This is a rush transcript from “Your World with Neil Cavuto," August 6, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: All right, thank you very much, John.
We are still monitoring. The president is still speaking in Ohio right now. He has been ripping his predecessor and talking about his economic performance, compared to the president's ongoing economic performance.
A couple of quick clarifications, though. He that he inherited essentially a mess here and that jobs were bleeding in this country. Just to put that up to steam, though, and just make sure we have got all our facts right, the president can crow, indeed, about how the economy was chugging along prior to the virus, of course, and how it has been coming back since.
But just for the record, the economy under Barack Obama gained about 12 million jobs. The unemployment rate did eventually drop to 3.7 percent. And we were seeing, again, the gain in production, I should say that, but we were seeing a steady improvement and a dramatic drop in the number of jobless workers that had hit over 10 percent to roughly about a third of that.
Also talking about how jobs in all we're gaining across all key sectors here. Manufacturing jobs were weak in the prior administration. Many in the Obama administration have pointed out that the job growth there started happening when he was president for about eight or nine months.
They like to point out that he came in the middle of a financial meltdown, an economic meltdown. Just want to make sure we're comparing apples to apples. And, indeed, we are.
This, of course, part of a push on the part of the president to say that things are getting better, and they will continue to get better.
There's a lot of attention right now about what kind of stimulus could be on the way, if it's on the way. We will get into that in just a second.
First to Garrett Tenney, who is with the president right now in Ohio -- Garrett.
GARRETT TENNEY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Neil.
The president's still speaking right now. And what he's essentially laying out is his sales pitch as to why it is that he is the best bet for American manufacturing and blue-collar workers in the upcoming election.
And he's laying out his plan of what he plans to do over the next four years. And much of it entails some of the same strategies we have seen in the current administration, in the current term, of using tariffs and renegotiating trade deals to try to improve the life and the economy of American manufacturing here in the U.S.
Whirlpool is one of the success stories of the president's efforts. The company had long complained that its competitors such as Samsung and LG were flooding the U.S. with low-price foreign-made washing machines.
Two years ago, President Trump upheld a 50 percent tariff on washing machines coming in from other countries, which Whirlpool says enabled it to boost production and create several thousand more jobs.
It also resulted in LG and Samsung shifting production to the U.S., creating jobs in Tennessee in South Carolina.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That's why my administration swears by two simple, but crucial rules, buy American and hire American.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And no one knows better than the workers of Whirlpool the high cost of past administration's economic blunders and surrender.
On the question of foreign trade, previous leaders were guided by a shameful policy of capitulation, submission and retreat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TENNEY: Now, President Trump is also laying out a new executive order to reduce America's reliance on foreign manufacturers for critical drugs by creating incentives for companies to bring production to the U.S. and directing the federal government to only buy certain essential drugs from U.S. manufacturers.
One other update, Neil. Ohio governor Mike DeWine, he announced that he tested positive for the coronavirus as part of routine screening before he met President -- was going to meet President Trump at the airport in Cleveland. He says he is not experiencing any symptoms. But he has gone home. And he is going to have some more testing. We expect an update from him here in the next half-hour as well -- Neil.
CAVUTO: All right, thank you, my friend, very, very much.
Just catching up too as well on some of these statistics that we make sure we are on the same page here.
When we talk about the unemployment rate, that got down to 4.7 percent under Barack Obama. I think I might have said 3.7 percent. That 3.7 percent refers to the manufacturing wage increase, real wage increase, for production workers during his presidency, and average weekly earnings gains of 4.2 percent.
The president picked up on that and gained considerable steam when he came into office. I just want to make sure, though, we are comparing all accurate numbers. The president also mentioning, not only now, but in other times, how disastrous things were for the markets.
Of course, the S&P 500 picked up about 160 percent under his stewardship. This president's had a nice ride in the stock market as well. And whatever interruptions we had for the virus, we have almost wiped them out, as all the major market averages, with added gains today, are about back to where they were, the Nasdaq at all-time highs, the S&P 500 within about a percent of highs, so too the Dow.
So, both men can crow about their performance. I just wanted to make sure that you had accurate numbers vs. what they were in the Obama years and what they are faring so far in the Trump years.
All right, in the meantime, we're keeping a very close eye on what's happening in Washington, D.C., and those stimulus measures, competing prices, competing price tags, competing priorities on where that money goes.
But right now, so far, no deal.
Chad Pergram with the latest.
Hey, Chad.
CHAD PERGRAM, FOX NEWS CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Neil.
These talks are stalled. In fact, you have had a lot of Republican senators leaving the Capitol just a couple of hours ago, the last vote of the week, and they were very skeptical that there could be a deal anytime soon.
