Strassel and bill. Bill, where do these races stand . Bill the polls that are out show they are pretty close. I think that close but we had an editorial suggesting that if they dont win, donald trump be blamed. I would say the president has a greater interest in almost anyone seen these republicans win. One is, hes going to get blamed if they lose. Second, immigrants promised basically to be the anti trump, undo all his stuff and they will resort to really radical steps like abolishing the filibuster or packing the court we dont get our way. Mitch mcconnell, a senate run by Mitch Mcconnell would be the biggest obstacle about that. What we will learn of georgia in january joe biden, will he have no check and run the bernie table on the platform or will he have a check and have to compromise and fight for everything . Paul kim, that seems to be the points they are making. You need to have a check on some of the most extreme demands in the pelosi house and sanders agenda but heres the complication. The president is attacking the governor and secretary of state, also a republican and they are not helping enough returning the president ial Election Results in some of his lawyers, at least people who support him say dont vote because your votes are no longer safe. How much harm is a doing to the gop candidates . Kim it is a terrible idea because in this election, just as with the president ial election, is going to be about turnout. We know democrats, weve got groups out there already rally their base, making sure votes are headed out, absentee folks are headed out to every democrat and encouraging them to get back in. That operation is huge, widespread. Republicans will need every vote they can get, in particular the donald trump base, the rural votes that were so important to him. Any suggestion that its not safe to vote for there should be a protest against the vote is a recipe for damaging these republicans that potentially lose the senate. Paul dan, what you expect to hear from donald trump tonight . Also, what do republicans in the senate want to hear from donald trump . [laughter] dan thats the 64 billion question. I think what they want to hear is the president basically keeping to script. Im sure a good script is being written for him. Hell start to extend the rise and if the remarks are about the election being stolen and he gets a lot of applause for that, then the tenor of the speech and the purpose of the speech begins to change. The purpose, all eyes are on President Trump and expectation that he is the one guy who can deliver these two senate seats for the republican. Hes taking ownership this evening, one way or another. If the two candidates win, it will be an enormous plus for donald trump Going Forward. If they lose, hes going to own that as well. That will mean possibly, though he doesnt like to admit it, the president ial election will have been lost and a senate election, which is almost at the levitt of this president ial level will have been lost. I think it will make his road Going Forward over the next four years in politics much deeper than he wanted to be. The expectation and hope will be that he basically focuses on the election in georgia and does less on agreement over the president ial piece. Paul bill, if the republicans take to the senate, then i think donald trump has the argument, gained seats in the house, republicans. I helped hold the senate even though i lost and hell say of course, that i was cheated but the narrative changes substantially if you get democratic control of the sena senate, they can pass tax increases, huge spending increases. They can forgive student debt and they may not be able to overturn the filibuster but you never know. Bill also about packing the court, one of his greatest achievements was putting three people on the Supreme Court and the other judges he appointed. This is a 24 for donald trump. One, if he doesnt succeed there, these people are just going to undo a lot of his big achievements. Second, i think as dan alluded to, it would allow him after a defeat in the election to go out on a winning note and if he has the hope for 2024, i think it is a lot better to go out having contributed to a Republican Senate and check on the democrats power then to sort of grouse like the clinton about 2016 all the time. I think theres a lot at stake in the lot for donald trump at stake. Paul thank you all. When we come back, attorney general william barr making headlines as he appoints a special counsel in the russia probe. President trumps claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 race. Asked me that in a number of weeks from now. A busy week for attorney general bill barr who alerted Congress Tuesday that he has named john, a special counsel the investigations into the origins of the fbis 2016 russia probe. That designation, allowing durham to continue his work into a Biden Administration. Attorney general also making headlines with comments on the 2020 race of President Trumps claims of widespread voter fraud telling the Associated Press to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election. Kim, let me start with you on the john durham special counsel designation. How significant is this . What does it mean . Kim it is really important. While i am not a big fan of special counsel but in this case, you can argue while bill barr elevated john durham is providing the only conduit that we will