c-span's campaign 2024 text to to milwaukee for coverage of the republican national convention, live today as delegates gathered to select their republican nominee for president. watch as they lay out their priorities for the next four years in their party's vision for the future. the republican national convention, live today on c-span, c-span now, or online at c-span.org. it c-span, your unfiltered view of the conventions. >> coming up on "washington journal," we will take your calls and comments live. then jeremy janine of urban milwaukee previous day one of the republican national convention. and tony perkins talks about abortion and the republican party. milwaukee mayor cavalier johnson

explains his purse to bring the republican convention to the brew city. later, orlando owens with the republican party of milwaukee county talks about this week's convention and his effort to get more black voters to join the republican party. "washington journal" starts now. ♪ host: good morning, monday, july 15. the republican national convention kicks off today in milwaukee. just two days after an attempted assassination of the presumptive republican nominee, donald trump. on saturday at a rally in pennsylvania, i government injured the former president, a man was killed, and others critically wounded. we are taking your calls this morning on either of those topics. give us a call. democrats, , (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001.

independents, (202) 748-8002. you can text us at (202) 748-8003. and you can post to our social media, on facebook and x. welcome to today's "washington journal." it is a four-hour journal, all the way to 11:00 a.m. eastern time. let's start with what former president trump posted on truth social yesterday. he said, based on yesterday's terrible events, i was going to delay my trip to wisconsin and the republican national convention by two days, but i just decided that i cannot allow a shooter or potential assassin to force change to scheduling or anything else, so i will be leaving for milwaukee as scheduled at 3:30 p.m. today. thank you. that was yesterday, and he has arrived in milwaukee. later, he said, unite america.

let's look at what president biden said at a news conference yesterday about this. [video clip] pres. biden: as the investigation continues, here is what we will do. first, mr. trump is a former president and nominated by the republican already receives heightened level of security. i have been consistent in my direction to the secret service to provide him with the resources necessary to ensure his continued safety. second, i have directed the head of the secret service to review all security measures for the republican national convention, scheduled to start tomorrow. third, i directed an independent review of national security at yesterday's rally to assess exactly what happened and will share the results of that independent review with the american people, as well. finally, i will be speaking more about this tonight at greater length from the oval office. we must unite as one nation.

we must unite as one nation ear that is just who we are. may god bless you all and may god protect our troops. host: thank you very much. host:we are taking your -- host: we are taking your calls this our on the assassination attempt on former president trump, and the rnc convention starts today. numbers on your screen. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. this is from axios, headline, trump rewrites speech in wake of assassination attempt. it says he said this on sunday. the shooting has prompted him to rewrite his republican national convention speech so it focuses on bringing the nation together. the presumptive republican presidential nominee told the washington examiner that his rnc speech this thursday was going to be a humdinger. mostly targeting president biden bus policies, but it is going to

be a whole different speech now, he said. he said this is a chance to bring the country together. caller: all the different federal agencies -- guest: every street corner in milwaukee, there seems to be a law enforcement officer. host: there are thousands of protesters expected today and throughout the week, today being a major day for demonstrations. what are you hearing about the kind of groups coming to your city? guest: the march on rnc is locally led but we are expecting dozens of groups from outside the city. the one thing that stuck out is organizer omar florez says he is not -- he avoided condemning the assassination attempt on president trump. they're going to march in what

they call a family friendly, peaceful march. host: what are you hearing from business owners around the city as far as increased security that may be affecting their expectations for business? guest: in the league -- weeks leading up to it, the groundwork for milwaukee, they have business before a little bit in 2020 with the democratic national convention. it ended up being a virtual affair, but there was a lot of hype going into it. the economic impact to not materialize because of the covid-19 pandemic. the republican national convention, different people coming, but expecting the same numbers and the same $200 million economic impact. there is still a lot of unease of not getting bookings. some businesses close to the security zone are getting plenty of bookings.

i walked just outside of the heard security perimeter yesterday, and it looked safe to say that they are doing great business. a couple blocks away, there were people, but it did not seem busy. host: some describe milwaukee as "ground zero" on the road back to the white house. do you agree with that? guest: i think so. so wisconsin with joe biden and 21,000 votes. milwaukee has the greatest number of republicans in the state. moving the needle a couple percentage points in either direction can really shift the direction and path of an election. host: do you think milwaukee is prepared for the rnc? guest: i get the sense that, yes, it is. it is here, whether milwaukee is prepared or not. but they have put in a trump this amount of work -- they have

put in a tremendous amount of work getting ready. i think there is a general sense of optimism. that shifted over the weekend with the assassination attempt. now we are seeing, well, wait and see what happens. host: what will you be watching in today's proceedings? guest: today i am looking for the mentions of milwaukee. our publication is focused on the city. donald trump put it more on the forefront of couple weeks ago with the alleged horrible city remark. will it be, oh, no, i didn't say that, or will it be milwaukee is a wonderful place? we will looking to see what he says about the city and looking to see was the officials are saying. host: jeramey jannane, president and cofounder of urban milwaukee , thanks so much. guest: thank you. host: straight to your calls

now, starting with richard, democrat in delaware. good morning. caller: good morning. first of all, i would like to say that i am a liberal democrat and the patriarch of my family. i was immediately put out after i saw the attack on tv over the weekend. you know, this has got to stop. we should lower our rhetoric, just like everybody else in the country should do the same. my feelings about donald trump are that i want to beat him at the ballot box, no other way. and i am glad he is ok. i am very happy that the aim was not different and that he is surviving this. i am so sorry that it has happened in the first place.i

would like to also extend my condolences to the family of the victims, all the victims, whether it was the firefighter who unfortunately was killed protecting his family or the other ones who were just wounded. but i think the whole country deserves to be saying that this morning. i think both the message sent from donald trump over the weekend after the attack and the president's message last night were very appropriate and a good message to the country. we should carry it forward. host: all right, this is roy in woodstock, georgia, republican. caller: yes, ma'am.

c-span could be instrumental in healing. unfortunately, you do so much to divide. i remember being fact-check by one of your hosts. she went to the new york times, and you said it was a conspiracy. but we have video showing that this guy tried to encourage people to go into the capitol. they called him out the charlottesville thing, biden said he ran for president because of what trump said. again, that was a lie. you did not show the whole story. the march to the capitol, that was a lie, did not show the whole story. you can do so much more than letting people call in, make these allegations, use the "new york times" to fact-check. you could actually use your

platform to get the truth out. you could go so far if you would stop creating this anger on television and just be a beacon of truth. host: all right, kendra, richmond, virginia, independent line. caller: i am calling about the assassination attempt trump. in 2020, biden ran out bringing the country together. however, these past three and a half years, it has been more deficient than ever. and over the past month, the media, democrats, and celebrities have been pushing scare tactics about trump being a dictator and involved with project 2025. it is only by the grace of god that the bullet only grazed trump's ear and he was not killed. a couple of years ago i mentioned to someone that every since 2015, i hear the name trump. now it has been nine years straight of hearing his name on a daily basis. like the previous caller said

yesterday, the boy that shot him was 20 years old, meaning that since the age of 11 he has been hearing negative stories about trump, and the most recent story was that trump plans to be a dictator if he wins a second term. hopefully this incident will bring both political sides together in the media can stop this care tactics in the made up stories. but i am sure this is just wishful thinking. have a great day. thanks. host: and lisa in georgia, line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. i just want to say, as we are hearing now, the politics are still on. and one thing i would like to say is this right here, i am not buying it. i am not buying all of this come to jesus moment. one thing, the table has been turned on trump now, and everybody wants to come to jesus

moment now. i am not buying that. we have had kids getting shot in schools and our people getting shot at shopping centers, at concerts. and i never hear donald trump talk about bringing the country together. the table has been turned on him , and now he want to have a come to jesus moment? i am not buying it. democrats do not be rope a dope. as the first two callers have called in, the politics are still on. you know, january 6, trump came out, he did not have a come to jesus moment then. and all these shootings that have taken place, the day after, you can turn on fox news and the only thing they are saying is they trying to take away our

guns. i am not buying that. and democrats, wake up, do not buy that. i send my condolences out to the people that got injured, the man that got killed. i do not wish anything bad on anybody. but donald trump needs to be prosecuted. he needs to be -- democrats need to continue to let people know what he has done. and the dictator, it did not come from the media, did not come from the democrats. that came out of donald trump's mouth. that came from him. that is the rhetoric that came from donald trump. the project 2025, it is on record. read it. that did not come from democrats, did not come from the media. that came from donald trump. host: all right, lisa. earl in indian, republican line.

caller: this will be my last call to c-span. look what you just listened to, you let her sit there and talk. a man that almost lost his life yesterday has come to jesus -- when he comes to jesus, he is going to show her who he is. anybody who don't believe in god has got to be idiots. that man went to the cross for us, he died for us -- host: to be fair, i do not think the previous caller was saying anything against jesus. it is an expression, a come to jesus moment, meaning a point of awareness about the possibility of political violence, of gun violence. i think that is what her point was. caller: what does god say? he says you will be persecuted for my namesake. it says -- [indiscernible] god died, we are not living in

this time. you better get ready for the afterlife. everlasting life or burn in hell forever. host: john in new jersey, line for independents, good morning . caller: hello. i wanted to call in again and say what i noticed about the way election campaigns are run now, it is -- it seems to be important to try to get the voting public up for us to get out of our seats and actually go down and vote. but riled up is not a good state of mind for making a serious decision. if we were on the operating table and heard our surgeons arguing with each other and fighting and calling each other's names -- calling each other names, that would be a

terrible thing. i think it is important that we use our privilege to vote, to make serious decisions like we are trying to save a life of a patient, which happens to be the united states. host: let's take a look at what president biden said from the oval office yesterday about lowering the temperature in politics. [video clip] pres. biden: my fellow americans, there is a need for us to lower the temperature in politics petrie remember, when we disagree, we are not enemies. we are neighbors, friends, coworkers, citizens, and most importantly, fellow americans. we must stand together. yesterday's shooting at donald trump's rally in pennsylvania called on all of us to take a step back, take stock of where

we are, how we go forward from here. thankfully, former trump was not seriously injured. i spoke to him last night. i'm grateful he is doing well, and jill and i keep him and his family in our prayers we also keep our deepest condolences to the family of the victims killed. corey was a husband, firefighter, volunteer firefighter, hero, shielding his family from those bullets. we should all hold his family and all those injured in our prayers. earlier today i spoke about an ongoing investigation. we do not know the motive of the shooter yet. we don't know his opinions or affiliations. we do not know whether he had help or support or if he communicated with anyone else. law enforcement professionals, as i speak, are investigating those questions. tonight, i want to speak to what we do know. a former president was shot, an american citizen killed well

simply exercising his freedom to support the candidate of his choosing. we cannot, we must not, go down this road in america. we have traveled it before throughout our history. violence has never been the answer, whether it is with members of congress, both parties targeted and shut, or a violent mob attacking the capitol january 6, or attacks on the spouse of the former speaker of the house nancy pelosi, or intimidation on election officials, or the kidnapping plot against a city governor, or an attempted assassination on donald trump. there is no place in america for this kind of violence, for any violence ever. host: that was the president yesterday, and we are taking your calls this first hour and throughout the program today. george in new york city, democrat, new more -- good morning. caller: yes, good morning, and god bless everybody. i am sorry to hear about trump.

i am a democrat, you know, but trump started all of this, and most of the republican party started all of this over elections. and it is sad. but every time they blame the democrats, the republicans, they the ones with guns and all this stuff like that, want to hurt people. you understand? no, stop it. trump has to go to jail, bottom line. hook, line, and sinker. but we have people that are real small minded and racist. you got some racist people behind trump and some terrible people behind trump. look, i am born and raised in new york, and american.

my mother and father born and raised here, all right? they got to stop this. they started all of this problem. that is all i have to say. thank you. host: nick is next in delray beach, florida, republican. caller: good morning. i have to say, you, yourself, as host of a call-in program, you should be ashamed of yourself this morning for allowing that last caller to talk about how trump should be in prison and the bitter, nasty lady from georgia for her comments. you, as a host, should be ashamed of yourself. this is not -- host: thanks for the feedback, nick. to atlanta, independent line, go ahead. caller: yes, i am in eastpoint, georgia, fulton county, and i want to apologize -- i am so sorry, i want to apologize for

my race. that woman in georgia, i want to apologize for her. i feel so bad. and the man that just called from new york, i feel so bad for their hate. and i feel so bad for you having to cut off a gentleman having to tell you this. please do not cut me off, i am a black woman, a democrat really, but i am calling on the independent line. you can cut me off if you want, but i am independent because i can see the hate. i can see the dei that dropped the ball, and i recommend everybody -- being a black woman, that everybody listen to candace owens' podcast. she had a podcast yesterday that explains it all. and i pray for our country, and i pray for you, too, because you have people that deserve to vent on c-span.

c-span used to be so good. oh, i'm so brokenhearted. i'll vote for trump this time. and i did not vote for trump, but i am voting for trump. host: ok. david, madison heights, michigan , democrat. caller: thank you very much for taking my call. i think the call that the man said he was very ashamed of you, i think that that was not called for, and i am glad you did cut him off. i am very sorry that this happened, but it seems very strange to me that this happened days before the rnc convention. i remember the magas saying that they would lay their life on the line and give it up for donald trump. i remember that distinctly, and i think we all that are watching

this program today remember that. so what i would like to say is in my personal opinion, i think this was set up. they said that this man went roof-to-roof. that cannot be true, because on every roof at the rally, they had snipers with machine guns, on every roof. so he could not have gone on every roof. at first they said it was a handgun, turns out to be an ar-15. when an ar-15 round touches anything such as a grazed ear, it blows up. it destroys. that cannot have happened. it was a -- i think, a blood pellet he smacked on his ear.

i do not think he was grazed, because an ar-15 round, anything it touches, it blows up. his head would have been blown apart. host: david, we still do not know all the details, so we do not want to speculate on that. let's look at what the secret service said at a news conference yesterday about security at the rnc. [video clip] >> federal, state, and local law enforcement and public safety partners work together to design a security plan for national security events. security landscape and the most up-to-date intelligence from partners. we have been working on the rnc security plan for more than a year and have been in constant coordination with our partners in the republican national committee. we have accounted for various security scenarios that may arise, and we are confident for the convention this week. that security plan will remain in place.

while we cannot discuss the specific methods used, the methodology is based on a layered approach that includes support from federal, state, and local law enforcement public safety partners. we will continue to assess the security environment and adapt security measures as appropriate. the secret service is working diligently for the milwaukee police department and federal, state, local partners to ensure a safe and secure convention for attendees, volunteers, and the city of milwaukee. host: that was the rnc coordinator for the u.s. secret service. on the screen, that is one of the security checkpoints there in milwaukee, a live look at that. we are taking your calls. bill, republican, in medfield, massachusetts. caller: yeah, that last guy was right, it was a set up. it was set up by the secret service and the fbi. number one, the guy was kicked

off of the shooting team that supposedly shot and killed a guy in the audience and hit trump in the ear. so a guy with glasses, 100 50 yards away, hits the guy in the ear to my from 150 yards, right? that is number one. number two, i do not even think you could see good with glasses on through a scope and hit somebody. and the whole plan about buildings, buildings being behind where an ex-president is making a speech, behind him so they can shoot down, to shoot at him, yeah, it was a set up. this was set up by joe biden and the democratic party who -- host: mark in albany, new york, independent line. caller: good morning, thanks for c-span. in light of last weekend, i just

want to say, in general, we can solve our problems pretty much with one word, and that is respect. everyone respect everyone. take those three words and use them everyday in our lives. we need to build a culture of respect. that being said, i am an independent voter, been voting for 30 years. there is no one to vote for ever, and then all of a sudden, an outsider comes in with his own money, wants to make america great, no one works with him. for nine years, no one works with him. everybody knows, you going to get something done, you got to work together. we're going to give him another bite at the apple here. hopefully we get him in and can work together this time, the media, we can all rally around and support. the opposition party is the

opposite of great. i would have to say it sucks. maga versus mesa. thank you. host: democrats line, neo, good morning. caller: first of all, you're doing a great job, nothing to be ashamed about. anyway, nothing has changed here, trump is unfit to be president. he supported the attack on the capitol. he and his supporters are responsible for the injuries and deaths there. all the laws this guy has broken, the worst thing going on in this country is these stupid people supporting this trump, this criminal. he has broken so many laws. he is so unfit to be president, and you still have millions of people supporting this guy. it is the most dangerous thing -- host: here is my question, both sides are not saying let's take down the temperature, let's be more respectful.

but you just called almost half the country, 40-something percent supporting mr. trump at this point, stupid. caller: i absolutely did, because trump is totally unfit to be president. are you kidding me? what more does everybody have to see? he is only doing this to stay out of jail. he is going to do this so he does not go to prison. right? host: erwin in los angeles, republican line. caller: good morning. i am sad that this happened because of politics maybe. but i am glad that it happened so that trump, when he becomes president, would exposed -- being a victim are almost a victim of a bullet, he will expose all the kennedy

assassination by the deep stage. thank you. host: here is phil in brooklyn, new york, independent line. caller: good morning. i agree with the lady that apologize for those two ignorant people, one saying trump should be in jail, and the woman from georgia, i agree with her 100%. what is happening with trump is because of these tv shows, like whoopi goldberg on "the view," jimmy kimmel live at nighttime. they preach against this man. you do not know who is watching these tv shows. same time, what happened to trump, somebody say, ok, i am going to have to go after biden. these shows have to be penalized. just talked about what is going on, and stop talking about your opinions about individuals on tv, and you might stop the

hatred. these people are after this man, and they're not going to stop. ever since he came down the escalator, they been after this man. host: when you say these programs that preach hate should be penalized, do you think there are people on the right also preaching hate against the left? caller: there are them, too. just keep your personal opinions to yourself. stop preaching the hatred and they lies. this is what causes it, and you do not know who is watching these tv programs. thank you. host: here is the rnc committee chairman, a portion of his comments over the weekend -- [video clip] >> he was grateful for america on what happened, at least in his case. one quarter inch turn the other direction, and we're obviously talking about something very different this morning. >> that is the way you saw it?

