welcome to the ""journal: editorial report."" a busy first full week for president-elect donald trump as his team pushes back on claims of chaos. vice president mike pence formally took the reigns on tuesday replacing new jersey governor chris christie as officials insist the ten-week effort to build the administration is on schedule. trump spent the week meeting with japan's prime minister shinzo abe as well as vetting candidates for top administration jobs with lieutenant general mike flynn, alabama senator jeff sessions

and kansas congressman mike pompeo. here with a look are "wall street journal" columnist dan henning ger, senior fellow jason riley, editorial board member mary kissell and assistant editorial page editor james freeman. let's start with pence. a little bit of night of the long knives in transition with chris christie getting the knife in the back, i guess, and being pushed out. mike pence taking charge. what do you think of that? >> i think it's an upgrade. when i look at this trump transition, most of all, i'm surprised at how conventional it is really. you have all these names coming out are people who have a lot of experience in government. you might have thought given his unconventional campaign we'd see ronde rusie ordain in white as secretary of defense. >> why is pence an upgrade from christie? >> i think from a limited government perspective, mike pence is really the person who

reassured a lot of conservatives during the campaign, persuaded a lot of republicans to come home to trump. i think you really have more hopeful out put here. >> on that point, jason, there are a lot of people -- the never-trumpers said mike pence is betraying his principles by accepting the job. i'm glad he did now that trump has owon. >> you have complaints that the transition has been so chaotic. donald trump ran a seat by his pants campaign. some people saying his campaign is always on the verge of collapse. >> well, it was sometimes. >> but the reality is -- even david axelrod said this is being a little unfair -- >> former obama -- >> he said at this point we didn't have all our ducks in a roechlt i agree. you're seeing names floated, friends and frenemies.

he's talking to mitt romney, ted cruz, henry kissinger. he's learning. >> let's talk about some of the names va have been picked, mike flynn, former general, national security adviser. how comfortable are you? >> it wouldn't have been my choice. i'm not sure he has a grand vision of foreign policy. i would have preferred somebody like ambassador john bolton in a role like that. it's not a terrible pick. mike pompeo, harvard law school, served in the army, house intelligence committee for cia. i think that's a solid pick. jeff sessions for attorney general, i think he might get some push back in the confirmation hearings. we'll see how that goes. on the night of the long knives, i was sad to see mike rogers kicked out. he was a terrific house intelligence chairman, and i think a really solid guy, great experience there. that was a bit of a shame. >> i'm a little concerned, dan,

about general flynn's ties to russia. he has written for rt, the kremlin's propaganda site. there was a famous dinner he sat next to vladimir putin on. i'm a little concerned about that, although he does have great military experience, combat veteran and barry mccaffrey says he's the foremost intelligence officer of his generation. >> that was his specially throughout his career was intelligence, as was with mike pompeo. i might point out at west point graduated number one in his class. pompeo is not a trump insider. jeff sessions was the first senator to endorse donald trumpment on the one hand he's rewarding his loyalists, on the other hand he's reaching out. i was struck by how some of the visitors to trump tower included tom price, head of the house budget committee or jeff hess

ser ling, head of the house services committee. these are strong, impeccable people. if he was having executives from the alt right coming, it would be across the top of "the new york times" front spaj. he's not meeting those people. he's meeting some of the most solid republican people that exist down there in washington. i think the early days are encouraging. >> on this point, the idea he's meeting with mitt romney this weekend is fascinating because romney was one of his most vociferous critics when he was seeking the nomination. i don't think he even necessarily voted for him. this point of reaching out, broaden the coalition, broadening the reach of people is utterly crucial. i understand you need to award the loyalists. that's why sessions is getting the job, why flynn is getting the job. you've got to reach out and have these alternative voices of debate in your administration. romney would be in my view a really fascinating and very good pick for secretary of state if

