WEBVTT - Breaking Down the GOP Debate-Did Anything Change? 0:00:01.200 --> 0:00:01.600 Welcome. 0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:04.840 It is a special pod Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:08.920 Ben Ferguson with you, and also Senator Cruz's book Unwoke, 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:12.520 How to Defeat Culture Marxism America. Congratulations Center. It's at 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:16.960 number one in multiple categories right now on Amazon. If 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:20.040 you haven't grabbed the book yet, get it. It's incredible. 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:25.120 It is a special pod because it's the GOP debate 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:28.200 and I want to get your first overall thoughts on 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:31.880 the night, Senator I watched it. I didn't really think 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:34.760 there was any big shock or anything that's going to 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:38.400 catapult somebody out of this debate. I found parts of 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:40.839 it a little fatiguing and just kind of boring. 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:45.519 Your reaction, Well, I basically think that's right. We're sitting 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:47.680 here right now. It's ten thirty at night. The debate 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:52.400 just ended, and I didn't see anything this evening that 0:00:52.800 --> 0:00:57.240 fundamentally changed the race. We are seeing the field start 0:00:57.240 --> 0:01:00.840 to winnow. Some the last debate there was seven candidates 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:02.840 on the stage. This time there were five, and so 0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:05.679 you had Mike Pences dropped out of the race, and 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:09.280 you had Doug Bergham, who didn't make the threshold for 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:14.840 this debate. And so the field winnowing is significant. I 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:18.319 think you're seeing more and more that that that that 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:23.440 the battle for who is the principal alternative to Trump 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:29.680 is shrinking down to DeSantis and Nikki Haley. Uh, you 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:33.160 saw the other candidates on the stage. Chris Christy continues 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:37.319 just just throwing throwing bricks at Trump, but not not 0:01:37.480 --> 0:01:39.920 getting as I see, at any significant traction. 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:41.080 Uh. 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:44.600 Tim Scott, I like Tim a lot. He's my colleague, 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:47.440 he's my friend, but but he has been having real 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:51.800 trouble getting traction in this race. And Vivek. Look, Vivek 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:55.120 had some some colorful moments, some fiery moments, but but 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:57.560 at the end of the day, most of the dynamic 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:01.560 tonight seemed to be a battle between DeSantis and Haley, 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:05.680 and you could tell they were both throwing some hard, 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:08.320 hard shots at each other, trying to knock the other 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:11.480 off and say, Okay, I'm the lead person to take 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:12.040 on Trump. 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:16.720 You've obviously done this. Been in a presidential debate, quite 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:19.680 a few of them. And as that stage gets smaller 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:22.240 and smaller, there is a perk, I think for the voter, 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:25.160 and that is much more of a subset of debate. 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:27.359 There was one part of this debate that dealt with 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:30.519 the border. It was a part where DeSantis, I think, 0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:33.600 was really trying to make himself be the front runner 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:37.080 on border security issues, and it dealt with the issue 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:41.440 of going after drug cartels and actually using special ops 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:43.520 to take them out. Here's part of what he had 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:44.960 to say on the debate stage. 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:48.760 Well, first, I was speaking to a dad who lost 0:02:48.800 --> 0:02:50.399 the son fentanyl overdose. 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:52.160 Son wasn't a drug addict. 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:54.399 He had taken some pill that happened to be lace 0:02:54.440 --> 0:02:57.000 with fentanyl and it was a fatal overdose. And when 0:02:57.000 --> 0:02:59.959 he told me, obviously the pain of losing a child 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:01.760 is as bad as it gets. But he said, what 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:04.640 was salt in the wounds is that these elites in 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:07.720 DC don't give a damn about what's going on in 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:10.840 this country. They don't care that we have tens of 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:14.200 thousands of opioid deaths that the fentanel's pouring in. They 0:03:14.200 --> 0:03:16.560 are not taking the type of action who need to. 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:19.200 We're declaring it a national emergency on day one. I'm 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:22.080 sending US military to the border. I'm going to stop 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:25.000 the invasion cold. I am going to deport people who 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:27.720 came illegally. And I'm even going to build the border 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:30.360 wall and have Mexico pay for it, like Donald Trump promised. 