2020 candidates slam Bernie's praise for communist Cuba

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2020 candidates slam Bernie's praise for communist Cuba

Democrats gang up on Sanders at debate; reaction and analysis on 'The Five.'

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," February 26, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: All right, in the meantime, stocks on the day so they need to be reassured your investors. But more important is to average folks. Here comes "THE FIVE."

GREG GUTFELD, FOX NEWS HOST: Hi, I'm Greg Gutfeld with Katie Pavlich, Juan Williams, Jesse Watters, and she looks up to Mother Teresa and doorknobs, Dana Perino, THE FIVE. Last night's debate makes dumb and dumber look like Citizen Kane. Some call it a disaster. Others a train wreck. Even the national institute of dumpster fires has weighed in.

Quote, "please don't mention dumpster fires in the same breath as that debate. The debate was far worse. Glad we got that quote. So how bad was it, this bad?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CROSSTALK)

PETE BUTTIGIEG (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you get nominated, we'll be re-litigating this all year.

(CROSSTALK)

BERNIE SANDERS (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: First of all --

(CROSSTALK)

BUTTIGIEG: I think we were talking about -- it takes two hours to do the math.

(CROSSTALK)

JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Why am I stopping? No one else stops.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you could honor the rules of the debate, thank you. Senator Sanders?

SANDERS: You are the moderators. Is it my turn?

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- respectfully, if you would all, please try to keep to the --

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: I've seen more order in a prison riot. The constant over and under talking created an apt metaphor for the Dems, a day care center with no supervision and no diapers. Now, interim party debates require infighting, but are they in the same party, really? They were, like, different species exchanging battle cries. Sadly, the most capable adult could barely tell a joke.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I really am surprised that all of these -- my fellow contestants up here, I guess would be the right word for it, given nobody pays attention to the clock. I'm surprised they show up because I would've thought after I did such a good job in beating them last week that they'd be a little bit afraid to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: It was sad, not as sad as watching him apologize to a leftist for curbing crime, because once you do that they smell blood. And then there is no forgiveness, only punishment unless you're an actual criminal. But those aren't the big problems. It's way worse. That wasn't a debate. It was a launch party on the Titanic.

Last night, you saw the opposition toxin at work, where every idea is positioned as A versus B, men versus women, black versus white, gay versus straight. So when you talk about uniting a country, it's met with a smirk. Unity means oppression which is really oppression driven by bigotry incapable of uniting behind American ideals and free markets and free minds.

They shout about how bad everything is even when things are great. But things aren't great for everyone. They'll tell you. True, but your divisive message only makes things worse for people who want to do better and who are trying to do better. That's the oppositional mindset. Every answer ends with off with their heads.

The only way you can do better is if someone does worse. They even managed to politicize a global virus. That's not a message. It is a virus. And they are stuck with it. All right, Katie, what were your favorite moments?

KATIE PAVLICH, FOX NEWS HOST: Well, I think what you saw last night was -- South Carolina, a week out from Super Tuesday. This was the thrashing, the over talking, people are interrupting each other, not sticking to the rules, was a preview of dying, thrashing campaigns. This was the last stop for people like Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, Mayor Pete.

They are done if they don't get any kind of boost out of this debate. And as we've seen, debates haven't really paid off in terms of support for other people. But I thought Elizabeth Warren had the weirdest attack of the night when she went after Mayor Bloomberg for allegedly telling an -- a female employee to kill her baby when she was pregnant, which kind of took away the left argument on the abortion issue.

So, like, on one hand, she's saying abortion is not killing. But then she accuses Michael Bloomberg of telling an employee to kill her baby, which I thought that Democrats were about choice. It's a very weird thing for her to say. And certainly, it didn't get her anywhere going into South Carolina on Saturday.

GUTFELD: Yeah. And they've never been able to back up that claim, anyway. Juan, was it CBS's fault or the Dems' fault for that chaos?

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: Well, I think CBS should've been able to see something was quite was predictable, which is this was the last debate before Super Tuesday. It's not only South Carolina. It's Super Tuesday. And so there are a bunch of people, as Katie was just laying out, who see this as their last shot to make their case before the big vote, not only South Carolina but Super Tuesday.

So to me, understanding that these people are desperate and that they are hungry and that they are going to claw, and spit and fume. They should've had better, you know, guard rails to make sure that there wasn't -- I mean, here at this table, I think we make an effort not to over talk because the audience gets angry. The audience doesn't like it.

GUTFELD: Exactly.

