Alan Alda: I plan to keep having fun and laughing right up until the end

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Alan Alda: I plan to keep having fun and laughing right up until the end

'Fox News Sunday’ Power Player of the Week is actor and podcaster Alan Alda.

This is a rush transcript from “Fox News Sunday" September, 18 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: I'm Chris Wallace.

With just 16 days left in the presidential campaign, we look ahead to the final debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, and a likely vote in the Senate to confirm a Supreme Court justice.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: The candidates prepare to meet and make their closing arguments to voters --

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This election is a choice between a Trump recovery and a Biden depression.

WALLACE: -- to tell Americans one last time where they stand on handling the coronavirus, rebooting the economy, and trying to bring the country together.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I refuse to postpone the work America must do now to bring this country back.

WALLACE: We'll talk with former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a member of the Biden transition team, and Jason Miller, senior advisor for the Trump campaign.

Then --  

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): How does it feel to be nominated for the Supreme Court of the United States?

JUDGE AMY CONEY BARRETT, U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE NOMINEE: This is a really difficult, some might say excruciating process.

WALLACE: The Judiciary Committee set to vote this week on Amy Coney Barrett's nomination and send it to the Senate floor. We'll ask our Sunday panel about her likely confirmation, just days before the election.

And our "Power Player of the Week" -- actor Alan Alda's passion for helping us communicate better with each other.

ALAN ALDA, ACTOR: Ironically, I think the secret to good communication is listening.

WALLACE: All, right now, on "FOX News Sunday".

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And hello again from FOX News in Washington.

With just 16 days and counting, we're now in the home stretch of this campaign. President Trump is trying to shore up support in states he carried in 2016, while former Vice President Joe Biden is calling on Democrats' best weapon, Barack Obama.

And it's four days until the last presidential debate.

We begin with FOX team coverage. Jacqui Heinrich is tracking Joe Biden's campaign, but let's start with David Spunt in Carson City, Nevada, where the president holds a rally later today -- David.

DAVID SPUNT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Chris, this is the president's second visit to Nevada in 40 days. Four years ago, he lost this state and right now, he is behind the polls here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(CHANTING)

SPUNT: President Trump full steam ahead on the campaign trail, November 3rd now within reach.

TRUMP: The Democrats would terminate our recovery with a draconian, unscientific lockdown like your governor is doing right now for everybody except for her husband.

SPUNT: The president calling out Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer during his swing trip through two Rust Belt states he won in 2016.

(CHANTING)

SPUNT: Supporters chanting "lock her up" caught the governor's attention, who tweeted: This is exactly the rhetoric that has put me, my family, and other government officials' lives in danger while we try to save the lives of our fellow Americans. It needs to stop.

Meanwhile, the president now capitalizing on a "New York Post" story featuring emails allegedly tied to Hunter Biden.

TRUMP: I want to thank "The New York Post" for showing real bravery.

SPUNT: After Twitter initially blocked the story from being shared, the RNC filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commissions, arguing that tweet-blocking amounted to an illegal corporate in-kind political contribution to Biden's campaign.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SPUNT: The president has just days to prepare for that final face-to-face debate in Nashville on Thursday after today's rally in Nevada, he'll head to do more rallies tomorrow in Arizona and then back to the East Coast for several more rallies later this week -- Chris.

WALLACE: David Spunt traveling with the president in Nevada -- David, thank you.

Now, let's bring in Jacqui Heinrich who's covering the Biden campaign in Chapel Hill, North Carolina -- Jacqui.

JACQUI HEINRICH, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Chris, at the event today, Joe Biden will encourage supporters to vote early but ahead of Thursday's debate with President Trump, it appears he's keeping a light schedule and tapping surrogates with star power.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAGIC JOHNSON, FORMER NBA STAR: Right now, the country, we need Joe Biden.

HEINRICH: Saturday, Magic Johnson in Michigan. Elizabeth Warren in Wisconsin.

Today, Andrew Yang takes on Pennsylvania, a crucial battleground where President Obama will make his first appearance on the trail later this week following a campaign memo warning supporters the reality is that this race is far closer than some of the punditry we are seeing on Twitter and TV would suggest.

Facing fallout over those allegations in "The New York Post," Joe Biden is trying to keep the focus on his campaign, letting questions linger about the authenticity of the emails and the veracity of their claims.

BIDEN: I knew you'd ask it. I have no response. It's another smear campaign. Right up your alley. Those are the questions you always ask.

HEINRICH: The campaign cited Biden's tax returns, official schedule, and Republican-led Senate inquiry as proof Biden didn't bend U.S. foreign policy to enrich his family.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEINRICH: Senator Kamala Harris is also trying to make up for lost time after two people involved with her campaign tested positive for coronavirus, keeping her home for four days. Tomorrow, she'll head to Florida for the first day of in person early voting -- Chris.

