FBI Doubles Reward in Seach for Savannah Guthrie's Mother, Flags Suspicious Black Backpack

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Morning Meeting

Episode: FBI Doubles Reward in Search for Savannah Guthrie's Mother, Flags Suspicious Black Backpack
Date: February 13, 2026
Host: Mark Halperin
Co-hosts: Larry, Kevin

---

Overview

In this episode of "The Morning Meeting," the team delves into the major storylines dominating the news cycle: the escalating search for Savannah Guthrie's missing mother, the doubling of the FBI reward and emergence of a mysterious black backpack as a lead, as well as wide-ranging political analysis, media shake-ups, international security conferences, economic indicators, and lively audience participation. Mark, Larry, and Kevin offer their characteristic blend of insider perspectives, humor, and sharp commentary, while engaging directly with listeners' questions.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Program Expansion Announcement

• Mark shares significant news: Starting next Tuesday (February 17), the program will expand to two hours, with the second hour airing on Sirius XM's Megyn Kelly Channel 111 at 10am EST. The first hour's format and accessibility remain unchanged.
  • "A second hour of the Morning Meeting starting February 17th, Tuesday, 10 o'clock." - Mark [02:02]
• Hosts humorously discuss their enthusiasm for '80s music channels and the impact of broader distribution.

---

Economic Update: Inflation & Everyday Costs

• Inflation Numbers: Latest figures ("2.4, less than expected") spark debate on whether economic health is reflected in daily life.
• Consumer Outrage: Mark laments high costs of simple goods ("$2.50 falafel balls"), sparking relatable anecdotes about inflation's tangible impact.
  • "All I care about is until the falafel balls in my...neighborhood are less than 2.50 a falafel ball, the economy's out of whack." – Mark [05:19]
• Listener Perspective: Melissa from Florida details $500 grocery bills for a family of three, sparking host reflection on how policies translate (or fail) into relief for households.
  • "We got groceries the other day and it was $500...for three." - Melissa [46:33]
  • "That's going to be the key challenge...to relate to people who aren’t feeling it yet..." – Larry [47:15]

---

Inside Media & Power:

Epstein Fallout at Goldman Sachs:

• Kathy Rumler (Goldman Sachs counsel) resigns after connections with Jeffrey Epstein are uncovered.
  • "Do you really think she’s going to make it till June?" – Mark [12:25]
  • "I believe no." – Larry [12:45]
• Hosts highlight lack of media reporting beyond the documents, calling for more investigative journalism.
  • "Pick up the phone, folks, call some people, find out more." – Mark [13:15]
• Discussion draws in other figures: Bill Gates, Steve Bannon, Howard Lutnick, and points out Rumler’s past as Obama White House counsel.
• The group underscores how many attempted to minimize or deny relationships with Epstein and predicts more fallout.
  • "Everybody who thought they could lie their way through their affiliation with Jeffrey Epstein...face a very tough road ahead." – Mark [40:55]

---

Main Story: Savannah Guthrie’s Missing Mother

• FBI Doubles Reward to $100,000 and highlights a suspect with a black 25L Ozark Trail hiker backpack.
  • "The suspect’s described as a male, approximately 5’9” or 5’10”...wearing a black 25-liter Ozark Trail hiker backpack." – Mark [15:42]
• No significant developments; much speculation about whether it's an inside job or a stranger.
  • "My instinct is still it's an inside thing...odds are that it is someone who knew her or may have been a family member." – Larry [17:06]
• Criticism of law enforcement’s pace and priorities, especially regarding evidence collection and video canvassing.
  • "The fact they're just now looking at video...time is of the essence in any kidnapping like this." – Mark [17:40]
• Some discuss the "media circus" and tasteless betting on Polymarket about whether the suspect will be caught by the end of the month.
  • "Will the kidnapper be arrested by the 28th? 42% chance...surprised at this number." – Mark [18:25]
  • "The trend line went way down..." – Kevin [18:36]

---

Washington Daybook & Politics

• Presidential Schedule & Speeches: President travels to North Carolina to meet military families tied to Venezuela deployments; later a private Mar-a-Lago dinner. Vice President and Secretary of State Rubio attend the high-profile Munich Security Conference.
  • "Secretary Rubio is at this conference...a very big conference every year of security people." – Mark [09:20]
  • "Most eyes on Governor Newsom and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez..." – Mark [10:32]
• Congress & ICE/DHS: Possible partial government shutdown looming, linked to failed ICE funding negotiations. Detailed discussion on how public opinion splits over Democratic vs. GOP provisions (body cams, warrants, sanctuary cities).
  • "The polling data is so in the Democrats’ favor..." – Mark [18:50]
  • "Democrats continue to be morally outraged by the two deaths..." – Mark [19:24]
  • "Congress takes the temperature...what states are we talking about?" – Larry [20:34]

---

Foreign Affairs & The Munich Security Conference

• Ukraine/Russia: Zelensky tours drone factories in Germany, calls for European security independence while Russia continues attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure.
  • “Europe needs an independent and strong defense...” – Mark quoting Zelensky [24:13]
• US-European Relations: Secretary of State Rubio is viewed as “good cop” compared to VP Vance’s “blistering” 2025 speech. Debate about whether this is a real shift or “softer touch.”
  • "The old world is gone, frankly. The world I grew up in...we live in a new era in geopolitics." – Rubio [25:43]
  • "He just might be the softer touch." – Larry [26:54]
• Will There Be a Ukraine Peace Deal? Polymarket has only a 31% chance by 2027.
  • "That seems a little pessimistic." – Mark [28:42]

---

Other Political & Policy Topics

• ICE Leadership Drama: Wall Street Journal stories about Secretary Noem and Corey Lewandowski spark predictions about their fate. Consensus: Trump’s loyalty and preference not to yield to “the libs” may keep them in place.
  • "There's a lot of loyalty. That goes a long way." – Kevin [30:54]
• HHS Reorganization: An attempt to rein in Secretary RFK Jr., who's famous for colorful, sometimes controversial remarks.
  • "He said, I’m not scared of germs. I used to store cocaine off of toilet seats." – Mark [33:34]
  • "That's not very Maha." – Larry [34:03]
• Campaign Finance: When will the president spend his massive war chest to help fellow Republicans? Most say "the fall" to maximize impact.
  • "The most effective use of it is to define your opponent. They got to know who the opponent is." – Larry [34:51]

---

Democratic 2028 Prospects: Munich as a Showcase

• Gavin Newsom, AOC, and Gina Raimondo all appear in Munich, seeking the national security spotlight.
• Gina Raimondo’s Appeal: Moderates love her; home state (RI) less so.
  • "She’s not actually really well liked in Rhode Island...but she’s well-liked to the center-left." – Kevin [37:30]
  • "She could be that person [moderate backup] without the baggage." – Larry [37:49]

---

Audience Q&A Highlights

Melissa (Florida, grocery costs):

• Asks about persistently high prices and what's to be done.
• Hosts acknowledge it's the toughest challenge for both the administration and politicians to connect the dots between economic stats and actual relief.

Nicole (Tennessee, shutdowns):

• Expresses frustration over recurring government shutdowns and wonders about their duration and real-world impact.
• Kevin and Larry discuss the political incentives and suggest real pressure only comes when voters penalize politicians at the polls. Larry forthrightly blames Democrats for the current impasse.

