we're struggling to get to herd immunity. i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia. this week we reached a tipping point. in many parts of the country supply of covid-19 vaccine now outstrips demand. consider that on thursday here in philadelphia at a mass vaccination site there were 4,000 extra doses due to expire. and for the first time los angeles county was projected to not its weekly goal of administering 95% of its vaccine supply because appointments for the first dose have decreased by

about 50%. this after the "new york times" had already reported that in rural, more republican areas, there are far more doses of the vaccine available than there are people interested in receiving the jab. in a county in wyoming a local health official asked the state to stop sending first doses of the vaccine because the freezer was already stuffed to capacity with unwanted vials. in an iowa county the clinic called people who had volunteered to give shots to tell them not to come in because so few residents had signed up for appointments. a new cnn poll maybe tells us why. 26% of americans say they will not get the vaccine. among republicans, that number is 44%. that's scary. those folks jeopardize our ability to get to herd immunity faster. if we don't get vaccinated and periodically boosted we could prolong the pandemic and find ourselves continuing to fight the battle for years when we have the medical innovation to get back to living our normal lives in a matter of months.

as the law professor argued at smerconish.com this week without a better carrot or bigger stick many americans won't get vaccinated and we will suffer more death and dislocation. with an eye toward republican reluctance this week the congressional doctors' office composed of gop senators and congr congressmen who are also medical professionals released a video urging americans to get over their hesitancy. >> it is obvious to me from a medical standpoint the only way to protect ourselves and loved ones and end the government's restrictions on our freedoms is to take action and get the vaccine >> i look forward to the freedom i along with my loved ones will regain once the vast majority of americans are vaccinated. >> but will outreach like this be enough to convince the vaccine hesitant? the president's reserved approach sending the right message? his address wednesday night to a joint session of congress provided a perfect chance to demonstrate the vaccine's effectiveness and progress. the president could have entered

unmasked into a room packed with vaccinated lawmakers also unmasked and touted it as a return to normal. instead he entered with a mask to a sparsely populated room of masked and distanced lawmakers conveying the message nothing has gotten better despite the fact that 100 million americans have now been fully vaccinated. we saw an historic image of the president delivering an address to congress backed by two women vice president kamala harris and house speaker nancy pelosi. in that camera frame as president biden spoke harris and pelosi kept their masks in place despite the fact that all three have been fully vaccinated. as our cnn medical analyst put it in "the washington post" with masks and distancing biden's speech sent the wrong message about the power of our vaccines. she further wrote, imagine if wednesday's joint session had required that all attendees be fully vaccinated. those who were not vaccinated were not welcome but those permitted in could walk in, take off their mask, sit next to one

another, and listen to a presidential address just as they did in 2019. the science shows that could have been done. it would have sent a message that vaccines are safe, effective, and the key to ending the pandemic. instead the american people got a different message, one that could impede the nation's vaccine progress at a time when we can least afford it. on the subject of vaccine hesitancy the centers for disease control may have made things even more difficult with their new guidance on mask wearing. this week's edict was deemed by many to be confusing. the new protocols say fully vaccinated people can now exercise outdoors or with members of their household without a mask, dine unmasked at an outdoor restaurant with friends from multiple households, hold small, unmasked outdoor gatherings with others inoculated or with a, quote, mix of unvaccinated people. the agency did not say how large the gatherings can be and said americans should continue to wear masks in crowded public

places like sporting events, concerts, or parades. got all that? the former fda commissioner dr. scott gotleib said this. >> the guidance cdc put out is a step in the right direction but relatively confusing. it is not clear in terms of what they are prescribing. we need simpler rules. we need to decide what our public health goal is. >> he's not alone. a public health professor co-authored a piece in "the wall street journal" under the headline "take off your mask and go outside" and concluded americans can be outside without masks except for a, quote, packed setting where social distancing is impossible. at this point those who remain unvaccinated are most at risk, but according to the cnn poll, when asked about returning to our routines, the group most comfortable with doing so? those who have not and will not get the vaccine. 87% of them. if we want to convince the