>> totally. he was sad about, obviously, the person who died. he was just sitting there, and now he is gone. and i just think that all of those emotions are common together at once -- are coming together at once. he talked about, it felt like a knife went through his ear, and realized really quickly what was happening. >> can you tell us how he is now? >> i would say he is unwavering. >> his condition? >> strong, very strong this morning. he says like a person who is ready to go, very strong, unwavering. one of the reasons i was talking to him is because i am the chair of the host committee in milwaukee. i would leave things alone, but he wants to move forward. he was very clear to me, at least for the host committee events, that we need to keep moving forward.

>> so things will not be scaled back? >> if you were to ask me, i would say this convention is going to be epic. and we have a president, offices -- obviously through tragedy yesterday and we had loss of life and hopefully no more, but he is ready to go. and i think the unwavering attitude that he is bringing now to milwaukee is going to even further energize this crowd, certainly reflective -- in tragedy, god is our refuge, and i think most people feel that way today. it also as americans, we have to come out of this and move forward. there will be time to reflect and investigate, time for politics. but today was not a day for that, and it certainly was not anything the president was talking about. just sort of grateful, unwavering, move forward. host: ann margaret is a democrat in -- and margaret is a democrat

in california. caller: hello. the way we voice our opinions is that the ballot box, not by violence. it is just a coincidence, but the other day when this happened, i had just gotten a survey on gun violence. and i really do not think that even this will make the policymakers in the senate and the house change our gun laws. we have to do what we can to push them to do something about that. that is why i called. host: and margaret mentioned gun laws and guns, this is abcnews.com, after trump assassination attempt, guns will still be allowed near rnc but tennis balls will not. it says inside the forum and

immediate security perimeter around the republican national convention that kicks off monday night, guns are not allowed. however, guns will be allowed immediately outside the convention center in the outer perimeters surrounding the secret service controlled areas due to wisconsin state law. it is facing increased scrutiny in the aftermath of the attempted assassination of former president donald trump. due to wisconsin state law, people will be allowed to openly carry guns and can conceal carry with the permit inside the so-called soft parameter which surrounds the secret service-controlled inner hard perimeter. city officials tell abc news their frustrated following saturday's development but do not expect a change. you can read that more on abcnews.com about what will be allowed there. steve in massachusetts, republican. caller: good morning. i want to talk about what has

been going on. yesterday you had a caller on, and you discussed it, there were three bullets, first one for the president, second for the maga supporters, third for the supreme court. and this has gone on and on. and now today for someone to say it is his fault, his rhetoric that got him shot. so is it rfk's rhetoric they got him shot, jfk's rhetoric that got him shot, martin luther king's rhetoric that got him shot? so it is just what comes out of somebody's mouth. the democrats cannot discuss politics without bringing up donald trump. it goes on every day. on saturday, he had just democrats and independents calling in, and every caller brought up donald trump. they cannot assess their own party or their own people. they said this has been going on

since trump. i was a tea party person, and you know what we were called, we were called teabaggers. that was way before donald trump. if anybody does not know what that means, they should look it up. you have a bit of the donald trump derangement syndrome, because i want your body and your personality and how you hold -- host: marianne, indianapolis, republican line. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. as an independent, i go through all the media, go through all the newspapers, and where is the nonjudgmental in any of these people? the news and the newspapers, you used to be able to watch and read and it was no judgmental, no bipartisan. you do not have that anymore. you go to any of these tv shows and the hosts, they either hate you or they love you.

and regarding the white house last night, again, biden literally read off a teleprompter. that was not from his heart. again, it was about politics. he should have just said, stop the violence, stop the hate. no, it was all a political speech. i do not know what you can have a report with a nonbiased meaning. and then you guys think the public is stupid. it is not what we're seeing, not what we are hearing. let us be our own judge. just report the facts and leave your personal feelings out, of the media and newspapers. i mean, we are intelligent people. we make our own opinions and our own thoughts. we do not need tv shows and newspapers telling us what we wish -- what we should think and how we should think. host: let's take a look at a news conference by the secret service yesterday and the milwaukee police chief about

allowing guns in the area. [video clip] >> one thing as i understood it in regards to the inner perimeter, is is the largest inner perimeter that has been part of a conviction, to my understanding. maybe we have to get that clarified. that is one important point to be able to understand and regards to security, about what that inner perimeter looks like. in regards to the ability to carry a firearm outside of the inner perimeter, our state law allows for the particular right to carry a firearm. we, as a city, cannot legislate out of that. so regarding our law enforcement, we have to operate within those guidelines. in less it is something that is against state law -- unless it is something against state law, we have to respect the second amendment right to carry a firearm, especially open carry

or carry conceal with a license. so that is an issue we have to navigate. i will say this and have said it many times, as that is your right, please exercise the right in a responsible manner. please ensure that the behaviors that we would like to see for those with that responsibility are aligned with that responsibility. what this department will not tolerate, any particular behaviors outside of what is legally allowed in regards to that right. host: the milwaukee police chief yesterday. and this is patsy in oklahoma city, democrat. caller: good morning. i want to complain about the republicans. donald trump is a former president. can you say that to the republicans? thank you very much. host: frank in baton rouge, louisiana, independent. caller: good morning.

first of all, i'm a political science major, got my degree many, many years ago. one of my tasks over the years has been to study the communist party, and when you study the communist party and the democratic party of america, there's a lot of things that go hand in hand. they think alike. their voters, the democrat voters, really are not smart enough to dissertation the truth. i do not know if they hated. host: frank, how are you saying that all democrats are just not smart enough? caller: well, i say it because you people say all republicans

are not smart enough, they follow trump all the time. you know what, you people follow biden and he cannot even put two sentences together. host: david in houston, republican. good morning. caller: good morning to you. keep up the good work. ok, i want to talk about the president's findings that the jury said. they said the jury found him guilty, but he is not a felon until the judge rules. i wish the news media would get that straightened out. don't they enter straight the law? i thought there were a couple lawyers. the judge has not ruled. host: the sentencing, you mean? caller: yes. he becomes a felon when the judge rules. he has not ruled yet, therefore he is not legally a felon. please broadcast that to everybody. host: all right.

bernie in queens, new york, democrat. caller: good morning. i hope you're making a lot of money. to listen to this, it is just amazing. and a discussion of 50% of the country being stupid one way or the other, this is what i am afraid of myself. this is a president who is cruel, c-r-u-e-l. inflicting pain on people, no matter who they are, invalids, soldiers. who wants a cruel person? i don't. i don't think the country does. i would not want them for dinner. either i am blind or they are blind. it is amazing to me that this man is running again and may be elected. host: bernie, what was your reaction to the assassination attempt on saturday? caller: my reaction was it was a

terrible event in our history. we have had, i believe, four presidents assassinated, 6, 7 attempts. it is terrible. of course, it is terrible on its face. in analyzing with this kid -- he was only 20 years old -- did, apparently he was bullied at school and a loner. well, i guess in his mind, in his off mind -- not excusing it -- he was trying to take out the greatest bully of them all. host: terry, an independent in akron, ohio. caller: oh, mimi, you are doing a great job, please don't be discouraged by these clowns calling in. i agree with the lady from georgia wholeheartedly, this man

convicted of sexual assault, and even if he is not claimed as a felon, he will be a felon. yet, he is running for president. as a black man, they tried to slap a felony on us whenever we do anything, and then we cannot get government jobs or anything else. but this guy can run for president. please. and all you republicans that do not think donald trump is trash, look at the fox video of him laughing about nancy pelosi's husband getting hit in the head with a hammer. and all the fox folks and donald trump's son laughing about that. the man is unfit. i agree with the last caller. and please have a nice day. host: diane, de soto, kansas, republican. caller: yes, i am republican,

and i will be voting for donald trump. but i have an observation to make. i think both parties have reached their breaking point. you've got all of this business about whether the current president is cognitively fit to be president. that is a massive issue. and then on the republican side, you have got an attempted murder by a young man who was influenced by god knows what. and people died as a result of that. and i just wish that everybody on both sides would step back for a minute and look at what is happening in our country. we have got to open our hearts and our minds and listen to one another. and one other thing, mimi, you are a great host. i feel bad for all of the insults that are thrown at you because you do not deserve them.

i especially appreciate the hosts on c-span that give commentary or interact as opposed to those who don't. host: thanks for that. frank in maryland, a democrat. caller: good morning, ma'am. i find myself really angry, and the reason why is, for over eight years, i have heard donald trump encouraging people to beat people up, constantly talking about executing different generals and other people that did not do things that he wanted to be done. he has constantly called for violence. and then when it happens to him, now he is looking for sympathy votes, and now he is going to get them. on the other hand, it wasn't something that i did not expect. after the supreme court gave him

a free pass to do anything he wants and put him above the law and even above the rules, i foresaw that there would be people that would be angry enough and find rationalization to use that as justification to do what this young man did. and i do not support it. on the other hand, it was just another mass shooting. and when are we going to ever learn? i keep on hearing that peter paul and mary song, when will we ever learn? host: to another frank, this time in maryland, independent line. caller: yes, ma'am, i really congratulate what you all do and your efforts here, hearing directly from the american people. but today i would like to address the issues as an american, either as a democrat

or republican, but i see clear and present dangers to our society. and i think they are primarily coming from a mass media that may misrepresent the truth for their own political purposes, on either side, represents an element of brainwashing. and then the other element is the weaponization of our institutions. i think our founding fathers set up our government that was supposed to have some -- it is a great discussion, and we should be able to have those conversations respectfully and not get into this personalized rancor but a judgment based upon the statistics as they take place and the facts as they happen. and then discuss those policies and determine then what is best for the nation. the misrepresentations of events

, no matter what they are, by the politician, i think it also as to that problem. if we support by any politician political violence as an acceptable forum of political protest, each person who has done that is guilty. lt of supporting this type of conduct -- guilty of supporting this type of conduct which is not part of our design. we should concentrate on having a great conversation and not trying to victimize or to turn people into something they are not. host: all right. this is on the associated press, nikki haley, transformer primary rifle, will knaus -- primary rifle, will now speak at the republican convention. it says, in what will be a highly anticipated speech, the

announcement sunday came one day after a gunman opened fire at trump's rally. nikki haley, elected twice as south carolina governor, was added to the schedule as she was initially not among the list of speakers, according to a haley spokesperson. the change was confirmed by republican official familiar with convention plans but was not authorized to speak publicly. alan is calling from kennewick, washington, republican. caller: there's only one question that should be asked. why, when they saw the shooter, didn't they get trump off the stage? they had lots of time to do that, and they just ignored it. that is the only question to ask. why didn't they notify the trump security to get him off the stage if there was a shooter in the area?

host: al in jacksonville, florida, democrat. caller: hi, thank you for taking my call. first, i am a 76-year-old vietnam veteran, a proud democrat. i am a democrat because, from childhood, i saw what was deprived for people of my race, that was life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. i have no sympathy for anyone that would condone killing, shooting, hurting people of any race. it bothers me that policies that help people is always left out of the equation when talking about republicans and democrats. it has always been democrats that have put forth efforts and

policies that have helped all people. but i have not heard or seen any such actions that comes from the republican party. i don't hate republicans. i love people. but when you start talking about helpful policies and things that are for all people, you do not hear from republicans. so as to this whole dilemma with trump and biden, we talking about who is sick and who has been successful as a businessman. that is just absolutely absurd to me. what about what is happening for people of america, not just for the privileged few? thank you for my call. host: patricia is an independent

in columbus, ohio. caller: good morning. thank you for my call. you are doing a wonderful job. first, i would like to say condolences to the family and to the trump family. i would also like to say to our country, it is time for us to pray because we are a situation right now that calls for some divine guidance. we are advocating for guns constantly, constantly. by one group of people, when they use those guns against their own people, then it becomes, oh, it is a different story. we have got to come together and fight for the right of our families, our children, homelessness is out of control in america. we are spending billions of dollars on campaigns and talking

and going on. we need to get together and decide which direction this country is going, and it needs to move forward. we must come together as a people to pray and ask for divine guidance. this incident won't probably be the last, because guns -- you see republicans allowing guns in wisconsin and wherever the democrats will be. we have got to stand up as a people and demands that they put the guns down. thank you very much. host: stacy, republican, bismarck, north dakota. caller: good morning. speaking of chaos, if you put a cap in -- cat in a kennel full of ducks, you will have chaos, and the dogs are saying it is the cats fault. i'm getting bored to tears with

the democrats calling in, they just recite the same things over and over and over again that no independent thought, no ability to research topics and find out what is really behind it. and it is just so boring, just the name calling and the silly nonsense about trump telling people to put bleach in their arms, these things have been debunked, just not true. the chaos is orchestrated against the cats. host: david in bristow, virginia, democrat. caller: good morning, longtime listener, just wanted to say as it relates to religion and faith, you look at donald trump and you look at his proven affair while his wife was pregnant, i cannot understand why anybody would support someone that would cheat on his

wife and while pregnant and with a poor and star -- a porn star. forget everything else, the man cheated on his wife. bottom line, cannot trump anyone who has ever done that. i am sure there is some type of clause -- host: david, you know that donald trump has denied that relationship. caller: of course, he is going to deny it. but if you look at what was happening during the new york trial, everything came out. even the alleged rape was a rape. so just wanted to say that. host: omar in brooklyn, new york, independent. caller: good morning. most important to me, good morning, black america, foundational black america. i listen to this show every

morning, and i only listen to listen to the racists that call in, and today is no different. every morning, they call and say the same things. the people who are calling better black, foundational black americans, y'all keep up the good work. we should not be voting for joe biden, number one, and then this "assassination" on donald trump, that ain't nothing but his own vitriol coming up to bite him in his you know what. this is nothing butthis is nothn coming home to roost. every black person knows it. we worried about none of that. we want our reparations and we are going to fight for it for every single day until we die. host: that's all the time we have got for today, for the first hour, but there is much more to come. it's a four hour washington journal, we are with you for another three hours and next will be live from milwaukee,

where we will be joined by tony perkins, the president of the family research council. not only is he a delegate that he is a member of the rnc platform committee. we will talk about what's in this year's platform, especially on the issue of abortion. we will be right back. ♪ >> we will welcome them into a great national crusade to make america great again. >> working for progress and for peace. >> taxes will go up says that they will is not telling the truth. >> in our beloved nation of peace, it's the midst of a springtime of hope for america. >> we are the party that

believes in the americans rate -- dream. >> will read my lips. now new taxes. -- read my lips, no new taxes. >> i believe in a place called hope. >> here's the question for the american people, who do you trust in this election? >> the choice is between building a bridge to the future and a bridge to the past. >> i have unlimited confidence in the wisdom of our people and our country. >> i want you to know me for who i truly am. >> they had their chance, they have not led, we will. >> i'm john kerry and i'm reporting for duty. >> these four years of moments i could not foresee and will not forget. >> it's time for us to change america. >> i wasn't my own man anymore, i was my country's. >> i don't believe that rolling

back regulations on wall street will help the laid-off construction worker keep his home. we have been there, we have tried that, we are not going back. we are moving or word, america. >> under my administration our friends were -- will see more loyalty and mr. putin will see more backbone. >> he wants to make america great again? he can start by making things in america great. -- making things in america again. >> we will make america great again. >> here and now i give you my word. if you entrust me with the presidency, i will draw on the best of us, not the worst. >> this towering american spirit has prevailed over every challenge and lifted us to the summit of human endeavor. >> c-span, your unfiltered view of the convention, powered by

cable. ♪ >> " washington journal" continues. host: we are joined now by the president of the family research council, tony perkins, louisiana delegate of the rnc and platform committee member. tony, welcome to the program. guest: good morning, mimi, how are you? host: good. before we get into the discussion i wanted to give you a chance to react to the attempted assassination. >> clearly it was an event that changed the convention going forward. what remains to be seen was was this an event that will change the former president in the country. i've been listening to the conversation taking place here and i appreciate those who said -- let's stop, let's pray, let's come together as a nation.

