you. >> we all have them, a lot of us have them. i use my to take some pictures. the cowboy boots and the plaid pants. >> in the meantime, merry christmas to you and "happening now" starts now. >> jon: this is a fox news alert. president trump heading to florida this hour to spend the holiday break at his mar-a-lago estate after helping to deliver the gift of sweeping tax reform to america. hello and welcome to "happening now." i'm rick leventhal and for jon scott. the girl the president preparing to sign the largest tax overhaul inducted into law. he's also expected to sign a measure to fund the government till january 19th. congress avoiding a shutdown but setting up a showdown on hot button issues like immigration, health care, and the budget all want the holiday break is over. the present expressing optimism that congress will come together and get things done. >> rick: mr. trump tweeting, "at some point, and for the good

of the country, i predict we will start working with the democrats in a bipartisan fashion. infrastructure would be a perfect place to start. after having foolishly spent $7 trillion in the middle east, it is time to start rebuilding our country." fox business network is a lie from the white house with more. i understand the president is in the oval office right now signing the tax bill. >> that's exactly right. if he hasn't signed it yet, he should be signing the tax bill within minutes here. reporters and cameras are inside the oval office right now. we are expecting to see those images and hear from the president within minutes here. earlier today, the president took to twitter to frame it this way. "here a big and very popular tax cut bill has taken on an unexpected new source of love that is big companies and corporations showering their workers with -- now it is the rage." he ends by writing

merry christmas. the president is referring to the handful of major corporations that have already said they will be upping their charitable contributions or investments, or in some cases, give out year end bonuses to their workers. speaking of your end, the president, traditionally in years past, usually gives a year end news conference. might be able to hear the helicopter circling above me right now. we expect him to leave the white house and head down to florida without doing some full-blown official news conference that would allow the president to end the year on this tax reform high. to that end, he tweeted out just a little while ago, "with all my administration has on an approval, procure germans record, regulation cutting, judicial appointments, building tax cuts and reform, record economy stock market, and so much more, i am sure great credit will be given by mainstream news." a little bit of tongue and cheek there from the president. the reporters and cameras inside the oval office right now and

within minutes here, we expect to see the president officially signing this tax bill into law. >> rick: as soon as that tape is brought back out of the white house, we can play it back and watch it for ourselves. thanks, blake. >> it's been an amazing experience, i have to tell you. hasn't been done in 34 years, but actually, it really hasn't been done. we broke every record. it's the largest, i always say the most massive, but it's the largest tax cut in the history of our country and reform. but tax cut. really something special. >> lea: president trump praising the tax reform bill passed in congress this week. his party is looking to build on that progress. it remains highly unpopular. some lawmakers are hoping that that will change once people start to see more money in their paychecks. even then, the g.o.p. could still face a tough road ahead going into the next year's

midterm election with democrats riding high on a wave of recent wins and plummeting approval ratings for the president. running out, main street columnist for "the wall street journal" and former chief speechwriter for president george w. bush. nice to see you. let's talk about going into the midterms come... strategy? >> the strategy now try to improve on what they've done to get the economy growing. it's incredible to me that the democrats are relying solely on poles now showing that they have a generic advantage and enthusiasm advantage, that they've boxed themselves out of any growth. put it this way, president trump was elected largely by people who are struggling and thought that he would deliver a growing robust economy for them. if they feel improvement in their lives, that's a big achievement. for democrats to mock bonuses from companies and stuff, i know a lot of people are children who would love to have a $1,000

bonus, covers a lot of christmas presents or music lessons. it is not anything to sneer at. >> lea: that's what republicans wanted to get this tax reform bill passed this year, so that going into next year starting in february, they see that people see more money. more money that they take home. how much of an impact will that have? >> i think you will have a huge impact. it points to what you said, yes, most people get a tax cut and save a few hundred dollars or couple thousand dollars from what they were paying before, but the biggest benefit to middle-class and working-class people is the growth that comes up. it gives them opportunities for other jobs. i have a child going to be entering the job market. i would like a growing economy. in the obama years, we were told a 2% growth, which is very anemic, is the new normal. now it's around 3%. if president trump can continue that, people will to see a dramatic improvement in their lives, and that there are opportunities before them, and

