Sen. Rubio: We dodged the storm, but it's going to get ugly

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Sen. Rubio: We dodged the storm, but it's going to get ugly

Conditions in Florida intensify as Dorian closes in; Florida Sen. Marco Rubio weighs in.

This is a rush transcript from "Your World," September 3, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, ANCHOR: Thank you, Shepard, very much.

Dorian and the Dow. Fox on top of two storms still bearing down.

Welcome, everybody. I'm Neil Cavuto.

And Hurricane Dorian has yet to make impact on the United States, but the sell-off on Wall Street, well, already is. A key manufacturing number that disappointed everybody, that had a lot of investors selling.

We're on top of it all with Susan Li on the trade storm that started a selling storm at the corner of Wall and Broad, and Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio on the storm surge that is coming still to his state, then Ellison Barber on how coastal communities are bracing.

We begin with Ellison Barber in Jupiter Beach, Florida.

Ellison, how's it looking there?

ELLISON BARBER, CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Neil.

So, we have seen the weather kind of up and down the last couple of hours. It was just sunny. Now rain, a little bit of drizzle is coming and the winds are starting to pick up. You can see the water behind me here.

So the National Weather Service, they have used Jupiter Inlet as sort of a marker for a lot of their warnings, their advisories. They had put a storm surge warning in effect for all of the areas north of Jupiter Inlet to Ponte Vedra Beach. They lifted the storm surge warning advisory for areas that are south of Jupiter Inlet.

We are right next to that inlet and this -- here, though, on Jupiter beach again, where we are, you can see that the waves are pretty choppy. There is wind here. The rain, as I said, it's come in waves, but it's all been mild.

And in the last hour, the sun, again, it did come out. People have been out here all day. You can see some of them on this jetty here. They have been out here, some just watching, taking things in, others out here surfing.

The people that we have spoken to, they say they feel like this hurricane missed them. The weather from where we are standing, at times, it feels like it might have. Evacuation orders have just been lifted in Martin County. Most of Jupiter Island is in that county. Jupiter Beach Park, again, where we are, is in Palm Beach County.

The town of Jupiter now says that they're going to start their regular trash pickups tomorrow. Some of the people that we have spoken to say they were initially told to evacuate under mandatory evacuation orders, but they didn't think it was necessary, so they stayed. Others told me they left and then they were forced to come back.

Listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was talking with Snapchat stories. They're saying, like, yo, come to the beach. It's good to skim, good to surf.

And you see everyone's enjoying the beach right now. It's kind of rainy still, a little cloudy, but the sun's coming up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I watched the weather, I mean, two hours. And I look at my app on my phone always, like, because if it stalls, I know what stuff could happen. So I don't think it can happen in 30 minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just came to see the beach. We evacuated first to South Carolina. Then we drove down to Miami, waited there, and we came back home this morning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARBER: So, again, you can see the sun starting to come back out again. This is the back and forth that we have seen here all day.

Despite that, though, officials are still warning people in this area and anyone north to not be complacent, to make sure they're paying attention to any warnings and, most importantly, listening to whatever local officials are telling them to do -- Neil.

CAVUTO: Good ideas, all.

Ellison Barber, thank you very, very much.

Meanwhile, this slow-moving storm is giving a lot of folks second thoughts about having to evacuate at all.

On the phone is someone who says, don't let your guard down, the Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio.

Senator, thank you for taking the time.

How are things looking there?

SEN. MARCO RUBIO, R-FLA.: Well, first of all, I don't like seeing all these people out there in the water, thinking that it's (AUDIO GAP) but it's going to get pretty ugly here.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: Yes, we were saying the same thing. We're watching them with the riptides and everything else. Holy cow.

RUBIO: Well, yes.

I mean, first of all, Florida's not some surf capital of the world. And you have got people out there that are inexperienced. They're going to get stuck down there. Someone is going to have to go in to try to get them, and that's going to cost them their lives.

But what are you going to do? It's a free country. But it's unfortunate that people have put their lives on the line that way.

That said, look, it's going to get -- we dodged the storm, OK, and that's great. It's going to get ugly. And there's going to be bad bands, rain bands and wind bands that come down from the outskirts of that storm. We're going to see over the next few hours some real challenges there with the weather.

And as far as people being upset about the evacuation, let me tell you, we take some things for granted. The National Hurricane Center has done a phenomenal job. If this storm had happened 10 years ago, that cone of uncertainty would have been twice the size it was now. They have gotten better and better every year at not just identifying where the storm is going, but where the storm surge threats are, so that we could only evacuate the areas that need to be evacuated.

