FBN Debate recap
The undercard actually started with a real question about a topic that mattered.
Chris Christie was asked how he would put Americans back to work. Christie offered empathy and then tax reform and reducing regulations.
Huckabee was asked how Americans can survive in the transition from a manufacturing to a service economy. Huckabee spoke about the Fair Tax.
Santorum was asked if things were really good in the economy. Santorum spoke about how people are hurting but that employers are begging to hire tradespeople like welders and cannot find qualified employees. People can go to work, not college.
Jindal was asked if national job growth would be tied to oil the way his home state is. Jindal offered what is going right in Louisiana.
Christie was asked how the GOP can beat the Democrat message of free stuff. Christie pointed out that Democrats will have to raise taxes to 70 or 80%.
Santorum was asked how to give people the incentive to choose work when there is so much free stuff. Santorum spoke of pro-family tax credits. We need to incentivize marriage, not penalize it.
Huckabee was asked how to fix the culture of dependency. He spoke about how those in power on the left want poverty to allow the party of government to maintain power. He spoke about the successful welfare reform law of the 1990s.
Jindal was asked about Democrats winning the White House because of a better economic message. Jindal said the problem was Republicans running away from their own principles.
Huckabee was asked about why he raised taxes. He said he had tough choices to make. Jindal said that he cut government while Huckabee expanded it.
Christie was asked how he would reduce the size of government. Christie defended Huckabee and said they would all do better than Hillary Clinton. Christie emphasized entitlement reform. First day in office, no regulations from any government agency for first 120 days.
Santorum spoke about the difference between being a capitalist and a corporatist.
Huckabee was asked about whether America should accept Syrian refugees. He pointed out that the Obama administration has let Christians get slaughtered worldwide. Huckabee said what we should do is find out who the refugees are and find a place for them closer to where they live. Bringing them here makes no sense for anyone. We should ask the Saudis to step up.
Christie was asked about Chinese spying and unfair trade practices. Christie blamed the feckless foreign policy of Obama and Hillary. Christie said he was personally hacked. We will retaliate by showing the Chinese people Chinese government secrets.
Jindal is for trade deals if they are fair. With the new one, we have to read it first. Jindal went after Christie, saying spending went up in New Jersey. Christie did not take the bait, instead training his fire on the Democrats. He can win in a blue state. Jindal kept up the attack. Christie used humor to deflect. Jindal kept attacking. “I’ll give you a ribbon for participation and a juice box.”
Santorum pointed out that he got elected in a blue state while maintaining a 92% conservative voting record. He did welfare reform.
Asked who they most admire in Congress, the candidates refused to answer the question. Jindal was particularly angry about this question and throughout the night.
Huckabee was challenged that his Fair Tax would reduce consumer spending, and he joked that nothing would.
Christie again vowed to prosecute Hillary.
The candidates all object to the policies of the Federal Reserve.
Huckabee made a joke about his wife Janet yelling and Janet Yellen.
The candidates was asked about the VA scandal. He said there is no need for a VA healthcare system because we have a great private healthcare system.
They were all asked about restoring American pride in our military.
Jindal mentioned firing VA bureaucrats.
Huckabee lamented that we have not kept our promises to our soldiers.
Christie says it starts with a Commander in Chief who respects the military.
Santorum said no more conducting wars based on politics like Obama has done.
Closing statements:
Jindal: The only one who has cut spending.
Santorum: The dignity of being a carpenter and other blue collar workers.
Huckabee: He is the candidate of the people, not the rich.
Christie: Lacerated Hillary Clinton for calling Republicans the enemy.
MAIN EVENT
Cavuto quickly set the tone.
He asked candidates about picketers demanding a $15 an hour minimum wage.
Trump said he can’t be sympathetic to them given the dire straits we are in. He actually said wages are too high.
Carson pointed out that minimum wage hikes hit young blacks especially hard. His earliest jobs were low pay but good experience.
Rubio was asked what he would take back rather than give away. if you raise the minimum wage you’re going to make people more expensive than a machine. “We need more welders & fewer philosophers.”
Maria Bartiromo kept the serious questions coming.
Kasich was asked how he would balance the budget given our large debt. He blasted Hillary Clinton’s tax ideas and insisted he has a plan but does not say what he would do. When pressed, he said he would slow the rate of growth of Medicare from 7% to 5%. Freeze non-defense discretionary spending for eight years.
When asked about his tax plan, Cruz noted the 1.2% growth under Obama. Government has three levers to spur the economy. One is tax reform. The second element is regulatory reform. The third is sound money.
Kasich interrupted Jeb and spoke of support for a VAT.
