this country need a history lesson, read "d-day", and remember what unity was like, self-sacrifice and tip of the hot to my uncle gordon who enlisted to fight in world war ii when he was a teenager, lied about his age and fought in the pacific like so many men. maria: thank you so much. tony webber, and david, dagen. stuart, over to you. stuart: maria, thank you, indeed. the post says socialist, so says bernie sanders. the campaign is entertaining, engaging and bizarre. we have it for you. good morning, everyone. today it's the nevada republican caucuses. in the polls trump is way out front and he's being furiously attacked by the pundits this morning. ted cruz's campaign reeling he's under attack for the dirty tricks and trump calls him the biggest liar. marco rubio, well, he has

momentum. frenzied politics today. bill gates with the tech industry, he says apple should unlock the terrorist's iphones. bill gates and steve jobs, never fast friends, were they? and it's a solid rebound, stocks up this month might open higher this morning. "varney & company," we're doing very well, thanks very much. the election is fascinating, we're all over it. your 401(k) is rebounding, we're on that. stay tuned. the "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ >> 28 minutes and 30 seconds from now, this is how the market will open ever so slightly higher. we are, i believe, rightfully calling it a righteous rebound because stocks are indeed positive now for the month of february. more on that in a moment. look at oil.

we're virtually flat this morning at $33 a barrel and that's really the headline. $33 a barrel. down just 10 cents this morning, holding $33. then there's fitbit, one of the tech darlings just like twitter, and now they're all-time lows. fitbit is going down and they have got a lot of competition and forecast disappointing sales, down it goes, probably in the neighborhood of 15%. that's another story. let's get to the headline or at least this was our headline today, not really sure it should be. bernie sanders, self-proclaimed socialist says, yes, pope francis is a socialist, too. >> they call you a socialist. >> yes. people say you're going to talk to bernie sanders, he's a socialist and say the same thing about pope francis. >> yes. >> do you think he's a socialist? >> yes. >> what does it mean to be a socialist. >> what it means to be a socialist, what the pope is talking about and what i'm

talking about, we've got to do our best and live our lives in the way that alleviates human suffering, that does not accelerate the disparities of income and wealth. stuart: okay. ashley, what else did he say. ashley: pretty much all along the same lines. went on to say we're living in a world greed for the wealthiest people living in their own religion, in the capitalist system that we're living in today. the government, he says, should play a strong role in protecting those most vulnerable in our society. stuart: one more time the pope has been injected or injected himself, or he has been injected into america's presidential election. ashley: once again. stuart: kat is here, itching to get her 25 cents worth in. ashley: before tax. [laughter] >> the pope is a socialist, so says bernie sanders, what do you say?

>> you can't do that, you can't basically decide that the pope is going to endorse you essentially, right? he's saying, yeah, no the pope says vote for me. i'm pretty sure you can't speak for anybody else, especially not the pope, right? that seems a little nuts. also, speaking of nuts, his definition of socialism, he was like, well, i've been nice and live in a way that doesn't make people suffer and, you know, alleviate disparities, you yeah, that sounds more like an inspirational poster in a school rather than a definition. stuart: the reality of socialism is the exact opposite. people suffer mightily. ashley: they build walls to keep people in in a socialist society. >> he didn't express any philosophies or methods, he says i want a nice world, the results not controversial and not socialism. we've dealt in the first four minutes, with the pope, and socialism and bernie sanders. on the republican side, the

nevada caucuses are here. chris stire walt is here, you say if trump wins in nevada, and the polls suggest he wins big, he could run the table. is that what you're saying. >> he could? caveat, two asterisks and one caveat. the polls in nevada are garbage and always will be to some degree, it's a caucus and a low turnout caucus, not an election and the rules are obstruse and you have to be there for a couple of hours. stuart: if he wins, he wins big, i think your point is he's well positioned in the 10 of the 11 states that come up next super tuesday? >> right, the message to donald trump to the republican party has got to be resistance is futile. that the third or so of the republican electorate that stands with him, he doesn't get

any late deciders in the votes. his people decided to back him a long time ago and stay with him no matter what and his point is that that's enough of a share of the republican vote, especially if they remain divided that he can push through. if he gets a ratifying win in nevada and comes out of there and says rubio, cruz, whatever and goes into the big delegate counts that you get next week on sec primary day, then he starts to look more and more like a guy who you can't beat. stuart: does marco rubio have a shot of winning tonight. not good well-placed second, but winning? got a shot? >> he's got a real shot to win, not only did he live in nevada, but the republican party proper is coalescing behind him. there is a big movement, especially as ted cruz has some serious stumbles, to get behind rubio and try to push him forward as the guy to block trump from his leveraged buyout of the g.o.p. the majority shareholders seem to be getting together behind

rubio, good timing for this. this is a state mitt romney won twice and mormon voters out weigh evangelical voters. who knows, rubio has a chance here. stuart: mormon voters, outweigh evangelicals, i didn't know. >> a quarter of the same. stuart: didn't know that, chris stirewalt, see you soon. >> you betcha. stuart: now this, bell gates enters the security versus privacy debate and guess what? he supports the fbi. he opposes apple. unlock the iphone, he says. what else have we got. ashley: it's interesting, he's going against what silicon valley goes right now. he questions tim cook's take on that, that it's a demand for a way of the back door of the security. he says this is one specific

case, they are not asking for some general thing that compromises everyone. it's interesting and there is a poll from pew research. 51% of americans say that apple should help the fbi and the majority of republicans and democrats think that apple should help the fbi, it's interesting. stuart: there are a lot of people lining up against apple on this. >> this is interesting because this is a guy that's synonymous with silicon valley, bill gates, founder of microsoft. stuart: he has a history of antipathy of microsoft and they're not fast friends and never have been. >> when it comes to investigating terrorism, this is not something that should be debated. stuart: and he catches the-- >> yes, yes, i am. i'm with civil liberties. stuart: where it's coming from, you really don't know. ashley: kind of exciting. stuart: this is for you, john kasich he got a little bit of criticism for a comment he made about women.

just roll the tape. >> how did i get elected? i didn't have anybody for me, we just got an army of people who -- and many women who left their kitchens to go out and go door-to-door and to put yard signs up for me. stuart: okay. he caught heat because he said back in 1978 that he brought women out of the kitchen. oh, oh, oh. is that so terrible? >> right, here is what i think. if they were in the kitchen and leaving the kitchen, then that's what happened, if they were somewhere else doing something else, doesn't bother me. i love the kitchen where i open my delivery food and put it in my favorite place. stuart: watch it, i know i'm very-- >> you know what? honestly, if i were a political advisor, i would advise any, any candidate or politician to just never use the word woman or women and kitchen in the same sentence. stuart: are we that sensitive. >> social media people say wait

a minute, he think i heard women and kitchen together, the outrage, i need to get mad now. stuart: how many people will vote against john kasich because he linked women and kitchen in 1978? >> i don't think any. stuart: thank you. >> those people would not be voting conservative anyway. stuart: are you offended? >> no. stuart: thank you. >> i've had serious problems before, this is not one of them. stuart: good luck. by the way, we are going to ask mr. kasich about that comment and his whole strategy because he's skipping nevada, remember. john kasich is next on this program. now, here is a headline splashed across many newspapers today, sea levels rising faster than they have in thousands of years. candidates on both sides strangely quiet on the climate change issue. that's not quite a headline, what you're looking at. it's icebergs, i think, probably melting. we're on it in a moment.

>> now, let me show you this headline from usa today.

sea levels rising faster now than in the past 3000 years. by the way, there are similar headlines in washington post today. you know, we really haven't heard that much, if anything, about climate change from the candidates in this election. joining us from our -- the governor of ohio, john kasich. governor, with headlines like that that we saw today, why no climate change debate in the election campaign? >> well, i talked about climate change, stuart, you know, you just, you haven't heard me, there is such a thing as climate change, i don't know how much human activity is influenced it, but i've been a big supporter of renewables. you know, in my state, we're developing solar and wind, and we've set goals in our state years ago that are not achievable, not possible to achieve at this point so i've asked the legislature to reset goals, but to keep the goals and have a situation where we have to stretch and i think

that renewables, whether it's wind, solar, geo thermal and the use of efficiency is not important. we're not to worship the environment, but we are to manage it. stuart: okay, sir, you're skipping the nevada caucus, not skipping the caucuses, but not spent much time in the place and not campaigning there. seems like your strategy is to look to the states next week, super tuesday and concentrate your effort there. >> right. stuart: maybe you're in danger of losing some momentum if you're not out there and campaigning in nevada? >> you know, it's a caucus. these caucuses are bizarre to tell you the truth, but that's what we have out there and we have a ground game there and we'll get some support there, just like we did in south carolina, but look, we're looking forward to the march the 1st, vermont, massachusetts, both states i was in last week with enormous crowds. i was in virginia yesterday, i was in, you know, at really all the way across the state from university of virginia to virginia commonwealth, up north

in george mason, and again, big crowds today, i'm in georgia, i'll be headed to-- i don't know, i'm all over, going to louisiana, mississippi, tennessee and-- >> i don't know how you do it. >> you know what? i tell you how you do it, stuart. you get up, and you go to bed as early as you can, which is not early. you get up and you say your prayers, try to, you know, get ready and you know, i try to get a little physical fitness in there, it's tougher. that's a big part of keeping going, sort of like running a marathon, after a while you sort of adjust to it, but it's difficult. it's a challenge and if you're not in shape probably can't do it. stuart: why do you want so much to be the president of the united states? what drives you? >> well, it's, you know, it's the talent that i've been given by the good lord and when you have talent you're supposed to use them. when you think about who is in this race and who is left in this race, i clearly have the

best record, the best accomplishments of anybody in the race, we balanced the federal putting with my friend, we created a lot of jobs and we had surpluses and paid down debt, reformed welfare, i was a pentagon reformer and in ohio we went from a loss of 350 jobs to a gain of over 400,000, stuart, and we leave, we try to leave no one behind. the mentally ill, drug addicted and working poor. and i just think we have to get this country moving in the right direction and i know how to do it and within the 100 days i'll give them the shock and awe plan to get this economy moving again. stuart: you haven't directly hit donald trump, i don't think. maybe a comment or two, but you're not-- >> i did a couple -- a number of debates ago i talked about his policies on deportation, but back and forth. stuart: and you're not as particularly anti-trump and he hasn't attacked you that much,

nothing like cruz or mr. rubio. you want to be the nom outsider candidate of the party and you and rubio for that role, isn't it? >> no, no, no, look, stuart, i've always been a guy that's shaken up the establishment. the establishment has always been fearful of me. look, they were fearful of reagan, they were fearful of my friend newt gingrich and they're fearful of me, nobody tells me what to do except my wife and at the end of the day i think the establishment gets nervous around me 'cause i'm a guy that shakes things up and i don't see on k street and listen to a bunch of lobbyists or washington insiders, i never have and i never will. in terms of how to campaign, look, stuart, for most of my campaign, no one knew who i was. they thought my name was governor of ohio and now i'm starting to get attention, we're drawing big crowds and why do i want to go negative? why don't i tell people what i'm for rather than spend my time bashing somebody else, if that works, great, if it

doesn't work, great. you know? >> governor kasich come on this show anytime, sir, we'd love to have you back. thanks for being on today. >> all right, thank you, stuart. stuart: now this, a professor from harvard comparing donald trump to one of the most evil people in history, yeah, she went the hitler route. back in a moment. anything worth pursuing hard work and a plan. at baird, we approach your wealth management strategy the same way to create a financial plan built to last from generation to generation. we'll listen. we'll talk. we'll plan. baird. then your eyes may see it, differently.ave allergies. only flonase is approved to relieve both your itchy, watery eyes and congestion. no other nasal allergy spray can say that. complete allergy relief or incomplete. let your eyes decide. flonase changes everything.