And I think Governor DeSantis did a great job sort of delegating that down to the counties. We didn't have these mass evacuations. We had targeted, strategically located evacuations, and didn't have those huge traffic jams and so forth.

So, a lot of credit to the local officials, a lot of credit to the National Hurricane Center.

CAVUTO: You know, Senator, you have been through these hurricanes quite a few times yourself. And a lot of people sort of let their guard down when they heard that this had since been ratcheted down to a Category 2.

But it's hugging the coast. It's moving very slowly. Apparently, it is among the slowest-moving hurricanes we have seen, I guess, in your neck of the woods since 1965. So people sort of say, all right, the worst is over.

What do you tell them?

RUBIO: Well, look, we didn't get a direct hit, OK? If this thing had done to us what it did to the Bahamas, we would be having a very different conversation.

That doesn't mean there isn't threats associated with this to people. And that doesn't mean there isn't a storm surge threat. I encourage people to go on the National Hurricane Center Web site. You will see it on the map.

And the second point that I would make is, we have got to be careful about these sorts of storms any time they come here. And we have got this thing parked just off our coast. It's a powerful storm.

A Category (INAUDIBLE) hurricane is a hurricane. It's nothing to play with. And so I think that the local officials made a prudent choice. We have got a few more hours left here. There's still some threat out there. It's important for people, if you can stay off the roads, stay off the roads.

And if you're still being told to stay away from your homes, and so they're not doing this to inconvenience you. There's a reason why they are saying this.

CAVUTO: Senator, out of the blue, the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, criticized the president and his handling of this from half-a-globe away, ripping him for missing out on an opportunity for this big trip to Poland, saying that -- and I quote the mayor -- "He's clearly busy dealing with a hurricane out on the golf course."

The president had some choice words back at him. But what did you think of all that?

RUBIO: Well, I didn't even hear the comment. It's irrelevant to me what the mayor of a city halfway around the world thinks.

Bottom line is, he should actually be expressing concern for the Bahamas, which is part of the British Commonwealth, which has been wiped out, which the U.S. is going to be a big part of helping, already is. I think you led your broadcast with (INAUDIBLE) that are the ground.

And as far as the concern from the federal response, people can say whatever they want. I can tell you this. We have had multiple storms under the Trump presidency. We have -- he has never said no to anything we have asked for.

And, for that, I think, no matter who you intend to vote for or how you (INAUDIBLE) people should be grateful. This White House has been very supportive of Florida after and before storms.

CAVUTO: You know, Senator, if this thing sticks around, as it looks likely to, moving at all of one to two miles an hour, slower than most people walk, this is going to be an issue for Florida for potentially days.

Do residents know that? Are they really up to speed dealing with that? How would you describe it?

RUBIO: I think so. People are up to date on it.

But, look, if -- I'm in South Florida right now. I'm in Miami-Dade County. And there are still small little squalls, bands that come through here. But, yesterday, as I was driving back from the Hurricane Center, we got caught in the middle of it. It's going to get even worse up north.

My daughter goes to college up north in the state, and she's not going to drive back home until tomorrow, because you're not going to drive through this stuff.

CAVUTO: Yes.

RUBIO: We had folks die last night on I-95. They -- in the middle of what appears to be a storm, they got caught into that.

So I do think the vast majority of people are taking this seriously. After every one of these storms, people say, oh, they made a big deal about it and nothing happened. But that's the point, that these are -- we don't control this.

We can only tell you where we think it might go and the threats associated with it. And I think, as I told you at the outset, if this storm had been 10 years ago, we would have had five times as many people evacuated.

You can't ask more than what the Hurricane Center has done to really narrow the track and be able to really specifically outline where it is we should be focusing resources.

CAVUTO: All right, Senator, thank you very much. Safety to your daughter as well and all the Florida residents.

Senator Marco Rubio joining us on the phone on the latest in Florida.

Now to that other storm, a very different type, at the corner of Wall Broad, and a trade war right now that prompted a lot of selling.

Susan Li, what was going on?

SUSAN LI, CORRESPONDENT: Well, Neil, September starting off pretty much how most of August went, which is down for stocks and uncertainty over trade, with China looming once against.

So, tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods going into effect this weekend, September the 1st, as promised, and China retaliating minutes later with its own tariffs and then suing the U.S. at the WTO.

China plays like Caterpillar, Boeing and 3M down once again, leading the markets lower. President Trump, though, not backing down this morning, warning China in a tweet that a deal will get much tougher if he wins reelection.

Meantime, Bloomberg also reporting that a new date for talks between the two sides has been difficult to nail down, suggesting there is still a big divide between the two largest economies in the world.

