the country? >> the answer is simple, you prosecute criminals. you target the bad guys. a minute ago neil asked what has president obama done to illustrate he wants to go after guns? well, he appointed eric holder as attorney general, he viewed his mission as brainwashing the american people against guns. he appointed sonia sotomayor in the supreme court, he launched fast and furious, illegally selling guns to mexican drug lords that were used to shoot law enforcement official. and i'll tell you what hillary clinton said, hillary clinton said she agrees with the dissenters, the supreme court dissenters in the heller case. there were four dissenters and they said they believe the 2nd amendment protects no individual right to protect and bear arms whatsoever. which means if their view prevailed and the next president gets one, two, three, maybe four supreme court justices, the court will rule

that not a single person in the room has any right under the 2nd amendment and the government can confiscate your guns. and i'll note that california democratic senator dianne feinstein said if she could say to mr. america and mrs. america give me your guns, i'm rounding them up, she would. and let me make a final point on this. in any republican primary, everyone is going to say they support the 2nd amendment. unless you are clinically insane -- [laughter] >> that's what you say in a primary. but the voters are saffier than that, they recognize that people's actions don't always match their words. i have a proven record fighting the 2nd amendment, there's a reason the government of america endorsed me in this case. there's a reason the nra gave me freedom card award. and a reason when barack obama and chuck schumer came after right to bear arms i led the opposition along with millions of americans, we defeated that gun control legislation, and i would note the other

individuals on this stage were nowhere to be found in that fight. [cheering and applause] . moderator: senator, let me follow up and switch gears. senator cruz, you suggested mr. trump, quote, embodies new york values. could you explain what you mean by that? >> i think most people know exactly what new york values are. [ laughter ] >> i am from new york. >> you're from new york? you might not. but i promise you in the state of south carolina -- [laughter] >> they do. and listen, there are many, many wonderful, wonderful working men and women in the state of new york. but everyone understands that the values in new york city are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro-gay marriage. focus around money and the media. and i would note indeed, the reason i said that is i was asked, my friend donald has

taken to it as advance playing bruce springsteen's born in the usa. and i was asked what i thought of that? and i said if he wanted to play a song? maybe he could play new york, new york? and the concept of new york values is not that complicated to figure out. not too many years ago, donald did a long interview with tim russert. and in that interview he explained his views on a whole host of issues that were very, very different from the views he's describing now. and his explanation, he said, look, i'm from new york, that's what we believe in new york. those aren't iowa values but this is what we believe in new york. that was his explanation, and i guess i can frame it another way. not a lot of conservatives come out of manhattan. i'm just saying. [ laughter ] >> are you sure about that? moderator: maria, so conservatives actually do come

out of manhattan. >> including william f. buckley and others, just so you understand. and just so -- if i could, because he insulted a lot of people. i've had more calls on that statement that ted made. new york is a great place, it's got great people, it's got loving people, wonderful people. when the world trade center came down, i saw something that no place on earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than new york. you had two -- [applause] >> you had two 110-story buildings come crashing down. thousands of people killed and the cleanup started the next day, and it was the most horrific cleanup probably in the history of doing this, and in construction, i was down there. and i've never seen anything like it. and the people in new york

fought and fought and fought, and we saw more death and even the smell of death nobody understood it. and it was with us for months. the smell. the air. and we rebuilt downtown manhattan, and everybody in the world watched, and everybody in the world loved new york and loved new yorkers, and i have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that ted made. [applause] . moderator: governor bush, for the third time in as many months, the iranians have provoked us, as we've been discussing the ten navy sailors straight into the waters, the sailors were released only after shown on video apologizing for the incident. this occurring only weeks after iran fired multiple rockets within 1500 yards of a u.s. aircraft carrier and continued to test medium range missiles. now you claim that such actions indicate tehran has little to fear from a president obama.

