The Washington Post blames Trump for devastating hurricanes

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The Washington Post blames Trump for devastating hurricanes

Paper claims President Trump is playing down humans' role in increasing extreme weather risks; reaction and analysis on 'The Five.'

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," September 12, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SHEPARD SMITH, ANCHOR: Shepard Smith on the Fox News Deck -- "The Five" in just a moment.

First, that brand-new hurricane forecast out from the National Hurricane Center in South Florida, and they thought it would strengthen instead it's gotten weaker, a cat-3, 120-mile-an-hour maximum sustained winds, but the core has enlarge, making the storm surge in even greater concern. Let's go live now to Ed Rappaport, he's the deputy director of the National Hurricane Center down in South Florida.

ED RAPPAPORT, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER DEPUTY DIRECTOR: Good evening. This is the 5 p.m. Eastern Time update on Hurricane Florence. Florence remains a dangerous hurricane. It's closing in on the southeast coast. This hour, the center of the hurricane is located less than 400 miles offshore approaching the North Carolina and South Carolina coast, remains a very dangerous hurricane, category 3 on the scale at this time with winds of about 120 miles per hour.

Don't think there'll be much change in terms of intensity over the next day or two, likely to approach the coast late Thursday into Friday with winds near that strength. Because of those winds, we're expecting a very high storm surge. As the center of the storm approaches the coast, strong winds will blow on shore, pushing water ashore, and that would mean a storm surge of -- as high as 9 to 13 feet. That's an innovation. Depth over normally dry water along portions of the North Carolina coast and up some of the rivers as well with somewhat lower values but still very dangerous all the way down into South Carolina and up to near the Virginia border.

So there is a storm surge warning along the coast now for life-threatening storm surge. And this will be one of the key hazards for this hurricane. We expect that everyone who needs to prepare has -- is in the process of doing so or is completed doing so, and is following the recommendations of local officials, including evacuations as necessary.

You also expect that the hurricane will slow down in its forward speed as it approaches the coast. That's bad news because not only does it prolong the wind and the storm surge along the coast, but it also allows the storm to dump more and more rainfall over land. And so we have a very large area of rainfall, total is expected of 5 to 10 inches or more, including areas that could see 20 inches, locally isolated spot to 40 inches. So we're expecting flooding along the coast from storm surge, the potential destructive winds of the coast, and then significant in-land flooding from rainfall.

And this is a big risk coming into the next couple of days. The hazards will be increasing. The conditions will be deteriorating tomorrow. And by tomorrow night and early Friday, they'll be near their worst along the coast. At the National Hurricane Center, I'm Ed Rappaport.

SMITH: So much. So let's take a look at what just happened. What happened is the storm has weekend when they thought it would strengthen, but that's not to say it's not still extremely dangerous. It is. They have thought there might be more strengthening, up to a category 4 before it hit land. Now they believe it will hit as a category 3. The big question is after it makes that glance and then begins to slow down, does it head down the coast into South Carolina and Georgia? Let's get a more detail look of what's expected in the next few days, our chief meteorologist Rick Reichmuth live in the Fox extreme weather center. Rick?

RICK REICHMUTH, FOX NEWS CHIEF METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Shep, yeah. Looking a little bit more like that, our two most reliable models are getting in a much better agreement. And that hasn't really been the case for about the last five or six days at any point with this storm. So now that we have that there's the GFS, there's the euro.

Euro has been talking about these a lot of the time. Both of them, though, drift this a little bit further towards the south here, and eventually pull in-shore somewhere here across -- may be South Carolina, North Georgia. One of the big things to point out is wherever the center of that is? We can't really say where that is going to be. Is that over the water or is it over land? If it move say 30 to 40 miles in-land, it will weaken a lot more rapidly.

If it stays over the water, it won't weaken as rapidly. However, it will weaken because of its slow movement it will pull up that area of low pressure will pull up cooler water that's below and it will start to weaken a little bit. When I say that, I mean from like a category 3 storm to a category 1 storm versus maybe that 50 miles an hour storm if it goes inland.

Here's all of our model, our -- those spaghetti models we talked about. All of them kind of, at least, on that same idea of a northwest turn, and then this little dip to the south, eventually, say next Monday or so, pulling off towards the Ohio valley. Take a look also here, this is the satellite image. As you've just said, it has not strengthened any.

It is going to go over some warmer water. Still has to go over the Gulf Stream. That's much higher oceanic heat content. That content that it needs for it to strengthen. So it is possible it could do that a little bit. However, the eye is really large, takes a lot longer for that to strengthen. That eye being also so large, the wind fill has expanded from this, so everybody is going to get something from this storm.

And take a look at the official track here, it's just kind of hugs the coast for a couple days. So that Thursday at 2 p.m., just off the shore. That's Friday at 2 p.m. That's Saturday at 2 p.m. You get the idea, not moving very much here at all. That's a prolonged period of onshore wind flows, so a storm surge pulling all of the water in. And because that wind doesn't change, all of that water is going to continue to be pulled in.

The storm surge that Ed Rappaport was just talking about and then the rain that falls behind this, that rain wants to go out to the ocean, but you're going to have all of the water being pushed in from the storm surge, and that's one of the reasons why we're so concerned about that inland flooding because that water won't be able to escape back out to the ocean.

