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we are fundedvision companies and more including buckeye broadband. >> ♪ >> television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. we are joined by paul steinhauser, a national poand a political reporter for the concorde monitor. he is joining us from new hampshire. program. guest: great to join you. it is in the mid-teens here. a frosty morning in new hampshire. host: but an improvement from when you were in iowa last week. guest: very much so. i am used to the winter living up here, but it was extra cold in iowa. host: let's talk about new hampshire. what role historically does new hampshire primary play in presidential politics? guest: a very important one.

with iowa, it is a 12 punch. the job of iowa and new hampshire is to win the field, maybe not dictate the nominees for the parties but to win the field. we saw iowa do that. a couple of candidates dropping out before and after the came in, maybe new hampshire will do that, as well. it has been a traditional role in both leadoff contests. host: the historical role is different from this year though. guest: there is a little controversy this year. the republicans, they have kept everything the same.isla first, new hampshire second. democrats shook up their calendar. it was almost a year ago that the democratic national committee voted to change things, to up in the traditional calendar after a suggestion i president biden. they moved new hampshire off away from its traditional role of leading off the primary calendar as the first primary always going after iowa, which is a caucus. that was controversial.

they put south carolina first. democrats up did not like that. we have a state law in no hampshire -- new hampshire that says, we hold the first primary and we have stuck with that law. s why new hampshire is having a democratic primary on tuesday, as well as the public and primary. on the democratic side, it is out of whack, unsanctioned because it is in violation of the democratic national committees calendar. president biden, because the democratic national committee did not think in this primary he will not be on the ballot here. there is a right in campaign on his behalf, but he will not be on the ballot. the two longshot candidates challenging the president, marianne williamson and democratic rep -- of minnesota are campaigning. host: speaking of right in, in addition to the campaign to encourage joe biden as a write inead there is a campaign for people to write in cease fire as a protest of what is going on in israel

and gaza. guest: that came about in recent weeks, as well. as you know, there is very much a divide among democrats over the situa, the fighting between israel and hamas in gaza. that is very much a controversial sticking point for democrats. this is a form of protest. host: let's talk about the gop race. where do the gop candidates stand in new hampshire right now? guest: that is where most is, that is where most of the votes will happen on the republican side. right now, you saw the results in iowa. very low turnout only 110,000. the cold was one reason, but i think another reason was a lot of republicans felt warmer president trump would dominate and he d iowa. won 98 out of 99 counties. he comes to new hampshire with a lot of momentum and as the favorite. the favorite in this contest. the polls indicate that former

ambassador to the united nations and former south carolina governor nikki haley is firmly in second place, anywhere f 16 points behind trump and a distant third place is ron desantis, the florida governor who came in second in iowa not those are the three candidates left in this race on the republican side. host: over to the democratic 2024 democratic presidential candidate and minnesota representative dean phillips spoke to voters in manchester and criticized the nat two-party system and calls for more competitive primaries. here are some of his comments. [video clip] >> this two-party system is actually very threat to the country that george washington warned us about so long ago in his farewell address. if george washington warned us about that, should we not take a moment and are flat on how press and that was? he recognized, he called them which by the way, did not exist when he was president.

he said factions would undermine this democracy when people became so focused on beating each other that they lose focus on trying to win for this country. he is right. i only joined congress after the 2016 election and i found my daughter she had overcome hodgkin's lymphoma she is a gay woman. i did not know that at the time. i sat at my table that morning and i promised my daughters i would do something. i ran for congress. little did i know how bad it was. how offensively divisive, offensively separate both leaders on both sides of the aisle have been for generations. this is sickeningly broken. yes, wei am a proud democrat telling all of you we need opposition. i think both political parties need competition. they want to protect a duopoly that is destructive to this democracy. there is nothing more than

allowing two political parties that are private enterprises from seizing this country from all of us. who are these people? who are these people behind that curtain pulling these levers? who are they? isn't it strange in america we do not know who they are? i have been running as a democrat because i intend to repatriate decency transparency and integrity to a party in which i deeply believe that has done this country a great service over the last number of decades but has lost its way and is clearly the gop has, as well. host: how well is that message resonating in new hampshire? guest: you get a little taste of the dean phillips stump speech. you can tell he is running as an outsider. critical of both party structures. it is resonating along some democrats. of democrats overall in new hampshire, our support of president biden, they do not want to see donald trump back in the white house but they are