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>> there really are a lot of nasty articles in the mainstream media slamming donald trump, including a harvard professor writing an editorial in the washington post comparing trump to hitlerment here is a quote, like any number of us raised in the late 20th century i have spent my life perplexed exactly how hitler could have come to power in germany. watching donald trump's rise i now understand. kat, where do you start with this one. >> i'm a libertarian, plenty of things i disagree with donald trump on, however, to her, i'd like to say, come on, lady, come on, the hitler thing, really? in my opinion there's no way to quickly and obviously expose yourself as a crazy reactionary than to compare a politician you don't like to hitler. stuart: i mean, the left does this a lot. >> a lot.

stuart: like bringing out the bogeyman. >> it's almost like hitler is losing the shock value because everyone is hitler, apparently. it's crazy, and you know, there's good people, there's bad people, there's one hitler. stuart: that's right. >> and it's hitler. stuart: donald trump probably wins tonight. >> yes. stuart: the nevada caucus, probably wins big. >> i think he'll win the nomination. ashley: getting on a roll. stuart: there are 11 states voting next week, super tuesday. ashley: yeah. stuart: i'm told, i believe he leads in ten of those states on the republican side. if he wins them, he's got enormous momentum. >> that hitler momentum apparently. stuart: and that's why you're seeing this extreme reaction. >> they don't know what to do. people-- well, obviously, actually even right now people are saying, oh, you know, eventually he'll do something that will knock him out, eventually, and now it's not. it's gone from when, to if, to oh, my, what? maybe, actually not. and so people don't know what to do.

so they're bringing out the hitler, whatever they can to try to stop trump. ashley: i think it highlights how much people are fed up, last night there was a protester at the rally i'd like to punch him in the face. they used to carry protesters out on stretchers. that's outrageous, that people like that pugnaciousness and that kind of-- >> no, i saw that. stuart: we're going to ask eric trump about that, he's on the show about 30 odd minutes from now. we'll ask him about that civility. stocks are flat at opening bell, maybe so slightly lower, look at the bright side the dow and the s&p 500 are positive for this month of february. we were right, weren't we? this is a rebound, well, for now at least. home depot, that's going to help the dow industrials, it's a dow stock, it's going straight up. i'm taking this as a sign, a positive sign for the economy. home depot will be up. the opening bell.

we'll bring it to you next.

>> i clearly have the best record, the best accomplishments of anybody in the race, you know? we balance the federal budget with my friend pete deminchi.

i reformed welfare, paid down debt. i was a reformer. stuart: john kasich largely skipped campaigning in nevada where the republican caucuses are tonight. he's stretching super tuesday next week. and the opening bell, we're now 10 points, down 19 points. okay. ashley webster is with us and so is liz mcdonald, scott shellady and dr barton. regardless the way the market opened 20 points, i say it's a positive rebound because the s&p 500 and the dow are now positive for the month of february. dr, is this a positive rebound? will it last? >> i think it has some staying power. we are right now today at a critical-- >> he's hedging. [laughter] >> i love this spot right here for a pullback. stuart: a pullback. >> go back and try the lower

numbers again. stuart: scott shellady, a pullback, dr says. your comment? >> we're down 4 1/2% on the year, so, yeah, i guess we've rallied back here, but it's just going to give more ammo to those who want to sell the rallies and i think that the market is going to trade lower. i don't think we're going to be positive on the year anytime soon although we are in february. stuart: okay, okay. all right. look. [laughter] look it, i'm coughing. look at home depot, higher sales. now, this is a dow stock. it's up 3%. that adds 30 points to the dow industrials, so if it wasn't for home depot. ashley: we'd be down 70. stuart: down 70 and not 40. what else on home depot. ashley: sales are up near 10%. same-store sales for the entire year 2015 up 5 1/2%. they've done very, very well, they've upped their dividend.

this is an interesting point that they say, aging homes are helping them. the housing market is coming back up, but a lot of people are doing home improvement projects, two-thirds, nearly two-thirds of houses in america are 30 years or more older. so home depot, have a shout out to dr here, because you did say, i believe, back in december that home depot was poised to take advantage of the warm weather and cold weather. stuart: yeah, yeah, yeah. give him credit, he'll take it, believe me. [laughter] and another retailer rallying, it's macy's. nicole, what's the story on macy's. nicole: the story is that the holiday season is weaker than expected, however, they have a lot of real estate investments and it will bode well for the company. they've been hinting at the real estate deal, and this is what wall street has been counting on. it's more of assets in the real estate and that's why you're seeing the stock up 2 1/4%.

>> i stopped there, great sales, i never thought it was a real estate play, but i guess it is now. here is a big loser, fitbit. this is a former tech darling. it's got serious competition, i think from apple, rather than the apple watch. and it's way down. look 15% lower. e-mack, now, they say that now, because disappointing and et cetera, that they've got competition. yeah, they've got competition from the iphone, not the apple watch liz: that's true, you can track your footsteps. stuart: and i do liz: this stock is down two-thirds from last summer, that's a hit. are they wearing their bath room scale on their wrists. the number of users more than doubled the past year, but watch this, four out of 10 fitbit users actually put their fitbit in the drawer, they don't want to look at it. there's competition and yes, sales come in strong and disappointing sales forecast though. stuart: for example, up in here, my average in the month

of february, i have taken 4,732 steps per day and i've walked an average of 2.38 miles, 2.38 miles per day. what do i want a fitbit for. i dropped it and-- >> you're like the roadrunner. ashley: going to bounce the rest of the day now. stuart: fitbit is like gopro, twitter, darlings, when they first go public and now fizzle. >> after you buy the fitbit how do they get more money from that user? liz: you buy another one. stuart: discounting gopro and discounting fitbit and say goodbye and twitter, too. >> doing a great job, but went from 23% estimate for earnings next quarter to zero to 2. that's why they're getting slammed. stuart: okay. we've got to focus on apple because they are developing a whopping great pr program, this flap over the san bernardino shooter's iphone got that. half the people polled in

america say unlock this thing and they've been criticized on over tax avoidance and a whopping big cash pile, not innovating the way they used to. here is the question, how i'm going to phrase it, is apple the new wal-mart, the big company that everyone wants to beat up on? what do you say to that? >> i think that the lead dog is always going to have people nipping at their heels. they've done so many things so well, that their expectations are so high from an investor and investor standpoint that if they don't do something else incredible, then people are going to say, oh, just another really good quarter and because they have all of those things going on, people are going to nibble at them and nip at them. >> scott shellady, what are you going to say. the big company that everybody loves to hate and beat up on, it's now apple as opposed to wal-mart, what do you say? >> i don't think that's necessarily the case. it's a great opportunity now to do something patriotic. at the end of the day, stuart, you've got to choose country

over company, because if you didn't have your country the way it is, how well would your company be doing, and i know that both sides have their leverage in the argument, i think they have an opportunity or maybe a missed opportunity here to come out waving the flag, rather than waving personal privacy liz: we don't want to be caught in the echo chamber of beltway politics, with apple it's public safety. apple could comply based on congressional legislation and deliver the goods in that terrorist iphone. ashley: we've taken the stand, we did everything we could, the pressure, public and political, i think-- >> opinions are going against them. it was against them from the start. you've got to look at oil, i think it's still moving in lockstep with the stock market. we're down 2% on oil and we're also down, what, 30-odd points on the dow industrial. there's a lockstep there. i'm inclined to say, scott,

maybe $30 a barrel was the bottom. what do you say? >> yeah, i think we're start to go build something here and now more and more stories are coming out about reductions and the like, i think that, yes, that's going to be the case and if we get a little bit more of a rally in the equity market. not saying that they're 100% lockstep, but they're trading the same way we're running out of dollars at the bottom. can't tell everybody to get short at $30. the story between 25 and $40 for longer than you and i can imagine. stuart: well said, scott. you like exxonmobil at this point with oil at 32.33. ashley: to scott's point, i'm not sure we've put the bottom in. i think we're going to do exactly what scott said. have some of that bouncing back out to check out 26 again, while we're doing that, exxonmobil is the strong stock play. their profit margins are so strong, stuart, i think that warren buffett has started to come into the space done a lot of buying of phillip 66. as an individual investor if

you want to start putting money to work, do it in exxon and until we know the supply picture turns around. stuart: that makes sense. the global downturn turn in commodity prices, big time, hit bhp billiton, 4% lower there. higher sales and profits at texas road house restaurant chain good for 6% gain. chipotle, haven't checked for a while. deutsche bank says sell that thing. 5.17. down, and dr, time to jump in? >> not a time to bottom fish chipotle. we talked about this at the first outbreak that they had. if you look back at jack in the box and taco bell, the history of companies who had outbreaks of disease-borne illnesses, it's three to six months of

down store sales. they've got three plus rocky sales to give us. >>. ashley: deutsche bank say we question what recovery will look like for this company and when it will materialize. stuart: we led the show with the bernie sanders story where he said the pope, pope francis, is indeed a socialist. now, we led the show with that. ashley: we did. stuart: because it stands out. look at that. [laughter] maybe give us more of the story. ashley: bah isically bernie is saying, i've got the pope in my back pocket, look, he agrees with me liz: no, he doesn't, actually. ashley: all joking aside, he was asked if the pope is a socialist, he said yes. he said we're in a world where greed has become for the wealthiest people their own religion and he said look, that may be a radical critique, but it's the system, the capitalist system we're living in today. so i agree with the pope when he talks about income inequality and that's why i believe he is a socialist. stuart: we have with us today,

a practicing catholic who is also a capitalist, her name is elizabeth macdonald liz: and i love the pope. you know, bernie sanders is wrong. the catholic church doesn't endorse any political ideology over another, it rejects socialism and marxism in the catholic doctrines of faith. the pope says watch out for the new tyranny of debt, he didn't say bernie sanders, but people with economic potential and economy. stuart: the pope is now again into america's election. scott shellady, i'm going to give you the last word on socialism, the pope and bernie sanders. >> well, a little of the pot calling the kettle black. unfortunately, we now have some of these religious icons in our politics, obviously in the u.s. and they've also said things about russia as well and other big economies, but at the end of the day these things changed

a lot, but i don't really get that mixed in in them. there's kind of a trifecta here with bernie sanders calling the pope socialist pope calling donald trump something and now it's time for donald trump to call somebody something. stuart: eric trump is on the show. and 16-5 is where we are 11 minutes into the session today. now this, president obama will announce later this morning a plan to close gitmo and move those prisoners here to the united states. we'll deal with that in a moment and our next guest says political correctness is destroying america, but there's one candidate who can undo the damage. any guesses on who that might be? not hillary, i don't think. more varney in a moment. more than a feeling when i hear that old song they used to play ♪ ♪ and i begin dreaming, more than a feeling ♪

