♪ host: welcome back to milwaukee for day three of the republican national convention. j.d.vance is the highlighted

speaker tonight. he will except the vice presidential nomination. one of those days where covering political news was drinking from a fire hose. we will do our best to distill it and hear your views. nikki haley and ron desantis endorsed president trump last night. president biden campaigned in nevada but there were reports there are changes to the supreme court structure. bob menendez was found guilty for acting as a foreign agent. and the fallout from the assassination attempt this weekend continues. good morning from washington. we went to get your views on all of this that is going on. the numbers are up on the screen. 202 is the area code. (202) 748-8000 if you are a democrat and want to comment. (202) 748-8001 for republicans.

independents, (202) 748-8002. if you don't to make a phone call and can't get through, try a text message. (202) 748-8003. that is a text message number only. include your first name and city if you would. you can make comments on her facebook page. facebook.com/cspan, or on x at @cspanwj. front page of the new york times. menendez guilty of selling political favors. the verdict made mr. menendez the first u.s. senator to be found guilty of acting as an agent for a foreign power and the seventh convicted of a federal crime while in office. mr. menendez now faces the possibility of many years in prison when he is sentenced by the judge. these accounts on which he was

convicted. the judge said he was sentenced mr. menendez on october 29. the resounding verdict will almost certainly deliver a final blow to mr. menendez's storied four decade put a coke written great intense pressure for him to leave office before his term expires. senator chuck schumer, majority leader of the senate said in a statement, "in light of this guilty verdict senator menendez must do what is right for his constituents, the senate and our country and resign." here's what the prosecutor in the summa district of new york had to say after the verdict. [video] >> on the u.s. attorney here in the southern district of new york. moments ago, a jury convicted senator robert menendez of corruption and national security offenses. this case has been about shocking levels of corruption. hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in the form of cash,

gold bars, and mercedes-benz. this was not politics as usual. this is politics for profit. now that the jury has convicted bob menendez, his years of selling his officer come to an end. >> obviously i'm deeply disappointed by the jury's decision. i have every faith that the law and the facts does not sustain that decision and we will be successful upon appeal. i have never violated my public oath. i have never been anything but a patriot of my country and for my country. i have never, ever been a foreign agent. the decision by the jury today would put at risk every member of the u.s. senate in terms of what they think a foreign agent would be. host: senator menendez said he will appeal the sentencing. it is due on october 29. now to milwaukee and the

republican national convention. front page of the washington times. a lot of ink on j.d. vance as he accept the vice presidential nomination tonight. this is the washington times story. vance embraced real trump after breaking through media's lies. "i bought into the media's lies -- i bought into the media's lies and distortions." i bought into this idea somehow he was going to be so different and terrible for our democracy. it was a joke. joe biden is the one trying to throw his political opposition in jail. biden is a one trying to undermine american law and order." there is lots of talk about what he will say tonight about his past position on president trump. the washington post lead editorial.

they concluded this. "there is no mistaking mr. vance's nomination marks a significant turn in republican orthodox. just two years ago, he struggled to raise money during his senate bid because he attacked the gop establishment. he underperformed mr. trump's ohio margin of victory and is candace he required a super pac aligned with senate minority leader mitch mcconnell to spend tens of millions more dollars than planned to hold the seat. mr. mcconnell has been a champion of u.s. global leadership and support for ukraine and a reflection of how far the party has drifted from the values of eisenhower. mr. mcconnell was booed loudly on the floor of the gop convention on monday afternoon when he appeared on behalf of of the kentucky delegation to pledge all its delegates to mr. trump. an hour later, the roaring cloud unanimously proclaimed mr. vance's nomination for vice president."

joining us from milwaukee is ruth conniff, editor and chief of the wisconsin examiner. ruth conniff is a longtime political observer. a longtime friend of c-span. has the republican party changed in your view? guest: there is no doubt about that. i have been to a lot of these conventions. what is notable about this one is how much it's really all about one man, donald trump.you noted there was a unanimous acclaim for j.d. vance. i was on the floor at that moment. i talked to delegates and asked how they felt about the vance nomination. unlike previous years where there were different factions, different groups within the party who were hoping for different nominees and had different positions, the delegates i interviewed really just -- all they had to say was if trump wants him, i'm for him.

it was about ratifying trump's decision. sort of not having any independent position on if they liked vance. it was about donald trump. if you hear that from the podium every night here. it is all about pledging loyalty to donald trump. that one man has taken over the republican party. host: where you think ronald reagan would fit in today? guest: there is always a lot of -- conveniently he receded enough into the past there's not a lot of discussion of the fact he had the largest amnesty for undocumented immigrants in u.s. history, or he represented a different vision than the republican party of donald trump. the party now is not about optimism and mourning in america as one of 8 -- morning in america as ronald reagan was.

the theme is injured masculinity. it is a very deep, populist pitch to people who feel angry. the forgotten men and women of america. people who feel left behind. j.d. vance really represent that message and i expect him to talk about that a lot on stage tonight. host: what did you think about nikki haley and ron desantis's speeches last night? guest: they were necessary. they were the most prominent opponents of donald trump at one time. more nikki haley than ron desantis. ron desantis sounded a lot like donald trump. he has the same kind of insult humor style. he through a lot of red meat to the crowd about joe biden. the weekend at bernie's line that was designed to be the line that lasted from that speech. nikki haley was the last best hope of the opponents of donald trump within the party. for her to pledge her support and try to make the pitch she made was really significant. what she said was even if you

don't agree with donald trump 100% of the time, you should vote for him. not for joe biden. she drew on our foreign policy to basically blame biden for putin's invasion of ukraine, the hamas attack on israel. things that biden did not have much to do with. her pitch is to more centrist, more moderate, more reagan republicans that they should swallow the pill and endorsed donald trump. people were voting for her after she had already dropped out because they saw her as a representative of a different vision for the republican party. she was doing her best to call for unity. she criticized the vice of this. -- divisiveness. the donald trump campaign is the most divisive campaign in american history. she was trying to make the case that in the name of unity people should get behind them. host: you have been to a lot of these. just watching it on tv it seems like a real convention, or an old-fashioned convention.

guest: i don't think it's really real or old-fashioned in the sense there's nothing on the cable to discuss. there is no business being accomplished here. it's a big show. that has been true political conventions for some time. there is rarely -- we don't have contested conventions where you don't know who the nominees going to be anywhere. what the platform you sell republicans -- antiabortion republicans feeling snubbed and angry when trump basically rewrote the platform to take out the very strong language endorsing a national abortion ban. within the wisconsin delegation there was discussion about we must unite even though we are not happy with this because donald trump -- there was an assassination attempt. we need to unite. there were antiabortion groups that are here at the convention who were very angry about that. i talked to a reporter about it. that was not what they were here for.

an issue like that is not being hashed out and negotiated. it's really just donald trump, whatever he wants goes. host: ruth conniff, there's a lot of well-known politicians that may or may not be attending this convention. we are talking with tommy thompson a little later in this program. guest: tommy is here. host: what about the other two? why not scott walker? guest: scott walker is here. he's here. he's been on the floor and endorsed donald trump. he's a strong presence. he makes the case for trump. paul ryan is notably absent. he is nowhere to be found. host: what does that tell you? guest: well, it tells me trump has taken over the republican party. people who once opposed him like walker have seen the writing on the wall. they want to have a future in politics in the party like nikki haley. they will move forward with trump. there are people like paul ryan

who have made a stronger stance against trump and cannot stomach it. they are not participating, not willing to participate. they see him as a threat. they hope for a different republican party in the future. the prospect has really shrunk for the time being. host: what is your take on the democrats in joe biden's future? guest: it is difficult. there is ongoing discussion about whether joe biden should really be the presidential candidate for the democrats. as more time goes by it's more inevitable that is the case. there's already a short timeline after the debate when it discussion started. i think we will see joe biden. host: ruth conniff, what is the wisconsin examiner? guest: the wisconsin examiner is a nonprofit news outlet that covers wisconsin. we are part of a networkalle states newsroom.

we are in all 50 states. we cover state news. the idea was to move in, fill the gap as state news -- daily newspapers downsize and there are fewer eyes on state capitals were a lot of important policy is made to make sure people have access to news about what is happening in their governments. we are five years old. yesterday was a five-year anniversary. we have an office next to the capitol in madison, wisconsin. we have colleagues across the country that are similarly doing state news and trying to make sure there are reporters inside state capitals and around the states. it's all free, nonprofit, online. wisconsinexaminer.com. host: in your long journalistic career where else have you worked? guest: i worked for the progressive magazine for many years. i was on c-span a lot when i was in washington, d.c.

i have done a lot of freelance writing for a lot of different outlets. i wrote a book about the relationship between undocumented workers and midwestern dairy farmers because they make up 70% of the labor force in the industry, an important note to add to this talk about immigrants at the convention. it is heavily dependent on immigrant labor in the state. there is a close relationship between wisconsin dairy farmers and undocumented mexican immigrants who do a lot of the work here, both with an agrarian past and a sense of having something in common that is worth exploring. host: ruth conniff, editor in chief of the wisconsin examiner. we appreciate you spending a few min's with us. guest: thanks for having me on. host: now to your calls on the political news of the day. dave on long island. independent line. good morning to you. caller: good morning.

i'm calling about the 'i' word after the assassination. that is investigation. we have had an investigation after jfk. it was concluded that a magic bullet was responsible. you know the bullets that can stop and turn right and turn left and make u-turns. that was responsible for kennedy and governor connelly at the time. i would say if your a naive theorist, you have your answer as to what happened. the same magic bullet that got kennedy that is still out there. if you're a thinking person, you could ask if you lied to us then, why should you be believed now whatever you conclude? thank you. host: lester from alabama, democrats line. what politically is on your mind this morning? caller: j.d. vance. host: go ahead. caller: this guy is going to be

the vice president of the united states with less than a year experience. anytime somebody gets around trump, trump always says he put the best people in office. he likes to play golf all the time. we don't have time for somebody to go play golf when you're running the united states as president. j.d. vance. it's funny how these republicans talk about legal aliens. each one, they sleep with one. that doesn't make sense to me. why can't these republicans, mitch mcconnell, donald trump, j.d. vance, tim scott, they all married outside of their race. something is wrong with that picture. you're trying to tell us americans we need to be honorable. host: thank you for calling in this morning. front page of the wall street journal. ignoring gop plan helps trump win over latinos and blacks.

gop leaders concluded -- came up with a plan. the party had to soften it stance on immigration. the party under donald trump has gone in a sharply different direction and laid out by a blue ribbon panel of the republican national committee in 2013 when the party was dispirited after two straight losses to barack obama's multiracial coalition and suffered its fifth loss in the popular vote in six presidential elections. republicans are bracing trump's to get tough on immigration policy which not only calls for aggressive efforts to seal the border with mexico, by the largest campaign in u.s. history to find and deport illegal immigrants. yet trump is drawing more support from latino voters than any gop nominee since george w. bush. current polling shows his

support among black voters, if trends hold until election day, would be stronger than recorded for any republican nominee in exit polls dating back to 1972. let's hear from john in dearborn, michigan. independent line. what is on your mind this morning? caller: oh boy. it is quite a show. it is like a circus to me. i'm sure the dnc will be just as freaky in the coming months. it is leica mezey on a cold meeting -- mezey janik -- messianic cult meeting. he's like a godly figure to the republicans. i think it's funny. they think he's like a renegade against the deep state but he endorsed a total deep state guide michigan, mike rogers. all he wants to do a spy on americans and use fisa and the

nsa and warrantless wiretaps. that is who trump-endorsed. -- trump endorsed. they say they are the party of peace, no war. they might end the war in ukraine but they want to have a war with china. they are putting israel before america. where is america first? israel is coming first here. host: that was john from michigan. brian calling from new orleans, another democrat. caller: good morning. the menendez guy. who is getting all these perks. the people in leadership united states. it's horrible. it's on both sides. got an office. once they get that publicity they forget about the people.

it is horrendous. i'm 53 so i remember president reagan, which i didn't really really like president reagan but he was presidential. to see trump and the people that are following trump who really have good jobs and stuff like that. they have people out there hurting. for trump to be the nominee, i have never seen this. i never thought america would come to this. thank you. host: jim in missouri. republican. good morning. what do you think about the convention so far? caller: i enjoyed the convention. one point i would like to make is the fact that c-span seems to have done a really good job on their coverage. i appreciate your efforts. host: thank you, sir. is that it? caller: that's it.

host: we appreciate you calling in and appreciate you watching. john in michigan, independent line. go ahead. caller: i don't know why these antiabortion people are so upset. project 2025, that already has the antiabortion stuff in it. i wonder if j.d. vance already has a good understanding of the project 2025 and agrees with it. host: what is in project 2025? have you read it? caller: i have written majority of it. i also listened at the convention. host: didn't president trump walk away from that or distance himself from this heritage project? caller: supposedly. you figure a majority of people within the supreme court have come from the heritage foundation. heritage foundation is the main

builders of the project 2025. he figured that the judges and the attorneys are all part of it. they have all made that legal. one that ends up becoming law -- when that ends up becoming law or within the confines of the white house, i don't know what all is going to happen. i'm a little concerned. i think i will be voting for trump to make sure i don't end up in the whose cow -- if his retribution comes across anyone that both are biden might end up in the hooscow. have a wonderful day. host: speaking of project 2025, the washington times. democrats go to milwaukee to warn voters about project 2025. they raised more warnings about the conservative project 2025 agenda.

democrats keep clamoring about the conservative heritage foundation's transition blueprint for the next republican president that seeks to reshape the federal government and install loyalists across the workforce to pave the way for ineffective conservative administration. senator cory booker, new jersey democrat called it frightening. he says it aims to got popular entitlements such as the affordable care act and social security. "when you see with this president did when he was in office, donald trump is trying to end the affordable care at which is wildly popular amongst republicans, independents and democrats." the article in the washington times goes on to say project 2025's main policy goals is restoring the family foundation of american life. dismantling good ministry of -- the administration -- a limiting civil service protections for

some government employees and aims to overhaul federal agencies such as the fbi. it would illuminate the federal department of education. the blueprint also includes long time conservative priorities like slashing regulations and boosting defense spending. it's a sallo -- it seeks to outlaw pornography. it is not tied to any specific candidate or campaign. next call comes from maxine in leavenworth, kansas. what is on your mind this morning? caller: thank you for taking my call. i think the main thing on my mind is to look at the delegates to the republican national convention. it is a sea of white people. that really is all it is. you see a few black delegates. more black speakers or hispanic or asian speakers but their

delegates is a sea of white. that is why i think that they are going to lose. if you take the democrats who are meeting next month, you will see every representative of person that lives in this country. the democrats really represent the public in the country, not the republicans. anybody in the audience watching this convention and see who's delegates -- who the delegates really are, you see who the republican party really is. thank you very much. host: front page of the washington times. black republicans increase in droves. they are talking about the speakers and the number of delegates. there are 2429 total delegates for the republican national convention. of that, 55 are black over about

2%. hank, south carolina. what is the name of your town on the republican line? caller: patrick. host: it does not say that but go ahead. what is on your mind? caller: thanks for taking my call. i saw this c-span -- theses been people going around interviewing people and stuff last night and the night before. i kept looking for the brownshirts and the punch bowl. i didn't see either one. maybe they didn't show that part where the nazis and the punch bowl with the kool-aid and it. -- in it. they had somebody from columbia there. there was a vietnamese.

there was an indian. there were many blacks. they were not looking at the same convention i was. i was impressed. i really was. thank you. host: one of the people who spoke last night, madeleine brame. she lost her son to violence in new york city. [video] >> my son, sergeant hassan, and afghanistan were retired veteran. he received enemy fire from the taliban. i like to be murdered with a knife on the streets of new york city. the assailants responsible for his death initially were facing justice, but that changed when district attorney alvin bragg

was elected. suddenly two of the homicidal maniacs responsible for my son's death heather assault that had their assault and murder charges completely dismissed. one received 14 months time served. alvin bragg charged her with assault with a shoe. another one was sentenced to seven years. i later learned alvin bragg often dismisses and reduces dangerous criminals. he wants to clear the deals of violent felons onto our streets

every day. the injustice was devastating for me and my family. i don't want anyone else to experience the senseless pain that many other victims across this united states of america have to live with everyday. just like so many others, poor minorities across america, donald trump shares our values. love of god and family and country. [cheers] he's been a victim of the same corrupt system that i have been in my family. he is committed to providing economic opportunities, helping those suffering from addiction with long-term inpatient drug programs.

