Nikki Haley Speaks at "The Gathering"

All right, so we've got one more guest on stage today. And I hold the record of being at the most of these gatherings I put on. My next guest is of all the people here, the one who's been to more than anyone else other than me. The way we got to become friends was in 2009. My friend Mo Lane at red state. So there's this lady she's running for governor in South Carolina. I don't know that she can win, but we should help her. And she is a state representative running against the entire establishment in South Carolina. And she won. Not only did she win, I mean, she just decimated him and then went to war against her own side in the state legislature. South Carolina was very weird. You could take votes and not actually have the votes recorded. So you could go home and say you voted for or against something without there actually being a record of it. So you could lie to your constituents, and they couldn't prove it. And so she went, fought for transparency in the legislative voting process, and had to do it against the Republican majority that had opposed her even winning the governorship. And she just won. And she's kept on winning. And she had this horrible dark day, where she had to bring her state together because of an evil person doing an evil act in a church in Charleston. And she led her state to do necessary, long awaited reforms. And she won reelection. And then she was asked to become the US ambassador to the United Nations, where she went to New York and did to the world leadership there what she had done to a lot of people in the legislature in South Carolina who needed a wake up call. She's fearless. She's a personal friend. I pray for her all the time. I can't say enough nice things about my friend Nikki Haley. And my mom says you get the best. Another great crowd. Good job. Thank you so much. I first of all, thank you for coming. And before I ask anything else, I need to ask about your husband. And how is he doing? Well, my husband, you know, he was a combat veteran who deployed to Afghanistan and several weeks ago, I dropped him off at 4am for another year long deployment. And I will tell you, I watched him and 230 soldiers pick up their two duffel bags of belongings to load a bus to go to a country they've never been all in the name of defending and protecting America. They are willing to sacrifice their lives and their families, because they still believe in this amazing experiment that is America. And so I say all the time, if they're willing to fight for us there, shouldn't we be willing to fight for America here? It matters. And so we have our family has started the year long prayer prayer that he and his unit will be strong and effective in their in their duties and prayer that they will come home safe to us. Amen. This gives me a you and a usual perspective to answer this, because the number one question I've talked to others on stage about has been military readiness and preparedness in the sense that we're falling behind on the world stage with President Biden's leadership, but that there's something more involved than just one man's leadership within the government, the bureaucracy within the defense procurement industry, that we're just not firing on all cylinders right now. I think the first thing we have to talk about is the fact that my parents raised me to take care of those who take care of you. And I'll ask you for taking care of those who take care of us. Today, 33,000 veterans are homeless in this country. One in three of our heroes suffers from PTSD or thoughts of suicide. We lose 22 heroes a day to suicide. If a veteran needs to get a doctor's appointment at the veterans at the VA hospital, on average, it takes 29 days. Why 29 days? Because on the 30th day, they can go to the doctor or hospital of their choice. So halfway through the 29 days, they get a call to reschedule. And the clock starts all over again. It's shameful how we treat our veterans. So what I can tell you is, it's also important that we understand on TV, you love to see when, when our soldiers come home, and it's a blessed day and having our families get back together. But the real work, Eric is when we actually get home. The transition is tough. When Michael came home from Afghanistan, he couldn't hear loud noises. He couldn't be in crowds. Life had passed him by for the year that he was gone, and he didn't know how to transition in. We can't just love our military members when they're gone. We have to love them when they come back to. And so the way that I think we deal with it is we should make sure that we have telehealth so that they can get the mental health they help they need right when they need it. We should make sure they can go to the doctor and hospital of their choice. They have earned that right. We should make sure that their spouses are taken care of so that they never have to worry that their spouse is going to be left alone without any care. And the way that I will personally make sure that we fight this fight is I think every member of Congress should have to get their health care from the VA and you watch how fast that gets fixed. To get to your point on a defense, you know, the first thing we do have to talk about when you talk about military readiness is a strong military doesn't start wars, a strong military prevents wars. And so what we