All-Star Panel: FOX News Power Rankings & President Trump's Fraud Crackdown

Bret Baier (0:00)

In this life, you can't win.

Mary Katharine Ham (0:02)

When the world gets you down, No!

SPEAKER_3 (0:03)

Escape to Pluto TV.

Mary Katharine Ham (0:05)

This is objectively fantastic.

Bret Baier (0:07)

Relax into the movies and shows you already know and love, all for free.

Mary Katharine Ham (0:11)

Shwing!

Chad Pergram (0:11)

Even our news is uplifting. You stay classy, San Diego. Watch School of Rock, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Anchorman, The Legend of Ron Burgundy, The X-Files, Wayne's World and so much more.

The best things on TV really are free.

Bret Baier (0:24)

You just have to know where to look.

SPEAKER_3 (0:26)

Escape to Pluto TV.

Mary Katharine Ham (0:28)

Stream now, pay never.

Chad Pergram (0:34)

Fox News Podcast presents The Bret Baier Podcast with Fox News Chief Political Anchor, Bret Baier.

Bret Baier (0:46)

Rural voters have long been a reliable base for Republicans, but new Fox News power rankings show support softening in the heartland. The Trump Administration has tried to ease anxieties by emphasizing job growth, the AI boom and a fraud crackdown.

SPEAKER_3 (1:01)

Independent journalists and everybody and all Americans will now be able to go to the fraud.gov and report cases of corruption and theft of taxpayer dollars in their communities.

Bret Baier (1:12)

But with just two weeks left until Election Day, Republicans still find themselves in tough contests around the country. We'll start there with our panel, USA Today Washington Bureau Chief, Susan Page, Fox News contributor and outkick columnist, Mary Katharine Ham, and Fox News Chief Congressional Correspondent, Chad Pergram. All right, Chad, get a lay of the land here. Obviously, the House Speaker Johnson continues to say he doesn't believe the polls, they're still going to win. But the reality is Democrats only have to pick up four, five.

Chad Pergram (1:43)

That's right. And when you look at the sheer number of House seats that are in play, you know, and you're north of 40 there, you know, and maybe even a few more is because the atmosphere right now for Republicans is not great and there might be some surprises. You know, even if they were just to pick up, say, 10 seats, not even a quarter of those, they get control of the House. Now, that's not to say that this is a done deal. Things often close at the end. We've heard some things about early voting, you know, that typically favors the Democrats, that maybe the Republicans are showing up there.

I think the one thing to watch, though, will be turnout. And the idea that Democrats seem to be very energized when it gets to the polls. President Trump and his team have been desperate to get people to the polls. You know, he said for quite a long time now, pretend I'm on the ballot, that probably gets more Democrats to the polls, frankly.

And I think one of the things to watch in the days after the election is, did Republicans get out their vote? Because it seems that there's just that paucity of support right now. They're disappointed in the direction of the country. They're disappointed in the president. And that same Trump coalition that came together, kind of rejecting former president Biden and rejecting Kamala Harris back in 2024, that group just does not mesh after two years of President Trump.

Bret Baier (3:00)

Susan, how do you see it?

Susan Page (3:03)

It's not that rural voters are so enthusiastic about voting for Democrats.

There's, you know, the rural voters have been Republicans as a group for a long time now. 63 percent of them supported Trump last time around in 2024 But they have been particularly hard hit by some of Trump's policies, by the terror policy and by the rising cost of fuel, including diesel fuel, in part as a result of the war in Iran. And I think that has really cost the Republicans the ability to turn out these Republican voters when they're feeling so disenchanted.

Mary Katharine Ham (3:43)

Yeah.

Bret Baier (3:43)

Mary Katharine, there's still some hope in the different states about some of these Senate races. And obviously, the president thinks that he can battle till the end in some of these states that he's going to in the close.

Mary Katharine Ham (3:58)

Yeah, I think there are places where he can solve some of that turnout problem. But Susan is right, that there are challenges facing voters in those red states, which is why you see challenges there for these candidates. That the Trump Administration and Trump himself really put his name on, on the tariffs. He's very loud and proud and has believed in those for a long time, but they did have effects on raising the cost of living on certain products. The conflict with Iran, which he argues, and I have to agree with, can be worth the short-term pain at the pump for this operation for national security and international order. But it does hurt people in the short-term, and if you don't make that argument in a sustained way to them, it can be certainly disenchanting to those voters. I think we will learn a little bit in this election, whether the realignment of some of these lower propensity rural working class, and even slices of minority and urban voters that went to Trump in 2024 still exist.