- 2 years ago
On "Forbes Newsroom," former Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX) spoke about ending his 2024 presidential campaign, endorsing Nikki Haley, why he thinks former President Trump should not be the Republican standard-bearer, Israel, and more.
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00:00 Hi, everybody. I'm Brittany Lewis with Forbes Breaking News. Joining me now is former Congressman
00:06 Will Hurd. Congressman, thank you so much for joining me.
00:09 Hey, Brittany. Always a pleasure to be on with you.
00:12 And you are always welcome. Just earlier this week, you did announce your decision to suspend
00:17 your presidential campaign. Can you walk us through what led to you deciding to suspend
00:21 it?
00:22 Look, I did. And ultimately, here's the thing. I'm running, you know, I decided to run because
00:29 the country is faced with a number of generational defining challenges, right? We've talked about
00:34 that, how AI is going to impact every single industry. We're learning how complicated and
00:40 dangerous the world we live in continues to be. We're having to make sure our kids improve
00:49 our scores in math, science, and reading. That's why I decided to run. And ultimately,
00:56 you know, my pathway to victory was narrowing. And as the great Kenny Rogers said, you got
01:02 no one to hold them and no one to fold them. And the time has come to make sure that we
01:08 have a Republican nominee that can win in November. I don't want to see a rematch that
01:14 nobody wants between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. And that's why, you know, getting behind
01:20 Ambassador Haley, I think was the right move. She has the momentum, she has the experience,
01:26 and she's the only person that's consistently polled as beating Joe Biden in the general
01:32 election. And so this period between Halloween and Thanksgiving is very important. And so
01:42 this is why I want to see if I can help someone and help Ambassador Haley continue her momentum.
01:48 Can you talk about how specifically you are going to help her? She did make waves in the
01:53 debate, both times clashing with Vivek Ramaswamy, especially over foreign policy. So what does
01:59 that help look like?
02:00 Well, the help looks however they think it's valuable, right? And so we've already done
02:06 a couple of digital things together. I'm going to continue to talk about issues that matter.
02:13 And, you know, I'm there to help however I can be. And so that'll evolve over the next
02:22 couple of days and weeks. But ultimately, when I have conversations like we're having
02:27 now, you know, talk about why I think she's the best candidate and explain, Donald Trump
02:33 is not inevitable. I think the media and a lot of voters think that that's necessarily
02:39 the case is look, he's he's a front runner. There's no question about that. But but he
02:45 can be beat. And there's a lot of fallacies out there about this upcoming election. If
02:50 I can continue to try to debunk those, I think that creates a space for somebody like Ambassador
02:56 Haley.
02:57 How do you think she can find that pathway to victory? And how do you think he can be
03:01 beat amongst those Republican contenders? Because every poll has him up at least 40
03:08 points. So how do you narrow that gap, especially with Ambassador Haley?
03:12 Sure. And look, a national polling versus individual state polling is different. You
03:18 know, when you look at the state polling in a place like New Hampshire, that margin of
03:24 you know, between number one and number two is is is less. Ambassador Haley's numbers
03:30 in a place like New Hampshire have continued to grow. And one of the things that is not
03:35 factored into a lot of the national narrative about a place like New Hampshire specifically,
03:40 is 40 percent of the primary electorate in New Hampshire is unaffiliated, meaning on
03:49 Election Day, they can choose a Republican ballot or a Democratic ballot. When it Donald
03:55 excuse me, Joe Biden is not going to be on the the the the Democratic ballot. So a lot
04:03 of center left independents are going to be voting in the Republican primary. And there's
04:08 not too many people that have the opportunity to target those folks. That's a group of voters
04:13 that is not being reflected in a lot of the polling that's happening in in in New Hampshire.
04:21 And Ambassador Haley can continue to grow her numbers. She's one of few people in the
04:25 race whose numbers consistently increase. The more people that see her, the more they
04:31 like. And so she's got to continue doing that. Now, again, I'm not an official, you know,
04:38 person for the campaign, but these are just my perspectives as someone who's been on the
04:43 ground. And also, we need people to get off the sidelines. We need Republican donors and
04:48 Republican elected officials that think they can wait until we get into 2024 to endorse
04:56 or show support of a candidate. If we want to have conservative thought in the White
05:02 House to address these generational defining challenges, then we have to start making tough
05:07 decisions today in order to ensure that that happens.
