something people cannot live without. now more than ever, it all starts with great internet. wow. >> wow supports c-span as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. coming up on "washington journal," your calls and comments live, your reaction to president biden's decision to end his reelection bid and his endorsement of vice president harris as the parties nominee. then, david wasserman with the cook political report on the state of the 2024 race. c-span's "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: good morning. it is monday, july 22, 2024. president biden yesterday sent

shockwaves to the political world by ending his bid for reelection and endorsing vice president kamala harris. just 106 days to go until election day, and president biden is the first sitting commander-in-chief to abandon his reelection effort since lyndon johnson in 1968. we're getting your reaction and your thoughts on what comes next. phone lines by political party. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can text us at (202) 748-8003. include your first name, city, and state. or catch up with us on social media, on x at @cspanwj and on facebook, facebook.com/c-span. it is a morning for banner headlines. from page of the washington post, biden exits race.

new york times, late reversal upends the race for white house as president endorses harris. leaves the ticket, front page of the washington times. biden drops out of race, president yields two democrats increasingly worried about election losses. new york post simply went with, the end. online political websites, huffington post, biden earthquake, kamala time. this one says, the right to try, democrats avail themselves, biden end permanentlys ill campaign and plunges itself into the unknown. it was well before 2:00 eastern

time yesterday that president biden and the white house team sent out his letter to the nation about ending his campaign. it reads, in part, it has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your president, and while it has been my intention to seek reelection, i believe it is in the best interest of my party and country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties of president for the remainder of my term. he said i will speak to the nation later in the week with more detail, but for now, let me show my gratitude for all those who were seeking for me to be reelected. i think kamala harris for being a partner in this work. and my heart felt appreciation for the american people for the trust you have placed in me. it was about half an hour after that letter came out that the president came out to fully endorse kamala harris as the next president. he sent out tweets from his political handle, @joebiden, on

x, saying my very first decision was to pick kamala harris is my vice president, and it has been the best decision i have made. i want to offer my full support and endorsement for kamala to be the nominee for the party this year. democrats have to come together and beat trump, let's do this. that at about 2:15 p.m. eastern time yesterday. sent shockwaves to the political world with those announcements. we are getting your response this morning, taking your phone calls and talking about this topic all three hours. phone lines, as usual. starting on the line for democrats is helen in north carolina. good morning. caller: i am on the independents line, but anyway, i want the american people to know these

people in washington, d.c., all they want is power. you see nancy pelosi, chuck schumer, barack obama, none of them come out in favor of her. american people, please wake up, don't fall for these democrats. they just want power. thank you. host: to new york, this is gerald, independent. caller: hi, i am a black man and live in new york. i am surprised that any kind of black man will consider voting for joe biden because he stand with gaza. host: joe biden not standing for reelection as of yesterday. caller: yeah, but kamala harris, she was there when joe biden was

doing his genocide, helping with genocide in gaza. to me, that is inconsistent with being a let man -- a black man. so that is my thoughts. host: ed, democrat in michigan. good morning. caller: good morning. how we doing today? host: how are you doing? caller: doing great. we talked a lot before, and u.s. me about why i cannot vote. it was a great conversation. i am a retired teacher, and i am at my michigan home. july 4, i got to go to a fundraiser, a barbecue were governor newsom spoke less than a mile from my home, a free barbecue, so free lunch.

biden is such a hero. he really got pushed out. the democrats really were shooting themselves in the foot because they thought he was not capable of doing the job. they said something 6, 8, 10 months ago. i am really upset with that. but i love harris. and i think the ticket should be harris-biden. less travel for biden, and we would keep his knowledge and experience. we have got to save this world from trump. i ride my tric everyday for three hours with a biden -harris sign, and last night i switched it to harris-biden. some give me the finger, republicans, the f-bomb, and i

tell them have a good day. other people, we have a good talk, and i give their kids at the beach here some freebies for my collection and just say go vote to the parents. republicans are so ignorant, and i do nothing they know what the definition of ignorant is. it is lacking accurate information. host: do you think democrats' chances of beating donald trump improved yesterday? caller: oh, i think joe could have beat him with no problem. and yes, they have. i hope they don't fight over the nominee and make another spectacle of themselves. we have no choice but to win to save our planet, save our insanity. republicans do not know the definition of ignorance, lacking

accurate information, and if you talk to any republican, they never -- i do not know one republican that watched the january hearings, not one. they do not watch important events. i was retired since 2007. i was 52 years old. and i really have a good grasp of what is going on because i watch you folks and watch a lot of different news. host: thanks for the call from southaven. steve, republican, san jose, california, upper early. caller: good morning. i watched the january 6 events. i have three points in 60 seconds. the first point is biden is out, not because he had a bad day on a debate. he is not because the democrats, every one of them, including

harris, the news media, the press secretary kgb covered up his infirmary's and incompetence. he is out because our lying eyes are not lying. they cannot hide that fact anymore. point number two, as your first caller mentioned, you all noticed that brooke obama, nancy pelosi, and chuck schumer have not -- barack obama, nancy pelosi, and chuck schumer have not endorsed harris. if she does not poll well, i believe the dnc at the convention will have an open primary. number three, the only solution to this mess for the democrats is to have michelle obama run as vice president on the ticket with kamala. and heaven help us if that happens. host: that was one minute and

eight seconds, well done. do you think democrats' chances of beating donald trump improved yesterday? caller: do i think it improved? well, no, because kamala harris is just as responsible for what has been happening in the democratic party. she is a complete failure. with the borders, what happened? we have 9 million illegals coming across our borders. she was then sent to ukraine to prevent the ukraine war with russia, and what happened? russia invaded the ukraine. as far as michelle is concerned, she has no accomplishments other than making a garden on the

white house grounds. we all know that barack obama will be pulling the strings behind -- pulling the strings if the democrats get elected. we all know that. host: that is steve in san jose this morning. a longtime political reporter for the washington post, his front page analysis on yesterday, calling it an indelible, that sent democrats on an uncertain path. the words unprecedented and historic have been used so often to describe the state of american politics in recent years that they become devalued currency, until sunday, that is, when president biden sent a lightning bolt through the country with his decision to stand down in the 2024 campaign. this milestone will remain in the annals of politics,

president pressured by fellow leaders of his party to give us his candidacy. an election year of twists and turns that seems never-ending. this has left the electric fearful and reeling from donald trump becoming the first former president being convicted of a felony. what is next, he asks? stephen out of los angeles, democrat, good morning. caller: thanks so much for taking the call. first of all, thankfully, 52 million was raised in seven hours. so i actually give it value. so this was the best news i have heard -- actually, it was my birthday yesterday, so it was the best news for my birthday. kamala is a prosecutor versus a felon. yes, he is a felon, convicted felon. an old street thug is what she

is up against. she knows it. you do not fool around with a prosecutor like her. you bring up the border, she was the vice president, not the president. we did have a border bill which was bipartisan, but of course, trump wanted to run on the border so they would not approve the border bill, the republicans. two people, one republican, one democrat, they came up with this fabulous border bill. it was very hard lined, but you know that, they did not want it brought up for voting or anything because he wanted to run on that. that is why they keep bringing up the darn border. obama, pelosi, and schumer are not going to endorse right away. it will be this week but not the same day.

ray cooper is probably going to be the vp. he is from, i believe, north or south carolina. host: north carolina. caller: two term. that will probably be the vp. andy beshear has also been brought up. but it will probably be ray cooper. host: why do you say that? caller: because he is termed out, has been governor for two years. we need that carolina state. i believe we are 13 points behind, and he is very well-liked. josh shapiro just took over in pennsylvania as the governor, so he is pretty new to it. he is a great guy though. andy beshear is a great guy in oklahoma or something -- host: kentucky. caller: kentucky, ok.

i do not think that is a state we need because it is going to be red no matter what. i think the logical choice, also there is the telly -- batelli -- the kelly guy, gabby giffords husband. but i think it will be cooper. he is older, 67, 68, and is really well-respected in the democratic party. i was told this by my good friend who happens to be a head guy in one of the states, a huge organization. host: this is willie in texas, republican. caller: good morning. first of all, you had a young lady on yesterday -- i listen to, i don't know, three democrats, independents, maybe

for republicans, maybe three republicans called in in that whole series. first of all, your guy from san jose kind of stole my thunder here, so i will not go through it. i will say, hillary, she and bill endorsed kamala, so she is pretty much out of it, not even expected to run. i will say that if kamala and michelle obama were to form a ticket, oh, my gosh, there would be a landslide victory for trump that totally overwhelms what happened to mcgovern in 1972. last thing, if they don't give the nod to kamala, i am going to sit back with my popcorn and watch the democrats and their

eei war go to town. that is going to be awesome, and i cannot wait to see it. host: you mentioned 1972. were you alive? caller: i was. host: do you remember 1968? that was the last time a sitting president decided to drop out their reelection. caller: i was five years old when my parents were having a debate on lbj. quite frankly -- i grew up in new york, my dad was a guy from south carolina, grew up in the jim crow era, and he was very wary of people like lbj. so quite frankly, yeah, 1968 was amazing to learn about and to be able to sit there in front of the tv and listen to some grown folks talk about what was happening.

that kind of gave me my interest in politics. host: what do you think the legacy of joe will be? caller: i think his legacy is going to be made up. honestly. i think if people were logical and reasonable about what has happened in that administration the last four years, there is nothing that can be said good about his legacy. the only thing they could possibly do is like the carnival murmurs, the people that just stand there and cheer, cheer, cheer, even though they know there is a guy walking behind them who is the emperor, has no clothes. host: mentioned 1968, lyndon johnson, march in 1968 that lyndon johnson told the country that he would not seek reelection. he did it via a 40-minute speech from the white house.