And then, as he was just saying as well, looking at some spots, maybe 20 to 40 inches of rain here along the coast. I just want to tell you one last thing, Shepard, Wilmington, North Carolina, their wettest year that they've ever had already. That's before this storm is anywhere near here and that's such a rainy year already. So much of this ground is already saturated. There's no place for that water to go except to flood and tried to get out. As waters coming on shore, that's why we're so concerned about this disaster in the waiting. Shepard.

SMITH: Wow. Rick Reichmuth in the weather center, thank you. So for Virginia, things look better. For North Carolina, South Carolina, and parts of Georgia, doesn't look good. Wilmington, North Carolina, could get a direct hit there as you saw from Florence, folks under voluntary evacuation orders. And our Rick Leventhal is there right now. Rick.

RICK LEVENTHAL, FOX NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: And downtown Wilmington is just that way, Shepard. This is the main road into Wrightsville Beach and you see the police checkpoint there. They're stopping every vehicle. Normally, this would be a pretty busy highway, but not today. There's not a lot of traffic. The only people being allowed past that checkpoint are residents of Wrightsville Beach, which is just on the other side of this drawbridge. This bridge will close at 8 o'clock tonight.

That's it. No one else will be allowed onto the beach. Everyone who's on the beach and wants to get off will be able to drive over the bridge this way, but you can't get onto the beach after 8 o'clock tonight, and you probably wouldn't want too. We've seen fire rescue vehicles, beach patrol vehicles, pretty much any official who's been on the beach this week is getting off it now.

Most of the residents have heeded the evacuation orders. Most of the businesses around here are already closed. Most of them are also boarded up. Where we're standing will definitely be underwater if they get that 9 to 13-foot storm surge, Shepard, and they're pretty concern about it here in North Carolina.

SMITH: Sure they are. Rick Leventhal in Wilmington. Let's go 30-miles up the coast. Now, Steve Harrigan in Topsail Beach, North Carolina. Hey, Steve.

STEVE HARRIGAN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Shepard, all along this beach, you can see the boarded-up houses, plywood is in short supply around here, along with gasoline, bottled water, and bread. A beautiful beach day. We've got sunscreen on here, but all -- as far as the eye can see, you can't see another human being. People have been packing up, boarding up, getting in their vehicles and heading either far inland or north. Some of the business owners we've spoke to today said they are concerned that what they've built up here, seasonal businesses, might not exist after this storm is over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: Storms like this, you know, it shakes us for two or three weeks or longer. And it's going to hurt them, it's going to kill me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIGAN: Duke Energy says as many as 1 to 3 million people might lose power. And when you speak to people who decided to stay here and ride it out, they have heard the warnings. They know that at the very minimum, they are likely to be without electric power. Shepard, back to you.

SMITH: Steve Harrigan, North Topsail Beach in North Carolina. So the headline with this brand-new 5 o'clock eastern time update from the National Hurricane Center is this, the hurricane has weekend ever so slightly. The central pressure has gone up only 1 millibar.

It's continuing to hit northwest towards the coast where they believe it will strike a glancing blow somewhere along the North Carolina coast and then begin to drift down. If we look at the big map, you'll see it's now a category 3 storm moving towards that coast. If we have the big map. Let's take the big map. And there it is.

And you can see it's headed right up. They're believing that by Thursday afternoon, tomorrow afternoon at 2 o'clock, 125-mile-an-hour maximum sustained winds, that's a strong category 3. Then coming ashore, don't know exactly where, but somewhere around Wilmington, then drifting down the coast into South Carolina, potentially into Georgia, and lingering for multiple days.

The chance for an enormous storm surge is very good and chance of up to 40 inches of rain in isolated spots. Florence is one not to be taken lightly. The Five is next on Fox News Channel. I'm Shepard Smith on the Fox News deck.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JESSE WATTERS, CO-HOST: Hello, everybody and welcome to "The Five." Massive Hurricane Florence is set to slam into the Carolinas, potentially causing catastrophic damage, and somehow it's now President Trump's fault. The Washington Post out with an op-ed titled, another hurricane is about to batter our coast. Trump is complicit. According to the post, because President Trump doesn't bend over backwards to support climate change, he's now to blame. And I go to our resident climate change expert, Greg Gutfeld.

GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: This always drives me crazy. OK, I'll start with two facts and then have an overall assessment of the situation.

WATTERS: Juan, close your ears, he's going to talk facts now.

GUTFELD: OK. So from 1915 to 1965, that's 51 years, that there are 19 major hurricanes. Now, if you go 51 years from there, 1966 to 2016, you've only had seven. So that's 37 percent as frequent. So if there's rising climate change and fewer of these major hurricanes, there goes your theory. But there is something -- you know, there's an increase in damage over time with these hurricanes. But that's not due to the storm intensity, it's because we're increasing infrastructure in coastal areas, so you can blame -- not global warming, but you can blame the builders for building in areas where there're storms. But I will say this to be fair because I know Juan disagree with me, the jury is probably still out on this stuff. It's going to take time to look at everything.

