>> tight majority that the republicans are going to have to hold on to in the house, but they are bullish on their chances in the senate.

there are so many seats that democrats have to defend that are very vulnerable. >> fuel prices impact our farmers and ranchers. when we've seen this record inflation, living costs have skyrocketed, people are frustrated. >> six companies, six, are 85% of the return this year, and that happened in 1999. we know what happened after that. it happened many 2007, we know what happened after that. >> momentum behind these big tech names doesn't stop because this artificial intelligence trend is for real. >> they don't really nope what economics are over at the white house except, of course, if you're taking money from burisma. ♪ ♪ ashley: david bowie. thank you again from the producers, you know how much i love the late david bowie. it is 11 a.m. on the east coast on wednesday, june 28th. helloing, everyone, i'm ashley

webster. it's all been a bit mixed, the dow down about that half a percent, the nasdaq just slightly higher, up half a percent and the s&p somewhere in the middle, essentially flat. let's take a look at those big tech numbers, pretty much a mixed picture but now it's gaining a little more momentum. alphabet, amazon, apple, the biggies all moving higher, alphabet up 1.5%. and let's take a look at the 10-year treasury yield. it's still down but just half a basis point at 3.76%. all right, now this. fox' jacqui heinrich pressed the white house on the optics of hunter biden's attendance at last week's state dinner. watch this. >> reporter: what message is the president trying to send to the american people when he invites his son to the state dinner and camp david just this past weekend amid everything he's going through? >> every president of the united states has invited their family to state dinner. this president also has a

family. he is no different. and beyond that, i'm just not going to engage on this. ashley: okay. we're also now learning that the white house omitted all of hunter biden's visits and extended stays from their visitor logs. martha maccallum is here now with me. great to see you, martha. hey, so much for the most transparent administration in history. and i find this a little odd. with we see hunter biden everywhere, and now they're not going to recognize him on visitor logs. >> he was on it for the state dinner, i guess, for the easter egg roll but not on it for other things. so, you know, plus there's just this big question, is he living there? so maybe if they're living there, which i know peter doocy has asked. we don't have an answer to the that question, but they appear to be there a lot, right? then maybe you don't have to call it a visit if they're living there. also i thought it was very telling, that a piece that ron klain also, you know, sort of sometimes logged his visitors, sometimes didn't, sometimes pops into a meeting, maybe the visit

is with a lower level staff person but he's there too. so there's a ton of ambiguity about how this, about how all of this is reported. ashley: but, you know, where there's smoke, there's fire. with hunter biden, you could argue it's a raging inferno. and just as the latest accusations come out, we see him schmoozing away at that state dinner when the indian prime minister was here. it just, the optics of this, i think, are appalling. >> two quick things there. ashley: yeah. >> hunter and his longtime business partner eric schwerin used to coordinate their visits with many associates, 80 times when he was vice president, hunter was there with business associate e associates and, you know, ostensibly to meet dad as well. the other big thing is you can see the changing tone of how they're approaching this story. now it's of course he's here. we love him, he's our son, and the other thing that hunter's attorney's saying is, well, anything he did when he was an addict, you know, my father is

sitting right next to me, better with send millions of dollars right now, we're just going to have to write off because we all have to the understand he was an addict during that period, which is interesting, because the prior explanation was why was he getting paid all this money from burisma and the chinese energy company? because he's super smart. he's so talented as a business with man, he's a genius, right? he called him a genius. ashley: now a drug addict. >> he's either a genius and that's why he's getting paid all the money, or we have to look the other way because he's an addict. just ignore what he said. ashley: it's just the drip, drip, drip. at some point does the president get ensnared in this? >> i mean, the questions that's interesting are coming not just from peter doocy and and jacqui heinrich now, they're coming from other reporters as well. and i think that's an interesting indication here that they are tired of these answers. and we got more information today. another, like, $10 million shakedown of hunter saying, according to these reports, saying, you know, the bidens are