Investors also concerned about a slowing U.S. economy, with manufacturing contracting, the ISM falling below 50, which indicates a shrinkage and also the worst rating in three years. So it's not a good start to the month of September, which historically is the weakest for stock markets going back to 1937.

Both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones industrials have typically lost 1 percent each, on average. So I guess we are in for another, shall we say, down month, possibly, for the markets -- Neil.

CAVUTO: Yes, it depends on your time range and perspective.

Susan, thank you very, very much.

To Susan's point, if you go way, way back, September is a bad month. If you go back over averaging over the last 10 years, it's actually been an OK month, gaining about nine-tenths of a percent to a full percent.

But where do we go from here?

Better to check with the experts, Kimberly Foss, Gary Kaltbaum.

Gary, a lot of people are looking at the start to this and saying, oh, we're picking up where we left off in August, volatile. We had 11 trading days of swings with 1 percent or more. Is that just going to be the rule of thumb now?

GARY KALTBAUM, CONTRIBUTOR: I actually think so. Welcome to my world, Neil.

Every day, it's guess the gap, 300 up or 300 down, depending on the news events. And, look, I don't think we have ever been in a time where there's been more news overnight, because of China and also what's been going on with Europe and Brexit, that does affect our markets.

So, yes, more of the same. And I'm watching very closely. We have some support levels under the last four weeks. If they break, we're talking about it's going to invite some institutional selling and we will head back towards the December low, not necessarily all the way yet.

And that wouldn't be good news.

CAVUTO: You know, the propensity of the data right now, Kimberly, has been more good than bad, and slowing, but not reverse and negative outright.

Now, a lot of people seized on the contraction in manufacturing, what the nation's factories are doing, as a precursor of things to come. That might be a bit of a leap. But how do you feel?

KIMBERLY FOSS, EMPYRION WEALTH MANAGEMENT: Yes, I think that the PMI numbers that came out at 49.1, which is down, and the markets expected about...

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: This is a purchasing managers index that sort of gauges what's happening in the business world. But go ahead.

FOSS: Sure, sure. Sorry.

But I think those numbers really are a precursor. And it just means that we are contracting a little bit. I think it also can feed into the fear factor that, hey, are we heading into a recession? Or, really, are we just doing a global or U.S. slowdown? We're not sure either way.

But the tariffs certainly aren't helping either. And the tariff -- and the wars aren't helping either. So I think -- I think, in the long -- or the short run, we definitely -- like Gary said, we're really in for some more volatility.

Investors really should just kind of buckle in and just expect that volatility for the next few months. And we will have to see what prevails.

But if we could get some certainty, and we could not play chicken with the tariffs, we could get some certainty back in the markets, I think then that would be obviously a positive for the investors and a positive for the markets.

CAVUTO: Or get this trade thing resumed one way or the other.

Guys, I want to thank you both. My apologies with all the breaking news, because we're also following the nation's airports, particularly the Southeast. Dorian is forcing many of them to shut down or hold off on reopening, but at Disney, Mickey is now getting into it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: Open, but not for long.

Walt Disney World in Orlando closing its gates about an hour ago in preparation for Hurricane Dorian. They're sort of playing this day by day, maybe working under limited hours, as this thing continues. But no one knows what will happen as it continues.

FOX 35 Orlando correspondent Brian Scott with more.

Hey, Brian.

BRIAN SCOTT, WOFL REPORTER: Well, Neil, I can tell you it's certainly been an uncertain few days here in the attractions of Orlando. No one's been quite sure what's going to happen.

We all thought we'd be hunkered down in tropical-storm-force winds right now, but, as you can see, just a light breeze. But, yes, so, the theme parks kind of having to call -- call an audible each day on what they're going to do.

Disney just closed most of their parks here early in the afternoon, slimming down their hours severely for the day. Universal kept their park open on regular hours today, but closed their water park, just in case.

SeaWorld completely closed for the day. So everyone kind of handling this a little bit differently. You can imagine why. Everyone's kind of trying to predict this unpredictable storm, and then Dorian slowed down on us. It's stalled on us. It's moved on us.

So everyone's kind of been having to make these decisions as the days go by. We actually have not heard any decisions for tomorrow at this point in the day today. I can tell you, though, the people we have seen out here at the attractions, they're pretty happy to see these things open.

As I say, most of us expected to be hunkering down today, woke up to clear blue skies or maybe a few little bands of rain here and there. So we actually stopped by the Gatorland park here in Orlando just a few hours ago. Saw some pretty decent crowds out there.