that's the way that you fatten paychecks. >> lea: the economy is always a top issue in any election. large-scale tax bills like reagan's haven't really that much of a boost for the income it partying. looking back in 1982, republican suffered losses even after that first tax reform. >> midterms generally go against the president. if you look at reagan, if you look at the growth rate of those years, they are astronomical bystanders. if you look by the time of the '84 reelection, everything was so much better if you remember how negative it was when it came in. >> lea: president trump has a huge legislative accomplishment for his administration, but karl rove in "the wall street journal" giving you this week, and i want to just put up a little bit of that on the screen for our viewers. he set up republicans to have any hope of holding congress after the midterm, mr. chapman

of the political spotlight sign to match on an individual g.o.p. candidates. stepping back from the spotlight will be harder for mr. trumpian any previous president. he goes on to say that that's the only path for victory in 2018. do you think he has a point? right now, he's unpopular. >> there's different ways of doing it. he and i both served in the white house at the same time. our friend ed glass become a great guy. he just lost his right to govern a partly because of the trump factor and his unpopularity. i think he needs to give these candidates a chance to go out there by themselves. republican candidate doesn't need to be fighting the democrats and fighting the president, or fighting wings of his party divided by the president. it's not a good thing. we hope in the future, we will concentrate what they did on the tax cuts and come together and show they can work together. that's another extraordinary thing. tax reform is not easy. there's a reason it hasn't been

done in 30 years. >> lea: it is an easy, but we do know that president trump does like being out on the campaign trail, he enjoys those rallies. bill mcgurn, thank you. merry christmas to you. >> rick: the president shining a historic tax bill. we will bring you that video as soon as we get it. in the meantime, please try to catch an armed and dangerous man before the horse can happen. the hunt for the suspect who had been shooting at drivers on busy california highways. president trump said he will not fire special counsel robert mueller. why are so many in the media still questioning whether or not he will? our panel weighs in on that nex next. because no, i'm not. hi i'm joan lunden.

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>> rick: we are going to go back to the white house shortly for playback from the tape from the oval office with the present immediately president signed the tax bill before he heads off to mar-a-lago for a beautiful holiy weekend. >> lea: we understand that he did take some questions, so we will be getting to hear a little bit from president trump. probably a lot of excitement from him, as this major legislative accomplishment has been achieved prior to the holidays and prior to be able to go and enjoy the holidays. >> rick: republicans celebrating this as a victory, democrats not not so much. >> lea: we have been talking about how much this will play. as soon as legislators leave for home, they are going to be thinking about the midterm elections. in the blink of an eye, it's going to be january, and everyone will be talking about that. >> rick: here he is. >> lea: let's take a listen what he has to say.

>> president trump: good morni. >> president trump: good morning, everybody. thank you very much for being here. merry christmas, happy new year, have a great holidays. we are going to sign some very important things today. one is a continuing resolution that very importantly gives us the right, and we are ordering $4 billion worth of missile defense equipment and missiles themselves, very important, top-of-the-line, best in the world. we make the best military product in the world. nobody is even close. we are ordering $4 billion worth of missile defense, and that will be done by signing, right

here, and also by notifying the speaker of the house and president of the senate designating the missile defense is an emergency defense fund. $4 billion for that, and a $700 million for various other forms of equipment. i'm very honored to do a that. our military has done a fantastic job in so many ways with isis, and everything we are doing is working out. we are signing that. this is a letter to mitch mcconnell, and separately to paul ryan, authorizing that having to do with missile defense.

