8/23/23 GOP Debate
Rich men North of Richmond question.
Ron DeSantis: Reverse Bidenomics
Chris Christie: I was a conservative Republican in a blue state. Truth and accountability.
Tim Scott: I vote against spending packages in the Senate. Biden caused inflation.
Vivek Ramaswamy: I’m not a politician. I’m an entrepreneur. Politicians run from something. I’m running to something.
Nikki Haley: Biden didn’t ’t do this to us. Our Republicans did this to us too. They passed trillions in spending. Trump added 8 trillion to the debt. I think it’s time for an accountant in the White House.
Mike Pence: I’m very proud of the Trump-Pence record. I’m the best prepared, most tested, most qualified proven conservative in this race.
Ramaswamy: Declare war on the federal administrative state.
Pence: I balanced budgets and cut taxes. Now is not the time for on the job training.
DeSantis: We were wrong to lock down the country during Covid. Fauci should have been fired.
Ramaswamy: Do you want a Super Pac puppet or a patriot who speaks the truth?
Doug Burgum: The economy, energy and national security are all tied together. 1.2 trillion dollars of green new deal spending in the IRA is subsidizing China. Solar panels are produced in China in a factory run by coal.
Asa Hutchinson: I’m a pro-life governor. We shrunk the size of government.
MAUI and climate change:
DeSantis: I’ve handled real crises as Governor.
Ramaswamy: The climate change agenda is a hoax. More people are dying of bad climate change policies than climate change.
Christie: Ramaswamy sounds like Chat GPT.
Haley: Invoked Margaret Thatcher. Climate change is real. China and India have to lower their emissions.
Scott: This is childish. America can do for anyone what she has done for me. Bring jobs home from China.
ABORTION:
Haley: A federal ban would require the House and 60 Senate votes. We need consensus.
DeSantis: We had the biggest election landslide in Florida history. Abortion didn’t hurt us. Democrats favor abortion up until birth. Different states have different approaches.
Pence: I’ve been a champion for life. Consensus is the opposite of leadership. A ban after 15 weeks is appropriate.
Burgum: No federal abortion ban. 10th Amendment. Get the feds out of our lives.
Hutchinson: It’s ok to address abortion at the federal level.
Scott: We cannot let California, New York and Illinois have abortion on demand until birth. That’s immoral. A 15 week abortion ban at the federal level is appropriate. Our creator gave us inalienable rights including life.
Haley: Ask Biden and Harris if they favor 38, 39 or 40 weeks.
CRIME and HOMELESSNESS:
Pence: Blame Democrats and the defund the police movement. The Trump-Pence tax cuts expire in 2025 if we don’t elect a GOP president. Shut down the Department of Education.
Christie: I ran a US Attorney’s office. Woke prosecutors are refusing to do their jobs. I’d hire an AG who would have the 93 US Attorneys prosecute violent crime at the federal level. Joe Biden sponsored the 10 year mandatory minimum for gun felonies that Hunter committed.
Ramaswamy: More cops. We have a mental health epidemic. More mental health institutions. People are hungry for purpose and meaning. We will stand for the rule of law.
Pence: We are not looking for a new national identity. We need government as good as its people.
Ramaswamy: We are in a dark time.
DeSantis: Crime is at a 50 year low in Florida. George Soros funds radical leftist DAs. I fired Soros DAs.
Burgum: In small towns, neighbors help neighbors. I understand small town values.
Hutchinson: Enforce the law. More addiction counseling. Trump has undermined the law by attacking judges.
TRUMP:
if Trump is convicted, would you still support him as the nominee? Hutchinson and Christie said no.
Christie: Trump’s conduct is beneath the dignity of the USA.
Ramaswamy: Trump was the best president of the 21st century. Christie’s campaign is based on vengeance against Trump.
Christie: Trump disrespected the Constitution.
Scott: Pence did the right thing by certifying the 2020 election. Fire Merrick Garland and Christopher Wray. Only 17% of Republicans have confidence in our DoJ.
DeSantis: This election is not about January 6, 2021. It’s about January 20, 2025. My military service taught me to focus on the mission at hand.
Pence: I kept my oath to the Constitution that day. There is no higher importance.
DeSantis: Mike did his duty, but let’s move on.
Hutchinson: Trump is morally disqualified from the White House again due to January 6th. Hutchinson referenced the “insurrection” and invoked the 14th Amendment argument (which has been debunked).
Christie: Mike Pence stood for the Constitution. He deserves our thanks for putting the USA above his personal ambition and pressure.
Haley: Pence did the right thing. The American people should decide if Trump is fit to be in charge again. We need a new generational leader. We can’t win a general election with the most disliked politician in American.
Burgum: Pence was right. Talking about Trump takes time away from talking about China.