unvaccinated to do their part is the best approach to show them those who have had their shots are still wearing masks or with displays of our foregone freedoms in a pre-covid world be more effective messaging? that's the carrot. here is another. in chicago the public health commissioner just introduced a vax pass residents can use to gain access to summer concerts. according to abc chicago's public health commissioner stressed the forthcoming pass, quote, is not a vaccine passport nor is it an app that businesses check before patrons can enter. instead, it will be more similar to city passes that give residents the discounts, free admission to museums, or let them skip lines to city attractions. but if this sort of encouragement fails, there is also the stick, which could be wielded by government and the private sector. businesses have particular leverage as they can require employees to get vaccinations and restrict public access to private spaces like airlines,

mass transit, most sporting and cultural venues, restaurants, movie theaters. writing in "usa today" michael stern a former federal prosecutor said this. businesses should make vaccination a requirement for employment. a covid outbreak can shut down a business and be financially devastating. failure to enforce basic health and safety measures is not fair to employees who have to work in offices, factories, and stores, where close contact is required. things should get personal, too. people should require friends to be vaccinated to attend the barbecues and the birthday parties they host. friends don't let friends spread covid. well, he's right. our elected leaders were some of the first in line to receive the covid-19 vaccine. they argued it was a matter of public health and duty. their next obligation is to demonstrate by way of doing that the jab has afforded them a new lease on life. go to a baseball game. eat in a restaurant. and sit side by side at a joint

session of congress. joining me now to discuss is dr. leana wen a cnn medical analyst and physician and former baltimore public health commissioner. she has a book in july. the title "lifelines a doctor's journey in the fight for public health." dr. wen, we're going to get to herd immunity through a balance of those who have had it and those who got vaccinated. so this conversation is all about how that will be balanced and if we can get there through more vaccination fewer people will get sick and die. how is that? >> well, i certainly agree with you on everything you said in your intro. i also, though, am not sure that we are going to reach herd immunity. the other scenario here is that we get a decline of the number of infections because of increasing vaccinations over the summer. that is really good. i also fear people are going to get complacent and see that things are returning to normal.

they can go about doing things they were able to before regardless of whether they were vaccinated. what i really worry about is that those people who are already on the fence don't get vaccinated. we don't reach herd immunity come the fall and then with the winter because coronavirus is our winter respiratory viruses, we have a big resurgence. maybe variants from other countries. and we could start the whole process all over again and have another huge pandemic come the winter. so that is why getting to herd immunity now as much as possible is really important and because we don't have the incentives in place as you said i don't know that we'll get there. >> okay. how do we close the deal? i want to show you page one of the "new york times" today because a reporter went to green county, tennessee. put it up on the screen. here's what they found. a week here in green county reveals a more nuanced, layered hesitancy than surveys suggest. people say that politics isn't the leading driver of their

vaccine attitudes. the most common reason for their apprehension is fear. fear that the vaccine was developed in haste, that long term side effects are unknown. their decisions are also entangled in a web of views about bodily autonomy, science, authority, plus a powerful, regional, somewhat romanticized self-image. we don't like outsiders messing in our business. how do we reach that mindset? >> it's a really good question. i think actually there are three buckets of people who have not yet had the vaccine. we have to regard these three fw groups very differently. there is a group truly antivax, antiscience. the group we should be targeting first are those who really want the vaccine but just haven't had it because they have other things in their lives to worry about. they have work. maybe they're working multiple jobs, tacking care of elderly parents, young kids. we need to make it really easy for them to get the vaccine. we should be closing mass

vaccination sites, redistributing vaccines to doctors' offices, pharmacies, getting public clinics and churches and schools and work places. that's how to reach those people. then there is the big middle, the group i think you were referring to, michael, people who have specific concerns about the vaccine. we need to address these concerns ideally by people in their community who change their minds, who initially thought i'm worried about the vaccines, too, but here is what changed my mind. for those people to tell those stories and now show all these pictures of people reunited with their families. going about their normal lives. i think we should do just like people did the vaccine selfie we need selfies of people now going to bars and restaurants with other vaccinated people to show what a return to 2019 prepandemic life could really look like. >> i like your idea in particular getting it into the hands of physicians whom are trusted by their patients instead of the mass vaccine set up we are now operating under.

