muck. ♪ ♪ paul: welcome to the "journal editorial report", i'm paul gigot. president biden unveiled his nearly $7 trillion budget thursday setting up a clash with republicans in congress and showing where he wants to take the country if he wins a second term. the proposal includes almost $5 trillion in tax increases including raising coronet -- the corporate income tax the rate to 28% from 21, the top individual tax rate to nearly 40%, almost doubling the capital gains tax

rate and imposing a 25% minimum tax on wealthy americans. here with a look at the coming showdown in congress our "wall street journal" columnists khan henninger and mary anastasia o'grady and editorial board member kyle peterson. so, dan, i couldn't help but notice that the new york times this week portrayed the president's budget as moving to the center. is that how you see it? [laughter] >> whoa. well, it may be where the new york times describes the center. no, that budget moves smartly to the left. i mean, senator elizabeth warren was beside herself over all the tax increases on the wealthy. she just thought it was great. you know, this is really a peter pan judgment, paul. you just spread pixie dust everywhere, and the economy takes off. we could make fun of it, we say it's not going to happen because of the republican house. i could make a couple points

about in this. one, if perchance, this is a campaign speech concern a campaign budget, there's no question about it, and it is a base budget. it's meant to the animate the progressives. but if perchance in 2024 the democrats were to take control of the government, the presidency, the house and the senate, they will do this. this is their intention. that is their goal. it's not completely pie in the sky. the republicans are going to need an answer. the other joe biden has been doing in these speeches is calling out maga republicans. again, it's easy to to dismiss that, but i think the white house has poll tested a lot of these ideas, both the budget and maga republicans, and they believe it has some appeal out will there in the country, possibly in swing states -- michigan, pennsylvania, wisconsin -- among middle class voters. yes, it's easy to make fun of it, it's not going to happen, it will not work, but republicans are going to have to answer it.

paul: mary, the budget would take the share of government spending on the economy from what's been, you know, about a fifth of the economy over the long term to a quarter of the economy on an almost permanent basis. that's a huge increase in outlays and spending. meanwhile, it would raise taxes by, on a permanent basis by about two percentage points in gdp. still have huge deficits, but these are major increases in making the government a much larger part of our lives. >> not only that, paul, but joe biden is presenting this as fiscal responsibility as if, you know, he's going to tax the rich to use it obey for all kinds of promises -- to pay for all kinds of promises to everybody else. he thinks it will sell, and maybe it will, you know, until the reality hits people. but what i think is really important for the american public to understand is that deficits still go up this year, next year, and debt to gdp, which is an important measurement of how indebted a country is, will go from, like,

98%, by 20 the 33 it's supposed to be 110 president. paul: right. >> so he's saying this is somehow fiscally responsible like he's drawing back the size of government, but he's expanding it, and he's putting us further in debt. paul: well, you raise taxes by almost $5 trillion, and you still increase the debt -- >> and i haven't ap even -- haven't even mentioned how it's probably going to damp economic growth because you're punishing risk takers. paul: assuming it passes. kyle, looking at this year, he's also setting himself up for a debate with republicans in the house. when you see him raising the medicare ax the, for example -- tax, for example, that surtax on a surtax the just for medicare, do you think he's picking a fight? does he want to fight with house republicans on these major entitlements? >> i think that's exactly what he wants. he wants to run in 2024 existence a republican who he is going to say is going to cut your medicare and your social

security. and so i think that the it would be smart for republicans not to get bogged down in that fight. but i would also caution that there are reforms that are needed to those programs, because they are unsustainable. the social security trust fund is going to run out in 2023, and at that point it will be an automatic benefits cut of 23 percent. and so what i would worry about is a republican who would join hands with joe biden and say we are never going to the touch these programs -- paul: donald trump. [laughter] >> exactly. and then get backed into a corner in the next administration when those deadlines really start coming up and you've already ruled out any changes to the benefits even to people who are 20 years old and are decades away from retirement. paul: dan, the important part of the budget, of course, is defense. the president proposes a 3.2 the % increase in nominal terms in defense, bigger increases for domestic accounts. is that increases in defense

