♪ ♪ >> sean: all right. thanks. byron pitts good to see you. chip kelly good to see you. that is all the time we have left this evening. thank you for being with us. this day with the fox news channel for continuing coverage of the 2024 republican presidents are debate. trace gallagher is next. and i'm going to be his guest. so stay tuned. don't touch that out. i will be on with respect have a great night. >> trace: good evening, on his m trace gallagher. breaking tonight, rough-and-tumble first debate for republican white house hopefuls even without former president trump. will have the highlights, the low lights and where it all goes from here. sean hannity will join us in moments from the spin room. we begin with bill melugin. he is live in milwaukee. good evening. >> reporter: face, good evening to you. come into the night, the expectation was that florida

governor ron desantis would have the biggest target on his back. but it seemed like they were out for vivek ramaswamy tonight. it felt like he was tangling with everybody on that stage at some points and keep in mind, nikki haley had been attacking him all week long going after his foreign policy ideas. they were right next to each other on stage tonight. it felt like a confrontation was going to happen. and it did. take a listen. >> the problem that vivek does not understand is he wants to hand ukraine to russia. he wants to blac chyna et tu tywaun clark he wants to go and stop funding israel. [cheers and applause] >> professional politician. you have no foreign politics. >> reporter: ramaswamy got into it with mike pence about a potential pardon for former president trump. and some of these cases he has been indicted in. take a listen. >> join me in making a commitment that on day one you

would pardon donald trump. >> he will be convicted of those crimes. >> and be able to make a commitment. the same justice system. the politician. [overlapping speakers] >> reporter: another interesting part of the debate was when the topic turned to the southern border. florida governor ron desantis has said previously he would authorize the use of deadly force against the cartels at our southern borders. martha maccallum asked him, would he be willing to go even further than that? take a listen. >> so as president, would you support sending u.s. special forces over the border into mexico? >> yes, and i will do it, on day one. you have the cartels controlling a lot of part of your southern border. we have to reestablish the rule of law. >> reporter: and there was another conflict between mike pence and vivek ramaswamy. this time it was about the idea

of doing physical and mental acuity tests if you want to run for office. take a listen. >> we don't need a president who is too old and we don't eat a president who is too young. we need a president who has been there. >> i think we do need somebody of a different generation to lead this nation forward. >> reporter: and tries, one of the biggest part of the debate that really stood out to me w ws the moderators, bread and, act -- as everyone, if you support eating funding to ukraine, raise your hand. the only person on the stage who raised their hand was vivek ramaswamy. i will send it back to you. >> trace: promotion life for us in milwaukee, 30. let's bring in sean hannity. shaunte was in the spin room for the past hour. great to have you on. i want to kind of pick up where bill left off because we all kind of expected that the biggest charges would be on ron desantis' is back and it seemed like it one after vivek ramaswamy and a short time ago, you interviewed vivek and he

said the following to you. watch. >> the reality is everybody on that stage had been on the debate stage before. this is my first time in a political debate. and i am thrilled with how it came out. we over exceeded my expectations. frankly even trump as an outsider last time around, i think his second debate was a lot better than his first. >> trace: what about you, sean? are you surprised the way the debate came out, when it focused a lot on, vivek ramaswamy? >> sean: no, i'm not surprised to coming, a look, he has got such a compelling life story. and i think it would grab anybody's attention. he is also, you know, he came from a family that did not have means and becomes a multibillionaire, very successful entrepreneur. he is a good communicator. he has got a great smile. you know, has a likable demeanor about him. and so i'm not surprised at all. i think on some of the issues overtime when there's more

scrutiny, he might have more difficulty, you know, persuading some conservatives. however, in terms of his performance tonight, he just that he did it with a smile and a knowledge that i thought was, you know, a very impressive. but here is what really stood out the most to me. i'm comparing and contrasting all other people on that stage tonight with what we now have going on in the country and i keep saying on my show, how do you reconcile those that want secure borders and those that want amnesty open borders? how do you reckon south lawn order and defund the police? how do you reconcile climate change, new green deal is with those that want energy dominance and energy independence and america being energy rich in terms of that country. those that want a strategy that there's no such distinction and differences. i don't see any middleground between republicans and democrats when we finally get to

a park where we are in the general election. and frankly, i think they did not talk much about it. i don't think joe biden knows what day of the week it is back his performance relating to the issue of maui and hawaii was nothing short of an unmitigated disaster and disgrace except he has the cover of his extended press department that is known as the mainstream media. >> trace: yeah, and there was a lot of criticism over that. i want to go back to the word you used about persuasion, which candidates were persuasive. you take any one of these eight people moved the needle at all, moved to the polls at all tonight, sean. >> sean: you know, it is going to be hard to tell, you know, when startled -- for them, i thought it an opportunity. they should have been glad that donald trump was not there and the sense that this now gives them an opportunity to ha have a night to shine. okay? he dominates the new cycle. very strong personality.

