Second Republican Debate Transcript: Chris Christie

Interview

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Sometimes, you avoid war by showing you're tough.

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Voters simply (ph), and everybody, who's in Washington, D.C., they get sent down there, to do the job. And they've been failing at doing the job, for a very long time. And let's be honest about this with the voters.

During the Trump administration, they added $7 trillion, $7 trillion in national debt. And now, the Biden administration has put another $5 trillion on and counting. They have failed, and they're in the spot they're in now because none of them are willing to tell the truth; none of them are willing to take on the difficult issues. They just want to keep kicking the can down the road.

And the inflation that Nikki spoke about is absolutely right, and it's caused by government spending. And that's why people all across this country are suffering tonight. And yet we don't get any answers because Joe Biden hides in his basement and won't answer as to why he's raising the debt the way he's done. And Donald Trump hides behind the walls of his golf clubs and won't show up here to answer questions like all the rest of us are up here to answer.

He put $7 trillion on the debt…

he should be in this room to answer those questions for the people you talk about who are suffering.

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And if the government -- and if the government closes -- and if the government closes…

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… it's the blame -- it is to the blame of everyone in Washington, D.C. who has failed to do their job and just plays to the grandstand.

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We have to address all students. And, look, in our state, Stuart, frankly, before I was governor, that gap was close to 50%. And what we did was institute more charter schools and more renaissance schools, and more public school choice in New Jersey with innovative solutions in cities like Camden where now we took what was the worst school districts in America during my time. And we have now increased that by nearly 40% in terms of their proficiency.

It can be done when you give people choice. But let's tell the truth to everybody of what this is. This public school system is no longer run by the public. It is run by the teachers unions in this country. Randi Weingarten and her crew are absolutely straggly. They're taking the worst of their members and defending them rather than advocating for our kids.

And when you have the president of United States sleeping with a member of the teachers union, there is no chance that you could take the stranglehold away from the teachers union every day. They have an advocate inside the White House every day for the worst of their teachers, not for our students to be the best they can be. A president of United States has to take on the teachers union. I did it New Jersey and I will do it as president of United States.

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Well, look, what I think artificial intelligence offers us is an extraordinary opportunity to expand well beyond the productivity that we have now and to have Americans be able to be involved in that revolution, Dana.

You know, each time we have shown incredible innovation and progress in this country, what we've done with it is to expand all kinds of new, even un-thought of opportunities for folks. Yes, we have to do retraining for folks, who lose some of their jobs, and we should be doing that. And we should have more training available both at the county college level and the local level for people to be able to access it.

So, yes, I would be in favor of that. But this is a much bigger issue than that. We can't be afraid of innovation.

America has been the great innovator of this world over the last 250 years, a technological innovator, a manufacturing innovator, and a freedom and governmental innovator. And that's why America has to continue to stand strong in the world, pro-innovation, pro-progress.

And I would tell you this -- as president of the United States, what I will do is to make sure that every innovator in this country gets the government the hell off its back and out of its pocket so that it can innovate and bring great new inventions to our country that will make everybody's lives better.

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This is a guy who said -- wait one second.

This is a guy in 1991 who said that was the darkest moment in world history when the Soviet Union fell. Listen, everybody, he wants to put the old band back together. And only America can stop it. And when I'm president, we will.

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Well, because they don't have leaders in those days who are leading the fight the way it should be led. And the fact is, look, I was a governor here of the only blue state that's represented up here. This is where the fight is really tough for Republicans. And those are the states that we're going to have to try to win if we are going to win the White House back.

And what we did is 14 times, Dana, in eight years, I vetoed Planned Parenthood funding. 14 times. No one else gets it that much. The Democrats just kept sending it to me, and I kept saying no because I believe in life. But I also believe in state's rights. And I think we fought hard against Roe versus Wade for decades to say that states should make these decisions.

So we're going to have those parts in the states. But what you need is a leader who could talk to people and make them understand that if you're pro-life, you have to be pro-life for the entire life, not just the nine months in the womb.

And we talked a lot about fentanyl tonight, and we haven't spoken one moment about treatment. But we need to make sure that for the drug addicted 16-year-old on the floor of the county lockup, her life is precious, too. And we need to be providing treatment to cure this as a disease that it is. If you're pro-life you've got to be pro-life for the entire life.

We start talking like that, they're going to do what I did in the blue state, which was get re-elected with 61 percent of the vote and won 70 percent of independents, and 51 percent of Latinos because I told them the truth from my heart.

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Look, I think I've been the only one, on the stage that's has been clear about this. I vote Donald Trump off the island, right now. And the reason I vote him off the island, and the -- but --

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No. No, because you know what? 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, honestly.

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I have respect, for every man, and woman, on this stage. Because if not -- and Vivek, put your hand down, for a second. Would you?

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I still got time dude, so chill out.

Here, look, this guy has not only divided our party. He's divided families, all over this country. He's divided friends, all over this country. I've spoken to people, and I know everyone else has, who have sat, at Thanksgiving dinner, or at a birthday party, and can't have a conversation anymore --

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if they disagree with Donald Trump.

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He needs to be voted off the island.

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And he needs to be taken out of this process.

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