adequate? >> it is inadequate. factor inflation, it's actually a cut in defense spending. as we can see there, the budget categories for most of the domestic agencies and cabinets are way above what's being suggested for defense. and this is at a time when the has become a big issue, does the biden administration recognize the seriousness of the national security challenges that over the last who years have erupted and are facing the united states? russia, ukraine, china, mexico, the border. we're now going to talk a little bit about the car elss. there is a lot -- cartels. there is a lot on the defense department's plate, and i think what they are proposing here is not adequate to build up the military that this country's going to need over the next 10 years. it's entirely a domestic-oriented budge. -- budget. paul: all right. when we come back, president

biden promised to whip inflation in his budget rollout, but the federal reserve is warning of a bumpied road ahead. so how high and how fast will the central bank have to raise interest rates before prices ars under control? we'll ask former white houses of economist ken can hassett next. boost® high protein. now available in cinnabon® bakery-inspired flavor. learn more at boost.com/tv next on behind the series... let me tell you about the greatest roster ever assembled. the monster, the outlaw... and you can't forget about the boss. sometimes- you just want to eat your heroes. the subway series. the greatest menu of all time. we got the house! you did! pods handles the driving. pack at your pace. store your things until you're ready. then we deliver to your new home - across town or across the country. pods, your personal moving and storage team.

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♪ >> the process of getting inflation back down to 2% has a long way to go and is likely to be bumpy. the latest economic data have come in stronger than expected which suggests that the ultimate level of interest rates is likely to be higher hand previously anticipated. if the totally were to -- can totality were to be warranted, we would prepare to increase the rate hikes. paul: that was jerome powell testifying the on capitol hill wednesday warning at the fight against inflation is far from over and that the road map to that 2 percent inflation target

could be bumpy, telling both the house and senate this week hat central bank could raise interest rates higher and faster than previously expected. powell's comments came days before the labor department released a stronger than expected jobs report with the u.s. economy adding 311,000 jobs in february. let's bring in kevin hassett, former chair of the council of economic advisers at the white house and distinguished visiting fellow at hoover institution. kevin, looking very distinguished today. [laughter] as a fellow. please, tell us first about the strength of this economy. i mean, it's surprising with these jobs reports. i know you were thinking that maybe we'd see, you know, lower -- slower growth this year. that what's going on? >> right. i think what's going on is that the government has continued to throw demand on the fire. one thing that, it's a joke, like, before biden's budget came out, i went back and looked at

what we taught when i was leaving cea in 2019 spending would be, and they're outspent what we thought in 2019 they were going to spend by $10 trillion. [laughter] i mean, it's almost enough to pay your salary, i know -- [laughter] but $10 trillion of spending, and we've got a federal funds rate which historically doesn't start to bring inflation under control untilst the above the inflation -- it's above the inflation rate. and the federal funds rate is still below the inflation rate. so monetary policy is still still laive and inflation is sort of -- stimulative, and inflation is sort of suck where this is. -- where it is. the fed's got to the lift interest rates enough so the unemployment rate goes up 1-2%, and at that point wage and price pressures bo the down. but the fact is that the fed's pretty far from doing that. and i sensed a little frustration in jay's voice when he said we're going to the maybe have to go up more. i wouldn't be surprised if they start to give us 50 basis point

hikes again because, basically, heavy got to get the federal funds rate to 7 or 7.5 if they want to get turned control. paul: wow. jay powell might not have been happy, and i sensed that same thing in the part because the markets weren't very happy. so far he's had a pretty -- he's been able to raise rates, and he's add had a pretty easy political ride because there the hasn't been significant job loss, and you haven't seen a lot of market disruption. well, maybe now we're seeing it. and what do you make of the surprise in the markets? they're taking it very hard this week. >> right. well, you know, we're seeing financial institutions start to have trouble. if you look at consumers, one of the reasons why they're able to keep consuming despite the fact that the fed was raising rates is they had all this residual savings from the covid stimulus. by my estimate, the extra savings they got is just about gone, definitely be gone by may, and consumer credit has skyrocketed. so people have borrowed to the max on their credit cards to

