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Greg Gutfeld: The media is too interested in activism and racism

‘The Five’ co-hosts sound off on the latest attacks on New York City law enforcement.

This is a rush transcript of "The Five" on October 3, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: Hello, everybody. I'm Jesse Watters along with Katie Pavlich, Jessica Tarlov, Sandra Smith, and Greg Gutfeld. It's five o'clock in New York City, and this is THE FIVE.

Kamala Harris picking the wrong time to go woke after Hurricane Ian wreak havoc on Florida. The monster storm destroying entire cities, causing tens of billions of dollars in damage. Dozens are dead and more than half a million Americans are still without power. But somehow the V.P. is using this tragedy to push her radical ideology.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It is our lowest income communities and our communities of color that are most impacted by these extreme conditions. We have to address this in a way that is about giving resources based on equity, understanding that we, we fight for equality, but we also need to fight for equity. Understanding not everyone starts out at the same place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: Spokesperson for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis accusing Harris of causing, quote, "undue panic" and demanding she clarify her remarks. Even Elon Musk is slamming the V.P. Tweeting that resources, quote, "should be according to greatest need, not race or anything else."

But Kamala later ignoring reporters when given the chance to explain. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: Ms. Vice President, can you clarify what you meant about equity for hurricane relief?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: And like always the White House is trying to clean it up her mess.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We are committed to quickly getting resources to all communities impacted. Period. Full stop. But we also know that some people, particularly in lower income communities have a hard time accessing that help. That's why this administration has also made a priority to remove barriers and ensure that everyone, regardless of their zip code can access federal resources. And that's what she was talking about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: So, Greg, is the vice president saying that white Floridians should get their hurricane relief last.

GREG GUTFELD, FOX NEWS CO-HOST: Yes. But by the way, if we do go by this logic, then we should be shifting all this aid from Ukraine to Iran. Right? One is a community of color and one isn't. So, there's a little hypocrisy. There's an old joke, you know? Earthquake strikes, women and minorities hit hardest.

WATTERS: Right.

GUTFELD: That was the joke. But now the joke is the reality. It's in every single situation. That's what you do to what, what you go to. There is a difference between equality and equity, and there's been a slide of hand where the -- where the left has replaced equality with equity. Equality seeks to get a leg up for everybody. Equity is about everybody getting a leg down.

It's forced equality from above rather than creating an on ramp to get on the ladder of opportunity or success. Punish everybody. Put everybody down a run. And that's what you're seeing here. It's like, you know what, rather than help these people, everybody is going to be treated crappy.

And what's amazing, this is an area, an American -- the American response to disaster is always really impressive because there's no team sport politics, there's no race card, there's no gender debate. It's just everybody pitching in. They don't ask you who you voted for, where they pick you up in their pickup truck.

Kamala proves once again that you can inject politics and wokeism and us versus them ideology into everything. And once you do it, it kills it. It's like a poison. And this is one of the most powerful aspects of America is the melting pot, right? Other countries don't have this, and it usually attracts the most interesting people because we self-select for risk takers. That's why America, that's the real trait of the melting pot.

And the only thing that could beat the melting pot is wokeism. By saying no, what -- what -- you are different. And that means you can't have the same conversation. And every time you try to reach out and be the same, that's actually appropriation.

So instead of the melting pot, it's splitting everybody into tribes. And in the long run it will destroy this country because it's start -- it's the one of the greatest powers we have.

WATTERS: And the president is going to be in Florida, Sandra, on Wednesday. He might get asked about this. I'm sure he is not going to be too happy with his vice president.

SANDRA SMITH, FOX NEWS CO-ANCHOR: Or he won't say anything at all because covering this all day, I can tell you the vice president herself still has not put out any statement, tried to walk back or clarify those remarks. That's pretty, that's pretty amazing considering what we're still seeing down there as far as damage, the massive number of people affected.

You have to ask yourself why. She knew what she said was divisive. Why in that moment did she decide to be that divisive? And you go back to the press secretary's words on that gaggle, that was on for on, Air Force One today. Full stop. Period she said. She should have ended it there because she went on actually to defend the vice president's words, saying what she meant to say.

What she was talking about was helping people in lower income communities, those that have a harder time accessing health, ensuring everyone has access. That's not what she said. She precisely said the administration would focus on communities of color and resources would be based on equity.

And that's really important to keep focusing on exactly on her words. I'll finish with this though. Bill Maher was amazing reacting to this. I mean, the left is reacting to this, calling her out on this. He's saying that she is going to likely be a political liability, pointing out she is not popular. And quite frankly, he said she's just a bad politician.

WATTERS: Why don't we listen --

SMITH: This is a bad moment.

