Was not reelected. Whats your razor analysis of why it happened . Well, were going to go to the white board. Negative enthusiasm works just as good as positive enthusiasm. [laughter] for the entire tam campaign, trump voters said they were showing up to support President Trump. Just the opposite for wind, most of for biden. Most of theirs was an an moss few towards trump, but either way worked. Both men had record turnouts. Politics remains polarized. Theres no kumbaya moment available at the end of this race. Trump supporters felt aggrieved, and biden supporters are ebb you lent. So polarized paul karl, let me follow up on that. Was this a personal defeat for the president , you know . His traits of governing, or a larger ideological defeat for the Republican Party . No, more personal than ideological. I mean, if you looked at the interims, there were a lot of interims, there were a lot of people particularly in the suburbs and especially women who said i sort of like what did, but i dont like how he handled himself and, therefore, im going to either sit out or vote for the democrat. We saw this in places as distant as colin county, texas, and cobb county, georgia and, you know, walk shah county, wisconsin, and the suburbs of philadelphia. Nominal republicans who said, you know what . I just dont want four more years of him. Paul all right. Talk about the Republican Coalition because there are a lot of folks who think, you know what . Donald trump may have lost the election, but he really has are remade the Republican Party. Its now a very different coalition than when you were sitting in the white house. Do you agree . Yeah, i agree. Both parties are fragmented, is what id say about that, and the Republican Party is fragmented because while its gained support among blue collar, working class, some college or no collegeeducated people, its also lost among suburbanites and particularly in the suburbs collegeeducated. Similarly, the democrats are being fragmented because the hard left of the Democratic Party which is in ascendance at least at the house level and some of the statements levels, is not states levels, is not particularly attractive to people who have been democrats, and how they deal with that in the years ahead both parties are in trouble. Theyve got to do something about it because their coalitions are changing and unstable. You want them to constantly change. You want to be able to reach out to new groups of people. But the unstability thats inside each party has got to be dealt with by calm and confident leadership, and im not sure either party has that right now. Paul well, yeah, i see youve got a point about trust in institutions. Thats obviously deteriorated, and weve seen it in the wake of the election as well. Right. Paul thats and both parties have contributed to that by casting doubt on election after election thats right. Paul where they end up losing. Thats right. And, look, also just simply the common sense of the American People to look at institutions like the media and saying youre not really fair and then, you know, the Political Warfare around the courts has also had an impact. All of these institutions, if you look over the last 30, 40 years, only two institutions have seemed to have kept theirs or gained support, and thats the military and law enforcement, and you cant build a free and open society based on only twoaz those two institutions having the confidence of the American People. Paul republicans in particular here, are the unifying forces more cultural than economics or Foreign Policy . Because with it seems to me that thats the case, and that means that youre seeing a lot more democratic kind of tax and spending policies among republicans. Well, i think that may be the appearance, but i think its a very open question. I think a lot of traditional republicans, were so tribal at this moment in american politics. A lot of traditional republicans who are less government, lower taxes, you know with, federalist, we want more power to the states, less power to washington, have sort of said im willing to accept things that run against, that that run counter to my principles because my guy tells me to do so. I think both parties are in that situation, particularly the republicans, and thats going to be why the next two, three or four years are going to be interesting, how does each party sort it out. I think the smart people inside the Republican Party are the people that say how do we keep this blue collar emphasis without surrendering conservative principles, and well see how well everybody carries it out. Paul karl, about 40 seconds left. Look at the democrats, does joe biden have a majority governing coalition right now . No. Because, look, what was his campaign about . Im not donald trump, and he screwed up covid. And as a result, all the normal things that we would have gone through since he secured the nomination in march didnt happen. There were no big layout of his agenda, no controversies that allowed people to get a sense of what this was all about and which, by his defense, would strengthen their commitment to that agenda. Hes coming in with basically, you know, im not trump, and hes going to try to do things that people are not prepared to have done with them or two them, and thats or to them, and that thats going to be a problem for the former Vice President , soon to be president joe biden. Paul a volatile and unstable period. Thanks, karl. Much more when we come back as our panel joins us with their picks for the biggest stories of 2020. Still warm. Thanks, maggie. Oh, alice says hi. For some of us, our daily journey is a short one. Save 50 when you pay per mile with allstate. Pay less when you drive less. Youve never been in better hands. Allstate. Click or call for a quote today. To your friends. Your family. To your teachers. In that spirit of giving, chevys proud to give our employee discount to everyone. The chevy price you pay,. Is what we pay. Not a cent more. Because giving,. And giving back, is what the holidays are all about. 