Does the coronavirus affect Trump's decision-making capabilities

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Does the coronavirus affect Trump's decision-making capabilities

Fox News contributor Dr. Nicole Saphier joins 'Your World' to discuss the president's recovery from COVID-19

Oct. 9, 2020 – This is a rush transcript from “Your World with Neil Cavuto” October 9, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR:  On a day of political storms, do not blame folks in the Gulf of Mexico area if they're focused more on a real one, courtesy Mother Nature, called Hurricane Delta, right now churning up winds in excess of 110 miles an hour.

It's a Category 3 storm. No way of telling how it will end up. What we do know is, later tonight, it will likely hit the Louisiana coast. And for some of the people hit there, the third time, by the way, in as many months, this is only five weeks after Hurricane Laura.

Thousands evacuated for that one. And, by the way, they still haven't been able to get back to their homes. Thousands more are told right now that they will have to consider that as well. So, where do all those people go?

The latest right now from Steve Harrigan following developments in Lafayette, Louisiana -- sir.

STEVE HARRIGAN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT:  Neil, pretty steady rain here in Lafayette.

Now, the wind could still be several hours off. As far as that goes, the situation here, you're really putting your finger on when you say this place has been hit twice in six weeks, almost the exact same path, and more than 10,000 people really still in hotels from that storm Laura six weeks ago.

There are still tarps on buildings. There's still debris lining the road.

And you can see the traffic jams during the day, people trying to get out on I-10, get out any way they can. You see these people. Sometimes, it's older people with pets, it's women with small children.

It is a tough thing to do to try and get out of a hurricane that's on the way. Some people in Cameron Parish right along the coast, they're going to try and ride it out. At least 100 people there will try and ride it out.

The roads are going to get flooded and rescue is going to be very difficult.

Already, aid is pouring into the area, several hundred electric workers ready from Duke power for when those power outages do come. Urban search- and-rescue teams, more than 500 team members, they're highly skilled in rescuing people from collapsed buildings and also from floodwater.

National Guard too, they have got everything, helicopters, boats, high- water vehicles. It's going to be an incredibly dangerous and difficult 24 hours in a place that's been through it just a few weeks ago -- Neil, back to you.

CAVUTO:  Steve Harrigan, thank you very much.

Rick Reichmuth with us right now.

Rick, I guess this is -- I misspoke -- a Category 2 storm. But what's the latest you're hearing?

RICK REICHMUTH, FOX NEWS CHIEF METEOROLOGIST:  Yes, it was a Category 3, down to a Category 2. It continues to weaken a little bit.

We talked yesterday. I mentioned that the water in the Northern Gulf has is cooler. Temps are like into the maybe 77 to 78 degrees. And so that isn't strong enough to really sustain an incredibly strong hurricane. You're seeing that in these last few hours before the center makes landfall.

Also, we're starting to see some storm shear that's beginning to break down just a little bit on that western side. These are all good things. But what's about to happen in towards the state of Louisiana, because you want to see a weakening storm, and that is what we have on hand here.

Take a look at this. This year so far, we have had nine named storms make landfall, four of those hurricanes, five of them as tropical storms. This will be our fifth hurricane and our 10th storm of the year, which is just incredible in this busy season that we have actually had to deal with them on the U.S. shore.

This is what the radar image looks like. We have seen some winds gusting up towards 70 miles an hour. Right now, we have got 56 in Galveston and 51 in Lake Charles. That 51 in Lake Charles, it's one of the spots that's the most populated area that saw the big impacts from Hurricane Laura just about six weeks ago.

One other thing we're going to watch, we will see this all night long and even into the day to tomorrow, is tornado concerns. So, here, where you see this yellow, tornado watches in effect. And that's very far away from the center of the storm all the way -- includes parts of Mississippi, includes New Orleans, all the way down Plaquemines Parish.

So we're going to watch that throughout the evening. This is the official track of the storm. Continues to pull off towards the north and then the northeast here, and in that path, we're going to see kind of a narrow little sliver, a lot of areas, maybe four to eight inches of rain.

A couple little spots, maybe we will see 12 to 15 inches of rain. Notice we will see that across parts of the Central Appalachians, and then across the Tennessee River Valley as well by the time we get in towards later tomorrow and into Sunday.

So, a lot ahead still here to go, Neil. Right now, we're about to see our 10th landfalling storm of this 2020 hurricane season. Absolutely unreal.

CAVUTO:  Unreal is right.

Thank you very, very much, Rick Reichmuth, for all of that.

So, how do you prepare in harm's way here?

We have got Josh Guillory with us, the Lafayette, Louisiana, mayor.