WATTERS: -- to Bill Maher in his own words and then you could react, Jessica. Go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL MAHER, HOST, HBO: It's very hard to take the nomination away from the president.

UNKNOWN: Yes, that's not going to happen.

MAHER: You know, assuming president. And what I could see is replacing the vice president, because --

(APPLAUSE)

MAHER: Yes, she's not very popular --

UNKNOWN: Hasn't --

MAHER: -- anywhere and it didn't seem to work out and, I don't know that's been done before in a ticket. I just think she's a bad politician and I don't, I mean, I don't -- I don't think -- I think she's a very bright person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: So, the liberal audience is applauding the idea of replacing the first female black vice president.

JESSICA TARLOV, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: There is a difference between a Bill Maher liberal and a traditional liberal, by the way. He is doing something a little bit different than kind of mainstream liberal politics, but it's no secret that she isn't popular.

She had to drop out of the primary before even one vote was cast. And I thought that Van Jones made a really important point in that panel discussion along with Caitlin Flanagan from The Atlantic. He was talking about identity politics and how Democrats are the only ones who get smeared for playing identity politics.

But what was choosing Mike Pence, for instance, right? Donald Trump, he said, not a particularly saintly fellow, right? He went out and he found a strong Evangelical partner who could stand by him even through the grab her by the you know what tape. And that politicians connect with different groups for a lot of times immutable characteristics and their experiences, and it's not only Democrats that do that.

I want to say something about the comments about the disaster aid relief. So, Priyanka Chopra Jonas asked a two parted question. The first part, did I, Chopra is not heard.

SMITH: Yes. It is her maiden name.

TARLOV: It is. Yes.

GUTFELD: I'm just glad you remember she was married to Jonas.

TARLOV: Yes.

GUTFELD: I think it's very important.

TARLOV: Well, it is her --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: One of the Jonas brothers?

GUTFELD: Yes.

SMITH: Yes.

WATTERS: She's married currently to one of --

(CROSSTALK)

TARLOV: Yes. And have a baby.

WATTERS: (Inaudible) and she put a hyphen.

GUTFELD: Well, we own TMZ, Jesse.

TARLOV: No.

WATTERS: She didn't put a hyphen.

TARLOV: This is not what this is about. She asked a two parted question. So, one piece was about the disaster aid relief and the second part was about the impact of global emissions and what -- Kamala Harris was --

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: Which she's guilty of.

TARLOV: What?

GUTFELD: Which she's guilty of.

TARLOV: Right. What Kamala Harris was talking about with the -- talking the communities of color and the disadvantage was actually about the impact on countries like she's talking about Caribbean countries, for instance, that get the worse of it with emissions versus other countries that are actually chief polluters. And are the -- everyone is laughing at me. This is really what was going on. She wasn't talking --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: No one is laughing.

TARLOV: Well, Sandra was giving me a little smile.

WATTERS: She's giving you a smile.

TARLOV: It was a much more nuanced argument that I think that you're making it out to be. And the FEMA director actually backed up Kamala Harris on this point.

SMITH: Then why didn't she come out and say something?

TARLOV: I don't know. I don't know. Because I went back and watched the whole clip.

WATTERS: All right. So, Katie, Katie, apparently, this just went over everyone's head. It's much more nuanced and complicated for us credence to understand it.

KATIE PAVLICH, FOX NEWS CO-HOST: Well, when you engage in the woke bureaucracy in the middle of a crisis, which is picking apart the melting pop by just deciding and thinking about, well, these people are here and are they more oppressed than this group? And we have to decide who is more deserving of the grievance awards, instead of just saying there's a hurricane. People in every community that is affected needs to get the help they need right now. That takes up time and resources.

The argument she's making, if you take out the wokeness, is that people do need resources and help. So, the president was in Puerto Rico today. Interesting place to talk about this issue. He said that he went there before leaving the White House because the people of Puerto Rico have not been taken care of properly.

Well, today he committed $160 billion more dollars to Puerto Rico, but he's ignoring and doing that. He's ignoring all of the corruption that's happened in Puerto Rico. In 2019, you know, someone who was working for the -- who was supposed to rebuild the electric grid in Puerto Rico guilty to fraud, to wire fraud. You had all of this money kept in false wire fraud cases in Puerto Rico.

There were a number of government-running warehouses that were found by local journalists that were stock full of baby formula, supplies, sheets, food, water, and a lot of the money that we gave to them after Hurricane Maria wasn't spent or it was stolen by corrupt officials in Puerto Rico.

WATTERS: Yes.

PAVLICH: So, if you're really concerned about getting people the help that they need, you should focus on corruption in places like Puerto Rico and get out of this woke Olympics when it comes to solving a problem.

WATTERS: Right. Well, you're allowed to steal the money that we give them, but if you hand out aid like this, like you're shooting a basketball into a crowd.

