Second Republican Debate Transcript: Nikki Haley
Interview
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We will stop the spending. We will stop the borrowing. We will stop the earmarks.
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Yes, I think we need to look at exactly what happened. Biden showed up on that picket line. But why are those workers actually there? It's because of all of the spending that he is pushed through in the economy that's raised the inflation.
So when you look at the fact that we are paying higher gas prices, higher grocery prices, $7,000 more a year for families, what we need to do is, I came out with an economic plan, eliminate the gas and diesel tax so that they have more money in their pocket.
Let's focus on going after Middle America and cutting taxes for Middle America collapsing those brackets. Let's get rid of unfair distortions like the state and local tax that they give to wealthy people, in Blue states, and not -- and paid by Red states. And let's make sure we make the small business taxes permanent. They only made those temporary. They made the corporate taxes permanent.
Let's focus on what it takes to get more cash in the pockets of workers. That's when we'll be able to deal with strikes, like this, not sitting on a picket line, like Joe Biden is.
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Well, and I actually did it in South Carolina too.
What we knew in South Carolina was, you take care of those who take care of you. We have to start taking care of law enforcement, but it's not just taking care of them with words. It's making sure that you also follow through on what they do.
Right now, we have a lot of stolen guns on the street. Well, these law enforcement officers, they arrest these people, and then they go and they're let out the very next day. So, law enforcement feels like they don't -- no one has their back.
We have to start prosecuting according to the law. We have to make sure we have the backs of law enforcement, and we have to make sure that we're a country of law and order.
But I want to go back to China, because I don't think we spent enough time on that. Right now, we have to look at what government is doing to hurt us against China too. You have a company, USAntibiotics, that produces amoxicillin, the number one antibiotic that we need.
And, right now, there is a company in Bristol, Tennessee, that produces that, yet our federal government only gets it from China. We need to be focusing on companies that produce in America and supporting those companies that produce in America, not companies that are helping China.
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First of all, how can we be the best country in the world, and have the most expensive health care in the world? We have an issue.
My mom was in the hospital. And when she was in the hospital, they tried to bring her a couple of Tylenol. And she said, "I don't need it." And they said, "Honey, go ahead and take it because you're paying for it anyway." Why is it that when we got the bill, the insurance company, and the hospital, negotiated the bill, for her, without her having anything to do with it?
When I am President, we will break all of it, from the insurance company, to the hospitals, to the doctor's offices, to the PBMs, to the pharmaceutical companies. We will make it all transparent. Because, when you do that, you will realize that's what the problem is.
Second thing is you've got to deal with tort law. The lawyer -- the doctors don't give you the 10 tests, because they want to. It's because of the 90 percent chance they'll get sued.
And then, we need to bring competition back to health care, get rid of certificate-of-need systems, and make sure that they can compete. We have to put the patient, in the driver's seat. They've been in the backseat, for way too long. And once we give the patient, the ability, to decide their health care, deciding which plan they want, that is when we will see magic happen.
But we're going to have to make every part of the industry open up, and show us where their warts are, because they all have them. And we need to fix this on behalf of the American people.
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Well, and school choice isn't the only answer, but I'll tell you, it's not out of a lack of trying that we didn't try and get school choice in South Carolina.
What I'll tell you, first of all, is we have to acknowledge the fact that 67 percent of our eighth graders are not proficient in reading or math. Over 80 percent of our eighth graders aren't proficient in history or civics. And recently, they came out and said our 12 and 13 year olds are scoring at the lowest levels they've been scoring in reading and math in decades.
So the first thing we've got to do is we've got to make sure we catch our kids backup. We have to make sure they can read. A child that can't read by third grade is four times less likely to graduate high school. We need to do reading remediation, we need complete transparency in the classroom. No parent should ever want to what's being said or taught to their child in the classroom.
We need to make sure that we have school choice so that there's competition. We need to move all the programs from the federal government down to the states and let states decide what education looks like in their states. And we need to start building things in America again. Let's put vocational classes back in our high schools. And let's get our kids building the things that we know that we can make.
When we start to focus on that and really bringing that parental involvement, that's when we'll start to see a difference. But we've got to get parents back included. We've got to quit spending time on this DEI and CRT, and instead focus on financial literacy on digital literacy, and on making sure that our kids know what they need to do to have the jobs of the next generation the.
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This is infuriating because TikTok is one of the most dangerous social media apps that we could have and what you've got -- honestly, every time I hear you I feel a little bit dumber for what you say because I can't believe they hear you got a TikTok situation.
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What they're doing is 150 million people are on TikTok. That means they can get your contacts. They can get your financial information. They can get your e-mails. They can get text messages. They can get all of these things.
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China knows exactly what they are doing.
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And what we've seen it you've gone and you want China go make medicines in China, not America?
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You now wanted kids to go and get on this social media that's dangerous for all of us? You were in business with the Chinese that gave Hunter Biden $5 million. We can't trust you.
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We can't trust you. We can't have TikTok.
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A win for Russia is a win for China.
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But I forgot. You like China. That's why you're
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It means special operations. It's how we deal with our terrorists. And what you need to do is understand that Mexico's not being a good partner if we lost 75,000 Americans last year. Mexico's not being a good partner if they're letting the cartels get away with what they're getting away with.
What we will do is we will make sure that we send in our special operations and we will take out the cartels; we'll take out their operations; we'll take out anything that's doing it.
But we're going to go after China because China is the one sending the Fentanyl in the first place. And we will end all normal trade relations until China stops sending Fentanyl. And then we'll do the special operations and we'll get it from both sides.
This is where President Trump went wrong. He focused on trade with China. He didn't focus on the fact that they were buying up our farmland. He didn't focus on the fact that they were killing Americans. He didn't focus on the fact that they were stealing $600 billion in intellectual property. He didn't focus on the fact that they put a spy base off our shores in Cuba.
They didn't focus enough on the fact that all of our law enforcement drones in America are Chinese. And we've got all these little surveillance cells. We need to start focusing on what keeps Americans safe. That hasn't happened in a long time. As your president, I will make sure every American is safe, and we'll do whatever it takes to make that happen.
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So, you know, the first thing I'll say is what I saw at the United Nations is national -- energy security's national security. We need a president that understands we have to partner with our producers and make sure that they -- we have their backs. What you don't need is a president who is against energy independence. Ron DeSantis is against fracking. He's against drilling. He's been against -- you did it, every -- he always talks about what happens on day one, you better watch out because what happens on day two is when you're in trouble. Day two in Florida, you ban fracking, you ban offshore drilling
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You did it on federal lands, and you took green subsidies that you didn't have to take. It is true, look at day two.
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You banned it before, the voters even voted -- and the voters didn't even vote on fracking, you banned fracking.
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Look, I appreciate Tim. We've known each other a long time.
But he's been there 12 years, and he hasn't done any of that. He hasn't -- they've only given four budgets on time in 40 years. He is part of that.
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He's increased the national debt. He voted for the spending. He has made sure that the borders are open --
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Twelve years, where have you been? Where have you been, Tim?
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Twelve years. We've waited, and nothing has happened, 12 years.
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When they wouldn't pass the gas tax, the establishment and the companies wanted me to do it so much that I said, the only way I will pass it, if you will give us three
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If you will give me three times the deduction in income tax, then I will look at your gas tax.
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I cut taxes.
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