(vo) ask your doctor about once-weekly mounjaro. >> sandra: all right, john. you're in washington, a lot will happen there tonight. >> john: yeah, the state of the union thing this evening. so as much as biden will be talking about policy, i think the people will be watching. there's martha and bret hosting the show tonight at 9:00. people will be watching to see what kind of shape biden is in and how he delivers the speech. i think that may help sell people either for him or against him. >> martha: we'll be watching. thanks for joining us. glad to have you with us. i'm sandra smith. >> john: sandra, see you tomorrow. i'm off. my wife has to have knee surgery. >> sandra: best to her. >> john: a little meniscus tear. i'm john roberts. "the story" with more that starts right now. >> martha: thanks, john and sandra. good afternoon, everybody. i'm martha maccallum.

this is "the story." today we're live in our nation's capitol ahead of tonight's consequential state of the union address. you're going to see a very energized president says his chief of staff. still some democrats said to be nervous about the stakes for this evening. the "washington post" put it this way. the goal is not to give up old man vibes. it could be the last time that he in front of such a big tv audience until at least the convention. voters will no doubt be weighing whether or not he's held up to this promise from the beginning of it's presidency. watch this. >> i'm a man of my word. america is back. i speak to you today as president of the united states at the very start of my administration and i'm sending a clear message to the world. america is back. >> martha: a lot has happened since then. the chaotic withdrawal from afghanistan. attacks on our troops in the middle east, the explosion of the border crisis, which is a

huge issue to name a few. we kick things off with bret baier in d.c. first, to peter doocy over there at the white house. hi, peter. >> martha, president biden tonight will use the bully pulpit to blame republicans for big problems including at the border. >> the bipartisan bill on the border security, you know, that was negotiated over months. we know why that bill did not succeed thus far. that's because donald trump told republicans, you can't give joe biden a victory. that's not who we are. we have to come together. >> the white house officials telling us president biden will stress to the country whose side he's on. congressional republicans are on track to do the same. with an expected focus on jobs created and inflation reduced, it sounds like president biden will spend a lot of time looking back at his first three years and a little time looking ahead

to the next four plus. we expect serious talk about the israel hamas war with an announcement that the u.s. military will build a port to receive humanitarian aid. president biden recorded a video with presidents that were played on tv. >> i should point out one thing that bears, remembering there's no crying in politics. >> well, i hope is my politics doesn't make anybody else cry. >> so if nobody cries, state of the union a success. martha? >> martha: theater, thanks very much. we'll try not to cry. bret baier is with me, fox news chief political anchor and anchor of "special report" and co-anchor together tonight for the coverage of the state of the union as we have done many times together. we're back to do that again this evening. so obviously the bar is high when you look at his numbers.

38% approval rating. 70% think he's too old for the job, bret. >> yeah, he could use one of those actor's advice. independence day, that was a good speech. that was really something. michael douglas had a couple good ones. it is about vigor. it's about his presentation. it's less about the laundry list of things. i think he's going to spend a lot of time on immigration because they think they have a juicy codule to hit republicans on this senate bill. they leave out the executive order part. we're not giving any indications that he will do that tonight. if he doesn't, that's a glaring example that you're talking about the politics of this bill, but you have the power to do something now. >> it's extraordinary. he has levers at his control. it has been discussed time and time again in terms of remain in

mexico and catch and release that he could do. it's a huge question mark. i don't know how people will walk away from this tonight if they don't get an answer as to what his thinking is on this. >> i think we'll walk away without that answer if i had to make a bet. it's going to be about politics, it's about that bill. i think it's -- i think it will be interesting to listen to the foreign policy section. how he talks about israel and gaza. how that goes over in that crowd of his progressive side of his party. the dynamics tonight. whether it's a rambunctious crew, whether marjorie taylor green is in decorum or not. she says it's deteriorated. it's fascinating. >> the new speaker, the first time in his spot. we had a chance to do some off the record discussion with him this morning. this is a big night for him. he has sent the message that he

wants decorum in there. he doesn't want outbursts on his side. >> the stuff that he talked about is fascinating, the relationship with president biden and him. it's early in that relationship. it's key if there are ever going to get anything done. his job tonight is not to make faces behind the president. not rib up the speech. >> martha: thanks, bret. look forward to seeing you later tonight. big night ahead. later this hour, my exclusive interview with gene sperling who joins me to talk about the economy, a huge issue and a lot of numbers to look at in terms of the performance so far and the number 2 separate republican, john thune, as his party puts immigration front and center. he has endorsed former president trump for president. he was a tim scott supporter until recently. we'll talk to him about the state of the union coming up. >> it's the president and vice president of the united states.