that's indeed what happens. >> very competent executive. if you give him the agenda, forming the agenda might be a challenge, but if you give him the agenda, no doubt he'd carry it out in a professional way. it blows away the image a lot of people have of trump, that he is so thin-skinned and unforgiving. he's done and tweeted a lot to give people that impression. it really would go against the grain. you look to dan's point, people go through trump tower, very impressive except for maybe kissinger. >> that's cheap shot and i think that's wrong. he could stand to listen to henry kissinger. >> steve bannon, the controversial breitbart news guy, being called an alt right representative. is that fair? >> i don't know enough about steve bannon to say if it's fair. i'm disturbed by a lot of what breitbart has published. i'd say the idea that we're going to give trump grief for talking to steve bannon or bringing him into his early

circle but not giving obama grief for bringing people like al sharpton in is completely hypocritical. what's behind the market's reaction to the presidential election? we'll ask trump economic adviser steve moore next.

it's being called the trump bump. despite the initial plummet on election night, the dow soared after the upset victory with finance and energy stocks leading the way. massachusetts senator elizabeth warren not too happy with the rally, tweeting on thursday, quote, why is wall street celebrating donald trump? because his administration looks like an investment banker's dream. steve moore is the senior fellow at the heritage foundation and economic adviser to donald trump. good to see you. >> hi, paul. >> some economists, particularly

keynesians are attributing to bump to bigger deficit spending. how do you see the rally? >> i think what happened was originally wall street and investors around the country were afraid of the kind of change that donald trump was going to bring, the kind of risk of anything that's new. i think when wall street and companies started looking at the real agenda of cutting taxes, pro america energy policy, getting rid of a lot of regulation, hey, this is going to be good for investment. incidentally, it's not only the reason that the stock mark has risen. i would make the case that the intrees in interest rates, not significant, but the rise since election day are the result of the fact that there's going to be more demand for investment capital. when companies want to invest more, they go out and borrow and that raises interest rates. it's one of the few times when you actually -- a rise is interest rates is a good thing. >> they've been historically low

anyway. even in this rise, it's not likely to tank the economy. >> what are the two big priorities here? i think everybody says tax reform right at the top of the list, maybe an exchange for infrastructure spending and repealing and replacing the affordable care act. is that how you see snit. >> those two obviously are legislatively right out of the gate. i think donald trump has a good chance in literally his first day in office when he enters the oval office, he is going to sign executive orders to repeal a lot of obama's executive orders, a lot of things you all have written about day after day on the journal editorial page, things like the clean power plant bill, some of the labor regulations that have been passed under obama. i think obama -- the democrats are going to learn that, if you live by executive order, you die by them. remember ronald reagan's first act was to rescind by executive

order all the natural gas price controls. that led to a boom in the energy sector. regulation is going to be a big factor. then you go to the tax obama care issues. i haven't worked too much on the obamacare issues, so i'll laeig that to someone else. on the tax bill, i think we can pass something in the first 150 days. the potential is possibly -- this is being discussed, not certain -- that you do a kind of jobs bill right out of the gate that has the business tax cuts which is really the heart of the plan, getting that rate down to 15%. we think we can get that through the house in 30 days because it's so similar to what paul ryan wants to do. then you take it over to the senate. as you said, maybe that's infrastructure spending in that package to get some democratic votes. then i think you could get something with perhaps 65 votes in the senate. you may not need the so-called reconciliation -- >> i talked to kevin brady, chairman of house ways and means

committee. he said he doesn't want to split corporate tax reform from individual tax reform because he believes that you have to do the two together to make the kind of efficient allocation of capital, number one. number two, politically, if you do corporate tax reform first as you describe, you may never be >> that's a good point. i met with the chairman as well. he made the same point to me. that's why this is being debated. chairman brady wants to go for the big bang, get everything done. i would love to see that happen. the individual rates, we bring the top individual rate down to 33%, eliminate deductions. the only thing i would say about that, paul, and i've been an advocate of this for 30 years, it's tricky. you have to take on a lot of the special interest groups in washington, the housing lobby, charitable groups, municipal people. >> if you don't that in the first 100 or 150 days, you never do it. you've got to use that political capital right out of the blocks,

don't you agree? >> definitely. look, when i've talked to the trump folks about this, they believe, and we believe this has to get done right away. when you've got disarray -- in the democratic party, that's when you move quickly. by the way, barack obama did that fairly effectively himself. the only difference is that i believe the mistake that barack obama made that i think he will regret for the rest of his life is that he never reached really across the aisle to try to get republicans on board. that means republicans have no buy-in. donald trump could in the first year of his office almost entirely repeal the entire legacy of barack obama's presidency when he talks about taxes and obamacare and so on. >> i take your point certainly, and i agree with it on reaching out to democrats. here is the issue. they're going to ask for a price, and their price is going to be a fair amount of spending. they're going to take some of that money from tax reform and push it into public works or other things.

