track in 2022? let's ask wall street journal columnist and fox news contradict tore karl rove he was senior advisor to president george w. bush. karl, welcome, i guess i would like you to analyze what happened to joe biden to win in office promising unity, promising return to normalcy. and here we are a year later -- not normalcy. >> yeah, the guy that we heard from the basement in wilmington, delaware, turned out to not show up in the oval office 2021. we've seen -- a number of missteps promising that the covid would be in the back in the rear-view mirror by july 4th. we've seen overpromising. we have seen foreign policy debacle like afghanistan and most amazing thing is that he's pursued a left agenda. whether it was the american rescue plan, or the build back better, or his executive actions, he's angted not as a traditional democrat we thought he would be and instead as, you know, if not a -- if not a caring member of the democrat party at least a fellow traveler with them. paul: you've sat in the whowtion and advised president of how to look at the various political power centers and how to balance your mandate with what you can get done. this is what puzzles me. joe biden won a relatively narrow victory not in the electoral college 50/50 senate. they lost seats democrat did in the house very narrow majorities. how looking at that balance of power would you say aha i'll go for most radical agenda in a half century. i don't understand what the thinking is inside the white house. maybe you do. >> well, i don't understand it either. because you put your finger on it he did not -- he did not conduct a campaign that created any mandate for this. and you're right, it was a narrow relatively narrow victory he won -- the key states by slim margin he still gets to be president but it should cause him to think what is it that we can get done, and you can get more things done in an environment like that when you begin from the center of the politics not from the left of the politics. think about it. he had two big achievement this is year legislatively. the american rescue package which was a big spending bill, and in february -- that assigned in early march that was all based around we need to do this for covid and there's still a sense in the country we needed to do something. maybe we didn't need to do all of that but people were not going to stand in front of that particular bill. second was the bipartisan infrastructure bill dprifn from people in republicans and democratic parties who said we got to get something done. we have to reauthorize highway trust fund which we've done every five years since 1956 and we are running risk the not getting it done unless we stop ignoring the white house. not depending on the transportation secretary to lead us, but instead sit down and come up with a bill of our own. but other than that it has been a disaster. he has gotten a lot of judges done give him credit for that and legislatively this has been a disaster for him because he's been in my opinion just -- moving far to the left. and that's not where you get things done when you have a narrow -- congress, a narrow majority in the hogs and divided senate. paul: but argument i hear if from -- partisan democrats is look, we have darth vader sitting there in the senate mitch mcconnell and majority likely to kill everything. so we can't work with him. therefore, we have to put together this democrats only coalition to get anything significant done. leave aside infrastructure. so therefore, we have to work with our own coalition. and you know, it is a left leaning left dominant coalition sos that's way we have to go if wept to get anything done what's your response to that? >> well excuses, excuses, excuses that sounds great xepght for that thing that you said. except for the bipartisan infrastructure bill. i mean, that was a demonstration what they could have done to say let's find a way and not get all we want and find common grement and get something done and they did with that bill. but, no. you're right if you start the with the asudges assumption no republican, conservative will go for a loon i-in left wing idea out of the playbook of bernie sanders and the house progressive caucus, if that's your starting point then yeah. you have to get it done with two democrats only but one it make it is more difficult to get things that could be done on a bipartisan basis and second of all you member your makes in house and senate both take crazy votes they have to in swing districts to justify. this is where i'm misififmystifd even though we know we all 50 republicans opposed joe manchin is opposed kyrsten sinema opposed and four or five other democrats are squishy why provisions but let's make everybody be on record. mark kelly, senators in nevada and arizona and georgia and new hampshire all of whom are critical battle ground let's make every one of them embrace this fully and become a target for their republican opponents in the general election. paul: is -- what's your advice for how they turn it around in 2022? >> well, remember they're not going to be able to turn it around. if you take a look at it since 1888 and emergence of the second party system, there have been only been two midterm first term elections in which white house party gains seats that's 1934 and 2002. so they're going to lose seats in the u.s. house of representatives no ifs ands or