And i got to say i had a lot of fun which is important. You got to have fun but i think it provided real clarity, distinctions of the candidates and think the people understand the stakes in this election are really high. I got to say i think donald trump had a tough night. Okay. [ cheers ] let me you were the only one up to this point beside donald trump thats won a state. You are doing well in your home state of texas which takes place on tuesday. There is a very strong possibility that out of tuesday the only two candidates that will have won states are you and donald trump. Theres a poll out showing marco rubio down 20 points in his state of florida. If after super tuesday any of the other candidates have not won a state, do you think they should get out of the race . Well, look. I think youre right that as we look at this race right now, weve had four primaries. The role of the first four primaries historically to narrow the field. They have. We started with 17 candidates. You needed practically a phone book to tell all of us apart and it is now narrowed considerably. You know, nobody has ever won the nomination who hasnt won one of the first three states. And only two of us have done that. Donald trump and myself. And i do think super tuesday is going to be the most important day in this entire election. Super tuesday, youve got 11 states nationwide that are making their decisions, including the great state of tennessee, and that vote, i think theres a very significant possibility will come out of that with donald having won delegates and me and everyone else with very, very few delegates and 65 of republicans say donald is not the right guy to go head to head with hillary. [ applause ] and i think we saw last night why that was. I think we saw last night on issue after issue after issue donalds positions are fidenticl to hillary. The risk is too high that donald wins and we lose this country and so for those 65 of republicans that say donnals not the right guy, i would encourage everyone here in tennessee, everyone across super tuesday, if you dont want to see donald trump as the nominee, we need to unite and the candidate who is running neck and neck with donald in the states across super tuesday is me. If you want to beat donald, stand with us. Let me ask you this. And maybe this is really a question for the audience. Because i view both you and donald trump as the two big insurgent candidates. Lets be honest. If there are two people hated by the establishment, probably youre at the top and donalds a close second. I want to ask maybe the crowd here, you can applaud if you want to but are you angry how angry on a scale of 1 to 10 are you at washington, d. C. Republicans and do you think thats whats [ applause ] are you . You know, because to what extent do you think because its really coming down to you and him as the only two winning states after super tuesday, that tells me that theres palpable anger. Wheres that anger coming from . I feel it myself. Sure. You and i both understand. People are furious. Because we keep having politicians. They make promises to us. And then they go to washington and they break their word. They promptly cut deals with the democrats. They dont do what they said. I mean, none of this is complicated. You know, what i have tried to do in the senate is two things. Tell the truth and do what i said i would do. You know, it is interesting to watch how your fellow senators respond to you. I dont know if you remember john mccain referred to senator cruz as a whacko bird. Graham was joking about killing you yesterday. Im sure youve heard about it. Is it because you kept your promise on health care and you were willing to use the power of the purse that they were not willing to do . Is that the divide that big now . Sean, of course it is and its a real simple. Youve got career politicians in washington and both parties that get in bed with the lobbyists and special interests. Thats how you get a 19 trillion debt. It is not one party. Its both parties. And [ applause ] you know, it is amazing the washington establishment tells you which candidates they want. You know, it was really quite striking. Bob dole. Bob dole said a few weeks ago, he said, well, listen. Donald trump im just fine with. Why . Because donald trump will cut deals. We can work with donald trump. We need someone to cut deals with us. Thats what donald will do. That cruz guy, he actually believes this stuff. [ applause ] and, sean, as you know, that exact same sentiment was expressed by jimmy carter. Jimmy carter over in london, speaking to the house of lords. They asked him about the president ial election and he said, well, listen. Between trump and cruz, i, jimmy carter, would pick donald trump. And he said, why . Because donald trump is malleable. He had no fixed set of beliefs. He said cruz is not malleable. [ applause ] so lets imagine you win the presidency an youre going to hold the line on spending and congress will not stand with you for a balanced budget. Congress will not support you on legislation to repeal and replace obamacare. Where does the standoff go . We found ourselves at these moments and republicans ended up caving. Youre the president. What would you do . Well, sean, i dont cave. And we keep getting in these fights with democrats who actually believe what theyre saying. Listen. Barack obama, i actually respect that Barack Obamas committed to his ideas. I think his ideas are profoundly harmful to this country. Have done enormous damage. Hes committed. Barack obama will crawl over broken glass with a knife between his teeth and the reason we keep getting our lunch eaten is Republican Leadership walks in, surrenders before they say good morning. And that doesnt work. They did that on health care, executive amnesty. Yep. And i think thats that goes back to the original point. I think thats why we are where we are today and seems its a battle of insurgents. Youre making the case youre the insurgent that can get the job done as a conservative. And i guess you would say that donald trump is probably more of a populist . I