Mallory (regulatory overreach):

• Questions about the president's executive order on the EPA and the broader trend of executive overreach.
• Larry explains the context (“undoing Obama-era regulations on greenhouse gases”) and Kevin notes the risk of "imperial presidency" behavior.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "I used to snort cocaine off of toilet seats." – Mark quoting RFK Jr. [33:34]
• "If the Trump presidency accomplishes nothing more...getting rid of the auto off switch on cars..." – Larry [38:43]
• "That’s going to be the key challenge for the [Trump] administration: to be able to relate to people who aren’t feeling it yet..." – Larry [47:15]
• "Everybody who thought they could lie their way through their affiliation with Jeffrey Epstein...they were intimate and consistent..." – Mark [40:55]
• "The fact they're just now looking at video...the fact that they're just now doing certain things is crazy, because time is of the essence in any kidnapping..." – Mark [17:40]
• "A second hour of the Morning Meeting starting February 17th, Tuesday, 10 o'clock." – Mark [02:02]

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:02] - Program expansion announcement (second hour on Sirius XM)
• [04:42] - Inflation numbers and economic discussion
• [11:50] - Lead story: Kathy Rumler resigns from Goldman Sachs (Epstein fallout)
• [15:07] - Savannah Guthrie’s mother: FBI reward, suspect description, speculation on the case
• [18:50] - ICE/DHS shutdown and public opinion on policy provisions
• [24:13] - Zelensky’s remarks from Munich Security Conference
• [25:43] - Secretary of State Rubio on changing world politics
• [33:34] - RFK Jr. wild "cocaine off a toilet" podcast story
• [46:33] - Melissa from Florida on skyrocketing grocery costs
• [53:10] - Nicole from Tennessee on government shutdowns and how to effect change

---

Winners & Losers of the Week (Fun Segment)

• Winners:

  • Automobile drivers in America (ending "auto off" switch) – Larry
  • Roy Cooper (strong NC Senate campaign) – Kevin
  • The Morning Meeting team (show expansion) – Mark

• Losers:

  • Virginia residents (catastrophic sewage spill) – Larry
  • International Olympic Committee (banning Ukrainian athlete’s helmet) – Kevin
  • Everyone who tried to lie about their ties to Jeffrey Epstein – Mark

---

Tone & Style

The episode blends serious analysis with humor, inside-baseball commentary, and active engagement with listeners. Mark and his co-hosts maintain an energetic, conversational, and irreverent style while parsing out complex news stories and sharing personal reflections. The audience is treated not just as listeners but as active participants, with real-life concerns (like food prices) brought onto a stage usually reserved for “the executives” of news.

---

Conclusion

This edition of The Morning Meeting offers a dense, fast-moving tour of the news cycle—crossing everything from true crime and high finance scandals to global security conferences and Beltway intrigue. The expansion to Sirius XM signals the show’s growing influence, while the blend of light banter, pointed critique, and audience interaction continues to set it apart as a unique daily “meeting” for news obsessives and casual listeners alike.

---

Transcript

[Mark]

This is it. The world as you know it is over. Completely done.

[Larry]

It's not about to be over.

[Mark]

It's over.

[Melissa]

Some of the scientists who helped build AI are now sounding the alarm.

[Mark]

I was selling AI as a great.

[Larry]

Thing for decades and I was wrong. I was wrong.

[Mark]

There's a longer term existential threat that will arise when we create digital beings that that are more intelligent than ourselves. We have no idea whether we can stay in control.

[Melissa]

While others say that AI will usher.

[Mark]

In unfathomable abundance, I've always believed that it's going to be the most important invention that humanity will ever make.

[Larry]

This really will be a world of abundance.

[Melissa]

And among these fears and these fantasies, we seek the story of our future. Listen to the last invention on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Kevin]

Foreign.

[Mark]

Of all ages. Welcome to the morning meeting. Larry, Kevin and I are so excited to have you here to share the day, run through the daybook, the news of the day, take your questions or comments and a quick right here at the top, a reminder. This is an important reminder for everyone. This is a 103, please. If you're on YouTube or X and you want to write things in the comments or here you want to write things in the comments, don't have happened to this to you. What happened to this little boy? For those listening to the podcast version, he's being forced to write Bart Simpson style on the blackboard. I will not put smack in the chat. Why am I leading with this? Well, I'm leading with this because we have a big announcement today. We're very happy to say something that's been in the works for a bit and being announced today. This program is expanding to two hours starting next Tuesday on the 17th. And the second hour will appear on Sirius XM Radio on the Megyn Kelly Channel 111. A second hour of the morning meeting starting February 17th, Tuesday, 10 o'. Clock. Nothing will change about this program at 9 o'. Clock. I want to emphasize that because I can't spend my day answering emails saying what's happening to 9 o'? Clock? This show is exactly as it as it will be as it has been. 9 to 10, you can listen to it, you watch it on YouTube, you can listen to it as a podcast, you can come here on the two way platform. But then what's going to happen is at 10 o' clock, jump right over to Sirius XM Megyn Kelly channel 111 for a second hour of the morning meeting. And we're very excited about partnering over there. And we've long wanted our programs to get as much distribution as possible. Kevin, as you know, content is king, distribution is. But distribution no longer.

[Kevin]

No longer cash.

[Mark]

No longer cash is K. Distribution is queen. We more distribution. So I see in the chat, people say, what if I don't read it? But I glance what if you don't have Sirius xm? Well, get it and tell them you got it because you wanted to hear the second hour of the morning meeting. It's that simple. SiriusXM is great. I've had it for years. There's tons of great content on there. Not just Howard Stern and me and Larry and Kevin and everybody else from the morning meeting, but plenty of great stuff. So subscribe, join us every day for a second hour and there'll be another opportunity in that hour to take questions, to ask questions. So please join us again starting this Tuesday. We're very pleased and I'll say a great credit to my colleagues here at 2way who produce this program. Everybody who produces the program. I could list everybody, but I'd leave someone out probably because my memory sucks. Very grateful to everyone at 2way for making this show successful enough that our friends at Sirius xm, the Megyn Kelly channel, would like to air it. Larry, feel free to congratulate if you, if that, if you are so inclined.

[Larry]

It's huge. Congratulations. I'm a big fan of the 80s on 8 channel, personally, because there's a lot of good devo there and some Human League. I'm a big Human League guy.

[Mark]

You're only human.

[Larry]

There was some who might dispute that in the chat, but yes, I do my best.

[Mark]

Kevin, thoughts on.

[Larry]

Congrats.

[Mark]

Thank you, Larry. Kevin, thoughts on the expansion?

[Kevin]

I think it's incredible. It's a much larger audience, too, that we're going to be able to reach with this, which is super exciting. And funny enough, I'm a big fan of 80s on a too. So there's some Friday bipartisan agreement on that. Yeah.

[Mark]

Anyway, please join us starting Tuesday for the second hour on Sirius XM, channel 111. All right. The inflation numbers came out and inflation was, I believe, better than expected. Right. What was the. Somebody tell me what the number is.

[Kevin]

I've missed it.

[Mark]

2.4 less than expected. There's still, there's some housing data that's, that's bad people are freaking out about. But you take the unemployment numbers or the employment numbers, I like to call them, and this inflation number, Kevin, you're always rooting, I know, for a strong American economy. This seems, this seems pretty damn good, right?

[Kevin]

Seems good. We'll see if the president obviously, you know, we'll talk about his schedule a little bit. He's headed down to Fort Bragg. If this becomes a centerpiece of his talk, obviously he's going to talk about toppling Maduro, but this is something obviously the President will want to be out there cheerleading about and it's a good number for all of us.

[Mark]

Yeah, Larry, you know, I don't care. Fort Bragg, bragging, Fort Bragg. I don't care about quantitative data. All I care about is until the falafel balls in my, my Middle Eastern place, in my neighborhood are less than 250. A falafel ball, the economy's out of whack. And these are like, once those prices.

[Kevin]

Are, those are go down for falafel.

[Mark]

These are quarter size, telling me the rest of my life I'm paying at least 250 for a falafel ball the size of a quarter.

[Larry]

The question is, Mark, do you blame the Trump administration for the rising cost of chickpeas, garbanzos and tahini or do you blame the local government in New York?

[Mark]

I don't know. That's a good question, Larry. All I know is they're 250 and that's not acceptable to me.

[Larry]

Well, you know, gas is very expensive in California, but you can't blame that on the Trump administration because it's a buck 99 in other places. So that's, there's some other dynamics going on there.

[Mark]

Yes, sir.

[Kevin]

I don't think I could spell out the, those three ingredients in falafel. That was pretty quick, Larry.

[Mark]

Tahini right off. Yeah. Even spelling falafel is a challenge to me. All right, quick word from a sponsor, then the daybook and then right into many topics we want to discuss with you today. Cozy Earth is giving you 20 off today. 20% off everything on the Cozy Earth website. Kind of Incredible to get 20 off simply pumping in, typing in the promo code 2WMM for two way morning meeting 2WMM. You get 20% off. 20% off your towels, your sheets, your bubble cuddle blankets, your pants. Pretty, not pretty much everything on the site right now. Try something. Try one thing and you'll see that the reason so many people are crazy about Cozy Earth products is they're high quality, they feel great, they're soft, they're luxurious, feeling not expensive. And with the 20% discount, oh my goodness, opportunity, really of a lifetime. So go right now to cozyearth.com use the promo code two way. I'm sorry promo code two wmm. Promo code two wmm. For 20% off everything on the site cozyearth. Where's the new tagline? I like to read refresh your routines with comfort that makes every day feel like a new year. I don't know how many of you like the new year, but presumably the copyright person who wrote that line thinks new year is synonymous with nirvana. Thank you for your attention to that matter. Scott Bessant said. Okay, well that's interesting. Scott Bessant says there's going to be a hearing. Never mind about that. Ladies and gentlemen. Let's go to the daybook. The President today is little tease. Yeah, it's not that interesting. Washington dying to know what's going on.

