>> could tune the recently the who has had a more major legislation passed the past two years? i created 2000 jobs this past week. i slow down, i cannot get the

job done. that is a sign that i should be doing it, but there are no indications of that yet, none. host: that was president biden yesterday attempting to end questions on whether he plans to stay in the 2024 presidential race. he took the floor for nearly an hour, but his performance did not keep more democratic members calling on him to step aside. this morning, we would like to know what you think on phone lines split by political party, democrat, (202)-748-8000. republican, (202)-748-8001. independent, (202)-748-8002. you can also send a text, (202)-748-8003. if you do, include your name and where you are from. otherwise, catch up with us on social media, on x, @cspanwj,

facebook.com/c-span. good friday morning. headlines coming off of yesterday's press conference, this is "the washington times," center stage of defensive biden is the front-page book, "the new york times," bidens isolation deepens. "the huffington post," joe is in survival mode. and then the cover of today's "new york post," biden blasts his way through a make or break qa day. are any democrats convinced? this is how the press conference started yesterday. [video clip] >> mr. president, your political future has hunger over the nato summit a little bit. speaker pelosi made a point of saying your decision to stay on the race is still open. george clooney and a handful of lawmakers have called on you to step aside.

they are concerned about your ability to win. pres. biden: they just endorsed me, but go ahead. >> how are you incorporating these developments into your decision to stay? separately, what concerns do you have about vice president harris' ability to beat donald trump if she were at the top of the ticket? pres. biden: i would not have picked vice president trump to be vice president, so we will start there, number one. the fact is that the consideration as i think i'm the most qualified person to run for president. i have eight him once, and i will beat him again. -- i have eaten and was, i will beat him again. [end video clip] host: donald trump jumping on the club in which the president called the vice president, vice president trump, saying crooked

joe began the press conference with i would not have picked vice president trump if i do not think she was qualified to be vice president, good job, joe, is what the former president set on true social. the president responded saying, yes, i know the difference, one is a prosecutor, the other is a felon. and so one from there, asking about your response to yesterday's press conference by the president. democrat, republican, independent, taking this conversation the first hour of the washington journal this morning. nika and chicago, good morning. caller: good morning. this is my first time calling. i bet i will call a lot in the coming months because this election is taking a as much time from actual life, but in

terms of the president, you know, he is presidential. and the bar for that is not extremely high because i'm 36, so i remember when george w. bush was first elected, and i'm feeling a lot of bush-ism being what is defining this current conversation around biden's fitness, which it was always on the line when people were critiquing bush's credibility as president for the job, but i think the question of whether or not, in president biden's case, they are coming from cognitive issue is very stressful to me

personally because something that did not come up last night is that we are still reeling from a major public health issue. host: he was asked yesterday whether he would take another cognitive test. do you think you should and release that to the public? caller: well, i don't have a problem with that. i will say that i recently took a neurological test. again, i made 36-year-old female and very fine mental and physical health, so i cannot imagine biden's neurological test will measure up to mine. so i don't know what that will prove or produce. host: on our independent line, mike, florida. good morning. you are next.

what did you think of the press conference? caller: i just wanted to say, watching the suppose it shows last night on whether biden stays on the cognizant issue, i think anybody at that level who has their finger on the pulse of our national security, as well as our nuclear safety system, they should all be taking the tests, period. i don't care what party they belong to. host: mike, the republican line, what did you think watching is a republican? caller: thank you to c-span. i watched it, it was rather pathetic, to be honest. he is a reflection of the elite media liberal -- liberal media's values. [indiscernible] it is a rigged game.

it is a wonder why the republicans can never win because they have to be the liberal media and the democrats. host: the president commented that it is the elite liberal media getting him to step down and he said he does not want to do what they are trying to get him to do. that is one of the statements he and his team has put out. caller: i know that, but they generally would like the democrats to win. america knows that. but, you know, everything is up now, too. everything is up, the grocery stores, everything is up thanks to his liberal taxes, policies. everything is up, everybody feels it. and that is why some of the blacks and minorities are coming over to the republicans because everybody is feeling the pinch because of him and his policies. he does not get it, the left will never get it because they

are choosing to money us. host: mike in california on inflation. news on that front yesterday, good news for the president with inflation numbers of the past, saying that it climbed the moderate pace in june compared to the year earlier and felt on a monthly basis. do new york times writes that the federal reserve is looking for more evidence that they wrestled rapid inflation under control. overall, it was 3% in june, down from 3.3% in may, softer than the 3.1% economists forecasted. those numbers coming out yesterday. back on the line for democrats, doug, florida, good morning. caller: good morning. joe biden should definitely stay in the race, is everybody stupid? you want to be president? you got it because he got immunity.

[indiscernible] so, spend the republican party -- host: that is dug in florida on whether joe biden should stay in the race. a new poll from "the washington post" out today. the question was given his performance in the debate on june 27, what do you think joe biden should do, step aside or continue his campaign as president? 67% say he should step aside. 30% say he should continue as president. among just, cuts, the majority say he should step aside, 56%, 42% say he should continue to campaign for president. new numbers from "the washington post" out today. washington, new jersey, republican, go ahead. caller: good morning. thank you critiquing my call. personally, what upset me about the press conference was i

believe he knew what those questions were and he picked the people who would ask him those questions. somebody asked him about harris, he put her in charge of the border. i would like to ask what was her report back to you when you put her in charge of the border? the other question i would have liked is about afghanistan, the billions of dollars of equipment left there ended up in the hands of thomas and other organizations. ukraine, he has spent billions and billions of dollars over there. how has that many been accounted for and how so? what effect did he think when he cut the oil have on the economy? when he did that, although truckers raise their prices, and they raise the prices because of the shortages. there are no more shortages, there is no more pandemic, but they still have the prices up. he did not mention anything about that. host: one of the first things

you said was you wished reporter asked about harris. president biden was asked about the vice president's readiness to step into the presidency. this was his response yesterday. [video clip] >> vice president harris would be ready to serve on day one, can you elaborate? what is it about her attributes and accomplishments over the last four years that maker ready to serve on day one, if necessary? pres. biden: first of all, the way she has handled the freedom of women to handle their bodies, secondly, her ability to handle almost any issue on the board. this was a helluva prosecutor, she was a first-rate person. i would not have picture on the site that she was qualified to be president. from the very beginning. i made no bones about that. she is qualified to be president. that is why i picked her. [end video clip] host: president biden yesterday at the press conference following the nato summit.

you can watch the entirety online at c-span.org. as we noted, more democratic congress members called for the president to step aside and campaign 2024. according to the ongoing list from "the washington post," the number of congressional democrats that have: him to drop out, 20. that list is continually updated. you can see the tracking day by day. a big jump yesterday and calls for him to drop out of that race. six democratic numbers of congress calling him to step out, including the democratic congressman from illinois, scott peters of california, jim himes of connecticut, ranking member on the intelligence committee,

greg stanton yesterday of arizona, bradley schneider of illinois, as well. you can see that list day by day, the comments that they make the calls. byron, democrat, what did you think? caller: to record to chemical. i see you are moving fast this morning. i would like to make three points. the first, lacks, we only -- blacks, we only have one country, and we have to stick diet. 2 -- stick by it. two, the thing about the supreme court decision, biting can now do what he would like to do. the third point, victor or on -- victor or bond just visited putin last week. they should have issued an executive order that 60 days after a person meets with putin

on one of those communist leaders, they cannot come to the united states. thank you. host: that is firing in baltimore, maryland, talking about russia. coming back to that "washington times" headline about gas taking center stage, it was during those solar press conferences or that happened, and it happened yesterday is president biden was introduced to state lome zelenskyy of ukraine to reporters at the nato summit. [video clip] pres. biden: now headed over to the president of ukraine who has as much courage as determination, ladies and gentlemen, president clinton -- president putin. he's going to beat president pro utin. i'm so focused on beating

russia, that i said president putin. >> i'm better. pres. biden: yes, you are. [end video clip] host: the press conference what about one hour and 50-something minutes as the president answered questions, the first time since the june 27 debate that began this barrage of questions on whether he should stay in the race. franklin, d.c., independent, go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i wanted to chime in to say that after watching this couple of weeks now, i think this diagnosing from a distance that everybody has gotten comfortable doing, it is pretty full is -- foolish, particularly from the hundreds and elected representatives who were leading the charge on it, they would like to have a conversation on whether or not he is the most effective messenger against donald trump. i think that is a valid

conversation that they should have had a year ago. i think it is rather weird that they're coming out with this now, and it is important to point out the others that you listed who are out so far, have any plan or any better idea. just as a quick aside. i a 39-year-old man, i'm a paraplegic, i lived my entire life helping, i now with a permanent disability. one in six people in the world have a disability, and that is not indicate necessarily anything about your ability to do any given thing that you would like. i think we in this country have a bad streak of anytime anybody shows any weakness, we are ready to call into account, though the

amount, put them out to pasture, and as someone who personally has lived on both sides of that, this does strike a chord with me that i think biden is absolutely correct. his accomplishments speak for themselves, his experience speaks for itself. at the debate, it was awful. did he give bad speeches? he always has. a secret is ready to listen to sometimes? sure, but this is not a popularity contest, this is not -- somebody said the grammys -- i think bernie sanders said that. but we have turned it into that, which is why trump is impressive to some people because he goes out of his way to take on that strawman persona, but we need to step back from who we are and who we would like to be and who brings those attributes to the table.

but it really is has become very uncomfortable to me -- not uncomfortable, but everybody is stepping back. everybody on the phone, everybody you have ever known or met is going to get old and decline, and there is going to be something wrong with all of you, if there already isn't. now, you tell me, does that mean you cannot do any given thing given people's perceptions of you? i think that is an entirely different conversation that we should all have with ourselves. host: lifer democrats, renee, florida -- line free democrats, renee, florida. caller: i cannot agree with that man more. i think there is something with the algorithms they are feeding these people that makes them think that their opinion is the only thing that matters.

i have seen so much media lately trying to call the shots, and instead of letting the voters decide, these congressmen and members, i would just like to say, i have watched c-span and all those hearings, and i watch all of your rallies, trumps rallies, items rallies -- trump's rallies, and biden's rallies, which are not as many as trump. i watch all of these, so i can say i know what is going on, and i see the media. i don't know where they are coming from, but what happened to this country? when i was growing up, my grandmother had empathy for people with anything. joe biden has a stutter. my son started out with the stutter growing up. he had to learn to overcome that. i imagine when you get older and

tired, that stutter comes back, and all the people running around in his head that he has to remember the names of, why aren't we talking about victor or bond -- victor or bond -- viktor orband being at mar-a-lago? and another thing, trump was convicted fraud by a jury of his peers. that is me and you that go out and listen and decide, and i trust these people that are deciding stuff in our courts. host: renee in florida. reese in waco, texas, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: tigre. i just wanted to say it was

absolutely disgusting. all it did was show how incompetent biden is. he has not had a cabinet meeting since october. the cabinet members say they are all being scripted and controlled, and now we know why they haven't brought -- they have not brought him out. everybody online saying he is just getting old, will that he is in the wrong business. i'm sorry. everybody gets old. they retire. that is wachovia needs to do, but they keep ringing him out there and showing to the world how weak the united states is right now. it was absolutely shameful, and for them to keep harping on how the media is going after biden, no, they are actually paying attention and showcasing exactly what we have all known, all of us have known, biden never should have been in office. he has not been cognitively right for over a decade.