need to do with that is it's not that you just throw money at the Department of Defense. That's not the answer. Department of Defense is bloated to you pull down that bureaucracy. You get the slowness out. They have to stop playing favorites with defense companies. And you focus on making sure the military has the equipment to make them safe. I visited a company six hour in New Hampshire recently. They just came out with the first modern handgun for our military men and women in decades. Why does it take that long? So our focus needs to be prioritizing on how we can make sure that our military knows that they have everything they need to be the strongest fighting force in the world. That works for me. I want to switch to a sensitive cultural topic. It goes back to your time as governor. We had elected our first black president of the United States. And our nation seems horribly more divided along racial lines than before that point. And you had to deal with the Dylann Roof situation in South Carolina, and bring people together, one to take the Confederate flag down, but two to begin a healing process. And it seems like you from an immigrant family into the United States, elevated the leadership of South Carolina, were tremendously able to build bridges in a partisan divide to unite people, where so many people on the other side have tried to exploit and amplify divisions. Since we had this milestone moment of electing the first black president of the United States. I just I don't really even have a question. I really just love your your comments on on your role and also how you see how the other side has exploited tragedy. I think if you look at the Charleston tragedy that we had, and we had a couple of racial incidents, we also had the shooting of Walter Scott, you know, a leader has an option. You can either go the route that feels popular. And what I call the lazy route, which is what we saw happen in the state of Minnesota and other places after George Floyd when all the riots took off. Or you can try and lead in a way that brings out the best in people, so that you take your state or your country to a better place. So we did have, you know, when we lost nine amazing souls. On a Wednesday night at Bible study at Mother Emanuel Church, you had someone who didn't look like them didn't sound like them didn't act like that. They didn't call the cops on him. They didn't throw him out. Instead, they pulled up a chair and they prayed with him for an hour. And when they bowed their heads in that first prayer, he began to shoot. Now, these are people like Ethel Lance, who had lost her daughter two years prior to breast cancer, and she had a broken heart, but she'd go around Mother Emanuel Church singing one day at a time, sweet Jesus, that's all I ask of you. Give me the strength to do every day what I have to do. Our youngest victim Tywanza Sanders, he had the whole world in front of him. He had just graduated college. But on that night, he stood in front of his 87 year old great aunt Susie, and looked at the killer and said, you don't have to do this. We mean no harm to you. Or it was people like Cynthia Heard, whose life motto was to simply be kinder than necessary. That's who these people were. Now, I could have gone the route of saying, we're going to go and we're going to blast this and really, you know, divide your people. Or you could say, how do I take the people to a better place? I knew that half of South Carolinians saw the Confederate flag and the murderer came out with his manifesto holding the Confederate flag, which is what made that really come to light. I knew half of South Carolinians saw the Confederate flag as heritage and service. The other half saw it as, you know, racism and hate, and slavery. My job wasn't to judge either side. My job was to get them to see the best of themselves and go forward. And so we had a lot of work to do. It was not easy. And we had to get two thirds vote in the House and the Senate to get the Confederate flag to come down. But we didn't judge half the population and doing that. We didn't hate on half the population to do that. We reminded them who we were as South Carolinians. And so we didn't have the riots. We went forward in prayer, and in healing, and we showed the world what it looks like when you lead with strength and with grace. And that's how we have to get back to leading our country is to make sure we go back to those values that made us the greatest country in the world in the first place. You say grace and strength. And when I describe you to friends of mine, I always say fearless you. I mean, you're Daniel in the lion's den so often in your life in politics, with the old guard in South Carolina politics, and then at the United Nations, serving for President Trump, it's to get in there. And I remember the reactions of so many people when Oh, Donald Trump just wanted to put you somewhere, we'll put you at the United Nations. And then you went up there and just I mean, rocked their world. It was it was exciting. That's what I like to just be there. And it's not just allies. You I mean, you're talking about an organization that puts the worst human rights abuses in the country on the Human Rights Commission. Look, I mean, if you're at the United Nations, it's not for the faint at heart. I mean, every day, it felt like I was putting on body