This is something that's starting to rankle a lot of members of Congress on both sides of the aisle. They feel the pressure to get something done. And Republicans are blaming the Democrats.
Let's start with John Cornyn, Republican of Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): I just think it's pretty shameful to hold hostage the people who were receiving those benefits who now no longer get them because of Senator Schumer's and Speaker Pelosi's petulance. I just think that's unfortunate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERGRAM: But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says there are about 15 to 20 Republicans who oppose additional debt.
Republicans gave McConnell's coronavirus plans a chilly reception last week. McConnell wants Democrats to approve temporary extensions of unemployment aid at lower rates, but it's doubtful that some Republicans will sign on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D-NY): And, by the way, I don't even know if the $400 has the support of most Republican senators.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Do they even have the vote -- they didn't even have the votes for $200, for $200.
SCHUMER: They didn't have it for $200.
PELOSI: They didn't have it for $200.
SCHUMER: So it's a game.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERGRAM: If there is no deal, the administration could try an end-run around Congress. That would involve reprogramming about $140 billion in unused coronavirus money and disaster aid. And Democrats rejected that idea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PELOSI: I don't think they know what they're talking about.
PERGRAM: You don't think that they can move money running around without congressional approval? They did it with the border wall.
PELOSI: You can't move that much money. We're talking about a major investment.
SCHUMER: Better way to do this is come to an agreement that meets the needs of the American people, much better way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERGRAM: Now, we're hearing talk that, if they don't get a deal, there could be some sort of an executive order from the White House to deal with the coronavirus.
But the Republican senator from Iowa Chuck Grassley, he doesn't think that President Trump is serious about this. Grassley says he thinks -- he thinks that the president is sick and tired -- his words -- of the negotiations -- Neil.
CAVUTO: You know, Chad, nothing gets by you. You're like that Peter Falk character in "Columbo," where you just scratch your head say, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait a minute.
And they stopped in their path. And they said, I regret that he asked that question, because it's a damn good question. And good for you.
They're a long way from done, aren't they?
PERGRAM: Yes, this is going to take some time. And even if they were to get a deal, it would take a long time to put this into legislative format, work this, massage this with the House and the Senate.
Really, what you have, with the next set of meetings starting at 5:00 this afternoon, both sides are kind of daring the other one to be the first to push back from the table, and then they can blame the other side, Neil.
CAVUTO: You and I are the only ones who got the "Columbo" reference, but I appreciate that.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: Chad, you're the best. Thank you very much, my friend.
He's relentless, though.
PERGRAM: Thank you.
CAVUTO: He gets that out, and they can't ignore him, because he just keeps pounding them on basic facts.
Rebecca Walser joins us right now, pretty smart and sassy in her own right, the Walser Wealth Management CEO. She's been very closely following this drama on Capitol Hill.
Rebecca, I mean, you didn't build any of your market estimates based, I know, on how things are going in Washington. But if a deal is struck, what strikes makes me as weird now about Wall Street is, it likes all this federal spending, right? What's happened?
REBECCA WALSER, WALSER WEALTH MANAGEMENT: Oh, yes, for sure.
I mean, we will take stimulus any time we can get federal stimulus. That doesn't mean that we like the tax bill that will eventually come, Neil. But the market loves the stimulus for now, for sure.
CAVUTO: So let's talk about, if we get it, and it's rich, and it keeps the unemployment benefits going, good for a lot of folks who need that, even though there might be a trajectory down from the $600 a week to eventually $400, $200, whatever they agree to.
How will Wall Street, you think, digest that? How do you think it's going to help the economy? Keep in mind the trillion dollars of prior committed aid is yet to be spent.
WALSER: Yes.
I think that the market is already somewhat pricing this in, Neil. We saw that the unemployment number today was less than expected at 1.2. We still have some really good ISM data. And we have got some revised ADP numbers from June that show actual job creation.
CAVUTO: You're talking about -- you're talking about the jobless -- you're talking about the jobless claims data that came out.
WALSER: Yes. Yes.
CAVUTO: And, separately, the mixed reads we're getting on supply management numbers.
Go ahead.
WALSER: Right.
So, we have good indicators that the growth and the expansion is back on track somewhat. And, plus, the market this week, this rally, and last week's tech earnings of big four companies on Thursday last week was incredible.
So, the market is really feeling, I think, good these last couple of days. But we definitely need, if the -- if there's going to be this political back-and-forth volleyball on, well, the Democrats won $600 and the Republicans don't want more than $200, we're going to have to potentially see some executive action.
And President Trump does have some wide latitude here, as long as a federal disaster has been declared, under 26-USC-7580-A, so to give you a little legal law quote there. That's the actual statute that gives him the authority to temporarily suspend payroll taxes, and then we'd have to look at other places for where he could reroute money potentially.