joe biden doing it yesterday in a letter to the nation but saying he will address the nation sometime this week. his announcement that he would not seek reelection, lyndon johnson that the country now in the 39th minute of that 40-minute speech. here is the final 90 seconds of that speech. [video clip] >> america's future under challenge right here at home, with our hopes and the world's hopes for peace in the balance every day, i do not believe that i should devote an hour of the day of my time to any duties,

the awesome duties of this office, the presidency of your country. accordingly, i shall not seek, and i will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president. but let men everywhere know, however, that a strong and a confident america stands ready tonight to seek an honorable peace and stands ready tonight to defend an honored cause, whatever the price, whatever the burden, whatever the sacrifice that duty may require. host: lyndon johnson back in march of 1968, throwing open the

democratic primary that year. it went to an open convention, vice president hubert humphrey wrapping up the vote at the convention that year held and should -- that year. held in chicago this year in the wake of joe biden's announcement. it will once again take place in chicago. here is a headline on history repeating itself, saying party like it is 1968, history repeats itself as the biden decision thursday chicago dnc into an uncertain future. the washington post today looking at what could happen if the party coalesces around vice president kamala harris, as joe biden has asked democrats to do in the wake of his decision not to seek reelection. now that president biden has decided to end his campaign for reelection, they write their two paths to replacing him at the top of the ticket. one is a virtual vote that would

lock in a new nominee in early august, and the other is an open convention, something the party has not had since 1968. if the party goes ahead with a long planned virtual vote, he could lock in the convention. biden has endorsed harris, which would strongly to the scales towards unity there. the delegates would not be required to back harris. they have chosen loyal to to him and may be inclined to do what he asked. the virtual vote is not a typical part of the nomination process, largely set up to confirm biden as the nominee before the state of ohio's ballot deadline, which was called before the democratic convention this year. democrats had planned to go through with the early virtual vote anywhere to -- anyway to avoid legal challenges that would try to keep biden off the

ballot, and that virtual vote could still take place at the party coalesces around him. the step-by-step way democrats could pick their new candidate laid out in the washington post today. charlie in massachusetts, independent. thanks for waiting. caller: hello? host: go ahead. caller: yes, i wanted to make a couple points about just the way it was done with president biden. it was done very tacky, pushy, and i know nancy pelosi, she still rules with an iron fist. she should run for president, because whatever she says goes, you know? he was kind of forced out. you know, you feel kind of sad about it, the way it was done. but democrats have been making up rules for the last four years. i am just worried about the 1968

convention -- i mean, the convention turning out like 1968. matt daley was very heavy-handed when he handled that convention. there was a lot of violence and people got hurt. i was young. i was not into that, was too young for the vietnam thing. but i remember the talk of it, and a couple people getting hit and it was bad. i just hope that donald trump -- i mean, i am an independent, but this country needs to be slowed down and put back in order. i know that is what nixon didn't do, but that turned out bad. we need stability. we really do. you cannot make up rules as you go along. it is always 14 votes. that is all i have to say. thank you. host: i want to come back to the previous caller before charlie,

correcting an earlier caller about hillary clinton and bill clinton's endorsement, they did give out that statement yesterday, endorsing vice president kamala harris. they said we will do whatever we can to support her. we have lived through many up and downs, but nothing have made us more worried about the country than a second trump term. that statement coming from bill clinton and hillary clinton yesterday. this is betty in pennsylvania, democrat. caller: good morning. it was a very sad day yesterday, but it just goes to show what a good man president biden is, putting country first, not thinking about himself. trump would never do that. he just cares about power.

he does not care about this country. and how dare he say that president biden is the worst president. this man should look in the mirror. he is just so immature and people -- and evil, i do not know how these trump people can vote for him. also, what do you think the democrats would think about having a republican vice president on their ticket? someone like chris christie, someone who, you know, is a good person. [laughs] you know, not like the republicans are doing today. it is just so sad. host: what do you think about that possibility? do you think it would be a possibility? caller: well, you know, the democrats, they look for good people.

they want what is best for this country. they are not like we're going to do republican no matter what they are. look what we have, this immature felon who does not care about country, who is devoting to give our country way to the russians at the price is right. like i said, the democrats look for good people, and if there was someone who could help the country, they would do it. i really think they would. although, i am a governor shapiro fan. he is a very good man. since the day he was elected governor of our state, i have been a big fan. host: what do you like about him, betty, for people who do not know him or may have just started hearing his name? caller: well, he is just a down to earth good person. he cares about people. he is not trying to be out

there, you know? he really understands people. i have never met him personally, but seeing him talk to people and hearing him talk, you know, it just seems like you could have a good conversation with him. he listens to people. he wants what is best for our state, and i think he would be a good choice. but i also know, like i said, the democrats look for good people. i think if they thought there was somebody on the others that would help them, you know, i would agree with their choice. host: that is betty in pennsylvania. you started talking about donald trump's response. he posted his response yesterday on his truth social account. this is with the former president had to say about the current president deciding not to seek relation.

the democrats pick a candidate, crooked joe biden, he loses debate badly and panics and makes mistake after mistake, told he cannot win, and decide they will pick another candidate, kamala harris, they stole the race from biden. these people are a real threat to democracy. some of donald trump's response yesterday on his social media account. it was the editorial board of the wall street journal who looked at donald trump's comments about joe biden yesterday. saying his reaction was small minded and divisive. the editorial board ending their op-ed saying the biggest doubt voters have about mr. trump is that he is a vindictive man who is unable to speak for all americans. he had a chance sunday to show he is capable of more, but he did not rise to the occasion. republican line, this is dan in

new hampshire. caller: any reason to -- trump arrangement syndrome continues. [laughs] the worst mental disease i think we have had in the history of our country. they are disenfranchised, democrats today, that is the d. deception. we have been told how many years now that joe biden is fine? just watch me, just watch me, just watch me. what it came down to were donors, that was the final straw. that was the joke, biden could not continue to be president. i always remember when he first came, he was going to bring the country together. systemic racism was our problem. changed all the policies and told everybody famously in the debate, search the border. 12 million people now are in our country illegally. just horrible.

economic record, worse inflation. inflation rate was 1.4% when president biden took office. the afghanistan -- afghanistan was the beginning of the end. 13 americans dying needlessly. you could just go on and on. that is this man's legacy, unfortunately. host: to marry in new jersey, independent. -- to miriam in new jersey, independent. caller: it has been interesting listening to everyone. host: it always is. caller: interesting also, i wanted to start off by saying that yesterday was pretty bad because now the democratic party has to go through the process again, and this country, from everything i have been listening to with other callers, aren't

ready for a female black president, no matter who is the vice president. one lady suggested maybe she would ask chris christie? i can't even begin to assume what anyone is going to do. joe biden has been in office, i think they said, 50 years. i am 74. the gentleman who was laughing about 1968, when lbj stepped down -- he stepped down because they pushed him out because of the vietnam war, which we lost a lot of minorities in that war especially because blacks were

being drafted to go to vietnam. it has been a history lesson of what people think about this country. i haven't liked any president that has been in office, to be truthful. not one. we, as a people, in this country have only gotten the trickle-down policies, benefits, whatever you want to call them. but what i do know is that donald trump and j.d. vance and every republican that was at that convention, they was holding up whatever sign they

were for him, watch hitler. people do not study history in this country in this world. you want donald trump for president? go on your google phone -- i know you have one -- project 2025, donald trump's program 47. host: you mentioned joe biden's five decades long political career, the subject of a look-back in today's washington post, including a picture from 1972 when then-democratic senator joe biden took the oath of office for the first time to serve in the senate. he went on to run for the presidency in 1988, 2008, and then winning the nomination in

the 2020 campaign, deciding yesterday to not seek reelection after serving four years as president of the united states. this is joyce in cleveland, ohio, democrat. caller: good morning. i have called amongst my friends and family for joe biden to step down ever since i saw -- i did not watch the debate, i just could not, but when i saw the soundbites of joe's responses, i knew he was a lame president then, and i was hoping he would step down and not be selfish and really think about what the american people need. and i was so relieved when he did finally step down. and i really believe that america will never accept a

black woman, a woman of color, as their president. too biased. we're just not -- they wouldn't do it. they would say everything negative that could go down, that would go down, if by chance she won. the only person i think that could goto to -- go toe-to-toe with trump and j.d. vance is the governor of california, governor newsom. and i hope that -- i heard that he endorsed kamala harris -- is that her name? host: kamala. caller: ok. and i believe that he should rethink that and come up with a good reason to take over and go

into the democratic convention in august and really seek the nomination, because he could go toe-to-toe. i believe he could take the nation by storm and win for the democratic party. he would win. he has the charisma, has the look. he has that, like, almost jfk charisma. he could do it. he could win for us. host: gavin newsom's tweet yesterday, with their tough, fearless, and to nation, he wrote with our democracy at stake in future on the line, no one is better to prosecute the

case against donald trump's dark vision and guide our country in a healthier direction than america's vice president kamala harris. gavin newsom with that statement. kamala harris would be the first black woman in first person of south asian descent to be nominated, if she does earn the nomination. it was last week that she was on the campaign trail in fayetteville, north carolina, talking about the trump-vance ticket during the republican national convention. this is some of what she had to say. [video clip] vp harris: in recent days, they have been trying to portray themselves as the party of unity. but here's the thing, here is the thing, if you claim to stand for unity, you need to do more than just use the word. [cheers and applause] you cannot claim you stand for

unity if you're pushing an agenda that deprives whole groups of americans of basic freedoms, opportunity, and dignity. you cannot claim you stand for unity if you are intent on taking reproductive freedoms and the people of america and the women of america. trying to ban abortion nationwide, as they do, and restrict access to ivf and contraception, as there plan calls for. you cannot claim to be for unity if you tried to overturn a free and fair election and threatened to terminate the united states constitution.

and you cannot claim to be for unity when your entire economic agenda is designed to prioritize billionaires and big corporations over the middle class. host: vice president kamala harris last week on the campaign trail. a headline focusing on her this morning in the washington post, after miscues and revivals, history opened the door, harri'' contention marks the biggest comeback in a career full of many. republican line, john in farmington, missouri. thanks for waiting. caller: good morning. i don't think joe biden should be allowed to run because he was caught stealing our secrets for 40 years as a senator and vice president. he was caught, admitted he did it. he made $8 million off giving

our secrets up to the book company with him and his ghost writer. how in the world can somebody who has been caught stealing our records still be running? if people remember, one of bill clinton's aids was caught stealing secret records out of those rooms, he put those documents under his shirt, he was prosecuted to the full extent of the law. why isn't joe biden being prosecuted for stealing our records? host: what are your thoughts on the documents case brought up against him? caller: looks like all that is phony, as usual. how many of those boxes were delivered by the biden white house seven months after trump was in office? quite a few. i think they would have those boxes at home with nothing in them, of course. i think it is a novelty, too. host: this is joseph in maryland, independent.

caller: thank you for having me. what i want to say, what we are seeing and listening to since yesterday i think is really disgraceful for america, because being a democrat, i do not know the attitude of the new generation, but i want to go back in the last eight years. democrats, they are just -- their people because they eliminated the mayor of new york because they wanted joe biden, and joe biden won't. now three and a half years later, they're pushing joe biden out. what does that mean for me?

it means in the last three and a half years, joe biden was unable to really drive the country. in they are pushing him out, it is just very disgraceful in the old world, because i tried to raise up some foreign media last night, it was really disgraceful. host: you call it discus will, the new york times editorial board called it a courageous choice. what do you think about how it is being portrayed? caller: i do not think it is courageous because they forced him. when they are calling him hero, i am asking myself why, for what, what has he done? they tossed him out. this was not a willing decision. they pushed him out.

joe biden has endorsed kamala harris, and we have seen pelosi, obama, nobody want to speak out. are they standing for kamala harris? we don't know. democrats probably need to put in place a process. what process now? so they want to push kamala harris out, too. and then what about the black people? just watching them, it is just like a movie, but these guys doesn't have any plan right now. it has been a mess. nobody was able to drive the country. we cannot allow them to drive the ticket when he was not able to drive the country. we need to look forward to something. and i will say something about trump -- host: you mentioned barack obama putting out a full statement on

medium, a tweet, as well, praising joe biden and his service to the country, starting by saying joe biden has been one of america's most consequential presidents as well as a dear friend and partner to me today. we are also reminded, again, that he is a patriot of the highest order, talking about joe biden's record in office, a lengthy post on social media. ending it by saying we will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead, but i have extraordinary confidence in the leaders of our party that will be able to create a process as an outstanding nominee emerges. as for now, michelle and i want to express our attitude and love to joe, who served courageously during these perilous times. that was obama's statement yesterday. lou in illinois, democrat. caller: good morning. i am thrilled that kamala is in

the running. i have a daughter and three granddaughters. i am very concerned about abortion. my own daughter had a very complicated pregnancy and the baby died. and if it is possible that medical care -- medical care delayed is very dangerous. nurses and doctors running around worrying about lawsuits and things like that -- if a woman needs a surgical procedure, she should get it immediately. so i am for kamala. and i also remember trump standing up telling his followers with weapons to go invade our capitol, fight, fight, fight. we don't need that in america. nazi germany all over again. i am a democrat, top to bottom.

