start your future and apply today at contracosta.edu/free hello again. and welcome. it's time to get together with some smart people to break down the big stories in our own way. today, we're asking, why is it so hard for some on the left to condemn objectively horrible things like anti-semitism and sexual violence? >> amid the outrage on donald trump only on day one admission this week, is he really a dictator in waiting? or just playing one? i've got a hot take why "time" magazine picked taylor swift as its person of the year and these guys can't wait to tell me why i'm wrong. the gang as you can see is all here and ready to go. so sit back, relax and let's talk about it. first, the heated debate on the israel-hamas war ripping apart liberal america. take a look at this. an airplane carrying the words harvard hates jews, flying over the school's campus. the plane hire bade group of jewish students to condemn what they call rampant anti-semitism at harvard. it is part of the growing backlash many progressives from college campuses to capitol hill are facing, for failing to punish anti-semitism and for downplaying hamas atrocities against women. >> the presidents of harvard, the university of pennsylvania, and m.i.t., grilled by lawmakers this week. >> does call for the genocide of jews violate harvard's bullying and harassment, yor no? >> it can be depending on the context. >> what's the context? >> targeted as an individual. >> it is targeted at jewish student. >> university donors say those responses reflect a morale bankruptcy. . so presidents now walking back their testimony. harvard's president stating those who threaten our jewish students will be held to account. >> i was just asking about the women. >> another fire storm over progressive congresswoman pramila jayapal's response to rape of women. >> rape is horrific. sexual assault is horrific. however, i think we have to be balanced about bringing in the outrages against palestinians. >> like the university president, pramila jayapal doing cleanup, saying she unequivocally condemned hamas's use of rape. >> with me today, podcaster, kara swisher, reihan salam, president of the manhattan institute, and national review contributing editor, "new york times" journalist and podcast host lulu garcia-navarro, and author and conservative pollster, kristen soltis-anderson. welcome back, everyone. so reihan, let me start with you, has the left gone soft on anti-semitism? >> i believe there is a serious anti-semitism problem, and it is in part a generational problem. when you look at older democrats, their views are broadly similar to republicans writ large. when you're looking at younger democrats and particularly, i'm sorry to say, democrats of color, you do see a very different set of views, and that's something that is causing huge anxiety in the democratic coalition, because i think when you're looking at president biden, when you're looking at this older generation of democratic officials, their views are at odds with the young voters they depend on and they need to energize and motivate and that's part of why we are seeing the controversies right now. >> lulu, at some universities, students face discipline, they face punishment for misusing a pronoun, so why is it that we have these university presidents so reluctant to call out genocide and say yup, if that happens on my campus, we're going to punish it. >> i think it was an absolutely terrible performance by these university presidents. they needed to have just absolutely condemned it. full stop. end of story. unfortunately, io believe that this was over three hours, this excerpt was taken out of context, and i think they are paying the price for it. >> although when the word genocide comes up, there is just a simple answer and when you throw in the word like context, it is more confusing. >> it was a disaster. >> there is a very simple answer to all of these, even if you want to get out of it very quickly and it was short of shocking that they couldn't do it. >> how do you explain it. we're talking about three pretty smart women, the presidents of harvard, penn and m.i.t., and one assumes they were prepared and -- >> maybe they weren't not that prepared. and. >> there is a difference on a campus, and in a college room, you can argue like this, in some ways, but this is a congressional hearing, and it is a very clear question. and it was not a gotcha. and they couldn't do it. >> is it just that they froze in the moment? or that they were competing pressures, to be the president of a liberal university, that you have to respond to, and that is what kept them from giving the obvious answer? >> absolutely right, the deeper problem, yes, there is a hypocrisy problem, if you talked about genocide directed against black americans and genocide directed against gays and lesbians, the conversation would have had to be very different. these are institutions that now claim to be rock rib defenders of free speech that have indulged in disinvitation, defamation, demotion of conservative voices on campus, and this happens routinely, it happens all the time. these university