>> thanks to our fantastic panel. see you tomorrow. "varney & company" starts right now. here is stuart. stuart: i'll take it, maria. we say it frequently, sit back and watch history unfold. we're saying it again today because what's happening in politics and money is indeed historic.

yes, if you've been watching fox business. no, if your news source is the establishment media. please look at this today. "the washington post" is filled with the usual anti-trump rants and the economy section leads with the diversity struggle at apple. the new york times nothing about the historic rally on the front page and in the business section on page b-7, a very brief mention, wall street closes at new highs again. that's all you get from the new york times for the historic move. confidence is up, trillions in new wealth created. no wonder the media is not trusted. another historic event tonight, the president addresses congress and radical reversal on policy on immigration, taxation, health care and the environment. it will be intense political theater.

you've not seen anything like this before so one more time, sit back and watch history. "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ >> take a look at what's going on with the stock market, trillions of dollars of value have been created since i won the election, trillions. no, i mean, the stock market is very enthused and that's jobs. stuart: that's the president there talking about the stock market rally, which has all, but been ignored by the mainstream media. we've got more on that when this market opens today. okay. the dow is coming off its 12th straight record close. the longest streak in 30 years. it will be the longest streak in all history if the dow ends even just a half point higher today. stock story of the day, this is a big one, target. it's down, what, 12, nearly 13% before the opening bell.

sales are down and expect them to keep going down. shares open at a near two year low. e-mack, this is our themed retail ice age. have i got that right? sales actually down. liz: yeah, a surprise drop in the holiday quarter. down about 43% from a year ago. they're basically seeing a bad 2017 as well. that's what the forecast says. stuart: is this on-line sales taking a bite out of target? connell: . liz: yes, the retail ice age is upon us as, you know, moody's and fitch last week, a lot of retailers have a boatload of of debt for those. >> retail ice age, i think that's a good slogan. got it, liz. to washington, president trump will speak to a joint session

of congress, 9:00 eastern tonight. i think the speech will be something, you've never heard anything like it before and the reaction is like you've never seen before either. you can watch it, of course, live fox business 9:00 eastern. diane black is with us, republican from tennessee. i'm confident that the atmosphere surrounding this speech will be very, very tense, are you with me on this? >> i think it's going to be a very important night to hear what the president has in store for us and this country. stuart: what do you want to see him do, go out there and be positive and reach out to democrat opponents? what do you want to see? >> i want to see him positive. he campaigned on making america great again. i want to hear what his thoughts are going forward and what we can do as a partner to do that. stuart: i'm expecting shoutouts from democrats. i'm not likening it to

mr. walsh for shouting out "you lie", he was disciplined from that later on, but i'm expecting a demonstration from the crowd, something like that and you, too, i guess? >> well, we're seeing that all over the country. i hope we have more dignity inside of our chamber than we've seen in the past by our democrats, and i hope that this is going to be an evening where we will listen to what the president has to say and we'll give him a chance to make his case. stuart: that's not going to happen, diane. you've got a lovely smile. you know this is not going to happen, don't you? >> we'll see what kind of drama we have in the house of representatives. it shall be interesting. stuart: i know you're a former emergency room nurse. have i got that right? >> that's right. stuart: decades of emergency room work. >> that's right and i still have my license today, stuart, i keep with my continuing education and i keep my license. stuart: look, my blood pressure keeps going up on the program. so if you want to come to new york and-- . [laughter]

>> deep breath, deep breath. stuart: i'll try. with all of that experience in the medical world, can you tell me that for sure we're going to get obamacare repealed and replaced in short order or is this going to drag on? >> sure, stuart. i can tell you we are working very hard and it will be short order. we're going to be showing some people our plan here within a short period of time and i can tell you that we're working really hard to rescue the american people from the failed system. stuart: okay. well, just get me my tax cuts and my blood pressure will go down, down, down, and your services will not be necessary here, okay? >> thank you for joining us as always, always a pleasure. thank you for having me. stuart: now this, if you are a lawmaker in california and you oppose gun rights, a federal judge says you can have your home address published for all to see. judge andrew napolitano is

here. have i got it right? the mechanics behind it-- >> the mechanics are important the legislature voted to allowed their names to be removed from all publications. stuart: the judge says, no, you can't do that. >> if you know where i live and i'm a public official, it is a truthful statement to publish my name. what do they want? they wanted to insulate themselves from the wrath of the voters by hiding their names and contact information from the voters. stuart: wait a minute, the wrath of the voters should be felt at the ballot box not your private home surely. >> that's not what the federal judge ruled. the federal judge ruled if you want to know where this person live to picket their home or send them mail, it's a matter of truthful information. stuart: i think it's a matter of security. >> well, you would have voted with all of these lefties in the legislature then. stuart: i would not necessarily vote with the lefties.

>> promise not to reveal your names, addresses and contact information on air. stuart: i don't think the addresses of lawmakers should be out there in public on contentious issue like this. >> they were already out there. it wasn't a matter of putting them out, it was bringing them back. you can't get your information off the internet these people wrote a law that all internet service providers who do business in california, which is all about them, retaining this information about just about them, just about that legislation. stuart: you're bringing me around to your point of view as you often do. >> the first amendment, i know you don't have that on the other part of the pond, the first amendment prevents the basis of discriminating against the idea. this is a question of the judge

saving the constitution, the ravages of the lefties in the california legislature. stuart: the left will know you be encouraged to picket the private homes of lawmakers. >> i'm sure it will go the other way around. stuart: it won't go the other way around. the right doesn't picket the private homes of people they disagree with. >> that's what the lefties are worried about. but it's typically the left. i will applaud the legislature when they vote to secede from the union. [laughter] >> judge, your time is up. >> see you later. stuart: we'll see you at the # 1: 11:00 hour. we have a video. a small plane crash. you can see the explosion after that, there's the vo. what happened. ashley: a small plane, husband and wife, three teenagers on

board actually hit two houses in this residential neighborhood of riverside, california about 50 miles east of l.a. they had been competing, the teenagers, in a cheerleading competition in disneyland in anaheim, were flying back to san jose, ran into trouble. amazingly two survived the crash, five on board, two di injured, three died. stuart: that's a dreadful tragedy. ashley: awful. stuart: dreadful tragedy. troubling video we've got from the arizona-mexico border. a huge hole cut in the border fence, cars and trucks, there you go, speeding right lieu it. crossing into our country illegally. yes, we're on it and wait till i tell you that that doorway, that gate was actually on a hinge. to be opened for the convenience of the illegals. >> what kind of a hinge?

>> made in america, probably. made in china, probably. president trump meeting in the white house, trying to revive the inner cities. all anyone is talking about is kellyanne conway putting her feet on the couch. not the african-american lawmakers and colleges, oh, no. that picture next. senator bill cassidy republican louisiana opens a town hall opened with a prayer and protesters shout is down. and don't forget president trump laying out his agenda tomorrow night, 9 p.m. eastern, watch it here on the fox business network. we'll be back.

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>> some stocks are opening way down.

tenet health care, apparently is this drop anything to do with obamacare? we're on the story and we'll cover it for you. how about costco? there's one analyst who thinks that the company will raise membership fees. costco, i'm not sure how it's going to be open, down a fraction, but that's an important story, we'll cover that for you at the opening of the market 15 minutes from now. here is the amazon story of the day, another good one. they're developing advanced voice recognition technology for the echo personal assistance, the alexa. liz: yeah, that's right. stuart: what's going on with this. liz: it will let you for the first time recognizing your voice, voice i.d. no other device has this. it would stop your kids from ordering pizza, starting the car, turning on the oven via alexa. amazon now has 10,000 apps on the alexa.

that was only a thousand last june and now 10,000 things you can do with your alexa. stuart: extraordinary. that's a good move because the kids could get in there and do all kinds of havoc. ashley: fiendish kids. [laughter] >> from the voice of experience. it's a big night tonight. president trump is going to address a joint session of congress, first time he's done that. come on in, please, senator bill cassin, republican from louisiana on the joint economic committee. senator, i put it to you, your party is split. you've got the house, you've got the senate, you've got the white house, you're divided. our viewers are saying, please, republicans, don't blow it. can you offer assurance? >> stuart, i think we could fabulously succeed. whatever there are ideas you want them vetted and don't want

knee jerk anything. we're coming to common ground, coalescing and i think it's healthy. stuart: can you promise-- i know you can't guarantee, but can you promise to give your best effort to getting obamacare repealed and replaced and getting a tax cut in place before the august recess? can you do that? >> you know, i don't know if before the august recess is necessary for the tax reform. i just say that because it's better to get it right than to get it early. on the other hand if we get into the next year, then we will succeed. our economy will grow more rapidly if we're successful both at obamacare repeal-replace and tax reform. again, more important to get it right than early. stuart: a lot of our viewers, investors, are very worried if you put off tax reform until next year, this market rally probably doesn't last. >> but on the-- one, i think we'll get it done this year, but i think we're

not talking so much about a market rally as about long-term sustained growth. if we had a pattern of long-term sustained growth, not only does the market do better, but the average family does better and that should be our goal. stuart: you recently held a town hall and angry protesters disrupted the opening prayer. i want to play that, i want our viewers to see this. roll tape. >> prayer? we're done-- >> pray in jesus name [crowd yelling] >> senator, there's some allegation that these are professional, paid protesters, they come from other places. do you know who these people were? >> i don't know that, new orleans is a big city, there's no way i could know. i will say there are those there who disagree with me and

disagree with president trump and wanted others to hear my response. on the other hand there are one or two who clearly only wanted to yell everyone down. and i'm struck, those for intolerance are incredibly intolerant themselves. stuart: you'll do more town halls? >> we had six this break, there were two and-- >> how many were disrupted, how many of the ones you've done? how many of the-- i'm still here. how many of the town halls that you've already done were actually disrupted? i'm sorry, i think we lost the-- >> we do. liz: stuart, your point is well taken, it's-- this one was it's called indivisible and we have an audiotape of people who were going to protest at the event, if you get a sympathetic

question it's okay if it's blocked from us sitting in the meeting and raising their hands at every moment and disrupting that. stuart: thank you, liz, appreciate it. a very ambitious plan from elon musk, he wants to put two civilians in spacex rocket and send them around the moon. we're on that afternoon this. ♪ ♪ see you on the dark side of the moon ♪ where to get in... where to get out. if only the signs were as obvious when you trade. fidelity's active trader pro can help you find smarter entry and exit points and can help protect your potential profits. fidelity -- where smarter investors will always be. [he has a new business teaching lessons. rodney wanted to know how his business was doing...

