lou: good evening, everybody. from day one of his presidency, president trump has delivered on his promise of putting america first. that delivery is no more evident than in his dealings with china. the president ending the decades of china's forced technology transfer, intellectual property theft, the theft of our technology. china pillaging the american economy of trillions of dollars. the president today said his tough stance on china is about a lot more than the economy; it is about america. >> if i wanted to do nothing with china, my stock market, our stock market would be 10,000

points higher than it is right now. but minute had to do this. to -- somebody had to do this. to me, this is much more important than the economy. somebody had to do this. we had to do it with china, had to be done. and i'm not even talking about purely economically, i'm talking about in other ways also. and they were -- it was out of control, and they were out of control. lou: also tonight more zaniness, perhaps craziness in california. just weeks aft radical -- after the radical left in san francisco attempted to soften language concerning convicted felons, they've issued a new designation for the national rifle association. we'll tell you what they now call the nra. and in hong kong, the extradition bill that sparked months of demonstrations and protests has been withdrawn by hong kong's chief executive. but the people of hong kong say much more must be doing to restore trust that has been

destroyed. fox news' jonathan hunt with the latest from hong kong. >> reporter: hong kong's chief executive, carrie e lamb, has been under intense pressure, and on wednesday she finally buckled, agreeing undoubtedly with the back of the chinese government to withdraw the controversial extradition bill that sparked these protests 13 long weeks ago. and in doing so, she called for an end to the violence that has racked hong kong. >> our foremost priority now is to end violence, to safeguard the rule of law and to restore order and safety in society. >> reporter: but what on the face of it seemed like a significant concession was quickly dismissed by protester organizers. >> it's too little, too late. and second of all, hong kong people, if you've been there yourself, the slogans that people chanting were five demands, no less.

so this is endorsement of people. this is the voice of the people. >> reporter: chief among the protesters' remaining demands is their call for an independent inquiry into what they consider police brutality over the three months of protests. without that, they say, trust cannot be restored between the people and the police, and by extension, the hong kong authorities. and the protesters say they will continue to fight until all their demands are met. carrie lam's concession might appease some ordinary hong kongers, the hard-liners will be back on the streets this weekend setting the stage for another showdown. lou: jonathan hunt from hong kong. well, joining us tonight, dr. michael pillsbury, director of the center for chinese strategy at the hudson institute. mike, let me start with hong kong. your thoughts about the withdrawal by carrie lam of the

extradition bill that would have required citizens of hong kong to be taken to the mainland at the discretion of the chinese government. your thoughts about what will ensue as a result of this immense step forward, it seems to me. >> i agree with you, lou, it's an immense step forward. i think there are two implications. one is in hong kong itself. the demonstrations will, no doubt, continue. this is sort of 13 weeks' delay. but it's the main demand. this is why the two million people came out, to make sure they couldn't just be snatched and brought to the mainland for an unfair trial. but probably the more important implication for the united states is xi jinping is, no doubt, behind this and has approved it. so this means president trump's strategy is working. we may expect now, i think, some progress in the trade talks. usually there's a sort of debate in china among the senior

leadership in secret, then they come out with a series of steps over time. so it would not surprise me to see some, see this chinese delegation come here this week after all. and don't forget, just a few days ago that was really off. things were really pretty tense. lou: but the president has also been very clear that he believes that his strong position, his strong stance on tariffs, on -- >> yes. lou: -- on eliminating trade deficits is contributing to what we're watching unfold in hong kong. that is, the chinese understand that this president will, there will be consequences if they violate human rights, there will be consequences if they do not begin structural reorganization of the trade relationship. >> right. and you saw the way he played it. he said he hopes there's a humane solution, he hopes there's a personal meeting. that hasn't happened yet with president xi. he didn't confront the chinese

directly. he didn't call them a nazi regime and that sort of thing. but he also was firm. he made clear that he wanted a successful, peaceful outcome in hong kong without really putting his foot on president xi's neck, let's say. it looks like a big success to the president in hong kong. lou: and it is, it is also revealing to watch what the chamber of commerce, the business round table and wall street, the way they are reacting now. this is, talking about they don't like to see this conflict, they don't want to see -- [laughter] >> right. bad for business. lou: not one word from these same groups, these same interests when we were losing trillions of dollars -- that is, through all of the previous presidents, all of the previous presidents, the three previous presidents to this administration -- as trillions of dollars were ripped out of our economy.

