>> i went for a joke about alcohol k and you went for the stars. >> that's pretty cool. my son would love that. he's really into stars. he got this high-tech, super duper telescope a few years ago for christmas, so maybe we'll take a look, see if we can find it. maria: mark, let me get your take on this market check out the dow. we are 30 minutes away from the opening bell for a thursday, dow industrials now up 231. were the jobless numbers and the gdp numbers that good to send this market up soaring? if nasdaq up 175. >> market just wants to keep going up which the selloff yesterday very weird with. i think a lot of it had to do with those zero-day options expiring. maria: okay. all right. so is that was the issue. that'll do it for us. merry christmas, everybody. >> happy new year. maria: thank you so much for being here. chris, todd, mark, have a great day. thanks for being here, see you tomorrow. david asman in for stuart this morning. david: i want to say it, merry christmas to you too. maria: thank you, and to you.

david: good morning, everyone, i'm david asman in for stuart varney. warning to democrats, using legal maneuvers to beat donnell donald trump -- can donald trump just isn't working, extending his lead in iowa, and the caucuss are only three weeks away. meanwhile, the border a growing worry for borders, and -- for voters, and new numbers revealing since october 1st, just october 1st, there have been more than 686,000 migrant encounters at the border. and once again, we've had nearly 12,000 migrant encounters in just the last 24 hours. is that the new normal? to the markets now, and the markets look to be beginning the day in a very positive note. the gdp final tick on the third quarter was down a little bit. that gave more impetus to investors thinking that there'd be more impetus to the fed to drop rates a little more, so the market topped off now at about 220 on the dow, 34 on the s&p and about 170 on nasdaq.

we'll see if that sticks when the markets open in about a half an hour. the 10-year treasury is down just a tick, its yield is now 3.84. and the 32-year yield -- 2-year, it's down about 32. 2 basis points -- 2.2 basis points, up above 4%. bitcoin, let's see how that's trading now if ec wet -- if we can get to bitcoin. it is falling. we're tell you. of we'll get to the details coming up. meanwhile, auction guy ken golden is here with with some amazing items. you're looking at a signed document by george washington. ken always brings us the good stuff. we'll see that live. ben domenech is here, brandon judd, riley gaines and brian kilmeade. they're all a coming up. plus, norad is tracking santa. merry christmas, everybody. st kind of started, we're very excited. we've got the latest details as

the bug guy's busy getting ready for the busiest night of the year. it is thursday, december 211st, 2023. winter is officially here today. "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ ♪ ♪ welcome, welcome. ♪ welcome, welcome ♪ ♪ [laughter] david: from the if grinch who stole christmas, welcome, christmas. and adam johnson just reminded us, by the way, today is the longest night of the year. [laughter] we hate to tell you it's the short isest day of the -- >> well, the days get longer starting tomorrow. david: that's a positive way of looking at things. always the optimist, adam johnson. more fallout from the colorado court decision to remove donald trump from the 2024 ballot, the primary ballot, in that state. independent candidate robert f. kennedy jr. issuing a stark warning for the country about

that discussion. lauren, what is he saying? lauren: this is the cominging from an opponent of donald trump, he says we're not living in a real democracy if a court can disqualify a candidate because they don't like him. here's the quote: it is up to the people to decide who the best candidate is, not the court, the people. that that's democracy 101. and he also warned that the country will become, quote, ungovernable if trump is denied being on the ballot because his supporters will never accept the election results. david: yeah. lauren: so if a court keeps trump off of it, all of hose supporters will never if suppor- david: i just want to throw in that last line are, when any candidate is deprived of his right to run, the american people are deprived of their right to choose -- lauren: to vote. david: i think milton friedman said it best. well, president biden responded to the colorado supreme court's decision on trump. roll tape. >> reporter: prime minister,

