what some of the immigrant staff of business to say. >> that is some of the best tap dancing i've ever seen in my life. stuart: we have five seconds left. i think neil is waiting to take it over. sir, it's yours. neil: there you go. i always curious about the you're hearing in your head. thank you, stuart. i hear in my ifb that we'll hear from the president soon, that the vice president has to sort of tap dance here, ahead of hearing from his boss the commander-in-chief. he is speaking to the nra. first president to do so since ronald reagan in that capacity as sitting president. many former presidents addressed group and those wannabe presidents. this is signature moment. it follows on the heels of much better than expected gdp number we got for the first quarter. showed us sprinting ahead 2%

annualized rate. a lot stronger than originally expected. consumer opponent. what you and your family are spending at home. that was pretty good. general business cap spending, investment in the future. also very strong. multiyear high there. we'll get into all of that. the president no doubt bouncing on all of that. we have the national republican conference committee matt gorman joining us, democrat strategist capri cafaro. fox news contributor kat timpf. someone who just watched joe biden join the parade of those that want to be next president of the united states. one of the message ask about more than the economy. about the sometime at white house. what he said on "the view," an cooed yesterday in his remarks i

will set a boater tone. what do you think? >> joe biden is trying to make the race at least on his behalf hope versus fear, good versus evil. he does run a risk though, taking that tact, here's why. one of the reasons why joe biden has been perceived more competitive because he is someone seen as able to connect with the trump crossover voters in places like scranton, pennsylvania where he is from, like where i am from, ohio, in the rust belt, when you focus on good versus evil, you by extension, hey, trump voters, you are also on. side of evil. how are you supposed to get them back on your side if you're saying you support somebody whose agenda is evil. i'm joe biden, congressional democrats, hard to run against the economy, i would do things focus on health care,

social security solvency, get on board making individual tax cuts permanent, so you have some ownership in the strength of the economy. neil: matt, i'm wonder about electoral votes. the president was able to take democrat states and make them republican states, with that 70,000 vote, many say he could take pennsylvania back as former scranton resident. that is something he could deliver. do you buy that. >> there is no evidence of that. it's a theory. it is exactly that, it's a theory. every time he run for president before he melted down instantaneously. he had success only with barack obama at the top of the ticket. that is a very different circumstance. i think he will regret his decision. his candidacy will force the democratic party to rehash a lot of issues in the past it already dealt with. crime, anita hill hearings, banking.

it is not a food issue set for joe. he is the democratic version of the friends zone. they like him. want him to campaign for them. they want him to raise money but they're not in love with him. neil: they do want him to win. >> "speak for yourself." neil: what they're saying kat, in the end, while he doesn't ignite our passions like some of the other candidates are they so individual type about donald trump that -- how do you think it sorts out? >> i think it is too early to tell but i think that their focus who can beat donald trump because i haven't seen a group of people who hates anyone as much as thee people hate donald trump that should be their focus. they have to be very careful to not eat their own too much. we're already seeing a lot of that. we're seeing a lot of media coverage of joe biden but a lot of the coverage has been negative. tanks from the media is a good thing.

when you're the front runner you face a lot of scrutiny. it could bring you down instead of build you up. as mentioned earlier the way he treated anita hill, the crime bill, iraq war, were trending on twitter as he announced his campaign. that is not really the best outcome when you announce what sorry. we'll have to wait and see what happens. see if he can explain a way some things in his past that have now, have people changed views on, the times have changed. whether those things will bring him down. neil: we do know, capri, i want to you ask you this, president trump and ones that want to take him down, talking up their age as a negative not an asset. each reflected on others age as well. look at this. >> i just feel like a young man. i'm still young. i can't believe, i'm youngest person, i am a young vibrant man. i look at joe, i don't know about him.

i don't know. >> is he too old? >> i would never say anyone is too old. they're all making me look very young in terms of age and i think in terms of energy. you people know that better than anybody. >> he looks young and vibrant compared to me, i should probably go home. [laughter] look, everybody knows who donald trump is. and, the best way to judge me is to watch, see if i have the energy and the capacity. neil: we'll see. still early on. we don't know. maybe they wait for those moments, each side, when the other guy stomach else about. what do you think of this battle over age, capri. >> it is kind of funny. we're dealing with not only donald trump and joe biden but bernie sanders is in his 70s. apparently age is not a factor.

joe biden and donald trump are even playing field. i have seen tweets from president trump calling joe biden sleepy joe, crazy bernie and sleepy joe. this theme of low energy joe biden we'll continue to see from the trump camp. the onus will be on joe biden to show that he really does have that energy and that stamina which frankly even due to his age, even in spite of his age president trump in 2016 showed he was ready, willing and able to go the distance and campaign 24/7. neil: you can say, no matter what your party affiliation when two older guys go at it, they don't really care about what others think, that is a hallmark moment. >> don't forget joe biden was ready to take trump outlined the barn or something back in 2016. neil: absolutely. it could be a media moment there. matt, normally when someone builds up the type of criticism

the president and his team had for joe biden, they might be kind of silly, some might say they're kind of funny, it's a sign that they're worried, he is one guy they worry about, what do you think? >> i would be worried, you have to take both bernie and biden very seriously. they're go front-runners. let's face it president trump is at is best when he has an opponent and enemy. that benefited him in 2016 versus hillary. he can't let him be referendum on himself in 18 we could argue. he needs to make it a choice between him and democrat. economic progress or economic stagnation. if he does that, he is much more primed to be elected. it is only about president trump's last four years. he need to be forward-looking as well. what the democrat, what a democratic presidency would look like. neil: when they polled various groups, kat timpf on age, the

one group i thought would not have a problem is older peep. young people your age, it is not a big issue. maybe it would be if they had a moment where you begin to wonder, wait a minute, but, that kind of surprised me. what about you? >> i certainly don't care about someone's age. i would like to as libertarian see ron paul run again. i don't care how old someone is as long as they are up the to the task. they care about things that affect them directly. they care about the economy. they care about their pocketbooks. they care about health care. neil: despite all the studies say in upper 70s, 80, you begin to lose your fastball. if you're my case, decade prior that's happened but my point is, does it matter to young people when they hear all of the physiological change, everything else, that maybe they themselves don't even think of for themselves because well they are decade off? >> i will never get old. i don't think it matters.

you can see the people on tv. you can see how they debate. you can see how they engage. not like you have no idea whether they will have the stamina or energy to do the job once they're in office. campaign something incredibly strenuous as well. you get a chance to see people handle it before we put them out there to be president. neil: we forget to john kennedy was among our youngest presidents. he had a whole list of health issues that didn't come to light until decade after his tragic death. there might be something to what you all are saying. we'll watch it very closely. the president will address the crowd right now. for all i know he is downing his metamucil, out he goes. i'm kidding. i always get a kick out of this stuff. i just finished my metamucil. we'll have more after this. ♪

