the last day's proceedings is approved. the chair will lead the house in the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the honorable the speaker, house of representatives. sir. this is to notify you formally pursuant to rule 8 of the rules of the house of representatives that i, joseph c.picola, inspector general for the u.s. house of representatives, have

been served with a subpoena for documents and testimony issued by the superior court for the district of columbia. after conductation with the office of general counsel, i have determined that compliance with the subpoena is not consistent with the privileges and rights of the house. signed, sincerely, joseph c.picola, inspector general. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to section 3-z of house resolution 5, the house stands adjourned until noon monday, july 22, 2024, for morning hour debate. and 2 p.m. for legislative business. >> that was the house pro forma and we are going back live to milwaukee and the republican national convention day four. on your screen is mordecai lee and professor emeritus at the

university of wisconsin, milwaukee. what did you teach and what is your expertise? host: well peter, i have caught -- taught public administration, a subsection of political science. i was in the political science department and urban planning department. i have a lot of titles. but i think the correct description would be that i did american history, american governmental history. most of my books are about that. host: you also were a member of a state legislature in wisconsin for several terms. democrat, republican, or other? guest: i was a democrat. it was a useful experience. i got elected to the assembly when i was 28. six years later i got elected to the state senate. serves two terms. it was a wonderful experience and a dream of a lifetime. i loved being an elected official but did not want to do

it for the rest of my life so i ended up in the ivory tower. host: you got elected to the assembly in 1976 and the state senate in 1982. what were some of the issues we were debating -- you were debating? guest: a lot of the issues were bred and brought -- bread-and-butter or kitchen table issues. my constituents cared about things like crime, safety in the streets, decent wages, a successful urban center. these were a lot of the things. at the same time they cared about environmental protection. i would say about every wisconsinite recognizes the importance of conservation. those were the important issues that i talked about, including a comprehensive policy for the state of -- state of milwaukee -- state of wisconsin. host: i think you can drop into

2024 and say a lot of those issues are the ones that we talk about today. do you think the tenor of politics has changed since you were in office or was it rough and tumble back then? guest: it was a different world and i do not want to sound like it was better in the good old days but it is possible to identify the difference. in those days when i chaired a committee my goal was to report a bill out of committee that would get a unanimous vote, otherwise -- in other words a consensus bill. that involves compromise. you give and get a little. in those days the mentality of half a loaf was better than was really how we work. now here we are 40 years later and the concept of compromise has become a dirty word. somehow if a politician engages in a compromise and they are selling out and walking away

from their beliefs and principles. and that somehow no loaf is better than half a loaf. i really wish that washington could get off that kick in calc session capitol hill could believe in compromise. host: yesterday we had tommy thompson, the four term governor, a lot of wisconsin politicians, william proxmire will have made it to the national stage. wisconsin politics play in the national elections. 60, 68 and the last couple of cycles. what is it about wisconsin that we get so much attention focused? guest: peter, i think in part it is a political history of wisconsin. it promotes independence by the voters. sometimes you like a republican candidate and sometimes you like a democratic candidate. when somebody moves here and registers to vote nobody asked them what party they want to

register or if they want to register as independent. you just register. and then the primaries, the party primaries are open primaries. you get up in the morning and that day you decide today i'm going to vote the republican party at another time i'm going to vote the democratic primary. that really fosters a culture of openness and compromise and nonpartisanship. and so when we see the success and i really like that you mentioned tommy thompson. i knew him. we both served in the assembly in the late 70's. he has grown and became a magnificent governor elected four terms. the secret sauce is governing from the middle. governing from moderateness. doing something that involves a little bit of compromise and a little bit of give and take. that was the ground that a successful politician in wisconsin would take. and so scott walker really

represented the new politics. he was not interested in what i am describing. and that changed wisconsin politics to the point where we are so politicized and so deep purple that out of 3 million votes cast the last time in a presidential election, wisconsin has been won by 21,000 votes. i cannot even calculate how much of less than 1% it is. 21,000 votes out of 3 million is like a rounding error. that is one of the reasons why wisconsin is such a battleground state. host: mordecai lee, how would you describe the current republican party and current democratic party? guest: i think we need to describe the republican party as before saturday republican party and the after saturday republican party. before saturday it was a very conservative and very ideological and very partisan.

