have a terrific thanksgiving. good night from new york. signed a nuclear agreement -- charles: captain nash, i've got to leave it there, sir? >> all right. charles: lou dobbs next. lou: good evening, everybody. president-elect donald trump today making key cabinet choices naming south carolina governor nikki haley for the high-profile post of u.s. ambassador to the united nations. mr. trump praised haley despite her sharp criticism of trump during his campaign. trump released this statement -- trump's nomination of haley

would elevate lieutenant governor henry mcmaster, he backed trump early becoming the first statewide official in the country to endorse him. haley's appointment would make mcmaster the next south carolina governor. we're talking tonight with republican pollster lee carter, "washington times" columnist charlie hurt, and how are his appointments in comparison to his pr well, we'll give you a hint. historic. also with us executive editor of the weekly standard, fred barnes and donald trump is said to be seriously considering another prominent republican rival. governor mitt romney, to be his secretary of state, but some trump advisers, including newt gingrich are vigorously pushing back. >> i just think the challenge with governor romney is not just what he said about trump. he was trump's most vicious and

most explicit opponent through the campaign on the republican side, and you have to list out all the things he said and think, gee, is this guy going to be loyal? governor romney wanted to be president, not secretary of state, and you have to ask the question when he goes overseas is he going to be the secretary of state for president trump or be mitt romney's own secretary of state? charles: we'll be talking about the trump transition team's dynamics and what's next. steve cortes joins us, and we'll be talking as well about the challenges the new president will face in less than two months. iran's leadership threatening america. vladimir putin raising the threat level of his military, and the russian enclave of colin grad. and our top story tonight, trump filling out cabinet, making two additional choices including nikki haley as u.s.

ambassador to the u.n. trump also nominating betsy devoss as education secretary, a former michigan republican party chairwoman, longtime advocate of school vouchers. trump has made seven appointments, three cabinet-level positions, other choices, retired neurosurgeon dr. ben carson hinting he's ready to accept an offer to head the department of housing and urban development. carson posted a statement on his facebook page saying -- and the "wall street journal" reporting trump is expected to select billionaire investor wilbur ross to head the commerce department. joining us tonight to assess all of this and a lot more, "washington times" columnist, fox news contributor, charlie hurt, political communications expert

and partner lee carter. great to have you both. i want to start with you. he's making women an emphasis in his early choices? >> i think he's doing a lot of important things. he's talking to people that nobody expected him to like mitt romney. nikki haley didn't necessarily support him during the election, he's saying i think it's important she has her experience, right time, right position, right person and all of these go a long way to making people feel more comfortable with president-elect trump than they have been so far. lou: charlie, what do you make of it? he's moving seems much faster than predecessors have in recent memory and making choices that as lee suggests were not necessarily obvious or conventional? >> not at all obvious or conventional. and so much for the anti-woman racist we've been told for the last year that donald trump has. two of the most interesting

choices so far is betsy devoss for department of education and ben carson as hud secretary because a lot of people thought ben carson would be good at hhs, given his biography, he grew up in detroit. his wonderful book gifted hands is a story about a mother, a single mother who raised two sons in deplorable conditions in a place like detroit and helped them reach their fullest, greatest potential, and something we got out of housing and urban development, it would be that, that would be a truly miraculous turnaround, and so i think these are all exciting picks and the choice of jeff sessions as attorney general proves that donald trump is serious about putting forth the constitutional sort

of, you know, agenda and attorney general. lou: delivering on the campaign he ran and promises he made. betsy devos is an interesting choice, she's committed to charter schools, committed to vouchers, and public education has always been, when you get through all of the federal programs, the nonsense, the reality is this country has always had one great equalizer, one area that is the foundation of our meritocracy, that is public education. if he can fix public education, he'll go down in the ages for being a successful president. >> i think it's one of his big priorities, bringing somebody in who has the different perspective and view and willing to make big bets is important right now. there's a lot of discussion about the uneducated in this country, where we are right now. about we need jobs, he's talked

about how we talked about -- does everybody need to go to college? lou: heck, no! there shouldn't be a discussion about it. people making money are tradesman, craftsman and women, and to shut down vocational high schools and to end shop in our high school our public education system, our public education is being held hostage by teachers unions and such conventional and thought that it's incredible. just keep repeating the same process and turn out what is a less educated class every year. it's devastating what we're doing in public education, charlie. >> and totally beholden to the teacher's unions as you say. and donald trump surprised all the experts, all the pollsters by performing so much better or performing better among hispanic voters and black

