Celebrating Ronald Reagan

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Hello, folks. Welcome to The Kudlow Show. I'm Larry Kudlow, and we are live from the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. First up, we're here to celebrate the life and times and successes of Ronald Reagan. Most consequential president in the last half of the 20th century. We've got Steve Moore with us. We've got David Asman with us.

Just a moment, they'll be here. And Dan Clifton is waiting in the wings to talk about the appeals court reinstating Donald Trump's tariffs after a trade court temporarily stopped them. How about that? Meanwhile, President Trump met with Fed Chairman Jay Powell. Bet you that was fun. Wish I were there. And then more on Reagan's supply side growth miracle from House members Beth Dine and French Hill. And then we're talking politics with Trace Gallagher and Guy Benson.

And more on Reagan and the Reagan Library with Reagan CEO David Trulio and Roger Zakheim. I'm still on the advisory council myself. But first up.

Our very own Edward Lawrence live at the White House. Edward, today was trade, but then it was sort of Fed Day in the White House. How about that? Were you there in the meeting? Did they invite you into the meeting? Oh, to be a fly on the wall. No, I did not get that invitation. Must have got lost in my inbox there. But what a wild ride today. You know, as the U.S. Court of Appeals, you said, now reinstated President Trump's tariff policy. And that happened about an hour ago.

This is a win for the administration. Now, the lower court, the three judge panel has ruled or that ruling was stayed until at least June 9th. That's when the briefs can be done for that appeal. Now, this original ruling targeted the heart of president.

President Trump's tariff policy. The president talked with the Japanese prime minister today to tell him that trade talk will continue regardless of the rulings. The Treasury Secretary, Commerce Secretary and U.S. Trade Representative all talking with their counterparts, too.

The president's trade policy will continue. We will comply with the court orders. But yes, the president has other legal authorities where he can implement tariffs. However, it does not dispute the fact that the president was right to declare a national emergency. when it came to fentanyl and when also when it came to our crippling deficits and the lack of critical supply chains here at home. That is the reasoning for the president's tariffs.

Now, this is a comment before the U.S. Court of Appeals decision. Now, one of the groups that was bringing the case on behalf of small businesses says this ruling reaffirms that president must act within the bounds of the law and protects it protects American businesses and consumers from the destabilization. effects of volatile on unilaterally imposed tariffs. The reaction from conservatives, well, it was pretty harsh. Listen to this. It's these Rome radical justices who are.

out there trying to make law they're trying to push their political agenda and and not do their job so we've got to get this under control i think our american economy depends on getting more of these fair trade deals

Our president Trump also meeting with the Fed chairman, Jay Powell, today, the White House press secretary, saying that the president told the Fed chairman it would be a mistake not to lower interest rates. The Fed chairman in his statement says that he, the Fed chairman, did not talk about. monetary policy with the president. Back to you, Larry. It all sounds very civil, that meeting, Edward Lawrence. Sounds very civil. I mean, you know.

Same old, same old. Please cut rates. Jay says, no, we're data driven or whatever he keeps saying that we can all figure out. I didn't see much reaction in the bond market or the stock market. It's very civil, very polite.

And you've been in a number of those meetings with the Fed chairmen and met with the Fed chairman. Yeah, it was a very civil meeting. There was no discord between the two. We didn't see any angry posts on social media from the president afterwards. Obviously, they had a pretty good conversation. All right. Edward Lawrence, who wishes he were there. Actually, I wish I were in that meeting, too, I've got to say. Thanks ever so much, Edward. We appreciate it. All right.

Celebrating Ronald Reagan. And that's the subject of the rift. Yes, we're here at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, for the inaugural meeting of the Reagan National Economic Forum. But first up... I believe it's necessary to celebrate the memory and the achievements of Ronald Reagan, who I believe was by far the most consequential president in the second half of the 20th century.

And indeed, he will go down as one of the greatest presidents in U.S. history. Reagan completely changed economic policy. By the way, full disclosure, I was assistant budget director during Reagan's first term. But I digress. He buried the FDR New Deal big government socialist dogma. that governed both Democrats and Republicans for nearly 50 years. Reagan slashed tax rates from 70 percent to 28 percent and worked with central banker Paul Volcker to make the dollar as good as gold.

thereby vanquishing inflation. Now take a listen to one of Reagan's many great aphorisms. Why is it inflationary if the people keep their own money and spend it the way they want to and it's not inflationary if the government takes it and spends it the way it wants to? And the economy boomed. Nearly a 5% growth rate as inflation plunged and the stock market rose 12-fold under the gipper. This remarkable economic recovery.

enabled Reagan to bring down the curtain on Soviet communism. In meetings with Gorbachev, the Russian wanted Reagan to give up SDI or Star Wars, but Reagan bluntly refused and told the Russian... that the American economy was producing the resources not only for the Strategic Defense Initiative, but also for a vast American military power and might. And...

