bad in the market, does it fall on the president or not? >> it does, because he's taking everything about markets performing, job growth, so anything happens to that -- >> he tweeted, record high. dagen: when you brag about it, you own it on the downside mr. varney right now with "varney & company." stuart? stuart: dagen, thank you very much, indeed. could it go against all the odds could we see 22,000 on the dow this week? or even today? yeah, it could be. that's not a bad way to start a monday, is it? good morning, everyone. all right. the story is profits. business has never made so much money, and that's why stocks are on a tear. 21,830, that was friday's close, what, 169 and change away from 22,000. okay. got it. back up a little. over the weekend we have seen the following: president trump very disappointed with china's failure to rein in north korea, our u.n. ambassador says america is done talking as china's state

media was calling mr. trump a greenhorn president. president xi showed off his latest weapons many a huge military parade. venezuela, ten reported dead yesterday. president maduro claims support for his plan to impose a socialist dictatorship. when will his regime end? it's on our doorstep. president trump threatens strong and swift economic action. russia, president putin will throw out hundreds of u.s. diplomats in a tit for tat retaliation over more extensive american sanctions. half hour from now, john kelly sworn in as white house chief of staff. bring in a general to impose more discipline. look, the world is on fire, politics at home is cantankerous and unsettled, but stay with us. we have the amazon news, the tesla news, the uber news and, yes, you are going to see stocks go up again a half hour from now. "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ ♪

stuart: well, look at this. president trump's already taking a victory lap on the economy. he's doing it this morning. here is tweet. highest stock market ever. best economic numbers in years. unemployment, lowest in 17 years. wages rising, border secure. no white house chaos. now look at this. the dow closing in on 22k. we're going to be up 29 minutes from now as you can see from the screen. all the indicators are going to go up, and elizabeth is with us. it's all about profits. >> yeah, you're right. the overall s&p 500, it was a really busy week last week, so far nearly three-quarters have wasn't. just the tech alone, more than eight out of ten, i know you hate this -- [laughter] you're right, as d.c. hits new lows, wall street is hitting new highs. best profit season in six years. two straight quarters right now

of decent, stronger profits. weaker dollar, consumer spending. when you look at these numbers, do you pocket the gains and run away or do you stay in? that's what we're going to talk about. stuart: i asked our producer toss buzz you when you said eps -- >> i didn't get a buzzer. [laughter] i love buzzers. stuart: very nice. but you make a good point. we don't deal in this expectations -- >> no, it's a annoying. i hate that. stuart: clear point is these companies are beating what was expected in terms of profits. >> you know what? these are not your parents' blue chips, these are the tech guys on fire. stuart: i was going to steal -- >> you can still have it. stuart: come in former reagan economist, art laffer. how come business is making so much money in a 2% growth economy with all the obama red tape still in place? >> well, because obama's out and, frankly, this is the beginning of the long boom. i mean, we are starting the process. we are no longer hitting the

economy and destroying it, and we're starting the process. sooner or later we'll get health care, sooner or later we'll get the tax reform, and we're starting to deregulate, and this is the beginning of the return to normalcy in america with 3, 3.5% growth rate. stuart: now, i don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but on friday of this this week we get those big jobs numbers, and i'm wondering if we're going to see a blow outnumber. you're an economist, tell us what we're going to see. >> i have no idea. [laughter] but i think in the long run, stuart, i think we're going to see one of biggest booms in u.s. history over the next 15 years, and it's just spectacular start -- stuart: if we don't get a tax cut, i mean, that's -- >> but we will. stuart: that's not a certainty, you know. >> yes, it is. it's just not a certainty this week, this month, this year. believe me, in the next three or four years we're going to get serious tax cuts, health care reform, all of these things. they will happen. remember, life is a marathon. it's not a sprint, stuart.

with you young people, identify just got to -- i've jutte got to lecture you on that time and again. stuart: what? you are lecturing me? i'm just a couple years i don't think you are than you -- younger than you are -- >> i'm 77, how old are you? >> 69. >> hold your breath for eight years, see if you can do it. stuart: i'm just a child. we'll get back to you shortly. [laughter] there you have it, art laffer promising a huge boom. we're going to hold you to it, art. come back later. president trump on twitter calling out china over north korea. here is that quote. f: they do nothing for us with north korea, just talk. we will no longer allow this to continue. china could easily solve this problem. joining us now, colonel ralph peters. do you think any kind of military action vis-a-vis north korea from america, south korea, japan, any kind of military action is imminent? >> it's not imminent, but it may be inevitable. there's not another good solution. and, you know, president trump

is right. china is not helping us, hasn't helped, and it won't help. it's, you know, i really think to put it in human terms, stuart, in this relationship we're the beleaguered, battered wife, and the beijing husband is having a long-running affair for decades with this north korean femme fatale. and we keep telling ourselves that, oh, in this time, this time he's going to see reason, he's going to come back to me. beijing will never abandon or betray north korea. because north korea, contrary to our utter misconception, north korea is an invaluable ally for beijing. in peacetime, it keeps us focused on the korean peninsula and keeps china and the china safe for beijing. in wartime it would tie down an enormous amount of u.s. assets in the early weeks and months of a war. so what does china have to gain by dumping on north korea? and, oh, by the way, they like things the way they are.

stuart: well, if they don't do anything about north korea and things continue as they are, then japan may go nuclear, south korea may go nuclear, we may be shooting down their missiles, north korean missiles. that's a war-like move if ever i heard one. you may be right, maybe military action is inevitable. give me a time frame on that. >> one cannot, because we still don't know exactly how fast north korea will be able to make a nuclear war ahead to an accurate -- mate a warhead to an accurate missile. be prepared. and again, nobody in their right mind wants a war. but even on that china sees things differently than us. what would be the first target that the north koreans would go for with a nuclear-tipped missile? it would be honolulu with its ring of a dozen important military bases. hawaii, oahu, the main island, that is as important to our

pacific strategy as it was in 1941, pearl harbor. or more so now. you've got to think like the chinese, not like somebody who's in washington, and we just don't do that. stuart: serious stuff, ralph. stay there for a second. i've got more for you in a moment. i want to discuss this, the emerging civil war, it's on our doorstep. we're talking venezuela here. the socialist leader, maduro, he's trying to impose a socialist dictatorship. what's the latestsome. >> more bloodshed and a massive boycott. the government there says eight million voted, the opposition says less than half voted because there was, basically, a lockdown. you couldn't go outside. you couldn't even protest in the streets. midday there were empty polling places. the second thing, stuart, the government did not require indelible ink to be used to certify each individual's vote, so there could have been double voting as well. 116 dead, breaking news as well. brazil, mexico, colombia, argentina and panama will not

recognize the vote as is canada and the u.s. stuart: there's a step forward. quickly, ralph, regime change soon in venezuela? >> well, it's looked like it was going to be soon for the last couple of years. stuart: true. >> maduro's government, he and his cronies are hanging on not only because of political power, but because they're drug dealers on a massive scale. they're criminals. if the regime fails, they go -- falls. hay go to jail. for them it's really a matter of survival. unfortunately for us, brazil is an utter disarray. brazil is the leader in south america -- stuart: well, who's going to do the regime change? would we, in some way -- cia or the marine corps -- do we do it? >> no, because we're allergic to that. we have such a history of interventions in latin america. the people paying the price, of course, are the people of venezuela. now, we do have leverage, and we could use it. venezuela has the largest oil deposits in the world. it's heavy, it's tarry oil. it can only be processed in special facilities.

we've got most of them. so if we stop refining venezuelan oil, the economy that's already collapsed goes into utter collapse. the bad news is short term that further hurts the people, so it's a devil's dilemma. stuart: ralph, thanks very much for joining us even if the news is all negative. look at futures, we're going to be up about 50 points at the opening bell. that will take us very close to 22,000 on the dow. charter says not interested in buying sprint, so that is off. some reaction for charter there, they're up 6% this morning. this is something that is on, discovery communications is going to buy strips networks $ing 14 billion. animal plant, scripps, the parent of the food network, you know that? the travel chang and diy. they are going to get together. busy day at the white house. president trump holds a full cabinet meeting next hour.

moments from now general kelly sworn in as new white house chief of staff. new jersey's governor christie getting into a standoff with a fan at a baseball game over the weekend. a man in the stands yells, "you suck." christie responds say, oh, you're a tough guy. big guest coming up in the 11:00 hour, professor richard wolf, the man dubbed america's most famous marxist economist by "the new york times." i'll ask him why is socialism making a comeback now in america? and president trump threatened to put members of congress on obamacare plans. uh-oh, there's a threat. he say ifs they can't pass a replacement for the american people, they shouldn't be getting a break on their own health care. oh, what's this? napolitano, the judge, back from yet another vacation. [laughter] he's making, what, a triumphant return to "varney & company"? he's got a suntan. we'll be back. ♪ ♪ one laugh, and hello sensitive bladder.

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stuart: as of today, the insiders at snap, the people who held the shares originally, they can, if they wish, start to sell. now, that stock price has been hovering near a record low. it's going to be -- it is down premarket. if these people move in and start to sell their stock, you can watch that thing go down some more. that's the fear. that's why the premarket price is down 3%. i'm going to move on to health care. the editor of national review sounded off on this program on friday. roll tape. >> their staffs wrote the law, and their staffs crafted this exemption. i say what's sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander, and if americans want relief from obamacare, make congress live under the laws they pass for the rest of us. stuart: let's be clear, they do have an exemption from the terms of obamacare. the president could get rid of those, that exemption and make them pay. president trump tweeted this

morning, here we go: if obamacare is hurting people, and it is, why shouldn't it hurt the insurance companies? and why should congress not be paying what the public pays? good questions. all rise, napolitano back from the endless summer vacation. [laughter] he is back, suntanned and all. seriously though, i'm not having a go at you for your vacations, i know you're working hard wherever you are. >> he always works hard, stuart. [laughter] stuart: can the president withdraw the special treatment that congress gets under obamacare? >> the original obamacare proposal provided that the insurance premiums for every member of congress and their dependents would be paid for by the federal government, in the statute. in the course of all the negotiation between the house and the senate, it was dropped, but it was dropped with an agreement that the office of personnel management in the executive branch would reinstate it as a regulation. so it is now paid be by the federal government, but it's not in the statute.

who runs the office of personnel management? the president of the united states. could he appoint a director of that office and tell that director to stop paying congressional premiums? yes. if he does that, what will it cost them? a lot of money, about $12,000 a year per-person. stuart: i don't think that's a very effective threat to make congress do what the president wants them to do. >> well, congress could invalidate the threat if it really wanted to get piggish and just vote itself the benefit by more than a two-thirds majority, and the president's veto would be overridden. stuart: oh, they wouldn't -- >> but think about it, for the government to impose laws on the rest of us that don't regulate the congress or, stated differently, for the congress to take our money and use it to pay its own insurance when we have to pay our insurance, what kind of a government is that? stuart: i agree with you. >> i don't know where this is going to go. stuart: but the threat to get rid of that exemption is not a strong enough threat to change any votes in congress. that would be -- but, liz, i

think you disagree with me? >> well, i think the trump voter and the backer is sick of d.c. not eating their own cooking, one set of rules for them and one set for everybody else. obama did away with this. he said, you know what, congress? you don't have to be under obamacare -- stuart: i don't think it'll change any votes. >> here's how the rules have changed, the office of personnel management proposes the rule change, congress can reject the rule change within 30 days. so it's going to be a ping-pong match back and forth between congress can the executive branch if this happens. stuart: far more important is the president's threat to withhold money from insurance companies. >> far more difficult is his ability to do that. if the president does withhold money from insurance companies, he really would be gutting obamacare and -- stuart: oh, yes. >> -- poor and middle class people to be without insurance at their peril. there'll be a political cost and reaction to it. stuart: it would speed up the collapse of obamacare, i mean, rapidly. >> it would. it's not obamacare, it's a big socialist scheme as far as i'm

concerned. but it would also harm a lot of innocent people in the process. stuart: that's true. >> and the president would have to take the heat for that harm. stuart: so that is an unlikely step. >> i think it is. i don't blame him for firing off these threats. he's frustrated that he can't get governing done. but many both of these cases -- in both of these cases, i don't think the threat will work with. stuart: you know what i think? at the end of the day, the united states of america wants the government to increase its role in health care. >> i am sorry to say that i agree with you. the constitution to the contrary, notwithstanding. the free market to the contrary, not withstanding. the lessons of history to the contrary, notwithstanding. >> can i give a footnote? i'm so sorry -- >> i'm on a roll. [laughter] >> you were on a roll, and i cut him off. there was this symbolic last thursday for single-payer. republican put it up. four democrats rejected, 43 democrats abstained. >> they voted present. stuart: that's where they want

to take it. >> but they're not supporting it. >> it's as absurd as the republicans voting to repeal obamacare 60 times. stuart: are you going to come back in the 11:00 hour? >> if you'll have me. stuart: we have no choice. [laughter] listen to this. travis kalanick, uber guy, the next steve jobs? the ousted uber chief wants to make a triumphant return to uber just like steve jobs did after being fire by apple s. that a realistic comparison? we will certainly ask the question in just a moment. >> thank you, judge. hi.

