Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. With the price of just about everything going up during inflation, we thought we'd bring our prices down. So to help us, we brought in a reverse auctioneer, which is apparently a thing. Mint Mobile unlimited, premium wireless! Have it to get 30, 30, 30, but to get 20, 20, 20, but to get 20, 20, but to get 15, 15, 15, just 15 bucks a month? So! Give it a try at mintmobile.com/switch. $45 up for three months plus tax reviews, promoting for new customers for limited time. Unlimited more than 40 gigabytes per month, slow. Full turns at Mint Mobile.com. Hello, folks. Welcome to Kudlow. I'm Larry Kudlow. So the Senate Hill hearings today on the Trump assassination attempt. We have Senator Eric Schmidt on that and other topics in just a moment or two. But first up, our very own Hillary Vaughn live on Capitol Hill with the whole story. And it is quite a story, Hillary. It is quite a story. We got a lot of new information out of this hearing today. In fact, we did learn that the Acting Secret Service Director, Ronald Rowe, actually went back to the scene of the crime in Butler, Pennsylvania, something that the former director, Kimberly Cheadle, never did. In fact, he went to the rooftop. He laid down in the exact same spot that Thomas Crook, the shooter, fired from at former President Trump. He said the feeling he felt in that moment was, quote, shame. He also said it was completely indefensible that the Secret Service did not protect that rooftop and protect President Trump from the assassination attempt, calling it indefensible. New details about the timeline show that law enforcement had crooks on their radar well before this assassination attempt happened. They had flagged crooks as a suspicious person an hour before he fired his first shot at former President Trump, but that alert was sent out over text, not on the radio, keeping the snipers in Trump's detail out of the loop. In fact, the Secret Service snipers didn't know that crooks had a gun until they heard gunshots and they didn't see crooks until he had already pulled the trigger targeting Trump. When did the snipers first see him? As soon as he presented himself as a target and a threat to the President, sir. And when was that? He fires initially. I do know the answer, sir. I'm telling you that. What is the answer? No, they did not see him. They never saw him. No, sir. How could they not see him? There he was, biggest damage. Line there with a gun pointed at the President. How could they not see him? I believe he was obscured by that roof, sir. He would have, he did not pop up. The roof is flat with ridges. Rowe also couldn't explain who is to blame for putting Trump on stage with a suspicious person roaming around or why he was not pulled off the stage once things grew more concerning before the shots were fired. And he also couldn't explain why no one has been fired yet. My question is, why don't you relieve everybody of duty who made bad judgment? So yeah, you're right, I am zeroing in on somebody. I'm trying to find somebody who's accountable here. I acknowledge this was a failure. Is it not prima fascia that somebody has failed? A former president was shot. Sir, this could have been our Texas School Book Depository. I have lost sleep over that for the last 17 days. And just like you're somebody. I will tell you, Senator, I will tell you, Senator, that I will not rush to judgment and put people unfairly persecuted, unfairly persecuted. Fairly, sir, we have to be able to have a proper investigation into this. There are still major questions about the shooters motive. The FBI is still not able to access the shooters encrypted apps on his phone to see who he was talking to and what he was saying before the attack. The FBI is also scrubbing social media. They believe they identified a few accounts that Thomas Crooks may have used, one from 2019 that has anti-Semitic and racist comments, and one from 2021 that has probied in immigration policy comments. Now, the FBI says they're still investigating this. They have not confirmed with a certainty that these two profiles do belong to Crooks. Larry? Hillary, regarding the Senate side, what happens next? Did anything? Well, they have more questions. So we're probably going to hear from the secret service agents that were on the ground with Trump themselves. That is something that the director committed to doing to give these lawmakers a chance to talk to people who were actually there in person. Larry? All right, great. Hillary Vaughn, we appreciate it very, very much. Joining us now to talk about this and some other things. We welcome back Missouri Senator Eric Schmidt. Ms. Schmidt, welcome back, sir. Just, you weren't part of the hearing. You probably watched the hearing. What was your principal takeaway just off the top of your head? I want to hook to begin with, and now I've got a bunch of specifics. But what did you take away from this hearing? There's still a lot of unanswered questions. As everybody who watched that and has become aware of it, it was a catastrophic failure. President Trump, literally by the grace of God, turned one direction. The only time he turned the direction, the whole speech, which saved his life. How that building wasn't in the perimeter. There's still not really good answers to that. I think the other takeaway, Larry, is these folks should be having a press conference daily, in my view, to inform people, telling us what you know. They need to be answered questions in front of Congress. People need to ultimately be held accountable for this failure. But I don't understand the lack of communication. It certainly only feeds, you know, theories that are out there. They're either true or not true. And so I just think they need to be way more communicative. But no doubt, catastrophic failure. And the truth is, we're aware of this guy an hour ahead of time. Lost him. I mean, the best we can configure from all these, the testimony now. And until about six minutes before, whether or not they had eyes on them. But there's some belief that they had eyes on them at least a couple of minutes before. So again, all of this conflicting information has to be cleared up. They have to be open and transparent, I think, for the American people to have any semblance of faith. I mean, there's a lot, and it's also Larry, one other point. It's a tale of, you know, it's sort of a two-part tale here. The Secret Service agents who jumped on President Trump were heroic in that, right? That's their job. And they did their job. But the planning for all of this and the lack of communication and not having, you know, interoperability of the communication devices is inexcusable. One thing, I couldn't agree more, by the way, Mr. Trump has said the same thing. The people that fell all over him assumed the usual role of Secret Service, which is if they had to put themselves in front of a bullet to protect the president of the, in this case, the foreign president. One thing that strikes me as a layperson in this, but I've been following