25% recently. that is a bet on a different political outcome, a new regime, a capitalist one, not socialist. kennedy begins right now. ♪ ♪ kennedy: thank you, trish. the government shutdown getting worse by the day, and now it's reached a level of trolling this nation rarely sees just one day after nancy pelosi tried to scuttle the president's state of the union address. the president firing back with a letter reading in part, quote: dear madam speaker, due to the shutdown, i am sorry to inform you that your trip to brussels, egypt and afghanistan has been postponed. obviously, if you would like to make your journey by flying commercial, that would certainly be your prerogative. the best part is pelosi and company were already on a bus to the airport! that had to sting, folks. democrat leaders are, of course, crying foul. >> it's pity.

it's small. it's vindictive. it is unbecoming a president of the united states. but it is, unfortunately, a daily occurrence. >> saying that all too often in the last two years the president has acted like he's in the fifth grade, and to have someone who has that kind of character running the country is an enormous problem at every level. kennedy: i love, love that adam schiff was that disappointed. republican leaders say, well, serves them right. >> being speaker of the house and leaving the country when it's shutdown? i don't think that's appropriate. especially, especially the speaker thinks we shouldn't even have the state of the union? i think the best thing that could happen and everybody could calm a little bit, get in a room together and put the american people first before their travels and solve the problem. kennedy: as for the shutdown that got us here in the fist place, the dems say they are not the problem. take it away, aoc. >> reopen government several

times. we have the votes in the senate to reopen the government. it's mitch mcconnell who refuses to call a vote on it. so it's not even that we don't have the votes. we have the votes, and he's running away from calling a vote. kennedy: oh, no. but today on fox news house minority whip steve scalise was singing a very different tune. >> the president has been steadfast and consistent in saying that he is going to do everything it takes to secure america's border. he's pointed out just how bad the problems are. they've tried to do everything to insult the president, the not even acknowledge that he is the president. kennedy: so have we finally bottomed out, or will this thing in continue to spiral until one side begs for mercy? joining me now, tim carney is here, making sense of the senseless. [laughter] what did you make of the president's letter to nancy pelosi? >> i thought that at times you wonder, should the president be

lowering himself to the level of a member of congress from a city that can't even clean all the poop up off of its streets? on the other hand, you just realize, no, as long as nancy pelosi is going to get cheered, sort of what do the kids say, yas, queen? cheers, for her fifth grade behavior, he retaliates with fifth grade behavior, so i was totally unsurprised. this is the way trump behaves, and this is the way nancy pelosi has decided she can behave and get the glowing treatment from the press. so op your question as to how it's going to be resolved, i don't see any easy way out at all. kennedy: no, this one-upsmanship, it doesn't end anytime soon finish. >> i think it's one downsmanship or one downswomanship, i don't know. kennedy: at least from our perspective, i want to thank them both for keeping it entertaining, was it gives -- because it gives us stuff to talk about ever night and, you know, as an independent i get to

shake my head and say i would never vote for either one of you. but the trip, if you look at the places they're going and the timing of it, the president does have a point in that it makes her and the delegation look incredibly tone deaf and takes her out of the country so she can't negotiate. so if i'm one of the 800,000 people who's not getting a paycheck, you bet your arse that i want my congressional leaders there at the ready to talk to get things moving again. >> that's exactly right. she should not have gone to hawaii, the democrats should not have gone to puerto rico as they did, and they should not be leaving the country while this government is shut down. it seems to me that she, that the democrats do not take it as seriously as they pretend they do, and at least trump sort of is being a little more up front that he's perfectly willing to do the shutdown for the sake of a border wall. i think, again, i think it's bad. i live in this d.c. area. i have lots of friends who are federal employees who did nothing to deserve this. kennedy: yes.