if he wants senate votes to get to 60, he's going to have to agree with that. here is the rub. you're going to have a very big deficit if you do that. what's your response to that? >> my response is our number one priority from day one is get the economic growth rate up, paul, from 1.5% to 4%. you can't make any progress on the deficit or the debt until you get that growth rate up. jobs was the number one issue for the american people. that's going to be our number one priority. >> thanks very much, steve moore, for being here. >> thank you. >> when we come back, president obama's rule by regulation. he promised to use a pen and a phone to push his agenda through. as his presidency comes to an end, how easy will it be for the trump administration to dismantle that legacy? >> i've got a pen and i've got a phone, and i can use that pen to sign executive orders --

what a lovely home you have. is this your family? yea, that's my daughter, my son, and that's my... hey, kool-aid man! ...husband. oh yeah!!! [ crashing ] [ electricity crackles ] hey at least you got your homeowners insurance through progressive. by bundling it with your car insurance you saved a ton! yeah. do you want to see the rest of the house? -i can actually see a lot of it. -oh. is depression more than sadness? ♪ it's a tangle of multiple symptoms. ♪ ♪ trintellix (vortioxetine)

is a prescription medicine for depression. trintellix may start to untangle or help improve the multiple symptoms of depression. for me, trintellix made a difference. tell your healthcare professional right away if your depression worsens, or you have unusual changes in mood, behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. trintellix has not been studied in children. do not take with maois. tell your healthcare professional about your medications, including migraine, psychiatric and depression medications to avoid a potentially life-threatening condition. increased risk of bleeding or bruising may occur especially if taken with nsaid pain relievers, aspirin, or blood thinners. manic episodes or vision problems may occur in some people. may cause low sodium levels. the most common side effects are nausea, constipation and vomiting. trintellix did not have significant impact on weight. ask your healthcare professional if trintellix could make a difference for you.

we are not just going to be waiting for legislation in order to make sure that we're providing americans the kind of help that they need. i've got a pen, and i've got a phone. and i can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions, and administrative actions that move the ball forward. >> president obama in 2014, famously promising to use a pen and a phone in last two years in office. it's something president-elect donald trump has vowed to reverse, promising to cancel, quote, every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum, and order issued by president obama. so just how easy will it be to dismantle his predecessor's

policy legacy? we're back with dan hen inger, mary kissel, and james freeman, and wall street editorial page writer kate o'dell joins the panel. mary, if you don't put it in legislation, you don't need legislation to repeal it. the biggest boomerang in history. >> effectively you reap what you sow, and president obama didn't want to deal with congress. he issued all forms of executive order, and his agencies went out and made up the law in some cases. now i think president trump has a great opportunity. >> james, what's the magnitude here? what's take the executive orders first? how many are we talking about? >> hundreds. more than 200 executive orders. more than 200 what they call executive memoranda. it's the president saying the policies he wants and those can be resersed. >> some of these are routine making the government work. >> but executive orders and

administrative guidance, what was new about this administration is how significant these policies were, how much they tried to do with the pen and the phone. so this is why you have the opportunity, without having to go to congress, even without having to fight about cost of tax cuts to basically provide a stimulus to the economy on day one. >> then we have something, kate, called the midnight regulatory rush, which this administration is kind of pushing through a lot of rules here, trying to in the last couple of months. they anticipated it would be president clinton who would be there and who essentially sanctify all of this. now it looks like those are in jeopardy. >> yes. friday's federal register broke a record for 2016 at more than 1,400 pages. >> for one day? >> indeed. exactly, for one issue. >> you can't say they're not getting their salaries done here in the final although none of it will end up being real, right? >> under the congressional review act, congress has 60 days

