brutality. several defense systems. the pentagon says it didn't happen. ukraine's president says the coming week could be crucial with western support or the lack of it proving decisive. correspondent jeff paul starts us off tonight live from lviv, good evening, jeff. >> with russian forces failing to capture the capital city of kyiv this war is now seemingly entering a new phase. u.s. defense officials believe the focus will now be on the east and south as ukrainian forces brave for a resupply and reinforced russian military. >> a push to control the sky as russian claims to have blown up several key ukrainian air defense systems while ukraine denies it. moscow says it hit multiple f 300 launchers stationed in dnipro. if true it could be a blow to the control of the central part of the country as russia readies itself for increased fighting in the donbas. >> they're still going to have to reckon with a very stiff, very effective, very capable and quite frankly i have used this word before very nimble ukrainian defense. >> as a new russian commander general alexander takes control, satellite images appear to show a convoy of russian military vehicles that stretches 8 miles long heading east at dod officials saying more than 60 battalion tactical groups are currently in ukraine. moscow shipped attention being felt by innocent civilians. >> we thought the first thing is an air bomb. the in fact the most terrifying thing is the tank. >> russian troops are maintaining their firm grip on the southern coastal city of mariupol where shelling and bombardment continue to trap people from the outside world. the mayor there saying 10,000 civilians have died but that number could be as high as 20,000. >> further north in the donetsk region the death toll at train station rose onto 57. the dodd believes in total rush has launched 500 missiles. in the kyiv region, exclusive video shot by save our allies show people in bucha continue to uncover the devastation left over by russian forces. >> everything was burning. there was a lot of dead bodies. >> similar horrific scenes and stories are being unearthed in irpin, ukrainian officials say proof of war crimes is mounting. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy went as far as telling sickets mince they recovered list russian pilots showing civilian targets. when asked about a pathway to peace zelenskyy held firm. >> overall, we are not ready to give way our country. i think we have already given up a lot of lives. so we need to stand firm for as long as we can. >> now with several humanitarian corridors now open, more than 4,000 people managed to evacuate some of the hardest hit areas. but for the third day in a row, ukrainian officials claim russian forces prevented many others from escaping. bret? >> bret: jeff paul in lviv. jeff, thank you. a russian activist, opposition activist twice sickened in incidents he suspected were poisonings has been detained in moscow by police. wladimir coz meira jr. was taken into custody near his residence he is a journalist hospitalized in 2015 and 2017. president biden met virtually today with india's prime minister the session comes as india goes against the international grain by failing to condemn or punish russia over the ukraine war. white house correspondent jackie linery has details live from the north lawn, good evening. jackie. >> the biden administration has defended itself from victim of it is in the doing enough to help ukraine by saying it's led the world in condemning russia. buff india, a nuclear power with the population of 1.4 billion has not jumped on board. the president biden tried to training that. >> the united states and india are going to continue our close consultation on how to manage destabilizing effects of this russian war. >> india is the world's largest democracy but it hasn't condemned russia's invasion of ukraine has not joined western sanctions on russia, has continued to buy russian oil, and abstain from a vote booting russia off the u.n. human rights council. but president biden didn't put the screws to prime minister modi in a virtual meeting. the white house trying out the strategy you get more flies with honey. >> they have condemned the killings of civilians in bush challenge. supported calls for independent investigation. they have provided 90 tons of humanitarian relief material to ukraine and neighbors. part of it is to build on that and to encourage them to do more. >> the white house would not say whether biden asked modi to stop buying russian oil or condemn the invasion as biden's own administration resists classifying what is happening as genocide. >> label is less important than the fact that these acts are cruel and criminal and wrong and evil and need to be responded to decisively. >> despite the european union, italy and the czech republic also announcing plans to return diplomats to kyiv where turkey is back in its embassy. the u.s. delegation is staying away for now and so is president biden. >> who decides if the president goes to ukraine or not? >> in what way. >> he said poland he expressed interest in going to ukraine. he said they wouldn't let me but who. >> i won't get into private considerations internally on that front. >> the white house denies criticism the white house is leefingd from behind after prime