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tomorrow at ten on tbs. set your dvr now. >> it's thursday, january 9th, right now on cnn this morning. >> this is a return. this is our nest egg. this is where we moved in when we got married. >> apocalyptic scenes in southern california. wildfires tear through the region for a second day. charring neighborhoods to the ground. >> we are still facing strong and erratic winds. >> we are very much in an active firefight. >> not letting up the intense winds fueling the flames, burning out of control. >> and we had a great meeting. it is great unity, whether it's one bill or two bill, it's going to get done. >> cuddle up. donald trump meets with senate republicans to plot out a strategy that could make or break his legislative agenda.

all right. it's 5 a.m. on the east coast. it is 2 a.m. out west. this is a live look at hollywood, california as neighboring areas in l.a. continue to battle devastating wildfires. good morning everyone. i'm kasie hunt. it's wonderful to have you with us. and we do begin this morning with those scenes of devastation unfolding in southern california. deadly wildfires raging across los angeles county. most of them remain out of control. the latest fire breaking out near the hollywood hills late last night, putting some of los angeles, most famed landmarks in harm's way. so far, at least five people have died in the wildfire outbreak, and there are now several major fires burning across the county that are fueled by winds which have at times gusted up to 100mph. evacuations, which some residents describe as chaotic, are underway. the gridlock getting so bad in some places that evacuees have abandoned their cars and continued on

foot. more than 130,000 residents impacted by evacuation orders, and more people need to be ready to leave. >> right now, people are very awake to the to the potential and if you see smoke, you smell smoke. get into that. ready? set. go. if you live in the brush area, you should be in the set. absolutely. right now. >> the toll of the destruction already coming into focus in places like the pacific palisades, where at least 1000 structures have gone up in flames. this makes the palisades fire alone the most destructive to ever occur in los angeles county. among the buildings lost three schools, two elementary schools, one high school badly damaged or destroyed by the blaze. the scale of it all leaving residents in shock. >> my neighborhood is entirely burnt down. >> my elementary school is probably burnt down. my high school just burnt down. and my middle school might burn down. >> the destruction far from

over. cnn's nick watt has more on how these fires have devastated these communities i just i'm going back to pick a time and just get out of the house. >> just look at that view out her window. and this. get out of here. >> we tried, we tried, bro. >> approximately 155,000 people have been ordered or advised to evacuate. >> that makes the difference between living and not. >> flames hopped major roads, including the fabled pacific coast highway. >> we are absolutely not out of danger yet, with the strong winds that continue to push through the city and the county. >> today, though, strong santa ana winds were forecast. we knew something was coming, just not this. officials say they prepped for maybe 1 or 2 fires. >> there are not enough firefighters in l.a. county to address four separate fires of this magnitude. >> i'm acting helmet. i'm really very upset inside. this

year we knew with zero rain that one big windstorm. >> and we were we were toast. seems like a lot of the homes here. they're burning because of embers that have landed in bushes and are lighting. >> wind gusts in socal hit 100mph driving flames through bone dry brush and homes. utter devastation in the desirable neighborhood of pacific palisades. this is palisades village, the now barely recognizable sèchey downtown. we were here last night as those winds were picking up. in the early hours. the fire hydrants here ran dry. >> we were not able to fill the tents fast enough, so the consumption of water was faster than we can provide water. >> the palisades fire already among the 20 worst in california's recorded history, and 15 of those have hit in just the past decade. as our climate changes and our planet warms, this is a tragic time in our history here in los

angeles, but a time where we're really tested and see who we really are. pacific palisades still burning. this community has lost hundreds, maybe thousands of homes and also its infrastructure. the library, the theater, the school, the bank, the grocery stores gone. back to you. >> our thanks to nick watt for his reporting there. let's bring in ariel cohen now. he is the meteorologist in charge of the national weather service in los angeles. ariel, very grateful to have you on the show this morning. what is the status of the conditions around battling these fires? and what can residents expect as this continues into the next day? >> first of all, i want to say on behalf of the national weather service that our hearts go out to everyone who has been impacted by these fires. these fires are going through, raging through our own communities in our area, and it