Mayor, thank you for taking the time.

How did things look by you?

JOSH GUILLORY, MAYOR OF LAFAYETTE, LOUISIANA:  Well, Neil, it's an honor to be here with you.

We take this very seriously. We have got to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. I was listening to your previous guest. And we're thankful for those cooler waters. We hope that the storm continues to weaken.

But can't -- we can't prepare on hope. We got to prepare on as if the worst thing is coming to you. So, to all of our first responders out here working very hard, we have worked the couple -- last couple days of reaching up to storm, reaching up to the storm, to make sure that our utility systems are up and working, our roads are clear, our first responders out there able to get to people in need.

CAVUTO:  I think we have lost our connection to the mayor, if we can't get that back.

Mayor, can you hear me now?

GUILLORY:  I sure can, Neil. Can you hear me?

CAVUTO:  Yes. I apologize for that.

But one of the things I was going to ask you, Mayor, about, for your neck of the woods, it was only, what, five or six weeks ago you had to deal with Laura.

This has almost the exact same track. And that was a doozy. How are your folks holding up? What are you telling them, to evacuate, to hunker down?

What?

GUILLORY:  Yes, being hit with Laura just about six weeks ago definitely adds some obstacles.

Now, our parish was on the further -- the Eastern part of Hurricane Laura.

We did feel the effects, but we didn't get the brunt of it, like our neighbors did in Calcasieu and Cameron Parish. Our prayers are still with them. Our relief efforts are still with them.

We're taking this -- we're approaching this storm just like we did with Hurricane Laura, as a regional approach.

But the residents -- our residents here in Lafayette Parish, in the Acadiana region, we're very -- we're very used to these storms. We're not necessarily used to them coming back to back to back, like they have been this hurricane season.

But we have a voluntary evacuation in place. That's been in place for a couple of days now here in our parish. Some surrounding parishes also had some voluntary and a few mandatory evacuation orders in place.

But for everyone listening out there here locally, it's still time to secure your -- secure your belongings outside. If there's anything out there that could potentially be -- become debris, we want to make sure that we hunker those down and we secure those.

Think Halloween, for example. There's a lot of people here that just put up Halloween decorations. Now's the time, if you forgot that, because you -- we don't ordinarily prepare for hurricanes during Halloween. But that could turn into some deadly debris.

CAVUTO:  Yes.

GUILLORY:  And we want to make sure that we are proactive.

CAVUTO:  Your -- all wise words.

Mayor, thank you very much. My best to you, your family, and all your constituents. It's going to be a doozy, but you guys have gotten used to this.

By the way, on the hurricane -- and, again, expected to hit land tonight -- we will be monitoring the fallout from this tomorrow as well, tomorrow morning, 10:00 a.m. on FOX News, as we look at the real fallout from this, as well as the political fallout and the political storm over stimulus.

Our next story right now is, what's happened to that? It was considered dead and gone, when the president just ripped it up and said, we will wait to continue this until after the election, then an enormous pivot, and now everyone scrambling, with a more generous package that has the two sides not all that far apart.

The very latest from Blake Burman at the White House.

Hey, Blake.

BLAKE BURMAN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT:  Hi there, Neil. A lot going on here.

But the headline, no doubt about it, today is that the White House has increased its offer. I was told earlier today roughly $1.8 trillion. Tyler Goodspeed, who is the acting CEA chair ,is just on FOX Business right now saying it is closer to $1.9 trillion.

So you sort of get the range that the White House is in right now. That means the White House has moved up a couple hundred, maybe $300 billion, from $1.6 trillion as to where they were before this.

Larry Kudlow broke the news earlier today on FOX Business in an interview live with Stuart Varney, saying there was a meeting in the Oval Office between President Trump, the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, the Treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, in which the president gave the green light to that new plan, the new offer from the White House.

This afternoon, Mnuchin held a phone call with the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, in which they discussed the details of the new White House offer.

However, the goalposts here, Neil, certainly moving for President Trump over the last several days, as, as that phone call was occurring between Pelosi and Mnuchin, the president was on the phone with Rush Limbaugh for a couple hours.

And the president was saying he wants it to go higher than that $1.8 trillion, $1.9 trillion. Listen here.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:  I would like to see a bigger stimulus package, frankly, than either the Democrats or the Republicans are offering. I'm going in the exact opposite now, OK?

I mean, I'm telling you this. I'm telling you something I don't tell anybody else, because maybe it helps or maybe it hurts negotiations.

I would like to see a bigger package. I'd like to see money going to people.

