This is a rush transcript from “Your World with Neil Cavuto," September 15, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Here we go again, getting ready for Sally.
Welcome, everybody. I'm Neil Cavuto. This is YOUR WORLD.
And we are flashing all around, Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana right now, where they're worried about flooding conditions and water surges in excess of 11 feet as a result of Sally. It could come in as a Category 2 hurricane when it makes landfall perhaps later tonight, early tomorrow morning.
Also looking around right now at Mobile, Alabama, the track of Sally is hard to gauge. And the other part that's making it very difficult to forecast is, it's so slow-moving, at about two miles an hour. That can do a lot of damage, especially since Sally is packing a lot of rain.
Back to the flooding issue that is now front and center, as are we with the latest from Jonathan Hunt right now in Biloxi, Mississippi -- Jonathan.
JONATHAN HUNT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Neil, it is a very wet day on the beach here in Biloxi, Mississippi.
And, as you look at it the famous Lighthouse Pier behind me, Hurricane Sally is out there, but, my word, she is taking her time in getting here. Two miles per hour, she's moving out. That's about the speed I'm walking right now, slower than most humans normally walk, slower, Neil, you might be interested to know, than a sea turtle actually moves.
But when she comes, she is bringing with her so much rain. It is raining pretty heavily now. It's going to keep doing this and get more and more heavy over the next 24 hours. And they're talking about historic flooding, when you combine that amount of rain with the storm surge we're going to get.
And here in Biloxi and right along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, into Alabama, onto the Florida Panhandle, they know all too well what historic flooding can mean.
You remember, Neil, back in 2005, Hurricane Katrina, we talked so much when we talk about Katrina, about New Orleans, with good reason. But this entire section of the Mississippi coastline got slammed too, billions of dollars in damage, hundreds of lives lost.
And as you look in the distance there, that is the famous Beau Rivage Casino. That was flooded three floors up during Katrina. It has been shut down completely right now because of the fears of some sort of repeat of that and similar levels of flooding, Neil.
So, while there aren't any more mandatory evacuations here in Mississippi, there are in other -- here in Biloxi, Mississippi -- there are in other areas of the state and into Alabama, where the governor is warning anyone not to take this lightly. Listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IVEY: Hurricane Sally is not to be taken for granted. We are looking at record flooding, perhaps breaking historic levels. And with rising water comes a greater risk for loss of property and life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: And that is the great concern, any loss of property, and much more so any loss of life, Neil.
And they are saying that this will be a life-threatening storm surge. And this rain, as I say, Neil, is likely to sit over this area and on eastwards to Alabama and, as I say, to the Florida Panhandle for at least 24 hours.
And this storm moving so slowly, that what makes it so dangerous. This is not a wind event, Neil. It's all about the rain and the storm surge -- Neil.
CAVUTO: Jonathan, we should be hearing from the president as he leaves the White House en route to Philadelphia.
I'm sure he is in contact with the state's governors and all in the region, but they have not called for any evacuations, at least in Mississippi, yet, right?
HUNT: In Biloxi, Mississippi, there are no mandatory evacuations.
The governor of Mississippi has said there are some mandatory evacuations in other low-lying parts, but not here in particular.
CAVUTO: Right.
HUNT: But then you go on into Alabama. They're very concerned, Neil. There are some mandatory evacuations in place there.
CAVUTO: All right, thank you, Jonathan, very much for clarifying that.
Now the president United States en route to Philadelphia talking to reporters moments ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... the economic world having to do with our country is doing unbelievably well. The numbers are good.
And you will see some very good numbers, I think, released just prior to November 3, for the third quarter. I think it's going to be -- I think they will be fantastic numbers.
Do you have any questions?
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
TRUMP: So, with the suburban voter, we're taking care of them. It's safety. It's about safety. It's about law and order.
It's also about getting regulations where housing is forced into a suburban neighborhood. And that's the American dream. And, by the way, minorities want that. Everybody wants that. They want the American dream, because, when you think of suburbia, it's about 30 percent, close to 30 percent minority.
Some people say more than that. They want their American dream. They don't want to have it be obliterated.
So, we have ended the rule, the regulation, as you know. And if Biden got in, he would put it right back, except they would double it up. And they say that Cory Booker would be in charge. He's the one that's pushing it. We're not going to do that. We're not going to destroy suburbia.
And, just basically, I think we have a very strong, very powerful law and order campaign. We are endorsed by almost every major police group. Believe it or not, it's not easy for them to do -- the Chicago police just endorsed us. You heard that.
New York City, New York's finest endorsed us. We have Ohio. We have Florida. We have -- I mean, we have everybody. And we just want safe streets. We don't want to have a Portland. We don't want to have what happened in Seattle that we took care of by saying, we're going in.
