we have to leave at noon on january 20th. so your next chapter is going to be great. he was right. he was usually right -- always right i should say. in this case you have such an interesting situation, kayleigh, because joe biden said you will see him and he will be around a lot. you have dr. jill biden. kamala harris is a young woman and we don't know what she will do. apparently might split their time between new york and d.c. all sorts of things happening on that side of the aisle in addition to the anticipated policy changes we are about to see today. >> i'm staring at the white house right now. oh to be a fly on the wall there right now. i think about being in there and political opponent at the time was joe biden and the converse happened the next time around. when you think about these two men they had a pretty friendly meeting when joe biden welcomed

trump to the white house. his first words were welcome back. trump said back to him politics is tough in many cases, not a nice world but today it's a nice world. you think about the pleasantries and seemed to be genuine smiles on their faces but it went back to political act row moneyy with the pardons today and justification for the present emotion tifshs pardons were trump's criticism of these individuals. beautiful and weird dichotomy in our country. you can be political opponents and have tea in the west wing and transition power. >> bill: it will be interesting to know what the conversation is on the way up here. i know you are joining the conversation again, karl. the flag above the white house is flying half staff in honor of the late jimmy carter the 39th president. the house speaker and john thune have ordered these flags to go all the way up but that won't happen, i assume, until the official swearing in. do you know the technicality of

that, karl? >> well, it's supposed to be that all the flags are at half staff for 30 days but we haven't had a death of a president so close to an important event as this. so some states and some individuals and in this case whoever is in charge of the usher at the white house has decided to raise the flag up or keep it at half staff and other places it has been raised to full staff. so i guess there is no rules and regulations in law and practice. it is catch as catch can. >> dana: bill, the pomp and circumstance that america puts on as a show is unlike anything in the world. i think it is so special and you think about, bill, you could talk to this a little bit. the capitol staff had to turn this around within 36 hours to make sure that this ceremony could happen inside. >> bill: yeah. you are precisely right about

that. i think we give the brits a good run for their money, dana. maybe in a lot of ways -- i'm sure your husband is rolling over right now and saying hemmer, you just be quiet now. >> dana: he would agree with you actually. >> bill: there are a few things i want to make mention of here while we have a moment here. my first inauguration was coming out of 37 days in a battle between bush and gore in tallahassee, florida. the nation was 50/50. everybody was divided and man did it rain. the heavens opened up. we had six inches of water rolling down the streets of washington, d.c. for george bush's first inauguration. it was told, too. a lot of folks didn't want to be outside that day. four years later is when he delivered his freedom speech when, you know, he came out and said everyone on this planet, every government should give their people the opportunity to

live under a democratic system. it was quite a remarkable time. four years after that barack obama has a million people on the mall. it was a very cold day, very similar to this day today and we were in line for security well before dawn and we stood out there on the mall with thousands and thousands of people and the gentleman to my left was wearing the thinnest lsu purple jacket you could imagine. he was a bit older than i was but bigger than i was and he did not move the entire time. he was so proud of that moment and the tears running down his face and i just looked at this gentleman and thought man, you earned it. and then we move to 2017 and when trump came into office and then a bit later i'll get into the covid inauguration of four years ago which was a sight to see.

as you remember with bernie sanders and his mittens as we look at two former house speakers and more, dana. >> dana: three, actually. you have newt gingrich behind john boehner. john boehner looks like he is enjoying time on the golf course. kevin mccarthy there who was i think the shortest-serving speaker so far, is that right? >> no, there are several who are -- >> dana: it didn't last long. >> temporary. >> one-day speakers. one of the problems with moving this inside is the 21 gun salute. my favorite part of it are the cannons. if we don't get the cannons today i will be disappointed. >> dana: i think we'll get the cannons. >> i meant to look it up. the only things you look up

right now comes up eileen cannon. but usually they are stationed up there on the hill looking downward towards the mall and it is spectacular. >> dana: we're looking at a beautiful picture of the white house and the inside of the rotunda. hogan gidley is somebody we all know sent a note to me the cables were frozen on capitol hill this morning for the flag. but now that has been fixed so everything is in place, bill. we have somebody very special to talk to next. >> bill: we want to move away from the capitol and bring in bill melugin who is at the capital arena where events will get underway later today. you have news. good morning to you. >> good morning to you as well. the crowd starting to fill in at capital one arena. we expect upwards of 20,000 people to be on hand here later today when president trump