(END AUDIO CLIP) 

BURMAN:  Democrats right now are at $2.2 trillion. After the phone call, Nancy Pelosi's deputy chief of staff suggested or at least seemed to suggest that the White House offer is insufficient.

Here's -- was part of the tweet coming out of Pelosi's office -- quote -- "Of special concern is the absence of an agreement on a strategic plan to crush the virus. For this and other provisions, we are still awaiting language from the administration, as negotiations on the overall funding amount continue."

Neil, pair that with what came out of Kentucky today from the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell. He said that the differences right now between both sides are -- quote, unquote -- "vast."

And he also predicted, at least in his belief, that he does not believe there is going to be a deal between now and Election Day.

Bottom line here, the White House moving off its number, still though, a long way to go, Neil.

CAVUTO:  Blake Burman, thank you very, very much.

Blake Burman in Washington.

So, as Blake told you, the whole idea of stimulus, that might seem pretty dicey. Don't know if we will get it or not.

One thing that is not dicey or problematic is the fact that the Judge Amy Barrett confirmation hearings will start on Monday. Now, whether they're concluded by Election Day, and she's voted to become the next justice on the United States Supreme Court, that, we don't know.

But I have a -- well, a hunch that maybe Ted Cruz has an idea or two.

He will join me -- after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:  The issue is, the American people should speak. You should go out and vote. You're in voting now. Vote and let your senators know how strongly you feel.

TRUMP:  Are you going to pack the court?

BIDEN:  Vote now. Make sure you, in fact, let people know.

TRUMP:  He doesn't want to answer the question.

(CROSSTALK)

BIDEN:  I'm not going to answer that question because...

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:  Are you and Joe Biden, if somehow you win this election, going to pack the Supreme Court?

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:  Joe and I are very clear.

The American people are voting right now, and it should be their decision about who will serve on this most important body.

BIDEN:  You will know my opinion on court packing when the election is over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAVUTO:  All right, they're both pretty good at not answering a question.

Will you or will you not do what many of your Democratic colleagues on the Hill are considering right now, should Democrats take control of the Senate and try to pack the court, try to make sure something like a Judge Amy Barrett nomination never happens again?

And, by the way, what about the filibuster? But a nonanswer still gets to the core of the problem. They're not going to provide it until after the election, if it comes to that.

Anyway, Mike Emanuel has been following all this, because it's already built up its own drama -- Mike.

MIKE EMANUEL, FOX NEWS SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT:  Neil, good afternoon.

This is a critical time in the campaign, and in the process of vetting a potential new Supreme Court justice. Confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett are expected to dominate news coverage next week. And Democrats acknowledge they might be able to stall a bit, but don't think they can stop her confirmation, unless there's some shocking development.

So, many on the progressive left are pushing Democratic nominee Joe Biden and running mate Kamala Harris to get rid of the Senate filibuster, and then pack the Supreme Court with more justices.

Biden isn't answering the question, so President Trump is drawing this

conclusion:

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

TRUMP:  I think what he said was so disrespectful to the process and to the people. What he said then was just disgraceful.

But what that means, really, is that they're going to do it, OK?

(END AUDIO CLIP)

EMANUEL:  And a key member of the House Judiciary Committee says Biden's nonanswer means he's going to do it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DOUG COLLINS (R-GA):  He's telling the American people what he's going to. He will pack the court. Read my lips clearly. Joe Biden will pack the court if Amy Coney Barrett is approved.

Let's just make it very clear. He's trying to be too cute by half. And this is a real thing. They're trying to run a campaign of being fake, while the American people are understanding that it's the progressive wing that is actually pushing them where they need to go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EMANUEL:  If confirmed, a Justice Barrett would make it a 6-3 conservative majority. So the liberal base on the other side is feeling a whole lot of heartburn -- Neil.

CAVUTO:  Mike, thank you very much.

Mike Emanuel on all of that.

Well, talk about perfect timing. I'm sure he was writing this book some time ago, but it's released now, in the middle of all of this.

I'm talking about Texas Senator Ted Cruz's book "One Vote Away: How a Single Supreme Court Seat Can Change History."

Senator, you must have time that knowing these events were going to transpire. Very good to have you. Thank you for coming.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX):  Neil, it's great to join you.

The timing was a bit of serendipity. I wrote the book this spring and summer on COVID lockdown down in Houston, sat in my living room, pulled out the laptop, and wrote it.

Obviously, I didn't know there was going to be a Supreme Court vacancy in October. But what I did know is, there was, of course, going to be a presidential election in November. And, in my view, the single most important issue on the ballot is the judiciary and the Supreme Court.