i wonder, sir, what would change if they continued doing this sort of thing under a president jeb bush? >> first of all, under president jeb bush, we would restore the strength of the military. last week, secretary carter announced that the navy's going to be cut again. it's now half the size of what it was prior to operation desert storm. the deployments are too high for the military personnel. we don't have procurement done for refreshing the equipment. b-52 is still operational as the long range bomber, inaugurated in the age of harry truman. the planes are older than the pilots. we're gutting our military and so the iranians and the chinese and the russians and many other countries look at united states not as serious as we once were. we have to eliminate the sequester, rebuild the military in a way that makes it clear that we're back in the game. secondly, as it relates to iran, we need to confront ambitions across the board.

reimpose sanctions, they violated sanctions after the agreement was signed by testing medium-range missiles. thirdly, we need to move our embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem to send a serious signal we're back in the game with israel -- [applause] >> and sign an agreement to make sure the world knows they will have technological superiority. we need to get back in the game as it relates to our arab nations. rest of the world is moving away from us, towards other alliances because we're weak. this president and john kerry and hillary clinton all have made it harder for the next president to act, but he must act to confront the ambitions of iran. we can get back in the game to restore order and security for our own country. [applause] . moderator: thank you, governor. governor kasich, while everyone is focusing on iran's provocations, wondering what you make of what saudi arabia is doing and recent moves in the region, including execution of a well-known shiite cleric

and move to dramatically increase oil production. some say an effort to drive down oil prices and force a lot of u.s. oil producers out of business. sure enough oil prices tumbled. one brokerage house is predicting a third or more of american oil producers and those heavily invested in fracking will go bankrupt, and soon saudi arabia and opec will be back in the driver's seat. u.s. energy player harold hamrie said with friends like these, who needs enemys? >> i served on the defense committee for 18 years, and by the way, one of the members of the committee was senator strom thurmond from south carolina. after the 9/11 attacks, secretary rumsfeld invited me to the pentagon with a meeting with the four formers secretaries of defense. i suggested we had a problem with technology, and they wanted to involve silicon

valley into the pentagon to solve our most significant problems. i not only had the opportunity to go through the cold war struggles in central america, and even after 9/11 to be involved, with saudi arabia and oil production, first of all, it's so critical for us to be energy dependent and getting there because of fracking and we ought to explore, energy independence gives us leverage and flexibility, and secondly, if you want to bring jobs back to the united states of america and industry, low prices make the difference. we're seeing it in my state and see it in this country. that's why we must make sure we continue to frack. in terms of saudi arabia, look, my biggest problem with them is funding radical clerics through their medroces, that is a bad deal. whether i'm president or not, make it clear to the saudis, we're going to support you, we're in relation with you just like the first gulf war, but you got to knock off the

funding and teaching of radical clerics who are the very people who try to destroy us and will turn around and destroy them. so look, in foreign policy, in foreign policy, it's strength, but you got to be cool, you got to have a clear vision of where you want to go, and i'm going to tell you that i'm going to suggest to you here tonight, that you can't do on-the-job training. i've seen so much of it, soviet union, coming down of the wall. issues we saw around the world in central america, the potential spread of communism and even in and the gulf war. you see with the saudis deliver them a strong message, but at the end of the day, keep our cool because most of the time they're going right with us and they must be part of our coalition to destroy isis, and i believe we can get that done. thank you. [applause] . moderator: thank you, governor. much more ahead including the fight against isis, more from charleston, south carolina when

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. moderator: welcome back to the republican presidential debate. right back to the questions. candidates, the man who made fighting isis the cornerstone of his campaign, south carolina senator lindsey graham is out of the race, but he joins us tonight in the audience. [applause] >> he says, he says the airstrikes now in their 16th month have been ineffective. dr. carson -- >> wait a minute, who in the 16th month.