also frustrated with the president. and the party for stripping new hampshire of its first in the nation status in the democratic calendar. his message is resonating. he is getting some crowds. take the polls, he can be anywhere from single digits to the upper teens or over 20%. we will find out on tuesday just how his message has been from the looks of it, there are people that definitely will be supporting him. host: we will be taking your calls for paul coming up in a bit. our numbers for democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. if you are in new hampshire and he would like to join the show that number four you is (202) 748-8003. for folks in new hampshire. speaking of that paul, how do new hampshire voters differ from voters in iowa caucus in terms of ideology and what motivates them to vote? guest: i used to be a purple

state -- iowa used to be a purple state. it has become much republicans have done very well at the ballot box in iowa. new hampshire remains one of a dozen through battleground states. we have a republican governor, a legislature that is majority republicans and the executive council also controlled by their publicans. our congressional delegation is entirely democrats. we are very much a battleground state. call it what you will. we are also a state where independent voters, we call undeclared voters up here, they are influential in our president to primary. they make up about 40% of the electorate. on primary day tuesday we can vote either the democrat or republican primary. we can go into the polling station, register and get a republican ticket card or democrat card, cast our ballots and go back and reregister as an

independent. yes, moderate voters and independent voters in new hampshire are very influential and will probably once again play an important role in the primary and especially on the republican side where nikki haley is counting that independent vote and moderates for her support against trump who has the backing of the more conservative voters in the state. host: just to back up those points you were making, we have got a chart of the new hampshire voter registration and how that breaks down. you have got about 268,000 republicans, 31% of the electorate. 262,000 democrats 30%, but unaffiliated voters you were just talking about 343,000 39%. more of them than anybody else. why is that the case in new hampshire, compared to other states that are a bit more evenly split or lean heavily one way or another? guest: we have seen over the years that the rise in

independent voters with a lot of voters no longer declaring themselves democrats or republicans, it is more pronounced in new hampshire. i think that is fair to say. the election year is fiercely independent. we have a motto of live free or die. they are known as late deciders. say one thing, but a lot of people go into that ballot box maybe making their decision in the last couple of hours before the vote. our secretary of state dave scanlon addicting the other day we hundred 22,000 people would vote in the republican primary and predi and in the democratic primary. we will see if those numbers can out. regardless that would be a lot larger than the caucuses in iowa. host: so money people are watching how nikki haley performs in this race in particular. new hampshire governor chris sununu is supporting her. how much of a difference will it make? guest: it has already helped.

when he endorsed her five weeks ago in new hampshire, it gave her an instant boost in the polls. with donald trump -- he closed the gap with donald trump. sununu is her top advisor mapping out where she stops on the campaign trail. yesterday, the first of seven or eight stops was in the general store to my home in newfield where he lives, as well. retail politics is a very, very important part of new hampshire politics, has long been a major part of the primary. sue knew new is emphasizing that -- sununu is emphasizing that with haley. it has been a traditional part of new hampshire's politicing. host: let's get to mike in new jersey on our independent line. go ahead, mike. caller: yeah, good morning,

paul. thank you for being on and stay warm. i just want some specifics. can you tell me of the democrats, they are listed on the ballot. dean phillips, -- is cornell west on the ballot? thank you. guest: they are not on the ballot, west and stein -- west is now an independent candidate and stein is running on the green party. this is a democratic primary. they will come into play in the general election but this is a primary process so they will not be on the democratic pr williams will be, marion williams will be. whose name will not be on the democratic pallet? president biden. register up here. as we talked about. there is a big write in campaign that top democrats in the state are supporting to try to help

him when this primary. the last thing they want, even though this is an unsanctioned primary, the last thing a lot of democrats one is for biden to suffer embarrassment here. i spoke to phillips yesterday he thinks he can surprise and do well here. i think he is looking to finish in the double digits. he feels that will give him enough juice to march on. he will not be in the nevada primary. the next thing up for the democrats will be the primary in south carolina. joe biden will be on the ballot in south carolina. that was the state in 2020, his landslide victory in south carolina after getting punished in iowa. biden came in fifth in new hampshire, but rebounded with a second-place finish in the bata that huge landslide victory in south caroli that boosted him to the nomination and eventually, the white house. host: one of the other arguments the democrats make for south carolina being theif we look at the