the best at this. ashley: i know. >> right? the bidens are the best at this. you better send us the money. so this is, it's the pretty astonishing. ashley: quick change of subject before we run out of time. the president going to chicago to basically tout his economic policies, biden-om mics, but the polls don't buy it. people do not buy him and his policies for the economy. they don't feel better off. >> i mean, from a campaign perspective, i don't think you can -- of course they're going to present the economy in the best possible light. ashley: of course. >> they know that it's always number one issue for voters, right? so they're going to focus on the things they think are wins for them in terms of more people coming bag into the -- back into the job market. but what we see over time in these polls is inflation continues to be a real issue that people are struggling with, all of us are struggling with. so whether or not they can sell it is another question, but with it doesn't surprise me that, you know, that they're trying, that they want to present it in the best possible way.

ashley: we'll see how that works out. dangerous strategy to to connect yourself to an economy so far out from the election. martha, terrific stuff. >> great to see you. thanks for having me. ashley: always. 2024 the gop presidential candidate ron desantis will be joining you today on the show? fantastic. >> first two blocks this afternoon, we look forward to that. ashley: so much to ask him about. >> looking forward to having him, yeah. we're going to to talk about china, ukraine, the economy, primary race -- ashley: yeah. very good. fantastic. thank you very much, martha. all right, 3 p.m. eastern on the fox news channel. let's look at these markets, get back to them. a little mixed. the nasdaq up, dow and s&p down as we say it's been this way pretty much from the opening bell. mark tip tepper joins me now -- mark tepper joins me now. great to see you. is the consumer based on the data we've been getting stronger than we think? because they're pretty resilient. >> yeah, it really seems that way, ashley. as you mentioned, you know, we've had this recent flurry of

economic day that's really -- data that's really pointing toward a strong consumer from housing starts to consumer confidence to international travel demand. all those things are pointing towards a strong consumer. now, my concern is that maybe the consumer is underestimating headwinds that are going to be coming down the pike. so, number one, we've got student loan payments coming back with on line. the average payment is $380 a month, so that certainly presents a headwind. when it comes to debt servicing costs which are going up, the consumer's been spending a lot on credit cards, and as interest rates go cup, that debt servicing cost is going to take a bigger bite out of someone's budget. and hen there's the whole job security thing. i think consumers feel very comfortable in their jobs with a tight labor market, however, small business owners, their confidence is at recessionary level, so they might be thinking about cutting jobs in the

future. i think those present potential headwinds for the consumer. ashley: when we look at individual stocks, you like home depot. based on what, mark? >> yeah. so, look, we're at the very beginning of a housing bull market. all the recent economic data points towards that. so i guess from an investor standpoint,s investors have to be wondering, okay, how do you play this? you can certainly pop into the home builders, but they're already up over 30% this year, over 50% off their lows in the fourth quarter of last year, so you're a little late to the game. i think the the catch-up trade is home depot which has been a dog this year, it's essentially flat when everything else is up. if you think about it, what follows new home purchases? you have to buy appliances, landscaping supplies, and what follows new construction? remodeling and home renovations if you decide not to go down the path of building a new house. home depot really could be the catch-up trade here, could be a way to play the bull market in

housing if you missed outen on the home builders. ashley: makes sense to me. mark tepper, great stuff as always. thanks so much. >> thanks, ashley. ashley: thank you. all right, lauren, you're looking at some is movers. let's bin with is that jobi? lauren: i say jobi, air taxi. they just got a green light with from the faa to begin flight testing of their electric air taxi. it's all a matter of time for us to be able to hail one to get to laguardia or jfk, right? if they say they plan to start testing in 2025 the for commercial use. ashley: is that right? just order them, find a place where they land and off you go. lauren: yeah. future is here. ashley: all right. workday. tell me about workday. lauren: business software company, rbc capital initiated their coverage with an outperform, $275 price target, they say there's a long runway of 20 the plus percent subscription growth. workday's products, we use them here at fox -- ashley: yes, we do. that's why i reck niez it.