[cheers] rolling back daily bail reform policies that are getting our children killed every single day. and supporting our police. we back the nypd. we back the blue. host: that was madeleine brame speaking last night at the republican national convention. carolyn in minneapolis, independent line. what is on your mind? caller: i want to encourage all the left-leaning independents and democratic voters to call their congressperson and their senators to tell them to get behind president biden. it has been three weeks since the debate. it is very upsetting to hear this party is still running around and not unified.

that is a reason why i'm not a registered democrat. they do not stand together. at this time i am hearing everyone as president biden is old. he has accepted he is old. it is time for the party to accept he is old and get behind the candidate, or we will lose. host: in the wall street journal is the article that biden seeks changes for high court. president biden is planning to throw support behind changes to the supreme court. part of an effort to appeal to progressive for month before the election. the president is expected to call for legislation that would set term limits and impose enforceable ethics rules on supreme court justices according to people briefed on the discussions. he's considering backing a constitutional amendment that would limit or overturn the sweeping immunity granted to presidents.

biden previewed the plan during a private discussion with progressive lawmakers over the weekend. such legislation would face significant hurdles without democratic majorities in both chambers of congress. the washington post reported biden was appearing to endorse changes to the high court. the exact contours of biden's planned announcement had not been finalized. the white house declined to comment. the wall street journal, the new york times. schiff warns of big losses if biden stays in the race. adam schiff, california democrat running for senate in california ward during a private meeting with donors on saturday his party was like you to suffer overwhelming losses in november if president biden remains at the top of the ticket, according to two people with direct knowledge of the remarks of the meeting. if mr. biden remains not only would he lose to former president trump, it could be enough of a dragon other

democratic party candidates that the party would most likely lose the senate and miss an opportunity to get control of the house. "i think if he's our nominee we lose." that's according to a transcription of the recording of the event. "and we may very well lose the senate and lose our chance to take back the house." the next call comes from rhonda in kansas city. democrat. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i would like to go back to the lady who said we need our leaders to unite. we need our leaders to stand up behind joe. we are riding with biden. he's done an excellent job. if i was totally his age and able to do his job, i would be impressed with myself. we ignore that. i went to address the fact that

2025 is clearly taking us backwards. this is not an american agenda. we are totally trying to remove many, many rights that we have fought long and hard for. in taking your own poll, you said let people are coming in droves. you said 2429 -- host: i read a headline. caller: thank you for that correction. 2% is hardly considered -- host: i did the math myself so we could look at it. caller: i want to go back to this whole 2025 thing. they are installing loyalists. we will start firing americans to put in folks who take -- come on. we are still in america. they clearly want to act like gun control is not part of our problem in america. no.

i deftly want to stop all this crazy talk. black folks going to donald trump. this man has done nothing at all for our race. do i need to remind you he put a full took out a full-page ad to try to convict five men who were not guilty? he's been in front of court so many time to be proven he's a racist. i appreciate you letting me voice my opinion. host: here is joe biden in las vegas yesterday. [video] >> just because it lowers the temperature, it doesn't mean we should stop telling the truth. where you are, what you've done, what you will do. that is fair game. has harry truman said, i just told the truth and they thought it was hell. [applause] that is what i'm going to do.

here's the truth about why donald trump's presidency is held for black americans. he tried to repeal obamac are. to take millions of black americans of health insurance. may $2 trillion tax cut that benefited the super wealthy and the corporations. it exploded the federal debt more than any president in one term. we should invest in things that affect people's lives like childcare, eldercare and so much more that grow the economy and help people. his mismanagement of the pandemic was devastating to the black community. i know. in other communities of color. that drove up black unemployment, decimate small black businesses, and you peacefully protested george

floyd's murder and he called that the national guard on you. what the hell is the matter with this man? i'm serious. go figure. from a guy who spread the lies against barack obama saying he wasn't born in america and he wasn't a u.s. citizen. of course, here's what he things of black jobs. that's what he calls him, black jobs. that tells a lot about the man and about his character. folks, i know would've black job is. this the vice president of the united states. [cheers] i know would've black job is -- what a black job is. the first black president in america was barack obama. [cheers] i was vice president to barack.

she is my vice president. host: back to your calls and comments on politics during the republican national convention. whiting, new jersey, texts. "too much rhetoric swirling around. hopefully republicans and democrats will have the sense to tone it down. just talked to the macon people and tell us what your ideas are for fixing some the problems that plague us. that's all. then let us make up our minds." john is a republican from portland, connecticut. you are on c-span and we are listening. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i want to say i have enjoyed the way c-span has been showing the convention from start to finish without commercials and the other stuff going on from other networks.

i want to go back to what president biden said on sunday after the attempted assassination on donald trump. we have got to calm it down. we have got to cool it off because there is too much rhetoric, as the last caller said. the people should listen to president biden. cool it down, including him. there is too much of this going on and we don't went to see anyone else injured in this country or anywhere. please, to your callers and everybody that listens, please cool it down. stop badmouthing each side. both presidents have their issues and problems. this country has too many problems. we need to get together. we have to keep god in mind. he can help solve this problem in our country. host: we will be covering the democratic national convention in the same fashion

gavel-to-gavel the third week of august from chicago. the city that hosted more conventions than any other city. braggio in joliet, illinois. that i get that first name right? caller: how do you do? thank you very much and good morning. i have been listening to c-span for decades. long ago with brian lamb, etc. it's a wonderful channel for information but i have more general comments. i am 73 years old. retired military officer. i do to get bettors who gets elected. if you look at the political dysfunction in this country, you look at our horrible economic debt, look at one incident from a very serious war worldwide.

i think the public is as divided as we were during the civil war. i think the agreements and the division may likely if people knew the history of germany in the 20's and 30's. they were very headed down a dark road. i will look for a third party because i cannot vote for the democrats and i certainly can't vote for the republicans. i think it's a very sad time in america. i think the matter who is elected americans are going to wake up in the near future and be very, very regretful that they have not participated in their government to a greater degree. i'm sorry to say that. thank you for taking my call. host: washington times political

column. three quick items. ramaswamy subbing in for vance. he's open to the aid of serving in the senate if senator j.d. vance is elected vice president. [coughing] pardon me. second item. gop's steve garvey says he outraised adam schiff in the spring. former baseball star raised $4 million in the second quarter when mr. schiff raised $4.2 million. msnbc host joe scarborough, his show was pulled by network executives in the wake of the assassination attempt on former president donald trump. he said tuesday his bosses can get some wheels to host the show if he's bumped off the air again. three quick items. back to your calls. pat from pensacola, florida.

republican. caller: i want to say that i support trump. these democrats are calling in and are delusional when it comes to biden's mental capacity. if you can't see he is mentally unfit for the job, you are delusional. he couldn't even finish four months alone for more years. --four more years. number two, the fact that our president would demagogue 75 million people because they voted for trump, call us hitler, terrace, maga -- terrorists, maga extremists, it's ridiculous. i have the right to vote who i want to vote for. q democrats badmouth people that vote for trump. you don't hear us talking to

democrats to vote for biden. we say that is your choice. you are an american. that's your choice. how dare you criticize me for who i vote for as an american citizen? you say that on this phone line, you would not they say it to my face in a grocery store or at a gas station. it is none of your damn business away vote for president. host: we will leave it there. how do you think your governor ron desantis did last night in his speech? caller: i think he was outstanding and i wish he had that passion and fire when he was running. that was the most passionate speech i've ever heard him give. i thought it was awesome. host: let's listen to a little bit of ron desantis from last night at the rnc. [video] >> -- host: we will come back to that. brenda from indiana, pennsylvania. caller: good morning.

trump supporters have been saying for years that democrats have hated donald trump since he came down the escalator. i want to tell you what the facts are. i based my opinion of donald trump on what republicans themselves were saying about donald trump in 2015. as a matter of fact, j.d. vance said that donald trump would be america's hitler. j.d. vance said that himself in 2015. host: there is a lot of ink about that and on tv. do you think he will address it in his speech tonight? caller: i don't know. if you go back to 2015, the primary campaign and 15 other republican primary candidates,

watch the postdebate interviews with those other 15 primary candidates and listen to what they say about donald trump themselves and other high-profile republicans had a lot of things to say about donald trump. that is what i base my opinion on. host: thank you for calling in. let's go back to last night and here is governor desantis. [video] >> my fellow republicans, let's send joe biden back to the basement and send donald trump back to the white house. [cheers] life was more affordable when donald trump was president. our border was safer under the trump administration. our country was respected when donald trump was our commander-in-chief. joe biden has failed this nation. as a veteran, i was appalled

when 13 of our service members were killed in afghanistan due to joe biden's dereliction of duty. as a citizen, as a husband and father, i am alarmed that the current president of the united states lacked the capability to discharge the duties of his office. our enemies do not confine their designs to between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. we need a commander-in-chief who can lead 24 hours a day and seven days a week. america cannot afford four more years of a weekend at bernie's presidency. host: an extended washington journal during the republican national convention. we will put the phone numbers on the screen. 202 is the area code for all the

numbers. (202) 748-8000 if you're a democrat. (202) 748-8001 if you are a republican and want to talk about what's going on politically in the world. independents, (202) 748-8002 is the number for you to call. if you can't get through on the phone lines and would like to make a comment, try the text number. (202) 748-8003. text messages only for that one. your first name and your city. you can continue the conversation at all times on facebook or on x. margaret in california. where in california are you? caller: burbank. host: a republican calling in. go ahead with your comments. caller: i live one block from schiff's office. we have no representation. i really hope the republicans

take back over the white house, because i have seen trump grow. even though his age, he is growing every day. i see every nationality in the crowd. i don't look at nationality. i don't look at color of the skin. it is what is below the skin that matters. it seems like what trump is picking for the people around him, it is not their skin. it is what is on the inside. i am proud to be an american. i am proud to be able to vote. my relatives, god rest their souls, came in the revolutionary war and fought and were on slave

ships and died that way. for our country. we got into working in law enforcement because i wanted to get back to our country. it is our country. everyone's country/ . if you want to become part of our country you stand in line. people have been standing in line for years. they will never get to the front of the line. host: we appreciate you calling in. gregory in west palm beach, florida. democrat. caller: good morning, peter. welcome back. good morning, c-span family for those who watch it every morning. i have three things i want to mention. it will be quick.

the first thing is, i love america. i think this is the greatest time in the history of the united states that we all are are the dei. the republican party is dei. i talk about it like it's a negative thing. mark robertson, tim scott, owens. one of my young guys done here, donelson. the are an integral part of the republican party. the thing that bothers me more than anything else about this great country is i grew up in jim crow america. i grew up with lyndon johnson taking over kennedy's position and passing the civil rights. all the legislation between that. i don't understand why would you want to go back before all that?

during the early years of america, things like project 2025, they don't acknowledge the fact you give a person opportunity, whether it is a minority or woman, they can exceed. now you want to take that back to where nobody has an opportunity? we had a test right now. you're going to find out what we are made of and that's all i have to say. host: what do you do in west palm beach, florida? he hung up. darn it. let's talk to rob in naples, florida. republican. caller: when we talk about the election we need to talk about the issues. we need to talk about inflation, the border, the wages, the wars, the mental acuity of the president. when we talk about these things that's the most important thing about the country. when i watch biden say one thing

one day and they stay he comes out and says the complete opposite, i have never trusted the man. i used the like him up until he became the vice president. at that point -- not that i am -- i have businesses here. i had many different ethnic groups work for me. not one bone in my body's racist. everybody knows, even the people in congress know about biden's past. he was such a racist. did you see him in that church? he was so uncomfortable. it bothers him he was sitting there. looking around like call the police and get me out of here. the man is a liar. he could care less about his vice president. the guy in south carolina said if you want us to back you, you have to put her in. he didn't want her.

he never wanted her. host: this is the new york times. how democrats will choose a nominee. if biden stays in the race, if biden stays in the race. preconvention, a party convention finalizes rules for the virtual call in the convention. then there will be a virtual nomination vote beginning july 21 going through august 6. a simple majority delegates is required to win. the roughly 4000 democratic delegates are already pledged to mr. biden. it is technically possible but unlikely a challenger could petition to get on the ballot. biden wins the virtual nomination and the national convention is 19 through 22 of august. the states finalize their ballots late august and september.

if president biden drops out before the convention, preconvention, biden steps aside, his delegates are released to vote for another candidate. candidates vye for support. the democratic national convention happens on august 19 through 22. the delegates vote. the candidate needs a simple majority of about 4000 delegates to win the nomination. if no candidate reaches a majority in the first round, about 700 so-called superdelegates can also vote in subsequent rounds. then they go on through. if president biden drops out after the convention, it's the third list here. biden steps aside. the dnc chooses a new nominee. the committee includes a state party leaders and members of allocated by state population will be to select a replacement.

then states finalize their ballots late august through september. the first mail-in ballots are sent beginning september 6. three scenarios laid out in the new york times about how the democrats would choose a nominee. back to your calls. chrissy in maryland. where in maryland? independently. caller: i'm from wheaton, maryland. i don't have as much of a statement as a couple of questions. if i'm relegated to only one, i'm glad it is you. you have a vast knowledge base. three your questions and interviews i know you have got a very analytical mind. i'm hoping if you can help me i will throw the question out there and maybe someone else can answer it. what i'm wondering is, with -- it sounds like jamie harrison of

the -- concert with the biden administration to push up the remote voting so it will leave far fewer time for these people who are objecting to biden. i checked about four or five different sources, not in the same silo. it seems to corroborate. that is what is happening. what i'm wondering is, will it actually come to pass? how can they do something that is so obvious? maybe it is not obvious to people who don't pay attention but they are pushing it up to close in the time gap. host: that was chrissy talking about the potential for the virtual nomination of joe biden. it is due to begin july 21. david, capitol heights, maryland. democrat. good morning. caller: good morning to c-span

and the american people. i want to make two comments. former president trump and the heritage foundation are trying to distance themselves from comments about who they back. on april 21, 2022, the heritage foundation project 2025 endorsed the former president trump. trump accepted the endorsement. also the president of the heritage foundation came on msnbc in june and said they endorsed former president trump. therefore, both are trying to distance themselves from each other and deceive the american people. thank you for taking my call. host: reese in edmond, oklahoma. republican. what is on your mind? caller: thanks for taking my

call. i wanted to thank the american people and everybody for coming out to the rnc. it is so exciting. there is so much excitement around trump. host: are you in milwaukee? caller: i'm in oklahoma. the great state of oklahoma. host: are you an active republican? caller: i am an active republican and enjoying the rnc. i'm excited about president trump. another election. i just hope the american people will get behind and unite behind president trump. host: great. thanks for calling in. we will continue to your calls in just a minute. we will be joined -- pardon me. a cough. - we are going to be joined by julie harris, president of the national confederation of republican women who will be joining us from the rnc in

milwaukee. ♪ >> discover the heartbeat of democracy with c-span as we engage with voters nationwide and ask what issue is most important for you in this election and why. >> i'm from new hampshire, my name is leah, first time coming to an rnc. i'm a congressional candidate in the second district to run. high inflation, high mortgage rates, the border crisis, we are hoping to address these problems. >> byron donalds from the great state of florida. the issue that matters to me is securing our border. it's difficult to grow our economy for all of our young people in our country so that they can have great jobs and great opportunities if we have an open border.