buts and lose control of the house so what they have to do is focus on how do we mitigate damage on our party and reduce number of seats we lose not keep control. they can't keep control particularly in house and may be able to narrowly keep control in 50/50 but a lot of breaks to do so do no harm. stop, stop doing what you're doing now. stop overpromising on covid and start moving to the center on try to get things done that give you reasonable, reasonable appearance to say to american people, we can make this thing work. paul: all right karl thank you so much for coming in merry christmas to you. when we come back narrow majority in the house and a 50/50 senate democrat leaders to the test. this last year and leaving many of their policy priorities in limbo a look at what congress is and wasn't able to achieve this year, and a path forward in 2022. ♪♪ the only thing a disaster can't destroy is hope. ♪♪ donate now at redcross.org thanks for coming. now when it comes to a financial plan this broker is your man. let's open your binders to page 188... uh carl, are there different planning options in here? options? plans we can build on our own, or with help from a financial consultant? like schwab does. uhhh... could we adjust our plan... ...yeah, like if we buy a new house? mmmm... and our son just started working. oh! do you offer a complimentary retirement plan for him? as in free? just like schwab. schwab! look forward to planning with schwab. >> majorities leader chuck schumer promising promising thit senate will volt on president biden build back better legislation despite west virginia senator joe manchin opposition that spending bill is not only democratic priority that has stalled. this year with voting rights, immigration, and police reform also failing to pass both houses. schumer and house speaker, nancy pelosi grapple with the reality of governing with very narrow majorities. let's bring in our panel, all star panel of wall street journal columnist kim strassel phil and mary o'grady so dan i want to give you a crack at that question i ask karl rove how do you explain the white house decision starting in january, with very narrow majorities to try to govern with a left only coalition. >> all right, paul i'm going to give you one piece of the explanation that i think it is worth focusing on. and that is senate majority leader chuck schumer. chuck schumer is from new york city. he's up for reelection next year. we know that he conceivably will be challenged by a member of the squad from new york, alexandria cortez but let's focus on fact that chum schumer has had progressive left we think demonstrators from nongt of his house in brooklyn at least three times over the last three years. he's under a lot of pressure. and i think that pressure moved the senate majority leader smartly to the left, and took a lot of the party with him if you consider for instance, if they had someone else, say amy klobuchar as majority leader i doubt they would have moved so easily to the left so i'm going to really attach a lot of explanation for what happened to the pressure that chuck schumer is on looking to preserve his own seat from the left in that city especially cortez makes. j i think there's a lot to it and, of course, if you get elected as president of the united states, you have a little different platform and a little different mandate than the majority leader and can't you tell the majority leader and the speaker of the house these are my priorities let's find a wie to get it done. >> yeah. every president has a obligation when they come in. they might have run on agenda but they have to look at the reality of the election results and what their majorities are like and then make decisions and this is i think, fundamental problem of the biden presidency is that he continues to act as if he's a senator and that everything can be reached by consensus or deal making. when, in fact, at these crucial moments what you need is a white house that tells everyone what's going happen, and makes the best decisions for the party. that's not happening he's instead taking orders from progressives. paul: mary, do you put any responsibility here on the white house staff? i'm thinking suzanne rice domestic policy advisor ron klain white house chief of staff, chief interlock with capitol hill because when you look at joe biden some of the regulatory appointment especially on finance as you've been following elizabeth warren seems to be the de facto president with some of these so could it be that it's also advisors to biden? >> well united kingdom he chooses advisors and he actually came in saying that he was going to be a unifier and that's why -- this looks so bad for him. i mean, not only has he not unified the country, he can't even unify the democratic party. and you know, i think that -- he's as dan says not just chuck schumer but joe biden is also letting the progressives call the shots and that's been very damaging to him. i mean, he should want to go back to the old fashion way of committees in congress. you know, making the sausage, taking into account the wide verrett variety opinions in this country that don't necessarily coincide with what the progressives want. paul: all right bill we've got a pretty negative crowd here. [laughter] to hear what i want to know is hear from you is can the president be given some credit? i mean personality wise