presidents themselves have been directly guilty of those practices. but another big problem, chris, is that when you have this philosophy, right, you have this philosophy about victims and victimizers, oppressors and oppressed, in which basically, you know, white males, asian males, are overrepresented, and other groups are underrepresented, and you champion the underrepresented, and it necessarily follows -- >> so that jews are considered in this world to be oppressors? >> the racial justice, social justice philosophy, unfortunately, makes jews the bad guys. >> what is so galling about all of this, is that over the last decade, we have seen this revolution on college campuses, and some of it has been good, right? the push around the me too movement to say we're going to take things like sexual assault more seriously. in some cases, maybe there have been campuses where due process has been trampled on, but generally the idea of believing women has certainly come into more vogue, especially on the left. and the idea that words are violence. you hear that on campuses, and on the progressive left, and yet suddenly words aren't violence when it is talking about exterminating the jews? suddenly, it's not believe all women, when video of hamas engaged in atrocities is readily available, now suddenly, oh, let hear both sides, let's put it in context, it is absolutely -- >> let me pick up on that with you, kristen. just really in the last week, we've seen this extraordinary situation, which we talked about in the piece, where -- and all thoughts to my colleague dana bash, she questioned the head of the congressional caucus, pramila jayapal, about the use of rape on october 7th and she felt the need to balance it, that was bad and so are things that are happening to the palestinians. how do you explain that? >> it is extraordinary. but it is not just that one instance. you have institutions like the united nations, that took an enormously long amount of time, organizations like u.n. women, that are supposed to be advocating for the rights of women around the world, and it took them weeks and weeks. >> amnesty international also. >> to condemn what happened. >> it cook cheryl sandberg who did that video, which was a terrible video, it was a good video, but it was tough to watch. and this is sort of, i talked about it quite a bit about, what she was doing, she wanted to call attention, and she knows she can convene people, this is sheryl at her best where she got people to pay attention and she couldn't believe that they didn't do it, and so started to go to press on it and she started to bring people together and it is very important. a lot of what you're talking about is simple communication. and empathy. but you have to stack tragedies, you're already lost. >> something deeper to talk about, lulu, this idea, if reiham is right, and i know you seldom think he is, that there is identity politics involved in here, that people are either victims or victimizers, and so therefore, our sympathy for them needs to be partial depending on their stat us. >> i don't think that there is any disagreement among this group about this particular issue. i want to be completely clear. i think that what happened here was a bit of a travesty. when we're talking about what the universities have gotten themselves into, i mean i agree, actually, i think that they have gotten themselves into very tricky territory, because they have tried to, in the past, endorse certain language, police certain language, and now, when they're faced with this, they're saying oh, wait, actually, we're not going to try to get involved in this, because this is a political issue, and so i think they're really having to look at this. >> do you think there was a difference? if the question were people on campus talking about genocide for blacks, do you think the response from the presidents of those universities would have been different? >> absolutely. >> why? >> i mean it was. >> and why? >> well, because i think -- i think, listen, i think unfortunately, what ended up happening, is that when they were faced with this, it was put into the context of the use of the word ant fadda, and what that words mean, and how that word is used by people who have a pro-palestinian cause. and so what i would -- so in that context, i think they were trying to give context, parse language, i mean i'm not defending it, i'm just trying to understand what was going on there. >> when you look at what happens when you have -- >> just to be agree -- >> when we say sex is biological and binary, that is a opinion to disagree or agree with and faculty members who have expressed that view have stripped them of tenure and elite balance within universities and this is within bounds when it comes to free speech and that is a place where these institutions have signally failed to protect those constitutional values. >> quite a revelation this week. so much on the left. on the right, the fight is on for a second case in the presidential race. and after this week's insult throwing, sharpie sign throwing debate, we're asking who should drop out