>> it can be bad for the economy, but the democrats can't get away anymore with pretending they think it matters if they were willing to leave the country. and her argument for trying to postpone the state of the union was laughable. it was really just a political ploy -- kennedy: and she can do better than that because, you know, if she is using anonymous source from dhs saying we probably don't have the security, and that's the intel that she's going on, that's a pretty bold move. and, you know, as someone who's been in power this long, she should know that you've got to back your facts up a little bit and vet a statement like that because that's just another thing that makes her look kind of ridiculous, you know? >> yes. kennedy: the one thing that was easily turned on its head was the idea that walls are immoral -- [laughter] and, you know, and then people are saying, well, just take all the walls down. well, or we wouldn't want to do that. and, of course, the other one is saying that we can't have the state of the union because

there's not enough security. and i will say this for federal law enforcement, they are all working their tails off. and i know it's fun to make fun of the tsa, but i would say these people are very patriotic, and they have a great sense of civic duty if they are reporting to work knowing they're not getting paid, and they're not calling in to a massive sick-out. and i commend all the people that are doing that, because it takes a lot more than, i think, many people -- and i don't know if i would do that. if i had to feed my kids and i had nothing left, no room on my credit card, nothing in my bank account, i don't know that i would have the same level of patience. >> no. and, again, you could be driving uber or trying, or collecting unemployment or trying to line up a new or part-time job, and you're being called in to do this, do this work even though you can't get paid but because it's being deemed that you're needed. kennedy: and nancy pelosi's going to brussels with adam schiff. >> and, you know, i'm sure it would have been a very nice

flight. i don't know, i've never gotten to fly on the air force aircraft there but, again, if she dialed it up and tried to make it be a fight, the media praised her for a power move, as they all called it, and she had the power to do it, to postpone the state of the union, and president trump had the power to keep her or from going to brussels -- kennedy: and also it shows a chasm between steny hoyer and nancy pelosi, don't you think? >> yeah. i mean -- well, so there's always been an interesting chasm there. but you do have the fact that there are democrats who are just out there saying we're not going to give in on the wall, we're not going to do anything. and then, you know, hoyer, i think, wants to get the government back up and running, but pelosi's out there, her job is to oppose trump no matter what. kennedy: marie antoinette. they don't need their crumbs. thanks, nancy. and thank you, tim carney. >> thank you, kennedy. kennedy: alarm bells that the

shutdown could soon start doing serious damage to the economy. according to the bean counters on wall street, this whole mess could push the nation's first quarter growth close to or even below zero. that's not good. the national association of realtors claims 25% of its members say the shutdown is dissuading clients from buying homes, businesses that can't meet with government regulators are at a standstill and, of course, there's the 800,000 federal workers who aren't getting paid, and they're not putting money into the economy right now. the list goes on and on. even the president's former economic adviser, gary cohn, said the shutdown is, quote, completely wrong and makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. so this be enough to get both sides to come to the table and compromise? let's go to tonight's panel. it's ladies' night. she's a correspondent for the greg gutfeld show, kat timpf is here along with national taxpayers' union senior fellow and center for a free economic board member maddie deppler, and from fox business network,

kristina partsinevelos. business might be good, what do you think about the notion that the shutdown is having short-term economic impact and possibly long-term as well? >> oh, definitely. we're starting to see it. and i think for a long time you saw a lot of investors think, hey, it's a shutdown, it's politics. we don't really care, we just care about earnings. the white house came out just this week saying it's actually going to be double what they expected in terms of loss per week, so you have this situation -- you have 800,000 employees, however, it begs the question how many of those employees are actually essential now, because you have so many that are non-essential, did we need them in the first place. is there some rejigging we could do with these employees, and they're not legally allowed to strike, so the only option they do have is to call out sick, which i think is fascinating. just this whole situation seems to be getting worse and worse and worse, and this piece by piece, like let's reopen the federal farm bureau, let's reopen the bureau that deals with the energy and oil gas leases, that's going to extend the shutdown even more. when you start to break it down

like that. kennedy: oh, it's crazy. so what's the way out? >> what is the way out? that is the question everyone in washington, d.c. is asking. tim raised a good point, some of these folks maybe they're ubering, part-time jobs, moat of these folks -- most of these folks aren't allowed to do that. for example, irs is shut down right now, someone can't go get a part-time job as a tax prepare because that's a conflict of interest. kennedy: could they get a job as a task rabbit? >> they probably could, but, you know, there's the other question of unemployment benefits. we saw a huge uptick in federal workers taking those the last week of december, but you have to prove you're looking for a job, and a lot of these workers are saying i have a job -- [inaudible conversations] kennedy: i'll risk my pension. >> in the meantime, they're trying to put food on the table for their families. kennedy: and there are a lot of private organizations that are providing food -- >> kraft. kennedy: yeah, and acting as food banks for families in need. and god bless 'em.