>> it's in a solid rebound this february, but we are 48 points lower as of right now. 16,572. there's a big loser, that's fitbit, that's down 15% and it paid a disappointing forecast. look at angie's list, disappointing sales and it's down 10, nearly 11%. the pentagon preparing to submit plans to close gitmo. what does the plan entail? >> a few details, and this is literally the last ditch effort by the president to try and get this through because this is one of his campaign pledges, i'm going to shut down guantanamo bay. i'm going to call it gitmo. listen, the plan is it to shut it down, take the remaining

prisoners, 60 or so, there's 95 in there now, 35 are going to be released by the summer and leaves around 60 and they'll come to a facility in the united states and looking at 13 potential sites, seven already exist and six need to be built. a lot of money. stuart: to be built? >> if they don't pick one of the seven that exist, there are six other locations. stuart: local opposition would be so bad, pick another six liz: nearly half a billion dollars. >> congress rejected this effort time and time again. stuart: and political correctness has become a danger for the country and he says one candidate can undo the damage. the author of the book "retaking america, crushing political correctness", nick adams. which candidate? >> stuart varney you ask good questions, donald trump transcends politics and has the potential to influence culture and shape the way that things are done, not just in america, but right around the world and

i think that would be the best thing for america because political correctness is destroying the united states. stuart: give me an example where pc, political correctness is helping to destroy our country. >> declining education standards, police having to wear their own handcuffs. diminished america around the world stage. what's that to do with political correctness. >> political correctness says you have to aspire to immediate okaysy, and that one thing is better than the other. it's making us weak and pathetic. stuart: do you think it's run its course. the rise of donald trump is an example maybe it has run its course. it's wildly politically incorrect. >> people are sick and tired of being attacked and a punching bag and sick and tired of being told what they can and can't say. there is nothing more unamerican or anti-american than political correctness, nothing more antithetical to the foundational principles.

united states and i tell you what, if we don't arrest this situation, stuart we may as well go out and buy ourselves bed linen and start hitting the concrete. that's what's going to happen. stuart: i always think of political correctness as an imposition on free speech. you can't speak your mind because if you do, you will be politically incorrect, maybe, and there could be repercussions from that that rebound on you. you take a risk by being politically incorrect. >> stuart, it's intellectual tyranny, it's an ideology that seeks to bullyists into conformity. pan pixies, who want to tell us what to do. i think we need to stand up and punch the bully in the nose. stuart: with an accent like that, do you consider yourself a missionary in this country? >> well, stuart varney, i'll talk about my accent. you sound so much more refined than i. stuart: australian? >> australian, that's right, yes, sir, well, stuart varney,

you're from england, you sound so-- >> i am now a citizen. are you a citizen. >> i am not. no, and that's-- i'm going to catch up. [laughter] >> baby, it's a great thing. >> i can't wait for that day. this is the greatest country in the world and making sure that it will be in 2076 we're going to break. stuart: breaking news on bill gates. it's interesting we reported, reported he did an interview with the financial times that basically said he backs the fbi in this particular case of unlocking the phone belonging to the san bernardino terrorist. ashley: now, he's kind of walking it back a bit. it's unclear whether he disagrees with it, but he doesn't like the way it's packaged around the headlines, bill gates backing the fbi. he says, trying to qualify himself a little bit, he says there's a difficult balance. don't think he's actually saying no, i don't back the fbi, but he said coming on

stronger than it was meant to be. stuart: he's hedging. ashley: i think he's gotten grief from silicon valley liz: he's still saying that we need to get terrorists. ashley: he's backtracking liz: didn't like the headline. stuart: and check this out, death valley, one of the hottest places on earth, it's experiencing, a super bloom. 20 different kinds of desert wild flowers, look at that, isn't that great? that's death valley. this follows a record rainfall last year. ashley: el nino. stuart: global warming? stay away from it. and lawmakers pushing through legislation to allow illegals the right to vote in new york city. that's the mayor and he's pushing for it. the judge on his way. i can't guess what he's going to say about this. he looks tough, doesn't he. ♪

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>> can you believe this? they're pushing new legislation in new york city that would give illegal aliens the right to vote in local city elections next year. all rise, napolitano, the judge is here. what do you make of this? >> well, you know, there's

nothing in the constitution, surprisingly, requiring citizenship to vote, but there are federal statutes requiring it. so, it's almost inconceivable that the city of new york or even the state of new york could interfere with that premise, that one must be an american citizen in order to get the right to vote. why does new york do this? pandering to a political group. stuart: of course they are. that's what it's all about, symbolic, it's know the going to happen, it's symbolic, vote for me because, you know, i'd really like to give you the vote. >> right. he wants to give more than the vote, he wants to give away the store, that's your friend bernie sanders, anyway, that's another story for another time. i don't think that can ever come to pass. the political will against non-citizens voting is nearly overwhelming and bipartisan. stuart: i've been waiting nearly an hour to put this in front of you. >> closing gitmo? >> no, bernie sanders, self-proclaimed socialist

called the pope a socialist, you're a staunch catholic, latin mass, pre vatican. >> i'm sorry to it will you that i agree with bernie sanders. stuart: why are you sorry to tell me. >> socialism, the essence of catholocism is free will and the government would take away the free will. leo the 13th said one cannot be a true catholic and a socialist. stuart: leo the 13th, what year was na? >> shortly after the civil war, around 1880. stuart: really? >> but the pope in my view, for benevolent reasons, believes the government should take wealth from the rich and transfer it to the poor. not because he despises the rich, but because he wants to help the poor. i think we would argue that capitalism does a better job of that than the government central planners. i think you're right. would you include protestants

in the feeling of being based on individual freedoms in addition to the coercion of government. >> absolutely. stuart: you would? generous of you. >> particularly the church of england. [laughter] >> as we now call them episcopalians. [laughter] all right. judge, i believe we're having lunch today. >> i think having me back in the 11:00 hour. stuart: breaking news, here it comes, thick and fast this hour, it's the biggest read on the housing market. we're about two minutes away from that, how many existing homes were sold recently? realtors take note, that's a big deal for you guys. the president's going to announce plans to close gitmo. we have an angry retired general ready to sound off on that, mr. napolitano will not be making an appearance. and anti-trump headlines ahead of the nevada caucuses which

trump is probably going to win. donald trump's son eric is with us in just a moment. choose world.

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stuart: we're about to break for you very important numbers on the housing market. this is existing home sales. this number is very important for realtors. 10:00, it now is. ash, the number, do we have it yet? >> we are waiting with baited breath. stuart: okay. >> 5.31. it looks like, to me -- stuart: okay. 5.31, that's it. we're selling homes at an annual pace of 5.3 million. >> the market is holding steady. earlier we hold home prices up over the last 12 months by nearly 6%, month to month holding steady. so home prices are slightly higher, which is good. existing home sales -- no, got it right. 5.47 -- stuart: 5.4. >> which is not bad. that's a good beat. >> you don't care about that, but it's a good, solid number. stuart: you think it is?

>> yeah. 5.47 for what the expectation was, sure. stuart: this number is very important to realtors. 5.4 million a year. >> that's right. consumer confidence in the value of the equity of their homes. even though the realtors are saying it's going to be a flat year for existing home sales, that's a good number. >> it's okay. stuart: i'm quite prepared to admit that i don't know that much about the real estate market, but katrina joins us right now. 5.4 million homes being sold on an annual basis. i'm saying that's not that great. what's your reaction? >> well, it seems like the housing numbers and the housing prices are definitely more sustainable than they were a decade ago. and there's various different reasons for that. one of the reasons is that our population has grown by 20 million since then. we've also seen an increase in growth income by about 25%. and new construction is actually

up above the low levels after the post-crisis but still historically, you know, still below average. stuart: okay. >> which means that there's still an opportunity for growth. stuart: now, look, i see that sales are up 11% in this time frame. that's pretty good. >> year-over-year. stuart: year-over-year. >> but breaking just now, consumer confidence hitting lows not seen since july. that is not good. stuart: okay. katrina, last comment to you, please. sales up 11% in the past year. that sounds like good news for realtors, to me. >> absolutely. and it's just good news in general. you know, our economy is doing very well. i think one thing that people were fearful of is really just the global news that's opinion affecting confidence. -- been affecting confidence. overall the united states economy is doing very well, and people are still buying and selling real estate. in some climates more than others because, obviously, the winter affects the northeast more.

but overall it's a healthy market, and we're very excited about the future. stuart: okay. katrina, thanks very much for joining us. it seems i've been shot down again on all frontings. [laughter] i don't think 5.4 million existing home sales in a year, sorry, i don't think that much to it. >> okay. stuart: mediocre, but it's not going -- >> it's not ramrod, i hear you. stuart: is there something wrong with me? >> no. >> where do we begin? [laughter] stuart: look at the market now. we're down 50 points. disappointing numbers on consumer confidence. >> yeah. stuart: which has reached a low. that's not good. >> since july. stuart: and i am told the existing home sales numbers are better than i'm giving them credit for. >> i think so. stuart: blankses out. -- balances out. still down 50 points. okay, moving swiftly along, home depot reporting higher sales. it's up about 2.5%. that is giving some weight to the dow. the dow's down 50, it would be down more like 70 or 80 were it

not for home depot. fitbit, oh, you've got to looked at this. it was a tech darling when it first went public. it's got a disappointing forecast. it is a darling, no more, down 17%. how about chipotle? talk about darlings. at one point it was, you know. deutsche bank says sell it. apparently, some people are, it's down $8, 517. look at angie's list. all these are names that you know, they're in the news, and this one's really taking it on the chin as well, down 8%. angie's list at $8 a share. more breaking news, will it ever stop? >> u.s. chocolate maker mars is apparently recalling candy bars in 55 countries after finding plastic in the product. stuart: but mars is not, never has been and probably never will be a publicly-traded company. >> no. stuart: there is no stock to look at. the mars family is exceptionally secretive. very wealthy, very, very secretive. >> that's right. stuart: they'll say virtually nothing.

