big buzz with, big night. seven candidates squaring off for the second presidential debate. you can watch it live here on fox business at 9 p.m. eastern. your thoughts for tonight. what do you want to see? >> oh, i'm hoping to see actual solutions proposed for immigration and border crisis as well as real solutions for the economy. but also talking about education,en parental rights and what's going on with free speech on college campuses. >> i will say i don't know if we're going to get that, that's very optimistic -- [laughter] but it is very healthy in a primary debate environment to see the party really argue over what the priorities should be. educational opportunity ideally for people watching. maria: real quick, adam. >> must-see tv. i think the hosts are going to do great with. like you, they can ask tough questions. maria: thank you so much. great show. "varney & company" picks it up now. david, take it away. david: good morning, maria. thank you, everybody. good morning to you folks.

i'm david as han in for stuart varney, of course, he's doing the big debate tonight. president biden making history after he joined the united autoworkers in michigan. biden becoming the first sitting president to actually go in a picket line during a strike. he told autoworkers, quote, you deserve a hell of a lot more than what you're getting now, enquote. today former president donald trump is going to be making his own trip to michigan as the strike enters its 13th day. and hollywood writers are set to return to work after union leaders reached a tentative deal with the major studios. this would end the nearly 150-day strike. the vote will begin next monday. and dramatic new footage showing migrants breezing through an open section of the border yesterday as construction workers attempted to reinstall the barrier. and mass looting overnight this philadelphia. businesses across the city ransacked by masked teenagers. looters targeted several major

retail stores like apple, foot locker, lou lieu -- lululemon weekes after philly's police commissioner resigned. markets all in the green today -- nice change, by the way. not terribly high, but the dow is up 104 in premarket activity, and nasdaq is up about 50. nice jump there. the 10-year treasury, if we can switch to the rates, down a little bit. still trading at close to 4.55. and the stage is set for tonight's gop debate, but the them the accurates don't have a scheduled debate of their own. james carville is now warning the democrat party somebody better wake up. and tonight is the night seven gop candidates will take the stage at the ronald reagan with presidential library in simi valley, california. we have got a big lineup including a special appearance from the man himself, stuart varney. wednesday, september 27th, "varney & company" is about to

begin. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ david: we are e getting ready for the big night tonight, and we just got the lineup, by the way. seven candidates, three moderators, one stage all at the ronald reagan presidential library in simi valley, california. they're all there the can ask waiting with bathe breath. baited breath. everybody's doing their minute preparation for this. 9 p.m. eastern time is when it all begins, but we've got a big lineup that that starts way before that. we're going to take you all the way to the debate at nine right here on fox business. but todd piro is here right now to join me. let's start with desantis. a lot of people say he's lost his mojo.

he lost it even before the first debate, but he didn't really stand out at that first debate. nick haley did more. -- nikki haley did more. how does he get that back? >> you can't win the super bowl in the first quarter, but you can lose it. by that i mean he cannot be too aggressive. he has to be meted out the entire time. what's going to the help him is that the game is going to come to him. people are going to be incoming fire on him whether it's desantis -- excuse me, whether it's haley, vivek ramaswamy, the fire's going to be on him. he needs to be prepared with answers and ready to go and then go on fencive against the other candidates to have a balanced night. again, don't go crazy with the first a.n.s.w.e.r., balance it out -- the answer, balance it out. david: he has such a wonderful economic story to tell. compare florida with california, illinois, new york, you could go on, i mean, all of the biggest blue states are losing people, they're losing businesses

because of their policies, because of their high taxes and regulation, a lot of other things. he's been gaining on all the major fronts, why doesn't he stick with the economic story? >> well, i think you're going to hear a lot of that today, you're also going to hear a lot of the crime story saying the big cities are the big problem. if he makes it all about woke stuff, the people are interested in that, but when you look at the numbers, to your point, people are worried about their money, people are worried about the credit situation. he has an amazing story to tell. he needs to tell it in an a aggressive but not too aa depressive fashion and across as likable. that's the challenge. david: beyond the economy, there is ap even bigger issue, and that's the border. >> absolutely. and i think they all have really good talking points. they need to come up with the solution, and i think -- i could be wrong on this. i think the person that provides the most try -- strident, tough policy is going to come away a winner because the american people are fed up.