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>> martha: in moments i'll speak with gene sperling, senior adviser to president biden here on set in washington. first, breaking news around d.c. around the issue of tik tok which is owned by chinese company byte dance. mark meredith reporting live from capitol hill. >> washington is taking the biggest steps to ban tik tok. like you referenced, the company is urging its users to raise hell, call congress and try to kill this measure from moving forward.

tik tok users have told fox that they have been getting messages on their phone when they open up the app to say if they want to make sure that they still have access to tik tok, that they should call their local lawmakers if they're worried the app could be blocked. congressional offices tell fox that they've been getting calls from middle schoolers. it's unclear if this will last. house the house energy and commerce committee work up the bill that will allow the federal government to designate apps owned by foreign adversaries that apps could be dangerous and giving congress to block them. lawmakers say that they believe china where tik tok's parent company is based is using tik tok's data to track americans and potentially influence daily life based on the app's heavy use. >> we cannot trust them, we cannot trust them to be upholding american values or protecting american users. that's why this is bipartisan. this is why republicans and democrats are coming together because we believe this is so

important in order to protect americans and ultimately what is a national security threat. >> the house speaker says he supports this legislation. we don't know how fast the senate may move. the white house says they support it too. the president's campaign is on tik tok, i should mention. >> martha: that is true. thanks, mark. breaking today, the house just passed the laken riley act hours before tonight's state of the union address. it requires the feds to detain migrants that are accused of crimes after they enter the country illegally. the suspect in riley's murder was cited for shoplifting in october. police said he had no prior shoplifting convictions, so it was standard procedure to release him. no word if they knew his immigration status. the feds say he crossed illegally a year ago and the number 2 senate republican whip john thune is here with me. first, a report from aishah hasnie who is over on capitol

hill on that story. hi, aishah. >> house republicans are taking a stand. this was a pretty bold message to the president on illegal immig immigration. this was a bipartisan statement. 37 democrats joined all house republicans in passing the laken riley act. as you mentioned, had this law been in effect, 22-year-old laken riley's murderer would have been picked up by ice after that shoplifting charge in georgia. republicans are trying to pressure biden to reinstate trump era orders. biden will not announce any new actions tonight. you'll see republicans bring guests in that have been impacted by illegal immigration and congressman mike collins invited riley's parents to attend. they won't be here tonight. instead, there's an empty seat to honor her.

>> you think he should bring up laken? >> i think a lot of america is not going to pay attention to what president biden has to say. i've stopped listening. i don't trust the guy. whatever he says is meaningless. america is about action. it about action. not words. >> so martha, you hear the anger in his voice. earlier today we talked with congress woman marjorie taylor green. things could get heated. she could call out the president as she did last year. called him a liar in the middle of his remarks. martha? >> martha: we know mike johnson has asked for decorum tonight. we'll see what happens. there's obviously a lot of hot tempers around a lot of these issues and understandably. thanks, aishah. joining me now here in washington, senate republican whip, john thune of south dakota. he's one of three individuals

that are expected to vie on the the spot of mitch mcconnell. i want to go back and play something that president biden said when he was running for president. and then show some of the graphics behind what is actually happened since then. watch this. >> i would in fact make sure that there is -- we immediately surge to the border all of those people that are seeking asylum. they deserve to be heard. that's who we are. we're a nation that says if you want to flee and fleeing oppression, you should come. >> you should come said the now president. look at what happened. they came. look at these numbers as we put them up for you. the right-hand side of your screen is under the biden administration. senator thune, thanks for being here. the president asked people to come. they came in huge numbers. we saw that man wearing a biden harris t-shirt saying i'm wearing this so i can get in. what do you expect tonight? >> obviously people respond to incentives. what this administration did by

reversing the trump policies is hang ago big welcome sign out. people are coming in droves illegally. since he became president, a total of nine million people. three million a year who have come illegally. a good portion are got-aways. they don't know who is in that group. we know this. last year there were 169 people on the terrorist watch list that came in illegally, apprehended. who knows how many of the got-aways were on the terrorist watch list. i don't have high expectations that he will do anything to fix this. it's baked in. it's a huge dereliction of duty on the part of the president. >> talk about incentives. look at his numbers. if that's not a political incentive to change gears, i don't know what is. you look back -- here's what bill clinton did when his election was on the line in 1995. this was also an issue back then. here's what he said at the same point in his presidency for the state of the union. watch. >> we're a nation of immigrants.