minister boris johnson joined ranks of world leaders touring kyiv in solidarity. >> the most important thing the united states has done and continuing to do lead the entire coalition and standing up against russia. >> india is not only buying russian oil. they are buying russian weapons and even seeking a waiver from the u.s. for automatic sanctions they face under a 2017 law for buying from a blacklisted supplier. white house says it has not made a decision on that waiver just yet, bret. >> bret: jacqui, here at home president biden is focusing on guns amid rising crime at that event today. his executive order already facing a lawsuit. >> that's right. by executive order the president expanded the definition of firearms to include parts and kits that you would then assemble at home. it's part of an effort to crack down on ghost guns but one gun group, gun owners of america already promising to sue the atf over the rule and they just got their new nominee announced today by the president steve after the president's initialing pick for that post failed to gain enough support in congress, bret. >> bret: jacqui heinrich on the north lawn, thank you. an attorney for one two of charged with impersonating homeland security agents says prosecutors are making a mountain out of a molehill. arron and mader alli appeared in court a short time ago. ali says the government is out over its skis and spinning up. providing gifts to secret service agents. at least one of whom who worked on the first lady's detail. the judge says he hopes to rule tomorrow on whether the men will be held pending their trial. stocks are down. the dow lost 114. the nasdaq dropped 299 today. twitter's largest investor, billionaire elon musk is reversing course when it comes to joining the company's board of directors. meanwhile, biden administration officials are bracing for what could be a very discouraging report on indue out tomorrow. charlie gasparino joins us here in new york. good evening, charlie. >> thanks for having me. >> bret: thank you for being here. listen, the elon musk story just gets a lot of eyeballs. it really does. >> he's -- >> >> bret: interesting character. >> unique, yes. >> bret: explain to people his move going off the board. >> he bought the 9% stake. they tried to bring him on the board. i guess they tried. it's a good move for them because if he is on the board, he can't attack the company. and, you know, elon musk, in recent years has made, you know, made a lot of headlines attacking twitter going too woke and other issues involving his stock. listen, i really believe that if he were on the board, he would probably try to reinstate donald trump. now, my guess also is twitter received some pushback from its woke workforce to get him off the board. so there is a lot of countervailing things here. bottom line is this. he is not on the board now. he can tweet whatever the hell he wants. he does not have that fish you're responsibility to the twitter shareholders. so look for him, my view, is to ramp up his criticism like he did over the weekend. although he oddly erased all his tweets. you can't follow this guy. >> bret: he could also opt to ramp up his investment. >> do that too. >> bret: that's the hostile takeover. >> i know that's out there. if he was -- if he were on the board, i think his stake would be capped at 5%. if he is not on the board he can go higher and already filed 1 d which leaves his options open for a hostile takeover and he can buy twitter. he has his hands filled with tesla. if you look at tesla stock while he was doing the whole twitter dance tesla shares went down. they are down again today. he has to pay attention what is going on at home. my view is there is never one reach why anybody does anything. elon complicated by. countervailing reasons here including his board didn't like him messing around with twitter. twitter didn't want him there in the end. guess what? he has more freedom if he is not on the board. >> let me turn to the white house and listen to jen psaki today. >> because of the actions taken to address putin -- the putin price hike, we are in a better place than we were last month. but, we expect march cpa -- cpi headline inflation to be extraordinarily elevated due to putin's price hike. >> bret: they can say putin price hike as many times as they want but the bottom line is they are forecasting a big number tomorrow. >> above 8%. listen, the fed would not be looking to raise their base rate federal 50 bases point twice as much multiple times if inflation wasn't worse than what they're really saying. i don't get what they have done to make it better. they haven't done much to make it better. read jamie diamond's letter ceo of j.p. morgan all the spending coming out of washington and to the fact that we have problematic inflation. he also reappointed jerome powell who was late on the game with inflation. and you know, listen, i covered the markets. i often cover the doing market and politics and i grew up in this 170s. the party in power during inflation never fares well in rate hikes. this could be a real problem in the democrats. >> bret: get your seat belts on. >> yes. >> bret: charlie, thank you. >> any time. celebrate. >> bret: latest on coronavirus outbreak on washington political leaders and democrats on that front. first some of the fox affiliates. fox 11 in los angeles where two people are dead after a shooting in los angeles' county willow brook neighborhood. the sheriff's department says five other people were wounded there. authorities say reports came in around 3:00 sunday afternoon of the incident near the martin luther king jr. community hospital. fox 12 in portland where snow is leading to power outages in classes being either delayed or canceled prompting many school districts to start late or cancel school. april 1st of 1935. and this is a live look at augusta, georgia, one of the big stories there tonight from fox 5. 