but, you know, there's always the other side of it. and it kind of brings this up, to we really need these -- >> then you sound insensitive, right? i don't want to mention it on air -- kennedy: you're talking to a libertarian. [laughter] we deal in insensitivity. [laughter] [inaudible conversations] >> good point. they're struggling. to your point, i heard one guy that's a paramedic on the side -- kennedy: that person is david lee roth. what do you make of all this? >> i think it's going nowhere fast because nobody's hooking for a solution, right? one side is trying to say no wall ever, and i'm going to show my base no wall ever, and the other side is saying walls forever, walls are number one, we're going to build the wall. we don't even need this wall, which is what makes me so crazy in the head, is most people who get here illegally, they get here by overstaying visas, not by walking over the border. and the undocumented population has actually been dropping. it's not going up. there's not this big crisis at

the border -- kennedy: but when it does go up, that means we have a healthy economy, and there's always a correlation between the number of people trying to get into the country and the number of jobs that are here. there aren't a lot of jobs because up employment has been so low, which is great. but businesses are booming -- >> businesses are looking for workers to hire, the biggest one we have right now. >> exactly. a good argument to bring in good quality immigrants to fill those roles. over seven million job openings. [inaudible conversations] >> we have agreement at the table. [laughter] kennedy: you know what the problem is? it's canada. >> no, you can't blame canada. [laughter] >> that's so last decade. kennedy: exactly, thank you, thank you. much more with the panel, thank goodness. first up, the president's former lawyer, michael cohen, now claiming the president paid him to rig polls before the 2016 campaign. trump's current lawyer, rudy giuliani, says cohen is full of it and denies trump had any knowledge of such a scheme.

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"the wall street journal" reporting that cohen paid an i.t. firm to rig two polls for donald trump before he entered the presidential race. cohen allegedly handed the owner of red given solutions llc a blue walmart bag with $13,000 in party cash and a stinking boxing glove. cohen, well, he didn't deny it, but he was quick to pass the buck tweeting, quote: as for the wfj article on poll rigging, what i did was at the discretion of and for the sole benefit of real donald trump, potus. i truly regret my blind loyalty to a man who doesn't deserve it. cohen claims he paid the firm a total of $50,000, and all of it was by check. but the firm's owner says, no, he only received 13 grand. the journal reporting cohen asked for and received a 50,000 reimbursement from the trump organization. this prompted the president's current lahr, rudy giuliani,

quote, the president did not know about this. fit happened, the real takeaway from your story, didn't he steal $37,000? so did the president's former fixer fix the polls and pocket a few grand along the way, and if so, who's really to blame? joining me now, fox news national security strategist, former deputy assistant to president donald j. trump and author of "why we fight," dr. sebastian gorka. welcome back. >> thank you, or kennedy. kennedy: how do you rig polls? [laughter] >> how do you get to be a convicted liar and a thief and then expect us to believe you just days before you go to a federal prison to be locked up? this man is pathetic. kennedy: yeah, he's, he's something. he started the handle women for cohen. [laughter] and let me just read the tagline, strong pit bull, sex

symbol, no-nonsense, business-oriented and ready to make a difference. whoo! and this is still an active account. good job, michael. pit bug. >> is this -- are we suddenly in an snl skit? i know you worked for mtv, but have we suddenly moved to stand-up comedy? kennedy: no, i think this is funnier than the current snl landscape -- >> that's sure. kennedy: and i think it's why late night shows and sketch shows are struggling because the real stuff is funnier than anything absurd you could come up with in a writers' room. i mean, this is all so insane, and, you know, what about, what about the guy and his bag of cash? >> well, look, again, it's exactly as the nation's mayor said. i mean, rudy nailed it. not only is this guy a liar, but he can't even get his lies straight as to what he said he was doing. and it just provers he's a thief as well as a liar. of so it's a sad -- let's be