CAVUTO: But, in other words, he can do it?
WALSER: He has the ability to do the payroll tax under 26-USC-7580-A.
CAVUTO: All right.
And we know that the Supreme Court, the federal -- President Trump, Neil, this year has already moved around money from other places to build his border wall.
CAVUTO: All right.
WALSER: Congress sued, and the Supreme Court refused to give it -- or to issue an injunction.
So they are not showing us, the U.S. Supreme Court is not showing us right now that they're really interested in stopping this president from using funds from other potential sources for what he wants to spend money on.
And so I think that Congress will definitely object. But, so far, the Supreme Court has left certain things to Trump. And you remember your powers as a president are always expansive during war and during federal disasters. And that's -- this certainly qualifies as the latter.
CAVUTO: All right, Rebecca, thank you very, very much.
Meanwhile, we are monitoring the president still speaking in Ohio, that he, as expected, signed a proclamation reimposing aluminum tariffs. So the back-and-forth on that and an important issue in Ohio, where they don't want to lose a lot of the aluminum-related jobs, the steel-related jobs in that neck of the woods, the president putting pen to paper to say, I have done it again.
Now, whether, as Rebecca says, he has the power to go ahead and bypass the stimulus talks by executive design, and go ahead and get a payroll tax cut going, that's anyone's guess. But it could be next.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: All right, this is the concern about opening schools. We heard in Mississippi they had 100 students who are in quarantine after several classmates tested positive for COVID-19.
The governor of that beautiful state joins us right now, Tate Reeves.
Governor, very good to have you.
First off, do you know the latest on these kids, how it happened? What can you share with us?
GOV. TATE REEVES (R-MS): Well, thank you for having me on, Neil.
The kids, actually, it appears, had gotten the virus while in the community. We are up to eight kids there in that community in Northeast Mississippi that have tested positive at this time, eight tests, positive, all of whom we believe contracted in the community, not in the schools.
But we have, in fact, quarantined over 100 kids in the schools. And, by the way, this is the way it's going to have to work over the next three to four months. We're going to have cases in schools in our state and every other state across the nation that opens up, and we have just got to do a good job of protecting them and protecting people in their communities.
CAVUTO: You know, we hear of other stories, anecdotally, Governor, where kids, not in your state, sir, but where kids are being tested for the virus.
And one young person, they tested, and the parents never shared that, turns out, goes to school, had -- did indeed have the virus, and now, all of a sudden, they had to like say, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what do we do now, and freeze classes for the time being.
How do you police that sort of thing? How do you know how much lead time and can you get, when you hear about kids who are getting it in the community or outside of school, they go to school, and then it's a problem?
REEVES: Well, one of the things that we know for sure is that, when we're talking about schools, we're talking about making decisions of public health vs. public health.
We know that there is risk to kids being in school because of the virus. We also know there's tremendous risk to kids not being in school. And in Mississippi, we haven't had kids in classrooms for the last five months. And I'm very concerned about each and every one of them, ensuring that we can keep up our academic achievement.
We have seen great gains in our state over the last 10 years. And we want to continue to build upon that. We have got to trust each other. We have got to work together to make sure that we're doing the right things.
One of the things that we're doing in Mississippi is, we did delay the school start for about 10 percent of our kids throughout the state. And the reason we did that is because we believe that community transmission was higher in those areas than in other areas of our state.
And so we have got to -- we have got to piecemeal this. And while it's not the easiest thing to do, I think it's the right thing to do in our state and across the country.
CAVUTO: So, when it's all said and done, Governor, and all the kids are supposed to be back at school, is it a mix of virtual, in-person, all in- person? How will it break down?
REEVES: It's going to be a mix of virtual. It'll be a hybrid approach in most of our districts.
Mississippi has about 140 school districts throughout our state. We have got 450,000 kids in schools. And I made the decision that I believe those local school boards that are elected and their superintendents are better equipped to make individual decisions for each individual school.
They know better what their resources are. They know better about their communities than anybody in our capital city will ever know.
Now, we're working very closely with them. And so what you're going to see is, it's going to be primarily a hybrid approach, where kids ensure that they're in the classrooms. I did issue a statewide mask mandate, not only in public, but also in our public schools, so that every kid will have on a mask.
We will work with those schools to make sure that the kids have masks. The ones that don't have them, we will help supply them.
But if we -- we know that we keep our kids in classrooms, and we keep them in masks, and we keep them socially distanced, then it's a -- we have a high likelihood of reducing the amount of spread that occurs, either in the classroom or out in the community.
CAVUTO: How do you control it when the alarm bell rings, and they have to switch classes, and they're all out into the halls? You know what I mean? And they're all -- they're all crowded together.
I mean, there's only so much you can police, isn't there?
