Bernie Sanders says if Dems win Senate he will be chairman of the health committee

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Bernie Sanders says if Dems win Senate he will be chairman of the health committee

Bernie Sanders pushes for more control of health care, says he will be the chairman of the health committee if Democrats win the Senate

This is a rush transcript from “The Five" October 6, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST:  Hello, everybody. I'm Jesse Watters, along with Greg Gutfeld, Dana Perino, Juan Williams, and Martha MacCallum. It is

5:00 in New York City, 3:00 in Salt Lake City, and this is The Five. Joe Biden just wrapping up his speech, calling for the country to come together, as President Trump recovers from the Coronavirus.

He made a dramatic return to the White House last night after spending three days at Walter Reed Medical Center. The president tweeting earlier that he's feeling great and White House doctors announcing today that Trump is no longer reporting symptoms. Trump's comeback has reignited the feud with Joe Biden over how best to handle the virus. The president says we need to confront it head on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT:  Don't let it dominate you. Don't be afraid of it. You're going to beat it. We have the best medical equipment.

We have the best medicines, all developed recently. I know there's a risk.

There's a danger, but that's OK. And now, I'm better. But don't let it dominate your lives. Get out there. Be careful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS:  And Joe Biden claiming Trump is to blame for getting infected.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:  Look, anybody who contracts the virus by essentially saying masks don't matter, social distancing doesn't matter, I think is responsible for what happens to them, because every major scientist and doctor and immunologist said that's a very dangerous thing to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS:  Well, first of all, President Trump didn't say masks don't matter and social distancing doesn't matter. Greg Gutfeld, what do you think about the duelling claims Trump says don't let it dominate you. And Joe Biden says if -- you know if you got it and it's your fault.

GREG GUTFELD, FOX NEWS HOST:  Well, here -- it's kind of like we're always back to chapter one of the Corona story. What we began was this prism of two ideas. Either you had to express fear and terror, right, or you're going to kill everybody. But we've been through this. We've talked about it. We are distinctly American and that we accept and assess -- accept risks.

And we have done this, I don't know, since we came here, where the explorers took risks coming here. So we know what can happen. We see that people are aware of what they need to do with masks and social distancing.

So this is this is a really old argument. And the only way Biden can, like, go after Trump is to lie. To say, well, he said masks don't matter.

Actually, Fauci was the first person that said you don't have to wear masks. Remember that, because he was fearful of people hoarding it. But I think the big problem here is that we keep going back to this prism of two ideas. And we refuse to acknowledge that you can be in the middle, take precautions, and express confidence about getting your life back together.

Because if you don't do it, you're going to be like Hiding Biden, you're never going to -- remember. This is the guy that didn't want to take out Bin Laden. This guy is somebody who doesn't like to take any risks. I mean, what does he want? Does he want us to shut down forever? Because he certainly isn't giving us any advice on the economy, is he? He doesn't want to take any risks.

WATTERS:  Yeah. Juan, to that point, Joe Biden was against reopening the economy. He was initially against reopening schools. He was initially against opening up sports. So to now say that he has all the ideas to fix this thing, that doesn't make sense, does it?

JUAN WILLIAMS, FOX NEWS HOST:  I think -- you know, I mean, you know, we have 200,000 dead and --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS:  What does that have to do with the question? He's not really putting forth a plan except I would shut things down again.

WILLIAMS:  Excuse me. Excuse me, Jesse. Jesse, you said that he favored keeping things in lockdown longer than President Trump. And I'm telling you that right now we're not on a good path. Right now, the economy is stalled because we're still stuck with the Coronavirus, and the president of the United States himself got sick.

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS:  I wouldn't call this economy stalled, Juan.

WILLIAMS:  I would say -- you go look at the unemployment rate. You go look

--

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS:  It went down. It's going down. It's been down big time.

WILLIAMS:  They are very high. In other words, you know what, we're all blessed sitting here. But there are a lot of people that are out of work.

And for you guys to ignore it, I don't know.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD:  We're not ignoring it. We're calling you out on your lies.

