when i started walton goggins goggle glasses, i had no idea what i was doing. but godaddy airo does. using ai to build a logo, website and social content. so i can let the world know, if your goggles ain't goggins, they don't belong on your noggins! tamra, izzy and emma... they respond to emails with phone-calls... and they don't "circle back" they're already there. they wear business sneakers and pad their keyboards with something that makes their clickety- clacking... clickety-clackier. but no one loves logistics as much as they do. you need tamra, izzy and emma. they need a retirement plan. work with principal so we can help you with a retirement and benefits plan that's right for your team. let our expertise round out yours. >> rates are not going lower anytime soon. there may be pressure for them to raise rates if the trajectory

of inflation continues higher. >> that pass just consistently breaks its agreements. i think it shows the long-term inability to deal with hamas. >> there are over 400 federal agencies, a great many of which you've never heard of, i've never heard of, and my guess is they're not doing very much at all. >> elon musk, i think, finally has the capability, has the microphone via his followers, via the attention that he gets that he can publicize these things that fiscal conservatives have been complaining about for decades. >> if i knew if having elon and his team come in and slash a trillion or more of federal spending through waste, fraud and abuse, like, i wouldn't have voted for it once, i would have voted for it ten times. >> you never bet against donald trump, and now we know not to bet against elon musk. the doge team is rocking. ♪ and with the radio blasting going new the surf as a fast as she can now the -- ♪ and she'll have fun, fun, fun, til her daddy --

david: well, hose of us in cold new york can dream about a california. the beach boys -- [laughter] it's nice to hear that and wish we were therement it is 11 a.m. on a very cold east coast day. wednesday, february 12th. happy abraham lincoln's birthday. the markets were hit hard this morning by that inflation news. not as bad as when we first got the news. it was down over 400 on the dow, now down 265. down 28 on s&p and down 50 on the nasdaq. show me big tech, if we can get a look at the picture. there is one green on the screen, apple. all the rest of the biggies are down. check the 10-year treasury. huge jump in the 10-year. it is now up 13 basis points. that is a very big jump for the 10-year in one day. the yield is now 4.66 if you with round it out. working its way towards a 5% interest rate on the 10-year

again. and happening in just moments, by the way, senate lawmakers are voting on tulsi gabbard's confirmation as the next director of national intelligence. we're going to make sure to monitor that and bring you any breaking news on the vote. now this, elon musk and president trump speaking to reporters the oval office yesterday. of it was a historic moment. musk shooting down any claims that he's orchestrating a, quote, hostile takeover. listen. >> well, first of all, you couldn't is ask for a stronger mandate from the public. people voted for major government reform. there should be no doubt about that. that was on the campaign. the president spoke about that at a every rally. the people voted for major government reform, and that's what people are going to get. they're going to get what they voted for. and if a lot of times, you know, people don't get what they voted for. but in this presidency, they are going to get what they voted for. and if that's what democracy's all about. david: joining me now is martha

maccallum. great to see you. >> good morning. david: he's not wrong. and more than that, in the only did voters vote for that, but a lot of people who didn't vote for trump now say they're satisfieded with his pacing, with what he's doing. he's delivering on his promises. >> we had before the election our polling showed that 83% wanted either substantial change or complete upheaval. think about that. and that's what we're seeing -- david: it's a revolution, and they wanted it. >> it is. it is absolutely a revolution. and it's so interesting watching this doge hearing this morning, david, because you have all of these individuals were worked with government accountability groups, you know, whistleblower groups, and these poor people, all i can think is they must be losing their minds. they must be so happy that someone is finally listening to what they're saying. one of them just said that, you know, u.s. corporations have about a 3% fraud rate. the federal government has a 20% frawj lent rate -- fraudulent

rate for payments -- talk about how they've really taken the whole system hostage and are criminally acting in it. david: usaid is basically a charity, okay in it's a u.s. charity to to other countries, to poor countries. that's basically what it is. would you contribute to the a charity that had overhead costs of over 20%? >> no. david: when i see one that has overhead costs of maybe 5%, i get worried. that's the point. it's not doing what the private is sector kind of -- i just want to get back to the moment in the oval office yesterday. have have you ever seen anything like that -- [laughter] where a 4-year-old kid is there in addition to the president -- >> look, i think elon is such a unique human being. and we watched him carry that little boy on his how olders when he went up to the -- shoulders when he went up on the hill. i are a feeling he's around the white house a lot. he is who he is. when you look at someone like

