[laughter] >> dana: add something to one more thing. i didn't read far enough. so, the mom ricky she was in a huge rush, she usually makes peanut butter and jelly. she didn't have peanut better she put butter and jelly on a sandwich. that's what happened. it was a butter and jelly sandwich. >> greg: greatest fact check. >> judge jeanine: she should have done cream cheese. >> jesse: "special report" up next with bret baier. >> bret: butter and jelly no good. good evening welcome to fox news headquarters in new york i'm bret baier. breaking tonight just released fox polling indication how seriously americans are taking the inflation crisis. 59% say they are extremely concerned about higher prices. that suppressed or surpasses worries about the future of the u.s. democracy, abortion policy and higher crime rates. president biden's apparent disconnect on inflation and the economy was in focus today in

detroit. the president appearing at the annual auto show to promote expensive electronic vehicles, electric vehicles as americans struggle to make ends meet on basics such as food and electricity with the inflation concerns. it does follow yesterday's celebration by the president on the south lawn of the white house touting what he called progress against inflation despite the hard evidence to the contrary from his own federal government. white house correspondent jacqui heinrich starts us off live tonight from the north lawn. good evening, jacqui. >> good evening to you, bret. today the average cost of an electric vehicle is nearly double the average american yearly salary. and, yet, the president is focused on health of the planet as a new fox news poll shows most americans are far more concerned with what they can afford to eat for dinner. >> secret service detail i'm driving home. >> the president says he felt optimistic behind the wheeling of a $63,000 electric vehicle. >> we are choosing to build a

better america. [applause] >> an america that confronting the climate crisis. >> americans may not be as energize more than a third saying in a new fox news poll either inflation or high prices or the economy and jobs are their biggest reason to et have. climate not even making the list. but the president dismissed the worrisome inflation report and the stock market sell off that followed on his way out of town. >> are you worried about the inflation number though, sir? >> no, i'm not. the stock market doesn't necessarily reflect the state of the economy as you well know. >> republicans are paying attention. >> this is the number one issue we are seeing in our polling the economy and inflation. it's death by a thousand cuts by a family getting hit at every single level it's everything. democrat policies cause this. >> the white house implementing tax credits hoping half of all new cars sold in the u.s. will be electric by 2030. industry leaders say good luck finding one that meets strict domestic content requirements. the white house can't say when

semiconductor chip spending could bring them to market. then there is the issue of charging them. biden announced 900 million to build ev charging stations on highways across 35 states after energy secretary jennifer granholm called california the nation's model. their residents were just told not to charge their electric cars amid a brutal heat wave. >> religion today of the democrat party is a religion of climate. they worship the sun god. the wind god and the god of wishful thinking. >> but biden is not shifting his messaging telling americans they can save some money by spending it on green goods and then uncle sam will give you a tax rebate. and that will not help with groceries still up nearly 14% and the white house is acutely aware that it could get worse if a railroad labor dispute isn't resolved before friday. and a nationwide strike happened for the first time in 30 years. and the white house is holding daily meetings with fema, the department of defense, and other

agencies planning to move food, energy, and health products by plane, truck and waterways if necessary while the labor department brokers talks, bret. >> bret: negotiations nine hours so far. jacqui heinrich live on the north lawn. jacqui, thanks. ♪ ♪ >> in tonight's midterm watch, democrats continue to lead republicans in congressional vote preference. our just released fox poll indicate democrats have a 44 to 41% edge among all registered voters. however it's tied among voters who say they are certain to participate in the november elections 45% each. this evening, the increasing scrutiny from a formerly fawning media of pennsylvania democratic senate nominee lieutenant governor john fetterman. he is facing dr. mehmet oz for election for senate in pennsylvania. fetterman is getting new questions about his health and

his personal finances. here is chief washington correspondent mike emanuel. >> amid growin grow calls for jn fetterman to prove he is fit for senate. he says he will debate dr. mehmet oz on october 25th two weeks before election day. but the two campaigns are bickering over logistics. dr. oz to waited his campaign is accommodating a closed captioning request from fetterman and he argues that is going to slow everything down. so oz wants it to be a 90 minute debate. fetterman counters that oz is trying to move the goal coast. and he tweeted dr. oz see you on october 25. dr. oz has pressed for five debates. >> either you are healthy enough to debate because your team keeps saying you are healthy or you are lying about your health. either way need to know the truth. >> fetterman had a stroke in may and did not campaign for three months. oz has made it a flash point in the race. >> i truly hope for each and