armor, because you knew we were gonna have a fight. We just didn't know which country we're gonna fight that day. And so if you look at the United Nations, the concept of the United Nations, when it started was good, you put 193 countries in the room in the name of peace and good things should happen, right. But the reality is, those 193 countries don't share the same values. They have different priorities. And so for me, when I went in there, I wanted those countries to know what America was for and what America was against. I didn't care if they didn't like me, but I wanted them to respect America. And we got to work. And we pushed hard on pulling ourselves out of the Iran deal. We were basically criticized by the entire world for moving our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, but we were acknowledging a truth. We I negotiated with China and Russia and the Security Council to pass the largest set of sanctions against a country in a generation with North Korea. But the best thing that we did was we took the kick me sign off of our backs and America was respected again at the UN. To get that respect, you don't get it with weakness. You don't get it by being isolated. You get it by having strength and having moral clarity. It is important for us always to remember that we have to know the difference between good and evil. We have to know the difference between right and wrong. That is bless you. That is moral clarity. And in order to do that, you have to show strength. And right now you see a lot of people and you'll see a lot of candidates on that stage that want to take the lazy way out and say, Oh, we don't need to worry about our friends. Yes, we do need to worry about our friends. Because guess what? Don't be so arrogant to think that a 9-11 can't happen. We witnessed it. We know how that happens. We have to make sure we do everything we can to prevent more. And the only way you prevent war is by having a strong America. How do you how do you answer the question? And I do think for the former vice president for you as President Trump's former UN ambassador, it raises the question of with him running again, how do you explain to people why they should now vote for you instead of returning him to office? Look, I think that President Trump was the right president at the right time. I agree with so many of his policies. But at the end of the day, we have to win in November. And it is time to put that negativity and drama behind us. We can't keep talking about the past, we have got to talk about how we are going to take America to a new future that is full of peace and law and order and opportunities for our children. And in order to do that, we have to have a new conservative leader, we have to have a new person that's going to go forward and start giving us solutions. Republicans have lost the last seven out of eight popular votes for president. That is nothing to be proud of. We should want to win the majority of Americans. Our solutions are the right ones. We know what it takes to lift up everyone, not just a select few. I have been a two term governor that took a double digit unemployment state and turned it into an economic powerhouse. I was at the UN, I didn't work with one country, I dealt with 193. It is time that we start getting ready to really take on these big issues. We look so distracted right now. And when America is distracted, the world is less safe. It is time for us to get focused, smart, and strategic for the sake of our kids and our grandkids. We've got to do that. I want to actually talk to you about your tenure as governor, because I remember the days living in Georgia where we didn't look down to Florida as an economic rival, we had to keep looking over you because you kept stealing the business as we were whipping y'all's butt. We had Republican governors who were like, here, we'll give you $50 billion come build in our state. And you're like, I will give you no regulation come and people were coming in Boeing and just BMW, all of these massive businesses that went to South Carolina and didn't fundamentally change the culture of South Carolina when when they did you, you actually had people move into South Carolina and suddenly like, we actually like it here. We think we'll keep voting the same way. It was it just remarkable, your record in South Carolina to attract business without selling out the state to do it. It wasn't easy. But it was very focused. You know, we had lost South Carolina had lost a lot of our jobs when the textile industry went overseas. And so when I came in as governor, we had double digit unemployment, it was 11%. We had 1000s of people on welfare, South Carolina was the butt of the jokes. But the goal really was what I did was I went and first said, we're going to control what we can control first. And that was our agencies. So I replaced the head of every agency, I sent people into each agency to clean it up, bring down old regulations, clean house, get rid of the bureaucracy, get rid of problem children. And then I told those agencies, I need you to and I gave them benchmarks every 90 days, they had to prove to the taxpayers what the return on investment was with that agency. And we then started to incentivize them to give money back to the taxpayers so that they started to compete. That was really important. Then we told those agencies, if