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talks to this group today. that is the great backdrop, do you want to change horses midstream? >> absolutely. that is a legitimate question. the democrats keep saying the same thing but the same thing they said every election and it is essentially, the theme, hey, only certain group of people in this country are getting wealthy. we want to share the prosperity. looks like it is being shared. looks like wage growth is growing across the board. unemployment is growing across the board. look at number like this number, neil, it is absolutely phenomenal. one of the more intriguing news items, it will not get a lot of press, came out the michigan consumer sentiment number. there is part. where do you think your financial prospects think five years from now? 60% said they would think it would be better. that is an all-time record for that. an all-time record. neil: look where it is coming from. >> you know -- neil: will they give the president the credit for that? >> it is still debatable.

longer it goes on if this continues into 2020 it will be much harder to deny him the credit. neil: so do you think he should be up further in the polls, given that backdrop? my argument is he should be up 10 points with all of this going on whether you like the guy. this is happening in the economy, markets. it is not happening. >> people take things for granted. if the economy was in the tank, if we were crashing it would be number one topic. instead people have jobs. wages are growing up. it is not a big concern right now. so ironic, we take it for granted for things that are not. there immigration is not working. that is at the top. number one issue. so, employment is not number one because it is doing so well. that is the irony of it all. when people are stuck in the voting booth. they still have to consider do i want to change my economic circumstances. potentially change them for the worse. >> do you like the markets? >> i really do. i love them.

my favorite stock is ford. amazing $2.2 billion earnings in north america. neil: they have been like forever. >> their f-series, 47 grand is the most expensive pickup truck out there it is taking market share. americans are buying it despite higher gas prices. tells you everything we need to know about the core of the economy right now, the f-150. neil: gotcha. >> i will draw a picture. neil: thank you very much. move, move, move. all right. >> my grandfather used to sit in the back in a chair in his old pickup truck. they changed law since then. neil: thank you very much the president of the united states addressing the nra first. first sitting president to do so since ronald reagan. let's listen in. ♪ [cheers and applause]

>> thank you. [cheers and applause] well i want to thank chris and wayne. i'm thrilled to be here in indiana with the men and women of the nra. you are great american patriots. [applause] chris cox, wayne laperriere, oliver north, i've been following oliver for a long time. great guy. three extraordinary champions for the second amendment. and i'm a champion for the second amendment and so are you. it is not going anywhere. it is under assault. it is under assault but not when we're here. not even close. i also want to thank our tremendous vice president and indiana's native son, mike pence

has done a fantastic job. [applause] we're grateful to be joined by a number of terrific leaders from the hoosier state. governor eric holcomb. where is eric? you can't miss eric. he is so big. thank you, eric. senator todd young, terrific guy. [applause] thank you, todd. senator mike braun. what a job he is doing. [applause] and representative greg pence, familiar name. thank you, greg. [applause] jackie warlarsky. jackie, thank you. jim baird, jim banks, great

representatives. thank you all very much. tremendous help, tremendous. i also want to recognize secretary of the interior david bernhart. what a job he has been doing. david, thank you. thank you. [applause] the great friend of mine, kentucky governor matt bevin. [applause] thank you, matt. and the house gop whip, a man with more courage than most of us here today, he took some very, very severe shots, you know that, by a madman. and he is stronger and actually better. i told him backstage, you're much more handsome than you were two years ago. i don't know what is going on. he is. steve scalise. a lot of courage. thank you.

[cheers and applause] thank you, steve. and most importantly i want to thank all of you, the proud card-carrying members of the nra. [cheers and applause] every day you stand up for our god given rights without exception, without fail and without apology. together we're fighting for the timeless values that have built and sustained our nation. and our nation is greater today than it has ever been. stronger, richer, we're doing better than ever before. we are great americans. you're doing a great job. thank you. [cheers and applause] we believe in the rule of law and we will always protect and defend the constitution of the united states. [cheers and applause]

there are some people that are running right now, i don't think they have that number one on their list. we believe that children should be taught to love our country, honor our history, and always respect our great american flag. [applause] we believe in the right of self-defense, and the right to protect your family, your community, and your loved ones. we believe in the wisdom of our founders. and we believe in freedom and liberty, and the right to keep and bear arms. [cheers and applause] we know that faith and family, not government and bureaucracy,

are the center of american life. and above all else, we know this, in america we don't worship government. we worship god. [applause] [cheers and applause] every day of my administration we are taking power out of washington, d.c. and returning it to the american people where it belongs. [applause] and you see it now better than ever. with all of the resignations of bad apples. there are bad apples. they tried for a coup. didn't work out so well.

[applause] and i didn't need a gun for that one, did i? all that was taking place at the highest levels in washington, d.c. you've been watching, you've been seeing, you've been looking at things that you wouldn't have believed possible in our country. corruption at the highest level, a disgrace. spying, surveillance, trying for an overthrow and we caught them. we caught them. [cheers and applause] who would have thought in our country, but it's called, what we all together have done, started 2 1/2 years ago, on that

great november 8th. that was a great day. remember that day? great day. [applause] in a year-and-a-half we have one called november 3. november 3rd this time you better get ready to vote. it is called draining the swamp. we're doing it faster than anyone ever thought possible. very proud of that. [applause] around the world america is respected again because we have finally putting america first. been a long time. [applause] our economy is now the hottest anywhere on the planet earth. just this morning, we learned that the gdp smashed

expectations with the economy growing at an annual rate of 3.2% in the first quarter. always the worst quarter for whatever reason. [applause] 3.2. if we kept the same interest rates and the same quantitative easing that the previous administration had, that 3.2 would have been much higher than that but they hadn't hit these numbers in 16 years. we had a tremendous increase in inventory investment. you know what that means? and listen to this, a very big increase in net exports. isn't it about time? isn't that nice? [applause] we've added almost six million

jobs since my election. if i would have said that during the campaign all of those people back there, we call them the fake news, they wouldn't have believed it. they're fake. [booing] they're fake. blue-collar jobs recently grew at the fastest rate in more than three decades. nearly five million americans have been lifted off of food stamps since our election. [applause] wages are rising fast and the lowest paid workers are making the biggest is percentage gains of all. and that is nice to hear. it is about time. [applause] unemployment recently achieved its lowest rate in 51 years and

very shortly it should be its lowest rate in the history of our country. [cheers and applause] african-american, asian-american, hispanic-american, have reached the lowest levels of unemployment in our history. [applause] america's future has never been brighter and yet democrats have never been angrier, especially now that their collusion delusion has been exposed to the world as a complete and total fraud. [cheers and applause] it has been the greatest

political hoax ever in our country. instead of working with us to rebuild our infrastructure, lower drug prices, which by the way this year for the first time in 50 years, drug prices went down. [applause] they will go down a lot lower. and instead of working with us to fix our trade deals which i'm doing without them, and continue creating millions and millions of new jobs, which we're doing at a level that people have not seen before, that people don't even believe, democrats are obsessed with hoaxes, delusions and witch-hunts. that is what they're obsessed with. that is what they want to do. we can play the game just as well or better than they do.