Asked what regulations he would repeal to get to 4% growth. He cited the WSJ Editorial Board calling his tax plan pro-growth. Repeal every rule Obama implemented. He mentioned internet deregulation, foreign waters, and other regulatory burdens. Jeb went after the Obama record hard and tied Hillary to him.
Fiorina was asked a loaded question about whether Democrat presidents are better at creating jobs. Carly went with the heartfelt story approach. She blamed big government in both parties. Zero-based budgeting, three page tax code, review of every regulation, put Congress in charge of regulations.
Paul was asked about income inequality. Paul pointed out that income inequality is worse under cities and states run by Democrats. He then lambasted the Federal Reserve. While it is his area of passion and expertise, a lecture on quantitative easing does not resonate with the average voter.
Cavuto asked Carson about the trust issue. Carson thanked Cavuto for not asking about the tenth grade. The crowd laughed. Carson said we should all be vetted, but the media and public officials should not lie. He accused Hillary Clinton of lying about Benghazi. “People who know me know that I’m an honest person.”
Bartiromo asked Trump about a federal appeals court striking down Obama’s executive amnesty.
“Nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats.” Trump said that if you don’t believe walls work, check with Israel.
Kasich wanted to comment on everything, and he interjected again. He took strong issue with Trump’s wanting to send illegals back.
Trump fired back, “You’re lucky Ohio struck oil.” He pointed out that Reagan moved 1.5 illegal immigrants far South into Mexico.
In an odd turn, Trump looked like the sober adult and Kasich was the obnoxious screamer.
Bush said that sending 12 million illegals back is not possible. He also noted that the Clinton campaign was celebrating Trump’s comments on illegals.
Trump noted that it was unfair to those trying to immigrate legally.
Gerard Baker asked Rubio about the new struggling economy.
Rubio was ready and on message. The telephone took 75 years tor each 100 million users. Candy crush needed one year to do it. That is the free market. He called the healthcare law “crazy.” our higher education system is outdated.
Baker asked Cruz about liberal interest groups blocking entitlement reform. Cruz said that Baker misrepresented his own view. Baker politely said that he referred to future retirees, not current ones. Cruz pivoted to amnesty and then said things would be different if people with journalism degrees were crossing the border and driving down media wages. He said that it is offensive to call securing the border anti-immigrant.
Fiorina was asked how we get rid of regulations choking businesses. She started with Obamacare and said she knew more about business regulations than others. The secret sauce of America is innovation and entrepreneurship. The alternative to Obamacare is to have states handle high risk pools. The free market is the answer.
Cavuto asked Carson how his tax plan differs from Trump. Carson favors a flat tax, Trump is ok with a graduated tax.
Carson was very well prepared. We had life before the federal income tax was created in 1913. Getting the economy moving is the best way to help poor people.
Cavuto asked if Paul’s tax plan creates a near term budget crisis.
Paul was fine with government starved. He cited “The Penny Plan” that Sean Hannity came up with. He also wants to get rid of the payroll tax, knowing Democrats will demagogue that issue. Home mortgage and charitable contributions are the only deductions he keeps.
Bartiromo asked Cruz how his tax plan would avoid bringing about more debt.
Cruz described his plan and said his website has the specific numbers. He eliminates the death tax and the corporate tax. Exports are free of corporate taxes, not imports. He said the Tax Foundation backed his plan. He mentioned administrative agencies he would cut.
Bartiromo asked Bush how important tax reform was to him. Would he guarantee he would tackle in it in his first year?
Bush said he absolutely would. It’s a top priority. He pointed out that the jobs currently being created are low paying jobs. He then cited a couple people he met. He concluded by blasting Hillary’s approach.
Baker challenged Rubio on his child tax credit, saying it would add more entitlement. He made clear that his top priority was helping families. In 35 of 50 states, childcare costs more than college.
Paul called Rubio’s plan a welfare transfer payment. He said that was not conservative. He said the same about Rubio’s trillion dollar increase in military spending.
Rubio said it was there money because they pay it through the payroll tax. “I know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I’m not.”
Paul: “You cannot be a conservative if you’re going to offer programs we cannot pay for.”
Rubio said we have jihadists trying to kill us. We need a strong military.
Cruz jumped in. “If you think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it.” Cruz would end corporate welfare like sugar subsidies.
Fiorina again mentioned zero-based budgeting. “You cannot reduce taxes and reduce spending at the same time.” She just bashed supply-side theory.
Trump pointed out that we need a strong military and that each GOP tax plan is better than the mess we have now.
Kasich again tried to interrupt. This time he was stopped as Baker turned to Trump on trade.
