♪ ♪ paul: welcome to the "journal

editorial report," i'm paul gigot. israel's military in a costly misfire on monday struck and killed seven humanitarian workers delivering aid in gaza. the deadly misstep has complicated an already strained relationship between israel9 and the united states which in recent weeks has grown more critical of the war. but despite idf, the idf calling the error a grave mistake, president biden told prime minister benjamin netanyahu in a phone call thursday that u.s. policy toward gaza might change if israel does not do more to protect innocent civilians. white house national security communications adviser john kirby if on friday doubled down on that message. >> i think he was very clear9 with the prime minister yesterday. if we don't start seeing meaningful changes in the way israel's prosecuting these operations and allowing for humanitarian assistance and working towards the hostage deal and a ceasefire, then we're going to have to make changes in our gaza point. >> and that means. conditioning aid, doesn't it?

>> again, i wouldn't close down decision space for the president. what he was very clear with prime minister netanyahu, we've got to see some changes. paul: let's bring in cliff may, the found ther and president of the foundation for defense of democracy. welcome, cliff. what do you make of this changing tone and, frankly, quite a harsh tone by the u.s. and president biden toward israel in the wake of this tragic mistake? >> yes. i think that's right. look, this was a tragic mistake, and it was mistake. the israelis acknowledged it was a mistake. today immediately went to an investigation. two senior idf leaders have already been fired from their jobs because of it. the israelis have already begun to do things to take steps to better protect aid vehicles, but it's a difficult thing to do, it's a war zone. people need to know that. if i'm sitting in my tunnel in rafah, i think i'm encouraged because with while deaths like

this represent a tragedy for israel, that is the strategy of hamas, kill as many gazans as possible as well as many israeli, kill as many aid workers as possible and figure that israel will take the blame, and you can have a wedge between the israelis and americans. people don't seem to recognize that quite a few gazans have been killed by hamas for distributing aid. they've been accused of collaboration with israel. i think this is, it's a very bad sign in relations, and it doesn't help the hostages. if i'm hamas, i'm not releasing the hostages, i'm not going to lay down my weapons, and i'm going to negotiate tougher e. don't forget, hamas just said we will not agree to a ceasefire deal that has 40 terrorists for every hostage. that's not good enough for us. paul: what do you make of the suggestion it's not -- the white house didn't say it, but john

kirby didn't rule it out, and some members of the democratic party and congress have been saying that they want to condition u.s. military aid on, essentially, doing what the president wants by not going into rafah, for instance, and endorsing the idea of an immediate ceasefire? >> yeah. look, it's possible that that could happen. i can predict only, only speculate on the israeli response. and i think it would be that the israelis believe that they can't not have this war end with hamas still in power in rafah and possibly elsewhere. coming out of the tunnel flashing a victory sign, holding a weapon saying, you see? we're still in control,, we beat them. i don't think they can do that. now f if they get fewer e weapons from the if u.s., that's a bad thing. the weapons they use may be more precise. i'd look at a little history. i don't have my white board like

karl rove, but in 1967 -- [laughter] lyndon johnson told the israelis, look, you need to incur more damage from egypt and syria before with you go into a war. the israelis said, we can't, we're too small. the '67 war ended in six days, and the israelis were victorious. a few years later, ray gone said don't take out the -- ray gone said don't take out the nuclear reactor in iraq, the israelis did so anyhow. i remember talking to jeane kirkpatrick about that, she denounced the israelis. said she was not proud of ma a -- that because she knew if they were right. a few years later, the rea actor in syria which the north koreans helped build, the israelis were also advised or instructed by the u.s. not to take that out, they did. anybody with a shred of diplomatic and strategic sense knows the israelis make the -- made the right decision. paul: right. >> if the israelis have to do it they will because if they don't

