US braces for Dorian after hurricane devastates the Bahamas

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US braces for Dorian after hurricane devastates the Bahamas

New aerial footage reveals shocking scale of destruction in the Bahamas; reaction from the 'Special Report' All-Star panel.

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUBERT MINNIS, BAHAMIAN PRIME MINISTER: We are in the midst of a historic tragedy in parts of northern Bahamas. Our mission and focus now is search, rescue, and recovery.

PETER GAYNOR, FEMA ACTING ADMINISTRATOR: It doesn't take much to imagine what could have happened in Florida or in other states up the coast when it comes to Dorian. When you look at the Bahamas, still not over yet, so be prepared for any scenario.

MAYOR LENNY CURRY, JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA: There may be a point in time during this storm where if you call 911, they won't be able to get to you. You'll be on your own. For you and your family's safety, please leave today. This is your last chance to evacuate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRET BAIER, HOST: Still a threat from hurricane Dorian, category two, making its way up the coast towards the east coast, possibly a landfall as we heard earlier. But really, it's the Bahamas, as you look at that aerial video. Parts of it have been erased, Abaco Island, Marsh Harbor, and a lot of damage and devastation.

Already the Bahamian prime minister has praised the U.S. for the U.S. Coast Guard and for authorities helping with rescue efforts. We don't know how bad this is going to be before all is said and done.

We'll start there with the panel, Matthew Continetti, editor in chief of the "Washington Free Beacon," Amy Walter, national editor for the "Cook Political Report," and Fox News contributor Steve Hayes.

Amy, how a government deals with a tragedy like this is really important.

AMY WALTER, NATIONAL EDITOR, "COOK POLITICAL REPORT": It is really important how the government deals, and then in this country how a governor deals. We have known many governors who have been made or broken by hurricanes, even ones that are not necessarily devastating, but where the evacuation plan became sort of stymied and you have traffic snarls. Even more so if the hurricane doesn't hit, you hear governors getting complaints from residents who say they told me to pack up and I did all of this and I spent all this money, and then nothing happened. I don't know whether to do this the next time around. It's a very fine line.

BAIER: It seems like Florida has had this practice. Rick Scott was good at it before. Ron DeSantis appears to be good at it right now.

MATTHEW CONTINETTI, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "WASHINGTON FREE BEACON": This is his first test as governor of Florida and critical to his political future, handling these storms well. He seems to be doing well at the moment. That can only be a good thing for the people of Florida and for Governor DeSantis.

BAIER: And how we deal with the Bahamas now as well. Some of those videos are unbelievable.

STEVE HAYES, CONTRIBUTOR: Total devastation in some of those areas. I think it was important that the U.S. Coast Guard was on the ground early, and that the United States is actually letting people know that the U.S. Coast Guard was on the ground early. We do a lot of this kind of work internationally every time there is a major catastrophe, certainly anywhere in this hemisphere but really around the world, the United States is usually early to rush in and to offer our help. And I think it's important that we let people know that we are doing that without being tacky about it.

BAIER: I want to turn to politics and what the Senate Majority Leader said in the wake of this shooting in Texas over the weekend, asked about the prospects of some kind of gun control measure getting through the Senate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, R-KY, SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: If the president took a position on a bill so that we knew we would actually be making a law and not just having serial votes, I'd be happy to put it on the floor.

JOE BIDEN, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The president has no intestinal fortitude to deal with this. He knows better. His instinct was to say yes, we are going to do something on background checks. What's he doing? Come on. This is disgraceful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Obviously the Democratic presidential candidates hopping on this issue, Joe Biden included, as you look at a recent NBC/"Wall Street Journal" poll on the major issues that actually have made their way into legislation, expanding background checks, red flag laws, voluntary government buyback program, banning the sale of assault weapons, banning the sale of handguns. You see where that breakdown is, the first one, two, three, four, five -- no, four -- overwhelming, Amy, in support, at least in the polls.

WALTER: And especially if you break this down among different groups and in different regions of the country. And this has been really interesting to watch over the last, say, 10 or 15, maybe even 20 years as fewer and fewer Democrats represent rural and southern districts. There are fewer and fewer Democrats in Congress supported by the NRA. And on the Republican side, fewer and fewer Republicans support -- I'm sorry I didn't mean support. I meant represent sort of those suburban areas where those kinds of things are very, very, very popular.