moderator: the airstrikes. now in the 16th month are ineffective. dr. carson, do you think senator graham is right in wanting to send 20,000 troops, ground troops to iraq and syria to take out isis? >> well, there's no question that isis is a very serious problem, and i don't believe that this administration recognizes how serious it is. i think we need to do a lot more than we're doing. recognize that the caliphate is what gives them legitimacy to go out on a jihadist mission week need to take that away from them, the way is to talk to military officials and ask them what do you need in order to accomplish this goal? our decision is then do we give them what we need. i say yes, not only do we give them what they need, but don't tie their hands behind their backs so they can get the job done. [applause] >> in addition to that, we go ahead and we take the oil from

them, their source of revenue. you know, some of these engagement rules that the administration has were not going to bomb a tanker coming out of there because there might be a person in it. give me a break. just tell them, you put people in there, we're going to bomb them. don't put people in there if you don't want them bombed. we need to shut down the mechanism for funding and attack their command and control centers. why should we let their people smoking their cigars, sitting in comfortable chairs in raqaa. we need to shut off the supply routes and send in special ops at 2:00 a.m. and attack them everywhere they go. they should be running all the time, then they won't have time to plan attacks against us. [applause] >> thank you, sir, senator graham has also said that the u.s. will find arab support for its coalition if it removes

syrian president bashar al-assad and i quote, the now king of saudi arabia told us you can have our army, you just got to deal with assad. amir of qatar said i'll pay for the operation but they are not going to fight isis and let damascus fall into the hands of the iranians. assad has to go. governor christy, how important is it to remove assad from power and how would you do it? >> you look at what the president and secretary clinton has done, this is the president who said along with the secretary of state through a red line in syria, if assad uses chemical weapons against his people, we're going to attack. he used chemical weapons, he's killed a quarter of a million of his own people and this president has done nothing. he's done worse than nothing. this president, and by the way secretary clinton who called assad a reformer, she called assad a reformer. now the fact is with this president has done is invited

russia to bring in vladimir putin to negotiate giving the chemical weapons back from assad, yet what do we have today? we have the russians and iranians working together, not to fight isis but to prop up assad. fact of the matter is we're not going to have peace. we're not going to have peace in syria. we're not going to be able to rebuild unless we put in a no-fly zone, make it safe tr the folks so we don't have to talk about refugees anymore. the syrians should stay in syria. shouldn't be going to europe. you're not going to have peace in syria with assad in charge. senator graham is right about this. if we want to try to rebuild a coalition as governor kasich was saying before, what we better do is to get to the arab countries that believe that isis is a threat not only to them but to us and to world peace and bring them together, and believe me, assad is not worth it. and if you going to leave this to hillary clinton, the person who gave us this foreign policy, the architect of it, and give her another four

years, that's why i'm speaking out as strongly as i am about that. hillary clinton cannot be president. it will lead to greater war in this world, and remember this, after hillary clinton and barack obama had nearly 8 years, we have fewer democracies in the world than when they started. that makes the world less peaceful, less safe. in my administration, we will help to make sure we bring people together in the middle east, and we will fight isis and defeat them. moderator: thank you, sir. mr. trump, your comment about banning muslims from entering the country created a firestorm. according to facebook, it was the most talked about moment online of your entire campaign. with more than 10 million people talking about the issue, is there anything you've heard that makes you want to rethink this position? >> no. [ laughter ] >> no. look, we have to stop with political correctness.

we have to get down to creating a country that's not going to have the kind of problems that we've had with people flying planes into the world trade centers, with the shootings in california. with all the problems all over the world. i just left indonesia, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb. we have to find out what's going on. i said temporarily. i didn't say permanently. i said temporarily, and i have many great muslim friends, and some of them, i will say not all, have called me and said donald, thank you very much. you're exposing an unbelievable problem, and we have to get to the bottom of it. and unlike president obama, where he refuses to use the term of what's going on. he can't use the term for whatever reason, and if you can't use the term, you're never going to solve the problem. my muslim friends, some, said thank you very much. we'll get to the bottom of it, but we have a serious problem,