arrives. i'm told by a trump administration official that when trump gets here, he will be signing a handful of executive orders at this arena in front of this crowd. take a look. right over my shoulder here they have a little desk set up for him on stage here to sign those orders. you can imagine how crazy this crowd is going to go when he makes some of those announcement. what will he talk about? i'm told by trump administration officials ten of his executive orders will be border related. one of which significant he will announce a federal deployment of u.s. troops to the southern border under u.s. northern command. as for what we're expecting today president trump won't get here until later this afternoon. there is a massive line of people waiting to get in here. it snakes as far as the eye can see down multiple city blocks. we don't know how they are deciding who to let in. a first come first serve basis but remember the inauguration supposed to be outdoors. they were expecting a couple

hundred thousand people and moved it indoors due to the cold weather. the parade will be in here at capital one arena where there is only 20,000 seats to fill. 20,000 capacity here. so it seems like there will be a lot of disappointed people who unfortunately won't be able to get in here. this feels like it will be a trump rally on steroids, guys. they have a jumbotron behind us, every time they show trump on the screen that crowd filling in here goes absolutely crazy. they went haywire when you showed the shot of trump and biden next to each other. but we'll be waiting here. trump won't be here until this afternoon but expect it will be electric, a big vibe in her with his supporters when he reverses biden policies and securing the southern border. one of his biggest campaign promises. >> bill: my schedule says 3:30 parade begins. is that what you know? >> we're hearing around that, yeah, 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. range.

that's assuming everything is running on time. starting to fill in here and packed by this afternoon. >> bill: back to you shortly. bill melugin across town here. dana. >> dana: bill hemmer, i think bill melugin might have had a best assignment today. that desk that they just showed where president trump will be signing documents, kayleigh, talk to us a little bit about how donald trump views -- how he thinks about how americans and the world are going to see what he is doing. he has a producer's mind. he does. >> he has a producer's mind and knows how to do things to capture the attention of the media and captivate the media. some would say the showmanship of it all. he creates moments and we saw that on the campaign trail with the garbage truck. we saw that with the madison square garden rally and now we'll see it today. i think he wants to send a message today. i am doing my second term big

and bold. if you think about president biden who held the record for executive orders and executive actions, he signed 15 orders through executive actions. today we'll get 200. >> dana: speaking of those executive orders you see kristi noem, the governor of south dakota but president trump's nominee to head up the department of homeland security. pam bondi, the attorney general if confirmed. is that marco rubio, senator marco rubio, he will lead everybody into the capitol. rfk junior. this is the team and cabinet he has assembled. pete hegseth, someone who has the votes to be the secretary of defense. they're on one bus. they might have to split up the buses. in the afternoon they won't be

on the same bus, right? >> very reluctantly. >> somebody will have to be behind indeed. >> dana: today john thune told us he does believe that marco rubio and john ratcliffe and maybe kristi noem get confirmed today. some of those executive orders will deal with immigration and she will have the job of implementing those policies. >> they intend for some of these to be omnibus executive order with many actions within it. he is sending a message on day one that the border matters to me and when you look i was reading the economist yesterday. some of the numbers are stunning. you have flights, for instance, when you send migrants out that cost $17,000 an hour. these are the challenges he faces. this may be the biggest challenge of his presidency is the deportation operation. it is costly, it comes right with potential images that will be problematic but sending a

message on day one. the country has changed. 56% want to see mass deportations. executive orders are in line with where the country stands at the moment. >> dana: bill. >> bill: dana, if you look at where those buses pulled up to give you a sense of where we are on the capitol, we're right underneath those buses. what they did is they built the visitor center essentially below ground and it is a beautiful spot. took them a long time to get it done and behind me, if you can see, there is what's called the statue of freedom. so it's a model of exactly the statue of freedom that sits on top of the capitol building. stands about 19, 20 feet tall and it's pretty striking. they say it was in storage for several years trying to figure out what to do with it, how to use it. there she is right behind me here and the room is starting to

fill up. several hundred people here. again we could top out at maybe 2600 to 3,000 people total inside. about 3,000 very lucky people here in washington, d.c. i asked earlier about trump's message today. one thing that he said earlier was put out by the white house his administration, i should say, this is a thrilling new era of national success. so he will try and build on that today. i do believe that the monitor is correct. there is marco rubio followed by scott bessent who will in all likely be the new treasury secretary, pam bondi, hegseth, doug burgum and on down the line. >> dana: usda, my favorite. rfk jr. and sean duffy for transportation. linda mcmahon who will be at the department of education, kristi noem, department of homeland security. they are walking fast. you are testing me.