REEVES: Well, look, there's nothing easy about 2020. And there's certainly nothing easy about the coronavirus. And so we have got to do the best we can do, given the resources that we have.
But we do think that we can work very closely with our administrators, with our teachers. We have got a lot of dedicated people down here in our state that are focused on it.
We know that our kids need to be in classrooms. We know that they need to be learning. We know that academic achievement is critical to so many kids. And, quite frankly, when you look around this country, and you recognize how much of child abuse and sexual abuse and other things that are actually reported, those things are way down, those reports are way down in this country because so much of those reports actually occur because children trust their teachers.
And they will tell their teachers or their school administrators things that they won't tell anyone else. And so we think it's in the best interests of our kids to get them back in the classroom.
We recognize that we're taking risks. But, in today's world, in 2020, there is no scenario whereby there -- we can eliminate 100 percent of the risk.
CAVUTO: No, you're probably right about that.
Governor Tate Reeves, good seeing you again. Good health yourself, and for the residents of your fine state. And good luck with the school year, as it kicks off here, again, virtually and a little bit of in-person classes as well.
That is the theme, by the way, not only happening in Mississippi, but at least 31 states across the country, as things stand now. In the South, they start a little earlier. But we're keeping an eye on it.
In the meantime, you do know by now that the conventions are going to be a little bit different this year, with both nominees making their acceptance speeches, not at the convention site. We already know that Joe Biden is looking at doing so maybe from Wilmington, Delaware. We don't know exactly where the president will make his remarks.
But we do know this. It's going to put heavy pressure on ad spending. After all, if you really can't get the bang for the buck being at the convention, you're going to have to find an alternative to spending from the convention.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: Well, there's a reason Ohio Governor Mike DeWine is not with the president in Ohio today. He just tested positive for the coronavirus, and will be speaking to residents in his state in just a moments from now.
When he does, we are there -- after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: All right, what do these virtual conventions, the political conventions, where neither nominee is going to appear on accepting his party's nomination, who does it hurt more?
Usually,you get a bit of a convention bounce. Who needed that bounce more? Who should have gotten that bounce? Well, we will never know. But we do know that both parties aren't taking any chances, pouring a good deal into the campaign spending, since the boon for the buck that you might have gotten at the convention simply won't be there.
Hillary Vaughn following it very, very closely for us.
Hillary, I see a lot of dollar signs.
HILLARY VAUGHN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Neil.
In fact, both campaigns brought in a lot of money for July, the Trump campaign bringing in over $25 million. And a lot of that money is going to go into campaign TV ads.
But one interesting thing about that is, as we're headed into the convention, Biden will be the DNC's very first virtual nominee, after he said he's not going to show up in person in Milwaukee to accept his party's nomination. President Trump also is weighing his choices of where he will accept his party's nomination, after backing out of showing up in person to do it as well, and considering doing it at his residence on Pennsylvania Avenue.
But, as an election in a pandemic is changing how the conventions will happen, it's also changing how campaigns are campaigning. They're spending a lot more money on reaching voters on their TVs, their smartphones and social media more than ever before.
Both campaigns are spending less on in-person events and more on meeting voters in their living room, spending record amounts of money on campaign TV ads.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN LINK, ADVERTISING ANALYTICS LLC: The grassroots ability doesn't exist, right? And that is a -- that is a Dem stronghold, as you know.
So, it has to be substituted in one way. I believe that politicians are going to rely, have been relying, and will continue to rely on paid advertisements across those mediums.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUGHN: The Biden campaign announcing the largest fall ad buy for any presidential candidate ever, a record $280 million in TV and digital buys starting September 1 in 15 states, many of those that Trump won in 2016.
And Trump's campaign has a $145 million worth of TV ads going up after Labor Day hitting the airwaves in 11 states. But that money does not include what they're going to spend on digital into the fall.
But, also, talking about the campaign's presence online, Facebook is announcing a ban on one Trump -- pro-Trump right-leaning super PAC. The Committee to Defend the President is getting banned because Facebook says they have been spreading misinformation.
The ban, we are told from a source, will be for 90 days starting August 10. Facebook says this in a statement: "As a result of the Committee to Defend the President's repeated sharing of content determined by third-party fact- checkers to be false, they will not be permitted to advertise for a period of time on our platform."
The Trump campaign has been trying to get one more in-person event added to the agenda. They wanted another presidential debate against Joe Biden to happen before mail-in ballots get sent out to voters' homes.
But we did just hear from the Commission of Presidential Debates that is rejecting that request from the Trump campaign, saying there's a big difference in mail-in ballots going out to people's mailboxes and those votes actually needing to be cast before the first debate happens -- Neil.
CAVUTO: All right, Hillary Vaughn, thank you very, very much.
