bank of america has more room to run to catch up. >> very good ideas thanks guys to check out more check out barron's.com and offered follows on twitter, barron's online. that's all for us, see you liz: got to go.rron's congressman, thanks for coming in. >> thank you. lou: good evening everyone. president trump heading to florida tonight after getting more work done in two weeks than the entire democratic party this year. house speaker pelosi, the enigmatic figure in the three-year effort by her party to overthrow president trump, today she couldn't -- well, she couldn't imagine moving those two articles of impeachment over to the senate, trying to overthrow the greatest president in our history, but then she shocked every creature in the swamp. she refused to send over those articles to the senate. thereby, raising lots of questions. for example, if those articles

are never sent to the senate, then was there ever an impeachment in the house? the mystery deepens. we will explore that here tonight. as for mitch mcconnell, he's fine with all of it. he doesn't need swamp attorneys to tell him that no charges, no trial, and no way will the corrupt radical dems be able to retain control of the house come november. no way will they ever stop president trump's reelection. the president for his part still demanding a full trial, and the president is now accusing pelosi of looking for a quid pro quo. there it is, quid pro quo, with the senate. and he's asking why her party isn't impeaching her, but by hanging on to the two weakened partisan impeachment articles, speaker pelosi seemingly is trying to reel in her party of hate from the brink of their own destruction. pelosi explaining today president trump will be as she

put it impeached forever if she just simply hangs on to those articles, for appeasing the rav ra vid radical members of her democratic caucus and not allowing the senate to fully exonerate president trump. that's quite a construction and maybe, but we know history is written by the winners, then means president trump and the republican party he leads will be the ones who decide. and it will be exoneration, and it will be century after century of -- for this president. as the democrats plot to remove the president is put on hold, the president tonight is set to sign the defense spending bill, handing him yet another legislative victory. the 738 billion dollars bill creates a new branch of the military, the space force, and provides a fraction of the funding he sought for a border wall, but still it's a billion

or so dollars. we're awaiting the president's departure from the white house. we will bring that to you as well as any of his remarks should he make some. joining us tonight is general jack keane, former vice chief of staff of the u.s. army, retired four star general, fox business senior strategic analyst. general, great to see you. >> great to see you, lou. lou: as they say, seasons greetings. let's start with this bill, 738 billion, the president is committed to rebuilding the military. this is a significant installment in that effort. >> yeah, this is the third major -- of this administration. all of it is vitally needed. as you know, lou, and our audience is aware, we dug ourselves a deep hole during the obama administration and also as a result of sequestration, the so called budget control act. lou: uh-huh. >> it will take a number of years to dig us out of it. i mean, it is similar to the

reagan defense buildup post vietnam war is what we're doing here post 9/11 wars to dig us out. and this time the hole is a lot deeper than it was when reagan was dealing with it. so we're going to have to continue these kinds of budgets for a number of years if we're going to get to the place where we should be, where we have dominance once again of military capability worldwide. lou: it is one of the reasons there's so much concern about the -- if you will, the content of the so-called phase one trade deal with china, that is, national security and economic security. how concerned are you about what has been negotiated and how important it is to our country's future? >> listen, the most important bilateral relationship i believe in the 21st century is the united states and china. this is the first time we have a president who is pushing back on a predatory nature of china both

economically and geopolitically and militarily. this is a step in the right direction. phase one of the trade deal pushes back on china and begins to create some fairness in our trade practices. also, lou, i think it gives us some leverage against the chinese geopolitically. i think it helps dealing with the hong kong issue and also helps dealing with the korean issue. this is the first time that china has had somebody standing up to them, and now the president's got some wind at his back because there's consensus in the united states that china is a predator. and they never became the country many people thought they would when capitalism was opened up, that they would eventually have political reform. that didn't happen. they've actually cracked down more. they're more authoritarian now -- lou: i think you are right. >> -- then they have ever been. lou: general, north korea, the president today and i just want to very quickly show the audience his most recent tweet, saying had a very good talk with president xi of china, if we

could put that up, concerning the giant trade deal. china's already started large scale purchases of agricultural products and more. formal signing being arranged. also talked about north korea, where we are working with china and hong kong. your thoughts about what is moving ahead there, particularly with north korea? >> well, the north koreans are very frustrated. we're going all the way back to february, when they wanted complete sanction relief and were not giving us anything in return for that, of any consequence, not a single weapon, missile or nuclear capability was going to be destroyed. so they are back here trying to leverage us again by threatening the so-called christmas gift which is likely test-firing of a long range missile i would assume. that's not going to change president trump or this administration's determination. we're going to continue with those sanctions. and i believe, lou, the russians and the chinese have never