lauren: yes, it's on the screen. ashley: all right. airbnb, that's a famous name. lauren: it's up 2 percent. travel stocks broadly higher ahead of big demand for the fourth of july weekend, and then i just wanted to tell you that the malibu barbie dream house is available for rent on airbnb. i did not find one available date open, but the movie comes out the end e of july. ashley: scheeres seriously, you can rent that? lauren: i like the slide. yep. ashley: my goodness. is everything tinemy? lauren: including clotheses. you get a wardrobe. ashley: thank you very much, lauren. we may know that many americans continue to face -- we now know, that is, growing credit card debt, but are they asking for help to the bring those numbers down? that's the question. lauren: no. the average american household holds about $10,000 in credit card debt. i actually thought it would be higher. that's from wallethub. but nerd wallet says a third of

us don't talk about it. no one else knows how much debt we've really taken on when it comes to our credit card balance, and 40% say the reason is it's embarrassing. isn't that the american way? get what you want -- ashley: consumerism. lauren: even if you can't pay for it, swipe the plastic. ashley: and if you ignore it, it just goes away, the debt. [laughter] lauren: i think that's what the white house thinks do -- ashley: thank you, lauren. a whopping 70% of millennials feel a145eu78ed when they have do their parents for money. never if an easy call, is it? but more than half still need to. we'll get into that. the popular disney world fast pass service just got more expensive. of course it did. but is it worth it? and you may remember actor gary sinise in forest gump. roll the tape. >> forget about me, get yourself out! i never thanked you for saving my life. ashley: what a great movie.

gary, who's since dedicated his life to helping veterans and their families, he just received a bug honor for it and -- big honor for it. guess what? gary is here next. ♪ i'm proud to be an american where at least i know i'm free. ♪ and i won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me. ♪ and i'd gladly stand up next to you and defend her stillwi today -- ♪ 'cuz there therthe ain' majt o doubt ♪ helps restore gum health, and rehardens enamel. i'm a big advocate of recommending things that i know work. the new dexcom g7 sends your glucose numbers to your phone and watch, so you can always see where you're heading withtht fingngsticksks dexcxc g7. so easy to use, you can manage your diabetes with confidence.

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ashley: actor gary sinise was just given the charlie danielss' patriot award for his commitment and dedication to helping veterans, and look who's here, gary city nice -- gary sinise himself. we know that you've been helping out veterans and military families for years, and i guess

my first question to you is, why do you do it? >> el -- well, there's several reasons. i mean, the seeds were planted many years ago. i have a lot of of veterans in my family, so is i always let folks know it starts there. on both my side of the family and my wife's side of the family. and then i got involve with supporting veteran, vietnam veterans back in the '80s, and after playing the disabled veteran, lieutenant dan, i began supporting the dav, disabled american veterans organization. and then september 11th happened, and i just felt like i was teed up to do more, and that began aing whole journey for me that ultimately ended up creating the gary sinise foundation which we started, launched over ten years ago. and, in fact, we're going into our, we're just about to have our, the end of our 12th year. we're beginning our 13th year on

july 1st. ashley: it's amazing how it's expanded. i want to get into this issue, gary, the supreme court is going to hear an ongoing case regarding education benefits for veterans. that move could give additional tuition money to the potentially millions of veterans. i mean, how important are those benefits, in your mind? >> well, i don't know much about this particular if bill or anything, but certainly we can never coenough to support our veterans -- do enough. they protect our freedom, they sacrifice. so much for us, their families sacrifice so much for us. so i always say we can never do enough. the government, i don't expect the government to do everything for our veterans. there's no way it can, you know? we have millions and millions of veterans going back to world war ii, and then ongoing conflicts that we face today. and we're always going to have a