demographics of new hampshire, it is 89% white and home to the minorities. we have a chart here. almost 89% white, under 5% hispanic and latino, 2% african-american. 3.2% asian. the argument being with south carolina being 69% white, 26 percent black, south carolina being more representative especially in a democratic primary. what is your take on that? guest: this has been an argument for quite some time inrimary process. iowa and new hampshire -- this has been going on for any cycles. the democratic party over the last generation or two has become much more diverse. there has been a lot of pushback two caucasian states in iowa and new hampshire, they also do not have large urban areas, going first. new hampshire, keeping to its guns and holding to its state law and holding this

unsanctioned primary on the democratic side. this has been a fight going on for a long time. iowa and new hampshire kept winning the vital until this cycle when president with this new calendar that puts south carolina first. host: daniel in illinois on our independent line. go ahead daniel. caller: good morning. what i want to know is, how is donald trump a victor when only 15% of registered republicans showed up in iowa? because this number affects new hampshire as all as far as republicans showing up to the polls for this primary. this is not a victory for donald trump. host: what do you think about that, paul? guest: you know, let's talk about that. yes, 110,000 people took part in the iowa republican presidential caucuses. that was down from 186,000 last time they had a contested

contest in 2016 when ted cruz narrowly defeated donald trump and senator marco rubio for first place. you are looking at a dramatic drop in the number of participants in iowa. it was a low turnout. why was it low? two reasons. it was freezing. i am a new hampshire guy. i am used to winter. it was subpar take -- subarctic. he blizzard slammed in iowa to three days ago before the caucuses. the idea donald trump was going to win these caucuses big helped depress the boat. nikki haley and ron desantis have been pointing this out nonstop ends monday that this was not a victory for donald trump and should be a troubling sign that only administer number of republicans came out to vote and he only won as the incumbent, even though he is not. he is almost considered the incumbent in this primary battle that he only won about 50% of

the vote. trump world is happy with the results in iowa and calling it a major victory. haley and santos see it a different way -- desantis see it a different way. host: bonnie on our independent line. caller: this whole week reminds me of a quote from winston churchill. by the time an american gets to be president he is no longer qualified. i look at the arena of politicians who criticize trump for his obvious lies, criminal behaviors, cheating on his wife, his businesses, his taxes, his american people. yet, now they are jumping on his bandwagon so that they can perhaps pursue or further their own careers. picture in mind, tim scott. as a registered nurse, i find it very disconcerting that weave two very senior citizens who are

going to be taking over this country, one of them, anyway presumably. these are the men that get up five times a night to pee because they have enlarged prostate. host: ok. i wonder how the age argument is landing in new hampshire. guest: new hampshire is like the rest of the country. there has been poll after poll that indicate most americans are not very jazzed at all with a trump-biden rematch in the general election in 2024. age is a big part of that. we have joe biden, the oldest president in u.s. history, donald trump only a few years younger than him. it is a major, major factor for sure, and one that most americans,polling, are not looking forward to seeing these two gentlemen as the major party standardbearers in november. host: someone we haven't chatted about yetsa he is at a campaign event in new hampshire yesterday, criticizing

both of his top rivals for their record and their unwillingness to debate ahead of the states primary. let's listen to him for a bit. [video clip] >> i think that the choice on tuesday is simple. donald trump is running for his issues. nikki haley is running for the donors issues. i am running for your issues and your families issues and solely to turn this country around. i am the only one running that has a record of delivering on 100% of my promises. donald trump ran on a lot of things in 2016. i was at the rally. build the wall, have mexico pay for it. drain the swamp, did not deliver. hold hillary accountable did not deliver. on and on it does, there were promises made but there was not the follow-through. nikki haley it is interesting. i was in south carolina the other day. i had 1000 people rally. i said, south carolina and what did she accomplish as governor that was a major achievement? can you tell me? a single person raise

their hand with anything that she achieved. if you spoke to 1000 republicans in florida and you ask them what i achieved as governor, you would have hands shooting up. being in any elected office is not just being a potted plant. it is leading and delivering results. i am sick of politics being about entertainment and all of this other stuff. deliver results for the people. that is all you are judged on is articulating that vision in bringing it to fruition. it is sad, if you look at what is going on in new hampshire -- in iowa, we didn't do one, these other candidates are running basement campaigns. they will stick their head every now and then. they will not debate. we were supposed to do the debate last night. i signed up to do it, no one else would do it.

