david: hello folks welcome to special cu kudlow i'm

larry kudlow in for david asman. >> attack by houthi rebels in red sea yes, total number of attacks continues to rise as critics look to the president to take more act, grady t trimble is live in dc . reporter: after pausing operations in the red sea, major shipping companies are starting to resume them but they face threat of attacks from houthi rebels, french shipping company cma announced it will gradually increase number of ships in the red sea, they follow mersk, but yesterday, the houthi militants claimed responsibility for another attack on a container ship bringing total number of attacks on international vessels to 21. and this one comes after the defense secretary lloyd austin announced operation prosperity guardian, tuesday

u.s. navy shot down 3 houthi fired iranian provided antiship ballistic missiles, republicans say president biden needs to do more. >> when you hear secretary of defense, secretary of state, jake sullivan come to mic and say our number one goal is deescan laying, tehran hears it as opportunity and u.s. will not hit back in a way that purts this is why you see the attacks continue. reporter: republicans like senator lindsey graham say time to hit back whether in form of a cyberattack or attack on infrastructure, necessary to protect not just the ships moving through the region but also u.s. service members who are stations there. david: grady thank you so

much. >> for more on the biden administration's response. to attacks in middle east we bring in tim kennedy, former army ranger, sniper, and special operations, you know, right after october 7 massacre in israel, john kirby and general austin came out and promises americans that they would not stand for these attacking americans, they would deter all of the attacks by then, it was about a week after october 7 or about 15 or 20 attacks, they failed in that promise, they failed to deter the attacks, is it fair to say their mission has failed? they have to look at a different mission now? >> well, when you talk about deterrent, that is something that comes from position of strength. you know, when 9/11 happened the world looked at what

deterrent looks like, we bombed people and went to war. you look at world war ii from or even desert storm, we were dropping two nuclear bombs to let them know this is the end of the war, then, in the original gulf storm, deserts storm in gulf war, we destroyed everyone in our way that sends a signal. what this current foreign policy it it not deterrent this is status quo, i'm just checking a box, this is not deterrents from position strength. david: what bothered a lot of folks who work for previous administration. the biden administration was dealt a good hand with the abraham accords and donald trump got co tough with our enemies where we did not have to worry as well. john rat ratcliffe spoke about it last night.

>> biden administration is running out of terror cells to get push around by. all though the groups they are controlled by funded by iran and what is frustrating when you tack about you know intelligence that i have seen, you know at the end of our administration we handed biden administration peace. in the most middle east, we handed them abraham accords and an iran that was bankrupt that was incapable of funding these type ofs terror activities. david: is that a fair assessment? >> it is fair and it is deadly o accurate, inch iran funds hamas 80 billion a year for last 3 years, who president biden took wa office things changed, they all of a sudden have billions of dollars of extra capital they can invest in interest that are contrary to ours, every terror cell

that we're fighting they are funded by iran. iran is a direct supporters. they are not doing it intraadditional way of state on state, but in theu rules of war, we are at war with them. but we're not fighting them as they appear. we have to. otherwise we can expect more of our allies to to be targeted by toge terroristing or organization, it time to cut the head off of the snake that snake is iran. david: you know, administration is afraid of this escalation they would see if there was a more direct attack on iran. we have not seen it, we have taken iran on through the years away back to ronald reagan in 1988, something called operation praying mantis. we took out half of the iran iranian navy, they c

cowered back in their palace, and tehran, then we have donald trump, who also hit back hard, getting soleimani and making it clear through maximum pressure campaign they would not going to make any oil of money to feed terrorists and create something like what we saw on october 7. when we hit them hard, directly, they cower more than try to hit back, they are bullies. >> yeah, that is deterrents. that you are talking about fighting back from a position of strength, you are right when you say they went back to their palace and cowered. we're fighting a proxy war, they are supporting organizations that attack our allies and attacks us indirectly, until we attack

them, and we understand, we will held them accountable we have continue to endure the same outcomes like october 7. david: tim, i am wondering if it's not too late, they made their clear assessment of what the biden administration does or what they don't do, they smell blood in the water they smell the fear there is a lot of animal instincts in these engagements they sn smell the fear from the biden administration. >> noun stop -- nu they are pushing every button, they are doing it militarily, they are fighting us militarily right now. just they are using proxies, they continue to push to with what they can get away work but it is never too late to remind them what it looks like too mess with america, we have most fur powerful military to

