we judge them. >> what does that even mean? >> you can always count on the senator kennedy for a notable quotable. thank you for inviting us in your home tonight. "the story" hosted by trace gallagher joins us now. >> trace: thank you. we are awaiting president trump at joint base andrews but we will take you there live as soon as it gets underway. back on capitol hill, and impeachment run-through taking place this hours ago with white house lawyers getting their bearings on the hill and pricing for extended trial, one day after lindsey graham told fox the president is mad as hell and wants his day in court. i'm trace gallagher in for martha maccallum and this is "the story." as the white house gears up for a trial, a bunko trump speaking up about the anger from the

president, but how all of this is "energizing" him. >> i do not think the words are mutually exclusive. you can be angry at a process, anger at the opportunity costs to the americans were all here serving. what could of got done angry at the waste of time, angry at the collateral damage. angry, but still energizing. >> trace: the republican party energized with the rnc hauling in $120 million last month. the group tells fox news that's the best november on record in party history and they have not had this much cash on hand in almost a decade, but a scathing new editorial in christianity today calling for the president's removal is raising questions about his support from evangelicals, a cornerstone of his political base. just how much is impeachment hurting and helping the

president's chances in 2020? can the star at jessica tarlov standing by on that. more on martha's exclusive interview with attorney general bill barr as the trip administration cracks down on violent crime across america. >> we don't seem to show them the same respect and recognize the sacrifices, it's a heavy toll of that job. >> trace: first, former independent counsel ken starr and fox news contributor just guitar live and governor mike huckabee. first, i want to put up on the screen these numbers from evangelicals. over the past three months talking december that evangelicals we have lost about ten points. the president has lost ten points in a little over three months.

as we said earlier a key part of his base. what do you make of the decline, governor? >> there's been so much negative attention, but i think when you get down to it, a democratic candidate whose pro-abortion, one stand firm with israel, somebody who has not been really a champion of religious liberty, and compare them to the extraordinary record of this president, the only will those ten points come back, but i think you are going to see some more. evangelicals are not leaving president trump. i think a lot of evangelicals are going to be leaving publications like the one that essentially took democratic talking points and just simply regurgitated them. but all the evangelical leaders i'm familiar with have been very clear that the editorial was not only factually incorrect, but it missed the whole point. no evangelical i know, trace, is a person who says, we don't care what donald trump does.

the issue is he has been a president who has been able to accomplish the things that many of us have worked for and prayed for in a long time. >> trace: democrats have a much different take on that, jessica, because a lot of democrats are saying this is eating into his base and evangelicals are finally fed up. >> i'm not sure they are finally fed up. it's hard to go from 80% support to turn that on its head back, but i do think it's meaningful. "christianity today" read a similar op-ed after bill clinton's impeachment saying that we cannot back this kind of person, this kind of immorality does not belong in the white house. that's the same case they are making today. it's really two-pronged because there is a personal immorality, a man who was married three times and cheated on his wives who talks about women and minorities in the way that he does, who runs a policies where we do not accept refugees in this country, something is very antithetical to what the bible talks about.

what this op-ed was focused on was actually the immorality emanating from the white house and his decision to pressure the president of ukraine by withholding congressional appropriated money for his own personal benefit. you have these two tracks, and that's where you get to this opinion piece. i see you are shaking your head, governor, but you know this man is immoral in every way. >> trace: i want to go to ken starr. >> that's incredibly unfair! come on, jessica. let me just point out something. you keep saying there was some ukrainian problem here. you know, neither you or i are constitutional scholars. judge starr is. but jonathan turley, adam dell mccalla dershowitz, have been especially clear. there was not an impeachable offense except for the minds of democrats three years before there was a ukrainian call.