okay. very important. that's being done today, and that's going to be set down. when i watch the news, as you know we have the largest tax cuts in our history just approved. i was going to wait for a formal signing sometime in early january, but then i watch the news this morning, and they were all saying, will he keep his promise? well he signed up by christmas? will he sign it by christmas? i call downstairs and said, get it ready, we have to sign it now. we aren't going to wait till january 7th or 8th into a big formal ceremony, but everyone at the networks of saying, will he

keep his promise? will he sign it for christmas but still i immediately called, said let's get it ready. as you know, $3.2 trillion in tax cuts for american families, including the doubling of the standard deduction in the doubling of the child tax credit. the typical family of four earning $75,000 will receive income tax cuts of more than $2,000. very much higher than that. slashing their tax bill in half. they will start to see that because we are signing today. they will start to see that in february. the numbers will speak. one of the big things that happened, i want to thank at&t who was the first out-of-the-box and bowing in sinclair and wells fargo and comcast, even though they own and bc, which is not so nice to the presidency of the president. but comcast also, they all have

made tremendous contributions to their employees. in tremendous contributions to spending money in this country because of the tax bill. they all said it's because of the tax bill. they are making tremendous investments, that means a lot of things. we are very happy. at&t, sinclair, wells fargo, comcast, and on many countries. i see three more companies came on. a friend of mine, bob graff called me last minute that this tax bill is incredible. he owns the new england patriots, but he's in the paper business too. he said based on this tax bill, he just wanted to let me know that he's going to buy a big plant in the great state of north carolina, and he's going to build a tremendous paper mill there or paper products plant. that had many calls such as that where people that are entrepreneurs, , and business tt

are going to buy factories that are close, abandon, and now they are not going to be abandoned any longer. it's an even bigger impact faster than i thought. the corporate tax rate will go from 35% to 21%. that means that more products will be made in the usa. a lot of things are going to be happening. we will bring back our companies, they've already started coming back. i think they had certain confidence in me. they have already started. something very important to me, the family farmers and small business owners who lost their business because of the estate tax, most of them won't have any estate tax to pay. it will be a great thing for their families. you can leave your farm to your family, you can leave your business, your small business to your family, not even so small because the numbers are pretty big here. they will be exempt from having to pay estate tax, which will be tremendous.

they will keep their farms and their businesses and their families. for since it will be able to deduct 100% of their cost of their capital investments in the year that the investment is made, that's called expensing. to do one year expensing i think is going to be one of the biggest things in the bill. people will go at it. people will absolutely go wild over. bob graff mentioned that last night and his telephone call. the fact that they can expense is a fantastic asset. historic small business tax cuts are made it really, really good for the business owner. you have the hiring people and i see it on television, and reading about it all over where people are hiring a lot of people right now to go to work. the small business tax cuts are now incentivizing people. we are going to bring back probably $4 trillion from overseas. nobody knows the exact number, but it's massive and will be

over $3 trillion, it could be $5 trillion. as a tremendous amount of money we had over sees that they couldn't allow it to be back into our country. we think at least $4 trillion is going to be brought back. if you look at that, it's going to be brought back right under code. this is something republicans wanted for years and democrats want to for years, and yet it never got done. who would object to trillions of dollars being brought back into our country? nobody. it never got done. it now it's being done. the bottom line is that this biggest tax cuts and reform in the history of our country. this is bigger than, actually, president reagan's many years ago. i'm a very honored by it. in addition we have band to and more for drilling. we will try to do that for 40 years. they try to do that during the regular -- they could never get it. that alone will be a big bill,

if that ever happen. that's even part of this. we have, of course, the individual mandate, which is a very unfair and a very provision, as you know, and obamacare. essentially, i think it leads to and of obamacare. essentially, i think obamacare is over because of that. we will come up with something that's going to be very good. the individual mandate is very unfair because you're basically saying, pay for something in order not to have to get health care. you are paying not to have to have health care. it was very unfair. many people thought it would be overturned in the supreme court but didn't make it. now we are overturning the individual mandate, the most unpopular thing and obamacare. this is the bill right here. we are very proud of it. it's going to be a tremendous