cannot stand these republicans trying to destroy our country just for cheaper gas and cheaper grocery prices. host: to terry in canton, north carolina, republican line. caller: good, c-span. the guy in illinois, yes, i want cheaper gas. i want to be able to live as a poor person. it is horrible. but let's talk, c-span, about what actually went on. we have been lied to for the last three and a half years. and 2020, the new york post put out multiple articles on joe biden's decline. democrats, where do you think sleepy joe come from? i would really like to know who has been running the government for the last three and a half years.

john, do you think you could ask the democrat how he feels about putting a knife and biden's back ? they literally pushed him out. host: john bolton, a former white house national security adviser under trump, the dangers of a lame-duck, is the column in the wall street journal today, as we look at the global role for the last six months of a lame-duck joe biden -- have you had a chance to read that yet? caller: no, but i can tell you what, we have extreme good blueprint of the last three and a half years. gas here right now is back up to $3.50. when joe biden come into office, it was $1.75. let's look what's happened since he has actually come into

office. we have 15 million illegals in here. we have dead soldiers in afghanistan. we have people who were forced to take a jab that has passed away, because we were forced to take a jab. oh, that was another lie. joe biden told us if you got the shot, you wouldn't get covid. he has covid now. how many more lies do we have to put up with in this country? by the way, donald trump is not a convicted felon. until the judge rules, he is not a convicted felon. by the way, there's a 99% chance it will be thrown out. host: to michael in brooklyn, new york, democrat. good morning. are you with us? caller: i am.

good morning. how are you? host: doing well. what are your thoughts? caller: as a black man in america, i am extremely excited about kamala harris. and i will say her chances against trump are extremely high, if you look at the past. the greatest presidential democrat turnouts have been when we had a person of color on the ballot. the majority of white people do not vote democrats. she is going to bring out a whole new coalition. for the democrats who are afraid because she is a woman or because she is black, stop looking into the narrative and go out there and vote. same thing that was said about obama, we got him. same way we turned out for biden and kamala the last time, we are still here. we still want the best for america. and we are going up against

trump. we are up against project 2025. let's keep that on the front burner. do we want the middle-class to be taxed at a higher rate to supplement for the tax cuts for the rich? no. do we want the department of education to be abolished so only rich people can be educated? no. go, kamala. thank you. host: van in ohio, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to know how the republican party can allow donald trump to run. he is a convicted felon. not convicted by a judge, he was convicted by a jury of his peers. one of fraud and one sexual assault. he is not fit to be our president of the united states represent us in the world.

what -- one that is his camp help -- is kamala harris, and i would like to see her nominate liz cheney as her vice president. liz cheney would bring along all of us republicans who really want is that the republican party, and we would work hand in hand with kamala. she is a good republican, and she deserves to see if she could be the vice president of the united states. that is all i have to say. i would really like to see hervey vice president. -- like to see her be vice president. host: we are having this conversation throughout all three hours of the program today. a reminder that the house is back in today, morning hours at noon, and then at 2:00 p.m. for legislative business. a very high-profile hearing set to take place today on capitol hill, that secret service

hearing before the house oversight committee in the wake of the attempted assassination of former president donald trump. kimberly cheadle, secret service director, will be the sole witness before members of the house oversight and reform committee. we will show that to you live at 10:00 a.m. eastern, and you can watch it over on c-span2. that way it will not be interrupted if it goes more than two hours when the house comes in. we have gavel to gavel coverage on c-span when the house is in. plenty of headlines this morning in anticipation of that hearing. this is from the washington times today, the oversight panel set to grill the secret service director on the trump attack. that story noting some of the remarks that james comer, the chairman of the house oversight committee, is set to make today, some of his opening statement released online yesterday.

the chairman will say today that it is my firm belief that you should resign. however, he says, incomplete defiance, if maintained, not tendering resignation, she will answer questions today from members of this committee seeking to find clarity for the american people on how these events were allowed to transpire. that from james comer, he will make those remarks today at the outset that hearing. back to your phone calls. then we will be joined by david wasserman of the cook political report for his thoughts on everything that has taken place. that for about an hour in our 8:00 a.m. eastern hour, then back to your phone calls in our 9:00 a.m. hour. mark in maryland, republican. caller: good morning. i wanted to point out that for three and a half years, republicans have been calling

into c-span and have been mentioning joe biden's cognitive decline, and we were basically told we were conspiracy theorists or it is misinformation or disinformation. first of all, if anybody comes on a news show and uses the words misinformation or disinformation, they are a shill for an authoritarian power structure. the only time you find those words is from the book "1984." a couple people have called in this morning and brought up project 2025 and how it is going to bring about fascism. i would like to point something out, especially to the democrat callers in hysterics today, when hitler came to power in germany, the first thing he did was he enacted gun-control. in his 25-point plan, he offered everybody in germany free health care and a guaranteed living

wage. so for trump, he would actually be like hitler, he would actually have to be a socialist. the national socialist german workers party. when you have the names socialist and workers in the name of your political party, it is kind of a hand that you are not right-wing. project 2025 actually looks to limit government and make it smaller, not bigger. that is actually more in keeping with our founding. these three letter agencies were all started by democrat presidents going back to woodrow wilson, a man that also brought back the plan in the 20th century, democrat, of course. and then fdr's socialist new deal program, which was basically a marriage between public private partnership, literally the textbook

definition of fascism. host: that is mark in maryland. gary and pennsylvania, republican. caller: hello, thanks for taking my call. i wanted to comment on kamala harris potentially running for president. i think we will personally be the laughing stock of the world if we let her become president, because she is not qualified and this is all the democrats reach for power. they want to keep power, and they are going to throw someone in there and tell us how great she is, which is all lies and we all know it. i have never seen the country so divided, and listening to these lies they spew everyday. that's it. host: last call in the segment, lois in sioux city, iowa, democrat. caller: hi, i definitely support

kamala harris as vice president. i think she would be great. i have a question for c-span. do you have tapes you can play about that convention in the late 1960's that was so rowdy in chicago? i remember that well, and i would love to see some of that footage again if you have it. i think a lot of people that are younger would really get an eye opener. i hope we never have that again. host: c-span started in 1979, so after that convention, but we have covered the history of that convention quite a bit in a couple different places, whether it is an history tv or booktv on c-span just public affairs programming about it. so if you go to our video archives and search at the top of the page, 1968 democratic convention, you will see several programs in which we talked about that. but c-span was not there in 1968

showing that convention, as we have done since we have been around and we will do again at the democratic convention in chicago in august. so i hope you watch with us and use our vast online archives to take a look. does that work for you? caller: yes, that sounds great. i would like a lot of the young people to see that, and i hope it never happens again. host: thanks. last caller in this first segment. stick around, plenty more to talk about this morning. next, we will be joined by david wasserman of the cook political report, senior editor and elections analyst there, to talk about the shakeup in the 2024 election yesterday. stick around. we will be right back. ♪

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accessories. there is something for every c-span fan and every purchase helps to support our nonprofit operation. shop now or anytime at c-spanshop.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: good day to be joined by david wasserman of the "cook political report." what do the race ratings look like today in light of yesterday's news? guest: it's going to take some time to reevaluate, but the race between jeff -- between biden and trump was so static that it felt like something seismic was bound to happen and in the past three weeks to a month, we have had a year's worth of seismic activity. the irony is, we would not be here had it not been for joe biden taken -- taking the unusual state -- step of calling for a early to make in late june

and donald trump taking the surprise step of accepting those terms. that led to this other irony, a year ago most people were asking us if there was a chance that the president would ditch kamala harris from the ticket. now he's more popular than she is. so, this is a net positive for democrats only because the biden campaign was on life support by the time that he withdrew his own super pac yesterday, where they had pulled and found that 18% of voters found that he was mentally fit to serve another term, but she still starts out as an underdog against trump. it improves chances for democrats, no doubt about it, but there are opportunities and liabilities here for kamala harris. on the plus side, she is going to get a bit of a honeymoon and a jolt in base enthusiasm from

democrats, where there had been basically no energy before, she offers a generational contrast against trump. host: and the age issue now? guest: perhaps they become age questions about donald trump, whose performance at the rnc was a mixed bag. she has the ability to forcefully argue the case against trump, whereas biden was incapable of being that forceful communicator and she is eager to tackle project 2025 as well. she can also pick a running mate who kind of balances out and moderates her image. those are opportunities for her, but she does carry risk for democrats. she co-owns an unpopular record and in fact her approval rating is not any higher than joe biden's. particularly on inflation and immigration. most americans don't really have a clear idea of what she does as

vice president. that will be a challenge for her to define in a positive way and when you drill down on it, voters who are familiar with her portfolio, it is her record as a so-called borders are, the most disastrous issue for the democrats in the polling. she is a candidate from the left coast, from san francisco. she has been to the left of biden on several issues when she was running in 2020, particularly on health care, energy, and immigration. finally, there's the question of how she ramps up the campaign on her own. does she simply carry over the biden campaign apparatus and make it her own? even though many of the biden strategists were in the denial of the political reality of the last several months and she has a reputation in her own right for high staff turnover. operationally, how is this going to work?

