Transcripts For FOXNEWSW Fox News Sunday With Chris Wallace 20161225

Evangelicals helped propel mr. Trump to victory. We won so big with evangelical christians. Well speak with the president of Liberty University, Jerry Falwell jr. , one of mr. Trumps top spiritual advisers about the president elects appeal to evangelical voters. Plus well ask our sunday panel to look back on a tumultuous 2016 and ahead to what we can expect from President Trump in 2017. And our power player of the week. A mission to honor our nations veterans hits the quarter century mark. I think its really its america. Its what America Needs to be. All right now on fox news sunday. Hello again and Merry Christmas from fox news in washington. Well, with terror attacks across europe, donald trump was talking this week about how he intends to keep our country safe, including plans to limit who is allowed into the u. S. Joining me now to discuss what the president elect will do is former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Mr. Speaker, Merry Christmas. Merry christmas. Before we get to the war on terror, president elect trump seems to have in some sense reset our Nuclear Policy this week after Vladimir Putin talked about building up russias nuclear arsenal, mr. Trump tweeted this. The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its Nuclear Capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes. And when asked to clarify, mr. Trump told a reporter, let it be an arms race. We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all. Question are we back in an arms race with russia . I want to point out this is the same donald trump that liberal were terrified was going to sell out to putin, who has now pivoted and said, look, to quote general mattis, we can be your best friend or your worst enemy. You want to make threatening speeches, let me show you what a threatening speech looks like, and he does it in 140 characters. The russians have been rebuilding their Nuclear Capability. We have allowed ours to weaken. The chinese have been rebuilding their Nuclear Capability. The iranians are trying to build a nuclear weapon. I think for the next president to say, you know, were going to have to systematically rebuild our Nuclear Capability is exactly right. And hes also serving notice. If he succeeds economically at making America Great again and we get back to 5 or 6 real growth, we can outproduce everybody. And i think what hes telling both the chinese and the russians is you really want to be in this competition . Because if its going to be a competition, we have the potential to win it. But a couple of questions there. First of all, the manner in which he did it. I mean you say characters. Is this really any way to conduct Foreign Policy . And, second, its one thing to talk about modernizing our nuclear arsenal. He had said that during the campaign. But expanding the arsenal that flies in the face of a half century of arms control limiting, reducing our number of weapons. Right, which has failed. Weve had arms control. The chinese have had an arms buildup. Weve had arms control. The North Koreans have developed Nuclear Weapons. The russians in the last few years have increased the capability of their systems dramatically. Theyve introduced new missiles. Theyve introduced new kinds of missiles that are designed to avoid our antiballistic missile systems. There are a number of steps theyre taking to be a warfighting capability, and we have to candidly overmatch that. Its not something we want to do, but if youre going to be in the real world. And on the tweeting thing, let me just suggest if i might we might as well get used to it. This is who he is. Its how hes going to operate. Whether its brilliant or stupid, he beat 16 rivals, and then he beat Hillary Clinton, and he beat the elite media. He aint giving it up. Do you think its brilliant or stupid . I think its brilliant because first of all, hes able very quickly over and over again to set the agenda. And at almost no cost. During the campaign, mr. Trump talked about working with putin in the war on terror. Heres a clip. We could find Common Ground with russia in the fight against isis. Wouldnt that be a good thing . Wouldnt that be a good thing . So after you heard things like that and what he said during the campaign, does mr. Trump view putin has an ally or an adversary, and what happens when he sees that russias core strategic objectives, whether its in the middle east or on nuclear arms or a whole host of subjects like ukraine are very different than our own. I think right now he sees putin as potentially either or both. There are places you compete. There are places you cooperate. This has been true by the way all through the tension with putin, weve been using russian rockets to put americans up to the space station because nasa was so screwed up and so mismanaged, we dont have an american rocket right now. So the russians have allowed us to use their rockets to get into space at the same time were yelling at each other. So you can have a lot of Different Things going on simultaneously. He also recognizes the total failure of the Obama Kerry Clinton foreign strategy in this region. You now have had a meeting in moscow of turkey, our nato alley for over a half century, iran, and russia to decide to talk about syria with zero american input. That should really trouble us that weve reached a dead end of weakness, and we have got to rethink what were doing. We began this program talking about the wave of terror attacks this week in europe, switzerland, turkey, obviously in berlin. Do you have any idea what President Trumps strategy is to fight isis both overseas and in the homeland . He has been very vague about his plans. I dont think they have a strategy. I think what they know, which is important, is