your reaction to the color -- mr. president, your reaction to the colorado ruling. >> i'm not going to comment on a court case. that's up to the count. >> reporter: is trump an insurrectionist, sir? >> well, i think that's self-evident. now, whether the court -- [inaudible] leapt e the court make that decision. but he certainly supported an insurrection are. no question about it. none, zero. and he seems to be doubling down on about everything. david: ben domenech joining us now p. ben, you know, it's extraordinary. first he said he wasn't going to comment because he didn't want to interfere with the courts, etc., then in the very next breath he calls trump an insurrectionist. what do you make of this? >> i make of it is that's about a how long joe biden's memory works these days -- [laughter] mere seconds later forgetting that he's not supposed to comment on these things. look, i think that this is a horrible decision. i think it's it's laughable. i think thats it is the certainly out of step with what the people who actually wrote

section three of the 14th amendment intended. i also think that there are a lot of questions about, questions that had perhaps been academic in the past about whether this applies to federal office holders including the president of the united states and also, of course, whether they can be enforced by state-level courts and officials. and so these are all questions that i think is are to be resolved, and the supreme court ought to weigh in on these questions. look, as a you said before, if you have a court stepping in and taking away the right and ability of people to choose their e leaders, then i think that's the height of hubris on the part of -- part of our judicial branch, to think that they have that ability, taking it away from the voters to decide for themselves. that's just not a good thing where it's a republican or democrat. they should be able to stand for election -- david: well, even if that decision about an old civil war rule is upheld, the fact is, is that he has not been convicted

of insurrection. >> he has not. david: he hasn't even been charged with insurrection are. >> he has not. david: it can't be just an opinion that keeps him -- >> you can't just say he's like a confederate and move on from there. david: right. right. are relating to all of this -- rah related to all of this is the latest fox possibler over 50% of iowans support if trump in the primaries, 34 points ahead of governor ron desantis. and again, it seems like these decisions, i'm sure the colorado decision's going to have the same effect, only increase trump's lead. >> yes. and among republican primary voters i think we have learned a lesson over the past year that's very clear which is that every time that democrats engage in this type of lawfare pursuit, they see his numbers go up. republicans are naturally defensive about feeling like their leading candidate effectively, you know, a former president effectively running as incumbent in terms of the popularity that he has within his own party is something that

democrats seem solely focused on preventing from being legally capable of standing for the office again. they see through the mythology that is being put forward by this lawfare faction, and they respond in kind by saying they're even more invested in supporting him. david: let's get back to biden for a second because a lot of things are happening affecting his bad poll numbers. you've got a new piece out in "the spectator" explaining how democrats went anti-israel. i know that that has led e to some is supporters on the left booked biden. what actually -- abandoning joe biden. what pushed so many democrats to become anti-israel in. >> well, i think one of the big things is that you had this socialist idea really take take the as aspect of the party that was really becoming the leading voice among younger voters. teaching a form of victim hood that was propagated through our higher ed institutions which has obviously been in the news of

late and teaching them that, basically, israel was an oppressor state. that's something that took hold in a much stronger way than the i think many democrats understood, and now they're in open warfare internally politically over this. it could have very negative consequences for them, and i'm curious if it's going to spill over in chicago this coming summer when they have their national convention. of. david: maybe a repeat of 1968. you don't remember that, i do. [laughter] it led to a debacle for democrats. ben, thank you for being here. appreciate. checking the markets again, it looks like we're going the open with a very strong the beginning. hi, ben. i thought we were going to go to the markets. there we are. no, we've got ben again. [laughter] we're trying to get to the markets. trust me, folks, the markets are up significantly. there they are. the dow is up 207 points, the s&p up 34 and the nasdaq, look at that, a full percentage point gain in premarket activity, 168 points to the positive. adam johnson is with me this morning.

