ce department's position is to seek a speedy trial. that matter is nownds of the courts. i'm not going to speculate any further. >> tha book tv features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books. university's brian kaplan argues that government regulation of has caused prices to skyrocket. explains what liberalism is an argues that and informs current issues. book tv every sunday on c-span and fin online anytime at book tv.org. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more including mediacom.

you should have access to fast reliable internet. ts c-s along with these other television providers giving you a front row seat toacy. a staff writer for the washington post. covers independent parties and candidates. she will talk to us about the libertarian national convention happening right now. thank you for joining us. 't we start by talking about the party itself. have and what they stand for. guest:st political party in the country representing a number of people. it is obviously smaller than the democratic and republican parties, the major parties but it is still a considerable party to pay att year.this is a year when we are seeing

more third-party challenges and more significant third-party before. a lot of third-party candidates and supporters i talked to there is dissatisfaction among icans with the two majornominees and they think that this might be their opportunity to try to convince americans to vote for them. host: liberta their presidential nominee this weekend. explain how that works and how and democratic process that we are use to? guest: it is a weird process if you know the democratic and republican processes and you don't know how this works. there have been state conventions that have been going on. delegates have been selected to come to d.c. for this weekend to pick the 6r nominee. there will be debates between the peo. then there will be a vote.. to win the nomination, it is not just the most votes. you have to get 50%, over 50%. that means that there will vote, people

who dropout til they have selected their nominee. it could be a longcess, a short process, we don't know what tointeresting to watch. host: how do the vice presidential play into that process? guest: they pick at the vice presidential candidate separately, so that will be interesting to watch as well. host: how many candidates are there now on the presidential ticket? t: there are a number of them. it will depend on how many are able to get signatures ing process happens at the convention. host: robert f. kennedy jr. spoke to the crowd when it was announced that formerump would be speaking. what was the reaction? guest: there has been a lot tension within the libertarian party as of late. we convention in

reno that there was a takeover by a faction of the party that now controlsthose not within that faction have been this satisfied with that leadership. when tbringing trump and rfk junior to the convention there was a falling people tried to this invite trump. but this is proceeding as planned. host: why were both former president trump and rfk junior invited to speak at a libertarian event. guest:nusual. there has never been a sitting or former president who has addressed li typicallydon't feature other party's presumptive nominees. what the libertarian party chair told me was that she wanted to try to increase the visibility of her party and she thought rump on stage to do that. she thinks that this is a great unity for libertarians to

trump will have to defend his record. for trump, he sees this as an opportunity to gain libertarian in some states this could be a close contest and those voters could make up the difference. his attempt is to tell libertarians maybe your nominee won't be able to gain as many votes as i can. if we collectively work together we can defeat joe biden. host: is there any other way that he is trying to appeal other possibly a second term for joe biden? is there anything that you are expecting to hear from him to encourage voters to support him versus either rfk junior or someone in the libertarian party? guest: i think that we'll see how he has marketed himself to the past as someone who is antiestablishment someone who wa "drain the swamp," and he will try to talk about how he will limit government. there will, of course, be reaction from the crowd saying

you had four years and you didn't do what we wanted you to do. there are demands the libertarian party made that he did not meet the promises that they hoped he would after his first term. so, that will be brought up. host: with meryl kornfield, a staff writer with the washington post about the libertarian convention this if you have a question or comment, call in. . republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. if you support a third-party you can call in at (202) 748-8003. yesterday, rober did speak at the event. let's go ahead and hear what he had to say and we will get your reaction on the others. [video clip] >> the fifth amendment says no one shall be deprived of life, liberty, and property unless convicted of a crime. if president trump shut d businesses

-- president trump said he would run america like a business. he came in and he gave the to to a 50-your bureaucrat who had no accountability. 3.3 million businesses with no d process no just compensa with the lockdowns, the mass mandates, the travel restrictions, president trump resided over the on individual liberties this country has ever known. he didn't stand up for the constitution when it really mattered. host: how did attendees respond or react to what rfk junior said yesterday? guest: we sa there were some grimaces. i heard a lot of people shouting at him. tellinge suggested

he would reform government limit it. that is the libertarian principle. obvious disagreements between libertarians and rfk junior. he was briefly considering seeking his nomination and we didn't see that come out. thatthing i've heard from a lot of delegates at the convention so far. why you might have been interested. he is a third-party candidate, too. he has name recognition which could be beneficial for them, but they felt he doesn't align with their values. host: is there anything that he does align with? what he was saying yesterday probably did appealed to libertarians. it sounded very muchands-off, limited government. is there anything in his background that libertarian voters could get behind to support him? guest: with they appreciate about rfk junior is hisal opposition to the coronavirus public health mandates. they said they liked that he