would say it a little differently. Donald trump is adopting the rhetoric of a populist. Donald trump, like hillary clinton, is a rich new york liberal. Thats about the worst thing you can say to a republican primary candidate. Sean, thankfully youre a rich new york conservative whos soon going to be a southerner. Yeah. You did hear that my own govern nor of new york doesnt im not a new yorker. I dont belong in new york because im prolife, i believe in the traditional definition of marriage and, yes, im very prosecond amendment. So im going to have to leave soon. All right. But you know, when it comes to taking on washington, one of the Amazing Things donald said an Amazing Things is seven months i, donald trump, was a member of the establishment. No kidding. You know, last night on the debate stage he said, ted, i know politicians mucht better than you do. Thats right. Listen. You have been paying off these people for 40 years and by the way, i mean, look. The gang of eight. Five members of the amnesty gang of eight had collectively received over 50,000 from donald trump and he says by the way, well, listen, im a businessman. I pay off everybody. Well, if youre worried about corruption in washington im not sure putting him in the white house is the best solution to that. Let me ask this. But let me make a quick point here, sean. Okay, fine. So hes paid off hundreds of thousands of dollars to all the liberal democrats. Helped put harry reid and nancy pelosi in power. What was he doing that for . Its only for one thing. Putting money in his own pocket. Did he ever once say to all of these candidates, gosh, i care about immigration. Let me you know, gosh, i care about Supreme Court justices. I care about life. His actions demonstrate that the only thing hes cared about is putting money in his bank account. Let me play devils advocate. Laid out the case hes changed. Like, for example, tells the story about how he became prolife. You dont believe him . Listen. Where he is in his heart, i dont know. I dont know where he is in his heart. I know for 60 years of his life he described himself adds very prochoice. Supporting partial birth abortion. And as prochoice in every respect. And then when he decided to run for president as a republican, suddenly magically he was prolife. Now, lets for a second give him the benefit of the doubt. Lets assume he had a road to damascus moment and realized he was in the wrong. Im curious, sean. Donald has also said he never asked god for forgiveness for anything. If someone is actually prolife today, would you perhaps ask god for forgiveness for spending 60 years advocating for partial birth abortion . But heres an interesting question. And by the way, for the record, i have to ask forgiveness every day because i get so angry at obama. But look. Absolutely. And all of us are sinners. Look of us, our faith is between us and god. Im just saying the statements, if he has nothing when he explains why hes never asked for forgiveness, he said ive never done anything wrong. Well, okay. Let me the rest of us are fallen men and only have grace through gods love. Thats you know, thats the way i read it. Next questions very important. Then why is he doing so well . Because people are furious. Theyre so frustrated with washington and i get that voting for donald trump for a lot of people is telling washington go jump in a lake. I get that. It is. And his rhetoric is loud and angry. And for people that want to say want the scream at washington, the loudest, angriest voice gives voice to that. But he is telling us, he is going to go back on what hes saying. Donald trump said, i can be a totally different person after im elected. I can be this is donald speaking. The most politically correct person on earth. Let me tell you something, sean. The day after im elected president , im the same person i am today. We got to take a break. Were in beautiful nashville,te. Well continue the entire hour and some questions for our audience as hannity continues from nashville. We have some breaking news for you now. This is sheldon whose long day setting up the news starts with minor arthritis pain and a choice. Take tylenol or take aleve, the 1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. Just two aleve can keep pain away all day. Back to the news. Incredible bladder prthat lets from always diyou move like you mean it now comes with an incredible promise. The always discreet double your money back guarantee. Always discreet is for bladder leaks and its drier than poise. Try it. Were so confident youll love it, well give you double your money back if you dont. Incredible bladder protection. Double your money back guarantee. Thats always discreet. Live from americas news headquarters, im patricia stark. Second time today donald trump quest scores an endorsement. A short time ago, maine governor announced the support of the republican frontrunner. Speaking on a conservative radio talk show, lepage explained the endorsement saying trump is the only one to make America Great again. Earlier in the day new jersey governor christie said hes jumping on the trump bandwagon. We are learning more about the man who killed three people and injured 14. Cedric ford had a history of violence. The arrest record is a 2008 arrest for felony battery. He was served with a ro tektive order shortly before the shooting at the newton plant. He was shot dead by police. Im patricia stark. Now become to hannity. And welcome back to beautiful nashville, tennessee, as we continue with the shower with senator ted cruz, 2016 president ial candidate. We have a fun crowd here. To me, i know ive asked you this question and every candidate this question because to me this is what the election is about. We have 94. 5 million americans out of the labor force. A record. 50 million americans in poverty. 