[laughter] let's take a look at futures really quick, get your final thoughts as we move into the final days of the week. dow's down 182, nasdaq is down 10 -- 104. chris. >> the santa surge is definitely coming. the dow's only averaging about 7% if you take out the mag 7. there's room for growth. cheryl: joe, final thoughts. >> the s&p is having a wonderful year. you can afford a down day, but i think the trump effect is what we're all waiting for. that's' coming pretty soon. cheryl: well, the trump trade which began in 2024, the hope is it continues. there's going to be plot of things -- a lot of things whether it's the tariff fight and inflation, more to come. chris, joe, guys, thank you very much. "varney & company" is up right now. ashley webster in for stuart. hey, ash. >> good morning, cheryl. thank you very much. i'm ashley webster in for stu today.

as always, we have a very busy show for you today. let's begin with top the ministers from canada, they're headed to palm beach the meet with the trump team. they planning apparently, to talk about border security, fentanyl trafficking and trump's threat of tariffs. new york governor kathy hochul signed a new law on natural disasters. she says fossil fuel companies contribute to climate change, and they should pay for the cleanup. we'll get into that. and president biden arriving in it's croix for his -- st. croix for his last vacation as president. he's reportedly getting another freebie again, this time staying at the hem of a wealthy couple and raising ethics questions about his failure to report gifts. all right. let's take a look at these markets. futures right now all pointing lower. it's the same story as yesterday, but we came back marginally yesterday. the dow off 193, the s&p and nasdaq also down about half a percent. take a looked at the 10-year

treasury yield, it's been floating around 4.6%, and that's exactly wheres it is right now. up slightly at 4.60. the 2-year yield also has been right around 4.33, and that's where it is now. unchanged. what about bitcoin? made a run for $100,000. bounced back and now it's the up $460 at $96,z 295. taking a look at the price of gold, i think gold was headed lower, yes, it is, down $20 at $263 3 per troy ounce. and what about oil? has been stuck at the $700 a barrel range -- 70 barrel range, and it's the up 2 cents. by the way, gas price across the country averaging $3.03. that's nod not bad, is it, for regular. it's $4.34 in california, and diesel remains right around $3.50. meantime, vladimir putin says he's ready to talk to trump about a possible peace deal with

ukraine. putin also says he's prepared the make compromises to end the war. that sounds encouraging. china's xi jinping planning to visit russia next year. putin says russia has a, quote, no-limits partnership with china. and if you're looking for a late christmas gift -- and by this point it's very late -- the mega millions jackpot has climbed to $1.15 billion. you've got to be in it the win it, at least that's the lotto. that one's for you with, stu. it is friday, december the 27th, 2024. "varney & company" about to begin. ♪ ♪ i feel good, knew that i would now ♪ stuart: i knew that i would. you've gotta feel good. thank you, james brown. it's friday. the weekend is nearly upon us.

many of you are off today as well, you lucky things, as you take a look down sixth avenue in midtown manhattan. a few people out strolling around. and, of course, the wonderful christmas tree outside the the fox headquarters. we are, by the way, just 24 days away now from president-elect trump's inauguration. he has promised to tackle many issues on day one. good morning, madison. do we know what is at the top of the agenda? >> ash, we do, and we're expecting a big day one because it's going the set the tone for the second trump term. he has said he's going to close the border. we expect immigration to be a huge issue that he will tackle day one. on top of the border, he's going to settle the russia-ukraine war and begin the largest deportation effort. so you see the scroll there. he has a lot of goals for day one. not just for the first four years, but for day one. i started, like i said, with the border because we know illegal immigration is going to be a top priority. it soared under biden.

this is the list are, we have nearly 60 to promises that trumps has made in speeches and interviews. some are also focused on rolling back with regulations set under bidenful he's vowed to end the ev mandate on day one and has promised to expedite permits for drilling and fracking, an important first step towards the goal of reducing energy prices by 50% in just one year with. of course though, ash, some of what he wants to get done needs to be approved by congress, but we're still expecting a lot of executive actions on that first day. ashley: that little thing, congress. it is a mighty long list. [laughter] all right, madison, thank you. mary katharine ham joins me now. mary katherine, great of to have you onboard this morning. trump, as we know, is promising to hit the ground running. how hard will it be for him to to achieve his goals? >> he's a rot moretop lahr than -- a lot more popular than he was in 2016 and a lot more prepared. so in 2017, january, he came in

