martin luther king, jr. day. it's a special day. the markets are closed but there is a lot going on as we approach the inauguration, main point being, d.c. looks like a fortress. the market opens up again tomorrow morning. maybe stocks go up. futures pointing higher. neil: neil, it's yours. neil: all right, stuart, just writing a to-do list. can sell my peloton bike what else? that's it. that's it. thank you my friend, very, very much open for business as we are in the network even though the markets are by and large closed. you can trade on bitcoin and ancillary markets but they are shut down days ahead of the joe biden inauguration. what he might do in the first hours after he takes the oath of office. we could see a blitz of executive orders affecting everything from rejoining the paris climate accords to revisiting some of the president

trump's pretty tough restrictions on those trying to get into this country. we'll be exploring all of that. also getting the latest up from the former san diego mayor, kevin faulconer, very much set on running for governor of california. how is that looking? speaking of governors, alaska's mike dunlevy with covid spike in his own state and providing troops already going into the capitol for inauguration day. hillary vaughn some of the plans early on that the biden administration will act on apparently within minutes of his swearing in. hillary, what can you tell us? reporter: president-elect joe biden is plotting out a 10-day executive order signing spree. many of these orders, over a dozen he is set to sign are going to have an impact on businesses, on workers and also the economy.

>> to act, we need to act quickly. that is what the economy is telling us. that is what the experts are telling us? so that is the priority. reporter: on day one biden will ask his department of education to press pause on student loan payments and interest for millions of americans that have federal student loans. on day two president biden will have a health standard across as the board helping businesses making open, making standards clear. he will make it testing more available, to have businesses operating and get workers tested and the public peace of mind. he will have sweeping economic public. ron klain said that on january 22 inn hnd the president will demand cabinet age is to deliver economic relief to families bear the prunt of this crisis.

biden will have buy american initiative instructing federal government to organize american-made goods in all of their purchases. he will take what they're calling the first few steps to expand health care but he will also take action on climate change which could have a negative impact on industries hurting or could be hurting environmental restrictions the reportedly canceling the controversial keystone pipeline permit that puts plans to pump 800,000 barrels a day from nebraska to canada on hold. neil, it is not stopping there. ron klain said these are the executive orders they announced and cleared with their legal team. he said there are several more waiting for that legal clearance before they go ahead to move forward with those. expect more to come. neil. neil: hillary, thank you very, very much. go to carol roth, former investment banker extraordinaire, gary b. smith,

kadena group president, fox news contributor. welcome to both of you. thank you for coming in on this martin luther king holiday. carol, i want to get your take on early vibes you're getting out after soon to be biden administration, particularly when it comes to executive orders, having us rejoin quickly the paris climate accords. another that will rein in on president trump's attempts to limit those coming from muslim-dominated country, restricting them at the nation's airports. just a couple of more noteworthy, immediate measures but what do you think ? >> yeah. i mean you know how much i love central planning and when the government gets involved, especially one person decides we should do this and we shouldn't do this. a lot of political theater. certainly a lot of things that i think are going to help cronies, big businesses and not necessarily main street. and so that really makes a

concern between the combination of the two, the fact that we're doing a lot of these things just to get away from something trump did whether or not it was a good policy or not and then also just the entire administrative plans towards big business, towards wall street, towards the unions. that does not bode well for those of us who say, hey, what about small government, what about the constitution? a big head scratcher. neil: you know in the meantime, looking at the rollout of a lot of this, gary, not too many people are paying attention to the team around whom the president-elect is surrounding himself, particularly his picks to head the fec and the consumer financial protection board. two progressives, putting it mildly. gary gensler, over at the cfpb, by the wade an acolyte of elizabeth warren and the sec,

remember it was mr. gensler had prominent role of president obama's top derivative watchdogs. these will be police wall street, very, very aggressively. i don't think people appreciated the magnitude of that. what do you think? >> precisely. carol use the phrase, central planning. the good news with all of this, there is no surprise with the initiatives no, surprise with the people he is nominating for cabinet positions or putting into other executive posts. the bad news is it looks like we're going to have the economy that we had under obama which was basically kind of a stalled, oh, we'll never see unemployment

below five% or 6%. we'll never have great gd growth again. the economy is resilient under any president. it will limp along. you kind of summed it up, you have cabinet executives who are fans much we're smarter than everyone else, we know what to do with your money. they are not fans of the free market. that will hurt the u.s., certainly the gdp for the next four years. neil: you know, carol, i was talking to one wall streeter over the weekend who was telling me, the biden folks coming in from stubbornly high unemployment levels, half of what we were at the height of the pandemic, still north of 6%. most invariably come down from that level whether we get back to three, 3 1/2% of the lows of the trump administration before the pandemic is anyone's guess. it's a low bar if you don't mind

my putting it in terms, stimulus will give the economy something. so that they could make good on a lot of their early promises what do you think? florida it depends if you're looking at things, short term, mid term, long term. i long advocated there is a wall there. impact of small businesses who are the job creators, pre-covid, 30.2 million small businesses, 6 million had employees. a lot of those will not be able to get back up to full speed a lot of them are just going to give up and throw in the towel. we've seen that the numbers will shock people when they come out. we saw 400,000 mid last year was the report. this could be in the millions. so at some point, who is hiring people? we've put, we've taken those businesses away. not like small businesses are

going to say, oh, well, i'm incentivized to start a business now knowing that the government can shut me down at any point in time. i do think in the short term yes, it will look better as we turn the economy back on but eventually you are going to hit that wall. i think that where it becomes ugly. unfortunately that could end up pairing timewise with a fall apart in the market f that happens, then you have double the ugliness. neil: it is really the pandemic where it goes, right, gary, for the time-being? that is the i am moveable force now as cases spike in l.a. county, first time over a million there. it is not going in the right direction. >> well, yeah, but you know what, neil? you're starting to see a subtle shift, what was it, the mayor of chicago said we need to reopen the city. i certainly think after the

inauguration, just what the president was always trump did bad, i think it will be whatever biden does good. i think people look, they still tune into the mainstream media if you will. they're going to see good news. they will feel good about things. around i think, when people start feeling good about things, that is a positive for the economy. so everything biden does pandemicwise will be spun postively. i think that will help, whether it is factual or not you know the sentiment, it is tough to fight sentiment. neil: yeah. if they feel genuinely better, that does lead to more activity. whether the media is pronouncing it or not. they have to genuinely feel that we'll have to see what happens. we'll tap your fine brains in a few minutes. gary b. smith, carol roth. tom bevan "realclearpolitics" cofounder. talking about the