they had another when offered on cnn on sunday. i accepted it, no one else acpted it. not? why not get out there and defend your record and articulate your vision? i am proud of my record. i am proud of our vision for america. i would take any opportunity to do that. they are not doing it. i think it is something that should concern republican voters. host: back with paul steinhauser . how is ron desantis doing in new hampshire? what are the stakes in this race for him? guest: if you believe the polling here, he is not doing well. he is a distant third in new hampshire in the single digits where haley is about 15 points behind donald trumpit does not appear to be much of a factor here. haley told me earlier this week ron desantis was invisible in new hampshire. she has been framing this as a two-person race in new hampshire. she came in third in iowa, but

in her speech monday night in des moines after the caucuses looking ahead to new hampshire and south carolina, she started to frame this race, rightfully or wrongfully, as a two-person race between her and the for new hampshire not saying it is inconsequential to him, but he is looking ahead. he is either resigned to the fact they are not going to perform so well. where is he this weekend? not here. he was in new hampshire friday campaigning era today and tomorrow, he wl be in south carolina. they hold their contest on february 20 fourth they are the next major state to hold a republican contest. nevada has a caucus and primary, but it is convoluted. that comes in early february. desantis taking shots at both haley and trump for the lack of debates here, that has been a controversy. donald trump has not done any debates. he has skipped all of them dating back to august. there were two different debates planned for new hampshire one

the other day and one for tomorrow night. desantius was the only one -- desantis was the only one who said yes. haley said she would make it to the stage if trump would, which he is not doing. host: next up we have gary in kentucky o our republican mind. go ahead, gary. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: i do not take much stock in primaries because 2016, bernie sanders won inty would not acknowledge it or announce it. i am concerned about a candidate that does not put his name on the ballot and a candidate that does not show up for debates. i tell you desantis one thing

one thing nikki haley has done is representatives internationally. we have crisis everywhere internationally right now. host: do you have a response to that? guest: haley is touting her time not only as south carolina governor where she served two terms but her time as u.s. ambassador to the united nations. she difference with desantis and trump when it comes to a number of overseas issues, think ukraine, think israel. she advocates a much more muscular u.s. approach overseas something that was predominant in the republican until the trump era. that has changed things, trump having a much more u.s. centric foreign-policy policy and national sthere are definitely policy differences and haley seems to be on one side with trump and desantis slightly on the other side. so much of these races for the

white house, these primary battles are about personality and the candidates themselves. policy is also a very important part of this and something that does not get a ton of attention in the media. when you hear the questions from voters most of the time, it is not about the stuff you hear on tv, it is about policy. host: speaking of this issue the caller was referencing bernie sanders. 00bama a recor008. mccain in 2000. i wonder what you think of new hampshire's record in terms of picking winners? guest: again, we talked about this right off the bat kimberly. i think people in new hampshire and iowa will say it is not their job to pick the nominee it is their job to narrow the field. so many times, throughout this cycle we have sthese past cycles, we have come into iowa and hampshire with a ton of candidates on both sides and those fields shrink dramatically after iowa and hampshire.

they move on to south carolina, nevada and the super tuesday contest in march. the idea is to shrink the field, not pick the winner. bernie sanders and 2016 crush the competition. he destroyed hillary clinton new hampshire. she did rebound, but they battled until the summer for that nomination. that was quite a historic matchup between the two. four years later in 2020, it was a very slight victory for sanders over pete buttigieg, the former mayor of fortindiana at that time, now the transportation secretary in the biden administration. we remember that joe biden came in fifth in iowa -- fourth in iowa, fifth in new hampshire before that major landslide in south carolina. was another reason i think democrats, besides diversity but a lot of democrats are looking back to 2020 and say why should new hampshire and iowa go first because they did not get it right when it came to

biden becoming the nominee? host: folks in new hampshire, if you would like to call in, that special line for you is (202) 748-8003. first, let's go to eddie in peoria illinois on our democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. i have a question. i am a little hazy on this. i do not know if it is policy but the incumbent. why don't incumbent have any more challengesrs, or is that a policy or just courtesy from the other politicians that might one toun but could not run? host: go ahead, paul. guest: we have seen in history -- it is very tough to beat an incumbent president running for a second term. there have been times where that incumbent has faced some tough to 1980, democratic president jimmy

