TONIGHT-00
Showdown; President Obama's Foreign Tour; Media Targets Trump; The Trump
Transition - Part 1>
Gallagher, Rebecca Rose Woodland >
Affairs; Cities; Immigration; Policies>
LOU DOBBS, FBN HOST: Good evening, everybody.
The left-wing national media is not only continuing its anti-Trump posture that many, even Republicans, thought would subside following the election, but instead, it's becoming increasingly shrill, resorting to even greater sensationalism and hyperbole!
Now, eight days out from the election, it is clear indeed that left-wing pols and media mean to persist in their attacks on Mr. Trump, that despite the fact that he is, after all, the president-elect, and the national liberal media has a higher duty, one would think, as the people's watchdog, as the fourth estate, to report honestly and straightforwardly on all our elected officials, all the issues and policies that affect our nation and our citizens.
Instead, we'll show you tonight some of the egregiously negative and fiction-based headlines that the left-wing media is running.
For his part, Mr. Trump seems inured to the left-wing nastiness. He's dismissive of the left's effort to project his transition process as halting and tumult, Mr. taking to Twitter say, quote, "Very organized process taking place as I decide on cabinet and many other positions. I am the only one who knows who the finalists are."
And top adviser Kellyanne Conway says her boss is hard at work, culling through the best of the best.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLYANNE CONWAY, FMR. TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: He's very happy with how transition is going. And from his perspective, he's been presented with any number of choices within each of the agencies and departments, and he's making those tough decisions. And if anything, he has, obviously, more choices than one to fill each position. So we have an embarrassment of riches.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: There's a steady stream of cabinet candidates filing through Trump Tower today, Lieutenant General Michael Flynn among them. Sources say he's being considered a possible choice for national security adviser. Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas said to be in the running for secretary of defense, a Harvard law school graduate who passed up a potentially lucrative law career to serve as platoon leader in Iraq. Also making the rounds at Trump Tower, former Goldman Sachs investment banker Steve Mnuchin, who is seen as the likely choice for Treasury secretary.
We'll be talking about the Trump administration in waiting with former Reagan White House political director Ed Rollins, RNC Rules Committee member Randy Evans. And also with me tonight, "Clinton Cash" author Peter Schweizer, the best-selling author and the man who helped anti- establishment wave succeed in the UK Nigel Farage with us.
A lot to talk about tonight, including senators of both parties sticking to the status quo, Republicans voting to keep Senator Mitch McConnell as their leader after the House voted to keep Paul Ryan, Democrats tapping Senator Chuck Schumer to replace the ever nasty Harry Reid, two politicians who are strapped to the donor class, not as eager as Ryan and McConnell to do the bidding of the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, but then again, not overly resistant, either.
Our top story tonight, Donald Trump going about the important business of appointing his administration's top officials, and of course, his cabinet, talking with congratulatory world leaders as he weighs his decisions on who will be joining him and leading the nation.
Trump communications director Jason Miller today stressed the president- elect is ensuring that the right people are being appointed to his cabinet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON MILLER, TRUMP SPOKESMAN: (INAUDIBLE) one thing that's important for people to know is that we're not going to rush to put names forward until we're absolutely sure, and we're going to make sure that they're people that we're confident are going to pass confirmation (INAUDIBLE) we think that can implement the president-elect's vision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: And so how does the left-wing national media style their so-called reporting? By acting as lackeys of the left, of course, trying to manufacture chaos, at the least perception of it. All of that as we've just ended the first week of this process!
The New York Times headlined an article with this amazing statement, "Firing and discord put Trump transition team in a state of disarray, The Washington Post with this little beauty, "Trump pushes back amid signs of strain in transition," and USA Today writing this headline, "Amid reports of turmoil, Trump and Pence reshuffle transition team," clearly the left- wing national media still intent on creating negative stories, negative headlines, creating what is simply straightforwardly propaganda, the left- wing national media aligning themselves with all who would seek to undermine the president-elect, most of whom American citizens would expect to be on foreign soil, not members of our fourth estate.
House Republicans also have some soul searching to do if they're going to be ready to implement the Trump agenda come January. We have noticed here at "Lou Dobbs Tonight" that nearly the entire House leadership, including Speaker Ryan, Majority Leader McCarthy and Majority Whip Scalise have been pushing their #betterway agenda on Twitter.
Now, I personally suspect there's just confusion, that they wouldn't intentionally do this with a -- with a brand that has no equity. And nearly 100 of their Republican colleagues have follow their lead! It's almost as if the House members think the nearly 61 million people who voted for Donald Trump and his agenda had given the House of Representatives some kind of mandate!