WILLIAMS: And I think it comes across as, you know, lacking not only in decorum but in effectiveness if you're trying to deliver a message. So I think that that's a mistake. I mean, what could they have done? I mean, you think about -- maybe you don't need moderators in some cases. Lincoln- Douglas didn't have a moderator.

But I would say that, you know, they should have been very clear about lanes and times, maybe bells and whistles -- Fox has done the whistles and had to do it actually in 2016 with the Republicans.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: Electric --

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: You know that's why we got to get you to be a moderator.

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: I know.

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: Well, I've got to tell you this was like watching people fight over what kind of coffin they're going to be buried in. I went back and looked at past debate highlights from other cycles to see what I was missing. And Rubio, Cruz, Christie, Romney, all of these people would decimate any one of these people that we saw last night.

Just imagine what Trump would do. It's like a heavyweight versus a featherweight. Bernie Sanders doesn't even win the debate. He just gets to the left of every body and pounds the podium. He has no depth of knowledge about his own proposals. Everything is so thin. You punch him one time and he just says billionaire. I mean, that's not going to last.

He's going get eaten alive, eventually. Mike Bloomberg has no personality. He just memorizes talking points and delivers them like a robot. I've never seen anybody so rich and successful bomb like that before. Be a boss. Then there is a Biden, who I guess was more vigorous, but he didn't have any macho moments. He gets run over by a moderator.

It's the most pathetic thing I've ever seen. Warren is the most annoying person I think I've ever seen on television. She's intolerable. And I have a very high tolerance level.

(CROSSTALK) WATTERS: Right now, all she says is, we need, we need, we need, we need. It's like a verbal tic that doesn't stop. She's not running for second place, which is pathetic, Bernie's attack dog. She played the gender card on him, went out in flames. And now, she's just carrying his water. Pete is the best debater, but he's a boy. I mean, he looks like a child out there.

He frames an issue very concisely, but he doesn't ever punch above his weight class. Every time he tries to hit one of the big dogs, he gets talked over. Amy lost her sense of humor. Where did that go? And Steyer's a passionate guy but he's like a Lizard. He's so hard to look at. You can't him seriously.

WILLIAMS: I think you are a Republican.

(CROSSTALK)

DANA PERINO, FOX NEWS HOST: -- all the candidates.

WILLIAMS: I just think a lot of the stuff that, you know, we have been saying, we want them to fight. They should be fighting out there. So they're fighting -- but then the thing that really struck me going back to something Katie was saying. Like, the thing about the baby, you know I think -- by the way, Bloomberg didn't say it was false.

He just said I didn't say that. But you know what? But to me, no, no, because -- remember, what would've been false is to say that her being fired from the school because she said she was pregnant. This is Elizabeth Warren. He never said that was false.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: But to me, the fact that it gets thrown out there is so damaging to Bloomberg. And similarly, the whole racist thing about the guns and Sanders --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: He's getting annihilated out there.

WILLIAMS: Well, I don't know if he's getting annihilated, because I think he's doing pretty well in this contest.

WATTERS: Well, not by debating. I think his whole success is based on money and ads.

WILLIAMS: Who, Bernie?

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: Speaking of ads, Dana, what was the worst thing -- I mean not worst, the weirdest and most surreal thing? I've never seen a campaign ad during a debate. Did you see that?

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: OK. So anyway, forget about -- we should talk about Bloomberg had an ad at the debate. But why don't they all do it?

PERINO: They don't have the money. That's an expensive ad.

GUTFELD: So does this all help -- I mean, like, doesn't this just make Trump look better when you see all of this? To Juan's point, it's true. They've got to fight but it just makes them look smaller.

PERINO: Any -- well, all incumbent presidents look better during the primary of the other party, because you're like, well, gosh, I mean you may not like him but at least there's this, that, and the other thing. I mean, so I think incumbent presidents have such a great advantage. A friend of mine teaches at a major university.

And he said that Elizabeth Warren reminds him of the students he likes the least. And then last I -- because I did book signing with Martha. I asked Peter to take some notes for me. And this is what he had for Tom Steyer. It's kind of like Jesse's -- not as funny, says Tom Steyer, the man has all the presence of a wet tissue, blaming the Senate for the fact that gun control cannot be done.

Nobody considers the fact that Obama had both the House and the Senate. And I think when Katie said that they are going after each other but they're not talking about -- it's so superficial. There is no actual debate about OK, what would you actually do? What are the issues that you would deal with? But Biden got very good news today with the endorsement from Jim Clyburn and the Palmetto State poll, which was the most accurate one for South Carolina in 2016 said Biden is up 35.