people seem to like him. for example, he did promise normalcy not in our face all of the time. he's not on twitter all of the time. where is this silver lining of this first year? >> i'm not sure i see a silver lining. i think part of the dynamic here is two factors one is joe biden -- who over his career has generally fouled party than lead it and in this dynamic you know, chuck schumer as sort of a guy with a moderate path -- moderate that's what moderates are people that feel threatened and swing speech. it is not a coincidence of jared goldman in maine and golden is he only want to vote against build back better because it was from build back trump and i would say a word from progressives from their point of view they're not interested in incremental progress. they're interested in fundamental change they're mostly from seats they look out and they saw old man probably a one termer in the house tiny majority in house and senate and midterms looming up and thought they have 18 months to get something transformational in. and they came very close. you know, it was defeated by joe manchin but they came very close on that day. >> kim, i don't have too much time left but on handling of joe manchin, i guess what would have been your advice to try to get them -- if biden wanted to get him over the finish line. looked as if he could persuade them private lis and from the left that hasn't worked? >> no and, obviously, answer is to have listened to what joe manchin said six months ago. if everyone had simply done that -- they could have created a bill that might well be in lulling right now and instead they did this failed pressure campaign and here we are at the end of the year. paul: all right. thank you all when we come back, inflation makes a return in 2021 and a big way. as american consumers paid more for just about everything. president biden still insisting that more spending is the solution so will he get his wish in 2022? s on the road of life. the journey is why they ride. when the road is all you need, there is no destination. uh, i-i'm actually just going to get an iced coffee. well, she may have a destination this one time, but usually -- no, i-i usually have a destination. yeah, but most of the time, her destination is freedom. nope, just the coffee shop. announcer: no matter why you ride, progressive has you covered with protection starting at $79 a year. voiceover: 'cause she's a biker... please don't follow me in. ♪ christmas music ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ if your dry eye symptoms keep coming back, what?! no! over the counter eye drops typically work by lubricating the eyes and may provide temporary relief. xiidra works differently, targeting inflammation that can cause dry eye disease. it can provide lasting relief. xiidra is the only fda-approved non-steroid eye drop specifically for the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease. one drop in each eye, twice a day. don't use if you are allergic to xiidra. common side effects include eye irritation, discomfort or blurred vision when applied to the eye, and unusual taste sensation. don't touch container tip to your eye or any surface. after using xiidra wait 15 minutes before reinserting contacts. ♪♪♪ this holiday, ask your doctor about xiidra. umph! switching wireless carriers is easy with xfinity. as just lean on our helpful switch squad to help you save with xfinity mobile. they can help break up with your current carrier for you and transfer your info to your new phone. giving you a fast and easy experience that can save you hundreds a year on your wireless bill. visit your nearest xfinity store and see how the switch squad can help you switch and save. get $200 off a new eligible 5g phone when you switch to xfinity mobile. talk with our helpful switch squad at your local xfinity store today. paul: -- today america is only leading economy in the world where household economy and economy as a whole is stronger than they were before the pandemic. even accounting for price increases. economy inherited nearly a year ago wasn't nearly in crisis but it wasn't working for american people and that was the reason i rang. >> president biden touted administration economic record and asked rising cost put the squeeze on families this holidays season. consumer prices making a steady climb in 2021 with americans paying more for everything from groceries to gasoline. federal reserve chairman jay powell finally ditching term transitory acknowledge inflation will likely persist well into next year. so mary you heard the president's defensive his economic record, what kind of case does he make? >> well i think it is pretty weak, paul, and with all due respect to our commander in chief, actually real wages are down real wages are measured by the difference between your wages and then the impact they have when you go to the grocery store. and american workers are losing by about 2%. they are not keeping up with price inflation. headline inflation at 6.8.is now highest it has been since 1982. and you know, the federal government joe biden and democrats want to pour more money on top of this. i mean, we're grateful that build back better seems like it is not gong to happen. but the 1.9 trillion dollars that they poured on to an already hot economy earlier this year is costing people in the effect of inflation. paul: dan, you know thing about inflation