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And joining our panel this week, columnist and deputy Editorial Page Editor dan henninger, columnist kim strassel, board member Kyle Peterson and columnist Mary Anastasia ogrady. Kim, start us off here. So my biggest story is the biggest election losers. And while a lot of people have focused on the results of the president ial race, the biggest losers in my mind were actually nancy pelosi and Chuck Schumer and democrats who lost a lot of seats in the house and who failed to make new real gains in the senate. And i think the reason for this is democrats think it had to do with their messaging, but actually it was an american response to their policies which have become increasingly progressive; defund the police, radical environmentalism, medicare for all and also a failure of governance in the house where they did practically nothing but investigate donald trump. Paul its all the more remarkable, kim, when you think about it, because the republican candidates in the house and even some in the senate were outspent 2, 3, 3 to 1, and the business community, chamber of commerce and others really moved to the democrats. Yeah. No, its a reminder that money is not all and that you can spend a fortune on it, but you cant necessarily sell a bad product x. We see that time and again in elections. You know, you look at someone like Michael Bloomberg and that extraordinary millions he spent in a place, you know, trying to win florida for democrats, just didnt work in the end. And, again, it came down to their policies. Theyve moved left, expect country wanted a check against and the country wanted a check against that. Paul dan, what about the other element of this which is republicans made some gains among hispanic voters in particular in florida, texas and other parts of the country and even among young black men. Yeah, they did. And i think you have to give President Trump credit for that, indeed, because what happened in the first three years of his presidency when the economy grew so strongly is that it created a lot of jobs for minorities. And so the issue of Economic Opportunity became real and tangible for them, and i believe they recognized that they were getting real jobs with real incomes. And so the result was that he did make significant gains among hispanics and some among blacks, and it will remain to be seen whether the republicans can capitalize on those gains going forward. Paul yeah. And, kyle, this does put the republicans in a position in the house, certainly, to be able to retalk it because retake it in 2022, because new mexico city Pelosi Nancy Pelosi only has about a 10seat majority which doesnt give her much room to maneuver in the house. Right. And it definitely puts them in a position as well this coming year, this next two years to push the legislation in the house in a better direction. You know, a 10vote majority by nancy pelosi is a whole different ball game than if its 20 or 30 votes. Gives her a lot more room to maneuver. Paul all right. Lets turn to dan. Youve got your own big with story, what is it . Well, my big story, paul, are the protests that ensued after the death of george floyd while he was being arrested in minneapolis on may 25th. After that we had extraordinary protests across the country, cities, scores of cities, and it was accompanied, indeed, in many cities by looting and violence. Stores, businesses were ransacked. The protests, by and large, were led by the activist group black lives matter, and they more or less justified the protests saying that the United States was guilty of system you can racism. Systemic racism. Monuments to u. S. President s were torn down across the country on that basis. And, ultimately, there was very little criticism of it by the Democratic Party. We ended up at the Democratic National convention in july, and there was no mention, zero mention of any of this violence and looting, paul, which had gone on for a long time. And im convinced that that silence did cost the democrats support across the country in the house and senate races, you know . The republicans doing much better than anyone expected as we were just discussing, and i think a lot of that had to do with their inability to come to grips with the extraordinary violence that happened after may 25th. Paul so, mary, i wonder if you think what dan describes and i agree with that, but did the blm movement and the protesters achieve a lot of what they wanted ls where elsewhere . Im thinking about the new woke ethic in americas newsrooms, the new woke ethic in american corporations where they have moved to decidedly left on the culture . What do you think . Well, i think that the elites i dont particularly like that term, but, you know, the people that youre describing who have gone woke are very much in conflict with the greater part of the country. And i think that that was reflected we talked in the first segment in the poor showing of Many Democrats in local races and in, you know, congressional