it will take some time to figure this out. host: is it a foregone conclusion that it will be kamala harris? guest: she has this air of inevitability about her because we are in the stage of the wrath -- the race where democrats cannot put forward any more chaos than there has already been. we are four months out from election day and for all of the talk that joe manchin would flirt with rejoining the democratic party, that's not based in any reality we have seen in the last less than 24 hours, this huge coalescing of democrats behind the harris campaign. even swing state democrats were desperate for some kind of order in this race and on their side. host: you mentioned swing states. i know that there is more analysis to be done, but what states were moving off the map that are now moving off the map because joe biden has stepped aside or kamala harris is the

inevitable leader as the nominee? guest: what was interesting watching the reactions from prominent democrats yesterday, just about everybody embraced kamala harris, joe biden being the most important endorsement, except for barack obama. it's clear that there are some democrats who would have preferred a more robust primary and had biden withdrawn from the race a year ago or even a month ago, there could have been a window for a primary that really tested democratic appeal before the democratic convention. now i think that timeline has clearly closed and you will have a simple vote on day one. but it is not clear which states go on or off the map as a result of this. we are still looking at the core states deciding the election. but one key shift i would suspect at this point in time is

that kamala harris's path of least resistance to 270 electoral votes will be more evenly distributed across the sunbelt, the rust belt, then joe biden. when we were pulling in the biden versus trump matchup, it was apparent that biden was holding on to more of his support in the rust belt trio. he had lost ground in the sunbelt states of arizona, nevada, in georgia, relative to 2020. what harris does is has the potential to energize a lot of young, nonwhite voters who cast ballots against trump in 2020 but were never really personally enamored with joe biden. and who had fallen out of the biden coalition in the polling in the first half of the year. so, if she brings those voters back in there is more of a surgeon the ground game for

democrats in those states, she has the potential to compete just as closely in those -- in the sunbelt trio states. host: viewers are probably chomping at the bit to chat with you. let me get the phone numbers. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002 david wasserman is with us until the top of the hour. we usually do you want to talk house and senate races, the congressional map, but what does this do for your analysis of all of those races out there that you have been watching and tracking in the cook political report? guest: the relationship between the presidential polling in the down ballot has been unusual this year. it's not that democrats were over performing biden, it's that biden was underperforming democrats. even though we saw doc -- we saw

biden standing tall in the last few months, particularly since the debate, we did not see a corresponding downward shift or down ballot democrats. in fact if anything some of the polling show that democratic senators like tammy baldwin in wisconsin, bob casey in pennsylvania, they were opening up considerable margins over republican opponents. it speaks to two factors. one, they are more popular, with better established brands, more independent bipartisan brands than joe biden, and you cannot find a democrat in a swing state or swing district who is remotely that age. but also, voters were drawn to the idea of a check and a balance in the perception that donald trump has been the favorite in the race might benefit democrats with some swing voters who dislike the options at the top of the ticket who don't want one party or

trump to go to fark. i suspect you will see the dynamic continue if kamala harris is the democratic nominee, as we think she will be . and i still think that in some districts you will see democrats have an incentive to break from their party at the top of the ticket to try to win. host: what's more likely, republicans take the senate or democrats take the house? guest: republicans taking the senate is more likely than democrats taking the house by far. the senate has always been republican. that is an opportunity to hold the lever of power, which has been so difficult for democrats. all that republicans would need to do to win the senate majority would be to flip west virginia, which they are absolutely certain to do, winning the white house, where the republican vice president and j.d. vance, if

trump wins, is poised to break the tie in the favor of republicans. the four other seats we have in the tossup column are all held by democrats. you have democratic senators in nevada. jacky rosen, sherrod brown. the michigan open seat that debbie stabenow is leaving behind. also, these seats are at a high level of vulnerability for democrats with an additional three seats democrats occupy in the lien column. leaning democrat. so, arizona, pennsylvania, wisconsin, it looks like democrats have leads in those races but they will be high dollar affairs. there is virtually no republican vulnerable in senate seats. the closest thing would be ted cruz in texas, but that's a real stretch. the question in the senate is not so much do republicans control it, it's what is the republican margin at the end of

the day? if republicans take back the white house, i would argue that 51-49 is not a governing majority for donald trump. keep in mind, there will still be thorns in his side like susan collins and maine, lisa murkowski in alaska and bill cassidy in louisiana or john curtis from utah, they could be moderate counterweights to the white house in that scenario. if republicans get to 53 or 54 seats, that's a different calculus. and then trump has much more leeway to enact an agenda make people uncomfortable. host: this is kevin, line for democrats. guest: thank you for taking my call -- caller: thank you for

taking my call. i listen every single day. i'm happy to speak on this topic. thank you for taking me. kamala is the obvious choice. joe biden is obviously not at full capacity. sorry, are you there? host: we are listening. caller: he obviously couldn't carry it on. kamala is a new generation, first black woman, asian woman. i think it's a good choice. as a black person coming run from, i'm not in agreement with her on a lot of issues, but honestly i would vote for our rock -- a rock against donald trump. i wanted to know about some of the less in the know callers who call in and call people liars when their candidate, donald trump, is the biggest liar, the only liar in this race. i really want to expound on that

. try not to cut people off when they speak the truth about who he is because some of his listeners need to hear it. all they listen to his fox news. he is a rapist, you know what i mean? he's all over the epstein files. why are we not talking about that? talking about joe biden's age, he deserves a lot more respect than what we have given him for his service of the country. i don't agree with him on everything, but he is an obviously better choice than donald trump fear. -- donald trump. for a party that spewed law in order for years to vote for the cheesiness rapist is ridiculous to me. -- cheesiness rapist is ridiculous -- treasonous rapist is ridiculous to me. host: good morning. caller: can you hear me ok?

independent, pennsylvania. but i would love to hear and i think is most important for americas to talk about outcomes. about what real people can feel. traditionally that has been liberalish, but i'm a veteran. i surround myself and my community with conservatives and democrats. what i am getting at is there is an overwhelming sense of uncertainty and fear. americans need to hear about issues and outcomes they can feel. obviously it's what we are seeing with gun-control and international relationships. this is our future. if democrats were very -- were better able to describe and illustrate real issues real people can feel, i think we

would have better outcomes. right now it is a call up for it -- cult of personality race. we need to talk of how we are going to keep americans safe and how we are going to improve american lives in the end. i sent a better summary and an email to your show. host: weighing messages is essentially what the caller was talking about. where does a kamala harris campaign want to focus a message? what issues do they want to focus on? where does trump want to keep the focus? guest: on each other. kamala harris, democrats hope, will better help their party to move on from the age issue and put the spotlight squarely on the unpopular republican nominee. you will hear that increasingly ramp of rhetoric about what trump would do as president. kamala has made 2025 a centerpiece on the campaign trail.

democrats are going to highlight some of those unpopular decisions like letting obamacare expire at the end of 2025, pardoning january 6 rioters. the caller is from one of those competitive districts where democrats are trying to run against scott perry, apologist for january 6 rioters. bookmark that. trump is going to highlight the positions that kamala harris has taken that are to the left of where joe biden is. in the 2020 primary, when harris was running for the nomination, she raised her hand in support of decriminalizing illegal border crossings. that's going to come up. she was on the record in favor of banning fracking, a step further than biden and most democrats who have been successful in states like pennsylvania. she had a kind of hybrid position in favor of medicare for all that combined the

progressive priority with key things, private health insurance to some degree. this is all right for republican attack, that she is even further to the left of where the current administration has been. keep in mind, this is the first time that they can argue a side-by-side comparison of two administrations over four years. host: unless you go back to 1892. guest: well, we have our hands full with the present date -- day. [laughter] host: we could do two hours on that topic alone. kingsley, independent, new york. caller: good morning, thank you for having me. some of the worst reporting of ever experienced in my life. i love biden. i was absolutely comfortable with his age. i felt he got a lot done.

now that he stepped down, i was angry but now i'm really feeling behind kamala. i think he represents the antithesis of everything the democrats have been trying to point out against republicans. she fits the mold perfectly. she can prosecute the case. she doesn't have the baggage of being old. she's not a criminal. she doesn't have these other things that seem to weigh down the republican side. i'm really glad that the infighting is finally over. glad that it's taken care of and now we can get to the task of beating trump. thank you for having me. host: do you think the infighting is over, david wasserman? guest: on the democratic side of think they are desperate to unite at this point. one issue that kamala harris wants to highlight a lot this fall is abortion. donald trump has been hard to

pin down on this issue because he has in fact angered some religious conservatives by posing an -- opposing a national abortion ban. even though this is where democrats have a double-digit trust lead with voters, it has been difficult for democrats so far to make the case that a second trump administration will go further than we already are. for kamala harris, i think it's kind of a two pronged fight here . because she obviously wants to make that a key focus, but sometimes to win elections, you also have to confront your biggest weaknesses and there is no doubt that the border and immigration have been a big weakness for democrats and for her in particular and i think this has been a missed opportunity for democrats. the president could have been out there every day blasting trumpet republicans for

scuttling a senate immigration compromise that would have included a lot more money for immigration judges, border patrol agent's, and so forth, with a legal pathway for recent arrivals to be able to work your really -- legally. host: was that line of attack working? guest: february, there was a special election for george santos on long island where they made that a key focus and he won the race by eight points. the harry truman playbook of running against a do nothing republican congress that is obstructionist, or even bill clinton running with that playbook back in the 1990's, look, i think the question is can kamala harris address the weakness by trying to convert defense to offense and go on the attack against trump blocking the bill? that would have been a popular bill with swing voters. or is she too fearful of moving the campaign into issue terrain

that is unfavorable for democrats at the moment? host: godfrey from toronto, canada, neighbors to the north, calling on the republican line, go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. hello, david. i don't think kamala harris can extricate herself from the failures of the jill biden administration. kamala is to the wrath -- the left of joe biden. can she extricate herself from the cost-of-living in the country or inflation in the country? having given one of the highest costs in the country? the justice department? it's a record number of illegal immigrants.

indicating she is not a part of it? we sang she's now going to be the president to go toe to toe with putin, north korea, iran, china? they will be laughing at her. my problem now is that the media is going to do with -- do what they did with obama. they pushed everything around and undermined mccain. that's what will happen. any legitimate words from donald trump is going to be construed as racism against kamala. pushing out the election, it will be a disastrous administration. guest: david wasserman? host:host: --david wasserman? guest: keep in mind, she co-owns

the record by me. even though per approval rating is the same, or disapproval rating is a few points less because voters don't have a whole picture of what she has done in the administration. there are gaps for her to fill in and republicans will try to fill those gaps as well. when i spoke with one of the leading pollsters for trump, they said that in our testing of kamala harris, because they have been preparing for some time now , the one thing that voters know about her is her laugh. they view it as a lightning rod and as evidence that voters view her as less than serious. she has got to add some policy heft to her image and perhaps moderated relative to what it

was when she was running four years ago. one way she could try to address that is not only by laying out her own policy vision as distinct from biden and more forward-looking, but also by picking a running mate that balances her out. we saw trump pick a running mate that doubled down on the appeal of j.d. vance, someone more isolationist than he is for policy and is of that maga view of republicanism. does she pick from outside of washington? someone like gretchen whitmer, josh shapiro, andy beshear, those are the top three names in circulation right now with mark kelly. host: approval rating, pollsters, fundraising numbers, we will watch them all closely when it comes to kamala harris.

reporting yesterday from axios that as, the harris for president campaign has raised some 46 point $7 million through various fundraising efforts online. as someone who watches this stuff, what is the most telling metric you will be watching for? guest: keep in mind that the polling gap we saw prior to the biden exit, the backsliding, the fact that biden was downing his key states, it actually undershot how poorly biden was doing. for the first half of the year, the biden campaign had a serious cash advantage over the trump campaign and had the airwaves to themselves in the swing states. go down the list, democrats had outspent republicans $20 million

to $2 million in arizona and the only state where you saw considerable spending from a republican group was in pennsylvania, which of the three northern states also saw the biggest drop off margin between biden and trumper democrats. so, the picture was even worse than it had appeared. kamala harris has received a historic surgeon fundraising during the honeymoon campaign she made for president that will help with the cash advantage that trump has had in the last few weeks as democratic donors were growing despondent and a huge surge in outpouring of support in the attempt of his life -- on his life. now perhaps they will be closer

to parity for the rest of the campaign. host: headline from "the washington post," the biden warchest i know you're not an election lawyer, but any thoughts on those challenges and how hard it will be for her to secure that funding. this is probably -- guest: this is probably the weakest republican argument as to the harris viability. talking about the viability of switching to her in terms of ballot access and campaign funds. we are watching history unfold. we haven't seen a situation in the modern era where less than four months out there's a change on the top of the ticket on the side of one party.