25-year-old texan scottie scheffler wins the masters, fourth tournament victory in the season. fourth win in six starts and keeps him at the number one spot in the world rankings. congratulations to the latest master winner scottie scheffler. that's tonight's live look from outside the beltway from "special report." we'll be right back. ♪ so you can quickly check the markets? 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>> bret: chad pergram on the hill. correspondents are warning about the warning of a coronavirus surge in the u.s. this comes as we have a new study about which states have dealt with the coronavirus pandemic better than others. just looking at the numbers. correspondent jonathan serrie has the latest tonight from atlanta. >> red states perform better than blue on average in health outcomes. economic performance and education during the pandemic according to a comparison by the committee to unleash prosperity. in its study, which has not been peer reviewed the right leaning advocacy group listed montana, nebraska and florida among the top 10 performing states. after adjusting forager, obesity and diabetes, the found florida average risk of mortality while maintaining high economic activity and keeping 96% of its schools open. states with some of the strongest covid restrictions, california, new york, and new jersey ranked among the bottom 5. the study comes as china is grappling with soaring covid cases in shanghai despite imposing some of the strictest lockdown procedures in the world. >> i think we know that lockdowns just don't work. hopefully that we have learned that lesson for our own nation. they cause more harm at the end of the day than they do public health benefits. >> ba 2. the same omicron subvariant driving the surge in china is causing a slight uptick in still low daily case numbers here in the u.s. this afternoon, philadelphia announced it will resume its indoor mask requirement for all public spaces starting april 18. >> we have fewer penal in the hospital right now than at any point in the pandemic. that's good news. we're going to obviously want to watch that very closely. but this variant, if you are vaccinated and boosted, you still have a very high degree of protection against subvariant. >> the doctor tells nbc news the cdc is considering whether to extend the federal mask mandate for planes, trains and other forms of public transportation. the current regulation is set to expire on april 18. bret? >> bret: jonathan serrie in atlanta. jonathan, thank you. up next, a powerful force that could rock the midterms. mobilizing in american politics, parents who want more say in their kids' education. >> it's opened our eyes to the fact that we have to get involved. >> we plan to have a really big impact this fall. ♪ ♪ and only fda approved eye-drop that improves age-related blurry near vision. wait, what? it sounded like you just said an eye drop that may help you see up close. i did. it's an innovative way to... so, wait. i don't always have to wear reading glasses? yeah! vuity™ helps you see up close. so, i can see up close with just my eyes? uh-huh. with one drop in each eye, once daily. in focus? yep. 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house... ...then we got to work. we replaced his windshield and installed new wipers to protect his new glass, while he finished his meeting. let safelite come to you. >> man: looks great. thank you. >> tech: my pleasure. that's service on your time. schedule now. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> bret: iran is insisting on a written guarantee by congress that the u.s. will not leave any new nuclear agreement. white house press secretary jen psaki tells fox news the administration will determine what needs to go through congress if a deal is reached. talks have stalled for the time being and iran is imposing economic sanctions on some americans, including former trump attorney rudy giuliani and former army chief of staff george casey. china is reportedly accelerating the expansion of its nuclear arsenal. a new report says beijing views it as a way to deter the u.s. from interfering in a potential conflict with taiwan. correspondent mark meredith has details from the pentagon. >> the people's republic of china is attempting to challenge and undermine the sovereignty of its neighbors. >> defense secretary lloyd austin is the latest u.s. official to warn of china's growing military capability. the "wall street journal" reported china is already expanding nuclear arsenal. the journal writing quote work a has accelerated this year on 100 missile silos in china's remote region. last month the director of national intelligence issued a similar