president-elect's aggressive agenda, all the executive orders. after the executive orders working with republicans, that is still an uphill battle, especially with the filibuster issue, if they change that to make it a simple majority to get a lot of this stuff through we've been inching in that direction under democratic and republican administrations. do you think this is the one that puts it to bed permanently that the filibuster is gone? the 60 vote margin for anything isn't necessary, what do you think? >> i think we're definitely headed in that direction. i think joe biden's instincts he wants to work. he is a creature of the senate. he wants to work with republicans. he has a relationship with mitch mcconnell. the question is when the rubber hits the road in the senate, votes have to be counted will they have enough support? the two things he wants to do, this emergency extra stimulus for covid, $1.9 trillion, that is something that if they can't get the 60 votes they don't get

republicans on board, that could be done but budget reconciliation, when it comes to immigration reform and pathway to citizenship for 11 million illegals, that is something that will run into a problem in the senate in getting to the 60 vote threshold. you may see democrats move to do away with the legislative filibuster. neil: what about the other side? i know we're talking about working with republicans and the traditional issue is, you know, forget about democrats might not be so smitten with added spending, obviously joe manchin of west virginia comes to mind but there is pocket of senators, to say nothing of progressive house members who don't think the president-elect is being generous enough with his stimulus plans. he could be getting zoomed on both sides here, right? >> oh, sure, absolutely. he will face intense pressure from the left on a lot of these

issues. and they do not want to see him compromise with republicans. they do not. they consider that capitulation. compromise is a dirty word. complicating all of this, neil, the fact you have got potentially impeachment trial being conducted in the senate. you have got democrats calling for expulsion of senators like ted cruz and josh hawley. others are calling for ethics investigations. the atmosphere is pretty nasty to begin with that will further complicate any bipartisan agreement might be reached on these sort of policy issues. neil: tom, my gut feeling could be wrong on this, you're a far better judge of these things there in the capitol, i don't think the senate will ever take up any matters of donald trump. it just goes away, to say nothing of the legal problems trying to you know, convict a former president who would be a private citizen. this is precedent for judges and

senators, i get that, i just don't think it will come to that. what do you say? >> so i tend to agree with that. that is clearly in the democrats best political interests, joe biden's best political interests to just move on and start pursuing his agenda and not be focused on donald trump, all the rancor that is going to induce in the, in the legislative bodies but and i think things will look a lot different in a few days when trump is sort of off the scene. i think we will see a shift in the in the attitudes in the media, all of that. it may be that even though the impulse is still there among democrats in the senate, house, rank-and-file, this impeachment trial must take place in the senate that attitude may change. it may change pretty quickly after tomorrow. neil: yeah, you could be right. tom bevan, thank you very much. tom bevan on all of that. look at the nation's capitol now, 25,000 strong national guardsmen and women from every

state in this country including alaska. we'll be talking to the governor of that fine state what he wants to see out of the nation's capitol inauguration day. the rare opportunity for both sides no matter who you voted for to be peaceful and to recognize this transition in power that most democrats overwhelmingly support, and finding out most republicans do not. ♪.

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so we only pay for what we need! and what did you get, mike? i got a bike. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ ♪. neil: all right. the whole idea of the 25,000 troops outside of the nation's capital to make sure no bad guys get into the capitol. what if there are a few bad apples already in there. maybe some of the 25,000 guardsmen and women are among those the government should be concerned about? there is a heavy vetting process going on to make sure that doesn't happen. no indication it is happening but it's a concern. rich edson has more. hey, rich. reporter: hey, good afternoon, neil, that is a concern and something defense officials are looking into, scouring if they need to do any additional background checks on the 25,000

plus national guard expected here. it is a very sensitive security environment here in washington, particularly around the capitol. couple hours ago they shut down the entire complex. we could hear sis voices on loud speakers to stay away from windows and doors because of security threat. it was just a small fire. goes to show they are watching here. you have police officers, 25,500 national guard here. homeland security officials are watching for anyone planning to come to the cap toll in washington, d.c. with a potential for violence. >> to identified a individual like you keep that person from flying. if there is legal basis from doing so, they will seize and hold that person for delivery to the fbi and local authorities. reporter: cuccinelli says much of the chatter about threats they're seeing refers to

capitals across the country, not just here in washington. we talked about those defense officials, they're working with secret service on national guard members here in washington who may require deeper security screenings, watching for a potential insider threat. police say they have made a couple arrests at the capitol checkpoints. a 22-year-old for carrying a pistol without a license. they intercept ad man on a friday, a driver had pa handgun, numerous handguns with ammunition and non-credential. they interviewed the man. he got lost in d.c. and forgot his firearm was in the vehicle. they say they have 300 open cases and they have made more than 100 arrests with more potentially on the way. neil, back to you. neil: rich edson, thank you very much, my friend. continued great reporting. in the meantime here the

president-elect has a big, big load of problems to address including how he wants to dial back through executive order those the president prevented entering this country. so he will try to keep a lid on it. but tell that to guatemalans in a huge protest with security forces in the country, it is just seemingly imploded. we're told that hundreds, maybe potentially thousands are marching north to get to the united states. how to handle all of that right now with the former senior i.c.e. attorney. john, very good to have you. first off what do you make of what is going on in guatemala right now. how concerned should we, the incoming administration be? >> thank you, neil for having me back on. i don't think the incoming administration needs to be terribly concerned what is going on in guatemala. we've seen these at midterm and presidential elections there.

is flood to the southern border for people to come to take advantages of administration and in congress. they're being lied to by the coyotes, that president biden will open the border and let everyone in. that is not what he has planned. neil: the read from the biden folks is not cease and desist but just cool it. i'm trying to deal with this a step at a time, a stage at a time. first off with a executive order to reverse president trump's move to limit those coming into this country from muslim-dominated countries this is a totally different matter, i agree but will they push him? in other words, will these forces as well as progressives in the united states who are eager to see a much more generous immigration policy push him further? >> i think that is absolutely what is going to happen. this is what we're going to see the migrant caravans will start coming. once they finally get to the southern border we'll see what the optics look like.

if you have these optics with people clashing with mexican police and clashing with cpb and border patrol agents we'll have a real problem. president biden by that point is going to really have to deal with it. president trump spent the last four years trying to stop these types of mass migrations. he has been largely successful through a variety of different immigration policies which president-elect biden said he will overturn and be more welcoming. the problem you can't overturn that overnight. you can't sign an order and entire southern border will be able to handle a mass migration. that is why biden's people are saying calm down. take your time. we're going to get to you. we'll be different. we'll be more welcoming but we can't do it immediately and you need to be patient. neil: i could be wrong, john, they have not gotten that translation. guatemala is more recent a little bit jarring example here, they think there is a new, kiner sheriff in town and he will be much more accommodative. so, you know, if you think about

it, biden is between a rock and a hard place on this. how does this play out? >> you're absolutely right about that the problem the human smugglers will take any opportunity they can to sell people who are extremely desperate, fighting violence and crime in their countries and they have no hope. now they have hope. president biden is coming in, coyotes and smugglers take advantage. they promise these things to people, that they will get work permits and driver licenses and raise their families here. that is simply not going to be possible early on. president biden has to be firm. he has to work with our allies in mexico and the northern triangle countries in central america to try to stem the flow of these migrants. we can allow a trickle in. we can take people in who need help from their countries. we can't handle thousands and thousands of people coming to the border looking for a better life.

maybe in a few years but not right now. neil: not right now. thank you, john. former senior i.c.e. attorney. much, much more. what is happening on our border so you can imagine a good deal is and will. keeping an eye on that. keeping an eye on the social media site parler. it is kind of back in business. there is a problem. there is still no app for that thing. they are open for business. tim cook of apple seems to be holding off on helping them at all. why is that? ♪.