i do think that the rhetoric has reached, and i have watched this over my 21 years here at family research council, reached a level where we don't have conversations anymore. social media is one of the things that has fueled that. i would say timeout, let's put down the social media and pick up a cup of coffee. i'm not saying this as one of those who've done it. i've actually built relationships with those who are diametrically opposed from a political and ideological standpoint where we realize we are americans, we want same things for our children, our families. i just think it would be great if we had more conversations at each other rather than about each other. host: do you think that this will bring people together as you are helping, or will he blame divisive this in the country? guest: i think it's up to us, it really is up to us, and there is conversation from some saying that this is the time to step back.

ecclesiastes, i was reading that in the bible this morning, saying that there is a time to tear and a time to so. a time to be silent and a time to talk. listen, it's changed the dynamics of the convention. we are kinda stepping back. we were very engaged in the platform and not happy with the way it turned out, not happy that they silenced opposed to the agenda. but you know, it's not the time. it's time to come together, not just for republicans. it's time to come together as a nation and see, as jesus said, love for the neighbor. that doesn't mean that all of a sudden it's his go away. we have an understanding that each and every human being is created in the image of god, therefore they have foundations regardless of the politics.

just have a cup of coffee, i found relationships and it doesn't change their viewpoints on policy, but it brings down the rhetoric to where we are having conversations with one another rather than shouting at each other. host: i know you are a man of faith, i wonder what you think about the role of faith leaders in this country to bring down the temperature to be talking about what you just said, about the idea of loving one's enemies and praying for those who are sick you you. guest: we had a prayer meeting in milwaukee last night. it was a full church where people came together to pray for the country. it was already planned but it took on a different tone after saturday night, to pray for the former president, to pick -- pray for the current president, to pray for the church and those who follow jesus christ, that we would live out our faith.

again, it doesn't mean that you change your view. faith is based on the work of god and to pursue that, but we understand the those who disagree with us are not the enemy. we want to share with them, we want to have conversations with them, and the best way to change hearts and minds is through conversation and show love. there was a time in this country where that was the predominant path forward. i don't want to bash social media, but you know, social media is the place where everyone talks and no one listen. i have an appreciation for c-span. i advocated to the campaign for c-span to be allowed in the platform committee room, which it has historically done but they wouldn't allow it. c-span is one of the few places left in america where people of differing views can have a civil conversation and i appreciate the fact that you keep it civil. host: if you would like to talk

to tony perkins of the family research council, he will be with us for the next 20 minutes. call us online by party. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. let's talk about the rnc platform committee, served this year as a conventional delegate from louisiana. last week the platform committee witt -- voted 84 to 14 to adopt the platform. how did you vote? guest: 84 to 18, 80 -- 18 of us voted against the platform. and it isn't that everyone of those 18 were against the platform, it's because of the process. this is not the first time i've been on the platform committee. this is my fifth convention to serve on the platform which is usually a 2.5 day process. you get a draft, you go back and look at it, you go into

committee like the legislative process on monday, you work through your section of the document and then tuesday, everybody gets together and goes through it from start to finish. it is amended and changed and it more reflects the grass roots republicans across the country. none of that happened this year. first time ever. unprecedented. we were not given a document copy on sunday night. we went into a room on monday morning, our cell phones are taken. we are locked in the room and given a copy and then we listen to 2.5 hours of speeches, not discussion, about the platform, the language, but speeches. and then you know, marsha blackburn, who was driving this process, she was the driver, she allowed for no debate, no discussion, no amendments, and it was adopted. people were furious about that process. host: why is that? why did that happen?

why the change? why not keep it the same? guest: i don't know. i don't know, it's disturbing. many republicans have been arguing about this, it's been happening with the cancel culture, silencing people that you oppose. i detest that. what happens when you silence people is you deprive them of their voice, even through their elected representatives or the direct process. you frustrate them and you raise the level of angst and anxiety. going back to this congress, if you recall, kevin mccarthy, it took 13 rounds for him to gain the votes for speaker. central to him gaining that support was changing what's been happening in congress for the last 10 years to give the minority of vote, that included republican minorities, to be able to amend bills on the floor, to have dialogue and discussion. that's what makes our system work, we come together, we have differing views of we can

debate, argue in a civil manner and reach consensus in which we can all live. when that doesn't happen, it creates anger and angst. that's what the rnc did this past week. they created a lot of anger because of the way they ran the process. host: i want to read to you what the rnc chair set about abortion specifically in the rnc platform . he sai-- we have a solid pro-life platform, we feel very solid about it. you can just look at the number of pro-life from across the country who have come into say they strgly support the platform. the republican party snds for fe, we will always stand for life. i think that when you look at this platform you will see it is very pro-america, profamily, pro-life, and we feel very strong about the language we have.

what do you think about the language, tony, and i guess i should have mentioned what the language was, which is -- it says "we will oppose late-term abortion while supporting mothers in policies for expanding access to birth control, prenatal care, and i've yet guest: there's a -- ivf." guest: there's a sentence before that talking about the 14th amendment and there is a history here, what i would say for folks, especially those for whom the life issue has been a big issue for them to read the platform. it's very -- it doesn't take long to read, compare that to previous platforms going back to the mid-1970's, where the platform was very, very clear on the call for human life amendment and the application of the 14th amendment for the unborn. this platform makes reference to the 14th amendment, but doesn't say anything about it applying

to the unborn. so you know, whether or not those -- i'm not going to question the plug -- pro-life groups that signed on to it, they weren't in the room, maybe they haven't read it, i don't know, but i suggest they read it, because it is not an unequivocal statement of support for the unborn. i'm not going to say it's not pro-life, but it isn't as pro-life as it has been that it would suggest that the party under the direction of this campaign is moving away from its unequivocal stand for pro-life. there's this idea that you can address it at the state level and it's now a state shoe post row. that's interesting, that was never the conversation prior to the overturning of roe, but it also doesn't hold up. today if you look at it, 70% of abortions are being conducted through mifepristone, the abortion pill. there is a recent court case, it did not decide the merits, it's an issue on standing, but the issue at hand was the new fda

guidelines they put forth that allow the abortion pill to be transferred across state lines through the mail. so, the idea that states could have these pro-life laws, whether it be an exception for heart beat, 15 weeks, whatever it might be, those are not going to stand up to the abortion pill being sent across state lines, so it remains a federal issue as it relates to the sanctity of human life you cannot deny that there is federal funding and all kinds of issues that have to be addressed. host: i will put up the full part about abortion so that people can see it proudly stand for families, life, anthe fourth amendment to the constitution guarantees that no person can be denied life or liberty without process. stat are therefore free to pass laws precting those

rights after 51 years because that power has been given to the states and to a vote of the people. we will oppose -- i read this before -- late-term abortion supporting mothers in policies banning prenatal care, access to ivf. i want to ask you specifically what your organizational stances on ivf. guest: before i do that, i want to tell you the three important words that are missing around the 14th amendment including the unborn, that's been the language in previous platforms. what's stated there may sound nice but is meaningless around the unborn and ivf. this is not a new issue. it goes back to george w. bush. we had a debate in the platform committee back in 2004 over the issue of frozen embryos and experimentation and embryonic stem cell research.

sup, this is not a new issue. many, many couples use, utilize ivf. here's the challenge and this is the concern with no parameters, no guard rails established year, and other countries have established guardrails where you are not creating 12, 18 embryos. you are creating just the number that are needed so that you are not creating excess embryos. we see this as an issue of human life that will then be discarded, frozen and left there, or used for experimentation. we do not believe that human life should be used for experimentation. there just needs to be a discussion about the guardrails here. host: sorry, what do you think the guardrails should be? guest: well, i think limitations on the number of embryos created when the process is done and

that we do not allow for experimentation on these, these embryos that have all the capacity to be human beings. they are, in essence. we do not believe that there should be experimentation done on them. i think that that is a part of the concern. if you look at the bill that came through the senate on this issue, it allows for human animal hybrids, chimeric, it has all kinds of way out science-fiction type stuff that's allowed. things that we have been dealing with kind of behind the scenes that never really got the attention of the public until just now. by the way, back during the bush administration there was a big focus on the adoption of these frozen embryos, they were called snowflake children, there are thousands of snowflake children out there in america today, frozen embryos that parents who could not conceive took these embryos and had children as a result. all of this needs to be a part

of the discussion. guest: let's talk to callers and start with susie in texas. caller: tony perkins, i'm so glad i had a chance to talk to you. let me tell you something, i've been a born-again christian since the age of eight. went to mission. and i'm a democrat. i want to know why a lot of christians that vote republican, i always say that the republican party the religion, because they have told me to my face and other democrats, they have degraded jimmy carter and we are not christians because we don't vote for the republicans. you want to talk about civil and all of this -- democrats across this country, they go to church and are degraded by people that say that we are not christians because we don't vote for the republican party. is the republican party your

religion and why? why don't you accept christians that are democrats? host: ok, susie, let's get a response. guest: i'll be very clear, the republican party is not my religion, far from it. you know, in our system of government we have two parties, that's just the way it works. as a christian and a follower of christ that believes the bible, we want to see policies that are a blessing to the nation in alignment with god's word. we look at the two parties and we see which one is most closely aligned and we try to influence. that's why i'm a part of the republican party. if the democratic party were to move in that direction i would be on with them. by the way, susie, i would challenge anyone to look at what i have said -- i have never said that because someone is a democrat, they are not a christian. i have said that we need to vote for the individual, not

necessarily for the party, but for those who most clearly aligned with biblical truth when it comes to the undeniable principles that we find in scripture and it has nothing to do with our relationship with jesus christ. host: tempe, arizona, republican, good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: this situation that happened, the one million signatures for roe v. wade [inaudible] host: you are going in and out. can you try one more time? caller: something about the signatures that were collected in arizona, 800,000 signatures to approve roe v. wade and the abortion pill. host: are you aware of signatures in arizona for abortion? guest: i'm not familiar with the

specifics. i do know that there are a number of ballot initiatives -- this last week there was one in arkansas that did not make that threshold, it will not be on the ballot. i'm not sure the status of arizona. host: frank, atlanta, independent line. caller: can always count on c-span. thank you, mr. perkins you just mentioned we need to pray. i hope i get to make my statement that -- haven't people been steered towards praying for centuries? where would humanity be today if we could focus on correcting the things that are wrong about this world instead of being so preoccupied with what are we going to do forever in eternity? every second counts on c-span, yarl, don't call in entire the line with what a great job mimi is doing, we already have the line tied up with people saying good morning and how are you.

host: any comments on what frank had to say? guest: mimi, i think we do a better job here on earth when we realize that everything happens here in the light of eternity. we live to give an account for what we will do today and i think that makes us better citizens and more importantly we understand that we have all fallen short, we need a savior and as we follow jesus christ, he is that savior and i that relationship, i have become a better citizen. host: tim, new york, line for democrats, good morning. caller: thank you for c-span. i wanted to pass tony what god he worships. i believe in god and i don't believe that my god would sponsor a man like donald trump to run this country and be the

most powerful man in the world. it's scary. thank you. guest: well, interesting call, tim, thank you for the question. here's the reality, in our system of government we have, it comes down to two candidates to run for president and we have to support one or the other and how we make that process is we try to find the one that is most clearly aligned. we look at the two candidates and there's a different. you look at the two parties, there's a clear difference. we talked about the sanctity of life, the rights of parents, the understanding of there being a gos who created -- god who created us, only male and female , all of these things that speak to the issues we find in scripture as christians and we will vote for the candidate whom most clearly aligns -- none of them are perfect -- but we have to do the work and we help

people see where candidates stand on issues. host: there are those who say that people on the religious right, if you would allow me to use the expression, were very much against bill clinton because of his adultery, saying that that disqualified him as a president, that it would destroy the moral fabric of the country, yet the excuse donald trump of, you know, adultery as well. what do you say to that? how do you respond to those critics? guest: mimi, i don't think anyone excused it. if you go back to 2016 and where i was at working with ted cruz, the candidate in the primary that i felt most clearly aligned with biblical truth and biblical principles. i was not an early supporter of donald trump, but then it came down to the choice between hillary clinton and donald trump. donald trump putting out a list

of pro-life justices, something never done before, a running mate that i knew well, mike pence, and he embraced at that time the republican party platform, the most conservative the party had adopted. it really wasn't a choice. so it's not that -- the choice was either you stay home and not vote, and that's not the right approach, or vote for someone totally opposed to your policies. so, it's not that the of a choice. you have to work through many factors to get there. but i would not interpret support for donald trump on a pass on anything and every thing he's done, though i will say this, we have not seen that type of behavior that's been alleged in the past. i think the president turned a corner when he became president, that we would like to see his conversation a little more civil. that's probably the most -- one of the most frequent comments i

get from evangelicals, tell the president to put down twitter and calm down the rhetoric. maybe what happened on saturday will bring about that change in the president and the former president can be leading the nation into a path of greater civility and understanding. my prayer for the president is that he would see the hand of god on his life in protecting him and giving him a sense of his mortality and the fact that he has something to do, that is to bring this nation together. host: huntington, new york, good morning. caller: i'm calling in about the trump assassination thing. i've been listening all morning to everyone's opinion manifesting as fear in the bottom line is both trump and biden have had a chance to be the president of the united states and in my opinion, biden has done nothing to help the american citizen, the small business owner.

when it went down, donald trump game -- get back to the small business owner. we are electing a u.s. president, not a pope. you mean to tell me that all of these people calling and have never done anything wrong? we need a business man to run this country. not someone who gives false promises or someone who will be a comforting grandpa. we need a businessman. obama did nothing to help the country. biden did nothing to help the country and its citizens. we need a businessman that's going to help the american citizen, the small businesses, someone who is loved and wants to help the country. not all of these opinions manifested into fear, people making up things that are true. get down to the bottom, we want to be able to go to work, work or the hours, pay our mortgage, feed our families. we cannot do that under biden or obama. host: let's get a response.

guest: well, i hate to disagree with a republican caller, but i do agree in part, that is a part of the equation and that is clearly true, all that she said, but i would also say there is a moral component in that while we are not electing a pope, i agree with that, we do want a leader who understands the importance, like our first president, george washington, who said these great pillars of public happiness, morality and religion, from that we have prosperity, we have the ability to conduct is this. we have the freedoms we enjoy. we can never separate our freedom and our prosperity from morality and religion. host: tony, the full rnc needs to vote to approve the platform that is happening today. do you expect it to pass? guest: i do.

again, the convention changed because of what happened on saturday. there's a time to speak, time to be silent. there won't be a fight over it, but there will be further conversations, i can assure you, over what took place last week, but this week is not that time. host: last call from mary in georgia. caller: thank you for taking my call, c-span. i would like to ask mr. perkins why it is that many of the southern baptist churches are still having a spirit of racism towards black people here? they do nothing to try to bring unity in this country. a lot of the responsibility for the dissension in the country, including from mr. trump, fall at the foot of the -- of the

churches, the southern baptist and other white churches. thank you. guest: i cannot speak for all churches, marry, but i can tell you that my church as a southern baptist and a pastor, that hasn't been the case in the church that i was pastoring nor the churches i've been involved in. in fact last night even in the prayer meeting it was very reflective of who we are as a people. i would agree that we have to come together as americans and we need to stop the separation based on these political identities and the segmentation's taking place. we are americans and need to come together as americans and as leaders. i agree, the church needs to model that and i think they've done a much better job than they have in the past. host: all right, tony perkins, president of the family research council. you can find out more about that on their website. thank you, tony, for joining us.

host: thank -- guest: thank you, mimi, have a great day. host: coming out, more of your phone calls. it's just monday after the assassination of truck -- attempt on former president trump's life. the republican national convention is upcoming. calling to speak on either. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. ♪ >> saturdays, american history tv features historic convention speeches. watch notable remarks from political figures over the past several decades. this saturday, bill clinton excepts the 1992 democratic presidential nomination at his home town in arkansas while looking towards the future.