that theyre going to need a strategy. They have in general flynn and general mattis and general kelly three remarkably experienced war fighters. I think theyre going to be able to produce a very aggressive strategy. They have a much better grip on reality than the Obama Administration did. But this is going to be a very hard problem. My suggestion is people should go back and look at how lincoln dealt with southern sympathizers during the civil war. We passed a sedition act, for example, which changed our ability to control people who were advocating treason. So i think were going to have to really think about what are the rules of the game and how do we succeed . We found out again apparently in the last few days that the ur europeans were looking at this tunisian before he attacked the Christmas Market in berlin. Again and again we find people we were sort of looking at, and then they go kill a bunch of folks. Lets turn to the domestic side. What do you think of the president elect intervening with individual companies that are talking about moving . And this week intervening with federal contractors on planes that had budget overruns and things like that . I want to ask you about this. Heres the experience i had wch mr. Trump recently. What about the free market . What free market when they go out and move and sell back into our company . But thats the free market. They made a decision that makes no. Thats the dumb market, okay . Thats the dumb market. Should the president of the United States be telling private businesses what to do . The president of the United States should do everything he can to Keep Companies in the u. S. , and the president of the United States should be very tough on Large Companies who have been rigging the entire process of acquisition to their advantage and to the disadvantage of the American People. Trump is going to be more like a governor than like our traditional sense of a president. Governors intervene. Theyre aggressive. Theyre in your face. I think the f35 program has been a disgrace. I think the acquisition process of the pentagon has to be totally redone. And i think that serving notice that we are not trapped by large contractors with big armies of lobbyists is going to shake up washington about as much as any single thing you could do. Lets talk about the current president , president obama. This week he banned Oil Exploration on millions of acres both in the arctic and the atlantic. Theres a lot of talk that hes about to transfer as many as 18 detainees from guantanamo to other countries. But this president , who has made heavy use of executive action, had this advice for donald trump. Listen. My suggestion to the president elect is, you know, going through the legislative process is always better in part because its harder to undo. Whats going on here with president obama . I think president obama is beginning to figure out that his legacy is like one of those dolls that as the air comes out of it, it shrinks and shrinks and shrinks. And 60 or 70 of his legacy are executive orders, almost all of which will be repudiated by trump. The things hes done this week can be turned around. It takes a little bit of smart lawyers, but theyll turn it around. Ize hes in this desperate frenzy, setting up a whole series of things to distract trump, which will make his liberal allies feel good about democrats and hate republicans when trump rolls them all back. But i think, you know, hes right. The movie lincoln has this extraordinary moment where lincoln says, look, we have to have a constitutional amendment ending slavery because we have to lock it into the constitution or it can be repeal the. I think had obama understood the centrality of that to the american system, woe have passed a very different obamacare on a bipartisan basis. He would have been a more limited president. But his legacy would have lasted far longer. Speaking of president s and legacies, how transformative a president do you think donald trump will be, and how quickly will we see whether thats the case or not . He has recruited a cabinet of winners. These are very successful, powerful people who like winning and are prepared to work very hard to win. They will face a crisis probably around march when they realize how big the swamp is and how many alligators there are. And they will then reach a you were the one who said, well, im not sure i was wrong. I was totally wrong. I blew it. I talked to him the other side, and he said, newt, come on. So i had to go on and do a Facebook Live and say i made a booboo, which i then got attacked by people for saying i mad made a booboo, but i did. He said flatly, and he tweeted again, he likes the term. Hes happy to use the term. My point is this. Everybody who comes into the city underestimates how really hard to change the city it is. I say this as a former speaker of the house who did a fair amount of change. But, boy, it was all uphill, and in the end it wore us out. Theyll reach a crisis point where theyre going to say either weve got to be more reasonable and get along with the city, or we have to become even more unreasonable and break the power structure thats opposing us. My hunch is theyll pick the latter, but that will be the decisive moment of his domestic presidency. Which way do they go . If they decide collectively that they want to break the existing power structure, they have the resources to do it, and it will be then the kind of presidency youll love covering. I have to say i feel like a cub reporter already. Ive never seen any of this before. Timely, weve got about a minute left. I want to talk about you. You say you will be the senior strategic planner for this administration. But when reporters have followed up and asked transition officials, they say theres no such formal or informal