voters over mitt romney's performance four years ago. if donald trump makes real inroads with public education as you point out, the people that will benefit the most are poor people and minorities and, you know, this could completely revolutionize the voting blocs that have been sort of set in stone for so many years because of the way washington operates. lou: you know, the challenges, they are immense, profound, they're absolutely -- i mean, donald trump had to have great courage to even ask for this job because it is going to demand so much and so much more than he's already given, but if he can turn things around, first on the economy, but in education, he will have done more than all the federal programs for the past 50 years. he will have done more than all of the power structure of the inner cities has been able to

accomplish, and it will change profoundly our society, and i think for the better. let me turn to mitt romney. lee, it's got newt gingrich's goat, as i look at my twitter account. [ laughter ] >> it's exercised a lot of people and understandable, but at the same time, mitt romney apparently hasn't been offered the job and apparently hasn't accepted. >> that's right. lou: and i say apparently because i don't have inside information. >> that's right. we don't know what's going to happen. we know donald trump has made himself available to have conversations with people who have been critical of him. i think what he's saying is i'm going to look for the right person at the right time for the right job and we're going to bring this country together again. if somebody disagrees and they have great ideas, i'm going bring them to the table. whether or not mitt romney gets the offer, i think it's fantastic that he has conversations with people he

has disagreements with and not holding grudges. lou: it's clear, charlie, he looks ever the larger person for having had the conversation, if not make the offer. >> absolutely. and i think it's an important message to send. if we haven't learned anything else from secretary of state john kerry, we have learned can you put any buffoon in that position and only a limited amount of damage done. [laughter] >> all the decisions will be made out of white house. give it to mitt romney, make his people happy and, of course, mitt romney has to accept it, and what does that say about him considering all of the things he said about donald trump over the past year. lou: yeah, that was a long walk he made into that building just now. >> very long walk. [ laughter ] >> with donald trump. >> keep your enemy close. lou: thank you, both. lee carter, charlie hurt, thanks. we're coming right back much with more. stay with us. president-elect trump is

building his winning team at a historic pace, but how many should he include on that team who once opposed him. >> i'm all for diversity. one never-trumper is enough, let's not get two, three five in there. lou: we'll take up trump's historic choices and the president-elect promising to kill the disastrous iran nuclear deal, but lame duck president obama doing all he can in his final days to appease the iranians as they appease the iranians as they make new threats against i found a better deal on prescriptions. we found lower co-pays... ...and a free wellness visit. new plan...same doctor. i'm happy. it's medicare open enrollment. have you compared plans yet? it's easy at medicare.gov.

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. lou: an admission that globalization has hurt people coming from an unlikely place. united nations secretary-general-elect antonio guterres say the establishment having ignored losers of globalization as he put it, saying -- joining me now former pentagon official fox news contributor

k.t. mcfarland. great to have you with us. we have a lot to cover to get some sense of your perspective on this. first let's start with antonio gutteres, the secretary-general-elect making that profound admission. are you surprised and does it portend a change in either europe or this country in attitudes towards the u.n. itself? >> well, i'm surprised he actually said it. here's a man who's a big believer in globalization and admitted they've got a problem with globalization, what struck me as odd from the beginning why did the globalists think that countries shouldn't have put their self-interests first. the whole idea of what's wrong with america first? do you think iran is not putting iran's interest first or china not putting china's interest first. for the globalist to criticize the united states people who are rebelling against globalism or the elites saying they

should always think we're right, always be advocates of globalism because globalism is so great with everybody. i think it's interesting that gutteres admits they have a problem and may have gotten worse. lou: the globalist elites trying to deny the middle class of this country, for example are being absolutely savaged by the policies loosely the rubric of globalization and resulted in their losses of jobs, their earning power. importantly their loss of purchasing power upon which this country's prosperity depends. now germany and china depend on our largesse, if you will, in a global economic system in which we support them, we-run deficits, as donald trump pointed out throughout the entire campaign. we cannot continue that madness and it's creating huge, huge fissures in the prospects for

the return of prosperity. let me turn to two geopolitical threats that are extant right now and obviously looming for the president-elect and his administration. and first is the ayatollah, again, making threats against america even as the president, the lame-duck president of this country is seeking ways in which to appease him, to in any way protect that disastrous deal that he constructed. >> you know, we all realize donald trump was right, the iran nuke deal one of the worst in american history, because the president and secretary thought they're going to buy their friendship, helps you in the middle east. they're going to give up evil ways of supporting terrorists worldwide and turned out that trump was right. he said at one point in one of the debates you got to be able to walk, you got to be able to