Ramaswamy: I’d pardon Trump.
Pence: I put the Constitution first and I always will. Kamala Harris will have no right to overturn the election in 2024 when we win.
UKRAINE:
DeSantis: Europe is not pulling their weight.
Ramaswamy: An invasion of another nation nowhere near us is not our problem. Stop worshiping Pope Zelensky.
Christie: Trump called Putin brilliant. We must stand up against an autocratic killer.
Pence: The leader of the free world must lead. The Reagan Doctrine said we fight Communism on their soil. If we give up Ukraine, Putin will advance on a NATO nation. Putin is a dictator and a murderer.
Ramaswamy: The real threat we face is Communist China. Ukraine is not a priority for the USA.
Haley: The world needs to know the difference between right and wrong. Only 3% of our budget has gone to Ukraine. A win for Russia is a win for China. Vivek wants to hand Taiwan to China. He wants to stop funding Israel.
Ramaswamy: Nikki is on the board of Lockheed and Raytheon.
Haley: Ramaswamy has no foreign policy experience and it shows.
Ramaswamy: I love Israel’s border and tough on crime policies.
Haley: America needs Israel. They are a middle East Bulwark.
DeSantis: No troops to Ukraine.
CHINA:
Burgum: Russia is China’s gas station. China imports 10 million barrels of gas per day. Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal emboldened China.
Scott: Our most pressing safety issue is the Southern border because of Fentanyl. Finish the border wall.
Burgum: Losing 300 people per day due to overdoses.
SOUTHERN BORDER:
Hutchinson: Border patrol can use lethal force if necessary. Bring in Mexico as a partner. Use economic pressure. After 9/11, we launched the Global war on Terror and protected the Southern border.
DeSantis: I’ll send the military and special forces into Mexico to kill the cartels.
Pence: We secured the Southern border and reduced illegal immigration by 90%. Biden let everyone in. I negotiated the wall funding and the Remain in Mexico policy. We got the Mexicans to deploy their National Guard to their Southern border.
Christie: We have to have law and order in this country. We can’t reward people who came illegally. Those who came illegally must be sent back.
EDUCATION:
DeSantis: We need education and not indoctrination. Lockdowns hurt our kids. I brought back civics in Florida.
Ramaswamy: This is the civil rights issue of our time. Stop paying single women to have children. Eliminate the Department of Education.
Burgum: Not every school is indoctrinating kids. II go to the schools and sit in and personally observe. Give states block grants for education.
Haley: We have to get kids reading. We need reading remediation. Parents should have school choice. Put vocational lasses back in high school. Biological boys don’t belong in girls locker rooms.
MENTAL PRESIDENTIAL FITNESS TEST FOR OLD PEOPLE:
Pence: We don’t need a president who is too old or too young. We need someone who knows how the government works. School choice for all parents.
Ramaswamy: The people can separate a thinking person from an automaton.
Hutchinson: We need more computer science education. Every school must offer this. This is how we compete with China.
FAITH:
Scott: America is founded on Judeo-Christian values. Break the backs of the teachers unions.
MANDATORY MILITARY SERVICE:
DeSantis: I served, but service should be voluntary. Being president is about the mission, not the individual.
UFO ENCOUNTERS:
Christie: Joked that Marsha MacCallum is from New Jersey, which is why he got the UFO question. The president has to always level with the American people always. I went after the teachers unions, they are the biggest threat to kids, not UFOs.
CLOSING STATEMENTS:
Burgum: Biden’s inflation is choking us. Our cities are less safe. Our economy is being crushed by Biden. I’ll secure the border and get this economy sprinting. Innovation, not regulation. We win the cold war with China by growing our economy.
Hutchinson: Our nation is in trouble because of failed leadership. The solution is not Biden or Trump. A president’s number one responsibility is to bring out the best of our people.
Scott: The American dream is alive, well and healthy. If you take out a loan, you pay it back. If you commit a violent crime, you go to jail. If you’re born a man, you play sports with men.
Christie: I’m the only one on this stage who beat a Democrat incumbent in an election. The truth and accountability matter.
Haley: My husband is in Afghanistan there. We must protect America here. We will put transparency in classrooms, secure the border, and back our law enforcement.
Pence: Biden has weakened America at home and abroad. The Afghanistan withdrawal, the war on energy, the border, etc. Proven leadership at the national level. God is not done with America.
Ramswamy: We were taught to celebrate diversity rather than Americans bound by a common set of ideals. God is real, 2 genders, fossil fuels are a requirement for human prosperity, parents determine the education of their children, the nuclear family is great, 3 branches of government not 4, the Constitution is supreme.
Desantis: We will send Biden back to his basement and reverse the decline.