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>> you know, there's a lot of talk about this. elon musk spacex planning to fly people around the moon. two people unnamed, wealthy individuals already placed deposits. they're to go in late 2018. so, ash. ashley: yeah. stuart: we don't know how much they spent for this. ashley: no, a pretty penny though. stuart: do we know if there's going to be any training. ashley: they're not going to be astronauts. it will be autonomous. you don't need trained astronauts on board. there will be training to get used to weightlessness. there are no astronauts. goes out, a long loop around

the moon and-- >> that sounds simple. >> enjoy the ride. stuart: what do you have to do? >> don't freak out. stuart: you're a big fan of elon musk. >> i love elon musk, besides sharing the same birthday, and the guy is a dreamer, but makes it reality. stuart: do you think it has anything to do with tesla. he runs tesla. does tesla respond to this? >> and how much after move tesla, it's not only a car company, it's a tech company. liz: stuart, would you go on it? >> yes. liz: you would? >> i would. liz: i can think of a number of people you'd like to put on that. stuart: they're coming back. wouldn't you go. liz: no. stuart: ash. ashley: i'd love it, i'm in. stuart: chance of a lifetime, okay, we're running up to the opening bell on the stock market. this is going another of those

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only at td ameritrade. >> i'm laughing with my colleague ashley webster because we are fired up today. ashley: yes! . stuart: look at this thing go, bang! 9:30 eastern time. we're off and running. we closed at the 12th record consecutive high. some people are expecting a huge pullback. that's not happening. we're down 12 points, still way above 20,800. left-hand side of the screen. a mixed market, a lot of red there, but still down only 20-odd points for the dow industrial average after the first 30 seconds worth of business. the opening trend slightly lower. i'm going to bring you a couple of stocks which really are way, way down.

taking it on the chin big time. first of all, we have target. they say their sales actually fell. that's very important. it's not that their sales moved up less than expected, no. sales absolutely fell, and when they looked at the future, they say sales are going to keep on falling. this is our retail ice age theme rit large at target this morning. nearly 14% down. a very similar story, as far as the stock is concerned, at tenet health care, that stock is way, way down, i think about 12% in the very, very early going. is this something to do with obamacare? the dismantling of which is now being discussed in washington d.c.? mae. it's down 12%, that's a health care stock, i should say, and that's down big time in the very, very early going. take a quick look at the defense stocks. president trump says he's going to boost military spending 54 billion dollars.

now, that came out yesterday, so, any gains that you're seeing this morning are adding onto the gains of yesterday. there you have it. first two minutes of business on wall street and we are down 20 points and there are some big individual movers. remember, please, if-- we've got the faces on the screen. everybody remember this. >> smile. >> smile, please. if we go up and close just one point higher today, we will all be seeing something, which we have never ever seen in 120 years of the dow jones average. that would be 13 consecutive records. let's see. ashley is here, liz is here. mike murphy is here and scott martin, too. all right. now, a serious question for you, murphy. >> yes, sir. >> would you in good conscience, tell your clients, the people who rely on you for good information, would you tell them, yeah, get out there and buy some more stock? you would? >> i would. >> the reason is, stuart, i don't want to look back at the

last 12 days or 13 days or what's happened since the election and the move up in the market. i want to look ath underlying fundamentals here, you're getting earnings growth, a repeal of regulations and you're getting tax cuts coming so that means you need to reprice the market. so a market that six months ago i would have told you we're up almost 21,000 it will be expensive. it's no longer expensive at these levels. you can buy and underlying fundamentals support it. stuart: your clients have a strong stomach? >> there's money to be made. it's not timing market, it's time in the market. stuart: scott martin, you manage money, you look after money, are you telling people, get in there? >> the money is happy. stuart: you are? fresh money now? >> you pick your spot. you don't go broad market, pick financials, industrials, materials, tech, stuff we've been talking on the show for months, sports fans. [laughte [laughter]. the game is on!

. stuart: dow winners thus far today. boeing, apple, united tech, general electric are all up in an otherwise modestly down market, down 26 as we speak. liz: this really is-- the trump rally is the rodney dangerfield market, it's not getting any respect. nearly 3 trillion in value added. look at this positive note from citi group, an economic strategist. if you are disappointed tonight, donald trump, doesn't matter, he's positive and bullish. stuart: i put this on the trump rally, what trump says gets that market going. but tobias is saying, and you're saying and you're saying, look at the profits the companies are making that justifies the rally? >> sure, but some goes to trump some of this is becauses' rolling back regulations and cutting taxes and that's a big theme of what's going on. you can't discount that. stuart: infrastructure and infrastructure spending, that's definitely going to be a theme

tonight and a theme over the past few weeks. the president says we're going to spend big. now, infrastructure stocks today are pretty much unchanged. i think they had a run yesterday. is that-- infrastructure stocks, is that included in your list of things to buy? >> that would be industrials and materials related, stuart. this is going to build the infrastructure, that's stocks and areas of the market we're focused on. >> i still think that the market would want to hear about tax reform. that's the most important part of his speech. i think that donald trump will give you the full monty, being aggressive and piling on. and especially investors in the market, tax reform, some sort of timetable, some sort of commitment to it. stuart: i agree. >> push it through this year. liz: that's what started this recent historic run. february 8th was the last down day when trump said phenomenal tax plan coming. stuart: this was february 28th. the last down day was what.

liz: february 8th. stuart: let me clear my head here for a second and look at target, please, that's a two-year low on the stock, it's down 13%. the story is sales are down and target says they will continue to go town. would either of martin, would you buy a single retail stock? >> i would not. not-- well, specifically target. there are certain-- one, stuart, i've purchased recently under amour, a name i want to own because it's been beaten up so badly down from 90 to $20 a share, but it's hard to jump in front of target when on the conference call they're surprised by the lack of people in the stores. stuart: that's a story and a half. we look at that, wal-mart down nearly 2% the biggest loser onned s&p 500. in sympathy. and this is all about people shopping on-line and not going into the store? >> it's clicks not bricks and that's where i go retail. i go to amazon and stay away

from my retail outlet that has a ton of real estate and ton of stores brick and mortar, that's not where people are going. liz: a lot of them are nearing junk status because there's pressure on. >> e-mack, they're going to turn the real estate around and repurpose it? i don't think so. you're going to sit on that like a dead duck and stuck with it on the books. that's going to be a bad scene. stuart: it could be that investors overall are watching the program because they especially to have put a floor under the market. we're only down 19 points and we've been at that level for the past five or six minutes, both mike murphy and scott martin said, look, they would put their client's money into the market now. despite 12 records in a row, these guys are saying, they would put some money in and apparently a lot of people are following that-- not necessarily following the advice, but not selling, that's the point. they're not selling at this point. >> absolutely, there's a lot of opportunity out there, stuart. stuart: okay. [laughter] >> okay.

what have we got now? profit falling short at the auto parts retailer autozone and sales were flat. okay. deal with the infrastructure stocks. show me autozone, please, what's happening there? sales flat, it's up about 1%. did i say sales were flat? i think i did. okay. >> you did. stuart: okay, the stock is up 1%. take that. costco may hike membership fees maybe by $5 to $60 for basic membership. the stock is down 1%. tenet, that's a hospital operator, less money coming in and the stock is down 14%. has this got anything to do with obamacare? does anybody know? is this linked to obamacare? >> the health care sector as a whole has been suffering with regard to changes coming to obamacare and the cloudy picture put into place with respect to what they're going to do with repeal and replace. the health care sector, i believe is in a void for right now. >> let's see now, we're down 21

is points, eight minutes into the session, down 21 points, that's hardly a selloff after 12 record highs in a row. well, the market, as we say, you know, the market could make history if we get 13 records in a row. but you know what? what astonishes me, there's no mention of this in the mainstream media. i went out and i bought the new york times, "the washington post," it's not on the front page. ashley: there's your problem. [laughter] >> it's not in the business section, not the economy section. stuart: nicole, on the floor of the exchange, what are people saying about absence of coverage in the mainstream media to this astonishing story? nicole: it's amazing, today could be the 13th record close, the dow has never seen this in the 120-year history. where is it in the papers? why isn't it saying to all americans, you are making money. you're making money in your 401(k), your ira, your

pensions? we have almost 3 trillion in market value added with this move that we've seen, so it's a historic move and history is being made. media has chosen to blow it off and in the meantime, i'll tell you, the traders tonight are all ready to watch trump and some said they expect a lot more viewers than the academy awards. stuart: good. nicole: just a wait and see mode, but they expect much of the same policies that he's been saying. stuart: thanks, nicole. i will guarantee one thing, if the market does take a dive, then the mainstream media will cover it big-time. it will be splashed across the front page as the trump selloff. i absolutely guarantee it. do you want to make me on, murphy? >> no, i agree with you 100%. that's working against them. they should report the news as it is, the market is at all-time high. stuart: tell them. they don't tell them.

take a look at tesla, last session, hit-- they were concerned, it took a dive in the last session. the everyman market three, the production car, will be hit by production delays. tesla bounced back a little bit now. scott, you're the big elon musk fan. did it bounce back? >> so far today it is, stuart. it's down off earnings a couple of weeks ago. musk reminds us of ceo's past, doesn't he, steve jobs, maybe? he is a great visionary and he's built tesla into a tech company. it's not just a car company and that's what makes it beautiful. stuart: you know we did call him p.t. barnum. >> p.t. barnum was a successful guy, just like elon musk is. liz: he also owns 27% of the stock. stuart: thanks, indeed, scott martin and mike murphy. lively session to kick it off.

take a look at the board down 21 points, 22 points, i'm sorry, that's where we are. and president trump met leaders of the african-american community at the white house. all the mainstream media can talk about is kellyanne conway kneeling on the couch in the oval office. ♪