And the next one is Steyer at 17 and Bernie at 13. So this race could still be way out of whack because Biden could win South Carolina, doesn't have a lot of money to compete in Super Tuesday.

WILLIAMS: He just did buy some ads for Super Tuesday. But I've got to tell you. California is there and Bernie is up.

GUTFELD: All right, President Trump set for a news conference on the Coronavirus outbreak at 6:30. Fox News will cover live when it happens. Up next, Bernie's praise for communist Cuba didn't go over too well at the debate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATTERS: Socialist Bernie Sanders under fire during last night's debate over his love affair with Fidel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: What I said is what Barack Obama said in terms of Cuba, that Cuba made progress on education. Yes, I think -- really, really?

(CROSSTALK)

SANDERS: -- dictators -- whether it is the Chinese or the Cubans does something good, you acknowledge that. But you don't have to trade love letters with them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: That was just the start of Bernie's problems, the Democratic frontrunner getting hit from all sides.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUTTIGIEG: Imagine spending the better part of 2020 with Bernie Sanders versus Donald Trump.

(CROSSTALK)

AMY KLOBUCHAR (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: -- someone in charge of this ticket who wants to put forward $60 trillion in spending, three times the American economy? I don't think we do.

BIDEN: You're talking about what we are talking about with Bernie. Bernie, in fact, hasn't passed much of everything.

ELIZABETH WARREN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I dug in. I did the work. And then Bernie's team trashed me for it.

KLOBUCHAR: Bernie.

BLOOMBERG: Bernie.

BIDEN: Bernie.

BUTTIGIEG: Bernie Sanders.

SANDERS: I'm hearing my name mentioned a little bit tonight.

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: All right. So he got the frontrunner treatment last night, Dana. I don't think the attacks are sharp enough and they bleeding him out. I think he survives.

PERINO: Also, why are they just doing it now? Bernie Sanders has had these positions for so long and they waited until he's already amassed delegates and he's got a foothold in the race. And he's basically saying, yeah, I know all of you are attack me 33 times compared to Bloomberg's 17 in this debate, because I have the leg up.

But all those attacks that are coming from within his own party are not going to look very good in general election ads that President Trump's team will run against Bernie Sanders. And the fact that Bernie isn't going to change his mind, I mean, maybe that works with Bernie. I will say this. I do think that his team has a much better campaign than the Hillary Clinton team.

They are organized. They are quick. They are kind of funny. They are everywhere. Did you see what they are doing in Minnesota going right into Klobuchar's backyard right before Super Tuesday with a band I didn't recognize? The night shifts or something, anyway --

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: I'm going to find the band for you. Basically, he's -- they are super aggressive and they are smart. And I think that these things won't look good in a general election ad, but I don't think it hurts him in the primary.

WATTERS: Greg, explain to me why Bernie feels the need to say good things about bad people?

GUTFELD: Well, you know, it's like he was kind of half-right on Cuba. Cuba didn't make improvements in education. They made improvements in re- education. He got a little confused. And then when they was asked him how he was going to pay for his stuff, he said how much time do you have? So he couldn't even do it then.

But the scary part about the -- for the Dems, despite all of that, he still their best speaker. When he's up there, he knows how to shut people up by - - he gets in front. He gets up there. He's starts talking. And then he's not going to let this -- and he keeps going and he keeps going. And meanwhile, you have Buttigieg doing the under talk. Well, here I am over here. You have molecules --

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: I'm over here and I'm talking and I'm relaxed and I'm confident. And I see that and I go Bernie is really good. He might be the most formidable against Trump on the debate stage.

WATTERS: Yeah, maybe. What do you think, Juan? I think Trump would chew him up alive. I mean, Bernie Sanders, one on one, Bernie has never really had to defend these crazy positions one on one.

WILLIAMS: Well, I think that's what he's doing now.

WATTERS: There is a field of seven or eight.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: I think he would -- you know what -- remember a line of you want to know who's the real socialist, the guy who is giving money to the rich, you know, I mean, it would be really strong. So I don't think that that's the problem. I think the problem is, and this is something that we have discussed or maybe they're watching THE FIVE, which is that left-wing people in general are two open to folks like Castro or the liberation movements in Latin America.

Or Northern Ireland, they are going to somehow say, you know what, this is the resistance. We understand you're up against the man, the big corporate interests, American military power. And the problem is that so often these movements turn out to be not good people. And I can tell you from my family history, people who oppress and who are discriminatory.

