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 think it is political world

that has trouble adjusting to the military members. it is a new face. donald trump was elected because he is different. he is bringing in a different staff. reince priebus, is a nice guy. he is party with a relic we beat with donald trump. he was brought in to bridge the gap between paul ryan and white house, didn't happen. health care failed. now he is bringing in something, bringing in the new muscle. he works well with military guys. neil: you have to be a i believe to tell them, carl, you can't do this sir, not a good idea, sir. >> i don't think general kelly will have any problem telling anyone what is on his mine. neil: fine. is the president going to listen to that? >> that is the question. neil: i asked that question, higby. do you think that will happen or what? >> i do. neil: i can do that because you're remote but go ahead. >> i do think he will listen. donald trump respects the military more than just about anyone else on that political landscape so i think he will.

>> i love carl, but i think he is forgetting one salient feature of donald trump. he went to military school. during the campaign donald trump tried to liken going to military school to serving in the military. that gives you a certain idea where, what he thinks of people. let's be real clear. i'm not here to carry reince priebus's water. this function has nothing to do with him. this has to do with a president of the united states that freelances, that forces aides to say stuff totally, remarkably inaccurate about crowd sizes and other dumb things. that brings in -- neil: i think fair to say reince wasn't effective at the job. i think we can say that. >> but was the president effective in giving him any sort of power over that white house? now, here is the thing -- neil: do you think he will give general kelly that? >> i don't know. if he does, by the way this doesn't have to be a political post. neil: you're right. >> one of the things, general kelly can really work well here, chief of staff, if empowered is

like the gatekeeper, cracks the whip, messages are right, people see the president when they're supposed to see the president, keeps the whole thing contained if empowered and it's a big if. neil: ashley, a chief of staff is really the, the schedule-maker. this is a freelance president. this is a president who got where he is, not cavorting to these type of restrictions or schedules or set rigid appointments. so, how is a retired general going to get him to do that? >> i honestly don't know. i think interesting part here, the fact we have a president who continuously likes to say you are fired. he has not really gotten out of the reality tv mind set. he has made it. so he is the star of the show all the time. he doesn't like it when other people threaten that in in i way. for example, sean spicer, when he came out for his first press

conference he did not like he became center of the story and it was donald trump who was on the backburner there. >> even though he forced him to be the center of the story by lying about crowd sizes. >> i think, always needs to be the focal point and the center and i do think the problem here reince priebus was never actually given a chance to do much of anything, and he was sidelined. i don't know how that dynamic will work with kelly as chief of staff. but what i do see happening is the fact that there are issues legislatively with this administration. putting in someone like kelly who doesn't really have the legislative background how does that play out moving forward when they're looking for legislative accomplishments. neil: we'll see. carl, he is impressive guy. no one who can look at general kelly's background and sacrifice he made for this country losing his son in afghanistan that he just reeks gravitas. is that the type of guy you think can tell the president,

mr. president, this approach you're taking is not right? now it is up to the president to listen. i think you're quite right, carl, general kelly would do that but it is up to the president to listen. >> absolutely and i think it comes with a level of force to. general kelly understands the president is boss. i know reince, i think he is a great guy. he really didn't have the backbone to stand up to trump. >> who does? >> yeah, but thing is he was part of a party we beat. he didn't really want there. >> republicans are the party that we beat? >> donald trump beat the republican party. >> he was republican party nominee and reince priebus helped him get there. he had to beat, but then october was calling for him to not be nominee. >> he was worrying about the "access hollywood" tape. >> anyone who stands up to trump gets fired. so i don't really know how kelly can be successful.

neil: one thing i disagree with you, kind of agree with carl, not only because carl can beat me up -- >> you don't think i couldn't beat you up? neil: you probably could but you're both on remote. but i think president really does want change. he wants more discipline there. he acknowledges by this very pick he needs to work on this. so the question is, sort of like someone goes into a diet, their intentions are good, right? then they have to deliver on those goods. work with the trainer, if you want to like him, the general to that, but what do you think of that? >> if trump genuinely want discipline i would be shocked by that nothing in this section months he wants discipline. neil: why did he pick him? >> i hope he wants to save face for this administration and recognize they can right the ship and change it. but does that change the president as own behavior. i don't know. >> put the last week in perspective. late last week or early last week we thought that anthony

scaramucci would be the chief of staff. look what happened? he, after everything that transpired over the past week, he turned around and put as guy 180 from scaramucci. neil: you think he was entertaining scaramucci and was torpedoed by his behavior? >> i don't know if he was tore tore -- tore eiddoughed by his behavior you by i theys with be if you know anything about the military, i got to know marine commandants, i do charity work for marine corps, law enforcement association. neil: i had the same background. >> neil, you're super qualified. >> actually i got to know some of these guys. the military is very political. these guys become commanddan and general there is political

aspect of it too. neil: military is very focused. carl, i want you to react to this, president trump talking about what he called the growth agenda. obviously going back to one item inarguable, the advance in the markets and accumulation of a lot of wealth for folks and i imagine he says general kelly focus on your strengths and talk about those strengths. trump touting this earlier. >> stock market, highest ever been. unemployment lowest in 17 years. companies are doing tremendously well. business spirit is highest ever been according to polls. you look at polls, highest it has ever been in the history of these polls. we're doing very well. we have a tremendous base. we have a tremendous group of support. the country is optimistic. neil: that, staying on that kind of message, i think it is fair to say the president is right when the media ignores a lot of that good stuff or says it is extension of the obama rally.

people can play politics with this and they often do but it is something happening under his watch sense his election. do you think general kelly says that is the kind of stuff, sir, if you tweet, tweet about that? stay on that message, positive things you are doing, positive things that are happening and don't get distracted on this other stuff? >> i agree 100%. look, that is something general kelly did very well at dhs he allocated right resources to the right places and right people and got the job done. illegal immigration is down 70%. president trump knows the economy and knows how things work. here is issue. a lot is on speculation. charlie gasparino will explain this better than me. it is on speculation. if trump doesn't pass tax reform before the 2018 elections we won't see a republican in the office next 20 years or in the white house. neil: i agree with that? >> what part is on speculation, carl? what do you mean. neil: anything you say. >> people think, businesses are anticipating this tax reform

sooner than later. that -- neil: i agree, i think everyone who focuses on other things driving this market, i don't discount earnings, but if you were to tell me or them that this tax cut never materialize i don't think that will go down well. >> i disagree a little with you on that. neil: now you're in rocky territory. >> they look at donald trump, with marginal things getting passed. neil: i'm not talking about marginal stuff. that doesn't happen at all, katy-bar-the-door. my opinion. >> i would say be careful with that. >> i'm not being careful. carl just said it. >> we have great corporate earnings. neil: i know that. it is reflected but you can't tell me this falls through, this falls through, game over? >> i don't know if it is game over. >> i think it is completely game over. neil: navy seal, he and i are close seals. >> i took one class of economics.