[applause] far left radicals in congress want to take away your voice, your jobs, your rights and they especially want to take away your guns. you know that. they want to take away your guns. you better get out there and vote. you better get out there and vote. it seems like it's a long ways away. it's not. i was saying to melania, our great first lady, whose birthday it is today. happy birthday, melania. [cheers and applause] i remember standing 2 1/2 years ago in the same hallway where abraham lincoln and so many others have stood. my first night in the

white house, and i said to melania, i said, this is incredible. and four years seemed so long away. and now here we are. we're getting ready to start up the campaign again. start up the campaign again. [applause] i never want to do anything with maga because maga country and, make america great again has been great. but we really have made great. we made great. we brought it back. we're thinking about a slogan. keep america great, because you have social is and far left democrats that want to destroy everything that we've done. your 401(k)s are going through the roof. your stoke market since the election has hit a record high. almost 100 different records i have broken. record high. but everyone is like a genius

now. they buy stock and they're all up. everybody is benefiting and jobs are benefiting. but it can all be taken away when you start putting the wrong people in office. we've cut regulations more than any president in the history of our country. and that is in two years. in two years, years we did more to regulation, think of that, than any president in the history of our country. one of the reasons our jobs are booming. one of the reasons the economy is booming. we gave you the largest tax cut in the history of our country. the biggest ever. and we got anwr approved. we got the individual mandate, the absolute worst part of obamacare eliminated. now we're going for the rest. [applause]

we had it done except for one vote. you know what i'm talking about. in recent days, democrats proposed banning new guns and confiscating existing guns from law-abiding citizens. what they don't tell you is, the bad guys aren't giving up their guns. and you're not going to be giving up your guns either. [applause] at the same time house democrats recently voted against notifying i.c.e., these brave, great talented, brilliant patriots, when an illegal alien attempts to buy a gun. which is a felony. democrats also support sanctuary cities that release thousands of dangerous criminal aliens on to our streets. the fact they like the criminal

aliens and aliens so much that when we're forced to release them into our country because of the horrible immigration laws that the democrats refuse to give us the votes we need some of their votes to change, we give them as many as they can handle. [applause] they're not too happy about it, folks. they're not too happy. they said who came up with that idea? they said only trump could come up with that idea. we give them as many as they can handle. [applause] in other words, democrats want to disarm law-abiding americans while allowing criminal aliens to operate with impunity. but that will never happen as long as i'm your president, not even close.

[applause] i promise to defend the second amendment rights of every american and i always will. i will never let you down. [applause] never let you down. haven't so far and i won't. because as the famous saying goes, when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. very simple. [applause] the democrats are also working hard to block the wall but we are building the wall. they're not happy about it. we will have over 400 miles of wall built by the end of next year. [applause] [cheers and applause]

building a lot of wall. i want to thank border patrol, i want to thank our great military. i want to thank the army corps of engineers. they have been incredible. and we are doing something that i could do very quickly and we're doing it very quickly, but, dealing with these people is very, very difficult if you haven't noticed, okay? any politician would have given up a long time ago. so we'll have over 400 miles of wall built by the end of next year. it is going up rapidly. rapidly. [applause] we're also renovating tremendous stretches of wall. we have wall that is in bad shape, but it is structurally sound. rather than building new, we renovate it. we make it as good as new. save a lot of money. and we gain a lot of territory. so we have a lot of great things going, a lot of great things

going. [applause] most importantly, democrats must change our immigration laws right now. right now. we can do it, i used to say 45 minutes. we can do it in 15 minutes. it is very simple. you know the programs, the horrible, the asylum, where rough, tough, ms-13 gang members come in. you don't want to meet with these people but i.c.e. doesn't mind. i.c.e. is throwing them out of our country by the thousands. the democrats want to eliminate i.c.e., can you believe that? boy, oh, boy, but, it is incredible what they have done. it is incredible what we've done but they stand there asylum, they read a statement. i'm afraid for my life! i am afraid to go back to my country! i want to be in american! and you look and you see a toughness that you don't see. and you just see what happens

with the mayor of tijuana and others, they say, these people, we try and help them and they start hitting us. they start punching us. we don't want them. in our country. and they're not getting into our country. and when they have in the past, a lot of them have come in, we're throwing them the hell out. they're out. we're getting them out. [applause] but we can fix the problems so easily and when we fix the problem, the wall is one thing. and that will have a incredible impact. but they won't even be coming up if we change our old, broken, ridiculous, weak immigration laws. they won't even be coming up. they won't make the journey. the wall is still good to have. we need the wall. all of those people you see coming up, thousands and

thousands of people, they won't be coming, because they're going to say there is no way we can get into the united states anymore except by going through legal channels. what we want is we want people, we need them, for all of the great companies that are coming in but people have to come in to our country legally and through merit, through merit. [applause] one of the gravest threats to the second amendment, and to freedom itself are activist judges. you see it every day, every day. they almost always file in a certain little jurisdiction, i won't tell you what it is, but you all know. every time we get sued on the ban which we ended up winning,

you know we have the ban. we lost in the ninth circuit. we shouldn't have. we lost in the ninth circuit court of appeals, which we shouldn't have. and we won at the united states supreme court. so we have the ban. travel ban. but the reporters the other day, some reporter said, donald trump, who lost the travel ban. i didn't lose it. what he meant i lost it in the ninth circuit, but he didn't say we won at the united states supreme court. so everybody said, too bad he lost, no, we won the travel ban in the united states supreme court. [applause] but they don't say that. so when we confront them, they said, no, we were referring to the lower courts. say what about the upper court? they ruled it's done. we weren't talking about the supreme court. these are very, very dishonest people, okay?

[booing] nobody gets why they're opposed to strong military. they're opposed to all of the things that we've done, including making our nation wealthy and including high gdps. including all of the security and all of the law enforcement, all of the things we're doing. it is incredible. nobody understands it. some day we'll figure it out. i will feel much better about it. why are they opposed to things that truly make our country great? why? nobody gets it. i don't get it. the level of dishonesty and corruption in the media is unbelievable. [cheers and applause] but we're stuck with activist judges, who seek to rewrite our constitution, to force their own radical views on to our country. that is why my administration is

led an historic effort to confirm fair and impartial and mostly conservative judges who will interpret the constitution as written. and, i'm very proud to announce, that we will soon have 145 federal judges confirmed, a record number including two great supreme court judges. [cheers and applause] justice gorsuch, justice kavanaugh. [applause] two fantastic justices. in fact next week we will confirm our 100th federal judge. nobody knows what that means.

the percentage is incredible. nobody knows what that means. and in the end i expect to have the second highest percentage of judges confirmed in the history of the united states, more than any other president, except one. i will never beat this one. percentage of judges approved. you know who the one is? take a guess? george washington. he gets 100%. [applause] now he had 100%. he named everyone of them. but you know what? we'll have more of them. george washington. but we're also defending free speech on our college campuses.