Trump said the TPP was a horrible deal. He compared it to Obamacare in that nobody read it. We should make individual deals with individual countries. It’s costing us 1/2 a trillion with China, 75 billion with Japan, and 50 billion with Mexico.
When pressed further, Trump brought up currency manipulation. It is the biggest weapon countries have.
Paul pointed out that China is not part of the TPP. He also noted that we have given up too much power to the executive branch. Congress has become a bystander.
Bartiromo cited a 61% increase in terrorist attacks, and asked Carson about Obama’s Afghanistan approach.
Carson called 50 special ops people better than nothing. Our current strategy has been ineffective but we can’t give up ground. We have to destroy their Caliphate, and the easiest place to do that would be Iraq. Take Anbar where oil is. Our goal is not to contain them but to destroy them.
Bartiromo asked Bush what the biggest threat to America is. He said Islamic terrorism, not climate change. He cited growing Russian influence because of a lack of American leadership.
Bartiromo asked Trump about Obama’s mocking of Mitt Romney on Russia. How does Trump handle Putin?
Trump blasted the Iran deal and went on to China and North Korea. He said that if Putin wants to kill ISIS, let him do it. We cannot be the world’s policeman.
Bush said that Trump was wrong. America has to lead. Trump’s approach was Monopoly. America has to intervene and not cede Syria to Russia.
Trump pointed out that we have no idea who the Syrian rebels are. We should have taken Iraq’s oil and given it to families of American veterans.
Fiorina said that Trump and Paul would be coming to Putin from a position of weakness. She would not talk to Putin. She would put a few thousand more troops in Germany. She gave a stinging defense of American strength.
Paul rejected the idea of a no-fly zone. Russia already flies there with permission from Iraq. We will not be shooting down Russian planes. He said he would not give arms to enemies of America.
Rubio called Putin a gangster, an organized crime figure. Obama has “no strategy.” Rubio mentioned that Obama shows more respect to Iranian mullahs then the Israeli Prime Minister. Islamists do not hate us because of Israel. They hate us because we exist.
Baker asked Kasich about China. How can we stop them when they invest 50 billion in us.
Kasich said he would stand up to China and then began storytelling about his world experience. He was clamoring for more time the whole night, only to waste it when it was given to him.
On Jordan, Kasich said, “We want the king to reign for 1,000 years.” He praised Obama on TPP. Kasich said the Chinese are not our enemy or friend. He rambled on and on.
Baker asked Bush if he would have bailed out the banks in 2008. Bush said that we have to get rid of Dodd-Frank and too big to fail. Dodd-Frank is killing community banks. He mentioned Hillary’s many flip flops. When pressed further, Bush said he supported higher capital requirements for banks.
Baker asked Carson if JP Morgan and the other big banks should be broken up.
Carson said that the real problem was that we were over-regulated. Every single regulation costs money. It hurts the poor and middle class most. Carson does not want to tear anybody down, be they big banks or little people.
Rubio said that the government created the big banks because regulations crippled the small banks who cannot afford the lawyers for compliance purposes. Dodd-Frank codified too big to fail.
Kasich said there is too much Wall Street greed. Cavuto asked cruz if he would really go after Wall Street crooks.
Cruz said yes and that he would absolutely not bail out the big banks again. He said that big business and big government are in bed together.
Bartiromo drew boos when citing Hillary Clinton’s experience. She asked Rubio why he should be trusted more than her given her experience.
Rubio was totally prepared and cited all the problems America is facing and that she would exacerbate them. “The Democratic Party and the political left has no idea about the future.”
Cruz pointed out that Hillary’s policies have totally failed. “Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism of Washington.” He cited the congressional exemption of Obamacare and said Congress would be held to the same laws as everyone else.
Cavuto asked Trump about his plan to bring back repatriated assets without a tax penalty. Isn’t that a get out of jail free card.
Trump spoke eloquently about corporate inversion. Both parties agree on bringing the money back. He thinks it is more than 2.5 trillion dollars.
CLOSING STATEMENTS:
Paul said to be a conservative, you have to cut defense spending.
Kasich said the conservative movement is about opportunity. Again he went over time.
Fiorina described the horror of a Hillary Clinton presidency. It will corrode the character of this nation.
Bush said we do not need an Agitator-In-Chief. We need a Commander in Chief.
Cruz spoke of his father’s escape from Cuba and the promise of America. We need to return to free market principles and Constitutional liberties.
Rubio spoke about leaving the next generation better off than the current one. We will expand the American dream.
Carson said that during the debate, 5 people have died from drugs, 2 vets have committed suicide, many abortions, other tragedies. We must never let political correctness interfere with trying to improve America.
Trump cited his job creation record and his self-funded campaign. He called Hillary the worst Secretary of State in the history of this country.
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