Obama touts successes, jabs opponents in year-end presser

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Obama touts successes, jabs opponents in year-end presser

'The Five' pick highlights, lowlights from president's final press conference of 2015

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," December 18, 2015. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

ERIC BOLLING, CO-HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Eric Bolling, along with Kimberly Guilfoyle, Geraldo Rivera, Dana Perino and Greg Gutfeld. It's 5 o'clock in New York City, and this is "The Five."

This afternoon, President Obama held his final news conference of the year before making his way West to Hawaii for Christmas vacation. He tried to dismiss any notion he'll be a lame duck president in his last year in the White House by boasting he's never been as optimistic about a year ahead than he is for 2016.

The president touched down a number of subjects, including the war against ISIS, vowing to defeat the terror network by cutting off their supply lines, taking out leadership, infrastructure and more. He also warned there would still be setbacks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: We're seeing steadily progress in many of these areas. And so, they're going to be on the run. Whenever I say that we have made progress in squeezing the territory that they control or they made real inroads against them, what people will say is well, if something happens around the world, then obviously that must not be true. But in any battle, in any fight, even as you make progress, there's still dangers involved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLLING: Low energy. Katie, low energy, I didn't really hear anything new today, did you?

KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, CO-HOST: Yes. I don't know. But my expectation level is so low. It's so little at this point that I'm kind of not surprised. I mean, but enough already, like you're kind of wasting one's time.

BOLLING: Then he didn't -- he said that what do we, we cut back ISIS territory by 40 percent in -- but offered nothing new, no new strategy.

DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: So, this is a traditional end-of-the- year press conference. They signaled three days ago that they were going to do it, and usually they would like to have something. Now he says he's never been more optimistic about a year of his presidency. But he didn't really sound like it and also every president says that because you don't want your last year to be your lame duck year, but you know that it is.

So, you have to try to do as much as he can. And I think that he want -- that he really wanted this press conference to be about a big victory lap that he was taking in 2015. But his numbers are down. And I think the fact that circumstances and a terrorist attack have really changed -- changed things for him.

The thing I didn't like about the ISIS piece is when he says, they've seen steady progress of these areas. And so, they're going to be on the run. Which to me, 14, 16 months after he said we were to destroy and degrade ISIS, degrade and destroy. To me, they're going to be on the run is not good enough.

BOLLING: Greg, if you're trying to prove to the public that you're not going to be a lame duck president for the last 12 months of your presidency. Wouldn't you think you would bring a little more fire and passion to it?

GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: He redefines boring. I mean, that was a very hard sit. Plus, I had to go to the bathroom.

But when he talks you feel like you're in traffic school. Like you have to be there you have to listen and it's just so labored. But it does show you that like how his priorities dictate his energy. Imagine if it was reversed, if he had the same passion to fight terror that he does with climate change?

Then it would be an entirely different president. But he didn't -- he can't choose the events that dictate his leadership. The events choose that. Imagine -- I mean, you can't fight climate change and fight terror. In fact, you could actually, you have to fight terror first, because you can't fight climate change if there's a dirty bomb in midtown that takes priority. So, if he just prioritized, we can do both.

BOLLING: We can do both.

GUILFOYLE: But he'll be enjoying macadamia nuts in Hawaii, so.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: I love it.

BOLLING: You know what he love the most passion in that whole speech, is when he said "I got to go now, I got to go, I got to go to "Star Wars." That's where he showed the most personality.

GERALDO RIVERA, CO-HOST: You know, just picking up where Greg left off in Paris, the whole world was really focused on the fact that 130 people had been slaughtered in the City of Light. And he insisted or tried to fit this climate change agenda into -- into a scenario where people were more concerned about the urgency of the moment, than they were about the long-term prospects about the planet.

And I think that it is exactly that tone-deafness that was later revealed when he suggested that the reason he didn't understand the country's anxiety was that he hadn't watched enough cable news. The New York Times struck that piece from the article.

BOLLING: Can you stay right there, because you're referencing climate change. The president, of course, wouldn't leave for vacation without taking a shot at republicans. Here's what he said when he brought up global warming.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: The American Republican Party is the only major party that I can think of in the advanced world that effectively denies climate change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLLING: Really? A year-end and that's why he's going with this.

(CROSSTALK)

RIVERA: I don't know about that exclusivity but they are as the GOP is unique in the fact that it denies or defies what seems to be the consensus, science. I don't want to argue about climate change. Because I don't know, I'm not a geologist. I don't know, I haven't...

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: You're not.

RIVERA: ... all I know is this -- it is.

GUTFELD: Geraldo, you're everything.

RIVERA: It is although that is true, Greg.

GUILFOYLE: Yes, I know.

RIVERA: It is December 19th, is it, and we're walking around in shirt sleeves?

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: That's called weather, Geraldo. That's called weather.

RIVERA: Yes, well.

GUTFELD: We've had a -- this is the hottest year in the history of...

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: What did you say last year when it was single digits at this time?

RIVERA: Well, I understand that. I understand that.

GUTFELD: But by the way, he's bold.

RIVERA: I suggested I don't know. My point is, that rarely have we had a president so out of tune with the common sense of what is going on day to day, and I just think that that's why he's at 43 percent.

BOLLING: Was that -- was there a place in that speech for climate did he take a shot of republicans in the basis of climate.