neil: i had "g.i. joe" soldiers. >> i am a trained economist after one class. neil: i think there is something. i kid charlie but he is great on these issues but i think there is something going on with the markets that maybe supersedes expectations of regulatory relief and tax cuts but if there was finality, we realize, oh, my gosh, these taxes will not be cut, these guys are disorganized as they were on health care, the finality of hearing it ain't going to happen man, oh, man, i don't think that would be good. >> i think there will be serious repercussions going forward just like happened with health care. people are very upset what has happened and transpired. shame on congress doing what they did with the health care bill -- neil: they're ridiculous, just ridiculous. >> they chose to not have open debate process. they chose to rush something you through that wouldn't have been significant anyway by root leave that people need from the obamacare dysfunction.

charles: i think american people would have lived with something even if it was weak but -- >> they owe this to the american people. tax reform needs to happen for the american people and for businesses. if that doesn't happen, there will be outrage. >> before we scare people into selling all their stocks if tax reform or tax cuts -- neil: you started it. >> i'm going to tell you there are really good counter veiling arguments there won't be implosion of markets. namely, trump is net-net -- neil: we already failed on health care. you're right. markets held up through that, continue to soar even after that. you don't think if paul ryan or mitch mcconnell came before the american people, try as we might can't agree on this -- >> there will be a pullback. neil: there will be a pullback. >> i don't think -- neil: really, mr. smarty pants. >> we all disagree on can't reform? >> here is how i disagree, if you stalk to a lot of sophisticated investors which i do every day, tax reform is not necessarily priced big time into this market.

a whole bunch stuff is priced into market. >> trickle down from tax reform, trillions coming in from overseas, that is a big margin. >> it will go up. it is a upside surprise. be careful predicting armageddon. neil: i'm presticking a serious correction in the market. >> i think there will be correction. i will be buying on that correction. neil: really? >> wow. >> corporate earnings are pretty good. neil: no one is denying that. >> trump is better than hillary net-net. neil: that is what you cling to. >> higher taxes, we're not getting more regulation. neil: be grateful for that. >> that is good for market. neil: i don't know, carl, i see we settle because the alternative could be worse i don't know if that is something to pin a market rally on, that is just me. what do you think? fellow navy hero. >> fellow navy hero, g.i. joes and stuff. neil: exactly. >> we went back and forth. the market is really speculating

on fact there will be massive corporate taxes slashed. >> i don't so. >> 15%. they're anticipating all that. paul ryan needs to get on board of this, he needs to get on with this but he will get primaried out. >> i don't want to say it to his nice but i think carl is wrong. i'm just telling you i don't think so. neil: ashley, your final thoughts on this. >> i think moving forward, remember responsibilities they have to american people, to small business owners and businesses everywhere, to do things they pledge and promise and platforms they ran on. neil: they're not doing anything they said they would do and that is the rock they perish on if they don't. >> i love that analogy. neil: thank you very much. carl and i get it from. it is in our dna. >> you and carl would be great on the roundtable. neil: exactly. i would be serving him miles. guys, thank you all very, very much -- meals.

look at the dow, 97 point away from 22,000. everything is going to plan, america. more after this.

neil: in case you're worried about tax cuts coming at all, if you're not white house economic advisor gary cohn, white house gop leaders say they're all on the same page and that president trump is 100% committed to getting tax reform done this year. but then, i, saw his budget director mulvaney interviewed over the weekend they might want to get health care done first. anyway, i'm confused but the bottom line is, this is optimism that they are going to address tax cuts and the president continuing his twitter attacks on the gop to make sure they stay focused on this sort of thing and go for simple majorities. no longer that 60 vote thing. to townhall.commed tore katie pavlich what happens now. what do you think, katie?

>> what happens now. looks like they're going to try to move forward on tax reform. they said they wanted to start that in august. i'm not sure that is going to happen. the treasury secretary laid out the timeline earlier this year with mick mulvaney. the house, senate, white house came out with list of priority ies for tax reform with unified push to get this started. there are two things at play, neil. first is obamacare which is a campaign promise. what is around the corner with the 2018 elections. how much time lawmakers have in four or five month to get it on the table before 2018 gets on the clock and lawmakers come home before campaigning. a long way to go, i think white house wants to be optimistic to get a win on the board. it will be difficult road ahead to get this done before january. neil: what amazes me, katie. they know how important it was to get the health thing done and they couldn't. man and women, same thing,

people expecting it, we've got the majorities and i wonder if they can. do they have a death wish as a party in control of washington? i don't think that will be midterm election thing. that could be generational thing if they screw up that much. >> neil, they don't call the republican party the stupid party for nothing. one thing they have going for them right now, democrats are polling far lower than they are in terms of jobs and the economy. when you look at what the president laid out today during his cabinet meeting with his new chief of staff, general kelly, he laid out as you did in the previous segment, all the economic indicators being overlooked in the press as a result of all the drama coming out of the white house. people start to feel that, they might be a little bit more forgiving but on the obamacare issue, it is not just about a promise. that people can see exactly how it is hurting them, whether doctor networks being limited or premiums going up again. neil: republicans makes it so ironic, it will be in the eyes of the american public i suspect

on pert in power takes the plame for unraveling right? >> two issues. republicans promised something they doesn't deliver on or overpromised on something they knew couldn't get passed. they backed themselves into a corn are to pass legislation that actually dealt with obamacare. meantime they have put themselves into this timetable and not doing anything for the last, nearly a decade, and now they don't have anything. so i think it is important to the white house is holding republicans accountable for their promise to the american people but in terms of how we move on from here, in terms of getting things done, it will be difficult with an election right around the corner. which goes to show, in washington elections run this place, not necessarily the legislative agenda. neil: even with that funny way of showing it looking what republicans are doing. they have to get on the stick. katie, thank you very much. >> thanks, neil. booed good to see you, china

saying u.s. and north korea bears responsibility for what is going on right now, not china to move towards de-escalation of tensions, obviously in that neck of the woods. this is china obviously, the big benefactor for north korea, blaming us, blaming north koreans, not china for all that is going on. i imagine that is not going to be received on pennsylvania avenue. we'll have the fallout from that after this. ♪

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a kohler walk-in bath provides independence with peace of mind. call to save $500 off bath walls with your walk-in bath or visit kohlerwalkinbath.com for more info. neil: all right, discovery communications, after the long, mysterious surge here, is indeed going to buy scripps network, it's a cash and stock deal that at $14.6 billion if you include all the debt. now remember, this takes in discovery channel, tlc, animal planet on the discovery side. and on the scripps side, food network.