thing for the american people. it's going to be fantastic for the economy. it's going to keep companies from leaving our shores in opening up in other countries. they are very dis- incentivize to do that. there's not a lot of sense to do that. if you do that, i don't think you'll be running your company very well. what's happening is, we are going to sign this. this is a little picture of it. it fits nicely in the box. i said take it out of the box because people have to see. all of this, everything in here, is really tremendous things for businesses, for people, for the middle class, the workers. i consider this very much a bill for the middle class and a bill for jobs. jobs are produced in companies and corporations, and you see that. corporations are literally going wild over this. i think even beyond my expectations, so far beyond my

expectations. i will sign this today rather than having it very big formal ceremony in two weeks when we were going to do it because i didn't want you folks to say i wasn't keeping my promise. i am keeping my promise and signing it before christmas. i said that the bill would be on my desk before christmas, and you are holding me literally to that. we did a rush job today. it's not fancy, but it's the oval office. it's the great oval office. just to conclude, our country is doing very well. we tremendously cut regulations. legislative approvals, for which i'm given no credit in the mainstream media, we have i believe 88, which is number one in the history of our country. second now is harry truman. harry truman had more legislative approvals than any other president. a record long-held. we beat him on legislative approvals, for which i give no

credit. a lot of people said he did this because he's had no legislative approvals. if you look at va accountability acts and some of the other bills having to do with the va, having to do with the military, having to do with many things, we have more legislative victories than any other president, not including this, but this is the capper because this is, again, the biggest tax cut, biggest reform of all time. it's an honor to have you with us, and we will sign this right now. this is something i'm very proud of, great for our country, great for the american people. thank you all. we will do the whole thing, but this is basically what it is. that's your bill.

and i want to thank some people in particular that aren't here because, again, we expected a formal ceremony into weeks, but mitch mcconnell has been fantastic, worked so hard. we would speak at three in the morning and two in the morning and speak whatever we had speak, but he worked so hard. the exact same thing can be said for paul ryan. they are very proud of this. and we are already seeing the results. as i said long before, long ahead of schedule. paul ryan, mitch mcconnell, thank you very much. warren hatch, the chairman, made a beautiful speech the other day in front of the white house, absolutely brilliant, beautiful speech, and we appreciated it, and i appreciated it. kevin brady, i don't think he slept for months. it's almost like that's all he

did was this. mike ensign, senator, and i am black, rob portman , rob worked so hard. so knowledgeable. tim scott, likewise. these people work so hard. i don't know if they're given the proper credit. the whole senate, and i say the senate, unfortunately the republicans in the senate, democrats don't like tax cuts. they want to raise your taxes, they don't want to lower your taxes. they want to raise your taxes and spend money foolishly on things that we don't need. we are cutting taxes, taking care of our military, and we are taking care of people. and we are really doing a good job. these folks have been so fantastic that i had to call them, and plenty of others. republicans in the house and republicans in the senate have

been incredible. this is what we get, we had it, it was all set to go, as soon as i got back from christmas where we will be working in florida. i will be working very hard during their christmas because we have many things to talk about, including north korea, including a lot of things happening in the middle east, as you know. we've made tremendous strides in syria with isis and taken back virtually all of the caliphate. the same thing in iraq. we are making tremendous strides. that's the story right now. since my speech on afghanistan, we are making tremendous progress, tremendous strides, we opened it up, and it's a whole different world and afghanistan, i can tell you that. i will be working very hard over the holidays. again, i want to wish you a very merry christmas. i have some beautiful pens over here, and because all of these folks are either continuing to work down the road or getting

ready to leave, and i'm sure there will be working very hard also, i think i'm probably going to handle some of them to the press. would any of the media -- look at these camera guys -- but i think we will do that. i have them. many of you have worked very hard, many of you have worked very, very fairly, and we really appreciate that. here you go, folks. you want this with it or not? i don't think i'm going to have to travel too much to sell it. i think it's selling itself. it's becoming very popular. you will see something on february 1st when they open up the paycheck. that's when you'll start to see it. by signing it now, it kicks in to this year. if we didn't make a certain date, it wouldn't kick in until next year, meaning the following year. '19 and i wasn't happy with that. we work very hard to make sure