that, he gets away with system things that maybe other people wouldn't, wearing a t-shirt and a hat in the to oval office, but he is a genius. he is embracing what people want to see. i am very impressed by what they're doing with the department of education, and they're not done there yet. they have found $100 million in dei programs. one of the things they're cutting really easily here are all of the consultants who were paid for programs to advise. this is how you should handle diversity, equity and inclusion in the schools. public school system that taxpayers pay for. and do you remember when we covered the story that there were programs to ask children, are you in the oppressedded category or are you an oppressor? david: yeah. we're forcing kids into victimhood. >> both sides are bad. [laughter] you can't win in that equation. david: but then again, you've got the democrats standing up for some of this horrible spending that people don't like and know is wrong. i mean, it's extraordinary. we've got to leave it at that. >> thanks, david.

david: 3 p.m., we will be watching "the story" with you on fox news channel. >> see to you there. david thank you very much. let's get back to the inflation if report. consumer prices up 3% in the last 12 months. mark tepper joins me now. mark, that doesn't get to the core rate, which was expected to go up 3.1%. it went up 3.3%. that's the one that the fed looks at. >> yeah. but let's pump the brakes on this reaction that a we're seeing so far today because when you actually dig a little deeper into what happened in this report, a lot of this that has to do with what they call the january effect, the residual effect. so there were some downward revisions in the second half of last year, and that causes this one to come in a little hotter. one of the things that i saw happening around 8:30 this morning on x is the democrats were taking a victory lap. they were calling this trump-flation, blaming trump's tariffs that could possibly -- david: trump wasn't in control for this report! >> yeah, what, 10 days maybe?

look, on the inflation topic, when you look at all a items that would, could potentially be negatively impackaged on -- impacted by inflation, they were all down. household furnishings, -0.2%, appliances -.06% month over month. so all of these goods that could be impacted by fair riffs, they were all negative -- tariffs. david: small businesses are letting a lot of people go. what's going if on? >> yeah. the last half of last year was rough for small businesses. they obviously were not crazy about where we were headed economically. that tone changed as soon as president trump was elected, and we did see a good month if of them adding 39,000 jobs in january. so the tide is turning, but i will tell you i'm talking with small business owners all the time, ypo members. you know, prior to february 1st when those tariffs on mexico and

canada were supposed to go into effect, there was hesitance coming from these business owners on whether or not they wanted to hire for people just yet. once we get those things in the republican, hiring will resume -- rearview mirror, hiring will resume. david: the deregulation policy is going to be very helpful for the small businesses. mark, you're here for the whole hour? >> yes, i am a. david: thank you very much. let's bring in ashley webster. ashley, you've got some of the movers going. let's start with generac. ashley: i do, indeed. good morning, david. the generac maker -- generator maker, i should say, that's why it's called generac -- surging today after reporting strong earning. sales rising 16% year-over-year, and the company said power outages and problems with the lek -- electric grid helped them sustain demand. stock up nearly 7%. next up is redfin announcing a $100 million partnership with zillow.

zillow will become the exclusive provider of multi-family rental a listings on redfin sites. red item fin announcing it's going to cut around a 450 employees from the work force as the company restructures its rental a segment. redthe fin up, zillow down. and let's take a look at a problem tier airlines after spirit airlines rejected yet another takeover bid from the rival carrier, this time it's the third time they've said no. spirit plans to fly alone as it emerges from, excuse me, bankruptcy as you can see, frontier down 1.33%. that's some of the stocks we've been looking at a, david. a can. david: ashley, thank you very much. coming up, american mark fogle was detained in russia for over three years. yesterday president trump welcomed him home. listen. >> i feel like the luckiest man on earth right now. i will forever be indebted to president trump. i love our country, and i'm to

is happy to be back here. david: well, we just found out that fogle was part of a prisoner exchange with russia. we're going to be telling you who the u.s. released in order to bring fogle home. doge, meanwhile, is uncovering some really ugly truths about where american tax dollars have been going. >> a bunch of the fraud rings that are operating in the united states and taking advantage of the federal government, especially in the entitlements program, are actually foreign fraud rings. aid. david: will anyone be held accountable for the fraud? we're going to ask california congressman darrell issa. he's coming next. ♪ take me home tonight. ♪ come take me home ♪ no. i can do some research. ♪ ♪ cked byading strategists lik. when you want to invest with more confidence... the answer is j.p. morgan wealth management

the way i approach work post fatherhood, has really trying to understand the generation that we're building devices for. here in the comcast family, we're building an integrated in-home wifi solution for millions of families like my own. in the average household, there are dozens of connected devices. connectivity is a big part of my boys' lives. it brings people together in meaningful ways.