you are costing a person or a business time, you're costing them money. And that's no longer acceptable in South Carolina. And then we started selling. And I didn't want to just take companies from other states. That was too easy. I wanted to make things. I wanted to make things in America again. So we started recruiting. And, you know, by the time I left, we were building planes with Boeing, more BMWs than any place in the world. We brought in Mercedes Benz, we brought in Volvo, five international tire companies, and they were referring to us as the beast of the southeast, which I love. But you know, the other thing that we did that was really important was, I didn't want any company to come to South Carolina if they were unionized. I would not, we never wanted a unionized company, I didn't want them to taint our water at all. And when companies came to South Carolina, I said, Okay, I want two things. One, you have to use our South Carolina small businesses to do your business. And two, you have to take care of our people. And what I meant by that was I told them they had to do a family picnic every year to show their family members what they did. I said, you have to include your workers in the problems and solutions that you face in our, in our in your company. And I said, thirdly, if you work on Sundays, you've got to give them advance notice that they're gonna have to work on Sundays, because in South Carolina, we go to church. And truly, those were the things that really made us work. And you know, it's not rocket science, but you have to really focus on that. And that's why when I'm president, what you're going to see me do is we are going to move a lot of the functions of the federal government down to the state level. Think education, think health care, think welfare, think benefits, move that down to the states, what you do is you reduce the size of the federal government, you save us money, you make it more efficient. And you empower the people in the states. That's how it was intended to function. You look at the fact government was intended to secure the rights and freedoms of the people. It was never meant to be all things to all people. And right now you have a government that functions like that. And Washington politicians who've never seen a dollar they don't want to spend. And so I think we have to send this back down to the people and let governors manage it, because it will be managed better. And for the first time, we will make sure that people feel like government works for them and not the other way around. Appore inviting candidates to come and interpose with other candidates. Some members of the media are mad because I don't want y'all to have to talk about the former president or about each other. I want to talk about you. But you and Senator Scott, both from South Carolina, I just am struck by the place that fired the first shots in the Civil War has presented two top tier Republican candidates. One is descended from slaves, one who is of ancestry from India. And I just, it seems like we don't appreciate enough how much the Republican Party and the nation has moved that we can have our first black president and have the Republican Party from South Carolina, fielding two non white candidates for President of the United States. It, it seems like we don't pat ourself enough on the back for the progress we've made. We anchor ourselves too much to pass. The hardest part that we have right now that we have to overcome is this national self loathing that has taken over our country. The idea that they say America's bad or that it's rotten or that it's racist. I was elected the first female minority governor in history. America's not racist. We're blessed. Our kids need to know to love America. They need to be saying the Pledge of Allegiance when they start school every day. We have to go back to that national purpose and the values that made our country great. And so look, I don't think we need to pat ourselves on the back. I think this goes to show everything that the left wants our country to be. We're not. We basically are focused on how to lift up everybody. That should be always what we do. And so I'm going to continue to talk about the blessings of America. Are we perfect? No. But every day we should strive to be more perfect. And I think that that's what you know, the Republican Party is doing. That's what we'll continue to do. I know the media loves to talk about Trump and the media loves to kind of have this back and forth. But I'll tell you, we've done over 80 town halls in New Hampshire and Iowa. And Eric, not one of them are asking me about Trump. Not one of them are asking me why I'm running against them or anything else. What they are talking about is inflation, and why groceries and gas are expensive, and why there's so much spending and why they are having a hard time paying their utility bill, or why half of our families can't afford diapers. They're talking about the lack of transparency in the classroom. They're talking about a lawless border that makes no sense whatsoever. They're talking about crime on the rise. And they're talking about the fact that China is having their way with us, and we're not doing anything about it. Those are the things normal Americans talk about. And those are the things we continue to address in our town halls, because I think that's