Joe Piscopo defends Columbus Day celebrations

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Joe Piscopo defends Columbus Day celebrations

Comedian takes issues with protests, says people have 'too much time on their hands.'

This is a rush transcript from "Your World," October 9, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

JOE SCARBOROUGH, MSNBC: This was a stunt. You call a stunt something that you know is going to happen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The vice president reigniting the fury on the flag.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Inconvenienced tens of thousands of Colts fans to, again, use the flag and the anthem as a prop.

JOE WATKINS, REPUBLICAN CONSULTANT: I think that sending the vice president to the game was a preplanned stunt. But I think Americans don't like stunts.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: So, Vice President Mike Pence leaves a football game after a number of players kneel during the national anthem, and he's ripped for pulling a planned stunt, but not a word about those players who planned what they did. That wasn't a stunt.

No, the vice president was using the national anthem and flag as a prop, but not the players, who have been doing this essentially for weeks.

Sorry, my friends, but that flag just doesn't fly.

Welcome, everybody. I'm Neil Cavuto.

And I'm sorry, but it's time to get real on an issue that is very real, because this is becoming a very real and disturbing, consistent trend. This isn't about what happened at a football game. This is about the weird way so many in the media are playing this game, a rigged game, a rotten game, and one that isn't about who is kneeling or leaving, but who is fooling and lying.

So go ahead and pick and choose sides, but you can't pick and choose facts. If one is a stunt, then the other is a stunt. If one side is legitimate exercising its right to express an opinion and kneel, then the other side is legitimately exercising its right to express an opinion and bolt.

Report each. Report both. But save the selective outrage for Americans who no doubt see through the media's hypocrisy, the same media that still seems to have a devil of the time finding anyone, say the brave few today, to speak on the record about the moral hijinks of a movie mogul who had been a lion on the left, but didn't express any such reservation, piling on the alleged abuses of some media figures on the right.

No, they're fair game, as are defending players protesting at a game, and ridiculing politicians exiting that game.

Now, I don't know about you, but I'm getting real tired of this game, where the only standard seems to be a double standard, from the same game that dares to lecture Republicans on piling up debt, ignoring the fact that when, well, liberals were in charge, we doubled our debt, or seized on a Las Vegas massacre as a rallying cry for gun control, even as California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein admits no law could have stopped the gunman behind that Las Vegas massacre.

Now, that doesn't make Republicans saints any more than it makes Democrats sinners. But it should make us all through about rage that is real and rage that is manufactured, or, or, put another way, news that is real vs. news that is fake, or at least not held to the same consistent standards.

To The Hill's Judy Kurtz.

Judy, what do you make of all this?

JUDY KURTZ, THE HILL: Well, I think you're absolutely right, Neil.

I think, when it comes to this issue, the problem for me, is there's two sets of rules for the media reporting on Vice President Pence and then the media reporting on the NFL players.

When it comes to the NFL players protesting, it's seen as genuine, heartfelt. But when it comes to Vice President Pence showing his own form of demonstration, it's suddenly called a stunt and staged.

CAVUTO: I'm just wondering what to make of this, though, because the rage was palpable in the media over Pence, down to whether he was wasting taxpayer dollars or not, but not over all the stuff that preceded it.

And I just thought that whether you're going to get all hot and bothered about one, you should get hot and bothered about the other, and vice versa.

KURTZ: That's right.

I think the problem here is that the media, many members of the press are calling foul on Pence, describing ulterior motives to this move. And, look, as far as the money issue, maybe the timing could have been better, especially with the heightened focus on the cost of air travel with former Secretary Price leaving, but you have to say that certainly the demonstration worked.

And it's in the news now.

CAVUTO: You know, Judy, when I go around and look at the media reaction to this, it was far more vitriolic regarding the vice president and, by extension, than any of the players.

They were virtuous and seen as fighting for something that was at their heart and core the right thing to do. Not so the other way around.

KURTZ: That's right.

I think, though, that one of the issues here is President Trump seemed to give away the game plan, if you will. And that's what -- a lot of the reason we're now having the press blow the whistle on Vice President Pence.

CAVUTO: You're right about that.

KURTZ: But, at the same time, the move worked, because we're here talking about an issue that had largely faded over the past few weeks, the hot- button issue that really plays well to President Trump's base.

CAVUTO: I'm wondering, though, if it's going to change the way we look at games, in other words, the next Dallas Cowboys game, where the pressure will be on to do what Jerry Jones has succeeded in the past to do, that is, get his players and he himself to kneel in sympathy before the national anthem, then all rise for the national anthem.

What do you think?

KURTZ: Yes. I certainly think all eyes are going to be on the national anthem for the near future.