And what this book does, "One Vote Away," is, it lays out the constitutional liberties that are hanging in the balance. Each chapter of the book addresses a different constitutional liberty, one on free speech, one on religious liberty, one on the Second Amendment.

And it tells war stories. It brings the reader inside the court, behind the scenes, on the big landmark cases, many of which I personally helped litigate. And it's designed to bring them alive.

A lot of people know the Supreme Court's important, but they don't necessarily understand what's going on, what it's about. And this is designed to be readable.

CAVUTO:  Well, I know you get into the notion that so many crucial decision have been one-vote decisions. The vast majority actually are much wider than that, but they get the attention.

But I'm wondering here, because you have expressed your doubts in the past and relayed them about Judges Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, how can we be so sure that, in Amy Barrett, we have a true conservative?

I know you had telegraphed your concerns about those judges, now justices, and their conservative bona fides, but then how here can we know for sure with Amy Barrett?

CRUZ:  So, the last chapter of the book is entirely focused on Supreme Court nominations and how to get them right or how we have gotten them wrong.

If you look at history...

CAVUTO:  Right.

CRUZ:  ... Democrats are very good at this. They get almost 100 percent of their nominees vote exactly as Democrats want them to in almost every big case.

Republicans are terrible at this. We bat less than .500. And many of the worst judicial activists in history were put on the bench by Republicans, people like Earl Warren, and Bill Brennan, and John Paul Stevens, and David Souter, Harry Blackmun, the author of Roe vs. Wade. All of those were Republican appointees.

And what I do is examine what worked and what didn't. And there's a pattern. If you look at those justices who stayed faithful to their oath, people like Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Sam Alito, my former boss, Chief Justice William Rehnquist, they all had served in the executive.

They all had defended conservative principles, defended the Constitution.

And here's the critical piece Neil. They all had faced withering press criticism. They'd been pounded and stayed strong.

That's what I'm most interested in, is, have you...

CAVUTO:  Do you think Judge Barrett -- do you think Judge Barrett is up to that withering criticism, and will deliver the goods that maybe some other justices, as you pointed out, have not?

CRUZ:  So, look, I hope so.

She has impeccable academic credentials. She's been an academic. She's been a court of appeals judge. Personally, I would like to see a longer record as a proven constitutionalist on the court, but I -- but I think all of the indicia are encouraging about Judge Barrett right now.

CAVUTO:  All right.

Now, this nonanswer we're getting from the Democratic ticket, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, as to whether they would agree with some of their cohorts to pack the court, in light of this, what do you think?

CRUZ:  I think there is a reason they're refusing to answer it, because the answer is unequivocally yes, yes, yes.

I talked yesterday to both the president and the vice president. And I congratulated the vice president on a fantastic debate two days ago, where he put the question, not once, twice, he put it four times to Kamala Harris, and she consistently refused to answer it, just like Joe Biden did the week before.

The reason is simple. Their hard left base wants to do this. If they win, they will pack the court, which will destroy its independence, which will make it a political institution even worse than it is now. But they recognize that is a wildly unpopular decision, so they don't want to admit it to the American people.

And I got to say, there's something weird about Joe Biden standing up and saying, I'm not going to tell the voters before you vote whether I'm willing to destroy one of the pillars of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, one of the pillars of our society.

There's something fundamentally dishonest to the voters about it. And it's because their answer to that, as I said, is yes.

CAVUTO:  Or it could be they're sitting on a lead, and don't want to -- you know, don't want to ruin anything.

In fact, their lead in the polls is so substantial that even you said earlier, Senator, that the GOP could face a bloodbath of Watergate proportions on Election Day if voters aren't feeling optimistic about the economy, went on to say that people are very, very angry.

Do you see that changing in the next three weeks or so?

CRUZ:  Well, what I said earlier was that the election is incredibly volatile.

So, one outcome that is possible is a bloodbath election, where Democrats win everything. I think it is still possible that the president gets reelected with a big margin, and that Republicans take -- keep the Senate and take the House.

And I think it depends on, number one, people being...

CAVUTO:  You think the president -- you think the president could win by a big margin, even when you look at -- and, again, polls are always suspect, as you remind me, Senator.

But the trend is not his friend. In fact, it's widening, not only nationally, but even the battleground states.

CRUZ:  So, I think the hard left is going to show up, no matter what. I think they hate the president. They're going to crawl over broken glass to vote.