we're also a nation of laws. all americans, not only in the state most heavily affected by in every place are rightly disturbed by the large numbers of illegal aliens entering our country. >> martha: all over the country, other places are rightly disturbed by what they see. why wouldn't president biden say that? i'd venture to guess he probably agreed with everything bill clinton said. >> i don't find myself agreeing with who former president clinton said either. but in this case, president biden has to acknowledge the last three years have been a bust. so i think right now he's in a situation politically where he's going to be held accountable for this either way. he should be. it's baked in with the american people. they understand what has happened. they know there was operational control of the border understood president trump. as soon as biden takes over, he reverses all the executive actions including repealing the state of emergency. since then, nine million people

in three years. crushing the records. >> he's going to blame you, the senate. he says they have to fix this on capitol hill. >> the truth is he has all the authority he needs as president trump proved when he was in office. the remain in mexico, ending catch and release. some things that congress could do in terms of forming asylum processes. he's paroled 22 times the number of people that the trump administration paroled per month. those are people that when they come in here and get caught, they're being waived in to the country. there's no way you can defend this. there's no excuse. it's a problem of his own making. i think the american people will hold him to account for it. they should. >> martha: completely ignores laken riley. she's one person. there's many that have been killed that came here and committed a crime. even if it's as small as shoplifting, you broke your deal. if you come here illegally, you break your deal when you break the law. you endorsed former president trump this week.

you haven't always been a huge supporter, a huge fan. you were hoping that tim scott would get that nomination. why did you decide and was that a difficult decision for you? >> not really. it became clear that he was going to become the nominee. right now we have to put a stop to the biden schumer agenda. this is a choice for the american people. it's donald trump or joe biden. and if you look at the biden record on inflation, on open borders, on, you know, less energy, independence than we had before in the trump administration, weakened posture when it comes to america's strength abroad. those are all things that this president is going to be held accountable for. things that we have to change if we get the control and we get the presidency. i hope that we do. >> do you expect to be the senate majority leader? you expect you'll get that job and will you be elected to it by your fellow senators? >> it's an election that the senators vote on.

i hope so. we need a new generation of powership. you'll hear from one tonight in the response to the state of the union. we have a great team who we're excited about the future. we think with a republican president, we can get a lot done. >> martha: thanks, senator thune. we'll be watching. >> thanks. nice to be with you. >> martha: can president biden convince voters that his economy will be better than trumps when many disagree when you look at the numbers? gene sperling joins me here on set in our washington bureau coming up next. iabetes, but i manage it well ♪ ♪ jardiance! ♪ ♪ it's a little pill with a big story to tell ♪ ♪ i take once-daily jardiance ♪ ♪ at each day's start! ♪ ♪ as time went on it was easy to see ♪ ♪ i'm lowering my a1c! ♪ jardiance works twenty-four seven in your body to flush out some sugar.

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>> martha: take a look at this. as president biden gets ready to speak to the nation, more than 60% of the nation say they don't approve how he's handling the economy. more than 80% of independent voters say they think the economy is in bad condition. that one is according to the latest fox poll. this is a gallup poll of registered voters. 80% say they're dissatisfied with the way that things are going in the united states right now. this week the president said that he's taking action to cut costs for americans. he called out companies for what he called shrinkflation or as cookie monster put it, me cookies are getting smaller. former president trump responding today in what his team calls a prebuttle to the state of the union. watch this. >> shrinkflation is just another

way of saying inflation. it means that you are losing a lot of money. these people don't know what they're doing. it was all caused by crooked joe biden and the people that surround him. under my leadership, there was no inflation. we had the greatest economy in the history of the world. >> martha: with that, we bring in gene sperling, senior adviser to president biden and former director of the national economic counsel under president's clinton and obama. welcome. thanks for being here. so this week president biden did point to shrinkflation. he said these greedy corporations are shrinking the product that you pay for. he also blamed bonuses that ceos are getting. you hear the former president saying no, no, no. a lot of inflation and it's because we pumped trillions in to the economy that they're still trying to flush through. >> what you're going to hear the president say tonight in the state of the union, he's going to remind people of where we