[applause] last month i signed an executive order requiring public colleges and universities to respect the first amendment rights of their students or risk losing tens of billions of dollars in federal funding. you don't want to hear another voice. you don't get all of this tremendous amount of, in some cases, ridiculous amounts of dollars. [applause] we have shut down the previous administration's massive abuse of power known as "operation choke point". [applause] under this ill-advised program government bureaucrats discouraged banks from making loans to gun retailers, a backdoor attack on private gun ownership that will never be

allowed to happen on my watch. that is step one, folks. step one. you know what step two, three and four is? step four, is you don't have guns. you don't have any way to protect yourself. today i'm proud to announce another historic step to protect your second amendment rights. i didn't tell chris and wayne and oliver. i didn't even tell them about it. so they are listening to this big room someplace, saying, i wonder what he is going to do? the good thing with me, you never know. [applause] you never know. that's why we're making trade deals that are so good for our country. so in the last administration president obama signed the u.n. arms treaty in his waning days

in office he sent the treaty to begin the ratification process. this treaty threatened your su bya gte, you know exactly what is going on here, your constitutional and international rules an restrictions and regulations. under my administration we will never surrender american sovereignty to anyone. [applause] we will never allow foreign bureaucrats to trap pell on your second amendment freedom. that is why my administration will never ratify the u.n. arms trade treaty. i hope you're happy. [cheers and applause]

i'm impressed. i didn't think too many people would really know what it is. you know what it is? a big, big factor but i see a couple of very happy faces from the nra over there. i am officially announcing today that the united states will be revoking the effects of america's signature from this badly-misguided treatment. we are taking our signature back. [cheers and applause] the united nations will soon receive a formal notice that america is rejecting this treaty. [applause] as part of this decision, i will sign right now in front of a lot

of witnesses, a lot, a lot of witnesses, a message asking the senate to discontinue the treaty ratification process and to return the now rejected treaty right back to me in the oval office where i will dispose of it. [applause] by taking these actions we are reaffirming that american liberty is sacred and that american citizens live by american laws, not the laws of foreign countries. thank you. [cheers and applause] >> usa!

[cheers and applause] they all want the pen. can you believe these people? should i give it to them? [cheering] famous pen. as we protect gun rights for law-abiding citizens, we are also getting guns out of the hands of violent criminals. when i took office two years

ago, one of my highest priorities was to reduce violent crime. in the two years before my inauguration, the murder rate had increased by more than 20% and the united states had experienced the largest increase in violent crime in over 25 years. for this reason my administration resurrected project safe neighborhoods, bringing together prosecutors, police, sheriffs, and citizens groups to put the most dangerous offenders behind bars. we funded 200 new violent crime prosecutors. we charged a record number of criminal offenders. and last year we prosecuted the most violent criminals ever in our history. and now violent crime is way

down. murders in america's largest cities, dropped by 6% between 2017 and 2018, but i do have to ask you, what the hell is going on in chicago? what is going on? we could solve that problem, we would have been down even a lot more. it is not a tough problem to solve. you got to let law enforcement do what they have to do. they will solve the problem very quickly. very quickly. [applause] we don't think enough about the victims. they're too worried about the people that cause the crime. it's got to stop. that thought process is no good. the number of police officers shot and killed in the line of duty last year, i'm so happy to

report, is down 21% compared to the year before. that was the year before i took office. [applause] one of the reasons is that we are supplying police with surplus military equipment, supplies and gear, that the previous administration refused to give up. this is surplus. this is extra. we don't need it. great equipment. sitting in warehouses all over the country. billions of dollars of equipment that the military no longer needs or wants or uses but the top of the line. some of it has never been used, brand new, from vehicles, to essentially supplies of all kinds, including bulletproof vests. rather than having it sit and draw dust, i had it distributed

all over the country to our police departments. [applause] that's why you see these numbers, great thing. you know a lot of being president is common earnings right, don't you think, right? common sense. have a good heart but it is common sense. and this administration we will always stand with the heroes of law enforcement. they're heroes. they're brave. they're brave. [applause] they will tell you, they haven't felt so proud of themselves for many years because they were abandoned by washington. they were abandoned by our politicians. and not just the obama administration. before that. they felt abandoned. well they know that i love them.

and we're going to protect them just like they protect us. [applause] incredible people. great people. we've also taken critical steps to improve school safety. more than 30 states now allow teachers that are highly trained, highly trained, talented people, to carry guns in the classroom to protect themselves, protect students that they love. who is better? who is better? [applause] i've been calling for that for the last two years. i think we had a big impact. some legislation has passed and they don't have that few paragraphs. the legislators go back to governors, we're not passing unless you allow that to happen. so we've come a long way.

who is better to protect our students than the teachers who love them? through stop school violence grants we're helping local schools and police department the to hire more officers, train more teachers and address early warning signs of mental illness. [applause] every day citizens across america exercise their constitutional right to defend themselves, their families and their communities. that's a constitutional right. [applause] they want to take it away from you. they will take it away. you let these maniacs get no office, they will take that right away. you see what is going on. let the boston bomber vote. he should be voting, right? i don't think so. let terrorists that are in prison vote. i don't think so.

can you believe it? but this is where some of these people are coming from. and they're the most popular ones. when bernie sanders made certain statements the other day i said, well that is the end of his campaign. what happened, everybody agreed with him. well, most of them. we know that the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. [applause] i wanted it to be a little bit more original, than to use the phrase, that you probably heard a thousand times but what's a better phrase than that? we can't do better. how simple is that? today i want to give a few of these brave citizens the chance to share their stories directly with the american people.

a lot of television back there. of course when i start going after them, you watch the red lights go off. they don't any part of it. they come back. they need the ratings. [laughter]. [cheering] they come they come back. at a certain point i think they'll probably all endorse me. would they be dead without me? can you imagine? can you imagine? having some nice boring person get up here. well, they wouldn't be up here. they would be as far away from you as possible. april evans joins us from virginia. one night in 2015, she was home alone with her 2-year-old daughter when an intruder broke into her home, violently. april took care of it.

april, please come up. please, april. [ applause ] >> my husband is a police officer and he works night shift. one night he was at work and my daughter and i were home alone. someone started banging so hard on the door it broke in two places. he demanded that i let him in. i called 911 and i went to my room to get the gun. i haeard a loud crash. when i came out to the hallway to see, he was running towards me with a look in his eyes i will never forget. i shot him twice and held him at gunpoint until the police arrived.

