david: hello welcome to special kudlow i'm david asman in for larry kudlow.

so today of is last day of 2024, it means there is just 20 more days until president-elect donald trump takes office there are a lot of things that need to get done on i do one,ic tech -- day one, extentses that cuts in our minds at top of list and there is a crucial house speaker vote friday. , is president trump's endorsement of mike johnson enough to get him over the finish line, we will talk with house members in a couple moments but first grady trimble is live if dc. with the latest. reporter: those tax cuts that president-elect trump rushe -- ushered in first term will expire one year from today that is setting up a huge battle on capitol hill for the new year, house, ways and means chair jason smith is trying tech is try doing to

explain impact that lets them lax would mean on everyday americans, a 22% increase. that would compound the pain of inflation, particularly for lower income americans. getting those tax cuts, tented is high up on house speaker mike johnson legislative list if high winds reelection. >> we're going to restore our stature on world stage, get our energy policy picked, make sure we don't have largest tax cut in u.s. history imposed on american people at end of next year, when the tax cuts from trump era expires. >> elon musk weighing in to tax debate. arguing that u.s. tax code is way too long, and democrats are arguing that new trump tax cuts will help people like him, senate president pro temp pattie murray writing on x .

they argue that tax cuts if fif they are extended would add to national debt, but tax revenue up 45 percent this month compared to november of 2017. that bolsters their argument into this fight. david: extra 1.5 trillion coming in. and you know, if it only affected billionaires, there are a lot of billionaires in united states because 65% of tax payers got the tax cut in 2017, either american is land of billionaires or off. thank you grady, have a have a -- wonderful new year. >> joining us pat fallon and beth v van duyne from the

great state of texas. before we get to tax debate, i want to talk about the speaker debate. you have such a beautiful opportunity every party in world would love to have a chance of having the executive office, and houses of congress, under their one party, could republicans just a handful of them screw it up by voting down the speaker friday? >> david, hopefully not, if we could use a new year's eve analogy, fumble the ball. we need to move forward, we unified, we had a selection in november. we all nominated mike johnson. every single one. there was no other candidate, to date there is no other candidate, we need to get the ball that american people gave us and march it forward, president trump has a great relationship with mike johnson, can you imagine

john boehner going to a ufcfight with donald trump it would never happen. let's pass the tax orii extending fact c -- tax cuts and s secure border. david: bottom line is that americans are hurting right now, the fed lowered interest rate rates a tick a couple of weeks ago, mortgage is raising rates, 30-year fixed rate is 6.7% in last 4 years, people's -- 4 weeks, and people's paychecks not what they used, to they want money in their pockets right now, they are overric over extending their credit card debt we think a tax

extension maybe with extra tax cuts in there in some kind of reconciliation, is necessary as job number one, no? >> i agree, 100%, we have been trying to push one to have one recon bill to make sure that tax cuts are etex tended and tax bill passed. i need our colleagues con-- to understand 90% of american tax payers will feel it. i don't know how many people they think are the rich they need to understand this is a large portion of their constituents that feel it to your point, when you said how much the increases in revenue, we can show with small businesses like 23 million small businesses tax cuts they invest in their employees, they vist in the

future of th businesses and they grow, that results in higher revenues for the government. not lower. it also represents opportunities for every day morns to start businesses, to fl thrive with job opportunities, this is what we should be focused on. >> one year from today, december 31, 2025, is the last day congress has to extend those tax cuts, if not, what congresswoman v van duyne just outlined, increase of taxes for just about everyone will happen, that means, that you will lose at least one if not both houses of congress because if americans see republicans sitting in power with their taxes going up, they will vote you out of office. >> there is no doubt, how about this, how about our campaign rhetoric marches

what we do in washington, we should -- it is not -- washington dcnever had a revenue problem. you know, this tax cuts, increase revenue, we have a spending problem, we need to get,yw have a plan, passed it, it is the chuck schumer senate that killed it, we're reading to plans the budget and move toward. david: let's talk positive news, you from texas will have a friend in the white house. governor of 619-7 -- texas on his own has been spending a lot of texas taxpayer money to do what federal gust supposed to do, that is secure the border, in thanks for that, they get lawsuit from the biden administration. what does it mean congresswoman, to the people of texas to have some not to have to fight a battle on two fronts at border and in

the beltway? >> it means bee be able to safe tax revenue and national security, statewide, we have an opportunity to get our borders under control again, we saw in the first administration, under biden administration from day one, they took away many of the tools that were working to open up the border, as a result 20 million have entered country illegally, having a partner in white house you will be able to pass bills, se secure the border act out of the house, and signed into law by a republican president. >> congressman talk about the effects of what is happened at border, one of most awful is the growth of the criminal ganls from gangs, mostly venezuela in the tren de aragua group but they have worked themselves to criminal elements in various cities, taking over, organizing mobs to go into

