for children with autism. it's his sixth installment in the series. and if you miss 360, you can go to our podcast and search for anderson cooper 360. the news continues with michael smerconish. >> i am michael smer conish. welcome to "cnn tonight." we have breaking news this friday evening in the omicron fight, but it may only add to the confusion and contradictions that we're seeing all over the country. a study from the u.k. finds no evidence in england that omicron is any less severe than the delta variant. remember that experts have been saying many cases around the world are mild or at least for the vaccinated and the boosted.

the study also finds the risk of getting reinfected is five times higher with omicron and delta and the cdc director made clear omicron is about to take over the conversation in this country. >> although delta continues to circulate widely in the united states, omicron is increasing rapidly and we expect it to become the dominant strain in the united states, as it has in other countries in the coming weeks. >> and that's not the only way that we're seeing conflicting messages and actions as we wonder if this frightening deja vu is warranted. look at our schools. tonight one. nation's 20 largest school districts, prince georges county in maryland, announced it's going back to virtual learning until mid january, allowing educ educators and school staff in conditions to prioritize their own health. that came after the cdc director

pointed to new evidence that schools can stay open, even if someone is infected. she said there needs to be regular testing for anyone exposed instead of a quarantine so as to keep parents from going back into teacher mode. encouraging? maybe. even now our schools and government can't get on the same page. in new york city three schools were shuttered for suspected covid transmission. cases in connecticut, hawaii and texas all up more than 50% from just last week. the northeast, midwest and south are seeing the fastest jumps with 16 states trending in the wrong direction. new york state alone accounting for 10% of new cases in this country over the past week. and now shattering its daily case record, though you can see hospitalizations remain comparatively low when compared with other case peaks. ohio's governor deploying more

than a thousand national guard troops to help at hospitals. office reopenings are being put on hold, holiday parties scrapped. the radio city rocketets christmas spectacular cancelled for the season. the ncaa basketball schedules like a snow globe all shaken up. in the nhl, three teams are shut down and won't be back on the ice until after the league's holiday break. the nfl is postponing three of the weekend's games, dozens of players are now on the covid reserve list. so where does all of that put your mind a week before christmas and with the new year looming? nearly 4 in 10 americans think we'll still need to take extra precautions but interestingly more of you, 45% told us in recent days that you think it's already safe to ease up. that's up nearly ten points from september yet seeing massive lines for testing once again can

be ominous and frustrating. earlier this month before scenes like this came rushing back, the biden administration defended its work to expand free testing, which led to this question. >> why not just make them free and have them available everywhere? >> should we just send one to every american? >> ah, yes would be my answer. new york is just the latest state making at least effort to get home test kits out. germany and the u.k. let you order test packs by mail or by tests for $1. i can't think of a more difficult time to be an elected represent tough, much less the mayor of new york city. we have a special guest, the incoming democratic mayor of new york city, eric adams. mr. mayor-elect, thank you so much for being here. >> thank you as well.

>> there will be no money mo honeymoon. to go from the frying pan into the fire. how do you feel? >> i don't want a honeymoon. the game is on the line and i'm a winner and the city's a winner. as you stated, these are challenging times. i don't think the answer is just mailing out test kits to everyone. a test kit will tell you your diagnosis for the moment. it's about vaccination. we need to lean into vaccinations, we need to lean into booster shots and match what the testing, we should make sure there is access to get vaccinated at the location. >> so that sounds a lot like what i heard just last night with mayor de blasio. are you buying in entirely to his employer vaccination mandate? >> no, what i'm buying into is, number one, let's use mobile vaccination sites. one is parked outside of

brooklyn hall, the lines are long. let's double down on having access to people, number one, getting tested but when you get tested, let's get people the real options that they should be vaccinated on the spot. those areas that the science has stated that we should have a mandatory vaccine for those in office spaces, then we do that. let's just follow the science and allow our health and hospitals, department of health and mental hygiene, they should drive the policies of how we deal with covid-19. >> but i think we're ten days away from de blasio's plan taking effect for all private employers. will you continue that program when you're mayor? >> my department of health and mental hygiene commissioner, we're already meeting with de blasio's teams now. they're going to give me my clear instructions and i'm going to articulate that instructions to new yorkers. if it means mandatory vaccination, if it means