anyway, they're all together. it would be great if their combined them, took the food network with tlc or animal planet or meals for animals. these are just free programming ideas i'm throwing out there. run with them if you want. all right, in the meantime, china's u.n. envoy is saying the chinese are not responsible for the deescalation of north korea/u.s. tensions, that north korea and the u.s. are. to former national security adviser and hudson military expert rebecca hine ricks on how we get the chinese to acknowledge they might have a bit of a role here. i was surprised, though not totally shocked by that reaction, john. what they're more or less saying is we can't control these guys. what do you say? john? >> well, i think it's outrageous, neil, that the chinese are kind of playing this game with us. it is just now clearer than ever that the chinese continue to indulge the north koreans

economically and politically and have not done nearly enough to bring the kind of pressure to bear on that regime that they are capable of. and i think it's really high time that the administration begin to inflict a much higher price on china both in terms of economically going after those banks and corporations that are facilitating billions of dollars of transactions a year for north korea as well as taking steps militarily with south korea, with japan to increase our defense posture in northeast asia and increase u.s. missile defenses that will protect against a north korean launch. but inevitably, will also protect us against china's nuclear missiles. neil: you know, it is pretty clear to me, rebecca -- and you're the expert here -- but i think the chinese have been stringing us along, and i'm wondering if our response is we're going to get tough on

these financial matters. they can always say, well, we own a lot of your debt, we can get tough with you. do you think the american people are ready for what would amount to a pretty nasty trade war where the price of goods could go up? the patriotism involved this sticking up for this is such that americans will accept it? >> this is why it's so important, i think, that president trump just goes directly to the american people and explains it in terms they can understand which is why i don't have a problem with the president threatening china via twitter because that's a forum that is very accessible to the american people. so i think that's important. the american people have to understand what it is we're dealing with. but again, north korea is enabled by china. 90% of north korea's trade comes from china, so it is china's problem. the united states has to make it china's problem to -- neil: but that would involve doing something that would with with -- that would be a potential economic sacrifice for us. you know it's going to be tit for tat, and they're going to

start making life difficult for us. but you're quite right, the president would have to explain be prepared for potentially higher interest rates, higher priced goods. you know the drill, right? >> the american people have to understand this is a team effort, it's going to take the entire american people to understand that this is worth it, though, because we have got to get north korea, the nuclear program, under control. and if we use military force, i mean, that is something that we don't want to have to do. it's going to be a massive, bloody, terrible tragedy if we do that. and so we have to use other means. the other thing we have to do, we have of to flood the region with missile defense systems. china understands under the obama administration whenever the president said he wanted to put the missile defense system in north korea, the chinese opposed, so we acquiesced and didn't do it. president trump has to not only put thad, we have to increase missile defense with the japanese in that region and also here at home. and, again, the chinese are going to oppose that because they've been watching the russians oppose that too, and the united states has acquiesced.

we cannot do that any longer because now there's a serious missile threat coming out of north korea. neil: i found it interesting, john, that nikki haley said it wasn't worth having another emergency u.n. session, that the time for talk is over. so obviously, whatever we're considering, we're considering on our own. maybe in concert with a few key allies, i have no idea. but what do you make of that, that she more or less said we raised this with the u.n. just a couple of months ago, we're not going to go back there? >> well, i think she's certainly right, that if we're just going to go back, have another toothless resolution and allow the american people and the international community to believe that we're actually making any progress against this problem, i think we shouldn't partake in that folly, that exercise anymore. if the chinese are really prepared to impose a complete economic boycott on north korea, go after shipping, go after air transport, go after the oil

exports into north korea, that would be a different matter. but we haven't seen that seriousness on the part of china, and we shouldn't allow them to hide behind these toothless u.n. resolutions that come out one after the other and have really no impact on the actual problem itself. that time has passed, i agree. neil: all right, guys. thank you both very, very much. in the meantime, the dow is at session highs, about 76 points away -- i can't believe this, or 86 points away -- from 22,000. first time ever. of course, this is an all-time high it's at right now, so if the markets are whip sawed by these anxieties and fears and global tensions, again, how many times have i said this, they have a funny way of showing it. within our own hemisphere, the prospect of a civil war in venezuela is looking more and more likely as the vote responds. seems to be as rigged as rigged could be, has a lot of folks there saying, nicolas maduro, we are not going to let you become a dictator.

he seems to be responding, uh, about that dictator thing. after this. ♪ ♪

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allow maduro to sort of have more control over the government. but others are saying the numbers were not that high. i guess that would represent about 43% of the voting public. what do you think? >> i think that the election result numbers that they gave is a complete fraud. opposition has said that it's more along the lines of 12% of the people voted. the opposition greatly protested this vote, and i think the government is just scared of what's happening, and they're trying to do everything in their power to remain this authoritarian, socialist dictatorship. neil: all right. so if that's true, and i have no reason to doubt it because others have echoed that, eric, and this was a silent protest by so many millions not voting, what does that prove? if this gets passed and through and all of a sudden you have a legislative body dominated by maduro supporters, it's their way or the highway, right? >> sure, neil. you mentioned a possible civil war, and what this proves is that there's an escalating war on civilians.

this vote only gave people one option, to vote for an assembly to rewrite the constitution. there was no option to vote against it. so the only thing that it proves is that it's a tyrannical government willing to do almost anything to do a power grab and implement its socialist policies. neil: you know, what i wonder about, do you think that if it does go to civil war here, do you ever scratch your held and wonder how the heck it happened? a lot of people believe blame this on declining oil prices, but other countries that trade on oil aren't in this complete freefall. what happened? >> i really think that the government has used the national reserve money as a slush fund. yesterday there was one of the ambassadors in new york city's central park walking their dog, and you see this from a lot of high government officials. they're traveling around the country eating extravagant meals, using the country's money and completely misusing the money that the country has.

neil: so, eric, if that is the case, it would be really weird that a country that had so many riches ended up spending so much more, you know, than even it had on cradle-to-grave assurances, payoffs, buyouts, whatever you want to call it to the point that they tax all assets. there's nothing left. >> this is true, neil. and it stems from the fundamental socialist policies that they implement almost two decades ago, with that principle as an organizing dynamic of what government is supposed to do. there's no country in the world that has enough money to go around and just give it away cradle to grave indiscriminately as they have in venezuela. neil: i guess the question now, because this seems worse than even under hugo chavez, and i'm wondering where do you see this going? obviously, the people are not buying this and not accepting this. so if it does deteriorate to something worse, what would that be?

>> i think it's going to get worse before it gets better. obviously, we know that they're going to try and change the constitution completely, so it's going to be up to whatever they decide that they're going to do. think it's going to be more towards having maduro having all the power in the country, and the citizens are going to revolt. i mean, his approval ratings and the approval rating of the government in general almost 80% of venezuelans don't support the government anymore. and i think that will be higher and higher the more corrupt and the more authoritarianing he gets. neil: wow. all right, guys, thank you for taking the time. we do appreciate it. meanwhile, those situations are getting more onerous right now as oil continues to slide. opec countries still are pumping out a lot of oil despite promises of planned cutbacks. remember, venezuela an to opec member as well. to jeff flock with what at least drivers in this country can expect. jeff. >> reporter: generally good news, more oil is a good thing. i'm looking at the board, we're down 29 cents today, and i figured it was going to back off

a little bit. we did get barely over $50 at the outset of the session, but last week we were up 8.6% on the week, so it was a big week for oil. this week some people taking profits, and as you maybe can tell, a walk on the floor of the cme, it's kind of quiet. obviously, it's vacation time. taking a look at oil over the past week or so, what is driving this is what's happening with opec. i mean, apparently in a reuters survey out just today now confirms these guys are not reducing like they said they were going to reduce. they're having a meeting in abu dhabi in one week's time to try to get everybody together on this. that's generally good news for drivers. take a look at the price of a regular gallon of gasoline right now, it is $2.32 for regular, $2.47 for diesel. if they still can't get their act together, it's good news for drivers, not much good news for the oil purveyors who like to make profits.