get, final answers on what happened in 2016 and the russia probe because with the Biden Administration, you know it will have ongoing requests from congress, they are not going to be transparent or release any more information. Joe biden would be under immense pressure to get rid of john durham, to shut that down, elevation to special counsel make it much harder and allows durham to help daytoday independence over the investigation. He can only be gotten rid of if you can show cause that he has somehow acted inappropriately in office show it assures should be able to get an answer about what happened in the last election. Paul you follow durham closely, kim, one of the questions i keep getting his wife does durham take so long to produce results . One of the answer i have received from my sources is that covid slowed him down because he couldnt convene a grand jury. Former deputy fbi director, come on in. If you dont have the threat of a grand jury, they say sorry, we wont. Rather not. What else are you hearing about why its taking so long . Kim that is absolutely the case coupled with the fact that durham is a very thorough investigator and he has come across new leads and felt they needed to be tracked down. Those were further delayed by the covid situation you mentioned. Finally, people have complained that this is somehow politicized. The guys a straight up prosecutor and made a decision not to release any sense of findings any runup to the election. This has passed the original plan to be done by summer but now we will get answers at some time and it guarantees he will continue to do a thorough job. Paul dan, the next attorney general after january 20, when he or she is confirmed, could fire durham but there would be a political price to pay for that. Dan there would be a political price. I dont think they will fire durham. My question is whether they would simply let the durham investigation fade away. What he is doing is unprecedented. Getting the highest levels of government. The fbi, the department of justice, the cia. Nothing like this has ever been done but his report when hes done will be forwarded to the attorney general. This will be joe bidens attorney general and this will be essentially the people that john durham is investigating and it is impossible for me to on think that there is any incentive on the Biden Administration to make that report public. This would basically incriminate officials, but the press corps as well. Reports on the Biden Administration. They are the ones who took the leak originally and laid them out in front of the american people. Im ready pessimistic about eventually getting to the bottom of it under a Biden Administration no matter what john durham reports. Paul bill, lets turn to the other news this week saying that his investigators have not fou found, fraud not large enough to overturn the election. It didnt sit well with the president , as you saw but pretty brave of barr to say that thats exactly what he believes. Bill writes. He did say they are investigating different things. They havent found anything on a widespread basis. It is also interesting one of the things not reported in what he said, he is not sure the department of justice is necessarily the remedy for this, if there is fraud and so forth. You think it is more state recounts and lawsuits, not necessarily a criminal issue. So people immediately turned to the department of justice, hes not sure that is the primary vehicle to discovering whats been done in rectifying it. Paul kim, nobody and governme government, very few, i think nobody has taken more hits for donald trump and william barr. More abuse from the press and from democrats were standing on principle. Now the president saying he doesnt trust bill barr anymore . Is that really the way he should go out handling barr . Kim no. He should be thanking him. Bill barr is one of the best things that has happened to the Trump Administration. One of the reasons we will get answers in the 2016 election. For that, everyone should give him gratitude. Paul thank you all appreciate it. When we come back, new york citys allergy schools are set to reopen monday after bill de blasio reverses course. Whats behind his change of heart and what new evidence is showing about the effects of Remote Learning on student achievement. In a land not so far away, people are saving hundreds on the most Reliable Network with xfinity mobile. They can choose from the latest phones or bring their own. And because they get nationwide 5g at no extra cost, they live happily ever after. Again, again. Your wireless. Your rules. Your way to stay closer together this holiday season. Switch and save up to 400 a year on your wireless bill. And get 300 off when you buy the Samsung Galaxy note20 ultra 5g. Learn more at xfinitymobile. Com. New york citys Elementary Schools set to reopen monday for in person learning. Mayor bill de blasio reversing course after parents protested his decision to abruptly close Public Schools last month amid the citywide spike in covid19 cases. Despite data that shows schools are not major spreaders of the virus. All this is a growing body of evidence suggests Remote Learning is taking it toll on americas children with a new report saying students have lost the equivalent of a halfyear of math instruction during the pandemic. Lets bring in jeannie allen, founder and ceo of the centers for education. Welcome back. Lets