WALLACE: Jacqui, thank you.

Joining us now, former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a member of the Biden transition team and author of the new book "Trust: America's Best Chance."

Mayor, I want to start with what you said about Joe Biden back during the Democratic primaries. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is an example of why years in Washington is not always the same thing as judgment. He supported the worst foreign policy decision made by the United States in my lifetime which was the decision to invade Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Now, Mayor, I understand that you were running against Biden then, and the choice between you and Biden is different than the choice between Trump and Biden.

But did you mean what you said then, that former Vice President Biden back the worst foreign policy decision of your lifetime?

BUTTIGIEG: Well, I think invading Iraq is a mistake and I believe the vice president said the same. But we're not going to take lessons on Iraq policy from this current president who, you know, can barely keep straight what's going on in the Middle East and is a destabilizing force literally everywhere he goes.

Right now, it's 2020 and the choice has gone down to Joe Biden who I enthusiastically support and Donald Trump who has been a disaster in every foreign and domestic issue or policy at stake. We can't go on with four more years of this chaos, of this cruelty.

And that's why more and more Americans, a remarkable coalition of, yes, Democrats like me but independents and an amazing number of Republicans are all coming together to say, we back Joe Biden. It's time to end the Trump presidency and move on.

WALLACE: I want to take you back one last time, however, to the primaries because you went after Joe Biden's 47 years in Washington. Here you are.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUTTIGIEG: We need a perspective right now that will finally allow us to leave the politics of the past in the past, turn the page and bring a change to Washington before it's too late.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: You talk about the politics of the past. You sound like President Trump there.

BUTTIGIEG: Well, what I know is we definitely need to turn the page even more now than when I was running for president a year ago, and what we need to turn the page from is a president who is incapable of handling a public health crisis that has now cost almost a quarter of a million American lives, thrown our economy into a total wreckage and has clearly no plan to do anything about it.

So, yeah, let's turn the page, and we have a very clear choice between two very different futures for this country and any differences that we have.

Remember when everybody was handwringing saying how can the Democrats possibly unify? Look how unified we are now. You've got Democrats from across the spectrum, from the left, to the center, joining with independents and Republicans because we can all see what's at stake here.

I mean, I can't think of an election in modern history where the choice has been this stark and I know what side I'm on.

WALLACE: Let's turn to the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

Here's what Joe Biden said about that recently.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINE: The only court packing is going on right now. It's going on with Republicans packing the court now. It's not constitutional what they're doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Mayor, I certainly understand why Democrats are upset with the president rushing through this nomination, but it isn't court packing, and it certainly is not unconstitutional.

BUTTIGIEG: I think what he's saying is it's not in the spirit of the Constitution or the spirit of our legal system or political system for them to do this. Look, most Americans believe as I do, as Joe Biden does, that the American people ought to have a say.

We're not talking about in the elections coming up. We're in the middle of an election. Millions of Americans have voted and want their voice to be heard.

And, of course, it's an enormous amount of frustration that this Senate can even bring itself under Mitch McConnell to vote through a COVID relief package. I mean, right now, people are suffering, people are hurting, there's no clear end in sight.

There's been a bill that was brought to them months ago coming out of the House. They won't touch it, they won't do anything but, suddenly, they have time to rush through a nomination of the American people don't want.

You know, whatever specific words you use for it, the bottom line is the word I would use is wrong. And the fact that most Americans agree with us on this is one more reason why Joe Biden is winning this election right now, and if everybody votes, which we're leaving nothing to chance, we've got to work so hard to make sure that we turn out every vote.

But if everybody does, the majority of the American people will be heard, because most Americans disagree with this president on a nomination. Most Americans believe the president is doing a terrible job on the pandemic. Most Americans support keeping the Affordable Care Act and pre-existing conditions which they could take away from us in a matter of weeks, which is --  

WALLACE: Right.

BUTTIGIEG: -- why the Supreme Court fight is so important on issue after issue after issue. Most Americans agreed with Joe Biden.

WALLACE: Let's talk about --  

BUTTIGIEG: They disagree with Donald Trump. Our job is to get out that vote.

WALLACE: Let's talk about the Supreme Court fight because Joe Biden has refused to say whether or not if he is elected president, he would actually pack the court, not rush through a vacancy which exists, which is purely constitutional, but pack the court by increasing the number of justices from nine.

Here's what Joe Biden said this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS CHIEF ANCHOR: Don't voters have a right to know where you stand?

BIDEN: They do have a right to know where I stand. They have a right to know where I stand before they vote.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So, you'll come out with a clear position before Election Day?

BIDEN: Yes, depending on how they handle this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Here's what I don't understand about that answer, Mayor. As you pointed out, millions of Americans are already voted. I believe 22 million plus have already voted.

So of Joe Biden wants them to know what he's going to do on the court, shouldn't he have told them weeks ago?

