'This Week' Transcript 2-18-24: Nikki Haley, Gov. Josh Shapiro and Charlamagne tha God
Interview
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He said he's going to spend more time in a courtroom than he is going to be on the campaign trail.
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Good morning.
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I think it's important to stand with the Russian people who believe Navalny was really talking for them. I mean you look at this hero, he was fighting corruption, he was fighting what Putin does. And what did Putin do? He killed him. Just like he does all his political opponents. And I think that's very telling.
But this goes back to the fact that we need to remind the American people that Vladimir Putin is not our friend. Vladimir Putin is not cool. This is not someone we want to associate with. This is not someone that we want to be friends with. This is not someone that we can trust.
And so when you hear Donald Trump say in South Carolina a week ago that he would encourage Putin to invade our allies if they weren't pulling their weight. That's bone-chilling, because all he did in that one moment was empower Putin. And all he did in that moment was, he sided with a guy that kills his political opponents, he sided with a thug that arrests American journalists and holds them hostage, and he sided with a guy who wanted to make a point to the Russian people, don't challenge me in the next election or this will happen to you too.
We have to start waking up to what this means. And that's why the importance of making sure that Ukraine wins is clear because we have to prevent further war. And right now, Putin is feeling more emboldened than he ever has.
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It's -- it's actually pretty amazing that he -- not only after making those comments that he would encourage Putin to invade NATO, but the fact that he won't acknowledge anything with Navalny. Either he sides with Putin and thinks it's cool that -- that Putin killed one of his political opponents, or he just doesn't think it's that big of a deal. Either one of those is concerning. Either one of those is a problem.
We've got to start seriously having a conversation in America about our national security. We've got to start talking -- having a conversation about the fact that there's a war in Europe, there's a war in the Middle East, North Korea's testing intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of hitting the U.S., China's on the march. You've got Iran who's literally trying to kill our American soldiers and you've got Russians who are doing blinding satellites in space. There's a lot going on.
This is not the time to talk about America hiding in a bubble and not doing anything with the rest of the world. This is a time we should be strengthening our alliances and making sure we're putting up a strong front so that we can prevent further wars from happening.
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Well, I think first we have to talk about, what should Joe Biden be doing? First of all, the reason you're seeing America become more isolationist is at no point has Joe Biden had a conversation with the American people about why Ukraine is important. At no point has he had a conversation with him with the American people about the terrorist activity that's happening with Israel and why Iran is so dangerous. At no point is he talking about the threats of China. And when you don't talk about those things with the American people, they're going to distance themselves from it.
And so, Joe Biden has failed on that front. That has emboldened our enemies. That's why you see them moving. It happened after the fall of Afghanistan. It is continuing to happen.
Then they go and they see the other opponent running for -- for president and they see that he doesn't worry about Putin invading Ukraine. So, what does Putin do? He goes and now he's starting to put soldiers around the Baltics. He's moving in for the next era.
And let's remind the American people that Putin said once he takes Ukraine, Poland and the Baltics are next. Now he is putting soldiers around those countries, just like he did Ukraine. And if that happens, those are NATO countries. That immediately puts America at war. That is what we are trying to avoid. And that's why this aid package is so important.
Ukraine's not asking for troops, they're just asking for the equipment and ammunition to win this war. They have a great fighting force. We need to give them what they need so that they can win so that we can prevent having -- sending any of our military men and women to fight.
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Well, Jonathan, I'm --
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Well, I'll talk to you about Republicans and Democrats because this is not the time to pick which side is right or wrong. This is the time to get it right for America.
Joe Biden needs to be speaking more to the American people about what this package means and why it affects the American people and why it protects them from further war. Congress needs to do their job and make sure that they go and do everything they can for national security. Congress is failing because they are making this sound like you have to choose between Ukraine and Israel or securing the border.
They are lying to the American people. That's a false premise. We can do both.
Securing our national border -- securing our southern border is priority number one, but making sure that we help Ukraine and Israel is also about preventing war. If we just supported Ukraine and Israel, that's only 5 percent of our defense budget. If we supported Ukraine, Israel and secured the border, that's less than 20 percent of Biden's green subsidies.