>> my name is sarah, i'm from austin, texas, and the most important thing in my -- election for me is the constitution. i'm an attorney and i have a podcast. we have politicized the due process system so much, people don't know how the constitution works. >> i'm from wisconsin and the most important issue for me in the election is the integrity of the election process. every other issue that we care about that we wish to voice our opinions on depends on trusting the rope -- results of the election. >> c-span voices 2024, be a part of the conversation. >> c-spanshop.org is our online store, browse through the latest collection of c-span products,

apparel, books, home decor, and accessories. there is something for every c-span fan as every purchase helps to support our nonprofit operation. shop now or anytime at c-spanshop.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are back live in milwaukee and are joined by the president of the national federation of republican women. julie harris comes out of arkansas. she spoke last night at the convention. miss harris, what's it like to walk out on that stage, see that, what does it feel like? guest: well, i was there representing the national federation of republican women, 60,000 members strong, many of them were in the audience, so it was energizing to look out there and see all of their special

signs, hear the cheers, to know that i have their support and was there representing them, it was exhilarating. host: how long have you been inv olved in nfrw? guest: over 20 years, but i'm the newly elected president, took office in january. with it being a presidential election year, we hit the ground running. there was no time to learn on the job. you had to come in with experience and for motivating the grassroots. that's what we are known for. what makes us so successful is our women are involved at every level in politics. our values and our strength is at the local level. we are 86 years old, celebrating our 86th birthday. we have been doing grassroots for 86 years and are quite good at it. host: 2004, 20 years ago you

said you been involved. what motivated you to join the national confederation of republican women -- national federation of republican women? >> i was invited. i was interested in doing what i can. i had been screaming at the tv, seeing the various media and their spin on things and i wondered if there was anyone else that cares about our country as much as i care about our country. what do you do, what do you do with this passion for your country? at the time i was homeschooling my children and was invited to some type of leadership meeting -- i didn't know at the time but it was. my children were doing a school project with the homeschool community where they needed to cover the election and collect information on both parties. that's actually how i first found the republican party and

was invited into the leadership meeting. turns out it was actually a phone bank [laughter] . [laughter] so, that was my first experience with republican women, immediately going to work. host: when we hear about so-called women's issues, we often start with abortion. is that fair? guest: i do not think that's fair. the democrats and the media like to paint republican women were any women, talk about the women in america, as one issue voters. we are not. women's issues are american issues. it would be fair to say how do you message women. certainly women and men look at things differently, different things appealed to us than they do to men. maybe the package in which to carry those issues to women might be different, but the issues are the same. it's a safe and secure country, meaning we have to have borders.

you are not a country if you don't have borders. nothing racist, nothing unpatriotic about wanting to seal the borders. you can be the wonderful melting pot that we are here in the united states and still have secure borders. women want to feel safe and secure. they want to know that their daughters can go jogging without the fear of being murdered by someone who shouldn't even be in our country. like i said in my speech, women want to be able to see their families. they don't want to just survive, they want to thrive. you know, our grandparents, their parents, they talked about the american dream. that's what makes us so great in america. we want our children to have the chance to have that american dream as well. we want to be able to afford housing, college, and go on vacation host:. numbers are on -- vacation.

host: numbers are on the screen if you want to join in the conversation this morning. julie harris will be with us for another 20 minutes or so. we will put the numbers on the screen, go ahead and dial-in. what do you think of the republican platform this year and the way it -- you can yell at me if you think i'm saying the wrong word -- downplay the issue of abortion. guest: so, i was on the platform committee and i represented arkansas's nfrw with 27 members on the platform. we actually had i believe it was 83, 87 of our members that served on the rnc committee going into convention. the platform went from 60 six pages down to 16. i wish i had a fit me so i could pull it off on the screen for everyone to see. it's a pocket platform.

all of the major planks, it wasn't that the language was taken out because we no longer support it, but it was put down into a condensed easy-to-read format. it's still in there, we proudly support families and life. israel is still in there. that's an issue i care very much about. i'm wearing my american israel peace pin. the language was also reduced concerning israel. we still stand with israel. marriage, sanctity of marriage is still in there. i think there has been a lot of misinformation and certainly we all have our special interests and the things that brought us to the party that we would like expounded upon. when you expound upon one issue, you have to expound upon all. the different planks are important to different republicans within the party. we are still a pro-life party, that is still in there.

i understood the concept of making it a document that the average voter could read, that our youngest voters could read. i'm ok with it. certainly, i have certain languages i would have liked to have added, but overall i was ok. it's a good platform. host: "new york times" poll has joe biden bleeding amongst women voters by 8%. do you think that the republican party today is a big tent party? guest: i think that we are. i think that being a big tent party doesn't mean that you have to compromise on truth. you can still know what a woman is and be a big tent party. those can coexist. i think we are a big tent party. also seeing the women's support of the republican party all and president trump, it's growing. i'm out there traveling the whole country, speaking to

thousands of women. certainly most of them are republican women, but republican women, our 60,000 women represent their local communities. it's not just women at a national level. they are in a town, county, state. as i'm traveling and speaking to them, they are giving me feedback. these are grassroots women. the ones who win elections, from school boards all of the way up to the u.s. senate in the presidential election. as i'm hearing from them and given them talking points on our issues, i'm getting great feedback and i think we will see the number arise this election. host: we will show a little video from last night, a woman spoke to mention. here she is. [video clip] >> if we have four more years of biden or a single day of harris,

our country will be badly soft. for the sake of our nation, we have to go with donald trump. [applause] but there is more to it than that. we should acknowledge that there are some americans who do not agree with donald trump 100% of the time. i happen to know some of them. i want to speak to them tonight. [applause] my message to them is simple. you don't have to agree with trump at 100% of the time to vote.

take it from me, i haven't always agreed with president trump. but we agree with more often than we disagree. [applause] we agree on keeping america strong. we agree on keeping america safe. we agree that democrats have moved so far to the left that they are putting our freedoms in danger. i'm here tonight because we have a country to save. a unified republican party is essential for saving her. host: julie harris, what's your

reaction to nikki haley last night? guest: i thought she did fantastic. i agree with her. one of the things i've been speaking to since january is that there are not enough republicans who think just like me to win this election. there are not enough republicans who think just like nikki haley, governor sanders, or even president trump to win the election, but collectively together we can win the election. i think of republicans as a wide spectrum and we need the whole spectrum to come together to win . nikki haley's speech was fantastic and i really appreciated it. i think it did a lot to unite the party. host: how much of your time in a week is spent with the nfrw? guest: 60 to 70 hours per week. our president lives in alexandria, right there close to the nation's capital.

so, for i guess a year and a half now, for my two years as president, i'm often on the job 24/7 and in the office anywhere from 40 to 60, 70 hours a week, and traveling, it's a full-time job. host: moving from your home in arkansas to alexandria, virginia? guest: correct. i keep my home in arkansas, my family is there and my family comes to see me but i am primarily there in our nation's capital. host: let's take some calls. chuck, you are on the line with julie harris, president of the nfrw. caller: good morning. i'm nervous, i keep hearing biden mentioning charlottesville being the reason he entered the

race. he keeps mentioning it in his speeches, trumped calling nazis good people. i was curious about that. i read the speech in the only thing i can conclude is that biden is either trying to divide america, he's ignorant, or he's a liar. i read the speech. anybody can tell that it was about the statues being torn down and there are good people on both sides about that situation. i don't want them to tear down george washington's statue. who does? that would be crazy. host: any comments? guest: first of all, thank you for calling in, love the accent, makes me feel like i'm home. not from alabama but that's a familiar sound to me. i agree. i hate to see so many statues torn down. you can't erase history.

statues, monuments, landmarks, these are things we take our children and grandchildren to. we talk about history. it's an educational moment. our country has come a long way and our effort to have a more perfect union. i don't know, you know, it's a political soundbite that biden uses to say what about why he got in the race. it's meant to divide. it's meant to bring in or excite and enrage the black voter in the hopes that they will come to the democratic side. seeing that demographic become more republican amazingly enough that i'm thankful for it, we are seeing them turn to trump. realizing that just like the rest of the country, we were all better under a republican presidency.

i don't think that these soundbites are going to work in this election. host: next call is from lynn, herbert saville, north carolina. caller: thank you for taking my call. i just wanted to ask why people don't seem to realize that this whole thing is a money game. money. it's sort of obscene, absently, -- actually, that elon musk would be donating $45 million a month for a job that pays $400,000 a year. this is on both sides. it seems to me that the people that have lots and lots of money, it is in their interest to keep us all divided. they do that by talking about race, talking about this and that. we are at one another's throats while they suck all the money up to the top.

so, any comments? host: julie harris? guest: well, i would say it is up to us on the ground, citizens of america, the grassroots, to unite. certainly, there is always something informing us, but if we are educated, and by educated i mean do our own research, engaged in the process, you are left with those who are flooding the system with money. when i first got involved in elections, we would persuade and go door to door, phone call and educate the voters. we need to get back to that. i think that having a generation where the information is in the palm of their hands and where we look to get our facts on little soundbites, tiktok, instagram, facebook, it's a serious

influence on a person who looks at their facts and that way. but i would say that we need to do our part. if this is something that matters to you, get involved, join the republican women. we will put you to work and show you how to unify the party. we are quite good at it. host: the next call is from takoma park, maryland, democratic line. caller: i've been listening to the republican national convention over the radio and i'm just a little dismayed over this blatant untruths being told. the ideas of prisons being emptied into the u.s., our daughters not being safe because of the border. there is no evidence to support that whatsoever. there's been a decrease in violent crime since 2020.

just because of this idea that things were better under trump than under biden, i think it comes with a little bias timewise. people don't exactly remember correctly. this idea that presidents control gas prices, which they don't. just this reoccurring theme that the life of the average american is better under trump than biden is unfathomable because biden is doing tangible things for working-class people around student loan debt, forgiving medical debt, expanding medicare and medicaid. host: we got it, let's get a response. guest: the facts are just not what she is saying. if you are even tuned into the news, you see crime rates going up. it's the illegal criminal immigrants coming across the border. we cannot forget these stories. lincoln riley and many more.

the facts are there. the data doesn't support what we just heard from the caller. we were better under a trump administration. host: how does miss harris feel about project 2020 five getting rid of the department of education, ending title ix protections for women in education. that's from jesse in albuquerque, new mexico. guest: i certainly support the title ix project and 2020 five, project 2025, i will be honest with you, i haven't dove into that enough to give an expert opinion on it. it's something i intend to read. getting 60,000 women activated and motivated in this election has taken a great deal of my time and i am certainly not an expert on it. i have heard of project 2025 and look forward to hearing more about it.

i have quite a few friends at the heritage foundation and i'm sure that they will fill in the gaps, but i don't have a lot to say about that this morning. host: how many conventions have you attended? guest: my fifth, keeping in mind that in 2020 we didn't get to go, but it's my fifth time being a delegate. host: compare and contrast, you have been through 2004, 2008? guest: well, this one is energizing, of course, and i'm sure a lot of it has to do with the fact that we saw an attempt to assassinate president trump during the convention. watching it at the beginning and on television, following the pennsylvania rally, we had a lot of our republican women there to rally. watching in the hotel room, i was with friends.

to see the president go down in that way and then get up, to show his strength and come in to this convention, to see him standing strong and to have that real emotion that he had to. sometimes we don't realize that these public figures are also human. they have real human feelings. to see him come, to be strong, to be strong enough to show emotion, it was energizing. in that way it's been fantastic. now, security has been extremely, extremely tight, that's been somewhat difficult to navigate. but once you get to where you are going, it has been fantastic. host: have you had a chance to get into milwaukee at all outside the perimeter and if so, what has been your experience? host: yes, so i went with the arkansas delegation on saturday night, maybe sunday night.

i've been here for almost two weeks now. my days are running together. we went out on lake geneva. we did a boat ride, it was fantastic, i loved being with the arkansas delegation. i have found that the everyday folks walking the streets here in milwaukee, they seem unphased by all of this, friendly and hospitable. a beautiful city when you look over the lakes and the rivers. so, it's been great. host: the next call comes from joyce in portland, oregon, welcome. caller: thank you for taking my call. miss harris, i'm a black woman. i was raised up during the jim crow era. i know a little bit about abortion and that and everything. i have a friend who was molested

by her uncle. she was too young to have that baby. she died. my thing is, i know the republican party, they think they know what's best for all america, but you can't get anybody to vote for trump. i don't dislike the man or anything like that. i pray vigorously that he's ok. thank god that he was. but he has said some terrible things about black people. and everything. i went through hell and high water growing up in the jim crow era. i lived in a time when my parents couldn't vote, but had to pay taxes. so, either way the pendulum falls, i don't think it was so

great under him. he was very chaotic. he didn't want certain states to have certain things and everything. i tried to be even keel about everything. i understand about life. but my friend, we were both young. she was molested by her uncle. host: i think we've got an idea where you're going with the conversation. let's hear from julie harris. guest: i'm not aware of awful things that president trump has set about the black people or the overall community of any minority group, for that matter. i would say that i'm a little bit not sure how to comment on that. i just haven't heard them. i know that we are told that. i know that the media tries to make him out to be a racist. i haven't seen that. as far as jim crow laws, those

are democratic policies. that was a reaction to the republican policies that came before it. so, that again falls on the democratic party. i really can't even answer for it because it was republicans who were plotting against the jim crow laws and trying to make our country, as i said earlier, a more perfect union for everyone to be treated fairly. host: julie harris, who was your favorite for veep before j.d. vance got tapped? guest: well, i would have to say my own governor, governor sarah sanders. she was fantastic, she was the real deal. what you see coming out of arkansas and how great she is, her strength, i can tell you that that is really who she is. certainly, we would like to see our own arkansas daughter up there.

but i am happy with who trump has picked. i really didn't know, i wasn't trying to put my pic out there, but we were all secretly hoping and arkansas for our own governor because we know how fantastic she is. but in some ways we are happy that he picked j.d. vance, we get to keep our governor for the rest of her term and hopefully another term, a total of eight years. host: one more call with julie harris. mount hope, arkansas, republican mine. do you know where that is? guest: i do know where that is. good to hear from someone back on. host: go ahead. caller: good morning, how we doing? thank you for taking my call. i'm the last call, so i get at least two minutes. [laughter] i gotta tell you, joe biden, he caused me thousands and thousands of dollars.