vaccination for children in schools, whatever my department of health tells me, that's what we're going do. i'm not a doctor, i'm not a medical professional. that's why you surround yourself with qualified professionals and the plans we implement will be based on that information. >> okay, i totally respect that answer. but i would think that by now you would already have asked those folks and come to some decision as to whether you'll continue on what de blasio is putting in practice. >> we asked many questions remember, covid is continued evolving. this is a formidable opponent, this thing we call covid-19. new strands come out every day. it continuously changing. the numbers we see today are going to be different from the numbers that we're going to see in two weeks. so to become stringent and lock yourself into one way of doing things is a big mistake. we're delling with the crisis of

covid-19 and the crisis of our country. i don't want my economy to continue to suffer. i'm going to evaluate where we are in two weeks and make a smart decision based on that. i'm not going to lock down my city based on what could happen or lock it down if needed based on what is happening and that is not where we are right now. >> mr. mayor-elect, how about with regard to the new york city public schools? >> well, we're doing an amazing job. we're looking at those areas where we have large outbreaks. we are temporarily shutting down the schools in those areas. i think it's smart, it's a great way to go and we're going to continue to do that. this is a moving target. we need to be clear on that. what we're looking at today is not what we're going to be looking at next week. we did not know there is going to be a new variant that was going to be in our city after leaving south africa. we have to adjust based on what we're facing. and let's be clear, this city is

great at facing crises and responding to crises and we're facing the economic and covid crises and i'm going to make the right decisions to be sure we continue to thrive as a city. covid is here, new yorkers and americans. we need to learn how to live with it in a smart way, do smart things to protect the health of new yorkers but at the same time continue to function at a city. >> i spent the whole week in new york city. it's a special time of year to be in new york city. you think of new york city this time of year, you think about the ball dropping on new year's eve. last night i asked mayor de blasio about that subject. watch what he told me. >> we made the decision a few weeks back when things were much better. we said vaccinated people only and outdoors. now, we're going to reassess constantly with the new information. we're going to follow the data and science. right now it's on. we'll make a decision as we get closer as to what should finally

happen. >> i know that it's not your call because you'll be sworn in the following day, but do you think the time square as we know it should take place this year? >> well, i think two smart things i heard. number one, the first smart thing i heard is that you were in new york city. you should come in and spend your money as much as possible. the second is what the mayor stated. both of us are on the same page. this is a moving target. and if january -- december 31st we are dealing with a spike that's uncontrollable, we'll make the determination to postpone or to stop the ball dropping. we're not there yet. right now we're managing this outbreak as much as possible. we're gauging the spikes, we're looking at the hospitalizations. we're doing it the right way. and we need to be really proud of ourselves as new yorkers. we were hit in the gut when covid first hit here.

we adjusted and made smart decisions, we were able to push it back and that is what we're going to continue to do. this is a resilient city and we're going to defeat covid like we defeat any type of crises we're facing. >> if it were your call, would you have that public crowd in times square on new year's eve. >> it has to be on december 31st. the mayor is making the right decision. he used a powerful term, reassess. covid moves continuously. the mayor said let's reassess and that is what he's going to do on the 31st and i would tell you the same thing if i was the mayor at this time. >> mr. mayor-elect, we like to have responses to social media live during the courses of the program. let me show you some of what's just come in. we can respond together. rick says, "i'm vaccinated, i'm protected, time to stop caring

about the anti-vaksers." you would say what to rick. >> i'm two thumbs up to you. we cannot allow those on social media to determine the outcome of how to follow the science. those anti-vaxers distorting information, facts must dominate how. we address covid. >> one more, mr. mayor. here it comes. "if this thing hadn't been so politicized, we'd is been on the other side of it right now." you will say what to gary? >> gary, covid is real. it's not just politicizing covid-19. people have died from it. i was on the ground in the beginning when it hit our city. i know how devastating it is. we're making smart decision, we're learning. this is a virus that continues to evolve and we must evolve as

it evolves. so i think the government both on the federal, state and city level is doing the right thing to protect americans and we're going to do the right thing to protect new yorkers. eric adams, i wish you nothing but success. good luck. >> thank you very much. come back to new york. >> i'll be there on monday. come in next week and let's have this conversation knee to knee, okay? >> i would love that. take care. >> thank you. closures and cancellations are back with this holiday situation looking eerily similar to last year. but are public officials overreacting? a controversial viewpoint, he says we can't stop the spread and need to learn to live with the virus. he's on deck.