it is shameful. host: in terms of what the world thinks of president biden, he was asked about that yesterday during the press conference and here's that exchange. [video clip] >> i wanted to ask about you mixed up president zelenskyy and putin earlier today. pres. biden: [laughter] >> you know have your key allies, including the president of france, the german chancellor stepping into make excuses for you on that. officials are saying that your decline has become noticeable. hasn't this become damaging for america's standing in the world? pres. biden: did you see any damage in my leading this conference? heidi seen a more successful conference? what do you -- have you seen a more successful conference? what do you think? i'm talking about putin, i sit at the very end, i said, no, i'm sorry, zelenskyy. and then i added five other names. look, guys, the idea that

anybody suggest that we have not had an incredibly successful conference, how many times did you hear in that conference -- i know it sounds too self-serving, but other leaders, heads of state, in thanking me, saying the reason we are together is because of biden, because he did the following? look, folks, this is a -- well, anyway, i thought it was the most successful conference i've attended. find me a world leader who did not think it was. [end video clip] host: president biden yesterday. taking your phone calls in this first hour of "washington journal," asking you your thoughts on the press conference. william, independent, ohio. caller: hi, how are you today? host: doing well, go ahead. caller: biden might have

stumbled yesterday, but we have seen trump telling afterlife, and he may have stumbled, but he's doing a great job. he is going to be putin's mouthpiece if they put him back in office. i don't listen to polls because i think they are all fake like trump. biden is doing the best he can, and i think he's doing a darn good job. he didn't awesome job as president, one of the best i've ever seen in my years of life, and trump was the worst president this country had had in forever. thank you. host: william, connecticut, greg, democrat. caller: happy friday. host: happy friday. caller: yeah. last night, i heard a bunch of softball questions asked by a friendly room that there was

very little challenging on any of the issues brought up. in certain aspects, it was a bit of a campaign opportunity for biden. he did not perspective anywhere. he said things that, you know, were purely from his point of view, and there was no pushback from this very friendly mainstream media, and that is the most depressing thing. i thought about the press conference, now, i am a registered democrat, left of center, i love bernie sanders, though i do not know what he is thinking of these days, or aoc for that matter. -- host: bernie sanders earlier this week came out and supported biden staying in the race. caller: right, bernie sanders and aoc.

i'm looking at my president, joe biden, and i am a man who really should not be in charge of the country. the most difficult job on the planet, and he has got two conflicts going on here where there is major, massive loss of life. he did mention that he thought russia had lost 350 or had 350,000 casualties in the war to ukraine, but he failed to mention the losses of the ukrainians, which i'm hearing there are at least 500,000 killed in ukraine. and that doesn't take into account all the injuries. host: where are you hearing that? caller: professor jeffrey satcher from columbia university. a person that i would love to see on c-span.

but you have to go to your alternative new sources, you're breaking points. on youtube, it is easy to get access to alternative news sources, and you will learn a lot more about what is going on in these places. how many people have died in ukraine? how come that is not common knowledge? host: coming back to the press conference yesterday before we get sidetracked, you talk about an alternative, who do you cs alternative if not joe biden? caller: right now, i'm leaning towards jill stein because she is antiwar. i'm on the left, i'm weight on the left, ok, so i'm leaning toward jill stein or i would even consider the liberal candidate because at one point

he was a registered democrat. host: in terms of alternative, that was also part of the pool that "the washington post" put out yesterday, the po that foundl twol thirds of americans think joe biden should step aside and more than 50% of just democrats. the question was, if you do step aside, who should be the democratic nominee? the response among democratic meeting independents, 29% say it should be vice president harris, 27%, gavin newsom, michelle obama, 4%, pete buttigieg, 3%, robert f. kennedy, jr. at 2%, and nobody else breaking the 2% mark. 15% say they did not know and 31% skipped the question. those are the leading numbers. about 2500 people this weekend "the washington post. the terrel, ireland, independent

cash terrel, maryland -- terrel, independent, maryland. caller: i called in the democrat line. host: terrel is a democrat, go ahead. caller: donald trump is still upset and out there lying that joe biden did not eat him. if donald trump has it figured out how joe biden beat him in 2020, he will lose in 2024 because he hasn't figured it out yet. as far as donald trump is concerned, you have david stockman, a conservative who said that donald trump is the worst president we have ever had. economically, he said donald trump spent $8 trillion that we did not have to spend.

650,000 people died under covid. you talk about the people who died in ukraine, look at the people who died here in america under donald trump. he told people to inject themselves with bleach and disinfectant. it did not make any sense, and dr. burke was standing right there. host: bring me back to the press conference. caller: the press conference was good, just like joe biden said. he said he had been diagnosed by neurologists, and his neurologist said there is nothing wrong with him. and all these people out here who are playing dr., they are not doctors. if something is wrong with us and we go to work, and the man said why did you miss work? the work because it to go get a dr. note, we have to go by that doctor's advice, right? host: taking your phone calls

after 7:30 in this first hour of "washington journal." this is pretty deep in "the new york times'" story on the calls for joe biden to step aside. interesting note in that story, the paragraph says that mr. biden's campaign is quietly testing the strength of vice president harris against donald trump had survey of voters, being conducted this week, commissioned by the biden campaign analytics team is believed to be the first time since the debate that they have thought to measure how the vice president would fare at the top of the ticket. it was described by three people who were informed about the survey and spoke on and anonymity. in light of that reporting, this exchange yesterday during the press conference was interesting. [video clip] >> earlier, you've explained

confidence in your vice president. pres. biden: yes. >> if your team came back and showed you data that she would fare better against former president trump, would you reconsider your decision to stay in the race? pres. biden: no, unless they came back and said there is no way you can win. me. no poll says that. [end video clip] host: president biden yesterday with reporters. diane, missouri, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i have my mom's funeral today. i moved in for almost five years because she had dementia. i know what the signs are of dementia. at the early stages, you have good times and bad times. by then has -- biden has

dementia, and i'm tired of people saying he is fine. he's just old. because this is not true. i have lived through it. i'm dealing with it now. and to have somebody to say, he is fine. he is not fine. he has dementia. host: this is randy, illinois, independent. caller: you know what, i have a solution to all of this. all these people are saying biden or trump and they do not want either one. i'm one of the. i don't think either one should be in the white house, so i have a quick solution, all the democrats and independents, and all these people who say they do not want to vote because they do not want either one of them, the solution is all the democrats, independents, and other people saying they do not want to vote

for them, the solution is, we should all stick together as democrats and independents and as people say we do not want to vote. we have got to vote to get biden back in their one first, and then all of a sudden have biden come out and say to the country, i'm stepping down, passing the torch to harris, and the solution is solved. we don't have trump or biden, we have harris, that is it. we have a young person, and for my opinion -- host: you are saying you would like him to run and win the election and then soon after taking office, step down and pass the torch? caller: yes because i would like to see a woman in their, actually step on the toes of an, telling them to sit down and shut up. i would like to see them do that. host: why not just have vice

president harris rendered? -- have vice president harris run? caller: i don't think she will be trumpcaller:. i think the only way to do it is this way. host: why don't you think she will be trump? -- pete trump? -- beat trump? caller: she doesn't have the experience, and trump could talk anybody into jumping off a bridge and everything, but i think that would be the greatest way that i could see we could only have this happen. host: that is randy with his solution. in "new york times" a solution to what they call the nomination crisis, saying what congressional democrats should demand of biden is his schedule of events that shows that men the country he is fit for office , saying that they need other events that need to be sustained for biden to prove himself under

pressure and repeatedly. he needs to talk in private without a teleprompter until they are confident. this is not too much to ask of a president running for reelection. it is the bare minimum, which is what they say in the column, saying democrats are drifting in this nomination crisis. republican, good morning. caller: good morning. i have three points. i did watch the controlled press conference. he called on certain people. one of them was talking to his points of trump comes in, it sounded like the reporter was putting out a campaign point of biden's rather than asking a question. it was kind of ridiculous. anyway, one of the first

"washington journal -- one of the first callers talked about the liberal media protecting him, and you challenged a caller saying that they asked him to resign. well, the thing is, they covered for him for the last four years. i will give you an exact point. four weeks ago, joe scarborough said that joe biden is at the top of his game, never seen him better, and then a few short weeks later, all of a sudden, joe biden should resign for the good of the country. the only reason the liberal media is now doing this is because they got caught red-handed and they are exposed, and it is that simple. second point, somebody called in about what a great job he's done the last three years. this person must not drive and have to buy gas. this person must not have to buy

food or have homeowners insurance, must not have credit card interest rates, must not have car insurance. it is ridiculous. sure, inflation is now only 3%, but when you look at the entirety, it is up since joe biden took office, and that is ridiculous. host: that was matt. this is johnny, arizona, independent. caller: good morning. i wanted to say something, too. i think before we elect the president, we look at what they've done and accomplished, and with their intelligence level is. joe biden has the lowest intelligence level of any president we've ever had. by 30 points, he is lower. [indiscernible] joe biden is on the scale at

100. host: where do you go to get these numbers? caller: you can just look it up, do a search on it. host: where did you look it up? caller: i looked at all of them. and i don't just take one. so you can look up the intelligence level of presidents. host: this is eddie, michigan, democrat. caller: thank you for taking my call, i you just asked that lady where she got her information from, and she could not tell you. they are talking, but they don't know what to talk about a lot of times. anyway, as far as joe biden, and to all the democrats listening, you have got to stick with who did you vote for in primaries?

