Allysia, what happened here that caused the meltdown . So it was a con newspapers of bad typing confluence of bad time, bad weather and bad government policies. This is an historic freeze for texas with temperatures dipping down, plunging, for that matter, into the single digits. But the bigger problem is there just wasnt enough power to keep the grid running, and thats largely because the state has been forging more and more into wind over the last decade. The power that it derives from wind has more than doubled while the amount of power that it gets from coal has fallen by half. And coal and nuclear with the most steady sources of generation. And when you didnt have that to back up the grid amid surging demand for heating and other things, they had to resort to blackouts. Paul okay. So when you say Baseload Power, you mean reliable power that isnt intermittent like solar or to wind that you can count on when the chips are down, and thats predominantly coal and nuclear, i guess, but where does natural gas fit in there . A lot of people are also blaming natural gas and the pipelines for freezing. So natural gas can provide power, but in texas and most places nowadays it safely ramps up when renewables declines because [inaudible] quickly ramp up and then the problem with Natural A Gas is its just in time. It delivers it doesnt have [inaudible] and so unlike nuclear and coal which often, you know, coal has 90 days stockpile to produce heating or to produce electric. Electricity. Natural gas, you know, its dependent on just in time delivery, in this case some pipes froze, wells froze, and so you couldnt increase either. Paul okay. Kim, what to you make of the, a lot of the politicians and i guess in press in particular which sort of rallied around this idea that wind was not, nothing to do with wind power, nothing to do with renewables, this was all about climate change. What do you make of that . And what explains it . Well, i think it explains why so many people dont trust the press and politicians because, paul, this isnt a question that you can sit around. This is fizz ifics. I think a lot physics. A lot of people dont understand when you build a new wind farm or solar plant, you have to have Baseload Power behind it. Youve got to build more of that as well too because people understand that this renewables, that theyre not consistent or steady. So you have to have the backup. What that means is that you cant go along with joe bidens argument that were just going to have all renewables and simultaneously get rid of fossil fuels. Now, anyone who understands electricity and Energy Production gets this, but there is such an agenda these days among the press and among so many politicians that they close their eyes to the truth. They want to pretend this doesnt have anything to do with the failure of wind when its standing right in front of them as well as the entire reality of the infrastructure of how our grids continue to operate. Paul you know, dan, i couldnt help but notice that the Biden Administration decided the help texas this week by, among other things, sending Diesel Generators to texas. Now, you know, Dirty Old Diesel Fuel which has nothing to do with wind or solar or renewables. Well, you know, that raises an interesting point, paul. They sent Diesel Generators because i guess solar generators dont exist yet. And the serious point here is that serious environmentalists understand that the electrical grid is a very complicated piece of technology. It is not magic when you flip on your light switch and the lights come on. Its a very complex system. And the grid, there is no grid that exists yet that can be run wholly or prepond rantly on wind, solar and renewables. Its a huge technological challenge just as storage and batteries is a huge technological challenge. But the Biden Administration and the most ardent environmentalists and greenies keep investing that if we just go forward with wind and solar without the complementary backup of nuclear, which they eliminated years ago, natural gas which they dont like because of the pipeline and, indeed, even clean coal, that we are going to continue to have problems like that. Its a problem that needs addressing, and im glad that this debate is being elevated by whats going on in texas. Paul allysia, just briefly, are we going to see more texaslike episodes not just in texas, but other parts of the country . Well, i to think thats going to be a real threat as the strains on natural gas if the Biden Administration succeeds in its trying to shut down, you know, fracking and other fossil fuel production. Youre going to have strain the on supply, and i think where were heading is these coal and Nuclear Plants are set to retire. This next year is set to be the biggest year in Nuclear Plant retirement. Paul all right. Welcome to india and pakistan, my friends. When we come back, donald trump lashes out at Mitch Mcconnell threatening to mount primary challenges to senators who are loyal to the minority leader. Karl rove on the trumpmcconnell split and what it means for the gops chances of taking back the senate next year. Tomorrow holds the course of your financial future. Which is why its good to know exactly how youll get there. For more than 150 years, generations have trusted the strength and stability of pacific life to protect their tomorrows. 