step away from the table if it's not a good deal because in the end, you got a better deal. well, the administration never stood away from the table, they took whatever deal they could get, gave iran more, and here's the result. we have the supreme leader threatening the united states, threatening to abroggate the nuclear deal. lou: vladimir putin intensifying military activity within the enclave of kaliningrad bordered by belarus and poland, the baltics, k.t., for donald trump. it's one thing to put sxrsh testing, if you will, a lame-duck president, but now with such close proximity, we're at 57 days from the inauguration of donald trump, he's creating a problem for a man he said he could do business with. >> well, this is the aggressive

move by putin. he's putting missiles in kaliningrad, right smack-dab in the middle of nato, between the baltic states and poland, and i think putin is doing that because he knows he can do it, get away with it, obama is not going to do anything to make a peep to challenge him and trying to have a fait accompli. when trump comes into office, there will already be nuclear missiles in kaliningrad. it's a pretty bold move for putin, on the other hand, i think all the countries are going to test the new president trump, whether it's china, russia, iran, north korea, radical islam. all test, a new president always gets tested but all the countries are lining up to test this new president. lou: all right, k.t., thanks for being with us, great to see you. k.t. mcfarland. >> thanks, lou. lou: be sure to vote in our poll tonight --

. on wall street today, stocks mixed. the dow up 59 points. the s&p up 2. both at record highs. the nasdaq lost six points. volume on the big board dropping off to 3.4 billion shares in advance of the thanksgiving holiday. eli lilly shares at the lowest level in two years, shared plunged 10% after the experimental alzheimer's drug failed in trials, and orders in durable goods posting the biggest increase in nearly a year. climbing nearly 5% last month. a reminder to listen to my reports three times a day on the salem radio network. president-elect trump's cabinet rapidly expanding, the secretary of state position vacant but attracting a lot of attention. one of the candidates is already given americans a sneak preview how he might handle the

job. that is the subject of my commentary here next. stay wit

. lou: tonight our president-elect weighing his choices for secretary of state, among others. the trump team reportedly torn somewhat, one candidate for the job spent his energy boosting mr. trump on the campaign trail, that, of course, is rudy giuliani, and another who spent all of his energy attacking and undercutting him. that man is governor mitt romney who exude far more energy this his attacks against trump than he displayed for his own run for president in 2012. what kind of secretary of state would he make? would he have indication of how romney might perform as secretary of state. in 2012 as he campaigned for the presidency, he decided to

go on a big international trip. here's how that went of the first stop, london. mr. romney began his gaffe filled adventure in london, he decided to first criticize london's preparations for the london olympic games, if you can believe that. romney actually said that the brits's construction plans and timetable weren't encouraging as he put it. he said there were disconcerting signs. rather ominous, don't you think? his comments earned romney a broadside attack from london's officials and tabloids stinging strong rebukes from all kind was officials, including london's mayor, he appeared to forget the name of the labour party leader. >> i look forward to our conversations this morning, a number of conversations with leaders. lou: lots of leaders.

mr. leader, and he capped it all off by meeting with the head of the mi6 intelligence agency, meetings which are generally kept secret. romney did this. >> i appreciated the insights and prospect us of the leaders of the government here and opposition here as well as the head of mi6. lou: that was helpful, wasn't it? mney went onto israel and poland where he had very similar success. when romney returned home, he was widely panned for what turned out to be a disastrous venture into diplomacy. it turned out to be something of a sad trial run, wouldn't you say? well, i do. now the quotation of the evening. on insults and wrongs, and this one from shakespeare, if i may. we're coming right back with much more. stay with us. the president-elect building

out his administration, choosing his cabinet, and setting the tone for governance that begins in less than two months. >> they tell me they was the first elected official to endorse donald trump in the country, and it was lonely for a while. lou: fred barnes joins me next, we'll be talking about trump's latest and potential appointments. and we'll have the video of his amazing twists and turns. we live in a pick and choose world. love or like? naughty or nice? calm or bright?