keep themselves going. but with the higher interest rate, pretty soon you're going to start to see defaults on those things, and there's going to be the uncertainty in the banking sector. and i think the markets are factoring that in. if you look at the share price changes for all the big banks and the news about silicon valley bank having trouble, that's sort of the next step that happens when you're in a tightening cycle, consumers get overstretched, they start to default, they hand the things back to the banks, and the banks go into distress, and i think we're getting pretty close to that. paul: how worried should we be? silicon valley bank and silvergate capital closing shop, these look like there's not broader contagion at least so far, but, of course, these things are always -- you don't really know. how worried should we be about financial cracks beginning to open up in the economy? >> you know, i think we should be very worried. and the reason is that we've got a biden administration that's

piling even more spending on top of the $10 trillion that they already gave us before the budget and then promising policies that, as you guys discussed at the opening of the show, that are going to scare the heck out of potential future investors. right now, sure, president biden's not to going to get the corporate rate up to 28% because of kevin mccarthy, but that's his promise if he's reelected. it's probably at least 50-50 that he is elected, so would you build a factory right now knowing they're going to hike taxes that much as soon as they have a chance? you know, probably not. i've done a lot of academic work that shows uncertainty over those prompts can have a big neck -- promises can have a big negative effect on the economy. the fed's gotta hike rates still, and when they do with consumers basically out of their covid savings and maxed out on credit cards, it's going to be a deep recession, and it's going to hit at a pretty interesting time politically as well, the is second half of this year. paul: our mutual friend, larry lindsay, has argued, the

economist has said that it might not with the unemployment rate that causes the fed to stop raising rates, it could be the financial problems which causes them to stop because you can't, obviously, we don't want a repeat of 2008 and 2009. so, i mean, do you agree with the fact that this may be the signal, financial problems could be what's causing the fed to sop the going after inflation and then that could leave us with inflation that is higher than the fed wants? >> yeah. i think that, you know, there's no economist smarter than our friend larry lindsay, and and he basically months ahead of time started to call these financial disruptions that are just now beginning to be seen. and i think it's likely that, you know, there's -- workers are so dear, they're so hard to find that layoffs don't really start to take off like they do in a typical recession. but if profits go down, interest rates go up and markets head way south and people start to default on debt, financial

institutions bear the brunt9 of that. i think that's probably the thing that would make the fed stop hiking rates, and i think it's the kind of thing that could happen at any moment, that that you could wake up tomorrow and there's a whole bunch of negative profit news and then the fed's thinking, well,ing maybe we've got to stop now. i still think, for me, i'm more of a real economy guy than larry. i think the unemployment rate's going to go up a couple percent. paul: all right, kevin hassett, thanks very much for coming in, appreciate it. when we come back, the biden administration or is facing mounting pressure to take on drug cartels. so is u.s. military action the answer? ♪ ♪ right, you have to do it yourself. in 2015, my dad had the idea to revitalize american textile manufacturing with bedding crafted from cotton grown on our family farm. we created red land cotton to give you the best farm,

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♪ paul: the kidnapping of four and the murder of two u.s. citizens in mexico is prompting calls for the biden administration to use the u.s. military against that country's drug cartels. south carolina senator lindsey graham introduced a bill wednesday to designate them as foreign terrorist organizations. and in a "wall street journal" op-ed last week, forger attorney general bill barr wrote that the u.s. should confront the cartels the same way past administrations confronted isis in the middle east. here's barr on fox this week. >> the cartels are in charge. the mexican government allows them to operate from these safe havens and pump poisonous drugs up into the united states that are doing massive damage to our people and our economy. and it's not going to stop unless we croix these organizations. paul: we're back with khan henninger and mary anastasia o'grady.