The big problem is, is what I call the Trump floater. You know when you go to a bar and you order like a whiskey with a Bailey's floater or a Meyer's floater, every story is now a drink. Every story is a drink with a Trump floater. So it's like whether -- whether it's about -- like yesterday, 9/11, or hurricanes, or any kind of event, psychological disorders, depression.

DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: Can't sleep.

GUTFELD: You can't sleep, it's Trump. So everything now has a Trump angle. Everything is a drink with a Trump floater and it's because people and the media have Trump on the brain and they're using that instead of their brain.

WATTERS: Why are all your analogies about bars and bathrooms?

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: One always leads to the other.

WATTERS: That's true. That's true. I came prepared. And I'm going to address you as Mr. Williams, because I found out how old you are, Juan. And I knew this was going to be very statistical type of segment. I brought a chart. Can we see the chart, please, in the control room? Look at this chart. America, the largest decline in co2 emissions in the world. Look at us all the way up the top. We're reducing our co2. And countries like China, the European Union. Canada, they're increasing their co2. So first year of the Trump presidency, co2 is down. Now, Juan, explained that one.

JUAN WILLIAMS, CO-HOST: Maybe you kept your mouth shut in the hot air, you know, didn't get out. But I will say this, you have us as the number one emitter of these gases, and you say we make some steps to pull back and, therefore, everybody else is to blame? I don't get it.

WATTERS: No, we're decreasing our co2.

WILLIAMS: Yes, we're decreasing, and we should be.

WATTERS: . and China, and India, and the E.U. are increasing there.

WILLIAMS: Well, because they have an increasing base of middle-class people, factories, and the like. They're still gaining in middle class. We're an establishes economy.

WATTERS: The E.U. is gaining a middle class?

WILLIAMS: They are -- not the E.U., but China, a lot of what they call the brick nation, you know, Brazil, India, they're building up, Jesse. So the idea is that the United States, as a successful economy with a large middle class, would set an example about the need for reducing co2.

WATTERS: And we are.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: No, we're not.

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: That's why those statistics are what they are, Juan.

WILLIAMS: Here's what the Washington Post editorial board said. Guess who has just sign legislation to allow the expansion of methane gas in our released in our country? Donald Trump. Donald Trump and Republican orthodoxy has become, oh, we're the contraries. We don't believe these scientists. We don't believe any of this about increasing temperatures. And, Greg, there've been increasing temperatures over the last dozen years in the world.

WATTERS: Well, it's increasing temperature under my collar because you're making me very angry, Mr. Williams.

WILLIAMS: There you go.

WATTERS: Jedediah?

JEDEDIAH BILA, GUEST CO-HOST: The implication is that the United States should take measures which often, frankly, are job killing measures. It's hundreds of thousands of people in this country lose their jobs because it hurts energy production. And these other sources of energy production are not yet ready to roll and compete with coal and otherwise. And other countries just get to do nothing, and why would we help them.

WILLIAMS: No, no. Well, you're thinking.

BILA: But that was what the Paris accord was about.

WILLIAMS: No, no, it wasn't. And I think.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: . is a little off there, because the reality is that now alternative energy development has produced more jobs than -- let's say, coal mining.

WATTERS: Oh, year, there's tons of windmill jobs out there, Juan.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: They're backed by power stations.

WATTERS: Right. Dana, let's get some facts here. This was about Donald Trump and pre-blaming him for the hurricane. I mean, it's used to be the hurricane comes and then they attack him. Now, they're.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: Well, during President Obama's administration, Hurricane Sandy was blamed on Republicans as well. Republicans are always blamed for hurricanes. I talked to Charlie Hurt, yesterday, one of our Fox News contributor, he lives in the path of the hurricane and he said that people there are still talking about Hurricane Camille from 1969, when they had -- it was a terrible hurricane and that was before these rises. I do think that America plays an important role here, and that is because we're innovative and we have a growing economy right now, and that means you can invest in new technology so that you can get to the point that Jedediah was making which is, can we continue to figure out a way to decrease them. I would say from a political standpoint, the Republican Party could stand to talk about this a little bit more. They have a good position that they -- you know, you're going to lose an entire younger generation if you don't try to talk to them about this.

GUTFELD: You can't win. You can't win.

PERINO: Well, you can just not try.

GUTFELD: The thing is, right now, what's happening is that liberals, the left, the liberals, they replaced global warming with Trump. It used to be that global warming cause more shark attacks and depression, but now they've just said no, Trump causes everything bad. And so, now we have to do our best to somehow reduce the amount of Trump in the atmosphere.

(LAUGHTER)

BILA: You can support innovation. I think that's a great idea. But the problem is.

(CROSSTALK)

BILA: But the problem is that they want -- first of all, the United States can't do this by ourselves. If we do great things when it comes to other energy sources and the rest of the world doesn't follow suit, it's not going to accomplish anything. And also, if these other areas are not ready to compete with coal, I'm all for it. I'm all for innovations, but if they're not ready you can't kill one industry, and all these people have nowhere to go, nowhere to work. So that's why the free market exists.

WILLIAMS: Remember when Hillary Clinton said to the coal miners, you know, we can help you move on, find new kind of jobs. It was, oh.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: He also said we're going to put you out of business.

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: They put her out of business.