argued for limited government in that sense. then ir from people later on who said that they think that his goes too far. some of the people got vaccinated and felt like some of his remarks are antiscience. ouri on the democrats line. caller: yes mrs. korn, the thing is we are dealing an individual -- an orange stain -- that we cannot afford to have a third-party candidate perform what ross perot did for bill bill clinton would probably still be president to if not for fdr. this election, i will be short

and curt. we cannot afford to play around. this is not a time to be voting for a third-party candidate. host: are libertarian voters concerned they don't see themselves in that way.they argue that as long as they are putting forth their message they could maybe change policy. libertarian candidates have different perspectives on this. they win. some say in their campaigns we understand we can't win but we want to share our message. rfk junior says that he can win but if you can't at least he is talking about the things he cares aboutthat is his message. host: let's go to bruce in

athens, tennessee on the independent line. good morning bruce. caller: good morning. think that we need more than one running because we need to get all the information we can get. ask how she feels the lastime between hillary and trump when hillary was given all the questions before the debate. thank you. host: any response to bruce? guest: it is interesting because now that is a relevant conversation in terms of rfk juni he is trying to get on the debate stage with trump and biden, and we could see him where there is a third-party candidate on the stage with the two major candidates. that would be moment in modern political history. as he is seeking it there are

issues. that will give him ballot access in which he is trying to do. we will see if he meets that requiremeeds four polls of him 2% or more. he has three of the four. host: jerry on the independent line. good morning. caller: i would like to say that a former libertarian activist from the 1980's and 1990's and i am appalled at the lack of coverage this convention is getting. right now, we are seeing long time libertarian activists be deeadership of the party. like when i was in and dropped out, it is by money. what we're are seeing at this convention is, let's get the long time libertarians out of

the convention process and put someone into libertarian presidential nomination who is effectively going to be a shill for donaldi wonder why no one is covering this from that perspective. host: jerry is concern -- guest: jerry's concerns are not unusual. i have a story on the washington post front page about how this happened over the last few years with the libertarian party, the takeover and the fallout. after the caucus took over there were a lot of libertarians who left the party. what we have seen is some delegates have felt like the party went tooar. delegate put it well. we were talking about what we had seen the and she said we will see what happens tomorrow. today, we don't know. to was a pendulum swing. when we go as r right as we've gone back to the left, or a

balancing act? will we try to find middle ground within the party? host: talk more about the party and how they took over in 2022 and how they have changed the party direction or platform issues that have changed because of that. guest:arts in 2017. the unite tocharlottesville. that day the then chair of the libertarian party wrote a letter saying that we condemn racism. he was worried that there were people within the party who might be sympathetic to the people rallying in charlottesville. to make the message clear that this is not as. -- nots. when some people refuse to sign the letter there was fallout e party. a newu faction which was starting to be created started to recruit more members.

and picked up during we n enough on the public health mandates, we need to do more you sd join our party. disaffected republicans were we sought new members join at the state conventions. a lot of longtime libertarians showed up to the convention and there were new faces, people they not recognize. a lot of the delegates recruited by the mises caucus were given a packet telling them how to vote. voted for their delegates. they went to the convention and they had plans to change policy position within the libertarian party. one major change that we saw is on abortion. specifically libertarians do not believe that government shld play a role in abortions. they stripped that w they took out the bigotry said bigotry is repugnant. that from the platform as well.

a lot of the critics of the mises caucus have said this shift to the right has alienated people. we did see people drop out of the party because of that. we have seen their money is drying up and they are raising less money than they have in years past. meryl for those who may have -- host: the party doing know where they are going or who they are supporting? guest: it depends. some people have said that they are planning on sitting it o some people still like the idea tarian and they want to see who the nominee is. we could 2020 elections therein libertarian support for the libertarian candidates. had 3% of the vote. host: let's hear from sammy in washington, d.c. on the independent line. hi, sammy. caller: how are you today? host: doing well, thanks.

caller: i was thinking -- i heard the caller from missouri. as the last person i voted for in a presidentiali think people seem to forget that the reform party, when it was created party was created because the swamp was considered in the local and state houses. somehow, someway, they have flipped it and have said the swamp is in washington d.c. the swamp is actually on the local levels. if you're talking about limited government, you should be able to get rid of these mayors and d so forth. i will listen off-line. thank you. bye. guest: i think that that is an interesting point sammy makes about seeing more people join

the independent movement in down ballot races. we will be wating for that. we are especially interested if that materializes as a result of the third-party presidential bid. another note, the reform party, ross perot's party. it has lost its ballot access in all has become a skeleton of what it once was. they are now trying to revive themselves, interestingly. this week we saw they said that they will now be putting out -- they are seeking ballot access inave nominated rfk junior as their nominee. in some ways we are seeing some return of third parties. host:et's go to jesse in newport news, virginia on the democrats line. good morning, jesse. caller: good morning. host: go ahead.