this, and we've had a lot of discussion on this show. There seems to have been a severe lack of cooperation between the local police authorities and the Secret Service. And I don't understand that. And there are some people, there are a lot of rumors around this goes to your point. I wish there was more transparency. There are a lot of rumors around that the Secret Service don't respect the local authorities. The Secret Service didn't show up for meetings of the local authorities. And then there are other rumors with respect to the FBI that they don't get along. There's bad blood. They think, you know, the FBI thinks it's superior. I mean, if we can't work with state and local authorities who know the turf better, all is lost, it seems to me. And they had their eyes on this guy quite a few minutes before the actual shooting. Yeah, you've got that dynamic at play that you actually have on the ground, Larry, of supposedly maybe a warning went out. But there was interoperability issues on the communication devices that the right people who maybe could have done something earlier weren't even aware of that. I mean, that is a huge breakdown. There's no, you know, so I just think all the way around here, this is a confluence of a bunch of failures, planning, execution at the time of what was actually happening on the ground. And so, you know, the American people deserve answers. I mean, this was a, you know, thankfully a failed assassination attempt. But I mean, we've all speculated what could have happened. I mean, it was just, anyway, so I think that they need to be way more transparent. They need to come clean on this. There's also some speculation that maybe Secret Service hasn't even interviewed local folks in this investigation or whether it's the FBI interviewing people in this investigation. People have to come together here and we have to diagnose what happened and make sure this never happens again. Nobody seems to know why the Secret Service didn't run a drone covering the whole area. Well, the shooter did, the shooter did, he read a drone. And so, I mean, again, this is, you know, and we also have to get to the bottom of Larry, the Trump's team in his detail asking for more help. Yeah. And that was denied. Yep. Why was it denied? How many times? I mean, clearly, you don't have to be a professional in law enforcement to understand. President Trump is at risk all the time. And so, we need to get to the bottom of that, too, and why that additional protection was been denied over and over again. At least, I mean, again, from this hearing, at least the new head or the acting head of the Secret Service acknowledged that it was a huge mistake and you said there are no excuses and so forth and so on. That's a lot better than the cheetah woman who wouldn't even give up that much. I mean, at least there's a little humility creeping into the story and maybe some urgency into the investigation. I mean, one can only hope, but I kind of looked at that as a, you know, slightly positive sign. Yeah, but again, I think they've got to be way more communicative and give more updates. You know, American people deserve that. Let me jump off that to a different topic. Joe Biden would have run against the Supreme Court if he were running for president. But I think Kamala Harris agrees with him. He wants to reach. No matter what they say, Senator Smith, my take is they want to stack the court. Okay. FDR style, which is Joe Biden's hero. No matter what they say, they want to stack the court. If they ever had the Senate votes to break the filibuster and do that, they would do that. What do you think? You're a distinguished former state attorney general. You might be a future US attorney general for all I know. This may fall into your lap in the next year. I mean, didn't know what they want to do. They want to stack the bloody court. Absolutely. This is not even, they're not even trying to hide this. The whole purpose of them trying to undermine the credibility of the court, because they don't like a couple of decisions, is to ultimately pack the court. And you're right about that, Larry. If they ever get to 51, without mansion and cinema, and they have the house, they have the White House, they're on record by saying they'll destroy the filibuster and add justice to the United States Supreme Court. And by the way, they'll add DC as a state to have permanent power. That's what this is all about. And so these proposals from Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are patently unconstitutional. It's hardly the point. They want to continue to show this division. It's shameful. You know, Joe Biden was chairman of the Judiciary Committee when he was in the Senate. The fact that he has become what he is now, and again, claiming that others are a threat to democracy. Again, we've seen what the threat to democracy is, and it is Biden and Harris. You have any, yeah, I was going to say, you have any doubt in your mind that Ms. Kamala Harris agrees with Joe Biden. Whatever she may say publicly, you know, it's like fracking. I didn't really say, but ban on fracking. Well, yes, you did, ma'am. But I mean, do you have any, any reason to believe she wouldn't pursue this agenda? And just as an addendum to that, the immunity, this is to some extent, just because the Supreme Court, six to three, gave the president immunity for official acts, not all acts, official acts, as you know, better than I know. And that's something that could help Joe Biden, you know, who knows? But the point is they want a constitutional amendment over immunity. Really? I mean, how petulant is that? Well, and I think they're trying to gin up enthusiasm. And once this honeymoon period is over, Larry, once we get after, after the convention, after Labor Day, the American people are going to be left with the choice, which is the prosperity and the peace that they had under President Trump. And quite literally, the most radical, progressive, ever nominated by any party in the history of the country. And that's Kamala Harris. When they start to sort of dive into, you know, her support for the Green New Deal, her support for court packing, you know, being the deciding vote on, you know, a lot of these inflationary policies that Joe Biden got through the Senate. I mean, she was the tide breaking vote on that, literally. And her, you know, soft on crime stance, the American people are going to pick President Trump. But they've got this time period right now where they're trying to generate enthusiasm between Kamala Harris. And now, you know, I guess running against the Supreme Court, we'll see how that plays out. But I think that's a pretty cynical play. And again, it's a dangerous play, because by the way, if you want to get to 13, why not 25? Why not 50? Why not 100? Yeah. There's no limiting principle to this if it's just about power and control and getting the results you want. Heck yeah. All right. Senator Eric Schmidt, we appreciate, sir. As always, thanks very, very much. Thanks, sir. Folks, we're going to take a little break from all