WILLIAMS: What we want to do is help people move on. But to your point, it sounded like you're making the case for the Paris climate deal because.

GUTFELD: I know.

WILLIAMS: . that locks in other countries to make commensurate sacrifices.

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: I think you need to re-read the accords.

PERINO: And the methane piece is a little bit more complicated than how Juan described it. We have to tease.

GUTFELD: Tell me about it.

WATTERS: Right. And I think the most important thing is whatever shoes Melania wear to the hurricane ravage states, they better not be too expensive because she's going to get attacked. Democrats completely silent after yet another left-wing political attack. Greg's on it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD: As we hear the media complain about Trump's blunt rhetoric, it pays to see their response when violence follows their rhetoric. One man just tried to stab a Republican candidate as the fiend allegedly cursed Trump. This comes as yet another Broadway star pleads for the president's death:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAROLE COOK, ACTRESS: Where is John Wilkes Booth when you need him, right? Will I be on an enemies list? Oh, god, I hope so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Oh, Johnny Depp looks terrible.

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: Cut back on the rum.

Now this comes as the cheerleader of confrontation brags about threatening Trump supporters all the time. You saw it:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MAXINE WATERS, D-CALIF.: I did not threaten his constituents, his supporters. I do that all the time, but I didn't do it that time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Now the media will call this cause and effect, but since it's a liberal, it's just a coincidence. Yes, all this violent anti-Trump rhetoric has absolutely nothing to do with actually harm that follows. How stupid of us to think of that. If only we had an actual expert, someone who knows firsthand what left-wing political violence looks like:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. STEVE SCALISE, R-LA.: They need to be denouncing that kind of activity. There's no place for it. If somebody on the right was doing it, we'd be vocally denouncing it. They need to be denouncing that on the left.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Remember him? Now his words probably won't matter as much these days because most victims now are just those with wounded feelings because that's what we care about. We hear a lot about Trump's rhetoric as though it's worse than violent deeds, this after four decades of incendiary words and deeds churning from the left. Guys like Bill Ayers, the left-wing bomber who just retired from a university that you pay for. On 9/11, he was quoted in the New York Times saying, I don't regret setting bombs, I feel we didn't do enough. Why do I get the sense there are more and more people, 17 years later, who might agree with them? It's the business of demonization and it seems to be booming. Just ask Scalise.

Indeed, Dana.

PERINO: It's like the kicker.

GUTFELD: Yes, you like the kicker. The thing is, there's never really a follow-up on these things if it's a right -- if it's not a righty.

PERINO: it's a one-off. It's a isolated incident.

GUTFELD: Yeah.

PERINO: It's just something (INAUDIBLE) the right tends to be a trend and that is extremely frustrating.

GUTFELD: It is frustrating. It seems, Juan, that the media and Democrats denounce violence when it suits them. And I place you in that camp.

WILLIAMS: I think it's Trump, by the way. When the right wing was all about beating up people at Trump rallies and I'm like, what did Trump say? He said, you know what, I don't endorse it but these people have tremendous passion.

GUTFELD: Nothing has ever happened?

WILLIAMS: Nothing has ever happened? how about I'd like to punch him in the face says Trump? How about.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: . in the good old days, we knock the crap out.

GUTFELD: Words, words.

WILLIAMS: So these words.

GUTFELD: I'm talking about deeds.

WILLIAMS: Oh, what about Charlottesville? You still want to talk about deeds?

GUTFELD: Wait, so Trump cause that too?

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: There's enough of that to go around.

WILLIAMS: That's what I'm saying.

WATTERS: You think you can play that game.

WILLIAMS: I'm not playing any game.

WATTERS: You are.

WILLIAMS: I'm just saying Scalise deserves all our sympathies. And he has grounds to speak on this with great authority given the suffering that he went through. But I'm just saying it strikes me that when Maxine Waters, and we've seen this tape a hundred times now on Fox, I guess we like it, but when Maxine Waters said it's OK to confront people -- people say, oh, that's violence. That's not the kind of violence we're seeing at Trump rallies.

WATTERS: It's funny because you just admitted she actually does threaten people all the time, just not in that particular incident.

WILLIAMS: No, we're talking about, like, what happened with Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

GUTFELD: It's OK to harass people.

WILLIAMS: No, no, no, to confront people and say, hey, I don't like what you're doing. We're Americans. We have a right to say that.

GUTFELD: In a world where feelings matter, unless you're Republican. You know, I think Maxine's sin, Jedediah, is that she's promoting everything but democracy. She's not saying vote, like, go out and vote. She's saying impeach, which is essentially saying overthrow.

BILA: Yeah, she's saying, basically, bully and use the media and use everything to -- when the Democrat process that -- he got elected. He's everybody's president. I keep hearing liberal say, oh, he's not my president. He's everybody's president.

And the media's selective coverage, I always think back to the tea party rallies that I went to all the time, and how the media was scouring those crowds looking for violence, looking for a signs that they could say was inciting violence. And then that same media ignored the same violence going on at Occupy Wall Street. People were getting raped, and there were accusations of rapes in these tents in New York City and beyond.

And the media's refusal -- they'll hold Trump to task for language that I'll agree in some cases is not good. But they won't hold people accountable for actual violence against people on the right.

GUTFELD: Yes, Antifa.