every one of you, you didn't have a doctor in your life making fun of it, making light of it. or telling you that you are not fit to serve. no? but, unfortunately, i do. >> a group that leans to the right called foundation for accountability and civic trust is asking the senate ethics committee to investigate whether fetterman failed to disclose assets in his personal financial disclosure. county records reveal fetterman owns 8 properties in brad daca pennsylvania valued at $95,000. fetterman has criticized oz for not being transparent about the number of homes he owns. bret? >> bret: mike, thank you. republican senate candidate chuck morse has conceded his primary race to don bolduc in new hampshire. bolduc is a retired brigadier general who some establishment feared was too far to the right to win over independents and moderates in new hampshire.

bolduc now faces incumbent democrat maggie hasan who has been labeled one of the most vulnerable senators this november. now, let's head to georgia. where democrats are struggling to attract the same robust black vote that helped flip that state blue in 2020. correspondent charles watson is in atlanta with that story tonight. >> georgia gubernatorial candidate stacey abrams is fighting to hold onto the plaque electorate that helped nearly elevate her to the state's highest office in 2018. this time around, has been shaky for abrams. according to a fox news poll, her support among black voters fell as low as 78% in july. she had made some gains since. 91% among black voters in a new quinnipiac poll. still 3 points short of our election day numbers three years ago according to fox news active polling. >> i need you all to say you trust me. if black men vote for me, i win this election. >> her biggest challenge may be black men who supported 12

points from her first gubernatorial bid according to a fox news channel. abrams is hoping to fix that down shift without outreach specific to that demographic. she has enlisted the help of popular entertainers like charlamagne tha god. the campaign said in part our intentional outreach to black voters specifically black men should not be viewed as a challenge but, instead, as an opportunity for us to earn the votes of a community. and incumbent governor brian kemp seems to be reaping the benefits compared to 2018, he has nearly doubled his support from black men. the kemp campaign put us in touch with one of his supporters, a conservative talk radio host who says kemp's pandemic response is one reason the governor is gaining traction. >> when the governor opened up the state, that benefited men. because we want to take care of our families. we want to go to work. we don't want the government to tell us to stay at home and wait for a check to come once a

month. >> statistically speaking, the georgia gubernatorial race is tight as is the senate race between incumbent raphael warnock and republican challenger herschel walker. the two have agreed to at least one debate. we will meet next month in savannah, georgia. bret? >> bret: charles watson in georgia. thanks. stocks up. the dow gaining 30. the s&p 500 finished ahead 13. the nasdaq rose 86. we told you last night on the show about new activity from special counsel john durham in his investigation into the origins of the trump-russia probe. durham's office is now going after a suspect accused of helping concoct a false narrative designed to cripple the 2016 campaign of then candidate donald trump. >> joining us now george washington university go forward

with in simple terms. what are we learning? >> well, we have learned a great deal from durham. much more than we actually received in some of these aspects from the mueller report. he has already disclosed a great deal of how this russian collusion case really was established. the funding of the clinton campaign of the dossier. and the alpha bank allegations. the use of their lawyers to fund these efforts this focuses on the lawyers not on steele. the critical character that played that role turns out that the fbi not only paid steele for a period then they paid this individual to collect this information or to share his

knowledge about possible russian collusion. he was on the russian payroll. the problem is that the american intelligence believed that the steele d dossier was a likely source of russian disinformation. so the fbi was effectively paying someone who has been accused of bringing in information that might have been disinformation from the russian intelligence services. >> bret: so the fbi is paying igor danchenko and in the meantime the clinton campaign is paying to get this information into the bloodstream and it's getting into the bloodstream. >> it is. they were very successful. what's interesting is the clinton campaign denied that they funded the steele dossier. that denial was even made into congress when investigators asked campaign officials in the presence of their general counsel marc elias, and reporters later accused allies