WATTERS:  We're saying shut downs --

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS:  You guys want to distort. But let me say this. When it comes to this argument about mask because you're back at the White House, right? You know what? The American people overwhelmingly, also, think it is bad politics. They disagree with it. They think masks are a good safety precaution. And I think as for Trump to talk about how tough he is what an insult to the family of everyone who and has gotten sick or died in this country. What a terrible thing for the president to say --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS:  I don't see that as an insult at all. Martha, what do you think about Juan's point --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS:  What do you think, Martha, about Juan's point that, I think, what is it, 70 percent of the country supports mask wearing and, you know, people see the president coming back to the White House. He takes the mask off. It doesn't matter to me. He's alone on a balcony. But you know, the media hammers him for the mask. Do you think that is bad politics?

MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR:  You know, I think the president is 100 percent authentic. He is who he is. He's not trying to come off of this experience and reframe who he is. I think a lot of us thought, well, he would be in a different mindset after this, having been, you know, sort of shaken a little bit by getting it himself. But, you know, we see what his response is. He comes back and he says look. You should be optimistic.

You can overcome this. I think he's recognizing that we have really great treatments that have been put in place now that people can access and take advantage of. I would just point out that, you know, the polls show that the president does not score very well on this issue of COVID and the handling of COVID. I was looking at Pennsylvania polls, plus 20 for Joe Biden on the handing of COVID.

So, you know, it's not -- you know, not looking at my thinking about it or anyone else's thinking about it, I'm just looking at some of the data that's out there in these states. Now, you know if these polls prove to be wrong, they are mostly taken before the president got back. And I'll be very looking forward to seeing how people sort of absorb his very optimistic outlook about his and his encouraging words that people can overcome this and go on.

And whether or not it helps him, we'll see. But he needs a game changer right now, because he's having a tough time in a lot of these polls across the country.

WATTERS:  All right. Dana Perino, take us home.

DANA PERINO, FOX NEWS HOST:  Well, you know, the president didn't give a speech today like we heard he might. But he did make some significant news as he always does. He puts his thumb on the news of the day. And that is that he has decided that he is going to end negotiations on a COVID relief bill, because the COVID story also includes, obviously, the economic story as we alluded to earlier.

Nancy Pelosi, for the past several months, has been trying not to do a bill. One of the things she included in there were things like ending voter ID laws, legalizing ballot harvesting around the country, and taxpayer funded stimulus payments for illegal immigrants and more. However, I think that the president really could have helped himself by pushing to get this bill done.

Because now, if they go to the election with no money for businesses, no money for restaurants, no money for schools, nothing for the Republican senators to run on that really need this going forward. And Nancy Pelosi should really kind of got what she wanted. She wanted permission to walk away and to blame the president. And now, she has that.

Now, perhaps this is a negotiating tactic, and he's all of a sudden going to come out and say OK, fine. I'll actually do something. And they can come to a number that they could agree on as long as she's willing to take out some of those poison pills.

WILLIAMS:  NO, it's 72 percent, 72 percent of Americans agree with Nancy Pelosi on that $2 trillion package. And Trump is saying don't pay attention to dealing with Coronavirus' economic fallout. Pay attention to our Supreme Court judge. Americans totally disagree, bad politics.

WATTERS:  Well, they don't know what is in that $2.9 trillion package. That was probably as the first time they heard a lot of that went to illegals, Juan. All right, coming up, the media goes ballistic over President Trump's optimistic message while returning to the White House, Greg's monologue up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD:  Just played it all the way through. RIP, Eddie. So do we have the greatest country in the world?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP:  The greatest country in the world. We're going back. We're going back to work. We're going to be out front. As your leader, I had to do that. I knew there's danger to it, but I had to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD:  And here comes the nuts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  It's like something out of North Korea. The dear leader comes out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  I thought it was a strong man balcony scene.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  I wake up some days, Wolf, frankly feeling that we're in the grips of a mad man.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  This one just got out of a hospital with a million drugs in his system.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  I don't think he looked very good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  Don't even put it on the screen. Please take it off, because that's going to kill people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  There he is, hair blown majestically, re-shooting the scene for his own ad. What a bunch of bull (Inaudible).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD:  Re-shooting a scene? That from a guy who staged a dramatic re- entry from his basement quarantine after he violated the same quarantine?

Cuomo's blind spots outweigh his biceps. The worse, Jennifer Rubin demanding to defund Walter Reed, a place that treats our war casualties.