this year it caught washington by surprise and i would say much of accomplishment wall street the fed didn't predict it. the white house didn't predict it and both of them in wall street didn't predict it and they were all down playing it well into the autumn. how do you explain this -- this failure and it is really a major failure which is now costing americans. reporter: it certainly it and it is a little hard to see paul, even by their own terms. the piece of legislation spending legislation that joe biden did get passed back in march, that was $2 trillion of spending. and then he got the $1 trillion of infrastructure bill spent as well. now all of that spending wasn't going out the door. but they were sending checks to the american people. and upwards of $1400. and it was intended to stimulate the economy. and indeed people were out of work, they were home and then indeed they did spend that money. and some of the other policies that biden administration put in place caused disincentivize people to work and stay home and that created famous supply chain problem. and as kevin has said the trump economist is pointed out a couple of times on our program the biden policies did nothing on the supply side. so you have this tremendous surge of demand creating inflation, and paul it should have been predictable an no i they are in the embarrassing position of saying they didn't see it coming. paul: bill federal reserve chairman powell has recently started to change the pandemic emergency monetary policy that began on the spring of 2020 even though economy has been roaring ahead and unemployment now is down to you know, in the 4% category. so how much responsibility does the fed have? >> well i think there's a lot of responsibility missed targets. right -- and as you pointed out in the opening, a lot of official washington, the people that we rely on to take care of inflation didn't see it coming or -- sort of tried to diminish it when it did happen including -- biden white house. i would say that, you know, the political problem here is that inflation is not something americans learn about from the chairman of the fed. it is something again that you alluded to. it is something that they feel when it cost them extra $20 to fill up their minivan or an extra $20 for a sack of groceries from kroger they know it. so when they hear washington sort of poo pooing it, it just creates another credibility gap and, of course, as you know, paul, longer we wait to address it. the greater the pain is going to be. paul: yeah, kim, the president is saying that, in fact, the solution to inflation is to pass build back better which would throw another four or $5 trillion on to the demand side of the economy. i don't know too many people who think that outside of goldman sachs perhaps who think that that is actually going to work. what do you think the chances are now that -- let me ask you this. what about the political impact of inflation? i think it has had an effect on joe manchin. what about it more broadly? >> yeah, you know the final inflation report we got this year arguably put a stake through build back better. because joe manchin has been so focused on this issue, and it was his ultimate excuse for why he didn't want to move ahead. the white house continues to poo poo this to suggest that this is all going to fix itself. i think its problem by the way this is something that really, really hurts administrations because as bill notes list pocketbook issues that makes people really group grump kri. problem, though, is answer to this is opposite of what white house is pursuing it is not more demand but supply and only way you do that to encourage companies by pulling back on regulations, dropping your tax plans, that's not something that the biden administration looks like it wants to do. but you know, we know from past presidents these inflation can be politically deadly. >> mary very briefly what happens when fed starts to raise rates next year? >> well i'm worried that -- first of all that they're going to delay too long because of omicron is going to slow growth and services. and disruptions are going to continue on the supply side. so i think jay powell is very nervous about -- removing some of this accommodation. so the longer they wait, the harder they're going to have to slam on brakes and if the federal government is not pushing money into people's pocketbooks consumer spending gong to slow so i think we risk stack inflation. >> all righty still ahead fda approves first two pills to treat covid-19 as the omicron variant drifts through the united states. dr. marc siegel on this year highs and lows on the fight against the coronavirus. helen knew exercise could help her diabetes. but she didn't know what was right for her. no. nope. no way. but then helen went from no to know. with freestyle libre 2, now she knows what activity helps lower her glucose. and can see what works best for her. take the mystery out of your glucose levels, and lower your a1c. now you know. freestyle libre 2. now covered by medicare for those who qualify. >> should all be concerned about omicron but not panicked. if you're fully vaccinated, and especially if you've got your booster shot you are highly protected that you're unvaccinated, you're at a higher risk getting severely ill from covid getting hospitalized and even dying. paul: a grim end to 2021 as number of covid