exist. every once in a while the world needs to see when america is capable of, right now, i cannot think of a better time to remind our adversaries to remind them. david: another problem. they have not just been spinning money on their terrorist friends. they have been spending money known to nuclear program and they had tens of billions to do, that they are getting close, what happens if they get the bomb? before answer. we know -- we don't know but we suspect that israel may have their hands on atomic bomb that we don't know about, we suspect that sawed saudi arabia, there could be deterrents from within the middle east. but what should we do if they have en up with a bomb and start experimenting with it? >> when luk look at our

response. surrounding russia, are american military bases. it is so evident and so clear that if russia crossed that p p proverbial line of an arms race there would not longer be a russia, iran keeps knocking on that door, i don't want to be in the same position where we have to surround the country with military bases, those ba bases are currently being attacked by iran proxies. if they get a bomb, israel will have to strike first. because, ra iran said countless times they would wipe i israel off of the face of the planet.

iran would make it angriality. david: israel knows the score, they know what they cannot let their enemies get away with. people in white house don't seem to know the red lines, i agree, i think that israel would not lit it happen, tim kennedy thank you. >> appreciate it god bless. david: coming up two things are true, one the stock market is on roll to close out in a positive note. >> and americans think that economy stinks, will the views of wall street and main street converging in 2023. david: we'll ask art laffer when kudlow continues. more benefits. more growth. when you realize you can give your people everything,

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david: with stock market almost too good to be true, will our economy begin to look better to voters? joining me now art laffer former reagan economist. author of of course taxes have consequences. art laffer great to see you, happy new year. >> great to see you david. david: you and i both love it when the markets are up. politics aside it is better for everyone. but at the same time, by the

way, the s&p put a fine point is up 24% year to date that is a huge rise year-to-year for the stock market. but voters by a big majority think that the economy stinks. anaeven 61% of democrats feel that economy is doing badly. 61%. 93% -- i think, yes 93% of republicans believe it is bad and independents 85%, that has to worry the white house, but 61% of democrats, when will those two truths converge if they will? that the economy is feels good, and that the investors think it feels good, will they converge in 2024? >> do remember, david, a lot of this rally in stock market is recent, market

telling us what will be not has been, we have a forward looking indicator and people making comments about what they think economy is how they feel right now, t the disconnect comes people care about jobs not unemployment rates, total jobs is way down with a low employment rate, even though the unemployment rate is low, people left labor force, jobs are way down that is what people feel, the second thing, people worry about prices, not about inflation. now inflation is related to prices over long periods of time but right now prices are up, i think 17.7% since biden took office, the inflation rate is down, the prices are not down at all, it is pricing that are killing people, they are upset, and gdp growth the last quarter almost 50 5% --

5%, but that is low. it is not caught back up when crump left was on the, they are looking not at growth rates people look at output, not output growth, there is a disconnect in how people report the news as being low inflation, low unemployment, and very high gdp growth, no one cares about though, they care about the levels, that is why people feel bad and they will continue to feel bad for quite some time to come, they are correct. the reporters and these numbers north correct. david: another thing in there that is the race. the federal reserve had to cut inflation on its own, not supply side help from either legislatures are -- legislators are executive branch to help the economy. we know that to create more things. the administration has not

helped. it has been all based on interest rates. and as a result the american dream the mortgage rates have skyrocketed. i was amazed to see monthly payment, average payment, look at that, how much the rates are up, but average monthly payment. 1700 before biden took was on now it is 3322. this is average mon monthly payment on a new home that puts american dream out of reach. >> it does, that is what people feel. what is reported on another channels but hire too. what is reported to not what people care about, they care about prices and jobs and mortgage rates, everywhere in the world the same phenomena are

occurring. this is a global phenomenon. so, when you look at it, it is not just the u.s., it not just the u.s. fed it is the global economy. when you look at global economy they are not looking good. china is in a freefall, chile doing badly, europe is terrible, i joke that britain is in such bad shape they don't call it the bou pound about more they call it the ounce. really a negative thing for voters, we'll see the results of this this coming november. we will. look at california. california and michigan, two states, they are one of two only states that raise their state income tax rates this rear attack rate is highest is 14.4%. they uncapped their payroll tax. david: new york is not far away. and illinois is rai raises its rates, asking a

