How polls are reacting to Trump, Biden campaign styles
'The Story' panel debates which candidate is better for America on the economy, coronavirus
This is a rush transcript from “The Story with Martha MacCallum" September 24, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: That's awesome. I waitressed at
(inaudible) I never got an $800 tip, so that's really good.
(LAUGHTER)
Good to see you, Bret.
All right, good evening, everybody. I Martha MacCallum in New York and this is "THE STORY." We've got 40 days until the election. And among other big stories tonight, we've got another American city that is now very much on edge.
This happened in the wake of the grand jury findings in the Breonna Taylor case, where evidence persuaded that jury that the officers fired in self- defense after they were shot at by Taylor's boyfriend.
There is going to be a trial and that will deal with the one officer who was charged in a larger case. But despite the Kentucky Governor's call for a curfew and the National Guard last night, this was the scene there in Louisville. Early on, the protesters urged others to come on down and get into those streets. And this as night fell on Louisville and other cities across the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All you all get ready to (EXPLETIVE DELETED) die!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're idiots! You signed up to protect property and corporations.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You all should be out here with us!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shame on you all! All you all black officers!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED). You're a (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
You're a (EXPLETIVE DELETED). You're a (EXPLETIVE DELETED). You're a (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Breonna Taylor. Good one! Good one!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: Demeaning (ph) in those officers' faces and applauding and rejoicing when they get hit with things. And then you had shots that rang out in Louisville and hit two police officers. A suspect is now in custody.
There were 127 other arrests last night as well. The man that you see on the right-hand side of your screen is Lorenzo Johnson. He said that he has no home address. They also discovered that he was posting quite a bit on social media about the case, about racial strife in the streets, and he is the suspect in the shooting of those two police officers. Tonight, we will get more on that as we get it.
So, the infusion of chaos that sprung from Louisville inspired protests in Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, and also in Florida. Look at this in St.
Petersburg, Florida last night when some people tried to sit outside and have dinner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CROWD CHANTING)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is my table.
(CROWD CHANTING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: He refused to leave her table and he refused to leave, sitting at it. And you saw what happened then. Jorge Ventura and Shelby Talcott are reporters for The Daily Caller. We just played some of their videos that they shot last night and we've played a lot of them throughout the course of the summer, as they have covered this huge story across America.
They were on the streets of Louisville last night until they were both arrested. Shelby and Jorge, thank you, good to see you tonight. Shelby, we weren't sure if you were going to be released in time to join us this evening. Tell us what happened last night and about your experience.
SHELBY TALCOTT, DAILY CALLER REPORTER: Yes, so Jorge was already in the area when this incident occurred right near Jefferson Park which has been the scene of a lot of the protests.
I was returning from a press conference from - to hear about the officer's condition, and when I arrived, there was a really strong police presence, a small crowd of protesters, and they were ordering for them to disperse. The crowd actually did leave the area and sort of circled around the block, and officers came in from all sides and sort of corralled everyone in, which included myself and Jorge, and a third reporter who was on the ground, who we are not sure is out or not. (inaudible) and we were arrested with everyone else.
MACCALLUM: And were you charged?
TALCOTT: Yes. So, we actually have different charges, which is interesting.
So, Jorge, what do you have been charged for?
JORGE VENTURA, REPORTER, THE DAILY CALLER: Yes, so I got charged with local county ordinance and failure to disperse.
TALCOTT: And my charges are failure to disperse and an unlawful assembly.
MACCALLUM: And did they realize that you were members of the press, that you were there covering THE STORY?
TALCOTT: We did explain (ph) that we were members of the press. We didn't have our official press credentials but (inaudible). I offered them some like alternative credentials to prove who we were. They didn't want to take those. And within 30 minutes of us being arrested, I would say of course there were calls from The Daily Caller and it was made very clear that we were press and we were still arrested and (inaudible).
MACCALLUM: So, Jorge, talk to me a little bit about your experience and also what you saw on the streets in your coverage last night in Louisville.
VENTURA: Well, during the day, Martha, things got a little more hectic. We saw about - over ten arrests and we saw a huge march of protestors clash with a police line. This was around 2:30, so it was about an hour after the announcement from Kentucky AG.
But later into the night, as Shelby was saying, when we were arrested, it was clear that we were with The Daily Caller. There was actually a moment where I was in the processing center with the rest of the protesters, and I'm not sure if it was a sergeant or Chief Police Officer, but he actually called me over and said, are you Jorge Ventura?
I said, yes. He said, your editor-in-chief just called me and said you and your colleague are here arrested, and you guys are acquitted immediately.
He said, give me one second, I am going to go finish this phone call and I'll come speak with you again.
So, in that moment, I actually thought me and Shelby were going to be able to walk away freely. But as soon as he returned, he said hey we are confirming that you are with The Daily Caller but we are going to charge you with some misdemeanors and that you're going to spend the night in jail. So, I was actually a little bit confused to receive that answer.