to pass a vote repealing a law, repealing regulations. >> new regulations. >> yes. they will have plenty of time in january, and that can reach back as far as may with how many days congress has been in session. >> this is 60 legislative days, so that may extend all the way back into the spring. >> indeed. >> then they can bring those rules to the hill and just, with majority vote, go "gone." >> that's what we're going to see happen with a lot, especially for the epa for the end of the year. >> they did that with four rules, but the president didn't sign them. president trump will sign them. >> that's right. i also think it's important to emphasize that everything these federal agencies do has an influence on business. take, for example, the equal employment opportunity commissions that we've written a lot about on the editorial page. just when they issue guidance, for instance, they wanted to dissuade companies from using criminal background checks. that wasn't a law. that wasn't a regulation.

that was simply a paper they put out that said we don't want you to do this anymore. so what are companies supposed to do? well, they stopped using criminal background checks because they don't want to be veged by the federal government. they don't want to spend that money. so one would hope that president trump would put into place people at the top of these agencies that refocus the agencies on what their jobs are supposed to be. >> dan, we've been covering this for years. this is one of those areas of economic management, which is really not as well understood. i mean everybody talks about taxes and spending, which is a little easier to grasp. but regulation now is so widespread across the economy that when we talk to business folks, they come in and say, this is the thing that's really holding us back. this could be an economic stimulus from president trump without passing any laws. >> that's exactly right, paul. we have to make clear that donald trump is not saying he's going to rescind and overturn all this just out of spite against barack obama. it's being done because the democrats just somehow do not

understand that if they put out a torrent of regulation like this, especially with the environmental protection agency and the clean waters of the united states directive or the clean power act, it has no real effect on the economy. but indeed there's a reason why the economy has been growing at less than 2%. this is a large part of this. there's one more issue there, paul. also there's the cultural side of this. take the title ix guidance that was put out by the education department. it was called guidance. it wasn't even a directive from the government. every institution of higher learning in the united states set up panels to review sexual abuse charges, essentially reversing due process on campuses. now, donald trump can, with the wave of his hand, reverse those guidance orders that were put out and transformed higher education. that's the sort of thing, i think, people noticed because there was so much coverage of the title ix sexual abuse cases

on campus. >> they will breathe a sigh of relief on campus over that. still ahead, dismantling obamacare would be the biggest blow to the obama legacy. could republicans promise to repeal and replace actually become repeal and delay? ♪ this artoo unit must be delivered to the rebellion. come on artoo! ♪ artoo! welcome to the rebellion. ♪ this is for you. duracell and children's miracle network hospitals are powering imaginations everywhere.

repeal and replace obamacare. it's a top priority of president-elect donald trump and republicans in congress.

but reports this week say a new strategy is gaining steam on capitol hill that would quickly repeal most of president obama's affordable care act but delay the effects for up to two years. the plan would allow republicans to deliver on their promise to repeal the unpopular law in the next congress while buying them time to come up with a replacement. scott gottlieb is a physician and resident fellow at the american enterprise institute. he's also a frequent contributor to "the wall street journal" editorial page. welcome, scott. good to see you. >> thanks. >> so what do you make of this emerging strategy that says -- the way i hear it is the senate wants to go ahead and say, let's repeal it first, give us a couple years to replace it. the house says, let's wait a year to repeal and do it -- repeal and replace at the same time. what do you make of that? >> right. what i'm hearing is that they're more likely to go with repealing the whole thing through reconciliation but leaving in place the parts they can't repeal with 50 votes. so the insurance reforms such

add guaranteed issue and community rating. the laws say an insurer has to issue a plan to anyone who wants one and can charge people more if they have preexisting health conditions. those rules would stay in place. then what they would do is allow the subsidies to continue to flow into the exchanges for about two years to give themselves time to put in a replacement plan. now, people who have supported obamacare have been crying into their keyboards this week arguing if you do that, it's going to destabilize the exchanges, and the plans are going to pull out anyway. that's simply not true. it's not true. >> you don't think that's not true. because here's the problem, the risk i would say politically. if you repeal something and then you say, all right, two years from now we will replace it, you really are taking a big risk because what happens if something happens? if the president becomes less popular, you change congress in 2018, and then you don't -- you're not able to replace with what you want. >> well, you can replace it in a piecemeal fashion. you don't have to replace it in one grand measure like they tried to do with obamacare.