>> trace: on that segue, let's go to judge star who would like to judge it because i want to put these numbers here, look at the numbers here. impeachment numbers are flat. 48, 48, nobody has change their minds over the past three months according to these polls. your response on that, judge judge starr? >> i'm not surprised because the narrative was essentially baked in months ago at the beginning of the fall. you either take this with the kind of seriousness our democrat brothers and sisters are or you are saying, do i think it's the wise thing to do? is this really an abuse of pow power? as i encouraged to do, read abuse of power article in the richard nixon impeachment and you will shake your head and s say, my word, what president trump did whether you approve or disapprove with it, doesn't come close. it's not even in the ballpark. it's not in the parking lot. let me just say one word about

christianity dell that "christianity today." it's a very venerable magazine. i agree with the governor that this is not going to have an impact. fears the other thing i would add to in terms of evangelical support. judges. course course such and kavanaugh.judgef sins. >> trace: i want to play this out by talking about the economy because they have to run against the economy and it's going to be tough. >> what is your argument to the voter hearing this thing may not like what everything president trump does but they really like this economy and they do not know if they should make a change. >> i don't think they like the economy. go talk to the old businesses of the middle class she grew up in.

middle class is getting crushed. working class has no way of. this is a cost which of that. >> trace: unemployment is down, the dow was up, it's a very difficult argument to make, jessica. >> i think joe biden had a strongest debate last night but this is the one answer i was not a tremendous fan of. when you look at the numbers, 75-76% think people are shopping, they feel like they have money in their pockets to do that. democrats need to go in the more measured response that they are very happy about the gains the people have made but they are targeted places we can do better. manufacturing, for instance. i think that's where the former vice president should be at. a lot of the other candidates are on the subject. >> as a former governor, it's tough to run against this kind of economy. >> it's really tough, special because so many of the american public that had the economy when

jessica's party had it all to themselves, and they were not doing this well. african-americans weren't doing that well. hispanics, women. every single part of the job sector is on fire right now and that's going to be tough with the democrats to say, hey, put us back in charge, will get you back to double digit unemployment. it's a hard sell. >> trace: glassware to you, ken starr, but i want to get on your opinion on nancy pelosi withholding the articles. issue holding an ace we do not know about? >> no, she's making another terrible mistake. but that's politics. i think she once again conducting herself in a way that's inconsistent sent with the constitutional order. ironically after invoking the fathering down the founding fathers, instead of doing that which you should've done properly, she saying i'm going to sit on it and tried -- call

it extortion, how about that? call it abuse of power appeared she has a duty to send these over to the senate. >> trace: ganno ken starr, gove governor huckabee, jessica tarlov, thank you for coming. we are awaiting the president who are going to make marks at the bill signing. up next, martha's exclusive interview with attorney general bill barr on what's fueling the war on cops. what the trump administration is doing to combat violence in america's seven most crime most crime-ridden cities. >> we are calling it operation relentless pursuit and that's a two-pronged attack on violent crime. first, we are going to be increasing federal agents, analysts, and equipment into initially a group of seven cities throughout the country.

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>> with regard to the fbi director christopher wray, you have defended him, the president has at times gone after him a bit and he did that in a recent tweet after the ig report came out. director wray was protective, i guess, of the fbi and so we have to look at what things might need to be fixed with regard to the report. the president said i did not know what report the current director was reading, but it wasn't the one given to me. is that the attitude, he'll never be able to fix the fbi. what do you say to that? >> i have a great relationship with chris and i value it very,

very much. he's fully aware of the problems of the past. he is focused on addressing them. and he's been very forward leaning in terms of getting to the bottom of it. he has cooperated a great deal with horowitz and with durham for more cooperation than i ever could've expected but he's been very proactive in developing reforms to deal with it. so working with him is a pleasure. i think is a great leader of the fbi. i think with the president was getting at their news, you know, the president for the version of the conspiracy theories, baseless conspiracy theories in american political history, accused of treason and so forth. i think he's intent that this happens to no other president in the future and is concerned, he

perceives that people are not taking that seriously enough or downplaying the misconduct of the past. i think that's what he was getting at. i discussed with the president the great work that chris is doing over at the fbi and i think he's very comfortable. >> there have been stories written in the past 24-48 hours that he's on his way out. do you have an indication that christopher wray's job is in any jeopardy at all? >> it's not. >> has the president ever suggested to you that his job is in jeopardy? >> no. >> trace: william barr with a forceful defense of christopher amore and his response to the ig report which outlined failures within the bureau of the outset of the trump-russia probe. earlier this week, barr and ray join forces in through a surge of law enforcement. that's where martha caught up with the attorney general for an exclusive interview.

