host: it is friday, july 26, 2024. we begin on campaign 2024.

a contest reshaped by joe biden's exit. latest polling shows a new group of voters now describing themselves as undecided on a trump versus harris matchup. this morning we want to talk to those undecided voters only in the first hour. let us know what you think. what are you looking for when you make your decision on donald trump or kamala harris? if you are an undecided voter in the eastern or central time zones it is (202) 748-8000 in the mountain or pacific time zones (202) 748-8001 stop you can also send us a text at (202) 748-8003 up if you do include your name and where you are from . otherwise catch up with us on social media @cspanwj and on facebook it is facebook.com/c-span. you can go ahead and start calling in now.

undecided voters only in this first hour of the washington journal as we show you this headline from npr. "more presidential voters moving into the undecided camp." that is out of a new npr poll that shows one in five independent voters are now undecided. that compares to just 4% in the previous poll taken before joe biden stepped out of the race. that undecided category includes some 11% of small city and suburban women. 7% of white voters saying they are undecided. undecided is who we are looking to talk to this morning. let us know what it will take to make your decision between donald trump and kamala harris. the latest news from the 2024 race out of the harris camp. just this morning the vice president securing the

endorsement of former president barack obama and former first lady michelle obama. that endorsement ithform of a tweet just after 5:00 this morning. "earlier this week michelle and i called our friend kamala hais and told her we think she will make a fantastic president of the united states and she has our full support." also tweeting out this video of that call. [video clip] >> hello. you are both together. it is good to hear you both. >> i cannot have this phone call without saying to my girl kamala i am proud of you. this will be historic. >> we called to say michelle and i cannot be prouder to endorse you and do everything we can to get you through this election and into the oval office. >> it means so much to me. i am looking forward to doing this with the two of you,

getting out there and being on the road but i want to tell you the words you have spoken and the friendship we have given over all of these years be more than i can express. thank you both. it means so much. we will have some fun, aren't we? host: that video tweeted out early this morning. this from the new york times showing other polling showing harris narrowing the gap with donald trump. the latest poll puts donald trump's lead over ms. harris at 1%, within the margin of error, 48% to 47%. it was donald trump at a rally on wednesday talking about his new opponent in the 2024 contest. [video clip] >> kamala even wants to pass

laws to outlaw a redmeat's to stop climate change. that means no more cows. this means no more cows. eventually she will be no more people. if you want a socialist health care, nation wrecking inflation, the death of american energy, and a line radical left liberal san francisco extremist as your commander-in-chief, then kamala harris is your candidate. she is the one for you. just like she destroyed san francisco she will destroy our entire country. let me tell you, it is in pre-bad shape right now anyway. caller: the former prep -- host: the former president on wednesday. this is another headline this morning out of the brookings institution. asking "can kamala harris convince undecided voters to vote for her?"

saying her nomination might get support from young voters and her advocacy for the pro-choice cause could get modern suburban women to reconsider their choice. we want to talk to undecided voters 100 days out from campaign 2024's final day. let us know what your decision will come down to. if you're an undecided voter in the eastern or central time zones (202) 748-8000. in the mountain or pacific time zones, (202) 748-8001. anne is in north carolina, undecided, good morning. caller: i was calling because it is three months since i have gotten through to you and i have had some things to say being an independent going back and forth from tv channel to tv channel and watching what was going on. i had so much faith after he got shot, which i am sorry for.

i was hoping he got the touch from god that he was saved for a purpose. i don't mean to say how god works, i have no idea. right now about him tapping trump on the shoulder and giving him a chance to change and he has not. that is sad because he has everybody in his hands -- not everybody, but a lot of people in his hands. i am from right outside charlotte and i did not get to go to the event. i am glad he did not because he said it is all right if i talk ugly. i thought what is he going to start now and he started and he did not stop. now i am not heartbroken because now kamala is on the scene and i think she will make a more honest president.

prompted his own self in if he loses because he cannot shut his mouth. what he could do for the country be damned, he cannot shut his mouth. he needs to shut his mouth. thank you so much. host: you say you're an independent. caller: it started with him -- it was him in the first time in 2016. he started -- i am not an ugly person by nature, i like to be happy. that is the way i was raised in the baptist church. not to bring the church in. i think your character has a much to do. i think our president needs to be somebody with character.

i watch both channels, all the channels, and i go to fox all the time. i heard them last night talking about how they ever thought they could trust kamala harris because she lied about biden being sick or whatever he is. what about the thousands of lies trump has told? how can we trust him? that is basically it. i cannot trust him. this one lady on tv said she expected him to be nice and they were watching it on tv and she had to take her kids out when he started saying walla was dirty. he uses awful language -- started saying kamala was dirty.

he uses awful language. character in the way you talk to people. he does not have to be that hateful to win. he is not going to change. that is all i have to say. host: will stay in the tar heel state. this is sarah. caller: i have a problem. i watched ms. harris talk about women's rights. she said it was not a government decision, but yet she works for the government and she is promoting all of that. as far as donald trump, i am sewed undecided about this election. you never hear her talk about the economy or gas prices. i have a major problem with her and him. you have a blessed day. host: explain more of what your problem is. you mentioned your problems with

her, what are your problems with him? caller: she is going on the ticket with abortions. i am strictly against them. he is going on the economy. we are in trouble. he is going on for women's rights. -- she is going on the ticket for women's rights. women know what they need to do. we do not need ms. harris to tell us what to do. she never speaks to the economy. she never speaks to the gas prices. we are hurting in the united states. i am not sure but i will vote for mark robison for the governor of north carolina. all of this other stuff i am undecided about the president. host: sarah in north carolina. in tennessee, undecided voter, what will it go down to for you? caller: have 12 inquiries if

they have the presidential debate in september. these are concerns i believe the citizens of the united states are concerned about. host: give me your top two or three? caller: the first would be the military. why are we downgrading our military culture? the economy -- the economy, the industry, our resources have a stranglehold. that is another one. then the border.

we have too many people and then supporting our allies over our enemies. it seems like we are catering to russia and china and leaving israel out to dry. host: when you think you will make your decision? caller: i will probably wait until after these debates they have in september. i want each candidate to have a fair chance to explain their positions and policies. right now the policies this administration is showing, and this is across america. i am as average as you can get. it is very concerning the direction of our nation. our children's welfare, our future. i have never seen it this way my entire life and i have kept up since the 1960's.

it is something else. i appreciate you letting me talk and express these concerns but there is a total of 12 that i would like to see addressed in the upcoming debate. host: thanks for the call from tennessee. down to new orleans. this is bill. undecided. caller: undecided. to know the gentleman on the others, the former president is already convicted by his peers, it appears to me he is looking to stay out of jail. if he does not win he goes to jail because more than likely with other pending suits he has a hard road ahead. otherwise -- also, the policies that have come about with what

we have been told of the project 2025, it is amazing to think there are so many people that have such distorted -- in my opinion -- thoughts about where our country needs to go and how it needs to get there. to remove the rights of anybody, women, men, children, whomever is not a positive direction. host: what makes you undecided at this point? it sounds like you're pretty predecided on those issues. caller: i don't see where the right is making advancements that are going to be a positive direction for this country. what i am undecided about is we have to find out more about what the projection is for the use of

project 2025. the vice president has a positive direction in what she says will be how she gets where she is going. to think that in the united states we need drill, baby drill. we are already producing as much fuel and gasoline as these refineries will produce. host: you mentioned the vice president. this is the vice president at her first official campaign rally for president this week. [video clip] >> before i was elected vice president, before i was elected senator i was elected attorney general of the state of california and i was a courtroom prosecutor. in those roles i took on perpetrators of all kinds. creditors who up -- predators who abused women, fraudsters who

ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. hear me when i say i know donald trump's type. [applause] in this campaign, i promise you i will probably put my record against his any day of the week. host: that was vice president kamala harris tuesday of this

week. new polling out as this week has moved on since the sunday announcement from joe biden that he will be stepping out of the 2024 race that there are more undecideds as we move within 100 days of election day. we want to talk to undecided voters only. if you're undecided who you will vote for give us a call and tell us why and what you think you will make your decision on and when you think you might make this decision as we enter the final stretch of campaign 2024. (202) 748-8000 if you are undecided in the eastern or central time zones. (202) 748-8001 if you are undecided in the mountain or pacific time zones. we will also look for your texts and tweets as well. this is ben out of north carolina. uncided voters.hoices to the demo par who

throughout its head despite h accomplishments because of a bad debate performance. e republican party which devoted to a convicted fel, third-pandidates with no chance of winning, righted candidates which represent protest votes that are utterly useless. in short there are no choices." this is carol out of massachusetts. you are next. caller: i do want to say i am undecided. i think trump has a personality that is unusual for most people and hard to understand. he is a businessman and i think he would do better as far as the economy is concerned and also closing the border. i think there are major problems. as for kamala harris she is getting the hollywood treatment and she seems to me to be full of herself. i do not think she has the

experience on the worldwide. vladimir putin is probably cracking his hands because biden was a weak president, and kamala harris, for her to stand up to pruden and china, she just does not have the background. i think more experience, they are major problems. it is not just what is happening now. it is what will happen to our future. if our future is going in the same direction it has been going with biden as president i think we are in real trouble. that is what makes me very much undecided. i lean towards handing this big economy and a more businesslike fashion and not overspending. we are in debt up to our ears.

a lot of money is just paying off our interest. the personal things like women's rights and things like that, they are issues, but my concern are the worldwide issues of what will happen to ourselves in the future. host: you mentioned the hollywood treatment and money. one story in that on the front page of the new york times. since the announcement of her presidential campaign ms. harris has not only raked in $130 million from small donors but also is gathering big check after big check from billionaires and millionaires as they stockpile money for the newly renamed harris victory fund. harris campaign official spent tuesday and wednesday energizing their support from beverly hills to the hamptons. about 40 high-powered executives joint assume call organized by a super lawyer, the former new york city mayoral candidate and a few others to discuss how wall

street can best support the ticket. in hollywood harris campaign officials joint calls tuesday and wednesday with people from across the creative entertainment industry to talk about fundraising and organizing celebrities on behalf of the harris campaign according to two people with knowledge of that outreach. the page in the new york times today. this is mike in virginia. good morning. caller: good morning. i am undecided because i agree with trump on no tax on tips and stopping the war in ukraine. also i think he is a threat to democracy and he will not accept the election. he will call it rate. -- he will call it rigged. i also disagree with harris. i have heard that turnover on her staff is 91%.

that does not sound right. i do not like getting involved in the war in ukraine. i am not sure where i will go. i am tired of choosing between the lesser of two evils. i will tell you social security and medicare -- they go along with trump. trump does not know what he is doing. i do not like kamala harris that much either. host: what does it come down to for you? caller: i'm just worried about my social security and medicare. that is why i might go with harris but she is not my first choice. host: would joe biden have been your first choice? caller: i was not going to vote

for joe biden because of his support of israel. but i want to put domestic policy first. i am worried about social security and medicare. even though i lost my job during joe biden administration, and i was directly affected because of the ukraine war. i think i am more leaning towards harris that i do not like my choices. host: you mentioned israel. what did you think of benjamin netanyahu's address and kamala harris meeting with him yesterday. i don't know if you saw that interaction. caller: he is a pathological liar. i do not like hamas and october 7. it started years ago with the

brutal occupation. benjamin netanyahu worked with hamas to divide the palestinian cause and prevent the establishment of a palestinian state. he funneled money to hamas to do that. then he talks about hamas. it is about pro-palestine. it is not about hamas. it is about a cease-fire. many choose were living in the arab -- many jews were living in the arab world in harmony before the zionists started establishing a state in israel. it is not about jews, it is about zionists ideology. host: finish up.