>> but they're not going to be happy. stuart: gets you every time. all right, to the election. donald trump's going after the family that owns -- this is new. donald trump is going after the family that owns the chicago cubs. listen to this tweet from trump. i hear the rickets family which owns the cubs secretly spending money against me. they'd better be careful. they have a lot to hide. now, there's a threat. the rickets family has donated to an anti-trump super pac. national review editor rich lowry tweeted this in response, yeah, straight at it: does donald trump have an enemies' list? is this the man we want in charge of the irs? ooh, he's stirring it up. he's here himself. you may be very unpopular with only of our viewers. >> just asking. stuart: you're like my 16-year-old daughter, just saying. [laughter] what have you got against trump? you're dead set against this guy. >> well, if you look at this particular episode, this is a threat made against one of his

opponents. it's not a great secret, it had been reported that the rickets were giving to this pac, and it just shows the pettiness and vindictiveness that we've seen from trump throughout his career in business, and it's not necessarily the best quality in the most powerful man on the planet, which is what he wants to be. stuart: you know, he's probably going to win the nevada caucus tonight. >> yes. stuart: probably wins big. he is leading, i am told, in 10 of the 11 statements next tuesday, super tuesday. you know, the guy could run the table at this point. you know, he could do that. >> no, it's a very strong possibility. i would expect a win tonight. i would look whether he's still about a third of the electorate or higher, you know? does he have the so-called ceiling, and then having won three of the last three, he goes into super tuesday with an enormous head of steam. and the power of his coalition is quite extraordinary, because it cuts across usual lines because he really has a hold on the working class vote, a very important constituency, and it's

why he can win in the deep south and he can win in massachusetts. stuart: is it not why he could win nationally in the presidential election in november? >> his appeal to blue collar vote would be his biggest strength. and the possibility that he pulls over democrats. now, his weakness on the other side of the ledger, i think he's going to do really poorly among college-educated women, among suburban identities, really poorly among latinos and he's going to be nuked on day one as soon as he's the preemptive nominee. could be running away with the nomination as we speak, and no other candidate has really attacked him in a serious way. newspaper did an analysis of super pac spending so far, north of $200 million, just 4% of it spent against donald trump which is extraordinary. stuart: that's it? so they're not going after him. >> well, the establishment at first said it's too early to attack him, now they're saying the it's too late to attack him. [laughter] you better believe the democrats aren't going to have -- stuart: rich lowry, you are part

of the problem. >> i reject that, stuart. we have been, we want a conservative. we still think there are two really good conservatives in the race, ted cruz and marco rubio. we want either one of them to win over trump who's a powerful candidate but is more a pure populist than a conservative. stuart: would you agree with this, if i can call it the establishment, the republican party is now rallying behind marco rubio because they see him as their standard bearer, and he's the guy they think can win? >> you're seeing -- stuart: is that right? >> -- increasing signs of that, yes. stuart: do you think rubio has a shot at winning tonight in nevada? >> probably some shot. i would be very surprised if he actually won. stuart: you'd be very happy, because that would create an enormous momentum for the guy. >> that would be a bit of an earthquake. i think it's unlikely to happen. stuart: okay. >> but, see, the key juncture is march 15th. that's when they become winner-take-all states, and unless someone is winning florida, ohio and illinois, then

it's trump's. stuart: okay. ted cruz. i've called his candidacy reeling, or his campaign, i should say, reeling. am i going too far? >> no, i think that's right. the dirty tricks charge, which i thought was basically unfair after iowa, has gotten much more traction than i would have thought. both trump and rubio have been hammering it. cruz is hoping he puts it to rest by firing his spokesman yesterday, but actually validates the charge in a lot of ways. so i think he's in trouble. if trump romps everywhere in the south which was supposed to be a cruz stronghold next tuesday, that's a big problem. stuart: you know, i think you enjoy coming on this program. >> i do. i always do. [laughter] stuart: okay. what happens if trump is the president? what happens to the national review? [laughter] >> the audits, the deportation, i don't know which it's going to be, but it's going to be something, stuart. [laughter] stuart: rich lowry, everybody, thanks very much. a bernie sanders supporter

on this program yesterday defending sanders' tax plan. you might say i got a little hot under the collar. more on this in a moment. >> i've got two young daughters. i know their college is going to be paid for, so i'm very happy about that. stuart: okay. i've got six kids, nine grandchildren, and i don't like paying 60% of my income in taxes, and i'm damned if i'm going to pay any more.

stuart: look at oil and look at the dow jones industrial average. they are running hand in hand. oil down, stocks down. that is still the name of the game. because oil, you can't see it on your screen, but oil is down. not much, but it is down. got it. down a buck now. oh, that explains it. you're down a buck on oil, you're down 100 points, this we go again. >> there we go. stuart: 100 points a barrel -- >> yes. a dollar down equals 100 points on the dow. >> interesting.

stuart: i think we got that. breaking news, details just coming at us now of the president's plan to close gitmo. you got 'em? >> yes. the president calling it a national security imperative. there are four elements we hear to this. one is responsibly transferring these detainees to other countries, 91 existing in gitmo right now, 35 of those eligible to be transferred, so about 50 or thereabouts will be transferred somewhere else, possibly to the u.s. it also calls for periodic review board to determine an individual's threat. it continues to identify individuals' dispositions and, fourth, the elements of this working with congress to hold detainees in the u.s. they believe it is cheaper to move these individuals to the united states. the president also believes that it is a negative symbol for the u.s -- >> no talk of radicalizing existing prisoners in u.s. prisons though. that's a serious issue. stuart: it sure is. all right, thanks, everyone. let's talk socialism, shall

we? my interview yesterday with a bernie sanders superdelegate got a little heated. watch this. please, don't confuse the issue. he's going to take it off me and give it to somebody else. if you think that's okay, that's fine with me. i don't. let me move on -- >> i actually -- stuart: hold on a second -- >> i'm actually really excited about his tax plan where i know that i'm going to be paying less in my insurance premiums, and i know my health care's going to be covered. i've got two young daughters. i know their college is going to be paid for, and so i'm very happy about that. stuart: okay. i've got six kids, nine grandchildren, and i don't like paying 60% of my income in taxes, and i'm damned if i'm going to pay any more. [laughter] with me now is democrat strategist chuck rocha. chuck, i'm going to repeat this, okay? i've got six kids. i've got nine grandchildren. i work 12 hours a day, five or six days a week, and i'm 67 years old to. i pay over 60% of every paycheck

to a taxing authority; new york city, new york state and the federal government. i think that is morally wrong. and the democrats want more out of me. now, chuck, i want you to address the morality. by what moral right does any government take 60% of an old man's income? >> well, i wouldn't say you're an old man. you've got all them kids and grandkids, sounds like you've got it going pretty well. i aspire to be somebody of of your wealth and excitement every day. let me be clear about the federal government. i think a lot of people feel that same frustration that you just showed, but i think there's different ways to get to the conclusion. i don't think we're talking about taking the wealth from somebody who works as hard as you do -- stuart: but you are! chuck, don't fuss around the issue here. that's exactly what you're saying. you are -- >> no, i'm not. i won't say that at all. you're much too educated for me

to say that to you, my friend. stuart: no. that's what hillary clinton and bernie sanders are saying. they want more tax from people like me. and -- >> because -- stuart: what do you think is a fair marginal tax rate for every extra dollar that i earn, how much do you think is right for the federal -- for governments to take off me? tell me. >> i own a small business here in washington, d.c. and have six employees, and if i make a couple hundred grand a year and i'm paying the top tax rate, i have to pay my property taxes and district taxings and i turn around and see ge and other corporations pay no marginal taxes. we don't want to take from people like you who are paying the same thing i'm faying. if you have enough money and influence to have lobbyists, you're doing well. i aspire to be rich. i mind rich people buying our democracy. that's the problem. that's why you see donald trump. stuart: so answer this question.

what do you think is a fair marginal tax rate? what is it? >> i would say probably 20, 25% -- stuart: that's not what we've got. that's not what we've got. >> what we've got is corporations not paying any income tax, varney, how is that fair? stuart: so you make me pay more? >> you're making me pay more too, my brother. i'm talking about people who are out here not paying any taxes. stuart: this is ridiculous. >> if your mom and daddy left you a bunch of money and all you're doing is paying taxes on your dividend, how is that fair? stuart: bernie sanders wants a higher marginal income tax rate, okay? that's what he wants. he wants me to pay more. so let me conclude with this, let me conclude with this, okay? what do you think is a fair marginal tax rate, in other words, what should be the rate on every extra dollar earned of someone who makes a million dollars a year? for example, what do you think the government's take should be out of that one extra dollar? what do you think?

>> i have no idea, how's that for you? i have no literal idea what that should be. stuart: that's what they all say. and then we get hit with more and more and more tax. you're never satisfied. i'm sorry -- >> don't say i'm not satisfied, my brother. i'm not saying -- stuart: you're obviously not. you want me to pay more, yes, you do. >> i want you to give me some more, because i would like to have them six kids and nine grand kids like you do. maybe i'd be half the man you are someday. stuart: okay. flattery will get you everywhere on this program. [laughter] one of these days i'm going to get a democrat who tells me how much i should be paying. >> don't hold your breath. stuart: no, don't hold your breath. the new york yankees, crown jewel of baseball. they have some advice for their players as spring training begins: don't be like cam newton. well, we'll explain in a moment. >> disappointed not just for yourself and your teammates.

[inaudible conversations]

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to learn more. switch to liberty mutual and you could save up to $509. call liberty mutual for a free quote today at see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. stuart: all right. we've got news crossing on the apple v. the fbi debate. attorney general loretta lynch has just commented on it for the first time. >> she basically says, look, we understand the position of apple, but we need this type of evidence. it's critical to what we do to maintain safety on both the federal and state level. she admits there is an impasse between apple and the fbi, and the only way to solve that is to go to court. she also says, look, there is a trade-off between privacy and security, but we can -- she believes there's the ability to maintain both. stuart: so she's gone to the absolute top level here.

apple versus the fbi. apple versus the government politicians and bill gates. >> and the court. >> hasn't discussed whether the court is the place, the avenue to discuss this or to settle the problem, it's the legislative problem, that's what apple has been saying. stuart: that's a fair point too, or but it's going to take a long, long, long time. >> march 22nd hearing. there could be a terror plot in the works right now. stuart: let's not forget that. >> yeah. stuart: sometimes we pick stocks, individual stocks that kind of buck trend on any market day. right now overall market is way down, but chesapeake energy is up 8%. oil is down, chesapeake energy is up 8%. this is one of the biggest winners in the s&p 500. i'm going to call that a bounce off an historic low. the new york yankees owned spring training with this message for their players: don't be like cam newton in defeat. be like russell wilson, okay? fox news radio's jarrett max is here. give me the full story, because this was a big speech to the

whole team, wasn't it? >> the yankees have media session training in spring training so the players know how to deal with the media. and this year the yankees have a series of video clips of recent postgame interviews from various sports, and the players are seeing this is good, this is bad. good, russell wilson. loses the super bowl, owns up to throwing a bad pass that cost to his team the super bowl. bad, cam newton loses the super bowl, doesn't want anything to do with reporters. a good, mets' daniel murphy accepts blowing a ground ball in the world series. good examples on how to do it. stuart: i really agree with this. i think the yankees are doing exactly the right thing, because the reputation of the team and individuals is at stake. >> the new york yankees' mark teixeira said character is who you are, but reputation is what people talk about. almost sounds hike a message to somebody like, say, a cam newton. a former yankee pitcher, phil hughes, also said you want to own up to your responsibility. don't hide from the media and

make your teammates have to take the brunt of it. stuart: i think cam newton probably lost millions of dollars by that performance after the super bowl. >> i think he set himself back a lot longer than a lot of people want to say, because people are going to remember this. and you can back pedal all you want. i was standing there all night, and i saw hundreds of people. we're not there to ask the guy for his autograph, we're there for work. respect what everybody's doing. we're respecting what he's doing. stuart: so you approve of the yankees? >> i think it's fan task, what they're doing -- fantastic, what they're doing. stuart: great stuff on the news network there on the radio. >> thank you, sir. stuart: it's going well. all right. president obama is set to announce plans to close gitmo, moving dangerous prisoners to the united states. tonight's nevada caucus, critical for marco rubio. i say he needs a flat out win. we're asking one of his biggest supporters, can he pull it off? in just a moment. ♪ ♪

>> moments from now president obama delivers his message, a statement on closing dit mow thomas is with me right now. we know that presidentments to move prisoners to the united states either to existing facilities or he's going to build new ones. what's your reaction to that? >> it should not happen, stuart and they're going to talk about saving money. it has nothing to do with money. it's all political. and it's frankly a pattern of behavior that he's used over the last 7 plus years to unable radical islam. he also -- >> gitmo is a negative symbol. he's going to say that moments from now. what do you make of that statement, general?