The Russian communist economy was collapsing into the dustbin of history. Of course, Reagan prevailed. Gorbachev folded. And then Soviet communism evaporated. The Iron Curtain came down. Reagan was a world leader at the G7 meetings. Even though the liberal press mocked him, the other leaders followed his policies of lower taxes and deregulation.

in order to reignite their own economies. And Reagan's appearance on the world stage and his policies in the U.S. basically launched a three-decade-long era of prosperity and peace.

Now, there's always much more to be said about the Giffords' greatness and his patriotism. He was the quintessential optimist and, of course, believed America to be the shining city upon a hill. He believed in American exceptionalism, and he had enormous faith in the wisdom of the American voters and the American people rather than the government. So many times he asserted that government was the problem. not the solution. Here is how he memorably put it. Take a listen.

I'm from the government and I'm here to help. The more people saw him, the more they saw the results of his policies, the more they loved him. He scored two landslide presidential election victories. And even today, his polls still run in the 60 percent area. But he did warn toward the end of his time. How important it was to work hard to keep us free and strong. Take a listen to this. Freedom is a fragile thing, and it's never more than one generation away from extinction.

And that is a very important thing to always remember. So we are here at the Reagan Library for the next two days to celebrate the life, the works, the legacy of the great Ronald Reagan. And that's the subject.

Have the rip. Great pleasure. All right, joining us now, Steve Moore, host of More Money on WABC Radio and Unleash Prosperity. And our very own David Asman, Fox Business anchor extraordinaire. Thank you, gentlemen. Steve Moore, I don't think I've exaggerated one iota. In fact, I think I've been very calm about Reagan's achievements. There's much more that could be said.

One thing's for sure. He took a failing America, basically, under Democrat and Republican rule. You could go LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter. He took a failing America. Inflation, recession, losing power to the Soviet communists around the world. And he completely turned it around in eight years. People said, remember, we were ungovernable. Reagan showed just how good government could.

be with his policies that were so effective, Steve Moore. I know you were there at the back end of that thing in the second term. But really, even today, he gets 60 percent plus in the polls, which is remarkable. Go ahead, Steve. What about Reagan? Well, I'll just add to that that the one thing that's amazing is that as time goes on and the decades, it's been, what, three or four decades since he left office, his stature...

has grown over time as people look back at the incredible achievements. I graduated from college in 1981. It was you couldn't even get a job as a burger flipper back then. It was so bad. You had double digit inflation and double digit. unemployment, it was a total disaster. And I remember thinking, what's happened to our country? What's wrong with our country? And then Reagan, I would just say three things. Growth, freedom.

And growth, freedom and peace. And that's what he brought to the world. I have a question for you, Larry. Did you take your picture in front of that big section of the Berlin Wall that's there at the at the Reagan Library? Well, I got a bunch of they're up. The Kudlow and Reagan pictures are coming up later in the show. I was not at the Berlin Wall. But you mentioned 1981. Well, there's one old piss me and Reagan.

Giving him whatnot about something. I was at an Arthur Laffer party, I think. But anyway, you know, in late 1980, David Asman, you're still at the Wall Street Journal, I think. In late 1980. I was called to come into the Reagan economic transition, and I was just going to help him out, John Rutledge and I, with some modeling.

because of the Reagan tax cuts had never been tried before. Nobody, you know, everybody was bad-mouthing him. And I wound up staying through most of the first term as his assistant or associate. Budget director. So that's my start in politics. And I've never forgotten it because the principles there. OK, cut tax rates, restrain government socialism. Right. And yes, peace to strength.

Build up the military. I mean, what? You never. These are universal principles, I think. They are. And it's interesting. I think Donald Trump embraces much of this agenda. But the point is they're universal principles, David. And they are all. All rooted in one phrase, a phrase that you love and that Donald Trump loves. That's common sense. That first song, that first soundbite that you played where he said, it's very simple.

You don't have to if you give people their money back of what they earn by tax cut reductions, that doesn't lead to inflation. I mean, simple stuff that went totally against the status quo of Washington. Democrats and Republicans didn't buy into it. I went back. There was another guy who did buy into it besides yourself. That was a wonderful man named Jack Kemp, who went from being a football hero to being a congressional hero. And he and another Congress.