PAVLICH: That's just the end of the world.

WATTERS: That's trouble.

PAVLICH: That's not allowed.

TARLOV: It was incredibly demeaning and you know it.

WATTERS: Demeaning. Everyone loved it.

GUTFELD: It's not corrupt, though.

WATTERS: Did you see the crowd?

TARLOV: They love it.

WATTERS: The crowd love it.

GUTFELD: I'll take something demeaning (Inaudible) corruption.

WATTERS: They loved it.

GUTFELD: If it saves me what, a 100 million, a $100 billion, I'll take it.

TARLOV: There was no corruption in Puerto Rico when Donald Trump was president.

GUTFELD: Well, it's gotten a lot worse under the Democrats because they always, always go, no, that's different. Puerto Rico is getting red --

(CROSSTALK)

TARLOV: Because we just want the votes. Right?

GUTFELD: They're the -- no, because they're oppressed. We get it.

PAVLICH: Well, there's a --

GUTFELD: You get it.

WATTERS: Yes, you said you wanted them to be the 51st state. We're just taking you at your words. Sorry. We'll do that again.

TARLOV: They just --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: Up next, the radical liberal says Americans terrified about crime. Don't know what they're talking about.

GUTFELD: Yes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAVLICH: Well, if progressives pretending crime is not a problem as random violent attacks leave liberal city residents on edge. The wake for FDNY veteran Alison Russo-Elling -- Elling being held today and tomorrow after she was brutally stabbed to death over 20 times for no apparent reason.

Meanwhile, AOC-backed city councilwoman, Tiffany Caban brushing off the concerns of commuters after that horrifying subway attack last week. Tweeting quote, "subway violence is a one in a million event."

But the facts prove otherwise. Total major felonies on the New York City subways are up nearly 50 percent from this time last year, and the victim that -- of that attack is now calling out state leaders on a lack of safety.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIZABETH GOMES, NYC SUBWAY ATTACK VICTIM: I want to know because of the negligence in keeping us safe and making sure we have the proper security that we need in our city that something like this have to happen. Innocent person have to lose their eyesight, have to have a change of life, have to think about where they going to go from here on forward if I don't have a way to get my eyesight by it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: Geez.

PAVLICH: So, Greg, you know, when you have people say, it's a one in a million chance, and you watch people who are victims who may have lost an eye as a result, what is the thinking behind that?

GUTFELD: Well, it is -- it is incredible how, what has happened to the strong women, the strong female leaders. Women are getting raped. There's a dramatic increase in rape in New York City. Women are being brutally beaten as you've seen, and you have a female politician, Tiffany Caban, a Democrat dismissing concerns as fearmongering. That's a female marginalizing the abuse of women.

Men obviously beat women, but now you have gangs of women beating women. It's a, you've come a long way baby. I'm sure that if the culprits were January 6th insurrectionists, it would be a different story. I don't understand. I just don't understand it other than I go back to the what we were talking about in the a-block equity.

The unprovoked, the unprovoked randomness of violence is acceptable because now we are -- we are all officially less safe. There's no such thing as a bad neighborhood anymore, right? We've decided instead of trying to fix the bad neighborhood with effective policing, which was the solution, and Giuliani did it, and Bloomberg did it, now what we're saying is no, leave them alone and also let it spread out.

That's their version. It's equity. Everybody is now unsafe. Here's your slogan if you're running for office, if you want more wakes, keep going woke.

PAVLICH: Yes, Jesse, when you see, you know, a veteran of 9/11 murdered after going out to get lunch. And then the response for people who want to be in charge of the city council in New York City is, well, this doesn't happen that often. It's really disheartening and demoralizing among EMS workers, among the police who the city needs to make the situation better.

WATTERS: Permission to speak on behalf of all New Yorkers.

GUTFELD: Please do.

WATTERS: We have been through 9/11 super storm Sandy, the mob wars, the crack epidemic, Bear Stearns, Great Recession, COVID- 19, race riots. New Yorkers are pretty tough for the most part. We have a lot of immigrants here from a lot of tough places also. You walk down the street, you might get propositioned by a transvestite prostitute, some squeegee man might jump on your car. I don't -- you might have to step over a naked homeless man.

But you know what? You keep going. You don't get distracted because you got to have places to be. But now you're getting random robberies. You're getting random rapes. Random shootings. Random murders, random stickups. And neighborhoods that weren't supposed to be that unsafe in the broad daylight. New Yorkers are scared, not scared, where like, you know, you're going to go hide and cry in your apartment, but when you're out, you're going to be anxious and you're going to be looking over your shoulder.

And we have enough to deal with, with the spouses and the bills and the children. It's enough. And then --

GUTFELD: Move. It's time to move.