carter. there were tough times in the country. i was a younger person back then, but i remember those days. he had a fierce primary challenge from then senator ted kennedy of massachusetts, george herbert walker bush in 1992 running for reelection. pat buchanan gave him aap run for their money. we have seen this -- the last two cycles, donald trump did get primary challenged in 2020 on the were public inside. former massachusetts governor william wells 7% of the vote in new hampshire but trump was the overall choice for that renomination. here we are four years later and biden is--you look the clear favorite to win renomination but is facing primary challenges. dean phillips, the congressman from maryland -- from minnesota marianne williamson, those are

the top two candidates. hoeects wre goi tr at c-splet's go now to -- guest: kimberly. host: go ahead. guest: it is interesting you brought up ro khanna.he has been here in support of president biden and that has thinking, maybe in 2028 he has got a pause for a national run. ro khanna is a one of four or five known democratic politicians that are in the state this weekend, doing what he is doing, part of this right in process trying to get democrats to the polls on tuesday to write in joe biden's name. interesting to see what is going on right now. host: michelle in birmingham, alabama on our republican line. go ahead, michelle. we have lost michelle. let's go to jennifer, who is in new hampshire and is an independent. go ahead, jennifer. caller: i just wanted to make a

statemthe statement is, i do not like that our state is not -- that we change parties for the primaries. i do not like that. i was wondering why we do that. i do not think it is right. if it is a fair fight like stacey abrams always said, i think we need to stay with our party and not do it because it is not there. the other question is why would biden change to south carolina? i think that is disrespectful to our state. thank you and have a blessed day. host: go ahead, prt with the latter. what you heard from that caller just now is what a lot of democrats, independents and republicans are saying in new hampshire. they are angry with president biden and democrats taking away and stripping this cherished first in the nation status. it has been at the top of the calendar. republicans made no changes. new hampshire is still going

first, following our state law. there is a lot of is it meant at what the democrats are doing and that will come into play. comment the law up here allows a democrat or republican to change their voter registration, but you have to do it by mid-october. the deadline is over. about 4000 democrats according to figures from the secretary of state's office did change their registration from democrat to undeclared or independent. now, tho voters can vote in either the democrat or republican primary on tuesday. there is a process to allow for that. donald trump has been saying in recent days and events appear and in media interviews that democrats can vote in the republic and primary. that deadline has passed. only independents and republicans can vote in that republican primary. host: next is arizona on our independent line. go ahead. caller: yes i am concerned

about people discussing nikki haley as a moderate. she is a warmonger. she is interested in war with iran, with russia, with china. to discuss her as a moderate seems unbelievable to me. so, i do not understand that. host: paul, is she considered a moderate by new hampshire voters? guest: let's talk about what the other candidates are saying first, then we can geto that. donald trump and ron desantis have been criticizing haley questioning her conservative agenda and record. they are painting themselves as much more conservative and he we were talking about foreign policy and national security, which is what this caller was referencing. on that, she skews to the more traditional, conservative,

strong overseas involvement by the united states, which was the republican's policy decades until donald trump and maga reshaped this party over the last two election cycles. you have seen some differences here. i will say this about new hampshire voters, there is a high percentage of veterans in this state. overseas matters, military matters foreign national security top issues for new hampshire voters, especially when it comes to the republican primary. host: our democratic line. caller: good morning. look, i think -- i heard you say that new hampshire in head to head polls, joe biden is winning. did hear you say that? host: i do not think so but, go ahead. go ahead, paul. guest: we did not talk about the general election polls up here in new hampshire. we were talking about the primary polls. a couple of new ones came ou the last couple of days. they indicate biden is ahead of

trump, ahead of desantis. the latest one i saw indicates would be edging biden in the date. this is traditionally a battleground state. in 2020, biden won by seven points over donald trump. host: what is your question, terrel? caller: my question is, have you ever heard of david stockman? the author that wrote the book, war on capitalism? host: regardless, what is the question or paul? caller: the question is, donald trump it's out of there and he lies about everything. you know, just like he was saying he was lying about thedemocrats voting in the republican campaign. i just wonder why people let him get away with stuff. in reference to thistrump's war on capitalism, it is telling everything he lied about

and this guy david stockman is saying donald trump was the worst president ever. the republicans they do not want to hear anything. they do not want to see anything. they do not want to hear anything bad about donald trump. host: let's see if we ca get another -- a couple more questions for paul before we have to let him go. brian in the independent line. caller: my comment is really about how the press generally is reporting the results on the primary for trump typically the way i believe they would in a primary for biden based on how they talk about polling for biden. that being, we just had the iowa results. trump only garnered 50% of the vote. he is the incumbent president of