from recent grads... ♪ ...to rising stars... ♪ ...to living legends. - you got this. - thank you. vanguard retirement solutions. fifty years of helping investors be well on their way to their financial goals.

the way i approach work post fatherhood, has really trying to understand the generation that we're building devices for. here in the comcast family, we're building an integrated in-home wifi solution for millions of families like my own. in the average household, there are dozens of connected devices. connectivity is a big part of my boys' lives. it brings people together in meaningful ways.

david: getting back to this, american schoolteacher mark fogle is back on u.s. soil after spending more than three years locked up in a a russian prison. we just learned that fogle was exchanged for a russian prisoner. mark meredith can tell us more about that. who was the person exchanged for fogle? >> reporter: david, good morning. the information is coming realtime, and it's not to coming from the russian government, they're not saying much about this deal. the kremlin spokesperson only saying it was going to be a russian citizen released, and now fox learning service the -- it was a russian cyber criminal who's been held in u.s. custody since 2017. he was responsible for stealing at least $100 million from crypto. basically, it was a cyber crime. fogle, though, was all a smiles as he arrived at the white house last night. he was arrested at the moscow airport back in 2021. he was carrying a small amount of medicinal marijuana. those who fought for fogle's

release are glad he's out of harm's way. >> he's got some infirmities, but he's going to get through them. he's got a great attitude x i think the president is thrilled he could reach out and do this for the family. and so hopefully, it's an a inspiration for everybody. >> reporter: fogle told reporters he was still trying to process everything that he's experienced while behind bars. his family is speaking out saying they are in shock over the developments of the past 24 hours. >> i woke up this morning, and it's good morning, and it's really -- i'm is happy to have this massive boulder off my shoulders. it's -- i feel so much were the. and, you know -- so much better. i didn't see these photos toes last might. i was out at the bar last night celebrating, celebrating. >> reporter: i'd say that's a good reason to be at a bar on a tuesday night.

the white house hopes to bring more americans held overseas home as quickly as possible. david, we're looking to see what this may mean for potential peace talks between russia a and ukraine. secretary rubio saying don't go too far down that a road yet, this is simply a first step. david: mark meredith, thank you very much. let's bring in congressman darrell issa. good to see you, congressman. i must say, some people are squawking about the release of the cyber criminal and, you know, we want to build up our crypto industry, yes, but sometimes exchangings are to be made. on the other hand, i want to focus on the positive. ambassador steve witkoff, who's done an extraordinary job, he comes from the if business sector. i love the fact that this administration if is putting business people who know how to make things happen to do work that used to be left to the so-called professionals. >> well, you're exactly right. and whether it's doge finding tens or hundreds of billions of dollars that professionals couldn't find or it's beginning to unravel the global challenges

including our broken relation that's made it impossible to to actually set ising ukraine in a timely fashion, the president's engaging. and as you said, he's hired the right people. he's hired people who do deals and get deals done. david: i love it. staying on the foreign policy side, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has threatened to withdraw from the if ceasefire and resume, quote, intense fighting, his words, in gaza if hamas does not release hostages by noon on saturday. i want to play a sound bite with of the potential envoy, steve witkoff who we just talked about, talking about all of this. roll tape. >> hamas is a terrorist organization and they can't be allowed to be a part of the government in gaza is. it's an unhealthy situation, and they need to go. 9 and the president said all that we all need to know which is saturday, 12:00, he expects there to be something different occurring, and if it's not, then

this is going to be a big problem. david: so do you think that hamas will cry uncle before saturday deadline? >> well, unfortunately, the devout terrorists that are deep down underneath gaza are not the best negotiators because the reality is they're willing the die for their extreme value. having said that, for the people of gaza, for the palestinian people that also have suffered greatly, it needs to happen. this morning i met with the families and one former hostage here in foreign affairs. and, of course, they're very thankful that the process has begun again after a long paw.z it has to continue of but the important thing is when president trump says something, he means it. and in this case he's said this is, this unraveling of the holding of hostages for nearly 500 days has to come to an end. and i support the president in saying it's time for all the hostages, dead or alive, or to be released so their families