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he come back. travis kalanick, it should be pointed out, he sits on the board search committee to find his successor, so he certainly has a loud voice in this process. the question is, can they get a chairman to sit on him and get more adult supervision of that company? it's in today -- chaos. stuart: i think there is a relationship. both ran revolutionary companies which had a revolutionary impact on america's economy and our way of life. i think it's a fair point to judge the two as somewhat comparable. i don't think, however, that you always have the nicest guys introducing the best new ideas. >> agreed. if he comes back, he needs to step out of the process of coo and other executives. they need to clean up that corporate culture, period. he has to get out of the way of that if he wants to come back. stuart: okay, i think we agree there, liz. look at this, everybody, we're going to open higher again.

how's that for a monday morning? we're going to be up 50-odd to points, and we're going to challenge 22,000. we've got a special graphic waiting. we'll be back. whoa that's amazing...

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♪ ♪ stuart: well, this could be quite a day. this could be quite a week. we may be in the second or third

or whatever number it is of leg up on wall street after the november 8th election. you know what? we're going to get awfully close to 22,000 today, be not today -- if not today, probably this week. we closed at, what, 21,830. 169 from dow 22,000, and we've opened moments ago up 33, look at this go, look at that. we've got plenty of green. as they open up, we're going to have almost all the dow 30 on the upside. and what you're looking at is a brand new all-time high for the dow jones industrial average, 31,830 -- 21,830. that's up .15%. how about the s&p 500? is that up .15% or better? yes, it is. how about that? nasdaq, where is that this morning? up .27%. good heavens. >> wow, look at that. stuart: 6,392.

oil playing no role today. now, apple, they've got a huge report. it comes tomorrow afternoon, 4:00 eastern time tomorrow afternoon. as you walk up towards their earnings report, you'll see some movement in in apple, right at 150. you can never forget about amazon. couple of stories about amazon today. they want to install delivery lockers in your apartment building. why not? and they're going after michael kors and coach with a new line of shoes and handbags. the stock's down $5, but it's at $1,014. look at snap, down 4%. the lock-up ends today. that means original shareholders, if they wish, can now start to sell. that's why they're worried about them actually selling, and it's down 4.7%. who's with us on this historic monday morning to start off an historic week? art laffer, keith fifths9 and, of course -- keith fitz and liz macdonald. keith, is in this the second or

third leg up of the stock market rally? >> i think that's a fair assessment. there's still a lot of capital out in that's hungry for returns, and that's all about the future. stuart: and it's all about profits, correct? the profit situation's been very good this earnings season. >> absolutely. you can take all the headlines you want, but at the core you've got increasing earnings, but more importantly for the first time in a long time we've got increasing top line. that, to me, for the right companies spells more profits. stuart: art, if we're going to see this stock market rally continue, we've got to continue the upward march of profits. they've got to keep on surprising to the upside, correct? >> that's true. and you've got to have economic growth with that. it's amazing, stuart, when you realize we've added since the inauguration about $4 trillion on asset values just in the markets alone. i mean, that's enormous. stuart: well, that tells you, doesn't it, that the market is expecting much higher profits down the road. >> of course it is. it's expecting a whole different era in america, and it's going to get it.

it's just going to get it, it's just so exciting. stuart: but i come back to that same story, art -- and you, keith, as well -- the profits, the huge profits, the really big growth, that's concentrated in the five big name technology companies. art, you first. >> well, it should be. i mean, that's where you get the growth. i mean, i have -- fortunately for me, but i've invested in those companies very heavily because of my advisor, kathy wood, and student who has told me about. this i don't know anything about these companies. but i'm telling you that's where it starts, and it spreads throughout the rest of the market. and that's exactly what you're seeing. stuart: keith, sum it up. is there anything to stop the big name technology companies from continuing their run? >> no. the government's going to try. they're going to try to step on them on antitrust grounds, the headlines are going to try to say they're terrible, the analysts are going to try to put them down. that's happened with facebook yesterday or this morning. but technology is what's changing the markets we know

today, and as long as that continues, stuart, that's where the profits are going to concentrate. stuart: all right, we got it. the price of oil pretty close to $50 a barrel, and we have the price of gasoline moving up to $2.31. that's the national average now, $2.31. it's moved up a little bit. art, it looks to me like in the immediate future gas prices are going to go up. a lot or what? >> oh, not very much, i don't think. i mean, i think oil should settle around $45-$50 a barrel given the supply and demand and what's going on with shale oil and all of that. i mean, we really have a long way to go before we start getting real shortages again and really pop that price up. i don't see it going much further down either. stuart: all right. let me show you this, ladies and gentlemen. the dow jones average is now up 63 points, 21,893. get that off the screen, please. that's, that's a frozen board there. i'll tell you right now, bottom of your screen, we're up 63 points, 21,893.

that means we are 105 and change away from 22,000. love to see us use that graphic today. [laughter] stop laughing, art, it might happen. >> i love it. no, i just love it. isn't this fun? it makes all these investors appear very smart. stuart: well, apart from that, it's fun to watch a financial program where your money is working really well -- >> it's exactly -- well, you've been the master at this for a long time, stuart. it is just thrilling as all get out to be in a bull market. stuart: it is. >> it's just wonderful. stuart: i'm not going to say happy days are here again, but heaven knows it's fun. >> it is fun. [laughter] stuart: you watch your stocks going up, you look at your 4013k, what are we suppose -- 401(k), what are we supposed to do? it's the trump rally. our competitors are doing that. [laughter] moving on. it's the trump rally! i love it. charter, a couple of individual stocks, got to deal wit, okay?

charter, not interested in acquiring sprint. that deal is off. both stocks go up, okay? discovery communications is buying scripps network. that deal is on. discovery is the parent of, well, discovery channel, the science channel, animal planet. they're the guys behind the ever popular shark week. and they're buying scripps which is the parent of the food network, the travel channel, dyi -- diy, etc., etc. and we have scripps going up a fraction and discovery down a fraction, but the deal is on. the oil driller, diamond offshore, reports better profits. it's up 1.4%. weaker profits at an insurance company. the name of that insurance is lowe's, not to be confused with the home improvement company. these are insurance people, and they're down slightly. a down -- whoa -- a downgrade for facebook, and that comes from pivotal -- let me see, i'm trying to work it out -- pivotal capital, i think it is. they say they're going down to 140. market's not -- they're ignoring

that completely. 172.49 as we speak. here's the news on amazon. there's always news on amazon. they want to install delivery lockers in in your apartment building, and they're going after michael kors and coach with a new line of shoes and handbags. so, keith, what do you say to amazon at $1,013? >> well, it's still undervalued, stuart. they've got probably eight or ten businesses in there, not the least of which is all the big data driving this. never mind the lockers, never mind the drones, the fact of the matter is this thing could go a lot higher if you've got the right perspective. stuart: all right, art. amazon, undervalued at $1,000 a share. what says art laffer to that? >> i don't know if it's undervalued, but it's the most amazing company on earth. what they have done to revolutionize american marketing is beyond belief. i'm just impressed by all get out by them. what you were talking about earlier with uber, just totally correct, stuart. you're right on the mark on those companies. these are the revolutionary breakers of the technology in

america. stuart: it's fun to be in on the revolution, isn't it? >> it is fun, it is fun. >> yeah. i mean, we're going to take a screen shot of you saying, really? amazon going to go higher? by the end of the year, wall street thinks it's going to go to $1200 a share. 38 billion in profit, they plow the majority of that back into the company -- stuart: who on wall street says 1200 on amazon? >> the guys that i just talked to. [laughter] stuart: okay. no names, please. now, there's a big event coming tomorrow afternoon, 4:00 eastern time. apple reports its profits. keith, anything to pay attention to in tomorrow's report that you would specifically zero in on for apple? >> absolutely, stuart. i would bypass the traditional numbers about how many widgets/ipads/watches they've sold. the real number you want to concentrate on in my opinion is the services revenue because there's billions of apple

devices out there, every one of which needs to be upgraded, maneuvered, changed, modified, etc., etc. that's where the big growth is going to be, and i'm looking for that number to be healthy. [laughter] stuart: just amazing. just rolls on here. hold on. hook at snap. today early investors, the people who hold stock originally, they will be able to sell if they wish to sell some of their shares. how many shares are we talking about? >> all right. so 200 million have been outstanding on snap, now they're talking more than 99 50 until to 1.38 billion could come onto the market by the end of august, that's what jpmorgan chase is saying. look at what's happening. snap is saying we will not be profitable for some time to come, and facebook's own what's app and instagram each separately have more users than snap right now. stuart: okay. tesla, they delivered -- they have delivered their first model, the model 3, some happy customers got them. keith, have you seen any of the, any greenies in seattle?