and others of hiding that fact. but, what we have now is a much more complete picture of how they did get this scandal into the bloodstream. how they worked the media, how they worked friends in the fbi, and now we find out that the fbi not only funded steele himself or actually paid steele himself rather than funded. but also paid his main source. now, the key here is that the steele dossier has never been established as true. and american intelligence quickly threw flags up that they thought this could be russian disinformation coming through the dossier, which was funded by the clinton campaign. >> bret: right. you start to see how this all comes together here in making this case against then candidate trump and then soon-to-be president trump. last thing, quickly. where do we think this goes? for the people frustrated by the time it took durham to move things forward and the people who are frustrated that

investigations never seem to end with anything, what does this end up being? a big report that spells everything out? >> well, there is a hope that there could be a report that will help clarify. this because every filing by durham we learn critical facts that we didn't have before. you can also see why durham was so motivated in this investigation. there were stories about his unhappiness with the inspector general report that did not include some of this information. we don't know if he is preparing other cases. he has this trial next month, and to try to secure these convictions. what we don't know is whether he has anyone else that he is considering indicting or whether he plans to release a report. i think that there is a great need for a single report for him to bring transparency to what has happened. because it was clearly a great deal left out of the mueller report. >> bret: jonathan turley, as always, thank you.

>> thank you, bret. >> bret: up next, our common ground segment on the economy. and later, mourners filed past the casket of queen elizabeth ii. we will take you live

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>> bret: it's time now for our weekly segment common gr put per opposite sides of the political spectrum or different sides of an issue and see where they agree and find common ground. joining me now jason fuhrman, the chair of the council of economic advisers for president obama and kevin hassett, the chair of the council of economic advisers for president trump. gentlemen, thanks for being with us on this common ground you guys have pictures up there in the white house hanging next to each other from different administrations. but on this week, jason, you and kevin see inflation pretty much the same way; is is that right? >> consumers have gotten some relief in the last two months because gasoline prices keep falling. that's good news. that's going to help people, but

if you look at the underlying inflation rate, the type of inflation that's likely to last and persist, that's been stubbornly really high and that's what it's going to take a big effort to bring back down. >> bret: kevin, both of you have been sounding the alarm about inflation for some time. >> yes, that's right. i think jason and i started at about the same time. and usually the kind of model that jason uses to think about things is a little bit different than the kind of model i use and sometimes we have big disagreements about tax cuts and stuff. but, on inflation, both of our models have basically been saying the same thing for a year of that. the fact is as jason says, sadly, inflation is very high. and it's likely to abate a little because of declining energy prices i'm not sure that will stick through the winter. the fed have got to lift rates a whole bunch more than just through quaw terse of a point next week if they are going to get ahead of inflation. >> bret: what does that look likes a the fed lifts rates and

how does that effect our overall economy as you see it. >> look, one of the biggest levers the fed has is raising mortgage rates. when they raise their interest rates and when they're expected to raise their mortgage rates, rates go up. that's why mortgage rates go up this year. that's cooling the housing sector. that is, unfortunately, good news for the economy as a whole because it helps bring down inflation; but it can be tough for households, too. >> bret: as we look at issues that motivate voters, heading into the midterms, kevin, our new fox news poll has inflation high prices at the highest at 19%. abortion has ticked up to 16%. but, inflation is still on people's minds. and, really that's the case pretty much every election. >> yeah. i think especially this one. you know, mark zandy's team did a calculation this week with a consumer price index came out that the typically american

family has to spend $460 more a month this year compared to 12 months ago just to get the same amount of consumption they had last year. if you haven't had a $5,000 raise, then you're behind. and that's why people are so upset about it. because it's really affecting their lives in a palpable way. >> bret: jason, the common ground the problem sometimes the difference is how you fix it. do you think there are big differences on both of your sides about how to fix inflation? >> yeah. and, look, we are an economy where some things are a problem, inflation. other things are great. jobs was the number three on the list you just showed. 3.5 million jobs added just so far this year. that's twice the pace you would have in a normal year. and that was co done in 8 month. there are good things and bad things in the economy. in terms to the solution to the bad thing in the economy, it's largely the federal reserve's responsibility. they were assigned that

