[protesters in the background]. [protesters chanting]. >> why did you wait for collins to make her announcement while you made your announcement? >> i waited for her announcement -- [protesters chanting]. [protesters chanting].

>> neil: i know it's hard to hear but this was the only democratic senator voting for brett kavanaugh. if the awed you gets better around he can be heard over the chanters that are upset about his decision to support the judge, the only democrat to do so, we'll go back to him. he said he was very impressed with susan collins decision to support the judge and the rationale behind it. i'm neil cavuto. now we have closure to a vote that could be tomorrow. brett kavanaugh has now the support of a majority of senators where he can be assured that montana senator steve danes, the republican daughter who is getting married tomorrow doesn't have to fly back to washington to close the deal. enough votes are there with 50 of the 51 republicans in the united states supporting the judge and one democrat to boot. there will be no need to call the father of the bride. let's go to mike emanuel on capitol hill with the latest and

how all of this is falling out. michael? >> good afternoon. events breaking in real time there. you have west virginia's democrat joe manchin after a lengthy floor speech from susan collins saying he's a yes. senator collins went through in a detailed speech, 45 minutes, going through cases that judge kavanaugh has decided and why she thought he made the right decision. she went through the allegations from christine blasey ford and careful saying she was supportive of christine blasey ford and thought some people close to christine blasey ford did not treater properly. in the end, susan collins, republican of maine, said she's a yes on judge kavanaugh. take a listen. >> the allegations failed to me the more likely than not standard. therefore, i do not believe that these charges can fairly prevent judge kavanaugh from serving on

the court. >> so that is a critical yes vote as is joe manchin. the only republican that we're not aware of at this point is lisa murkowski of alaska that voted earlier today no. as for democrats, they have all basically been nos except for senator manchin. take a listen to this. >> i hope that all of my colleagues vote their conscious. obviously i'm concerned that the investigation was not thorough. there were many, many witnesses who we heard from, reports from their attorneys that they asked to be interviewed and were not interviewed. >> this has clearly been a roller coaster since the beginning of the process. barring in i breaking developments, judge kavanaugh should be confirmed to the united states supreme court in about 24 hours from now, neil. >> neil: thanks very much, mike. we're still monitoring some of these other senators coming and going right now. the votes have been security that not even the vice president of the united states will be needed to break a tie here. of course, looking at the well

of the hart building here where a lot of protests have been going on. some expressing extreme disappointment and shouting down senator manchin when he made it clear that he was going to be a yes vote. only democrat to vote yes on brett kavanaugh. that sent a lot of protesters into heated angst that a key moment has been missed. kristin fisher in washington with more. kris? >> yes, that was quite a moment. all the protesters shouting "shame, shame, shame" at senator joe manchin. he said he's going to vote yes to confirm kavanaugh. we've seen scenes like that all over capitol hill today outside senator susan collins office, there's been protesters staked out all day long. 10 were arrested at the same time while she was speaking on the senate floor.

there were more protesters interrupting her while she was speaking, while she was trying to make her case for why she was going to vote yes for kavanaugh tomorrow. listen to this. >> senator collins, please vote no. >> the senator will suspend. the sergeant of arms will suspend until -- sergeant of arms will restore order in the gallery. >> there have literally been hundreds of protesters chasing around these senators around capitol hill, staked outside their offices. i believe 300 of them were arrested yesterday. we know ten arrested today outside senator susan collins office. right now is the scene outside ott key swing senator offices, jeff flake. so the anti-kavanaugh protesters have been absolutely massive. there's been plenty of pro judge

kavanaugh supporters here, too. we of course caught up with some of them. listen to what one of them had to say. >> his credibility is spot on. i believe he's a man of god, he was appointed and chosen by god. >> there's just so much emotion on both sides of this issue, neil. you know, it's hard to walk around the walls of the capitol without running into a few protesters. they've been doing their best to sway these critical swing senators. but neil, it seemed that most of these senators have already made up their minds and it's looking like judge kavanaugh will indeed get that confirmation vote that he needs tomorrow. neil? >> neil: i'm sure you -- i have never seen anything like this entire saga. kristin fisher on capitol hill. let's go to indiana republican senator todd young. he says he's a firm yes vote. good to have you. >> great to be here.

