here to help us answer the question, larry kudlow, cnbc senior contributor and someone i think of asnservative. i think that's a label we could throw on you. let me ask you, as somebody who has been part of the movement for so long, i think of the pillars of conservativism, anti-tax, small government, pro free trade, pro democracy. reagan saying mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall. this president said, i don't want to touch medicare, social security. those are benefits i think people earned and deserve. i want them on the books. is this still a small government republican party? >> i think president trump is sort of of two minds on this stuff. republican party loves to talk about entitlements and fixing them but never do. they have that in common with the democrats. they never do. trump has stayed away from that. but on the other hand, i don't think he is a big government guy because he is a tax cutter and a deregulator, and he has a budget plan which will come out soon that purports to put about $10 trillion outside -- out of the budget in the next ten years. that's a very big number

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larry kudlow is obviously here. do you really believe that the democrats are laying some kind of trap for the gop that will force them to have a federal government shutdown on april 28th? >> absolutely. i mean, look, april 28th is the first action forcing event, the first catalyst for the trump administration where they're going to need democratic votes. this is not budget reconciliation. this is a 60-vote threshold. if republicans want to walk the plank on funding the wall and defunding planned parenthood, there's growing consensus among democrats that that's a fight that they're more than happy to let republicans take. >> you're shaking your head, larry. >> look, if -- this is debt ceiling politics, right? there's no way that the republican party is not going to get the debt ceiling passed. or if democrats want to run a filibuster, that will be a major political problem for them. poisoning the political water in every case. this is not going to work. democrats might try it. it's a nutty case. a bunch of years ago,

>> well, i disagree with larry kudlow.all, in terms of growth, there's two sources of growth. one is population that is the workforce. are you growing the number of people in your workforce? the answer is no. a lot of people are retiring. the baby boomers, remember, larry, there are baby boomers born in owe 46, owe 47, '48. a lot of them have gone into retirement. the working population is not growing in the united states. the second thing is productivity. the productivity numbers are not great. they are not showing a boom in productivity. and so to be realistic, a 3.5 or 3.25 or 4% growth rate is not in the cards. >> why is that any different than obama? look, i'm going to disagree with you on this. but let me just ask you, obama faced the same lousy argument that you can't have productivity and the baby boomers aren't going to work anymore because they're retiring. i don't agree with that factually, by the way. he posted 5%. trump is going to have 3 to 3.5. i make him realism. realism. not the pie in the sky. >> two poin

thank you. >>> joining us on set is cnbc senior contributor, larry kudlow.orm and obamacare and do it right away? >> yes, as a matter of fact. i mean, i -- i think -- i'm not 100%, but i think this border adjustable thing is dead in the water, okay? i don't even want to go there. i think it's not got the political support. so, nonetheless, they've got to get stuff done, and my key point here is president trump needs ws. he needs ws. he needs legislative ws to show, okay? he needs wins. now they're going to go for the roll back of obamacare, and that will be in the first reconciliation bill which will pop up sometime this spring, budget year 2017. my point is take the business tax cut, separate it out from the rest of the tax cut. we can do individual tax reform next year. the big priority, as he just said again today in boeing, keep these companies home. give them low tax rates. give them expensing. give them a one-time repatriati repatriation. now, put that in the reconciliation bill. i know a little bit about this. we did this many years ago. we did it for

larry kudlow was verge of getting on council of economic advisors and was nixed. he talked throughout everyone needs a break. he pushed that a lot on stump. >> i know. the president has never had a formulaic economic vision. he has never been -- i covered donald as businessman president donald trump. neil: you know my crackpot theory. he destroyed it. i don't mean to bee suring him, whether he called into questions republicans calling for bo tax. paying for a tax cut i even advisable he came out said this is stupid. whether he outright rejected it or not, republicans responded, all right we'll push that one back. >> that's true. remember what he came out first, his first 100 day economic stuff was really about obamacare and building the wall. neil: you're right. >> republicans said, we can't really build the wall and do infrastructure and tax cut. we'll have to modify both. you can't have both. neil: it was then the president came out to say, wait a minute on this repeal thing. >> right. neil: when i said repeal and replace. i didn't mean they were years apart. i

i have my doubts but larry kudlow was on earlier. he speaks to people in the administration. there could be a reach up from president trump from the other side of the aisle. there could be more details tonight than what you would get in what is the equivalent of the state of the union. what would that do for the markets if you saw a more conciliatory donald trump? >> i think it's very important point to say the market has been going up on specifics meaning mr. trump in his platform. i think it would be nice to see a bit of compromises and politicking that people would feel better about that. companies react to specifics. so that is why the market is up. we feel pretty good about the specifics of a platform. we need to get them done. now it is an issue of timing which we believe will probably happen faster than what everybody thinks because everybody has turned so negative. >> what do you want to hear? >> i have never seen a state of the union where there was a lot of talk about the great sacrifices that need to be made and who needs to give up something. there probably will b