not really knowing that they were going to win. they weren't really prepared for that, and the transition was rough as a result. democrats and people within the intel communities and law enforcement communities had already started this russia nonsense that they were ready on day one with that, and he was not ready with what he wanted to do. i think the roles have sort of to flipped this time. his approval ratings are higher than they have been in seven years, his transition approval ratings are quite high. and democrats, although they're going the fight him, of course, are going the to deal with that part. the public wants some of the things that he's doing. they must contend with that. and the other part is he has, i think, a lot of executive actions ready to to go and already legally vetted. democrats are very good at a lawfare, they're going to fight these things tooth and initialing however, he's much more prepared than he was last time. ashley: i think that's true. and i want to get into this one. senator chuck schumer says, quote, the judiciary will be one of our strongest if not our

strongest barrier against what trump does, unquote. you know, the democrats already, of course, trying to get to stifle the administration coming in as much as possible. but you know what? if shouldn't the voters -- didn't the voters give trump a mandate for change? basically, the democrats are going to go against what the voters want. >> i mean, that's part of the problem, right? if they would like to succeed in two years, and generally that's what happens, but if they're standing in the way of closing the border, of building a wall, if they're standing in the way of deporting criminal illegal aliens, they're going to get their butts whooped in 2024 -- 2026, right? that's not the path to victory. they must recognize that there is a change in what voters have asked for. ashley: well, i hope they understand that because they should have learned some sort of lesson in this last election. we'll find out. mary katherine, thank you so much for joining us on this friday. always good to chat with you. >> thank you.

much appreciated. ashley: all right, our pleasure. now this, canadian ministers are meeting with members of trump's team in palm beach. other than enjoying some warmer weather for the canadians, what's going if on here, madison? >> yeah, i'm sure they're very happy to be in florida with you, ash. this meeting is much more than that. it's really the talk about the border and to avoid u.s. tariffs. so canada's new finance minister, dominic leblanc, and foreign minister, melanie jolly, went to palm beach yesterday to have meetings with incoming border czar tom 40man. they apparently discussed canada's plans to to secure their border as part of the effort to avoid sweeping tariffs that trump the has threatened if our neighbors to the north don't stop the flow of migrants and fentanyl into the u.s. it's alarming for the country because they are so integrated in the u.s. economy, and sponged tariffs placed on the u.s. could also be difficult for us because, get this, canada is the top the export destination for

36 u.s. states. that's in part why we're seeing these conversations and negotiations before trump even takes office, ash. ashley: fascinating stuff. madison, thank you very much. take a quick look at the futures. we are apparently headed lower at the opening bell as we finish out the trading week. let's bring in kenny polcari. great to see you, kenny. what about this santa the value wily? has it come and gone? -- santa rally? has it come and gone? >> i've been saying it for a couple of weeks, i think santa's already come. look at the performance ott s&p and the dow and the nasdaq and the russell, it's been really spectacular. i'm not necessarily surprised we see this churning right here. i think this is where we're going to end, so i think santa the's already been here. i'm sitting right here in florida with you. [laughter] ashley: he's putting his feet up on the beach with. [laughter] you say investors have to be patient. we get the sense that the fed

will not be as accommodative as we thought it would. so being patient is not always easy, is it? there's a ton the of money sill on the sidelines. >> no, it's not always easy, but that doesn't mean you should do it just because you peel like you've got money to put to work or you're fomo, right, you're force a decision. you should at the moment put your money in government money market fund earning 4.25 the or 4.55 because that is an investment decision and wait and be patient. i think we're going to have a pullback in january, in the early part of the year, so i'm happy to just do that that, right? my clients are invested, so if the market rallies, they're participating. and if the market comes in, then we stand ready to put more money to work with, myself included for my own personal portfolio, right? i'm just being patient at the moment. ashley: yep. do you see the market broadening out a bit, kenny, which would signal perhaps a healthier situation as opposed to just a

few stocks carrying all the weight? >> no, no, i think the broader market is going to pull back in the new year after we get, you know, after we -- when we get into january. i think we're going to see a broader pullback in the market. not a -- not a disaster, but maybe a trend line tested a little bit, churn, see what's really there. look, there's a lot happening, right? a new president, new policies, new regulations or maybe less regulations which will be beneficial. then we have all the uncertainty around the fed and what heir going to do and when they're going to do it. and then we have inflation still potentially rearing its ugly head. there's a lot of conflicting issues at the moment that i think is going to cause people to just -- i say just be patient. you're going to get your opportunity. you're not going to miss this boat. ashley: patience is a virtue, andst it's one i do not have. i will gladly admit that. kenny, thank you so much. and again, thank you so much for the christmas cake. i got a lovely cake. he knows exactly what i love and my sweet tooth.