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in the towel. >> we will win this war with this virus, but we will win it only because and because we apply the things that we have, the interventions. we are so fortunate that we have a highly effective and safe vaccine. we know what public health mitigations work. we've got to hang in there. we can't give up. >> my next guest offers a different, some would say controversial perspective saying that we can't stop the spread so it's better to protect the vulnerable and live with the virus. it's a case he made a year ago in "the great barrington declaration." monday those that pushed back is the now cdc director, yet in spite of all of today's headlines, dr. jay bhattacharya still thinks it's time to end this. welcome back. go ahead and give the short version of the these ice. >> sure. the key thing is we do not have a technology to stop the spread of this virus. dr. fauci is incorrect.

the mitigation technologies have not stopped the virus despite millions of kids stayed home from school, businesses and churches closed, we did not stop the virus from spreading. the vaccine is fantastic. it protects against diseases and done enormous benefit and saved the lives of countless people, but it, again, does not stop the spread of the virus. vaccinated people can get sick and spread the virus. i was vaccinated in april and got covid in august. that is a very common outcome. that means the vaccine is great for personal protection, much less so for public protection. >> but dr. bhattacharya, you'r live and let live mentality will lead to more cases, more hospitalizations and consequently more deaths. >> actually that's not right, michael. the key thing is we have all these great technologies to

protect people against the bad outcomes if you get infected. for instance, we have the vaccine. absolutely, great tool for protection if you get sick. n another one is the monoclonal antibodies. reduces risk of hospitalization and death. we have these lateral flow test kits that quickly tell you if you're positive before you go visit grandma. we have all these amazing tools to be able to reduce the risk from vulnerable people. there's a thousand fold difference. the elderly are a thousand times more likely to die if they get infected if they're not vaccinated versus young people. same time the mitigation strategies we've been doing have caused enormous public health harm. countless people missed their cancer screening and women are showing up with stage four breast cancer today that should have been picked up last year because we stopped doing

elective procedures. we have people missing diabetes management screening, depression rates are through the roof in young people. one in four in july of last year serio seriously considered suicide. >> dr. bhattacharya, in my setup tonight, in my setup tonight, i was giving the overview of what's going on in the country. one of the things that i said is that in ohio the national guard is being deployed to help out in e.r.s. the data suggests that they're being overwhelmed. if we again had a hands-off approach, wouldn't that be the case all over the country? >> i mean, we've not had a hands-off approach and we still have enormous pressure and enormous number of cases. we had 800,000 deaths despite following this lockdown focus strategy that dr. fauci argued for. it's a strategy designed for failure. it has not succeeded because it cannot succeed. if you think about what a

lockdown actually does, only a certain class of people, the rich, the laptop class who don't lose their jobs can actually afford to lockdown when the vast majority of regular working class people have been working through the epidemic, keep be society going and gotten sick. the idea you can control community spread through m mitigation strategies is just not true, michael. >> i want to get in here and make this interactive. i love contemplation of what you're saying, even in aspects i don't agree with. you say protect the most vulnerable, protect the elderly. haven't we done that? the latest data is more than 98.5% of seniors already have at least one shot. haven't we been in a case following that prescription? >> to some, extent we have. we prioritized the elderly in vaccination, in some states.

that was good. a number of elderly still don't have the second shot and i think the elderly should get the booster. we could do more so when people do get sick, even if they're vaccinated we should make the monoclonal antibody and other treatment options more available than they have been. and i think there are other things we can do. we can make these lateral flow test kits much cheaper and more widely available. that's something you covered in your setup and i completely agree with. that would give power to people to say is it safe to go visit grandma? is it safe do this activity? >> when you first proposed this and i remember interviewing you here on cnn when you first released the barrington declaration, in that era, there was a harvard infectious disease specialist who said i think it's wrong, i think it's unsafe, i think it invites people to act in ways that have the potential do an enormous amount of harm,

that is rochelle well enski, who is head of the cdc. what would you a say to her? >> she signed the john snell memorandum that was premised on if you get sick and recovered from covid, you not protected against reinfection. we now know that to be false. it was false when she signed it. the idea that the only way to protect the vulnerable is by these lockdowns was another premise of the document she signed. that has turned out to be false. the main problem, michael, is that people like dr. welenski do not seem to understand these lock double plays have imposed enormous harm on working class people, on the poor throughout the world. there's data from the u.n. suggesting that 100 million people have been thrown into poverty as a consequence of rich countries imposing lockdowns. 80 million people thrown into