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:31.160 How are you going to do it? 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:33.560 Yeah, Mexico is not going to fork over money. We're 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:36.440 going to impose fees on the remittances that foreign workers 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:37.400 send to foreign countries. 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:38.560 We'll raise billions of dollars. 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:40.600 I'll build a wall, But we are going to designate 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:44.280 the cartels to be foreign terrorist organizations or something similar 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:46.320 to that, and we're going to authorize the use of 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:50.640 deadly force. We're going to have maritime operations to interdict precursor. 0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:52.680 Chemicals going into Mexico. But I'll tell you this. 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:55.440 If someone in the drug cartels is sneaking fence and 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:57.760 all across the border when I'm present, that's going to be. 0:03:57.720 --> 0:03:59.440 The last thing they do. We're going to shoot them, 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:00.320 stone cold dead. 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:04.760 We're gonna shoot him, stone cold dead. The audience absolutely 0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:09.160 erupted to that line. I'm saying, Hey, we'll treating Mike Terris. 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:10.600 I want your reaction to that. 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:14.600 So look, I think on the fentanyl question, the answers 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:19.479 from the candidates were all fine. To be honest, many 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:23.440 of the answers felt like talking points. There was very 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:27.400 little done in terms of an indictment of Joe Biden. 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:30.560 In fact, it was really hard to hear Joe Biden's 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:34.240 name even tonight. It was really striking that the candidates 0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:36.480 didn't say Joe Biden's name, and they didn't say Donald 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:39.360 Trump's name very much, both of them. You know, it's 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:42.560 kind of ironic right now. I think most people think 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:46.240 the most likely nominees or Biden and Trump, and yet 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:50.200 the five on the stage rarely mentioned either name. I 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:54.200 think that was a strategic mistake on the border, you know, 0:04:54.600 --> 0:04:56.719 I think it would have been more effective to see 0:04:56.760 --> 0:05:02.240 someone really vigorously, passionately litigate the case against Biden. This 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:05.640 is a man made disaster. Joe Biden created it. Joe 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:08.800 Biden inherited the lowest rate of illegal immigration in forty 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:12.120 five years, and he came in and deliberately screwed it up. 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:14.520 And he screwed it up by ending remain in Mexico. 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:17.640 He screwed it up by reimposing catch and release. He 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:21.640 undermines the border patrol. And the president can fix this. 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:24.040 And I got to say, I didn't hear any of 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:26.400 the candidates really explain it. I don't know if they 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:29.320 understand it or not, but they didn't explain it that 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:31.960 this is one of the issues on which a president 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:36.279 can fix it and can fix it immediately, and that 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:42.080 was not clearly articulated. I have to say, several of 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:45.159 the candidates talked about using the military to go into 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:48.240 Mexico and kill the cartels. I gotta say, I think 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:53.680 that position is loopy. Our military doesn't invade sovereign nations, 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:58.560 and we should not start. We shouldn't be invading Mexico 0:05:58.640 --> 0:05:59.920 or candidate or anyplace else. 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:00.760 Now. 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:03.840 What I do think we need I've talked about this before, 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:08.080 is something like planned Colombia, which happened under George W. Bush, 0:06:08.080 --> 0:06:11.200 when you had when you had the Mediine cartel, when 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:15.120 you had a massive wave of drugs coming in and 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:19.440 President Uribe and Colombia asked for America's help, said please 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:22.240 come in and help us get rid of the drug dealers, 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:25.120 and we did. We sent the military in and eradicated 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:28.080 much of their leadership. I think that would make enormous sense. 