-- costs me thousands and thousands of dollars. i retired military, 82, have my own business. when he took office, the first thing he did along with 17 other items, he stopped the production in our country with the oil. you don't have oil? you just at a disability with other countries. we are buying oil from communist countries, now. i can't name them. i'm too old. that was a mistake and he won't admit to that. another mistake he made, the open border. now we have untold amounts of people in this country. we don't even know where they are. host: we are going to leave it there and thank you from calling in. where is your home and arkansas, julie harris?

[indiscernible] host: we appreciate you spending time with us here on c-span. putting the numbers upn the screen for the next half hour, (202) 748-8000 for democrats, (202) 748-8001 for rublicans, (202) 748-8002 for independents. we will be taking those calls and getting reviews on day three of the republican national convention. j.d. vance will be accepting the vice presidential nomination tonight. he is the highlight speech. it was in new orleans that we first started hearing lee

greenwood singing proud to be an american. c-span caught up with him in milwaukee. >> hi, i'm lee greenwood, grammy winner and american patriot. i wrote this song in 1983. in 1984 it went on record for the first time. this is the 40th anniversary of the song and the 40th anniversary of the first time the republican party ever used god bless the usa. going back to the reagan days. i'm proud of president trump for using the song. i had no idea they were going to use it. in his former term it was a song he used all along and there were a lot of people pushing back. i'm a conservative christian. i believe that donald trump

stands for making america great. now, making america great again. is he still using the song? i'm proud of him, proud to have him do that. monday night i sang for him live again right after his assassination attempt. this was a proud moment for me. we were supposed to be here tuesday, wednesday, thursday, but when the trump campaign called and said the president was going to make an appearance to show the rest of the world that he is courageous and he wants to let the rnc know that he is still on the campaign trail to win the presidency. he said get lee greenwood, i want him to sing live. donald trump has never cut my song in half. i thought a lot about that. i realize now it's not just a kurt -- courtesy to me and the writer and singer of the song, but he uses the rest of the song so that people can get a good look at the pictures of him standing without talking in the audience, seeing who is in the

audience so that he can address them during the speech, because he does it without a teleprompter. a lot of things make us proud of who we are. i was raised on a chicken farm in california as a teenager. i guess i had all the right things said to me. proud of who you are, your handshake is your word. when i left home at 16, 17, i had 20 years in nevada. it's a jungle and i dealt cards for a while and i was shaken by things that didn't bring me to faith. i wear it -- after marrying my life, kimberly, i came back to faith and what makes me a patriot now is the belief that america is the greatest country in the world, god-fearing, we believe in faith, faith in our president and faith in donald trump to win the presidency again. host: we are back live, day

three of the republican national convention in milwaukee. you can see the pfizer center there on your screen. -- fiserv center there on your screen. campaign 2024, you can discuss any of the issues we have talked about this morning. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. try our text number if you can't get through on the phone lines, (202) 748-8003. that's for text messages only. please include your first name and city, if you would. also, you can continue this conversation on our facebook page or on our x page. we want to show you three headlines, three articles in "the washington post," about

j.d. vance. "trump finds a kindred spirit in election denial. on foreign policy, vance shares in trump's isolationism. three, vance pick thrills populists, unnerves business republicans. vance has suggested a break with the ethic -- economic orthodoxy of the last several decades on a range of policy issues regarding unions, antitrust, taxes, even making comments that appear at odds with trump, who already scrambled the party ideology. " obviously, a lot being written about j.d. vance today, tonight is when he will accept the nomination for vice president. to your calls on our democrats line.

washington, d.c., go ahead. caller: good morning. i recall the jim crow era. the republicans, my grandfather was a republican. all of his children are republicans. so my mother. she finished college in 1930 nine and became a democrat under roosevelt. the democrats being the ones that hang the end of murdered people down south, even in st. louis, where i was raised under jim crow. the thing about the jim crow era is that the democrats changed what they started with with the black panther party in mississippi and americans became more democratic in that time.

the sister in arkansas, correct your information on the jim crow period. host: and you have stuck with that? caller: democrats became more democratic. host: tell you what, we are going to move on at this point. edwin in maryland, republican line, please go ahead. caller: the last person you had on, you asked them about project 2025. this is the third or fourth time i've heard a republican person on the show actually lie, sounds like they are lying from their voice and say that they don't know what project 2025 is. seems like throughout the whole

rnc, as well as all the speeches i've heard, everybody just tries to dance around a 2025 and ignore it. host: you are calling on the republican mine. are you a republican? caller: yes. host: have you read project 2025? caller: in detail. host: what do you think of it? caller: it seems like it's bringing down american policy, trying to change everything that's been done over the past 10 or 15 years. host: is that a good thing or bad thing? caller: i think it's a bad thing for the nation as a whole. that's all the comments i have. host: why do you think it's a bad thing? caller: because it is removing certain key terms from policy. it's infringing on women's rights as a whole. it's trying to tell a woman what they want to do with their bodies from a man's perspective

instead of a woman and doctors perspective. those are the main things to me that affect me and my children as well. host: what do you do there in maryland? caller: i'm an employee of the state. guest: thank you for calling in. lewis, alabama, democratic mine. caller: i have two questions. one is about -- why no one [indiscernible] host: we are going to put you on hold, turned on the volume on your television, otherwise we get all of that feedback and it brings the show to a grinding halt. we can hear everything through your phone, i promise. stephen, independent mine. caller: hey, thank you. i just want to say, one, you guys had tony perkins on a

couple of days ago and he talked about the 14th amendment and adding in to the republican platform the 14th amendment being used for protecting unborn children, that's how he termed it. i think that the way the republican party has turned language like the 14th amendment , which was passed after the civil war to address the enslavement of african americans , giving them civil rights, overturning plessy v ferguson. the way that the republican party has, over the past at least 20 years, been turning language on its head, a lot of it is in order to retaliate against losses they feel like they have had since the civil war.

host: stephen, make the connection we have -- before we have to move on, the connection between what tony perkins proposed in what you are saying about the last 20 years. caller: i'm saying that this convention, this is a sense of retaliation that they have been breeding in for a long time. that's when a lot of people are feeling they don't want to be associated. they don't want to be associated with retaliation. host: i'm just trying to follow the retaliation part. caller: so, what happens is they have this idea that they lost the civil war, black people have gained rights that they shouldn't have. host: you think the republicans want to put in the unborn language because -- caller: no, i'm saying they have turned the 14th amendment on its head in order to approve their

own agenda. host: that was stephen in maryland. this is joseph in medina, new york, republican. caller: yes, yes, thank you for having me, thank you for your show. i would like to bring up something about people in our justice system, people that physically go out and murder people. i think our justice system needs to be changed. like for example, the two men that word this young girl, they are sitting in jail right now. i think the murderer should murder the murderer. what i mean by that is that someone physically goes out and murders somebody purposely, kills them and knows they are guilty of that, they should be taken right off after the trial and i think they should be taken right into a room and put a gun on the table and close the door. host: that's joseph in new york.

howard, esposito, independent line, good morning to you. howard, good morning to you. let's try grover in dunwoody, virginia, democrat. hello, grover. caller: yeah, what i cannot understand is that out of the millions of people in the united states, why do we have to get a criminal that couldn't even be a secret service person to be the leader of the country? host: grover, got to turn down the tv, otherwise we get all that feedback. if you get on the line, turn down your tv, we will hear everything on your phone. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. (202) 748-8002 for everyone else.

there's a lot going on out there, we would love to hear your views on the republican national convention. last night, the cochair of the republican national committee spoke. here is what she had to say. [video clip] >> no doubt that saturday was one of the most frightening moments in the life of my father-in-law. millimeters separated him from life and certain death. it was in the midst of it all as he was jostled offstage by secret service that he knew how defining the moment would be for our country and he hoisted his fist in the air. [republicans chanting "fist"]

it was not just for the audience at the rally. not just for his supporters tuning in. but for all of america. signaling to the world that no matter what, america would always prevail. though it has been strained, no enemy, no force, not even a bullet is strong enough to break our american grit and soul. host: back to your calls and views. let's hear from karen on the independent mine in baltimore. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. project 2025 will also be

getting our union rights and workers rights. we won't be able to get paid overtime. trump and the republican party are responsible for project 2025. do not let them gaslight you, america. this is serious. that's all i would like to say. host: what kind of work do you do in baltimore? caller: i'm a document imaging technician and i work from home. host: thank you, ma'am. annie, st. petersburg, democratic mine. caller: -- line. caller: good morning, good morning. first i want to thank midas mighty. anyway, i'm calling because i am just surprised at how quiet

everybody is at this convention after what happened on saturday. there seems to be a lot of quietness. like any minute the cat is going to get out of the bag. host: what do you mean by that? caller: pardon me? host: what do you mean by that? caller: well, i think you know what i mean by that. i just think that there is a quietness. also, i think that this project 2025 is a very, very, very scary thing. i really, really hope that people really think long and hard before they vote. go midas mighty. host: let's hear from sean in cape coral, florida. caller: thank you, sir.

it's so refreshing to hear you allowing people to talk and getting down to the -- to what they are trying to say, allowing them to talk, i really appreciate that. the reason i was calling in is the -- i have been watching cnn and newsmax and foxnews in the coverage of the convention. i got frustrated, because they have got their talking points, their talking heads, they are all talking and giving their opinions. cnn has a republican that says the good things about trump and everybody else bashes. fox has a democrat that says negative things about trump and everybody else on the panel is praising him. but they also talk over the people who are speaking in the

convention. then it occurred to me, cnn just covers the what's going on and i flipped the channel to c-span. i flipped to the channel to c-span and you guys are showing what's happening. i don't eat the pundits to tell me what i just saw and keep me from seeing the whole thing. so that's why i'm calling, just to say thank you for the service you provide, i appreciate y'all. host: thanks for watching c-span. we will be gavel-to-gavel throughout the republican convention and democratic convention in august. bernard, elk grove, independent mine, you are on c-span, please go ahead. caller: yes, peter, i have a statement and then i would like to say something about a statement you yourself made in the past. the statement is -- people always say -- well, trump supporters say -- wasn't you

doing better, you know, 3.5 years ago, whatever? i have to address that. yes, i was. you've got people going to shows , they are going to ball games, they are traveling, stock market is up. unbelievably. people making money. people are happy. but there is a certain segment that is not. and you know, maybe they are not doing good because, you know, maybe they are upset because trump wasn't reelected or whatever. like that. or maybe they are just bad with money, i don't know. but we have moved on from that guy. it's the reason why people don't try to reelect the ones who lost. to address of what you said, you said that someone called in and

said trump is trying to be a dictator. you kind of got upset with them and said -- how is he going to become a dictator? well, the how is he's got people helping him and it's a little condescending. this guy has taken the republican party hostage. his daughter-in-law has the money to get in there with the rnc. that's how they do it. i couldn't believe the republicans let him get away with that, but they did. so, when you made the statement how would trump become a dictator, that's how he would do it. host: i think that goes to anytime anybody makes a statement like that, i'm going to come out of curiosity, challenge how that happens. you make a strong statement, it will be -- i don't care what policy it is or what politics it

is. i'm just curious. so, what's going to happen, i think i asked that question. caller: well, peter, i understand that, but who would ever think, trump spent trying to get a hold of those republicans, send me your money. i laughed, republicans won't let them -- let him get away with their money like that. that they put his daughter in charge of the rnc money? he got they bank. host: remember back in the reagan days, maureen ragan was cochair of the party? caller: trump is try to copy other people. he's not original, i get that. you know, he's one of the best conmen we have seen in a long time and i get it. we have never seen a guy like this. after a few months, he will take

this as a compliment. donald trump is the best con man and master map -- mastermind in america. host: does he scare you, bernard? caller: no, he doesn't scare me, i have god in my life. i made money when he was in there, i make money now, i make more money now, he doesn't scare me. what bothers me is that so many people in america feel that they are in a place in their life and in their heart and souls where they feel desperate. i hate that america feels that we have a segment of america that feels so desperate that they would choose a guy like this. they know better than this. the world knows better than this. host: bernard, we are going to

leave it there. chris, republican mine. caller: peter, thank you for your show, you have an exceptional show. thank you for what you do. i've been a lifelong democrat for years now and i'm having a hard time trying to understand the logic of these people that have not even read this or pretend that they have read this 2000 25. on the other hand, i don't know how we are possibly better off now than where we were before. these people must not have been grocery shopping or house shopping. these people will -- must not have seen the absolute disgrace of the cognitive decline of this president. he's a buffoon, doesn't run the country. works from 10:00 to 4:00.

fantastic. i would hate to see an eight news attack. -- missile attack. trump is the only choice, the country has gone downhill. people talking about the stock market be great, you know what? maybe it is great. however, everyone is struggling. things are to the point now where people have no idea of woke, they have no idea of lend's burns cities. their own businesses. yet it is donald trump's fault. like in new york, like everything else i wanted to also say thank you for c-span, fox

and cnn are a joke so the coverage of the convention. you guys are gavel-to-gavel. host: chelsea -- that was massachusetts. this is sal in lake city, south carolina, good morning. caller: everybody i've talked to seems to be going through it. everyone has a job now. people are working through it. donald trump was in there, god sent a curse on this country. 2000 people dying every day of covid. it's in the bible, god will send a curse on the people who are wicked and people, people who are mean. now things are going good. people have new cars, a job, they were very happy. but i don't want to go back to those days where the costs of killing five or six people a

week and everything was a currency in those days. donald trump gave a trillion dollars to the rich. what do people think? somebody has to pay for him giving this money to the rich. host: have you been watching the republican national convention? caller: yes, i have. i watched all of it mostly last night. host: what do you think? caller: i hear some good things, but mostly i hear a bunch of lies, you know what i'm saying? and i like the bail hearing in -- the man, i see what he did. i used to be a republican. host: what did you think of the nikki haley speech from last night?

caller: she's the same as donald trump, two-faced. says one thing to you, another thing to somebody else. she's not right. like trump, she a con artist. that's host: stuart, what's on your mind? caller: good morning. i would like to rebuttal on the guy who just went off. about the covid stuff. everybody knows it was too convenient to get trump out of office. you can have conspiracy theories but the fact is it was just too convenient because things were going too well. i don't know how we got the

covid but it has nothing to do with donald trump as far as the shots and the other things that go with that. democrats are the ones who enforced everybody you have though shots -- everybody to have those shots. who is really running this country? it has not been joe biden from day one. if you pay attention to the democratic debates before he got so-called elected. he was talking and all of a sudden he goes to the record player. we all know obama has been running this country into hell from day one. host: that was stuart from new york. we have an extended "washington journal."