>> yes. lou: the reduction in our economic growth because of the immense trade deficits of the actual pillaging of our technology that has -- >> yes. lou: -- gone on unabated through all of this. we haven't even seen a reduction in the chinese efforts to steal what is ours. >> it's pretty bad. i think now what the next challenge the president is probably going to overcome fairly soon is the strange chinese wish withful thinking that he's not -- wishful thinking that he's not going to win a sec term. is so now he's got these two tweets yesterday, i think addressed mainly to the chinese, that don't take a risk and stall for 16 months, because i'll have a much tougher demand on you after i win my re-election. so that might work. lou: it might work. of course, it depends on him winning -- [laughter] your sense of his prospects right now, the economy that he

has overseen since his election -- maybe i should rephrase that, since his inaugural concern. >> yes. lou: which he has influenced since his election couldn't have been better through two and a half years, never has been better in the first two and a half years of any president. >> well, the chinese called it correctly in 2016. they were ahead of everybody else saying hillary clinton's going to lose for sure. they had their reasons why, they had the electoral college count. they thought trump was going to win. lou: right. >> now, i think it's -- they're telling me please come over to beijing in two weeks, we're going to brief you on the election in 2020. [laughter] so i said, yes, i'm going to beijing to hear their forecast and, obviously, tell president trump what they have to say. lou: and you be sure to debrief us as quickly as you return. [laughter] >> okay. if they're thinking trump's going to win re-election, i think they'll make concessions on trade. i think that's a sure thing.

lou: it is right now, given the pain that china is going through in all sorts of pain -- >> yes. lou: -- it is in their interests to understand that if they have aspirations to truly be an a advanced power, that they have to come m to terms with a new reality that puts away the dominance -- >> yes. lou: -- and the nonsense that, well, what is now -- >> you might agree with me that the president has more options to escalate this trade war if he desires. so the chinese, i think they know that. there's many more things he can do. lou: i would, indeed, agree with you. if nothing else, just simply out of respect for your record and your immense potential for the future. [laughter] >> i like it better when we fight. lou: yeah, this is uncomfortable, isn't it? if let's get back to it straight away. maybe next time. [laughter] michael, thanks for being here. michael pells bury. -- pillsbury. up next, the radical dems are eating their own. the latest on the democratic

presidential hopefuls. it is not always a pretty sight. and san francisco is, of course, a sanctuary city but no sanctuary for the rational. just ask the nra. and we correct the record tonight on an element or two of last night's broadcast. that and more right after the break. ♪ here, it all starts with a simple...

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lou: well, let's turn to the radicalt just now on the san francisco board of supervisors in particular. the board has passed a resolution declaring the national rifle association to be a domestic terrorist organization. this comes just weeks after the supervisors passed a resolution rebranding convicted felons as, quote, justice-involved person. in october of 2015, two months after kate steinle was killed by an illegal immigrant, the supervisors voted unanimously to keep the city's sanctuary status. then supervisor malia cohen said at the time, we cannot allow one event to dictate 25 years of our city's policies toward undocumented immigrants. it is interesting that it took one noted instance, that was the

shooting at the fair in california, to change the mind about the direction they would go with the nra. it's quite an interesting state right now. 2020 democratic hopeful and spiritual guru mary anne williamson slamming the radical dems, the democratic party for their meanness and their lies. williamson telling the new yorker, quote: i know this sounds naive, i didn't think the left was so mean. i didn't think the left lied like this. i thought the right did that. i thought we were better. not so. well, joining us tonight, former reagan white house political director, fox business political analyst, the dean himself of republican strategists in this country, ed rollins. ed, let's -- first, mary anne williamson, her discovery, she is in a race with cannibals. >> i'm very happy for her to learn something out of this election, because she's not going to go any place as a