[Kevin]

The Washington.

[Mark]

He said something about the Fed confirmation. The Washington Free Beacon is the new media pool today. Newsmax is a secondary TV correspondent and our friends at Real Clear Politics are the print pool. These are new New times. These are new times.

[Larry]

These are. These are great right of center publications.

[Mark]

This is quite something. And out of town pool includes the Washington Post. The depleted Washington Post. Have you guys been looking at the website lately? I mean I don't know if everybody's there too depressed to write or they fired everyone. But there's stories on there in prominent places on the website that are three days old. It's like the homepage.

[Kevin]

The homepage has like three. Yeah, the homepage has like three leading stories. It's like it's there.

[Mark]

There's something weird going on there. Anyway, the President himself has gone to North Carolina as we said. He makes remarks at 1:30 to military families. They were what, they're the ones who went to Venezuela, right? That's who he's meeting with.

[Kevin]

That's right.

[Mark]

So clearly the President will just give a tightly focused speech, very disciplined and on message only about now he'll. He'll talk about the. He'll. He'll talk about the Obama video. He'll talk about whatever. So that's at 130 full coverage of that on two way tonight. Then 7:45 he's in Mar a Lago for a private dinner. Gentlemen, either of you invited to that?

[Kevin]

I miss my invite sound like.

[Mark]

All right, private dinner. Okay. Okay.

[Kevin]

Good.

[Mark]

Very. That's very, very shrewd. Private dinner. Don't know what the vice President's doing. Secretary Rubio is. He's already in Munich. Right.

[Kevin]

Big wheels down.

[Mark]

Wheels down. He talked a little bit. We'll play some of That I think anyway, Secretary Rubio is at this conference. It's a very big conference every year of security people. There's three sub themes that we'll be tracking and talking about on two way. One is Rubio's widely watched speech tomorrow to see how it compares to the speech the vice president, his friend gave last year, which was blistering. And I can say one of the best speeches of vice president's ever given and one of the most important of this administration. And so that's one is Secretary Rubio. Two is Mr. Zelensky is there a lot of European heads of government are there? People are saying, well, nothing's going to happen on Ukraine. It's kind of incredible that they're just going to express support for Zelensky and that there's no, no expectation that the Europeans could do anything because it's all now up to Jared Kushner and Mr. What's that guy's name?

[Kevin]

Witkoff.

[Mark]

Witkoff. Thank you. Special on by Witkoff. I know, I just wrote a piece about him. And then lastly is of course no fewer than five Democrats who might run for president in 2028 are attending, including our favorite dark horse candidate here, Gina Raimondo, the pride of Rhode Island. Pride of Rhode Island.

[Larry]

Don't drag me into that dark horse celebration.

[Mark]

Gina Raimondo. But, but, but most eyes on Governor Newsom and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez who is.

[Larry]

Making this afternoon, I believe.

[Mark]

Yes. Like 10 hours. Yeah. And I don't Zach's not clear me if Governor Newsom's giving an actual speech. He's on some panels, he's got some bilats. But I don't know that he's giving an actual speech. But she is and, and she's been previewed as an opportunity for her to talk about populism and, and progressivism as a, as an important part of national security. Full coverage of that on two way tonight we may show the whole thing I'm just so curious about because she's never given a speech.

[Mallory]

She's speaking on Climate Action Today.

[Mark]

Who is Gavin Newsom. But is it on a panel or is it a speech? It is a speech. Really. Okay. So full coverage of Gavin Newsom's apparent speech and AOC speech tonight on two way tonight. Lindsey Graham during this hour is speaking at the conference. He's a, he's a regular there. Mark Kelly's also there speaking next hour and AOC the hour after that, 11 eastern. So a lot of great speeches. You can watch them all online if You've got, I don't say this pejoratively, nothing better to do. Don Lemon arraigned at 2 o' clock today in federal court in Minnesota. And we already talked about the economic numbers. So gentlemen, let's go to it. Or as my friend, my friend Chris Cuomo would say, let's get after it. Is that what he says?

[Larry]

Let's get after? He says, yeah, about two weeks. It was right up there with Dan Rather's courage.

[Mark]

Yeah. All right, we're gonna lead with this just because I want to hear what you guys have to say about it. Kathy Rumler, who's been the general counsel at Goldman Sachs, is the latest person to lose their job over association with Jeffrey Epstein. Here's the CNN headline. Kathy Rummler, top Goldman Sachs Lawyer Resigning amid Epstein fallout. Now she says she's going to stay till June. My first question to you gentlemen is, do you really think she's going to make it till June? Larry, yes or no?

[Larry]

No. Can I also point out that there's a key part of her resume that consistently gets left out of these headlines. She was the longest serving White House counsel in the Obama administration. Why isn't that a thing?

[Kevin]

We can leave off the Obama part. We can just say a former White House counsel.

[Mark]

It's a thing. It comes up. Kevin. I'm sorry, Larry. Did you say yes or no, she'll make it to June?

[Larry]

I said no. I believe no.

[Mark]

Okay, okay. Kevin, do you think she'll make it till June?

[Kevin]

I think she makes it to June. Like the head of Goldman Sachs released a positive statement about her and her work, which is insane to me. I've never seen something where someone announces, four months from now I'm going to resign because of a scandalous set of emails that have been released. It's extraordinary. But I think, I think she holds on.

[Mark]

I say with prejudice, she will never make it to June. There's more. Here's, here's the thing that's happened. The reporters are so overwhelmed looking through the documents and that there's so much in the documents that nobody is, almost nobody's reporting outside the four walls of the documents. So everything we know for the most part from the media about Kathy Runler's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is derivative of the documents. Pick up the phone, folks, call some people, find out more. And that's true of Howard Lutnick. It's true of, you know, everybody, Everybody.

[Larry]

Bill Gates, Steve Bannon.

[Mark]

Yes, everybody. So, So I believe there'll be more. And, and, and I just can't imagine. Because all the reasons she has to go like this is not about waiting till June. It just. I don't know.

[Larry]

We'll see.

[Kevin]

I mean, he was lavishing her with gifts for coats. She called them Uncle Jeffrey. I mean, it's just like. Well, it's disgusting and tawdry and weird.

[Mark]

And, and she is. Her situation is the same as, in one respect as, as Lutnicks, which is they lied. They downplayed the extent of the relationship. And the extent of her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was far deeper and far different than she tried to say in the beginning, Larry.

[Kevin]

And far after we knew that he was a convicted sex criminal.

[Mark]

Yes.

[Larry]

And I know it seems like I was making a partisan point, an immediate point about the Obama connection, but she worked at the DOJ while she had a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Should that not raise some concerns? And aren't there some questions to be asked there?

[Mark]

100. 100%. 100%. The head of Goldman was on Squawk Box and I'm told did not get asked about this. I have to. I have to dig. I have to ding my friend Joe Kernan for not asking.

[Larry]

You're the New Yorker here, Mark. Now at least the Goldman connection here. Because when you add Bannon in there. Bannon's a former Goldman guy too. I mean, I wonder what. There's got to be more Goldman connections. Then it's. Is it coincidental that these two high profile Epstein connections are both Goldman Sachs types?

[Mark]

It could be a coincidence. Goldman's everywhere. What are they called? The octopus tentacles. You know, they're everywhere. All right, let's switch to talk about Savannah's mom. Still no developments really of much significance. Yesterday the. The FBI increased their reward. 106, please. To a hundred thousand dollars from 50,000. They put out a long statement and they say there's a suspect now who they're interested in, and I don't know if this description is, is someone they're definitively certain did it, but they say the suspects described as a male, approximately five nine or five ten. Kevin, how tall are you?

[Kevin]

Six one.

[Mark]

Okay. Average build. In the video, he is wearing a black 25 liter Ozark Trail hiker backpack. Backpack. And you know, in my world of very smart people in law and media and criminal justice, I have to say nobody I know has a good theory that holds together for me, including the question of how could you drive away from the house? And no one have. Even though, even though it's late at night, no one have any video of the car it just doesn't make any sense. Kevin, do you have any theory currently, best. Best theory about where this is?