christian about it. this is a sad, pathetic man, and he's going to prison, and he's just clutching at straws for some kind of relevance before he's locked away for the next three years. kennedy: and he will, he will, it seems, receive a good smiting in prison. >> yeah, i'm not sure that mr. cohen will be the gang leader in prison, let's just put it like that. kennedy: no, it doesn't appear to be so. but let's talk about rudy giuliani a little bit. this is a person with whom i interfaced briefly in the 1990s, almost lost my job with, but thank goodness for providence and forgiving sumner redstone at the time. why is rudy giuliani out there on behalf of the president? it seems like every time he goes in front of cameras, he makes things worse, and he makes the story about him. >> i'm not sure that's fair. i'm not sure that he makes the story about himself. everybody needs, you know, i was

in the oval office with the president today, and, you know, he's a little bit busy right now, and everybody needs a rudy giuliani on their team. and whenever i see rudy, you know, i don't know about you, you've got your with own personal history. i've got a warm feeling for this man. americans relate to him, new yorkers or relate to him, and he just -- kennedy: they relate, they relate to a time when the city ran more smoothly finish. >> worked! kennedy: yes, they -- >> yes. kennedy: and that rudy giuliani, there are people who long for that rudy sometimes, because there are other times when he doesn't do his clients a great service by going out and saying that maybe there were people on the campaign who were colluding with russia. that's -- >> that, but that's not what he said. kennedy: well, it's kind of what he said. >> it's a classic selective quote. if you watch the whole interview -- kennedy: then here's that, here's the selective quote.

don't say things that can selectoffly be extracted to make you look like a weirdo. >> not everybody can be as smooth as kennedy. kennedy: i am so far from smooth, i am as prickly -- [laughter] and as -- >> i mean, when it comes to talking extemporaneously on live television -- kennedy: yeah, no, i say some doozies. and i guess i'm giving rudy giuliani -- that's why no one would ever hire me to defend the president or to be his mouthpiece, because i would say a lot of really interesting stuff. >> i don't know, i think you could be quite effective. do you want me to have a word with the big man? [laughter] kennedy: no, no. i hear this is his favorite prime time cable news show, and for that i want to thank him. >> i'll get the message to him. kennedy: for sure he doesn't watch anything else at 9:00 eastern. sebastian gorka, thank you so much for your time. >> god bless, thank you. kennedy: coming up, democratic lawmakers have thrown their hats

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♪ ♪ kennedy: the 2020 presidential field is growing -- going from a crowded elevator to a bursting sardine can, and for a few of the proclaimed candidates, their stories are just as fishy. kirsten gillibrand was asked at her first press event about the l word, likability. it was the absence of warmth and genuine friendliness that tanked hillary clinton's failed candidacies, and now the press is insinuating lady folks have a harder time in the mean girls department. now, for a few of these broads, it's not ovaries and boobies that pose problems. their personal narratives convenient9ly shift when they get 2020 fever.

gillibrand once positioned herself as a gun-loving moderate who fit in with some republicans. she pushed for increased funding for i.c.e. and wanted to make english the official language of the u.s. but found her new voice in a sea of toxic masculinity by throwing al frank an anvil when he was drowning in act a decisions -- accusations. she's now in lockstep with man-hating women's marchers, and when they ask who's all in denouncing an entire gender for political gain, she can raise her hand and say, me too! it didn't take long for tulsi gabbard to take some much-deserved shrapnel from her party as her fairly recent gay bashing caught up with her as well once she announced. as a late adolescent, she promoted conversion therapy, denounced same-sex marriage and worked alongside her parents extolling the virtues of man/woman matrimony. she released an apology video saying her views have evolved,