united nations and she will have her hearing, i believe, next week. the other thing is right before these characters started walking in we have elon musk, of course, a strong character right there at the rally last night and delighted the crowd with his son, x, who is becoming one of america's favorite kids. you had the president of argentina making a lot of changes there as well. geo politics of what the president-elect is going to inherit, karl, are quite strong. general jack keane walked us through one thing that is different from where president trump left office four years ago is how many changes especially the actions and cooperation between china, russia, north korea and iran. >> it is deeply troubling. i think this is the first inaugural where there will be official guests that the president of argentina, prime minister of italy. i'm not aware that was a

practice before. we have ambassador but not aware where we have had leaders of foreign countries attend. yes, he inherits both a growing number of allies around the world who support his approach and more importantly he faces a very troubling threat. eight years ago when he took office we didn't have the level of cooperation between russia, iran, china, and north korea that we see today. think about it. north korean troops are fighting in russia. iran is supplying tens the of thousands of drones to russia in its fight on ukraine and they're sharing technology and information that is going to be detrimental to our security and the security of the world. >> dana: you saw senator mitch mcconnell and his wife, elaine chao. she served in the first trump administration. bill hemmer. >> bill: i was listening to jessica's comments a moment ago

and karl as well. i wonder how you all reflect on this outgoing administration. to my mind, i can't think of a single person who is fired over the last four years and joe biden's management style was very interesting. and maybe, karl and jessica can have a crack at that. >> that's definitely true. there was a lot of turn in the first trump administration. it seems with this cabinet who is walking in, a testament to how they have all been out front and talking to the public all the time that people know their names, they know what's going on, they know a bit about their backgrounds, what they hope to do as part of the second trump administration. for a lot of people i don't think they felt the same way of the people in the biden orbit. the last few days i don't think anyone would disagree, even the most partisan democrat. i have been accused of being one. it hasn't been a great few days

for the biden administration. people are finally speaking out saying we didn't think that he was all there in x meeting or going to think he would be the nominee and something that is quite personally hard for him and he see that with the relationship with nancy pelosi, which is seemingly no more. and for people who worked for him as well. so not a great way to be leaving. i'm sure it is a particularly bitter pill to swallow to welcoming back trump tow white house. >> dana: we had tim cook, mark zuckerberg. i believe it was his wife walking in. we have jeff bezos and his soon to be wife. so that's also been a part of the story. let me go to charlie and we watch the silicon valley tech titans. you didn't have that on your bingo card. >> no, definitely not over the past four years.

it is kind of extraordinary to see but, you know, it is amazing in the very public broadway that trump has sort of amassed power. going back to the executive orders one thing that i think is interesting about all of them is they all -- all of them touch on directly on issues that were argued about during the campaign, immigration being the main one, the best known one. and so, you know, his actions -- there is more that needs to be done with this than just the executive orders, but they are fulfilling promises that were clearly stated by the american people in the election. and what i think is really interesting in particular on immigration is just in the weeks and two months since the election, the degree to which

democrats have kind of come around on the issue where you have these confirmation hearings. >> dana: we have bill clinton and hillary clinton going into the capitol there. >> i believe boris johnson. >> dana: i was just thinking we have our greatest ally, our cousins who tried to burn the place down a couple hundred years ago. welcome back. still standing. >> do we need to give him the bill for the restoration of the lighthouse? >> bill: we're about to get moving at the white house. we should be maybe 90 seconds, two minutes away from president biden and the president-elect emerging from that door and then they will get on board the big souped up cadillac and make their way up to capitol hill. in the past, we have been given information as to what the two presidents, former president barack obama who fits right into

this story because in the past we've been given some clues as to their conversation and i mentioned this a few hours ago just bring it up again, with barack obama, he told donald trump on january 20th, 2017, is that his biggest problem would be north korea and trump and mike pompeo went after that issue. they tried very hard with summits in singapore and summits in vietnam. in the end they were unsuccessful to kim. vivek ramaswamy is part of doge to get rid of the waste. rumors yesterday he might stay in ohio and run for governor. anybody's guess on his future. >> dana: as you said maybe we're about 30 seconds away from the motorcade leaving the white house to make its way to the capitol. we won't miss a moment of it.

