Trump administration freezes security aid to Pakistan
Sen. Rand Paul calls to cut off aid to countries like Pakistan and spend it on infrastructure in the U.S.; is he right?
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Trump Administration Freezes Security Aid to Pakistan
Charles Payne: This is a eureka moment, right? Should we fund people that hate us that befriend our enemies or harbor enemies and diss us on American soil? We should consider taking that money and putting it towards Americans who need it. I think it's a great idea that's long overdue.
Kennedy: I think we should be reexamining the foreign direct investment we have all over the world. I mean I think we should be closing a lot of these military bases and we should be questioning some of the wars that we're still in and the trillions of dollars we've put into the middle east that has gotten us pretty close to nothing. Pakistan is the anchor holding the Middle East together including Afghanistan and that's a war we've been fighting for 15 years.
Ben Stein: I think we spend that money on foreign aid in order to help the U.S. and I think we fight those wars on foreign soil to keep those people occupied so they're not fighting and bombing us here. I think the idea of saying we should close military bases that are used to protect the United States makes no sense at all. We have plenty of money we can spend it to defend ourselves and if those bases happen to be in countries not particularly friendly to us then all the better for us so we have bases close to places potentially dangerous.
Charlie Gasparino: It's a drop in the bucket compared to federal expenditures for all sorts of welfare and everything else. This money is essentially bribery. We do have access to certain levels of government in Pakistan we do have access to places where we give this money which is a drop in the bucket and it does help us geopolitically.
Adam Lashinsky: It's childish to just say we're not going to spend this money anymore because you're being mean to us. I think it would be very dangerous for us to just say okay do you know what? We don't like this role of being a global superpower anymore because we're just not going to do it anymore. I mean it's reasonable we do need to spend money on things at home. But if we take this step, there's no going back easily losing our influence that we have right now.
Critics Call for Federal Government to Sue California Over Sanctuary State Law
Ben Stein: I think that this is essentially a rebellion by the state of California and very much like the beginning of civil war. We have these legal challenges by California saying we can override the Constitution and declare ourselves basically a sovereign country independent of what the Constitution says about who controls immigration.
Adam Lashinsky: I think this is far more of a political situation and while the acting ICE director is 100 percent right in everything that he said he's within his rights to do what he suggested he do, the administration ought to think twice about being so antagonistic to the largest, to the richest to the post populous state in the union. This is a political conversation that needs to happen between Washington and California.
Charles Payne: I'm generally a states-rights person but I think there's things where the federal government has to step in. The sanctuary cities and the economic strain even no matter how rich California is and also the safety issues I think override the state's rights they presume to have here.
Charlie Gasparino: There's certain things the federal government is supposed to do. Protecting our borders and keeping criminals out of the country is one of them and you know, for a state to sort of disavow that right is akin to George Wallace standing in front of the door of the school.
Kennedy: This is so incredibly politicized that it's no longer about practical policy or irrational thinking. There's so much confusion that the federal government has allowed states to politically profit off of that and that's exactly what they're doing. The federal government has to get together and they have to say that this is our rulebook these are the rules this is what's happening from now on. They haven't been doing that.
President Trump's 'Nuclear Button' Tweet Sparks Debate
Kennedy: Joy Baher is just trying to get a little bit of attention and she's done it because we're talking about her that that has become the new narrative that the president is mentally incapacitated he has to be removed from office.
Ben Stein: The idea of the women on "The View" calling Donald Trump insane is just so crazy I can't even stand it. Trump is a wacky guy this is a man whose been wildly successful in business and politics the idea to think he's mentally incapacitated just makes no sense at all.
Adam Lashinsky: I think people who are not psychiatrists should stay away from making psychiatric pronouncements but I think our president should behave in a far more dignified way.
Charlie Gasparino: The president has somewhat responsibility here. He says crazy stuff. I mean, I'm not saying he's crazy he says it and he should stop.
Charles Payne: I think the critics are getting too personal and too vitriolic and I think it's creating a dangerous situation for everybody.
Stock Picks
Charles Payne: Salesforce.com (CRM)
Adam Lashinsky: iShares S&P Global Infrastructure Index (IGF)
Ben Stein: SPDR (SPY)
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