>> has absolutely nothing to do with it and people ought to ignore that kind of language. >> at the end of this day do you think we'll get this prisoner transfer this year? >> i hope we do not but we should not approve that. we need gitmo for many, many reasons. >> would you stay there. we're going to wait for the president. take him briefly when he makes his statement and back to you general when that statement is pomp president is approaching the podium. let's listen in please. >> good morning everybody. in our fight against terrorist like al qaeda, and isil we're using every element of our national power. our military, intelligence, diplomacy, homeland security, law enforcement, federal state and local, as well as the example of our ideals as a country that's committed to universal values including rule of law and human rights.

in this fight, we learn and we work to constantly improve. when we find something that works, we keep on doing it. when it becomes clear that something is not working as intended, when it does not advance our security, we have to change course. for many years, it's been or cloor clear that the detention center at guantanamo bay does not intense our security but it undermine it is. this is not just my opinion, but this is opinion of experts and many in our military. it's counterproductive to our fight against terrorists because they use it as propaganda in their efforts to recruit. it drains military resources with nearly 450 million dollars spent last year alone, to keep it running. and more than 200 million in additional costs needed to keep

it open going forward for less than 100 detainees. guantanamo harl harm our partnership with allies whose cooperation we need against terrorism when had i talk to other leaders they bring up the fact that guantanamo is not resolved. moreover keeping this is contrary to our values, it undermines our standing in the world. it does viewed as a stain on our broader record of upholding the highest standards of rule of law. as americans, we pride ourselves on being a beacon to other nations. a model of the rule of law. but 15 years after 9/11. is a years after the worst terrorist attack in american history, we're still having to defend the existence of a

facility in a process where not a single verdict has been reached in those attacks. not a single one. when i first ran for president, it was widely recognized that this facility needed to close. this was not just my opinion. this was not some radical far left to do. there was a bipartisan support to close it. my predecessor, president bush to his credit said he wanted to close it. it was one of the few things that i and my republican opponent senator mccain agreed on. and so in one of my first acts as president about i took action to begin closing it. and because we had bipartisan support, i wanted to make sure that we did it reeght.

i calculated that we would need to take our time to do it in a system egg way and that we had examined all of the options. and unfortunately during that period where we were put pieces in place to close it, what had previously been bipartisan support suddenly became a partisan issue. suddenly, many who previously had said it should be closed backed off because they were worried about the politics. the public was scared in to thinking that well, if we close it somehow we'll be less safe. and since that time, congress has repeatedly imposed restrictions aimed at preventing pus from closing this facility. now, despite the politics, we've made progress of those held at

guantanamo more than 85% have already been transferred to other countries. more than 500 of these transfers by the way occurred under president bush. since i took office, we've so far transferred 147 more. each under new significant restrictions to keep them from returning to the battle field. and as a result of these actions, today just 91 detainees remain less than 100. today, the defense department thanks hard had work by secretary of defense ash carter as well as his team working in concert with the officer and management budget. today, the department is submitting to congress our plan for finally closing the facility at guantanamo once and for all. it's a plan that reflects the hardwork of my entire national security team. so i especially is is want to

thank ash and his team at d.o.d. this plan, has my full support. it reflects our best thinking on how -- >> now president sb to reveal his had plan for closing gitmo. we know the details about that. thus far in the past five minutes president has given us his reasons why he wants to close gitmo. number one, it does not advance national security he says. number two, it cost a great deal of money. 400 million dollars a year to keep it going, and number three, it does not represent and reflect our values as americans. those are his reasons for closing gitmo. he says he'll close it, move those prisoners to the united states into existing facilities or build new facilities. that's the gist of the plan, that's the reason why he's doing this. general, i think you're still with us. i want you to comment please on the reasons why the president is doing this. it doesn't advance security.

cost a lot of money, it's contrary to our values. take them away. >> well he's wrong in all three counts. it endangers our national security stuart. we're putting terrorists back in the battle field with a 30% of rape. number two, it's not a lot of money. there's a man that put a trillion dollars into a stimulus and we got nothing out of it 500 million, this is a symbol of the u.s. strength. it's also a symbol of people that have attacked the united states and we're not going to just let them go free. personally, he traded five four star equivalents for a buck sergeant bergdahl and that was aiding and abetting the enemy. soening that his points are not valid. it does not inspire any islamists to become radical islamists. the caliphate is what is

inspiring them and he's done nothing to do anything about that really significantly in the last 17 or 18 months that we've been attacking isis. >> okay, general thank you very much indeed for that instant commentary from the president now about the closing of gitmo. and to go back to liz you pointed out that the president had said something about president bush which was an inaccurate statement. >> he cited george bush's support for closing gitmo saying we can put these individuals before morel tribunal instead of in civilian court they rejected about nine years ago. so he -- that was disingenuous the way he characterize that. >> he took a hit on republican. he hit republicans -- he said it was a bipartisan issue but if became a partisan issue when republicans no longer supported the closing of gitmo. so he threw politics right into it. >> but president what needs to be addressed in a general point

out is the high rate calculated at some instances one in three return to the battle field. >> you saw details of the plan bring the prurses to prisoners in the united states and put them in existing tilt or build new ones. >> 13 potential places to put these gitmo detainees. seven facilities already exist. six locations would have to require the building of a complete brand new facility which will cost a lot of money. take a lock time to recoup any of of the savings made by closing gitmo. >> cancel out 400 million a year. >> yes in the first place. i wonder what he will do when he visits kubel next month. >> exactly. >> that question will come u up. : that's right. give it his back i presume is what they'll say. >> yet to be addressed also yet to be addressed what about potential radicalization of u.s. rirses they're put here in the united states in 98 ifs here? >> that fair point. the closure of gitmo and there was by the way absolutely no

market reaction to that. as you might expect this is not a financial issue by any means. dow is down 100 and price of oil is still down about 60 or 70 cents. they're still moving in lock step. i want to get back to the election. these days marco rubio is quickly becoming go to guy if you don't like trump or o cruz. tonight nevada caucus crucial for marco rubio with me u now congressman duffy republican, wisconsin, a man who supports rubio. what kind of a shot do you think he's got of actually winning tonight. not a good place second or third. but winning. what chance? >> i think that momentum is on his side stuart he's doing incredibly well he placed far better than people thought he would in south carolina. he's a catholic. not too many catholics down in south carolina and ujed out senator cruz. so i think marco has momentum he's going with a lot of hispanic voters with a good

connection with mormon, catholics evangelicals coming his way so going to do a strong second or outperform or win tonight. >> he's a good guy. marco rubio set guy whom if i say the establishment republican party is trying to coless around. and i think that's happening because you believe that rubio has the best chance of beating whenever democrat is lined up against him. that's your thinking, isn't it? >> so it is. and i would tell you that he's the most likely conservative to win against the populous mr. trump. and i think what's happening is because people look at ted cruz and go this guy say he's a conservative and carries his bible around if you look at the way he acts he lies, cheats, he steals, frankly the american people are seeing in ted cruz what we in congress have seen for the last four years that he's been there. ted cruz is about ted cruz. that's why i think -- >> the republican if --

as is likely donald trump wins tonight. and then proceeds to run the table next super tuesday. what are you going to do? are you going to coless around him. could you do that? >> i don't think he's going to run the table as you see the republican field narrowing, jeb bush just got out i think you're going to see that continue to narrow, folks that were supporting the the jeb bush of the world will come over to t spue the marco rube you of the world so i think drurp will top out at 35 to 42%. as field colesses around marco he's going to start winning -- some of the states and that could win the nomination. >> that could be wishful thinking, you know, there you have that was all good. republican from wisconsin we're watching tonight. thank you very much appreciate it. which can that big board dow is trading with in lock step with oil down. oil down stocks down that's the way it's been for some time that's the way it is now.

more varney in a moment.

>> i'm nicole petallides with your fox business brief. dow right now 109.16 rksz 05 the. s&p down three quarters of one percent. despite the fact that we got good news in housing market with continued momentum there. wore windchillinging oil and seeing stocks move in lock step with oil as oil moves higher about stocks move high per and

that is dragging on stocks energy appears substantial for the worst of the bunch. home depot better than expected quarterly sales. big spenters more than $ 00 have increased 12% since the latest quarter, and that's giving them a pop of 1.1%. lows, though, lost momentum. we're watching chesapeake they sold off assets for $128 million to houston company that's gaining today but down about 87% over the last 52 weeks. start your day with fox business 5 a.m. see you there. oved to relieve both your itchy, watery eyes and congestion. no other nasal allergy spray can say that. complete allergy relief or incomplete. let your eyes decide. flonase changes everything. we ship everything you atcan imagine.n, and everything we ship has something in common. whether it's expedited overnight... ...or shipped around the globe,

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>> privacy advocates license my next guest standing up in support of apple krrk oh o tim cooke's decision not to help the fbi unlock that san bernardino shooter's iphone. fight for the future chief technology officer jeff lion is here you're planning rallies that l stores around the country later today. exactly what are you hoping to achieve? ming well sure, so we're -- sponsoring all of these rallies across the country. in order to pex press solidarity with apple's decision to o oppose the fbi order to put a back door in the iphone. which we believe would weaken national security by causing all sorts -- >> interesting argument that you

need to look at one phone and that's all we're talking about. so -- >> that argument doesn't hold water because even right now there are law enforcement across the country and hundreds of phones they've lined up sellerly that they want to unlock as soon as this court decision goes through. and if that's the case, apple is going to have to develop software that can repeatedly unlock all of these phones and they're essentially beginning to be creating malware software that doesn't exist right now. that will be on behalf of a government. >> okay so if we find out what if we don't know this but what there's a plot on that phone right now, to carry out some sort of attack, somewhere in this country, and indeed it happen hads, and there are multiple fatalities. but we couldn't have prevented it because apple wouldn't allow the fbi to get in there who would have found that plot and stopped it. what would you say to families of those victims? >> well, everybody in this country is breathing for a terrible and senseless tragedy.