A lot of people hurricane-fatigued, said they were ready to get out. They were glad to see some parks open today, taking them in, letting -- giving them something to do, giving their kids something to do.

Again, everyone closely watching the skies on this one, but I can tell you can only hunker down for so long. However, again, all the emergency workers out here still urging everyone, definitely do be cautious if you do venture out and, as these winds do pick up, do put your hurricane plans back into place.

CAVUTO: Good advice, all.

Brian, thank you very, very much. Brian Scott there.

By the way, you're looking right now at Riviera Beach in Florida. This is very close to Singer Island in Florida.

FOX News meteorologist Rick Reichmuth on how bad things could get as the week ensues.

Rick, what are we looking at?

RICK REICHMUTH, CHIEF METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I think this -- probably where it will get the worse for us is across the Carolinas. I think they will have the closest U.S. -- mainland U.S. impact from the storm as anybody, next to Puerto Rico.

It'll stay off the coast of Florida, will certainly get some strong winds. I just put this entire map up for you here, because this is the peak of hurricane season. Peak of hurricane season is actually about one week away. And look at that. There's five different systems out across the Atlantic that we're watching.

The only one at this point that has any impact towards the U.S. is Dorian that we have been dealing with. And the last 24 hours of this loop continues to show it finally beginning to pull towards the north, away from the Bahamas.

The images coming out of the Bahamas are really staggering, some of the damage. And we will start to get more of this coming in, in the next day or so, as they're able to get in and do more investigation.

Can't imagine still what we're yet to see. This is a storm beginning to pull out towards northwest. The bulk of the moisture offshore, that will be the case, although by tomorrow morning and overnight tonight, I think we potentially could see some hurricane-force wind gusts across Cape Canaveral, maybe towards Daytona Beach.

It's probably the worst of it in towards Florida. Certainly, the wind will be there. And then watch what happens. This is a simulation of what the models think the radar will look like over time. Go towards Thursday morning, tomorrow morning.

Excuse me. Thursday morning, two mornings from now, around the Charleston area, where you're under hurricane warnings, and then this model just brings the center of the storm right along the coast here of North Carolina. It's going to cause a lot damage there, probably a Cat 1, Cat 2 at the time it does that.

And take a look at this. Pretty significant threat for flooding all along the coast and to points just inland, where we will see some spots maybe up to 10 inches of rain. And, obviously, that will be problematic across parts of the Carolinas.

But I tell you, Neil, we were so worried last week of when the storm would take that right-hand turn and when it would slow down. Well, it slowed down across the Bahamas and caused incredible damage there. Had it happened about 100 miles a little bit farther, we would have been talking about that same kind of images across parts of South Florida -- Neil.

CAVUTO: Incredible.

Rick, thank you very, very much, Rick Reichmuth, who has been going nonstop with this.

Obviously, the rescue efforts in the Bahamas are the ones that are getting the attention right now. At least five people are dead there. The Grand Bahama Island itself was hit head on with 180-plus-mile-per-hour winds when this thing was a Category 5.

The images we're getting back are devastating.

More after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, this is where it was a Category 5. This is where the winds were in excess of 180 miles per hour.

Now at least five are dead in the Bahamas, where officials say they expect that number is likely to rise in the wake of Dorian. Miami's Mayor pledging his city's resources to help right now.

And he joins me right now, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez.

Mayor, good to have you back.

FRANCIS X. SUAREZ, MAYOR OF MIAMI, FLA.: Hi, Neil. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.

CAVUTO: When you look at just the fickleness of Mother Nature, Mayor, and you see what happened in the Bahamas, you must be saying, oh, my gosh, it could have happened here as well.

And now you're offering help. Explain.

SUAREZ: Yes, this is the worst-case scenario for the Bahamas.

I mean, this is a combination of Hurricane Andrew, which hit us in 1992 with sustained winds in the 200 mile-an-hour range, and Hurricane Irma, which hit us in 2017, that had six-to-eight-foot storm surges.

There are reports out of the Bahamas -- I spoke to the deputy prime minister last night -- that their storm surge in the vicinity of 18 to 25 feet Marsh Harbour and in other -- in other islands.

CAVUTO: Whoa.

SUAREZ: And, of course, we all know that the storm has basically sat on top of Grand Bahama for a couple of days with very little movement.

So you're talking about a part of the world that doesn't have the infrastructure that we have. And we're still a few years away from being completely prepared for a storm of this magnitude.