The big question is, does everyone else show up and vote? And that's actually why I wrote the book "One Vote Away," is, it's designed -- if you're a voter at home, and, for one reason or another, maybe you're not thrilled with Donald Trump, you might not like what he says or what he tweets, and you're trying to think, gosh, do I vote or not, this book is designed to make the case to you that, if you care about your fundamental liberties, if you want to preserve your religious liberty, if you want to preserve your right to free speech, if you want to preserve the Second Amendment, there are four votes that have been on the Supreme Court to take those rights away.

And if Joe Biden wins, we are facing a loss of our fundamental liberties.

And this book is designed to make that very real by helping you understand just how close the court is to destroying those rights.

And I will tell you, Neil, it's been amazing. The book has become the number one bestseller in the country on Amazon. And I think that's because people want to understand what's going on with the court. What are the stakes in this election?

What are the stakes in the confirmation battle over Judge Barrett? And this book -- you don't have to be a lawyer to enjoy this book.

CAVUTO:  No, I think you get -- you also get into a lot of interesting behind-the-scenes stuff there that makes the stuff we're seeing today seem pale by comparison.

But, very quickly, while I have you here, the reason I mentioned polls and everything else, the president said something kind of revealing today, maybe tweeting it, more to the point, on Nancy Pelosi's efforts to look at the transfer of power and the 25th Amendment, essentially saying -- and I'm paraphrasing here, Senator -- that that's her way to help Kamala Harris, which almost seemed to me to indicate, has he given up on this thing?

Does he think Biden and Harris are going to win, and Democrats are going to prepare for a possible transfer of power to grease the skids for a President Harris?

Do you sense it. when you have talked to the president, that he's losing faith he can pull this reelection off?

CRUZ:  You know, I don't sense that at all.

As I said, I talked to him yesterday. I talked to him three days ago, when he got home from the hospital. He sounded strong. He sounded in good spirits. I think he's prepared to fight.

I think a lot of folks are trying to write off the election, but you know what? They did that four years ago also.

CAVUTO:  No, you're right about that.

CRUZ:  And, look, the Pelosi (AUDIO GAP) amendment thing is just a political stunt on her part.

I mean, since the day the Democrats got the majority in the House, their only priority has been attacking the president, impeaching the president, trying to destroy the president. And this is -- this is just a political stunt to do that.

CAVUTO:  All right, let me talk -- I would be remiss if I didn't mention your dust-up with Mark Cuban, of course, the Mavericks owner.

You had called him out, or it seemed like you were calling him out when you looked at the NBA finals and the bad ratings they were having, and saying a lot of the social justice messaging at a lot of games might have been a ratings downer.

He responded that a U.S. senator with three NBA teams in the state and employing thousands of people, and he's rooting for their business to do poorly. He called you full of you know what.

What do you say?

CRUZ:  Well, to quote the Bard, methinks she doth protest too much.

And Mark Cuban gets very upset, and he yells and screams, and hurls expletives when he is actually -- when he knows he's in the wrong. And, in this instance, I -- I love the NBA. I'm a die-hard Houston Rockets fan. I have been my entire life.

And it breaks my heart to see the NBA. I think they are doing enormous damage to their business by just insulting many of their fans by turning basketball games -- no one wants to turn on a sports game and hear this lefty political lecture, which, by the way, is completely self-righteous and doesn't actually address any of the issues.

If they wanted to do something on racial inequality, it'd be great to see the NBA step in and raise money for scholarships for low-income kids to have school choice. But they wouldn't do that.

Instead, they just...

CAVUTO:  Well, have you guys talked -- have you guys talked, after all the online back and forth, to bury the hatchet, or is it still quite sharp and still very much a hatchet?

CRUZ:  Oh, well, look, to be honest, I don't know Mark Cuban personally. I have never met the guy. He tweets nasty things at me.

My actually initial comment was about the NBA generally, and it was sad to see the damage they were doing to the sport. I mean, their viewership is down 50 percent. And Cuban has sort of made a -- made a pattern of wanting to attack and throw bombs at me. And that's fine.

It's -- I get it's a very political league. But it's not good -- it's not good for the viewers, and it's not good for the league. I think sports should be fun to watch. And much of their political commentary is very superficial and uninformed.

And that's part of why you don't necessarily tune in to see a basketball owner or whoever lecturing you on politics. You want to have a discussion about police reform, you want to have a discussion about racial justice, I'm happy to have a long, substantive one.

But that's not what Mark Cuban's looking at. He's just throwing bombs. And, frankly...

CAVUTO:  All right.

CRUZ:  ... he's very sensitive, because the NBA...

CAVUTO:  Gotcha.

CRUZ:  ... is simultaneously so in bed with the Chinese communist government, that they're unable to say even a word about China, but they're glad to criticize...