can appropriately mourn and deal with their family. david: and, congressman, very quickly bringing it back home to the doge debate, you now have the extraordinary spectacle of democrats crying out many in support of fraudulent spending of taxpayers' money. i think that's all you have to say to find out who's winning and who's losing in this debate. >> well, you're exactly right. and i made the point this morning and just a few minutes ago in judiciary that the people who look at these records and are supposed to find this fraud including some of our best outside accounting firms have failed to do it. finish and yet somebody who took more than half the cost of launching rockets and reinvented automobiles in a short period of time has found an amazing amount. and, yeah, they're worried about it. they're worried about their pet projects including ones that, quite frankly, moneys that never should have been spent or even are in violation of the law. so, yes, we're making progress. this is just the beginning.

one of the pieces of legislation i recently entered and we expect to move if forward is one that stops these rogue judges from making a decision with one party and saying it's a national decision. we have a supreme court for a reason. they make decisions about whether it's the law of the land, and you can't just shop one of 700 judges to get the outcome you want. david: right. we've got to fast track these decisions to the supreme court as quickly as a possible. darrell issa is, great to see you again. ful thank you very much. appreciate it. >> thank you. david: now this, we're getting an update about a those two two nasa astronauts who have been stuck at the international space station since june. ash, come on back. are they finally coming home now that elon musk has some pull in the white house? ashley: they are, indeed, david. it's a hair-raising experience, as you can see from that picture. it was supposed to be a weeklong flight, but butch and suni have been stranded at the international space station for more than eight months.

that could end sooner than planned now. they were supposed to rush last june, as you say, aboard boeing's starliner capsule is, but that craft had so much trouble getting to the space station that nasa decided to bring the cap a assume back empty and reassign the astronauts to spacex. even that plan didn't go anywhere because it's suffered delays. nasa now going to send a replacement crew aboard an older capsule to the space station and has targeted a march 12th launch, that is ahead of schedule. nasa says, basically, it is working expeditiously to bring them back as soon as possible. it was a ride that's gone a lot longer than expected, for sure. david: about a year with, almost a year of time that they weren't expecting in space. it's quite a situation. ashley, thank you very much. let's get back to the markets. of course, beaten down by that inflation report. we thought they were recovering a littleing, now they're back on the negative side deeply. the dow is down 444 points,

nasdaq down 109. coming up, president trump is declaring the return of common sense standards on everything from sinks and showers to washing machines and lightbulbs. back to those the incandescents, please. it's a major reversal of biden era household mandates. we're going to tell you exactly what's going to change. meanwhile, climate activists in more than a couple dozen cities and states have tried to use climate lawfare to stifle fossil fuel energy production. activists have taken their cases to court and so far they're not going well. former deputy assistant attorney general john yoo is going to be joining us next to tell us what they miscalculated. ♪ then i saw her face, now i'm a believer. ♪ not a trace of doubt if my mind ♪ ♪

[air blower sound] ♪ okay, son. focus on what you can control. everything else is just noise. when you work with someone who knows a lot and cares even more... you're unstoppable. at truist, we believe the same is true for banking. i've got a lot going on right now. let's focus. what are your top priorities? ♪ only the servicenow platform puts ai agents to work across your company. they deal with the small stuff that bogs you down. agents like secret agents? you know... i once played a secret agent. - oh... - oh i miss that one.

i heard you were great. i was great.

with gold and copper prices pushing towards all time highs, us gold corp. offers investors leverage to both gold and copper at its project, and mining friendly wyoming. u.s. gold corp has a reserve of almost 1.5 million ounces of gold equivalence, permits to mine, zero debt. nasdaq listed with only 12.3 million shares outstanding and a portfolio of world class american strategic metals assets. u.s. gold corp. join the golden age.

(♪) car, this isn't the way home. that's right james, it isn't. car, where are we going? we're here. (♪) surprise!!! the future isn't scary. not investing in it is. car, were you in on this? nothing gets by you james. nasdaq-100 innovators. one etf. before investing, carefully read and consider fund investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and more in prospectus at invesco.com david: we have some breaking news. the united states has just made an offer through our treasury secretary, bessent, to ukrainian president zelenskyy about a rare earths. edward lawrence is on the phone. tell me about the deal, edward: >> reporter: yeah, david, the news conference between president certificate hen sky and secretary scott bessent just

wrapped up. it's related to rare earth mineral, it would be a joint venture with the ukrainians and an economic investment in ukraine as it was described in the news conference. the president -- the secretary said that he a had this deal from the president and it would be part of manager that could be a foundation to a greater peace deal. the ukrainian president said he'd looked over the proposal, his staff will continue to work on this proposal and come back with a counter-proposal, it sounded like, on friday when he meets with vice president j.d. vance. the president, zelenskyy, said he was open to a deal with the united states. he looks forward to a deal. he says it shows the commitment of the u.s. in ukraine, and he is going to seriously consider what his counter-offer might be p. but he did stress during that the meeting that they needed security guarantees in addition to the economic guarantees going forward. so the proposal was made, now we're just going to wait for the response. david: wow. a fast moving administration if there ever was one. edward, thank you.