>> this is cool. it's a robot from google-owned

firm boston robotics. ashley: my goodness. stuart: boston dynamics i should say. what's this about? >> yeah, it's called handle and he's picking up-- that's 100 pounds in that basket right there. picks it up. what's amazing because the new element, it's on wheels. look what it can do, go downstairs easily, go down snow-covered hills and across the parking lot. this is the thing that nightmares are made of. even the person that owns the place, this particular boston dynamics calls it, what did he call it, like terminator riding on a hover board. you're not going to sleep well if you see a lot of this video. what's the application? you could say in the warehouse putting stuff away. could there be military applications? who knows it's fascinating video. stuart: it is, that's how far things have developed. >> on wheels, up to 9 miles per hour. stuart: wait until it's got a gun and a laser, that's

different. ashley: law enforcement. stuart: check the big board. we're following the market extremely closely. the media will ignore it, but we're following it because this is history. we're only down 11 points. 20,826. there you have it. we were down 20 now we're down 11. it's not a bad performance. show me price line, please. i believe we hit a new high on that stock. up $95 per share. can we please note that? that's called a rally. it's up nearly 6%. driven higher by hotel bookings, apparently that's very strong elements in their business. liz: when is that thing going to split? >> nutrisystem, diet people. up, that's 15%. why are they up so much? they've looked to the future and they say the company's going to be very strong and so are sales. up she goes, 15% and now this, president trump met with dozens of leaders of black colleges yesterday, but there was barely

a mention of any of that in the media. instead, they're talking about this. kellyanne conway sitting with her feet on the couch in the oval office. that's the news, apparently. i'm shocked. joining us n, shiff david clark from milwaukee county wh joins us, head gear and all, sitting next to me in new york city. sir, how are you doing, young man? >> i go the-- got the memo from your producer, the hat of the day. stuart: he likes the hat. don't try it put it on me. [laughter] can't do it. i'm appalled at that. this is-- the leaders of african-american, traditional african-american colleges visiting the president of the united states. no mention in the establishment media, but kellyanne conway puts her feet on the couch and all hell breaks loose. >> look, the leftist media is in panic mode. president donald trump is doing an outstanding job of outreach. he has this magnetism about him and people are drawn to him.

so he's reaching out to some traditional demographics, that republicans don't traditionally spend a lot of time with and they're in panic mode. this picture this morning, this is why the leftist mainstream media is dwindling into irrelevantsy. okay, who cares? she's sitting on the couch and trying to get pictures. who cares? >> they're not drifting off into irrelevancy? i'd like that, but-- >> influence in the public they are. stuart: do you think? they dominate what goes out into people's homes and what they read in the morning, what's on their facebook feed. they dominate that, a certain view of america and a certain view of donald trump. hold on a second. they're going to move the office which deals with traditionally black colleges, they're going to move it into the white house. they're going to have an office in the white house, that's the extent of president trump's outreach and nobody says significant about it except trump is a racist.

>> guess what? programs like yours and others, people get news from other sources. stuart: i'm the one upset here and you're sitting there laughing away in your head. >> the lib early mainstream media wants this to be the news, but most people now are beginning to realize this is kind of an example of fake news. she's sitting, kneeling on a couch. that's fake news, who cares about it that? what matrs is donaldrump's president trump's outreach to traditional traditionally african-american colleges. that's why they're in panic mode. he made this during the campaign, he said give me a chance, begged for their vote, told them they deserved better schools, safer neighborhoods, better jobs. you know, meaningful employment, and he's going to deliver on that and that's why you see the shiny objects to deflect away from what he's trying to do. stuart: do you think in the black community as a whole, the president's message is getting through at all? >> we saw it during the election. he got more black votes than any republican candidate over

the last, i don't know, two or three elections. stuart: only 8%. >> only, it's a start. you have to build on this. this isn't going to flip overnight. okay, it's a process and president trump realizes you have to keep working on it. since the won the election he didn't walk away from it. things like yesterday, some of the other things that he does, the people that he's entertaining in the white house that he's reaching out to, it's a process, he understands it. it's going to be heavy lifting, but over time he's going to be successful. he's done this before. he's a builder. stuart: the name of the book, cops under fire. >> cops under fire beyond the hash tags and phrase of a better america. a person named stuart said if i come on the program and test the book. stuart: if it shoots to the top of the chart, it's commissionable, i want a piece of that action. i don't care what you say. >> i'll talk to the agent about

that. [laughter] >> he's not joking. stuart: the producer had a joke in my ear. good luck with the book and great to see you, sir. shake that hand again. >> appreciate it. stuart: good luck. he canh the market scan, we do not have a huge selloff, we're only down 19 points. we will be back. your path to retirement may not always be clear. but at t. rowe price, we can help guide your retirement savings. so wherever your retirement journey takes you, we can help you reach your goals. call us or your advisor t. rowe price. invest with confidence.

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>> will y look at hertz up 6%? this is astonishing because all the news about hertz is negative. they also money and they're facing intense competition from uber. why are they up 6%? i know the answer. carl icahn has upped his stake in that company. up she goes. nbc universal is going to acquire the remaining 49% stake in universal studios japan. look at the parent, comcast, virtually unchanged. there's the story. next case, illegal immigrants coming across our southern border, the numbers down in january. that's a surprise. give me the number. ashley: it is down 27% according to customs and border protection. that's compared to december. now, this is traditionally the slow time of the year, during the winter. it picks up again in the spring, but down 27%.

a lot of unaccompanied children and family units, as it's called, coming from central america, haitian nationals migrating from brazil, cuban nationals making up a large number. inadmissible migrants at southwest ports down 28%. but 31,575 were nabbed, by the way, in january trying get across the border. stuart: 31,500. ashley: a lot of people. stuart: that's interesting, i wonder if that's the trump effect. that's speculation. >> go to canada. stuart: the video of the border with mexico, they cut a hole in the border fence, essentially makeshift gate, it had hinges so it opened up so conveniently for trucks and cars to come into america illegally. they shut the gate behind them. we're on the story, illegals on the trucks coming to arizona. the stage set for tonight when president trump meets the

revolution in congress. now, let me put that differently. the trump revolution arrives in congress tonight. 9 p.m. eastern. i'll have my take on that at the top of the next hour. so tell us your big idea for getting the whole country booking on choice hotels.com. four words, badda book. badda boom... let it sink in. shouldn't we say we have the lowest price? nope, badda book. badda boom. have you ever stayed with choice hotels? like at a comfort inn? yep. free waffles, can't go wrong. i like it. promote that guy. get the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed. when you book direct at choicehotels.com. book now.

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stuart: the republicans got what they wanted. they know control the house, the senate, and yes, the white house. question? are they going to blow it? with that concentration of legislative and executive power you would think they could easily push their policies through. they campaigned on he repealing obamacare, on cutting taxes and fixing the immigration mess but they can only do that if they unite, and they are not united. tonight the president will spell out his goals. bottom line? he wants to reverse almost everything that president obama did. you can expect intense on vision from the democrats because of course they are defending their turf.

the republicans are not exactly gung-ho for the trump revolution. of course there will be debate about details but in that debate stops tax cuts, stops deregulation, or holds up the repeal of obamacare, then republicans will have let down their supporters and they will have let down the country. without the trump growth agenda, america languishes and the middle class continues its he decline. the message to the republican party is clear. voters gave you what you wanted. president trump gave you an election win. you control the levers of power. don't blow it! the second hour of "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ tonight's the night, it's gonna be all right ♪

stuart: he has a voice. the man has a voice. that is rod stewart saying "tonight's the night." that the is firm title of the song. it is certainly a big night for the president. he will address a joint session of congress at 9:00 eastern time. it will be an address like you never seen before. more on that surely coming up on this program. breaking news on consumer confidence. liz? liz: hitting a 15-year high. stuart: whoa. liz: hit 15 of this-year high in december. came done in january. setting stage for president's speech tonight. gdp came in at 1.9% average. we're looking 2 1/2%, 2 1/4% this coming year. consumers feeling better about the wallets and job prospects. stuart: look what happened to the markets. news on consumer confidence hi 15-year high. couple minutes later we're only down nine points. we've come back significantly on

that consumer confidence surge. i'm going to call it a surge. liz: it is a surge. stuart: 15-year high is a surge. we're checking big board. we're down 7 or 8 points. that's it. i will call it a dead flat target. stock price of target, anything but flat, way, way down. the story is straightforward. their sales are down. they expect sales to continue to come down. fewer people in the stores. they're getting hit by the online guys. we've got less money coming in at tenet healthcare as well. that stock's down 14%. how about that? two big losers, target, tenet healthcare. how about facebook? it hit a record all-time high yesterday. still pretty close. almost $136 a share on facebook as of right now. it is shaping up to be an interesting dynamic tonight. we expect the left to oppose everything that the president says but republicans, as you heard my take at the top, i

think they remain split, especially on obamacare and on taxes. "town hall" editor katie pavlich joining us now. i said at the top of the hour to republicans, don't blow it! i'm not wagging my finger at you by any means but i think you share my emotion, do you not, don't blow it, please! >> absolutely. they have a huge opportunity with the white house, senate and house, things they have been promisingoterfoe years under e obama administration. here we are. republicans have no excuse to repeal obamacare. ted cruz said politically would be a complete disaster, to quote president trump if republicans do not get this done. this is something hurting the country. this is something republicans ran on and won over. here we are, we seem to have some waffling how this is going to get done. it is time to do it. time to make this happen and americans are watching. stuart: of course it is time, i see liberals in the senate, i

hate to call john mccain a liberal but i don't know he is is. he is stepping outside of the republican politics. susan collins is doing the same thing. in the house you've got the freedom caucus objecting to things in the tax cut. i have got to say, i'm worried. are you? >> well, here's the thing, we have to remember the practicality of how this works as well. and can sit went that each senator and congressman represent. no district is monolithic what they need, how they want things to get done. that being said, republicans had a number of years to come up with some solution to make sure this is done. when you look at reason why people voted for president donald trump, it was around the time when obamacare premiums were going up 100, 200% in a number of states across the country. this is something hurting americans. something republicans can get done and take political credit in addition to getting it done legislatively.

there is no excuse moving forward how to do that going forward with the other agenda items in president trump's speech tonight, there will be back and forth with republicans who are small spenders that things proposed get paid for. that is fine. that is something they should push back on, as the president admits the debt is completely out of control. stuart: we need youngsters like you, to give oldsters like myself some backbone. that was pretty good, katie. >> i will remember that. stuart: stay right there. i have something else for you at the end of the block. president trump appearing on "fox & friends" on the fox news channel this morning. he says if we provide aid or military assistance to our allies with should be paid for it. watch this. >> we're going to be, we're going to be doing things, having to do with other countries because we're treated very, very unfairly. when we help them militarily we'll ask for form of reimbursement right now, we have

countries we're taking care of their military. they're not being reimbursed and they're wealthy countries. stuart: that is interesting. we help you. so you pay us back. joining us american enterprise scholar ambassador john bolton. is this a practical idea? i help you, so you pay me, is that going to work? >> well, in the first persian gulf war in 19990, 91 bush administration officials, george h.w. bush officials went to japan, saudi arabia, we're fixing to expel saddam hussein kuwait here is your share of the bill. i recall it was named the tin cup exercise but it worked and budget terms, i believe on net, the united states came out even in the first persian gulf war. this concept people who benefit from american leadership ought

to bear their fair share of the burden is absolutely right. how it works out in particular terms, basing agreements, that kind of thing, how people spend in the nato alliance, you have to look at a case-by-case basis but the notion all of us who are in this together should bear our fair share of the burdens i think is unarguable, trump made it a important campaign point. i look forward hearing it elaborated tonight. stuart: the president wants $54 billion more on funding for the military. he is calling, he wants to create the greatest military ever. i have another sound bite on that. roll tape. >> well we're going to spend a lot more money on the military. we really have to. we have no choice. a lot of people think it is a tremendous amount of money. it could be $30 million, $30 billion more than that we'll upgrade our military very substantially. we'll be having the greatest military we ever had by the time i finish.