this. I want to put a little bit of economics into that. We won't get that because we're going to cover the Israeli attack on Lebanon in just a moment. But I just don't change some gears. And I want to tell you how silly economists can be. That's the subject of tonight's riff. All right. So economics can be a very strange game. Now, follow me here, please. Take, for example, the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index just out today for the month of July. The overall index was up slightly from June, lower than May, most importantly down 12 percent from a year ago. Today, the index is around 100. During the Trump years, it was around 140. Consumer Confidence is one of the most important measures of kitchen table sentiment among ordinary, typical, work-in-class families. And they are not confidence. Breitbart's John Carney has written a great piece about this last week. Consumer Confidence is an election year indicator, even though very few economists understand this and really talk about it as an election year indicator. Frankly, it's more important than GDP or a host of other economic aggregates. By the way, confidence in your present situation is down 13 percent from a year ago. Expectations for the future down 11 percent from a year ago. By the way, today's present situation, about 133 on the index. During the Trump years, it was close to 180. Think of that. Now, speaking of goofy economics, let's take a look at Venezuela for a moment. It's total economic basket case. Even though it has huge oil reserves under the ground, its economy has been wrecked by former President Hugo Chavez, who turned part-time capitalism into full-time socialism. And full-time socialism has been made even more authoritarian by current President Nicolas Maduro, who may have stolen the recent election. We shall see. Venezuela is essentially a communist vassal of Cuba, and it's a strong ally of Russia, Iran, and China. But as the Committee to Unleash Prosperity Hotline alerts us, the New York Times has sunk to a new low by saying this. Here's the quote, "The socialist movement that swept the power in Venezuela in 1999, founded by former President Hugo Chavez, Mr. Maduro's mentor, the movement promised to lift millions out of poverty for a time it did." Now, here's the money line. "The socialist model he once hailed has given way to brutal capitalism." No, brutal capitalism. Economists say, "With a small state connected minority, controlling much of the nation's wealth." Brutal capitalism, really. It's been socialism and more socialism, morphing into more authoritarian socialism that looks a lot like communism. Brutal capitalism. Well, I wouldn't be surprised that this was a New York Times editorial. But wait a second, it's actually in New York Times' news story. That's right, news story. All this news that is not fit to print was written by reporters, Anatoly Kermanov, Francis Robles, and Andy's bureau chief for the New York Times, Julie Turkowitz. Just saying. Of course, there is a small group connected with minority control of the economy. That's called the corrupt nomenclatura, run by a close circle of friends of President Maduro. All right, sorry New York Times had to do it. News story, really. Some more economic goofiness that Fed needs today and tomorrow to figure out monetary policy. And it's always a bad interest rates or labor markets or GDP. However, former governor Kevin Warsh deserves kudos for his Wall Street Journal op-ed yesterday, and he was on this show last evening. Kevin Warsh writes, "The high priest of central bank dogma might consider it blasphemy, but monetary policy has, wait for it, something to do with money." Imagine, problem Mr. Warsh, he points out that the Fed's balance sheet remains near record eyes. Since money has something to do with inflation, the progress on inflation lately may not be sustainable because of the Fed's balance sheet. Mr. Warsh might have added that central bank should take a look at commodity prices, including gold, to determine the value as well as the quantity of money, but the central bank never does that either. Just goes to show you, not all the dummies work for the New York Times. And that's my riff, and we will be right back. Coming up, Israel strikes back at the heart of Hezbollah in Beirut, reaction to Congressman Gretz Stuvi and General Keith Keller. Thank you for making time for us. You guys are such an interesting friendship. There's a lot substantively that you disagree about, but you're great friends. How do we do this in 2023? Well, I think it has everything to do with the love and the trust that we have, and we were actually more than friends. He's my very dear brother, that is, he's like a member of the family, and sometimes, remember that the family can be wrong about the family, and you still love them, and I'm wrong about some things I'm sure and you're still love them. But most importantly, I think we're tied to a deep commitment to a fallible quest for truth and beauty and goodness and the holy, and I learned much from him, and he learned some things from me. In that sense, I think the world needs to know that you're actually looking at two brothers who have a deep love of each other, even as there's a disagreement in certain political and policy issues. How have we lost that? The ability to do that with each other? Well, it's a failure of trust, and ultimately, a failure of friendship, or in the old language, karitas, charity, love, and that worries me deeply. I know it worries Cornell, because to run a democratic republic, you need a minimum of civic friendship. People are going to disagree about things, in circumstances of freedom, and that's natural. Now, how are they going to treat each other when they disagree? Are they going to treat each other as adversaries, as enemies, to be defeated, destroyed, or are they going to treat themselves and each other as fellow citizens, who just happen to disagree about this? And they're going to work it out using the mechanisms of constitutional democracy, deliberative democracy, and one side will lose and the other side will win for now, but in a democracy, there are no permanent winners and permanent losers. We always have the opportunity to come back to our fellow citizens and say, "You know what, a few years ago, when we faced this issue, we took a wrong turn. We went down the wrong road. We need to reconsider this." And you can try again, but it's important to understand those with whom you disagree. You all are both professors, so you're teaching and spending a lot of time with the next generation. Do you think they get this? This concept of being able to disagree, but trust and love each other, to have honest conversations? I think it's very difficult nowadays because people are actually rewarded for being echoes rather than finding their voices. You have to be sincere about who you are in what you do. You're not just posing and posturing. We live in a culture now. What people oppose and posture all the way to the top or the middle or the bottom and never know who they