And secondly, you more than anyone else I can remember in the Democratic primaries used to talk about increasing the size of the court. In fact, I remember us discussing 15 justices.

Is that what you hope a President Biden would do?

BUTTIGIEG: My views haven't changed. I think bipartisan reform with the purpose of reducing the politicization of the court is a really promising idea.

Let's also be clear that a president can just snap their fingers and do it. And most of all, we don't want to allow this president to change the subject, which is what they're always doing. We've got -- and they were all kinds of interesting questions about the future of the American judiciary.

But right now, as we speak, the pre-existing conditions coverage of millions of Americans might depend on what is about to happen in the Senate with regard to this justice. My marriage might depend on what is about to happen in the Senate with regard to this justice.

So many issues are on the line, and, you know, this current president and his supporters, they have a remarkable gift for changing the subject. We're not going to let up because we know the American people are with us on this issue and we can't let them just paper over or throw up smoke around the fact that if you or somebody with preexisting condition or if you are someone with preexisting condition --  

(CROSSTALK)

WALLACE: But is it changing the subject -- I mean, is it -- Mayor, if you're talking -- Mayor, if you're talking about the Supreme Court, isn't the question of packing the court which a lot of Democrats including you had talked about doing and the president -- and Vice President Biden refusing to answer that, that's not changing the subject.

I mean, don't voters have a right to know before they vote -- and it's already too late for millions of them -- where Joe Biden stands on that issue?

BUTTIGIEG: Well, he's spoken about this many times. He's talked about the fact that he is not a fan of -- a fan of what's called packing.

Chris, we also got to talk about what kinds of reforms we are interested in. A long, complex discussion that is clearly not what's on the minds of the people who are trying to use it as a distraction. They just want to talk about literally anything besides health care which the president --  

WALLACE: OK.

BUTTIGIEG: -- is trying to take away on the court might take away, and the pandemic, which is costing so many lives and so many livelihoods in this country.

WALLACE: Mayor, I've got a minute left so I need a quick answer here.

You as we pointed out have joined the Biden transition team in September. One, how advanced is planning for a Biden administration? And two, would you like an official role in it?

BUTTIGIEG: Well, there's a phenomenal team working to make sure that -- that there will be a successful transfer if in the event that the vice president is elected president. But let's be clear, that's just an academic exercise unless we succeed in this campaign, and most of my energy is going into making sure that there actually is a Biden-Harris administration.

And I'm saying that not just as somebody who loves public service. I'm saying that as an American citizen who knows that if this country goes on - -

(CROSTALK)

WALLACE: And do you want to be Secretary Buttigieg?

BUTTIGIEG: -- with the worst response in the developed world -- I will go wherever I'm useful.

And, right now, I know for the next 16 days, I can be useful here in Michigan and other swing states doing everything in my power because America can't go on like this. This chaos can't continue.

WALLACE: Mayor --  

BUTTIGIEG: The division can't continue. And continuing to settle for the worst pandemic response in the developed world can't continue.

WALLACE: Mayor, thank you. Thanks for your time this week and always good to talk with you, sir.

BUTTIGIEG: Thanks.

WALLACE: Up next, we'll turn to Trump campaign's senior advisor Jason Miller to discuss their strategy in the home stretch of the 2020 election.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: With millions of ballots already cast, Donald Trump and Joe Biden will square off this week in the final presidential debate.

Joining us now, Trump Campaign Senior Adviser Jason Miller.

Jason, I want to start with the president's comments last night in Michigan about that state's governor, Gretchen Whitmer.

Here they are.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You've got to get your governor to open up your state, OK?

CROWD: Lock her up. Lock her up.

TRUMP: Lock her -- lock them all up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Whitmer, who was a target of an alleged plot to kidnap her, tweeted, "this is exactly the rhetoric that has put me, my family, and other government officials lives in danger."

Jason, does the president have any regrets about what he said about Governor Whitmer and then joining the crowd in chanting "lock her up"?

JASON MILLER, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: No, not at all. I think the fact of the matter is that many residents of Michigan are pretty frustrated with the governor. They want to see the state open back up. And we were pretty swift to condemn the anarchists, the radical that was released by the Democratic governor of Delaware, who was threatening Governor Whitmer. I think that was reprehensible. That was terrible. And I'm glad that President Trump's DOJ was able to get these psychopaths and put them away.

But the fact of the matter is, people in Michigan want to get their state opened back up. They feel they -- it's been way too heavy of a hand, it's hurting their economy.

And, Chris, folks who have a salary can sit back and work out of their basement and say, you know what, I can telecommute. But, guess what, the hourly wage earners, they can't do that. They've got to get back to work to support their families.