stuart: the greatest military we ever had by the time i finish. that was reaganesque. >> well, it was and it is very important. look, if you took everything that the trump campaign said on foreign and defense policy, if you put it all together, you can reduce it to one central point, and that is, that trump promised unmistakably to repair the damage done by eight years of obama budget cuts to our defense and intelligence capabilities. and so this is, this is not a time for omb budget flimflam. this is a time for a coherent and sustained and substantial increase in the military budget. it is very similar to what ronald reagan faced, when he came in 1981. he had a hollowed-out military that he inherited from the carter administration. i think this can change dramatically our posture all the way around the world. it goes hand in hand which trump

recognized and neither obama or clinton did with rapidly-growing economy. a lot rides on the figure whether it is 54 billion this year, how it spends out over the next few years. there is no getting around it. you can't do this with blue smoke and mirrors. it will require some domestic spending cuts which i say hallelujah. the more the better. stuart: i say hallelujah to the anglo-american alliance which i'm sure you're over in london cementing as we speak. john bolton, you're all right. thank you, very much, sir. >> ta-ta, stuart. stuart: noing like man ever says tata, ever. they don't say cheerio. ashley: only in hollywood. stuart: thank you, mr. ambassador. fascinating story, spacex. they have got two, excuse me, they have got two paying customers who will take a trip around the moon and come back.

ashley: a long loop around the moon. maybe 400,000 miles. these o individuals who know each other, approached spacex, look, we want to go. they don't know how much they are going to pay but they will undergo expensive training between now and liftoff sometime late next year. but it is an autonomous spacecraft. they don't need a trained astronaut. they will sit back and enjoy the ride. stuart: speaker paul ryan talking about the republicans getting their act together on obamacare. >> let me say that again. the current tax codis criminates against people who don't get health care at work. we want to end the discrimination in the tax code that don't get health care at work and equalize the tax treatment of health care. everybody regardless whether you get health care at work or don't, has the opportunity to get a health care plan affordable for you. that is what we've been working on.

that is what we're working on with the administration. at the end of the day we get everything done and right we'll be unified on this. manu. >> [inaudible] trump campaign and russian officials during the presidential election? >> we have an ongoing investigation. i will not get ahead of that investigation. we have seen no evidence so far based upon the investigations that have already been conducted. remember there was intelligence community investigation last year. the house republican, house republicans have been doing a investigation quite a while on russia itself through the intelligence committee. we have a bipartisan investigation through the house intelligence committee. think last night they finished their oversight plan to go forward. i will not get ahead of the investigation occurring right now, just so you know this has been investigated. we've been investigating it. we'll continue to investigate it to make sure no stone is unturned. casey? >> [inaudible] >> never, i never give up a dream, casey.

i never give up a dream. i am a packer fan. i never give up a dream. by the way two entitlements are being reformed with repealing and replacing obamacare right now. that is two entitlements we're reforming just this spring. so we're well on our way to reforming entitlements by repealing and replacing obamacare. so i think that is pretty darn good start. thank you very much. appreciate it. stuart: now that was, we just got to him as he was talking about unity within the republican party on the issue of tax cuts. of course on obamacare. he did say we will get unity on tax cut. he said it right out there. of course we're all, the republicans are obviously hoping for unity on tax cuts. ashley: the president met with paul ryan and mitch mcconnell and others and he said we'll be together on this. get out there and spread the word, unity. that is what he has done. stuart: that is the word. a lot of people are skeptical that you can create this unity

in a party pulling apart in different directions. can you do it? liz: that's a fair point. i'm telling you, people on wall street say potentially trillions of dollars equity value are at stake with this -- stuart: that is very true. i don't know about the speech tonight but getting back tax cuts, trillions are at stake, that is very true. look at this, dow jones average is only down five points. we're on the verge of going positive again. 20,832. we're watching it. history is being made. follow it with us, please.

stuart: almost turned positive on all the talk from paul ryan about getting unity on a tax cut. almost made it but we are down just six point. i guess we'll take that. we have no choice. there you go. now under kevin plank, under armour's chief, that is who he is, kevin plank, he praisedded president trump in an interview.

now wall street doesn't like the stock. what is going on. liz: he said the president is probusiness. that was good for the business. what happened under armour's own stars who represent the brand, steph curry of golden state and tory smith in san francisco, wait a second you're supporting donald trump? they started fighting with under armour kevin plank, ceo. wall street analysts, 16 of them cut the stock rating basically because of poor sales. one guy said not good to get in a fight with your stars for politics. they had to take out ads supporting immigration. don't agree with donald trump. there is nasty side fight over the president and being endorsed by unarmour. other companies endorsed president trump. stuart: i thought a very sad story, i really do. you can't say our president is pro-business without having your stock go down and stars in your camp say you're wrong. ashley: cut their money off.

that is what i would do. stuart: throughout the program we've been telling republicans, don't blow it. you've got the house. got the senate, you've got the white house. get your program through and don't blow it. louie gohmert is with us this morning. >> stuart. stuart: our viewers are not really happy with your fellow republicans. they want the tax cut. they want repeal of obamacare and they want it done by august. e you going to tell our viewers right now, lie gomez earth in, yes, we're going to do it? yes, we'll get an agreement? yes we will have unity? no, we will not blow it. will you say that? >> as eric kantor once referred to me, he said i was the conscience of the republicans in the house and continued to say that his conscience was got to bothering him. that was me.

i'm telling you we've got to get it done, i told a number of our leaders, i will leave their names out, you can't keep saying we'll have it done about it end of the summer because not in session in august. and you need to be shooting for the end of may. so that if we don't hit may, we at least have june and july to get it done. and those are short months because of the 4th of july, memorial day. so we really need to get this done by may. and frankly, stuart, there isn't a good reason why we don't. stuart: there is a reason, you've got the freedom caucus in the house. i don't know whether you're a part of that. but they're saying we can't -- >> but i'm not right now. stuart: so can we get the two sides in the house together, not democrats and republicans, but two sides of the republican party? are you going to tell us, tell our viewers right now, yes, you will get together? you will compromise if that is what it takes and we will get the tax cut? are you going to tell them that?

>> i will do everything i can but since they make sure that i don't have a gavel as speaker or chairman, i don't control the calendar, i don't control it, but i'm telling you, stuart, this is our last chance to get america back on track, and we can not blow this. and as i have told our vice president and all the other members, look, we came so close election night to losing our freedoms, to losing america as we've known it, and i am not going to go down without a fight. we have got to keep our promises. we need to be shooting for may, and not august. we're in the in session in august. stuart: we like that. >> you bet. stuart: i will show some video to our viewers and i think you've seen it already. this comes out of douglas, arizona. the border patrol surveillance footage. shows a 10-foot border fence opening. thethe opening is like a gait oa hinge, to allow a pickup truck to drive straight through it.

another car follows, speed off in adjoining neighborhoods. it's a make makeshift gate and slams shut. >> you might call a porous border. stuart: i think you're more in favor after wall you can't put a hole or door in? >> exactly right. you have to have a wall and secondary fence. a road wide enough to turn around. like israel has done, all those namby-pamby hollywood types and quit lying being hypocritical, shut up about the wall, eliminate the walls around their hollywood tear down your own walls. stuart: that is reaganesque. >> then we'll listen to you about our borders. the rest of us don't have the money to protect yourselves. tear down their walls. they will not eliminate their walls. stuart: don't blow it, louie

gohmert, republican, texas. thank you, sir. >> always. thank you. stuart: interesting video out of seattle. the space needle hit with a bolt of lightning during a snowstorm. doesn't happen very often, this type of lightning storm in seattle supposed to be very rare but happened in a snowstorm. that is video 1/2, ain't it? the markets make history. trillions of dollars of wealth created, getting hardly any attention in the mass media. how about that more "varney" next.

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for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™ liberty mutual insurance stuart: the big board shows a near 12-point loss, but you know the trumprally still very much in play. it has virtually no coverage in the mass media. they seem to be obsessed only with negatives about president trump.

look at opinion headlines from today's wash upon post. does trump know he's president? what? bannon's reckless pursuit ofeth know nationalist greatness. trump's gop enablers take a page from the fascist-era vatican. liz? liz: this is truly a rodney dangerfield rally. this rally is getting no respect. the business media is covering trump's pro-business growth agenda but mainstream media is not, generally not. stuart: they're not. liz: give you general headline from "l.a. times." the rally moving ahead despite trump uncertainty. that is how far "the l.a. times" went. talking about "the new york times" business section. stuart: here is the "new york times" today. this is the front page, a section, news section, "new york times." nowhere on the front page is there any mention of the astonishing rally. liz: i'm agreeing with you, right. stuart: nowhere here, exempt on

page b-7. that is all they got. liz: "wall street journal" is covering it. bloomberg is covering it. cnn money is covering the president's agenda with the rally. when the general media, like "new york times," "l.a. times," you don't he see it. stuart: well, i mean, i would -- liz: just looking at the headlines. that's all. ashley: i would thought it would be much bigger news. stuart: this is news for everyone. ashley: record-breaking. stuart: this is not just news for wall street or economics people. everybody benefits from this. liz: we're talk about $2.9 trillion in market value added since the election. that should be a headline. stuart: i want backup, byron york, back me up am i right or am i right the media won't cover it because it is pro-trump, am i right? >> i think your assessment of the opinion pages of these places is absolutely correct, i kind of say i agree with you on

the news pages too. there is enormous amount of stuff that trump does simply doesn't get covered. let me give you a case in point. i went to his cpac speech on friday. he comes out, he does spend the first 15 minutes going on about the media. then he deliver as long, detailed agenda-driven piece, i counted a dozen bullet points of policy items he went through. there was almost no coverage of that. to hear, look at the coverage you would have thought the entire speech was about the media. and you know, his decision, trump's decision not to go to the white house correspondents dinner got much more coverage than far, far more substantive stuff. stuart: byron, thanks very much indeed. i will go to the videotape. i have got vice president pence swearing in wilbur ross as commerce secretary. we're just getting the tape. here we go.