huge base. he has a very commanding lead in the polls. so i thought everybody had a relatively good night. i thought government, desantis came off well, came off strong and made his case. i thought vivek also similarly, thought nikki haley made her case. and i think that tim scott made his case. mike pence made his case. i think they all had their moments. but the one thing that really, the stark contrast to me is where the republican party is in this country and the conservative ideas that they generally have consensus on, you know, some disagreements on abortion funding, ukraine, et cetera. but overall, i think a plan that will be far better for the american people. americans are suffering financially. americans, you know, they cannot afford 8 million illegal immigrants that joe biden is allowing into this country. we can't afford the drugs, the human trafficking, the risk of people on our terror watch list

getting through. and that to everything else, law and order, china, aligning with putin and russia and iran. that is a dangerous combination for a president that seems checked out and frankly, i believe compromised especially in the case of china and russia and i will add ukraine to the list. >> trace: natalie, you brought up former president not being at the debate. you talked about the loyalty issue between ron desantis and the former president and he said this to you, sean. >> i'm loyal to my family, the constitution, and the lord, our god. our work with other politicians to advance a common agenda. but nobody is entitled to be endorsed or supported. you have got to earn that. and i wouldn't mind you, you know, he started attacking me before i even got in. before i even got reelected. >> trace: it seems like the consensus going into this was that ron desantis needed to

have a big night. he has been losing some points in the polls and needed to have a big night. did he have denied that he needed or at least the night that kind of stabilizes his campaign? >> sean: i thought he came, it was interesting, laura ingraham, our college and our friend, you know, she thought he got stronger throughout the night. i thought he just came out of the box very high energy, clearly prepared. i certainly would think that he probably came in believing without trump there that he was going to be target number one because he has that solid second position. i did not feel anybody laid a glove on him and i think when you make the case of how well he has done for the state of florida, it is a compelling case. but, you know what? when you have somebody like donald trump that far ahead in the polls, that is a huge hurdle for anybody, a huge mountain for anybody to the client. and at some point, he will be getting in this in some way. now, will he debate future

debates? i have no idea. i don't have a crystal ball. but he might be tempted. i think i know donald trump's competitive nature pretty well. i think he might be kind to those tempted to say, i think i'm going to show up now. and let everybody see, you know, remind people who he is and -- in that sense, in that environment. >> trace: we shall find out. sean hannity, thank you for your time, sir. we very much appreciate. meantime, talking about the big winners and losers from tonight's debate. let's bring in contributor steve hilton and joe concha. i mean, the question becomes, everybody tonight had a good sound bite. already fundraising on it. to get these e-mails and tim scott said this and nikki haley said this. the question you have is, did they move the needle? did they help themselves out? if they did not, with the former president get involved in any of these debates? would he need to get involved? >> not on the basis of tonight but i think that is the question. who did something to help themselves in this particular

political moment which is the republican primary. i think there is a clear answer to that, vivek ramaswamy. absolutely dominate tonight's debate both when he was speaking but also the attacks on him. this is not to say that he had a perfect night by any means. but he absolutely was the person who was dominant and in that sense, and i think it increases the narrative and the momentum that we are seeing, which is vivek going up, ron desantis going down. i don't think ron desantis did anything to stop the decline in his campaign to what we are seen. the big loser, though, i think it was pence. mike pence had an absolute disaster of a night. he should get out of this campaign. >> trace: and why. >> just the substance of what he said that was completely lacking in any kind of originality or relevance to many of the questions. but the demeanor. i think that he comes across as so insincere, this fake sincerity that he can sleep projects it is holier than thou,

he was the meanest candidate on stage tonight. of is your, really rattled by the impertinence of vivek ramaswamy coming in there and dominating the debate. so i think mike pence really needs to consider why he is even in this race. a couple of other points. i think that nikki haley had a much better night than a lot of people were expecting. she did herself a favor. tim scott did not have the kind of breakthrough he really needs. but asa hutchinson, we have to ask, what is he doing on that stage? what a waste of space. and by the way, a waste of a space that should have been there for larry elder because it was a travesty i think that larry elder was not on that stage tonight. his arguments would have really enriched the entire conversation. >> trace: and larry was on this show this week. you are tops and maybe your bad moments, do you agree with steve that vivek ramaswamy was at least the most persuasive tonight, at least he got the most attention, they certainly had the knives out for him, joe.

>> well, tri scott what we start tonight was vivek ramaswamy is the one with the momentum right now from a polling perspective. we all start going in that ron desantis and the governor of florida would be the one who would be targeted as far as the other candidates looking to become fellow trump's biggest threat in terms of being in second place. but desantis is someone who is hard to attack in terms of his record in florida. more people and businesses are moving to more than any other state in the country. you see crime at a 50 year low. and desantis was prepared and did not lead to any opportunities for others to make progress against. i think donald trump not being there was a mistake from the -- for the former president and if we are looking at people that have an opportunity here. and you hear from trump supporters. i heard it over and over again, josh again, should trump debate? and he did not go there because he says and they say, that he has such a big lead, why bother setting up the kiddie table?