WALLACE: All right, let's talk about COVID-19. More than 8 million people in this country now have the coronavirus. There have been 220,000 deaths. I believe it was, on Friday, 70,000 new cases. Which raises the question, why does the president continue to hold these rallies where thousands of people are packed together, the vast majority of them without masks, and the president says to them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'll walk in there. I'll kiss everyone in that audience. I'll kiss the guys and the beautiful women and the -- everybody. I'll just give you a big, fat kiss.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Why doesn't the president follow his administration's own guidelines at his rallies?

MILLER: Well, Chris, as you know, we do pass out masks at the rallies. And I encourage everyone who's attending a Trump rally to put the mask on. They're not -- not just giving it to you for Christmas tree decorations later on. We also check folks' temperatures and we remind people to wash their hands. We give them hand sanitizer.

But, look, as we get close to the election, people don't want to be living in fear again in their basements. We're going to be strong, we're going to be safe, but we're not going to be scared here, Chris.

And especially as we get closer, I mean, I don't see quite the protest from the media side when we see marches on Washington or BLM protests or things of that nature. So if the president wants to have the peaceful protests and have his people get together, then let's do it safely, let's have some fun.

And, Chris, I wish you'd shown the clip of the president dancing to "YMCA." I think that's become a pretty big hit out on the campaign trail.

WALLACE: You guys have put that out already.

And, you know, I get to ask the questions here and put on the clips, but let me ask you about this -- this issue of masks because you say, well, you handout the masks, but the president sends a very mixed message about the idea of wearing masks. I want to show what he said this week and then show what the -- his own administration's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Fauci, said.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look, you have -- on the masks, you know, you have two stories. You have a story where they want, a story where they don't want.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NIAID: So we need to put that nonsense behind us about, well, they keep changing their minds. Masks work. Physical distancing works. Avoiding crowds work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Jason, does the president really think there are two sides to this argument, that there are two sides to whether or not it's safer to wear masks?

MILLER: Well, Chris, if you see the president has encouraged people to wear masks. He's put that out on Twitter. We've seen him when he's gone to Walter Reed Hospital, a number of other places, wearing a mask, when he's touring a lab, when he's not able to socially distance.

But the fact of the matter is, masks on their own, while very, very important, or not the cure-all.

So, for example, you take someone like President Trump, who frequently the people around him have -- all have their masks on, they'll be tested and somehow he still got COVID. And so there's a lot about this virus that we don't know, but masks are important. The president has urged people to wear them.

And, again, if you're attending a Trump rally, I urge you to wear your mask, be safe, wash your hands, that we always check folks' temperatures before they come in. But, you know what, Chris, we're not going to be scared and we're not going to live in fear. We're going to defeat this virus and, quite frankly, that's a big differential in this race between President Trump and Joe Biden. If you want to defeat COVID, vote for President Trump. If you want to live in your basement the rest of your life, well, Joe Biden's a good option for you.

WALLACE: Well, they're going to get a chance to talk about that in the debate, which their final debate they're going to hold this Thursday, October 22nd.

One of Mr. Trump's own debate advisors, Chris Christie, who ended up getting COVID himself, said right after that first debate, he thought the president came in to hot.

Here is one of many examples of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That's not what you've said and it's not what your party has said.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: But -- that is simply a lie.

TRUMP: The party doesn't say it. You party wants to go socialist medicine.

BIDEN: That is -- my party is me. Right now I am the Democratic Party.

TRUMP: And they're going to dominate you, Joe, you know that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: President Trump, by my count, interrupted 145 times in the 90 minutes of that debate. So the question I have is, does he plan to be as disruptive in the debate this week as he was then, or will we see more of the same or is he going to change his strategy?

MILLER: Well, Chris, I still think that's about half as many times as the president was interrupted at his town hall on Thursday night. So when you look at the full picture, I think you did pretty well and I think he won the first debate.

But I -- I think that as we go to the -- I'm glad you bring up the debate because as we saw Mayor Pete in this last segment brought up the issue of foreign policy and maybe, in fact, you kind of helped him a little bit with some of his -- his clips from the primary talking about Joe Biden's disastrous foreign policy, his support for endless wars.

You know, we were supposed to have a debate largely focused on foreign policy this next Thursday, which would be perfect as we -- especially as we talk about the issue of Joe Biden potentially being compromised. We know Fox News has confirmed the authenticity of these e-mails from the Hunter Biden Chinese cash scandal that's going on right now that "The New York Post" has been covering pretty extensively. I wish we were spending a lot more time going into foreign policy, especially as President Trump has these peace deals that he's able to point to.

But when you talk about style and you talk about approach, I do think that President Trump is going to give Joe Biden a little bit more room to explain himself on some of these issues. Whether it is, are you the chairman? Are you the big guy, as we've seen articulated in these e-mails? Do you support packing the court? I do think the president's going to want to hear Joe Biden's answer on some of these and we'll definitely give him all the time that Joe Biden wants to talk about packing the court. I think he's going to get it on Thursday.