MACCALLUM: Quite an experience, I'm sure. Shelby, talk to me a little bit about what was going on in the street. We are looking at some of the video that you two shot. We see someone being taken into custody in this video as well, being sort of held back and then pulled to the ground by one of the officers. How would you characterize the behavior of the protesters and the officers out there last night?
TALCOTT: Protesters started off as soon as they heard the announcement.
They were very angry, but it wasn't too crazy. I would describe it as a tense and aggressive march, but not very violent.
There have been no - they did end up (inaudible) two officers which were shot. That sort of escalated the situation and the crowd sort of dispersed in different directions and began breaking some things. Some of them returned to the park where they were not complying with the unlawful assembly orders. But some of the protesters that I ended up in jail with had said to me while we were in jail for 16 hours that they were trying to leave the area when they were sort of corralled in--
MACCALLUM: Yes, that's what I was going to ask you and I will ask you, Jorge. The people that you were - tell me about what it is like there overnight and the people that you were with. What did they say? Are they from Louisville? Did they give you any insight into who they are and what brought them out there?
VENTURA: So, I was in a holding cell with about 40 men. Most of the men that I was in the holding cell with were from out of state. We had some folks coming in from Indiana. Multiple folks coming in from Detroit and Ohio. They all came in angered of the announcement.
Now, one thing that I kind of picked up actually being in the holding cell was a lot of the folks there, the chatter since they were held in a cell for so long, they said that they are actually not coming out to protest anymore. And if they do come out to protest, they will actually be coming home before the curfew. Actually, I thought that was kind of an interesting
(inaudible) from being in the cell.
MACCALLUM: Yes, that is. We were showing video a little bit before of this U-Haul that shields were pulled out of and equipment and things that were used for the protesting signs being pre-painted and put into the truck.
Shelby or Jorge, can either of you give me any insight, any background on where that truck came from, who paid for it, who organized it? Do we know?
TALCOTT: I'm not quite sure. So I was marching along with everybody else and heard some shots from members of the crowd that there was a U-Haul just one side of the road and in this parking lot with gear for protesters.
And everyone sort of ran towards this U-Haul, and once they opened it up, there was water, there were shields, there were signs, all sorts of things.
But it was already parked. There was no driver that I could see when I arrived. So, I have no idea where it came from.
MACCALLUM: Jorge, any thoughts?
VENTURA: Same thing. I was there for that same moment. I actually saw Shelby's videos. It was one of those odd things. Maybe one thing that we could start looking into to see where the money is coming from, who is hiring these people to really commit, if that's the situation.
MACCALLUM: Well, you guys have done a great job all throughout the summer of being in this difficult environment, dangerous environment, on the streets in the middle of these protests. And I am glad you have both been released, and we thank you for sharing that video with us, as you have before, and we will watch all of this very closely. Very tense times in this country, and you've seen it up close. Shelby, thank you very much.
Jorge, good to see you, thank you very much.
VENTURA: Thank you, Martha.
MACCALLUM: So, we are just a few moments away here, President Trump in Jacksonville, Florida tonight. This is his third rally of the week. The president campaigning hard this week. He is in the Sunshine State.
Of course, one poll did show him, among likely voters, with a three-point lead. Other polls show this as a very, very tight race in Florida. Don't go away, we've got brand new polls from three other swing states that just came out tonight. Pollster Frank Luntz, when THE STORY continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACCALLUM: So, President Trump in Jacksonville right now. At one point, he had plans to have the RNC and the convention there. That did not happen. He is just making his way to the podium and he is currently trailing Joe Biden by just over a point when you look at the RCP average of the polls together, but a likely voter poll this week showed him ahead by 4 in Florida.
Biden, by the way, ended the campaign day early this morning, put a lid on, I think that's the ninth time he has done that early. In the month of September, he's going to do debate prep is what we were told.
Now, in 2016, President Trump beat Hillary Clinton by just over one point to win Florida in its 29 electoral votes. Duval County, which is where the president is tonight, is one of the many counties that did help propel him to that victory that evening. So he is there obviously in an effort to try to shore that up.
We do also have some new polls that we want to show you this evening from three other key states where the president faces more of an uphill battle.
Down 11 in Nevada, down 7 in Pennsylvania, and down 5, I think that's the one that's in the margin of error in those brand-new polls that we have.
We have Franklin standing by to talk about some of these polls. We are going to dip in here and listen to the president for a little bit. And let's do that. Jacksonville, Florida, President Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have a hard time filling up the circles. Here we probably have 30,000 people or something, that's a lot of people.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Well, I want to thank you. 40 days from now, we are going to win Florida, we are going to win four more years in the White House.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And this is the most important election in the history of our country, I believe that. It is, because we are dealing with people that are crazy. They are going to raise your taxes, they are going to take away your Second Amendment, you know that.