joining us of course, cnbc senior contributor larry kudlow author of "jfk and the reagan revolution." >> i feel like i'm in a budget -- >> you have to finish it. who was economics deputy to david stockman at omb. you need to put that in. >> the two winderkins who went who the white house with ronald reagan. >> in his first book he said jerry jordan and larry kudlow -- look at that picture. haven't changed a bit. david said jerry jordan and i were the only honest economists in the government. [ laughter ] >> you guys are the authorities here to answer this question, larry. trumponomics, how closely does it resemble reaganomics? >> there are similarities, particularly on tax reform and rolling back regulations. reagan wanted to lower marginal tax rates. in those days bigger problem was individual rates at 70%. these days i think it's business rates, frankly. trump has both. they both believed in the incentive model of growth by lowering tax rates. one more quick one. they both wanted to roll back regulations. reagan deregulated the price of oil first day in office. trump has a whole lau

. >>> larry kudlow is here on set.ng to him about the seemingly strange fellows at the white house eamon talked about with union leaders, et cetera, but first your take on this developing story, republican donor anthony frequently seen on cnbc, not getting a senior role in the trump white house. larry, you said if news reports are correct, scaramucci should be furious at the shabby treatment by the white house, effecti ivive emissary, hard wo eric loyal. >> they are treating him shabbily. i don't know the details of the story, and maybe it's fake news. it's been covered by a lot of reporters, charlie started this, and "politico," i see maggie hammerman in the new york times. look, the story, as i know it, reinec ca reince said your job is off. scaramucci did a great job in davos with the left wing ceos and bureaucrats representing trump. it's off. according to the story, called back later, wait a minute, it's on, but it's not on. >> why off and on? because of him selling business to the chinese company? concerns maybe

. >> cnbc's larry kudlow. >> we're still supply-side tax cutters and so is mr. trump. i need to add that. >> that does it for us. "mtp daily" starts rirn. right now. >>> that's thursday. a very different cpac kicks off. >>> tonight, team trump takes over cpac. but whose conservative movement is it anyway? >> what we were starving for was somebody real, somebody genuine. >> i think that is the power of this movement. >>> plus. sidelined? why rex tillerson only seems to play cleanup but never is on the inside before big decisions are made. >>> and game of spoofs. why winter is coming, everywhere. >>> this is "mtp daily," and it starts right now. >>> goo evening i am chuck todd in washington. welcome to "mtp daily." la last year candidate trump was practically run out of town at cpac, he didn't show. this year, president trump is coming in a big way. >> how do you believe president trump has impacted the conservative movement? >> i think by tomorrow this will be tpac when he's here. no doubt. >> may have been a joke, but truer words may not have been spoken. does presiden

larry kudlow was supposed to be head of that as cabinet position. guess what?ded not to make it a cabinet position not based on prodding by you know who? gary cohn. basically the nec, national economic council, this sounds like gobble did can book but it means a lot, it is running the show within terms of economic policy inside the white house. he is main policy advisor in the white house. from what we understand even surpasses steve mnuchin recently confirmed treasury secretary. liz: what? >> here is why. mnuchin as treasury secretary is part of the national economic council you should know. in the past treasury secretaries have asked to be somewhat independent or run the meeting at the national economic council, not the chair of the nec. that ain't happening here. this is cohen's, cohn's game. he is running the meetings. he is the chair of that thing. he is running it all. so, if you think about it, the main point man on economic policy right now is not the treasury secretary. it's, it is not the council of economic advisors which used to be a cabinet positio

senior contributor, larry kudlow's with us. roger altman, robert frank and ylian mui checking in remotely from washington, d.c. you're going to take credit for the 100 year bond? we were talking about the possibility of a 50-year bond? >> you could put your little toe in for 50. >> right. >> you can do 100. i said this for a long time. i wrote it for cnbc. it doesn't solve your debt problem. it does, however, really help your debt service expense problem and you've got rates around 2%. i don't know if the average maturity is only about 60 something months. i think the average rate is whatever it is, 2%. >> do you think there's a tax plan -- do you think their tax plan will be debt neutral, revenue neutral? >> i don't know. i don't really care. never have. >> really? >> growth is the key. i love mnuchin on this point. they're sticking to their guns on 3 to 3.5%. i like that. that's what tax cuts are going to do. i have only a quibble with steve mnuchin, that is this business of getting it done in august is very iffy. >> yes. >>

larry kudlow, well connected kind of guy. locked in. according to his sources, trump will have more detail than we all expect when it comes to health care, repeal ask replace, tax reform. if we do get that detail, what happens? we have something to shoot against? >> i think if you get the detail, you might see the market sell off. >> what can that detail be? there's no free lunch no, silver bullet. you have to pay for this stuff. and ultimately, equities get kind of expensive. >> this is the thing. >> one. most inarticulate presidents in a long time can go on private time tv. >> you think he will be able to go on prime time tv and lay out details about some of the most complicated stuff? he sat there and told the press the other day, well, this health care stuff, really complicated. really, genius? and let me make one other -- >> before that, let's pick it off one at a time. we had health care crammed down our throats with obamacare. we heard nancy pelosi say they had to pass it first to see what was in it. that was a coherent statement

