50 million of his Campaign Contributions to pay for his personal court cases. And all of those have barely gotten started. Now im worried with hes going to start taking the rnc and using that as his piggybank for his legal fees, and we have a house and senate that weve got to make sure we keep the majorities in. That is my concern. This is not personal about donald trump. I voted for him twice. I was proud to serve america in his administration. This is about the fact that republicans cannot afford to lose. And i know he sees that. He knows the polls. He knows the court cases. He knows how much more money hes going to have to pay just in attorney fees. And we cant be distracted. We all know when americas distracted, the world is less safe, and that is literally playing out right as we speak. John governor, weve still got plenty to get to. When we come back, more questions from voters on some of the most pressing domestic issues that are facing our nation. Stay with us, well be back. [cheers and applause] well, i wouldnt believe the polls, and im not smart enough to make projections, but i think as more and more people hear her, the better and better shes going to do. 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[applause] jon welcome back to our South Carolina town hall with republican president ial candidate nikki haley. Now to more questions from our audience today. Lets go to jackson. He is a Broadcast Journal Isism Major at the university of South Carolina journalism major. Jackson, you say you have not made up your mind yet about who youre going to vote for, and i assume that your vote will turn on whatever the governor says in response to your question. [laughter] well, well see. Maybe ill be up there with you someday. Oh. Hi, jackson, how are you . Good. Good to see you, governor. As a college student, im having to go to the Grocery Store on my own now and do more adult things. Im noticing when i leave the Grocery Store with two bags, ive spent 100 more or. How are or more. How are woe we going to bring those costs back down . I worry about your generation. My kids both are in their 20s, and if you look at the challenges that they go through, look at the years that heavy had whether d theyve had whether it was covid, but now theyre worried about all this debt that has been piled on, and they wonder how theyre going to be responsible for it. They worry about how theyre going to be able to buy a home. The average home buyer in america now is 49 years old. The American Dream is leaving them. Theyre worried about whether theyre going to be able to get a job with. And so these are real issues. Theyre worried about they have a fear of war. All of these things, i know what youre feeling. And so ill tell you when it comes to the economy, you first have to look at how you got there to know how youre going to fix it. Here, under donald trump he put Us 8 Trillion in debt in just 4 years. He claims it was covid. Less than 25 of that was covid. Finish the first thing we have to understand is republicans and democrats put us into this mess. And weve got to call em both out for getting us out of this mess. Whether it was the spending, whether its the borrowing, when its all of the things that theyve done, we are 34 trillion in debt. Were having to borrow money just to make our Interest Payments. China owns some of that debt. For the first time, were paying more in Interest Payments than we are on our dependence budget. You know who pays attention to that . Russia, china and iran. So weve not to start pulling out of that. The way we do that is we start with our economy, we claw back the 100 billion of unspent covid dollars that are still sitting out there. Ing instead of 87,000 irs agents going after middle america, go after the hundreds of billions of dollars of covid fraud, one out of every 7 was spent fraudulently. If 8 of our budget is interest, quit borrowing. Cut up the credit cards. You have to balance a budget every day, i had to balance a budget as governor. Why is congress the only group with that refuses to balance a budget . Well stop the spending, well stop the borrowing, well eliminate their pet projects, and ill veto any Spending Bill that that doesnt take us back to precovid levels. That will save us trillions. Well take as many federal programs as we can and send them down to the state revel. That will dramatically reduce the size of the federal government and empower people on the ground. Think education, think health care, think welfare, think mental health. We cut the strings and send that down, and every state can customize it. Then we need to open up the middle class. Well cut taxes on the middle class, well simplify those brackets. Well make sure that we eliminate the federal gas and diesel tax in this country, or and well make Small Business tax cuts permanent. Small businesses are the heartbeat of our economy. We need to start acting like it. And then the main thing we can do to bring down costs is lets expand our Energy Sector. We need to take our Energy Sector and turn it into an economic powerhouse. Right now the epa a spends more time focusing on Sagebrush Lizards than they do about whether we can afford our utility bill with. [laughter] [applause] if we need to speed up permitting, open up the pipelines, export as much liquified natural a gas as we can, do nuclear power. All of those things. When we do that, we will bring with down inflation, we will also pay down our debt, and thats when youll start to feel a little lighter, and the groceries will feel a bit deeper. [applause] john governor, we should note that the protected projected federal deficit for fiscal year 24 is . 5 trillion which is just sigh of 1. 