>> bret: go bucks. reaction from the debate. former president trump presents himself in atlanta for processing. remember, if you can't catch us live set your dvr 6:00 p.m. in the east. 3:00 p.m. on the west coast. thanks for inviting us into your home again tonight. that's it for this "special report," fair, balanced and still unafraid and, again, "the ingraham angle" starts now and i get to toss to my good friend. >> laura: we never get to talk. i'm so excited to watch tonight. do you get a little nervous a little bit? >> bret: i'm ready i am fired up. we have done a lot of prep work. we will see how it goes. >> laura: i can't wait to watch, bret. we will all be tuned in, thanks so much. i am laura ingraham and this "the ingraham angle" from washington tonight. we are just two hours away from the very first debate of the primary season right here on fox news. eight g.o.p. candidates are set to take the stage except one

almost didn't make it. joining me now live from milwaukee fox bill melugin. bill, what can you tell us? see the arena behind us is starting to fill up. the enthusiasm is building. we are two hours away from debate time. the candidates have finished up walk throughs and getting ready for tonight in own unique ways. nikki haley's campaign tells us she is listening to music right now, specifically queen and def leppard apparently to get herself fired up. keep in mind nikki haley has been attacking vivek ramaswamy nonstop in recent days saying his foreign policy ideas would make america less safe. and here's the beauty about the debate. vivek and nikki haley are going to be right next to each other on stage tonight. no more hiding behind media and tweets. they are going to be face to face. so they will have a chance to hash it out in person. you mentioned somebody almost didn't show up tonight. that would be north dakota governor doug burgum. he had to go to the hospital earlier today. he got injured a pick-up

basketball game apparently injured his achilles tendon. he was here in the spin room earlier tonight walking around on crutches. but he says he will be on that stage tonight. he is not going to let that injury stop him. now, we will talk about florida governor ron desantis. i talked to his campaign earlier today. they tell me they feel there's probably going to be some knives out for him tonight. they feel he is probably going to have a target on his back because he is second in most of the polls behind donald trump, who, again, has decided not to show up tonight. now, governor desantis' campaign tells me they are ready or he is ready for anybody to attack him tonight. they feel he has a very strong conservative record to run on, given the things he has done in florida. as for donald trump, again, not here tonight. that is going to leave a huge void on that stage. the question is will somebody fill that void? tonight's debate is a huge opportunity for one of these candidates to maybe have a moment and break out, get everybody talking about something they said or did or a confrontation they had with somebody. fill that void and start moving up in these rankings.

lastly, donald trump's campaign put out a campaign excuse me put out a statement today saying everybody on stage is quote, unquote, an undercard candidate. they feel whatever is going to be said on stage tonight is basically going to be an echo or a copycat of what donald trump has already pitched doing with his maga agenda. we will send it back to you. >> laura: bill, can't wait to watch. thanks so much. all right. what to look for. what are most folks interested in hearing tonight? they don't want to just hear talking points from candidates who share their views on the key issues. they want to know that these candidates can actually beat biden. and then have the know how, the guts, and the follow through to implement the policies that we already know work. and what is the angle looking for tonight? well, i'll tell you. enough with all the glib generalities. we need a nominee who is prepared to address the economic problems that we face with specificity. someone who will tell us that affordable, american sourced oil and gas will once again be the lifeblood of our economic

growth. we're looking for someone who has a 50-state strategy. we talk about this a lot for the working class. and not someone who just floats around the suburbs like romney did in 2012. we're also looking for somebody who has a credible plan on how to decouple from china. we want to know if candidates are committed to stopping the never ending flow of money and weaponize to ukraine or at least share the burden more with europe. we're certainly looking for candidates who are going to use the doj and the fbi and the cia to protect decent, hard-working americans as opposed to treating them like villains. we're not the villains. we are the people who actually pay their salaries. so, if we want to go to political rallies, if we want to attend a roman catholic mass in latin or go school board meeting or go to a gun show, we want to know that we're not going to be harassed or surveilled. that's called freedom. we also need a nominee who has the spine to stand up to the relentless media attacks that are coming, whoever the nominee is. and, also stand up and withstand