started. we started in a very, very bad place. we started with an administration that had lost jobs for the first time since herbert hoover. you had a very shaky prospects in the united states in january 2021. what the president will make clear on his focus, middle out and bottom up economics, focusing on working families, focusing on manufacturing and investing in the united states, has led to a resilient and equitable recovery. every single job, you know, has been returned, plus 5.3 million more. that's the most jobs created in three years in the history of the united states. low unemployment. on inflation and prices, you know, i think this is -- you have to respect a lot of families still feel a bit of anxiety about the economy having gone through the pandemic,

variants. because of the war and because of the pandemic, inflation prices were very high in 2022 all over the world. so what you're seeing is inflation is now come down nicely, 2.4% in the pce inflation. but i -- we get it. a lot of families feel like some of those prices are coming down, but they're still a bit higher when we came in. >> martha: let's talk about what you laid out here. this is from dan henninger's piece today, this is the level of display that we're seeing in these polls. these are polls from all over the place, from gallup, from ap, from fox and other news sources. he's trying to figure out what's going on here. as henninger writes, the biden presidency has dedicated trillions to infrastructure, climate projects, schools, welfare, pandemic supports, student debt. in short, the second coming of

fra franklin delanor roosevelt. if it helped, it would be a different story but it's hurt. >> it's the first time that you've had unemployment below 4% for two years in a row in over 50 years. it is indeed the largest job creation over three years in the history of the country. it is the case that wages are above inflation. so people have more real purchasing power. as i said, i think people -- not just in the united states, all over the world, are still feeling some frustration. let me make two very important points. one, you are seeing some signs in the polls. you are seeing signs of people appreciating the economy more. let me give you a couple of examples. the axios poll which asks people how they were doing found 63%

said they were doing good or very good. the pnc poll of small businesses found eight out of ten feeling good about their companies prospects for this year. consumer -- >> martha: we can go on and on about polls. >> you laid this out. >> martha: 38% approve value number is historically low for someone running for president again. you can tell me everything you've done. i'm saying -- people say it's not working. >> you told me let's not talk about polls and then you went to negative polls. so let me complete the fact that consumer confidence has also gone up about 25% since october. >> martha: let's put up a consumer sentiment chart here. >> most importantly -- >> martha: i want to show you something. this is consumer sentiment. we're going to go back and forth here. you can see the level of it under trump. you see the drop that happened during covid. understandable. this president has had three years to pull us out of the hole. consumer sentiment is what you see on the right-hand side of your screen there. so people are clearly frustrated. one of the viral things today on

social media is a five guys receipt. $22.69 for a bacon cheeseburger, fries and a drink. that person couldn't even get a tip to put out there. bernie sanders says, you know what? democrats seem to think that if we only explain all that we've accomplished, people will come on board. it ignores the pain that ordinary people are experiencing. is the president going to say i understand that not everything has worked yet. or is he just going to blame businesses and corporations and talk about, you know, greedy ceos? i don't think that that is resonating with people. >> martha, i came on and started with the fact that we understand that a lot of people are still feeling the costs are too high for them. the prices are too high. yes, one can acknowledge the reality that inflation is moving in the right direction. it is down significantly. some people may still feel, you know, frustrated at the grocery

store that hasn't gone all the way down. what you're going to see the president doing today and speaking at state of the union is making clear that it is joe biden and not the republican party that is focusing on lowering costs. yes, it will be focusing on things like shrinkflation and it will be focusing on the degree that people may be price gouging or doing illegal pricing. but it's also going to be very, very tangible on how do we get more affordable lower housing costs. how do we lower healthcare costs. we're going to make $21 million people get 800 more. prescription drugs. the president will call for an out of pocket limit at $2,000. he's taking on big pharma and the big banks on overdraft fees. he's taking on the credit card agencies on late fees. all of these things is going to show that he has the agenda for lowering costs. people are going to realize that there's a choice this year -- >> there is a choice.

>> the choice is between do you want someone that has moved the economy in the right direction but understands things are not good enough and has an all-out agenda to take on powerful interests to lower costs or people for tax cuts for the well off and be afraid to take on power or interests -- >> martha: may i ask you a question? i understand where you're coming from. what i'm hearing is a lot of programs, a lot of ways to cut costs and a lot of punishment of companies and corporations for the bad things that they do. you said shrinkflation and gouging and all of those things. that's the economic perspective. >> we don't you mention prescription drugs? >> you mentioned -- everybody wants lower cost there's. >> let's talk about that. when you are willing to take on big pharma where joe biden is and republicans are not, what happens? you lower the federal costs for medicare paying for it and you lower the costst. insulin is $35 a month. used to be 500. >> martha: that's a plus.