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:30.880 But I didn't hear anyone point out that to do 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:33.719 this you would need the Mexican government's approval, that we 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:38.440 should not be in the business of invading Mexico. And 0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:41.840 I think fundamentally the reason people are saying let's send 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:44.039 the military in and invade Mexico is because they're not 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:48.880 explaining what has caused this crisis. It is a deliberate, 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:55.359 deliberate choice by Joe Biden, by Kamala Harris, by Alejandro Majorcis, 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:59.320 and by the Democrats in Congress to open up our borders. 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:03.080 And that choice could be reversed immediately by a president 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:06.360 who understood the problem and was prepared to say, if 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:09.159 you are apprehended, you will be deported, we will put 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:11.280 you on a plane, we will send you back. The 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:14.920 numbers would plummet, Both the numbers of illegal immigration and 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:18.760 the numbers of drugs coming into this country would plummet. 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:23.040 I'll mention something else also, which is on immigration. Vivek 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:25.600 talked about our northern border and he said another thing 0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:29.880 that I thought was really kind of odd, and he said, 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:33.280 we need to build two walls, one on our southern border, 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:35.640 one on our northern border. I don't know what the 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:38.000 guy's talking about, the idea that we would build a 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:42.400 wall on our border with Canada. Number one, it would 0:07:42.440 --> 0:07:44.920 be a massive wall that's a much much bigger wall 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:48.520 than our southern border. And number two, there is nowhere 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:53.960 near the traffic to justify building a massive wall across 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:58.480 what is in many cases open wilderness between Canada and 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:02.560 very sparsely popular related parts of the United States. That 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:06.360 was an odd policy recommendation, but I think look, people 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:10.200 are looking for something that sounds catchy and sexy to 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:16.400 solve this problem, rather than explaining and articulating what really 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:16.920 caused it. 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:19.080 I want to tell you about our dear friends of 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:22.040 our Patriot Mobile. For ten years, they are celebrating their 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:27.400 decade being a business. Patriot Mobile has been America's only Christian, conservative, 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:31.120 conservative wireless provider, and when I say only, trust me, 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:34.199 they are literally the only one. The team at Patriot 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:36.559 Mobile have been great supporters of not only the show, 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:40.480 but they're also great supporters of our First and our 0:08:40.520 --> 0:08:44.559 Second Amendment rights. 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Well, I want to get the 0:09:56.559 --> 0:10:00.800 facts compared to talking points so that people understand this 0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:03.800 and dive into this a little bit more. I hear 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:07.520 the idea that we go after the cartel members, and 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:10.480 we treat them like terrace and we use special forces 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:13.680 to go after them. And yes, in theory center, that 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:17.440 sounds great, but if we're not welcomed, and there's no 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:20.280 indication that Mexico would welcome that right now, they haven't 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:22.440 asked for it, from what I understand, unless you know 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:26.079 something different than what's been publicly reported, they're not begging 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:28.160 or clamoring for us to come down there and take 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:29.120 on the cartels. 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:31.160 Could we do that? 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:35.959 Could a president do that without the permission, just airspace 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:39.000 and all the other logistics that are involved, and go 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:42.200 after these cartels are bringing in fentanyl, because that sounds 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:44.760 like a great promise that may be very hard to 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:45.520 fill eagerly. 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:49.839 Look, could a president do that? A president's commander in chief, 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:52.479 you could order the military to go in. But ordinarily, 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:57.000 if you invade another country, that's considered a declaration of war. 0:10:57.200 --> 0:11:01.120 And listen, I would love to and the military after 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:04.400 the cartels. If if, if the Mexican government asked for 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:08.199 our help, and to be clear, Colombia did, but it 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:12.360 took the situation getting bad enough that they recognized they 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:17.199 needed our help. And one of the problems is under 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:20.760 Joe Biden because he's opened up the border. The cartels 0:11:20.800 --> 0:11:24.960 in Mexico have have increased their profits by two six 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:28.559 hundred percent. Back in twenty eighteen, they made roughly five 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:32.200 hundred million dollars profits from human trafficking. Last year they 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:36.560 made thirteen billion dollars from human trafficking. The consequence of 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:40.080 that is the cartels have become one of, if not 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:44.319 the dominant player in Mexican society. We've seen crime rate skyrocket. 