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So you want to make the best burger ever . Then make it ill do it. That means selling everything. And eating nothing but cheese till you find the perfect slice. Even if everyone asks you. Another burger truck . Dont listen to them that means cooking day and night until you get. [ ding ] you got paid that means adding people to the payroll. Hi mom. That means. Best burger ever. Intuit quickbooks helps Small Businesses be more successful with payments, payroll, banking and live bookkeeping. At tmobile, we have a plan built just for customers 55 and up. Saving 50 vs. Other carriers with 2 unlimited lines for less than 30 each. Call 1800tmobile or go to tmobile. Com 55. Paul former President Donald Trump lash aring out this week at senator Mitch Mcconnell calling the Kentucky Republican a political hack and threatening to back primary challenges to gop incumbents who remain loyal to the minority leader. The attack comes after connell voted to acquit trump in his Second Impeachment Trial but claimed the former president was, quote, practically and morally responsible for the January 6th Assault on the capitol. Lets bring in Wall Street Journal columnist and Fox News Contributor karl rove. He served as a Senior Adviser to president george w. Bush. So, karl, you address this subject in your column this week for us. The gop in the middle of what could be become a civil war over the role of donald trump . Yes, we are. The question, is it going to be a minor conflict or a major conflagration. Yes, that role being taken by donald trump with this broadside at the Senate Majority leader. I thought it was a mistake if that the Senate Majority leader said what he said on saturday. It was picked up on sunday, pretty much gone by monday, and so on tuesday President Trump proceeded to have a 600word Statement Issued Lashing Mcconnell as an incompetent, which he clearly is not and even raising an old slur against elaine chao whose family runs a privatelyheld shipping company active in the pacific and in china in which she and mitch own no stock and which, obviously, wasnt a problem when donald trump named her his transportation secretary. But hes now the former president s now set himself up for a loss. The Senate Republicans are not going to remove Mitch Mcconnell like he suggested, and well see what happens in primaries in 2022 paul well, thats what i want to ask you about karl because i agree with you, connell is not going to be ousted by his colleagues on capitol hill in the senate. Too effective in his job, too many people, the republicans understand that. But the goal here has to be for the republicans in the minority now to retake the senate, and if donald trump is going to make, is going to declare that everybody who runs has to declare fidelity to donald trump, what impact is that going to have on the Senate Primary races . Well, i think it depends on are the candidates electable. It really doesnt matter, i mean, we had people in the 2020 election with the exception, perhaps, of Susan Collins out there saying, you know, of course im going to be supportive of President Trump, and they got elected. Thom tillis in North Carolina in a close race, joni ernst in iowa, and yet theyre strong supporters of Mitch Mcconnell. Is so the questions going to be is the president going to support people who can win the general election or pick more roy moores . Paul yeah. The candidate who was nominated by the republicans in alabama and lost giving, turning over the seat to the democrats. Now, lindsey graham, the senator from south carolina, has said, karl, that republicans have no chance of taking the Senate Unless they understand that donald trump is the single most important player in the Republican Party and get him on their side. What to you make of that what do you make of that . Well, i think theres some truth to that. Donald trumps supporters within the party represent a significant element, and they need to turn out for the general election. But thats going to be entirely dependent on what donald trump does. I shouldnt say entirely, substantially dependent on what donald trump does. Theres a limit to how much the candidates can do to motivate those people in the face of a wrong message from trump. We saw that in georgia. We had two terrific candidates that came very close to winning, but at the end of the day, the bigger the county was for trump, the more likely it was to have a drop in turnout because donald trump said the elections are rigged and its not worth voting, in essence. Weve got a long time for this drama to play out, but my sense is were going to see some races in which both donald trump and Mitch Mcconnell are on the same side and others in which theyre not, and the instances in where theyre not, is donald trump backing a candidate who has the ability to get elected. Otherwise, if he backs candidates who lose in the general election, its going to on him. Paul were already seeing some of the consequences perhaps play out in arizona where mark kelly, the democrat who just won special election, served for two years, but hes got to win john mccains seat for another six in 2022 to ducey, the republican governor, arguably the most popular republican in the state. But hes been censured by the party, the Republican Party of arizona led by the donald trump candidate, kelly ward, who wants to run herself. And ducey has said, well, i