we have our eyes on all the prizes. we see congress members, jim comer, vivek ramaswamy as you mentioned. >> budget committee chairman. >> dana: jody arrington, that's exactly right. >> steny hoyer. >> dana: he said he would run again, karl. when i was a young pup on capitol hill in 1995 he was there. all these members of congress got a seat. not a plus one. a lot of jockeying to get seats for this amazing moment. >> jim clyburn proceeded by brian mast of florida. ken calvert. >> dana: marjorie taylor greene coming in right there. super orderly and we will go to the white house in just a moment but we are joined by larry

kudlow. great to have you here with us. thank you for being here. a couple questions before we go to the motorcade coming to capitol hill. >> i think it's a great coming together moment right now. right now all is good, all is together, all is coming and it will be a beautiful hand-off. it was a little shaky for a while there. we have all these pardons out. you probably talked about it or maybe we'll talk about it later. but right now this is the spiritual moment. the greatest democracy in history and it is proofing itself in a very peaceful transition of power so all is good, dana. that's the way i look at it. it's all good. >> dana: i love that. kayleigh, your thoughts. >> i'm reading some reporting about some of the things said and we tried to listen into that moment between biden and trump there. a current president and a president-elect about to be president in an hour and 40

minutes. it appears that biden said according to some of the pool reporters and some of the folks welcome home. so you have to larry's point this is america. welcome home. a political opponent says to president trump after president trump essentially forced him out of the race with the disastrous june debate and all of the acrimony that was there and biden is able to say to trump welcome home just after they met right after the election and said welcome back. it is beautiful to watch. we are witnessing history together here and these images are stunning. >> dana: charlie hurt. >> i love what you just said, larry, it is a spiritual moment. it is what we -- this is what our men and women fighting overseas fight for. it is what all of us -- >> dana: we have laura ingraham

and tom homan. i think they are taking a selfie. there are a lot of smiles happening there. bill hemmer over to you. i couldn't see you there. i know you wanted to jump in. >> for the "politico"s in our audience we're trying to identify and pick out the folks. for the normal inauguration we would never see this. generally you see the former presidents arrive on the east steps of the capitol and make their way inside. we don't see the parade of politicians both former and present like we do now. back to the white house we go for a moment. >> dana: that is beautiful. doug emhoff and vance getting

ready to go to the capitol. >> bill: folks it looks beautiful but it is chilly in washington, d.c. you could stand it but you probably would not want to be out in it for six or seven hours. dana. >> dana: in fact, melania trump in a very grateful gesture reached out to catch her hat. it was about to fly off. these hats are beautiful as well. we are about -- i think it's possible, bill, you will see the president-elect and melania trump and the bidens arrive just above where you are in about three minutes or so. >> bill: and when they do arrive here we'll have a period ever time before jd vance is introduced. he should be the first of the dignitaries that move from the white house up here and a period of 30 minutes between the

arrival of the incoming president, the outgoing president and the ceremony will get underway. what a ceremony it should be. i can't wait to hear carrie underwood sing and to be here for that, it will be remarkable and, you know, we met the opera singer yesterday. he was singing "the star spangled banner" for our morning program at "fox & friends." can he belt it out. he has been working hard. he was working saturday night at the fireworks display in sterling, virginia also. getting their money's worth from him and they will again momentarily. >> dana: you have to wonder about carey underwood, that voice in that rotunda. we might hear it all the way at 101 constitution avenue. >> a certain beauty to the voices. you haven't seen this since 1985 the wearing in. when we heard nebraska choir and

the voices echoing from the marble was magnificent. carey underwood i played her song amazing grace. >> dana: how does the nebraska choir get chosen? >> let's suggest it may be the nebraska congressional delegation had a great deal to do with it. i think they probably pulled out all the stops but spectacular. they were accompanied by the president's own marine band. >> do we know where president trump will speak? where in the rotunda? >> dana: there is a stage set up. a platform, stage and podium for him right there. >> underneath one of the big turnbulls. >> is that right? i can't remember when it has been done like this before. >> dana: 1985. >> ronald reagan, all our guys, >> that's right, reagan, my guy,