appreciate it. let's check the markets again very quickly. they've gone to the downside in a big way. dow jones is now down 436, 45 down on the s&p and the nasdaq down 108. mark they were, come on back in. -- mark tepper, let's start with, what is it, xe -- hexel? >> they the manufacture composites for aircraft, stuff that makes the aircraft lighter, improves fuel if efficiency, all that stuff. the stock has been held back because of boeing's issues over the last few years. however, air ralph demand is high -- david: do they use aluminum and steel that could be affected by the tariffs? >> ooh, i don't know about that. carbon fiber, typically not, but i can't verify that for sure. david: moving on to draftkings. >> online sports betting. draftkings, finally last year became free cash flow positive, growing the top line at over 20%

annually. this is what we don't own yet. we may be buying this one on friday. we're anticipating potentially a buyable pullback on friday because they have earnings tomorrow. now, one of the issues is in the fourth quarter there was an unusually high amount of favorites covering the spread if which typically benefits the bettors, not the companies like draftkings. so they may pull back on friday, we would use that as an entry point. david: what kind of entry point? below 40 or what? >> i think you could easily see a 10% pullback. tawd david wow. mark, thank you very much. right now the house doge subcommittee is holding its first hearing ever. they're vowing to work with trump to cut down the deficit and, quote, root out waste. hillary run is at the white house with the -- vaughn is at the white house with the breaking details. >> reporter: hi, david. democrats say they want to help cut out waste, but they are not down with the way that doge is doing it. >> i think you would find

democrats more than willing partners in that that kind of enterprise if we're going to be serious. but a wrecking crew, a wrecking crane, a wrecking ball is not going to do it. >> reporter: democrats have also a ramped up their rhetoric, ditching the script about these cuts creating a constitutional a crisis for a horsier four-letter word -- shorter, four-letter word. >> i just want to correct what a couple of my colleagues said is. they used that word in front of donald trump's name? what they meant to say -- [bleep] donald trump and elon musk! >> we have to [bleep] trump. >> reporter: musk says he's optimistic about the amount of fraud they have found. he thinks the budget deficit alone can be cut in half. musk saying this is not an optional endeavor, but absolutely essential because america is at the moment spending more money than we have, rack rahing up debt, quickly drowning in the interest on that debt. musk is working on a makeover of the federal government to make it more efficient for taxpayers.

one example of how archaic the system is, everything is stored in a literal mine deep in the bowels of pennsylvania because it's such a slow process, only a few employees can retire at a time strictly due to processing time. and that's if the elevator in the mine shaft is working. >> the speed if at which the mine shaft elevator can move determines how many people can retire from the federal government. and the elevator breaks down sometimes, and then nobody can retire. doesn't that sound crazy? >> reporter: and, david, there has been some questions about whether or not these cuts that doge are making are constitutional, and president trump said yesterday that he's totally fine if congress needs to double down on what doge is doing and pass individual legislation that codifies these cuts in place. david? david: not only is their waste and fraud, but they're using 1940s technology for social

security. it brows my mind. >> reporter: can you even call it technology at that point? david: no it's not technology at all. [laughter] a thank you, hillary, appreciate it. president trump's flurry of executive orders are tying up typically slow-moving courts, more than 50, 5-0, i lawsuits challenging his administration's actions have been filed. it's creating challenges for both sides of the legal debate. john yoo, former deputy assistant attorney general joins me now. any way all of these can be grouped together and fast tracked to the supreme court so we can get the work done? >> david, you put your finger right on it. people shouldn't be worried -- shouldn't think we're in a constitutional crisis right now. we're not. what we're seeing is the regular working out of the separation of powers. the president has just come in, he's just been elected. we've had four years of a comatose president. president trump is trying to restore the energetic executive that our founders wanted, so he's pushing forward on his policies. the opponents are going to court