5 trillion. A lot of people say the only way you could ever balance the budget would be to reform things like medicare, medicaid and Social Security, which brings us to our next question. Weve got leah up. She works in digital marketing. Whats your question . Hi, leah, how are you . Good evening. Theres a trump ad running that i believe is false and exaggerated, and i would like you to set the record straight on the age group that would be impacted by our Social Security plan. What are your plans for your for Social Security . Thank you for that question, and its once again trump lying about my record, and i will say this, if you have to lie to win, you dont deserve to win, period. [cheers and applause] on top of doing all these things that we talked about with the economy, we also have to acknowledge some hard truths. Social security will go bankrupt in 10 years. Medicare will go bankrupt in 8. Putting our head in the sand is not going to fix that problem. Finish Donald Trumps has said hes not going to touch it. Joe biden said hes not going to touch it. You know what that does when they leave office . Thats a 24 cut for everybody in their benefits. That is unacceptable. The accountant in me says you get in front of an issue, so the first thing we need to do is tell everybody if you are informed in the system invested in the system, if you are looking to get something, were not touching you. America should keep her promises, and were going to keep that promise to you. But the way we deal with those is we go to those like my kids in their 20s, and we tell them that coming into the system were going to have to change the rules for them. Well is are to change the Retirement Age to reflect Life Expectancy for them. Instead of Cost Of Living increases, well do increases based on inflation. Well cap the benefits on the megawealthy, and well expand Medicare Advantage plans which seniors love that create more competition. Once we do that not only can we make sure that you have what youre expecting, but we can also make sure our kids have something so that when hair time comes, theyve their time comes, theyve got something there for them. Thats the way well take it on. You have to address it. You cant ignore it just for a vote are. Youve got to just peek if hard truths to people but let them know weve got a solution as we go forward in that process. [applause] jon john so let me push you a little bit, if i could. At what age would Social Security start . Youve said 65 a is way too low in terms of your future plans. I didnt say that. John you said i said 65 is way too low for those john thats what i said in terms of future plans. Right. John in 1935 when Social Security was enacted, the average male lived to be 58, the average a woman 62. The Retirement Age was 65. So predominantly, most americans were not expected to ever collect Social Security. By that metric with the current average Life Expectancy of 77, you shouldnt start Social Security until youre 84. So [laughter] what would be a good age, a reasonable age in your plan for people to start collecting Social Security . Well, it would be irresponsible to just throw an age out there. John youre an accountant. You know this stuff. I john youre not an act a chew barrel,. No, but accountants know of you have to look at all the numbers. You have to look at exactly what youre dealing with, what the debt is, what youre focused on raising in the process and how much thats going to cost. I think weve got to do our homework. Weve got to do this right, and you cant throw an age out there. What you can say is for those coming up in their 20s, we do know that 65 when youre looking at Life Expectancy is not the same as what it was when they started this. And so were going to have to figure that out. But the goal is to make sure they have something too. Its not to leave them high and dry, its to make sure we hold on to the people that are in the system now, and we fix it going forward. When we were in when i was governor in South Carolina, we had a Pension Reform System that was going bankrupt, like so many different states around the country. And what we did is we expect didnt touch people that were in the system. We went to the new State Employees that were coming in and said were going to change the rules for you. This is the same thing. And youve not to figure out what those numbers are. But the bottom line is at least were going to fix it as opposed to act like its not a problem. I think thats the problem thats gotten us here, and is we also have to get on to congress no more raiding is Social Security. Because theyre the ones that keep doing this. They keep spend money that they shouldnt be spending. [applause] john i was going to say, youve got to [inaudible] get congress onboard. They dont want to touch it. Governor, more big issues to tackle like abortion and crime coming up next. Dont go away. God. We take this moment just to give you thanks. We thank you for this time to come together as a family, as friends, and as a country. Help us, lord, especially this lent, to grow closer to you. Amen. Join us in prayer this lent. On hallow. Stay prayed up. 3, 4 hey are you ready for me are you ready are you ready i bought the team kevin. . I put it on my Chase Freedom Unlimited card. And im gonna cashback on a few other things too starting with the sound system. Thats caaaaaaaaash. Cashback like a pro with Chase Freedom Unlimited. How do you cashback . This is carvana. And so is this. And this is how you can sell us your car. Visit carvana, enter your License Plate or vin, answer a few questions. And our powerful technology will give you a real offer in seconds. Then set A Time For Us to pick it up and pay you on the spot. Boom. Thats carvana. Sell your car the easy way with carvana. [applause] john and were back with our South Carolina town hall with republican president ial candidate nikki haley. Thank you all for being with us to the. Today. Coming up next, we have andrew from here in columbia with a question. Andrew. Hi, andrew. Thank you, governor. The overturning of rojas singlehandedly unified the masses against the Republican Party contributing to a republican loss in