PERINO: Oh, no, if you're President Obama and you're a liberal democrat then there is always a time to take a shot at republicans. And on anything and on climate change, I mean, it is kind of a shame. I sent around to you guys today, I remember very well a speech President Bush gave in 2008. In which he said, OK, that is if we're going to accept that the science is real. Then let's move on, let's do something practical and here's what we could do.

And actually arguably what President Bush set in motion was much stronger than the Paris agreement which changed a word from shall, to should.

BOLLING: To should.

PERINO: I mean, and they want to be like, congratulate and pat him on the back for this great accomplishment. Charles Krauthammer has a complete take-down of it today in his syndicated column that people should take a look at if I'm giving reading assignments.

BOLLING: Was it President Obama talking to you, Greg, today when he is talking about climate change with republicans?

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: I don't like it. But sometimes when I watch TV I think people are talking to me, that's a problem. Well, you know...

GUILFOYLE: Like the voice is in your head.

BOLLING: At someone does.

GUTFELD: ... in the -- in this dinner of priorities the steak is the terror and the climate change is the green beans, that's the way it should be. He's got it opposite. But what this is it is a war on coal. We have a billion people on this planet who aren't on the electrical grid. Electricity grid. They're relying on impure -- impure fuels like, their own fecal matter, they're burning that stuff, and they're dying. Three to four million people die every year burning impure fuels. So, basically what he's saying is we're OK because we got our coal but they can't have it. That's a problem. That's a priority.

BOLLING: And he's winning the war on coal.

GUTFELD: Yes.

BOLLING: I mean, if you look at the coal stock, coal companies are going bankrupt.

GUILFOYLE: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLLING: That was his goal.

RIVERA: They're all going down. And what happened to the stock market? We haven't mentioned the fact that everyone lost a ton of money today dropped...

BOLLING: We're not doing the stock market. Let's go -- let's pause a little energy.

GUILFOYLE: Climate stocks they were...

RIVERA: We're talking about climate, that's 10 years, 20, 30 years from now.

BOLLING: Let's go back to what are we going to go, Gitmo? The president today said he's going to keep pushing to close Gitmo and expects to transfer dozens more detainees in the New Year. He actually think it's against our interest to keep terrorists, we've already caught in our custody.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Guantanamo continues to be one of the key magnets for Jihadi recruitment. This is part of what they feed, this notion of a gross injustice, that America is not living up to its professed ideals, for us to close it is part of our counterterrorism strategy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLLING: So, OK. The time if you do close, let's just say you close Gitmo, you take the 107 left and you liquidate them, so terror -- we just saw the terror problem.

GUILFOYLE: He's so bad, that's not even like an f in a class. He's got to repeat the year. Because that he's so confused. Does he think, what's his excuse going to be when he closes Gitmo? OK. And they're all like Jihadi delight together in Yemen and other places, like regrouping. What's he going to blame it on then? That's his counterterrorism strategy?

BOLLING: Let me get Dana in here. Dana, somewhere at 17.9 percent of the detainees that we've released back into, they go back and they start killing us again.

PERINO: Right. So, their recidivism rate is not good. We've known that for years. I understand the desire to close Gitmo, I just don't understand the rush. And I really don't think that...

RIVERA: The rush?

PERINO: ... I don't because, for example, there's no place for them to go. And we know that just from two weeks ago.

RIVERA: How about super max in Colorado's six floor or...

PERINO: You know who is against that? Hillary Clinton. You know why? Because people in Colorado said they don't want it.

RIVERA: You know why else?

PERINO: It is a political problem. But let me just, can I say something? So, yesterday, President Obama goes to the National Counterterrorism Center to talk about how they're on the top of the terrorism issue. An hour and a half later, the administration announces they're releasing 48 prisoners. Three hours after the Paris attacks, they announce they're releasing six more prisoners. I mean, the timing of the stuff is kind of...

(CROSSTALK)

GUILFOYLE: But they don't care. But he's there...

RIVERA: The timing aside...

GUILFOYLE: ... feeding their ideological focus.

RIVERA: ... but you avoid the main point. Guantanamo Bay Prison Camp was invented to evade the Constitution of the United States.

PERINO: Nope.

RIVERA: So, they wanted to have prisoners, but in a place where they would be protected from Habeas Corpus. Let me finish, please. Protected from Habeas Corpus, they wanted a place where they would have no constitutional rights. Guess what? The federal...

(CROSSTALK)

BOLLING: They're not Americans, they don't need constitutional protection. The federal courts said a constitutional protection. Greg, please.

RIVERA: Greg, this is a shyster's employ, you can't evade the fact that Guantanamo was invented specifically to avoid the Constitution of the United States.

GUTFELD: The Constitution doesn't apply when you're at war with enemy combatants this is a new turf, this is a new -- enemy combatants are now on -- it's not just that the battlefield is earth. We have to admit that.

RIVERA: We keep them on the Island of Cuba?

GUTFELD: Absolutely and I'll tell you why.

RIVERA: Why? Just tell me why.

GUTFELD: Let me finish for God's sake. What does it tell you when no other country wants them? They're the shingles of the planet.

(CROSSTALK)

RIVERA: Put them in prison then.

GUTFELD: Nobody wants them.

RIVERA: Put them on trial. Put them in prison.

GUTFELD: There is no cure evidence.

RIVERA: Put them on trial let them accuse then, you're going to hold them what?