We told you a little bit earlier in the broadcast how the president is slapping 10 percent aluminum tariffs on largely foreign players, including Canadian players.
The Chamber of Commerce has come out now to say that the reimposition of tariffs will raise costs for U.S. manufacturers, and they are none too pleased.
By the way, talk about none too pleased, police departments across the country, particularly now, with what's going on in Portland, Oregon, where the police chief says he's had it.
And then there is the issue of what's going on in Los Angeles, where budget cuts are so extreme, the police don't know how they're going to survive it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: All right, just went you thought that things might be settling down in Portland, Oregon, and it looked on the surface like it was, we get word now the Portland police chief is declaring that things are getting out of control, enough is enough.
And right now, this domestic measure to try to prevent federal agents and otherwise to calm it down isn't working.
Jonathan Hunt has for us from Los Angeles -- Jonathan.
JONATHAN HUNT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Neil.
It's hard to fathom, 69 consecutive nights of protests. But that's the reality in Portland right now. The withdrawal from the streets of federal agents whose presence had sparked so much anger seems to have simply shifted the focus of the protests away from the federal courthouse there and toward local police precincts.
Police and protesters clashing last night, for instance, around Portland's East Precinct, where demonstrators started fires, erected barricades, spray-painted security cameras, pointed green lasers at police officers, and threw fireworks toward police lines.
Eventually, police declared a riot, a step that enables them to order crowds to disperse and take action to enforce the dispersal order.
Portland police said they used tear gas and other crowd control munitions to do that last night.
In another incident on Tuesday night, a pickup truck accelerated along a street lined by protesters, at one point pushing a riderless motorcycle that had been thrown in front of it. It's not clear whether the truck driver had previously been driving at the protesters or was trying to escape from them. No one was injured. The driver was interviewed by police and released without charge.
Portland's police chief, meantime, says he believes the violence is hurting the Black Lives Matter cause and what he calls his beautiful, vibrant city.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHUCK LOVELL, PORTLAND, OREGON, POLICE CHIEF: Enough is enough.
This is not forwarding the goals of things that are going to lead to better outcomes for people of color. This movement is very powerful. And I feel like the violence has taken away from it in a really kind of concerning way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Portland police, Neil, have arrested more than 400 people since late May.
While those federal agents I mentioned now largely withdrawn from the streets arrested at least 94 people through July 30. And it seems, in Portland, Neil, there is no end in sight -- Neil.
CAVUTO: Sixty-nine straight nights of that.
All right, Jonathan, thank you very, very much, Jonathan Hunt following that very, very closely.
In Los Angeles, too, there are concerns about, wait, calm down with all of these cutbacks that are going on. You heard about the billion -dollar cut in the police budget in New York.
Now, we want to go to Robert Harris, the Los Angeles Police Protective League director, on news that there's a ballot measure right now before voters that would take away about $880 million from the Los Angeles Police Department.
And, Robert, I cannot imagine you're a fan of that.
ROBERT HARRIS, DIRECTOR, LOS ANGELES POLICE PROTECTIVE LEAGUE: No, we're not.
And I think what's getting glossed over -- and this is -- this isn't really about financial issues. This is actually more of an issue about leadership and the lack of leadership.
In L.A. County, they have had over a billion dollars collected to address the homeless population here in Los Angeles. And it's only gotten worse. They have had over a billion dollars in a fund that was supposed to assist those with mental illness just sitting there doing nothing, while people suffered.
We have politicians like Mayor Eric Garcetti who is basically a professional contortionist. He calls for the cutting of the LAPD budget one minute, doesn't want our officers to respond to non-emergency calls, and then turns around when some people are upset over COVID house parties, and the first place he goes is wanting our officers to go in and shut those down.
So this isn't real leadership. Real leadership actually solves problems, takes ownership for their own decisions. And this is nothing more than knee-jerk reactions that won't actually lead to any improvements.
CAVUTO: It is crazy.
Robert, I'm sorry to cut this short, but you mentioned the virus and all.
We're going to switch to Ohio right now, where Ohio Governor Mike DeWine is detailing news that himself has tested for the virus. And he has had bipartisan praise for how he's handled in his state.
Let's listen.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): I get a lot of headaches throughout my life, so a headache is not anything that unusual.
So, besides that, I feel well. So, a big surprise to me, and certainly big surprise to our family. When I found out I called Fran, then I called each of our seven children, because I figured the news would be out pretty quickly. So I wanted them to hear that directly from me.
And I was able to reach all of them, and so here we are. Fran and I just got back here in Cedarville, I guess about a half-an-hour ago.
So, more than happy to take any questions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just a reminder for reporters. You'll remain on mute until your question is called.
If you wish to ask a question, please mention so in the Zoom chat.