we had a situation where donald trump was representing that republican essential values. and now all of a sudden it seems like because of the saturday shooting and his heroic behavior, it is like that has washed away. and that is why i think we are seeing some of the speech as saw last night. and these are examples of people looking for a new republican party. in other words, to figure out do we have to stay the way that we were? or can the republican party reposition itself and the shooting really is a tectonic moment. it really is going to lead to a change in the republican party. when for example, when we see the president of the teamsters union addressing the republican party and bashing corporations. i had to pinch myself, is this

the republican party or the dnc. last night j.d. vance made some very critical comments about big corporations and about wall street. about the need for the republican party to pivot and care about working people, factory people. prounion comments. this is a transformation. and i think that what we are seeing is that the republican party shedding the old skin and now showing a new skin. and it remains to be seen if between now and november it sticks to that. or if somehow it'll just sort of do a self correction and go back to what it had been before saturday. host: i'm going to show some video from 1980. you will recognize the voice and i want to get your reaction to what this politician had to say. [video clip] >> i will not stand by and watch

this great country destroy itself under mediocre leadership that drifts from one crisis to the net -- to the next eroding our will and purpose. we have come together because the american people deserve better from those they into -- from whom they entrust the nation's highest offices. and we stand united. we stand united in our resolve to do something about it. we need a rebirth of the american tradition of leadership at every level of government and private life as well [end video clip] host: ronald reagan at the republican convention. what did you hear? guest: that was one of the best acceptance speech is that i can remember. there is another clip towards the end where he was listing some characteristics of what the republican party stood for and what he wanted to be important in his white house. it was a list that i cannot say verbatim but it was something

like community, family, peacefulness. it really spoke to the blue-collar sort of eastern european ethnic who had been members of labor unions and who were starting to drift away based on social issues and that clip when he mentioned those adjectives and nouns, he captured it and said this is what we stand for. i think that was a major change in the beginning of a guess we would say social issues as being high on the priority list of republican policymakers. host: one more video. this is vice president harris reacting to j.d. vance's selection. [video clip] >> saud donald trump just picked his new running mate, j.d. vance. trump looked for someone that he knew would be a rubberstamp for his extreme agenda and make no mistake he will be loyal only to trump, not to our country.

unlike mike pence, vance said that he would have carried out the plan to overturn the 2020 election. he supports a national abortion ban and voted against protecting ivf. if elected he will help implement the extreme project 2025 plan for a second trump term which would target critical programs like head start and medicare. but we are not going to let that happen. [end video clip] host: she got in january 6, abortion and project 2020 five in less than 30 seconds. guest: i think what she was doing is the standard packaging that the democrats have been using leading up to the convention. and expecting to be able to use those themes through to november. i am afraid that her soundbite did not capture the change in public mood and opinion as a

result of the saturday shooting. so much of what she was trying to focus on is now less important to the public at large. and i think they need to recalibrate the message. that old message will not work. i think she also missed the mark slightly when it comes to j.d. vance. after all, his position cannot be different from a president's in the same way that vice president harris cannot be different from president biden. a vice president is not a decision-maker. the vice president serves the president. i think what some people are missing about the selection is that i think he is going to be a complement to trump redefining what it means to be a republican. in terms of the bashing of wall street in praise of unions. and it almost might be a situation where donald trump is

the big picture guy and enunciates the themes of what the white house administration stands for and j.d. vance becomes a policy man trying to implement these relatively new elements of trump republicanism. he might emerge to be almost like an executive vice president way we would described in the corporate world. in other words the executive vice president is the implementer and supervisor of the rest of the organization. we might see a very different kind of vice president see, presuming they win in november. host: from your post at the ivory tower, joe biden being the democratic nominee? guest: no. i think from the moment of the debate is political future was locked in. it is really hard to recover from that.