a races. I mean, when you look at what happened in West Philadelphia where it wasnt, you know, some suburban, rich entrepreneur whose business was destroyed, these were immigrant and minority businesses in a working class neighborhood. And i think that was a huge turnoff not only to people who lived there, but to the rest of the country which watched horrified to see that no one would speak up for these people. I just dont think that the woke movement gained new ground by doing that any ground by doing that. I think, in fact, they lost ground. People wont say it publicly because its politically incorrect, but its pretty scary. Paul kim, i want do can you about a contrary data point, and that is the remarkable election in california which is a leftleaning state, and yet the voters there overwhelmingly rejected an attempt on the ballot to restore racial preferences in government hiring and college admissions. I think only four or five counties actually voted in support. What does that tell you about the mindset of the country on these issues . Yeah. I think it goes to what mary was just saying, that its very disconnected from what youre hearing in newspapers and what youre hearing coming out of higher education. Americans want, one, sense of equality, they want opportunity, but they dont want the deck to be stacked, and they dont particularly like the identity politics that is now at the forefront of all democratic politics. And i think youll see that reaction play out in more ways in the coming year. Paul all right, thank you. When we come back, from the economys covid collapse and comeback to the Supreme Courts conservative transformation, with continue with our look at the biggest stories of 2020. Or ten. Then easily and automatically pay your team and file payroll taxes. That means. World domination or just the west side. Run payroll in less than five minutes with intuit quickbooks. Werewelcome to a wbetter way to live. S. Welcome to my house the croods are coming home. Kinda big, isnt it . Thats the mirror. Sorry. And the world will never be the same. What is this . Uh, we call that a window. Window. Dun, dun, dun. Make it a croods family movie night with the croods a new age. Go to watchcroods. Com. Paul welcome back to the journal editorial report and our look back at the biggest source of the year. Mary, you chose the economy. Why . Well, the economy collapsed in march and april because of the government shutdown, but by the end of the year, it is going to be a lot less weak than anybody anticipated. You know, there was a projection of down 6. 5 for the year, and now its projected to be down about 2. 4 for the year. So basically what happened, i think, is that the analysts looking at this underestimated the impact of monetary and fiscal support to the economy but also underestimated the inknow vegas and creativity innovation and creativity of the markets to basically keep going despite the pandemic. Paul well, mary, how important was the basis that had been laid before the pandemic by what was seemed to be what was going into the pandemic a quite strong economy, you know, after two years, three years of tax reform and deregulation . Well, Economic Freedom is central to economic growth. So with a freer economy, i think that allowed entrepreneurs and Business People to be, to benefit from the flexibility of the economy, and that made a big difference. The other thing i think that made a big difference was technology. I mean, thats why you see Technology Stock doing so well. But technology was central to the flexibility that the economy was able to adapt and to make use of things like online buying and delivery and a lot of the logistics red red related to bay satisfying the consumer were very important components in 2020. Paul dan, the public, i mean, a lot of our friends in the media on the left are, they say, oh, you know, the government is the big driver here because they were the story, they filled the gap in incomes that were left by the pandemic. I guess my response to that is, one, they should have, because their the ones theyre the ones who forced people out of business. They said you have to shut down, so they had to do something particularly with the small businesses. But i think that they also underestimated the ingenuity of people, as mary suggests. There just was an awful lot of people who found ways to make money despite it. Yeah. As mary was suggesting, i think People Democrats virtual dont understand anymore how sophisticated the private sector has become. I mean, its an extraordinary mechanism. Millions upon millions of men and women operating out there in intricate ways to keep the economy going. You know, starting out we in the pandemic we had, indeed, real shortages of things like paper towels and toilet paperer, frozen food. And very quickly those niches were filled by secondary suppliers. You may not have been able to get bounty paper towels, but you were automobile to get them from wakemans and other supermarkets, and i think democrats do not give it enough credit. They think you have to spend trillions and trillions of dollars and, you know, u. S. Debt now, paul, is 27 trillion and rising as a result of the public spending that occurred during the pandemic. Paul and thatll have longterm consequences. Kyle, yours focusing on the Supreme Court for your biggest story. Tell us why. Well, theres a couple reasons. First, it was for weeks it was the story in washington, the death of Supreme CourtJustice Ruth Bader ginsburg, a liberal icon, and her