is heartbreaking to see what has happened. we know that the loss has been truly catastrophic and extensive across the area. >> you know, we're here standing by our partners in the emergency operations center in the los angeles area. >> make sure that we're working together to foster public safety as we go forward. we are past the peak of the destructive windstorm component of this event, with those 80 to 100 mile an hour wind gusts being in the past at this point. nevertheless, strong santa ana winds do continue across the region and will continue for at least the next couple of days. they are becoming increasingly confined to wind prone areas from the san fernando valley, san gabriel mountains, all the way through the santa monica to the malibu coast area, and with these winds remaining in the 30 to 50, occasionally 60mph range and very dry conditions, very

significant amount of fuel loading available for these fires to burn through, we continue with critical fire weather conditions and red flag warnings as we head through tomorrow. so while we don't have the same extreme level of a destructive wind storm going on, we still are expecting fires to grow rapidly and explosively at times as this is continues to be a very strong wind event across the area. everyone needs to be at a high state of readiness. >> ariel, can you talk a little bit as well about the air quality that we're seeing in southern california and how the winds and the wind direction is going to impact how worried people should be, who are perhaps not evacuated necessarily because their home is at risk. but who could be facing significant issues if they breathe in the air?

>> these fires have large footprints and the winds are causing the smoke from the fires to extend over a broad area that's transporting all that smoke. overlapping smoke plumes, in some cases creating a very dense smoke situation. and so those with vulnerability and susceptibility to the smoke and the particulate matter from the fires are at a very significant risk for breathing problems or other health related ailments, as there's just so much smoke in the air across the area, taking all the precautions that you possibly can, being in well-ventilated areas, wearing masks, making sure you're doing what it takes to be able to to breathe as healthily as possible is going to be key as we're looking for multiple compounding days of the smoke

ahead. >> ariel, the other piece of this, of course, is the big picture these red flag warnings this time came in january, which my understanding is is relatively unusual. the amount of water rain that had fallen on southern california just unbelievable drought conditions. can you talk about how that contributed to it? and what is the long term outlook as the climate continues to change? >> you know, a big factor for all of this was in the past couple of years before the onset of prolonged dry conditions. we had record breaking rain across the area. the highest rainfall total over a two year time span at the los angeles downtown observing site since the late 1800s. and so, so many fuels, vegetation brush grew from all of that precipitation. that. and when the rains turned off, went dry and there was a whole lot more

of it for these fires to be able to burn through. this is a very unique circumstance. ultimately, wildfires have have have affected southern california for, you know, for a long time. we're seeing this happening now and everyone needs to be prepared for conditions. as we've experienced, because we know this area is prone to wildfires. and the more you do to prepare, the more you do to know where to go and have multiple ways of receiving emergency alerts, you're going to be more likely to be able to protect yourself and your families, because seconds count in these life and death situations. >> indeed they do. ariel cohen, we're thinking of you. i'm sure your family is personally affected, as well as all of the people that you work with and the entire community in southern california. i really appreciate you taking some time to be with us this morning. thank you. >> stay safe. >> all right. straight ahead here on cnn this morning, republican led immigration

legislation heads to the senate. while the bill gains some traction with democrats, will it be enough to pass the upper chamber of congress? plus one bill or two? republicans strategize about how to get the ball rolling on donald trump's agenda and a hellscape in los angeles, the latest conditions as residents flee from the most destructive wildfire in l.a. history. >> it doesn't seem real. my my neighborhood that i grew up in, in the rec center used to be basketball at. everything is just gone, and i just want to wake up from this bad dream. and it doesn't seem real. >> i lay on my back, frozen, thinking the darkest thoughts and then everything changed. >> dana said, you're still you and i love you. >> super man. the christopher reeve story february 2nd on cnn. sore throat. >> got your tongue? >> mucinex institute. sore throat, medicated drops uniquely formulated for rapid