the leaks from the administrative state. so which of the candidates on stage tonight would have the guts, for instance, to do what reagan did? fire the air traffic controllers who went on strike? or, frankly, have the guts to fire anthony fauci, which trump did not do? our nominee must be prepared with a credible legal strategy if he or she sees election irregularities. in other words, candidates who don't just have their hearts in the right place but their heads as well in order to flip states that trump did not win last time. so, tonight, you are going to see more establishment types on stage, nikki haley, tim scott, for instance, trying very hard to convince voters that they're not scwicious on the border or on china. they are not jeb bush 2.0 or romney or mccain. they're going to have to do it. and for ron desantis. voters know already that he is tough and they know he is a populist. they also know in florida he got great things done. but, they need to see that he's

the guy who can actually put together a coalition to beat biden can he get to 270 electoral votes or a rerun of election past where republicans were defeated or claim that they were cheated? and is he a guy who can actually be someone we can count on to stay true to core values and not be moved or swayed by the donor class or cowed by the bureaucracy? people wonder why trump's ahead by so much now and i will tell you why. because even if they disagreed with some of his approaches or his tone or some of his comments, they also do know this: he put points on the board before. he stopped hillary miss supreme court nominees killed roe v. wade. he put tariffs on china that were so important that joe biden hasn't even removed them. he got the border under control, finally. got us into no new wars. and he cut taxes. so, if you want to take him

down, you're going to have to show the voters of iowa and new hampshire, south carolina, and georgia and beyond that you will first have what it takes to beat biden and the democrat money machine and then you're going to accomplish what he did, plus a heck of a lot more. look, we have a lot more problems now. and all of that, my friends, is a tall order. joining me now is pete schneider, desantis campaign surrogate, and ned ned ryun. trump has a proven track record of success. go back to december of '19 what people felt then about their own economic standing was pretty positive. so what's the argument for desantis over trump on that issue of the economy? >> sure, laura. it's very simple. when we had the worst calamity that hit our country since world war ii, the only leader in america who stood up and opened

up our economy and fought for small business and fought for freedom was ron desantis hands down. you just said it. president trump allowed the bureaucrats and the cdc and tony fauci to take over america. and this wouldn't happen under ron desantis. he's fought for our economy. fought to make sure that small businesses were open in florida, and that students were back in the classroom. that's what he will do for america, fight. >> laura: so, everybody, we are doing our own debate here. desantis campaign surrogate and somebody who is a big trump support that's ned ryun. >> right. >> laura: ned, the last time trump skipped a debate was a mistake iowa caucus in 2016. he then lost in iowa. is his absence tonight, given what happened before, although that was, you know, that was a general election, is that a mistake? >> i don't think so, laura. i mean, can i make an argument i would liked for him to show up tonight and probably ended some

people's campaigns on the debate stage tonight. when you are up 40 points it's really the giant vs. the political pigmies. i think what people tonight have to do on debate stage is show they can actually contend with trump. i don't see that happening. i think people should probably start accepting the fact that trump is going to be the nominee. and i think there is a lot of things that people need to explain on the debate stage tonight that i haven't heard, laura. i think a lot of people -- i think it's disqualifying if you want to be the nominee and you haven't laid out a clear plan on how you plan to address the administrative state and devolve it but also, laura, you made an interesting point, what is your plan to win? i want to hear people's plans tonight. how do you plan on going into these battleground states and implementing an absentee ballot chase program, a voter registration program, actually having your legal team set up so you can actually win. what are going to be closely contested states. if you cannot lay out a plan on how you are going to devolve the administrative state. how you are actually going to win the battleground states in 2024. >> laura: ned, i agree with you.

has trump done that? >> there are definitely plans in place. he has made it very -- >> laura: i haven't heard them. >> he has made it very clear he understands now what the administrative state has done and what the issue is. and i think he has made it very clear. >> ned, he allowed the administrative state to run wild. >> too, really quick. >> he fought against early voting. >> laura: go ahead, pete. >> yeah, laura, look, i agree with a lot of what ned said but donald trump, when he was president, allowed the administrative state to go wild. he didn't fire tony fauci. he allowed the bureaucratic state to take over. he fought against early voting. he can't win in georgia. and, look, i supported donald trump twice. i gave him twice. i'm for ron desantis because he is win. donald trump hasn't won since he surprised the world in '16 and beat hillary. and that's it. so, i'm scared for the future of our country and we have a proven conservative fighter in ron desantis who knows how to win and knows how to get things