>> my fellow americans, i'm ending tonight where it all began for me. i still believe in a place called hope. >> watch historic convention speeches on saturday, and watch our live campaign two thousand 24 coverage of the democratic national convention, august 19 through the 27th, and watch the republican national convention any time on our website. >> the house will be in order. >> 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 balanced, unfiltered views on government, taking you to where the policies are debated and decided that support of america's cable companies. c-span, 45 years and counting,

powered by cable. >> c-spanshop.org is the c-span online store. browse through our latest collection of products, apparel, books, and home to core and accessories is something every c-span man. shop now or anytime at c-spanshop.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back. it's open forum this morning. as you know, it is the first day of the republican national convention and the c-span coverage of the rnc starts today with a live preview from milwaukee at 12:45 p.m. eastern time and shortly before 2 a.m., the first session of the convention begins when we expect

the rollcall of delegates to select the republican party presidential nominee. then at 7 p.m., the evening session starts and will include speeches from prominent figures within the party. at 11 p.m., we will get your reaction to what you saw and heard on the first day of the convention. again, that is all live, happening right here on c-span, c-span now, and online at c-span.org. kansas city, kansas, democratic line, good morning. caller: good morning. a quick question, the gentleman there was talking about religious aspects. i just want to know -- how does, religiously, we had no abortion laws, and i we have this whole abortion thing going on where women cannot get an abortion and it's based on religion, but

liquor stores keep going up. smoke shops continuing to be sold. guns are still being sold. those are the ones killing the most people. i guess, i don't understand how people can talk about taking a woman's life away, about her own body, taking that life away. i wanted to say that. it doesn't make any sense. what we need to do first is gun-control, controller guns. we need to control the alcohol pouring out into the world that is causing actual harm to other people versus women who maybe they made the wrong decision or maybe they are sick and had to get an abortion. that's all i want to say. host: kim, republican mine, salt lake city. caller: good morning, mimi, thank you for being there. if we believe in our republic, if we believe in these

principles, the strongest christian tenant is love and compassion. today we need to be the best people that we can be. i asked each of my cells -- fellow citizens to be loving. to take this opportunity to show the world who we are. we need to stop. as a family, we knelt down and prayed for former president trump. we also prayed for president biden. we pray for rfk and our leaders. we need to pray that the republicans will have a safe, successful convention in milwaukee. pray that the democrats will not repeat 1968, that they will have a safe, successful convention in chicago. mimi, if we can just come together, we will never lose our country. this great land of freedom.

millions of dollars have been spent to divide us. and it is a lie. all we have to do is return to our principles and one of them is we don't shoot our president. we find that offensive, no matter who is being shot or who is the victim of assassination. we don't do that because we are americans. pray, again, for the republic. lord, please hear our prayer, heal our land. forgive us. host: thank you. claude is in seattle. independent mind, good morning. caller: good morning, mimi. i'm reflecting back. when did this all start? the differences in america amongst these parties. i remember the great john mccain

with obama. there was a group of his followers who went after obama. john mccain stepped in and said wait, wait, wait. you are not going to be in my midst and call this man and people man. you might not agree with his policies, but he's a good man. john mccain, i think that was the end of the reasonable era of politicians. i really believe that the donald trump era, set in motion with donald being a non-politician, he went after the establishment. the democrats, the republicans, their own establishment, donald

trump shook up everything. i looked at this and said -- well, this had to be the start. because remember, mimi, the republicans were saying that obama was going to destroy the republic. let's not forget that. the first black president, it was on fox news with the republicans. obama is going to destroy everything. none of that happens. same big hopes they are saying about donald trump. donald trump destroying the world, coming from the other side. starting with both parties, starting with donald trump and the nonpolitical rhetoric. he was not an established politician. he was from the street.

we are going to have to clean up of these parties with all of this extreme talk and get back to working together. host: anne, georgia, democrat, good morning. are you there? caller: yes. host: go ahead. caller: yes, i'm calling is a democrat. life, we are living as decent people on both sides, but i'm a tell you, that was the first shooting have ever seen, the first where the crowd didn't scatter. they were talking about a set of . i'm on record as feeling sorry for him i will tell you i have never seen a shooting where the people, nobody moved. nobody moved. you hear a gun, you run. i don't understand that. this is the america we got.

thank you. host: james, florida, hello. caller: hi caller: hi, -- caller: hi, mimi. i don't wish assassination on a democrat or a republican. being a republican, i think that biden was very considerate on the things he said for mr. trump. i just, like charlie daniel said one time, people just don't put their bibles away. america, we need to get our bibles back out, first of all. the lord's number one and he gives us the will and the knowledge to make things right in our country for us to be able to take care of our family and walk the streets without getting killed. i just think that whether you

are republican or democrat, we all need to come together as one. it's almost like the country is divided now. we need to come together as one and show these other countries that we are america. we live free and have lives and the right to buy votes and guns and go fishing. i want to thank you for taking my call and i want to tell everyone that the lord's number one. host: thank you, james. phil, independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm calling because i wasn't able to get on with this or perkins. but i wanted to ask -- how can he justify his support of donald trump when trump was seen or heard saying that he can have women by private parts and was then convicted by a jury of

assaulting and raping e. jean carroll. i don't know how these evangelical republicans consult men like this. pittsburgh, pennsylvania, good morning. eric. >> i wanted to make a comment on yesterday when the president was shot. it shows you how this country lets children do anything they want to do. here you have a juvenile system where they don't know where the children are. when the vice president came here, nothing happened. buses falling into the ground. just to show you how america don't know what they are doing. they legalized drugs and then they try to be the policeman of

the world and things like that? knowing that donald trump has so much hatred going, and everybody's been there all up in everybody's conversation. how come they didn't know that, since they seem to know everything about everybody. the central intelligence agency, they should be ashamed of themselves what they done. there were people hurt. remember, a person got killed. a person was her. host: a man got killed, yes. caller: and then these children running around the internet, bump stocks, people getting hurt and yelled, then they can't make up their mind about kids, letting them do anything? how come they can't ring back address? -- the dress? host: jim, republican line, good

morning. caller: good morning to you. i just wanted to say that, you know, i hear a lot about trump. everything he has done wrong. all of his sins. yet that is pretty much the way to our. there's good people where if they go to church every day, they are not sinners, but most people, we would not like some of the things we have done disclosed. i'm really tired of hearing about his sin when he has been the only president in my lifetime i think, that did what he said he was gonna do before he got elected. i want to look forward to him going back to doing what he was

doing. he's not against people, he is for the united states. that's really all i got to say. host: let's take a look at what bernie sanders said yesterday on the political climate in the lead up to saturday's shooting. [video clip] >> first thoughts, everyone in the country no matter their political view, wishes trump a radical and speedy recovery. including those who are wounded. violence of any shape or kind is unacceptable and un-american and we have to put an end to it. this is a traumatic moment and it is time for all of us to take it breath, remember what this country is about, what local campaigns are about. they are about serious

discussions around serious ideas and how we address the serious problem the silver lining to this tragedy, it's how we go forward. >> absolutely, senator. you have been impacted by political violence yourself, 2017, that horrible moment when steve scalise was shot at baseball practice. you came out and forcefully denounced what had happened upon learning that the suspected shooter had been a volunteer for your campaign. how has that experience informed how you think the country can move forward right now? >> let me also say a couple of months ago that my office here in burlington, vermont, there were seven staff members there, it

was almost burned down by someone in jail right now. seven people could have been burned alive. so yeah, i'm familiar with political violence. what we needed as a nation, what democracy is all about is not radical rhetoric, it's a serious discussion of where we are as a nation and how we go word. in a certain way, politics should be kind of boring, you know? our health care system is dysfunctional. how do we fix it? that's kind of a boring discussion, but we need a health care system the air and he's health care to all people. massive income and wealth inequality? should three people have more wealth than the bottom half of american society? we need serious discussion around serious issues and not just this harsh rhetoric that we have heard for the last number of years. host: that was bernie sanders

from yesterday and we are taking your calls. carlos, independent line, good morning. caller: good morning, can you hear me? host: yes, we can. caller: i will talk about the shooting but i did want to talk to mr. perkins about that last caller, who had asked specifically why southern baptists had not, every church is supposed to represent jesus christ and why, since jim crow, going way back to slavery and all of that, why haven't they reached out just as much as they have been able to deal with this abortion thing and try to get legislation and all that? why haven't they reached out to the black community or even the indians -- you know, black people got to step back to even the indians.

by haven't they -- they are representatives of jesus christ, why haven't they put that further? they talk about every life is ok , then you know, war, we dropped bombs and all that we kill innocent people. we don't hear them talking about that. so, i will just leave that. mr. perkins, i don't think you really represent the jesus christ that i read in the bible. host: all right, carlos. a new statement from the director of the secret service that just came out. i will read you a bit of it. it says that the secret service is working with federal, state, and local agencies to understand what happened, how it happened, and how we can prevent an incident like this from taking place again. we understand the importance of the independent review announced by present pardon yesterday and will participate fully and we

will work with the appropriate congressional committees on oversight action. the incident in pennsylvania has understandably led to questions about updates or changes to the security of the republican national invention in milwaukee. the secret service in conjunction with federal, state, local law enforcement and safety partners designed operational security plans for national special security events to be dynamic in order to respond to a connecticut security environment and the most up to date intelligence from our partners and the confident security plans of our partners to put in place, which we have reviewed and strengthened in the wake of the saturday shootings. security plans for these national events are designed to be flexible. as the conventions progress and in accordance with the direction of the president, secret service will continuously adapt operations as necessary in order to ensure the highest level of

safety and security for convention attendees and those in the city of milwaukee. you can find the whole secret service website. here is dan, independence, oregon, democrat. caller: hello. that's all great but i think that we are getting exactly what we are supposed to get. all of these years we have been watching shooters shoot children and people all across the united states and politicians haven't done a thing to protect us. now one politician gets hurt out there and everyone's in an uproar -- terrible and awful. how many people killed this year's -- this year by shooters? now one guy is wounded? on afraid it's not a wow. i'm disgusted with the whole bit. goodbye. host: trent, monroe, louisiana, republican. caller: yeah, i think that the

whole country is in shock and so i'm going terrific minute. there's a lot of christian thought. i will add to it that i think we have a situation where we might actually begin to see if we are as a country, you know, so full of people that we are in need of a corporate exorcism. we are all possessed by people. i think that bernie sanders was great when he said where did we come from, where are we now, where do we want to go in the future and how do we like it there? democracy may be a dying concept in its last throes of life. i have a friend who said that everyone said they believe in democracy until they are forced under authority and dominance.

the lady talking about all of the money being spent to divide us, it's probably billions and trillions. when i hear the word democracy, a lot of people think the word oligarchy. so, who is this ruined class? what is this managerial elite with organized crime? host: trent, we are going to john on the independent line. caller: i just wanted to say that all of these democratic sycophant condemning the shooting, they are all complicit and i want to tell you why. the media executives have never taken any steps to stop any of the hosts or guests from using their platforms to invoke any

kind of negative images or create some sort of hideous political strategy all designed to make donald trump look like this person. they have been doing it since 2016. they say there is no need for political violence, but you are the cause of it, you know? law fare? the abuse of power? it's sickening. it's pathetic. these people have zero credibility. i don't even understand why joe biden is even a candidate. he's not even the president, the election was stolen, ok? anybody wants to look it up, 2000 joules, thank you. host: good morning. caller: my prayers go out to everyone. it was shocking to us at home,

we were horrified. not only this incident, but the incident on january 6, i watched it, i was horrified. there are so many issues and -- and biden has shown us his record and has continued to say fight, fight, fight. this election was stolen? it's a process that will be determined through the courts. harping on the fact that with a free and fair election -- which was proven that it took place, we have two choices. look at the agenda, don't resort to violence, vote, choose your candidate peacefully. this is the greatest nation, the greatest country in the world. host: geraldine and kathy are

next, commerce city, republican line caller: people that own guns should have them locked up and kept them out of the hands of children and people not responsible to have guns. i do not believe in open carry. any of us could be shot at any kind. there's -- any time. no guarantee on any of us. if you have kids, lock up your guns. thank. host: sophia, independent line, good morning. caller: i wanted to make it polite -- a polite criticism of the media. i was listening to c-span and other outlets on sunday morning with this horrible tragedy. i noticed that the captions are

across-the-board trump assassination attempt. since it's so on commented upon, for media to be factually meticulous, i wondered why something like deadly shooting at trump rally, trump no serious injury. because there is, as i've listened, there is little to no information about the shooter. how do we know who he was attempting -- who was his primary target? how do we know that? my heart goes out to i believe it is corey who lost his life and the two critically injured. c-span on sunday morning, i didn't even know that anyone was dead or seriously injured because of the caption. i apologize if you make that clear, but i did see it. i just think that we don't even

know who the primary target was in the media we need to be meticulous and set the highest standards for factual information. thank you so much, first time caller. host: all right, sophia. gloria, indianapolis, good morning. caller: yes, good morning. excuse my voice, i'm kind of force -- hoarse. i forget what caller called in from what state, but she said that over biden and bomb a hadn't done anything for people. that is not true. obama brought health care. biden lowered the costs of insulin. we've got the infrastructure for there are a lot of republicans that are diabetic. there are lot of republicans who are taking advantage of what the democrats did bring and yet they can still say they're republicans. so i wish they would stop getting on the phone and saying

they didn't do anything because they did. they did a lot. and they're still doing things. thank you. host: all right, gloria. and you can keep dialing in if you're on hold, do stay with us. we're going to take a quick break. and when we come back, we'll check in with the milwaukee democratic mayor, cavalier johnson, about how his city has been preparing for this week's republican national convention. but first, here's a bit from wisconsin. c-span visited the little white school house in ripon, wisconsin, about an hour and a half from where the r.n.c. is being held in milwaukee to learn about the founding of the republican party. take a look. >> we're about an hour and a half west in ripon, wisconsin. this is the executive director of the local chamber of commerce. what is this building we're in? >> we are standing in the little white school house, the birth place of the republican party. this building has been here for 171 years and 170 years ago is

when the first local republican meeting took place and where the party began. this is the building where people came together against the expansion of slavery. the kansas-nebraska act was passed in the senate and they knew that when slavery expanding into the northern territories, that that was a threat, it was a moral evil, but also an economic threat and so they were willing to gather here from different political parties, cast aside their allegiance to those parties and come under one banner, one name, republican. >> how did the ideas that came about in this room in 1854 spread so quickly to just six years later you have republican president abraham lincoln getting elected? >> honestly, it's a way that is kind of different for me because the newspaper is something that's important but back in the day, everyone read the newspaper. and so the grandfather, we call him the father of the republican party, he had a great relationship with horris tkpwraoely. he was the editor of the new york tribune and so they were in

contact all the time and as soon as this meeting took place, the letter went to horris a tkpwraoely, letting him know and we say that's where the spark was lit here and then it spread quickly through our newspapers. and soon enough we saw more local meetings, we saw the first state meeting and then the first national convention. and so it really did move quickly. >> as the kpwebgtive director of the chamber of commerce, you guys own this building. how do you preserve the building and tell its story? >> we've been part of the story of this building since 1908. it was headed towards demolition and one of our community leaders saw the need to preserve this building and so he rallied the community together and he worked with the commercial club which later became the chamber of commerce. and so our community has always been behind preserving this building and over 30 years ago the chamber became the actual owners of it and so we've always worked hard to preserve and to promote and really just tell the story of what happened here. >> who comes to visit? >> everyone.

sometimes people come when they are just on the way to vacation. we're really close to many great vacation spots here. but sometimes people come really intentionally and they want to know more about the republican history. sometimes people come and they've been dragged by their friends and they think, this isn't for me, i'm not going to enjoy this, and they find out that really the history that happened here is inspiring, whether they're really into politics or history or not at all. >> are you seeing an uptick with all the delegates coming in? >> oh, yeah. we have so many people coming through our doors. we have delegates that are already been here, ones that are planning on coming and we hope many people will make the trip. it's only an hour and a half and a lot of people are interested in what this place means and what happened here. so we are ready to greet our visitors for sure. >> do you guys have any involvement with the r.n.c.? milwaukee? >> yeah, actually we are listed as a vendor so we're part of the convention fest area. and we're bringing a replica of the school house to the convention and it's pretty astounding. it's a 1/3 size replica of this

building and it stands out real big. so a lot of people will come and ask us to talk about what this building is and we really want to help them know about the school house, even if they can't make the trip to ripon. >> obviously the republican party has changed over time. what do you think the people who gathered here in 185 had would think -- 5854 would think of today's republican party? >> we know that political parties are based around different issues of the time. and so the issues of 1854 are much different than 2024. and so as the republican party has shifted, so has every political party. i think there's a lot of change and a lot of adjustment and so it would be interesting to have a current-day republican meet one from 1854. i think they'd have a lot to talk about. >> is there anything that's your favorite to show off in this building? >> that's a good question. you know, we talk a lot about abraham lincoln. we have some cool pictures of him. we have a picture of him when he was presenting the emancipation

proclamation. and the more -- although he never came here to ripon, we feel very connected to who he was and what he valued and so we talk a lot about the type of president that he was and just what took place in the years from his presidency until his assassination. >> thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> "washington journal" continues. host: and we are back now. we are going to be taking your calls shortly. but first we're going to take this opportunity to speak to the mayor of milwaukee. he's democrat. calving leier johnson -- cavalier johnson. mayor johnson, welcome to the program. thanks so much for joining us guest: thanks. host: just want to give you an opportunity first to react to the shooting on saturday. guest: absolutely. all of us watched with horror, absolute horror when that

unfortunate assassination attempt happened this past saturday. threatening mr. trump, threatening rally goers. we know of course one dead, another has been listed in critical condition. i've said from the outset that nobody in the united states should have to be under that sort of duress, should have to suffer that sort of violence. it doesn't matter if you're a child going to an elementary school, it doesn't matter if you're a church goer, it doesn't matter if you're a candidate for president of the united states. soual of us -- so all of us really need to work to come together in order to realize, recognize we're all part of one american family. just like we were back in our nation's founding, just like we will be in consume years when we celebrate our 250th anniversary as a country. host: you were part of the security briefing yesterday with the secret service. and other law enforcement agencies. can you tell us about your confidence level in security at the r.n.c. this year? guest: sure. absolutely. i'm very confident in our security for the r.n.c.