and i think we need to re-conceive of his presidency. when he ran against from four years ago he really implied that would be a one term president. a transitional president back to normal whatever normal meant in that context. and then sort of two years into being president he wanted to go for another term. i think as a result of the debate performance that was the conclusion of the possibility of being a two term president or nominee this year. i think there is no way that he can be the nominee. and i think the party needs enough time to decide who its nominee should be. should this happen and should he announce he is not running for reelection it will be 1968 all over again. lyndon johnson was assuming to run for reelection and then just

before the primary, wisconsin again, he dropped out and designated vice president hubert humphrey. and that saddled humphrey with lbj's policies on the vietnam war. he had trouble separating himself from that. and the vietnam war was very unpopular by so many americans. so if, in this scenario, biden withdraws and let's say the smart nominee -- the smart money goes on harris, i am not sure that is enough of a break to overcome the tectonic impact on the shooting -- of the shooting on saturday. as we have been watching the convention, they frequently bend over backwards not to criticize president biden but to criticize the biden-harris administration and policies. and so they were really sort of

getting ready and laying the groundwork for transferring their critique of biden onto harris. so the debate within the republican party as if they should go with harris or if they need a whole new face. someone to help them carry the exact states that j.d. vance yesterday said in a mantra three or four times, he said wisconsin, michigan, and pennsylvania. the democrats need to be competitive in my state and other states because these three will decide who is the next president. host: is this about the closest the former democratic representative and state senator, the closest you have ever gotten to a republican convention? guest: yes. it really is. to me i found it interesting. the parking is a pain in the neck. i have learned how to detour around the roadblocks. but to my former constituents,

colleagues and neighbors, i think this is like a civics textbook class, american government 101. in living color as they used to say. we are seeing democracy at work. and the parties are very important. in our lifetimes party stands for different things, as they should. they need to be giving voters choice as that are substantive. and i think that the republican convention is doing that. with the chicago dnc convention 90 miles away, i think it will be the same thing. host: let's take some calls for our guest of the university of wisconsin, milwaukee. jody from san diego, republican line. thank you for holding. you are on the air. caller: i am proudly pro-choice, i cannot agree with everything

regarding donald trump on all of his topics. i do not much like his personality, as many others do not. however, i have to look at the greater good of the country and our citizens. i have to look at the whole package. donald trump has already proven for middle class and lower income class have lived a better life while he was president. the rich and wealthy, including the politicians, they can afford to pay the high cost of today's living, under biden. the middle class and the low income class cannot afford the cost under the biden administration. so, what i say is this. vote for the greater good for all citizens in our country. these do not throw away your

donald trump vote because you do not like his personality, and that he is pro-life. host: thank you. let us hear from mordecai lee about what you had to say. guest: i am so glad that jody called because she was exhibiting what we find in so many american voters and that is that she is not a single issue avoid her. she identified as being pro-choice and said she would vote a publican -- republican because on the whole she agreed with republicans more than democrats. it is very useful in american products -- politics to single issue voters. a voter said there is one thing that will affect my vote. in terms of the dilemma for pro-lifers with the republican platform being so soft on the issue of life, i can think of only one historical analogy and that is prohibition. during prohibition politicians

were called dry which meant that they were pro prohibition or wet, anti-prohibition. and the pro prohibition voters were single issue voters and based on a politician's stance whether wet or dry they voted for that politician. they did not care if the dry politician was a quasi-quote -- croak or corrupt but they would vote for him because they were in favor of prohibition. similarly if somebody was anti-prohibition, but on this side of the angels they would still vote against that person. those were single issue voters. the pro-lifers are facing the dilemma do they go as jody did and say you cannot always agree with everybody or are they really going to dig their heels into the ground and are they going to do something

unpredictable because they are so disappointed with the platform? host: would you agree that the abortion issue has been very effective for the democrats in the last two election cycles? guest: the abortion issue has been very effective for the democrats. abortion like prohibition is a binary choice. in prohibition there was no middle ground. what is interesting about the republican platform is that it is trying to inch into some kind of middle ground of not being pro-life or pro-choice, but very softly reminding voters that in the past it has been the pro-life party. i think this is an effort to muddle things up and soften the impact of these inevitable attacks that will come from the pro-choice special interest groups and whoever the nominee is. and i am not sure if the republican strategy will work or not.

