they keep trying to stop trump and they keep failing. late tonight, the minnesota supreme court dismissed a lawsuit that would have kept the former president off the ballot entirely. that was based on a totally bogus claim that he is disqualified from being president under the 14th amendment. it is not going to work. so, what's next in their bag of dirty tricks to try to stop this guy? well, we are going to discuss it a little later. but, first, what happened and what's next? that's the focus of tonight's angle. no getting around it, republicans were once again disappointed last night. big weed and big abortion won in ohio. the g.o.p. lost its dream of taking control of the virginia state house. and the incumbent democrat in kentucky andy beshear, he won. now, naturally, democrats are leaping to the conclusion that biden emerges as superman. >> it was a significant victory for democrats and it couldn't come at a better time for them as there is tremendous anxiety about president biden's bid for re-election. >> last night is indicative coalitions are actually strong. >> boom, once again, joe biden is under estimated. >> laura: now, wait. listening to that crowd, you think that biden was out there week after week vigorously campaigning. virginia, and ohio, kentucky. forget superman. he is more like kryptonite. >> one of the things i convinced president -- when i was vice president, i convinced the president to do. ♪ >> laura: that's the amtrak behind him. now, an a"the washington post" poll biden's approval in virginia is at a lame 43%. meanwhile, in the same survey republican governor glenn youngkin's approval is at 54%. also, there was some genuinely positive trends for the g.o.p. in virginia. republicans won 1 districts that president biden won in 2020. republicans won seven districts where the congressional democratic candidate won in 2022. and, look, in a state that biden carried by, what, 10 points just three years ago, republicans came within just a few thousand votes of winning majorities in both legislative chambers out of roughly 2.3 million votes cast. so, do they wish they did better? of course. but, is it a total disaster? far from it. and in kentucky, let's face this: no one was going to beat beshear. withbut at one point polls shows cameron down double digits. he came in about five percentage points? not bad given the power of the beshear family name. the good news is that all other major statewide offices in kentucky went big for republican. and then there was mississippi where democrats got their hopes up that elvis presley's cousin would unseat incumbent conservative tate reeves. but they were all shook up because it didn't happen. reeves won. republicans even managed to snag a few victories in new york where republican romaine flipped long island executive seat. we continue to chip away at the democrat party there. keep it up. so, everyone is asking me today when we run into them, what lessons we take from this? what do we do next? well, first, microtargetting voters matters. democrats knew that suburban knights in virginia and ohio would turn out for the abortion issue. they were right. almost every democrat ad that i saw in virginia over the last, what, 90 days or so was about abortion. it was nothing about how great the economy is under biden or the democrats. so democrat consultants stuck to that issue. because it worked in the midterms. and with abortion front and center, the parental rights issue that worked for youngkin back in 2021, kind of got drowned out. this time democrats were ready. and by election day, the issue was no longer about protecting our kids. it was about keeping nazis off the school board. again, it's time to recognize that the suburbs are increasingly left leaning on the cultural issues. plus, the democrats are able to outraise, outspend, and better frame these issues than republicans. and i know now hearing you this are saying okay, so now what? with these dynamics at play how can conservatives still win? my answer is of course they can win. mostly last night's results confirm what we have been saying all along. the g.o.p. must continue to harvest voters from where they are for the g.o.p. which is among working class, multi-ethnic voters. right now we face a coalition of upper class voters, big business, and far left culture warriors. that's not changing any time soon. look, a few decades ago, certainly back in the 1980s, it wasn't this way. businesses weren't, you know, they were anti-soviet and far more pro-american than pro-globalization. the left was pretty much relegated to college campuses. and if a few places like san francisco, greenwich village and so forth. rich americans also tend to be more politically pragmatic back then. but, that's pretty much changed. but the views of most working class voters have not changed. clean-up is why it's key that we follow the strategy that trump began with. economic growth, stuff like lower gas prices, peace through strength. elect democrats and you're going to get more inflation, more exploding migrant populations and more war, period. that kind of message wins. and will prove the overly confident democrats wrong. >> since we have had joe biden at the top of the ticket, they -- democrats won the presidency. they did fantastically well in 2022. now, in 2023 far exceeding expectations. basically everything they could have won they won. >> why are democrats still so weird. >> exactly even when democrats are doing great under joe biden, all they want to do is panic. >> laura: panic. but the americans doing great? panic is exactly what so many americans families are feeling now because of joe biden. and conservatives need to galvanize those people. and these orders just aren't white men living outside the old manufacturing hubs in places like akron, ohio, burgton, vermont, they are black and brown, too. new immigrants as well who came here for a better life for their children, not what they are experiencing today. so the message might be when we're back in control, you'll be able to keep your gas powered car and fill it 'with gas that you can actually afford. when we win, we'll enforce our own border before we spend billions trying to enforce other country's borders. we will take power away from government bureaucrats and give it back to you. hard-working americans, who just want a fair shot. next year's election should be about common sense. we have it. democrats have none. so they are celebrating ohio's ballot initiatives buff those issues didn't stop j.d. vance from winning last year, did they? and another reason by the way to believe that democrats