plus right here on fox business, start smart every weekday 6-9 a.m. eastern for "mornings with maria" on fox business. i hope you'll join us and set the tone for the day every weekday. in the meantime, have a great weekend, everybody. thanks so much for joining me. i'll see you again next time. ♪ gerry: welcome to "the wall street journal at large". for four long days this week colorly-i illuminated with charts and images punctuated by long, turgid lectures especially from democrats, amy coney barrett -- president trump's pick for the supreme court vacancy -- managed to school senators, tv viewers and the wider public in the proper role to have judiciary in the american system of government. while democrats tried repeatedly to get her to tell them what she thought about obamacare, roe v.

wade, gun control and a host of other policy issues, she patiently explained that none of that is her job. >> i interpret the constitution as a law, and it's not up to me to update it or infuse my own policy views into it. as i've also said repeatedly, any policy preferences that i have don't matter anyway. they're irrelevant. so making that law, that's sure job. gerry: what we saw on display were the two very different visions of the role of the courts. conservatives believe in judicial restraint the, interpretation of the law by judges. democrats want to use the judiciary to make policy. it's why they object to judge barrett and why they plan to pack the court if they win the white house and senate next month. democrats don't really want to talk about this, so of course what they do is attacked judge barrett on a range of other, frankly, completely extraneous things. the most bizarre was the condemnation this week of her for using a particular word when she was talking about sexuality. >> i have no i agenda, and i do

want to be clear that i have never discriminated on the basis of sexual preference and would not ever discriminate on the basis of sexual preference. gerry: what the senators were doing were pulling up the speech police on social media who needily weighed in after judge -- immediately weighed in saying sexual orientation was not a performance. and, of course, the cry was quickly picked up by the usual suspects in the senate. >> you used the term sexual preference to describe those in the lgbtq community. and let me make clear, sexual preference is an offensive and outdated term. >> sexuality is not a preference, which is who they are, is that what you're saying? gerry: this is ap example of how much the media want to make the rules for the words we use, and it's totally bogus, of course. of it's basically political. just look what merriam online dictionary did the data judge barrett made her supposedly terrible remark. in the morning the term sexual

preference was apparently fine, but by the end of the day, they changed the dictionary to make sure readers know that the term sexual preference is now apparently offensive. i'll tell you what's offensive, it's the authoritarian effort that goes on to tell us how to speak and, ultimately, how to think. now, unbelievable as it may seem, that was really about all the liberals had supposedly on judge barrett. now also this week the nation was treated to the spectacle of what we might call dueling town halls. on thursday the night instead of debating as originally planned, president trump and joe biden were on separate tv channels addressing questions mostly seen from network anchors. we didn't learn much new about either candidate, but we were reminded again just how biased the media can be. on abc, biden got what might be best described as a kind of gentle nuzzling from the very friendly george stephanopoulos and his questioners, including a former speech writer for pram massachusetts meanwhile, on nbc

president trump could barely get a word in over savannah guthrie -- >> senate republicans -- [inaudible] >> they're going to -- >> okay, so far they haven't -- >> i haven't asked them to -- [inaudible conversations] >> $400 million isn't that much in. >> as you know -- [inaudible] it turned out that -- [inaudible conversations] >> you are. gerry: well, there's one more real debate next week between the two men, but otherwise with now just two weeks to go until the election, joe biden continues to hold a strong lead in the polls. so what do we make of another dizzying week in american politics? to discuss all this is the republican national committee's national spokesperson, elizabeth harrington. elizabeth, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. gerry: let's start with those supreme court hearings. did you think that there's anything that you heard there that will suggest that amy coney

barrett will not be sitting on the supreme court within a month or two? >> no, not at all. the democrats certainly didn't have any argument against her, and i completely agree with your opening. it's kind of like how the virus appears and disappears depending on who's gathering, right? the mostly peaceful riots. there's no mention of the spread of the coronavirus when the left is gathering but, of course, when people are protesting lockdowns or exercising their first amendment rights at a peaceful protest at a trump rally, all of a sudden the virus appears again. it's this double standard wheree the only thing that matters is the letter that comes after your name. and that is not the way america is supposed to be, and that is not the way judge barrett explains the role of a judge is supposed to be as well. the senate democrats really have a lot to learn not just on the constitution, but also on civility from judge barrett because she said very explicitly, i attack ideas not people. and, boy, did the democrats