>> neil: were you surprised it came down to the wire with a couple of key senators that were holdouts and susan collins and after that capping it with one lone democratic supporter, joe manchin? >> you know, this issue from the beginning has been one that has divided people based on the type of juris prudence they want from a justice and frankly it's divided the nation as well. i wasn't surprised. i know that senators like senator collins and flake and others have taken the responsibilities very, very seriously. they felt like they needed more time to make a final determination as to how they would cast their votes. i think that is right and proper under the incredibly unique circumstances that we had here. i will say that the process itself was unbecoming of the united states senate. the american people deserve better, this is something that senator collins acknowledged

when i presided over the senate moments ago and she delivered her riveting speech. my hope moving forward is that we can, as she said, develop a more perfect union coming out of this process, recognizing that perhaps we've hit rock bottom. >> neil: senator, we're getting tweets from george h.w. bush among them saying of senator collins political courage and class. i salute my wonderful friend and her principle leadership. democrats saying as you know, this will cost you guys at the polls just about a month from now. what do you say? >> well, i can speak to the state of indiana. perhaps it's a bellwether for some other states. indiana is someone that just campaigned back in 2016 was looking for fateful constitutionalists to serve on the federal bench. neil gorsuch and now brett kavanaugh have certainly fitted that mold. they're going to be supportive

on balance for brett kavanaugh. they're certainly going to be excited back home about this decision, by susan collins, myself and others that have decided to support brett kavanaugh to sit in the supreme court of the united states. my reading of this is that republicans will certainly be fired up about this result. i'm glad, however, that so many of my colleagues didn't make their decision based on political calculation but instead, as susan collins did, instead on deep study, conviction and just trying to do what is right for her state and for the american people. >> neil: we're getting word from the white house, from sarah sanders, tweeting thank you, talking about senator collins for standing by your convictions and doing the right thing to confirm judge kavanaugh. separately from mitch mcconnell, it was an extraordinary speech, one of the best i've heard. it came at the right time.

that he met with the senator earlier today. he had no way of knowing for sure how she would come down on this. but he was optimistic. where does the party go from here given the relative closeness? you dismissed talk of other republicans that this will cost them at the polls. if anything, it's galvanized republicans. there's battered feelings on both sides. where do you think everybody goes from here? >> of course, people will continue to campaign and make the argument for the respective candidacy. for those and their party. as we step out of election season, it's my firm hope and my personal commitment to wherever possible work with people across the aisle whenever those policies will advance the best interests of the american people. there's too much tribelism and partisanship in washington d.c. we ought to have our allegiances

and stand firmly on principle but also ought to make principle compromises wherever we can to advance the best interest of the american people. i think that senator collins in her speech provided just the sort of -- the sort of message that is required. again, a more perfect union. that's what we're all seeking, republican and democratic alike. we should not be intimidated into making decisions that we wouldn't otherwise make because of special interest groups. this was a good day for our republican constitutional democracy today. >> neil: nater young, thank you very much. i know it's been a crazy week for you. going to be a crazier weekend. best of luck on all friends. senator young of indiana. by the way, we did tell you, there's one democrat that will be supporting brett kavanaugh. the only democrat. that is senator joe manchin of west virginia. so he completes a list of

unknowns where we have it now. officially susan collins is a yes. we reported that jeff flake is a likely yes on here. lisa murkowski, she voted against closure. some people said she will be a likely note. back to senator manchin. his opponent in that senatorial race, pat morrisey said that joe manchin only votes in the interest of joe manchin. president trump had all the votes he needed to vote for kavanaugh but he waited to try to save his political career. be that at it may, a yes is a yes for brett kavanaugh and whatever the motivation, the lone democratic supporting him will be joe manchin who is already up in the polls by a little or a lot and whether that is sort of finalized the deal in west virginia is anybody's guest.