and we can't be the stupid country anymore. we're laughed at all over the world. >> donald, donald, i hope you reconsider this, because this policy is a policy that makes it impossible to build the coalition necessary to take out isis. the kurds are our strongest allies, they're muslim. you're not going to allow them to come to our country? the other arab countries have a role in this. we can't be the world's policemen, we can't do it unilaterally. we have to do it in unison with the arab world. we have to be serious about taking out isis and restoring democracy in syria. i hope you'll reconsider. i hope you'll reconsider. the better way of dealing with this is recognizing that there are people in the islamic terrorist embedded refugee populations, we ought to tighten up our efforts to beef up the entry visa program so a

citizen from europe, it's hard fer they're traveling to syria or other places where there is islamic terrorism, make the screening take place. we don't have to have refugees come to the country, but all muslims? seriously! what kind of signal does that send to the rest of the world that the united states is a serious player in creating peace. moderator: you said it represented him being unhinged. >> they are unhinged. moderator: well, after he made them. poll numbers went up 8 points in south carolina. >> no, no, 11 points to be exact. [ laughter ] >> are you saying that all those people who agree with mr. trump are unhingeed? >> no, not at all. absolutely not. i can see why people are angry and scared because this president has created a condition where our national security has weakened dramatically, i totally get that. but we're running for presidency of the united states here. this isn't -- this isn't a different kind of job, you have to lead. you cannot make rash statements

and expect the rest of the world to respond as though, well, it's just politics. every time we send signals like, this we send a signal of weakness, not strength. it was an unhinged statement, which is why i'm asking him to consider changing his views. [applause] >> i would security for this country. okay? i want security. i'm tired of seeing what's going on between the border where the people flow over, people come in, they live, they shoot. i want security for this country. we have a serious problem with, as you know, with radical islam. we have a tremendous problem. not only a problem here, it's a problem all over the world. i want to find out why those two young people, those two horrible young people in california when they shot the 14 people, killed them. people they knew. people that held a wedding reception for them. i want to find out, many people saw pipe bombs and all sorts of

things all over their apartment. why weren't they vigilant? why didn't they call? why didn't they call the police? and by the way, the police are the most mistreated people in this country. i will tell you that. [cheering and applause] . >> the most mistreated people. we need -- wait a minute, we need vigilance. we need to find out. many people knew about what was going on. why didn't they turn the two people in so you wouldn't have had all the death? there's something going on and it's bad. and i'm saying we have to get to the bottom of it. that's all i'm saying. we need security. moderator: we want to hear from all of you on this. according to pew research, the u.s. admits more than 100,000 muslim immigrants every single year on a permanent lifetime basis. i want to ask the rest of you to comment on this. do you agree that we should pause muslim immigration until we get a better handle on our homeland security situation, as mr. trump said, beginning with

you, governor kasich? >> i've been for pausing on admitting the syrian refugees. and the reason why i've done is i don't believe we have a good be process of being able to vet them. we don't want to put everybody in the same category. and go back to something mentioned a few minutes ago. if we're going to have a coalition, we're going to have to have a coalition not just of people in the western part of the world, our european allies, but we need the saudis, we need the egyptians, we need the jordanians, we need the gulf states. we need jordan. we need all of them to be part of exactly what the first george bush put together in the first gulf war. it was a coalition made up of arabs and americans and westerners and we're going to need it again, and if we try to put everybody in the same -- call everybody the same thing, we can't do it. and that's just not acceptable. but i think a pause on syrian refugees has been exactly right for all the governors that have called for it, and also, of

course, for mesa the governor of ohio. moderator: thank you, sir, we want to hear from the rest of you, governor christie, your take. >> maria, i said from the beginning we should take no syran refugees of any kind. that's the end of the conversation, i can tell you after spending seven years as a former federal prosecutor, right after 9/11, dealing with this issue, here's the way you need to deal with it. you can't just ban all muslims. you have to ban radical islamic jihadists, ban the people trying to hurt us. the only way to figure that out is to go back to getting the intelligence community the funding and the tools that it needs to be able to keep america safe. and this summer, we took it away from the nsa, it was a bad decision by the president. bad by those in the senate who voted for it. if i'm president we'll make our intelligence community strong, and we're just going to keep