CAVUTO:  All right, Senator, we will see. We will see.

CRUZ:  ... and attack...

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO:  It could also be the very, very long playoff season. It never ends. It just never ends. That could be a separate issue.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO:  But, Senator Ted Cruz, it's very good having you. Be well, be safe.

Thank you again.

All right, we have a lot more coming up, including the president. What's he going to do? When is he going to get back out on the stump?

Well, apparently, we're getting word right now there will be an in-person event at the White House tomorrow. We're getting some drips and drabs on this.

What the nation is in store for -- after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO:  All right, the stocks are now positive on the year, the Dow advancing about 162 points, a lot of optimism that a stimulus deal can still be had.

They have done this before, but it was good enough for one of the best weeks for the markets in about eight.

More after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO:  All we know, it's a law and order event at the White House.

The president will be with a lot of people. It's his first in-person event there since dealing with the COVID-19 virus a little bit more than a week ago.

Now to Dr. Nicole Saphier, FOX News contributor, author of "Make America Healthy Again," whether she thinks that's wise for him to do so soon.

What do you think? What do you think, Doctor? Is this a good idea?

DR. NICOLE SAPHIER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR:  Well, so, Neil, we don't know a lot of details about this event. They said that people will be gathering on the South Lawn. The president will be addressing the crowd from the balcony.

CAVUTO:  Right.

SAPHIER:  That being said, let's talk about his COVID-19 diagnosis.

The CDC guidelines recommend you could end isolation when you have a positive COVID-19 test, when you are greater than -- or when you are at minimum 10 days since symptom onset, over 24 hours fever-free, and also your symptoms are improving, not necessarily gone, as we know a lot of those COVID symptoms can linger, such as cough, shortness of breath, and even some people report a brain fog.

So, if you break down the president's symptoms, I believe that it was reported he was experiencing congestion and some fatigue on October 1, Thursday. So that would make tomorrow 10 days since symptom onset.

The last I heard, the fever was spiking the following Friday. I don't know if he has had a fever since then. He was started on dexamethasone the following day on Saturday. Dexamethasone can actually suppress a fever. It has antipyretic effects.

So I'd be really curious to hear if he was spiking a fever between that Friday morning and the Saturday afternoon once he started dexamethasone.

But, that being said, the president's position and the president himself have reported that his symptoms have improved and that, in his words, he's feeling great. So, that being said, that possibly tomorrow may be the end of his isolation.

Another way that you could end isolation sooner is having two negative COVID tests sequentially greater than 24 hours apart. However, that being said, a negative test is not actually -- is not actually necessary for someone to end isolation. As we know, nonviable virus particles can be detected in someone up to even 30 days after infection.

It doesn't mean they're contagious anymore. They just still are harboring some of that virus.

CAVUTO:  He's been on some pretty heavy-duty drugs and steroids and all, and it's done the trick. But does it affect his decision-making capabilities?

The reason why I ask is, a lot of people were shocked when he, in the middle of the progress on the stimulus, nixed it, and then did a 180, got back to it.

Now it might have been an art of the deal-type thing, but it struck a lot of people as just odd. Does anything he takes now or did...

SAPHIER:  Well, I think...

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO:  ... could it affect compulsive behavior?

SAPHIER:  Well, I will tell you, Neil, that I think the president's behaviors have been criticized his entire four years, because people find him to be impulsive.

And I think that's part of the reason why people may like him. The Regeneron antibodies and the remember antiviral medication do not report any side effects of such. Dexamethasone is a low-level steroid, which some people can report having some hyperactivity. It can also raise your blood sugar. It can also have antipyretic effects, but tends to be very low on the risk profile.

But I wouldn't necessarily want to point fingers at a medication...

CAVUTO:  All right.

SAPHIER:  ... that may be influencing his behaviors. That's for his doctors to decide, if anything is having a side effect in him.

CAVUTO:  Yes. Yes, I mean, sugar donuts do it for me, Doctor, but that's a whole separate issue, when we have our next visit.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO:  Dr. Nicole Saphier, thank you very, very much.

All right, we have a lot more coming up.

Still monitoring Hurricane Delta in the Gulf and what it is telling us about the floods to come way, way far from the Gulf.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO:  All right, when even mainstream media folks are saying it's frustrating not to hear Joe Biden or Kamala Harris answer yes or no whether they agree with progressives in their party who want to pack the court if Republicans succeed in getting Judge Amy Barrett to the Supreme Court, Jason Nichols is here, Democratic strategist, a very smart one.

So, Jason, I will just ask you just up front, what is the problem with just answering that question? Is it fear of ticking off the extreme progressive part of the party, or just sitting on a lead and playing it carefully, or both? What is it?

