joining me now, bill bennett, former education secretary and host of "the bill bennett show," good toee you tonight. thanks for being here. >> thank you. you're welcome. >> martha: this young man wrote this letter to me. he has tried very hard to get his perspective heard by some and read by the student body in the newspaper. so far, it hasn't happened. he thinks it may happen now. your thoughts on all of this? >> is he a student at middlebury? >> martha: yes, sir. >> is he alive? is he okay? has anybody checked on him? >> martha: he's fine. very strong in the face of all of this. >> yes, for telling the truth, he got a medal at middlebury. probably a transfer from a community college are up someplace that makes sense. maybe this is the endpoint. some very smart people have written this is the tipping point. i don't think so. there is no end of the nonsense on college campuses. the real embarrassment is not trust the students, i mean, you can send your child to middlebury come over you he hang out with an idiot who were screaming, or, if he takes it seriously, he can become an idiot h

joining us is bill bennett, the author, host of the bill bennett podcast on itunes.ou believe the media's coverage of him is aggressive or intentionally unfair? >> both, very aggressive and intentionally unfair, way over the top. it's the worst thing i have ever seen. i have been around a long time. they gave it to bush hard. howie: you are saying this is different? >> they gave it to quayle. it. more unforgiving, it's personal and it's contemptuous. howie: do you think it's fair to say some portion of the negative covering the president brings on himself with distractions and tweeting? >> he brings out criticism of himself by things he does, sure. that's part of the job of the media is to report on that. the things i'm talking about, the contemptuousness, the snarkiness. i called a year and a half ago and jake tapper is now snarky and con teland con tell to t un. howie: we are pointing out there is tough words on both sides. >> you can fire back, no question. but the question is what's in their heads. i think they are still mad about the election. and really mad tha

here now with more on this, bill bennett, host of the "bill bennett show."evening, good to have you with us tonight. >> thank you very much. great to be with you. very exciting evening. >> martha: it is. before we get into the big picture, your thoughts on what president trump said this morning, he believes that there are a obama administration holdovers that may be trying to make things difficult for him in the form of these leaks. do you give it any credence? >> yeah. i rented apartment, the department of education. i was taking over from a republican. it was really a reagan republican. there were a lot of holdovers from liberal administrations from earlier. they tried to put every obstacle in my path that they could. of course they are, they are there. they have been there for eight years. whether barack obama blew the whistle and gave the orders, i don't know if he did or not. but he can sure stop this. if you told people to cooperate, which he said in some abstract sense, it would probably work. he also told people not to disrupt these town hall meeting

you can also get them at the bill bennett.lutely. abby: we do have other headlines this morning arnold schwarzenegger. starting with this one. get ready for more contact at the airport. the tsa is now rolling out more rigorous patdowns at all u.s. airports. increased screening comes after embarrassing report found handguns and other weapons are slipping past tsa agents. last month as many as 11 people reportedly walked through an open and unattended check pointed at new york's jfk airport. and, ed, for you, arnold schwarzenegger is announcing he is terminating his relationship with the celebrity apprentice. >> hasta la advice tax baby. >> arnold schwarzenegger says he will not return to the show even if nbc asks him to. of the action star is not blimming his performance for his show's poor ratings but his former host president trump saying -- this is what he says his continued association with the show left a, quote, bad taste in the viewers' mouth. ed: boo who ho, arnold. abby: winning a contest to have free beer delivered to

while he's working with members of congress and house speaker paul ryan said tonight to his friend bill bennett he's spoken to the president, this is still a president who operates in an isolated fashion in many respects. he is digesting the news, cable news, newspapers, print editions, doesn't use a computer on his own. making his conclusions on his own. and those who deal with him day-to-day, privately acknowledge to me that this is the dynamic, they're confronting. as much as there are a lot of people swirling around him, it's trump himself making the decisions. trump himself really analyzing information on his own. >> jeremy, let's talk about john huntsman. he is a lot of things. he was a very refreshing politician for people who saw him on the national stage. he is a patriot. i think moderate republican is the way to put it. this must be reassuring, especially to fellow republicans who wanted to see a hint of normalcy going back to normalcy in the u.s./russia relation. >> yeah, he's considered an independent. i visited him when he was u.s. ambassador in beijing. he carried that portfolio v