WATTERS: I, we are.

GUTFELD: Yes.

WATTERS: And the -- and the liberals are always talking about democracy. Democracy, democracy. Well, represent us. You're supposed to represent us. We're scared. You're supposed to do something about that. We're paying you so we don't have to worry about public safety.

PAVLICH: Yes.

WATTERS: We're not supposed to all take up Taekwondo. We're paying you so we don't have to take up Taekwondo. She says it's a one in a million event to get attacked on a subway where we're in the numbers. It's 450 in a million.

PAVLICH: Right.

WATTERS: So, her numbers are wrong. She needs to get back to work. She also said that if you are being stuck up, she said to spill a soda and distract the would-be robber. Like he cares if the rug gets stand like, pass me a paper towel.

That's crazy. You shouldn't have to say that to people. And she said she's a queer abolitionist on her web site. I don't know what that means. Do you know what a queer abolitionist means? I have no what that idea. She also said she wants to defund the police and empty the prisons. And she says, don't call 911.

So, if you have a public official who's saying, empty the prisons, don't call 911 and defund the police, she's the enemy.

PAVLICH: Right.

WATTERS: How is she not being investigated? How do we know she's not working with the Russians, the cartels, the crips, prove me wrong.

PAVLICH: Well, she --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: Because that's how you destroy this country.

PAVLICH: She wants people to bring sodas to a knife fight or a gun fight, apparently. Someone who does want to change this is Congressman Lee Zeldin who's running for governor. Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE ZELDIN (R-NY), GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: New Yorkers want to feel safe on our streets and in our subways. We saw the attack on the EMT in Queens. We need to repeal cashless bail in this state. We need to fire district attorneys like Alvin Bragg who refused to enforce the law. We need to unapologetically back our men and women in blue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAVLICH: Jessica?

TARLOV: So, there a few weeks ago there was kind of a lot of hype, like is Lee Zeldin closing in on Kathy Hochul? No, he isn't. He's still down 20 points. But this is an issue that's breaking through. And as Greg was saying, this is a universal complaint now in the city.

And something that's so upsetting to me about it personally, and I've lived here my whole life, is that I feel that we're on the precipice of a fundamental change in the character of the city. So something that's special about a New York, a Paris a London, is that everybody is on public transport, right? Like you can get into the subway and you'll see someone in black tie going to Lincoln Center, and then you can see someone a nurse who's commuting home, who's going to be staying on and heading further uptown, et cetera.

And that's what makes New York City fantastic and you're not seeing that anymore, even though things are reopening and there was all this speculation, you know, what will New York City look like after COVID? And people were really concerned about would you know, Broadway reopen, will, restaurants reopen, et cetera, hospitals, you know, obviously being glass crowded and things like that.

And I don't think this was one that we really pegged as not being reversible. That it would go -- it wouldn't go back to how it was. And I think that, you know, Mayor Adams has thrown out this clubhouse model and it's a multi-pronged approach and I get all of that.

But looping back to our conversation on Friday, if there isn't some plan to get the mentally ill who desperately need help off of the streets, the clubhouse model doesn't matter. That really has to be square one.

PAVLICH: Yes.

TARLOV: Of all of it.

SMITH: They're not even keeping track of the number of attacks. Something you might, people want, want to know if you live in the city. The NYPD does not report the number of, or keep count of the number of random or unprovoked attacks in this city committed by mentally ill or anyone else.

TARLOV: Right.

SMITH: That's the problem right now. You can't defend yourself, to Jesse's point. This is happening in neighborhoods where you would least expect it, and if anybody tries to shoot down, that this is a huge problem or wants to say this is a one in million attack on the subway system.

Assaults on the subway, which we do keep track of in the city, are up 19 percent so far this year. We haven't finished the year yet, compared to last year when they were already really bad. Bottom line, you can't defend yourself. And you've got leaders who are not admitting how bad this problem is. How can you fix it if you don't acknowledge it. Sorry to cut you off.

GUTFELD: No, no. It's just that the -- to the end result is you're going to have a hollowed-out city. Right? There was no, I mean, Detroit is a perfect example of something that was a jewel now, I mean now it might be coming back, but it's been 40 years. Right?

And I think with New York, what you're kind of seeing is a hollowing out. The midtown is still pretty gross. People are moving out. And I don't think the right people are coming back in, the people that put money into the economy.

So, I think what you're going to see is a hollowed-out city. And maybe that's good. Maybe it's time that these cities finally die. Maybe we don't need them anymore. Maybe it's time for companies to move out.

PAVLICH: That's a hopeful thing, and the (Inaudible) aren't just available to deal with the problem.

