On this point about
Trump and the unwillingness to engage
in a direct hit on him.
I was surprised when Chris Chris Christie
had a pretty good thing
going there, a good litany against Trump.
And then he finished with kind of a
kind of corny joke about Donald Duck
and what he didn't say.
And I'm surprised
he didn't want everybody on that stage.
But Christie said in the last debate
that they'd support
Donald Trump even if he were convicted.
Now, there was all this
talk about the rule of law
on that platform
and how is that consistent
with putting a convicted felon
in the White House.
And he had a clear shot
at the rest of the field
and he didn't take it.
I want to play what you're just
what you're talking about.
The Chris Christie, what he said
he's going to bring law and
order back to this country
and not just in our cities,
but we need to
bring order back everywhere.
We need go to our back in our suburbs.
People are threatened there.
We need it in our rural areas.
People feel threatened there
and we need it in Washington, D.C. also.
And Donald Trump
should be here to answer for that.
But he's not.
And I want to look at a camera right now
and tell you, Donald
I know you're watching.
You can't help yourself.
I know you're watching. Okay.
And you're not here tonight,
not because of polls
and not because of your indictments.
You're not here tonight
because you're afraid
of being on the stage
and defending your record.
You're ducking these things.
And let me tell you
what's going to happen.
You keep doing that.
No one up here is going to call you
Donald Trump anymore.
We're going to kill you, Donald Duck.
Missed opportunity
and bad joke,
which is even more offensive.
But but Trump did come after him
on troop
social proving
Chris Christie's point
that he was probably watching the debate.
I don't know.
Maybe Christie has.
Look, Christie did not
come out of the last debate.
Well, you know,
a lot of especially given
all the preamble
about how he was really getting
the world scrutiny
from Republican voters.
We're not very positive
to the strategy that he took.
Maybe this was the consultants
whispering in his ear
that he needed to change his strategy
a little bit.
But at the end of the day,
why else is Chris Christie
on the debate stage
if not to take Trump on directly?
The best chance for these guys
at this point?
I think it's all about Iowa
at this point, right?
I mean, there is
no there's nothing else other than Iowa.
If somebody doesn't get within
five points of this guy in Iowa,
20 points, this race is over.
I mean,
I think I think
I think some of them say
interesting things.
I think the Sanders
has been an amazing governor.
I think Haley is a polished politician.
But right now,
everything is aiming to Iowa.
And they
and it does have a reputation
for breaking late.
And maybe the pro-lifers
are nervous about Trump,
although I doubt it, given
he put the three people
on the Supreme Court.
But if you can't find a way between now
and January
to get within single digits
of Donald Trump,
this is academic
DeSantis and Scott
are both trying to use the abortion
issue against Donald Trump in Iowa
because 60%
last time 2016
64% identified as evangelical Christians.
But that question to your point
about the structure of the debate
which is not up to the candidates
it's up to the moderators
that didn't come up until 15 minutes
before it ended.
And again there was not
it was not a Trump focused question.
Does that work.
No.
One and to your point about it's
Iowa only.
I mean
Christie is counting on New Hampshire
but what he's first he's counting on.
First he's counting on Iowa
to do something
for Iowa to shock the race.
Oh, Trump is not inevitable.
He's not invincible. He's not inevitable.
And then you come there.
But again again,
if you're Donald Trump
and you've got five or six
viable candidates, by then, we'll see.
A couple will drop out.
You know, Asa Hutchinson
didn't make this debate.
It's possible
that Governor Burgum
and even possible that Vice
President Pence
don't make the next debate
because of the rules.
Does the field start to shrink as you get
past Thanksgiving
toward the voting in January?
But even then,
if you still got
four or five people
spreading the anti-Trump vote, he's fine.
And that to Scott's point,
he's got to spend a lot of time in Iowa.
I've got to go to 99 counties
over and over
and over again
and sit in people's living room
and convince them
that you're here,
that you're the nominee,
you're the better choice.
And Donald Trump,
because he's not going to go to people's
living.
He's not going to go to 99 counties.
He may go to two or three.
He's going to show up and it'll be a big
you know, big
presentation, a big production,
but he's not going
to put it in the legwork.
And if you really want to win in Iowa,
you've got a chance, right?
A decent horse is playing to to win Iowa.
And Christie
is playing to compete in New Hampshire,
not even running in Iowa.
And that explains
a little bit of their approaches.
But again,
just to to restate what I said before,
I think DeSantis is an awkward presence
on the stage, less so at times tonight.
He looked a little less rehearsed,
although he delivered.
But some of the substance
of what he said
was aimed directly at those Iowa voters,
not just Ukraine,
but his defense of his position
on abortion,
which he sort of has rewritten history.
So that was reelected
governor of Florida,
you know, as a strong pro-lifer.
He didn't endorse a six week abortion ban
when he was running for governor.
Of Florida.
And if he had,
he would not have won by the landslide.
He did.
He won by
take a shot at the former president.
And let's just play that sound
The people in Washington
are shutting down
the American dream
with their reckless behavior.
They borrowed, they printed, they spent.
And now you're paying more
for everything.
They are the reason for that.
They have shut down
our national sovereignty
by allowing our border to be wide open.
So please spare me
the crocodile tears for these people.
They need to change what's going on.
And where's Joe Biden?
He's completely missing in action
from leadership.
And you know
who else is missing in action?
Donald Trump is missing in action.
He should be on this stage tonight.
He owes it to you to defend his record.
Were they added 7.8 trillion to the debt
that set the stage
for the inflation that we have now?
I could tell you this.
As governor of Florida,
we cut taxes, we ran surpluses.
We've paid down
over 25% of our state debt.
And I vetoed wasteful
spending when it came to my desk.
And as your president,
when they send me
a bloating spending bill,
that's going to cause your prices
to go up.
I'm going to take out this veto pen
and I'm going to send
it right back to them. It's
a great moment.
That's his best moment all night.
That's pretty strong.