caller: who am i talking to? the tv? host: you are on now. can down in the background? i think that is what is causing the confusion. yes. ii have a question. the comment is about c-span. it can be very frustrating because of some of the commentan statements that your viewers make. it is very frustrating to hear that our country isin many ways. i watched some of the convention this morning. as i watching, the libertarian convention that is, the people that i was seeing, listening some -- very confused people.

one man was walking around with red ribbon and a naked back. 1people talking about and speaking about the border, it isopg. they appear to be a bunch of very confused people. amongst each other in a convention, a libertarian sense. me, being what i would say a beral person who lived in the country for 72 years, i see things the right way. my viewre these people are wanting to elect, like the first caller, about the independent person. independents definitely disrupt government, presidential elections, because they come in and one party steals votes from

the other so they can win. we understand that. you point. period. their votes. votes from a libertarian point of view, they don't seem to know who they want to vote forthey have to listen to either independent or a president or former president like donald trump. i don't agree with the libertarian convention.k it is needed. host: let's get a response from meryl. guest: thealler brought up another difference ware eing in the libertarian party. when the mises caucus they said they wanted to take care of borders, a very ump-esque policy. it is different from what other libertarians thought of as government's role at the southern border. they believed there should be an open border and government should not play a role there. that is another way we are seeing this faction change the

party and of the fallout from that. as the caller notes has been contention on the floor between delegates. there was ani yesterday when delegates accused the libertarian chair of being "rogue republican chair" she was bringing trump and he didn't want her to. that is another interesting dynamic we are seeing. in some the fight over trump reflects a lot of these policy divisions that have existed in the libertarian party. host: raymond in windsor, colorado on the republican line. good morning, raymond. ca good morning. the reaso don't have a question i have a commentarty is done because of trump in 2015, 2016, i don'the ran as a republican, what he still runs as a republican. the people holding him up are not the republicans. we are true liberals.

true constitutionalists. true national patriots. there'ths no you don't want an open border invasion. i want to make a quick comment to the washington compost. the reason trump is back in as the lead nominee is because everyone did. everyone saw c-span would take a republican who made a really good point and rattled off three democr minutes to refuse the point and try to get people forget what was said. we see all the tactics, we see all the ploys. the one guy in the first hour is like, i can't believe thevitriol of these people calling in. well, believe it. people have seen what happens and there is going to be fcc rules, things are going to happen. guys are not going to be on the air anymore. host: we will go to andrew in new jersey calling on the independent line. morning, andrew. caller: yes, good morning. thank you for taking my call. i don't have a problem wit

third-partya candidate. first of all, i think that tic party has been led astray by outside forces. i party are not doing what they should be doing for the american , what we elect them to do. i believe that there should shouldn't be in there for 50 or 60 years. the problem is, you get three or four people in a room, even at artarian convention and they can't agree on anything. that is the danger that's goingntry down. i took civics in high school. we all i don't think that that is the reality of life, the civics they teaci don't know what they are teaching theseng after us, but if we lose this country where are we going to run? that is my comment. thank you for taking my call. host: guest: it is interesting that we have seen callers call in talking about they feel a sense

of division. it is something that a lot of these independent are trying to appeal to voters on. rfk specifically will sayst that there is differencese republicans and democrats have on issues like abortion and calls culture war issues because he says that they are not existential. what reallmatters is the broader overreach of government that he sees that he talked about during the this division we see between democrats and republicans increasingly becomes talking points. host: darren from texas, good morning. caller: my thoughts on the libertarian national convention. i am a formera while. like many, i grew dissatisfied

with the direction the party was going. i feel this convention is a good reflection with them hosting former president trump who is far fri look forward to seeing how that goes tonight. the party today is the way it is being run. lection, i think when they get a very small percentage of the that will show. the democrat and republican party are broken too but i thinit is better to be a big party that is broken where you have a lot of money coming in and stotes than being a smallerlibertarian party and be broken and have a very divided group of people struggle to even get sizable numbers in elections. i think is what we see this coming election. i want to see if you agree with me on this. thank you. guest: he mentions he is interested to see the reaction at the convention given the many

with the former president. i am interested to see this as well. i have talked to people who have been happy he is coming, people who see him as a better option than bid typically, libertarians say they do not like either of the major party candidates. and some people are s there is any indication of how this might go, we republican candida also visit the convention which is unusual. he tried to make a case for trump. he started talking about limited government and his policy suggestion he would have cut government employees in half there was appreciation for his comments, cheers, but then he said that is why we need to elect trump. there was boos and the room erupted into jeers and yelling