But, listen, this certainly put points on the board for Trump once again with his base, a controversial issue that Pence has now put back in the news with his move.

CAVUTO: All right, thank you, Judy, very, very much, Judy Kurtz.

In the meantime, we're just learning that ESPN is suspending Jemele Hill for two weeks after encouraging a boycott of the Dallas Cowboys advertisers should they go ahead and see Jerry Jones punish any of the players or just bench them if they did not follow his order to stand for the national anthem.

Sportscasting legend Warner Wolf on all of that.

What do you make of what happened to her?

WARNER WOLF, SPORTSCASTER: Well, number one, I would say, Neil, you talk about a double standard. If Jemele Hill was a Caucasian, especially a male, and tweeted the same thing, and we had an African-American president, it wouldn't have taken ESPN two weeks.

Out immediately. So, there's your down standard for ESPN.

And as far as...

CAVUTO: And, by the way, as far as a suspension, it's not yet a firing. But what do you make of that?

WOLF: Right. Come on. Big deal. It's like a two-week vacation. No. That is weak, lame.

CAVUTO: What do you make of what she was saying there, though, that the NFL and all, they feel the pinch with advertisers, and advertisers should the one boycotted if, if, if Jerry Jones were to force his way on players, that they had to stand for the national anthem, and that they would be punished -- or those would be punished who didn't follow?

WOLF: Well, it seems to me that they would -- she would be playing into the sponsors' hands, because if the sponsors threatened -- if the fans threaten to boycott the sponsors, you're going to lose sponsorship.

And that's the only thing that's going to change this, if the sponsors drop out. Season tickets, forget it. They will give it to somebody else. Television, they don't care about the ratings.

It's the sponsors. So she's saying that the Cowboys should -- the people should boycott the sponsors. Well, yes. If the sponsors don't show up, they're not going to pay the billions of dollars to the NFL.

CAVUTO: Warner, do you think that players have a right under this situation to protest or state their political differences, let's say, because -- the national anthem, flag, what have you, whether they're employees of a Jerry Jones or another team owner or, you know, an employee of these -- of these organizations?

WOLF: Of course they have a right to protest, but not there. It's the wrong venue. You want to go protest? Yes, you have the right. Do it on your own time. Do it in your own place.

The players are paid to perform. They're entertainers. And that's what they're paid for. Not to do this. And they're protesting the flag and the anthem, which gives them the right to protest.

This is backwards. And I will tell you something else, which really sticks in my craw -- 75 percent of the NFL players today are African-American, and deservedly so, because they're the best at those positions they play.

But instead of zeroing in on a small percentage of police brutality in this country, why not zero in on black-on-black crimes? Seven hundred black people killed in Chicago already this year, that is your issue. If they -- all lives should matter, OK, black lives matter. Well, then do something.

And these kids, they idolize -- the gang members, they idolize NFL players. So, maybe it would turn some around, instead of zeroing on the other thing.

CAVUTO: Do you think this ESPN announcer knew what she was getting into, despite the fact that she had support, at least from her prior dust-up, from Bob Iger, the man who runs Disney, ESPN's parent company, that she would be pushing it with these remarks and knew exactly what would happen?

WOLF: I don't know what gets in her mind. Maybe she's independently wealthy, doesn't need the two weeks. Maybe that's the way she feels. Maybe she doesn't care about her career.

But, again, it's a double standard. If anyone else said that, especially a Caucasian, against an African-American president, out, period. For good. Gone.

And I will tell you one other thing, Neil, that really bothers me. You had 20 San Francisco 49er players kneel. And, of course, former Governor Pence, the vice president, hey, he walked out. Great.

If they had stood, he would have stayed and watched the game. But the point is, they walked out.

Well, what about this? You take the 20 San Francisco 49er players and all the other players in the NFL that kneeled and invite them during the off- season, the six months, February, March, April, May, June, July, to go into the service for six months.

And earn $4,000 a month, rather than $400,000 a month.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: It's a good point.

WOLF: Maybe they would learn some discipline, humility, what the flag and anthem is about, and maybe they would come out better citizens.

CAVUTO: All right, Warner, next time, let me know where you stand on these issues. I'm not quite clear.

Warner Wolf, always good seeing you, my friend. Thank you very, very much.

WOLF: Thank you. Thank you.

CAVUTO: All right, if it isn't enough that the president wants to decertify that agreement with Iran on nuclear weapons, now, now Iran is threatening a crushing response of its own if the U.S. goes so far as to designate the Iran Revolutionary Guard as a terror group. This looks like it's getting worse.

After this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right.