this event was something that changed my life. i have never been more afraid. but i have been standing strong and i told my story again and again because each person i told, they stood a little taller knowing if i can protect myself and my family, that they could, too. protecting my family would not be possible without the right to bear arms, it's an issue that's obviously close to my heart. if these rights had been taken from us i may not be standing here today, and i may not have the healthy now 6-year-old daughter. i would like to thank you, mr. president, for your unapologetic stance on the right to bear arms. i truly believe those rights saved my life and the life of my daughter that night. thank you. >> thank you, april. she was able to defend herself.

also with us is mark vaughn, who owns a meat processing plant in oklahoma. when an employee began attacking co-workers with a knife viciously and violently, mark drew his gun and ended the assault immediately, saving countless innocent lives. mark, please come up. >> thank you, mr. president. welcome, all. i got a call late one thursday afternoon while sitting at my office, a frantic call from our customer service group, said an attacker with a knife was

victimizing people in our office. i ran to my vehicle, ran the 100 yards to the other end of our complex. it was a very chaotic scene. screaming, crying, blood everywhere. i immediately entered the building, ran down a hall -- i immediately entered the building, ran down a hallway, and saw a man attacking a woman in the neck and head with a large knife. i yelled. he stopped, paused for a moment and ran at full speed toward me. at about 18 feet i fired three rounds from my ar-15 carbine. immediately incapacitating the subject. he was a determined attacker. unknown to me, moments before he

had decapitated a co-worker and had targeted several others in our operation to be attacked that day. i was able to take that action because i have a gun and i was prepared to use it. these are central missions of the nra and i thank the nra for that, and everyone here. we have the one true thing, one true mission before us today, and that's to come together like we never have before to preserve our foundational freedom to bear arms in the defense of ourselves, those we love, those we seek to protect, and most importantly, our liberty. lastly, i would like to express gratitude no other president in our lifetime has stood with us so strongly in defense of our

second amendment rights. thank you, mr. president. >> thank you, mark. appreciate that. thank you very much. great job. thank you. finally, steven willifort joins us from sutherland springs, texas. great state of texas. where a mass shooter opened fire at the first baptist church. you all read about it, in november 2017, taking many innocent lives, wonderful, wonderful people. steven heroically risked his life to bring the horrible violence to an end. steven, please come up and say a

few words. >> i would like to thank first the nra for this opportunity and then i would like to thank our president for this opportunity. on november 5th, 2017, i was home because i normally start -- i was going to start my on-call at the hospital where i worked as an emergency plumber during on-call and could be called a lot. so i stayed home from church that day because i wanted to get rest. wasn't to happen. my daughter came into my bedroom and said dad, doesn't that sound like gunfire to you. i ran to my window thinking it was someone tapping at the window and she said no, come into the kitchen, where i

immediately said it is gunfire. my daughter was an nra distinguished expert when she was 8 years old. all three of my children, my other daughter and my son, were nra distinguished experts by the time they were 8 years old. i was an nra instructor. i ran to my safe and my daughter ran outside, ran out to her car, got in the car and ran reconnaissance for me. she ran up to the corner and came back while i was getting a gun out of my safe and loading it and she said dad, there's a man in black tactical gear shooting up the church. i said did you call 911. she said i did, they're aware of it. right away, they told me police were coming but i couldn't wait.

i couldn't wait. our police department in wilson county are some of the best officers in this world and they were racing as fast as they could, but my community couldn't wait for them. i ran out the door and i told my daughter to load another magazine for me because i gave her busy work. i didn't want her to be there if i failed, and i didn't want her to be there for a target for him. the holy spirit took over me at that moment and as i ran across the street, i yelled out. the gunman heard me inside. so did some of the people from the church. so did my own daughter. he came running out of the church and started shooting at me. i put two shots center mass. he stopped shooting at me, ran to his vehicle. the two shots center mass, he

had class 3 body armor on. they made no difference. but when he ran and turned around his door to his vehicle, i put one in his side and one in his leg. he got in his vehicle, he put two more shots through the side window. i put one where i perceived his head to be and shot through the window. he took off and ran away down the street and i'm thinking oh, my god, he's getting away. i ran out into the street, took one more shot that went through his back window, penetrated the driver's side seat and hit him just right of the left shoulder blade. he continued to run. i met up with a man that was just parked and watched the whole thing and everybody in this world would have just driven on, but this is texas. we aren't known for our sanity. i found out later his name is johnny and i got in the truck

with johnny and we gave chase. at the end, the gunman, being the coward that he was, took his own life. inside the church were more heroes than we can even talk about in a limited amount of time. but i'm here today to talk about the fact that i used my own ar-15 to confront a shooter that had dropped 15 30-round magazines in my church. he murdered 26 people and injured 20 more. there were only seven people that walked out of that church without a gunshot wound. if it were not for our second amendment right, and the right to carry an ar-15, the same style gun that he had, then i would have been out-gunned myself. if it were not for god covering

me and protecting me, i would not have been successful that day. i want to thank the nra for being relentless in protecting our second amendment rights and i would like to thank this president for defending the second amendment and i would like to say today, he says make america great again, and he's including you. you will make america great again with him but he needs you, he needs your vote, and if you do not get out there and vote for this man, then it's on you. thank you very much to the nra and thank you for president donald trump. [ applause ]

>> what pa job. thank you. thank you. can't say it better than that. i want to thank you all for your courage, because you are really living proof that law-abiding gun owners make a tremendous, tremendous difference. tremendous difference. paris, france, they say has the strongest gun laws in the world and you remember those maniacs when they went into the nightclub. i use this example, there are many examples, but they shot one person, another person, another person, another person.

hundreds of people, dead and horribly wounded to this day. that was five years ago. if there was one gun being carried by one person on the other side, it very well could have been a whole different result. the shooting went on so long and there wasn't a thing you could do about it. get over here, boom. get over here, boom. and then they left. they were captured later. there was only one gun, there were two, three, four, it wouldn't have happened. tiny percentage by comparison. but it probably wouldn't have happened because the cowards would have known there were people and their having guns, wouldn't have happened. people don't really understand the other side of the argument.

i have the debate a lot and i win the debate all the time, and the next day you see the same person who was so badly defeated in the debate going out and saying the same thing. even though he or she, i really believe, know that you can't justify their side of the argument. so gun owners make our communities safer and they make our nation stronger. americans have always understood this truth going back to the earliest days of our nation, two months before the american revolution broke out with the shot heard round the world, a group of patriots gathered along a bridge in salem, massachuse s massachusetts. in the preceding months, british soldiers had confiscated muskets in boston.