really have a lot to learn on that front. gerry: she, as you say, made a very strong case. i think democrats quietly were saying how impressive she was. a lot of republicans, a lot of conservatives, this is president trump's third pick to the supreme court, looks like she's going to be confirmed. it's a pretty fundamental change in the balance on the supreme court. conservatives feel pretty good about that. but according to the opinion polls, president trump continues to trail joe biden. do you think some keys are thinking -- conservatives are thinking, you know, i'll take that that trade-off, i'll take a conservative supreme court which is going to defend the constitution and defend the values of this country even if it means that we have to have a joe biden presidency and a democratic senate? do you think there's a kind of -- normal people are thinking maybe in those terms now? >> i don't think so, especially when you have joe biden now saying he's open to packing the supreme court. so what they're saying is forget who's on the court right now, we're going to put a bunch more

left-wing activists -- not judges, not people that read and interpret the law and will defend the constitution. no, they'll put activists on the court to completely destroy it. and that's really troubling. i think the biden/harris campaign's refusal to answer that question and say, oh, you find out after you elect me, same as with the -- elect me and the rides will stop, elect me and find out if we still have a constitution left, it's very insulting to voters. republicans, meanwhile, we've ran on this issue in three successive elections. 2016 president trump released his list ors, he followed through on that with justices gorsuch and kavanaugh, and 2018 as well. a direct consequence of the democrats' hysterical, unhinged and absolutely deplorable behavior against now-justice brett kavanaugh why we're able to fill this vacancy. and we're absolutely going to do it because we follow through on our promises, and we we follow the constitution. gerry: very quickly, elizabeth,

we've got one more debate next week, the presidential debate next week. the president was not given very high marks for his performance in the first debate, people didn't like the way he interrupted a lot. do you think we're going to see a significantly different one next week from the first one? if you would, quickly? >> i think president trump is going to do an incredible job actually holding joe biden accountable. the media won't do it. they won't wring up his family's corruption, revealed what facebook and twitter are trying to censor away. president trump will bring up the tough questions, and he's not afraid to take any answers, any questions and also talk about his agenda going forward. joe biden hides all of that from the american people, and the american people will get to see both men on stage and judge for themselves who is actually delivering for america, and it's president trump. not joe biden in 47 years. gerry: my great thanks to elizabeth harrington. thanks for joining us. joe biden is trying to distance himself from the socialist label of his former rival bernie sanders, but will ♪

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♪ >> i is have not been a fan of court packing. >> so you're still not a fan? >> well, i'm not a fan. it depends on how this turns out. make it clear, i do not propose banning fracking. my deal is a crucial framework, but not the new green deal. gerry: that was joe biden attempting to distance himself from some of the left in his party on issues like fracking and the green new deal during thursday night's town hall. he also refused to commit yet again on the issue of whether or not he'd pack the supreme court. a former bernie sanders campaign staffer host of the podcast straight shot, no chaser. she joins me now. tipton, thanks very much for joining us. when you hear joe biden distancing himself from things like the green new deal and bans on fracking and refusing to commit on whether or not he would add members to the supreme court, for someone who used to work for bernie sanders and is very much on the progressive wing of the party, does that a

make you concerned about what a biden administration might bring? >> no. to be honest with you, i am not a progressive. i tend to lean center-left. i supported bernie sanders in 2016 because it was necessary that there was an alternative voice to go against the establishment. i think bernie sanders certainly accomplished that, but i've also been very critical of bernie sanders, probably more is so is than anybody and certainly the only one that's worked for his campaign that has publicly said he, too, is a flip-flopper. i expect politicians to be politicians. joe biden is a moderate no matter how many ways people want to position him as being of the left, quote-unquote. he's not. we are down to two weeks before the election is over. this is about strategy, this is about reaching out to 7 out of 10 voters who are white voters, moderate voters in the general election and him knowing he needs to bring those to folks in. the progressive wing, if you will, they stopped really courting that a long time ago. when bernie sanders joined joe