adam, you've done extraordinarily well in the fall as a result of this rally. you said it was coming, everybody was saying we're going to have a recession, you said hold back. the economy's stronger than you think. >> yep. david: we did have a pullback yesterday. what was that all about? >> i think that was a very short-term situation whereby you have all these new options that literally expire in one day. 24-hour options. and there were thousands of them yesterday that were expiring. and that created the sudden selloff. if you -- david: so it was a technical thing. >> it was a very technical thing that i don't think most people should even botherrer themselves with. but if you were to look at a tick chart, the intraday chart, you would see right at exactly 2:00 the bottom just dropped out. straight down into the -- david: okay. so it was technical. now, i gave you plaudits for your wonderful predictions and and money making -- >> and thank you, thank you. david: you deserve it, but this is one thing, one sector that

you didn't do so well on, the clean energy sector. >> oh, my gosh. david: what happened there? >> a total disaster. every clean energy if stock that i have bought over the past 18 months has been a loser, and it's been very pain. and i tell you what i think has happened, david. when interest rates were at 0%, all of these companies in the clean energy business that are not profitable, it didn't matter. they have free access e to free capital. but as interest rates went up, all of a sudden they were held to the a higher standards. the problem with clean energy is it's only made legit by subsidies from the government. david: that's right. and they are not enough to the push the stock up. >> correct. as they, as should be the case. subsidies should never be enough to justify the existence of a company. or a new way of approaching something. finish you may need if subsidies or a kick start early on, but not year after year with after year. david: yeah. >> and look at where were.

which is why, by the way with, ford has just cut its electric pickup production in half. david: yeah. >> to 1600 per week now from 3200. if companies can't stand on their own, they're sold off, period. david: trust the market. the market knows more than government bure if accurates. adam, thank you very much. we're going to get to your a.e. picks in just a moment. coming up, getting kicked off that the colorado ballot isn't slowing donald trump down. he jumped right back on the fund raising course and advertised his digital trading cards, the mug shot edition. we've got details you don't want to miss coming up on that. and then texas congressman tony gonzalez sounding the alarm over the border crisis. roll tape. >> i am sounding the alarm as loud as i possibly can. i don't care how we got here. i don't care who's fault it is. i don't care about the politics. i want this to end. if. david: so do a lot of people.

border patrol encountered 24,000 migrant requests over the past 20 days -- 2 days. we're going to get a live look at the surge right after this. ♪ ♪ trading at schwab is now powered by ameritrade, unlocking the power of thinkorswim, the award-winning trading platforms. bring your trades into focus on thinkorswim desktop with robust charting and analysis tools, including over 400 technical studies. tailor the platforms to your unique needs with nearly endless customization. and track market trends with up-to-the-minute news and insights. trade brilliantly with schwab. they're waiting for you. hey, do you have a second? they're all expecting more. more efficiency. more benefits. more growth. when you realize you can give your people everything, and more. thank you very much. [applause]

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♪ david: border patrol saying that over the past two days they have been faced with over 24,000 the migrant encounters along the southern or border, two days. bill melugin youing -- joining me now. is 12,000 a day the new norm? >> reporter: it's the new norm this week, that's for sure. listen to this, cbp sources telling fox we are now over

200,000 migrant encounters for the first 20 days of december. that's enough to fill up two entire rose bowls and still have some overflow in less than three weeks. and we'll step out and show you the scene here in lukeville. off in the distance you'll see a mass of hundreds of migrants currently being processed behind the lukeville port of entry after they crossed illegally overnight. it's a little bit more out of the public view than what we're normally seeing out here in lukeville. and we'll show you you how these folks got here. take a look at this video in the early morning hours, a mass of about 700 illegal immigrants came through a breach in the border wall and started looking for border patrol to turn themselves in to, a mixture of family units and single adults that continue coming in from all over the world. they were being processed at the lukeville port of entry which has been closed down for weeks now which is resulting in people on both sides of the border having to drive hours out of the way to cross back and forth between the border. take a look at eagle pass right now where they have been

inundated with illegal crossings the last several days. just in the last few days border patrol saying they've had more than 10,000 illegal crossings. they're coming in from all over the world with, not just venezuelans and got a mall lands, a agents saying they've end counted people from lebanon,s oman, guinea and albania in eagle pass as well. this as texas governor greg abbott is now flying illegal immigrants around the country to sanctuary cities. this is from tuesday evening, the very first texas flight to sanctuary city chicago. 120 were on that flight if. i'm told they all signed voluntary consent forms and landed at chicago's o'hare airport tuesday evening. as texas governor greg abbott says, quote, sanctuary city chicago started obstructing and targeting our busing mission. texas will now expand if our to operation to include flights to chicago. until biden steps up to secure the border, we will continue to provide overwhelmed texas border towns with much-needed relief.