question, if donald trump wins the election, and calls up a afte art laffer and says what should i do? >> i would tell him do what did you before, which is great a tax cuts and jobs act, all of these things are wonderful, other are things to look to. but he did call of the right things back then, i would want him to continue with warp speed medical development that is a few year where government spending had major results, i told you about my duaghter rachel, she got metastatic melanoma is not for don donald trump, she would be dead today. saved my daughter's life, he was wonderful as president. and on all of the objective issues. david: and energy w

independence. >> it was all great. david: if biden is election, same. the same? >> mosey along. >> i don't know, we had a lot better time that republicans took house, before when the republicans -- democrats control house and senate it was worse, i think that explains a lot of why the stock market is up. it would be less damaging biden but the border all still be the seem, higher prices and bad stuff. no move toward making things better under biden, by the bad, bad, bad biden is behind us unless they win in a land is live, if they do that people deserve the governments they get, if is their earth. >> the wars we had are in part because of the bad economy.

mandela and his noble laureate luc lecture clear. >> art laffer thank you so much. >> great to see you, happy new year, thank you. david: pop a bottle for me. >> off off austria top university s severing ties with harvard, but the harvard president survives much will harvard wake up from its woke ways, we hear from alan dershowitz. >> and president biden on a vacation in the caribbean, joe concha will join me when kudlow returns.

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david: after a surge of anti-semitism at u.s. colleges, students turn to title 6 to hold schools accountable. a move that legal expert say could impact federal funding for the cleans, lydia hu in new york with more. reporter: students are suing university of pennsylvania, nyu, carnegie melon and berkeley in separate claims, claims. now lawyers say now some jewish students are scared on the campuses because of the school a response to stupe student protests and report of anti-semitism, one student is suing the university of pennsylvania. >> when there is a class

happening on campus, there are people with bullhorns chants in intifada, that is not allowed this happened for 8 hours on a monday. reporter: the lawsuit ask court to order the universities and force their own codes of conduct to project. pro jewish students, they want the professors terminated. -- the former assistant u.s. secretary of education for civil rights, calls that ironic. >> universities that have terrible representation with free speech, they censor and punish people for saying things that are politically incroak but with anti-semitism, suddenly they discover the first amendment. reporter: the universities

have not gotten back or declined to comment. the student lawsuit come as department of education, is investigating dozens of colleges and school districts for possible title 6 violations since october 7, legal expert say that information uncovered by the student lawsuits could fuel the federal investigation. that special, those investigations could result in the loss of federal funding. david: lidia thank you. >> joining me now alan dershowitz. author of war against the jews, how to end hamas barbarism. you wrote that in a hurry this was necessary. it is necessary. and i just wonder if people in harvard running that place get it? when you look at president, who had the horrific testimony in front of congress, where she essentially said, depended on the contact whether anti-semitism was correct or not. then you had the revelations about her plagiarism and she

still there. >> not only that, she supported by the vast majority of the harvard faculty, including many of the jewish faculty, they are so frightened, so afraid to speak their heart, they provide support for, a president who will help not only destroy harvard university but she is helping to mainstream anti-semitism. you know, she was the queen of cancel sul culture and censorship when it came to anything said about privilege minorities but when with genocide against the jews, su suddenly she discovered free speech, the worst thing about her testimony is double standard. but beyond the university to mainstreams of anti-semitism, what was the most highly attended movie this weekend, the color

purple, written by alice walker, a bigoted anti anti-syssemite, said terrible things about the jews and never apologized. can you imagine, a great book writer was trying to get a movie produced, the double standard is rampant just because you are black and an author or black and a scholar does not give you been to become anti-semitic, we cannot allow this this is to mainstream in america. david: this is changing -- there is push back. we had the university of wisconsin k cutback on the dei programs, they had

as many deei programmers than members of history department. it is like a industry now, there is push back, but seeps t seems that at harvard the woke crowd has a fortress up that now one can get through. >> harvard has a history of never apologizing, never saying we're wrong, we're harvard, if we say it, we must be right, and the rest of the universe should follow us, that is the problem with harvard and faculty, they follow like lemmings, they don't come up with independent criticism or ideas, and harvard is suffering, around the world. its representation, the students are suffering. ithe faculty and alumni, now the faculty, have the

hutzpah to attack alumnis saying don't listen to the rich alumni, by which may mean don't listen to the jews. mostly. but the doppe donors they are complaining about are jewish, down listen this -- to them, you can listen to the others that are woke and progressive. >> things have changed,s retraumatically recently, over past 5 years this has hypocrisy full steep ahead, caught anything that rookies of conservatism at the universities. but is the idea of judging somebody at a campus like harvard or one of great universities like stanford in california or university of chicago is that dead the idea of just judging some on aacademic merrick? merit.