She remains employed to make her peers appear sane by comparison.

Other experts like Stephen King, Bette Midler, and Alyssa Milano lined to offer their diagnosis. According to these quacks, Trump returned much too soon, which reveals their flaw in thinking. Whether it's Trump coming back or an economy doing the same, too soon beats too late because you can still change the course. And when Trump ends up right, the media will whine.

Oh, he should have done it sooner. True, Trump wasn't out of the woods when he returned, just as the economy won't be out of the woods when it returns.

In fact, all decisions in life happen when you're not entirely out of the woods. We're all forest dwellers. So waiting for the perfect moment to take that new job or getting shape or make a left hand turn puts total security over freedom.

Flattening the curve becomes flattening our existence. As low info anchors site 200,000, we know the number was forecasted if everything was done correctly. Not doing anything? Up to two million dead, a path had impeachment lasted longer, which is what they wanted, the Dems. So imagine if Dems cared as much about America as they do about hating Trump. There would have been no impeachment, no collusion, no witch hunts, no media bombshell hysteria every single damn day.

And we could have devoted that time all to COVID. So now they care. Now, they care. But it's not about you. It's about them and their sad, pathetic Trump obsession. So Dana, when he's talking about going back to work, I believe -- I believe it's because he's saying that if I'm asking you to participate in a risk, the leader has to participate in that risk as well.

The media didn't see it that way.

PERINO:  Well, I mean, I think that people can see through the media. I really do. I think that they can see through -- they can watch the president last night come to their own conclusion. And I think that the media is a little less influential than I think. I should have known that you were going to use the video of Cuomo coming up from his basement as if that wasn't a propaganda video.

That was totally manufactured. But I thought you might also include the ones with his brother, right, where they talked about mom's cooking and everything like that, and ignoring the calls from people who had loved ones in nursing homes that were asking for him to be held accountable for that.

I think -- and when it comes to return to work, I've said for a long time.

We all have.

That there's a way to do it safely if you take all of the measures that you should, which is the masking, social distancing, frequent hand-washing. And not going to large gatherings without a mask. All of those things are possible. But also, it's about protecting the vulnerable populations, which we have a lot more information about this virus than we did six months ago.

I actually don't know many people who are living in total fear. I talk to people all around the country. And they are getting on with it. People who are retired even trying to figure out where they can go safely hike for the day before the winter sets in. I mean, I think that this idea that people are very fearful is wrong, and which is why maybe President Trump's message resonated a little bit more with them than with the media.

GUTFELD:  I think that's an important point, Martha, the fact that people understand what Trump is talking about but the media refuses to. If Trump would take the opposite tact and said we need to stay down, the media would've taken the opposite and said we need to get out. It's -- every stance is almost dependent on him.

MACCALLUM:  I mean, can you imagine if he -- if his reflection was on this whole thing was that he suddenly was cowering in fear and that he wouldn't come out of the hospital and that he stayed longer than the doctors told him he should because he wanted to be extra, extra careful? I mean, they would have an absolute field day. But I'll say it again.

This is the person that people elected in 2016. Everybody knows who Donald Trump is. He is, I think, in an effort -- when he pulls that mask off, he does have an n element of the country that is cheering him on, that wants to also take their mask off, that wants to get this whole thing behind us.

He's trying to put down an optimistic marker.

And I think he's trying to appeal to a lot of people in his base, some of whom are drifting. He is, you know, drifting with seniors, drifting in swing counties in Pennsylvania. He needs to say to those people. Look, come with me on this journey. We're going to get out of this thing. You have to trust me here. This is who I am. And so he's sort of putting all of his chips on the table being exactly who he is. And he will -- you know, we'll see if it works in 29 days.

GUTFELD:  I will say I'm very happy to see that David Gergen is still alive, very, very powerful pundit. Jesse, what are your thoughts?

WATTERS:  I would say this that the president's Coronavirus message is a very American message. It's resolute. It's optimistic. FDR himself said you have nothing to fear but fear itself. And he said that during the depression. When people were leaving their homes, going to the bank, and pulling all of their money out, and that was making the economy worse.