viable candidate. but having been in the trenches for 50 years with democrats, they're tough. they play the game in a hardball way, and they a basically will do whatever it takes to win, and that's american politics. lou: i'm not going to mention any names. i was talking with a leading republican this week who said that it was unfortunate that this had to be about party. this is all about party politics. and the republicans are playing the part of the naive and passive patsies while the left is filled with venom and vigor and viciousness. >> well, republicans basically see politics as an avocation, sort of a hobby. democrats -- lou: at which which they're not very damn good. >> and democrats see it as a lifelong occupation in which they're going to change and change radically, just as that board of supervisors in san francisco -- i'm very familiar with that, having grown up in the bay area many, many years

ago. they are left-wingers, they basically don't believe in jails, criminals, in anything -- lou: they don't believe in reality. >> just to show even a further case, the state assembly in california passed a new -- hasn't gone to state senate yet, but it will probably this week, to give 16-year-olds the right to vote. lou: where was that? >> california. 16-year-olds are still playing, you know, games in high school. they're not ready to vote. and 18-year-olds were in vietnam, the premise was if you're going to fight for your life and the country, you should be able to vote. lou: so what would you say about 16-year-olds, if you're going to do what, get the keys from daddy? >> >> they keep trying to broaden that base, and the reality is that california's a lost state for republicans at this point -- lou: what about new york? >> equally. any republican running for president, president trump or anybody else no matter what kind of job, they probably are 5, 6

million votes behind before they even start. so you have to make it up elsewhere. lou: 16 resignations already in the -- >> in the house. five of them in texas. and i hope this is not a trend where we saw a trend -- lou: sounds like it already is. >> and the reality is what they have to understand, what the president and the leader has to do, mccarthy, is this election sets up for reinforcements after '20, and we have to get the president reelected, we have to get a large number of the house -- lou: let me ask you this, because this seems, to me, to be what it boils down to. talking about senators danes and perdue, doing what the president had approved and lighthizer, but at the same time the voices on this were so just milk toast. the words just sort of lay there as they talked about leveling the playing field between -- as if we're not talking about trillions of dollars here, we're

talking about an existential threat as the president stated to the united states. and i am talking about china is exactly that. and we can't even get from the republican party in the house or the republicans in the senate vigorous support for this president in advance of an election that is now within the next year and a half. year and, well, 14 months. >> it's going to be a close election no matter what. people have to understand it's -- we could lose the presidency. trump has had a great presidency -- lou: people have to understand, what about the senators and the house and the republican party? >> we could lose the whole game. we have to get in this battle as deep as any i've seen in the last 50 years. there's a lot at stake here. the house is at stake, the senate could be at stake now. lou: so why in the world, what kind of person is sitting in the house of representatives or the senate who doesn't come back on

their haunches and just roar like a damn lion and go get 'em? >> well -- lou: because there are no lion withs that i can see. >> and the two gentlemen who are in the senate on china, should be telling the chinese the president is being supported by the country -- lou: well, they did that. >> and we're going to keep fighting. lou: they know that already. >> i haven't heard anything in public. they need to is have a press conference -- lou: you know, the hell with press conferences. i'm getting tired of what is basically the republican response to viciousness but highly energized viciousness of the democratic party on the part of republicans. they basically say we're going to write a strong letter. we may hold a hearing someday. i mean, it's just nonsense! they are impotent, and they are not worthy of support if they don't go to work for this president, because i think you'll agree with me about this,

either this president wins the election in 2020, or the republican party may be, may be -- what many of the democrats hope -- and that is a thing of the past. >> well, if we have a defeat like we had in the midterm, losing 40 house seats and a battle to hold the senate in 2020 in addition to the presidency, every republican who cares deeply needs to be fully engaged here, fully are engaged. lou: fully engaged. i think they ought to be mad as hell and going after every one of these -- >> they should be. lou: that are trying to still, still subvert this president and his policies. it is beyond comprehension. >> and instead of being embarrassed, which many of them are -- lou: the hell with embarrassment, get mad and get the hell over it. >> that's what i was going to say. lou: excuse me. >> been around you too long. i'm mad as hell, and i'm going to keep fighting until we get this thing owl done again.