>> it dead in a lot of ways, everyone getting a's, which means no one gets an a. and if president gay, if her acts were done by a 19 or 18-year-old freshman student, they would have been booted out of the university without a doubt, i know i had a case like that, i had to bring it to court on behalf of a dyslexic student, the school said now excuses. you know, we're accusing you of plagiarism. by that standard president gay should have been gone a long time ago. the double standard is a problem, dei -- >> final question. professor, su sudden will a case come up where a

student says yes, i made have made done some plagiarism, but i did nothing as bad add what president gay did, if she can get away with it so can't i am will we have a case like this. >> >> yes, i'll defend them, pro bono. i will go to court on their behalf to impose a single standard on my own university. i have a stake in this 50 years, at harvard teaching. 10 years retired from harvard, i want to see harvard remain its status as a great university, right now it is going down hill so fast, i will do whatever i can preserve the single standard, motto of harvard to be not veritas but double standard. david: professor, i hope you get a case like that. i would pay to come to court to see you argue that case. thank you very much for being here, appreciate it, great alan dershowitz. >> joe biden arrived in caribbean today.

for another vacation, this one to ring in new year. joining me now joe concha. and fox n garrett ventry. great to see you, garrett to you, presidency used to be known as the most challenging job in the world, now, it looks like it is a place to go to get a a free ride. >> yes, thank you for having me on. joe biden's presidency looks like a french workweek meets "ferris bueler's day off" for 3 years, you are talking about rnc research put out research for go 40% of his presidency at his delaware home or vacation, and a step back, what are we dealing with with high inflation,

most border crossings records last month at the sand and you have war in israel, and war in ukraine, they are all happening, where is joe biden ? he is on vocation, more and more voters are questioning joe biden's age, fitness and men mental sharpness to do the job, every crises that is happening he has been bullied by media to end his vacation in hawaii what all of the wildfires that were happening, that will continue to be a lingering question. david: another lingering question is who is in charge. that say li legitimate question, if he can be on vacation every other week, chances are someone else is pulling the leafers. >> -- leavers. >> yes, and i have numbers here to share, but one upgrader. it more like misery meets

weekend at bernies. here we have joe biden going on vacation one day after returning from another vacation. this time, he off to s to -- st. croix, at a beach front home, he spent over 40% of his time in office on vacation. in context, american workers on average take 14 days of vacation per year, president biden has taken average of more than 140 days per year, of vacation. that is nearly f 10 times as well, americans are scared, th frustrated and angry about prices, like you just talked about with art laffer. they are scared. they see pro tests on their screens, things are knitting are -- getting out of control and the southern

border is a national security threat that president should be addressing not ignoring. david: garrett this is a fear of conflict, i think thatsusu -- summer rises the problem with this president. it say fear of conflict, whether it a fear of conflict with criminals, you don't want to hurt the criminals, you have keep letting them out, we had an incident in new york, horrific a mad man, a man stabbed two tourists in the back. i believe they are both still alive. he had 17 arrests that he had been let out on, it fits the pattern whether it is appeasing iran or vie violent criminals it is fear of conflict.