you know the story well. gunpowder was seized in somerville and the patriots in salem knew that the redcoats would soon come for the town's cannons. but the americans were prepared. they already loved our country and they were determined to defend their rights to the death. when hundreds of british soldiers arrived at the bridge, the americans stood firm, blocking their path. when swords were drawn, they didn't flinch. when the redcoats tried to steal american boats, the patriots sank those boats and sank them very quickly. when a british soldier held the tip of his bayonet against a man's chest, that man tore open

his shirt and dared him to do his worst. soon the crowd grew larger as civilians came from miles around to stand side by side with their great countrymen against tee tyramny. in the face of such unbreakable resolve, the king's soldiers had no choice but to admit defeat and failure and retreat. in the courageous actions of those early americans, we see the defiant and determined spirit of patriotism that has always willed america to its greatest victories. it is a spirit that is passed down from generation to generation, from fathers and mothers to sons and daughters. it is the spirit that lives in

each and every one of you. a duty, a responsibility, our sacred charge, is to preserve the freedoms that our ancestors gave their very lives to secure. because no matter how many centuries go by, no matter how much the world changes, the central drama of human history remains the same. on one side are those who seek power, control and domination, and on the other side are patriots like those in this hall who stand upright and plant their feet in eternal defense of our liberty. and with god as our witness, we swear today that we will defend our rights, we will safeguard our freedoms, we will uphold our

heritage, we will protect our constitution and we will make america stronger, prouder, safer and greater than ever, ever, ever before. to all of our incredible friends at the nra, thank you for fighting the good fight. it is an honor to fight by your side. and it's an honor to be with everyone in this giant hall today. i am with you, i will never, ever let you down. thank you. god bless you. god bless the united states of america. thank you.

thank you. neil: you have been listening to a stemwinder of a speech by the president of the united states, using an address to the nra as a ba backdrop to respond not only to joe biden, but the other democrats, 20 of them now, in the race to make it to the white house before he does. by laying out a blueprint for the issues he considers crucial, not only standing by the second amendment, that's a given when you are speaking to the nra, but also protecting the border, crowing a little bit about the economy, the markets, and saying this has all happened under his watch. in a bit of a surprise backdrop development, also saying formally the u.s. is going to withdraw support for a treaty that polices global arms sales. he says i am taking our signature back, referring to

barack obama signing that to cut down on international arms sales. but look at the backdrop of this event which is why we stayed on this nonstop. it is his answer to what democrats have been calling for that is really the opposite of almost each and every position he took here, including the economy, saying it's plenty strong, record strong, the markets that have come back when many of those same opponents are saying back in december they would never come back, they did. he reminded that audience of that. and looking out for common men and women who he said are ignored by the general media and those who want to take my place at the white house. i will not forget you. i will be there to protect you. again and again and again. hitting on these themes to remind people that under his stewardship, the things that a lot of americans are taking for

granted, he says, should not. all right. the read on all of that with the dow essentially unchanged, stronger than expected news, the backdrop of stronger than expected gdp report, much better than expected earnings that continue to filter in, a third of the u.s. companies have now given their results and they are much better than expected. you can go back and forth on this and play the political thing and say well, they deliberately telegraph worse than expected numbers so if they beat those, they are off to the races. that might be your opinion. but it is what it is. the fact that the markets are doing what they are, the economy is doing what it is, flies in the face of candidates who are telling their voters it's a very different world. he disagrees. the read right now from kelly jane torrance of the "washington examiner" and lenore hawkins, market watcher. i don't think you have to be right or left on this but to understand what he was doing here, it was a sort of surgical

strike issue by issue, piece by piece, not to reach the media for whom he has very little love, but to reach out to folks who he says do get it. do you think that resonates? >> i think it did. this was one of the best speeches i have heard from him in a long time. it was an excellent blow to what we're hearing. you know, let's give felons votes? that's a little uncomfortable. this is a pretty extreme message. on the other hand, i was quite pleased to see what he said about the arms deal. the idea was to stop the hostile nations that were guilty of criminal human rights, to stop them from getting weapons but it's moved into where the u.n. was trying to be able to control the transaction of gun owners from say one gun owner to another in the united states. those are very different things, stopping military grade weapons

going to dictators of brutal regimes, right? i was very pleased to hear him say that. i think it was a win for him today. neil: you know what's interesting, i will try to avoid the political thing but just looking at the strategy he took, to try to take a comment that bernie sanders made a couple of days ago about allowing those in jail to vote, including those who were behind the boston attacks, and to say that's how crazy it's getting, to give them the same sort of god-given rights that you have and you're not even in jail, but to remind people again, these are the same types who were trying to take away some of your rights to bear arms, to protect yourself. it was an interesting way to weave that in to a response, the democrat strategy. what did you think of that? >> often, neil, trump's speeches do seem like a little bit here,

little bit there, kind of everywhere. but this one really did have more of an overarching narrative. even the arms trade treaty, he seemed a little surprised that the nra members cheered, they gave him a standing ovation when he announced we wouldn't be ratifying it. but you know, he talked about terrorism. you have iran actually helped negotiate that deal and they are one of the worst offenders. they are constantly giving illegal weapons to syria. the treaty hasn't stopped that. so it really was this narrative where listen, we are letting people take away your rights, we are letting people like iran give weapons to syria but keeping us from being able to have our own sovereignty on what we do with arms here in the united states. it's the same thing with the bernie sanders felon thing. honestly, i'm a little surprised that bernie would make such a big pitch for that, because that's not going to be popular not just among nra members but other people, too. he's right, what is the emphasis on the democratic side?

it's not on really law-abiding americans, what can we do to make their lives better, what can we do about the economy, about health care. they are talking about giving votes to felons, changing the structure of the supreme court, getting rid of the electoral college. donald trump did make a good play to the average american, saying hey, i'm here for you, i have your interests in mind, whether it's the second amendment or the economy. neil: you hit it on the head there, whether or not you disagree with donald trump, whether you like or dislike him. what he was trying to remind folks, to your earlier point as well, is those other guys are trying to -- seem more interested in the status and the protection of illegals trying to break into this country. that's the way he phrased it. versus folks like you who have to pay for that privilege. and pony up the bucks to make sure ther trey're treated prope. it's different depending on the party and your point of view but then to take it to the next level to say the other party that seems to be showing

disproportionate interest in protecting those who are incarcerated than those who are trying to do the right thing, and bit by bit, piece by piece, even when it came to protection from college students who are falling behind on their bills, the president turns it around, you're paying for that. so i don't know how it resonates at the polls but i think we saw, that's why i have been following so closely this past week, a preview of coming attractions that he is trying out for 2020. what do you think? >> i think he's laying a framework that it's you, the american public, i am protecting you and that's going to really resonate at a time where people are still not all that secure financially. we saw, for example, that new household formation declined in the first quarter. that means a lot of the kids are still living with mom and dad. while we do have the unemployment still at very, very low historical levels, near

record lows, we are seeing some signs that job market is not super-strong. for example, the challenger layoff report in the first quarter was the weakest we have seen for the first quarter since 2009. there are some signs there and so people are not super-comfortable. what he's doing is saying listen to me, follow me, i will protect you and that's what they want to hear. neil: all right. ladies, i want to thank you both very, very much. sorry we got to you late with this. but again, putting a lot of these pieces together for those of a certain age, you might remember the peter faulk character columbo but he's kind of scratching his head here like peter faulk used to do, saying is this odd to you to see all this attention being paid to provide rights to those in prison, not really looking after you. providing help for college studen students, however meritorious you think that is but leaving you to foot the bill for that.

issue by issue, moment by moment, this president, whether you agree or disagree with the strategy he's taking, it's very clear what he's doing. that other party, they are looking after folks but they're not looking after you folks. we shall see. more after this.