GUTFELD: So, the point is this, you're going to trying to find a place for these people. Gitmo is doing the earth a favor by keeping them in one spot.

BOLLING: Hold on, Greg.

RIVERA: To keep them in Cuba.

GUTFELD: And how is it a recruitment tool?

GUILFOYLE: I agree, I agree. Just kill them all and close Gitmo, that's fine. They don't have to come here and they don't have to stay there.

BOLLING: But Katie, can you just point out that, if you do bring these people...

GUILFOYLE: It's ridiculous, let them down.

BOLLING: If you do bring them as Geraldo was super max, you have to afford them proper evidence, proper constitutional protections.

RIVERA: They have rights now, the federal courts have deemed them to have rights right now.

GUILFOYLE: I know but nobody is breaking the law, he is closing Gitmo because he doesn't like the idea of it. It doesn't sit comfortably.

RIVERA: Three hundred, 400, $500 million.

GUILFOYLE: Not because it is a violation of Habeas Corpus, or because they are entitled to...

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: Now money matters to a liberal?

GUILFOYLE: .. of the Constitution of the United States of America. They are enemy combatants. They are not entitled.

RIVERA: They are in Cuba.

GUILFOYLE: I agree, kill them.

RIVERA: There you go.

PERINO: You know what ISIS wants? For us to believe that Gitmo is a recruiting tool.

GUILFOYLE: Right.

GUTFELD: You know what recruitment tool is? Winning. As long as ISIS wins they recruit.

GUILFOYLE: Yes.

RIVERA: You just tell me why you can't keep them in a prisoner of war camp in Florida, in Cuba -- in Colorado, in Montana. You pick a state, Alaska?

GUTFELD: Your problem is location? You have a problem with location, that's a moral upstanding principle?

RIVERA: So, you have a prison camp, why in Cuba?

GUILFOYLE: Because he doesn't want them in Cuba.

GUTFELD: You don't want them in Cuba?

RIVERA: Why in Cuba. You tell me why?

GUTFELD: I don't have to tell you why. I think it's doing...

(CROSSTALK)

RIVERA: Yes, you do.

GUTFELD: No, you have to tell me why it shouldn't be in Cuba?

RIVERA: Because it's a shysters employ.

GUTFELD: That's not an answer. That's not an answer.

RIVERA: I got an idea, we'll keep them in Cuba because it's a foreign country, the Constitution won't apply. It's only 90 miles away, so it would brilliant to being there.

BOLLING: It's brilliant.

GUTFELD: They can't persuade others to join their cause.

GUILFOYLE: So, what is the president's reasoning for closing Gitmo? Because it is a key facet of Jihadi propaganda.

RIVERA: I think that -- I...

(CROSSTALK)

GUILFOYLE: Not because he says it's violating the law or the rules.

RIVERA: The president can say anything he wants. I'm telling you Geraldo's reason for closing Guantanamo Bay. Guantanamo Bay is a constitutional embarrassment. It is a sore on the criminal justice system in the United States of America.

BOLLING: More rights for terrorists, you heard it here, folks. Only on this table today. All right.

Coming up, the president made a major admission this week to journalists about his slow response to recent terror attacks. But The New York Times took it out of its report. We're going to take some guesses as to why. And it's Facebook Friday. Post your questions for us now on Facebook.com/thefivefnc. Ask those questions. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: The former neighbor of San Bernardino terrorist Syed Farook made his first court appearance today. Enrique Marquez has been charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorism. He's also accused of plotting attacks with Farook in 2011 and 2012 that were never carried out.

Hours after the attacks, Marquez could be heard on a 911 call implicating himself saying Farook used his guns in the shooting.

Later today, President Obama will be meeting with families of the victims. A quick stop on his way to Hawaii, of course.

This week, the president met with newspaper columnists and made a shocking admission, saying he didn't fully grasp the American anxiety of terror following the San Bernardino and Paris attack because he didn't watch enough cable news.

The New York Times published the president's admission late last night. But by this morning, erased from its report with a strange explanation, in fact, where we're talking about this earlier. The explanation from The New York Times is that they had to cut the paragraph for space.

GUTFELD: Yes, I think space is the nickname for President Obama. But yes, they cut it, they cut it for space and then they added two longer paragraphs. Normally, you don't cut space on an article on the web because there's no space constraints.

That, and by the way, it was the best part of the article. That's like cutting out the suicide scene from Romeo and Juliet. It just totally ruins the play. And also, he basically mocked people's concern, again, for terror. He's saying I think it was a sarcastic comment. Maybe I should watch more cable TV, he's basically saying we're all a bunch of rubes for caring.

PERINO: Yes.

RIVERA: No, I really think it's that he is too cool for school.

GUTFELD: Yes.

RIVERA: I really believe that the president lives in such a lofty, Ivy League kind of place.

BOLLING: Yes.

RIVERA: I agree tower kind of place were used to say, I haven't heard that expression in that long time. But I think he just doesn't like the ebb and flow of public discourse, the shouting, the punditry. The left and the right I heard him say that he doesn't watch MSNBC, because he knows what they're going to say. He doesn't watch Fox News because he knows what they're going to say. So, by not watching, he is disconnected, he is unplugged in the sense.

PERINO: But Anderson, no, Eric, yesterday morning, David Ignatius, who is a syndicated columnist in the Washington Post, he actually prints that same sentiment because what happened was, the White House had a meeting of off - - and off-the-record meeting with journalists, which to me, because I used to put these together, that's when the president can be his most candid.