Iran is ticked at us for two things, one, this growing expectation that sometime this week -- could happen tomorrow -- who knows -- the president is going to decertify that nuclear agreement we have.

And then the Iranian Revolutionary Guard now deemed itself a terrorist group, and worse, has to be treated as such.

Retired U.S. Army Four-Star General Jack Keane on all of this.

General, what do you make of this? Because they're frothing most at the latter, not even the former.

GEN. JACK KEANE (RET.), FORMER U.S. ARMY VICE CHIEF OF STAFF: Well, yes.

One of the things the Iranians just can't stomach is really adverse publicity that just goes worldwide. And that's what will happen as a result of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps being named as a terrorist organization.

We have already named the Quds Force, which works for them, as a terrorist organization. They absolutely are. I mean, they -- as we know, Iran is the number one state in the world that sponsors terrorism. And the fact is that the IRGC and the Quds Force do that.

They have armed the Hezbollah with 160,000 missiles and rockets that are at various places in Southern Lebanon. And they're there for one reason only. And that is Israel. The IRGC is on the ground running the war in Syria. And they systematically on the ground kill civilians with air own hands, death squads that go out into these villages.

But I'm not talking about opposition forces. I'm talking about families. They're systematically involved in genocide. So, yes, we got to call them out, and we don't need to worry about the rhetoric that is going to come out of Iran.

This is one of the things that really galls the president and his national security team, Neil, about the nuclear deal, because all of this aggressive, assertive behavior that is so harmful to stability in the Middle East writ large has never been a part of the deal.

And they're permitted to go about this. And we have given them billions and billions of dollars to help fuel and fund this kind of activity. And none of it is connected to the nuclear deal.

CAVUTO: So, what happens now, General, if we go about trying to decertify this deal? Obviously, that doesn't mean it's abdicated. It just sort of -- we almost seem to be starting from scratch in that event.

But at the same time, you know, this move against the Revolutionary Guard, that is a double whammy that would have to have more global support. Right? Wouldn't you want other countries who have been concerned that we might have -- walk away from this deal sharing the same view on the Revolutionary Guard?

KEANE: Yes, they will -- most countries will absolutely share that view with us on the Revolutionary Guard, no doubt about it.

CAVUTO: Really?

KEANE: What will happen is the next step. Let's assume that decertification comes in a couple days.

Then the Congress has 60 days to act on that decertification. And if they impose sanctions on Iran as a result of it, then the nuclear deal is, in fact, dead. If they choose not to impose sanctions and to let the nuclear deal ride, which is I think what they will do, the nuclear deal will live on.

But what the administration wants to happen, they still want to try to fix it, even though that's a huge uphill battle. Fix it with our allies and fix it with the hands of the Congress. And get some of the irritants out of that deal and modify it a little bit more favorable to what has taken place in that region.

That is a huge struggle in front of them to do that. But that's the path we're on.

CAVUTO: General, do you think this is a signal to North Korea as well, that there's duel purposes here?

KEANE: Oh, yes.

And this is the cousin of North Korea. I mean, the Iranians, their playbook is absolutely taken from the North Koreans. And that playbook was covertly pursue nuclear weapons, negotiate as much as you possibly can, and keep pursuing nuclear weapons covertly.

As part of the nuclear deal, another thing that galls the administration is that we have no access to their military bases. So, can you imagine that? These are the Iranians, who we caught cheating before, and yet we cannot inspect the activity at their military bases.

And it's likely that they're at those bases cheating once again. And that's some of the irritants that have got to be removed.

CAVUTO: All right, General, thank you very much. Good seeing you again.

KEANE: Yes, good talking to you, Neil.

CAVUTO: All right, in the meantime, we want to bring you on these developments out West that are getting scarier by the moment.

Officials now say at least one person is dead, two seriously injured in a wildfire north of San Francisco, this after authorities said they expect fatalities, more. We're looking at 14 separate wildfires here, much of it, of course, in the wine country.

More than 1,500 homes, department stores, hotels, businesses and other structures have already been destroyed.

More after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right.

Just getting ready for the Columbus Day Parade here in New York, a rainy New York over the weekend, and, throughout, everyone and his uncle seemingly protests Christopher Columbus, not a popular, iconic symbol like the old days here.

Don't know what the story is. But they actually have Columbus Circle and Chris himself under 24-hour guard, so to speak, to avoid people trying to destroy the statue, throw paint on the statue. All of that is a concern of a lot of people who say that he should not be recognized, or certainly on this day should not be feted.

All right, Fox Business Network's Connell McShane.

It's weird, I grant you, we had an Irish guy covering the Columbus Day Parade, but that's just the way we roll.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: Connell, how did it go today and this whole fuss? What is it about?