related deaths surpasses 800,000 in the united states that was president biden tuesday. urging americans to get vaccinated but saying panic is not warranted as omicron variant takes hold with the cdc now saying it ngts for three quarters of new infections in the united states. let's bring in dr. mark seeing all clinical professor of medicine at fox news medical correspondent marc welcome good to see you so omicron is spreading in the northeast probably gets everywhere. but you agree with the president's kind of measured response that be concerned get vaccinated, but we're going to get through this because -- you know, if that's your status. >> i agree with this sentiment unfortunately the way that paul that he's presenting this all of the tile actually promotes panic. because it is -- too much restrictions and it is too many mandates and it is too much from the point of view of a threat. this week, his tone was better. but i think he's promoted a lot of panic where people are out there looking for rapid test big lines are forming. you know, and he's not necessarily con convincing people take the vaccine and i've written about this in wall street journallening that boosters make sense and vaccines make sense but you know there's not emphasis on fact either that the omicron variant gives yo an 80% less likely chance of ending up in the hospital that's reassuring to people but that message isn't out there either nor is the mmgdz if you got cover covid that you're less leakily to get a severe strain -- severe illness here either. if you got over the delta variant even if you got omicron it is likely to be very mild. paul: so you're buying studies that coming out of the south africa that this is likely to be -- not as lethal or dangerous? >> you know, i spoke to doctor from south africa other day who is big public health official in the national institute of communicable diseases there and she said it is multifactorial and sure it is true but she thinks it is a combination of previous infection that they just got hit with delta variant before and the vaccine is on a s way up around johannesburg 54% that plus the virus the strain itself is probably milder. and she was pretty reassuring about that and data out of the south africa is looking good right now. paul: we have other news fda approval of pills from pfizer and america what merck that are antiviral treatments and take within three, five days of symptoms it is going to reduce dramatically according to the trials. the danger of serious disease is this that some people are saying a real game changer in this pandemic? >> i think it is, paul and ting this points out the other issue here which is -- whereas i think restrictions and the public health responses haven't been great on the part of the government. i also don't think they've put enough mous pl muscle behind new treatments that are coming the i can't believe how exciting this is. now to give you an idea, i started with hiv in the 80s. and we didn't have a drug like this until mid-90s and a luge game changer per hiv and rna virus here we have it already within a year inhibitor and this decreasing your risk of hospitalization if you're unvaccinated by 90% according to a study just published in the new england journal of medicine. this is a game changer. but the government only bought 10 million courses of it. and who knows when it is going to be out there. it needs to be accelerated very quickly. paul: took them fair bit of time approve it and now, of course, they didn't do an operation warp speed like project where they finance the production in advance but the minute it is approved boom you can get it distributed instead we have to ration this i assume across country before we can ramp up production. what are stipulation with the approval that you have to have a test? you have to be tested positive of covid could that slows down the distribution and its effectiveness? >> well especially the way great points, you just made especially the way that we're dealing with rapid test in this country right 500 -- 500 million tests are approved for free distribution by a website that the government is going to set up. you remember last time they set up a website for affordable care act nobody could figure out how to use it i like michael model from hazard that's now he's now at e-med basically this you should be able to do a rapid test, at home it is positive you are exposed to have early symptomses. bang, you go online buy telemedicine and you get pill right away that's where we need to go with this and we should be there now but i think it is being -- put out in a crawl. instead of rapid warp speed pace the way you said. paul: what kind of timeline do you see here going into 2022 when we would have that boom, boom test at home. and pill -- online solution? >> i don't think 500 million is enough on the test. i think that -- it has got to be prepurchased in billion of test we have to have a plan delivered to people's houses and i think then pfizer pill can play into that into major pharmacy chains that's got to be worked out in a public private partnership between the government and c vtion cvs and wal-mart and i can prescribe it and i need to be able to prescribe it as easily as i can tamiflu. >> marc siegel thanks appreciate it. still ahead from the chaotic withdrawal to growing threats from russia and iran a closer looked a year in foreign