warning to congress. >> the prc also engaged in the largest ever nuclear force expansion, an arsenal diversification in its history. >> following russia's invasion into ukraine, u.s. officials are closely watching any action china may take against taiwan. while the biden administration supports a one china policy, it continues to sell taipei defensive weapons. house minority leader kevin mccarthy says the u.s. cannot afford to send mixed messages. >> they should be supplying taiwan with weapons to defend themselves so china does not get the idea to enter taiwan. and this is the lesson that has to be learned. >> but china's influence extends well beyond southeast asia. today china's foreign ministry confirmed its delivered multiple weapons to issue is i can't a country in eastern europe not far from ukraine. >> we hope that the relevant media will not overinterpret it. this project does not target any third party and nothing to do with the current situation. >> today we asked bengal press secretary john kirby if the u.s. has a response. >> is there any concern with them sending weapons into serbia. >> look, i mean, we would certainly not want to see anything flow in that could be an advantage to the russians. >> u.s. officials say so far there are no signs of china assisting russia's military when it comes to ukraine. but critics say there is a lot what china is doing to help russia behind the scenes even as it calls for peace publicly. mark meredith at the pentagon. thank you. new jersey public schools second graders will be getting lessons related to gender identity this fall. that is part of new state sex education guidelines taking effect in september. the standards list performance expectations for second graders. those include discussing what are called the range of ways people express their gender and how gender role stereotypes may limit behavior. critics are blasting democratic governor phil murphy over these plans. ♪ ♪ in tonight's focus on the midterm elections, parents are flexioning their political muscle as we approach the midterm elections. many are frustrated by persisting coronavirus regulations and school curricula dealing with sex and politics as we just talked about. chief washington correspondent mike emanuel shows us what some are doing about it. >> they are under is it estimating the number of parents that are awake and that are actively involved behind the scenes. >> parents are now mobilizing for the midterms after fighting back last year against covid-19 regulations and what's being taught in their children's schools. warning they intend to fully engage this fall. >> individuals that are not protecting our parental rights, we are dedicated and we are organizing to vote them out of office. >> typically sleepy school board meetings became electrified after parents felt like the education bureaucracy wasn't listening to them. now parents are seeking to expand their influence. >> this new awakening of families, parents and grandparents and young adults, they are seeing that they need to be activated in the political process. >> moms for liberty recently traveled to the florida state capital in support of a parent's rights bill. the group started in wisconsin and its leaders say it quickly grew to more than 80,000 members in 34 states in one year. looking ahead to midterms, they intend to notify voters which candidates they say do not stand with parents. >> parents rights is the number one issue. we keep saying that 2022 is the year of the parent. we can't wait to see what the fall brings. >> randi weingarten from the american federation of teachers activism by telling fox quote it is clearly political but it has many nonpolitical ramifications and it is not reflective of most parents whose school visits tell us approve of their kids' teachers and the jobs their schools are doing. democrats are also trying to harness this renewed energy in education issues. in virginia last week liberal groups accused governor glen youngkin of white washing history in a press call about curriculum change there bret? >> bret: mike, thank you. democratic senate candidate abby finken hour now will not be allowed on the iowa primary ballot in june a state court judge ruled her campaign did not comply with laws about obtaining signatures. the decision overturns a three member panel of state elected officials. finken knauer had been considered the party's best chance town seating incumbent republican senator chuck grassley. up next, the panel on the future of covid and how public policy may change going forward. first, beyond our borders tonight, pac stan's parliament elects opposition lawmaker shah ba shareef new prime minister follow as week of political turmoil that led to the weekend ouster of premier emran khan. shareef is the brother of disgraced prime minister that with a shah riff. proximate cause oea emmanuel macron and marie lapin begin run off election after getting the most votes in sunday's first round of balloting. macron says he wants to convince a broad range of voters to back his centrist position. lapin plans to highlight rising prices for food and energy. just a couple of stories beyond our borders tonight. salah receive, we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ where do you find the perfect developer? well, we found her in prague between the ideal cup of coffee and a museum-quality chronology of the personal computer. ...but you can find her, and millions of other talented pros, right now on upwork. 