Your Second Amendment is not going anywhere with me, I can tell you that.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: The Democrat Party has been completely taken over by Socialists, Marxists, and far-left extremists. They embrace the policies of communist Cuba, socialist Venezuela. They want to end the American Dream for Hispanic-Americans. We love Hispanic-Americans while--
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Did you see they released a poll today? It said Trump is doing really well. What is going on with the Hispanics. It took you so long to figure out that I love you. How long did it take? No more of that stuff.
No, the Hispanic-Americans are great. And they released a poll today and nobody has ever seen anything like it. The Republicans are beating the Democrats with Hispanic-Americans, think of that.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Now, we are doing great. We are doing great. And they never like to show those polls. Whenever you see they don't show too many polls, that's only because we are winning, we are winning by a lot. We think we are winning by a lot.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: But the only poll that counts is on November 3, right, that's the only poll that counts.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: So get out there, don't let them bluff you on whatever it is, get out there and vote. The Republican Party is the party of jobs, safety, and freedom, and we will ensure that America never becomes a socialist or communist country.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: I've added that recently. I said socialist country, I said now a socialist or communist country, because these people are crazy. Kamala, you know Kamala is further left than Bernie, I didn't know that.
She is the furthest left in the US Senate. She was up at 15 percent when she started, you know that right, that story. She went down to 14 percent and she went to 12 percent, then she went to 11 percent. She went to 9 percent, then a 6 percent, 4 percent, 2 percent, 1 percent. And then she left before Iowa, the great state of Iowa, where I made ethanol possible for them, ethanol.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And I gave our farmers $28 billion, thank you very much to China, we took it out of China because they were targeting Iowa and Nebraska, a lot of our great states, Wisconsin. We gave our farmers a lot of money. Some came down to farmers down in Florida. They don't know that, we've got a lot of farmers in Florida.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: But here is the choice facing every Florida vote. Joe Biden will deliver a crippling shutdown. He's actually thinking about, can you imagine
- no we did that and we saved millions of lives, that's it. We are doing good now. And by the way, your governor's done a great job.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Florida is down, low now in the China virus. It's China virus. Some people call it coronavirus. That sounds like a beautiful place in Italy, right?
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: No, it didn't come from Italy. It came from China. But this guy is talking, he will shut it down, that scientists will shut it down, they will shut it down. No, we are not shutting anything down.
We are doing so well. You look at our numbers. What'll you see in the third quarter? I shouldn't say it, because it's back there. But, wait till you see how good the third quarter is going to be and it comes out just before the election. So, I am taking a risk when I say it, you won't believe the numbers you see. I tell you, we are going to see numbers, nobody is going to believe those numbers. We are hearing from 25 percent to 35 percent GDP, nobody has ever heard of that before.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Well, Iran has a 25 percent GDP too, but it's a negative GDP of 25 percent. They just announced negative 25 percent. They don't like me too much, be careful. Be careful! I'm delivering a safe vaccine and we are doing a record recovery. This recovery is a record, they have never seen anything like it. And next year is going to be I think the best economic year in the history of our country.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Unless a very sleepy guy got in and he decided to quadruple everybody's taxes, then you can forget it.
(CROWD BOOS)
TRUMP: So, the sleepy guy - did you see he did a lid this morning again, lid lid. Do you know what a lid is? A lid is when you put out word you're not going to be campaigning today.
So he does a lid all the time and I'm working my ass off. I'm in Texas, I'm in Ohio, I'm in North Carolina and South Carolina.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: I'm in Michigan, I'm all over the place. I missed Wisconsin.
(CROWD CHANTS: FOUR MORE YEARS!)
TRUMP: Thank you, thank you. But he puts a lid on, so a lid - I didn't know what the hell a lid was, I've only been doing this for three and a half years, right. But a lid is, you know you're not going to go out today, you're going to stay in your apartment, or let's put it this way in his basement.
So, early in the morning, he's put a lid on, that means nothing for today.
I guess they do that for the press, the fake news goes home and they say how great he is as a candidate.
(CROWD BOOS)
TRUMP: They go home and they say he's a great candidate, but he put another lid - and there's many lids. So, he did a lid today early in the morning that he won't be working today, and I don't know, I'm working so hard.
Maybe he's right, think of it, supposing he never campaigns and he wins, you know how badly I'm going to feel? I'm working hard and you've got to work hard. And you know what, I said it today, we cannot have a low energy individual as our president, we can't.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And he's the lowest energy individual I've ever seen - I've ever seen. So we'll see what happens, but he's lidding up. Maybe he's going to be great at the debate, you know he's been doing it for 47 years.
Somebody said, oh he won't do well at the debate. I said I think you're wrong, he'll do fine, he's going to do fine. They'll give him a big shot of something and he'll go out there, he'll have a lot of energy. He'll have energy, he'll be like Superman for about 15 minutes.