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♪. >> isn't big tech restricting speech? >> we have an app store that has about two million apps in it and we have terms of service for these apps. we obviously don't control what's on the internet but we have never viewed that our mat form should be a simple replication of the internet.

we have rules and regulations and we just asked that people abide by those. neil: all right. that was tim cook of apple talking with chris wallace, essentially saying, we're not trying to be the information police here. we just hope that parler will do a better job and cites like it of policing content or moderating that content and so be it. parler is technically still in business but it can't get its app, on well, the app store or in any of the android stores that would offer it that product. so you really have a difficult time finding it, getting it, talking on it. steve levy joins us now, the author of, "facebook, the inside story." very good read of everything going on in the tech world. steven, very good to have you. >> thank you. neil: what do you make of parler's position right now? technically still in business but if people can't access the app hard to keep that going.

>> yeah, that's right. basically the way the system of mobile apps which most people use to access the internet, parler a social network like that, there is a choke point two players control and if they both decide independently you know, in concert that generally they operate independently, that they don't like that app, for whatever reason, that's it. that's like a death sentence. parler is facing that death sentence. they can go back to the web. they can have people access it through the browser on their phone. most people don't do that these things are built for mobile. if apple and google decide you don't meet their standards you're in big trouble. neil: now you heard the rap from the right that those standards have a double standard.

far more likely to see sites advocating conservative sites of view, then go after a little more than conservatives, violent, than they would try on the left. that has been the argument of parler. that has been the argument of many republicans are saying you are going way too far here. where does this go? >> i mean i don't know. look at something like facebook, facebook really bends over backwards, it has over the past few years to show that it is not biased against conservatives but these places are concerned about, i think it is difficult problem, is, say they don't want to host things that are destructive, that are, certainly, they don't want to host anything that violates the law or a service that doesn't act decisively to take down posts that violate the law which is what they're charging parler

with and i think maybe things will change a little in the biden administration but i think the underlying problem isn't so much that they're biased one side or the other but they're trying to balance the huge power they have with the need to make their networks amenable to people and not as destructive force in society. mark zuckerberg, for instance, says, i don't want to be an arbiter of speech but he has built a system that two billion people plus use that makes him an be a bitter of speech. there is no way around it. neil: while i have you, steven, where does donald trump go? in other words, after he steps down, the argument he is still forbidden, verboten on all these social media sites but i can't imagine he will be silenced by that, whether one of them breaks with the other or that he finds another venue, what do you think?

>> well, it is really interesting. they were, i heard the white house was complaining over the weekend, he really has nowhere to give his message but the president of the united states. there is like a briefing room in the house where he lives where he can make a statement anytime. it is an unusual situation where he became so accustomed to communicating on twitter that he didn't really, he wasn't really prepared to communicate in the traditional way. most presidents didn't communicate on twitter. no president before him used that. i think in a way he does have an opportunity, i don't think there is anyone else on the planet who could subsequently by saying this is going to be my channel of communication launch some sort of app where millions of people would use. i think he problem hi could do that. he could get silicon valley people like him, behind him, people who are experienced in technology, say we're going to launch an app that it will be

the flagship of donald trump's communication and a lot of people would go to that. he wouldn't be able to communicate with people who are skeptical about him and wouldn't necessarily grab the attention of sort of the mainstream press the way twitter has but certainly would be an opportunity for him. i think he can get something going if he he said, i'm going o do drummer -- trump perer instef twitter. neil: yeah he would have to find an app with apple or android. shy of that it's a tough road. >> if a lot of the content were something, that you know, apple and google felt wasn't moderated properly, then he would be in the same boat as parler is. so, you know, it is, an unprecedented situation really. i don't think we've ever seen

anything like it where you have these two powerful networks say, we're not going to host the president of the united states anymore. you know, four years ago who would have thought that. neil: yeah. valid points all. steven levy, great catching up with you. the book is, "facebook, the inside story." knew it, knows it, well-connected in an industry what will happen to a former president donald trump? how much social media sway will he have? right now he can't get on traditional social media. we'll follow that story. follow getting the vaccine out. we've already told you how a number of large locals like the javits center in new york, disneyland in california, right, gillette stadium, home of the new england patriots making sure people get the vaccine. they're ramping it up more quickly which is more than what happened to the new england

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is neil: all right. this of course gillette stadium, home of the new england patriots, not super bowl-bound this particular year although tom brady just could be. former quarterback. meantime the attention here for gillette stadium, it's a big venue for giving folks vaccinations. they think, properly readied and, keyed to go, maybe upward 5000 vaccinations every week. so they're even talking about doing that for every day. molly line in foxboro, massachusetts, with the very latest where this all goes. hey, molly. reporter: hello, neil. this is the first mass vaccination site that has been launched here in massachusetts. you mentioned some of the big

numbers they're hoping to get to. today marks the official launch. the day health care workers and first-responders are slated to show up. 500 appointments booked today. you mentioned the big number they're aiming for, 5000 per day somewhere down the road. the elderly population, 65 and over in the bay state are not yet phased into eligibility, massachusetts is slated to begin vaccinations for those in congregate care facilities, nursing homes and group homes and controversially, prisons. governor charlie baker defended the state's plan. >> we made the decision we would focus what we considered to be populations most at risk, all the data, all the evidence makes it clear congregate care settings are at risk communities, no matter how you define them. reporter: across the country spacious big name venues are being used for vaccine distribution, from convention centers stadiums and disneyland,

the super site in orange county. it does matter what state you live in whether or not you can get the vaccine now. president-elect joe biden has criticized the implementation as a bit too rigid and confusing encouraging states to allow more people to get vaccine including those 65 and over, those efforts go on across the country. neil? neil: molly line, thank you very much for that. specifying what exactly they want to do and the aggressive timetable. thank you, molly. with us now, the former san diego mayor kevin faulconer. he might run for governor in that fine state. timing could be everything. california is spiking cases, in los angeles county a million cases, the first county to experience something like that. very good to have you. mayor, if you were to become governor how would you reverse this distressing trend? it seems to be getting worse, not better? >> well, neil, good to be back with you. thank you.