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[phone ringing] hm. no way! no way! priceline. every trip is a big deal. motrin works fast to stop pain where it starts. like those nagging headaches. uncomfortable period pains. and disruptive muscle aches. you can count on fast, effective relief with motrin. >> the think that we care most about, people getting really sick, hospitalizations, deaths, they remain low. we have fewer people in the hospital right now than at any point in the pandemic. >> reality is the covid pandemic is going to be with us for the rest of time and we're going to have different times. >> the people who run functions, who run big dinners thinking back the gridiron dinner are going to have to make a determination looking at the cdc guidelines and seeing where the trends are. >> bret: 80 people are positive from that gridiron dinner so far according to organizers. that big dinner in washington a white tie affair. the covid way forward has been complicated health officials if you look at the headlines march 20th this thursday u.s. likely to see a surge of covid-19 in the fall. fauci says that march 20th fauci says u.s. unlikely to see a surge from new covid-19 variant. so that's part of the problem. but where are we and where are we going? let's bring in our panel fox news senior political analyst brit hume. juan williams is a fox news analyst and josh crash hour is. brit, you have been talking about the mixed messaging for a long time where do you think messaging is going it end up if we do see a surge. >> i hope we are not going back to the radical the draconian measures we took in the past. dr. fauci rule that out biden administration now and the republicans are not in favor of that either. and congratulations to dr. jha. he seems willing to cite the things that are reassuring and right about them. i think is he probably a good choice in terms of messaging because they have made a mess of messaging there are controversial in the administration because is he new there and doesn't know where all the levers. i think that's all less important than his ability to give the public a clear message on how to respond to these new outbreaks which appear, including the 80 people who tested positive from the gridiron dinner so far to not be deadly which is the reason we are so worried about this in the first place that it's deadly. if it's to longer deadly we need to calm down. >> bret: the new czar you mentioned politico has this piee private concerns mount about biden's covid caesar. allies expressed swim larr misgivings jha's outsider thrust into a tight-knit left wing those combating the pandemic. there is lingering confusion what the departure of dr. zins as covid coordinator and jha portends. beginning of the end for the white house's crisis response. juan, what do you say? >> picking up on something brit was talking about what you see with dr. jha he has been all over television and twitter and cited as effective communicator with hundreds of thousands of followers. in a sense he has already proven and, you know, i think that's the reason the white house wanted him is he a proven communicator. and that's a very important aspect of this selection. it's not pop lamp within the administration because they don't know him. and people say, you know, how is he going to operate in a power center like the white house without knowing the individuals who are the power players and they don't know him. so he is going to get a deputy, i suspect, or somebody in there who is astute about how to make way in the corridors of the white house. the second thing to say on this is i think the bigger point is whether or not the white house might be pulling back, bret. maybe they think, you know what? at this point with things getting to the point where you are going to have some additional surges and back and forth but the vaccines have worked, maybe it's not as important for the president and the white house to always be out front on this and let the experts, let dr. jha be the guy. >> bret: the other thing, josh, is we are getting closer to a midterm election. so does public policy change based on the date on the calendar in november? >> yeah. well, it certainly does. and you can feel the white house feeling the pressure. they have a deadline this week on whether to extend the mandate, the mask mandate on public transportation affecting everything from ubers to the airplane you travel on. and that is not politically popular. i know dr. jha was on the morning shows sort of dodging the question. i think he is actually a very important voice of moderation in this administration. he sort of punted to the cdc. he punted to some of the more progressive voices in the administration on whether that was going to be extended. it's not popular. a lot of these mask mandates, they are almost all gone. philadelphia brought it back today and already democratic politicians in the state are speaking out against those measures. so the white house the last thing they want is a new scope of public health regulations before the midterm election. >> bret: meantime, across the world. different countries