but this is not about the nomination for donald trump. it is about the general election. and he should have been there to appeal to suburban moms, to appeal to the disgruntled democrats, the type of people that helped him win in 2016, this was a huge audience, a huge opportunity. don't worry about your opponents as far as the nomination. he should have been there to make his argument, we introduce himself to people again as far as his policies, not just point after as he has in social media, hey you know my record, you know who to vote for. he had that opportunity. he should have been there. but overall, as far as the people that were there, chris christie existed in this whole race to attack donald trump and did not have donald trump to attack. therefore, he was invisible and therefore, i see vivek ramaswamy as somebody who really benefited tonight. ron desantis as well. chris christie not so much because he lost his number one adversary and therefore, people were wondering, why was he on that debate stage tonight like

asa hutchinson to stay's point. >> trace: chris christie did take a couple of swings. but because he was not there, he did not have ample opportunity to do that and we should know that vivek ramaswamy was asked about the former president and he said he was the best president of the 21st century. so giving him a little boost even though he was not there but i want to talk about this because crime came up and i thought was interesting. we have a little montage of crime. this is mike pence, vivek ramaswamy, ron desantis, andrew asa hutchinson. here is kind of what they felt about the crime issue and we will get your take on this. >> the democrats have been talking about defunding the police for the last five years. and we ought to be finding law and enforcement particularly in our major cities and unprecedented levels. >> the reason we have the mental health epidemic is that people are so hungry for purpose and meaning at a time when family, faith, patriotism, hard work have all disappeared. there's one guy in this entire

country that has ever done anything about that, me, when we had two of these district attorneys in florida elected with soros funding who said they would not do their job, i removed them from the proposed. >> former head of the dea, i understand the drug crisis in america. >> trace: it is interesting to me, steve, because what happened is is you have a lot of criticism about the campaigns and desantis and some of the others and some of the criticism is they go back and they talk about their record. to talk about when i was governor and this and covid and i did this and a asa hutchinson, they all kind of do this. instead of laying out the vision for the future. and i think that is what when you talk about crime or ukraine or abortion, it always kind of goes back to their morals. >> steve: let's just talked to a moment based on that answer and others. particularly that one. total fraud, mike pence is. he addresses himself up like some constitutional conservative. he knows that he can't do anything about the issues he spoke about there from the white

house and president. he is not in charge. it is a local and state when it comes to crime. and so his answer there was totally fraudulent. by the way, one shout-out we must give the only candidate tonight who actually make that point in an constitution sense, the burger. we are probably are going to talk for him for any other reason, but he did bring up the tenth amendment, which i am a huge fan. it is enshrined in the constitution. desantis there, to answer on crime i think was his best answer because he absolutely characterized the problem correctly which is that this far-left extremist district attorneys funded by george soros and others and he took action and he should get credit for that and vivek on the crime on the question had an incident which absolutely goes to a part of the problem which is this overall issue in the society that contributes. but pence per year completely preposterous. >> trace: and what about you, joe? what are your thoughts about that? you had vivek ramaswamy bringing up the whole mental health thing, thinking, we may need to bring back some of these mental health institutions.

he went on. his -- is all of his answers were a little bit unique. a little bit different than the rest of the panel. >> that is correct, trace. that is the thing. mental incapacity, people that have mental problems when you see these crimes in new york, san francisco, chicago, all of these cities where people are leaving from to go to places like florida and texas and tennessee, mental health is a huge issue. and the fact that we don't have enough people talking about that where it is not just about put more police on the street and have district attorneys who enforce the law. is, you need those two things. but there is a third party to this problem that needs to be addressed. vivek ramaswamy obviously is just that. ron desantis as you talked about has taken action as far as district attorneys as a president. you only have so much power. but at least, at least you can set the tone and say, this is unacceptable. we need to shook attorneys that

enforce the law and if you're not going to do that, i'm going to make sure i make it or create enough pressure that you are not going to be there anymore. so i think desantis, vivek ramaswamy, they have the two best answers on that. and going forward, they should hammer home this particular points because it is not just republicans that care about this issue. it is those in major cities that don't feel safe anymore that may vote democratic who may think of voting republican based on the fact that they think that at least somebody in the white house potentially somebody who is elected has their back, trace. >> trace: and the naacp in oakland is a prime example of that. they are fed up of crime. they have made it known publicly. they have been fed up with crime and they may go a different direction come 2024. joe concha, steve hilton, thank you both. how about the highs and lows about the media reacting and what we saw tonight. it's been in the host of media buzz, howard kurtz. i want to play this soundbite.

this is mike pence to the vivek concerning job experience. this was one of your highlights of the night. watch this. >> now is not -- is not the time for on the job training. we don't need to bring in a rookie. >> trace: when you are calling him a rookie, look, it is a slap and really as steve hilton was saying earlier, did not really. >> that from the former vice president. >> no. it was quite a job coming from mike pence and you know, i got to say, vivek ramaswamy was remarkably adept as a debater for a guy who is new to the politics. he also to just ticked off everybody on stage, interrupted, and said things like climate change is a hoax. so he is in for a lot more media strict scrutiny. i think he was just annoyed the people on the stage that he want to go to low light? >> trace: i just want to also points out that we talked about this earlier. not only did he say, you know, he talked about climate change being a hoax.