but we like to have money in our pockets. so we'll see. neil: there is that. all right, thank you very much, jeff flock. in the meantime, this seems like a development in and of itself. anthony scaramucci keeping a very low profile right now. he's not cursing at anyone, in fact, he's not talking that much to anyone. why joe piscopo says, actually, continue what you were doing before, because it was working. joe's here to explain after this. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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neil: all right, a press briefing with sara health huckae sanders is scheduled for 3:45, and at 4 p.m., the actualout on fox news when i come back to see you. meanwhile, white house chief of staff anthony scaramucci keeping a low profile after that, shall we say, dramatic first week on the job? i love joe piscopo, but he outdid even his usual phenomenal self when he was with me when we were going live this past weekend. i don't know if you've heard of this thing called social media, but it was off the charts lighting up. and people were just loving him. [laughter] and what's not to love? because, well, he alienated everyone. [laughter] very handy. and what gave joe sort of like the gravitas for this segment we were doing was that he was

speaking as an italian-american as to whether anthony scaramucci was making it tough for italian-americans with his language. right? >> yeah, no, we love it. we love it. neil: you do love it. >> more mooch. bring on the mooch, baby, it's great. neil: what do you think president trump thinks? >> i think he absolutely loves it. neil: if he loves it, scaramucci would be doing again, and he's not. >> i think he brought scaramucci in for that, but it's not the white house, it's not the west wing, it's the senate. look at the mess, look at the dysfunction there like we talked about it. shall we start where we left off? neil: yes. >> i have a message for john mccain. he dose -- he goes in, did you see the health care vote? he sits there -- neil: thumbs down. >> he's going like this, and everybody's going, he's going to vote, it's like drama. mcconnell's like a foot away, my friends, my friends, you're not my friend. in the face of mcconnell!

neil: you think that was -- >> not my friend. no, and then mcconnell -- [laughter] mcconnell's like this. neil: he looked devastated. >> if you could understand what mcconnell said, oh, mitch mcconnell. take the marbles out of the mouth, please. neil: he didn't expect that. >> no, listen, he got all those guys, and then you got maxine waters, maxine waters. what is with maxine waters? neil: she wants to impeach trump. >> exactly. and every day with maxine waters -- neil: she wants to impeach you. >> i am so angry! neil: they don't like trump -- >> angry! donald trump scares me! maxine, please, just relax. neil: but there was an across the board rage at trump, right, on this. and then you think now that scaramucci reflects the president's thinking on this. no more being politically correct as if -- >> yep, take 'em out. they're going in just to take him out. neil: you have, think about it,

you mentioned maxine, but there are seven others, democrats urging impeachment now. >> but they have nothing. there's no platform they have. bernie sanders -- bernie. and bernie's like, am i larry david? i'm jackie mason. am i jackie mason or bernie sanders? i can't tell. it's like you watch the show, that's the joke. and adam schiff, adam schiff. what's -- no. [laughter] adam schiff, relax. he's with the eyes and everything. they're like off the charts crazy. neil: you're going with the house intelligence -- >> yeah. they're just going after, also notice that the russian collusion thing went away, remember that? neil: we don't know if it's gone away. now, of course, if everyone's thinking that trump and putin would be cozy, obviously these sanctions are coming, and they're taking away diplomats. >> i go on the radio every morning, if i may, mr. cavuto, salem media -- neil: phenomenal show. >> well, thank you, you know? but we go on, the audience is so

great, and they tell me they are behind anthony scaramucci, they're behind donald trump. they just don't want the divide. and if you're going to be like chuck schumer with the glasses, i'm chuck schumer. it's schuma, not schumer. if you're chuck schumer, just be nice. everybody should join together now. neil: you don't think scaramucci got in his own way? that first press thing he did, that was very good, and then he veered off topic. >> yeah. no, i think that is just what we need, and he knows it. neil: how do you think general john kelly is going to get along -- >> oh, this is great. i think anthony scaramucci respects the general. how do you not respect -- neil: but if he says you, anthony, can't see the president right now, and i'm the gatekeeper -- >> i would suggest to the general that he does not do that. neil: why? >> well, you make a couple calls. [laughter] i'm sorry. neil: you always defend italian-americans in trouble, so let me ask you this. you saw the thing with chris christie this weekend. >> oh, the best.

the best! you've got to love it, come on. neil: protecting a bowl of nachos. [laughter] do you think that's something a governor should do? >> yes. i thought -- neil: you do? >> listen, i understand the angst of governor christie, what he did on the beach after he shut the beach down, that was an in your face. if you're from jersey, you understand that. it was an in your face gesture, and he said i'm here anyway. at the brewers/cubs game, you've got to -- and we went over this -- neil: i don't think christie manned on a helicopter getting a shot of him at the beach. but this, i think he did. you don't think this makes him look bad? >> how great is it, somebody heckles him, he walks down, you're a bum, you're a bum. christie goes right in the guy's face, and the guy just went back because it's like milwaukee. in new york, they'd come back at you -- neil: right, right. >> we're very tough here, we go right back in. that was as jersey as it gets,

man. neil: but would it be better if he just laughed it off? >> i would. neil: did the jfk thing, my father wasn't going to pay for a landslide? >> i would absolutely do that. neil: if you were governor, would you get into, you know, in the face of a heckler? >> no. neil: because you're the governor. >> no, i would be very docile. neil: no, no, you would not be. >> i wouldn't get into the face. don't you love it though? how exciting is this? it's july 31st. look here, i'm, i want to come in here, i want to be with you, i want to talk about the circus that's in the senate. it's not in the west wing. look to the body down there in the senate and the house. donald trump put everybody in there. he galvanized the republican party. i'm not going to be a trump apologist, but if it wasn't for him -- neil: you sound like a trump sycophant. [laughter] >> it's not like that. neil: you've never criticized him. >> have i not? neil: he has something on you, doesn't he?

>> i am angry! he scares me. neil: what does he have on you? >> nothing. neil: you don't think he gets in the way of his own message? >> you know, i understand when they say he's flawed and he sometimes tweets when he shouldn't tweet. i understand that. neil: i don't mind that. i think stay on topic. stay on topic. >> well, that's a good criticism. but i've got to tell you, look at the swamp. the swamp is, like, nipping at him. it's not him. like i said, i'm telling you. look at the senate, looked at the house, donald trump carried these people -- neil: why would he criticize john mccain? >> because you don't go in front of a party, dedicate your life to a party, everybody puts all the chips into the party, man, and they say, hey, you're our guy, john, you can save us here. not my friend. [laughter] neil: voted for the same -- >> and he's all been repeal and replace for years and years and years. not to take away the brilliance of the man's, you know, history as -- neil: right, absolutely.