it was this year. even language officially said the corporate would kick in '19, but we didn't do that. we had to sign. i don't think we are going to have to do much selling. i think the corporations have given billions and billions of dollars away to their workers and many more are coming. i think that's really what's selling this better than anything anyone conclude team that could, including myself. when they open their checks and seek, while matt, i have a lot more money in here. that will be something very special. have a great holiday. some of you folks, i am particular like the boom holders that were so nice to me the other day, right? and the cameraman. >> thanks, everyone. thank you, everyone. thanks, everyone. >> rick: i think the democrats , the democrats already regret, they have their typical -- for the rich. they been called out on it by

the media. the democrats very much regret it, they wanted to be a part of it, just doesn't work out. i really did believe, and a set of social media today, i really do believe they will have a lot of bipartisan work done. maybe we start with infrastructure. because i really believe infrastructure could be bipartisan. we've spent $7 trillion in the middle east, not to mention all of the lives and heartache, so sad. $7 trillion, it's time for us to rebuild our country. thank you very much. [open mic overlapping talking] >> it is time to go. [interesting question] >> >> president trump: infrastructure is the easiest of all. we essentially repealed

obamacare, the individual mandate is a very big factor in this bill. a lot of people don't talk about it because the tax cut is so important. infrastructure is by far the easiest. we will have tremendous democrats support, as you know. i could have started with infrastructure. i actually wanted to save the easy one for the one down the road. we will be having that done pretty quickly. thank you all very much. i appreciate it. thank you very much. >> lea: president trump in the oval office just moments ago, just a little while ago, signing tax reform into law. he called it "the biggest tax cut in history." said it's even larger than the reagan tax cuts. he talked about the impact of witnesses and middle-class americans, and how they will see the difference in their paycheck starting in february. they also talked the individual mandate and getting rid of the individual mandate. i also want to mention that,

rick, he talked about the continuing resolution and assigned as well to keep the government running. he mentioned this. he did that because of the military has been suffering because of having to use continued resolutions and being funded this way over and over and over again. he mentioned $4 billion and missile defense and $7 billion in military equipment. as far as what's next, infrastructure most likely will be done in a bipartisan way. >> rick: celebrating today the signing of this tax bill, which he said will be fantastic for the economy and already feeling the effects. it will keep jobs in america and bring trillions of dollars in manufacturing and jobs back to america that we have lost overseas. he's clearly very excited about the potential of this tax bill, which he says it is really for the middle class and will save an average family of four to thousand dollars in its year for first year. he seems pretty excited in the se has to

as he goes to board a plane to head to mar-a-lago. >> lea: he will enjoy some time for the holidays. >> rick: of course democrats are blasting this new tax law, calling it the single worst piece of legislation ever. stay tuned.

>> lea: welcome back. president trump at joint base andrews. he is getting ready to depart for mar-a-lago, the winter white house, after just signing tax reform into law, signing the continuing resolutions to keep the government funded until mid-january. >> rick: you're looking at marine one, was the president flew on. he will depart marine one and boarded air force one for that trip down to west palm beach and palm beach and mar-a-lago, or he will spend the weekend with his family celebrating christmas. >> lea: indeed. one of the things he was just talking about when he was in the

oval office signing tax from into law, he was talking about not just the impact for families of tax reform, but also the impact for businesses, how the corporate tax rate is now decreased from 35% down to 21%. what he's talking about it -- there's a president right now as we are speaking. he is waving at people. doesn't look like he will stop and take any more questions after he spoke in the oval office. back to what he said in the oval office. he was talking about how he believes we will see more things, more products made in the united states as a result of tax reform. rick, we were talking about how what's next? what's next is going into the midterm for republicans when everyone returns in january. the president said the next legislative piece will be infrastructure. he thinks that can be done in a bipartisan way. >> rick: he's walking toward the camera position. not sure if he is going to answer questions, as he walks by the media on its way to air force one. the president's said spoke with

