that's it for us tonight. join us tomorrow, 6:00 p.m. eastern on the fox business network for our special coverage of the south carolina primary. >> the online poll, 76% say the republican party cannot survive a gop brokered convention so we assume there will not be one. good night from new york. reporter: the primary result forced chris christie and carly fiorina to drop out of the race. the road ahead is about to get more difficult. john: is this man an unlikeable liar? >> ted cruz, the worst kind of washington insider who can't be trusted. john: i this man anti-freedom? >> donald j. trump is calling for a total and complete

shutdown of muslims entering the united states. john: are these candidate war mongers? >> we need to increase our military spending. >> we'll find you and we'll kill you. john: do any of the republican candidate stand for freedom? that's our show tonight. this week just sick republican candidate are left. five who i think have a shot at winning. trump, rubio, cruz, bush, and kasich. i left out ben carson because the betting odd which are the best predictor give carson less than 1% chance of winning. tonight we focus on the leading 5. at elect time the media focuses

opening trivial thing. the day to day changes are not important stuff. what's important is freedom, prosperity, security, which candidate is likely to bring us that? and who has the best ideas or the best bad ideas? tonight we have matt welch. is there any good news? >> libertarians from where they always are, on the outside looking in and talking about values and policy rather than personalities. since rand paul left the race, i don't think there i anyone who will do well among libertarians. rand paul wasn't doing so well either.

john: 7 years ago "reason" wrote an article written by you, "the libertarian moment." >> it was written right after the financial crisis. there was no glimmer of hope collector alley about libertarianism. we argued that anything that happens on the libertarian front will happen to poll figures last. they don't get to go out of business. they still suck all our money. john: in the private sector. libertarians, ideas and actions are flush i shaling. >> we can tailor customize our lives and apply that in politic. we have seen marijuana legalized in half a dozen state. we have seen gay marriage legalized in this country. so when people talk about the libertarian moment and a.

>and -- and poo-poo it, they are trying to make the conversation about presidential politic. john: most of life is not about that. >> thank god. john: but the rest of this show is. let's talk about the last man standing. i'll rank number order of where they are in odd of winning the nomination. but you range them how a libertarian would range them. who is best? >> ted cruz. of the field, i guess. it's not that i'm going to vote for the man. but he has the combining of not as much of an interventionist militarily. he lines up with rand paul somewhat on surveillance issues, criminal justice issues. too much of a social justice conservative.

john: you put bernie sanders third. >> in many ways bernie sanders has the most libertarian positions on marijuana, which he would like to get the federal government out of. he's now better than ted cruz on those thing. he's less of than interventionist. john: why are you so anti-trump? he's leading. lots of republicans think, he's speak up for me. >> he wants to deport u.s. citizens born of illegal immigrant. he want to ban muslims coming into the youth. that's crazy. that's fundamentally anti-american. he want to slap 45% tariffs on

china and slap tariffs on ford for moving to mexico. he's a danger. john: but he's the frontrunner. trump, the leader in the betting. he's way ahead. the betters give him a 50% chance of getting the nomination. we asked trump if he would appear to defend himself but his campaign suggests we talk instead to henry mcmaster, the senator from south carolina. when you endorsed trump you said it's base has lot of for the people of his country and the determination to get the job done. this sounds like silly boiler plate so sweet i'm getting cavities from that. what does that mean? >> well, i guess you would have to go to one of the rallies or see him with people to get a

feel for it. i have never seen anything like this. we have had 8,000, 10,000 people. some driving hundreds of miles to come see him. people are cheering. they want to touch him, they want to shake his hand, they want autograph. he speaks his mind in a language everybody can understand. he's got no reason to dereceive or trick anybody. he's running his own campaign with his own money. spending his own money. i believe he many the man. he can win the general election. we'll need something different. he's an unusual man. and everyone that meets hip like him or as i do. john: he's an unusual candidate and unusual man. i don't know what make him qualified to be president. let me just push back. i'm nervous about your candidate because he wins votes, that you

talked about, with these big promises. first he says he will solve the illegal immigration by hitting mexico to pay for a huge wall. >> yesterday the top person president of mexico said we'll never ever pay for that wall. the press called me up. you know what i said. i said the wall just got 10 feet higher. [cheers and applause] john: the audience a. [applause] the speech was at clemson university. trump's claim that they will get mexico to build a wall. when the president of mexico says he won't pay for it. your guy says he will make it 10 feet higher? >> there are provisions in trade agreements and current law that