Biden's plan will crush Florida, my plan will crush the virus and we're doing it, we're rounding the turn.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We're rounding the turn. Under my leadership, prosperity will surge, normal life - oh I love normal life, we want to get back to normal life.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We'll fully resume, the Florida tourism and hospitality industries will reach record highs, that's what's going to happen, you see it. And next year will be one of the greatest years, we are going to have - I'm telling you, mark it down, and if I'm wrong, you'll say I was wrong, I'll say sorry about that, but we're going to have a great year, we're going to have a great everything.
Our country is doing good, our military has never been stronger.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We've taken out so many bad ones and hopefully it's so strong that we'll never have to use it. You understand that. You want to make it so strong, we've never had weapons like this. No country in the world ever possessed the power, the weaponry. What we have is so incredible, nobody's ever possessed it before, not Russia, not China, not anybody.
We're the envy of the world. Hope to God, we never have to use them, that's all I can tell you.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: This election is about jobs. And by the way, speaking of jobs, it's all made in the USA, everything we have.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And this election is also about law and order. They said, oh don't say law and order, that's too tough a term. They say, sir say law and order very lightly, and then say safety and liberty and this and - I said no, no, it's about law and order, we have to have law and order, right.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And these Democrat-run states are a disaster, they're a disaster.
You look at what's happening all over the country and many of them - look at Portland, how bad is that. I mean how bad is that.
And I will say last night in Kentucky, I spoke to the governor, he's a Democrat. We had a great talk and he pulled out his National Guard and he's doing it good and I give him credit, I give him credit.
But mostly, they don't want to do that. I say let us send the National Guard, I did it in remember Minnesota, we're going to win Minnesota.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: So I did it in Minneapolis, Minnesota, they were having a hard time and took a little long - a little longer than we wanted, but we got the OK to get in, we solved that problem in about 25 minutes I think it took.
They formed the line, that was the hard part. The easy part was just walking straight ahead, they never flinched. They were not socially distanced, they were right next to each other. They had $250,000 a piece uniforms, they had more stuff on their head I'm trying to figure out what is it that computers had infrared goggles, they had everything, and they walked forward with their canisters of tear gas and pepper spray.
And it was remember the CNN reporter, he went down, he got hit on the knee with a can of what yes, that's right, he got hit. He said I'm down, I'm down, he was down, too bad. I badly for him though, he went down.
Ali Velshi, remember he was standing and he was saying this is a friendly protest, it's wonderful to see the lovely people that are here. You know that he's ducking, and behind him the entire city was burning down.
Do you remember that?
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: The entire city - why are they doing that, what's the purpose of it, I don't get it, I don't get it. But now he got hit on the knee with a canister of tear gas. They say it hurts, it hurts yes, and that's only going 52 miles an hour. A bullet goes about 2,000 miles an hour, but they say it hurts, but they cleaned out that city in half an hour, they had no problem.
Minneapolis, that's one of the reasons I'm going to win. Another reason would be Ilhan Omar, that's the reason. Omar, we're going to win because of Omar, that's a beauty, that's really - she's great, she's great, she loves our country very much.
She has a total disrespect for our country and I think she has hatred for our country. But I would say Omar is a big reason that we're going to win.
They're not too fond of her in Minnesota. I'll always fight for the right of all citizens to live in security and peace, so we have law and order.
Joe Biden is weak as hell, he surrendered his party to flag burners, rioters, and anti-police radicals. The Democrat Party's war on police - a lot of people say cops, I never liked the word. You know, my father - sit down please, come on we'll be here for a while, what the hell, we'll stay, we have nothing else to do.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: I have nothing else to do except run a country. And the hardest part about running the country is dealing with crazy Democrats. We're working on stimulus for people, because it's not their fault, it was China's fault.
Now we can't get Nancy Pelosi to approve it. She wants to wait till after the election.
I said people want their money now, it's not going to have any impact from that standpoint. People want their money now. The Democrat Party's war on cops is putting the lives of innocent police officers in danger.
But my father had great respect, always had great respect for law enforcement, for the police. And one time I said, dad the cops are out there, look at that, they look great. And he says, never use the word cops, it's police, that's the kind of respect he had.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: He thought - I don't want to you know right - look I have a couple of pretty rough looking guys, no it's true. So I always find it a little hard. I just left an impression, it's police, he thought it was slang and I don't think they mind. I don't think - how many, we got a lot of them here, does anybody mind the term cops?
Whose here that's a police man or woman - policemen, do they mind?
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: A lot of them. A lot of them. Do they mind that term, cops? No. They just want respect and they just want to be allowed to do their job properly as nobody can do it. Do you agree with that? That's what I say.
All right, I will start calling them cops. He said we don't mind. Just respect us and let us do our jobs.