the republican party. had -- along comes a primary he garners only 50%. there are lots of reports saying he won by a landslide because he had a 20% lead or 30% lead over desantis and nikki haley. but, he actually only got 50%. host: did you have a question for paul? we only have a couple of minutes left. caller: only 50% of the people voted. he did not win. that is a terrible loss. people s brian. let's go to richard in wisconsin on our independent line. do you have a question for paul? morning. i have something a little different. where i work, there is 93 workers. 56 of us are married or living with somebody. we have our own polling box so no one knows how somebody voted. come to find out, we are democrat republican and

independents. we come to find out again nobody here wants vote for the republicans. even the republicans do not. democrats will vote for biden. independents are talking about what we found out, will vote for biden. nobody, the republicans people said that if trump is on the ballot box, they will not vote at all. host: any thoughts on that, paul? guest: that is an interesting comment there. there are plenty of people who do not want to see donald trump returned to the white house. that is crystal clear. not just democrats. at the same time, donald trump still has a lot of support in the republican party. people say that the party is still firmly under his grip. host: we are going to get in one more quick call from patrick in new hampshire who is a republican. go ahead, patrick.

turn down your volume on your tv. caller: hold on. yep. i will take it easy on you. how annoying is that ear piece you have? host: [laughter] guest: [laughter] it keeps falling out, but that is ok. i appreciate the concern. host: all right, where there any other questions about the election before we let you go? caller: am a republican. i am going to vote for trump. i did last time. i hope that everybody, if you have a family that you are working your butt off for like me and my wife are if you have fallen behind the last three years, hope lee in november, we can change all of that. hopefully, you are on board with us, john. hopefully, we can get back to some normalcy and someone that is not cognitively declining. that would be nice. host: thanks, patrick. any final thoughts from you paul, before we let you go? guest: you heard that, there.

the former president made history last year, first former president to be indicted. not just once, four times. in two cases for try to overthrow the 2020 elecon results. in a way, that has only made him stronger and more popular with a lot of people in the base of the republican party. we saw that play out in iowa. it was a landslide factory -- victory, but a low turnout. new hampshire is going to be interesting. will donald trump's ride continue to the nomination or will he face a major speedbump in face a major speedbump with maybe nikki haley giving him a run for the we will find out tuesday night. a big win by donald trump and the nominationif he doesn't and we get a victory for haley we may have a fight ahead of ourselves for a few weeks longer. tuesday night will be interesting in new hampshire. host: we look forward to hearing more of your reporting. a national political reporter

ws, as well as a political reporter for the . to the latest on the attacks in syria here is a story from the new york times looking at this issue from a photo at the scene of the attack saying iran blames israel for the attacks. it killed two senior intelligence figures into other members of the force including two a semi official agency. here is another image of this scene of the attack. they accuse israel of launching a missile attack. the chief of intelligence in syria for the revolutionary guard force was killed.

the overseas arm of the guard supports militias around the middle east inc hamas hezbollah and the houthis. iran is a long time of hamas. in the wall street journal there is an image of a map of where those conflicts are playing out in the region. you can see here, iiran supported militia attacks on u.s. bases and israel is battling hamas in gaza. skirmishes continue in the west bank and yemen launched rockets

towards israel and the u.k. and u.s. forces are respondi

take a look at the majority of the 32 where you can identify the ship that's being targeted. not a single one was destined

for israel. they were all destined for other ports with other bits of commerce. so the whole argument that this is about the war in gaza. as for the resistance continuing we have national security interest in the region and we have moved additional military resources to protect those interests. take a look at what happened just a few nights ago. >> we are looking for your top news story of the meat -- of the week. we are following the iowa caucus results as well as the upcoming new hampshire primary, increased tensions throughout the mideast and the white house and congress talks as well as the spending deal that finally made it through.

the march for life rally and abortion politics as well as the house gop and hunter biden agreeing on a deposition. will start with jeff in nebraska on our republican line. caller: my top story was reported on laura ingraham fox channel with the warehouse discovered last week who files of eboli, hundreds of mice infected with different diseases , they went in and destroyed the lab.