this event is a national special security event. it is the highest designation that you can have for an event of this magnitude, of this cab bell -- caliber in the united states, provided by the federal government. so the secret service, working in conjunction with local law enforcement, the milwaukee police department, milwaukee fire department, as well as other law enforcement agencies, federal, like the f.b.i., and others across our state and across our country, have been working that the for about 18 months, have very firm plans in place and i feel very confident in those plans. host: can you tell us how your city us a law enforcement work -- city's law enforcement works with the federal secret service? guest: absolutely. our police department has worked in conjunction with federal law enforcement, again, over the course of those last 18 months, deriving plans for every aspect of public safety. i believe there were at least

two dozen subcommittees related to every single aspect of public safety related to the convention here. so we have worked diligently over the last several months, well over a year, in preparation for the r.n.c. we're excited that it's here and for the opportunity that it brings milwaukee, to continue to elevate our city. and a large part of that is going to have to be public safety and good execution there. and i believe that the police department and our partners at the federal level, state level and others are ready to work to make sure that happens. host: you're a democratic mayor of milwaukee. you played a major role in getting the r.n.c. to come to your city. did you face criticism for that? guest: yeah. absolutely. certainly there are some people, even on my side of the aisle, that were not necessarily keen on hosting the republican party's national convention. but the way that i see it is this. this is not a political

decision, it's a business decision. i think this presents an opportunity for milwaukee to be at the center at the universe, the center of the political universe with all eyes across the country and eyes really around the world focused in on milwaukee. i want to show the country, i want to show the world that in this city, we're capable, we're able of hosting large-scale events, even events of this magnitude, because i'd like for other large-scale events to come here. i want the d.n.c. to come here and have a full-tphrepbged convention. we didn't have a chance to do that in 2020 due to the covid-19 pandemic. outside of political events i want other business, sports indexer attainment events to come here. i want businesses to locate here and create job opportunities for the people who live and work in milwaukee. really what i'd like to see is for this to be the beginning of a virtuous economic cycle to take place right here in the city of milwaukee. because what happens in milwaukee and when this city does well, the entire state of wisconsin does well. host: what is the convention -- does the convention mean to your city in terms of those economic

termses? how big of a boost is this going to be? guest: sure. we in the mayor's office are not in charge of what the economic projections are going to be, but some third party groups have estimated that the r.n.c. will have an economic impact of somewhere between $150 million to $200 million on our local economy. which i think is really, really good for our tourism, our hospitality industry right here. and especially the people who live in milwaukee and work in those industries. and like i said, i want this to be the beginning, not the end, of creating more opportunities, bringing more large-scale events like those into this place, into the city of milwaukee, to continue to support those folks who work in that industry in this city. host: the hill.com has a headline, milwaukee mayor highlights gun violence prevention in wake of trump rally shooting. can you tell us a little bit more about what you're doing on that front, given wisconsin laws as well, as to what's allowable

outside of the hard perimeter of the convention? guest: sure. as it relates to the city of milwaukee, we're doing a number of things as it relates to public safety generally. since i became mayor, over the course of the last several years, i was elected to a term in office in 2022 and re-elected with over 80% of the vote just this past april. we have focused in really on two key areas. as it relates to public safety. those are accountability, as well as prevention. and over the course of the last number of years, i've been mayor, we've seen crime continue to drop in milwaukee. so crime is dropping and safety is increasing here in the city because of our policies. including in those policies are violence prevention efforts. police certainly, but also violence prevention. as it relates to guns and the accessibility of guns in the outer perimeter, as some call the soft perimeter here at the

r.n.c., the city of milwaukee, we passed a local ordinance our common council did and i signed it as mayor to outlaw specific items from being brought into that hard perimeter that may be used as project aisle weapons. think cans or bottles filled with liquids or other items of the sort. unfortunately because state law has supremacy over local ordinances, we are not in a position to ban guns in that soft zone, in that outer perimeter. so as much as i would have liked to see something like that happen, especially given the magnitude of the event and the tens of thousands of people who will be here, this is an open carry state. and so we were not able to take that action as it relates to the outer perimeter and gun access there. host: last month former president trump allegedly said that milwaukee is a, quote, horrible city. what are you doing -- there's some billboards also going up about that. including that quote, milwaukee,

where we are having our convention, is a horrible city. what you have seen around town about that and what was your reaction when you heard that? guest: well, my reaction was that he obviously was wrong. he's here now somewhere and so i suspect that he's looking out of his hotel room and seeing a magnificent, developing, growing city. and by the way, i was at a number of events yesterday as the convention was getting kicked off, there were tens of thousands or actually over 10,000 rather delegates down on the lake front at our festival grounds right on lake michigan, all having a great time and talking about how wonderful they are feeling in milwaukee. some of whom, you know, came and have told me and others that they've taken the opportunity to walk up and down, to visit our parks, to go to the beach and were just stricken by milwaukee

and saying they're going to come back here. they're going to bring their families back here and spend more money in our economy and spend more time in our city. so horrible, i guess that's up to somebody's own interpretation, if it's horrible, what sort of city has miles of beach front, what sort of city that's horrible has great fine dining that you can check on this current season of chop chef? what -- top chef? what kind of city is hosting a republican national convention? if that's horrible, i beg to differ. host: going back to the political messages, there's some showing up on citi buses -- city buses, including pro biden-harris ones that say, get real, jack, i'm bringing roe back, vote biden-harris. does your office play any role in approving those ads? guest: no. as a matter of fact -- i know it's different in certain

communities depending on the jurisdiction of the state that you're in, but here in milwaukee the city is not in charge of the bus system. those are actually buss that are run by county government. which is out of my purview. in the city of milwaukee, we control the roads that the buses drive on so, we help them with dedicated bus lanes and the like. but the buses are completely in a different jurisdiction. we run the street car system also known as the hop that i think a lot of delegates will have the opportunity to use here while they're spending time at the convention. we've got a bike share network. we've got an expansive e-scooter program as well. so there's a lot of transit and mobility options here in the city of milwaukee as we continue to build out and protect the network throughout the city that is going very, very well. one of the legacy things i'm seeking to accomplish while in office, but the buss are not our purview.

host: just one more question, mayor johnson. and that's about the -- president biden staying at the top of the democratic ticket. do you have a stance on that? would you like to see him continue to be the nominee or would you like to see him step down? guest: i have a strong stance on that. and that is that absolutely 100% joe biden should certainly stay at the top of the ticket. i believe that joe biden will go to the convention in chicago, the department party will come together. i'm a delegate next month to the convention. i'm proudly going to cast my vote for joe biden to remain our nominee on the democrat side. and i'm going to see it through until the end and see joe biden when re-election by winning milwaukee, by winning wisconsin and winning re-election to continue serving as president of the united states. i think that president joe biden is absolutely the person to lead our nation forward in these times and i'm looking forward to supporting his election. host: all right. mayor cavalier johnson, a democratic mayor of milwaukee, thanks so much, good luck with the convention.

guest: thank you, mimi. host: and we'll go back to your calls. thanks for waiting. peggy is in canton, ohio. republican. good morning. peggy. caller: oh, yes. host: i know you had to wait a long time. i'm sorry for that. caller: i'm going say that both parties has caused what's happened. calling trump hitler and calling biden the anti-christ? our republican party has become a consult. i agree with the guy -- cultt. i agree with the guy from akron. if we don't agree with everything that our party says, this new religion that's been created by our republican party, they'll put numbers up on our apartments, they'll put listening devices up and they will actually send people from the churches to harass us. so that's what i want to say,

both people, both sides need to really settle down. these ministers need to step up, start acting like ministers with love instead of hatred toward anybody that's against anything that they say. thank you. host: jonathan is a democrat in grand prairie, texas. good morning. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. in terms of the assassination on president trump, i can tell you i'm not a fan of his. however, i would not want to see anybody assassinated in any party. i am a christian at heart. i'm calling in regards to the number of people i've heard calling today regarding the -- talking about damping down the rhetoric and what not. that's fine and tkapbdy and what not but you got to realize, this man has been able to convince a lot of people, really pull them away from their morals and their values. everybody knows that trump is

not the most moral person on the planet. we all have sin. i gather that. however, when you are in a position of a former president and a candidate now running for re-election, again, it is a very dangerous scenario that we're in. think about all of the things that he's said in the past. there will be blood in the street and kick them in the face and all these -- alluding to violence. violence begets violence and it's not surprising that someone on the fringes of society took a shot at him. i'm hoping that this man is not elected and i would rather have another candidate in nikki haley perhaps or maybe even desantis. someone with a reasonable amount of morality and understanding of what the american people really need. that's all i have to say. thank you for taking my call and god bless. host: independent line in raleigh, north carolina. christie, good morning. christie, are you there? caller: sorry i on mute.

sorry, i'd like to comment. two callers this morning, one from maryland and one from california called in voicing their frustration with media's bias for the democrat party. and i would like to comment on the media's role on the current political temperature in our country. what i see is that the may be stream media -- mainstream media spewed propaganda that is bought into by so many and then those people turn and regurgitate that propaganda in the form of hate and accusations against any fellow american who doesn't agree with their political views. i hate to say it, but from what -- from my perspective, democrats are more guilty of this since the media is clearly democrat-leaning and guilty of trying to persuade more americans in that direction. i recall very distinctly during the 2016 election cycle that bias became more and more obvious and in that 2016

election coverage, i was watching nbc at that time and their host, i'm not going to call them anchors because they are giving their opinions, they were in tears as they were basically covering the election results and they were clearly furious about the results and that day i stopped watching that program because i recognized that they had failed in their attempts to persuade enough americans to get basically behind what they were trying to convince everybody to do. and this morning out of curiosity i went back to that program and wanted to see how they were going to cover that attempted assassination on trump. and what i saw was appalling. they had a beautifully written and executed video which talked about violence has been escalating in our country since 2016, they made it very clear of that date, and they went on to all but blame trump for it.

they showed one after another, one-line comments made by trump that were taken out of context implying that he and his supporters are to blame for the violence and even his own attempted assassination this weekend. host: all right, christie. and bruce in trenton, new england. republican -- new jersey. republican. caller: yeah. i'm talking about the security in butler, p.a., yesterday. it seems as though walt disney was running that security. the mickey mouse type of coverage that donald got when he had to duck. this is really ridiculous. here we have presidential candidates out there that is campaigning for the president of the united states, once again. once that occurred, the assassination attempt, we're all watching this live on television. we're watching that nothing is

being done and where is any kind of air support? where were the drones? where were the helicopters? why weren't those buildings occupied and the roofs taken over by security? as far as last night when biden gave his oval office speech, all we heard was the continuous rhetoric that we constantly hear that comes out of the democratic party. there was no taking up of any responsibility for the black lives matter bebackles, -- debacles, nor was there any take-up for antifa. all we got was the rhetoric of january 6, january 6, january 6. if biden really wants to bring this country together, he is doing it in the most appalling way. what does he think, the american people are stupid? host: all right, bruce.

let's take a look at retired secret service agent jeff james. he talked about questions surrounding security at saturday's event. >> what's important to remember is the map that you're seeing on the screen, where the shooter is, from the -- from where trump would have been, we're told from 130 to 160 yards. our snipers train out to 1,000 yards. so if you took that same google view and blew it out to 1,000 yards, that's everything those snipers are responsible for. so it gets tough. they may have been looking at what they thought was another perceived target behind him. if this actually happened and peep were saying, there's guy up there, they may have been looking at an elevated natural feature in the tree line behind those buildings. it is an incredibly heavy lift to see all of that all at once. which is one of the reasons they work in pairs. but when you think about it, it wasn't just that 130 to 160-yard

distance they were looking at, they're looking at almost 10 times that. and in 180 degrees. so it's a lot to see all at once and with people yelling and pointing and it's hard -- maybe hard to discern what they're pointing at, it certainly could lead to something just that close to them being missed. >> so there's been a lot of back and forth. there was some reporting last night, some claims that there had been requests from the trump campaign for further resources for more security that went unanswered. this morning the secret service has put out a statement saying that's absolutely false. they say they've added protective resources and capabilities to the former president's security detail and they say, listen, both he and president biden, these are people who are subjected to threats every single day, multiple threats. but there will be questions for the secret service director as she's called to the hill. what kind of questions do you think that she's going to have to answer and what kind of explanation would you expect? >> well, i can tell you that

president trump, even as a former president, before he became the presumptive nominee like we'll see in milwaukee this week, his package of protection was greater than that of former presidents that i saw in my 22-year career. mostly because he's a polarizing figure and he's out in the public a lot more than you see president bush or president obama. or even president clinton. so i know that his package was larger. once he's become this presumptive nominee, he's getting alls ets that the president gets -- all the assets that the president gets of snipers and armored cars and so on. those are the questions that are going to need to be answered by director cheadle regarding the timeline for the requests, if the requests were granted, if they even ever happened at all. and they're also going to ask probably, what's next? so the secret service is always moving forward and always modifying their protective operations based on threats. host: that was from yesterday's fox news sunday and this is bob in baltimore, line for

democrats. hi, bob. caller: yes, how are you doing? host: good. caller: good, good, good. first of all, i'd like to wish the president and the *erbgs president and the citizen -- ex-presidents and the citizens that were there a healthy recovery. i do have due concerns. all of a sudden we're talking about lowering the temperature. dems have been talking about gun violence for years, for years. now an ex-president with an incident, now that's an issue. i get it, that happened. i hope it never happens again. trump and his base have been saying, get over mass shootings. they say dems politicized it. again, de ms have been talking about this for years, for years. we have a guy now being sued, bankrupt, because he said it was a hoax. said it was a hoax. he's being sued. my question is this. did the former president apologize to his former v.p. when it was politicized and he

almost was -- he was attacked? he was being looked for? did the former president apologize to nancy pelosi and her husband? how about the j-6 officers? i hear now a kid was bullied in school, he took an opportunity like other mass shooters and now they say he's registered republican. he turned republican when he was 21. and again, in my opinion this had nothing to do with political views. this was in my opinion, was an opportunity that the young man took. but again, you know, to blame them to me, it's causing more problems. host: donald is an independent in raleigh, north carolina. hi, donald. caller: good morning. i just wanted to say that people are saying that left-leaning television shows are --

[indiscernible] -- host: donald, can you give us a call back? your line is really hard to hear but i definitely want to hear youren p-s. if you can try -- your opinions. if you can try to call us back, please. steve in webster, massachusetts. republican. caller: good morning, mimi. first, "washington journal," you are the biggest honest brokers out there, ok? everybody's into personalities on politics. we should start talking platforms. anyhow. i'd like to speak about gene kirkpatrick and her nomination speech for reagan in 1984. now, this is a great speech and jean kirkpatrick, i wouldn't put her on mount rushmore for women, i'd put her on rushmore because she was the mobilizing force behind reaganism. now, what jean kirkpatrick delivered was the blame america

first speech and she called out specifically the san francisco democrats and how everybody blames america for all the world's problems. even bernie sanders, you had him on, bernie sanders on 9/11, on the anniversary, said, this is the anniversary of salvador being killed in a coup in chile by -- backed by the americans. ok? today chile is one of the most prosperous countries in south america. he doesn't speak anything badly about nicaragua, venezuela, etc. anyhow. i would like to see at the r.n.c. and i think the perfect delivery agent for this would be nikki haley, given the nomination speech. she was an ambassador to the u.n. the same way that jean kirkpatrick is. and they need to knock it out of the park. and stay off the personalities, even the republicans, although that's politics. we've always had mudslinging but

the people that, you know, the media pushing the personalities, stick to the platform. stick to what we stand for, what the global north stands for. america was founded on the basis of liberalism. both parties were, ok? but it was democracy, representative government. we were born on sovereignty and you can compare this to the french revolution. host: did you mention -- sorry to cut you off. nikki haley will be speaking at the r.n.c. on tuesday. jay in new york city, democrat. hi, jay. caller: good morning. good morning. thank you for taking my call. so first and foremost, i do not agree with 90% of what donald trump represents or speaks of. but my thoughts are with him and his family and all those people affected. and i just wanted to lay out a couple of things real quick. so one, anger.

how do we handle anger? i think in this country real quick is we don't address that as much. i mean, we speak about it but just pass it down. i think that from the bottom all the way to the top, top to the bottom, whether you're youth, parents, the school system, you know, systems of government, we need to show how to -- for people to -- how they can deal with their anger. right? another thing we don't address in this country enough, mental health. it's not addressed enough. i think that that's a big issue that we brush away. violence. you know, fortunately our former president, whether we like him or not, was a victim of gun violence. he was a victim of gun violence. what we deal with in country every day, from the suburbs to the urban communities, throughout the united states. and i know you have a lot of people from all over the united states might not have experienced things like this.