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:49.040 We see murders and kidnapping and disappearing all across Mexico. 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:53.000 It is tragic. We see Mexican politicians, Mexican journalists, we 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:58.760 see prosecutors, judges threatened at massive numbers. I sat down 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:02.040 with with with the mayor Reinosa, major American city right 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:05.240 across from McCallen, just a few weeks ago for lunch 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:08.480 along with several others in McCallen. He was describing how 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:13.240 in Renosa they've had roughly six thousand people disappeared by 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:18.600 the cartels. These are horrific numbers, and so right now 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:21.880 at least Amlo, who is viciously anti American, has become 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:25.240 more anti American with a weak president like Joe Biden 0:12:25.720 --> 0:12:28.679 would never ever ever invite the military in to take 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:31.080 out the cartels. Now AMLO's going to be out of office. 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:35.640 The next president will see what happens. But I think 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:39.880 the answers on illegal immigration were fine, but none of 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:43.160 them expressed a deep understanding of what in fact is happening. 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:45.320 It was interesting as I was watching it, and I 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:48.040 want to get your take. I was looking at these 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:50.680 answers and almost like they were saying, I'm with Trump too, 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:53.760 and then Rama Swami's like, I'm with Trump, and then 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:55.840 I'll build even more wallwa in Canada. It was like 0:12:55.880 --> 0:13:00.599 an overreach there. There wasn't any sense of like ownership 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:02.560 of their own ideas on how to deal with Fetano, 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:04.600 how to deal with China, and how to deal with 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:06.640 the cartels, and how to deal with the southern border. 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:09.679 It was regurgitating what I think. It's like they'd all 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:13.760 already heard that was popular. That concerned me as a Republican. 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:17.480 Yeah, and remember, look, every one of these candidates is 0:13:17.520 --> 0:13:23.719 theoretically running to be the alternative to Trump. Having an 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:27.360 immigration debate where nobody mentions the name Joe Biden and 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:31.240 nobody mentions Donald Trump. It's just kind of weird, like 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:35.080 it's sort of missing the point. It's people reading a 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:41.400 few kind of like I said, talking points without acknowledging. 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:45.240 Number one, this is an area Trump had very significant success, 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:49.280 and he negotiated the remaining Mexico deal. That was a 0:13:49.320 --> 0:13:52.080 big damn deal. It was a game changer. It was 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:55.720 unbelievably successful, and then Biden on his first week in 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:58.839 office ripped it to shreds and caused this crisis. And 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:04.559 to have that discussion without acknowledging that context, I think, 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:07.440 let me put it this way, I don't think any 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:12.320 of those candidates in discussing illegal immigration moved a single voter, 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:15.880 and that from their perspectives is a problem. 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:17.160 Yeah, it certainly is. 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:21.680 There was also a grand debate over pro hamas propaganda 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:25.240 on TikTok. Now, we've had debates about TikTok before. Should 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:28.680 it be banned? It's been banned on government devices, and 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:32.280 many states have banned from state government devices. Is it 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:34.760 a spying app ration is also in a sense of 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:38.240 mind control, where they're pushing propaganda in the face of 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:40.560 young people, in the face of people on TikTok twenty 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:44.400 four to seven. What we saw after what happened with 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:48.600 the attack on Israel is a massive and there's data 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:52.560 to back this up, A massive onslaught of pro Hamas 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:55.560 propaganda that was being pushed into the feeds, into the 0:14:55.600 --> 0:14:59.720 scrolling of people that are on TikTok. This is a 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:02.960 reason why I don't use TikTok. I believe it is 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:06.760 nothing more than the Chinese Communist Party spying apparatus and 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:09.200 propaganda machine. 