need to support them, and i think there's a role for citizens to play, and that's why there's so many -- there's thousands and thousands of veteran support nonprofits like the gary sinise foundation that are out there. i think we do have a responsibility. we can always do more for them. they provide our freedom. we can do whatever we can and so can the government. and the government should, obviously. but i feel there's a role for citizens to may as well. ashley: very good. another one for you, i want you to tell me about snowball express program. what is it, and are you expanding it? finish. >> well, yes, we are. this is a program that i got involved with back in 2007. it was started by a couple of people that wanted to take care of our gold star children and do something potential -- special for them back in 2006, so they took them to disneyland. i got involved with it in 2007. american airlines, a big, big supporter. they fly the kids in all the time. and then it became a program of

the gary sinise foundation back in 2018. we started taking group with of -- this group of children to disney world in orlando. and we've been doing that since 2018. thousand we're expanding that -- now we're expanding that. these are our military children. now we're expanding that to children of fallen first responders. it's a big, big program for us. we have a lot of families that have sacrificed so much k and we want to do something for the children that are left behind and that have to go on. grieving children coming together in a place like disney world can be very, very healing, very bonding. it's a place of joy and happiness, so we bring them a lot of happiness. but also we introduce them to each other, and they can see that they're not alone. there are other families out there going through the same thing. it's a very, very positive program, and now we're expanding it to these first responder families as well. ashley: that is terrific. when's your next flight to disney, do you know?

[laughter] >> well, we have, you know, we do do events throughout the year for snowball families all over the country. but the next big event is in december where we take over a thousand military kids to disney, and we anticipate taking about 500 first responder families to disney world as well. ashley: well -- very quickly, gary, you know, you're getting the charlie daniels' patriot award. got to know charlie very well, even went to him with -- with him to kosovo and germany and saw some of the wounded soldiers in hospitals there. he was the most remarkable man. i mean, he was certainly a patriot, but he was also a very, very, very good human being, and i'm sure you're very proud to win that award. >> oh, to win the award in charlie's name is very, very special. i knew charlie, i got to play with him a couple times. i played devil went down to georgia with charlie daniels. he was a great patriot, great american, and it's an honor to

receive the award. ashley: gary, thank you so much for being here and thank you for all you do for this country's veterans and all the programs that you help support. thank you so much. >> i sure appreciate it. thank you. ashley: thank you. all right, now this, talking of disney world, just updated its genie plus service. guests will have the option to choose their man based on the day and park they visit is. so here's a breakdown. multiple parks of course, $27 per guest. i'm assuming that's on top of the regular ticket. magic kingdom park, 27, end cot, 18. guest -- epcot, the disney's hollywood studios is $24 per guest to get into the fast lane, and disney's animal kingdom, $16 per guest. by the way, disney's currently working to simplify its genie+ service by allowing guests to make selections before their trip. so there you go. it's always worth getting ahead of the line at disneyland or disney world. coming up, despite

predictions of a.i. replacing workers, business leaders say the opposite. they say they're going to hire more workers as a result. meantime, metarolling out more parental controls across its platforms, but do they go far enough? we're going to have that report next. ♪ help, you know i need someone. ♪ when i was young, so much younger than today -- ♪ never needed anybody's help in any way ♪ ♪ ♪ the biggest ideas inspire new ones. 30 years ago, state street created an etf that inspired the world to invest differently.

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♪ ashley: all right, time now for this day this in history, "american built." on this day, june 28th in 1939, the first transatlantic passenger flight took off. was it on time? i hope so. the mane departed port washington, new york, its destination marseilles, france, with the 22 passengers onboard. everything went well. don't forget to watch, by the way, "american built" on mondays, 9 p.m. eastern only on fox business prime with a smiling stuart varney. let's check the markets. we've been -- the dow's off a, what, and 0 points.. -- 130 points. the nasdaq higher by about to

two-tenths. it's a market hooking for direction cocover everything. lauren's here now with some movers. carnival, what's going on there? lauren: if you take a look at carnival and royal caribbean, with two of the top five best performing s&p 500 stocks this year, two cruise lines joining nvidia with, tesla and meta. so carnival's up 97% this year, royal caribbean's more than doubled. the s&p 500's only up 14%, so they were winners this year, husband far they're winners -- thus far they're winners today. ashley: well, the cruise lines only had one way to golf after the pandemic. hershey -- lauren: down 3.25%. st the general mills forecast that's spooking this sector. that volume drop and now worry is and many consumers have already been doing in this, you buy less or trade down to a private label. so hershey is being impacted, it's down, like i said, more than 3%. ashley: interesting, let's talk about doordash.