dont think im going to run, im not interested in the senate. So thats a seat that you could have a pickup that looks like now you wont. Yeah, you may be right. I would say this, i was surprised about kelly wards reelection as state chairman. Not that she got reelected but after donald trump issued a fullthroated endorsement, she won by a lot. The partys about ready to fall over the edge of the earth, but thats not been the case when it comes to sensible republicans like jon kyl and governor doocy have gotten elected even when the Party Apparatus was in the throes of the hands of people like kelly ward. So weve got a little time yet. Doug ducey has been a great governor of the state. He won election and then won reelection by double digits in a state that donald trump barely lost. It says something about his political power in the state. I hope he does run for the senate, but if he doesnt, its going to be that he made a determination that with the party badly split and in the midst of a civil war, it wasnt worth doing. And in that case once again itll be Donald Trumps fault. Paul all right, karl, thanks very much. When we come back, new York Lawmakers push to strip andrew cuomo of his Emergency Powers as federal prosecutors launch a probe into his handling of nursing home deaths. Our panel weighs in on the cuomo covid coverup next. Ah. Okay. Plan, pivot. How do you bounce back . You dont, you bounce forward, with serious and reliable internet. Powered by the largest gig Speed Network in america. But is it secure . Sure its secure. And even if the power goes down, your connection doesnt. So how do i do this . You dont do this. We do this, together. Bounce forward, with comcast business. This is the sound of an asthma attack. That doesnt happen. 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Paul federal prosecutors have, according to press reports, opened an investigation into the administration of new York Governor Andrew Cuomo over his handling of Nursing Homes during the covid19 pandemic. The news to comes after a top the aide to the governor admitted last week that the state had deliberately concealed the true number of nursing home deaths amid fears that the Trump Administration would politicize it. At a briefing this week, cuomo declined to apologize for his administrations decision to withhold that data saying instead that the lack of information created a void that was exploited by his political opponents. We created the void by not producing enough Public Information quickly enough. I get that. But then it was exploited with misinformation, people playing politics, republicans playing politics, personal attacks, personal agendas. Paul were back with dan henninger, Allysia Finley and bill mcgurn. Bill, lets take the merits first of this. How big of a scandal is this for cuomo in the Nursing Homes and the way he handled it . Well, i think its a tremendous scandal, and its not so much the decision to have covidinfected people go back into Nursing Homes. Of you know, you may be able to defend that at the knowledge of the time, but this admission of a coverup, the woman you mentioned, melissa de rosa, you know, its so hard to prove an obstruction of justice, that there was an intent to deceive. But basically in that taped conversation with other democrats, she basically says, well, we had the information, but we hid it because we were afraid of prosecution. So i think hes in real trouble. Whats interesting this time is theres nothing new about andrew cuomo, hes gotten into this Spitting Match with assemblyman ron kim. He supposedly called him up and said hed destroy him. This is classic andrew cuomo, but now it seems at least theres a portion of democrats turning against him. And hes got so much other bad news. The Empire Center came out with a study saying that that March 25th Directive about letting covidinfected people back into a nursing home may have been responsible for a thousand extra deaths. And youve got an Impeachment Commission in the state assembly, its just a lot of bad news, and im not sure hes going to be able to bully his way out of this one. Paul dan, this is fascinating because not too long ago andrew cuomo was the great hero of covid. Remember, he was the antitrump. He was the person he won an emmy award for his performances on a daily basis. Supposedly informing the public of the state of covid. But you wrote this week that cuomo in many ways was a lot like trump when it comes to covid. What did you explain that for people. Well, he just would not take responsibility for his mistakes, and, you know, presentations by andrew cuomo that were being broadcast daily on cnn and msnbc, that was just the highlight film. Those of us in new york knew that andrew cuomo was at crosspurposes with the mayor of new york city, bill de blasio, mayors all around the state, School Boards all around the state. And rather than try to work with them, andrew cuomo as did to some extent donald trump simply tried to impose his personality on the covid crisis inside new york state. And when in this nursing home incident happened and it was pointed out that he was claiming deaths half the size of what was occurring in massachusetts, pennsylvania and other adjoining states, he simply denied it, and that was a very kind of trumpian thing to do. And now, as bill just described, he has dug himself very in deep. I have to say, paul, i