would allow for mexico to pay for that wall. john: how would that pay? they pay for a wall to keep their people out? >> that's right. john: then you are happy he insults the president of mexico and says he's going to make the wall 10 feet higher? >> you will have to have someone speak to him in a language he understands. and i promise mr. trump speaks in a language everybody can understand including mr. putin and everybody else around the world who are paying not a bit of attention to us right now. we are running a deficit with them now. that's something that needs to change. there is a lot of money going back and forth across that border. john: so what if we run a deficit with mexico. >> that's not good. more money is going out to mexico. that's not way we want it. john: we are giving them pieces of paper and they are giving us

stuff. it's not like a budget deficit. this is just economic ignorance. you are a lawyer. >> what you are displaying is economic ignorance. it's not good to have all those deficits. john: we'll go back to immigrants. do you support his idea to deport all 12 million illegals. >> if we deport the illegal immigrant gang members that come into the clutches of law enforcement and deport the illegal immigrant criminals, use e-verify, only 500 companies are using that. john: because it's not accurate. >> you have got to start somewhere. it's the rule of law, mr. trump is for it and so am i. john: after the terrorist killing in vawb *, your candidate said this.

>> donald j. trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of muslims entering the united states. john: how do you know they are muslims, there are 2 billion in the world. 3 million muslim americans. they can't visit relatives in indonesia and return? >> there are certain parts of the world where everybody is a muslim. you could start with that as a clue. john: ban all travel to a big part of the world? >> if you have listen to all of the candidates within all of them are saying don't let anybody in this country unless we know who they are and why they are coming here. that is virtual live the same thing that donald trump received except he received it in different words. john: i have been pulled into the attacks on donald trump because years ago i gave donald trump a hard time because he

used his political connections to get new jersey to condemn a woman's house so he could take it to expand his casino. now ted cruz put part of my interest view of into one of his tv ads. >> it stood in donald trump's way. to him she was a nobody. trump gangd with atlantic city government. >> you are pulling these people out. >> this is a government case. this is not donald trump. john:ist's donald trump. it's you and your cronies working together. >> your tone sounds as bad as the negative tv ads i have been watching. there is no private eminent domain. i can't go out and condemn your property base want to do something with it. the government entity has to have a good reason.

john: trump gave it politicians money so they condemned their home. >> this sounds like a tv ad. you are making a good tv ad. i don't believe it's based on fact as all. donald trump always tells the truth as he sees it and as he knows it. you don't have to worry about any slippery words or loopholes or half-truths or anything like that. and the people know that. it's a unique thing in politics as far as my memory with politics in this country is concerned. john: thank you lieutenant governor mcmaster. coming you have, candidates two, three, four and five, i'll grill their supporters. nobody move! get on the floor!

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john: in second place for the betting for the presidential nomination former senator marco rubio, betting odds give him a 25% chance of winning the nomination. representing marco rubio and representing him is former new york governor george pataki. why do you like marco rubio?

>> i think he will be a president who brings americans together with a vision of the future. america that unites us. we have too many politicians from obama on down who have intentionally divide americans for their own political benefit. marco rubio is the opposite. listening to him and his comments and his record as a senator in florida and his vision for america. i'm impressed and proud to be supporting him. john: the washington examiner said in new hampshire you went door to door to build support for him. pataki was sprinting up driveways. you are 70 years old, you sprint up driveways? you don't walk for office, you run for office. i said no, we have to get moving here. john: we libertarians like parts of rubio's plan. he talks about entitlements

being unsustainable. he said we may have to retire at 68 and 68 1/2. that's not enough to solve it. >> it could soft it depending on what other steps you take. marco rubio understands we have to reform entitlements to make them sustainable. >> he says they have to change and they will change. it's easy to lay out a plan. it's a harder thing as the executive to get it through. we saw that with president bush who tried to reform social security. john: it's not popular. >> it's not popular but it's necessary. john: he opposed the auto bailout and cash for clunkers and the import-export bank. he's been a sound economic conservative. he doesn't want government

picking winners and losers. let' go to where we don't agree. some people say he's just a pretty face with no experience. he's like obama. >> i don't think that's true at all. >> he gives the same speech all the time. >> he doesn't give the same speech all the time. he outlined in my view of the best foreign policy for the united states to protect us and keep us safe of any candidate in either party. he has a record of being very proactive as opposed to our current president who never bothered to use his positions to get briefings. and, you know, and so many of these issues he's far ahead of the others. he is a senator and he's also speaker of the house. that's a leadership position that allows you to manage it and bring people together. >> let's go to your point about the military. he does have a military plan.