[Kevin]

Well, just now to what you just said, Mark, that now they're focusing on the vehicle element and it's been widely reported that folks are being asked to give their security camera footage over on certain roads in certain places in certain times. So we'll see if anything comes of it. Again, we talked about this yesterday. The kind of the tawdry element of this is I don't know if you all saw that Variety piece where it's like a ratings boon for the Today show because of Savannah's mom being kidnapped, which is just kind of horrifying the way that this is just being out there and kind of spun that this is a good thing for the Today show somehow without the idea of this is someone's mother that we all care deeply about.

[Mark]

Well said, Larry.

[Larry]

Yet my, I mean, again, we're all just sort of guessing. But my based on law enforcement people that I've discussed this with, my instinct is still it's an inside thing. More often than not, odds are that it is someone who knew her or maybe even may have been a family member. And it's horrible to think about. But that's still where I'm sort of expecting this to end up.

[Kevin]

I mean, you look at the percentages of those kind of crimes, it is, you know, someone that is close to the family.

[Mark]

There's still a lot of people saying.

[Larry]

That I find feels very JonBenet, doesn't it?

[Mark]

Yes, it does. There's some holes in that. Now, Kevin raised, including the bungling of.

[Kevin]

The local police when it came to DNA and crime scene and all that. We've learned nothing from the fact that.

[Mark]

That situation, the fact that they're just now doing certain things is crazy because time is of the essence in any kidnapping like this. And the fact that they're just now getting to look at the video and they're redoing stuff in the house, I mean, this should have been everybody in there. And you know, if you're a rich, famous person, you're going to get better treatment from law enforcement. And if I were the family, I'd be furious about stuff that they're just doing now. Doesn't make any sense to me. Okay. This might people may find this distasteful, too, but as you know, you can wager on anything on Polymarket pretty much. And our partners at Polymarket have a Polymarket on this question of will they catch someone is 108, please. And I'm surprised at this number. I have to say. Here it is. Will the kidnapper be arrested by the 28th? 42% chance say by the end of the month they will have arrested someone. Kevin, you say why you think it'd be higher or lower chances?

[Kevin]

Well, I'm just looking at that trend line right. Go down over time as we get farther away from now. I think day 13 since she was taken. That's surprising to just see that huge decline.

[Mark]

All right, the ICE talks are not urgent. There's going to be a partial government shutdown starting tomorrow. The the polling data is so in the Democrats favor. Here is from semaphore109, a new poll that is given to Semaphore. These are the provisions that the Democrats want. The White House gave the Democrats a counteroffer that the Democrats have rejected that and they're supposed to give a secret counter counteroffer. But here's where, here's where some of the major provisions that the Democrats want to stand with the American public. Now this is done by Democratic polling firm but Peter Hart is a serious pollster so he wouldn't, he wouldn't make make up stuff. Body cameras. 92% that one's already been done. Standards and restrictions on the use of force. 85% support independent investigations of shooting. 81% support court issued warrants before entering private property. 77% support requiring DHS agents to identify themselves. 76% restrictions on operations near schools, hospitals and polling places. 67%. So Democrats continue to be morally outraged by the two deaths and ICE in general they are buttressed by this polling data. Republicans could probably make a deal. The leadership in the White House could probably make a deal but the base, Republican base would go crazy. And Republicans are going to not only ask that some of the Democratic provisions be struck but ask for like a provision outlawing sanctuary city. So I still don't see how this possibly ends, but perhaps they just do a continuing resolution and defer the fight. But I'm not even sure they get the votes for that. So Larry, what's the roadmap ahead with Congress out for a week and negotiations continuing to take place?

[Larry]

I think Congress takes the temperature of their actual local districts or states where they're going back to to see what the response is. And you know, listen, Republicans are morally outraged too over the crimes and the deaths at the hands of criminal illegal immigrants. That's how we got here. And since we're talking about the Senate Majority pac, which is the Democrat PAC looking to get a majority in the Senate. This is going to be a state by state issue over in the Senate. So what states are we talking about? Well, Ossoff think that he's better off supporting provisions that would keep Lake and Riley's murder in the country and not be deported by ICE agents. That's how Republicans will frame this. Is Ossoff happy with that message in Georgia going into November? Maybe. We'll see. But Republicans should be able to turn this around and say the Democrats are ending funding for DHS because they're trying to protect criminal illegal aliens. That should be. Republicans should be able to deliver that message, Kevin.

[Kevin]

Well, listen, you know, the Senate's out to the 23rd, so we're not going to see any action at least until that. The State of the union is the 24th. To Larry's point, I think, you know, the president has a real opportunity to personalize as he has in the past with those victims, to put pressure on the Democrats. But again, those polling numbers, I looked at 77% on the judicial warrant question, which is the really key stumbling block, I think. You know, we can talk about masks, we can talk about identification, you know, on the streets and stuff like that, but I think that's the real no go for Democrats. As long as that number stays above 70, 75, they're going to stick to it, I think, for a time. But again, the president has a real opportunity just 11 days from now in the State of the Union to refocus the conversation on those victims and see if he can put some pressure on individual Democrats. To Larry's point, as we saw with the last shutdown in the fall, where it was a few individual 7 Democrats in the Senate that they came forward and made that deal.

[Mark]

Okay, thank you, gentlemen. Do we all agree that the President, even as he continues to move military assets to the region, will continue to give peace a chance and continue to talk to the Iranians and we're not on a hair trigger for a military action like this weekend. Do we all agree with that or no?

[Larry]

Yes. Except, I don't know. The Wall Street Journal article today about what was it? The Navy's most lethal warship is now on largest to the area.

[Kevin]

Biggest madness. Jerry Ford.

[Mark]

Yeah.

[Kevin]

Known to be the biggest and baddest.

[Mark]

Of his day, I think. I think Kushner and Witkoff will be given another opportunity to see if the Iranians are serious and then they'll hit him and then they'll.

[Larry]

This weekend, if that's the question. I agree. This weekend, I think, is clear.

[Mark]

Okay, go Ahead.

[Kevin]

But the amazing thing on the Iran front was that, you know, and we didn't get a chance to talk about it, but what Scott Besant said about really damaging the internal economics of the regime and lowering the dollar access, the US Dollar access, which is what the regime still trades in because they need access to different markets. And the fact that, you know, they gameplay this out with this maximum pressure campaign that he talked to in that congressional hearing to really drive those protesters in December.

[Mark]

Yep. Well said. All right. Zelensky is in, is in Germany. 110, please. Russia continue to continues to bomb Ukraine and destroy energy facilities and other assets. Here's a very poetic post on X from President Zelensky. Europe needs an independent and strong defense, defense industry in partnership with the United States. I think that Europe must be independent with strong security guarantees. He goes on all this, all this is pretty vague. He says he's going to present tomorrow. So he's giving a speech in Munich. And you can see there, for those of you who are watching on YouTube or another video platform, he toured a, a drone factory in Munich. Here's some video of that of him walking around. And there's, there's been what they call it, international conferences. The class photo without him. I don't think there was an American in there but Zelensky and European leaders and a lot of support for him. But again, nothing out of the conference. Kevin, what would you anticipate the secretary of state will say about Ukraine and Putin at this meeting?

[Kevin]

Yeah, he previewed a little bit of it in his remarks on the tarmac talking about the continued bombing. He talked about how cold it is in Ukraine and the fact that they're targeting those energy facilities. So I think he's going to zero in on that. Similar to what the president has said. Talk about the humanitarian element of it and to really put pressure on Europe to step up, which it seems like they're doing. The chancellor open, the German chancellor opened the conference talking about the need to, for Europe to almost stand alone on itself in terms of defenses and not take anything for granted, which I think is a positive thing, actually for us from a national security perspective.

[Mark]

Yeah. Kevin mentioned the vice president. Here he is on the tarmac. I think this is on arrival. One for.

[Larry]

You mean the secretary of state?

[Mark]

What I say secretary of defense, Vice.

[Larry]

President, not vice president. Next.

[Mark]

The next vice president, maybe. Here is Marco Rubio, secretary of state. 114, please.

[Nicole]

What do you think the Europeans are hoping to hear? Something more conciliatory than last year.

[Unidentified Official]

Look at that sky, I think they want it, honestly. They want to know where we're going, where we'd like to go, where we'd like to go with them. So that's our hope. It's an important conference. My third time twice as Secretary of State. Well, a lot of members of Congress there, so as well. I'll see them tomorrow as well. So it's important and I think it's at a defining moment. And I refer you back to even the speech or the statement I gave during my nomination hearing as Secretary of State. The world is changing very fast right in front of us. The old world is gone, frankly, the world I grew up in. And we live in a new era in geopolitics. And it's going to require all of us to sort of re examine what that looks like and what our role is going to be. And we've had many of these conversations in private with many of our allies, and they are our allies. And we need to continue to have those conversations. And I think Saturday, hopefully, and the meetings we'll have there will move us in that direction.