And so now what we have is a Democratic Party that is more aligned with suburban, urban issues, specifically on assault weapons ban, background checks, all of the whole host of those things, and a Republican Party that is much more aligned regionally with protecting gun rights. And so that's what makes having bipartisan cooperation almost impossible because you don't have any -- you have very few Republicans on this side, the suburban side, and very few Democrats on the more rural and small town side.

BAIER: There are a lot of different bills, 33 different bills up on Capitol Hill dealing with some element of gun control. There are now, as of August, 219 cosponsors. That's a lot of --

HAYES: A lot of cosponsors.

BAIER: Whether it's going to advance or not, it's really Senator McConnell is saying what the president is going to agree to sign or not.

HAYES: Right. But I think we can make an educated guess about whether these things are going to advance based on the rhetoric that we are hearing from Republicans on the hill and from the White House. The White House is saying we really need Congress to move. We need Congress to take the lead. Mitch McConnell in the clip that you just played is saying we need the president to give us some direction. We need to know what the president is going to sign before we move these things in an exercise of futility.

I think it's very unlikely that anything is going to happen. I think Amy points to the potential challenge for Republicans in 2020. Republicans lost the suburbs, lost many of these voters that are most concerned about these issues in 2018. Part of Donald Trump winning reelection is bringing them back to the Republican fold. These are the kinds of issues I think that cause significant headaches for Republican political consultants as they try to figure out how do we bring these voters back but continue to appeal to sort of the base, especially when it's not clear what substantively this legislation would do to solve the problems.

CONTINETTI: Look, it cuts both ways, right? If the Democrats want to win the presidency in 2020, they need to flip Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania. There are plenty of gun owners in those four states who believe in the Second Amendment.

BAIER: Who cling to their guns and their religion.

CONTINETTI: As I believe a former president once said. So the more you press in this gun control direction as the Democratic Party, sure, you might take in suburban voters to some extent, but you are going to turn off a lot of rural voters who care passionately about the Second Amendment. Donald Trump won as a supporter of Second Amendment rights. If he is going to abandon that in 2020, I think it will doom his campaign.

BAIER: What's interesting, and obviously these mass shooting events have gotten a lot of attention and they have become epidemic-like. But also not talked about was Chicago this weekend, 35 shootings, seven fatalities. It didn't even rise to the level of major coverage. It was the same number of people who died in Odessa.

WALTER: Right.

BAIER: And that is something that doesn't get talked about a lot either.

WALTER: It doesn't, although I suspect if you ask the mayors of major cities that have a lot of gun violence, they would support every single thing on that list.

BAIER: But I mean Chicago is a place run by Democrats and has a gun control.

WALTER: That's right. So if they said let's ban -- if right now a Democratic president said let's ban all handguns, all firearms of all sorts, the Democratic mayor of Chicago would be like great, sign me up. I'm happy to do it. And you can't sell guns anywhere to in or around any state. They would be happy to do it.

HAYES: And that would be the end of the Democratic Party.

(LAUGHTER)

WALTER: It's not going to happen. It's not going to happen.

BAIER: We're going to see a lot on this issue, I think. And it may be futile, we'll see what the president signs or doesn't. But it's going to happen. Something is going to move.

HAYES: And the shootings are not going away.

BAIER: Panel, thanks.

When we come back, helping hands during a big storm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAIER: Finally tonight, a helping hand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are just trying to make sure that will get their calories, fat, and protein as soon as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Washington based Chef Jose Andres and his nonprofit World Central Kitchen landed in the Bahamas over the weekend. They are working out of nine kitchens right now, five on the islands, four in Florida, to prepare thousands and thousands of meals, sandwiches and fruits, for those affected by the storm. The chef served millions of meals in Puerto Rico to those impacted by hurricanes Irma and Maria, an amazing operation active again.

And a woman in the Bahamas has opened her home to 97 dogs displaced by hurricane Dorian. Chella Phillips also runs Voiceless Dogs of Nassau refuge for homeless and abandoned dogs. Ninety-seven, though?

Thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. That is it for the “Special Report,” fair , balanced, and unafraid. "The Story" hosted by Martha MacCallum, starts right now.

Hi, Martha.

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