you can replace it with targeted reforms to the markets. the medicated hmos which are really the backbone are signaling to wall street they're going to stay in the exchanges until 2018. the blues will stay in as well. >> blue cross and blue shield. >> right. those are most of the plans in the exchanges anyway. remember, there's a lot of things the incoming administration can do to provide regulatory relief to the plans to keep them in those markets. so i don't think the exchanges fall apart. they start to narrow, but they don't fall apart. narrowing anyway. >> they've been narrowing with fewer choices and higher prices. is that going to get worse even if the exchanges don't fall apart? could you see fewer choices of plans in a lot of states, and could you see higher prices? this would be on the republican watch because they're now in charge. >> right. look, i think you will see some choices get out of the market. i think it's going to fall back to the medicaid hmos and the blues. there are a lot of things you can do with regulation. you can change the essential

health benefits, the mandates on what the plans have to provide. you can provide them more flexibility. the obama administration did a lot of things through regulation to try to goose the enrollment numbers at the expense of a functional market. you can unwind all that. >> so do you like this idea of repeal and delay, or would you rather do it all at one time in. >> i'd like to get rid of it now, and then we'll come in and replace it. if it has to be multiple measures they use to replace it, then so be it. i don't think you're going to understand how bad obamacare was until you repeal it to borrow a phrase from nancy pelosi. >> so you really think that once you repeal it, you're going to -- is there a chance you'll see more choice emerge because people will say, all right, we know that that's gone and and in anticipation of what's coming might be better? >> there's a chance if they reform the insurance market through regulation and start providing more flexibility back to insurance plans, you might see more choice enter the individual market outside of the exchanges. you might see that market start to grow.

i still think that the people who are in the exchanges will be able to find coverage in those exchanges. they probably will face fewer choices because some plans will get out of the market. but enough will stay in that you'll have a choice of plans and you'll have the subsidies to buy those plans. and really the only people who are really entering those markets right now are the people who qualify for the very rich subsidies, the cost-sharing subsidies. >> let's deal with this issue of preexisting conditions. that's if you have, say, breast cancer, they can't deny you coverage based on that condition. a lot of the architects of obamacare are saying you can't keep that provision and still -- and repeal obamacare because the insurers will somehow work around that. they'll still find a way to deny coverage. how can you solve that problem which donald trump says he wants of preexisting conditions and give insurers the freedom to price their products so they can make some money? >> well, assuming that you do get rid of those provisions, those insurance marker reforms in the long run, and i'm not so

sure you can. i'm not so sure you can get 60 votes in the senate to repeal those provisions because thez are popular. you can provide the same incentive for people -- you can provide effectively the same guarantee for people by giving them an incentive to get into the insurance market and stay in the insurance market. you can basically say if you get into the insurance market and you don't drop your coverage, you can't be dropped from coverage, and you can't be re-rated if you get sick, much like people have protections if they move from employer to employer, they don't get dropped or re-rated because they're moving from insurance pool to insurance pool. you can extend those same kinds of protections to people in the individual market. so you use carrots rather than sticks to get them into the market and keep them in the market. that said, some people will need to be subsidized to get into the market and some people whether need them to stay in that market. but that's a manageable challenge. >> the key things for republicans, you would say, you're going to have to subsidize, you're going to have to continue with tax credits for people to subsidize their coverage. that's not going to be repealable. >> in the long run, if you do

come in with a replacement plan, certain people are going to need tax credits to buy coverage. people get tax subsidies in the employment market, so you provide some kind of tax assistance in the individual market as well. >> all right. good. thank you, dr. scott gottlieb. great to see you again. >> thanks. still ahead, as democrats deal with the fallout from their election loss, could congresswoman nancy pelosi be the first victim of the struggle to reshape the party? >> it is time for a new direction, a new way of doing business, a new democratic party.