of the race right now. then, helping ukraine beat russia seems like a no-brainer. but not for some republicans in congress. are they willing to let putin win? and later, tesla's new truck. made for the end of the world. a group hits the gas on their yea or nay. donald trump returned to court this week, as part of the civil trial in new york. and once again took the limelight from his republican primary opponents who just hours earlier went head-to-head in a blistering debate. but despite his big lead, most of the onstage attacks were not aimed at trump. >> love all of the attention, fellas. >> nickki haley in the line of fire. >> her donor, liberal wall street donors, they make money in china, they are not going to let her be tough on china and she will cave to the donors. >> you have a corruption problem and i think that's what people need to know. nikki haley is corrupt. >> this is a woman who will send your kids to -- >> haley said that wasn't worth responding to. but did take a swipe at the attacks on her new big name donor. >> they're just jealous. they wish that they were supporting them. >> it got so bad, chris christie jumped in to defend haley. >> we disagree about some issues and we disagree about who should be president of the united states and what we don't disagree on is this is a smart accomplished woman and you should stop insulting her. >> another republican may join the race as an independent. liz cheney leaving the door wide open. >> i will do whatever i have to do to make sure donald trump is not elected. >> lulu, now just 37 days until the iowa caucuses, it is getting serious now, and none of those candidates on the stage really making any serious headway, who should drop out of the race right now? >> they all should except for nikki haley, i think. because i've been saying this for a while, i don't know what everyone is up to, here, i mean i think chris christie is making the best anti-trump case that anyone is, including the democrats so perhaps for that reason alone, she stick it out. but at this point, it's just not going to happen for any of the other candidates and i do think that the republicans who don't want trump to be the nominee need to rally around one person and basically step aside for the good of the republic, if anything else. >> cyst, the q -- kristen, the n i have about that, you have to convince the others, if they all dropped out, would nikki haley get their support? in the end, would trump be a bigger beneficiary from someone like ron desantis dropping out then nikki haley? >> so for desantis, his supporters would split between her and haley, there are a lot of people who like ron desantis because they view him as the true conservative, the one who is going to really go fight the culture war fights, et cetera. desantis has fashioned himself as trump-like, in so many ways, to try to appeal to that lane, that it is not a guarantee that if he were to leave tomorrow, all of his supporters would say go to haley or some other trump alternative. chris christie is very different. he is kind of a nonfact in a place like iowa or south carolina. but in new hampshire, he is very appealing to those independents that are going to play a huge role in the primary. and so his continued presence in the race is really only doing one thing, making it easier for donald trump to win the nomination, by holding back some of these voters from making that pivot to nikki haley. >> kara, i know you talked with liz cheney this week, and i kind of wonder, what's her game? is she really serious? >> no. >> let me get my question out. is she really serious about running for president? >>, no i think she is being theoretical to point out that she will do anything ha it takes. she wants to light a fire under the republicans, get people serious, and i don't think she would run. mike had an interesting idea, that she runs only in states where trump is strong, where there's problems and take away votes from trump but i think she is putting it out conceptually. i don't think there is any serious -- >> are you certain, is she certain, that even if those states, that she would take more votes away from trump than she would from biden? there are people who want trump, they are going to be for trump. >> she will take the stage to weaken it. i think theoretically a bigger point is what she is making like the book and he is dangerous to the republic. >> that leads to you reihan, all this talk this week that seems to be started by an op-ed piece in the "washington post," is donald trump a threat to democracy, and in the recent town hall this week, his buddy, sean hannity was at pains to try to say to him, you know, you're not going to be a dictator, you're not going to be a bad guy, you're not going to abuse power. here is how that went. >> he says you're not going to be a dictator, are you? i said no, no, no other than day one. we're closing the border and we're drilling, drilling, drilling, after that i'm not a dictator. >> so reihan, is donald trump a dictator in waiting, or is he just playing one? >> well, look, what he was saying in that moment is something very