and we voted joe biden in as the democratic nominee, so stick with who you are going to be voting for. that is what is going to either get joe biden out of office or get him in office. host: what do you think, there have been some twentysomething members of congress who are democrat same joe biden should step down. what you think about how their leadership in congress has handled this? caller: that is 20 people. that is just 20 people. i think media plays a part in this because all of a sudden, we were talking about trump when he got convicted of those 34 counts. that was the headline news for a long time. another biden is somewhat

stumbling with his words, now we would like to jump on that bandwagon. but i'm talking to the people that go to the polls and vote, especially to the democratic party, stick with your guy, joe biden. this harris lady, no, not her. as she had been in a situation where she got there because something happened to joe or she runs 2024, so be it, but right now, let's stick to the democratic party. host: in terms of how the democratic leadership is handling that question that democratic leaders are facing about joe biden's future, including hakeem jeffries yesterday, here is that exchange with reporters. [video clip] >> made a final

decision on whether to stay in the race? >> democrats are engaged in conversations with house democrats at this time. those conversations have been candid, clear eyed, and comprehensive, and that is important for us to do as a house democratic caucus chair will. as long as those conversations are ongoing, i'm going to respect the sanctity of those conversations until we conclude that process. [end video clip] host: hakeem jeffries yesterday and capitol hill. richard, minneapolis, republican. caller: yes, good morning. this is a republican here that might have to vote for joe biden because he has a clear knowledge of the situation in ukraine and

the history of world war ii. in my personal opinion, i think putin is another hitler. he will go after poland next, latvia, lithuania and estonia if he isn't stopped. but i do think biden screwed up the economy with his war on fossil fuel. he screwed up a lot of other things. what, to me, it is very important with foreign policy that putin is prevented from -- host: on foreign policy, this was joe biden yesterday on that issue and how he thinks former president trump would treat that issue. [video clip] pres. biden: during the week at this summit, some head of states made it a point to say thank you

to the u.s. and me personally for all that nato has achieved. nato is not only stronger but eager because we led the charge to bring in finland and sweden into the alliance and it makes a gigantic difference. meanwhile, my presidents are -- my predecessor made it clear he has no commitment to nato. he has made it clear that he would feel no obligation to honor article five. he has already told putin, "do whatever the help you want -- whatever the hell you want." the day after he invented ukraine, here's what he said, " it was genius, it was wonderful." i have made it clear that a strong nato is essential to american security, and i believe the obligation of article five is sacred. i would remind all americans

that article five was revoked only once in nato's history, that was to defend america after 9/11. i made it clear that i will not bow down to putin. i will not walk away from ukraine. i will keep nato strong. that is exactly what we did and what we will continue to do. now, future american policy is up to the american people. this is much more of a political question. it is a national security issue. do not reduce this to the usual testament people talk about with issues of being a political campaign. it is far too important. it is about the world we live in for decades to come. every american must ask themselves, is the world safer with tomato? are you safer? is your family safer? i believe the american people

know and the answer to all of those questions is yes, and i believe the american people understand that america is stronger because of our alliances. i believe the american consensus from truman to reagan to me still holds today. america cannot retreat from the world but must lead the world. [end video clip] host: president biden yesterday at the tail end of that nato conference going on all week here in washington, d.c. this is robert, texas, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning, how are you doing? host: doing well, go ahead. caller: i just wanted to make the point that if everybody listening understands this, mr. mcconnell last year got up and had lost his train of thought i was up there like a deer in headlights two different times.

i did not hear no republicans asking him to step down, so biden has just come off of two trips overseas, and anybody who travels knows you can get jetlagged and be tired for days. and you all pointing fingers, you are pointing fingers at somebody else, you are pointing one finger, but you have three fingers pointing back at 1000 -- back at you and one thumb. you better quit. host: this is carrie, illinois, go ahead. caller: joe biden to me yesterday did a fine job. yeah, he had flubs like he's always had in the past, but the one thing i would like to say, this is to america. donald trump is an internal

threat. do you really want this country to go into fascism? you are worried about gas prices? we pay the cheapest prices in the world on food, gas and everything. we are the best economy in the world. joe biden told you that yesterday, but you want to vote for donald trump, he is meeting with dictators. america, wake up. america, be like america and world war two, we need to galvanize, stay together and defeat the fascism that has taken place and that is tried to get a hold in america. joe biden is the man for the job. sites that, kamala harris is the woman for the job. there is no one on the republican side who is going to help america. they are out to destroy america. host: nikki, florida,

republican. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. a couple of things. i think i saw it on "washington journal" a week or so ago that kamala harris, for one thing, it is only right that if he goes out, it is only right that she should be the nominee. i don't think it is right that they should bring someone else and when she has already been the vice president he chose for four years. but there is a big issue with the 200 whatever million that has been put up for joe biden. and being able to switch that over, i don't think it is that easy, but from a personal note,

my husband had many, many struggles. many, many struggles. and the decline that i had to watch and that he had to endure would break your heart. i don't think it is right for him to run again. i don't think what is happening to his health -- because you cannot plan. you cannot plan on tomorrow, and what other countries see, what putin or north korea sees scares me because he doesn't have the strength he had, and that scares me to death. host: you think it should be kamala harris against donald trump, who do you think wins in that matchup? caller: i don't know, but i'm pulling for trump. i'm republican, police have been. i think trump uses a lot of

reverse psychology like with nato because as soon as he said putin will do whatever he would like, they started ponying up their money. host: catherine, the garden state, democrat. caller: good morning. you beat me to the punch, i was going to see catherine from the garden state. i like the way you do that. anyhow, i believe all of this should have been hashed out during the primary. they saw joe biden all along, they know how he is, therefore, this should have been handled. therefore, i'm behind joe biden. i think you stay in the race. kamala harris is great if you cannot do his job, and anybody under microscope, your concern is flawed. thank you. host: a few comments from social media, this is scott, seduces,

independent. it is not an easy decision if he decides to end his run. he needs to sooner than later, and the democrs er the best in november. janet, texas, president biden should stay t race. he's done a great job. umdoesn't have a plan to help anybody but himself i would like to continue to destroy the u.s. paula, facebook, saying i would like him to resign today. the guy is too old to serve. i would like a big old public d&c convention and take from all th gre leral candidates, so many gatnes to choose from, paula said, any of them would beat trump, he is the most repugnant candidate ever. this is our caller from virginia, independent. caller: good morning. how are you? host: doing well, what did you think about the press conference yesterday? caller: honestly, i think it was a disaster.

most of it was just him reading a teleprompter, and if he cannot get through that seamlessly, then let's be honest, and he is calling in to world leaders, trying to negotiate with republicans, trying to get bills passed, he has no chance. this guy is not really a serious president right now. and then the other thing, he obviously had prepared questions for the people he was going to call on. even then, you can see when he tried to go off of the cuff that he either lost his train of thought or he said something completely incorrect. it seems like now these people that are completely behind joe biden are not realizing that even if they would like to support him, most of america realizes that he is not going to beat trump.

and if they would like to beat him so badly, they need to find another candidate. it just seems ridiculous. host: just a couple of minutes left in the segment of "washington journal." catherine, nebraska, democrat. caller: more power to joe biden, for heaven six. experience, intelligence, expertise should count for something in this world. i think the democrats are scaring voters out here by all of this conflict over joe biden and the small mistakes he makes when he is talking. i wish they would turn attention to what people will lose if they vote for trump this next time, loss of health care, loss of reproductive freedom, loss of

the freedom to speak, climate disasters will happen from his policies. there are all kinds of eggs the democrats could emphasize at this point and turn attention away from the small mistakes that biden makes when he is talking. host: you talk about small mistakes. did you watch the june 27 debate? a debate that joe biden himself said wasn't good performance by him? was that a small mistake by him? caller: i think biden should have vowed out at night if he had a bad cold. i know he probably felt he couldn't, but, yes, i did watch the debate, and i've watched the speeches since. i think biden -- biden should stay at the top of the ticket. replacing him with harris, i

think, might be a mistake at this point. it is too late to change things, and people out here in the boondocks are kind of old-fashioned. i think they might prefer to have a man on the top of the ticket. i'm with biden-harris all the way. host: this is matt, pennsylvania, republican. go ahead. caller: morning. the issue really here from president biden just not doing well on the world stage yesterday, both with his conference questions and then the mistake he made during the nato summit, that is embarrassment to the united states with all the other world leaders there, for the president to call president zelenskyy, vladimir putin, is embarrassment

right then and there, and then continuing to make gaffes, like calling president trump's vice president during the press conference, and continuously having this happen more and more, especially since the debate, has not done him any favors. with the amount of people calling for him to step down from capitol hill, from his endorsers, including some of his hightop democratic donors, such as gideon stein and george clooney say that if he does get the nomination, they are not going to get any more money, that is showing. it is time that the democrats that they needed change on who their nominee will be. host: did that george clooney op-ed make any difference for you? it got a lot of attention, including an article in "the wall street journal" including about the night president biden

lost george clooney's support heard what did you think about the op-ed? caller: i'm a senior political science major out of college. for my generation, i know a lot of people are listening to the big influencers on tiktok, all that stuff, and that hollywood is known by pretty much the entire country to be liberal bias. i do think that they damage. this well-known public figure really backed out. a lot of people remember george clooney going off and saying in 2016 that there would not be a president donald trump and ultimately got that. for him to do this, i think that can change a lot of the media view of the president and be able to change some people, especially all of your big hollywood donors and people impacting out there in california and all these other big places onto they will actually support for the election. host: one interesting paragraph

in the george clooney piece in "the wall street journal" when he wrote his "new york times" op-ed, "the wall street journal" reports campaign officials thought to intervene to prevent the piece from being published, according to one person familiar with the discussions. clooney, for years, has been a prominent democrat. the event he hosted last month in los angeles raised more than $30 million for joe biden's campaign. this is janice in north carolina, last caller in this segment, democrat. go ahead. caller: good morning, c-span. i think the press conference was another debacle, another staged staged presentation. the questions were -- i think i agree with i think his name was jamaal from virginia. what i see is an implosion. i think when the primaries -- a

democrat all my life, a marginalized person, black. i will tell you now that they should have allowed someone else. rfk junior should have been allowed to be one of our considerations. now we have a mess. biden up there saying how he is with the nato alliances, what the heck happened in afghanistan? he didn't let anyone know anything and they had to defend their own soldiers and people. that is a disgrace to our nation, and he doesn't give rfk junior any secret service protection. what in the world is that about? i am disgusted with him. host: the last color in this first segment of "the washington journal." we will be joined by beau breslin, a political science professor to discuss his analysis of the heritage foundation's project 2020 five

presidential transition plan. later, former republican senator john danforth discusses campaign 2024, next week's republican national convention, and the group he cofounded called our republican legacy. we will be right back. ♪ >> american history tv, saturdays on c-span2. exploring the people and events that tell the american story. at 4:15 p.m. eastern, michael dukakis along with current and former governors take a retrospective look at his political career. watch american history tv's historic convention speeches featuring notable remarks from political nominees and notable figures from the past decades. george w. bush accepted his party's nomination at the 1988 republican national convention in new orleans calling for a kinder, gentler nation.

