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Protesters Disrupt Holiday Shopping At Chicago's Magnificent Mile Retail District
John Layfield: Look, Dr. King I think was one of the greatest men of our country. I wish he lived to be 100 years old because he did so much in the little time he was here on earth. But his protests were not militant. His protests were not harassing of innocent people that were just coming by to shop in a store. And I think you lose the message. People take black Friday off to go shopping. If they go down and can't get in, they're being called names for trying to go into a store which by the way has nothing to do with what they're protesting. I think it hurts the message. I'm sympathetic to the protesters, the protest over the magnificent mile was -- I agree with what their cause is. They want an elected committee to oversee the police. I get that. I think it's lost when it's protesting magnificent mile and protest they've had which is good is lost as well.
Morgan Ortagus: I think there's a lot of ways to get your message across and even us sympathetic to the message, there's a lot of ways to get it across other than sort of ruining everybody's holiday. You know, we've had a really tough and divisive election and I think people wanted to spend time with their family at thanksgiving over the weekend and just adds more to the angst of people trying to shop. Again, I think there's other ways to do it to be peaceful without sort of ruining everybody's holiday. I am sort of sympathetic to what they're trying to do.
Chuck Rocha: They teach us that in protest 101, you don't protest when there ain't no cameras around. They wanted some attention to a very important issue that John and others have talked about being a good issue. I think it's a smart tactic. And they teach us liberals that in 101 how you go out and do this. I don't think this will hurt the businesses. I think the businesses won't stop anybody from going in to Tiffany's or spending a lot of money. I think what's hurting them is the internet. On Thursday alone a report put out this morning that $1.15 billion was spent on the internet. I don't think a few hundred protesters are going to hurt a bunch of folks in Chicago.
Gary B. Smith: But you quickly get over that and figure out that, my God, I can't get into the crate and barrel, I'm going crazy. Look, we are stressed out enough during the holidays. I disagree with Chuck. He says, oh, my gosh, we just walked through the crowd. Listen, if there's people yelling and shouting out there, I got news for you, I'm at the corner, I see those people, I turn around and go someplace else. Or I don't shop at all. So, one, it's going to hurt the business. Two, I am convinced these protests help only one group. And that's the protesters. They feel good about themselves. Chuck is right about one thing, they do get a lot of TV coverage. But I'm betting most people tune in and then, oh, yeah, there's people protesting. Who cares and they move on. Unless it affects you personally, 99 percent of the people just like Occupy Wall Street, 99 percent of those people that were watching the Occupy Wall Street wondering like why can't I get into my Apple store today. That's what they care about. That's why this stuff is foolish. And it doesn't make any sense.
Jonas Max Ferris: Well, when you're at an airport you have time to read things. Protest in front of a Victoria's Secret I think that's a good way not to have someone read the sign you're standing in front of the store. But to bring up the MLK reference, we have a path of voting for a lot of these things very successful. Look at all the states that added more minimum wage increases for example. I don't think the average person shopping thinks that's something you can't achieve locally with your elections. Black people had a problem wasn't vote outable, they needed to protest. I think people still ultimately sided with them; some of these protests are on things you don't like who won the election, that's something you should be voting your way out of. You don't need to protest your way out of that. On the other hand the situation with police and black people is a protest grade thing. The protests I've been reading they haven't been blocking the economy. I think if people went to the museum after Thanksgiving with their family that's where the protest would be. It's not they're trying to destroy the economy.
Some College Professors, Officials, Still Protesting President-Elect Trump's Victory
Morgan Ortagus: If you go onto college campuses right now, really the people who need safe spaces and I say that in just are the conservative kids. I have a family member in college in California, he wore a make America great again hat on election night and he was literally harassed and booed, spit at. It was really tough stuff that he went through. So when you look around universities around America, there's no tolerance for any sort of diverse thought. I spoke at the University of Pennsylvania recently, and I had students coming back to me in the MBA program quietly whispering with me they agreed with conservative principles and feel they have to whisper. I think the real question we all know this is an issue, what can we do about it? I think this is where we need to actively support students of conservative thought on campus. We need to look at the fact that most of these public universities get some sort of public funding and how can we make sure that there's diversity of thought at any place that's getting public funding from Congress.