have the luxury to ca capitulate as biden did to the taliban. and and by the way, after that, during that capitulation, and americans were killed by isis-k. the u.s. decided to go after the perpetrators. they made a mistake, and the mistake meant that they killed an aid worker and ten other civilians including seven children. it took weeks before the pentagon acknowledged that meafnlgt even the best armies, and that includes the u.s. and idf even the best armies can make mistakes in the position of war at night on an open battlefield. and a reporter who's been in an open battlefield knows how dangerous it is no matter what precautions you take. paul: we've got about a minute left, but i want to ask you about an example of the israelis acting,, as you suggested, recently and that was the strike last week against the iranian irgc generals in syria. that seems to have been a very targeted and and effective strike, and and iran has vowed

to fight back. and some critics are saying that was a reckless attack by israel. what do you think? >> right. and so in this case the intelligence was very good and the strike was very precise. i think the israelis are making an important point, and they talk about it this way. they say when the israelis are fighting hamas or hezbollah, if they're fighting the houthis, if they're fighting the shia militias in syria and iraq are, their fighting the tentacles of an octopus. but the head of the octopus sleeps soundly in tehran. they didn't attack in tehran, but but the guys they attacked, it was very much the orchestrater for the octopus including of the 10/7 attacks. we know that. and they were i saying wert not going to let you off the hook. we are going to -- we know who's responsible. iran's responsible. this is the a command and control headquarters. it's not actually a consul or office. we know that's the case. hussein abdul hussein checked

the syrian media, this was a separate building. but even if it wasn't, the iranians took over the american embassy. they hit the israeli 'em bass city in argentina. they have to right to complain. paul: all right, appreciate. still ahead, havana syndrome, a new report sheds light on who may be responsible for a series of unexplained neurological symptoms, plus, speaker mike johnson on a collision course with members of his own party as he pushes for more ukraine aid. ♪ ahh. it's a good day to cough.

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that everyone can truly get behind. look at our little st. jude pin there on the fridge! we're just regular people donating. yeah. and i think it's cool to be able to make a difference in someone's lives in a way that is meaningful. ♪ paul: an explosive" 60 minutes" report has finally revealed who might be behind a series of strange brain with injuries reported by u.s. officials working in the u.s. and awe broad. many of the victims believe they were targeted by a secret weapon that shoots directed pulse if radio frequency energy. the intelligence community in an initial assessment of the incidents downplayed the likelihood of this being the work of a foreign adversary, but

for the first time new evidence has linked the injuries to a secret russian intelligence unit. joining the panel this week, "wall street journal" columnists dan henninger, bill mcgurn and editorial board member kyle peterson. dan, what do you make of this new evidence with the link to the russians? and the u.s. intelligence community is downplague it all. >> well, it's the very mysterious, to be sure. it is impossible to imagine that all of these officials at our embassies and consulates have been making this up. it's hard to believe it's a coincidence. paul: right. >> the source of it, excuse me, is even more difficult to figure out. i'm prepared to believe that it is the something being done by the russians. i mean, these electromagnetic waves, some of them are used to good purpose. the fda is approving some to help people. but you can use it to disrupt people's brains. to me, paul, the big message here is, look, we are in a cold

war with russia, china. they are fighting us with every weapon ability whether it's cyberrer, hypersonic weapons, and we have to be prepared and put all resources necessary into with defending ourselves against it. and that includes manager at the level of these consular -- something at the level of these consular officials being hit by these electromagnetic waves. paul: bill, the evidence that "60 minutes" turned up on this, incidents in many places in the world, they affect workers, their families, and they all a report relatively similar kinds of symptoms. and yet the intelligence community says, well, maybe this is just there are -- they're all just kind of reracketting in a crowd. they're all spooked and they say, oh, yeah, that's it. it's psychosew mat ific. >> yeah. i think people point out in addition to having the same symptoms, our officials were also, many of them if not most, linked to being studying russia in some way.