So when the White House calls The New York Times and says please pull it back, they realize like, oh, no, now he just made it worst, like rubbing a spot on the wall. Because not only did he underreact to terrorism, now he's saying that we're all stupid because we watch too much cable.

BOLLING: And did they think once they published it, they could pull it back and no one would -- did they really think something is as outright. Look, if he was being facetious then it's a story. If he wasn't, it's a story. Either way they have to leave it, they have to -- but as you pointed out on one of the e-mails, the bigger story is the fact that The New York Times pulled it out.

RIVERA: Yes.

BOLLING: Not what he said.

PERINO: The New York Times has had, they used to say that they would not come, they're on a principle they would not go to off-the-record meetings. But I think that they've changed their mind.

GUILFOYLE: No, I mean, I'm not, again, I'm not surprised by this, you know, at all. But just imagine for a moment, if you might ponder the thought if there was a different president in the Oval Office right now. How would they have acted?

PERINO: Well, there was, you know, there was criticism after hurricane Katrina that President Bush was out of touch with how Americans were feeling and that he wasn't, that his staff even wasn't good enough at telling him and explaining what the American people were feeling.

And so then, you had to course-correct. And I think that President Obama is trying to do that today. Kimberly, can we stay on with you to talk about this new information...

GUILFOYLE: Me, too.

PERINO: ... about Enrique Marquez.

GUILFOYLE: Yes.

PERINO: He is going to be -- he was arrested. He just basically like duped into this?

GUILFOYLE: Oh, no. That's cute. So, what's happening here is they put together the arrest warrant for the judge. And we've seen what they decide in fact. What charges, right, the FBI puts it together after interviewing him every day for the like 10 days, and what I think happened is, instead of even charging him with conspiring to commit mass murder which would have carried the death penalty, they gave him something else that would be, you know, less time, I believe, having done this for a living, and to do that because he cooperated and gave some information.

It's like a treasure trove of information over the course of those days. Every day going through the questioning, then they prepared the affidavit and the arrest warrant and they put everything forward to their straightforward to the judge. So, he's looking at a significant amount of time, trust me it could have been worse, death penalty.

PERINO: We also had reports, Geraldo, that there was a pizza shop up in Northern New York, and they -- he admitted, a 31-year-old admitted he was trying to recruit for ISIS. So, this was proving that the FBI when they said that there are open investigations in the 50 states, they're coming true.

RIVERA: He's a naturalized citizen. A fellow who is recruiting ISIS to go fight in Syria. A much like they were doing in the twin cities, recruiting fighters to go fight in Somalia for al-Shabaab there in Somalia.

But to me, the headline of the Marquez revelations, and Kimberly is absolutely right, I mean, he's been a cooperating witness for 10 days, he's been telling, spilling his guts, doing everything he can to avoid getting charged with the mass murder in San Bernardino.

But the story he tells is so chilling to me and it's so natural the way it happened. He is nerdy guy, super nerdy guy and he becomes friends with Farook, who is several years older, who lives next door. Farook is a charismatic. Both of them born U.S. citizens.

Farook is a charismatic older guy who says, come on. He so inculcate his beliefs in Islamic extremism that the kid, Marquez, converts to Islam, converts to Muslim. And then they plot these different things. You know the 91 Freeway, Artesia Freeway that goes East-West there in California South of L.A.?

They're going to blow up the 91 Freeway. And one of them is going to go shoot the people after the cars are in this big jam. You know they fantasize all of these actions during the 2011, 2012. And then jump cut, then Marquez buys the gun. He said he can't keep the gun in his house.

PERINO: Yes.

RIVERO: He gives the gun to the shooter. He knows they're going to be traced to him. And now he turned state's evidence.

PERINO: And this, I actually think, Eric, this is one of the biggest thing, is that they were operating, doing all of this for five years at least, undetected.

BOLLING: What can you say? And you know, we had the Patriot Act for some of that period as well. So, I don't know. Look, the bottom line is the guy's crazy, Kimberly is right. They got some information on him. They spared his life. But they should lock him up and throw away the key. That's his future.

PERINO: Last word, Gutfeld.

GUTFELD: He reminds me a lot of the female prison guard that allowed the prisoners to escape. Really, really smart criminals, enlist patsy's because they're gullible and they're needy. But that's no excuse.

GUILFOYLE: Well, that was a sexual situation.

GUTFELD: Yes, it was. Well, this could be.

GUILFOYLE: OK.

GURFELD: Did you see how complicated...

(CROSSTALK)

GUILFOYLE: This could be.

GUTFELD: Look, did you see how complicated the plot was? It was well planned, it was thorough. These people devote all their time to destroying us. It's not a hobby, it's 24/7. And we can't call these people lone wolves any more. Because if that's the case, and ISIS is 200,000 lone wolves.

PERINO: Right.

GUTFELD: These are -- they use inspired magazine which it shouldn't be called conspired. These are people that devote all their time to killing us.

RIVERA: If that is the future, that is the future. That is the peril that we all face and how you stop it, I'll be damned if I know.

PERINO: Anyways, still to come, Facebook Friday. But up next, is Hillary Clinton being hidden from public scrutiny by the democrats? What her opponents have to say about that, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUILFOYLE: That's a good one, right? Well, did you know there's a democratic debate tomorrow night? It's true. The party once again scheduled it on a Saturday night when most people aren't home watching TV.