responsibility. they have the tools to deal with it. but i do think congress and the president could help by, you know, cutting the deficit rather than adding to the deficit. >> bret: yeah. politics obviously factors into all of this. the president, the administration seems slow at the beginning. take a listen to this kind of evolution and where they think they are now as far as dealing with it? >> i think you will see a change, um, sooner than -- quicker -- more rapidly than it will take -- than most people think. every other aspect of the economy is racing ahead. >> the price of some things go up, went up last month. the price of other things went down by the same amount. the result is zero inflation. >> a single most important legislation passed in the congress to combat inflation and one of the most significant laws in our nation's history, in my view. >> bret: obviously the common ground is that it's a problem but to look at that inflation reduction act, kevin, and say that that is going to be a

catalyst for reducing inflation is where a lot of at least lawmakers split on capitol hill. >> i would say that jason highlighted the deficit reduction is, you know, would help right now on inflation. and i think that, you know, probably if you look at the inflation reduction act, that people will, you know, historians will look back and say it's not named accurately. i think if jason and i were to sit down and develop a fiscal policy to try to help the fed right now it would look a heck of a lot different than that the political realities are that it's really hard to get stuff through the senate and a lot of times there are a lot of the compromises made that makes something look irrational at the end. i understand what the democrats were doing. it's not going to reduce inflation. ing. >> bret: go ahead. >> it's reducing the deficit. may not like the way it's reducing the deficit. we may have different priorities on net the congressional budget

office says it's reducing the deficit. i think it provides a little bit of help. >> bret: but, jason, the only problem is that any help that it gave was erased by the student loan forgiveness. >> yeah. so i'm not a fan of the student loan forgiveness. i think that was poorly targeted and poorly designed. so no debate from me on that. >> bret: than macy also common ground, kevin? >> yeah. and i think that, you know, my colleague out here john cochran at the hoover institute has a book coming out about how inflation takes off when people decide that, you know, fiscal authorities aren't serious about, you know, basically balancing the budget and paying back the debt. i think that, you know, looking at the biden administration policies this year. you can say that that would be a reasonable interpretation. that they haven't prior prioritized debt reduction. previous administrations as well. i think you can say that what needs to happen if you want to help the fed do this without a really hard landing.

congress needs to have a deficit reduction package like grand rudman and if they don't do that then the fed is going to have a lot more work to do. >> bret: last word, jason, this soft landing, is it possible looking at what has to be done by the fed to deal with the rising costs? >> look, it is certainly possible. is it plausible? is it the most likely outcome? probably not. but, i do think the fed is in the right place now. i think they really understand the problem. i think they are acting vigorously so they are giving our economy the best chance it can have and, you know, congress and the president should do what they can to helpth fed which is the front line actor on this inflation. >> bret: jason fuhrman, kevin hassett, thank you both for being here on common ground. up next, are social media platforms such as twitter and ticktock security threat?

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♪ >> bret: the justice department is accusing three iranian citizens of staging cyberattacks in this country. the assaults targeted power companies, local governments, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations including a domestic violence shelter. prosecutors say the hackers encrypted and stole data from victim networks and threatened to release it unless exorbitant ran some payments were made. hackers are not believed to have been working on behalf of the iranian government but instead for their own financial gain. the justice department says it believes the suspects are still in iran. some of the top figures in social media are defending their platforms against allegations they threaten individual users and our collective national security in the u.s. the executives appearing before the senate homeland security committee today. congressional correspondent chad pergram shows us tonight.

>> nothing but the truth. >> big heat on big tech. >> there's a clear connection between online content and offline violence. >> senators want social media firms to explain how their algorithms work spreading potentially dangerous content. the firms even stumped former social media execs. >> we actually don't know what's happening on these networks today. it's unfortunate that the american public must waited for whistleblower disclosure to find out ways platforms are knowingly and unknowingly harming their users. >> peter warned senators that the firm is vulnerable to foreign spies working there and tracking americans. >> >> i have not tweeted since i have left. i think people should look at the information they are getting off of it differently. >> zatko says values profit over security and follows everything. >> what's the phone number? what's the latest ip address they have connected from? >> it's not just twitter. there is particular concern about chinese controlled tiktok and the data it can access.