caller: i am done. i just think 99% of our politicians are bought and paid for. that is why i think we should ban lobbyists and money in government. citizens united allows this to happen. i really hate money in government. it just corrupts our politicians and they do not represent us, the represent special interests and lobbyists. i don't know if the people rule anymore. host: that is mike in virginia and this is the vice president after meeting with benjamin netanyahu yesterday. [video clip] >> with over 2 million people facing high levels of food insecurity and half a million people facing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity,

what has happened in gaza over the past nine months is devastating. the images of dead children and desperate hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displayed for the second, third, or fourth time. we cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. we cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering and i will not be silent. thanks to the leadership of our president, joe biden, there is a deal on the table for a cease-fire and a hostage deal. it is important that we recall what the deal involves. the first phase of the deal would bring about a full cease-fire, including a withdrawal of the israeli military from population centers in gaza. in the second phase, the israeli military would withdraw from gaza entirely and would lead to a permanent end to the

hostilities. it is time for this war to end. and to end in a way where israel is secure, all of the hostages are released, the suffering of palestinians in gaza ends, and the palestinian people can exercise their right to freedom, dignity, and self-determination. there has been a hopeful movement in the talks to secure an agreement stop as i just told prime minister netanyahu, it is time to get this deal done. to everyone who has been calling for a cease-fire and to everyone who yearns for peace, icu and i hear you -- i see you and i hear you. host: the private -- the vice president yesterday after meeting with benjamin netanyahu. an editorial from the wall street journal about the protesters during benjamin

netanyahu's joint speech, saying they are making benjamin netanyahu's point, burning the u.s. flag interfacing monuments with pro hamas logan. the point benjamin netanyahu mate is they are choosing to stand with people. you would become iran's useful idiots he said during that speech. a photo of one of those monuments defacement's that happened during the protest, that is the christopher columbus memorial fountain outside union station about a block from where the studio is. that monument spray-painted with dozens of pieces of graffiti. the removal process has begun within the past 40 hours. that picture from today's "washington post." we are talking to undecided voters only this morning getting your thoughts on the new 2024 race on kamala harris versus

donald trump. (202) 748-8000 if you are undecided in eastern or central time zones. (202) 748-8001 if you are undecided in the mountain or pacific time zones. this is martin in indiana. thanks for waiting. caller: good morning. i was just listening to your thing from harris and she seems like she has a lot of compassion for the muslims who killed so many of the israelis. she does not seem to have any compassion for the children in this land because she calls for freedom to abort, which really is a license to butcher children. i cannot vote for her. she also is laughing and giggling and has her salad

sentences. host: it sounds like your mind is made up. you are not undecided. caller: i am undecided whether to prosecute her in the court of god almighty. host: we are looking for undecided voters. this is angela in california. caller: thank you for taking my call. i was born in 1960 and 1967 came to california from louisiana up i am undecided for two reasons. the democrats have not shown me yet if they are totally behind kamala harris or they are just pushing her along because they feel donald trump is a convicted felon and he will lose on that. the republican party is showing me they do not care about him being a convicted felon. now i am left with the choice of character.

also upset because everyone in america thinks all blacks are muslims or are from africa. i am not muslim, i'm not from africa. i have slaves. i have family on plantations in louisiana -- i am from slaves. i have family on plantations in louisiana. if a civil war breaks out in this country, who will the war be against? host: you think a civil war might break out? caller: republican party keeps calling civil war. the democrats are trying to play it down and say we do not want civil war. my question to america, if we going to civil war, who is the war against question mark who are you coming after? host: this is jim in illinois. planes field, illinois. caller: i've basically been

doing a lot of research to find out what is going on. as far as 2025, there is a pdf document i found on youtube, a four part series. they've have gone over two parts. it is interesting. host: are you talking about project 2025? caller: project 2025. the first part was project 2025, the second part was immigration. i don't know what the other parts are. they have not been distributed yet. so far i have seen two parts of it. it is very interesting. i did a google search and it is australian pbs. it is four corners, retribution. host: bring me to being an undecided voter in 2024. caller: i did not vote in the previous elections.

that is why i am doing research. what i did as far as my research on marjorie taylor greene and j.d. vance, as far as ukraine and the information they are providing, it looks like they were getting it from a web information called d.c. capital based out of russia. if you want to look up the dns server, that information is based out of a russian site. but i did is i figured out a mathematical formula for how i'm going to vote. what i did is i figured -- i made a mathematic riddle. you have to answer with a number first and then your explanation. the number is a variable based on 10 to 200 minutes. i picked 15 minutes in my question would be you have 100 people in the capitol building.

the president has to make an announcement for them to leave. how long would it take the president to make that announcement. i have 15 minutes. that is all i have to say. host: this is pete's in the grand canyon state. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. up until the point last weekend c-span had run a video clip going the female commentator from meet the press, and she had stated openly in an interview how one of her washington sources heard that -- this was before it was officially he was resigning and everything -- her sources told her it would be political suicide for anybody to go against kamala harris.

right then and there it was within a 24 hour period the fix was in already. how can anybody trusted? that was a deciding point for me. i was very fair with this party or that party. when there was such a blatant omission of what is going on in the background that you can see that. within one hour she had $10 million and $50 million. george soros was just pounding out checks. people forget. we hear about all of the good billionaires that are going to spain. think of all of the bad billionaires. host: you are decided at this point? caller: if i do not see something happening with investigation as to if it is even legal for a candidate like that to run in that position

because like they said, 14 million voters chose joe biden, not kamala harris. not against females or race or anything like that. i would have condoleezza rice running for president. that is neither here or there. host: on joe biden, plenty of commentary continuing on him stepping away, including susan page from the usa today. the headline from herpes, "bidens farewell and the like it -- the headline from her piece, "bidens farewell and the legacy of kamala harris." and another, with his farewell biden fails to offer insight. just a little. "what there was not much of was

introspection on how he had gone to this moment of indignity. he focused on the soul of america but he reveals little about his own soul. if there's been much soul-searching over these past few days and weeks of personal and political trauma that led to this reluctant end of his story political career the search has been called off or the results were not reported." your baker said "he said it was time to pass the torch to a new generation but said nothing to his age and capacity that led so many democrats to desert him since the calamitous debate. he did not describe the journey from supreme confidence that he alone could be donald trump to the conclusion he cannot. he offered no elaborations on how he had finally decided to give up his bid for a second term, but at the same time he held back any bitterness that he may have felt. it was an opportunity to tell his story again in his own terms and recap the narrative as he

exits from the stage." in his first extended public comments he tried to remind voters who had grown weary of him why they had liked him in the first place and begin to shape his place in history." your baker's column in the new york times. this is randall -- peter baker's column in the new york times. this is randall out of michigan. caller: i hold the view that what took place with president biden was divine intervention. i am undecided because -- hi may make a decision by this afternoon, but only if former president trump in his meeting with benjamin netanyahu agrees to alter the strategy of america with israel and lands its full

u.s. support and gets to the underlying problem, and that is iran. president biden and vice president harris have both indicated their support for what is called the new world order. that is a global modern marxist approach. they have been putting pressure on prime minister netanyahu to capitulate and agreed to the two state solution, which just recently the knesset made clear they oppose the two state solution. it is no longer tenable because of what took place on october 7. if i hear by the end of the day or tomorrow morning that president biden -- president trump yesterday stated -- tilted toward what he has been saying that the war has to end. the war does not end by

pressuring israel into the two state solution. when you get right down to it, christians, which i am, believe in the holy bible as the word of god. the bible makes very clear as to whose territory this is. that fact, that truth has not been addressed going all the way back to the balfour agreement that established the jewish state of israel. if you look at former president truman, he was a man of god, he believe the bible was the holy word of god. after israel declared its independence, truman, his favorite book of scripture was "go in and take the land." he was all about that the jewish

state was a divine intervention. host: got your point. this is george in west virginia. good morning. caller: i wanted to comment on two things. one is about 10 minutes ago you read an excerpt from an editorial, i believe it was the wall street journal criticizing the property damage by a handful of demonstrators against israel's war on gaza. i think it is very unfortunate that papers like the wall street journal and others and many politicians do not mention the hundreds of protesters, including the jewish voices for peace from portland, oregon, and the jewish voices for peace from boston, massachusetts that came to washington and peacefully sat in in the canon office building the day before prime minister

netanyahu's speech. peaceful, orderly, discipline. i am old enough to remember the vietnam war protest. the johnson and nixon administrations, when they were prosecuting the war in vietnam would point to a handful of violent or disruptive demonstrators out of tens of thousands of peace demonstrators in washington and other cities. host: are you in undecided voter? caller: i am. i will never vote for donald trump. i think his policies and his rhetoric are reprehensible. however, as you can probably tell, i am very opposed to the biden-harris administration's unconditional support for israel and the arming of israel and

their response to the terrible october 7 hamas attack's. from the very beginning it was disproportionate, indiscriminate, and it resulted in genocide. host: what will you do in november? caller: i will be in the decision process between now and then. i hope vice president harris turn from that disastrous policy and there is some indication she might. there rhetoric -- her rhetoric was more sympathetic to civilian deaths and destruction in gaza than the presidents has been. we will see if she makes a clear break with president biden. that will be one of the determining factors in my vote. host: that is george in west

virginia. about 15 minutes left in this segment. we are asking undecided voters only. we want to hear what will come down to for you as we look at this new race, kamala harris versus donald trump. how has it changed your thinking on campaign 2024? kyle in buffalo, new york. your next. caller: good morning. the last caller from west virginia -- i don't want to say stole my thunder but we are from the same premises about how i think about the whole israel and palestinian handling. prior to joe biden stepping down i was leaning more towards trump just because of the health issues of biden. i cannot see myself voting for a guy who seemed like he should be retiring and taking it easy at this point in his life. now with kamala harris i am torn

in the middle. there was a caller earlier from indiana, when they talked they do not seem to have facts. he said something like she was supporting muslims more than the jewish state. the last caller from west virginia talked about how blind in their support for israel. that is more true than her support for the muslim nation. even called her a baby killer which i do not understand. the problem is is we have two different sides. the republican convention at a lot of good ideas and messages about the working class vote that i did like. they brought the union gentlemen from the teamsters. they brought different folks that talk about corporate welfare, which i was kind of shocked. i am just torn.

i did not like the current administration handling reporters but it is tough. we have an ex-president who for some reason it has the whole christian based on his side and he is not really in my opinion the ideology of what you would look at as a christian individual unless he has changed and been redeemed or something like that. i've not heard that part. host: there is one big question mark still out there on the ticket matchup in november. that is the vice presidential pick by kamala harris, the presumed nominee at this point. some reporting from the york times saying she is expected to announce that pick by august 7. is that going to make any difference in your mind? could that change your opinion? caller: it could definitely sway me more. i did not like trump's pick.