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lou: donald trump is in florida tonight. a thanksgiving message from the president-elect where he called on all americans to come together to rebuild this country. >> it. my prayer that on this thanksgiving we begin to heal our divisions and come together as one country strengthened by one purpose and resolve. now begins a national campaign to rebuild our country and tree store the full promise of america for all of our people. lou: joining me now, fred barnes. happy thanksgiving. let me begin there. following the president's message to us all. he's talking about rebuilding.

coming from him it has such a fresh and original sound. he is a builder and the st he's succeeding told us we didn't build that. the contrast couldn't be more stark. >> president obama and his folks have convinced a lot of people that this slow growth in the economy, a lot of part-time jobs is the best we can do. trump says otherwise and i like his economic plan because it can change that. we can will 4% growth. we don't have to settle for 2%. that's one of the reasons people elected trump. lou: the new normal this administration has been pushing out as if we should have diminished expectations. this is the tyranny of low expectations. it was created as a result.

and the american people just aren't suited to such dour outlooks. >> they aren't. that's one of the reasons donald trump won. you talk about exceeding expectations. when you look at the cabinet picks today, particularly the ones in the last several days, trump exceed expectations particularly of the media because they had no idea trump was going to do something. they thought after a couple days of the transition it would be old white men who would have all the cabinet jobs. lou: one of the things that delighted me is when he brought in all the heads of networks and gave them a thorough lashing for a being what they they are. they have lied, they deceived, and now most americans i believe

understand that. as well of course as the "new york times" where he had a very good discussion, much of it on the record, and "the washington post." no longer are people going to be buying this nonsense if they ever fully did. >> i tend to agree with you. the truth is the media decided -- remember this idea of -- i forget name of it. during the campaign, since trump was uniquely unfit to be president, they had to go after him and give hillary a pass. okay, he was elected and they are still going after him. lou: he calls the "new york times" a flailing organization.

it has resorted to a propaganda arm of the left wing of the democratic party. it constructed its own demise and if it continues on this path it will do exactly that. >> you ought to read some of their editoralls. they are talking about this wave of racism and anti-semitism. lou: they promote more ignorance than any other organization save "the washington post." to think of what those two publications once were and what they have become, they are a national embarrassment. >> they don't even have good sports sections. lou: more importantly to most folks. let's turn to the suggestion that this president will bring in mitt romney. how do you feel about that? >> i think mitt romney is not the guy for that job.

there is no indication from what he said and what he has common the past that he has the talent or skill set to be secretary of state. and there is one thing you need in particular. john bolton who has been on the show many times points it out. that is, you need somebody who can stand up to the foreign search advice. they are there permanantly, they have tenure, and they want to run you. what happens, secretaries of state get dominated by the foreign service and the secretaries of state don't know it. you need somebody tough enough to fight them. lou: the foreign services the near east desk responsible for much of asia and the middle east. the disaster that they have been, and the conventional

suffocating lack of original thoments within that o is a chalg evening to any president and any administration and certainly any secretary of state. >> this is why i think john bolton who worked there as assistant secretary and u.n. ambassador would make a great secretary of state. you want somebody who is tough and can dominate the foreign service and reflect what the president wants in a foreign policy. lou: i'll make you a bet donald trump is all over this trying to figure out who and what he wants in that place. >> he has done well in his other choices but this is a tough one. lou: thanks so much for being with us. happy turkey day. be sure to vote in tonight's poll. are you surprised how well the

president-elect is doing in his administration comoilss. watch this surfer in maui nail the first backside 540 degree flip, turn, call it what you will, look at that board. it's like. >> helicopter propeller. it's never been done before. it took him a year and a half of practice and countless falls before wee he was able to lands the amazing trick. president-elect trump set to tackle immigration on day one. >> i will direct the department of labor to investigate all abuse of visa programs that under cut the american worker.

lou: stay with us. lou: stay with us. we are coming right back. afoot and light-hearted i take to the open road. healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose.

the east and the west are mine. the north and the south are mine. all seems beautiful to me.

lou: the law against law enforcement is escalating. the officer who was shot at wayne state has died. it's one in a series of attacks against police. four officers in three states targeted. 59 officers have been killed by gunfire this year alone. almost a 40% increase from last year. trump facing a new challenge for his plan to block federal funding for stink wary is. hundreds of sanctuary churches have decided to defy the president-elect. there are an estimated 6 million

illegal immigrants living in 3400 jurisdictions that are so-called sank waries. trump already taking on nearly a dozen mayors from new york to if san francisco who vowed not to cooperate with the federal government. joining me now, steve cortez, he served on the trump advisory council. you live and work in chicago. i want to start with why in the world can your mayor actually say that the priority for him is protecting illegal immigrants irrespective of criminal background rather than protect can the people of chicago, 77 of whom have -- 700 of whom were shot dead this year. >> i'm glad you asked that question. i couldn't be more ashamed of my mayor.