let's go to frank luntz from charleston. what do you think of that? >> in driving here from the airport, we saw several protests and state where trump won very big. were they anomalies or what do you think? >> they're anomalies. looking at this across the country, the heat is

i'll tell you this. both sides have looked awful. both sides have lost credibility. the american people do not deserve this kind of ugliness when we're trying to make important policy idealogical constitutional decisions. i think that in this we're going to talk about winners and losers the next 96 hours. i think the american people are the loser in all of this based on what has happened and listening to those protests and seeing people screaming. that's not how a democracy is supposed to function. you can say what you want about the conclusion but our democracy is in genuine trouble right now. >> neil: a lot of democrats have

promised there will be hell to pay for the judge, if he makes it to the supreme court, some have talked about impeaching him. who will life be like if he makes it to the court for, you know, an associate justice, brett kavanaugh? >> i think it will be difficult for everyone. frankl frankly. [inaudible] >> there are individuals in washington d.c. that have the courage of their conviction. i think judge kavanaugh is one of them. he will not be intimidated. but the political forces are out there and seek to be heard and most importantly seek to have impact. instead of doing it for the country, they're doing it for their own narrow objectives and that's a tragedy. >> neil: very quiet outside the supreme court. is this a live shot here? for those of you listening, we're looking outside the supreme court here.

nothing like the crowds that we saw leading up to this very day, maybe recognizing that it's already going to be official on that, just a matter of cementing it tomorrow. brett kavanaugh and perhaps one of the closest votes we have ever seen for supreme court justice will nevertheless make to it the high court. what kind of reception is he likely to get do you think from his fellow justices? >> the justices don't play politics. they have very strong points of view. look at the relationships. closest friendships are between former justice scalia and ginsberg. they can agree to disagree harshly in the court and behind closed doors. but privately they still have a relationship. judge kavanaugh will have the same respect that is afforded to every member of the supreme court. >> neil: you hope.

the reason i ask, justin john paul stephens, 98 years young, mentioned yesterday that he doesn't think as much as he respects judge kavanaugh belongs on the court. i think he was referring to his temperate marks last week. the judge went on to say in the "wall street journal" that there was a reason for that and he was speaking for his daughters and his wife and for anyone else that thought the allegations were true, that he was outraged and responded accordingly. that was not enough. i'm wondering how that will register for those in the court and every opinion he has. >> it's got to register with the american people. i believe judge kavanaugh will not be given a fair shake, never be considered legitimate by the 40% of america that was against him from the very moment that he was appointed that is a given. the question is whether he can

do his job effectively and abides by the constitution. if he does that, not only will his colleagues accept him and the majority of the american people. it will be ugly between now and election day. you have the worst ads and the worst dialogue back and forth. until enough to make you tune it. but you can't. it's too important. >> neil: and finally, is this going to move the needle on election day? in other words, the popular consensus was always risky if you reminded me that it would help democrats if it looked like he was going to make it to the court. help republicans if it looked like he would not make it to the court. so now this foots the advantage in democrat's hat. what do you think? >> i think they're going to vote anyway. i think we had this huge turnout gap as recently where the democrats -- every democrat was going to vote and some republicans. what has happened in the last ten days is that republicans

have realized that the courts matter and if donald trump has a democratic senate, he will not be able to appoint a single member of the court from that point on. that has energized republicans and i now think it will have electoral impact in november. republicans are more likely to keep the senate and maybe they have an outside shot now of keeping the house. >> neil: very interesting. frank, good seeing you. thanks very much. a lot of you know why we cut away from senator manchin. it's not a bias. nobody could hear him over the protesters. we get a transcript that he made to reporters. he was referring to senator murkowski of alaska. she's a good friends of mine. we all came to different conclusions. reports are that senator murkowski will be a no vote. we don't know till tomorrow for sure. it looks that way. she said i came to my conclusion this morning when i went through another 1 1/2 hours, i believe something happened to dr. ford.