but what the fbi is doing is essentially a typical case of the government overtenning in wake of the national disaster, and -- >> if you can prevent a terrorist plot from happening just by unlocking this one phone, isn't that worth it? >> if -- >> isn't that morally the right thing to do? >> not possible to unlock this one phone without creating pan or door are -- >> public security more important. >> it is a matter of national security if you lose access to -- to the back door to they're creating they're using over and over again. all of these software who have access to that code that's a prime target for government spy, plishes hackers, organize od crime and once that gets out all of the phones in our country are potentially at risk. these phones are used by people who manage our hospitals, our banks, water treatment plant. but you can understand my critics say wait a minute you're taking the -- the side of the terrorist, the criminals, those that want to do

horrible things and don't want authority to know they're planning them. >> that mischaracterizes issue or. this is not -- >> used by a terrorist, this phone was a terrorist's phone. >> a lot of people are saying this is issue between privacy rights, national security. this is issue between national security national security. the damage caused by unlocking these phones would outweigh any benefit that they could achieve by unlocking that phone. >> have to leave it rite there jeff appreciate it. thanks very much. important topic i want to let everyone that is talking about, talking about everyone that's talking about donald trump, under attack in nevada. we'll have more varney, next. you both have a

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>> if donald trump wince the nevada caucuses today, it will be three wince in a row he could run the table from her. he could look inevitable he keeps winning. pundit, opinion makers they don't luke this. out on this morning of the nevada vote they have an avalanche of anti-trump headlines. slns is inexcusive thunders the post. in the same vain including one titled donald trump's reflective cruelty. all in one edition of the washington post.

two negative items of today wall street journal as well you get the point. the possibility now may be the probability of another trump win bring out o his harshest critics a feel of a last gasp stand. trump has said the most outrageous things and his supporters increased. he's turned republican politics on o his head and still winning. no wonder every other o republican is aghast. they've lost their party. but front runner now contradicts bed rock republican policies. no wonder they're out in force banging the anti-trump drum. but polls from nevada suggest trump wins big tonight. if that's the case, watch the pundit reaction tomorrow. by putting them on suicide watch. by the way, eric trump comes up after this. there's a lot of places you never want to see "$7.95." [ beep ] but you'll be glad to see it here.

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stuart: it is 11:00 eastern time, and we have market developments to report for you.

the stock market, the dow industrials, have taken another leg down. we're off 149, 150 points as we speak. now, why is that? because the price of stocks is tied in to the price of oil, and oil is down $1.50. that's 4.5% now. why is it down so much? i'll tell you. there are reports surfacing that iran is dismissing the freeze on oil output. you may remember a few days ago there was big news from the mideast. iran, russia and some of the other big producers had agreed to freeze oil production levels at their january levels. iran is now backing away from that, from that output freeze. that's why we've got the dow down 150 and the price of oil down $1.53. there's a couple of individual stocks we're going to bring to your attention. home depot, higher sales, up it goes. $1.25, that's a nice percentage gain there. actually, just 1% on home depot.

but fitbit way, way down. it's got a lot of competition. it's, some people call it a one-trick pony. all it's got is that little band there, and it's down 20%. let's get to the election, shall we? yeah, they're ganging up on donald trump because it looks like he's going to win tonight in nevada and probably win big next week on super tuesday. with me now from las vegas, donald's son eric. eric trump, welcome to the show. it's good to have you with us, sir. >> hey, stuart, how are you? stuart: just a few moments ago i ran through this list of attacks on your dad in some of the major newspapers today. they're getting kind of vicious. i think it's a degree of desperation because they see your dad running away with the race. at the same time, your father has promised to be more civil, more presidential. has he said that to you in person? hey, eric, i'm going to calm down? did he say that? >> listen, it's just another tuesday in the trump family. [laughter] but i actually find it, you know, i find it very sad. i mean, you see some of these

things like the daily news which is a totally failing paper, and everything has to be parody. my father is self-funding his campaign. this country has serious, serious problems. he's doing this, you know, in a very novel, or for a very novel reason, and we're really going down the tubes as a country, and he wants to fix it. he's a man who's achieved tremendous success, he's built a great company. he doesn't need to be doing this, to be spending millions and millions of dollars a week literally funding his campaign, but he's doing it because we have incompetent leaders. and then you have these little papers that take jabs at him. you know, it's honestly sad, stuart. it's not something we're not used to, we've been taking hits our whole life, but it's a sad thing. stuart: does he have to be so harsh? will he be in the future? >> listen, he's not a p.c. guy, he's not a politician. he doesn't -- he's a great kind of, you know, pate rated -- patriotic, all-american guy. that's just who he is. you either love that about him or hate that.

i don't know if you change somebody's dna and their personality, you know, their genetic makeup, you know, overnight. it's kind of who he is. i think it's what makes him larger than life. it's what's made him the success that he is today. he's an hay amazing -- an amazing guy, and having worked with him for ten years, he would be such an amazing commander in chief. stuart: when you sit around as a family, i presume that comes up. i mean, you're looking like the presumptive candidate for the republicans. you must have thoughts, you know? walking into the oval office. it must have occurred to you. you must speculate or dream quietly about being the first son, for heavens sake. you must think that. >> yeah, listen, you know, maybe quietly. at the same time, i think we're a little bit superstitious, so we never like to get ahead of ourselves. it's one day at a time, one battle at a time. i'm not involved in politics, but i have been by his side because i love him as a man. if he makes it to the white

house, you know, i'll miss the guy. we've spent, you know, the last ten years, as i said, building hotels all over the place. he would do a great job. he would do such a phenomenal job. stuart: i sense that your dad is driven. i sense that other candidates are driven. they have to put up with all this travel and no sleep. >> no question. stuart: are you driven to be there with your dad in the oval office? >> hey, listen, i haven't missed a single debate, i haven't missed a single event. i'm there by his side 100%. at the same time, i'm almost very much a realist that i'm going to be running the business in new york with ivanka and don. we're doing amazing things. we couldn't be busier as a family. he'll be taking great care of this country, and we'll be taking great care of, you know, the company he built over so many years of his life. that's our job and our duty to the family. listen, we're always one call away if he needs anything. i would jump off a bridge for the man, that's how much i love him. i would be there in a second's

notice, but he would do a great job in washington, and we will do a great job on the business front. stuart: eric, thank you very much for being part of the show. we do appreciate it. i know you're super busy, but we'll be watching those results tonight. >> appreciate it, stuart. take care. we'll see you soon. stuart: iran calling a proposal to the freeze oil output ridiculous. now, that is brand new, and that's affecting the market. >> that's a strong word, isn't it? that proposal from saudi arabia, russia, venezuela and qatar saying let's freeze production at january levels. as you just said, the iranians, the oil minister calling it ridiculous. he says they're putting unrealistic demands on iran who wants to boost its oil production by a million barrels per day. the oil minister saying, look, they've come up with this proposal on freezing oil production, called for this freeze to take place in their 10 million barrels a day production, vis-a-vis iran's one million barrels a day. unrealistic, he says. stuart: down 4.5% for oil and down 155 on the dow.

>> that would do it. stuart: as you said, that would do it. the president announcing the pentagon's plan to close gitmo and transfer all remaining prisoners to other detention centers in the united states. general tom mcnerney on the show earlier, not happy. roll tape. >> we're putting terrorists back on the battlefield that have had a 30% recidivism rate. number two, it's not a lot of money. here's a man that put a trillion dollars into a stimulus, and we got absolutely nothing out of it. $500 million into solyndra. this is a symbol of the u.s. strength. it's also a symbol of people that have attacked the united states, we're not just going to let them go free. stuart: as you heard me say, the yen is not happy with the -- the general is not happy with the close gitmo plan. how about congressman scott garrett, republican from new jersey, who is with us now. the president's going to close it, transfer 'em here. you are my congressman. >> there you go. stuart: what do you say to this? >> proud to be.

well, this is one in a series of promises that the president, obviously, has not kept from day one, but this is a case where we're happy he's not been able to keep this promise. stuart: are you going to stop it? >> well, that's interesting that you put it that way. we already stopped it in the sense that we've already passed a law. there's a law that you cannot return these people back to the united states. what the president is doing here is abiding by another law that says this is what he wants to do, right? and so he has been told by congress, okay, if you want to do something, tell us what you're going to do in this situation. so what he's presenting now is his plan to do so. it'll be incumbent -- if that's the right word -- for congress if we want to to take action to say, yes, we agree. i can tell you right now there is no mood in congress to go along with this plan. stuart: you personally oppose closing gitmo. >> yeah. stuart: you don't want this. >> i don't. and the general to who just came on laid out some of the reasons. what price on security, and i don't think we can put, really quantify that in a sense. we want to make sure our country

is secure, and the best way to do it is make sure they're staying over there and not in south carolina, colorado, some other place. and to the other point, what does the president always say about this? well, gitmo stands out there as an invitation to the terrorists out there or -- stuart: it's a recruitment -- >> that's the term, thank you. but can you imagine that? if we take them from there, right? and we put them in a jail in your back yard, won't that jail or that prison be a recruitment tool for the terrorists? just because -- stuart: the argument applies, yes. >> i think so. stuart: there's the other argument that if you put them into a jail in the united states, you have the potential for radicalizing the prisoners who are already in that jail. that's happened before. >> it's happened before, it's happening right now. and so the best thing we can do is to isolate these terrorists, and the general laid it out pretty well. a lot of the times when we release them back into their home countries, we see that's exactly -- they, basically, make themselves back to the battlefield. stuart: the president goes to cuba next month. >> there you go.

stuart: guantanamo bay is in cuba. if it's empty of prisoners, do you think the cubans will say give us that back? >> oh, they've already said that. stuart: do you think the president will do it? >> remember, he has a phone and a pep, so be careful and beware -- stuart: he could do it, couldn't he? >> in his mind, he would say he could. this would be the next step in order to facilitate that. very scary thought. stuart: you must be throwing up your hands in despair. >> i have less hair because of the frustration with this administration after seven years. stuart: scott garrett, everyone, we appreciate it. thank you. all right. bill gates speaking out about the the fight between apple and the fbi. what is the latest? what i saw this morning was that he says apple's wrong. apple, unlock the iphone. now what? >> when it comes to investigating terrorism, that investigation should win. it was all part of an interview he did with the financial times that actually came out late last night. he's now backtracking a bit. he said no, whoa, wait a minute. i think there needs to be a balance struck here.

what he said originally was it's only one phone. if we can provide help in this one phone, we do not compromise all iphones. he still believes there is, this issue needs to be decided, but he said, wait a minute, he felt that the headlines in the ft were a little more sensational than what he actually said. stuart: so is he walking it back just a little bit? >> he's trying to backtrack. stuart: softening it. >> that's a good word. but i'm sure he got hell from some folks in silicon valley saying, what? >> he's essentially saying the government has abused information in the past in the collection of information going back to j. edgar hoover. stuart: he's softening a little bit. >> he's saying there should be a balance. stuart: up next, a college professor says he's a conservative, he's a capitalist. here's a surprise. he likes some of bernie sanders' ideas. you'll never guess who this professor is.

stuart: ah, developments on the price of oil, and that means trouble for all the markets.