>> well, happy new year to you as well. see you next year with. ashley: thank you, kenny. same to you, sir. by the way, many companies are beginning to phase out their work from if home policies for good can. all right, madison, who's bringing their employees back to the office? >> we're seeing more and more companies bring them back, ash. 2025 could be the year that we return to office. so we know that amazon, at&t and dell are all requiring their employees back five days a week in the new year. what a new year wish. sweet green, which is a salad and food companying they're also making the switch to five days a week. we're also expecting to see some leadership from the top with federal workers returning for five days a week thanks to doge, or at least what heir promise. here's the reality, we're still not seeing a majority of workers in the office. only one-third of u.s. employers mandate five days a week in the office. part of the reason for some of these to employers like the shoe company deckers is that they haven't increased their office space because if they don't have enough desks for everyone to the

come back five days a week. their employees do a share a desk system. i have a couple friends who do this. some say they're never going to to go back to in office. yelp, they're almost entirely remote. the company says they've cut office space by 90 to %. because of that this -- 900%. they've saved -- 90%. they've saved tens of millions of dollars. they're staying remote, ash. ashley: i do see -- i can see that. it's hard for the businesses in the cities that don't have the customers they used to have. madison, thank you very much. coming up, joe biden's legacy being called into question with just 24 days left in office. >> he came into the presidency as a rejection of donald trump, and here he is being replaced by donald trump. biden's going to be remembered as the guy who was just in between the trump term. ashley: so how willist history remember joe biden's presidency? and a new law in new york is

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♪ ashley: new york governor kathy hochul going after the oil and gas companies. she just signed a new law allowing the state to fine the biggest greenhouse gas emitters. all right, madison, what's the all about? >> so, ashley, new york governor kathy hochul has signed a new law that forces fossil fuel companies to pay fees to repair damage from extreme weather, a

move that could soon spread to other states. under the climate change superfund act, new york can fine the biggest greenhouse emitters in the fossil fuel industry between the years 2000-2018. they can fine them a total of $75 billion to be paid over 25 years. advocates say that the government is paying the cost for repairing damage done by weather and that they need accountability. >> we know we need the money. we're already spending it day by day. we're just asking for the companies that cause so much of this damage to kick in some of that money and decrease growing taxes on all of us. >> but opponents point out that targeting businesses, specifically those that deal in oil and gas, will make life more expensive for nicer, and they also question the integrity of a move like this. >> gas petroleum products are essential to the state's economy, essential to the, you know, residents of new york

state. and it begs the question, what would you have had these companies do? reduce their sales of fuels in new york state? i mean, certainly that's not good for the state's economy, good for the residents of new york state. so what would you have them do? what is the lesson to be learned here? and the lesson to be learned here is we're going to make it that much more costly to do business in new york state. >> tough news for new york state. but like i said, this could spread to other places, and we're kind of already seeing it. similar legislation went into effect in vermont earlier this year, and it's being considered in maryland, massachusetts, california and my home state, new jersey. ashley? ashley: yeah. and that's a huge bill, no doubt. madison, thank you very much. congressman bud withty carter, the republican from georgia -- buddy -- joins me now. great to have you, congressman. ultimately, won't it be us, the consumers, who pay the price in higher energy costs because of this law?

>> absolutely, it will be the consumers. and that's what happens when government picks winners and losers, consumers lose are. every time. this is nothing more than a tax on fossil fuels. you know, we have some of the cleanest energy in the world right here in the united states, and fossil fuels have brought millions of people out of poverty, have been the reason for our success. and, you know, the fossil fuel industry needs to make the point that in the last decade we have decreased emissions more in the united states of america than the next four countries combined. we have proven that we can grow our economy and still decrease emissions. the fossil fuel industry has done that. ashley: well, you know, it's interesting, so many products come from the oil industry. i wonder how many of these climate warriors don't use those products. i would imagine if that's very few. i want to move on this -- to