. >> yeah, now you sound like our friend, larry kudlow, who's been preaching that bible but hasn't gotteny far lately. one last word, ambassador wolf? >> well, we're about to have a meeting between prime minister abe of japan and the president. just had a meeting with prime minister may of the united kingdom. i think the administration is going to now shift into high gear on international trade, get the u.s. trade representative appointed, confirmed by the congress, and begin a positive agenda. that will make a major change in terms of the overall trade policy of the united states. >> ambassador wolf, ambassador glassman, the market obviously has a lot to digest and only a certain number of days in which to do it. we appreciate your time. please come back. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. >>> still to come on "squawk alley," the details behind amazon's latest plans to compete with u.p.s. and fedex. >>> and later, president trump's supreme court justice pick is in, but what impact will it have on business? we'll discuss when "squawk alley" returns. ♪ is happening before our eyes. shif

you know, when i first started working with donald trump, with my fold buddy, larry kudlow, one of the things we said to him, donald, we don't agree with you on free trade. he used to say, look, i'm not against free trade, i just want fair trade. he said, i'm not a protectionist, but there are some voices in this new administration, erin, that are more trade protectionist than the traditional republican view. and there's going to be a tension not just between parties, but within the republican party about the position on trade. now, bob, i do agree with donald trump when it comes to china. i do think that china is stealing and cheating, and i think we do need to get tougher. i haven't talked to you about this, with uh but i think we've get tougher with china. i don't think they're playing by the rules. i think they're stealing our technology, but when it comes to nafta, i think it's worked pretty well -- >> let me just ask you a question about nafta, robert. because on this point, the chief of patrone tequila was on the show the other day. he didn't like donald trump's idea about a 20%

for tax reform, larry kudlow and steven moore who are advisors to the president have a very different perspective of what he could do. this is putting an info structure built together along with corporate tax cuts, bringing the corporate rates to the highest rate it is now down to 15-20% as well as have people bring back the overseas process and this would grow the economy and could be a separate bill, but they have to go through the reconciliation process and get 60 votes through the senate and really reinvigorate the economy. i do believe this is where he should go first so he is not tied down to this reconciliation process. >> jon: he is a still promising to repeal and replace obamacare and it says what replaces it is going to be even better and more consumer friendly. speak out first of all, what we are hearing is the reason there is a huge divide right now among the g.o.p. is repeal and replace is a great campaign slogan, very political and even became an obsession, but the devil is in the details. when you look at the details, it's financially a mess for republicans, the cost to

his tax ideas that have been articulated by people like my friends larry kudlow and stephen moore, those ideas could work for the country. but, again, the angry tone that i think was too often here at cpac really needs to be retooled into a hopeful, optimistic, positive tone. >> jeanne, let me ask you this. the president is going to be speaking to a joint session of congress on tuesday. i kind of understand. i get what michael was saying but i get that cpac is a friend live crowd this year at least for him and it sounds like a continuation of a campaign-type speech. but on tuesday that's going to be a different story. that's congress. that's where the rubber hits the road on legislation. in terms of your issue, for instance, in terms of abortion, what would you like the president to present to congress? >> well, i just want to -- i'm not going to disagree necessarily with, you know, form of how he speaks or his speeches or what have you with michael, but what's more important to me is keeping his promises and his actions. and at least for our issues, his actions in the first 33 day towar

let's bring in larry kudlow and stewart verdari.several silicon valley firms fighting the executive order. welcome to both of you. >> thank you. >> let's separate out what might happen with the worker visas from what's going on and at issue right now and that is the suspension of travel visas for people from seven specified countries, mostly countries that basically have no functional government. stewart, from what i have read, the number of people affected at the 120 companies that are part of the amicus brief is incredibly small. like, in the tens. maybe -- >> well -- >> maybe 100 total. >> i think this is not about the employees and spouses affected but also how they're perceived around the world. they want to be seen as international companies and not kind of part of ugly america so i think it's more than just the small number of employees focused on. i have a lot of sympathy of former colleagues that the homeland security prying to make sure we bring technology to secure the border and has to be a balance. if you're a tech comp