So I just can't even imagine what the devastation is. We began something that our chairman called #BahamasStrong, an effort to collect much-needed resources for the Bahamas. And we have opened up our fire stations. We have 16 fire stations across the city of Miami that are collecting a variety of things to help the victims of this hurricane.

CAVUTO: How is it looking in Miami right now, Mayor?

SUAREZ: Thankfully, it's not too bad.

We obviously dodged a tremendous bullet. It was very worrisome, because the hurricane basically didn't start jogging north until very recently. So, for two days, we were all sort of anxious as to whether or not it would continue to just drift westward, which would have put it in direct contact with West Palm Beach, which is not that far away from the city of Miami.

CAVUTO: Yes.

SUAREZ: We have seen wind gusts in the 20-to-30 mile-per-hour range. And we have not seen, thankfully, severe flooding, which we were concerned about, because this happens to be the king tide, which is the highest tidal flow of the year because of the moon's orientation.

CAVUTO: Right.

You know, a lot of people had advanced word of this, Mayor, and you were getting the word out, not only to your residents, but those on their way to Miami, maybe think twice, be careful.

And that did cut down on the number of that they believed would either be potentially clogged on roads, 95, the Florida Turnpike, what have you. But Floridians are used to this, visitors maybe not so much.

What did you notice?

SUAREZ: I think we have gotten better. Since Irma, we have learned a tremendous amount.

FEMA has done a great job of collaborating with us and giving us their flood model predictions. Obviously, there's what they call the dirty side of the storm, which is the northern part, and the clean side, which is the southern part. And that a huge influence.

When we had Irma, we got hit with the dirty side of the hurricane. And we had flooding in some parts of the city that were three to four feet. Since then, we have installed pumps that can pump 50,000 gallons of water a minute. So we have made a tremendous amount of infrastructure improvements.

But the communication, I think, has improved significantly. The governor did a phenomenal job of communicating throughout the entire event. And I think -- and the media has done a wonderful job of covering this, so that the information gets to those who need it immediately.

CAVUTO: Did you learn anything from what happened in the Bahamas about a storm in this case that sticks around and doesn't leave, coming in as a Category 5, still there ostensibly causing a lot of damage right now, that maybe what they're going through now is a point to take into consideration in cities like your own and elsewhere when a storm just refuses to leave?

SUAREZ: Yes, that's a new phenomenon.

CAVUTO: Yes.

SUAREZ: What we have seen is high wind events like Andrew, high water events like Irma.

We have very rarely seen the combination of the two, and then it just not move. We're still dealing with, frankly, having a water event like Irma, where you have six to eight foot storm surge. And we have passed a bond that's called Miami Forever. That was a voter-approved bond.

That's $200 million to upgrade our infrastructure to deal with hurricanes, king tides, and more intense-than-usual rainfall. So we're -- that's a multiyear process that we're implementing. And then we will see how -- I presume that in those years we will be tested.

But to see something that is as intense as Andrew, as wet as Irma, and then it's just basically stagnant, I don't think anybody's ever seen anything like that. And we hope to never have to deal with anything like that in the city of Miami.

CAVUTO: Sir, thank you very, very much, the mayor of Miami, Francis Suarez, joining us out of Miami.

Thank you again, sir.

SUAREZ: Thank you, Neil.

CAVUTO: By the way, these states of emergency you hear a great deal about, they do remain in effect in Florida and Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

So a lot of these regions are far from out of the woods themselves. And that is something that has already affected up the entire Southeast Coast and maybe beyond.

We're on top of what they're doing in some of those locales that's a little different -- after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: It's not over, not by a long shot. Now North Carolina's governor is urging evacuation of the barrier islands. And that is just the latest. Indications are it will not be last.

Back in 60 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: Every mayor, every governor, everyone in the path of this storm doing anything and everything they can to get things back in order.

The mayor of Hilton Island, South Carolina, the latest to tell residents to get out now, because, once the winds pick up, they're afraid a lot of these bridges will just shut down.

Mayor John McCann joins me now on the phone.

Mayor, thank you for taking the time.

JOHN MCCANN, MAYOR OF HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA: Thank you.

CAVUTO: So, obviously, this is still a very pressing issue for you.

MCCANN: It's a big issue. It's the biggest issue of the day and probably the month.

This is our season. September is hurricane season. And the question is always asked, are people tired of leaving? People expect it in September.

Our tourism business, a lot of people book late to see what the weather forecasts are going to be for the weeks of September. So people are prepared for this. We're prepared for it. But it's always about safety first, Neil.

CAVUTO: No, you're absolutely right, Mayor.

