'The Five' on the media giving Biden a pass

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'The Five': American vets have right to feel betrayed

Afghan war vets slam Biden's chaotic withdrawal

This is a rush transcript of "The Five" on September 3, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SHANNON BREAM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Shannon Bream along with Dagen McDowell, Jessica Tarlov, Sean Duffy, and Joey Jones. It's five o'clock in New York City. And this is The Five.

President Biden insisting the way he got out of Afghanistan was a, quote, "extraordinary success." But the American people disagree. The commander in chief's poll numbers nose diving after the chaotic exit from Kabul. 

A new national poll out with this headline, quote, "Biden's awful August. 

Approval sinks on Afghan pull out. Large majority call Afghan war a failure."

Forty-three percent of Americans approve of the job he's doing. That's the lowest in that poll since Biden took office. And as the president looks to push past Afghanistan, the media is ignoring a big development. 

The major networks largely avoiding Biden's phone call with then Afghan President Ghani where President Biden reportedly the Afghan leader to say the Taliban wasn't winning. 

All right, guys. It's Friday. But we've got some dark topics to discuss. 

Joey, what do you make of this? And the president calling this an extraordinary success. 

JOHNNY JOEY JONES, FOX NEWS HOST: You know, it's not about blaming Biden for the crisis. We can talk about. It's about being a leader. You know, strong leaders make bad decisions. Every good leader will make a bad decision, maybe a series of them but they lead through it. 

And when as a leader President Biden cowers. And he blames Afghans, and he blames Trump. And he blames his own general. He says the buck stops with me. I took the consensus decision. You know, how you kind of pivot right out of that.

You don't look like a strong leader. You yell your way into a victory speech. You just don't show the American people that you truly understand the gravity that is felt in this house that we call America. 

It's not just the fact that we pulled out of Afghanistan. It's not the fact that we have a 20-year war that we get to claim failure on. It's the posture. You have a marine general sit there and said the Taliban were our partners. You have the entire administration saying one thing and almost doing another.

And you've got about 22 million veterans that sit back and look at that and go, wow. Were we betrayed? What happened here? You have to understand the tone and tenor of the men and women that fought this war in order to end it. And he doesn't. 

BREAM: And one thing that most politicians, Sean, do understand is poll numbers. There are a lot of bad ones for the president on a number of issues, but overall, this seems to be dragging him down. We did see his poll numbers were coming down with other words about the economy and other things before this chaotic withdrawal and the loss of 13 servicemembers and others still critically wounded. 

SEAN DUFFY, FOX NEWS HOST: Yes. So, I mean, what happens is, you have a situation where the media has his back. Right? So, whether it was the border, or COVID, or inflation, the media really hasn't reported those stories. But in a 20-year-war in Afghanistan where we've spent so much blood and treasure, the media had to report the story. 

And so, as they report it, they see that this is an utter failure from the president. They see 13 servicemembers died, they see billions left in our equipment. And I think to Joey's point, when you look at leadership, you want leaders to actually change course with the facts on the ground. 

So, if you're getting from the Afghan president that you have almost 15,000 international terrorists coming in to the country, the Taliban is surging, they don't expect the president to change course. Maybe keep Bagram Air Base. Maybe bring a few more troops in so we can get Americans out. 

JONES: That's exactly right.

DUFFY: That's -- that's the right approach that any leader would have. Even Donald Trump, if you recall, he wanted to get out of Afghanistan at the end of 2020. And because of the facts we change on the ground, he kept pushing that date back because he was a leader looking at facts, not as perception as Joe Biden wanted the Afghan government to do to send a perception to the world as oppose to the reality. 

BREAM: Well, there's been a conversation, Jess, over the last couple of weeks whether seeing how terribly things were going the president would change course, as Sean talks about. But reporting today from inside the administration says he does surround himself with -- himself with people that have differing viewpoints so they can challenge him but that it's exceptionally hard to change his mind once he has decided this is the course. 

JESSICA TARLOV, FOX NEWS HOST: It's one of the advantages of getting someone in office that you've known for 50 years. They're consistent. And Joe Biden has been stubborn especially on foreign policy since he entered professional D.C. public life. So, it isn't surprising. 

He is surrounded by virtue of the fact that so many members of the Obama administration were -- played an integral role obviously in continuing this fight in Afghanistan and feel very passionately about that. Worked with Afghans who are still left over there, who helped us as translators who fought alongside us, and have been quite outspoken whether they deleted those tweets they put up for those Instagram posts. I mean, there are members of the State Department, DOD who've all expressed displeasure of this.