BILA: Somehow the rhetoric matters to them more than the actual acts of violence, because it depends on where it comes from.

GUTFELD: I understand why people act violent. Because if you have been taught for years that the other side is the oppressor and that you are the oppressed, it's not about being wrong or right. It's about being moral and immoral or evil. So the Republicans and conservatives will always be the target of violence, because they are seen as immoral or evil.

WATTERS: But because the ends justify the means.

GUTFELD: Yes.

WATTERS: And that's how they've been raised, and that's what they believe. And they're like infants. If they don't get their way, they will scream and they will punch. And I understand the frustration because Trump is winning and he rubs it in their face. And he pushes their buttons, and they're completely shut out of power on every level of the federal government.

WILLIAMS: Excuse me, Dr. Watters.

WATTERS: Yes, Mr. Williams.

WILLIAMS: I believe that -- I believe, Doctor, you were raised by liberal parents.

WATTERS: And I turned out fine. I haven't punched you yet.

WILLIAMS: That's right. You said, oh, they were raised to do this. Were you raised to be violent?

WATTERS: No, I'm saying they've been conditioned. Because like we've discussed, Hollywood has done a lot of disgusting things, and Maxine Waters, as you know, they traffic in this type of violent rhetoric. And I'm not blaming these people for the actions of one deranged individual. I'm saying they're not condemning these people when it comes out.

This man, who has Trump Derangement Syndrome, just tried to stab a Republican congressional candidate. And I haven't heard this once on the network news, anywhere outside of Fox News or the Internet. Where is the condemnation coming in from leadership in the Democratic Party, that says, "We don't condone this type of stuff"? I don't hear it at all. I hear crickets.

WILLIAMS: The guy is nuts.

BILA: But you're not blaming --

WATTERS: He's nuts. I agree.

BILA: You're saying you're not blaming -- you're not blaming all those people.

WATTERS: I'm not blaming, but they need to take a stand and condemn this stuff.

BILA: But folks on the left don't do that. They will -- one person will come out who happens to have a comment on their Facebook page that's pro- Trump, and now that it's all Trump supporters, all Republicans are violent. They don't give that same courtesy.

PERINO: I just want to say that there's one practical thing that could be done. The Federal Election Commission could change the law to allow campaign contributions to be used for personal security. And if you are a member or you are a candidate, and you are concerned, you should be allowed to do that. It would be fully disclosed, and I know that that is a proposal in front of them now, and I think they should just go ahead and do it.

GUTFELD: That's a good suggestion. Put that in your good suggestion journal.

PERINO: I will. That's a good idea. And smoke it.

GUTFELD: And smoke it. Oh, my goodness, Dana. What's happened to her? Ever since they legalized it, she's not been the same.

BILA: She sits next to you. You're a bad influence.

GUTFELD: No, no. Are you kidding me? I can't even keep up.

Coming up, we're expecting an update on Hurricane Florence from President Trump. We'll bring it to you live.

Plus, Nancy Pelosi bragging that Democrats have the midterms in the bag. Straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIAMS: This is a Fox News alert. We're expecting President Trump to speak at any moment. He's set to give us an update on the government's response to Hurricane Florence.

By the way, the storm has been downgraded to to a Category 3, but please understand, it's still extremely dangerous. We'll bring it to you live when the president begins.

Party leaders on the Hill drawing battle lines, issuing bold warnings and predictions for the midterm elections. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell fully expecting a rough fight in several of the battleground states.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL, R-KY.: All of them, too close to call. And every one of them, like a knife fight in an alley. I hope when the smoke clears that we'll still have a majority in the Senate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: And House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi again expressing confidence that her party will won the House, and she's going to be elected speaker.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOUSE MINORITY LEADER NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF.: I feel very comfortable about the support that I have in the caucus. And that I will be the speaker of the House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: Dana, give us your sense of what's going on.

PERINO: Well, I think that this is typical, right? So if you are the challenger, like Nancy Pelosi is, you want to express confidence and get people out there, motivate them to get out there.

If you are McConnell and you're in -- on the defensive position, you want to say, "Well, it looks tough, and I hope everyone's going to give us a lot more money." And basically, McConnell is usually like that, too, right? He under-promises and over-delivers. That's his goal.

But it is interesting that now Senator McConnell and his team is going to have to go into Texas and try to help Senator Ted Cruz to make sure that he can win that race. And that is a place where Republicans should not have to be spending money. But it's important enough that they are committed to doing it.

WILLIAMS: Boy, can you believe that McConnell has to bail out Ted Cruz?

WATTERS: Yes, they're best friends, I think.

PERINO: They are now.

WATTERS: I heard McConnell is doing something really cagey, which I expect. He's keeping the Senate open for the entire month of October to prevent all the Democratic senators from going to campaign, which is smart.

And I think they'll keep the Senate and the House. It's really dicey. The congressional generic ballot has really trended towards the left ever since the Manafort and the Cohen news dropped in August. You saw that trend really spike at that moment, and it really energized the left and it really depressed the right.

There's a lot of wild cards out there. George W. Bush is coming back, and he's starting to raise money. Trump is getting in there, and he's going to campaign hard.

And then the only thing left is the economy, and the economy is ripping right now.