46 million americans on food stamps. Under barack obama, he will have mounted more debt than any other president. Its a daunting task. How do you do it . Well, sean, we know what doesnt work and what does work. What doesnt work is out of control spending and taxes and regulation. It produces what we have now and always has. Misery, stagnation and malaise. Cause and affect. What does work on the flip side is low taxes, low regulation, unchaining Small Businesses which unleashes the Free Enterprise engine of this country. And every time in history weve done that kennedy, reagan. Coolidge. The 20s, the 60s, the 80s. Tax reform and regulatory reform. Took the burden of washington off of Small Businesses and saw unbelievable Economic Growth. Lets go back to 1980. I have said many things 2016 is an election very much like 1980. That was the last time we had four consecutive years of less than 1 average growth. Was 1978 to 1982 coming out of jimmy carter. What did reagan do . Came in. And he passed tax reform. He slashed the tax rates, simplified the tax code and regulatory reform. Lifted the burdens washington and implemented sound money. All of those together resulted in unbelievable Economic Growth. Do you know what Economic Growth was in 1984 . The fourth year of reagans presidency . 12 . 7. 2 . It was huge. He did create 21 million new jobs. The longest period of peacetime Economic Growth in history up to that point. Yeah. And america which was in decline with double digit interest rates, inflation, unemployment, all came down dramatically. And that impacts working men and women. You look at not only did peoples standards of living go up, minority communities, Median Income in the Africanamerican Community went up about 5,000 over the 8 years that reagan presidency . You saw the Hispanic CommunityMedian Income up significantly. Under barack obama, you have seen stagnation. The people hurt have been the most vulnerable. Africanamericans hammered under break back. Hispanics have been hammered under barack obama. When you pound Small Businesses, obamacare, crushing taxes and regulations, its not the ceos who suffer the most. Listen. If youre running a business, you can probably still pay your mortgage, make ends meet. Its harder but you can do it. The people who lose are the people laid off, the teenagers, its the people who are just getting their first or second jobs. Theyre the ones laid off, theyre the ones whose hours reduced and thats whos getting hurt. When you add or factor in the importance of Energy Independence or the trillions of dollars that u. S. Corporations you know they parked this money overseas and wont bring it back with the high level of taxation. Trillions of dollars. If theyre allowed to bring it back, wouldnt they build factories and Manufacturing Centers . How much jobs in the oil and gas industry to have to get government off the back of that industry . Millions of high paying jobs. We have Incredible Energy resources. We should pursue all of the above and develop everything we have got without washington picking winners and losers. No favoritisms. No subsidies. No nothing. So let me stop on that for a second. Because thats actually a good illustration. We were talking earlier in the show about taking on washington and everyone talks a good game. By the way, they told me people in washington they dont like the term cartel. Somebody said hes calling us drug dealers. Well oh boy. We just made news. You guys happy back there . Okay. You know, if the machete fits. By the way, you know theyre humorless up there. No sense of humor. I have kind of noticed that. There is a reason i need a food taster in the members dining room. Although thats actually not true. They arent always humorless. Ill tell you a true story. At the state of the union a couple of years ago, graham who said i thought i should be murdered. We were sitting next to each other. At the state of the union. And Louis Gohmert who you know well coming up. Talking to us. I love him. Hes a friend. He was talking to us and getting ready to start and he didnt have a seat. And this was this was right after you remember the mandela funeral and the strange guy that did sign language up front . That wasnt affiliated with the funeral. A bizarre chapter. Louis looking around and couldnt find a seat. I said i tell you what. Just start signing next to the podium giving the state of the union. And i said, you will go down in history. It will be unforgettable. I said you will be incarcerated but unforgettable. Lindsey said well bake you a cake with a file in it. But louis did not take our advice alas. And it probably wasnt very good advice. Lets go back to the people. Because when you talk about 94. 5 Million People, thats statistics. 94. 5 Million People, thats family, coworkers, those are real people, real lives. Real people, real lives in poverty. 50 million. Real people, real lives on food stamps. How quickly can the job get done that theyre back to work, off of food stamps and pursuing their dreams . Turn around overnight and critical pieces to that. Take immigration. Why does amnesty matter . It matters for a lot of reasons but one of the most important is 2 Million People here illegally. What that does is takes away jobs from americans and it drives down wages. You know, i mentioned last night a wall street journal article about what happened when they put in tough laws against illegal immigrants. They flee the states and what happened is remarkable. The government expenditures plummeted. Hundreds of millions of dollars in Health Care Expenses and education expenses. This means those dollars get to be spent on the citizens of arizona instead. But number two, it was really striking the article. An owner of a company complaining. This is terrible. Im having to pay much higher wages. I dont like this. That statement explains why the washington cartel, why the democrats and establishment republicans, like amnesty. Because the big Business Ceos want cheap labor. Drive it down, drive it down. But whens happened in the absence is they have seen wages going up. Carpenters. Their wages are going up. Jobs are available. Suddenly americans are able to get jobs. That impact is dramatic. Lets tell you as president , we know how to solve the problem. Whats missing is political will. As president i build a wall, triple the border patrol. E