blah, blah, blah, but that's the same as mel gibson waltzing into a synagogue to convince the faithful he's completely divorced himself from his rants of anti-semitism. elizabeth warren is just a weirdo who might have fraudulently hoodwinked around harvard and penn into granting her tenure for her imagined native americanism, and the wall street lawyer's loaded with so many special interests, she could be a medical device sales woman. these candidates aren't unlikable because they're women. hell, chris christie, ted cruz and rand paul never had a shot because of their prickliness. it is because they are win at all costs, inauthentic, and they're predictable. there's very little to like about run of the mill chameleons who will say whatever it takes to get your vote, and that's the memo. hillary clinton is still chiming in on the likability issue. here she is just back with, what

happened? >> there's been a lot of talk recently about whether our country is ready for women leaders. [laughter] now, that really takes me back, but -- [laughter] today i want to thank all of you for your persistence. i know many of you and can can attest as to how smart, determined, effective and, dare i say, likable you all are. [laughter] [cheers and applause] kennedy: can't even say the back grace from that angle -- brace from that angle. are the other ladies in this pack doomed? tonight's ladies' night, and everyone is back, kat, maddie and kristina. kat, obviously, there is something to overcome because we have not yet had a female president. we almost did in 2016, but here we are. >> right, absolutely. there is definitely something to overcome. i do think it's more difficult for a woman to run for political office than it is for a man.

i think that sexism is a very real thing in this country. however, to say that likability is only an issue that female politicians or aspiring politicians have to face is absolutely ridiculous. it's something all politicians have to face. that's why mitt romney lost for tying a dog to his car even though obama ate dogs. it was because obama was way more likable. [laughter] i would rather hang out with obama than mitt romney. kennedy: no, that's totally true. obama, a likable guy. garbage presidency, but a very likable person. >> exactly. kennedy: that's what likability gets you. and that's why people love bernie sanders. >> i don't quite understand, to be honest with you. maybe it's because i live in washington, d.c., so i hang out with enough weird, old white men -- >> i'd love to have a mimosa with bernie. >> the weirdest thing about american politics is each party spends 15 months pretending they don't have another team to beat, instead beating up on each other. they need someone who's likable,

but really they need someone who can beat trump. the question is how do they do that if they elect someone who is a, like are, left-wing progressite to the most degree. that's not likable from a country that was traditionally likable for democrats. kennedy: with bathe toe o'rourke or someone like that, they're going to get to the end, and that's where people will look at their own hearts and they're like, how in the hell are we going to pay for this stuff? >> right, but if we look at the costs and deficits thus far, conservatives normally aren't the spenders, and they've been the spenders for quite some to time -- kennedy: mercatus has shown when republicans have a hat trick, they spend more than democrats. >> i guess you can't say that anymore, fiscally conservative. kennedy: they pay lip service to it, like paul ryan, but talk about authenticity. i mean, that was a load of malarkey. >> i think authenticity,

actually, is going to be the important part for democrats. less so than likability. kennedy: i agree completely. >> people can get behind whatever weird facet people have, that's why beto has a ground, that's why a.o.c. is popular, and that'll be something democrats try to exploit. >> i think definitely they're focusing on that. ocasio-cortez is showing anything no one else has, and that's connecting to the younger demographics. if you look at the midterm election, it was the moderates, the females that decided to vote. you can't say we're going all the way to the left because the core still is really, really relevant, and you see that with -- kennedy: i'm going to talk about maxine waters and a.o. to c. on the financial services committee, but it just, it gets to show do you want someone who's going to outtrump trump, or do you want someone who's going to beat him by being the kind of person that you want to hang out and do tequila shots with? >> that makes more of a difference than it should, but

it does make a huge difference. >> i don't want to drink with them. i want to try with you guys. i don't want to drink with them. can. kennedy: done and done. [laughter] however, i want the presidency to be less powerful. >> exactly. less cult of personality, more article i restoration so you've got -- kennedy: thank you, whoo! >> what are tv people going to talk about? >> we're going to do tequila shots -- kennedy: we're going to be slurring. you know, maybe we need drunk politics glsmtion so down. [laughter] kennedy: thank you. all right, california congresswoman maxine waters spent the past two years writing impeachment fan fiction. but now she's the head of the very powerful financial services committee, and she's pledging to, quote, undo the damage of president trump's regulation rollback. i like the deregulation. waters will be joined on the committee by a slew of freshman democrats including new york socialist darling alexandria ocasio-cortez who took some time out from dreaming up donety tax