bob kraft, and that he is already planning to open up a plant down in north carolina to manufacture paper products. he said that's because of this historic tax bill that he just signed, that it encourages manufacturers in part because it drops the corporate tax rate from 35% down to 21%. he said he believes that will bring jobs back to the u.s. at&t, boeing, st. clair, wells fargo, and even comcast, who owns nbc, he credits them with giving money back to -- or planning to give money back to their employees, thanks in part to this historic tax bill, which he just signed. you see him there taking some photos with some of the members of the military there at joint base andrews. >> lea: we know he was just visiting members of the military yesterday as well at walter reed. that something that the president typically does this time of year. president definitely likes to take his time to say hello to

people. back to what he was talking about earlier when he was in the oval office, one of the things that he said it was that he talked about the individual mandate, and i think that would be so interesting to see what happens as we move in and move forward into the new year, removing the individual mandate. he said that, ultimately, that could lead to the end of obamacare. that's been the intent all along the republicans tried so hard to make that happen this year and weren't able to get it done. it will be interesting to see what happens with insurance companies, and what happens with premiums. one of the concerns getting rid of the individual mandate that it holds everything from obamacare and pull things from underneath and can cause it to collapse. that could start with seeing an increase in premiums. >> rick: i was think about how cool that is for all these folks that are standing on the other side of that fence. the little kids in the people what their phones getting pictures with the president, shaking the president's hand.

it's an early christmas gift for the fans of president trump who gathered there to watch him leave. then he walks over and just says high to them, and he starts posing for pictures and shaking hands. that's pretty cool at the president is doing that right now before he leaves at joint base andrews and climbs onto air force one. >> lea: you make such a good point here because the president's popularity has not been high, and at the moment like these were the president is seen talking to people, greeting people, being out there with people who are his fans is so important. it probably feels pretty good view him also after he signed a major piece of legislation. >> rick: his base is pretty solid in terms of what he's accomplished, especially the tax will be signed today, which again, he believes will boost the economy, will help with the middle class, and will also encourage businesses to keep manufacturing in the u.s. and bring manufacturing back to the u.s. and keep this economy moving

forward, as it has been, since he took office in january of this year. >> lea: the economy has been doing so well. we got that 3.2% growth, which is really strong. we've seen jobless numbers go down. there's a president just getting on board air force one, waving, saying goodbye to everyone as he heads to mar-a-lago appeared he said he will be working very hard over the holidays. i'm sure he will be planning and is thinking about the next moves for the new year and how to support republicans going into 2018 and going into the fight that they will have to stay in office, to maintain the positions in the senate and congress moving into next year's elections. >> rick: one thing we learned today is at the oval office is not fancy. i always thought it was fancy. he said it's not fancy. but it's the oval office, and that's where he signed the bill instead of having a big ceremony in january, he said he wanted

keep a promise and -- i guess it's an early christmas present too for a lot of folks. >> lea: i love you just mentioned that he said it wasn't fancy because i think that depends on where you come from. when you come from trump tower to the white house, i guess it doesn't seem like it's that fancy. certainly a big accomplishment for the president and republicans. >> rick: as we look air force one at joint base andrews, majestic jet, they are pulling away the steps now, and i assume they will be taxing shortly to take off. we want to dive a little deeper into this tax bill that he just signed. i don't know if you've been paying attention to mainstream media coverage of tax reform, but there was a new article on "the wall street journal" that says the press corps is blinded by its own biases. we want to redo a highlight from that article. "you'd be justified in believing that the entire republican party had been hit with a stupid stick. its members united to jack up the taxes of millions of middle

income voters, for the country into recession, and settles today's with a future debt crisis, all in able to fat cat donors." this is a democratic line in the media is embracing it. are they? joining us, kelly james lawrenc lawrence and aaron delmore. thanks to both of you for being with us. "the wall street journal" points out that 80% of americans will pay less in taxes, including 90% of the middle class by an average of $1600. what about that? >> it's fascinating that the fact that 50% of americans are actually against this tax plan. who would be against having money in their pockets? if you look at polling's, 50% of americans think their taxes are going to be going up next year because of this tax plan peered only 5% of americans are going to be seeing a tax rise.