And then, you know, like, you know, the Sandinistas, how did we get involved with them? The other day, we were talking about the woman in, what Asian country who's now, you know, going at -- was it Myanmar going after - -

PAVLICH: Myanmar?

WILLIAMS: Myanmar, yeah, going after the dissidents and the minorities in her country. You know they gave her the Nobel Prize.

PAVLICH: Aung San Suu Kyi.

WILLIAMS: There you go. So I think that there's a problem in that regard. But my point is I don't think, Jesse, that it moves the needle for Jess -- for Bernie's supporters. I think if you're a guy and you are in Pennsylvania, and you say, you know what, I can't pay my healthcare premium in this country.

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: You don't care what he says about Castro.

WILLIAMS: Yeah, the hell with Castro. If he's going to solve that problem for me, you are my guy, Bernie.

PAVLICH: Yeah. The Cuba utopia of healthcare and whatever else they say is free and good literacy has been a staple of the last since the Cuban revolution. I mean this is something that they've praise. It's been indoctrinated in college classrooms for decades. That's nothing new. But where it's really going to hurt Bernie in a general election is the first thing, his taxes.

He's going to raise taxes on every single a person in America, which he admits. He's going to take away your health insurance. The Green New Deal he supports is going to cost an average family $75,000 just for the first year, which is double the average of what the American family actually makes in the year. And then the other thing is if Bernie Sanders were to somehow win the White House, which I don't think that you should count him out at this point because we don't know.

The Squad is going to be running everything. AOC will be put in charge of something. All of her staffers get positions in the White House. Rashida Tlaib will get a position somewhere and all of her people will come with her and will be running the federal government.

(CROSSTALK)

PAVLICH: I don't know. But Ilhan Omar, same thing, she'll come in and be appointed to something --

(CROSSTALK)

PAVLICH: Maybe with her brother, yes.

(CROSSTALK)

PAVLICH: -- you know this is an entire restructuring of America.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: Our ratings would skyrocket.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: You've convinced me this would be terrible for the country, but THE FIVE would be --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: All right. Next up, Liz Warren tries to smear Mike Bloomberg yet again. And did mini-Mike say that he bought Democrats?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAVLICH: Michael Bloomberg speared by Elizabeth Warren again, this time the liberal senator hitting Bloomberg's alleged kill it comment to a pregnant employee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARREN: At least, I didn't have a boss who said to me kill it, the way that Mayor Bloomberg alleged to have said to one of his pregnant employees. People want a chance to hear -- people want a chance to hear from the women --

BLOOMBERG: I never said that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAVLICH: Turns out that personal story Warren told about being fired isn't exactly true. Plus, did Bloomberg really say last night that he bought Democrats during the 2018 midterms? Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLOOMBERG: They talked about 40 Democrats, 21 of those with people that I spent $100 million to help elect. All of the new Democrats that came in and put Nancy Pelosi in charge and gave the Congress the ability to control this president. I bought -- I got them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAVLICH: So Jesse, should he just own it? Like, he did infuse a ton of money, like he overturned the Virginia legislature at local level.

PERINO: Like, yeah, my money is beneficial to the Democrat.

WATTERS: You can't say the word bought. You can think it but you can't say it out loud. I mean he's there to stop Bernie and he can't even stop Liz. He's like a human hologram. Where is he? You can punch right through him and nothing would happen. He needs a shot of tequila before these debates. He's getting pushed around by Liz Warren who is a total fraud.

And just he keeps letting her hit him in the face over and over and over again. Drop the Pocahontas line, Mike. You are sitting there? Well, I did what she asked to do and I released these NDA's. What, so she's bossing you around? Mike was a killer on Wall Street. He would treat on Wall Street. He'd buy her and sell her and then go to the 21 Club and then laugh about it.

This is business, Mike. Treat this like a business and destroy her. You are getting used and abused and it's humiliating.

PAVLICH: I think Elizabeth Warren looked really unhinged with the way that she went after that comment, because it made no sense based on what she believes.

GUTFELD: I mean, the irony that she's pro-choice and is actually worried about a baby dying is a bit strange. But she's working for -- I believe that she's working for the VP slot for Sanders, which is why she did -- the very cultivated attack on him, in which 80 percent of it was really positive. We agree on everything.

But then you would trash -- wasn't really an insult. It was just a way to look like she wasn't really kissing his butt. You know, it's sad because Bloomberg is like the most effective person up there. He's the most successful person that offered actually reasonable responses about Israel, about climate and economy, and he is mocked by this, like, ignorant radical.