really are by the time their funeral takes place. That's sad. So to your classrooms as well, what do you see with the next generation about their ability to engage on tough topics? One good thing about young people is they can pick out a fraud at 100 bases. They know if you're faking it, but they need to learn that not everybody's a faker. They need to give up this cynicism. They need to be willing to acknowledge that someone is an honest truth seeker and a courageous truth speaker, even if they disagree with them. And they need to recognize their own fallibility. Here's a problem I find with the younger generation. They haven't been taught the virtues of intellectual humility. It's not necessarily failing in them in the first instance. It's a failure in our generation for failing to pass that look, failing to model that. Students learn a lot more from what you do than from what you say. We teach by precept and that's important, but it's even more important to teach by example. Fox airs all over the world, including in Peru on telephonica. Keep it here. New body, the consumer is strong. The balance sheets are strong. Breeze you America's business news. There's so much going on. And what it means for you. We want to get some breaking news to you right now, Fox Business Alert. Like Fox Business, keeping you ahead of the curve. All the insider selling by some of the richest people on earth. With insight into the impact of US and global markets. That's where the recipe for inflation comes from the people you can trust. Let's have some fun with this. Fox Business, America's Business Network. All right, another huge story today. Israel strikes back at Hezbollah. Trey Yinks is live in Tel Aviv with the latest. Trey, you've been doing a great job. I've been watching you all day. How can you round up today? Yeah, Larry, thank you. A major development today as the Israelis struck back against Hezbollah inside Beirut, the Lebanese capital. A significant development for many reasons, but it comes as a direct response to the Hezbollah rocket attack on Saturday that killed 12 Jews, children and teens in the northern part of the Golan Heights. In a town called Musdal Shams, we were there in the aftermath for those funerals. The Prime Minister and the Defense Minister visited the site of the attack. And it was a very emotional time for this country and its allies. And so in response, the Israelis struck a senior Hezbollah commander tonight in Beirut. There are mixed reports at this hour. If he was killed in the strikes, we're still waiting for final confirmation. But this does take things up a notch on the escalation ladder for the region and raises questions about what comes next in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Tonight, I spoke with a senior Israeli official who indicated this was about sending a message to the Iran-backed group saying that Israel does not want war, but now it's in the hands of Hezbollah. There are questions tonight if this death is confirmed, if the Iran-backed group will respond with rocket or missile fire into northern Israel. So the country does remain on high alert just a few minutes before we started talking. You could hear Israeli fighter jets over Israel's second largest city of Tel Aviv. Larry. Trade, do you think that the Israeli, I'm going to call it response, military response, is finished for now? Or do you think later tonight or tomorrow they hit again? For now, it appears to be finished, but there are also reports tonight of some places in Iraq with Khattai Hezbollah, a Hezbollah offshoot there of the Shia militias that are backed by Iran also being targeted. So it wouldn't be surprising if there are further Israeli strikes. It appears this was the major response for Israel, at least for now. But again, forces remain on high alert across this country, understanding that this strike could lead to a broader conflict. All right. Got it. Trey, thanks. Thank you very, very much for that. All right, folks, joining me now, Laura Congressman Greg Steuby and my pal, General Keith Kellogg, thanks to both of you very much. Greg Steuby, one thing's for sure. The United States government never gives Israel full backing. You know, I mean, the rhetoric coming out of Biden or Harris, yeah, we think that Israel should defend itself butt, butt, butt, butt, butt. And somewhere in the middle of those butt, butt, butt yesterday, the day before, Hezbollah decided to strike and take out these children playing soccer, you know, European football up north in Israel. I mean, for heaven's sakes, it's almost like, what do you expect to happen? Happened. Well, yeah. And what do you expect to happen when we're also funding Lebanon? I filed amendments to try to withdraw some of that funding. This congressman and the Republican house stands with Israel. But this administration does not. And they are trying to weave a very political position where they're trying to keep the far left progressive part of their party that support the Palestinians and support, you know, opening up $6 billion to the Iranians from the more Jewish part of their party that obviously supports Israel. But you saw the snub by Vice President Harris on BB Netanyahu's speech last week. And I think that says a lot about her position and support for Israel. But the Republican house certainly supports them. We've passed numerous bills to support Israel's military. I actually think this was a very measured response for the attack that Hezbollah had on on Israel. Yeah, Joe and Keith, how I welcome back, you know, I think what Greg is saying is it wasn't measured response. It sounds like a triumph of Israeli intelligence. If they got this commander who's had a price on his head of whatever $5 million going back to 1983 when I worked for Reagan and that horrible attack occurred on the US barracks in Lebanon. I mean, if they got him, terrific. I'm going to have to say that because of what he has done to this country down through the years and to Israel. What do you think about it, Keith? Yeah, Larry, thanks for having me. Look, he was the number two in Hezbollah. If they got him, if they didn't get him, they'll probably try and get him again. Look, this is very clearly, we're on a path of escalation here. That's very understandable because what the Israelis had to do when that attack occurred on the Druze children, and the Druze is only about 2% of Israel, but it's part of the Arab population and they had to respond there against the kids, and it was an appropriate response. And I think now it's up to Hezbollah. Where do you want to go with this, with Venezuela? You know, and you look at the workhead of that that you now has. And there's really only three people, a part of that workhead. It's himself, Goloth, the Secretary of Defense, the Minister of Defense, and Ron Dermer, who used to be American Ambassador, I'm sorry, the Israeli Ambassador to the United States. And they're going to go full bore. If, and Israel now has an option, the option is to either stand down or to respond, either hit Haifa or Tel Aviv