done, and that's why so many people are going to be supporting him in iowa and new hampshire and south carolina. i don't care about national polls. the only thing that matter are those states and ron desantis is well poised to win. >> [inaudible] each one of those states. >> laura: ned, you go ahead. just respond. >> no, i mean in these early states that pete was just referring to desantis is down 23. in iowa he is down double digits. in new hampshire, south carolina, in fact, he is not even in second in new hampshire. >> and donald trump had 33% in iowa. >> made it very clear that donald trump is their choice. they think that he has made the argument that he will be the standard-bearer for them and actually wage war against the administrative state. in every election, laura, there is one central issue for voters. and i think the republican base has made it very clear, and i think this has been one of ron desantis' fatal flaws he has not laid out a plan. he has run against trump. he hasn't run against the deep state the regime, the machine, if they manage to take out trump i will be the instrument the

tool to break that state. he hasn't made that argument yet. he decide sided with the system. resonated a long way with the base. >> laura: yeah, but, ned, you are right about, obviously trump is winning in pretty much every key state right now. that's no doubt about that. and he has a track record of success in his first terminate despite all the investigations. but, pete, i think that desantis, for whatever reason, hasn't broken through to the same people. he is appealing to the same crowd and i think a lot of them think well, the system, you know, kind of screwed up. maybe it's rigid. maybe it's not. you know, we are just going to throw in with a guy we know is going to burn that system down in a positive way. not a bad way and really fight hard. so desantis has that credibility gap on fighting even though he put together an amazing coalition in florida. no one can doubt desantis' record in florida or trump's record, i think, as president. >> sure, laura, look. i think this race hasn't even started. i mean, ron desantis is far ahead of where mike huckabee was

in iowa. where ted cruz was. we are right at the first debate. so i think anyone who talks about national polls is just -- it's silly. i mean, it's -- tell me when the national republican primary is because i want to vote in it. that's not the way things work in this country. you have got to go through iowa and new hampshire. i love ned but i wish ned were in the white house. hopefully he would have done what he said tonight and gotten rid of these bureaucrats run wild and actually laid out a clear plan. we have not had that after four years of a trump presidency. we're going to have that with ron desantis and you will see that tonight. >> laura: all right, pete and ned, we are going to have you back. we will be doing these debates throughout the primary campaign season. thank you both. >> thanks, laura. >> fighting for freedom, for more rights, not less has been the corner stone of president biden wants first term. and i've got a message for these republicans.

we are just getting started. >> laura: okay. here's what the democrats' platform is. you ready? pot, porn, planned parenthood, okay? that's it and throw in some covid masks, i guess. as for freedoms for americans, the ones they actually care about, freedom to prosper, that is out the window. joining us now newt gingrich, former speaker of the house, fox news contributor, newt, i mean, they are just not going to talk about the economy. they think they can still win the suburban women, get them to turn out of in close states on the abortion issue. is that a winning strategy for them? they feel like they had some success in that wisconsin state, you know, the supreme court race and a couple other issues as well. >> well, first of all, i think it's very hard to measure individual races unless you look at the difference in total amount of money. the democrats have been remarkably good at mobilizing

nationally for specific races and just simply outspending the republicans, drowning them. i think if you look at actual data, and you know this as well as i do, laura, if you pick a democrat who believes, who had voted against, for example, the born again alive bill, and who literally refused to allow medical care for a baby that had survived an adoption, and who believes in an abortion at the ninth month and who believes in sex selection abortion, you go down the list, they are so extreme that if republicans slow down and i personally believe that the winning formula is to be for three exemptions, rape, incest, and life of the mother and for 15 weeks, which is where the country is about 75% of the country would accept that standard and would marginalize the democrats as the kind of pro-death extremist that they really are. >> laura: hey, newt, upon being confronted with the biden economic record, the dnc

chairman, i think most people don't even know who he is. his name is jamie harrison. this is what he could muster as far as a response. >> he is 63% of americans disprove of the way the president is handling the economy. his campaign thus far has focused on the economy. it does not appear to work. why? >> well, you just got to keep going out there, making sure that people connect. the good things that are going on with the president, because they are happening. because of his policies. >> laura: newt, they have no idea. really, they no idea what to say because the people feel how bad this economy is. they know it, and that's their best response? >> i mean, look, their problem is and joe desantis who runs the america's new majority project just showed me some numbers on this, 57% of the country says that affordability is the biggest economic issue.