I'm wondering, though. A lot of people get hurricane warning fatigue, as you know, Mayor. And they say, well, we have been watching the reports. This thing is a Category 2. It might hug the coast. We have nothing to worry about.

What do you tell them?

MCCANN: You know, you tell them, if you're not really sure what is happening, you should worry.

These storms coming up here, they go one way or the other in a heartbeat. So, you have to -- we encourage people to develop a plan yearlong, so they have it ready when the hurricane season comes.

And that's what we have been preaching for a long time. Get the plan ready. Get everything ready, so you're ready to go. But you got to be patient because people are waiting for the last minute, Neil. You're absolutely right.

CAVUTO: Now, it looks like, obviously, you're making plans enough to think that you're going to have to shut those bridges down. When will you make that call?

MCCANN: Well, the bridges will stay open as long as weather is permitted.

CAVUTO: Right?

MCCANN: But we won't close the bridges down. If the wind gets bad, we will shut the access to bridges down, only because, on the other side, the bridges are causeways that get flooded over very quickly.

So that's what we're looking to prevent. I mean, we're talking here about storm surge of four to six feet, king tide, high tide. So, it's going to be a big event.

CAVUTO: I'm always thinking, you're such a vacation draw itself, besides an alluring place to live, that a lot of people did have advanced warning on this, Mayor.

And I'm sure a lot of them canceled flights or plans to be in Hilton Head during this past Labor Day weekend. Have you been able to quantify that yet and the impact?

It's way too early, I'm sure. And I'm sure your gratitude is more to keep people safe than anything else. But there will be a big impact, won't there?

MCCANN: Well, we have 40,000 permanent residents and over 3 million tourists every year, visitors and tourists and guests here.

CAVUTO: Wow.

MCCANN: It's a very, very big number.

But most of them have the -- September isn't a big month for people planning their vacations, because they're aware of the tourist season here. So there's a lot of last-minute bookings in the month of September.

CAVUTO: All right, we will watch.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: Go ahead. Finish out.

MCCANN: Our Chamber of Commerce will be out there tomorrow.

Our Chamber of Commerce will be out there tomorrow saying, we're open for business. Hilton Head is the best island in the country. It's the best resort in the country, and we're ready for business, Neil.

CAVUTO: All right, Mayor, thank you very much for taking the time. Continued safe for you and your residents.

John McCann, Hilton Island, South Carolina, mayor.

All right, you might have been hearing something about Mad Dog having a book out right now. That is indeed true. The former Defense Secretary James Mattis has a book out.

What's interesting about it is, while he did serve two presidents, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, he barely talks about either, including the guy who he quit on -- after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: Did you really think a guy nickname Mad Dog was going to write a tell-all on Donald Trump or, for that matter, a tell-all on the prior president he worked for, Barack Obama?

That president essentially fired Defense Secretary Mattis. The latest President Donald Trump accepted his resignation and let him go early.

Secretary James Mattis will be my special guest tomorrow on "Coast to Coast" on FOX Business to talk about that book, to talk about that experience.

But what makes this stand out in the litany of books that come out after people leave the administration is, he has no mud to throw, no insults to hurl, no disparaging comments to make about individuals at all.

That is called honorable by friends. But if you're looking for it as a political weapon in the next election, you might have to look elsewhere.

The Washington Examiner's Emily Larsen joins us right now.

Emily, that was the first thing that hit me after reading his book. Look forward to chatting with him tomorrow. Now, while interviewers have been trying to instigate him and get him to discuss some other issues -- and I will as well -- I'm not giving anything away -- he refuses to take the bait in the book.

And I'm wondering whether that's going to surprise folks. What do you think?

EMILY LARSEN, THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Well, I think that if you know Mattis, it's probably not too surprising.

He isn't -- he certainly isn't the type to go mudslinging and revealing private details of conversations he had with Donald Trump in the Oval Office.

But I think it is frustrating to a lot of the political class and particularly a lot of people who would like to take down President Trump a little bit by saying that -- that he isn't going into that and saying that he isn't going to go around criticizing the president, except for voicing some disagreements about policy decisions, until he feels the time is right.

CAVUTO: Yes.

He famously parted company with the president because he felt that the idea of taking our troops out of Syria was a mistake. Now, the irony is that the president has slowed on that. So, you could argue, knowing that, would he have left at all? But we will never know.

But your sense about the message that Mattis might be sending here that you can argue with some -- and he keeps emphasizing do so in private, but, obviously, when you leave an administration, and the tongues start wagging and beginning to wonder why and that there was bad blood or hostility. They leave people guessing more than they will reading.

LARSEN: Yes, certainly.