what the American people want to talk about here. Next week, y'all will be on stage in Milwaukee for the debate, distinguishing yourselves from each other on policy positions. I should have started with this question, because I intended to with everyone. With this crowd here with people at home watching, what do you want them to know of you got a former president, former vice president, you've got sitting governors and senators. Why should Americans vote for Nikki Haley as president? I'm an accountant, not a lawyer. I have been a two term governor that that understands how a chief executive looks at things I have negotiated across the table from China and Russia and understand why that's important. I continue to believe Margaret Thatcher when she says if you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman. And I believe that America is ready for new, strong, conservative leadership. I know the domestic side. I know the foreign policy side. But I also know that America looks so distracted. And when America is distracted, the world is less safe. It is time for us to get our house in order. We are 32 trillion dollars in debt. We are having to borrow money just to make our interest payments. Now, I would love to tell you that Biden did that to us. But I've always spoken in hard truths. Our Republicans did that to us to you look at that $2.2 trillion COVID stimulus bill that they passed with no accountability whatsoever. They expand welfare that now gives us 90 million Americans on Medicaid, 42 million Americans on food stamps. And did Republicans try and make it right? Nope, they doubled down and opened up earmarks for the first time in 10 years, passing through 7000 of them last December. I just looked at want to know how they spent your money. $30 million on an honors college in Vermont, 10 million to tear down a hotel in Alaska, seven and a half million on a courthouse in Colorado, and the list goes on. And now for the 2024 budget, Republicans have put in $7.4 billion worth of port projects and earmarks. Democrats have put through 2.8 billion. Now you tell me who the big spenders are. All while one in six American families can't pay their utility bill. 60% of Americans are in credit card debt. Something has to give, they have to understand the value of $1. We've got you look at the fact that in our education system, everybody's talking about COVID. No, we had problems with education before COVID. Pre COVID 67% of our eighth graders in this country were not proficient in reading or math. A month ago, it came out that over 80% are not proficient in history or civics. And now a couple weeks ago, they say our 13 year olds are scoring the lowest they've scored in reading and math in decades. Yet we're still fighting over where the biological boys should be playing in girls sports, gender ideology. That's, that's insanity. You have an open border. And let me tell you, I've been to the border. I didn't pull a Kamala go there and come back. I went 400 miles down that border, you're not ready for what I saw. mounds of clothes, mounds of shoes, paraphernalia. When you get up in the morning, you get your coffee and you watch the news. When these ranchers get up in the morning, they get their coffee and they see if anyone died crossing the fence. They pick up whatever little kids were left behind and they turn them over to Border Patrol. I met with multiple sheriffs. They said before 7am they round up whatever illegal immigrants they can find. They turn them over to Border Patrol. Border Patrol documents them and releases them until their court date years from now. And when I asked Border Patrol about their job, they said you want to know what we do? We're glorified babysitters. They don't let us do our job. Five and a half million illegal immigrants have crossed that border. We had enough fentanyl cross that border last year that would kill every single American. Number one cause of death for adults 18 to 49 fentanyl. And don't think for a second China doesn't know what they're doing when they send it over. We have got to control our border and the way that I will do that is first of all, we will defund sanctuary cities once and for all. Instead of 87,000 IRS agents going after middle America will put 25,000 Border Patrol and ICE agents on the ground and let them do their job. We will make sure that we go back to remain in Mexico because guess what? Nobody wants to remain in Mexico. We will end catch and release and we will start catching deport. We have to secure our border. It is a huge national security threat and we've got to get that done. And then we have to start dealing with the fact that our number one national security threat at this time is China. And literally nothing is being done. Trump did a good job of getting attention on China's trade practices. But he didn't do near enough on the fact that they have bought 400,000 acres of US soil. Most recently near Grand Forks Air Force Base where our most sensitive drone technology is. They're putting millions of dollars into our universities to steal our research and spread Chinese propaganda. You've got the fact that they are using their Chinese front companies to lobby members of Congress. And then 90% you know, we all were like shocked when a Chinese spy balloon went overseas right over our country. It was a national embarrassment. But did you