All right, up ahead. Will Putin use nuclear weapons in Ukraine? Top U.S. officials think he may be crazy enough to actually do it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SMITH: I mean. For the first time since the Cuban missile crisis, the U.S. is reportedly making plans for the possibility of Russia using nuclear weapons. Putin says he would use all available means to defend his territory. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin thinks Putin may actually follow through with that threat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: There are no checks on Mr. Putin just as he made the irresponsible decision to invade Ukraine. You know, he could make another decision. But I don't see anything right now that that would lead me to believe that he has made such a decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: And former CIA director David Petraeus says the U.S. would be forced to respond if Putin goes nuclear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID PETRAEUS, FORMER DIRECTOR, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY: We would respond by leading a NATO, a collective effort that would take out every Russian wrenching conventional force that we can see and identify on the battlefield in Ukraine and also in Crimea and every ship on the in the Black Sea flew.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: Jesse, how seriously should we be taking these nuclear threats by Vladimir Putin?

WATTERS: I don't take them seriously because he's not an idiot that would destroy any sense of his country and his future. He'd probably die in a bloody coup if he did that because we'd just destroy every target in Ukraine and take out the, , as Petraeus said, their black fleet -- black sea fleet and everything in Crimea. What I worry about is Joe Biden, because I don't know who Joe Biden is listening to.

Is he listening to Secretary of Defense Austin who's fresh on the job, who I don't even know what he thinks about anything. I just know he thinks white supremacy is our biggest threat. Is he listening to these other hawkish Russian -- anti-Russian advisors that want more than anything to win their new cold war against the Russians because the Democrats have been so soft on foreign policy for years? Or is he listening to his rank amateurs like, like Ron Klain? So, we don't know.

But we know that we have to have a little finesse because we have to manage the Russian decline. It seems like we have given them enough military capability to really eventually route the Russians in the East. And how does Putin save face? I mean, you're going to back the guy into a corner. I don't think he's going to launch a tactical nuke, but he's going to do something. And we just have to make sure we manage this appropriately. I don't know if Joe Biden is up for that.

SMITH: But when it comes to these recently illegally annexed areas by Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, shouldn't we be doing more to hold Putin accountable, Katie?

PAVLICH: We've done a lot. We've done a lot of sanctioning. We've you know, had a lot of tough talk. You know, what you keep hearing is something you heard before the invasion, which is if Putin does X, the United States will respond in some way. It's always been following what Vladimir Putin wanted to do. There hasn't been a lot of deterrence on the front end of that.

And when I hear people like General Petraeus talking about what we would do if Putin were to use a nuclear weapon, he's saying, The United States is going to be drawn into a full-scale war against Russia. If he's saying you're going to sink all their ships, get rid of their fleet, target every single military installation in the country in Russia and Ukraine. That is the United States getting involved in World War III at a level that is not just giving Ukrainians weapons.

Now, the U.S. interest to Americans is to prevent the United States from getting into a war with Russia. So, they have to figure out what that means. And that may mean Ukraine having to come to the table and saying the areas that have been annexed are now Russia's and moving forward or it may mean continuing the war in a lot of ways because people feel like they're winning against Russia as they try to recruit 65-year-olds and 18 -- you know, more 18-year-olds in the fighting force.

But in terms of the deterrence, there hasn't been a lot there from the beginning of this. And all I hear is escalation about the United States getting involved in a war that Americans haven't signed up for and that Congress hasn't agreed to sign Americans up for either.

SMITH: To that point, Jessica, John Kirby this morning was asked about this. And he said, we've seen nothing that would make us change our strategic deterrent posture. So, are we doing enough to send Vladimir Putin a strong message or a stronger message to not continue to commit these atrocities?

TARLOV: Besides putting boots on the ground starting a hot war, yes. I don't know how people could say that Joe Biden hasn't done enough within the bounds of what the American people have said that they will accept. They want us to support the Ukrainian people fully without sending our own men and women over there. And that's what he's done. He's given billions of dollars. He's been the face of the international organization of leadership in supporting President Zelenskyy. You can hear it in the way that Zelenskyy talks about him versus other leaders in fact.

There is no more that he can do at this point. And probably to a lot of Americans, if they looked at the dollars that have gone out, they were always say it's actually too much that he's done in support of Zelenskyy at this point. Vladimir Putin thought he would win this in 11 days. That had moved to a couple of months. Last week, he illegally annexed four provinces. They've already taken one back.

The Ukrainians are doing the absolute best they can because of American assistance, because we are giving them all of the systems that they need to fight their way out of this themselves without sacrificing American lives.

SMITH: Petraeus also, Greg, acknowledge what he saw is a number of setbacks for the Russian military lately. I don't know. Mike Pompeo is talking to Martha earlier suggested maybe we're at a tipping point with this war.