start with the evidence on the transmissibility for students to teachers and so on and classrooms. Clear evidence coming out now that it is not that high risk. No, not only are they not super spreaders, when there are increasing staph infections, as a result of them coming from outside the school, not something they are getting in the school. Its more to do with adult behavior than with carefully set up schools which we know are much more safe than anyone thought before. Millions of data points coming out being collected across the country that continue to show when schools are in person, there is not high infection for the kids or adults. Paul when you say safe ways, you mean masking when appropriate, a certain amount of distancing, you dont necessarily have lunch time where everybody is bunched together, teachers are not bunched together, right . Absolutely. Also, when you can be outside, lots of places in the southwest could be outside, there is no reason for students to have to be inside or not be able to be outside and carefully monitored so what we have seen from schools who have done it right, charter schools, archdiocese across the country, you can do in Person School effectively. What we are seeing, because will de blasio is nothing new. When failing schools, districts try to do anything, they tend to fall down on the job and underscores why parents are so important in the equation. Huge victory for parents able to finally turn bill de blasio being pushed in a corner, looking at the studies that show were strong unions, schools are much more likely to be closed. Paul i want to ask you about that in a second but lets go to Remote Learning evidence because it does seem theres piling evidence that students are really suffering and if you lose a halfyear of schools and that is on average. Some of these kids, a full year for sure. They still going to be promoted to the next grade . How do you make up the lost year of learning . A lot of districts are talking about basically writing off the past year. It is kind of starting over, not necessarily Holding People back, theres a lot of discussion about whether he say okay, now youre moving into sixth or seventh grade or third grade and we will just keep moving in wherever we have to start, we start. Its not there. Lets talk about Remote Learning. Online learning itself is proven for many students, the vast majority who have been in it for pandemic when effectively done, can learn very well. Its still social and effective, you get a chance to reassess more personalized individualized life. Whats happening now, it is crisis education. You have districts and schools not trained teachers and technology, you dont focus on content and teachers are victims as well as students are victims. When losing ground, we cannot think about it like today, immediately. The parents are allowed to actually find what works for the kids. Even in new york, only a third of the students will go back so while this is a victory in a sense, what are we going to do for the kids two thirds around the country getting a great education either in person or online . It is possible to do both. It is not either or. Paul in the case of new york, bill de blasio been basically doing the bid of unions on the first day and office. Why did he turn, in this case, so dramatically . Its fascinating to watch. The parents in new york city finally have been boisterous, local and pressuring. Theyve been writing letters and organizing on social media, the news media, mainstream news media finally picked it up and started writing about it but they have been pressuring basically the man they put in in august to open up schools and showing research and i think he had a choice. Okay, youre going to get me elected or the parent will get what is happening. Its so clear that is what happened. By the way, it doesnt mean unions in new york or elsewhere across the country are standing down at all, they are taking it back, they are just sitting back for a little bit but just watch. If people dont stay vigilant, they very well may pull the plug again. Paul thank you so much for being here. Still ahead, amid a nationwide spike in cases and new coronavirus lockdowns, the fda is set to consider Emergency Operations for virus vaccine next week. A look at who will get the first shots and what President Trumps opponents are saying about the success of operation warp speed. Moderna this week begins a second vaccine maker to apply for emergency use alterations for them fda. After finding the Coronavirus Vaccine was more than 94 effective in its phase three trial. The fda set to meet this thursday to consider pfizers request for emergency approval with government officials think the first shots could be given to healthcare workers and residents and longterm care facilities in a matter of days is if authorization is granted. While most americans are celebrating these advantages, dont expect opponents to give the administers in any credit for the success of operation warp speed. Heres new York Governor Andrew Cuomo last month. You didnt need trump to tell a Vaccine Companies you should develop the companys vaccine. Pfizer, moderna, Johnson Johnson, they all know its billions of dollars, whoever gets to the market first. Within their economic interest to push this fast, the president eagle. On the way out the door, he wants to be able to say i solved covid because i discovered a vaccine. Paul