Earlier this month, two sheriff's deputies were ambushed at close range in Los Angeles, California. I called them both and they are OK but they were hit. They were hit badly. Last night come as you know, two police officers were shot in Louisville, Kentucky.
Every year, dozens of courageous police officers lay down their lives for people that they never met, people that they don't know. People they never saw coming in most cases, right? They lay down their lives through people they have never met. They are incredible, law enforcement. Let's give them a hand, please.
(CROWD CHEERING)
(CROWD CHANTING)
TRUMP: Thank you very much. That's cool. I tell them all the time, you know, we have endorsements from all of them. But I tell them all the time you have no idea how much you are loved. You know, they don't hear it because they watch the fake news that night. And you don't get the -- you don't get to choose.
That's a lot of -- that's a lot of people back there. That's a lot of fakers back. Look at those red lights. The red light means you are on live.
You know? The problem with being on live you make a little bit of a mistake. And they say this was a horrible evening.
(CROWD CHANTING)
TRUMP: All right, thank you. That's enough. That's enough of that. That's very dishonest. It's a shame. It really does hurt our country. It's so fake. They don't show the protesters. They don't show it. You know, when you think that like cities are burning down and storefronts are being exploded, people are being killed. They would have you believe there is nothing happening.
It's the most incredible thing. I don't even understand why no matter where your philosophy is, no matter where you stand, why would you not want to show the facts what's happening? And then we fix it. The Republican cities don't have trouble. The Republican states, they don't have trouble. You go to --
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: -- you go to different states they don't know. They find it, you know, some of these governors, friends of mine. And I have friends on both sides, but Republican governors, red states, they looked like, how is a thing like this possible? Because they have law and order. They have law and order for the -- I mean, that's what it is.
For the entire summer, Joe Biden was silent as his far-left supporters assaulted police officers, harassed innocent Americans, and set fire to buildings. They were rioters. They were looters. They were anarchists. He called them peaceful protesters. He said, they are peaceful protesters.
Joe, they are not peaceful. Now, maybe he believe -- he may believe it. I mean, honestly, they may say they are peaceful. OK, I'll say they are peaceful. I think he believes it. I actually do. It's the other ones that you have to worry about because they call the shots, not him.
He has called for the ridiculous citing of police funding. Abolishing cash bail, if you can believe that, and the closing of our prisons. They want to close our prisons. That's a good idea. He even described law enforcement as the enemy. He said law enforcement is the enemy.
Now, you know, I assume I'll ask the fake news, has he taken it back? I assume. Because he is taking everything back. He is taking anti-fracking back. He is taking pretty much everything back. But remember, the first thing they say, that's what they stick with.
Biden's antipolice crusade must stop. As president, I will always stand with the heroes of law enforcement. That's why we're here.
(CROWD CHEERING)
TRUMP: And I was honored to receive the endorsement of 48 sheriffs right here in Florida three weeks ago.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And all over the country, law enforcement from Texas, Arizona, Ohio, Oklahoma, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New York's finest endorsed me.
They have never endorsed a president or candidate.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: The national trooper's coalition. Chicago. How about that? Chicago police, they endorsed me. Chicago. And all the major law enforcement organizations all across our country.
(CROWD CHANTING)
TRUMP: They go back home to mommy. They say, mommy, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: You know the incredible thing about that? I didn't hear anything except our crowd.
(CROWD CHEERING)
TRUMP: No, they have no voice. They are screaming at the top of their lungs, but their lungs are very small. And I didn't hear. All of the sudden, you hear wow, like this right here. It's true. If people -- if you want it recognize them, we wouldn't even know they are here.
Now, tomorrow, the headline is so you had one young protester. The headline will be tomorrow, Trump's rally broken up by protests. One very young girl.
She is a girl. Am I allowed to say girl? She looks like she's like about 16 years old. How the hell does that happen?
Two hundred fifty generals and military leaders. Also, hundreds and hundreds of military spouses have given their complete and total endorsement to our campaign.
(CROWD CHEERING)
TRUMP: To uphold the laws of our land and to uphold our Constitution as written. On Saturday, I will be announcing my nominee to the United States Supreme Court.
(CROWD CHEERING)
(CROWD CHANTING)
TRUMP: It is true. It's going to be a big deal. We are doing it on the -- we're doing it at the White House, the Rose Garden of the White House unless it's raining, in which case we'll still do it, that's OK. It's beautiful, the White House, so beautiful. We love the White House, right outside the Oval Office.
And you know, they don't us to do it. The Democrats say, you shouldn't do it. Why? We have a lot of time. Let me ask you the one simple question. If it was them instead of us, do you think they would do it? Now, this will be a very talented person. It will be a woman. I'm sorry, man. It will be a woman.
(CROWD CHEERING)
TRUMP: All right. Ready? Who would rather see a man? That's trouble. Try it again. Who would rather see a man? That's not good. Who would rather see a woman?