mary, what do you make of this new desire and a large part of people on the american right to take military action potentially against the cartels in mexico? >> well, i see the political momentum for it gaining. and let's suppose for a minute that we're going to do surgical strikes on a sovereign neighbor without the permission of the government. let's suppose that's a thing which i would question. but, look, i think we need to ask ourselves what do we expect to accomplish, and if the idea is to stop the flow of drugs, i think that's a fantasy. and you can look at afghanistan where we actually had the permission of the government to be in the country, we were on the ground, we were fighting the drug traffickers, and we never succeeded in wiping out the poppy crop or stopping the drug trafficking. and you can look at colombia where people say we had success, but what we had was success in helping uribe, the president at the time, reestablish the presence of the state across the country. but it kid not stop flow of

cocaine from the andes. and i think that the if bill barr thinks that surgical strikes on cartels are going to stop the flow of drugs into this country, he just hasn't been paying attention to the last are 70 years of american drug consumption. paul: well, dan, the, you know, our argument is that mexico's providing a sanctuary for these drug cartels. never mind that past previous mexican governments have tried, have gone to war with them and rye thered to do something about them. but the mexican government replies with some credibility that the problems, as mary suggested, demand for drugs in the united states. what do you make about mary's point that you can't really solve this pop just by taking on the supply -- this problem just by taking on the supply problem, the cartels in mexico? >> well, i would agree with mary to the extent that bombing them would not solve or stop the flow

of drugs into the united states. nonetheless, paul, i'm very intrigued by the reaction that we're seeing after the kidnapping of the four american citizens in matamoros. awful event, to be sure, but there have been a lot of awful events involving the drug cartels and americans and fentanyl crisis. and it is very striking to me that the you have kind of a bipartisan sort of act, atmosphere of aggression towards doing something. and bill barr especially. you can have a big argument when he was attorney general over whether the mexicans or the americans were doing enough to get a handle on the drug cartels. but when he was other than general in questions 2019, bill barr met with president lopez obrador in mexico to try to work out an arrangement, and that didn't come to much. and barr has spent a lot of time on this issue, and if nothing else the fact that the he is talking about taking military

action towards mexico suggests that the establishment in washington has lost patience and they're getting ready to default to the answer of taking military action. it would not solve the problem, but with i think we're going to have to start facing the possibility that something like this could happen. not under the biden administration, i think they feel they've got enough on their plate with russia and china, but clearly pressure is building for taking unilateral action. >> what about the idea of labeling them foreign terrorist os? what would that free the united states government to do? >> some people argue it would allow the government to go more against the cartels in this country. and i think, or you know, seriously, if we want to try to address this problem, we should ask ourselves why drugs go from brownsville, texas, to seattle or new york with no violence. and the reason is because we don't confront the contribution system in this country. we want the mexicans to jump in

front of the bullets, but we're not serious about that. and if we use the fto, the foreign terrorist organization, model, some lawyers say we could more aggressively pursue the transmission and distribution at the retail level which is where all the money is made in this country. and if we're really serious about it, we should do that. but, of course, we don't want anybody to mess with our civil liberties, so we're asking mexico to do it. and if i think that's very unfair. and i also think that it's strengthening lopez obrador who is not a friend -- paul: president of mexico. >> yes. i mean, mexicans, even ones who don't like him are appalled at this idea, you know, there's kind of a dignity issue that we're saying we can just i march in there and stop this when we're the consumers, we're the buyers, and we're not fighting it here at home. paul: thanks, mary. chinese president xi jinping e embarks on an unprecedented third term with a stark warning

to the united states and a promise to elevate his military. general jack keane on the mounting edgeses with beijing and whether -- tensions with beijing and whether the u.s. is prepared to counter the growing chinese threat. ♪ ♪ bye, bye cough. later chest congestion. hello 12 hours of relief. 12 hours!! not coughing? hashtag still not coughing?! mucinex dm gives you 12 hours of relief from chest congestion and any type of cough, day or night. mucinex dm. it's comeback season. not that into saving, are you? -whoa, dude. what do you... -money. you're not that into saving money. cuz... cuz you paid too much for those glasses. next time, go to america's best where two pairs and a free, quality eye exam start at just $79.95. the exam is alone is worth at least 59 bucks. wow. i gotta go tell my squad! hurry! ♪