oil down bigtime, stocks down bigtime. what happened? i'll tell you. iran calling a proposal to freeze oil output ridiculous. in other words, they're not going to go along with it. they're probably going to increase the supply of oil on the world market, and down it goes. by the way, the saudis, they've said they are not going to cut production. period. that too affecting the market. oil, way down, 5% drop there. and now i've got news on mars, the candy maker, okay? recalling candy bars in 55 countries. this is a big recall. what's the story? >> it is, it's interesting. it actually came out of berlin, germany, a spokeswoman in germany saying that one of its products contained plastic. it was this particular candy bar made in the netherlands earlier this year. they're not giving any other details other than the recall will affect 55 countries. mars, as we know, they have products like mars bars, milky way, snickers, celebrations -- which is popular in the u.k.,

and mini mix. stuart: do we know if they're recalling all of these product lines or just the one -- >> that's a very good question. it's very -- stuart: murky. >> -- vague, murky. not a whole lot of details. >> they're saying just one product line. we don't know which one. stuart: we don't know which one. >> we love snickers bars, so a little nervous. stuart: mars is not publicly traded. never will be, i'm sure. that family is tight-knit, very secretive. that's all they're saying. back to politics. i've always thought my next guest is a good guy, a capitalist. he's an economics professor, for heaven sake, one of the good ones, but he's come out with an op-ed that says why he likes bernie sanders. you know him. peter morici. wait a minute, the first thing you like is single-payer health care plan? you like this? >> well, let's face it, obamacare's a bust, and bushcare was just as bad.

lots of people couldn't afford insurance. american health insurance, health care is broken. the europeans simply are doing much better at this, so why not take a page from their book and give it a try? stuart: you mean to tell me because the health care system is broken, and it is, you would go the collectivist right? let's all with happy together, let's all socialize medicine? peter morici is doing that? >> would you call germany a socialist country? stuart: no. >> i don't think it is. i don't think britain is a socialist country. but sometimes the market doesn't work, and we need a public utility to replace it. you know, this is an example of where both trump and sanders agree, and i think it makes sense to look at something different. that doesn't mean i'm endorsing sanders for president, but i do think this is an idea meriting attention. stuart: i like the hand action there. [laughter] >> you like that? it's what you do when you're on the defensive and stuart is after you, you know? stuart: now here's another one. you want to break up the big banks like bernie sanders --

look, i'm with you to some degree on this one. make your case. >> it's basically an antitrust solution. let's stimulate competition by breaking up the banks. dodd-frank has pushed the consolidation of banks. milton friedman was very much disciplined to make markets work better. i think that's what's needed on wall street. stuart: okay. you're totally wrong about socialized medicine, but i'll give you a point or two on breaking up the big bankings. here's where i really take issue with you. well, i'm just going the pick on you, why not? >> why not. today's the day for it. stuart: it certainly is. now, look, i've got a large family. i keep telling you i've got six children, i've got nine grandchildren. i'm 67 years old, and i work 12 hours a day, five, sometimes six days a week. i work hard. and i pay a tax rate over 60%. and your guy, bernie sanders, wants even more. your guy is going to take some

more off me. now, what have you got to say for yourself about that? >> i agree with you, that's why i'm not endorsing him. i'm just saying look at a few of his ideas that make sense just like trump's. no, i'm not in favor of that at all. in fact, the brookings institution, which is a left-leaning institution, did a study and it showed free tuition and higher tax rates won't help equality at all. i'm 67 years old, so i feel for you, fella. stuart: yeah, but you've got tenure. >> you make more than i do, and you know that. stuart: not true. impossible. impossible. [laughter] okay. what do you think, i mean, i've asked a couple of democrats, bernie sanders' sporters that have come -- supporters that have come on the show, and i've tried to get answers out of them. >> you got answers from me. stuart: that's true. i'll ask you the same question. let's just suppose you make a million dollars a year. let's just suppose you do. what's the tax rate you should be paying on a million bucks a year? i say -- you say zero? >> zero.

i want a value-added tax of 12-15% on everything, finance the entire government including social security out of that and be done with it. i think the income tax is an insidious thing. it discourages investment and entrepreneurship. it's just a lousy idea. that, my friend, is why you can't accuse me of being a democrat. stuart: wait a second. i remember in britain way back in the 970s they brought -- 1970s, they brought in a value-added tax, and they said, oh, tax consumption, and we don't need to tax income any longer. the reverse was true. they taxed consumption, and they still kept taxing income, and they taxed income some more. you see the fault many your argument, don't you? -- in your argument? >> no, i don't. my feeling is they didn't repeal the income tax when they put the consumption tax in. i want to repeal the corporate and personal income taxes completely, without exception, and impose a value-add tax to replace it. if i could get a constitutional amendment to repeal the

amendment that made income taxes legal in america, i would be happy to go that route too. i want an absolute and complete substitution. i don't trust the democrats to do that. it has to be done by a republican administration. stuart: all i've got to say is it's a good job you've got tenure, because if you didn't -- [laughter] >> am i coming back next week, stuart? stuart: yes, you are. [laughter] >> all right, just checking. stuart: you have tenure on this program so long as you repudiate socialism. >> i repudiate socialism. [laughter] stuart: it was fun, peter. how about this one? political correctness running wild at the university of nebraska. students calling for a chick-fil-a restaurant to be banished from the campus. oh, please. back in a moment. you're an at&t small business expert? sure am. my staff could use your help staying in touch with customers. at&t can help you stay connected. am i seeing double? no ma'am. our at&t 'buy one get one free' makes it easier

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properties. that's why the stock is up about 2.5%. macy's up 42 this morning. they're looking at real estate as an asset to be traded for some money. students at the university of nebraska demanding chick-fil-a restaurant banned from the campus. >> they decided to add a restaurant to the student union, and they were given choices, and they said which one do we pick? they were given the choice of chick-fil-a, panda express, ihop and sounds like any food court in the mall. chick-fil-a won in an absolute landslide. everyone was very happy, that's going to be great. there was a complaint by a minority group who's from -- which were called the qsa, the queer/straight alliance, saying the corporate structure of chick-fil-a is not all-encompassing. it's come out in support of traditional marriage saying -- and so they lodged a complaint saying, wait a minute, this is not the kind of corporate culture we want selling their product on our university. they complained, and the student

board said, okay, we won't do it. stuart: really? >> and said no chick-fil-a. stuart: a tiny minority said, oh -- >> didn't like it. stuart: traditional marriage, that's bad. >> well, it's not the open private sector, it is a corporate -- excuse me, it's a corporation coming onto a university campus. so the university campus is across the country, they're seeing the rise of fast food chains having to adhere to social responsibility. they're concerned about their student body and student who are gay being affected by, you know, that kind of thinking. that's what the minority is saying. stuart: okay. >> just giving you the straight news. stuart: i've got to move on. the campus craziness keeps coming up. how about this? a harvard professor compares trump to hitler. [laughter] and a major health insurer says they'll be cutting payments to doctors because of obamacare. you can't make this up, can you?

stuart: an obamacare failure -- yeah. well, look at this first, oil down nearly 5%. i dow industrials down 173. iran says the proposal to freeze oil output is ridiculous. the saudis have said they are not going to cut production. that's why oil is so far down, nearly 5%.

and, of course, stocks moving in tandem with oil. breaking news on that marine who was beaten by a group of teens in a racial attack at a d.c. mcdonalds. what's the latest? >> we have two suspects now arrested in connection with this, they're seeking a third one. they've not identified who that third person is but, basically, what happened here -- this dreadful video. 30-year-old chris marquez, a marine veteran, a decorated veteran, he won the bronze star for valor, was sitting alone in a mcdonalds when a group of teens came up to him and asked him, look, do you believe that black lives matter? he said he felt very intimidated, tried to ignore them, they followed him out of the restaurant, and you saw what happened. he was severely beaten. two people -- stuart: either a day later or two days later, a leader of the black lives matter group was in the white house meeting with president obama and received praise from mr. obama. did you know that? >> no, i did not. >> no. >> this is totally unacceptable.

stuart: it sure is. president obama announcing the pentagon's plan to close gitmo and relocate all prisoners to centers in the united states. look who's here. itching to go at this one. you want to close gitmo, do you not? >> the constitution wants gitmo closed. i'm saying this partially in jest to provoke you, because i know what you're going to say. that's your view of the constitution! stuart: it is. it's your view of the constitution. >> i'll tell you what is very sound and is not ideological, anding that is that under the constitution with respect to federal prisoners in custody of the defense department or the justice department, the president is the jailer. and as the jailer, the president can open and close jails, and he can move prisoners from jail to jail, and congress has no say in it. so i would argue under standard, well-accepted supreme court jurisprudence the president doesn't need congress' consent to move those people to wherever he wants to put them. there'll be a political fallout and and a political uproar that

he'll have to deal with. maybe he doesn't care since he's in his last year in office, but he can legally do it on his own. what i heard him say today was he's going to ask congress to do it because it's a money saver, because the federal courts are more efficient. i think he's right about the federal courts being more efficient. but i thought i heard a hint of i may do in anyway. because this is what i tried to do my first minute in office, and it may be the last thing i do, but i'll get it done. i thought i detected that from listening between the lines. did you? stuart: and you approve of this? >> the constitution approves. stuart: yeah, yeah, yeah. >> it's been such a black mark on the legal system. all six times that the supreme court has ruled on gitmo, the government has lost. stuart: okay. i will rescue you from the anger of our viewers by moving to another subject. >> i thought you were going to rescue from my own incarceration at gitmo. [laughter] stuart: no, no. we're not quite there yet. students at the university of

nebraska, they're demanding chick-fil-a restaurant banished from the campus, okay? i think that's terrible. they say because chick-fil-a supports traditional marriage, that it's anti-gay, gay students will feel intimidated, so get 'em out. you say? >> it's beyond terrible, because the university of nebraska is owned by the state of nebraska. and the state of nebraska is regulated by the first amendment. and the first amendment prohibits the government and all that it owns from interfering with people's work and business on the basis of their speech or their beliefs. so if this were a private school like, say -- is the london school of economics? [laughter] if this were a private school like harvard, yale or princeton, they could kick off whoever they want for any reason. but because it is owned by the government, they can only do what the government can do. question: can the government, which has a contract with you to sell chick-fil-a products, kick you off or break the contract because it doesn't like your

political opinions? answer: no. same answer for the university of nebraska. stuart: i do not expect the government to come to the aid of chick-fil-a, even though a vast majority of students wanted them on campus. >> but wait a minute, this is nebraska. this is not new york city. this is not bill debrass e owe. you may very well have a government out there that comes to the defense of constitutional principles. it's not chick-fil-a we're defending, it's the fact that government can't interfere with contracts, particularly because of the political opinions of the contracting parties. >> it's also like kicking off razzi out of college -- campuses. >> it's a little different. owned by the feds. >> london school of economics on this one? stuart: well, princeton -- [laughter] you're right on one, you're wrong on another. >> what am i wrong on? [laughter] stuart: i'm right on both. [laughter] all right, everybody. we keep it sane and pleasant

here on "varney & company." >> love you, varney. [laughter] stuart: strange things happening at colleges all around the country. how about this? at harvard a professor has compared donald trump's run to adolf hitler's rise in nazi germany. and at brown university students say they don't have time to do homework, they're too busy with social activism. ashley pratt is here. you know, these youngsters are giving you a bad name. i mean -- [laughter] you know, what's going on here? first, deal with the harvard professor who likens the rise of trump to the rides of adolf hitler -- rise of adolf hitler. deal with it. >> well, first of all, she did point out in the piece that she wrote in "the washington post" that she will be voting for secretary clinton, so i don't know that she can really be throwing stones seeing as her front runner in the choice of her party that she supports for the nomination -- stuart: don't you find the comparison ridiculous? >> i do. stuart: isn't it a ridiculous comparison? >> but, see, her candidate is facing federal indictment, and yet she's going after donald

trump who, i just don't understand, at this point has had the ability, yes, to rise in the gop and, yes, many in the gop are frustrated and angry with the fact that they don't understand his rise to power. but at the same time, he is drawing upon this real and visceral feeling out there which is the government has not been our friend. the government has done nothing. and we need to reject the idea of big government. he's coming out there saying i'm going to make america great again. and you know what? she might disagree with the way in which he chooses toot that. and, look, his -- to do that. look, his rhetoric is a bit fiery, and chris wallace asking him that question are you going to tone it down and be more presidential to which he said, when it's appropriate. who knows when that will happen, but he is able to connect with voters at a deep and visceral level. stuart: okay. how about the students at brown university? we can't do all of our homework. lay off a bit because we need to get out there and do social activism. >> i -- stuart: again, bringing you youngsters into disrepute, you know.