[Larry]

Do you think Greenland will.

[Mark]

Larry, some European analysts think of the Secretary of State as good cop to the vice president's bad cop and see Rubio as more sympathetic to the alliance, the traditional contours of the alliance. Do you agree with that analysis?

[Larry]

Maybe on a surface level, but if you look at the actual words he just said, the old world is gone, we live in a new era of geopolitics going to require all of us to sort of re examine what that looks like. That doesn't sound like an institutionalist to me. I think it's on the surface, fundamentally, the secretary of state is right in line with the vice president and the president on foreign policy. It appears he just might be the softer touch.

[Mark]

Yeah.

[Kevin]

I will say too, Mark, the interesting thing for me is, you know, all these European leaders are still responding to the vice president's address from last year. That that is still kind of setting the table and the agenda and the conversation a year after he put that out there.

[Larry]

Yeah, but here's knowing the players involved. Do you think Secretary Rubio disagrees with anything Vice President Vance said in his address last year?

[Kevin]

Not at all. Not at all. And again, and you're seeing, you know, an emboldened Europe finally kind of standing up for itself, whether it be the GDP spent on NATO and things like that, realizing a true ally isn't just a feudal state, which they have been to some degree in NATO. Now I sound like a Kind of more Trump Republican on the foreign policy front. But this is a good thing for us when we actually have true allies investing in their own security and not just relying on us.

[Mark]

You could not buy a mini croissant at the George Sank on the gap on the gap between Rubio and Vance on Europe. They're over. The difference between them is overstated. Okay, here's a poly market on a Ukraine peace deal. 112 please. We'll see where the pie market betters have, as you can see, peace deal. No, sorry, that's the wrong one. 112 please. We have it or we don't have it. Well, maybe we don't have it.

[Larry]

There it is.

[Mark]

There we go. 31 chance of a deal by the end of 2027. Ukraine signs a peace and 27. Only a 31% chance by the end of 2027. That seems, that's seems a little pessimistic. It does seem a little pessimistic. Okay, moving on because we got a lot to get to here. I would buy that, by the way. I would buy that. Quick on these, quick on these three ones, guys. Just a rapid round here. Big Wall Street Journal story. Enemies of Secretary Noem and Corey Lewandowski, her shadow chief of staff. One more try to get Trump to fire them with a big Wall Street Journal story with lots of anecdotes and accusations, almost all denied, but not all denied by a spokesperson for Christine. Oh, about how they run the department and how they allegedly take retribution on people and take credit for things they don't deserve. And Cory wanted a gun and a badge. All these stories, some of them are. They'll all be familiar to anyone who's followed the soap opera. Kevin, will this lead to the defense station of Secretary Noem or Corey, yes or no? No, Larry.

[Larry]

Corey's a problem. And I think that I had already predicted that by mid year, sometime in the summer, I think that she will have a graceful exit.

[Mark]

So, so you think, you think she'll.

[Kevin]

Be gone because of Corey, you think later July.

[Larry]

Well, Corey's a package.

[Mark]

Okay, we'll see, we'll see. I'll believe when I see Mark.

[Kevin]

Real quick, what's, what's Corey's relationship to the President these days? Do we have any insights on that?

[Mark]

Thickest thieves. Thickest thieves. I mean, okay.

[Kevin]

I mean they're old school. I mean, I mean he's an old school. He's a.

[Mark]

He's an original. He wouldn't be president without Corey. You know, Corey, Corey called me in like early spring of 2015. And he is like, would you please meet with me? Would you please take Trump seriously as a presidential candidate? And I said, I'm happy to meet with you. I already take Trump seriously as a presidential candidate. You should be talking to other people because you got no problem with me in terms of taking him seriously. And Trump knows that if it weren't for what Cory did, he wouldn't be president. So there's a lot of loyalty.

[Kevin]

That goes a long way. That goes a long way.

[Larry]

But is that a sort of direct backdoor, thick as thieves relationship? I mean, he doesn't come through the front door right now on his own and meet in the Oval Office with the president, does he? Do you think?

[Mark]

I mean, there's two ways in there. There's the front door and the back door. I mean, I don't know. You know, they demanded a meeting. They had a two hour, very friendly two hour meeting with the President.

[Kevin]

Kind of a gab fest is what you kind of.

[Mark]

Yeah, you know, Corey's just. He knows. He knows where Trump's buttons are. Trump is like, you know, he just knows where.

[Larry]

He's still the gatekeeper.

[Mark]

Yeah, but I mean, but I mean, partly, look, partly they're protected because Trump doesn't want to fire anyone, because he doesn't want the libs to have a scalp.

[Larry]

Right?

[Mark]

That's part of it. But part of it is he just. Trump, Trump's really loyal to him. And Corey, Corey's good. Corey and the secretary, they talk a good game. You know, they, they can say, well, what about this? What about that? One of the things in the Journal story that did catch my eye was like, I was watching MSNBC the other day. Sorry, $40,000 in the swear jar, Mississippi. Now, the other day, and there was an ad for, for, for ice. Have you guys seen that ad on ms? Now, it had about, here's what we do. Here's what ICE does. I think the secretary was in it. But, but the article says that Trump is. Trump asked somebody like, where's. Where's Christy getting all this money to run ads featuring her? It's a good question, because you know whose money that is, gentlemen? Our money.

[Kevin]

Our money.

[Mark]

I don't, I don't want to. I don't want to be spending money for Kristi Noem publicity. All right, we got to go quick. Bobby Kennedy reorganization at HHS senior aides. My sources suggest that this is part of their White House's continuing effort to get the guy a little bit more reined in. A Little bit more organized, a little more on message. And he's talked about his very key part of the midterm message. Kevin, will the. Will The Secretary of HHS's Modus Operandi Change with this new staff?

[Kevin]

Yes, potentially. I don't think there's anything reigning in RFK Jr but you are seeing is kind of Lieutenants Marty and. And Oz out there a little bit more.

[Mark]

Yeah.

[Kevin]

Which I think is the doing of the administration.

[Mark]

Yeah, Larry.

[Larry]

And they're great.

[Mark]

Larry, can you change an RFKJ or once an rfkj, always.

[Larry]

I don't. I agree with Kevin. And listen, the biggest fear for people was that he was going to go off the reservation and sort of go rogue. He hasn't. He's been really good. But the way you keep him from going rogue is you don't try to put the screws to him. That's the concern is if you try to put the screws to him and try to box him in, then he'll start going rogue. It's. It's sort of a reverse psychology thing.

[Mark]

Yeah. Did you see what he said yesterday about cocaine?

[Kevin]

I didn't see this.

[Larry]

No.

[Mark]

Really? We played it. We played it on two Way Tonight last night. You've revealed that you're not big two Way Tonight fans. Here's what he said. He said. And we have the audio. Maybe. Maybe we can pull it up from yesterday. He said he was asked. He was on some podcast talking about whether he's a germaphobe. And he said, I'm not scared of germs. I used to store cocaine off of toilet seats. That's what he said. I don't. I don't remember Joseph Califano ever saying that.

[Larry]

Yeah, that's not very Maha.

[Mark]

Yeah, well, no, I think it kind of is. Okay, quick. The President has hundreds of millions of dollars in his political kiddies, and he's telling people. I don't know if he said this publicly or not. I gotta sneeze.

[Larry]

Who among us hasn't done a couple of.

[Kevin]

It's almost like 1.5 billion or something.

[Mark]

Does he have 1.5 billion?

[Kevin]

Not easy to piece it all together. Right.

[Mark]

I think the President's basically claiming he's going to get to 1.5 billion, which I don't doubt. Here's my question, gentlemen. When will they start spending it to help Republican candidates? Will it be, A, the spring, B, the summer, or C, the fall, when they'll do digital and television ads? A, B or C? That's all I want coming out of your mouth, Larry. A, spring, B, summer, C, fall. Kevin says C, fall, C. Well, because.

[Larry]

The most effective use of it is to define your opponent. They got to know who the opponent is.

[Mark]

Yeah. All right, Gavin News.

[Kevin]

He's loathe to spend any money on anyone except himself.

