neil: neither party is address ing the deficits that's a whole separate show but let me get your thoughts on this guys and this is the president commenting finally on the market downdraft we had when everything was going up up up started going down. he almost made light of it yesterday speaking to conservatives gathering in maryland. look at this. president trump: the stock market i just see with all of the ups and downs, since election day, is up 37% from election. 37%. >> [applause] president trump: now it did a little bit of a correction. in fact, i started to say you know i was in it for like 13-14 months from election. i say is this sucker ever going down a little bit? this is a little embarrassing it was up a hundred up 200 up 1000 up 150, up 90, up 63. i said goodness, that's better. >> [laughter] president trump: we've got seven years to go folks, you know?

>> [applause] president trump: we've got a long time to go. neil: john layfield you follow the president's views on this i don't think he was welcoming that. i'm glad he acknowledged it but the fact he wasn't relieved to see this correction i'm sure is much happier with some of the come back but is it a reminder he should go slow on this sort of thing constantly referring to the markets up or down? >> yes, i think so in his first term in his defense there wasn't a lot of data points he could hang his hat on when he first came into office the market jumps 8% and it had been flat for two years so that was definitely a trump bounce so i think it's normal for him to try to hang his hat on that and going forward he wants to distance himself from this. unemployment can be at 3.8% by the end of the year lowest in 50 years and if gdp is at 3% that's the highest in 10 years. neil: fair enough, to julie on the levels that matter to you, not so much markets, but unemployment at an 18-year low for women, an all-time low for african americans is that what

he should hang his hat on? >> i think so, i think it's a longer term effects of the economy but i would point out a lot of these things are on the decline for years unemployment rate, the black unemployment rate has been going down significantly for seven years. neil: is it barack obama or donald trump or both? >> i think it's a continuation of what was happening under barack obama. neil: you're not going to give the president any credit? >> i will give him credit i think a lot of the stock market we can at attribute to his success. i won't give him credit for a lot of things. i don't like the guy very much. neil: i would have never known. never have known. guys thank you all very very much. the survivor had a lot to say about people coming together. are they? after this. it's ok that everyone ignores me while i drive. it's fine. because i get a safe driving bonus check every six months i'm accident free. and i don't share it with mom! right, mom? righttt. safe driving bonus checks. only from allstate. switching to allstate is worth it.

but there's no way to avoid that mi...s pmi, hey! this'll help. rocket mortgage by quicken loans makes the complex simple. there's also origination fees and... this takes care of it, thank you. yeah. understand the details and get approved in as few as 8 minutes. the neil: the age for certain weapons that's also been offered , i know florida governor rick scott is pushing for that what do you think of that? >> you know, i think that when we start looking at trying to

just do something because everybody says you've got to do something, we want to do something that actually gets to the heart of making sure that our sons and daughters are protected and i can tell you i don't think that raising the age is going to be really met with a whole lot of receptivity on capitol hill. >> in this case the age was 21 in florida. do you think that would have stopped this guy from getting a gun and doing what he did? do you think he was really concerned about the law, if he was concerned about the law, he would have said well i can't carry a gun into a gun-free zone like a school if he cared about the law he wouldn't have gone killing people. neil: all right so this might be a tougher sell than, you know, some republicans even some politicians in general had hoped , but in the event of pushing for a higher age to get in on the weapons that nikolas cruz had that's something that florida governor rick scott is trying to stop age 21 before you can even consider buying such

weapons, he's run into some resistance again from members of his own party i want the read from house republican conference congresswoman kathy mcmorris rogers. congresswoman very good to have you i know you'll be speaking a little bit later on and one of the things that's come up in this discussion is what to do next regarding guns. i just had ralph peters, you know, a war veteran big gun advocate big second amendment rights advocate saying you don't need these kind of guns these ar -15s. what do you think? >> well, i think that we have a terrible situation in florida. there's a lot of emotionally- charged rhetoric. the shooter in the florida case should have never had this gun and that's where we need to take a step back and for people who are law-abiding citizens, we shouldn't be focused on taking away guns from law-abiding citizens. we do need to make sure that our schools are safe and we also need to make sure that people that shouldn't have guns like in

the case of the florida shooter the fbi dropped the ball, that we ensure that the databases are in place, the house has taken action we pass legislation, congress must act to make sure that the background checks are done in a way to protect our society from people that should not have guns. neil: so when the florida governor rick scott and we're told he has the support of the president on this, wants to raise age at which you can get your hands-on these type of weapons to 21, you're against that. >> when i hear that question, i think about our military. we have our young people going into the military 18 years old, men and women, and they are teaching that that's the age in which they join the military. i'm not inclined right now to raise the age. i think we need to focus on making sure that we protect law abiding citizens right to bear arms, while also taking action to ensure that those that should not have access to guns do not