dire food insecurity, hundreds of thousands of children dead in south asia as a consequence of starvation caused by the economic harm caused by these lockdowns they view these lockdowns as a common sense thing with low cost -- >> i get the social cost. i understand it. we have three who are still in school under our roof. i get the real life impact of what it means and some of those societal costs that have yet to be really callculated. the news tonight is the latest data from the u.k. suggests it might not be as mild as we were hoping. highly infective omicron, we hoped it was might. it mute ight not be the case. does that alter your thinking >> i was looking at data from africa that indicates the opposite the key question is

does it evade inatural immunity? the answer is no. you can be infected with omicron but you'll get milder disease. the vaccine produces milder disease, even if you're infected. we turned covid into this thing where if we get it, somehow we failed. no. if we get covid and survive well with it. if you're vaccinated, that's exactly what the vaccine does. that's why we're recommending it. >> i get the argument. but because of the economies of scale, even if very few die from it, it's still a hell of a lot of people. dr. bhattacharya, quick social media reaction, let's respond to it together. let's take a look. smerconish, is this guy's point that we should just let everyone get sick with covid, overrun our hospitals? where do breast cancer people get treated if hospitals are overrun? you would say what to paradise

graham, who sent that in? >> i'd say that hospitals have been basically been shut down as a consequence of decisions like shutdowns. we should them down because we made a conscious decision to lock down. that didn't stop community spread. community spread happens regardless of our illusion of control over it. i think we have to stop thinking we have control over the spread of this virus when we actually do not. that itself has caused harm. >> dr. bhattacharya, to be continued. thank you for coming back. >> thank you, michael, for having me. >> former minnesota police officer kim potter breaking down on the stand today as she testified in other own defense in the shooting death of dante wright. >> you knew deadly force was unreasonable in that circumstance? >> i didn't want to hurt anybody. >> was it the right move for her

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trazer and confirmed she did not render aid. listen. >> you'd agree as a police officer you have the duty to render aid and communicate information to other officers, right? >> yes. >> and it's part of your job to assist those who are hurt or injured. true? >> yes. >> and to communicate to other officers what you know about a particular scene, right? >> yes. >> give them whatever information you can to help them do their jobs to help render assistance, things like that, right? >> yes. >> but you didn't do any of those things on april 11th, did you? >> no. >> you stopped doing your job completely. you didn't communicate what happened over the radio, right? >> no. >> you didn't make sure any officers knew what had you just done, right? >> no. >> you were focused on what you

had done because you had just killed somebody. >> i'm sorry it happened. >> closing arguments scheduled to begin on monday. let's bring in somebody who knows this world very well, cnn legal analyst and former new york city prosecutor now defense attorney paul callan. the facts are not in dispute in this case so what's the issue? >> well, the real issue is how the jury is going to respond to this fact pattern. prosecutors are saying that the police officer involved, officer potter acted recklessly and negligently in mistaking her taser for her police pistol, her glock and that that alone is a crime under minnesota law and this was an unreasonable use of force and she's facing manslaughter charges, manslaughter in the first degree and manslaughter in the second degree. >> i want to show a photograph, it's a side-by-side comparison

of the taser versus the firearm. what's the significance of this? >> well, i think it's a demonstration that it's really tough to mix these two weapons up. the taser is colored in a different way. it's a slightly different size and the jury actually heard testimony that traditionally the police officers involved wear the taser on their less dominant side and the real gun on their dominant side and that's exactly what officer potter did. she had her glock revolver on the right and the taser on the left. nonetheless, she pulled the glock and she said she thought it was the taser. >> third time, third recent case, very high profile, there was rittenhouse, mick michael and now this case where the defendant has taken the stand in their own defense. how did she do? >> i thought she did remarkably well to tell you the truth.

i say that because having watched a lot of these police shooting cases throughout the years and sadly we've had a lot of them in the united states, normally when the officer takes the stand, if he does take the stand, it's sort of a stoic presentation in which the officer absolutely defends his actions. he says the defendant was reaching into his pocket, i thought it was a gun, i thought i was in danger and i acted properly and used force reasonably. on the other hand, officer potter broke down in tears and said i'm so sorry i made this mistake, it was horrible. she didn't even try to justify the use of force or the level. force that was used here as other officers have done. so it really was a remarkable turn about in the kind of testimony you would expect in a case like this. and she may have garnished quite a bit of sympathy from this jury as she told the tale of how she made this mistake that horribly led to the death of dante wright. >> tragic, tragic case. such a sad outcome.