but i have a problem with this. even though we are going broke, he wants to spend more and wants the military to do more. he called my favorite candidate an isolationist for resisting military spending. >> tino iran is a committed isolationist. i believe the world is a stronger and better place when the united states is the best military in the world. >> how is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures. >> the number one job of the government is to protect its people. this president has shrunk our military. we want to be strong so that we don't have to use that military. when you are weak you encourage aggression by others. and think about the economic consequences of something like september 11. yes, he want to spend more on

the military, but less on other programs. i completely agree with that. john: we already pend more than the rest of the world combined. three times what china which is next. >> we are the united states of america. the world look to us for positive leadership. marco rubio has the best plan. yes we need to invest in our military but america understands that and would support that. >> how much? $800 bi? >> i don't think you can lay out a figure number or period of time. if it's a trillion over the next decade, so be it. manage the cost of not protecting america. john: senator rubio generally is against subsidies but in nor today he's fine with subsidies for his supporters in the sugar business. >> i don't agree with 100% of

what marco rubio agrees with. when you are from florida, the sugar trimatters. when you are from new york the financial trimatters. when you are from california -- yawn * even if it's bad for the rest of the country. >> in your role as senator from your state you do. as president i would think we would not need subsidies. john: who is in third place and who will defen ♪i see trees of green ♪red roses too

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announcer: todd's a great guy. i mean, look at him.

what. a. sweetheart. attaboy. wait, todd, what are you doing? how totally selfish and un-toddlike of you. come on, todd, come on, man. >> ted cruz has won iowa's presidential caucuses. yawn * ted cruz surprised people when he beat cruz in iowa. representing senator cruz is the

president of american values and a former presidential candidate gary powers. why did you choose ted? >> i do believe senator cruz understands and knows how to put together that reagan coalition and supports the idea that brings that coalition together. he believes in lower spending animaller government. he thick the youth needs a strong military. we have to be involved in the world, but he's not somebody hat want to be quick to act in a foreign involvement. senator cruz believes all our children should be welcomed into the world, protected by the law, covered by the promises of the constitution and declaration. this led me to the conclusion he was the candidate i want to put my effort behind.

john: how is your candidate financially responsible when he want to expand everything? how can we afford to pend more? >> military spending as a percentage of our gross domestic product. john: it's as high as it was when the russian missiles western point at us. >> other part of the budget have grown much faster. this is about 18% of the budget and it's the one constitutional thing the federal government is required to do, that it's obligated to do. reporter: at a political rally senator cruz said this. >> we'll utterly destroy isis. john: it wins applause.

but how does it work? the first gulf war didn't stop the second world war. vietnam we were going to make the world safe from communism. we even had to run from somalia. how are we going to destroy isis? we'll make new enemies who will come here to kill us. >> if i didn't know better i would think your guy was barack obama. that's what i heard the president say and his secretary of state and a number of his secondes osecond d number of his secretaries of defense. if a great nation like the youth cannot deal with a group of 30,000 men who are the worst, most evil military force on the face of the globe right now, beheading christians, killing religious minorities. john: agreed, they are horrible.

>> there is a moral obligation for the youth as the most powerful free nation in the world to do what we can to deal with that. john: we have been in afghanistan 13 years now and lost 2,000 americans. the taliban are coming back. we haven't succeeded there. why do you think we'll wipe outd wipe out isis? >> in the past they have fought the wars using the rules approved by the editorial board of the "new york times." once you make the decision to even gang in military action, you even gang the way we engaged in the wars we were supposed to win. the alternative to what he is suggesting we do is to follow the policy we are following now.

if you don't think that will come back to haunt the united states, and will not come back to kill more americans, then i think you are not learning the lessons of history. >> we'll solve that here. one final point, a strange question. i personally haven't experienced. a lot of people who worked with ted cruz don't like him. and as usual, donald trump is saying what some others feel. here is what he said about cruz. >> he's a nasty guy, nobody like him. nobody like him anywhere once they get to know him. john: i take it you like him since you are speaking for him. what's this about? >> yes, i do like him. the phrase the pot calling the kettle black came to find when i heard donald trump talking about like bit. there are people in the washington establishment that don't like him, and i find that

to be an endorsement of him. we are not auditioning for a date or somebody to go to a movie with. we are picking the nextman commander-in-chief. i think he's a good man and i'll leave it to some psychiatrist to figure out why people don't like him.