Clinton's opponents, Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley have pressed for more opportunities to face off with her in primetime but the DNC isn't budging.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, THE SITUATION ROOM SHOW HOST: Are you adding any more democratic presidential debates? Or are the limited number you have now, is that set in concrete?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a combination of candidate forums and debates and we're continuing to add candidate forums to our schedule and we have our six debates that are scheduled already.

BLITZER: So no more debates, but just candidate forums where individuals are interviewed one-on-one, but there's no real debate between the candidates. So, are you going to stick with that format...

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're giving them a variety of opportunities to see our candidates while preserving their ability to be out on the campaign trail so that they can be up close and personal with the voters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUILFOYLE: Lots to say about this. Is the Democratic Party intentionally trying to keep Hillary from being challenged? I don't know where we came one with that idea, Dana?

PERINO: Remember I said that yesterday? That she's the only candidate in American history that has to be hidden from the electorate. Because she does better -- remember when, for a while there, every time she came out, her numbers went down? So they think they're smart. Just keep her underground until they have to do something in the general election.

GUILFOYLE: Well, Bolling, maybe she's also very low-energy, too. And so they have to preserve her strength and energy, and they don't want her, you know, debating.

BOLLING: I think it's smart, if that's the candidate you want to represent your party. And apparently, that's what the DNC wants. They want Hillary to represent -- Bernie Sanders, it came out today saying it's in the bag for her. The DNC is trying to bake that cake already.

So, yes, it's smart. Leave her, put her, keep her off the stage. The national stages, because as Dana points out, every time she's on a national stage, she says something that people go, "Really? I'm not sure I like her any more." The smartest thing in the world to do is bury those debates.

GUILFOYLE: Greg, what do you think? I mean, to me it's pretty obvious.

GUTFELD: Yes. The more you see, the less you like. She's like kale. I mean, Amelia Earhart is more outgoing at this point. She's like Walt Disney's head.

You know, the thing is, but when you think about the debate, think about the people at the debate, you've got Hillary, Bernie and that aging underwear model, Martin O'Malley. They have the presence and strength of a folk-rock ensemble. They don't, like -- they don't project any kind of, like -- I don't know, strength to America. If you look at that, you go, "I don't want any of them."

PERINO: And they don't really have many differences. It's not that much of a debate.

GUTFELD: It's like a teacher's lounge.

RIVERA: It's Larry David and the guy that used to own the Dodgers. Walter O'Malley. That's Walter O'Malley.

I mean, who are they? They're not meaningful candidates. If it were Vice President Biden, it would be very interesting.

BOLLING: Bernie Sanders just raised -- didn't he raise the most money of any candidate who's not an incumbent?

RIVERA: He did that by hacking into Hillary's...

BOLLING: No, no, no. He -- it's almost like, hey, give the guy a chance. Let's hear what he has to say. Some people want to say what Bernie Sanders is saying.

RIVERA: Bernie seems to be fading.

BOLLING: What the...

RIVERA: It's going to be Hillary against Donald Trump. At least in the Donald Trump selection process, there is huge entertainment, because you see all these dramas acting out. Trump and Bush -- you know, Trump is belittling Bush, and he's the incredible shrinking man.

Now you've got the two Cuban-Americans fighting each other, you know, over who is tougher over immigration of Mexicans. So at least there's drama. At least there's -- there's some melodramatic.

PERINO: I think Peggy Noonan writes it well in her column that's running tomorrow in The Wall Street Journal. She says that the Republican Party is alive for as, like, chaotic as it seems and the arguments that they're having, the party is alive, and the Democratic Party is kind of dead. Like, they don't have any new ideas.

GUTFELD: The most -- the most diverse party is the Republican Party. The most homogenous party is the Democrats.

GUILFOYLE: It's really true.

RIVERA: How do you mean that? How do you mean that?

GUTFELD: You have a set of boxes that you have to tick to be a left- winger.

RIVERA: You mean just to check off pro-choice...

GUTFELD: And right now -- yes, you don't see that in the Republican Party.

RIVERA: Pro-immigration reform. Pro-raising of the minimum wage.

GUTFELD: All the bad stuff.

RIVERA: Pro...

GUTFELD: Geraldo.

RIVERA: All right fighting.

GUTFELD: Yes.

GUILFOYLE: All right. Poor, poor, Bernie Sanders. We'll see what he can do or say tomorrow night.

Don't go away. "Facebook Friday," big one, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC: "BAYWATCH" THEME)

GUTFELD: "Baywatch," baby.

"Facebook Friday, we answer your questions now. I'm going to start with K.G. over here. This is from Bob H.: "What advice would you give someone half your age?" So, like a 14-year-old?

GUILFOYLE: Yes, exactly. What advice would I give them? Well if they're -- I would hope that they were going to college or going to a trade school or doing something that would help further their life and give them some stability and security and some good insurance for life. So I think that's a really good foundation to not rely on someone else, to be able to change your life and bring a good outcome and a good future to be very self- sufficient.

GUTFELD: Dana, you're always giving advice to people, whether they like it or not.

PERINO: I say -- that's true. Embrace adulthood. Don't put it off. Just say, "OK, now I'm an adult. Let's get this going on. Let's have a job. Let's pay my bills. Let's -- get off my parents' health insurance."