CONNELL MCSHANE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it really went well, Neil, when you stop and think about it. And maybe the rain has helped out a little bit here in New York in terms of the protest.

But you were talking about it a little bit. And, you know, this has been going on for years, the protests over Christopher Columbus and this move to rename this day as Indigenous People's Day.

But as I walk into Columbus Circle, where we are, the famed traffic circle here in New York, the statue here of Christopher Columbus has been under 24/7 guard. There's some NYPD officers. You see one or two over on the side.

And they set up these -- the metal police barricades here. So, instead of -- on a normal day, maybe you have your lunch with the pigeons or whatever you're going to do in Columbus Circle. You can't do that today because there's been a threat to the statues.

In fact, a couple of them, one up in Central Park, was hit with the spray paint and whatnot. So, today, they're just being extra cautious. They really are.

Now, earlier in the day, I was over on Fifth Avenue, where the parade is taking place. And there was extra scrutiny there after what we saw in Las Vegas, the New York City Police Department, people watching to see how they would secure an outdoor event.

The NYPD did have its counterterrorism unit out in force, these police officers with the heavy armor and heavy weapons. They also had sharpshooters on various roofs. So, they were taking every precaution that they could possibly take.

But, Neil, what the NYPD has told us, they made this point a number of times, is that they always do things like this. In this city, they're used to securing outdoor events. And what happened in Las Vegas is awful, obviously, but the things that they did today to secure this event, they do all the time.

And, like I said, so far, so good. And maybe the rain has helped out a little bit in that regard.

CAVUTO: All right, great job, Connell. Thank you very much, Connell McShane.

Well, la da dee dah. Joe Piscopo and our own Maria Bartiromo were announcing the parade and everything else. Great chemistry between them, two proud Italians both. I think they were both sober.

Anyway, they're both -- Joe, I don't know, Maria definitely.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: But you were there. The crowds were affected by the rain. Right?

JOE PISCOPO, COMEDIAN: It was great. It was great.

We were excited about it. People were pumped up about it, were celebrating about it. Every time I see the news, from all over the world, like Los Angeles, you go, what country are they in? What universe are they from?

We had a great time. The Italian Americans showed up. We celebrated ethnicity everywhere with Maria. And it was great, I have to tell you.

CAVUTO: Was the mayor there as well, Mayor De Blasio?

PISCOPO: I heard he didn't show up. I didn't see him. Governor Cuomo...

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: Because he's been leading this effort not to recognize Columbus.

PISCOPO: That's right. And he didn't take the walk. Governor Cuomo showed up, said the statue should not come down, was in the broadcast booth with Maria and I, and was great actually.

CAVUTO: Really?

PISCOPO: Yes.

CAVUTO: So, do you understand this problem with Christopher Columbus?

PISCOPO: No.

CAVUTO: What is it about?

PISCOPO: No.

I can't -- I think because people have too much time on their hands. It really is. That's all it is. It's Antifa. You what I do in Italian? Ufa. That's what I say. Remember that? Remember that?

(CROSSTALK)

PISCOPO: Ufa.

(CROSSTALK)

PISCOPO: It was like, oh, my gosh. What are you worried about? If you're going to take that one statue, the next statue.

And what is the solution? What is a solution?

CAVUTO: But what are they complaining about?

PISCOPO: I have no idea.

CAVUTO: He was bad to indigenous peoples and...

PISCOPO: Yes.

But the greatest assault on indigenous people were who? The United States government. The United States government. And what happened? They gave the Native Americans casinos. So, if you want to take the statue down, the Italian Americans, we should each have a casino. I'm just saying. I'm just saying.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: I understand what you're doing. I'm trying to gloss over it.

(LAUGHTER)

PISCOPO: Thank you.

CAVUTO: But that was centuries after Columbus, who, by the way, got lost. Right?

PISCOPO: Well, they said that. But they didn't have exits back then.

(CROSSTALK)

PISCOPO: Chris, take exit 24 off the turnpike. You will be fine. Oh, my God.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: But this is all part of a wave. We're taking down out statues and all this and equating him with slave owners.

I don't understand where this is going, to the point where they want to actually remove Columbus Day.

PISCOPO: Is it an assault on Christianity perhaps?

CAVUTO: I don't know what it is. I really don't.

PISCOPO: Maybe.

All I know is, we're not going down. We're not going down. I had Chazz Palminteri. Again, you had Governor Cuomo. You had all the Italian Americans.

We have always been disrespected. When we see on TV, honestly, Cavuto, we see the vowel, I know -- I think of my grandfather coming from Naples, Italy. He couldn't speak the language. But you know what he used to do when he used to vote? Anybody that was Italian, he would vote for them. Is that true?