PERINO: Yes.

WATTERS: Blue-collar wages are through the roof. There's -- the stock market is back to 26,000. And gas price still below $3 a gallon. So things are looking good on that front. Who knows what's going to happen?

WILLIAMS: Jedediah, I think part of the amazement that people have is that places like Indiana --

BILA: Yes.

WILLIAMS: -- which is a red state. Mike Pence, the vice president, from Indiana. And you have a Democrat incumbent there, Joe Donnelly. But right now it looks like a toss-up.

BILA: I know.

WILLIAMS: And then you -- let's look at some other states. Montana, you know, Heidi Heitkamp looks like -- Jon Tester. I should say. Looks like a toss-up. Missouri.

BILA: Yes.

WILLIAMS: Who thought that Democrats could hold these red --

PERINO: But they haven't had the ads spent against them yet.

BILA: Yes, that's true.

WATTERS: Wait till that Coke money starts flowing in.

PERINO: That would be -- that would be -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) with an "H." Crazy.

WATTERS: With a "K."

BILA: You have a point, though, because you would never think --

WATTERS: Not cocaine, Mitch.

BILA: -- that they'd have to fight in places -- it is an indication that places that -- that typically many would think would be a guarantee is not a guarantee.

I do think Nancy Pelosi is a nightmare for Democrats, though. She's very polarizing. People in swing districts really can't stand her. A lot of Democrats on the ballot are already saying, "We're not aligning ourselves with her."

And I think -- I think it's a bad move. I mean, she's part of an old regime, so to speak. I think they need some new blood in there. And if you have people on the fence, likely to vote, as you say, in all these places that are very red that may flip and may say, as a rejection of Trump, "We're going to vote for a Democrat," Nancy Pelosi is being used in all these Republican attack ads. And they're saying, "Listen, you don't want to go over there." So I don't know.

But it's not right now, but it could. And I don't think she's very good for the left.

WILLIAMS: So Greg, I want to pick up on Jedediah's point with you, that, you know, you look at a situation where you want to encourage Republicans to go to the polls.

WATTERS: Yes.

WILLIAMS: I saw that Kevin McCarthy, the whip, said, "Oh, Nancy Pelosi should scare people." Is that going to work?

GUTFELD: Well, she could do it pretty easily.

You know, these races are closer than Michael Moore's thighs.

WATTERS: Or about to eat dinner.

GUTFELD: You have to prepare for the midterms the way you prepare for a hurricane. That means you've got to be prepared for the worst.

And I think, you know, you go by history, the party of the incumbent always loses, because they don't see much of -- to win, which is a mistake on their part. And then the party that is out of power has nothing to lose and everything to gain, so you've got to prepare for that.

I am looking forward to Pelosi back in the saddle, because I imagine our show will be written by 11 a.m. And I can head to the sauna, because we'll have two Pelosi blocks every day.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

GUTFELD: I'm excited.

WILLIAMS: She will be the Wicked Witch of the West.

GUTFELD: Yes. Of "The Five."

WILLIAMS: And she's coming in on a broom on top of the Hurricane Florence.

PERINO: Uh-oh.

WILLIAMS: And we can go to Rick Reichmuth, and he'll say, "And there's Pelosi."

PERINO: You have a wild imagination, Juan.

WILLIAMS: All right. Stay right there. Wild Card Wednesday up next on "The Five."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIAMS: I love this.

PERINO: All right. It's time now for "Wild Card Wednesday." All right. We each picked a topic that's not in the show and put them in this hat. None of us knows the stories each other selected.

So up first, let's see if I get made fun of today.

All right. Survey shows Americans are willing to go into debt for new iPhones. Eleven percent of Americans would be willing to go into debt. Announced today that phones range now from $750 all the way to 15 -- well, $1,400. That's a lot of money.

Who's was this?

WILLIAMS: This was mine.

PERINO: All right, Juan.

WILLIAMS: And today the new iPhone comes out. Supposed to have a larger screen than ever, Dana. But it's the price, the price that's really shocking, because if you're going to pay $1,500 for an iPhone, basically now, we already know that there's a big line of demarcation in American society that says you can tell the rich from the poor by who owns an iPhone. Gregory is nodding, and so you know I'm right, Dana.

Thank you, Greg.

GUTFELD: I don't talk to anybody who doesn't own an iPhone.

WILLIAMS: OK. Is that right? Oh, my gosh.

GUTFELD: Actually, I don't talk to anybody.

WATTERS: No, they don't talk to you.

GUTFELD: I know.

WILLIAMS: Put your microphone back on.

PERINO: Would you go into debt for an iPhone?

WATTERS: I'm already in debt, Dana.

PERINO: In debt to me.

WATTERS: OK. Yes, no, I would not. I don't think I need it, and I use the flip phone still.

PERINO: Yes?

WATTERS: From the late '90s.

PERINO: The Jitterbug?

WATTERS: It does as good of a job as the iPhone.

PERINO: It is interesting. You've just written -- your new book is coming out soon.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: "#DoNotDisturb."

BILA: Yes.

PERINO: And this doesn't surprise you that people would be willing.

BILA: No, because people get addicted. And then you also want to fit in. It becomes the trendy new thing.