researchers debate how much affect the media has on people's thinking, and this could be a textbook example making the case that the media does have an effect because there is really hard to find another explanation for that. >> rick: the media being described as anti-trump, anti-republican, so antitax bill. >> that's in editorial that you read from "the wall street journal" has a positive point of view, and there's a lot of coverage that says this is a huge achievement for president trump, that there are benefits to lowering the corporate tax rate. there is a real question here over the underlying principle. if the question of how much revenue and growth this will bring into the country. that's a question that deserves to be asked. >> rick: the president says it's going to be trillions of dollars and a lot of that is because of the corporate tax rates that many corporations will not be passing on to workers, including at&t and comcast, who are said to be canning out thousands of dollars

of bonuses to hundreds of thousands of workers, and presume only those workers take that and spend it. >> that's the underlying principle. if that comes to pass, that will make republicans very happy. gary cohn expecting a 4% growth in gdp in two years. steven mnuchin says these tax cuts will pay for themselves, that they will generate enough revenue to offset that $1.5 trillion cost. goldman sachs says they're only expecting 2.5% growth next year and 1.8% growth the after that. they say that .3% will be added onto the tax plan, but that's all short from the administration. >> rick: we are watching air force one taxing now. this is a clear win for republicans, even though it keeps getting painted as a loss. do you think that democrats will regret not signing on or helping to craft this bill? fico it depends what happens with the numbers. i had to say, the democrats so far looks like a win for them, and that the media's painting it

just how the democrats want to. this is a perfect example of why the media shouldn't and can't claim ever to be objective. this is a huge skill, lots of provisions, some of that kind of complicated. there's no way no media outlet can explain the bill. they have to pick and choose. as soon as somebody does that, you are choosing a spin, and that's what we sow with a lot of the headlines that focus on the corporate tax cuts and didn't mention or downplayed the personal ones. i think that's a perfect example of why the media can't claim to be objective because they can't tell you everything at once. they of course decide what they think is important. i do think a lot of it media outlets focused on the things that americans wouldn't like about the tax bill. >> rick: "wall street journal" use one example that was usa today which that it was so desperate to depict the bill as a tax cut that its analysis of five household situations including a childless single renter earning $1 million a year

paying $50,000 in state and local taxes and claiming $40,000 in shareable deductions. that was one of the examples that "usa today" used two-point out that this individual would pay close to $2,000 more in taxes. it doesn't seem like a realist example. >> i don't think anyone in america feel sorry for that person, someone who is making a million a year and paying under $2,000 more every year. that's -- you make a great point. that's exactly it. the media can decide what they are going to show you, and by using that sort of example, they found someone who's going to see their taxes go up. most people are not. again, this shows that any story can be spun just about any way. they are not lying what they are using that example, but they are not being very helpful. >> that the math behind that example. no one is saying that's not a factual representation of how that person taxes will be change. they are saying it wasn't the

best examples. you can find hundreds of other examples of how this will impact middle-class voters. the reason why the focus is on the corporate tax rate because it is deeper and the cuts are longer lasting. >> rick: as we watch air force one now prepared to take off from joint base andrews and head down to florida for the presidents weekend at mar-a-lago, do you think he has a right to celebrate on this flight because of the signing of the bill? >> it's a huge achievement for president trump and republicans in congress. it's what they wanted to get them. it's not been done in 30 years. it's a big achievement for him. if he can get people to see a big difference in their own paychecks, if they feel more economic insecure, if they begin spending more money, all of that will help republicans through the 2018 midterms. if that's not the intended effect, that will come to bear as well. >> rick: that brings me back to my last question for kelly james. how does the president build on this? can he build on this, considering that no democrats

took part? >> that's a great question, and that's why i'm a little surprised to see the president tweeting today saying that he thought there was going to be more coming with the democrats, bipartisan work on infrastructure. i wonder if he's being a little too optimistic. i think that democrats see trump as toxic, and they don't want to be seen as working within us all. you look at the last few special elections, there was a very big anti-trump about out there. i think the democrats have made their political calculations that are not to work with trump, even though they might actually get a few policy wins there, considering the political ramifications more than the policy ramifications of what's going on in congress right now. >> rick: thank you very much for being with us. we watch air force one climb into the skies. lea, i know that you are a jet fighter pilot, and i wonder, could you sit down at the controls of air force one and figure it out? >> lea: absolutely. i'm totally joking.