(LAUGHTER)

PISCOPO: And it's a history. We built a statue with the nickels and dimes of immigrants that came in here, our relatives, Neil. It has nothing to do what the people are talking about.

CAVUTO: So the people who were watching the parade, participating in the parade, what was their mood like?

PISCOPO: It was vibrant.

And you know what? I have never seen the Italian American community so galvanized.

CAVUTO: Really?

PISCOPO: Yes, because we're always offended by something. You said what? I'm not talking to him for seven years. Am I right? The family, right?

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: But Connell mentioned the added drama and concern post-Las Vegas, where people are saying, oh, my gosh, a lot of people are congregating, we're nervous. Heavy police presence.

PISCOPO: I'll tell you this. I was here on Sunday, "FOX & Friends Weekend."

So, I said the New York police tactical command is down there. Joe, how are you?

The NYPD and the commissioner, O'Neill, does such a great job. And I said to the tactical command, hey, we got the parade. I don't even say it on the radio, because I don't like being -- you don't want to inflame the fringe.

CAVUTO: Right.

PISCOPO: So, I said, hey, what is it going to be like? And they said -- I swear. This was the guy. The NYPD, we got this.

And they had it. It was locked down. It was fun. It was celebratory. And we don't hate anybody. We just want to...

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: You know what I liked about what you and Maria were doing? And, by the way, you both have great chemistry and you're very funny and all.

PISCOPO: They got mad because we kept talking about Neil Cavuto, FOX Business.

CAVUTO: Your own shows. I like that.

Let me ask you a little bit, if you don't mind switching gears, with all the fuss right now over, you know, Harvey Weinstein. I'm just drawing a blank.

(LAUGHTER)

PISCOPO: Harvey Weinstein.

CAVUTO: And now, all of a sudden, there's -- wondering, why in the entertainment community, why on your old home "Saturday Night Live," weren't there any skits about that?

PISCOPO: You know what? There's no argument to that. You're dead on, 100 percent right.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: I didn't think you would answer that one.

PISCOPO: If you're going to make fun, if you're going to make fun, everybody. I laughed at the Emmys. I laughed at -- when I watch "SNL."

CAVUTO: Why don't you think Lorne Michaels did it?

One of the arguments he raised, I think, in an interview was that this -- it was a New York-centric guy.

That doesn't make sense.

PISCOPO: No, you know what?

I don't know. He's our grand high exalted mystic ruler. And Lorne always is -- look, you don't cut funny. And I don't care if it's from the left or it's from the right. Everybody has got to laugh.

We have got to just relax a little bit and laugh at each other. You're absolutely right that Weinstein is -- that's fertile comedy material. Oh, my gosh.

CAVUTO: But it does feed a narrative that the left is far more willing to go...

(CROSSTALK)

PISCOPO: I have no argument for that. They're not wrong in assuming that. That's exactly right.

They accuse -- they will go after Donald Trump for anything. But when the shoe is on the other foot, they run for the hills. Ufa. Now, come on. You got to just open it up a little bit.

I mentioned your name seven times on the parade today.

CAVUTO: There goes your "SNL" hosting days.

PISCOPO: Yes. Oh, yes, like I was on that list.

CAVUTO: Yes. You were on that list.

It was the bottom of the list. But you're now right off.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: Very good seeing you. You did a great job.

PISCOPO: I had cannolis ordered for today. I had cannolis ordered for your great crew.

(CROSSTALK)

PISCOPO: I went to...

(CROSSTALK)

PISCOPO: They got lost in Fox somewhere.

CAVUTO: Oh, please.

PISCOPO: No, I swear to goodness.

CAVUTO: They got lost.

PISCOPO: My mission now is to leave -- after we go up there, I'm going cannoli-searching.

CAVUTO: Really? OK.

PISCOPO: Yes, cannoli-searching.

CAVUTO: I don't believe a word of it.

(LAUGHTER)

PISCOPO: I got -- I had the cannolis. We get the cannolis.

CAVUTO: OK, Bartiromo's staff has them. All right, we know...

(CROSSTALK)

PISCOPO: Happy Columbus Day, Neil.

CAVUTO: Joe Piscopo, thank you as well, my friend.

He's as nice as is so funny. We just need him on a seven-second delay.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: All right, by the way, you have heard about the president feuding with Senator Bob Corker.

I don't care whose side you take on this. What if I raised the possibility that, when they're cutting each other, you could say goodbye to those tax cuts?

After this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, you think Puerto Rico is out of the financial woods? Think again.

