Seven Republican presidential candidates on Wednesday night time took the stage for his or her second debate, this time on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
Fox Information Channel host Dana Perino, Fox Enterprise Community host Stuart Varney, and Univision anchor Ilia Calderón co-hosted the two-hour debate, which frequently turned extremely contentious, with the candidates speaking over and arguing with each other.
As with the primary debate Aug. 23 in Milwaukee, former President Donald Trump was once more absent, this time delivering a speech at an auto elements producer northeast of Detroit.
Former two-term Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson was additionally lacking from the second debate, however not by alternative. In contrast to the primary debate, Hutchinson didn’t qualify for the second debate, however he tweeted that regardless of “falling in need of the [Republican National Committee’s] polling requirement” to take part, he would proceed campaigning.
Candidates who did qualify for the second debate had been Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.
The next are among the most noteworthy solutions and exchanges from the controversy:
DeSantis-Trump Scuffle
DeSantis was requested by Calderon about misinformation that was unfold by Vice President Kamala Harris about each the governor and Florida’s black historical past curriculum.
Harris had accused Florida of educating college students how “enslaved folks benefited from slavery,” referring to the curriculum’s description of “how slaves developed abilities which, in some situations, may very well be utilized for his or her private profit.”
“For descendants of slaves, that is private,” Calderon informed DeSantis. “What’s your message to them?”
“Initially, that could be a hoax that was perpetrated by Kamala Harris. We aren’t going to be doing that. Second of all, that was written by descendents of slaves. These are nice black historical past students, so we have to cease taking part in these video games,” DeSantis mentioned, emphasizing that “Florida represents the revival of American training.”
“We’re ranked No. 1 within the nation in training by U.S. Information and World Report,” he defined. “My spouse and I, we have now a 6, 5, and 3-year-old. That is private to us. We didn’t simply speak about common faculty alternative; we enacted common faculty alternative. We didn’t simply speak about a dad and mom’ invoice of rights; we enacted the dad and mom’ invoice of rights.”
“We eradicated crucial race concept, and we now have American civics and the Structure in our faculties in a extremely large method, similar to President Reagan requested for in his farewell handle again in 1989,” he added. “Florida is displaying the way it’s performed. We’re standing with dad and mom and our youngsters are benefiting.”
Heated Again and Forth On Ukraine Assist
The candidates had been requested about their views on the battle in Ukraine.
DeSantis defined why he was cautious about U.S. funding for Ukraine.
“It’s in our curiosity to finish this battle, and that’s what I’ll do as president,” he mentioned. “We aren’t going to have a clean test. We is not going to have U.S. troops, and we’re going to make the Europeans do what they should do, however they’ve despatched cash to pay bureaucrats’ pensions, salaries, and small companies midway around the globe. In the meantime, our personal nation is being invaded.”
DeSantis mentioned that we don’t even have management over our personal border and that we have now to defend the American folks earlier than we even fear about what’s taking place in Ukraine.
“As commander-in-chief, I’ll defend this nation’s sovereignty,” he mentioned.
Scott pushed again, saying that “90% of the sources that we ship over to Ukraine is assured as a mortgage.”
However DeSantis responded, “We aren’t going to get it again.”
“It’s not truly going to receives a commission by Ukraine, it’s getting paid by our NATO allies,” Scott mentioned. “ … Our very important nationwide curiosity is in degrading the Russian navy. By degrading the Russian navy we truly hold our homeland safer, we hold our troops at house, and all of us perceive Article V of NATO.”
He mentioned that Article V implies that a Russian assault on a NATO nation would essentially contain the U.S. navy.
Ramaswamy joined the trade.
“We now have to degree with the American folks on this difficulty. Simply because [Putin is an evil dictator does not mean that Ukraine is good. This is a country that has banned 11 opposition parties,” he said. “ … China is the real enemy, and we are driving Russia into China’s arms.”
Parental Rights Bill, Transgenderism
Perino asked the candidates whether they would support a federal parental bill of rights to ensure that students can’t change their gender identity without their parents knowing.
Christie said that he supported just such a bill the week before the debate.
Ramaswamy prefaced his answer by saying that “transgenderism, especially in kids, is a mental health disorder. We have to acknowledge the truth.”
The businessman-turned-presidential candidate said that there’s a huge amount of hypocrisy on the issue.
“The very people who say that this increases the risk of suicide are also saying that parents don’t have a right to know about that increased risk of suicide,” Ramaswamy said. “I’m sorry, it is not compassionate to affirm a kid’s confusion. That is not compassion. It’s cruelty.”
He said the fact that gender-dysphoric girls are allowed to get double mastectomies, and even hysterectomies, preventing them from having children in the future and which many later regret, is “barbaric.”
“Affirming their confusion is not compassion to me,” he said. “It is cruelty.”
Ramaswamy added that states have an obligation to protect parents’ rights.
Pence also weighed in on the issue of parental rights. He said that he would stand up for the rights of parents and that “we’re going to pass a federal ban on transgender chemical or surgical — surgery anywhere in the country.”
The former vice president said that “we’ve got to protect our kids from this radical transgender ideology agenda.”
TikTok: Haley vs. Ramaswamy
Haley attacked Ramaswamy after the entrepreneur defended his presence on the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok.