the bad folk out and make sure they don't harm us. moderator: senator rubio, where do you stand. >> let's find out why we are see angered, this issue has consistently underestimated the threat of isis. if you listen to the state of the union the other night, he described them as a bunch of guys with long beards on the back of a pickup truck. they are much more than that. they enslave women and sell them as brides. this is a group of people that burns people in cages, that is conducting genocide against christians and yazidis in the region, this is not a small scale group, they are radicalizing people in the united states, conducting attacks around the world. what needs to happen, it's a very simple equation, and will happen when i'm president. if we do not know who you are, when i am president, you are not getting into the united states of america. [applause] >> senator cruz, where do you stand? senator cruz?

>> you know i understand why donald made the comments he did and i understand why americans are feeling frustrated and scared and angry when we have a president who refuses to acknowledge the threats we face and worse who acts as an apologist for radical islamic terrorism. i think what we need is a commander in chief focused like a laser on keeping this country safe and on defeating radical islamic terrorism. what should we do? first, pass the expatriate terrorist act, legislation i've introduced that says if an american goes and joins isis and wages jihad against america, that you forfeit your citizenship and you not come in on a passport. [applause] >> and secondly, we should pass the legislation that i've introduced that suspends all refugees from nations or al qaeda controls significant territory, just last week, see saw two iraqi refugees vetted using the same process the president says will work that were arrested for being alleged

isis terrorists, if i'm elected president, we will not let in refugees from countries controlled by isis or al qaeda. when it comes to isis, we will not weaken or degrade them, we will utterly and completely destroy isis. >> we need to get a group of experts together. including people from other countries, from israel, who have had experience screening these people, come up with new guidelines for immigration, and visas, that is thing that makes sense, we can do, that as far as this syrians, province, perfect place. they have infrastructure.

all we need is protect them, they will be in own country. i was in jordan in november. moderator: you do not agree? >> are we banning muslims from india? from indonesia? from countries that are strong isis, of course, not, i laid out a plan at cida dell to do that we need a force, a sunni led force in syria, we need to embed with the iraqi military, arm the curs directly, we need lawyers off the back of the war fighters, that is how you solve the problems. moderator: thank you governor. >> mr. trump, sometimes, maybe in heat of campaign, you say

things and have to deal them back, last week you were quoted as saying imposing a tariff on chinese goods. >> they are wrong, they were wrong, it is the "new york times," they are always wrong. moderator: you never said? >> i said they were asking me what to do about north korea, china, they don't like to tell us but they have total control just about of north korea. they can solve the dro problem of north korea if they wanted to, but they taunt us, china is ripping us on trade, they are devaluing their currency and killing our companies, thousands -- you look at number of companies and number in terms of manufacturing of plans, that we lost, 50,000 because of china. -- anywhere between 4 and 7 million jobs, because of

china, i said this. we have very unfair trade with china. we're going to have a trade deficit of $505 billion this year with china. a lot is pause they devalued their currency. what i said to the "new york times" is we have great economic power over china, if we wanted to use that and the amount with 45% comes in, that would be the amount based on their devaluations, that we should get, that we should get, i'm saying, if they don't start treating us fairly and stop devalues and let their currency rise so our companies come pete, and we don't lose millions of jobs we're losing i would tax goods that come in from china, who the hell has to lose $505 billion a year. moderator: you lost me. >> it's not that complicated. moderator: i apologize.