lauren: they will start to offer their drivers hourly pay in addition to a tip instead of being paid by order. so typically if someone delivering your order or is paid by the order, they keep 100% of the tip. now they have choice, keep it as if is especially if you're in a very busy area, that might be more men with official, or you just get paid by time. starting july 12th here in new york city, a near $18 minimum wage for cure yore -- couriers. ashley: not bad, is it? am i out of touch? lauren: ono, that's great, but how much more expensive is it for consumers? you need $18 to live near new york city, but that's expensive. ashley: meta is rolling out new parental tools and safety features for facebook, instagram and messenger, but critics questioning just how effective they will be. kelly o'grady joins us now.

good morning to you, kelly. what exactly do these features do? >> reporter: good morning, ashley. basically, the controls are meant to give parents more insight into how their kids are using social media. let me run you through some of the new features. teen users will get a nudge to take a break after using the app for 20 the minutes. on message messenger, parents will see changes in their contact list, guardians are also going to get a notification when their teen reports someone if the teen chooses to the share that info. on instagram, parents can expect similar updates, but teens will receive a prompt when they block someone suggesting, hey, maybe allow your parent to supervise the account. however, there's big criticism that teens need to opt into these controls in many cases. there's a lot of concerns kids won't really share that info and that these controls could be ineffective. >> so many coming up missing and so much children being, like, groomed, you know, like, it's scary for me as a mom to think

that my child will be able to say, oh, no, i don't want my nominee. i recognize that there are young people need safe spaces, but i don't recognize social media as a safe space. >> reporter: now, i did speak with meta about parents' concerns, and they shared the tools are designed to to balance teen safety and autonomy. they said this: these tools were developed to allow parents to oversee settings and spark conversations with their teens about what's appropriate for their a family. we have a number of existing safety features that are default for teens. it's a fine line to walk. some kids are dealing with an abusive home life in some cases, so having privacy is key. but i keep coming back to what she said, social media is not a safe space, a powerful representation of parents' fear. ashley: it really is. many parents feel the same way. kelly, thank you very much. kara frederick, director of the heritage foundation tech policy center, joins me now. i guess let's begin whether these new features actually do anything to help children's

safety? they sound good, but in reality i'm not sure how effective. how about you? >> you're exactly right. this is the bare minimum. i was assessing this, and this is like putting a band-aid on a sucking chest wound and expecting all of us to applaud. we know based off what kelly and bernita said and studies like the institute of family studies have done, 77% of parents want parental controls given to them by these platforms. i think this is just a soft to the parents, what these companies know everybody's clamoring for. no less than four bills, pieces of legislation, have been introduced or reintroduced in the 118th congress that are aimed at holding tech companies accountable for what they're doing to children. i think they're running scared, but this is bare minimum that they can possibly conduct. ashley: you know, it makes me laugh, you get a nudge to be take a break. what teen is going to to pay any

attention to that? they're not paying attention to their parents to put the phone down, so they're not going to pay attention to a nudge. as kelly pointed out in that report, it's a balance between safety and autonomy, and i'm not sure how you do that. >> yeah. 9 and the tech companies, they have the technology to do this. they have things like privacy-preserving technologies that can work towards some of these technical solutions as well. they do have the capabilities. i think problem here is that the verdict is in. this is particularly rich in coming from meta who has its own studies reveal, its own internal research that says things like 6% of american teens who considered suicide trace that ideation directly back9 ott platform. you have a unc study come out recently that basically said social media is rewiring the brains of children as young as 12 years old. so the companies know how to confront this. it's not an easy tax, but they can do it yet they are not. in fact, they're pushing full

