erything i buy. and last year, i earned $36,000 in cash back. which i used to offer health insurance to my employees. what's in your wallet? howie: on our buzz meter this sunday, with the government shutdown in the second week -- >> he visited a war zone and it sounds like he was pretty concerned about his safety. >> he was freaked out about his safety. >> he seems to have confused this visit with a campaign rally. >> i give credit to the president for make the trip and taking the first lady which is an historic first. >> you have to give him credit for doing the right thing and

that we didn't have to shame him into doing it. >> the boss cares about the mission. there is no doubt it will be a big boost for these young men and women. howie: a partial shutdown and some are questioning whether he can survive. >> this president appears to be unhinged and there are no adults left. he fired them all. >> the mainstream media wants to attack this president for defending our borders. >> it's a semantic and politics game. isn't this the campaign promise he made. not an ounce of compassion for the people suffering through this holiday grudge match. this country is in strive

because this president has too many temper tantrums. howie: the "new york times" reports that the president may have gotten a bogus medical exemption during vietnam. >> despite all the poppycock, the animosity, the impeachment without a trial, despite everything, despite even my own death, i feel surprisingly good. and my confidence grows each day that soon enough you will know the full truth. howie: i'm howard kurtz, and this is "mediabuzz."

the criticism of the president has bend building and nbc with this story, trump becomes the first president since 2002 not to visit the troops at christmastime. but president trump and melania were already in iraq where the president spoke to the troops. president trump: america shouldn't be doing the fighting for every nation in earth, not being reimbursed' many cases. we are not the suckers of the world. howie: the "new york times," trump iraq visit is called a political rally. gayle trotter and host of the podcast right in d.c., and gillian turner and richard

fowler. we heard yes it's good went to iraq but he should have gone sooner. your thoughts? gayle: you saw the tweet by nbc news saying president trump had not gone to a war zone. that was about the same time air force one was touching down in iraq. as soon as that happened they started nitpicking every part of the visit. what melania trump was wearing at the visit to the soldiers in iraq. they are not going to let that escape. but melania was the first lady to visit iraq. her predecessors never went to a war zone. but the bravery of her going to a war zone, even when she is the

mother of a small child. howie: does this fuel the sense among trump supporters that they can't be fair. gayle: when i saw "the washington post," they said the whole visit was shrouded in secrecy. howie: security reasons for every president. >> reporters when they are suppose to be fair, straight journalists, turn into opinion journalists. when most of of the stories, the first and second paragraph is all about their opinion, it plays to trump's base saying this is fake news and he can't get a fair shake. howie: richard fowler, the

president said i gave the military the first raise in 10 years which is not true. richard: you have got to give this president credit that he has been able to manipulate the media to his credit. next week the ballgame changes. so now not only does he have to deal with the media, he has to deal with nancy pelosi. howie: the media will have to deal with the house democrats now that they have some power. we have some video of the president signing some make america great again hats. that brought criticism about the independence of the military. >> the media coverage of this

visit is political, not the president. president trump's success jar went to kuwait and signed campaign paraphernalia and they didn't criticize that. howie: barack obama. >> exactly. howie: you are getting good video as commander-in-chief. the president tweeted about this. he went after cnn. he said cnn and others within the fake news universe were going crazy over my signing hats. but we brought no hats. is this media nitpicking? >> i think so. soldiers wanted to bring this on their own.

it's putting soldiers in a bad light to do this. but i wish the president wouldn't tweet about it. i think this story shows the bias in it and he didn't need to say anything. i find times when he does speak up, i think it's more negative than letting people see through it themselves. howie: when he sees unfair coverage or sound bites, richard, we saw clips at the top, the president was asked by a reporter about the experience, and you have to take evasive measures. president trump: if you have seen what we had to go through with the darkened plane with all windows closed, with no lights on anywhere, pitch black. did i have a concern? yes, i had a concern. but the bigger concern was the

people with me. howie: he could have given a pc answer, but he told the truth. richard: every president going into a war zone dealt with the same issue. howie: but he was asked the question. richard: i think there is a larger story. right at home our coast guard aren't being paid by the government shutdown. this president has to be careful about going to see the troops. howie: you led nicely to the shutdown. it will continue until january when the democrats take over the house. the president threatened to shut down the southern border. isn't it easier to blame president trump for the shut on your because he uttered the words, i'll proudly should it down for border security.