it really depends on the single issue pro-lifers. if they will like jody, they will decide to hold their nose and vote republican nonetheless. host: robert is next from patterson, new jersey. democrat. caller: hello. i would like to say that i do not support donald trump and i am still not planning to vote for him. but i would like to say that the historical concept of political assassinations in this country are pretty terrible. i think 70% or more of the populations do not believe the jfk assassination was aboveboard. there are books about the mlk assassination and many people do not know that the family of mlk dispute the government's accounts of it. i do not know about donald trump, that i have to ask the question, we saw the video earlier of those people questioning the head of the secret service, what exactly

happened because all of the security protocols raking down on the same day is not feasible to me. and i think bipartisan members of congress and the senate should all look into an investigation of exactly this. every sniper that has done security details question the likelihood of this happening. it is slim to none statistically. can you talk about the historical context of political assassinations? host: we appreciate your call. professor p. guest: some of the assassinations are a bit murky. some are -- some the motivation of the assassin is relatively explicit. we do not have a good sense of the shooter. but i am starting to wonder based on the slender threads of fact coming out if he was motivated by almost like lee harvey oswald, wanting to be

famous and important and to change history. could he have been interested in shooting either donald trump or president biden, just for the notoriety? just because of some rebelliousness or loaner phenomenon? i am not sure what will come out of it. in some of the assassinations it was pretty explicit. if it was an anarchist, a disappointed office seeker who did not get the office patronage position that he was hoping for. and certainly there is no dispute about the lincoln assassination that it was a pro south effort to change the path of the civil war and help the south win. host: mordecai lee, i do not mean to say her age at loud but i presume that you live through the mlk and rfk assassinations and perhaps the jfk as well.

the fact that conspiracy theories or questions about those still exist, will this one enter that pantheon? guest: well if somebody wants to doubt or engage in conspiracy theory or that there are dark forces out there controlling things that we cannot even see them, you know the observation is right. i was born in 1948. my parents met after world war ii. i was born three years later. in my lifetime, i was 15 when kennedy was assassinated and for the rest of my life i have seen political assassinations whether they were of presidents or elected officials or civic leaders such as martin luther king or malcolm x. i shudder at the amount of political violence that has gone on in my lifetime.

ronald reagan barely surviving and assassination attempt. forward facing and assassination attempt. it gives me the creeps. the downside of even those failed attempts is that presidents have been surrounded by a tighter and tighter bubble. there used to be a time where the president could stroll into a cafe and he would not one million secret service people clearing beforehand. it was much more casual. shaking hands and walking into crowds and meeting people. the effective last saturday is to make an already tight bubble even tighter. even type bubble even tighter. presidents and vice presidents would get that much more separated and isolated from the public at large. politics becomes almost like a kabuki theater, everything controlled and planned. i think it is so unhealthy for our democracy. i can only hope in the lives of

my son and grandchild that they won't live through a lifetime of political violence. host: one more call for our guest mordercai lee . this is chester. caller: thank you for taking the call. professor lee, i live in racing right down the road from you. i wish you were on tv more often for people to get a clear understanding. i have watched you over the years. i am the first black person ever to make the ballot for congressional district 1 and i'm also the first green party person. i am on the ballot this year. guest: what is your last name? caller: chester todd. guest: all right, what party? green party candidate? caller: yes, with the wisconsin green party. guest: this is the first

congressional district of wisconsin. caller: yes, with incumbent brian stiles. the democrat running would be mr. peter barker. guest: that was very fair of you to name your opponents. caller: professor, this date -- state is known as the worst state for black residency. racine is known as the second worst city for black residency in the nation. like i said, the state is the worst state for black residency in the nation. host: why is that? caller: there is a marketing firm which for the last few years, especially since 2017,