A more seasoned politician named Roth came up with a Kemp Roth tax cut bill way back in the late 70s before Reagan was elected. I went back and looked up the then CBO director. Alice Rivlin. Remember Alice Rivlin? She wrote in 1978 a critique. of that common sense tax cut bill. And I'm just going to read this. Her summary is the fundamental issue arising from a commitment to Kemp Roth tax cuts can be stated very simply. Will the growth in productive capacity and do.

by greater incentives to work, save and invest, be large enough and rapid enough to prevent widespread shortages and accelerated inflation. The available evidence provides no reason for an optimistic answer to this question. They didn't buy it. And it was just simple common sense. And they were wrong. And you and Reagan and Kemp were right.

Well, I was just I was just a little guy in those days. But it was William Roth, who was a great senator from Delaware, in my head. Isn't that ironic? But he was part of the Kemp Roth bill. Jack Kemp. A staunch supply side. Jack Kemp was really the guy who persuaded Reagan in, I'm going to say, 78, might have been early 79, to adopt.

Something like the JFK tax cuts. JFK was the first Democrat to lower marginal tax rates after FDR had run them way up during the New Deal and during World War Two. And he persuaded. Waited Kemp. Waited Reagan to take a look. And in fact, Reagan adopted something very much like it. The JFK tax cuts lower marginal rates for the reasons you cited for incentives to work.

to take risks, you know, not to punish success, but to reward success. Steve Moore, I don't think we spend enough time, even with this big reconciliation tax bill and so forth. You know, with 37 percent as the top income tax rate, Reagan left it at 28. And then there's about five other tax brackets today, Steve Moore. Reagan left only two.

28 and 15. Okay? Why don't we think about that? You know, why don't we reform the tax? I mean, the corporate tax rate, Trump has been a miracle worker on the corporate tax rate. 35 to 21. and maybe 15. But I think we should think in terms of the individual rate, you know, the Steve Forbes flat tax idea. But let's get those rates down. Nothing would help working folks more than lower marginal tax rates across. the board, Steve Moore.

Yeah. So one final thing about what made Reagan great was you remember 1981, Larry, that was a brutal year. We had a horrible recession and everybody is jumping off the ship saying it's not working and Reagan's not going to work. And remember what Trump.

Reagan and Trump are so much alike. But Reagan said, stay the course. Remember that, Larry? Stay the course. And when we got those tax cuts that kicked in, it was the big boom that David was talking about. So I have a dream that what we should do. right now in terms of, you know, really fixing this tax code, because I think the 86 Tax Act, which lowered those rates from 50 to 28 percent, might have even been more important than the 81. But they were both great. My point is, well, let's do that.

again. Why don't we just put a cap on the deductions that people over a million dollars can take? That saves $2 trillion and use that to flatten out those rates. Broaden the base, lower the rates, Larry. That was it. 86 tax cut. It was a bipartisan, 97-0. Bipartisan. Ninety seven. Nothing in the Senate. Democrats like Bill Bradley and Al Gore. Remember those great names? Golden oldies. How bad one? Joe Biden voted for that. Ninety. Nineteen eighty six.

Those were a long time ago. I get that. Ted Kennedy did, in fact, vote for it. By the way, Ted Kennedy was a deregulator, as was Reagan. Reagan decontrolled the price of oil. You know, David Asman, the other thing is so important. So important is Reagan use strength at home to have strength abroad.

He would not have defeated and ended Soviet communism were it not for the fact that we had this tremendous economic boom in the U.S., a boom that most of the liberal media said couldn't possibly happen. And the second point I want to make... On the way out here, David Asman, Reagan was an optimist. Yes. Reagan was an optimist. Reagan took the moral high ground. Reagan said, my policies will help everybody across the board. Top, middle, bottom.

I'm going to give them more opportunities, you know, to take home more of what they earn and so forth and so on. Optimism always wins. Optimism is a wonderful trait, David Asman. Give you the last word. Well, and just when we think that we can't get, it reminds me of what happened a couple of weeks ago when the one big beautiful bill failed to get.

through the budget committee, and we were, everybody's going, oh, woe is me, what's going to happen? And Trump was sitting back. He was the one calm element. Steve and I were talking to each other madly on the phone. How are we going to do this all through? the weekend. Well, eventually we came to a conclusion. The one thing that one bad moment in the Reagan era was delaying those tax cuts by a couple of years, which is part of the deal he had to make to get it going.

That strengthened the recession in a terrible way. We probably could have either avoided it completely or at least moderated it some by kicking in. That's why it's so important right now to get those tax cuts in before. Anything else gets in. We have to make sure that that happens. Otherwise, this economy is going to be slow and could be the end of Trump's era. The most interesting part of that...