The island's governor, Ricardo Rossello, on what needs to be done, and fast, before this gets much worse. Back in 60 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: You know, for the life of me, I don't know where this began, the back and forth with Senator Bob Corker and the president of the United States, both trading barbs on Twitter over the Iran deal, health care, tax reform, who is an idiot.

Bottom line, this could really hurt tax cuts, because certainly a crucial vote might be, well, maybe not a given vote. And then that might tick off others in the Senate. Maybe not. We will see.

Fox Business's Charlie Gasparino, political consultant Harlan Hill.

Harlan, what do you think of that?

HARLAN HILL, POLITICAL CONSULTANT: Well, I think what Senator Bob Corker has done here is beyond the pale.

I mean, comparing the White House to a day care center is not productive whatsoever. He invited this controversy. And it's because Bob Corker was going to lose his election, because the Republican Party that he was a member of has changed.

And winners don't drop out of elections. And that's exactly what Bob Corker has done.

CAVUTO: Well, whether he dropped out because he was a winner or not, isn't the president in this case punching down, if that is what you think is the case?

(LAUGHTER)

HILL: Well, it's somebody that he has to work with, right?

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: Good luck with that, right?

(LAUGHTER)

CHARLIE GASPARINO, FOX NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

Neil, let's clarify here, because Harlan completely bastardized the facts of the last couple days here.

HILL: Oh, my gosh.

GASPARINO: You did.

OK, who tweeted first? It was the president, not Bob...

HILL: Bob Corker took this to a whole 'nother level.

(CROSSTALK)

GASPARINO: No, no, no.

HILL: Don't give him a pass.

GASPARINO: Think about how stupid you're sounding right now.

CAVUTO: Hey, hey, hey, hey.

(CROSSTALK)

GASPARINO: The guy is a sitting senator. OK?

He wakes up one morning, and the president of the United States says, oh, this guy begged me for an endorsement, called me up. I said no.

And so he's not running, which, by the way, is probably false.

HILL: No, all that is true.

GASPARINO: Really? How do you know?

HILL: All that is true.

GASPARINO: Were you on the phone with them? Were you on the phone with them?

HILL: All of that is true.

What I'm hearing from the back channels -- look, I'm on the advisory board of the president's reelection campaign. And I talk to people.

GASPARINO: All right. So you're an unbiased source.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: Guys, one at a time.

Harlan, answer that. Do you think -- there's no way of knowing for sure who is really telling the truth. What we do know is they have kind of zinged each other in the past.

All I'm saying is, regardless of who started this, are you, Harlan, concerned that -- look, I know you want tax cuts. I know you think that that's going to be an agenda that will be very helpful to the president, helpful to the country, that, by doing this, the president, whether justified or not, might have just guaranteed himself a no-vote on something he badly needs, as many yes-votes as he can get?

HILL: Right.

No, the president doesn't need massive tax cuts. The president doesn't need relief from the burdens of big government. The American people do.

CAVUTO: I know. That's what I said.

HILL: If Bob Corker really cares about these people, then he comes to the table.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: He's imperiled that.

(CROSSTALK)

GASPARINO: Think about how ridiculous this is.

It's almost funny to listen to Harlan, like, defend this stupid action. You need votes for the Senate to pass at least one legislative achievement this year. It's called tax cuts.

He basically torches one of the guys he needs to pass. Even if everything he said was true, that Corker called him up, begged him, he said no, even if all that was true -- and which it's not -- take it from me -- he called -- he had no -- there's no logic in calling -- in sending out that tweet about Corker if you need his vote. It was stupid.

CAVUTO: Well, Charlie, are you saying that now he's guaranteed a no-vote from Corker?

GASPARINO: Probably. I can't -- I don't know.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: Harlan, what do you think of that? This doesn't help. Right?

HILL: Corker has been working behind the scenes, taking cheap shots at the president for a long time. He was on the way, taking cheap shots. Yes, he has been.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: Harlan, I don't know.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: I remember him being an early backer of the president.

I also remember him working with Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump to help them sort of get in the -- their foreign policy feet wet a little bit here.

HILL: No.

CAVUTO: He wasn't always 100 percent always Trumper, but he's not been a never-Trumper.

So why does it have to be just somebody disagrees a little bit is evil?

HILL: Well, no. The facts remain that Bob Corker was never a fan of the president. That's a fact.

(CROSSTALK)

GASPARINO: They were best friends during the campaign. What are you talking about?

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: He wasn't blindly loyal. He did support him early on.

HILL: And when times got tough, was he there?

GASPARINO: Yes. He was there throughout the whole campaign.