thank you so much. you've written great things on this that i encourage people to google and read. >> thank you. >> what are your thoughts? tweet me or go to my facebook page. i'll read some responses through the program. from twitter, just stop the drama. we aren't out of the woods yet so of course we should still be wearing masks. not even 50% of americans have been vaccinated. why wouldn't anyone interpret a mixed message between the vaccine uptick and the need to still wear masks? i am suggesting that in some circumstances people wearing a mask are doing so in a context where the science doesn't support it and maybe, maybe the way to encourage people to get vaccinated is to show them individuals who have been vaccinated and now are resuming what life used to be like before the whole pandemic began. we've got to close this deal. you heard dr. wen say we may not get to herd immunity. i said we'll get there sooner or later. hopefully with fewer sick and dead. she said, hey. we may not get there at this rate. by the way, why aren't people

looking at the film footage from india? and saying, the world still has a problem. up ahead you of course remember the man who came up with the brilliant phrase "it's the economy, stupid." his latest declaration is that wokeness is a huge, political problem for the democratic party. james carville is here to tell us why. we'll do that next. james and i both want to know whether you agree with him. this week's survey question at smerconish.com. wokeness is a problem and we all know it. agree or disagree? we made usaa insurance for busy veterans like kate. so when her car got hit, she didn't waste any time. she filed a claim on her usaa app and said, “that was easy.”

usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa. my name is austin james. as a musician living with diabetes, fingersticks can be a real challenge. that's why i use the freestyle libre 14 day system. with a painless, onesecond scan i can check my glucose without fingersticks. now i'm managing my diabetes better and i've lowered my a1c from 8.2 to 6.7. you can do it without fingersticks, too. ask your doctor for a prescription for the freestyle libre 14 day system. and visit freestyle libre.us to try it for free. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ my plaque psoriasis... ...the itching ...the burning. the stinging. my skin was no longer mine. my psoriatic arthritis, made my joints stiff, swollen... painful.

emerge tremfyant™. with tremfya®, adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis... ...can uncover clearer skin and improve symptoms at 16 weeks. tremfya® is the only medication of its kind also approved for adults with active psoriatic arthritis. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. tremfya®. emerge tremfyant™. janssen can help you explore cost support options. tremfya®. emerge tremfyant™. when i'm on my hands and knees and i'm digging through the dirt. i feel something in me, like a fire, that's just growing. i feel kinder, when nature is so kind to me. find more ways to grow at miracle-gro.com.

among my patients i often see them have teeth sensitivity as well as gum issues. does it worry me? absolutely. sensodyne sensitivity and gum gives us a dual action effect that really takes care of both our teeth sensitivity as well as our gum issues.

there's no question it's something that i would recommend. stay woke. beware of the woke. or somewhere in between.

that is the conundrum the democrats face. woke meaning to be alert of injustice in society especially racism. nothing wrong with that. but my next guest thinks democrats' blankets allegiance to all things woke will hurt the party at the ballot box. james carville the long time democratic strategist said in an interview, quote, wokeness is a problem and we all know it. he went on to say there may be a group within the democratic party that likes this but it ain't the majority. but they don't want to say it out loud. it is also this week's survey question at smerconish.com. go and vote as to whether you agree with james' assessment. he is here to expand on his thinking, the veteran democratic strategist, the ragin cajun whose efforts helped elect bill clinton to the white house. make sure you catch his podcast which he co-hosts, "politics war room podcast." james, thank you so much for being here. we should make clear, this is a political conversation. it's not the james carville, and

you correct me if i am wrong, it is questioning -- not that you are questioning any one aspect of what gets lumped into wokeness but i think you are saying as a political strategy this dog doesn't hunt. >> it doesn't hunt on several levels. first of all, it sounds, i call it the politics of the faculty lounge. in my view if you want to, in politics, you should speak the language of the people. you should speak clear, direct english and address people as they address each other, not like the humanities department at amherst wants you to address everybody. this is simple. >> is this the kind of an issue, james, that is impossible to poll because people are going to lie to a pollster but when they go in and close the curtain, they'll do what they want to do? >> i don't have to poll. all right? after the 2020 congressional elections it was a huge eruption in democratic caucus where people correctly pointed out

that this whole defund the police stuff cost us congressional seats. i can look at the voting results in the rio grande valley. i can look at the voting results in miami dade. i can relate conversations that i have with people every day. people who don't want to live like this are scared to address the issue because it might come out the wrong way. no one is using that language except for, you know, some of our people on television if you go to -- if you need wokeness just go listen to npr. i leave it on my truck radio so i never fall asleep. >> is it possible, is it possible that the votes that you lose because of the wokeness conversation are more than offset by those who are enthused by this kind of dialogue? >> no. and most of the people that are enthused by this kind of dialogue live in boston,