he just got the same mode -- the same old white male who is already angry at trump in the first place. i did not like that pick. it comes down to policy. there could be people saying there are two different types of policy. congress are the ones who pass the bills. the president is just a symbol. a lot of people are wondering what kind of symbol? that is the way i am thinking. what kind of symbol are showing when we vote for a particular side. we will see how he handles benjamin netanyahu and the conversations that go along with that. foreign policy does matter. i think our local policies matter. you cannot blame the president

for the price of corporations couching. people seem to want to blame the president or the current administration for the corporate views -- for the corporate abuse of the american people. i think we have to do something where we show our kids a good representation of america. that is what we are looking for. host: if you cannot blame a president for bad economic news should they get good debt should they get credit for good economic news? -- if you cannot blame a president for bad economic news should they get credit for good economic news? i say that because -- a 2.8% annual rate. the gdp rising 2.8% in the quarter. that is higher than the 2.1% expected. is that credit to joe biden and

kamala harris or not? caller: that is a fair question. we always blame the president when the economy is bad or at least one side does and the other side blames the economy when it is good. i feel your coming out of covid and the issues i have is the economy based on how corporations are overpricing coming out of that short supply and those prices have not gone back down. i will say both presidents i thought did a good job with the economy coming out of obama. trump i thought did a good job with the economy. going back there are some things people would've changed differently. it was a tough time. i think both sides have done the best they could when it comes to the economy.

we are the lowest percent of unemployment for minorities over the last 60 years? the economy is fine. you can blame or give credit to both. i am just concerned about some of the social issues. you hear one side say we want to allow the states to make a decision on a woman's right to choose way of those side -- and we have the other side saying we need to let the women have their own choice which i tend to agree with. thanks, john. host: are you the teacher from buffalo? caller: thank you. you remember. host: we will chat again down the road. thanks for the call. kathy in florida. caller: can you hear me question mark host: what are your

thoughts as an undecided voter? caller: when both sides to agree on things the media happens to crush it and that is unfortunate and concerns me. but the war from china invading hong kong, that was on trump's watch. -- host: what war? caller: when china invaded hong kong in 2020. no one mentioned that. that was not during joe biden's time. that was during -- can you remember? host: you're talking about the chinese re-assuming control of hong kong? caller: there was nothing said about that. invasion.

the fentanyl cartels, i don't know who is more involved. nurses are inducing that in our patients across the nation. when it comes to the republicans i do not like that clashing. when it comes to mandates on women's bodies or even men's bodies, i think they need to change the verbiage from abortion to women's health, and when it comes to vaccinations, no mandate on a man or woman. we should have those choices. human beings are equal in that essence. when it comes to the democrats i appreciate the student don't debt operation -- the student loan debt operation. i think it should go up to 14 like the vocational schools.

the airlines, we bailed them out and the banks, they did nothing for us. i would prefer what we did with the students and the kids versus what we did with the airlines and the banks. cartels and fentanyl, that is where i am at right now. host: when you say cartels and fentanyl, explain a little bit more. caller: i do not know which side is playing bedfellows with these concerns with our population, our health and big pharma. where funds are being allocated with the nih. there should not be fennel in high schools because fentanyl is an illegal drug. the only thing i can think of is oregon because they have that

right, they became independent when we had the whole george floyd in the pandemic era. host: that is kathy in florida. on cartels, news in the past 24 hours. a cartel cofounder taken into u.s. custody. he was the cofounder of that cartel along with el chapo, guzman's son taken into custody in operation where they landed on an airplane in the united states, got on the plane, and were taken into custody after landing, reporting and plenty of papers about that. we will find more about that operation. they were taken into custody in el paso yesterday according to the department of justice.

that news overnight. this is jerome in texas. good morning. caller: how are you doing? host: you are an undecided voter. caller: yes. i am kind of like i will stay at home until they figure out what they will do in november. the main three things i am worried about, i am worried about, i want each candidate to explain how they will fix medicaid and social security. also affordable housing, right now the interest rate is so high and you have a lot of people that cannot afford housing right now. host: that is jerome in texas. just a few minutes left in this segment of the washington journal. jerome, maybe we'll get some answers from that front from donald trump today, holding another campaign rally -- i am

sorry, tomorrow at 8:00 eastern in st. cloud, minnesota. c-span will be covering that life and you can watch here on c-span, c-span.org come and the free c-span now app. 8:00 eastern is when you can tune in and watch the former president. this is sonja in washington, d.c. you are next. caller: i am an undecided voter. mostly focusing on the local representatives at this point. i think like many people in this election, we come down to a few issues. i am waiting to see which presidential candidate will condemn the rise of anti-west sentiment that has become very en vogue, this desire to call for the destruction of this country. i am an immigrant from a dictatorship type country and i have nowhere else to run.

i am looking to see which candidate is more likely to support peace and rest and not just candor to the crowds. the events of d.c., this week, the protest shot me. to have people not just burning the american flag but doing so in favor of hamas and the islamic republic, do not think people realize that several of these protesters dressed up like hamas militia. they saw hamas livestream dragging kidnapped girls by their hair, bloodied through the streets and the protesters said it looks good to me, i will camp for them and i will burn the american flag. you can hate benjamin netanyahu, plenty of israelis do. i do not understand how you can hold high moral ground cheering for terrorists. i am looking for a candidate to see which one of the two so far,

and less kamala harris steps down or something is going to stabilize the situation, who will call for peace and rest and calm and not just allow people to openly support foreign terrorist organizations. host: one question on your background. what country did you come to the united states from? caller: russia. host: when did you come? caller: 23 years ago. host: why then? caller: we left within six months of vladimir putin being assigned as the new dictator who turned out to be a true dictator. we just packed up and left because we knew it was not going to be good. host: what you think about everything that has unfolded in russia since then? caller: it is embarrassing. i think every russian holds a

sense of responsibility, like we could have done more. maybe we could have stayed. it is horrible to see what is happening. this truly destroyed the past of so many nations that associated themselves with the russian culture as part of the former soviet union. it is horrific to see. host:host: our last call her ins first segment. plenty more to talk about. stick around. up next, we are joined by author charlie spearing,riter of the book "amateur hour," talking about the vice president assuming the mantle of the democratic nominee for the party. stick around for that conversation.

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house," what revelations from the book do you think are relevant this week as kamala harris receives the mantle of party standardbearer. caller: the number one reason he ran for reelection was that he and his team felt she was not ready. she was brought in as a candidate that biden could possibly pass the torch too, but after three years as vice president it was clear she was not ready, according to the biden team. it's a big part of why he ran for reelection. host: what reporting did you find? guest: just simply because president biden really wanted to pass the torch, but when it became clear trump was going to run again, the democratic party didn't feel that anyone else, that their best bet was to pick someone who had already beaten

donald trump. the biden team felt that they had beaten him once in they were going to be the team to beat him again. host: earlier this week you tweeted that the new kamala harris is the old kamala harris. guest: she had made a big point of being running on her record as a prosecutor in california and really highlighting her skills there, since she was the one most qualified to prosecute donald trump. at that time democrats were looking for a trump slayer. donors felt she was uniquely suited to the task based on her record. host: why did you call the book "amateur hour?" guest: least qualified candidate, only been in politics for a couple of years and she took her position as district attorney of san francisco and moved on quickly as an attorney

general, but was only a statewide politician before she came into national politics. hadn't even been to the white house when she first ran for president. her record was very thin. when she got to washington, she had many struggles, difficulties with her staff and on issues. the survey, with the biden administration. host: difficulty with her staff, delve into that a little bit. guest: this was reported on early on as vice president, she struggled with staff and they started leaving in droves when they realize what kind of boss she was. she had a reputation in the senate of being a tough boss and when it became clear that she was struggling in her first three years, i think a lot of staffers ended up leaving. washington staffers can put up

with a lot of abuse, but when it's clear it's not working well , maybe it's time to move on and search for a job elsewhere. host: what are the stories that you found? guest: harris is reportedly very tough behind the scenes, thin-skinned, and berating her staff and tirades. you talk with people who say she is not a nice boss, not an encouraging boss. someone who is demanding but doesn't do the work that's required, blaming the staff for problems. host: "amateur hour this book "amateur hour,," how much -- this book, "amateur hour," how much access did you get from the harris camp? guest: i reached out early on to work with the vice president's office and they seemed open to working with me. when i submitted a list of questions, that is when everything went dark. host: what were the questions?

the accusations about her record and staff, simple questions, it became clear they were not interested in working with me. when i started writing the book, this was a time when much of washington was not impressed with kamala harris. it wasn't hard to hear democrats talk about her behind the scenes and share things that they wouldn't share publicly because, you know, here in washington for the first couple of years, most people here viewed her as an unprecedented vice president. host: what did they share? are we talking about members of congress talking to you? guest: no, just people involved in the business. host: what reaction did you get from -- when the book came out? guest: not much. some were wondering why you would write a book about a vice president.

it's not something that authors typically do. i made the point at the time that it is important for us to know who kamala harris is because there was a good chance that with biden's age she could be the 40 -- 47th president of the united states. in this last week it's become true and all readers need to know more. host: the author is charlie spearing, he is with us in this segment -- charlie spiering, he is with us for this segment of "the washington journal." democrats, (202) 748-8000. (202) 748-8001 republicans. independents, (202) 748-8002. there is so much focus this week on her record on the border and what her issue package was that she was asked to take care of by the biden administration. what's the story behind borders are kamala harris? guest: it's important to

remember that immigration was a huge issue for the biden administration, one that president biden wasn't necessarily wanting to grapple with personally. host: why? guest: i'm not sure except that we know that he campaigned on the idea that, of antithesis of donald trump's approach to the border. when it became time, a border crisis, migrants coming across the border, they came to kamala harris to take the issues off his plate. host: when are we talking? guest: the spring of 2000 21. when biden appointed kamala harris, it was clear that he wanted her to take on the issue, citing the, you know, citing the root causes of migration. the administration also asked her to be the point on several

issues, including a visit to the border, a visit to guatemala, messaging to migrants that they would be turned away from the border. host: when did she visit the border? i remember the criticism at the time about when she would be down there. guest: right, when she first visited guatemala there was a famous interview with lester holt, asking when she would visit the border, she laughed and said of course i will visit the border and i haven't yet and i haven't been to europe yet, a lot of people visited that is a ga -- as a gaffe on the national stage. it was only that when donald trump decided to visit the border and the biden administration sent her to visit the border right after, they made the decision right after trump made the decision. so, she ended up having to visit the border and taking on the

issue in more ways than she wanted to. she wanted to focus on root causes but the biden administration frequently put her in positions where she had to address the border. host: what did she do about root causes? guest: not much. she had conversations with world leaders, but little progress had taken place and certainly the migrant crisis is bigger than ever. host: again, the book is "amateur hour." you can find it on amazon and anywhere else you pick up your books. you can call in and chat with the author on this segment of "the washington journal." jenny, good morning. caller: i think i'm going to get your book and read it. that's very interesting, the topic you picked out. i wanted to say something about the border and the immigrants coming in. i volunteer at a food pantry.