similar to what barack obama said back in 2014. at his first cabinet meeting, he said i've got a pen and i've got a phone and what he meant by that is if congress does not do what i want them to do, i can sign executive actions, and i can use my phone to rally outside groups to create pressure on congress to get things done. and the big, deeper problem, you've seen that under president obama, under president trump, under president biden, is that congress has abdicated its responsibility. >> look -- >> dictator? >> come on. >> nobody is -- he is trying to use the term dictator and the leakage of the heritage and the groups to get rid of everything, and kash patel thing, and come get -- >> a former adviser of trump. >> and jamie vance, a persistent clown on all of this. >> vance, not the columnist. >> the columnist was fine. it was a little bit much. >> any way. >> in any case, it is very different and it is a plan to try to put the fear -- >> i want to ask you, lulu, because i just, i can feel your hackles, even though i wasn't looking at you, how do you compare what donald trump is saying and doing to obama, saying i got, after he had lost control of congress, i've got a pen and a phone? >> these are two different things. nobody asked president obama, are you a dictator, people say that you're a dictator, and in response to that, he said i have a pen and a piece of paper and i can do what i want, this was a direct question, where actually hannity was setting up a softball for former president trump and was saying, hey, people are worried about this, people are writing about this, because of some of your statements, why don't you calm him down, and his response was, actually, guess what, guys, i can do it. and it wasn't -- and you know what the most chilling part of that was? which you cut off. it was the response of the crowd. which was to cheer, because that's what they like about him. they like that he -- >> don't be -- >> they like he has authoritarian attend tendies. >> the real issue is we have a broken system and we will cede the authority under the constitution for us, the lawmakers -- >> they have a broken congressional system. and the answer is to suspend the constitution, to weaponize the justice department, and to conduct mass deportation? >> congress should try to reclaim some of its power. but the reality is, it is not just donald trump wants to put in place a lot of executive orders. the thing that worries me about the second term, to quote taylor swift, he is dressing for revenge, looking at the second term in the white house, with the idea i will do the things that i couldn't do and put in place people that will not sell me out and that's where things start to get a little bit scary. >> i think there will be a lot of taylor swift, i have a feeling. from republican politics, to policy, proof this week the party of ronald reagan is no longer about win one for the gipper. and vladimir putin couldn't be happier about it. what has happened to the gop? we'll try to answer that question next. the power goes out, and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book. who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up. plus, now through december 31st, eligible xfinity rewards members can get 25% off a storm ready wifi device. you can't let putin win. >> president biden's urgent plea to republicans in congress to approve more aid to ukraine or risk letting the russians win there, but with polls seeing most gop voters saying the u.s. is already doing too much, senate republicans blocked an emergency spending bill. a growing number of gop lawmakers not interested in helping ukraine, unless they get big concessions on border security. >> we have to be concerned with our safety at home. and we are not safe and sound and it is getting worse. >> we're more exposed here at home in the short term than putin winning in ukraine. >> reihan, the biden white house could not be clearer. you heard it from the budget director. you heard it from the president. i think before the end of the year, money for ukraine is going to run out, and yet republicans seem perfectly willing to let the year go by without any more aid for ukraine, so are they willing to let putin win? >> let me give you a noncaricature serious view of what the underlying debate is here. the underlying issue is that the united states does not have unlimited resources. you see it right now. when it comes to munitions, materiale, these are things that it takes time to build. if you want to train a welder to work in a nuclear sub, it is going to take about three and a half years to do it. this takes time. over the long term, it is not zero sum. in the near term, it is zero sum. and if you -- >> the question though. >> i'm sorry. >> sorry. >> let me, lilu, just to be clear. >> let her talk. >> and if we decide to make choices and you cannot say the germans are off the hook, the europeans are off the hook. >> excuse me. we know that the united states is the biggest supporter of ukraine and if this money is not given to the ukrainian government, then putin will win. this isn't a hypothetical. this