if you don't want a 45 percent tariff. would you be open are you open to slapping a higher tariff on chinese goods of any sort to go back. >> just so you understand, i know so much about trade with china, carl icahn endorsed me. he is somebody -- these are people that we should use to negotiate. not the kind of people we have, who are political hacks who don't know what they are doing, we have problems like this. we should use our best and our finest. moderator: on that tariff. >> here is what i'm saying, china they send their goods we don't tax they do whatever they want. okay. what when we do business with china, they tax us, you don't know it they tax us, i have many friends that deal with china, they can't deal, number one they don't want the product, when they get the product it taxed, you look at boeing could and with so many companies, that deal, we don't

have an equal playing field, i am saying, we coach have to continue to lose $5005 billion as a trade deficit for privelage of dealing with china, i am a free trader, we have to be smart, and use smart people to negotiate, i have the largest bank in the world, i sell tens of millions, i love china, i love the chinese people. but they laugh themselves, they can't believe how stupid the american leadership is. moderator: you are open to a tariff? >> i am totally open to a tariff. if they don't treat us fairly. their whole trade thing is tariff, you can't deal in china out tariff, they do it to us, we don't do it it is not fair trade. >> neil, let's me say, i am a free trader. i supported nafta, it is important those countries in asia or a interface in china,

we do need china. donald is right about north korea, they do need to put pressure on, we need to intercept trips coming out of north korea. but i think what he is talking about has merit. >> i like him tonight. >> for too long, what happen is, somebody dumps their product in our country. takes our people's jobs, we go to a international court, it takes a year or two to figure out they were cheating us. guess what? the worker is out of a job, when it is found against that country selling products in here lower than the cost to produce them, what do we tell the worker, oh,well, it done work out for you. we should be for free trade but fair trade, when countries violate trade agreements or dump productses her here to stand up against those countries that do that,

without making them an enemy. how do i know this? so many people in my family worked in steel mills, they did not work with the white collar they worked in blue collar, those -- jobs are critical they are hard working members of the middle class, they need to be paid attention to, they are americans they carry the load, de l demand open trade but fair trade. >> on this point, if i may add. we're all frustrated with china, we need to be careful with tariff, china did not pay tariffs, the buyer pays the tariff, if you send a tie or shirt on u.s., it gets passed on to price of the consumer, best thing to protect against china economy like is to make our economy stronger that means preversing course from all of the -- reversing course from all of the damage that barack obama doing to this economy.

let's, low companies to immediately -- continues a regulatory reform, regulation is out of control. especially the epa, and all of the rules they impose on our economy and hurting us, obamacare? a certifieded job killer that needed to be repealed and replaced. we need to make our economy stronger. that is the way to deal with china. >> the problem is what marco said, it takes too long, they are sucking us dry, you absolutely have to get involved with china, they are taking so much of what we have in terms of jobs in terps o terps of money. moderator: he is right, the americans pay. >> you looking at me. >> prices go higher. >> can i tell you, it will never happen, they will let their currency go up, japan the same thing, they are devaluing, so impossible for

-- you look at caterpillar tractor. friends of mine are orders kamatzu tractors now, you can't buy a caterpillar tractor, we're letting them get away with it, that is why we have to use carl and our great business people not political hacks to negotiate with these guys. >> apart from the higher prices on consumers, people living paycheck to pa paycheck, there will be retaliation, soybean sales from iowa, to goes to china or boeing here within a mile, you think that chinese if they had a 45 percent tariff on their imports would not buy airbus, they would, this would be devastating for the economy. we need someone with a steady happened to be president of the u.s. >> senator, go ahead, then tax reform. moderator: we don't need a

weak person being president of the united states that is -- i tell you what -- we don't need that that is what we have now. we don't need that. that is why we're in the trouble that we're now -- by the way jeb you mentioned boeing, look. they order planes they make boeing build their plant in china. >> thank you, mr. trump. >> briefly. >> my name was mentioned. the plane that is being build here is sold to china. you flew in with your 767. >> the new plants not now in the future they are building massive plants in china. because china does not want boeing building their planes here they want them built in china, because china is smart the way they do it. >> you head back to airport check. >> i'll check.