And they immediately gave up. We don't want to have that. We want to have safety. We don't want to have Chicago, where people get shot and people get killed. We don't want to have that. Those are all Democrat-run cities. And we don't want to have that.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) Yesterday in California, you said, "I don't think the science knows, actually," when it comes to climate change.
Can you explain what you mean by that? And, sir, do you believe in climate change?
TRUMP: Yes.
Well, I'm a big believer in forest management. If you notice the gentleman at the table, the professor, he's a big believer in what I said. He came up to me and said, sir, you happen to be right.
When you let the floors of the forest build up with leaves and build up with broken timber that's dry as a bone, you're causing forest fires. That's the problem. You're causing forest fires.
So, I believe in a lot of things, but I definitely believe in forest management. Plus, you have to have some breaks. If you don't have breaks in between, so that, when you do have areas, you're not going to lose 250,000 acres every time of beautiful forest.
So -- and I think, frankly, the governor, I get with him along very well. I think the governor agrees with me.
Yes, please.
QUESTION: Do you think global warming is a hoax? (OFF-MIKE)
TRUMP: Well, I think you have people that don't want to address China. They don't want to address Russia. They don't want to address India.
They don't want to address these countries that haven't done very much for global warming, for the carbon footprint, for any of the things that they talk about. You have a lot of countries that -- we're supposed to do it. And we do, do it.
By the way, our carbon numbers right now are very low. They're really low. Our water, our air, I want it to be clean. I want it to be immaculate. And I want to be crystal. I want it to be absolutely clean. And that's what we're doing.
But we, at the same time, don't want to drive our businesses out because they can't compete. If you look at China, with all of the plants they have, you take -- you just take a look at China and look at what's coming out of China.
Take a look at our oceans and see who's dumping in our oceans. It's not us. It's not us. And I think that's something people should be addressing.
Steve.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
TRUMP: What are they going to do?
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
TRUMP: Well, then we will have to do something about the WTO, because they have let China get away with murder. They consider China to be a developing nation.
And by -- as a developing nation, as -- did this just happen, Steve? Just happened? All right. Well, we will take a look at that. But I'm not a big fan of the WTO. That, I can tell you right now. Maybe they did us a big favor.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) What do you think of the Oracle deal?
TRUMP: Well, we're going to make a decision pretty soon.
I have a high respect for Larry Ellison. He's somebody I know. He's been really a terrific guy for a long time. So we're going to take a look. I heard they're very close to a deal. And we will be looking at the TikTok deal with Larry Ellison and Oracle.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) General Mattis, General Kelly (OFF-MIKE)
TRUMP: Because we're very different.
And you can see that with the deal we made today. I'm not a big fan of General Mattis, as you know. I think he's a very overrated general.
But, regardless, he -- I guess he's a nice guy. He just didn't do the job for me. He didn't do the ISIS job. After we got rid of him, it worked out very well. We took over 100 percent of the caliphate.
But I do things differently. If you listened to the three world leaders today -- and these are highly respected leaders and countries. UAE is a tremendously respected warrior. I mean, they're warriors. They're a very strong, respected country.
If you listen to what they said, nobody thought of the plan that I thought of. And it's going around the back door. I call it going around the smart door and coming in a different way.
And we have many other countries going to be joining us. And they're going to be joining us soon. We will have -- I can -- I mean, I think seven or eight or nine. We're going to have a lot of other countries joining us, including the big ones.
We already have the big one, but including the big ones. And this is not something that the people that you mentioned would be able to be doing.
And it's not something that my critics thought was possible. And now they say, wow, that was a good idea.
I will say, it's gotten rave reviews, even from The New York Times and Tom Friedman and a lot of people that don't like Donald Trump too much. They have given it literally rave reviews. So this is one deal. But we have many others like this.
Look, our country's been stagnant for many years. We did nothing but give our money away, give our wealth away and give our jobs away. And now we stopped that. We stopped that three-and-a-half years ago.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
TRUMP: I spoke with the king of Saudi Arabia.
At the right time, I do think they will come in. Yes, I do. This is a -- this is a very big and various historic moment. And I think everyone agrees to that.
But we will have other countries coming in fairly rapidly.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) indoor rallies are safe?
TRUMP: So, I think this.
I think you have a governor of Nevada who wouldn't let us use outside venues. The night before -- I think you were there -- we had a massive crowd, and it was an outside venue.
Well, we had other outside venues the next day in Las Vegas. The governor made it impossible for the people that do it, our people, the people that do it, and forced us into an indoor rally. We didn't want an indoor rally, but we did an indoor rally.
They spaced as much as they could have. But the governor could have solved the problem. All he had to do is let us use one of the outdoor venues. Plus, they had 25,000 people outside of the venue that couldn't get in.