find the original denial incomprehensible. We were in the fog of a pandemic war, why andrew cuomo couldnt simply have said we made a mistake, we apologize and were moving forward, i do not understand. But now he does have a federal prosecutor in brooklyn looking into what exactly they were doing back then. Paul the prosecutor aside,ally aside,allysia, what do you think the political consequences will be . Democrats would have to really go after cuomo if theres going to be any real political consequences. Right. I think right now the legislature is looking at stripping him of his Emergency Powers which i think would be a satisfactory development. Hes used those powers in all kinds of ways to impose transitions on houses of worship, other businesses not rooted in science, basically political. Long term, i mean, hes probably going to be under more pressure, political pressure. I mean, leticia james, shes very ambitious, and no doubt progressives will want to take him out. Paul bill, do you think that this could be a political watershed for cuomo who ease ruled this whos ruled this state kind of like machiavelli, right . Its better for the ruler to be feared than loved. Yeah, exactly to that, one of his aides many years ago said they had two modes for people, get along or kill. [laughter] a lot of resentment you build up with an approach like that. Right now its ron kim, hes got, i think, a dozen democrats supporting him in a letter. Leticia james, that investigation, that was a big deal even though it was tepid. The fact that she would even write a report. And you know what it recalls to me is when Eliot Spitzer was governor, it was andrew cuomo, his attorney general, that did a report on him that helped take him down. Maybe some of these people are seeing, you know, the path to albany open up a little bit. Paul all right. Still ahead, President Biden promising china will pay a price for its human rights abuses, but will the new administration follow through on that . Well talk to up one of the architects of the Trump Administrations china policy next. Money Manager because our way works great for us judith but not for your clients. 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And so the idea im not going to speak out against what hes doing in hong kong, what hes doing with the uighurs in Western Mountains of china and taiwan, trying to end one china policy, there will be repercussions for china, and he knows that. Paul President Joe Biden vowing china will pay a price for its human rights abuses, saying he made that message clear in a two hour phone call with chinese president xi jinping last week citing the massive internment of uighurs and its increasingly aggressive actions towards taiwan. Will the new administration hold china accountable . Lets ask Matt Pottinger who helped craft President Trumps china policy. Matt, welcome. Great to see you. Thank you for doing this. So in your experience, in your experience when a president of the United States talks to xi jinping and says talks about the uighurs, talks about hong kong, talks about things domestically, whats the response from xi, or does he even care . Yeah, i think were at a point where, you know, the rhetoric and calling out chinas actions, really the most egregious human rights atrocities so far this century, is really important to call those things out, but its also important to back up rhetoric with actions. And so i was glad to hear that President Biden, this is very much on his mind, his readout of his phone call that he did with president xi he also mentioned that they talked about it. But to date, theres only been one leader who has taken concrete actions to really punish china over what is happening with the uighurs, and that was President Trump. The Trump Administration going all the way back to 2019 began putting in place export controls, Human Rights Global Magnitsky Act sanctions and then, of course, at the end of president bushs term, the Secretary Of State President Trumps term, secretary pompeo made that statement about genocide. No other leaders around the world have taken concrete steps yet. So well have to see whether the rhetoric is matched with action. Paul okay. Youve been watching, im sure, the Biden China Policy unfold, such as it is. Early days. But what signals do you see apart from the rhetoric, what kind of policy is shaping up here . Yeah, you know, the initial signals that are being centre to haveically, i i think sent rhetorically have been positive to the extent they signal some degree of continuity. Weve seen that, you saw it in Secretary Of State blinkens readout, his phone call he had earlier this month with his chinese counterpart. You saw elements of continuity in President Bidens readout. Theyre doing a review right now of all of the various steps that the Trump Administration if took, and so its unclear whether theyre going to roll some of those things back, whether theyre going to maintain or even deepen some of the approach. But i think its helpful to take a step back for a moment and realize how dramatically the Business Landscape has changed just over the past zell months between several months between the u. S. And china because of some of these actions that were taken late in the Trump Administration. Now, it may seem like things were shoot from the hip, last minute things. In fact, many of them had a long head of steam