GUTFELD: Yes, I don't -- here's the thing. I mean, it's still the fog of war. Every time I hear something that says that Russia is down and out, then you say, well, it's only -- we're only talking about this amount of land. I do kind of get the feeling that Russia is in trouble because the dueling banjos of propaganda have actually kind of gone away. That makes me think that maybe they're in trouble.

But I don't understand the problem with the P word. Every time you bring up the word peace, somebody thinks you're saying Putin. And this is the thing that really is wrong about it. I have a problem that everybody is pro-war, and it's on the backburner. We're not even really covering it anymore. We're just put pouring the money in and meanwhile Elon Musk, you know, he tweets suggestions about seeking peace and who attacks him, Zelenskyy and other diplomats. right?

And it's like, look, you can't -- you can't attack people who are paying for your war, right? I understand it. It is your country and you were invaded, but look, we're paying for it. We can have an opinion here. And I do think that my fear has always been that the billions of dollars is extending the duration of the war without changing the outcome. And I think what Katie said is true, that we have to have as kind of a sober analysis of what exit ramp you can give to Putin, right, even if it's what he already had.

To pretend that all of us knew the names of these places two weeks ago, that's phony. It's like, oh, we they annex these places and we all have to look and figure out what they are. We don't know what they are. We know more about Iran, which is odd because there's a revolution going on in Iran and we don't give a damn about that.

PAVLICH: Right.

GUTFELD: We're doing this instead. So, anyway, I'm just saying, is this in our interest? Who knows?

SMITH: OK.

GUTFELD: There you go.

SMITH: Conclusive. OK, coming up --

GUTFELD: Not really.

SMITH: Democrats settling on Midterm -- their Midterm strategy, avoid Biden and paint Republicans as evil.

GUTFELD: Yes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD: Democrats have nothing good to run on in November so they're resorting to flat-out scaring Americans. Who would do that? The Washington Post reporting on the Midterms message the Dems have decided on saying, "If Republicans take power, they will establish a dystopia that cripples democracy and eviscerates abortion rights and other freedoms." Isn't that funny how they use the word eviscerate with abortion?

PAVLICH: Yes, it's interesting.

GUTFELD: It's kind of ironic.

PAVLICH: It's a very interesting language that they're using there.

GUTFELD: But they -- that's what they have basically, is they're going to have to do the abortion thing.

PAVLICH: They are. And they're trying to do it on the campaign trail. And it's working to get their base voters out which Midterm elections are about base voters showing up. But Republicans like Kari Lake in Arizona, for example, are finally learning to put this argument on the other side by saying OK, let's talk about abortion. Even though you won't show up at the debate stage, let's talk about your extreme views on the issue.

But when it comes to how they're running away from Biden still, I mean, a couple of weeks ago, you had all the media outlets saying Joe Biden is making a comeback. His approval rating is up. And I remember asking the question, OK, we'll see if any of these candidates who said they don't want him on the campaign trail will invite him to come campaign for them. He's - - they're not doing that.

They want him to stay as far away as possible. There's a new Gallup poll that came out today showing that Republicans are plus 20 on issue of safety and plus 10 on the issue of economy. And Joe Biden's approval with independence is just atrocious. So, abortion and fear-mongering are the only things they're trying to do. And we'll see how effective it is getting Democrats out but it's not working with regular voters.

GUTFELD: You know, Jesse, did I tell you my Jesse Smollett strategy that Democrats have adopted?

WATTERS: Jussie Smollett, please.

GUTFELD: Jussie, sorry. They scaled up the hate crime hoax from just two white guys to 78 million people. That's what they decided to do. And the problem is, they don't even have to supply a victim, because it's just the thing. But that's the difference between fears. The Republicans can show you the fear, here's crime, here's inflation. The Democrats can say, well, if you want an abortion, that's a problem and January 6.

WATTERS: So, you're saying we're in a recession, and the border is wide open, we have a crime wave, we've lost money in the stock market, wages are down, and mortgage rates are soaring, and we're talking about a nuclear war with Russia, and the Democrats' message is vote for us because the other guys will make it worse? I mean, that is absolutely crazy right now.

GUTFELD: No, it's vote for us in case you're planning on having an abortion next year.

WATTERS: Right, OK, so who's the extremists? They want to do a sex change operation on a 6-year-old. They want to empty the prisons, and they want government-run opium dens, Greg, but Kevin McCarthy with the perfect hair cut and the soft calm voice is an extremist? Oh, what about this? They spied on the presidential campaign and then raided this guy's house and then monkeyed around with the last election, but Kevin McCarthy is an extremist. They've conspired with big banks, big tech and big media to censor us, but Kevin McCarthy is a threat to democracy.