with rockets. If he does that within the next 24-40 hours, then you're going to see a major escalation in the region against Hezbollah. There are reports that the Minister of Defense went, Goloth, really wanted to go after Hezbollah first before they went after Hamas, in order to fix that problem, and then go after Hamas is the second problem. And they all have no option but to do that. So I think this is one of those where we go, "Okay, we're okay right now. Just take a chill pill. It's not going to happen. We're on a real risk here of a greater escalation." And I think the Israelis have the right to do that. In fact, we should back them 100%. The only concern I've got is, after nine months of war against Hamas, how much equipment do they have to go after Hezbollah? This would be the Third War in Lebanon. It would be a significant war, but then you look at the state of Hezbollah. It happens to be the, actually, the largest non-state military actor in the world. And they've got plenty of munitions. It would be a heavy fight. But I think the Israelis will do it. They're willing to do it. And we should say, as the United States, we're behind you 100%. I mean, Greg Stubey, that's the thing what General Kellogg just said. I mean, you know, Vivian Yahoo comes to the United States, goes before Congress, gives a tremendous, tremendous speech. We win, they lose. We win, they lose. There is a difference between good and evil. Israel didn't pick this fight, right? Israel didn't pick the fight on October 7th. Israel didn't pick the fight with Hamas, with Hezbollah just again. Israel is trying to defend its own statehood and livelihood, and Jewishhood for that matter. And the USA should be much stronger in its backing, Greg. I mean, it's a moral issue. It's a difference between good and evil. That's what Netanyahu told Congress is anybody listening at 1600 Pennsylvania. Well, nobody at 1600 Pennsylvania right now is listening. President Trump is certainly listening and supports Israel. I support Israel 100%. You are absolutely correct. Israel has every right to defend themselves against terrorists globally recognized known terrorists in both Hamas and Hezbollah and has every every right to respond in kind. 12 children were murdered by rocket attacked in Israel. I think it also sends a very strong signal that they decided to attack this Hezbollah leader in Beirut and saying telling them, hey, look, we can attack all the way into your capital if is necessary. But we are doing it in a measured responsive way to take out Hezbollah's leader, one of their leaders. I think it's a very measured response, but they certainly could do more. And I think the United States should do everything we can to support our ally in the Middle East. These Iranian-backed terrorists are cowards. They are cowards. Iran populated by cowards and the least the United States should do. I've got to get out. I'm running. I'm running up against the hard break. The least we could do was have the unconditional sanctions on Iran restored. Stop their oil production and their oil sales. You cut that off and you cut off a lot of different things. I've got to get out. I'm sorry, gentlemen. Congressman Greg Stouby, thank you for coming on. My friend General Keith Kellogg, we appreciate it. Coming up, folks, consumer confidence is down. Is anybody waiting and watching? And by the way, we have too much debt. By the way, do we know? I mean, can we have a good economic policy for change? Instead of all these goofballs at the Fed and the Treasury, oh my God. Anyway, Steve Moore and Art Laffer are going to try to straighten the whole story out. I'm Kudlow. We'll be right back. Listen to the Fox Business rundown podcast every Monday and Friday. The world of business moves fast. Whether you're on Main Street or Wall Street, Fox Business is invested in you. Go to foxbusinesspodcast.com or wherever you download your favorite podcast. America is listening. And a new documentary on Fox Nation is telling the story of the NASA mission that really started it all. February 20, 1962, John Glenn suited up and was inserted into the capsule and sat atop that Atlas rocket ready to launch. It was as if the entire nation held its breath. Everything stopped. Everything did stop. I remember back during the Mercury Days, the author of the book Mercury Rising is featured in the show, Jeff Cheshall joins us right now from DC, Jeff Morentree. Morning. I remember, of course, I was very young, but I do remember in kindergarten, there, this was all about America trying to beat the Russians. But you say it's more, it was more than just national pride. That's right. I think that the way we tell this story, that it was just kind of a friendly, scientific, technological competition between nations, misses an important aspect of this, which is that the stakes were seen to be existential. When John Kennedy ran for president in 1960, he said that the nation that controls the heavens is the nation that controls life here on earth. And there was really a fear across the United States and also among our allies, that if the Soviets dominated space, that they would be able to dictate life on earth, that they would hang a space station above the United States, armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons. Sure. And of course, the Soviets, they launched Yuri Gagarian first, and then we shot off Alan Shepard, but it wasn't much of a flight. It was this flight that we were looking at right here, Mercury 7, with future Senator John Glenn in it. I've seen the capsule at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. And I don't know if I would have gotten in that thing. It did not look safe. It's unbelievably tiny. The technical term at NASA for getting into that capsule was being inserted into the capsule. That's what it was like. John Glenn said that you don't get in it. You wear it. Yeah, exactly. And you know, they were doing things with that flight that had never been done before. So he was literally flying by the seat of this pants, as was everybody in mission control. Fox is so you think you can dance continues with auditions where Judge Allison Holger-Boss advises dancers to stay present. Take it all in. Just be aware of what's going on around you and enjoy it. The good times, the bad times, the sore bodies, the blood, the sweat, the hurt feet. The former All-Stars dancer and Emmy-nominated choreographer admits she can be a tough judge. I could be a little hard, but it's all because I want to see them grow and be the best version that they can be. She's excited to be back on this stage, which launched her career. I was 18 years old when I was a contestant, and then I just continued on this journey with the show. It's really been a part of my love journey, my joy journey, my friends and family. And so I just feel like it's been this full circle moment for me. Holger met her late husband Stephen Twitch Boss on the show. Boss died by suicide December 2022. Allison says joining the series is part of how she is honoring him and going into this year with