PERINO: But also, want to take pictures.

GUTFELD: Just like technology.

PERINO: It also becomes your office. If you have one of these and you are an entrepreneur, you don't even need an office. You can work wherever you want.

BILA: Old models are good.

GUTFELD: The reason why it's important is because it's supplementing your brain. This is -- people talk about putting stuff in your head. Everything is here. You've got the Bible. You've got every Shakespearean work. You've got everything you could ever have here. You -- this is your brain now. It is your external drive.

PERINO: Worth every penny, worth every penny.

WATTERS: And I don't know my parents' phone number.

GUTFELD: I do.

PERINO: But you know --

WATTERS: Watch what you say about my mother!

GUTFELD: No, it was your dad.

WATTERS: OK.

PERINO: I'm going to give you a tip. I'm going to give you a tip. Print out your contact list once a year. Because then, if something goes down, and you have a cyber-attack or something, you will have the phone numbers.

GUTFELD: That's another good idea.

WATTERS: Totally good idea.

PERINO: Thank you. GreatIdeaJournal.com.

GUTFELD: That was a good idea.

WILLIAMS: Dana, are you going to buy one?

PERINO: I have an iPhone.

GUTFELD: I'm bored by -- get the next --

PERINO: The next one is it's rude to wait more than 20 minutes to reply to a text, Google research. People think it's rude to wait.

BILA: Yes.

PERINO: If you wait 20 minutes, people get rude. This isn't the one I chose. I mean, come on.

BILA: That's the one I chose.

PERINO: Really?

BILA: Yes, yes.

PERINO: Why did you choose it?

BILA: Yes, because people are going insane. I have friends -- I have a friend who's dating a guy who, you know, she'll text him something and then if he doesn't answer, 10 minutes later, "Oh, I hate him."

WATTERS: You've got to let her wait at least 10 minutes. Twenty, 30.

BILA: I mean, like, 20 minutes. People have jobs. They're doing other stuff. But because we're all like this, the assumption is that you're going to answer right away. Everybody's lost their minds.

GUTFELD: If you don't answer me immediately, you are dead to me.

BILA: You don't answer me immediately when I text you.

PERINO: I have another one. Mark Wahlberg at 47 baffles fans as he shares his insane day schedule. Apparently, daily routine includes two major workouts that last more than an hour each, two showers, a cryochamber recovery, golf, business news, family time and prayer.

WATTERS: This was my story.

PERINO: Starts his day at 2:30 a.m. and goes to bed at 7:30 p.m. Is that true?

WATTERS: Yes, according to Mark. And I did this for all the ladies in the control room who really wanted to see Mark with his shirt off. You're welcome.

It's a day similar to mine. You know, you wake up, you pray. Then you eat breakfast. Then you do two workouts.

GUTFELD: He's really put on weight. You know, his percentage of body fat is a little bit higher than mine.

WATTERS: High BMI there.

PERINO: He's not on one of those low-carb diets.

GUTFELD: Exactly.

PERINO: Greg, this must be yours, then. Novelist who wrote about how to murder your husband is charged with --

GUTFELD: Killing her husband.

PERINO: That's amazing.

GUTFELD: Well, you know, it's great, because it goes against my theory that, if you want to kill somebody, write a book saying you're going to kill somebody, because when they interview you, you go, "What? I would write a book I'm going to kill my wife and then kill my wife? That's nuts!"

WATTERS: That was a movie.

GUTFELD: Yes.

WATTERS: With Sharon Stone.

GUTFELD: Was it? I can't remember.

PERINO: This is a romance novelist. She wrote books about relationships, including one about a woman --

WATTERS: What was the famous movie with Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone? "Basic Instinct." That's the plot of "Basic Instinct."

PERINO: Oh, this is because --

GUTFELD: That's the only movie you've seen.

PERINO: No, because you're going back and watching movies from the '90s.

WATTERS: Guilty as charged.

PERINO: Guilty as charged. What do you think, Jedediah?

BILA: I mean, Greg's point is true, honestly, on that. That's a racy movie, "Basic Instinct."

WATTERS: It is, it is.

BILA: One movie you've seen, and that's it?

WATTERS: Shocked my moral fiber.

PERINO: All right. They're asking me to tease. That was a great "Wild Card Wednesday." "One More Thing" is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: Time now for "One More Thing." We're still awaiting the president, but -- Jesse --

GUTFELD: There's Jesse.

WATTERS: You know, the Woodward interview and the Kerry interview went to your head, Dana. You know what? It's an ensemble cast. This is not "The Daily Briefing."

PERINO: I want to make sure we get this in before.

WATTERS: OK, let's do this. Go.

PERINO: It's Greg Gutfeld's birthday.

BILA: Woo!

PERINO: So sorry, Jesse.

GUTFELD: Look what they got me.

PERINO: It's a plate of ribs and also --

GUTFELD: Ribs.

PERINO: -- a bottle of -- there you go.

GUTFELD: Awesome. I'll be drinking this on the way home.

PERINO: Happy birthday.

GUTFELD: Thank you. From the Edna Valley. Mmm, the Maverick. I like to think of myself as "The Five's" maverick.

These ribs, by the way, are insane.

WATTERS: All right. Forty looks good on you, Greg.