one of the things i continued to be very, very vocal on is we have to save lives but we also have to save livelihoods. and that balance is not been achieved here in california particularly when we look at one of the states that has been shut down the most. we have small businesses that are hurting, particularly our restaurants, yet no science shutting down outdoor dining as an example. we need to make sure we're smart about it, we're following the science. again what we've seen unfortunately coming out of the governor's office, that's not happening. neil: mayor, would you tailor california like a governor desantis in florida, where there is minimum of shutdowns and restrictions and that you urge people to take voluntary efforts? because for all the controversies with around what ron desantis has been experiencing in florida, something is working.

what do you think? >> exactly that balance, neil. as i said, neil, one of the states that is locked down the most, we all share the same goal, right, let's keep people healthy, let's keep people safe yet when we had policies in california that have not been based on that science i think that is why seeing the frustration. why you're seeing anger across the board in california. democrats, republicans, independents. the fact that we're talking about vaccine distribution. the fact that california is actually one of the worst in terms of where we should be, the most innovative state in the country. again it gets back to saving lives and livelihoods and having that right balance. neil: you know i know you love your state. it's a beautiful state but when i read "the los angeles times" writing that joe biden is going to be making america california again, that would be like me putting out an article, follow the neil cavuto diet plan again.

not a good idea. i'm just wondering what you make of that? if joe biden were to imitate a lot of policies being enacted and followed in california, i'm not sure that is something americans would welcome? >> well, we're a great state with great people the fact that we're proud of our entrepreneurial spirit and again it is one of the things that makes us california. one of the things you're seeing that spirit, that is not happening at our state capital right now in terms of our state government when we see the problems, we had, for example, we have 500,000 californians, neil, can't get their unemployment checks still. yet we had almost $10 billion of fraud going to prisoners and others. that is one example of how we need to do things dramatically different at this state level. i would encoining president-elect biden how we did it in san diego, however, when

we look what san diego did to reduce homelessness. the only county in california that reduced it by double digits, neil, the last two years in a row. the work we did on housing, cutting regulations and red tape. the fact that we know how to do stuck struck. i paved half the streets in our city while i was mayor. guess what? i did it without raising taxes. neil: still, whether it is in the recall election you would challenge the governor if you got that far, were your party's nominee or the next election, it is an uphill battle for a republican. republicans have won. i'm not saying it's impossible but it is tough, it is tough in your state. what do you do? >> it is about common sense, neil. that is how i won elections in san diego and governed as mayor. people want a governor that will bring the state together. that will focus on real people, protect the economy, small businesses. that is not a republican democrat thing. that is common-sense approach. that is what has been missing in california and that is why

people want a change. neil: mayor, we'll watch closely. it is an interesting run. we'll keep an eye on it. we reached out to governor newsom. not heard back but hope springs eternal. watch the state very closely. there are political rumblings going on there. the mayor could be the first indication of that. meantime we have a lot more coming up from you, including the power of words in the new white house. everyone will follow what joe biden of course is saying but what if i told you there is someone who is going to be maybe at, if not more scrutinized in the next couple days and it's not the vice president-elect. who is it? after this.

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♪. neil: all right. keep an eye on janet yellen. she of course is the president-elect pick for treasury secretary. she won't be in office when he assumes office but her confirmation hearing is tomorrow. a lot of people will scrutinize what she says. keep in mind as former fed chairman as well she has the enormous sway in economic policy and is often quoted, even out of power, out of office her words carry weight, including my next guest carol roth, former

investment banker, gary b. smith, kadena group president. carol, she apparently will not signal she is pro strong or weak dollar, let the dollar do its thing. that is a safe position to have but obviously administrations republican and democrat have their own reasons a preference for a weaker dollar. it helps sell more american goods abroad, all of that. where does this go under a treasury secretary yellen? >> there is word the administration would like for it to go and there is the reality what can actually happen given the unprecedented level of intervention that we've had. i think, you know, you had mentioned when we talked previously there are these progressives that are in the cabinet. well there is also a lot of wall street types, yellen being one. a couple of guys from blackrock. so i think they will do everything they can to continue to do things that transfer

wealth to wall street and prop up the market to the extent that they can but it has been going on for so long at these historic and unprecedented levels, that at some point that is not going to have an effect anymore but i certainly think at least in the early innings that she is one of those that is going to be a wall street buddy, her speaking fees aside. neil: you know, about 6 million worth of those. you know, gary, she is probably the, in a bind with republicans want to flesh out whether she would support raising taxes now as joe biden wants to do. obviously she will not step on his message, where do you think of the tax increase goes? >> i definitely think there will be a big push for that. it will be double pronged. he wants to spend, what did he announce? $1.9 trillion spending plan, stimulus plan, whatever you want to call it. that is going to be received on

the left with huge applause. it's a money transfer scheme of course but it is going to be painted as mom and apple pie, to help out those that need it. and then the other prong is, well if you liked that, my gosh, we got to raise taxes from those rich people. so, as opposed to what carol's thinking i think wall street is going to hate this but you know, they know for the next four years who is buttering their bread and they will get behind it as skeptically as they can but i think you're going to see a big spending, big tax increase administration until biden is out. neil: we'll watch it closely. gary, carol, thank you very much. so the tax increase could be on that is a growing consensus regardless. ♪

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♪ ♪ neil: welcome, everybody, 1.on the east coast, i am neil ca view totally -- neil cavuto. now, let's get on to the biden agenda. he's only a couple of days from becoming the next president of the united states. we've talked a lot about a very, very busy first hundred days that will include a lot of executive orders.

one of those, by the way, includes stopping the keystone xl pipeline. now, while this would not go through alaska per se, we have alaska's governor on with us in just a few minutes to talk about the potential impact of this under a very climate change-friendly administration to come. the impact on alaska and everything else going on there with the covid cases and everything else in just a few minutes. in the meantime, to another part of the biden agenda, that $1.9 trillion stimulus plan. now, a lot of you might look at that and say, well, since democrats have the white house and the house and the senate technically though it's a 50-50 senate, you have kamala harris acting as the tie breaker there, but do not assume that means this gets through without a great deal of tugging back and forth. jacqui heinrich in washington, d.c. with much more. how's this looking? >> reporter: hey, good afternoon, neil. president-elect joe biden reaching his goal of getting 100 million vaccine shots in his