replacement by Justice Amy Coney barrett who is already becoming something of a conservative icon. There were questions about whether republicans could hold together to get the confirmation done before the election, and once again the Senate Majority leader, Mitch Mcconnell, pulled it off. But the bigger reason that President Trump has now appointed three Supreme Court justices who will serve for years, decades. This is going to be one of his biggest legacies, and were already seeing some of the fruits of Justice Barretts confirmation. Paul and, kyle, how are we seeing that . What are you seeing in the early going, the first cases . Well, its still early in the Supreme Courts term, but the biggest one has been a switch on some of these pandemic cases involving particularly religious liberty. There were cases earlier in the year where churches, you know, litigating the lockdowns that theyd been put under lost with chief Justice John Roberts as the swing vote. And now Churches School to be winning more of those seem to be winning more of those cases. So there will be questions thats the biggest question, i think, about barrett to me, is how her presence will affect chief Justice John Roberts. Everyone knows hes worried about the courts legitimacy, and so now the choice is when he wants to be on the losing side of a 54 or on the winning side of a 63. Paul kim, one of the remarkable things was that the Republicans United so quickly in the senate to confirm Justice Barrett so soon after Justice Ginsburg died. And there were a lot of people who said, oh, youll pay a price at the polls for that. This is extraordinary, never happened before. Of course, that was an exaggeration, but why did the republicans unite so quickly, and dud they pay any price did they pay any produce at the polls . No, they well, look, i think only positively, because heres the reality. This is an issue that drives conservative voters. And you have to look at the opposite, and that was what was in a lot of republicans minds. If they decided to step back here and missed this opportunity to appoint a final conservative justice, now that would have caused a problem at the polls for them. But its still, again, as you said, the media headlines, all the democrats really put on the pressure, and when we look back i think many, many years from now, that last decision by donald trump and that ability of Mitch Mcconnell to unite his senators around it will be one of the lasting, enduring legacies of this administration. Paul maul and, mary, we heard the democrats react by saying were going to to pack the Supreme Court in 2021. That didnt seem to work for them at the polls. Has that ended as a political issue . Well, we i think that they realized that if they start adding seats, theres no end to that, so thats a bad path. And i think in this environment. Paul okay. Theyre quieting down on that, but it hasnt gone away entirely. All right. Still ahead, from marchs shutdowns to decembers vaccines, what we learned in the months in between on the coronavirus. Our panel looks back at the defining story of 2020, the arrival of covid19. In connemara. Right connemara it is theres one gift the whole family can share this holiday season, their story. Give the gift of discovery, with an ancestrydna kit. To save you up to 60 . These are all great. And when you get a big deal. You feel like a big deal. Priceline. Every trip is a big deal. Newswe will get you away towerfrom all this pain. Aking. Its soulful and stirring. And tom hanks is magnificent. Its hard finding your way home. 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Tell your doctor right away if you have new or worsening symptoms, including breathing problems, cough, chest pain, a change in your heartbeat, dizziness, yellowing of the skin or eyes, dark urine, tiredness, loss of appetite, abdomen pain, bleeding, bruising, fever, chills, or other symptoms of an infection, a severe or worsening rash, are or plan to become pregnant, or breastfeeding. Avoid grapefruit during treatment. Ask your doctor about living longer with kisqali. Recommercials witht exciting stunts. So to help you remember that Liberty Mutual customizes your Home Insurance, heres something you shouldnt try at home. Look, Liberty Mutual customizes Home Insurance so we only pay for what we need. Its pretty cool. That is cool grandma very cool. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Paul 2020, of course, marked the arrival of the Novel Coronavirus with the World Health Organization declaring it a pandemic in march. Weve seen more than 300,000 deaths in america and economic devastation brought by widespread economic shutdowns, but some light may be coming as we close out the year with two vaccines approved by the fda for emergency use this month giving hope that the United States and the world may be able to turn the corner on the pandemic. So what have we learned about the virus in the months in between and the cost and effectiveness of large scale shutdowns . Mary, what main lessons do you take away from this . Well, i would start with the lack of humility on the part of so many people involved with making prognostications about this virus. [laughter] you know, in the very beginning science told us that this was highly contagious. I think Angela Merkel in germany said she expected 70 of germans to get the virus at some point. I saw projections in the u. S. Half of the country would get it. So it was highly contagious, with we knew it was going to spread, and the most important thing would