So, this is not about the American people having to choose either or. This is about Joe Biden and Congress understanding that they need to choose national security. They need to choose preventing war.
And their job is to keep Americans safe. And they have to communicate that to the American people. And they are not doing that right now.
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I'm worried about a lot of things if Trump is re-elected. That is one of them.
You know, first of all, understand that NATO is a 75-year success story. This alliance -- keep in mind, Russia has never invaded a NATO country because Russia has typically been very intimidated by this alliance. China is even intimidated by this alliance.
So, keeping NATO strong is important. Adding more friends to the fold is important. This is not the time to leave an alliance. This is not the time to side with a thug and not side with our friends, who stood with us after 9/11.
We have to make sure that we stand firm. Because when we stand firm with our friends, our enemies stay -- on their heels. When we start to show any weakening of those alliances, that's when our enemies move. That's why we're seeing China on the march. That's why we're seeing Iran want to build a nuclear bomb. That's why we're seeing Russia start to move towards Poland and the Baltics.
It is not something to play with when you talk about NATO. This is something where we should be doubling down and saying that this alliance will only get stronger. And that's what I'll promise I'll do as president, is we not only will strengthen NATO, we will strengthen alliances with India, Australia, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines. We will add to the fold. This is about America having more friends, not less friends.
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I mean it should be a wake-up call for Republicans all over this country. I mean you look at the fact that we saw in his campaign reports that he used $50 million of campaign contributions to pay for his personal court cases. Then he tried to get the RNC to name him the presumptive nominee. We don't anoint kings in America.
So, when he got pushback on that, they started to walk it back. Now he's trying to control the RNC by putting his daughter-in-law as the co-chair and putting his campaign manager as the director of operations.
Now, when you look at that, the part I worry about is the RNC is not going to be the piggy bank for Trump's legal fees. The RNC is almost broke already. Now you go and see he's looking for other avenues to pay his legal fees. The RNC -- you can hang up winning the House and the Senate or having any resources for us to win any other races if all they're doing is thinking about how they're going to pay his court fees.
And this is what I'm talking about. This is a fact. I voted for Donald Trump twice. I was proud to serve America in his administration. But we have got to right the ship in this country. Seventy percent of Americans have said they don't want Donald Trump or Joe Biden to be their only choices. Fifty-nine percent of Americans have said Donald Trump is too old and Joe Biden is too old to run for president.
We need a new generational leader that's not distracted by court cases, that's not filled with vengeance towards our enemies, that's not in the drama. Someone that goes and takes out the politics in our agencies, someone who stops the wasteful spending in America, someone who gets our kids reading again and goes back to the basics in education, someone who secures our borders with no more excuses, someone who brings law and order back to our country and someone who can make a strong America that prevents was that we can all be proud of. That's what I am trying to do. And that's what I think Americans want as we go forward. And that's why I think this primary is so important.
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I mean keep in mind, I am running against him for a reason.
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I'm running against him because I don't think he should be the right -- I don't think he's the right person at the right time. I don't think he should be president. The last thing on my mind is who I'm going to support. The only thing on my mind is how we're going to win this. The only thing on my mind is how we're going to make sure that we correct what's happening in America and we bring this country back together, allow her to heal and move in a strong way.
I'm not thinking about who I'm going to support in an election because (INAUDIBLE) the fact that we are going to have a --
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We are going to have a female president of the United States. It will either be me or it will be Kamala Harris. And if Donald Trump is the nominee of the -- in -- for the Republican Party, he will not win. Every poll shows that. He will not win. And we will have a president Kamala Harris.
I'm not going to allow that to happen. I'm not stopping. I'm not going anywhere. We're going to do this for the long haul and we're going to finish it.
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That means I'm going to run and I'm going to win. And y'all can talk about support later. Right now you can ask him if he's going to support me when I'm the nominee.
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Do you think he would? I highly doubt it.
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