first 100 days is really tied to congress paying for some of the infrastructure to get that done. that is all tied into this plan of getting the gop onboard. it's not going to be an easy task, but his economic team is hopeful. >> you mentioned the $1400 checks. we've seen broad bipartisan support from that including republican senators. you look at other elementses of the plan like an expanded child tax credit, something that republican senators have supported in the past. >> reporter: biden would need ten republican votes in the senate to overcome a filibuster, but if he can't darner bipartisan support -- garner support, democrats could pass it through the reconciliation process. that might also burn bridges before biden leads to part two of this plan geared toward jobs and the economy. that's expected to be at least as expensive as the first. for republicans, the price tag

and some of the built-in progressive wishes like the $15 minimum wage hike, they're already salty about biden's lack of direction to congress on impeachment. >> joe biden's off the a lousy start. -- to a lousy start. it would be so easy for him in the name of healing this country to tell schumer to stand down impeachment. no good comes from impeaching president trump out of office, but he can't do that. so i'm really worried that he's going not going to stand up to the radical left on anything. >> reporter: now, part one of this plan focuses on economic relief and tackling the virus, part two focused on rebuilding the economy. there are hundreds of billions of dollars for clean energy jobs and infrastructure. biden wants to pay for that in part by taxing corporations and the rich. neil. neil: all right, we'll see how that goes. again, those numbers are so narrow, not a slam dunk. they'll be resistance,

certainly, from joe manchin certainly in the senate, more moderate, to say nothing of republicans, and then there's the issue of the uber-progressives who don't think the president-elect is being general rouse enough. we'll keep an eye on it for you. in the meantime, more questions as well about the president-elect's generous timetable for getting more vaccines out, he hopes to get 100 million out within the first 100 days. it's doable, according to dr. fauci, but it's going to be hard. edward lawrence following that in washington. >> reporter: hey, neil. this goes to vaccine side of it, senior biden administration officials are telling me they need to rebuild the vaccination distribution system from the ground up. one official told me about getting shots into arms, quote: what we are inheriting is worse than we could imagine. so president-elect joe biden is asking for $160 billion for a national vaccination program. senior biden administration officials tell me that they want to hire 100,000 public health

officials to facilitate vaccinations across the country as well as help with contact tracing. so far operation warp speed has delivered 31.2 million doses to states, but only 12.3 million shots have been given in arms. that's about 40%. >> you have -- that the states will actually manage that step. we haven't had a feedback that there was challenges as we were discussing. now there are challenges. i think the right thing to do is listen to them, learn from them and support them. >> reporter: so the logjam is at the state level. states are starting to open up vaccinations now. the head of operation warp speed says between 800,000 and 900,000 shots are going into arms. this will put a biden administration on schedule for 100 million americans vaccinated in the first 100 days without

making any changes. still, hhs secretary alex azar says the states are to blame for the last mile. >> you've got some governors who are, frankly, the ones who are failing who have administered 50% or less of the vaccines that have been shipped to them, that's places like minnesota, wisconsin, michigan. they're failing, and they're just looking for somebody else to blame here. >> reporter: the former head of the new york state democratic party got his vaccination in florida. he's a snowbird, and he goes there for the winter. john sullivan said florida is doing it right, and he would feel be waiting in new york for the vaccine if he was there. the lack of the state rollout in that last mile, so to speak, is why the biden administration wants to mostly take over vaccinations. back to you. neil: edward, thank you very much. in the meantime, i told you earlier we're getting word right now that the biden administration is keen on, among the things it wants to do right

away upon taking office, maybe within hours after joe biden is sworn is, is to kill off the key stone xl pipeline, the one that goes from can do to states like -- ca can and eventually to the gulf. alberta's premier is on the wires right now in canada saying not so fast, he's seeking damagings under the north american free trade agreement if the u.s. were to cancel the keystone xl permit. i'd like to talk to michael levy, the governor of alaska. i should stress this would not be an alaska-direct issue per se, but governor, it is a reminder of the direction the new administration wants to go on this, that it's not an environmentally good idea and even though the keystone folks are saying they hope to be carbon neutral and avoid any of the problems the president-elect fears, it does seem to be on the chopping block. what do you think? >> i think this demonstrates there's been a complete

transformation of the democratic party. what i mean by this, it used to be the party that looked out for poor people. when you stop projects like this that would bring cheap energy to america, you're going to hurt poor people first. so this transformation, this idea that you stop oil lines or gas lines, coal, etc., is somehow going to help people, it's really not because it's going to be the poor that suffer the most. the other issue, neil, is in an attempt to save the environment, what you're going to do is you going to push these projects overseas where they don't have the protections that america has. and so you push opportunity overseas, you push jobs overseas, you push wealth overseas, you push revenue overseas, and you jack up the cost of energy for poor people. makes no sense across the board. neil: you know, i'm just wondering too economically the message the administration could be sending for, you know, energy -- i wouldn't say

exclusively dependent states, but that is a passe thought, this is going to be an administration focused on friendly fuel and fossil fuels not among them. how do you answer that? >> well, again, for years we've worked at realizing the dream of energy independence for america so that we wouldn't be relying on foreign actors. and we achieved that over the last couple of years through technology. and now we're going to roll that back, and we're going to trade this out for higher cost energy. make no mistake about it, neil, america has tremendous opportunities in the renewables. you have states, for example, like texas that does renewables as well as fossil fuel. alaska itself is looking at capitalizing on a renewable potential as well. but in the end, the whole idea should be to create an environment in which you have as much opportunity as possible for jobs, for wealth, for revenues but also for cheap, reliable energy for some of our poorest folks, lift them out of poverty and give them opportunity. i think, i would is ask the

biden administration to just step back and work through the whole concept. again, if the idea is to, quote, save the environment, we do it better here in america than anyone else in the world. so if you ship it over there, you're just going to help, you know, ruin the environment overseas as opposed to here. we'll protect it here. overseas they won't. neil: all right. governor, while i have you, you recently issued a public health disaster response to deal with the increased outbreak of covid cases before the vaccine rollout. now, other governors would envy your situation because you've been doing a good job. but you are worried, and you are worried about the whole vaccine distribution plan. we do know that joe biden, once he takes over, all but wants to federalize this. the problem is 50 different standards among 50 different states. his goal is to get 100 million vaccines out in 100 days. what do you think about all

that? >> if there truly is 100 million vaccinations in 100 days, that's good news if that's all it is. again, the devil's in the details. right now, for example, alaska is second just behind west virginia in getting out the most vaccines. we're at approximately, i think west virginia's 8.55 vaccines, alaska's 7.51. if they allow us, if they just get us the vaccines and allow us to go through our distribution plans how we're doing it, i think we're -- that'll work for us because i think we're doing a good job of that. but again, the devil's in the details, and sometimes when you get government too involved in these operations, things go sideways. neil: also, governor, i know you are among the governors, all 50 state governors sending troops to washington for the inauguration. i believe alaska's committed at least 80. i could be wrong, sir, but do you envision any trouble? obviously, 25,000 strong soldiers are there now. and, obviously, something must