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c-span, your unfiltered view of the convention. >> the house will be in order. announcer: this year, c-span celebrates 45 years of covering congress like no other. since 1979, we have been your primary source for capitol hill, providing balance, unfiltered coverage of government. taking you to where the policy is debated and decided with the support of america's cable company. c-span, 45 years and counting, powered by cable. announcer: "washington journal" continues. host: our focus on the republican presidential transition plan known as project 2025. beau breslin, contributor to the fulcrum, where he has been analyzing project 2025. professor breslin, some

background on that project. where they come from, who are the authors of this 900-page plan? guest: thank you for having me on the show. the background on the heritage foundation's project 2025, they have been doing this for a while. from the reagan administration. this happens to be the biggest, most robust plan for a conservative administration. it's about 400 or so authors. about 140 of them have had some relationship to the trump administration. it's a bit of a playbook for a new conservative administration. everything from closing the department of education through to thinking differently about usa ids. it is a pretty comprehensive plan. host: how is it different from

other presidential transition plans? do these plans usually come from a group like the heritage foundation or some other think tank? order they usually come from within the campaign? guest: they usually come from within the campaign. the heritage foundation has been doing this for a while. that said, what really differs about this is the strident mentality of these authors. they seek inside and outside of the document about the ways in which we need to recover the country. some of their platform for a lot of democrats is quite scary. the details are the difference here. all transition teams are going to do something like this, but the details -- the devil is in the details.

for a lot of people, it is a little unnerving. host: first, do you have any details on the extent of former president trump's involvement in this plan? you talked about plenty used to work in his administration being part of this plan. on his truth social account the president said, i know nothing about project 2025. i have not seen it, i have no idea who is in charge of it, and unlike our well-received republican platform had nothing to do with it. from there, he says the radical left democrats are having a field day with this plan. guest: it is hard to believe that he didn't have something to do with it, in light of the fact that close to half of the people who wrote had some connection with his administration or him. i think the reason why he is densest t that she is

distancing himself, there are a couple of different reasons. it is a political lightning rod. if not him, at least his people are telling him to stay away from talking about it because of the highly controversial nature of the document itself. i also think, you know, knowing and watching him in the presidency from 2016-2021, one of the things that you come to realize is he wants to take credit. this is a very comprehensive, conservative agenda. i think one of the things that trump is probably thinking about is, i want to take credit for what i do if i win the presidency. so, having somebody else, or some organization like the heritage foundation tell him what to do is not consistent with his personality.

third, i heard recently he is kind of super sisters. -- kind of superstitious. for him to say that this is a great plan and to think ahead to potentially winning in november -- he would have to knock on wood the whole time. i think for those three reasons he is distancing himself. mostly because it is a political lightning rod. host: we have until 8:40 five. jump into the details. what is so controversial about this plan? guest: i think one of the things -- i have listed 12 things that for the most part the media and others have described as controversial. reducing bureaucracy and populating with the president's political allies, the mentality that you can eliminate civil servants at will and put your political allies in was sort of

the big first round of controversy. it is not the only one. this document takes direct aim at the less-woke agenda. they call it a woke agenda. what you see is some of the things that joe biden and others have advocated. abortion, those sorts of things. they are taking direct aim. they are the enemy here. eliminating medicinal abortions, mifepristone. eliminating the department of security, the department of education. these are very controversial. insisting on certain conservative agenda items in all foreign aid packages. there are about a dozen or so that the media and other commentators have decided our controversial.. host: don't all administrations,

if it is a transition from one party to the other, take aim at the previous administration's policies that they disagree with in their transition plans? don't they compose their own agenda items that they want to implement? why is this specifically concerning people so much that they are putting this on the table? guest: what gets the most attention is the fact that there are three pillars, three foundational pieces to this document. one, it is a neo-isolationist approach. we will entrench back. this is a trump policy and terms of foreign affairs and so on. two, it is all over the document this christian nationalist mentality. they speak a lot about the traditional family as the centerpiece of america. in principle we can agree with that, but at the end of the day

and you take that and the next step in the conversation is, we are anti-transgender, anti-gay, anti-gender identity, antiabortion, all of these things, it will obviously get people on the left in particular nervous about it. the third thing is, which doesn't get a lot of airplay, the third thing is probably the most problematic from a political science perspective. the notion of unitary executive theory. that means that the president and the executive -- the president controls everything in the executive branch. that is not what the founders intended by the presidency. this, project 2025, advocates for this very strong presidency where the president is entirely in control of the executive branch and puts his people in

place that our political cronies and political allies. all three of those pieces, neo-ice nation -- neo-isolationism, christian nationalism, our super controversial and get people nervous. host: the number one controversy item was the view of the federal workforce and how a potential trump administration would treat the workforce. it was last month that a former trump administration official with the heritage foundation, the lead on the transition project for the heritage foundation where project 2025 came from, he was on this program talking about the federal workforce, the political leanings that republican administrations come up against when it comes to the federal workforce. i want to play a minute and a half of what he said. [video clip] >> a federal government that is 99.5% protected. the president only appoints a

small sliver of people, which is in itself a big derogation from the constitutional order talking about a government of, by, for the people. there is now a permanent government. when they republican or conservative president comes in to manage, he is sent by the people. they voted for change. how can he or she affect that change? the reality is, the vast majority of policy jobs in washington are located in a cosmopolitan area that votes 95% democrat. the donations and federal workforce flow 95% to the democratic party. washington is not representative of our country. therein lies the problem. there should never be a political litmus test for a federal job, but there needs to be a respect for the job itself as civil service. it is taking on agenda and executing in a nonpartisan fashion.

what president trump and republicans have endured back to reagan is based on an antidemocratic obstinate splitting into policy that people voted for. that is really the reformation. when we talk about reform to civil service, it is to make them a lot more like everybody else who is going to work every day on an at-will basis. if you're not going to work to achieve the agenda that the people voted for, then you have to be accountable to that, which means being moved or terminated. host: professor breslin, what do you make of that explanation for why this document, transition plan, focuses so much on the federal workforce? guest: i think a lot of this document is hypocritical, to be honest. i think he is hypocritical in this moment, because he talks about cleaning house to bring in

a nonpartisan civil service. right? his concern about the civil service is that it is 95% democrat. let's clean house and bring in a nonpartisan civil service. there is nothing in this document or in the agenda that the heritage foundation, nothing in that document that is nonpartisan. it is a conservative agenda. what troubles me the most about what he says, and he uses numbers if you go into that particular interview, 4000 of the 2.2 million employees are presidential appointee. there is some speculation that the new administration might get rid of 50,000 civil servants. i think the number is somewhere between 4000 and 50,000. that said, what is troubling and

should trouble a lot of us, is the partisan approach to filling those vacancies. what he is suggesting when he talks about nonpartisanship is flat out wrong. they are going to put people in into the other pieces of project 2025, clearinghouse for conservatives. for people who want to work in washington. and the training, the online training courses. these are two of the four pillars of 2025. it is not nonpartisan. i am troubled when they talk about nonpartisan. the reality is, it is very conservative, very republican. host: professor beau breslin is our guest. political science professor and contributor to the fulcrum. he has been writing about project 20 tony five th -- project 2025 there.

the phone lines are open. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. what is the fulcrum for folks who have not read it? guest: i'm glad you asked. the fulcrum is a daily digital publication that comes from the bridge alliance. a fantastic organization that tries to literally bridge the left and the right. figure out a way to have conversations across partisan tribalism. that organization has been going on for more than a decade. they put out a daily publication called the fulcrum. they are doing a 30-piece series on project 2025. i contributed a couple to the 30-piece, but they are literally taking each individual chapter

and talking and across partisan way about the way some of the things are coming out and the ways we could think differently about each of the targets of project 2025. i encourage all of your listeners to go to the fulcrum and read those. they have done 12 already. they have 18 to go. host: this is john in bradenton, florida, independent. caller: yes. about the first two sentences of your guest, and thank you for taking my call. this is the only place that i can talk to america. c-span being very liberal itself. all of the commentators are very liberal. that's ok. i got my voice in. he said it is hard to believe that trump doesn't know. his consensus was that trump does know about it.

his consensus is his opinion. we don't care what his opinion is. this is something that if trump says he doesn't know about project 2025, then why even say he is lying about it? the lies come from the left. trump never said he was going to be a dictator. he was going to do what biden did on his first day. arbitrarily remove everything biden put in just like biden removed stuff that trump put in. here we go. take it. host: professor breslin on donald trump? guest: i didn't accuse him of lying. i said it's hard to believe. that is my personal opinion. you are right about that. at the end of the day, i don't actually know. that said, 140 of the authors have some relationship with him. if i am a betting man, i am going to assume that he at least knew this was being done and

perhaps had informal conversations. but that is entirely speculative. you might be right, trump might in fact know nothing about it. host: burnsville, minnesota, larry, democrat, you are next. caller: mr. breslin, i am interested in what project 2025 is going to do to social security, medicare, medicaid. i understand it will got those programs -- gut those programs? guest: to be fair to project 2025, in one of the interviews on c-span they talked a little about this, the person we ought to think about is a major player and the former director of the omb. he speaks at length about the fact that medicare, medicaid, social security ought not to be on the firing line early on.

i saw an interview with him where he said, there are more important early targets to reducing the federal deficit. medicaid, medicare, social security would be far down the line. to give credit where credit is due, there's much thought about medicare, medicaid at this point though project 2025 does talk about it. i think of russ vought as the real voice of this conservative movement. there is speculation he is likely to be the first chief of staff in a new trump administration. a smart guy and i take his word more than anything else. i think medicaid, medicare, social security are down the line cuts, not first low hanging

fruit. host: why do you see him playing that role in a new trump administration? what about russ vought and his background? guest: i think that trump thinks he did a pretty good job as the director of omb. i think he has what i think is the philosophical and temperamental, you know, chop to align with trump. i read, i don't know him but i read that there is some speculation that he would be chief of staff. i think he is a smart guy. i disagree with him at the end of the day. i think trump likes him a lot. host: republican, you are on with professor breslin. caller: good morning. i would like to ask the professor. we have a name. the republicans have put a name on this project 2025.

what name do the democrats put on their agenda? how has it changed the face of america since they have been in? immigration, 10 million illegal, may be some legal, taxation and distribution fairness. it is the attitude, you are rich -- we are rich, you are poor, you give to us. abortion as a right, they are running on that. it is not a right and it goes against a lot of christian values. what name would you have put on this so that voters could have been aware in the 2020 election? thank you. host: branding transition plans? guest: that is not my forte, so i'm not necessarily going to answer the question specifically.