screams to tweet, quote: personally, i'm looking forward to digging into the student loan crisis, examining for-profit prisons, i.c.e. detention and exploring the development of public and postal banking. some of that actually isn't so bad, of course, but when the far left starts policing our economy, are we doomed to turn wall street into caracas? joining me now, fox business corrupter, jonas ferris is here. welcome, jonas. >> good to be had. kennedy: so the financial services committee has in the past been populated by people who have been bought and sold by the financial services industry. so it's interesting that you have progressives who want to -- it's sort of like having rick perry as the secretary of energy. [laughter] >> yeah, it's a lot. first of all, it's our first female president you're talking about, so let's have a little respect. i will also say that, yes, most politicians, even democrats, are paid for by the financial service industry. even during a heavy regulatory crackdown, you get a lot of

leeway where they get away with stuff. i don't think these are horrible things necessarily, but, for example, they will make a whole bunch of regulations for consumer lending, but then they let small business lending be unregulated. it's why when you have a credit card that says small business on it, they can charge you 30% interest. things like late fees, they don't put caps on interest rates. they get away with a lot of stuff, and it's because they got -- kennedy: financial services makes a lot of -- like banks make a lot of money with those 29.9% -- >> the 30 billion in late, overdraft fees they made last year. those days are over now that they were probably not -- we're going to find out if they were tipping cortez proper arely at the mexican restaurant she was working at after work, because if they weren't, those fees are going to be gone someday or at least greatly reduced. kennedy: well, it's interesting because, you know, you have people like elizabeth warren who made fun of the president for

saying you can make money during bubbles, but contrarians have always done that, and elizabeth warren has done that. she's worth, apparently, her net worth is almost $9 million because she made high interesten loans to family members and also snapped up some properties in foreclosure and flipped 'em. which i commend, by the way. i heart capitalism. >> i don't think elizabeth warren is going to be the big threat to the -- i think cortez more long term appeals to voters and is going to take all the power in this area. even though, i mean, the fact that she even got on this very important committee, this is you're in charge of banking, essentially, in america at her age and background is amazing itself, and it shows you it's only going to probably grow for her. and it's likely she is going to pick things that are more -- things like her world pays overdraft fees, maybe things with student loans, private student loans. that's not really going to screw up the whole banking system the

way -- kennedy: dodd-frank has? >> higher end regulations that go over the head of millennials that are the ones that could lead to more trouble in banking and lending. a lot of caps and rules. kennedy: that's right. >> nothing's going to happen for a couple years anyway. this has to just keep building momentum. kennedy: we're all going to die. [laughter] >> not in a couple years. kennedy: hopefully. fingers crossed. jonas, great to talk to you. more than 70,000 americans died from opioid overdoses last year alone. could marijuana help combat that crisis? republican florida congressman matt gaetz just introduced a bill that might get us some more research. i'm going to talk with mihm next. ♪ ♪ we can go down this waterfall, honey. what do you think? ♪ woo! yeah! it's good! it's refreshing. ♪

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hi hi ♪(whistling tune: "don't worry, be happy")♪ from capital one.nd i switched to the spark cash card i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy. and last year, i earned $36,000 in cash back. which i used to offer health insurance to my employees. what's in your wallet? ♪ ♪ kennedy: welcome back. the national safety council says opioids are now more likely to

kill people than car crashes, and in 2017 alone they killed a staggering 70,000 americans. just this month the state of massachusetts is suing the makers of oxycontin alleging the company, per due pharma, pushed higher doses of the addictive painkiller. how do we fix all of this? yesterday florida republican congressman math gaits introduced the medical cannabis research act of 2019. the legislation aims to unlock the, quote, potential to research the cures offered by medical cannabis. among them, opioid addiction, not to mention certain seizure disorders. congressman gaits joins me once again. welcome back, sir. >> oh, thank you, kennedy. and the problem with the federal government's response to the opioid problem is they always think the answer is more government and not more freedom. and when we look at states that have had medical marijuana programs, in minnesota, for example, we saw a 38% reduction in opioid use. in new mexico there was a 70% reduction in all scheduled drugs that were used once patients had