♪rock guitar ♪yeah ♪(rock music) ♪you can't do this, you can't deny ♪they feed us lines, but i won't act♪

♪and all good things will come to pass♪ ♪but the truth is all you have to have♪ ♪and would you lie for it? ♪cry for it? ♪die for it? ♪would you? ♪i believe ♪believe we're still worth the fight♪ ♪you'll see there's hope for this world tonight♪ ♪i believe, i believe now, there's a debate going on about whether we should be the party of the diverse obama coalition or the blue collar american in the heartland. some think we need to make a choice and spend all of our energy focused on one group of americans or another.

i believe that there does not have to be a division. in fact, there must not be a division. >> that was new york senator chuck schumer wednesday. urging unity in the democratic party following their election defeat. schumer was chosen to lead senate democrats wednesday, replacing retiring minority leader harry reid. his election a somewhat easier path than the one facing nancy pelosi with ohio congressman tim ryan announcing thursday that he'll challenge her for the top democratic post in the house. we're back with dan henninger, jason riley, mary kissel, and james freeman. dan, you've known chuck schumer for a while. what kind of a politician is he? >> he's a politician who loves to do politics, paul. i will say the one thing that's going to happen in washington is that the long eight-year political desert under barack obama is about to end. i mean obama's problem in large part was he just didn't do retail politics.

he didn't like to mix it up with people. donald trump is going to be on that phone all day long. i think both republicans and democrats and one of his main correspondents is going to be chuck schumer. now, whether anything comes of that is a good question. schumer is being pushed by his left. you saw bernie sanders in the back of that photograph and by elizabeth warren and especially the democratic caucus in the house which is dominated by people on the left. the question is whether donald trump's intention to do things to grow the economy like cutting, say, corporate taxes is going to get support on the democratic side. >> so that's the key, jason, is he's going to have the running room to negotiate with the president. >> i agree that there are deals to be had between chuck schumer and a trump administration. tax reform, the carried interest issue, chuck schumer, wall street. he understands that issue. i think they can deal there. infrastructure spending.

chuck schumer likes to spend money. >> but how much freedom is he going to have inside his own caucus? >> chuck schumer? >> yes. >> that is the $100,000 question. and there is serious division here. you have the leader -- the democratic leader of the senate. a coastal elite from new york. the democratic lead herb of the house, a coastal elite. this time ryan of ohio has said he's interested in challenging pelosi. comes from ohio. not just anywhere in ohio. he is in charge of a district that includes a place like youngstown, an industrial city that obama won easily but was basically a draw this time around. he's saying our party needs to pay more attention to these working class white americans that trump flipped. >> mary. >> i think chuck schumer has a good argument within the caucus because they have to look towards the next set of senate elections, which are going to be much more difficult for

democrats than republicans. democrats are going to have to defend some 25 seats here. >> ten of which are in states that trump won. >> exactly. so chuck schumer needs to give democratic senators something to run on, some achievements. he could do that by doing a deal with the republicans. >> what about this issue, james, our colleague wrote that democrats seem to think that the way to react here to get white voters back is more income redistribution, more taxes, more spending. is that the answer? >> it's not the answer. part of the problem is they're focused on white voters and thinking that this has been some statement on race in this election. you also saw trump do better among blacks and hispanics than romney did. the problem is the economic one. >> that's the -- >> the obama plan on the economy failed on its own terms. that's what they have to come to grips with. >> let me ask you this point about identity politics because there are a lot of democrats who

think this policy of slicing and dicing the electorate by race, gender, and age has been a mistake because it didn't allow you to focus on some of the larger themes that hillary -- that donald trump was able to focus on. >> well, absolutely. this is a slow-growth economy. all of the trump message was basically whether -- you know, making america great again. whether you thought it was already great or whatever, the point is we weren't delivering what basically people want in terms of rising incomes, new opportunities, new job creation. and until they decide they're going to start focusing on that, i think they're going to have a problem. and just to underline their problem in 2018, it's not just ten seats. democrats are running for re-election in trump territory. five of them he won with 60% or more. they've got to move to the middle. >> schumer is going to get a lot of those rfolks and let them voe with trump and use the majority left wing of his party to