steam ahead to design teams and products that attach younger and younger -- attract younger and younger users. this is a problem. they're flying in the face of all of these legislative efforts, but i think they know that their time is getting short. ashley: all right, let's change subjects quickly. a report by the house weaponization subcommittee found that the add ors managers colluded with big tech -- administration colluded with big tech to censor americans directly ahead of the 2020 the election and during the 2022 the midterms. i mean, are we surprised? probably not. but will anything come of this, do you think? >> you know, they've gotten away with this again and again and again. we knew that these facts were out in the open when the state attorneys general of missouri and louisiana brought the case initially. they had the facts. you have people like twitter personalities alex berenson saying he was directly censored, the has happened at the state level with the release of the twitter files. we know that this is true. almost 100 fbi agents design

there to police the speech of americans. we know that this is happening, they haven't is faced any consequences yet. again, i think some of pieces of legislation in congress right now, the collude act by senator schmitt who was the a.g. of missouri, those things are important. so tech companies, they should be on notice but, unfortunately, nothing's happened to them, nothing's happened to joe biden and the biden campaign for this collusion -- ashley: right. >> i think it's time to change, however. let's get some energy on the hill behind i. ashley: that's a great place to finish. kara, thank you so much. we do appreciate it. thank you. >> thanks, ashley. ashley: now this. my millennials have having a hard time becoming financially inindependent, so how many are leaning on mom and dad for help? lauren: more than half. 54% of gen-z and millennials consider themselves at least somewhat financially dependent on mom and dad. 23% stating they're very dependent on their parents still. this is the bank of mom and dad. but how much sosome is it, you know, you're on the family cell

phone plan or sharing a netflix account, or are your parents really helping you get by, paying food, rent, etc., and do young adults feel bad about? 70% of millennials indicate, yes, we do feel shame when we ask for support. remarkably, they blame their parents for not teaching them -- ashley: of course they do. it's all their fault but they want the money back too. lauren large yeah. the younger generation. ashley: yes. feeling so much older these days. [laughter] thank you, lauren. presidential candidate francis suarez are appeared stumped by a question on china. roll the tape. >> will you be talking about the uighurs in your campaign? >> the what? >> the uighurs. >> what's a uighur? ashley: suarez tried doing some damage control, but other candidates, well, they're quick to jump on that. we're going to be following the story. former army undersecretary patrick murray says tech companies risk our national security by working with china,

and it's time to pick sides. patrick murphy is here next. ♪ under pressure ♪ shingles. some describe it as an intense burning sensation or an unbearable itch. this painful, blistering rash

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ashley: all right, let's take a look at these markets. we seem to be running a lot and getting nowhere. the dow is still off 69 points but trying to come back. now nasdaq up half a percent and the s&p finally turned to the green, so maybe coming back just a little bit. take a look at this headline, it reads, quote: a.i. companies risk u.s. national security by working with china. time to the choose sides. patrick murphy, former undersecretary of the army, he wrote that and he joins me now. patrick, great to see you. do you want a complete do

decoupling from china? is that possible? >> it's not necessarily possible right now, but we have to be very -- we have to absolutely decouple our strategic assets and strategic technologies. when you have big tech companies in america, american tech companies there doing generative a.i., things such as facial recognition and we have the research over in china, heir going to steal it, they're going to take it for themselves. and, frankly, i think what taught us in russia is that there's good guys and bad with guys. ashley: yeah. >> obviously, the illegal war in ukraine shows that russia is, you know, a bad with guy. but china, they disregard international norms. they disregard business practices. and i don't trust them, we shouldn't trust them, and the american big tech companies shouldn't trust them neither. ashley: and as a.i. kind of, you know, explodes with the technology and, you know, it really is, we're just at the tip of the iceberg, china has been very effective in stealing stuff. that's how they do a lot of