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until he takes office, president elect donald trump's message to republican lawmakers is clear. pass his agenda as quickly as possible. during a 90 minute strategy meeting with the senate gop, trump talked about his plans for the border raising, the debt limit, and his desire to balance the budget. but when it comes to actually getting it done, he'll leave that process up to congress. >> we had a great meeting. there's great unity. whether it's one bill or two bill, it's going to get done one way or the other. i think there's a lot of talk about two, and there's a lot of talk about one, but it doesn't matter. the end result is the same. we're going to get something done that's going to be reducing taxes and creating a lot of jobs and all of the other things that you know about. but this was a really unified meeting. >> all right. joining us now to discuss steph keith, politics reporter for axios. steph good morning. thanks for being here. you were up on the hill all day yesterday. i can understand why donald trump is

basically saying i don't really care how you do it, just get it done. i think the question is, what is the best way if you are trump? what's most likely to be successful? help us understand why this one versus two bills is actually a thing. >> one of the problems here is that the house has one argument, and the senate has another argument. on one hand, the house speaker johnson thinks that it will be easier for him to to corral his caucus and get something passed. if it's one bill this too big to fail kind of strategy if everything's in there. if there's something you don't like, he thinks he can get everyone on board and that will make it easier for him. on the other hand, majority leader john thune and many people in the senate who i talked to think that they need to do two bills and move faster, especially on the border element of this package. they say, you know, the tax conversation is going to be really complicated, especially when you're dealing with, you know, lifting salt caps and some of these very controversial tax policies. and they want a win quickly. they want to move on the issues that they think that they can all get support on faster on the border in particular. and

there's also some nervousness from people i've talked about that, you know, trump may say it's fine to do one big bill, but then as the weeks and months go on without any wins on the border, that he may get impatient and they want to move faster to prevent that. yeah. >> can we talk about the border for a second? because you reported at axios that there was an extensive conversation with the border advisor, the immigration adviser, stephen miller, and senate republicans. what did you learn about what they're outlining? yeah. >> so stephen miller did kind of outline some of the details of the executive orders they plan to do on the border and immigration. i had multiple sources in the room who told me that they kind of said that they were going to be 100 executive orders, maybe not all on immigration, but that's kind of the number they're telling them and unclear if they mean specifically executive orders or executive actions from agencies as well. and part of that included stephen miller walking through the details of some of the immigration proposals, specifically one that several sources mentioned to me was reimplementing title

42, which, if you remember, this was the pandemic policy that essentially, you know, points out concerns about illnesses coming across the border and allows officials to very rapidly deport, expel migrants at the border without giving them the chance of seeking asylum. >> steph, where are democrats in all of this? because you did see some democrats support the laken riley act over in the house. it's uncertain in the senate. you've also had john fetterman, democratic senator from pennsylvania, talking about some of what trump wants to do in a way that might raise some eyebrows. >> it's clear that there are several democrats in the house and in the senate who feel the need to reach across the aisle and get on board with some of these issues, especially the immigration issue after the 2024 elections. fetterman is the clearest example so far. he has expressed eagerness to get on board, not only with the laken riley act, which will get a vote on later today, but also on issues like icc sanctions. we are seeing democrats,

especially those moderate democrats, in states that trump won, especially those up for reelection in 2026, being much more willing to maybe vote with republicans on some of these early bills. >> all right, steph curry for us this morning. very grateful to have you on the show. thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> all right. ahead here on cnn this morning those wildfires continue to rage in los angeles county. how firefighters are battling these new mega fires. plus a final farewell to jimmy carter, all five living american presidents are expected to attend his funeral later this morning. >> kobe believed in himself at the youngest possible age. >> it's one of the most remarkable stories in sports history. i don't want to be