be up because they keep warning us. what do you think? >> you know, i hope there's not going to be trouble. i mean, we had 80 folks about -- roughly 80 volunteer. we asked them to give us a call out to give assistance in national guard troops there, so we had 80 folks that volunteered to go there. again, i hope there's not. you know, we've -- there's been violence all spring and all summer throughout our cities. we had an issue at the capitol, and the only thing i can and i'm sure all the governors are asking is for everyone to keep a cool head, stand down, and let's get back to having discussions and dialogue. we always used to protect the right to agree to disagree. and that's changed during the last couple years with this whole cancel culture and this whole snowflake issue. so i would ask people to stand back, rethink what it is to be an american and what it is to be american is to have a dialogue,

protect each other's speech. at the same time, refrain from any kind of violence. and so i'm hoping that this inauguration will go well, there won't be any violence, and we'll get back to having vigorous debates over policies. neil: how do you think donald trump is going out? i know you're not going to the inauguration, still argues the election was rigged against him. apparently, that view is pervasive in the republican party where, you know, only one out of five see, again in the republican party, that joe biden was the duly-elected president. what do you think of all that this. >> i think there's a lot of folks that have questions about the elections. and 75 million if individuals voted for president trump. the issue is, i think, to take a look at election integrity now and to do it in a genuine fashion so that everyone -- left, right, middle, doesn't matter -- feels their vote really counts and that the

process really works because, neil, this is what separates us from many other countries in the world, was and is, should be our election integrity, that every person's vote counts. there is question, there have been questions. i think those questions need to be answered in the framework of making sure that elections have integrity, that everybody's vote does count and that there is no question. i think once that's resolved, we move on. neil: governor, do you think the president looks like a baby? a sore loser? >> i'm sorry, i couldn't hear you, neil. say that again, please? neil: do you think the president looks like a baby is? a sore loser? >> i think so tom. -- to some. i think to some, certainly, he does. i think to others he looks like somebody that is calling out what he believes is wrong. you know, history's going to write all of this stuff when we step back and we have a few years under our belt. but i would say that 2020 the was a very difficult year for

this country for a whole host of reasons. i think that dialogue, discussion, the ability to agree to disagree has been lost. i think that has to be regained. we built this country together, and we're going to have, i think, a great country if we work together. that doesn't mean we necessarily adopt each other's values and philosophies and policies. at the very least, i think the underpinnings for this country, like i said earlier, election integrity, but the ability to have a dialogue where you're not shouted down, you're not canceled out, you don't lose your job, you're not kicked off social media. these are dangerous things that are happening. they don't bode well for the future. but i think we have plenty of opportunity, quickly if we do it, to turn this around and get back to the america that we all knew at one time. neil: all right, governor, we'll watch that very, very closely. mike dunleavy, the governor of the beautiful state of alaska. just want to pass along 15

former secretaries of defense and deputy secretaries of defense are signing a letter supporting a four-star general lloyd austin's waiver to serve as defense secretary. last time this was done with jim mattis when he went over to the state department because he hadn't been out of uniform long enough. the same is, essentially, applying to lloyd austin. what they're saying here, these defense secretaries and deputy defense secretaries from the various administrations, let him go. he'd be a good defense secretary. we'll see. finish hi, this is margaret your dell technologies advisor

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(announcer) want to lose 60 pounds? how about 100 pounds? you can. (woman) it's easy, and it will change your life. (announcer) go to golo.com. that's g-o-l-o.com. chris: what about the argument that tag parler are off apple that you're just driving these people, these views further underground? >> well, we've only suspended them, chris. so if they get their moderation together, they would be back on there. neil: all right. that was tim cook's way of saying, look, they need to do a better job policing their content, they're a back in our app store. well, here's the thing, they're not back yet or on any android, you know, gadget, operated

device either even though parler technically is saying it's open for business offline, if you can do that. susan li following all this. susan, if you're not on an app store, you're not viable. any sign that's going to change? >> yeah, it's hard, but if you go to parler.com, there are signs of life. they're not exactly back on just yet, but if you do visit the social media site, at least you have a message from parler's ceo with saying, hello, world, is this thing on, question mark. and that's actually better than the error messages that you were getting the past week after being deplatformed off of amazon's cloud and kicked off apple and google's app stores as well. all three removing parler with less than 24 hours' notice according to its ceo. >> they never said publicly or anywhere, as far as i'm aware, that there was any problems with our terms of service and free speech. so instead they seemed to make it about violence, which we

don't condone and don't allow. >> parler's ceo says that they could be back online by the end of this month. they're still looking for another web site-hosting provider, but they have registered the domain name with epic which hosts other social media sites. parler still awaiting a ruling in its lawsuit against amazon for breach of contract and antitrust, but they're still remaining defiant saying we plan to welcome all of you back soon, we will not let civil discourse perish. conservatives want parler shut down is yet another example of big tech censoring user voices. a group that former facebook security chief says should be limited online. >> we have to turn down the capability of these conservative influencers to reach these huge audiences. people on youtube have a larger audience than daytime

cnn. >> parler jumped to the top of the most downloaded apps before the shutdowns were first reported. there's a big group that wants to see this come back online. neil: you know what's kind of creepy, wanting to silence the conservative influencers, he didn't even distinguish between those of who have conservative thought or those who have violent ideas, just cut 'em all off. that's a little disturbing. >> yeah. it was very blatant and very direct, i would say, in some ways refreshing. i would also say it's very mean just as well because both sides of the argument. neil: yeah. certainly things that are saying things violently. my gosh, conservatives, get them off. susan, great reporting, as always. let's go to gianna caldwell, fox news political analyst. the guy's a cottage media industry -- [laughter] also attorney at lawford

o'brien. much, much more. gianno, that's what concerns me, we've got to limit these, you know, now i'm forgetting his exact wording, these conservative influencers. not even distinguishing between those of conservative minds versus those that are out of of their minds, and that worries me. that's a dangerous precedent he's setting. >> well, absolutely it is, and that's what they've been doing lumping this all together. if you have an opinion that differs from the mainstream, we want to block and silence you. it's what big tech and mainstream media as well. in 2018 there were over 200 million people on social media, almost 20% of individuals get their political ideas from social media. so if you can lock down a lot of these influencer accounts, i lost 20,000 followers in the first week they banned president trump. if you can silence the voice of those individuals, all of a sudden you have a big group of

individuals who feel that they're not getting the base of knowledge from somewhere. so maybe they'll just say, forget it, i'm not going to be bothered with it at all. who knows? neil: what do you think happens after january 20th? do you think some welcome donald trump back, ease up on some of the all conservative commentary? they say that's not what's happening, but they've got to kind of recalibrate here, don't they? >> yeah. i mean, i would just add a voice to the russ that, you know -- chorus that, you know, conservative ideas are the same as some of these divisive, disgusting language that we have seen, frankly, in places like parler. so it's very clear that we must distinguish between conservatives and violence. you see violence on both sides of the aisle, there's no question that we've seen that kind of thing. what needs to happen is we need

to look and examine the section 230 of the communications act. what is happening, and we're seeing some of these platforms try and reel it back which is, frankly, why president trump was deplatformed, it gave the social media sites absolute immunity. you name it, they're totally -- [inaudible] they were tasked and given the opportunity to moderate language on both sides, so if it's seen as incitementing or dangerous speech, they were required to at least have a good faith effort at minimizing or getting rid of it, but they aren't liable in the any way for some of the most dangerous speech that comes out. and we need to -- [inaudible] collectively how do we police it, situate it -- in a way that doesn't, that finds solutions that don't further divide us. neil: yeah. dividing us now. what happens to one side could happen to the other side.