[Mark]

Well, I know, but my point is he's going to have to spend this money on trying to keep the House and the Senate. Right? I mean, is he going to spend it on his cell for. I don't know. It's going to be interesting. All right, as we said, a number of Democratic potential Democratic presidential candidates are in Munich, Gavin Newsom and AOC getting the most attention. Gina Raimondo, if, if, if the Business Roundtable or the Council on Foreign Relations or some of Kevin's centrist friends could pick the nominee and have, have them win the general election, it would be Gina Raimondo. People love Gina Raimondo in the moderate establishment. Here she is. Most of you will be hearing her for the first time. 116 Former governor, former commerce secretary Gina Raimondo.

[Gina Raimondo]

Munich apparently is Davos for the foreign policy set, Madam Secretary. And they say no fewer than six Democratic presidential primary candidates are going to be there to kind of make a speed speech that might be a counterpoint to what we heard from J.D. vance last year. So what might we hear? What, what do you think is the counter message there about U.S. policy? Well, I think the most important message is that America is stronger when we work with our allies. You know, America has to be a reliable partner to allies. And it's so important. That's why I'm here to, you know, foot stomp that message. The other message that I plan to deliver later on today is economic security is just as important as military might. That is secure supply chains leading in artificial intelligence, leading in biotech and quantum. You know, we know, for example, that China is ready, willing and able to weaponize their critical minerals, rare earths and supply chain. And so the way to make the US stronger and the world safety safer is the United States to work with allies to make sure that we are winning the air race and our supply chains are secure. That's economic security.

[Larry]

So electrifying.

[Mark]

She. Exactly. She has said that she's thinking about running. Very few people have said that. She's so, she's, you know, she's, she's made that clear. She might run. Kevin, does she have a greater or lesser extent, does she have a greater or lesser chance of being the Democratic nominee? Than 1%? Greater or lesser than 1% to be the nominee.

[Kevin]

I think it's right at 1%. And Brennan, Brennan in the chat makes a good point. She, she's not actually really well liked in Rhode Island. The people who know she's she's well liked to the kind of the center left to your point Mark outside of Rhode island. But I doubt she's got the juice for it. Yeah.

[Mark]

Larry, 1%. You taking the over or the under?

[Larry]

I'll go a little bit more actually, only because we talked the other day about how Rahm Emanuel could be sort night moderate that could be brought in at the last minute to save the party from nominating a radical. But he's got a lot of baggage. Of course, she could be that person without the baggage.

[Mark]

All right, I want to talk a little bit more about Gavin Newsom and his book tour, which is taking him coincidentally to places like New Hampshire and other early voting states. But we'll do that on two way tonight because we got to get going because we want to get to your questions. Raise your hand if you're here on the platform you want to get in. But we do have to do our Friday perennial winners and losers of the week and what to look for. Larry Winner of the week.

[Larry]

The winner of the week. I'm trying to remember who I did for the winner of the oh, automobile drivers in America because we're gonna get rid of the auto stop switch on our cars, which are the most annoying thing on the planet. And that is the fact that you.

[Kevin]

Have to opt in. You gotta push that button to turn it off. Drives me crazy.

[Larry]

If the Trump presidency accomplishes nothing more, from this point forward, it will have been top 10 for me by getting rid of the auto off switch on cars.

[Kevin]

I'm almost ready. I'm almost ready to put a MAGA hat on just on that.

[Mark]

Yeah. Kevin. Kevin, Winner of the week Winner of.

[Kevin]

The week is Roy Cooper. Outrage like crazy. Candidate or candidate for the Senate in North Carolina. He's forcing outside groups to already spend to prop up Michael Watley against him. And he's going to cruise to this election in North Carolina, which is a crucial flip.

[Mark]

I'm telling you, the Republicans made a huge mistake, huge anointing Watley. He's just there's no reason to think he'll be a good candidate. He's not even a good funder about milk toast.

[Kevin]

Talk about milk toast.

[Mark]

Yeah. My winner of the week.

[Larry]

Keep hope alive.

[Mark]

My winner of the week is a home a home game here, folks. It's Noah and Michael and Lori and the folks at Walking Duck and everybody else at the morning meeting who produces program to now get us what we've we've said from the beginning we want to do. We want linear distribution of our programming on other places. And as I said, starting this Tuesday, throw the graphic up next Tuesday, this program, the morning meeting will expand to a second hour every day. No change in the 9 o' clock hour. But at 10 o' clock Eastern you can join us on Sirius XM channel 111, the Megyn Kelly channel, every Monday through Friday morning meeting, second hour on Sirius xm. We look forward to joining you there. Larry Loser of the Week Loser of.

[Larry]

The week are the residents of Virginia who's about they're about to see hundreds of gallons, hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage coming up on their Chesapeake Bay shore off the Potomac. Because of an open sewage line. It's now the worst wastewater catastrophe in American history. And their governor and their two senators have not said a damn thing about it. They're more focused on their own left wing agenda. It's outrageous, Larry.

[Mark]

You totally stole mine.

[Kevin]

They are pro sewage. They are pro sewage.

[Mark]

I do that a lot.

[Larry]

I do this a lot.

[Mark]

I'm kidding, Kevin.

[Kevin]

My loser of the week is the International Olympic Committee for banning that Ukrainian athlete from having that helmet featuring Ukrainian athletes that have been murdered by the Russian regime. I think it's disgraceful, so.

[Larry]

Oh, agreed. That's a great one.

[Mark]

Good and ridiculous. My loser of the week is everybody who thought they could lie their way through their affiliation with Jeffrey Epstein. When the affiliations were not casual or, or innocent. They were, they were intimate and consistent and in some cases went all the way up through his arrest before he was imprisoned and then died in prison. I will never say he committed suicide until there's actual proof of that. But those folks are, those folks face a very tough road ahead for what's.

[Larry]

Happened, Larry, based on that, and I agree with you on that editorial decision about death and suicide. But are you sure he's dead? Do you have enough objective evidence that he's even dead?

[Mark]

Probably. He's probably dead.

[Kevin]

I mean those photos, I don't know if you saw the photos that were released that were kind of gruesome, but.

[Mark]

I read today like he's supposed to have, he's supposed to have a tattoo and the thing doesn't show the tattoo he's supposed to have. I don't know. He's probably dead. Larry, don't open a cannon. Worms right here. Raise your hand. We're about to go to you all. Larry, what are you looking for this weekend? Can't be related to weather, sports or traffic.

[Larry]

It can't be related to. No, actually I'm watching Munich. I want to see the Secretary of State's presentation. I want to see AOC this afternoon. I'm watching Munich.

[Mark]

I think we're going to be 3 for 3 on that one, right, Kevin?

[Kevin]

I mean, Munich, my, my pick was actually whether we're going to send a second carrier to the, the Middle east and that actually, news broke late last night after I sent that in to our team and there goes the Ford.

[Mark]

I, I'm so interested in how this, this Munich thing goes. May get no coverage at all, but I'm going to, I'm going to watch the entirety of the Rubio speech, the AOC speech, the Newsom speech, and then, and then some of the others. The two Arizona senators are both there as well. I just think it's a fascinating policy and politics.

[Larry]

Yes, sir, I know we're jumping. Do you think. I think Secretary Rubio is going to refer to Vice President Vance's speech. Is that last year? My colleague and friend said this and he was right about. Do you think there will be a moment where he does that?

[Mark]

Yes.

[Kevin]

Okay.

[Mark]

I do. Yes, I do. We'll see. All right, quick word from a sponsor then to your questions. CB Distillery, a great sponsor of this program and a sponsor who is offering members of the two way community 25% off. 25% off. Everything on the, on the, on the website cbdistillery.com use the promo code 2WMM for 25% off. What's this about? This is about getting better sleep, dealing with pain or soreness after exercise, about if your mood's a little bit off. CB Distillery has sold to over 2 million customers in the United States and they'll give you 100% money back guarantee. Think of those numbers again. Two million people have bought from CB Distillery and you get 100% money back guarantee. So lots of people like it. And if you turn out not to like it, you just send it back, get your money back. Natural solutions for sleep and stress that can break the vicious stress sleep cycle. And I'm not, I'm not looking at any of you in particular, but I bet some of you have a sleep stress cycle they'd like to break. And if you do, go to CBDistillery.com use the code 2WMM for 25% off. CBDistillery.com thank you for your attention to this matter, ladies and gentlemen. Now it is time to bring you in. I said I'm not scared of a germ.

[Larry]

You know, I used to snort cocaine.

[Mark]

Off a toilet seats. And yeah, I know this disease will kill me right. If I don't. Yeah, that's what Theo. With Theo Vaughn. Even Theo, even Theo was taken aback. Theo's.