has ranked cities race-wise. my point is that we know the republicans do not want black folks -- they don't want to owe us. my issue with the democrats, which i left the party in 1990, this state has a democratic governor who totally ignores the black population in southeastern wisconsin, totally ignores it. host: we have a lot of the table. we are going to let mordercai lee answer and let him go home as well. we appreciate your calling in. mordercai lee, what do you say to chester todd? guest: i'm so glad mr. todd called in. race is an issue in wisconsin society and definitely we have racial problems, segregation,

discrimination against african-americans whether it is in racine or here in milwaukee. it is one of the great issues of our time that has not been resolved. i wish we as a nation would make more progress in terms of the ideals of equality and eliminating prejudice. mr. todd said he is part of the green party because of his feelings of the two major parties. this is the classic problem in american democracy when you have two major parties and in some third parties. does the voter feel the two major parties really are unresponsive to what they care about and therefore they are voting for third-party or when they walk in the voting booth did they say, i love the green or libertarians but i'm not sure i want to throw my vote away. this might be a close election in wisconsin, 21,000 votes the last two times two win

wisconsin, maybe instead of my intention to vote for the green party candidate or libertarian, i think i better vote to help either the republican or democratic party win. this is a classic dilemma and paradox for voters at the last minute about whether to vote for one of the two major parties were a third already. host mordercai lee, he has been our guest from milwaukee and republican national convention. very much appreciate your time, sir. guest: thank you. host: we have a half-hour left in this morning's "washington journal." donald trump will accept his party's nomination for president tonight in his first speech since the shooting last saturday in butler, pennsylvania. i will put the numbers up on the screen. we want to hear your views about politics and campaign 2024. as you well know, there's a lot going on in the world.

(202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. independents, (202) 748-8002. go ahead and start dialing in. we will get to those calls in just a minute. >> discover the heartbeat of democracy with c-span's voices 2024 as we engage voters nationwide asking, what issue is most important to you in this election and why? >> the most important thing to me is the economy. as the economy has gone down, it has caused working families to have to tighten their belts, less discretionary income which has caused a secondary effect on local businesses to provide services. families have not been able to

sustain local businesses in our communities. >> i am a student at james madison university. as a journalist, i think one of the most important things to me is making sure we are telling the truth as journalists. telling stories that matter. >> the most important issue facing the united states right now is illegal immigration. we need a wide open border. we need to close the border and finish the wall. immigration is taxing rfid structure, schools, medical centers. it is destroying our country. >> i am from vermont. i am a candidate for vermont lieutenant governor. the largest issue is the people and taking care of the people and bringing the people together. unity. we are all under the same goal, we just have to get there

together, work together with respect and transparency. >> c-span voices 2024. the part of the conversation. -- be part of the conversation. >> "washington journal" returns. host: this is the last night of the republican national convention. about 50,000 people have descended on milwaukee. there are actually only 2429 delegates who do the actual voting, but think about all of the people who want to be there and the media and the elected officials and everybody else who is there fill up 15,000, 20,000 seat arena. the delegates get to sit on the floor. let's hear from you and your political views about what is going on on campaign 2024.

let's start with nancy in maine, democrat line. where are you in maine? nancy, are you with us? nancy, sorry, we will have to lose you. reggie, independent. caller: good morning, sir. how are you? host: i am well. how are you? caller: i am doing well. i am calling because i saw a bit of the in this -- i saw a bit of the rnc last night. the one thing that made my blood boil last night was -- it wasn't so much when they had some of the families, the marines that got killed in afghanistan during withdrawal. that did not bother me. it is the fact they are politicizing their deaths. as a marine and army that who served in iraq, i find it