>> good morning. thank you for joining us. on behalf of the president of the united states, it is my great privilege to administer the oath of office to a man who will become the 39th secretary of commerce for the united states of america, wilbur ross. [applause] since this department was founded in 1903 the position of secretary of commerce has been filled by many distinguished americans. wilbur ross addition those rolls is fitting an appropriate given his extraordinary career, the integrity and ability he brings to lead the department of commerce. we're also joined today by hisi. you can give her a round of

applause. [applause] we, we appreciate commitment of public service is a commitment of families, and we're greatful to both of you for your dedication to the united states today. also, please to be joined by many friends and associates as well as the future deputy secretary of commerce, todd ricketts. thank you all for being here today. president trump used to say on the campaign trail that he had a three-part agenda for the american economy, jobs, jobs, and jobs and with wilbur ross as our new secretary of commerce, the president and i are confident that the department of commerce is going to take its right and leading role in fostering the growth that will create good-paying jobs for every american. and wilbur, you're well-suited for this task. you established yourself as a

leading american businessman in a career that spans over 40 years. incredible number of fields and industries. you understand the american economy because you participated in so many different parts of it with such great success, from steel to textiles to from energy to manufacturing, you have first-hand experience with the building blocks of the american economy. you've also seen for yourself a struggles that american workers can face in difficult times in your stewardship of companies. one after another time and again saved thousands of jobs and put those companies and firms in a position to survive and thrive in the years ahead. it's a credit to your ability and to your dedication to the american worker. now president trump has called on you to serve your country as secretary of commerce. given your decades of experience, your record of leadership, your integrity and your commitment to protecting america's economic future. president trump and i have full confidence that you will

succeed. and when you succeed as secretary of commerce, you will help america succeed to a more prosperous future. now on behalf of president trump it is my great privilege to administer to you the oath of office. please place your left hand on the bible, raise your right hand and repeat after me. i, wilbur lewis ross, jr., do solemnly swear. >> i wilbur lewis ross, jr., do solemnly swear. >> that i will support and defend the cops institutions of the united states. >> that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states. >> against all enemies foreign and domestic. >> against all enemies, foreign and domestic. >> that i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. >> that i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. >> that i take this obligation freely. >> that i take this obligation freely. >> without any mental reservation. >> without any mental reservation. >> or purpose of evasion. >> or purpose of evasion.

>> and that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties. >> that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties. >> of the office upon which i'm about to enter. >> upon the office i'm which about to enter. >> upon the office i'm which about to enter. >> so help me god. >> so help me god. [applause] [cameras clickg] >> sign this. [inaudible]. >> thank you. [applause]

>> ladies and gentlemen, the secretary of commerce, wilbur ross. [applause] >> thank you, mr. vice president. thanks to all of you friend and supporters, people from the department for coming here today. i'm very gratified that the confidence that the president and vice president have shown in me and in the department, and i promise that i will live up to every word that i just said. i was also very gratified last night with the vote being 72-29 because that suggests that perhaps finally building america up again may become a bipartisan thing rather than a contentious thing.

[applause] and i hope that spirit will carry over as people deal with the the results of the state of the union message tonight. thank you very much. now let's get to work. [applause] stuart: we now have a commerce secretary. his name is wilbur ross. he was just sworn in right there. however, byron york i think is ilwith us. listen to this we still have ben carson not confirmed at housing and urban development. son any purdue, not confirmed at agriculture. ryan zinke, interior. dan coates not confirmed at national security. alex acosta, not confirmed at labor. rick perry not confirmed at energy. that is a long list of people who are not yet confirmed and firmly in the trump cabinet even though it is february 28th, and the presidency began on january the 20th.

this seems to me, byron, a success for democrat strategy of opposing and blocking and stalling? they won this one. >> you have to say it was. you have to say it was because you're absolutely right. tomorrow is the beginning of march. still all of those names you just mentioned are not confirmed yet. and you have to remember, all the people who go right under them at the various departments are not confirmed either. this is hugely important because remember, so much of the permanent bureaucracy is dead set opposed to donald trump. we've seen actual expressions of that, public expressions of that, not just at the state department but the environmental protection agency, and other places. and the more people trump has in the departments, the more likely he is able to get them to do what he wants them to do, having one cabinet secretary being your only guy in the department is not a great way to run a government agency. stuart: you know, i'm gog to conclude rightly or wrongly,

that the democrats a bert at politics than republicans. what say you? >> i think that is kind of always been the case. look, they're very good at this kind of obstruction. they're very good at doing what they will be doing all day, about charging republicans with being the party of the rich, not caring about poor americans. they're very good at this, and they decided, here's the thing. when trump was inaugurated there was a question facing democrats. do we try to cooperate on zoom of the things we agree with him, maybe an infrastructure bill. oppose what we poe pose or do we oppose everything 24/7. i think they saw that their base wanted them to oppose everything, and they are. stuart: and they did. they did it successfully thus far. >> yep. stuart: byron york, thanks for being with us,. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: i've been saying this all morning. republicans have the house, they have got the senate, and have the white house.

time to get on the same page or they will be squandering a golden opportunity. our next guest is the house majority whip, very important guy in the house, congressman steve school lease joins us now. -- scalise. don't blow it, forgive me, congressman. i know you're an important guy but there is certain level of exasperation on part of our viewers. they want obamacare repealed and reformed. they want a tax cut. they want it before the august recess. and they're telling you, don't blow it. what is your response to that? >> stuart, the good news we're on track to do all of those things before the august recess like you said. the thing that we're going to do differently, nancy pelosi wrote a lot of these bills in a back room. obamacare was literally written the night before the vote. nobody that voted for it read the thing. she said we have to pass it to find out what is doing it. we're having meetings with members, bring consensus to gut obamacare which is critically important and reforms that put

patients back in charge of health ce decision. that is complicated. we're doing that work now. committees are meeting this is the legislative process. we haven't seen this in a long time. barack obama did everything in oval office with a pen and phone. we're passing, moving bills in process. donald trump signed a bill last week to repeal the stream buffer rule. we saved 70,000 coal jobs. we're moving through the legislative process and building consensus to get things done. stuart: sir, you are the house majority whip, as i understand it, you're the guy of whipping them all in place, getting them all together, getting some unity. i don't know how to take this but so far it doesn't seem that you've got that unity. certainly not among house republicans. can i say that. >> no. if you look where we do have unity, gutting obamacare, repealing obamacare, there is clear unity. on defunding planned parenthood, stuart. that is in the bill nobody is

talking about it because we're completely unison making sure that will be in the obamacare repeal bill. some of the he replace elements. we'll transform medicaid, most broken failed parts of medicaid, we're putting together a plan that lets states decide how to run the medicaid program. we had a meeting with 20 governors, republican and democrat. there was a lot of consensus forming how to do that. medicaid hasn't been changed since the law was created generations ago. this isn't something you throw in overnight. we're doing the work on building consensus. you don't hear any talks on things we already agreed on. you hear few details left we're working through on tax policy. ultimately we'll get that consensus. we'll bring a bill to the floor and pass it to the senate. prom donald trump ultimate will sign the bill. we have to do it in transparent way and open process. stuart: steve scalise, you reassured our viewers in some way.

we appreciate it. >> thanks, stuart. stuart: the big board still with a 10-point loss. i will call that virtually go nowhere, down 11 points. look, holding at 20,826. we've had 12 straight records. if we make another record today, only has to go up one point at the close, you do that, and you have done something. we have never ever seen before. we'll be back. in reality they're not. if a denture were to be put under a microscope, we can see all the bacteria that still exists on the denture, and that bacteria multiplies very rapidly. that's why dentists recommend cleaning with polident everyday. polident's unique micro clean formula works in just 3 minutes, killing 99.99% of odor causing bacteria. for a cleaner, fresher, brighter denture every day.

ashley: president trump will speak to a joint session of congress tonight and the atmosphere may get tense. stuart asked congresswoman diane black about it earlier. she says the reaction will be interesting. roll tape. stuart: i am expecting some kind of a demonstration from the crowd today, put it like that, you too, i guess? >> well, we're seeing that all over the country. i hope that we have more dignity inside of our chamber than what we've seen in the past by our democrats, and i hope that this is going to be an evening where we will listen to what the president has to say. we'll give him a chance to make is case. stuart: that will not happen, diane. you have a lovely smile. you know this is not going to happen, don't you? >> we'll see what kind of drama that we have in the house of representatives. it shall be interesting.

stuart: here is new development. women democrats will wear white during president trump's address. this is protest. liz: white is for the sufficient producer says straight from the department of irony. comes on the day the president signed two piece of legislation, saying nasa, prowomen in the

s.t.e.m. degrees and s.t.e.m. sectors. to promote women in the national entrepreneurship. national science foundation. stuart: stop at nothing portray president trump as racist, sexist and bigoted. ashley: even if the facts get in the way. stuart: even if the facts get completely in the way. liz: right. stuart: where there is any suggestion that president trump would roll back any protections for women in our society, whether right to vote or anything else? when there been slightest hint of that? answer, never? ashley: never. stuart: not that i can think of. liz: they're talking about birth control. i have a different opinion from you on that. when it comes to the work place the president has signed two pieces of legislation trying to say to nasa and the science foundation, get women involved in the sciences and math. stuart: i am inclined, told by our producer we don't have time, i would like to get into the difference of opinion we have. we'll save that for another day perhaps. liz: sure. stuart: serious subject, listen to this.

a hand grenade exploding in sweden. this is hours after another grenade found at police headquarters in the same city, malmo. ashley: they believe it was murder attempt. someone threw a grenade into a town home. it explodes. someone was hurt. unexploded grenade found in trashcan next to the police headquarters in stocks home. if you go back in 2015 maalmo, migrants involved in grenade attacks. migrants from syria, felt they were back in their war-torn country. the question is who is behind it? what is going on. swedish police -- stuart: this is all about, muslims migrating to sweden. sweden took in more muslim immigrants per capita than any otr society in europe 160,000. ashley: yep. stuart: there has been significant trouble in the inner-city areas of sweden where

the muslims have con a greated. there has been a great deal of trouble. ashley: according to swedish authorities. stuart: donald trump, president trump pointed this out. the swedish authorities said no, no, it is not so. crime is actually done. they were cherry-picking the numbers. there is a big brouha about this. it appears the trouble is ongoing in sweden. liz: 300 went back to fight for sissies. stuart: that is a lot of people. by the way, the president trump telling "fox & friends" on the fox news channel this morning, there is a quote, terrific health care plan coming very soon. watch this. >> we're coming out with a health care plan i think will be terrific. it will be very inclusive and i think it is going to do really what people are wanting it to do. if you add the tax cuts we're going to be doing as soon as we finish health care, that will come out very soon. big tax cuts for business and for people. for middle class tremendous cuts and for everybody. i think that, you know, i think

i have done just about more than anybody in the first four weeks. stuart: laying it out there. ashley: i think he has. stuart: what he will say tonight. still the same problem, isn't it? the republicans, are they going to blow it because they're internally divided. >> he used the words inclusive talking about the new health care plan, talking to his own party members being more unified. he said, we could let the health care system in this country collapse an look at democrats, see, see what you did. that is not food for anyone. we are going to change it. we are going to come out with, as he says a more, fairer plan, and one that really really good solution is what he said yesterday. interesting to see. has to get everyone on board. liz: one thing house speaker paul ryan wants a lot of people mad about the change, basically removing tax breaks for employer-provided insurance. if people see their employer provided insurance coverage costs going up, that is obamacare cadillac tax kind of thinking.