purpose. Stepping to 2024 felt like a fresh start for my family, a new beginning and a chance for us to understand and grow and learn from what has transpired the last year for us, but then also to step into new phases of who we are and allow ourselves to feel a little bit of freedom in that in that choice. Holger also wrote the children's book Keep Dancing Through with Twitch in 2021 and decided to release it this year in his memory. If I can help encourage them and their parents to keep moving and keeping themselves lifted and their spirits lifted and know that they still have purpose and love to see in the world, that I knew I had to do it. Next answer, please. In Hollywood, Ashley de Vorkin, Fox News. [Music] [Music] [Music] So a simple question. Does the economics profession know how to get anything right? Well, let's ask Steve Moore, committed an unleashed prosperity hotline, hosted more money, WABC Radio, Art Luffer, Reagan Economist, author of Taxes Have Consequences. Let's start with debt. I mean, that's not my favorite thing, but you hit $35 trillion in debt, Steve Moore. I know you obsess about these things. By the way, it's only $27.5 trillion if marketable debt in the hands of the public. But we do have a chart that looks very ugly because moving towards 120% of GDP and actually higher in the far out years, and that can't be a good thing. That cannot be a good thing. Don't ask me what it really means. I don't know what it means. I just know it can't be a good thing. What do you think, Steve Moore? You think it's a good thing? Well, debt in and of itself is not a bad thing. As you've taught me and Arthur Luffer has taught me, it depends on what you're buying with your debt. But Larry, show me anything good that we've gotten for all of this spending and debt over the last three years. We haven't rebuilt our military. We haven't rebuilt our economy. We've gotten windmills and solar panels and battery plants. There's been no payoff for this, an increase in the size of the welfare state. So this is not something that's going to make America richer over time. I want to see lower tax rates. I want to see less regulation. Your friend and mine, Larry, Casey Mulligan just came out with a new study showing Biden's regulatory policies have cost every family $50,000 on average. That's terrible for the economy. That's about two trillion cumulatively. There are different estimates about that. But that's the number I saw from the competitive enterprise. Actually, put that chart up again one more time. Debt in the hands of the public. It's not even a total debt, but taking away the intergovernmental transfers. That is a nice upward slope to it. What did we get? We got a lot of spending, Arthur. What didn't we get? We didn't get any tax cuts. You know what? What you want is right, you want spending as a share of GDP to come down and you want debt as a share of GDP to come down, Arthur. Right? There's not the metric for those people out there who still listen to such things. But hang on a second. Jack Kemp, the late, great Jack Kemp used to say, with spending or borrowing, you want to lower the numerator, but you want to increase the denominator. The denominator is GDP. Increase the GDP, spend less, and then you'll borrow less. And we actually might all live happily ever after. I mean, that's the way I learned it from Jack Kemp about over 40 years ago. And Arthur, you used to write about that stuff, too. Yeah. When you look at debt, I think Steve was completely correct on the debt issue. It's what are you spending the money on? You know, we increased debt a great deal in the first few years of the Reagan administration, as you remember. And we did it to lower taxes, to create a defense spending, to do all the things that was necessary. We borrowed cheap, we invested wisely, and the economy boomed as a result of increased deficits and debt. That all was great. To use debt, however, to pay people not to work and to tax people if they do work and to shrink the economy, you know, that makes no sense whatsoever. And that's what these people have been doing. I mean, you know, Clinton retired debt dramatically. We had a very good economy under Clinton. That was a terrific time. Then you got W and Obama doing just the opposite. And now you have Biden and Kamala Harris doing just the opposite of paying people not to work, paying for them not to be productive, taxing them if you are productive. And it's just the opposite of what you want to do. You want to lower tax rates and broaden the tax base, spending restraint, sound money, minimal trade, minimal trade barriers, and low regulations. And you're off to the races. Just as Steve said. So Steve, I got a couple of morsels for you. This is from your hotline today. Janet Yellen, our distinguished Treasury Secretary, wants a clean economy. So this will, this is no problem. This is just pennies and nickels and dimes. The transition to a clean economy, in her view, will cost $3 trillion. Okay, per year, now hang on a second. The best is yet to come. That will leave us with a bill of $78 trillion by the year 2050, $78 trillion. Now here's the most fun part. Bjorn Lomborg, okay, and some others have already proven they've spent the whole community of nations. I'm saying, I sound like a UN Adjok. The oldest global warming nations have already spent $12 trillion in the last, I don't know, Steve, 10 or 20 years, I don't follow this garbage. But the fact is what's happened, carbon's gone up, not down. Now I understand that. I don't have a problem with that. But they spent $12 trillion. Ms. Yellen wants to spend $78 trillion. You think there is also be better? Yeah, only $25 trillion of that is our money. The rest of it comes from these other countries. So it's a little bit of American. But look, for that, let me think about this. And with even one tenth out amount of money, we could alleviate all poverty in the world. We could end hunger in the world. We could find every scientific discovery to alleviate every disease. And these people want to, you know, by the way, these are the same people who can't, who can't fix the potholes of the road, who can't secure the border, who can't solve the crime problem. But they think spending $78 trillion is going to somehow lower the temperature of the planet. I don't think too many people buy into that. This is from a former Fed chairman. This is from the Berkeley economics department, San Francisco Fed President, now Treasury Secretary. And our last one, the other one that came out of the hotline today, which I absolutely loved and we already featured it in our riff, is the Venezuela story. Okay, so get this. Chávez and Maduro were actually successful socialists, but lately, Nicholas Maduro, who may be stealing the latest election. We don't know exactly yet, but anyway, Nicholas Maduro, hold it, wait for it, is guilty of brutal capitalism. Brutal capitalism. And the best part of this story is this was a New York Times article. But wait for this, Arthur. It wasn't an editorial, which I would expect. This is from the news story