Now, I'm pretty sure they meant to use the correct hashtags, a reminder, if we may, to the speaker and his leadership team, the correct agenda hashtags for the mandate are these -- #Makeamericagreatagain, #Americafirst. I know, sometimes there on Capitol Hill, the crush of the people's business can create some strain and some harsh (ph) of (ph) even confusion. Hopefully, we've been helpful here tonight.
Well, joining me to be helpful to all of us, two extraordinarily wise veterans of political wars in Washington, from what on rare occasion were somewhat petty to the immense and the historic. Member of the RNC Rules Committee, chairman of the Republican National Lawyers Association, former senior adviser for the Newt Gingrich presidential campaign Randy Evans, and Great America PAC strategist, former Reagan White House political director, veteran of 10 presidential campaigns Ed Rollins, the dean himself. Great to have you both here.
ED ROLLINS, FOX CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you very much.
DOBBS: Let's start with that confusion in the House of Representatives, gentlemen -- #better way -- I don't remember that being on the ballot.
ROLLINS: Well, they can just add better way with the Trump agenda.
DOBBS: Ah!
ROLLINS: And if they basically accomplish that, they don't have to change their tag. But that's the agenda they have to deal with. Whatever agenda they may have had in the past, it's in the past. This is the agenda for the future. They're going to be measured on how successful they are. Randy's worked on the Hill. He's advised speaker -- two speakers. And at the end of the day, if a president of your own party is there with an agenda, you got to move that agenda forward.
DOBBS: What do you think, Randy, is it just some confusion or are they actually trying to put up a competing brand here with the -- surely not!
RANDY EVANS, RNC RULES COMMITTEE MEMBER: No, and I think they missed the message of the voters. The voters said, We don't want better, we want best. We want to make America great again. We don't want to make it better again. And that's the part that really was confusing, I thought, by the whole message.
It does suggest to me that there's going to be a little bit of pushback from the House. I think you're going to see the speaker and the president- elect not possibly being exactly on the same page.
But I agree with Ed. At the end of the day, the person that won this election was Donald Trump, and that's the agenda that has to go forward.
DOBBS: Yes, that's -- I have to tell you that's a relief because I was afraid there was so much confusion, and I was just hoping it wasn't conscious, if you will, resistance to the leadership of the man who did get a mandate, and that of course, the president-elect. And I think...
EVANS: Well, I -- Lou, I would have thought that this was '94 with the "Contract with America," where you had Speaker Gingrich saying, We've got 100 days. This is not that case. We had a presidential election...
DOBBS: Right.
EVANS: ... where the top of the ticket had an agenda.
DOBBS: Yes. Absolutely.
ROLLINS: And not only that, this election went deep. This election not only basically helped us hold the Senate and hold as many House members as we can, it went into the gubernatorial races. It went into the legislative races. And this candidacy helped immeasurably the Republicans get elected.
DOBBS: Yes, and I think that's a very important point. Donald Trump turned out to have coattails, and people like Kelly Ayotte, you know, are sitting there sort of sucking wind right now because she chose to early disassociate herself from Donald Trump. And the other victims of the election of 2016 were pretty much in the same boat, weren't they, Randy?
EVANS: Yes, they absolutely were. Literally, what they didn't get was America wants change. They want to know that, in fact, change is coming in. It's going to be real change. That's why we saw the Brexit states break the way they did.
And I'll just remind you, Lou, I told you on October 26th that Donald Trump was going to win. Remember that? I was telling you from Kansas City at that day, and I said, He's going to win this. He's going to win it with the Brexit states, and that's what happened.
But the media just lives in, literally, an echo chamber. They think if they repeat something long enough, often enough, like Hillary's going to win, the transition's in chaos, that somehow, it becomes true. Well, it doesn't. They have no better idea of what's going on in Trump Plaza than they did what was going on in the country prior to the election.
DOBBS: Well, I think that that's absolutely true. And you did call it, what was that, two weeks before the election?
EVANS: Yes.
DOBBS: I think I called it -- no (INAUDIBLE)
(LAUGHTER)
DOBBS: This is one of those things...
(CROSSTALK)
EVANS: We were all there.
(LAUGHTER)
EVANS: We were all there.
DOBBS: I can remember -- oh, never mind.
ROLLINS: Whatever.
DOBBS: Randy, thank you.
EVANS: I just remember your viewers all writing me, saying, That's a pretty bold prediction. I go, Not really. If you look at the -- what Reince Priebus had done in the ground operation -- and remember what you kept saying to me. Randy, the RNC better deliver on the ground. Did we deliver?
ROLLINS: You did.