we have people coming in, illegal immigrants coming into the food pantry. i have a hard time. i judge them. i have a hard time, when they come in their. i don't live in a big town where they are housing them. what about the veterans, the homeless veterans? they come in with fancy phones to interpret their language. i don't know, it's affecting our town. it's like, i was providing took over and he said we are not going to build a wall. as far as drilling gas and oil, my grandpa was a producer of gasoline, you know, in those things. he always said we have plenty, we use others because we want to reserve ours but we have plenty. anyway, i think i'm going to get your book and that's quite

inventive to think about, something like that, that's clever. host: thank you -- guest: thank you. yes, the migration she was one of the top issues among voters in america right now. it has to do with the biden administration choosing not to detain the migrants, rather letting them go into communities across the nation where voters who are experiencing these migrants coming and staying in living, even though they are not legal immigrants they have a claim to asylum and will remain in the country until that claim has gone through the court. host: david, st. paul, good morning. caller: the book, "amateur hour ," how was donald trump not an amateur and how j.d. vance is qualified when kamala harris,

who has been working as a deputy v.a. since 1990 and was elected to san francisco d.a. and then eventually ag and in the senate, i'm wondering how this woman who has one more elections than most sitting politicians is amateur and unqualified for this? host: charlie spiering? guest: this is a good point and a point that a previous caller made the last time i was here. certainly donald trump was an amateur when he ran for president. but he won the election, he beat a prominent politician and earned the support and admiration of his party and served four years as president. the verdict is in on that. i think a lot of republicans view his first four years, even though he began as an amateur, many in his party believe he successfully governed for four years. when you look at kamala harris,

she was a statewide democratic politician, but on the national stage she was an amateur. with j.d. vance, one of the least experienced senators and politicians. he's only won won election, certainly he's an amateur and we will have to see if he has the national skills to run a national campaign and we will see how he performs. it's a big risk by the trump campaign. host: stephen in portland, oregon, good morning. caller: hello, johnny. i want to commend you on the book he wrote. kamala harris being the, how should i say, not qualified. i mean, after all, the california state supreme court forced her to release a man off of date -- off of death row, which she wasn't going to do in

california. and yet that's what my president is going to behave like? want nothing to do with her. host: on her service as ag? guest: right, the national supreme court ruled that california had to reduce its prison population. kamala harris at the time, the attorney general, worked with jerry brown to keep as many criminals as she could in jail. it was a tough position for them to be in. when you are a politician or a attorney general with future political ambitions, releasing criminals out of jail is not something you want to be responsible for, the criminal could go on and commit crimes and ruin your career if your opponent is looking for material for campaign ads. harris was very tough on crime as attorney general and she worked hard to keep people in jail. that is what earned her the

reputation of being, you know, a law enforcement official, effectively the top top of california. that worked against her when she ran her own campaign. host: who were her political mentors as she moved onto the national stage and who is in her inner circle right now? host: that's a good question. -- guest: that's a good question. so many of her original staffers have left. she has always had her close political advisors. from california, she has her sister, people in her search -- close circle that she turns to. regarding her staff, it remains pretty diminished. that is why they are casting a wide net to build up her senior staff as she prepares to run her campaign for president. host: what about coming up? guest: in california, her first

political mentor, there would be no political mentor if she hadn't experienced willie brown for a year, who was a mentor. at the time she was a 29-year-old prosecutor. he was one of the most powerful politicians in san francisco or california, then he ran for mayor. he certainly had an effect on her political career, appointed her to state board positions, gave her a great deal of money and gave her a bmw as she first got off the ground and later, when she got appointed to work in the district attorney's office in san francisco, a big reason for that was because willie brown was sort of behind her, even though they broke off the relationship after he won the campaign for mayor. and then when she ran for district attorney, he was behind the scenes raising money for her, guiding her, even though she tried to distance yourself from him at the time. host: as she stepped to the

forefront of the democratic party, what has most interested you? guest: it was interesting to see the clinton's endorser right away. there was chatter of hillary clinton seeking the nomination for his self but that didn't happen. the biggest surprise for most of us was the time it took for the obamas to endorsed. we know that they endorsed early this morning but were among the last. that was surprising because president obama had been a proponent of kamala harris. during the vice presidency search, she supported harris and supported biden in choosing harris and advocated for her host: on her behalf. why her specifically? guest: obama had a long political relationship with kamala harris. she was one of the few who endorsed him when he first ran and he has had her back ever since. host: back to your phone calls,

marsalis, michigan. good morning. are you there? turn down your tv and then go ahead with your question or comment. why not give us your question what you do that? caller: ok, i was just calling about the person with the book. he's talking a lot about kamala harris and not much about j.d. vance and not much about -- he said that donald trump did do, said that donald trump did become a successful president. he's not talking a lot of facts. sounds like a lot of what he's saying is just opinions. i'm undecided right now, but i think i'm leaning towards kamala harris and until donald trump debates, i'm still kind of leaning towards kamala harris. i would like to hear him talk more about facts rather than opinions. host: want to talk about your

research for this book? guest: certainly donald trump is a divisive figure and there are a lot of democrats who don't feel he was a successful president. when you talk to republicans they will unilaterally say he was one of the best we ever had, touting his first four years as historic. it's understandable that that would be disputed. however i do feel that he was, the verdict on his first four years is clear, his party nominated him again. typically a failed president would not earn the nomination of the party. host: what about the research for the book? you said you were originally reached out with questions and that there were not a lot of responses to that. how did you go about researching the book guest:? i spent a lot of time researching her record in california. being a politician in california, there are a lot of good media reporters there, lots of records and stories about her

time in california and washington. a lot of people in washington were willing to talk about her time in washington and her experience there and places where she could have shined and done well and fell short. plenty of other reporting that's been done by other reporters in the city pointing out other flaws. so, putting, a lot of writing a book is just putting a narrative and facts together and see where you come out and at the time i published of the book, there were few people who thought she had a political future. it's truly remarkable, living in this place where the vice president took the nomination of the party and ran for president without democratic primary voters even casting a ballot for her as candidate. host: the book came out in january. taking your phone calls, christine and holland, michigan, republican, good morning.

caller: good morning. i was just calling. i'm a republican but i haven't voted for a republican since h w bush. there is no way -- well, i take that back. in the primary i voted for donald trump, but before i got home, i heard him talking about how he treated women. before roe v. wade i was taken against my will and forced to have an abortion. i heard the word. i didn't know what it was. i begged the doctor not to do it when i found out and he forced me and did it. i almost died. that doctor, because i was a christian. that doctor died.

for no reason. natural causes. he died a month later. host: christine, thank you for sharing your story. did you have a question about kamala harris or the abortion issue in this campaign? caller: it's because that roe v. wade should be back in effect so that people wouldn't be forced to have an abortion. host: charlie spiering? abortion and kamala harris throughout her career? guest: it's certainly one of her issue she hasn't changed on, throughout her political career she has believed in a right to abortion at all stages of pregnancy and that it was up to a woman to decide with no restrictions. something she was really focused on going into the campaign, taking a lead on the issue for the biden administration.

she will continue to make it her number one issue as she had so the polls. host: alexis, independent, good morning. caller: as a gen x or, i wanted to say i feel like i'm in the position again of having to choose between the lesser of two evils. i don't like kamala harris, i didn't support her when she ran into thousand 20. i was a burning and then elizabeth moran supporter. i would not choose for her to be our first female president, because if she doesn't do well, it's not likely be will get another female president much after that. having said that, i would vote for her and will vote for her, i would vote for anyone over the orange nut job that is the trump cults. she has a law degree. trump was born with a silver

spoon in his mouth and frittered away his father's fortune out of incompetence. as i said with biden and like the rest, i will hold my nose and vote for kamala harris. my question for your guest is -- she's -- you are talking about bad boss, lots of turnover, lots of whispering behind her back in the washington, d.c. crowd. can you give me a numerical count of how much staff she lost in the last 3.5 years as vice president versus how many staff and cabinet members trump lost in fired in his first three and a half years? thank you. host: charlie spiering? guest: i don't think those numbers have been made publicly available but i do think work has been done to find out through disclosures how many staff she lost. the latest report is 92% of her original staff left her office. with only four staff left.

that kind of turnover is greater than it was under president trump. guest: who stuck with her throughout? guest: nobody prominent. there are four or five left and i don't know their names. host: linda, good morning. what's your question or comment? caller: i have one for your guest. to tell me anything about -- anything outstanding that mike pence did as vice president. everything that trump said, when he did transfer of power it was only because he was being fooled by the protesters, told they were going to hang him. and then vance and the bad things about kamala harris, it's truly wrong. that's the only comment i have. have a good day. host: mike pence? guest: i think republicans used

to think that he was sort of low drama, highly skilled, could go out without too much trouble. he can go out and do the job of the vice president, standing up to defend the vice president when he needs defending. trump put him in charge of coronavirus. he was the head of the team to handle it. you know, depending on your view about how the trump administration handle the virus, he has certainly worked with dr. fauci and medical officials to carry out the initial response. host: waco, texas, teresa, good morning. caller: good morning. i feel that kamala harris is probably the worst candidate that they could have ever ran for the democrats. i've been reading all of her policies that she sided with.

she's all in for big government expansion as far as her government intervention in health care, housing, personal habits, education. she wants higher taxes for upper class and middle. wealthy. that's all communist ideology. definitely, even her social programs that she stands with. you know, her support for broad social programs, health care for illegal immigrants. she's not a good candidate. she enlightens with all communist ideologies. i can't believe how anyone would vote for kamala harris. she's not a good fit. for them to sit there and try to hide the fact that joe biden appointed her as the borders are on march 24, two thousand 21, there's no reason to hide it. she failed at that.

23 million illegal aliens came through the border. i live in texas. it's been horrendous. i will definitely be voting for donald trump and if anybody cares about our country, they will vote for him, to. we don't need a communist and the presidency. thank you. host: theresa and waco, texas. she mentioned joe biden supporting kamala harris as the borders are. wanted to play a minute and a half from that statement from joe biden when that was happening. [video clip] >> i can think of nobody who is better qualified to do this then a former, a woman who ran the attorney general's office in america in the state of california. fighting organized crime in the process. it's not her full responsibility

but she is leading the effort in the best thing to do is to put someone who, when he or she speaks, they don't have to worry about does the president speak for him? she knows what she's doing and i hope we can move this along. madame vice president, i gave you a tough job, but there's no better person to try to organize it. >> thank you, mr. president, and for having the confidence in me, no question that this is a challenging situation. as the president said, there are many factors and while we are clear that people should not come to the border now, we also understand that we will enforce the law and that we also, we can chew gum and walk at the same time, we can address the causes that cause people to make the trek, as the president

described. host: a couple of things that jumped out at me, joe biden saying that she speaks for me, doesn't have to check with me, acknowledging that he gave her a tough job. host: right, -- guest: right, this is what presidents will do with vice presidents, biden was famous for being given tons of these assignments, tough, politically difficult questions to handle. he was used to doing this and he expected kamala harris to do the same thing, to try to take the issue off of his plate. at that time there was a huge vacuum of leadership on the issue without many answers coming from the biden administration. the term borders are is not an official title but this is why the media began calling her that . certainly, republicans saw this is a mistake by the president and immediately branded her as

the borders are, which is why we are here today still talking about her record on immigration. host: was it interesting to year -- to you that you address root causes 30 seconds after his comment? guest: right, she and her team were very angry with the president for trying to put the issue on her, felt it was unfair, saying that they were working on root causes whenever the issue was brought up. host: talking with charlie spearing, the book is "amateur hour." chris, independent in philly. thanks for waiting. >> thanks for having me, i'm glad to get on with mr. charlie spiering, one of the preeminent quislings of the era.