i don't know -- [laughter] i don't know where that question comes from. it was on the prompter, what can i say? [laughter] >> there are going to be greenies all over seattle driving these things very shortly. if i were mercedes, if i were detroit, i would be really nervous because the one thing that detroit and the existing automobile industry has done, stuart, they perpetually underestimates elon musk's resolve. now he's got a car, he is going after bmw, mercedes, he is no longer going to distinguish between an electric and a conventional automobile, and that's something else. stuart: art, i want you to pass judgment on tesla -- >> yeah, i want -- stuart: government handouts. >> yeah, i wanted everyone to know i'm an investor in tesla, by the way. but let me just tell you, i would not look at tesla as an auto company -- >> exactly. >> -- i would look at them as a technology company that's going to spread to all sorts of other industries. tesla's just beginning, in my view. stuart: fascinating, art, that you would invest in a company which lives on government

handouts. but one last word from liz -- [laughter] >> tell me a company that doesn't. >> people are buying suvs, not four-door sedans. that's what this new car from tesla is about. stuart: to answer your question, art laffer, loads of companies exist on this earth without government handouts. and let's not be followers of elizabeth warren, you didn't do this alone. yes, you did. come on, art. >> i do agree companies are doing can it on their own, stuart, but believe me, the government affects every single company in america incorrectly, badly, it makes them all worse as a group but, frankly, the government can't be ignored in any company structure for looking for investments or to the future. i mean, it really can't. stuart: okay. >> we've got big government in everything. >> he tallied forth -- stuart: okay. i'm backing off. >> i wish we could go back to reagan days but, hey, we'll see if we can do it. stuart: yeah. look at this, bottom right-hand corner of your screen, we're now

up 73 points, the dow is at 21,900. we're waiting for any tape that we can get of the official swearing in of general john kelly as the new chief of staff to president trump. the swearing in was supposed to be at 9:30 this morning. i believe it's happened. i want to show you some tape of the actual event when and if we get it. but right now, 21,9. any complaints? >> wall street's hitting new highs despite all the d.c./swamp behavior. we're 200 days into the presidency of donald trump. nothing has really been done besides regulatory rollback. boy, if he gets his agenda, this market pops. stuart: yep. and i'm looking at my little computer screen, i've got google up, apple up, microsoft up, amazon is down $9, facebook is down a fraction. so that's the backdrop. the technology companies at all-time highs, closing in on even higher levels. some of them, that is.

the overall market way up, 21,9 on the dow jones industrial average. the technology sector, as in the nasdaq composite, again, moving up and up and up. just a few moments ago it was up about a third of 1%. way above 6,300. you know, the nasdaq popped above 5,000 in the dot.com bubble, and when it crashed, we thought there's no way this stock is ever going to get -- this index is never going to get back to 5,000. well, it did. in the latest go-round, it crashed through 6,000 and is now above 6,300. technology is where it's at. quick look at hertz. it's down big after barclays cut the rating on its stock. hertz is down this morning. car rental agencies have taken a real beating in large part because of uber. >> that's correct. stuart: i mean, business guys and ladies fly to a small airport, you rent a car -- no, you don't do that anymore. you go to uber. >> that's correct.

stuart: look at it down, 10%. hertz, now, that is a selloff and a half for a big name company. extraordinary movement there. >> yeah. stuart: 73 points higher, 21,903. still waiting on that tape from the white house, the official swearing in of john kelly. amazon's under investigation, federal investigation for possibly violating u.s. sanctions against iran. nicole, come on in, please. i want the latest on this one. >> reporter: oh, man, how is amazon doing this? they actually said in a filing over a certain period of years from 2012-2017, they were selling goods, consumer goods to people that are not allowed to be sold to. these are for iranian embassies outside of iran in other countries. people associated on behalf of the embassies, and it was about over $30,000 of goods, toys, furniture, everything. stuart: okay. nicole, i've got to interrupt you. i've got that tape from the white house. let's roll it, please.

>> we just swore in general kelly. he will do a spectacular job, i have no doubt, as chief of staff. what he's done in terms of homeland security is record-shattering. you look at the border, you look at the tremendous results we've had, and you look at the spirit. and with a very controversial situation, there's been very little controversy which is pretty amazing by itself. so i want the congratulate you on having done a fantastic job, general, and we look forward to -- if it's possible -- an even better job as chief of staff. >> i'll try, sir. thank you. >> thank you. thank you very much. we'll see you, we'll see you in the boardroom. we're having a cabinet meeting. [inaudible conversations] >> well, i think we've done very well. hot of records, lots of records -- lots of records created, john. you look at stock market, the highest it's ever been. unemployment, lowest in 17 years.

companies are doing tremendously well. business spirit is the highest it's ever been according to polls. you look at the polls, the highest it's ever been in the history of these polls. we're doing very well. we have a tremendous base. we have of a tremendous group of support. the country is optimistic. and i think the general will just add to it. but the country is doing very well. strongest stock market ever. on friday we hit the highest in the history of the stock market. business is very enthusiastic, and we will proceed and we will keep going. but we have a fantastic leader, chief of staff. he's going to do a really great job. thank you very much. we'll see you. in the boardroom. [inaudible conversations] >> thank you. [inaudible conversations] stuart: all right. the president there suggesting that we have a very strong economy, and he noted that we did have an all-time high on the stock market friday. we've got an all-time high right

now, we're up 78 points at 21,9. what you just saw was the president right after the official swearing in of general john kelly as his new white house chief of staff. he's this to impose some discipline on the white house after its chaotic first six months, and he is a man who has battlefield experience. he was, overi saw the running of gitmo, by the way. he's another general added to the white house staff and to the cabinet. we've got mattis at defense and we have h.r. mcmaster as national security adviser. and, by the way, if you didn't know this, general kelly lost a son in afghanistan. so he knows the meaning of sacrifice, and he's in there now as official chief of staff. next case. let's move on to tax reform. the chair of the tax-writing committee says no tax hike on the rich. roll tape. is it possible that we will have tax increases on some people as

a way of paying for tax decreases on others? >> no. to be as clear as i can be, no. stuart: there had been some talk that maybe wealthier people would have a higher tax rate. he's just scotched that. kevin brady chairs the house ways and means committee which writes the tax code. no, it's not going to happen. come on in, the president of the tax foundation. i guess, are you relieved to hear this, that there'll be no increases on taxes? >> i'm not surprised at all, stuart. you know, the u.s. already has the most progressive personal income tax system of any industrialized country. that proposal would probably get five votes in the republican caucus at best. and plus, it was kind of odd coming out of the white house, because it gives democrats really a talking point. they can say, aha, even steve bannon thinks there should be higher taxes on the rich. but it's certainly not going anywhere. stuart: okay. so if higher taxes are are off the table, you're on the inside there in this tax debate in washington. seems to us that it's going to

come down to a very slimmed-down -- not reform of the whole tax code, comes slimmed down, cut corporate taxes, cut individual tax rates. is that what it comes down to. >> i don't think so. i think it's, i think that the leadership is really determined to put forward a fundamental tax reform plan as soon as possible. they're going to start work in both the ways and means committee in the house and senate finance committee in september, and the goal is to put together a comprehensive plan to overhaul the tax system -- stuart: but is that realistic? >> that's what the economy needs. stuart: oh, no question about it, but is that a realistic time frame? if you don't start putting it together til september with all the in-fighting that's going to go on, i mean, can you really see it happening this year? >> i think we have to remember that a lot of work has already been done over the last year or two in both of those tax-writing committees looking at how to overhaul the tax system. they've done the work, it's just

a matter of finding the politics to push it over the goal line, and that'll be the real trick. stuart: yes, it really will be. scott, i'm sorry to cut this so short. we've got a stock market rally, all kinds of things happening. thanks for joining us. >> thanks, stuart. stuart: we're up 74 points, well above 21,900. this could be the week when we hit 22k. next, the fda cracking down or wants to crack down on tobacco. that sent the stock prices of tobacco companies way down on friday. do they really want to ban cigarettes? is that what this is all about? we'll be back. is this a phone?

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stuart: wait for it, the fda is proposing a new regulation for cigarettes. marc siegel, he's a doctor, he's with us. as i understand it, the proposal is lower the nicotine level in this cigarettes to the point where it's no longer addictive. my question is, why bother buying cigarettes in the first praise? >> well, why do people smoke? they get a lot of scroll pleasure, they feel the cigarette in their mouth. but the trouble is, and this is what dr. gottlieb has been saying, head of the fda, the nicotine draws you in but then, bam, you get hit with 39 chemicals, you get hit with tar,

with all these carcinogens and 480,000 people a year are dying of this. so they want to study it, the fda. they want a public discourse. they want people to weigh in. they want everybody to say, hey, what could we change? how does the public feel about loring nicotine in cigarettes? fda has the authority because of the tobacco control act of 2009, they can do it. stuart: can't we move to e-cigarettes? you're not smoking the stuff, you're inhaling nicotine. >> what's wrong with that? >> that's the other point that gottlieb is making, it's never been done, he's saying, wait a minute, maybe e-cigarettes are an alternative. and the latest studies are looking better for e-cigarettes. i personally use it in my practice, stuart, to help people get off cigarettes. i combine it with a nicotine patch, and i try to transition them if from cigarettes to e-cigarettes. i think he's wise to be looking at that. he's also looking at flavors, what role does menthol play to dragging people to cigarettes.

how do those flavors -- stuart: look, to me, it is get rid of the smoke, get rid of the tar, get rid of the sun stand in your lungs. -- suntan in your lungs, but you can't get rid of the nicotine. you can't. there. >> but the nicotine is the seducer. that's the thing that gets you to keep smoking. and that isn't the part that's killing you. why not lower the nicotine? didn't you say you were going to wear a nicotine patch? stuart: i have no problem with that, but if you want the nicotine, you should be able to get it from e-cigarettes or the patch or the gum, if that's what you want. >> no, but let's tie it to e-cigarettes, which is safer. how do you feel about the fact that 90 percent of people who are smokers start before the age of 18? stuart: i think it's terrible. it's terrible. i got it. >> i know you don't like regulations. stuart: i've got to go, that's the problem. you're a good man. moments from now, president trump will hold a full cabinet meeting.

general kelly has dislus taken over as chief of staff. can general kelly instill discipline in the west wingsome hour two of this program is three minutes away. p ready to r. p ready to r. in 12 weeks. yeah. ♪ ♪ the world of fast food is being changed by faster networks. ♪ ♪ data, applications, customer experience. ♪ ♪ which is why comcast business delivers consistent network performance and speed across all your locations. fast connections everywhere. that's how you outmaneuver.

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stuart: first thing monday morning, john kelly sworn in as president trump's brand new chief of staff. he is a general. in an administration that is already leaning heavily on the military. he is the white house gate keeper. he decides who gets to see the president. more important than that, he is the new enforcer. he is the guy who tells all members of the administration to shape up and get on with the president's agenda. by any measure, the president needs john kelly. chaotic infighting at the white house has not been helpful to the growth agenda. the president's tweets have not always helped either. when you want to do great things, you better speak with one voice. so in comes the general to impose some discipline. good. he is the man for the job. he oversaw gitmo. he has battlefield experience

which should come in handy in his new job. he understands sacrifice. he lost a son in afghanistan. and here are the unknowns. how will the politicians, that's congress respond to a military guy who is used to giving orders, not fine-tuning relationships? will the president listen to him. no answers yet to those questions but after six months of chaos and little achievement it is time for a new approach, a fresh start. and that is general john kelly, chief of staff. the second hour of "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ stuart: breaking news this hour. the president's holding a cabinet meeting in that meeting is john kelly, the new chief of staff. we're expecting to get some word about that meeting from that meeting at some point very soon. we'll show you the tape, that is, when it arrives.

meanwhile we have a nice rally ahead this monday morning on wall street. we just touched 21,900. we backed off a bit. we're still up 60 points. 21,890. look at big technology stocks. we do this all the time because that is where the money is flowing but not today. a pullback but not serious. facebook is down 1%. so is amazon. microsoft, alphabet, apple, registering minor declines but red arrows for big tech. the price of oil still pretty close to 50 bucks a barrel, no impact on the stock market at all. have to get this in, discover communications will buy scripps network. channel of its own name, discovery, it has got animal planet. scripps is the parent of the food network, dyi channel, et cetera. the two are getting together,

that es happening. more important is this, boeing with a north record high. got upgrade from morgan stanley. they're expecting india to order 2100 aircraft next 20 years. i can't believe they're all going to be boeing planes. that is gigantic number from india. presumably broken down with airbus, boeing and maybe couple others thrown in. that is big order coming from india, maybe. back to the top of the hour my editorial. with us former arkansas governor mike huckabee. welcome back to the program. what do you think about general kelly bringing discipline and one voice to the white house. is the president going to listen? >> i think he will because he has got someone who in essence a peer. somebody on the same level. has been ceo of something really, really big. in this case a military operation. battlefield command. all of these are great qualities.