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♪ paul: china's xi jinping officially secure canned an unprecedented third term as president friday, becoming the longest serving head of state since the communist revolution in 1949. the chinese leader and his foreign minister accept thing up

their rhetoric existence the united states this week concern against the united states warning of conflict and confrontationation and vowing to more quickly elevate the chinese military. director of national intelligence avril haines testified on capitol hill thursday about the growing china threat. >> we assess that during the course of xi's third term, they will together attempt to press taiwan on unification, undercut u.s. influence which they perceive as a threat, drive wedges between washington and itsal allies and partners and promote norms that favor china's authoritarian system. paul: let's bring in retires four- retireses four-star -- retired four-star general jack keane. welcome. this is quite a change of tone since november when the president of the united states met xi in bali, and they promised to go to a better relationship. it's taken a decidedly negative turn of late. how do you read their statements

this week? >> well, i think their statements are largely due ott domestic audience is the intent here, but certainly a secondary message to us. the spy balloon's a factor here, to be sure. certainly, the fact that we revealed that they were intending to provide lethal aid to the russians, i think we had likely some pretty exwiz sit intelligence in doing something like that. when you craw back from it. the reality is president xi is starting his third term. no other leader since the communist party took over china has ever had that kind of tone your -- tenure. and what are we going to get from that? we're going to get more aggression abroad and more repression at home. that is the correction can we're heading in. and i concern direction we're heading in. and i look at what he says, he intends to the replace the united states as the world's global power and also dominate

and control the indo-pacific region. he looks at four pillars to do that; economic superiority, military, technological and yee yo political. and he is running away with it, in my mind, in a couple of those areas. one, militarily. he is growing more rapidly than the united states. he outguns us and outmans us in the region, and we have said before the only advantage we have are submarines, and that's a very important advantage. but the navy is not willing to make dramatic change from a surface fleet that's very vulnerable to his offensive anti-ship missiles and, certainly, hypersonic glide vehicles and bring more stealth nuclear submarines into the region that can deal very significantly with president xi's problems militarily with his offensive and defensive systems. and our navy is getting smaller. our air force is at the smallest it's been in 40 years. the army's getting smaller.

the biden defense budget doesn't match the rhetoric. paul: so you think -- >> he's coming in now with another defense -- go ahead. paul: yeah. is his defense budget adequate, and what is the balance of power in the western pacific now? are we really that outgunned that we on the couldn't shop an invasion -- stop an invasion of taiwan, for instance? >> well, i think that's an open question whether we could, and it should not be. i mean, our war games indicate that we'd be very challenged in doing that. and even the csis war game that said in certain scenarios we could possibly win, but the loss to capital assets close to the 50%, we can't have those kind of losses in world war ii. ed be staggering. we'd lose all of our bases, and the casualties would be very high. the second area, mean, i think -- i mean, i think they're outpacing us is technologically.

the report that just came out about ten days ago and the "wall street journal" reported on it, they tracked advanced technologies, and china's leading in 37 out of the 44 advanced technologies. and this is something where the united states has always had an advantage. now, we are making some progress with allies and partner, we're strengthening those relationships, and that's got to the also turn into hard power working together to make certain that if conflict breaks out over taiwan, they're going to be there. ask that brings up the last issue, and that is taiwan itself. we still have the $19 billion backlog of the commitment equipment that they have paid for to help them defend themselves. the congress is aware of this this, the administration is aware of it. we've got to fix it with a sense of urgency. the inco-pacific commander, paul, just said a couple of weeks ago -- normally doesn't speak out on any of the issues he's facing.