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you've been looking at things that you wouldn't have believed possible in our country. corruption at the highest level. a disgrace. spying, surveillance. trying for an overthrow. and we caught them. we caught them. neil: all right. that's the closest the president ever came to addressing the issue of how congress want to have hearings featuring some of his administration officials,

past and present, who they're calling to sort of explain what they told bob mueller, including don mcgahn, of course, his former chief counsel, who has been called to testify as well. of course, mr. mcgahn we are told in the report had rejected and ignored the president's argument to fire bob mueller. this president saying it's over, it's done, no collusion, no obstruction, let's move on from here, an attempted coup has failed. deputy assistant attorney general under bush 43, tom dupree, good to have you back. is it your sense that he will keep fighting getting these aides to testify to the house, but that it's just a matter of time before they will have to anyway? >> i certainly think the white house will push back hard. look, the fact is historically, there's always a lot of tension, often healthy tension, between a white house and a congress that wants to bring in white house officials to testify. that's not new. i think what's a little

different here is that the trump white house has really taken a harder line than prior administrations, basically shutting the door on the possibility of any of these officials or former officials testifying. historically, these types of disputes have been worked out, resolved, negotiated, compromised before it ultimately goes into court to be litigated. i'm not entirely confident there's going to be room for compromise here. certainly if you listen to the noises coming out of the white house, they are ready to hunker down, to fight, to battle and maintain that hard line. neil: that hard line, getting in accusers' face, worked for them in what some might call a rewarding mueller report. that depends on the viewer and the reader. but it could have been a lot worse. maybe it's open-ended i guess, as you reminded me, on the obstruction issue, but it could have been and many in the white house feared it would have been a lot worse. but if he fights this, that is the president fights someone like mcgahn over executive privilege from speaking, it would probably be in his interest to try to make that not

happen because mcgahn is going to likely argue the president did indeed tell him to fire mueller, while the president says he never said that at all. how is that handled? >> yeah. i think that's a great point, because from the white house's perspective, i understand the point that they don't want to see don mcgahn up there getting questioned but at the same time, there is political risk, i think, because what it is going to suggest to a lot of the american public is that there's something they want to hide, that they don't want don mcgahn up there testifying to his conversations with the president. i think the argument would be at least from the white house's critics, would say if you're not afraid of it, why don't you let him testify. i also think that a court may well enforce a congressional subpoena, at least in part. i think if a court were to say that you can completely shut it down and you never have to put up administration officials, that might be a bridge too far. so the white house i think does need to think carefully as to whether there is any room for compromise or at least the possibility of limited testimony on the hill.

neil: we'll see what happens there. very good seeing you again. tom dupree. >> likewise. thank you. neil: as i said, with the president's remarks today, if you don't think a good many of them were aimed at one joe biden, you have another think coming. he took a lot of the issues biden has been raising both on the stump and in that campaign video, sort of picked them apart one by one, including sleepy joe and the idea or the notion the president wants to cement in americans' minds that the guy is dull and he's old. not nearly as young and robust as he, donald trump, is. leaving that aside, old or young, you also want to get a lot of green and joe biden will have no trouble raising money. the question is, how much and how soon. that's why these next 24 hours, 12 hours, whatever you want to look at it, are so important. charlie gasparino following that. what do you think? >> two things. i'm getting this from people close to biden so take it for what it's worth. they like the fact that he attacks him with name calling, okay. they think that plays into his hands. one of the things that -- nldz

t. neil: the biden people like it? >> what they are going to stress, and i'm not saying they are going to pull it off, because the democrat party has its own looney-tune, socialism, you name it. elizabeth warren, bernie sanders. did i leave anybody out. what they are going to stress is normalcy. we are bringing the country back to normalcy. every time he calls him a name and stuff, he's going to say listen, this is where we have gone. we went from a guy who is elected to uphold the constitution to some idiot calling me names. i think that's going to be their mantra. i can tell you that again, from inside the democratic party, they believe they have the best coalition. yes, wall street establishment dems, robert ruben types, hedge fund managers, will be part of that coalition, no doubt. they will raise some money. the other part of that coalition may sound like it's at odds but

they believe it could work together, unions. he's very good with unions. the other part of that coalition which they think they will essentially -- his position is anybody or better than most is african-american whose joe biden has always had great relationships with the african-american community. neil: bernie sanders does not. >> does not. i don't understand totally why. i spoke with an african-american democratic activist today. i said why, has he said something. no. he just has never like reached out to that community. now, in his defense, he represented a very white state, n you know what i'm saying, vermont. that community has never been -- he's never really gone there. biden, they really believe, the biden people believe they have the winning coalition. if you put those three together, the ability to raise money with the business community, the ability to tap into union votes, white working class, and the ability to get african-americans to vote for him as well as

kamala harris, as well as cory booker, probably, you have the ability to win a democratic party. neil: not necessarily general election, because those groups -- >> well -- neil: they have been gravitating to donald trump, right? >> they think that translates well to the general election for this reason. they think they can add to that coalition with republicans, suburban republicans. one other thing. the dream ticket i keep hearing is kamala harris and biden. that's what the biden people are talking about. that is their dream ticket. neil: interesting. thank you, my friend, very, very much. as charlie and i were talking here, we are getting some news out of united airlines that for the month of april, united expects about 130 cancellations related to its max and 900 for the month, in other words, cancellations, delays, getting their hands on the planes and seeing the planes grounded, will result in more cancellations. it's pulled out all max flights