a person like general kelly is truly tested. he doesn't care whether people like him or not. he has taken people combat. he has been in the position where he knows that the decision he makes and the way he leads, in his case, had a choice of whether people lived or died. now nobody will live or die what he does as chief of staff per se, but i think it's a good choice, a solid choice, the president is wise to pick him. stuart: does he have some diplomatic skills? because he is going to have to be a bit diplomatic when it comes to dealing with members of congress. these are politicians. he is a military guy. the president is a business guy. a huge difference between the military and business and politicians. does general kelly have the required diplomatic skills? >> oh, i think he does. nobody gets to be a four-star without political acumen and savvy when it comes to diplomacy. people that have been chief of

staff are anything but diplomatic. rahm emanuel, long time obama's chief of staff was hardly gentile. even if general kelly was gruff time to time, i think that can be a great quality as well. but the key things he has to bring to the president, one he has to control not the president, his job is to serve the president but it is to control the white house, its staff, its organization, its timing, its functions to literally make the trains run on time and make sure they're not off the rails. stuart: governor, i'm sure you saw this but i need your take on it. vladmir putin says more than 700 u.s. diplomats will be expelled from russia by september 1st. that is in response to the new sanctions the united states placed on russia. where do you stand on this? president trump is big friend of russia and now we're imposing sanctions and they're kicking out our guys?

this seems to be escalating. >> two things, first of all what will the media do now they can't say donald trump is in the pocket of putin? that he is subservient to putin. he laid a bigger blow to putin than obama did in eight years. he has done it in eight months. that is significant. i think it will end this ridiculous narrative somehow donald trump is the puppet of putin. that is always been nonsense, especially now. the other thing is quite simple. putin had to do something. these sanctions are really going to be punishing to russia. they're harsh. the fact is putin just couldn't sit there take it like a beating. he had to stand up he would beat his chest. by the way, let me say his bare chest since he likes to go without a shirt this was a tit-for-tat. this was the ping-pong much of diplomacy he had to do but the truth is this hurts russia a whole lot worse than it hurts the united states. stuart: governor, thanks for joining us sir, appreciate it on very bright monday morning.

thank you very much, sir. >> you bet. stuart: as usual we have a couple amazon stories. number one, amazon wants to install delivery lockers in apartment complexes. there is a novel idea. it is developing a new private fashion label collection. it will start selling shoes and handbags to prime customers. how about that? joining us now is john steinberg, he is the ceo of cheddar. that is a well-known website i think. we're getting to a point where we're going to buy nearly everything from amazon, aren't we? >> stuart i think you made it. when you look at decimation occurred in jcpenney and shopping malls in such a short period of time, 2010 and 2011 they were still building shopping malls. this amazon thing has been destructive. we enter a world almost like a scientific novel we get everything from amazon including our entertainment. disclosure, amazon is investor in my media company.

stuart: there is no stopping amazon, is that what you say? >> i do believe that. flywheel, free media with will be largest cable company. they bought whole foods. people can get perishable groceries as well too. barring government interaction i think it is unstoppable. you're a technology come men taught tore. is tesla a battery company, car company or technology visionary? >> oh, elon musk is thomas edison of our time. doing with space and tesla. the car reviews were far better than i think anybody expected. price to value, 40,000-dollar car can go 2 to 300 miles on a battery, 30 cars delivered. i got update mine will be available i did early order by december to february. look it is expensive stock.

i would not advise anyone to buy this stock. they will see a lot of competition from the traditional automakers. this car will put, he is saying he will ship all 500,000 in calendar year 2018. that will be massive. that will quadruple of number of teslas they put on the market to date. stuart: last one, snap, early investors can sell their stock and they wish to. apparently some of them are. what is your rating on snap as a stock that you might want to buy on a dip? what do you say? >> i would not buy snap at this point. look the stock is a tremendous achievement. these people, a few people in a room built a company that has 160 million people go on it every day. they will do close to billion dollars revenue. too expensive, too expensive by any measure. that is the challenge with a lot of companies. people think of it as the company is spectacular or the company is a piece of garbage. happens to be this company is too expensive for what it is.

it is not a 12 billion or 15 billion company. it is probably 8 or $7 billion company. charles: thank you, john steinberg. we appreciate you being here. >> thank thank you, stuart. stuart: apple getting heat for removing dozens of apps from its app store in china. let's back off a little, emac. set the stage. why did they withdraw these apps? liz: china basically has a new law censoring all sorts of things on the internet. why? they're coming into the 19th communist party congress this fall. president xi jinping is consolidating power. he took on role of commander-in-chief. he took on the title last year. china is doing via censorship. they removed five dozen or more apps that let you do browsing on the internet, without anybody knowing your identity. now that they removed that, people in china say wait a second, the government can see what we're looking at on the

internet. apple has been big about privacy and human rights. wouldn't give the work iphone was owned by san bernardino county owned by the terrorist, wouldn't give it to the fbi to unlock it. now apple is playing ftse with china. not many people in the tech world are liking it. stuart: it is business decision. do you want the china market or don't you? say you want it, if you want the market get rid of the apps. that is how it works. honolulu, in hawaii, walking on those that text. pedestrians can be fined up to $99, depending how many times looking at phone while crossing the street. come to that in hawaii. venezuela real chaos. u.n. ambassador nikki haley calling the weekend vote to

rework the constitution a sham. hillary clinton writing a book called, "what happened." her account of the election. one author beat her to the punch. he wrote, "shattered, inside hillary clinton's doomed campaign." he will separate fact and fiction. he will be with us next. you're watching "varney & company." ♪ potsch: you each drive a ford pickup, right? (in unison) russ, leland, gary: yes. gary: i have a ford f-150. michael: i've always been a ford guy. potsch: then i have a real treat for you today. michael: awesome. potsch: i'm going to show you a next generation pickup. michael: let's do this. potsch: this new truck now has a cornerstep built right into the bumper. gary: super cool. potsch: the bed is made of high-strength steel, which is less susceptible to punctures than aluminum. jim: aluminum is great for a lot of things, but maybe not the bed of a truck. potsch: and best of all, this new truck is actually- gary: (all laughing) oh my... potsch: the current chevy silverado. gary: i'm speechless. gary: this puts my ford truck to shame. james: i'll tell you, i might be a chevy guy now. (laughing)

stuart: wait. no, first of all, look at this. dow industrials are on a nice rally there. 63 points high. we're shy of 21, nine. we crossed 21 nine a few minutes ago. still a rally on monday morning. same old, same sold happens every week. ups will make it easier to

ship alcohol around the world. not sure how they do that. ups is up 50 cents. hertz, look at this, way, way down. it was downgraded by barclays. it has had a hard time competing with uber. down to 15 bucks a share as of right now. president trump critical of china after north korea's latest missile launch. several tweets. here is the first. i'm very disappointed in china. our foolish past leaders allowed them to make hundred of billions of dollars with trade. they do nothing for north korea. just talk. we'll not allow this to continue. china could easily solve this problem. breaking news from the president on china. what have which got? liz: at cabinet meeting saying we will handle north korea. stuart: that's it? liz: that's it. stuart: we will handle it. we'll get the tape momentarily. we're told jeff sessions very much under fire recently. he is in the cabinet meeting. we hear the new chief of staff,

general kelly, he is in that cabinet meeting as well. we'll get tape for you momentarily. move on to venezuela, crisis, civil war really on our own doorstep. more violence over the weekend. president maduro claimed victory in disputed election to overhaul the constitution in my opinion to install a socialist dictatorship. vanessa newman, the president of a symmetric. a lot of things with venezuela. you're very much in touch? >> our job keep clients informed on realities on the ground and project what will happen. stuart: you tell me, what is the endgame? >> everybody is talk about a palace coup. it is over twitter and social media they expect -- what happens, somebody become as superpower even above the presidency. we know who will become the president of this superpower assembly. whether a faction from the president or faction opposed to

president from within the same party. stuart: whoa, that has to be somebody who is in favor of maduro who comes to the head of the constitutional assembly. >> yes. stuart: they will not just let this walk away from them? >> they might. maduro doesn't really have an option. he is trying to install his wife, no secret as the head. but there are other people who have greater command of the military who are competing with him for that presidency. stuart: when you say palace coup, you're probably talking about a military takeover? >> correct. stuart: but that wouldn't change the basic nature of the socialist dictatorship which maybe the military will run it? >> unfortunately that is exactly the case. when i was in caracas in may, i met with military commanders. we'll keep the country. we'll get rid of opposition, and maduro, and it will be us. in support of that the defense secretary came out and said, we will, we will take over the country. he said it last night. stuart: that is meaningless.

you don't have maduro at the top. you have a general at the top, still a socialist dictatorship. >> absolutely. it's a socialist dictatorship. people will starve and suffer. stuart: there is limit how long they can keep starving. >> when you have a socialist government, starving people, with no capitalism, no democratic rights they're radicalizing. last night they were complaining the opposition has not been strong enough. you had hacker group called the binary guardians, hack the electoral commission. we are the new he resistance. we will take control of the cyber networks of the country and left a message. and the resistance, they are now firebombing people. the opposition is fracturing into violent radical side. stuart: in which case we have a civil war? >> yes. stuart: either very close or started, right? >> it is starting. it started over the weekend. stuart: this is terrible situation. it is on our doorstep.

>> yes, it is on our doorstep. venezuela is still the third largest supplier of oil to the united states after saudi arabia and canada. and was -- stuart: i have got to go. thank you very much indeed. i have to run to this. we just got the tape from the cabinet meeting. >> from the homeland there what he has done is nothing short of miraculous. the border was a problem. now close to 80% steppage. the president of mexico their southern border very few people are coming because they know they will not get through our border which is the ultimate compliment. i want to congratulate him on the great job he has done with homeland security. i have no doubt he will be absolutely superb chief of staff. we were discussing a little while ago before the meeting how well we're doing however. we have highest stock market in history.

we have gdp on friday, got very little mention although i guess in the business areas it did, i think got very little mention. 2.6 is a number knob thought they would see for long period of time. remember i was saying we will hit three at some point in the not-too-distant future. everybody smiled and laughed. they thought we would be at one. 2.6 is unbelievable number announced on friday. unemployment is the lowest it has been in 17 years. business enthusiasm is as high as they have ever seen it. it is as highest point in 28 yes according to certain graph and a certain chart. manufacturers, an enthusiasm level is incredible. we have a lot of tremendous things going. we have interesting situations we'll handle, north korea, middle east, lots of problems that we inherited from previous administrations but we'll take care of them.

we'll take care of them very well but overall i think we're doing incredibly well. the economy is doing incredibly well. and many other things. so, we're starting from a really good base. i predict that general kelly will go down in terms of the position of chief of staff one of the great ever and we're going to have a good time. much more importantly we're going to work hard and we're going to make america great again. it is about making america great again. that is what i am going to do, that is what i said and how we won the big election and we're in the process of doing and continuing. general, really great to have you on board. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> thank you very much, everybody. [shouting questions] >> we'll handle north korea. we'll be able to handle north korea. it will be handled. we handle everything. thank you very much.