Governor, our first question will be from Kevin Landers at WBNS-10 TV in Columbus.
QUESTION: Hello, Governor. Can you hear me?
DEWINE: Hi, Kevin. I can hear you well, Kevin. Thank you.
QUESTION: Very good.
I hope you're doing well. Thank you so much for taking the time.
Governor, do you have any idea where you may have contacted this virus? And considering your age, what have doctors told you about your recovery from it?
Thank you.
DEWINE: Well, they haven't told me anything, but I've read enough about it to have some idea of what we're dealing with.
So, we've not had any discussion with any doctor about -- about that. So, where did I get it? I have no idea.
You're watching me on the front porch at our home, the home that we've lived in since 1974. And we -- I basically, since the virus came on, since we started dealing with the coronavirus in March, Fran and I have lived out of here.
We were living out of here every week during the weekend, but we left the governor's residence. We came here. We have a farm that goes down that way. So, we're very, very careful with who we see.
We have two daughters that live down the road. We have four grandchildren. But, even with them, we wear a mask, we walk down there, we keep our distance.
Both our daughters are...
CAVUTO: All right, we're monitoring this very, very closely.
But that was a little disturbing news for people who worry about the governor, worry about anyone who gets a medical diagnosis like that, that he has tested positive for the coronavirus. He seems to be doing well.
He did let all his seven children know first, so that he would sort of make sure that that was beaten before the press got wind of it. The press got wind of it very quickly.
And, again, he says he feels fine. He will continue to do his job, his duty. Obviously, he has to quarantine himself for the most part, easier said than done for governors. But he has received wide praise, as you already know, for acting and pouncing on this in his state, before pretty much any governor had, and also judiciously handling the unwinding phase or the reopening phase, stalling that at times when it looked like cases were building.
Little did he know that he would be among those cases for which it was building.
We wish him well. It looks like things are going OK for him now. He's on top of it and taking all precautions.
In the meantime, there are a number of cities and states that are exactly very tough, stringent measures to make sure that the pandemic, whatever it is, doesn't spread.
In New York City, they have got checkpoints throughout the city getting into or out of any of the five boroughs and around the greater New York City area.
We're seeing this play out in Los Angeles as well, where there are now steep fines if you're having large parties. And in Los Angeles, they're going so far as to take the power away, your electricity away, or your gas away, if you have had one of these large parties and violated social distancing and capacity provisions and restrictions that are in the area.
I want to get on whether you can do any of this and should you do any of this with Andy McCarthy, a former assistant U.S. attorney.
Andy, these measures go beyond others that have been taken in other states and localities, in Los Angeles in particular, where they will yank your power, and, in New York, where you're not willing to fill out a form or go into the New York Penn Station or Grand Central Terminal and tell authorities what you have been doing or where you have been going, they can slap with a $2,000 fine and force a 14-day warranty.
What do you think of all this?
ANDY MCCARTHY, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think, Neil, that the states have pretty sweeping power in our system, in terms of responding to infectious diseases.
Where the point is where they go too far usually depends on, are they treating everyone equally, and is the executive trying to exercise powers for emergency provisions or otherwise that are granted to the executive or not under the state constitution?
It's -- usually -- it's amazing -- in most of our public policy discussions, we're always talking about the federal Constitution. But this is an area where the state constitution actually makes a big difference.
CAVUTO: All right, so, in New York, I believe -- and the governor has this, be very, very careful. You come from any one of 31, 32 states here, you have to quarantine for 14 days.
The mayor's taken it to the next level with these, I guess, pandemic checkpoints, for want of a better term. But it does have, I don't know, just a really over-the-top Big Brother feel to it.
MCCARTHY: Yes.
CAVUTO: And this on top of what Los Angeles might do, zapping your power, no pun intended, if you're not complying, it's getting a little heavy- handed, don't you think?
MCCARTHY: Oh, it's more than heavy-handed. I totally agree with that.
And I'd also say, going -- now I will contradict everything I just told you. This part of the federal Constitution is very important. Your right as an American citizen to travel from state to state has always included in that -- in that constitutional right the right not to be treated as a hostile interloper in another state.
In other words, if you're an American, you're supposed to be able to go everywhere and be treated equally to the inhabitants of the state. So, singling out people for no other reason, for example, than that their license plate happens to show another state that you think there's a spike in, in terms of the virus, especially in a place like New York and New Jersey, where, let's be real, they didn't really handle it in a model way, even though a lot of the media, I think, is now trying to portray it that way, that seems to me to be arbitrary.
The problem is, to get this kind of stuff reviewed by a court in real time is very difficult to do. And the history of our country is that courts seem to back off while the crisis is taking place. And then what ends up happening is, a lot of these cases end up being heard later, and they create norms for the next crisis.