followed the sanctions that they voted for in the u.n. and i think we should put more pressure on them to crack down. they are providing economic assistance to north korea. lou: i thought it was interesting that the defense secretary said very clearly that he would like to move resources from afghanistan to support the china challenge to u.s. power. your thoughts about that very direct and open statement of purpose. >> well, i think in general, that is what we're doing. we have russia and china as major competitors, and we're adjusting our resources globally to face that threat. and this is just a piece of that, but nonetheless, an important piece. there's much that we have to do in terms of military capability in the pacific. the chinese are the most rapidly growing military in the world. they don't have the kind of

dominance that we have, but they have very specific capability that could cause us a lot of problems and particularly with our allies, so a step in the right direction. lou: your reaction to a subject you and i have discussed over the years, and they are encapsulated in the so called afghanistan papers, the disaster, the devastation, and the tremendous cost in life and treasure of our venture in afghanistan has cost america. >> well, first of all, i don't know if there really was a conspiracy organized as such, to deceive the american people. this much i do know, from the time we made the decision to go to iraq, and that decision was made in december of 2001. lou: right. >> right after we had taken down the taliban in afghanistan. as a result of that decision, for the next seven years, we never had the resources right. therefore, we didn't have the strategy right.

and then when obama came in, he never gave the military the resources that they wanted to have. he cut them 25% of what was the minimum required to win. that's what general petraeus and mcchrystal both very capable people, highly respected was their recommendation. yeah, i mean, my frustration is we have never had this thing right, lou. never have we had it right. that's the concern i have. i don't know enough about the specifics of it in terms of a conspiracy to deceive the american people. the generals i know would not do something like that. but i also know that they were very frustrated because they never had the tools that they wanted. lou: their frustration, the american people's frustration, the blood lost that was -- i don't believe adequately acknowledged on the part of the american people, even party by party or politician by

politician, but to see these elements of the afghanistan papers are only coming out that there had been resistance to making them public is a shame. now, i think that you make a point that is valid. the american people knew that this was costing way too much, both in life, in time, and treasure. we knew that it was costing trillions of dollars, and yet there was still no consensus within our senate, our congress, certainly the white house, to bring the military -- to rein them in and to focus them. indeed, it was the opposite. they tried to avoid consequence, and as a result, created far worse consequences in costs than should have ever been permitted by the american people. >> i can't go as fully there as you've just done because -- lou: general, i was inviting you to do so, so nicely.

[laughter] >> i know. i know, lou. we went to afghanistan because of 9/11 and the 3,000 dead that we had, and we were trying to prevent that from ever happening again and do as much damage to al qaeda as we could. we have accomplished that mission. they have not been able to conduct another strategic -- strategic attack like they did on the homeland because we have kept our foot on the throat of al qaeda and we have used bases in afghanistan, lou, to attack the al qaeda in pakistan, and we do that on a regular basis. lou: right. >> and we don't want them to establish a safe haven again. so that is something the american people got to be aware of. i'm not going to go anywhere near the fact that anybody says that we squandered 2300 lives in afghanistan. that's just not -- lou: that isn't my word. i didn't say squandered. >> i know you didn't, but other people are saying that, but the fact is we went there to prevent the al qaeda from attacking again, and we have achieved that, and we're continuing to

achieve that. lou: general, always, always educational to talk with you. we appreciate it so much. thank you very much. general jack keane. >> okay, good talking to you, lou. lou: up next, a star witness for the house democrats and their impeachment farce. they say president trump isn't truly impeached because of well some very fancy legal talk. it looks like it is also some pretty fancy politics on the part of one nancy pelosi. the economy continues to soar, so do your markets. more americans feeling a lot better about america. we will have that and much more right after this quick break. stay with us. nationwide helps you invest for your future, brad. so you can plan for retirement and save for college. oh, that explains this. the nationwide dome. state-of-the-art venue. 80-yard screen. fantasy sports lounge. climate controlled seats. sushi bar. club level pool. really? lastly... retractable roof. whoa.

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the dow finishing up over a percent this week. the s&p up a percent and a half. the nasdaq up over 2 percent. crude oil finishing over $60 a barrel. silver up more than a percent, $17.12 an ounce. star liner spacecraft launching today at cape canaveral but failing to achieve its mission of reaching the international space station. a software issue prevented the spacecraft from achieving the correct orbit. the flight was supposed to be the final key test before the starliner launches nasa astronauts up to the station and to space. reminder listen to my reports three times a day, coast to coast, on the salem radio network. a new poll from cnn of all places finding a majority of

americans are loving this trump economy. why shouldn't they? the poll shows -- excuse me -- [inaudible] -- feel very good about the country's economic conditions. that's up from 67% last year. and the secret federal court that allowed trump campaign aide carter page to be spied on now wants to know more about an fbi attorney who falsified evidence to get a warrant approved. the fisa court's chief judge rosemary collier is requesting other surveillance requests that the attorney was involved in. the attorney who was not named in the ig report has resigned and may face criminal charges. meanwhile, collier will be stepping down as chief judge in march for personal reasons. the supreme court chief justice john roberts has appointed emmanuel bozeberg, an obama

appointee to take over. joining us tonight is host of the salem radio broadcast america first, former strategist to president trump author of the new book "the war for america's soul". good to have you with us. >> wonderful to be back, lou. lou: let's start with the issue of the night and the mystery speaker. if indeed she does not deliver these pathetic articles of impeachment to the senate, one of the country's leading constitutional scholars says there was never an impeachment. what do you make of it? >> it's remarkable, lou, that one of their own star witnesses is saying that this is the ultimate shell game of all shell games. the idea that -- do you remember we were told that nancy pelosi said this is so urgent, we have to have these impeachment hearings because of the severity of the crimes involved.