you take a look outside, this is a liberal city, this liberal city is fed up. people want to be tough on the board e and they want it now. david: it was the issue in 2016, it may be in 2024 as well. it all comes down to the economy. todd, thank you very much. stay there, you are with us for the whole hour. >> great to be here, sir. david: the key issue for this, as with most elections as was just said, is the economy. and in a recent, this bc poll, republicans have a 211-point lead over -- 2 21-point lead. brian brenberg is at a diner in iowa a speaking directly with the voters. brian, tell me, what do they want to hear from the candidates about the economy? >> yeah, david, we are here at the machine shed diner outside des moines, we're going to be here all day today, tomorrow morning talking with voters about what they're looking for in the debate. and you know the economy's going to be one of the big issues. i've got brad and lance here with me, they're both finance guys, talking to them about what

they're watching mt. economy. brad, as you watch tonight's debate, as you think about 2024, how are you thinking through issues like inflation and what you're hearing from the candidatesesome. >> i think from an inflation standpoint, i have two kids, one of those kids is married, they're wanting to buy a house, and now they're not going to be able to because of these costs. >> so they're looking, but they're seeing the interest rate on more gangs and saying, huh-uh, it's not going to happen. >> they just had a baby, he's a year old, so they're a family unit trying to go to that next level, and it's holding them off from being able to make that next step. >> and that's become so hard because of where interest rates are, because of inflation. lance, same thing. you're going to be watching tonight. what do you want to hear that might change your mind or persuade you? >> we were talking about this, brad and i talk about this often and when does the spending get under control, when does the

border become an issue that we're allowing millions of people to walk across that border, and then we have this challenge of we are just printing money. so somewhere along the way something's gotta give. we have soft some responsibilities -- some responsibilities, and people need to be responsible, and we're looking for that. >> and both of you work with retirees, people planning for their retirement in the future. you've got issues like social security and medicare. how because that influence how you think about the debates in 2024, brad in. >> well, we in the planning processes with retirees, they're wanting to know how can i retire and then sustain myself for long jeffty of life, being able to handle volatility, inflation in retirement. >> right. >> so when we have all the high interest rates, in that impacts people. social security should be just a piece of that planning process. >> right. >> but i'm not -- i guess all of us know that it's supposed to run out. >> yeah. >> so what party is going to be able to get it fixed. >> and who goes going -- who's

going to do something about it. we've got problems, who's going to fix it. people want to hear at the debate not so much cross-talk back and forth of the candidates, but who's going to zone in on an issue and make a case that they have solutions, david. hopefully that's what we're going to hear. a lot of minds are ready to be changed if they hear the right thing. david: and you hit on it, solutions. people don't want a lot of talk, they want solutions, not just general impressions. brian,, thank you very much. good to hear from the people. >> you bet, dave. david: let's check the markets if we can, it's a big turn around from yesterday although not enough to turn around the down swing yesterday. markets ended down almost 400 points on the dow, huge loss yesterday. they're coming back today. not enough to make up for the losses. the dow premarket activity is up 130, the nasdaq is up about 55 right now. eddie georgia bore joins -- eddie ghabour joins me. despite the nice turn around from yesterday, you say buy and

and hold doesn't work in this market, so how are you playing it? >> david, you're right, that's our opinion. look, in a bear market like we've been in for the last 20 the-21 months, the biggest thing we're hearing as we get calls from investors around the country is their frustration with the fact that they've stay fully invested in a diversified portfolio, and they haven't done well over this time period. and the reason why, in our opinion, is in a bear market it's very selective on the sector that will actually work. there's more that won't work than actually do work. so we've stayed very active over these last 2 22 -- 32 -- 22 months. we did buy the dip in oil last week. i think energy works. but, look, you look at areas that are interest rate sensitive, this interest rate market environment is going to continue to cause bankruptcy withs to to increase in small businesses -- can bankruptcies to increase. so in this environment is here

to stay, and you just have to be careful what sectors you're in. david: eddie, great to see you. thank you very much. >> thank you. david: and now this, 23 left-leaning senators have called for new jersey senator menendez to resign after his bribery charges. pennsylvania senator fetterman had this to say about the situation. quote, this week i hope to see my colleagues fully address the alleged systematic corruption of senator menendez with the same vigor and velocity they brought to concerns about our dress code, end quote. senators from his own party are calling for his less ig neigh. will senator menendez step down? that's the question todd. >> it doesn't appear so. to john fetterman, give up the act already. it's so old, it's so tired. you dress like a slob. you shouldn't be tired of that. and the fact that you're embarrassing our senate by making it the norm, that's not right. as for the democratsing calling for menendez to step down, it's almost like they are out putting him through the trump treatment