i don't want to come up with a clever title for project 2020. host: have administrations branded transition plans like this? guest: as i said before, they are not as comprehensive, as detailed. but, yeah. the period between november 5 and january 20 is a period of transition, as you know. the biden administration was thinking about its transition prior to the election in the event -- it is too complex. american politics, the presidency come the executive branch, it's too complex for there to not be some plan in place prior to the election. i will say a couple of things. you know, it's true that the biden administration is struggling mightily with

immigration at the border. i'm always troubled, and i am a moderate democrat, i am certainly not bernie sanders or pete buttigieg. you can get a sense of where i'm coming from. i am troubled by the fact that there was a bipartisan piece of legislation that had been worked out that was th -- was derailed for political reasons a few months ago. being a writer for the fulcrum, i am troubled by the fact that it is seen as somehow disingenuous, somehow problematic if you can talk across the aisle. i am 58 years old. i have seen politics in different ways. there were times when tip o'neill would walk across, talk

across the aisle. i would love to see a recovery of that kind of politics and not what happened with the immigration bill a few months ago. host: for more on transition planning, it was on c-span's book tv in january. we covered year zero, the five-year presidency. it was a book by a former white house deputy chief of staff who worked in the trump administration. he was arguing for essentially a year zero before someone becomes president, spending a year planning to be president. and then four years of the presidency. the book that he wrote, year zero, the five year presidency, book tv covered it if you'd like to watch that event at booktv.org. andrew in staten island, new york, independent, good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to say, first, but for native americans and the

descendants of african slaves, all others are immigrants to this nation. as for the 2025 document, i would like to ask mr. breslin how closely that aligns to the principles that were put forth in the lost cause policies? does it in some way align with those particular policies? host: which policies, andrew? caller: the lost cause. jim crow and the lost cause. host: gotcha. guest: that is a tough one. on the one hand project 2025 are not stupid.

they are not going to sit and talk specifically about a return to jim crow america. that said, some people argue that reading between the lines is this return of a white nationalist mentality. in some cases -- to be honest, jon, the chapters are uneven. some are lightly detailed and strident, and some are less so. my interpretation of it is i won't go that they want to return to a jim crow america, but i will go to they want to return to an america in which traditional, what they describe as traditional, family values, "leave" 1950's mentality is very

real. host: what chapter are you referring to where you had this concern? that there is a white nationalist mentality? guest: it is in a lot of the chapters, not just the introduction. the doj chapter is particularly strident. the health and human services one is too. they talk about the fact that -- what they describe as the progressive left. what they describe as the progressive left. and by progressive left they are talking about those who embrace the idea and the authenticity of an individual's life, transgender, sexual orientation, those sorts of things. the reality is that they are taking direct aim at that. what you are left with is the

nuclear family, the nuclear white family that is god-fearing and so on. there is no room in project 2025 for folks whose authentic lives are not the traditional nuclear family. the answer is no. that is problematic. they are not advocating going back to a jim crow time. that said, it is very intolerant. and one of the things problematic about it is that they are intolerant about a lot of different things and yet they advocate for -- on the usaid project a particular mentality. there -- they are a tolerant of one view and not all view. host: that one is the chapter that you looked at.

that chapter written by max primorac. who is he, and who are some of these folks that if you go through project 2025 are writing each of these chapters? guest: a lot of these are experts meaning that they have had some experience in the industry. i cannot remember his specific one, i wrote this a few weeks ago what his specific at -- specific background is. a lot of them are experts and they know the business on how washington works. a lot of them have worked in the areas. the most famous person who probably wrote is ben carson. he has experience doing this sort of thing. so, i take the authors as i approach the authors as if they

are knowledgeable on the topic. they know what bureaucracies, departments, and agencies are like and they are approaching it from that perspective. host: no surprise that ben carson wrote the chapter on the department of housing and urban development, chapter 15 of the project 2025. all of this available online for folks to go through and read themselves. having this conversation for 15 minutes with beau breslin, political professor at skidmore college and the author of "a constitution for the living." i am a constitutional theorist so i study the american constitution. in a very quick elevator pitch, thank you for asking by the way. the book takes the very famous

debate between madison and jefferson about the enduring constitution seriously. jefferson argued that each generation ought to write its own constitution. madison said we need a long ended during constitution to build up the reverence and gravitas. graphic -- jefferson thought that every 19 years we write a new one. what i do in the book is i imagine a constitutional convention in american history. and it is super fun to think about what they would have talked about in 1825, 1863, 1903, and 2022. and i imagine what it would look like and what it would've come out with. it is kind of a speculative, counterfactual storytelling, serious work of constitutional theory. host: without ruining the ending is america a better place in a

system where we rewrite the constitution every 19 years? guest: i am a madisonian. do i think the constitution is flawed? yes. what i like to see a constitutional convention today? yes. would that be problematic? sure. i am not a jeffersonian, but in light of the current political malaise, i will call it, jefferson might have been onto something. there are 20 states that do this periodically, rewrite the constitution or have a mandate to do that. the federal government does not. i have to believe that if we had a tradition of rewriting the constitution we could rewrite it better today than we would if we just have a convention. what america be a more perfect union if we lived under jefferson's idea of a

generational constitution? hard to say. at the end of the day it would be an interesting element of our history. host: less than 10 minutes left. northeast of d.c. into bowie, maryland. brendan, a democrat. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. now, i would like to bring out a couple of points. the first point is that it did not surprise me at all concerning the way trump performed during the debate. the way the continuous lies just heatedly poured from his mouth. host: could you take us to project 2025. caller: this is going to all tie-in. give me a moment. now, he is saying that he has no

clue and he has no knowledge of project 2025 being written. now, it is hard for me to believe that. and he wants -- once also said that he did not know stormy daniels, david duke and jeffrey epstein and the proud boys. all of that turned out to be a lie. this is what i would like for your guest to address. how does the department of labor and the department of education, how will they be affected under this project 2025 plan? host: we will take the question. labor and education. guest: brenda, thanks you for the question. it is arguably one of the top

six or seven controversial aspects is aggressive attempt or plan to shut down the department of education. and under the project 2025, if folks were able to get their way, the department of education would not be in place four years from now assuming a trump administration. the department of labor is a little bit less controversial. host: before you leave the department of education. let me start with the first paragraph of that section of project 2025, just so it is not your interpretation of the words from the actual document. "federal education policy should be limited," lindsey burke writes. "ultimately it should be eliminated. when power is exercised, it

should empower students and families, not government. in our pluralistic society, families and students should be free to choose from a diverse set of school options and learning environments to best fit their needs. our post secondary institutions should also reflect such dispute oceans not with room for only traditional liberal arts colleges but research universities but faith-based institutions, career schools and military academies." guest: as a member of the educational community, i am troubled by the -- by a couple of things about that particular chapter. one is the sort of radical shift back to the state. get the federal government out of the education business. secondly, i am troubled by increased reliance on for all intents and purposes vouchers,

this notion that we will give you the money to go to whatever school you want to go to. right now we have in lots of parts of the country, we have de facto segregation back in schools. an increase in vouchers and money going directly to individuals to decide which schools to go to, that is problematic from a brown v. board of education. let us not forget that brown is celebrating its 70th anniversary. it is the greatest supreme court case of the 20th century. i am not in favor of returning to a de facto segregation. there are pockets of the country that have a time that our second -- a ton that are segregated in the high schools and i think that is problematic from lots of different perspectives. so, there is a lot, -- there is

a lot for folks to digest in that section. while i am at it i will say one more thing. i encourage everybody, conservative, liberal, republican, democratic, green party, an independent to take this seriously. this is a serious effort on the part of conservatives to "take back the country." and i am not saying that facetiously. all americans ought to read this project 2025 with a serious mindset. it is an important document that will dictate, i think, the time between now and november 5 and beyond. host: and the other topic that the caller asked about was labor. just going to the labor section of the report. here are the headlines of the needed reforms that the report said when it comes specifically

to the department of labor. reverse the diversity equity and inclusion revolution in labor policy. eliminate racial classifications and critical race theory trainings. issued an executive order banning and congress should pass a law prohibited the government from using taxpayer dollars to fund radical -- critical race training. erect the doj and equal opportunity commission to enforce title vii. what specifically about labor policy in that report concerns you? guest: what you just said. so, diversity, equity and inclusion, these policies and approaches to diversifying the labor force, study after study suggests that americans are more productive in diverse environments and understand

better what their job is and what what the country looks like and so on if you have diverse environments. so, i am troubled. i am always troubled by any approach that seems to dismiss dei policy. it has become a lightning rod especially for the conservative. but at the end of the day, we are more productive, better citizens and more democratically inclined if we are to use robert putnam's famous phrase "not bowling alone." let's get together in different groupings instead of hibernating in our own comfortable environment. and talk about ways at which we can make it a more perfect union. host: we are trying to get one more call. marcy in north carolina.

republican. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. if you consider yourself a moderate, we have problems. the heritage foundation is a think tank, just like the democrats have the brookings institute. the department of education did not exist until the mid-70's and so from that time look what has happened to our school system. instead of them being anti-this or that they are profamily, pro-life and pro-america. our system and government was set up versus the -- for decisions to be made at the lowest level. trump has his list of agendas. he has not involved in project 2025. and for people who called themselves immigrants, if you were born in this country, you

are not an immigrant but a united states citizen born in america. host: professor, we did not get to immigration policy too much, and you touch on that? guest: sure. i mean i think both the left and the right would say that our immigration policy has been in tatters. i do not think that is one side or the other. as i said before, i think there is a pathway to making immigration work a little bit better. i just -- politics is so dominant that any bipartisan effort is not going to be successful. i will just say one more thing to that caller and thank you for the call it -- comments and questions. and thank you everybody for those. for me, the federal government is a meaningful vehicle for supporting individuals.

it is not the only one. i am a fan of local and state government as well. i am a political scientist, so i believe that government has a role to play in not just promoting the principles that the constitution and the declaration of independence stands for. but also in propping people up. if somebody is in trouble and nobody is going to help, the government has to step in was famously said. and i think the federal government has a role to play. is it the entire role? no. the other thing i will say is we all want more efficiency in bureaucracy. we do. when it comes to things like putting patronage and partisan allies in particular positions, we need to pause and take a step back and think about what the

ramifications are for that. i am a fan of federal government. i am not looking to shut it down so much. i think it does good things and i would like to see it be more efficient. i am a fan of state and local governments. at the end of the day the system of federalism and separation of powers have worked for 200 plus years. and i would like to see it continue. host: you can see more of his analysis of project 2025 at the fulcrum.us and the author of the book "a constitution for the living." i appreciate your time. guest: thank you. host: coming up former republican senator john danforth will join us and we will talk campaign 2024 and the republican national convention and the group he cofounded called our republican legacy. first more of your phone calls an open forum coming up.