(CROSSTALK)

HILL: No, that's not true. That's not true. He would not stick his neck out to defend the president during the most dire moments, during the most dire moments of the campaign.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: All right, Charlie, your thoughts on this.

By the way, I just forced you in this segment because I felt like it.

(CROSSTALK)

GASPARINO: Well, I'm like, listen, what is so absurd about this, even if you believe everything that the adviser, Mr. Hill, has to say about Corker, if you believe everything that President Trump, who bragged about his inaugural crowd sizes -- that's not true -- if you believe every -- all that, if you believe them, he needs Bob Corker's vote, and he just screwed him out -- himself probably out of that vote.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: Let me ask you then.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: Let's separate this for a second.

All right, then, Harlan, let me ask you this. Do you think that -- and I understand he's a populist. He's his own man. The president gets frustrated. He's an independent man. He's a rabble-rouser.

He goes against the grain, even his own party, if need be. But, eventually, he is going to need votes. He is going to need support. And this type of thing, whether justified or not, whether it was Senator Corker first who did this -- I don't know what is what here -- I will tell you that he's not helping his cause or agenda, right?

HILL: Well, look, the president tried to play it nice for seven months.

(LAUGHTER)

HILL: He did. He did.

(CROSSTALK)

HILL: Charlie, are you going to let me talk, or you just going to run your mouth?

CAVUTO: Go ahead, Harlan. Go ahead.

GASPARINO: Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.

HILL: OK.

So, he tried to placate Republicans, the establishment Republican Party, for a long time. He outsourced much of the health care negotiation to Senator McConnell and Speaker Ryan. And they failed him. And they failed the American people.

And so the president is done being nice. He is not going to be nice because Charlie Gasparino wants him to be nice.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: All right.

GASPARINO: And, Harlan, guess what he's done again? He outsources the first time. They screw him over. He just outsourced tax cuts to them. How smart is that?

HILL: No.

GASPARINO: Yes.

HILL: No.

GASPARINO: Ninety percent of this stuff is not done.

(CROSSTALK)

HILL: The president said that he's going to put together a coalition to work with Democrats on tax cuts. The president is going to get this done, one way or another.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: He needs votes, Harlan.

Too soon to say, Charlie, whether this is the means to go about it.

But I appreciate you both speaking your minds. I honestly do.

We will have more after this.

GASPARINO: On this great Columbus Day.

HILL: Yes, that's right.

(LAUGHTER)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right.

This thing just came out of nowhere, or so it seems. Over 20,000 have been evacuated, as wildfires are tearing through Northern California, including the state's precious wine country.

Fox News correspondent Claudia Cowan in Sonoma County, California, with the latest.

Holy cow, Claudia. What is the latest here?

CLAUDIA COWAN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: You know, Neil, it's going to take many days to assess all the damage from this ferocious and fast-moving wildfire that continues to burn out of control.

But all across wine country, Napa and Sonoma County, are scenes like this one. This was an iconic dairy. And you can see it continues to smolder this morning. This is one of more than 1,500 homes and businesses that were destroyed in this inferno that erupted overnight and has now burned more than 60,000 acres.

And this is just one fire event. There are 14 major wildfires burning across Northern California. And officials have confirmed one fatality at a fire in Mendocino County. That's about 100 miles away. Now, there could be injuries here as well. We just don't know.

Cell service is spotty. There's limited Internet access. And a lot of people are frantically searching for loved ones. A number of residents have been reported missing. As you mentioned, some 20,000 people have been evacuated.

And thousands of firefighters are battling the flames. Again, Neil, this fire continues to burn out of control. And it's scorched 60,000 acres here in Napa and Sonoma Counties. Just a tragedy -- back to you.

CAVUTO: Claudia, when did it start, and how did it escalate so fast?

COWAN: Well, there's been very strong winds.

When I went to bed at about 10:00 last night, this was one small wildfire, about 200 acres. When I went to work this morning, it had erupted into multiple fires that had jumped mountain ridges and freeways and has just grown, pushed by these very strong winds, sustained of about 15 to 20 miles per hour, but gusts of up to 70 miles per hour, the same kind of conditions we saw in 1991, when a fire raged through the Oakland Hills.

It was that same kind of weather conditions here. The winds have calmed down. So, that's good news. It should give firefighters a chance to get those tankers and choppers in the air and really get a handle on the front lines of this inferno.

But we do have a red flag warning in effect through tomorrow, and, as you can probably tell, very unhealthy air -- back to you.

CAVUTO: Yes, it's looking like that. We were showing the Anaheim area, to your point, that this is -- how widespread it is.

I know Governor Brown has indicated that anyone who thinks it's under control is wrong. It's not under control. But how are they battling this now as it spreads in different areas?