stuart: it is in a very tricky position. ashley: tough issue. stuart: on this, this is very, very tough issue. but the promise was, repeal it, and change it and replace it. liz: right. stuart: got to do it. you have got to do it. bang heads in congress to make sure it is done. if it is not done and everything is held up, you don't get a tax cut. liz: this is tougher than ronald reagan's tax reform to help avoid the double-dip recession in the economy. this is tax reform and obamacare. this is a lot. stuart: obamacare and tax reform. by the way the dow industrials are almost dead-even. we're down a mere two points, ahead of the president's speech at 9:00 p.m. eastern time tonight. we'll be back. ♪

stuart: some viewers not pleased with my views on the border adjustment tax. by the way i'm against it for political reasons. we got this from john. stuart, i'm disappointed that yoare miepresenting the border adjustment x. trump clearly said it would be a reciprocal tax, which means to me, if you tax us, we tax you. in my opinion you're misrepresenting both the nature

of the tax and effect we have. don't make it harder on our president, give a clear picture of what is being offered. let me be clear, i oppose the border tax on the ground that, ash and liz, you can not pass it politically! it's a political nonstarter. i want tax cuts for individuals and corporations. don't let a border tax get in the way of passing it. that is my opinion and you say? liz: i hear you. you're right. a number of republican congressman, republican senators don't like it even though paul ryan wants it. i hear viewers are saying 100 countries slap taxes on us and we should slap taxes on them. it has never been bested here. best buy and target will be in trouble. ashley: 122 countries so there is a lot to be said you tax us, guess what? we'll tax you. as donald trump said the other day. president said, if we do that, maybe they will drop their taxes on ours? maybe that is the endgame. it will be a very hard sell in congress among gop especially to the right of the gop.

stuart: again, john, i'm only talking about politically. i'm not talking about the merits or demerits of the border adjustment tax. i want something passed. we'll be back. why pause a spontaneous moment? cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away do not drink alcohol in excess. for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have a sudden decrease or loss of hearing or vision, or an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis.

stuart: oh, investors have had a wonderful run. since the president's election win, the mood of the country has shifted. things are looking up. confidence, optimism, signs of economic growth and, of course, the stock market rally. it has been a rally for the ages. 2,505 points up on the dow since the election. $3 trillion in new wealth. and if the dow closes just one point higher today, we will see another historic mark. never before have there been 13 records in a row. so now what? here's the question everybody's asking: put more money in, buy

more stock when stock prices are already higher than they've ever been before? whoa, takes a strong stomach, doesn't it, to jump in now? of course, no market goes up forever. of course, there will be a pullback. and in these dramatic times, there's always the chance of real drama like a crash. but on this program, you've heard market watchers talk about another leg up for stocks. that's still to come. you've heard predictions of 21,000 soon, 23,000 this year, 30,000 by the end of the president's first term. what's an investor to do? answer: stay tuned. because moments from now we will bring you back, bring backing the goldman sachs' guy who, on election night, told investors to go out and buy like there's no tomorrow. 2,500 points later, what is he saying now? stay there, the third hour of "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ ♪

♪ send lawyers, guns and money to get me out of this ♪ stuart: you'd be surprised to know that i know this. that's lawyers, guns and money -- >> by? stuart: i don't know, they didn't put that on the prompter. [laughter] >> warren zevon. stuart: first, the president meeting with the national association of attorneys general, we'll be watching for some kind of tape from that meeting, some kind of statement later on this hour. second, guns. if you're a lawmaker in california and you oppose be gun rights under a new law, under a new court ruling, i should say, you have your home address published. we will definitely be dealing with that one a little later this hour. let's get to your money. that's important, is it not? yes, i've got my ear back. for a moment there i was cut off

from the world. [laughter] i couldn't hear a thing. witht this thing in your ear you're lost on television. you don't know where you're going next. what was that? say that again. [laughter] dow industrials down a mere two points. remember, we're coming off 12 straight record days. now listen to what president trump said about the markets on "fox & friends" earlier today. >> take a look at what's going on with the stock market. trillions of dollars of value have been created since i won the election. i mean, trillions. no, i mean, the stock market's very enthused, and that's jobs. stuart: yes, that is. the stock market very enthused. i promised you the goldman sachs guy who, on election night, said go out there and buy like there's no tomorrow. this goldman sachs guy is the author of the book "american mojo," and his name is peter kernan. it would take a very strong stomach for any investment adviser to tell investors, go out, put some more money in when

stock prices are at an all-time record high. what are you going to tell them? >> do not panic, it's fine. stuart: so don't sell? >> i would not sell here. there are some cross-currents. it's high but not crazy. people keep looking for the bubble, but i don't see excessive leverage. in fact, margin rates are lower as a proportion than they've been. i don't see crazy volumes, i don't see any industry occupying too much attention. you think back to 2000. one in five be shares was a dot.com that traded. not in that kind of market. everything has sort of come up. so the volumes are indicating there's plenty more buying to do. the volatility, we've gone almost 100 days without a 1% move to the downside. i can remember when that happened once before. i wouldn't be afid to buy here. i would look for pieces of the puzzle, excuse me, that have been left behind. health care has not really participate bed, biotech is starting to participate. there's some rich opportunities

still, and i love the notion that other nations are going to follow us and do what we do. and so outside of the united states, i think there's room to grow. stuart: more money still pouring into america from all over the world, is that true? >> it is true. the one thing, i would say the one cross-current is if you look at the ten-year bond -- most people don't, but it's basically rallied which is to say interest rates went from 2.65 down to about 2.35. what that's saying is we're a little worried about whether the gop's going to blow it. it's saying we're a little worried whether the orchestration is set up right. stuart: yep. by the way, we just turned positive. now, okay, we're only up a fraction, but we are up a fraction. >> can i go now? [laughter] stuart: i don't know whether you did that -- >> no, i don't think i moved the market, but i'll take it, and i can leave now. stuart: that was a fair answer to an honest question. >> the only thing is watch the bond markets. it's saying we're a little concerned about the pace.

and steve mnuchin, if you saw it, he said we think tax reform comes in august, and the bill in september/october. that's the wrong cadence. we're looking at before that, so people are starting to say this is coming too slowly. stuart: i want you to listen for a second to what speaker ryan said about the changes in the tax code at his weekly conference. this was just about a half hour ago. roll tape, please. >> the current tax code discriminates against people who don't get health care at work. we want to end the discrimination in the tax code against people who don't get health care at work and equalize the tax treatment of health care so that everybody, regardless of whether you get health care at work with or don't, has an opportunity to get a health care plan that's affordable for you. stuart: now, that's referring to obamacare, changes in obamacare, reform, repeal, remace, etc., etc. he sounds confident that it can be done. is that part of the stock market equation, peter? >> it is, and it's one of the reasons why you're seeing calm, and this hasn't been the big leg up.

it's sort of up a little, down a little. that's what's going on. people are in stasis, they're waiting to see. and what has to happen tonight and going forward is trump has to deliver. stuart: okay. it's not in the conventional media, by the way. >> you won't find it anywhere. not with a search warrant. not with a search warrant. stuart: yeah. you've got to go to b7 in the business section to find any mention of the stock rally in "the new york times. i find that astonishing. let's move on. target, the stock very much in the news. that stock is near a two-year low. it gave a weak outlook. it actually said that target sales are down and will continue to go down. now, lizzie, is this because fewer people are going in target stores and her people are buying online elsewhere? >> yes. that's the targeted thing, that's why they gave a weak outlook for the rest of the year. this stock, if it goes down 13%, it'd be the worst one-day performance since 1998. we see walmart coming down as well, kroger coming down as well.

i don't know if it's in sympathy, if it's the border tax, a weak environment. this is a holiday quarter we're talking about for target. there's a price work now at dollar tree and dollar general, but target is really taking it on the chin right now. stuart: what's happening is all these retailers, the bricks and mortar people, the big names, it's suddenly arrived that we are in a retail ice age. if you want people to go in your store, they're not coming in as much as they used to. they're going online. this is a real crisis for these retailer >> i think the first real shut across their bow was black friday. it didn't work out so well. what's happening here, be careful when you're invest anything retailers, what is consumer behavior and target's own fault. i'll tell you, walmart had many, many quarters of down sales, they did not have it this last quarter. some of this is target's responsibility to fix, and there are people who are undercutting them on the food side of the business, and that is where a

real donnybrook is going to cur. to be occur. stuart: costco, they may raise their membership fee, ash? >> well, they do this about every five or six years, and we're coming up to the five-year mark, so the ceo said, look, we could be looking at this. we're not discounting it. they expect prices to go up for the basic membership up $5 to $60, then they have an executive membership, that could go up $10 to $120. but you know what? costco has really high renewal rates from its membership, like 90 plus percent in the u.s. and canada. and even when they've had these hikes in their membership fees, it hasn't hurt their membership. stuart: if you're going to costco around lunchtime, you can actually eat lunch in costco because they have samples. i i digress, clearly. [laughter] what do you make of costco, peter kiernan? >> they're a different kind of retailer because it's, essentially, a membership gain.

the if you buy something from costco and something brings the bag out, you give that young man or woman a dollar, that young manmade more on the sale than costco does. they do not make money on their sales. they make all their money on membership s so their deals are unbelievable because they don't need profits -- stock's almost at its high, and i would be a buyer here. stuart: you would be a buyer of costco. all right. watch that market go, peter. our next guest, by the way, has some advice for the president, advicen what he should say tonight. okay. but first, here's a small bit from ronald reagan's address, february 18, 1981. will tonight sound anything like this? we can but hope. >> almost eight million americans are out of work. these are people who want to be productive. the threats of layoff and unemployment hangover other millions, and all who work are frustrated by their enact to keep up with inflation. [phone ring] hi anne.

so those financial regulations being talked about? they could affect your accounts, so let's get together and talk, and make sure everything's clear. yeah, that would be great. being proactive... it's how edward jones makes sense of investing.