But it's very interesting. When they have protests, that's OK. When they have violence, where they have anarchists and they have agitators, that's OK.
The governor of Nevada should not be in charge of ballots. The ballots are going to be a disaster for our country. And the governor of Nevada should not be in charge of ballots.
When he won't let us meet and congregate and do, really, a friendly protest, he should not be in charge of the ballots. You're going to have problems with the ballots like nobody's ever seen before.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAVUTO: All right, the president wrapping up a few minutes ago on route to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Of course, the battleground there for its 20 electoral votes is on, the president winning the state four years ago, when no one thought he would. Polls are tightening right now in the Keystone State. The president also referring to that peace agreement today, where the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain hope to do business with Israel and vice versa.
But the business relations or the normal relations between all of them has already sparked calls that other countries could follow suit in the region.
The president intimated that earlier today at the White House ceremony that had a Camp David sort of a feel for it. That's when Jimmy Carter, of course, brought together Menachem Begin of Israel, and, of course, Anwar Sadat of Egypt, to set the way for peace accords that are hammered out at the White House.
When all is said and done, the president optimistic that more are on the way, and this is the backdrop for him as he gets ready to go to Pennsylvania.
Of course, the vice president, the former Vice President Joe Biden, in Florida today. We will have much more on their campaign plans.
Right now, back to the hurricane that is getting everyone's attention in the Gulf of Mexico right now.
Right now, Sally is a Category 1 storm, but she could hit land as a Category 2.
Adam Klotz class has been following it very, very closely.
Adam, what can you tell us so far?
ADAM KLOTZ, FOX NEWS METEOROLOGIST: Well, Neil, as you said, this is a big, powerful storm, either a strong Category 1 or a weak Category 2 hurricane.
But the real story is just going to be the slow movement of this. So, it's not really the wind that's going to make a big deal. It's how that rain is going to linger around, that wall of water ultimately getting the storm surge to very high numbers, winds at 80 miles currently, still just moving at two miles an hour.
And you're getting some of the outer bands of rain beginning to beat up areas from the Florida Big Bend, all the way across the Panhandle, getting into Mississippi and Alabama.
Those are going to be the spots that will see the worst of this, see the rain that is just going to linger on and on winds.
Currently fairly widespread in the 30-to-40 mile-an-hour range. You see a couple of spots where you're jumping up closer to 60 or 70 miles an hour. That's going to be right at closer to the center of the storm, now, ultimately, probably making landfall sometime tomorrow mid-morning as a Category 1, as we said, strong Category 1 hurricane, weak Category 2.
And then it begins it's very slow march across the Southeast. The story is going to be all the rain it brings with it. When you talk about two miles an hour, that's a lot of time for a shower or a thunderstorm to just sit over top of you. All of that rain falling begins to really pile up.
This is the motion of it. Again, this is just tomorrow morning, so not a lot of movement between now and then. A lot of time for that rain to build up. So, no surprise here, we have some really impressive numbers. You get down into those white colors, I think widespread, anywhere from 10 to 20 inches.
There's going to be isolated areas with 30 inches of rain, and then taking 10 inches of rain or so all the way up into Atlanta, across the Carolinas. This is going to be a large rain event for a whole lot of people, so no surprise when we see the watches and the warnings for flooding.
And, again, Neil, I really think the rain isn't too bad right now, but it's going to deteriorate tonight. And then tomorrow is going to be a long day for a lot of folks -- back out to you.
CAVUTO: To put it mildly, my friend.
Thank you very much, Adam Klotz following all of that.
In the meantime, I do want to go Nick Geiser in Biloxi, Mississippi, the emergency manager.
Nick, thank you for taking the time.
What are you guys bracing for right now? What's the latest that you have to go on?
NICK GEISER, BILOXI, MISSISSIPPI, EMERGENCY MANAGER: Well, thank you for having me.
So, right now, we are -- like we have been hammering home, that we're bracing for potential flash floods, a ton of rain over the next 24 hours. We're a peninsula city. So, we have got a bay, we have got the Gulf, and we have two rivers that we have to contend with. So, we really focus on our low-lying areas right now.
CAVUTO: You know, Nick, I guess, at least in the Biloxi area, there are no mandatory evacuations.
The governor has recommended in other areas to do just that. But people are leery when it comes to evacuations, aren't they? Maybe it's COVID-19. Maybe it's the thought of going into a shelter, a crowded shelter, what have you.
If it ever came time to do that in Biloxi, do you think people would follow through?
GEISER: Yes, sir.
We always have those that will stay. But I think the majority of everybody here in the city would heed the warning and try to evacuate the city, if it ever came to a mandatory evacuation.
CAVUTO: I have no doubt. Hang in there. I know you're a busy guy. We do appreciate your taking the time to update us on everything.
Nick, be well, be safe yourself.