DOBBS: You know, you did deliver, and I've said on this broadcast a number of times, but I am delighted to say it again, Reince Priebus did what he said he would do, and I do admit I was somewhat skeptical, I was very skeptical, because of, well, you know, past experience, if you will. But the fact is, he delivered. The RNC delivered.
ROLLINS: Big time.
DOBBS: And to that, I say, Thank you, and on behalf of a grateful citizen, thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord!
ROLLINS: And he will deliver as chief of staff. He's going to move this agenda forward (INAUDIBLE)
EVANS: Yes, he will.
DOBBS: Good deal. All right. I'm taking that as a guarantee, gentlemen. Thanks so much, Randy Evans, Ed Rollins. Appreciate it.
EVANS: Thank you.
ROLLINS: Thank you.
DOBBS: A group of technology giants are now lobbying the president-elect Trump to enact immigration reform! Facebook, Google, Twitter and Amazon are among 40 companies -- they've sent an open letter to Mr. Trump asking for an increase in H1B visas for high-skilled workers.
But the nation needs just the opposite, folks. And I can't believe those companies weren't paying attention to the presidential election and listening to Mr. Trump on the issue. American workers have been losing jobs to foreigners on H1B visas for years now. Some even had to train their replacements as a condition of their severance. It happened at Disney, at Intel, Cisco, Bank of America, Best Buy, Pfizer, countless other companies. And by the way, many of them, technology companies.
Fortunately, Mr. Trump has made tougher immigration policies a central theme of his campaign, and putting the American worker and his or her family into a primary position in his policies. America first. That means Americans first. That's a happy thing.
We're coming right back with much more. Stay with us.
President-elect Trump building his winning team, ready to drain the swamp in Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: I want the entire corrupt Washington establishment to hear the words we all are about to say, and we will drain the swamp!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: Vice President-elect Pence backing his boss's promise, removing lobbyists from the Trump transition team.
And conservatives uniting to defend Trump's chief strategist and adviser Steve Bannon from the mob of left-wing liars on Capitol Hill and in the media. We'll take all of this up with best-selling author, business associate and Bannon's good friend Peter Schweizer. He joins me here next.
Stay with us. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Democrats now calling on the president-elect to fire Steve Bannon, his former campaign CEO who he recently appointed to be his chief strategist and senior adviser in the White House, a letter signed by 161 congressional Democrats citing Bannon's claim in July that Breitbart News, which he had headed, had become the platform of the alt-right.
What's wrong with that? And Bannon's resume demonstrates clearly otherwise. In addition to being a former executive at Breitbart, Bannon, a former naval officer and Goldman Sachs investment banker, an MBA from Harvard, an executive producer in Hollywood, Breitbart editor Joel Pollack says Bannon is a conservative national hero. No, I'm not sure I'd go that far, but we'll see.
Our next guest says Steve Bannon is a straight shooter. He's known Bannon for 12 years, and joining me now, Peter Schweizer. He's the president of the Government Accountability Institute, also executive producer of "Clinton Cash," the documentary film based on his best-selling book "Clinton Cash." Great to see you, Peter.
PETER SCHWEIZER, "CLINTON CASH" AUTHOR: Thanks, Lou. Thanks for having me.
DOBBS: I love 169 Democrats...
(LAUGHTER)
DOBBS: ... sending a letter off to the president-elect saying that they would like to change his selection for adviser, chief strategist or whatever else, and please just throw the keys to the White House to us!
(LAUGHTER)
SCHWEIZER: That's right. That's right.
DOBBS: I mean, that's idiotic on any level!
SCHWEIZER: No, it is. I mean, these 169 Democrats just want to deny Trump the opportunity to have his chief strategist...
DOBBS: Yes.
SCHWEIZER: ... the guy that helped organize the campaign, that helped focus the campaign.
Look, I've known Steve Bannon for 12, 14 years. It's absurd, the suggestion that he is racist, that he's anti-semitic. I wouldn't associate with a person like that. And I've seen him operate in all those spheres. I saw him operate in Hollywood. I've seen him operate in the context of Breitbart News. I've seen him on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. There's not a racist, bigoted bone in this man's body!
DOBBS: By the way, not a single person has come forward to substantiate the charges at all!
SCHWEIZER: No. That's right.
DOBBS: I mean, there is no one!
SCHWEIZER: That's right.
DOBBS: And -- and I've known Steve Bannon, I want to say, for, I'm going to say about 10 years, maybe 12. And he is a first class human being.
SCHWEIZER: Yes.
DOBBS: He's sharp, smart as the dickens, hard working. I mean, indefatigable, although I think a campaign can test indefatigable.
(LAUGHTER)
SCHWEIZER: Right.