of several months or in some cases these were steps that had been planned for years. But its things like clamping down on all of the massive amounts of Patent Investments that americans are directing [inaudible] into companies affiliated with chinas military modernization paul of course, we also had the restrictions on huawei where you pushed, you know, that as a telecom threat, for example. That seems to be a very that was a very big deal. And would it be what kind of signal would it send if biden rolled that back . Well, that would be a very negative signal. You have to remember that we spent two years talking to our closest allies around the world. Many of them did roll baqubah way, said huawei was not going to be allowed this their 5g networks. The europeans were much more on the fence, and we presented them with very compelling ed for why its dangerous to have China Telecom that was not enough. It actually took the step of banning u. S. Exports of our technology and our semiconductors, chinese vendors, for the signal to finally really resonate in europe that, my gosh, were not going to have enough chips available to Service Existing networks. So it was actually a deicive step that you saw over the course of may, another through july by the Commerce Department last year with backing by the president. [inaudible] rolled back on. Paul all right, now, if you had gotten a second term, how would you what specific policies would you have tried to advance visavis china to move, to move in the second term to put more pressure on china to behave according to global norms . Yeah. I, you know, there was a lot of talk in the final months of the Trump Administration, there was a lot of talk internally about in this idea of Selective Decoupling from china, Selective Decoupling. And so the idea there is that on critical areas where our, we maintain the technological edge, where we maintain significant advantages that were being eroded over time by chinese subsidies, chinese theft of intellectual property, that in those areas we are willing to accept risk by actually rupturing the relationship in certain sectors. The same is true for finance and capital. Like i mentioned, the president sign a couple of Executive Orders at the end of his term that banned america americans, u. S. Persons from investing in that blacklist of 44 Chinese Companies and their subsidiaries. That blacklist should have continued to grow. Had we had a second term, you would have seen that list continue to grow, deep or steps taken to cut off the flow of American Capital thats going into militarybacked companies, in some cases its going to companies that weve already sanctioned for the surveillance state. Companies that are committing egregious human rights abuses. So you would have seen that deepen. Paul all right. Matt pottingier, thanks. Hope to see you again. Still ahead, President Biden recommits to opening schools five days a week amid accusations that his administration had shifted the goal post. But as the debate over vaccinating teachers continues, will his union allies cooperate . Is that net carbs or total . Eh, not enough fiber. Chocolate would be good. Snacking should be sweet and simple. 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What im talking about is i said opening the majority of schools in k8th grade because theyre the easiest to open, the most needed to be open in terms of the impact on children and families having to stay home. The goal will be five days a week. Paul President Biden this week recommitting to his goal of reopening the majority of the nations Elementary Schools five days a week. The President Distancing himself from White House Press secretary jen psaki who said last week that one today of inperson learning would be enough to meet the administrations School Reopening goal, calling her comments a mistake in communication. Biden, though, saying the federal government needs to chip in to get schools open and the economy back on track. Once again calling on lawmakers to pass his 1. 9 trillion covid spending plan. Were back with dan henninger, kim strassel and bill mcgurn. Dan, so what to you make of the biden School Opening policy . Is it clear to you . No, thats the point, its not clear to anybody including jen psaki who incidentally, im sure, did not make up that policy last week when she announced it. But the question is what exactly is going on here, paul . Its very hard to comprehend. You know, struggling to open the Public Schools, the president wont insist that the unions comply. Private, parochial, Catholic Schools have been open since august, no one has been dying. In florida ron desantis has had the Public Schools open since august. People, teachers are not dying down there. So Something Else seems to be going on. And i think, ultimately, it is about the money that the unions have this money inside the covid similar Stimulus Bill that the president insists on passing, and they just want if not merely tap into that short term, but long term to prop up their salaries ands if their pensions and their pensions in these roding urban systems. Paul kim, the president just doesnt seem willing to be able to say or even have jen psaki say, look, Teachers Unions must get their teachers back to work. Will not say that. And say, look, you know, were going to help you as much as possible, but weve got to get those classrooms open. Is it as simple as that politically . It is. And what demonstrates that is not just this question of the miscommunication on what they meant by their schools policy, but the fact that they remain sideways with their own cdc director, rochelle walensky, who came out and said, look, its safe for teachers to go back to the classroom prior to getting a vaccine. You cannot get a Senior Member of the white house to back that up. And this is a white house that lectured everyone on the Campaign Trail about following the science, listening to the science. That is all the indication you need that this is being entirely driven by their union allies. Paul bill, you know, weve been looking at this 1. 