he said that former president trump was the best president of the 21st century. he went on to say that he thinks that, you know, the truth is that he would not support funding for ukraine. so he made a lot of controversial. he clearly divided himself from the rest of the candidates on the stage. so -- you go ahead. >> he is in for a lot more media scrutiny as a result inching up in the polls. i thought if i could get this in, when desantis hit the utmost to help his candidacy he think he was forceful and aggressive from the very beginning and a bit stern and i think he stabilized his campaign which is what he needed to do given that he has had a rough few weeks. >> trace: so candidates' more on cox and rolled prosecutors. this is vivek ramaswamy follow by chris christie, one of your lows, watch. [audience reacts]

>> you sit here and answer. >> go ahead, governor christie. >> trace: that was -- >> i picked that as a low because that was quite a level of doing. i don't think it is necessarily entirely a bad thing for chris christie. he was not plane to the audience. he was plane to the audience at home and so he is the only one who has been mentioned earlier that took shots at donald trump even though trump was not there to return fire. and that brings me to this logic one which is, different candidates, and so forth had some really good moments. but did anybody gain ground on the man who was not there, the guy who has been a head 30, 40 points and with the exception of christie and even ron desantis, they found 14 different ways to doctor question about whether or not trump is for indictments render him unfit for office. it was up to voters and what position the justice department and so they may believe that. but also because they don't want

to win at trump directly. i don't see how to beat trump by pussyfooting around him. ultimately the people who like donald trump are going to stick with him unless you take him on. but it is a risky strategy for kristie to take him on the way he has repeatedly. >> trace: and you know, chris christie is trying to do something. he need to make a splash and i'm not quite sure he did that. how we, back to you in a bit. we appreciate it. despite their differences on display, once subject that united all eight candidates vying for the white house was the current object occupant of the oval office. let's get to kevin corke. he is live with outside of the story. kevin, good evening. >> kevin: vivek ramaswamy obviously as you heard, consistent and sometimes hundreds applause from the crowd throughout the debate tonight. nikki haley, she drew upon it as well from time to time. however, it was in this

particular instance florida governor ron desantis who set his sights on the current occupant of 1600 pennsylvania avenue. >> our country is in decline. this decline is not inevitable. it is a choice. we need to send joe biden back to his basement and reverse american decline. [cheers and applause] and it starts with understanding we must reverse bidenomics so that middle-class families have a chance to succeed again. >> kevin: one of the governor's strongest points of the night. tim scott reminded gop voters that it is bidenomics that is frankly heard of the country of the most past few years. >> i have had an opportunity to vote against spending package after spending package after spending package. we also need to understand is that joe biden's bidenomics has led to the loss of $10,000 of spending power for the average family. >> kevin: also tonight, former vp mike pence who was also

accredited for his role in as he said following the constitution on january 6. well, he went the biden administration for making americans less safe thanks to its open border policy. >> when joe biden took over, he threw open the southern border of the united states in the wave of humanity, the wave of fentanyl that has been eloquently described here is a wave of human tragedy across this country. country keeping in mind, of course, this is just the first of the gop debate. so it is important to point out that this -- anything can happen. and it depends on how they fare over the next few days. we will see what the feedback is like. many of them will be back for another at least another one. and we will learn a lot more about that. for now, back to you. term of there's several weeks before the next one. we will have to see how the polls move during that time. kevin corke, thank you. let's get. let's get back to see milton and joe concha. a mix up a grade point, steve. the next debate is 30 -- 34 days

away. so you wonder how much room in the polls, what is the movement there and if there is no movement, do you foresee repeat some of the candidates, doug burgum, maybe chris christie, maybe others as and you know what? maybe it is time are back are a little bit. >> steve: first we should be happy to post to know the next debate will be here in los angeles. i think that the truth is that these candidates typically drop out when they run out of money. doug burgum is not going to run out of money. he feels because he is a self-made billionaire. and of they went on the stage along with vivek. and so i think that vanity in the end is the thing that draws a lot of this. they will say -- stay in as long as they had. i thought -- saw asa hutchinson tonight. saying that he will be there talking about being there for the second debate. why? what is the point of that? they did not realize that there think the thing to look out for is who is going to rise to the clear second position in this

group. and on the basis of tonight, i think that the movement we can expect is for vivek to be rising. i don't know whether that will mean he will be consistently in the number two slot versus ron desantis who has already beat desantis in a couple of polls. what we will see. i think he is the one who is on the way up and i don't really agree with how we. i think that desantis did not do enough to stabilize his campaign. he, -- do not stand out enough. i think that he is the one who really will have the pressure on him in the next debate. >> trace: dr. reince priebus was on with sean hannity. he talked about some of the other candidates. i want to play this because even steve mentioned this earlier, joe, that he thought that nikki haley had a good night and made some good points and whatever strong points, you know, from a lot of the feedback we have gotten afterwards came during this back and forth with the candidates about ukraine and finding. watch. >> i mean, i would have europe

stand by and do their job. >> we should use those same military resources to -- invasion of our southern border in the united states. [cheers and applause] >> if we don't stand up against this type of autocratic killing in the world, we will be next. >> made it clear with said if you are willing to fight the communists on your soil, we will give you the means to fight it. >> the problem that vivek does not understand is he wants to he wants to hands ukraine to russia. he wants to let china into one. want. he wants to go and stop finding israel. >> trace: yeah, so she took a last swing at vivek ramaswamy on the whole finding of ukraine because he said, no, he would not support funding, joe. was it, you take, a good moment for nikki haley? >> well, wonder when you look at the republican electric, more and more folks are saying now, trace, that they do not support endless funding for this ukraine russian war. we hear donald trump say and i don't know how this will work