covering Venezuela. This is the news story, brutal capitalism under Nicholas Maduro. What do you think of that, Arthur? Brutal capitalism, by the way, brutal capitalism would help Venezuela. Exactly. How dare you attack the New York Times, Larry, and the piece like this? This is just factually there. I mean, here you look at it. You asked yourself, why are people leaving Venezuela? They're leaving it because of Maduro, because of Chávez economics. It's terrible. They don't get any incomes. These people go ask Venezuela and how capitalist and free market and free enterprise to Venezuela is. And you'll get a very different story. You'll get the true story. That, by the way, is a great point. The thing that shocks me is that's a great point. And if I ever found Venezuela and buying the New York Times, I would just roll over and spit. I just, by the way, there you go. They're all escaping Venezuela because of the havoc wreaked upon them by Chávez and lately Maduro. It's not anything to do with capitalism. Of course, it's terrible. But I just wanted to insert that. This was not an editorial. I can understand the socialist editorial board. This was the news story written by the, I think, the local regional editor of The Andes or something like that. Anyway, is it? Yes. By the way, Larry, they talked about the triumph of democracy in South America. They didn't talk about Argentina where there are movies. I know. I don't have time for Argentina, and I've got to get out of more to you over time. I'm just going to say, cut taxes and deregulate the economy. God, it isn't that hard. That's a trouble. Steve Moore, Artla. Thank you, kids. I appreciate it. Coming up next, Democrats are focused on identity politics. But fortunately, Mr. Trump is focused on the issues. We've got Charlie Hurt and Batcha Angar Sargon right here on set. Wouldn't Kudlow returns? America's factories, veiling, fears the COVID booms turning into a bust, get the impact for the economy and investors. Kevin Hassett breaks it down on the bottom line. I'm Pete Hagg-Seth, and I'm a co-host of Fox and Friends Weekend. Just like anybody else, there used to be a lot of reasons why I voted, whether it's taxes or the military. But today, there's really only one reason. My kids. I asked myself the question, what kind of country, what kind of future are they going to inherit? And you know, that's on me. That's on all of us. So I think in 2024, we the people need to vote like it. Honeybees are responsible for pollinating 80% of flowering plants in the United States, including more than 100 of the fruits and vegetables we rely on. And all those pollinated crops come with a huge profit of roughly $18 billion. But those benefits are at risk. According to data collected from the nonprofit group, be informed partnership between April of 2020 to April 2021, beekeepers in the US lost almost 50% of their colonies, with losses attributed to climate change harmful farming techniques, and the use of pesticides. But bee colonies aren't just dwindling here in the states. Conditions in Chile are also creating quite the buzz. Bees are dying. Bees are important worldwide. According to the Office of the US Trade Representative, the US imports roughly $2 billion worth of fruits and nuts from Chile, meaning the flow of those goods could be disrupted if their bee population dramatically decreases. Jack Yebanyas, Fox News. Artificial intelligence potentially be shaping American agriculture. Yes, the farms even. Farmers are turning to automated equipment to get the job done. Madison Alworth with Fox Business is in Pembroke, Kentucky. She's got more. Hi, Madison. Hey, good morning, Dana. You know, farming agriculture. It's the backbone of the US economy. But farmers, they're facing real struggles right now. And adco thinks the future is autonomous vehicles. I showed you that tractor in the break. And now you actually see it moving here. We have it moving up, driving all on its own, no driver inside. And this is their latest tech. This is their first piece of autonomous vehicles. What they're hoping is the value out for farmers is that right now everything is up in cost. Feed is up in cost, fertilizers up in cost, and they are facing severe labor shortages. And you can see it cut it real close, but right there, no collision. The big value add being that they can have that all run without a person inside. One last person, they have to hire one last expense. So I want to bring in Brad Arnold with adco. So Brad, let's talk about this vehicle right here. What difference would that make when it gets on a farm? Because right now you guys are an R&D. We're not yet releasing it. But what's the hope there for farmers? You know, harvest season is a super stressful time for farmers, and they add a significant amount of labor to get through the harvest season. And so when we can actually take away the need to hire a complicated role or fill a complicated role in the grain car operation, it's a significant value to the farmer. And then when you think about autonomous vehicles, you think cars, you don't necessarily think tractors. So how are you attracting engineers and talent to a farm in Kentucky? Well, we actually started with all of this technology came from a company called JCA Technologies that we acquired about a year ago. And so since then we've added dramatically to their team in Winnipeg. We've also started at Tech Hub, which is a great place to hire autonomous, autonomous engineers in Phoenix. And so we're actually able to attract a lot of autonomous engineers from automotive over into agriculture, because it's actually an industry that's got a significant purpose in producing food. So thank you so much, Brad. So that's the first piece. The hope is that by 2030 they will have an entire fleet of autonomous farm vehicles. So Democrats focused on identity politics. Mr. Trump, fortunately, seems to be focused on the issues. I think it's now Charlie Hurt, Washington Times, a pain editor, Fox News contributor and co-host of the bottom line right here on fabulous Fox Business at 6th the end, no less. And Batya Angar Sargon, journalist and author of second class. Thank you, kids. I'm tool for this. I understand any of the stuff. I'm a child of the 1950s. White women for Kamala, white dudes for Kamala, identity politics. Batya, I believe you're a woman. White woman. I know you. Are you as oppressed as white men? I mean, you tell me. What is this? How does this enhance anything to do with Kamala's victory? It is so disgusting and so racist and they want you to think that because they are dividing themselves by race to help a Democrat. It's not racist. It is. It's disgusting. But also it is a smokescreen for the class divide. We are not divided by race in this country. We are not divided left versus right. We are divided the United working class, multi racial, multi ethnic versus the elites. Wherever you see people trying to racialize things, they're trying to get you to to lose sight of the fundamental truth that as Americans more unites us as divides us and the working