paul: in some way, right. >> so i'm prepared to believe either way. the problem we have is the intelligence community, people don't believe 'em anymore. it's hike public health officials with covid. discredited themselves. and the intelligence community with the steele dossier and then the 51 former intelligence officials dismissing the hunter laptop, they have a credibility issue. so i think people are not inclined to yield as they may have done a long time ago to their conclusion. paul: is there any reason the suspect, kyle, that this is the administration political -- remember, some of these incidents were when donald trump was president. just doesn't want to get into with another spat with russia or doesn't want to tell the american people, look, we're vulnerable here, and we can't do much about a it? >> yeah, that could be. that very well could be. the history of government cover-ups is certainly long. the difficulty is that there have been studied, for example,

one from the nih recently are of 80 people who reported havana syndrome, and they did brain scans and so forth and weren't finding much. i still have many more questions than answers on this. i'm fully prepared to believe that vladimir putin would target american agents with this kind of energy beam. on the other hand, are there other people in germany and ukraine being targeted with similar sort of things? if i think the consistency of the symptoms is interesting. on the other hand, people have all sorts of anomalous health things that happen to them and beliefs about their health that you could call medically unorthodox, and these are not mutually exclues i have. you could have some people that were hurt with a russian beam or other people who had mini strokes and are thinking there it was. paul: paul all right, let's turn to, dan, aid to ukraine. speaker mike johnson trying to get it passed, making certain maneuvering trying to pair it with something like maybe repealing the president's ban on new lng export projects. what do you make of his chances?

>> i think his chances are 50-50 at best. i mean, there are a lot of problems here. for one thing, there's a group of house republicans who don't seem to want -- they are opposed to spending money on ukraine -- paul: sure. >> they want to spend it on the border, and they seem to be opposed to pretty much everything that mike johnson does. on the other hand, it seems to me that some of the burden should be on joe biden as well. all the pressure if is on mike johnson. we know what he's dealing with. joe biden, on the other hand, is not -- like, allowing the renewal of lng export terminal, that would be one compromise. the house are republicans want something on the border. joe biden has a big problem with this border, and he could do something on that such as, you know, exercising some of the stronger asylum rules there. paul: right. >> but biden is beholden to his left, and that's the reason he's not moving. ukraine, meanwhile, is left in

the middle of this you should assault from the -- under assault from the russians having to conscript more people to fight for them and ats risk of losing a 2-year commitment. paul: bill, briefly are, johnson only has a, what, 1 or 2-vote majority? >> right. paul: so is, do you agree that biden has the biggest burden here? he's got to get his democrats onboard for whatever compromise -- >> yeah, i think in moral terms, that's right. and it aa sounds me, as i always a say, he doesn't give a national address from the oval is office, lay out the stakes. but i think johnson has a dilemma. and what he needs to decide is if he's going to go, what are the terms going to be. is he going to go and get the ukraine aid through, israel aid a through? if he's going to go, if they're going to take him down, he wants to go on his terms. paul: will the right try to depose him as speaker. >> right. paul: anyway, the house should be able to work it, that should happen a. when we come back, abortion on the ballot.

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not all caitlin clark's are the same. caitlin clark, city planner. just like not all internet providers are the same, don't settle.

get real deal speed, reliability and power with xfinity. she shoots from here? that's kinda my thing. get the real deal with xfinity internet today, and get fast speeds and a reliable connection to all your devices in the home —even when everyone is online. paul: the florida supreme court ruled this week that governor ron desantis' 6-week abortion ban can take effect while also approving a ballot measure for this november that would give florida voters the chance to discover turn it. democrats are hoping this will energize their base and drive voter turn turnout in the fall as they look to include abortion on the ballot in other key states. we're back with dan henning ger and kyle peterson, also joined by "wall street journal" columnist e kim strassel. kim, this strikes me as a pretty big event in the campaign. certainly, it is for the florida

politicians who will be on the ballot. do you think that it, that it could actually turn the florida election? >> well, i think it could make florida a lot closer than it has been, paul. as we know, florida has been trending right in recent elections, and republicans have felt pretty comfortable down there. but what we've also seen in recent elections is that when these particular issues are on the ballot, the abortion issue -- and we've seen that in recent midterms -- it does tend to drive turnout, in particular democratic turnout. and i do think that the republicans in putting themselves in this situation because, look, the ballot initiative is there in response to the 6-week law that they passed, they do risk making florida more of a battleground state this time where they have to expend if resources that they might not otherwise have to. paul: kyle, republicans had a 15-week abortion ban until last year, then governor ron desantis, with the legislature, pushed this 6-week ban.