COWAN: Well, it's going to be an air attack.

In fact, we have the converted, modified 747 on its way to help battle the flames. This is mostly a wildfire, though we know a number, 1,500 homes and other structures have been lost.

But it's going to be an air attack. Of course, we have crews building containment lines and setting up perimeters on the ground as well. This is going to be top-priority firefight in the country and it's well under way today.

Visibility, of course, will be an issue for those tankers and those choppers. It's pretty thick out here. But it's great be mostly an air assault, Neil.

CAVUTO: Also, when I hear the governor's office talk about people who are unaccounted for and all of that, do we know numbers on that? Any update on that?

COWAN: Not yet, Neil.

I can tell you that a number of evacuation centers have been set up at fairgrounds, churches, schools. Obviously, school canceled today. And people are filing in, looking for their relatives, for their loved ones, trying to check on their property.

But with cell phone service so spotty and the Internet down, it's made it very tough going. And, as I mentioned, a number of residents have been reported missing. But, hopefully, we will get those numbers soon.

CAVUTO: All right, we're also getting some reports, as you were speaking - - so I don't want to just drop this on you -- that a number of hospitals have been evacuated along the path of this.

Do we know what has happened to the patients in those hospitals?

COWAN: Well, we saw a long line of paramedic units and ambulances as we were coming up towards the Napa area, heading south of Highway 101.

There's hospitals in Marin County, certainly San Francisco and along the way. It's likely that some of those critical-care patients were taken to those hospitals, as well as on the east bay side to Oakland and Berkeley.

CAVUTO: All right, Claudia, thank you, very good reporting on this, I know, on fast-changing and moving developments.

We should also let you know, to follow up on what Claudia was saying, that a number of evacuation centers that have already been set up in and around the area are already filled to capacity, as a number of people are fleeing.

And, if in doubt, and even if their homes are not directly in harm's way, they're getting out of harm's way.

We will have much more after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: Finally, it is amazing, after all we have seen over the last week, to see something like this, stocks going up, yes, even after all that terror in Las Vegas going down.

Maybe being the money nerd here at Fox, I can't tell you how many people have stopped me to ask that question: Neil, what is it with these guys on Wall Street? Don't they know what happened? Don't they care about what happened?

Inherent in their questioning, of course, is a deep suspicion that investors must not care. That's assuming investors -- and we're talking about millions of them, tens of millions of them the world over -- are responding as one amorphous being. They're not.

It's human nature to see investors of every type doing something in unison. But, being human beings, each is responding individually, united only by the stocks they own and a hunch where they think, where they think those stock prices will go.

Stepping back, they clearly assessed Las Vegas, and concluded it wasn't worth giving up. Trust me, that doesn't make them saints. But, as I like to say here, neither does their perfectly rational reaction make them sinners.

Maybe they're relieved this didn't appear to be an ISIS-inspired attack. Hard to say. Probably still too early to say.

Maybe they're, sadly, used to this. You know, we live in a world where terror attacks of all sorts keep popping up in all sorts of places.

Maybe they were relieved to see the reaction of a city that refused to let a madman get the better of it, so why should investors sell over it?

I don't know. This much, I do know.

Markets might be part of the moment, but they don't necessarily live in the moment. They're judged over the course of many moments, over many years, some good, some bad.

But if there is one thing I have learned about Wall Street, my friends, is that, over time, it truly does track Main Street. The guys who invest our money are pretty much like us, the folks who give them that money.

In the moment, they too shudder, but, through those moments, also like us, they shoulder on.

I want you to take a look at the chart of the Dow over the last century or so. It goes up. Now, if you were to peek closer, you would see some rough points, even some jagged points, but only when you get close, real close, to see a depression or several recessions, or a world war, or so many other wars, or a presidential assassination, or an oil crisis, or another oil crisis, or terror attacks, or financial crisis.

So many crises punctuating so many points in time, but, as you step back -- and that is key -- near ripples in time, through each and all, always the same. The chart goes back to moving up, kind of like we go back to moving up, stocks behaving as we are behaving, perfectly rationally.

Investors betting on better times coming. No different than average Americans convinced difficult times will soon be ending.

There is an inherent sense of optimism to that. It's part of who we are, not to be defined by what we fear, whether we go about our lives showing it, or put money down literally betting on it.

All I can say is, it is a safe bet, our chart, like our country, moves up. Don't believe me. Believe yourselves. Believe your ancestors. Believe in the spirit of those we have lost, but whose spark remains.

There is a reason that chart goes up. Over time, Americans refuse to stay down. That is what we do. That is who we are. That is our history. Believe it.

You know what? I would even put money on it.

Good night.

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