>> tiktok, therefore is, a disaster waiting to happen for our security and the privacy of our citizens. >> security officials warn lawmakers to stay off tiktok because of the breadth of personal info the company siphons off. >> i question whether we should allow an authoritarian are a diswreem have a social media capability of the scale they have in our country. >> senator lindsey graham wants to create a new government agency to regulate social media firms. >> i think this is a wake-up call for the congress. i worry that some of these systems are becoming addictive to younger americans. >> graham's effort comes because congress is stymied at reforming section 230, that's the legal safeguard for platforms regardless of their content. bret? >> bret: chad pergram live on the hill. thank you. despite its insistence that the southern border is secure, as you heard from vice president harris the other day, the biden administration is now saying it will crack down on the expanding criminal enterprise of human smuggling.

correspondent gillian turner has our story. >> we are here to announce the unsealing of an indictment in a case charging 8 defendants with human smuggling. >> the justice department announcing the takedown of one of the largest human smuggling rings operating inside the u.s. including in alabama, mississippi, louisiana, and texas. >> the rise and dangerous smuggling emanating from central america and impacting our border communities. >> joint task force alpha has uncovered thousands of migrants from mexico and central america. smuggled across the border since 2018 involving some of the most dangerous conditions border patrol has ever seen. migrants were stuffed inside wooden cargo crates and piled trucks before being transported across the border. others were stuffed inside suitcases and even water tanks. the takedown comes as the biden administration faces increasing criticism over the border crisis with over 1 million migrants crossing the southern border illegally in just over a year. >> border is secure.

but we also have a broken immigration system. >> the white house insists the crisis is former president trump's fault. >> we are taking unprecedented action. we had to fix something that was broken, especially by the last administration. >> a new u.n. report reveals human smuggling is serving abroad as well. today 50 million people worldwide are enisolated. that number has surged by 10 million over the last five years. those 50 million are split between forced labor and forced marriage millions are children. awaiting the numbers. cbp tells us the total number of encounters this face cat year already surpassed the 2 million month with a month left so spare. >> bret: r. kelley has been convicted of several pornography charges. the r and b star found guilty on three counts but acquitted of conspiracy to obstruct justice. today's ruling in chicago comes after a new york federal judge

sentenced the singer to 30 years in prison. that trial involved racketeering and sex trafficking charges. up next, we take you live to london as mourners pay their final respects to queen elizabeth ii. first, here is what some of our fox affiliates are covering tonight. fox 17 in des moines, iowa where a judge orders a sex trafficking victim who killed her abuser to pay $150,000 in restitution. piper lewis was 15 years old when she stabbed 37-year-old zachery brooks more than 30 times. prosecutors argued brooks was not an immediate threat because he was asleep during the killing. and this is a live look at louisville, kentucky from wdrb, one of the big stories there tonight, jim beam is going green and ramping up production to meet growing demand. the bourbon producer outlining a $400 million expansion projects powered by renewable natural gas. capacity lynn crease by 50% by one distillery reduce green

house gas by the same percentage. that's a live look on "special report" we'll be right back. ♪ whiskey river ♪ take my mind ♪ take my mind ♪ don't let her memory torture me♪

>> number of worldwide coronavirus deaths is now at lowest level since march of 2020. the world health organization says a little more than 11,000 fatalities were reported in the past week worldwide. new cases fell to 3.1 million. the trends continue a week long decline in the virus in every part of the world. meantime denmark is no longer offering coronavirus boosters for those under 50 years old. the danish health authority says younger people are generally not at higher risk for severe illness. on capitol hill kentucky senator rand paul renewing tough questioning of chief presidential adviser dr. anthony fauci over a lack of federal vaccination guidelines of those who had previous infections on covid-19. on a hearing at monkeypox today senator paul played a video

since 2004 he said the best protection is to get infected yourself. >> you seem quite certain of yourself in 2004 but in 2022 there is a lot less certainty. >> a vaccination following infection gives an added extra boost. that's film that you showed is really taken out of context. >> if you ignore whether they have been infected, you are ignoring a vaccine basically. people decry vaccine hesitancy, it's coming from the gobbley gook that you give us. >> the 2004 caller was asking fauci on spahn's "washington journal" why she had flu like symptoms following vaccination fauci responded the caller could have an allergy but if she had already had the flu she would not need a vaccine. people are paying their respects

