thing here. maria: sara? enter all i can think about my son is terrified of seeing, like, one single santa at the mall. so the invasion of santas finish. [laughter] absolutely terrifying for him as well as other small children. maria: you've got to go to my instagram to see our in-house santa, matt, dressing up. he's there, i posted him. >> come on other. here he comes. [laughter] father christmas. maria: merry christmas. thank you so much. matt. if. [laughter] that outfit is beyond with. santa is here in the house. we are 30 minutes away from the opening bell. brian, tiana, sara, thank you so much for being here. check out the dow industrials, down 73, and the nasdaq down 40. still up, what, 43 % year to date. >> yep. think green this year. maria: thanks for being here. david asman's e in for stuart, and "varney & company" takes it away. david: good morning, everyone.

i'm david asman in for stuart varney today n. a stunning decision, the colorado supreme court has kicked donald trump off the 20224 state ball if ott. the justices there claim he's violated the 14th amendment because of his part in january 6th. trump says he will not be silenced. karl rove reacts in just moments. meanwhile, the chaos at the border continues. migrant encounters just so far this month are on track to exceed 1900,000 -- 190,000. that's an average of 0,000 a day, and we still have 11 days to the month, so where is our president today? if well, he's going to be busy pushing his failed bidenomics policies in wisconsin. meanwhile, randi weingarten is back in the news. this time the teachers union president saying school choice, quote, undermines democracy. you can't make this stuffer up. and to the markets, seven trading days left in the year. the dow, s&p and nasdaq are all trading a little down in premarket activity. not tremendously down, but a little bit. and remember how many days we've

been up. the 10-year yield, let's switch to that, it is the down a little bit, 5.5 basis points. the yield is now 3.87. and the 2-year, that's down about 6.4 basis points, it is, the yield is 4.38 more or less. bitcoin trading up a bit, actually, more than a bit, $1,a 500 to the plus side premarket, $43,812 for bitcoin. and a little fun on this cold day in new york city, lauren and i are going to be tested to see if we can tell the difference between a lab grown diamond and a real one. i have no, i have no idea. your burt stone, what a nice birthstone. it is wbz, december 20th, five days from christmas. "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ ♪

♪ david: okay. i'm told that donkey song is -- is that dominic? dominic the donkey. dominic the donkey. [laughter] i've never heard that -- lauren: we're surrounded by italians. tawfd they'd oh, it's wonderful. i love the italians. shocking news out of colorado, the state supreme court has kicked donald trump the off the primary ballot. lauren: wow. david: good morning, lauren. what is the former president saying? lauren: his legal team is vowing to appeal, his campaign team is fund raising off the legal drama, and here is the former president. >> today want to silence me because with i will never let them sirens you. and in the end, they're not after me, they're after you. i just happen to be standing in their way. lauren: the colorado supreme court decision to remove trump from the state primary ballot will or acceptly be kicked all the way up to the u.s. supreme court where justices need to consider two things. number one, is trump an

insurrectionist? he has not been convicted, by the way, for the riots on january the 6th. and this gets into the -- david: wasn't even charged. lauren: exactly. does the 4th amendment, which -- 14th amendment, which the colorado case uses for this ruling, for this decision, does it even refer to the office of the presidency? so that's what a they have to consider. a lot of people are saying that he will be on the ballot colorado. david: all right. lauren, thank you very much. here's what attorney jonathan turley add had to say about the colorado court's decision. roll tape. >> well, this court just handed partisans of both sides the ultimate tool to try to shortcut elections. and it's very, very dangerous. i mean, this country's a powder keg, and this court is just throwing matchess at it. and -- matches at it, and i think that it's a real mistake. i think that they're wrong on the law. david: karl rove joins me now. karl, i'm sure you know jonathan is a democrat. you do not have to be a trump fan to deplore this decision, do

you? >> no. this is, comes from the 14th amendment which was passed by congress in 1866, passed by the states in 1868. and in 1874 the democrats took control of the house of representatives for the fist time -- first time in 18 years, and they did so by picking up 51 is seats that were occupied by former con fed if rates. confederates. we're talking about men who had fought during the civil war as either members of the con fed if rate military or as members of confederate government, and yet they were admitted to the united states congress and gave the democrats a 1890180-103 margin, and among them was alexander stevens of georgia. i mean, talk about insurrectionists, and yet the 14th amendment was not applied to them. they'd they'd yeah. and he were -- nobody was debating whether they were insurrectionists or not. that wasn't even a part of the debate. and it's the political weaponization of our legal system that really scares the