john: this fall the real favorite to win the presidential election nomination was jeb bush. a lot changes quickly in politics. betters give governor bush a 10% chance. we asked the governor's campaign who would you like to speak for

governor bush, and they suggested john hartley who writes about economics from "forbes." john, will you support governor bush? >> he reduced the size of the state workforce by 11%. john: he was a remarkable governor. 13 thundershowers people were left the government workforce in the state. >> and at the same time he had 2,000 line item vetoes and he restored the state's credit rating to triple aaa and he cut tax by $19 billion and added $9 billion to the state's reserve. on the spending side and tax side i think governor bush's record is one of a proven fiscal conservative. john: he also talks about entitlements. he says we may have to raise the retirement age to 70.

that's true. >> on the healthcare policy side of things and on the entitlement reform side of things and the education policy side of things. he ran to education think tanks after he left office and before he began his campaign. in many respects governor bush is a policy wonk. >> economically he's a great guy and a responsible governor. but here's from from the freedom points of view why i don't think he's a good guy. some things are common sense. he not on doesn't want to decriminalize drugs. he doesn't even want to legalize medical marijuana. >> there are things the plan i think you would like. that includes reduced sentences for non-violent drug offenders. it includes more reliance on treatment options. john: but you are not answering the question.

he doesn't even want to legalize medical marijuana. >> there are a good number of studies that show links between frequent marijuana use and things like developing schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. john: and the law banning it keeps anybody from smoking weed? >> i can tell you what the governor does believe is that non-violent drug offenders should not be serving life sentences and should be able to actually get back into the workforce. so part of his plan would reduce sentences for non-violent offenders. john: i'm happy to hear him being beginninbeing gung-ho abo.

>> we brought crime down to a 27-year low and drug abuse down as well. john: he passed mandatory minimum sentences. one man got 20 years or firing a warning shot at someone attacking his daughter. >> gun violence has fallen in florida. >> and other places, too. >> that's correct. but if you actually control for national crime, the national crime rate, i think you see crime assault. john: next the republican in place. choose world.

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john: the editorial boards of some famous newspapers say americans should vote for john kasich. such endorsements used to matter. but now many republicans consider those editorial boards leftist hacks.

and they have a point. when the "times" says governor kasich is capable of compromise and believes in the ability of government to improve lives it sounds like a compliment, but it isn't to me. welfare made poor people dependent and locked them into poverty. dodd frank strangles economic growth. capable of compromise? i hear that as giving in to big-spending democrats. some republicans say governor kasich is not conservative of any to be their nominee. one group ran this sad. >> common core, barack obama? no. john kasich. john: yesterday i thought government kasich would be here tonight.

his staff said the governor would like to join us. but shortly before our show they stopped answering our phone callings and emails. i don't know why. but it means i will have to examine the governor's record without him. first the bad part. part of obamacare was a deal to offer states extra money about they would expands medicaid. governor kasich said sure we'll take it money. and asked to defend this government expansion he invoked god. he says when you die and you meet st. peter he will ask you what you did for the poor. it sounds compassionate and kinds. but a republican governor should know the big government program hurt the poor more than they help. newly eligible for medicaid patients are learning yeah, i'm covered but no doctor will see me.

medicaid patients wait longer and receive less care than the uninsured. thanks, government. then there is the cost. america is going broke most live because of big handouts like medicaid. kasich against the wishes of the republican legislature chose to make that problem worse? why? i understand that he wants to balance his state's budget and he has to while the feds don't. attempting to take free federal money. but he's not responsible. most republican governors turn the money down wisely seeing free government money comes with strings. obamacare promised to cover all the costs, but only for a few years. next year the handout drops the by 10% which the state must pay. the governor says he supports free trade. it's a big part of what america

a good place to live. we are much more prosperous because goods can cross borders and more americans can specialize in what we do most efficiently. but it turns out that kasich is not really for free trade. he's not for it if some ohio steel workers might lose trade. >> hop trade. but we won't be as. we won't d but we won't be saps. i'm for clamping down when the united states worker gets shot of thes because somebody is cheating on a trade agreement. john: by that he means countries like china sell steel below cost. but if that's true, what that means is china taxes its people. so it can sell us cheaper stuff. and that's a good deal for us. yet some american steel work percent may lose jobs. but more americans gain jobs