i don't believe the facts referring to brett kavanaugh that he did it. i have people all over west virginia come forward and the trauma they went through and i sympathize. that is something that susan collins echoed that something happened to dr. ford and she takes her at her word that it was a horrendous personal event. but in the end, she found no proof that the person behind that was brett kavanaugh. ultimately that have why susan collins said she would end up being a yes vote and why now it looks like a significant majority, all you need is one, have now agreed. more after this. forgiveness means they won't hike your rates over one mistake. see, liberty mutual doesn't hold grudges. for drivers with accident forgiveness liberty mutual won't raise their rates because of their first accident. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty ♪

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>> neil: i said before, more than he needed. a significant majority. all you needed is one more vote than actually needed. that's what brett kavanaugh got today when he got the support of susan collins from maine, a republican. and then to ice the cake, he got the support of joe manchin from west virginia, the democrat. that was enough to negate the need for getting steve danes, the senator from montana, who was already announced that he's supporting brett kavanaugh to stay in montana and go to his daughter's wedding tomorrow and give her away. he won't have to hop on a plane and come back to vote. as things stands right now, with this number, you don't need the vice president to do a tiebreaker roll here. it was be one of the closest in american history, rivalling that that had clarence thomas winning 52-48. that was in a democratic senate. but right now, karl rove.

what do you think, karl? >> it was a historic day today. it will be a historic vote tomorrow. not necessarily tomorrow a great day for america. we've seen over the last nearly 20 years increasing polarization over the supreme court. back when bill clinton nominated ruth bader ginsberg supported him. 50% of democrats supported john roberts nomination by george w. bush. only 10% of democrats supported alito. tomorrow one out of 48 -- excuse me, 49 democrats will support the nomination. a sad day for america. >> neil: i'm wondering what the political fallout will be. you hear from democrats that were saying if this side gets in, that will help us. you heard republicans fearing

that if he department get in, the same thing in reverse, it would help them. how does that fall out? >> we've had a couple of pieces of information this week about how it's settling out. that is the harvard harris poll and the national public radio poll. both indicated that republican enthusiasm that vote in the fall elections has jumped dramatically in the last month. for example, in the npr poll, it went from -- the democrats were 78% consider the election to be important to 68% for republicans. it's it's up 4% for democrats and up 12% for republicans. so it's clearly given a bigger bump for republicans. my sense is that there's going to be a small -- i don't know how small, but there's going to be a relatively small negative impact for the democrats after this. you may have seen that letter

from sort of ten large left wing groups inside the democratic orbit that sent a letter to schumer saying if you can't stop kavanaugh, we're going to hold you personally responsible. so my sense has been whoever loses this vote will see an impact, i think modest. but it could be in some races despositi despositive. >> neil: would it be a good idea to have mike pence around tomorrow? it's 51-48 now. if you view that steve danes from montana doesn't have to leave his daughter's wedding. how does this play out? >> i think you want to have the vice president standing by. you know, back when we had a 50-50 senate in the early days of the bush administration, the vice president was constantly on the hill on procedural matters. what we're going to have is,

we're going to have 48 democrats voting no. we're going to have it looks like 50 republicans voting yes minus dane whose will have 49 republicans present and voting yes and one other giving his daughter away at her wedding and manchin. so we'll have 50-49 is going to be the vote. so yeah, you want the vice president standing by in the event a republican gets caught in traffic or somehow unable to vote and it's a 49-49 tie. >> neil: of course, they have 30 hours of debate. we're five or so hours into that. you think that use that full amount of time? >> i would suspect they might. the democrats will do everything they can to sort of talk about this and to occupy time and delay. the senate used to be a place of real debate. we remember as school children learning about daniel webster,