>> -- a public servant to the country. am i selling that pretty good? >> neil: no, you're not. you're a hater of everyone but trump. [laughter] >> i'm not, man, i'm not. neil: way to go, joe piscopo. >> neil, we'll get through it. neil: absolutely. we always do. >> i was at the white house last week, it's the calm in the middle of the storm. neil: i wasn't at the white house last week, you were. [laughter] you have the pulse. i can't get within 100 miles. all right, we have a lot more coming up. the new chief of staff is already sworn in. can you imagine him dealing with someone like piscopo? >> i am angry! neil: more after this. safe. yeah, my dad says our insurance doesn't have that. what?! you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. poallergies?reather. stuffy nose? can't sleep? take that. a breathe right nasal strip instantly opens your nose up to 38% more than allergy medicine alone. shut your mouth and say goodnight,

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>> 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. neil: all right. this was when the president was sitting next to his new house chief of 1256, john kelly, who was sworn in earlier. can the good general keep the president on message? to david bossie. david, the markets seem to think so. up about 83 points, we're about 88 points away from 22,000, so all the worries that would traditionally come up are not really fazing the wall street crowd. what do you make of this? >> i'm excited for the president. he's going to have a new chapter, a new effort underway to try and get his agenda through congress.

i think general kelly is an incredible leader of men and women throughout his entire career, and he's going to be able to bring a little bit of law and order, i think, to the white house. and i'm excited to see where he takes it. neil: you know, a lot of it depends, dade, on how much the president allows him to do, right? he is a forceful and just reeks gravitas as a figure, but again, that's got to mean that everyone tows the line and recognizes that he's the chief of staff including the president who must remind those who just sort of slip into the white house to see him or the the oval office that he's the guy you go through presumably. >> right, right. as one of the guys who slips into the white house to see him, i put myself out there to say that i, i look forward to working with general kelly in whatever policies and procedures he puts in place. i hope that everyone in the white house -- and there will be a chain of command and a structure that general kelly will put in place, and i fully expect that the president wants

to embrace that because he's made the decision to turn to general kelly in the first place. so i'm looking forward to a new page -- neil: well, when you visited prior, david, and you've got connections, that's why we love to have you on because you're powerful. [laughter] so with reince priebus -- >> i can't even get my 6-year-old to do something, but -- neil: tell me about it. [laughter] but, i mean, when you go to the white house, did you run it through reince priebus, or did he just see you there and say, oh, david, how's it going? >> yeah, both of those things. neil: you could say what you wanted and walked all over reince, didn't you? [laughter] >> not at all. reince priebus has been a longtime friend of mine -- neil: i know. but you didn't have to check with him to see the president, right? >> that's true. neil: what i think, to make it work, is they've got to check with general kelly. >> i think that's right. i think what i just said is going to be what i hope others do which is to give general

kelly the respect that he deserves as he is going to establish the process, the sops, the standard operating procedures -- neil: but would that extend to ivanka trump and jared kushner, that they would have to respect that as well? >> as i said, i hope that everyone in the white house will follow a chain of command that he institutes. if he decides that certain people can go in to see the president, that's his decision -- neil: who's decision? >> general kelly's. neil: he's going to prefer rigidity to keep track of the president's schedule and keep it on message. and if ivanka or you just waltz in there, you're going to make his life difficult, right? >> i think that's why i keep going back to i'm going to allow him to create a policy that i'm going to respect. and others across, you know, the spectrum that come in from outside the white house, those inside the white house including

his family members, there needs to be a professionalism of the white house staff, and i think general kelly will bring that. look, we've -- reince was, reince was in a very difficult position because of all of the power centers within the white house. neil: right. >> i hope that with this change this will allow general kelly to really consolidate that and really run this through him. neil: all right. well, he does have an affinity, that is the president, of what i would say for millionaires and military. and then the military, i mean, if you think of john kelly and james mattis in defense and h.r. mcmaster at nsa, the president has a clear respect for military types. will he, will he take their advice then? if he is told, david, you know, and general kelly tells him, mr. president, i don't think that's a good idea, would he -- do you think the president would listen to that? or just ignore it? >> well, when general kelly was secretary kelly, he would, i would assume he has done that

along with all of his other cabinet members. look, you point out -- neil: i don't know about that. i don't know about that. >> millionaires and generals that the president has an affinity for. the one thing those people have in common is being incredibly successful. neil: i know, but sometimes -- [inaudible conversations] with some, david, i'm not, you know, ripping the president or the administration. some of them seem to be afraid to take him on or to say that's an awful idea. but good chiefs of staff are able to do that. sir, we don't think this is a good idea. we don't think this is the time to do that. >> i think secretary kelly -- neil: -- get back on frank advice, would this president take it? >> i think secretary kelly, then-secretary kelly, now chief of staff kelly, has had those types of conversations with the president in the last six months since he's been secretary of homeland security. and i think he's had frank conversations and given frank advice, and i think the president, as all presidents do, has taken some advice and gone

their way and has gone his own way on others. it is not going to change -- neil: now, the president -- do you think that a general kelly, i understand that, general kelly dislikes me as the type of guy, he doesn't need this. he didn't want this job. i'm told he really preferred to avoid this particular position. but he's a patriot. a lot of these military guys, it's in their dna. but it's also in their dna not to take guff or be strung along. he would be the type of guy, strikes me, if this gets to be more kabooky theater, he's out of there. he would quit, i think. >> well, i fully expect that general kelly, now attorney -- chief of staff kelly will have at his disposal a lot of leeway. and i think that he's going to be able to get in there and work with the staff, create a cohesive team around him. and either you're going to be on his stipship, or you're not. neil: right. >> i think he has a little bit

of time here to really establish himself and be a force for good within the white house that i think he is a leader of men and women, and people within the white house will follow. and i think that he will have to create that minute-to-minute, day to day relationship with the president that he didn't have as a secretary but that he already as chief of staff. and i think that's really going to go well as he develops that working relationship with the president. neil: yeah. he does speak his mind. he is his own man, so we'll see how that goes. david bossie, always good seeing you, my friend. >> thanks for having me. neil: the dow hitting session highs here, so already well into record territory. boeing leading the way, expanding manufacturing operations. we'll get to that in a second. president trump, meanwhile, is threatening to end subsidies for congress and insurers in light of the republicans' failure to

yet again get a new plan out there. congressman desantis, i think what the president is saying if this is the pudding, you guys have to eat it. what do you think? >> amen. neil, these subsidies are not lawful to begin with. i've been opposed to them from the beginning. this goes back four years. i did not take any subsidies out of principle because i don't think they're lawful. obama did this with reid and pelosi. it's an administrative role. the president can absolutely simply rescind it, and then it would do what that original grassley amendment to obamacare was supposed to do, make congress live under the same law they imposed on everybody else. and i think that if you did that and you didn't give them the cushion of a special subsidy, i think some members may have a different view on whether we actually finally need to get this obamacare repealed. neil: he's still open to making sure it is repealed. how likely is that? is that a point where you're like, all right, you keep going back to the well and nothing

happens? >> well, the u.s. senate, they had many of those members have run for years and years saying they were going to repeal and replace it. you had six senators who voted to repeal last congress vote against that identical piece of legislation this congress. a couple days ago. and to just walk away from it and pocket your subsidies, i think -- neil: but they did, and they can't come together. even the threats againsting the alaska senator and others, it doesn't seem to register. what do you make of that? >> well, we have 45 to 46 senators, i think, have been willing to vote for a variety of repeal measures, and so i think that's the solider base, and you've got -- solid base, and you've got to figure out a way to get to 50. i'm not saying you threaten people. they've just got to figure it out, but i just don't know how any of them who ran on repeal can look in the mirror and say, you know, forget about everything i've said for the last seven years and then kind of move on?