know 90% of our law enforcement drones in America are Chinese. So you've got all these little spy balloons around that can send data back in a heartbeat. You've got enough fentanyl that's crossed the border that that surpasses the Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq wars combined in death 75,000 Americans died last year. And we're not doing anything about it. We had commerce has a list of sensitive technology that China should not get because they strengthen their military and they threaten America. Yet the Biden administration sent them 70% of the things they requested. And then you look at our military. Look at China's military. They have spent years building up their military. They now have the largest naval fleet in the world. They have 350 ships, they'll have 402 years, we won't even have 350 in two decades. They're building hypersonic missiles, we've barely gotten started. They're doing nuclear, they're doing cyber, they're doing artificial intelligence. And now they're the biggest developer of neurostrike weapons, which can go and engineer and change brain activity for military commanders or groups of the population. What's it gonna take for us to wake up? Yet you've got Janet Yellen saying we should do more business with China. It shouldn't be a winner take all scenario. We should play by the rules. I've dealt with China when their lips are moving, they are lying. They've never played by the rules. They believe in a winner take all scenario. They don't see us as a competitor, they see us as an enemy. We need to wake up. The first thing you do is you look at it through a national security lens. We need to make sure we stop selling any US soil to China and pull back all the land they've already taken. We need to stop sending any sensitive technology to China. And it's not just China, no foreign entity should be lobbying Congress. That's what ambassadors are for. There is no reason we should have any foreign country lobbying Congress, we'll stop that immediately. We need to make sure that we're building up our military. I will say it again, a strong military doesn't start wars, a strong military prevents wars. We will go to our universities and we'll say you either take Chinese money or you take American money, but the days of taking both are over. We will pull that Chinese infiltration out of our universities. And we will tell the Chinese, we will end all normal trade relations with you until you stop killing Americans. You watch how fast they stop and how that fentanyl stops going across our border. We have to be strong with China. We have to let them know what we expect of them. And we have to start being smart. And we've forgotten how to be smart. And I will make sure that we bring that back again. Yeah, I knew I didn't have to ask you about China because you would get there on your own. I mean, it gets my brain going. I cannot believe that we are having this much infiltration in our own country, and not doing anything about it. So let me ask you the esoteric question. And I know it is that I've asked everyone running for president, it goes back to the Don Rumsfeld quote of, we have known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns. And I am convinced there are things happening here domestically and abroad, that we don't even know we don't know. And how do you as a policymaker, as a president, begin to even assess where we need to go looking in the shadows to see what's going on that we're not even aware of? Because it does seem like when you look at what's happening in West Africa, in South Africa, in South America, in Central America, the people coming across the border, Ken Cuccinelli talking about Chinese illegal immigrants coming in from the Bahamas, that clearly there are stones we need to turn over in this country to see what's happening that we're not even aware of. I think the first thing we need to remember is a house divided cannot stand. We need to focus on what it takes to have a strong America. And I think that in the past wars have been fought land, air, sea, we need to be paying attention to cyber, we need to be paying attention to artificial intelligence, we need to be paying attention to space. That is the new frontier. That is what we need to make sure we're very focused on. I don't know if you saw recently, China has embedded malware into our network systems. They've put in a code that our officials that our government can't find. So now I want you to think about our power grids. Think about our water supply. Think about our communication systems. That's what we're talking about. Those are the things we need to focus on. You have to protect Americans, every US president's first goal should be to protect American lives, protect American sovereignty, and protect freedom. And that's how we have to start looking at things going forward. That's not happening today. That hasn't happened in many years. That's what I will make sure sure we do as president. Let me shift gears dramatically away from policy national security just to the campaign trail. What is it like to not be a candidate for governor having to hit counties in one state, but to hit 99 counties in Iowa plus go to New Hampshire, return to South Carolina? I mean, what is what is your day like running on the campaign trail? Not a lot of sleep. I'll tell you that much. You know, I really