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traction among some senate democrats, but it's unclear if it's enough for final passage. the bill is named after a georgia student killed by an undocumented migrant last year. in just hours, a funeral service will be held at the washington national cathedral for america's 39th president, jimmy carter. there he is live, lying in state at the united states capitol. he will then be transported to plains georgia for a private service. five current and former presidents bill clinton, george w bush, barack obama, donald trump and joe biden will attend. special coverage of the state funeral of jimmy carter begins today at 9 a.m. eastern, right here on cnn. and i will see you there for that from the national cathedral. all right. ahead here on cnn this morning, forced to evacuate, devastating wildfires raging in l.a., forced thousands to evacuate, leaving many wondering, do they have a home to go back to? how was the pack? >> and there were still my

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>> making it easy to understand and respond immediately. >> there is no insurance or medicare required. clear captions service is provided at no cost to you through a federally funded program. we deliver, install, and train you on how to use your phone, all at no cost to you. >> give your loved ones the independence and connection they deserve. >> call now to see if you qualify to get a clear caption phone at no cost to you, call one( 800) 592-1334. >> that's one 805 921334 for ben and aaron, the work is never done. >> i'll never stop. >> yeah, until the whole town is transformed. >> they know what they want. >> they don't know where to find it. >> we do. >> hometown all new sunday night at eight on hgtv. >> all right. it's 5:31 a.m. on the east coast. it is 231 out west. the pacific palisades there you can see some of the fires that are still burning out there on the west coast.

good morning, everyone. i'm kasie hunt. it's wonderful to have you with us. we do have more now on our top story. at least five people killed thousands of homes and businesses destroyed as five major wildfires rage in los angeles county. the death toll is expected to rise. the newest fire is the sunset fire in the hollywood hills, triggering new evacuation orders. the most destructive fire in los angeles history, the palisades fire, is still scorching the seaside area between malibu and santa monica. it has exploded to more than 16,000 acres with zero containment, destroying at least 1000 structures. >> i really am long term optimistic, but the devastation to hear people wailing and crying, concerned about their pet, their family, they're just bewildered about what's just what they're experiencing. >> and again, not just

experience. >> i was not talking past tense. this is happening in real time. >> all right. cnn's maribel gonzalez is live on the ground in pacific palisades. maribel, good morning. i know you've been on the ground covering this. you and i spoke at this time >> an area pacific palisade. we were here. i'd not even ten hours ago and we're driving up this morning and just seeing how much destruction this has led this block where we're standing, for example, there was one business that was on fire. >> but as you can see now,

there's now only one of them standing next to us. that's a veterinary center. this one behind us completely burned down. we're even seeing some. small spot flames pop up behind us. but, you know, this is far from over. just across the street, there's a church that has been completely burned to the ground. we also saw some flare ups coming up in a block a few blocks over. and as you mentioned, you know, this is devastating for the people here. it's not just these businesses, these brick and mortar stores. it's people's livelihoods. it's people's jobs. we spoke to one man yesterday who wanted to see for himself just what had happened to the cafe where he worked. he had worked and had gone to for many years, and it was burned to the ground. so we you know, we're talking about complete and utter devastation. and as you mentioned, the costliest fire in los angeles county history here in the pacific palisades. >> mary bell, of course, the winds still pretty high there.

briefly. what do you expect today? are firefighters going to be able to move to a more aggressive firefighting posture, as opposed to just saving lives? >> you know, that is the hope. but right now, the two biggest fires are at 0% contained. we know that those winds are not expected to subside until tomorrow. and that further posing a challenge for firefighters trying to get to these areas that have been the hardest hit. we are not in the clear by any means and we are not out of the woods. >> all right. maribel gonzalez for us this morning. thanks very much for that report. let's turn now to our meteorologist, derek van dam. fierce wind, as we were just talking about has been fueling these fires. derek, walk us through what, the next 24 hours may look like for the firefighters who are just trying to help. what is an absolutely desperate situation? >> well, casey, this morning i was encouraged to see this video of helicopters flying in