and unfortunately, these situations are used at times to promote taking away law abiding citizen's rights whether it's the florida case, the texas case you go down the list these are people that should not have had access, the system failed and that's where we've got to make sure that the database, the background checks those that have mental health issues, those that are domestic violence cases , that they, that we are making sure that they do not get guns and that's where we need to focus. neil: you know, congresswoman we're learning now when you talked earlier at the outset about making our schools safer that this school of course as you know had an armed guard there and that guard was outside during much of the shooting and didn't go in when he heard the shooting going on and now we're getting indications from the broward county sheriff's force that at least a couple of officers also refused to go in or didn't go in and that surprised a lot of people, so

what do you do about that? because that was a development you saw coming. >> well no, and it's going to be very important that we look closer at what actually happened there. i was in politico can this week, eastern washington this week this is a top of mind conversation right now i've been talking with law enforcement, principals, students and also we have some people that have talked to me about doing better mapping making sure that local law enforcement is apart of the recommendations and the security that we need in our schools. that's i think we just need to make sure that our schools are safe and secure and we need to have those conversations right now of whether it's better mapping whether it's better coordination with law enforcement, but clearly, we want our schools to be a place that's safe and secure and there may be more that the federal government should be doing to help provide the resources so that our schools are safe and

secure. neil: do you think that we should, the president advocated this yesterday, arm our teachers they love the kids some would put their lives on the line and in the past have proven that for their kids and start a program where we arm those teachers who want to be armed. >> i recognize that the president put that on the table. i'll take a look at that issue. i think that it's going to require a larger conversation around what do we do to ensure that our schools are safe, how do we be smart about this mapping systems, other recommendations that we can make so that when there's an active shooter or if there's another emergency situation in our schools that the schools know how to take action to protect our kids. you know i'm a mom. i have three kids. i think about it when i'm sending the kids off to school and our schools need that support and there needs to be a smarter coordination between

leland others to make sure that our schools are safe and secure. neil: i know you have to speak soon, one more question congresswoman. it concerns all these companies that are ending their ties to the nra, including best western, hertz and metlife and first national bank and the nra credit card they seem to be avoiding the nra like the plague. what do you think of that? >> well for me the nra represents protecting the rights of law-abiding citizens, and in these situations in many of these shooting situations, these are individuals that for a variety of reasons whether it was mental health or domestic violence or a break down in databases and background checks they should not have access to guns, and we've got to move away from the emotionally charged rhetoric and really look at the facts on the ground and the facts on the ground are that these are individuals that should not have had guns, the nra is protecting the rights of

law abiding citizens. congress needs to take action to ensure that background checks are enforced, that there's better coordination between the house and the senate or the states and the federal government. the house did pass this bill, neil just in december and the senate needs to act. neil: all right, great job keeping up with the crowds and all that noise. kathy mcmorris rogers we'll be speaking very shortly for the same group, thank you. >> good to be with you. neil: all right, not that you're counting but jeff bezos made a billion dollars more as a result of the stock hitting $1500 for the first time ever, so he is already by far the world's richest person. i mean by far, about $125 billion, and we're looking at giving his company a tax break? wow. isn't that a little rich? after this. oh, that's lovely... so graceful. the corkscrew spin,

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dear freshpet, zooka had digestive problems and wouldn't eat. then i fed him freshpet. neil: all right jeff bezos is by far the world's richest man his

company amazon is among the highest market valued company on the planet, so does he or the company that he runs really need a tax break? well a lot of companies and a lot of people who bid to do business and house some of his businesses are buying and doing and offering all sorts of things is that really necessary? lauren simonetti on all of that. lauren: they're dangling a lot of carrots neil so coke-brother ed backed group called generation opportunity are basically a conservative millennial focused advocacy organization against tax cuts for big companies like amazon and they're showing and we'll show to you this ad. in 19 u.s. cities in the running to score amazon's second headquarters, saying and you can see as quotes in this ad. local officials are bending over backwards to offer corporate welfare and questioning how a company that raked in $175 billion last year gets taxpayer cash. well, these right here are the

city's just desperate for amazon s business you have los angeles and denver out west and look at all of the city on the east coast three near our nations capitol are in the running so all of them desperate for $5 billion from amazon that they will invest into their cities and the 50,000 high paying jobs that come with it. newark, for example, over new jersey, they're offering a $7 billion incentive package. that's more, $2 billion more than amazon promised them. montgomery county, maryland, they're dangling a $5 billion bag of goodies and boston, massachusetts i love this one promising to build this $100 million gondola transit system so this is a courtship quite frankly that we don't see very often and some like the group backed by the coke brother s behind the ad are calling it corporate welfare for a company that just doesn't need it. how big is amazon? take a look at the stock price

on friday. here you go. they closed for the first time ever at $1500. their market value is now 726 billion and if i put that in perspective for you there's only two u.s. companies bigger, apple and google's alphabet. this guy, ceo, jeff bezos is worth some $125 million and he's the richest man on the planet and only getting richer, neil. neil: i wonder if he uses coupon s. probably not. lauren: he should do the bill gates price is right game. how much, well he might know because of whole foods. neil: lauren thank you very very much meanwhile the joke is on him or at least on his terms. president trump showing a rare moment of humor that blew everyone away. >> [applause]