>> prescription drugs being capped at 2,000. how many families -- >> everybody will feel -- >> those are things that joe biden is leading on and taking on powerful interests on behalf of lower costs for families and giving them more breathing room. >> martha: here's a very quick sound bite from president clinton in 1995 and i know we're out of time. a quick response on the other side. >> the era of big government is over. [applause] but we cannot go back to the time when our citizens were left to fend for themselves. >> martha: any signs that there's a shift coming, that like bill clinton did in 1995 -- i know you worked in that administration -- that there's an understanding that we have to cut spending, we have to move to the middle, which a lot of people expected this president

was going to do? >> you'll see the president will bring down the deficit again significantly. >> martha: cutting government? size of government? >> some of that will be increasing taxes on billionaires and the most well off corporations escaping their responsibility. another thing that is clear. the president has focused on the private sector. small business job applications are the record high. 60% higher than in 2019. we have leveraged in over $600 billion in private sector investments. if the president is thinking about what do we do to leverage the private sector on strong middle class jobs in the united states. there's a lot to point to that that has been very successful. you're right. there's going to be a real debate in 2024 about people understanding that and that's -- you're right. it's on us to do a better job of

that. we recognize people, a lot of people still want things to be better and president biden is going to let them know he's the one fighting for them. >> martha: gene sperling, we look forward to all of the debate as it comes in the course of the years. thanks for being here. hope to speak with you and go back and forth on the issues that people care about. thanks for coming. >> thanks for having me. >> martha: neil cavuto joins us with a look ahead to the state of the union coming up next. t n] [car door shuts] [paparazzi taking pictures] introducing, ned's plaque psoriasis. ned, ned, who are you wearing? he thinks his flaky red patches are all people see otezla is the #1 prescribed pill to treat plaque psoriasis. ned? otezla can help you get clearer skin, and reduce itching and flaking. with no routine blood tests required. doctors have been prescribing otezla for nearly a decade. otezla is also approved to treat psoriatic arthritis. don't use otezla if you're allergic to it.

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hey, dad. i got an a on my book report. that's cool. and i went for a walk in the woods and i didn't get a single flea or tick on me. you are just the best. -right? i'm great. -you are great. oh, brother. this flea and tick season, get 20% off your first pharmacy order at chewy. >> yes, one can acknowledge the idea that inflation is moving in the right direction.it is down significantly. some people may still feel, you know, frustrated at the grocery store that hasn't gone all the way down. what you're going to see -- >> martha: president biden's senior adviser, gene sperling on "the story." the president obviously faces

very tough polling numbers when it comes to the economy heading in to tonight's state of the union address. 62% believe that he's not doing a good job handling the economy. with that, we bring in neil cavuto, anchor of "your world." great to have you with us this afternoon. you just heard from gene sperling. he has counselled president clinton, president obama and now president biden. watches the economy a lot. what did you think he said about how we're doing and what the message is tonight? >> first of all a great very view. if you ask me a question, i can take ten minutes to answer enwith your follow up questions. >> i might have to jump in and cut you off. >> absolutely. i'm going to keep talking. just run with it. what he's saying is look, things are improving, things are getting better. the economy is good. we expect a strong jobs report. he's right. but the american people don't feel it. you cited example after example.

you're dead right. they don't feel it. taking a bow for the improvement in inflation is a bit rich here. the fact of the matter is, it's coming down at least from its highs because the federal reserve has been aggressively raising interest rates. so tip your hat to jerome powell but not the white house at this stage. >> martha: one of the questions is, we would have had to -- would we have needed this enormous battle to beat back the monster of inflation if they didn't pour trillions of dollars in to the economy to try to juice it after covid? there was debate about that then and debate about it now. president biden talks about what's going on and tries to explain it to people. he says it's the fat cat ceos to blame and shrinking your oreos that you don't like. >> no, i don't. people forget the rationale ant shrinkflation. they've done these studies where if they had a choice between doing what they're doing with shrinkflation and marking it up

to the price and the value of the goods in an inflationary world, let's say the chocolate chip cookies, they marked them up 30%, which is the average price. how i know? pure circumstance. or they could limit the damage or limb the impact by shrinking the number of cookies in said pack. a lot of people don't like that. but i doubt they would like the 30% more price. it's easy to create villains and blame others for your problems. i'd love to blame all the food companies for me being overweight. the fact of the matter is, i ate the cookies and i ate the food. this is on the administration. not entirely. we were coming out of covid. there was going to be a pickup in economic activity. when you go from park to 20 miles an hour, you'll see an uptick in activity and prices.