And to Johnny Joey's point, I think there's something interesting in the polling. Because there's that dichotomy that too many politicians missed. 

Which is that Americans are smart enough to understand how hard these issues are. So, while his approval sunk down to the low 40s for the first time in his presidency, and I would add that that's, you know, it doesn't make him a huge outlier in presidential history, you still have 65 to 70 percent of Americans who thinks this was the right call. So, they are smart

--

(CROSSTALK)

JONES: And they are smart enough to know the difference between the right call and doing the --

BREAM: Right.

TARLOV: And how we did it. And I think that's where he's getting so much criticism from Democrats and certainly independents who are saying yes, we're for this. We don't -- 20 years is enough of this. But let's talk about who is left behind. Let's talk about how quickly this happened. We did need to be out by September 11th. 

It's an incredibly important day in American history but it's not the be all and end all of people are scared of a new terror attack or we have, you know, potentially --

(CROSSTALK)

BREAM: Loss of lives.

TARLOV: -- tens of thousands of people --

BREAM: And people.

TARLOV: -- who were promised a new life here in America for helping us. 

BREAM: Well, and the way that you talk about that, that gets the sort of this headline with ABC and Washington Post, their poll they had out today. 

It doesn't have a ton of great news for the president. And so, Good Morning America spent, according to the Media Research Center, 30 seconds on the entire poll. It's their poll. And that the Washington Post's headline was American support withdraw, not the way it was done. 

So, again, it gets back to that conversation that we know most people are ready to go. But that's how they're framing these negative numbers for the president. 

DAGEN MCDOWELL, FOX NEWS HOST: They are framing it. So, the polls to your point -- the polls are a call to action for the media that they got to jump in and help Joe Biden. They're going to ignore the stories that need to be covered. And like Don Lemon and Chris Hayes, they're going to start trying to rewrite history now. 

These grifters pawned off this defective human h bomb to the American people. And more and more -- we want to give him back. They actively and sometimes unethically got Joe Biden elected. Remember the Hunter Biden laptop and the 50 senior intelligence officers who said that it was Russian disinformation? Do they still have jobs? Because maybe their players ought to rethink that. 

This country right now looks like an exploding septic tank. And these media con artists, this is what they said what happen under second term for President Trump. 

JONES: Right.

MCDOWELL: It goes to the point and I say this over and over again, policy is more important than personality. That a flawed person with good policies has a much better impact on the nation. And Jessica, you said Joe Biden was consistent. I would say consistently terrible when it came to foreign policy. 

Again, he was against the raid that took out Osama bin Laden. And he stands up over and over again and over again and lies to the American people. So, please do not spit in our faces and tell us it's raining. 

(CROSSTALK)

JONES: He used to serve as well. 

MCDOWELL: We know better. 

BREAM: Yes, he was. And --

(CROSSTALK)

JONES: And the surge was the only -- the surge was the single most effective thing we did in the entire 20-year-war. We have pushed the Taliban out of Afghanistan twice. We did it in 2001, we did it again in 2009, '10, '11, '10. When I was there '11 when we had the most troops there, the deadliest time in the war.

He was -- he was vice president for eight years of this war and you want to stand them and tell me you inherit it? You're probably the only president that did not inherit this war because you were in charge of a last portion of it as the number two in command for eight years of it. You can at least argue George W. Bush got handed a raw deal from his predecessor who had a chance to kill Bin Laden multiple times. 

DUFFY: But Joey and I were talking about this before the show. And I supported the withdrawal. I supported it with Trump saying let's bring our troops home. But what does that mean? Right? Does that mean bringing every single last troop home or could we have still some presence in Bagram, could we still offered air support to the Afghani troops to push back the Taliban. 

We didn't have -- we don't need Joey jones guys on the ground fighting on the ground, but we could have had a presence that could have help us secure Afghanistan and make sure the Taliban doesn't take over and we don't have the Afghanistan --

(CROSSTALK)

MCDOWELL: But that's been --

DUFFY: -- as a platform to grow --

BREAM: Well, listen.

DUFFY: -- terrorist in the world. 

MCDOWELL: That's been the mission since 2014. It was a counterterrorism operation. But we have lost, we have no CIA listening posts, we have nobody on the ground and the other gathering intelligence. 

DUFFY: That's part of the problem. 

BREAM: Well now we have blown our partnerships with people who may have trusted us to feed us information. I mean, why should they?

MCDOWELL: And blown up our relationship with Britain and Germany and France. 

BREAM: Yes.