i heard him use the word narrative when he was discussing his album release. dig this, the vice president, as we all know, overseas house proceedings. when you talk about a vacuum of leadership on an issue like the border, i think that might have more to do with the fact that the former president's own party is incapable of did -- controlling their own caucus or moving any kind of legislation forward whatsoever regarding these issues. it is a depressing sign of our times to hear someone in a seat like the vice presidency trying to address core issues on a subject as complex as immigration reform. that's a criticism, it's pathetic. i think that mr. spiering is

part of a chattering class funded through the rupert murdoch complex that wastes the time of the american voter. host: give you a chance to respond. guest: the vice president had an important job with border security, something the trump administration took seriously and did everything they could through executive power. biden did the opposite, making it clear that he would get rid of everything from had done in terms of executive orders and the romaine in mexico policies that sort of reduced the flow. so, i do think it is fair to brand the administration and the vice president, the president and vice president on the issue of immigration and voters will likely hold them accountable this fall. host: would you like to talk about your day job at the daily mail and what you do there? guest: working there has been a

blessing. rupert murdoch doesn't pay my paycheck but we do have a good time covering the news. a lot of hard-working workers cover politics, they are not necessarily super political but they understand what's going on. host: do you explain american politics to a mostly british audience? guest: it's a pretty widespread english-speaking audience, a great deal of the audience is in america, we just right from where we are in we write about what is happening and we certainly have a large audience who consumes that. host: how did you get to the daily mail? guest: i started in february after finishing the book. host: salvatori, republican mine, thanks for waiting.

caller: thank you. i find it interesting, the name of the book, amateur hour, when we have -- let's call it two professionals in the white house , vice president harris and the president, president biden, where someone has to be responsible for the 300,000 people that have been poisoned and overdosed on fentanyl. not to mention, we will be digging that stuff up and finding bags of it for probably the next 100 years. who's going to take responsibility for that? i think amateur hour isn't even a strong enough name for miss harris. god for she becomes president.

host: charlie spiering? guest: the issue of fentanyl is paramount where the swing states are, michigan and wisconsin. ohio. i feel like yeah, whenever anyone is dealing with the issue of fentanyl, it's clearly a big issue a lot of americans are talking about. host: heading to the volunteer state, barbie in knoxville, independent, good morning. caller: good morning. my question there is for the author. did you interview kamala personally ever? guest: i certainly reached out to her office and would have taken an interview and discussed her career and had a lot of questions for her, but her

office did not make her available for the book. caller: yeah, it sounds like it goes one way. she's definitely not an amateur. you talk about how hard she is behind the scenes that she's an amateur? seriously? everyone in politics has a record of some sort or another and you can pull things out and twist them and do whatever you want to which ever way you want to to write a book. now, i know you have done a lot of research, i appreciate that. i haven't read it yet, i have no reason to say anything one way or the other about it. but the comments i'm hearing on the air, it's kind of ridiculous. the same old thing about women. what is it with women? they are great, they are strong, what's going on? we can do everything, why is she such an amateur? that's all i want to know. guest: clearly not a comment on her gender, but certainly a

comment on her record as vice president. in the first three years of her vice president see they were unprecedented. certainly no democrat would have chosen her to be president for the primaries. we are in a situation where yes, she's been chosen by the party leaders and has been endorsed by party leaders to take over the nomination for biden. it's not what they expected and will do everything they can to bolster her reputation going into the election. host: how hard was it to come up with the title, how quickly did you come up with it? guest: every book needs a provocative title in we certainly picked one that was provocative in order to get people to pick it up and read it

. i think that when i spoke with democrats and with people in washington about kamala harris, that was kind of the emerging theme, she was not ready for the job she was chosen to do. host: maryland, upper marlboro, jack, good morning. caller: good morning, guys. we have dozens of former trump administration officials, cabinet members, even his former vice president coming out openly against donald trump. your guest has been asked at least twice to give some memorable facts about trump's first term and what made it successful, he didn't come up with any. all he said is that he has been the republican nominee three times now. look at what he promised before he became president. he said he would build a wall you didn't. set mexico would pay for it and of course they didn't.

send he would end the war in afghanistan and that of course didn't happen. he didn't pass one major piece of legislation except for a tax cut for the wealthy. not one infrastructure bill in four years. by all measure, his first four years were a disaster and complete failure. if that isn't amateur hour, what is? it's ridiculous. i will ask one more time, give us a measurable fact that made his first term in office such a success. thank you. guest: i'm not here to litigate the first four years of the trump administration but i think his followers will point to his record on foreign policy. republicans were very pleased that the united states is not engaged in any new foreign wars during his presidency. yes, being strong on terror, combating that threat in the middle east, putin didn't invade any countries when the president was in office. his record on foreign policy is

one that republicans would .2. host: robert, the publican, new york, good morning. caller: good morning, thanks for taking my call. i haven't read the book there, mr. spiering, but i think kamala has been a successful borders are, if you want to call her that because she accomplished exactly what they wanted. i guess it's a certain amount of perspective. host: what do you think they wanted, robert? caller: they felt they needed an edge in future voting, i believe. i'm sure there are pictures hanging in the houses of folks right now, joe biden with candles beside them. it's just weird that um, um,

that everybody complains that, that they have accomplished exactly what they wanted to accomplish. they wanted to flood the country with new voters. i think we should just, for that alone i think it's treasonous. i don't think either one should be in office. that's all i have. guest: that is certainly an accusation made against democrats, that they don't take the border issue seriously at it has become one of the most prominent in the election and it will be interesting to see if she addresses the issue or falls back on the typical democratic line that we are a country of immigrants and we should allow as many immigrants and migrants who believe they have a claim to asylum into our country with no restrictions. guest: border states, arizona, mike, good morning. caller: i have a question for you, mr. spiering.

i would like you to explain -- i studied the foreign labor movement going back to the 1800s. has there been any time since the 1800s that immigration has been cut to zero in the history of the united states? they said trump would immigration but it never went down to zero, hasn't come down to zero in 200 years. they say that kamala harris is supposed to stop this, something our country hasn't been able to stop for 200 years? what is the expectation for her to do something that no one else has done for 200 years? i will take your answer offline. thank you. guest: that's a good point and certainly the issue on the border has been a struggle for every administration, which is i think why biden gave the issue

to the kamala harris. it's a thankless task. you are expected to deliver messaging to migrants telling them not to come, but the policies remain with the border open so it seems they can come. that's where she struggled on the issue, she was expected to send a message that differed with the actual policies. host: running short on time. what do you imagine a donald trump kamala harris debate would look like? guest: she is certainly effective at debate, she saw that in 2020 when she challenged biden on segregation at the time. she does have the skills to deploy these sort of attacks and combat and opponent on the stage. however, she has a record that's very difficult to defend. we saw that in the primaries

when at the time congresswoman tulsi gabbard attacked harris, dealing a devastating dip blow on the debate stage. she didn't have a good response to those attacks. i think she hasn't been held to task for her record and that as -- if the president focuses on her record, she will do well, but if it becomes a fighting match, trump will find a unique opponent in kamala harris. host: the book is "amateur hour: kamala harris in the white house ," the author is charlie spiering, senior reporter at "the daily mail." thank you for stopping by. guest: thank you. host: coming up, we will have william barber, cochair of poor people's campaign. first, on this anniversary of the signing of the americans for it is -- with disabilities act, we wanted to show you this

moment from jennifer weston of virginia, using the ai generated program to find her voice, she cannot speak, delivering a speech on the floor using the ai . here's a portion of that. >> the very first constituent meeting that i took was with lobbyists, a group of families who had young children complex medical needs and disabilities. i invited one of them to be my guest at the state of the union in 2020 two highlight how important it was to fight back against these efforts of undermining the aca. the fight for disability rights has become personal. my battle with psp has robbed me of my ability to use my full voice and move around in the ways i use to. rather than striding confidently onto the house floor to vote, i greatly accept rides from across

the avenue, rely on a walker and in all likelihood i will appear on the house floor for votes in a wheelchair. i can no longer give the same kind of impassioned, impromptu speeches during debate on the floor or in committee hearing. this impressive ai recreation of my voice does public speaking for me now and i find myself understanding firsthand just a fraction of the challenges so many live with each day. it's been a big adjustment for me, my family, my team coming and my colleagues who have known me for years and watch me go through the challenges, but mine is not a unique story. millions of americans face challenges that make it harder for them to move, speak, act, or live their everyday lives, but it doesn't define who they are. i have not allowed my challenges to define me. this is not a situation i would have chosen to find myself in.

i could not have guessed at my age and health that a disease like this would have forced me to speak -- stop speaking, running, or dancing. and i'm not the first member to use augmented alternative communication devices on the house floor. i used to be one of those people who hated the sound of my voice. my ads would force me to cringe and change the channel but you don't know what you got until it's gone. it was the most beautiful thing i've ever heard and i cried tears of joy. i won't sugarcoat my difficulties from over the past year, but what brought me a new sense of determination was the opportunity to use the unique platform to help others. these supportive messages have been overwhelming from those facing similar speaking or movement challenges as people like me.

i'm not doing this for praise or admiration, but i hope that when people see me continuing to do all i can to live my life and do the job as best i can, they understand the courage, resilience, i hope that i can be a voice, even ai voice, for americans facing accessibility challenges and other disabilities, too often people see us as so much more. i'm asking for my colleagues to celebrate the strength and purse ability -- perseverance ofthe disability community. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are joined now by zoom by bishop william barber, president of the breach founding director at the center for public theology at yale. we call him reverend, he's an

author. his latest book is entitled reverend, what got you interested in writing about white poverty in america? guest: first of all, thank you for having me. my editor, harsh world, we have been writing this book: our lives. as we look at the reality of poverty in america now, one third of america is unified by the reality of poverty and low wages. you are talking about 140,000,004 and low-wage persons in this country. you are talking about 58%, 68% of african-americans, 26 million. but then you talk about 30% of white brothers and sisters, over 66 million are poor and low-wage , all the way from economic

ruin. oftentimes what we see in the way we judge policy is mythology guiding the conversation rather than the truth. that poverty is not that big of an issue. if you look at the wit -- the way that measures politics is to look at is a better way and a measurement that must be used. policy as a black issue, often we talk about it and we show a black woman on welfare, which is racist towards black people but it dismisses tens of millions of white brothers and sisters who our poor in this country. we are united by this policy. the mythology, for instance, that pale skin is a shared interest. that only black people want change in america.

the mythology that poverty is only a black issue and that we cannot overcome our divisions. we thought we had to write a book that challenges those mythologies and calls on the nation to stop ignoring 140 million people. 43% of their adult population 61% of and poverty in this country, hundreds die every day from poverty and low wages. that's 290 something thousand people per year. that's epidemic levels. if anyone else was killing some money, we don't talk about it and we tend to racialized or diminish it host: these myths,

how long has this mythology in america been with us? guest: well, it has a long history. you know, back in the 60's there was it called the white southern strategy and a part of that strategy was to turn black-and-white people against each other. 1965, at the end of the montgomery march on the steps of the alabama state house, dr. king said the greatest fear of the greedy oligarchs in this country is what the masses of poor knee grows and white people coming together to form a voting block that could fundamentally shift the economic architecture of the country. down through the years there has been this attempt to ensure separation. one book, called "a time of evolution," said that the book was about positive polarization,

to say that black poverty was the cause of personal morality and failure, and that white poverty was the cause of black people getting things, brown people getting things and created no housing. but at the same time the policies were hurting both. it's really been driven by a policy because in the country right now the first side of those numbers is that poor people, poor low-wage people now make up 30% of the electorate. in so-called battleground states where the margin of victory was 3% in the presidential race in the last election, poor and low-wage people make up 40% to 43%. in those states, for instance, in wisconsin, the presidential

election was 20,000 votes. one million low-wage people did not vote. in north carolina, 174,000, over one million didn't vote in fact poor and low-wage people of all races, creeds, and color came together around an agenda for wages and health care, demanded fully funded public education and wages to lift people out of poverty immediately, if they said we could end and abolish poverty, if they came together around an agenda like that, i think in fact the numbers say in most states, battleground states, it would just be 3% to 5% of low-wage people united together, the largest swing vote in the country.