we'll find out next week exactly how it wraps up. paul, thank you so much. >> thank you, michael. >> president biden ending this year with the lowest first year approval ratings of any elected president in modern history with the exception of donald trump. so if the case of biden, what's driving it? our own fareed zakaria calls it a puzzle. but he has a theory and he's next. a quote today. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ bye mom. my helpers abound, i'll need you today. our sleigh is now ready, let's get on our way. a mountain of toys to fulfill many wishes. must be carried across all roads and all bridges. and when everyone is smiling and having their fun i can turn my sleigh north because my job here is done. it's not magic that makes more holiday deliveries to homes in the us than anyone else,

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president biden has a popularity problem. his approval is underwater. his standing with young voters is at 35%. that's down from the 70s in gallup's january numbers, even the slightly better numbers in the latest c tnn poll are know where near the support biden needed to win the white house. he writes "presidents often get rewarded for being around in good times, whether they caused them or not. in joe biden's case, he mostly handled them his job with common

sense and dignity but is paying the price now for complicated times that we are living in." fareed zakaria, go ahead, i want the rebuttal. >> biden is an accidental president. normally presidents come to the office with enormous personal political capital. after all, they won the presidency. biden is accidental. he became president for two reason, one, obama chose him as his vice president and second, donald trump. he was the not dronald trump on the ballot. when you think back to kennedy, clinton, and even george bush, they had a certain charisma and personal political capital they

could use. biden lacks some of that. the overwhelming thing is he's passed a lot of stuff that people like, he's handled the office with decency and grace. he's a good man. but we're living through complicated times. people expected the pandemic to be over, but it's not over, it grinding on in this strange way when just when you thought it was safe to get back in the water, it's not safe. america's position in the world is complicated. we get out of afghanistan that everyone thought was good but it's a messy, awful, humiliating experience. the economy is doing well, you know, on some measures, but you have inflation. so all of it leads to a very unsatisfying feeling. and for the president who promised we're going to get back to normal, we're past the weird abnormality of donald trump, the weird abnormality of covid, i'm going to restore normalcy. well, it's not normal.

not yet at least. >> so i would say your first part slightly different. he benefited from the daily split screen where there was this comparison with donald trump, and now that's just no longer the case, especially with trump is missing his access to social media. my second factor would be that given the partisan times in which we live, unless america is at war, the days of a president having a 60% approval rating are over. the third point that i would make is i don't know that you're giving due credit to things that aren't going well on his watch, whether it's the continuation of covid, inflation, the border, the withdrawal of afghanistan, which seemed haphazard. i mean, there are a number of things that for better or worse they've mohhappened on his watc and he needs to be held accountable for. >> the truth of the matter is americans don't vote on foreign policy. they subcontracted that to the

president. they wanted to get out of afghanistan. yes, it was messy. as i said he handled it badly but truthfully there is no elegant way to get out of a war you've been losing for ten years. maybe he could have done the sequencing better but the people who should be held to account are the people who kept telling us we were winning this war for 15 years when exactly the opposite was true. so i think when you look at things like covid, you and i both know, michael, if more of the country adopted the strategy that he and, you know, all the public health officials say we should adopt, which is get vaccinated, we would be in a very different space. yes, we would have problems, but we'd be in a very different space. i don't mean to minimize the mistakes he's made. he's at 44, 45%. that's very low. that's kind of in the range of somebody who has really had a

cataclysmic series of failures and mistakes and that's not really where biden is. he's at a point where somebody who has been truly venal and kind of immoral in his -- that's not bide wrn. there's something else going on here, which is what i was trialing to explain. >> well, you prompted a great conversation. i took note of the fact that i think there were nearly 5,000 comments appended to your piece at the time i first read it. fareed, thank you for being here. >> always a pleasure, michael. >> more with fareed, fareed zakaria gps, 10 a.m. eastern on sunday. biden's survey questionnaire, i haven't read it. i'd love if you'd go to my web site and answer this, it's the old are you better off financially, better off than you

were one year ago? and it's eight days until christmas, which also means love it or hate it the annual war on christmas is back. that will be the subject next with john avalon next. ♪ you pour your heart into everything you do, which is a lot. so take care of that heart with lipton. because sippin' on unsweetened lipton can help support a healthy heart. lipton. stop chuggin'. start sippin'.