there was never a fear with donald trump. >> that is right. under president trump, he secured the border and he was tough on crime. he dealt with peace through strength with our adversaries. now you have again, here you have there is war, russia invading ukraine, that did not happen under president trump and wide open border with record number of people pouring in the very far left politicians cop it l -- you are talking about anti-cop, defunding police and cashless bail, letting the violent criminals back on the streets. i think that smart republican members of congress, whether house or senate or president's rubbing right now would run on law and order or a secure border. david: the other thing that got richard nixon elected of

conviction in 1968, and that is it, i think all of this compromise that and no consequences attitude of the democrats will come back to bite them. you see the very far left, people out in the streets right now, making life miserable for people that -- i don't know how they claim to' to prove their point, if they clog up the roadways we saw in new york, today, jfk was jammed up, people had to grab their suitcases and drag them across the lawns, same at lax. i mean, what is happening if in the summer of 2024, in chicago, we see a repeat of what we saw in 1968 in chicago. where a convention that was out of control by lefties taking over. >> you get a feeling we're headed toward a violent

year, no one wants this. here during the busiest time of year they file they have a right to -- feel they have a right to shut it down, they are looking to bully people who submission. the problem for the left now, is that the rhetoric they talked about in 2020 as far as defunding police for example or surging border, that rhetoric is now meeting reality, and americans don't like it, if this presidency this election comes down to a cha choice, who do you hung will do better in -- who do you think will do better in terms of economy and border, hard to see donald trump or whoever the g.o.p. nominee lose to joe biden who is not wine, he will not get better with age. david: like dealing with a spoiled kid, instead of saying, you cannot run out

in the street, they say it's okay honey, saying it to iran and to the criminals. they are saying it to illegal immigrants, that no-consequences attitude, americans have to choose. joe and garrett, thank you so much happy new year. >> coming up, democrats are goingful throttle in their push for electric vehicles. alec epstein is here to weigh in when kudlow returns.

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david: you might think that with all of the government pay outs to automakers and consumers that electric vehicles would be flying off the lots, they are not, dealers continue to be plagued with unsold ev 's, they are clogging up on the lots and continue to hold resale values. consumers don't want to buy them, joining me now alex epstein. author fossil fuels. okay, why aren't the electric vehicles selling. >> well, they are not selling because they are usually hot the most cost

effective thin thing for consumers when they are new in particular when they are used, batteries degrade overtime, they are a huge cost. if you buy something -- if you buy an old car that is 10 years old, the engine and fuel container will be preserved. but talk about a tesla and you pay $1616,000 to replace the battery this is a huge expense. the worst thing, that government is putting pressure on us to increase demand for reliable electricity and at the same time removing the reliable electricity. david: one phrase that defines it government dictated green energy. that when americans hear that government dictates you have to buy this, or you cannot buy that, americans

still thank god, they still have that rebel instinct to be against the government what the government is directing us to do in the market. >> for sure that say real good impulse that we have, and it is stronger in you realize that the green energy movement, is not for energy. it is real an anti-energy pr movement. their whole idea is that engineer is bad, the green merge movement opposes fossil fuels they pretend to support solar wind, this is an excluse to pro ten -- pretend to be against fossil fuels and pretend you are for something, when you have a combination of dec dictated energy by people who hate energy that is a double whammy. david: the proof is market

place, we have a market place of stocks that represent companies, they did in well general s&p up 24%, but clean energy index, all those stuff that biden administration loves and wants us to take and buy, it is down. 22%. the vast majority of market up 24%, global clean energy down 22%. >> that is really scary, think about the amount of corporate welfare taken from our pockets and gifted through the inflation reduction act, they still can't make money, this means is plans are so ill conceived. one thing we see is supply chain stuff. none of st stuff was shout through with huge government preferences they are still failing finishly -- financially, they should

say let's get rid of the green idea. that development is bad, then we could have energy freedom and then we would phave prosperity again. david: we will need more energy. the only way to get it, if you go against that grain that forces stuff down our throats that we don't want. >> globally this is true. the word is under powered we need more energy. and you think about so cruel and so inhumane to talk about reducing the world's leader source of cost effective energy in a world that needs more energy, they love flying their lavish jets and telling everyone else, say you could barely live in a tent. david: the life of a dictator.

alex epstein, happy birthdayt yo -- happy new year, good to see you. a "perfectly delicious" day... - mm. [ chuckles ] - ...a "love my new teeth" day. because your clearchoice day is the day everything is back on the menu. a clearchoice day changes every day. schedule a free consultation. hi, i'll have the avocado toast... minus the avocado. so, toast? yeah. everything is so expensive these days. hey, chevy gets it. that's why they're keeping prices down to earth. like on the most affordable ev in america. ♪ a super strong and capable chevy truck. ♪ and a high-tech chevy suv. ♪ why is chevy making affordable vehicles, connected by onstar?

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david: that's it for kudlow, thanks for watching, folks.