he said the problem with china is a growing danger, and we have to fix it with a sense of urgency. and, of course, he is talking about his lane. means more forward-deployed forces in the region that have capacity and with a sense of urgency let's move on with the advanced technologies, get them into production as quickly as possible and get them into the region. paul: all right. general keane, thanks so much for coming in. sure appreciate it. still ahead, calls are growing on capitol hill for a nationwide tiktok ban as intelligence officials warn the popular chinese app poses a threat to national security. ♪ supply fuel for immune cells ♪tisss, ♪ scotts daylawn saving is

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♪ paul: a bipartisan group of senates unveiled legislation this week that gives the biden administration new powers to ban the chinese video-sharing platform tiktok and other foreign-owned technologies. the move comes as intelligence officials warn that the popular app used by more than 100

million americans poses a threat to u.s. national security. here's fbi director christopher wray. >> it's the control of the data to conduct all sorts of big data operations. it's the control of the recommendation algorithm which allows them to conduct influence operations. it's the control of the software which allows them to then have access to millions of devices. this is a tool that is ultimately within the control of the chinese government, and it, to me, it screams out with national security concerns. paul: we're back with dan hen henninger, mary o'grady and kyle peterson. that's some statement about the fbi director as tiktok as a threat. what do you make of the reality there? is it something that is so threatening that it should be banned? >> well, that would be a big step, but it strikes me as not unthinkable to refuse to let an adversary control one of the most popular media platforms to

america's youth. think back to the cold war, would ronald reagan have let the kremlin run programming on mtv of? i tend to think probably not. i think what the fbi, congress investigators could really do here is make the case and provide that leverage if they want to pass this bill, because there are all these allegations swirling on what kind of content is tech doc serving to america'o america's youth versus china's to youth, what kind of access does it have to the devices that it's on. and i think there are a lot more questions than answers to those questions right now. paul: dan, the argument from tiktok executives is that there's really nothing to worry about because chinese government because not have access to their data, that they can keep it separate and that they don't allow any of this intrusion of spying that they're accused of. is that credible, in your view? >> no, it's not credible. why should we believe them?

i mean, the chinese government announced last week, the communists just last week, communist party would have membership or presence on both large corporations inside china. the 200-foot-high white spy balloon that floated across the united states, guess what? it was the real, and it was taking pictures of the upper midwest of our nuclear sites and so forth. the chinese are interested in that information, and heir trying to get it. i -- they're trying to get it. i agree with kyle. i think emphasis in this argument about tiktok that altogether too much on the so-called damage it's doing to our children. we know social media does that. christopher wray, the fbi director, was getting at the core of it. this is about being able to use software and back doors in the internet to to get inside our system, discover information and even disrupt our systems. and tiktok is similarly one of the many platforms available to do that. so i think the threat is real enough that probably the u.s.

government's going to have to address it. paul: mary, you're a good libertarian and, you know, i mean, it would be an extraordinary step. it's one thing to the ban huawei's telecom networks which are, you know, backstage, americans don't see it. but 100 million americans use this? there would be some political price to pay for banning it. >> yeah. i mean, i don't mind at all that you prohibit government workers and, you know, the use of it in -- paul: as state governments is have. >> yeah. and i, it's a step further, you know, if kyle says cu you want to ban it for the public. that may or may not work. but i think the really important thing to keep in mind here is apart from the political cost is it would be fighting the last war to think that this is going to cut china off from, you know, getting into doing intelligence in this country. i mean, there's a lot of other things they could be doing. and as the science of a.i. and