We have a lot more coming up. We're going to be taking a look at some Apple announcements today that are getting some mezza mezza sort of previews. That's Italian for nothing that great, but it's worth looking at, ahead of the new iPhone announcement next month.
We're also following the campaign trail. We told you about the president heading off to Pennsylvania, Joe Biden spending the day in Florida. I believe that's the first time Joe Biden has visited the Sunshine State since becoming the Democratic nominee.
We're on all of that -- after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: All right, the battle for the battleground states, Joe Biden in Florida.
We talked about the president on his way to Pennsylvania yet again, but, for Biden, first trip as the Democratic nominee in a state where the polls are close, but that's kind of the case in a lot of those battleground states, isn't it?
Steve Harrigan joins us now from Tampa.
Hey, Steve.
STEVE HARRIGAN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Neil, you're right.
It is former Vice President Joe Biden's first trip to Florida since getting the nomination. He touched down here in Tampa just a few hours ago.
He's trying to shore up his support among Hispanic voters. And he's also courting military veterans. Here's the former vice president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Quite frankly -- I won't try to get angry.
Quite frankly, it makes me very upset the way he gets in front of the camera and crows about how much he has done for veterans, and then turns around and insults our service members and fallen heroes when the camera is off, calls them suckers and losers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIGAN: President Trump has had surprising support among Hispanic voters here in Florida. He's even with Biden in some recent polls among those voters.
And the Republican strategy has been pretty direct and blunt to try to target Biden as a socialist in a state where many people have fled socialist dictators. Here's President Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We don't want to have a socialist country. We don't want to have -- some of you came -- some of you came from parts of the world where it's socialist or worse.
You know, it's called the C-word, right, the C-word, because I think, in many cases, these people are talking even beyond socialism. And we're not going to let that happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIGAN: Biden is now on route to Kissimmee, Florida, and the central part of the state. They have a large Puerto Rican population. Biden is announcing a recovery plan for the island, which will include major spending on infrastructure, health care, and schools -- Neil, back to you.
CAVUTO: Thank you, Steve, very, very much, Steve in Tampa, Florida.
Let's go Eliza Collins right now, Wall Street Journal.
Eliza, Florida is one off those that it's the big battleground. It's very representative of the country. Polls are tight. The vice president, the former vice president, a late campaigner there, but he has been busy moving out of his home in Delaware a lot more now.
How do you read all of this?
ELIZA COLLINS, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Well, it shows that the Biden campaign is taking Florida seriously. And they absolutely should.
Polling shows recently that Biden is weaker than Hillary Clinton was with Latino voters in Florida and across the country, but particularly in Florida, where Latino voters make up one-fifth of the population.
And in a state like Florida, we heard the president talking about this, a lot of the Latinos come from places like Cuba and Venezuela, where the argument about socialism, and communism might resonate more than, say -- I'm here in Arizona right now. A lot of those Latinos are from places like Mexico.
So the president is showing signs of strength in Florida. And so Biden needs to get out there and talk to these voters if he wants to really have a chance.
CAVUTO: He has a big friend, a big well-heeled friend in Michael Bloomberg, who is willing to spend $100 million of his own money to seal the deal for Joe Biden there. That can buy a lot of ads, can't it?
COLLINS: It absolutely can, a friend and former rival in the Democratic primary.
CAVUTO: Right. Right.
COLLINS: But $100 is a ton of money, especially coming in at the end.
I mean, Florida is one of the most expensive states. That Miami media market in particular costs a lot of money to get ads there. But $100 million dollars is a lot of money. And it's coming in, in the final couple of months, when voters have started to pay attention, when polls are tight. That really could make a difference.
CAVUTO: All right, we will follow closely.
Eliza, great catching up with you again. Thank you very much, Eliza Collins following all of that for The Wall Street Journal and helping us out with this as well.
Let's get the read on that $100 million that Eliza was talking about. That's a lot of money. And whether you think it's going to do or close the deal in Florida, it does allow the campaign to utilize these other resources in other states.
Let's get the read on that from our own Charlie Gasparino. We have got Nicole Brener-Schmitz, the Democratic strategist, and Frances Newton Stacy, Optimal Capital director of strategy.
Nicole, as a Democratic strategist here, that's a big favor Joe Biden is getting from Michael Bloomberg. And I thought, in the back of my mind, I mean, how does he utilize that?
NICOLE BRENER-SCHMITZ, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I don't think it's a favor. I think it's Michael Bloomberg putting his money behind where his values are. And his values are to elect Joe Biden as president.
And I don't think the Republicans are short on donors who are spending big money. It's not $100 million against nothing for the Republicans in Florida. They have got plenty of mega-donors that are going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in the state as well.