But that's kind of cold comfort to the people whose rights are violated in the here and now.
CAVUTO: Yes, I can't tell you how many business owners and the like I have talked to on FOX Business Network -- if you don't get that, Andy, you should demand it. But I digress.
MCCARTHY: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: One of the things that comes up is, they're not going to pay the fines. They're not going to address the summonses, because they don't think there's any constitutionality to it.
But, in the meantime, business licenses are being yanked, fines are being exacted. And I wonder, in the meantime, until they're pretty right that this was maybe unconstitutional, that's a long two or three years, as you wait for the legal process to sort of do its thing.
MCCARTHY: Yes.
And I would also say, Neil, that your side of the street on this one's more important than mine. The law can only go so far. It seems to me that what they're doing is creating a political and economic climate that is disastrous for the city, wholly apart from whether they can actually enforce all that stuff.
CAVUTO: Oh, yes. No, you're right.
I mean, if there's any -- if you need another reason not to venture into the Big Apple, you might have just found it.
MCCARTHY: Right.
CAVUTO: Thank you very much, Andy McCarthy. Always great having you on this.
MCCARTHY: Thanks, Neil.
CAVUTO: You have heard by now about how changes are afoot this fall for a lot of school systems and the like, also for a lot of sports and the like.
Word now that University of Connecticut has just canceled its football season entirely, not a little bit, entirely.
I talked to the head coach as to why. And he sent a signal to other coaches: You might want to follow what I'm doing.
He's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: Well, if the markets are worried about the virus, and whether we get a stimulus bill, and the spike in cases, they sure have a funny way of showing it.
The Nasdaq closed at an all-time high today, now over 11000. It has never been in this neck of the woods, one high after another. I believe it's its 32nd record of the year. The Dow and the S&P 500 were also lurching up, the S&P itself now within about a percent of a record, the Dow just a few percentage points of records that seemed virtually unattainable back in the lows of March, when this whole shutdown of the U.S. economy was starting.
All the major market averages are up better than 40 percent from those lows, so optimism about the future, as stocks go on a wild, racing ride north.
We will follow that.
In the meantime, following developments in the world of sports and coronavirus, right now waiting to see what's going to happen to the NFL, in the meantime, still getting word that there are shock effects from the University of Connecticut's decision to skip the college football season altogether, won't be doing it at all.
Head coach Randy Edsall was telling me earlier on FOX Business that it was just an obvious decision for him. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANDY EDSALL, HEAD FOOTBALL COACH, UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT: And, as we were going through this, we had three young men who developed symptoms, and -- at three separate stages during July.
And we had eight guys out at one time. And then we had four more. And now we have 10 right out right now. And it's a 10-to-12-day process that's been taken to get these guys back.
And, you know, our players saw what they had -- what they were going through. And some of them had to be isolated. Some of them had to be quarantined.
And, as they saw all these things, and knowing that we weren't -- we weren't able to use our locker room, we're not able to use -- have everybody in the training room to be able to take care of their things because of the numbers that you can have, the social distancing, trying to keep everybody safe, our players really felt like the risk isn't worth the reward of going through a season, not being able to accomplish what you want to do as a team or what you want to accomplish individually.
And they expressed that to me. And so I just wanted to make sure that their voice was heard, because, first and foremost, they are the ones playing the game. I'm not playing the game. Our athletic director is not playing the game. The board of trustees aren't playing. And the president isn't playing.
So, we sat down last Friday with the athletic director and our doctors and trainers, and our players expressed their concern in terms of the unknowns of the virus. How do you stay safe? We are going to be bringing (AUDIO GAP) thousand students back here on campus, you know, in nine days, and our bubble is going to be broken. And then...
CAVUTO: So, coach, that is still -- that's still on, sir? UConn is -- are you guys are going to have in-person classes? That's still stated?
EDSALL: Yes, they are going to have in-person. They are going to have online. It's going to be kind of a hybrid.
But we are bringing -- we are bringing 8,000 students (AUDIO GAP) next week.
CAVUTO: Got it.
EDSALL: And then -- and, also, nobody could tell you -- nobody could tell us how you were going to do game day.
Do we have to dress at the hotel? And then how can we use the locker rooms? Because you go into some of these visitor locker rooms, they are very, very small, and you can't social distance. But yet they are going to make you social distance on the sideline during the game, and then showering after the game and all those things.
There were so many unknowns. And the players just didn't think it was healthy enough to say, OK, let's go and play.
And the thing that I respect is that they -- the one thing is, I wanted to make sure that our players had a say in this, because you take a look at a lot of these things that are going on, these players really didn't have a say in anything. Everybody is making all these decisions and putting schedules together, we're playing conference-only games, we are only doing this, we are only doing that.