to a certain extent. they don't want a trial, they just want to convict based upon the evidence. and look, between you and me, the evidence looks amazingly against bob menendez. david: and he has a history. >> he does, but we live in a system of innocent until proven guilty. today david that's true. >> you're seeing that from dem republicans like tom cotton. meanwhile, the countdown is on. seven candidates are taking the stage tonight. what does rnc chair ronn amc daniel want to see from those candidates? i'm going to be asking her or next. ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ we're going at it tonight, tonight ♪ david: of course we're playing that song because stuart, our own stuart varney, is co-moderating the second gop debate tonight. seven candidates are going to be going toe otto as they try to convince americans to give them their vote. madison alworth joining me now from the ronald reagan presidential library. you're talking to voters in california. what do they want to hear from the candidates? >> reporter: david, they want to hear things about the economy, they want to hear about immigration, and they also want to hear about a age. we're expecting all of that a because today is debate day here in simi valley. we are now 12 hours out from those seven candidates making their pitch to the american public as to why they should be the next nominee of the republican party for president. those seven candidates, they're going to be the on stage here at ronald reagan library which has been transformed into a prime

time debate stage. the debate stage slightly smaller than a month ago with asa hutchinson failing to qualify for tonight's event. that could mean more understoods for one of these gop if hopefuls to make a breakthrough in the eyes of voters. ron desantis hoping to grab some of that attention as he's been sliding in the polls. he will seek that momentum tonight. former south carolina governor nikki haley has been surging since her performance in the previous presidential debate, but now she might have a target on her or back. and vivek ramaswamy saying on fox news just this weekend that the his campaign was entering a new phase. all of these candidates here to show how their proposed policies contrast with president joe biden who was on the defensive amid declining poll numbers. >> it's important that right now we're really getting our message out in terms of all that this president and vice president have accomplished in the two and a half years that, you know, they've been in office. and to continue to draw

contrasts between what we'll see on the debate stage tomorrow night. >> reporter: you know, dade, we've been seeing the images from inside the library, it's truly an incredible set. and that stage just below ronald reagan's air force one. it's going to be very much in the eye line of these seven candidates, going to serve as a reminder of their dream to follow in 40's footsteps and, someday, potentially be the president of the united states. david: it's a beautiful locale. and they've done an enormous amount of work setting out up for the debate. it looks beautiful. madison, thank you very much. rnc chairwoman ronna mcdaniel is there the right now, she joins me. let's get right to it. biden's down bigtime, voters have no faith in democrats. all the polls say that, to deal with the economy, the border or crime, so what will the focus be tonightsome -- tonight? >> i think the economy is key. it's front and center in so many americans' minds as they're

depleting their savings. there is record drawdowns on 401(k)s. people are living paycheck to paycheck. cost of living is up, gas prices are up. today gas is over $5 here in california, and i think the american people -- especially with it being a fox buzz debate -- can want to talk about the economy. david: absolutely. we put together a list, by the way, of the main extra costs, in fact, the costs of bidenomics, to you will. of course, inflation is number one. the cost for goods and services, americans are paying $8,800 a year more for all of those costs. that's just pure inflation. but interest rates, of course, have gone up because the fed's trying to kill inflation. so if you're buying a new car, you pay $1800 a year more in payments for that car. if you're buying a $300,000 home, say, you're paying $9,384 extra that for mortgage costs. so you add it all together, that's an extra $20,000 a year

that americans could be paying for bidenomics. are you going to focus on that? >> yeah, i think they will. the moderators, dana and stuart and ilia there from univision, are boeing to talk about that. and it's -- going to talk about that. and it's not even talking about insurance that's part of buying a car, having a car, all the other things, the death by a thousand financial cuts that families are dealing with. gas prices, with inflation, with fees they're dealing with, it's terrible for american families. and that's why three out of four americans feel like the economy's not working for them, 63% say this country's heading in the wrong direction. and i'll say something else, we're at the ronald reagan library, and the last time a republican beat a democrat incumbent president was ronald reagan in 1980. david: that's right. >> and it was jimmy carter. and i think there's a lot of similarities rah right now with the world as it is today, with joe biden failing the more than people and bidenomics and inflation, and it's time for republicans to take back the white house. david: ronna, the guy who made