paul ryan is a jack kemp, bill bennett republican. he is not a rand paul end of the spectrum. get a bill that is -- or a rick santorum republican. he is more towards the middle. he put a bill that was not what they would have put together that would be way out here knowing the house and the senate would pull you back. he put a bill that he wanted closer to the middle and that caused all of this. >> is it a bill that reflects what president trump said during the campaign? >> this as i was saying earlier, this has the bones of almost every republican plan. it just has a little bit more moderate flesh to it. >> the point i was making is that the reality of this bill is going to be felt. it's going to have political consequences. the fact is that tens of millions of people will lose their insurance. premiums go up and not down. here's the reality of health reform of any kind of i remember a call i got who supported health reform and this member said just remember once this bill passes, you own everything that happens in the health care system. every republican knows that. they hav

paul ryan is a jack kemp, bill bennett republican. d he's not a rand paul end of the spectrum republican. and that means you're going to get a bill that's -- >> or a rick santorum republican. >> or a rick santorum republican. he's going to be a little bit more toward the middle. that's what he did. he put a bill together that was not a bill that dick army, newt gingrich, and tom delay would have put together, which would have been way out here. knowing the house and senate was going to pull you back. he put a bill he wanted that was closer to the middle. >> a bill that really reflects what president trump was pit pitching during the campaign? >> no, i can't say that it -- this, as i was saying earlier, this has the bones of almost every single republican plan. it just has a little bit more moderate flesh to it. >> the point i was making before, though, is, that the reality of this bill is going to be felt. and it's going to have political consequences. the fact is, tens of millions of people are going to lose their health insurance pre

william mcgurn, and matt bennett, former deputy assistant to president bill clinton. welcome to all of you. good to have you here this evening for evening. mollie, let me start with you. these calls also from walter jones, the first republican in the house to say that he believes that devin nunes should step down. what do you think? >> you have not just had him, but a few others who are known for having a lot of belief and faith and intelligence agencies and are not so concerned about civil liberties. what we have here is a big story about intelligence agencies capturing information on private american citizens and widely disseminating it. that is a huge scandal and one that we need to get to the bottom off. we have only begun to get some information as it is something that needs to keep going. it is not that surprising that certain people who are really cozy with intelligence agencies are nervous about devin nunes being right over target as he is now. >> martha: interesting. bill, in terms of this hearing that was scheduled, now, nunes said it was never officially sc

bennett: thank you, mr. chairman. congratulations to you on your nomination. i wasn't going to raise it but senator bozeman did. that's a bill he and i have together on school lunches. i'm glad to hear him raise it. i was going to raise trade. i'm so pleased with your answer. because as you know, commodity prices are just prices are just terrible right now. for all of our farmers and ranchers. throughout colorado, our rural communities, which really led the recovery for us coming out of this terrible recession, now face commodity prices that really challenge them as they're trying to -- as their inputs are igher and higher and higher. there was so much negative talk during this presidential campaign, we're looking to you to help resurrect that with respect to agriculture in the united states. 80% of the wheat that we produce in colorado is exported. all of the growth for our dairy farmers is going to come from trade with countries, many of which wereries that were involved with the t.p.p. our potato growers in colorado need to have access to these markets. so knowing that you will be a zealous advocate for trade on behalf of

bennett. >> thank you so much for holding hearing and governor perdue, congratulations to you and your family on your nomination. i was raised as senator boozman did, that's a bill he and i have together on school lunches so i'm glad to hear him raise your comments. i was going to raise trade and i'm so pleased with your answer because commodity prices are just terrible right now for all of our farmers in colorado, a rural community has been led. the recovery for us coming out of this terrible recession. they now face commodity prices that challenge them as they are, their inputs are higher and higher. and there was so much negative talk about trade during this presidential campaign that i think we are looking to you to help resurrect that with respect to agriculture in the united states, 80 percent of the week that we produce in colorado is exported. all the growth for dairy farmers is going to come from trade with countries, many of which were involved with the tpp. our potato growers in colorado need to have access to these markets so knowing you will be a zealous advocate for trade on behalf of our agriculture sectors is enormously important to my state and