exactly that he would end the war within 24 hours if he was elected. it is a lot more complex than that. but i think the overall theme is that if you are a republican candidate at this point that if you support that ukraine/russian war and the tens of billions of dollars that have been given to ukraine, that is becoming increasingly popular with the republican voters. so while she has a very strong stance on that and obviously her work within the u.n. and foreign policy overall makes her very legitimate on this issue, of vivek ramaswamy in terms of saying that he probably would not support fighting this war at this point as far as republican voters, trace, that may be the position that resonates most at this point at least as far as this topic is concerned which is going to be a very big topic in 2024, no question. rahman because he appears to be in lockstep with the former president who is talk about the funding for ukraine. >> i think this has been partially characterized as him

being in isolation as to what he is saying is that we need to share the burden. last time i looked up the numbers, the u.s. contribution in dollar amount, $130 billion. the next visits country with the uk with 4 billion. and that is a massive amount, more than any other country. should also poured out, i think that nikki haley there, i think she had a good night better than expected but that is not exactly correct when she said there about ramaswamy's position on israel either. and so i think -- >> trace: and he corrected back. >> steve: i think that is a serious debate that needs to be have because foreign-policy is the one area where you really do expect and need the president to set the agenda and to lead. >> trace: steve, joe, stand by if you would. >> the cartels are killing tens of thousands of our fellow citizens. the president of the nine states has got to use all available powers as commander-in-chief to protect our country and to

protect the people. >> i want to promise you as president of the united states of america, i will engage mexico the exact same way and we will partner with the mexican military and we will hunt down and destroy the cartels that are claiming lives in the united states. >> trace: you saw it right here on fox. immigration and foreign policy exchanges playing a major part in the presidential debate. a chief correspondent, jonathan hunt, is live with those details. johnson, good evening victor ren good evening to you, trace. if anyone was using for those looking for unity, immigration and border security certainly provided it. >> when joe biden took over, he threw open the southern border of the nine states and the wave of humanity, the wave of fentanyl that has been eloquently described here is a wave of human tragedy across this country. >> want to talk about a country in decline, you have the cartels controlling a lot of part of your southern border. we have to reestablish the rule

of law and we have to defend our people. >> jonathan: vivek ramaswamy also accused the biden administration of focusing on the wrong border and sending millions to help get ukraine in its fight against the russian invasion. >> i think that this is disastrous. we are protected against an invasion across somebody else's border when we should use those same military resources to prevent it across the invasion of our own southern border here in the united states. [cheers and applause] >> jonathan: nikki haley had a simple response to that. >> you have no foreign politics and it shows. >> jonathan: and on the day that russian mercenary leader died in a mysterious plane crash, two months after organizing a failed uprising against russia's military leaders, chris christie reminded his fellow candidates including the absent former president, donald trump, that former putin's forces have

murdered, militated, and raped thousands of civilians and killed and kidnapped thousands of ukrainian children. >> this is the vladimir putin, donald trump called brilliant and a genius. >> jonathan: but it is worth noting, trace, that was one of the few direct shots taken at the former president during tonight's debate. for the most part, trace, it seemed that they were happiest ignoring as bret put it the elephant in the room in the room. >> trace: join us in, thank you. let's bring in spokesperson and rebeccah heinrichs. thank you for coming onto, wanted to get your take on what you thought. i mean do not spend as much time as a lot of people were hoping on things like the border and ukraine. but when it came to the border, want to play a couple of soundbites practices ron desantis burgum, doug burgum and then tim scott and we will get your take on some of this. watch. >> there's only 19,855 authorized people from the border patrol. but they are not all staffed

because the biden administration does not in forge law enforcement. and administration wanted to put 87,000 people in the irs as opposed to giving the money that we need to our own border pa patrol. >> let's fire the 87,000 irs agents and higher or double the number of border patrol agents. i just left yuma, arizona, about two weeks ago. the most pressing need of the american people from a national security standpoint is our southern border. it has led to the death of 70,000 americans because of fentanyl. plus, 6 million illegal crossings since president biden has taken office. >> the president of the united states has got to use all available powers as commander-in-chief to protect our country and to protect the people. so when they are coming across, is, we are going to use lethal force. >> trace: and, you know, to see

me here is that they made very clear -- made very clear, the problem here is the biden administration. the question becomes, morgan, did they do enough on the border? did they compel anybody that they would handle the border differently? >> oh, that is a good question. and i think it was the one area of the debate, trace, where there was a lot of unanimity amongst the candidates as there was different solutions and answers. but were they different than the solutions that have been offered by president trump card. former president trump who is about 40 points ahead in the polls of everybody in this race, i think, i don't know that they were. read. i think most of it was echoing what trump has said on the border. it is clearly as tim scott pointed out, in the clip you just showed the number one national security concern for most voters. everyone sounded hawkish on the border. and i think to one person who probably had a breakout moment just specifically on the border was desantis because he was forceful in talking about using special forces in all military