role, so what will you be doing . Ill be planning and trying to focus on the things i think are strategically the most important for the administration. And hasnt trump, president elect trump, given you that charter . Weve talked about it several times. I suspect ill get a letter from him once hes president. But i think my access is fairly overwhelming, and my ability to reach across to the house and the senate and to governors and state legislate ors i mean we have a whole system here. Thats the nature of the american system. You know, my first big step towards this will be a series of speeches at heritage on trumpism and what is trumpism, and then probably probab problem a book in the late spring. Were going to get 4,000 federal employees. They need to understand how different trump is and its not just a personality quirk. It is a way of thinking and a way of doing business, and its learnable, but its very different from what weve seen in the past. Speaker gingrich, thank you. Thank you for your time, and thank you for joining us on Christmas Day. And have a happy new year. And happy new year to you as well. Up next, well bring in our sunday group to discuss president elect trumps plans and the team he is putting together to implement them. Plus, what would you like to ask the panel about president obamas push to protect some key legacy items during his final days in office . Just go to facebook or twitter, fox news sunday, and we may use your question on the air. I sure had a lot to think about. What about the people i care about . Including this little girl. And what if this happened again . I was given warfarin in the hospital, but wondered, was this the best treatment for me . So i asked my doctor. And he recommended eliquis. Eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. Yes, eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots. Eliquis also had significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. Both made me turn around my thinking. Dont stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. Eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. Dont take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. If you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness, or muscle weakness. While taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily. And it may take longer than usual for bleeding to stop. Seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. Eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. Tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. Eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots. Plus had less major bleeding. Both made eliquis the right treatment for me. Ask your doctor if switching to eliquis is right for you. Youve known my plans all along and ive been proven to be right, 100 correct. Whats happening is disgraceful. President elect trump saying hell stand by his plan for extreme vetting of people trying to come into the u. S. From countries with a history of terrorism. That after a series of attacks this week in europe. And its time now for our sunday group. Syndicated columnist george will, gerald seib, julie pace who covers the white house and the transition for the associated press, and the cofounder of the web magazine the federalist, ben domenech. Ben, lets start with the president elects comments late this week about lets have a new arms race with russia flying in the face of a half century of arms control and doing it as Newt Gingrich said in 140 characters. Your thoughts about the policy and the way of conducting it. Well, i think that, you know, certainly this is one of the early days of experiencing what Foreign Policy discussions are going to be like under the trump presidency, which i think are going to be very different than they have been in the past under a lot of other president s. I think that one of the things were going to have to get used to is the idea that when Donald Trump Tweets something, its going to be followed up by explanations of what he actually meant within those 140 characters by his supporters. I think in this case when it comes to modernizing our Nuclear Program and understanding our position visavis russia, this does send a message that things are not going to be necessarily all fine and dandy when it comes to our relationship with putin or with other world leaders. I think the more important and interesting part of the discussion is another thing that you brought up in your conversation with the former speaker, which is what is our policy going to be as it relates to these continued terror attacks that weve seen play out over the past week . We have a situation now in europe where you had an individual who was on all of the necessary watch lists, who was tagged as being someone who is dangerous, who had dealt with, you know, a car robbery in tunisia, a deportation issue when it came to italy, a terror probe when it came to germany. These are all situations that should have had this individual much higher on the appreciation of our european allies as someone who resembled a threat. I think the more interesting and challenging question Going Forward sp what trumps policy going to be towards situations like that, not just in europe but here as well. On both nuclear arms and also on the war on terror, when you see what trump has been saying, when you see the team hes putting together on National Security, do you see the outlines of a strategy of a Foreign Policy . First of all, i think you have to view what president elect trump is doing as signalsending, not policy making. This is signal sending and positioning. On the nuclear question, for example, totally lost in the conversation is theres already under way a 30 trillion Nuclear Modernization program and congress ask proep agreed to a couple years ago. I think what