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:10.960 This was part of the debate. 0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:12.440 I want you to hear it, and I want to 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:14.880 get your debate, your reaction to it as well. 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:17.000 We're going to stay on China and we're going to 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:21.320 talk specifically about TikTok. Last week, Congressman Mike Gallagher, who 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:24.440 is chairman of the House Bipartisan Select Committee on the 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:28.560 Chinese Communist Party, published a long essay on TikTok. Following 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:32.320 the flooding of pro Hamas propaganda on the TikTok accounts 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:35.800 across the United States, Chairman Gallagher called it shocking. He 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:39.960 called the app predatory controlled by America's pre eminent adversary, 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:44.040 one used to push propaganda and divide America. It's spyware, 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:47.320 he said, a means of surveievance Governor Christy, do you 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:49.800 agree with Chairman Gallagher and if so, would you ban 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:51.640 or force the sale of TikTok. 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:54.640 I agree one hundred percent with Chairman Gallagher. And let 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:59.640 me say this, TikTok is not only spyware, it is 0:15:59.680 --> 0:16:04.520 pool looting the minds of American young people all throughout 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:08.040 this country. And they're doing it intentionally. And when you 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:11.480 saw what happened in the last few weeks with all 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:16.520 of this anti Semitic, horrible stuff that their algorithms were 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:21.800 pushing out at a gargantuan rate, this is China trying 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:24.800 to further divide the United States of America. 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:26.280 And this is one of the big. 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:29.680 Failings among many of the Trump administration. He talked tough 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:33.880 about TikTok. I heard him do it many times, but 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:36.560 when it came down to it, he did not ban 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:39.200 them what he could have and should have. And now 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:44.120 since then, we've had an additional nearly six years of 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:48.040 this type of poison be put out throughout the United States, even. 0:16:47.880 --> 0:16:49.880 Putting aside the spine which we. 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:53.400 Know is going on and the theft of American personal 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:58.240 data and information. So in my first week as president, 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:01.680 we would ban TikTok. They want to go ahead and 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:03.640 sell it, Let them go ahead and sell it. But 0:17:03.680 --> 0:17:06.240 I'll tell you another reason we would do it. Facebook's 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:11.359 not in China. X is not in China. They're not 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:15.040 permitting a free full of information to the Chinese people 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:18.639 from our social media companies. Yet we just open the 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:21.399 door and let them do what they're doing. TikTok's to 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:24.320 be banned because they are poisoning American minds, and I 0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:25.560 would do it week one. 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:27.560 Governor, Senator. 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:32.399 You hear those talking points that came there from a 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:34.240 guy that actually, I think is a pretty good debater, 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:38.280 and it probably hit with a lot of Americans the 0:17:38.280 --> 0:17:40.320 way that Chris Christy described them, And I think the 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:43.560 comparing contrast with China is brilliant. He's like, look, they 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:45.639 ban our stuff all the time. They don't let X 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:48.280 in their Twitter, they don't let Facebook in there. Why 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:50.480 are we so shy as a nation to get rid 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:54.640 of of TikTok? Are forced to sale your thoughts on that? 0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:57.600 Look, I think you're right. I think Chris's answer there 0:17:57.760 --> 0:18:01.919 was quite good. But at the same time, one of 0:18:01.920 --> 0:18:04.320 the things that was striking is is as I saw it, 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:07.960 there was basically complete agreement on TikTok across the debate 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:12.040 stage that immediately after that, Hugh Hugh had asked asked 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:15.160 DeSantis if he agreed. He said he did, He asked 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:20.439 Nicky Haley, and Ramaswami Vivek said that he agreed, although 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:23.399 he said more broadly that other tech companies are are 0:18:23.440 --> 0:18:25.840 sharing information with China. We need to crack down on that. 