any public policy or political issue that you want to talk about. start calling in. the numbers are on your screen. we will get to those right after the break. ♪ >> today, watch c-span's 2024 campaign trail, a weekly roundup of c-span's campaign coverage, providing a one-stop shop to show what the candidates are saying to voters. along with updated poll numbers, first-hand accounts of pull reporters and campaign ads. watch the 2024 campaign trail today at 7:30 p.m. eastern on c-span, online at c-span.org or download as a podcast, c-span now. c-span, your unfiltered view of

politics. >> booktv, every sunday on c-span2 features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books. at 9:00 p.m. eastern carl rubber , john hickenlooper share their book "why book still matter," where they discussed the importance othwritten word. on afterwords writer and tist sorayahely offers an alternative view of grid and resilience with the group -- with the book "the resilience myth." she will be interviewed by judah salzberg. watch booktv every sunday on c-span2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime on booktv.org. >> c-span now is a free mobile

app featuring your unfiltered view of what is happening in washington, live and on-demand. keep up with the biggest events of live streams of floor spurs -- floor proceedings and white house, the courts and campaigns and more from the world of politics. you can also stay current with the latest episodes of washington journal and find scheduling information for the tv networks and c-span radio plus a variety of compelling podcasts. c-span now is available at the apple store and google play. scan the qr code or visit c-span.org/c-spannow. your front row seat to washington anytime, anywhere. >> washington journal continues. host: coming up on 8:50 a.m. eastern time. and we have set aside this segment for your phone calls.

it is open forum, any public policy or political issue, now is your time to leave the program. 202-748-8000 for democrats. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. as you are calling in two of pieces of event coverage for you to watch. toy at 6:00 p.m. joe biden's campaign holding an event in detroit that we will be holdinlive coverage of. 6:00 p.m. eastn, watch on the free c-span bid -- c-spanow video app a cpan.org. and tomorrow a donald trump rally ibutler, pennsylvania. the campaign stop coming two da before the start of the republican natnaconvention in wisconsin. 5:00 p.m. eastern is the start time for this event on c-span,

c-span.org and the free c-span now app. mary is waiting in colorado,'s -- in colorado springs. democrat. you are up first. caller: hello. i want to say what everybody is talking about, joe biden's abilities. i believe his debate performance is not an indicator of leadership abilities and that he is quite capable of making decisions and setting policy. and he also has the intelligence to surround himself with knowledgeable advisors, which the other guy does not. i believe he has the insight and foresight to work through the complexities of government. and just because he has misspoken a few times is probably more of a case of the wrong words rolling off of his tongue and not a cognitive

issue. host: what is the best indicator of capabilities in your mind that we can judge as citizens? caller: past performance. and even his speaking at the nato conference. he was on his toes then. i know he made a few verbal mistakes. but, his past performance as both a senator, vice president and president. he has held all three positions and more. he has been a reasonable and levelheaded guy that can work across the aisle and can get things done. host: that is mary in the centennial state. new york city. sophia, independent. good morning. caller: good morning, i am so excited. i did not think i would speak to you. i spoke to peter -- pedro last

month i said that john and greta are doing a great job even though i still miss steve and bill. anyway, it is open forum, and if you do not mind i will be short and simple. the guy -- anyone over 72 we do not remember what we ate yesterday. but if you asked us what happened five years ago, in detail we can write a book. do you understand? and while i call them the uglies, they are not republican. all my life i was a republican. because of mr. trump i change to independent. now, -- we can have a woman president. i do not want him to say just do

it now. pass it to kabbalah -- kamala. still whether it is biden or her, they will be trump. trump is happy now, he wants biden to stay because he knows that he can beat him. he is old. he is three years older than him. anyway. thank you for listening. i enjoy c-span. ok. host: sophia in new york city referring to one point to the polling by the washington post poll that came out july 5 through ninth and asked one of the questions of democrats and democratic leaning independents if biden were to step aside who do you think should be the democratic nominee in his place. the result of the polling, 29% saying kamala harris.

the only others getting more than 1% are gavin newsom, michelle obama, pete buttigieg, gretchen whitmer and robert f. kennedy, jr. the poll also found that 15% said that they do not know and 31% did not respond specifically. plenty have made their opinion known. arthur in michigan. republican. good morning. caller: good morning. listen, all i would like to say is we have to get back teaching our kids in school. the old history of our government. and, sure, everybody wants to change the constitution. they wrote that for generations to live by the law of the land. and so, that is all i have to say. there is too much drama.

in washington. it has everyone reeling, and you have to read between the lines on everything, what is going on. you know, sure people need help. but to have all of this socialism going on like that and kids changing their genders, i just say that we have to get back to more prayer and being united as an american. that is all i have to say. have a good day. host: wheaton, illinois. stephen. democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i appreciate this conversation today. my observation is that these maga or evangelical votes do not listen to trump lighting and biden describing his accomplishment. he made some flubs and i am

interested in him stepping aside at his age. but he articulated very well his domestic and international successes. they do not listen to that. they do not listen to trump live. he knows who kevin robert is. he play -- he praised him and thanked him on video more than once at the conference that he shared the stage with the guy. the idea that he did not know about 2025, he might not have read anything but he knows who those are. that is a blatant lie. he praised him on tape and it is out there on video. the maga folks and the right wing radio do not listen to anything. in terms of the economy going well, and the other thing i would just wrap up with because i do not understand the women voting in this country how they support -- what nikki haley

jested after all of her success to capitulate and throw in the towel and going over there. again, trump is a predator. it is not trump the arrangement it is maga amazement. we are amazed that they cannot open their ears. deportation, both the bible and see where christ said to deport people and did not say offer them a hand up. i appreciate that. thank you. host: stephen in illinois. you mentioned the economy. the news coming out yesterday that inflation is cooling further in the month of june. welcome news for the fed. it was 3% in june on a yearly basis down from three per -- 3.3% in may and softer than the 3.1% that was predicted in the inflation chart over the years. we are on the far right side after that jump in inflation

that happened in recent years. so, cooling inflation as of last month is the headline from the new york times. terry in florida. republican. good morning. caller: i would really like to hear if anybody from the republican or democratic party accurately articulate how much money we have spent in the last year protecting the border between north and south korea with the marine corps, air force, army, nsa, nsa, cia, etcd to what we spent last year at our own borders. it seems to be absurd that americans can spend so much money somewhere else and not protect our own border and have enough judges to handle the

influx of immigrants. we could certainly spend that money better in america and solve that problem. if we need more judges, if we need more border patrol, whatever we need at the border we could take some of that money from north and south korea we are spending over there. it has to be staggering. i don't know who can quantify that. no one ever has. i thank you for listening. that is -- host: that is terry in florida. i was trying to look up the various government groups in d.c. to see if they had a chart on u.s. spending in north and south korea. we will continue to look that up. let me give debbie a chance in texas. independent. good morning. caller: i would like everyone to consider -- first of all --

host: first of all what? caller: the focus has been on joe biden's state of mind. that is not where the focus needs to lie. the focus needs to lie on whether we will be a constitutional republic in the future or are we going to be an autocratic society? trump has made it clear. yesterday while joe biden was giving his press conference for an hour answering 17 different questions, trump was meeting with victor or bond -- with viktor orban of hungary at

mar-a-lago. his only emphasis is china, north korea, putin, and orban. he has actively said he wants to be a dictator, he has said he wants to suspend the constitution. project 2025 -- he is aware of it. he may not have read it because he does not read, has the other call said. all of those people are his associates. they have been involved with him. the heritage society gave him the list of supreme court judges is -- of supreme court justices that he used. host: just to close the loop on cost in south korea, this is a little bit dated, but the

government accountability office has reports you can find online. it is the independent agency that does various analysis pieces for congress and for the federal government. one of the reports from 2021 was the benefits and costs associated with the u.s. military presence in japan and south korea. look at the time frame from 2016 through 2019. that four year span there, saying the u.s. spent $13.4 billion in south korea to paper military salaries, construction facilities, perform maintenance. that is a quick fact from that report. that report is available online at gao.gov. a good place to search for some of these federal government spending questions. back to calls. bill in new jersey. go ahead.

caller: i am wondering about project 2025 if they mention anything things about veterans benefits, where they stand on that. host: i believe there is an entire section in there on the department of veterans affairs. brooks tucker writing that section. the opening paragraph says "the department of veterans affairs is the primary provider of health care benefits for american veterans and their families. the v.a. has a noble responsibility of the noble responsibility to render timely support and services with compassion and competence. the veteran is at the forefront of every v.a. process. the v.a. must be striving to be recognized as best in class with the need those -- with an ethos from veterans and not to the parochial bureaucracy."

caller: so it does not sound like they intend to dismantle veterans benefits. host: you can read it yourself online. you can read that entire section. that is bill in new jersey. darrell in kentucky. republican. caller: thank you for having me on the air. i listen to that caller from texas a while ago. i agree. i think we spend too much money to ukraine to help support their fight against russia. they have been at war for 800 days. gaza against israel. we could use that money in the united states and help the american people out and support people that need jobs in the

united states. now we have people running for president. joe biden does not know where he is at. he is somewhere else where he does not know what is going on in the united states. we have a person named president trump. he cares about the american people. they do not talk about the people who got killed in afghanistan in 2021. 13 american people got killed and we do not talk about that. president trump does. he cares about all of the american soldiers and all our veterans. i am supporting him all the way through this election. i think he is doing a great job as he does more campaigning. joe biden should not be in office. host: to the buckeye state. this is cheryl. democrat.

good morning. caller: i think biden should stay in and all his doubters that do not want to support him, they ought in support trump if that is what they want. as far as trump, he is an idiot. he has never had his mind. all of the supporters supporting him, they are just on like he is. -- they are just scum like he is. he lied, he cheated. he said people were getting money when they were not getting money. he is paying all the criminals. he has nothing but criminals inside the white house. host: that is cheryl in ohio. you talk about doubters.

when it comes to columnists in major american newspapers you can add karen tumbled to the list. this is her piece in the washington post. "in the most important news conference of his political career president by did little to allay the concerns to hispanic party that he is leading democrats up and down to disaster. he is right that the stakes could hardly be higher but what he refuses to acknowledge is his choice to carry on could jeopardize everything he has accomplished." writing in the washington post today. time for a couple more of your calls in open forum. taking this until 9:15 eastern. this is pico out of baltimore, independent. caller: good morning. i will try to be as quick as possible. i do not know if i have time to say everything i want to say.

i did want to say i am more of a conspiracy theorist than independent. host: we try to shy away from conspiracy theories because it can lead down rabbit holes and get us off-topic. caller: it is not so much of a conspiracy, but i am saying a few different topics. the one would be the fact that biden or the democratic party is friends to so-called black people and i use that term loosely because it is so-called. we are not from africa, we are from america. the history that has been taught to us in schools is nonsense and is been retold every day. this is our homeland.

trump -- it is obviously that biden is suffering from alzheimer's or whatever. trump may not be -- there is a lot i can say about him and his uncle that worked for the fbi and i can see he list -- he at least did try to put money in people's pockets with the stimulus checks and things like that. the fact that he is a republican. a lot of people in the media are demonizing him as if he is a racist or something like that. it is nonsense. i don't know what he is on a personal level but on a business level, he had to do business with many people to be in the position he is in. as far as the conspiracy, as far as us being historically democrats it is bullish and is. we started the democratic party. we were always more republicans, so-called black people.