distasteful to republicans are doing that. and also to your point earlier, because i know you're reading from articles about president biden and how some members of the house and senate on the democratic side are saying that he should step down. but i feel as though that is the only press that biden is starting to get across the national networks. i find it very disheartening, especially when his constituency wants him to stay in the race because the constituency feels he is the best option at defeating the former president. host: you're calling on the independent line. do you agree that joe biden is the best bet against donald trump? caller: i believe he is. i am a swing voter. that is where my vote is going to go at this point because i don't believe in trump's message

of unity because he is not unifying anyone. he is not even attempting to get independent and swing voters, especially with project 2025 and agenda 47, which is project 2025 in disguise. host: what is agenda 47? we just learned about project 2025 yesterday. what is his agenda 47? caller: my understanding, agenda 47 is -- in my opinion -- it is project 2025 in disguise. donald trump is trying to distance himself from project 2025. we know he knows the authors of it. he is attempting, if he gets reelected, to bring those authors of project 2025 into his cabinet, into his staff. host: what is it about project 2025, reggie, that worries you?

caller: let's talk about how they want to get rid of the department of education. that is very problematic. that is one. two, they want to gut the affordable care act. knowing their millions of people in this country with pre-existing conditions. number three, let's talk about how they want to slash veterans benefits and health care from the v.a. i can go on and on on this 920 page nightmare that they want to instill their executive theater or however they did to do it to consolidate power to the executive branch of government where there is going to be unchecked power and the supreme court already gave this man, what, blanket immunity? i think it is a dangerous precedent that they are setting and people need to pay attention

and read this document, especially with the stakes being so high with this election coming up. host: reggie, what do you do? caller: actually, i am retired. i am originally from new york city. host: how did you end up in minnesota? caller: i have family in minnesota, so. host: you and i both. reggie, take care. thank you for calling in. we printed out a little bit of project 2025 this morning. it is done in different sections. this is the section called executive office of the president of the united states. highlighted a couple of paragraphs. this is not in any way representative, i don't think i'm of the whole thing but something i was able to look at quickly this morning. sadly, president today assumes

office, a sprawling federal bureaucracy that all too often is carrying out its own policy plans and preferences, or worse yet, the policy plans and preferences of a radical, supposedly woke faction of the country. the modern conservative presidents task is to limit control and direct the executive branch on behalf of the american people. this challenge is created and exacerbated by factors like congress is decades long tendency to delegate its lawmaking power to agency bureaucracies and pervasive notion of expert independence that protects so-called expert authorities from scrutiny, presumed inability to hold career, civil servants accountable for their performance and the increasing reality that many agencies are not only too big and powerful but also increasingly weaponized against the public and a president who is elected by the people and empowered by the

constitution to govern. again, you can go to search online project 2025. it is something the heritage foundation has put out for several election cycles. this is the current one. pat in west virginia, republican line. caller: hello. i just wanted to make a comment about the observation the golden star family issue was being politicized. maybe that is so, i don't know, but it did give the golden star families a chance to present their side of the story when they don't feel they have gotten the complete story from the biden administration. that is all i want to say. i am a first-time collar and i just wanted to compliment you, peter. i am not familiar with you that much.

host: this is my first week. caller: oh, ok. well, i appreciate the way you seem to be very relaxed about the callers and that you do try to give an explanation. you just make things same calm her and i appreciate it. host: first week. i'm just trying to give her a try out. we will see if it works. temple, texas, democrat. caller: i think you're doing a great job, too. what i want everyone to know is last night while i was watching a movie on tv, guess who came in? president biden. and he told us about -- he told the black people, because everybody watches that show --

exactly what he was going to do for us. i thought that was brave. because of what he said, everybody in the black community doesn't know that. host: are you saying president biden was featured in a tyler perry movie? caller: he wasn't featured, he did an interruption of the movie because he knows everybody watches it. host: a commercial? caller: it wasn't a commercial, it was while the tyler perry show was on. he knows all the black people watch that. what he did was interrupt it and told us why he is running for president again and explained to us exactly what he was going to do to help us. i mean, that was brilliant. i hope you guys can pick it up.