manhattan, or washington. we'll carry d.c. and new york and massachusetts. we won't win an election in a faculty lounge. that's just idiotic. i'm not saying -- that whole assumption is idiotic. and i -- the number of people that have contacted me or had people contact me after this has been enormously gratifying. everybody just wanted this temperature to break. i get people, they're woke and tired of being woke. people want to -- after this pandemic and stuff people want to go about their lives, enjoy it, enjoy their friends. they don't want to be nervous about how you address them or talk to them or anything. and, you know, that's just where people are. people have gotten fired over this. people have lost jobs over retweeting academic research. i mean, time and time again, you hear this from everybody and of

course people say i don't want to say anything because i'll lose my job. well, it so happens i'm just at a point where there is nothing to cancel me from so i don't care. do what you want to do. >> is your level of concern about the wokeness issue and the way it plays such that you think it could cost the democrats the midterm in the -- the house in the midterm elections? >> it almost did in 2020. we did not do well. any analyst i talked to, any politician i talk to, askriebs it -- ascribes it to the same thing and, you know, ask the congressman from arizona. univision does not allow the word latinx. why? they're trying to get viewers and advertisers and no one talks like that except for the speaking forces. i don't know of anybody and i

live in one of the most diverse cities. i just don't -- >> final question. final question. could donald trump ride wokeness back to the white house in 2024? >> well, let's put it this way. he is a world class buffoon. i mean, historical buffoon not just in the history of the united states and he came within 42,000 votes of winning re-election. after he had flubed up the worst pandemic we've had in a hundred years. somebody somewhere is trying to tell us something. maybe we should listen to them. >> james, nice to have you back. thank you so much. >> yes, michael. thank you for having me. >> you got it. let's see what you're saying through social media, twitter, and facebook. twitter, wokeness is both a

problem and a requirement at the same time. we have many problems that we need to awaken and to solve. however, the path of wokeness as a shame/cancel approach is a problem. i was trying to get at that, david, with my conversation with james. i think if you broke down some of the issues that get tossed into the bin of wokeness, you might, i don't want to speak for james, but you might get his agreement on them. i think largely what he is saying is, hey, politically speaking you put it all together and people have had enough. i am really eager to see how this is going to turn out. i had this survey question on my website for my radio audience earlier in the week with a really decisive pro-carville result. i think it was like 80/20. so let's have at it with the cnn audience. right now go to smerconish.com and answer this question. wokeness is a problem and we all know it. democratic strategist james carville, do you agree or

disagree? up ahead this cursing cheerleaders online rant against her school got her kicked off the squad. this week she took her pep rally of one all the way to the supreme court of the united states. why this is being billed as the most important student speech case since 1969 and why the supreme court is, quote, frightened to death by the case. the light. ♪ it comes from within. it drives you. and it guides you. to shine your brightest. ♪ as you charge ahead. illuminating the way forward. a light maker. recognizing that the impact you make comes from the energy you create. introducing the all-electric lyriq. lighting the way. ♪ i'm ordering some burritos! oh, nice. burritos?! get a freshly made footlong from subway® instead. with crisp veggies on freshly baked bread. just order in the app!

ditch the burgers! choose better, be better. subway®. eat fresh. choose better, be better. listerine® cleans su virtually 100%.. helping to prevent gum disease and bad breath. never settle for 25%. always go for 100. bring out the bold™ this past year has felt like a long, long norwegian winter. but eventually, with spring comes rebirth. everything begins anew. and many of us realize a fundamental human need to connect with other like-minded people. welcome back to the world. viking. exploring the world in comfort... once again. before discovering nexium 24hr to treat her frequent heartburn, marie could only imagine enjoying freshly squeezed orange juice. now no fruit is forbidden. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts

for all-day, all-night protection. can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn?