keep in mind that we are one month out from the democratic convention. it's clear that democrats had not nominated their ticket yet. most campaign-finance experts view it as a simpler transition to harris and her eligibility to spend campaign funds in terms of given that her name is on this ticket? will there be challenges legally? i'm sure there will be. the democratic side will be well funded one way or the other whether they are transferred to the dnc was super pac. there's no obstacle in my view to kamala harris getting on the ballot in all 50 states once she has, as we expect, been formally

nominated. host: it's a six-member panel split evenly between the party. sometimes these things end up in court. if you want to read more on the potential legal challenges, you can do that in "the washington post." my free democrats. mitch. caller: maga is nothing but a huge day confederacy. donald trump called them suckers and losers. host: what did you think of joe biden dropping out? caller: he wanted to help his party win. numbers was down, not looking good.

it was a stop sign. two thirds of the country don't like donald trump. project 2025, they gave -- that's about a dictatorship. they are going to take away social security, medicare education. host: the economy, does that hold true? guest: it's the dominant concern we get in polling nationally in swing states. 2022, they were bracing for losses.

the democracy issue costs several republican candidates in those key senate and house races. a big reason was inflation. voters were talking about pocketbook concerns. lowering the costs of prescription drugs by negotiating it down. voters had been tuning out joe biden. we will see if a new nominee makes a difference in how receptive swing voters are to hearing those messages and believing that the economy is better than they think it is. i think that one of the biggest

problems plaguing democrats even as they point to a decline in the inflation rate is high interest rates. if we are poised for a rate cut in the next few months, perhaps it makes voters feel better about their prospects of obtaining a mortgage or a car loan that assists the democratic message a bit. host: walk us through this, you will know this. what happens with the j.d. vance senate in ohio? guest: mike dewine didn't have the opportunity to name a replacement for j.d. vance. filling out the remainder of that term in 2026, keep in mind that vance was elected in 2022.

also regular election in 2028. even though vance is the insurgent and dominant trump wing of the party, mike dewine is a classic, pragmatic republican from another era. even a more moderate congressman, like david joyce, from northeast ohio. that will be interesting to watch. host: what about someone beaten in a primary race that gets kicked down the road to fill the seat they are running for and lost? guest: that we have senate vacancies that governors fill. i would really have to go back and look. often times, caretaker senators don't have a great track record

of going on to win or serve long-term term in the senate. sherrod brown has 50-50 odds against bernie moreno. host: joe biden had a caretaker from delaware when he was elected vice president, right? guest: ted kaufman, right. but he did not run for another term. host: cook political report is where you can see the work of david wasserman and his colleagues. joe, republican mine, good morning. caller: thanks for taking my call.

i'm definitely disappointed in the way the media has been so incurious about the situation with biden. it's obvious long before his resignation that mr. biden lost many of his physical abilities. the democrats have led the american people on such a miss case of basically, ah, distorting reality. it's unbelievable. the media has been key in that. they have not led or worked hard to bring other states in for the american people. hopefully the media will hold the democrats accountable. who is running the country? susan rice? ron klain?

what cadre have been running the country and allowing the kind of control of the presidency we have had here akin to what you would see in communist countries , where they distort and delude the people of the country? host: any thoughts on the media? guest: some media outlets did focus a lot on his age and ability levels, others that did not. it's a varied landscape. it's not just republican voters that feel that the light hat -- white house has been less than honest about his faculties. when i spoke with congressional democrats over the last month off the record, the term that came up the most was gas lit when it came to their interpretation of what the white house was telling them about biden's capabilities and political standing in the polling data.

for the last couple of months the white house was not only shielding voters from the reality of how much that -- biden had been diminished, they were divorced from the political reality of how voters were feeling. it was clear all year that voters had doubts about the biden ability to fulfill his duties for another term. in may, 66% of voters said it was likely that biden wouldn't be able to finish a second term. first rule of politics is meeting voters where they are and not where they were. now they have to ramp up the campaign on short order because of that.

host: the donald trump oppose sarin in c bounce, did it happen this year? guest: the convention bouts these days -- bounce these days, the nominee receives a slight bounce from a convention but i don't think the spotlight is that flattering to major party nominees when they are viewed unfavorably by the majority of voters. it it did get more favorable coverage. reporters wrote about the contents of the unified message before they watched him deliver it. you won't see much of a change in the polling.

kamala harris, given the favorable coverage host: to the democrats in the tossup category of the 2024 category, do they want kamala harris to come campaign with them in their states? guest: it depends. the down ballot is two pronged. a number of voters even if it's nikki haley voters, even if they

had voted for a republican down ballot as a check, it will now be a check on the administration. base enthusiasm, we saw tepid response. democratic votes in these key races, i'm not sure you will see democrats as baldwin, casey, rosen, certainly not sherrod brown in ohio. she will be a net liability.

host: republican enthusiasm in the wake of the assassination attempt? guest: i think that if the last two weeks have changed anything, we are headed for a higher turnout than we were before these events. given the unpopularity of biden and trump and the lack of trump being in the white house as was the case four years ago, i thought we were headed for a modest decline in turnout versus 2020. i think republicans are supercharged after the attempt of trump life, i think that democrats are now the party of renewed hope and optimism with a nominee.

host: greensboro, good morning. caller: my question is about foreign policy. we all know about substance over politics and it started with foreign policy. a common argument is the invasion of ukraine. trump, his personality is chest thumping macho man. i think this puts the russians and the chinese in an excellent position geopolitically. they can launch a war and when a

democrat is president, in order to prove the republican argument , when a republican takes office as one does, they can reward him with handing over political prisoners in going easier in the war against the west. showing that the argument holds true. they can oops -- exploit the obnoxiousness during democratic administrations to prove that they are weak and going easy on republican administrations until perhaps, i know this is theoretical, until perhaps there is a hyper isolationist president in the open -- oval office, maybe a j.d. vance. they can go into the

anti-american campaign to the point where there are extremely serious ramifications for not just the western world or the end -- the entire world and weak, underdeveloped countries. i hope the democrats get wise. host: foreign policy? guest: selecting j.d. vance, perhaps a more conventional foreign policy as a republican. it was a sign that trump is hyper competent about winning the election. vance has stances on foreign policy topics that are where most voters are.

not caring about what happened ukraine. more aggressive than trump. vance talked about raising tariffs to levels unforeseen, which could lead to retaliation from china and other nations, as we saw during the first four trump years. it could scare a lot of u.s. industries. the question is if harris can capitalize on that. they may not have the opportunity to confront trump and vance in a debate setting. trump is happy to be on the debate stage with joe biden. showing that contrast and appearance. he is much less likely to debate

an opponent 19 years younger. host: good morning, we've got 10 minutes left with david wasserman. caller: i have a comment about the rnc convention. i watch the convention almost every night. i didn't see much support from the asian community, the latino community, or the arab. on top of that, j.d. vance is married to a lady from india. a lot of his maga supporters may not appreciate his wife. could that come back to bite donald trump?

host: got your point. minority voters this psycho? guest: democrats are poised to nominate the first asian-american candidate, major party candidate for president. i doubt that many republicans or trump voters are going to hold the ethnicity of trump's running mates wife against the ticket. we are talking about a very small fringe of voters on the far right who might even be espousing that kind of mindset. but, it does raise the question of how is democratic math mapping over young voters in particular? one subgroup we are watching his

arab-american voters. joe biden has been struggling with that subset of the election with the limited data available coming from michigan, where they are most influential. kamala harris and her rhetoric around the war in gaza in the middle east has been more sympathetic to the palestinians them but joe biden has been. i don't know that she would stand to lose voters who had taken issue with where the biden harris administration stood on israel and gaza, but she might stand to gain back the voters who are really down on biden support for israel. host: i wanted to get your thoughts on third-party candidates this cycle. what does joe biden dropping out mean for robert kennedy, marianne williamson, and in

general lots of questions about that. rfk junior held a brief presser yesterday to address joe biden dropping out of the race. this is just a little bit of what he had to say. [video clip] >> would you open up to the possibility of an open convention if there was a call for that? >> i would certainly listen to the party elders if they came to me. i would discuss whether or not i'm the only presidential candidate who could be donald trump and i would listen to their proposals. >> would you seek out the nomination? >> i'm content running where i am and i believe i can run the election and at this point it is a two person race, let me put it that way. i'm in the best position to win. >> and the polling that shows

you are not in the best position, we are citing internal poles. if internal polls show you losing, would you step down and step aside? >> i would consider taking that proposal if the other candidates did the same. >> you mentioned kamala harris is who you said the democratic party is poised to put in that position. you were critical of the biden policies. what is different? how do you compare yourself to kamala harris if she becomes the democratic nominee? >> kamala harris is a war hawk, the party of four. the democratic party was always the peace party. kamala harris is a war hawk on ukraine, she is a war hawk on china. i think we should be figuring out ways to coexist with the rest of the world as best we

can. of course, we need to protect our national security. she's not going to do anything about the national deficit. i have never heard her speak about the chronic disease epidemic. i think she is a product of corporate controlled democracy and she is one of the authors in terms of civil rights, she has one of the worst civil rights records of any public officials. host: that was robert kennedy junior yesterday. what does this mean for third-party candidates? guest: in terms of the popularity of candidates up until this point, rfk junior, who has been more or by his own family, who at one point claimed that a parasitic worm had been placed into his brain, has been pulling in the high teens with young voters. the problem for him is that the events of the last month have

starved him for oxygen. it's been all about what's happening with major party nominees and the change on the democratic side. he's been getting the bulk of his support from unaffiliated young voters who are deeply distrustful in dissolution with the two-party system as a whole. if kamala harris begins doing better with some of those voters , it could boost his support, but at the end of the day his biggest problem is that the presidential race is shaping up to be a binary choice and voters , given the perception of such high stakes in the election this year, are they really going to vote for someone who is not competitive in the race for the electoral college? will they perceive that as throwing their votes away? even when in 2016 you had that similar situation where gary johnson was polling in the high

single digits, he ended up with about 30% of the vote, i expect candidate support to collapse when the voting gets underway. host: time for just a few more questions with david wasserman, of the cook political report, who often spends his nights at the nbc news decision best. lance, galloway, new jersey, republican line. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. like i told the call screener, it was a great time watching c-span history end of the inaugural acceptance speeches of various presidents going back to 1992 yesterday. basically, thank you for that. thank you for taking my call. all i can say is that my wife and i just had a very good conversation regarding how the dnc literally is disenfranchising the 14 million people that went out and took

the time and voted in the primary. so, does the dnc stand for does not count, or do they just not give a darn about the people who go out to vote and make it to the polls? i find it horrifically usurping by the democratic national convention and all the people that run it, that they can try to pull this off. of course, the media is going to be complicit in this different emperors clothes. regarding trump, i just hope that he acts a little bit -- uses a little bit more composure, civility, and learns that a closed mouth gathers no bees. you are supposed to bring people

into the fold, but you are not supposed to blindfold their eyes . i just wanted to share that with you. thank you for their time. that's what they should do. mr. wasserman, regarding rfk, he's coming in so late and, to me, it was the wrong setting for a press conference out on the front lawn in a suit. you should have been there with beachwear, a couple of kids in the background, walk away, be more family oriented. that's who's watching right now. people with families who are truly suffering through not only this horrific division in the country, but also on account of the enormous inflation. in fact every time you hear about the things, the fact that they do not even include utilities and costs of food in the cpi is ridiculous. host: we will take the point. david wasserman, you have got the final two minutes.