but we do in a lot of urban communities unfortunately. so that is not addressed enough. so how do we deal with our anger? you know, people that have guns, this is america that is built on guns and violence. host: and, jay, renee in marietta, georgia, has a similar sentiment. she sent us a text. politicians in the media might be shocked and horrified by the shooting -- host: larry in st. louis, missouri. independent line. you're next. caller: i want to say thanks for talking about it. because the last caller, just your comments on the text, you know, the second amendment, that's the thing, the second amendment needs to be amended. the problem with all of these killings and everything you see

in the morning news and now it effects the politicians, you know, the lack of gun control and they want to blame it on it seems like mental health. well, first off, look at a gun. the thing a gun is designed to do is kill. so if you have one, your intentions is to kill. so maybe -- it's so out of control now that everybody has so many guns, perhaps maybe there's a way that the ammunition can be addressed where there's like a surcharge, like what they did to cigarettes. maybe make like a $100 per bullet surcharge and that might wean this thing down and then the surcharge money gets given to gun victim families or first responders or whatever. but that's just my thought. time to amend the second. thank you for taking my call. host: all right. josh is next. a republican in greenwood, maine. good morning. caller: hey, good morning. how are you?

host: good. caller: so i kind of find it ironic, i mean, cavalier johnson, very well spoken, you know, got to give him a lot of credit for trying to change his city. but also watching another channel who had the police chief and he basically said that, you know, the biggest issue they have is carjackings. so now you're wanting to come to milwaukee to go to an r.n.c. and you got to worry about, he said, if you're on your cell phone or something and you're not paying attention, that's probably when you're going to get carjacked. this is the police chief of milwaukee so i don't understand why people shouldn't be scared to go there. i am a second amendment guy. i feel bad for the family and of course trump, that was a miracle in itself. but most gun violence isn't from the assault rifle, it's from

pistols and just look in chicago. most of the killings are black on black which is terrible and abortion, there's more blacks killed from a abortion and they're humans, they're killed -- abortion effects blacks more than any other race and i don't know how any black person could vote for a democrat. thank you. have a -- host: frank in millsboro, delaware. a democrat. caller: got injured during this gun -- whap had to trump. but my opinion is all this friction started with trump trump, he doesn't talk about anything positive. host: frank, i'm afraid we've got a really bad phone line. it's clicking. but do try to call us back on a better line. lori in long, south carolina. independent line. caller: hi. thank you for taking my call.

i just want to make a comment that i think an earlier caller from north carolina wanted to make. comparing liberal media. when i first heard of this assassination, i did watch all the news stations, including fox news. and i was really disturbed that people are trying to blame the kpwhraoed for what happened -- media for what happened and i don't believe that's the case. i believe it was a failure in secret service to secure the perimeters of where mr. trump was speaking. it was a terrible, unfortunate incident. but the media, you can say they try to stoke fear and i do see that on all political stations, whether they're republican-leaning like fox or they're more liberal like msnbc. but i don't believe that they were the cause of this incident. and i really hope that they start to tone down their

rhetoric and their reporting. people are very fearful because of the things that they say and it is disturbing. and one last point. i was really disappointed in j.d. vance when he issued his statement on x. jumping to conclusions that the biden administration somehow had something to do with this. before we even knew who the shooter was. again, thank you for taking my call. host: lori. more from social media. we've got a text from barbara in missouri. can we consider the possibility that the shooter was not --

host: aops, sorry. paul in idaho, republican line, good morning. caller: good morning. a heavy heart over the weekend from what happened. watching that on tv live like that. there were a couple callers ago that touched on the perimeter. it was never checked. it should have been checked an hour before, whatever, all the way through the whole deal. they probably never would have allowed a man to put a ladder up against the wall of that

building to climb up there with an ar-15. almost kill the president of the united states. now, i'm old enough to remember a lot of assassinations that have happened in the united states. violence ain't new. when i heard joe talking about it, it was like it was some kind of new thing. and it's not a new thing. i just barely missed experiencing j.f.k., just missed malcolm x. just missed dr. martin luther king. just missed robert kennedy. just missed gerald r. ford. the list goings on and on -- the list goes on and on. so it's not a new deal. and the rhetoric really needs to be cooled down and both sides add to it. and they both want to point the finger at the other saying that you're the cause of it.

but i can tell you there's a lot of people on one side that are making a case for the other that they are the cause of it. and i'm not going to take sides simply because i'm kind of a republicrat. my father was a republican. he voted for richard m. nixon three times and my mother was a democrat. so i had the best of both worlds. to choose from. i'm still kind of that way. but if i'm going to vote, it's going to be a long, hard-fought process for me before i pull the lever. thank you. host: all right, paul. let's talk to dorothy next in baltimore. democrat. caller: good morning, everyone. mimi, i want to talk back. everybody's been talking about feelings and blaming and all of this but i want to speak some facts. some real facts. number one is, i want all democrats to -- when you call in on this show, please say that not one democrat put their hand on the bible and testified

against trump in any court case, with the january 6 committee, or given jack smith's testimony, they were all republicans. that's the only reason why we even know what trump was doing that was wrong in the office was because the republicans who worked there and the staff had videotapes and they witnessed it and they are the ones that put the case against trump for all of these court cases. not democrats. i'm saying that to say that this is where we got to stop the rhetoric. because it's true. they can't name a democrat that testified or gave information about him. not one. also, trump asked for absolute immunity. he asked for this. he said he wanted absolute immunity for the police. my children can't get absolute immunity for me and i'm their mother. if you do wrong, you do wrong. that kind of rhetoric and saying black lives matter is the same as the january 6, no. black lives matter was marching

because george floyd was murdered in the street in public. they weren't marching for biden or trump. they weren't marching for any politician. they were marching for that and they were not -- people riding with the black hoods on or whatever. they weren't a part of that. this was a march all over the world about that. only. not about politics. so i want people to stop saying. and we do need to get the rhetoric down. but we need to be truthful so you cannot blame both sides all the time because it's not true. we do say some things as well, we do. but everybody knows everything i just said is true. i'm not making it up. trump said absolute immunity he wanted. he wanted absolute immunity for the police. that's authoritarian. host: all right, dorothy. let's look at a portion of president biden's oval office address from last night where he talks about the start of the r.n.c. and that change needs to take place at the ballot box, not through violence. president biden: republican

convention will start tomorrow. i have no doubt they'll criticize my record and offer their own vision for this country. i'll be traveling this week, making the case for our record and the vision, my vision of the country, our vision. i'll continue to speak out strongly for our democracy. stand up for our constitution. and the rule of law. to call for action at the ballot box. no violence on our streets. that's how democracy should work. we debate and disagree. we compare and contrast. the character, the candidates, the records, the issue, it's agenda, the vision for america. but in america we resolve our differences at the ballot box. that's how we do it. at the ballot box. not with bullets. the power to change america should always rest in the hands of the people, not in the hands of would-be assassins. host: we'll go to the independent line in salisbury, north carolina. howard, good morning. caller: top of the morning to you. just give me a little bit of time. i'm not going to be long.

that was caller that said that black women -- something about the abortion and look forward to -- that's just totalliry duck louis -- totally ridiculous. my black sisters be trying to give birth but die on the labor table. so i don't know what he's talking about, about blacks want abortion or something. but i want to talk about this thick that happened with -- thing that happened with trump. we all know trump is in showbiz. we all know that he likes -- and he knows his people like to see blood. now, i don't believe -- host: how are you saying that, howard? his people like to see blood? caller: right. they are mostly wrestling fans. wrestling fans like to see them get hit by a chair and blood come running down the forehead. host: i don't think that's fair to say that about all trump supporters. caller: when you find out that this was a hoax, somebody did die because trump has immunity. he can shoot anybody he wants

and has the authority to shoot anybody he wants and will not be held for it. i'm telling you, this guy is going to play golf after he just almost been killed. now he's going to come to this convention like he's had a jesus moment meeting? no, this man's still the same. he's a con artist. he is what we call prince pallet. you almost might not like it, but it is the truth. this man is not real. host: walter in las vegas. republican line, good morning. caller: good morning. this is walter from las vegas. i won't keep you long. i just been observing all of the video pictures of the incident, of the attempted assassination. one of my questions is, after they loaded -- were able to load the vice president into the s.u.v., they couldn't even get the sufbg to get out of the area

-- the s.u.v. to get out of the area. it was bumping into another f.b.i. car in front of them. i would think they should have had an emergency route reserved for an ambulance that might need to get in there. and the s.u.v. the president was in, the vice president, he couldn't even get out of the dog-gone thing. they had to move cars to let him get that thing out of there. host: you said the vice president? caller: yeah, the vice president. vice president, when he was shot, they loaded him in to an s.u.v. and tried to get him off of the grandstand, get him to a hospital. they couldn't even get him out of the driveway. host: what vice president was shot? walter? caller: vice president trump. host: you mean former president trump? caller: i'm sorry, i'm sorry. host: no problem. i thought you might have been

talking about something else. ok. caller: no, no, i'm talking about the series on tv. he couldn't even get the car out of the driveway because it was blocked by other f.b.i. cars and shouldn't they have had an emergency route reserved for that kind of emergency vehicles? and they couldn't even get him out of the driveway. host: got it, walter. and fritz in st. paul, minnesota. democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. i'm calling to try to get a focus on what the american people need. i mean, we have a great president and a great state statesman -- statesman in joe biden much he's trying to find solutions to all what's going on in this country. we have kids dieing from drug overdoses. we have people still suffering from the covid. after covid. and we've got other people on one side saying, i can shoot

somebody and i don't even go to jail. we need to focus on solutions, solutions, solutions. and we can't have hate, hate has to go. that's all i got. have a blessed day. host: jim in grayson, connecticut. independent line. caller: yes. you have got my -- host: yes, we do have you. go ahead, jim. caller: i think for both parties that assassination attempt is a sad thing. for the democrat, republicans both. because biden don't deserve that, trump didn't deserve it. but let's all get behind trump and let's get that lying biden out of office. host: and richard, monrovia, california. republican. caller: yeah. i was just a little upset when

they call it about rhetoric, you know, that it's all the rhetoric. it's all about the truth. and the truth of the matter is that former president trump has gone out and has threatened people online, on tv. and, you know, it just seems like all the republicans seem to really want to blame the democrats, that's unfair. if you do fact finding, i think you'll find that it's president trump that threatens people constantly. people on his jury, people on like msnbc. and biden doesn't threaten anybody. so i don't know how they seem to

think tafrping down the rhetoric, because the rhetoric that comes from president biden is really not rhetoric. it's actually facts, they're actually truths. trump with his 2025 agenda, that's a fact. that's all true. host: all right, richard. let's take a look at pennsylvania governor josh schapiro. he spoke on sunday about the assassination attempt and honored the victim that was killed that day. >> the assassination attempt on the former president, donald trump, last night is absolutely unacceptable. and tragic. lori and i are grateful that the former president is safe and according to him and his team is fine. it's also important to note that last night three of our fellow

pennsylvanians were shot. one fatally. and two in critical condition. i just spent time speaking to the families and i want to offer my prayers and the prayers of all 13 million pennsylvanians for the two individuals who are being treated at this time. we lost a fellow pennsylvanian last night. i just spoke to cory's wife and cory's two daughters. he was girl dad. he was a firefighter. he went to church every sunday. he loved his community. and most especially, corey loved his family. corey was an avid supporter of the former president and was so excited to be there last night

with him in the community. i asked corey's wife if it would be ok for me to share that we spoke and she said yes. she also asked that i share with all of you that corey died a hero. that corey dove on his family to protect them last night at this rally. corey was the very best of us. may his memory be a blessing. last night was shocking for this community and for this commonwealth. and i know for this country. political disagreements can never, ever be addressed through violence. disagreements are ok. but we need to use a peaceful political process to settle those differences. host: that was pennsylvania governor josh schapiro talking

about the victim from the saturday shooting, you see that on the screen, he was a former firefighter and died protecting his family. stay with us because after the break we'll have republican party of milwaukee county's orlando owens to discuss this week's republican national convention and his effort to get more black voters to join the g.o.p. we'll be right back. ♪ >> we'll welcome them into a great national crusade to make america great again. >> taxes will go up and anyone who says they won't is not telling the truth. >> that our beloved nation at peace, we're in the midst of a spring time of hope for america. >> because we are the party that

believes in the american dream. >> read my lips. no new taxes. >> i still believe in a place called hope. >> here's the question for the american people. who do you trust in this election? >> the real khroeus is whether we will build a bridge to the future or a bridge to the past. >> i have unlimited confidence in the wisdom of our people and the future of our country. mr. i stand here tonight as my own man. and i want you to know me for who i truly am. >> they had their chance, they have not led. we will. >> i'm john kerry and i'm reporting for duty. >> these four years have brought moments i could not foresee and will not forget. >> it's time for us to change america. >> i wasn't my own man anymore. i was my country's. >> i don't believe that rolling

back regulations on wall street will help the small businesswoman expand. or the laid off construction worker keep his home. we have been there, we've tried that and we're not going back. we are moving forward, america. >> under my administration, our friends will see more loyalty and mr. putin will see a little less flexibility and more backbone. >> he wants to make america great again. well, he could start by actually making things in america again. >> we will make america safe again. and we will make america great again. >> here and now i give you my word. if you entrust me with the presidency, i will draw on the best of us, not the worst. >> this towering american spirit has prevailed over every challenge and lifted us to the summit of human endeavor. >> c-span, your unfiltered view

of the conventions, powered by cable. announcer: "washington journal" continues. host: and we are back and joining us for the next half hour is orlando owens, he's the north branch chair of the republican party of milwaukee county. welcome to the program, orlando. guest: thanks for having me. host: i just want to get your reaction to the shooting on saturday of former president trump. guest: first and foremost, our thoughts are with the victims and just tragic what happened. want to definitely respect a fallen hero, also the individuals who were injured. sad day for america. we also want to pray for the recovery for president trump as well. but a sad day. host: do you see this as a

unifying moment for the country, do you see it as potentially more divisive? guest: i think it has the potential to unify people of all political stripes. i think we're still maybe going through the grieving process right now. but i think at the end of this convention moving forward, i believe this will definitely bring people together. host: and what is the significance, orlando, for the r.n.c. being held in your city? guest: well, it's a tremendous boom for our city as far as the economics of it. but also it's a great opportunity for republicans and conservatives to showcase our platform and so people can contrast from what they've been getting and what we offer. host: can you tell us a little bit about your background, given that you're a member of the republican party, worked very

hard for trying to get more votes for former president trump. tell us a little bit about how you came to that and your background, your political background. guest: well, i grew up here in the city of milwaukee. i grew up as a democrat and like most black people, you grow up that way thinking that's the party for us. until i started to have my own kind of awakening to policy. most black people are morally conservative but socially liberal. but we still like our freedoms as far as having our own business. we don't like big government or the man in our business. we want to raise our children, we still believe in traditional families. we believe in gun rights. so those ideas align with the way i was brought up. i was brought up as a conservative but we never called the word conservative. until i started getting more politically active and started to see how different parties aligned with me and how they don't align with me. that's kind

that started my journey of the two political sides. i've been a republican for over 20 years. very active in the party. ran for office before myself. didn't quite get the results i wanted, but that's ok. i was an activist, and this time around i think these issues anyway are at a point now that a lot of people, particularly black men, are very open to hear this message about what is the republican party and what can we do to align with it. host: so orlando, this is a headline from the associated press that says trump wants black and latino support, but he's not popular with either group, a poll shows. they're quoting here an a.p. center for public affairs research that says about seven in 10 black americans have a somewhat or very unfavorable view of trump. what do you make of that, and how are you working to turn that around?

guest: with our project, which you can go to orlandoforwiw.com, we are targeting certain wars in the city, in particular black men. the republican message definitely allianz a lot more with black men than black women, because of those values i said earlier. one of the big things we have in our city, milwaukee has one of the highest incarcerated zip codes in the nation every year. but in wisconsin, if you're a felon and off paper, you can vote. we made a targeted effort to go after black men, felons who are off paper in particular, and the response has been tremendous. so i question some of those polling, but i will say this. every incremental step forward to moving the needle higher, and that's what we have to move the needle, we won't win milwaukee or milwaukee county, but can we have a significant impact? i don't know if we can. it's already showing. host: we are talking to orlando owens, north branch chair of the republican party of milwaukee county. we're talking about the r.n.c.'s

efforts to attract more black voters. if you would like to join the conversation, you can do so. he'll be with us for about 25 minutes. the numbers are by party. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. you can start calling in now. you can also text us at 202-748-8003. we're on facebook.com/cspan. and x at cspanwj. orlando, who would you like to see former president trump choose as his running mate? guest: i'm happy with any of the candidates. i wouldn't myself being the v.p., but maybe next time around. but i'm fine with all the candidates. i think they'll be great assets to the campaign. host: do you have a favorite? guest: not really a favorite. i have some history with senator tim scott with his work in the

opportunity zones on another project that i work on with u.s. senator ron johnson, the joseph project. tim scott has been part of that as well too. the joseph project is a faith-based initiative to help primarily black and brown men in the city of milwaukee find great manufacturing jobs, great family-sustaining jobs here in the city. another republican, quasi general public collaboration that really speaks, again, to black men and men of color, people who are below the poverty levels. that's another initiative that probably moves the needle and talks about how can we transform a community when we don't have men working? this is a big piece of the republican -- the attractiveness of the republican party, that we have a platform in place that actually can speak to results, not just talking points. host: and what are the key issues that are facing black voters in your opinion? guest: well, it's huge. employment is huge. the cost of living. we just had a tremendous rate increase for rent in our state,

and i am sorry, in our city, because of a referendum of a school system that is failing black and brown kids tremendously, but they have the audacity to want to raise a referendum. the people of milwaukee did vote for it. and now as a result of that, property taxes are increased. as a result of that, rents will go up. so rent, safety, employment, these are the big issues of the city. i think we have a better pathway forward as conservatives. not saying we are the end-all, be-all, but our process and our way of thinking can yield a better outcome. host: and we will go to calls now. orlando, this is willie up first, a democrat in maryland. good morning. caller: good morning. that happens for taking my call. your guest mentioned about big government. i wanted him to know that big government came around because

when it was in a state, black people was not getting anything. that's why the government got so big. and i would like him to explain the difference. a lot of republicans say compare january 6 with black lives matter. i don't know if he can tell us the difference. host: ok. orlando? guest: well, big government is never good. i think there's a role for the government, but the government that's closest to you has the most impact in your life. so nobody likes, and i would hope he understands, nobody likes big government, big brother, or the man trying to tell them what to do, how to raise your children. you want a government that's more close to you, that you have more impact and more control over. our country is founded on the idea of having powers in the states, not having so much power in the federal government, and it has ballooned out of control.