. >> he shot back at people like larry kudlow and steven moore who said you should do tax reform first and he said no, we can't. and he actual ly started to articulate that he understands how the legislative process work zblrg he said they need to do obamacare and then rule out tax reform and other details later in the year. this president seemed flummoxed, saying nobody knew how difficult it would be. it's obviously a very complicated subject. getting into the weeds is where you have to go, though, if you're going to come up with a proposal to repeal and replace obamacare. that's the struggle that this administration has to face, to come up with what they promised on the campaign trail. in politics you have to make choices. and that means you have to make enemies. >> thank you, eamon. we heard from president trump and also warren buffett, spent three hours on "squawk box" with becky and joe. they talked about everything from the new president, tax reform and the health of the markets even. >> you can buy a barn, apartment house or part of american business. if you buy a ten-year bond

>> well, let's talk about earnings to quote larry kudlow, the mother's milk of stock price.ig driver of that has been the turn in the energysector. in terms of year-over-year comps that, will trade as a factor behind earnings growth. you are going to need some stronger top-lying growth looking out beyond this turn from negative to positive in earnings. because valuation is stretched enough that earnings need to do more of the heavy lifting. i think we're in decent shape both in terms of earnings and the economy. the fiscal stimulus would be additive to that. >> have a great weekend, thank you. liz ann sonders and ron insana. >>> the dow may be down but the transport index up about half a percent on the day, down about 1% for the week. jb hunt, southwest airlines, landstar and union pacific all up between 1% and 2%. since the election transports continues to be the stand yuts on these hopes around president trump's policies. >> thank you very much. >>> which city's company's stocks -- got that? lot of possessives -- are doing the best so far this year? and why? we've got the

>> gary cohn as opposed to larry kudlow and steve moore, somebody like that. the position a lot of people didn't know about his politics at bold man saks, suspect he was more on the left and the right. ends up with this administration with obviously a big, big say. story going back to friday on regulatory reform on wall streets and rolling back regulations seemed to have his fingerprints on it. that made a lot of sense. on taxes i'm not so sure. a lot comes back to, we say why is it such a big deal the administration and president gets off some topic, immigration, whatever the topic of the day may be? go back to the earlier point, it contributes to the polarized nature trying to get things done with the other side. fewer democrats willing to work with republicans because they can't go home and sell it they will work with this president because of what he may have said on a different subject. makes tax reform less likely to get done. neil: to latch on to that. katie, the argument i heard from one republican senator at the top of the last hour, look, neil, we ge

. >> what do you make of larry kudlow's argument that nafta gets signed and mexico raises the v.a.t.ore than it used to be? it's now up to 16%. as a result, our products, u.s. products, go into mexico, they immediately go up by 16%, but when they come to the united states, they don't. >> mexico is raising its v.a.t. 100% independent of mexico. the idea they raised it because of anything to do with nafta is absurd. >> that doesn't make it untrue our products go into mexico and immediately the cost goes up because of their -- >> mexico's exchange rate is different because of its v.a.t. it's not true -- >> so the dollar will adjust? sounds like the same argument. >> if we do the border adjustment, my guess is that the dollar will rise substantially. i don't think it's a very good idea because i think it will cause financial problems all over the world because all kinds of dollar debtors will be hugely burdened. i think the people who think that border adjustment will give us some huge competitive advantage are probably wrong, but yes, i think there will be substantial but not complete d

. >> larry kudlow's first rule of growth is that growth is not inflationary. >> how long do you thinkll take before we can see something, joe? obviously we don't know the details. >> no, if we get a good number today, adp then foreshadowed it, it's possible it could happen now. the problem with january is it's a month where you lose about 3 million jobs because of seasonality. t >> i hear retailers hired less than in past years. >> that could actually help in january because january is the month you typically lay people off. if you didn't hire as many, you don't fire as many. actually, for january, the number looks better. >> was that the case with the adp number, steve? >> adp i think was flattered by weather a little bit. i don't know how they handle the seasonal adjustments. what they're trying to do is mimic the bls number. they use a variety of different concoctions like spiders -- no, they use like claims and things like that to try to get there. the philadelphia fed activity. they got rid of that and used something else. it's hard to know. >> never mind. forget i asked. >> the

. >> so your read is completely on the other end of where larry kudlow landed. >> look, i agree with tellectually on a lot of this stuff. i don't agree with what he's seeing in the message. the trump administration doesn't have a team to put this stuff together. they have to have broad brush strokes. they also have to generate revenue. there are some nonrevenue neutral plans they have, but border adjustment tax comes ready made from house leadership. people are underestimating -- >> what does it do to china growth? slap the border tax on, what does it do? >> nobody knows because a lot of it is about dollar appreciation. the big debate is it going to go 5%, 25%? we've been working on this a lot. i think the more immediate issue is how do the chinese look at this in terms of the currency. so they've got all these economic things they have to figure out, but on the currency, if you have an appreciation of, say, 10% of the dollar, do you go all the way up, halfway up? is it considered a devaluation if you don't match dollar strength? how do markets interpret that? the chinese are just wal