more phone calls and guests. tommy thompson will be here a little bit later in the morning. coming up next is julia azari from marquette university, a political science professor. we will be talking with her next , live from milwaukee. >> see florida republican and democratic conventions firsthand. watch c-span uninterrupted, coverage from start to finish during the national conventions. get the schedule featuring lineups, video clips of individual speakers, social media highlights andxcsive content. catch c-span's live convention coverage of the republican and

democratic national conventions online or scan the cold on the right. also on c-span now, the free video app. c-span, your unfiltered view of the national convention, powered by cable. >> we are welcoming a great national crusade to make america safe again. >> taxes will go up and anyone who says they will not, is not telling the truth. >> we are in the midst of a springtime of hope for america. >> we are the party that believes in the american dream. >> read my lips. >> i still believe in a place called hope. >> here is the question for the american people.

who do you trust in this election? >> the real choice is whether we will build a bridge to the future or a bridge to the past. >> i have confidence in the wisdom of our people and the future of our country. >> 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 am john kerry and i am reporting for duty. >> these four years i could not foresee and will not forget. >> it is time for us to change america. >> i was not my own man anymore. i was my country's. >> i don't believe rolling back regulations on wall street will help the small business woman expand or the laid off construction worker keep his home. we have been there, we have tried that and we are not going back. we are going forward, america. >> under my administration our

friends will see more loyalty and mr. putin will see less flexibility and more backbone. >> he wants to make america great again. he could start by actually making things in america again. >> we will make america safe again. we will make america great again. >> here and now i give you my word. if you can trust me with the presidency, i will draw out the best of us. >> this towering american spirit has prevailed over every challenge and lifted us to the summit of human endeavors. >> c-span, your unfiltered view of the convention, powered by cable. >> the house will be in order. >> this year c-span celebrates

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free mobile app. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics. >> c-spanshop.org is c-span's online store. browse our collection of products, books, and accessories. there is something for everything and every purchase supports our nonprofit operation. shop now or anytime at c-spanshop.org. announcer: "washington journal" continues. host: we are back live in milwaukee, day 3 of the republican national convention. joining us now is julia azari, political science professor at marquette university. how far is marquette university from the fiserv center? guest: about two miles, maybe less. host: the appreciate you being

with us. who did you have your money on before j.d. vance was announced? guest: i am not afraid to admit that i was wrong. i have been leaning toward the doug burgum pick for the last month or so. there was some reason for that. i was operating on the idea that it would be doug burgum, marco rubio or j.d. vance. i had a slightly different set of ideas about where trump might go with the vice presidential pick. host: in your view, what does j.d. vance bring to the table? guest: that's an interesting question. the reason i have been leaning toward doug burgum because with the mike pence pick in 2016 we saw trump lean toward a reassurance pick, someone who

reassured a more conventional establishment and those republican voters who had mind have been -- who might have been skeptical. i think doug burgum would have assured those voters. i don't think j.d. vance brings that to the table. we have talked quite a lot about age. he is quite young. he is not even 40 years old. we can debate about whether this is a liability or an asset but he brings a doubling down on trumpist movement politics. host: what do you mean by that? guest: some of it is stylistic. some of it is a trump political style, a very media savvy style. it is very notable about j.d. vance. one thing he does not bring his governing experience. he has not been in the senate for very long. his career before that was

venture capital and writing and the military and law and different areas but he has not climbed through the republican party ranks. he has built his national reputation in the media. he has built it giving interviews, social media and throwing red meat to conservative trump just -- trump ist media audience. we could think about whether that is a liability or an asset in the election but it is a different way of doing politics than we would have seen 10 or 20 years ago. host: julia azari, how do you see donald trump compared to what he was elected in 2016 -- when he was elected in 2016? is he the same person? guest: that's a good question. it is easy to imagine that people will evolve. trump has emboldened into a

vision of what he has for politics and the republican party. in 2016 we saw somebody who had the skills to pivot. one of the reasons that drove some of his success with independent voters in 2016 that propelled him to the white house was that he had veered away from conventional republican positions on things like social security. he talked about how he would provide for everybody. he did not have a lot in the way on specifics for those plans. he was able to convey a political project that had a lot of ambiguity about what it would really mean and play a little bit with the position of different points on the political spectrum. that's a lot more challenging now. he is confident in the success of his political vision mostly based on what has gone on in the last two weeks. not so much based on something like the 2022 elections which were not very successful for trumpism. there has been some learning but

it is a little bit shaped by more contemporary events than the longer arc of his political career. host: about one year ago you wrote an article that described president trump not as a party leader but more as a movement leader. do you stand by that? guest: i do. i do stand by that. particularly in the united states where we have two parties that absorb different kinds of social movement that are not always easy to distinguish. what i meant by that is that a social movement is about changing and disrupting politics. trump has been one of the most forefront presidential-level politicians to embrace the idea of disrupting the system. that is what a social movement does. it is not confined to left or right or a particular perspective. a party wants to win. what that means for political parties is that they are very

cautious and risk-averse. they take positions they think will bring together a fair majority that will allow them to win at a national level. what we are seeing here over the last couple of days in milwaukee is increasing trumpification of the republican party, a movement toward this political style and political positions that are not the approach we would have expected from a political party that is really trying to reach into the center and pivot to the general. we. have seen that here. . host: julia azari, as a political scientist, what does it mean to have a party convention right in your hometown? guest: it has been really fascinating. it means that the city is in a spotlight that we are not accustomed to. people here were trepidation is of what a national convention

involved and the amount of upheaval in the city. also we are excited to show off our city. we are proud of it. it highlights our position as a swing state. we have been contending with a lot of these issues and the contentious tenor of polarized politics a little bit longer than other places in this country. host: we will put the phone numbers on the screen. talk to julia azari who is a political science professor from marquette university. dial in now if you have any questions for her. before we go to the calls, i want to look at the other side and get your take on what is happening on the democrat side of the aisle in politics. guest: sure. what isn't happening? there is actually something that if you look closely you can see rumblings behind the scenes. the democratic party is trying

to put a public space toward what they are trying to do to think about what their public message is going to be while they are different viewpoints about which direction they should go. what you are seeing is a difference between the president and the president's supporters and the party which is thinking more about winning the election, the party itself might be thinking about elevating other figures, thinking about figures who might be the future of the party like gretchen whitmer, gavin newsom or vice president harris. raphael warnock might also belong on that list. i think what you are seeing on the democratic side, a parallel of the president party tension that observers of these dynamics have come to expect. host: when you look back at twice elected presidents, ronald

reagan and bill clinton, how would they fit into their current party structures? guest: that's a really fascinating question. i was contemplating ronald reagan with other political scientists last night. the dodge answer for that is both of them will probably pivot to do with the need to do. we especially have the sense that bill clinton is a political creature. he is still around and still a figure to some degree in the party. likely clinton would pivoted to go in the direction of the party. certainly, i tell my students who were born one decade after clinton was president, when i tell them about his political project, they are pretty surprised. that's not the democratic party that they know. i think ronald reagan would have some challenges in terms of fitting into where the gop is going on foreign policy and immigration.

he was someone who had done a number of political pivots in his life. it's hard to really know how he would fit into that populist isolationist wing of the party because it is still at odds with the ideas that ronald reagan had expressed in his parting address to the nation, praising immigration and its role in the american project. that is a little bit different than some of the thoughts in the contemporary gop. host: what are you teaching next semester? guest: i am not teaching next semester. i am on a long-awaited research leave. i will be working on a book on the vice presidency and political parties. i will probably be teaching this spring some courses on political parties and may be my course on populism. host: michael, santa barbara, california, democrat. caller: good morning. i was hoping i would say i was a

democrat. i thought if i was a democrat that i would not get through. this lady who is talking, she has put things in context that people really need to hear. it is not really about -- so much of the politics now is about image instead of making it about discussing policy. i want to talk about a couple of things and then i will get off the phone. it was tragic what happened to mr. trump a few days ago. that was terrible. it's funny that no one wants to talk about how the secret service resources were stressed and how mr. trump kept putting secret service resources where they were stressed. no one is talking about how they picked the rally at that spot that had locations where he would be at risk. it was wrong what happened to

him. i think his team needs to take responsibility for putting him in the situation. host: any comment for that caller? guest: i appreciate his kind words and his thoughts. one of the things that is important in these moments is to defer to people with deeper expertise. that would extend to security and secret service. i don't really know. i think we are still learning about what has happened, what the security protocols were. i admit i was astounded. i was astounded that that was able to have it on saturday -- happen on saturday but i would not begin to pretend to know why or understand how to give the secret service advice. host: you are a few blocks from the fiserv center. what is the security around where you are in milwaukee?

guest: it is quite tight. not totally dissimilar. the last time i was able to get to a convention which was in los angeles in 2000. this was before 9/11. security was pretty tight. here it is quite tight. it is difficult to get into what they are calling the hard zone and the soft zone with a vehicle search with pedestrian access. we should mention that yesterday there was a tragic incident just north of the convention where some of the police who have come here to help protect the convention goers did shoot a 20-year-old man on the north side of milwaukee and we are still learning more details about what happened. we have already had a tragic event in our city related to that security. host: danny is a republican in louisville, kentucky. caller: thanks for taking my

call. i hope you give me enough time to talk. i have been holding off calling in. i think trump has grown quite a bit since 2016. as far as j.d. vance, i think he has grown from the last nine years. i don't think you really have your head together until you are 40. he has learned a lot over the last nine years or so. i have been hearing so many people talking about how j.d. vance is not really a good enough to be vice president but obama was a one term president -- one term senator who got to be president. i wish they would hold the rhetoric down. four bernard and the lady last week, i think we need to pray

for those people with twisted, sick minds just like the shooter. host: that was danny in kentucky. you are writing a book or researching a book on vice presidents. the fact that j.d. vance was just elected for the first time in 2022, do we put too much focus on elected office rather than life experience? guest: that's a good question. i'm not sure. elected office is a very specific kind of life experience that's useful for going into the job of governing. it's building relationships, learning how to read the political room, learning how things work on capitol hill. those are useful skills. the caller is absolutely right that barack obama had not served very long in the senate. neither had vice president harris. both had held state-level office prior to that.

the distinction is actually one that is not about experience but about the way they have worked their way up through party channels or through more media channels. i think obama, i am not holding him up as an example of someone who came into office with a lot of experience. he also sidestepped party channels on his way up through the political rags -- political rags and played on his skills. the reason i am a committed defender of political parties as an idea is because they are not about one person. they are not about just one person who happens to be good on camera. they are about groups of people and bringing together people who have some shared foundation but also have different experiences and viewpoints. when i think about the way

different politicians who made their way up through presidential politics, that is what i think about. i think that vance represents a specific kind of person. it's not that he does not have valuable experiences or perspective. he is clearly a very intelligent person. it is just interesting that he's not somebody who has worked through multiple levels of political office. in contrast to mike pence who served in the house of representatives and as governor of indiana and brought a variety of experience which i also think is valuable. host: you teach a class on populism. what is your definition of populism? is j.d. vance or donald trump populist? guest: that's a great question. my students have thought about that all semester. we debated definitions. my definition, i think of

populism as a rhetorical style. my answer will irritate you and i'm ok with that. i think populism is not something someone is or isn't. it is an idea that someone might embrace or incorporate into other ideas at a given time. it draws on an idea that there is an authentic people and that there is something about institutions and elites that is keeping those authentic people down. i think what we see with vance, with trump and politicians across the right and left his day incorporate these ideas into the appeals that they make. they use them to get people to feel victimhood. that is a really important concept in contemporary politics and an important concept driving what distinguishes trumpism from more traditional strands of conservatism. they are encouraging people to see themselves as victims of the system. the other crucial point about

that is it has an element of blowing up the system and blowing up the institutions, calling out the establishment elites, calling out the media. i don't think this is confined to one political perspective in american politics. a lot of different politicians draw on that. vance and trump draw on it as a mainstay of their rhetoric more than a more conventional mitt romney or republican politician. host: let's go to david in maryland on the democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. excuse me. i would like to comment on everyone who is jumping to the conclusion that the attempted killing of donald trump was because he was running for presidency of the united states. we don't know that.

prior to donald trump running for president, he always had a detail of security people all around him. he was afraid to eat in places where people were cooking, afraid of being poisoned. excuse me. and we just don't know that this attempted killing was related to his political endeavors. host: this is david in capitol heights, maryland. this is craig in florida, republican. caller: yes. everybody jumps on the trump is a convicted felon. but i consider biden a rapist and murderer. he is too old and feeble.

a bunch of democrats got him to open up and listen and think. how did that girl in texas have her last breath strangled out of her by biden's illegal aliens and all of the other americans being killed, raped and murdered by biden. host: that was craig in florida. julia azari, do you think president biden will drop out of the race or the democrats will dump him? guest: i really avoided making predictions on that. we are in a 50-50 situation right now. it seems like what is going on in the democratic party is that people are trying to figure out what to do. there are clearly people who think that the best course of action is for biden to drop out. i don't think there is any doubt

that the president's age and preparation to continue on in office as a result of his age have been a sources of concern. the other side of that, i don't know that the other side of that is so much that that's not true but that it's not clear what happens next. it is not clear if vice president harris who is the obvious successor will perform better in the polls. if she were to be overlooked, those are some very complex dynamics involved with overlooking in this kind of situation, a woman and person of color to serve as vice president, those are very important constituencies within the democratic party and that should be handled with some delicateness. on the other hand they have a number of politicians who could probably be at the ready but are they nationally known? are they ready to hit the ground running in mid august when the

campaign has already been going on, seems like forever, maybe since the dawn of time. that is the dynamic going on in the democratic party. the answer to the latter question are the ones that will drive what happens not so much the answer to the question is biden older, is he experiencing physical decline that is experienced at that age. most people have accepted that those things are happening whether or not they agree on exactly to what degree or how much that matters. the answer to the question of what next is the sticking point for the democrats. host: dan from michigan -- edward from michigan, independent line. caller: thanks for taking my call. my question is actually back in december i called in about the age of both candidates. now we are voting for the vice president to be president one of these days because i believe

both men would die in office. my question goes back to hillary and donald trump election. the polls all had clinton so far in advance, winning, yet she turned out to be the loser and it was because of people like me. i didn't vote for either party because i didn't like either choice. i don't think either person deserve to be president. i think this time, both men are not going to make it through the election. they will not make it through four years in office. how many people were involved, like me in 2016? host: thank you for that. guest: it is a pretty good diagnosis of what happened in 2016. it is useful to note that the polls were not that far off in terms of the national popular vote that they failed to capture what was going on in wisconsin

and michigan and pennsylvania, with the electoral college strategy. having two historically unpopular candidates is a recipe for the dynamics the caller described. what has potentially happened at this point is that something we know is what drives people to vote even if they might not otherwise be inclined is they perceive differences between the candidates and if they care about those differences. i think over the course of time, probably those feelings have heightened somewhat and there are people who might not have voted in 2016 because of those polls, because they thought the election result was foretold in the stars and that clinton was obviously going to win. regardless of which candidate they might have leaned towards, they did not come out and vote. the lesson of 2016, and 2020 for that matter, is that

presidential elections are very closely thought in a handful of swing states and that might change some voters' voting calculus. they might say they don't like either candidate but if they had to choose, they would prefer one or the other. host: julia azari, what is it that is in the water in wisconsin? 1960, 1968, the last couple of elections, it has been very close. robert la follette. what is it about politics in wisconsin? guest: it is a really interesting question. there are two things going on and one is the bipartisan progressive tradition that is rooted in -- you mentioned la follette.