biden's team, it was pretty much said then that they had what they needed. so i'm not concerned because i'm an analyst, and i understand how politics works, and i'm not married to any of them, and i get it. is so not concerned. and progressives are not either. they know who joe biden is, and the day after the election that's really when the reset button happens, and they will be pushing even harder. gerry: so what do you expect from a biden administration? you say center-left, but the party's platform is, i think it's fair to say, somewhere left of the obama administration on issues like health care, on issues like the green new deal, on some of these other issues, issues of racial justice. yet joe biden, as you said, has been in politics 50 years, kind of center-left. what can we expect from a biden administration? >> it's about what can we expect from the people. you know, if the people have moved the party more to the left, then we can expect that the people will continue to keep pushing it to the left. i expect a biden administration just like any other administration to i a just to

the -- adjust to the base that keeps them in power. that's how it works. i'm really different. i don't look at, oh, i expect biden or trump to do this. i expect people to continue to push and force politicians to do what they want them to do. so if the party is pushing to the left, as they certainly plan on doing,, then the biden administration will push, will go to the left. if not, he'll be voted out. right now that's just not where things are. it is a center-left party. gerry: and what about this critical issue of the supreme court? again, he refused again to say this week whether he would adjudges to the supreme court. does look like amy coney barrett is going to get confirmed. joe biden has said maybe we'll get a hinter about -- hint about what he'll say before november the 3rd. do you think the party wants to add us have discusses to the supreme court to create additional justices with more progressive justices? >> sure. i mean, the same way the republican party wants to push through this nomination in order to have a conservative judge. you know, that's how it works. i don't expect him to answer the

questions just as well as trump said he doesn't know will he be okay with the transition of power. you know, it goes on both sides -- gerry: forgive me for interrupting, but it'd be a pretty radical change. you say that's how it works. we've had nine members on the supreme court for 150 years. >> well, people are looking for a pretty dramatic change. you can call it radical, whatever you want to. i don't know what his plans are. my point is that i'm driving home is both trump and biden have questions that they have not answered, and i don't think that they will. nor should they, they feel that they should. we're two weeks away, so i'm sure biden has plans to do whatever he's going to do. we won't know until he's elected, but right mother everyone, certainly joe biden camp, is going to play it safe. that is the problem with politics, it's always about strategy and never about transparency and being honest. so this is where we are, and that applies to democrats and republicans just so that i can be crystal clear. gerry: dead right.

politics it is. thank you very much, indeed. up next, the coronavirus lockdowns are devastating the restaurant industry across the country. how bad is it? what will it look like after the pandemic is all over? my conversation with famed ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ anywhere convenience. everyday security. bankers here to help. for wherever you want to go. chase. make more of what's yours.

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♪ ♪ gerry: the hospitality sector has been particularly hard hit across the country. the national restaurant association has reported that nearly one in six restaurants is now closed either permanently or long term. that represents about 100,000 nationwide. a award-winning celebrity chef david burke joins me now. thank you very much for joining us. >> nice to be here, thank you. gerry: david, just give us -- this is a devastating, devastating hit to the restaurant sector. from your perspective, again,

you're, you know, you're a famous celebrity chef, how bad is it? >> you know, it's bad. [laughter] it's bad. we kept going for a long time, for many months with the berth changing in the northeast it's really bad, you know? the thing i say when it's raining, it basically ruins your whole week. you can't sit outside, can only have 25% outside in both new york and new jersey. the math doesn't work. it doesn't add up. and, you know, one in six restaurants closing by the end of the year, i think that might be two in six. so it's just not adding up. the ppp money has run out. you know, even at 25% indoors, you know, we're still paying taxes, or we're still paying gas bills, linens, alcohol, food costs are still the same. gerry: what should be done though? i mean, obviously, you know, governments particularly in places like new york where you