and then lastly, texas democrat congressman henry cuellar posted these images on his x account showing images he got from contacts in mexico showing migrants gathering in and around trains in mexico as a they were trying to get up to the eagle pass area. he says the mexican government has to do more to stop migrants from getting on those trains. back out here live, we are now averaging 10,000 migrant encounters per day at the southern border. that used to be completely unheard of, now it's the reality every day. back to you. david: jay johnson said 1,000 overwhelmed the system, so multiply that by 10, and you get what we're at now. bill, thank you very much. with all these new migrant facilities in texas and arizona, they're overrun. national border council president brandon judd joining me now. brandon, are you getting any help at all or instructions from dhs about guarding the border, or is it all about processing right now?

>> no. everything is about moving people through the system as quickly as we possibly can, get them into the united states, transport them to wherever they need -- wherever they want to go in the united states. that's what everything is about. nothing is about actually patrolling the border, securing the border. and the best graphic of that is when bill talks about that breach in the border wall. we just don't have agents out there that can patrol to stop these breaches taking place. in the past those, you know, cutting that border wall, taking down -- can out of that wall, that would have never happened in the past because we would have had agents there to stop that from happening. but right now the cartels control every single facet of our border. they can bring their drugs in, criminal aliens in, they can bring the aliens from countries that want to do us harm, they can bring them in. everything right now is completely controlled by the cartel while we're doing administrative work rather than enforcement work. we're just moving people through the system as quickly as dhs wants us to do. that's all we're doing. david: so, brandon, let yes --

me just ask specifically when you see one of the cartel members bringing a big cutter, a metal cutter to the fence and literally making a9 lot of noise, you can't do anything about that person who's cutting a hole in the fence to let hundreds more migrants in? >> the no, we could. we could. we could absolutely take that individual into custody, we just don't have agents to stop it. we can't deploy our agents to top that because all of our agents are being used for administrative work. again, all we're doing right now, you know, instead of the border patrol, the joke is we're the welcome patrol. that's what we've become. we're just moving people through the system. we're not performing enforcement work because we just don't have the resources to do it. so, yes, we would stop that cartel member if we had agents to deploy and be able to be there to stop it. david: and then we have the gotaways. i mean, not that anybody's counting, but that number is tremendous even though some of

these -- bill melugin had a picture on twitter or x suggesting that, you know, some of these dates are, like, eight years hence to come back to court. nobody's come going to come back. the gotaways, 670,000 in fiscal year '23. >> and, dade, that's what we know of. the gotaways are much higher than that. we just don't have agents out in the field to count the proper number. so if we're doing administrative work, we can't even be out will to count the actual number. that number is more than 4 times what we're actually showing just because we can't count them. and that's the dangerous aspect of this. we don't know who they are, where they're coming from, what they want to do in the united states. david: yeah. >> and that is simply because everything is destabilized right now. davidday brandon, you're a brave man to be manning that situation or trying as best as you can. of course, you're not -- what you've been trained to do is not being put into effect. you know how to stop it, we know how to stop it, and the administering's not stopping it,

it's that simple. brandon judd, thank you very much. checking the futures, it looks like a good day on the markets. of course, remember yesterday we had green on the screen, certainly didn't end that way. right now the dow is up 215, s&p up 32, and the nasdaq, look at that, 158 to the plus side. almost a full percentage point. the opening bell is coming next. ♪ ♪ -- the broken hallelujah. ♪ hallelujah, hallelujah. ♪ hallelujah, hallelujah ♪