sorry about that. sorry, you know what? it's early in the morning for me, what can i tell you? >> bill: as it has. >> 85. >> bill: wonderful to watch, dana. and very soon we'll see the two men emerge and we'll hear the speech and get the message from the incoming president. after that there will be a flurry of news and things will turn very serious. executive orders right, left and center denying birthright citizenship, deploying military to the border, files on jfk and martin luther king assassination to go public at some point very soon. perhaps wants to change the gulf of mexico to the gulf of america. so many other things. so the news is going to run hot throughout the afternoon. i think we can reflect on bill

melugin's shot a moment ago. that arena is -- that arena will be hot, let's say. and he will do something that no one else has done. where he gets the ideas, no one really knows. he is a television producer and comes up with so many of them. it was his idea to sign some of these executive orders in front of the people who put him back in power in washington, d.c. >> dana: they're watching fox news there at the arena. karl rove, you wanted to say something. >> some of the most important executive orders he will sign are rolling back regulations. the american action forum tabulation. under biden there have been 1,195 regulations with a cost to our economy of $1.9 trillion of additional costs to our economy. 360 million hours of paperwork and i suspect we'll see the roll back of a great many of those today starting with the most

expensive the tailpipe emission regulation which would have devastated our auto making industry and has a cost of $870 billion added on to the cost of the automotive industry. >> they will try, my understanding, they will try to rescind essentially the entire misnamed inflation reduction act. try to rescind the whole thing. some will be done by executive orders, much of it will have to be rescission that will have to pass both houses of congress. we'll see how that fares. or president trump may just go on ahead, make his executive order, bypass the rescission, taken to court but by the time they get through court for many years he will have changed policy which is really his goal. >> dana: here we go, the white house doors are opening up on the north portico and here you will have dr. jill biden the first lady and first lady to be and to be again melania trump as they make their way to their

vehicle to head up to the capitol. >> bill: the hat is amazing. >> dana: it is an incredible thing. a real surge in hat makers. milners. >> there is a statement there. it is a dramatic statement. >> dana: fashion is back. >> i love the fact that charlie hurt is our fashion expert. >> you know we're in trouble when i'm your fashion expert. >> dana: you have the first ladies heading up to the capitol. the next vehicle that will come up is called the beast and that is the one that takes the presidents around. very secure vehicles as you can imagine. sirens in the background there. the city is pretty busy with spectators but a lot of the businesses are closed. here you see that was the beast

rolling up there. and you can see in the reflection there of the doors. any moment now joe biden and president-elect trump will come out of those doors and then make their way up to the capitol, bill. >> bill: i tell you, hats off to the inaugural committee. they have to jump through hoop after hoop after hoop for the past several days from outdoors to indoors, and with the storm rolling in yesterday afternoon, the ice on the street. they had to scramble and a lot of the plans not laid down until the final hour. hats off to them for pulling it off. so far, dana, so good. >> dana: any moments now we will see biden and trump. as kayleigh pointed out they had a friendly a good meeting in the days after the election.

i imagine the same was true here as larry said, this is a nice, beautiful moment and again shows the world that we are the country that does this over and over again in a peaceful way. >> you think about how intimate this car ride is. melania trump get in and we see a door open. >> dana: thank you. >> this might be president trump here. >> dana: jd vance and kamala harris as they make their way to their vehicle. >> melania trump did not come to the white house visit. >> kamala harris did not invite jd vance and his family. they could take a look when they weren't there. >> in fairness the last administration broke tradition as well. the one tradition unbroken is the peaceful transfer of power and you have to wonder what are they talking about now? what is melania trump discussing with jill biden? >> dana: possibly the weather.

but also i do think that they do both have strong support of their husbands, a strong love of their country and a real love for children and melania trump has said through her book and interviews she has done with ainsley she plans to focus on children indeed and to further her be best campaign. trey gowdy joins us now and before these two presidents come out let's get some thoughts from you. >> you know what? it's weird about politicians. you can fight for a year and then go break bread together. that's why you have such low approval numbers. most of the world can't do that. >> dana: there is mike johnson, speaker of the house with a narrow majority. >> hardest job in the world. i would rather be an orth done advertise for a crocodile be be the speaker of the house right now. >> dana: with or without anesthesia. >> i would do it blindfolded. >> i was with him, he and his wife. they had a beautiful reception

at the library of congress. he was in very good spirits for a guy with a one or two vote margin. good spirits. big, beautiful bill, that's what we talked about. >> dana: you have the rotunda. everybody coming in. trey, i'm sure you recognize some of these folks. 600 people in the rotunda, is that right? >> 600 in the rotunda. all golden tickets. 2200 in the overflow room. 3,000 total. it was a hot ticket over the weekend. what i was thinking, think about the last seven months of politics in america. on june 27th they had this debate with joe biden and donald trump. a couple weeks later biden drops out. enter kamala harris. she starts an 11-week campaign, spends a billion half dollars, is vanquished by the previous president and all of that has happened and transpired starting in late june of 2024.