9 trillion spending bill, and about 120 billion or so is for schools. But when you look inside the numbers, it turns out its a little of the previous bills money has been spent for schools that the Congressional Budget Office is actually pricking that this school predicting that this schools money will be spent over many, many years going through 2028 right. Paul when, lord help us, covid will be long over. [laughter] yeah. I think that gets to kims point, this is a longterm are, you know, pension plan and so forth for them. Look, we know its not about money. As dan pointed out, these Parochial Schools would have a lot less money. Some of the colleges kept their schools open and showed they could deal with it. You know, for a really good taste of what moms and dads are up against, there was a mom who sent a letter to the school board in oakley, california, between sacramento and San Francisco asking about the reopening. And on this zoom meeting of the board, they thought they were it was a private conversation, and they started attacking the parents. One said they just wanted babysitters, another said they just want to sit home and smoke pot [laughter] and someone else said, you know, some of the parents that criticize them, im going to blank them up. People are getting an education, its just not coming in the schools itself. Paul kim, very briefly, politically, is there any vulnerability here for the white house . Yeah. And i think thats why you see joe biden trying to change his position now. That has been a shift in the past six months. Its got a lot of democrats worried. They thought they were kind of on the ascendant on School Policy and Education Policy if you look over the past few years, but this is changing it around, and the white white hous shifting decisions are a reflection of how worried they are about that. Paul all right. When we come back, as the Recall Campaign against California Governor Gavin Newsom gains momentum, could the gop move to boot him from office backfire . Human care gives you tons of ways to talk to your doctor phone, computer, in person, or tablet. Hey jean hi this is just a quick follow up. Your numbers are looking great. You dont even have to put on shoes. Ooo easy peasy. You like that, huh . Mhm. Humana. A more human way to healthcare. Hi. So youre the scientist here. Does my aveeno® daily moisturizer really make my dry skin healthier in one day . Its true jen. This Prebiotic Oat Formula moisturizes to help prevent dry skin. Impressive aveeno® healthy. Its our nature. ™ try the body wash, too. Cyber attacks are relentlessly advancing. To end them, cybereason built a Cyber Security solution its our nature. ™ so advanced. It can end attacks today on computers, mobile devices, servers and the cloud. And deliver futureready protection, keeping you sharp for tomorrow. Join us, the defenders, in our mission. Cybereason. End cyber attacks. From endpoints to everywhere. Paul the effort to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom gaining momentum this week with organizers of the campaign claiming they have gathered the 1. 5 million signatures needed to force an election to remove the firstterm democrat from office. Newsom facing a backlash are over his administrations response to the pandemic as well as his decision to attend a dinner late last years at an exclusive restaurant in violation of his own Public Health guidelines. Were back with dan henninger, kim strassel and Allysia Finley. So, kim, is this recall going to happen, do you think, and is it a good idea . Well, the organizers of it claim that they are well on track to get the signatures required by the middle of march. Well find out at that point. You have a number of candidates, republicans and democrats well, not many democrats, but republicans talking about how they want to be put on the ballot. And, yeah, i believe it is i think its a good idea if you dont like the way gavin newsom has governed. A lot of republicans will say its not worth it, we dont have a chance. But if you dont compete, you dont have a chance. I look at larry hogan, charlie baker, Bruce Rounder in illinois, sometimes even this these deep blue states you get public that are fed up enough with liberal leadership that they are willing to take a new course. So i think the gop rather than just complain about what california does all the time, this is an opportunity to do something. Paul all right, allysia, there would be two questions on the ballot. One, do you recall newsom or not, and two, if the recall is successful, who should be the next governor. Do you think its a good idea to go that route . No for many reasons. I think there is an extreme possibility that even if newsom were