>> check it out. >> senator. >> thank you for coming back to me. both donald and jeb have good points there is a middle ground, donald is right, china is run over president obama like he is a child, probe is not protecting american workers, we're getting hammered. a sat down with senior leadership of john deere they discuss how hard it is to sell tractors in china, but jeb also right, if we just impose a tariff they will put resi reciprocal tariffs that will hurt the iowa formers, you pass a tax plan like the tax plan, a simple flat tax, 10% for individuals, 16% flat tax, you abolish the irs. here is critical point, maria, the business flat tax enables

us to abolish corporate income tax, date tax, own be car obamacare tax, and payroll tax, a huge advantage for formers, and manufacturers, every import pays the 16% business flat tax, like a tariff. but if we impose a tariff, china responds the business flat tax they already impose their tax on us. it puts us on a level even playing field that brings jobs here at home, as president i will fight for the working man and women. moderator: we have to get to tax reform. national debt as well, up next, growing national debt, war on crime attack reform. more from north charleston, south carolina, when we come

moderator: welcome back to the republican presidential debate here in north charleston, right back to the question, governor christie we've spoken about cutting spending. according to a report, american needs $3.6 trillion in infrastructure spending by 2020, here in south carolina, 11% of bridges are considered structurall deficient. what is your plan to fix the ailing roads and bridges without breaking the bank? >> here is our plan. we have all been talking about tax reform. if you reform corporate tax,

which has mentioned before is highest rate in the world, we double tax, that led to over $2 trillion of american company's moneys that are kept offshore because they don't want to pay that second tax. they pay tax once overseas they don't want to pay 35% tax on the way back. beside reforming that tax to bring it down to 25 percent, and eliminating loopholes, but also, a one-time repatriation of the money, bridge that money back to u.s., we'll tax 88.75%. i would dedicate that money to rebuilding infrastructure here. it would bridge the money back into the united states to help build jobs by american companies get our economy moving and growing as a higher

rate, and rebuild the roads, bridges and tunnels, the last piece. this president, has penalized corporations in america. he does not understand, that hurts hard working taxpayers. you have seen middle class wages go backwards with the obama administration, that is wrong for hard working tax payer, we would rebuild infrastructure to create jobs, and work with the states to do it the right way, remember that. i am credible to this for this reason, americans for tax reform said i vetoes more tax increases than any governor in american history. we don't need to raise taxes to get this done. we need to get smarter, reform the tax system, bridg bring the money back to u.s., all these are important. moderator: dr. carson, it is

true, u.s. companies have $2 trillion in cash sitting overseas right now, that could be used for investment and jobs in america, also. several companies right now, are pursuing mergers to move their corporate headquarters abroad, and take advantage of much lower taxes. what will you do to stop the flow of companies moving cash away from america, and those leaving america? >> i would suggest a fair tax system, that is what we have proposed. a flat tax, for everyone, no exemptions, no deducttions, no shelters, some people have a better capability of taking advantage of those than others, other thing is stop spending so much money. you know, my mother taught me this, she had a third grade education, she knew how to stretch a dollar, she would

drive a car until it would not make a sound, gather her coins and buy a new car. if my mother were secretary of treasury we would not be in a deficit situation. but, you know if we fix the taxation system, make it fair, and get rid of the incredible regulations. every regulation is a tax. on goods and services, it is the most regressive tax there. is you know you go to the store, buy a box of laundry detergent, and the price is up 50 cents because of regulation, a poor person notices that, a poor person did you not, middle class notices it at cash register, everything is costing more money. we're killing our people like this bernie sanders and hillary clinton will say, it is the evil rich people, it is not the evil rich people, it is the evil government that is

putting these regulations on us. >> you were talking about corporate inversion, corporations by the thousands are thinking of leaving the country because of taxes, but they are also leaving because they can't get their money back in everyone agrees it should come back in, but they can't get along. here is the case they agree, they can't make a deal, we have to do something, corporate inversion is one of the biggest problems we have. so many companies, are going to leave our country. moderator: that is why we raised it, thank you, mr. trump. >> one of the biggest fiscal challenges is our entitlement program in particular social security and medicare, what policies will you put forward to make sure these programs are more financially secure. >> let me address the tax issue. i would like to thank you to