we are back with our panel. Dan henninger, kim strassel and bill. Dan, it is great news the United Kingdom has approved the pfizer vaccine. Why is the fda here taking longer . They are using the same trial data, the same results from the company. What is the holdup . Dan theres a couple of reasons. The main reason is political, such as the quick we just saw. Governor cuomo, Kamala Harris and other democrats have suggested the fda was acting under little pressure, donald trump and the white house, largely the has been untrue but in return, the fda is overcompensating and making sure no one can accuse them of acting under political pressure so its slow to the approval of these vaccines. In addition, the fda has always been approved. Its a historic legacy going back into the 1960s, the fda always has to be pushed. Operation warp speed on the dirt the direction of the former client executive did exactly that. We are likely lucky to be getting this quickly. Criticism of Governor Cuomo means on the fda, the more time it will take to approve these new vaccines. Paul kim, what you make of Anthony Doughty criticizing this decision in the approval process thing u. S. Is the Gold Standard so that is what we should rely on . Make it sound as if they are somehow jumping the gun . Kim it was a mistake as he has acknowledged because he has walked that back and apologized. Look, for all Public Officials working so hard to make sure americans will have faith in this vaccine, to suggest as though United Kingdom was rushing ahead will only undermine everyone, the confidence and efficacy and safety of this. He came to realize that later, this is a classic example of another bureaucrat who feels the need to say this is the past. Best. They are both effective and their just working on different timescales although close to each other. Paul so bill, how much credit does the administration get for operation warp speed . These vaccines are going to be online in roughly about nine months since the virus, we got the dna of the virus. That is an extraordinary timetable, often it takes years. Bill i thought it would take years. Thats what people said a few months ago. I think it is one of the greatest Public Health achievements in modern times to get this so quickly. This is about science, statements like Governor Cuomo said but it is not medical science, it is political science. When they thought it was a trump vaccine, it was unsafe and so forth. My suspicion is once we get to february and president biden, somehow we will discover how marvelous the vaccine is and we wont hear anything about the dangers anymore as we begin to tame covid. Paul dan, you been writing about the fda over many years. It seems to me the big driver here was to put a product behind the fdas culture of caution, to make sure it was coordinated immediately with the science results and trials as they move ahead. Fda often takes its good old time and just drive this politically. Without that, this wouldnt be happening so fast. Dan thats right. I think the analogy the operation warp speed, most resembles medicine in wartime, medicine during wartime, you improvise. Thats exactly what the hospitals have done since the beginning of this crisis. Figuring out as they go along, what therapies work best, trying a lot of things and they didnt cut corners but they really did press the edge of the envelope. Thats what operation warp speed did to the fda. They said unleash the private sector, private nominees like pfizer, moderna, Johnson Johnson and push the edge of the envelope which is something the fda doesnt normally do but this is a war. We been in a war against the virus in the virus is going to win until weve got this vaccine. Now it has arrived and i think the Trump Administration deserves more credit and they are getting for allowing this process to go forward as on bureaucratically as it has. Paul kim, we have probably about 30 40 seconds, big pharma and its reputation here. The biotech industry and Drug Companies have really performed superbly here, at least it sure looks like it. Yet, there are some of the least Popular Companies in the world world, is not going to change now . Kim i hope so. I remember even as they began the process watching Bernie Sanders call them out as corrupt and saying they are the force of all evil in the united states, the reason they were able to get this done as quickly as they can is because of the entrepreneurial giants and because we have a regulatory system that allows them to work unlike other countries. That should be one of the lessons that comes out of this. Paul all right, thanks. Hiring slowed in november as employers face new coronavirus lockdowns. A new round of covid relief, is that really what wet, need to kp the recovery going . The u. S. Economy adding to 45000 jobs in november, a slowdown from previous month as the spike in covid cases froms renewed lockdowns and social distancing in cities and states across the country. Bring in dan, chief Investment Officer of trend macro. Nice to see you again. How do you read this months disappointing figures . Still growth but slower pace. Dan that is true. The thing that mystifies me is that it doesnt match a lot of the highfrequency data we are seeing. They put these monthly job records out, they reflect a reality thats like three, three and a half weeks old. Every thursday morning, we get new jobless claims data thats much more instantaneous