stores and take when they can, they act as to sell the stuff, fbi will have a new director, kash patel has been nominated, if accepted, what does he have to do to root out the tren de aragua ei know that governor of ttexas called them a terrorist organization, the biden administration falls short of, that calling it a trans national criminal organization, but is it time something in washington be done to target the people that have not been -- has not been done before. >> yeah, it is the federal's government responsibility to secure the border. over last 13 years, there were 299 thousand illegal immigrants arrested and charged with over 513 thousand crimes that rummed in 187 thousand convictions in last 13 years just in

texas, imagine what it would be across the nation, morning people want border secure, if you are not safe, thin you north free -- then you are not free. david: congresswoman, talking about using fbi, we have the organized gangs now another mafia that has taken over large parts of the country. what does the fbi itself have to do to root out the new threat to security in u.s.? >> it has to be given permission by the administration to do its job, under the biden administration its hands were held, they were politicized and not used to secure us. the other thing that make sure that we're doing using icustoms enforcement. we did hr2, i was in looking

at gang members and drug cartels and naming them as terrorist organizations to be able to get our military involved in targeting them, i am encouraging. he was also a council member, i was a council member at same time and mayor of a city with a great relationship with i.c.e. we worked with federal and local law enforcement to deport criminal illegal aliens. there is a lot of partnership that can happen you are not just using billions of federal dollars but working with state law enforcement, allow them to do their job and local law enforcement to ensure our streets are safe and community safe. david: kash patel, and tom homan working together can do a lot to solve this, we have been talking with police here in new york city, they don't necessarily

aflee with everything that adams does but they,'s agree time for new help from washington. to do what they can't do. and they wanting to cooperate with people like tom homan, that sanctuary city, like new york is not supposed to be ale, to i think mayor of new york is coming around now, he may help to end that road block. best wishes for a for a wonderful new year to you, thank you. >> happy new year. >> coming up should denmark let united states buy greenland? we'll ask former national security a adviser robert o'brien when kudlow continues. [sofi mnemonic] can a personal loan unlock your ambitions? oh yeah. borrow up to a hundred thousand dollars to consolidate bad debt and save money for your next goal. take a swing at your kitchen reno...

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. >> president-elect trump suggestion this u.s. should buy greenland was dismissed by host most as hyperbole, but o'brien said that denmark should let u.s. buy greenland if that country is unable to defend itself and shipping routes around it.

i heard you talk about this. there is some real truth to this. why is greenland such a strategic property in our interest? >> president trump people may have dismissed it, but. reality, he is a real gio metal strategist. greenland is part of north america like canada, the pathway to lower 48 states and to alaska. russians have this front line state, like latvia, russians have 50 ice breakers up there and nuclear subs, and planes. it is america's border. president trump is saying, to denmark, a fr a -- great ally, we love the danes. but he said if you don't defend greenland, a america's door step, we're

not putting up with russians or chinese taking it over, we have to do it if we have to defend it, we want to exploit the resources there and take care of people of glean land -- green green land. >> could it become a drain on the united states it is -- it might take some taking care of. i know there are untapped minerals and perhaps oil there and could it be a drag on the united states effect economy if we did it. >> no, it is full of natural resources, it is beautiful, tourism could be huge. greenland will do fine. it will not affect our economy. the danes can fix it put a frigate there full times or troops there, they have capable soldiers, they are

vikings, infantry troops and naval strike, they could take care of people of greenland so they are not tempted to let chinese or russians invest there, president trump was 100% right in puts america first, if denmark will not defend greenland, america has to, we are not going to do it for free any longer. david: china has interest in panama on the canal, it owns -- it manages, through some dummy companies that are there from china, manages a couple of ports, one on atlantic side and one on pacific side. i just want to mention bring una sound bite from gordon chang. >> there are so many things that china can do to block the canal. this is important for us.