intelligence capabilities to solve the problem and to protect the border. that was probably, i thought he started out a little slow. that is whenever he really got passionate. >> trace: you, rebecca, i think she makes an appointment because you look at the polls and aside from the economy, the border is 2/3 in terms of important topics and it is key, you have ron desantis and when he was talking about the border and talking about sending special forces across, he appears to know what he is talking about. >> well, visit the one issue and foreign policy national security or ron desantis is the most enthusiastic. this is the issue that really enlivens him. he gets passionate about it and this appears to be one of the issues that he is trying to set himself apart from the current administration but also going much further than the previous president. he is taking a different take, which is that he wants to use military force against the cartels in mexico. to this really was, i think, a breakout moment for him on national security. roman it is interesting. if you go forward, morgan, and you look at them ukraine, right,

and the funding, again, you, you had vivek ramaswamy setting himself aside from the rest of the candidates, no, i would not support more funding but he was the only one where the -- were you surprised by that? and were you surprised that some people kind of pouncing on that as a steve hilton was saying earlier, you know, he clarified that it was not just he did not support planning. he supports the rest of the country, the rest of the nato countries getting involved in that funding as well. >> yeah, i was not surprised that he was the only one. i mean, desantis desantis would've took a half step towards being where vivek is. but he did not go fully there. listen, i think that this is an incredibly important debate that he was onstage tonight. there's still so much more to debate than rebeccah and i and other foreign policy hands with want to have. but here's where i think all of the candidates missed an opportunity on this debate. is we have to remind the american people that the reason why and actually i think bergen did this. should give him a little credit. he is the only one that mentioned why biden failed at the train present from invading

and he talked about and i did not expect this from the governor. i thought this would come from the other foreign policy hands on the stage. but governor bergen did talk about how that feels in afghanistan were in the two-year anniversary right now. i think is on sunday. the anniversary. 13 men and women who died in that disastrous chaotic withdrawal in afghanistan and governor burgum mentioned that as one of the reasons why putin invaded and so gop candidates need to remind the american people this is biden's filipek this is his mess that we are having to clean up. >> trace: and rebeccah, your thoughts because morgan brings up a good plays. we would have liked more foreign policy talk. what would you have liked to have been covered in that de debate. >> i would like more fleshing out this concept of the united states being in a cold war with china. there was only i think it was governor burgum who mentioned that and phrased it that way and i think that that is the phraseology that needs to be used in the thought process.

i actually thought that ron desantis is trying to -- he made civil appeals to her on a reaganesque kind of language. morning in america so he was kind of doing this. things are really tough but we can be optimistic, decline is a choice, american decline is not inevitable. and i think that you need that right now in a cold war with china. but i think he needs to flush out the concept. i agree with morgan on the ukraine issue. ron desantis said that he still supports ukraine but he wants you up to will help so he is the defensive of ukraine. it was vivek who really had to take a terrible evening on foreign policy where he really did seem to be pessimistic about america for -- america's future and weak on how he would handle the foreign policy crisis. we have been in a foreign policy disastrous cascade of national security crisis from afghanistan on and there's really only several candidates that captured that. nikki haley had a standout moment tonight on foreign policy because the american people still want peace through strength and the candidates who channel that while i think had the big is a pause. >> trace: you, and she has

really kind of, you know, kind of tried to capitalize on the fact that she was the governor and she was an investor. so she is kind of thread the needle. rebeccah heinrichs, morgan ortagus, thank you. me time, plenty of big news stories happening outside of milwaukee on this busy fox news at night. correspondent ashley strohmier catches us up on all of that. actually, good evening but yeah, there's a lot going on around world. first year former president donald trump will be heading to georgia tomorrow after receiving a bond order from a fulton county judge. he announced his intentions on truth social singh in part, can you believe it? i will be going to atlanta, georgia, on thursday to be arrested by a radical left district attorney. this is in coordination with crooked joe biden's tchio -- doj. is all about election interference. trump did not indicate what time he would arrive at the jail to be process. he still denies any wrongdoing. okay, so not to rush over, the exiled warlord who challenged

putin just months ago is reportedly died. this is after the business jet he was taking from moscow to stg 10 people. more details have yet to come out including whether or not this was really an accident. the pentagon told fox news digital they are monitoring the situation. and finally, the suspect in an active shooter situation in pittsburgh is dead. this is after an hours long showdown with police officers. ththey want to suspect's residee to deliver an eviction notice when he opened fire and continue to of our even with many opportunities to surrender peacefully. the pittsburgh police chief says nothing about the situation is normal. and investigation is ongoing. trace, back to you beth troutman ashley strohmier lipof is in new york. thank you. that's been in seattle talk radio host jason rantz and jason, before i get to you, want to get to some breaking news to actually left out of this thing. we have three people who have been shot and killed in southern california in orange county. this is in those at a biker bar.