he told a lot of us black people exactly what we wanted to hear. and from the people i talked to who saw it, he is getting our votes. every one of us. host: tipple, texas. next up, amelia in massachusetts, independent line. you are on c-span. we look forward to hearing what you have to say. caller: i think you're doing amazing as well. i just wanted to say, i want to encourage everybody to google project 2025 come anybody thinking about voting for trump, because it will tell you the truth. the authors are the people from his own cabin who already worked in this administration, one of them being stephen miller, the architect of breaking families apart. what it says is they want to get rid of the epa. we have all heard trump talk about the regulation. i want to ask people what

deregulation is. they're going to dump toxic chemicals in your backyards. they're going to do it in the people's backyards, our backyards. i also wanted to say how dangerous trump is. if you don't believe me, listen to what he says at his rallies. the las vegas rally last month he told his followers that he does not care about them. 48 minutes in, very hot, and he was saying he doesn't want anyone dying because he needs their votes. he doesn't care about you, he cares about the votes. he says it. and he also praises dictators like xi, talking about killing drug dealers with quick trial. quick trial. which i think is terrifying in the united states of america. i feel confident right now i can say i don't like trump and i'm not going to get a knock on the door, 70 kicking my door down. i don't know what will happen in three or four years of trump gets in. if you don't believe me, he says

it himself. he says he can stand in the middle of 5th avenue and shoot someone and not lose any voters. incredible. host: amelia, thank you. i want to show you video from milwaukee. the impact of the republican national convention on the milwaukee river. >> where are we? >> we're are on the milwaukee river in milwaukee, wisconsin, and a boat hanging out. >> tell us about your business. >> we are a tour boat company, rental. we have two hour-long rentals for our electric boats. they set up to 12 people and you go out on the milwaukee river and see a different part of the city. >> on an average day business, how much river access do you have? >> it depends. there are certain areas we are not allowed to go to like past the home, little too choppy for

our votes to handle. once you start heading further north, the river starts -- it gets a little thinner and shallower. there is a dam that affects our boats. the republican national convention tells you your business will be affected somewhat. >> typically we have access to the river but during the rnc, we will be limited to our access to the response and avenue bridge going north. there is a cut off area that you can't go past, which still gives us access to go further south on the milwaukee river. >> when you heard that, what was your plan of attack to compensate? >> for sure, definitely promote we will be open during a time to definitely let people know even though there are restrictions, we will still be able to operate to our full capacity. >> i mentioned as a business

owner when you hear restrictions such as ones were placed, you might dollars lost because of that. was that the case? if so, how concerned were you? >> yes and no. we still have people that want to do it, but we also had people that reached out that maybe they booked this a month before and they did not know this was happening and now they're concerned it will be more of a problem and an actual good time on the river. it is 50/50. >> ursula businesses like yours affected in the same way because of the restrictions? >> yes. luckily, we are south of the security zone so we are able to operate. for tour companies that their docs are in the security zone, they're going to have to find a new place to operate out of during that time or just shut down completely. close to what degree have you seen an interest in what you guys do because of the rnc coming to town? >> we've had people coming here

for the rnc reach out. it is also harder for them when they are not staying in the city of milwaukee and get shuttled in. we also have -- our company is based on bachelor and that's where it parties. they get concerned with restrictions on their parties. so the opposite of that would be they don't want to come out during that time. >> it is a beautiful day. what if people get her milwaukee experience on the river versus other means of transportation? >> you see a different aspect, especially at night you see the buildings lit up, the different neighborhoods that milwaukee offers. and the two hour tour, you could to see four different neighborhoods during that time on the river. >> why do you do this? >> i get to be outside all summer long. i need new and interesting people -- i get to meet new and interesting people. bring people from all of the

world to do a very fun experience and talk to them and get to know them. >> thank you for your time. host: that was pedro taking a boat ride up in milwaukee. florida, what is shown your mind when it comes to campaign 2024? kim? caller: it is pronounced like i am "done eatin." host: i've never gotten it right. caller: i love speed span and i love have -- i love c-span and how you get both sides. i am a registered democrat, much to my father's dismay. i have been watching the convention on c-span because i get to hear the actual speakers without listening to other people talking in the background and giving the commentary.