GUTFELD: Thank you. Forty what?

PERINO: You want me to read this for you?

GUTFELD: Eat some of these, you guys. I'm not eating all of them.

PERINO: No, no, no, I'm good.

WATTERS: Are you sure?

Fox Nation is underway. It's an on-demand subscription-based service. You can see a lot of exclusive talent from some of the best people that you see on the air here. And they're going to be even zanier behind --

GUTFELD: Seen here.

PERINO: Are you serious?

WATTERS: Greg Gutfeld will be there.

PERINO: Mine's called -- mine's called "Dana's Book Club."

WATTERS: Dana will be there. But you don't say what kind of books they are.

PERINO: Go for zany.

WATTERS: It's very, very zany. I think Tomi Lahren wanted to say a few things. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: No holds barred talk. Can't-miss news specials and documentaries and more.

TOMI LAHREN, FOX NEWS: This is our time, and this is going to be our place.

ANNOUNCER: Fox Nation, coming soon. Sign up for updates and be the first to know. Go to FoxNation.com.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: All right. I think you'll --

GUTFELD: She nailed that.

WATTERS: -- be able to watch every single "Watters' World" package I ever cut, all 300 of them --

GUTFELD: That's such a bad idea.

WATTERS: -- at Fox Nation. We tweaked some of them for time.

GUTFELD: For time. That's very smart.

WATTERS: "Wednesdays with Watters" tonight on Martha MacCallum's show, 7 p.m. Be there or be square.

Greg is next.

GUTFELD: I've got a podcast, it's up. It's, what, at FoxNewsPodcasts.com. It's with Dr. Michael Aronoff. We talk about nightmares, sleep, sleep terrors, lucid dreaming and why we think bad thoughts. It's very interesting.

WATTERS: I bet it's heavy.

GUTFELD: You won't find that on Fox Nation. Yet, anyway. Anyway, maybe you will. Who knows?

WATTERS: All right. Juan.

GUTFELD: I'm eating ribs. What do I care?

WILLIAMS: So how's this for symbolism, folks? Take a look at this video shot yesterday in Andover, Minnesota. Yes, that's an eagle, in case you couldn't make it out, perched on an extended ladder on the back of a fire truck that was there to honor victims of the 9/11 terror attacks' 17th anniversary, the tragedy yesterday.

Fire chief Jerry Streich, who made the video, said the eagle landed there and stayed for so long he was able to get his phone out and capture the video. The eagle landed there just as the pair of fire trucks were suspending a giant American flag. "We couldn't have asked for anything more patriotic," the chief said. The Facebook video, by the way, has been viewed by more than three million folks and attracted endless well wishes. Looks like fate, huh?

WATTERS: Beautiful video.

All right. Jedediah.

BILA: Well, a camera that was meant to catch intruders caught another little thief in the kitchen with paws and a tail.

PERINO: Uh-oh.

BILA: This German Shepherd was enticed and smelled warm peanut butter, which frankly, I understand why that was appealing. You can't -- now, this dog removes the aluminum foil first, then gets back up and eats pretty much all the stuff.

WILLIAMS: Was it a pie?

BILA: Luckily, it was a dog-friendly treat. This made me very nervous, because some stuff dogs can't eat.

Watters: Oh!

BILA: He knocks it over and apparently ate at all. Does Jasper do this?

PERINO: No, he does not do that. He does not do that. He's an angel.

We have a little bit of time. What are you doing for your birthday?

GUTFELD: Well, after I eat these ribs --

WATTERS: Can I have a rib?

GUTFELD: Are you kidding? I'm done, because I've got to go to dinner after this. The wife and I are going to have a nice meal downtown somewhere. I would give the name, but I would hate to be mobbed by my -- my massive fan base in downtown New York. They see me, they go crazy. They rip out what's left of my hair, and then they proposition me right in front of my wife. It's embarrassing.

BILA: What's your ideal meal for your birthday? You have that planned out?

GUTFELD: Well, I was going to -- I was going to have ribs, but now that I've had ribs, I'm going to have to find something else.

BILA: An appetizer next.

WATTERS: You ruined your appetite, basically.

GUTFELD: I had three ribs. But I probably won't eat until 8 p.m., so I can have another meal.

PERINO: You've got time.

WILLIAMS: I'm thinking -- I'm thinking of fireworks on the Hudson in celebration of Greg's birthday.

GUTFELD: Wouldn't that be nice?

WILLIAMS: And then I was thinking we could have, like, dancing people, because you can't have dancing girls. I didn't want to say that.

GUTFELD: Yes.

WILLIAMS: You'd just have dancing people on -- you know, like clowns on those high stilts?

GUTFELD: You're a strange man.

PERINO: Wow, you're really being creative.

GUTFELD: You know, what would be great for my birthday? If everybody went and bought my book, "The Gutfeld Monologues."

WATTERS: Ohh.

GUTFELD: Wouldn't that be nice? That would be a great gift for me.

PERINO: That would be great.

GUTFELD: Because I'm the one who matters today.

WATTERS: All right. The birthday boy said it. Set your DVRs. Never miss an episode of "The Five." "Special Report" is up next -- Bret.

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Thanks, Jesse.

Happy birthday, Greg.

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