heck out of me. i used to cover latin america for 12 years, i saw it happen all the time. the first ten the dictators made before they went to a one-party system was to politicize the legal system to get rid of their candidates in an election. that's always the first thing they do. i'm not suggesting that's going to happen here, but there are precedents for it. >> no. yeah, and, look, the ironies in this are amazing. remember this book, "profiles in courage" by john f. kennedy? david: yeah. >> it won the pulitzer prize. remember, one of the people that he picked out as an american political leader was lucius g.c. lamar of mississippi who helped lead mississippi out of the union excuse and was, and kennedy picked him out because he cast a deciding vote against the passage of a free silver measure in 1878 as a mississippi senator. he served as a member of congress before the civil war, a member of congress and a member of the senate after the civil war. secretary of the interior with,

an associate justice of the supreme court. and yet during the civil war he was, he was a member of the confederate military, and the confederate ambassador to russia. and yet this man is picked out by john kennedy as one of the 12 americans that he felt was a profile in political courage. i mean, where are we as a country? david: yeah, i know. >> you don't have to be a fan of donald trump to think this stinks. david: by the way, that's the best political reference i've ever heard you pull in my life. karl, thank you so much. i really appreciate you being here. lauren, what are the other republican candidates saying about the colorado supreme court ruling? lauren: oh, they want to beat donald trump, but they want to beat him because he's on the ballot. this is what ron desantis says, the leavitt invokes democracy to justify its use of power even if it means abusing judicial power to remove a candidate from the ballot based on spurious legal grounds. scotus should reverse. sam ma -- vivek ramaswamy goes a step further, i pledge to withdraw from the colorado gop

primary if ballot until trump is also allowed to be on the ballot, and i demand that the ron desantis, chris christie and nikki haley do the same immediately, to which the colorado remin party just responded -- republican party just responded. they sax, vivek, you won't have to, because we will withdraw from the primary as a party and convert to a pure caucus system. david: wow. lauren: nickty haley says -- nikki haley says voters need to be making this decision, not a judge. david: very interesting. david bahnsen is with me this morning. before we start talking about economics and the economy and everything, what do you think about this? >> you know, i'm one of these guys who's a conservative republican my whole life. i haven't been a big fan of donald trump the all the time. this is outrageous. first of all, if he is guilty of things on january 6th, the voters can decide. the voters should decide. there's a lot of things they can adjudicate. it's outrageous, and it will get overturned by the supreme court. david: all right. let's switch to the economy and

particularly the fed. talk about politicization of things, some people are suggesting that the fed is making a political statement with its calls for, suggestions that they're going to be lowering the rates in 2024, that they may be trying to help biden get reelected. what do you think of that? >> i think that this is always a political element to the fed, always. there's no question they would have been cutting rates anyways when it's an election year or not. they should have been cutting rates already. they shouldn't have ever got this i high. i think if it was crass, really dirty political they wouldn't have been so tight in 2023. i mean, part of the noose around bidenomics was fed-created, so i don't think they're a purely political actor here with sin sinister motive, but i think they're worried about reputation, and that is somewhat political. david: there are the historical references you were telling me before we began about the fed sometimes getting political. >> that's right. in '72 they really kind of helped nixon with monitory tear

policy -- david david that was arthur the burns. >> and in '99 4 with greenspan, they really helped newt gingrich with the midterms. they shocked markets by tightening. david: so it's bipartisan, works both ways. >> exactly. david: all right. we're looking at the market down a bit right now. it has been, of course, green, green, green for the past several weeks. it looks like they're unaffected by everything that's going on whether it's international trouble or political trouble at home. is that going to continue? rising above the news? >> i think it's going to level out a little bit. it's gotten pretty frothy, we're at high valuations, but it was all ab bond yields, david. as bond yields came down, risk assets came higher. stock prices, s&p, dow at an all-time high. i don't know that it goes a whole lot higher from here unless you get really good earnings results in the first quarter, but i think it can level off here because they know that thest headwind is out of the way, that the fed is going to start becoming an ally to risk as a sents.