MCDOWELL: And we -- it is --

(CROSSTALK)

DUFFY: But these are the adults in the room. These are going to be the ones that get respect around the world, right, when Joe Biden came into office. 

Contraire. 

BREAM: That's what we were told. All right. There are political ramifications we can talk about those too. Ahead, the White House not ruling out working with the Taliban despite reports the terror group is going door-to-door executing people.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MCDOWELL: Why is the White House trusting the Taliban? Startling new reports coming in about the terror group carrying out mass killings going house to house, executing American allies that President Biden left behind. 

The White House says they can't confirm those reports, but it's still keeping the door open for cooperation with the group to get stranded Americans and Afghan allies out of the country. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: No one is saying from the federal government, no one, the president, secretary of defense, no one from the intelligence community that the Taliban are good actors. Right? We are not saying that. We will judge and we want to make clear, this very clear we are going to judge the Taliban by their actions and we will stay in close coordination with the international community on any steps that we take moving forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP) 

MCDOWELL: Joey, what's disturbing about this none of it is a surprise. 

JONES: You're exactly right. And to interpret all their words, up until we got what they consider to be everyone out of Afghanistan. What they did, they backed themselves into a corner. They had no choice but to play nice with the Taliban. They had no choice but to ask for their help. 

If this report is correct that we had a chance to secure the city, that amount of men bring in 10,000 troops. You're the president of the United States. You have three and a half more years to end this war. Why do you need to do it in the first eight months of your presidency? Why -- if you don't want to hand this war off to the next person, then end it correctly and use your term to do it. 

If you want to give up some political collateral, do it saving American lives, not holding to some campaign promise that wasn't yours to begin with you. It was the guy before you who set this path in motion and you didn't even follow his plan. The Taliban it's not can we -- we know we can't trust the Taliban. And here's exactly why. 

We talked about in the last block. Most of their young fighters are coming from a truce in Pakistan. They are indoctrinated and they have a blood thirst like no one else. Because they haven't even seen war. And the war might not have even touched their lives, so this is to romanticize idealism of radical Islam in their head. 

The Taliban does not have a choice to be this outwardly benevolent ruling class because they'll lose the thing that makes them powerful, which are those blood thirsty young men who think they have to behead people and execute people in public in order to fulfill their raucous (Ph) goal. This is never going to be a Taliban 2.0 and that's why. 

And they talk to us like well, we'll see if we give them foreign aid. You know what a foreign aid looks like? A J down, a guided bomb right on their forehead. That's what -- that's the threat. Not will we pay you, it's will we kill you. And if you tell you it's over the horizon, we'll do it from afar, that's OK, too. 

MCDOWELL: Jessica, even there was a headline that came out it was a couple week or two ago against. The Taliban tell Afghan women to stay at home because the soldiers are not trained to respect them. That is what the headline said. 

TARLOV: They say there are limited gents left behind in Afghanistan so it -

-

(CROSSTALK)

DUFFY: It kind of reference that. Right.

TARLOV: -- (Inaudible) properly treat women. We were talking about this last night on Kennedy. Just how good everyone has gotten at trolling at propaganda, right? Like these terror groups are fantastic at. 

JONES: Yes.

TARLOV: There was another statement the Taliban put out about how a wonderful partner China is. And like, there's nothing that's going to upset the U.S. more than you're gone and I'm turning to my best friend, President Xi over here. Now, the veracity of those reports who knows at this point if any money that's coming in and out of the country. It's obviously not going to be something that, you know, the World Bank can look over.

But we do unfortunately, have to work with people we don't like all the time. And that's a whole range of, you know, even western democracies where we disagree with people do down to, unfortunately, terror organizations that are running a number of countries. 

This one just particularly hurts because of our investment in this country for 20 years and the speed at which they took over. We watched a lot of the footage about the 11 days. And that really does stick out as something that it didn't even see President Ghani knew it was going to happen faster necessarily than the U.S. intelligence apparatus, but 11 days is an astonishingly quick takeover. And -- sorry. 

MCDOWELL: No, I was just going to go to Sean. It particularly hurts and I'm speaking for Joey having listened to him very carefully, the language not only putting the Haqqani network in charge of security in Kabul, again, of an individual who is wanted here, the head of the Haqqani network wanted here and the FBI for being involved in the killing including an American. 

There's a bounty for him. Five-million-dollar bounty with the language used by General McKenzie of CENTCOM referring to the Taliban as very helpful and pragmatic and business-like. And what hurts the most, Sean, is the fact that now we do have to rely on this vicious hideous terror organization because Joe Biden left Afghan allies, partners and even Americans behind. 