15% say jobs are. so, biden or one of his surrogates makes a speech, it's all going well. people go and buy gasoline run up 30 cents in the last two weeks. they go buy food. they look at their electricity bill, which has gone up remarkably. and dave winston at the winston group developed what he calls a presidential inflation index. that is you start the day they are sworn in, well, biden is the second worst president in modern times. only jimmy carter is worst than biden. and people know that because they feel it when they try to buy a house. they feel it when they have to pay for an apartment. they feel it if they try to feed their family. >> laura: it's -- newt, do you agree with me that this should be a 50 state strategy for victory for the republicans? go into those inner cities. >> absolutely. >> laura: do you agree? >> absolutely. i believe, as did reagan, remember, when we ran in 1994 and finally won a majority for the first time in 40 years,

which i outlined in my book march to the majority, we ran candidates everywhere. only three candidates only three districts in the entire country did not have a republican candidate. we beat the chairman of the ways and means committee in downtown chicago. speaker of the house for the first time since the 1880s in spokane washington. we beat the chairman of the judiciary committee in the houston suburbs. no consultant would have thought we could win those races. but our goal was. >> laura: fire the consultants. >> run everywhere. spread out their resources. keep them on defense. and have a positive, unifying message of a better future if we win. >> laura: no city or state left behind. newt, love it. thanks so much. all right, with less than two hours to go until the first debate of the season, i have some advice for the candidates. i'm going to explain it, next. ♪ ntire class engaged. schools came to us with this challenge of

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♪ >> laura: all right. about 90 minutes before the first g.o.p. presidential debate. and, of course, hanging over all of this trump's multiple indictments and his upcoming surrender in georgia tomorrow. what a political spectacle. now, i want to remind those who will be on stage tonight and republicans who run in the future, you need a top notch

legal team in strategy as you run, if you are the nominee, i mean, i'm talking about the best lawyers around. not people you just found five minutes ago. and as trump often reminds us they aren't just after him, they are going to come for any republican that they think is a real threat. joining us now is sol wisenberg, former deputy independent counsel and fox news contributor. sol, i remember well because i was down in miami-dade county when the recount was going on for fox and george w. bush at the time had an incredible legal team in place. a lot of people are friends-mutual friends of ours, already fanned out across the country, ohio and beyond. how important is this as we consider this race as it goes forward to have a smart, legal strategy? >> if couldn't be more important if you are interested in fairness and integrity of elections. and it's not enough to have a team in place, as you alouded to earlier with an earlier guest.

it's not enough to have a team and ready in place on election night. anybody who has read the great book by mollie hemingway "rigid." knowings in leading up to 2020 it wasn't that just happened right before the election. there was law fair practice openly. it was done through going by the democrats they entered into consent decrees with friendly state attorney generals that ended up changing state election safeguards. it allowed for earlier voting. it allowed for absentee and mail-in balloting. there is nothing wrong with that if people of a state a legislature of a state votes for it. when it's done through a consent decree or go a judge that has a statutory law that's a problem trump legal team was out gunned

and out classed. there was no screets screed this was going on. >> the democrats while they have crime crime rampant. border open. they are really good at this stuff. they are really good at being proactive in the litigation front and leaning in to ways to make it easier for them to amass huge surpluses of votes before a single vote is cast on election day. that's what they're good at. they are investing more this time, not less. >> well, you know it's a pendulum. it's like a lot of things, historically. and there was a time when the republicans were better at it, and i think 2,000 is a very good example of it, as you say. and it was certainly the other way in 2020 and so the republicans better be ready, better be ready to play catch-up and to articulate what they're doing as well. >> laura: sol, i want to play one more thing for you a lot of people have been asking me, pinging me all day long about this ridiculous legal theory

that they are able to keep trump off the ballot through this twisting of the constitution. mike luttig who we all used to think was a conservative on the 4th circuit and general counsel of boeing and now kind of a left winger, he is making this argument, watch. >> there will be secretaries of state in several of the states who will decline to place the former president on the ballot. arguing that he is unqualified by virtue of section 3 of the 14th amendment. that decision will be immediately challenged. this will be a matter destined for the supreme court. >> laura: sol, really quick? >> i never thought of him as conservative. i just thought of him as incredibly pomp pass. i just don't think that's going anywhere. if a state a.g. is stupid enough