and now here they are all together in washington, d.c. and they talk about the peaceful transfer of power and to all my colleagues and all the viewers at home, it is on display as we watch this now. you wonder what kamala harris is thinking when she walks out with jd vance? you wonder what the first gentleman thinks about meeting jd vance's wife and melania trump going back to the white house and jill biden the somewhat pointed comments she has made in the past two weeks how some people she had respected for so many years, a one of the people was nancy pelosi, had forced them to the side. but joe biden made his decision and now he is left to live with it. he is welcoming a man that he has had extremely pointed words toward publicly for a long time

and now these two gentlemen will emerge from these doors and get in that car together and come to capitol hill. it is remarkable and watching it in realtime. this is america in january of 2025. we will never forget where we were when this day happened. >> dana: i just want to -- let's be accurate. a great producer at fox news says there are around 800 in the rotunda and around 1300 in emancipation hall and the theater overflow has 500. you can imagine a lot of disappointed people but i didn't get the sense they were too in the dumps about it, kayleigh. people out on the streets are just happy to be here and to be together. here we go. i've done this to you three times now. here they are.

let's listen in.

all right, bill hemmer. joe biden and president-elect trump walking down the steps together and to take that short ride to the capitol. a most impactful ride as the world watches the peaceful transition of power in the united states. >> bill: joe biden was in charleston, south carolina yesterday and made some comments about the three israeli women who were released and then he had a building and museum dedication in charleston. one of the things that he said is that he is not going away. he is not disappearing. you wonder what his post presidency life will be like at age 82. largely spent in wilmington, delaware, rehoboth beach where he spent so many weekends as president. enter donald trump who has the

energy sometimes of 100 men, dana. we have seen it and talked about going back on trump time. we talked to our colleagues of younger age who were not working with us during the first term. donald trump gets more done before noon than most of us do in an entire week. so get ready. it is back. trump time. >> dana: it is. bret baier and martha maccallum will lead our special coverage after our show this morning. i get to have them as our guests right now as we watch the motorcade roll out. martha maccallum get your thoughts first. >> you guys have had fantastic coverage all morning. it is a spectacular day in washington, d.c. the sky is blue, there is a snow covering all over this beautiful capital city of the united states of america and i just feel that only in retrospect can we understand how dark some of the periods of the last five to eight years have been in a lot

of ways. we watched a president under tremendous amount of pressure through his first president and covid and george floyd tugging at statues outside of our window. i feel like there is perhaps a golden era underway. we'll see. that is the feeling that you get in washington this morning as we watch this play out. >> dana: bret, a short drive with in traffic and no lights. they can get there quickly. >> bret: they can get their quickly. imagine being in that car and that conversation ongoing. all that has happened over recent months. we go back to the june 27th debate that changed the dynamic for president biden. but i also reflect on the time that they met at the white house after the election and president-elect trump at the time said it was a cordial exchange and these are two men that have been in politics now for a long time. >> dana: listen in to some of

the people who gathered early on to cheer him along the way. all right. martha, you also have the first ladies together. you can imagine what that car ride is like. i mentioned that they would talk about more things than the weather but they have a love for children and their country and their husbands. >> i have to believe that jill biden and president biden i hope they are -- it has been a very difficult several months for them since that june 27th debate when it was obvious that there was an unraveling in that campaign that would require a dramatic change. i also thought watching kamala harris this morning, this is a woman, a vice president who thought maybe today would be her day becoming president and that

was not to be. i also kind of miss the moments of watching everyone walking outside. i always love seeing the first lady in a beautiful coat. she looks amazing today, walking down next to the president. so there are people lining the streets who showed up. it is not as bad as we thought it would be outside and so there is a few things that are a little different this time around. >> bill: some of the things i was thinking about earlier over the weekend we were waiting on a theme for the inauguration. sometimes we get that but even earlier today it was absent and bret, what i think is developing here, based on bill melugin's reporting and the executive orders that will be signed, 200 of them, as brooke singman described last night. an omnibus of executive orders but will do it before a crowd of 20,000. theme be damned, it is the actions that will be the message