because everything made from steel becomes cheaper. that trade is good for america and i think kasich knows it. kasich's good part. he's reasonable about immigration. i like the answer he gave when he defended a path for immigration for people already here. >> you think we are going to chase them down and go into neighborhoods hunting them down? that's not what america is. john: it's a good retort to donald trump. it's not what america is. kasich has been good on spending. he cut ohio's cost. not as much as jeb bush but more than all the other governors who ran for president. so that's good. good enough to end this segment with praise for kasich from another politician. during one of kasich's events he got a call from the terminator. >> it doesn't people fear and pain and he can take a beating,

and he absolutely would not stop ever, never give up. this is you. you are the terminator. john: i wish kasich really were. but the real terminator wouldn't wash a war on drugs, increase medicaid within suck up to steel unions. kasich is no terminator. maybe that's why he's in place. next some great things candidates propose this year. all of these candidates would be much better candidates than today's frontrunners. nobody move! get on the floor! do something! oh i'm not a security guard, i'm a security monitor. i only notify people if there is a robbery. there's a robbery. why monitor a problem if you don't fix it? that's why lifelock does more than free credit monitoring

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call 888-995-hope to talk one on one with a housing expert today. >> we borrow a million dollars a minute. whose fault is it? republicans? democrats? john: go rand paul! he was my preferred candidate. unfortunately republican voters were as enthusiastic. but at least he got to communicate some truths about government, like how dangerous it is when both parties come together and agree on some warp and fuzzy thing they call bipartisan compromise. >> the compromise is a secret handshake where they come together and spend all of the money. john: when both parties agree

they grab your wallet. john: he provide a counter argument against wage unwinnable wars. >> we have to defend our country. but i don't think we are safer when we topple regimes in libya. john: no, that doesn't make us safer. some other candidates also not in the top five made good points. dr. ben carson provided insight about obamacare. >> it was never about harris --r about healthcare, it was about control. john: one scary authorize theirian governor want the feds to stop colorado's marijuana

legalization. chris christie who was the rare candidate who was honest with americans about our biggest problem. social security and medicare will soon bankrupt us. soon entitlements, the yellow on that graph, will eclipse just about everything else in the budget. good for chris christie for pointing that out. and good for carly fiorina for campaigning about regulation. >> we need to do a top to bottom review of every regulation on the books that hasn't been done in 50 years. >> i'm note sure that wouldific the problem. members of congress can be just as clueless will unintended consequences. but it would have slowed down some of the bigger rules. then. >> the good idea. >> take a 75,000 page tax code

and make it three pages. because when you have a big costly complicated government, only the big, the powerful, the wealthy and well-connected can deal with it. it's called crony capitalism. it why we must reduce the size of government. john: it's one more reason to reduce it. thank you carly fiorina for making the argument and thank you governor walker for speak up for labor rather than just organized labor. >> we took power out of the big union boss and put it in the hand of the hard-working people. john: that was a good thing. but they didn't pick him to be their candidate. they didn't pick rick perry either. he made up for it with passion on the actual' this time. >> get out of the healthcare business.

get out of the education business. john: also get out of the labor business, the commerce business, the drug war. eliminate lots of department. get out of most of what government does. things that are not here in the constitution. but sadly that's not going to happen this year. we have a choice between big government republicans and big government democrats. there may be a third or fourth party candidate. michael bloomberg may run. then instead of a big government democrat versus a big government republican we would vote for a big government independent. i'm glad there will also be a libertarian candidate. their convention will be held in orlando in may. this show will cover some of the leading libertarians. i include these three guys. former new mexico governor gary johnson.

john mcafee the founder of the anti-virus software. and austin petersen. all of them would make better presidents than hillary or donald. don't. good night. >> 3, 4, 5. >> what is going on? he is experimenting on me, giving me a drug that is supposeed to make me happy, scientists say, you get a similar effect getting a hug, we try an experiment. >> people cheat for money. >> he experiments, and also my brother, and an experiment tonight i put my family on the show, here is my son. >> you frighten me. you are living an experiment. >> i am. john: and my nephew, kept his problem a secret. >> from uncle stossel.