isn't a question of maybe if, maybe when. it is a question of fact. so the fact that the gop is playing politics with this, is trying to get something on the southern border, which is utterly unrelated, to what is the most dangerous conflict in the world right now, to me, seems absolutely -- >> let me add. i met with mike esper this week, former defense secretary, this is a domino situation if there ever was, if we don't support them here, putin will go elsewhere and if he wins here and shows a lack of resolve, ronald reagan is not just spinning in his grave, he is hurdling. >> interesting that you brought ronald reagan up because i may be the only one here -- were any of you alive when he was president? >> i'm old, my friends. >> yes. >> but i was going to say, i covered ronald reagan's white house for six years, and one of his, the pillars of his platform was taking on what he called the evil empire, and especially he talked about the idea of using proxies to bleed the soviets so that the u.s. didn't have to, and here he is, in his 1985 state of the union address. >> we must stand by, all of our democratic allies, and we must not break fate with those who are risking their lives from every continent from afghanistan to nicaragua, to defy soviet-supported aggression, and secure rights which have been ours from birth. >> kara, i bet you don't know who that guy was at the end. >> i didn't see him. >> in any case, it was soviet ambassador debreenen, who was reading along in the speech as the president was saying what he was saying. but the question, which kara was talking about, here, kristen, is what has happened to the republican party? i mean the party of reagan seems to have been completely taken over by donald trump and america first. >> well, this is not a new tension on the right. so on the one hand, you have reagan, let's go fight the soviets, project american strength abroad, that's the way you find peace in the world. a thought that has been around for decades. at the same time in the '90s, you had this moment where republicans were in some cases more opposed to intervention, and actually when george w. bush first came into office, before 9/11, he ran on a foreign policy platform of let's refocus at home. so you have had, even before donald trump, this sort of thread of thought within the right -- >> aren't you shocked at the idea that republicans would be perfectly willing, some of them, because they honestly believe it, some of them because they want to tie it to the border, but they're perfectly willing to let ukraine go down the drain? >> i don't think that republicans should let ukraine go down the drain, but it doesn't surprise me that these cross-pressures from, you know, the types of folks that say fiscal concerns are number one, the types of folks that like ron paul and rand paul, before donald trump even says -- >> you know, this is not a zero sum game. >> you are babbling, and misreading the situation. what is going on we are a different position vis-a-vis china and the soviet union. the china is able to crank out surface vessels four to five times faster than we. can it is reasonable and appropriate to expect burden sharing from allies. >> i will interrupt you now. >> what happened is that europe is stepping up more -- >> we don't have enough weapons -- >> we don't -- >> that's not the argument. we don't have enough weapons. i talked to esper about this. we don't have enough weapons. but it doesn't mean we cannot understand what exactly is going to happen here if putin prevails. it is a disaster. you will be paying trillions. >> republicans want accountable and -- >> they don't want to give any more money. isn't this what splavladimir pu was counting on that, the west would eventually get tired? >> and another thing, china is counting on as well, right, they want to bleed us in this conflict as well. and we need to think about the long-term -- germany can't do a damn thing about china. only we can. we're the only ones that stand between them and hegemony if they decide to flip a switch. >> i can't believe i am saying this. we are the united states of america. we stand for this. >> you're damn right we are. and ronald reagan made choices. >> tear down this will. >> make choices of projecting american democracy and he did it over and over again. i cannot believe that i am saying that with ronald reagan but i kind of liked him. >> this is revisionist history, ronald reagan knew he couldn't be everywhere at once. he had a restrabed approach when necessary. >> the question is, reihan, if we were, let's say putin just rolls into kyiv, takes it over, and he stops there? we think that doesn't send a message to xi in china about what it can do in taiwan? >> precisely, if you're worried about china, you should be very worried about what russia is doing. >> it is crazy to believe that republicans in congress want to see that outcome. i don't think they do. >> they are acting like it. and frank tally -- >> well, because they're negotiating with an administration that has had -- >> speaking of congress, recently ousted house member george santos has a