guest: the caller made some interesting points. the entire notion, and you are hearing this from strategists who occur,, disenfranchising their own voters, its balance of 14 million primary voters, there are two easy retorts for democrats on that. it's earned by stepping aside the nomination. second of all, this was never really a competitive primary. never even really a real primary worth watching on the democratic side. his opponents were token candidates in that race. so, don't think it's fair to say that there was a strong-willed democratic electorate that was for biden and against other

potential candidate scenarios that we are watching. i just want to highlight something that one democrat in a swing district conference house race said a a few weeks ago after the biden debate performance and i will be curious to see if this remains the case. jared goldman voted for trump by six points in 2020 and has always had to win over some trump support for reelection. he wrote in a daily news editorial that while i don't plan to vote for him, donald trump is going to win and i'm ok with that. the representatives of maine will need to work with him meinm accountable when it does not, and work across the aisle no matter what. that is the kind of check and balance argument that i suspect will still be the case in a harris versus trump race for those democrats and republican-leaning seats. i think they will still need to

cut and run from the top of the ticket in order to win reelection because let's face it, kamala harris is probably not going to be winning in these more rural districts that died and struggled into four years ago. the question is how many other democrats embrace that kind of message, and how successful is it? democrats are only four seats away from the house majority. that might still be their best opportunity to hold a lever of power in washington come 2025 given those 22 tossup braces are playing out in new york and california, a lot of these trump district democrats have pretty strong images back home. even if their changes in the presidential race got better, you'll see a lot of democratic money and drive in the race for the house. host: the cook political report, uncharted waters. cook political.com is where

viewers can go to see david wasserman, colleagues, there was ratings that we have been talking about. always appreciate your time. come back before the election. coming up in our final hour, more of your phone calls on yesterday's historic news. joe biden withdrawn from the 2024 presidential race, endorsing kamala harris. phone lines on your screen. go ahead and start coming in now and we will geto them right after the break. >> c-span now is a free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what's happening in washington, live and on-demand. keep up with today's biggest events with live streams of the floor proceedings and hearings from the u.s. congress, white house events, courts, campaigns, and more from the world of politics, all at your

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podcast today. and on our website, c-span.org /podcasts. >> the house will be in order. >> this year, c-span celebrates 45 years of covering congress like no other. since 1979, and we been your primary source for capitol hill, providing balance, unfiltered view of government. c-span, 45 years and counting, powered by cable. >> washington journal continues. host: last hour of our program is very rare -- reserved for you the viewers, talking about president biden withdrawing from the race, endorsing kamala

harris, the historic news coming yesterday. the washington post with a moment by moment of how it all went down. the headline was that biden's mind was largely made up by saturday. president biden called vice president harris on saturday to told her directly, spoke with his chief of staff, and then his campaign chair. so that biden could tell those that were closest with him that he was abandoning his dream of a second term. as biden spoke on that,, a letter went live online, and the chief of staff followed windows in the cabinet and white house with rank of assistant to the president. that letter that went out to americans, addressed to my fellow americans from joseph biden junior, ends by saying let me express my deepest gratitude for all that have worked so hard

to see me reelected, thanking the vice president for being a partner in all that work. saying today that i believe there is nothing americans can't do when we do it together. we just have to remember we are the united states of america. that letter signed by president joe biden. taking your phone calls, getting your reaction on the washington journal. this is a lily in dayton, ohio. independent. good morning. caller: since the party was waiting, told they were not winning, what are they going to do now? now we hear trump saying that she is crazy. you are going to start another debate of getting rid of the person that could have taken place if joe biden didn't become ill? that is all you will hear. she cannot run. i listen to this the whole time. both of the parties are. then i hear that president obama

needs to do this for kamala. i don't hear bush endorsing trump, liz cheney endorsing trump, nor is vice president. you need to get it together. we are not crazy. one thing you are not looking at. when you get drunk, you will not be happy, because he will destroy you. i guess that you had, he is only speaking for himself and not other people. use your head and not somebody else's head. host: this is a lien in texas. for democrats. what was your reaction yesterday? caller: i am sad that joe biden is gone. he actually helped me out a great deal through the debt loan thing. if i wanted to buy a car, i could not get a car because i

had student debt hanging over my shoulders all the time. once he completely got rid of that, all of a sudden, my life opened up again. my credit started getting better. i can rent an apartment. i can rent a car. he completely changed my life in one little swift thing. so i am sorry he is gone. i think he cared about the people. i am glad kamala harris is there because she seems brilliant. i think it's very important that she seems honest. i have watched donald trump over the years and the one thing that you can say is this man is a career criminal now, always has been, but he has always been a lawyer.

-- a liar. even when he talks on tv and they fact-check him, most of what he says is either complete nonsense or he is just lying. so it is very refreshing to have somebody, that when she gets up there, in the past, when you saw your president get up there, you were proud. you didn't have to think of the rest of the world thinking that your president was having sex with a poured star while his wife was having their baby -- pornstar while his wife was having their baby. you didn't have to think about stealing from a charity, stealing from parents who were trying to put his kids through university. host: this is ray in michigan. republican. good morning. caller: i will only take a minute.

it is about time people in the united states pull their heads out of the sand. if you hear the democrats, like joe biden says, i am going to step down because of the party. they don't care about the people, they only care about their party. he wants to help the party, so i will step down. now, he is going to endorse harris as president. the woman had one job to do, to take care of the border, but she hasn't gone to acapulco yet. i always remember her making that comment and she has not done one thing. would somebody please tell me what joe biden has done for the american people in the last three and a half years? tell me something that he fixed.

tell me something that he has saved people's lives. he has caused a lot of people to get killed. innocent children, because of the border, he has caused people to lose their lives. host: that is ray in michigan. susan page, senior political reporter, editor at usa today with her wrap up of the biden legacy in her piece. she writes, few figures in american history have filled as many roles as biden has, from sanitary to become the oldest president at 81. early on he was a democratic centrist on abortion and civil rights and crime. later as president, would enact the most far-reaching progressive agenda since lyndon johnson. as barack obama's running mate, he would be a crucial partner in

picking the first black running mate, and then won the democratic nomination himself on his third try in 2020 facing a field of contenders a generation younger. he prevailed in his party and then in the country, ousting president trump in an election that both sides depicted as an existential test of democracy. this is sherry in portsmouth, virginia. independent. good morning. sherry, are you with us? we will go to terry in los angeles, democrat. caller: good morning. while i am deeply, deeply saddened that president biden is not going to run for reelection, i am hoping, generally hoping that the country will look to a higher ground, do anything

necessary to not let trump back into office. the gentleman that called in a few minutes ago that said biden had not done anything for the united states or its people, he needs to go and read. while we talk about the economy, we have one of the strongest economies ever. as a person in the stock market, follows it, it is higher than ever. when biden took over -- people forget --trump failed on the covid initiative. millions of people died. millions of people lost their jobs. we were in disarray. the whole world to shut down. unfortunately, when we talk about the economy in terms of inflation, i think consumers and general motors need to do two things. start looking and seeing what is actually happening. take general mills. they gave their president a large increase, paid millions in

dividends to shareholders, bought back billions of dollars in stock and raise the price of cereal at the counter. you start looking at the actual earnings of all these companies and they are doing this because they can. the president cannot go back and tell them, you have to lower the price of cereal. you cannot make exxon -- even though they make billions, and here in california they are making a mint. our gas is almost six dollars and it will not go down because they don't want to. host: this is lee and gran gorge, new york. republican. caller: good morning. earlier you read that biden is now -- a lame-duck president.

i remember the first three months of his presidency, he issued something like 90 executive orders and mandates to cancel trump's policies. even though he has resigned, he said he is not stepping down until the presidency is over. now, is he still going to be able to issue these executive orders and mandates? also, obama's name keeps coming up all the time now. i wonder if that was in biden's shadow government, if it was obama's third term. i where we are on our way to becoming socialists. host: the american presidency

project at uc santa barbara with their chart tracking executive orders by president joseph biden, with 140 executive orders over the course of his presidency so far, compared to 220 for donald trump, barack obama, 276 in eight. george bush, 291 in eight. this is donna in st. louis, missouri. independent. caller: good morning. four things. first of all, this past spring, trump told the congressional leaders to kill a bipartisan senate bill on illegal immigration because he knew it would pass, and he wanted to blab about the issue until the election.

he doesn't really care about illegal immigration. he also got trillions in tax cuts for the rich his first month in office, and he only built 500 miles of the wall. he could have built the whole wall for that amount. secondly, trump tries to look so macho. how will he look if he is afraid to debate a woman? vice president harris needs to pick a democratic governor or senator in a swing state like governor shapiro of pennsylvania or senator mark kelly of arizona. and also, biden needs to send a lot of experts and national guards into these swing states, so they can watch if these republicans are trying to rig the election. lastly, the supreme court handed trump everything he wanted on a silver platter. the delayed january 6 trial

until after the election, and they gave him total immunity to be a dictator, and he is just a criminal. he has done pretty well for being a criminal. he wants to be like putin, and we don't want that in this country. host: harvey in wisconsin. it democrat. good morning. caller: i really feel it takes a lot of courage for joe biden to put his own personal feelings aside and do what is best not just for his party, but for america. it is not joe's fault that his health is declining. i would also like to say, i think america needs to look at the climate we are in right now. i really don't believe that this country is ready for a person of color, particularly a female, to be the head of the country. there are a lot of powers that be from the old guard.