and that is a Relentless Improvement week after week after week. We can look at data series like the number of passengers who tsa clears everyday for air travel or restaurant seedings. We can find the economies that are working with our other parts that are working rate. Discount store sales, year over year, up 25 . Has that ever happened before . There is a lot of stuff that is working in this economy. People call it a case shape recovery with an upstroke and downstroke. If you ask me, every recovery is that shape. There are always going to be winners and losers and the bank that makes it vshaped, the winners out when the losers. Paul if you look at the figures in this monthly report, social distancing aspect is hard to miss because youve got retailers slowdown, bars and restaurants and the parts of the economy that interact with people, the consumers on a daily basis, thats where you see some of the restraint. I guess that depends on ultimately a reduction in the spike and cases. Donald it does. When i look deeply at the data, you can measure social distancing and find out for instance, how mobile people are. Are they staying home . Are they going out and about . We can track their cell phones so its easy to see whether people are engaged in the economy or not. Their engagement or disengagement is not correlated to cases, it is correlated to the tallies. People arent stupid, they understand most of the people who get the disease are pretty uncomfortable while they have it, at least some of them are but very few die from it and most of those who do die are quite old. So basically, we have a world where 80 of the fatalities are in just 15 of the population. The oldest 15 . We can have an economy that can light backup all the way as long as we just protect the 15 as the most vulnerable. Paul when you look at the underlying economy, do you agree with the methods affect the says fourthquarter gross is on pace to be at 11 . Thats building on the Third Quarter 33 . Do think it will be that strong . Donald the gdp now figure is not exactly forecast. Theyre just looking at data as it comes in. Its generally the same data the gdp people look at and they are just kind of accumulating it on an ongoing basis. As far as the data is concerned, we are about halfway through. They they are saying based on the first half, it looks like 11 . We dont know the back half but is it going to be a big improvement . Yes, is it going to be a big plus number . Yes because december would have to be absolutely horrible to undo the 11 they are extrapolating now. Paul with Congress Looking at the numbers already, politicians saying we need a new stimulus, what do you think . Do we need that trillion dolla dollars, that they propose . Donald need . [laughter] no. That is a big word. Paul they say we have to or the economy is going to go back into recession that is why i use that word. Donald i dont think that is true. I dont think you see that in the data. Do you know what the ultimate stimulus will be . The vaccines. They said it would take four years to develop in our outgoing president said no, i need it in six months. Hey, we are going to get it in six months. Thats going to be the ultimate stimulus and everything will be just fine. Paul thats what the stock market seems to be looking at. There is some back and forth as they look at the stimulus negotiations. Wall Street Investors do seem to love the spending by the politicians, or at least in the short term. Is that based on the stimulus possibility . Donald it could be. I cant rule out the Financial Markets would not like another helicopter drop of money in short term but theres also longterm to deal with. These are always tradeoffs. Someday it will have to be paid back. That will always be a burden we carry until we pay it back. We have to be very careful. We may need debt resources for Something Else more serious in the future so you got to need it or you shouldnt do it. Paul briefly, the fed facilities, secretary mnuchin asked for the money back, is that a good call . Donald i think so. Its a judgment call. When the programs on march 23, no coincidence, that was the day the bottom of the stock market. The credit limit was 2. 3 trillion. The markets uptake of that has never been more than 200 billion. Its been about 8 uptick. This has been a vast underutilized set of programs which may have worked there magic simply making so vivid and real fed put the people said wow, 23 2. 3 trillion but if they only said its 200 billion, it may not have been enough so is it time to roll off . Lets try that. Paul thank you very much. Appreciate it. When we come back, the woke nasdaq, the worlds second Largest Stock Exchange looks to impose its own identity politi politics. Thousands of companies, what it means for Economic Growth and job creation. Next. Nasdaq this week asking the securities and Exchange Commission for permission to impose a quota system on the boards of its 3300 companies. The new rule would mandate Corporate Boards have at least one woman as a director and one director who self identified as an underrepresented minority or lgbtq. The company said do not disclose diversity information, potentially while those report data but dont be the standards will have to publicly explain why. Lets bring in wall street journal columnist, barry ogrady. Mary, welcome. For the viewers who have been following this, what is nasdaq requiring . As you said, they