three people shot and killed. it is unclear exactly how many others may have been wounded. you can see it is kind of an all hands on deck situation there in orange county. but we do not know if this was someone who walked in shooting. we don't know what the basis of that shooting was, the information has just started trickling into us. and we will bring you more about this shooting in orange county, california, just south of los angeles as soon as we get it. but for now, we know that there are at least three victims and those three victims are -- breaking news coming in as we get it. meantime, let's get back to jason rantz and the whole concept here of the talk of crime. did we talk enough about crime during the debate? was there a candidate you thought excelled in this category, jason. >> i thought desantis had the best answer when it came to the crime. he had something specific that he could play to that he has already done that explains how he would take charge as president, even as president, if he could not do the same thing

that he did in florida, which is essentially taking out district attorneys who were not doing their jobs. i actually thought chris christie had a great answer on this. unfortunately, he bound, i think, with the rest of the debate. but he pointed out that he would take on u.s. attorneys say, hey, you are going to take over the violent crime cases if they are not being pursued by the folks on the ground. the problem with him was he really wanted focus on substance, instead he wanted to focus too much, i thought, on the bullying. i thought mike pence is going to be in an interesting position but he was obviously right to call out police department. but he does not explain why he did not do more to combat the democrats when he was in office. and why he was not as aggressive than as i think he should have been. and then really, what was not said was an important point tonight. tim scott had the opportunity to really shine on this. he it was the lead negotiator when it comes to some of the reforms that were being

discussed around po policing. and yet, i don't think he said anything during then. >> trace: yeah, it is interesting and you go back to the mike pence and you talked about, you know, mike pence said, listen, you know, defining the police was wrong and he said it a number of times. in fact, i have interviewed him, he said this is one of the biggest mistakes and yet there was not this major push. there was not this, what in the world are we talking about here in 2020 when all this was coming up? >> yeah, i think part of what the care coalition and the political calculation was at the time was that everyone is going to recognize exactly what it was which was nice. clearly knew what was going to happen as a result in and i think there were too few republicans who were willing to step up in an aggressive way to push back. the other issue is, and this is the truth when it comes to crime from a presidential level. they don't have that much power to do anything. they have a lot of influence and that is really where this is going to come into place. but when you are president and you are a republican and you're really realizing that the defund movement and all of the criminal

justice reform that clearly did not work is coming from democrat run cities, there really is only so much you can do other than points to the failures and hope that the voters are able to step up, organize what is going on, and then make some change. >> trace: yeah, it is interesting because education has always been a big topic. you and i have been talking about this for a long time, and he touched on education tonight. they did not get deep on it, but i want to play some of the soundbites begin with ron desantis saying that it is not indoctrination followed by nikki haley talking about parents support and tim scott on the teachers union. let's play these three and we will get your response. >> the decline in education is one of the major reasons why our country is in decline. we need education in this country, not indoctrination in this country. [cheers and applause] and in florida, we set up a r rule. >> there's a lot of crazy, woke things happening in school. but we got to get these kids

reading. if a child cannot read by fourth grade, they are four times less likely to graduate from high school. we need transparency in the classroom because parents should never have to wonder what is being said worked to their children in the classroom. [cheers and applause] parents needs to be deciding which schools their kids go to school -- go to because they know best. >> on education, the only way we change education in this nation is the break the backs of the teachers unions. they are a standing in the door house of our kids, locking them into failing schools and locking them out of the greatest future they could have. >> trace: i think the republicans all agree, jason, that the democrats have headwinds from five different compass points when it comes to the education. it is a losing issue for them because of covid, because of this whole gender issue. it is just not a great issue for the democrats and republicans. apparently they are going to

pounce on that. >> 100% and i think what we saw tonight was pretty much every candidate who spoke on this took on one of those major issues and made it their own. i think when nikki haley comes out and is very specific in what she is looking to accomplish because remember, she was read by folks who were already making the points as a related to the gender identity and the indoctrination, of course, she mentioned that. but really hitting home that it is about actually teaching kids so that we are preparing them for when they graduate. you have got, of course, or desantis out there very, again, specifically citing what he has done in florida. i stopped at the covid lockdowns. i did not keep them in place. i took a lot of heat for it. i did it anyway, and i was on the right side. and then there at the end with tim scott, are taking, in the issue with something that all republicans are going to talk about, which is the power of the unions. they have gotten incredibly political. they are too powerful. they are not looking out over the best interests of the kids and i think on this one particular issue, kind of like crime, as you have said, there's

so many different topics and angles you could go out. it is going to be a winner for the republican party. >> trace: yeah, and covid lockdowns are going to be the losers for the democratic party and the unions. going to see u, jason rantz. good as always. thank you. meantime, back to denied's big event, the first republican presidential debate that you saw right here on fox. senior national correspondent kevin corke is back for us to live in washington. he has a highlights there may be a few low lights. gate to be with you. >> kevin: i think it's great to see that if you had the chance to watch the debate tonight, you saw a few things that will certainly stand out. number one vivek ramaswamy obviously made a very strong impression that he was also the punching bag, if you will, for many of the other participants in tonight's debate. however, he seemed to not only hold his own, he certainly got lots of positive feedback from the audience. that said, you heard others say governor ron desantis also seemed to score a few points and i felt like nikki haley also did as much. there were some disagreements as