just like to opponents of biden and obama went to court. david: right. >> you're right, what we're seeing trump do is can get those cases fast-tracked to the supreme court so that the supreme court, not little, individual judges around the country, can make a final decision. personally, i don't think what doge is doing is unconstitutional. i don't even think it's close. all doge is doing is what we do when we go to see our accountants when we have to prepare our taxes. we show what we've done, show them our books, they give us advice. but government officials still have to make the decisions, cut the policies, fire the employees, stop the spending. not elon musk -- david: and, john, the bottom line is we just had an inflation report come in this morning that was hot, very hot. the only way to really cut inflation is by cutting the expenses of the government. that's what causes inflation, when the government spends money it doesn't have. we need that done now. how soon before supreme court gets some of these lawfare-like cases? >> david, you get an a+ in econ

101. that's exactly right, one of the contributors to inflation is government deficit spending and, obviously, trump is trying to cut it. congress can't help itself. it's drunk on a bender. they can't stop spending, they can't restrain themselves. so hopefully these cuts are going to go into effect and we're going to see a decision, i think the fastest the supreme court could get to it would be this summer, early fall. but just seeing a president pushing forward with this doge committee trying to get spending down, that might if convince people in the country that we have a government that's taking inflation seriously now. david: let's hope. john, we add a some breaking news, we have to to cut it short. good to see you, my friend. thank you very much. now this, president trump is vowing to throw away more of joe biden's energy regulations. ashley, which ones are we talking about? ashley: yeah. a host of consumer products that joe biden wanted the make more efficient. but it's interesting, this is what president trump responded with on truth social. he says, i hereby instruct

secretary lee zeldin to immediately go back to my environmental orders which were terminated by crooked joe biden of water standards and flow pertaining to sinks, showers, toilets, washing machines, dishwashers, etc. and to likewise go back to the common sense standards on lightbulbs. yes, those were put in place by the trump administration but terminated by crooked joe. boy, he hangs it all out there, doesn't he in the biden administration began enforcing new efficiency regulations in 2023 that that phased out the sale and manufacture of household incandescent lightbulbs. the trump administration calls biden's enforced energy standards hey-handed at the very least -- heavy-handed and federal overreach which is meant to dictate consumer choice. amen to that. david: amen to incandescent lightbulbs. i hate those leds. ashley, thank you very much. coming up, the danes are not

going to let president trump attempt to buy greenland without an offer of their own. a new danish petition to buy california -- [laughter] already has 200,000 signatures. good luck, folks. we're going to bring you the full story coming up. and the future of farming is on full display at the world a ag expo. kelly saberi is going to bring us a preview of the latest farm equipment and communications. that's next. ♪

if you have wet amd, you never want to lose sight of the things you love. some things should stand the test of time. long-lasting eylea hd could significantly improve your vision. more people on eylea hd had no fluid in the retina compared to those on eylea at 4 months. eylea hd is the only wet amd therapy that helped 8 out of 10 people go up to 4 months between injections after 3 initial monthly treatments. if you have an eye infection, eye pain or redness, or allergies to eylea hd, don't use. eye injections like eylea hd may cause eye infection, separation of the retina, or rare but severe swelling of blood vessels in the eye. an increase in eye pressure has been seen. there is an uncommon risk of heart attack or stroke associated with blood clots. the most common side effects were blurred vision, cataract, corneal injury, and eye floaters. and there's still so much to see. if you are on eylea or a similar type of treatment,

ask your retina specialist about eylea hd today for the potential for fewer injections. can i have another pancake? from full house... ♪ ...to empty nest... ♪ ...to free birds. ♪

vanguard. we got this. fifty years of helping you invest for every chapter.

david: coming up in just 20 minutes, "the big money show." cohost dagen mcdowell is here with a look at what they're going to have. dagen. >> i'm interest bed to talk about, david, the doge subcommittee devolving into with, well, the usual hysteria you'd expect from those left-wing liberals.