have been to protect the vulnerable parts of the population. And, of course, here in new york that was not done. In fact, our governor had started putting people who had the virus into Nursing Homes because hospitals were overflowing and, of course, that sent the virus running wild in Nursing Homes, and thats why we lost so many people in new york. So a lot has been learnedded but at a very high cost. Of. Paul dan, you know, our colleagues, some of our colleagues in the press and academic elites think that the United States not just the government, blaming the government, but the United States generally failed here as a culture, as a society because we have had so many more deaths and the spread of disease. What do you make of that argument. Well, i think were going to have to sort that out for a while, paul. I think they were wrong, but the question is why the instinct to say those sorts of things. And i think one way to look at this, very interesting, is the degree of lockdowns and shutdowns across the United States. For better or worse, it really did break down, paul, between democratic blue states and republican and red states. The states with the severest lockdowns were all democratic. It was california, washington state, illinois, new york, new jersey, and we know about some of the Southern States like florida and texas which were much less severe this their lockdowns, many other states had a variety of categories in which they locked down. But i think the democrats decided they would be happier ruling by executive order and decree and telling people what to do. And this started doesnt Obama Presidency when he issued a lot of executive orders. Theyre more comfortable with that. And the media and press, for some reason, paul, seem to be perfectly happy to have the American People ordered around claiming the authority of science. And what weve learned in the past ten months is that science really is a work in progress when it comes to addressing things like pandemic with a Novel Coronavirus. Paul kim, you know, one of the problems i have over the last year thats disconcerting is the e do sire for conformity among points of view. If youre in the press or an academic elite and you want to take an alternative view, you become vilified. Im thinking of the Great Barrington declaration by those three doctors who were willing to say, you know what . We need focused prevention, not largesmall lockdownings. And, you know largescale lockdowns. And theyre been attacked and criticized for that. Yeah, its part of the cancel culture movement. And what makes it really problematic is that cancel culture bad enough when it comes to free speech in general, but its utterly antithetical to the scientific process where the entire point is youre supposed to you put out a theory, and then you work to disprove it. You dont put ott a theory e and then say anybody who questions me morally unfit to be in society. This just is opposite of the way its supposed go. And what weve seen is i kind of new of 2020 as the year of the expert failure, you know, where i mean, one of the reasons so Many Americans have had so much trouble in particular with more recent lockdowns is that we have been getting advice that has been disproven again and again. We were assured it was correct whether it was dont wear a mask, now do wear a mask, or you had political figures like joe biden casting shade on a vaccine and now saying, yes, you should take one. This became wrapped up in politics, and science should never be wrapped up in politics. Paul kyle, what grades do you give the government herely . They had some mistakes early on, the testing failures at the cdc, not enough pp, provided, but ppc, but the vaccines have been a historic success. Yeah. I mean, i think you have to pratt that, operation warp speed, from the rest of the response. The Communications Issues at the federal government, there were problems there, not clear advice to people, not clear riskbase add vice to people. At the local level, i think it may have been worst where, as kim says, the science got wrapped up in the politics. L. A. Closing indoor dining, new mexico shutting campgrounds at state parks and governor andrew cuomo, not to keep picking on him, but i justifying some of these lockdowns on religious groups as a fearbased response. I mean, were glad we have the vaccine, but youve got to put that on the press sector, i think. Paul all right. Thank you all. Still ahead, amid growing tensions with china and iran, a triumph for u. S. Diplomacy during 2020 as President Trump brokers historic peace deals in the middle east. No no no no no no. [roar] whoa product not yet rated. Irresistibly smooth chocolate. To put the world on pause. Lindor. Made to melt you. By the lindt master chocolatier. Paul despite ongoing global challenges, 2020 saw triumph for american diplomacy with the Trump Administration brokering a series of historic peace deals. The United Arab Emirates and bahrain were the first to sign on to the Abraham Accords in september potentially recognizing the jewish state of israel. The government of sudan normalized its ties with israel in october, and morocco became the fourth earlier this month. Lets bring in cliff may, founder and president of the foundation for defense of democracy. Cliff, first, lets get explain why this happened when so many people for so many decades said it was impossible. A number of contributing factors, one of them is very important, i think fairly obviously, is the Islamic Republic of iran. It has long