-- all done again. lou: ed rollins, appreciate it. president trump backs boris johnson to deliver on brexit. >> boris is a friend of mine, and he's going at it, there's no question about it. he's in there. i watched him this morning, he's in there fighting. and he knows how to win. boris knows how to win. lou: and a new poll shows just how popular president trump is among republican voters. we take that up with the chair of the republican national committee, ronna mcdaniel joins us. we've got a few quick messages, then we will be talking with her. stay with us.

lou: more great news for the president, a new poll shows republicans are more supportive of president trump than they are of the republican party. in the harvard harris poll, 42% of republicans or

independent-leaning republicans say they are more supportive of donald trump than the republican party. that's up three points from last month. republicans who say they're moreportive of the party fell from -- more supportive of the party fell to 36%. joining us tonight rnc chair ronna mcdaniel. great to see you. and, ronna, let's start with this harvard harris poll. the president has got to be pleased. so do you, even though it has mixed news for the party. the fact that you have a standard bearer like the president in these circumstances is about the best news the republican party has going into 2020, isn't it? >> it's a great thing for the party to have the president leading our party and be someone who expands our base, who attracts voters that haven't always looked at the republican party. it's part of the reason why he won in 2016. and every candidate on the ballot in 2020's going to benefit from that expanded base that the president brings to the

fold. he will help everybody down ticket, he will help us maintain our majority in the senate and win back the house because there are people who will vote for president trump that won't show up for other candidates. lou: well, winning back the house is, right now, looks -- looking like a tall, tall order. it's incredible to me, 15 republicans retiring. fully a third of them are in the state of texas. bill flores, the latest. that looks like uphill work for the republican party, to hang onto the state of texas. which was inconceivable just four years ago. >> i feel very good about texas. governor abbott had a very decisive win in 2018. he's a very popular governor. we do see these retirements between every election, it's typical. and remember, we only have to flip 18 seats in the house to win back the house. so i think every republican should be looking at how do we

keep the senate, how do we take back the house and absolutely, how do we reelect our president. lou: who is helping decide who the candidates are going to be for your party? i gotta tell you, what i saw the senate do in 2016, in 2018 was, frankly, i thought in some measure and certain numbers absolutely unfathomable. the congressional candidates, many of them i thought were -- they lost, most of them. they didn't have the sense to support the president. they didn't have the credentials to win on their own. what are you going to do to assure that the republican party doesn't tear itself to pieces going into this critical, critical presidential election year? >> well, you hit the nail on the head, lou, candidates matter. and that's why president trump has more popularity within our party than any of the other candidates. he also expands our party and brings in democrats and independents. so candidates do matter.

the arms of the house and the senate, they recruit candidates but, ultimately, the voters decide who's going to go into that general election. and what we have seen with our republican base is they support candidates that support this president time and time again. lou: support this president. and then you have senator pat toomey. the president is clearly winning in the trade war. and, by the way, if it's only a stalemate right now, he will win it to the great pain of communist china. but pat toomey complains the ongoing trade war -- imagine this, because it shows his lack of understanding of economics, his lack of understanding about the trade relationship itself with china. he's saying that it could absolutely hamper the u.s. economy. this is mysterious and, as i said, unfathomable. >> well, the status quo with china hampers the u.s. economy.

and this is a president who stood up to china. he ran on it. he has said e we're not going to be taken advantage of. we're going to make fair trade deals. we're not going to let countries take advantage of our workers, of our manufacturing base, and he has done so with strength, boldness and resolve. lou: so why can't we use those words with members of the senate and the house? with strength and resolve? are you kidding? >> we need too. lou: they're irrelevant to most of the members of the house and the senate. >> we have to have resolve s. and when you look at joe biden saying china is not a competitor, china would love joe biden because, you know what? then -- lou: they love most of the republican, by the way, most of the republican establishment candidates too, the rinos, as you well know. they are like, you know, puppies rolling over for their kibble.