>> almost eight million americans are out of work. these are people who want to be productive. the threat of layoff and unemployment hang be over other millions and all who work are frustrated by their inability to keep up with inflation. we must begin now. the people are watching and waiting. they don't demand miracles, they do expect us to act. let us act together. stuart: president ronald reagan in his first address to congress in '81. president trump addresses a joint session of congress first time tonight, 9:00 eastern. chris stirewalt joins us now, fox news politics editor. apart from the mardi gras beads, which we will get to shortly -- [laughter] what do you think, what do you think the president's best approach is? should he outreach to the other side? should he bang heads amongst the republicans and say, come on,

get it together, for heavens sake? what should he say? >> well, we need for the president -- congress needs, everybody needs, the country needs to know what the president wants. everybody wants growth. everybody wants jobs. everody wants wages to go up. what made reagan's speech is a perfect parallel point in history. ronald reagan in that same speech said i have a four-point agenda, and it related to controlling federal spending, it related to dealing with the tight currency policies in order to try to get the economy going, it dealt with most of all tax cuts. and that's what -- and he included defense spending as part of the piece, but it was tax cuts. and he gave every member of congress that night the four-point agenda with the details on what the reagan plan was.

stuart: so a copy of reagan's 1981 speech, you think, would work very well for president trump tonight. okay. now, i would expect some disruption at the speech. >> oh, yeah. stuart: because the democrats are bringing in various guests. there are some immigrants, dreamers, i believe, are going to be there. some of the women will be wearing white, going back to the sufficient rah jet era. i suspect there could be some disruption, and what say you? >> i think that the marketplace for disruption among democrats wi encrage a lot of misconduct, a lot of misbehavior tonight just as it did for republicans -- i think i'll put it this way, democrats will probably outdo what republicans

did, remember "you lie" against barack obama and all that stuff, i think democrats will outdo that -- stuart: didn't do 'em any good. >> of course it didn't, but it did them good in this way, if you come from a house district that is stridently anti-trump and you want to secure your re-election, the way that you do that is by demonstrating that you hate him more than anybody else. and if that's your incentive structure, then what you're going to do is misbehave. stuart: there are those ten senate democrats who come from states won by trump in 2016. they don't want to be shouting out against president trump, i don't think. >> no. stuart: just explain the beads, please, chris. we're not used to this. >> it's fat tuesday. this is it. so tomorrow lent begins, right? so for america's christians, tomorrow marks the period of somber preparation, and i would say this, that in washington tomorrow does begin the new era where we're dealing in reality and not platitude, where things get very real and start to get very concrete for congress, and the good times will cease to

roll, and we'll all have to get to work. stuart: thank you so much for pointing out to me the basic christian tenets of lent which does, indeed, begin tomorrow. [laughter] stirewalt, i do think you're all right. >> peace be upon you. [laughter] stuart: right. "kumbaya", buddy. all right, peter, you heard our conversation there with chris stirewalt. what do you think should be the approach of president trump tonight? >> apart from giving up tweeting for lent, i think one of the things he should do -- [laughter] i honestly think he should follow what chris said and focus on four things; jobs, infrastructure, taxes and regulations. and if he just says i'm going to put america back to work as a first premise, some of the other stuff i'm working on is important, but nothing is more important than these four things, i think he'll bring people to his side of the table. one of the things that's frustrating is it's one thing to lose the democrats, it's another9 to lose the moderate democrats. to lose the republicans, something is wrong. bring your team together. you have to do that. manchin and others, there are

people who are going to come your way who are in west virginia and other places. if you don't have that 60 votes, you're not going to do anything with dodd-frank, you're not going to do anything without those 60 votes. stuart: he's got to be you can you them in call on the eve of lent. that means outrage, okay? [laughter] >> i'm not sure he's done anything yet. this is not a campaign speech. thiss gog to thenmy camp as well as your own camp, and he has to draw the enemy camp in. if he doesn't turn on the charm, if he turns the charm on, it'll work. if he doesn't, it'll be a disaster. stuart: thank you very much, sir. don't forget, you can watch president trump speak, it's 9:00 eastern time live tonight on the fox business network. we'll be back. ♪

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stuart: this is extraordinary and exclusive footage from are fox news, a portion of the border fence in arizona was just cut wide open, trucks come speeding through from mexico. this is all totally illegal. as i've said many times this morning, that little opening of the border there was a hinged gate. they open it for their own convenience. >> how smart. [laughter] stuart: illegal immigration

actually at the border is down for the month of january, but, liz, i understand it's still at a very high level. >> yeah, still at a five-year high, very high level. it's down 27 month to month from december to january, but the president still wants to hire thousands of more border agents, and who is coming in? people from central america, haiti, cuba, brazil. last year mexicans did not, were not coming into the border, across the border as they had in the past. less than half -- stuart: i just wonder, how do they know? if you see them coming across, do you stop them or count them? >> they caught in january 31,575. that sounds like a lot of people, to me. stuart: it does. >> that's 1,000 a day over a 30-day month. stuart: it's a fair number. still a five-year high of people coming in. a drop in the month of january. >> i think you have to look at, you know, humans are migratory

species, but they my date when -- migrate when there's trade. we need a specific international approach to mexico, because as was pointed out, many of the people coming through are not mexicans. to me, if we have a world trade organization and a world health organization, isn't it time we created a world immigration organization? we begin to orchestrate this immigration and think about it on a consolidated basis. if you build a wall here and there isn't one there, they're just going to run around. we need a thoughtful, innovative approach. stuart: new world order? >> why not. what we really want to do is think about who's illegally, who do we want in here, who do we not and not get all crazed about if someone is a convicted felon, they do not deserve to be here. if they're an illegal immigrant, they do not deserve to be here. they should be sent out. stuart: it should be made very clear. president trump's trying to do that. >> i think where we're getting lost is having some sort of organization where we work specifically with mexico because a lot of people are not

mexicans, they're passing through. stuart: peter kiernan, goldman sachs, got it right on the market. i wonder if he's right about the new world order? [laughter] >> oh, my god. stuart: a four-point loss for the dow jones industrial average, that's the money side of our equation. the other side is politics. we're waiting for the presidential address tonight, and as we scroll out, listen to the golden boys, the fab four, the beatles with an early number from 1963. ♪ ♪

stuart: we've got an example right now of how a lawsuit can really mess up an entire company. signet, their stock halted. nicole, you've got to have the story for me. >> reporter: halted and tanking, and you're absolutely right. right now the stock halted at 66.85, it was down 8%. signet jewelers is the parent of kay jewelers and jared jewelry brand, and now there is a class action lawsuit, hundreds of former employees alleging sexual harassment, discrimination, wage violations and arguing that women were systematically paid

lesser than men, passed over for promotions. according to "the washington post" now, the allegations were in thed and the -- investigationed and the company concluded they were not substantiated by facts. however, now the news of this class action lawsuit comes out, stock is tanking, stock is halted here at the new york stock exchange, and this is all about wage discrimination and also sexual discrimination and harassment. the stock plummeting. stuart: a lot of people would perhaps not know the name signet jewelers. what they will know is that kay jewelers and jared jewelry, you see them in the shopping malls all over the country, those are the brand of jewelry stores underneath that umbrella. this is a very big deal. the stock has been halted with a loss of 8. see what turns up there -- 8%. 250 former employees allege sexual gym neigh at that company -- discrimination at that company.

joining us now is charles hurt, the washington times political columnist. okay, charles, good morning to you. >> good morning, stuart. stuart: i've been saying all morning that the gop has got to get its act together. they've got the house, they've got the senate, they've got the white house. please, do not blow this, because if you do, you, sir, are toast. [laughter] i think you're with me on this. >> i think, no, i think you've got that exactly right, and this is -- welcome to the new republican party. it's not what a lot of these republicans thought it would be, it's not what a lot of, you know, people here in washington thought it would be, but donald trump has brought them all to this dance, and it is, it is a new era. and i think what we're going to see tonight is donald trump not only to, obviously, negotiating some with democrats -- who have absolutelyo power whatsoever,

way, is now meeting with the national association of attorneys general. this is just a photo opportunity, that's all it is. there's no sound coming in from these attorneys general. essentially, he's meeting with them. no statement from the president, and so far none of the attorneys general has said anything about what they've been talking about. but judge andrew napolitano is here. he knows a thing or two about state attorneys general having opposed a whole bunch of them in his time, i do believe. [laughter] what do you think they're talking about, and what comes occupant of that meeting? what's the big deal? >> i think it's just sort of a pat on the back and we appreciate the work you're doing. he may be sending a message that the federal government intends to regular late less -- regulate less, thereby leaving each of the states as laboratories of democracy where you can choose the direction in which you want to go by our removal of ourselves from certain lawyers.

at least i hope that that's what he's saying, because that's that he said -- that's what he said he was going to say. stuart: state attorneys general, that's a political position. >> yes and no. here in new york the attorney general is popularly elected. in other states, like in new jersey, it's an appointment by the governor and confirmed by the state senate. stuart: i don't know who attended this meeting, but would anybody who had lines to the left not there? >> oh, i think you probably have almost all state attorneys general there. after all, it's a free trip to washington, d.c -- stuart: whoa, that's it -- >> and lunch at the white house. stuart: are you telling me that the taxpayer pays for a state attorney general to go down to d.c.? >> absolutely. the same taxpayers that paid for the governors to be there for the past three days to be wined and dined. stuart: federal or state taxpayers? >> i don't know the answer to that, i'm going to guess federal. i'm going to guess the feds are footing the bill, which means they went to where janet yellen works and said give us some more cash.

stuart: they did not. >> put some zeros in that bank account. kiernan loves that argument. look at that smile on his face. [laughter] stuart: i'm moving on. >> all right. stuart: the justice department has dropped what is a longstanding opposition to the texas voter id law. they've dropped their opposition to that texas law, explain be it. >> okay, all right. so the challengers -- well, the texas statute requires two forms of id before you can vote. the challengers are saying we're a group of poor people, we don't have any ids, much less two. watch my hands. the justice department enters the picture and puts a thumb on the scale this favor of the channelers, and that helps the challengers' case. that's the obama justice department. the trump justice department's putting its finger on the scale this favor of the state of texas. will that help? yes and no. sometimes federal judges are very interested in how the justice department views this. particularly in voting rights, because the voting rights statutes put the justice

department in charge of making sure voting is done fairly. so elections have consequences. barack obama's attorney general and, therefore, justice department sides with the challengers. donald trump's attorney general, and therefore justice department, sides with the state. who's going to win? it's the same judge. we'll seal if he looks -- we'll see if he look at it differently. stuart: it look like texas is gog to win and you've got to have two forms of id to vote. >> this can only help texas, and quite frankly, it survived a challenge in indiana, it did not survive in texas because of the difficulty of getting them. in indiana if you were poor and didn't have any ids, the state got them for you. stuart: okay. you approve of the texas id law? >> i think it's a little rigorous, to tell you the truth. i think there should be some obstacles but obstacles navigable by anybody, and the courts have found the texas one difficult. stuart: do you think we should go back to the good old days

where only male property owners should vote? >> absolutely not. stuart: elicited that response. ing. >> actually, we prefer no voting, phillip. [laughter] stuart: nobody voted for the queen of england. >> that's for sure. stuart: but if there were an election, she'd have an 80% plurality. >> how would you vote? careful, you're not an englishman anymore. stuart: if i were -- >> you wonder why your taxes are so high. and i wonder why good people like you and ashley left great britain -- stuart: the tax situation in britain has nothing to do with the monarchy. >> what's the marginal rate, 89%? stuart: actually, it's down in the 40s. i think it's 40%, isn't it? [laughter] >> used to be way up. stuart: in fact, i believe america's marginal tax rate is at 43 point something or other because of the obama surcharge.