DUFFY: Well, to Jessica's points, we do have to work with people that we don't like but we didn't really have to work with the Taliban like this. It was Joe Biden's decision that put us in this situation. And does the White House think we're dumb and don't have videotapes or YouTube to look at what they said before? 

I mean, the White House is saying the Taliban are our partners. But now they're saying they're not good people. Who is manning the gate to get in to the Kabul airport when the 13 men and women died from our military? It was the Taliban. And so, they were trusting the Taliban. But now they're saying they're not good actors? Who do you think for 20 years was attacking guys like Joey Jones? 

JONES: Well they knew it all the time. They changed their -- they changed their tone because they knew it the whole time. And now they have ended their operation. 

DUFFY: But the thing is they think we're stupid. They can say one thing one week and something the other week --

JONES: Exactly.

DUFFY: -- and think that we're going to forget. It's like, well, no. 

Listen, let's roll the tape and go how can you have changing stories when the Taliban hasn't changed more probably than 20 years? They are the same people violent, horrible and I agree, we should be dropping bombs. 

MCDOWELL: Andy McCarthy prosecuted the terrorists in the first World Trade Center bombing. The monument's plots. And he told me the Taliban has never been anything but the Taliban. And he described the nation state, the emirate that they set up and how that's very different than anything that looks like a representative government. 

BREAM: Yes. And General Milley said, he knows from personal experience, that they are ruthless. Now whether they change remains to be seen. I think we have a few skeptics here among us today -- 

JONES: That's the line there, whether they change remains to be seen. 

BREAM: Right. 

JONES: Did North Korea really think Otto Warmbier was a spy? No. But that's the best version of the Taliban you're going to get. That's fine. You don't need to change this for my feelings. You need to do it so my 12-year-old son doesn't fight them as an 18-year-old. That's why I care. 

BREAM: Well, and you have countries out there like Denmark is the first one to say we will not recognize this as a legitimate government, the Taliban. 

So, we are going to have to see -- of course China is going to cozy up, Russia. We're going to have to see what others do. 

But what gets me is watching them knowing they are going around executing people, that they are slaughtering people, they are killing people like a folk musician because they don't believe in music. And that's sinful and terrible. 

And we have people here in the United States saying women have it worse in the state of Texas than they do under the Taliban in Afghanistan. It is an outrageous statement. And if you think that, I'm sure there are a lot of people who would buy you a plane ticket to go hang out with the Taliban and see how you really feel about that. 

MCDOWELL: I can't -- I don't even have words to describe a statement like that, Shannon. 

BREAM: Crazy. 

MCDOWELL: And as you know, my mother would be very upset if I curse on live television. 

BREAM: But she would understand. 

MCDOWELL: Coming up, American vets feeling betrayed by President Biden on Afghanistan. You will hear from them next. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JONES: Welcome back. Veterans are feeling let down with President Biden's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. I recently spoke with retired servicemembers who serve there and they had a lot to say. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHAD FLEMING, ARMY RANGE OFFICER: There's four grown men here sitting here. 

We only got five legs. So that's extra skin in the game. You know what I mean? 

AMOS BENJAMIN, MARINE INFANTRYMAN: My heart and my mind has been totally consumed with the families of the victims of the blast. To know those families are hurting in the way that I know they are, man, it hurts.

JONES: How did it feel to have a marine general be the one to address the nation and talk about the Taliban the way he did the day we left? 

WALKER BUSH, MARINE CORPS COMBAT: It's disgusting. It's impossible to have a positive emotion about this whole experience. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: You can catch my entire interview this weekend on the big Saturday and the big Sunday show at 5 p.m. Eastern. All right, Dagen, do veterans from Afghanistan, do they have a right to feel betrayed by this president? 

MCDOWELL: They have a right to feel betrayed or anyway they might feel by what they have had to just witness --

JONES: Yes.

MCDOWELL: -- in the last few weeks. And I think the American people feel for them. That we're united in trying to support them. Everybody I know immediately texting, phone calls to people they knew who had served and made it a point. And I feel like folks realize that they need to do that with everybody who has served this country.

But I think we are stronger as a nation because we have been able to come together in this moment of just grief and rage quite frankly.

JONES: Those three veterans that I sat down with, they all served in two different ways. Two different services, three different jobs. The one there that got choked up that's Amos Benjamin. His brother Adam Benjamin serve with me. He's a Gold Star brother and a Purple Heart recipient. 