stuart: i'm sorry. the president was, there was a shouted question. there you can see jeff sessions right in there still. the president was a shouted question, what about north korea? he says, it will be handled. before that he spent a couple of minutes talking about the economy, how good it was. how we got a record high or wall street. governor huckabee with us now. he is pushing toward the positive. forget negatives of health care and politics. it is all positive for the president this monday morning? >> really most of his eight months in office have been far more positive. you have got job numbers, highest they have been since the year 2007. you have a record stock market blowing and going. businesses are reinvesting. consumer confidence at the highest it has been in 12 years.

i mean when you start looking at a lot of the just objective realities of where the country is, he is having a good run. but you would never know it if all you did was read "the new york times," "washington post" and watch some of the other networks. granted sometimes he steps on some of his own successes giving people something to talk about other than than his record when he tweets something that is a distraction. this president is i think doing quite well for his first eight months. stuart: new jersey governor chris christie, got to ask you about him. you ran against him for the presidency. got into a dispute with fan at baseball game. emac, tell me what is happening. liz: he was walking buy with nachos, a cubs fan, said you suck. chris christie turned around, you're a big shot. the fan said i appreciate that. chris christie turned around and walked away. stuart: governor huckabee, governor of new jersey can't catch a break anywhere he goes,

can he? >> but you just can't take the bait in moment like that. the next thing to blow a guy like that with a little humor. if he says, you suck, my family says the same thing. keep walking. don't let these people get under your skin. if they are getting under your skin foreheaven's secs don't let them think you are. stuart: did a heckler ever get under your skin when you were running for presidency. >> no, i'm such ease going guy nobody ever got under my skin. i tried running for office, during my 10 your in office, when you engage with people in shouting match you're giving them exactly what they want. i make sure i deprive them of that extraordinary pleasure, i give myself the pleasure of watching them say how come he didn't scream back? stuart: governor, in the next

hour we're joined by a marxist professor from new york city. i'm going try my it most to stop him from getting under my skin. >> you will never do it, stuart. you will let him get to you. i can't wait to watch. stuart: thank you, governor. see you again real soon. thank you. coming up the media completely ignoring the story of debbie wasserman schultz and i.t. worker who was arrested trying to flee the country. cbs spending a paltry 37 seconds on that story. are we seeing more media bias? we're all over that question. president trump holding a cabinet meeting on john kelly first day, his right-hand man. will kelly impose discipline on the president? that is the question. ♪

♪ ♪ stuart: just checking the big board, and i'm smiling because the rally is holding. we're up 60-odd points, 21,890 on a monday morning one hour into the session. how about the five big tech companies? i'm sorry to say they're all down this morning. of course, they're still at or very close to all-time record highs, but look at amazon, down $20, 2%. it's below $1,000 a share. that's the headline, isn't it. >> >> yes, it is. stuart: all right. by the way, apple, their earnings will be released after the closing bell tomorrow, that's something that's going to be very important. and look at snap. it's down $13 a share, down 1%. the early investors, the people who had the stock in the company before it went public, they can

now sell if they wish. apparently, some of them are selling, and that's taking that stock down. and look at pandora. falling after shutting operations in australia and new zealand to cut costs, down 4%, $9. now, let's get to that story of a tech worker for debbie wasserman schultz who was arrested while trying to leave the country. in the 24 hours after his arrest, cbs was the only broadcast network to cover the story, and they only gave it 37 seconds. joining us now, howard kurtz, host of "media buzz." seems like the rest of the media is really ignoring a very important story. that's the way i see it. how about you? >> well, i would say minimizing the story. there were pieces in "the washington post" and new york times, for example, and the problem with why this isn't a huge story is that we don't know that much about this case. right now the allegations are about bank fraud. there's a lot of assumptions and suspicions that this was an i.t.

guy, could it be related to the hacking, could it be some kind of espionage, but that's not what's being charged in the case. stuart: why don't we see the investigative teams at the new york times and "the washington post" and nbc and "60 minutes," why aren't they looking into the background here? three pakistani brothers trying to get -- one of them trying to get out of the country, they all have access to debbie wasserman-schultz's private e-mail system and to nine democrats in the house, one of whom is on the intelligence committee? where's the investigative reporting? >> because they're all chasing donald trump, and they're looking into, you know, what curse words that anthony scaramucci uses. that's a fair question. there's so many tantalizing aspects to this case that you'd think there would be some more digging by the major news organizations, and i'm not really seeing that happening. now, if the case takes a twist where it does seem like the computer systems of the dnc or the former democratic chair, wasserman-schultz, are -- were at risk or were violated, then i think we'll see a lot more.

right now, you're right, there's a prison cautious approach. stuart: cautious. [laughter] i think you're being gentle there, howard. you're a diplomat, and that's the way you are. let me get back to that on centi-laced rant from anthony scaramucci. do you think he can hold his job very long with that, you know, obscenity-laced rant in the background? >> anthony scaramucci is not going anywhere because he has a long friendship with president trump, he has the support of the president. obviously, it was a mistake for him in this phone call to the new yorker's ryan lizza to use all that language. stuart, all this fainting among journalists, ever spend any time in a newsroom? [laughter] stuart: well, yeah. >> i do want to say i've gotten lots of calls from people like that, democrats and republicans using salty language they wouldn't want published or repeated on the air. and there's an implicit assumption it's off the record. he should have said, hey, this

is off the record, but i haven't burned anybody when they're there'sing me to clean up the d when they're trusting me to clean up the language. there's a reason president trump brought him in, partially to wean out reince priebus, and i don't buy the notioning that he's in such deep trouble that he's in any way in jeopardy. stuart: well, howard, you're a great deal younger than i am, and i've been around a long time, and i really can't remember public discourse as nasty and sometimes as obscene as it has become. have you? >> that's a fair point. but at the same time, you know, obviously scaramucci didn't intend these particular words, things he said about bannon and priebus, to become public. he thought he was having a private conversation. again, i'm not letting him off the hook. that was a misstep. but at the same time, you know, it seems to me that the whole discourse -- i mean, this goes beyond trump. some people would say trump has fueled it. it's become much more caustic,

much more words we didn't even used to print, now you drop the asterisk. new york times printed every word, including the f-bombs of the scaramucci rant. we have a coarser culture, and the media bears system responsibility for that. stuart: howard, thanks for joining us on a monday morning. appreciate it. president trump is holding a cabinet meeting inside the white house, of course, at this hour. today is general john kelly's first today as chief of staff. kristin tate joins us, author of the book whose name i love, "government gone wild." welcome to the program. welcome back. >> thanks for having me. stuart: now, we are told that from here on out general kelly will impose discipline on the white house and that he will rein in the president. and the white house will speak with one voice. you think? [laughter] >> well, will kelly rein in trump? i think the short answer to that is, no. no one is going to be able to control a 71-year-old billionaire who is president of the united states.

trump is trump, this is who he is, and i don't think he's going to change for -- stuart: i tell you one thing, kristin, i don't think his base wants him to change. i don't think -- >> that is exactly right. stuart: the base doesn't mind if this president gets harsh because they're really angry with the previous administration and with democrats. i think the base stays true no matter what the president says, and you say? >> yeah, i think that the base is asking why would we want kelly to kind of control trump. the media is constantly pointing to trump's tweets as something negative, but the base loves trump's tweets because they provide the ultimate transparency. you know, stuart, they say that sunlight is the best disinfectant, and that is what trump is doing. he is being completely transparent and showing people exactly what is happening inside of that white house. and meanwhile, the mainstream media, the liberal mainstream media is becoming more

irrelevant by the day because trump is getting his message to the people directly. you know, cnn, 93% of their coverage of trump is negative. why would he want to let them control the narrative? so i think he's got to keep, you know, communicating to people. now, here's where i think john kelly can help. i think he can help with some of the in the-fighting and the chaos inside of the white house. becauseing you know, john kelly during his 45 years in the military, he became known as a strong and calm leader. so i think he kind of brings this sense of discipline that the white house needs right now and could maybe help all of the aides and cabinet members get on one page. but is he going to change trump? i doubt it. [laughter] stuart: i think you're right, actually. nobody changes donald trump, and that's the way it is. [laughter] kristin, thanks for joining us this morning. always appreciated, thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. stuart: former uber chief, travis kalanick, he's reportedly hoping to make a comeback, going back to uber which he left just

a few weeks ago. >> that quick, right? -- that was convict, right? he wants to be steve jobs, pushed out of apple and came back. you know, worth pointing out travis sits on the search committee that is supposed to be looking for his replacement. so, you know, can he do that? is it a good idea for him to come back? yes, he's revolutionized an entire industry and made everybody rethink about drive-hailing apps -- stuart: i think he should come back. look, i think he should come back. i definitely do. look, he introduced a revolutionary idea into our economy, and it took a off. >> yeah. stuart: the idea of sharing an asset. if you have a car, a house, a room in your apartment, if you've got a bathroom you want to rent it out, this is what you do. >> okay. stuart: you go on the internet, you follow uber. he introduced that whole idea. >> understood, but the corporate culture he has put in place, lawsuits over sexual harassment, the grayball software which defies government regulators

from tracking, you know, the labor practices at uber and drivers being hurt on the job and things like that. so, you know, he set up that corporate culture. do they need a clean-up? yes. can they get a chair to sit on travis kalanick? he created a corporate culture that's been roundly criticized by people on wall street and the industry. stuart: give me 20 seconds on whether it's justifiable to relate kalanick to steve jobs. >> no. he's been known, steve jobs, to be harsh, but i never heard of sexual harassment issues like they have at uber. stuart: oh, i think if steve jobs were running apple today the way he ran it back in the 1980s and the early part of this century, he'd be out of a job. >> i don't know if he'd be out of a job, but we knew the stories coming out about steve jobs and how he was reportedly abusive.

it's a different culture though. stuart: we differ on this one. as we've been reporting, venezuela really into chaos now. this is socialism at its worse. in our next hour, we have "the new york times," the man who "the new york times" calls america's most famous marxist economist. if that's true, i'll ask him when did marxism become hip again? apparently, it is now. plus, hillary clinton's new book will blame everything but herself for the loss last november. the author of the book "the chronicles: what really did doom hillary's campaign." ♪ 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.