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president trump: what a nice picture that is look at that i'd love to watch that guy speak. >> [applause] president trump: oh, boy,. oh,, i try like hell to hide that bald spot, folks i work hard at it. >> [applause] president trump: doesn't look bad, hey we're hanging in. we're hanging in. neil: you know, i know a lot of people pounced on other remarks he made on a host of other issues and speaking for better than an hour and 15 minutes before conservatives gathering in maryland for cpac but that was a signature moment at least for me not only was it funny,

but it reminded people that the president has the ability to laugh at himself and that can come in handy for a lot of presidents in the past who have utilized that unique skill to improve their public image. the former presidential candidate and noted historian conservative icon pat buchanan on all of the above. pat what did you think of that? >> i thought it was open lent. i think when the president uses that humor, it's very very effective whenever he can get folks to laugh with you, i think that it's a winner. jack kennedy had that ability and ronald reagan did, neil i remember you had staff meetings with him every monday at noon and he would always come in with his latest joke. neil: and they're aware what the media is saying you mentioned ronald reagan we've got a few clips here i found historical where he played right into that and with a wink and a nod kind of thing too. let's take a look at this. >> i believe moses was 80 when god first commissioned him for

public service. >> [laughter] >> and i also remember something that thomas jefferson once said. he said that we should never judge a president by his age, only by his works, and ever since he told me that -- >> [laughter] >> jim wright and i agree there are three things we must do to balance the trade deficit. i can't remember what they are. >> [laughter] >> i've already lived about 20 years longer than my life expectancy at the time i was born, that's a source of annoy answer to a great many people. >> [laughter] neil: when you were working with various presidents, i mean, did you ever advice, you know, rather than confront you should embrace and throw it back at them in a funny way? >> well sure, i mean, you would tell, i mean this is with nixon quite frankly he had a very

rough image and we told him he had to lighten up and things in 1968, which he did, whereas he was much grimmer and tougher in 1960 but see what trump did and see what president reagan did. they go to the charge that's made against him that he's too old, he doesn't know what he's talking about and they make fun of that. i remember jack kennedy everyone said the guy stole west virginia neil: oops, um, we lost him there we had some other good examples unless we can get him back i did want to show you one from president bush, the last president bush who was often sort of things for not being too sharp, and pat i know you're back with us but i do want to show you this from george bush handling media critics who said, you know, he wasn't too bright. >> people think of church and of course they marvel at what he managed to do with the english language and when people think of me --

>> [laughter] >> -- never mind, congressman. neil: again and again it comes in handy doesn't it pat? >> well yeah, exactly, and there's george bush going to what is supposedly his deficiency that he's not terribly articulate and he mangles words and goes up there and admits it and laughs about it and then people laugh with you. i think one of the problems that presidents have of course and trump especially look he feels he is a proud man, he's got all these accomplishments, he's not given credit for it a lot of people want to rip him up it's hard for a president i think to get up and joke with folks, but no doubt, neil every time you do something like that, almost every time, it works. people are sympathetic and empathetic. neil: i think you're right. we'll look at democrats who had a skill with this as well including the last white house barack obama who was channeling

a number of critics at the time when he said this back in 2010. >> its been quite a year since i've spoken here last. lots of ups. lots of downs, except for my approval ratings which have just gone down. >> [laughter] >> but that's politicals pal tic politics and i know my approval ratings are still very high in the country of my birth. >> [laughter] neil: i've got a kick out of that but also got a kick and we just had this the full screen to show you here, pat from john kennedy, at a grid iron dinner he said dear jack don't buy a single vote more than is sariff i have to pay for a landslide there by neutralizing the whole rich kid argument right? >> exactly go right to the place where they're attacking you and make fun of it and i will say

this about barack obama i used to cover them at msnbc the white house correspondents dinner he had the best sense of humor of any president. he had great writers, he had each lent timing. neil: timing was very good. >> and of course the exchange he had with our president, the exchange he had with donald trump was memorable. i mean they are still playing it today. neil: you mentioned that too and i'm thinking this had to be a deliberate strategy on the part of the president to do this on his hair which of course is garnered, you know the attention of critics and comics alike, maybe both, where he just threw it right back at them. you think he is maybe indicating with that that he would go to the white house correspondent's dinner himself, he opted out last year. >> this was an excellent sign because what we've been talking about neil. clearly the president feels good he's been doing well so he got up in his speech and he just ripped on everything and made

fun of himself and the hair and the baldness and everything and that's very that is very healthy quite frankly for a president to feel that way. the way he has been. neil: a lot of people even the present's critics says he has a good week as far as communicating, getting the message out with this recession he had with gun victims and families at the white house and he was paying attention to each and every one. the same week bob mueller's investigation employed in other white house confidants, don't know where that is going to go. do you think the president might have learned something in this case or certainly his critics routinely underestimate him or