I mean, this war has taken its toll on them. I mean, 2,000 -- I mean, I think 2,300 deaths in this war. We have 13 of them last week along with almost 200 Afghans. Shannon, do you think that maybe we haven't had a chance to process how catastrophic that single event was? I mean, Amos has choked up. Those 13 lives, and not just reflecting on the war but that single event. And I feel like the politics of it, we haven't appreciated how catastrophic that day was. 

BREAM: And it's been good to see a lot of people speak out publicly and say if you know a veteran, reach out to them, check on them. See how they're feeling because a lot of people feel that single event the 13 -- I mean, it was -- the 20 years was so brutal and so much was lost. But that event felt very preventable to a lot of people.

JONES: Yes.

BREAM: Like it did not have to happen. So, we could not owe you and all of our veterans a better debt. And to be checking and to see how you're feeling, it will take time I'm sure to process all of this. But what's been amazing to me is that so many people there fighting and I'm hearing back channels from, I'm sure you are, I'm sure everybody in this table is, they're veterans. 

There are people who are risking their own lives and everything they have, every connection they have, their own money to go back and try to get people out. They're being arrested and stopped by the Taliban. They're truly continuing to risk. That's why our veterans, I think are the true heroes. And we don't agree on that. 

JONES: Well, they're my heroes as well. I served among them. Sean, you're in Congress where you've ended this war. We're talking about administrations. What can Congress do to make sure we don't get in this again? Or could they have done anything?

DUFFY: Well, listen, I think it's important to take a look. We have -- we have troops all over the world. We send people on missions all the time. 

But I think with Afghanistan, a lot of members of Congress and the country lost focus on the fight in the war and the purpose of the war. 

And I think it's important that if you're going to send men and women into harm's way, you never forget their missions. And you continually analyze and review to go, you know, what are we -- what are we here to accomplish, what is the cost on life and treasure and make decisions from there. And I think this is a message to the Congress to always stay tuned with the money that you send, and the men that you send into these conflicts. 

And for me, I mean, for guys and five legs. I mean, that is horrific. I've got a buddy in Hayward, Wisconsin, Lumberjack World Champion, Log Rolling World Champion, J.R. Salzman, was hit by a roadside bomb as well, lost half of his arm. He came back after and won the Log Rolling world title. I mean, guys -- these guys are great and amazing. 

And -- but the consequences of the war has been cataclysmic. And the way we've left, I think, make a lot of veterans really angry because the question becomes, for what? What was the goals here? What was -- 

JONES: And Jessica, when President Biden stands up there, and he invokes our mental health as justification for his decision, not to withdraw, but his entire last two weeks, I mean, isn't that a little bit tone-deaf? 

Doesn't he understand what seeing 13 veterans killed and feeling helpless to go help that? I mean, isn't that what's bothering our mental health? 

Does he not see the connection there?

TARLOV: I cannot suppose to understand in any great depth the experience that you've had, those men who you were talking to, or the people who continue to serve for us, and we're also thankful for that. 

I think everyone needs to -- you know, we do this thing where you quarterback everything, like on Twitter, on social media, right? And there are always those jokes. The morning after something terrible happens, like, oh, I didn't realize we all woke up foreign policy experts or we all woke up, you know, veterans. 

JONES: Yes. 

TARLOV: And -- but there's really one group that stands out from the rest of the we woke up as groups, and it's veterans. And you've noticed it in the coverage that every time -- no matter what the opinion is of the person who's doing the interview, if they hear from a veteran what they're feeling, and it's running counter to what the host thinks, what the administration thinks, you just shut up. because it's an experience that none of us can even touch. And that will be with you for the rest of your life. 

And that's why I think it's so important that we have people who served continue to serve, and they serve in Washington, they serve in these incredible organizations, private organizations that have gotten people out that would not have gotten out in the first place. And just a tremendous amount of respect and thanks to you and those men you interviewed, and everyone else who serves.

MCDOWELL: You're just going to see and you already are a lot of veterans running for public office. 

JONES: No, absolutely. And I think that's jus -- 

TARLOV: We have been. We were talking about that. 

MCDOWELL: But even more.

JONES: On the veterans that got people out of Afghanistan, that mobilizing. 

I've got a buddy over there still right now I haven't heard from him for days. And I think he's all right, but he's probably doing God's work. 

BREAM: Can you tell us more about what we'll hear this weekend? 

JONES: So, yes, these three veterans -- one of them is the nephew of George W. Bush and the grandson of George H.W. Bush, and he's the most normal Bush I've ever met. And I've only met one other that wasn't the president. 

DUFFY: You're saying Bush is not normal?