we have navies in atlantic and pacific to get ships from one place to other we defend on the canal. david: what do we do about it? >> gordon is 100% right, this is huge. panama canal was built by america, panama gained its independents because america supported it. and canal was in american sector, in panama, and that is how after the japanese destroyed our fleet at pearl harbor we moved ships from atlantic to pacific and retake the pacific islands. and it cuts weeks off travel time. right now it is amazing we let the chinese get a port on each side of the canal, they could shut that canal down tomorrow, the espionage that could be run from the chinese companies is staggering there is no such thing as a private company in china, every company is

required to report to the government of china, communist party of china and to be an instrument of will communist party of china, right now communist chinese run the canal, treaty which we gave the canal to panama, a lot of people including ronald reagan were opposed to it jimmy carter did it. they have done with chinese is not neutrality. they put china on both ends of the canal, and control of the canal that can't stand. david: you said before that we let them do it we didn't, biden administration did, now we know have details of relationship between vice president joe biden and some of the business partners of hunter biden, we have the pictures from america first legal that came out this week that exposed that. and it leads in people to

wonder about angola, why the heck this month, that pictures from china, the meeting there between hunter biden and president xi jinping. but, why did biden go down to angola give the angolan government, controlled by one party, a marxist kru krucorrupt party since 1974, why give them 600 million dollars for a crazy railway project in light of what happened in china, a lot of people are suspicious? >> you know, i watched this i could of hard working people of this country truck drivers and people working at stores and second shifts, we're taking their money out of their pockets with our high taxes and sends that money to an angola. the railway they are supporting is run by the

chinese, we're underwriting a chinese railway project with a corrupt communist dictatorship, poor folks in tennessee and texas and utah working second shifts in factory, we're taking their money to send it to the marxists in angola, it makes no sense, president trump has opinion -- been 100% right on this s he sees where america is getting ripped off. we need to bolster our defenses even. it is saying calling people on -- saying this is happening. come january 20 we're putting america first. we'll put security and safety of american people in american homeland, this is the top priority. david: forgive me for being cynical, i look at proof we have of connection with hunter biden's, partners and joe biden and inroads china made in st strategic

interest, i wonder what he got out of that, robert o'brien thank you, happy new year to you. >> happy new year, david. thank you. david: let's hope for better times to come. >> some trump clean the slate at doj and fire every u.s. attorney he could find? we'll ask david webb, caroline downey and hogan gidley when kudlow continues. (woman) did i read this? did i get eggs? where are my keys? (vo) don't wait while memory and thinking issues pile up. these issues may seem like normal aging but could be due to a buildup of amyloid plaques in the brain. amyloid can build up over time. the sooner you talk to your doctor, the more options you may have. visit amyloid.com for additional information.

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[ cheering ] what are invoices? progressive makes it easy to see if you can save money with a commercial auto quote online so you can get back to all your other to-dos. absolutely not. get a quote at progressivecommercial.com. david: well department of justice attorney who led prosecution over 1500 january 6 defendants is set to s down before president-elect trump takes office on january 20, should trump make a clean sweep when he takes office? demanding resignation of all biden appointed u.s. attorneys who spent better

part of 4 years turning that department into a political tool. joining me now david webb. host of david webb show, caroline downey. and hogan gidley, former white house deputy press secretary, great to see you all. hogan, he did it in 2017. he fired 46 federal prosecutors, who had been appointed by president obama. so he could do it again, right in. >> well he knows power of the court system at this point, going av his friends, his colleagues, and coworkers, him personally. attacking his businesses as well. the government can be used as a weapon and a tool to go against people for disagreeing with the politics of those in power. this is be obvious, donald trump would likely take a serious look at doing

what he did before, american people just a blind justice system, they have not received that in last 4 years and been attacked by people at highest levels in the departments and agencies who don't like them, this is wrong. david: really not sent richard nixon, i think this goes beyond what nixon did, has department of justice and resources like fbi been used as a political tool to go about after a political rival? and this is really third world stuff. i think it will take a huge sweep, you have to start with this clean slate here to reverse the damages that has been done. >> you do. and before the left loses their mind, remember bill clinton has done this. that is the response, right, dictator trump doing this, destroying justice. i think two steps are prudent. review who is there and their actions and look at

graves what he did with january 6 prosecutions for example, he is resigning but he should have been fired if he didn't resign or does not 10 to, review, fire and if someone wants their job back, then maybe let them come back for a review, maybe let them come back and prove their case, but it does not matter who appointed them, because so many in the system ignored the problems, ignored the bad prosecutors and ka condition -- can't stand, if america is having faith in this, we need a client slate. david: to the deep state, education lobby, i started out my professional life as a teacher in chicago. i saw it first hand. i didn't last long there because i could not stand the bureaucracy and influence of the department of education, it was new

back then, it was the late '70s they already had a way of promising money if you do it our way, a lot of school boards, school systems did it their way, we look at results, we had this from new jersey, removed requirements for typ -- teachers to pass a test for basic reading and writing and math skills. and in chicago, it is worse, you have one in three students in chicago who can't read. you have one in five who can't do math at anything close to current level. how do wo do we break unthe lobby or including, just dismantling the department of education? >> well, your examples demonstrate that department of education has always had a cabal relationship with the teachers unions.

