saw america and in america, this all -- they saw hope. it is up to us to renew that hope. our children and grandchildren are counting on us. i know we will come through for them in a way that makes everyone proud. thank you, god bless you and god bless america. [applause] >> ♪ isn't she lovely, isn't she wonderful, isn't she presses -- precious ♪ >> ♪ i never thought true love would be making something as lovely as she ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome governor chris christie. ♪

>> morning -- good morning. it is great to be back. thank you for having me. most of poorly, it is -- importantly, it is great to see a great crowd and see us through this pandemic and get everyone together and seeing each other eye to eye and speaking to each other directly and listening to each other. thank you for taking the time to be out here. [applause] a lot of things to reflect on. what i reflective was our party was in a similar position in my mind 60 years ago. in 1962, you had a crossroads for the republican party.

we lost the presidential election of john kennedy and had a disappointing midterm in 1962. and we also had conflict inside the party. and what was driven bedtime -- that time was driven by the john brooks --burks'society -- and those of you who remember that time, it was a group who sold themselves as communists but broadened their hating -- hate to other groups and began to use litmus tests based upon lies and falsehoods about members of her own party. as a litmus test for their support.

it was a dangerous time where republican politicians throughout the country were afraid. they were afraid to speak out. they were afraid to oppose these folks because what they were told was if you oppose them, you cannot win a republican primary. you cannot be a nominee. you must either agree with them or acquiesced -- acquiesce. acquiesce to that particular point of view. there were two people who stood up to say no. the first one was william f. buckley, the founder and editor of the national review. he called in barry goldwater, who was contemplating running for president and he and goldwater came to a agreement. buckley what speak out first but

-- against the society and goldwater would follow up with a force work -- both for -- force for -- forceful letter. i referred you to go back because it is exquisite ranges -- language against the and falsehoods and authoritarianism in a democracy. goldwater saw the root -- reaction to it by some members in the party and he backed up. -- backed out. he backed away from his agreement with buckley. luckily for buckley and others in our party, someone stepped forward. ronald reagan. [applause] ronald reagan wrote a list --

letter to the national review, saying that the john brooks -- burks society was not his republican party. reagan had not won for anything -- run for anything. with the integrity of our party and the vibrancy of our democracy was more important to reagan than his own personal ambition. someone asked how would you deal with this if you decide to win -- run for office. i want to read this to you. he said, " it would be my intention if i seek public office to seek the support of individuals by persuading them with my philosophy and not accepting bears." --theirs." reagan gave a speech later

called a time for choosing. it was the speech that catapulted reagan's career and he became the governor of california two years later. later, the 40th president of the united states and in my opinion, the greatest president in my lifetime. [applause] mrs. dixon: i think we are at a time for choosing now -- chris: i think we are at a time for choosing now. it is not to be left up for others to decide who our party is. it is not left up to anyone -- person to decide who our party is. it is up to us to decide. it is not to be done and decided in the dark. it is not to be done and decided with inferences or implications

for things upon other leaders in this party. we have to have this discussion in the open. we have to have this family argument and we need to have it now. i will tell you in a moment why i think it is important to have it now but i will tell you what i choose. that kind of republican party i choose. i choose a republican party steeped in conservatism, and all those values and principles we stand for. strength, faith, peace -- decency, integrity, freedom, liberty, and to make sure that we have a country that we bring together, that a country we tear apart around those principles. there is lots of specific steps you have to be but the last

thing i would tell you is i am providing --for fighting. this is because i grew up in households with a sicilian mother and irish father. a sicilian mother and a irish father in the state of new jersey. this allows you to not only see writing as acceptable -- fighting as acceptable, but as a artform. i want to be clear with all you. you have known me for a long time and when i find something that i am willing to fight for, i fight as hard and tucked in as good as anyone. --anybody. i will tell you what i don't one is doing. -- wants us doing --want us doing. is that we are fighting for things that are not just for one person but for everyone.

we don't want to do bending to the will of one person rather than advocating for the good of all people --all of our people. what i have been calling this lady is the choice of the republican party between the party of me and the party of us. i fear that we have been the party of me for the last five or six years. because i am from new jersey and from that sicilian mother who is watching from heaven, i am confident she is saying to me, christopher, get to the point. i will get to the point. i was the first candidate who left the presidential campaign in 2016 and endorsed down from -- donald trump. i want you to think about this. i want you to close your eyes and picture this.

i played hillary clinton in the pate -- debate prep. if that is a keep you up tonight, -- does not keep you up tonight, i don't know what will. i don't know if that disturbs her more or you. i chaired the presidents opioid condition and i played joe biden in debate prep in 2020. i had to take sedatives before i did but i played faithfully joe biden. when we are standing and forming a line about who did what to try to make donald trump and his presidency a six -- as successful as possible, i would argue that there are -- few people who stand in front of me. i was there early and faithfully and i was there all the way until election night 2020.