And the same thing is happening today. Because of an irrational panic fear, people are shutting down schools and churches and businesses, and it's really harming the country. I know healthy men, 30 years old. They have left their house in the city and now live in cabins in the woods because they watch CNN so much. They're terrified of the Coronavirus.

And they've been misinformed because most of the country, if you get it over 99 percent of the people will recover safely. Right now, the media is pumping up the fear factor just to boost Joe Biden. And they're saying that Donald Trump is the divisive one. He's the fear monger. Yet, they're telling you hide in your basement until a vaccine comes along, a vaccine which might kill you because Donald Trump is a homicidal maniac.

Where is that positive American spirit on the left? The spirit that says we flattened the curve, we got the therapeutics. The economy contracted the least of all the developed nations, and is shooting back faster than all of the developed nations and we have a vaccine around the corner. Where is that hope, that positive American spirit on the left? It doesn't exist. And it's only because they're running against Trump.

GUTFELD:  All right. Juan, care to respond to Jesse?

WILLIAMS:  Yeah. I think you should know that the American press, the whole idea from the Founding Fathers is that we hold powerful people accountable.

And in that regard, when you see that the joint chiefs of staff is going home quarantining because of exposure, you have an idea that -- of the extent of the damage being done when President Trump is out there talking about, well, this mask. Let me rip it off, social distancing. I'm not in to tracing.

GUTFELD:  He never said that.

WILLIAMS:  This is -- you know, this is damaging. He's not doing it.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS:  No. I never said that. But again, you like to distort.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS:  You guys --

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD:  Try to do it accurately, Juan. Try to be accurate. Try to be accurate.

WILLIAMS:  I am accurate.

GUTFELD:  You're not.

WILLIAMS:  -- stop distorting, because what is accurate --

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD:  -- you don't read transcripts --

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS:  -- the president is the one who doesn't want to wear the mask.

The president is the one that's resisting social tracing so that we can track down this disease. It's his staff that's gotten sick. It's his joints chiefs of staff that's staying home. This is the reality and you have to deal with it. The press is simply holding a powerful man accountable. It's not somehow denigrating him or derogatory to say this is what the president is doing.

GUTFELD:  Yeah. I felt the same way about those black lives matter protests, right, when everybody was out there. We held them to the fire, didn't we?

WILLIAMS:  What?

GUTFELD:  Ahead, Mike Pence and Kamala Harris set for their big debate tomorrow in Salt Lake City. Our preview is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO:  Welcome back. Well, there is a big showdown tomorrow night here in Salt Lake City. Vice President Pence and Senator Kamala Harris are getting ready to debate, the contest taking on some new importance with uncertainty swirling around the rest of the campaign, to say the least. Things will look a little different, too.

Apparently, there is a Plexiglass divider that will divide the candidates.

And we're just learning that topics will not be released ahead of time, but there will be nine ten-minute blocks. So in case you're planning your time and your trips to the refrigerator, that's what you need to know. But I would stay glued to Fox News. Jesse, let me start with you. Pence is a very good debater.

He has years of experience in policy and politics. And he's been serving in this role for four years. That's very different from Kamala Harris. She's been in the Senate. She's a very accomplished person. She's a prosecutor.

But in the debate she had last year, she was debating people all within the same ideological frame work.

They were left of center to the very far left. How do you think she will do when she has to be confronted with an opposing point of view?

WATTERS:  Well, the bar is high because 2/3 of voters think that if Biden is elected, she will become president of the United States. And Pence is a good wingman. Like you said, he's a smooth debater. He has got policy chops. He's been in the room when every decision was made. So I expect her to be tenacious and just throw a lot of nasty haymakers and mostly focus on COVID-19. Pence will not be interrupting.

So he's going to have to grin and bear it. And then he'll have to defend himself, than he'll to throw counterpunches. You can't just play defense for 90 minutes. And if a COVID attack comes, he's going to have to turn that back into an economic conversation about Biden-Harris being for the shutdowns. They're very weak on that.

He also has to turn every conversation into that populous conservative sweet spot, the no new wars, manufacturing jobs, no sanctuary cities, tough on China, lower drug prices. If he can do that and then turn it around on policy on Kamala, because remember, she hasn't answered any questions on policy for the last two months. She's going to be shaky. She'll be well prepared, but there will be some shaky moments for her.