Trump, a fabulous optimism. I mean, here's Trump going out there talking about building a new golden age or new golden era for America. That is so much like it's Trump's version of the city on the Hill. Trump admires Reagan. Reagan's portrait is hanging up in the Oval Office, as it should. I mean, it's very interesting. They both cut taxes, OK? They're both big deregulators. They both ran against the Washington swamp. They both appealed to working men, blue-collar workers, to win their coal.

Neither of them depended on the fat cats on Wall Street, et cetera, et cetera. And they both are fighting to peace and strength around the world. And they were both former Democrats in some ways. And they were both former Democrats. I was a former Democrat. Former Democrats are always the best Republicans. Thank you, David Asman. Thank you, Steve Moore. I appreciate it very, very much. All right. Moving right along here, folks. Coming up, Trump tariffs were reinstated by an appeals court.

For now, I don't know what's going on. That back 20 minutes ago, an hour ago. One other court said you can't do it. This court said we'll put a stay on it. We're going to talk about it with Dan Clifton, the best Washington policy watcher I know. And folks, Fox Business will be live.

from the very first Reagan National Economic Forum at the Reagan Library tomorrow, streaming on Fox Nation. And Kudlow will be back live tomorrow from the Reagan Library. Look at this. There's the jet plane, Air Force One, right. We're just camping out here to celebrate Ronald Reagan. I'm Kablo. We will be right back. Does it ever feel like you're a marketing professional just speaking into the void?

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All right, so now, Trump tariffs or not, a lot of confusion today. Joining us, Dan Clifton, partner head of policy research at Strategas. One of the best Washington watchers in the business. So, Dan, so the International Trade Court says, no, you can't do it. You may do it other ways, but you can't do it through this international emergency, IEPA. And then what the appeals court says, you're OK. for now. Go on ahead. Is that what happened today?

That's absolutely right. So let's clear up that confusion. The Court of International Trade said no tariffs, way beyond your legal authority to use IEPA for those tariffs. If that is the final say, it would be a $220 billion. reduction in tariffs. So it's fairly significant, Larry. But what happened is the president went to court today and said, we want a stay while this is appealed. The tariffs will continue to be collected until the appeal.

court rules, which could be sometime in mid-June, late June, before you get there, eventually this is going to end up in the Supreme Court. I think a lot of this is noise because we always believe that the president had better trade authority through the 1930s tariff act, Section 338. There are other options that he has. So even in the worst case scenario for the president, where all the.

these tariffs get thrown out, he will have an alternative to put these tariffs back in place through other mechanisms at the end of the day. And I think that's why you saw a mixed reaction in the financial market. Stocks went up a lot, and then they realized not much is really going to change here one way or another. Yeah, I mean, the court, the trade court didn't say you can't do it.

You can't use tariffs. The trade court says you can't use this emergency, but you can use 232s, which is national security. You could use 301s. That's what we use in the first term, which is trade imbalances. I don't know about the Herbert Hoover. Smoot-Holyak, maybe that might come into play. But will this slow anything down?

With respect to the 90 day pause. Right. We're coming to the end of May. So we have what rest of June. And I think July 9th is the actual date. Does this change any of those dates, Dan Clifton? Well, I think it complicates the negotiations for the president. What the president's lawyers were arguing in court was that if the court ruled against these tariffs, you would, their words, Larry, kneecap the negotiations with other countries because they can look at it and say.

We don't even know if you have the authority to do that. So I think this G7 meeting coming up in mid-June is going to be critical because if the president can stand up there with Japan or another leader and announce a trade agreement, even with all this uncertainty, I think.

that's a green light for more trade agreements to be able to happen. And I know that U.S. Trade Rep. Greer and Treasury Secretary Besant and Lutnik have done a lot of work to get to these trade deals. It would be unfortunate if judges begin to really derod it. derail it. So it could slow itself down. I think the administration is going to try very hard to overcome that hurdle. I have a vision, Dan Clifton. It's a premonition going to the G7.

A U.S.-Japanese trade deal will be signed. It may not be perfect. It'll be a framework. It'll be more than a framework. They're going to sign a deal. That's my vision. That's my presence. And Mr. Trump can declare victory, and it would be an important victory.

Absolutely. It would keep the momentum going. And I bet by that time you're going to see the Senate moving very closer to passing one big, beautiful bill through their mechanisms. They're looking at ways to speed it up and get agreement quicker, maybe possibly.

just putting the House bill on the floor and adding amendments and letting the Senate amend it. That would be a much quicker way to do that. So you get a trade deal and one big, beautiful bill will be celebrating for the U.S. economy on July 4th. All right. Terrific stuff. Dan Clifton, thank you. Appreciate it. Thanks for updating us on all. It's coming up here more on how Reagan changed the world and how Reagan changed the Republican Party. And by the way, how much Reagan and Trump

actually agree on policies. Anyway, we have White House members French Hill and Beth Van Dyne next right here. Reagan Library. Look at the plane. Air Force One right behind me. I'm going to climb into it right after the show. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same premium wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did.