to do it. it's going to be appealed right away to a federal court i don't think it's going to happen. you will have real chaos if it does. >> laura: great to see you. up next, what dolls taylor swift and cornel west have in common? they can both throw a wrench into joe biden's re-election plan. i will tell you how and why, next. ♪ ♪ the thought of getting screened ♪ ♪ for colon cancer made me queasy. ♪ ♪ but now i've found a way that's right for me. ♪ ♪ feels more easy. ♪ ♪ my doc and i agreed. ♪ ♪ i pick the time. ♪ ♪ today's a good day. ♪ ♪ i screened with cologuard and did it my way! ♪ cologuard is a one-of-a kind way to screen for colon cancer that's effective and non-invasive. it's for people 45 plus at average risk, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider for cologuard. ♪ i did it my way! ♪

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>> laura: another issue hanging over this tonight third party candace, joe manchin is not going to rule out a run. the group no labels is warning tonight that they are ready to offer a unity presidential ticket if they don't like what they see. and green party candidate cornel west, is he still in the mix. so how could a third party candidate stack up in a general? take a look at this poll from emerson. in a head-to-head matchup in trump and biden they are two tied the two candidates 44%. when you add in cornel west, well, he becomes the spoiler, knocking them both down 42%

trump and 41% biden. if you take him out and say just put taylor swift in for good measure, it's 42% trump and 39% for biden. all right. taylor swift is not actually running for president. i'm not sure why it was in the poll. she isn't even old enough. but, what this tells us is that biden's support is not as strong as democrats want you to believe. joining me now is one of those potential biden spoilers, dr. cornel west, 2024 presidential candidate for the green party. dr. west is going to be back with us for a moment. i'm not sure what happened to his shot, but he will come back. all right, here's the question for cornel west and i will get him ready for this if we get him back. he is on 17 state ballots right now. he hasn't made all 50 states. is that enough? okay. that's one problem. one hurdle he is going to have to clear. another interesting point about cornel west is we were asking his campaign for some, you know, video because he is great with

people. i don't agree with him on a lot but he is really, really good with people and people of all different walks of life and he is, even if you disagree with him, is he very friendly. so i wanted to see him with people, like voters and apparently he hasn't held a major, you know, event with any voters, a rally or so forth. i this i we have cornel west back. dr. west, you were mysteriously missing but i still don't see him in my shot. is he there? i actually don't see him in my shot. >> can you see me? >> laura: there you are. now you have finally -- i can see you. can you hear me? >> oh my sister i'm sorry about that. >> laura: i was like did he go to the bathroom? where did he go just now he disappeared completely. >> no. i'm here in my bee loved oklahoma where i was born but thank you so much for allowing me to be part of this conversation on my way to mississippi for the emit tilly

event brother jenkins and brother parker dealing with police brutality. it's a blessing to be on your show tonight my dear sister. >> it's great to see you, dr. west. i mentioned this when we lost you for whatever it was 30 seconds. your ballot access, just the nuts and bolts of running for president, you're in fewer than 20 states right now. so, given that fact, which is a pretty big one, why wouldn't you just run as a democrat because green party ballot access is so low right now. >> oh, no. we are on the move. i'm telling you brother rick and others on the move. we are on 20. we will be in 13 by december. some of the states you can't begin until january, as you know. unfortunately you got major impediments because both parties make it difficult for third parties which is very sad. it shows how the two party system is impediment for american voices to come to terms with the 63% of fellow citizens living paycheck to paycheck. so, no, we are on the move, my dear sister.

very much so. >> laura: there is concern among -- in democrat circles, dr. west, that your candidacy, which is interesting to a lot of people, would actually, potentially, potentially, throw the election to a republican and force joe biden into the loser column. what would you say to that? and how would you feel about that if that's ultimately what happened? >> i would say that the democratic party and the republican party are not entitled to any votes. they have to earn those votes. and most of the votes that i will get are voters, fellow citizens who would not vote for either republicans or democrats and, keep in mind my dear sister, 40% of our precious citizens don't vote at all. and i'm going to them as well as those in the democratic party. so it's a matter of insuring that the negro national anthem lift every voice, lift every