He's like a reputable speaker that shows up on campus and is heckled by social justice warriors who don't have jobs. All she is heckling him.

PAVLICH: Dana?

PERINO: I don't think that Elizabeth Warren will get the VP slot from Bernie Sanders, because did not endorse him in 2016 and there's a lot of bad blood about that in addition. Back when she ran for the Senate against Senator Scott Brown, Michael Bloomberg endorsed Mike -- endorsed Scott Brown over Elizabeth Warren.

So there is a lot of bad blood there that goes back a long way. And I think that because she comes across the way she does, I don't think that Bernie Sanders' campaign would be -- not smart -- I would say dumb enough to -- I'm trying to be nicer than that. But the other thing is, you know, she keeps bringing up the story that she got fired for being pregnant.

And if you look at townhall.com and Guy Benson who again, puts this out again today. He said, it's not true. That's not what happened. If you look at the documentation from the thing. And her stories have evolved over time. And I don't know why somebody like a Michael Bloomberg, or a Mayor Pete, or somebody else wouldn't say, by the way, that's actually not true and put her on the spot.

WATTERS: Yes, shut it down.

WILLIAMS: Well, I don't think -- I think there's this lot of context about what's true and what's not.

PAVLICH: No, it's actually not contested.

WILLIAMS: I do think so.

PAVLICH: It's pretty clear you should not --

WILLIAMS: But I think the bigger point here with Bloomberg is that Bloomberg has helped the Democrats greatly with his money, and it's not a matter of buying, even if he had used the word bought, he would be wrong. Because it's not that he was picking candidates and telling them change your position in order to support my business or the like. He was putting money to existing candidates, and that's legit. That's a good thing to do for the Democratic Party.

The one thing I'd say in response to some of the things I've heard here today is you think he's more accomplished than Joe Biden? You think he's more accomplished than Bernie Sanders?

WATTERS: I do.

PAVLICH: I do too.

WATTERS: Here's why, Juan. Not only did he create millions --

PAVLICH: Bernie Sanders? What?

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: Wait a minute. Bernie Sanders has been a mayor, a congressman, a senator.

WATTERS: He's the mayor of New York City and he's created hundreds of thousands of jobs in his company.

WILLIAMS: Yes. In other words, you're saying, anybody who is a successful businessman is better than any politician?

GUTFELD: He ran New York.

WATTERS: Bernie has done nothing.

WILLIAMS: Oh, stop. Get out of here.

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: Bernie has not done one thing in the USA.

WILLIAMS: Let me make your -- I'll make your argument for you because I'm not necessarily a Bernie guy. Bernie has not had the success in terms of a legislative record in the Senate that can compare even with Elizabeth Warren.

WATTERS: So he has no legislative record or business record.

WILLIAMS: Correct. But wait a second.

WATTERS: What record does he have?

WILLIAMS: He's won elections in his --

WATTERS: Winning elections isn't an accomplishment.

WILLIAMS: Oh, wait a minute. A minute ago, Bloomberg was accomplished because he was the mayor of New York.

WATTERS: So he's a life-long politician.

PERINO: Well, he won elections in New York.

WATTERS: He hasn't delivered anything for the people.

WILLIAMS: I think people who represent their constituents and served to the pleasure of their constituents are good politicians.

GUTFELD: All Bernie has passed is gaffe.

PAVLICH: All right, we got to go.

WATTERS: Bernie doesn't represent as many as constituencies, people in New York City. That's about what nine million here?

PAVLICH: Bernie Sanders --

WATTERS: How many people are in Vermont?

WILLIAMS: I think you complaining about De Blasio every day. Don't you complain about the -- how many votes --

GUTFELD: He deserves it, Juan.

WATTERS: I want Bloomberg back here, not De Blasio.

PAVLICH: All right, Bernie Sanders has ever made $1 on his own in his life. He's always been funded by the taxpayer. But coming up, Joe Biden guaranteeing he'll win in South Carolina after making one of his biggest gaffes yet.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIAMS: We're awaiting President Trump's news conference on his administration's response to the coronavirus. The Center for Disease Control telling Americans to be prepared for the virus to spread here inside the United States. That news conference with the president coming up at 6:30 right here on Fox.