the webster haynes debate over nullification and the henry clay and the great champions of america having debate. that died away. i have to tell you, in the mid 50s, a woman senator from maine, margaret chase smith gave a famous speech that began the end of joe mccarthy's influence in the senate and in american politics. today we saw another republican woman from maine give an extraordinary speech. that was riveting, thoughtful and clearly she had given a great deal of consideration what she wanted to say and how she said it. we'll spend a lot of time to how she dealt with the questions of sexual assault allegations. but the first part of the speech was a methodical review of the charges made about brett kavanaugh. we saw there susan collins dealing with him, here's what the charge was and here's how she very viewed and investigated

it and come to a different conclusion than the charge. i thought it was a masterful speech and one of those rare moments where a speech on this floor was substantive and thoughtful and dealt with a difficult issue. may not have influenced minds in the senate given the partisanship there, but will influence the minds of those that watched it on television. >> neil: she did lay it out beautifully. i heard what she had to say about precedent and roe v. wade and i might be saying what did you say? >> she was methodical and she clearly explored these question with kavanaugh. she met with him an hour after the issue came up with sexual assault charges but previously met with him and methodically gone over -- i have known her a long title. i have affection for her. she's approached this in a very serious fashion and set out to

arrive at her own conclusions. >> neil: well-put as were her remarks. karl rove. speaking of senator collins, we're understanding right now and she's telling reporters, i came to my conclusions last night. she made up her mind last night. more after this. when you're looking for answers, it's good to have help. because the right information, at the right time, may make all the difference. at humana, we know that's especially true when you're looking for a medicare supplement insurance plan. that's why we're offering seven things every medicare supplement

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>> neil: all right. it's never over until it's officially over. a lot of things could still happen even though the numbers add up ever so close for brett kavanaugh. fox news senior producer joins us right now, chad pergram. what is next here? >> the next thing will be the vote sometime tomorrow afternoon unless they yield back time. we're berning what we call post cloture time. they voted to end debate this morning. after that, you get 30 hours. that means the confirmation vote unless there's an agreement to go back and take the vote early, which sometimes it happens, would be at 4:52 eastern time tomorrow afternoon. as i've said, it's about the math, it's about the math, it's about the math. so what we're looking at right now is a confirmation vote that is either 51-49 or 50-49. the question is whether or not republican steve danes of

montana will be there. he indicated yesterday that he would come back to washington. his daughter is getting married in montana. if his vote was necessary, he would come back. they would keep the vote open. that's not the case. right now, the vote will be 51 to 49 with collins and manchin voting yes. if danes is not present, it would be 50-49. after collins concluded her remarks, i spoke with mitch mcconnell as he came off the floor. he was all smiles and he said this to me about collins speech, it was an extraordinary speech, one of the best i ever heard and came at the right time.that's what happens when you get close to the big votes. senators make up their minds. susan collins indicated to my colleague that she decided how she would vote last night, neil. >> neil: you know, the 50-49, since there's 99 senators present, you don't -- a majority

is 100 senators. the vice president is not necessary. that would make it a closest vote in supreme court judging history, wouldn't it? >> yeah, those are tight. clarence thomas was confirmed 52-48. you don't get style points. somebody doesn't get seated on the court and there's an asterisk. wind assisted like in the olympics. either you're on the court or you're not. >> neil: a very good point. clarence thomas' case, that was remarkable senate. everybody talks about the fallout from this. what do you think? >> people are saying which side will this energize the most? there's some that are thinking that it certainly will energize democrats around in the house races, it's unclear how it might play in the senate races. another barometer is look at the demonstrations here on capitol hill. are people going to lash out at jeff flake and susan collins? does this help joe manchin?