CAVUTO: Charlie Gasparino, it's a lot of money. I mean, I know it's just sort of couch cushion change for Michael Bloomberg.
But I began immediately wondering, is that maybe for a position in a Biden White House, Treasury secretary, what? I'm being way jaded, aren't I? I don't know. But I'm just wondering about it.
(CROSSTALK)
CHARLIE GASPARINO, FOX NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
Yes, you're totally cynical. You have been covering this way too long.
Yes, of course it is. I mean, but we have reported -- my producer Lydia Moynihan has done some good reporting on this. Bloomberg has been feeling shut out of the Biden campaign, that he hasn't had any say in it. And this money will help bring him some say.
And my guess is that he does want some say or even a role in the Biden administration. He's not alone, though. There's a lot of Wall Street types like Mike Bloomberg. Remember, Mike Bloomberg started as a Wall Street trader. He built an amazing company. He's worth $50 billion.
I will say this, though, if you're comparing Republican mega-donors to Mike Bloomberg. Could you imagine if the Koch set up $100 million, the Koch brothers, or the Koch Enterprises, set up $100 million to buy a state for Donald Trump?
I mean, could you imagine what type of front-page outrage would be out there? So, let's not make any bones about this. This is a ton of money. This isn't like some guy donating a few bucks here or there and raising and bundling cash. He's throwing $100 million into a race in a key state.
And it could really tip the election Biden's way. I will say this. When you're talking about Hispanic voters, and problem that Biden has with Hispanic voters is this. The Hispanic voters, particularly Puerto Ricans, that have come to Florida, if you know anything about the state's demographics, they're much more conservative than you would think.
They left a poverty-stricken island. They're the middle-class that left the island. Trump does have -- built -- some built-in advantages addressing that demographic.
CAVUTO: No, he is pulling one out of three of them.
We were showing as you were speaking -- and it might have confused some years back home. We have got Phil Murphy, the New Jersey governor. The only reason why we're doing the backdrop of that -- it was my bad for not putting that backdrop in context here.
All of this comes at a time where the Biden proposal to hike taxes on the rich has come to center-focus here.
It's an issue I want to raise with you, Frances, because Governor Murphy is among those Democratic governors who have been proposing surtaxes on the rich, much as Joe Biden is looking at doing across the country, or at least have them go back up to a top rate of 39.6 percent.
But the truth of matter is, it's going to go beyond just that. And I'm just wondering now how Republicans are countering that, because if it looks like they are, hey, we're for the rich, and they're getting hosed here, that might fall on deaf ears.
How do they strategize that in a state like Florida, for example?
FRANCES NEWTON STACY, OPTIMAL CAPITAL: Well, I think it's focused on the recovery. We're not out of the weeds yet.
The Fed came out with a statistic that one-third of firms or companies in the U.S. is at risk for insolvency. And we know that the pandemic has really brought to light the wealth gap. So, I think the Republican narrative needs to stay on the fact that we can handle the wealth gap, but we don't want to overtax the people that we're expecting to participate meaningfully in the recovery.
And the Democratic narrative is, the only way to handle the wealth gap is to tax the rich and give it to the poor. So, the Republicans need to come back with an education and awareness about supply-side economics, which is, of course, their mantra, and how important it is to support the recovery, first and foremost, and how these tax hikes are going to undermine really not just the rich, the middle class, corporations, et cetera, in the midst of trying to recover from the pandemic.
CAVUTO: Well, Nicole, timing might be everything. If a Joe Biden got in there, I mean, there could be the argument that it wouldn't be a good environment to raise taxes on anyone.
Now, we're not there yet. So we will see what happens.
But do you fear that, because he's laid it out there -- and he hasn't denied it -- he wants to -- he's looking at it for $4 trillion taxes over the next 10 years, a lot of that largely borne by the well-to-do, and corporations will see their rate go up from 21 to 28 percent, but that this could finger him as someone, much like some of these governors in these states where they're hard-pressed to come up with cash, also targeting the rich, that this -- that looks like the AMT thing all over again, a tax that was meant to ensnare those few millionaires and billionaires like Charlie, who are dodging taxes...
GASPARINO: That's me.
CAVUTO: ... to make sure that they would pay taxes?
And now fully a third of taxpayers are paying it, that does that risk biting him? Your thoughts? Not on Charlie, but on the tax thing.
(LAUGHTER)
BRENER-SCHMITZ: Look, I think Joe Biden's been very clear about his tax plan.
He wants to -- certainly thinks that the wealthy are to pay their fair share, and that that is a key part of the recovery.
And I know you noted Murphy, but...
CAVUTO: But what is their fair share? What -- Nicole, what is the fair share?
I heard the fair share was when it got up to 37 percent. Then it got up to 39 percent. And then the surtaxes in states like New Jersey and others that brought it up close to 50 percent. It's a moving target. So what's a fair share? What is it?