WALLACE: I want to ask you two quick questions. I'm going to need short answers from you.

First of all, Ben Sasse, a quite conservative Republican senator from Nebraska held -- held a telephone town hall with some of his constituents this week, and here's what he had to say about President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BEN SASSE (R-NE): The way he kisses dictators' butts, the way he treats women and spends like a drunken sailor. He mocks evangelicals behind closed doors. His -- his family has treated the presidency like a business opportunity. He's flirted with white supremacists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: The president then responded on Twitter, little Ben Sasse, rather stupid and obnoxious ways, embarrassment to the great state of Nebraska.

Jason, is that how the president hopes to win over voters who may be concerned about his presidential bearing?

MILLER: Well, Chris, I know you showed the clip they of Ben Sasse, but I didn't know that Jeff Flake had a twin brother living in Nebraska. But it seems that Ben Sasse wants to go down that road of being a never Trumper.

But, look, this election's not about Ben Sasse or any other insider. This is about the men and women across the country.

You know, Chris, as we have these -- these different rallies the president's going to, we're usually seeing between about 13 and 22 percent of people who are attending that didn't even vote in 2016, big undercounted vote. I'm much more worried about what they have to say and not Ben Sasse.

WALLACE: Finally, let's talk about Hunter Biden, Joe Biden.

The president has been hitting the Bidens hard for the revelations -- alleged revelations in -- in -- in the Hunter Biden e-mails.

Here's an example.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hunter made no money until his father became vice president. And now he's like a vacuum cleaner.

I'll tell you what, it's an organized crime family as far as I'm concerned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: I've got about a minute here, but two Senate-led Republican committees investigated what went on in Ukraine. And while they said that with Hunter at Burisma and Biden handling the Ukraine account for the administration, while there was a perception of a conflict of interest, they found no actual wrongdoing.

And as for these other business deals, and you talked about, you know, "the big guy" and money, the fact is, president -- rather Vice President Biden has actually released his tax returns, unlike President Trump, and there's no indication that he ever got any money from anybody in these business deals.

So I guess the question is, do you have any hard evidence that Joe Biden lied to the IRS, because that would be a heck of a story?

MILLER: Well, we do know that Joe Biden lied to the American public when he said that he never discussed his son Hunter's business dealings, but we have pictures of him with a Burisma executive. We know that he played golf with him. We know that there's independent confirmation that one of these meetings did happen.

And, Chris, here's the key takeaway for anyone who's watching at home, Joe Biden has not come out and himself denied any of these allegations. And, additionally, there's a -- a much bigger, broader things. You think back to 2016 and the way that voters really rejected the whole Clinton inc, the way the Clinton family made all this money trading off their name and access. We're seeing the exact same thing here with Joe Biden and his family. Both of his brothers are lobbyist. His son is obviously doing a lot of foreign work.

WALLACE: Right.

MILLER: Maybe hasn't registered for all these things. So I think that's going to be an issue. But voters hate it when people make a bunch of money trading off of their family name and I think that we're going to hear a lot more about this on Thursday at the debate.

WALLACE: Well, that's a good -- that's a good plug for the debate.

Jason, thank you. Thanks for joining us. Please come back, sir.

MILLER: Thank you.

Up next, we'll bring in our Sunday group to --  

 HERE

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: That's a good -- that's a good plug for the debate.

Jason, thank you. Thanks for joining us. Please come back, sir.

JASON MILLER, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: Thank you.

WALLACE: Up next, we'll bring in our Sunday group to discuss the crucial week ahead in the race for the White House.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: Judge Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court moves forward despite Democratic objections.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): This nomination at this moment in time is not usual, not normal and it's beneath the dignity of this committee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: We'll ask our Sunday panel what her confirmation would means to the court.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Suburban women, will you please like me? (INAUDIBLE). Please. Please. I saved your damn neighborhood, OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: President Trump making a plea to a key block of voters where he's trailing according to recent polls.

And it's time now for our Sunday group.

GOP strategist Karl Rove, Catherine Lucey who covers the White House for "The Wall Street Journal" and Bob Woodward of "The Washington Post," author of the bestselling book "Rage."

Catherine, according to the exit polls back in 2016, Donald Trump, candidate Trump, won the suburbs by four points. But according to recent polls, he's now trailing among suburban women by 23 points.

How big a problem is that for him?

CATHERINE LUCEY, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": Well, Chris, this certainly is a problem. And what you're hearing is the president on the campaign trail really saying the quiet part out loud, he is struggling. And one of the things that has happened with the pandemic is it has really robbed him of his strongest argument with women, which was the economy. What you would hear from women in the run-up before the pandemic was, you know, they don't like the tweets, they don't like the style, but they like their 401(k)s, they liked what was happening with their jobs. And that's simply not the case anymore.