new side hustle trying to show off he's got something that is also the oxford dictionary's word of the year. our panel gives us their yeah or nay on the gig and the word. that's next. . while we like to dig into the big stories there are some headlines that are interesting. and it is time once again for the group to give us yea or nay. first, disgraced ousted congressman george santos did not waste any time with a personalized video app, just a few days after being kicked out of congress. take a look at this post. >> what keeps you down. mwah. don't let the haters get to you. haters are going to hate. and if you have haters, that means you're doing something right, girl. >> well, that would make me feel better about myself. santos new gig seems to be working with reports that at $400 a pop, he is making more now than he did in congress. so kara, yea or nay, to george santos on cameo? because depending on your answer, you may get a little message from george santos. >> i may. she is good at this. george santos is good at this. i have met with the cameo ceo. i'm fine with it. it will be over in 15 minutes. it is just a stunt. and he's such a grister. it is a perfect place for him. i like it. i like where he is now. >> reihan, as we all know george santos is about the benjamin, and what do you think about his cameo on cameo? >> well, it's disgraceful but i suppose i'm glad he's not on the dole, you know? he's got to do something. but you know, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. >> he is also making a lot less money through cameo even if it is more than he was making in congress than if he was leaving to go sit on a bunch of corporate boards. >> all right. next, you may see one of these contraptions driving down the streets, tesla's long-awaited cyber truck, finally on sale, with an early price tag of $120,000. elon musk calls it the go to vehicle for the end of the world. lulu, are you buying the cyber truck, the apocalypse? >> are you lending me $120,000? >> i'm not saying that you are actually going to get it. >> no. i find this -- >> would you get it if you could? >> no. i find it to be a terrifying vehicle, i think it is ugly. and also, i just think that the end of the world is not where i want to be sitting, you know, in this truck, kind of mowing people down. >> the best tweet about it was intel inside. the word of the year by oxford is rizz. and in case you don't know it, is short for a word you do know, charisma. so kristen, how do you feel about rizz? >> i was not in on this at first, and it doesn't sound like something you would want. it doesn't sound like a positive attribute, a thing you want to embrace in the way that charisma does. but then i saw what the words were that were like the backup choices, and it was things like swifty, prompt, and the worst one was situation-ship, so given the options, i actually think rizz is the one. >> i have to say, kara, i got on the rizz train about six months ago and felt really cool, like i was in the inside -- >> we think of rizz, we think of you a all the time. >> i think i'm driven rizz. >> it is fine. the other option, the other word of the year is authentic, merriam webster, and i like to talk about it, but rizz is over now that the old people know it. >> i knew it six months ago. excuse me. anyway, from the word of the year to "time" magazine's person of the year, taylor swift. up next, the panel tells me yo y-i'm wrong abouout why she e w pickcked and thihis could geget. jump. i like taylor swift. although i prefer her earlier songs like "you belong with me," to some of her more recent stuff. and i understand she has a huge cultural and economic force. but when "time" magazine this week named her its person of the year, i thought oh, please. first of all, hasn't taylor received enough well-deserved coverage this year? and how about some of the other finalists like xi jinping, or sam altman of open ai, but then "time" wouldn't have gotten the taylor cover and wouldn't have gotten the interview with taylor who doesn't do interviews and for me, it looks like a pure marketing play for a magazine that used to have a circulation of more than 4 million, and is now down to a little more than 1 million. and i am sure that some of my colleagues on this panel don't agree. and i know you will tell me why i'm wrong. kara, i will start with you and be gentle because i am wearing the swifty bracelet that you gave me. >> one of the issue is, it is all men, that this woman, she is 5 billion dollars in economic benefits for the united states, just in the united states, and huge social phenomenon, brought people out to concert sites and out in the public, and jeff bezos head in the box, person of the year for "time" many years ago, a big business person, big impact, what is the issue with her, they do this all the time, and the last thing, maybe trying to attract audience, you're kidding me, of course they are trying to attract audience and she a lot of people a lot of people like and consumed a lot of her content. >> in my defense, this is not about taylor, it is about "time," here is some of the breathless