[Larry]

I think it was never related to a guest. More than that just now, that was.

[Mark]

That was the most relatable moment.

[Kevin]

That was that brain, that was that brain worm talking a little bit there, I think.

[Mark]

Yeah. Melissa, welcome in. Thank you for being here. Melissa, have you ever raised your hand on this program before? No. Oh, where do you live?

[Melissa]

I live in Florida, in Fort Lauderdale.

[Mark]

Yeah. Well, thank you for being here. We're very happy to have you here and glad you raised your hand and we'd love to hear what's on your mind for Larry and for Kevin.

[Melissa]

I've been listening and watching you guys for, gosh, almost a year now.

[Mark]

Amazing.

[Melissa]

And always after work on my drive home and in the. And then I listen to the evening meeting on the way to work the next morning.

[Mark]

That's fantastic. Thank you for that, Melissa.

[Melissa]

You guys have been my cohorts for a while. But anyway, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm.

[Mark]

Sorry to interrupt, but if you don't mind my asking, what do you find appealing about the two way programs as compared to other stuff you could listen to or watch?

[Melissa]

I just like hearing both sides of it. I really do. I have family members that are, you know, conservative and then I have family members that are liberal and, and it's just nice to have talking points of what, you know, because, you know, I might listen to Fox or whatever, but they're listening to NPR and, and so they're hearing totally different things than what I'm hearing. So thank you for that. Yeah.

[Kevin]

Melissa, can we use you in a, in a paid commercial for the two way platform? Sure, sure. That is perfectly said.

[Larry]

No, it done.

[Mark]

No need to ask Kevin. We just, we just rip it around. Melissa, curious to hear what send you.

[Kevin]

A bubble cuddle blanket?

[Mark]

Curious, Curious to hear. Melissa, after all this time, what caused you to raise your hand today? Let us, let us yield the floor to you.

[Melissa]

So my question today is just the cost of everything. I know we talk about it all the time or, or you know, you guys talk about it all the time, but really, what's going to be the catalyst to, to driving some of the cost for groceries? We got groceries the other day and it was $500.

[Mark]

Wow. I mean how many people were you. How many people were you shopping for?

[Melissa]

It's just my husband and I and my daughter that just graduated college, so three.

[Mark]

Wow. Does your husband have an addiction to caviar?

[Melissa]

He's a big guy. He's a big guy, but he doesn't. No caviar.

[Mark]

And, and what's, what's, what store was that at?

[Melissa]

500 Walmart.

[Mark]

Wow. 500 at Walmart.

[Melissa]

Well, and granted, we bought, you know, some toilet paper and paper towels, but, I mean, it's not like we were.

[Kevin]

Buying, you know, you're not alone.

[Larry]

Yeah.

[Mark]

Yeah. Larry, people like Melissa get asked all the time, when is Melissa going to go? And, you know, that probably not that long ago. Cost them like $200 or $300, but not $500.

[Larry]

That's going to be the key challenge for the Trump administration to be able to be able to relate to people who aren't feeling it yet and not just stand there and say, well, the stats look good. It should be better now. You know, mission accomplished. You're right. But what they might end up. Where do you live, Melissa?

[Melissa]

Fort Lauderdale.

[Larry]

Oh, in Florida. Okay. Yeah. So, I mean, part of it might be a regional thing, and they might have to start saying, listen, if you lived here, if you lived there, I know that's cold comfort to people when they have to spend so much money. And I think that the big narrative that they're trying to press is that by bringing the fuel costs and they have brought fuel costs down significantly in just one year, that that will eventually have a ripple effect on all these other things, including transportation and the goods and services and all of that. But it's the challenge, Melissa. It is.

[Melissa]

Yeah.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Mark]

Kevin, thoughts on how the costs could come down for families like Melissa's?

[Kevin]

Yeah, Melissa, it's a great question. And I think, you know, pick up right where Larry left off, you know, the four years of the Biden administration. I remember half of the time that, you know, on Fox News that I was on, they'd had a ticker that the average cost of gas. Right. So that's gone by the wayside. Right. Because, you know, it's a good thing where the cost of gasoline is for this country, but the thing that people are really zeroed in on is that grocery cost. And to Larry's point, I think that's really what's going to hurt, you know, for the midterms for Republicans if they don't figure out some tangible solutions there. Maybe it's, you know, introducing more competition, whether it be in the meat sector or what have you. Well, but I don't know if there's anything really an administration can do unless putting some pressure on corporations, strengthening supply chains, that kind of thing. It's kind of tough to really push private companies on that front.

[Larry]

I was going to say, Kevin, and thanks for giving me an opportunity to come back. On beef in particular, I think that they do recognize that beef has been an issue because they did bring the price of eggs down. They brought the price of certain things down through policies in the Department of Agriculture.

[Kevin]

And on the egg front, that was, that was, you know, that was a flu thing with, you know, out of the control of, you know, these chickens were having an issue, unfortunately.

[Larry]

Yeah, A lot of chickens eggs are going to be more expensive. But they just made an amazing deal with Argentina about importing beef from that country because they're, they're trying to make moves, Melissa, to increase the supply because the more beef you get into the country, we should have lower prices because of your accommodating that demand that you've got. And I'm guessing based on how you describe your husband, he likes his hamburgers and steaks.

[Melissa]

He does.

[Mark]

Melissa, there have been polls lately that show that more voters think Joe Biden was good on the. More voters think Joe Biden was better on the economy than Donald Trump. What do you think of that question? Who's been better on the economy?

[Melissa]

I don't think Biden was good on it because that's when we first saw it spike.

[Larry]

Yeah.

[Melissa]

And it's just never recovered since then. Even with the gas prices. I'm like, Larry, I thought the gas prices was going to drive that down.

[Mark]

Yeah. If, if you were asked, I'm asking you, what has President Trump done to lower prices? What are things you've seen him do that you'd say, well, that, that contributed to trying to lower prices or to lowering prices.

[Melissa]

I think the biggest thing he did was. Was lower the gas prices.

[Mark]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Kevin]

Unfantangible. Yeah.

[Mark]

Melissa, thank you again for being here. Grateful to you for being part two way. We hope you'll raise your hand regularly.

[Melissa]

Thank you.

[Mark]

Yeah.

[Larry]

Do it again.

[Mark]

Thank you.

[Kevin]

Great. Thanks, Melissa. Mark, isn't that a fascinating facet, though, with that longing for previous administrations and how approval numbers go up, you know, right when they're out of office? I mean, his numbers drove him out of the race, President Biden, and now people are saying a year later, you know, it's just fascinating to me.

[Mark]

I'm not the first person to make this. I'm not the first person to make this observation. But, man, you couldn't imagine a poll result, including an Erasmus poll, that President Trump would be more angry at. By eight points, the Rasmussen poll voters say who's been better for the economy, Biden or Trump. And by eight points to say Biden. I mean, it just, it's incredibly, just incredible. All right, let's go back to folks again, raise your hand if you want to be in on the conversation, including if you never raised your hand before. Here's someone who's raised her hand before, but we're happy to have her back. Melissa well, Nicole, rather welcome in being here. Tell folks who don't know where you are and what's on your mind for.

[Nicole]

Kevin Hey, I am calling in from Tennessee. My comment today is about the whole government shutdown situation with dhs. I feel like I'm always on here talking about the government shutdowns because I'm really frustrated by them. I think that it seems like it's just becoming easier and easier to let this happen in our government. I feel like for a long time this wasn't an option. For a long time. Government shutdowns were happening before the turn of the year. And now we're going into February. And towards the end of February, everybody left town. It doesn't look like really anybody is trying to do anything about it. And so I'm just curious, like, how long you think that this portion is going to be shut down for? What real impacts do you think we'll see because of it? I know it's just like this one little piece, but I still feel like, you know, Coast Guard isn't nothing. TSA isn't nothing, FEMA isn't nothing. I'm in Tennessee and we still have things, people here without power from the ice storm from like weeks ago. And there has been a lot of FEMA money that has been, you know, I think it was like $50 million or something that they, that the administration said that they were going to give to Tennessee to help rebuild. And I'm just curious, like, as a, as an American, it feels very frustrating to watch this happen. And I want to know a how long you think it will go on and be like, what do you think that we can do as Americans to encourage our con men and our senators and women to do their jobs and not let our government shut down?