he's among those with competitive re-election bids. west virginia is serious trump country. it's not like everybody backs off of him a all of a sudden. he's doing well and this probably helped. >> neil: a dumb question on my part. you endure them. it's not official until it's official. it's not official until a vote. we learned that from jeff flake when it looked like he was a yes going to vote it out of committee but with a proviso that an fbi investigation had to be done. is there any chance that something changes, that, for example, a lisa murkowski that looks like a no is a yes? >> you never rule anything out. there was a fire drill that cory gardner from colorado was in play. that certainly is not the case. he asserted he's been for kavanaugh since he was a couple weeks after he was nominated in

july. we had the unexpected news with danes that chased the matrix a little bit. what would they have to do, what efforts would they take to get him here to vote. you never nail it down until it's done. it ain't over until it's over is a great baseball saying. >> neil: dangerous to be clear, they could always fly him back. is there a limit time-wise to how much they allow to keep a vote open? >> absolutely not. it's up to mitch mcconnell when they decide to vote, when he decides to close the vote, they close the vote. the record length was set on the stimulus package in the february package, 2009. sherrod brown left to go to cleveland. his mother passed away. they held the vote open for 5 hours and 15 minutes. brown's vote was essential. it was 60-38. he voted and they passed the stimulus bill. it's up to mitch mcconnell how long they keep that vote open. >> chad, thank you.

>> my pleasure. >> neil: all right. we're going to get the read from the white house, this looks like the second big victory for the president of the united states. neil gorsuch was big enough but this was a harder fought battle. now he has two very big appointments in history. we don't just help power the american dream, we're part of it. this is our era. this is america's energy era. nextera energy. billions of problems. morning breath? garlic breath? stinky breath? there's a therabreath for you. therabreath fresh breath oral rinse instantly fights all types of bad breath and works for 24 hours. so you can... breathe easy. there's therabreath at walmart.

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off that barack obama nomination and setting the stage for neil gorsuch who was a major win for donald trump in particular. but mitch mcconnell really made that happen. he stood by and with the process and understanding the rules and agreeing to this investigation as part of the fbi, keeping wayward members happy. not enough has been said about the republican leader and how instrumental he was in not only of this nomination but the prior one. it helps to have a president of the united states that put forth the names he did. mitch mcconnell had to make it happen and this was as dicey as it came. through clear grit and savviness to make it happened. looks like it will come to pass and it was mitch mcconnell that cleared the roadway here to make sure it did.

from the white house, blake burman on their reaction. >> at the 35 minute mark, i reached out to the white house official who has been very instrumental to get reaction on the speech. this person responded to me the following saying this speech is outstanding. a very big relief at the white house today. sarah sanders echoed on twitter, thank you senator collins for standing by your convictions and doing the right thing to confirm judge kavanaugh. the white house was confident this morning that the process would end up in its favor and then the procedural vote. and now with the apparent thumbs up from susan collins and the senator from west virginia as well, joe manchin, it is almost a definite and they're no doubt about it celebrating and received here. this could have ended up any better for this white house when

you think about it, neil. the process ended on this day with susan collins going to the senate floor, the entire political world watching her. for about 45 minutes, she laid out step by step many of the arguments that the white house and republicans were making for judge brett kavanaugh. we still have not received official reaction from president trump. but we have from the former president, george h.w. bush. he wrote the following on twitter a little while against. "senator collins political courage and class. brett kavanaugh is thought of very highly within the bush orbit. he was the former staff secretary to bush 43. >> neil: we're also hearing from chuck grassley that said i think senator collins, referring to her remarks, in the same spirit did more to expose the ugliness of the controversy around the kavanaugh nominating process

than any other senator. i commend senator collins and i'm proud to have her support for a well-qualified nominee. if you think about it, senator collins said the release of this letter from dr. ford, she said it didn't come from senator feinstein but she reached across the aisle with roe v. wade. they said you have this guy pegged wrong. she really did lay out a different view and a rationale for supporting him. not that it necessarily moved a lot of minds, but a crucial couple. >> there were three sort of chapters, if you want to say, considering the length of the speech. the first is his judicial record. she laid out a handful of different instances and concerns that some might have. and said in her estimation why those should not be viewed as