famous the phrase it's the economy, stupid, james carville, he's warning his fellow democrats about biden's chances in 2024. roll tape. >> let's assume the election was november the 3rd of this year and they said the candidates, joe biden the democrat, donald trump the republican, joe manchin and larry hogan, no labels, and cornel west. trump would be a betting favorite. >> yes. >> if i told you you would give you even money, you would not take that bet. somebody better wake the [bleep] up. >> he cannot run for president. he'll look bad in the debates. it's just, it's too, it's too much. and he's, i think, going to lose david: ronna, do you take that on at all, or would republicans be making a mistake if they just is sat on their laurels and hoped he'd go down further? >> i think it's fascinating to see the effort by the democrat

party and the media right now to try and oust joe biden. they really don't want him to run. they're seeing these numbers. they are worried. they are seeing that the american people are not happy. biden's touted this bidenomics, which is a disaster for the american people. so i love seeing the democrats saying this about their nominee, but i don't think he's moving. listen, ballot access is an issue. a lot of these primary states you can't get on the ballot past no, so i don't think biden's going to go third even though heir trying to shove him out. david: we'll see. you've got a long day and night ahead of you. thank you for getting up so early and joining us. we really appreciate it. now this, former trump defense secretary mark esper issuing a stern warning if trump gets reelected. >> yeah, saying that he thinks concerns about former president trump seeking retaliation on officials such as outgoing chairman of the joint chiefs, general mark milley, are legitimate. >> if you recall if my memoir that you mentioned at the top, i

cite a circumstance where the president, egged on by his close advisers, when the call -- want to call back to active duty general mcchrystal for things they allegedly said in the public domain. milley and i had to talk the president out of doing that. >> reporter: trump making comments last week accusing milley of a treasonous act to give them a heads occupy on the thinking of the president of the united states, end quote. the former president's remarks seem to -- reassurances at the end of rump's term. interesting comments there. david: remember, trump did not go after hillary even though a lot of people said he would. todd, thank you very much. let's check futures, and they are in the green right now. the cow is up 12 -- the dow is up 122, nasdaq up about 5 a 5. the opening bell is next. stay tuned. ♪ ♪ carry on. ♪

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premarket, but markets are trying to to make up for those big, big lossessed yesterday. shah gilani is with me. we've got a lot of things hurting the market right now. we saw that play out yesterday with investors. treasury yields are high, the fed says they may stay that e way for a while, looming government shutdown, but you are still bull you should. why? -- bullish. >> good morning, david, nice to see you. we're still bullish on the fact that farce the new leg of the new bull market, we haven't broken down here. the dow from its recent high in august is down about 5.8, so just shy of 6%. the s&p 500 is down about 7.a 5%, so we haven't reached anywhere near where i start to think, oh, it's a great buying opportunity, which is 10 is %. by my book, a real correction is between 10-20%. so so the market is just doing what what it does, it's taking off a little bit of the fluff. again, with higher interest rates, investors are are nervous here, but there's nothing fundamentally broken down in terms of the bull with market.

we're looking to start to add to positions. microsoft, for example, it's off almost 15% from its recent highs. david: so you think it's going to take a little more leg down, and then it'll go up. what'll be the catalyst for making it go up? quickly. >> i think we're seeing the downside of inflation. i think we'll probably come to some understanding that core inflation will likely have peaked in terms of the trend, probably lower for longer, that'll be a positive. then we know that the fed is likely done with rate hikes. it's just a question of the market then adjusting, and i think that's going to take a little bit of time. but that is the other side of all the bad news, and it's the time to buy then because we'll be past everything that has dropped the market down from its highs. david: shahgy handny, you have a wonderful record. good to have you here, thank you very much. appreciate it. markets, again, are trying to make up for those huge losses yesterday. the dow ended almost 4000 points to the -- 400 points to the

negative side, just shy of that, but it looks like mostly green on the screen. we do see eau some red on -- see some red on the bottom. travelers is down, united health is down, but all the rest are green. let's look at s&p, trading up as well. it's a modest gain, up about 14 points right now. that's about a third of a percentage point. if and the nasdaq up strongly, almost half a percentage point right now. anything can happen over the next few minutes, but up about 55 points. let's take a look at all the big tech stocks, and they're all in the green. apple, meta, alphabet, microsoft, as shah was just lauding microsoft, it's been down so long, it looks like up to him. amazon is up as well. modest gains, but they are in the green. all right. let's get a look at specific stores, and we have lauren with us. lauren, let's start with target.