every election since 2016. The Singular Topic of abortion has even the most rightleaning moderates willing to reelect the current president for the fear of further restrictions. What can be done now to try and bring these voters back to the republican side to have ballot . Its a great question. You know, the first thing is you have to treat it with the respect it deserves. The issue of life and abortion is personal for every woman and if every man, and we need to treat it that way. I think it was right that its no longer in the hands of unelected justices and that now its in the hands of the people. I personally am unapologetically prolife not because the Republican Party tells me to be, but because my husband was adopted, and i had trouble having both of my children. But i dont judge anyone if for being prochoice any more than i want you to judge me for being prolife. Were watching now these states are making their decisions. Some states are going more prolife. I welcome that. Some states have gone more on the choice side. The people decided. But when youre talking about a federal law, you have to tell the American People the truth. In order for us to pass a federal law, you have to have a majority of the house, 60 senate votes and a signature of a president. We havent had 60 republican senators in over 100 years. We might have 45 prolife senators. So no republican president can ban abortion any more than a democrat president can ban these state laws. So what can we do . If lets find consensus. Lets say lets ban late term the abortions. Lets encourage adoptions and good quality adoptions. Lets say doctors and nurses who dont believe in abortion shouldnt have to perform them. Lets make contraception accessible. And lets say no state law is going to a say to a woman who got an abortion that shes going to jail or getting the death penalty. [applause] lets come together [inaudible] [applause] this issue has been demonized for too long. Democrats have put fear in women, and republicans have used judgment. There is no place for fear or judgment with something this important. I had a roommate in college who was raped. I wouldnt wish on anyone that they go through what she went through wondering if she was pregnant. Everybody has a story. Lets be respectful of their story, and thats how im going to handle it going forward. [applause] john all right, governor. Our next question comes from avery, an 18yearold who works on the family farm. Its your first time voting as well. What do you want to ask the governor . [applause] hi, North Carolina key. Let me just say, when you were governor, we moved 35,000 people from welfare to work. You didnt just save life lives, you saved futures and generation as well. [applause] and many democrat cities across the country you can pretty much get away with stealing anything you want with out of a store without any repercussions. How can you as a governor insure that Small Businesses have a right to protect their property . Its really important that we watch out for Small Businesses. I grew up in a Small Business. Theyre the ultimate survivors. They have to be flexible, they have to deal with whatever the situation is. I started doing the books for the Family Business when i was 13, and i remember when times were tough, we got smart, we got creative, we hunkered down. And when times were good, we didnt celebrate because we knew the bad times were happening again. We need to have the backs of Small Businesses. When it comes to the lawlessness happening in these cities, we cant just say we have the back withs of law enforcement. Look at whats happening. Law enforcement, theyre risking their lives to arrest people, and then theyre watching these prosecutors and these judges let em out the very next day. The first thing we need to do is we need our judges to prosecute according to the law. We need our prosecutors to do their job. And we need to end Sanctuary Cities so we dont have any more illegal activity. When we start to do that, thats how well make sure Small Businesses feel safe again, and then well get some regulations out of the way too to help them out. [applause] john governor, real quick followup to that. As president , how do you do that . Those are states issues. One of the things that i will do is president s typically meet with their governors once a year. Ill meet with our governors once a quarter, republican and and democrat, with the sole purpose of when we send those funds down to the state level, supporting them in what works best for their state. You know, when he talks about welfare to work, we had thousands of people on welfare. I took what was they were going to be getting welfare. We matched them up with businesses. I told our businesses if you will take this person and if train them for x number of weeks, ill pay for that. And at the end of it, you decide if you want to hire them. Thats how we moved 35,000 people from welfare to work. Its not that people dont want jobs. Sometimes they dont know how to get the training. We did the harder work. These were generational cycles that they had always been on welfare, and we had family Celebration Withs so the kids could see that their parents now had a great job. But it also showed the parents that they could be productive again. Our focus has to be on lifting up everybody. When you do that, thats when magic happens. [applause] john i mean, this was an idea that was born in the Clinton Administration and recently was brought with back up again, got a tremendous amount of opposition. Now to noah, Vice President at the university of South Carolina, a College College republicans. Go gamecocks. [laughter] [applause] go tigers, gotta say it. [laughter] [applause] thank you, governor. Thank you. In general, the gop has largely ignored genz and firsttime voters. What why do you think this is, and what would you do to make sure our voices are heard . I think its a mistake. And recently a poll came