>> in any shutdown situation you need two parties to tango. so instead of trying to blame either side, both sides are doing this. howie: i have seen conservatives say the president does own the shutdown because he uttered those words. but the democrats aren't moving. aren't the democrats playing to their base which they feel they can show up on this issue to the president which is so important to them? >> i think democrats want to speak to their base. when it comes to the shutdown and the way it's reported. we are talking about the shutdown based on the main campaign promises.

it's about detail issues and budgeting that often gets lost. howie: you are saying this is something the president promised to do. therefore, you are saying -- >> for him to own it is a good thing because this is what he promised. howie: i think there will be a growing public backlash. i think the country's reaction has been muted because most of people are on vacation. but now i think we'll see more stories about the 800,000 federal workers being denied paychecks and they are worried about paying the mortgage. >> contract workers won't get paid at all. there was a wall. but mexico was going to pay for it. now we are having a debate about

how the american taxpayer is going to pay for this wall. that's where the president is in a lot of trouble. >> all of a sudden democrats seem concerned about how much money we spend. >> we are concerned because the president made a promise to the american people that mexico was going to pay for this wall. >> republicans also spend way too much money. one thing republicans and democrats agreed on in the past was on border security. we disagree on what comprehensive immigration reform should look like but we agree on border security. independent see the caravan and they see the coverage, and they have concerns. howie: let me get a break here. ahead, why more liberal pundits

are predicting impeachment. a look at the wild and crazy stock market. ♪ it is such a good time to kiss ♪ ♪ it is such a good time to dance ♪ ♪ it is such a good time to [ laughing ] ♪ scoobidoo doobidoo ♪ scoobidoo doobidoo [ goose honking ] ♪ [ laughing ] a bad day on the road still beats a good one off it. ♪ progressive helps keep you out there.

howie: it's become a dramatic daily report with the media tying it to trump. >> the big lump of coal for investors and the economy. the dow is down another 639 points at this moment. today's tumble comes on the heels in the worst week since the 2009 financial crisis. >> wall street ending the day up 1,000 points. biggest point gain ever. howie: joining us, kristina partsinevelos, a correspondent for knox business network. it's been a crazy ride. down sharply this month. when media folks say it's trump's fun, it's the shutdown,

the uncertainty he creates. is that an oversimplification. chris.kristina: of course. when i am on the air i have 45 seconds or 60 seconds to tell the story. i think i am not doing justice to the viewers. but that's the way the news cycle works. you try to simplify it and say it has to do with the government shutdown, it has to do with pal gore rhythms or the federal interest rate. i can't say it 100% whether it's one or the other. so often media business reporters across the network are doing the same thing. they are trying to simplify it so the viewer can understand there are contributing factors, but we are not sure which is the major one.

many of these pundits were not giving president trump credit when the dow soared from 18,000 to 26,000. presidents get more claim and credit than they deserve for the gyrations in the market. kristina: i would agree the president is the target when you see the markets go up and down. but the president weighs in more than others. bringing up the federal chair and commenting on that. he says the markets are down so let me shift the blame to the federal research. howie: the president made no secret of the fact he's unhappy with the fed raising i interest rates. bloomberg and other outlets reported. take a quick look. >> the fed chairman [inaudible]

>>ed fed chairman job is not in jeopardy by this president. absolutely. howie: is it a good media story for the president to be attacking the fed? kristina: it makes a good news story. but should investors care about this? no. where they reacting to these headlines yes. i was on the stock market exchange floor when this news came out. you saw markets close down 653 points on the dow. i asked the guys only the floor what's happening. they couldn't give me an answer. they saw the positive retail numbers. these guys are getting see much information on the floor, they are flooded.

howie: if the traders aren't sure, how can any of us in the press. kristina: exactly. thank you. howie: kevin spacey sort of breaks his silence about sexual assault allegations. up next, why some liberal media types are hurling new insults at donald trump and invoking the i word.