it relates to a foreign policy you had vivek ramaswamy come right out and raise his hand and say, listen, i don't believe in more by the billions of dollars by american taxpayers. agreed to more funding for the war in ukraine. he said he would do something different. but i also thought was interesting, trace, in watching how the entire group answered a question by our colleagues, bret baier, he was asking about, what would you do, four indictments already, what would you do if former president trump were indicted. listen to how wright framed the question and what was said af after. >> you all signed a pledge to support the eventual republican nominee. if former president trump is convicted in a court of law, would you still support him as their party's choice? please raise your hand if you would. [cheers and applause] >> kevin: as easy right there, vivek ramaswamy, first up, very

strong in his reaction to many of the questions that were asked in the grip. i thought was interesting. everybody sort of came along in their own pace, trace. and once again, he said this is something that will be good for the country. i think that was the general view among those taking part in the debate. maybe in lots of other people around the country may agree to disagree. all the same, made for a very interesting exchange. >> trace: it did indeed and kevin corke, stand by if you would but i would but i would like to play that just to kind of brings out. i want to bring steve hilton back into the conversation. but vivek ramaswamy, 30 seconds, he talks about former president trump being the best president in the 21st century. let's play this and then we will and then we will get steve's response. >> president trump, i believe, was the best president of the 21st century. [cheers and applause] and chris christie, honest to god, your claim that donald trump is motivated by vengeance and grievance would be a lot more critical if your entire campaign were not based on vengeance and grievance against one man. [cheers and applause]

and if you at home want to see a bunch of people bashing donald trump without an iota of vision for this country, they can change the channel to msnbc right now. i am running for president of the united states. >> trace: is he running for president of the united states or is he running for vice president of the united states, vivek? he seemed very supportive of the former president who was not there tonight and i'm just wondering if he is thinking, well, listen, i'm gaining momentum here. maybe i can win the mistakes. >> steve: i did not know vivek well. i am very certain that he is intending to become president of the united states. he believes he can do it. he sincerely believes that. he has told me on numerous occasions when i have interviewed him that he is not interested and would refuse the vice presidential nomination or a position in the cabinet. that has also been suggested. and i think what is really interesting about this and i

think the reason he said that, a lot of people believe that. that donald trump was the best president. that is not some minority view. i mean, that was -- i was just on vacation and made some new friends and our scope of people who were not interested in politics, talk and they have got interested because of donald trump and said, it is the first time we have seen someone that said what they were going to do and then delivered it. that that, and i think, is this outside feeling that vivek is channeling to a certain extent. one of the most interesting moments tonight, i thought, it was the sense that at one point in the evening when you saw mike pence and nikki haley and chris christie railing on and getting really quite flustered and losing their cool and it seemed to me that they just weren't so frustrated yet again, we have an outsider taking on the establishment and the party once had to happen and the party wants the outsider is rejecting the sharpish man. >> trace: it is interesting to me, jonathan hunt, because pollution started this off and

said, everybody including me and including a lot of people said, this really has to be a time for ron desantis to shine. and for him to shine, and for other people to get their message out, you got to go after desantis and they didn't really go after desantis. but they did go after vivek ramaswamy, who has got the momentum, like they know something we don't potential i think they all know, as steve pointed out, that vivek seems to be rising. dissent is not going anywhere. if he is going anywhere, it is downwards. and he needed a better debate. i agree with steve. he did not do well enough tonight to change the momentum and i think what you saw with desantis is what we always have known. competent, a little bit stern, not enough of that likability and you can underestimate the importance of some likability. the fact seem to have that in spades, a thought, tonight. desantis did not. and i think -- i don't think it has changed in the dynamic. i think vivek is still on the way up. desantis has not moved to the middle and picture man and i

wonder, kevin corke, very quickly, i wonder if you think the same way. recovered this day in and day out, at night after night, do you think that anybody, vivek, desantis, anybody, nikki haley, did enough to actually move the polls? >> kevin: no question. vivek ramaswamy will make a gigantic move. i think you will see that continue to happen because he has the right skill set for this sort of form. i think we will see more of that moving forward. >> trace: and it is interesting, steve hilton, because this was his first debate. he said with sean hannity, listen, i don't know how to debate. this is the first debate i have ever been in and you had everybody on the stage saying, we're going to go after the rookie as -- >> steve: and think of the comparison. >> trace: or mike pence, i'm sorry. >> steve: donald trump, when he dominate everyone, he has been in the spotlight in the public arena for years, decades. the star of a major network tv show. vivek ramaswamy, he was in every

said. this is not my face. and is going to repeat the phrase that i saw in the response to one of the guys this evening about ron desantis. >> trace: they are going to kick is our tech. >> steve: an angry robot. that is not the impression want to create. from steve hilton, johnson,, thank you for watching america late news, "fox news @ night." i'm trace gallagher in los angeles. special coverage. we will see you back here tomorrow night. rio it is. don't wait. save up to $700 on sealy and get a free adjustable base . the right mattress matters will find yours. mattress firm. >> back in my day, we didn't have all these types of fancy chicken. sure you have buffalo and some fried chicken. well, we didn't have garlic farm or sweet bourbon barbecue ,and he had to walk uphill both ways. and it's not every time. yeah, right where i'm here from my america. can we talk? this is a talk show because nobody does it better than torn

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