And a lot of his pleas to suburban women have been centered around public safety and housing integration and they really have not moved a lot of voters.

And I think it's important to note, you know, looking into the final stretch, as he, again, tries to make an economic argument, that women have been some of the hardest hit by this pandemic, particularly women with children who have struggled around child care and school access. And so it's not clear he'll be able to make up much ground.

WALLACE: Right.

Karl, I -- I want to look at a -- a different metric. The -- the Trump campaign, over the last month, has really pulled down campaign advertising in the upper Midwest, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and instead is spending more money in the sunbelt, including Georgia, which is a state you would think would be safely in his column by now.

What does that tell all of us about the cash crunch in the Trump campaign and about whether he has a narrowing path to 270 electoral votes?

KARL ROVE, FORMER BUSH WHITE HOUSE ADVISER AND FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR : Well, he does have a narrow path to it. It tells us more about what the Biden campaign has been able to do because of their spending advantage. And there's -- the -- the biggest spends for both campaigns have been in those upper Midwestern states.

And there's a reason why. Trump got 306 electoral votes. If he loses Michigan, he's at 290. If he loses Pennsylvania he's at 270. If he loses Wisconsin, he's at 260 and no longer president of the United States, which is why, you know, the spending patterns in which "The New York Times" did a great story about it today, Biden is playing offense in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, two, Nebraska, two, and North Carolina. He's on the offense. He's playing defense in only two states, he's got TV in Minnesota and New Hampshire, both of which Hillary Clinton won.

And Trump is playing offense on TV in only two states, Minnesota and Nevada. Both, again, states that -- that Hillary Clinton won.

So, spending advantage gives the ability to Biden to play on a lot of red territory and it puts Trump in a -- in a bad place of having to defend.

Interestingly enough, where there's one name I didn't mention, Ohio. Neither campaign is spending much in Ohio, which, I think, is a recognition that Ohio is going to be red this year. And -- and Biden, after promising to spend a lot of money in Texas, is spending more money in Nebraska than he is in Texas.

WALLACE: Yes, Texas does seem to be slipping away.

Bob, you spent, for your book, "Rage," all of those hours talking to Donald Trump for your book. And I want to play a clip from a Trump rally Friday night.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm going to say, I lost to the worst candidate in the history of politics. I'm not going to feel so good. Maybe I'll have to leave the country. I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: It is unusual, as you know, for a politician to even recognize, even touch on that subject. How much -- and I know you didn't -- or maybe you did talk about this directly. How much do you think that weighs on the president, the possibility that this man who spent his whole career talking about winning could go out a loser on election night?

BOB WOODWARD, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Well, I think we've got to address what's in real people's lives, and that's the virus. The virus, for ten months we have seen has been mismanaged by President Trump. At the end of January, the extraordinary moment in history, his national security advisor, Robert O'Brien, said, Mr. President, this virus, which is coming, which was not really yet here, is going to be the most serious national security threat to your presidency. The president, three days ago, three days ago, in that town hall, NBC town hall, twice denied that that had happened because the president realizes that the virus, 8 million people, cases. It has affected people directly or indirectly, tens and millions of people. He has failed in a comprehensive way at his basic duty to protect the people.

WALLACE: All right.

Karl, I -- I've got about a minute left. I want to ask you about the debate, which maybe is the last big event in these final two weeks of the campaign. I thought Jason Miller, senior adviser to the campaign, made a little bit of news today because he indicated that the president is not going to go in and keep kind of hectoring Joe Biden as he did last time, that he's going to let him talk in the hopes that Biden will, in effect, incriminate, disqualify himself.

Do you expect a different strategy from the president in this debate?

ROVE: Yes, I've talked to members of team Trump and they -- they seem to think that he's -- that it would be in their best interest to back off and give Vice President Biden more time to try and explain things like why he won't say where he is on packing the Supreme Court.

I -- I have one minor disagreement. The debate will be a big punctuation point. But I think how each of these two candidates uses each individual day, do they use it to drive home something that shows a, in the case of Trump, a contrast point, and in the case of Biden, more evidence to make it a referendum -- to keep it a referendum on Donald Trump. I think those each individual day and how those day's events play out is going to be almost as important as a debate itself, which will dominate Thursday, dominate the coverage on Friday, dwindle away by Saturday. But of the other 16 days left, the -- the 13 days, how they handle those, I think, is going to have a big impact, because we have not had the normal campaign. We've not had months and months and months of these two people on the campaign trail and we haven't gotten, you know, sort of (INAUDIBLE) to it as a result.

WALLACE: Right.

All right, panel, we have to take a break here, but when we come back, the debate over Judge Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court is a big issue in those final two weeks of the campaign. And our Sunday group will discuss that when we come right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: By replacing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with someone who will undo her legacy, President Trump is attempting to roll back American's rights for decades to come.