(CROWD CHEERING)
TRUMP: I think it would be a really -- I think it would take tremendous courage. I don't care how great the man is. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to tell you that Jim Fitzgerald, and then you would see a lot of very unhappy faces. Right?
My opponent refuses to release his list of potential justices because they will be handpicked by extremists like Representative Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez.
(CROWD BOOING)
TRUMP: Sometimes known as AOC plus three, right? And one of the three I think is Omar, right? But they'll pick the person. So, if Biden does that, if he puts an extremist into that position, he loses everything that's like normal. And if he does the other way, he loses the left. So, he doesn't want to give the left. I'd love to have him put up a list. I'd like to see what that -- I could see what that list would be. I could already tell you the people on that list, it would not be good. It would not be pretty. You would not be happy. That would be the end.
If given power, Biden and his supporters would pack the court. You know they are talking about packing the court because we have won races. We have won. I'll tell you what. So, this will be my third. And we are in great shape. Do you see the -- do you see what's going on with the Republican Party? How unified the Republican Party is?
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Right? No, we are unified. It's a beautiful thing to say. Thank you, Mitt. Thank you. I appreciate it. Even Mitt is on board. Even Mitt is on board. No, it's a good thing to see having a unified party. Of course, when they did the impeachment hoax, we had 197 to nothing in the House, and 52 and a half to a half. That was Mitt, but that's OK. I'm no longer angry at Mitt because he is being very nice on the Supreme Court. He is --he is doing the right thing. I just want him to do the right thing.
But they want to pack the court. You know what that means? They want to put on a lot of justices. These are things that are just horrible. I guess we can do that too, right? We could do that too. But remember, it was Harry Reid that made this all possible. You know, they are angry at us.
Listen, Chuck, Crying Chuck. You know with crying Chuck is. Chuck, every time you complain, remember, it was Harry Reid, your person in charge. He had your job before. It was Harry Reid who made this all possible. Thank you very much, Harry. I hope you are enjoying your evening.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: No, they blame us. Harry Reid gave us the power, nuclear option.
Thank you, Harry, very much. But he wants to pack the court, Supreme Court with radicals who will terminate the Second Amendment, confiscate your firearms, eliminate the right to self-defense, strike under God, from the Pledge of Allegiance and all other places.
(CROWD BOOING)
TRUMP: Tear down crosses from public spaces. And force taxpayers to fund extreme late-term abortion.
(CROWD BOOING)
TRUMP: These far-left justices would release violent criminals, shield foreign terrorists, impose sanctuary cities, and declare the death penalty totally unconstitutional. Hey, it will be totally unconstitutional. They want to declare it unconstitutional for even the most depraved mass murderers.
(CROWD BOOING)
TRUMP: And it's a tough thing. It's a tough thing. They came to my office today on the death penalty for clemency. I said, what was the crime? The crime was so horrible that I won't tell you what it was. But it's been going on for 21 years or so. The crime was so horrible that this person committed that I said, look, I just can't talk about it. It was so, it was so horrible. And that's usually the case, usually the case. Like the Boston bomber.
And, by the way, they want to give votes to prisoners, people in prison they want to give votes. So, we immediately said, remember Bernie, crazy Bernie. Bernie is, I will tell you one thing about him. He is the greatest loser I've ever seen. No, true.
No, I mean that in a respectful way. Because, what they did to him with Hillary was bad, but this time, it was even worse. Elizabeth Pocahontas Warren would have left the campaign one day before Super Tuesday. Bernie with her ideology basically, because she is the radical left. And she was really fresh to him, but she was really fresh -- how bad was Elizabeth Warren to Joe Biden?
There is only one person that was worse. Who was worse? Kamala. I said he'll never show you my great instinct, my great knowledge in politics. I said, he will never pick Kamala because no human being has been treated worse than anybody than Kamala. Remember she called him a racist? She called him xenophobic. She called him all sorts of things. She called him thing that were so bad, I can't say them. I can't say them.
But she called him a lot of things. I said, well, she's out and then he picks her. He picks her. You always pick people going up not going down in the polls. You know, if I were to pick -- and by the way, how great is Mike Pence. Isn't he great?
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: The guy is a lot. He is a solid guy and he is a great guy and a great vice president. He worked so hard. He's all over the place. He is in Michigan. He's in -- he's everywhere. Where did you go today, Mike? I went to Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina. I went to Wisconsin. And the guy, I tell you what, he's an incredible guy. He's a great guy. And he loves the people of this country. He loves our country. You cannot do better than Mike Pence. You know that.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: If you want to save America, you must get out and vote.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: In just three and a half years, we have secured our borders, rebuild the awesome power of the U.S. military, obliterated ISIS caliphate 100 percent, fixed our disastrous trade deal. And they were a disaster. I read some of them. They -- I said, who agree to this stuff? Stupid people agreed to it and brought jobs back home to America. And we brought them back. You have the greatest year you've had last year. The greatest year you've ever had.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Under 16 years of presidents, Obama and Bush, household income rose only $2,945. OK. That's over the course of 16 years, close to $3,000, right? In three years, and including energy, because look at the saving.