now this ballot measure would e effectively overrule that and reinstall a kind of roe v. wade with reregime for the state. -- regime for the state. if that happens k and they need 60% of the vote to do it, today can't just do it with 50%, but if they get 60%, this would look like a real miscalculation on the part of abortion foes. >> right. and opponents to the ballot measure are going to say this actually goes beyond roe v. wade. paul: is that right? >> yeah. it would in some ways, it would put in the florida constitution protection for abortion through fetal viability which is about 24 weeks with exceptions for health, if it's attested to by a medical -- paul: health of the mother, correct. >> -- you mean. >> correct. and it's not defined. you're going to hear opposition that those would end up being big loopholes as defined by the courts, but those are the same sorts of arguments that republicans made against the constitutional amendments that passed in the last couple of years in michigan and ohio.

and nonetheless, voters strongly approved those measures because it seems to me when they're given a choice between a very strict abortion law like the one potentially in florida at 6 weeks and something more like roe v. wade or further, if it's an all or nothing choice, a lot of voters opt for all. paul: and, dan, this is an issue that could divide republicans, because president trump, excuse me, who will be on the ticket, he has called the 6-week ban terrible, opposed it during the primaries when he was running against desantis. but he hasn't said e what he would stand for himself. now, he's said he wants some compromise, the two sides can sit down, peaceably work it all out. and suggested, hinted that he might endorse a 15 or 16-week ban. but other politicians, republicans like senator rick scott, have said, no, he supports the 6-week ban. so there could be some conflict here for lower ballot republicans. >> yeah. i think eventually donald trump's going to have to show

some party leadership here. i don't think this is going to be a deciding issue at the presidential level. joe biden has voted up on abortion, but i really e don't think it's going to be that big of a deal at the presidential in part because trump has been vague about where he stands -- paul: he's trying to muddy the issue. >> he's trying to -- on the other hand, down ticket people like senator scott in florida or many of these house republicans who are in at-risk seats that joe biden, districts that joe biden carried the last time out, they're going to need some help. and probably the help does land on 15 weeks rather than 6 weeks. but the republican party, as a party led by donald trump, is going to have to be clear about that in november. paul: kim,, there's ab an argument that the dobbs ruling from two years ago has not been good for republicans even though they won that longtime battle of cause, and i certainly agreed

with the dobbs decision. but politically, it has not played out well for republicans. but in many ways, it's a vindication for justice samueling alito's decision. he said our job isn't to decide what the rule of, what the policy should be on abortion. that's for the people to decide. and dobbs lets the people decide. that's what florida voters are going to do. >> that's absolutely right. and, by the way, paul, politics is very messy. [laughter] and, you know, i know that there are some people that would rather the court just step in and decide all of this, but he's right, you return this back to the states. the problem rests with republicans who have not understood the degree to which democrats were going to use this. and they're going to do it again in swing states. it's not just florida. they're going to put it on the ballot in arizona, montana, other swing states for this presidential election. and that is going to be a challenge on the map. paul: all right. still ahead, the biden camp was quick to dismiss recent polls showing donald trump edging biden in key ballotgrounds, but a shifting electorate in some of