PERINO:  Greg, I was thinking back to the Kavanaugh hearings. And of course, that's where Senator Kamala Harris really -- I think she was planning to run for president even before that. But I think that's what really got her into the news and into the headlines. The difference with Pence from Kavanaugh, Kavanaugh was trying to be confirmed as a United States Supreme Court justice.

He was trying to get through that as best he could, not argue too much, but having to defend himself. This is a very different situation for Kamala Harris tomorrow night.

GUTFELD: I agree. First, let's -- this plexiglass divider, it reminds me of going into a liquor store in a really bad neighborhood. Like with the cashiers are just behind this thing, you have to slip the money through.

WATTERS: Don't you send guys into those stores? You don't go in there yourself.

PERINO: Which Greg does often.

GUTFELD: I usually wait in the back of my limo. But you know, I think -- OK, so we're looking at these two candidates and we're looking at it in a different light because it's a more significant debate given the age of the candidates.

Pence looks like he could be president. He looks like he jumped off -- he jumped right off a Franklin mint coin. But she seems still unsure of her own abilities. She still has that giggle thing going. But she has one advantage, and the advantage is Trump. Trump is essentially a buffet of eight different types of food made out of Trump.

So, when she doesn't have an idea or a thing to say, all she has to do is run over to the buffet, get some Trump (INAUDIBLE), or some Trump fries, or some Trump scallop potatoes and then come back. She will never run out of stuff to say because all she has to do is go back to Trump and I think that's what she's going to do.

PERINO: Earlier today, Juan, I couldn't remember the name of the candidate that Pence faced off with in 2016. I was thinking Keen, Kane -- it was Kaine, Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia. How can Pence and Kamala Harris make this debate a little bit more memorable?

WILLIAMS: Well, Dana, you know, so much of this has to do with is it going to move the polls? Is it going to make a difference? And I don't know that that's the case. But I think a lot of people are going to tune in because as Greg and Jesse pointed out, you got to 70-year-olds, one with COVID, and there's a real possibility that one of these two people that we're going to watch tomorrow night could become President of the United States, a higher likelihood than normal.

But what strikes me is again, I don't think that anybody's tuning and say, I'm going to change my vote based on the outcome of this debate. Right now, though, what we're seeing is that the polls had been static, really, through the conventions and up to that first debate. But over the last week since the debate, wow, those polls have started to move, and they have not moved in a good direction for President Trump.

I think now we have seen that the debate really did have some impact. And I'm not sure that this coming debate tomorrow night will have that kind of political impact, but I do think it's going to have a big audience.

PERINO: Martha, Trump is, as Greg was saying, there's the Trump buffet and Trump runs very hot, and Pence runs a little bit cooler. Biden reads as a much older person, and she reads as a much younger person to Biden. So, how

-- is that an advantage for her going into tomorrow night?

MACCALLUM: You know, I think that it is. And I think that they both have to be more policy-focused. I talked to a bunch of college kids, and you talked here this morning, and they also -- gee, I just really hope that this debate is more substantive than the last one. And I think this is the opportunity for Mike Pence to really drill down on the achievements of the Trump presidency and to lay those out very clearly.

And he's going to have to hold Kamala Harris' feet to the fire on things like fracking, Medicare for all. She has flip-flopped on a number of issues since she was a primary candidate. And I would look for him to try to nail down where she really stands on those things like packing the court, which to which she said absolutely, when she was asked about it just a few short months ago.

So yes, I mean, they are going to be the more vibrant team, I think, from what we have seen in the prior debate. And the next debate is also when we're going to be sitting on the edge of our seats for a while. I think that Pence will definitely pivot to the economy and prosecute that case very well for the President.

PERINO: OK, next up, Joe Biden tries to separate himself from socialism yet again. But Bernie Sanders, he's got other plans if Democrats win in November.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIAMS: Joe Biden once again distancing himself from socialism. Here's what he said during a town hall last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I look like a socialist? Look, I'm the guy that ran against the socialist. Remember, I got in trouble in the whole campaign, 20-some candidates, Joe Biden was too centrist, too moderate, too straightforward? That was Joe Biden. I have taken on the very people that in fact were worried about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: Senator Bernie Sanders, however, has some big plans for Democrats if they take back the Senate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT): If the Democrats gain control of the Senate, you're looking at the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health. And trust me, that the healthcare industry and the drug companies will understand a very new reality when that happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: Martha MacCallum, the Trump campaign keeps trying to tie Biden to Bernie and to Bernie's socialism, but it doesn't seem to be having much effect. Why do they keep doing it?