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david: well, remember yesterday it started -- actually started in the red, went to the green, came back to the red in a a big way. right now we don't know where it's going to end, of course, but right now looks good. the dow is up 200, s&p up 31 is, nasdaq up 154 right now. gary kaltbaum joins me now. gary, great to see you, my friend. happy holidays. so you are, you've been suspecting that there may be a time for a pullback. it looked like we were going to get it yesterday, a although adam johnson told us that might have been some technical stuff weighing in. do you think we are going to get a pullback from this tremendous

fall rally? >> yeah. as we can guarantee the knicks will never win a championship -- [laughter] markets always have pullbacks. and let me just state for the record this move off the lows in the russell 2000 eight weeksing ago was at a bear market low, a thousand stocks at new yearly lows. this move is one for the books. we are about as overbought near term, stretched and extended in the near term, it would be normal as normal can be to just settle down, pull back, work off some of the froth and work off some of the move, get back to normal ebbs and and flows of the market and stay in the bullish phase. so what i see is yesterday, to me, that was sellers. and just because the market's been sticking up. nothing's wrong. interest rates were down yesterday, they're down again today. oil prices are staying down. those are the two most important parts of the equation because july to the end of october market was trashed because the opposite was happening. so, yeah, i just think we're going to have a settling

down/pullback, and if we pull back a few percent, again, as normal as normal can be. david: well, it clearly is so much about the fed and whether or not they are going to be cutting rates in 2024. they kind of put their finger on the scale already suggesting there'd be three cuts in 2024, some have said that. did they go too far, and is the market -- do you think there comes a time when the market realizes they've been fooled by the fed e he? ed the fed just wants 2024 to be better for marks even though they don't say that? >> i think the free market has usurped the fed. i think they're not even on the playing field. they're at 5.5%. the 10-year is down to 3.8 and change. they'd just be playing catch up right now, and that's all that's going on. if yields stay down, oil stays down, that's good for profits, better for valuations, and the market can keep going. again, near term i think we settling down, pull back, but i don't think it changes the trend. david: all right. gary kaltbaum, it is 9:30. the markets have begun. gary, have a wonderful holiday

season. the opening bell is ringing, and as expected the market is up, the dow is up over 200 points right now. i don't see -- oh, no, there's one red, two reds on the screen, caterpillar and what's the other one? >> travelers. david tied okay. actually, caterpillar's just gone into the green too. lauren:st it's been up all week. david: dow 30 stockses, let's look at the s&p, a broader index is dex. a nice gain, about three-quarters of a percentage point gain, up 36.29. check the nasdaq, tech-heavy nasdaq is doing extremely well, up over 1%. 1.# 11%. 164 points to the positive right now. it looks like big tech is doing well. here are the leaders in big tech, all of them in the green, met taxer alphabet, apple, microsoft, amazon or, they're all in the green. the big winner is meta, up about 32%. let's start with warper brother. let's start with warner brothers discovery.

are they merging with paramount if global, lauren? lauren: there's potentially talk of that happening, but all the buzz not moving the stock. i take that back, paramount is now down 2%. warner brothers discovery down not even 11%. so is what -- 1%. so what a deal would do is unite two struggling legacy media companies can and put hbo and cb if s under one roof. but barclays says it's unlikelily that a combined company will be any better than the companies are doing individually. david: yeah. adam a is on set. you usually deal with high-tech. what about these legacy companies? >> you know, i've never made money in media, and i tell you why, it's a hard place to make money. unfortunately at fox you have news and sports, two things people care about. but it's really hard to keep pollution award-winning movies that everyone wants to go see week after week, quarter after quarter, right in@hard to do. david: trying to understand a fickle audience -- >> and it's very expensive. look at netflix, they spend $8