the reason that i stopped on election night 2020 is because of one of the principles we talk about that we stand for. truth. we have to stand for the truth and stand against falsehoods. on election night 2020, when i saw the president of the estate stand behind the seal of the president -- of the united states stand behind the seal of the president until the american people that the election was stolen. that is where it ended for me. that is because he became the party of me at that moment -- it's became the party of me at that moment. the pain of defeat could not be accepted and put the country first. for every moment since then, every moment since then, our party has been diminished by

that lack of leadership. [applause] by their lack of humility -- that lack of humidity -- humility. [applause] nikki:nikki: i have been -- chris: i have been saying this for a while and i know a number of folks have been saying this but it bears repeating. i absolutely remember the 2016 campaign vividly. i was there for the president -- with the president and i remember saying we are going to win. we will do so much winning. we will keep winning and winning and winning, and we will do so much winning that you asked me to stop winning because you will get tired of winning, we are winning so much. i know you remember it. the fact of the matter is, since that night in 2016, politically,

as a party, we have done nothing but loose. we lost the house in 20 and the senate and the white house in 2020. we underperformed at historic norms in the house for a party out of power. it looks like we will lose one senate seat. i remember when i was elected governor in 2009. governor haley barbour was chairman of the republicans governor association and he brought me in to my first meeting of all the governors. i was overwhelmed. i couldn't believe i was going into a room and sitting with the governors of her country as one of them -- our country as one of them. barbour grabbed my arm and said he will be a future leader of this group and the country and organizations like this exist for one reason only, to win.

we don't make policy or governor -- or governed. --govern. our job is to win and leave it to the rest of the country -- the people we elect to get the job done. when i left that job, we had 31 republican governors around this country and today we have 26. we had a majority in the united states senate. now we are in a minority. we had a large geordie in the house. --majority in the house. we keep losing and losing and losing and the reason we are losing is because donald trump has put himself before everyone else. [applause] chris: i understand and believe in so many policies that were

able to be accomplished during those four years, i've mourned what -- what more could have been done. everything that has happened in the last two years is because we lost that election. everything that has happened in this country, the runaway inflation and the loss of energy independence. the incredibly porous border. the ejection of parents from our public education system. all of those things, including crime running rampant in major parts of this country, are because we gave those elections away. because we put one person ahead of the -- interest of the party in the country. we have time for choosing and we need to have that conversation. final reagan have the strength to do that 60 years ago. they were some people who booed him, and i am sure there are

some people who will do the same about this message today. remember, i got on an airplane from new jersey to come here because i respect you. because i respect what you have done for our country and party and because i want to deliver is you directly. write to you, --right to you that candidates matter. i am not just talking about personality. i have heard some people do not like my --mine. i am talking about candidates and how we pick them. we lost a new hampshire -- in new hampshire because we did not pick a good candidate. we lost in pennsylvania in the governorship by double digits and caught us -- cost is a senate seat. we had a candidate who organize buses on january 6 and what their himself -- went there

themselves. we lost in wisconsin and michigan because we pick the wrong candidates. donald trump picked candidates with one criteria. not a left ability or experience or wisdom or charisma. not the ability to govern, but do you believe the 2020 election was stolen. if you do i endorse you and if i don't, i reject you. it is not what this party stands for or what it stands for in the future. we have to step up and stop it now. [applause] chris: remember, go back and look at the electoral map if you are concerned about 2024 and try to get the 270 electoral vote without wisconsin and michigan in pennsylvania. -- and gentle vania --

pennsylvania. we cannot elect a republican president in 2024 unless we make a comeback in those states. the base of this republican party has always been, always been our appeal to good, smart, hard-working people in our suburbs. we have been losing those people and we have lost those people in these last elections and that is why we are losing these elections. what do we need to fight for? we need to make sure that we know what we are fighting for. i want to fight china. i want to fight china because they are stealing from us every day and they are not people. they are not people who understand the character of young people -- we need to get to that. i want to make sure we fight for energy independence, now only because it is right for america -- not only because it is right

for america. we can help our allies around the world, not having to depend on venezuela and russia and the middle east. i want to make sure we fight crime. i am a former prosecutor. we are not social workers. we put dangerous people in jail and keep them there. [applause] chris: joe biden is for regulation. i am for innovation. i want to make sure the innovators in this country are not regulated to death and we allow everyone who comes to this country with a great idea to have the opportunity to make it a winning idea, a profitable idea that creates jobs and open opportunities. we don't need the government to create jobs. we the american people to create jobs and we have to let them loose to do that. [applause] chris: let's make this clear.