are handling it differently, brit. here is shanghai in china. take a listen. >> if you think wuhan 2020 was bad. welcome to shanghai 2022 this has been like no other lockdown. and it's in the country's metropolitan financial hub of all places. >> bret: people in china don't have that much of a say as far as going to the ballot box to make their feelings heard. but lockdowns are not popular anywhere. >> no. and that city is paralyzed. and, you know, the chinese say there has only been one death. i'm sure they would like us to believe that's because of this draconian lock down. but i suspect it's because these later variants of the disease are milder and the risk to life or even to health, you know, long term health are not as great. so, i think we are reaching the stage where we can look at what the chinese are doing and say it's basically insane to lock on a city of that size down completely where people are going hungry because, you know, they can't get out to get food. this is bad public policy on steroids. >> bret: do you think, juan, that the public perception about covid has changed just by where we are as a country? i mean, do you think the fear factor is still there? there are some folks this who look at dr. fauci talking on air about different possibilities and saying, they are just not listening the same way as they used to. >> well, i think that's a mistake. look, i think if you are vaccinated, if you are older immunocompromised, and boosted, i think you can have greater trust that you are not going to be hospitalized or die. whether you still get the disease that's a different issue and i would listen to dr. fauci and whoever is an expert with, you know, an overview of how the disease is spreading in the country. you know, to me, at this point though, i think that what you have to do is understand the politics of it, that people don't want to go back to lockdowns and being prohibited from going in the office when they want to, and secondly, that if you look at a situation like china, people feel, i guess, what brit said, you know, it's insane. maybe it's political at this point. you got to think it's the government government just extending the ar thorn tarren hand to make you stay home. this is a way of expressing their political strength. it has nothing to do with the disease. >> bret: last thing, josh, there are treatments now. there are different things that have come about not only the vaccines but also various kinds of treatments for covid. we have advanced from where we were in 2020. there are people who fear that some parties, some places will use covid resurgence to affect the elections in different way. is that a conspiracy theory or do you think it's real. >> i think it's more of a conspiracy theory but dr. jha made an important point that the case counts are now decoupled from the hospitalizations. so when you hear these stories of like the case counts, people getting covid at the gridiron dinner or other events, most of those cases are very, very mild or asymptomatic i can. the number that we should be looking at are the hospitalizations which thankfully because of vaccines and because of prior infections are quite low still in this country. >> bret: all right, panel. stand by if you would. up next how frustrated patience are getting fired up about the midterm elections. ♪ ♪ walking on ♪ ♪ walking on the moon ♪ ♪ some ♪ ♪ may say ♪ ♪ i'm wishing my days away ♪ ♪ no way ♪ ♪ walking on the moon ♪ (vo) with armor all, a little bit of this... protects you from a lot... of that.♪ no way ♪ armor all. minimum effort. maximum protection. 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[♪♪] if you have diabetes, it's important to have confidence in the nutritional drink you choose. try boost glucose control®. it's clinically shown to help manage blood sugar levels and contains high quality protein to help manage hunger and support muscle health. try boost® today. new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. when you sponsor a job, you immediately get your shortlist of quality candidates, whose resumes on indeed match your job criteria. visit indeed.com/hire and get started today. >> we have a record, a record to be proud of. an agenda that addresses the biggest concern that hurting american people's lives. now what we have to do is sell it with confidence, clarity, conviction and repetition. >> this administration has really got its hands full and i think they are headed toward a pretty good beating in the fall election. biden ran as a moderate. if i'm the majority leader in the senate and kevin mccarthy is the speaker of the house. we will make sure joe biden is a moderate. >> bret: make sure is he a moderate. republicans looking at the election, the midterms, the way it's setting up right now kind of licking their chopsz because of the various issues that the president is under water when it comes to approval. one of those issues that really hits home for many republican pundits is education. >> if you are a parent you are deeply concerned about your child getting a quality education and whether it was the mask restrictions or some of these sort of cultural issues that are in elementary and secondary education like we saw in virginia, these things are working against the democrats. >> i think the big issues going into