howie: some of the president's liberal media critics are going there. elizabeth drew writes in the "times" about the inhe built -- of the inevitablity of impeachment. >> we see the president's adult children head to go prison. what if he were to say he would let the children walk if the old man does the same? howie: what do you make of how personality has gotten. gayle: it seems like the impeachment rhetoric is reaching a fever pitch. it says more about their bias. howie: the leadership isn't even

saying we are going to impeachment. gayle: even if you could get the house to impeach. the possibility that 67 senators will vote to remove the president from office is you be believable. howie: the media needs some connective tissue between the stock market plunge, the syrian pullout, the stock markets, the deaths of the migrant child. beverly: i think we'll see a foreshadowing of what we expect the coverage to be the next three years, impeachment. it didn't work out well for republicans to in the house impeached bill clinton. they lost seats in the house in the next election. so he should be careful what you ask for.

howie: i mentioned the death of a second migrant child near the border. the president tweeted about this. any deaths of children or others are strictly the fault of the democrats and their pathetic immigration policies that allow people to make the long trek thinking they can enter our country illegally. richard: i think he's doing it to stir up his base. but i think we need to suspend humanity for a second and realize what's happening on our southern border. most of folks come to this country legally through visa overstays. it's women and children and

families. howie: why are parents bringing their children putting them hard way? richard: because of the violence in honduras and guatemala. beverly: even president trump's tweet, i am not a big fan of it. i think we are responsible for having policies that we don't encourage people coming over here. when you are talking about human lives it's extremely concerning. but i think what the media does let republicans and democrats do, they make it very political. we need policies that don't encourage people to come here. gayle: why aren't they covering organizations like usaid working

in countries subject to gang violence. howie: what do you think when veteran commentators like tall freedman and -- like fall freidman that the president will make a deal so his kids won't have to go to jail. beverly: i think it's their own personal preference that he hopes he does and that's why they are covering it. howie: happy new year. the front page story that accused president trump of a bogus scheme to avoid the vietnam draft. the market meltdown and just about everything else, kennedy is up next.

howie: after a tumultuous couple weeks and a government shutdown, many media are slamming him club those who usually support him. kennedy, headline in "new york"

magazine why fox news made trump shut down the government. so it's all your fault. kennedy: there are massive swaths i would like to see shut down permanently. it's too big and costs too much and we'll pass that bill along to future generations. howie: you are not upset about this partial shutdown? kennedy: i think it's clumsy and it's the way they do business in washington. no one embraces their responsibility and they say whatever it takes to be elected. howie: when the president was going to go along with the original compromise, you said on the air we would all be up in arms if barack obama did that. kennedy: i agree with that.

some of us were, some of us who follow this a little bit more closely as far as government spending, it's the one area -- the real bipartisanship is the addiction to spending in both parties. that's the big fear they will come together and create entitlement program that really bankrupt us. we can't afford our expenditures right now. imagine adding on to that. having a president take money from here and put it over there at his or her whim. it's not acceptable. howie: you say both parties. you thought the republicans sold themselves as smaller government. when you are in the white house it's tempting to pile on the goodies. kennedy: paul ryan did the exact same thing and i think it's laughable when he calls himself

a policy wonk and cost cutter and someone who has an astute eye for the type of limited government he claimed to want to be in charge of when in fact the deficit was larger and we owed a lot more money when he left than when he came into congress. howie: what about this notion trump reversed course and took us to the shutdown because rush and coulter told him what to do. kennedy: wouldn't that be great? i want to be the puppet master. howie: does the president take it as a warning sign when people on the right who ordinarily support him speak out whether it's the pull out from syria or not funding the wall? is it because he respond to the pundits or the pundits may be in

touch with the essence of his base? kennedy: i think it's the latter, you have people who base so much of their opinion and world view, people like ann coulter and rush limbaugh, they learned not to trust mainstream media sources. and i don't think the mainstream media lies, and i don't think journalism is dead. but there are clues as to how they want to shape your thought. i don't think it's dissimilar to the experience university students have. they find people they are in line with like rush and ann coulter because they feel they are getting a version of the truth. howie: the media gets louder