billion a year on content. david: lauren, our friend dan ives, what is he saying about apple? lauren: yeah, web bush. it'll be worth $1 trillion than it is right now by the end of next year with. a $4 trillion -- dade dead wolk, i was just about to looked i up. $4 trillion. lauren: his price target is 250, and apple shares would need to hit 257 to fete that first-ever $4 trillion market cap. apple hit $2 trillion back in 20202. about 2-3 years later, it got the $3 trillion which was this year, and a year later, $4 trillion? david: adam, what about newer media like apple in. >> oh, i'm good with it. i own it. i own the fangs. as the guy who runs the american ingenuity fund, i have to own the big, obvious ones. i call them core ingenuity. then there's the next batch coming up like palo alto software, like salesforce.com, etc. so, yeah, all that stuff you've got to own, and apple the

leader. lauren: yeah, but is it a growth stock now? >> i hear you. well, it's shifted from being a hardware basis, iphones, ipads, exciters, etc., to a services business, and that's very powerful because it's repeat business. david: the all right. a big gain for micron after their report. this seems to be about a.i., right, lauren in. lauren: yeah. hook at the stock, up almost 8%. they require high bandwidth memory chips, so micron is benefiting from, a, demand if for its chips for that, and by, higher prices that it's fetch ifinging for them. so they raised their forecast for the current quarter. i didn't know this, but micron works with nvidia, and they say they're in the final stages to qualify their memory chips for nvidia rah's platforms, and those chips will draw in, according to micron, several hundred millions of dollars in revenue if next year. david: wow. but, adam, it's more than just the technology or just the

actual things about a.i., the chips or whatever. of it's the infrastructure that's going to come along with it, right? >> yeah. well, and as lauren points out, there's an evolving ecosystem around artificial intelligence which arguably is led by nvidia, the company that produces chips which are capable of 30 trillion calculations per second. no one else can come close to that sort of speed. but, yes, you're right. it's the whole finish it's databases, it's software, it's robotics, it's automation finish. david: one of your picks is dicom industries, and that isn't necessarily, you wouldn't think of it as a.i. in itself, but it is that infrastructure that supports it. >> well, in the olden days these are the guys who laid coaxial cables so you could watch your cable tv or cellular taurus, etc. now they have evolved into building out the 5g infrastructure, and you need that, it's part of the ecosystem that you're with talking about because you are pumping so much more data. you need the band bid withth. d can icom, by the way, i wrote

it for my subscribers eight weeks ago at $80, it's now wherever it is, # # # 10, # # 15. everything's moved up. there it is, # # 911. it's -- 111. i very much like it. david: wow. all right. autozone, lauren, buying back their stock? lauren: yeah, but the stock's been stuck this year, up about a 5%, barely moving right now. a very expensive stock, might if i add. the board is authorizing the repurchase of the extra $2 billion of stock, all part of an ongoing buyback program. the cfo says they have strong free cash flow and that allows them to okay these bigger buybacks. david: again, you interested at all? >> i don't own it, i wish i had. it's tripled over the a past five years. but being a more growth-oriented american ingenuity guy, just retail stores, you know, don't really excite me. david: yeah. >> but as i say, it's been a great stock. david: we talked about dycom,

let's talk about aptive. >> number one in the world for vehicle wiring harnesses. i know, what are you talking about? [laughter] you know, because cars have gotten so complex, you're laughing, lauren. lauren: there's nothing that excites me more than that. [laughter] >> okay. but i'll tell you why, you build the car and you have a chassis, right? the steel chassis supports the whole thing. because the electronics are so complicated in cars, you have a separate chassis just for the electronics on top of the existing chassis. and that's true of both electric vehicles as well as advanced gasoline vehicles. david: okay. >> so number one in the world, they're growing 25%. trading at about 15 times earnings, so it's not cheap, but it's a pretty good value. david: rxo, tell us about it. >> yeah. this is going to turn, basically, if you are a truck driver, it'll turn your phone into an uber for freight. so rxo, spun off from gso and