it is rooted in this idea of holding the powerful to account. it is a bit of a populist tradition, rooted in these foundational ideas of good government and public service and up to recent history of wisconsin, it is why it has been so close, a lot of undecided and people in the middle and independent political thinking. that has changed a little bit and i have seen data presented by charles franklin, our resident pollster and his team. now wisconsin is very close because you have a lot of committed partisans. you have deep blue milwaukee and dane county and a couple other spots in the state, and increasingly deep red areas throughout the rest of the state. it has become a place where now it is a swing state because

people are so deeply committed to their partisan views. it is ultimately a turnout battle, as opposed to a debate about persuasion. host: last call for julia azari comes from michelle in louisiana, democrat. caller: hi. i felt like for me, i appreciate biden's infrastructure bill. i see it happening all over my town. i see bridges being fixed, railroads, the roads. i'm seeing everything in my town being fixed. i felt like with trump, to me, it went back to january 6. that was my immediate thing. i felt like it was a call to fight, literally.

that was frightening for me. host: thank you michelle. we are going to leave it there. julia azari, has president biden been able to emphasize enough, his legislative achievements and does anyone care politically about january 6 anymore? guest: these are good questions. the biden administration has tried. it depends on what it is you are looking at. during the rnc, there are signs although -- all over the place about the results of biden's infrastructure bill. certainly the democrats have done their part to have signage up while the republicans are here. i think one of the challenges in policy, policy changes lives often pretty slowly and you don't see those effects and

competing with the immediate effects of inflation. as far as january 6, that is hard to say, if anyone cares about it. i do think people care about it. the images certainly stayed with people. for democrats, it was a day that exemplified their worst fears about the publican administration. for republicans, they are still convinced of the story, of the baseless election claims. to some degree, motivating the hardest partisans in both parties. i don't know that it is at the forefront of everyone else's mind. host: julia azari of marquette university. as always, we appreciate you being on c-span. we are glad you shared your hometown with us, up in milwaukee. thank you for being on. guest: thank you so much. host: we've got an hour and a half to go, a four hour show.

we are going to go back to your calls and your views on campaign 2024. day three of the republican convention is coming up. 5:00 to 6:00 tonight through j.d. vance's acceptance speech. that is the big highlight for today. of course tomorrow is president trump's acceptance speech. here are the numbers on the screen if you want to dial in. (202)-748-8000 for democrats. (202)-748-8001 for republicans. (202)-748-8002 for independents. if you can't get through on those lines, try the text line. include your first name and your city, if you would. (202)-748-8003. but we have been out and about in milwaukee for the last couple

of days, couple of weeks, and we looked at the issue of the republican national committee coming to milwaukee and the issue of homelessness. here it is. >> father mike bertram, where are we? >> we are at saint benedict's community center where we conduct meals for the poor. we are right on the edge of the security border for the republican national convention. it is one of our sites, for what we call community services. we offer a evening meal program and in light of the convention, we are enhancing and expanding our services for the poor who depend on us. >> before the convention, what was the state of homelessness like in the city and what was your ministry doing to help? >> when it comes to homelessness, we are all aware that homeless people are increasing in number. i can't believe what people pay for rent an apartment, much less for a house. we certainly do see the rise in

homelessness. during the winter months, we do offer a shelter program. we are the largest seasonal shelter program in the city of milwaukee. with the convention coming, we thought for the safety of our guests, so they don't really go into the downtown area which could be dangerous, it is a security zone, we reopened the shelter program for this week so that folks can have comfort in the heat, but also safety from the convention going on downtown. >> what was the policy regarding those who are homeless during the convention? was there a specific policy laid out by the city? >> not really. we are working with the city and the county because we were also going to open the center for a cooling center, but the county and the center -- and the city said let's work together as partners on this, so they took the cooling center and we have the evening meal, folks can stay after work or shelter for the

evening they need thing, they can go to this cooling center not far from saint benedict's. >> we see cots in the background. talk about the transformation that will take place. >> it is interesting if you are here for the meal. we serve probably 175 to 200 people a night. a beautiful meal provided by us and some of our sponsors. all of this comes down because you can see the cots in the back. we can bill this -- we can fill this meal hall with 40 cots for men. we put 20 cots in a different room for women. the last time i came here, we were almost at capacity. we know we are answering a need. i know the guests are grateful. they have helped us clean up afterwards. they stack the cots. they say they are grateful for what we are serving and they want to return the favor. >> besides the meal and a

place to sleep, what other services do you provide? >> we offer services specifically geared toward the homeless. you will see laundry facilities, shower facilities, we issue bus passes, eyeglasses, we do birth certificates. it is all geared toward the homeless population in milwaukee. we are happy to do that all year-round but especially now during the convention. it is a gift back to the city. when you think about what a lot of conventions do -- a lot of communities do, the poor are rounded up and sent out to some remote location with no services. we thought we can't do that. we know the guests that depend on us, we thought let's expand our services so that this is a safe and comfortable week for them, and a good week for the city of milwaukee. >> i imagine because of something like this, there is an uptick in costs. are there sources of income to help? >> we have had wonderful benefactors and donors.

people have volunteered food, drink or a monetary donation, saying they want to be a part of this, and they are so proud of the way we are dealing with the issue of the poor and the homeless during the week of the convention. i can't say enough about the goodness of benefactors and donors. >> thank you very much. >> "washington journal" continues. host: and we are back come alive in milwaukee -- we are back, live in milwaukee. we will go through the papers and take your calls on political issues. the numbers are up on the screen. 202 is the area code for all of our numbers. coming up in about an hour is tommy thompson, the longest-serving governor in wisconsin history, republican. he served four terms. he served as the hhs secretary during the bush administration.

governor thompson has been around quite a bit, and we will get his perspective. temporary president of the university of wisconsin system. we will get his view on what is going on in the republican party and take calls with him in just about an hour or so. in the meantime, let's go through a couple papers. this is the new york times. this is how democrats will choose a nominee. there are three options. if biden stays in the race, if he drops out before the convention, if he drops out after the convention. this is if he stays in the race. the party committee meets to finalize rules for the virtual rollcall and the convention. that virtual rollcall would happen between july 21 and august 6. this is the current plan for the

democrats, a super majority of delegates required to win. nearly all of the roughly 4000 democrat delegates are already pledged to mr. biden. this turbine wins the nomination, goes to the democrat national convention on august 19 and accept the nominatioand appears on the ballot. if president biden should drop out before the convention, his pledged delegates are released to vote for a new candidate. if a candidate wants to be on the ballot, a candidate needs signatures from at least 300 delegates to appear on the convention ballot. it goes to the national convention in chicago, august 19. the candidate needs a simple majority of about 4000 delegates to win the nomination. if no candidate reaches a majority in the first round, about 700 so-called superdelegates and also vote in subsequent rounds and then it goes on. if it goes to the convention,

and president biden steps aside after that, then the democratic national committee will choose a new nominee and the committee which includes state party leaders and members allocated by state population will meet to select a replacement. those are the three options right now for the democrats. let's go to your calls. john in ohio, republican line. caller: hello. i just wanted to make a few points. somebody was saying that trump didn't get reelected because of how horrible he was. god saw how horrible biden is and that is why he saved trump's life. when people hear stuff on the news, they need to check -- don't take their word for it.

i watched the speech where trump said biden allowed china to build a car factory in new mexico and it would be a financial bloodbath of the auto industry and for three days, all you heard was trump is threatening a bloodbath, on cnn and msnbc. you need to check other sources when you hear something on the mainstream media. host: what do you think about j.d. vance being picked as the vice presidential nominee? caller: i voted for him in ohio. i liked rubio but i have no problem with vance. host: and secondly, you have

another senate race going on, if j.d. vance wins the vice presidency. sherrod brown and mark marino? caller: yeah. i think the wine -- i think dewine will get to a point vance's replacement. host: how do you feel about the other senate race? caller: sherrod brown is the worst democrat. he goes along with some crazy stuff that i don't agree on. i think if vance wins and marino loses, i think marino will be the one that replaces vance. it is hard to tell. host: thanks for spending a few minutes with us.

kathy is in columbia, missouri, independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. a few minutes ago you were talking about the relevance of january 6, to what is going on now. january 6 for me as one voter is very relevant. i cannot get past it. it does not matter what trump says or does. january 6 is paramount in my mind. since then, i've been reading about project 2025 and it just confirms what i already think about trump. host: what is it about project 2025 that makes your blood boil? caller: it scares me, i think is the appropriate emotion. host: is there something specific? caller: there are many things.

some of it, quite frankly i don't know enough about the internal workings of government to understand it, but i do understand about health care and i understand about education. what they seem to want to do is change our society by changing government, like it is the first step is my impression. they want to overhaul government first. host: is that a bad thing? do you think government is working ok right now? caller: i do. overall, it does work. it is not perfect by any stretch, but a complete overhaul, which is what they are talking here, turn it upside down and inside out and put a lot of partisan people in

positions that -- so they don't question other things that normal employees should as their responsibility, that if someone wants to do something illegal, to at least question it or stop it if they can. they also inject religion, a lot into government -- the next question is whose religion? host: two things. president trump has distance and some -- distanced himself from 2025 and there it to chong and says there is no connection to any campaign. what do you think of those statements? caller: i think he's not telling the truth. i have listened to a lot of

rallies by trump. like i said, i have been reading about the project and trump is working the playbook with every one of his speeches. his speeches are very repetitive up to this point. we will see what the assassination attempt does to what he actually says, but but what he says is consistent with what is in project 125. other than the abortion -- project 2025. other than the abortion issue, he is all over the place with that one. i think he will use his playbook if he gets in office. host: are you associated with the university in columbia? caller: i was. i am retired. host: did you teach? caller: yes. host: thank you for calling in. we appreciate it. washington post, cathy brought this up, charges revised in

january 6 cases. federal prosecutors have begun moving to drop charges accusing january 6 defendants of obstructing congress's confirmation of the 2020 presidential election results, offering new plea deals after the supreme court richard to the government's use of that account, according to court filings. some beneficiaries include members of the extremist oath keepers and proud boys who are not accused of other felony offenses but whose leaders were convicted of conspiring to use force to oppose the peaceful transfer of presidential power fr donald trump to joe biden. that is in the metro section of the washington post this morning. ronald is in south carolina on our democrat line. caller: good morning. i am what you call a blue dog democrat. i don't believe in any one

person to control the government. i believe in a party with access to multiple people. i would like to hear some of the back room smoke-filled rooms that used to have at conventions where they set up the platform from different states having their opinions, to make things better for their state. i don't see none of that. i see one maga platform, whatever trump says as the endgame. the democrats still push for policy and platform. maybe that is their problem right now. does c-span have some of this, these back rooms where they make these policies up? host: i think we would all want to have the cameras in there, wouldn't we? they wouldn't be smoke-filled would they?

[laughter] we appreciate the idea. ralph in washington, d.c., independent. caller: hi. ever since the assassination attempt on trump, they predicted that. first they tried to destroy his credibility with the mainstream media, with nothing but lies. russia gate turned out to be funded by hillary. then they tried weaponizing the judicial system with all kinds of ridiculous charges. charges without victims like the quote, misrepresentation of funding, and the banks said no we have no problem with it. the democrats wanted to go out and fine him $450 million. the whole thing was to stop him from running. condon have essentially said that -- pendants -- pundits have

essentially said that the next step was to have him assassinated. then we see these people on a roof facing, snipers with scopes that can read the serial number off of the assassins weapon or the attempted assassins weapon from 130 yards and they are sitting on a sloped roof and looking at him and apparently the guy who pulled the trigger was fired because he never got orders to shoot. then they interviewed the head of the secret service and she says they didn't want to put men on sloped roofs. this was a set up. it reminds me of what they did with kennedy. host: are you suspicious? caller: suspicious? [laughs] you've got all the evidence of what happened. you've got exactly what happened with all the evidence and you've

got the left sitting there saying, it was staged. i don't know a man who can shoot at 130 yards and come within half an inch of a moving target. host: i think the hearings in congress are july 23, when officials will be up in front of the committees in congress. donald trump, jr. in milwaukee, at an event sponsored by axios. here he is, talking about hearing about the assassination attempt. [video clip] >> i got a call from kim. she says your father was shot. we don't have anything else. it was a saturday evening in july, i was out with my daughter. we were actually out fishing. i had to get my family in order.

we don't know if it was more stuff going on. police are swarming my house just in case. those people were incredible. they just took that kind of action. it was 90 minutes before i knew he was alive. that was a tough moment. finally, we get him on the phone, considering the heaviness of that moment, it gave me a window for some levity. i asked, most importantly, how is the hair? he says the hair is fine, the hair is fine. a lot of blood in it but it is fine. [laughter] there was. our family is built a little differently, as you probably witnessed when he stood up in defiance after being shot. these days, everyone is a

'badass'on the internet. when you are actually tested, most people don't rise to the occasion or they wither away. to be shot and to stand up with that kind of resolve, i told him, you are the biggest badass i know. that was my opening salvo. we joked about hair. we actually had some fun. kim and my daughter was there and my ex-wife was there and some of my other kids and eric was on another phone. i will never forget it. that was a heavy couple of hours, that unknown and then you find out everything is ok and you sit down and start seeing the video and you are watching the news. the adrenaline dump leaves. it was amazing how calm i was in then once it goes. host: that entire event is

available online to watch, whenever you'd want. all of our convention coverage of the republican national convention is available on our website. c-span.org. you will see the republican convention. all of the convention coverage plus the additional coverage such as that of -- such as that event at axios, evitable to watch online whenever you like -- available to watconline whenever you like. at 6:00 p.m.we will do a preview of day three of the convention and then the coention begins at 70. after it ends, after j.d. vance will be the final speaker, accepting the nomination for vice president, we will get your calls and reaction. henry is in michigan, democrats line. where in michigan are you? caller: i'm in port huron. host: what is on your mind?

caller: i would like to make three quick points. first point is, a lady called and asked about the virtual picking of biden as a candidate. the reason for that is because the election laws are so chaotic in different states, they are all different, and they want to make sure that biden gets on every state's ballot. there have been problems in ohio, putting him on the ballot. that is why they are doing that. second point, for the young people who are protest voting because of gaza, we hear you. we know that is a terrible situation and whatnot. and president biden is trying to do whatever he can. he cannot order netanyahu not to attack gaza. you are right, he should not be

providing weapons. i think he is kind of chasing about that and that is going to change. the final point is you came up with a very good question about the dictatorship. how could -- for what would happen if there was a dictatorship, or how would that come about? this project 2025 outlines that. first of all, the unitary executive theory, which is a theory that says all power goes to the executive branch. that means if donald trump is elected, he will have all the power. another point is if you remember during the george floyd protests , donald trump sent out units of the military that did not have insignias on their uniform. they were in unmarked vans, and they were just snatching people off the street. so control of the military in that style. that will be his style. and the third thing, another thing -- host: let's go back to that

point. where could i find that information about the unmarked military snatching people off the streets? caller: you can watch news reports. you can watch all the news reports that happened in oregon, all over the country. there were unmarked vans that were just grabbing people and snatching them off the street. host: all right. and point number three you wanted to make? caller: this third point is discrediting all of the agencies of government. it has already started with the supreme court. the supreme court gave the president immunity from all prosecution. the supreme court took the chevron decision away from agencies. and then you look at the new tammany hall. people who might not know what to many hall is, it is the spoils system. in other words, whoever wins the

election gets to pick the people who fill the agencies. host: you don't think we have that already? caller: in project 2025, they are outlining, specifically saying that they are going to get rid of all of the people who are not currently in federal government jobs in unions, and they will fill them with people who sign a pledge, a loyalty pledge to donald trump and his administration. that is in project 2025. host: we got your three points. we appreciate that. what kind of work do you do in port huron? caller: i am actually in communications. host: thank you for calling and. patricia, minneapolis. hi, patricia. what is on your mind? caller: yeah, i really love to watch the campaign convention on c-span because no one interrupts. it is just delightful.

