Haley draws fire in 4th GOP debate, Christie warns absent Trump is biggest issue

In that question, Tom Fitton just pointed out, incredulously, that the U.S. Postal Service is more popular than the FBI. But this actually isn’t surprising -- the Postal Service is quite popular! According to a 2023 poll from the Pew Research Center, 77% of Americans have a favorable view of the Postal Service. It’s the second-most popular federal agency, after the National Park Service.
-Analysis by Nathaniel Rakich of 538

PolitiFact rated Ramaswamy’s claim false after he introduced it at the second primary debate.

In the past, the medical community used to view the experience of being transgender as a "disorder," but they no longer agree on that categorization. In the last decade, diagnostic manuals published by the World Health Organization and American Psychiatric Association contained updated language to clarify that being transgender is not a mental illness.
Experts told us that persistent gender dysphoria can cause other mental health issues, but it is not itself a mental health disorder.

-Analysis by Katie Sanders of PolitiFact

As the debate turned to bans on gender-affirming medical treatments for minors, Christie offered a different view than the three other candidates on stage.

He said it should be a parent's decision, not the decision of the government.

"We should empower parents to be teaching values that they believe in their homes without government telling them what those values should be," he said. "Yet we want to take other parental rights away. I'm sorry, but as a father of four, I believe there is no one who loves my children more than me. There is no one who loves my children more than my wife. There is no one who cares more about their success in health, in life than we do, not some government bureaucrat."

Christie added: "This is not something I favor. I think it is a very, very dangerous thing to do. But that's my opinion as a parent. I get to make the decisions about my children, not anybody else."

Other candidates dove straight into their opposition to gender-affirming care for minors.

DeSantis said, "You do not have the right to abuse your kids." Ramaswamy said his view is that "transgenderism is a mental health disorder," which fact-checkers have challenged.

-ABC News' Alexandra Hutzler

“Father time is undefeated,” DeSantis told the debate audience twice, raising doubts over Trump’s age, at 77 years old, amid intervening attacks from Christie that he avoided the original question.

“He’s afraid to answer … this is the problem with my three colleagues,” Christie said. “They’re afraid to offend.” DeSantis wouldn’t respond to repeated questions by Christie and the moderators on the former president’s fitness for office.

“I’ll concede you’re fit, Ron,” Christie said. “You’re a new generation.”

- ABC News’ Chris Boccia