at each other. thate more of what we see tonight. host: in addion to inviting former president trump, r.f.k. jr.as invited to attend. who was not invited? you heard from attendees they would have liked for something else to be there? guest: seen represented matthews from kentucky. he walked through and talked to some reportersked about how he thinks trump could appeal to libertarians. vivek ramaswamy gave a speech and then sat down with one of the vice presidential candidates we also saw r.f.k. trump. the chair of the libertarian party says the way this happened was trump's team originally reached out. then she thought about it and thought we could invite everyone extend an invitation to biden, trump, r.f.k., jr. and afro man a rapper also

running. she did not send an invitation to jill stein of the green party or cornell west running as an independent. to see the dynamics of who was invited and who was not. clearly more left-leaning candidates were excluded from the event. qhhost: let's hear from kent on the inndcaller: good morning. i watched r.f.k., jr.'s speech. just like the republican party is noonthe party of goldwater or reagan and the democrats are no longer the party of j.f.k. or tip o'neill, the libertarian party is no longer the party of jerry brown or ron paul. t of mean spiritedness. i simply cannot vote for them. any response to kent? guest: things have definitely changed.

they do say when they first announce legitimately organizing theydrevolution. ideas and speak highly of him at the 2022 conventiothey invited him to speak at the caucus ahead oat the same time, the then-leadership invited edward snowden to speak, the whistleblower. it was an interesting dynic because there were two factions of the party meeting at the same time. have seen a more divisive libertarian party last few years than ever before. host: calling on the other line, he supports a third-party. good morning. caller: i'm calling from d.c. at the libertarian party convention. i am a delicat -- delegate here though

i am from pennsylvania. i wanted to say there are very few people on both sides of the libertarian party that cause a lot of trouble. mostt along and stop stealing people's money and murdering people overseas. that is about. kind of weird, racist thing going on, just going rd mesus. ll of these people. just go read that and you will know what it is about. i just wanted to say that. host: we will go to david calling from texas on the democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning. the party new [indiscernible]

in the governmental world. 1.i want to make on the democrat and republican party is which candidate is going to better the country, a candidate that will deal with thehe people'sing. i think one is going to bring us out to a reality of a fresh, new beginning for this country. if we have biden again, i think we are in danger of a real depression. he is not doing anything that will help people to better the country. k you. host: any response to david? yeah. this is something i hear, in addition to talking with third-party candidates and supporters, i have also gone to democratic and republican events

especially during the republican primaries in iowa and new hampshire, and get such differing views about where the country is going. right direction, wrong direction. a lot of people think was going under the wrong -- in the think there is not a lot of unityit comes to that. host: thisn party is expected to adopt a platform outlining what we know about those? what is at the top of th it will depend on how peoplethere was a mesis policy plan leak that describe how they want to vote. they had endorsed a cannick, a

former nyu professor who left his job. on the others, there is a classic liberal endorsed candidate who is a libertarian activist might vote on policy, we will see. the mises caucus document had a few suggestions should vote. one hadsomething libertarians have typically supported because they do not think that should be governed by the state. they want to eliminate it because they do not want to be seen as the party that focuses on that, it is too libertine. host: let's go to ronald in nogood morning. caller: people ought to be

ashamed to vote democrat anymore because it is the crookedest group i have ever seen. nancy pelosi tearing up the suites behind trump's back and hillary paid for something he did not do. whole bunch is as crooked as a barrel of fishhooks. i would never vote for long as i live. i used to be a democrat. host: let's go to carl in chicago calling on the democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning. i am seeing with these though they just landed in america. most of the people callingn i 50, what happened all these years that all of a sudden the united states is no good, the

when they had the democrats passing out money, the republicans took it. and then they turned around and talk the democrats are no good. i understand. i don't kn if they are getting paid to pound dethrepublicans, everything you basically have gotten has been for me democratic -- from the democratic party, not your own. what if trump gave out dinners and red hats? are you you get increases in your taxes. your property values go up. education goes up. you are just too bitter to

acknowledge who is actually helping you. any response for carl? guest: laughed when he suggested perhaps the drugs. it is something that is not unusual to hear. there is this idea that the other side are theloe's likely heard before. i think the sentiment among voters that the other side is so far on the wrong side of this that i think candidates shldbe cautious about papal scientists say they could alienate a large part of the middle ground and perhaps other voters on the others thinking about switching over. candidates should try to tow a fine line but voters feel very strongly. host: one must call. she is calling -- one lastsue is calling

on the democrats line. caller:or taking my call. rump was first running for office who met up with putin was mike flynn and jill of that green party. i just wante that people that thought they were voting for her, that jill she is actually a republican. she runs as the green party. mike flynn her met up with putin. i just wanted to bring that up so people would realize who she really is if they think about voting for is a republican. host: you are heading back to the convention after leaving here. what are you going to be watching for today? guest: i will be asking moretes about their preferences, if they are voting now for who they want to see

beco nominee. i'm interested not in who their their second and third choice is. a very complicated process for how they pick their nominee. ere might be someone who clearly has a large share of the vote but then candidates wil and maybe some delegates switch the