MACCALLUM: Well, I don't know. I mean, Bernie seemed pretty clear in what he planned to do once he got a hold of the health care committee. And you know, there was this several page document about the Green New Deal and all of these issues. And I think that is, you know, sort of obviously, where you're going to see Pence and Harris.

She's going to be defending that she's going to be on Joe Biden's side, that she's going to bring things to the middle even though she was very far to the left. She's in fact the farthest left-voting senator in the entire Senate according to her record.

So, Pence is going to go there tomorrow night and try to remind people of all of that because you are going to get a very different America if you vote for this Biden-Harris ticket. And that's not to say, you know, which is right with -- this is the choices before America right now. It's a very, very different picture than what we've got right now. And that is the incredibly stark choices before the American people.

So, you really can't dance around it. Joe Biden has moved much further to the left than he was in his earlier years. He, you know, talks about paying for health care for illegal immigrants. He has talked about eliminating fracking. He's talked about -- and, you know, I know he's moved on these positions, but he has also talked about eliminating charter schools in this country.

So, there's a lot there for people to decide which way they want to go. And he can dance around it all he wants, but those dispositions are things that need to be more clearly defined before people vote on them.

WILLIAMS: Dana, when we're looking at those numbers, I think the Trump campaign says, hey, if we can divide Biden from the left-wing and the Sanders supporters, it could diminish his support. But so far, what we see in the polls is that it's Trump who's having trouble with seniors, Trump who's having trouble with women.

PERINO: One of the most successful campaigns that the Republican candidates have run, not just the Trump campaign, I'm talking about House and Senate candidates, they basically are running, showing pictures of what Bernie Sanders just said. That if the democrats win, not just the presidency, but if they take back the Senate, then Bernie Sanders is going to be in charge of health care policy for the United States Senate with a -- with a Democrat and the executive branch. And that scares Republicans.

Do you want to get Republicans out to vote? That'll work. Maybe throw a little picture up there of Elizabeth Warren as your treasury secretary. How about AOC at the Department of Commerce? I mean, those types of things help you try to understand what that would actually look like because people can grasp that.

And Biden is benefiting from favorable and easy news coverage. So, I think that tomorrow night, Pence will be able to say, these are the following things that will either go away or that will happen to you if they went office over us. Give us another four years. I think that's what Pence will try to do.

WILLIAMS: Greg, do you think it's in the President's best interest to call attention to health care when, you know, everybody says he had for years, he had a promise, and he has done nothing to improve or resolve the issue of health care in America?

GUTFELD: The telemedicine is a pretty big deal, and the pharmaceutical prices is a pretty big deal. But I think if I were Trump, I would say hey, well, I'm social distancing, Biden is trying to socialist distancing, and he's failing. I think the irony is the real mask that Joe is wearing is the centrist mask. He wears it to calm the population down in case they start wondering who was pulling his strings, and it's the progressive wing.

Because the bottom line, we really don't know, because he's not answering any questions. And the media is not asking him any questions. Last night, they didn't ask about packing the Supreme Court, you know, because they know -- they know that'll put him in a tough spot. Love or hate Trump, you know where he's coming from because he tells you every single day. He answers every question, and he tells you what he's going to do. He may not get to do it, but he sure as hell telling you.

We have no idea, we have no clue what Joe is going to do, because he has no clue himself, because he's waiting for instructions from whoever helped him get the nomination. And we know who that is.

WILLIAMS: Jesse, do you think that it's the case here that the Trump campaign still wishes they were running against Bernie Sanders?

WATTERS: They are to a certain extent if you're for a public option, trillions in tax hikes, elimination of fossil fuels, amnesty in gun- grabbing. Juan, I don't know where you're from, but I call that a socialist, and that's what Joe Biden supports. He didn't take on the socialist in the primary, the socialist took him to the left and that's exactly what happened.