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♪ ♪ >> former reagan economist art laffer says business is booming because obama's off the white house. roll tape. stuart: how come business is making so much money in a 2% growth economy with all the obama red tape still in place? >> well, because obama's out and, frankly, this is the beginning of the long boom. i mean, we are starting the process. we are no longer hitting the economy and destroying it, and we're starting the process -- sooner or later we'll get health care, we'll get tax reform, and we're starting to deregulate, and this is the beginning of the

return to normalcy in america with 3, 3.5% growth rates. ♪ ♪

stuart: all right. price of oil having ono impact on the stock market this morning, it's down 40 cents,

49.29 is your price. how about this? baidu, we call that the google of china, it's at a two-and-a-half year high. two investment firms both raising their price target. one of them says -- i don't know about raising its price target, one says it's going to get to $210 a share, and it's now at 227. not sure i understand that, up another $7 this morning. hillary clinton is writing a new book called "what happened? reportedly, she blames everybody but herself for the loss. joining us now is jonathan allen, co-author of the book, "shattered: inside hillary clinton's doomedcampaign." jonathan, she blames everybody but herself. what what blame should she ascribe to herself? what say yousome. >> i think, first of all, the e-mail server that tracked her through the entirety of the campaign from even before she jumped in in march of 2015 all the way through the end, she puts a lot of blame on the fbi. the fbi would not have been involved if it wasn't for that server.

she was unable to put together a message that a lot of voters felt was about them rather than about her. i think that was a huge flaw in her campaign. she gave the speeches to wall street banks at a time of rising populism and then refused to release the transcripts for months and months and months. this was a candidate who put herself in a position to lose the presidency, and what my co-author, amie parnes, and i are hearing about a what will be in her book suggests she's going to double down on russia and jim comey and leave out a lot of other things. kind of like she's describing a baseball game but only talking about a couple of the innings. stuart: but was russia, russia, russia and comey were they really important in her loss or just minor factorsesome. >> it's hard to quantify. i think both of those things were factors in the election. i don't mean to say that they weren't. but again, anytime you talk about jim comey and the involvement of the fbi in this case, you have to go back to the fact that there were classified e-mails off of the state department system and on her personal server.

he's not a factor in this election if she doesn't do that, that move with the private server that almost nobody else she could think of would have pulled. stuart: i read your book, read it cover to cover very quickly. it was a very readable book, and i was interested in the entire summit. what struck me was that hillary clinton held a staff meeting for all of her staff well into the campaign, well into the primary season, and she asked for ideas from her staffers, like that gentleman on the screen, what should i have as my message? she asked her staff what should i be talking about. what's my vision. i was astonished to hear that, actually. >> and, stuart, it's interesting. it's not just people in politics who look at that and say that's astounding. people in business, in all walks of life have wanted to talk to my co-author and i about particular, this particular passage and the lack of a mission. hillary clinton didn't set the mission herself for her campaign. nobody else could do it for her.

it's one of the reasons she had difficulty setting a good message. people were trying to do that for her, but it wasn't coming from her. she wasn't able to answer the question of why her and why in 2016 after she'd run previously in 2008. stuart: in the end, it seemed to me to come down to hillary clinton saying surely, surely you don't want him as the president. that was the bottom line at the end of campaign. that's the way it seemed to me. >> absolutely. her strategy was to disqualify donald trump. and it's interesting, about a fifth of his voters said on election day, essentially, they didn't think he was fit to be president, and he still thought he was better to be president than they thought she was. she failed to make a positive case for herself to voters in the upper midwest and, you know, the game is not how many votes you've got, but how many electoral votes you got. donald trump did a good job of focusing on states where people were upset and wanted a change. stuart: well, in your judgment, is hillary clinton done with politics and public life?

>> i don't think she's done with politics and public life, i don't think she's going to run again. stuart: okay. what about the democrats? i mean, if they don't have that message -- and hillary was asking for what's a good message -- where for the democrats? does it depend on trump's performance? >> i think it depends a lot on trump's performance. anytime you have an incumbent president or even the midterm elections, a lot of that will be a referendum on the incumbent leadership. but democrats do need the figure out what their message is, and i think it starts with candidates who are more appealing to a broader set of voters. in addition the that, i think they will do a lot better if they don't focus on sort of external factors, on russia and on jim comey and think about why it is that voters, after eight years of president obama and some of them still approving of him, did not want to see democrats or one particular democrat continue in the presidency. stuart: all right, jonathan. if you write a sequel to

"shattered," i will buy it and read it. are you writing one? >> coming up in 2021. we're writing about the 2020 election. [laughter] stuart: jonathan, thanks for joining us, we do appreciate. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: what we've got for you on the market is a modest rally, but i'm telling you now, the big five technology companies are all on the dow side, but the dow is up 60. here's a headline for you. the department of justice says the number of people charged with illegal possession of guns, up 23% since last year. dana lash, nra spokesperson, joins us on that subject. next, i wasn't happy with the gop's health reform failure, and some of you thought i was too harsh. your comments coming up. ♪ ♪

♪

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stuart: if the gop keeps going like this and the president can't stop with the self-inflicted wounds, then the democrats win the house, the president will face impeachment, and in 2020 the democrats will take the white house and complete what used to be the unthinkable reversal of political power. uh-oh, i said that last week. i said the gop needs to stop shooting itself in the foot, or the democrats will take over d.c.

many people clearly disagreed with that among our audience. this is coming in from laura. i don't think so. the democrats are ruined. the gop just needs to stay the course and keep hammering the democrats' agenda. kathy says something similar. mr. varney, why the doom and gloom? are you not looking at your own economic reports? how about we focus on what good things are happening. and this from kimberly, i don't think so. i think conservative voters are smart enough to impose their own term limits and put up other conservative candidates in primaries. all right, liz, where do you stand on this? >> well, i agree with the viewers. stuart: yeah? >> here's what's going on. when you look at what the democrats are putting out, the better deal, these are old, stale ideas that are circa jimmy carter. and why? because these democrats have been around since the reagan era, nancy pelosi and certainly chuck schumer later that decade. so, you know, the president could really energize the agenda by holding rallies for tax cuts. president obama did that with health reform. i think that'd be a great idea

for the president to do that. stuart: okay. >> here's what i'm saying, the viewers have it right because the president does have the agenda. he is detonating the dynamite, with dynamite the cemented-in thinking -- stuart: no argument. there's no argument between us. i support trump because of his growth agenda. >> yeah. stuart: but i'm saying that the republican party is probably going to let him down. so far they've not been able to put his growth plan in place, and voters will turn on republicans. they won't blame the democrats, they'll turn on republicans, say a what did you do for me? they won't come out, and the democrats will win next year. >> you know, you're right about that because the democrats are good at politics, the republicans are good at policy. the republicans need to do both. they have to get better with messaging. stuart: wishful thinking -- [laughter] look, i'm on the same page as you, i really am. we agree. and i'll be back. what's possible. rethink the experience. rethink your allergy pills. flonase sensimist allergy relief

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stuart: frequent viewers of this

program will be familiar with this. the world is on fire, political chaos at home but stocks keep going up especially big tech. how many times have i opened the show with that headline? i did it again this morning. trouble with north korea, near civil war in venezuela, health care fail, tax cut controversy. what is going on with the stocks market? we're looking at, close to, 22,000 own the dow jones industrial average. but let's focus for a moment on apple, alphabet, amazon, microsoft and facebook. they're down today, but overall they just keep on going up. they have led the market from record to record. what is going on? answer, they are the companies that are making huge profits. they are companies growing rapidly. they are the companies that will dominate not just america's economy but the world's economy for years to come. this is not a stock market forecast. it's a statement of reality. the big five have taken over

from industrial america. these companies are writing our future. one last point. the big five have about half trillion dollars in cash. that means, if they want to he buy something, they don't have to sell anything to get the money together. they have got the cash already. i want to know what they're going to do with all that money? which industry will they conquer next? one thing is for sure. you have never seen anything like this before. i'm talking about the third hour of "varney & company" which is about to begin. ♪ ♪ stuart: we're not talking about the stock market. that is jackie wilson, your love keeps lifting me higher and

higher. look at the stock market. look at it go. we're up 65 points on the dow industrials. we're shy of 21,900. the dow has hit, is hitting another all-time high. we have to deal with big tech, however. they have been leading the market. they certainly led it higher ever since the election despite political turmoil. john lonski joins us now. he is moody's managing director. a lot of people ask me, should we put more money into these big five technology companies? are they going to just keep on going up? why don't you answer the question for me. >> as long as the economy grows they will move higher. beware of the reality, they're richly priced, when economy slows down, profits overall contract, unemployment rises they will fall sharply. stuart: that is is a long ways

away. >> that is the only warning. they dominate their industries like no other companies. we haven't seen anything like this in years. they also of course have a mountain of cash. if you're in high technology today starting off, perhaps your hope, your dream is, you get to sell your company to one of these dominant players in high technology. stuart: i have never seen anything like this before. this is not like the dot-com bubble. this is brand new. never seen it before. >> precisely. stuart: you talked about the future of the economy. look forward to the end of this week, please. we have the jobs report coming early friday morning. if the economy is speeding up, and it looks like it is, second quarter growth numbers were pretty good, will we get a really strong jobs numbers friday. >> it speeded up a little bit in the second quarter. stuart: a little bit? >> looking at 2.1% growth year-over-year. you have a weak first quarter.

you're still running real gdp growth just over 2%. that is not bad. stock market is happy. charles: will we get 250, 300,000 new jobs friday. >> no. probably come under the consensus estimate of 185,000 jobs. i think perhaps 160,000 jobs. that is good enough. stuart: that is not good enough. >> for the equity market. stuart: with president obama in office, i consist sently said that is mediocre, 160,000 jobs a month. that is mediocre. i will not reverse myself. >> that you said a very high bar. stuart: it is not a high bar for the -- not a high bar for the american economy to produce 300,000 jobs in a month after -- >> now what do you have now? you have unemployment rate 4.4%. you're running out of equaled people to hire. you need to have somebody go out there to hire in order to grow the economy. a lot of companies are having difficulty. they're looking, available

supply of labor. they have problems with drugs. they have a lack of skill. stuart: you're whining. you are whining on behalf of the business elite. >> showing you reality. stuart: give me this reality. are we going to get lower individual and corporate tax rates? >> you will eventually. stuart: what do you mean eventually? >> unfortunately it will take some bad check news to finally get congress to come together to agree to meaningful tax reform and personal income tax cuts. stuart: what do you mean by eventually? >> i think it will happen this year. it may happen later next year when they, as the elections approach or we begin to get not so good news on the economy as it runs out of steam for the simple fact that pent-up demand will be depleted to such an extent you're simply not going to be able to grow consumer spending by even 2 1/2%. stuart: that is not what we wanted to hear. i wanted, want to hear the table being pounded, lonski from

moody's managing director thereof, i want to hear him say we'll get a tax cut this year. >> i don't think it will happen. we have a big debate coming uplifting the ceiling for the government debt that will be distraction. that comes up towards the end of september. stuart: that is one thing you definitely got right, if ever there was a distraction it is raising the debt ceiling. >> that will happen. that will prevent congress coming together on matters related to tax reform. perhaps more importantly income tax cuts. stuart: i would hoping you would lift the markets in this segment. you have not done it for us. >> they will move higher. interest rates are growing. where else will you put your money? stuart: we like that. lonski, you're all right. look who is with me. i want to talk about this tax cut, marcia blackburn, republican from tennessee actually in the big apple. >> you got it. stuart: what brings you to new york? trump tower is up the road. >> i'm not headed over there. i have meetings, working on

things committee workwise. stuart: how many times have i heard on this program, not necessarily from you, oh he, we ought to cut taxes. we must cut taxes. we really should cut taxes. we're going to cut taxes maybe sometime. are you going to pound the table, say, stuart, we're getting a tax cut this year? >> this year. stuart: you're going to parent at this it? >> this year. john was talking about all the different things need to be done, health care, the budget, debt ceiling. you're looking at the whole shooting match. what if you start having all these things and people say, well, in order to get this we'll do that? you know you just might, might see the senate finally have a spine and become the gang of 51. they live gangs in the senate. stuart: you're in the house. you can't just start blaming the senate because it is convenient. the republican party -- >> the senate, well, yes, the republican party made promises and we need to keep those.

i'm with you 100% there. right now we need the senate to do something with health care but to move it off the table and move on to tax reform. stuart: you know under the obama administration, congress got an exemption. you don't have to pay the full freight. you got an exemption. >> that's right. stuart: president trump said you didn't do very well on health care. i will remove the exemption. >> yeah. stuart: if he did that, do you think that would change any votes in the congress, senate in particular? >> the office of personnel management who handles all of this. the traditional employee-employer relationship with the employer paying part of health insurance is there. you know, the president could come in saying we'll stop that. it would force congress to take action. stuart: you would think it would force congress to revote? do you think they would vote in the self-interest? we don't want any part of obamacare? we'll repeal it? >> we're in obamacare. we're in obamacare. stuart: you get a big dispensation. you get exemption.