the sky using their water techniques to help douse the fires on the ridges. with the ongoing big, large wildfires that are still out of control across los angeles. remember, that's the major difference between this time yesterday and what's happening right now. so the winds have relaxed enough for that firefighting aircraft to actually fly, because yesterday they were restricted because the winds were too erratic, too strong and too intense for those aircraft to fly fixed rotor aircraft and the helicopters to come in and help with the containment efforts. so that was encouraging for me. but what does the future hold? what does the next several hours hold? well, that's so important because we still have our five large active fires across los angeles county, most of them at 0% containment. we know about the palisades, sunset and eaton fire lidia fire at 40% containment, hurst fire at 10%. so some making some ground there just north of the san fernando valley. that's good

news. but the winds, unfortunately, are going to pick up through the course of the day. so we have another stretch of strong winds, not as powerful as yesterday. however, this will fan additional flames and it will continue to blow embers around. that's the concern. north to northeasterly winds. that means it blows offshore. still, our typical santa ana wind prone areas. and then we look towards friday for real considering real relaxation in the winds. so that's when we anticipate the winds to really start to participate in this effort. now the winds have knocked down power for so many people, not to mention the amount of people who have lost electricity because of the ongoing fires. red flag warnings no longer a particularly dangerous situation, but another factor to add on to this is the quality of the air from all of the fires that have been burning, the smoke that has just engulfed los angeles is thick, it is palpable, and it is dangerous. so people here are breathing in. what i like to consider is toxic smoke, especially if you're in the

thick of it. so wearing those masks are so incredibly important. if you're in los angeles county. >> all right. good to know derek van dam for us this morning. derek, we'll see you later on in the show. thanks very much for that. the 18 largest california wildfires on record have all burned in just the past two decades, prompting scientists to invent the term mega fire to describe fires that act in ways that would have been considered impossible a generation ago. our next guest, former los padres hotshot firefighter jordan thomas, is the author of when it all burns, fighting fire in a transformed world. and jordan thomas joins us now live from boston. jordan, good morning to you. tell us what your experience was like as you once worked to fight fires like these and what it may mean both in the context of what we are seeing now? i mean, these firefighters are still struggling to start to really contain these. they're at 0% containment. and what it

portends for the future. >> hi. thanks for having me on. it's it's difficult to imagine the levels of intensity and exhaustion that firefighters are facing at this moment. the intensity, because these are extremely personal fires for people, because they're defending their neighborhoods and their communities. and if the firefighters haven't lost something, they know somebody who has. and there's really very little you can do when the winds are this high and when the vegetation is this dry and exhaustion, they're facing extreme exhaustion because it's the winter. so this is normally when people would be recovering from what is one of the most difficult jobs on earth. but instead of recovering, they're out fighting wildfires right now. so it's it's it's it's a perfect storm. and what we can expect with the future, with climate change is that this we can expect to see more of this. >> jordan, these firefighters, of course, you know, i mean, we were on the air here 24 hours ago at this time, covering as

this covering it as this was, you know, it had exploded last night. obviously those firefighters have been out there. some of them are looking at having been out 24, 36 going on 48 hours. what does it look like if you are a firefighter? is there any chance to rest as this is unfolding? i mean, what are the sheer logistics of trying to keep these lines refreshed? >> the firefighters are going to be out there defending what they can until it's as long as they need to. um, people are extremely strapped for resources right now, so it partially depends on where they are. if they're out in the there's three zones that you normally talk about. you have the urban zone, you have the wildland urban interface, and then you have the wildlands. and each zone will look quite a bit different. but i think just expanding on this point, it's important to broaden out to the bigger context as well, and not just think of these as natural disasters, but think of these