(text chime) (text chime) (text chime) (sighs) (text chime) (chuckles) (text chime) it's the biggest week in television. watchathon week is your chance to finally watch shows you missed for free. now you get to talk about them with your friends, no matter what time it is. say "watchathon" into your voice remote and watch for free

one case appears to have the nation's highest court feeling, well, a little nervous. it doesn't involve gun rights or civil rights. it involves a high school cheerleader and the justice put it plainly, quote, i'm frightened to death of writing a standard. at issue whether schools can punish students for speech that may disrupt the school even if it occurs online and off campus. the case was brought by a high

school cheerleader who was 14 years old as a freshman on the varsity cheerleading team but didn't make varsity and didn't get the position she wanted on the softball team either. that weekend while she was off campus she took a photo of herself and a friend flipping the bird to the camera. she then typed the words at the center of this case. f school, f softball, f cheerleading, f everything. it exploded. the school deemed the post to be disruptive to cheerleading morale, suspended her from the team for the rest of the year. earlier this year i asked her whether she thought she should have been punished that way by the school. >> i feel like i shouldn't have been. only because it wasn't on school grounds and i wasn't in any school attire. >> the aclu took her case to court saying her free speech rights had been violated. on wednesday the case landed at the supreme court conjuring up dejavu. in the 1969 court case tinker

vs. des moines independent community school district, the supreme court ruled 7-2 students do have free speech rights at school unless the speech is disruptive. but now in the age of the internet the justices are being asked to clarify whether and how schools can punish students for off campus speech. not an easy task. the school district's lawyers say tinker, the tinker precedent, should apply off campus, because off campus speech can also cause discordisruption when it comes to social media but the aclu says once schools can discipline students for off campus speech it would automatically expand the disciplinary reach of schools that the court laid out in the tinker case. justice stephen breyer cut straight to the chase wondering whether online swearing off campus should even qualify for school punishment. >> i mean, she used swear words, you know, unattractive swear words off campus. did that cause a material and

substantial disruption? i don't see much evidence it did. if swearing off campus did, i mean, my goodness. every school in the country would be doing nothing but punishing. >> then justice sonia sotomayor weighed in saying this. >> i'm told by my law clerks that among certain populations, a certain large percentage of the population, how much you curse is a badge of honor. kids basically talk to their classmates. most of their exchanges have to do with their perceptions of the authoritarian nature of their teachers and others. >> justice kavanaugh acknowledged even nba legend michael jordan hasn't let go of the fact he didn't make the varsity team in high school. then he addressed the first amendment implications. >> maybe what bothers me when i

read this is it didn't seem the punishment was tailored to the defense given what i just said about how important it is and you know how much it means to the kids. a year's suspension from the team just seems excessive to me. but how does that fit into the first amendment doctrine or does it fit in at all in a case like this? >> one concern raised by justice kagan with justice sotomayor is the prospect if schools can't discipline off campus speech in some capacity it'll hamper their ability to address genuine problems like cyber bullying. all of the justices repeatedly asked for a rule that would guide schools as to how to handle these tricky questions. the majority conservative court typically pretty straight forward when it comes to first amendment rights but if the court treads carefully which way might this go? joining me now, yale law professor justin driver who clerked for supreme court justices. he is the author of a book right on point "the school house gate,

public education, the supreme court, and the battle for the american mind." professor driver, you know that schools and school districts, they hope there is some articulable standard that comes out of this that they can apply. will they get one? >> it is a really good question after listening to an oral argument on wednesday it seemed to me the justices were groping for a rule. and some of them were attracted to a very narrow resolution to the case, which would offer educators and students and everybody else precious little guidance about when it's permissible to punish students for off campus speech. >> your book title comes directly from this line of cases. is the tinker precedent equipped to dole weal with the internet ? >> tinker says in 1969 it can hardly be argued that students shed their constitutional rights at the school house gate and

exactly as you stated, educators can punish students if there is a reasonable forecast of a substantial disruption. that is an exception to the rather expansive free speech rights that students and adults alike enjoy when they are in nonschool settings. and so from my own vantage point it is extremely dangerous to allow the tinker standard, which offers only diluted first amendment protections to apply to students at a convenience store on a saturday night or at a sleepover or at a party. we don't want our young people to be living under a sort of surveillance state of fearing that any time they express themselves like many adolescents do with profanity that they're going to be punished by the government in this context at the school. >> so to your point about the ripple effects i thought there was a very interesting series of

exchanges. hat tipped to nita toten burge for coverage at npr. it was justice kagan putting hypotheticals to the deputy solicitor general malcolm stewart. wanting to know, is this school speech or not school speech? number one. the student e-mails his classmates. the answers to the geometry homework every day after school. is that school speech or not school speech? i love number two. student e-mails his classmates they should all skip school tomorrow for an impromptu senior skip day. is that school speech or not school speech? and so on and so forth. your reaction? >> justice kagan is an extremely effective questioner of oral argument. and the thing she was trying to get at there was that you could have a very expansive conception of school speech. in my own view, of course it is permissible to punish students for cheating off campus. in fact, most cheating when