BRENER-SCHMITZ: It is a moving target right now.
But I think the bigger part of it is corporations paying their fair share and corporations not getting these huge tax breaks that are leaving their workers behind.
(CROSSTALK)
BRENER-SCHMITZ: And the key part of Joe Biden's plan is to make sure that more people can join a union.
A big part of where these folks are unemployed is that they don't get to have health care and wage recoveries, because they're not belonging to unions that are going to be protecting their jobs.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: Fair enough.
Charlie, what do you think of that?
GASPARINO: Neil, I'm -- listen, I'm no Trump -- die-hard Trumpkin.
But let's be real clear here. Before the pandemic hit, working-class wages were rising. The economy was doing pretty damn good. We went through eight years of the Obama recovery, where you had the gap between the rich and poor grow -- grow even greater.
I mean, for all Donald Trump's rhetorical access, his economic policies worked. And I think that's the problem that Joe Biden right now is having with Hispanic voters, who are solidly middle and working class.
I mean, they were doing better. The question is, does it -- under Trump. The question is, do they want to take a chance? And a lot of them don't want to.
We should point out one other thing. The reason why you flashed Phil Murphy is because he's raising taxes. He's raising so many taxes, the New York Stock Exchange wants to move its servers that -- out of New Jersey back to maybe Florida.
People are leaving Democratic states. You just don't have higher taxes from Joe Biden. You have potentially higher taxes from every blue state, Cuomo in New York, Phil Murphy in New Jersey, Ned Lamont in Connecticut.
You can go down the line. And that's why those states are losing population to red states. And that's the problem that...
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: All right, we will see how it sorts out. We will see how it sorts out. Still early on.
It is a popular election theme. And even for Democrats pounding it, it's not hurt them in those poll numbers. So, we will watch it very closely.
But, guys, thank you all very, very much.
In the meantime, here, Apple had an announcement today. It had nothing to do with a new iPhone. They're pushing that one back until next month. But it concerned a watch that can now last longer than it currently does, and some iPad Airs.
But, at the end of the day, a lot of people were saying, really? Is this it?
After this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: All right, Apple introduced a slew of new things, not quite a slew, but Tim Cook doing it virtually to let people know there's some new stuff out there.
No new iPhone just yet. That probably comes next month. But it is a big reflection on and maybe a barometer of the technology industry. So, the thinking is, as Apple goes, so goes the technology world, which, of course, had been taking it on the chin over the last week, before it kind of stabilized. I think kind of stabilizing is about the best way I can put it.
Susan Li following all these fast-moving developments.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: So, what have we got here from Apple?
SUSAN LI, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: OK, you're right, so no new 5G iPhone just yet, but you got plenty of other things.
Yes, that includes two new Apple watches, two new iPads, one services bundle, and new fitness programs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The new health sensor in Series 6 shines red and infrared light onto your wrist and measures the amount of light reflected back.
Advanced algorithms use this data to calculate the color of your blood, which indicates the amount of oxygen present.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LI: So, blood oxygen monitoring, along with some other cool new health features on the Apple Watch Series 6, sleep tracking, handwash timers. Starts at $399.
You also get a cheaper Watch SE. That e starts at $279. Remember that Apple sold more watches last year than the entire Swiss watch industry. And since we're working out more at home these days, Apple also announcing a $9.99-a- month Fitness+ workouts, comes free with any new watch for three months.
We also got two new iPads. The cheaper iPad, Generation 8, starts at $329. Then you get a higher-end one, the iPad Air, that uses the most advanced chip that Apple makes, twice as fast as the previous generation. Going to cost you a little bit more, $599, depending on storage.
Also, a bit of a surprise announcement with Apple One. So Apple's bundling all of its services together for one monthly fee, Neil. That means music, TV, plus news and cloud. But you have to wait another month for the new iPhone 12. Sorry about that.
CAVUTO: Man, oh, man, they could just print the money with that new iPad - - that new service, new Apple service. They bundle all those together, they're taking on Disney and all the other guys.
LI: Bundle, yes.
CAVUTO: All right.
Susan, great job, as always, my friend, our workhorse from FOX Business Network, Susan Li.
We're going to be monitoring that. By the way, Apple and a lot of technology stops coming back today. But, again, Apple is the leader. They want to see that continue to be the case. Even if they don't own it themselves, they think it's a good harbinger of things to come for the rest of the market. We shall see.
All right, in the meantime, following what's going on with Sally. Also following on what's going on with the candidates crisscrossing the country, the president, of course, in Pennsylvania. And, of course, we saw a lot of activity in Florida, didn't we, on the part of the former vice president?
We're on, all of it -- after this.