one left coast democrat calling elon musk a nasty name, and larry kudlow is coming up to dissect the big, beautiful tax cutting, spending cutting bill that the gop has unveiled in the house. so top of the hour, my friend. david: larry kudlow, the best of the best, and you a too, dagen. thank you very much. now this, more than 100,000 people from around the world are flocking to central california for the world ag expo, the largest agricultural show of its kind. kelly saberi is this, and it looks like she's behind the wheel of a tractor. is that right? >> reporter: that's right, david. and i'm not even going to use the wheel because this tractor is top of the line, it's the best of the best. i'm going to to show you why. this is one of 1200 exhibitors here, and this is so easy the use, that they're letting me use it myself. nobody is here with me. i'm going to use the joystick to

navigate here. i'm just going to go in a straight line. i'm not even going to go more than 1 mile-per-hour. but as you can see, i'm holding the microphone with the other hand which means that farmers have the ability to do any other task that they need and navigate using the joystick as opposed to the manual vehicle that most tractors are. this is an automatic vehicle like a car. the important thing is that we're relate are profiting. we don't need to buy this $250,000 tractor if you're a farmer. you can use the technology in your old tractor that a you've had for generations because efficiency is most important at this time. take a listen. >> i think that the statistic is only about a 10% of the products sold to the farmers are actually buying new equipment every year. especially in a time like we're experiencing this year where the industry's down, farmers are trying to save money, maybe not ready to make that investment into a brand new product, retrofit helps them get there.

>> reporter: now, this is really extra important because we have to save money. farmers are a facing a labor shortage. in california they're facing a water shortage a, and this is also the looming possibility of an ongoing tariff war. right now we're on pause, but the experts says this is really top of mind for farmers. david, now, this is a really interesting concept because this is like the mercedes benz of tractors. the seats are heated, they're massage. this is the best of the best. i'll send is it back to you. david: massage seats for farmers, i love it. good stuff, kelly. thank you very much. now this, california is levying a billion dollar assessment on insurers to help pay claims to thousands of homeowners affected by the horrible wildfires. ash, is this a bailout for the big insurers? ashley: well, certainly for california's insurer of last resort, yes. a billion dollar bailout. the state-backed fair plan, as it is known, doesn't have enough

money to pay claims from the l.a. wildfires and now will get an infusion of cash from regular insurers. under recently-updated california regulations, those insurers then in turn can pass on up to 50% of the amount of the assessment onto their policyholders. so what does this all mean? if likely it's going to drive up insurance costs for homeowners across the state who may be forced to drop their policy altogether because they can't afford it. and in turn, maybe the final draw for insurers who could leave the state permanently and just deepen california's insurance crisis. the total cost of the l.a. wildfires, by the way, estimated somewhere between $250-275 billion. what a mess. david wow. a quarter of a trillion bucks. we had a feeling it was going to be bad. next one, ash a, people in denmark launching a petition to purchase california. you heard me right, purchase california a from the u.s -- [laughter] they want to turn disneyland

into hans christian anderson land. they're calling it the denmark petition. it's received over 200,000 signatures, but let's be honest, it ain't gone that that happen, ash. ashley: it isn't. but, you know, i would say this, david, i would personally like to see danish pastry land because i would definitely get an annual pass to that, maybe mickey mouse in a viking helmet. what's interesting, if you go to the web site of the petition, it reads this: have you ever looked at a map and thought, do you know what denmark needs? more sunshine, palm trees and roller skates. we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to a make that treatment a reality. let's buy california from donald trump. of course, it's all in response to president trump's repeated interest in making greenland a territory of denmark, by the way, part of the u.s. the authors of the petition note that a trump might be open to letting denmark is have california. given that there's this big political divide, of course, between california's leaders and the white house. the petition's crowd-funding

goal, $1 trillion, give or take a few billion. a. david: yeah, good luck. i don't think that would coffer one-quarter of the state. thank you, ash a. well, remember how often biden refused to answer a reporter questions when he was president? listen. >> i'm not supposed to be answering all these questions. i'm a supposed to leave. i'm supposed to stop and walk out of the room here. david: what a difference. president trump has a completely different approach. he is bringing transparency back to the white house. how is that affecting his popularity? karl rove is going to be taking that on next. ♪ i can't always, always be waiting, waiting on you ♪ am i just gonna take what the markets gives me? no. i can do some research. ya know, that's backed by j.p. morgan's leading strategists like us. when you want to invest with more confidence... the answer is j.p. morgan wealth management choose advil liqui-gels for faster,

stronger and longer-lasting relief than tylenol rapid release gels. because advil targets pain at the source of inflammation. so for faster pain relief, advil the pain away. planning to move? join the 6 million families who discovered a smarter, more flexible way to move, with pods. save up to 20% now for a limited time. whether you're moving across town or across the country. save up to 20% at pods dot com today.