people are plagiarizing papers is happening from home. the idea that would be protected speech is illusory. she went on to say what about if a student says, in effect, this school is really homophobic and you all shouldn't go there? imagine, she says, that creates a disruption. should that be protected speech? of course that speech needs to be protected from my own perspective. and nevertheless, it seemed to me that the solicitor general's lawyer may have held out the possibility it would be permissible for the government to punish a student for that political speech that happens in the school context. that is the important point to remember here. exactly as justice sotomayor suggested, young people are often finding their voice by speaking about things that they know about. and school and the government in the form of the public school is something that is in their daily lives. so we ought not be too willing to allow schools to punish students for finding their

voices because when they do so, they are exercising their rights as citizens. i think we can all agree that we want citizens to be engaged with government functions. >> today is may 1. it's amazing to think that by the end of next month we'll go which way this goes. professor, thank you so much for being here. >> glad to be with you. thank you, michael. >> let's check in on your tweets and facebook comments. from the world of twitter. the justice is trying to see if there was some clear line with this with which they could update their previous opinion was amazing. >> robert, thank you for saying that. wasn't it great to be able to play audio for you of the argument that took place wednesday in the supreme court of the united states? guess what would be better? showing you the video. why not? just like the chauvin trial, cameras in the supreme court of the united states? i could sit here on a saturday morning. i could show you justice kagan instead of putting the words up. but you're right.

please make sure that you are answering this week's survey question at smerconish.com. by the way, i just fact checked myself. when i did this for my radio audience, it was an 80/20 outcome with like 7,000 people voting. what will it be today for the cnn audience? wokeness is a problem and we all know it. do you agree or disagree with the ragin' cajun? still to come, the price tag for president biden's first three big initiatives is $6 trillion. what will this do to america's already $22 trillion debt? shouldn't we all be concerned about what it will cost us? >> this deficit and this debt is like a cancer and it is going to destroy our country from within if we don't face up to it and face up to it quickly. ♪ when i was younger ♪ you need a financial plan that fits the way you want to live in retirement. a plan that can help grow and protect your money.

now or in the future. with an annuity in your plan to help cover essential expenses, you can live the retirement you want. the right financial professional can show you how. this is what an annuity can do. ♪ ♪ ♪ this... is a big deal. now, at healthcare.gov, millions more people can afford health coverage. due to the covid relief law, you can pay less with financial help. in fact, 4 out of 5 customers can get a plan for under $10 a month. from doctor visits to preventive services to prescription drugs-- these are quality plans. you can do this. you can have coverage as soon as june 1st if you sign up now at healthcare.gov if you sign up now i need a lawn. quick. the fast way to bring it up to speed... is scotts turf builder rapid grass. it grows two times faster than seed alone for full, green grass. everything else just seems... slow. it's lawn season. let's get to the yard.

dignity. it demands a rapid covid test, because we all deserve an answer. it demands your heart stays connected to your doctor, so you know it's beating as it should. and a rapid test to help evaluate concussion, in case something were to happen. at abbott, we fight for these moments, developing life-changing technologies. because dignity demands it. [sfx: psst psst] allergies don't have to be scary. spraying flonase daily stops your body from overreacting to allergens all season long. psst! psst! all good you could take your ulcerative colitis treatment in a different direction. talk to your doctor about xeljanz, a pill, not an injection or infusion, for adults with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis when a certain medicine did not help enough.

xeljanz is the first and only fda-approved pill for moderate to severe uc. it can reduce symptoms in as early as two weeks, improve the appearance of the intestinal lining, and provide lasting steroid-free remission. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections, like tb and do blood tests. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b or c, have flu-like symptoms, or are prone to infections. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers, including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra may increase risk of death. tears in the stomach or intestines and serious allergic reactions have happened. you could take your uc treatment in a different direction. ask your gastroenterologist about xeljanz. ♪ ♪i've got the brains you've got the looks♪ ♪let's make lots of money♪ ♪you've got the brawn♪ ♪i've got the brains♪ ♪let's make lots of♪