now this point of time we are being driven to be democrats and democrats historically are not our friends. one of the women that helped start it, i cannot remember her name, but she was hillary clinton's -- somebody hillary clinton looked up to and she was helping with slavery and all that type of stuff to hurt so-called black people. host: garland, texas. democrat. caller: i was calling because i think the democratic people are the ones who really heard biden. biden is for the people. trump is for himself. if they had common sense and looked at that they would know that. biden is old and he is frail but he is still out there trying to help people. if the senate and the congress

who is democratic, if they all got together and work something out and worked with biden, it would be much better. host: last caller in our open forum. caller: i wanted to call about the border because steve from illinois got me fired up. he mentioned we should be reading the bible about that and be respectful of people in desperate situations. maybe the people who come across the border illegally should read the bible. maybe they should read and find out that they should respect the rule of law. we have so many people coming in the country and consuming our civic centers, our social centers, our hospitals and schools, and we are paying. there is no money to pay them or support them. we cannot do that.

this is a financial disaster waiting to happen. it goes back to the pivot argument. if you want to destroy america you overwhelm the system and that is what is happening. we need to have rules for coming into the country. people in the 1980's when these to immigrate the right way, they even put their hand on their hearts and said the pledge of allegiance with tears running down their faces. we see that at all today? you don't see that? they don't have to say the pledge of allegiance, they just come right in and step aside. tsa are acting like travel agents. host: have you ever watched a naturalization ceremony? caller: i have not. i hope they go on today. i do not know that they do. it seems like people have an easier way. host: there are several available on the c-span website and the video archive. there are always a few each year

that it dignitary will show up to that the cameras are allowed into. if you want to watch one you can do that at c-span. caller: i am glad you said that and i'm glad that is the process and there are people who are willing to do with the proper way, the way the rule of law is written. we want immigrants but we need to control the flow as to who comes in. host: that is mike in texas, last caller in our open forum. 45 minutes left. will be joined by former republican senator john danforth of missouri and we will talk about the mission of the group he cofounded, our republican legacy, and we will discuss campaign 2024 and the republican national convention next week. all of that coming up after the break. >> american history tv, saturday on c-span2 exploring the people

and events that tell the american story. michael dukakis and current and former governors take a retrospective look at his political read or. watch the american history tv series historic convention speeches featuring memorable remarks. this week rice president george w. bush accepted his party's convention at the 1988 party in new orleans, calling for a kinder, gentler nation. >> read my lips. no new taxes. >> at 9:00 eastern on the presidency, historians examine the legacy of pat nixon, hosted by the richard nixon presidential library and museum. watch american history tv saturdays on c-span2 and find the full schedule on your program guide.

find the full schedule at c-span.org/history. >> book tv every sunday on c-span2 features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books. at 5:00 eastern rivertown book publisher carl weber and senator john hickenlooper share their book why books still matter where they discuss the importance of the written word and free speech. then at 10:00 on afterwards, writer a activist offers an alternative view of great and resilience in a world of overlapping crises with her book "the resilience method." she is interviewed by an instructor at the university of pennsylvania positive psychology center. watch book tv every sunday on c-span2 and find a schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at book tv.org.

>> c-span's campaign 2024 takes you live to milwaukee for our coverage of the republican national convention. tune in live monday as delegates gather to select the republican nominee for president. watch as they lay out their priorities for the next four years and their party's vision for the future. live monday on c-span, c-span now, or online at c-span.org. c-span, your unfiltered view from the convention. >> the house will be in order. >> c-span celebrates 45 years of covering congress like no other. since 1979 we've been your primary source for capitol hill, providing balanced coverage of government, taking you to where policy is debated and decided with the support of america's

cable company. c-span. 45 years and counting. powered by cable. >> "washington journal" continues. host: c-span viewers are familiar with former senator john danforth. he spent two decades representing missouri on capitol hill and recently cofounded the group our republican legacy. what is our republican legacy? guest: our republican legacy is people who are committed to the republican party as it has been throughout its very long history. it is the party that believes we should try to hold the country together as one people instead of being as divisive as both parties have become. it is a party that is committed to the u.s. constitution, meaning we respect the peaceful transfer of power after elections, we believe in the

literature to missy of elections and the finality of court decisions, it used to be the party of fiscal responsibility. it ceased being that. we were the deficit hawks in the day. no longer the case. we believe the economy is best advanced by the free enterprise system rather than a lot of governmental interventions such as high protective tariffs, and we believe america is the leader of the free world and should act as such. ever since the end of world war ii, the days of dwight eisenhower, the republican party has been the party of strong national defense and strong alliances that resist the

expansion of the soviet union and now russia. those are principles and they have held all republicans together until seven or eight years ago, and all of those principles have been abandoned by the latest iteration of our party. we want to restore the basic principles of the republican party. they have done as well in the past and we think we are important to the american future. host: if that is what the party used to look like, what does the party today look like? what does it stand for? guest: i think it has become a personality cult. it is essentially donald trump and whatever donald trump says goes. it is more aligned to a style than substance. the style being the tough guy style.

that is very appealing to a lot of people want the rough-and-tumble political leadership. all of these principles we have stood for, it has abandoned each one of them. it has become divisive in the way it conducts itself with regard to the legitimacy of the presidency, the legitimacy of elections, the legitimacy of court decisions. it has attacked all of that. fiscal responsibility during the four years of donald trump. the national debt increased 40%. that is astonishing. it has become instead of free enterprise the party of high tariffs. a proposed 10% increase in tariffs. as far as america's position in the world, more than half of

republican members of the house of representatives voted against supporting ukraine. everybody back in the day, every republican would have supported ukraine. every single one of them without question. now we have turned against that. on all of these fundamental principles the republican party -- certainly the leadership of the republican party has turned against all of them. host: are you going to watch the republican convention next week and what you expect to hear? guest: i don't know how much i am going to watch. i will probably tune it in. national conventions now, i don't know what the democrats will be doing the national conventions are more long pep rallies.

they do not decide much anymore. i have hoped and our republican legacy group has proposed the convention and the republican platform state the same principles i have just mentioned about the feds and about the rule of law, the primacy of the constitution. fiscal responsibility. that is what we believe the republican party should do, the convention should do. a clear statement of those principles. i will have to see it to believe it. host: had 45 minutes earlier this morning about project 2025 and republican transition efforts. have you read that document, what you think of that document? guest: i have not read all 900

pages of it but i certainly read parts of it. it is quite amazing. the republican party has been a party of limited government. it has been a party of constitutional structure, checks and balances and trying to keep the excessive power of the government under control. this particular project, 2025 project is the opposite of that. it is the centralization of power, it is turning various government agencies and to the extent of presidential policies, including the justice department, including the fbi. it is putting political operatives in those

organizations and essentially disciplining people who fall out of line with the president's powers. it is an amazing concentration. it is a proposal for an amazing concentration of power to accomplish particular policy objectives. that is contrary to what the republican party has been in the past and contrary to our constitutional structure. host: another big topic is president joe biden, the news conference yesterday. you served alongside joe biden in the united states senate. you're just a couple of years his senior. let me take you back to 1991, joe biden introducing you at a senate judiciary committee hearing. it was a confirmation hearing for clarence thomas. >> jack, try to keep it under an hour if you can. >> mr. chairman, thank you very

much. i am sorry the north slope gambit did not occur to me. >> i assume you put your junior colleague up to it. >> mr. chairman and members of the committee. other than the nominee himself i know clarence thomas better than anyone who will appear before this committee. i hired him 17 years ago when he was a law student. he worked for me twice as an assistant state attorney general and as a legislative assistant and we have kept in touch since he left my office. his life story is public knowledge and i will not review it for you. instead this will be a personal testimony about the clarence thomas i know and a reflection on the case that is being made by various groups that oppose his confirmation. let me begin with the most fundamental points. clarence thomas is intelligent, hard-working, honest, and fair.

because these are the minimum qualifications we expect of a nominee for any position, i will not dwell on them. it is enough to assure the committee on the basis of personal knowledge that clarence thomas possesses each of these requisites to serve on the supreme court. host: but you think about listening to that clip from more than 30 years ago -- what do you think about listening to that clip from more than 30 years ago? guest: i think i would add 30 years -- i said i have known him 17 years. i have known clarence since he was a law student. i hired him right out of law school. he came to work for me in jefferson city as an assistant attorney general. he worked for me in my senate office. i have known him for a long time

and i know him very well and i know the character of the person. since he went on the supreme court i've taken a consistent position that i'm not going to be commenting about his decisions on various cases. i do not think that is my role. my basic role with clarence thomas is i am his friend. i have known him personally and i am his friend and i can certainly vouch for his integrity, for his character, for the kind of human being he is. host: are you friends with joe biden? guest: i served with joe biden for 18 years. i would not say i was his friend or his enemy. he was a member of the senate when i was a member of the senate. i was never on a committee with him. the closest i came to being

around joe biden was during the time of the clarence thomas confirmation. i would not claim i was very close to joe. i do have opinions as to what kind of senator he was and what kind of president he is, but with regard to clarence thomas, that is a personal relationship. that is personal friendship based on deep knowledge of the human being. with joe he was a colleague in the senate. that is how i know him. host: you think he is too old to be president? what you make of these concerns? guest: i think like a lot of people, maybe it is 70% of the american people, this is a

difficult election. i am a focus group of one. i keep saying what am i supposed to do? should i vote? clearly i have very strong differences with president trump. i think he has caused great damage to our country and i think he will continue to cause damage to our country. on the other hand, for anybody who watched the debate -- when was it -- june 27, he appeared to be cognitively impaired. last night he did much better. i don't know what to make of it. obviously we do not want somebody who is cognitively impaired to be president of the united states for the next four

and a half years. i think the american people deserve to know what is there. that is the kind of judgment that can be formed by medical opinion. he indicated last night were i thought he indicated he was willing to undergo tests for his cognitive ability. i think he should and it should be made public. so that we know is he or is he not cognitively impaired. i do not know the answer. it seems to me it is but i am a layperson. why not have professionals -- medical professionals administer the test, give us their

diagnosis, and also their prognosis. what can we look forward to from a president and the mental condition of joe biden? i do not know the answer but i think there are people who can give us an informed opinion of that. guest: you talked about your concerns about the vote -- host: you talk about your concerns of the vote the cycle. do you mind telling us who you voted for in 2016 and 2020? guest: i have never voted for donald trump. i have never voted for him for president. i am a republican. it is very difficult for me to vote for a democrat because i do not agree with their policies. i do not agree with their shift to the

shift to the left. i never would have had any problem. trump is something else. his appeal is to ugliness. that is his basic appeal. he has done one thing that is unthinkable for a president for anyone in public office. we took the oath to support the constitution of the united states. when you try to upset an election, when you try to claim that elections are ringed. the courts and the judges are corrupt. it is an attack of the system, a