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that sounds nice. let me talk to my manager. (vo) buy your next car 100% online. with carvana. so-called war on christmas is actually nothing new. it's origins date back centuries. john avalon has tonight's reality check. >> thanks, michael. i love christmas. the trees, the car rolls, all of it. the season's generosity of spirit runs into the buzz saw of strange people trying to score political points by warning about a war on christmas. if you didn't know better, you might think they're talking about thomas massy's again

toting christmas card but they're repeating the rifts they heard on fox news that is serving as war on christmas headquarters for almost two decades now and the most enthusiastic field marshal is ex president donald trump who tried to take credit for defeating the ghost of christmas' pass in an interview. >> when you came into office, america had gone through a long period where people quit saying merry christmas. >> right. >> it was all happy holidays. you deliberately changed that. >> this was in 2015 when i started campaigning, i said you're going to say merry christmas again and now people are saying it. >> it's tempting to say this is just the old firefighter routine with mistletoe over it but it is worth asking how this candy cane flavor insanity began. bill o'reilly commonly gets credit for conceiving the war on christmas during the seasonal rant against secular

progressives in 2004. but the real story of the war on christmas actually predates fox news by decades if not centuries. and as i found out while researching the latest reality check digital, the roots are weirder and more revealing than you might imagine. let's work our way back to 1959 when a notorious wing nut organization known as the john birch society was busy alerting americans of an assault on christmas at the hands of the united nation learning there were secret orders to utilize u.n. symbols and emblems of christmas decorations. check out more contemporary k c -- echoes from the 1920s when they opined last christmas most people had a hard time finding cards that indicated in any way that christmas commemorated someone's birth. and who was to blame for allegedly taking the christ out of christmas?

is a here is a hint. the international jew. yeah, it's really ugly but that's kind of the point. accusations of a war on christmas are negative partisanship. the idea your perceived ocho phone i -- opponents are so evil they want to cancel christmas but the ultimate irony is if you go far back, the real war on christmas was started by pure christians. it's true. the english killjoys decided to literally ban christmas celebrations by an order of parliament in 1647 considered too indueling. some exported their ban to the american colonies. in 17th century boston, you

could get fined five shillings if you got caught celebrating christmas. that was a load of dough back then and any latent impulse should have been finally laid to rest in 1870 when the president made it a federal holiday. christmas has been safely celebrated since then and removing nativity scenes from public property even though it can be seen as violating the constitutional prohibition on any official state religion. nonetheless, according to research, as many as nine out of every ten americans say they celebrate christmas including 81% of non-christians so you and your kids can sleep easy while waiting for santa knowing the spirit of the season has somehow survived and thrived despite all these trumped up warnings about this phony war on christmas. and that's your reality check. back to you. >> john avalon, thank you. we'll be right back with your social media reaction to

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time for results. are you financially better or worse off than you were a year ago? 9 t 9,000 voted. 47% better off, 15% worse off, 38% about the same. that's headed in the right direction. more social media reaction to tonight's program. what do we have? she's certainly guilty of negligence and some jail time scenes warranted but the position of her prison while rittenhouse makes his promotional tour for the right wing media, look, the whole shooting incident to what you're referring was so strtragic, she made a mistake, of course. she's contrite about it. the question is was she reckless? that's the jury for the issue. i was watching this unfold and my son said she's apologetic, it was a got awful tragedy, what's the issue? she reckless? one more. i think i have time to sneak this in. at what point can the responsible stop paying the

price for the unresponsible? i'm losing my sense of compassion for those who are refusing to get vaxed and then get themselves and the rest of society into trouble. so i feel the same way. i feel the same way. no amount of browbeating is going to change their minds. thank you for watching all week long. i'll be back on monday night. please join me tomorrow morning and every saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. eastern for "smerconish" here on cnn. i'm laughing. i don't know how that will look but "don lemon tonight" starts now. >> is this your oldest son? i forgot his name. he was a baby then. >> they have all grown. none are babies anymore. none are babies. i wish they were. >> nice full head of hair, good looking young man. obviously, he looks like your wife. that's the one i'm talking about. >> yes, you're correct. [ laughter ] >> that is true. >> the crew is laughing over here. michael, have a good show tomorrow. have a great weekend and i won't be here next week so have