i don't think that -- neil: apparently, they feel comfortable rolling the dice, right? if you're lisa murkowski, you're not up for another five years. if you're susan collins and maybe you run for governor in four years, you're not immediately threatened, and you're not, clearly, intimidated. so john mccain's his own story, that he's pretty much the maverick he's always been and he'll do whatever the heck he wants to do. but what do you do? the majority, i know you're in the house, i understand, but you got very little wiggle room there. so what does the president, what do leaders there do? or do they just say let's proceed to tax cuts and forget this nonsense? >> well, i think that the threat of electoral retribution is one thing, but i think the fact of the matter is if you've made these promises, people should want to continue those promises. i just don't understand how you can just have made those statements, issued these tough press releases, taken all these votes and not just been like, hey, sorry, we've got to move on. so i think some of those senators would have a tough time answering questions --

neil: i agree, i fully agree with that because some of them, except for susan collins who was consistent, she rejected in the same kind of thing, you know, back in 2015. they don't have any accountability at the polls for a while yet. so i guess what i'm asking you is given that, given the dynamics and given that even a skinny repeal effort that was marginal in its approach couldn't pass, is it fair to go on to taxes? and if so, when? >> well, we should be working on taxes as well. you can walk and chew gum. what i would say with obamacare is i think some of those members were concerned about what the conference would do, because they didn't know. i understand that. so the question is, is what do you need to do -- kind of starting from scratch in the sense you don't have to work off the mcconnell bill or the house bill. what do you need to have to get to yes. and then, is that palatable with the other 45, 46 senators. so you can do it, it just requires a lot of work. it requires you to stay in washington a little longer.

and we are working on taxes, the border adjustment tax was pulled out the other day which i think really clears the way for -- neil: when do you think that's going to get done, congressman? the tax plan? >> well, i would like to see some legislative text when we come back in september and, hopefully, vote it out in september or october. i'm not saying that's going to happen -- neil: do you want it retroactive beginning of the year, or is it too late for that? >> no, i think it has to be. that'll give us a nice bump in the economy going into 2018. neil: all right, congressman. thank you, sir. >> thank you. neil: all right. well, just in case everyone thinks there's collusion between russia and the trump campaign and now knowing there's a sanctions bill heading that is going to infuriate the russians and the north koreans and the iranians and that the russians are kicking out nearly 800 of our diplomats to protest, so much for the coziness that they thought they were getting or that we were told they were getting. maybe we were wrong on this? after this. ♪

♪ ♪ neil: you know, look at this dow. it's incredible. we're closing in on 22,000, folks. for all the hand-wringing, everything else going on, wall street is just delighted. and whether you want to give the credit to the president, under his watch -- certainly since his election -- $4 trillion in market value. that goes into a lot of 401(k) plans, pension plans, a lot of your investments, that's something you see. there's that psychological effect we're often talking about on this show, that people -- when they see they're worth more -- spend more. does pan out a lot of times. now, again, whether you want to credit the president for that or part of that, that's your business. but i think it is fair to say that in that environment if he was damaging things, of course, we'd pile on him if it weren't happen. so it is what it is. all this other stuff is what it is too. i think we have time to cover both, don't we? and we do.

meanwhile, sanctions or waiting on president trump's desk, and we're already seeing retaliation for them. vladmy putin -- vladimir putin cutting 755 u.s. diplomats out of his cup. north korea is in our face with new ballistic missile tests every week, and iran with its own missile program pressing ahead which is kind of weird when you think about it because this is something we didn't think would happen once we signed an agreement to prevent them from getting anything nasty like that. to former deputy assistant defense secretary under bush 43, peter brooks. peter, what do you make of all these developments? i guess the issue of collusion -- if that were, indeed, the case, and people have, you know, different thoughts on that -- then we have funny ways of seeing it materialize here. what do you make of it all? >> well, look, we're reacting to problems that we didn't create. i mean, you talk about those three countries. i mean, russia, we didn't cause russia to invade ukraine or take crimea, we didn't force them to violate the intermediate-range

nuclear forces agreement which is something a lot of people aren't talking about. we're not forcing hem to undertake unprofessional airmanship against our aircraft operating in international waters. iran's not a missile program, those were going on well before this administration was in place. we didn't cause that animus from iran towards the united states, and the same with north korea. these missile tests, two in this one month that are of intercontinental ballistic missile range, we didn't cause that. that's -- and we're reacting to it with sanctions. it would be great if we could do it with diplomacy. we don't want to deal with it with hostilities or conflicts, so in the middle are these sanctions, and i think it's reasonable to make it more difficult for these potential foes, adversaries, enemies, however you want to characterize them from moving ahead with these programs that undermine our security. neil: now, you know, peter, if vladimir putin was trying to influence the election and curry favor with the future president

trump, it has backfired enormously then, right? given what's going on here? >> sure. i mean, you know, look, the obama administration tried the reset which i'm fond of saying went from reset to regret. many administrations, the bush administration reached out to putin, but putin has a goal. and that's to make russia a major player. and it sees the united states and maybe china over time as the major obstacle to russia being at the top of the international system. so, yeah, russia's not looking for a fight, but it's looking for acquiescence in moving it to a position where it was during the soviet union. so repeated numbers of administrations have tried to improve relation with russians. we're not looking for a bad relationship with russia, but russia is doing what it does,ing and we need to sunday to it to protect our national interests. neil: and then we have the china thing, blaming us and the north koreans for that impasse, not themselves. what did you make of that? >> well, the same thing with china. china wants to be the preeminent power in the pacific.

it claims the entirety of the south south china sea as sovereign territory. they want us out of the western pacific, and they also want to replace us at the top of the international systems just like russia does. and, of course, the chinese -- look, politics is the art of transferring blame, isn't it? and the chinese are trying to blame us for north korea as if we should forget about history and 1950 when north korea invaded south korea and then when china helped them, which left us in a state we have since 1953. so the chinese, of course, are going to do this. they want us to make concessions. they don't want to make concessions. but the fact of the matter is that we're right in this matter. neil: all right. i want to give the benefit of the doubt to the chinese just for the sake of argument. >> okay. neil: what if kim jong un is such a nut job that the chinese can't control him? he's like a nuclear weapon himself, out of control, unable to rein in, and china's kind of thrown up its hands? hence, you hear this thought of

fortifying and -- this talk of fortifying and trying to protect the 800-plus-mile border between the two countries because it's worried something is going to blow? >> in fairness, it is complex. you're right about that. but if any country has influence in north korea, it's china. they're the largest benefactor of food and fuel to north korea. they have an interest in stability on the korean peninsula. they don't want to see a civil war, refugee flows, loose nuke, chemical weapons, all these sort of things. so china does need to take responsibility here. now, they don't want to because, you're right, they don't have as much influence as they'd like. in fact, president xi has not met with kim, the north korean leader, at all. so, you know, this is the case, and they're very concerned about pushing north korea in a certain direction that will be inimical to chinese interests. but at the same -- that's why the united states and chinese interests don't necessarily match up on the peninsula which makes this problem so very, very

difficult. neil: yeah. wow, peter, thank you. >> thanks for having me. neil: peter brooks. everyone seems to think the gop is screwing up left and right, and they are. but to write them off and think they're doomed next year, be careful about that. and that's not me saying that, that is history saying that. those who get ahead of ourselves, i'll prove it. after this. ♪

neil: all right, up 93 points right now. meanwhile, the media is writing the gop off as president trump and republicans are looking to hit this reset button here. just rifling through some of these items, i don't care the publication, the basic gist is the grand old party is in grand old trouble. to glenn hall, the weekly standard deputy managing editor and former trump new york campaign co-chair, joe borelli.