lauren: morning. david: closing stores, right? lauren: yeah. stock completely flat. nine stores. new york city, san francisco, seattle and portland, and target was very explicit as to the reason why, safetiment. the theft and crime is so bad that it made for, and they say this, an unsustainable business model. the nine stores will be close next month, october 211st. david: and then cvs also closing stores. lauer lauren yeah. this is a 3-year process, and we'll see 900 stores closed by next year. that's 10% of all stores. david: wow. lauren: three reasons. obviously, crime and theft, but also modernization because more people are shopping online. and hen they want to make their retile foot -- retail footprint more of of a health care destination for their insurance business. cvs did not slam crime the way target did. they don't really talk about shrink as much, but it is a major problem. and i was fascinated when earlier this week they said organized retail crime rose to

$112 billion last year. and i'm hearing people say, well, that's not a big deal. that's, like, 11.5% -- 1.a 5% -- david: that's a big deal. lauren: that's normal. and my jaw fell. david: a big enough deal that they're closing 900 stores, and how many employees are going to lose their jobs as a result. costco just reported -- lauren: better than expected. the stock is down a little bit because the caution that that costco is showing. their read on the consumer is the consumer is weaker and weakening. so they did not raise prices on what they sell, and they did not increase membership fees. it's been six years. they're slated to do so every five or six years and they haven't. welcome news for shoppers, right? bad with news for investors. so quickly end of quarter revenue rose 9, we're talking $79 billion in sales. membership fees rose almost 14%, but when you look at the number of transactions, they fell. they fell 3.99 % in the united states and that's where

management is worried. so they got gimmicky, they started selling gold bars -- david: gold bars? lauren: yes, a 1-ounce -- [laughter] that's exactly what i thought. i read it this morning, and i thought, oh, uh-huh, senator menendez. and then you can get discounts on virtual doctor visits, so they're trying to entice you. a dave e david we've been talking about all week with about the uaw strike the, that might be helping ev makers, right? lauren: there's a few things. lucid just opened their first car manufacturing plant in saudi arabia, they want to produce 155,000 a year there. rivian, which is slightly higher, or they're trying through a subscription program to monetize features of the car. i don't have details, but maybe you want to start it from your phone, well, that's going to be an extra $3 a month it's annoying, but i guess that brings in more money for them. the tesla is the big winner from the uaw strike.

david: as usual. lar lauren they outsol their next 19 competitors by 10 to 1. lucid sold 3,000. who is number two behind tesla? tesla, if 3 25,000. gm's chevy brand at 35,000. that is the stronghold that the tesla has. that. david: and bottom line, tesla's making money on their evs. it's that simple. there's also chargers, charge point makes the ev chargers. what do they -- i guess ubs likes them. lauren: they initiate at a buy, and the stock is now up 5.5% at 5 and change, and ubs says they're going to $9. and that means cha -- that charge point's stock can rally. david: let's talk about sirius xm. lauren: liberty media is

suggesting that they merge, the liberty media shares with the siriusxm shares, and they formed a special committee to do so. i think investors are cautious about this, that's why the stock is up one cent right now. david all right, very good. lauren, thank you very much. lauren: you're welcome. david: we see green on the screen but not as much in premarket activity. the dow is up now only 38 points. let's take a look at the dow winners, if we can switch over to that. we have am a general, chevron, dow, caterpillar, salesforce all doing nicely but, again, they've come off their initial highs. and the s&p winners? generic, occidental peak, steel dynamics and new corp.. again, those also are not as high as they were right at the open. nasdaq winners, you can see there, dexcom, lumina, warner brothers, lucid, etc. check the 10-year. the 10-year yield is trading

down a little bit, but it is the still over 4 minute 5% -- 4.5%. and again, while it's down a little bit, it was down further in premarket activity. so there's signs that it is beginning to tick up a little bit. gold is down quite a bit. it's the now just barely at $1900, 1907 an ounce. and bitcoin, if we can look at that, they're going to be talking about bit with coyne with gary gensler -- bitcoin with gary gensler today in congressional hearings at 10 a.m. the sec chair is going to be talking about bitcoin. it's up about $56 right now. and oil well over $90 a barrel. it had come down last week, looks like it's trading well above 90 this week, so there is push to the upside on oil. natural gas is up a bit as well, and the average price for a gallon of regular is $38 -- 3.8 # 3, for diesel, $4.56.