♪uh uh uh♪ ♪oohhh there's a lot of opportunities♪ with allstate, drivers who switched saved over $700. saving is easy when you're in good hands. allstate click or call to switch today. finding new routes to reach your customers, and new ways for them to reach you... is what business is all about. it's what the united states postal service has always been about. so as your business changes, we're changing with it. with e-commerce that runs at the speed of now. next day and two-day shipping nationwide. same day shipping across town. returns right from the doorstep, and deliveries seven days a week. it's a whole new world out there. let's not keep it waiting. in president biden's first hundred days he went big, $6 trillion big the grand total

of his $1.9 trillion covid relief bill, $2.3 trillion infrastructure proposal on the table and the $1.8 trillion in new education and childcare spending announced in a speech this week to congress. before the latest proposals the national debt was almost $22 trillion or about $67,000 per citizen. his new era of big government has surprised even the progressive wing of his party but the question looms, what are the political and economic price tags? according to a congressional budget office report back in march, by the end of this year federal debt held by the public would equal 102% of the gross domestic product or gdp. in 2031, 107%, close to its historical high, that occurred around world war ii. by 2051 it would almost double to 202% of gdp. if the numbers are too abstract maybe this graph will help visualize how off the charts we are headed. again, that was before president

biden's $6 trillion wish list. as explained by john harris at politico president joe biden's address to a joint session of congressional was the most ambitious ideological statement made by any democratic pr see in decades couched in language that made it sound as if it wasn't making an ideological argument at all. not even republicans seem to care about debt anymore. conservative columnist rich lowry notes the conventional wisdom was after the free spending trump years republicans would snap back to being deficit hawks when out of power. there has been some but the relatively muted reaction to biden's almost incomprehensible spending ambitions is testament to the fact that, no, republicans simply aren't interested in fiscal issues anymore. joining me is to discuss is john cochran senior fellow at stanford university's hoover institution. does national debt still matter? >> good morning. yes. debt has to be paid off one way

or another. and this is an enormous debt like you said like what we racked up to fight world war ii. we got to sooner or later think about paying it off. if we don't, bad things come. >> i came of age politically in the reagan '80s where this was a perennial subject. today it seems to get such short sh rift. why? >> we're very lucky interest rates have been very low. and like a household in 2006 we look at the teaser mortgage and say, great, honey. let's load up on it. but that won't last forever. and this amount of debt won't. the debt, itself, is not, per se, a problem. we did have this much at the end of world war ii. the worrisome thing to me is it is ongoing. there is no plan to stop immense borrowing and no plan to pay off this debt. sooner or later bond markets notice you're coming to borrow trillions and trillions and you got no plan to pay it off. >> how does debt actually hurt

the economy and hurt our financials given we were still able to buy and borrow so much in the covid era? >> i don't think it's a tremendous problem as it is. it does -- the more the government borrows the less is available for private capital. that is just a fact. this stuff comes out of savings. you are not noticing that problem tremendously. there is capital available for people who want it. i think the overhang of what happens when the bill comes due is a problem. so it is not an immediate problem. that's why politicians can afford not to pay attention to it. it is a can you kick down the road and let the next people worry about the crisis when it comes. >> earlier in the program i played some video from simpson and bowles. you of course remember that initiative on president obama's watch. we were told the sky would fall unless we got our financial house in order. what would have happened if simpson/bowles had been initiated?

>> i think we would be in less danger of a problem. i think of debt like an earthquake. i live in california on an earthquake fault. it hasn't ruptured the last couple years. does that mean you never worry about it? no. debt is the same way. there was a big danger and we avoided that. we skated on the thin ice. it didn't crack. but that doesn't mean it is still not sitting there waiting. >> okay. you don't seem too alarmed about this. >> i am alarmed about this. what do i have to do? it's not a pressing thing. >> when does the sky fall? >> the way this works, this is like a financial crisis. it's like a run on the bank, like an earthquake. you can't predict -- if you knew it was going to happen, next year, it would happen right now because you'd run to sell all your government debt. so the sky falls when people lose confidence that the u.s. will pay back the debt. then they run to not hold the debt. then you get a massive trouble on your hands. and we're skating close to that.