But first, some good news for Joe Biden in South Carolina. He just picked up a major endorsement from Democratic House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn. Biden very confident now heading into that primary this weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I intend to win South Carolina and I will win the African American vote here in South Carolina.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you don't win South Carolina, will you continue with --

BIDEN: I will win South Carolina.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: Biden being praised for having a good debate last night, but his performance didn't come without some gaffes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: 150 million people have been killed since 2007 when Bernie voted to exempt the gun manufacturers from liability, more than all the wars, including Vietnam from that point on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: So Dana, let me come to you on this. Obviously, I guess he didn't mean 150 million, he meant 150,000, something like that. And given what happened at the church in South Carolina, I thought it was a powerful point, but it's right. He was wrong, so people who are picking on about the gaffe, have it -- have something to work with.

But I was going to ask you about Biden exceeding expectations last night in the debate. Do you think it will help him in South Carolina?

PERINO: Well, I think -- I think that he was already in a fairly strong position in South Carolina. And that -- so remember he left New Hampshire before the voting had ended to get to South Carolina because that was his firewall. And so, he's been there for what, 10 days now. He's been going all around the state. He's got a lot of support there. So I think it lifted his spirits, gave him a little confidence.

I don't understand why he yells so much during the debates, because I'll tell you one thing I do think. I think that in 2024, the debates ought to consider not having an audience, because what happens is they're just going for an applause line, it gets disrupted, people get rattled, and then actually, as a voter, you can't actually get to some real meat of the issue.

And the moderator could have gently said, I'm sure you don't mean 150 million. Right, no, of course, 150,000. And all of us have those little verbal gaffes.

GUTFELD: Not me.

PERINO: I think that he'll do better because one, he got the Jim Clyburn endorsement. I think that came after the debate and maybe Clyburn was sort of waiting to see if that would happen. But also, there's this operation chaos that's happening with Republicans in South Carolina encouraging Republicans to cross in the primary to try to vote for Bernie or somebody like that. They're not trying to help Biden down there in South Carolina. So if he exceeds expectations, that'll be one thing, but if he doesn't, that might have something to do with it.

WILLIAMS: So what do you think, Jessie? Is it possible that Bernie Sanders could pull an upset here?

WATTERS: If operation chaos is successful. You'll never know.

WILLIAMS: You Republicans are tricky.

WATTERS: Yes. We're so -- we're so mischievous. He's winning in every single poll. So if all the polls are wrong, and Bernie pulls off an upset, wow, that's a big deal. But I just don't like the messaging coming out of the Biden campaign. They've been talking about a firewall for a month and a half. When there's a firewall that means there's a fire that they haven't put out yet. And the firewall is made up of black voters.

So if Biden does win South Carolina comfortably, it's not Biden that gets the credit, it's the black voters. But if he doesn't perform well in South Carolina, then the black voters get the blame, because they were disloyal to the first black president's V.P., and it's just an awkward situation to be in.

WILLIAMS: Well, I think that -- wouldn't you say that they picked Biden if they voted for him?

WATTERS: Yes, but I think that might have to do with leftover allegiance, not necessarily they're gung ho about Joe.

WILLIAMS: All right, so Greg, when you look at this I'm wondering what it means for Super Tuesday because, you know, if Biden wins big, does that mean that he's going to do better Super Tuesday? If Bernie wins, does it mean -- in South Carolina, does it mean the whole race is over?

GUTFELD: If he wins big, Joe wins big, that might help him Super Tuesday. But I still really feel uncomfortable about watch -- when I'm watching him. When he's feisty, I like it because it's funny when he gets exasperated and he tells stories and stuff. But then when he loses his place and he closes his eyes and you can see that he's frustrated, and then no -- it's no longer funny to me and it makes me -- it makes me sad that it's gaffes about -- it's gaffes about mental confusion, about dates and memories and what happened.

And we all see that with people that we know. And generally, you know, Dana has spinach in her teeth, somebody tells her. But there's nobody over on Joe's side saying stop. And it's like -- it's kind of like --

PERINO: And his campaign has not set him up for success. If you look at the advanced team for like a Bloomberg, it looks beautiful. Like the lighting is great. And almost every shot that Biden has had, it does not look professional. And he has been not served well by that.

PAVLICH: It's true.

WILLIAMS: Well, the one -- so the big news today, Katie, is the Jim Clyburn endorsement, and I wonder what you think. Does an endorsement matter in this day and age, even if it's Jim Clyburn, a black leader, 30 years in the Congress for a 60 percent black electorate in South Carolina.

PAVLICH: Jim Clyburn who also is a fan of Louis Farrakhan who refuses to condemn Louis Farrakhan, that Jim Cliburn? OK, well, I think it matters to Joe Biden in a place like South Carolina. But I agree with Dana that his team has not served him well moving forward. They've been very focused on a single demographic of voters in a single state, and California is already voting on early -- on Super Tuesday. In Texas, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are neck and neck when it comes to winning that state. Colorado is another one that people should be watching.