we need to really reassess this and look at getting a male to take that top ticket on the democratic spot, and keep a lot of joe biden's policy in place and move forward. i thought he had a lot of following, but everyone saw his health declining right before our eyes. host: who don't you think would elect a woman? where does having a woman at the top of your ticket in your mind become a liability? caller: i live in a country where i see how people think and feel about people of color. i see how people think of females that have been the head of a lot of things. there are people of a certain age group that wield a lot of power because they hold the purse strings. they are not willing to accept that. they will not have things that

they do not accept. host: harvey in wisconsin. on age, in today's washington post, the first three parts of the column. joe biden was trying to hold back the tide of history, pushing heavy furniture against the door of time, and now the flood has burst the windows. 32 years ago in arkansas, a governor named bill clinton planted the flag of the baby boom at the summit of american politics. 32 years before that it was the senator from massachusetts, john f. kennedy, who said a torch have been passed to the new generation. the same 32-year span separated kennedy from alfred e smith, the harbinger of the new deal. another 32 years takes the party back to the start of its populist era, led by william jennings bryan. those who will not make way for the next generation will be swept away, he writes. president biden hoped to slip

past this iron rule on both biology and politics masked by his time defying aviators, but the voters knew better, they can read the calendar and had been asking to turn the page for a year or more. this is patricia in union city, tennessee. republican. caller: good morning. first thing i want to say is thank you, c-span, because we can tell there are as many different opinions in america, and you allow them to speak their opinion. i am sure across america we are in unison, for once, c-span allows us to speak our opinion. first and foremost, president biden has served our country. thank you for your place in the senate, your 40 years of service . however, it is time to step down. you didn't voluntarily step down, your party pushed you out, and the donors pushed you out. first and foremost, somebody listened.

next, as far as kamala harris, i don't look at her as being black, i look at her as representing our country. she failed the first job she had as far as our border. to the caller who said that trump didn't care about the immigration, if he gets elected, you will see that he cares about immigration, because they will be deported. i just think that our country was founded on our heavenly father. everybody that is close to being a believer needs to pray for whoever is elected for our country. and whoever is elected, which i'm a republican, but whoever is elected, we need to stand by them as a country and be united in disagreement. there is such thing as we agree to disagree. but we stand together no matter who is elected in november. let's pray about it.

but whoever is elected, let stand together as a country. let's show who america is. we are white, black, asian, yellow, indian, it doesn't matter. whoever is elected, let us come together as americans. that is who we are, americans. host: patricia in tennessee. north carolina, david, independent. good morning. caller: thank you for the time. i am an independent. i have left the party system because of what i am seeing, what i am hearing on this program, for example. they will be no unity in this nation until we drop the hatred toward both people who are running for office. the parties are dividing us more

than ever. me personally, trump, the four years he was in office, immigration was down, i had more money in my wallet. i felt safer, the world was safer. the guy did a good job. i am independent, not republican. i was a democrat for 30 plus years. i left the party sometime back because i started disagreeing with what their vision for the future was. now i want my mind, my conscience. i vote common sense. so with that being said, president trump has already had a term. he did good. the guy that was on a while ago talking about covid, keep in mind, covid was a 100-year virus, the china virus. i agree with trump about that,

it was at least on this nation and the world, as a matter of fact. i thought trump did a fine job in whatever he did. his rhetoric, i am sure, infuriates people. but let's get by that. he has toned it down from what i saw on the debate stage, from what i've been hearing. he will get my support. host: that is david. this is a rose brunswick, new jersey. democrat. good morning. caller: i think kamala harris will do a great job. it is time for a woman to take charge of the country. i think she will be the one to do it and we will step behind her, guide her to the finish line. i think it will be all right. that is what americans have to get used to. host: maria, rockville, maryland. republican. caller: good morning.

thanks for taking my call. i hope the americans are listening today, both sides, independents. because this is about power and control of our banking system, economic system, and resources, all energy resources. for the average working person such as myself, you keep voting the way that you are voting, buckle up. i hope you have plenty of money in savings, under your mattress, because if you think the cost of things now are expensive, wait until they stop the tax cut that trump gave us. i pay almost 30% in personal income taxes. you think i want to pay more than that? you are wrong. you think the price of gas is expensive, groceries, health care, heating and cooling for

your home, insurance, etc., it is all going to go up if you keep voting the way that you are voting. wake up, people. it has nothing to do with whether it is a woman or a man or person of color. that has nothing to do with it. it has everything to do with what they say and then when they turn around and pass legislation behind our backs. start reading the federal register and then you will really understand what is happening in washington. host: how often do you read the federal register? caller: a lot actually. i am on there once or twice a week. i read a lot of the federal websites to keep abreast of what's happening. it is all there, you just have to take an interest in it, to learn what is really being passed in legislation. host: what did you read about last week or the week before when you were on? caller: i have been reading a lot about health care, energy.

i don't remember exactly what i was reading because i do cover a lot of things, but it is all there. you just go on and read. it can be a little dry but get yourself a cup of tea or coffee and start looking. host: that is marie in rockville, maryland. 30 minutes left in our program today. reminder of what else is haening tay on the c-span networks. one: 30 p.m. eastern today, republican vice presidential candidate, senator j.d. vance on the campaign trail in hi hometown of middleton, ohio. thpital state in the election, the buckeye state. we will show you his campaign stop. 1:30 p.m. eastern time here on c-span, c-span.org, free c-span now app. also today, we high profile

hearing on the attempted assassination of donald at his campaign rally, the house ersight committee featuring a hearing featuring the secret service rector kimberly cheatle. james comer is the head of the oversight committee. weill show that at 10:00 here on c-span two. also, c-span.org, free c-span now app. after this program ends, go over to c-span2. the house will have morning hour at noon eastern time and then business afterward. the house, gavel-to-gavel here on c-span. james comer is the head of the committee, he was on fox news yesterday, talking about this hearing taking place today. here is what he had to say yesterday. [video clip] >> the secret service have a budget of $3.1 billion. they have thousands of employees. there are not that many people that require secret service

protection. there are not that many events that the secret service has to secure. so with the budget is more than enough to provide adequate protection for the presidential candidates. so we have a lot of questions as to how they are managing their money. but if you look at the history of the house oversight committee, back to when jason chaffetz was head of this committee, there has been lots of investigations from the secret service, lots of reports issued that they lack proper training, that they did not efficiently spend their funds. our question for director cheadle is are you competent to run the secret service? we want to know who is at fault for what happened. every american should know that nobody should have been allowed on that roof, and there were videos showing people trying to notify the authorities that

there was someone on the roof with a gun, and nothing was done about it, and the shooter was allowed to get that many shots off at president trump. that is unacceptable. not only do we need answers but people need to be held accountable. that is what the director will have to answer tomorrow. she will have about a six-hour hearing, hundreds of questions that she will have to answer, and the american people will be watching that hearing. host: more from james comer in about 30 minutes on c-span two, covering that hearing. until then, more of your phone calls about president biden withdrawing from the 2024 race yesterday. headlines in today's papers, he was a today, biden drops out of the race. the front of the washington post, biden exits the race. an interesting set of congress from time magazine. first, their magazine cover from june 28, the day after the first

presidential debate. joe biden walking off stage right, panic is the headline. the latest cover came out yesterday after joe biden dropped out of the race, and there is kamala harris walking on stage, the newest cover from time magazine. independent in albuquerque. good morning. caller: good morning. j.d. vance is from middletown, ohio. i don't think it was patriotic for joe biden to drop out. i don't think you should have ever run in the first place. anyone with any common sense knew that he had dementia and was senile. i worked in an alzheimer's unit for eight plus years as a nurse. i could see that he had dementia. my grandmother also suffers from dementia, so i saw it clearly. i don't think he has done anything good for this country.

as far as i'm concerned, i know that i'm not in a better position than i was. i voted for obama. i always tended to vote democrat but i will not be voting democrat again, now registered as independent, and i will be voting for trump. when i go back to the four years he was in office, my life was much better. i also agree with him saying that he will not tax tips for working people, which i think is a phenomenal thing. a lot of people i know are in the service industry. i spent part of my time in las vegas, my friends are in the service industry. you are already taxed on your wages, so why would you need to be taxed on the tips that you get? i also agree with him wanting to drill. the biden administration has shut down so much drilling on federal land. people who call in and say it is

not because of him that the gas prices are higher. yes, it is. it is because of the policies. people need to get out of their feelings and think about what is best for their families. if they love their family and do the right thing and vote for policies and not people. host: this is gina. conyers, georgia. democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. my issue is, biden dropping out of the race, everyone is saying that the world is not ready for harris because she is a female? when does politics decide whether or not a woman or a man should run this country? this country has been run by men forever. maybe, just maybe, putting someone new there will do this country better. maybe, just maybe, a woman as

president would make this country really come together. because obviously it is not together right now, and it has been ran by men. secondly, why is it so much news and coverage on the presidential race, when the real race that matters is our senate? nobody talks about when it is time to vote for your senators. people need to wake up. it is the senators who are in office that are the ones we need to be concerned about, not just the president, but also the senators. you need to get to know your senators, and you need to get out and vote for your senator. that is where the problem lies, not just with the president. it lies with the people behind him, the others in government that hide under the radar. thank you for your time. host: from the peach state to the garden state.

troy in barrington. republican. good morning. we are going to laramie. gates, north carolina. independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i have a few things to say about our previous callers. boy, north carolina, maryland, new mexico, they stole my thunder, but that is ok. what i would like to say please is, the lady that called in the first section about the unfortunate scenario that maybe she had somebody passing her family from the vietnam war. i looked it up. vietnam debts by ethnicity, whites, 85.6, blacks, 12.4, hispanics, 0.6, others, 0.4. that can be looked up.

host: the news about joe dropping out of a 2024 race? caller: yes, sir. for his own health, i was glad to see that he decided to leave. but he did go kicking and screaming as opposed to what the others are saying. also, some of the senators from the last caller backed his policies up. the senator in virginia, kane, who is up for reelection, my family sent him a letter. something is going on with the border. we have family in arizona, texas. this was about two and a half years ago. we decided that we really like one biden is doing on the border. people remember that in virginia, when you vote for him again, because it was funny, over the weekend, the local

channels i get from virginia in north carolina said that he went to the border because he was concerned about the drugs coming in. well, that is a little too late for my opinion. thank you for listening to me. one more thing to say, please, sir. remember what tulsi gabbard said about kamala harris? that was that she was not ready. when she was going for the presidential nomination four years ago, she garnered less than 1% before she bowed out. i don't think she is ready either. a woman that i think is ready, possibly nikki haley. another one is condoleezza rice.

but i would not think that ms. harris is ready for the big stage. host: john, crystal lake, illinois. democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i just want to throw my opinion out there. personally, i am glad that genocide joe has dropped out. a good vp pick would be leaning into the left, just like france did, and that is how they beat the fascists on the right. bernie sanders would be a great pick, kind of funny in general. if we embrace the left, go bold, then we have a chance at beating the right. andy beshear would be fine, too. other than that, democrats will go save as usual. host: who is the safe pick? caller: anyone with huge corporate ties. andy beshear probably.

i hope not, but gavin newsom is a name that i heard floated around. he used to delete kimberly guilfoyle, which is weird -- date kimberly guilfoyle, which is weird. host: brownsville, texas. republican. caller: good morning. i had to call on this line but i will not be voting for either of them because i would be forced to vote for the lesser of two evils. i really think that we have to surrender our vote because the candidates that we have are not fit for office. the first thing that a person should have one holding office is integrity. neither of them have it. four years ago, i truly wanted to vote for tulsi gabbard, which i think would be the best choice for the first woman president.