appreciate how hard it is. I appreciate how grueling it is. Because there are no shortcuts when it comes to president, there should never be shortcuts when it comes to president. We've put in the hard work. The reason I've done 80 town halls, the reason we continue to do all that we do is because you should have to touch every hand. You should have to answer every question. You should keep going back over and over again until you've earned their trust and their support in terms of where we're going to go forward. And I will tell you there are candidates that fly and do rallies and leave. There are candidates that try and take shortcuts. We haven't done that. I think I'm the only candidate that's still flying commercial. We've been on a lot of JetBlue and Spirit Air. We've stayed in a lot of garden inns. But at the end of the day, I think the biggest way to see what kind of leader someone will be, watch how they campaign. Watch if they do the hard work. Watch if they understand that you have to earn the support of every single American. That's when you really show what your grit is made of. I did that when I ran against the longest serving legislator in a primary in South Carolina. I did that when I ran against all those candidates for governor. And I'm doing that as I've, you know, when we run for president now. This is a marathon. It's not a sprint. The media would love for you to believe this whole election is over. It's just not true. We're just getting started. And the debate that's going to happen next week, it's going to be the first chance for you to start to see what your options are. And then it's off to the races. And so look, no one's going to outwork me in this. No one's going to outsmart me in this. We have a country to save. And I'm determined to save her. I've got to offer you a compliment that I haven't mentioned today to any of the other candidates, but it's always struck me with you. And it sounds very much like, I'll jump off here and talk about Bill Maher from HBO, the thing, I mean, he's a liberal, I disagree with him a lot. And I always thought it was remarkable the number of people who had worked with him for so long, when you have these high maintenance people in Hollywood, who their staff turnover song, you have an incredibly loyal staff, and surrounded by incredibly loyal people who are deeply committed to you. And it really sets you apart, I think, from so many people in politics on both sides that you got people working with you, who they want to work for you. I am so proud of our team. And, you know, I have people who have been with me from the governor's office that went with me to the UN that are here. But it's because they understand service. They know this is more than just about a person. They know this is about the fact that God gave us one life. And we have to make the most of that life. And the most the best way to make the most of that life is to focus on serving others and lifting up others. And so I am blessed. I think I have the smartest, most talented, mighty team. We don't have the teams the size of the other guys. But we don't need the team the size of the other guys. Because we know how to work harder and smarter. And, you know, I think that, again, it says a lot when you have loyalty. That means they know that you're doing it for all the right reasons. And that means they want to be part of something bigger. And that's what we're trying to do. When I say we have a country to save, I mean it. You know, somebody asked me while I was running and I said, you know, my parents came here 50 years ago to an America that was strong and proud and full of opportunities. I want them to know that country again. I'm doing this because for Michael and his military brothers and sisters, they need to know their sacrifice means something. They need to know that we love our country. I'm doing this for my daughter who just got married. And I saw how hard it was for her and her husband to buy a home. And I'm doing this for my son because he's going to be a senior in college. And he shouldn't have to worry about saying things on a paper that he doesn't believe in just to get an A. That's not America. That's not our country. And for the first time, 78 percent of Americans don't think their kids are going to live as good of a life as we did. We can't be okay with that. I'm not okay with that. We do have a country to save. But I also have faith in the American people. Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom to know where up is. Well, we're there. Now we have to do the hard work to see where up is. And I will tell you, the way we will do it is it's going to take a lot of courage. Courage from every single person in this room. Courage for me to run. And courage for every one of you to know, don't complain about what you get in a general election if you don't play in this primary. It matters. It matters. This is our time. I've I had the pleasure of meeting your parents more than once. And they have such a remarkable story of moving from India and what they gave up in India, which I don't think most people understand. And they chose not just to be Americans, but they chose South Carolina, which at the time they moved here, I think most people think why would a family from India move to South Carolina? You're South Carolinian because you were born there. They chose the country. What do you think that our message should be when we balance out legal and illegal immigration in this country to award the people who choose us and take the path to be here when there are so many people who are just trying to come in and can't? What do we do as a country to incentivize the best of the best of the people who love the country coming? So I grew up in a small rural town in South Carolina. 