this one, congressman. a headline in the "wall street journal" reads the u.s. needs a productivity miracle. it might just get one. and it argues that would be through artificial intelligence. do you think a.i. could lead to a product if it boom -- productivity boom in america? >> absolutely. and that's exactly what we need. you know, every american owes $100,000 toward our debt right now. i mean, our debt is out of control. if we can control and cut our spending while growing our economy and increasing our revenues, then we can attack that debt, you know? and that's why i'm so excited about doge and about what they're trying to do, because government efficiency and fiscal responsibility go hand in hand. and we should have both of those. and if we, again, if we can control our spending, cut our spending and grow our revenues through this economic boon that is coming with a.i., then we can do something about our debt. ashley: well, that is music to

many people's ears,man. thank you -- congressman. thank you so much for joining us on this friday. really appreciate it. >> happy new year. ashley: now this -- yeah, same to you, congressman. joe biden is in croix for his -- st. croix for his last vacation, one of many as president. madison, why is this drawing criticism? >> ash, it's for two reasons. first, it's because biden has already spent so many days on vacation, and the second is because people are questioning the ethics of these free vacations that he continues to take. so biden is up to 570 vacation days over these last four years. i really don't know any other job where you can take that many vacation days and not be fired. he has beaten out, i want to show you in comparison, all the other recent one-term presidents with his pto days. and the second thing people are concerned about, and that's the ethics behind all of this. biden went to st. croix, and pit

appears he's staying at the beachfront villa of bill and connie neville which they do get a lot of time with the president, and they go to certain events with him. the white house has not confirmed that's where they're stay the staying, but all signs point to that's where he went. and biden has regularly received freebies as commander in chief. people have been upset because he's failed to report these gifts at certain times. but health cared be the last free vacation he takes with, what, 23 days to go until inauguration. ashley: he's managing to squeeze out yet another vacation, god bless him. i don't have any friends with beachfront villas, unfortunately. >> sorry, ash. ashley: i know. sad, isn't it? check the futures. looks like we're going to the start with a slightly lower open. the dow off, what, 236 points. we'll see how it all shows up when we get the opening bell which, by the way, is coming up next. ♪ ♪ i can't get no satisfaction ♪

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opening. let's bring in mark ma havenmy to talk about some things. mark, let's talk about travel stock. why is expedia your favorite? >> yeah. there's two that i particularly like, expedia and booking. expedia has finally started to get its groove back as a stock. it's one that's materially underperformed fundamentally and stock wise for a couple of years, but a couple of their assets are finally in recovery modeor starting to recover to and that's their airbnb-type business called vrbo, and the if oh one -- other one is hotels.com. as they've improved their assets, they've got this growing portfolio that's all in growing its bookings and revenue if pretty close to the same, at the same level as booking.com and airbnb, and yet it still trades at a dramatically lower multiple. so as fundamentals converge, i think the multiples will converge. to me, this is a very interesting value play for expedia. they do pay a dividend, they buy

back stock, and it's a business model that i think can continue to generate a lot of free cash flow, so i really like it as a play off of online travel. ashley: are you generally bullish, mark, on the new year ahead in. >> generally. i think most of the fundamental trends, we're ending up 2024 with, you know, for online retail, advertising, cloud computing, you know, kind of the major verticals, the growth now is as good or better than it was at the beginning of '24. we got record high margins, i think a.i., you had a prior guest talk about the advantages of a.i., several companies that are deploying a.i., and it's allowing them to generate dramatically better productivity. cool -- google will tell you a quarter of kids -- its code is now being written by a.i., able to reduce costs by up to 25% for amazon. the setup though is valuation. there's very few dislocated high

quality companies -- ashley: we'll have to to leave it there, mark. >> -- is uber. okay, ashley. ashley: thank you very much. thank you very much. mark gets a lot in in a short amount of time. the bell has rung. we are off and running on this friday, december the 27th. and right out of the gate the dow off 284 points, about six-tenths of a percent. and if you look at those 30 stocks, every one of them in the read. verizon and boeing at the very top of the down stocks. but there you have it. looks like may day in moscow, red everywhere. let's look at the s&p, see where we are there. we were indicated -- boeing just turned positive right there. s&p down half a percent, pretty much the same as the dow. right at 6,000 or thereabouts on the s&p. and let's take a look at the nasdaq, the tech-heavy nasdaq, which is up 2.3% for the week. and that, too, down by the same amount, down six-tenths of a percent, basically across the board.