in person to queentd. the casket holding her body is resting at westminster hall. members of the public are filing past. senior foreign affairs correspondent greg palkot has the latest tonight from london. >> queen elizabeth ii leaving buckingham palace her official residence for the last time. the queen's basket flag and crown born carried with full military honors as tens of thousands watched. >> i think when the hearse carrying the queen's coffin came past, i mean, people were stunned into silence. >> following on foot, her children, king charles iii, princess anne, princess andrew and edward. behind them reunited again after much friction princes william and harry casting memories back to the funeral of the princes late mother. >> we haven't seen scenes like this since princess diana's

death. different feel losser that rather than tragedy. >> canons blasted through the heart of official london to medieval westminster hall at the houses of parliament where the royals were joined by spouses including the wife of king charles and kate and meghan. king charles according to the white house spoke by phone with president biden today when he conveyed his wish to continue a close relationship with the king. thousands of britains and those around the world turned out to honor their beloved queen in person. the line stretched for miles. the waits lasted hours. for those we spoke with the late queen was worth it. >> the queen is also my colonel in chief, so i'm here to pay my colonel in chief, my respects. >> steadiness. honesty, grace, a confidence. and true to her job. >> thank you, goodbye. hello, all of the above.

>> all of the above. the queen lies in state for four days until monday morning. then the state funeral, hundreds of royals heads of state, dignitaries are expected, including president biden and the first lady and then off to the final resting place for the queen, her belod windsor castle and a little bit of peace. bret? >> bret: greg palkot live in london, thank you. up next the panel with just released polls on midterms plus the latest on the u.s. economy. ♪ shh! shh! [light switch clicks] don't pta meetings end at nine? -it ran... late. -oh got lost. the lexus rx built for modern families. ♪ ♪

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>> this is a clear referendum on this election on a woman's right to choose. >> it's extreme. if your top agenda is a nationwide ban on abortion. >> the democrats, they don't want to be seen with biden. he is toxic to democrats. so, we stay on our message. talk about inflation, about the border crisis, about crime, there will be a lot of noise out there about how republicans get wind. we keep getting better week after week after week. >> bret: setting the take for the midterm elections we have new fox news polls out tonight. the items of concern for the electorate, the people who were polled voters are extremely concerned about inflation at

59%. the state of item crass at 50%. you see abortion ticking up there but at 45% and crime at 43%. the generic ballot the candidates, the congressional vote preference as it stands tonight you can see those other items there. congressional vote preference is essentially tied with the people who are saying that they want to vote in this election. they will be out at the ballot and let's bring in our panel. fox news senior political analyst brit hume, katie pavlich, news ed's tore at town hall.com and harold ford jr. former tennessee congressman and co-host of "the five." brit, this seems like a battle between inflation and republicans obviously talking about that especially with the cpi numbers and abortion and democrats talking about that and specifically about senator lindsey graham's proposal. your thoughts? >> yeah. i think that's essentially correct, bret. the democrats would like this election to be about two things abortion as you noted and donald

trump to the extent they can make him the issue. republicans would like it to be about inflation and many failures of joe biden who stands poorly in the polls. my sense about this is the republicans issues are felt a little more strong little and republican voters are a little bit more motivated. this was a poll, bret, of registered voters later we will no doubt have polls of likely voters that may give us an even clearer sense of where this stands. >> here is senator lindsey graham defending his proposal and obviously the senate majority leader racketing to it. >> abortion should not be available on demand. there should be limited exceptions. i think that's where the country is at. so i don't mind talking about pro-life issues. >> months after women had their freedom of choice taken away by the maga supreme court, a nationwide abortion ban was actually their attempt to seem more mainstream.