out that should shock everybody that 58 of genzers are not planning on voting in this election. If and the only reason people dont vote is when they think no ones listening, and thats a problem. I, on the other hand, think yall are going if to be the generation that saves us. You know exactly what youre doing. They think very differently. They dont care as much about money, but they care about a being something bigger than themselves. They want to be a part of something. They care about the environment. We need to listen to them when theyre talking about that. They dont want this Government Debt thats been pushed down on them. Hay dont want to see wars happen. And they want to know that theyre going to be able to afford a home and get a job like anyone else. So my goal is to make sure that everything we do is to make you feel empowered, for you to feel heard, for you to feel like that a youre not working for government, but that governments going to be serving you. And the only way we can do that is to include you in the conversation, not push you out of the conversation. I would look at it as 58 of genzers are not going to vote, a leader should say what are we doing wrong. And i think all leaders need to be understanding right now that if thats the case, we need to go to them, not wait for them to go to us. And that goes back to the Republican Party. The Republican Party needs to understand that they have lost the last seven out of eight popular votes for president. Thats nothing to be proud of. We should want to win the majority of americans. But the only way were going to do that is if we have a new generational Conservative Leader that leaves the negativity and the baggage behind and starts focusing on the solutions of the future. [applause] john governor, let me follow up on that quickly, if i could as well, because weve got limited time, and weve got one more question we want to get to. President biden recently employed tiktok to try to get his message across during the super bowl. Now, you can say what you will about the contradiction of a president who doesnt allow tiktok on federal government devices using tiktok [laughter] but at least democrats are using something to get to younger voters. And republicans are not yet doing that. Do they need to start using tiktok . Well, President Trump said he would ban tiktok, and then when president xi asked him not to, that fell to the wayside. We should have banned it from the very beginning. Its incredibly dangerous. And even if it is helpful in elections, i think that the tone at the top and the leadership of what you show matters. If i were to go and jump on tiktok or republicans were to jump on tiktok, thats not showing anyone why they shouldnt be on it. What Everybody Needs to know is china is controlling all of that. And if you want to know how it affects you, just imagine by having that app on your phone, china can now see your finances, they can now see who your contacts are. They can see what you click on, why you click on it and how it affects you. They can impact what you see. And they can impact what you hear. That is the dangerous part of tiktok. And india has a banned it, you had nepal just banned it because it was the causing social disruption. America cant be the last country to ban tiktok. Lets end it now and stop it so it doesnt hurt our children any further. [applause] john john all right, one last quick question. We only have two minutes next, governor. James, a lawyer, registered independent. Go ahead, whats your question. Yes, maam. About four years ago before the general election someone literally came up to me and pointed a gun at me while i was driving in south dakota because of a bumper sticker. Yesterday someone literally tried to cut me off the savannah highway, flipped me off and cursed at me because of a yard sign in the back of my truck. So what id like to ask you is i understand and appreciate you saying you need to bring people into the Republican Party and not kick them out, but if youre elected to be president , the poison is not partisan. What would you do to help this country and the toxicity and the nastiness that makes people just want to move . Well, i hate that that happened to you, and thats exactly why im running. I dont want my kids to live like this. I dont anybodys kids to live like this. This is not normal, to have this much chaos around us. It is not normal to have this much anger around us. Its not normal to have this Much Division around us. You should be able to have dinner with your family without an argument. You should be able to go to work and say what you want without feeling like youre going to be hurt in your job for it. We need to bring civility back, and you can be tough and strong without being hateful. And we did that in South Carolina. When we were brought to our knees because nine amazing souls were murdered in a church and every other city was going up in frames flames, what did we do . We didnt go and have, you know, everything burned down. We didnt have riots, we had vigils. We didnt have protests, we had a prayer. And we came together as South Carolinians, and we said that a were better than this. The difference was the tone at the top. In that situation where our state could have fallen apart, my job wasnt to judge either side. My job wasnt to decide who was good and bad, who was right and who was wrong. My job as a leader was to pull out the best in people and get them to see the way forward. Thats what we need in a president. Someone whos not going to divide people, but pull out the best in people so they want to be patriotic, they want to love america, and they want to take care of each other again. [cheers and applause] john well have to leave it there. Thank you so much for joining us. [cheers and applause] thank you all for joining us. Thank you for watching our South Carolina town hall. Im john roberts. Enjoy the rest of your day. [cheers and applause