let's take a look at some of those big tech names while we're at it. and, yes, all in the red. apple, meta, alphabet, amazon, microsoft all down anywhere from a quarter to maybe three-quarters of a percent. but this is very early going. let's see where we finish the day. and let's pull out apple, if we can. good morning to you, taylor riggs. could it soon become the first $4 trillion company? if. >> you know, ashley, we're getting closer and closer. i mean, it's unbelievable, this company. you're up 16% since november, and you added about $500 billion in market cap since then. so just a little bit north of about $3.85 trillion, so we're getting closer and closer, but this will be the stock to watch. ashley: we will keep an eye on that. we got those numbers, by the way, for netflix's christmas day nfl games which we talked about. how did they do, taylor? >> yeah. you know, they did pretty well. netflix is saying it set a new

nfl streaming record, about 24 million viewers watched each game. 24.1 for the chiefs-steelers game, 24.3 for the ravens-texans games which had beyonce performing at halftime. again, without many of the glitches that you had during the big boxing fight, a lot of people are really happy with the way this went. ashley: yeah, not too shabby. let's talk about hertz. the company is reaching out to renters, apparently, of their evs. why are they going that? [laughter] >> remember hertz's strategy when they bought all of these evs and then they can't get rid of them? now they are. there's some really funny comments going on reddit where if you rent a tesla mold 3 with fewer than 30,000 miles, the company's e-mailing me saying for about $17,000, do you want to buy the car? they said that this is new. this is part of their strategy. but, hey, it's actually not a bad deal, $18,000 for a notedel

3 -- model 3 with not a lot of miles? i might consider it. ashley: yeah. if i could just find somewhere regularly to -- >> charge it. ashley: -- juice it up. that's the old range anxiety. it's pretty strong. let's move from cars to blanes.. -- planes. how are the airline ares doing? has it been a good year? >> it's been unbelievable. the s&p airline index is up 60 president this year, the best year since 2014 and also that outperformed the broader s&p 500 by the most since that time as well. so about 10 years. united airlines is one of the big leaders. it's up 144% this year. it's the fourth best performer in the s&p 500 so far. again, people want the to travel, and the economic outlook is actually pretty good. ashley: stuart varney says he would never invest in an airline, but there queue go, that's some impressive numbers. let's move if on. super micro down again the morning. this company's had a rough year as of late but still up overall,

right? >> shockingly, ashley, it's still up 19%. it's a $3 3 stock. this was a high of 119 at one point, fell back down to a low of about $18. so the fact that it's still up on the year is incredible especially given the financial accounting and all of the disclosure issues that they've had to go through. ashley: okay. now this one, something about nvidia with a.i. earth model. it sounds like a movie. what is it? [laughter] >> it does. so it's actually an a.i. that has a geospatial model of earth, they're saying that the national oceanic and atmospheric association is actually already using it. it's an a.i. model of the evident. they're -- everett. again -- earth. just another use case that that powers nvidia higher. ashley: that's fascinating. okay. let's talk about bitcoin because we do every day. looking to retake that $100,000

mark. i think it got up to, what, $106,000? >> yeah. ashley: hasn't been able to get back above that mark, has it? >> yeah, that was mid december, you're right, 106, 108, i think by some measures. we're not quite there, but we're at about $95, 96,000. one of the stocks we use to track this has been coinbase which also is, what, does $185 billion in trading volume. it is by war the -- far the largest crypto trading platform. we take a look at some of those the plays as a measure of bitcoin. we'll have to see if it crosses sort of that key mental barrier, if you will, before the end of the year. ashley: right. yeah, we shall see. next year should be are interesting as well. taylor riggs, great job as always. thank you very much. let's take a look at the big board, why don't we? if we know we were down about sex-tenths of a percent -- six-tenths of a percent all across the dow. off 200 points right now.

let's take a look at the winners on the big board, the top 30 stocks on the dow. verizon, boeing, chevron, j&j, johnson & johnson, and merck all i moving higher. modestly so. the best of those, sliden -- verizon, up nearly half a percent. take a look at the s&p 500 numberses, moderna, albemarle, land western hold -- holdings, verizon as well. let's take a look at the nasdaq winners, moderna, illumina, yeah, that's right. kraft, pepsico, diamond ifback energy. moderna up 1.33%. there you have the markets. down for now, but we'll see as the day unfolds. all right, coming up, israel escalating strikes against houthis in yemen. prime minister netanyahu promising not to stop until the terrorists are defeated. >> translator: we are determined to cut this terrorist arm of iran's axis of evil. we will persist until we complete the job. ashley: former cia station chief