filibuster a lot of what donald trump wants. is it time for nancy pelosi to ride off into the san francisco sunset? >> it is time for her to do that, paul. you know, she and her two deputies, denny hoyer and jim clyburn are both over 70 years old. it's time to turn it over to the next generation. the question is whether it be a generation of moderates or from the left. i mean most of the members of the caucus there are left-wing democrats. but there's one other issue here. nancy pelosi, since she became minority leader, has raised over $500 million for the democrats. a half a billion dollars. i think one of the parties to this debate is going to be those wealthy donors who incidentally bernie sanders is denouncing. nonetheless, i think those donors like tom stire from silicone valley, whose issue is the environment. they're smart people. they're successful in their own businesses. they've got to decide where this party is going to do something to grow the economy or simply

stock with these issues like gender relationship and identity and that sort of thing. >> all right. >> i think they're going to have a big role in deciding which way this party goes. >> thank you. when we come back. electoral college outrage as hillary clinton's lead in the popular vote grows, so do calls to e eliminate the system that sent donald trump to the white house. "credit karma huh?" "yeah, it's free.' "credit karma. give yourself some credit." this artoo unit must be delivered to the rebellion.

come on artoo! ♪ artoo! welcome to the rebellion. ♪ this is for you. duracell and children's miracle network hospitals are powering imaginations everywhere.

speed always wins. especially in my business. with slow internet from the phone company, you can't keep up. you're stuck, watching spinning wheels and progress bars until someone else scoops your story. switch to comcast business. with high-speed internet up to 10 gigabits per second. you wouldn't pick a slow race car. then why settle for slow internet? comcast business. built for speed. built for business. as hillary clinton's lead in the popular vote surpasses 1 million, calls are growing from some democrats to abolish the system that sent donald trump to the white house. with california senator barbara boxer and new york congressman charlie rangel both introducing legislation this week to eliminate the electoral college and decide future presidential elections by the outcome of the

popular vote. we're back with dan henninger, jason reilly, james freeman, and kate batch elder o'dell. kate, does it undermine the legit massey of president-elect trump that he lost the popular vote? >> i would argue that because he won the electoral college, it adds to his legitimate massey, and here's why. precisely as we're hearing there is a new unique threat to democratic institutions, the left has built a campaign to destroy something that is a great check on executive power because it forces a candidate to build a consensus that's broad and durable and not a parochial majority. >> but if -- both candidates knew that the winner would be whoever won 270 electoral votes. if it had been a on the popular vote, they would have campaigned differently, correct? >> right. if possible were about getting the most field goals, it would be played differently. so basically you would have had donald trump camp out in texas and hillary would have tried to win more votes in california and

new york. >> trump probably would have campaigned in parts of california too just to reduce that margin, no? >> yes, absolutely. and you would just have a different system with tradeoffs, and i'd argue a lot more tradeoffs. >> what do you think, jason, about this idea? republicans have lost six of the last seven elections in the popular vote, but they've only lost four times. >> you're right. i think some people have a problem with that, but the founders did not want a direct democracy. they were quite clear about that. they wanted people campaigning all over the country. they wanted all the states to have a say in who became the next president. that's why we have the system we have. i think this legislation is pie in the sky. >> it's not going anywhere? >> you'd need 38 of 50 states to ratify it. i don't think it's going anywhere. by the way, in 2012, donald trump tweeted the electoral college is a disaster for our democracy. >> i think he's changed his mind now.