we live in a city that's called chi-raq. the west side of the city is practically a war zone. what is our mayor focused on? he's focused sphonl making outland i shall statements. i even hate the term spank wary. sanctuary for whom? he lives under taxpayer funded 24-hours protection. you know who has to deal with the on the ground re-at of dangerous criminals, you know who deals with that. people with names like cortez and romero, cops on the beat. that's who has top deal with it on the ground. not maybe emanuel. i call out his hip truth city, and i implore him.

show some decency, sir. our city is aflame yet you are dancing for -- >> i hate to interrupt you. rahm emanuel is who he is. and he's not being in any way brought to account by if the newspapers of your fair city. he's not being brought to account by the democratic party or democratic voters. he's not being held to account by primarily african-american churches. the power structure weren't south side. everything is blissful as far as they are concerned, afraid to utter a word of complaint about all of these deaths, these murders. can you tell us why? is there something there that we just don't know bawls i understand none much it. >> i can't tell you why. but i can tellu this.

the good book tells us don't just curls the darkness. light a candle. donald trump lit that candle. he has spoken i think with force and power to community of color. and he told them all through the campaign, you have been neglected. you have been exploited by the democrats who want nothing but your votes. what i'm most excited about is latino. by the way, we did great among latinos. we practically dwrowbled we were polling among latinos on election day. one of the reasons is school choice. if we can break that monopoly. lou: i hair and agree with you. -- i hear you and agree with you. i think his appointment of betsy devos is an effective advocate

for public education for this country. what i don't understand is the apathy of chicago while you are in the middle of a crisis that that city faces. you can't fix education if you don't have students whose safety you can assure. and so that's true of every community in this country. it's got to start there. chicago shows no signs of any conscience whatsoever. >> you are right. but there is a new sheriff in town in washington, d.c. in the white house. i believe and i hope he will change that. he will use federal power and federal persuasion and tax dollars. this city is broke. one of the nice things about chicago being broke is, they need fed rald funding. because of that i thinkee convenient actually mayo mayor

emanuel and others are impervious to the danger chicagoans live' in on a daily basis. >> it's not the most high minded approache might take. steve, it's always good talking with you. have a great thanksgiving. a federal judge delivering a new blow to the obama administration. the judge blocking a rule that would extend overtime pay to 4 million employees. the rule was set to go into effect december 1. the obama overtime rule would have doubled the maximum salary a work can earn and still be eligible for overtime. it was set to take effect on december 1. thousand it's a matter of -- now it's a matter of court proceedings.

the judge felt president obama had been somewhat excessive in his application of executive power. we'll assess the healthcare challenges ahead for the president-elect with trump you

lou: we asked you who would you prefer as secretary of state, romney, giuliani or other. you , 52% say you want giuliani. joining me, new york post columnist and senior fellow for research, betsy mccoy. the democrats are saying all hell is going to break loose because the president-elect promised he will immediately repeal and replace obamacare. >> it's fear mongering. he says he can do it seamlessly and they continue their attacks. who is right? >> he can do it seamlessly and president obama and many members of his party have claimed

falsely that 20 million people will lose their coverage. 20 million people gained coming under this law. but 16 million of the 0 million are enrolled in medicaid and they will stay there. the states that decided to expand medicaid are not going to do a 180 and throw them off the rolls. lou: how many of those are there? >> 1 million. so that least at most 5 million, not the 20 million the fear mongers are talking about. $5 million are enrolled in obamacare plans. the fact is, they are already only technically covered. they are having trouble seeing a doctor because the deductibles

are so big they can't cobble together enough cash to go to a doctor. what president trump will do is market reforms allowing different times of insurance to be sold. people with preexisting conditions will be moved out of the individual market into a separate market and they will be subsidized by the whole nation. you will see premiums and deductibles come way down. lou: how long will it take? >> it will be in effect within a year. lou: will there be gaps? >> i don't believe there will be gaps. ed the 2 million people getting clobbered by this law will get relief. chuck schumer is saying -- i

know the president-elect likes him, but he's saying he will rue the day. i never heard that kind of language from anyone since harry reid. what is it with the democrats? they are such tough guys. >> their deductibles are way up because of this law. lou: we appreciate it, good to have you with us. that's it for us. >> happy thanksgiving. this is a turkey. lou: and you are a hoot. trump has brought hope and a sense of conviction to we the people that we can make america great again. that is priceless. julie tweeted america can't take anymore senseless death. we voted for law and order and we shall have it soon.

have a terrific thanksgiving. good night from new york. kennedy: good news, donald trump won the election. or did he? a band of electoral voters are trying to convince them to switch back. trump * is being urged not to drift too far to the center. a new show on "national geographic" is being called the game of thrones of the animal world. grab your boots. time to jump in. could president-elect trump have