recalled, that you would get a progressive democrat even worse. You know, governor tom steyer, you know, all kinds of democrats in the state who are opportunistic and will put their names on the ballot. The republican vote by be splintered, democrat have one registration advantage in the state, so you may get a democrat whos even worse. I think republicans would be better off focusing their efforts on winning more legislative seats which is where the power is in the state, and democrats have a twothirds majority there which allows them to high tax and to all kinds of stuff, bad stuff. So i think theyd be better off just focusing on winning back some of those seats that theyve been losing for the last several years. Paul dan, what do you make of this e debate between our two esteemed colleagues, and where do you come out . Well, on the one side there is the reality that its difficult to win in a blue state like california. But kim is right that this is probably a debate that californians need to have because the third alternative here is what i call the uhaul option which is to merely get out, move out. Companies have been doing that, tesla, hp, schwab. The middle class is getting killed in california by The Cost Of Living and democratic governance. They need to have a big public conversation about where that state is headed, and i think the Recall Election a although it may be difficult to take down Gavin Gavin Newsom which this is a discussion californians need to take for kind of the reasons that they can decide who they want representing them in the legislature and in congress and the direction they want to take that state, which is in trouble right now. Paul allysia, are you saying no chance any republican can consolidate the auntdemocratic vote and antidemocratic vote and run win in the recall . I think its a big, uphill climb. Republicans make up around 25 of voters in the state, and youve already got a couple, ken falconer and a couple others, who are running. You may splinter that, and it would be very hard for them to get a plurality of votes on the second question. Paul so that would be and then a democrat, i guess, would sneak in potentially and take Gavin Newsoms place. Anyway, itll be fun to watch as this unfolds. We have to take one more break. When we come back, hits and misses of the week. When you drive this smooth, you save with allstate the future of Auto Insurance is here youve never been in better hands allstate click or call for a quote today. Water . Urgh rocket ship hey hey heads up. Thank you water tastes like, water. So we fixed it. Mio y. Time now for our hits and misses of the week. Kim, start us off. Paul, a tribute to Rush Limbaugh who died this week at age 70. Rush literally transformed talk radio after the end of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987. Create an entire generation of conservatives who grew up listening to him on the radio. More importantly he thond explain and popular rise conservative ideas for about 30 years. His success was that he was immensely entertaining, superb at his craft and the world will be a little less of a place without that very familiar. Rest in peace, rush. Bill . Paul, city of new york that just abolished merit based exam for gifted and talented for young kids. Part of the mayors end all merit based exams for Top Performing schools. Comes a week after San Francisco did the same for lowell high school. Eliminating the merit exam there. The reason this is being done its In The Name Of equity but its led to the final absurdity for progressives. If they cant fix the schools that arent working, they are going to cut the ones that are down to size. Paul all right, alicia. This is a hit and miss to Australia Open which has put fans and players through hell over the last three weeks when players arrive, many had to being quarantined in their room for 14 days during which they couldnt practice. Injuries naturally have increased and then they institute a broad five day lockdown which they kicked families out of stadium mid match. Finally the Australian Government and the tournament has become too expensive and allowed fans into the stadium to watch the last few matches of the tournament. Paul all right, dan . Hit to the team at the Nasa Jet Propulsion Lab which landed the Rover Perseverance this week after a seven month trip through the heavens across nearly 300 million miles. I mean, the thing even has its own little four Pound Helicopter to fly around mars. Its quite extraordinary. This may have been the year of covid, but the landing of perseverance on mars, paul, is just what the doctor ordered. Paul nice to get some good news about the american can do technological spirit. And, remember, if you have your own hit or miss, be sure to tweet us to us at ger on m ng. Thats it for this weeks show. Thanks to my panel and all of you for watching. Im paul gigot. Hope to see you all right here eric federal help will soon be flowing into texas President Biden approves a major disaster declaration for the lone star state. Texas governor mr. Abbott has approved for 77 counties. Much more needed this after devastating winter storm killed dozens of residents shut downtown states power grid and led to widespread flooding issues. Life sometime storm with extremity temperatures. Not seen in the last 60 or 70 years where we had six or seven days below freezing. You know,