direct attack on our constitutional orders. that is one thing you can't do. we can disagree on policy and the size of government, the cost and what we should do in this program or that program but all of us who haven't taken -- served in a public office and every member of the bar, lawyers, we take the same oath and that is to the constitution, not to an individual or a party but it is to support the constitution of the united states. he has done the opposite of that. he has attacked it and undermined public confidence in the basic structure and that is what nobody should do. that is where i am. on the one hand i disagree with

the democrats on a lot of policies and trump also but as far as going to the polls on election day, it is between donald trump and joe biden, that is a terrible position for people like me to be in. host: our guest, former senator john danforth is with us. democrats can call (202) 748-8000, republicans can call (202) 748-8001 and independents (202) 748-8002. this is om viewer watching as you are talking this viewer says, i uerand why republicans are not supporting trump. puican politicians were giving up their ideology and turning tarhe socialist democrats ideology saying that

the former senator was just repeating some democratic campaign talking points. what do you say to that you are? guest: i don't think anybody ever served with me in the u.s. senate would have said such a thing. it is just ridiculous. i am a republican. of the republican party stood for fiscal responsibility. that is what i thought and i thought that was one way to distinguish us from democrats. we were for trying to control government spending. and now it has turned the other way around and i don't see fiscal responsibility and i don't think if that is a democratic talking port. on supporting ukraine -- a

point. on supporting ukraine, every republican i served with in the u.s. senate over 18 years voted to support ukraine. all of us. all of us would have voted to try to resist the expansion of russia and the brutality of vladimir putin. nobody would have that elections are rigged. no republic at would have done that. that is not a democratic talking point to say we support the constitution and the constitutional structure. these are fundamental republicans. and this is what our party has stood for for a very long time. these supposed are being thrown

overboard. they republican legacy believes they should be revived and restored and the future of america depends on a strong responsible conservative party just but the public party has been. host: this is patty in sterling, virginia. guest: -- caller: thank you for taking my call. i just wanted to say to mr. danforth that i am honored to hear him because i that is exactly my opinion about what is going on. i wanted to ask him, what should

we do and is it true that if we don't vote, the other party that we are scared of, they win. whatever he says about biden is correct. biden is the talk of america but when you are in a family that they found it is exactly like biden, if we get another one in the family on board, it will be chaos. i want him to give me a little

bit of feedback based on the family but the father is respected in authority and a conservative but independent. host: let me take those points and give the senator a chance. guest: i think most of us have had experience with the family members and close friends to have become cognitively impaired . it is a sad thing when we see it with somebody you love. i think it's one of my closest friends that i grew up with developed early onset alzheimer's when he was in his 50's.

he was just totally out of it. the idea that we could elect a president who is out of it, it is very interesting to me. i am not a democrat but i follow what they say and a lot of them say when he stays in or get out depends entirely on him. i don't understand that. if we think that somebody is cognitively impaired, the decision on whether that person should be running for president, is that up to him, the cognitively impaired person? i don't think so. if you look ahead two or three or four years and you believe he is not right the 25th amendment

would never be vote. his cabinet is going to stick with them and the vice president is going to stick with him, and that is a very dangerous situation. i don't know how to advise the caller on what to do but the idea that i wouldn't vote, i've always a voted in. i think it is my responsibility as a citizen. writing in someone's name is the same as not voting good we will have two choices if biden get is the nominee and it will be biden and trump. from my standpoint and as i understand it from 72% of people, that is just unbelievably terrible choice. we are, we were a country and

our presidents, washington, adams, jefferson, madison, now we are faced with this choice. i don't know what i am going to do about it so i am not very good source on that i guess. host: leslie on the republican line. caller: good morning, senator. i had a few questions about national defense policy as far as our borders are concerned and also an exit strategy for ukraine. i personally went to edmonton ideas. i think that the border has been a disaster since biden took over. trump was on point with that. maybe people don't like trump for his personality, but we are

not looking for somebody who has a great personality, we are looking for somebody who at the end of line and it was trump or biden, who will defend us better instructing our military? who will protect us at our borders. i was thinking an important thing that should happen with our national defense is not to give ukraine any more money because money is power. i think we are doing the right things with drums in ukraine. i think we need to cut off the money somewhere when you are 70 billion, correct me if i'm wrong, around how much we have given them. i would say we need to focus, whoever the president who comes in as focus on national defense because we are in deep danger

for small nuclear weapons coming from submarines. there are 75 or more russian submarines that can surround us. host: let's let the senator take that. i hundred and $75 billion to ukraine. border, national security, ukraine. guest: on national defense, i agree with the caller. we should have a national defense that is second to none. and we have allowed it to deteriorate. we are going to have to pay for that. we cannot have, for example, a navy that doesn't have an up-to-date and significant

fleet. i think that is very important. with you -- regard to ukraine, if the u.s. pulls the plug on ukraine because we think it is too expensive, then what we have done is create a much more unstable world than we have had even during the cold war. we basically rewarded putin who said, you win, that is ok. you can invade a neighboring country. we will be there for two or three years and then we are out. what does that say to the rest of the world, to china with regard to taiwan? well, we are there than we will be out. we can't be a weak country, and

undependable country. we have got to be a country that stands against aggression by totalitarian regimes, whether russia, china, north korea or anyone else. we must be stalwart and that. with regard to the border, there was legislation as a bipartisan effort in the senate to address the question of immigration. and trump pulled the plug on that. republicans fell in line and said, we don't need legislation. all we need is the president to act. in other words, we in congress really don't have anything to say. let's go on another vacation. congress has a responsibility to come up with a bipartisan

solution to the immigration situation, at least an improvement in the situation on the border and immigration. if congress can't do anything, it is our members of congress to publicize ourselves but not to legislate. i say to congress, get on with it. nobody is going to be happy but at least government is doing something systematic. host: ernestine in winston salem . caller: since you have been

talking, you have said it five times and i have counted. i have a stutterer family and it takes two to three times to get their speech together. it is the way they are. i want to let you know that it is against the law to discriminate a person for being a stutterer and we have done it bite harassing our president and keeping him -- by harassing our president in keeping him under stress. what kind of democrats doing? i don't know what they are trying to do but he didn't need to be under the stress. host: senator danforth? guest: i don't think anybody is you disqualify if you stutter. i don't know if anybody who is saying that. but i think my concern is what

if -- i don't know. it seemed to me in the debate that there was something that had gone seriously wrong in joe biden's mind, and that he was impaired cognitively impaired the way his brain worked wasn't up to the job of being president. last night it seemed better to me at least. but what did the medical experts tell us. i don't think anybody would disqualify a president if he stutters. but i think we should know when we go to the polls if somebody has lost it. and is incapable of dealing with the kind of emergencies that are going to occur two or three or four years from now. host: to suzanne in cincinnati,

republican line. thanks for waiting. caller: good morning, senator danforth. i have to tell you that i was a democrat and left the democrat party because as president reagan so eloquently said, we have not left the party, the party has left you. it no longer stood for the values i had. unfortunately, i may be about to make that decision with the publican party. anytime i get a call from either the national republican party or my local republican party, they don't ask for my ideas. i asked much money i want to give to help mr. trump defend his legacy, to help mr. trump defend his legal problems. thank you for spreading the message you are spreading. i am wondering if there is any

hope for the republican to become the party it once was. it is so refreshing to hear you. if there is, i may come back. i am still a registered republican, but i am of the same dilemma that you are. i don't know how i am going to vote on election day because i am not going to vote for a cult leader and i'm not going to vote for somebody may or may not be mentally impaired. it is a dilemma. i think it is a shame that in a nation that has over 300 million inhabitants we are presented with the same two sorry choices it is a shame. that's all i got to say and i look forward to hearing your response. guest: well, we are seeing the same song. i absolutely agree with you. i think that it is very

important for our country to have conservative party and it doesn't have it right now. there is a big difference between right-wing and conservative. the right wing is not conservative. all of the principles i mentioned earlier, their position is not conservative and is not determinative of the data to support a 10% across-the-board terrors. these are not conservative schools. they claim the old republican party is dead but the point of our organization, and you are very welcome as everyone else is to be a part of it, check out the website, our legacy and we think we have got to stand for principles.

and what you said about president reagan was so true. i have served in the senate during all of the reagan presidency. it is possible to be a reagan republican as i am and all of our group is. it is possible to be a trump republican but the two are not compatible. it is not just that they differ, they are not compatible with each other. they are the opposite. i am an optimist read i believe this too shall pass. i believe -- i don't think the country is going down the drain. we are too strong and resilient country for that we will survive

. we will regain our equilibrium. i think that it is important for those who feel the way that the caller and i feel to hang in there. i don't know how i am going to vote. this is beyond this particular election. we have to hang in there and we have to come together as a nation. we have got to come together as one nation and one people as we, the people, as opposed to the constant warfare that is going on. just as a civil war is ready to break out, we are not enemies we are friends and we must not be enemies. that has been in the republican party in the past and that should be as all of us as

republicans, democrats and independents do. host: this is dan, independent in cherry hill come new jersey. -- cherry hill, new jersey. caller: thank you for speaking about the problem we have been facing. specifically, i believe the biggest problem we have in the first problem and most important issue is national defense. for the last 80 years, we have had our worst enemies in the form of the soviet union and now russia than we ever had in anybody. it has been 80 years under nuclear threat, 80 years of spending more money than we have on any other national defense issue including the first and second world wars.

it is distressing at the least. tom as taken the position he has and i don't know where he came up with this. there is no possible legitimate reason not to give ukraine everything it needs to win this war. it is in our interest to have russian aggression defeated into remain part of nato which have served that purpose during our entire lifetimes. this reason is stronger now than it was 30 years ago when president reagan and other residents at that time defeated the soviet union. host: i want to get the final two minutes to senator danforth. guest: i think the caller is actually right. after world war ii, our country

became the woolworth against the soviet union. we maintained the peace. it had to do with our own military strength and it also had to do with our alliances. that was the importance of nato. a predictable, stable, united states, reliable united states that was strong that was the best bull worth against disaster, namely aggression, military aggression. if we pull the plug on ukraine and say to the world, if we

start being wishy-washy with regard to nato, and remember trump said that he would encourage putin to invade noncompliant me took -- countries. ronald reagan would be turning over in his grave if he heard that. we have to hang in there and we have got to be strong and weak have got to be a reliable partner and alliances and we cannot give up on ukraine unless we are basically giving an invitation to russia, china, north korea to do whatever they want. host: you can find a group on line, ourrepublic.com. senator danforth, i appreciate your time on washington journal this morning.

guest: thank you very much. host: that is going to do it for us. we will be back tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern. in meantime, have a great friday. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ >> today on c-span, after matthew mcconnaughhay talks about political stability at the national governors meeti in salt lake city. that is like at 11:00 a.m. eastern. our coverage continues at the end g8 meeting with an address from volodymyr zelenskyy.

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