How are you doing at the gas pump? Not so bad, right? Did you ever see that?
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Did you ever think that was going to happen? In three years, so that was less than 3,000 over 16. In three years, you went up $10,000 including energy.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We lifted 6.6 million people out of poverty, the largest poverty reduction in the first three years of any president in the history of our country. We built the greatest economy in the history of the world. Not only here, anywhere. We were beating everybody.
You know, for years, I heard that China in 2019 was going to overtake us, right? That didn't happen. And they released the plague. But that didn't happen and it still is not happening with the plague, because they got hit hard themselves. I wonder if they understood that they were going to get hit too. Right?
But the plague came here. They could have stopped it. They could have stopped it from going all over the world, 188 countries all over the world, including Europe and the United States.
We've added a record 10.6 million jobs in the last four months, including
3.4 million jobs for Hispanic-Americans.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: That's a record. Both numbers are a record. When the plague arrived from China, we launch the largest national globalization since World War II. We pioneered life-saving therapies, reducing the fatality rate 85 percent since April. You see what's happening?
Europe has almost a 50 percent greater excess mortality rate than the United States, and now you see they are being hit very hard. The fake news were saying, well, I don't know if you have done as well as Europe. I said, we did better than Eeurope. And now Europe is exploding again unfortunately. I don't want that to happen but they don't want to talk about that because that's not good for their narrative.
Our early and aggressive action saved many millions of lives through Operation Warp Speed, we developed and distributive vaccine. We will have a vaccine so soon, you won't even believe it. Although, they are trying to do a little bit of a political hit -- let's delay just a little bit. Did you notice that? Let's delay the vaccine just a little bit.
But we have three great companies and then others also. Johnson & Johnson, right? Pfizer. Moderna. Great companies. All of them are great companies.
And they are right there. They are way advanced. Way advanced. They are in the final steps.
I took historic action to get critical relief American workers through our paycheck protection program. We save 3.2 million Florida jobs.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We're launching a historic effort to bring our medical supply chains back home where they belong. In 1996, Joe Biden voted to obliterate Puerto Rico's thriving pharmaceutical industry. I am reversing that and we are going back so that Puerto Rico can get its pharmaceutical industry back.
And they are going to have it back soon.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: That was Joe Biden that did that. And then they will vote because automatically --
MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: So President Trump talking to the crowd there in Florida this evening, Jacksonville, Florida.
Joining me now with analysis, Frank Luntz, GOP pollster, and Guy Benson, host of the Guy Benson show, political editor for 'Townhall' and a Fox News contributor, and Robert Zimmerman, Democratic strategist and Democratic National Committee member.
Gentlemen, thank you very much. Good to have you here.
FRANK LUNTZ, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST AND POLLSTER: Good to be with you.
MACCALLUM: You know, Robert, let me start with you.
GUY BENSON, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Hi, Martha.
MACCALLUM: You know, we haven't seen in a while. And one of the things that really stands out, and the president actually mentioned it at the beginning here, is that we have not seen, we have, I guess nine days in the month of September that Joe Biden put a lid on his campaign early in the morning.
And we have seen President Trump all across the country.
Now I know obviously there are concerns about that with the coronavirus that you probably mentioned, but just in terms of voter intake and how it's being perceived by the voter, what do you think?
ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Look Martha, it's not just breaking up my concerns about the spread of the coronavirus. He is absolutely -- yesterday, he said nobody died from coronavirus. He referred to older people who have heart disease --
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: No, no, he was talking -- he was talking about young people, he didn't say nobody died from coronavirus. He was talking about young people.
ZIMMERMAN: He said nobody --
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: You can debate that, but he was talking about young -- he said, you can look at the whole quote, he was talking about young people.
ZIMMERMAN: He also -- he made the point there it was primarily older people with heart disease. We've mourned over 200,000 lives that have died. That's not nobody. These events defy -- not only are in opposition, it was his own health experts. But they really speak to a campaign that's dissembling, a candidate who is in panic.
If he wasn't, he wouldn't be talking about delaying the election results.
Now, he is saying he is opposed to a smooth transition of power if he loses. His only -- he only supports the transition of power if the ballots are thrown away.
It's the -- you can -- the news reports are documented the fact that he is running way behind Joe Biden of fund-raising. So, you are seeing a presidential candidate in Donald Trump in panic basically trying to stage a coup in order to stay in office.
MACCALLUM: All right.
ZIMMERMAN: And in fact, the poll show that the American people are not accepting it.