Chuck Rocha: Well, just by the numbers, the number of kids between the years 18 to 30 voted like 75 percent for Hillary. The same thing with college professors. This is not surprising that people are upset that they lost, especially young people upset that they lost. And, yeah, there's some divisiveness there but it's on both sides. What we need to realize is Donald Trump -- and I vote against Donald Trump and outspoken against Donald Trump, but guess what, he won. And when you win you get to pick the cabinet. Let's be clear, I worked for Bernie Sanders. If he'd won the presidency, you'd be interviewing the secretary of agriculture right now because I'm the only liberal that knows how to drive a tractor. That's just how the game is played.
Gary B. Smith: Well, I don't think it creates a division as much as it creates misinformation. You know I have a daughter, Vassar is one of the original seven sisters, my daughter went to one of the other seven sisters as a college professor in Boston, she could not be more liberal. But here's the nice thing, now at 29 she's starting to realize as she furthers on in life you become more conservative because you all of a sudden have to start thinking, my gosh, I can't afford my health care bill, or my gosh, I wish I made more money, how can I make more money? And she's starting to become, my gosh, somewhat of a capitalist. I mean, she still shed a tear that Hillary lost, and God bless her, but I think life teaches you to become more conservative. That's the good thing. You rarely find -- as you well know, Dagen, people that start out conservative and become liberal, it's almost always the other way. We're still holding out for chuck, maybe when he gets a little bit older he'll see the light, but life has a way of educating you.
Jonas Max Ferris: Look, I don't think they're winning, so what does it matter anyway? You're talking about a relatively small amount of the country that goes to a quarter of a million dollar school, to your point. And if anything to hold Halloween costumes or offending thing, alienating moderate voters or some of these people that could go away by focusing on issues that don't apply to people that aren't in college. I would say it's as effective as -- probably less effective as corporate indoctrination.
John Layfield: Look, 1945 kids were hopping off boats about to storm Normandy into certain death and now kids of this generation need a safe space. That's ridiculous and it's all because of these wac-a-doo goofy professors out there we didn't win so banish the Electoral College and make it retro active. You know that would have changed how people would have voted. I am for banning the Electoral College, by the way. It was created so the southerners could count slaves as three fifths a person, that's why it was created. I'm for banning it. But you can't ban it now and make it retroactive. These college professors are sitting in class sucking their thumb telling everybody else to do the same thing because you didn't get your way. Stamp your feet but do your job like you're supposed to do.
Melania and Barron Trump to Remain in New York City Until End of School Year
Gary B. Smith: I think it's good parenting. Look, the first lady, Mrs. Trump, was not elected to any position. She should be entitled to raise her family as she should. I am concerned about the cost of the secret service guarding all of New York City, but beyond that she's making the choice she thinks is right for her family. Good for her.
Morgan Ortagus: I agree. And I think we also have to remember that he has adult children in Ivanka, Donald Jr. and Eric Trump who have been very much of this campaign, Ivanka's husband is reportedly moving to Washington too, so I think we'll see a lot of the first family and let this young 10-year-old do what he needs to do in terms of finishing out school.
John Layfield: Look, his mom's a super model; his dad is a billionaire about to become president of the most important country -- biggest country in the world. This doesn't fit into ward cleaver's family management courses. When you got a president who's been married several times, says the things he's said about women, we didn't elect Donald Trump for family values, we elected him to be president. And that's what he should do.
Jonas Max Ferris: Definitely not a leave it to beaver family, modern family with gold leaf chairs but at the end of the day seem to like it and that's what it is and that's the way they're raising kids and wonder private schools in New York are better than D.C. Anyway. Take that, D.C.
John Layfield: It scares me I almost sound a little like Gary B., I wore my bankers vest to try to look like I was important, but what the deal is they can stay up there and I was a momma's boy and he should stay with his momma, but they should reimburse the government for every day of security that they have to give that boy and that woman up there in New York city. And we done expect the same thing of Barack Obama if his wife and two daughters stayed in Chicago.
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