as results of some of our political choices to continue burning fossil fuels and to continue driving climate change, which is putting firefighters in these situations to where they're working all night shifts or working for nights on end without getting any rest or working all year round, fighting fires instead of having the opportunity to recover. >> um, jordan, what what do you think should be the changes that result from what we're seeing here? i mean, we there is the question of more resources for the people who are out there that you're talking about that are fighting these fires. but there are, as you also note, political questions, some of which are starting to be answered by insurance companies who are starting to refuse to insure people who live in these areas. what do you think is the best plan going forward? >> that's a really good question. and it's a question with a lot of different facets. i think that one of the most important points that people should keep in mind is that this is a

result of climate change and land management, and that these should both be considered together. and what's really important is that you can't just blame california for this land management, because over half of california's land is under federal jurisdiction. so if we want to be managing these lands correctly in ways that don't have these wildfires happening, we need federal investment into the public agencies that are managing these lands in california, like the forest service. while right now a lot of the rhetoric is the opposite, where there's a lot of rhetoric about slashing public agencies, if we want to take responsibility for these wildfires, we need to take responsibility for our public lands as well, which is over half of california's land. >> all right. jordan thomas, for us this morning, sir. very grateful to have you on the show again. jordan's the author of when it all burns fighting fire in a transformed world. you can get it now, if you're interested in learning more about all of this. jordan, thanks very much. >> thanks so much for having me on. >> of course. all right. still ahead here on cnn this morning, as donald trump prepares to

return to office, his grip tightening over the republican party and now anti-trump republican leaders are paying a price. we're going to speak with georgia's former lieutenant governor, jeff duncan, who's now been kicked out of his old party. plus, the latest on the deadly wildfires raging in los angeles county, firefighters desperately fighting to get them under control at this hour. >> have i got news for you is back for a new season. whether you like it or not. >> are those the only two choices? yes. >> you like it or you don't? >> i'm on the fence. >> this is going to be a long season. >> have i got news for you returns february 15th on cnn. >> what's this? >> my new pony. and i love him. >> yeah. no, no, no. thank you. >> i ran the numbers on quicken. it's totally in my budget. bad. mr. sparkles, for my son's birthday.

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>> learn more at koco.com. >> i'm natasha chen in los angeles and this is cnn. >> closed captioning is brought to you by purple. greatest sleep ever invented. >> we've been out of a job. that's because purple mattresses are made with patented gel flex grid technology. >> do not go to purple.com. >> do not visit a purple store all right. >> welcome back. donald trump set to be back in the white house in just 11 days. and with

republican majorities in both chambers of congress, washington will be firmly under his control. across the country, republicans are falling in line. the georgia gop voting to oust a trump critic who was once one of its leaders in a unanimously passed resolution this week, the state party expelled their own former lieutenant governor, jeff duncan, arguing he undermined republican candidates and used his affiliation with the party for personal gain. the resolution also bans duncan from running in any future races. as a republican. duncan, who has criticized trump for his efforts to overturn georgia's 2020 election results, endorsed harris in the 2024 race. >> if republicans are being intellectually honest with ourselves, our party is not civil or conservative. it's chaotic and crazy, and the only thing left to do is dump trump. >> all right. joining us now to discuss is jeff duncan, former republican lieutenant governor of georgia. jeff, always

wonderful to see you on the show. um, can you talk a little bit about what it was like to learn that this resolution was going forward in the party that you were once a significant leader of? >> yeah, i mean, my first thoughts that came across my mind were, what took them so long? there's been a growing divide between myself and the georgia republican party. for years. there's been a growing divide amongst many republicans in georgia. when the party started focusing 110% of their efforts on trying to defend a rigged 2020 election, in their words, not mine. and committing 100% of their financial resources or a majority of their financial resources to to defending folks that were indicted for for felony counts. and then the additional issues that continue to to parlay from that point. so, no, no surprise and quite honestly, badges of honor come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. and this is one of those where i don't want to be associated with a group that thinks that the best direction forward is chaos and confusion.