GUTFELD: No more kid stuff is what you're saying. Stop smoking pot and playing video games in a basement.

GUILFOYLE: Grow up.

GUTFELD: Eric.

BOLLING: I would say get into politics. My whole life it was always, hey, figure out how to get to Wall Street, get into the markets, get into business. But politics is where all the money is. So something happened about five to ten years ago: the money went from Wall Street to D.C. So stick on that path.

GUILFOYLE: Follow the money.

PERINO: You mean like when Hillary Clinton helped Wall Street?

BOLLING: When they all realized that the money center of the universe is here.

RIVERA: I think I would say lightning is not going to strike, you've got to work hard at whatever it is you're doing. You've got to make a living. You've got to take care of your children. You have responsibilities now. You're not...

PERINO: So we agree. You can't go from, you know, Oktoberfest to Burning Man.

GUILFOYLE: So true.

RIVERA: It's time to put your nose to the grindstone.

GUTFELD: We're old.

You know what I would say? You know when people always tell you don't want to die with regrets, so you've got to just do it? I'm exactly the opposite. You don't-- you don't regret things you don't do. So if you don't decide to go home with that girl or if you don't decide to budge -- it's not going to bother you, because you didn't do it. So actually, don't do anything that is risky.

GUILFOYLE: Oh, my God.

RIVERA: What I would have said in years past, I would have said to someone half my age, "Would you marry me?" But that was 15 years now. I'm stuck.

GUILFOYLE: Aw.

GUTFELD: You've got to check the laws in every state, Geraldo.

All right.

GUILFOYLE: You've got it perfect now in Erica.

RIVERA: Another save.

GUILFOYLE: Another save by Guilfoyle.

GUTFELD: To you, first. This is from Trace E.: "What is your favorite comfort food?"

BOLLING: Ooh, comfort food.

GUILFOYLE: Vodka.

BOLLING: Yes, it would be. My favorite -- I don't know. I'd have a burger, but I haven't had a burger in 25 years.

PERINO: Very uncomforted.

GUILFOYLE: Doesn't eat. Anorexic.

BOLLING: I don't eat comfort food. I guess potato chips, yes.

GUTFELD: Potato chips? That's comforting, isn't it?

Dana, what do you eat?

PERINO: I like chips and salsa if I was going to have comfort food.

GUTFELD: That's a comfort? Comfort food is such a stupid concept. Shouldn't all food be comforting, Geraldo?

RIVERA: I like hot dogs with French's old-style mustard.

PERINO: My mouth just watered.

RIVERA: Yes, and you get those little ones at the cocktail parties. It's the best thing about going to cocktail parties.

GUTFELD: Cocktail wienies. Pigs in a blanket.

GUILFOYLE: We're running out of time.

Yes. I like pigs in the blanket. I love tacos. I like fried chicken. I like salami, lots of it. I like grits. I like polenta. Oh, my God. I love a little casserole, so tasty. Little quiches, bacon, hot dogs.

GUTFELD: All right, stop it. I like Chinese spare ribs burnt to a crisp.

BOLLING: Nice.

GUTFELD: That's my favorite food of all time.

GUILFOYLE: Why don't you get Chun Lee's spareribs? They're the best.

GUTFELD: I go to King Wok on Ferik (ph).

GUILFOYLE: Yes, I'm not sure about that.

GUTFELD: I'll be down there tonight, as a matter of fact, signing menus. All right.

PERINO: Better than books.

GUTFELD: Yes. Hey. Terrible person she is. You should see what she did in the green room. It was disgusting.

Sylvie R...

BOLLING: Is that what you said about the video?

GUTFELD: Shhh. Shhh. I shouldn't have brought it up.

All right. I'll start with you, Geraldo, since you tend to talk the most. "Who would you want to sit next to if you're at a White House state dinner?"

RIVERA: I had a great dinner mate the last time I went. Not last year, the year before. Not this year, the year before. I had Justice Scalia and Bill O'Reilly.

GUTFELD: Ooh, wow.

RIVERA: You really couldn't have a better...

GUILFOYLE: Wow, you were at a good table.

RIVERA: I got drunk once at the White House correspondent's dinner, and Buzz Aldron was sitting opposite me. And I said -- and my wife tells the story a lot better than I do -- I said, "Hey, Buzz, how was it going into space?" And he said, "Geraldo, I'm talking to this gentleman." He was deep in a conversation. Meaningful conversation.

GUTFELD: That's so shocking you would do that. Kimberly.

GUILFOYLE: I like to sit next to Bolling, because he always brings his wallet, and he buys extra wines at the table.

PERINO: It's free at the White House state dinner.

GUILFOYLE: No.

PERINO: No, you're talking about -- the question is state dinner, not correspondents' dinner.

GUILFOYLE: Oh.

BOLLING: I thought it was correspondents.

GUILFOYLE: We're never going to be invited to that.

GUTFELD: Don't be so sure.

GUILFOYLE: They put our FOX table by the kitchen, and then they only gave us, like, one bottle of wine.

PERINO: Well, boo!

GUTFELD: Who would you want to sit next to?

PERINO: Henry Kissinger.

GUTFELD: Henry Kissinger.

PERINO: He knows everything about everything.

GUTFELD: He would hit on you in a second. Eric.

BOLLING: I would want the -- state dinner, I would want us to give a state dinner for the Russian president and find out what he's really all about.

PERINO: You want to sit next to him?