>> you get employer benefit for that. i think it would force congress to come in and take action, i honestly do. stuart: really? would have that kind of impact? >> i think it would. i think it would. stuart: marcia, we should cheer the president on. >> let's cheer the president on. he is trying to solve problems the markets are doing great. economy is doing great. we want to get tired of winning. stuart: you come out of the building, head five blocks and east two blocks. >> got to get back to my district. stuart: marsha, thank you very much. look at amazon. a big drop for amazon's stock price. it is below 1000 bucks a share. under federal investigation possibly for violating american sanctions on iran. that news broke earlier this morning. took amazon down significantly. look at boeing. they hit another record. they're up four bucks, nearly 2%. they got an upgrade from morgan stanley. the company says.

this is what boeing says. they expect india to order up to 2100 aircraft over the next 20 years. that is a very big number and boeing has hit a very high stock price. then we have snap. the early investors in snap, those with original shares, as of today they could start selling some of them are selling, not much. the stock is down four cents at 13.77. >> hire is a company taking a huge hit. we're talking hertz. they got a downgrade from barclays. they are being hurt by uber, down 13%. we have a jam-packed hour for you. "the new york times" dubbed him, america's most famous marxist economist. that is richard wolffe on the screen. he is with us later this hour. he is sitting next to me. i will ask him why marxism is fashionable again amongst other things.

this, house republicans calling for a is being special counsel to investigate hillary clinton and obama administration for the 2016 campaign controversies. napolitano back from yet another vacation. he is with us back with that subject shortly. next, nra ads are getting criticism from the mainstream media, especially "the washington post." spokesperson dana loesch is with us. she is not happy about the criticism. she will join us momentarily. potsch: you each drive a ford pickup, right? (in unison) russ, leland, gary: yes. gary: i have a ford f-150. michael: i've always been a ford guy. potsch: then i have a real treat for you today. michael: awesome. potsch: i'm going to show you a next generation pickup. michael: let's do this. potsch: this new truck now has a cornerstep built right into the bumper. gary: super cool. potsch: the bed is made of high-strength steel, which is less susceptible to punctures than aluminum. jim: aluminum is great for a lot of things, but maybe not the bed of a truck. potsch: and best of all, this new truck is actually- gary: (all laughing) oh my... potsch: the current chevy silverado. gary: i'm speechless. gary: this puts my ford truck to shame.

james: i'll tell you, i might be a chevy guy now. (laughing)

stuart: prosecutions up 23% since last year. that is a surprise to me last week. come on in dana loesch, nra spokesperson. 23% in jump in federal prosecutions for illegal gun possession.

i wasn't expecting that. what happened? >> well, stuart, it is always good to join you, happy monday to you. i'm really pleased to see this this is what it looks like when you have a actual law and order attorney general in office because jeff sessions in conjunction with president trump, they had new policies, sweeping new policies dealing with prosecutions of felony criminal firearm possession. that is one of the things that stuart, you and i have discussed on your show for example in chicago where you have prosecutions for felony gun crimes. stuart: why didn't the obama administration do this? surely they were opposed to -- >> million dollar question. stuart: why on earth didn't they do it? >> right? that's the million dollar question. i would love to ask the former president why they, why we didn't see this increase? because they were, remember, they were the gun, that was the gun control administration. he was the gun control president. but yet, law and order has not happened until this administration. this is something that we've discussed. this is something that we've

been waiting to see. i knew something like this was going to take place with attorney general jeff sessions. remember back in june they announced the task force, stuart, they would send 20 additional officers to, for the attorney general for this task force to chicago to help rein in some of this crime. also make sure that these judges that are sentencing for felony cases, for criminal gun possession, that was meeting minimum mandatory. remember chicago pd superintendent eddie johnson same 1400 prohibited possessors driving over 85% of chicago's crime. they're tired of catching and recatching these repeat offenders. stuart: by the way, 29 shot over the weekend in chicago, two dead. i want to move on to the nra ads. you're getting a lot of criticism in the media. here is the headline from "the washington post." "organized anarchy, the nra's new dark video talks politics

ticks, not guns. the nra fired back to the writer with this video. roll that tape please. >> for years "the washington post" tarnished gun owners in an effort to take away procedure second amendment freedoms. the fake news outlet went so far to make a blatantly false crime that the nra had illegal ties to russia. "the washington post" is not mad about the lack of guns. it is upset about abundance of truth. the truth about their role in the organized anarchy of violent left by spreading lies about those who disagree with their radical agenda. stuart: that is pretty strong stuff. "the washington post" picked on you. you wrote a response to the "washington post." my question is, do you think they will print it? >> i don't know. i gave a response to them over the weekend because they're preparing to do a hit piece on me concerning government regulating priority firearms storage. i made the remark on nra tv

penalizing innocent law-abiding for actions of criminals. it is victim shaming. they ran off with crazy rant. they're taking marching orders from media matters. we'll see if the "washington post" prints my response in full. to my particular video "the washington post" where truth dies in darkness, "the washington post" has a problem when the nra talks about guns. "the washington post" has a problem when the nra doesn't talk about ounce about. "the washington post" has a problem with the nra. stuart: i think you're right. owned by jeff bezos, owner of powerful amazon. you're a fighter, dana. >> always enjoy it, stuart. stuart: strong stuff from dana loesch. always guaranty of that. i have to move on to venezuela. i think they're on the brink of civil war. a vote to get to elect new officials to basically rewrite the constitution to make it a social dictatorship.

our question, what is the ultimate end game in venezuela? it is on our doorstep. attorney general sessions threatening to strip police grants for sanctuary cities. judge napolitano on the legality of that. stuart: a water ride in spain takes riders through a "shark tank." we'll show you the whole video in a moment. ♪ but when family members forget, trust angie's list to help. [ barks ] visit angieslist.com today.

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stuart: show you that water slide in spain. taking riders through a "shark tank." this is in siam park, in the canary islands. visitors taken on a lazy river ride to start with. after a few minutes the pace picks up. the water turning into river. riders go down inside after glass tube with the sharks swimming around them. i don't find that terrifying because the sharks actually can not get at you. liz: i do. why would you even do that? it is crazy. stuart: think seekers one and all. to the canary islands, please. new automaker turning out old-school vehicles with a twist. they are battery powered.

this is bollinger motors b-1. the claims it is first all-electric, all-wheel drive sport-utility vehicle. it can hit speeds of 120 miles an hour and carry 6100 pounds as they claim. maserati going electric too. fiat owns them. the chief marchionne says they could start producing electric vehicles by the end of next decade. the maserati competitor, volvo, will launch electric vehicles, that is all they will make, starting 2019. everybody is going electric. elon musk handed keys to 30 customers t was much-hyped and live-streamed. listen to this. so far 500,000 people put down a deposit on model 3. liz: they want it. stuart: as musk says we'll be in a manufactures nightmare next six months to keep up with demand. liz: that's right. stuart: good luck. it's a good number.

this jersey, worn by new york yankees star aaron judge worn during hess first game, i just sold. i'll tell you. $160,000. most expensive game-worn jersey from any u.s. sport the last 15 years. they must think that boy is going places. >> that's right. stuart: wait for it. he is coming. judge napolitano back from endless vacation, suntanned and all, making his return to "varney & company." he has a smile on his face. wait until he gets inside. we'll be back. ♪

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ladies and gentlemen, i can confirm this is rally. 21,903. read it and love it. don't read it and weep. just love it. we'll take that. let me get to politics. general john kelly sworn in as chief of staff to the white house today. we're joined by foxnewspolitics.com editor chris stirewalt. chris, the word is general kelly brings discipline and order to the white house. i want your value judgment. can he do it? >> he certainly can. there may be no one better suited in washington, d.c. today to do the job, not just because president trump has extreme deference for military for generals, for military leaders, also the fact that kelly is a person who over course of his career, much brought him in and around washington as person who is esteemed, deeply esteemed, in a bipartisan fashion, holds respect of members of congress but certainly carries with him,

his experience in afghanistan. this is a man who, whose family gave a child, gave his son in the war in afghanistan. this is a guy who gets it and he is, if the president will let him, if the president will allow him to succeed is a guy set to succeed. stuart: the president wants a new start in relationship with congress and members of his cabinet getting things done. i have to ask you about tax cuts. you into -- knew this was coming. listen to former reagan economist art laffer. he was on this show earlier. he is optimistic about tax reform. roll tape. >> it is a certainty, not a certainty this month, this year, in had next three or four years we'll get serious tax cuts. we'll get health care reform. we'll get all of these things. they will happen. life is a marathon. it is not a sprint, stuart. stuart: i wanted him to say we'll get it next month but he wouldn't say that. are you as big of a believer

that, yes, we will get tax cuts. okay, it might not be this year, might not be next year but we will get them? >> i think you will probably get tax cuts this year. i would suspect you will see the house basically put together, they're finally catching up on the budget. you can't get tax cuts until you get the budget. that is how they put them through. they will put them through on budget reconciliation. they're getting closer to have the budget finished. certainly on the corporate side, corporate tax cut there is broad agreement among republicans, that a corporate tax cut is in order, how they offset if they do, all the things come down. basic, not ambitious is. not overhaul on the tax code. it will not be a big reach but they will do something basic, attainable. i would say, i'm probably seven out of 10 they're likely to get some kind of a tax cut through by the end of september. stuart: by the end of september? wow, that is very optimistic outlook. we don't get that from many people on this show. i'm surprised at you stirewalt?

>> either then or not. if they can't get it through on budget reconciliation which they have to finish by the end of the federal fiscal year it ain't going to happen. it doesn't happen republicans won't be in control of congress anyway. that moots out. stuart: that is nice wrap-up, chris. i think you're absolutely right. chris stirewalt, thanks for joining us as usual. >> you bet. stuart: now this, republicans on the house judiciary committee calling for a second special counsel to investigate hillary clinton and the 2016 is campaign controversies. judge napolitano is here on that new counsel, new probe? >> getting a little complicated. let me try to explain it. there are two issues here. one is since jim comey was fired by the president for dropping the ball on hillary clinton, white house and jeff sessions just present that evidence to a grand jury. let the grand jury decide whether or not to indict her. that is the reconstitution of the old case. not a new investigation. they have everything they need. they need to present the

evidence to a grand jury which the obama justice department, loretta lynch, jim comey declined to do. the new proposed investigation is the allegations about this link between mrs. clinton's campaign and the ukrainians who were sos he hadly providing her with dirt about donald trump. so, was her campaign receiving a thing of value? that is the phrase in the statute, from a foreign national or a foreign government. if so, did anybody commit a felony? do they need a special counsel? they don't. there is no conflict between the management of the justice department and this investigation. they can just investigate it on their own. stuart: i want to know if at end of the day we'll get something, serious investigation of what hillary and her husband were up to before the campaign. i want to know. >> here is lindsey graham's argument do we want a banana republic where the people in power use machinery of government to torment their political opponents when they

are out of power. it's a good question. stuart: just like president obama with the irs, using government machinery to intimidate -- >> you mentioned president obama. there is allegation by republicans that unmasking of general flynn and donald trump and others should be investigated f that is investigated, barack obama him is may be a target of the investigation. stuart: that is a -- >> talk about a banana republic. trump justice department is going to investigate the former president? stuart: quick question. the police at this moment receive grants from the federal government to conduct their business. >> yes. stuart: attorney general sessions threatens to take the grants away from sanctuary cities. can he do that? >> in my opinion no because of the time the grants were given, signed for and agreed to, there was no requirement that they not be sanctuary cities. can they do it in the future? yes. but the terms of the grant must be agreed to before the money flows. once the money starts to flow the government can't change the