100% know i could not. i could be trained to fly that. >> rick: 5 minutes? >> lea: let's just say that if i had to landed, i would get a lot of information. i'd get people on the radio with me and try to put it down, but it would take a little more than 5 minutes to fly air force one. the pilots and flight are very, very qualified. i do think about flying and some the times that it felt really amazing that it must be a really wonderful feeling for the presidents as he's departing washington. and he has this legislative accomplishment under his belt. speaking of airplanes, , and n2 air strikes. why australia's ending air strike operations in iraq and syria? that's next. speak of the government has -- said will bring home we will bring home our strike from the middle east. ending this in iraq and syria.

>> rick: australia putting in n2 air strikes in iraq and syria. the country plaintiff sent its fighter jets home soon. they declared victory over the -- they said the country will still help with the region with services like surveillance. >> lea: and a big change coming. eric schmidt stepping down as executive chairman of alphabet. he's been at google since 2001 and he saw a surge from just a company. >> lea, merry christmas. 17 year alphabet that eric schmidt stepping down from his position as executive chairman of the company. he was brought in a few years

after google was started to guide that then company and its twentysomething founders. they are all grown up now, so the company. they amass at least a billion users whether it's maps, gmail, androids, youtube, you name it. eric schmidt will now transition to his new role as technical advisor. that happens next month. he does stay on the company's board of directors. this is the statement he released. >> we all believe that the time is right and alphabets evolution for this transition. the alphabet structure is working well and google and the other are thriving. he is going to focus on his charity work. his departure seems sudden too many. "the new york post" is reporting that he is looking to develop artificial intelligence for defense, and his retreat read

questions about the future for google. he had long defended it against charges that it was too powerful, too invasive, and he certainly helps shareholders reap pretty big rewards. alphabet is now valued at $740 billion. stock price of about 35% this year. >> lea: i was thinking, google is structured well and places. maybe we will hear more on departure and why. >> rick: $740 billion? there are growing demands for answers after report claims the obama administration blocked efforts to stop hezbollah from drug trafficking into the united states. why he would do that? coming up in "outnumbered" ." (h) honey? can we do this tomorrow? (grunts of effort) can we do this tomorrow? if you have heart failure symptoms, your risk of hospitalization could increase, making tomorrow uncertain.

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>> and now for the coolest thing we've seen all day. a sign that winter is here, a huge ice castle in colorado. check that out. this is in the rocky mountains about 70 miles west of denver. apparently it has a slide inside. the ice is up to 25 feet tall and the castle covers nearly three quarters of an acre. not open to the public yet, open apparently to the public next week. we have no idea who built this? >> i was looking online, this is in dillon colorado. i ski and ice snowboard. it's close to vail and some of the really popular places and they basically say make sure you wear boots and if you have -- if you have kids, you should bring sleds instead of strollers which is kind of funny. it looks like a beautiful place, they have fire shows at night.

that's pretty neat. >> be careful with a fire in the ice castle, you don't want that thing to melt. >> "outnumbered" starts right now. >> harris: we begin with a fox news alert, president trump headed for mar-a-lago florida. after signing a historic tax bill into law. the president is set to spend the holidays in florida as he looks ahead to a very busy 2018. not that 2017 wasn't busy. this is "outnumbered," i'm harris faulkner. today from the fox business network, dagen mcdowell. republican strategist and fox news contributor lisa boothe. democratic strategist and fox news contributor, jessica tarlo tarlov. and political editor of townhall.com, guy benson. >> guy: you are like a stadium