05:12 I do want to compare some statements both from Ambassador Haley and Donald Trump over
05:16 the past few days in regards to Israel. As you know, as our viewers know, on Saturday,
05:22 Hamas attacked Israel in the worst attack the country has seen in over 50 years via
05:28 land, air and sea. So I'm going to read you a statement from Ambassador Haley. She immediately
05:33 condemned Hamas. She unequivocally is standing with Israel. And she called out Iran. She
05:38 said this. I say this to Prime Minister Netanyahu. Finish them. Finish them. Hamas did this.
05:44 You know Iran is behind it. Finish them. And then Donald Trump said that Netanyahu was,
05:49 quote, not prepared and Israel was not prepared. And under Trump, they wouldn't have had to
05:53 be prepared. And quote, if the and if the election wasn't rigged, there would be nobody
05:59 even thinking about going to Israel. What do you think about the juxtaposition of these
06:04 two statements from two prominent Republicans?
06:07 Well, first and foremost, you know, Donald Trump, even though when he was in president,
06:14 his grasp of what really goes on is is shockingly poor. Yes, he did the Abraham Accords right
06:20 under his leadership under his administration. But those Abraham Accords were negotiated
06:25 by Mike Pompeo and his son in law and Donald Trump's son in law, Jared Kuchner. You know,
06:32 those are two people that are not actively involved in this in this current Trump campaign.
06:38 And so, you know, the fact that Nikki Ambassador Haley's comments are reflective of where the
06:45 majority of the world is because she understands these broader issues. I have even further
06:51 concerns with Donald Trump because I think it was in the last 24 hours he he praised
06:59 Hezbollah. You know, Hezbollah, you know, is now getting in in in the in the action
07:04 against Israel. And Donald Trump praised them. Those folks that were upset by the squad over,
07:13 you know, the last few days, the progressives in Congress that did not denounce Hamas. If
07:19 you were outraged by that, then you should be outraged by the former president, the person
07:25 leading in the polls, the Republican Party saying something positive about a terrorist
07:30 group that's attacking our ally. This is one of the reasons why I think Donald Trump is
07:34 not fit for office.
07:38 And what do you think his foreign policy would look like? How dangerous do you think that
07:42 would be if, as you're saying, he is praising Hezbollah? He's saying under my leadership,
07:48 this wouldn't happen under me. Do you think those types of comments are productive?
07:53 No, of course, they're not productive. And let's let's review. Right. You know, during
07:59 the Trump administration, we were able to dismantle ISIS, but it wasn't Donald Trump's
08:05 ideas. It was General Mattis and Mark Milley, you know, two people that are not going to
08:12 be involved in Donald Trump's campaign. We already talked about the Abraham Accords established
08:19 by folks that weren't there. The one idea that Donald Trump was was exclusively Donald
08:24 Trump's idea was trying to negotiate with North Korea. And we all know how poorly that
08:29 went. And we've seen an increase in the number of of of of testing of long range weapons
08:38 that Kim Jong-un did after that, that engagement and even one of the signature moves that he
08:44 wants to take credit for. Donald Trump does of moving the embassy from from Tel Aviv to
08:51 Jerusalem. That was Ted Cruz's idea. And Ted Cruz was the one that involved that. So so
08:57 again, and these are people that are not necessarily going to be involved in the foreign policy
09:03 apparatus of another of another Trump campaign. So that's concerning, especially at a time
09:10 when it's obvious how dangerous the world is. We have to continue to support our friends
09:15 Ukraine again and help them continue to dismantle the Russian military. We have to support Israel
09:21 . We have to be prepared for a conflict with the Chinese government at the same time defending
09:26 our borders. And we need fresh leaders. We need young leaders. We don't need somebody
09:33 that's going to potentially be in their 80s as as our commander in chief at such a critical
09:38 time in the world. How receptive is the Republican Party to this message right now? Because you
09:45 did say you believe Donald Trump is beatable, but right now he's the front runner. I've
09:49 asked you this before, but as you sit here right now, just a few months from the Iowa
09:53 caucus, what do you think the future of the Republican Party is?