>> what do you think is the best direction forward? democrats are doing some introspection, at least in terms of trying to figure out how to deal with a second donald trump presidency, some of them talking about doing it differently than they did in 2017. what do you think the best way is to approach president trump when he comes back? >> well, i think two parts to that question or to the answer. i think one is it's up to donald trump. if he shows up and wants to be a serious leader, that takes on some serious challenges and tackles them with, with, with, with a level head, i think there's an opportunity for the republican party to kind of heal up and get back on its tracks. but if he continues to be a petulant child and only look to to to satisfy grievances that him and his family have, then this is going to be a train wreck for for years. but i think the second part to that answer is that both parties have a leadership problem, right? republicans have the wrong leader at the head of their party, and democrats have no

leader at the head of their party. and so there's this vacuum of genuine leadership. and this is this has been something i've been saying for a long time now. i even wrote a book about it, that this vacuum of leadership is, is, is just leaving americans to just, you know, be be, you know, one issue at a time, just blowing in the wind. and, and we the people have got to be more, uh, you know, more, more strict with our requirements for who leads us as to giving us exact reasons why we go down these paths. i mean, looking for, for, you know, press conferences to talk about taking over greenland and trying to, you know, annex canada and rename the gulf. i mean, these are unserious ideas that don't take us across this these serious policy gaps that we have coming, coming across our plate. >> so speaking of leaders, jeff, president biden did an interview with susan page of the usa today, an exit interview. it's his only print interview. now. he did tell susan page when she she asked him directly, do you believe that you could have won in november? and he says, it's

presumptuous to say that. but yes, i think based on the polling. and then she jumps in and she says, and it's this part that really stood out to me. she said, do you think you'd have the vigor to serve another four years in office? and biden responds, i don't know who the hell knows. so far, so good. but who knows what i'm going to be when i'm 86 years old? um, it strikes me, and i'm curious what you think about that admission, considering that he did when everyone knew that donald trump might be returning as the nominee of the republican party, and the democrats were casting that as an essentially apocalyptic outcome, considering what happened on january 6th, what they called threats to democracy, that he went ahead and ran for reelection anyway. >> well, the position i sit in today is is just calling honest balls and strikes, sitting in the middle and the honest, you know, balls and strikes call

there with joe biden is no, he would not have won. i think kamala harris was was an electoral improvement and gave the democrats a better chance to beat donald trump. but unfortunately, obviously it came up short. and with regards to his age, um, you know, i had had a conversation with him a few weeks before that, that debate, the cnn debate, and he was very cognitively aware and very, very charismatic. but obviously, when we watched the debate play out, there was a demise that we weren't aware of. um, and look, the truth, the truth of the matter is i don't believe he was prepared, physically prepared to be able to to lead this country for four more years. it's unfortunate because if you now looking back retrospectively, i think the campaign for for a democrat to win the white house was lost within hours of him being sworn in in 2021, when he walked back from the capitol or drove back from the capitol to the white house and signed a stack of executive orders unwinding the border policy, and then waited three plus years to actually say that that was a mistake. that was huge, that gave a huge marketing

opportunity or campaign opportunity to donald trump, but also was real. the void at the border was real and felt by americans. in all, pretty much all 50 states. >> yeah. briefly. jeff, i do want to ask you. your president carter is, of course, from your home state of georgia. he's set to be his funeral will be today in washington. he'll be laid to rest in plains later on today. what legacy do you think president carter leaves? >> yeah, for me, the stories that i constantly hear is he was just a man of faith. he was he was not afraid to to love his neighbor and do it. do it loudly and proudly. and i think that, you know, that's a genuine trait that our leaders sorely miss all across our country. and, uh, i think jimmy carter had a huge heart and his heart was, was was bigger than his politics. and i don't think that's a bad thing. >> all right. jeff duncan, very grateful to have you on the show as always, sir. thank you so much. hope to see you in person next time you're here in

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