JUDGE AMY CONEY BARRETT, U.S. SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: I have not made any commitments or deals or anything like that. I am -- I am not here on a mission to destroy the Affordable Care Act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Senator and Vice Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris making the case against President Trump's Supreme Court nominee, while Judge Amy Coney Barrett pushes back.

And we're back now with the panel.

Bob, how did you sense that Judge Barrett did in her three days testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee and how did Senate Democrats do in -- in scoring political points, even if they're unable to block her confirmation to the court?

WOODWARD: Well -- well, she did very well by substantively not really answering any questions, showing how smart she is. You can see why Trump picked her.

Forty years ago I did a book on the Supreme Court called "The Brethren." And the last line of that book is that the center was in control, the center of the court, not the left, not the right.

What we are moving toward, should she be confirmed, and it looks like she will be, we are going to have the Supreme Court where the right is in control in a very big way. And we are going to be dealing with the reality for the next 20, 30 years likely that that will be the case.

And I report in my book that somebody like Senator Lindsey Graham, who's the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, dealing with this nomination earlier was always worrying about a politicalization of the court, that we get a Supreme Court that is either so left or so right we lose that sense of the center.

And now, of course, he is leading the effort to make sure we lose the sense of the center. So that's going to be the future.

WALLACE: Well, as they say, elections have consequences. And I suspect a lot of people would say that for many years the court was not in the center, it was to the left. Certainly the Earl Warren court.

Karl, let me ask you about this whole process of pushing this. So there's no question, I think we would all agree, that if the president hadn't pushed a vacancy, even with a few weeks left, and if the Senate Republicans hadn't pushed for a confirmation before the election, it would have turned off the base. So maybe they really had no political choice in the matter. But do you think that -- that the Senate Democrats did make them pay at the -- at -- at perhaps at the ballot box by re-raising and focusing so much on Obamacare and pre-existing conditions, which, of course, was Democrats' best issue in the 2018 midterms?

KARL: Well, I think the Democrats have done a good job of taking advantage of it, forecasting how Justice Barrett would act on this and making it clear they wanted somebody in that slot whom they knew how they would act. They don't want somebody who's going to impartially apply the law. They want somebody who's going to give them the outcomes that they want.

But, on the other hand, I think this was offset by her performance. I agree with Bob. She did a fantastic job, I thought. And you see it in the polls. Now we -- we have a significant gap between those that want her approved and those who don't want her approved, which is interesting, including one out of every five Democrats in the last poll I saw now wants to have her confirmed as a justice.

So her performance in this -- I've always thought both sides would energize their base and ultimately this would be settled by how the nominee handles themselves. She did -- she handled herself very well and I think that's going to serve to the advantage of her and also, incidentally, the Republicans.

WALLACE: Then, there is the question of what Joe Biden would do as president if elected to the Supreme Court. A continuing question.

Here was the vice president this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I have not been a fan of pack court -- court packing because I think it just generates what will happen every -- whoever wins, it just keeps moving in a way that is inconsistent with what is going to be manageable down the road.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS: So you're still not a fan?

BIDEN: Well, I'm not a fan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Catherine, to pack the court, first of all, Joe Biden and Senate Democrats, assuming that they -- that the -- he's elected president and they take over the Senate, first of all, they'd have to kill the filibuster and then they'd have to pass a law that would increase the number of justices, which is legal, it's not a constitutional matter, over the current nine.

Given the fact that he has spent 47 years in Washington, and I think it's fair to say is an institutionalist about Washington, do you really see Joe Biden, as president, taking a wrecking ball, not to one, but to two branches of the government?

LUCEY: It's an interesting question. Biden certainly has not provided an entirely clear answer on this, although he has consistently said, you know, he's not a fan of packing the court.

What we can look to -- another thing he said in that ABC interview was that he expected to give a more complete answer after the Senate votes on the Judge Barrett nomination, which, you know, could come as early as this week. So he did seem to indicate that he would provide more information before Election Day.

WALLACE: Yes, of course, millions of people have already voted and it could go on and he really didn't make it clear whether it was a question of whether or not they approved her or whether or not it was how they handled it, and whether they had a real debate on the Senate floor.

Bob, you know Joe Biden from your years and his years in Washington. First of all, do you think he can continue to -- to punt, to finesse on not answering this question? And, second, what do you think he'd do? Do you think he really would -- would seek to end the filibuster and increase the number of justices on the court?

WOODWARD: It's obviously on the table.

If I can go back 17 years and, Karl Rove, I hope I'm not betraying the confidence here, I remember going to see you in the White House after the Iraq War, and we were talking about that, and you made the general, important point that in politics all that matters is outcome. And outcome is the essence of politics. And I still think the reality in people's lives is this virus. Everyone knows somebody who got it. Many people know somebody who was killed.