require a Corporate Board of the corporate that list on the nasdaq, you have to have at least one woman and one person from another group, that group would be a minority or lgbtq person. They could get away with two women in this case. Paul okay. Why now . Why they doing this . Is it political or is there business justification for it . First of all, i think they are virtue signaling. Its someone elses cost. By telling these companies how, they are basically limiting the power of the company to choose the most qualified person in terms of the publications they need to run aboard. Warren buffett has talked about the importance of having people on the board who are interested in the same things voters are interested in you have a business judgment to sit on the board. Nasdaq seems to be saying no, we just want it decorated in a certain way with individuals who have physical attributes. I think it is dangerous for capitalism and is harmful to the people they claim to be speaking out for. Paul elaborate on that last part. Is it because they assume they are not there for the qualifications business judgment but just because of the, the color of their skin . I think what will happen is people who are qualified, and there are many in these groups who are qualified but knowing each of these have a quota they have to fill, the impression that somebody might be only there for filling the quota, i think that is unfair. It also says the board needs a gate person, many people who dont particularly want to bring their personal lives into the Corporate Boardroom, they want to be there for the qualifications and Board Members but now they will have to say i am qualified because i am gay. That seems to be very unfair. Paul so is this all politics . I would assume if they submit this to the trump sec, they would say no because we know from some of the listeners that they dont favor this sort of thing but i guess they think they will get a favorable view from the Biden Administration so is this all politics . Yes. Completely politics but also virtue signaling to the world at large. The people we are because we are demanding. I think one of the things that everybody should be aware of is that capitalism and business is not different than running a Football Team or the military. You need qualified people who know how to play baseball or football game. If you start choosing them or other reasons, it would undermine the competitiveness of your companys, it would damage the profitability, damage jobs creations. The nasdaq says weve got studies that show diversity is good for profitability. Fine. But then let the Companies Choose the people they want. Paul thank you. We have to take one more break. When we come back, hits and misses of the week. For some of us, our daily journey is a short one when you drive less, you pay less with pay per mile insurance from allstate youve never been in better hands time now for hits and misses of the week, kim start us off. A hit to outgoing fcc chairman after four worthy years on the job. He inherited a mess with an Obama Administration that was trying to crush the internet under government regulations. He brushed a lot of that back in particular got rid of the horrible met neutrality rule treated broadband entity as utilities as a result we have a more broadband investment and stronger and faster internet today. Paul. Bill paul, hit to the department of transportation for making it official. Dogs rule at least on planes. Weve seen a lot of footage of people kind of bringing all sorts of emotional support animals from miniature ponies to pheasants on planes they cause aft problems so department of transportation looked at it and they decided only dogs that are trained are going to be mandated on planes. The airlines will have the option of refusing others. So congratulations to the department of transportation for restoring some sanity to friendly sky. Mary. Paul, it hits to the great life of the Great American economist Walter Williams who died suddenly this week at the age of 84 after last class from the semester at George Mason University in virginia he grew up in philadelphia but went on to become a great intellect for economic freedom. We will miss him very much. Thank you mary. Dan. Recent hit or miss i said i was going visit the Rockefeller Christmas tree to here it up because it was criticized as too scrawny easier than said did under bill de blasio rule for visiting tree you have to scan a barcode to get a viewing time and once you come back for viewing time you have to go into a socially distance pod with only four people and you only get five minutes. Bill, de blasio is a grinch who has stolen Rockefeller Center christmas tree. [laughter] all right dhangs so much thats it for this weeks show thanks to my panel, and thanks to all of you for watching. Im paul we hope to see you right here next week. President trump set to leave for georgia at this hour you know hes returning to the campaign trail. But the First Time Since election day. While lawyers keep unsuccessfully challenging Election Results states like georgia tonight the president will try to help republicans keep control of the senate that potentially up for grabs in next months critical runoff. Hello Everyone Welcome to america news had headquarters im eric shawn hi arthel. Hello im Arthel Neville with control of the senate hanging in balance President Trump tonight will rally voters