today, bret. >> bret: 100%, bill. he will actually sign some before i'm told before he leaves the rotunda. he will sign some on capitol hill. he will sign some in front of the crowd at capital one arena, which has become the center of the universe here in washington. most powerful arena because it will be the host to the parade later and the review of the bands, etc. i think you will see a lot of this action play out today but really in the coming days and then he meets with house and senate leadership, the republicans tomorrow at the white house. kind of laying out a blueprint for what that legislative action goes to and that will take months. >> i think this is an incredibly transformational moment. i don't think all new administrations can take claim to the idea of major transformation. i think this one will.

i think the president sees or believes that was his mandate from the voters last november 5th and i think you will hear a lot of talk in the inaugural speech and later at capital one and so forth, he wants unity, he wants a new era of success in america. you said earlier the potential for a golden era. we'll see how that works out but i think the reality is this is really a tremendous changing of the guard, a tremendous changing of the administrations of american politics and policy. >> dana: indeed. as the mother cade makes its way there it is almost arriving at the capitol. you have so many different audiences for one speech. you have the voters, the ones who voted and campaigned for you. you have congress listening very closely. you have our adversaries, enemies.

we have our allies across the world. you have the military. they will want to know. it is a very interesting speech to put together. >> i was talking to john thune this morning and struck me he has a larger majority than mike johnson. if the president has to pick a constituency to talk to it should be house republicans. remember it was house republicans that deep sixed the repeal of the aca before john mccain gave the thumbs down. obamacare. it was house republicans. so you got thomas massey who is in a category by himself. a thin majority. if i'm the president i say we have two years. i don't want to be bottled up or bottled down by your fights in the house. that's my audience this morning is them. he has two years, dana, to implement an agenda. you could argue a mandate. he doesn't need to be sidetracked. he had to insert himself in the speaker's race of all places and get off the golf course. bret, you know what a big deal

that is, leave the golf course to get involved in something as ministerial as the speaker's race? >> bill: as we get closer to the moment you can see the fences in the background. some of that is a result of january 6th. some of it is a result of just general security here for the inaugural in washington, d.c. if you were in the center part of the city, you can't go anywhere without bumping into one of these fences or hitting a concrete barrier. it is really everywhere as they take a right-hand turn and enter the east steps of the capitol there. martha, a moment ago in emancipation hall where i'm sitting we'll have about 13 to 1500 people in here. we've told standing room as well. what the actual number is is a bit hard to say. r r r

rudy giuliani's image was on the board. you mentioned unified 11 times in his speech in 2021, biden said that. we can debate how far he took that message during his presidency. i just wonder what trump does with that, martha. because he has started to make inroads with some democratic politicians that would not be on everyone's bingo card. i talk about people like john fetterman and the nomination of people like robert kennedy and, you know, can he effectively cross the aisle? if he can, he can take a real slim republican majority and do a lot of things with it, martha. >> martha: i think you're right about that and i think that the president this time around, i think he wants people to like him. i think it bothered him in the first four years that he met so much resistance and opposition which turned into impeachment efforts and all the rest.

but i think about him chatting at jimmy carter's funeral with president obama, and i think that he maybe in a moment where he wants to win everyone over. and we saw what happened on november 5th. we saw that movement across the country towards a more conservative nation in little bits and sections and latino and black and young voters. so i think he wants them all at this point. i think you have ten senators who are democrat senators in states where trump won and watch those individuals in arizona, georgia, michigan, pennsylvania because they understand what the voters wanted. i think in the speech you will hear about the revolution of common sense is what we're learning will be a theme in this speech. i think it is an interesting term. and i think he wants to be liked across the country again. >> dana: i need to point out to

people we have donald trump entering the building so we can watch this with our viewers here as they get the shot from inside. >> good morning, everybody. thank you. >> president trump, how do you feel? president biden? >> dana: all right. we have had that moments with

elon musk there. let me hand it over to you, bret. >> bret: people who know president trump well. they see a difference in him. a man who is different in his own skin. different in confidence, different in how he interacts with people. he is having more fun. people who know him best. and i think that that's sort of what you are seeing, the result of some of this and i think some of the speech is going to reflect that different attitude. to martha's point the theme of common sense, of bringing people together. you know, inauguration today every time it's a turning of the page and there is this mixture of excitement and trepidation. i think it is excitement mostly. >> i will add one quick thing. i think that donald trump has definitely come to believe that

the lord spared him for a reason and a purpose. and i think that feeling was not around in his first term. and obviously because he dodged a bullet literally and i've heard him say many times, i've heard him say. he said it to me and others and publicly, wouldn't be surprised if it showed up in his speech one way or another. i believes that. i think god has entered his heart in a way that was not necessarily the case during his first term. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president elect's cabinet and cabinet level designees. [applause]