xpo. so you're a truck driver, your truck is in stanford, connecticut, it's going back to new york, it's empty. you want to bid for freight. you put it in -- david: great idea. >> again, it's like uber for truckers. really cool. david: and it's fixing the supply chain. love it. adam, thank you very much. coming up, should president biden be booted off the texas ballot over his handling of the board or crisis? lieutenant governor dan patrick seems to think so. roll tape. >> maybe we should take joe biden off the ballot in texas for allowing 8 million to cross the border since he's been president, disrupting our state far more than anything anyone else has done in recent history. david: wow. we're going to get into that one with. and president biden touting his administration's economic progress in a visit to milwaukee. but many americans certainly aren't feel ifing relief. economist peter morici reacting right after this. ♪ ♪ money, money, money, must be funny in a a rush man's world.

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david: let's say it, markets having a good day. the dow is up 265, the s&p up 36, and the nasdaq, actually, it's come down a little as the dow hasp gone up, but it is still up markedly, 432 points to the plus -- 142 points to the plus side. janet yellen taking a victory lap on the economy, she says the situation for the middle class has improved significantly since president biden took office. not exactly true. kelly saberi join ising me now. more importantly, do voters think the economy has improved? >> reporter: david, it's top of mind for voters. you know, we have fox business polling that shows 38% of iowa republicans are most concerned about the economy followed by

immigration and then foreign policy. if i spoke to people on chicago's magnificent mile this morning to see if they agree. take a listen. >> in my opinion, money has been a little bit tighter. honestly, it's been quite the hole in the wallet type of situation. >> reporter: writing in the "wall street journal," treasury secretary janet yellen said, quote, because wages have risen more than prices since 2019, a worker earning the median wage can today buy the same basket of services in 2019 with nearly $1,000 left over to save or spend. let's break down what the department of labor is saying. the bureau of labor statistics indicates that the average hourly earnings have gown down -- gone down 2.8 better between january 201 21 and november 2023. over the same time period, inflation rose 17.2%. president biden has been on the road touting bidenomics, this as

the iowa caucuses are just a few weeks away, david. david: just to be clear, when president biden came into office, the economy was growing at a 6.a 5% with inflation at 1.4%, so it's not true to say that the he inherited a flagging economy. doing anything but flagging at that time. kelly, thank you very much. well, president biden was touting the success of his economic policy in wisconsin yesterday. he is also slamming are republicans for working against him. roll it. >> we're fighting lower costs to give folks just a little bit more breathing room, as my dad used to say. but let's be clear, republicans are against so many critical actions that help working and middle class people, especially black americans. just remember how the pandemic kicked black businesses especially hard, how my predecessor on his watch, women and minority-owned small businesses found themself last in line accessing emergency relief with programs like the paycheck protection program. op my watch -- can on my watch,

energy and emergency relief went to minority-owned businesses fist, not last. david: economist peter more race city joins me now. -- morici. not only were the overall statistics better when trump left office than they are now, but particularly in the minority community up until the pandemic things were going very well. we had the lowest unemployment rate among black americans, among hispanic-americans, among women. i mean, it is not true to say that they were flagging and trump -- again, the pandemic changed the whole ball game, but it was improving when president biden came into office, no? >> donald trump had a growing economy based on investment expect private sector, and in that context blacks and other minorities were doing better. women were doing better. and if this is why joe biden is losing some of his support among backs and hispanics. more importantly, i think the thing to understand about a joe biden's economics is it's very

rifle shot at special interests. for example, let's look at michigan. you know, he walked the picket line with the u waxer, and if -- uaw, and if you're an autoworker, your wages are up, and you ought to be voting for joe biden. but in the state of michigan overall, he went from being ahead during the strike to now being behind. david: that's right. >> why? all those other folks who live in michigan who are 95% of the population or something, some big number, they're going to pay more for cars, and nay know tha. look at swing states if student loans. gen-xers in swing states say that he hasn't done enough on student loans because his program was partial. the rest of the population, the res are of the voters say -- the rest of the voters say he's done too much. they don't like the fact that he's picking off special people for -- certain people for special treatment. joe biden thinks he can go into a crowd and give $202 bills --