>> what's striking to me is that despite the unrelenting opposition during the first three years of this administration, the president has been able to accomplish so much. in my area of law enforcement, for example, since he came into office, we been able to push down violent crime. we've expanded enforcement against firearms, and i'm announcing a crackdown on violent crime in the number of cities that he directed me to do once the impeachment process started and the ability to come to some compromise on a violent crime bill fell apart, he directed me to do whatever we can without that legislation. >> with regard to why you were here in detroit, you wrote a piece this week that talked about the lack of respect for police officers in the united states, something that you are very concerned about. you said, when we show our respect and appreciation for

police, it says more about our level liberty and justice than any other act. what do you think has been fueling anti-cop feeling in some parts of the united states? >> it's a mystery to me. when you stop and think about it, we rely so much on our police to keep us safe. we learned a lesson after vietnam that our heroes who fight more wars to protect us to reserve our respect. at least we now show them the respect they are due. when you stop and think about it, the police are doing that also and they have the toughest job in the united states. there is no job tougher than being a policeman. we don't seem to show them the same respect and recognize the sacrifices they make. it's a heavy toll of that job, and i've been trying to pull down they point out any a full employment economy, there are many options for these people. there are always going to be people of this character who are willing to step up and take

these jobs and there is a shortage of police throughout the country. i think as a country, just as we did soul-searching after vietnam about how we treat our military, i think we have to do some soul-searching about how we treat our police. >> you gave a dinner party to a couple of hundred police officers, treating them to a big italian dinner in new york. why did you want to do that? >> as i said, i think -- there is no more noble job then serving as a police officer. i wanted to convey to them the respect i had and the appreciation i had for the job they do. i grew up in new york city, nypd is a police force of my youth. not only new york's finest, but the country's finest, and i thought going and having dinner with a large group of police officers would be a good way to send that message. >> you talked in your piece about social justice d.a.s and

put "social justice" and courts thelma quotes. what did you mean by that? >> there's this recent development or george soros has been coming in in largely democratic primaries where there has not been much voter turnout and putting in a lot of money to elect people who are not very supportive of law enforcement. and don't view the office as bringing to trial and prosecuting criminals. but pursuing other social agendas. they have started to win and a number of cities and they have in my view not given the proper support to the police. they are following policies that are ultimately going to lead to an increase of violent crime and more victims. >> do you think you people do not treat the police officers better in communities that they are going to sort of bite off their nose to spite their face, that they'll end up with your

police officers, fewer people who want to protect them? >> yeah. i was accused of suggesting that the police are going to withdraw protection. that's not what i'm going saying. most police forces are going to have a high number of vacancies, the prosecutors are political leaders in the jurisdiction are not supporting them, they can either stopping police or they can move to a jurisdiction more hospitable. i think that, you know, we could find ourselves in a position that communities that are not supporting the police may not get the police protection they need. >> attorney general barr, thank you very much. good to have your time today. >> trace: you have more on martha maccallum's exceptional interview with bill barr. meantime, president trump no wheels up to andrews, joint base andrews where he will deliver remarks to a bill signing ceremony just minutes from now. we will bring you there live as soon as it gets underway. and up next, in your report that

russia's vladimir putin influenced president trump's view on your crane and that craig worked to defeat him in 2016. lisa boothe and marie harf here on that next. >> that's why i said all roads lead to putin. for mr. president, all roads lead to putin. to relieve moderate pain, yet non-addictive and gentle on the body. salonpas. it's good medicine. hisamitsu. it's an honor to tell you that [ applause ] thank you. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. i love you! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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>> this isn't about ukraine. this is about russia who benefited by withholding, withholding that military assistance question mike russia. it was about russia. our adversary in this is russia. all roads lead to putin, understand that. >> trace: house speaker pelosi linking president trump's phone call with vladimir putin. "the washington post" reports a former white house officials say they feared putin influenced the president's views on your crane and the 2016 campaign adding, "ukraine, he told them on many occasions, try to stop them from winning the white house." the white house declined to talk about the story so we bring in lisa boothe and marie harf, both

of them are fox news contributor's. your thoughts on nancy pelosi saying all roads lead to putin? >> i think russia is pretty disappointed they no longer have president obama in office who send humanitarian aid to your crane as opposed to the lethal aid that president trump has sent like javelins. you can make the argument, it's the democrats who have done the bidding of both ukrainians and russians, it was a dnc consultant who was digging up dirt on dirt on paul manafort and disseminate that informati information. that led to his resignation as well as damaging stories for president trump, as they try to tie him as well as hillary clinton who paid for the dossier whose sources were russian who was working with the russian oligarchs. at the same time, he was digging up information, it was a democrat who paid for that