have substantive debates. here is one thing i'm not doing, i will not have something that ted described the value added tax, you find that tax in many companies in europe. where businesses pay a tax on money they make and also on money they pay their employees, it is a way to blindfolded the people, ronald reagan opposed it said it was a way to blind foal the people, so true cost of government was there there for them. what is to prevent a future liberal president or congress from coming back not just raising income tax but also the vat tax, that is also bad for seniors, seniors, if they are retired are no longer earning an income from a job, they do not get that income tax break but the prices will bbe higher. when i am president of the

united states, i am sides with ronald reagan on this, not nancy pelosi, we're not having a vat tax. >> maria, marco has been floating this tax for a few weeks now, but problem is that business flat tax in my proposal is not a vat, a vat is a sales tax when you buy a goods, this is a business flat tax, imposed on the businesses, a critical piece that marco is missing this 16% business flat tax enables to us eliminate corporate income tax, it eliminates the death tax if you are a farmer or rancher, the death tax is gone. we eliminate payroll tax, the obamacare tax, and there is a real difference between marco's tax plan and mine, mine gives every american a flat tax of 10%.

marco's tax rate is 35%. my tax plan enables to fill out your taxes on a post card to abolish the irs, we need to break washington cartel, only way to do it is end subsidies and mandates, final observation, invoke ronald reagan, i would note art laug laffer has written my simple flat tax is the best tax plan of any of the individuals on this stage, it helps everyone from the poorest to the richest. >> that not an accurate description of the plan, you may rename the irs but you are not abolishes the irs, know what will collect our vat tax, ronald reagan's treasury, when it looked at vat tax they

found they would have to hire 20,000 new irs agencies to collect it it does not eliminate corporate tax or payroll tax, businesses pay 16% on money they make, and 16% on money they pay their employs, there are people watching in business if you are now on a 60% tax on income and wages you pay your employs, where you are getting that money from? by paying our employs next, charging your customers more, the difference is you don't see if on the bill, you blind foal the american people, 16% is what rate that ted wants, what happens if god forbid the next barack obama takes over, and nancy pelosi, and harry reid, and they say we'll raise it to 30%, now you have europe. moderator: i have to get to a question. >> maria -- >> debate on the floor of

senate, to answer the question you ask. a entitlement, do you remember that? there was a question on entitlements, the reason -- you had your chance. here is the thing. reason why that no one wants to answer entitlement because it is hard, a hard problem imf -- i'm only one in april that put forward a detail entitlement reform plan. that would avoid this, avoid what hillary clinton will do to you, because what she will do is come in, she will raise social security taxes, bernie sanders said it, she one or two more poll drops down, from moving further left than she has already moves. we have seniors out there who

are scared to date, because this congress, this one that we have right now, just stole $150 billion from social security retire a retirement fund to give it so social security disability fund, that is wrong, we need to reform social security. mine is only plan that saves over a trillion dollars, that is why i'm answering your questions. >> one thing, i want to say. you know, last week, we release our tax plan, and multiple reputable journals including "wall street journal" say ours is the best, i just want to get that out their. moderator: coming up, how will the candidates protect america. and another terror attack, if we were to see it, you can join us live onstage during the commercial break from

home, we'll be streaming live and answering your questions, during the break, more from south carolina coming up, stay with us.

. moderator: welcome back to the republican presidential debate right here in north charleston, south carolina. let's get right to the question, maria? >> mr. trump, your net worth is in the multibillions of dollars, and have an ongoing thriving hotel and real estate business, are you planning on putting your assets in a blind trust you should become president. with such vast wealth, how difficult will it to be to disentangle yourself from your business and money and prioritize america's interests first? >> well, it's