so i would say the sky falls in the next crisis when the government needs to borrow another $10 trillion and bond markets say, you guys are not worth it. >> could we go the way of greece? >> yes. except we don't have germany to bail us out. we do have the option to print up money to pay off our debts. we could have a big inflation instead of a default. that is roughly the mechanics. remember, greece looked great right up to the moment it didn't look so good. >> thank you so much for being here. i appreciate the tutorial. >> it's always a pleasure. still to come, more of your best and worst tweets and facebook comments and it's going to be really interesting. the final results of the survey question. does the ragin' cajun james car vill have it right when he says, wokeness is a problem and we all know it. go vote at smerconish.com. definitely moisturizer! antibacterial can i have both? new dove care & protect body wash

eliminates 99% of bacteria and moisturizes for hours two for one! can i keep it? new dove care & protect, zero compromise! among my patients i often see them can i keep it? have teeth sensitivity as well as gum issues. does it worry me? absolutely. sensodyne sensitivity and gum gives us a dual action effect that really takes care of both our teeth sensitivity as well as our gum issues. there's no question it's something that i would recommend. my name is austin james. as a musician living with diabetes, fingersticks can be a real challenge. that's why i use the freestyle libre 14 day system. with a painless, onesecond scan i can check my glucose without fingersticks. now i'm managing my diabetes better and i've lowered my a1c from 8.2 to 6.7. you can do it without fingersticks, too. ask your doctor for a prescription for the freestyle libre 14 day system. and visit freestyle libre.us to try it for free.

cal: our confident forever plan is possible with a cfp® professional. a cfp® professional can help you build a complete financial plan. visit letsmakeaplan.org to find your cfp® professional. ♪

cyber attacks are relentlessly advancing. to end them, cybereason built a cyber security solution visit letsmakeaplan.org to find your cfp® professional. so advanced... it can end attacks today -- on computers, mobile devices, servers and the cloud. and deliver future-ready protection, keeping you sharp for tomorrow. join us, the defenders, in our mission. cybereason. end cyber attacks. from endpoints to everywhere. emergency planning for kids. we can't predict when an emergency will happen. so that's why it's important to make a plan with your parents. here are a few tips to stay safe. know how to get in touch with your family. write down phone numbers for your parents, siblings and neighbors. pick a place to meet your family if you are not together and can't go home. remind your parents to pack an emergency supply kit.

making a plan might feel like homework, but it will help you and your family stay safe during an emergency. when this survey question was put to my siriusxm radio audience there was 80/20 agreement. do you agree with james carvel, wokeness is a problem and we all know it? hit me with it. wow! 76%, just like 4 different from the radio. and that's with 27,000. now they tell me it's like 30,000. you've got to take something away from this. it's not scientific. we all know that. i do this because it's fun to do it on a saturday. but if the cnn audience is saying three-quarters of us agree with james carvel, we've

got a problem politically pushing this concept of wokeness, it should be a wakeup call. quickly, what do we have in terms of reaction? there has never been a greater turnoff by democrats as woke. he says what everyone else is thinking. we just saw that 75% of people who are watching right now agree with you. another one, please. smerconish, want a better vaccine for republicans? require a vax card to vote. they've been screaming for voter i.d. cards. wouldn't that be great? the card you get with two signatures, this now becomes your voter i.d. i love that. one more if i've got time. you're preaching to the chorus about covid vax, the folks that need to hear you aren't watching cnn. i acknowledge that we need to reach areas that might not be caught up in this type of a conversation. i think dr. wen is suggesting

that physicians get the vax because in rural areas like the rest of america, we trust our local doc. see you next week. ...is her reality. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts, for all-day, all-night protection. can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn? ♪ ♪ we made usaa insurance for veterans like martin. when a hailstorm hit, he needed his insurance to get it done right, right away. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa

usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. my garden brings us together. my garden is my therapy. find more ways to grow at miracle-gro.com. tonight, i'll be eating a pork banh mi with extra jalapeños. [doorbell rings] thanks, baby. yeah, we 'bout to get spicy for this virtual date. spicy like them pajama pants. hey, the camera is staying up here. this is not the second date. i've got moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. now, there's skyrizi. with skyrizi, 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months, after just 2 doses. skyrizi may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms such as fevers, sweats, chills, muscle aches, or coughs or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. ♪ nothing is everything ♪

now is the time to ask your dermatologist about skyrizi. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

(text chime) ♪ (text chime) (text chime) (sighs) (text chime) (chuckles) (text chime) it's the biggest week in television. watchathon week is your chance to finally watch shows you missed for free. now you get to talk about them with your friends, no matter what time it is. say "watchathon" into your voice remote and watch for free

good morning. i hope saturday morning has been good to you so far, and this first day of may, if you can believe it. i'm christi paul. >> and i'm boris sanchez