dan hoffman is here to react to the latest developments there. and what's the biggest problem facing the u.s.? well, according to a new gallup poll, it's the government. jon levine will get into that. not too sure many people would argue with it. jen psaki, meantime, scolded democrats for snubbing aoc from a key committee post. >> this felt like an obvious chance to apply some of the lessons we should have learned from the november election, right? instead democrats passed over one of the youngest, most media-savvy members of congress. ashley: so should democrats change their political strategy post-election? we're going to ask gop pollster mitchell brown next. ♪ i feel it in my energy. ♪ i see us written in the stars. ♪ we can go wherever, so let's do it now or never, baby. ♪ nothing's ever, ever too far. ♪ if. ♪

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ashley: 12 minutes into the friday session on wall street, and the markets all moving lore.

the nasdaq down now 2500 points or close to $250 -- 250 points. the dow and the s&p down ever so slightly. the dow is off 161 points. by the way, microsoft, amazon and goldman sachs, just those three stocks are shaving 90 points off the draw -- dow, so it shows you, there you have it. those three stocks, goldman off a third but microsoft down 1.75%. all right, now this, canadian officials getting a nice break from the winter cold and and have traveled to palm beach to meet with members of trump's incoming administration. matt finn is in west palm beach this morning. okay, matt, what can you tell us about this meeting? >> reporter: well, you may recall just a few weeks ago when justin trudeau made a now-famous visit to mar-a-lago here in west palm in which president trump joked during a dinner that perhaps canada should become our a 51st state, and trudeau should

become the governor if canada can't fix, stem the flow of illegal immigration and drugs into our country. now this morning here in florida, top canadian cabinet members are scheduled the visit with president-elect trump trying to fix the trade and and border security issues that trump is warning will not fly during his second administration. canada's new finance minister, dominic leblanc, and foreign minister melanie jolie are scheduled to hold talks with trump here in florida. a spokesperson says they look forward to visiting on trudeau's visit, focusing on fentanyl trafficking and illegal immigration. leblanc is also scheduled the meet with trump's new border czar, tom homan, today here in florida. a notable canadian businessman, kevin o'leary, tells fox business there's a lot of untapped synergy between canada and the u.s.. >> there's 41 million decade items -- decade a januaries sitting on the world's largest amounts of all resources

including the most important, energy and water. canadians over the holidays, the last two days, have been talking about this. they want to hear more. so there's obviously a lot of issues, more details, but what this could be is the beginning of an economic union. think about the power of combining the two economies. >> reporter: you know, you hear kevin talking about power and energy coming from canada. the united states gets more than 50% of its crude oil and a majority of its electricity from canada. so really important, our trade between the two countries. ashley. ashley: yeah, no doubt about it. matt, thank you so much for that report. now this, aoc recently lost her bid to be the top democrat on the house oversight committee. listen the what jen psaki had to say about that. >> why does that matter? well, i mean, this is one of the few committees in congress that the actually generates national attention or media coverage. under jamie raskin, it became a critical platform for countering

republican misinformation. and while i have deep, deep respect for speaker pelosi and nothing against congressman connolly at all, this felt like an obvious chance to apply some of the lessons we should have learned from the november election, right? instead, democrats passed over one of the youngest, most need ya-savvy members of congress for a key public role. ashley: not sure i understand the logic in this. let's bring in gop pollster mitchell brown. mitchell, look, the argument there is that aoc's snub is a sign that democrats didn't learn anything from the election. but was it not aoc and her cohorts responsible in part at the very least for the party's downfall? >> you know, i actually tend to agree with jen a little bit here. i mean, there was a referendum about the old democratic system, and this is what the democrats didn't do from 2016 moving forward that republicans do did do when there was the populist wave, when trump came into power. hay began to to embrace it.

unlike the democrats who pushed away bernie sanders, that entire wing of their party. so i do think they need something new, a new, fresh face because that they've been doing hasn't been resonating with voters. so switching to a young person, they still have that little bit of new youth movement when the country needs that when you see republicans actually gaining with that younger voting group. democrats are pushing further and further away. so what i think they do actually need is someone who can be a face for that next generation and that young populist movement. ashley: yeah. but her policies have turned people cold as well, mitchell. let's move on. according to a new ap poll, about 7 in 10 democrats are limiting the amount of political media they watch apparently after donald trump's win. i get that. isn't that just being a sore loser? >> yeah. this is a tough time going right in the holiday season, thanksgiving was probably a rude awakening for most of them, especially the ones that return back to the midwest or the south.