>> i really don't know how to even defend this one. this one blows my mind. quite honestly, you're going to college for an education, are you not? you're paying money, and you're going into severe debt for an education. so why in the world would you think that somehow homework is getting in the way of your activism? yes, it's important to have a work/life/study balance, but at the same time, you need to be focused on your studies. and maybe that's just me and the old school person in me. stuart: let me come back at you a little bit. >> okay. stuart: a tense political debate is a good education. >> i agree. stuart: i engaged in intense political debate 40, 50 years ago back in london. i mean, that is part of education, isn't it? really free speech, getting into it. i mean, there is a good side to it. >> well, that's fair. stu, my senior year in college i had a thesis to write for my political science course in order to graduate, and i was able to do that while also balancing working on a campaign full time. so please tell me, college students, how you plan to get more involved but yet not do

your homework. yes, it's difficult, but you know what? if you want to graduate and you want a good education, apply it to the work that you're doing and learn from it. take an internship. you don't necessarily have to go outside with a megaphone and claim liberal activism which is what most of these students are doing and cry about homework. stuart: ashley pratt, game, set and match. [laughter] thank you very much, ashley. we'll see you again soon. thank you. >> thank you. stuart: how about this? air bus, they're showing off plans for new seats on their planes. what's this about? >> ripping out the seats, instead of seats, benches to accommodate overweight passengers. stuart: no? >> so this comes from the same company that said, you know what? we want to make seats even smaller. now they're going the other direction, having benches. so there's the image on the patent. they're also showing a family could fit on the bench that they have in mind. so here's the thing, too -- stuart: i'm in favor of that. >> you're in favor of this. stuart: i was on a plane

recently where an obese person could not fit into the seat. it was extremely embarrassing for him, and i felt really very sorry for the man. >> yeah, it is. stuart: i felt bad for the guy, you know? >> and there has been that push to assess an extra fee on overweight people who go on planes, you know? stuart: wrong. >> this is a way around all that. stuart: it is a way around. i support that. all right. an obamacare failure. a big healths insurer says they will be cutting back on payments to doctors because of the high cost of the president's health care law. we'll deal with it in a moment.

>> i'm nicole petallides with your fox business brief. we have iran's oil minister saying they will not consider any production costs, and with that oil drops and takes the market down alone with it. dow down 157 points, 16,462. the s&p 500 also dropping about one full percentage point. financials have also been particularly weak today. goldman sachs and jpmorgan weighing on the dow jones industrial average, jpmorgan down almost 4%. we do have some names that hit 52-week highs, you might see some red arrows, but they did hit highs. abercrombie pulled back. tyson, reynolds, rangold all hit highs today, texas roadhouse, better than expected profitings. did help the group jack in the box is higher, cheesecake company.

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stuart: the obama administration is being accused of shortchanging taxpayers to the tune of about $3.5 billion to help pay for obamacare losses. blake burman, i need an explanation please go. >> reporter: well, stuart, the affordable care act assesses a fee on our insurance policies to set up what's known as a

reinsurance pool. some of the money goes toward reimbursing insurance companies for obamacare losses, other funds are supposed to go to the u.s. treasury. well, now critics say there are several problems here. first, enough money hasn't been collected, falling short about $3.5 billion. additionally, they say the obama administration has given all of the money to the insurance companies who took losses. they feel the administration has stepped outside of its legal bounds in how to allocate those funds. douglas holtz-eakin of the american action forum is one who believes this could eventually hit taxpayers. >> there's only so much money. it either goes to the taxpayer, which is what the law says, or it goes to the insurers, which is what's happening. so either you take the money from the insurers and give it to the taxpayer or go raise more money. and, you know, the latter sounds like a tax increase. >> reporter: now, stuart, we are in the middle of this three-year program, so it's

possible there's time for taxpayers to be made whole. sylvia burwell is expected to be asked about this when she testifies before congress tomorrow. stuart: good. blake burman, thank you very much. highmark have announced a new plan that cuts payments to doctors because of the cost of obamacare. this is another negative for obamacare. betsy mccoy is here, author of "beating obamacare." there's the book. all right, or betsy, they cut the payments to doctors, so will doctors be leaving the obamacare system? >> oh, yes. and watch for other insurers whether it's aetna or united health care or cigna or the blues, they've all been losing a lot of money, about $2.5 billion a year total, among the commercial insurers trying to sell these unpopular obamacare plans. and you're going to see them all paying the doctors less, right? and in some cases doctors will stop taking obamacare. some insurers will require that they continue in order to have other business. but you will see all of the

doctors avoiding obamacare patients like the plague or cutting corners on their care. this is what i really worry about because whether you're a patient or you're getting your kitchen remodels or you're getting your car repaired, never do business somebody who's losing money on the job -- stuart: okay. >> you know they're going to cut corners. stuart: when you say "cut corners," fewer tests? >> fewer tests, mostly less time in the office. you know how hard it is to get more than five or six minutes with your doctor, right? but they're not going to spend any time with you at all if they know they're losing money on even having you in the office. stuart: okay, look, the end point for obamacare comes either when it spirals down and kills itself from within, or the republicans get into the white house, the senate and the congress and say we're repealing this thing, we're going to replace it, but it's dead. >> well, obamacare is already collapsing. it is already collapsing. you can see that the enrollment was less than half of what they

anticipated a year ago. the insurers are losing money bigtime. and all of these taxpayer-funded subsidies end in 2016, at the end of the year. and so you can already see the signals from the big insurers, they're heading to the exits. stuart: so it's collapsing already. >> it's collapsing. stuart: and if it doesn't die under its own weight, the republicans kill it. >> that's right. stuart: you're convinced that obamacare is a thing of the past -- >> almost over. [laughter] stuart: you're convinced of this? >> yes, i am. because i is can see that the insurance companies don't want any part of it. and once they say bye-bye, obamacare is dead. stuart: unless they come up with taxpayer money to shove it into the hole -- >> they certainly cannot convince congress to vote for moretaxpayer-funded subsidies to make the unaffordable care act look affordable. stuart: all right. betsy mccoy, you're on top of it. good stuff. ben carson, listen to this. ben carson says president obama was raised white and does not understand the african-american

experience. quite quite an election, isn't it? back in a moment. ♪ ♪ choose world.

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switch to liberty mutual and you could save up to $509 call today at see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. stuart: ben carson says president obama was raised white. he doesn't understand the black

experience. angela mcglowan is here. you say, angela, that that comment from ben carson won't help him with the black community. explain that. >> no, it won't. when you talk about the politics of race, saying someone is black enough or white enough, that's not what we care about in our community. we want to know about the issues, what are you going to do to create a better black america. it's time to stop with who's white enough, who's dark enough. and, look, he is president obama. he made it to the presidency. and, stuart, if you look at the top 11 cities that have a high pop black population, either they file for bankruptcy or they're going bankrupt, and it's a very high unemployment rate. if ben wants to get some of the black vote, that's what folks care about. stuart: well, what would you think he ought to say to the black community? i mean, you correctly point out it's a really poor performance of all these cities. what should he say? >> right. well, if i were his strategist, first of all, i would stay away

from the color issue and talk about the issues. stuart, i ran in the state of mississippi where it's an open primary. stawrt stawrt yeah, you did. >> i only got 20% of the vote, but i was the first black woman to do that. and i had blacks cross over to vote for me because i talked about the issues. now, the republican party is very clumsy in reaching out to african-americans, to blacks, and the democratic party has taken them for granted. as you can see, blacks are divided. and i'm going to quote reverend jesse jackson who said it's not who we vote for, what we demand. so now, apparently, we finally have awakened as a people, and we want to know about the issues. so, ben, listen. you have a great life story. you're a success story. you've lived the american dream. if you want to be president, talk about how you're going to make that a reality in the black experience. stuart: okay. we hear you, angela. i want grow to listen to this one too. it's what john kasich said about being part of the establishment.

roll tape. >> i've always been a guy that has shaken up the establishment. the establishment has always been fearful of me. look, they were fearful of reagan, they were fearful of my friend, newt gingrich, they're fearful of me. nobody tells me what to do except my wife, and at the end of the day, i think the establishment gets nervous around me because i'm a guy that shakes things up. stuart: yeah, i heard the governor there. but, angela, everybody's running away from the establishment label. and yet the republican party wants somebody to coalesce, one single candidate to coalesce around and be the establishment to beat trump and cruz. >> and john kasich is exactly right. it would be great to have a kasich/rubio ticket or a rubio/kasich ticket. it's time for us to coalesce. and some people are saying, not to get back to carson, that he should jump out of the race. it's his god-given right to run, but we need to coalesce behind someone. if you look at kasich in ohio, and republicans need ohio,

george w. bush won 16% of the black vote in ohio and won four more years, kasich has done a great job as governor. it's just not getting out there like it should. he's a dark horse in this race too and someone to watch. stuart: angela mcglowan, i believe she's in washington d.c. we'll see you again soon, thank you very much, indeed. how about this one? >> yes? stuart: this is supposed to be a new report from bankrate. we are struggling to save enough money to cover ourselves in emergency. liz, i've heard that before. >> yeah. people are, you know, on the verge of ruin or, you know, just one paycheck away from the street. you know, three-quarters of the individuals in this survey said they do have access to credit cards and credit lines, so, you know, i've heard this time and again. i wish it was more nuanced and more information behind it. stuart: thank you, liz. i'm with you entirely on that one. dow's down 160. more "varney" after this. ♪ ♪

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♪ >> not a politician. he is a great kind of patriotic all-american guy. that is just too he is. you either love that about him or hate that. it is their genetic makeup. it is kind of who he is. i think that is what makes him larger than life. donald is saying maybe he will add more presidential. i think he was right. he is who he is. i am what i am. i think he will win tonight to nevada. extraordinary momentum. "varney & company."

that is what we follow. >> trump clinton. stuart: meal, it is all yours. >> thank you very much. more drama developing. the president can go ahead and submit a supreme court nominee. the senate will not even take up the matter. a presidential pick on this until after the november election. some comments that joe biden made back in the summer of 1992. urging president bush senior. that was then, it has been repeated now. you can imagine where it is going. now it is the republicans turned