20 bills and have 95% of the people say, gee, what a generous guy. americans are normal, where's mine? if. david: quickly on the gdp number, we got the final read for third quarter. came down a little. it was at 5.2, now it's down to 4.9. the market loves that. look at the dow now on the bottom-right of your screen. it's3 21 to the flus side because they think it gives more impetition discuss for the -- impetus for the fed to cut rates in 2024. what do you think is going to happen? >> i think they'll cut rates perhaps twice the next year. i don't think it's going to be aggressive. we don't know if we're going to have a true soft landing. if inflation doesn't get to 22%, going to depend on the election. if joe biden is still trailing by 4 or 5 points come frill, the fed will be cutting rates because, i don't knowsly -- honestly, i don't think the fed wants a vote for donald. oh, my god, is this a political fed, it's led by one of the

biggest politicos in town. david: thank you very much, peter morici. it is the christmas season, but people are struggling to afford gifts for loved ones. lauren, do people feel better or worse off, that's the bottom line. lauren: worse. like screening. bidenomics -- scrooge. bidenomics is affecting our retirement savings. half of those say they're worse now than a year ago. this is a fox news poll from earlier, and it shows only 36% of voters rate the economy excellent or good. 64% fair or poor. david: all right. lawp, thank you very much. adam johnson is still with me. adam, i just want to ask you quickly, or do you think that perhaps because of the fact that people might be more afraid to spend money in 2024 we will see a slowdown, or do you think this thing is just going to keep roaring? >> my thesis as someone who's bullish is that the two es of earnings and employment are very

powerful. as long as we are able to maintain that, people being fully employed, making money, spending money which drives purchases which is good for earning, we're okay. the two es are earnings and employment. that's the key. david: coming up, conan o'brien compared donald turn to the dark lord or in harry potter with his interview with biden. roll tape. >> the other guy says we can -- >> i like that he's the other guy. [laughter] he's like voldemort now. his name shall not be mentioned. >> well -- [laughter] good point. >> yeah. >> i plead guilty. david they'd boy, that was a tough interview. we'll have reaction to that coming up. today is expected to be one with of the busiest travel days of the holiday season, but the tsa says it is ready to take on the 2.5 million passengers that'll pass through. we've got the report coming next. ♪ i'll be home for christmas,

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♪ ♪ david: and happy solstice to you all. it's december 21st, four days til christmas. we've been keeping you updated all week on the busy travel season. garrett tenney joins me now from o'hare airport, chicago, used to be the busiest in the nation. garrett, today is expected to be one of the busiest days of the year. what is the latest there? >> reporter: well, david, as we've been saying all week, aa a a expects this holiday travel season to be the second busiest they have ever seen is. after the thousands of flights that got canceled last year, a lot of folks are worried about what things would look like this year. the good news so far today, things are going smoothly. just a few dozen cancellations across the country. the weather forecast is pretty good for most of the country as well. fingers crossed that that holds. today and tomorrow, as you mentioned, expected to be the biddiest -- busiest day. tsa expects more than 2.5

million people every day from now until january 2 end. the airlines have hired workers and upgraded equipment to avoid a repeat of last year's meltdown. the faa says it has opened military air space over the holidays to keep traffic moving as well. we also just spoke to santa here at the airport, he's going around passing around candy canes, wishing folks well on their travels, and he confirmed to us so far today the airlines are on the nice list. david? they'd dade garrett, thank you very much. adam johnson is, i know you open delta. are you traveling for the weekend? >> i am not travel thing, but seeing 2.9 million people travel through our airports every day is a sign that the economy is doing okay. david: good points. you can't argue with it. thank you for being here, appreciate it and, garrett, thank you very much for joining us this hours or. still ahead, riley gaines, morgan ortagus, brian kilmeade and ken golden. he's going to bring us some

wonderful auction items. the 10:00 hour of "varney" is next. ♪ noel, noel, noel, noel. ♪ born is the king of israel ♪ ..

i'll be home for christmas.

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