“I have a radical idea for the Republican Party,” Ramaswamy said. “We need to win elections, and part of how we win elections is reaching the next generation of young Americans where they are.”
“This is infuriating,” Haley shot back. “TikTok is one of the most dangerous social media apps that we could have.” She added that every time she hears Ramaswamy, she feels “dumber.”
TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is headquartered in Beijing and is subject to Chinese law that requires companies to make user data available to the government.
The Chinese can “get your contacts. They can get your financial information. They can get your emails, they can get text messages, they can get all of these things,” Haley said. “China knows exactly what they’re doing.”
Ramaswamy spoke over Haley as she accused him of wanting “kids to go and get on this social media that’s dangerous for all of us.”
“We can’t trust you,” she told him.
The entrepreneur responded with a call for unity, saying, “I think we would be better served as a Republican Party if we’re not sitting here hurling personal insults and actually have a legitimate debate about policy.”
Crime Control, Not Gun Control
How to address crime and violence was a recurring topic during the debate. When asked what he would do to address gun violence in America, Burgum said the “liberal Left” is bent on “prosecuting law-abiding citizens that are gun owners.”
The Left’s solution to gun violence is to eliminate the Second Amendment, the North Dakotan said, noting that the Democrat-controlled cities that are experiencing surging crime and violence have some of the “strictest gun laws in the country, so we know that’s not what’s working.”
https://twitter.com/Virginia_Allen5/status/1707239578380230661
Instead of imposing restrictions on guns, Burgum said America’s leaders should be focused on strengthening families, addressing mental health, and enforcing the law.
To reduce crime and violence, law enforcement needs support, something that Burgum says he has led the way on in North Dakota.The media have attacked the police, he said, adding there is little appeal for becoming a police officer right now because law enforcement has been labeled as the “bad guys.”
“We have to respect the people who are out there defending us every single day,” he said.
Christie was asked by Perino what he would do to end the “revolving door of criminality” that’s plaguing American cities.
“I’m the only one on this stage who’s done it,” Christie said.
The former New Jersey governor explained that he spent seven years as a federal prosecutor in the “fifth-largest office in this country,” where he said he set records for prosecutions that “still have not been broken.”
Christie said that, as president, he would appoint and instruct an attorney general to devote a maximum amount of resources to ensuring that American cities are back under control.
“We’ve got to bring law and order back to this country, and not just in our cities,” Christie said. “ … We need law and order back in our suburbs. People are threatened there. Back in our rural areas, people are threatened there, and we need it in Washington, D.C., also.”
Biden Should Get Off Picket Line, Go to Border
Varney asked Scott about the United Auto Workers strike and whether he would “fire thousands of striking autoworkers,” who have been on the picket line since Sept. 15.
The question was in reference to a comment Scott made at an event in Fort Dodge, Iowa, earlier this month, at which he said that President Ronald Reagan was right to fire striking air traffic controllers, who were public employees, in August 1981.
“Ronald Reagan gave us a great example when federal employees decided they were going to strike,” Scott said at the Iowa event. “He said, ‘You strike, you’re fired.’ Simple concept to me.”
But Scott made the distinction that “obviously, the president of the United States can’t fire anybody in the private sector.”
The South Carolina senator said that the first bill passed under Biden promised $86 billion for union pensions because the administration has continued to “overpromise but underdeliver.” That has left taxpayers on the hook, he said.
“I’ll say this, Joe Biden should not be on the picket line. He should be on the southern border, working to close our southern border, because it is unsafe, wide open, and insecure, leading to the deaths of 70,000 Americans in the last 12 months because of fentanyl,” Scott said to loud applause. “It is devastating. Every county in America is now a border county, because fentanyl has devastated Americans in every single state.”
Since Biden became president in January 2021, there have been an estimated 6 million illegal border crossings, and if the president really wants to fix the problem, he would finish building the border wall and reinstate Title 42, a policy that allowed quick deportation of illegal immigrants, Scott said.
Vote Someone ‘Off the Island‘
Perino noted that Trump enjoys a clear polling lead over his opponents in the 2024 Republican presidential nominating race, and she asked the candidates to identify one of their rivals they would kick “off the island.”
“It’s now obvious that if you all stay in the race, former President Donald Trump wins the nomination,” Perino said. “None of you have indicated that you are dropping out. So, which one of you onstage tonight should be voted off the island?”
“Please use your marker to write your choice on the notepad in front of you, 15 seconds, starting now,” she said.
DeSantis stood up to the moderator and rejected the question.
“With all due respect, I mean, we’re here,” the governor said. “We’re happy to debate, but I think that that’s disrespectful to my fellow competitors.”
“Let’s talk about the future of the country,” DeSantis added.
One candidate did write a name on his notepad, however.
“I vote Donald Trump off the island right now,” Christie said. “And the reason I vote him off the island … every person on this stage has shown the respect for Republican voters to come here, to express their views, honestly, candidly, and directly, and to take your questions.”
“I have respect for every man and woman on this stage because they’ve done it,” Christie added.
Referring to Trump, he added, “This guy has not only divided our party, he’s divided families all over this country. He’s divided friends all over this country.”
“He needs to be voted off the island, and he needs to be taken out of this process,” Christie concluded.
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