and these they influence democratic politics and the way that department of education is run, it has turned into a boondoggle and a black hole for taxpayers. we saw this over covid it was a scandal. the way that learning loss was felt by children across the nation. so what mcmahon needs to did is sever that relationship with the doe and teachers unions, which are responsible for a lot of corruption you see. david: how do you do that? how do you sever that relationship? >> they can start by not conspiring with the teachers unions like we saw with school shut downs and mask mandates and covid restrictions, i think that trump will -- putting linda mcmahon there, she is not interested in collaborating with teacher union to funnel

them pork barrel money to continue to lead or kids to academic mediocrate, another easy fix, don't ask department of education to do a student loan bailout that is illegal that makes wait ess -- waitresses and truck drivers foot will bill. david: that portfolio should never have been removed. it turns into a political tool. right. >> absolutely, reduce the size and scope of the department of education. david: all right, hogan, i am to talk about democrats, they are still in denial, there are a couple of exceptions, john fetterman and a couple others, but de-- for most the stages of grief, this is number one, there are 5 other stages to go through. you change your bad ways,

when did you think they will get out of denial stage? >> that is tough. i don't think they feel as though they are to blame for anything, it is their policies that got us hi here, donald trump gave us record sitting success and time, a few short years ago, you didn't have to point back to reagan in 80s, this is a jarring whiplash affect of a few short years ago, able to afford gas and food, not having a wide open southern border there was peace in the world, the opposite happened when democrats came in and got control, and for a long time, you remember nancy pelosi said, it because we're not really selling it that well, because of communications. we need to tell people, it was so offen offensive to tell people, no you are dumb, gas and groceries are affordable. >> same attitude. >> they did not understand it, it is affecting real americans with real problems they caused. i don't know if they will

ever see it. david: good thing for republicans they have clear airspace, yet. they are bumping into each other with speakers battle, for once they have clear sailing. democrats are serious are nowhere to be found, no, now trump has 51% approval rating this is much more than 44% he had in 2017. they could -- they have clear sailing but they keep bumping into each other. >> look. to republicans let me simplify it, the president is entitle to his team. part of his team is speaker of house, he has spoken. you can have your differences, you can have your debates, but he has spoken. with speaker johnson. and this is his team. give him his time. if you want success, if you

rather lose to democrats, let the divisiveness continue, but unify around it, let the president have his team. david: caroline, does johnson get elected as speaker on friday? >> i think so. yes, i think trump's endorsement is really powerful, in this case. he will survive. david: okay david, caroline and hogan, have a wonderful new year, gang thank you so much. >> happy new year. >> happy new year. >> appreciate it. >> happy new year to you. >> happy new year. >> switching gears, ethe tax policies sphro front and center for the new year. can trump and republican congress shoot for something bigger? joining me now grover norquist president of americans for tax reform, good to see you.

what is the latest inside the beltway in trump team as it gets together about how high up in the priorityi extending the tax code is. >> trump team understands if they don't pass the tax cut, plus things like taking corporate rate to 15, in first few months of this presidency, it will be too late to to effect the 25-26 election year, president lost house of representatives in 2018, 40 republicans lost the house, because they delay the tax cuts it didn't get signed for a year, december 22 you had a wonderful growth in 2019. after we lost the house. nobody wants to do that again that was stupid, that will not happen again, under trump's watch. and under speaker johnson's watch.

david: it happened to republicans before, first george bush, read my lips, no new taxes and he did it and he was a one termer. this trump term will be his last trump term but republicans could lose big in midterms coming in tw 2026, then last two years president trump's he could not gel much done. >> he could have a 4 year presidency or two, we're decide that trump and republicans will decide it in the next few months, do they make johnson to keep it moving forward? and they move on tax bill, asa p to have strong growth, to next year 25 and 26, and pick up a bunch of house seats not lose them. david: as i said before, people want money in their pocket now. you have this debt crisis, consumer debt crisis with

credit cards because of the problem that people don't have cash to pay for things they used to have the cash for. because of inflation, you have interests up on mortgages and problems, people deal -- have to deal with their pocketbook, i have to about tax simplification, that is one thing we didn't get we got some of it in 2017. and will two steves, steve forbes and steve moore came out with flat tax is it possible that it could happen? >> something like that will happen. here is the good news, we have 22 of the 50 states have a single rate tax in their state income tax. for 8 of those, my favorite rate, zero, 14 are non, there are 3 that move to single rate taxes within a couple years. we're going to have a