every day about jim mattis stepping aside, the stock market plummeting, it's all trump's fault and it will get worse. kennedy: if the president is going to take credit for a bull market he has to take responsibility for the bear market. but the sky is falling, the world is ending hair on fire hysteria doesn't always serve us well. when he came into power, there were people who said the economy was going to tank and we were going to be in nuclear war with korea. if you look at metrics outside the stock market we are in a period of economic growth. i think it's what the president has to focus on. it's difficult for him not to be reactionary. howie: tom freidman said he did

not favor removing trump until last week. he said you have to ask whether we can survive two more years of this president. so the press is going on for-on impeachment, indictment,. kennedy: they have been waiting for the dog whistle. they are usually in lock step with their talking points whether it's chuck schumer or pelosi or members of the media with a more liberal point of view. they have been waiting for the signal to go full impeachment. i don't think we should be there. i don't think we should live in a country where if you don't like the person who is holding office that we should throw them out because that will happen in reverse when there is a democrat people don't like. howie: you are right. if we do this every four years

or 8 years. kennedy: if you nominate someone like mark cuban or oprah god forbid. there may be skeletons in her closet. howie: maybe we'll nominate somebody who we think is the most of entertaining for our business. kennedy: it's been great. people ask me way it's like to work at fox. it's so much fun. we are having conversations we never had, and part of that is in reaction to the president. i think that's one of the benefits of this presidency. we are taking a closer look at politics and the economy. we have to encourage the president to go down that fruitful path and not the chaotic one. howie: you are hosting new year's eve.

it will be crazy. coming up, we'll get an opposing view, fair and balanced. the bizarre kevin spacey video. you're gonna love if ythe best of geico.ercials, it's geico's all-time greatest hits back on tv for a limited time. and if you love the best of geico, you're gonna really love voting online for your favorite. you can even enter for a chance to appear in an upcoming geico commercial. this fire's toasty, linda but the best of geico collection sounds even hotter. to vote for your favorite geico ad and enter to win, visit geico.com/bestof. that's geico.com/bestof.

howie: philippe reines is

joining us with another view on the president. the hid "new york times" and otr media are saying he's unhinged. philippe: i can understand why the other half think when they listen to this half that trump can do no harm. to the extent both halves are wrong, it's somewhere in the middle. the media's responsibility is to tell us what's going on. i can't go to every baseball game, you til me the score. but if the relief pitcher blew it, i want you to tell me that. if the relief pitcher threw 2

innings of balls, i want you to tell me that. donald trump need to take more responsibility on all of this than anyone is giving him on the right. howie: if the media blames him for all of this. jim mattis leaving, the pullout from syria. it sounds like the president is piling on 24/7. if egg is an 11, nothing -- if everything is an 11, nothing is an 11. >> i don't think that's true. i make the argument that he didn't do enough for it. he spent that day tweeting about i don't even remember what other things. we talked about this last time. donald trump should have had an event where he was surrounded by

people, including van jones who were absolutely fawning over what he got right. but that's not his nature. his nature is to throw spaghetti on the wall and we are being asked, why are you talking about the spaghetti. howie: fox news reporters. where is the break from the party line on the democratic liberal media size. where is the criticism, maybe nancy pelosi went too far. it seems like there is a lot of lock-step saluting on the liberal side. philippe: to answer that in the way you are asking -- howie: self-described liberal

commentators. philippe: a commentator can say whatever he wants. howie: if you are 100% supporting the democrats, and then others support trump. where is the break from the ideological path on the other side? philippe: it starts from a point you have to believe donald trump does so much good in life in his job, why isn't it not being covered accurately. howie: you are ducking the question. where is the criticism of the democrats occasionally. philippe: i think there is a lot of criticism about whether someone is too liberal. there was a tremendous amount of coverage whether or not nancy pelosi should be speaker again. i would call that totally