are unjusticably confident in biden's 2024 prospects. look no further than the comments made by the matriarch of corruption herself hillary clinton. >> barack obama was tied at this point my husband was behind at this point in his re-election. joe biden has not only proved he has done a good job but look at the alternative. >> ug. >> and look at what we would face as a country. i think the election results yesterday should be very good news for president biden. >> laura: look at what we face as a country, peace, prosperity and a closed border. yes, secretary, bleach bit is actually trying to convince us that biden's political skills are on par with obama's and clinton's. yeah. the fact is, beyond the republicans being outmaneuvered on the social issues, they were outspent in all of these races as well. so is there a plan? does anyone have a plan for how to turn that around in 2024? it does not seem like it. the other point, as always, the media was egregiously pro-abortion and pro-marijuana in its coverage. obviously we know that's not going to change. so, again, we must accept these facts and pivot. we have to build on the success that trump, desantis, greg abbott in texas, and a lot of other great governors have found. their policies appealed to republicans and independents and open-minded democrats. including to hispanics and even more african-american men. so, is next year going to be an uphill battle? i'm not trying to shy away from that. it is. but republicans can win. after all, they control about half of the country and their policies make life better for working people. why else would 76% of the country on the monday poll just released by the "new york times" say we're going in the wrong direction? and that's the angle. joining me now is ben domenech editor-at-large for the spectator and fox news contributor and president of the committee to unleash prosperity. ben, we are going to talk later in the show about where the g.o.p. goes from here. but what's your take on what happened last night starting in virginia? >> well, first off, i have to say as a virginian for, you know, three decades of my life, people need to recognize it's a blue state. it's not the first time that republican candidates both hard core social conservatives and people insider moderates ken cuccinelli and ed gillespie had to deal with the problem of navigating the abortion issue in that state. they both lost very close elections. that's the kind of issue that's a real challenge in a socially liberal state. in a state that joe biden won by 10 points, glenn youngkin came extremely close to achieving republican ends and he did so after redistricting that affected a number of these races. situations where you had very close elections where they added, you know, 17,000 votes, in particular, to one critical senate seat from the democrat side. it's really hard to go up against that. it's even harder when someone like ronna mcdaniel at the rnc does not come in and offer any support in virginia. okay? that's actually what i would be pointing the finger at if i was any republican in virginia saying look how close we got. we got this slim margin away from achieving something that could have made this governorship extremely effective the next two years. you didn't give any money toward it. you refused the request. >> laura: do they have the money? >> well, that's a big question, too. that is a fair question. and but the fact that she refused the request that came from the virginia republicans for that last minute help in october, that could have been the margin there. a few million dollars here or there could have made the difference in these states. >> laura: again, i don't want to pin the blame on one person here because it's not just one person there are a lot of political consultants that got rich off these virginia races and no matter how wrong they are, they always get hired again. i never understand this about the political consultants. i got to go in that business. >> fail upwards. >> laura: exactly. phil, given the financial disparity here, clearly republicans don't have the money that the democrats have. how to connect that working class message that obviously works in miami-dade county it works. >> well, look, i think it's interesting that the biggest win in virginia was actually a race where the republican had almost no money. commonwealth attorney republican spent $70,000 against incumbent 1.1 million. >> laura: what race. >> county attorney spent $1.1 million lost. loudoun county. she lost because she criminalized parents standing up for their children in the schools and refused to prosecute the actual criminals in the schools and that did have enough legs to extend through another election cycle although it wasn't enough to dominate statewide the way that it was. >> laura: bob anderson won that seat. arlington virginia liberal. fairfax county is so liberal now. it's not in any way moderate. it was in the mid 80's when i came here. fairfax county. northern virginia, it was kind of working class. very moderate republican. that's totally changed and, ben, immigration has changed a lot in virginia, has it not. >> it really has. >> laura: open border is going to make it worse. >> it really has. >> this is a failure of republicans to recognize. you have a new coalition now and not going back to the old one. you may have fond memories of the point where you had those, you know, upper class wine moms in the suburbs come out and voting for you in midterm elections. guess who is voting for you now in the guy who is building the deck out behind your house. so you have to appeal to him. reach out to him. bring him to the polls. >> laura: to that point, phil, are republicans investing in spanish radio? because there's an enormous amount of hispanic radio and television that seems to me to be fertile ground for common sense messaging on policies. i'm not hearing anything oil-are you hearing any ads in spanish? i speak spanish i haven't heard any ads. >> very little and huge missed opportunity. look, i think that ben is absolutely right. republicans are now the party of people who work for a living. the democrats are the party of the very rich and the party of people who are on government assistance. government dependency. for republicans to win, they need to run up the score with everyone who is in the middle economically. laura, i wish they would carry the message exactly like did you in monologue there. that's a winning message on the economy. >> laura: when i'm president gas is going to be 2.30 a gallon how does that sound? >> exactly. >> what i have such a big