JONES: I'm saying, I met him, he goes, how's your head? Because he was doing the drop the D campaign. But -- and then you have Amos Benjamin, this Gold Star brother. And then you have Chad Fleming who's a real Jason Bourne-style character. I mean, this guy was an amputee and war and just everything about Chad, his leadership and push through it. And they come from different places. 

And you'll watch the interview and they kind of have their head hung the whole time. It's a tough thing, but they have some inspiring words by the end of it. On behalf of veterans, thank you all for your support. It means a lot. It really does. 

MCDOWELL: I'm praying on it. I pray on it every day. I know Shannon Bream over there does too. 

BREAM: I'm with you. 

JONES: You can catch my entire interview this weekend on "THE BIG SATURDAY" 

and "THE BIG SUNDAY SHOW" at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. Ahead on THE FIVE, just in time for Labor Day, President Biden is trying to spend a shockingly bad jobs report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TARLOV: President Biden facing criticism over big mess on the August jobs report. Only 235,000 jobs were added. Economists expected that number to be closer to 720,000. The President telling Americans his plan is working while also calling for higher taxes on the wealthy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Despite the impact of the Delta variant, and I'll talk a little more about that in a minute, what we're seeing is an economic recovery that's durable and strong. The Biden plan is working. We're getting results. America is on the move again, we're going to do it by leveling the playing field, by just having a fair system, where we ask the largest corporations, the wealthiest Americans to begin to pay their fair share. No more. They can still make millions of dollars.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TARLOV: OK, so before we get into it, I just want to say, I acknowledge this as a bad report. So, weapons down. I'm just trying to have a constructive conversation. Joey, I'll start with you. Obviously, it was a big drop from last month. And the President also mentioned the impact of the Delta variants. 

So, in July, we had 25,000 cases per day. Now, we're up to 160,000 cases per day. That's a pretty big jump and I worry that's here to stay. So, how do you think that we can rejigger what's going on with the economy to accommodate the fact that people are getting really sick again?

JOINES: I'm not an economist. You guys wouldn't know that by my tweets about things like McDonald's and other things. I'm not an economist, but I know how the economy affects my life. I mean, I was raised for -- I had the opportunity to go to the Marine Corps and earn my way into a new career getting blown up. 

I just want every American to have that opportunity, you know, to take tragedy and turn it into triumph. That's what Coronavirus has been. So, allow people to go back and open their businesses without threatening them or changing your policy every five minutes. Stick to a decision, like what I say in the first segment. Good leaders make bad decisions, and then they lead their way through it. They don't let the tail wag the dog. 

Why are people struggling? Because they're afraid. And why are they afraid? 

Because they don't know what policy comes out tomorrow, how data is interpreted from yesterday to today. And then you see a report that that data wasn't right, because they didn't factor this in. And they're -- and they're trying so hard to control the narrative rather than give people the truth and make decisions and stick with them. And I think that's the biggest problem with Coronavirus when it comes to our economy. 

The other thing I'll say about that speech he gave is he really beat up on folks that own more than one home. And I just really wonder how Bernie Sanders feels about that. I mean, maybe he's just laying the groundwork for all the -- all the landlord hate that we have in this country now. I'm not sure. But that was a little bit odd.

TARLOV: I was a Hillary fan consistently through and through. Big problem is labor shortages, right? This is going on across industries. You can't get people to fill those jobs. What do you think about where -- how we can get more people to go back to work?

DUFFY: I think it's 100 percent. So, first off, my plan is working. What universe does Joe Biden live in? His plan is not working. I think most people sit back and go, this is an absolute failure. And so, it is a really good point. So, we have a labor shortage. There's 10 million jobs available for people to fill. But, you know, the lowest range that economists expected in this number was 300,000. It was 235. It's well below the lowest of estimates. 

And so, when you offer people money to stay home and unemployment benefits, enhanced unemployment benefits, you stop evictions of people, these kinds of things allow people to make the choice to not work and to stay home and get paid on government assistance. And until we take those things away, Jessica, you're not going to get people off their couches and back into the workforce. 

In the Republican states that have taken the enhanced unemployment benefits away, you've seen job growth.

TARLOV: Some Democrats have as well. Shannon, thoughts on any of it?

BREAM: Well, so the president says that people -- the wealthy need to pay their fair share. So, I always just like to go look at the data. Now, this is -- I too, I'm not an economist. And I don't play one on TV. But this comes from the Tax Foundation. They said the top one percent wage earners in this country pay 38.5 percent of income tax. The next five percent -- so, top one to five percent, 20 percent of the burden of taxes.