MACCALLUM: Well, Frank, you are the pollster, what do you think about that?
How are the polls -- how are people receiving all of this and the two very divergent ways that we are seeing these two candidates' campaign?
LUNTZ: Well, the problem is that the whole country is now polarized. And there's only 6 percent of Americans who are undecided in 11 states that could possibly swing between Republicans and Democrats. That represents 2.4 percent of America. That's it. That's all that is really up for grabs right now.
The Trump campaign is doing better and better in Florida. They've got to be nervous about what's happening in Ohio. And that's why we are about to have three presidential debates. Can Donald Trump demonstrate that Joe Biden is too extreme for America? Can Joe Biden demonstrate that Trump is out of touch with America?
We don't know what's going to happen but we do know that language and this ugly intensity is not helping the country right now. Let's stick to the facts. Let's stick to the issues. Let's not use hyperbole. And only use the polling. Only use the polling as an indication of what is happening. Don't use them as an indication of who is winning and who is losing.
MACCALLUM: Yes. Marc, your thoughts? Guy, sorry, Guy. Guy, how are you doing?
BENSON: No worries.
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: It's the second time I've done that this year.
BENSON: No worries with Marc.
MACCALLUM: I was thinking about Marc Thiessen as we were going to the bell.
Guy, wonderful to have you with us. Tell me, what do you think?
BENSON: So, I was struck by the question that you asked Robert. I think both campaigns right now are very happy with what is happening in Florida, in Jacksonville, Florida.
MACCALLUM: Yes.
BENSON: Because the Biden campaign, as you said, I think 9.26 a.m., they said good night for the day. We are not going to campaign anymore. I know he was doing some debate prep today, but nine days in the month of September. That's exactly what the Biden wants. They want Donald Trump in the spotlight talking as much as possible. And Biden is basically running a generic campaign saying I'm not that. Please make a choice.
The Trump campaign feels like if they are on the ground pressing the flash, meeting with voters, holding rallies, being present, getting on the local news and that sort of thing, they are tipping the scales in their direction and getting the types of people fired up to come out and actually vote on election day. That will need to turn out if President Trump is going to pull off what appears to be an upset at this point.
So, you have two very different theories of this race and strategies in this race. Both campaigns are executing those strategies today. And we see President Trump before a big crowd. We see Joe Biden in his house since the early morning hours.
MACCALLUM: So, Robert, you know, I just want to know what you think about this. You know, when you look at the people who turn out and it looks to us just watching some of these over the course of this week that the crowds are bigger than they were in the beginning.
And then, you know, you see all of this anecdotal evidence and these enormous flags and the boat parades and all of that. I just wonder, when we saw those kinds of things in 2016, we wrote them off because we were looking at the polls. We said, you know what, whatever it is, it's just, you know, people who are big supporters of President Trump, but there aren't enough of them. Does it concern you when you see that?
ZIMMERMAN: Well here is the real distinction, Martha, and this is reflected in the voting that's taking place already. Republicans do not take coronavirus as seriously as Democrats do. Donald Trump has been on the campaign where he's been diminishing what his healthcare experts say about the spread of this virus, the dangers of this virus. He's mocked people whose worn masks. He holds rallies that protect Donald Trump from the virus but these rallies endanger the people who attend and they endanger law enforcement officials who have to cover these rallies.
And so, because of that, the reason I bring that up is, so Joe Biden deliberately is not holding these massive rallies because of the issue of public health. I think people respect that. I've seen -- I think we are seeing a response that respects the fact that Joe Biden is putting science and public safety first.
Donald is putting himself first, and that's endangering thousands of lives.
MACCALLUM: Well, let me -- I got to -- I got to ask Frank Luntz really quick 30 seconds. We are seeing in the polls that people say that they think that Joe Biden would handle the virus better than President Trump.
Quick thought.
LUNTZ: But you are also seeing the polls that Donald Trump can handle the economy better than Joe Biden, and even more importantly, Donald Trump can create jobs faster than Joe Biden. If this is in the election about the economy, Donald Trump can win.
MACCALLUM: All right. Guy Benson one of my favorite people. Frank Luntz --
(CROSSTALK)
ZIMMERMAN: What am I, shop, really?
MACCALLUM: Robert Zimmerman, no, I said thank you for being here, we haven't seen you in a long time. Good to see you all.
ZIMMERMAN: It's great to be with you.
MACCALLUM: We'll see you next time. More of THE STORY right after this.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACCALLUM: So, episode of the Untold Story podcast is available today. I spoke with President Trump's former national security adviser, General H.R.
McMaster about his time in the White House and the biggest national security threats facing America now. It's available on Fox News Podcast.
or wherever you listen. Hope you check it out. We had a very interesting long discussion.
Good to have you here tonight. That's THE STORY of September 24th. We'll see you back here tomorrow night at seven o'clock. Good night, everybody.
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