stuff, they steal stuff is and turn it back on you. how can you stop that? >> i always say the ronald reagan, trust but verify. they can say the right things, but if they're not doing the right things, that's a problem. ashley: how do you know? >> i think it's pretty clear when you have spy balloons and secret police stations, i think when they have the battalions of folks breaking into our private companies and our government, enough is enough, and we have to the to understand that this is a great power competition. against a near-peer competitor. that is three times our size. so we better with wake up as a country and make sure that we have a national a.i. strategy. there was a commission led by eric schmidt from google that did a phenomenal job laying out the pathway, but also making sure we use the power of the purse. as you know, i used to help run the army. we need to make sure when we talk about the department of defense, that $800 billion budget, we need to make sure we are letting the folks know in these public-private partnerships that we know, hey, are you doing the right thing

when it comes to to china? >> ashley: it's difficult for companies who have shareholders to answer to. china is a huge market when it comes to economies. i understand what you're saying, but you want companies to -- how can companies interact with the chinese without being left exposed? >> and i understand, they're driven by profit and they're driven by the consumers. but let's be real, the average chinese family and, again, there are good people p. it's the communist regime that's the problem. they're macon average a household like $12,000. so it's not like they're buying a ton of nike products, etc. we just need to make sure that our strategic investments many technology, big tech companies which will be game-changer when it comes to the warfare that may or may not happen. again, as a combat veteran, i'm a reluctant the warrior. i'm not hawkish saying let's go, but we train like we fight. general patton once said a gallon of sweat prevents a pint of blood. and we have to to the understand that when we have a great power

competition with china, it's on the military aspect but also the economy. ashley: right. >> we need good companies to do the right thing and not just look the other way, and we have to be smart about it as a country. ashley: going to be a debate for a long time to come. patrick murphy, thank you so much for being here. now this, you may have seen recent headlines about artificial intelligence leading to millions of job layoffs, but take a look at this. a new study finds that 64% of c suite leaders say they will hire more workers as a result of generative a.i. instead of laying off workers. some companies have started creating a.i.-focused roles like a.i. artists. that's hard to say for some reason. researchers and engineers. however, the study does warn that there could be a period of time in the future where 56789i -- a.i. tools do reduce jobs, so it's kind of a mixed message there. won't cost jobs but could -- lauren: but then you have more time on your hands, and you can travel and go places which will require more workers.

ashley: very good. all right. let's take a look at the dow 30 stocks, as we like to say at this time of day, get a sense of the markets. salesforce, apple on top, more red than green, more selling than buying. travelers and home depot down at the bottom there in today's session. florida senator rick scott sent a powerful message to self-proclaimed socialists looking to come to florida. roll the tape. >> if you're a socialist, communist, somebody that beliefs in big -- believes in big government, i would think twice, think twice if you're thinking about taking a vacation or moving to florida. ashley: think twice. the chief financial officer of florida deals with that one next. ♪ ♪ don't come around here no more ♪

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we moved out of the city so our little sophie could appreciate nature. but then he got us t-mobile home internet. i was just trying to improve our signal, so some of the trees had to go. i might've taken it a step too far. (chainsaw revs) (tree crashes) (chainsaw continues) (daughter screams) let's pretend for a second that you didn't let down your entire family. what would that reality look like? well i guess i would've gotten us xfinity... and we'd have a better view. do you need mulch? what, we have a ton of mulch.