concerns. the second part are the allegations levelled by dr. christine blasey ford. she said how she believed that dr. ford was sexually assaulted at some point but didn't reach a standard of proof or reach a certain level as to drawing a line between that and judge kavanaugh. she said, you know, there's beyond a reasonable doubt in the court system. she didn't think this is a court system but in her estimate, she could not necessarily, you know, meet that threshold, i guess you could say. that was one of the reasons that she was siding to go for -- giving the thumbs up to brett kavanaugh. that was the second chapter. the third was this letter in which she gave a speech as to whoever came forward and sort of exposed dr. ford or at least broke if confidentiality that dr. ford sought after, it was a scathing criticism, neil, from

susan collins saying that person should be ashamed of what they did. neil? >> neil: it's how she wove that into her rationale and a well-reasoned argument that was remarkable. as are you, blake. thank you very much. blake burman. let's go to sean spicer. best selling book "the briefing", a former top spokesman for the white house. much, much more on -- sean, what did you think how this day ended? >> well, i think it ended the way that everyone on the republican side and the white house wanted it to. it took a lot longer than folks thought it did. it got messier. i think karl rove is right. the process is disappointing for both sides, this is no way to run a railroad, as they said. but i think that the white house persevered. the white house office of legislative affairs deserve as lot of credit for staying in touch with these members on the senate and making sure that they had their pulse on where things

were going. overall, the strategy that the white house employed the last few days, their temper month, output, responses was right and they let the process play out in a way it should. we got to the right outcome. let's not pom the champagne bottles, but by all accounts, it looks like brett kavanaugh will be confirmed. >> neil: and what i'm hearing in this is mitch mcconnell, the unsung heros. you know the rules and everything. but as any one that knows that system better than anyone and frustrated the president of the united states that didn't understand it, it frustrated a lot of folks. it's a more simple process of up or down votes and you don't need majorities, super majorities, filibusters back and forth. having said that, the way he handled merrick garland, which forever earned him the contempt of democrats that he cancelled a

supreme court appointment in election year, using that and the obama folks and president obama railed against that. it paved the way for neil gorsuch. paved the way for brett kavanaugh. he shepherded that system because he knew it so well. what do you through? >> i think you're absolutely right. republicans and conservatives will have a 5-4 majority a real 5-4 majority for the first time in decades because of two people. donald trump for putting forward a list of conservative jurists that will follow the constitution and mitch mcconnell for getting it through. you're right. i don't know that there's another person that has the skill, acumen, patience and know-how to navigate the senate in the way this mitch mcconnell did. he did with it a steady hand, got the job done. as you can tell from the comments and the way he handled himself, he's not out there for the limelight and the shows. he knows how to navigate the senate and he knows his members

better than anybody. i think because of donald trump and mitch mcconnell, every conservative should be proud of the direction that this court and not just this court because the untold story is what is happening at the circuit and appellate court levels as well. that's because of mitch mcconnell, the way he's been running the senate and prioritizing nominations. but i think there's no question in my mind one of the biggest legacies that donald trump will have as president is the reshaping of the judiciary towards strict constructionalists. people that use the constitution as a guide post. those two people, donald trump and mitch mcconnell are people that every conservative should remember the teamwork that they have displayed in getting this done. >> neil: it is remarkable. you don't have to be right or level to realize thou that 1-2 punch worked. they're odd bed fellows. i'm not saying we should play felix or oscar, but it's worked in a weird way, it's worked. they both got frustrated with each other, had some acrimonious

comments. we're told. i know what i read. but it is interesting. i think the unsung heros in this, besides the president of the united states, but the guy who has to shepherd it through his institution. sometimes it's like herding cats. that is mitch mcconnell. it's a remarkable achievement. now the question going forward is whether this allows for the mid-terms. you hear it's going to galvanize the angry democrats and hurt republicans. what do you think? >> i think look, taking everything aside in terms of the process itself and the allegations, looking at it purely through a political lens, i think the democrats made a massive mistake in this process the way they handled themselves. it's been pointed out, they went into this month with a massive enthusiasm gap that benefitted them heading into a crucial mid-term. republicans have closed that gap. for every republican out there and doesn't understand the chase that exists this election, understand the fact that donald

