Let's play that issue between Governor Christi and Governor DeSantis about whether Trump is fit.

For office. Father time is undefeated. The idea that we're going to put someone up there that's almost 80 and there's going to be no effects from that, we all know that that's not true. We have an opportunity to do a next generation of leaders and really be able to move this country forward. We also need a President that can serve two terms. I don't think Donald Trump, I don't think he'd be able to get elected. The Democrats want him to be the nominee. We see that. They are going to turn the screws the minute if he got the nomination- But do you think he's mentally fit to be President? I think we need to have somebody younger.

Why is it he's just the answer to the question? I want a question. The question was very direct. Is he fit to be President or isn't he? The rest of the speech is interesting, but completely nonresponsive. And if we were in a courtroom, they'd strike the answer and say, Governor DeSantis.

No, they wouldn't. They would say that- You're a smart man. No, they would. No, they wouldn't, Chris.

They would strike the answer because you're not answering it.

You have your thing.

You have your thing. No, I don't have my thing. He's the thing.

We do not want to do.

Something that's almost 80. You're talking.

About him being 80 years old. It doesn't mean that somebody who couldn't get elected. That's why the people that are lying. No, they're not.

No, they're not.

I.

Think we have an opportunity to do somebody who is in the prime of their life. You don't have to worry about all this stuff with, we can.

Get it done. We'll do it. I'm going to come to you. Finish.

Look, Father Time is undefeated. I don't know how he would score on a test, but I know this. We have an opportunity to nominate someone and elect someone for two terms who's going to be spitting nails on day one and for eight years deliver you a big result. You do think he's fit. You do think he's fit. You do think. We should not nominate somebody. We won'tto answer. Who's almost 80 years old.

He's afraid to answer. No, I'm not. Either you're afraid or you're not listening.

No, it's not. There's a.

Simple question.

And Danabash, standing by.

With.

Governor Christy, Dennis.

Thanks, Anderson, governor. Thank you so much for being here. Glad to be here, Dennis. As we were just watching that moment, I was saying to you it was almost as if you were the fourth moderator in that debate.

Well, it's not a role I want to play, but I'm sick and tired of being at these debates and watching the other three folks who are on the stage not willing to answer the questions. The voters who are watching deserve to hear an answer, and especially on something like that. Ron's trying to play both sides to the middle, and so is Nicky. They don't want to say he's unfit because they don't want to offend anyone. Well, you have no business being the President of the United States if you don't have the principles to stand up for what you believe in, even if it might offend some people, and even if it might make them boo you, which I've got tonight, and I don't care.

You've gotten it a lot every time you mention Trump's name. That's fine.

Wherever you are. You know what they're offended by? You know what they're booing? They're booing the truth. They're booing the truth because they're in denial. He is going to be convicted felon come this spring. And what I said in my closing statement is absolutely true. He will be a candidate if he's our nominee, who won't be able to vote for himself. Why would anybody else vote for him?

You mentioned Nikki Haley. I want to play part of you coming to her defense pretty aggressively in this debate.

He has insulted Nikki Haley's basic intelligence, not her positions, her basic intelligence. If you want to disagree on issues, that's fine. Nicky and I disagree on some issues. But I'll tell you this. I've known her for 12 years, which is longer than he's even started to vote in a Republican primary. While we disagree about some issues, and we disagree about who should be President of the United States, what we don't disagree on is this is a smart, accomplished woman. You should stop insulting.

Where.

Did.

That come from?

I mean, look, I'm a truth teller, Diana. Look, Nikki and I disagree. I don't think Nikki should be President of the United States. But I'll tell you this. She's a smart woman, and she's an accomplished woman, and she's worked incredibly hard both in South Carolina and in the UN. And I think Vivek does have a woman problem. I do think he insults women's basic intelligence. He's done it over and over and over again. And I guess tonight I just had had enough. I had enough of listening to his garbage. And as I said, his smart ass Harvard mouth, because that's what it is when he's dictating to me and Nikki Hale, you have committed ourselves to public service while he's been off stealing from seniors to make his fortune? Yeah, I'm not going to put up with him anymore.

So you call yourself a truth teller, but you're also a very savvy politician. Thank you. You're welcome. And the wind-up there is about New Hampshire. And it was very interesting to watch you and Nikki Haley. Certainly, as you said, you disagree about a lot of things, but it seemed as though you were forming a bit of an alliance with her in a place like No. No, no.