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(tony hawk) skating for over 45 years has taken a toll on my body. i take qunol turmeric because it helps with healthy joints and inflammation support. why qunol? it has superior absorption compared to regular turmeric. qunol. the brand i trust. ♪ >> these polls, like "the wall street journal" one, land in the white houses and he's losing all the battleground states -- >> no, he's not losing in all -- >> all a but one. >> he's coming up and he's even or doing better. so, you know what? once people start to focus in and they see their two choices, it's obvious that joe will win

this election. paul: that was first lady jill biden dismissing recent polling by the9 "wall street journal" that sewed former president trump with an edge -- showed former president trump with an edge in six out of seven key battleground states. but despite some in biden's corner downplaying his poor polling numbers, a shrinking member of democratic voters in some of those key states could spell trouble for the president in no. let's bring in "wall street journal" columnist and fox news contributor karl rove. karl, you've been scoping out these battleground states. what do you make of the first lady's statement9 that the president is moving up in the polls? is he gaping ground? >> she's living in an alternative reality from the one that i'm living in, and maybe that's comfortable for her or, but it's not realistic. i mean, think about this. in these states that we're talking about, we've got, we've got donald trump is outside the margin many in these three states.

he won north carolina last time around, but he's outside the margin in arizona and nevada. and if he were to pick up two of the remaining four states, he'd be president of the united states again. and, you know, granted, we're seven months away, and there's a lot of activity that is available to us, but she's -- both candidates have to be worried about it, and the biden campaign to say, no, it's obvious he's going to win, it's ignoring the reality. let me give you a couple examples of why. the margin in these states is narrow. paul: right. >> and if the arizona hispanics or arizona young voters decline in turnout by half a percent, one-half of 1%, or biden's margin, all things, everything else being equal, is wiped out in the state. and in georgia if the black with turnout declines .3 of 11th and splits just hike -- 1 and splits hike it did last time around, his winning margin there is wiped out. registration trends are not good

for him. nevada, there are 30,000 more registered democrats than republicans, that is down 54,000 from 4 years ago. paul: wow. >> this is a state that joe biden won by 33,000. pennsylvania, 399,000 more democrats than are republicans, has down 286,000 from 4 years ago, 42%. s this is a state he won by 81,000 votes. so if they're looking at these kind of trend lines and thinking, oh, boy, we're doing great, they're kidding themselves. paul: well, look, as i looked at this "wall street journal" poll, karl, it seems to me that there is some ground for the president to gain. and i say this because it looks to me like trump's support is really quite firm, and it may have topped out. it's higher than i think it was in 2020, for example. hard to see that it's going to grow a lot given his unfavorables. but the president's coalition has really frayed. finish and a lot of those voters, when you talk to them,

what they say is, well, i'm really discuss appointed in the president on immigration or inflation. but i can't vote for donald trump. so maybe there's room for him to gain from those people and get them back. what do you think? >> i think that is right. and there are troublesome spots for donald trump in all of this. let me give you a couple of examples. the haley voters. on march 5th in north carolina, 250,000 are republicans or voters voted for nikki haley. it is a three times donald trump's winning margin in that state. now, she was in the race -- paul: right. >> but the next day she says i'm suspending my campaign. a week later she gets 77,000, nearly 78,000 votes in georgia, and she's no longer a candidate. and then this week in wisconsin, a state that he host by 20,000 votes, he got 76,000 votes -- she got 76,000 votes. in fact, in new york, connecticut and rhode island, between 1 out of every 6 and 1 out of every 7 republicans does not vote for donald trump, they

vote for, principal my, nikki haley and a few more for ron desantis, and neither one of them is in the race. there's some dissatisfaction if among the republicans that's problematic. in addition, if you look at north carolina and arizona a, the independents are growing. and from what i can figure out of the patterning -- pattern, it looks like these are more of these college-educated sub suburbanutes, so, yes, this race is very much up for grabs in many statements. only three of these states are outside the margin of error, and you have a big financial advantage, you can move one or two or three points in these other states, and that's the gap between donald trump and joe biden in these, in these critical battleground states except for three that are outside the margin. paul: so one other state that's interesting to me is florida because donald trump won that with 3.3 percentage if points. but now there's going to be an abortion referendum on the ballot that would effectively overrule the state's ban on