Permission to make an analogy about The Bachelor.

GUTFELD: Please do.

PAVLICH: Oh, no. Oh, no.

WATTERS: You know, when you watch that show --

TARLOV: No.

WATTERS: -- and everyone is jockeying for the one-on-one. And some woman finally gets the one on one. And what does she do? Instead of using that time correctly and persuading the guy to love her and showcasing how awesome she is, she wastes her time bad-mouthing all the other women in the house.

GUTFELD: Right.

WATTERS: That's what the Democrats do. Instead of showcasing how great their policies are, they're just calling their rivals like skanks and horrible people. You never get a rose like that.

GUTFELD: No, you don't, you don't.

PAVLICH: That's a good analogy.

GUTFELD: No one can trust you.

TARLOV: It was one of his best.

PAVLICH: That was really good.

GUTFELD: So, Jessica, this is a problem because I think people can -- people can vision getting mugged, they can envision getting brutalized, they can envision the cost of meat and bread, but the idea of like, yes, it may or may not get an abortion, that's kind of like -- that kind of gets in the way in the backseat, don't you think?

TARLOV: Well, it's like number five in the backseat in the list of issues. And we know the economy's ahead inflation, crime and policing, immigration in some polls, and education, where Democrats are still favored. But I think that what has gone on -- like, the story of the 10-year-old rape victim in Ohio that a lot of conservatives said was made up, right? It's not possible that a 10-year-old was raped and had to go to Indiana to get an abortion. Lo and behold it did happen.

WATTERS: Who raped her?

PAVLICH: Yes, who's that?

TARLOV: Is this -- oh, an undocumented man did.

WATTERS: Yes.

TARLOV: Let's close that border.

WATTERS: Exactly.

GUTFELD: Finally.

WATTERS: Thank you.

TARLOV: Don't be so -- do you think it really matters?

PAVLICH: It actually happens all the time.

TARLOV: It doesn't --

PAVLICH: It's underground illegal immigration black market because people refuse to close the border.

TARLOV: Guys, Americans rape women too. We can all agree on that, right? So, this happened to have been someone who was undocumented.

GUTFELD: Equity.

TARLOV: Guys --

GUTFELD: No, but you pointed -- your point is, you bring up this example -- when you bring up example, the consequences are these points. That's all.

TARLOV: No, it's -- the consequences of this are that these are real issues for people and just belittling them is frankly what you accuse us of doing of saying, oh, it doesn't matter that you think that this pronoun stuff is silly, or CRT. And I don't know why talking about you know, that your cities are going to be ravaged -- there's been a substantial change in the -- in the Senate races in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin on the basis of crime, right, because Republicans are fearmongering about what their -- those states are going to look like if John Fetterman or Mandela Barnes gets into office.

Republicans are out there saying --

SMITH: We don't have to fearmonger.

TARLOV: Yes, you did.

SMITH: People are -- people are living through this right now.

TARLOV: Are you kidding?

SMITH: The dark message that they would have to embrace if they didn't embrace the dark message they are would be that the U.S. Stock Markets down nine percent in a month, lowest level since 2020. Inflation is at a 40-year high. Gas prices in five U.S. states in the past week are up more than 30 cents and going higher. You've got GDP down multiple quarters in a row. We're in a recession. So, why aren't Democrats focusing on what really matters when you look at poll after poll after poll, the top concern is the economy. The top concern is inflation, pocketbook issues.

I don't know the last time I heard a Democrat talk about that other than who was it, Mark Pocan, Democrat Wisconsin, bashing the Republican Party for worshipping the altar of the free market, taking on capitalism saying America is a nation based on grift. That is tough for Americans to hear in a period of economic peril.

TARLOV: If you go and listen to any moderate Democrat campaign right now, including Abigail Spanberger who Dana Perino would --

GUTFELD: You can only mention one.

TARLOV: Fine. No, we can. I can name a whole bunch of them.

GUTFELD: We got to go though, Jessica.

TARLOV: Wait --

GUTFELD: Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off.

TARLOV: No, that producer did. I heard it.

GUTFELD: Ahead, Bill Gates is going to set up liberals with what he just said about saving the environment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TARLOV: Billionaire Bill Gates calling out climate activist and their anti- meat agenda.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL GATES, AMERICAN BUSINESS MAGNATE: Anyone who says that, will tell people to stop eating meat or stop wanting to have a nice house and will just basically change human desires, I think that that's too difficult. I don't think it's realistic for that to play an absolutely central role.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TARLOV: Katie, what do you think?

PAVLICH: I'm not going to eat bugs, OK. I'm just going to keep eating meat and I'm going to keep hunting. So, I'm glad ---

TARLOV: But he says that's OK.