[piano playing] ♪

[band playing] ♪ >> bill: when the incoming administration made the decision

to move things indoors there was a wave of disappointment that ripped through washington, d.c. but sitting here and listening to this in person, it is absolutely beautiful. and, you know, the rotunda has a way of just amplifying music and sounds in a way that other places can't. i hope our audience at home can sense that and get an appreciation for that. >> dana: we are just a few minutes away from joe biden and president-elect trump entering the rotunda. marilyn and dan quayle. it is interesting when you looked at the slimmed down guest list who was included. it is leaders, john boehner, newt gingrich. former president's. cabinet. no spouses. these are the people the president will be looking to to inform him on history and the past. he has his own history and pat

now as well and the people who will be in charge of carrying out his agenda. bret. >> bret: just think the pageantry of today and to bill -- it is a different look. i won't be surprised if there is a hat tip to ronald reagan in this speech. the sound, the fact that all of these folks are gathered for this moment. more importantly, the message it sends around the world of passing the torch. this is not really about the man. it is about the moment. the history, the office, and this is our official republic handing over to what the american voters decided. mike pence there. >> dana: that's a bit of a moment in and of itself. the last time he was there in 2020, that ended the way that it did with january 6th, of course, on his mind but decided to be

there today and is supportive. >> they turned and shook each other as hands at the carter funeral as well. the jimmy carter funeral brought a lot of these individuals back into the same room. i also think it is interesting the flag hangs at half staff over the white house today. it is a reminder not only of the passing of a president but also a similar era when jimmy carter lost to ronald reagan. it was a very similar moment in the country's history. there had been the era of malaise out of a very difficult economic period, people waiting on gas lines and suddenly it was morning in america in 1980. i think that's echoed in the trump theme that we've seen throughout of a golden era beginning in the country again. it was yellow in the sky this morning when i looked out over the capitol. i thought about that phrase. there is a lot of hope and optimism right now. it is up to these individuals to

carry through with that. that's the charge that lies with that. >> dana: larry, maybe talk a little bit what we're looking at here. elon musk, jeff bezos, sundar, of course, tech titans. >> this is amazing. really part of mr. trump's effort to unify. you have all these techies and people from silicon valley who opposed him by and large through his political career now seemingly coming around to him. you have a lot of ceos not from silicon valley who opposed him earlier in his career, in his first term. they have come around to him. you have a lot of people you see in the culture wars, dei is on the way out. esg, climate change is on the way out. all running away from it. you read the -- even the federal reserve i saw yesterday or the

day before, essential bank has now removed itself from the climate alliance. >> dana: pushed into the arms of donald trump by the actions of joe biden. >> well, i think that's right. but i would say this, they aren't resisting the movement to trump whereas i think earlier you might have said yeah, there is a war, revolution going on. no, no, no, they are coming willingly. that's the interesting part of it and that's one of the unity themselves that i think you will hear from president trump. >> dana: we have 90 seconds left in this show. turn it over to you for comments here. >> bill: looking at the scene here. what is the market cap of this picture, guys? it is through the moon. i think about the success of musk and vivek and witkoff and lutnick and i think about a guy who is about to be number 47 after he was number 45 and in

all likelihood none of us will see this in our lifetimes again. that image about the wealth and creation, only in america could you find a way to get elon musk out of south africa and fire rockets in the air and have them land perfectly and reuse them again. that's american ingenuity and what trump talks about when he talks about the new golden age and more of that. ironically, there will be garbage trucks today at the parade at the arena across town. it will be something else. our coverage continues here on the fox news channel and with harris faulkner, who will join us momentarily in washington, d.c. that's bill and hillary clinton who now enter the room. dana, great to be with you. our coverage continues. >> harris: i'm harris faulkner