BOLLING: Next to Putin. I want to hear the Putin stuff.

PERINO: How do you feel about killing journalists?

GUILFOYLE: I would like to sit next to Reagan, but that's never going to happen, either.

RIVERA: Where did this man love for Trump come from?

GUTFELD: I of course, would want to sit next to President Trump. All right.

GUILFOYLE: Does he want to sit next to you?

GUTFELD: Oh, he loves me.

All right. Mary P. asks, "If you could live in any other state, other than where you are currently living, which one and why?" Eric.

BOLLING: Texas or Florida. Either one.

PERINO: Income taxes.

BOLLING: Income taxes and the weather. And great people, real conservative group -- states.

GUTFELD: Geraldo.

RIVERA: It would be the state of Puerto Rico.

GUTFELD: Of course.

RIVERA: Puerto Rico has to become a state. It is bankrupt. It has been colonized now for over a century.

BOLLING: So bail 'em out.

RIVERA: Bail them out. Let them become part of the country that has dominated that little island now.

GUTFELD: I feel that way about Mexico.

PERINO: You could move Gitmo there.

GUILFOYLE: But you own your own island now.

RIVERA: If you move Gitmo there, the Constitution applies.

GUILFOYLE: There's something on my chest.

RIVERA: Let's call for help.

GUILFOYLE: Anyway, I would like to...

RIVERA: Any volunteers?

GUTFELD: Threw that thing up there real fast.

RIVERA: Right. They just put it up there.

GUTFELD: Anyway, so speaking of...

GUILFOYLE: What happened?

GUTFELD: ... speaking of territory, what state?

RIVERA: Soon, we'll only see your eyes.

GUILFOYLE: I'd like to have my own island. I would keep the terrorists there. I would keep a very good eye on them. We'd have no outside communications. You couldn't ask how they were doing or talk about their habeas corpus rights.

GUTFELD: Where would you want to live?

PERINO: South Carolina, for sure.

GUTFELD: Yes. It's beautiful there. Beautiful there.

I am torn between Wyoming and Alaska, because there are no people there and less I'm around people, generally, the happier I am. And vice-versa. They're happy when I'm not around.

GUILFOYLE: Well, Florida, Texas and California.

GUTFELD: All right. Got to go.

It's the ultimate party nightmare, when you're stuck in a conversation with someone you can't get out of, Geraldo. Help is on the way, next.

PERINO: Buzz Aldron.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RIVERA: We have all been there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JERRY SEINFELD, COMEDIAN: In case one of us gets in a bad conversation we should have a signal that you're in trouble so the other one can get us out of it. How about this? Chicken wing. No, no, I've a better one. Head- patting.

JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS, ACTRESS: Whatever you want.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what do you do?

SEINFELD: I'm a comedian.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Peanut brittle, peanut butter, peanut oil.

SEINFELD: Can I talk to you for a second?

LOUIS-DREYFUS: Excuse me.

What have you been doing? I've been smacking myself senseless!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIVERA: It's holiday party season when you get to spend time with family, friends, co-workers and some people, like in the "Seinfeld" clip, you'd rather just not be spending any quality time with, because they're so boring. And no one wants to get stuck in a conversation with somebody who either just likes to hear themselves talk or has absolutely nothing interesting to say.

So we've compiled some exit strategies, exit strategies from networking pros, who advise that, No. 1, you can take charge. You can summarize your bullet points. You can express your appreciation for what the other person just said. You can leave them with a good feeling, a good vibe. It takes a little effort. But sometimes it's worth it.

Another option, you can extend your hand, look them right in the eye and say, "It was a pleasure meeting you, but I have a few more people I need to see. I'll be in touch."

And I think this is the brilliant thing. You can pull in a third person and say, "Look, here is Kimberly Guilfoyle," and when they're digesting Kimberly, the new arrival, you move on.

PERINO: I've done that to her.

GUILFOYLE: Oh, you -- everyone does it to me. It's the worst, and them I'm like, "Oh, hello," and then they're gone. Yes. I don't know.

RIVERA: What do you do when that happens, when you're stuck?

GUILFOYLE: Then I'm, like, feasted upon for the next 20 minutes until, you know, then I have to do it to somebody else.

RIVERA: I mean, do you have an exit strategy?

GUILFOYLE: What do I do? I talk to people.

RIVERA: If someone is, like, really being effervescent.

GUILFOYLE: I just pretend I have to leave. I got called into work or, I have to leave the event, actually.

RIVERA: Do you hurt people -- do you hurt people's feelings? No, that's the problem, so I have to just -- I'll stay and talk and you know what are you going to do? You want to be nice. You want to talk to other people there. But then one person is, like, monopolizing you. It's challenging.

RIVERA: It would seem to me, Dana, that you would have had more experience in that regard, being in the nation's capital...

PERINO: Of not wanting to talk to people?

RIVERA: ... working for the president of the United States. Talking to people that you may or may not want to.

PERINO: I absolutely...

GUILFOYLE: She's good at it.

PERINO: mostly I just worked, so no, that didn't really happen to me that often.

I think the good thing is you have to have -- you have to perfect a look of desperation that you can, that people will like, you must be really tired. "I'm am. I'm so sorry. I've got to go."

The buddy system is good. I like that from "Seinfeld." The problem is also, if you're only five feet tall, as I am, when you're in a big group like that, people are often talking down to you and, I mean, the bad breath situation across America is really, really troubling. I mean there's an epidemic.