the midterms are education, affordability, and security and all those are in the direction against democrats. they are not dealing with so many parents are dealing with on a day-to-day basis. i think it shows in some of their action and inaction. so i think it could be a big year. >> bret: closing in on the midterms. back with the panel. brit, what are your thoughts. >> seems to be several big inflation is the biggest one. republican race in virginia won by glenn youngkin who campaigned heavily on this issue of the schools and what's being taught in them and what should be taught and what should not is a sign of -- that race was a sign of how powerful that issue can be. and we are going to hear more about it. it clearly cuts against the democrats. and obviously crime is out there as well. another localized issue that i think cuts against the democrats because they are in charge of so many of these cities which are now crime-infested. >> bret: you look at the polls, we have basically exit polls. that's not really called exit polls. back in march, extremely interested in 2022 elections. republicans 52%. if you look at the outcome of the 2022 midterm it is extremely important, most recently now up to 55% for republicans. 48% for democrats, juan. is this -- what's the alarm bells in democratic circles? >> five alarm. [laughter] >> juan: i think it's pretty extreme. the numbers are pretty consistent in favoring republicans going into the midterms at this point. the counter coming from democratic strategists would be hey, you know, it's april. things can change. but historically they have not changed in that time frame. we have some big decisions coming up. and all of them point to culture wars issues on either side. there is the potential abortion issue decision coming from the supreme court in early summer. and the second thing to say is that issues like critical race theory and then the whole thing with gender fluidity transgender kids these issues are the ones lighting up the talk radio shows on the right, getting activist base, republican strategist, getting that republican activist base, you know, energized. but, you know, you look at spencer cox, the governor of utah republican. he said you know what? high rate of suicide. sometimes kids have two mommies or two daddy's. how does the teacher handle that? how do you deal with this? it's very difficult. >> bret: josh, brit's point earlier is how much everything costs. the white house previewing this inflation number coming out tomorrow and the inflation numbers in coming weeks saying it's going up significantly. >> the economy is always the number one issue in any election. and any white house dealing with this economy with inflation at near historic levels is going to have to try to spin it in the most desperate way possible. the most convincing spin from general psaki at the white house this morning. that is a drag that is going to dominate this midterm election. have you very disillusioned democratic voters not excited to vote for president biden and congressional democrats. you have fired up republicans eager to vote on some of these cultural issues that juan and brit have been talking about and independents are swinging hard towards the republican party right now. that's a perfect storm for the g.o.p. that could lead to a tidal wave in november. >> bret: brit, quickly, former president trump, democrats seem to focus on him still and have some hope is he going to affect things in their direction. in pennsylvania, the former president endorsed dr. mehmet oz in the senate race in pennsylvania over david mccormick. the question is how big a factor trump is in these midterms. >> brit: i think he is a factor. but i think he is less of a factor than he was before. there was that poll republicans are asked are they more supporters of donald trump or supporters of the republican party and while trump was president, it came out people majority said they were supporters of donald trump. now they're saying, majorities are saying they are supporters of the republican party. his influence remains strong. he's a big figure there. but i think it's less than it was and we will see how that plays out in these primaries how he has endorsed candidates during the election. >> bret: all right, panel. thanks so much. finally tonight, it is a special day. ♪ ♪ >> bret: you are looking at a bear, no relation snacking on a pumpkin on a porch in southern california. life is good. deputies there alerting the public about the warmer weather drawing more wild bears into their neighborhoods. no one was hurt during this particular pumpkin eating. in stafford new jersey run in mailbox and the law. 9-year-old bull named butch taken to animal sanctuary. he helped a few other animals eggs escape from nearby. thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. that's it for this "special report," fair, balanced and unafraid. "jesse watters primetime" starts now. >> jesse: bulls and bears. sounds like fox business. >> bret: you got it. ♪ ♪ >> jesse: making mistakes can be embarrassing, but it's a part of life. >> made a huge mistake. >> jesse: some people own up to it, recognize their error and improve. others make excuses. show up to work late, there is traffic. miss a pop fly, sun was in my eyes. forget to do your homework? of course