in britain, i think, it's 40% which means you're our tax -- [laughter] >> you still go back, or is your renunciation of the queen permanent? stuart: they won't have me back. aughter] stuart: not gonna happen, judge. >> i wish i had a tape of you renouncing the queen. stuart: when you swear the oath, swear allegiance and you become a citizen, you don't -- well, you do renounce -- >> yes. part of that oath is i renounce all foreign princes which includes princesses. stuart: but you don't have to lose your british passport. >> no, you don't. stuart: the brits hang on to you forever. >> there must be some money gag in there somewhere, why else -- stuart: our producer says we've got to go. [laughter] >> he's yelling at me as well. stuart: it's a shame. her name is christine. president trump meeting with the heads of historic black colleges at the white house. big deal.

he wants their help in revitalizing the inner cities. what's everybody talking about after that meeting? kellyanne conway putting her feet on the couch in the white house. that's the picture. forget the background. oh, no, it's all about kellyanne with her feet on the couch. that is pathetic and we'll deal with it. ♪ ♪ where to get in... where to get out. if only the signs were as obvious when you trade. fidelity's active trader pro can help you find smarter entry and exit points and can help protect your potential profits. fidelity -- where smarter investors will always be. and her new mobile wedding business.tte at first, getting paid was tough... until she got quickbooks. now she sends invoices, sees when they've been viewed and-ta-dah-paid twice as fast for free. visit quickbooks-dot-com.

>> i'm nicole petallides with your fox business brief. we are following breaking news here on the floor of the new york stock exchange. signet halted as the stock tanks more than two monthses' losses here, biggest drop in more than two months, down over 8% on a class action lawsuit, ands this is about 250 employees involved alleging sexual harassment and and discrimination. just standing at the post, stock still halted. this is a class action lawsuit. also wages where women were passed over for promotions. this is the parent, signet jewelers is the parent of kay jewelers, every kiss begins with kay, jared and zales. this continues to bring headaches. you may remember they had another's of press some time ago where they had an issue of diamond swapping at one of its stores which quickly was squashed.

but right now signet jewelers still halted, down 8%. introducing flonase sensimist. more complete allergy relief in a gentle mist you may not even notice. using uniq mistpro technology, new flonase sensimist delivers a gentle mist to help block six key inflammatory substances that cause your symptoms. most allergy pills only block one. and six is greater than one. break through your allergies. new flonase sensimist. ♪

stuart: we've got a story developing from gulf shores in alabama, there's a mardi gras parade there. several high school band members have been struck by a vehicle. the rest of the parade has been canceled. nine taken to the hospital. okay? that's in gulf shores, that's alabama. got it. check this out, president trump met with dozens of leaders, literally dozens of leaders from black colleges yesterday.

brought them into the white house. not a peep about it, or at least hardly a peep about that meeting in the establishment media. instead, what are they talking about? they're talking about this picture. kellyanne conway sitting in the oval office with her feet on the couch with african-american college leaders in the background. they concentrate on kellyanne conway. larry elder is joining us by phone, i think he's stuck in traffic there in southern california. look, larry, i know that this is very small beer concentrating on kellyanne conway, but it tells an extraordinary story. the president goes this outreach to black america, and it's totally ignored. is this par for the course? >> it is par for the course. let's remember what that commentator at cnn said, marc lamont hill, when president trump met with black leaders, he referred to them as, quote, mediocre negroes, closed quote. so this is how the left feels. donald trump reaches out to embrace the black community, try to improve the stature of

republicans within the black community, and he's ignored. if he doesn't do it, he is called racist, he's called somebody who writes off a whole body of the american politic. you can't win. stuart: but it's outrageous, larry. i mean -- >> it is. stuart: you had jimmy kimmel at the oscars just literally sort of branding our president as a racist. thirty-odd days into his presidency, that's what you get. and the establishment media, it's all over the place. he's a racist, he's a sexist. i mean, i think it's a disgrace, quite frankly, how about you? >> well,s it is a disgrace, but it's one that we've been dealing with for a long time. by the way, on oscar night jimmy kimmel even made a joke about dr. ben carson, compared him to dr. strange. if donald trump had made that joke during the campaign, he would have been called racist. stuart: yeah. in california if you're a lawmaker and you oppose gun rights, a judge has just ruled that you can have your home address and your phone number published widely.

publicly. larry, what do you say to that? >> well, you have to understand the genesis of this. the lawmakers passed a law that requires the state to get personal information on you if you purchased a gun or ammunition. a couple of pro-second amendment bloggers were not amused, and they published the names and addresses of 40 lawmakers who sported that measure -- supported that measure. the lawmakers said, wait a minute, the california law allows us to contact people who posted personal information on web sites and had that information removed. and the court said, huh-uh, first amendment. this is a form of political protest, to publish the names and addresses of lawmakers, and you cannot restrict free speech. stuart: well, i see it as a security issue. i mean, if you're in favor -- if you take a political position, you don't want people turning up at your house or in your driveway or on your phone opposing you like that. i just think it's a security

issue, not so much free speech. it's security, isn't it? >> well, by the same token, if you purchase a gun or ammunition, you don't want your personal information collected by state. and one of the things the judge basically said, if it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander. stuart: okay, all right. i guess i have to live with that. larry, thank you very much, indeed. peter kiernan, you're shaking your head. >> just because you have the right to do it doesn't make it the right thing to do. i think security's exactly the issue and, frankly, it's somebody playing cute with the first amendment. i don't like when people play around with things like our bill or rights and our constitution to make a political point. that's not really what it's for. stuart: thank you, peter. i think you're absolutely right. now, i've got a couple of very, i'm going to call them cool stories for you. first, it's a new robot, it's from the robotics firm boston dynamics. look at that. wait until you see the full tape. this thing goes up and downstairs, for heaven sake, and carries heavy loads. and the second story is elon musk.

he says he wants to put two civilian space tourists on a spacex rocket, send them around the moon and bring them back, and he wants to do it all by the end of next year. i think you'll agree those are cool stories. that's the kind of stuff we bring you. this is "varney & company." cool as can be, boys. we'll be back. [laughter] ♪ ♪ ♪

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and start gathering the information you need to help you keep rolling with confidence. go long™. ♪ stuart: must-see video, that is a robot from the google-owned robotics firm boston dynamics. i want more about this, ashley. >> it's amazing. the name of the robot is handle, it stands at 6-5, and it has wheels, but it's remarkably stable. that's a 100-pound basket it's picking up behind its back. watch it go downstairs. someone just wrote this is prove that the term -- proof that the terminator movies were documentaries. [laughter] this is amazing and terrifying at the same time. look at that. stuart: oh, it jumps. >> it's incredible. check that out. stuart look at that. >> it's phenomenal. what do you do with it? use it in the warehouse, the

military, whatever -- stuart: you put a gun in its hand -- [laughter] >> yes. it can go 9 miles an hour. stuart: peter kiernan's here, what are we going to do with these things? >> i think this is a wonderful indication that jobs are about a to lot more than just trade. they're about disruption. robotics are going to be taking out a lot of jobs. we have to think about how to manage that. look at the dexterity. i've actually seen some of the boston die page ins products, th is ch more dexterous. what it tells me is robotics is advancing very quickly. this means people are going to lose jobs, we have to figure out how to work with it. stuart: so we should tax it like bill gates says. we're getting something out of them. >> we'll have to think about when we make their ira, because they live over 100 years. [laughter] stuart: next case, cool story. this really turn me on. elon musk's spacex be is planning to fly people around the moon and bring them back.

two wealthy individuals have already placed deposits. they're aiming to do this in late 2018. have you got anything more on this, liz? >> yeah, it'd be a robot rocket, no crew. they're going to fly 400,000 miles past the moon, loop back and come back home, taking off from the kennedy space center. >> hopefully. >> so he's the thing -- here's the thing, will it ignite the space race again with the then-soviet union? i mean, elon musk is saying private sector space flight. i mean, who else is doing that? stuart: i like the idea. >> richard branson wantses to. steert steert kiernan's got a big grin on his face. >> we should take up a collection, because i can think of a couple people that i'd like to send up -- stuart: but they're coming back. [laughter] serious question. i would do it, would you do it? >> that a nanosecond. stuart: would you? >> yes. stuart: liz? >> no. stuart: why not? >> i have to hold down the -- stuart: this is a stunning

opportunity to do something almost no other human being has done, and you wouldn't take that opportunity? >> no. i'd rather go to the beach. [laughter] stuart: i can't believe she said that. on the other hand -- >> so look at that. stuart: there's a spacex rocket who just exploded. [laughter] and by the way, the capsule that they are traveling in is totally self-containedthere's no training required, you just -- >> you do physical training and have to understand the dynamics of it all. there's no astronauts -- >> no crew. >> it's an autonomous -- >> see you there. stuart: dark side of the moon, right? >> oh, you'll see it. stuart: pink floyd, it was an lp that was on the charts for the entire decade of the '70s. lp -- [laughter] album. we'll be back, stay with us, please. [laughter] i'm not really that old. [laughter]

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stuart: this could be an historic day if the dow jones industrial average closes up just one point, it will have done something which has never

been done in the 120 years of dow history. it would have gained ground and closed at 13 consecutive record highs. we'll see if that happens this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. eastern time. my time's up but neil, in d.c., take it away, sir. neil: i heard you talking about this moon thing. stuart: yeah. neil: that you're open to going. stuart: yes. neil: i was just checking. [laughter] thank you, stuart, very, very much. we are waiting for the president of the united states, his first address to congress. it is not a state of the union address. he has been in office too brief of a time period to qualify as state of the union address. the requirement is year in office before they call it a state of the union address. it is invite on part of house speak are to address a joint session of congress and a plan calls for big increase in defense spending, $54 billion worth. bringing us to $600 billion