i have a couple of points. i hope that since you have so much time this morning that you would play it entirely marilyn brame, a woman from new york who lost her son. her speech was one of the most powerful last night. it was beautiful. and then also i hope whoever is president that c-span takes off their dnc hat and covers things fairly. i watched almost religiously when trump was president, and i could not believe how many hours and hours day in and day out, week in and week out, month in and month out, negative coverage of president trump. i am not surprised. but the coverage of biden has been very, very slim. president trump had done and

said and behaved the way biden has, you would have had those things running every single day. so i hope you can become more fair. i hope folks realize -- i know you are democrats. i see that. i see some of the hosts on msnbc, former host on msnbc and cnn. i hope you try to at least be a little bit -- host: do you think that is in play for donald trump? caller: no. no. because they cheat too much in minnesota. there is no way the republicans will win. yes.all right host: all right. thanks for calling in. you mentioned natalie brain. she spoke last night. we will not show you the whole thing but here is a portion of what she had to say. [video clip] >> my son in korea, afghanistan

war, retired veteran. he received enemy fire from the taliban only to be murdered with a knife on the streets of new york city. the four assailants responsible for his death were originally facing justice but that switched with the district attorney. suddenly, two of the homicide and responsible -- homicidal maniacs responsible for my son's death had their charges completely dismissed. one of them received 14 months time served. alvin bragg charged her with

assault. and another one was sentenced to seven years. alvin bragg often dismisses convicted criminals. he wants to clear the jails and return violent felonies onto our streets every day. the injustice was devastating for me and my family. i don't want anybody else to experience the senseless pain that many other victims across this united states of america have to live with every day. just like so many other poor minorities across america. donald trump shares our values. love of god and family and country.

he has been a victim of the same corrupt system that i have been and my family has been. he is committed to providing economic opportunities, helping those suffering from addiction with long-term inpatient programs. rolling back deadly policies that are getting our children killed every single day. and supporting our police. host: we are back live in milwaukee. day three of the republican national convention convenes this evening. it will be live gavel-to-gavel on c-span as always. we are taking your calls now

about campaign 2024. joining us in about 20 minutes or so is tommy townsend, longtime governor of wisconsin, former hhs secretary. talk to him about republican politics and politics in general. this is in the washington times this morning. democrats in milwaukee warned voters of project 2025. democrats visited the heart of trump world tuesday during the republican national convention in milwaukee to raise more warnings about the conservative project 2025 agenda. democrats keep clamoring about the conservative heritage foundation's transition blueprint for the next republican president that seeks to reshape the federal government and install -- to pay the way for an effective conservative administration. senator cory booker, new jersey democrat, called the agenda frightening. he said it aims to gut popular

entitlement such as the affordable care act and social security. this article goes on to say that project 2025's main policy goals are restoring the family as the foundation of american life, dismantling the administrative state, protecting the nation's borders, and ensuring individual rights. it calls for eliminating civil service protections for some government employees and aims to overhaul federal agencies such as the fbi. it would eliminate the department of education. the blueprint also includes longtime conservative priorities such as slashing federal regulations and boosting defense spending. it seeks to outlaw pornography. the heritage foundation has made it clear it is not tied to any specific candidate or campaign. that is in the washington times this morning. maria, hollywood, florida, independent line, thank you for holding on. you are on c-span. caller: yes, please be patient

with me because i do stutter. political science. the remains of 55 u.s. war dead in korea go home -- come home. donald trump, he is bombastic and drives me nuts. i am sick of him. but how many people know that he brought home the remains of 55 from the korean war? 74 years ago, i don't know. they were able to be identified through dna so their families can bury their loved ones. host: maria, i am not trying to rush you here, but what are we talking about? caller: 55 remains of war

returned.from north korea -- returned from north korea. host: was this a news article or somehow connected to the campaign? caller: what i am trying to say is all i want is the truth. since you have the political sciences professor, she would know this. it just defies logic to me that he would bring home the korean war remains of our boys and? to france -- and yet go to france. i just want the truth. that is all i want. he is so divisive. also, the 2025 project thing everyone keeps talking about, he says over and over and over again he has nothing to do with it. and you have the information there, but you do not let people

know that he says he has nothing to do with it. and if he did have something to do with it, i would be outraged. he says it over and over, interview after interview. i wish he was not even running. we need to unite our country. host: that is maria and hollywood, florida. thank you for sharing your concerns with us. cindy, virginia, republican line. hi. caller: hi. so i just wanted to do some comparisons that i think everyone will find factual they keep using -- factual. they keep using, and i know this comes at a great time for them, that trump is a convicted felon. well, maybe in the courts of new york they were able to convict him of a nonviolent hoax. but with biden, who has allowed tons of fentanyl into this

country to kill our children is getting no attacks, no convictions, and there is death that he is guilty of. so those comparisons i think are unfair. but again, politics is. trump has been labeled a womanizer. biden is a child molester. physically shown, visually shown on tv on many occasions. they seem to forget that, which is the most effective. host: let's hear next from wesley in georgia, democrat. leslie, good morning to you. caller: good morning, peter. i just wanted to make a couple of points, but to follow up that

biden is a child molester, how about donald trump being with epstein with a 13-year-old girl? but what i really want to talk about, it was project 2025. a lot of people have covered some of the things i was going to say. but peter, it is an article. it is called project 2025, the birth of the dystopian state of america. it is written by michael, and i do not know if i am saying his last name might so i will spell it, krivich. it is a short article. that way people do not have to read the whole 900 pages. you can get a lot of the meat of what this project is about. and it is with donald trump and the people who are saying donald trump says he does not even know these folks. well, if you check out a podcast

by, i will spell his last name because i may not be saying his last name right, meiseles, and he is part of that midas touch podcast. host: all right, ok. caller: he gave six to seven videos showing how donald trump is the president of project 2025, congratulating each other, shaking hands. roberts saying he could not do it without trump. donald trump saying he could not do it without the heritage foundation. host: thank you for that information. why are you concerned about project 2025? caller: it is going to change our whole american system for the worse. it will not be for the better, peter. it will be for the worse.

you pointed out some of the things that cory booker was saying, but it is also going to privatize medicare. it is going to pack the supreme court and lower courts with maga extremists. it is going to use the u.s. military to persecute antitrust protesters -- anti-trump protesters. why are they putting trump in there if he has nothing to do with it? host: that is leslie. look forward to talking to you in 30 days or so. leslie mentioned changes to the supreme court, project 2025 would bring -- supreme court that project 2025 would bring. biden seeks changes to the supreme court. part of an effort to a field to progresses less than four months -- progressives less than four months before the

election date. it would put term limits and impose enforceable ethical rules on supreme court justices according to people who have been briefed on the discussion. he is also considering backing the constitutional amendment that would limit or overturn the sweeping immunity granted to presidents. biden previewed his plans during a private discussion with progressive lawmakers over the weekend. the people said such legislation would face significant hurdles without democratic majorities in both chambers of congress. washington post earlier reported that biden was preparing to endorse the changes to the high court. the exact contours of biden's planned announcement have not yet been finalized. the white house declined to comment. next caller is bob in wisconsin. did i get that right, bob? caller: good enough for me. host: no, no. how do you say it?

caller: shawno. host: ok. you got all sorts of letters in there that do not make any sound. caller: yeah, just a little bit. it is deep in native american heritage. host: thank you for that. thank you for that. caller: i want to thank you, peter. i want to thank the entire crew at c-span for being in milwaukee this week and us the unfiltered version of the convention. thank you so much everybody there. host: how far from milwaukee are you, bob? caller: from there, about two hours and 45 minutes. host: you going to go down and look around? caller: the security is much too tight for that. i would get as far as the file and that is about it. host: ok. caller: i wanted to just talk briefly. several of your previous callers brought up about the 2025 project.

i am so glad you presented a couple of quotes from donald trump as well as the heritage foundation more or less disavowing any connections here. i have heard people say that is a lie, that is a lie, that is a line. the fact is you do not know that. i am a truck driver. i can tell you first and foremost i have not read one page of that document. as i understand it, it is somewhere in the neighborhood of 900 pages. and i am willing to bet the number of people that have actually read that document feel compelled to talk about it. they either read it through another media filter or wikipedia did some kind of cursory research on it but never have kept it as the previous caller noted, checked it four or five times through sources. when people call in and they are scared, it is a false fear until you actually know what the document is telling you. i am taking it at face value.

that document has floated around as i understand it since the reagan administration. that was back in 1980 and 1984. yet we did not hear about it in 2016. we hear about it today. host: i think, bob, we need to do something about it and find out what this thing is because i have not read it myself. bob, are you driving right now? caller: no, i am not. host: ok, wanted to make sure. we appreciate you calling in. do you drive the 18 wheelers? caller: yeah, i drive 18 wheelers. host: local or across country? caller: cross-country. host: ok. caller: one last thing. if you get a chance, the speech where her dad challenged her to do the homework and then talk about it, i think that was brilliant. that is what we need to be doing in this country, doing exactly that. thanks for allowing me to speak this morning. host: thank you, sir.

amber rose is available online on our convention coverage. you can find all of our convention coverage and ancillary things as well. amber rose's entire speech is available for you to watch. this has been reported. peter navarro has been released from a miami federal prison after completing his four-month sentence for defying a subpoena on the january 6 committee. he is now expected to quickly travel to milwaukee so he can appear at the rnc tonight. let's hear from wickenburg, arizona, independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i would just like to say that i am so disappointed in america. we are at each other's throats over what? politics. politics is not our life. our lives are our family, our

homes, and the people in our communities. we need to come together and be americans again. i am supporting trump. i never voted until trump came into play. actually, i never voted until 2020. and i felt like my vote was stolen because i called and they said you were not registered. i have three voter registrations. i am an independent. i am a first time voter. my vote should matter. anyway, i am just saying i do not agree with the woman at the secret service not being fired. if anybody else, any other president was ever shot at, don't you think the person would be fired who is in charge of the secret service security? host: i think july 23 is when the secret service will be on capitol hill. and of course, c-span cameras will be out there if it is open to cameras. a big loss if biden stays in the

race. representative adam schiff running for senate out there warned during a private meeting with donors on saturday that his party is likely to suffer overwhelming losses in november if president biden remains at the top of the ticket. if mr. biden remained, not only would he lose to former president trump, it could be enough of a drag on other democratic candidates that the party would most likely lose the senate and missed an opportunity to win the house. "i think if he is our nominee, i think we lose," mr. schiff said during a meeting. according to a person with access to a transcription of a recording of the event. and we may very well lose the senate and lose our chance to take back the house. that is in the new york times. gary is in virginia, republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i would like to nominate c-span

if they added a nobel peace prize. host: ok. caller: the way you let people talk, it is awesome. it really means me. but anyway, i want to call to say, did you know trump derangement syndrome is a bipolar disease? there is a type a, which is what came out first. and that is where you want to polish apples, wear brown lipstick, soccer suits -- sucker suits. and then there is type b, g reason, common sense -- where you accept logic, reason, common sense. host: that is gary in virginia. let's hear from ed in queens, new york. democrat. hi. caller: hello, peter.

oh, brother. i cannot believe that last caller. i cannot believe the other one from virginia either. a lie goes around the world three times before the truth comes out. biden is not a child molester. i believe that story came from qanon. you are going to quote qanon? i am not voting for trump. as one caller said from missouri, january 6 with every thing for me. this man lies like we read i -- like we breathe. i will not believe anything he says. he was having sex with a playboy playmate while his wife was giving birth and this is a man who i will trust and believe what he says? i don't think so. he is a malignant narcissist. so there is no such thing as tds , trump derangement syndrome.

name me one redeeming feature of trump that you like that you respect and admire. i am talking about personality traits. is it honesty? is it modesty? is it fidelity? he does not have any of those things. host: that was ed calling in from queens with his viewpoint. donna is in butler, missouri, republican line. donna, hi. caller: hi. thanks for letting me talk for a moment. i was just curious if you could answer a question for me. a guy before me talking about trump syndrome. i love president trump. he does everything. but what i would like to know is all the lies that people believe about trump. you know, i know they are lines. if people really kept up with current events, he let a people calling in don't have a clue what is going on in the world. they just hear what other people say, and they go with it.

i keep up with it. but i will tell you, why -- my question is, all of this with president trump and the lies and the courts, why has joe biden not been brought to accountability? can you answer that for me? host: what are you referring to? caller: i am referring to everything from the last three and a half years. the afghanistan pullout from him. the border for another. the mass mandates. all of this stuff was all hoaxes and a bunch of bull stuff. we do not need masks, and you still have people out there that are so scared of their shadows that they are wearing masks. i see it all the time at walmart. host: that is donna in butler, missouri, with her viewpoint. joe is next in toms river, new

jersey, democrat. hi. caller: how are you doing? yes, i want to speak about a couple of things, ok? about the woman that called in about project 2025, she did not no one word that was written on that project 2025. ok? she just repeated what all of these liberal channels are promoting to people. it is terrible. ok. and what happened to trump was a disgrace. the fbi, the cia, they looked like the keystone cops. i mean, it was horrible. they said that, oh, i think she was the head of the cia, she said that the roof, that roof, they did not have no worries of it. you can walk on that roof. you can see it plain as day. they sat that man up. it is terrible what they did.

and all of these liberal medias, what they keep promoting, hatred to this country, putting the democratic party against the republican party is disgusting. there is no racism. they are promoting racism. ok? and it is terrible. it really is. host: all right, joe, let's leave it there and move on to william in burlington north carolina. you are on. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have questions about the 2025 project. one is, the last time i checked, some of the writing in this seems to be very sedition is, which i believe is a high treason offense. i am curious as to why some of the authors of this document are not put in jail and why this document is allowed to exist. host: we are hearing all sorts of bits and pieces about this thing this morning and getting

all points of view on it but nobody has read me a sentence from it. caller: one of the sentences i read was the constitution would be eliminated. they would actually get rid of the constitution. host: you really think the heritage foundation would put out a document that says that constitution would be eliminated? caller: that is what i read. it said the constitution would no longer be in play and the executive branch would take over? host: really? caller: the justice department. yes, that is what it says in the document. is why it was disturbing to me. host: the heritage foundation three blocks from our office here put out a document that said the constitution would be eliminated, i think that would get even further play. caller: i would think it would be considered sedition, would it not? host: private citizens are allowed to speak their mind,

aren't they? caller: are they? to me, that is almost like saying we will overthrow the government by doing this. host: william, have you printed out this project 2025, or are you just reading an article about? caller: no. unfortunately, i need to print it out to actually read more intimate. host: i apologize that i have not read it. i have not had time. caller: when i look it up online , all i get is basically articles about it but i have not found the document itself online where i can print it out. maybe i should just go to the heritage foundation. host: i think we have been up on the website. we will put it up here in two seconds. there is. -- there it is. conservative policy through personnel, victory, and trade. looks like it comes out of the heritage foundation. there it is. i will print it out myself.

i have not read it and don't know what it says. utah, republican. caller: hi, how are you today? great, thank you, peter. i hear a lot of people that their hair is on fire. the sky is falling if trump gets elected. it is so silly. it is like we have four years of history of the trump administration and things did not go to hell in a hand basket. people need to relax. if trump gets elected everything will be great. i can afford more products and services. i did not have to deal with high inflation. i realized there was the covid effect, so so anyway, just wanted to make that comment. thank you, peter.

host: thank you. what do you do in pleasant grove, utah? caller: what do i drive? host: what do you do? caller: oh, what do i do? commercial real estate. i help businesses expand. host: are you in the salt lake city area? caller: i am. host: how is business? caller: i am great. host: utah is -- right now, isn't it? caller: it is. it is because we have great leadership and great people who pick themselves up by the bootstraps and make things happen. host: are you a fan of spencer cox, your governor? caller: i am not. host: why not? caller: i think he has come across as being a little too woke. there are things i appreciate about him, but i am concerned that he is just a little too

liberal. host: that is pleasant grove, utah. we appreciate your time. from alaska in the morning, coming up, it is tommy thompson, former governor, former hhs secretary. we will be right back with governor thompson. ♪ >> discover the heartbeat of democracy with c-span voices 2024 as we engage voters at this year's republican national convention asking what issue is most important to you in this election and why. >> the most important thing to me this election is the country's safety. >> the most important thing this election is rights and education. i think it is time we give our children a fighting chance and return. >> c-span voices 2024.