those that don't want to engage in these kinds of progressive policies and would rather engage in trickle-down economics and blame poor whites and low-wage black people for their problems, they might look at the systemic reasons and are afraid of the block coming together. what we say, we open the book with a solution. we come together, fusion politics, talking about why we cannot ignore the crisis are at times it makes all of us to shame, the level of death is us tremble. all of it's not necessary. what we know is that the greedy,

those who would rather have tax cuts for corporations rather than lifting up the poor are very powerful and want to see the division. what we are honoring is coming together across the lines of race and class. not denying race, but not denying the truth either, because that is a power block that can fundamentally shift the electoral realities of this country. thereby fundamentally addressing and shifting the policy of the country. guest: the book again -- host: the book again, they came out last month. i want to give the viewer the phone lines for calling in. (202) 748-8000, democrats. republicans, (202) 748-8001 we'll get to your calls as you're calling in. reverend barber, the new

republican vice presidential pick by donald trump, j.d. vance, has written a lot about white poverty in his time. specifically in his book, "hillbilly he will ji." did you read that book? what did you think about how he describes this issue? guest: not only did we read it but we have a major piece in that in end white poverty. my co-editor writes a piece about that and i have a comment that one of the problems with vance's presentation, he starts out you think saying that he wantses to lift up those in poverty, particularly what he calls hillbillies. but then if you keep reading he basically blames the poor for their poverty. and said -- in the book he actually goes against trump in his book, but -- and in later comments. but then he says that the problem is that white poor brothers and sisters are not religious enough, have walked away from religion, have walked

away from their morality. and basically he then becomes a cover for those who don't want to shift policy but want to blame people for their problem. what we're saying in our book is that is all wrong. in this country, we've not raised the minimum wage for 15 years, since 2009. income for c.e.o.'s has gone up. prices have gone up. people have been required to do more work. but we've not raised the minimum wage for 15 years. $7.25. $2.13 for waiters. it doesn't matter what your color is, if you make $7.25 an hour, there's not a county in this country where you can work a minimum wage job, a federal minimum wage job, and afford a basic two bedroom apartment. health care in this country, there are more than 87 million people who are without health care or who are underinsured.

health care should not be connected to your job. it should be connected to your humanity. what we know is that in every state that is led by republicans, or extremist, i don't like to say republicans because my grandfather was a lincoln republican, an eisenhower republican, but everyone is led by extremists who call themselves republican. they're anti-raising minimum wage. anti-health care. anti-fully funding public education. and they are anti-labor rights. the very things that have been proven that lift people out of poverty. it's not a handout, it's making the playing field more level so that people can rise up. i've been in appalachia, in kentucky, east kentucky, and met people like from sturgil who died from black lung disease, he was a coal miner. he talked about how politicians

allowed the coal mines to be taken over by multinational countries and then steal their labor rights, they didn't grandfather their labor right, they messed over their pensions. he died in our movement. i met with people like pam in west virginia who introduced me to poor white women who are working hard every day but less than a basic minimum wage of $15 an hour, they can't even afford basic needs for women during the month. they have to sell tacos on tuesdays to exist. i met pam down in bell haven, north carolina. before she died in a high school parking lot because the politicians in north carolina refused to expand medicaid, it caused rural hospitals to close. pam, a white woman, was the first casualty of that closing. she died in a high school parking lot only five minutes away from the former hospital. this is who we're talking about when we talk about the poor.

and j.d. vance, what he does is basically blames people. which is the old line. blames people. people used to call poor white, white trash and those kinds of things. we're saying no. no, no, no. that is not right. poverty is created by immoral policies. we don't have a lack of resources, we don't have a lack of problem solving realities. we could to abolish and end poverty. if you passed today and we almost did it, except for eight democrats, and every republican in 2020, voted against raising the minimum wage. i want my listeners to hear that. eight democrats and every republican voted against raising the minimum wage to a basic living wage of $15 an hour. which was a request of the civil rights movement in 1963. to raise the minimum wage of $2 an hour, index it with inflation which would make it about $17, $18 today.

if that had been passed, then 52 million poor and low income, not black, but poor and low wage people, black, white, brown, would have been lifted out of poverty with one piece of legislation that would have pumped $330 billion into the economy. but people would rather give a tax break to the corporations that are already making gross amounts of money than to simply raise the minimum wage that we have not raised since 2009. you don't see vance talking about these issues. instead he kind of turns in on poor and low-wage people, his own people, rather than lift up the kind of policies that would make a difference. again, -- host: i have plenty of callers waiting to chat with you. i only have 45 minutes with you. the lines are full. so i don't think i'll even be able to get to the ones we have on the lines right now. let me try to get them in because they're happy to chat with you. this is marcus in columbus, ohio, a democrat.

good morning. caller: good morning. i want to thank reverend barber for being here and really continuing on like a lot of the legacy of what martin luther king has passed on and i appreciate the clarity in which you deliver the message because it's not just about seeing people and not saying slurs. there's an economic rights that have to also be delivered to make sure everybody, black, white, indigenous, doesn't matter, everybody has a chance to what people should have. and my question is not so much towards all the things that you're doing now, but more towards organizing, to making a difference for the future and also trying to connect this to the international struggle. so i do want to ask, you know, what is the poor people's campaign's position on the genocide in gaza, but also how

do we start moving towards the international as well and not just focusing on making demands for the people in power now, in the election cycle, but organizing in between those election cycles to actually build power to connect communities in ways that the government isn't doing, so that we can help our people now. i'm curious as to what do we do in between time for the election? guest: along with my co-chair, and others, we've been mobilizing for years now, since 2018. we started with a study called the souls of poor folk. and we looked at five interlocking injustices that continue to exacerbate poverty. and this was before covid. because covid didn't create poverty, it exacerbated and exposed it. those five areas are systemic -- policies of systemic racism, systemic poverty, ecological

devastation, denial of health care, the war economy and the false narrative of religious nationalism that continues to take religion and turn it and use it as a weapon of hate and anti-poor rather than a faith of love and justice for all and lifting up the poor and good news to the poor. now we've mobilized over 40 some coordinating committees around the country and on june 29, we had one of the largest tkpwragt, of poor and low-wage brothers and sisters and faith leaders, tens of thousands of people showed up in washington, d.c. several million online. and we announced that we were putting out a 17-point agenda and that we were going to mobilize and touch 15 million of the 30 million poor and low wage infrequent voters across the country with an agenda. telling them to look at candidates, not based on just their innuendos and their personality, but on their policy

record. where do they stand on certain issues? and part of that agenda was we call for peace around the world. we stood against what happened on october 7 and innocent people, women and children were killed. we also said we were against what was happening with netanyahu and the gross retaliation against the palestinian innocent people, weupg and children. but -- women and children. but more so, a plan of peace. what we said was, we could not ignore 295,000 people dying every year from poverty and low wages and then be concerned about other issues. we also said we're concerned about genocide of poor people in congo and in yemen and somalia. around the world. but we have to deal with the reality here, otherwise we don't have credibility. and we believe, we're mobilizing and organizing people across racial lines and, again, when i talk about the poor, i'm talking

about that woman, not just asking for spare change, but the person who bags your groceries but can't even hardly afford food in that same place. the person who works in a manufacturing place and then sleeps in their carat night. the person who does health care but can't afford to go to the hospital or maybe doesn't even have health insurance. we must expand our understanding of who we're talking about when we're talking about poor and low-wage people. and we must mobilize and what we're saying to poor, low-wage folk, it's time to go on the offensive now and rise. because we have this powerful voting block that can fundamentally transform the american electorate. host: on the wage issue, tony writes in, as you were making your comments via twitter, saying,inum --

guest: well, there is this argument that wage inflation creates inflation. inflation comes by the gross activity of price gouging and war and what we recently went through, the pandemic, and what it cost. when you say minimum wage, we're saying the federal minimum wage ought to be at least $15. the federal minimum wage. of course in other states, that's going to require wages to be looked at based on cost of living in those particular states. but isn't it amazing that the only place we tend to say, people having more money won't work, is when it comes to poor and low wage working people. everybody else money is good. corporations, good. give us more. give us $2 trillion in tax cuts. c.e.o.'s, good, give us millions of dollars in parachutes for when we retire. but when it comes to people who are striving hard every day, remember whether we talk about raising a living wage, we're

talking about poor and low-wage working people, and among which the majority are white. in fact, the majority of poor and low-wage people are women. so over 73 million of the people we're talking about are white women in this country. and so -- not white women, they're women. and a large majority of them are white women. who are the largest majority of the poor and low-wage in this country. we have to stop living in these mythologies. to me it boggles my mind that people would fight people that are working, having a living wage instead would argue that the wage -- $7.25 an hour, basically is about 13*dz,000 a year -- $13,000 a year. there are politicians that argue that a living wage is only about -- that you're out of poverty if you make above $13,000 a year.

so they argue that if you make $7.25 an hour, you are in the lower, lower middle class. you're not poor or low wage. that's absolutel ridiculous and none of them would attempt to live off of that amount. host: let me go to north carolina. bob's waiting in wax hall, north carolina, republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. i have a couple years ago i read an article by walter williams and he made four points about accumulating wealth and helping people get out of poverty. four items. i'd just like to speak about real quickly. very quickly. number one, when you're young, get some type of a job. any type of a job. it will teach you self-esteem. number two, stay in school. get at least your high school degree. number three, and this can be a tough one with all the peer

pressure that there is among young people, and that's to keep your nose clean. avoid committing crimes. and number four, avoid having children until you're married. because you got two people living together, being married and having kids, that is a good way to develop some responsibility. host: bring me to the question. caller: i'm listening. guest: i appreciate your comments. in fact, you know, most people who have babies out of wedlock are whraoeut and you say get a job. but if you don't have a job that's less than a living wage, if you have a low-wage job, a job that doesn't have benefits, a job that doesn't have paid family leave, a job that doesn't have health care, then that's what's wrong about the system. we're not against work. we're talking about poor and low-wage people.

who's to say that poor people don't keep their noses clean? poor and low-wage people are some of the most moral people in the world. they're working too hard to be doing anything else. remember what we're talking about is -- we're talking about even graduate students who make poverty wages. we're talking about secretaries who make poverty wages and sometimes pay more taxes than the c.e.o.'s. some of what you're listing are the mythologies. come go with me to appalachia. i'd love for you to go. come go to places where we see people living in poverty, who are struggling and working hard every day. and then be mindful that it was theodore roosevelt, a republican, who first said in 1912, when he challenged both parties, he said that we ought to have a moral agenda, that moral agenda ought to include health care, it ought to include a minimum living wage, it ought to include taking care of the environment. this was a republican that said that.

eisenhower, who is a republican, said we ought to put more investment in public education and we ought to be leery, he said, of the military industrial complex that would soak up all the money from the people that actually need it in the country. so i encourage you to read this book because what you might find is something that is not rooted in the mythologies but is rooted in the truth. we're talking about 140 million people, the majority of which are white, among black people, over 60%. and to suggest that those 140 million people are somehow immoral, didn't keep their nose clean, didn't get jobs, some of them are working two and three jobs, they still can't make it, and all are poor because they had babies out of wedlock is just not the truth. it doesn't line up with the data. it lines up with mythology. host: let me take you to pennsylvania. this is tony, independent.