access to medical cannabis. seems like a no-brainer to me, i just don't know why it's taken the federal government so long to recognize what's so obvious. kennedy: you have a president whose reflexes seem to be going toward or criminal justice reform and deregulation, but then he appoints another attorney general who, obviously, has great personal disdain for cannabis. and when william barr was asked about it, he even said, you know, you have to have one uniform law, and his desire would be that marijuana stays federally illegal and scheduled so harshly. so you have a few roadblocks to overcome before you can unleash the power that that only medical research will give you. finish. >> i think it'll be a lot easier when the white house is actually talking to the department of justice. because of the russia investigation, that relationship was so chilled that normal direction that a white house could give the department, allowing states to be able to experiment and really realize

the full federalist model where they can try different things and best practices would emerge, i think that you're going to see more of that direction coming from the white house. in every conversation aye had with the president about medical cannabis, he's been very supportive, but jeff sessions did so much to get in the way, we couldn't get the ball rolling. kennedy: obviously, in congress there should be enough republicans and democrats that you should be able to reschedule it. >> yeah. kennedy: so what's more important, rescheduling it or having legislation like in that allows more than -- like this that allows more than one research institution to figure out what you can reasonably do with the plant? >> i think that research is what unlocks more acceptance, particularly by the older republicans in congress who have typically blocked cannabis reform. descheduleing makes a ton of sense. i've co-sponsored legislation to do that, but a lot of the older republicans say, well, there's not enough research -- kennedy: isn't that unreal? >> and then they stand in the

way the of the research. kennedy: it's so stupid to say we won't allow common sense proposals and then they have laws to block the research. i think we should act like adults here. republicans and democrats ought to be able to work on this together, and at least mr. barr's confirmation hearing said he wouldn't do what jeff sessions did, and that is threaten the programs that are actually helping people get off deadly opioids in states all across the country. what a great solution, more freedom for people. kennedy: we talked about in the other night when -- this the other night when people do have a legitimate and legal alternative, it shows that they will go to that first before they go to illegal opioids where they don't know what's in it and when heroin is -- >> well, they know it'll kill you. kennedy: yeah, but even people who know that, addiction is a disease. and, you know, that is something that we have learned, and that's -- i don't know how much neuroscience pharma, purdue

pharma had done before they were making the statements they did about oxycontin, but that stuff so offensive. >> it really is, and they're going to be held to account for that conduct. at the end of the day, the best way to fight addiction is to not get people addicted in the first place. if you have lower likelihood of addiction with something natural like cannabis, our government should rush to be making that available to people rather than having stupid laws in effect. kennedy: and expensive drugs that medicare hats to pay for -- has to pay for for seniors and, you know, help veterans with ptsd and anxiety and other chronic conditions. matt gaetz, thank you for your work. good to talk to you. >> thank you, kennedy. ken ken topical storm is as a fitness junkie, i customize everything - bike, wheels, saddle.

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♪ ♪ kennedy: before we go any further, i'd like to wish a very happy 97th birthday to the great betty white! betty, we hope you have a wonderful night, but don't drink too much because we wouldn't want you to end up on a video series called golden girls gone wild! whoo! blow out your candles, girl, because this is the topical storm. topic number one, let's start the night on royal caribbean cruise lines where business is falling fast. [laughter]

>> look at that a main yak. maniac. what a ding-a-ling. he jumped off an 11th floor balcony partly because his drunk friends dared him and mostly because tequila is free on a cruise. i like a prank as much as the next fella. amazingly, he wasn't hurt, and that's great news or terrible news depending on how much you like darwinism. if you're being honest, the scariest part of this video is he's allowed to vote and procreate. the plunging passenger was banned for life by royal caribbean cruise lines, and afterward he told reporters he had no idea just how serious things would get, and this is why you should always look before you leapment -- leap. topic number two. we head to the great state of illinois where a house guest was behaving like a real jackass.