DOBBS: I can't believe I actually said the word correctly twice!
(LAUGHTER)
DOBBS: Anyway, no, he's a great guy!
SCHWEIZER: No, he is. He is. And here's the thing...
DOBBS: And even if he weren't...
SCHWEIZER: Yes.
DOBBS: ... he's the president-elect's choice!
SCHWEIZER: That's right.
DOBBS: And it's up to one person, one person only, whether or not he stays where he is. And I think -- I can't imagine a better choice for the role!
SCHWEIZER: No. I think you're exactly right, Lou. And here's the thing. You know, this country, the focus so much is on racial division. In Steve's view, the big challenge in America is not racial division, it's class division. All of the bad decisions that have been made by the permanent political class in Washington and the wealthy in this country, whether it was the financial crises in 2008, whether it's these foreign military wars, whether it's the problem with illegal immigrant crime, in none of those cases are the brunt of those bad policy decisions ever borne by the elite! They're borne by middle class Americans. And what frustrates...
DOBBS: The elites get walls. The rest of us don't.
SCHWEIZER: That's exactly right. And also, you know, look at Wall Street. Who suffered in 2008? It was ordinary Americans with pension funds and 401(k)s. Wall Street got bailed out, middle class Americans didn't. That's what motivates Steve Bannon. That's by the way, why the government elite in Washington don't like him!
DOBBS: All right, now, I've got to tell you the real reason I like Steve Bannon. Like me, he's a damn populist.
(LAUGHTER)
DOBBS: And -- and a conservative.
SCHWEIZER: Yes.
DOBBS: And I -- and history shows, as Donald Trump has demonstrated, that that is the correct direction for our history, the right side of history, if you will. And for him to be denied to Donald Trump because of some sort of nastiness on the part of the left -- I mean, when are they going to give it up and say he's the president-elect? This is no longer a campaign!
SCHWEIZER: Right.
DOBBS: Or are we going to be in a permanent campaign, a permanent contest for power in this country led by George Soros and his ilk?
SCHWEIZER: I fear we are. I mean, look, that's where things are headed. They're challenging the legitimacy of this election, which is absurd. I mean, this is the system we have and...
DOBBS: How about the idiots who now have decided an Electoral College system is...
(LAUGHTER)
SCHWEIZER: Yes, they don't like the results. After more than 200 years of history, they want to change it. It's ridiculous.
DOBBS: Peter Schweizer, you're a good friend of Steve Bannon. Thanks for being here. Appreciate it.
SCHWEIZER: Thank you, Lou.
DOBBS: Thanks so much.
Be sure to vote in our poll tonight. Do you believe that GOP Remains beholden to the Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable despite this anti-establishment election? Cast your vote on Twitter @Loudobbs. We'd like to hear from you. Follow me on Twitter @Loudobbs, like me on Facebook, follow me on Instagram at Loudobbstonight.
And on Wall Street today, to bring you to date, the Dow snapped a seven-day winning streak, the Dow down 55 points, the S&P 3 points lower on the day, the NASDAQ up 19, volume on the big board dropping down to 3.8 billion shares, the dollar index hitting a 13.5-year high before closing higher for an eighth straight session.
The largest reserve of recoverable crude oil discovered in west Texas, the Wolf Camp (ph) shale formation. It's estimated to hold some $900 billion worth of oil. Hallelujah.
A reminder to listen to my reports three times a day coast to coast on the Salem Radio Network.
Up next, President Obama touring the Acropolis in Athens, the birthplace of democracy. But our president still has some difficulty coming to terms with the fact that America's democratic process repudiated his policies in favor of those of one Donald J. Trump. The lost lame duck adrift in Greece and Germany and soon Peru the subject of my commentary here next.
Stay with us. We'll be back with much, much more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: A few thoughts now on President Obama's penchant for controversial remarks even when abroad, some people would say especially when abroad. President Obama in the early days of his presidency famously went on that global apology tour. And now he's on his final foreign trip, a farewell our, if you will, with an odd itinerary, visiting Greece, Germany and Peru.
In Athens today, before moving on to Berlin, President Obama stepped up his criticism of his soon-to-be successor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The next American president and I could not be more different.
Faced with this new reality where cultures clash, it's inevitable some will seek a comfort in nationalism or tribe or ethnicity.
This impulse to pull back from a globalized world is understandable. If people feel that they're losing control of their future, they will push back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: That sounded a lot like his famous "bitter clingers" talk.
Of course, this isn't the first time the president has hit Trump while abroad. Earlier this year in Vietnam, President Obama guaranteed that audience, who likely weren't as interested in American presidential politics as much as Mr. Obama, that Americans wouldn't make the, quote, "mistake" of electing Trump.