coming up, elon musk says after speaking with texas congressman tony gonzalez, he's going to be heading to the border to see the crisis firsthand. well, we have congressman gonzalez here with us. i'm going to be the asking him what he expects to show elon musk when he gets there. meanwhile, sunday night football ratings had the best day, but it's it's not because of the players on the field. that's a taylor swift field. it's because loving him was red -- lauren: you don't know these lyrickings. david: i know. we've got the details coming up. and biden nearly took another tumble down the steps of air force one. oy. i guess he wasn't wearing his sneakers. did you hear that report? we've got all the details coming next. ♪ ♪

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david: checking the markets and look at this turn around. we had a nice gain in premarket activity, and the dow is now trading in the red. not by much but, again, it started with a strong beginning, and it's already in the red. the dow is down 21 points. nasdaq and s&p are still up. nasdaq is up about 62 points, that's about half a percentage point, nice gain on the nasdaq. but again, you combine the red on the south korean with the huge downward -- screen. president biden almost took another spill in michigan. lauren, what happened? lauren: he was getting off air force one, and he slightly slip on the stairs. he was, fortunately, able to quickly correct his balance, and maybe he was able to the correct his balance with because of the white house's operation don't let him trip. axios reporting hat president is getting special treatment like smaller steps and being told to

wear sneakers to avoid tripping in public. also undergoing physical therapy. that's the physical stuff. what do you do about the verbal gaffes, right? you know, i see this as intervention akin to possibly lying to the american public about the health of the person who is running for another four years. david: good question. another one, todd, this is getting ridiculous. i mean, it's -- how many more of these things before somebody says, mr. president, you just can't go on? >> my guess is that there are more and more people within the knc that are -- dnc that are thinking that. but until they go to the president and say you gotta go, he is the nominee. david: yeah. >> the ballot access that ronna mcdaniel highlighted is fascinating. david: good point, running out of time. >> some say this is a non-story. to me, the president's handlers literally physically needing to prop him up so that he can remain leader of the free world is a story, and it's a big one. david: todd the, lauren, thank

you very much. we've been talking about it all morning. tonight is the second gop primary debate, we're excited about it. it's going to the happen right here. our own stuart varney right in the middle with two lovely ladies joining him. karl rove is actually there at the ronald reagan presidential library. he got up very early california time to join us. karl, who do you think is going to be the stand theout tonight? any ideas? >> well, look, if we looked at the first debate, we had to couple of -- a couple of standout toes, nikki haley this in terms of her favorable and unfavorables and also in terms of how many people were willing to consider voting for her. but everybody who was on that stage, interestingly enough, saw their favorables improve before and after. there was a poll done by "the washington post" before and after. everyone had a good night. and she had a better night than some, but what was interesting to me is that only one republican candidate saw his favorables and unfavorables

deteriorate and saw the number of people who were willing to to consider voting for him decline, and that was the guy who wasn't there, former president donald trump. everybody had a good night. we'll see if -- david: well, i would push back a little bit, karl. i would say that desantis did not have a good night. we saw his numbers come down after he didn't talk enough about, a lot of people say, the success story, the economiw york or illinois. he should have done more of that this. do you think he will focus more on the economy now in order to get his mojo back? >> well, he should. i would slightly disagree. he ended the night with the highest percentage of republicans willing to say they were open to voting for him, so he did, you know, you can make the argument he didn't have as good a night as a he should have, but he ended up with a reasonably good night. you're right, what was interesting to me was i think he expected to be attacked a lot that night, and he looked defensive. david: yeah. >> and he ended up not being

attacked, and that was vivek. you're right, a presidential election, particularly a primary, is a series of events that is a process. it's not decided by one single night, it's decided by a whole series of days and nights. of and this is going to be the second most, the second big night of the process because so many people watched that first debate, we're likely to see lots of people watch the second. david: and far be it from david asman to criticize karl rove for anything political, but it's the vivek, rhymes with cake. he told me -- he correct me once, i just want to pass that on to you. >> there we go. he's corrected me more than once. [laughter] the. david: we talked about california versus florida, and florida clearly wins that game if you compare the states, their economic well-being. question of the debate that's coming up between the california governor, newsom, and the florida governor, desantis.