ashley: liberals are outraged after florida senator rick scott issued a travel advisory to socialists and communists who are thinking about coming to his state. watch this. >> if you're a socialist, communist, somebody that believes in big government, i would think twice, think twice

if you're thinking about taking a vacation or moving to florida. we're the free state of florida. we actually don't believe in socialism. we like freedom, liberty, capitalism, things like that. ashley: free state of florida. well, jimmy patronis is florida's chief financial officer. he joins me now. great to see you, jimmy. the n a aacp warned about trouble to florida for black americans, but liberals very up in arms about what rick scott has to say. what do you think about it? if. >> well, i'm -- one, thanks, ashley, for having me. i am proud to live in the free state of florida. i love to continue working hard to keep the state of florida free. but when governor scott was governor and now governor desantis, they worked sr. hard. it's not a sprint, it's a march to create the best economy, the best fiscal health we've ever had in the history of the state. but it takes discipline, it takes good, strong policies, and this is evidence of how the election cycle was in florida

the past november where all statewide officers won by over a 20% margin in what has been typically moan as purple floridaful florida's a deep red state, so i can understand and agree with the sentiments of senator scott. ashley: i'll move on to this issue very quickly, jimmy. governor ron desantis asking a federal judge to the dismiss can disney's lawsuit against him saying it has no merit and that he has immunity from it. is he immune, and has it gotten to the point where maybe it's time to move on from disney somewhat say you? >> so, again, the golf just executes the -- the governor just executes the laws hat are legislature passes. i think disney doesn't have a ron desantis problem, they have a disney problem. disney is scaling back their operations, they're seeing drops in subscribers, closing hair flagship $6,000 a night "star wars" hotel. disney's been a great partner with the state of florida for over 50 years, but it's long overdue to reach out, make amends and move past their

foolishness and litigation that they're trying to, you know, distract what is so important about what's great about the state of florida and our robust economy and why people love our state. ashley: jimmy patronis, i'm sorry it's so short, but thank you so much, sir, for chipping in with us today. we do appreciate it. >> yeah, sure. take care. ashley: thank you. 2024 gop presidential candidate francis suarez getting heat over a radio interview yesterday. i think i know what happened, lauren are. lauren: it was about the uighurs, a muslim minority group in western china. mayor suarez was on the hugh hewitt radio show s and he made a major gaffe. >> will you be talking about uighurs many your campaign? -- in your campaign? >> the what? [laughter] >> the weeing with ors. >> what's a uighur? >> okay, we'll come back to that. whether you gave me homework, hugh. what'd you call it, a weeble? >> the uighur. you really need to know about the uighurs, mayor. you gotta talk about it every

day. >> i will talk about -- i will search uighurs. i'm a good learner, i'm a fast learner. lauren: ah. clean-up. suarez says, of course, i'm well aware of the uighurs -- the the suffering of the uighurs in china, they're being enslaved because of their faith. china has a deplorable record on human rights and all people of faith. i didn't recognize the pronunciation my friend hugh hewitt used. that's on me. yeah, but presidential contenderses don't think suarez is ready for the national stage including the former ambassador to the u.n.. >> over a million muslim uighurs sitting in china, they are making them change their name, change their religion, sexual abuse. i mean, genocide. we promised never again to look away from genocide, and it's happening right now in china. and the fact that the whole world is ignoring it is shameful. lauren: nikki haley just spelled

it out and says her policy would be to come down very hard on china. ashley: okay. thank you very much, lauren. it is time now for the wednesday trivia question. s the, indeed. it's a good one. who was first nfl player to answer, i'm going to disney world, after winning the super bowl? >> doug williams, otis anderson, phil simms or joe montana? think about it, lauren, the answer when we come back with. . .

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ashley: all right, so we just asked who was the first nfl play

are to answer i'm going to disney world after winning the super bowl? lawyer renn, you're up. >> joe montana. ashley: it had to be a while ago. i'm with you. i think it was joe montana. let's have the answer. phil simms. we're in new york and didn't get it the giants quarterback kicked off the tradition after they defeated the denver broncos in super 31. back in 1987. >> sorry, joe. super bowl xxi, phil simms. ashley: that's it for "varney & company." we'll be back tomorrow. "coast to coast" starts now. ♪. neil: "bidenomics" rushes buying it? the president is pushing it.

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