So, that -- you've got the top five percent in America paying 60 percent of the tax burden. So, I think it's disingenuous and kind of is this driving this wedge like you shouldn't like people who have more than one home or that are doing better or that own a business. Sometimes business owners aren't wealthy, but they've got assets in the business and that's part of the equation.

JONES: My dad was a block mason. He did it under his own business, and we lived in 1966 singlewide. I don't know as many business owners that aren't struggling as I do that own two or three houses. That's the narrative that kills me with this is. If people called you a business owner, you're wealthy?

TARLOV: Dagen, take us home. 

MCDOWELL: I got a lot of notes here. 

TARLOV: We got a lot of notes. 

MCDOWELL: You all covered the most important parts. Part of it is the Delta variant. But you've got to stop paying people extra money for not working. 

There is a historic labor shortage among independent businesses. So, it's the extra unemployment benefits. Also, there's the additional child tax credit where you've had people getting an extra $250 or $300 for each child per month. 

DUFFY: I want that. 

MCDOWELL: Well, it goes -- 

BREAM: You think of it like a bandit. 

MCDOWELL: It goes to the end of the year. Joe Biden tried to end -- speaking of which, he said he wants to do something. And now you got Sen. 

Joe Manchin saying that I'm not in favor of this additional $3.5 trillion. 

It's more like $5 trillion. But if you confiscated every asset of every American billionaire, it would not cover. Confiscated it, not tax it, take it. It would not pay for the additional spending that the Democrats want to push through. 

And just one more thing. Biden tried to make a joke about Trump would always talk about the record stock market. And he stood up and said, imagine if the other guy was here. And I was sitting there going, Yes, we can imagine if the other guy was there. And it'd be a hell of a lot better because the government would be getting out of the way.

TARLOV: Hard disagree with that. Also, the child tax credit is lifting millions of kids out of poverty which is a wonderful thing. "THE FASTEST" 

is up next. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DUFFY: All right, welcome back to THE FIVE. It's time for "THE FASTEST." 

First up, it is the end of phone calls. Is that true? A survey revealing only a fraction of 16 to 24-year-olds think talking on the phone is important and would rather text instead. All right, Joey, is this a thing in the future? You're the youngest guy, I think, at the table, are we done making phone calls and just going to start texting each other now? Is that the thing?

JONES: There's two things you can count on with Joey Jones. I can't jump and I won't answer your phone call when you call the first time. My phone has been on silent since the day I joined the Marine Corps. I prefer it that way. I don't really care if I talk on the phone or not, but I hate to hear a phone ring. I don't care where you are what you're doing. 

And my second biggest pet peeve is when people are in the airport talking on their air pods or on the phone or being loud. I just think talking on the phone is rude and I don't do it.

DUFFY: Oh my, gosh. We got problems because I'm on the phone all the time. 

So, just go -- what do you think? I mean, is this a sign of our Ageif you take phone calls now? Because listen, when I -- when I call young people, actually, they oftentimes, like Joey, don't take the phone call and they like, text me.

TARLOV: I just got to say, I'm a little offended. I'm barely older than Joey, and you're like, he's the youngest guy. And you're like, is this an age problem, Jess? And I'm like, I just turned 37. Anyway -- 

MCDOWELL: You're a baby boomer. 

TARLOV: Part of the silent generation. I hate talking on the phone. I really don't like it. And just send me a text about what it's about. And then, I will call you back. But I really see it as an emergency system and not a pleasurable thing.

DUFFY: So, Dagen, in a study too, the kids say they don't like ringtones. 

So, if you're going to take a phone call, they want it to vibrate. And like there's annoying people in my life who have ringtones. my mother in law has a doorbell ringtone and every time her phone rings, I think it's a doorbell actually. 

JONES: That's actually crazy. 

DUFFY: Is that a thing too, annoying ringtones? Are you OK if you have a cool ringtone but you're like out of the club if you have like, annoying like Rocky Balboa?

MCDOWELL: I'm too busy and cranky to download it. It's just like the ringtone that comes on the phone. Like, I didn't change it. But these young people are so desperate for something new or old, that's new. They're going to end up with rotary phones in their bedrooms.

DUFFY: That's right. 

MCDOWELL: If they bring -- if they can bring backslash dance, cut up sweatshirts, and leg warmers, and think somehow that's cool, like, ring tones and talking on the phone are coming back at some point.

DUFFY: They're bringing back the long hair. Your thought, Shannon? 

BREAM: Is this Gen Z? Is this group that we're talking about, Gen Z? 