markets have priced that in. david: you're going to be here for the hour, but i just want to ask do you thigh 20 this, generally speaking, is going to be a good year for the markets in. >> i think it's going to be a good year for certain sectors, but i think it's going to be flattish. david: leave that as a tease for more to come. we're going to find out which sectors david favors coming into 20224. we'll see more in a moment. coming up, the white house has steered clear of using the term bidenomics, but that didn't stop kjp. roll tape. >> the economy is in a better place. we have seen record, record applications, more than 14 million applications for people wanting to start a small business. and that is because bidenomics is, ine deed, working. david: well, that bidenomics theming left a major democrat donor confused. we'll get into that. and we saw another record-breaking day on the southern border. 122,6900 -- 12,600 migrant end counters yesterday -- actually,

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list. look, massachusetts, like new york, is a right to shelter state. the issue is they don't -- they never imagined manager like this. they don't have the space to accommodate more people so, therefore, you get a billion dollars more so you can create it. but what happens to a massachusetts family, are residents who are struggling and they need that shelter? are the migrant families getting priority? i mean, if you're a voter in montana, that would annoy me. david: -- in massachusetts. that would annoy me. david: yeah. it's happening in new york, chicago, l.a. the repercussions or from what's happening at the border are literally affecting every may major city in the united states right now, and it's going to get a lot worse. lauren, thank you very much. now, this massive influx of migrants has left large swaths of the border in eagle pass unpatrolled, literally unpatrolled. national border patrol council vice president art del cueto joins me now. art, is it fair to say that our border is on the verge of

collapse? >> i'm still wondering where the border is nowadays, to be honest. people say the border's on the verge of collapse, what border? when people are just free to come across, ask for asylum and get released, where is your border? are these individuals that are coming across, they all are carrying handwritten notes that says where they're going, who their sponsor is, a phone number, so they know they're going to get released. and by them putting town the actual name and address of the individual that's going to meet them in the united states, that adds -- they know they're not going to get detained ever. no one's going to come after them. and it's just not happening in texas, it's happening across the entire border. and who's in control? the drug cartels. every single time that you're seeing these mass groups and agents that are being sent to these areas to have to detain them, trans, process, you are having -- transport, process, you are having tons of drugs coming across our nation's borders. david and, art, you're in touch with other law enforcement around the country. have they seen an increase here

in the united states of these drug cartels setting up operation? i mean, it's not just what they're doing bringing drugs and people across the border, it's what they're doing here in the united states right now. they must be developing these networks that didn't exist before. >> so definitely. and talking to other law enforcement, they're saying they're getting more and more vehicles on the freeways that are loaded with drugs. at the same time, they're getting vehicles on the freeway where they have illegals that are being transported through there. now, what they have to do is they have to detain them, they have to wait for some kind of immigration officer to show up. so what is that going to do? that is going to cause them not to be able to respond to other crimes that are happening in local cities. so it is one humongous domino effect that's going to affect everyone in the united states. david: and just to put it in perspective, we played a tape yesterday -- we don't have to do it today, but a former dhs secretary, jay johnson, saying a few years ago if you have 1,000 migrants crossing the border a

day, the system is overwhelmed. we are now multiplying that by a factor of 12 with 12,000 coming across. if 1,000 overwhelms the system, what does 12,000 do to your work? >> look, like i said, it is chaotic across the entire border, and you see certain areas, and you guys have done a fantastic job of reporting, but there's other areas where, you know, the media has not gone out. there's areas in arizona where, you know, off the reservation has publicly announced they won't even allow national guard to go down there and help, and that's an area that's notorious for gotaways, it's been notorious for several years, and they're not going to allow help down there. it's really frustrating, and it's frustrating for the men and women because they know how chaotic it is across the entire border, but they know it's not going to get better, and every single week we have another story that says new record being broken, you know? and who do you point the finger

at? this administration, because they have completely ignored not just the border, but the american public. david: and we've got to are remind folks they kept in saying we're going to bring in a humanitarian system. there are still hundreds of migrants that are dying as a result of being lured into the united states by the change of policies, no in quickly. >> they caused this chaotic, you know, humanitarian i crisis with their lack of policies and open border invitation to the cartels. david: art del cueto, god bless you. good work on you with. i mean, we're praying for you guys. nobody's overloaded with all this like you are. thank you for being here. well, another day, as we said is, another record from the crisis at our border. more than 12, 600 migrants crossed the border on monday, and we're already close to 200,000 migrants in december with another # 11 days to go for the month. yesterday the administration sent bureau of prison officials to assist overwhelmed agents. bill melugin joining me now from the arizona border. where -- what's the latest from