the person that ended up being in charge of this was from china. him and his whole staff. unfortunately the charges against him are minor because we don't have, they didn't have -- i don't think they have anything else they can charge him with. host: in michigan on the democratic line. good morning. caller: i just wanted to talk about the national debt and the budget. the reason i'm doing it is man huizinga they are going to have some kind of bipartisan debt commission policy. i was going ecommend three articles to read. one of them is increasing the deficit can be traced to gop tax

cuts. that's from americans for tax fairness. i've got another one here. this is pro-public and the title of the article is donald trump built a national debt so big even before the pandemic that it will wait down the economy and they have a. the king of debt promised to reduce the national debt. they're talking about trump. in his tax cut made it surge. third biggest increase of any president. listen, the republicans are not serious. they have never been serious about the debt. they want to extend the tax cuts that were given out under trum's going to increase the national debt even more.

host: i want to bring up the article about the fiscal commission which advanced in a house panel this week and that inudes the house budget committee did not take measures despite advancing legislations to create a bipartisan fiscal commission -- the committee approved the bill with three democrats joining republicans and passing the measure. that went on to move forward in the larger vote in the house as well. what's go to rory -- let's go to rory on our republican line. /dcaller: good morning. two things.

the border and impeachment. right now the border, all those processing paces -- places should be for outgoing. every time you catch somebody, you kick them out of the country. the other thing on impeachment of biden, it occurred to me and some others, the 25th amendment can be used to get rid of biden. he is hopelessly mentally incompetent. they can get him out of there and cut that short and we will live with harris for a short time and then have trump come in. host: thomas in hagerstown maryland on the democratic line. good morning. caller: nikki haley seems to have a problem with people talking about racism and slavery. the simple way she should learn about it is to talk to her

son-in-law. her daughter just married a black football player from clemson. that should be a way to find out what he thinks. host: ron on the republican line. caller: thanks for taking my call. a couple of issues that are lesser-known but very important mr. trump mentioned some things about civil war and that the civil war wasn't so bad. if it hadn't been for the civil war, abraham lincoln would be nothing as a president. he was very sensitive about the fact that abraham lincoln is so popular. you know what abraham lincoln did say you can fulsome of the people some of the time and most of the people most of the time, but you can't fool all the

people all the time. this will push by mike johnson religion in our country has being over government. we have over 200 of religious believers in this country just and not muslims or anyone else. i'm talking 200 different denominations which include jehovah's witnesses and christian science and amish people that do not believe in saluting the flag or dancing or anything else. and polygamy. the bottom line is we have to really analyze that and that's the reason our country came up with division of church and state. there should be no commingling between religion and government.

thanks a lot for taking my call. host: you mentioned those comments from president trump about the civil war and lincoln. what did you think of those? caller: it's terrible. he's demeaning the fact that we actually went to war and killed hundreds of thousands of americans in a fight over property rights which it turns out slavery is property rights. that was their property. that's why we went through the whole ocess. we were fighting a war whether or not human beings were property or not. people involved in this. from the very beginning of our country, we had indentured servants that came over and had to serve people for seven years in order to pay off their debts.

they were slaves, too. and women of course never got the vote until the 1920's. landowners were the only ones able to vote until the 19th century or 20th century. there's a big deal about slavery and this whole process. so talking about abraham lincoln who put our country back together and said people aren't slaves. host: we had a major endorsement for former president donald trump just yesterday. senator tim scott officially endorsed former president donald trump at a rally in concord, new hampshire yesterday.

just three days before the states primary. >> we need a president who will close our southern border today. we need donald trump. we need a president. president who will unite our country. we need donald trump. we need a president who will protect your social security and my mama's social security. we need donald trump. we need a president today who will stop the crime and recklessness in the streets. wea president who will restore law and order. we need donald trump.

we need a president who will lower our taxes and not raise our taxes. we need a president like donald trump. we need a president who understands the american people are sick and tired of being sick and tired. we need. we need a are foreign adversaries are afraid of and our allies respect. we need. we need a president who doesn't see black or white. ee a president who sees americans as one american family. we need. and that's why i came to the very warm state of new hampshire. to endorse the next president of

these united states. president donald trump. host: we have frank in pittsburgh on the democratic line. go ahead. are you still with us? seems we have lost frank. let's go washington on the independent line. caller: i would like to quo doll, famous for a book called united states essays. he kept writing up until his death. he said i regard monotheism, the belief in a single sky god as the greatest single disaster ever to befall the human race.

the question has to be asked how many people really believe in god. michael parentally another great american retired. host: is that your top news story of the week? i'm tying it in with abortion. he said in