hes saying is not im creating some new policy on nuclear arms, but im sending a signal to the chinese, to the russians, the iranians, to the North Koreans, were not going to fall behind in a Nuclear Arms Race if theres going to be one. There was this rap in the campaign, dont take him too literally. I think theres still an admonition out there, dont take him too literally. Do you agree with that, george . Dont take him too literally . Its hard to know what hes said so far because he said its going to expand and improve. We all know that Nuclear Weapons decay. They age and have to be brought up to date again. So as jerry says, this is already baked in the policy. Theres 108 billion to be but not the expansion part. The idea of modernization is, but when he talks about expansion and says, you know, were ready for an arms difference, thats different. That is very different. In fact, it could be things change. 40 years ago we had this policy. Maybe now with nuclear reactors, it ought to be change. But whats a little bis disconcerting is what mr. Gingrich considers a virtue is that its done in 140 characters. If were going to change National Policy on the most awesome and frighteni aspect of national existence, these kinds of weapons, then it would be nice to see it issue after deliberation with people who have thought about this for a long time rather than as what seems to have been a response to something a few hours earlier said by mr. Putin. George, i want to continue with you about president obama and his moves this week to Ban Oil Drilling on millions of acres in the arctic and atlantic and very serious talk about transferring as many as 18 prisoners out of guantanamo. We asked you for questions for the panel, and heres what we got from monica on facebook. What is obamas thinking after the American People clearly rejected his failed policies by continuing with his agenda in his last days in office . George, how do you answer monica . First about gitmo, that must be one of his principal frustrations because this is a limit of president ial power where president ial power is presumptively at its greatest, connecting to National Security. There were 780 people in gitmo, i think, by george w. Bush. Its now down to 59. This would reduce it to 42. Its not closed, but close enough for government work. Drilling, the president likes and his party likes to remove fossil fuels from the hand of consumers, and theyd like to expand governments control over things such as the outer Continental Shelf so it all fits. Monicas question is why is he still doing this . Short answer is hes still president even though mr. Trump seems to question at at this point because hes, i think, exercising power, not just signaling. But first of all, the progressive view of the presidency is that what is not explicitly forbidden by the constitution is permitted. Thats from Teddy Roosevelt to Woodrow Wilson on. They believed that. And monica says, well, what about the consent that was sort of withdrawn by the election . Good progressives dont take consent that seriously because progressivism is ruled by experts who are needed because the people consenting to the Political Class dont quite know what theyre doing without the guidance of experts. Ive got to say, monica, you got a heck of an answer from george will. That was an extended answer. Julie, what is the mood in the Obama Administration at this point . How worried are they that, to use a phrase i used with donald trump a couple of weeks ago, hes going to take a wrecking ball to the obama legacy, and to what degree do they think request these steps at the last minute, they can lock in some of that legacy. Theyre incredibly worried which is why theyre taking some of these steps right now. With most of the things youre seeing the president do over the last few weeks, he cant lock things in permanently, but he can make them harder for President Trump to remove. I think thats what youre seeing. Create enough obstacles that it becomes too difficult to focus on overturning the drilling ordinances and push him in a different direction. But on some of these things, gitmo is an interesting example. Basically when hes trying to do is say there are so few people that are going to be left here that the cost will be so high that republicans and President Trump, who has talked about waste and government spending, may actually decide to close it. Hes looking for ways to make his legacy stand up even if President Trump isnt going to say, yeah, im keeping obamas policies. I just want to pick up on this question of the mood. Is the sense whether its the president or his top aide, is there a feeling there that the barbarians are at the gate and about to take over . I think theres a division between some people in the staff and obama himself and maybe some of his more senior advisers. Certainly i think theyre still at the staff level, still coming to grips with this idea that there was such a rejection of the president s legacy and that so many things that theyve been working on are probably going to be at stake. The president himself is taking a bit of a more measured view of this. Hes in conversation with president elect trump a lot, trying to explain the theories behind some of his actions, and i think that he hopes we dont know if this will hold. But he hopes that when trump actually gets in office he keeps saying hes going to have a transformation. And i dont know if transformation is the right word, but certainly you would imagine that when you actually are in the oval office and all of these decisions really are on your desk, that there is more of a sense of responsibility that comes with it. John adams has said that you would never congratulate a friend on winning the office of the presidency. I think that could be playing into this a bit. But