again, you don't want crazy language and ideas, but you want to find a more mature way to deal with it. guys, i apologize for the truncated nature of this, i know you're back later to talk about other developments. in the meantime, want to bring your attention to a couple of developments we're looking at here. new announcements, the biden administration will have within hours of taking office. apparently, that executive order list is getting longer. after this. ♪ finish finish now, a lot of you might look at

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this. trey. >> reporter: hey, neil, good afternoon. right now the middle east is on edge as iran continues its nuclear development while conducting military drills that threaten u.s. interests in the region. all of this could change as reports indicate president-elect biden may quickly rejoin the iran nuclear deal upon taking office later this week. now, channel 12 here in israel is reporting that the biden administration has already started to talk with iran under the table and looped in the israelis. this news couldn't come soon enough for the international observers, they fear any sort of misstep could lead to real military action in the region. now, this weekend germany, france and britain all said iran has no credible civilian use for the development and production of uranium metal. the pushback from these key partners does come as officials in tehran are asking the united nations' nuclear watchdog to avoid publishing details about their nuclear program because they're concerned they could be misinterpreted.

over the weekend the country tested a series of ballistic missiles that landed within 100 miles of the uss nimitz. now, iran's foreign minister, mohamed zarif, did respond on twitter saying, quote: while we have not started a war in over 200 years, we don't shy from crushing aggressors. that tweet is a great example of the rhetoric that we've seen going back and forth between washington and tehran. we do know the americans coming to the white house in just a few days are going to be looking to try to restart talks with the iranians, but allies like the israelis are concerned those talks could lead to iran being allowed to continue its nuclear program. neil? neil: trey yingst, thank you very, very much. former deputy assistant attorney general, if you'll indulge me, i want to tap that fine legal brain of yours on this iranian deal that joe biden wants to get back to. that could prove a whole lot

easier said than done. legally it would be a mess, wouldn't it? >> well, i think it would, neil. part of the problem with these treaties is that you sign them, and then if you ever withdraw from the treaty or break your word, there often isn't an enforcement mechanism, and there's not a mechanism to quickly reattach yourself to the terms of the treaty. you can also understand why focus on the other side of the treaty might be hesitant to submit to the same obligations that the prior administration had just repudiated those. while i couldn't say it's difficult legally to get back to the treaty, i think clinically there are a lot of challenges to basically try to restore the status quo, say let's ignore what's happened the last two years and go back to where we were before. neil: you know, the president, via executive order, ripped up that treaty. and i was just thinking about the power of these executive orders because for every one seemingly donald trump signed to

implement, it looks like joe biden will sign to rip up. tell me a little bit about executive orders and the way they carry, because this prime minister to come in t -- president to come in is going to be issuing a lot, we're told within minutes, hours of swearing in. >> neil, i'm glad you asked because i am somewhat of a student of executive orders. look, they have of played a big role in our nation's history going back decades. presidents have used them year after year. but what we've seen in the last two administrations -- not just president trump, also president obama -- was an increasing reliance on executive orders to basically achieve policy goals through an executive order that they couldn't achieve through the legislative process. executive orders are a great thing for a president's perspective because you don't need congress to sign on. you can accomplish what you want with the stroke of a pen. that's what we saw president obama do, we saw president trump do a lot of it, and i suspect weaver going to see president

biden doing even more including many of president trump's executive orders with his own superseding executive orders. neil: you know, tom, also there's a move to try to get the president impeached. this one we have. as a private citizen in the new congress. and i don't know where that will go, and i know there's precedent with judges and former cabinet members and the like being impeached when9 out of office, but it would seem to be a different stretch for a former president. legally where where are you goi? because republicans, even though not keen on how the president responded to the violence a couple of weeks ago, aren't keen on this approach. >> right. and certainly when you're talking about impeaching a former official, the calculation is different. everyone thinks about impeachment as a process to affect the removal of the officer, basically get him out of the office. once the guy's already left the office, the calculus changes.

there aren't a lot of penalties you can impose other than -- [inaudible] there are other penalties you could do. i think legally we should point out in you are our nation's history there are examples, there are precedents. other officers have been subject to a trial on impeachment after they left office, but i'll tell you something, the political calculus changes. i think we'll see a lot of folks, republicans, maybe some democrats taking a second look at it and saying even if we constitutionally have the power to do this, does it make sense politically e to move forward under these circumstances in this new world. neil: tom dupree, i tried to trip you up, i tried my best, but, man, oh, man, you didn't take the bait. former deputy assistant attorney general. tom, we'll be exploring a little bit about that biden agenda in just a segment or two. but in the meantime, i do want to bring you the obvious, this is mk day, right?

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expand even further. time is now for golden independence. ♪ ♪ neil: all right, how do you remember martin luther king in this age of the pandemic? well, they have other plans and other ways of going about it. fear not. jonathan serrie in atlanta with more on that. >> reporter: hi there, neil. well, in keeping with tradition, they are holding the annual commemoration of the life of dr. martin luther king jr. at ebeneezer baptist church, the historic church home of the king family, but they're doing it differently this year. they're streaming it because of concerns about the covid-19 pandemic. you know, this year has had lots of tragedy and turmoil including the pandemic, a disputed election and sometimes violent protests from both the left and the right.

the civil rights leader's daughter bernice king says that's why this year's commemoration includes an especially urgent call to bring people together to realize her father's dream of the beloved community. take a listen. >> the most pressing issues of our time demand that humanity envision, strategize and organize toward a more just, humane, equitable and peaceful society. with nonviolence as the pathway to that world. >> reporter: two outside pastors are presiding over the service, and bishop t.d. jakes is delivering the keytote arrest. there was -- keynote address. therejust minutes from now the commemoration will conclude with a wreath laying at the tomb of dr. king and his wife, coretta scott king, just across the

street from where i'm standing at the king center. neil, back to you. neil: all right. thank you, jonathan. new age in this age of the pandemic, but we are beginning to find out about the pandemic that all these very restrictive lockdowns, they don't measure up. after this. ♪ we're the kids in america. ♪ we're the kids in america. ♪ everybody lives for the music -- ♪ ♪