JASON NICHOLS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST:  Well, I think some of it is sitting on a lead and playing carefully.

But I also think that we haven't seen the whole process of what's going to happen with Amy Coney Barrett, particularly with the recent diagnosis of half of the White House, and particularly the president, people in Congress like Tillis and Lee. We don't know what's going on. No one really knows.

So it's not time to really make these kinds of projections yet, when we don't have the answers to what's going on immediately.

So I think that they're holding off on that issue.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO:  But, I mean, if you're doing any of -- let's say if you're demanding of the president, just to be fair about it, I mean, how do you feel about white supremacist violence and the rest, answer it, yes or no, or you're demanding an answer on whether you're going to keep health care portion, or where is that, and you want to answer, and everyone's entitled to that, then why doesn't it go the other way?

And the reason why I'm concerned about maybe it's because this ticket is concerned about not looking like they're too in bed with the progressives, but some of the progressives have upped the ante a bit, calling for a People's Charter for free public health care, full student debt cancellation, reallocating police funding without calling it defunding the police.

So the ticket has not responded to that, but are they under increasing pressure to espouse views like that?

NICHOLS:  So, I don't think so.

I think Joe Biden -- one thing Republicans are correct about is that Joe Biden has been Joe Biden for 47 years in government. He's more Joe Manchin than he is Ilhan Omar. He's more Jon Tester or Mark Warner than he is Rashida Tlaib or AOC.

He already agrees with certain elements of the People's Charter, like free COVID testing, a ban on evictions and foreclosures during the pandemic. But there are certain things they're not going to get. And that is, you're not going to get universal free health care, Medicare for all. The voters rejected that in the Democratic Party when they rejected Bernie Sanders.

I'm more on that side of the aisle.

CAVUTO:  But, Jason, would they subscribe to that, or is that something they'd be more emboldened or empowered to do, let's say, if they run the table on Election Day, take not only the White House, but keep the House, even take the Senate?

Then they have a lot more oomph to do whatever the heck they want to do, right?

NICHOLS:  I think you're going to get some progressive things.

I think you're going to see Joe Biden is willing to bring everyone to the table, but he knows what got him elected. It is people who were in -- Democrats, old-school Democrats in Western Pennsylvania, old-school Democrats in Ohio, the moderate wing of the party.

I think those are the people that he is most going to going to cater to, because that's who he is. He hasn't changed who he is in 47 years. I don't expect him to change and become Bernie Sanders overnight. And Bernie Sanders got defeated by Joe Biden.

As much as I love Bernie Sanders, he lost. And you're not going to get defunding the police when you have, as the president, the person who was the architect of the COPS program, which threw money at police programs.

So I really don't think that Joe Biden is going to change. He's going to listen to progressives. He's going to see where there's agreement, but going to reject some of those things.

CAVUTO:  All right.

Well, we have got to know which ones.

Jason, always good having you. Thank you very much, Jason Nichols, Democratic strategist here.

NICHOLS:  Thanks, Neil.

CAVUTO:  By the way, we're keeping track of Hurricane Delta right now, and a curious path it could be on that could take it well up into, by next week at this time, rains in the Ohio Valley all the way to the Mid-Atlantic.

We will explain -- after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO:  All right, here we go again.

For residents of Louisiana, this is the third time in six weeks they have been dealing with a major storm and a hurricane, and this one's a doozy, Delta now a hurricane Category 2, but a lot of wind and soaking rain that could send surges up to 12 feet.

The latest from Phil Keating in Jennings, Louisiana.

Phil, what's it looking like there?

PHIL KEATING, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT:  Well, it looks like this, very rainy. A lot of wind comes in waves as the bands come up the shore and into the state of Louisiana.

It's still a Cat 2. Winds have dropped down about five miles an hour, so it's 105 miles per hour, but, still, a Cat 2 can be deadly, quite destructive. And so that's why people are ordered mandatory evacuated from this area.

FEMA tweeted out these two photos today, showing its arsenal of relief trucks, a bunch of 18-wheelers, a bunch of boats, all to deliver 1.6 million MREs, 1.5 million liters of water as well.

All of this is anticipated for after the storm. And, remember, it was just six weeks ago deadly and destructive Category 4 Hurricane Laura carved almost the same path as what is forecast tonight, extremely bad luck.

And check out the newest tool for the FOX News hurricane arsenal. It's called the FOX storm cam, which is a big hard plastic waterproof box, a bunch of technology inside, and, of course, the camera that can shoot out of a peephole. So this can be placed anywhere.