ronna, there's one other thing i want to just conclude with very quickly. if we can put up this graphic, it's a recent poll from harris again. the harvard harris poll for the hill, i believe. 67% say that it is necessary to confront china's trade practices, this despite the majority surveyed who acknowledge the suggestion that the tariffs will slow town our economy -- slow down our economy as well. you can argue the point, i personally think that's nonsense, what will destroy this economy is to continue to be the sucker for the rest of the world. >> the president is absolutely doing the right thing, and we know he's not going to blink. and he recognizes that we've been taken advantage of, and -- lou: well, i'm not worried about the president. i'm not worried a bit. what is your party going to do with that? what in the world are we going to see from your party? >> well, i -- as rnc chair, as

rnc chair, we are out talking to voters every day, and we hear this, i hear it from farmers, from manufacturers, they say tell the president thank you for staying strong -- lou: what do they say to tell those rino senates? those rino congressmen in. >> they say stand with the president on this. he's doing the right thing. we need to do this from a position of strength, otherwise we'll be taken advantage of by china for years and years and decades to come. this is the time to stand tall. lou: as always, great to see you. ronna mcdaniel, the best leader the rnc has had in many a year. >> thank you, lou. lou: coming up here next, more troubling questions about whether james comey's fbi, are you ready, colluded with clinton's attorneys. could be. what are the odds? we'll find out more as we talk with alan dershowitz right after this quick break. stay with us.

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lou: president trump's attorney, jay, tweeting he has documents that suggest james comey's fbi may have colluded with clinton attorneys in order to circumvent federal law. the tweet includes a story detailing comey's, quote: covert operation against president trump by inserting fbi agents inside the white house.

that's right, two of them. joining us tonight, harvard law professor emeritus, author alan dershowitz, and it is great to have you with us, alan. a lot going on. let's first get to your, i want your professional opinion, if i may, of how slowly the justice department under this new attorney general is moving, how has there been, to this point, no accountability whatsoever for anyone involved no matter whether they were former and fired or resigned officials of the fbi. what is going on? >> well, i think they're doing it with all deliberate speed. the inspector general is a very careful guy. he's issued one report. there are others coming, and attorney general barr -- who's a very decent man -- has assigned the investigation to the u.s. attorney in connecticut, and u.s. attorneys don't move quickly. they don't try to respond to the needs of the media. so -- lou: whoa, whoa, whoa, this

isn't the needs of the media with, this is the needs of the american people to know -- >> people need to know, but they don't need to know right away. there's time. lou: says who? who the hell says that, alan? >> i say -- lou: there was a time when you could get a report after a, an investigation, a thorough investigation. now you get an investigation from the fbi, and you know truth is has just gone somewhere quiet to die. >> i don't think we're getting nexts by the fbi -- investigations. we're getting investigations against the fbi from the inspector general that came out very, very hard on the fbi, and i don't think the investigation going on in connecticut is going to be an fbi investigation. obviously, the justice department has to use agents, and the agents are fbi agents, but the report's not going to come from the fbi -- [inaudible conversations] they don't want democratic truth, they want the truth. lou: yeah. and i'm -- by the way, the truth is an independent and objective reality, i think most of us

agree. the perception may be somewhat varied, but that's another matter. >> that's right. lou: but the idea here is that we have a nation right now that is disgusted with the fbi. >> i agree. lou: the corrupt leadership -- i'm sorry? >> i agree. i agree. i think you are right. lou: we have a governmental issue, we have a crisis of confidence in the number one law enforcement agency in this country. and they're behaving as if it's a game. you've got strzok involved in deciding, you know, culpability? >> it's a scandal, i agree with you. i think it's a scandal. no, i agree with you. lou: -- the next attorney general if they behave with the arrogant, condescending insistence that they do it their way rather than the american way? >> look, i have known this attorney general for a long time, i have an enormous amount of faith in his integrity. i think he was the right person at the right time for the right job -- lou: i do too. >> the team accurates don't like