where you are now, bill? >> reporter: well, the latest is our cbp sources are telling us since the month of december began, we have hit over 190,000 migrant end do you wanter -- encounters at our southern border, equivalent to the population of birmingham, alabama, crossing our border in just 19 days. we'll give you a look at what's happening out here in lukeville, arizona, where we had another mass illegal crossing, upwards of 500 people came through the wall here and hundreds of them still camped out waiting for border patrol to apprehend them and take them into custody. we'll show grow what it looked like as it was happening. hours ago as these masses of migrants came through the wall illegally, a smuggler cut a hole in the wall and started marching to this area where they wait for border patrol to pick them up. the tucson, arizona, sector had almost 2,900 illegal crossings just yesterday. we're told by sources over 220 people came in from beginny here

yesterday. -- guinea. we also encountered a group of indian men who had just crossed illegally and had a little chat with them. take a listen. where are you guys from? [inaudible conversations] >> india. everybody here from india? where do you guys want to go in the united stateses? what citiesome? >> california. >> reporter: california in everybody here california? [inaudible conversations] number, seattle, new york. okay, why did you guys come here to the u.s.? [inaudible conversations] >> reporter: english? do you want to work? if you want a job? >> yes, yes. >> reporter: no? you don't want to work? why'd you -- >> life in danger. >> reporter: okay. so you're here to seek asylum. and how did you guys get here? where did you fly into? [inaudible conversations] >> i no understand your language, no english. >> reporter: and then take a look at this, this is a colombian woman who crossed into

el paso and was released into the country. she was given an i.c.e. check-in date in new york city in the year 2031, eight years away. back out here live, i talked to her immigration attorney who tells me he's been practicing immigration law for almost 30 years, and that document is one of the most shocking things he has ever seen in his career. david: un-- i mean, it's laughable. eight years away is when they're supposed to report back? i mean, it's extraordinary. i mean, it's a very serious situation but unbelievable. bill melugin, great reporting as always, sir. thank you very much. let's check the futures. their opening a little downed today, or they should be. the dow is now down about 100 points in premarket activity, s&p down 12, nasdaq down 42. the opening bell is coming next. stay tuned. ♪ ♪ hear the angels sing, hear the angels sing -- ♪ hallelujah from above ♪

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♪ david: checking the markets, and they are -- plan to be opening down. we will see what actually happens. the tow is down in premarket activity about 1100 points, s&p down 11 and nasdaq down about 40. shah gilani joins me now.

thank you for being here. i've heard you say you like buying the dips, but i don't think you think this is a real dip to buy into. >> first of all, merry christmas and happy holidays, david. it's great to see you. i am in buy the dip mode, and this isn't much of a dip, but i think investors should grab any opportunity they can to get into markets. we've had a tremendous run. you know, the dow being down maybe 1100 -- 100 points -- david: it's mild. >> this is just a blip. it's a blip in what has been a tremendous rally. i think we've got enough momentum behind the markets. i think with interest and inflation coming down, investors will do well to continue to pile into the market. tead david but if i missed what has happened, and i didn't, thankfully, but if i had missed what has been happening over the past few weeks, i'm likely to be waiting for a dip. do you think we're going to get into a dip mode coming up in the several weeks to come?

>> that's hard to tell. timing wise, david, when we might see some dip. that means really it's no time to just sit on the sidelines. as interest rates are coming down, what investors are getting in money market funds are coming down, and they're going to look at a equity markets and see the tremendous performance we had in 2023 and start to move money into equities. i think that means we tart from january and see markets continue higher. just because we had an excellent 2023 doesn't mean we can't have another excellent 2024. in fact, history says we likely will because the drivers in 2024 are lower inflation rates, lower interest rates, and we've got the technology -- david: shah, we have to run because the markets are starting, but i have to say, you're saying it's going to be another 202 percent in 2024? -- 20% in 2024? >> i am. that's exactly what i'm saying. maybe even better. david: wow. shah gilani, the eternal optimist.