people will know the republican view, abolish abortion everywhere. >> harold, it doesn't say that that proposal. obviously democrats are hopping on that and that talking point. but senator graham went on to say if you look at european nations around the world, most of them are at 14 weeks with restrictions on abortion. some are even more restrictive than that the u.s. is not. and will democrats run into those questions later in this term? >> maybe. first, thanks for having me on and thanks for doing common ground. i think we need to have more things like that to understand you have got to govern. this is one of them. i think lindsey graham is trying to foster some sort of common sense agreement around reproductive rights and abortion. i think the one -- there are probably two problems is he going to run into and have to do with the bill. he allows for states to allow for more restrictive things it if they want. the court said that states could

do that. i don't know how the federal government could pass 15 weeks if already the courts said states have this authority. i get the political argument. no doubt the dobbs decision as brit said so aptly energized democrats. midterms are determined by how voters view the party of the president at that time and that democrats are in the white house. and right now. the base of the democratic energid only the base of the republican party. i think it comes down to independence. democrats have a fight on their hands when it comes to the strength of the economy. i heard the president yesterday said despite the inflation numbers. the economy is strong. gas prices are down and that is a big indicator. we will have to see over the next seven weeks. how that plays out. i have got to tell you democrats have found an issue to excite their base. and if it's base vs. base, we have had one race already in this regard, a race here in new york. a special race where the democrat ran on abortion. the republican ran on how he thought that biden was incompetent around the economy

and inflation. and the democrat won the race. it's a race that has flipped back and forth. it's upstate new york, not new york city. so at least we have some hard data around that. >> bret: katie? >> well, abortion is certainly a topic that democrats have been talking about since the dobbs decision; but, republicans, i think, are making a big mistake if they're going to just cede this issue on the campaign trail to democrats when you hear them talk about how the republican position is extreme. well, if you look at the facts of lindsey graham's bill, is he talking about a 15-week limit. that's what governor glenn youngkin has also proposed in virginia. and the polling shows the vast majority of americans actually do believe in a 15-week limit on abortion. including pro-life americans. you ask any candidate who is running for office on the democratic side at this moment if they support any restrictions on abortion, including up to the moment of birth, and they will not give any kind of example of what they think is a reasonable limit to abortion.

so, republicans can hold them accountable for that position and ask them to explain what the majority of americans would sees a an extreme position or they can try and simply only talk about inflation and the economy which, of course, is driving the majority of the concerns for voters here. but democrats are talking about it. so republicans have to come up with an argument against it rather than just allowing democrats to call them extreme on the issue. >> bret: brit, on one race where there has been a lot of back and forth even today about debates is the pennsylvania senate race. mehmet oz vs. lieutenant governor john fetterman. fetterman agreeing to a debate october a 5th with stipulations for the recovery from his stroke. oz agreeing to that. however, saying only going to be one october 25th. people will already be voting for a few weeks by then. >> bret: this is a race of the doctor running against the

patient. john fetterman has had a stroke as have you noted. he is still not doing all that well, which is one reason why he doesn't want to debate. he has agreed to one. he will be pressed to agree to more. whichever way it goes, there's a risk for fetterman he will get in the debate and not do very well because he is not yet well and but the other side of that expectations for him in any debate will be very low and the media will see to that. >> bret: all right, panel, as always, thank you. >> thanks, bret. >> finally tonight, a special day for a self-described standup guy an arizona veteran gets back on his feet with the help of a know robot particular exoskeleton richard suffered a spinal cord injury after nearly a decade in the wheelchair he calls his new situation complete independence. he plans on riding shotgun on a

cross-country motorcycle trip. congratulations. tomorrow on "special report," the latest on the negotiations and the implications of a possible railroad strike. also want to tell you that my book "to rescue the republic" ulysses s. grant the fragile union 1776 now out in paperback wherever books are sold also on fox nation. that's it for us, fair, balanced and unafraid. here's jesse. >> jesse: thanks, bret. >> bret: you bet. ♪ ♪ >> jesse: we have all met a sleazy salesman before. they won't stop trying to sell you something you don't want. >> anyway, let's get serious. you want to buy this car or what? >> no. we have to think about it. >> what is there to think about? you told me you liked it. you asked me 10,000 questions. i answered every single one of them. you drove it, you love it. what more do you need to know. >> jesse: rule number one about being a good salesman you always act like you are the