the media and the pressure is such that they've given up on donald trump. >> i don't think they've given up on donald trump, i don't think the public has given up on donald trump. when you look to last week in youngstown, ohio, he's still getting the kind of enthusiastic crowds supporting him and, broadly, his agenda. did we need some sort of a reset button at the white house? yes. and i think you saw that this week with the staff shake-up. but i think that is more, more a message that trump is not going away, he's not giving up. in fact, the white house has even pulled back -- pushed back on the message that they were giving up on health care. we're still going forward with that. neil: all right. i don't know how that's going to finish out, by the way, but we'll see. you know, glenn, we should lack back at history. ronald reagan they thought was a sure one-termer, the depths of the recession in '82, they were wrong on that, that the republicans could never come back in the early '90s after bill clinton, of course, the gingrich revolution, they were wrong on that. they've been wrong a lot.

but the consensus builds that it's an uphill battle. what are you hearing? >> well, there's still a long way to go until 2018, but we're already talking about it, right? neil: right. >> the deal is are the republicans going to be able to demonstrate before then that they, in having all levers of power, are going to be able to get things done. and i think that's what's critical. they have been gaining ground for many years. typically, though, in the midterm of a first-term president you start the lose ground. neil: right. >> and that's the risk that they face. neil: especially if it's enough to lose one or both houses. >> they've only got a slim majority in the senate. neil: very, very slim. kelly jane, what do you think? >> they say necessity is the mother of invention, and hopefully that means republicans can come up with something, because they need some legislative victories. heck, even just one legislative victory going into the 2018 midterms -- neil: so why do they revisit the health care well? >> well, this is, this is where i see some interesting tension

between the white house and congress. neil: right. >> i think that congress wants to take a little break and try to move on since that was such an epic failure, but now you have president trump backed up by steve mnuchin saying, no, you need to go back to health care -- neil: that's the irony, right, joe? it started out with the president, we're told, wasn't keen on starting with health care, wanted to go to either infrastructure or tax cuts. now he's the one -- and i think she's right -- he's the one pushing health care, let's do this right, because he doesn't want to concede. >> tax reform is this huge blimp of a thing. and i think even chuck schumer was, i hate to say this as a republican, but he was right. when you're doing tax reform, you're going to have some winners and losers. and in order to have less losers and get more of the public on your side, more of public to get the benefit, you need to relieve some of this pressure from the obamacare mandates -- neil: they can't. they can't do it. >> if they don't do health care

first, it's going to be tougher -- neil: i understand. logic dictates that's true, but they're not acting logically. >> you know, i come back to i see three parties within the republican party, right? you've got the conservatives who want one thing, you've got the moderates who want another, and then you've got the trump party, right? where he's got a whole different agenda out there, and he's not bringing them all together yet. neil: is it on him or those parties, the establishment guys? that would include sean spicer and reince priebus. >> i would say there's also the senate versuses the house in all of this, ryan versus mcconnell. who's going to be able to bridge that gap. that's the role of the president. neil: kelly jane, you realize it's one thing having a majority, it's another having a bare majority, and one thing that helped barack obama with the health care push is he could afford to lose 39 congressmen as he did on the first health care vote because he had such a cushion there. and because he had almost 60 senators, he could afford to lose a few of them in the first go round.

>> exactly. even then -- neil: there's very little wiggle room here. what does the president do? he's obviously angry at the inability of a party that has seven years to get its act together on this not getting its act together and says he's not giving up. >> you know, i think there's a lot of blame to go around here, and that's the thing. you can't solve a problem until you recognize there is a problem and take responsibility -- neil: oh, i think they know there's a problem, they just don't know how to get out of it. >> well, that's the thing. the president's blaming congressional republicans, especially the senate. senators and others are blaming the president for not speaking out, using the bully pulpit enough to pump their ideas. i think everyone is to blame here, and people need to look in the mirror and say what was my part in this and how can we move forward. but instead it's sort of easier for them to say, well, it was someone else's fault. if they're going to do that, they're not going to change. and obviously, you know, everyone needs to change if any bill, to repeal obamacare, is ever going to get passed. >> if i could jump in there, neil, i would say that may be what we're see anything the

change with the chief of staff, right? this is one of those roles that should be helping the president achieve his mission and bringing those coalitions together. he wasn't getting what he wanted, and i think he's going to start -- neil: but that really, and i know i start like a broken record, that depends on the president listening to john kelly. he's got to have the frankness of a relation -- you don't have to do everything your chief of staff says. i'm sure there's many times where president bush ignored andy card or ronald reagan james baker or what have you. but more than not you hear their counsel and weigh what they're saying. i can't imagine a general kelly would have allowed himself to recommend the president push the size of his crowds at his inauguration in the first press conference, right? so i'm wondering if the president will listen to him. >> i think it is, and i think the role of chief of staff is not to be a yes man, and that's probably why general kelly opt toed to take this job. -- opted to take this job. neil: he didn't want this job.

>> i think trump sees him as someone who did a great job at homeland security. he gave him a mandate, and he was almost clinical in executing -- neil: oh, he was -- but is that a guy who's going to do the president's bidding? i can see him, i don't know what you guys think, i could actually see him quitting if he's forced on something silly. >> i think this is a job that with this presidency it's about managing down more than managing up. and i think if he gets that right, he might be able to help affect change -- neil: and he's got to control everyone who get into that oval office, and they've got to respect that, i think. >> yeah. i mean, the gatekeeper is really the job of chief of staff. and that's where he will run into problems because this president, for i think good reason, likes to get a lot of opinions from a lot of -- neil: and you know what's encouraging, kelly jane, if you think about it, the president -- if he were just a free-wheeling, disinterested in hearing other points of view, he wouldn't probably have made the general his chief of staff to begin with. so he's open to that.

the question is, it's sort of like someone who commits to a diet, then you've got to start the diet, right? >> exactly. and that's the thing, it's a good first step, but i feel like the last week has indicated that he might not be there yet. he might not be ready to start on that diet. you have him hiring anthony scoop going out having a vulgar rant -- neil: you call it vulgar, italian-americans call it colorful -- >> that's my family dinner. [laughter] >> i mean, and what, was he punished? no, he was rewarded. he got reince priebus out of there. neil: you think he's giving mixed messages there. >> i think so. the president seems to be encouraging that kind of craziness and disorder -- neil: you should hear what glenn hall says when no one's around. it is true, two different vibes we're getting here. >> look, i think the way i would characterize this, if you look back at the campaign and you saw they were trying to get trump to behave more like a candidate, he

didn't feel it was working, he went back to being trump. i think you're seeing him surround himself with people who will let trump be trump. >> you had sean spicer as a handler, that's not who the american public elected. neil: no doubt. but he's shrewd enough to know, yes, i got here doing it my own, following my gut, but now as president you have to pivot -- >> and, you know -- neil: -- differently to get stuff done. >> what's interesting to me is we don't know how much about john kelly is going to do the job. you remember there was that ceremony at the coast guard and they handed trump this ceremonial sword, and secretary kelly said, hey, you can use that on the press. that kind of indicates to me that he is sort of encouraging trump in his -- neil: but in a low-key, you know, irish catholic way. [laughter] so we'll see how that goes. guys, i want to thank you all very, very much. >> thank you. neil: this panel must have the magic effect, the dow now within 79 points of 22,000, so they're all taking credit for it.

as we know, it's happening during my show, at no isn't it? why that is going on with all these anxieties, all these worries in north korea, what's happening in russia and kicking out so many diplomats, why is the market literally climbing higher and higher? after this. ♪ ♪ poor mouth breather.