committed, smart all around. as it stands, these two candidates, to me, they are worthless. host: to the silver state. dave, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. first of all, the republican party is not a party of laws. when they tried to overthrow the government, when trump tried to do that -- i'm sorry, i'm trying to wake up and get my thoughts. when you do that, the constitution says if you do that, you cannot run. trump is a rapist, he is a convicted felon. all the republicans should have impeached them, but they didn't, so they broke their oath. second, biden was a great president. if trump gets in, they are the

party of hate. all they do is hate. i am going to kill this person. host: what do you think joe biden's legacy will be? caller: he is a great man, did a lot for the country. host: this is will in victoria, virginia. democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. as far as president biden backing out of the race, i was a little disappointed, but after he endorsed vice president harris, i am excited about it. she is getting all sorts of endorsements from the rest of the party. all the other democratic senators, governors are backing her support. she has their support. i think she has the support of a

lot of voters. one thing for sure that i can say -- a lot of people use the word this morning "accountability." we the voters need to hold these political criminals, such as former president trump, accountable for his crimes that he has been charged with, that he has been convicted up, women that he has violated over the years. he is trying to get away with it. the court system definitely is not holding him accountable. i find that very un-american, for anyone, president of the united states or a regular guy that works a 9 to 5. they hold me accountable when i get a speeding ticket, they don't give me a break. but he gets all these breaks because he has all the money to pay these bigshot lawyers.

the senate hearing on secret service director, all they are doing is monday morning quarterback. why didn't you have drones up? why didn't you have somebody on the building? all of that is water under the bridge. why didn't they come out before the shooter got up there and said you need to put somebody on the roof? host: that hearing beginning in about 15 minutes. we will air it live on c-span2, if viewers want to go over tre after we end at 10:00 a.m. this is the lead editorial in the new york times, saying biden made a courageous choice. democrats must seize the opportunity. mr. biden is now done but mr. trump never will. he has placed the national interest below his own ambition.

and to the dangers of rearming him with a considerable power of the presidency. the editorial board of the new york times. this is a view of your messages via social media and text. kelly writing, the voters in that household are thrilled with kamala harris and endorsement by president biden. she is ready, brilliant, strategic, smart, and couldn't wipe the floor with donald trump. more of your text messages. if you want to send them to us, (202) 748-8003. we will look for those as we hear from christine in stratford, new jersey. republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i think joe biden didn't do a really good job. he changed his policies from what trump did.

i do think his work was not appreciated by most people. i think a black woman could definitely be a potus if she is capable. i don't believe kamala is capable. she was supposed to be the czar of the border and she didn't do anything at all there. crime, immigration, economy, fentanyl deaths, i feel like their policy didn't work with biden-harris. i am going to vote for trump. he wants to drill, baby, drill, which would drive prices down and the economy. i agree with him. closing the border, especially right now. those people should remain in mexico. i think his policies worked. other things.

a lot of people like newsom in california but i feel like you didn't do a good job there either, so i don't think he would be a good candidate for president. host: this is melinda in bellevue, washington. independent. good morning. caller: good morning. first time i've ever called into anything. news conference, anything. i am 70 years old. i consider myself an american. i love this country. i hate what politics has done to this country. i hate what the news, where we get our news from, where we get our news from the federal government and all of their departments and policies. i don't think you can trust anybody anymore. i consider myself a person who

really looks at everything and doesn't take just what they hear , believe it is telling them the truth. i am going to show my example of we should demand, each of us, citizens, no matter what your voting is, what your racial character is. what we should demand is two things. one, there should be immediately, from the federal government, a press conference on the attempted assassination of the former president of the united states. no matter if you are democrat, conservative, or independent, you should demand that. everyone involved from the local officials in the state to the

fbi to the secret service to communications director at the white house to president biden. two, we should demand that president biden not announce that he will withdraw from being nominated from the democratic party by letter or social media. he should hold a press conference. host: he said he is going to address the nation this week. on the attempted assassination, the head of secret service testifying under oath in 10 minutes or so. caller: i know! excuse me for yelling. nobody sees that. host: we are going to read it on c-span for everyone to see. caller: a lot of people don't get c-span, they don't watch tv. they are so upset with what is happening in our nation. i am saying, when a shooting

happens in a high school, in college, something that is massive, immediately, all departments, everybody in the government, local officials, state police, they hold a press conference immediately, 24/7 until things are resolved. now we are getting piecemeals. a lot of people have two things out, they are fed up, they are not going to vote. host: if you tune in on c-span2, 10:00 a.m. is when we are showing that hearing, also available online at c-span.org. it will be in our video archives, so if you miss it, you can watch it in its entirety. this is charles with 10 minutes left in the washington journal. dallas, texas. democrat. good morning. caller: it will not take that long.

i am a 77-year-old black man. i remember the end of the jim crow era when my parents would tell me, if there was something wrong in politics, because we couldn't vote, it was because of the white vote. i am saying no, there are a group of people meeting right now, trying to figure out in the smoke-filled rooms about how to replace kamala. my original thought was that she would resign along with joe but that didn't happen. but because they pushed him out, his last vengeance that he could put on the democratic party was to endorse her. so they are going out of their minds. obama, all of them are trying to figure out how we can get a ticket that is acceptable.

america, regardless -- good people -- but they do not trust women, and they sure do not trust a black woman. i am just so disheartened with this country. because we are way better than this. with that said, my prayer is that we will come to some kind of unity in this country. host: you mentioned you are 77, 21 in 1968 when lbj stepped out of the democratic contest. caller: i remember it like yesterday. i will not accept my nomination for president. host: what do you remember besides that famous quote, remember the days after? caller: i was in an army barracks in colorado, getting ready to go overseas. host: to vietnam? caller: no, sir, thank god.

didn't make that. host: what did you think of the state of this country in 1968, the convention in 1968? caller: people were just radicalized, upset about the vietnam war, upset about a bunch of things. and the young folks were involved. now, young folks are so complicit. they go to tiktok, people that call themselves influencers, to teach them how to think. if we don't come to some sort of realization that this is not working, then we are doomed. maybe god in his providence is saying, you don't listen to me. i will do you like the israelites when they said they wanted a king. if we want trump, we got saul. host: this is the headline from arizona central, a newspaper in

arizona. how joe biden's withdrawal echoes lbj, march 31, 1968, when lyndon b. johnson said that he would not be running in the election that fall. it came in the final minute of a 40-minute speech from the white house. here is about 90 seconds of that address. [video clip] >> american sons in the field far away, with america's future under challenge right here at home, with our hopes in the world's hopes for peace and balance every day, i do not believe that i should devote an hour of my day, of my time to any personal partisan causes, or to any other than the awesome

duties of this office, the presidency of your country. accordingly, i shall not seek, and i will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your president. but let men everywhere know, however, that a strong and confident and vigorous america stands ready tonight to seek an honorable peace. and stands ready tonight to defend an honored because, whatever the price, whatever the burden, whatever the sacrifice. that duty may require. host: lbj back in 1968, the

democratic convention that year was an open convention. it was held in chicago. this year once again, the democratic national convention set to take place in weeks in chicago. ray in tennessee. republican. good morning. caller: good morning. yes, i am an 80-year-old man, white man, american. american first. i had already been to vietnam. i saw what was going on over there. they were playing games, counting bodies. let me tell you something. every time this country gets in a mess, it takes a republican to straighten it out. these people that voted for biden, these people that are going to vote for kamala harris, they are doubling down on craziness. this country is in bad shape. donald in this movement is

moving, and we are going to take this country back. these people trying to tear it down, we are going to move you back out of the way. that is my statement. host: this is hank in muskegon, michigan. independent. good morning. caller: good morning. this is my first time calling. i am really kind of blown away with how joe stepped aside, now endorsing kamala. but i just watched the speech from johnson in 1968, and i think he is doing the right thing. but i think donald trump is going to be our next president. thank you. host: currently, omaha, nebraska. democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i have always been democrat but i cannot picture kamala talking to putin or anyone in north korea.

i don't feel safe. i am all for a woman but not that woman. i'm sorry, i don't care if it is a black woman, but black woman -- not that black woman. i don't understand why people are not listening to what kennedy has to say. he is fair, smart, he can name all the people involved for years and years. he is getting my vote. i wish more people could hear him talk. thank you for your service. this is a wonderful forum. i appreciate it. host: last call, kurt, buffalo, new york. independent. caller: this is chris from buffalo. i am happy that biden -- host: we just could not hear you. less than two minutes left. let's see if we can get to linda

in missouri. caller: good morning. thank you for my call. everybody wants to hone in on the border. the border issue has been around since as long as i have been alive. the democrats are supposed to straighten everything out? they talk about all of these issues, but then you want to settle for a criminal? this man lies every time he opens his mouth. that is something that we don't even want in our own children. something is wrong with him mentally. if you can lie like that and look straightforward, act like you are telling the truth? this man has no morals whatsoever. i don't understand. if there is something wrong with me, how can i not look at our fellow citizens and think that this is normal? everything this man has done. they don't want a decent person but they settle for a crook. this man has been a crook all of his life. he has the supreme court in with him.

this is the worst supreme court that i have ever heard of. i never heard about the supreme court as i have these days. it is horrible. our country is going down. host: linda in missouri. last caller in today's washington journal. we will be back tomorrow morning, 7:00 eastern, 4:00 pacific. a reminder of that hearing on the secret service, attempted assassination of donald trump, beginning in just about one minute on c-span2. the house is in today at noon eastern. watching live with us on the c-span networks. we will see you tomorrow morning. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> we'll look at some of our live coverage today. at 111:30 a.m. eastern, vice president kamala harris will speak at the ncaa college athlete day. her first public remarks since president biden announced he would withdraw from the 2024 presidential race. wash live right here on c-span. and later this afterno, republican vice-presidential candidate, senator j.d. vance, is on t campaign trail in his hometown of middletown,hio. the state's pivotal in the presidential race with 17 electol votes. donald trump won ohio in 2016 an 2020. barack obama had victories there in 2008 and 2012. watch the entire event wh senator vance starting at 1:30 p.m. easternn the free c-span now video app, or online at cspan.org. >> the u.s. house returns later to noon eastern for

legislative business and votes. mbers are expected to debate several bills, including legislation authorized in the u.s. army corps of engineers conduct feasibility studies and truct water infrastructure projects. also, a bill making c to the management of royalties from oil and gas lease the senate returns tomorrow at 3:00eastern. later in the day, senators will te on the confirmation of repu to be a member of the fedebor relations auth watch live coverage of the house on c-spah the senate on c-span2. also watch all of our congressional coverage with our free veo app, c-span now, o online at cspan.org. >> saturday, american history tv features historic convention speeches. watch notable remarks by presidential nominees and other political figures from the past several decades. this saturday, watch pat buchanan's speech at the 1992

national republican convention after his loss to president george w.h. bush. >> there is a religion war going on in this country. it is a cultural war as critical to the kind of nation we shall be as the cold war itself, but this war is for the soul of america. >> then senator hillary clinton's remarks after losing the nomination to barack obama in 2008. >> wee got to ensure that the choice we make in this election honors the sacrifices of all who came before us and will fill the lives of our children with possibility and hope. watch historic convention speeches saturdays at 7:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv on c-sn 2. and watch c-span's live campaign 2024 coverage of the democratic national convention august 19 through 22, and you can watch the republican national convention any time on our website.