thank you so much. have a great new year. now let's take a look at the big board, and we were expecting a down day. not terribly down, in fact, there is some green on the screen. a lot more red than green, clearly, but this could change. right now the dow is down about 87, 900 points. -- 90 points. we're about where we expected to be at this point. we'll see how things go for the remainder of the day. the s&p is down as well, .2% down. and on the nasdaq we are down as well, down about 20 points. so it's all down about the same percentage wise, just a click or two. let's take a look at big tech, if we can, a couple of minutes after the opening bell. alphabet, microsoft, apple are up. amazon and meta are down today. finish the biggest winner is alpha if bet, by the way. big selloff for fedex after their report. what went wrong there, lauren? lauren: well -- david: wow. lauren: yeah. $8 billion in market cap wiped off of fedex like that.

they cut their full-year outlook for the second time. volume is declining faster than fedex is cutting their cowses, and they have -- costs, and they have a major problem in their more expensive express unit. their operating income fell 60% because their largest customers, which is the post office, usps, switched to more affordable ground delivery. they say, yep, they expect usps to walk away from their business with fedex when the contract is up next year with. this is the biggest selloff for fedex shares this year. if you pull ups, they're all down in sympathy. is this a bellwether for a cargo recession? if or some sort of slowdown? david: let me can ask david, what do you think? >> it's 250 right now, it hit 150 in september of 2022 when there was a big worry about this. we bought it heavily. i think you were with me -- david: i remember that. >> we had a dinner with the ceo, founder, and fedex executed brilliantly out of that, pricing

power. we ended up selling it in september of this year higher than this price today because it realized a lot of gains very quickly. tead david yes. we should mention, by the way, fred smith is not the ceo anymore, but he is the chairman -- >> the chairman still and the founder. fedex is really good at a operating. if you're long-term, i wouldn't worry. short-term, they could have some issues. david: lauren, general mills reported before the bell. how did they do? lauren: clearly, not so well. stock down almost 4%. they make cheerioses, nature valley. they cut the full-year forecast because, well, when you go to the food store, all this stuff is expensive because they have continually raised the price, and now consumers are trading down. they also have a pet parent problem. they have a pet business, and when you look at their pet sales, they fell by 4% in the quarter -- david: people don't care about their pets? lauren: i thought it was recession-proof. david: now, it is a dividend pick from david. what do you think of it? >> i love this company.

they're not down in the food sale, all the organic sales was blue buffalo which is their pet product. it was supposed to be up about 4%, it was down 4%. they have to work through that issues. but cheerios, nature valley, betty crocker, don't bet against these name brands. they'd dead okay. winnebago, we know they were popular during the pandemic. how are hay doing? lauren: they also make pontoons, as in the boat -- david: ooh, taking a hit today. >> disappointed more than their rving segment. dealers don't want to carry anything, especially a boat, during the winter with. david they'd that's true. lauren: you had a disdeappointing quarter. their -- disappointing quarter. less demand in general but also how do you get the boats, the rvs off the lot? huge discounts which dent overall profits. david: is that a dividend pick? >> it's not. we've never owned it, nor have i ever been in a winnebago. lauren: i've been on a pontoon.

oh, they're fun, they're very flat, you can grill easily on them. david: for the casual crowd. not folks who like to surf. all right, tesla drivers, accident-prone? lauren: i don't like this story. it's a lending tree survey. they looked at 30 different car brands. they found that tesla drivers had the most number of accidents or, on average, 24 per 1,000 drivers over the past year with. in second place with 23 accidents is ram. david: with a name like ram finish. [laughter] lauren: i mean, you could blame it on, you know, the autopilot software on tesla, which i am not, or maybe the type of person that would want to drive a tesla. i can't make rhyme or reason out of this. if you look at duis, this survey also found that bmw drivers had more dui citations followed by ram again. so maybe the risky drivers are driving the rams. but, you know, you have criations, you get into --

citations, insurance rates go way up. david: i have never bought a car in my life. maybe i will someday. maybe when i retire, i'll do that. lauren: you mean you've leased a car. tawd dade i have rented and leased, but i've never bought a car. living in manhattan, that's what we do here. let's see, bullish on chipotle. who is bullish? lauren: is this stock ever going to split? it's $2,31919 a share. -- 2,319. jpmorgan saying heir going to 25000, a $69000 increase -- 2500. they ipo'd back in 2006, david, were you one of the people who got -- david: how much? if. lauren: 22. it's now 2300 and change. david they'd what do you think, dave? >> it's trading at 55 times last year 's earnings. that's a lot of burritos. [laughter] and, by the way, 2500, that's only a couple percent from where it is now, j jp's new price