terms. stuart: i want to be on top of this one, too. a tech worker worked for debbie wasserman schultz. reportedly liquidating real estate assets as he was arrested trying to leave the country. what do you make of this development? >> arrested at the last minute by fbi notified by tsa he was on a flight to pakistan. he was arrested for some financial crime. that is the tip of the iceberg. the real allegation against him he had access to the emails of every member of congress and he sold what he found in there. what did he sell? and to whom did he is it? that is what the fbi want to know. this may be a very, very serious national security investigation. stuart: wait a second. he was the i.t. worker, along with his two pakistani brothers along with debbie wasserman schultz and other democrats in the house. >> yes. stuart: the theory is he got access to all of their secrets or whatever and sold some is the allegation? >> yes. at the time congresswoman shults

was also chair of the democratic national committee. at this point i don't believe they know what he sold and to whom he sold it but they do know what he had access to, virtually everything in the house of representatives, goodness me. >> which would enconclude classified material on the house intelligence committee. stuart: real fast, can the president withdraw funds from insurance companies? he is threatening to do that. can he do it? >> yes, he can stop paying the funds, because the bizarre aspect of obamacare is, the president of the united states was given a discretionary fund. out of that discretionary fund he is subsidizing insurance policies of middle class and poor people. donald trump could stop that spigot tomorrow. stuart: and totally collapse obamacare. >> there would be a political reaction to it and but he does have the authority. this issue can the president

spend money not authorized by congos. the first court said not. the constitution is very clear. barack obama spent money anyway. donald trump is spending money in the first six months of his presidency. >> the president has enormous leverage. he can withdraw money from insurance companies. >> yes he does. stuart: he can tell congress you have to live with obamacare yourself. that is real leverage. >> i can not think an area where the president can affect personal pocketbooks of members of congress the way this president threatened to do. stuart: you hope he does. >> is that fair they would vote because of fear of their own financial loss? shouldn't be they be voting their consciences instead? stuart: you dream on. >> you really want to answer that? [laughter]. how is this system supposed to work? you're voting because you want cash? or are you voting to do the right thing? stuart: you're such an innocent. you libertarians are so innocent. you really are. i will live with you. judge, thanks, appreciate it.

price of oil is back close to 50 bucks a barrel. that is no impact whatsoever. but it is helping raise the price of gasoline. what are we up to now? i'll tell you. 2.31 sal per gallon. we're going up. we had been going down now we're going up. now this. professor richard wolff dubbed by "new york times" as america's most famous marxist economist. he is with us next. ♪ ♪ (music plays throughout) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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>> i'm nicole petallides with your fox business brief. taking a look at lockheed martin the military aerodefense stock is jumping two bucks to move to all-time high. you're looking at the f-35. lockheed martin has been given $3.7 billion payment for production of f-35 jets from the pentagon. they will go out to australia, netherlands, turkey, norway, the uk, just to name a few. the pentagon agreed to another deal with lockheed martin. pentagon also has lowest price for f-35s. less than 95 million versus original over 100 million per jet. last thing i will tell you since

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stuart: senator bernie sanders calls for single-payer to replace obama care.

>> are you going to introduce single payer? >> of course, we are. we're tweaking final points of the bill. we're figuring out how we can mount a national campaign to bring people together. stuart: ah, socialism. here it comes. we're joined by richard wolff, visiting professor at the new school. this is the good professor "the new york times" says this man is america's most famous marxist economist. his name is richard wolff. professor, welcome. >> thank you very much. stuart: look, i'm a child of the 1960s. i went to the london school of economics which in those days was pure marxism. marxism went out of fashion. the word socialism went out of fashion. but i think it is back. why is it back? >> it es an old story. socialism is in a way the shadow of capitalism. nothing guaranties the future of socialism as much as capitalism because socialism is capitalism is self-crittism. every economic system has people love it and people that don't. they had a debate.

we would have had it last 30 years if it weren't taboo, cold war, getting where we should have been, have a debate. strengths and weaknesses of capitalism, strengths and weaknesses of socialism. stuart: when i was studying marxism back in the 1960s we -- >> you survived. stuart: laws the die electric of history propelled us toward the inevitable prletarate revolution. do you that i the a revolution is around the corner america. >> no, inevitability is not my strong suit or anybody else does. when you have people are struggling, it is hard, they're trying to make a change, it doesn't come easily, there is temptation to believe somehow it is in the works. it will happen for sure, maybe not right now but in the future. it is indulgence but not a serious idea. i think the question of

socialism is up for grabs as is the question of capitalism too. every other system has been born, changed died. capitalism too. stuart: give me reason, very nice should be a economic bed wetter? why do you think socialism is good for america right now is it. >> capitalism is not doing good job for most americans. we have level of inequality going back to -- your level in your group, partly british, oxfam, richest 100 or so people have more wealth combined than the bottom half of the population of the planet. that is level of inequality you have to go back to the ancient pharaohs to see. we have had two he collapses last 75 years. one in '30s, and one in 2008. most americans are not back since 2007 with real jobs, less secure, fewer benefits. i think you're seeing return to

socialism not so much because people like socialism. that may come. i don't think it is there yet. people who don't like what they got and what they see and what they see for their kids. stuart: i think we are on the european road. i think we in america are moving down that collectivist road he. how long do you think before we become like a denmark or a france or something like that? >> i don't think anyone knows. i certainly don't. i think that is going to be a question what we on the left call struggles. stuart: do you want it? do you really want it? >> oh, yes, i want a society of much less inequality. of much more security for people. i think we're better to each other as human beings that way. charles: i like individual freedom and vigor. >> it is not either or. stuart: that america has. >> you can give all kinds of freedom and dynamism to individuals i love that that doesn't require that you allow that individualism and dynamism to produce an inequality that extinguishes the freedom of all those who don't have the resources. stuart: so you will tax entrepreneurs to death? >> no, no.

stuart: what would you do with jeff bezos? he is richest person in the world, bar none. $91 billion i think he is worth. >> outdone warren buffett and bill gates. here is what i do. i don't believe in taxes on people who do hard work and earn money. i don't think that has anything to do with socialism. my concern is other way you earn money. not what you do. stuart: capital gain. >> what you own. stuart: would you tax his $91 billion worth of ownership in amazon? would you tax it? >> i would tax income he gets from his property at much higher rate than anything i would tax from the income he gets by his work. a socialist is not against paying people for their work. he is paying people when they don't work. stuart: he will not pay that tax. >> in our system he won't have to because he can buy politicians. stuart: it is not that. he has $90 billion. he goes to a bank, i have $90 billion worth of amazon stock. give me a loan. how much would you like? he doesn't have to sell the

stock to pay capital gains. he just get as loan from the bank. how would you stop it. >> absolutely. i would stop it, because i wouldn't allow that kind of thing to happen in the first place. no reason on good earth why one human being ought to dispose of $90 billion. stuart: how are you going stop him? >> you're going to stop him not letting him accumulate that in the first place. tax income from property, not from labor. stuart: i started the company. he built the stock. he has ownership of the stock. he has the wealth. at what point you would take it off him. >> wealth he accumulated mostly not from his work that he got paid for, from his property. stuart: ownership of the company. >> ownership of the stocks. stuart: ownership of the stock of his company which he found. how would you take that off him? you wouldn't allow him to own the stock. >> you would allow him to invest. you would allow him to initiate a business. stuart: big of. >> you trying to be nice.

stuart: still taking it off him. >> you haven't taken it off him because you don't have tax on capital appreciation and income from his property. stuart: thank god. stay there, please, professor. keep that smile. >> i will. stuart: what have we got? right after this we'll talk venezuela, the collapse of socialism and the good professor will stay to hear me out. back in a second. the ♪ you totanobody's hurt, new car. but there will still be pain. it comes when your insurance company says they'll only pay three-quarters of what it takes to replace it. what are you supposed to do? drive three-quarters of a car? now if you had liberty mutual new car replacement™, you'd get your whole car back. i guess they don't want you driving around on three wheels. smart.

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on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. stuart: just overheard me there. i was talking to the good marxist professor saying communist central. professor richard wolff is with us, marxist economist. what do you make of venezuela? it is about to become a socialist dictatorship and it is falling to pieces? >> it is an easy story. if you understand the economics rather than beating a political drum you will know that venezuela is one of a handful of countries that has two key facts to it. number one, it has for the last 50 or 100 years become dependent on one product, in this case petroleum. and number two, that the price of petroleum over the last few years has fallen by half. stuart: professor, you can't get away with that.

>> let me finish. that is why nigeria is in a problem. why saudi arabia has more economic difficulties than anywhere else because the price of. liz: ecuador. are they in trouble? >> absolutely, depends how much you're dependent on that. stuart, professor, tell the truth here. venezuela is not in the virtual of a civil war because the price of oil is down. venezuela is in a civil war because a communist, social it dictatorship is emerging which has taken stuff off the people, given it to cronies and completely ruined the government. socialism has ruined them. you know that. >> i know that is not the case. i know -- stuart: just price of oil, all it is. price of oil. >> i was trying to explain it to you. one is the price of oil that collapsed and caused huge problems around the world that have nothing to do with socialism, since most of the other countries privatized by that aren't socialist. number two, with hugo chavez and now with this government, they have tried, i'm sure they made

lots of mistakes to change a country with tiny core of rich people at top and massive poverty to transform that when you try to do that, like making omelette, you have to break eggs. you have to have -- liz: 160 people -- >> just like if you know the history of venezuela. liz: 160 people dying is not breaking legs. >> that is small amount. liz: you're okay with this? you're kidding. >> over 150 years how they got to be poor country causing upset. no question of justified. stuart: justifying people dying in the streets, that is how you justify? >> you never justify. i said part of the story what is going on there. liz: you said it is like breaking eggs. >> like saying to the american people, you're responsible for what happens in iraq or afghanistan. is it justified? no. you're explaining it. stuart: which country in the world is closest to your socialist paradise? >> i don't think any of them are. stuart: which is closest? >> i don't think any of them can be ranked like that. makes no sense to me.

socialism is change out of capitalism. it is something you fight for. like people who lived in slavery for hundreds of years fought to get out of that system. people who lived in feudalism fought to get out of it. people who live in capitalism more and more looking at a system they think they need to change. stuart: i have tin seconds. tell me, what do you think should be the top rate of income tax, federal income tax in america, top rate, what should it be? >> go back to what it was in the 50s and 60s, 90%, 70%. stuart: can get all deductions installed again. >> absolutely. let's work on that. a tax system -- stuart: i have to go. thanks. >> i appreciate it. stuart: my pleasure. liz: good to see you.

stuart: we just wrapped up a heated conversation with a marxist professor. what happened during that conversation? the stock market took off. we're thinking of having him back so we can get the dow to 22,000. you think we should invite him, neil? neil: that would really make my day. holy toledo. well, better you than i. thank you, my friend. we have a lot coming up here. looking at a dow wants to close in on 22,000 as you said. the white house trying to restart the agenda with new chief of staff. general john kelly's first day doing that we have former navy seal carl higbie, charlie gasparino, conservative commentator ashley pratte. carl, you served this country very honorably. you know the discipline more than many that comes with being in the military. but a lot of those guys have trouble adjusting in the political world. i'm wondering how you think general kelly will do in this one? i challenge that, neil. i thk