He's having a lot of problems with his base and the media will not cover it. For instance, the other day he comes out and he said he was able to quarantine because black women were stocking the shelves. It got no coverage. Or the fact that NBC and their town hall stacked the deck with so-called undecided voters who were actually, in fact, Biden's supporters.

Or today they just declassified a bombshell handwritten notes from Obama's CIA director saying Hillary cooked up the collusion scam. Did you hear any coverage of that? No, because it's so bad, they won't even touch it.

WILLIAMS: All right, thank you. Up next, President Trump ready to get back on the campaign trail. And what he is saying about debating Joe Biden next on THE FIVE.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: President Trump raring to go despite his battle with COVID-19.

The President says he can't wait to get back on the campaign trail and is looking forward to the debate on October 15th.

Dana, so at least for a few days, there's going to be probably -- you know, I mean, who -- we're going to hear from him tonight is my understanding in some sort of video appearance from the White House, but he is going to be a little bit under wraps in the coming days. How do they make up for that in this crucial time?

PERINO: Well, I think, as I said before, you know, he's out -- he's still making news, and he's leading the news like he did today with his announcement about ending the COVID-19 relief talks. Like, I think that the lead-up to the Miami debate is going to be even more hyped than the first debate and for good reason.

President Trump will be seen as the underdog going into that debate. He needs a good debate. And generally, Americans love a comeback story. I think you'll see a very different president in terms of tone and demeanor at that debate. And that we'll set up, Martha, believe it or not, an even more hyped final debate in Nashville.

MACCALLUM: Jesse, obviously, the expectations are going to be very high for that debate in Miami and the President will have to nail a lot of things that he didn't nail last time. What do you -- what are you looking for there?

WATTERS: Well, I'm not going to sugarcoat it. The President getting COVID definitely takes the conversation away from the economic reopening and back to COVID, Biden's strength. And it also, because he got it personally, kind of takes all the coverage away from Joe Biden and puts it directly on the president.

So, it's a challenge and I think he will meet that challenge because, you know, he's still got a better ground game, more enthusiasm, a better digital strategy, more surrogates, and just more popular populist policies.

But listen, he's got to start hammering Joe, and he will. Right now, the polls are totally cooked. I saw a poll Joe up 14.

I looked at the October polls in 2016, you're ready for this? NBC had Hillary up 14, ABC had Hillary up 12, CBS Hillary up 11, A.P. had Hillary up 13. They all had Hillary up double digits at the same time in October last time. I don't think that's going to go the same way.

MACCALLUM: Yes, that's right. And Biden actually is in better shape than Barack Obama was at this point in the pre-2016 period. Greg, you know, they're going to turn out all the family members and try to fill in the gap there. Will that do the trick for them?

GUTFELD: I don't know. You know, I keep thinking of that urban legend of how Elvis Presley tried to lose weight when he got to fat. They knocked him out for two or three weeks, and he just slept through the weight loss. I kind of want Fox to do that with -- I kind of want Fox to do that with me.

Just knock me out for about four weeks, and then wake me up when this is over.

WATTERS: Juan will knock you out.

GUTFELD: Yes, I'll be here.

MACCALLUM: Juan, is there -- is there an opening here for Democrats in this

-- in this bridge gap period?

WILLIAMS: Well, yes. I mean, that's what the poll shows. The Democrats right now are doing very well. I do think that you got this debate coming up. The question is, well, does the CDC say it's safe for Joe Biden to be on the stage with Donald Trump? Does Trump agree to a plexiglass separator.

Do they hold it outside? It's very interesting.

MACCALLUM: He says he intends to be there in person. "ONE MORE THING" is coming up next after this. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATTERS: It is time for "ONE MORE THING." Greg?

GUTFELD: All right, bad news. Eddie Van Halen passed away today at 65 after a very long bout with throat cancer. Probably one of the greatest guitarists of all time, if not the greatest guitarists of all time. If you were like me, a 14-year-old who went out and bought the very first record their debut record, you know that feeling when you first heard Eddie Van Halen.

The guitar sounded like nothing else. Eruption itself, it sounded like it came from another planet. I have terrible memories of this album, because I went to banana records in Hillsdale mall in San Mateo to buy this album, stealing from my dad's coin collection. I stole half dollars and silver dollars to buy the first record.