policy and the biden administration promise of a return to normalcy. ♪ [laughing and giggling] (woman) hey dad. miss us? (vo) reflect on the past, celebrate the future. season's greetings from audi. with directv stream i can get live tv and on demand anywhere. look, serena williams... matrix... serena... matrix... serena... matrix... ♪ ♪ ♪ get your tv together with the best of live and on demand. introducing directv stream. >> america is back. america is back. diplomacy is back. at the center of our foreign policy. as i said in my inaugural address we will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again not to meet yesterday's challenges but today's and tomorrows. paul: president biden beginning with a vow to rebuild alliance to put diplomacy back at the center of american foreign policy and from chaotic withdrawal to afghanistan to rising threats from russia, china and russia 2021 was anything but return to normalcy that new administration promised we're back with our panel dan henninger and mary o'grady bill why don't you assess joe biden's first year on foreign policy according to his own standards that he set back at the start. >> yeah. well i think for one thing it shows that for all of the experience he had in the senate, it really didn't mean anything. american foreign policy is built on american credibility. and the disaster in afghanistan one it shows president is very incompetent but it was really for a lot of reasons it was done for vanity he wanted to use first anniversary to announce he had pulled troops out of afghanistan. it was so -- can left americans behind, and so forth -- you know we tend to treat problems that steer afghanistan here's china, here's russia, here's iran. here's the border. but all of the bad guys are looking at this, and they're assessing how far we could go. i mean that's why putin is now, you know, on the border with ukraine threatening to roll in xi jinping going into time when he's air space and menacing philippines and china sea bullying lithuania all of these things. i think if joe biden wants to turn this around, he needs an air traffic controller's moment and it has to be bigger i think it is best to deal with iran because right now ting they're the least of the big dangers to us. he has more latitude to do something. paul: dan, do you see the kind of slipping credibility that bill does? i say that because if you look at all where our adversaries main adversaries are moving russia, bill manchin, iran, they're on the march. >> yeah. they are on the march. and the question is what do they see in america from their vantage point? and i think bill put his finger on it. they see a president who is reluctant to push back against what they're doing. but i think as well, paul, they're looking at the political calendar in the united states. and about a week we're going tip into 2022. and what is the conversation going to be about? it is going to be about the midterm elections in november. and if you're in the current version of the democratic party, the last thing you want next to year is anything resembling a conflict that united states is engaged in overseas with russia or with china. and i think both beijing and moscow recognize that. and it gives them a margin to push further, push harder through next year against the united states on the assumption we're probably not going to push back very hard because they don't want to risk it into the election next year. paul: kim at the risk of spoiling this party i'll say something nice about the president foreign policy and that's the australia great britain deal with it is called basically alliance to build submarines in australia for help in the pacific theater, and forming alliance for the long-term that would be a deterrent to chinese aggression. does he deserve good marks for that? >> oh, absolutely and i was just about to say that. i think that problem, though, is that what we need is a lot more of those kind of deals. there's always this attitude that somehow the only options of dealing with any of these rogue nations is to get into a hot war with boots on the ground. but that kind of deal shows that there are many places where the biden administration can send a very strong signal that they're not just going to stand by they have their allies back and whether that is in sanctions or whether that's in other military deals finally getting for instance, some actual military equipment to ukraine. things like that -- they could be doing it. so yes, school marks i just would love to see a lot more of them. paul: mary what about the alliance this point president put an awful lot of stress on that in his campaign, and against running against trump in early innings here. you're up getting back nato, firming up nato pacific alliances, how's he doing on that? >> definitely most important point in my mind and in the -- what putin is doing in ukraine is really an effort to undermine nato, and to somehow make divisions between the u.s. and europe. and i don't think that the state department is doing a very good job on the diplomatic side and if i can just mention for a minute, you know, in latin america, the chinese are very aggressively making alliances with a number of small krnghtses but countries that matter. i mean we've seen the dominican republic, el salvador now nick rag -- el salvador is now threatening to build a port with china deep water port