[Mark]

Yeah. Nicole, I'm grateful to you for the question because people like you, lots of people have that question and there's really nowhere good to get it except here. Kevin Will Kevin, will now explain. Kevin, what can people do and.

[Kevin]

How.

[Mark]

Can the negative effects of this be mitigated?

[Kevin]

Yeah, Nicole, it's a great question. And this, you know, we're kind of slow walking into the shutdown and you're so spot on by saying that now we're in the advent now of these shutdowns. They're happening more regularly. This was something of the, you know, we all remember the first one kind of with Bill Clinton and that in 96 and now this, the latest thing are these partial government shutdowns, right, where it's just affecting one particular funding stream, which is obviously DHS. It's 13% of the civilian workforce that is affected by this shutdown. And you're not seeing a lot of coverage about it except here in this conversation. Again, until we change the incentive structure for these members where they can, you know, just jet off without any repercussions, you know, or go on recess. You know, the Senate, as I said, is out for 10 days, right? Where's the, where's the pressure points to say, okay, come back and let's do this. But until people get really in and make their voices heard on this, I think we're going to continue to see this and not have these cooler heads prevail, especially given the fact that we just had a 46, 43 day shutdown just this past fall.

[Larry]

Nicole, the Democrats are causing this and the only reason they're doing it is because they think it benefits them in the polls, in fundraising, and ultimately on election day in November. So the only way you stop them from doing things like this is you make them pay on election day in November. I wish I could be more nuanced in more 3D chess than that. I know that your senator, by the way, Marsha Blackburn, I just interviewed her earlier this week, she's spitting mad about it specifically because of the issues going on in your state right now. And that's, that's the only thing that works. It's the only thing that as soon as they recognize that this is hurting them, then it will be resolved and it'll end. I will say, give you something better than that.

[Kevin]

I will say to Larry's point, we're seeing more and more of these policy prescriptions being adjudicated through shutdowns, which is problematic. We saw it with Republicans, you know, when it comes to the border wall, using government funding as a, as a lever to enact policy change. And I think that's wrong across the board.

[Larry]

And by the way, you know, when, Ted, when Senator Cruz from Texas did this when he instigated the shutdown in 2013. I think it was over the implementation of Obamacare. And by the way, for the record, he was right about everything that Obamacare was going to do. But we were lectured to by Democrats and by the media and all the smart set in D.C. that that's abominable. You don't shut down the government because of a policy disagreement about implementing this law. And here we are, those same people who lectured all of us about how abominable it was, they're rooting this one on.

[Mark]

Nicole, did you happen to watch that. Thank you again for the question. Did you happen to watch the Gina Raimondo clip that we played just now? Yeah. Just now.

[Nicole]

Yeah.

[Mark]

My guess is you're not all that familiar with Gina Raimondo. Did you find her appealing someone you could think about voting for president?

[Nicole]

No, I, as a. As a woman, I will never. Well, I can't say I will never, but I am not inclined to vote for a female president.

[Mark]

Why is that?

[Nicole]

Because I think that the place that we have in America geopolitically, I think that we need a strong man as a president here. And I think that unless it's the. The right woman at the right time, I don't think that it puts off the representation that I think that we need in our place in the world.

[Mark]

Thank you for that, Nicole.

[Kevin]

Right. Thank you for taking the right man be wearing a Jerry Garcia tie right now, Nicole.

[Nicole]

I'm not sure.

[Kevin]

He's running. He's running.

[Mark]

He's running. No, he's hand rested and ready. Nicole, thank you for being part of Two Way. Love having you here.

[Larry]

Thank you, Nicole. Is it a state law in Tennessee that you have to wear orange every day? Is that a thing?

[Kevin]

Go Balls.

[Larry]

They all wear orange.

[Mark]

There's a great country song called Tennessee Orange. You know that song?

[Larry]

Yeah.

[Mark]

Do you know it? You don't know? It's about. It's about a young woman. It's about a young woman from Georgia who's. Who's dating a guy who is from Tennessee. And it's just a great song. Someday we'll play it here and risk being sued.

[Larry]

Yeah, you're going to clear those royalties at SiriusXM.

[Mark]

Exactly. That's the key. All right, let's. Let's tempt fate and bring Mallory. And Mallory, I'm only going to meet you if you promise to be brief because we're. We're shite on time. So no essays, no true. No multiple choice. Just true. False or something.

[Mallory]

But I'll be really quickly. I saw to this morning that the president, I think it was an executive order to basically say the EPA no longer has the ability to regulate air pollution. I didn't get a chance to really read deeply because I kind of caught it as I was in the middle of something else. But I was curious because Congress passed the Clean Air act. So it feels as though the president trying to supersede congressional authority. And I feel like that's a trend we're seeing where the executive branch is trying to overturn things that are the power of Congress. And I'm wondering like A, do we think it's going to stick? B, do we feel like at any point someone's going to start standing up? Because I feel like by the end of this presidency we're gonna, our congressional and judicial branches have just been pushed over by the executive branch repeatedly.

[Mark]

Yeah, well, it will be, it will be challenged in court and, and who knows whether they'll strike it down.

[Kevin]

Larry is itching. Larry is itching.

[Larry]

Opportunity and a great, and a great blouse by the way too. What happened was the Obama administration in 2009, remember, they tried to pass cap and trade and cap and trade was going to have a whole lot of these regulations not against air pollution, but defining carbon dioxide, the stuff that I'm emitting right now, as a pollutant. All right, they couldn't get that through cap and trade, so instead they just unilaterally did it as a regulation through the epa. All right. And all this is, is reversing those regulations that the Obama administration did when without Congress's approval or legislative authority. So it's not undoing air pollution, it's undoing categorizing carbon dioxide and other so called greenhouse gases as pollutants.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Mark]

All right, Kevin, do you got anything you want to add or are you good?

[Kevin]

This is the problem of the imperial president acting unilaterally without Congress's engagement on all these regulatory issues.

[Mark]

Mallory. Mallory.

[Larry]

They're better than that.

[Mark]

Thank you for the great question, Mallory. All right, I got to run through some housekeeping things. Thank you again all of you for your questions and comments and congratulations on the announcement that there'll be a second hour of the morning meeting. No impact on the first hour, second hour of the morning meeting every Monday through Friday, starting on this coming Tuesday on Sirius XM. Megyn Kelly, channel 111. Couple questions people ask those of you who know that normally on Wednesdays, I'm with Michael Smerconish at 10 o' clock on Wednesdays. I will now be with Michael, I believe, at 11 o' clock on Wednesdays, so an hour later. But I'll still be doing my weekly appearance with Michael. So that's one thing. Second is again, if you don't have SiriusXM, I see people ask me, how can you listen to it? Get yourself some SiriusXM, give it a try. Pretty sure they have like a trial offer. Probably do. So give it a try and see if you like it. And I will be back at five o' clock tonight. Again we're gonna have coverage of the Don Lemon arrangement, latest on Savannah's mom, the AOC speech, the Newsom speech, the Rubio speech, and anything else that comes up between now and then. So I look forward to seeing you. And then we'll be on on Monday. It's a holiday, but we'll see you Monday, 9am Eastern Time. You guys here Monday? Are you off?

[Kevin]

I don't think we know.

[Mark]

Don't know yet. Okay, we'll wait to see.

[Kevin]

Happy early Presidents Day.

[Mark]

Yeah. To everyone. Kevin, anything you want to tell people about before we go?

[Kevin]

Just hello from beautiful Charleston, South Carolina. Everyone. Come visit and I'll show you around.

[Mark]

Yeah.

[Larry]

Okay, Larry A ditto, the Chesapeake Bay of Maryland.

[Mark]

Okay, so the open end.

[Kevin]

Not now, not now with sewage gate.

[Larry]

No, we're upstream. We're upstream.

[Kevin]

Okay. All right.

[Mark]

Invitation. Thank you all for being part of the two way community. And I will say one more thing. Professor Kenny put in the chat. I don't read the chat, but I read everything the professor says. The after show, which some of you know about and more of you should participate in community meets after. This program is moving to 11 o' clock so people can enjoy the SiriusXM and then join the after show. And I will say without fear of contradiction or any hyperbole, this show would not be getting a second hour on SiriusXM if it weren't for Professor Kenney and members of this community who have been supporters and participants, supporters of and participants in this show from the beginning, couldn't be more grateful to you. And we're grateful that you'll be able to join us on SiriusXM for a second hour every day. And then, and then you can meet separately to be part of the community in an after show conversation. Thank you one and all. I'll see you at five o' clock tonight. Have a great day.

[Kevin]

Thanks, everybody.