WALLACE: No, no, no. Wait, Bob, I -- I -- bob, forgive me -- Bob, forgive me, but I'm asking about the court.

WOODWARD: OK. And -- but the court is -- the -- the point is, we have to focus on what is the centerpiece here. And that's what I'm saying. The -- the court is going to go the way it is going to go. I don't think it's really going to change lots of votes. Karl has pointed to a poll here. I -- I think she --

WALLACE: OK. Let me -- well, let me bring -- let me bring in -- because we're running out of time --

WOODWARD: OK.

WALLACE: The -- let me bring in Karl.

First of all, your thought about whether Joe Biden can continue to finesse this issue and, two, do -- do you see it as an effective issue? Let's say he continues to -- in the debate on Thursday as Democrat -- as Jason Miller thinks he will, to -- to punt on it. Is that a good issue? Will that matter to voters?

ROVE: Oh, well, I know the issue doesn't matter, but the unwillingness to give an answer does. You don't trust us. You don't respect us. And I don't think he's going to be -- I think one of his problems is, I don't think he's going to be inclined to get rid of the filibuster or the 60 vote rule because he knows that could be an enormous issue. Do we really want to pass statehood for D.C. with 51 votes? Do we really want to pass socialized medicine with 51 votes? The Senate is the saucer that cools the passions of the House (ph). We need the 60 vote requirement to keep the center of -- of compromise.

WALLACE: All right. I'm going to have to end it there. And during the commercial, you and Bob can go back to your conversation from 17 years ago.

Thank you, panel. See you next Sunday.

Up next, our "Power Player of the Week." Alan Alda played a wise guy on the TV series "M*A*S*H." Now he's sharing some wisdom in a fascinating second act.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: He brought laughter to generations as Hawkeye Pierce on the TV classic "M*A*S*H." Now he's bringing his lifelong passions for science and communication to his hit podcast.

Here's our "Power Player of the Week."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAN ALDA, ACTOR AND PODCASTER: What we really need now, more effective communication, not only about COVID, but we need to communicate with each other better about the things we value.

I have no idea what I'm doing, I'm just a TV doctor.

I like to think (INAUDIBLE) people.

WALLACE (voice over): Alan Alda has been communicating brilliantly for 84 years now.

ALDA: Please, please, you're too kind.

WALLACE: As Hawkeye Pierce on the legendary TV show "M*A*S*H," he gave voice to a generation questioning authority.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not through here.

ALDA: Then we'll disregard the rumor.

WALLACE: Now he's teaching scientists how to share their discoveries with the rest of us.

ALDA: I think to a great extent our lives depend on whether or not we understand the science that's being delivered to us and whether we trust the people who were talking with us.

WALLACE: A decade ago he founded the Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University and he found his improv skills as an actor translate to this very different stage.

ALDA: You're not just reciting a lecture at somebody, you're actually talking to them. You're -- you're -- you're speaking to them the way you would to a -- to a friend.

I hope you get a chance to listen to my new podcast.

WALLACE: This passion for communicating also led Alda to start a hit podcast, now in its ninth season.

ALDA: I have conversations with people who are, many of them, icons in the culture, but it's all conversation.

WALLACE (on camera): What is the secret to communicating?

ALDA: You know, ironically, I think the secret to group communication is listening.

WALLACE (voice over): Alda has embraced tech and social media and talks openly about how he's now dealing with Parkinson's Disease. I understand that your staff has a nickname for you.

ALDA: They called me the world's oldest millennial.

WALLACE: Of course for most of us, Alan Alda will always be part of that unruly gang on "M*A*S*H." One hundred and six million people watched the 1983 finale. Still a record for a scripted show.

ALDA: And I look back with amazement, people who we way not born yet when we went off the air, are writing to me and telling me that -- how much it means to them.

WALLACE: Almost 50 years later, the bonds among the cast remains strong.

ALDA: There's a kind of funny video that I posted of me showing Mike Farrell, who I acted with on "M*A*S*H," how to download the podcast.

ALDA: There it is. There it is.

MIKE FARRELL, ACTOR: Alan Alda.

ALDA: And he slowly gets it.

ALDA: Now I'm subscribing to "Clear and Vivid."

FARRELL: I'm subscribed.

ALDA: I'm so excited.

WALLACE: Last year, Alda posted an old video that went viral, of him tap dancing with his granddaughter.

WALLACE (on camera): How do you feel about your life these days and what's your attitude going forward?

ALDA: I plan to keep figuring out what's -- what's worth doing and having fun and laughing right up until the last. This just occurred to me, you'll never be able to quote my last words because I hope it will be a laugh.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And this week Alda launched a spin-off of his popular podcast. It's called "Science: Clear and Vivid."

And that's it for today. Have a great week and we'll see you next FOX NEWS SUNDAY.

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