him -- yeah, yeah, okay. and i think he's trying to get to the bottom of this, but he needs credibility. and getting a quick report out that will seem partisan to some will not give it the credibility -- it took a long time for the inspector general to come out with his report, but almost everybody agreed with its conclusion that comey had done some terrible, terrible things, violated his own standards. we need a single standard of justice and a single standard of credibility without regard -- lou: well, it can't be done -- >> nobody trusts the democrats in the senate to investigate, nobody trusts the republicans -- i'm sorry, the opposite, the republicans to investigate in the senate, the democrats to investigate in the house. [inaudible conversations] lou: alan, specifically the greatest crisis of trust is in the law enforcement agency that we depend upon -- >> i agree. lou: -- for investigation. our greatest crisis of trust is with the department of justice which is a department of nothing more than partisan, left-wing hacks at this point. and it's disgusting.

and the american people are not fools who are going to be saying, you know, all things in good time, lady justice is not only blind, but slow moving. she's corrupt right now. >> what happened when, what happened when the nixon -- lou: let's worry about this one -- >> edward levy. and now they've appointed barr. i think barr is the right guy. lou: i do too. but i do think it's important that anyone with any standing in your profession urge him to move expeditiously. the justice department has just shown extraordinary incompetence at best at a time when it needs to show something far more. your thoughts. >> well, i think on the epstein matter there's no excuse for them having allowed him to to be under circumstances where he could take his own life. he tried to do it once, they should have put him under

suicide watch. he was allowed to be in a room with no one else, no video cameras with bed sheets, and he killed himself. that's a tragedy and denies the victims the opportunity to have justice, it denies the american people the opportunity to have the whole truth. i hope the investigation will proceed. i'm the one who went to the justice department and the d.a.'s office asking them to fully e investigate this matter and to look into both the accused and the accusers, and i hope that that investigation will go forward. lou: you have to be, no matter how knowledgeable you were or were not years ago, 11 years ago, you have to be shocked at the scale and the scope of jeffrey epstein's connections in sex trafficking, and it was definitely that. it is, it really begs a great deal of credibility to think that this was simply an accident. i'm not saying that it was

otherwise, i'm just saying it's very hard for americans to buy what they are being sold on this because there are so many open, unbelievable questions. >> i agree, and i think there ought to be a very, very thorough investigation. we all ought to keep an open mind about it. i think jeffrey epstein made a decision that he couldn't bear the possibility of never seeing freedom again and took his own life, but there are other possibilities, and they should all be explored, and everybody should end up being satisfied that this is what happened, and the investigation should continue. i urge that. tomorrow there's going to be a hearing to unseal documents. i'm in favor of up sealing everything -- unsealing everything. no secrets. let it all be out there. let the public judge what's true and what's not. devices are like doorways

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lou: another bloody weekend in chicago. nine dead, dozens injured in chicago after the labor day weekend. the chicago tribune reported 44

people in chicago were shot,9 of them killed between friday night and this morning. up from 27 shot and 7 dead over labor day weekend last year. it seems -- senate ted cruz -- senator ted cruz noting the city contains some of the nation's strictest gun laws. instead of acknowledging the issue, chicago mayor lori lightfoot blamed republicans for guns in chicago. go figure. feminist author and college professor camille caglia speaking out against a failed attempt by her students to remove her. noting her own generation of students compared to this, saying, quote: college students have devolved from rebels into skittish supplicants,

petitioning people in authority to protect them from real life. end quote.

lou: president trump may soon win another victory in his effort to get germany to contribute more to nato. under the new u.s.-backed proposal, american contributions to nato would fall from 22% to

almost 16% beginning in 2021. germany would be forced to increase its share from 15 to 16%. perhaps they could actually pay what they're obligated to, that would be a very refreshing turn of events. british prime minister boris johnson suffering defeat, parliament voting to block his no-deal brexit. law makers trying to prevent johnson from pulling the country out of the european union without a plan in place. you can what was theresa may doing all that time? well, that's your answer. parliament today also voted against johnson's motion to hold a snap election for october 15th. he's in a mess. the justice department here, speaking of messes, facing increasing pressure in court and on capitol hill to release key documents pertaining to the origins of the fbi's russia collusion investigation. the special counsel investigation. the senate judiciary committee now asking for declassification