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All right, more on Reagan, celebrating Reagan. Here we are at the Reagan Library, first Reagan economic conference. French Hill, the best of the best from the great state of Arkansas. He's now chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Great state of Texas, member of the House Ways and Means Committee. So you were you you you you had been born already during the.

Reagan years during the first term. I was double digits. Well, that's good. I like that. I mean, my thought, you know, of many, many, many thoughts about Reagan. He changed everything. And in particular, he changed the future of this country, changed the recession, inflation, doldrums. People said you couldn't run the government. He did.

He ran it. Okay. Internally, there were always debates, but nonetheless, he ran the government, ran the government very well. Phenomenal prosperity. He also changed the course of world history. He defeated Soviet communism, which was about 70 years old.

And, you know, everybody was touting the youthful Gorbachev, who was supposed to be the savior of Soviet communism, and Reagan crushed him. I mean, it's extraordinary how he changed everything. He communicated well. And he said things that, in a manner of fact,

way in a very personable way that people could understand and relate to. And instead of constantly, I think, moving people to the left, he was able to move people to the right with just sheer charisma in talking. And he never seemed like he was ever talking down to anybody, right? It was not the superiority. It was just common sense talk. It was great. He was a Midwesterner, right? That's what you're kind of saying, a common sense guy. Kind of like a Texan. He changed the Republican Party.

Republican Party was basically the Democratic light after the FDR, with just a few small exceptions, right? Republicans always said we can't cut taxes because it would cause deficits. So first we have to cut spending. to get rid of deficits and then have tax cuts. The problem is they never cut spending. And we always had deficits and then never had tax cuts. And Reagan said, the hell with that. We're going to cut taxes first. It changed everything. And it's still true.

today? Reagan was the best because we came out of the doldrums of the 1970s, over-regulation, over-taxed, over-spent. massive inflation. And he had, as you said, that sunny disposition says, we're going to get the government out of your lives. We're going to end these government programs. We're going to cut your taxes. We're going to make the opportunity your opportunity to succeed.

And he created, really, the Reagan Democrats that I now believe are the Trump Democrats for the same message. Look at Biden. Look at the pandemic. And you go into the voting booth in 2024. Do you want to go back? to the Biden economy, the Biden inflation, the Biden regulatory policy. Biden is the New Deal, the New Dealer. And he said he wanted to be. That's right. Sort of like the New Deal on steroids. That was Biden.

And the public said, no, we don't want any more of that. OK. And then he got into all this cultural leftism, which the public rejected. Well, Biden just said the government could do everything for you. And people said, we want to be able to do it for ourselves. Reagan message right there.

total Reagan message. But my thought here is Trump and Reagan are different people. Right. But when you look at what they're. trying to do what Mr. Trump is trying to do is very similar. I mean, the tax cuts, the deregulation. running against the swamp, strong military. And I want to make a point about trade, which is often overlooked. OK, a lot of people may not like what I'm about to say. Reagan was not a pure free trader. Reagan slapped on.

What was then called in Bob Lighthizer was a young man there and I was a young man there. Voluntary restraint agreements. We were worried about Japan and their big advancement over us on electronics. And then, of course, the Japanese were buying up Rockefeller.

Reagan had a little protectionist blood in him, or let's say a little fair trade blood in him, just the way Trump does. So there's a lot of similarities. I see it. I do see it the same way. Well, you look at free trade, right? Free trade is one thing, but fair trade is...

And when you start thinking about what we did with China not that long ago, allowing a free trade agreement, the idea was that China was going to come more and more toward, you know, Western values. That didn't happen. What they did do, though, was they took money that they were making through trade.

They abused the U.S. They took IP, you know, Internet. They took our all of our ideas, all of our innovations, stole that. And then they took those dollars and they started basically investing in other countries.

is playing the long-term game, and we have allowed this to happen over decades. So the fact that Trump is coming in is like, look, we've been abused for decades. We're going to start taking back our authority. We have a magnificent market, and we're going to have a pay-for-play. If you want to have access to the American market...

It's going to cost you. We've been giving it away for far too long. We want American companies to be able to benefit. I agree. I'm just saying Reagan, who is usually viewed as a pure free trader. And Trump, who's usually viewed as his terrible protectionist, actually was saying many of the very same things. That's all I'm saying. Japan was the big problem in those days. China is probably a bigger problem. today. I'm telling you, Reagan changed the course of history.