out of comparison between january 6 and black lives matter, it's how the treatment of the january 6'er is different than how we treated all the protests during that summer of george floyd. all those people getting tickets or let go from destroying properties right here in milwaukee, businesses, no one was arrested. they weren't given warnings, tickets were dropped. compared to how people who came to d.c. and may have cross remembered the line, they're in prison. there's clearly a difference on this two-tiered system. this is why another reason donald trump and republicans are resonating with people of color, people who have been incarcerated. because we now see, no matter where you come from, your prestige, whatever the case may be, to have a biased d.a. and biased jury, doesn't matter. this can fall on you. it's real. this case has put more people and lives on other things that more minorities and also poor whites have also faced as well too.

host: orlando, just to update our viewers, some breaking news that has just come in. this is cnn.com that's reporting that the judge dismisses the classified documents case against donald trump. it says that judge eileen canon dismissed the case in a ruling today. canon said the disappointment of jack smith violated the constitution, "in the end, it seems the growing comfort in appointing regulatory special counsels in the more recent era has followed an ad hoc pattern with little judicial scrutiny." so that is a developing story. we'll keep you updated on that. but that case has now been dismissed. let's talk to ray. guest: amen. host: syracuse, new york, go ahead, ray. caller: good morning, mr. owens. i'm glad i caught you. i had no idea that because of

the convention that c-span is going to be on more than normal. so that's great. i'm thankful for that. because i saw your initial few questions that you answered, it gives me -- i definitely want to watch the convention where i'm usually too busy for that kind of stuff, but i'm going to make an effort, definitely. so thanks a lot for being there. timing was great, and thanks to c-span. host: and ray, we are going to be on an extra hour throughout the convention, so up until thursday, so you get to see us up until 11:00 a.m. eastern. any comment, orlando? guest: thank you. let's keep it going. never give up. keep fighting. i'm happy for this case to be dismissed, but hopefully we continue to focus on the

campaign and keep finding out that never give up. keep faith in god and family and country, and i think that's one of the messages that donald trump is going to talk about, bringing everybody together. that iconic picture of him letting people say fight, fight for your country. america is still worth defending. america is still worth having. host: james in corpus christi, texas, independent, you're next. caller: yes, one of the things that nobody is talking about, and i have voted republican and democrat throughout my life, and like one of your other speakers earlier, i have seen john f. kennedy, robert kennedy, all those people assassinated. what nobody is talking about is trump brought this on himself when he said, first of all, i can go down on 45th street and shoot someone. i can execute general miley for what he did, encouraged his thugs at the capitol to hang

mike pence. everything that has happened in the last few days, donald trump brought upon himself by the talk of killing and shooting. host: what do you think of that, orlando? guest: it's unfortunate. i pray for this gentleman. clearly he has falling off the rails. no one has asked for the execution of a sitting president, but unfortunately this is -- hopefully it is a minority of people. pray for that young man, because clearly he is delusional. host: do you think former president trump bears any responsibility for the level of divisiveness, the rhetoric that's been going on in the country? guest: i believe donald trump is a politician who speaks in hyperbole, and those who take every word to be an actual

declare active position i think is unfortunate. i mean, if that's the case, we have maxine waters saying get in her book. we have cory booker saying, wherever they are, make a scene. if we're going down that path, democrats also very responsible for the level of rhetoric who said donald trump is a threat to democracy in this country. to say that is fuse the flames of people who are marginalize and had maybe somewhat delusional, so let's keep it up here. let's keep it clear here. we're going to talk about this, let's be clear on who's hyping this rhetoric so passionately to say this man is a threat to freedom, a threat to america. that's over the top. it's beyond the pale. host: robert is in cincinnati, ohio, democrat. caller: yes, good morning.

i would like for you to explain, what is the definition between a republican and a democrat, and why is it that i'm an 85-year-old man, i'm an 82-year-old man, excuse me, and i've been in the marine corps. my oldest son has been in the army. i got two grandsons right now who are in the air force. one is a secretary lieutenant, just graduated from the air force academy, and i would like to know what is the definition between a democrat and a republican? host: orlando? guest: first, let me say thank you for your service, and god bless you, being 82 years old. i got to have what you have. and thank you for your service,

also your family's service. my father is a marine. my grandfather was a marine. thank you for your service. i don't know webster's definition of the difference, but what i can tell you, i can look at party platforms. when i look at one platform, it talks about having the discretionary position of how extreme can we have, you know, the abortion issue. i think republicans have come around to say there should be maybe a statewide referendum on what we think this will be. as a minister myself, i know where i am on this issue, but we have a party that says no, you know, women should make this decision no matter what is here. that's a big platform difference. we look at the idea at how we defend our boredders. those are big platform differences. we look at the idea of how we define marriage, which is a biblical term that the bible defines. these are big platform differences. although the republican party has been a little bit more open in some of these definitions of

marriage. as a minister myself, i can't leave. i'm clear on what the definition is. i was a democrat one time, but what i got from the democratic party was this idea of the white savior. i don't need white people or white men to save me. the only savior i need is jesus christ. also just the assault on my religious freedoms from the democratic party and the idea of what i believe and what the bible says, they attack. so for those reasons alone, because i wasn't always a r. i am a historically black college and university grad. i can tell you when i went to the two party meetings myself when i was going through the transition, i heard white liberals trying to tell me that white conservatives are the boogie man and trying to hurt our black and brown brothers. my response was, well, you're white. you're going to tell me that she's a good white and the others are the bad whites. you're all white to me, so that's the difference?

as a black tennis, i would say this. i take the idea of liberty, washington, just don't get in my way, or the idea of the third. let's clear the table and let me do what i want to do. by transparently, there are big issues. i like school choice and republicans do too. we have a failing school system here in our city of milwaukee. the idea, and this is also the birthplace of the republican party in wisconsin, and also the birthplace of school choice. we're going to have poor kids no matter your color go to grade schools that have the ability to teach and not send all our kids to a failing school and say that's all you get because we support public schools and that's it. find what works best for you and your student. for me, the platforms are clear. thank you for the question. host: tom is a republican in north carolina, good morning. guest: good morning. i blame the media, and i blame president biden for all this

mess that went on with trump over the weekend. they are after trump 24/7. if you go to cnn, msnbc, all those channels, every minute they're talking so bad about him. president biden even made a statement, something about putting the bull's eye on trump. so i blame the media. i blame the democratic party. and i blame joe biden. now, if it comes out that president trump wanted more secret service protection and didn't get it, then something needs to be done. actually, i'm calling for the director to resign today. she should have been out here yesterday, or saturday when he got shot, making a statement. where is she? where is she? host: she didn't release a statement -- she did release a

statement, and i read a part of it. you can see it -- guest: but it was today. host: i get your point. we'll get orlando to respond. go ahead. guest: well, i think valid point there, and i think the investigation is ongoing. clearly when president biden wasn't able to call what the incident was as an assassination attempt, we knew then that this was going to be a mess. we saw what happened as a country, that someone tried to kill the president, and the current president couldn't have the composure enough to say it is what we thought and we all saw. i think that when you say words like meg i can't republicans are like hitler, i mean, this is the height of the rhetoric. host: orlando, who said that? who are you saying? guest: many of them. many from the left, they equate

president trump and the republicans to hitler, trump is like hitler. you know, using the same rhetoric as hitler, making this equation between, this false equivalency, which is ridiculous on all fronts. but this is the type of desperation the left is. it's called nothing but gaslighting and fear mongering. that's all it is. trying to say, you know, joe biden, if you don't vote democrat, you're not black. well, i'm black, joe. are you blacker than me? so again, when you say they put you back in chains, who are you speaking to? what emotional trigger are you trying to get out of people? this is the level of the gaslighting, the fear, the desperation we have the left on x and triter going crazy saying we wish we had somebody who had a better shot. that is the -- that is the

ugliness and the raw evil coming from that side. i'm not saying the while side feels that way, but enough of the people are saying it was a fake, it was a fake, and trump wasn't shot. wasn't shot at. this is the whole thing. this is the side that says they love black people so much, but yet still i just had seven people shot this week i think in milwaukee, two more died, but unemployment here in the city for black males is ridiculous. jobs are not really being brought up. i'm sorry, go ahead. host: i was going to say, let's talk to terry who's in milwaukee, wisconsin, independent. go ahead, terry. caller: thank you. in an interview with jonathan carl of nbc news, donald trump defend his supporters, any republican democrat statements defending him and mike pence's chants. i'm wondering if you are willing

right notice to condemn the statements by donald trump defending his supporters hang mike pence chants. guest: i never heard those chants, my friend. i can't speak to something i've never heard or have a recollection of. host: orlando, i mean, many people did hear those chants. so if you can respond to the caller. geeta: again, i need to hear it for myself. host: again, i need to hear it myself. there's a lot of rumor and hearsay. i can't co-sign on something i didn't hear myself. host: all right. new york city, democrat, good morning. guest: yes, good morning, thank you for taking my call. mr. or wins, let me start off by saying, yes, i am a democrat, and i am equally as appalled by the attempt, the attempted assassination of former president trump.

i also have to say that i agree with what you're saying. now, i am a democrat. however, i'm going say i agree with what you said about us being people of faith. i am appalled to hear some of the black -- as a black, i'm a christian black woman -- and i'm appalled to hear some of the black people who have called in who don't understand what's really going on, or either they understand and don't care. i couldn't believe i saw on the white house a pride flag draped over the white house. i mean, it's more horrendous to see it draped over our churches. and again, i couldn't believe to see that pride flag draped over the white house just a few weeks ago, not to mention there was a

woman who is a lesbian and she had on no top, and she's shaking her breasts on the white house lawn. host: ok, let's hear a response. guest: well, thank you, ma'am, for letting your moral and your faith lead your discussion, because that's where we need to be as a nation, that our faith should lead. but in particular to her question, this is the key cot dethat democrats -- dichotomy that democrats find themselves in. morally, blacks are more aligned with moral values. we grew up in the church. socially is where they sometime align more with the other side, because there is a need for low-income housing, because the local economies who is mostly geared and ran by democrats, like here in the city of milwaukee, we have a black mayor, we have a black county executive, we have a black police chief and a black sheriff. black, black, black.

but all the black going on, we still don't have the things we need. and we use our blackness as almost like being an idol instead of being focused on the faith and the word of god. if we had more faith, if we happened the things we need as far as having a strong economy, you wouldn't need government. liberals want more blacks and more people to depend on more big government. i believe in freedom. having your own way. as a man, make your own way. and that's the way i was brought up. and growing up, as a student growing up in the city of milwaukee, you do the best you can with what you got, and you fight. you work harder than the next person. those are the things that attract me and a lot of men to the republican side. host: and steven in trinity, alabama, republican, good morning. guest: good morning. not really a question, but i'd

like to know your thoughts are are the thousands of people on social media, tiktok, and other platforms, that are calling the shooter a true american hero for his attempt to take out president trump. is it really necessary? to me, that's just sick. that's appalling. it's gross. that people would call this guy a true american hero, and then the guy earlier from texas who stated everything that happened to trump in the last couple of days, he brought on himself. i assure you nobody wakes up in the morning, drinks their coffee and says, you know what, i'm going to do something today that causes me to take lives. what's your thoughts on that? guest: i think it's a reflection of an extreme left. we spoke earlier about this. the left is in such a desperate position. they try to indict trump. they try to get him removed from ballot. they try to bankrupt him.

now they're trying to kill him. this is how unhinged, our control the left's rhetoric is that things are being so, how do i say, pushed in there. and like you said, to your own evidence on x and on twitter, they are saying this man is a hero, wishing somebody had a better shot or better aim, or you had one job. i mean, i would chastise any republican for having any type of language like that and have no problem doing it, because the end of the day, i got one guy i got to deal with to make sure i'm in line with that. clearly these people don't care about rooting for murder. how appalling is that. host: and last call is tonya, fredericksburg, virginia, independent. caller: good morning. the speaker pro tempore: good morning, tonya. caller: thank you so much for taking my call. i am just appalled listening to

many man. i watch thesis people, i watched that event all day long, these people are guilty of going to the capitol and trying to kill our vice president. they put a noose up on the capitol grounds. they wanted to hang the vice president. they wanted to hurt nancy pelosi. i mean, the republican party, this is not the republican party that we have known in our lifetime. this is a trump republican party, and trump brought this issue on himself, because the republican party has tried to block all efforts to stop the gun violence in this country. a thousand people were almost killed. a thousand people were hurt and killed in las vegas, nothing was

done. children in connecticut were murdered, nothing was done. children were murdered in texas, nothing was done. i am going to vote for joe biden. i would never vote for donald trump, a man who also has a -- and that's all i have to say. this man cannot witness me to vote for donald trump. have a great day. host: orlando, last comment. guest: well, please go to orlando4wi.com and please donate if you can, we need all the help. she's not someone that we're trying to get to. she's a democrat, and clearly she's on the sauce. we're looking at a very targeted group of people, because we just need to move the people in the city of milwaukee. i can't support someone who's a supporter of the klan, who told me that he's against busing, because it's a jungle, somebody who created the 84 citizen bill that locked up so many black men and black women and brown

people, who then turned around and did the crime bill and added more to that and also vote for a vice president who locked up black men in california for smoking weed, but she laughs about it, you know, i'm jamaican, i smoke weed. this is the hypocrisy of the left. let's not let history is beside us. they support a party that was had klan members, that started the klan, that want to keep me and this lady that just called in chains as slaves. so please go to orlando4wi.com, look at project move the needle. we need to help. keep fighting for america. continue to love god. america is what we're fighting for. host: the caller did mention former president trump's alleged attack on women and the hollywood, access hollywood tape about bragging about assaulting women. just guest: i think the case that,

the most recent case we overturned is really a shame that something like that happened as far as a case even went through but i think it will be overturned on appeal. what you heard unfortunately the young lady who called or whoever i guess they don't know when you said he didn't say he was forcing this on anyone. maybe in a past life i lived maybe we don't know with a strip club is or barber shop on saturday morning and a lot of ladies don't know that locker room talk can get a little crude and we don't say it often around women but times it comes out but i think trump was talking trash. but when you try to make everything such a big issue and it is a bunch of stuff that is brought,in casual conversation or locker room talked a make that important it is a shame.

when you have joe biden and his daughter and documentaries and diary you have cases or investigations that should happen but it is unfortunate that's the case. i respect women. i understand how sometimes guys talk trash and it is one of those things god is working on everybody. women can tack trash. >> orlando owens is the north branch chair of the republican party of milwaukee county. thanks for joining us. we will take more calls. you can start calling in after a break on this day one of the republican national convention later today in that building in the pfizer forum in downtown milwaukee. being call with your thoughts on the r.n.c., impact of saturday's assassination attempt on the convention, the rest of the presently contain. democrats are 202-748-8000, republicans 202-748-8001 and

independents, 202-748-8002. we will be right back. >> c-span's campaign 2024 takes you live to milwaukee for our coverage of the republican national convention. don't know in live as delegates gather to select their republican nominee for president and lay out their priorities for the next four years and party's vision for the future. it is live today on c-span, c-span now or online at c-span.org. c-span, your unfiltered view of the convention. c-span now is a free mobile app with your unfiltered view of what what is happening in

