'This Week' Transcript 12-17-23: Nikki Haley, Gov. Chris Sununu & Sen. Chris Van Hollen

Interview

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It's exciting. We can feel it on the ground. We're going to do this.

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I mean, it's huge. You know, first to have the endorsement of the largest conservative, freedom-loving, grassroots organization in the country with Americans for Prosperity, and then go get the endorsement of the live free or die governor, I mean, it doesn't get any better than that. I mean it's rock solid. And, you know, we're focused on, OK, how do we make it a live free or die country. How do we put the people back in charge? And Chris is such a great partner. We've had a great time. We've won so many rooms and, you know, we're just getting started.

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I think this election is important for Republicans and Democrats. I mean you see Democrats are just as worried. You've got 75 percent of America that say they don't want a Trump/Biden rematch, and so there's a lot at stake for our country. And I think for Republicans, they're looking at the fact that, look, we've got to get this back on track. And they like the idea of a new generational leader.

You know, I agree with a lot of Trump's policies. I think he was the right president at the right time. But looking at the situation now, our country's in disarray, the world is on fire, and chaos follows him. And we can't have a country in chaos for four more years or we won't survive it.

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I mean I -- rightly or wrongly. You call it whatever you want to call it. But when you feel it, it's chaos. When I tell these rooms that, they all nod their head. They get it. It's the chaos. And Americans are tired. They want government to work for them again. And they want to win. And you look at these general election polls and Biden and Trump are head to head. It's going to be another nail-biter.

I defeat Biden by 17 points. That's a total mandate.

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And what I appreciate about Chris' endorsement, it's not a one and done. This, for the next 40 days, we're partners because we honestly believe we have a country to save and we're determined to do it.

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I'm going to let the courts figure that out. I mean the last thing you're going to see me do is weigh in or learn the details about any of his court cases because I can't follow 91 charges, and I'm not going to.

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Well, I think the court issues are, do you have immunity when you're president, when you're not president? At what point does that line fall? I'm going to let judges decide that. I don't know where the line falls. President Trump's going to have to defend himself no matter what. If he's found guilty, he's found guilty. If he's found innocent, he's found innocent. It would be wasted energy for me to sit there and focus on court cases and not focus on how to win that room that we just left.

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I mean he can answer for himself. I am not in a court case. I'm happy I don't have to answer for that.

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So, let him answer it.

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Of course. I don't ever want that to happen again. I think January 6th was a terrible day, and I think that the tone at the top matters. On so many levels the tone at the top matters.

Look. anti-Trumpers think I don't hate Trump enough. Pro-Trumpers think I don't love him enough. I call it like I see it. If I agree with you on something, I'm going to say it. If I disagree with you on something, I'm going to say it.

At the end of the day, people want the truth. They want to know what I think. I tell them what it is, and we let the chips fall where they may. That's what I felt about that situation on January 6th. I hope we never have an event like that again.

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Well, I think the part -- the problem was and it -- what everybody -- so many of his friends and family and everybody saw is, you had good people who went there to support him. You had good people that were there at the rallies. And then you had people who broke the law, right?

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There's a difference. Don't group everybody together. There's a difference. But when President Trump had the opportunity to stop it, when he had the opportunity to say it, the bully pulpit matters. People listen. He didn't. And I -- and I hate that for the people that were there supporting him. I hate that for those of us that were watching it. But what I do know is, he was the right president at the right time. But the situation we're on -- in now, nobody wants that chaos again. That's what we're trying to get past. My approach is different. No drama, no vendettas, no whining.

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Because I answered --

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I mean, you're one of those, too. Y'all want me to either love him or hate him all the time.

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So I did, and I responded to him in every way and what I said to them was, anti-Trumpers want me to hate him, pro-Trumpers want me to love him, but this is where I stand.

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There are things I agreed with the president on. I had a good working relationship with him. There are things I don't agree.

I don't agree with the fact that -- yes, we had a good economy while he was there, but he put us $8 trillion in debt that our kids are never going to forgive us for.

I don't agree with how he handles national security. He focused on trade with China, but he did nothing about the fentanyl flow. He did nothing about the fact that fentanyl has killed so many of our Americans.

I don't think you should praise Hezbollah. I don't think you should criticize Netanyahu when Israel's down on their knees. I don't think you should congratulate the Chinese communist party on their 70th anniversary.

I think that when it comes to national security, we don't praise thugs. We let them know where we stand, and we let them know there will be hell to pay if they do anything against us. That's who I am.

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You guys are exhausting. You're exhausting, in your obsession with him.

The thing is the normal people aren't obsessed with Trump like you guys are. The normal people care about the fact that they can't afford things. They feel like their freedoms are being taken away. They think government is too big.

I know y'all want to talk about every single word he says and every single tweet he does. That's exactly why we need a new generational leader, because people don't want to hear about every word a person says or every tweet. They want to know how you fought for them that day, and they want to know how their life is going to be different.

And life will be a whole lot different if the media would stop this obsession with Trump.

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And if you want to talk about Trump -- if you really want to talk about Trump, why don't you go ask him if he's going to get on a debate stage in Iowa where Iowa's voting? Why don't you go ask him if he's going to get on a debate stage in New Hampshire --

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-- where Granite Staters are voting? That's what you should be asking as the media. Not asking about what he happened to say today.

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Well, I think it is the right thing that unelected justices no longer decide this, and it's in the hands of the people. I appreciate that Texas went more on the pro-life side, but as we go through this -- listen, my heart broke for her because I had trouble having my children.

These -- the states are now going to have to look at these because what we don't want to see is a woman with a rare condition having to carry a baby until term, no (ph).

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I mean, the Supreme Court said what -- that the law that the state put was -- was the one they had to follow, right?

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Right, so that's when a state corrects itself and says, how do we make sure that doesn't happen again? We tweak things all the time as governors.

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Well, the court had to follow the law. The law said that she couldn't have the abortion. Now, it's up to the legislature in Texas to say, how do we make sure there are no more Kates that go through that? That's what you look at.

As a governor, you don't just say, this is golden. As a governor, when something happens that churns your stomach, that says that's what this was intended to be, you go back and say, okay, what do we do to make sure that -- that we are saving as many babies as possible, but also supporting as many moms as possible. It's not as cut and dry as everybody wants, but states will self-correct to this. That's what they do.

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To interpret the law.

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Yes.

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My goal is to be strong in Iowa, strong in New Hampshire, strong in South Carolina.

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I mean you're saying that. What I'm saying is, why don't we try and do the best we can in every state and let the people decide which way this goes? I think I'm going to be strong in Iowa. I think I'm going to be strong in New Hampshire. I think we're going to be strong in South Carolina. And I think we're going to take it. And we're not settling for anything else.

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He knows his state better than I do.

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It's exciting. We can feel it on the ground. We're going to do this.

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