really i think whats going on on the left right now is an ark type of what happened to ivanka trump this past week, someone yelling at her on a plane that your father is ruining the country. He hasnt taken office yet. He hasnt done anything yet. I think the left is still dealing with whiplash from this election, and a lot of people who are under president obama havent woken up yet. Let me say that was the height of bad manners, and im glad those guys got kicked off the plane. You know what, somebody is traveling on a plane. Leave them alone. Exactly. We have to take a break here. Well see you a little later, panel. Up next, 80 of white evangelicals voted for donald trump in this election. Well talk with the president of the Largest Christian University in the world, Jerry Falwell jr. , about why he thinks mr. Trump will be better for social conservatives than Ronald Reagan. When are they leaving . Grilled cheese and campbells tomato soup go together like grandchildren and chaos. Made for real, real life. A look outside the beltway at Donald Trumps Maralago Club in palm beach, florida, where the president elect is spending the holidays with his family. Our next guest, Jerry Falwell jr. , is president of Liberty University and a member of mr. Trumps evangelical advisory board. Mr. Falwell, Merry Christmas and welcome to fox news sunday. Merry christmas to you, chris. Thank you. Last january, donald trump spoke at your Liberty University. Heres a clip. Were going to protect christiani christianity, and i can say that. I dont have to be politically correct. Now, you were one of the first prominent evangelicals to endorse him, and for the rest of the campaign, other leaders of your faith as well as a lot of students or some students, i should say, at Liberty University criticized you, especially after the release of that access hollywood tape. But you never wavered. How come . I just saw in mr. Trump someone who really loved the American People, who was for the working man, the common man. I saw that early on. He spoke at liberty in 2012 as well, so i had gotten to know him over the years. And i just really believe it was sort of a gamble because i didnt know where hed come down on all the issues. But because i believed he was a good man, i believed he would come down on the right side of the issues, and hes done that in the last year. And ive been proud of him, and i just think it was like i said, it was a big risk for me, but so much was at stake. I couldnt afford to stay silent. Lets look at the exit polls from Election Night a little over a month ago. As you can see there, donald trump got a higher percentage of the white evangelical vote than mitt romney did four years ago or mccain before him or even george w. Bush in 2004. How do you explain that . Well, he made it very clear who his Supreme Court picks would be if he was elected. I think that was a big factor. Some of the social conservatives on the platform committee, the Republican National Committee Convention told me that not since 2004 has any republican candidate allowed them to set the platform without interference. But donald trump was the first one who had done that in a long time. That was another good signal. And then the other factors you know, even added to the platform the repeal of the Johnson Amendment which has been used by government to silence conservatives and pastors and conservative universities like the one nonprofit universities like the one that i had. So all those things, he just they just resounded with evangelicals and with christians. And my wife noticed as shes done her Christmas Shopping this year that more of the retailers are saying Merry Christmas. Theres a new hope, an optimism. Theres a good spirit in america, and i think thats coming from his lead. I think you would agree that mr. Trump is no student of theology. I want to play a clip for you of an interview he did last year with the christian broadcasting network. Here it is. God is the ultimate. I mean god created this. You know, heres the Pacific Ocean right behind us. Nobody, no thing, theres nothing like god. But you say, mr. Trump you think probably your word will be better for social conservatives as president than Ronald Reagan was. Theres a contrary view, i dont have to tell you, that he doesnt really care about this. That he said it buzz thecause t would help him get elected. But he cares about issues like trade and National Security more than he does about issues like abortion or gay rights, which he was a late convert to. Whats your feeling about that . Well, like i said, he told us what Supreme Court justices he would appoint. Thats about all a president can do on the abortion issue is to appoint the right justices. You know, he never pretended to be a theologian. I said all through the campaign were not electing a pastor in chief. Its like when you have a sick child. You look for the best doctor for that child. You dont look for the doctor that shares your faith or your theology. Thats what i think we have to do with government. We have to find the candidate who is most likely to support all the values that we hold dear. And, you know, evangelicals arent that much different than the general population. Theyre concerned about the issues you just mentioned trade, immigration, terrorism, all the things that the general population was interested in. And so its not like evangelicals only vote on one or two issues. They vote on all the issues just like let me just pick up on that if i may. Excuse me, mr. Falwell, because youve gotten some controversy with other evangelical leaders about supporting the nomination of Rex Tillerson to be the secretary of state even though, as a board member of the boy scouts, he succeeded in lifting the ban on gay scouts. Why doesnt that concern you . Well, ive said