abortions after 6 weeks. i wonder if you think -- i mean, democrats are ilateded. they think this is going to be great and drive turnout. does this put florida in play in november? >> if you know, i'm not certain that it does. i think there are two or three things that matter here. first of all, what is donald trump's attitude going to be on abortion? is it going to be more hike desantis' law, 6-week banger or is it going to be more like -- ban, or is it going to be more like glenn youngkin in virginia, 15 weeks, exemptions and a lot of empathy? what people forget is that with glenn youngkin leading the charge and saying we've got a reasonable approach to limiting abortion, we're guaranteeing a woman's right to do so within a certain period of time, 15 weeks, the republicans took every statehouse of delegates district that joe biden had won by 10 points or less and took

every state senate district that joe biden had won by 9 points or less. so this abortion issue is not the huge winner. i mean, if it was a huge winner, then we would have been losing republican seat es, not taking democrat seats. similarly, i'm a little dubious with about how critical it's going to be in a state where there is a 500,000-person republican advantage in registration over democrats. paul: all right, karl. fascinating stuff. thanks very much, appreciate it. still ahead, california governor gavin newsom who signed a new fast food minimum wage law is catching heat for how much he pays some of the employees at hii s restaurant. 3 ♪0 re ♪ e -ugh. -here, i'll take that. woo hoo! ensure max protein, 30 grams protein, 1 gram sugar, 25 vitamins and minerals. and a new fiber blend with a prebiotic. (♪) it's time to feed the dogs real food, not highly processed pellets. the farmer's dog is fresh food made with whole meat and veggies. it's not dry food. it's not wet food. it's just real food.

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it's a lot less people working on shifts, so their jobs got a lot more difficult. paul: that was a former manager of a small ice cream shop in california who lost her job after the store closed for good as a result of california's newly-passed $20 fast food minimum wage. but criticism in lean days has shifted to governor gavin newsom who signed the wage floor into law after reports surfaced that his restaurant the near lake tahoe was offering less than the state the min minimum finish a bus with boy position. we're back with kim strassel, dan hen henninger and bill mcgurn. she showed a better understanding of economics than anything in the california legislature. [laughter] >> yeah. the idea that you can just dictate the wages and prices and have no consequences, everything's rainbows and unicorns -- [laughter] is absurd. but also this is a double whammy if for working people. it shows how these policies are

ostensibly done for working people. there's half a million fast food workers, and now some of them are going to be hit by job losses. paul: right. >> and on the other hand, they're paying higher prices. i think the prices at mcdonald's has doubled. they've gotten -- paul: it's $2 an hour, $2 more for a basic meal. >> right. one 5-year-old got an $18 -- it went viral, an $18 big mac. so they've given incentive to automate, to replace people altogether, and they're paying higher prices. ceo of mcdonald's said that they're losing customers at lower income, and plaintiff more of their customers are middle and upper income. so double whammy. higher prices for the food for all low income if people and fewer jobs. paul: kim, what do you make of governor newsom's exception here. i guess his wine shop or

hospitality business doesn't qualify. he said, well, i put it in a blind trust when when i became governor, so i have nothing to say about that. but if the busboy's making $16 at his restaurant, there's a double standard here. >> well, of course there is. and gavin newsom ising extreme arely good at double standards. remember all the mask controversy out in california during the lockdown and who had to wear them and who didn't. but, you know, look, this is classic. one of the reasons that we have this problem in california is that legislature is completely divorced from situations on the ground. and gavin newsom is a walking example of that. finish and we're going to get more pushback from -- you're already seeing a lot of people revolting in california over this because they're sold these things again and again that are supposedly for their benefit only to find out that none of the ruling class actually abides by the laws, and the con generalses are -- consequences are severe for them. paul: dan, you have said the democratic party is more and