So it's great if he wins on Saturday, but it seems like they've been very narrowly focused with blinders on about trying to pull out South Carolina and hoping that somehow this changes the momentum against an opponent that has an entire movement behind him that is bringing in more people by the day. I don't see it happening.

WILLIAMS: All right, coming up next, stay with us, folks, because President Trump is getting ready for a news conference on the coronavirus, and there's a big political battle heating up over his handling of the outbreak. That's next on THE FIVE.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: President Trump is holding a news conference at the White House at 6:30 p.m. Eastern on the coronavirus outbreak. Health officials warning Americans to prepare for the deadly disease that has killed over 2,700 people worldwide as a number of Americans infected jumps to 60. And there's a political battle brewing, of course. Democrats are calling out the president over his handling of the virus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): It is clear this administration is in total disarray when it comes to the crisis of the coronavirus. CDC said it's going to spread, the question is when. There is no plan. The administration has no plan.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): What he's doing is late, too late, anemic. Hopefully, we can make up for the loss of time. But it will have to have the professionals in place, the resources that are adequate, and not be given -- using scare tactics about people coming back to our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: The thing for me about that, Jesse, is that if it turns out that the administration needs additional funds, then they can ask for additional funds. Why this fight?

WATTERS: They're going to fight Trump no matter what he does. If he shuts the entire country down, they'll call him a racist and an idiot. And if he says we're assessing the risk, and we're going to take it day by day, they're going to say he's not paying enough attention and he's incompetent.

This is the safest country in the world to be during a time like this. I'm totally confident in the U.S. healthcare system. The United States doctors were probably going to find the virus vaccine to cure this. So, I was on the subway today. An Asian woman sat down. She had the mask on right next to me. I don't care. I didn't stand up. I'm not afraid of corona at all.

The other thing is you keep hearing lies from the left and the media about these cuts that Trump made to the CDC and the National Institute --

GUTFELD: Here we go.

WATTERS: We have the facts, folks. Those are lies. Every single year that Trump has been president, the funding for both of those agencies have gone up. The brain room, who we work with Juan, also says the Trump administration has spent more money on CDC and the NIH than the Obama administration ever did.

PERINO: But their budget proposals were to cut.

WILLIAMS: Thank you. I think you got busted.

WATTERS: No, that's not a bust. It's just a proposal.

WILLIAMS: OK, all right, this is like a Democratic debate and you were Bernie Sanders, buddy.

PERINO: But it doesn't matter.

WATTERS: I just faced you.

PERINO: Let me ask -- let me ask -- I want to ask Greg about something because remember when the Ebola concern happened during the Obama administration, there were the partisan questions about the Obama administration handling, that they handled it fine. I think that we should figure out a way to not make this partisan.

GUTFELD: I mean, this -- yes, everybody is looking for the Katrina moment, right? Whether your -- because the Katrina thing was the one that broke it, right? And so --

PERINO: But even then, I could argue it, but yes, I won't.

GUTFELD: You know, what I'm saying. You know exactly what I mean. Like, it was their way to lump something onto bush. And so then, the Ebola thing. If you want Trump to fail, then you're a scum. Because Trump fails, people die. So you want to -- you got to put that stuff aside. I'm right in the middle here between what Trump is saying and what the Democrats are saying.

If you tell us it's overblown, fine. As long as you're committed to over- preparing. And I'll be happy four months from now to admit that we panicked, or we acted appropriately. But I don't want to say it now when we're flying blind, when we don't know that like -- and by the way, I'm not on CNN or MSNBC, I'm on Fox News. I said, we had to close the country down on January 28.

PERINO: Early on, yes.

GUTFELD: They did it six days later. That delay cost us because there are people that got in and we have -- you know, we have -- we instituted a band to reduce the risk of radical Islamist to get into this country, an ideological virus. We should be doing this for a real virus.

PERINO: Katie, any thoughts?

PAVLICH: My thoughts are that people should take precautions as individuals for their households. Do things like storing water and food because if it comes to your community, you're not going to be able to leave. So I would just think about those things as we move forward with the press conference later and hear from the President and the CDC.

PERINO: And last word, Juan.

WILLIAMS: Well, I think Trump's people did a bad job. He's thinking eliminated positions that would have helped to prevent that. But you know what, it doesn't mean everyone's going to die. I have tremendous faith in the CDC and the NIH. I think they those people know what they're doing, and they have a track record that's astounding. I agree with Jesse on that point.