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♪♪ if we kept the same interest rates and the same quantitative easing that the previous administration had, that 3.2 would have been much higher than that, but they haven't hit these numbers in 16 years. >> america's future has never been brighter and yet democrats have never been angrier. neil: now you know what's been the president's strategy when he can tell a group of strong nra members and proponents that quantitative easing helped the last president. the reverse of that is hurting

this president. using that to an audience that appreciated what he was saying even if some of them might not have understood what he was saying because it flies over a lost journ lot of journalists' heads, those that cover this for a living, that maybe if we kept rates at or roughly where they were when barack obama was president and allowed for the spark you got in the economy from tax cuts, we would be a lot better off now. it's an argument that has no immediate answer. he's throwing it out there. i wonder if my next guest is buying it. senior economic analyst mark hamrick. essentially what he's saying, these tax cuts, we got a lot of bang for the buck but would have had much more bang for the buck if we had the same environment barack obama enjoyed, where a very accommodative fed was in place and they were buying up any treasury note or bond that was out there and keeping rates very low. what do you think of that? >> if i had chosen my parents, i would have been a billionaire right now. you know, i find this a little

confusing, to say the least. is the president wishing that when he came into office that he would have been handed what barack obama was handed which was job losses on the order of 700,000 and 800,000 jobs a month? he is the one who asked janet yellen effectively to leave, and he is the one who nominated jerome powell. so you know, we can all try to construct -- neil: he said he regretted that decision. not so much getting rid of janet as much as hiring jerome. to your point, and the parent story there which was a brilliant analogy, is it the same president doing the same thing all over again but without interest rate hikes in the interim justified though they might have been, would we have seen higher gdp figures in the ensuing period? >> well, to answer the question directly, sure. if you had poured jet fuel on the fire, the fire would be larger. unfortunately, you might also be burning some things down and

have collateral damage. neil, obviously this is in the context of the warmup to the campaign which has already begun. neil: exactly. >> so as one who comes from the nation's midsection myself, as one who has a wife who hails from upstate new york which continues to struggle, i don't know that this is something that is going to be a compelling argument for people who continue to ask where is my economic recovery and there's no doubt the 3.2% gdp number this morning at first glance was very impressive. but you know, this doesn't change the reality for the people who have not enjoyed the expansion and -- neil: the president i think is saying, you can help me with this because you know your stuff here, that more people are enjoying that reality than had been, and given the record low unemployment levels among so many key demographic groups including traditionally democratic ones, i think he was trying to point that out, you are very fortunate to have me as

your president. this is the backdrop that i provided and these other guys, the democrats, he focused on their interest in letting convicted felons or terrorists vote, and then to talk about the party obsessed with granting rights to illegals who shouldn't be here, then americans who are already legally here, what did you think of that strategy? i'm the one making the leap it was a strategy. i don't think it was by accident what do you think? >> i think you're right. the question here is how many people are undecided on the strength of the u.s. economy at this moment. so i do tend to think the other issues that are going to help to define these questions or these actions at the ballot box effectively are not always going to go to am i better off now than i was four years ago. neil: you mentioned you are from ohio? >> midwest.

neil: your wife from upstate new york that's been waiting for a manufacturing turnaround that really hasn't quite developed to the degree i'm sure your wife or her family would like. but it was those industrial states, regions, that the president won and got those electoral votes that he sorely needed. he would probably have a tough time doing that again in states like pennsylvania. he's up in the polls in some of those, not all of those, other states. so he clearly seems to be strategizing with his comments today to address people in those states and to parlay what he did before all over again. is it your read from those states that he is succeeding? >> i think that first of all, the jury is going to still be out for however many more months there is through november but here's what i think. we know the president and i don't say this in a derogatory fashion. we know the president has an

affinity for golf and has substantial investments in golf. i feel like what he's doing here is trying to handicap himself to say you know, if i had been spotted x number of points with this economy, we would have been up to here instead of where we are right now. i don't know that that gets a lot of traction for americans who say well, yes, but we were looking for more. if indeed that's what they're asking. i'm not exactly certain that that's going to be what really makes the difference at the ballot box. it certainly wasn't what biden trotted out in his first three key arguments, really, with his campaign yesterday. neil: you are kind of reminding folks this president is known to cheat at golf now and then. >> well, i once heard president clinton's nickname had to do with him spotting himself a few strokes as well. mr. president mulligan. neil: i used to do the same in miniature golf, when i got in the clown's mouth. very interesting read of things spoken in english which matters a great deal.

amazon just told us in english that it was handily beating what a lot of people thought it would make. it also intimated that things could be slowing. after this. fact is, every insurance company hopes you drive safely. but allstate actually helps you drive safely... with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ...and brake too hard. with feedback to help you drive safer. giving you the power to actually lower your cost. unfortunately, it can't do anything about that. now that you know the truth... are you in good hands?

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neil: welcome back, everybody. 52 minutes after the hour, susan li is very busy. hardest working woman in showbusiness. she has been focusing on ceos, deemed the best out there. there are some common characteristics. susan: this is tough after this week, mark zuckerberg's company, jeff bezos, satya nadella reporting results, all doing really well. we went through a lot of these, some of them deferred by methodology. do you judge it on stock price? do you judge it on profit growth, returns, growth from stagnant bases? very hard to judge. let's go with the harvard business review. they went through this complex methodology. here is their tough five list. same guy was top last year. the fashion owner from spain. justin wong of nvidia. only guy shows up in all the lists. those are bragging rights for

him. bernard from lvmh. neil: doesn't that is the one that doesn't sleep at all? >> which one? jenson. that is superpower. a lot of ceos don't get that much sleep. like you. neil: they're coherent. go ahead. what else? >> harvard business review only looked at big caps. you have to be in the s&p global world cap index. they went into financial data. a lot of financialization went into it. stabilization. tell me if this is getting too complex for you. it is company adjusted. u.s. is cleanest of the dirty shirts as they say. does that necessarily give you an advantage? they try to baseline that out. industrywise. a lot of money rolled into tech. do you have to be in tech in order to be with the best company? not necessarily.

dollar adjustments, dividends and buybacks. neil: how about whether the employees are jazzed or happy? >> corporate culture. harvard business review analyzed that in. the name of the company they partnered up with, trying to say that very well, but it is hard. corporate good and goodwill obviously, the brand, and brand wealth. but i would say this week the number one ceo that everyone is talking about as you know, satya that dell la of microsoft. because this is a man that turned around really stagnant company to be the third trillion dollar company in the world. he lifted market value by $500 billion during his tenure. neil: multibillion-dollar institution, focusing on the cloud, all that. >> i i want to quickly get into fortune. it tells us about the smaller companies. the ceos that don't get jamie dimons, et cetera, et cetera. it is very interesting, looks like m&a. from what i see a lot of

technology is how you become the best ceo. if you can pick the right trends you get there. neil: keep the good people. keep people feeling good. it all comes together. >> like they do for us here? neil: pretty much. look at the time. gas prices are spiking. no matter who you are on the food chain, you're not happy about that. there is silver lining i will explain after this.

neil: steve moore right now, he wants to tell the world, namely "your world" on 4:00 we wants to get on the federal reserve. we have the ambassador from germany. a lot coming up. my buddy charles. charles: good afternoon, folks. this is charles payne. this is "making money." a jam-packed day for president trump. he speaks at nra convention and hosts the japan prime minister at the white house. he will discuss trade. in part because of this huge economic data out today, we continue to fire on all cylinders in this country. we have experts to help break down the numbers for you. biden is officially in. the gloves are officially off. the vice president, former vice president sits down with his first tv interview since joining a very crowded democratic field