thank you, c-span, for what you do. i loved listening to mordercai lee this morning. i had never heard of him. host: he was a good guest. i had not met him, either. he -- i really enjoyed that half-hour. caller: i felt like when he was talking about compromise, that is the thing that is missing in politics i feel over the last, i don't know, i feel like since trump become the president of first time, things just got more polarized. i am a kindergarten public school teacher. i am all for kindness and listening to people's words because they are important. i was listing on j.d. vance speak and i listened to nikki haley -- i love nikki haley. i was considering voting for her.

but when i listen to j.d. vance and nikki haley both talked about, hey, we don't agree with trump, but, you know, i understand. even my dad, who is a republican -- and i love my father -- there are certain things in the platform that concern me. but i am just so confused this year. i really am. host: kim, your democrat. talk about your side of the aisle and what you want to see happen. caller: ok, so as i stated, i am a public school teacher. it hurts my heart when i hear the union -- i am also a union member. i am in florida and we are a right to work state. it is saddening when i hear them bash the union, which in my eyes, is my professional organization.

i am part of that organization because i believed it helps protect our kids and helps me to keep them in -- teach them in the best way. i listen to all this wokeism and indoctrination. my focus is teaching my kindergartners to love school, love learning, i want them to learn to read so they can love reading. the curriculum is our state standards. i don't understand where all this talk comes from. i like a lot of the things on the republican side, but then there is also all that meanness and divisiveness. host: kim, can i ask you what you think the democrats should do as far as who should be the nominee? with all the news going on? caller: yeah, from what i understand, it is in president

biden's hands, in his decision. i worry about his health, his mindset. i know he is a good, honest, decent person. i feel bad. host: thank you for your time. lynn, north carolina. where you calling from on our republican line? caller: i am from south carolina, charleston. host: what is on your mind? caller: i am originally from new york city. i pretty much lived my whole life there. so i am very familiar with trump . it is kind of very upsetting from what i have in hearing because i feel -- i used to be a democrat most of my life. i changed parties around 2004.

there is a lot of vitriol i feel coming from the democrat side. my parents were holocaust survivors. when i hear from the mainstream media the word "nazi" "hitler," "facism," and what i hear from people calling in, they have no idea" dictatorship," they have no idea what they're talking about because my parents raised me what it was like living under the hitler regime. my father was a survivor of the camps. it is very upsetting to me because i know what it is like.

especially what we lived under covid and what the biden administration had us go through. yeah, trump says a lot of stupid things. stupid things, i agree with that. however, you have to get beyond that because we vote for policies and it's what his policies that make sense. common sense. and we lived for years under his presidency and we had a better life. host: we are going to have to leave it there. apologize, we are out of time. we will bring back your calls and a preview of tonight's convention, it is day four and then live at 7:00 p.m. esident trump will be the final speaker and then afr that around 11:00 p.m. or so, your calls and

reaction. thanks for being with us on the journal. we will be back tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. to take more of your calls. good day. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] >> taking a look at some of our live coverage on c-span today. new hashire governor chris sununu will speak with eugene daniels of politico at 12 :00 p. etern. vice president kamala harris is hosting a campaign event at 2:00 p.m. eastern. also live on c-span. >> discover the heartbeat of

democracy with c-span's voice 2024. as we gauge voters nationwide asking what issue is most important to you in this election and why. >> the most important thing is the economy. as the economies of gone down its working families to tighten their belts, discretionary income which caused a secondary impact on local businesses to provide services and is families have tighten their belts, to sustain local businesses in our community. >> i am a student at james madison university and as a journalist i think one of the most important issues is that we are telling the truth. i think it's important we tell stories that matter. >> the most important issue facing the united states right now is illegal immigration. we have a wide open border, we need to close the border and finish the wall.