what does a good investment opportunity look like? at t. rowe price we let curiosity light the way. asking smart questions about opportunities like ai. and how the industries born to support ai might better support us all. better questions. better outcomes.

david: well, we have some breaking news, and guess what? tulsi gabbard is going to be the next director of the national intelligence agency. she's going to be the dni. according to chad pergram, the only no vote among republicans was mitch mcconnell, the former leader of the gop in the senate. let me go directly to karl rove, if i can, to all right. -- to report. karl, this is breaking news, so i appreciate you jumping with me on this. are you surprised that donald trump appears to be getting

every single nomination he's trying for with one exception, matt gaetz? >> yeah. well, it's a strong finish. and the white house has handled this, i think, in a wise fashion. there were real doubts about tulsi gabbard. and what ended up happening is those concerns were shared directly with her and with the white house, and in response she gave a detailed letter affirming what she would do in certain instances in a letter addressed to todd young, senator from indiana, and i think that was what locked it up for her. she gave in writing commitments that would deal with the concerns that they had about her as the directer of national intelligence. and, you know, rather than ticking their feet in the ground and, you know, getting tough and saying, you know, vote the right way or you're in trouble, they said what are your concerns and we deal with those in a way that makes everybody comfortable. david: karl, i want to move to the issue of transparency with this administration, particularly in sharp contrast

to what we saw in the past one. elon musk, the president and elon musk bringing transparency back in so many ways even with bringing a 4-year-old kid into the oval office yesterday. their plan for large scale government cuts in the oval office a, it's a complete 180 from biden's. for those who have forgotten, let me bring up some sound bites from biden to show the difference. roll it. >> i'm not supposed to take any questions, but go ahead. >> reporter: mr. president, on afghanistan -- >> i'm not going to answer afghanistan. >> [inaudible] and in particular -- >> you guys are bad. i'm not supposed to be answering all these questions. i'm supposed to leave. i'm supposed to stop and walk out of to -- the room here. david: you know, it's such a breath of fresh air, isn't it, karl? from what we had? >> yeah. you see it reflected in the cbs poll, the new poll that's out -- david: yes. >> -- in which large numberings of people -- numbers of people say he's energetic, he's doing

what he told us us e would do during the campaign, he's strong, thiess effective. -- he's affective. his approval rating is good, 53%, highest he's ever had as president in the first term, highest of his we could term. but on the other hand, two-thirds of the american people in that a survey said we don't think he's doing enough about inflation, and that's the number one issue that he needs to deal with. and yesterday's inflation repor, today's inflation report is a warning sign. if that's why all of these budget issues that are coming up and all the deregulation efforts, more needs to be done to make certain that we have a budget in place, that we are, we have a budget framework that reduces the spending and reassures the markets and reassures individual americans. david: right. well, and bottom line is this inflation report strengthens the hand of doge in what they're trying to do. karl, because of that breaking news, i'm afraid we've got to

cut it short. thank you very much. appreciate it. karl rove, the great one. now it is time for the wednesday trivia question. a preying mantis can turn its head how many degrees, 90, 180, 270 or completely around, 360? the answer when we come back. ♪ .. after last month's massive solar flare added a 25th hour to the day, businesses are wondering "what should we do with it?"

i'm thinking company wide power nap. [ employees snoring ] anything can change the world of work. from hr to payroll, adp designs for the next anything.

you could turn this... into this. (♪) we give you the rewards and you choose how to use them. (♪) get rewards on everyday purchases with credit one bank. when i started walton goggins goggle glasses, i had no idea what i was doing. but godaddy airo does.

using ai to build a logo, website and social content. so i can let the world know, if your goggles ain't goggins, they don't belong on your noggins! ♪ empower ♪ so handsome. oh, i can't buy this. hang on there. actually, you can. your empower investment account has performed well. and this whole off-white-ish cantaloupe thingy is really working for you. so... so...? so... (♪) hot to trot! nobody says that, what? get good at money. so you can be a little bad. empower.

brian: before the break we asked a praying mantis can turn its head how many degrees? 90, 270, 360? what do you think? ashley: i was going to go through hundred 60 but what the point? you end up looking the same way. i'm going with 270. >> i will go 180. brian: the answer is how we will know when we reveal that in one second. 180. good to see you, ash, thanks very much. in the time we have left i want to ask about the markets, down 210, trying to look for a level. what do you think? >> we've got to make housing affordable again, 35% weighting in cpi. stuart: great to have you for the hour. that is it for "varney and company". "the big money show" starts right now. dage