Look, I'm a truth teller, Dana. And I'm going to tell the truth. If someone's insulting Nikki Haley in a way that was personal, it was nothing about issues. He was saying she's not smart enough to know where things are on the map that somehow his three-year-old son is smarter than a woman who serves as a two-term governor and a UN ambassador. He's a jackass. And if that happens, it's not me forming an alliance with Nikki Haley. Wait till you see what's going to happen over the next seven weeks. What's going to happen? We're going to be competing against each other hard to try to win New Hampshire, I suspect. I have a lot of problems. Look, I said tonight she's unwilling to take on Donald Trump. She didn't do it again tonight. She's not willing to say he's unfit. She's not willing to lower that hand that she raised in August to say that even if he was a convicted felon, she would support him. We should have a higher standard, and she fails on that front. But at the end of the day, if someone's being unfair to somebody else who I've had a twelve-year relationship with, I'm not going to let him beat her up like that.

The moderators didn't step in and ask for any decorum. Let me tell you something. Whether it was a vape or Ron tonight, they want to fight with somebody? Fight with a guy from Jersey. You know what that's like, Dana.

I do know what that's like, but I think she also... Well, I want to ask about... I want to talk more about Donald Trump and the fact that you said multiple times, as you've said, really since the beginning of your candidacy here, that they're not going after the big person in the race, the person who is very far and away the frontrunner. Let's listen to part of that.

So do I think he was kidding when he said he was a dictator? All you have to do is look at the history. And that's why failing to speak out against him, making excuses for him, pretending that somehow he's a victim, empowers him. You want to know why those poll numbers are where they are? Because folks like these three guys on the stage make it seem like his conduct is acceptable. Let me make it clear. His conduct is unacceptable. He's unfit.

That is your mantra on this- One of them? -one of the mantras on this campaign. And obviously, you had an opportunity to do it to your three remaining opponents on the stage there. Do you really think that they're going to all of a sudden start to go after Donald Trump?

If they want to win, they better. Because look at the strategy they've been pursuing. The strategy they've been pursuing is consigned to failure. You want to know how I know? Because I did the same thing eight years ago. I ignored him. So did Jeb Bush. So did John Kasik. And when and Marco Rubio. And you know what happened? We all lost. We all lost because we wouldn't call him out on the fact that he was never going to get Mexico to pay for a wall. We wouldn't call him out on the fact that he wasn't going to balance the budget in four years. We wouldn't call him out on his Muslim-banned garbage. We figured he was just going to go away. Well, hope is not a strategy. And that's why Ron DeSantis has gone from the mid-30s to single digits. That's why Nikki Haley is 30 points behind him in her own home state. I'm telling you this, people are going to wake up. They're going to wake up to this message. And when they do, there's only going to be one person on the stage who was telling the truth, and it was me.

You obviously knew what you wanted to accomplish tonight. Did anything on that stage, any comment from any of your opponents, surprise you? No.

It's the same stuff over and over again. Ron DeSantis has memorized answers. Nicky Haley trying to have it both ways. And Vivek, who is the drunk driver of the debate stage. You never know where he's going or what he's going to hit. So no, nothing surprised me.

Anything that you didn't get to?

Yeah, and I think there were... Look, I didn't get to talk about the border. The moderators didn't give me a chance to talk about the border, which I really would have liked to have had an opportunity to do. And there were two questions right at the end, I think, of the second segment, where they went to the other three and never came to me. But we got time. I got a sense there'll be more debates here after the first of the year, hopefully in Iowa, New Hampshire. I also think there's going to be plenty of time for me as I'm campaigning to make sure I continue to emphasize those points. But those are the things that I didn't get to because they just didn't give me a chance. As you saw tonight, Sana, if they would have asked, I would have answered.

Yes, I definitely know that. Governor, thank you so much.

Dana, thanks for the time tonight. Thanks for being here. Thank you. In Tuscallooza, roll tide.

There you go. Kaitlin, Collins, that's for you.

The drunk drivers is on the.

Debate stage, I think.

That is the one that's the best.

That was great. That's the best.

Line of the night.

Christy, for the first time in this whole debate season, it seemed like he felt comfortable. Maybe the smaller stage benefited him. For the audience he's trying to appeal to in New Hampshire, his attitude tonight, that straight talk thing, went after DeSantis a little bit on the Trump stuff, defended Haley. He was funny there. He helped himself tonight. Now, he's not going to help himself in the national polls.

But.

The narrow thing he's got to get done is independents and Democrats in New Hampshire coming out and casting an anti-Trump vote. And again, though, Haley and him being in the race together at the same time in New Hampshire, trying to take on Trump is problematic. But I thought this might have been Christie's best night of the four so far.