class has been abandoned by both sides and the Democrats have nothing to offer them. That is why they are trying to racialize this and make it about identity because they have no policy to run on. It's good. I'm not sure. That's it, folks. I can leave. I'm cut low. She's got a few good points there it seems to me. And by the way, issue politics going to win out anyway, not this identity politics. Oh, I think without a doubt, and we've talked about this before, 2016 was the most issue based election of our lifetime. And I think this one is going to probably outdo that one for exactly all the reasons that you mentioned. And there is, you know, obviously they wanted to distract. Democrats wanted to distract. Kamala Harris had the best week of politically speaking, the best week of her life. Last week, JD Vance probably had the worst week of his life in terms of the political coverage and the media coverage. And at the end of that week, the polls are essentially exactly where they were to begin with. And you know, there's only so much you can do about all this distraction. And then people are going to get back to the issues. And when they get back to the issues of inflation, the border, the economy and all these things, it's we're going to get back to a big race. Wall Street Journal, immigration Trump 53 Kamala 40. Wall Street Journal poll economy Trump 52 Kamala 40 crime Trump 48 Kamala 43. This was just taking a couple of days ago. So this stuff's not working. And the other thing is, all these people are fleeing a sinking ship. None of these governors want to be on our ticket. Roy Cooper from North Carolina, Gretchen Whitmer, they don't want to, they're fleeing a sinking ship. That's the most hidden big story of the last two weeks. You have two of the most promising Democrats in the country who have said, I'm out of here. I don't want to be on your show. Who turns down the vice presidency? Nobody does. The reason they're doing it is because they don't think that she can win. You're going to be left with Buttigieg, who just, that's it. I mean, that's white dude. I don't know what he is. I don't want to go there. I'm just going to go into trouble. Meanwhile, the Trump's are putting out a tremendous campaign now saying she's two. What's the right word? Super PAC is putting out $32 million. The campaign is putting out $10 million just for the battleground states, calling her dangerously liberal, taking a look at her record. Her record as a presidential candidate four years ago, sure, but her record with Joe Biden now, they're putting in. So they're going to remind voters on the issues, which I think is very, very smart. Last word, 15 seconds, 20 seconds. Kamala Harris is sort of a factory settings Democrat, right? She has no real views. She will change her views from one race to the next, based on what she thinks is popular. So it's really hard to say what she actually believes in. I encourage President Trump to keep hitting her on her lack of record rather than anything personal. Well, she said she wasn't ever for fracking ban. Yes, she was. We had the quote. We put it on the video last night. Charlie Hurt, Bhatia Angar. McDonald's is going to rethink its prices after sales fell for the first time since 2020. They dipped 1% in the period of April to June when compared to last year. And overall, revenues slipped 12% worldwide. The company is blaming price increases, like a big Macnail costing over $17 at some locations. Meanwhile, shoplifting has spiked across the country so far this year, even as many major crimes dropped back to pre-pandemic levels. A major national crime studies showed shoplifting in major cities across America has jumped 24% in the first half of the year. The study reviewed crime statistics from 23 cities across the U.S. Prices have to go up because the store has to cover all that added theft. Meanwhile, all that labor for all the way they're locking things up, following the 24% spike into 2024. However, shoplifting rates now stand about 10% higher than pre-pandemic levels. And summer ween is in full swing. Major retailers are already selling Halloween decorations and candy in their stores. That includes stores like Marshalls, Michaels, Fide Below, Costco, and Target. Home Depot began marketing 12-foot skeletons back in April. Spooky. That's Business, I'm CJ Poppa. A new trend in education as members of Generation Z are going back to traditional trade work. From fall 2022 to fall 2023, the number of students enrolled in vocational-based community colleges increased 16%. Jessica Varney just finished her apprenticeship as a pipe fitter last May and says she hears complaints from peers. College is expensive. I want to work with my hands and I want to learn something that I can actually use. Zach Capriani got his start out of high school working at a mechanic shop and saw opportunity. The overall industry of tradesmen work is lacking people. There's a high demand for people right now, high demand of work. A big issue right now is a number of prominent universities such as Yale, Harvey Mudd, Boston University, and the University of Miami are now costing more than $90,000 per year. College advocates note there are cheaper options inside studies showing that four-year degrees, they lead to career contentment. They find that workers who have that degree tend to be broadly more satisfied. One expert says those who work in trades may max out their earnings early unless they become the boss. If you're going to go to a trade school, unless you're going to start a small business or something like that, then you are putting some limits probably on your lifetime earnings. But with concerns about the growth of AI, another expert suggests trade jobs are likely to last long term. Trade school is definitely all for more job security right now because there's a lot of unknowns with artificial intelligence and you don't want to invest in a career track with a degree program where you don't even know if you're going to have a job by the time you graduate. The White House says college should be affordable for those who want to attend, but at many of the nation's private colleges and universities, that is getting more out of reach. In Washington, my commandual, Fox News. We are feeling the impact all across the country. It's a very big day here at the White House. With must-see insight and analysis, you won't get anywhere else. We will never be the media mob. And stay on top of the US markets with Fox Business. Watch your favorite shows live or get them on demand. Download the Fox News International app now from the Apple or Google Play stores. Also available on Amazon Fire. You know what, let Israel do it. Israel needs to do it with Hamas and with Hezbollah. And as for the US, why don't you just turn Iran's oil spigot completely off? That's what you ought to do. Starting August 6th, the Fox True Crime podcast presents Crimes on Campus. Sharing chilling stories of scandal, corruption, and murder. New episodes available every Tuesday beginning August 6th. Listen and follow at foxtrucrime.com.