they compounded it with this spending early on. that is something that they have to settle on and realize that the improvement that we're seeing has much to do at least on the inflation front with these aggressive hikes in rates. that might ease it. we're well off of our highs and running at a 9% inflation rate but a long way from the 2% that they want to be at. >> indeed. when it comes to cutting costs, which is what mr. sperling focused on in terms of how to make people feel better about the economy, he pointed to a number of areas where student loan relief, prescription drugs lower and what you'll hear on the trump side of the equation in this head-to-head race, cut taxes, cut regulations, unleash the shackles from businesses and let them the do their thing and hopefully that will lead to more prosperity. your thoughts on the approach there, neil. >> neil: spending has never solved the problem.

forgiving student loans, whatever you think of the wisdom and the gesture that makes and adding it to the debt, then we all pay for that. you can certainly quibble with the notion that really in the long scheme of things, who is it help something the fact of the matter is deficits pile up as they did under the prior president and the president before him and the president before him. the fact of the matter is, that is what is driving this spending that unless we get that under control, no matter what the federal reserve does, we will still have this problem. >> martha: you think that joe biden will say tonight, the early of big government is not over? >> i'm willing to bet no. you know, i might go to draft kings and try that one. i don't think that is in the cards good luck. >> martha: thanks, neil. great to see you. see you later. thanks very much. the great neil cavuto joining us this afternoon. so here in d.c., a new measure to crack down on crime. some blue governed cities or

democrat-governed cities are starting to realize that they have to wake up to the failures that happened during the defund movement that made their residents less safe. they're trying to reverse that. john roberts and shannon bream who has just come back from the white house lunch and she's going to share what she can about that with us as welcoming up next.

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>> martha: new york torn general letitia james getting booed in new york city. her lawsuit led to president trump's fine of $350 million in the civil fraud trial. he's appealing and he did nothing wrong. look what happened when james spoke at the fire department promotion ceremony at a church today in brooklyn. >> oh, come on. we're in a house of god. first -- simmer down. i want to thank commissioner kavanaugh and chief hodgins for that recognition. [chanting]. >> martha: you know who will love that. fdny chief of department, john hodgins telling his people that the people that were promoted, their behavior detracted were an

embarrassment and not be fitting of the world's best fire department. we congratulate those that got promoted today and thank them for the hard work that they do every day. we're hours away from president biden's state of the union address in washington. one of the nation's blue cities that is cracking down on crime this week. dc passing bill to increase punishments and to give police more power. new york, wow, they have sent the national guard in to the subway system. that's a huge turn around. san francisco voters, they approved new requirements for people getting public benefits and loser restrictions on police in order to let them do their jobs. remember when they wanted to defund them? a lot of them retired. now they have a sparse force. so here's the reaction from two san francisco chronicle reporters. for now at least san francisco can no longer be called a progressive city. america reports co anchor john

roberts and shannon bream, anchor of "fox news sunday" here with me in washington. shannon bream is off of the lunch at the white house, which is an effort to speak to the big networks. it's an off the record situation. what was your take-away? >> we won't be surprised to know the president will tout what he's done well. as his allies say, he doesn't get the credit for the things going well. he will try to link that together. i sense a real launching of the re-election campaign. that he's going to consider we're officially in the general election and going straight at president trump. i won't be surprised if he's on policy and campaigning tonight. >> martha: you wouldn't be surprised that in has a real political tinge to it for tonight. >> feels like that's where we're going. >> martha: john, it's interesting what's going on in these cities. we've seen it from george floyd,

did funding the police to now reversing policies from that. >> who could have ever foretold if you defund the police and get rid of the number of police officers on the streets that the people that perpetrate the crimes will find there's a brand new playground out there? how does these people that promoted think ever think if you'rid of police that people wouldn't commit as many crimes? look what happened in d.c. two years ago. they passed this crazy crime bill. congress said ya'll are nuts. we're not going to let you pass that. now they have the security d.c. act out which has progressives in arms. san francisco, the same thing. here is the really interesting thing about new york city. governor cathy hochul putting in the national guard. and an editorial member for "the new york times" responding to an editorial that "the new york times" published a couple years ago, tom cotton saying that we need to perhaps bring out the national guard to deal with he's riots. she says running this puts black