that watching trump assemble his cabinet has been the most exciting thing because hes brought in the captains of industry. Hes brought in the leaders from every walk of life. It reminds me of the Basketball Dream Team from the 1992 Barcelona Olympics when america was finally allowed to let professional athletes play. They beat every team by an average of 44 points, and thats what i see. I think what trump is doing with his cabinet is assembling a dream team. I think scott pruitt is im especially excited about his appointment. If i may, before but but tillerson. Back to tillerson, his position on social issues, i dont believe are relevant in the position of secretary of state. I dont think hell ever have to weigh in on any of those issues. I think hes going to be out cutting deals like he did as the ceo of a Global Enterprise with exxon, and i think thats what we need in that position. I dont think his position on social issues will ever make a difference as secretary of state. The North Carolina Legislature Just failed to repeal the law thats known as house bill 2, which would ban people from going into bathrooms unless their gender on their birth certificate matches the bathroom theyre in. Is that something that you think states should get involved in . Well, i think each state, of course, is going to make their own decision on that. But if you follow that logic to its conclusion, does that mean that men will be able to play on Womens Basketball teams . I mean you have to draw a line somewhere, and i think the concern of the North Carolina legislature is that men, women, and children are im sorry that women and children are protected from men coming into womens shower rooms, and it makes sense. I havent studied it closely exactly what the bill says, but it just seems like common sense to me. Lets talk about your school, liberty, which as we mentioned earlier is the Largest Christian University in the world. And i want to put up some numbers. Since you succeeded your father in 2007, enrollment has increased from 9,600 to 15,000 residential students and from 27,000 to 98,000 online. Mr. Falwell, why do you think there is such a great and apparently growing demand for a Christian Education . Because its so rare in Higher Education. Mayor bloomberg in his commencement speech at harvard a couple of years ago chastised the ivy league because 96 of their faculty and staff had donated to the Obama Administration. His point was how can we have Academic Freedom and Political Correctness thats my paraphrase side by side . The two cannot coexist. And when you have everybody in major universities thinking the same way and conservatives are ridiculed when they speak up, i dont think thats Academic Freedom. So i think the reason liberty has prospered so much is because its an alternative. Its something where Free Expression of ideas is allowed, where Academic Freedom is promoted, and i think its just the fact the chronicle of Higher Education said last year that libertys strength is in the fact that it doesnt try to be like other universities. They said that our Business Model is probably the future of Higher Education in america. So weve been able to use that Business Model to make liberty one of the most prosperous universities in the country, one of the five largest universities, and were one of only about 70 thats rated doublea by Standard Poors and moodys, but its only because we dont try to be like everybody else. Finally, and weve got less than a minute left, sir. Youre not a pastor, but as the president of Liberty University, i wonder about your thoughts about christmas on this Christmas Day for your students and for our audience. Well, we have to remember christmas the reason we celebrate it is because its to recognize that gods greatest gift to mankind through his son, jesus christ, that provides the hope for redemption, forgiveness, eternal life, and i think that we can never forget jesus, and the great commandment taught that were supposed to love our neighbors as ourselves. I think if w by that commandment, that we would see a totally different world. You know, he taught personal charity. It means he didnt say go vote for somebody who is going to take money from your neighbor and give it to the poor. He said, you help the poor. So it doesnt absolve us to vote for somebody who is going to promote welfare. You know, its our job to help the poor, and i think thats what christmas is all about. And i think the electors the other day gave america a great Christmas Present when they made it official that donald trump will be president in january. Theres a new spirit of hope and optimism in the country like ive never seen, even among people who didnt support trump. And i think thats encouraging. Mr. Falwell, thank you. Thanks for your time and Merry Christmas to you and your family, sir. Thank you, chris. Merry christmas to you. Thank you. When we return, well bring back our panel to explain what happened this year and what to look for in 2017. 