more divorced from any economic reality. but i'm going to go to no labels, because i want to get to the no labels movement which was going to field or try to field a thursday party. but this week they announced they won't have it, field a candidate. they didn't have anybody they thought could win the election. what do you make of that decision? >> well, it's -- i think it's going to have a really intriguing effect on the election, ultimately. i assumed after joe lieberman tragedy clay --ically -- tragically died it was going to be difficult for them to come up with a candidate, and a lot of people like chris christie turned them down because he didn't think the he could win, and he just didn't want to go in there to be a spoil. this election, more than any we have had in a long time, the has a lot of voters looking for an alternative. big question when at crunch time in november people who don't like biden or don't like trump will say what can i do, i've got to go with the democrat or the republican or stay home, or the

possibility that they'll vote for rfk jr. as a protest or even write in someone's name, none of the above, which raises big questions about what effects -- affects turn turnout and that dynamic is going to have in some of these very close states where the race between trump and biden will be so tight. paul: bill, why did so many of the potential candidates -- joe manchin can be, chris christie, larry hogan, nikki haley -- all say, no thanks. >>some. >> biden campaigned against this should. paul: they were afraid it was going to hurt. >> but they were also afraid it was going to put a stigma if on someone that took that job. i think i agree with dan, but the interesting thing now is that the alternatives are generally left of center, you know? jill stein, bobby kennedy, i think cornel west is still in it. paul: yeah. >> bobby kennedy you can argue about whether you'd get some trump votes for his vaccine

stance and the middle east, but it's mostly left of center. no labels' problem, if you look historically at third parties, they come in like ross perot, even trump could have done it, in other words, someone who didn't have political background that captures the imagination of people. but they were kind of going after retreads, i think, and it didn't work. paul: yeah. they, they also are going through the middle, right? >> right. paul: third parties need a galvanizing cause or a big personality. all right. when we come back, a fafsa fiasco. prospective college students are wondering if they'll be able to attend college this fall after yet another financial aid form setback. our panel on this next. g ♪ ♪et help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need... ...without the stuff you don't. so, here's to now. boost.

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♪ paul: colleges and universities across the country are receiving financial aid applications with inaccurate tax information because of a technical glitch involving a third party vendor. of which may are result in about a million students receiving inerect aid offers. -- incorrect aid offers. this is just the latest in the setbacks for the revamped fafsa program that has been plagued by many challenges in recent months. let's bring back our panel. so, kyle, tell our viewers or what fafsa is and why it matters so much to parents and children trying to get into college. >> well, it's a student the aid application that essentially governs many people's student you wigs and the aid that they get -- tuition and the aid that they get from the colleges that they're applying to. and i think this is a great example of your government at work. congress put a fafsa redesign in a 2020 omnibus bill -- paul: just slipped it in there. [laughter] the granddaughter was to make it

simpler,'dier on parents who have long complained about the difficulty of filling out the fafsa form and the invasiveness of out it. lo and behold, it's been error after error, delay after delay. colleges are now delaying admission timelines in order to try to give students more time. but i think this is a great example of the kind of meltdown that is only possible when you centralize this kind of thing the nationally in one big government program. and i just keep going back to these are the people that want to -- you know, the progressives and democrats want to put in charge of health care and and all sorts of other -- paul: well, the american auto i have and the energy industry and everything else. i mean, it's amazing. kim, they had two years to put this into place. [laughter] i mean, you know, why didn't they tell amazon to do it or somebody with some actual technical expertise? [laughter] >> i mean, it's an excellent question, paul, but why didn't

they do that when they rolled out the obamacare web site? i mean, government always thinks it can do this, and all you have to do is recall the dmv and the lines, and we wonder yet again why we're doing this. look, i think we also have to put this in the context of the broader environment here as well too. there's a lot of students that are choosing not to go to college anymore in part because these processes are difficult, but they're also worried about the amount of debt they might be getting. we've had, i think, almost 33% fewer of these applications go in this year. that was a statistic from a couple of weeks ago. this is also happening in the context of the first year since the supreme court ruled on race in admissions, so it's throwing another huge wildcard into the admiration -- admissions process, and a lot of people are just throwing their hands up and saying, why bother? you have to ask how that fits in with a country that a continues to suggest that one of its top priorities is a better educated work force. paul: this is just, this is more than just a technical glitch,