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CAVUTO: All right, Air Force One has arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The president will be doing some stumping there today, after signing a landmark peace agreement, if you will, or at least a deal to recognize each other's right to exist and to do business with, between Israel, of course, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
John Roberts was following all of this on this historic day at the White House -- John.
JOHN ROBERTS, FOX NEWS CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Neil, good afternoon to you.
This is a big deal. This is the first time in 26 years that Israel has normalized relations with one of its Arab neighbors. And the genesis of this goes back to May of 2017, when the president spoke to the leaders of 54 Arab countries, as well as other Muslim nations, and said, look, you have got a choice here.
You can either get stuck in the old paradigm of the past, with animosity toward Israel, hostility toward Israel, or you can chart a path for a new future.
And, today, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain decided to do that, normalizing relations with Israel. Here's what the president and the Israeli prime minister had to say about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: These agreements will serve as the foundation for a comprehensive peace across the entire region, something which nobody thought was possible, certainly not in this day and age.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: And the blessings of the peace we make today will be enormous, first because this peace will eventually expand to include other Arab states. And, ultimately, it can end the Arab- Israeli conflict once and for all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Now, the president, President Trump, is going about this differently than other White Houses.
Rather than start with an Israeli-Palestinian deal, he wants to craft deals with Arab countries around Israel and then go after the Palestinian deal. The president said today, in a way, he's going in the back door, but it's a door he says is the smart door.
We will see if it works -- Neil.
CAVUTO: All right, John Roberts, thank you very much, my friend, John at the White House here.
Trey Yingst with us right now, that this timing was everything, because as soon as this accord was being signed, we were getting reports of sort of a rocket shower over Israel.
Trey, what can you tell us?
TREY YINGST, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Neil, that's exactly right.
As people around the world were watching this peace ceremony at the White House, two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Southern Israel, one of those rockets intercepted by Israel's missile defense system, the Iron Dome, the other one landing behind me here in the town of Ashdod.
Six people were injured at this site, four them from shock, two of them taking pieces of glass from shrapnel. This rocket exploded on a very busy commercial street.
The factions inside Gaza spoke with FOX News tonight. A senior Hamas official telling me that there will be no peace or stability in the region unless the Palestinians are brought to the table and their needs are addressed.
While this larger peace deal between the UAE, Bahrain, and Israel is seen as a very positive first step for the region, the Palestinian say there were promises made to them by Gulf countries about normalizing a Palestinian state before brokering ties with the Jewish state.
Those promises have been broken, they say, and thus a cease-fire that had been brokered in the region with the help of the Qatari government is now also broken as well -- Neil.
CAVUTO: Trey, thank you. Be safe yourself, Trey Yingst on this reaction here.
Not everyone confident that this will lead to long-term peace, but these bumps were, by and large, expected. We will keep an eye on it for you, as well as talk that the president thinks that at least four or five Arab countries could sign up to deals of their own with Israel.
We shall see.
Also keeping track of Sally right now, likely to hit land as a Category 2 storm, but she's got a lot of company in the region. There's Hurricane Paulette, Tropical Storm Ted, Tropical Storm Vicky, Tropical Storm Rene, five major storms within a couple hundred miles of each other concurrently.
We have not seen that in the better part of 50 years. What's going on?
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CAVUTO: All right, getting a little bit worrisome in the Gulf of Mexico right now, landfall expected for Hurricane Sally sometime tomorrow morning, we are told.
Hard to gauge this. It's so slow-moving, and not really zigging and zagging that much. But there are worries. So, for the entire region there, the worries are pronounced.
We started out in Mississippi.
I want to go to Alabama right now, where you will find our Grady Trimble in Mobile, Alabama.
How's it looking there, Grady?
GRADY TRIMBLE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Neil, the rain is not that heavy right now, and the winds are not that strong.
But don't let that fool you. Just off in the distance is where the hurricane is sitting. This is the Mobile River, which feeds into the bay, and this is potentially right where Sally is going to make landfall tomorrow -- tonight into tomorrow.
You can see, the river here is all lined with businesses. But if you go south from here, in the bay, when it opens up, there are many houses along there as well. In one area where we were earlier, the water was already starting to splash over the seawall.
And the concern is that, along with the storm surge, there's also this slow-moving storm that could dump up to two feet of rain in some areas. And that could make for a dangerous combination, many rivers expecting life- threatening, historic flooding just east of here.
And so it's certainly something that people in this area are taking seriously, despite the relatively calm conditions right now -- Neil.
CAVUTO: Grady, thank you very, very much, Grady Trimble in Alabama.
I want to go to Pete Gaynor right now. Pete is the FEMA administrator, of course, a very busy fellow.
And, man, this season is testing him.
PETER GAYNOR, ADMINISTRATOR, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY: Hey, Neil.