Because listen, I'm not cool with them already because I don't put my hair down the middle and I wear skinny jeans. And apparently, those are completely terrible faux paws. But I'm with them on this. I hate talking on the phone. I'll talk to my mom and I'll talk to my husband. That's it. I don't like to answer it. It's not personal. I just don't want to talk to you.

DUFFY: I ringtone and I talked to -- way too much so my kids most hate me. 

All right, good conversation. Up next, "ONE MORE THING."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BREAM: A quick programming note. Tune in on Monday for THE FIVE's Labor Day Fan Mail Special. You do not want to miss it. And now, let's get to "ONE MORE THING." OK, the Fox shop is having a Labor Day Sale. Who does not need this in their bedrooms or dorm room wherever. If you get an Airbnb, fill it with these. If you go there, you can get 15 percent off on the entire site. 

It's the Fox shop with Labor Day. Use these words, 15 percent off. We got mugs, we got all kinds of different things here. http://foxnews.com to get yours today. Shop http://foxnews.com. 

And by the way, also on Sunday, 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Bill Hemmer has got a special. You do not want to miss. The Lost Calls of 9/11. It's the story of September 11 told like never before by the people whose voices were being recorded as America's freedom was under attack. Bill Hemmer special 10:00 Sunday. All right, Joey. 

JONES: So, last week you probably saw Katie Pavlich on the show wearing or talking about her You Matter T-shirt. That organization is called Boot Campaign. I'm on the board. I've been involved since the early days of it back in 2011. And they put together a video of veterans saying why they joined the military because of 9/11. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I joined the military because of 9/11. I'd always want to join the military. But that solidified it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Going into the military and serving my country was just in my heart the right thing to do. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: With everything that's happened this week, go check out BootCampaign.org. They're doing a lot for the health and wellness of military veterans especially those who fought the Afghan war. And this week has been tough them. 

BREAM: Absolutely. Great place to go this week. Dagen.

MCDOWELL: I have a little lighter story. So, there was a bride on the way to her wedding riding in a vintage car in England. And Lydia Evans Hughes, her vintage car broke down. And this highway patrol officer pulled her over, Matt Gettys, Inspector Matt Gettys -- I won't do my British accent -- and put the sirens on and drove her to her wedding. They'd had to postpone the wedding trice before. 

But I think this is -- the lesson from this is don't drive vintage British cars because there's just a world of hurt involved in owning one. 

TARLOV: He was like the best-looking random police officer. 

BREAM: I feel like, is this a stripper? What's happening here? 

(CROSSTALK)

BREAM: Part of the leftover from the bachelorette party situation. I don't know. 

TARLOV: Suspicious. 

DUFFY: His name is Magic Mike. 

TARLOV: You're in for another Magic Mike movie. 

BREAM: All right, Jess. 

TARLOV: All right, OK, Abba is coming back and I realized -- I said I was young and this makes me sound old that I'm excited about this, but I'm excited about it. They announced yesterday that they're going to have their first new album in 40 years. There's also going to be a concert performance. They're doing it through a hologram. I talked about that bridesmaid yesterday who hologram her way into her friend's wedding. 

It sounds awesome. They start with two new songs. There's going to be 10 songs on the album. Two were released yesterday. Anyway, everyone has decided or maybe me and a bunch of boomers are excited about this. But anyway, Dancing Queen and the fashion. 

BREAM: All right, Sean. 

DUFFY: Just quickly, I want this Fox News pillow for football season. It's like great pad. You can squeeze on this on the couch. 

TARLOV: I'm sure you can have it. 

BREAM: Look at the other side here too, Proud American. 

MCDOWELL: No, get the Proud American camo hat.

BREAM: Yes. I have one of those.

DUFFY: I got to be quick though because this is not my "ONE MORE THING," 

all right.

JONES: I need one of those. 

BREAM: OK, you got 30 seconds.

DUFFY: All right. Chris Santacroce and his team at Project Airtime are doing adaptive paragliding trip for people with disabilities, veterans, elderly individuals, just anyone who needs a boost. They take them paragliding, which is so cool for people who normally wouldn't have that chance.

JONES: Absolutely. 

DUFFY: They've retrofitted. For six years, they've been doing this throughout Utah. And they've already done 80 -- they've had 80 flights a year. So, very cool making someone's life a little bit better. 

BREAM: We love it. 

JONES: Awesome. 

BREAM: Good positive vibes. All right, that is it for us. Thanks for watching. Have a great Labor Day weekend, everybody. We'll see you back here Monday for Fan Mail Monday. 

MIKE EMANUEL, FOX NEWS CHANNEL ANCHOR: Good evening. Welcome to Washington. 

I'm Mike Emanuel.

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