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>> c-span has been delivering unfiltered congressional coverage for 45 years. here is a highlight from a key moment. >> it is hard to speak after 25 years. i have been retired from baseball for 25 years. and none of the numbers that were on the back of my card have changed in that time. they are all the same numbers that i retired with. and so it has been a long waiting process. thank god it happened while i was still on my feet. sometimes it happens posthumously, and i really deeply appreciate the veterans committee. as henry said, those are some of your peers that voted you in. particularly, i talked with yogi berra, who was on the committee. and i talked with pv reese, who was on the committee. i talked to bill wright, one of my teammates from philadelphia,

after the vote was taken today. so it is deeply appreciated. >> c-span, powered by cable. >> "washington journal" continues. host: and back live in miami, the republican national convention. joined now by tommy thompson, who is a four term governor of wisconsin, former health and human services secretary. governor thompson, you are a delegate this year to the convention. what has the convention been like for you so far? guest: well, first off, peter, this is my 12th convention. i was here when we nominated abraham lincoln. i have been around that long. not really come but this is my 12th. 48 years going to them and this one is great because it is in the great state of wisconsin, my home state. i love it. i love the world watching wisconsin and getting a chance to see the beautiful city of milwaukee and the great lake

michigan and also of course to find out about the niceties of wisconsin people, wisconsin citizens. so i am really happy. i am elated. thank you for asking me, and thank you for interviewing me, peter. host: in those 48 years you have been active in republican politics, how has the party changed? guest: the party has changed dramatically. i came in when the convention -- first off, i got elected when i was 23 years of age to the state legislature just fresh out of law school. i have been involved in the republican party ever since. and once before that -- and months before that. it changed from being very divided today to the most unified i have ever seen the republican party. i am somewhat surprised about it but i am happy about it. it is very unified. nikki haley last night said it all. it is time for us to come together as one party and give

the american citizens a voice and a new direction. and even more something i have been preaching for a long time, it is time to get more people involved to come in and join the republican party. the movement started by a lot of people and accelerated by a donald trump. i think we will have a great election, and the convention is fantastic, and people like wisconsin, so i am happy. host: tommy thompson, did you ever run for president being a four term governor? guest: i did run for president. i never got out of iowa. i tried very hard, but i got to iowa and i left in iowa. iran in the year -- i ran in the year 2008. i should have ran earlier when i was governor but i waited until i got out it was in business for

four years. you use the mojo and i raised the dollars. it was a kind of effort, not on my part or my supporters, but we were not able to get the financial backing that you need when you run for president. it was a good try. i failed, and i am sorry about that, but it was a good experience. everything in life should be a good experience for you. host: governor, both president biden and former president trump are around your age range. guest: yes. host: do you think you could withstand at your current age the presidency? guest: peter, i just got up from doing 50 push-ups. i walked 2.5 miles. i bicycled across the state of wisconsin. i have farmed 1600 acres and raised 150 head of cattle. i am in the tractor bailing hay

and raking hay and farming to produce and feeding cattle. you better believe i could withstand it. you better believe i can do a great job if i had the opportunity. host: governor, what does the republican party stand for in your view? guest: it stands for less government, more independence, more liberty, more freedom. one of the biggest problems we have right now, peter, is something i preached and i talk about whenever i get a chance to speak, which is quite often, to tell people we are to divided. we have to start communicating. all we are doing is shouting and yelling and hating each other and that is not good. we are not solving the problems. this will not lead our state of wisconsin or building america. we have to come together. sure you can run as a republican, and democrat, but after you win, join the winning

party. come up with agendas and go out and talk to people and communicate with each other. that is what we have to do. i am really worried about the direction of politics -- in the direction that politics have taken, but one of the good things that have come out of the attempted assassination of donald trump's people now say to me they are more willing to listen, more willing to talk, more willing to communicate and hoping a partnership can develop between democrats and republicans after this election. i am holding out high hopes that maybe this partisanship and the parochialism will be diminished somewhat and we get back to legislating on good terms and enjoy democrats and republicans alike. i have found there is no great republican idea or a great democrat idea. but when you start talking and communicating, come up with

great ideas. i believe in the philosophy of the republican party, less government and more independence and more freedom. but also, some democrats have some good ideas. why don't we take those ideas and join them up with good republican ideas, which are many? we could put them together and come up with programs to solve america's problems. that is what we need to do. we need to get back to talking, debating, and communicating instead of hurling insults, firing out a lot of commercials that are hateful and not accomplishing anything. that is my hope. i am an optimistic person. host: does it seem more tense than it has in the last 30, 40 years? guest: it was more tense. it seems that after last saturday, the attempted assassination, there seems to have been sort of a calm over

the atmosphere and environment. it seems to me coming into this i was quite worried having everybody come into wisconsin. what does that portend? what is going to happen? and i am pleasantly surprised that everybody seems to be getting along. everybody has a smile on their face. everybody is happy. really happy that president donald j. trump escaped death and came out in that iconic photo of him coming off the floor, blood streaming down his face, his fist in the air, with the american flag flying and furling in the background. it was like iwo jima. it is an iconic photo that will last and will impress upon the minds and brains of voters all over this country. i think it will help, just the fact that he came up and showed

the american people he is back on his feet. as he always says, once you get knocked down, you get back up on your feet and continue to work. that is the americans. . itis wisconsin that is the -- it is wisconsin. that is the tradition. it brought together democrats, republicans, independents. maybe we have gone too far in our strident attitudes towards each other, and i hope that is true. and i feel quite confident. i am seeing signs of more togetherness, more willingness to talk and listen. i hope that it's not just a temporary thing but it goes into the election and we come out of the election with a winner. i think it will be donald trump. republicans will have a great year.it is up to us if we do win to show the american people we can govern, govern responsibly, come up with good ideas with democrats. and rick together on a bike --

and work together on a bipartisan basis to solve some of the problems of america. that is what i hope. host: a lot of ink this morning about j.d. vance accepting the nomination at the convention tonight. but a lot of ink talking about populism and traditional republicans and establishment republicans. when you hear those terms, what does that mean? guest: peter, i don't know what people are so concerned about. j.d. vance, let's take a look at what j.d. vance has accomplished. he started out in humble beginnings like i did, like probably you did, peter, like millions of people across america. he did well in school, better than i did. graduated with high honors from yale law school. then went to the marines. what did he do in the marines? he became a veteran, fought for america. people in wisconsin and america love veterans.

that is going to be extremely helpful. and then he came back and built a successful business. started it and built it. that is the american dream, the american way of life of the american opportunities that we have being in this great country we call the usa. and then of course he became an author.this guy has accomplished so much. why should people be afraid? i am excited about it. i am excited about a guy that is 39 years of age that has accomplished so much. looking forward to getting to know him better. i am confident with his friendship with the president. he will have a big bearing on the administration. they will come up with great ideas, great opportunities. and the populism that people are concerned about, let's try a new way. let's try getting together and come up with a new direction for america that is better, more opportunity filled, more liberty, and more freedom. that is what the founders wanted

when they came up with the constitution and the declaration of independence. that is what i want. i think that is what america wants. host: let's take some calls for governor thompson. on the republican line, you are on the air. caller: hey, good morning. thanks for the marathon session of "washington journal." i might have discovered a little bit of conflict of interest when ice j.d. vance was picked by trump. i went to the book and on goodreads.com, about the author at the end of the little deal here, between columbus, ohio, washington, d.c., married to one of his former law school classmates. that would be from yale. lived in america, which is fine with me.

host: before you read the entire bio, are you looking for here? what are you asking? caller: i am just proud to be the one county of only two in wyoming that voted for liz cheney to be reelected in the house of representatives. host: all right, thank you, gordon, for calling in. let's move onto cecil in birmingham, alabama, democrats line. please go ahead. caller: my name is cecile.i want to speak on the 2025 project. what they have planned, the republicans and trump, if they win the white house. it is disastrous. and the heritage foundation, if they are able to do what they are planning to do is to turn

over the constitution. host: we talked about this a little bit this morning. i will go to tommy thompson. governor thompson, have you heard of this project 2025 plan the heritage foundation is put out? and if so or if not, should government be open to revamping? is this a conspiracy, conservative conspiracy against government, etc.? anything there? guest: absolutely i heard of 2025. i have not read it in detail but i know something about it. secondly, it is not going to do anything about getting rid of the constitution. third, donald j. trump has disavowed it and said it is not in his platform, will not be his platform. does not support a lot of the ideas and ideals in there. number four, everybody should be wanting the government to continue to change. it changes every day. every time you pass a law,

government changes a little bit. sometimes it takes more power away, sometimes it gives more power. and you have three branches of government. all are in the throes of growth or change. right now, the legislature is always going to change with elections. the laws, the supreme court, the court system is always evolving. that is good. that is america. sometimes those changes are not the best. sometimes we wish they would not have changed it. but the truth of the matter is that is what we have, a republic.we vote for those changes when we vote every election. number three, the executive branch. i think right now the executive branch is too powerful in a lot of areas. i think 2025, if you read it, gives more power to the executive. i personally do not believe in that. i come from the legislative branch and was an executive. i think the executive has to

have power. the president has to have a lot of power going forward, but nobody in the trump organization or a republican has ever talked about getting wind of the constitution because republicans are the ones that always defend the constitution and always will. it is the basic tenant of the republican party, a basic tenant of my republican philosophy. protect the constitution. deal as much as you possibly can, and protect the constitution, and living within the constitution. that is my philosophy. it is the philosophy of the republican party. and i know it is the philosophy of donald trump. so anybody that says donald trump is part of project 2025 is wrong. trump has written about it and discussed it and said that is not has philosophy, not his ideals, and certainly not the ideals and philosophy of the republican party. host: governor thompson, what

are you proud of over your governorship, and what do you wish you would have done differently? guest: i am proud of a lot of things. i started welfare reform in america, which was adopted by bill clinton on a bipartisan basis and past in wisconsin and washington. bill clinton said it was probably the best proposal he had. he did not give me credit even though he adopted 75% of what i put into the welfare program in wisconsin. number two, i was very instrumental in setting up a global fund. that was one of the first presidents of the global fund. established something internationally to fight aids, tuberculosis, and malaria. and that is still going on, one of the most popular programs in the world. and i helped start that. number three, i set up several medical programs helping provide medical care to poor people. and michael dukakis once told me, he said, tommy, you came up

democratic candidate for candidate. he said, tommy, your medical care was probably the best medical care proposal. he was proud to adopted and get it passed. number four, i have been so lucky. i have had a chance to be secretary, president of the university, i was able to get the university of wisconsin to get started again after covid. that was a big accomplishment. you always look back and say i wish i would have done something a little bit different. several things that i did such as helping government grow. i passed the proposals that made government grow. sometimes you look back and say maybe you allowed it to go too much -- grow too much.

you always make mistakes. there is nobody that is infallible. you are going to make some mistakes, but i am very proud of my record. other than the fact that i got elected, reelected four times to the state of wisconsin, a record for wisconsin, the people of wisconsin supported me. i love going out and talking to people. i am a people person. that i think has shown through during that time i ran for elections. host: alexander is calling in from brooklyn, democrats line. you are on with tommy thompson. guest: morning, alexander. caller: good morning, tommy. thank you for your service and for the optimistic note. obviously, i am a democrat. i lived in new york city. i have grown up here. guest: yeah, sure. caller: i have seen a lot of diversity in my life, and i have seen a lot in the city. we do not have much time. i wish i could say more.

i was looking at this from way, way up top. it scares me. being able to condition people to support trump, and i am not looking at this from a democrat. i am just saying partisan. i have been a clinton became a nominee for president. it really scares me that we are where we are because of people finding no choices, no options. here we are. people are uneducated. people cannot connect the dots. we have existential problems beyond politics like global warming that a lot of people and politics take as a joke. and i will finish with this. vance, trump, they all came out

of this liberal democracy that shaped them. vance went through ivy league school and met his wife because we have diversity, because he was in a school that made that possible. trump became who he was because he lived in new york city. and these core things that create this multicultural society is being destroyed by this ideology that you can say is woke and also a lot of destructive -- host: ok, alexander. i think we got the point. can you tell us what you do in brooklyn, what kind of work you do? caller: i am a manufacturer. i suffered through the worst of what is going on with jobs being taken away from here. at the core, i believe in democratic values. and i hope that if republicans win, they should really try to bring balance because i just do not see it from the platform. thank you for taking my call. host: thank you, alexander.

tommy thompson, what do you say to that caller. guest: i say thanks for calling in and being involved in the political process. that is what we need. we need platform democrats like you, republicans that are willing to talk. you seem like a very common sense individual. you read. you do your research. but you are also pulling to listen that but you are also willing to listen. i think the republican party is the most diverse and has been in america. we have more blacks, latinos, hispanics, more asians joining the party. you looked at the speakers last night. i was so impressed by the speakers that have spoken on the republican and their philosophy and the reason they are changing from being democrats to being republicans. that is a positive sign. as for me, i have always been bipartisan to a great extent. but as governor, i came in with

democrats controlling both houses of the legislature. and i got a lot of things done. you know what i did? are used to invite the democrat leadership in every tuesday morning for coffee. i had to buy it, but that is ok. we sat down and we talked about how far we can go and where we might be able to meet in the middle. then i would bring the republican leadership in, which was very strong, a very small minority compared to the democrats. i would call them both in the afternoon and say that democrats can do this, i can go this far, the republicans can go this far. i said we are very close. we are very close. instead of fighting. you can fight and we can stop everything but i think it would be better for wisconsin if we would pass something and get something that we both can go in and support. it was amazing how much we were able to get done with that kind of philosophy. as ronald reagan