RIVERA: Really?

PERINO: You know what I mean?

GUILFOYLE: You don't get it all, because you're low, you get it all. Come up here.

PERINO: That's a problem. I need fresher air.

RIVERA: So do you...

BOLLING: I was going like that for that long read. I was like bail me out here. I'm trying to tell you, cut this read short.

Do you -- no, you talk, you talk to people, be nice.

GUILFOYLE: We're super friendly.

RIVERA: You seem a pleasant fellow.

BOLLING: You know, we had our holiday party last night.

PERINO: That was fun.

BOLLING: Yes. We had fun.

RIVERA: I was doing shots with Beau.

GUILFOYLE: Yes, that worked out well.

PERINO: Christmas party, let me clarify. We had our Christmas party last night.

RIVERA: And Greg, are you sought after, now that you're famous with your program on at 10 a.m. every Saturday and Sunday.

GUTFELD: How nice of you.

RIVERA: Or do people just say, you know...

GUTFELD: You know, I just -- to point out first that we began the segment with "Feliz Mavidad." This is America, I want my Christmas songs in American. Not whatever that language was.

By the way, if you want to get out of a conversation, you just do something -- do what I always do. You say something racist. And if they agree with you, then you just, can you do whatever you want. But generally they just kind of back off.

GUILFOYLE: He's kind of anti-social, this guy.

GUTFELD: I don't go to parties.

RIVERA: "One More Thing" is up next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLLING: All right. Time for "One More Thing." Dana starts.

PERINO: All right. A little holiday spirit. Reece's peanut butter cup. Because I have a new thing that we're starting. It is time for...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: Dana's Corny Joke of the Day. OK. Are you ready for this?

All right. Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger go to a costume party with the theme of music. Stallone says, "I'll go as Mozart." We have that. There he is. And Bruce Willis says, "In that case, I'm going to Beethoven." And Arnie says, "I'll be Bach."

GUILFOYLE: Oh, my gosh. You know what, Dana, the best part of that was...

PERINO: I know. I had somebody.

GUTFELD: ... pocket? It's very melted.

PERINO: Sweeten it up with a little candy.

BOLLING: All righty. Greg, you're up.

PERINO: Did you laugh?

GUTFELD: I laughed in here. Just might have been indigestion.

But you know what? I'm just going to plug I got a show tomorrow at 10 p.m. I had to check to see what time it was, Saturday, a new time I guess, the "Greg Gutfeld Show." I'm having a bunch of big stars. I'm having Harrison Fordenstein and Bruce Willisford is going to be on. Some friends of mine.

BOLLING: Very nice. Ten o'clock tomorrow night.

GUTFELD: This is melting.

K.G. you're up.

GUILFOYLE: I'm very excited about this, and Catholics around the world will be, as well, because Pope Francis has approved the second miracle required to make Mother Teresa a saint. And whether are you Catholic or not, I imagine that you have heard many of the stories, and incredible works around the world that Mother Teresa was able to do. And she really is one of the most famous figures of the 20th Century. So it's going to be very exciting and for everybody to see when she was canonized?

BOLLING: And the second miracle was someone with brain cancer was cured after meeting her.

GUILFOYLE: A Brazilian man with a viral brain infection that resulted in multiple abscesses and...

BOLLING: There you go.

RIVERA: She's already a saint, I think.

BOLLING: Yes, yes. For many reasons. So tonight, 8 p.m., a "Factor" special, another 2016 -- election 2016 special. Big one, though, Obama's press conference at year end. We're going to take it apart. We're going to look into it.

Trump versus Putin. Cruz versus Rubio, Rush versus the GOP. And there's some new FOX News polling out that is extremely interesting. And we're going to break those down. So check it out, 8 p.m. tonight.

Geraldo, you're up.

RIVERA: At this time of year, Eric, and I always give out the same gift to our colleagues here at FOX News.

GUILFOYLE: Thank you. I was looking for mine.

PERINO: Wow, you really showed me up on the chocolate front.

RIVERA: Yes, and here's Dana, yes, we do.

Greg, even you, crunchy.

PERINO: So you don't really need that peanut butter cup.

GUILFOYLE: This is one of my favorites.

RIVERA: Don't I get this? Juan Williams. I do have a bag of coal for you.

BOLLING: Geraldo.

PERINO: It's very valuable coal.

RIVERA: Yes, open it up.

GUTFELD: Eric, make sure that's the real deal.

RIVERA: To save the coal industry.

PERINO: That's neat. And it has your name on it.

BOLLING: Asphalt.

RIVERA: Open it. You don't have to open the chocolate. I mean...

PERINO: I like that. Write your name on it.

RIVERA: Every year we get it from our niece, Nicole.

PERINO: I like that, because they write your name on it.

GUILFOYLE: This is always in my office every year, and I was like, I didn't make the list. What happened? But here it is, thank you so much.

BOLLING: It's very good chocolate.

RIVERA: You always make the list.

GUILFOYLE: It is so tasty.

RIVERA: Dark and white chocolate.

GUILFOYLE: Let's get in there. I'm telling you, I always eat it, so yummy.

RIVERA: We love tradition. There's -- oh, my five kids. Show my five kids. They are seldom in the same place at the same time.

That's to get them together.

BOLLING: Never miss an episode of "The Five." That's it for us, bye.

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