they rush it through in six weeks. they gavelled a motion. they have a completely partisan voting of the two pathetic impeachment articles, and then suddenly there's no rush. suddenly she doesn't have to pick managers. she's not going to send it to the senate. what happened to the urgency? this is all the proof you need that this was a political scam from the beginning. they are trying to slow roll the process, and as one person shared with me this very interesting theory, they may be afraid of what's going to happen in the supreme court, in the coming weeks. perhaps ruth bader ginsburg will step down, and the most devious, diabolical plot that i have heard used as a possible explanation is to say they want an excuse to say oh, donald trump is in the process of being impeached. therefore, we're not going allow him to nominate the supreme

court justice. this is pure politics, if nothing else, lou. lou: yeah, i think that it's certainly politics, but i'm also -- perhaps i'm -- you know, i'm on the margins of this thing. it could be nancy pelosi being extremely clever because i'm one of those people that thought there should be an off ramp for her, to spare the president the historical asterisk, and this could be quite a contrivence on part of her because two things could happen, she spares the president the asterisk, he will stay in the office, but at the same time, she brings in aoc to lead the whole bunch of radical dems that has insisted on this

course and just might save that party from a total disaster in november. >> i think that disaster is going to happen anyway, lou. look at the figures. 11 trillion dollars added to the economy in just three years. the best markets, the best unemployment figures we have seen since 1969, and what do the democrats want to do? give taxpayer-funded health insurance to illegal aliens. that's the only reason he's being impeached because they have no platform and he committed only one crime, lou. the president committed the crime of beating hilary clinton. lou: i've constructed a rationale for the dems. what do you make of it? >> i don't buy it anymore -- i've been told for so many years now that nancy pelosi is the arch strategist. she's playing chess. have you seen her recent press conferences over the last two months? she can barely string sentences

together. when somebody, such a good reporter as james rosen asked her a simple question, do you hate the president? she points her finger at him and says you are mr. g.o.p. talking points. that's not a sign of a woman who is in control. if she wanted an off ramp, she had one. she could have censured the president, she refused -- lou: that wouldn't have been an off ramp. that's a nonstarter and the white house made it clear it was a nonstarter. he's not going to agree to be censured, nor should he, anymore than he should agree to be impeached. i think it is worth a consideration. you and i can agree to disagree on that one. let's turn to where we are with brennan now. the durham investigation apparently is circling him and that's terrific news. brennan deserves to be made accountable for his iniquity in all of this over the course of the past three years, don't you

agree? >> john brennan is the center of what i call obama gate, lou. he is beginning of it all. this man who voted for a communist party candidate for president just years before he was actually recruited by the cia began operation cross fire hurricane, worked with james comey, worked with the nsa to entrap individuals like mike flynn, papadopoulos and used the most powerful intelligence community in the world as a political weapon. these leaks that are coming out prior to the final results of the durham investigation, they are coming from a guilty man, and he is very worried, and he should be because he's at the center of the firestorm. these leaks are an attempt to shape a narrative, but it is very telling that attorney general barr just said in an interview the u.s. attorney for connecticut has -- [inaudible] -- for larger than the inspector general. he is looking at not and the

fbi, doj but the whole intelligence community but also at private individuals. that's why we're seeing the leaks. that's proof that john brennan is in big big trouble. lou: thank you very much, i appreciate it. good to see you and see you soon. >> merry christmas. lou: merry christmas, happy new year and happy holidays. follow me on instagram, twitter, lou dobbs. like me on facebook and instagram at lou dobbs tonight. a former senior state department advisor, christian whiteman, robert ray among our guests monday. please join us for tonight. up next tonight, president trump, xi jinping signalling they want their new phase one trade deal signed soon. we will take that up and much more right after this quick break. stay with us. 1 in 4 of us millennials have debt we might die with. and most of that debt is actually from credit cards.

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lou: welcome back. our next guest consults the department of defense, fortune 500 companies on the geopolitical, economic challenges of china to the united states. joining us tonight is dr. jonathan ward, founder of at las organization, also author of "china's vision of victory". jonathan, great to have you on the show. let's start with first your thoughts about this phase one deal that has just been reached and your assessment of its prospects. >> thank you, lou, it is great to be here. good evening, everyone. i think when you look at the phase one deal, you really have to look at this in the larger picture of u.s. china strategic competition. i mean, this is going to be the toughest contest we have had with another adversarial nation since t