On Tuesday, Dec. 15, nine members of the Republican Party took the stage for the fifth Republican debate of the year, which was held in Las Vegas and hosted by CNN. The debate consisted mostly of conversations that involved the topics of terrorism and national security. Since the attacks in Paris and the attacks in San Bernardino, California, the security of our nation is on everyone’s minds, and the citizens of the United States want to know how these candidates, if one of them becomes president, will keep us safe.
Donald Trump, who has been one of the frontrunners from the start, is known for his somewhat over-the-top comments. Former Gov. Jeb Bush said that Trump’s plans for our country are not serious and accused Trump of being “a chaos candidate.”
Trump was in the news recently after he said that non-American Muslims should be temporarily banned from the United States. This subject was brought up in the debate, and Trump said this was not a matter of religion but of national security. Sen. Marco Rubio said he understands why people agree with Trump’s plan of keeping Muslims out because our current president has not kept us safe. Bush, on the other hand, said Trump’s plan is not reasonable.
“Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy ISIS,” Bush said.
Sen. Rand Paul also stated his opinion on Trump’s plan of banning Muslims.
“I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them,” Paul said. “I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that, at that point, the terrorists will have won.”
Sen. Ted Cruz was somewhere in between both arguments.
“America is at war,” Cruz said. “Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist.”
It was mentioned throughout the debate that ISIS needs to be defeated on the ground, not just in the air.
Gov. Chris Christie was asked about Syrian refugees and how it can be validated to not except refugees when the Bible says we need to accept those in need and not fear.
“The first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family,” Christie said.
Earlier in 2015 and in previous debates, Donald trump said things that made it seem like he might possibly run as an independent if not picked as the candidate of the Republican Party. But, on Tuesday, Trump said he would not seek a nomination through a third party in the event he is not chosen through the Republican Party.
CNN reported the winners were Bush, Donald Trump, Sen. Marco Rubio, Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Ted Cruz. CNN also said the losers were Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson, Sen. Rand Paul and Gov. John Kasich.
The people of the United States are scared, and we should be. Countries around the world are being affected by terrorism every single day, and there is no reason we should be thinking that the United States is not next on the list. By the way things are playing out and the lack of action we are seeing by our government, it is important we look for a candidate who is willing to take terrorism and the safety of our country seriously.  
All of the candidate’s differ in opinion on certain subjects, and you can tell some will be better leaders than others. Overall, they agree that changes need to be made in order to keep America safe and free from Terrorism and that is important.