>> i do too. >> but we're consistent. we've always liked the electoral college, james. and what about there's some people who say, look, the electoral college actually is bad because it enhances the role of the large states. it gives a state like california with i think 55 electoral votes more power than wyoming and north dakota, south dakota, all these small states which you can ignore. >> in a close election, obviously they are all important. it didn't happen this time, but you could have seen a new hampshire being decisive. you could have seen nevada being important right at the end there. short-term, i think this is probably good for republicans to the extent that democrats waste their time saying it was the electoral college. it was jim comey. it was racism. it was sexism. to the extent they don't look at the real problem, that's probably good. long term i think this is corrosive. >> what is corrosive? >> this attack on the electoral college and the constitutional system which has worked so well

for more than two centuries. one thing this will do is make very part i san public school teachers start teaching their children about still another flaw in our constitution. so i think it is an irresponsible and long-term corrosive impact to blame the electoral college. but short-term, to the extent democrats ignore their real problems, probably a benefit for republicans. >> but republicans now, dan, do they have an advantage in the electoral college because leading up for the last eight years, we've heard democrats have this blue wall, the structural advantage in the electoral college. suddenly it blew away in one election. i've always thought this idea of the so-called structural advantage of the electoral college is false because if you actually get really close elections, you can win the electoral college even if you lose the popular vote. >> yeah, and think three states, paul. pennsylvania, buwisconsin, and michigan. they were not supposed to be broken out of the blue wall. donald trump figured out a way to bring them to the republican side and transformed electoral

college. that is why she lost. it was just simple, smart politics. >> all right. thank you very much. we have to take one more break. when we come back, hits and misses of the week.

time now for our hits and misses of the week. jason, start us off. >> paul, this is a miss for the university of virginia, where students and faculty are outraged that the president of the university quoted thomas jefferson in a letter to students. now, of course, jefferson founded the university of virginia. but of course he was a slave holder, so they don't want him quoted in material or quoted by the president of the school. >> should we close down the university? >> the absurdities here, it's hard to tell whether it's the stupidity -- the hypocrisy here. apparently students don't mind

attending a school that was founded by a slave holder so long as the man is never quoted. >> all right. kate. >> this is a hit for nebraska senator ben sasse, who this week moonlighted as an uber driver, as an innovative way to work alongside and meet some of his constituents. the best part of this is he did not promote the gig and the press only discovered it after one of his riders tweeted a photo of him with his five-star rating, saying he was three minutes away for pickup. so a hit for him. he donated the money to charity and way to be a happy warrior. >> all right. james. >> this is a hit to america's turkey farmers who have been so productive that this year thanksgiving dinner is going to cost less than last year. attracting inflation adjustment terms, mark perry finds that turkey dinners are cheaper than they were 30 years ago. this is great because even if i hurt myself next week trying to fry it, at least it won't cost a lot of money. >> how big a turkey at the freeman household? >> well, 15 pounds in the fryer.

we might do another one in the oven. >> all right. dan. >> well, i'm going to give a miss to president barack obama, who is making his final world tour. he went to greece and to germany this past week. while he was in greece, he announced that the process of globalization needed what he called a course correction. it needs a course correction, he said, because its benefits aren't being spread broadly enough. you've got to ask where he has been the last eight years while the world was being globalized. he sounds like some guy who has been sitting in a rocking chair at the white house watching the world pass by. he was the president of the united states. if the benefits aren't being spread broadly enough, presumably he had something to do with it. >> he also gave some free advice to donald trump not to be too soft on vladimir putin, yet it was president obama who did the reset when he took office. >> that's right. then he said he helped angela merkel carry the load if he were still around. well, he's responsible for a lot of that load she's carrying. >> remember, if you have your

own hit or miss, be sure to tweet it to us. that's it for this week's show. thanks to all of you for watching. i'm paul gigot. hope to see you right here next week. live out a very happy life. when that with, a very happy thanksgiving. i'm wlchris wallace. all eyes are on trump tower as the transition goes full speed ahead. >> a lot of activity going on upstairs. >> the president-elect is an open door. >> we'll talk with vice president-elect mike pence about trump's picks so far and what his role will be in the trump white house. >> he's a man of action. i'm humbled to be a part of it. >> mike pence live, only on "fox news sunday." plus, we'll hear from our sunday group, including laura ingraham, who's being considered for white house press secretary. then, how will democrats work with president trump? >> we challee