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Every single american will have the opportunity to realize his or her fullest potential. The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer. President elect trump promising in his victory speech to renew the american dream. Were back now with the panel. Well, george, i think its fair to say you made it very clear during the course of this year how you felt about donald trump. But putting that aside, how do you explain his victory . Why did he get elected president . He got elected in part because he had a weak and untalented opponent who made tactical mistakes regarding some crucial states, wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania, and she promised couldnt institute when the country figured were on the wrong track and want change and not continuity. All that said, he ran a brilliant campaign. It was an antecedentless he tells it like it is, and you could fill in the antecedent to the pronounce it. The transition has been a kind of shrug since then, saying, never mind. Were not going to appoint a special prosecutor to lock her up. Were not going to deport 11 Million People out of the country in two years doesnt matter because what he brilliantly understood whats the power of social media. One of the consequences of his victory will be, i think, that well hear very little from now on about Campaign Finance regulations and the power of money in politics. He was badly outspent because he understood you could go around that on the new platforms and make 30second Television Spots marginally important. Julie, why did donald trump win . How do you explain it . And less so, why did Hillary Clinton lose . I think there were a couple reasons. I think, one, he did see that there was anxiety in the country on a bunch of different fronts. Economic anxiety, anxiety over immigration, anxiety over terror threats that feel different than what we maybe have become accustomed to. And i think that he was authentic. You never felt with donald trump like he was speaking based on what he saw in internal polling or based on what he saw in focus groups, and he understood that for a lot of americans, democrats and republicans, they look at washington and dont really believe anything that they hear. And he was an antidote to that. And i think that that resonated with a lot of people regardless of the actual words that were coming out of his mouth, the mere fact that he was willing to challenge democrats and his own party, i think, was really appealing. Lets turn weve been talking about 2016. Lets turn to 2017. Jerry, you and i are old enough to remember when Ronald Reagan came to this town, and Clark Clifford, a big democratic lawyer, an insider famously dismissed him as an amiable dunce. I have to tell you that ive been to some Christmas Parties the last couple of weeks talking to politicians of both parties, talking to some of our colleagues in the media who are dismissing trump the same way and talking about what a disaster hes going to be as president. Im sure youve had that same experience. What do you think are the chances that they are going to be as wrong as Clark Clifford was about Ronald Reagan . Well, you and i lived through the reagan experience with george. We all did. I think there was an evolution in the reagan presidency, but there was also an evolution in reagan the president. But i think the key was that Ronald Reagan was smart enough to surround himself with people who made up for whatever deficiencies he had, and he had a vision. He had an ideology. Donald trump doesnt have an ideology or a vision. Hes transactional. It will be different. Is that going to be more effective or less effective . I dont know. But i think the parallel to reaganism and the reagan presidency falls down there. Theres not some ideological north star for the trump presidency. Theres going to be getting business done. But there was an underestimating of Ronald Reagan as a person and a leader, and i wonder if there isnt the same about donald trump. Well, i mean weve been through a year of understating donald trump, right . So theres ample reason to think that will continue. You know what, donald trump really understood that all the other campaigns did not really understand wasnt that there was an idea there was a desire for change or that there was a desire to bring in an outsider. Other campaigns, other candidates got that. What he understood was the anger in the country, and he tapped into that, and then he stoked it. Now, can you continue to do that as president . Is that a safe thing to do as president . Thats a big question well confront in 2017 and 2018 and beyond. Chris, the biggest loser in 2016 was washington, d. C. And its not even close. The norms and assumptions they have about politics, about the way its supposes to work, were retirely rejected by a jacksonian revote of the American People who have become frustrated with what they felt like was a city to play to their interests during Campaign Years and then ignore them once they got into office. I think what we saw was donald trump tap into the anxieties of an American People who are very much aware that we are at a period in time now where Labor Force Participation is at near 40year lows. You have 95 million adult americans who are out of the workforce. You have a rise in racial tension. You have a rise in economic anxiety. You have a rise in disgust and distrust for our institution, and they wanted someone who represented a dramatic change. Theyve sent their message to washington. Were now going to see whether donald trump is actually able to deliver. Thats a good way to campaign, but how do you transform that into accomplishments as president . I think were going to see his approach as it plays out over the coming months, and were going to have to assess it as it is. I think weve made the mistake all along of judging a lot of decisions hes made too early, where we should have been more humble, i think, and looking at the bigger picture. Thats in very short supply in washington. I think we should have humility about this. The reality is hes naming a lot of people who have achieved a lot of great things in industry or have experience within the military. Were going to have to assess whether these kind of change agents, just as we saw with new people coming in Andrew Jacksons revolt in the pass into washington, whether theyre able to come into these institutions and change them or whether they are changed by them. I do think theres going to be some disappointment who took things in the campaign literally. Theyre not necessarily going to happen. There