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government all with the support of the cable conditions. c-span, 35 years and counting powered by cable. >> "washington journal" continues. why we are taking calls this morning for about 25 minutes, until 11:00 a.m. eastern. we are going to be with you for the next four days of the republican national convention, "washington journal" will be extended to 11 a.m. so you can share your thoughts and opinions. by the way, c-span's coverage of the republican national convention starts today a live preview from milwaukee at 12:45 p.m. eastern, then shortly before 2:00 p.m. the first session of the convention begins. we are expecting the roll call of delegates to select the republican party's presidential nominee. then 10:00 p.m. the evening session will include speeches

from prominent people in the party, then 11:00 p.m. after the speeches we will get your reaction to with you saw and heard on this first day of the convention. that is all here on c-span, also on c-span now, our app and online at c-span.org. leann is in charlotte, north carolina, line for democrats. you are on the air. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i would like to send my condolences to the family -- i would hate for anyone to get shot and i'm so sorry for that. but i would like to say that i really wish that the republicans had more of liz chaney and donald trump has spewed nothing but hate from day one. donald trump has had plenty of time to serve all three parties,

independents, republicans, democrats, he seems to only want to cater to one side and not in a good way. the behavior is so unacceptable. they tend to treat donald trump as if he is an 8-year-old child. this man has stood and said he could shoot anyone on fifth avenue in new york or other places and nothing will be done about it. the democrats have tried and tried and tried to pass a gun bill, tried. and every time the republicans finds a way to kick it back. i really, really wish the gun holders would stop using the excuse that their rights will be taken away, which we know that is not true. a lot of them are very intelligent and they know their gun rights will not be stolen. we have to protect this country. we have to do better. i knew this would come back home to roost.

unfortunately this happened but we have to do something with gun control and stop using the excuse that they are taking their freedom. host: laura is a republican in michigan. hi, laura. caller: good morning. i would like to dispute a couple of the callers, the last one included that are trashing donald trump. they don't know what they are talking about when they are doing this. and to prove that i would like to show the soft spoken biden and what he said to the people in detroit on friday. and play that instead of the last two recorded tapes and what he said and how he encouraged this. caller: rick in kansas city, missouri, independent line. caller: good morning, thanks for taking the call.

i heard the last guest, from an end perspective i look at things from a realistic perspective what both sides are saying and what sense of speech and first of all, growing up as a christian person in a family with matriarchs that were favorite based, moving to this country preteen and seeing the way the political system unfolds. so, truth is a big issue for me. when someone comes on and speaks to i'm a black male, his speech to the black male population is this is the party that is actually on your side, then i start looking at, so, what makes

it for me. what makes this party more for me? and i hear mr. owens speak as you have the other side calling trump, referring to trump as somebody like hitler but i hear trump saying he wants to be a dictator for a day. that is the reason perhaps some on the other side might refer to him as hitler. he says trump speaks in high push la. i think it is -- hi push la. believe what you want to believe. so be honest about what you are saying. he is just partisan and that is how i look at it as an independent.

host: we do have this posting on x, who is a cnbc journalist says this in all caps trump tells fox newses making his v.p. announcement today. that happens in the next 20 minutes we will tell you who that is. a republican on the line now. caller: good morning. this is dimple. i have been watching a lot about, you know, whenever trump was shot. i still can't understand whether or not it was from -- where was the shooter? in front of him? in back of him? plus, the bullet grazed his ear or went through his ear.

where did the bullet land? and where were the people that got hurt? were they behind trump? i just haven't found that out and wonder if you know. host: more of that will continue to come out. that investigation is going on. i imagine we will find out a lot more. jerry, hiawatha, kansas city, independent line. caller: yes, i just don't understand why the democrats are such hypocrites and so mean where you are saying that trump deserved what he got. if he got shot in the forehead, he deserved that? then what punishment does president biden deserve when he supports abortion. what crime do those babies deserve that they get the death

sentence and what about turning the white house into sin house with the gays and genders and with satan horns and everything else. host: frank in pennsylvania, line for democrats. good morning. caller: yes, i remember the beginning of when trump first started there was a heckler in the crowd and he said get that heckler and beat him up and i will pay for it. and then he starts somebody is my hero and made fun of a person who was a reporter. something i would like to say about president obama who took over in 2009 and he took over and brought everything back and i saw jesse jackson, tears

coming down his eyes and i myself was never more proud to be an american than i was at that time. so, i just -- trump wants to take credit for with bottom did. that is all i have to say. thank you. host: joseph in monterey, california, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. it is sad that somebody would attempt to assassinate somebody else like that. the thing i have to say is people need to looking deeper into things that they are hearing from both sides. that's about it. host: joanne, iowa, independent line. good morning, joanne. caller: thank you for taking my call. i'm not saying that trump deserved it, but i do think trump started the division that

exists in our country today by not conceding the election and perpetuating this lie for the last four years about election fraud with zero proof. we have heard this over and over and over again and how his worshipers have come to believe this, that he is the president. he's not the president. he lost. but trump is a narcissist who cares about his wealth and his billionaire friends and he is not a christian because of all the things he's done. when he has campaign speeches filled with name calling, mocking, profanity, lies, and he bragged about groping women and the partner stars, pay off the porn stars so i can get elected. my vote will be for joe biden. thank you. host: a previous caller asked us

about kind of the map, the way out of the area of that trump rally. we have it there from "new york times" has a visual and the things labeled there if you would like to take a look at that and maybe understand more clearly how the events took place. tony in detroit, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i wish i could have talked to mr. owens because what i would have told him is what about the central park five, the teenagers accused, and even though d.n.a. evidence showed that they did not commit the crime, donald trump was still calling for the death penalty nor those children. like the caller last said all of

this hatred and division started with him. joe biden came two office with good intentions, but like everyone else nobody realized the department these republicans and donald trump will go to divide, it is divide and conquer. and how these people who seem to be pretty knowledgeable, how can they can get swept up into this vortex of donald trump i don't understand it. now, i don't wish him any harm, i don't wish bad on nobody. but like a previous caller just said, he is the same guy at the rallies telling the audience hey, beat him up. that is the truth. that is not a lie or mac believe. donald trump has -- even if i

don't wish it on him, donald trump has packaged around with the ku klux klan members. he knows with he is doing. host: just a reminder breaking news this morning here is the "wall street journal" that says federal gentle dismisses classified documents prosecution against trump. it says that u.s. district judge eileen cannon said federal law didn't authorize them to conduct the prosecution and no legal authority gifts the attorney general interior office or bestow him the right to appoint a federal officer with the prosecutorial power wielded by spanish council smith. he was cameraed with 40 felony accounts alleging he willfully kept classified material and object strbgted the government's effort to get it back. near the trump campaign for

smith as office immediately responded to request for comment. that is the "wall street journal." this is connie in pekin, illinois. republican. caller: good morning. i would just like to tell these people donald trump was found not guilty of molesting that lady in the -- the store there -- and stormy daniels was -- she owes trump $3 million for her lies about the trump story with stormy daniels. host: lisa in alexandria, virginia. democrat. lisa, are you there? caller: yes, i'm here. thank you for your time.

i wish i could have got on with mr. owens who i find his comments very appalling. president biden condemned these reactions. let's not forget about charlottesville for which trump did not condemn those actions. in fact he said there's good and bad on both sides. let's not forget the woman who was killed in that, ok? that is with i have to say about that. i'm african-american, i'm a christian as well and also for less comments, owens about women the barber shop talk, appalling, sir. absolutely appalling. that is what i have to say. host: christine in mankato, minnesota, independent line. caller: hi, i'm christine jacobs in 1959 i lived in milwaukee and

many times i voted i was an employee of milwaukee county. but they can can't if you can out that just one party is right. you have to have voters vote for those they are for and find out who wins and who runs the government. host: don in idaho, republican. caller: hi. i would just like everybody know i moved to idaho from new jersey to get away from the rat race there and while working there i

was a teamster truck driver who used to deliver to atlantic city to donald trump's casinos where he employed thousands of people, brown, black, white, you name the color. and while i was delivering to that area, another terminal that didn't deliver to that area, but donald trump was traveling a road back to new york in a little design and one -- limousine and one of the drivers of my company saw a little design pulled over with an older gentleman who was the driver standing outside of the limousine. the terrific driver for my company pulled over and helped change the tire and unbeknownst to him donald trump was in that limousine. he told the limo driver to get the address and phone number of

that gentleman that helped with the tire, and donald trump paid off every bill that man had. he paid his mortgage, he paid every bill he had and i know that for a fact because i worked for the same company. not only that, donald trump donated his salary every year that he was president to the military. host: all right, don. ray in gurney, illinois, democrat. caller: yes, thank you for taking the call. mr. owen has not read the project 2025, i assume. i'm against the attempt assassination but he brought it on himself rounding up 11 million spanish speaking

individuals and just like what hitler did when he rounded up the jews in germany. that is exactly the same type of attempt and he is going to send his troopers to round them up, i think it is horrible. mr. owen should be ashamed as a black man to discount any -- he should read project 2025, 90 plus pages of just attempts to take over the united states and to take over as dictator. thank you. host: pensacola, florida, independent line. debra. good morning. are you there? caller: yes, ma'am. i think that this assassination attempt he did not bring it on himself. i will tell you something. everybody is saying the election

wasn't stolen. it was. if you look on fox news on their old reviews and that, they called it at 9:00, they called it too early. not only that, but the thing, you know, this project 2025 i read a little bit about it. i'm not against that. and trump has said he's against that. i don't know why people are making assumptions. if they can't research and read and do would have it takes to make an informed decision. not only that, but the people in any party -- and this has happened on both sides -- they played one side against the other. and i'm thinking, hey, we need a country. and here is another thing. we used to pay $1.87 a gallon of

gas three or four years ago. we are paying up -- in california you are paying $4 and $5 a gallon. host: staying in florida port st. lucie, susie, republican lane. -- line. caller: i don't know where people are getting their news. and it is not just random people. i have family members that are so staunch they want biden because trump is a dictator, trump is a nazi. if they would stop reaping the same rhetoric that every one of those channels except fox has been doing for the last four years or since trump became president. i have never heard such

uneducated, but one thing let me say. no asked to be shot. that is look saying a woman in a bikini asks to be raped. we are as passionate about donald trump as you people are passionate about president biden. unfortunately, we need to reclassify tease parties bass -- because the democratic party doesn't stand for what it originally stood for and the republicans are too. i would like people to take time to be informed. host: dee dee is next for the democrats. caller: yes, i'm independent, i'm not for either of them. host: all right. caller: going back to the psychology part that was aired earlier in the week regarding

biden and trump, i really believe that biden is ok mentally, but he has that defect that does affect his speech which slows him down and makes people thinks going to sleep as trump puts it. but that is not true. i have members of my family that suffer from stuttering and quite intelligent. now, switch over to with trump has been covering up all this time, has anybody looked into his background, what his father was like and how his father died? his father died if full-blown dementia and it is hereditary. and i do firmly believe that trump is in the beginning of his

turn at incident. the man is insane, he is dangerous. people better wake up and realize what are up against. host: let's talk to lynn in winston-salem, north carolina, independent. caller: yes. i'm independent and i did not vote for trump, but when he was initially voted i did have the hope that he would change the government because at the time i was also frustrated. however, once he took office he disappointed me at every level. i think that even though it is true's horrible person, that he is the best thing that ever happened to this country in the democratic party because he has exposed the corruption and the depth of the dirt and drama and just how far that entire

political thing, how crazy third and what they will do and they have no limits. it is very disturbing. i think that trump is not hopefully going to win but i think they are going to have another trump that is smarter tan -- than he is and more deferous adds try to -- devious and i think we have to do something to not have somebody taking over our government and we see how easily people are manipulated one way or they are. it is really just almost funny these people that call up and say people are uneducated we they are saying the most ignorant things you ever heard on the planet. host: let's talk to mike in statesboro, georgia, democrat. caller: yes, i was just wondering if the secret service

knows with drones are, whether at the know how effective they are, how cheap they are. it is just interesting that there was nothing like that at the rally. host: are you talking about armed drones? tell us more about what you up to talk about? caller: a drone could have easily seen the man on the roof that wasn't visible in the snipe ers. if they never used one to protect a public official, it would be a good time to start. thank you. host: terry aaron rodgers, minnesota. republican payment caller: i would like to make what is an obvious point. this election is over.

it really never was about trump as much as people thought. it is mainly because of war, gas prices, food prices, insurance rates. these are the reasons biden has lost it. you don't have to believe me. you can watch cnn, every expert, every poll shows the election is over. people calling and venting is may be helpful to them but they should understand, nobody changes any vote. i am not changing any vote by calling into this station. it is going to be, trump will be elected. the choice will become, are we going to destroy each other or are we going to go on with it? the issue is this. trump, tax relief, all

statistics, americans, by and large, the vast majority were far better off when he was president. all the other stuff, they have to attack trump. then i saw a poll. 20% of people think that violence is the only answer to solve the issues. host: tom, princeton, new jersey. independent line. caller: thank you for taking my call. september 1, 2022, joe biden did a national speech called the battle for the soul of our nation. if that was not the most divisive, disgusting, evil speech i have ever heard, even the liberal media have pointed that out. i would never ever vote for a democrat again. host: pat in missouri, democrat. good morning. caller: i'm sorry.

good morning. these calls have been such eye openers, jaw-dropping, everything. i guess what i'm trying to say is that i don't wish any illness -- i hate that trump went through that thing on saturday. that was awful. it was awful for our country, not just trump, but other people are looking at these kinds of things happening. the trump has been the initiator of a lot of things. if this had been the other way around, would his supporters be saying the same thing that biden supporters are saying maybe, that he got what he deserved because of the rhetoric he brings on himself, things like that? he would have probably come out and said it was a patriot that went rogue or something like

that. people need to understand, too, i don't think there's vote is over with yet. biden has just a good of a chance of winning as trump, as long as trump doesn't get that center vote. host: one more call. jake in old week, new jersey. caller: good morning, mimi. i wanted to start with, nothing surprising, just the natural evolution of american exceptionalism, like it has over the past 30 years. we have crumbling infrastructure, we have health care business that has not effectively helped anybody. i want to ask you especially because you take these calls every morning. how many times do we hear a call for violence over immigrants? call for violence against trans people? call for violence against this or that?

let me ask you, which line is coming in most often and talking about these marginalized groups of people within society need to be stopped or dealt with, or some kind of solution put on them? host: jake in new jersey is our last call for today's program. we will see you tomorrow morning, 7:00 eastern. be sure to follow all of our rnc coverage happening the next four days. we are with you for an extended hour for the four days of the rnc. have a great day, everybody. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> coming up later today, c-span will have live coverage from the

grounds in milwaukee, wisconsin for full coverage of the first day of the republican national convention. live picture of the fiserv forum where the convention takes place this week. we will be live at 12:45 eastern with a preview of everything to expect about the day. shortly before 2:00 p.m., the first session of the convention begins when we expect the rollcall of delegates to select the republican party's presidential nominee. 7:00 p.m., the evening session will include speeches from prominent figures within the party. 11:00 p.m., we will get your reaction to what you saw and heard on this first day of the convention. that is all live here on c-span, c-span now, and online at c-span.org. in the lead up to the convention kickoff, c-span spoke with wisconsin health care professionals about their preparations for the convention and their emergency plans. >> we are here at the medical

college of wisconsin. tell us what you do here. >> i am working with the southeast wisconsin health care emergency readiness coalition. we promote emergency preparedness among the health care sector. >> tell us about the coalition, who are the partners in this coalition? >> we are a broad coalition of any sort of organization that might be involved in health care, health related aspects. we prepared for disasters, mass casualties, other special events. it includes hospitals, clinics, long-term care facilities, emergency medical services, public safety, emergency management, public health. it is a pretty broad coalition. >> how do you prepare for these kinds of scenarios? >> it's important to remember, like with anything else, practice and planning are key.

there has been a lot of work going on over the last years with planning and exercising drills to prepare for events. >> to have planning, education, exercising where we would come up with coordination plans, how we would coordinate with each other. it is also a good way for us to learn about each other's areas of expertise, what resources we have available to bring to the table. >> there is a tabletop exercise and then and more practical aspect. let's start with a tabletop. what is considered for that when it comes to the rnc? >> tabletop exercises, we are all in the same room, discuss,

or everyone can learn about each other's roles, resources they have available, then we decide on how we would coordinate an event. then you take it to the full-scale, functional exercise, where we practice, do some of those things for real. >> that took place before the event this week? >> that's correct. we've been doing exercises the last 10 months. started with tabletop, they agencies and organizations doing functional exercises, full-scale more recently. >> when it comes to coordination, is it one person or a collective effort? >> collective. emergency preparedness is a team sport. everyone has an area of expertise, resources they can share. a lot of coordination and collaboration, input from all the different disciplines are needed to have a cohesive preparedness plan. >> we had a democratic

convention in 2020. does that serve as a template for any kind this week? >> we did use a lot of the stuff we started developing in 2020, actually updated it for 2024. >> what would you want people to understand, folks watching at home about what you did, how you prepared, and god forbid, how you have to use it? >> it's important to remember that we have been doing a lot of planning, a lot of practice. all of the organizations involved in the hospitals to public health to public safety, emergency management, everyone has been doing a lot of work so that we can still do our everyday jobs. we still have patients to take care, the normal stuff to do, but we are also ready to respond in case something were to happen during the week. >> thank you for your time. >> thank you. appreciate it.