have a lot of restaurantses, very tight restrictions. as you say, 25% capacity. is that the approach? you've got to open up, do you think? >> we have to open it. we have to be able to operate. people that want to come and join us, we operate under the cdc guidelines. i mean, you're flying on planes, you're playing professional sports, beaches were open all summer. you know, you go outside of new york city or outside of jersey, you know, in the hamptons or upstate new york, we have restaurants there with 50%, and in north carolina where we are you had i think they're going to be 75% soon. but new jersey and new york, it's very, very strict. and it's killing us. it's putting us out of business. there's a lot of employees out of work. gerry: do you think -- a lot of people think, you know, this is a fundamental shift in living and lifestyle for urban environments like new york. do you think new york is in for a long period of decline are as some people do? >> yeah, i do. i think the way especially at

certain level of restaurants, and, you know, new york city, you've got old buildings, smaller, the tables are closer, the model's going to have to change somewhat the way we do business is going to have to change. they're adding, i think today there was a 10% covid fee added to the check. we're still paying taxes on that. and in some cases we pay 10%, 3% of that goes to the -- 3% of that goes to the landlords. the landlords are working with us on the rent, but the utilities and the garbage, we're still paying top dollar. gerry: very quickly, if all, any innovations that you've introduced to try and deal with this crisis? >> well, we're trying to work out something where, you know, we have an atmosphere to some of our restaurants, and so there's a balance -- gerry: you -- >> we're getting the chef to help wait tables. everybody has to multitask now.

we have to -- gerry: you've introduced a pop-up restaurant -- >> we did a pop-up in asbury park. if you with had the proper amount of outdoor seats, you could do well. we were blessed with very good weather this summer and each in the fall, you know? we've had some good weekends. but if you didn't have the outdoor seats, you really got hurt, and your customer went to your competitor. so there's a little bit of damage that way too. with the weather changing, we're really in for, you know, my numbers have dropped from the summer weather to now a week like this about 50%. gerry: winter's going to be a real challenge. david burke, thank you very much, indeed, for joining us. up next, free speech and free thinking under threat. why this week's extraordinary actions by social media

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♪ ♪ gerry: conservatives have been warning for some time about the danger of end creeping authoritarianism and thought control by the companies that dominate our information flow. when they've done that, they generally get dismissed. this week we witnessed one of the most powerful examples yet in which those precious american values are under real threat. on wednesday twitter and facebook suppressed a news story published by "the new york post," our sister newspaper, about hunter biden. you'll be familiar with the details, perhaps. the so-called liberals -- now there's an irony -- who run these companies, decided the

story apparently didn't meet their standards. there are those who say, well, so what? these are private companies, they can choose what they want to publish. but there are at least two big problems with that. first, the companies deny they are publishers. they don't want the accountability that publishers like those of us at "the wall street journal" and fox business have for the stories that we do publish. they claim, instead, to be distributers of information. much more important, it's no exaggeration to say that the social media companies along with google in the search figure essentially control so much of the national discourse. pew research found that over one-half of all americans get their news on facebook. this week's extraordinary infringement on freedom of the press, on freedom of speech and access the news is just a small taste of what's to come, a world in which any alternative voice or piece of information that doesn't conform to the world view of the progressives who run these companies will be marginalized and suppressed.

if you're not alarmed by thats prospect, then the menace that we face is even greater. that's it for us this week. for the latest updates, follow me on twitter, facebook and instagram. i'll be back next week right here on "the wall street journal at large." thank you very much for joining us. ♪ ♪ jack: welcome to "barron's roundtable" where we get behind the headlines and prepare you for the week ahead. i'm jack otter. coming up, how investors should position their portfolios ahead of the election and how a trump the or biden win will affect the markets. and later, we ask can some of the country's most successful money managers where they think markets are heading. we've got the results, and that may be surprising. we begin, as always, with what we think are the three most important things investors should be thinking about right now. the stock market zig zagged