contrived. no one even challenged her. howie: on iraq you said he deserved zero credit for going to iraq. a transparent stunt. are all these photo-ops designed to make the president look good? >> they are. but almost every president while we are at war going back to george bush and 9/11 have gone early in their administration, whether to war zones. i believe that he was shamed into it. i think he's sick and tired about reading about why haven't you gone. by all accounts he was upset about the reporting he got when he did not go to the cemetery of world war i. when you go, you are supposed to make it about thanking someone's service. howie: the president did some of

that. let's talk about the democrats in our remaining moments. you caused a stir by telling "politico," saying hillary clinton, it's very unlikely she'll run in 2020, but the chance not zero. why did you crack open that door? philippe: because i was asked. and that was the answer. it's crazy that no one just assumed she was thinking about something. howie: after 2016 it would seem like a long-shot she would run. philippe: why? there is a personal bother to it. what is the basis for people being surprised? that she has run before? so has bernie sanders and joe biden. is she old? she is younger than joe biden and donald trump.

i would definitely try to make the point that the coverage of her is not fair. howie: i'll bet you have a lot more to say on that. philippe: i do. howie: kevin spacey seems to dispute the sexual allegations against him.

howie: actor kevin spacey has remained silent as more than a dozen men accused him of assault. in a stunning move, the man who played in house of cards rrp released this video completely in character. >> some believed everything and have been waiting with bated breath. but you wouldn't believe the worst without evidence, would you? you wouldn't rush to judgment without facts, would you?

did you? howie: joining us from new york, kat timpf. how can he say nothing, then come out playing frank underwood. kat: i watched this several times trying to waynes was going for. it looked like a weird audition tape for a struggling actor. i don't know what he expected. i don't know if people would say wow, i remember him as frank underwood, we should welcome him back. it looks like he put on that santa apron for nothing. howie: it worked in the sense it has gotten 4.5 million views in a few days. if they liked him as an actor and using that skill in a coded

way with with hold judgment. kat: i suppose that must be what he was going for. people went from thinking he's a molester to he's a molester who lost his marbles. they don't just think he's a predator, they think he's crazy. it shows how much things have changed. in the past if you were a powerful man you used to be able to get away with accusations of predatory behavior. now because of the #metoo movement you can't get away whitneymore. howie: actress ellen barkham said kevin spacey is sending a message saying if you loved me

on'' house of cards, why don't you love me. >> i don't have a problem with' fiction. but this is desperate. he tried to he void his january 7 aarraignment in nantucket. the prosecutors rejected that. he's having to play by a new set of rules. a video youtube clip where you do the across send of frank underwood isn't enough to get your life back. howie: prosecutors say there is video evidence of him putting his hand down the pants of an $18-year-old man. is he trying to avoid the

process of redemption. kat: when so many people accuse you, sorry, bro, you did it. you can't use and abuse your power to take advantage of people anymore. he's trying to by pass the apology and go on with life. howie: we got the final word from kat timpf. sorry, bro. howie: why the "new york times" blew it on a piece on donald trump's medical exam shun in vietnam.

howie: a front page "new york times" story charging that a queens podiatrist gave donald trump an exemption from the vietnam war because of bone spurs. no paper evidence has been found to corroborate the events. one daughter said the implication from her father was that trump didn't have bone

spurs. but i don't know. both daughters say they are democrats who don't like the president. trump like thousands of other affluent kids in that era may have used the doctor to get an exemption. but there is no evidence to prove that. the "new yorker" has devoted many thousands of words that the show's editing and its producer mark burnett enabled the president to run. the language portrays his animosity towards trump quote, his chief legacy is to have cast a serially bankrupt carnival barker in the role of the man

who might plausibly become the leader of the free world. at the times square ball drop, the committee to protect journalists will honor press freedom in this year of. that's it for this edition of "mediabuzz." happy new year. this is the last show of 2018. check out my new podcast. you be vub describe at apple itunes. and tune in at foxnewspodcasts.com *. a lot to talk about on this year

end show. we'll see you in the first show of 2019 next sunday with the latest buzz. eric: an escalating blame game as the partial government shutdown enters its second week. the it presents a day one challenge for the democrats who take control of the house this coming week. welcome to "america's news headquarters." i'm eric shawn. >> democratic leadership blaming president trump. texas congressman louie gohmert echoing that criticism. >> this