of documents related to michael flynn and flynn's legal team is asking a court to review part of the inspector general's spending report on fisa abuses. joining us tonight, charlie hurt, washington times opinion editor, author, fox business contributor. charlie, great to have you with us. >> hi, lou. lou: let's start with, first of all, the idea that we might actually find something out about spygate. we still don't have the scope memos, we still -- we don't know what happened to the anthony weiner laptop, for crying out loud. we don't know why nsa won't provide us or the investigators and the justice department with copies of the so-called missing e-mails because that's what it is, so-called, because those are retained by the n is sa. nsa. >> and, of course, you know, absolutely nothing is more important than going back and

getting to the bottom of the origins of the investigation in the first place. because as people, you know, you could have said from the very beginning what we had here was you had an administration -- these are the facts that we know, you had an administration using america's spying apparatus to spy on political opponents at the height of a presidential election. that, those are all known, undisputed facts. and that should terrify every american regardless of what your political stripe is. and the idea that all of that information hasn't already been revealed, i think, shows two things. one is how dastardly these people are. but also how terrified they are of what's going to happen when that information does come out. lou: and there is every, it seems to me, every reason to be

very concerned about the republican party. because there isn't enough energy within the republican party itself, aligned interests within the party, to this point, to actually stand up for this president, stand up for the american people. it is as if they are so used to kowtowing to the -- >> yeah. lou: -- to the chamber of commerce, the business with round table, to wall street, corporate america, that right now they're confused about the fact they are in charge of the senate, they are in charge of the white house. and they act like they're awaiting orders. now, they may be doing that and they justin haven't received them -- just haven't received them from goldman sachs and from the business round table and tom donohue at the chamber. [laughter] but this is an opportunity opportunity for them, and it's the only opportunity they've got, and that is to support this president and drive home to victory in 2020. >> well, you put your finger on the exact reason why donald

trump shot to the top of the field of republicans and then, of course, won the election, and that is because he is not afraid. he is willing to go and stir up a hornets' nest. he's willing to stand for stuff. he's willing to make hard negotiations whether it's with china or iran or with democrats domestically. there's nobody he's not willing to sit down is and sort of negotiate with. and it's such a breath of fresh air. and of course republicans ran into the arms of a guy that's willing to stand up for those principles. lou: but this president, it seem to me, there's no question he's done more than any president in modern history. he -- no one has presided over an economy like this. this is a man who has deregulated as a rate not even imagined, let alone achieved by any of his predecessors. he is turning the calculus on international trade. china is, i believe, fully comprehending now that this president is not one to be

trifled with. this is, to me, extraordinary. the holdouts here on appropriate credit and respect are the rinos of the republican party, and they have the capacity to create great pain through their passivity in 2020. >> yeah, and just think about, think about what this president is up against in his effort to secure the border. he's up against not only democrats, but also members of his own party. and he's up against -- lou: paul ryan single-handedly stopped the construction of the wall that president trump is now building. >> yeah. and then you go beyond those people and you look, my goodness, the federal courts are completely standing to thwart any effort to do -- lou: the obama appointed judges. charlie, we're going to have to run. appreciate it, as always. great to see you. thanks so much.

and we'll take up your book in an entire segment here in the week ahead. >> still winning. lou: i love it. till winning. what a lovely title. thanks, charlie. good night frororororo cheryl: it is 5:00 a.m. here are your top stories at this hour. the dow up 46 points in the premarket, does the u.s. have a leg up in the trade war? new reports indicate china taking a hit from the tariffs. the white house is warning investors to, quote, play the long game. those comments not hitting futures right now. dow up 45. lauren: is big tech too big? today, over 40 state attorneys generalses will launch an anti-trust probe into google with facebook waiting in the wings. cheryl: is the dmv selling your certainal information? a new report says the agencies uses loopholes to make millions over selling your data. lauren: who needs to pay