problem with i agree with you virginia is a tough state. we did all right. we picked up some seats. the math was tough. we have a president who is a total failure. >> laura: total disaster. >> horrible rating. we should be able to win in an environment like this. it's almost political malpractice. >> laura: ran abortion in virginia. >> political malpractice we let democrats run away from joe biden and the responses on abortion are simply not up to the scale that they need to be. >> laura: how did trump do it? what did trump say? hillary you are the radical. rip babies out. >> wiewms. >> people are scared to talk about it? >> lets democrats define you on the issue. you can't avoid it anymore. state, local, this is in your territory now. you can't get away with dodging it. you have to come up with an answer and you have to deliver it. >> genius of what trump did is, i think most voters, he says hillary you want to rip babies out? most voters who don't vote on that issue say they are both crazy i will vote on the economy and something else. if you don't give them something. >> laura: i think they are the radicals. wouldn't you think -- when does a baby have rights? never. >> i have an idea. >> you don't have to convince us. >> crazy idea, maybe let's start with having an actual organized pro-life movement in the country and see if something that benefits from that. >> laura: and dobbs, what people say was it worth it to have roe v. wade overturned? absolutely. not even a question. >> not even a question. >> laura: dumbest question i heard all day. both you have thanks so much. up next, a frightening new report on how bad actors overseas are already getting ready to interfere in the 2024 election. senator eric schmitt is here with all the details. first, where in the world is pete buttigieg? oh, we'll tell you, very exciting, next. ♪ >> thank you so much. thank you for having us over. >> good so far. very good visit. >> bret: of course transportation secretary pete buttigieg is hobnobbing with zelenskyy in ukraine. what else would he be doing? i'm surprised he didn't appear in matching zelenskyy fatigues. he looks like his son there. little kid. this year dozens of train derailments including the toxic one in east palestine. a spike in aviation near misses and just bridge collapses including philly's i-95. pretty boy pete is in kyiv to talk about rebuilding even tapping a new infrastructure adviser not for the u.s. but for ukraine. what is this? why is ukraine asking us for an infrastructure adviser? and more importantly, who is going to be paying this guy's salary? well, you. the department of transportation telling the angle the funding for the position at the u.s. embassy, which was a top ask from ukraine is from a ukraine aid package which passed with bipartisan support in both the house and the senate. well, if ukraine asks for it, then how could we say no, really? we'll continue to follow along with pete's trip. but there is one thing we know for sure, and that's where the biden administration's priorities lie. >> this funding will not only rebuild ukraine's economy and offset the damage brought by russia and reimagine it investing in new industries, infrastructure and supply chains connected to europe and to the world. >> laura: can i see the buttons and bumper stickers 2024 reimagine ukraine. that should be biden's 2024 slogan. that's the only thing they seem to care about. >> two foreign actors, iran and russia, have taken specific actions to influence public opinion relating to our elections. some voter registration information has been obtained by iran and separately by russia. we have already seen iran sending spoofed emails designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest, and damage president trump. >> laura: now it's about to happen again, plus china. new analysis from microsoft warning that russia, iran, and china will likely interfere in the 2024 presidential election. and i think we all know who they are pulling for. joining me now is missouri senator eric schmitt. senator, good to see you in studio. the microsoft analysis center for those three countries the stakes are simply too high. the next u.s. president will define the direction of conflict whether wars might occur or peace might prevail. i mean, come on. pretty obvious who china doesn't want to be president of the united states, is it not? >> by the way, can i just say something about pete buttigieg on the previous segment? >> laura: yes. >> he is in ukraine -- another reason why we should separate this funding. vote on these things individually, the supplemental that has ukraine funding we have to separate. they is in ukraine. he has never been to the commerce committee. i'm on the commerce any oversight of the department of transportation. never once been in front of this committee this year. is he in ukraine. >> laura: when i worked at the d.o.t., we were always up there, i mean the secretary was always up there testifying. >> refuses to answer questions and more interested in woke policy. >> laura: maybe you should convene the committee in kyiv and invite zelenskyy and get pete to actually show up. >> but, to your question. i mean, look, this is a serious concern. i think we should be focused on -- there ought to be consequences, by the way, if state actors are engaged in this kind of activity. i would also say the bit of a warning here that in the 2020 election, our own government used sort of a -- the russian hack and leak pre-bunking of the hunter biden laptop story to affect the election. and we ought to be careful about our own government using this sort of misinformation as a giz. >> laura: piggy bank misinformation concern tagging it to those three countries when it actually could be just regular americans having a conversation. you are worried that's. >> i don't want to see our government engaged in censorship like we have seen in the biden administration and we saw leading up to the 2020 election. no doubt in the missouri vs. biden lawsuit we have shown this the fbi was engaged in this. >> laura: china wants biden. they are brokering the big surrender from the united states right now. they say it's a deal. it's a u.s. surrender to china on all these trade issues. they are going to drop these tariffs. that's trillions of dollars over a decade. that's probably a couple trillion dollars for china alone. for trillions of dollars, they will do pretty much anything, will they not? >> yeah. and this administration is projected nothing but weakness on the world stage and china sees that. and that's another reason, again, our focus, instead of worryi