represented an exist ten, threat to the state of israel, but also perhaps more imminently to the saw duhs, to the. Race, to the bahrainis, all of which i would call the prague nettic pragmatic states that see that the regime in iran wants to be neoimperialistic. They control lebanon through hezbollah, theyve bolstered and supported the assad dynasty in syria, they have shia militias that are still attacking americans in iraq, they support the rebels in yemen, theyve messed around and supported the taliban, and, by the way, alqaeda members are living, one less, as well in tehran. So a common enemy of israel. Paul all right. Theres the iranian unifying force, but how important was the United States role here in asserting that and demonstrating its support for israel, for example, throughout the Trump Administration moving the embassy to jerusalem, recognizing the Golan Heights and then backing the saudi government in the yemen war, for example . Yeah, those were all absolutely Building Blocks in this, no question about it. And also the trump peace plan. Why in because the trump peace plan, which Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority, was unwilling to negotiate on, allowed the israelis to consider the possibility of extending sovereignty, annexing parts of the west bank. The arabs doesnt want to see that happen. The idea came up why dont you trade something important to the israelis like actually moving to serious, open, diplomatic relations for the first time in a generation. All that was very important as well. And also the arab states recognized that if you look around and say who will stand up to the Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamic Republic of iran, well, theres the United States and theres israel which also has significant military capabilities. Which one of these cannot get away from the middle east . Its the israel. This is the an important relationship that had been developing covertly, but it was time to bring it out in the open. And also with the next administration for the arabs and israelis to, excuse the phrase, sing from the same hymnal when they talk to the next president about what kind of moves he should and should not make. Whether hell listen or not, we dont know. President obama certainly did not. Paul right. Now, the peace plan, the trump peace plan did give a handout to the palestinians. They could have gotten into this had that they wanted to. Was their denial did that make it easier for the other arabs to say, you know what . You missed another opportunity . Yes, absolutely. Its often not recognized. Two important points. One the Palestinian Authority went to the arab league and said will you denounce the Abraham Accords. The arab league said no, same arab league that in 1967 issued the three nos; no recognition of israel, no peace with israel. So youre talking about now the arabisraeli conflict is essentially at an end, for the palestinians, it is not. The difficulty here that when people talk about the palestinian cause, what do they mean . If they mean what hamas means, the palestinian cause is the destruction of israel, the pragmatic states no longer to see that happen. A twostate solution, living peacefully side but side, thats different. But, again, hamas will never accept that, and Mahmoud Abbas has been unwilling to be unambiguous and say thats where we should go. I dont think Mahmoud Abbas does not see himself shaking hands with Bibi Netanyahu on the white house lawn either under trump or biden. The arab states are essentially sending a message to the a palestinians, well back the cause when its transformed from the destruction of israel to a genuine twostate solution. Paul weve got about 45 seconds left. What is how endurable are these . How long are they going to last . And do you think the Biden Administration will try to build on these accords . I think the accords im hopeful they will certainly last, maybe its different if you had a revolution and suddenly you had a proamerican and very different regime in tehran, maybe if the Muslim Brotherhood disappeared. Until then, pragmatic arab states in israel have a lot of interest. The Biden Administration should build on this, not reject this. I would hope that jake sullivan, new National Security adviser, and blinken whos probably going to be the secretary of state will understand that, but i think the left wing of the Democratic Party will not be in favor of that. What will upend this many . I dont know. Paul okay, thank you, cliff may. When we come back, our hits and misses of the year. Paul time now for hits and misses of the year. Well start with the musses. Kim. Misses. Paul, this is a miss to Oregon Governor kate brown and portland i mayor ted wheeler who, for turning their city into a poster child of urban violence. Failing to protect its citizens and property, their most basic duty. You know, a lot of cities had riots over the summer. The difference is this pair basically turned the keys over to rioters and protesters and antifa thugs and also limited what the police could do. It was one of the biggest failures of leadership in the country and by orders of magnitude. Paul kyle. I will give a miss to congresswoman alexandria ocasiocortez. 