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lose weight, look great, and be healthy. go to aerotrainer.com. that's a-e-r-o trainer.com. ♪ ♪ neil: all right, shutting down a gym is one thing, seizing the money they raised in a defense fund is quite another. yet it's happening in the garden state, and kristina partsinevelos has the story from new jersey. >> reporter: neil, despite the fact that the gym, you have it boarded up windows, the gym ownerses have lost their -- owners have lost their license, it's still this operation. there's at least 30 people inside the gym, and the reason they're having so many issues is because everybody can -- doesn't have to wear a masks, but they do have everybody get tested for their temperature when they go in. because of that breaking state mandate, they are getting fined a little bit over $15,000 a day.

the state took out the money in two separate withdrawals from their bank account. listen to two of the co-owner ors on how that feels for their business. >> all of the money that they took, they've denied that they've taken it. they've said it's not them even though our bank statement clearly says state of new jersey. but we fundraised quite a bit of money, and it's now in a cryptowallet that the state can't touch. >> everything that they're doing so oppressive, so i straight up say give me liberty or give me death. i have five children i'm responsible for. >> reporter: the state says they aren't seizing the funds even though there were two withdrawals from their bank accounts. you see, due to the court proceedings they are entitled to the money they're owed. one of the co-owners told me fees and fines could be potentially $1.8 million, and because of that they're getting a lot of support in people, and you can see just a steady flow

of traffic moving in and out of the gym over here. they have a gofundme page set up as well as you heard from one of the co-owners, a cryptocurrency bank account. so for now, none of the members are paying any of their monthly fees because they can't operate as a business, but they're hoping that they're going to gain some traction, and they're not going to stop down from this. they plan to continue to fight it. back to you. neil: all right, kristina, thank you very much. reaction to all of this, back with us, gianna caldwell and daniell are e mclaughlin. it's one thing to shut down a gym, quite another to abscond with the funds raised to keep them open what do you make of it? you're the lawyer. >> i'm trying to understand how the state could take those funds. from a policy perspective, i would argue that punishing businesses is not the way we get out of the covid-19 pandemic

economic crisis. some of that with the ppp federal government loans, but we need far more for state and local governments because some of these businesses will have to close for at period of time to make sure those businesses can reopen when it's safe. neil: you know, it does get back to the issue originally this idea that a lockdown can go too far, they do more harm than good. and we're already seeing, depending on the state -- and the study, obviously -- that they really don't make a difference in the overall numbers, the cases that are ultimately reported. and i think even in europe they're discovering that and even in washington, d.c. and others where there's a push to ease up on such restrictions. someone must be seeing a different light here. what do you think? >> i mean, clearly they are. either have the economy rebalance and joe biden gets the credit or they've finally seen andrew cuomo as well as lori

lightfoot, the mayor of chicago, said we have to open, we have to open. and the truth of the matter is they've devastated a lot of businesses especially in california. two months into the shutdowns, i knew i needed freedom, and i moved to miami. and here i am learning that a lot of businesses in l.a. which are shut down will never be returning. so they did permanent damage to the economy whereas in florida ron desantis, for the most part, kept the state open. he has about 1.57 million covid cases compared to 3 million in california which has been completely restricted the entire time. of so you tell me if the science works when you're demanding people not leave home but, rather, order out at home and do grocery shopping. that tells me you've bankrupted the people in poverty. neil: danielle, we're going to have joe biden coming in, and he has hinted that states have botched their response here. a surprise to people when he

said that, but he didn't fault the governors per se, that they each had different ideas for getting, for example, vaccines out to the public. it sounds like he wants to federalize that somewhat or get a simple standard, let's say folks 65 and older immediately get a vaccine. something to simplify rather than 50 different policies. i think i've got the gist of that that right, but what do you think of that? >> i think it makes sense that we have kind of a top-down approach, although i think there needs to be room to move for these states. we have seen vaccines that have been thrown away because people coming for each vial. so i think a national plan that is clear and simple, but i think there always has to be a little bit of play in the joints. to the point about would the lockdowns work, there have been previous studies that shows as people move around less, they transmit less --

[audio difficulty] respiratory drop leapts, so lockdowns have to be targeted, but they have to be proportional. and, frankly, our leaders are still trying to figure out where that sweet spot is, where public health and the economy can both be supported without one winning at the cost of the other. [inaudible conversations] >> i mean, if you -- [inaudible conversations] >> florida's the example that danielle's mentioned in terms of how to best protect your economy, allow for freedom and still encourage social distancing and mask wearing. i think that's appropriate, people should wear mask. i go out, i wear a mask, and i think that's what people should do, absolutely. but, certainly, having the foundation of the cdc standards which i consider to be federal guidelines was what was needed, but the lockdowns in a lot of blue states simply didn't work to the degree that they wanted them to. >> yeah, and i think -- neil: -- joe biden is, just this quick thought, if you don't

mind, danielle, as a lawyer here, he also wants to mandate masks on all federal properties and spaces through at least late spring, i think. to do that, as long as it's limited to federal properties, right? but can he go beyond that? >> no, he cant. in short, he can't. yes, absolutely federal property, you can have id requirements so, certainly, the executive can make those determinations and put those rules around federal government properties, but they can't make them in other places. and i think that's where we -- and maybe this is a dirty word, collectively -- have to think about how we protect ourselves and each other. i know people are tired. that's one of the reasons lockdowns don't work, people just get sick of them. he won't be able to enforce it anywhere else but federal property. neil: guys, great catching up with both of you. >> thank you, neil. >> thank you. neil: you too, gianna.

just a-- gianno. just amazes me. the markets are closed. what we are showing you is how the futures are going. they're kind of all over the map here but, again, markets closed for martin luther king jr. we'll see what the markets do tomorrow. ♪ ♪ and the trumpets they go -- ♪

. . .

♪. neil: the world health organization out with a couple statements about the ongoing pandemic saying it probably should have called it a pandemic to draw a lot more attention earlier to the virus itself. well you didn't, did you? it is what it is and right now it is still a mess. right now here is charles payne. charles: neil, thank you very much, my friend. good afternoon, everyone, i'm charles payne, this is "making money." breaking now, the remembering the life of martin luther king, jr. and with racial unrest we haven't seen in decade where do we go from here? the word unity keeps popping up but feels like the nation is moving apart. the bold moves president bide can make. we'll talk with heritage foundation casey james in a moment. on the martin luther king holiday, investors grappling with a rising concern about