information. >> trace: if i can, marie, in his defense spending bill that the president is starting to sign, there are more sanctions on russia that could cost them $100 billion. do you buy into pelosi's line that this is all about putin? >> i do. what's so interesting in "the washington post" story you mention is there are white house officials who are trying to convince president trump that this ukraine theory that they meddled in the election, that's a conspiracy theory. when they were asking him, why do you keep believing this, he said, "putin told me." there is one quadrant down the country who meddled in our election at a governmental level who undertook a sustained campaign to meddle in our election and that was russia. the question that is before us now based on all of this reporting including this new "washington post" story is why does donald trump believe vladimir putin and what he tells them over what our intelligence community here in the in that it

states tells him, that the ukraine theory is in the conspiracy theory. it's nothing more and it's the russians who did it. we can talk about the javelins, hillary clinton and christopher steele until you're blue in in the face, that's what we are talking about today. >> trace: that's an anonymous white house official who reportedly said that president trump said that he told him. lisa, the question you have the mainstream media and democrats saying that ukraine absolutely did not metal. and you have some g.o.p. lawmakers who are saying listen, we just want some more answers. we want some more answers as to whether ukraine absolutely did not meddle. >> you have a ukraine official who said he was instructed to dig up information about paul manafort. it's a lie to say nothing is there. to the extent which they meddled, that's the question.

democrats who care about meddling to me you think you want to get to the bottom of that. this whole entire idea of democrats caring about russia to begin with was a farce because one, why did obama wait so long for sanctions on russia and waited on his way out in my opinion to tie president trump's hands. you even had fiona hale who democrats lauded who worked at the nsc, was closely intimately involved with russia to express concerns that the dossir was russian disinformation. for all the democrats who say they care about russian meddling, why do you want to get to the bottom if hillary clinton and the dnc were paying for information which the fbi use to get a fisa warrant on an american citizen? >> trace: to switch gears a little bit the reports coming out that john durham the federal prosecutor looking at the origins of the russia probe is now looking at investigating

former cia director john brennan and his role in this whole thing? it brings up some fascinating and intriguing questions, yes? >> to put a pin in the conversation on a few of the harrell, fiona hale also testified that anybody who propagating russia's propaganda. fiona hill says that if you go out and said ukraine meddled, it's not true and i'm not going to be a part of it. but when it comes to john brennan -- i'll answer your question too. i know john brennan, i've worked with him. everybody i know who worked on the counterintelligence investigation into russian meddling did so because they believed there was a possible, genuine national security threat. >> trace: yeah, but the whole idea... >> a lot of allegations and not a lot of evidence to back up some of these. >> trace: i've got to go but the whole idea that carter page

was a russia asset when he was a u.s. asset working with the cia -- i will give you ten seconds, lisa, and i've got to go. >> if, in fact, the dossier includes russian disinformation, i think putin is pretty glad that hillary clinton and the dnc used it and the fbi used it to obtain multiple barr florence. >> trace: good to see you. as you saw, president trump has landed where any moment now he'll deliver final remarks before departing tomorrow. he we will take you there live ne next. only thermacare ultra pain relieving cream has 4 active ingredients to fight pain 4 different ways. get powerful relief today, with thermacare. billions of problems. morning breath? garlic breath? stinky breath? there's a therabreath for you. therabreath fresh breath oral rinse instantly fights all types of bad breath and works for 24 hours.

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my body is truly powerful. i have the power to lower my blood sugar and a1c. because i can still make my own insulin. and trulicity activates my body to release it like it's supposed to. trulicity is for people with type 2 diabetes. it's not insulin. i take it once a week. it starts acting in my body from the first dose. trulicity isn't for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. don't take trulicity if you're allergic to it,