2020 was supposed to be a breakout year for democratic socialism with Bernie Sanders running strong in the president ial race and aocs squad taking up the fight inside the house. Instead, we end the year with President Biden elected and republican gains in the house and democratic moderates insisting that the party should never use the word socialism ever again. Then last week in a secret ballot House Democrats passed over aoc for the Committee Assignment that she wanted. The revolution is proving to be a hard sell. Paul all right, mary. Paul, a miss for the oftenmindless and sometimes remark by whiny cancel culture of2020. From tearing down statues, including one of an ab lugsist in madison, wisconsin, to trying to silence free speech simply because its defense from conventional, the conventional party line. This smacks of totalitarianism, and it was a row point for american politics a low point for american politics and journalism. Paul great point, mary, thanks. Dan . My miss of the year, paul, to the coronavirus hypocrites. Those are the Public Officials who told people to stay home while they went out. Heres the highlight film. [laughter] house speak or or nancy place city getting her hair down at a shop in san francisco. California governor gavin newsom going out to the famed french runedly restaurant laundry restaurant followed the next night by the mayor of san francisco. Governor andrew cuomo having to discuss invite his mother, and steve adler who issued a stay at home order from his vacation in mexico. Two thumbs down on all of them. Paul my miss of the year goes to chinese president xi jinping for the crushing dissent and liberty in hong kong, the arrest of democratic advocates including publisher jimmy lieu. This really mark jimmy lie are. This really marks the end of hong kong as the example of freedom that it has been for the last 60, 70 years and what human liberty can accomplish, and it demonstrates that the Chinese Communist party is a real threat to freedom around the world in the coming decades. We have to take one more break. When we come back, our panels picks for hits of the year. 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A licensed humana sales agent will walk you through your options, answer any questions you have and, if youre eligible, help you enroll over the phone. Call today and well also send this free guide. Humana, a more human way to healthcare. We all have seasons in our lives where something takes us to a place where we need to ask for help; and thats what food banks are here for. I asked dale if walmart would partner with us and he said, absolutely, lets figure out how to get this done. When you start working in an area and youre out in the stores, and in the community, you see the need. It was just the right thing to do. Time now for the good news. Time for the hits. Department of justice appropriately to having to withdraw charges against former National Security advisor, Michael Flynn after ag bill barr ordered a review, it was clear mr. Flynn was subject to abuse of power by both the fbi and bob mueller, special counsel. One of the most important things d. O. J. Can do is admit when it makes a mistake and try to correct justice. It did that here and its an important first step in restoring respect from the American People and trust in the institution. Paul kyle. Ill give it to spacex for opening up because of private spaceflights. Americans glued to the tvs and make went to nasa astronauts climbed into a spacex capsule atop a spacex rocket and blasted off to the space station. If you can believe it, the company repeated that be in november. A flight junkie putting private competition into a used to be centralized government program. Elon musk says mars is next and hes sounding more believable all the time. Paul mary. It for american officer and restaurant tours who kept going despite government shutdowns. Healing the economy and serving us all. A special shout out to new york restaurant who have found creative ways new capital to keep during the public through a blistering summer heat. Now climbing over snowbanks. Along with our first responders, they are heroes of 2020. Paul dan. My hit goes to the u. S. Department pharmaceutical company. Pfizer, johnson johnson, moderna, the rest of us staring into the abyss of the coronavirus in march, they went to work and within ten months, produced a safe effective vaccine. Arguably, this is the miracle of 2020. This christmas season, vaccination schedules going to start, deliver us from this terrible pandemic. I think the pharmaceutical industry deserves the nobel peace prize. Paul my hit of the year goes to the wifi and Broadband Networks that kept us all working from home in this extraordinary year. One reason for that is the work of rg pie who run the federal Communications Communication under donald trump and repealed regulation in the Late Obama Administration that had regulating internet like utility and freeing up investment in broadband and wifi. All those networks that works so beautifully this year end allowed us to minimize the danger from the pandemic. Remember, if you have your own hit or miss of the year, tweet it to us at jtr on fnc. Thats it for this weeks show. Thanks to my panel and all of you for watching. I am paul gigot. Happy new year. We hope to see you here next week. Associated press reports federal investigators have identified a person of interest in connection with the Christmas Morning explosion in nashville. Multiple reporters are on the ground working to confirm just that. Meantime, this is the scene in tennessee, a suburb about 10 miles southeast of nashville where the fbi, atf and local police are rating a home, searching for clues as to what happened. Hello, welcome to americas news headquarters. I am laura. Hi, eric. Thank you for joining us. We are looking at