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neil: you know, the jury's already begun deliberations in that martin shkreli trial, and a lot of folks are watching that including connell mcshane live from brock lin with the latest. -- brooklyn with the latest. >> reporter: it's interesting, we're back to watching this guy they call the pharma bro, martin shkreli. i think maybe a quick refresher course would help as the deliberations begin. first of all, this has nothing at all, this trial, to do with raising drug prices. that's shkreli became so well known for, famous or infamous. this is a fraud trial. he's facing eight counts of securities fraud, conspiracy the commit securities fraud,

conspiracy to commit wire fraud. if he is found guilty on all charges, he faces up to 20 years in prison, does mr. shkreli, and this is a jury made up of five men and seven women currently deliberating in this federal courthouse behind me in brooklyn, new york, to decide his fate. now, the nuts and bolts of this case as we wait for a verdict are pretty much as follows: shkreli was running two investment funds sometime back, and he's accused of defrauding investors at those investment funds by using money from the pharmaceutical company that he was running at the time, retrofin, to pay those investors back. ponzi scheme-like behavior, at least that's the accusation. now, the defense has been arguing -- and i just spoke to the well-known attorney outside the court host when he was breaking for lunch about it -- his argument has been these investors got their money back, in some cases actually made money, so in that case, mr. shkreli should not be found guilty of a crime. he made that argument in his

closing last week. he didn't add much to it other than to say he'll be over to talk to us. he's quite media savvy and friendly, as soon as a verdict comes in. wait and see mode, this guy could get up to 20 years at sentencing if he's found guilty, but first we have to get to that verdict which is what we're waiting for. neil: up to 20 years, whoa. thank you, connell, very much. connell mcshane. meanwhile, we know what's happening in washington, right? the whole growth agenda seems to be stalling. but wall street has a funny way of reacting to that. gerri willis on that unique dichotomy. hey, gerri. >> reporter: well, congress, as you say, may be stuck in neutral, but america's biggest companies are firing on all cylinders. stronger consumer spending, a weaker dollar and cost cutting are propelling earnings to new highs, two consecutive quarters of double-digit profit growth for the first time in six years. earnings are expected to rise

with 60% of s&p 500 companies reporting results, that follows a 15 percent increase in the first quarter. gains are strong across the board with only the utilities sector posting earnings below last year's levels. technology and financial had the strongest performance. a chief equity strategist told fox business this: politics, he says, makes for great headlines, but it's the economy that makes for a strong bottom line. to value says promises of tax cuts have boosted stock sentiment in the past. that relationship has broken down, and earnings have delivered abu by to stocks -- a buoy to stocks. neil, back to you. neil: all right, thank you very much. meanwhile, discovery, as expected, buying scripps network. nicole petallides on what tv viewers are going to probably see from this deal. hey, nicole. >> reporter: hey, neil. this is shark week meets house hunters. it is a $14.6 billion deal, you

can see scripps is gaining just slightly right now at 87.50, discovery selling you have about 9.5%. the deal's expected to close early next year, and what does it do? it wrings together two -- brings together two names that you know so well including discovery channel such as animal planet, also tlc as well as on the other side scripps which would have hgtv and food network. now, hgtv which stands for home and garden has really grown, boosted ratings by over 29% since 2013. this brings together female viewers which are predominantly in the scripps network of travel and home, garden and the like as well as the male viewers that are on the discovery side of it. the deal's $14.6 billion, you can see how both have fared over the last year. scripps has been running up on a potential takeover and has done so. and all of this happening because people are cutting the cord on pay television, as you know. in the first quarter of this year, over 760,000 people

dropped out, and so this is one way for these two companies to compete against the likes of netflix and amazon. neil? neil: all right, nicole, thank you very, very much. you've seen what's been happening south o the border in venezuela, they could go into outright civil war. the irony here is that they had an election that was supposed to ease that concern, and they have a lot of oil which is supposed to cost out that concern. neither worked. not by a country mile. lizzie macdonald on that after this. i was wondering if an electric toothbrush really cleans...

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the oil we get from them? we get about 10% -- >> you know, companies like chevron and valero are saying, wait a second, we make a lot of money off venezuela's heavy crude. the u.s. could shut that down. venezuela is our third biggest importer into the u.s. of oil. we can get our oil elsewhere. what's happening right now is really seriously dangerous. constituent assembly is about to take power in 72 hours. truth commissions will be launched to root out and exterminate -- that's the word i'm hearing from sources in venezuela finish -- the opposition. this is another cuba on the u.s.' back doorstep. neil: so the idea that maduro, he's acting like a dictator, worse than chavez, he is trying a new constitution so he can ramp things through faster. >> that's right. neil: but a lot of people are interpreting that as just getting one party hitler-like rule. >> yeah, that's right. in other words, it's the military controls not just the food supply, but the mines, the

gold, copper and oil. so this is exactly the fidel castro model. hay put a puppet in front, and the military ran cuba's big tourism operations and hotels. neil: right. >> cuba never exported anything, just its ideology. your question is great because venezuela has oil, so what does the u.s. do in this event?

neil: other nations that experience the same collapse didn't disintegrate to this. >> people in south america,

argentina, mexico, other countries condemned this vote. there's been tens of billions of dollars sluiced out and buying property in, say, houston or palm beach. neil: right. >> the obama justice department slapped i want to say 2,000 individuals in venezuela for doing that, for basically expropriating, stealing money. this started under the chavez regime years ago in the '90s where they were stealing money out of venezuela and buying assets. neil: you people don't know this at home, she had no script, no notes, it's all in her head. which is why we call her wicked lizzie macdonald. amazing. >> thank you. neil: the dow just sprinting ahead. we could get to 22,000 today at the rate we're going. why is that? after this. potsch: you each drive a ford pickup, right?

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trish: there is -- neil: there is new chief of staff at white house, general kelly. president expressing great deal of confidence. he will shake things up. would be and could and would if the president lets him. president touting strong stock market. we're 73 points or so from 22,000. this appreciable run-up continues to go largely undeterred here. a lot of that built on very strong earnings and big plans of likes of boeing, a key component but everyone is doing their part

to keep this going. regardless whether tax cuts happen or not, who knows. obviously there is no worry there at the corner of wall and broad. lauren simonetti to take you through the next hour. >> neil, booed fast math. that is why you are a stellar news business anchor. 73 points away from dow 22,000. could be in the show. breaking right now, treasury secretary steve mnuchin steven mnuchin speaking about tax reform as the white house turns its focus from health care to reforming our nation's tax code. we're on that dow 22,000 watch. can you believe it? check this out. session highs, very close to them with the dow up 95 points. thank you, i'm lauren simonetti in for trish regan and this is "the intelligence report. they're talking about the first comprehensive tax