good morning. caller: yes, good morning. can you guys hear me? host: yes, sir, what's your question or comment? caller: just wanted to make sure it was this tony. so, yeah, i really appreciate the perspective of this guest and this focus on poverty. i feel like the country, i would say the oligarchs, the billionaires that are in charge, they do a really good job of dividing us by gender, by race, by skin tone and they often neglect, diminish and hide this perspective. i would say this was the perspective of martin luther king and it has strong roots that we need to get back to. i would say the republican party has in many ways captured the symbol of jesus, but don't represent jesus, you know, jesus talked about the least among us.

i would say the democratic party has captured martin luther king but don't share his values. they're not anti-war, they don't talk about poverty. it's a very whitewashed, commercialized, corporate martin luther king that is a part of the democratic party. host: bishop barber, let meifice you a chance to weigh in. guest: even a renowned economist talks about the price of inequality. yes, it was dr. king, but it was many others. black and white. it was welfare right, women, actually that started the poor people's campaign. it was women who started and invited dr. king and others into it. women of all different races, creeds and colors back in the 1960's. but the caller is right. we are united, over 1/3 of the country is united by this

reality every day. they experience the death, they experience the lack, they experience the unnecessary abolishable lack and hurt. and it can be changed. that's the point. and what we're arguing also in the book is that what we have done in our political debate, we have 15 or so debates in the last presidential election and not one of those debates focused on what is impacting 1/3 of the country. we cannot have that. we had, as i said, eight democrats and all the republicans in the senate blocked a living wage of $15 an hour that came to the senate, having been passed in the house, that we have pushed for. we cannot have that go on and continue. we cannot just let people languish in poverty and low wages in the richest nation in the country. we need to change our political conversation, we need to stop the mythology. we had a recent debate and there's been a lot of argument about, you know, trump lying and

what some said was biden being slow in his responses. and they call it failure. what we saw as failure is that not 30 minutes of that debate focused on what 140 million people face in this country. and asked each person, you're running for president, what is going to be your goal, what is going to be your policy? what are you going to push for and fight for, if you get the majority in the house and in the senate and the presidency? what are you going to do? are you going to call the name of the poor? host: you have had a chance to ask that question of kamala harris? guest: we will ask it. kamala harris is on record in -- i think it was 2019, coming to our more poverty action congress, of actually saying that she saw this issue as critical and the other day in delaware she mentioned right off, her dream of a world is a world where child poverty does not exist. one of the greatest moral

failings, 51% of our children live in poverty and low wages, unnecessarily. we want to be pushing that to every candidate. both sides of the aisle, we're mobilizing, as i said, and touching 15 million poor and low-wage voters who are going to come to the electorate saying, if you want these votes, talk to us, talk about the issues that are impacting our lives. and they're across all the different races, colors and geographies. that's what white poverty is talking about. i'm a black man. and i know i'm a black man. but i also have in my d.n.a. indian, i have persons who are caucasian as well in my d.n.a. my father's side of the family comes from a free community, was free even during the days of slavery. and my father taught me, you have to own all of who you are and out of that experience i'm saying to america, you have to own all of who you are. you cannot have this level of poverty and hurt, you cannot have over 50 million people

working for less than a minimum living wake, and just ignore it in your political discussions and your political policies and you also can't be happy with just minimum increases here and there. just a little bit of change here and there. when in fact we could have fund mental change -- fundamental change. host: this is joseph in houston, texas. line democrats. go ahead. caller: good morning, bishop. my question is, for the sake of time, is what can we do about encouraging those two are discouraged to vote with this platform you are promoting, can you lift the top three actions to convince more involvement in the political process? thank you. guest: thank you so much for that question. one of the mythologies also that exists is that poor and low-wage people have been told they don't matter politically. and they've been told that they don't vote. the fact of the matter, 87 million poor and low-wage voted

in the last election. but the problem is they voted several percentage points lower than middle and upper class, upper high class persons. if they voted at the same rate as middle class and upper middle class persons in this country, we would see a very different outcome in our election. whether you tell people that they have that kind of power, that the stones that the builders reject ready not just victims, they don't have to be victims of the system, they don't have to be impacted by the system, they can change the system, they have the power to come together, the power to unite around agenda, that transforms how people understand who they are and what they can do. that's number one. number two, then you must actively engage in mobilizing that community. if politicians and others don't talk to them, we have to talk to them. our leaders have to talk to them. peer to peer conversations have to happen to mobilize people. that's why we're engaging in this practical mobilization

going on right now. and then thirdly, you can't leave after elections. you have to stay engaged between elections. you have to constantly push, constantly be in the presence, in the face, nonviolently, of course, but constantly be in the face because when we talk about these policies, we're talking about a handout. we're talking about america being what she said she would be on paper. to quote dr. king. in the preamble of our constitution we say you must establish justice. there is nothing just about people not having a minimum living wage and not raising the minimum wage for 15 years. there's nothing just about people languishing in poverty, particularly children, when could you use the child tax credit and actually lift children out of poverty and families out of poverty. and earned income tax credit. these are things reagan interestingly enough agreed to. there's nothing just about health care, if you're a congress person, you get free health care the moment you get elected and go to congress.

but then you fight people having that same opportunity for health care. there's nothing just about that. and lastly, it doesn't promote the general welfare of all people, which is what every person has to do when they get elected. they say, i swear to uphold this constitution, which means to promote the general welfare of all people. so we must let people know what their power is. we must help them mobilize in that power and build unity, fusion coalitions across geographic areas and across race and exercise that power, both during elections and after elections, and refuse to take no for an answer because really addressing poverty is a matter of life and death. 290,000-plus people die every year from poverty and low wages. 800 people a day. when we got 500 people dieing a day from covid, we called it an epidemic. we have an epidemic of poverty

and low wages in this country. the surgeon general really ought to put on every low wage job that it's hazardous to your health and we should fight to change this in this country. host: just a couple minutes left. another question from twitter via deb saying, d you think illegal -- guest: first of all, this issue of immigration is used as a wedge issue. immigration is not illegal. it is a process that we have, we are a country of immigrants. we're a country of immigrants. what hurts this country is to have a process that actually burdens those who would desire to come in this country, the vitriol that we see. in fact, remember now, we've had -- the job of immigrants coming to this country is interesting. i come from the south. there was a time when we didn't have a problem with immigrants

coming. we wanted to crack down on the people that came, of course after they did the work. what we should have is a just immigration policy. we should not just blame immigrants for the problem and create wedge issues. and irregardless of the immigration issue, that still does not change the minimum wage. that still does not address the issue of health care. that still does not address fully funding public education. let's stop trying to find a way to blame somebody for poverty and low wages and really address the issues that impact the poverty, impact the poor and low wage. that still doesn't address having strong safety nets for people, especially for people who are disabled and hurting and fall into poverty. we have got to come to a place in this country where we say things like, i remember doing one of the times we were going through economic trouble and we said companies were too big to

fail. well, i'm a preacher. in my bible it says every person is made in the image of god. which means people are too human and too created by god to fail. and we should address the policies that create and cause poverty and not try to find a way around them or a way to change the subject matter. host: again the book, "white poverty: how exposing myths about race and class can reconstruct american democracy," the co-author is bishop william barber, the president of re-- co-chair of the poor people's campaign, founding director of the center for public policy and public theology at yale and we do always appreciate your time, sir. guest: thank you so much. and god bless you and thank you for your audience. host: about 30 minutes left in our program this morning. in that time, we turn this program over to you. it's our open forum. any public policy issue, any

political issue that you want to talk about, now's the time for you to run the phones. phone numbers are on your screen. go ahead and start dialing in and we will get to your calls right after the break. ♪ >> american history tv saturdays on c-span2, exploring the people and events that tell the american story. at 6:15 p.m. eastern, we'll feature president lyndon johnson's march, 1968, address to the nation. where he announced steps to limit the war in vietnam. and his decision not to run for re-election. at 7:00 p.m., watch decision nor reelection. at 7:00 p.m., watch historic convention speeches, featuring notable remarks by presidential nominees and other political figures from the past several decades. this week, former nixon aide and media commentary pap you can and speaking at the 1992 republican national convention after losing

the party's nomination to president george h w bush. then former new york senator hillary clinton at the 2008 democratic national convention in denver after losing the party's nomination to illinois senator barack obama. a look back at betty ford and rosalynn carter's 1984 conference on the private lives and public duties of first lady with a discussion on the role of first lady since then. exploring the american story. watch american history tv saturday on c-span and find a guide or watch online anytime at c-span.org/history. announcer: book tv every sunday on c-span2 features leading authors discussing theiratest nonfiction books.we will revisit our 2019 interview wi kamala harris, who was

senator at the time, and is now the vice president and presumptive 2020 four democratic nominee for president in the discussion about her book reflecting on her upbringing and how it has influenced or governing style. and thenenneth mckenzie with his book "the melting point" looks at war in the 20th century and u.s. operations in the middle east. and then on afterwords peter goodman discusses his book "how the worl ran out of everything" looking at the global supply chain, how it works, and what happens when it doesn't. watch book tv every sunday on c-span two and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch onlinatook tv.org. announcer: this book notes plus

podcast is a repeat of a q and a program from november 4, 2014. ronald feynman is the author of "assassinations, threats, and the american presidency" in which he examines items on the lives of presidents and presidential candidates throughout history. announcer: on this episode of book notes plus, available on the c-span now free mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts. announcer: "washington journal" continues. host: in our last half-hour, open forum. any public policy or political issue you want to talk about. it has been a busy week. happy to chat about what is on your mind. atlanta georgia, republican, bob, open forum. caller: john, first of all, let

me complement you on your program. i watch it a lot and i love the way that you emcee it. you should have pointed out to your last guest that what he is espousing is a socialist state/communist state. it was tried in 1917 in the country of russia. they tried it for the next 70 years and all they got was misery. you are educated, john. that is one thing i love about listening to you. i would like for you to have pointed out to him, that it has already been tried. host: what is your take on minimum wages in general? do you think we should have one? caller: somebody crunched the numbers on the state he would create. a mathematician crunched all the numbers once. i heard a good talk. they came up with the figure of about $20,000. could you -- if you espoused all

that he wants, free education, free health care, free this, free that, the mathematician came up with $20,000 a year. if you taxed us to the point to get to pay for what he wants you would have to learn to live on $20,000 a year. let me ask you a question. could you live on $20,000 a year? host: what is the number that americans should be able to live on? caller: somewhere in there, but the point is we don't all want to be lower-class like that. let the cream rise to the top. if you don't let the cream rise to the top and award them accordingly, they won't bother. they will do just like the russians and throw all of the aristocrats out. you throw the baby out with the bathwater. the whole country is a bunch of equal people living on $20,000 a year. host: to the capital of

pennsylvania, harrisburg. good morning. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: yes, go ahead. caller: excellent. i wanted to talk about some things that happened earlier this week. biden was heartfelt and late. i wish he would have done that earlier. host: time in the day or when he did it versus when he released the statement? caller: late as in time to resign. if you would have done that earlier we would have had an opportunity to have a more organized primary contest and go through all of the candidates and have more extensive review of who is available in the democratic party to run and who would be the best to face against whoever would be the republican nominee. host: do you think that we got a good enough explanation from joe

biden on his change of heart? being so certain i am the only person who can be donald trump, to i'm passing the torch? caller: passing the torch, he should have left it. he said that he would be the candidate to assure in potentially a new generation of voters. me being 32, somewhat younger but not the youngest for sure that will be able to vote, it should have been passing the torch from the beginning. i don't think he should have tried to run for an additional campaign, regardless. i don't think he should have did that. i am on the fence about kamala. she takes an aggressive stance -- i have a few things here. host: give me one or two because i have a bunch of people waiting. caller: got it. student loans, a cancer in the country by having financial pay

for higher education is not an american first way to do things. the housing market, i think capping the rent increases is a little too little too late here the median rent price is like $2200 or something like that. that is not going to work. also, add a little nuance to the abortion conversation. 2/3 of the women who want an abortion already want children that cannot afford it. we can bring over more people who don't like abortion but understand the financial holdout and how we can potentially change that for americans. host: gary in the constitution state. good morning. caller: good morning, john. i spoke to you the last time in 2019. i'm sure you don't remember, but

i indicated to you that as a european-u.s. dual citizen that i intended to move to italy because of my complete upset with the way this country was going. i did that. i returned 18 months ago because i had my first grandchild at the age of 74. i'm back. my observations are, as soon as i can i would like to return to europe. you know, i have premier health care here in the u.s., my health care coverage is excellent. but the health care under what many deem as a socialist government, socialist democracies with a mixture of free enterprise, is just as good if not better than what i'm getting here. host: how are your taxes over there? caller: actually, i pay taxes here and there. it is a mixture of both.