target. it's a very high beta stock. even though it's up so much, it's come up and down 50, 690% several times, it's not a name for us. lauren: they're investing in automation bigtime, and it's working. that can help bring down labor if costs. >> ultimately, they have to start paying a dividend for them to be soars about rewarding youo get serious about them. lauren: if i'm paying that much per share, i do want a dividend. david: lauren, thank you very much. david, you're going to stay for the hour, thank you very much. you brought us a couple more dividend picks. let's start with verizon. >> verizon is up significantly here in the last six weeks, the whole market is. they spent a couple years really struggling as they were spending billions of dollars on cap-ex to build out 5g. we think they're now reaping the profits if from that. they've improved their wireless service. verizon is up off of it lows around $30 in on the, it's now near $38, still yielding about

7. they're not going to cut that dividend. we really like verizon going into '24. it's an out of favor value stock. david: truest financial? >> it had been down in the 20s, it's now up to almost 37 and is a regional bank that as rates come down, their net interest margin comes up. they're not having to pay out so much in depositses. they were never in the risk of that first republic and silicon valley stuff. we think it gets back to the 40s next year. david: all right. thank you, david. coming up, listen to how teacher union boss randi weingarten characterizes school choice. listen. >> they have not one thing that they offer as a solution other than privatizing or voucherrizing schools. which is about undermining democracy and undermining civil discourse and undermining pluralism. david: oh, really? that's what school choice is all about in. [laughter] we'll get into that. and if you're like most people,

you probably eat a lot more this time of year due to the holidays, and the new year usually brings resolutions of weight loss programs. we're going to hear from one of the best new york city weight loss doctors coming next. ♪ ♪ (sfx: stone wheel crafting) ♪ the biggest ideas inspire new ones. 30 years ago, state street created an etf that inspired the world to invest differently.

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he doesn't even have a mustache! oh, look! a bibu. [limu emu squawks.] only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ david: a joke about the u.s. we get used to is we are one of the fattest countries in the world. that's what people say, but, lauren -- [laughter] we aren't the only country that enjoy ises our sweets, are we? lauren: the french. home of the create santa, they also a like krispy kreme. the humans were literally hundreds long, the french can't get enough. but they like our other fast food or such brands, burger king, kfc, you name.

and if you look at the obesity rate in france, it is rising. 17% of their population, 8 million people, now considered obese. david: wow. it's probably because of these fast foods. when you have more standardized food straight from the farm, i just don't think you gain -- lauren: yeah. we snack a hot, processed foods. david: more and more people are turning to drugs like ozempic to lose weight. the drugs are reportedly being prescribed after surgery in order to help patients maintain their new diet. dr. sue dakotas is a physician specializing in weight loss, and she joins me now. you do, just to get it straight, you do prescribe these drugs for your patients. >> yes, i am. i'm a board-certified obesity medical specialist, and it's a really important part of my practice. and i'm just so grateful that we have this new category of drugs, because they work so well. you know, weight loss is so much more than just calories and calorie -- calories in and calories out. what typically happens to people

is their insulin doesn't work anymore, and when that happens, they can't lose fat. if they lose a few pounds, it's going to come right back on because it's not really fat. so to be able to do something about that now is so exciting. david: and are doctor there -- are there risks? there are reports that there's a big increase in poison control, poison substance abuse from people that get on these drugs. what are -- talk about the risks for taking the drugs because nothing is perfect. >> not. but these drugs are usually very safe. it depends on where you get them. so there are a lot of really unsavory online sites where with you can buy this stuff. and it's snake oil. it's not the real drug. david: wow. >> so be careful about that. there are all these online platforms, and a lot of times you'll see them for a day or two, and then they'll be taken down because the fda will close them down. it could be water, it could be gosh knows what in there. so get it from a physician who really knows this area of

expertise, and you get them from a source, high quality pharmacy. tawfd cade now, there also have been for people who have problems with obesity, there's a surge call alternative. have these drugs cut back on the number of surgeries being done to control weight in. >> well, they're saying that the surgeries are actually up a little bit, okay? david: interesting. >> however, the surgery should only be used for someone who is more if bidly obese. david: i see. >> because with the surgery, you're changing the awe anatomy of the body. you're changing the gu tract. what that means -- gi tract. patients who have had surgery can't have the high volume, high fiber food that's going to keep them healthy. they can only have smaller quantities. also after the surgeon opens up the abdomen, temporarily a lot of the appetite hormones go down, okay? so the person's able to eat smaller amounts. then when they come raging back, which is where these obesity drugs come in. the person gains a tremendous amount of weight because all

