fox news at night. >> and talk about getting the jump on the competition. one night before the gop presidential candidates take the stage in tuscaloosa, alabama, former president trump took the stage in iowa tonight with a town hall, with sean hannity. the former president went after the current president and just about everyone else. his take no prisoners approach appears to be working because his lead as you know is enormous and despite everything former president trump said tonight, the most controversial statement might very well have come from president biden. the senior national correspondent kevin corke is live in d.c. with more on the trump town hall. kevin, good evening. >> good evening, trace. his lead among gop primary competition is so significant, some say it's clearly ins insurinsurmir mourm insurmountable, but he'll not take part in the gop debate because his many pundits would point out it's all risk with relatively little benefit. instead the former commander-in-chief staking his message directly to the voters in iowa by way of the town hall on sean hannity where the focus of his ire was unmistakably clear. >> we have a man who can't put two sentences together. we have a man who doesn't know he's life. >> you're not going to be a dictator, are you? >> no, other than day one. we're closing the border and drilling, drilling, and drilling. >> drill, baby, drill, as some would say. hannity's town hall comes less than a week after he host add well watched contentious debate between ron desantis of florida and california's governor, gavin newsom, a democrat, a high-profile biden surrogate. meanwhile, nikki haley's performance in the past two debates has elevated her profile, although her chances of overtaking trump would seem to be slim to none although you never know and that's why you have to wait and see. as for the democratic party standard bearer, 80-year-old joe biden he was asked why, oh, why, hasn't he stepped aside for, you know, a younger generation of leadership to take on mr. trump. said biden, if trump wasn't running, i'm not sure i would be running. but we can't let him win. now, latest real clear politics average has the former president leading the current president by a six point margin, 63-47 and some would say that's why biden is running because he probably feels like he is the best chance they have. >> but it's not really confidence building that we're going to talk much more about, kevin, thank you, let's bring in a democratic running for u.s. senate here in california and it pent women's forum -- this is the former president talking about joe biden being the nominee. watch. >> i permanently don't think he makes it. remember when he said i would like to take him behind the barn, if he took me behind the barn and i went like this, [puff] >> in the meantime you have the left continue take talking all day long if trump gets into the office he'll be a dictator. it's on and on. what are your thought about trump jumping in before the gop debate tomorrow night? >> well, town hall is, i think, trump's best forum because everybody likes what he has to say. he talks a very strong game. i think where trump has some weakness is, well, you had four years to do it and the boararde isn't secure. you said would you do something about the national debt, yet it drew $8 trillion. i think it went well for him. it was a very energetic crowd. obviously he's got a great rapport with sean hannity. they are friends. so it was entertaining. it was great. but it's not exactly what a primary voter needed. >> but then again, he's up by so much. in fact, we're going to talk about this because the former president mentioned the whole concept of not taking any chances of iowa. here he is saying that. >> it's five weeks now, and we'll be coming here a little bit, and then the last couple of weeks we'll be -- we're not taking any chances. up by 30 or 40 points. >> it almost seems like he wants to take the air out of the room tomorrow night in tuscaloosa for the gop going after it so he kind of maybe upstages him? >> the whole thing was interesting to watch. that's one way to describe it. i think you mentioned earlier in this segment a new generation of voters is what people are looking for. the majority of americans don't want to see every match between former president trump and biden, and so it is time to bring in a fresh generation who is more in touch with the voters. i'm not sure that he was. he really played to his base, that's for sure. >> it's interesting because biden said this at a fundraiser. we talked about this maybe being the most controversial thing. he said, if trump wasn't running i'm not sure i would be running. we can't let him win. i mean, if you're a democrat and you think, is the only reason the president of the united states is running is to stop trump? it doesn't seem like you're very convincing. what do you think? >> yes, a biden campaign adviser was quoted as saying yikes after that but i thought -- i don't necessarily know if it is yikes because kind of what they have been doing out loud. there is no democratic platform. there is a "republicans are bad" and trump is bad. you can all them all sorts of names. transphobic. it's a name calling enterprise that's built up around the evilness of trump. so biden is saying it out loud is maybe what one would call a brain fart but i don't necessarily think it's a shift in the existence of the democratic party right now. >> trace: when i first heard it, i thought that's usual. okay. you were talking about the younger generation of voters, christine, i want to put up this poll. this is the harvard institute of voters. who would you vote for, biden 41, trump 30 but the would not vote is 15er. even bigger, don't know is at 13%. you look at those numbers and you've got 38% of young people, the ages of 18 to 29, they are like, probably going to take a pass. maybe partly base you've got the president of the united states saying, listen, if it's going to be trump, then i'll run. otherwise, i mean, i might let somebody else take over. >> you know -- voters are -- what they believe is there is no current leader that's relating their need, their voice, so they just decide not to vote. when you look at the polls, 16% of americans don't trust their elected leaders. don't trust the government right now. that's a national security crisis and that number is even lower amongst young voters. >> 10 seconds, are you surprised by the young mean who want to bow out? >> no. they don't have any money. that's, i think, the issue. they are just faced with barriers everywhere they go and they don