will be a period somewhere down the line that, oh, that didnt happen. You said it was going to happen. It didnt happen that way, because its a leal unrealistic. George is the only persother person here other than myself who covered andrew jackson. I think its fair theres a jacksonian streak in this country. Born fighting is the title of the book about them. Their truck yew lent people, and theyre truck lens was heard this year. I think ten years from now people may look back and say the big loser this year was not washington. It was brussels. That the most important vote taken this year was not november 8th but june 23rd when the british left the European Union and began the unraveling of that project. And with the terrible attack this week in berlin and what that says about migrants and pi migrant policy and the open door, thats going to continue, isnt it. It is. I hasten to add that i heartily supported brexit. This was not the total loss of a year. Our power player of the week. Honoring americas veterans this christmas season. Plus, a holiday visit from the wallace grand kids. You wont want to miss it. Its a christmas tradition here to share the story of how one family has found a way to express the meaning of the holiday season. Its a moving example of love for our country and personal generosity. Once again, here is our power player of the week. We wouldnt have the opportunities if it wasnt for the people who fought for us and who gave their lives for us. Its that plainspoken wisdom that has driven morrill wore ses ter on a mission. Each december, he places wreaths at Arlington National cemetery, and thousands of volunteers are there to help him. I think a lot of people think like i do. They just want to they appreciate the veterans and they want to show it. This story begins back in 1962, when worchester, then a 12yearold paper boy from maine, won a trip to washington. What impressed him most was arlington, its beauty and dignity, and those rows and rows of graves. Every one represents a life and a family and a story. They arent just tombstones. Those are all people. 30 years later in 1992, worchester was running his own Wreath Company in harrington, maine. But as christmas approached, he had a bunch left over. These wreaths were real fresh, just made, and i just didnt want to throw them away. He thought of arlington and all those graves. When the cemetery approved, he and a dozen volunteers drove the wreaths down and laid them on the headstones. And so it continued for years until a few christmases back when an air force sergeant took this picture, which ended up on the internet. It kind of struck a nerve and people emailed it to each other, and it really went around the world. We were there the next year as he and his workers at the worchester Wreath Company loaded up 5,265 wreaths. Then they embarrassed on what worchester calls the Worlds Largest veterans parade, a 750mile journey that at some points attracted more than 100 vehicles. And when they got to arlington, so many people wanted to participate. The ceremony you about to witness is an army wreath laying ceremony. For years, worchester paid for all of this out of his own pocket, and he started wreaths across america, sending hundreds to cemeteries and War Memorials around the country. But he will need help to reach his new goal. I think around 2. 7 million graves, and thats a tall order to decorate 2. 7 million graves. But youd like to do it, wouldnt you . I really would, yeah. Sometime, i dont know how, but, hey, you know how long are you going to keep doing this . Im going to keep doing it for as long as i work, and then i know my family is going to continue. So it will be here for a long time. This is the 25th year Morrill Worchester has taken on his christmas wreath project. This month, more than 800,000 volunteers helped place more than 1. 2 million wreaths on veterans graves in all 50 states and overseas. And after going to arlington last week, morrill dropped by to discuss why this project is still growing after a quarter century. I think its really its america. Its what America Needs to be. You know, theres a lot of people that have roots in the military, that have veterans that have served and so on, and they just want to you know, to spend a little time remembering those people and being at the cemeteries all over the country and just saying their names out loud and keeping them alive. When i first asked you this, we were both a bit younger. How long are you going to keep at it . Well, as long as the good lord will let me. Ill do it for as long as i possibly can, and then my family is behind me. And theyre going to keep right on going. This will never stop. Its what the country is all about. I mean we have to know where weve been and what weve been given in order to go forward in a meaningful way. Whats been given to us so that we can have what we have, and all down through the history of the country. And now another christmas tradition. Heres a look from the last two years at all five of the wallace grandkids. And now here they are again, and they keep growing. Libby and caroline and sabine and james and william. From our family to yours, have a very Merry Christmas, and well see you next fox news sunday. Very well done. All right, guys. Three, two, one. Merry christmas welcome to a special hour of an american journey. Im jon scott. Merry christmas and a very happy new year. Im jenna lee. Were in brooklyn, new york, where more than 125 years al, laborers toiled for 14 years to build this bridge connecting brooklyn and manhattan. At least two dozen workers died in the effort. The bridge spans the east river, which played an Important Role in the american revolution. Here a young general named George Washington cross the over to manhattan and thwarted the british advantag