And he changed the course of the Republican Party. And Donald Trump, you said it, those Reagan Democrats migrated now. They are Trump Republicans. And the Democratic Party has a whole, the size of... this entire convention space and know how to replace it. Last word, French Hill. Well, I just would say, back on the trade issue, he used Section 301 against Japan, both as semiconductors and voluntary auto restraints.

What was the result of that, though? Japan's one of the largest investors in the United States now. And Japan is a longtime trading partner with the U.S. and has been a much changed place. We now have access. Back in those days, you couldn't have a store over the size of a five and dime. And now you can have a big box store. That's the kind.

of market opening that Reagan and Bush both accomplished by pushing market opening, fair trade. We're going to be treated the same way. And it worked. And I think it can work again. Fair trade is good trade. You're absolutely right. Especially when it has lots of tax cuts. French Hill.

Beth Van Dyne, thank you very much. Thank you, Larry. Good to see you. All right, folks, we're going to come. Trace Gallagher is coming here, host of Fox News at night. Guy Benson, host of The Guy Benson Show. We're going to switch around, move some furniture around. I'm just saying. And my discussions here that. Reagan's greatness is surviving. He changed the world. He changed America. He changed the Republican Party. And that should not be overlooked. His legacy lives with us.

guesses, his legacy is so powerful, it's going to live with us for quite some time. All right. Now, I got people hitting me on them. I don't know what's going on here. Anyway, Trace Gallagher, host of Fox News at night. I watched his show on the plane coming in.

host of The Guy Benson Show on Fox Radio. Thank you, gentlemen. How are we doing? You have plugged in. Look at Trace. Trace is plugged in. Live television, Larry. This is fantastic. Loved your show last night. Thank you for coming up for the mail. I appreciate it. In politics, Elon Musk. Can I talk about Elon Musk for a minute? Elon Musk leaving the White House. Big headline today or yesterday or it's been coming. What do you make of that? What does that mean?

Listen, I think it's a big deal. I think that he literally said all along he was going to leave at a certain date. This was kind of it, so it's not unexpected. I mean, I think he's going to be back. He's very proud of what they accomplished. I mean, he said a couple of things when he left. But one of the things he said is that he is really proud of what they have accomplished. And he believes the machine will keep on going, Larry. And I think at some point.

in time, Elon, who's got to have his fingers in everything. I mean, remember, he's still kind of semi-approving a lot of the things that happened with SpaceX and Tesla, the day-to-day stuff. So Elon Musk is going to try and dip his toe in every once in a while. That's the way that I think I'd like to see that very much, because here's my worry. Well, on the positive side, Elon Musk turned Trump into a true blue, smaller government budget cutter.

It wasn't always there. Or if it was there, I didn't see much of it in the first term. Now you listen to Trump and Elon has moved Trump in the direction. And we call it waste, fraud and abuse. And I'm cool with that because that's all right. But it will infiltrate policy. Elon leaves. I'm a little worried.

There's no one around to keep Mr. Trump as we come into the Senate reconciliation business. After all, Republicans can be Republicans, not good budget cutters. That worries me. I mean, I think Elon... whispered in Trump's ear a lot or else just said it loudly when I and others interviewed him.

Yeah, I think that he is leaving a little bit disillusioned, as a lot of people do when they come to Washington for the first time and actually see how the sausage gets made. And it's a pretty grotesque process in a lot of ways. And I think Elon is concerned that a lot of the work that they've done. all the slings and arrows that he took might ultimately not make it into legislative codification. So I think it's important, maybe absent the...

Big, beautiful bill would have to be in a separate vehicle that maybe that falls by the wayside. But I just later in the Congress. That's right. It's just sort of Elon created a zeitgeist. He really did. And it was very consistent, I think, with Trump's core beliefs.

but making it into legislation. The zeitgeist was, it's very Reagan-esque, by the way. You know, I'm from the government and I'm here to help you. Terrifying. Right, exactly. The worst seven words in English language, however that aphorism went. Elon, reinforce that.

Gave it status. He was going to be cool all of a sudden to stop waste, fraud and abuse. And I hope it's going to be cool to have these rescissions to knock that stuff out of the budget. I think this guy makes a good point is, look, the whole thing is the sausage is ugly. You watch it being made. It's ugly. But if the sausage comes out and it's tasty, Larry, it's trouble for the Democrats, because let's face it, you've got Elon Musk who put this machine.

in progress. And I think with or without Donald Trump looking over it, I think this machine, we met all of these guys on Brett Baier's show, right? He had Elon, he had all these guys. They were all brilliant. They're all dedicated. They know what needs to be cut and how. to go about cutting it. So I believe that the machine goes forward and whether Elon comes back or not is a question. But I think he keeps kind of checking in. One last quickie here. Reagan and the demise of the Democratic Party.