there is no real change in my tax status. i live well. people are more friendly. they are kinder towards one another. when i see going on in this country is heartbreaking. i have always been a patriotic american, but this is not the america i grew up in. it is disheartening for me to see it. actually, it has gotten worse since i left instead of gotten better. host: whereabouts in italy? caller: i lived in tuscany in a little town. my last name is smith. i thought that i would be the only smith in the phone book for once, but that was not the case. it turns out that there are two others. host: gary in connecticut and tuscany. reston, virginia, democrat, good morning. caller: i believe it was in 2016 when bernie sanders was running for president.

he made the statement, there are no poor white people in this country. i am so happy and pleased with the show you presented today. thank you for that. i have a question. can i ask another subject? host: sure, it is open forum. caller: chuck has been -- trump has been found guilty in new york. new york has a law that says if you serve jail time, you are no longer eligible to vote. i -- florida has a custom of accepting the terms of whatever state. i think this should be brought to the attention, not so much to have trump serve jail time, but to bring up very clearly the subject of voter restrictions. host: we don't know if donald

trump will serve jail time. do think you will? caller: i doubt he will. just bringing the subject up gets it into the discussions. that is the important thing. the discussion on voter restriction. i believe it is very important, and it has not been made this campaign by anybody. host: why do you think the law should be on when somebody should lose the right to vote, richard? caller: [laughter] i don't know. i am willing to accept that if you are in jail you have given up that right. but if you have served your time for it, definitely it is -- you should have that right returned. host: richard in virginia. kelly in rome, georgia, republican.

caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. there are so many things on my mind. i think the main thing, i appreciate c-span this morning telling the truth and being transparent. about kamala harris. the left gaslight about joe biden being fine for years, and that we weren't seeing what we were seeing with our own two eyes. until they couldn't hide it anymore. now they are trying to do that with kamala harris. she may not be secretary mayorkas, but you can pull the tape up. if the left is going to push her race and gender as the main reason to vote for her, it is not wrong for the right to push back and go, hey, maybe that is not good enough. we know for a fact that joe biden picked his supreme court

justice and her based only on race and color. if that is all they can talk about and we can never mention it, that is completely unfair. i thank you for being open and transparent, and thank goodness my dog was quiet today. i love talking to you, but you usually hear my dog in the background. host: what is your dogs name? caller: his name is hunter. host: give hunter a pat. kentucky, republican, good morning. caller: good morning, there. host: what is on your mind, elma. caller: it is on my mind about biden and kamala harris. biden has not done a thing for this world but ruin it, and this was set up for him to put her on against tron. everybody ought to know that this is a set up piece of business. there wasn't nothing wrong for him to be president. he just quit to put her on

because he seen he wasn't going to be trump. he got her and he is no better than -- she is no better than him because they broke the country since they have been in there. this abortion thing they are all raising hell about, if they didn't know if this is one of our 10 commandments. it is in the bible. they know that's wrong and i don't know why they are raising such hell over abortion and all this stuff. what they need to do is get god back up there in washington and everything will be all right. they told lies on trump. trump ain't done all they told. biden had stacks and you didn't hear that but one time. he and his son both in china over yonder, and they are here talking about trump? i will tell kamala harris and biden.

they made this mess up. thank you for talking to me. host: are you still with us? mary in michigan, independent. good morning. caller: good morning, john. i haven't talked to you. i have been trying to call you all week. on sunday we do a text chain with my 12 nieces between the age of 19 and 44. the excitement of these young women who live from california to virginia over kamala harris was unbelievable. i have gotten texts all week long. four of them happen to be nurses. i have a niece and a nephew in nursing school now because they work through the pandemic. our great governor gretchen whitmer and the democratic-run people in lansing, michigan made

money available so that they could further their education. the one thing that i want to say is, i worked through the pandemic. i am a nurse. i retired early because of the pandemic. i worked for two years. if donald trump would have had one ounce of empathy, or shown any leadership during that time, he would have been reelected. i have been to two funerals in the last two months of former colleagues who have died from long covid. i wish that your producers whould have -- would have some programming on our republican-led house over on their five-week break, our do-nothing congress on their do-nothing break, on long covid and the difficulties of social security. the one thing --

host: i will point out that we have done several long covid segments over the years. i appreciate -- for gretchen whitmer, you bring up gretchen whitmer. i wonder, there was some talk early on and there is still some talk about her as a potential vice presidential pick for kamala harris. she took herself out of the running saying that she wanted to stay in michigan. caller: i think it is a great decision. during the pandemic, she was just one or two tweets by the president at that time made a bunch of people basically want to kill her. when i followed the trial of the gentlemen who came together and hatched this plan to kidnap her and everything, the one thing that still angers me today is when they talked about her

security detail as being collateral damage. if they had to kill the state troopers that were her security detail, oh well. they were collateral damage. apparently they watched too many movies. host: gretchen whitmer is out with a new book. it is called "true gretch." we will air that on book tv a week from sunday on c-span2. you can want her talking about her book, her life, on c-span2 on sunday a week from sunday. all of our book tv programming is available on the c-span website, c-span.org, or you can go to booktv.org to see our schedule each weekend. book tv on sundays on c-span2 and american history tv on saturdays on c-span2. we have 10 minutes left an open

forum. this is danny in arkansas. is it hoax e, arkansas? caller: how are you? host: what is on your mind? caller: the bishop that you had on earlier he is very well read on his history and i enjoyed listening to him. speaking of history, everyone is on kamala harris, why she couldn't run, all this thing. anyone working on her campaign, a good rally cry would be the 19th amendment, women's suffrage. host: why do you think that is a good rally cry specifically today? caller: i am not going to point fingers and name specific areas, but i know people personally who do not think that women should be involved in politics. i know people who women should not be in the clergy.

i was raised by a single mother and it is like, you give her that looked like i am better than you and you will get backhanded. i can see her campaign going, ok, we won the right to vote in 1920. so, step it up a few years, i am running thanks to the 19th amendment. you can turn it into theater or whatever you want to call it. mr. trump is famous for that. what i've heard so far is ronald reagan. northern illinois, ronald reagan's politics almost destroyed the industry of there. rockford, illinois had the highest unemployment percentage in the nation for a point in time. i saw it being a truck driver. it is like, yeah, we are going to shrivel up and die here. host: danny in the natural state. this is catherine in the green mountain state, essex junction,

democrat, good morning. caller: good morning, everyone. i am calling to respond to kelly and her dog, hunter, and their comments about supreme court justice kentucky brown jackson and vice president kamala harris. it is funny how everyone is saying that these are dti hires -- are dei hires. we know they mean they didn't earn their position. vice president harris has a bachelors degree from howard university and a doctorate from the university of california, she was the ag for california. brown harris has heard bachelors and doctorate degrees from harvard university and served as

a judge at the u.s. court of appeals for the district of columbia circuit. with those educational and experience credentials behind their name, how are these women not qualified? how did they not earn it? i just want to make sure that kelly and her dog hunter, and everyone else, knows these women have the credentials, the education, the experience behind their names to serve in these roles. it has nothing to do with their skin color. thank you very much for allowing me to say this to kelly and hunter and everyone else listening. have a great weekend, c-span. host: catherine in vermont. joyce in norfolk, good morning. caller: yes -- in georgia, good morning. caller: yes. i love people calling trump a

felon. he got charged with a misdemeanor that had already expired and they brought it back to life with a corrupt doj man. just so they can talk about him being a felon. he is not a felon. 34 paper counts cut up so they could make it a felon. the state should never have done it. sorry, secondly, kamala harris is a communist. she wants to make all of our country -- wealth redistribution. it is going to be taken away so that all can be equal, just like that bishop said earlier.

if that is what you want for america, then we are going to be a communist country. host: joyce in georgia. maggie, pennsylvania, independent. caller: good morning. i wanted to say, what prompted me to call, was a woman from kentucky. how she talked about the bible related to abortion and stuff like that. anyhow, i think that a lot of people are forgetting a portion of the bible. people that claim they are faith-based, in the bible it warns us -- excuse me. it warns us of people that would exalt golden idols and graven images.

that is exactly what trump did. the last convention, they erected a golden idol in trump's image. staring everybody right in the face. prophecy also tells us about the person who would get an injury on or about the head. it was intended to kill them. that somehow it -- host: maggie in pennsylvania. less than five minutes on our program. a little c-span history trivia for you. 1980 was the first viewer call in segment we did on c-span. the first caller came from yankton, south dakota. estelle is in yankton, south

dakota. caller: the vice president pick. i believe liz cheney would be a beautiful vice president to contain both parties and balance the ticket and unify the country. i would like to see that happen. host: estelle, how far are we from a unified country right now? caller: we are a long way from a unified country. even families are bickering over these things. host: when was the last time that we were a unified country? caller: probably back to eisenhower. host: do you remember that time? were you around? caller: just barely. host: you don't think that we have been unified since? caller: no, no. this republican-democrat split

has gone on for way too long and i think we need to correct that. that would put a perfect balance in the white house. host: our last caller on today's program. of course, we will be back here tomorrow morning. it is 7:00 a.m. eastern when we start. that is 4:00 a.m. pacific. i hope that you have a great friday, a great weekend. ♪ >> today, a human rights activist and policy researcher discusses human rights in north korea and what it should mean for u.s. policy, hosted by the

hudson institute. watch live at 11 :00 a.m. eastern on c-span and also available on our free mobile app, c-span now, or online at c-span.org. announcer: c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more, including sparklight. >> the greatest town on earth is the place you call home. at sparklight, it is our home too. right now, we are all facing our greatest challenge. that is why sparklight is working around the clock to keep you connected. we are doing our part so it is a little easier to do yours. announcer: sparklight supports c-span as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. announcer: today, watched c-span's 2024 campaign trail. a weekly round up of campaign coverage, providing a one-stop shop to discover what the

candidates across the country are saying to voters, along with first-hand accounts from political reporters, updated poll numbers, fundraising data, and campaign ads. watch c-span's 2024 campaign trail today at 7:30 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span.org, or download the podcast on c-span now, our free mobile app, or wherever you get your podcasts. c-span, your unfiltered view o politics. announcer: c-sp's coverage of campaign 20 tony for continues -- campaign 202 continues. barack obama and michelle obama endorsed kamala harris's campaign this morning in a campaign video that captured a phone call between the vp and the former first couple. >> hi. >> hey, there. >> you are both together. it is good to hear b