But I think the political implications are now becoming apparent to the Trump White House, and the stock market clearly is something that the President cares so deeply about.

GUTFELD: We all do.

WILLIAMS: And I think -- I think that's why the President is now deciding he's going to have a press conference.

GUTFELD: But the stock market reflects the confidence in the supply chains that are being affected. So obviously, people are concerned not just about the spread of it, but its impact on how you get food, how you get fuel --

WILLIAMS: I don't know. What I'm saying is something different, that I think the President is now having a press conference because he's alarmed at seeing the stock market take --

PERINO: Well, I think he also need to get back from India to that. We need to --

GUTFELD: But anyway, Marc Siegel -- Dr. Siegel is on "TUCKER" tonight and he has some breaking news from Nebraska.

PERINO: I'll be on after him.

GUTFELD: Oh, that's right. I'll be home eating ribs.

PERINO: All right, "ONE MORE THING" is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD: Oh Welcome back. Holy crap.

PERINO: We're on air.

GUTFELD: Yes, Juan, "ONE MORE THING."

WILLIAMS: OK. You know those kids, those kids, they dance around and make all kinds of foolish gestures on platforms like Tick Tock in order to get a big social followers.

PERINO: Oh, no, this is terrible, Juan.

WILLIAMS: Well, take a look at Steven Austin at Fort Worth, Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is cooking with Steve. I got frozen biscuits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: 81-year-old is beating the kids with simple videos of him making sandwiches, pancakes, even toasts. For example, the video you just saw is Steve cooking frozen biscuits. It's his biggest hit with 8.5 million views. His number one request, those young folks are asking him to be their grandpa. Way to go, old man, Steve. That's not insulting. That's the name of his account on Tick Tock.

WATTERS: Yes, a man is going to teach me how to make toast. You put the bread in the toaster.

WILLIAMS: You know, you young people are -- you young people are condescending --

PAVLICH: The millennials need some help, Jesse.

PERINO: I thought you're going to do the school crushing viral video. I'm going to show you later.

WILLIAMS: Don't show me skull-crushing, please.

GUTFELD: Jesse?

WATTERS: All right, Greg, what happens when a flight is so turbulent? What happens?

GUTFELD: I'll take a crapload of valium.

WATTERS: OK, well, if you're the flight attendant, this is how you hand out snacks. All right, so she was just rolling the peanuts and the crackers, and the cookies down the aisle. I think that's a very, very good idea. Also, if you're thirsty, there are two servings of waters tonight. That's right. "WEDNESDAYS WITH WATTERS" and I'll be on "THE QUIZ SHOW" with Shillue on Fox Nation. Check that out.

PERINO: All right, mine is fast. Dogs always enjoy car rides, but this little guy was having a real ball with his. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, he's holding it with his hands. He's holding it with his hands. Hi buddy. Where's your bowl? Where's your bowl? Oh, no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: Everybody was like oh. Thankfully, he did not chase it out the window. I'm sure his owner gave him a new one but isn't that cute?

GUTFELD: I'm going to beat that one with this one.

WATTERS: No, you're not.

GUTFELD: I guess I'm not. Oh my God, Greg's Beach News. You know what? Check out this dog.

WATTERS: I love this director.

GUTFELD: That is perfect. Whoever is doing the show tonight, see me in my office at 6:00. We have a long discussion about your future.

PERINO: What's this dog doing?

GUTFELD: He's just getting covered in foam.

PERINO: Oh, foam.

GUTFELD: Remember those -- remember those foam raves -- those foam raves? Jesse and I used to go to those in the 90s.

WATTERS: That's right. You don't know who you're touching down there.

GUTFELD: Katie, get this out of --

PAVLICH: OK. So I got that story for Greg, because Amazon now has a store, a grocery store in Seattle, it's 10,000 square feet, and you don't need anything to check out. Nobody is -- you don't have a cashier, there are people to help you. You walk in, you scan your app, and then everything is sensitive and digitized. So everything you take off goes into your car, and you walk out the door, and it goes straight to through your Amazon account. So you don't have to worry about standing in line. Just go grab what you need and walk out?

WILLIAMS: What happens -- what happens when a bad guy goes and they steal?

PAVLICH: Well, you have someone --

(CROSSTALK)

PAVLICH: You have to scan -- you have to scan in at the front.

WILLIAMS: OK.

GUTFELD: Set your DVRs. Never miss an episode of THE FIVE. "SPECIAL REPORT" is up next with the President's news conference.

Hello, Bret.

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