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part as the $738 billion bill. correspondent mark meredith is on site where we expect to hear from the president at any mome moment. >> good evening to make trades. any moment now, we do expect president trump as well as the first lady. the president is going to be reading some of the military service members staged here, as you mentioned this'll be a chance to sign the national defense authorization act, and this is a comprehensive bill that passed congress this past week. $700 billion here that requires a billion dollars from the pentagon, but also a pay raise, creates paid family leave up to 12 weeks for federal government employees. one thing we expect the president to talk a lot tonight is the establishment for the space force, something the white house has been really setting their eyes on all year

long and through this letter nda , some $40 billion to get the space force up and running. of course that program is expected to extend drastically over the next couple of years. as i mentioned, the white house has said this has been a top priority for them. it has been mocked by some people out there. the administration says they are not joking when they say this is all about trying to stop a threat from russia, china, when it comes to military interference with satellites and what's happening with space. the president is not going to be here at andrews for too long. he's going to be heading down to florida later on this evening with the first family taking off this holiday vacation. expects to be done there until early january. a military crowd, also flanked by military aircraft, helicopters, going to be focusing on the troop not only serving here but serving all over the world.

trays? >> trace: standing by live at joint base andrews and you can hear "house of the rising sun." they are not down in new orleans, they are at joint base andrews. what you are going to see is actually fascinating because what this is is a display, a mini display of the american might of the united states. on the hand camille also have mark esper, the defense secretary, mick mulvaney. we saw of anke trump, and melania trump will actually introduce the presiden. that'll lead us directly to the president. if you do not know what's in this spending bill, the big ticket item here is for the space force and it really is fascinating because it is an entirely new branch of the u.s. armed services and what they will do is they will actually hunker down with the air force in the air force facilities, but this is going over it. this is going over the whole thing about making our way past

the moon and beyond and the president will talk about that. also sanctions in russia and military might coming in. as soon he president starts speaking, will bring it back to you. we will take a short break. (whistle) play it cool and escape heartburn fast with tums chewy bites cooling sensation. ♪ tum tu-tu-tum tums if your glasses aren't so will we. no we won't. cooling sensation. don't forget to use your vision benefits before they're gone. now in-network with vsp. visionworks. see the difference.

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>> trace: and back to a live look at joint base andrews. expecting president trump moments from now speaking there at a signing ceremony for a massive military spending bill as he awaits the president. let's bring in lisa boothe, the spending, marie, gets a look atthe first presides who gets a new branch of the military. victory for the democrats because it takes away some money from that border wall that he so desperately wanted down on the border. a little bit for everybody in

there. >> the nda also ends up like that. everyone from the democrats and republicans, want to fund our military, even during these pluralized times, bipartisan bill that passed. we got the military funded, we got a pay raise for troops. these are some things that are really important and both parties came together to get this done before the end of the year. it's a good thing. >> trace: you can see the president and melania trump, they are being introduced. we expect melania trump tell mike to introduce the president and as soon as she steps up to him we'll take it from there. in the meantime, lisa boothe, your thoughts on this? >> we also know that president trump loves these with the military, so that put on full display on the fourth of july. marie is right on the point of working together on this defense authorization. just the mere fact that

democrats have the majority of the house, republicans have the majority -- b1 let me stop you for one second. let's just watch us for ten seconds, the ceremony here. [the national anthem plays]

>> trace: we wanted to pause for that very important when you talk about defense spending to

pay a little bit of respect to our military and america. you see the president and melania trump, shall go up and introduce him and when she starts speaking, we'll take her life. apologies, lisa boothe. i just wanted to make sure we caught that moment. your thoughts continuing? >> i appreciate that. a beautiful and patriotic moment. appreciate we could all share that together. to the point marie was making, democratic majority in the house, republican majority in the senate. by the product of the facts we have this divided government, they have to come together. not everyone gets everything they want, but what's really important is what president trump is doing right now with the men and women who put their lives on the line to protect us to keep us safe. in return, congress should make sure that our military men and women have the money they need -- >> one more time. >> their families for their devotion to our country and their courage to defend our

freedom. during this holiday season, we send our prayers to all of those serving overseas, and who will not bow be home with their families over christmas. our nation thanks you for all the sacrifices you make to keep us safe. we wish you all a very merry christmas and happy and healthy new year. now it is my honor to introduce to you my husband, president donald trump. >> president trump: thank you. thank you.