And I think a lot of people -- I mean, when Mattis resigned, his letter made clear that he had very distinct policy disagreements with the president. He didn't really think feel like there was anything more he could do.

But I think that people who are looking for Mattis to go and say anything more, it doesn't really matter. I think the Democrats, in seeking the presidency, and people who want to criticize the president can take everything Mattis has already said and everything he's already said in his letter when he resigned as evidence that President Trump is not -- is not going in the direction that the country needs in foreign policy.

But the interesting thing is that Mattis does in his book have a lot of criticisms of President Obama and also Joe Biden, and how they handled the situation in Iraq and were very resistant to listening to warnings that this would create sort of a power vacuum.

And so the -- so.

CAVUTO: And even the surge and all that.

But it was argued on the grounds of a military policy and a strategy. A lot of people had called him a warmonger when he was involved in the first invasion of Iraq through Kuwait back under President Bush Sr.

But over that time, he's been a very reluctant general, insofar as the need to go to war. Others criticize him and saying, quite the opposite, the fact that he opposed the president in drawing down the troops in Syria proved that he was very much a zealot.

History leaves that an open question.

LARSEN: So, I think that Mattis has said himself that the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts are very long and very complicated, and there are a lot of moving parts to this.

I think that he probably tried to do the best that he absolutely could. But going back to the political ramifications of his statements in his book, as much as people want to use what Mattis has said against the president and anything that they think he might privately think about the president against President Trump in this upcoming election, they can also use that same type of arguments and criticisms against Joe Biden and his bid...

CAVUTO: That's right.

LARSEN: ... since he had the exact -- sort of the exact same kind of response to Mattis when he warned about Iraq.

So I think that is going to be the interesting question, whether this will be used as political fuel.

CAVUTO: Yes, because the one thing he does refer to is the fact that, if you're going to go into battle, you might as well complete the battle.

And he was frustrated when we had stopped the war into Kuwait and didn't go a little bit further. So he expressed frustration, when you do pull back, game over.

We will be talking to him a lot about that tomorrow. Emily, thank you in the meantime.

Also, a little bit of a tease here ahead of him. The Mad Dog title, you thought he came up with that? He hated it. I'm going to tell you exactly why he hated it. The Mad Dog thing would kind of cut both ways, but he didn't come up with. Guess who did?

In the meantime, the not so United Kingdom, as the prime minister of that country, Boris Johnson, sees one of his chief supporters literally walk to the other side, as in the other party, as in the opposition party. Surreal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, did you see this?

It's the talk of the world, the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, losing a majority in Parliament as he was speaking, when one of his own members walked across the aisle to the opposition.

You're going to see this a few seconds into this video from the House of Commons. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Britain is on the verge, Mr. Speaker, of taking back control of our trade policy and restoring our independent seat in the WTO for the first time in 46 years.

Our exports -- our exports to the -- our exports to the United States -- I wish -- I wish...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Order. Order. Order. Order.

JOHNSON: Resume your seat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Prime Minister.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Order. Order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAVUTO: Well, there was no order because this guy just literally walked across.

It was kind of hard to see. We got a late feed of it, but Phillip Lee to the Liberal Democrats in the House of Commons because he had had it with the prime minister's approach to Brexit. Deal or no deal, he wants out by the end of October.

The former adviser to Maggie Thatcher, Nile Gardiner, on the significance of what happened today.

What do you think, Nile? I mean, I know there were some ruffled feathers within the Conservative Party here, but was this expected?

NILE GARDINER, MARGARET THATCHER CENTER FOR FREEDOM DIRECTOR, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Yes, very unfortunate, of course, this particular M.P., I think, actually in a very disrespectful manner, crossing the floor of the chamber of the House of Commons while the prime minister was issuing his statement.

So, rather poor -- poor form from this M.P. who defected here. And, of course, the Conservative government now has lost its majority.

But the reality is that Britain is still heading towards Brexit on October the 31st. The government is still determined to implement that. There is a brewing rebellion within Parliament against the idea of a no-deal Brexit. There will be a big vote likely tomorrow on this.

But the prime minister, I think, is absolutely right here that the will of the British people must prevail. The British people voted to leave the European Union in June 2016; 17.4 million Britons voted for that. And this government is committed to delivering the democratic will of the British people.

This is really about implementing democracy in practice. It's very unfortunate that you do have, of course, the opposition Labor Party trying to derail Brexit, but also you have a number of rebels within the Conservative Party who are betraying their own constituents.

CAVUTO: How many more do you think there are?

I know Rory Stewart, who is a Tory rebel and part of the leadership candidate team that was interested in getting the job, I guess, that Johnson has, he said that "No deal is not the answer to anything."