i'm sure they didn't love that. yeah, they can take their whine down, but it's going to hit them back in the face in january when we assume office and start to roll out the trump agenda. ashley: all right. sorry it's short, but, mitchell, we do appreciate you joining us on this friday. now this, donald trump has promised to make america the crypto capital of the world. all right, mat -- madison, what does the industry want to make that happen? >> they have a crypto wish list, ash, that they're hoping trump is going to tackle once he takes office. i want to if pull that up so you can see it. it includes things like pass a comprehensive crypto bill. we've seen certain bills make their way through the house, but nothing has actually been written into law. so when it comes to the actual law, they want to see firm regulations there that would allow and lay out guardrails for the industry. they want to draw a line between the sec and the commodities and futures trading commission, the

cftc. they want crypto-friendly regulators. we're are seeing that. trump tapped former sec commissioner paul atkins to replace gensler. gensler has caused a lot of problems for the industry whereas atkins is a crypto fan. and finally, the industry wants a rollback on sec guidance that was issued in 2022 requiring public companies to present crypto assets held on behalf of users as a liability. those are the three big things, and they could get it with their crypto president, ash. ashley: yeah, they could, indeed. madison, thank you very much. coming up, many americans will end the year with not so merry, high-interest credit card debt. we're going to get into that issue. and the mega millions jackpot could be the fifth largest ever. the top prize now worth more than $1 billion. whoo. we'll is have the very latest next. ♪ ♪ confident.

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ashley: it's lottery fever. the mega millions jackpot has hit $1.15 billion, and it could go higher. jeff flock is in philadelphia this morning. all right, jeff, stuart isn't here, but we always ask this question, what are the odds of

winning and how much are the taxes and how many tickets have you bought? [laughter] >> reporter: 1 in 302 million, i believe, is the odds of winning. what was the second one? oh, taxes. ashley: tax. >> >> reporter: oh, yeah, we've got that for you. yes. take a look. if you get the $1.1 -- what is it, 1.14 billion, if you take that in cash, now, that cuts you down by about half. is there you go. the government takes about half of that. you know, it's half a billion's not too bad either. a lot of people do it now by machine. you can pick your own numbers or you can -- they picked it for me right there. there's the mega ball. if i want to do my own numbers, i can do that. we can costuart's age -- do stuart's age, 70. there you go. your age, 29 --

ashley: 58. okay -- [laughter] >> reporter: and my age, 30. there you go. [laughter] i've got vince emmanuel here who has been in business at this convenience store for 43 years. >> yes, for 43 years. and this is, i think this is the fifth largest lottery in our, in the history. and you're talking about $1.14 billion. that is like a lifetime of money you cannot even spend no matter how hard you try. after taxes, you're looking at about half a billion dollars. most of the people will not even know what to do with it of. >> reporter: yeah. we've all got ideas about what to do with it. you used to have lines around the block almost here. now because of these machines, quickly, you could come in, ashley, and if you want to, you coa quick draw, you spend $10. of okay, boom, there's your -- 10. add to cart, you bought it. finish so it's much quicker. >> not only that, they've got to

come around 9:00 in the morning or 8:00 the buy the ticks, but now they can buy these 24 hours a day, 3:00 in the morning, they're watching tv, they see the news, they say, well, let me go to the nearest convenience store and get a ticket. around the clock. >> reporter: and that is why our civilization is going completely to hell. but this you go. [laughter] could be the winner maybe or not to. ashley: i tell you what, jeff, if you win, remember me, my friend. remember me, my friend, if you win. >> reporter: yeah, i'm so lucky. [laughter] ashley: still ahead -- we'll leave it at that. [laughter] dan hoffman react to biden pledging more weapons shipments to ukraine. new york city council member joe borelli will react mayor adams pushing feds the charge the migrant accused of burning a woman on the subway, david webb will be here, and border guy

sheriff mark can nils will react to the guatemala being open to accepting trump's central american if deportees. the 10 a.m. hour of "varney & company" is next. .. y'all see this, patrick mahomes is saying goodbye! patrick! patrick! people was tripping. where are you going!? he was actually saying goodbye to his old phone. i'm switching to the amazing new iphone 16 pro at t-mobile!

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