well, thank you very much. and thank you, melania. hello, joint base andrews. special place. at ease. we have good news for you. on behalf of the first lady, vice president mike pence, mrs. pence, i want to wish everybody a merry christmas, happy new year. this is a historic day for the american armed forces. in a few minutes, i will probably sign into law the largest ever investment in the united states military. in fact, i can say the largest ever by far. today also marks another landmark achievement as we officially inaugurate the newest branch of our military. this is a very big and important

moment. it's called the space force. most importantly, we are supporting you, the heroes who defend our families, secure our nation, and protect our freedom. the 2020 national defense act is about making sure that our war fighters have the tools and resources, and equipment you need to fight and to win, all the time to win. we are making our military stronger and more powerful than ever before. we are joined today by secretary of defense mark esper, their service secretaries general mark milley. thank you very much, general. fantastic job you're doing. members of the joint chief of staff. many distinguished military

leaders and representatives. mac thornberry, joe wilson, mike rogers, michael turner, michael mccaul, robert whitman, french hill, matt gaetz, greg pence, and michael waltz. and i want to give a special shout out to a ver rich allemand senator jim and off we worked so hard this. thank you. thank you all. i want to extend a special thanks to commander of the air force, district of washington, major general ricky rupp. and commander of the 11th wing and joint base andrews colonel

andrew xerath. thank you. and i am profoundly grateful to everyone in america's airfield. that's what they call it. america's airfield. i use it often. there is no greater honor than to serve as your commander in chief. i especially want to thank the incredible people who fly and maintain air force one. you are the best of the best. thank you very much for doing such an incredible job. today's signing of the 2020 ndaa is a watershed event in the truest sense of the word. before i came into office, the military endured deep and devastating budget cuts. our military were quite frankly very depleted. as a candidate for president, i promise to reverse these

crippling cuts, and ensure our military remains unchallenged and unrivaled anywhere in the world. and right now, there is no one, there is no country, that comes even close. the law i'm signing today provides 738 billion -- that's with a b. $738 billion in defense funding for the 2020 -- that's an all-time record in the history of our country, that the highest amount we've ever spent on our military. that's after 700 billion in my first year. and 716 billion last year. and it's all made right here in the usa. very important.

and i have to say that we make the finest equipment, the finest planes, finest missiles, finest ships, we make the finest equipment anywhere in the world. it's not even close. this brings our total investment in national defense since my inauguration to almost $2.5 trillion. what's the good of a budget if you don't have the best military in the world? and though we focus on the budget a little bit. is that okay? we'll focus on the budget. $2.5 trillion. that's really something. it's new and it's beautiful and within the next 12 months you'll have most of it. in addition to massive acquisitions in the past two years, this bill authorizes nearly 100 new f-35s, 34 brand-new faa teens eighteens,brand-new army helicof all different types.

165 brand-new beautiful abrams tanks, said to be the best in the world. more than 50 paladin howitzers. two new virginia class three new early bird destroyers. a ford class aircraft carrier, and two others on their way. and much, much more. but as we discussed earlier, our military getting far more than just new equipment. this is the first time -- and i have to say, do you know what happened last year? it was a good pay raise. but now you are getting another pay raise and this will be the largest pay raise in more than three years, in more than a decade. if you don't want it, you don't have to pay for it.

for the first time since president harry truman created the air force over 70 years ago, think of that, we will create a brand-new military service and such a momentous statement, 70 years ago the air force. with my signature today, you will witness the birth of the space force, and that of the now officially the sixth branch of the united states armed forces. that is something really incredible. it's a big movement. that's a big moment we are all here for, space. going to be a lot of things happening in space. because space is the world's newest war front. >> $738 billion defense spending bill will create the space for, which will be housing the u.s. air force protect our country

from the outer limits. the president, will have continuing coverage in a moment. when he leaves here, he'll be going to the winter white house for the holidays. we hope your holidays are great. have a merry christmas and happy new year. i'm trace gallagher in los angeles. ♪ >> tucker: good evening, and welcome to tucker carlson tonight. the president currently delivering remarks at a signing ceremony at andrews air force base. joint base andrews as they say here. going to sign a national defense authorization act. going to keep an eye on that. don't have to tell you what's in it at one point. adds to the perception even among democrats in washington that donald trump is on something of a role. it wasn't always like this. just six months ago, trump's reelection seemed like a pretty tough bet for a lot of reasons, but let's boil it down. when both google and the chinese government consider you a mortal enemy, is not so easin