in the gulf. that is a very important strategic point, south has warned about it but nothing is being done. paul: dan quick answer is the world safer or more dangerous to u.s. interest after a year of the biden presidency? >> i think in wake of the afghanistan pull up paul it is unfortunately more dangerous right now. and it is going to have to -- biden administration is going to have to show something significant like sending weapons to ukraine or taiwan to make the world understand that we will be there if necessary. paul: all right. when we come back our hits and misses of the year. to run a growing business, is to be on a journey. and along the ride, you'll have many questions. challenges. and a few surprises. ♪ but wherever you are on your journey. your dell technologies advisor is here for you - with the right tech solutions. so you can stop at nothing for your customers. [upbeat acoustic music throughout] paul: time now for hits and misses of the year. we'll start with a misses, kem. >> paul, my miss is to big tech which is use this year to embrace censorship whether this is amazon or apple or google. pulling down parler off web hosting facebook on twitter banning or suspending politicians or voices and this is a group of companies that are new dangerous gait keepers of the free speech but found out they have no vested interest in the first amendment this is a problem we have to face head-on. paul: bill. >> paul my miss goes to chuck schumer started out this year achieved his dream of being senate majority lead or with the democrat in the house, and nancy pelosi controlling the house. but now that dream is turned to dust as he failed to get the build back better through. and instead of standing try yum triumphant he's to worried about being primaried by aoc. >> suspending remain in mexico program at the border and signaling that border would be open. this has provoked an unnecessary and desperate humanitarian crisis on the border. so much so that the administration has now restoring remain in mexico but it is a little late for the victims of this bad policy. paul: dan. >> my miss of the year goes to the people who have brought us the worst crime wave in recent memory. that would be the people who exploited george floyd's murder to defund the police who then pulled back from enforcing civil roared that is prosecutorring who refuse to prosecute serious crimes. smash-and-grab became really famous race this year and i think it is to smash-and-grab these public officials out of office in the next available election. paul: my miss of the year goes to capitol riots on january 6th it wasn't insurrection or cue but too disorganized for that but it was a disgraceful assault on our national legislature and ruined lives of many people people injured in riot itself and then, of course, the many people who have been arrested and may serve time in prison. to also a scar on the legacy of donald trump who is claims of stolen election did motivate some of the rioters even if he did not encourage violence. very sad day for american self-government. we need to take one break when we come back our panel hits of the year. don't just put on a light show—be the light show. make your nights anything but silent. .. so visit a cadillac showroom, and start celebrating today. ♪ ♪ paul: time now for our hits of 2021. >> it's been five years since the american public was told the trump campaign was colluding with russia. my hit goes to special counsel john durham who exposed that was a pack of lies. democrats and the clinton campaign commissioned the dossier that led to a scandalous investigation that hung over the trump administration for years. mr. durham deserves a lot of credit for telling it. who my hit of the year goes to australia'sprime spin sister. because china buys so many of australia's products, a left people thought he would have to knuckle under. but he didn't. i think it lesson is if australia can stand up to chinese presented towards, so can the rest of the world. >> a hit for the american jury system and the jury that served in the case of kyle rittenhouse. there was -- these trials took place in a whole aized environment, there were efforts to intimidate the jury. they stood up and we owe them a debt of gratitude. the system worked only because of their courage. >> my hit of the year goes to the atlanta braves baseball game remember how the commissioner yanked the all-star game out of atlanta after he joined the democratic campaign against the voting bill. he's the one who convinced the indians to drop their name. he was forced to go back to atlanta and watch them win. paul: my hit goes to the messenger rna, the platform for the covid vaccine that saved hundreds of thousands of lives. it's a tribute to private ingenuity and technical development. it has the potential to develop new therapies and treatments for all kinds of viruses and treatments, including cancer, and maybe even alzheimer's. it's good news in a dangerous:00erwise. tough a hit or miss, tweet it to us pat jnrfnc. we hope to see you right here next week. [♪♪♪] jon: a christmas surprise for some travelers. the rapidly spreading omicron variant impacting flights around the world after a rising number of crew callouts. 100 flights canceled this christmas day and 5,600 grounded worldwide. on christmas eve a 160% increase in people going through security compared to last year. some