hear solutions and it's frustrating. >> trace: yes. thank you both. we're just getting word the israeli military is now expanding its ground defenses saying its troops are entering the heart of the gaza's second largest city. here at home the leaders of the country's top university testified before congress about their schools' failure to makek jewish students feel safe on campus. dan springer is live for us in seattle with more on how the hearing went. good evening. >> good evening, trace. the sharp rise in anti-semitism on college campuses took center stage on capitol hill today and three university presidents were on the hotseat. since the hamas attack on israel college campuses have seen regular protests and violence. among the incident in new york city jewish students took shelter in a locked library as the mob banged on windows. posters of jews taken hostage are still missing or ripped down by palestinian students. today congress heard from several students who described what it's like being jewish on college campuses right now. >> today, in 2023, at nyu, i hear calls to gas the jews and i'm told that hitler was right. >> 36 hours ago i, along with most of campus, sought refuge in our rooms. as classmates and professor chanted proudly for the genocide of juice. >> this student rally at the university of washington here in seattle was typical with a speaker calling for elimination of israel with the phrase from the river to the sea. the department of education has started to investigate seven schools for anti-semitism. a cornell student has been charged with threatening to kill jews on campus. at the hearing today the presidents of mit, penn and harvard were grilled by republicans on what they were doing to keep students safe. >> based upon your testimony you understand that this call for intifada is to commit genocide against israel and globally, correct? >> i would say that type of hateful speech is personally abhorrent to me. >> do you believe that type of hateful speech is contrary to harvard's code of conduct or is it allowed at harvard? >> it is at odds with the values of harvard. >> can you not say here that it's against the code of conduct at harvard? >> the university presidents consistently fell back on the article they were protecting free speech. >> trace? >> dan, thank you. the fox news at night common sense department just like you is wondering when this explosion of anti-semitism in the u.s. ends or doesn't end. does it grow, does it slow, common sense doesn't know. it was only weeks ago that a few college campuses were holding protests. then it was high schools and colleges. then it was dozens. now it's hundreds. we went from pro-palestinian protestors spilling into the streets to now filling the streets. where the protestors are taking aim at jewish businesses that have zero, by the way, connection to anything in the middle east. so how long do we just keep pretending this behavior is about supporting palestinians? and pushing for a cease-fire when the truth is, it's blatant anti-semitism. jewish hate plain and simple. common sense would like to know why our civic society is not putting an end to this because by not ending it we're emboldening its purveyors to amplify attacks and escalate their anti-semitic tactics. how long before we sue new autonomous zones in 2020 but this time it's not to keep cops out or jews out, or worse, to keep jews in. common sense would like to say we're in unchartered territory. sadly, we know this territory like the back of our hands. we just tend to forget how we got there. let's bring in the founder of the digital holocaust museum, lest people forget, elizabeth. this goes with what your foundation is. it really is. it's true that we keep prepared toing that this behavior is all about being pro-palestinian or pushing for a cease-fire. it's not. >> it's not. look, what we saw in these hearings in congress today was absolutely abhorrent. there were several moments write actually found myself -- i could not believe what my eyes and ears had just witnessed. that includes all three university presidents testifying today stating that they could not say whether or not calls for a genocide against jewish people would violate their code of conduct at their individual universities. this is so disgraceful. to know this is going on in our country right now. even more disgraceful is hearing there are jewish statements that are hearing statements like you're a disgusting dirty jew. you deserve to die, in the united states of america in 2023. it's so sick, it's so disturbing to know this is happening and it proves we've not only failed the next generation but we've tainted what america means to so many people worldwide and we've destroyed what our educational system could have been. >> trace: i want to play some of that hearing. university presidents on capitol hill. here's dr. gay. watch. >> so the answer is yes, that calling for the genocide of jews violates harvard code of conduct, correct. >> it depends on the context? >> it does not depend on the context. the answer is yes and this is why you should resign. >> trace: i don't get it. it depends on the context. what context could possibly make it okay. >> exactly. look, all i can say right now is imagine how jewish students feel. one of the students who testified today that he was told by his university at penn that he should hide any clothing or materials that shows the fact he's jewish. this is remnis sent to me of nothing other than what my grandfather went through in the 1930s in the former soviet union and is the last thing anyone any america should have to witness today. >> trace: dodging comments that she was about about. watch. >> do you think the representative needs to clarify her remarks. >> i'll let the representative speak for herself, i just can't speak for her. i speak for the president of the white house. i'm the white house press secretary obviously so that's who i think for sglvmt do you think as a progressive leader she should clarify her remarks? >> i speak for the president. she has to speak for herself. >> trace: now she's walked back those remarks and at the time the whole concept is, if you say something that's dishing and wrong if you're the press secretary you have to say, listen what she said was disturbing and wrong, to take a no stance, is not compelling to a lot of people. >> that's exactly true. look, i want people to realize how politicized everything that happened on october 7 in israel and the days following has become. before october 7, we had leaders in the united states, we had major organizations, pledging to