trump's name might not be on the ballot but his agenda and policies are and they need to vote. the nominations or the policies help bring us to outstanding unemployment rates and economic growth are all at jeopardy if we don't maintain a republican house and senate. so this nomination galvanized it in a way that i don't know what else could have. for so many republican voters, independent investigators and right-leaning democrats. >> neil: well-said, sean spicer. thanks very much. >> have a great weekend, neil. >> neil: you too. by the way, we have cory booker right now on the wires. i think he tweeted at us. he said we face defeat but we're not defeated, knocked down, not knocked out. a loss but all is not lost. hope is the active conviction that despair will not ever have the last word. wait a minute. that's from sparticus. i'm kidding. it's not from sparticus.

we're also getting michael avenatti saying it's an unfair process. and we have kristin solstice anderson on this. how does this sort out? >> when it comes to kavanaugh himself, you find that polls show a slim number of voters that say they would oppose versus confirm. when you give voters to say the option if they're unsure, they don't know, this has been a convoluted process, a pretty sizable chunk of the electorate throws their hands up. most issues are polarizing people. they know where they fall. this nomination has been difference because of the uncertainty and the play go both the houses view and how both parties have handled the politics of the issue. in that quinnipiac poll that showed a plus six for kavanaugh,

you had half respondents that say kavanaugh was treated unfairly in the process. a lot of voters. they don't know how they feel about the issue. they feel like the process was really disgusting. >> neil: i believe we're learning that joe manchin apparently called the white house this morning, kristin, to say that he would be a yes on kavanaugh. so even before the susan collins drama, will she, won't she, this was known that they had this in their hip pocket. what do you think of that? >> yeah, when you take a look at these democrats who are coming from red states and states that voted overwhelmingly for president trump, they're in a tough spot. it doesn't surprise me very much that joe manchin, especially ones that seems likely that the kavanaugh nomination was going to happen has been on the yes side. i do think that this makes the politics much more challenging for someone like a heidi heitkamp in north dakota. these are senators coming from

red states that will have a vote on record opposing one of the president's most prominent actions from the last two years. if you're coming from a state where a lot of voters maybe they like you but they want to president's agenda done puts you in a difficult place. that's why the politics are so difficult. >> neil: a lot of people say how does this galvanize women. it produced a record number of female candidates after the anita hill scandal. i don't see the same thing here. but maybe i'm missing something. what do you think? >> before the kavanaugh nomination happened, we were on track for an election where we're likely to have an increase in the number of women in congress. it's likely to come from the democratic side of the aisle mostly. and where you begin to see these

widening gender gaps is before kavanaugh. kavanaugh may have intensified that. for every action, there's an equal reaction. in polls i've seen pretty significant majorities of women oppose the kavanaugh nomination. but you see a lot of men that support it and feel that kavanaugh was treated unfairly. so again, i think there's a lot of energy among female voters. they tend to be less favorable to the president but you have male voters that are looking at this going, democrats need to do well with male voters too if they want that blue wave to happen. >> neil: kristin, thank you very much. >> thanks, neil. >> neil: it's almost official. we'll know tomorrow. the only question is when tomorrow. maybe frustrated democrats will not take this to the maximum hour around 4:00, 4:30 and just go ahead and have the vote as is scheduled for tomorrow. might not be that late. what we can tell you is when all is said and done, it will be at least a 50-49 vote where they won't need to bring back steve

danes from montana from his daughter's wedding. the father of the bride can stay and republicans can chock of a victory. a victory is a victory. it's not how close you win it but just that you won. "the five" is now. >> it's 5 o'clock in new york city and this is "the five." >> ♪ >> ♪ >> this is a fox news alert. breaking news rocking washington, d.c. two key senators will vote yes to confirm brett kavanaugh. susan collins and joe manchin announced their decision. a part of senator's collins speech on the senate floor. >> i do not