they're able to eat is low fiber, sugary, high fat foods. so they can't just sit down and have a chopped salad, a lot of vegetables and chicken. david: now, there's another problem with the drugs which we've talked about before here, but people sometimes when they see all the christmas meals and the, all of the treats that we have around holiday times, they decide to get off of the drugs for a while just to be able to appreciate what's in front of them. is that finish would you say that that's bad policy, that you shouldn't do that? >> my patients are all loving the holidays because what they're able to do is on these medications they're able to have a little bit of everything and not indulge and still lose weight. another great thing with these drugs is people are drinking a lot less alcohol long term. and we know that alcohol, especially in women more than two drinks a day, greatly increases the risk of breast cancer. so it's so nice for someone not to have to drink that much alcohol. so i advise my patients, today

on the medication. keep burning fat. david: doctor, thank you so much for being here, appreciate it. now this, or one tiktoker is getting a lot of criticism for sharing tips on how to get free plane seats. lauren, what's the problem? if. lauren: well, her name is chris, and she's, i guess the problem is she's trying to use her weight to get things for free. so let's watch some of her popular travel tips for those that are plus sized. >> how can it help you as a plus-sized traveler? it's different than buying the first seat, you can buy the second seat next to you for the same price. while it's not a guaranteed solution, i do love this idea. would you use them? lauren: look, he found her niche, right? some people are saying that's empowering. others are saying she is promoting and capitalizing on being unhealthy. david: lauren, thank you very much. coming up, do you remember this part of how the grinch

stole christmas? roll tape. >> and now i have a little something for the love of my life. martha may, please become mrs. augustus mayhew. david: did martha may actually get a lab-grown diamond? we're going to play a game to see if we can spot a natural versus lab-grown diamond right here on the set. thousands of people getting ready to travel for the holiday, so how are airlines holding up? we've got the report coming next. ♪ ♪ santa the baby, forgot to mention one little thing -- ♪ a ring. ♪ and i don't -- ♪ santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight ♪

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♪ ♪ >> if. david: the holiday travel season is in full swing with just five days left until christmas.

madison scar piano joinses us from hartsfield-jackson international airport in atlanta. madison, how busy is it there now? >> reporter: well, david, here in atlanta you've got the busiest airport in the world. things have been pretty smooth and steady so far today, but that likely will not last because tsa expects tomorrow to be one of the busiest travel days of the holiday season. finish and tsa expects to scan around 2.5 million passengers a day on those days that are expected to be extra busy. government officials, they do not want a repeat of last year's travel debacle when southwest airlines canceled more than 17,000 flights. that left countless americans stranded across the country with no way to get to their final destinations. but to make sure that that doesn't happen again, the the president of transportation9 and the faa -- the department of transportation and the faa are working closely with airlines. faa administrator mike whitaker says it's all hands on dc. >> the airlines, actually, are

in constant communication with us through the command if center. there's very close coordination on delays and implications of weather. for the controllers, we currently have juris under 11,000 -- just under # 11,000. >> reporter: airlines did perform well during thanksgiving this year, but something that can't be controlled is the potential of severe weather. so remember to check directly with your airline for the most up-to-date information on your flight. and in the meantime, travel professionals say stay calm, give yourself plenty of time to get through security and pack smart, especially when it comes to those gifts. >> if you have a wrapped present and it does set off some kind of alarm or there's something in there that the agents do not like, they will up wrap it. unwrap wrap. >> reporter: and if you're hitting the road this holiday season, aaa expects over 100 million people to drive for this hold draw.

but gas prices are slightly down this year, so the good news is you may save some money. david said good for drivers. thank you very much, madison, appreciate it. david bahnsen is still here. i happy to know you're going to be traveling during this holiday season is. are you worried about it? you're going overseas. >> yeah, i've tried to set the expectation low enough, three kids, my family and i have going to switzerland, and i told them be prepared for long line at the airport. david: that's a good idea. thank you so much for being here, appreciate it. still ahead, we've got liz peek, oklahoma governor kevin stitt, martha maccallum is here, and the ceo of priceline, brett keller. the 10 a.m. hour of "varney & company" is next. ♪ shall i play for you? ♪ on my drum ♪

..

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