believe all women, and yet all of that changed after october 7 because the women under attack were jewish and israeli. okay. it should not be difficult to condemn rape. that's what we're seeing right now for a very specific reason which is anti-semitism. if any politician in the united states of america left or right cannot condemn rape i hope they know the american voters can hear them. >> trace: elizabeth, good analysis. thank you, appreciate it. fbi director christopher wray saying the terror threat facing the u.s. has now hit an unprecedented level since the hamas october 7 attack on israel. maryanne, good evening. >> good evening. fbi director christopher wray telling lawmakers he's never seen a time with so many threats elevated at once waving a big red flag about the likelihood of attacks on the homeland. that led to this exchange with the republican senator lindsey graham. >> so blinking red lights' analogy about did the trlights were blinking and they were missed. do you see blinking lights? >> i see blinking lights wherever i turn. >> it's at a "whole other level." he pointed escalating conflict between israel and hamas as well as ramped up attacks by iran proxies as two major reasons for that heightened alert. he added that consequences are key for deterrence. meanwhile, they offered this blunt warning. >> with the upcoming holiday season, there is a huge risk of terrorist attacks in the e.u. we saw recently in paris, unfortunately we're seeing it earlier as well. >> wray also faced questions about his targeting of cat catholics. a priest and a choir brecht for were part of a probe. it's about an infamous memo, but some remain unconvinced. >> trace: they do remain unconvinced lets bring in special operations veteran. i want to play one more sound bite from christopher wray talking about the alarm bells and national security and i'll get your take on this. watch. >> given the steady drum beat of calls for attacks by foreign terrorist associations since october 7 we're work around the clock to identify and disrupt potential attacks by those inspired by hamas' horrific terrorist attacks in israel. >> nobody knows terror attacks like you do. the whole concept here is when he says we've never seen a time when all threat elevated levels have been this high, concerning. >> concerning indeed. so listen, i know hamas, i know hamas better than most. the trace on that little green beret means to the death. u.s. bells are going off and the reason why is because all of these pieces are connected to israel, middle east, hamas, to hezbollah and they are all connected to the houthis which goes to the head of the snake, iran, using those proxies. the longer the u.s. continues to negotiate with hamas, the more of a precedent sets around the world. we can commit terror attacks and grab hostages, number one. number two, the growing flame, the seed sparked by the social justice movement, what's happening globally, all interconnected. the longer israel waits to destroy hamas both physically and ideologically, the more dangerous it is for u.s. national security. hamas, the message needs to be sent to hamas and every terror group in the world. >> but it's not being set. the "wall street journal" editorial board capitalized on that. they said the following, war is back against hamas but will be the biden administration let israel win? secretary of state anthony blinken delivered the bad news to jerusalem before the truce ended. he wants israel on a short leash and it goes on to say that when netanyahu told israel that the israeli or blinken that the israeli people are on-board, meaning, i'm not sure americans will stand by you for that. >> when anthony blinken was studying at harvard i was studying trade craft. what i mean by that is, israel, netanyahu, comes from our general staff reconnaissance unit, got some of the most brilliant people in the world telling him what's going on so israel is doing its best. it's a tough situation and i understand that. however, fact is that the longer the u.s. makes israel wait to completely destroy hamas, which israel could do, by the way, they could have done october 8, trace, they don't want to kill civilians, they want to be selective and careful with the city civilian population. the palestinian people matter. however, the longer u.s. waits to let israel do what it has to do it could take a year, five years, higher overall national security threat is going to be to the united states and that's a fact and bill burns, the cia director, who has been quietly negotiating on behalf of biden, knows that very well and so does the fbi director who just came out with that statement. >> trace: great stuff as always. appreciate it. coming up, an arizona border crossing overrun by migrants, more than 10,000 migrants in 24 hours, and getting across the board is so easy, that fox news now has video of a human smuggler right there. you look at him. mocking u.s. agents, with a video camera. and later in the night cap, walking down the street and you find $5,000 on the ground. nobody is around. nobody can see you, would you turn the money in? would you keep it, and why would you keep it or why would turn it in? let us know on x and instagram at trace gallagher. we'll show you the results and read the best responses coming up in the night cap. in the meantime, 8:21 on the west coast. a fox trip across america, a live look at pier 57 in washington state home of the seattle great wheel. you see it there in the bottom left. over to the national world war i museum and memorial in kansas city, missouri, courtesy of earth cam, and finally the heart of downtown providence, rhode island, and for the record, we're more fun to watch live but we're also pretty dang good on tape. so don't forget to set your dvr and watch us any time. we're back in moments. i'm sarah escherich, i'm the life enrichment director at independence village, the senior living community in waukee, iowa. everybody here really, really make you feel like family and that they love you. our goal with tiktok was to enrich the lives of our residents and just to be able to show people what senior living can be like. i think i am a tiktok grandma. my kids think i am. i mean, we're the ones that are being entertained. time goes faster when you're having fun. some of the best traditions start under a tree. it's where we gather as a family. it's where we experience the excitement of opening day. it's where we caught our personal best. and this tree is where it all began. this christmas start traditions under your tree... share the tradition of visiting santa's wonderland at ba