language that "time" magazine used in its article with the interview that it got about taylor swift. to discuss her movements, felt like discussing politics or the weather, a language spoken so widely, it needed mo context. she became the main character of the world. >> i do not think it was a good article. that said, i do think you need to give your swifty bracelet back -- [ laughter ] >> how dare you. >> i am so sorry. i think it is over for you. >> don't you think that language is a tad over -- >> i don't know the issue of criticizing taylor. >> reihan? >> honestly, i think she is a single millennial woman cultural phenomena, i get it. >> i do, too. >> but i will also say that you know, what lolivia rodrigo's music is way, better, and home school girl, listen to it, and i'm okay for taylor for a cultural phenomenon and person of the year. >> "time" magazine used to be a big deal, "time" magazine's man of the year is what they called it until 1999, i looked it up, before they suddenly got woke and called it the person of the year, used to be be a big deal. what do you make of this? >> well, i don't think changing it from the man of the year to the person of the year constitutes woke in my book. so let me push back on you briefly on that. >> in my book -- >> a smart change, first of all. but look, they made some real idiotic choices in the past, remember the year when we were all "time"'s person of the year. >> the cover was like a reflection, right? >> yes. >> like gimmick choices are not new. this is not always an honorific given to people who are good. i think there are a number of dictators good and bad. >> the ayatollah -- >> taylor swift is one of the few things that beautifies people, in an enormously worldwide, and not just in the u.s. but packing stadiums world wide. >> i think she is great. >> and the panel is back with their predictions on what will be news before it comes news. hit me with your best shot, next. you're probably not easily persuaded to switch mobile providers for your business. but what if we told you it's possible that comcast business mobile can save you up to 75% a year on your wireless bill versus the big three carriers? did we peak your interest? you can get two unlimited lines for just $30 each a month. there are no term contracts or line activation fees. and you can bring your own device. oh, and all on the most reliable 5g mobile network nationwide. wireless that works for you. it's not just possible, it's happening. welcome back. it's time for our panel's special takes on what's happening, predictions of what we should be looking out for. reihan, hit me with your best shot. >> i have something positive to say. i think this is a year of serious substantive debates and the debate between gavin newsom and ron desantis had more viewers than the republican presidential debate and we had a debate on cnn between jamal bowman and mike lawler, congressmen from new york and i think there will be a lot more as people get in the mix and there is a hunger for substantive discussion between public people. >> i sure hope so, because that's what this show is all about. lulu? >> tiktok came up with the best of the year, and i do like best of the year lists because it gives us an insight into what people are doing and it is a bit of propaganda, they did a cute sy video and everyone was smiling but cute rodents eating s spaghetti and i thought i need this at the end of the year, and check it out, tiktok's end of the year. >> how much time do you spend on tiktok? >> none of your business. [ laughter ] >> what is on your mind? >> i'm a proud florida gator, and what maked fsu -- >> florida state. >> anything that makes fsu gans, can't be wrong but the college football playoff committee eliminated both of the teams from the college football playoffs and chose to put at beam in, instead. this was controversial, because part of this is because fsu's quarterback was injured, and i'll spare you the sports details, all which to say, in florida, politicians are now getting up in arms, threatening to spend up wards of a million of florida taxpayer money fighting this. look, i can't believe i feel any sympathy for fsu but i do think they got a little screwed by all of this. at the same time, we do not need politicians getting involved. >> kara, what sur best shot from the wonderful world of technology. >> all i want to say is go blue. my son is at michigan. >> yes, you said that before. >> yes. >> go blue. i want to focus again on ai and stay on the ai train and the introduction of gemini, google's effort, finally caught up, an impressive video if you haven't seen it. >> you talked about it. this is the coolest thing i've ever seen. the guy draws things and gemini, the google ai, it recognizes them, and has a conversation back and forth. >> yes. exactly. and so that is really important. because google is the most important company in this space, and open ai chat gpt 5 and elon musk with a billion dollars. >> thank you all for being here. thank you all for being here. and we will see you right back here, next week. hello, everyone. i'm christiane amanpour in