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:29.800 He's right on that, and then he asked Nikki Haley, 0:18:29.800 --> 0:18:32.840 and Nicki Haley used it as a chance to punch 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:36.199 back at other candidates on the stage who had attacked 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:38.720 her on China generally. So I didn't hear her answer 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:44.040 the question. But look, the answers were good, and what 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:48.040 you just played from Chris was well articulated. Again, I 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:50.399 don't know that any of these answers are differentiating. When 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:53.919 you get everyone on the stage agreeing, it's difficult to 0:18:54.000 --> 0:18:56.919 see what votes are being moved. If they're all saying 0:18:56.960 --> 0:19:01.920 the same thing. It's status quo. And I will say, 0:19:01.960 --> 0:19:04.760 you know, Chris there saying if I were president, I 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:07.840 would ban it. You know, I would have liked to 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:10.120 actually have seen a follow up from the moderator, Well, 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:12.920 what under what legal authority would you ban it? Look, 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:14.880 she and China can ban whatever the hell he wants 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:18.639 because it's a dictatorship. But to actually ban something in 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:22.119 America takes some legal authority. And it's one thing to 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:24.439 say I would go to Congress and push legislation to 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:27.040 ban it. That's that's a position. That is a reasonable 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:30.480 position for a presidential candidate to make. But I have 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:34.879 not seen an effective argument that the president has the 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:37.879 unilateral power to wave a magic wand and suddenly say 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:41.959 TikTok is banned in America. And if Christy has an 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:44.320 argument for that, he certainly didn't articulate. 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:45.480 How would you ban it? 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:48.760 I mean, explain to people how that would work legally 0:19:48.800 --> 0:19:51.200 if you let's let's say that any one of these 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:53.960 people magically could do this instantly tomorrow. 0:19:54.800 --> 0:19:57.320 It's not as simple as as you just described it. Right. 0:19:57.320 --> 0:19:59.600 This is one of those empty promises in a campaign 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:02.960 that people make which drive voters insane. But what would 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:06.160 it actually take to get rid of TikTok or force 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:06.800 a sale? 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:07.200 Oh? 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:10.359 Look, you could have and there was discussion under Trump 0:20:10.359 --> 0:20:13.800 of trying to force a sale. And there they're existing laws, 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:16.879 there's there's there's a process called SCIPHIUS that deals with 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:20.280 foreign investment in the United States. I'm not saying it 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:22.879 is impossible to come up with an argument of executive 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:26.040 power to do this, but but Christy did not present 0:20:26.080 --> 0:20:29.040 any argument under that, and I haven't seen a persuasive 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:31.760 argument that it can be done as an executive matter. 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:34.000 If it's not done as an executive matter, then it 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:37.920 would take legislation, and you'd have to actually get get 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:40.320 that to move through Congress, and it certainly has not 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:45.680 moved yet. I do agree. Look TikTok. The Chinese government 0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:49.679 has has control of TikTok, the ability to monitor, monitor 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:53.800 what's happening on TikTok. They are pushing very harmful messages. 0:20:53.840 --> 0:20:56.639 I think they are deliberately harming the United States. I 0:20:56.640 --> 0:20:59.240 think they are targeting our kids. They're targeting our kids 0:20:59.280 --> 0:21:03.080 with garbage. They're targeting our kids with self harm messages. 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:06.480 They're targeting our kids with with substance abuse and drug 0:21:06.560 --> 0:21:11.000 use messages, and and on hamas. It has been horrific 0:21:11.520 --> 0:21:17.600 the pro Hamas propaganda that's being pushed on on TikTok. Now, 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:22.080 I will say that we saw we saw it back 0:21:22.119 --> 0:21:26.800 and forth where NICKI Haley slammed Vivek because he's on TikTok, 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:31.000 and and he came back with a pretty good response 0:21:31.040 --> 0:21:34.399 and said, well, look, you know, all the lefties are 0:21:34.400 --> 0:21:36.840 on TikTok and we need to actually have some positive 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:40.440 messaging there. I understand that argument. I'm not on TikTok myself, 0:21:40.520 --> 0:21:43.800 but but but because of the Chinese control. But it 0:21:43.880 --> 0:21:46.879 worries me at times that if all conservatives abandoned that 0:21:46.920 --> 0:21:50.040 platform and so many kids are are following it, that 0:21:50.040 --> 0:21:53.520 that that we're leaving it to be almost entirely negative. 0:21:53.520 --> 0:21:56.440 And so I thought Vivek's response there was pretty good 0:21:56.800 --> 0:22:01.600 until he went too far and he had a nasty 0:22:01.760 --> 0:22:04.880 shot at Nikki Haley where he said, well, your daughter's 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:07.080