In other words, there's a view among Conservatives as well that, by not changing the arrangement now to get out, it's going to be Britain that will pay the price.

What do you think of that?

GARDINER: Well, I think Boris Johnson has made it clear that he does seek a deal with the European Union.

But it's going to be very difficult to get a deal that is acceptable to the British government. After all, the E.U. has been behaving in an extremely dangerous, sort of reckless fashion over the last few years trying to prevent Brexit altogether, trying to make it as difficult as possible, really, for Britain to leave the E.U. with a deal.

They have been treating the negotiates as a punishment beating. And as Johnson makes clear, Britain will leave deal or no deal on October the 31st. And it's up to the E.U. to make concessions that are acceptable to the British people. So far, the E.U. hasn't been offering those concessions.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: The push for an election is to stave off something, is to put the heat on, I guess, fellow Conservatives, right?

GARDINER: Yes.

So I think that there is a very real prospect now of a general election in order to deliver Brexit. I think that Johnson has made that abundantly clear he's prepared to go down the path of a general election here.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: Has that ever happened before? I'm sorry.

Has that ever happened before, maybe in the days working for Maggie Thatcher, where someone within her own party just hops across and goes to the other, or vice versa?

GARDINER: Well, there are always defections under any prime minister.

And, of course, there were -- there were many M.P.s in Margaret Thatcher's own party who knifed her in the back.

CAVUTO: Absolutely.

GARDINER: And we're seeing some M.P.s today in the Conservative Party who are trying to knife Boris Johnson in the back. And they're trying to derail Brexit. They're trying to derail democracy.

They're trying to prevent the will of the British people here. And it's very, very distasteful behavior from these Conservative rebels.

CAVUTO: All right, maybe a preview of coming attractions.

Thank you very, very much, my friend.

Again, you don't see this sort of thing all the time, Phillip Lee, the Conservative M.P., literally walking over to the other side to say, this guy isn't getting anything done. I'm going with the other guys.

That's what they meant by, order, order, which makes it riveting to watch them. Not so riveting sometimes to watch us.

More after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, mandatory evacuations are under way along the Georgia coast.

Mike Tobin now in Tybee Island, Georgia, with the latest.

Hey, Mike. What's going on there?

MIKE TOBIN, CORRESPONDENT: Well, we see a lot of the things we usually see before a hurricane, Neil.

We have wind. We have got waves. And we have got people not heeding the evacuation order. Everyone east of I-95 is supposed to be under an evacuation order right now. But if you look around the beach, you can see all kinds of people walking around. We have seen them surfing. We have seen them kite surfing. We have seen them out here on the beach drinking beer.

And you see a couple of kids digging a hole right now. Not to worry. Their parents are close by. Further inland, you have got the downgrade of the hurricane and the predictions that the winds are only going to get up to around 30 miles an hour, with spikes up to 60.

So we are seeing some boarded-up windows or people putting up the boards, but it's not extensive. In fact, I would say you see more bare glass than you do boarded-up windows.

Here on Tybee Island, we're seeing a lot of sandbags, it also not extensive. There's a lot of buildings out here that don't have the sandbags in front of them.

We have spoken with a lot of people who say that they want to ride out the storm, or at least make a decision later. Spoke with one woman who's taking care of an elderly mother. She is going to head west, head inland.

And given the frequency with these hurricanes keep returning, that the are hurricanes keep returning, she says she might just keep on going west.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOBIN: Thinking about moving inland, moving away from the coast?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am. I really am. It's just -- it's not -- it's just we got two more months of hurricane season. Two more months. So maybe some miracle, we will not have another hurricane this year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TOBIN: There is a springtime phenomenon called king tide, in which the tides end up unusually high.

We saw on the drive in here there just wasn't a lot of space between the top of the water and where the roadway was. So, for the people who are electing to ride it out here on Tybee Island, there's a very good chance that, once the storm starts, those roads are going to flood and they will be stuck here through the duration.

One of the things that we saw the local officials have done out here is, they have implemented contraflow on Interstate 16. That means they're allowing traffic to go west. If you get on the highway and you go west, you can't come back east -- Neil.

CAVUTO: Mike Tobin, thank you very, very much.

Again, these evacuations happening sporadically throughout the Southeast, but do remember things could be a lot worse, taking a look at the Bahamas and Grand Bahama Island, which was hit with 180-mile-per-hour-plus winds.

That is utter and total devastation. At least five dead in the region, and they fear more. It could be a lot worse.

Here comes "The Five."

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