CAVUTO: I think -- I think, Pete, we're down to only one more named storm before we have to move on to the Greek alphabet.
But what the heck?
GAYNOR: We are.
CAVUTO: How is this one looking, from your vantage point?
GAYNOR: So, Sally is -- it's moving at extremely slow speed.
There's a -- there's going to be a surge threat along the coast, all the way from the -- Mississippi -- the mouth of Mississippi, all the way to Okaloosa, Walton County in Florida along the Panhandle.
Then it's going to just move inland. And it's just going to dump a ton of rain, 10 to 20 inches, some isolated 30 inches. And so those residents of Mississippi, Alabama, Florida that live along the coast that think, hey, I'm just going to get this surge, and I'm out of it, those that live farther inland really have to be careful about flooding, flash flooding.
Don't take the storm for granted. You have some time to make final preparations. Heed the directions of your local and state emergency managers, and keep your family safe.
CAVUTO: You know, we were talking a little bit about probably that -- so many in that region feeling a little bit of storm, hurricane fatigue.
I was mentioning earlier these other storms that are in the greater neighborhood, from Hurricane Paulette, Tropical Storm Teddy, Tropical Storm Vicky, Rene, and on and on, we go. Have you ever seen anything like this?
GAYNOR: We have not.
NOAA had forecast that this was going to be an above-average season. And it has lived up to that forecast. We're actually right at the top of the historical peak of hurricane season in the Atlantic. So, we expected to see a lot of action. And we are getting a lot of action here over the past couple days and weeks.
CAVUTO: You know, I have noticed, Administrator, that, when a lot of people are told, you have to evacuate, or you have to go to a shelter, as soon as you mention shelter -- and I have mentioned it with so many guests, probably you in the past -- they get very leery about that, maybe owing to the virus and everything else and being too close to people and all.
How are states or how do you recommend states' regions handle that? I know, in some cases, they will open up hotels, motels in the area to mitigate that. But people are leery.
GAYNOR: Yes.
And no one wants to leave their home, right? So -- but, when told to do so by officials...
CAVUTO: Right.
GAYNOR: ... you got to do it.
And we have been working on this for a while now. Right when COVID started, we knew we're going to walk into hurricane season. We put out some planning guidance for states to adapt their plans. I was just down in Louisiana a couple weeks ago with Laura.
States have done a tremendous job with the considerations of COVID-19, very few people in the normal sheltering conditions that you have seen, like gymnasiums. The majority of people are in hotels. And that's a credit to good planning on the states.
And so, whether you're in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, those state emergency managers -- I talked to many of them today -- have a plan to put those at risk into non-congregate care shelters.
CAVUTO: Now, there's so much we don't know about this slow-moving storm itself, as you pointed out at the outset here, but we do know it would be the first serious test, if it were even to brush by New Orleans, of those levees and the strengthened conditions since Katrina, what, 15 years ago.
What do you think of that?
GAYNOR: I was actually down in New Orleans probably a month ago now, did a great tour with Mayor Cantrell, looking at all the things that have improved down there, from the levees, to mitigation, to make sure that water stays out of neighborhood -- neighborhoods, maintenance on pumps.
She's hard at it down there making -- making sure she's keeping her city safe.
This is going to -- this will impact New Orleans a little bit. They're not out of it yet. A little more fortunate that it goes east, especially if you think about those that are in Lake Charles trying to recover from Laura. This is -- this is probably a better track for them, but, again, not over yet.
Take it seriously. Again, heed those instructions from your state and local emergency managers.
CAVUTO: All right, now, after this, when we have one more name, I guess, English name that could apply to a storm, I guess that's already been preordained to be Wilfred, right? OK.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: And then, after that, it's the Greek alphabet, right? And that hasn't been utilized, again, since 2005, the year Katrina and those 27 other storms.
So, how is that decided, by the way?
GAYNOR: I think it's decided by NOAA.
They have an international committee that picks names. And they do like four or five years at a shot in picking names. So, you're right. Historically, we haven't done this in 15 years.
And, again, being about halfway through the hurricane season, I would plan to go through a few more names into the Greek alphabet here over the next weeks and months.
CAVUTO: All right, I have to brush up on my Greek, I guess, then.
GAYNOR: We all do.
CAVUTO: Pete Gaynor, thank you very much. You're a real pro, and keep your calm through all of this.
Pete Gaynor, the FEMA administrator.
Right now, the latest, as he was saying here, is that this slow-moving storm, all of two miles an hour -- I think most people can walk faster than that -- but it is a problem with storm surges and flooding, because it is so slow-moving. They expect upwards of 11-foot surges.
And that is something that, if you are in the way of that, there's no way you can survive that. So, heed the local warnings.
In the meantime, that will do it for us. We will be monitoring this.
Here comes "THE FIVE."
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