09:58 Well, the future of the Republican Party is unknown. It could be super bright. We could
10:03 see in in twenty twenty four in a general election, unbelievable wins and victories
10:11 around the country, not just as president, like like the Republican Party has an opportunity
10:17 to change a 20 year trend of losing the popular vote on the national level. That's the opportunity
10:23 we have if we have the right leaders. But if we can say if we elect Donald Trump as
10:28 our nominee, then that trend of losing is going to continue. The last election Donald
10:33 Trump won was in twenty sixteen. He lost the House in twenty eighteen. He lost the White
10:39 House and the Senate in twenty twenty. He prevented a red way from happening in twenty
10:43 twenty two. And if this is the kind of of if that's if that's what the Republican voters
10:50 want the party to look like, then we're to continue to see losses in in November.
10:57 I was in Iowa. I talked to voters there. You've been in Iowa. You've been crisscrossing the
11:02 country. There are voters, according to polls and based on personal experience of people
11:07 saying no matter what, no matter the indictments, no matter anything, I will be supporting Donald
11:13 Trump. So what's your message to them? How do you get what you're saying? Your point
11:17 across?
11:18 Well, I think if those people are continuing to support Donald Trump, no matter what, they're
11:23 because they're going to support Donald Trump no matter what. But they are still not the
11:28 majority of Republican primary voters. What always happens in elections, you know, things
11:35 narrow and and look, there's no question that Donald Trump is the front line. There's no
11:40 question that he has kind of the biggest base of support. But let's compare his support
11:45 back to twenty twenty when he was at the height of his power. He had ninety eight percent
11:51 of the Republican primary electorate tied up that said they were going to vote for him
11:57 no matter what. Ninety eight percent. And now that number is, you know, hovers depending
12:02 on where you are, what state it is, you know, somewhere in the in the high 40s, sometimes
12:08 in the 50s. But when we get close to an election and we see the field of candidates narrow,
12:13 I think you're going to actually see that in the 30s. And so that's why the math is
12:18 on the side that's going to require a culling of the field. And that's going to require
12:22 someone to continue to have momentum over the next couple of weeks. And that's the pathway
12:28 to victory for somebody like Ambassador Haley.
12:31 Do you think more long shot contenders should start dropping out of the race?
12:36 Well, look, I'm not in the business of telling people what to do. I always try to lead by
12:41 example. And, you know, I thought, you know, as we're going into this critical period in
12:46 the campaign, if there's not clear momentum and a clear pathway and showing a level of
12:54 support that's being reflective in polling, then I think in order to ensure the GOP puts
13:01 somebody up that can win in November because the country needs that kind of sane, conservative
13:07 leadership, then I think it's time for for us to start consolidating. And that would
13:12 be my advice to some of the other people that are in the race. Many are my friends and people
13:17 that I think are are are great leaders within within the GOP.
13:22 Congressman, I know early a few months ago you said you wouldn't go on the debate stage
13:27 because you wouldn't pledge to support Donald Trump should he be the nominee. Do you still
13:32 feel that way if he is the nominee? Would you not support him? Would you not vote for
13:37 him?
13:38 I've made it very clear I'm not going to support Donald Trump. And and I'm I believe that I'm
13:44 not have to worry about that scenario because Nikki Haley is going to come through this
13:49 race as the as the winner.
13:52 You were in the race for a couple of months. You crisscrossed across the country. What
13:57 did you learn when running for president?
14:00 Look, it was it was an honor to be put in a position to be able to run for president
14:07 of the greatest country on the planet is amazing. And it confirms some things that I learned
14:13 early on in my political career. Way more unites us as a country than divides us. And
14:18 people want us to disagree without being disagreeable. That's what real people want. It's not always
14:24 reflected in social media and in people that are constantly doing scrolling on socials
14:30 or only consuming cable news. The fact that there's Americans like in in Iowa that, you
14:38 know, March 21 miles on September 11th, you know, 22 years later to honor the folks that
14:46 were killed on that horrific day and to show support to the people that ran towards the
14:51 sirens. This is an amazing country. And I think our best days are absolutely ahead of
14:59 that, ahead of us. And that's something that I saw on the ground in places like New Hampshire,
15:05 Iowa, Texas, South Carolina, you know, all across the country.