dan. this affects the decisions that parents and children have to make about what kind of college they can afford. i mean, they're getting these acceptances, or they have, and they've got to decide, welsh you know, can we go to this school or that school. so some of these people just don't know what their financial obligations are going to be. >> no, not at all. and i think as a result, you have to wonder whether there are not going to be significant national political implications in this. this is a federal program, big federal program. the democratic party is the party of big national government. joe biden makes no bones about that. but increasingly, as kyle was pointing out, these big -- these programs have become so big they just don't work. a similar example, joe biden's debt forgiveness plan. it is extremely complex to apply for debt forgiveness. almost as complex as the fafsa process. during covid the small business loans completely beset by

widespread fraud -- paul: hundreds of billions of. [laughter] >> and people are beginning to understand that the federal government has become simply incompetent, and we're going to need an alternative. it'll be the burden with on republicans to provide or suggest those alternatives, but the democrats own these problems. paul: kyle, there's some suggestion that this isn't, the problem here was in part inattention, the program that run runs the fafsa shop at the education department and people think, well, you know, maybe they're too preoccupied with student loan relief instead of actually getting this job done. >> yeah, that might well be true. and you hear certain criticisms across other areas of the government. the federal reserve is talking about how worried it is about climate change can and so on and so forth -- paul: instead of monetary policy. >> and it's another remind or of how much higher education is underwritten by the federal government, and maybe that's something republicans ought to look at a changing the next time

they get put back in power. paul: maybe republicans should but they don't. all right. we have to take one more break. [laughter] when we come back, hits and misses of the week. ded. it's time we listen to science. one a day is formulated with key nutrients to support whole body health. one a day. science that matters. anthony: this making you uncomfortable? good. when you've got type 2 diabetes like me, you have up to 4 times greater risk of stroke, heart attack or worse death. even when meeting your a1c goal. discomfort can help you act. i'm not trying to scare you. i'm empowering you... to get real with your health care provider.

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call 1-800-miracle to schedule a free hearing evaluation and start your risk-free trial at miracle-ear today. time now for our hits and misses of the week. kim, first to you. >> a rare hip to the state where i was born, oregon this week deciding to recriminalize hard drugs. this vast liberal experiment began back in 2020. voters decide to decriminalize most hard drugs. thinking to quote bill it would be rainbows and unicorns but instead totally expect that happened soaring overdoses, soaring rates of addiction and more crime rate the governor has signed a bill making it hard drugs again a misdemeanor. it's not far enough but it is a first step. >> a bill? >> a big hit to caitlin clark.

the iowa guard is the undisputed star of the ncaa playoffs. she is already the top score in history. the viewership for the elite eight game, 12 million. more than almost any sport. more than the nba except for one game, the playoffs. so, she is bringing excitement to college basketball. she is an undisputed superstar at the game is benefiting. >> go iowa. alright kyle? was a given hit to the doctors at mass general hospital perform the first transplant of a on a living patient genetically at a date pig kid 62-year-old patient went home wednesday after the operation two weeks ago. the pagan and kidney had been modified to add and remove several genes in hopes of staving off rejection. no it knows how long that work half a million americans get dialysis 100,000 out on the kidney waiting list if it does it'll be a huge step forward.

>> data? works here is a miss no one was supposed to know about. last friday, which was good friday the environmental protection agency put out its rules mandating by 2032 all trucks including tractor trailers will have to be electric. they have reason to hide this. the goals are impossible to achieve and they are going to be impossibly expensive. it's going to require 1.4 million chargers. the electoral grid will be overwhelmed with billions of new investment. the trucks are really heavy because the batteries they are about twice as expensive as diesel. that was joe biden's happy easter weekend present to america. >> will have to carry it not heavy stuff. thanks to my panel and all of you watching. hope to see you next week. eric: it is a mad -- for cash and the 2024de