majority of the senate, just a few years, majority of u.s. senate will be elected in states that have a single rate tax. and great thing about single rate tax is tough to raise, you have to look everyone in eye and say i am hitting you all, easy to cut. david: we should mention, flat tax and design of it by forbes and a bunch of others over years, that it has zero tax for first, i don't know how you calculate it first 20 thousand maybe or 30 thousand dollars. that first chunk of change. is tax-free, poor folks or bottom of income scale, they would be ex. e exempt from taxed lone us f -- low uncom earners. i would i think that people

like bernie sanders would like it he is always talking about sweetheart deals for rich that gets rid of that. >> bernie sanders, runs on envy. and the flat tax takes envy off of table. because everyone is treated the same. we added 5 states as flat ttax state. there are 3 more coming town the pike this is a growing issue. at national level congressman and senators will be able to say, in my state, we have a flat tax, why not nationally. david: grover norquist you gave us good news into the new year, happy new year to. >> yes, thank you. >> you too. >> coming up while u.s. struggled during the 2008 financial crisis, texas led the way in jobs, economic

under governor rick perry, we'll ask the former governor when kudlow continues.

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>> drill, baby, drill trump's mantra, helping us reduce a huge part of inflation equation, best way to increase productiono all fronts. growing the economy, a man who knows a lot about that our next guest former texas governor former u.s. energy secretary rick perry. i want talks about increasing general growth but first to energy. the one thing that i think can be done first debut president trump could be to end that lng pause it would do so much for companies here in the u.s., but it would do so much for friends abroad who depend on russia and other idiot nations. >> yeah, david, you touched on i think the core issue to make your economy grow. you have to have an energy policy that will allow for the growth of your energy production. you know, no matter what it may be. ours is based on fossil

fuels and growing that fossil fuel in particularly, liquefied natural gas and pause that biden administration put on lgn plants, that really affected the economy. i think it s&p global, dan juergen's group, i consider to be number one energy expert in the world, he studies this pause, and basically they found there would be 100 thousand jobs created by taking that pause off, getting our lng produced and sent around the world. the left said it will drive up cost of liquefied natural gas and cost of energy at home, they said it 15 years ago when we built first lngfacilities they were wrong them, they will be wrong now. the point is having that

energy of center of economic growth. then expanding that across the country around the world, you create jobs, and giving clear messages to the people that we're the united states, will be their best friends we'll take care of them. you can count on us, and the wealth that gets created by having a stable energy industry. it makes all of the sense in the world biden's 4 years showed how much of a failure strangling fossil fuel industry in particular and mandating the crazy things they were coming up work let the market disease, and market will go to fossil fuels and liquefied natural gas. david: u.s. companies of gearing up for it, u.s. oil and gas companies, they are ready to give it all they have. and a lot of european companies, bp and shell are

believing they will not get energy they fo thought they could get from alternative, they are going back to exploring natural gas. i want to focus for a second on your tenure as governor of texas, we meet just after the financial crisis of 20,009, texas -- 2009, texas had a record that exceeded u.s. in general of recovering from, that i asked you why. you said it not rocket s science. >> i said that many times. don't over tax, don't over regulate, and don't over litigate have a skilled workforce, they translate to accountable public schools, those are 4 tenants of governing if you put them in place, finding people who will support you on that is the challenge, in state of texas, starting back in 03, we were a republican state,

we have not been a republican state for the last 21 years. and we started putting into place, the policies, where down over tax, you don't over regulate eand passed most sweeping tort reform in nation. and we started recruiting businesses across the country and the world, if you come do texas you won't be over taxed or over regulated or over litigated, you can find workforce you need get out of the way, and that is what governor abbott is overseeing now, continuing on with it my bet is that governor abbott speaking of shell and pbhere, is probably thinking about giving them a ka a call, and saying why don't y'all leave where you are and come to texas. david: president trump using that model for country writ large that is the as far as i can tell you that is his overall game plan,. we wish him well, have a happy new year great to see you governor.

>> thank you, david, got bless you, and -- god bless you and happy ne citw year to all. local life and cultural treasures. because when you experience europe on a viking longship, you'll spend less time getting there and more time being there. viking. exploring the world in comfort.

david: thank you for watching kudlow, we have breaking news, larry is back thursday, have a happy new year eve and happy new year, thank you for watching. the son of legendary john d. rockefeller, (dramatic music) has dedicated his life to a single purpose: philanthropy.