cyber world continues to evolve, you're going to see many other approaches to, you know, the ways that china can spy on americans. paul: yeah. but there's nothing quite like the breadth of tiktok's access to american households. i mean, 100 million, and, i mean, every teenager in america. >> you know, i think it's throwing tax on the runway for china, but i just think it's fanciful to think this somehow is going to stop their intelligence gathering. and as you say, there's going to be a high cost because people are going to feel deprived. it would be a much better idea if we would start to teach people to think for themselves, and we don't do that. i mean, in schools or any place else. there's a lot of indoctrination going on, and americans just put a big, fat straw in it and create it up. paul: kyle, do you think we are headed for a ban here on tiktok? a lot of momentum particularly on the conservative side. sensible members like michael

gallagher, republican from wisconsin in the house, and biden wants it banned from government work. are we, is that where we're headed, to a total ban on tiktok in america in. >> well, i think even the people who support the bill hope not. i think what they hope is that passing the bill would provide some leverage to the united states. remember, there was a controversy during the trump administration about tiktok offloading some of its american assets. but as dan said, i don't think we have any reason to trust whether that has put up an actual barrier between data flowing from the united states and flowing out of the country to china. but if you give the president some more leverage to do an actual ban, maybe you can get some real guarantees that the fbi and other agencies have some faith in. paul: all right. when we come back, florida governor ron ron desantis delivers his state of the state address touting his florida record and previewing what a possible 2024 presidential run might look like. ♪ connect your business,

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♪ >> we defied the experts. we bucked the elites. we ignored the chatter. we did it our way, the florida way. and i can promise you this, you ain't seen nothing yet. paul: florida governor ron desantis delivered his state of the state address tuesday touting his record in the sunshine state and promoting his so-called florida model as a blue print for republican leadership nationwide. the crease came at the outset of a 60-day legislative session that many see as a springboard for his widely anticipated 2024 presidential campaign. we're back with dan dan henninger kyle peterson. so, dan, it sure looks like ron desantis is gearing up for a presidential run, and what do you make of his early appearances here both at the

reagan library and that state of the state address, elsewhere in the media? >> well, what i would make of it, paul, is that ron desantis is obviously going to make a case for himself based on his record in florida. and, you know what's interesting about that, i mean, he does do rhetoric in a pretty strong way. but, by and large, you know, a lot of politicians go out there even running for president and they give kind of just i motive speeches concern emotive speeches about america's values or what people are try thering to do to harm us. ron desantis is actually making a very substantive policy-oriented pitch. he keeps citing all the things, policies that he has cone in florida relate -- done in florida relating to issues like economic growth, taxes, low crime, in-migration into the state. these are real things and i might add quickly that

desantis will never say it, but he's building on the accomplishments of former are republican governors such as scott and jeb bush. florida has been a well governed state for quite a while. but he's running on policy, and that is largely a rare thing at the presidential level. donald trump, by and large, isn't doing it. he's riling up his audiences. so it's going to be interesting to see where desantis can combine that kind of hard edge that he brings to his presentations with the fact that he's mainly talking about substantive accomplishments in florida. paul: the, kyle, the theme of governor, it works in florida, you can try to bring that to washington, washington count work -- doesn't work but florida it does, that's a time honored theme. worked for ronald reagan. very powerful many in particular with the covid issue where he really prospered and did very

well by pushing, by opening schools and by opening the economy more than other places did. >> and he has the numbers, i think, to back that up. you've heard them in his speeches, his inaugural address, his state of the state, his recent speech at the ronald reagan presidential library. he talked about florida being number one in attracting people, americans moving to florida. he said florida had 100% of its schools open, in-person instruction when california was only at 20%. i think that message is attractive to a lot of people. the thing that i would add on this message that dan was talking about florida works is he threw a pretty sharp eling bow, i think, without naming president trump by name in the ronald reagan speech, he said my administration does not leak like a sieve, you don't have palace are intrigue from me, there's no soap opera about, you know, who's in and who's out, who just got fired by tweet from the chief of staff post.