15:10 When you're looking on social media, when you're watching the news regarding this upcoming
15:14 presidential election, what do you think is missing from the national conversation then
15:19 when it comes to 2024?
15:21 Well, look, I think one of the things we should be talking more about is how new technologies
15:26 like artificial intelligence are going to upend every single industry. That's going
15:30 to impact our economy in a way that most people don't realize or understand. And it's not
15:36 just technologies like AI. You have quantum computing and synthetic biology, two areas
15:42 that I think gets zero attention or focus. That's something that I've spent most of my
15:48 career and life dealing with. And those are something that requires an additional focus
15:56 because it's going to touch every single American. It's going to impact our kids and grandkids,
16:01 and they got to be preparing for jobs that don't exist today. And this is something that
16:05 when it comes to jobs and the economy is most Americans' number one concern.
16:10 Let's talk about that a little bit, because when anyone brings up AI, every person, even
16:16 journalists think the first thing they think is, "Hey, is that going to take my job? Will
16:20 I be out of a job?" So how do you prepare for jobs that aren't existent yet?
16:26 Well, so first and foremost, yes, can AI lead to a lot of unemployment? It can. And that's
16:32 why we got to take steps now. And the first step that we should be taking is doubling
16:37 down on the fact that AI should follow the law. We have existing laws and rules. Let's
16:43 not carve it out of the existing laws like we've done previous technologies. We did that
16:49 with social media and said social media shouldn't follow the same rules as newspapers, TV, and
16:55 radio. And that led to a Wild Wild West that has shown that young girls are increasing
17:04 and cutting themselves because of how social media has made them view themselves.
17:10 Let's not make those same kind of mistakes with AI. We need to be making sure we're training
17:15 our kids in this. We shouldn't be saying, schools shouldn't be saying, "No, you can't
17:18 use generative AI." We should be making sure they know how to capitalize on that. That
17:24 would be the equivalent of when computers first came out, be like, "Nope, you know what?
17:28 You can't type your paper on a computer or use a computer. You got to use a typewriter
17:33 like what you see over my shoulder here." Or you can't use your cell phone. We should
17:40 be making sure that we're educating our kids on how to use these because ultimately AI
17:47 is a tool. And it's a tool that could lead us to solving harder, more impactful questions
17:55 than what we can do today. But also with any kind of tool, it can be used for good or it
18:01 can be used for bad, but we can't let the bad prevent us from figuring out how this
18:07 solves major challenges like finally deal with issues of climate change. How do we make
18:12 sure we're producing batteries that last longer or how we lead to preventing diseases from
18:21 happening? So this is the future.
18:23 - Congressman, you are always offering up solutions. Oftentimes they are bipartisan.
18:30 But you're also a leader in the fight against climate change. You're a leader in the fight
18:34 against climate change. You're a leader in the fight against climate change. You're a
18:38 leader in the fight against climate change. You're a leader in the fight against climate
18:42 change. You're a leader in the fight against climate change. You're a leader in the fight
18:46 against climate change. You're a leader in the fight against climate change. You're a
18:49 leader in the fight against climate change. You're a leader in the fight against climate
18:53 change. You're a leader in the fight against climate change. You're a leader in the fight
18:57 against climate change. You're a leader in the fight against climate change. You're a
19:01 leader in the fight against climate change. You're a leader in the fight against climate
19:05 change. You're a leader in the fight against climate change. You're a leader in the fight
19:09 against climate change. You're a leader in the fight against climate change. You're a
19:13 leader in the fight against climate change. You're a leader in the fight against climate
19:16 change. You're a leader in the fight against climate change. You're a leader in the fight
19:19 against climate change. You're a leader in the fight against climate change. You're a
19:22 leader in the fight against climate change. You're a leader in the fight against climate
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