vote, democrats have no ownership over any vote black vote, working people, women and so forth. republicans have no ownership. you got earn it. >> laura: i agree with that. no one should take any constituency for granted. they are coming after you and i predicted this was going to happen, dr. west. daily beast, which is, you know, pretty much, you know, attack website. they say that you owe the irs more than a half million dollars in back taxes. you know, you do argue that the rich should pay their fair sure. so what do the voters need to show about this? is this correct? >> well, they need to know that all of us need to pay our fair share of taxes. they need to know that i have always said that i broke the 10 commandments fanly i'm not concerned about money making. i have always had plans in place because i'm already in process of ensuring that i stay in line in paying those taxes. so, in that sense, again, it's just a matter of the fold and i

don't know whether it's the democratic party or republican party. probably the democrats, they are afraid. you know what, sister laura? they got good reason to be afraid. why? because we need to focus on poor and working people. and if we can't come to terms with that poor and working people are 63% living paycheck-to-paycheck, then they don't deserve to win. that's true for republicans and democrats. it's time for a great from the corporate duopoly. >> laura: dr. west, i know we will have you back when we don't lose you for a minute. thank you for joining us. great to see you. for a look at the drama, kind of the theatrics surrounding the debate, raymond arroyo has all the details. seen and unseen is next. ♪

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you know how those reality shows always feature the behind the scenes rehearsals. well, vivek ramaswamy has released a series of those. one showing his inner m macenro. [grunting] now he has released a spirited leapfrog. aerobic workout. look out denise austin. that's serious cardio. who worked out better vivek or you and colby covington. i will let you decide there. >> laura: you k i had that big knee surgery i'm not quite back from that he has a better vertical leap than i do. but he is pretty impressive. i'm a tennis player. he has a good cross court forehand you were showing before. that was pretty good. >> if you are up against these candidates and particularly against trump, you better cut through here. and i think what you see here is vivek trying to cut through

using social media. that may prove a smart strategy. this is cat nip for the media type. he keeps sending those videos out. >> laura: yeah. not a bad idea. why not? >> another candidate cutting through north dakota governor doug burgum finally made headlines tore his achilles tendon playing basketball with his staff this morning. somehow he managed a debate walk through. the injury deeply affected burgum. >> i mean if you are going to lead this country, you ought to be able to stand on one leg for two hours. you know, it's not "dancing with the stars." i mean, come on. >> laura: oh, no. >> starting to feel like dancing with the stars. now they are stealing my lines, laura. maybe this humanizes them. when the leading candidate is 62% in the polls, that's a lot of arobics and injuries to catch them. one g.o.p. candidate who you probably never heard of is perry johnson. now, he didn't make the debate stage, but he has a literal

online reality show about running for president. >> it's amazing to watch the campaign and how it evolves. in the beginning nobody knows you. and then all of a sudden they meet you. and little by little it grows. >> or maybe it doesn't grow, laura. i mean, it looked like politico said he qualified in three of the polls he was polling at 1%. the rnc rejected the polls. but, you know, he has an interesting idea. he is kind of a ross perot meets televangelist he wants to cut 2 cents from all the discretionary spending in the government. not a bad notion. maybe it will come up tonight. >> laura: can we go back. >> do we have a breaking news alert. >> laura: before that, i know news is important. but the achilles tendon issue,

justin thomas ripped his achilles tendon when i was clerking for him. it might have been my fault. anyway, he was down for the count for quite a while because of that injury. the fact that burgum can actually be up, that is impressive. i can tell that you is a major, major injury. so, good for him. >> well, he is fighting through it. we will see tonight. let's get to this fox news alert, laura: president biden is speaking out in advance of the g.o.p. debate. here he is from lake tahoe. >> i don't know enough to know the answer. i've been working out for the last hour and a half. [laughter] >> laura: awhat's amazing the media is still trying to salvage his drive by in maui though. in the wake of all the fires, raymond. >> then he spent about two hours with people, community members, survivors, first responders, at that civic center where he spent time with people one-on-one, we are told.

some saying that they were grateful that he took that time to meet with them. >> laura: some saying. >> what they didn't show you, laura, were those touching photos of the president literally sleeping during his visit with survivors or the maui residents who didn't want him there at all. and then there was this empathetic moment when he spoke to fire firefighters who tried to save their fellow citizens from the inferno. >> you guys catch the boot out here? hot crowd, man. >> my gosh. the man, wherever he goes, he just blunders and insults everybody. it's so embarrassing. between this and his near kitchen fire to the burning of an entire half of an island is really incredible. again, nobody says anything. the media doesn't hold him accountable for this. >> laura: raymond, you act surprised.

of course they are not -- the cat had its w whiskers sin singn that fire. just like maui. the kitten almost, unbelievable. raymond, great to see you don't. thanks so much. >> see you tomorrow night. >> laura: all right. who will rate, which candidate at the debate? we'll talk about it with chris bedford and sean duffy, next. ♪ our child's education. introducing power homeschool the official provider of online acellus courses for parents independently homeschooling their children. i really love how flexible the program is. it allows my child to work at her own pace and on her own schedule. join the growing community of parents who have discovered the power of power homeschool. visit our website at power homeschool dot org to learn more and start your child's educational journey.

