Eric began Friday's show by examining Donald Trump's early morning Twitter rant, in which he insulted former Miss Universe Alica Machado, who claims she was 'fat-shamed' by Trump two decades ago. Eric discussed the Machado issue with Trump advisor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and former Clinton aide Richard Goodstein. "Hillary Clinton wants to make this a big issue," Sanders said, "but the most offensive thing that's been said on the campaign trail is when Hillary Clinton called millions of Americans 'deplorable' and 'irredeemable.' That shows the utter contempt she has for so many Americans. She has put our government and our national sale at risk, she has put our government up for sale!" Goodstein denounced Trump's repeated assertions that Hillary Clinton lacks stamina. "All the people who watched that debate on Monday saw one person in a red suit who was totally vibrant to the end, while the other guy was leaning on the podium and flagging. I hope the Trump campaign predicates its strategy on the notion that she doesn't have stamina. Donald Trump is living in a dream world!"

Eric welcomed billionaire Mark Cuban, who has been one of Hillary Clinton's most forceful surrogates. "She won the debate hands-down," Cuban declared, "and I think what really unsettled him was her ability to bait him and the fact that he was laughed at by the crowd. I was initially excited to have someone as candid as Donald Trump, but at some point you have to learn the issues. He made no effort to learn, that was of no interest to him." Eric then asked Cuban, who owns the NBA Houston Rockets, what he'll do if any of his players refuse to stand for the National Anthem. "My father enlisted in the Navy at age 16 and he made it very clear to me that people you disagree with have the right to be heard. So I told our players that I will stand there with my hand on my heart, but I will support whatever they decide to do."

Brand new polls show that Hillary Clinton got a bump after Monday's debate, but the race remains tight. Eric surveyed the presidential landscape with political analysts Arnon Mishkin and Caitlyn Huey-Burns. "The big surprise is that she has not closed the deal," Mishkin said. "She had a great week and did very well in the debate, but only two-thirds of the people who say she won the debate are voting for her. There is still room for this election to change." But Huey-Burns contended that Hillary Clinton has put herself in a far better position. "The debate had an impact and she did improve on the negatives that were hurting her. She is now on par with Donald Trump on 'honesty and trustworthiness' and she has gained points on 'temperament.' Trump is struggling to get out of the low 40s in the polls, he has had no movement at all."

Eric introduced Bill's interview with Donald Trump, who entered the No Spin Zone on Wednesday, two days after the debate. "During the debate," he said, "I saw her talking and talking about what she's going to do and I realized that she's been doing this for 26 years and nothing ever gets done." Bill pressed Trump on his apparent claim that he did not always pay federal income taxes. "She said maybe I paid no taxes," the Republican candidate said, "and I said that would make me smart. I wouldn't mind paying more taxes if our politicians knew how to spend the money, but they don't know what they're doing. We've spent $6-trillion in the Middle East and if we did nothing we would be in much better shape!" Trump turned to the subject of women and accusations that he mistreated former Miss Universe Alicia Machado. "I hardly know this person, she wasn't a successful Miss Universe. She did not do well, she had a lot of difficulties, and the company wanted to fire her. I saved her job! A lot of things are now coming out, they're saying she threatened the life of a judge. If this turns out to be true it will make Hillary look extremely bad." Trump analyzed debate moderator Lester Holt's performance. "When I first did the debate," Trump said, "I thought he was fine, but then I reviewed it and read the commentary and realized he was much tougher on me than he was on Hillary. He badgered me and corrected me on things where I was right. I was disappointed."

The next debate is coming up on Tuesday, when vice presidential candidates Mike Pence and Tim Kaine square off in Virginia. Fox News correspondent Ed Henry provided a preview. "These guys are more policy-based," Henry said, "and I think there will be fewer personal attacks. A lot of people say that if you flipped both tickets there would be less of a circus and more talk about policy. Both Tim Kaine and Mike Pence show that Hillary Clinton and Mike Pence had good judgment when it came to picking people. They haven't been attack dogs because the candidates at the top of the ticket are attacking the heck out of each other. But the main event coming up is the second presidential debate."

Eric welcomed Geraldo Rivera and asked him about the many newspaper editorial pages are going out of their way to disparage Donald Trump. "It's not just USA Today," Rivera reported, "but also the Arizona Republic, the Dallas Morning News, the Cincinnati Inquirer, and the San Diego Union-Tribune. Sometimes you live in a bubble and don't realize how much of the Republican establishment has rejected Donald Trump. And it seems to be growing every time he does one of these outrageous stunts like the Miss Universe thing. He is giving a lot of people the vibe that he is unsuitable to have the nuclear codes." Turning to the Alicia Machado controversy, Rivera harshly criticized Trump's handling of the issue. "Hillary Clinton absolutely set him up and he could have handled that with ease. He could have said, 'You want to talk about Miss Universe from 20 years ago when there are 300,000 dead Syrians thanks to your administration.' But instead he went to sleep with a chip on his shoulder and started tweeting. I love the guy, I have known him forever, but he has to change!"