So, I would play the first album, run it all the way. Oh, it's so amazing.

And -- but I felt terrible about it, but I feel even worse now. He was an amazing, amazing musician and we'll miss him. RIP Eddie Van Halen.

WATTERS: You like that song Jump.

GUTFELD: No. Let's talk about when Van Halen was great, not in the Jump period.

WATTERS: All right.

GUTFELD: Please.

WATTERS: I knew that would upset you.

GUTFELD: How can you even bring up -- when they introduce the keyboards, mistake.

WATTERS: All right, the vice presidential debate is tomorrow night and you have a front row seat right here. Fox News Democracy 2020 Live gets you instant access to analysis, historical trivia, interactive votes on the issues in the candidates, plus a live running blog through the debate with our own Chad Pergram and Chris Stirewalt.

So how do you get all this? Just do this. Bookmark this page http://foxnews.com/2020live or use the camera on your phone to scan the QR code that you see on your screen like you do when you go out to eat. Fox News 20

-- Democracy 2020 Live is the singular experience you won't find anywhere else. You guys know what I'm talking about though.

GUTFELD: You're passionate.

WATTERS: Scan it in, log it on, and join us tomorrow night. It all starts one hour before the VP debate 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here. Dana, you're up next.

PERINO: OK, so there's a new episode of Dana Perino's Book Club. That goes up on Fox Nation. I talked to Trey Gowdy about his new book, it's called Doesn't Hurt to Ask. This is all about his time as a former prosecutor and a congressman. But really, it's about how to persuade. It's an excellent book. I highly recommend it. Here's a short clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TREY GOWDY, FOX NEWS CHANNEL ANCHOR: To be fully effective when it comes to persuasion, there has to be some kind of a relationship. It doesn't have to have lasted for a long time, but something where you can read, what resonates, and what connects.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: I'm going to try that persuasion with Juan. Let me just --

WILLIAMS: Yes, I have my words.

PERINO: Knock yourself out, Jesse. They have a relationship.

WATTERS: Juan, you and I have to go out to dinner. All right, you're up.

WILLIAMS: I want to congratulate you on that baby, anyway.

WATTERS: Thank you.

WILLIAMS: Look, Jesse, you're going to like this "ONE MORE THING." They're calling it The Greatest Scape. Take a look at twin boys fleeing the big house in Dallas. Yes, as you can see, the one-year-olds made the break out the doggie door, got to the lawn before mom caught on to their mischief.

Christina Spreen, the mother of Hayden and Hudson said the boys were racing to catch up with their seven-year old dog Jango. How adorable and what a handful those boys are going to be.

WATTERS: Yes, Hayden and Hudson.

PERINO: That's the kind of door Greg has in his house. It's scary.

MACCALLUM: Children are escaping.

WATTERS: Martha.

MACCALLUM: All right, so this caught my eye and I couldn't -- I couldn't look away from this. Watch this guy. He's a tree surgeon which is impressive in and of itself. He's at the top of a palm tree, and he chops up the top of it and then he gets to go for a ride.

WATTERS: What?

MACCALLUM: Look at this.

WATTERS: I want to see that.

PERINO: Peter shows that to me and he kind of loved it.

MACCALLUM: This was taken by someone who was just standing there watching -

- I mean this terrified me. He could have going flying off that tree at any moment.

WATTERS: So a tree surgeon, is that --

PERINO: We could have Juan try that. Juan, do you want to try that?

WILLIAMS: Where is this, Martha?

MACCALLUM: Yes. Do you like that job? This is the job description. It's like, when you take that thing, you know, what job should you have when you grow up? Tree surgeon.

WILLIAMS: Where was this?

MACCALLUM: San Bernardino, California.

WILLIAMS: Holy Molly.

MACCALLUM: But I think he was just trying to cut off some of the leaves, and then the whole head of the palm tree fell off, but just hangs on because he's a tree surgeon. He's an expert. And then he manages to get down.

Also, the voter panel tonight. I sat down with young voters of college students from locally around and let's see that (ph) in "THE STORY."

WATTERS: Thank you. That's it for us. "SPECIAL REPORT" up next with Bret

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