The Reagan Democrats are now all in the Republican Party. They're the Trump Republicans. You talked about this on your show last night. I've talked about AOC. big leader of the Democratic Party, about socialists, wants to kill off ICE. This is now... The 2020, this is the 2025 version of defunding the police. And this is a Democratic rallying point. I've seen no Democrats, correct me if I'm wrong, stand up and say, no, this is crazy. It'll wreck our party.

the next election or two. It's unbelievable to me. Yeah. I mean, they're they're indifferent. Maybe Guy has a different take on this. But I think what you're seeing now is you're seeing that that a lot of them are not jumping up and saying it's a bad idea because they know there's enough infighting in the Democratic Party right now that they're kind of holding their power.

It's a terrible idea. It's a terrible idea. But a fraction of a fraction of the country are essential voters for them to win any elections. And so I think abolish ICE is even crazier than defund the police because with defund the police...

You could say, oh, we just want to redirect some money. It was a catastrophe policy wise. She's talking about getting rid of law enforcement whose job it is, is to round up illegal immigrant criminals and throw them out of the country. Let's get rid of that entire.

element of government. It's the one part of government she doesn't like. We live in a social media world. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez does not care at all about whether ICE is defunded or not. She cares about getting headlines. She thinks it's a big headline because ICE is in the

news right now. And she gets on social media and she gets mentioned on Fox News Channel and CNN a thousand times. It's a victory for her. So she doesn't care how she does. You guys are great. I'm all for her because she's going to ruin the Democratic Party for the next three presidential cycles.

Guy Benson, Trace Gallagher. I was watching your show on the airplane. There it was. Thank you, Larry. I appreciate it. Thanks, Larry. All right, folks, don't miss Trace on Fox News at night, weeknights, 11 p.m. Eastern on Fox News. It is the best late night news show there is. And the Guy Benson show weekdays from...

3 to 6 p.m. Eastern on Fox Radio. I'm Kudlow, and we're going to warm this place up and have the great Paul Ryan, former Speaker of the House, dear friend of mine, met him as an intern for the late, great Jack Kemp.

During the Reagan years, there's Paul Ryan looking good. Thank you. I actually had a paying job with Jack. All right. So. Reagan changed the Republican Party. Reagan changed America. And in those days, Reagan changed the entire world scene. Obviously, the demise of communism. We're having this big conference here about the.

and so forth. But I wanted to start off by celebrating Reagan. I called him, Paul, get your take on it. He's the most influential, most important president in the second half of the 20th century. Without a doubt, he ended the Cold War. He had a thesis for how to win the Cold War, peace through strength. He applied that thesis. It worked. It ended not technically under his watch, but under his successor's watch. And like you, you.

are one of the authors of the supply-side movement, Larry. You were a big part of that movement in that administration. Thank you. He changed economics. He did. He changed economics, not just for the conservative movement, the Republican Party, for America and for the world.

And he made us a prosperous country again. Remember the Carter days, the stagflation, all of that, the malaise? Ronald Reagan made us feel good about ourselves as Americans, and he made our country prosperous again because he brought the doctrine. to life that you and Jude Wineski and Art Laffer and Bob Mundell and Jack Kemp and others brought to Washington to completely change the place. And you stayed with it. As House member, budget chairman, ways and means and speaker, you stayed with it.

I was raised by supply-siders like you, and I kept it going. These are universal principles. We don't want to lose any of that. I mean, we want to keep all that stuff alive. That's one of the reasons that I really want to celebrate Reagan here. And we're going to talk. You're going to be on the panel with me and it's going to be great fun. Steve Mnuchin is going to be on. It'll be great fun. But I don't want to overlook the fact. I mean, we have issues today. All the rest is.

Reagan started this stuff. Absolutely. Started this stuff. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which I was a part of, which is now the big, beautiful bill, which is an extension of that. Yes. This all got started with Reagan. Yes. This economic doctrine is this. Pro-growth economics, limited government, free enterprise doctrine.

is what got started by Ronald Reagan. And that's what the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that the first Trump administration put in place did. It's what they're going to do now. I'm pretty confident they're going to get this bill passed. Yes. And it was built upon this edifice that was helped created by Ronald Reagan. And you guys like you.