that's not happening. what he said was we just execute, and that's why we beat the left day after day after day. and i think if he runs in 2024 and is going to take on president trump, i think that is going to be a huge piece of his message, is we believe in the same things, we support a lot of what president trump did in office, but i'm the guy who can get it done and push it forward for the next four years. paul: dan, what are the risks for ron desantis? i spoke to a republican who might be a challenger to him, and he said, look, this guy has had a challenge or two. he'll walk over media with, walk over legislature, you know, easy times. as soon as he starts to take on the national stage, it's going to get a lot tough to ther. and we don't know if he has the withwith all to -- wherewithal to stand up on a stage and take the punches that donald trump is going to throw at him. >> well, you know, paul, i don't really see that as much of a

concern. desantis portrays a kind of tough guy persona, and the fact is i probably think he is kind of a tough guy. when he said we took on the experts, he really did down there in florida. we have got to remember when he was refusing to shut state down. the mainstream media was absolutely hammering ron desantis, and he never stepped back. i think the more interesting is whether that persona is going to play in the republican primaries especially if, i mean, there's no indication yet to say if virginia governor glenn youngkin is going to get in, but i'm just setting him up as an example of a republican who convey it is same sort of willingness to the fight with the other side but doesn't have quite as hard an edge as ron desantis does. and you've got to run through an entire set of republican primaries. people are going to -- tim scott, for instance, do does not have the hard edge that ron desantis does. so we're going to find out what republicans' appetite is out

there for someone like desantis versus more of a conciliator. paul: i think republican voters are aching for fresh voices. when we come back, hints and disses of the week -- hits and misses of the week. you're in a hurry. i'm off to america's best i heard what you said about not overpaying for glasses. two pairs and a free, quality eye exam starting at just $79.95? the exam alone is worth... 59 bucks. i mean, people deserve breaks, right? yeah, brakes...! [out of control] book an exam today at americasbest.com. research shows people remember ads with a catchy song. so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's a little number you'll never forget. did you know that liberty mutual custo— ♪ liberty mutual. ♪ ♪ only pay for what you need. ♪ ♪ only pay for what you need. ♪ ♪ custom home insurance created for you all. ♪

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paul: time now for hits and misses of the week. kyle, start us off. >> i will give a hit to the growing parade of state tact cutses -- tax cuts. west virginia'st governor cut income taxes across the board, and the top rate's going down by something like a point and a half. north dakota could be next, the statehouse has passed a 137b9d 5% fat -- 1.5 president flat tax. so you can i throw in michigan where the previous administration passed a law cutting taxes that will go into effect despite governor gretchenen whit with her's best efforts. paul: mary. >> a miss for joe biden's.

nonresponse to the latest act of domestic terrorism in america, this time in atlanta. atlanta has a black democrat mayor, and the city is building a police training facility. but a bench of anarchists don't like it, and last week they attacked the site with molotov cock ails, they -- cocktails, they set construction material on fire, and 23 of them have been charged with domestic terrorism. biden has said exactly nothing about this in defense of the mayor or the city of atlanta. paul: dan. >> a miss to the united states and to joe biden, indeed, for banning the world's number one tennis player, novak djokovic, from coming into the united states and competing in the indian wealth tennis tournament because he isn't vaccinated against covid. only joe biden can lift that ban on foreigners coming into the united states, but the ban is obsolete. covid is still with us as are many other infectious diseases, but the pandemic is over.

he should have is let djokovic in to play in the biggest tournament of the year outside the major, and who knows? maybe people will eventually vote to ban joe biden. paul: all right. remember, if you have your own hit or miss, tweet it to us@jer on fnc. thanks to my panel and to all of you for watching. i'm paul gigot. hope to see you right here next week. eric: more americans are vanishing south of the border, now two sisters from a small texas border town reportedly missing in mexico along with their friend. that after they drove this to sell clothes at a flea market. police say they crossed into north mexico late last month. one did speak to her husband on february 24th, but he says he can't reach her. three days later. and since then she has been gone. hello, everyone, welcome to "fox news live." i'm eric shawn. hi, arthel. arthel: hello, everyone, i'm