look at this donkey. [laughter] he wandered into a man's yard and he says he has no idea where it came from. police were called to the scene because it's a high crime area, and they thought it might be a drug mule. [laughter] although there is an airport nearby, so chances are it's someone's therapy animal. this is gus. he needs to sit next to me. then again, donkeys hate flying commercial, and if you don't believe me, just ask nancy pelosi. the president better give me a military plane because i don't want to sit with the stinky dirt people. top ec number three. say what you want about the people of ohio, but when they hit the rad, they really hit the road. this guy left a bar last night, and i'm going to go out on a limb and say he got shot down a few times by the ladies. either that or he's doing the birdbox challenge and driving blindfolded. or he switched his gps to a male voice, and beto o'rourke took over. he drives so much better than him. that's real.

finish -- don't expect to see the driver anytime soon, because he just went on a cruise. oh! oh, my god, oh! look at my legs waving, i'm still trying to decide what's dumber, the jump or the shirt he's wearing. definitely the jump. where is the sharks when you need 'em? topic number four. finally, we salute a florida man who got arrested for cocaine possession and then ate the backseat of a police car ors at which point they busted him for marijuana. yeah. this is 37-year-old melvin stubs. he was arrested for cocape trafficking and resisting arrest. when the cops put him in the cruiser, he allegedly began chowing down on the backseat because leather is only two points in weight watchers. no, i'm just kidding. he doesn't need weight watchers, he's got cocaine, colombian marching powder. stubs was a released on bail, and that's good news, because he just got a job as an uber driver. [laughter] here we go, guys!

give me five stars. it's refreshing, because most uber drives don't hit cars, they hit you. don't take the law into your own hands. topic number five, it's thirsty thursday, and that means it's time to find out whose car keys we should take away because this is viewer mail. david, he starts off with: kennedy, you are a crazy woman. david, don't steal my dinner! janet is apparently a tv critic. janet writes: my views on the kennedy show, positive, quirky personality and topical storm. negatives, you hate cats, so apparently you're evil. oh, girl, so is the smell coming from your apartment, and everyone knows it. someone tweets: me thinks you are the annoying one. all right, east you're a -- either you're a pirate or a bad yoda impersonator. schoolboy rapped it up -- wrapped it up with tour your

style -- fire your stylist immediately. you look like a slightly higher class honey boo boo. class honey boo boo. i moved up in the you're gonna love if ythe best of geico.ercials, it's geico's all-time greatest hits back on tv for a limited time. and if you love the best of geico, you're gonna really love voting online for your favorite. you can even enter for a chance to appear in an upcoming geico commercial. this fire's toasty, linda but the best of geico collection sounds even hotter. to vote for your favorite geico ad and enter to win, visit geico.com/bestof. that's geico.com/bestof.

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the most common side effect is bone and muscle ache. if you'd rather be home ask your doctor about neulasta onpro. pay no more than $5 per dose with copay card. kennedy: thank you for watching the best hour of your day. you make it so. you can also follow me on twitter and instagram @kennedynation. where do we post clips? we post them there.

kennedyfbn@foxbusiness.com if you want to shoot me an old-fashioned e-mail. why wouldn't you? the trick you use a little bit of that oregon cherry juice, so i'm told. have a beautiful night. have a beautiful night. onts) (announcer) the following is a paid advertisement for time life's music collection. (dion) ♪ whoa ♪ listen, people, what i'm telling you ♪ ♪ a-keep away from runaround sue, yeah ♪ (announcer) it was a time of record hops, cars with big fins, ponytails and beehives. ♪ it's my party and i'll cry if i want to ♪ ♪ cry if i want to ♪ cry if i want to (ben e. king) ♪ so, darlin', darlin' ♪ stand by me ♪ oh (announcer) the future was bright, and the music on the radio and in jukeboxes became the soundtrack for the rest of your life. ♪ big girls ♪ don't cry ♪ baby love