More people talk about growth. I really do. You know who talks about growth, does a great job? Newt Gingrich. Okay. Another former speaker. He was a pal at Jack Kemp's. Get yourself re-hooked in there. Thank you. Can you hear me? You're a pro always. I mean, we need to talk about growth. I'd like to see them. build some more growth into these budget numbers. And I'd like to see him take the Congressional Budget Office down a peg. Well, OK, so just.

Technically, it's the Committee on Joint Taxation that does tax. So CBO just carries their numbers through on their spreadsheet. So you can't really blame CBO for that. That's JCT. They've always historically underscored some of these things. But they do have macroeconomic effects in it. We did put the diamond model, I won't get too wonky here, into the JCT model. So JCT.

does do some macroeconomic forecasting and some scorekeeping. Not quite to the extent that we think it ought to be, but they do make an attempt. Well, maybe we can just push it a little harder. I mean, the expensing stuff is pretty good, pretty clear. Fabulous. Expensing is really for growth policy. Absolutely fabulous. And it does give you credit for it.

expansion. I don't think they saw the growth effects that we captured with the reduction of the corporate rate. But but, you know, hopefully these models can be upgraded. All right. I think we're kind of running out of time, even though I could talk to you forever. Thanks for you.

You worked hard to get here, and we appreciate that. You've got to see Trulio. Good to see you, Ryan. You're terrific. Thanks, buddy. Take care. All right, folks, we're going to take a quick break. No, we're going to keep running here. And we have actually Reagan Library CEO, Mr. Paul, Mr.

David Trillio. I want to get this right. David Trillio. who is, are you the author of this entire conference? Nice to meet you, by the way. Larry, it's great to see you. We are thrilled to be here with you and that you're here, a veteran of the Reagan administration in addition to the Trump administration. What?

prompted you to put this whole conference together. Think of the pillars of the Reagan legacy, peace, restrain, restoring American pride. But another one, which you were directly involved in, is the economic miracle that was the Reagan presidency. Yeah, we've been talking a lot about that. And I hope there's a lot more talk. That's why I wanted to open the show. In a sense, we're opening your conference with this show celebrating Reagan, you know, growth, tax cuts, growth.

peace and prosperity. And he envisioned a strong and prosperous economy for all Americans, and that's the vision of this convening. And we should really not lose sight of that, it seems to me. It's easy to, you know, Reagan's, this is a long time. 40 years ago, boy, it seems like yesterday, when I walked into his budget office, OMB. But I don't want to lose sight of that. And I think by the by... A lot of the same issues exist today. I mean, here's Trump trying to build a strong economy.

and make peace in all these hotspots around the world that he inherited from Joe Biden. So he inherited a big, Newt Gingrich calls it a big government socialist economy, which didn't produce, and he inherited the world. wars in the Ukraine and the Middle East and so forth, which Biden couldn't have. These are a little bit like Reagan's, not exactly. But the same issues prevail. It echoes. And we peace through strength militarily, but you get diplomacy by bringing people to the table through.

And a key part of strength is economic strength. That was it. Right. You can't. That was it. Exactly. Growth at home equals strength abroad. Amen. You know, started saying that, by the way, 66 John F. Kennedy. John F. Kennedy. He cut taxes, by the way. He cut taxes. I wrote a book on the subject. Reagan used the Kennedy tax cuts as his model. Jack Kemp was the narrator. Jack Kemp was the guy that put it together. But it's the same stuff today. Trump's trying to cut taxes. Trump's trying to...

revitalize the economy. Trump's trying to use American strength, PISU strength, to put out these hot spots right now. You worked in the Defense Department for a couple of administrations. I did. I served in the Trump administration and in the Bush 43 administration. And you can't have good diplomas. or intelligence or defense if you don't have a strong economy and if you care about health care or education or whatever the issue is.

The economy has to be strong for us to be successful. We should be able to show Putin beyond a shadow of a doubt that he does not have the resources to continue this war. We do. We don't want to. But he doesn't have the resources. His is a wheezing old gas station with a couple of nuclear missiles. Last thought, David.

We're thrilled that you're here. The stakes couldn't be higher for the nation. Economic strength is America's overall strength. Dave Trulio, who was the president and CEO of the Ronald Reagan Library.

We've been talking plenty about Reagan. Thanks a lot, Dave. Thank you, Larry. Really appreciate it. I'll be right back with my last Reagan-esque word. This episode is brought to you by Amazon Business. How can you free up your team from time-consuming office tasks? Amazon Business empowers leaders to not only streamline purchasing, but better support their teams so they can focus on strategy and growth.

Free up your teams and focus on your future. Learn more about the technology, insights, and support available at amazonbusiness.com. You know, Ronald Reagan also knew that economic growth took the moral high ground. Economic growth helps the poor, helps the needy, helps families, helps communities, helps our