people in danger and other people standing up for our democracy and humanity. what does she say about this idea to put national guard in the subway? the national guard might help subway riders feel safer. it all depends whether it's a republican proposing it or a democrat who is proposing it. it's the same thing. crime is out of control in many cities. these politicians are waking up to that fact. they're willing to do something about it in some places. >> martha: it's really stunning. the hypocrisy is so blatant. one of these officials do a little bit of a mea culpa. people would relate to that if they said, you know, obviously we went too far. that's wrong. people aren't as safe as they used to be. we want to make sure that you feel safe in new york and in these other cities. >> instead, they're sending it back to the voters saying oh, you're responsible for these things. in oregon, we've been covering there where they legalized possession of a number of drugs.

meth and fentanyl and other things. it wasn't just some pot. now they have an emergency there. the governor has declared an emergency. they sent this back to the ballot box. now it looks like oregon will backtrack on that as well. you can't be surprised of what the end result of these policy changes are. i would note, i think republicans will very much stay on this issue of crime. mike gil, a lawyer here in washington, shot and killed in carjacked a few weeks ago, his widow is going to be a guest of the speaker tonight. >> martha: that oregon story, john, if you allow -- we're going to allow small amounts of fentanyl, which can kill you. small amounts of cocaine and we won't prosecute them for small amounts. guess what happened? i'll give you three guesses. >> more people died. >> yeah, over doses wentz up 75%. i'm not that smart. i can see that coming. i don't know if these lawmakers that write this stuff and propose it are really thick or

they don't want to get it. they probably don't want to get it. these progressive policies that show tolerance and they think that by setting up a hotline and giving people a $100 ticket and say you can get in ticket wiped out if you call the hotline. 1% of people that got tickets called the hotline. a few people went in for treatment at the cost of $110,000 per person as deaths went up. you can see this thing -- it's a huge train rolling down the track and nobody saw it? >> we think about these states and cities where they legalized the centers where you can shoot up and their have narcan and they'll bring you back. but you tell people we're not going to force you to get rid of your habit where people need help. instead, provide a place where you can shoots up and nobody can charge you with any crimes. again -- >> martha: it doesn't work. it means a less safe city for the people that are shooting up and for the people living there.

i'm sure your right, shannon, it will be a very political speech in a lot of ways tonight. this is the first week that the gloves are off between trump and biden. we can see a matchup people said they didn't want but they're going to get it. here's a new ad out from maga, inc., which is a trump supporting group. here's a little sliver of what you can expect a lot more of. watch this. >> if biden wins, can he even survive till 2029? the real question is, can we? make america great again ink is responsible for the result of this advertising. >> martha: only nine months to go. >> it's going to be a long general election. >> martha: that's why people are looking to biden tonight not for policy prescriptions but for how he is. you know, he's -- he seems to have gone downhill a lot since

the last state of the union address. maybe he will be pumped up and ready to go. a lot of time off this week and rehearsal as well. in terms of the scripting and the performance, we'll see if he can pull it off. if he has one little episode like he's had many times, i think people look at that and say -- >> the bar is so low, right? because of all of this. so if he -- i think if he comes out and reads the teleprompter reasonably well and makes it through the speech, see? he's in great shape. >> if it's clean. you and i have had conversations with folks today. you probably have as well. worries on the gop side that if there's those members that heckle or engage him, he took that as a win. i negotiated on social security. there's very much a hope from some on the republican side that they don't get into that in year and don't give him that opportunity. >> martha: a little thing likes that could be a win for him.

if he zings back and he has game in that way, that could be a good thing for him. we'll see what happens. it's interesting to watch these speeches. i like looking back at former ones. we played some clinton, memorable ones over the years. mike johnson, his first night sitting back there doing the straight face. i don't think he will rip up the speech. i have inside scoop that he's probably not going to rip it up, which i learned is a felony. >> right. and speaker johnson wrote about that last night. >> not prosecuted. >> a little bit of information for you. john roberts, great to see you, shannon, great to be you. that's "the story" for this thursday. this story goes on all evening. bret baier and i will be back at 9:00 eastern alongside our great panel for the state of the union. >> neil: you didn't hear this from me because i don't know if you heard it before.