sean hannity, of course, is going to be dealing with that. doug schoen, who's a great democrat strategist that we have on quite a bit, had something to say about that. let me play the tape and get your reaction. roll tape. >> well, my take on that is it is a direct personal insult to the vice president. it also, to be clear, is an acknowledgment -- i was boeing to say tacit, but i mean explicit acknowledgment that her poll numbers are even worse than joe biden's fading poll numbers. david: what do you make of this, karl? >> well, i think doug is right. i'd take it up one notch. i think this is an attempt to keep newsom's name in front of the american people as a potential alternative to joe biden. if i think he is on the one hand saying i'm strongly for joe biden, but on the other hand he's attempting to depict himself as the new leader of a rising generation of democratic politicos. this is not only kamala, but it's also joe.

david: but wouldn't they lose a big portion of their base by going with a white male, forgive me, but that's how a to lot of the democrats think. >> i think replacing harris on the ticket would be problematic, and if you had a california governor and the former california u.s. senator on the ticket, you'd have a 12th amendment problem. one of them would need to move to incline village, nevada, ands are register to vote over there, but that ain't going to be happening. [laughter] david: yeah. i don't think anytime soon. karl, enjoy the night. it's made for you. i know you're going to love it. thanks for being here, appreciate it. >> you bet. david: coming up, we are just hours away from the second gop debate. our very own stuart varney is going to be co-moderating, so how is he preparing? don't miss stuart, 10:50 a.m. eastern time, he'll be right here on his own show. president biden, meanwhile, joining the uaw picket line and urging striking workers to, quote, stick with it.

jeff flock is on the ground in michigan with the latest on negotiations right after this. ♪ hold the line, love isn't always on time ♪ ♪ is it possible to fall in love with your home... ...before you even step inside? ♪ discover the magnolia home james hardie collection. available now in siding colors, styles and textures. curated by joanna gaines. ♪ explore endless design possibilities. to find your personal style. endless hardie® siding colors. textures and styles.

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david: of course, president biden was in michigan yesterday e to join the united autoworkers on the picket lines. jeff flock is there, and he joins me now. jeff, donald trump is expected to head your way today. busy times there. what can we expect from the former president? if. >> reporter: yeah, it's presidents' week, david. [laughter] i think it's fair to say that it's going to be a very different picture tonight with the donald trump than it was yesterday with president biden. and given what some of the uaw has had to say about former president trump, i suspect it may not have -- well, he may not have the the kindest words for them either. you know request, the uaw has said that president trump is part of the billionaire class and part of the problem. shawn fein, the president of the union, has said that he will not meet with trump, he doesn't support him, that trump didn't support the uaw during the 2019 strike, and he doesn't have any care for the working class.

what more can you say there? the other thing is that the president, the former president will be not on the picket line, but will be at a nonunion parts manufacturer. here's what shawn fein had to say about that. >> i find the papa nettic irony that the -- pathetic irony that the former president is going to hold a rally for union members at a nonunion business. many 2008 during the great recession he blamed uaw members. he blamed our contracts for everything that was wrong with these companies. that's a complete lie. >> reporter: what more can you say? president biden yesterday did walk the picket line. he wasn't here for very long, but he did do what he came to do which is become the very first sit president to the walk a uaw picket line. he didn't carry a sign, but he did have a uaw cap on. and while he didn't say specifically which of the demands that he supports that

the union is asking for, he did say that he, in general, supports their strike. listen. [applause] >> stick with it, because you deserve the the significant raise you need and other benefits. >> let's get it! >> [inaudible] okay? [applause] >> reporter: as for the talks, david, as far as we know not going anywhere. david: all right. jeff flock, thank you very much. todd, quick word, is the uaw strike going to make any -- is there the going to be any room for it in the dedebate tonight? >> specialty for tim scott. he -- specialtyly -- potentially for tim scott. david: you did it right on time. todd piro, thank you for your hour, appreciate it. joining us still ahead is pete hegseth, texas congressman tony gonzalez, martha maccallum and bill hemmer. the 10 a.m. hour of "varney &

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