Here is a live look of ours currently down in Lake Arthur. It's broadcasting this scene there. And if the hurricane was a Cat 4, and it was too dangerous for our crews, this will always be able to provide you, the viewer, with the latest technology.

Pretty cool stuff, Neil.

CAVUTO:  Very cool stuff.

But you're not going to like the idea they had to put you in that thing, just in case.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO:  But, Phil, be safe, my friend. Keep at it.

KEATING:  Too small.

CAVUTO:  Phil Keating in the middle of all that in Louisiana.

Remarkable technology.

All right, and a remarkable election year, right? North Carolina, one of those pivotal must-win states for both sides, but it's not just the battle on the top of the ticket. For Senator Thom Tillis, it's a do-or-die moment as well. He got a bit of a reprieve this week.

We're on it -- after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO:  All right, we're learning right now the president is expected to deliver remarks from the White House balcony tomorrow.

Don't know how close he will be getting to the folks who will be watching him. He's also going to deliver remarks at a campaign event in Florida on Monday.

We hope he's physically up to that and the whole COVID-19 thing he's been dealing with.

Let's go to Senator Thom Tillis in North Carolina, who himself tested positive for the virus.

Senator, first off, how are you feeling?

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC):  I feel great.

I had very mild symptoms on Saturday morning, about a week ago, and no symptoms since Saturday afternoon. And following the CDC protocol, I expect to be back in Judiciary Committee the first part of the week.

CAVUTO:  All right. So, will that mean you will be there for day one of the hearings or day two?

TILLIS:  I think, on day one, it's opening statements. I will -- I will dial in, as I have and many Democrats have, although they're criticizing it, for opening statements.

And then, according to the CDC guidelines, it looks like I'm more likely to travel up in my pickup truck on Tuesday.

CAVUTO:  Let's talk a little bit about what the president's plans are.

He's handled this remarkably well physically. A lot of folks are worried it might -- it might be risky for him and the people with whom he comes in contact, particularly on Monday, depending on what the arrangements are in Florida.

You're dealing with this. How would you advise him?

TILLIS:  Well, I think you follow the doctor's advice.

I have not seen any doctor. I have been on the phone with some. I haven't had any medical attention. My symptoms have been manageable at home, and really no symptoms.

But I think the president's going to listen to his doctors, for his own personal safety, the safety of people around him. And I think he will act accordingly.

CAVUTO:  So, let's talk about your race, Senator.

You were one of those, and might still be, for all I know, vulnerable Republicans up for reelection. And then the news of your opponent, who was leading, depending on the vote, by six to eight points, then Cal Cunningham had to publicly apologize for an affair, the texts of which were released to the blogosphere. And the rest, of course, is history.

There haven't been polls since then. But many argue now that your seat is looking secure. Do you think your seat is looking secure?

TILLIS:  Well, Neil, I thought my seat was looking secure on Friday afternoon, before the revelations came out.

I mean, Cal Cunningham has premised this whole campaign on truth and honor.

And what he's done is not been completely honest with the voters of North Carolina, and has covered up an affair that included a veteran, a veteran of the Army's wife.

And he's now tried to admit to it, but not completely. I really feel sorry for his family, that -- what they're going through right now. But when you premise your entire campaign on truth and honor, and what you were was untruthful and dishonorable, the people of North Carolina need to understand that.

Cal Cunningham will say anything to get elected. He has said anything to get elected. He lost in 2010. He changed his positions on things. So, I don't think that we can trust him. And I think that this is a very important thing for the people of North Carolina to understand before they cast their ballot.

CAVUTO:  Now, we did reach out to Cal Cunningham. We have yet to hear back.

But the big issue in North Carolina in general -- and it's a tough one for the president -- is, they're not feeling this economic boom that he talks about, maybe that you talk about.

Real quickly, are you worried about that; there's a disconnect here?

TILLIS:  Well, I think that there may be.

But I do believe that people know the economy we had before COVID hit our shores. And I believe that the voters of North Carolina rely on Republicans, like I did when I was speaker of the House in North Carolina, to recover an economy that had been destroyed by Democrat leadership for nearly 20 years.

I think that the voters, at the end of the day, in that clarity of moment that they will have when they cast their ballot, they're going to vote for President Trump, and they're going to vote for Thom Tillis.

CAVUTO:  All right, we will see what happens, Senator. Meanwhile, look after your health. Get well. Get better.

Very good seeing you again. You look fine.

So, Thom Tillis, the Republican of North Carolina, on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

We will be exploring all of this and everything tomorrow at 10:00 a.m.

Until then, we have got "The Five."

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