PAVLICH: Yes, but it's also why they want more money for climate change, so we can all be poor and therefore we won't want big houses or whatever, so they can then make us eat bugs. I'm glad that he finally come around a little bit. But he's right. Climate change forcing people not to meat is not going to change pollution, I would say, not climate change in the environment. And Kerry -- John Kerry should be the first one to change his behavior, not the rest of us.

TARLOV: Well, Sandra, this is a big change because he was in the anti-meat bandwagon for a little while. And now, he's changed his tune.

SMITH: For the sake of time, I'll say OK, he's stating the obvious that it's very easy for those pushing this agenda to fearmonger and embrace these big policies, big dollar amounts. It's harder to actually address innovation and gets things done so it's cheaper for all these countries to embrace their ideologies.

I'll finish with this. He, Bill Gates, was providing input and personally involved in the Inflation Reduction Act, which does not reduce inflation.

TARLOV: Jesse.

SMITH: Remember that.

WATTERS: These green moral crusaders, the same type of people -- remember the pastor's that will get caught in some sort of like, underage meth orgy. Oh my god, they've been preaching about morality, and all of a sudden they're having drug fueled sex orgies with children. Or would you hire a fat trainer? Or would you listen to an abolitionist to own slaves? The answer is no. I rest my case.

TARLOV: Greg.

GUTFELD: Until we find something better than steak, we're going to eat steak. That's why we have to explore other planets so we can eat aliens.

WATTERS: Medium rare.

GUTFELD: Yes.

TARLOV: I didn't expect it to go there but here we are. "ONE MORE THING" is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATTERS: Time now for "ONE MORE THING." Sandra.

SMITH: Oh, tune in tonight. Do not miss our friend, Trace Gallagher. He is debuting as the anchor of "FOX NEWS @ NIGHT" tonight. You can now catch a weeknight at 12:00 a.m. Eastern time. It is a big night. Tune in, DVR if you can't watch it live. Go, Trace.

WATTERS: All right, my daughter Ellie was in a flag football game over the weekend. Check out this nice catch she made. Their quarterback drops back, rolls right. Ellie in the flat, catches the ball. takes it up field, breaks the tackle.

SMITH: Yes, girl.

WATTERS: There she goes.

TARLOV: Wow.

WATTERS: Well done. Great hands just like her dad. I taught her everything. Tonight, "JESSE WATTERS PRIMETIME," we have Stephen A. Smith on the crime crisis. A lot of people say that I am the white Stephen A. Smith and I will ask if he agrees with that statement.

GUTFELD: I don't think anybody has ever said that.

PAVLICH: I thought Jesse did.

GUTFELD: You know, Trace, by the way, is replacing Evil Shannon Bream. So, his new name is Dreamy Trace Gallagher, Dreamy Trace Gallagher.

WATTERS: I'll stay up for that.

GUTFELD: All right, speaking of dreamy man, this show tonight, I got the premiere Gad Saad, the great psychologist, Emily Compagno, Joe DeVito, Kat Timpf. This should be great.

PAVLICH: That's cool.

WATTERS: Two A's in Saad.

GUTFELD: Yes.

WATTERS: A lot of people don't know that. Katie.

PAVLICH: All right, Fox continues to partner with the American Red Cross to deliver disaster relief services to affected areas to help those impacted by Hurricane Ian. Please visit redcross.org/foxforward. All donations big and small are welcome. Thank you to everybody who's already made a donation. We're on our way to almost a million raised right now. So, help us get over that one million mark.

SMITH: Awesome.

TARLOV: Keep it going for the people in need.

WATTERS: And if you're a scrooge, go over that person's house and just say Alexa, I'd like to donate to the Red Cross.

SMITH: Oh my gosh.

WATTERS: And it will donate. Did you see that?

PAVLICH: Fox Forward though.

TARLOV: I did.

PAVLICH: Get the Fox Forward in there.

WATTERS: Go ahead.

TARLOV: So, check out this incredible video from Daniel Mancina, a blind skateboarder from Michigan. Daniel just broke the Guinness world record for the longest 50-50 grind on a skateboard reaching a distance of 22 feet and five inches. Daniel hopes to one day host skating workshops for the visually impaired. He is also campaigning to help skateboarding added to the Paralympics.

SMITH: Wow.

TARLOV: Very cool.

WATTERS: I don't know about that. That seems really risky.

GUTFELD: I was looking at it going, how can he -- how is he doing that thing if he's --

TARLOV: Well, also, he was a skateboarder and then he lost his vision.

GUTFELD: Oh, there you go.

TARLOV: So, it is muscle memory.

SMITH: Well, good for him.

WATTERS: Muscle memory, I know all about that. That is it for us. "SPECIAL REPORT" is up next with Bret Baier.

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