In Japan, he said Trump's proposals showed either, quote, "ignorance of world affairs or a cavalier attitude," end quote. Now, that wasn't nice, was it, especially for a president who'd been critical of his predecessor for insulting him when abroad.
When Mr. Obama was running for the White House back in 2008, he accused then President Bush of launching a sad and false political attack, as he put it, while he was in Israel. President Obama has frequently apologized for and criticized this nation's actions while he traveled the world from France and Turkey and Cairo and Hiroshima.
He's found other ways to annoy his fellow citizens, though. He loved to bow to foreign leaders in Saudi Arabia, Japan and China. There is comfort, though, in times passing -- 64 days until Donald Trump takes the oath of office. Godspeed.
Now the quotation of the evening, this from the iron lady herself, Margaret Thatcher, who said, quote, "If my critics saw me walking over the Thames River, they would say it was because I couldn't swim."
We're coming right back.
Trump said his election would be a Brexit-like surprise. Well, maybe a little more. This is how he said it the day before the election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We are going to win! We are going to have one of the great victories of all time! This is going to be Brexit times 50!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: Like Trump, my next guest said we were due for our own Brexit in this country. Mr. Brexit, Nigel Farage, joins me next to talk about Trump's historic victory and the UK's dramatic growth and prosperity spurt in the wake of Brexit despite all of those naysayers.
And these thrill-seekers daring high-risk mission almost comes to an end. A disastrous end. We'll show you the scary parts when the risk-takers meet a drone mid-flight. That's in the video straight-ahead. We're coming right back after these messages. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Well, the U.K. economy is rolling right along. Britain's unemployment rate falling to the lowest level in 11 years, three months after their vote to exit the European Union. The unemployment rate edging down at 10.4 percent, 4.8 percent in the July-September period. The number of people in the workforce rising by 49,000.
And our next guest, rumors are today, he could be headed to the House of Lords after leading the British campaign to exit the European Union, and he just this past weekend met with Donald Trump, the president-elect over the weekend.
Joining me now, the interim leader of the U.K. Independence Party, member of the European Parliament, Nigel Farage. Great to have you with us, Nigel. And congratulations. Should I -- should I be calling you Sir Nigel? Or are we at that point yet?
NIGEL FARAGE, INTERIM LEADER OF THE U.K. INDEPENDENCE PARTY: No. There was a rumor, you know, that the prime minister did not put down in parliament today that I might be going to the House of Lords. All I can say is I've heard nothing of it. So there is absolutely no need, Lou, to call me my noble lord at this stage.
DOBBS: Well, you know, but you are such a noble fellow and a proven leader that I -- you know, I love the sound of it. And if anybody deserves it in my opinion, it is you. And I do have to say though there might be some strain there with your populist vain nature and the high and mighty of the lords.
FARAGE: Well, yes, I mean, I suppose there is the impression that if you're in the House of Lords, you perhaps lost touch with the common people. Look, I have absolutely no idea what's going to happen. In terms of them giving me anything. But I tell you what, I have got as a reward today. What I have got is the unemployment figures which shows that despite all the complaints and all the moaning, we had remain voters protesting on the streets of London, were moaners, as we call them.
And I have a feeling that the very same people that were flown to New York to protest outside the Trump Tower. I think they're the same people.
DOBBS: Well, they could well be.
FARAGE: We were told -- I'm sure they are, you know. But we were told that terrible things would happen to us, and actually unemployment is coming down. Growth is going up. New house building is at near record levels. Manufacturing figures are good. The stock market is relatively strong. You know, this idea that after a vote for Brexit, we fall off a cliff is absolute, complete rubbish, are least to say. And that is -- that is reward enough for me, frankly.
DOBBS: Well, the fear mongers and the attacks against Donald Trump, as you know, you just met with him, as I said it to our audience over the weekend. I mean, the fear mongering, the attacks -- have anything picked up from the part of the national left wing media in this country. The president-elect is usually accorded a honeymoon, Donald Trump. He is a -- the target of more venom and vial and outright nastiness on the part of the left wing media than I've ever seen.
FARAGE: Well, I think there was a parallel. I think when Ronnie Reagan got elected back in 1980, it wasn't dissimilar. You know, mean, there was a narrative with Ronnie that he was stupid, that he was a movie actor.
DOBBS: It trigger finger on the -- trigger of the nuclear arsenal, all of that. You're right. But this is something different. This is something different. And, by the way, in the midst of this we're watching the stock market, Wall Street is roaring ahead. It is without any question a Trump rally, the dollar moving higher than it's been in more than a decade. I mean, it's extraordinary stuff.