Which President Trump Will Show Up to the State of the Union?
All eyes are on Capitol Hill for President Trump's first-ever State of the Union address. Esquire.com's Jack Holmes joins Cheddar to preview the event and predict how the night will play out for the Commander in Chief. The associate editor says it's safe to assume Trump will look to replicate the tone of his critically-acclaimed 2017 joint address to Congress.
Holmes also breaks down the Democrats' decision to tap Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA) to deliver the opposition response. He says Kennedy is representative of both a new face of the party, and a nod to the glory days of the Kennedy years. He considers whether the traditional response still matters in today's fast-paced news environment.
Finally, we recap Will Ferrell's reprisal of his George W. Bush character on Saturday Night Live. Holmes discusses how the former president's legacy has benefited from the election of Donald Trump. He says SNL is trying to add perspective by reminding viewers our standard for presidential excellence is always changing.
Cheddar's Chloe Aiello has our cannabis year-in-review, breaking down how several states legalized adult recreational use and greenlit medicinal use in 2021. She noted that while a cannabis legalization and decriminalization bill was introduced in Congress this year, potential FDA involvement in the industry, as well as a 25 percent excise tax, killed any chance the bill had of moving forward. Aiello also speculated that some form of cannabis reform could be rolled out in 2022, as the midterm elections draw closer.
Jim Worden, Chief Investment Officer at Wealth Consulting Group, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says the period between Christmas and New Year's is difficult to predict due to a lack of institutional volume, with the Omicron variant adding even more uncertainty on Wall Street.
Prices at the pump this year reached a seven-year high, and a new forecast from GasBuddy shared with CNN predicts that gas prices will only continue to rise in 2022 and that the national average could even reach $4.00 a gallon; however, analysts at GasBuddy say anything could happen when it comes to gas prices in the future, as the pandemic has made it difficult to make any predictions about the economy. Consumer Energy Alliance federal policy advisor Michael Zehr joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
David Stryzewski, CEO of Sound Planning Group, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says that some of the major stock positions are getting the most lift to the upside as the major indexes climb higher to begin the week.