But nowhere did you really see where the players had a say in it. So, that's what I wanted to make sure that we did. And we made the decision. And I'm glad we made that decision. And our kids now have direction in terms of what's going on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAVUTO: All right, and you talk about impeccable timing, hearing again from the University of Connecticut football coach.
Within minutes of that, we got word that Notre Dame and Navy, a rivalry that goes back and a regular game that goes back, I think, about 90 years, they're not going to play this year. That game was canceled.
You have heard similar reports out of the Ivy League, not going to have that season at all, no Ivy League sports there. So this is spreading.
I wonder what Mike Gunzelman -- we call him Gunz, the Internet radio host sensation, sports reporter, much, much more.
Gunz, what do you think of all this?
MIKE GUNZELMAN, INTERNET RADIO HOST: Hey, Neil.
So, listen, I cover sports. I report on sports. I'm also a die-hard sports fan. And I hate to say this, but I truly believe that it's not a matter of if, but when college sports are going to be canceled.
I don't think that they go forward with it. And you look at all the unknowns, and the NCAA hasn't done a great job of setting protocols that everyone should follow. And just recently, OK, so, UConn, they already opted out. You mentioned Notre Dame-Navy. First time in 93 years they're not going to play game.
Ivy League, all them, they had already canceled fall sports. But then three major schools, Michigan State, Northwestern, Rutgers, have all halted football activities because they have outbreaks throughout the football team.
Rutgers University right now has 28 football players that have the coronavirus. How are you going to play a season in 3.5, four weeks from right now?
CAVUTO: Yes.
GUNZELMAN: And, on top of that, Neil, it's football and it's fall sports. That takes place in the fall and winter. And that's when everybody's going to get cold and sick to begin with.
So, if somebody shows up coughing or sneezing near you, you won't know if it's a cold, if it's the flu, or if it's the coronavirus. And how do you go forward with sports, especially at the college level right there? I don't think you can.
CAVUTO: And beyond the college level, right? I mean, the NFL, that might be looking dicey with a number of players who could sort of decide by the end of the day what they want to do.
GUNZELMAN: Right.
CAVUTO: To say nothing of what's going on in baseball. They're trying to resume the season, but no sooner -- it's like Whac-A-Mole.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: No sooner does one team get over its troubles, and we get word of another team that's having trouble. What do you think?
GUNZELMAN: Well, here's the thing.
So, if you use the bubble, which is what the NBA and the NHL did, that's working. But baseball didn't. They're all over the place. And we have seen what happened to the Marlins and the Cardinals, and just infections happening.
CAVUTO: Right.
GUNZELMAN: And that's going to be the same thing with the NFL and with college football, if college football happens.
So, here's the big thing regarding football, OK, traveling, because you're going to go to different cities, different states, perhaps across the country. So, you're traveling. Also, the nature of sports, of football, because of the close proximity. You're tackling. You're lining up against somebody right across, six inches away from you.
And then, of course, the fact that it is in the winter, and the weather is going to be against you, because people are going to be sick. Testing is going to be huge.
NFL made a $70 million deal with a biolab that claims that they will be able to have results back within 24 hours. Great. That's the NFL. But we saw with Major League Baseball, they had to wait two or three days to get their testing results back. And guess what? We had outbreaks across the Marlins and Cardinals.
So, you got to get the results back from those tests. Otherwise, it's pointless. It doesn't matter if you wait two or three days, because you're going to spread it if somebody's sick.
So, unfortunately, it doesn't look good for fall or winter sports.
CAVUTO: And for these colleges, as the players go, so too make the student body, right? If sports are sidelined, the schools might be sidelined.
GUNZELMAN: Absolutely.
So, the NCAA last year made $8 billion, all right?
CAVUTO: Yes.
GUNZELMAN: You had 24 different schools that made over $100 million simply on their sports. What's the big sport? Of course, college football.
If you cut sports is going to have a drastic economic effect. They're going to have to cut programs. They're going to have to lay off staff. And, also, it's going to take years for them to recover. And you still don't even know if you're even going to get actual students on campus still.
So, it's just not a good situation all around.
CAVUTO: Yes.
GUNZELMAN: Terrible.
CAVUTO: All right, well, look at the bright side. You're reporting from a beautiful living room, it looks like.
GUNZELMAN: How about this? Who would have thought?
CAVUTO: So, you got that, Mike.
GUNZELMAN: I got that. And we got each other. We got each other, Neil. It's all great.
CAVUTO: I'm not at all surprised. I'm not at all surprised.
Gunz, thank you very, very much.
GUNZELMAN: Thanks.
CAVUTO: Out of this world.
And speaking out of this world, Bob Behnken, just back from 60 days in space, will be my special guest tomorrow.
Here comes "The Five" now.
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