2500 people to stoplights. You couldn't think about doing something wrong without somebody already telling your mom. We were the only Indian family in that small rural town. We weren't white enough to be white. We weren't black enough to be black. They didn't know who we were, what we were or why we were there. And I remember when I would get teased on the playground. My mom would always say your job is not to show them how you're different. Your job is to show them how you're similar. And it's amazing how America could use my mom's advice right now. They there was never a day they didn't remind me my brothers and my sister how blessed we were to live in America. I my parents, Michael and I now take care of my parents, they live with us. They're 87 and 89. And there is not a time I don't sit down to dinner with my parents, where my mom is not furious about those people coming across the border. Because they put in the time they put in the price, they came here legally, they are truly offended by anyone that doesn't come here legally. My parents would always say if you don't follow the laws to get to this country, you won't follow the laws to stay in this country. And what we have to remember is there's a lot of people that are doing it the right way. You can't cheat and get here by coming illegally. You just can't they need to get in the back of the line and come in just like everybody else. And the other thing is when it comes to legal immigration, we need to be smart about that, too. I'm tired of them saying, Oh, we're gonna let X number this year, we're gonna let X number next year. That's not the way you do it. You do it based on merit. What do our businesses need? What workers can they not find? And then you do it based on that. That's what builds up your economy. When you do it based on merit, then you're not only helping those that come, but you're helping the economy in our country, you know, that way as well. And so I think, you know, America has lost her way on a lot of different issues. But all we have to do is go back again, to the national purpose we always had and the values that made us great. If we do that, we will get back to where we need to be. All right, I have one last question for you. That's what I've always wanted to ask you. And I've never had the opportunity to really ask you, how did you navigate? And I'm kind of convinced that you became the UN ambassador for being able to navigate the divide of being a Clemson family and getting University of South Carolina votes. I mean, how do you balance this out? Listen, if you can win that you can win anything. Let me tell you, you know, I am a diehard Clemson fan. I have always been a go Tigers. I love that. Even so much that my husband is a bit embarrassed because for years before every Clemson game, I text coach Dabo. And I tend to text him advice. But sometimes I think it's really important, he needs to hear it. And so so he will always just respond back, go Tigers. That's it. That's it. So interestingly enough, when I was leaving the UN, he texted me and he goes, you know, I may have a coaching position available. And I said, be careful what you ask for. There was a time where I was governor and there was a recruit that was really important. And I called him and I said, you know, what are we doing about this recruit? He goes, Governor, I am on the beach right now with my family. And I go, okay, problem number one. And then when I did become governor, you know, we had the rivalry game between the Tigers and the Gamecocks. And I always, you know, went to the football games would always go to Clemson games, I'd go to Carolina games when Clemson wasn't playing at home. And so we come out Clemson Carolina game, and I am decked out in all orange. And the staff is like, Are you sure you want to do that? And I said, Well, that's my team. I mean, I went to Clemson, I met my husband, my first weekend in Clemson, we got engaged at Clemson, my daughter has gone to Clemson. I mean, we are my blood is orange. And so I went out on that field, and I was decked out in orange. And I think half the state did not like that. But you know what, they got over it. Because your loyalties are your loyalties. And you can't erase where you went to school. And God bless the Clemson Tigers. I love them, and we'll continue to cheer for them and continue to bug Davo every weekend. Good for you. I you know, if people talk about having friends in politics, and it's tangential people they've met, you and Michael have been good friends and have prayed for Christian me so many times throughout our struggles. I can't think enough for coming. You literally have come to this more than any other politician in America. And my kid, if I would let her like quit school this year, she would be on your campaign team. But I'm making her we love Evelyn. Yes, yes. Ellen loves you too. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you. God bless go to Nikki Haley calm