we have to stand with democracy all around the world. i am proud we are standing with ukraine against the aggression with russia and we need to continue to. [applause] everyday we need to stand with the only democracy in the middle east, and stand against the terrorism of iran across the world. [applause] whether you're talking about iran or those who aspire to this in our country, authoritarian dictators only want one thing, they just want one more chance to for the crowd one more time -- fool the crowd one more time. in iran there uprisings that we should be supporting against the awful regime. [applause] before we can do that we have to get our own house in order. we have to have a leader for our

party and for our country. that can look people around the world in the eye and say, america stands for freedom and liberty, and protects democracy, we put our people first and their own personal interests second. if we are doing that in setting the example for the world, it is your turn. if we are not doing it here we cannot stand up for the other countries and tell them to do it. it's time for us to get our house in order. the way we do that is to stand up against the lies, stand up against the pettiness, stand up against the self-interest. i want to end with this. all of us, in this room, have our favorite founders. i'm sure for many of you it is george washington. good choice. pretty good. my old boss, the 43rd president of the u.s., he used to call himself the second george w. [laughter] some of you love jefferson.

some of you i am sure, love hamilton, especially because of the play. [laughter] some of you i am sure are fans of ben franklin. i love all of those guys too. but my favorite founder is john adams. now, he doesn't get a lot of applause. some people have said to me when i tell them that is that adams is my favorite founder, because he was somewhat overweight and grouchy. [laughter] i want to tell you, i think those are extraordinary qualities in an american leader. [laughter] the only reason i love the john adams. john was the heartbeat of the revolution. when no one else wanted to declare independence adams stood up on the floor at the continental congress and demanded it, day after day, after day. if you sell the old place 1776 there was an entire song written

about everyone in the continental congress saying, for god sakes, john sat down. john adams cake -- kept getting up saying the only path to true freedom and liberty for our colonies was independence. he stood for it and fought for it every day. ultimately, became one of the country's greatest diplomats, the first vice president of the u.s. and the second president of the u.s. when he left office and retreated back to massachusetts, he began to write in his diary for 50th anniversary of his -- this country. he wrote for posterity, writing saying i am writing this for the future americans. he was writing it for us. having no idea what we would become, but hoping what we would become. he was concerned that we were losing our way, back in the early 1820's.

he wrote this for us. he said, you shall never know. the sacrifices that were made to secure for you your liberty. i pray you make good use of it. if you do not, i shall repent in heaven forever having made the sacrifices at all. i want you to think about this because i think about it all the time. people asked me why are you still involved in public life and why you keep pushing, why you keep coming, why do you keep fighting? because i don't want to be the generation that adams looks down from heaven and repents for. i don't want to be responsible for allowing the american dream of liberty and freedom, in a cohesive american family who believes in those principles, to be ushered off of the world stage. i don't want to be a part of a republican party who stands for just one man and not for all of

those principles. adams would reject it. he would repent in heaven for having sacrificed to give media opportunity and you the opportunity to speak our minds,, be who we want to be, if we are not willing to fight for this now. i will not be the one who allows our country to go that way. i will not go silently to have adams repent in heaven for having made the sacrifices he made. you are here because you believe in that country also. it's time to stop whispering. it's time to stop doing the knowing nods but we cannot talk. it's time to stop being afraid of anyone person. it's time to stand up for the principles and the beliefs that we have a founder this party on and this country on. i am ready for this fight. i hope you're ready for that fight. let's go out and do it together. thank you so much for having me today. [applause]

>> this afternoon house minority leader, kevin mccarthy will hold a press conference at the u.s. southern border. the minority leader along with other house republicans are in el paso, texas meeting with order patrol personnel. you can watch that life beginning at 4:30 p.m. eastern. you can watch on our free mobile video app, c-span now or online at the span.org. -- c-span.org. >> 90 energy projects are the signed phase, 43 are waiting fema approval, 51 have been approved and 40 projects are under construction. furthermore, 1000 megawatt and utility scale renewable energy generation projects including 200 megawatt battery storage are in design or construction and we are about to finish a process for additional renewable energy process that will regenerate.

1000 megawatts along with 500 megawatts in battery storage. in addition we are installing solar and battery systems on all homes rebuilt under the are three program and have allocated $500 million of mid funding for assisting low income households in acquiring solar panels and batteries. >> from the house natural resources committee hearing on puerto rico's power grid after recent natural disasters. watch the hearing tonight in its entirety and 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. you can watch on our mobile video app, c-span now. >> are you a nonfiction book lover, looking for a new podcast? this holiday season, try listening to many podcasts c-span has to offer. on q&a you will listen to interesting interviews with people and authors writing books on history and subjects that matter. learn something new on book notes plus through conversations with nonfiction authors and histns