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which candidate tonight will make the type of connection that voters will still be talking about a month, six months or a year from now? chris bedford and sean duffy cohost of the bottom line on fox news business. sean, who's it going to be? >> the candidate who will get punched, not fall down and punch back for the strength. the one that doesn't come with a preapproved consultant approved as anger. the ones that are in the conversation that can actually engage and give authentic responses. i'm also looking for someone who

can come up with new ideas. donald trump came up would build a wall and secure the border. we will fight china and make sure we look after the working men and women of america. give me some unique, authentic ideas on how we address the problems we face today, just not the consultant donor class set of ideas. be an offensive thinker. >> i want to see that tonight. >> especially if you are not that good of an actor or actress. ragan and trump can get away with it because they have experience in entertainment. but sometimes they are risky. >> they can fall really flat when delivered by a politician. remember when donald trump entered the debate? most people even though his ardent supporter said who is this rodeo clown in the debate and what is he doing hear? but he entertains a well and threw many punches. he ignored so many things that kept things so rigid for so long. then did it shooting up in the polls and pretty dramatically and quickly. the vic is someone who is doing that. the more people see him the more

interested there. but i don't know how totally serious of a candidate he is for broad national appeal. i will have my eyes closely on desantis who is someone they had high hopes for and has struggled in the campaign. his campaign as they pointed out correctly, the debates haven't started yet. >> sean, desantis is someone that everyone thought would be the rock star of the moment. but people can reset. is not impossible. everyone who writes everything out, i think that's a fool's errands. anything is possible in politics. hispanic this is the fortnite they will all be together on the same stage sparring with one another. the problem is he's had a likability issue on the campaign trail and has some awkward moments. will he be awkward tonight or can he let some other ron desantis shine through and be relatable and personable and authentic with the voter? i haven't seen that yet. we didn't see that in congress. maybe he has that going on tonight. the awkward run has do not show up tonight.

a different, unique, entertaining ron that has possess. razzle-dazzle should be launching tonight if he brings that. >> a little sense of humor. ronald reagan could be self-deprecating about his age and experience. that is not easy to pull off either. but it is enduring when someone tries it. chris, as for the more established candidates like tim scott or nikki haley, they are very likable people. has the party moved on from some of their views on the key issues? or do they still have some opening, if not for presidency, for the cabinet? >> well, nikki haley's views change on the year and who is in charge of what voters want. she might be pushing back through this. tim scott is someone who i thought would be stuck in a similar mold. someone who hadn't really stood out to me very much as a senator aside from a good sense of humor. on the campaign trail he's been impressive. he's tackled a lot of the issues in hostile environments that a

lot of republican politicians are afraid to talk about. he stood out as someone who could be potentially if not presidential candidate because of how skewed the polls are right now, certainly a strong candidate for vice president on the republican ticket. i don't see a line or a lien for the establishment for old-school 2010 republican in this kind of republican party at all. >> biden's person would not commit to his debating in the general election. of course i predicted that a long time ago. i don't think he will campaign. quick response? >> i think you are right. he doesn't have the mental acuity to stand on the stage with donald trump. that will be exposed if he does it. as a campaign strategy you have to hide him as much as possible. they are prepping us for that right now. >> or some type of new pandemic alert or some other safety alert or climate alert and everyone will have to stay home and do mail-in voting. who knows? chris and sean, great to see you

tonight. thanks so much. there is a lot that will happen tonight. i want you to stick around. i will be back on a few times tonight to bring some analysis before the debate. jesse watters is next. jesse, who do you have on tonight? i have more people than you even need to know about, laura. thank you so much. great show. foxnews alert. where less than an hour away from the first republican primary for the formal debates traces back to ancient greece where athenians would argue about politics and philosophy. during the roman empire debates were ruthless spectacles of character assassination. there were no limits. accusations of and adultery were common. but wittiness wa