massachusetts, it's the presentation of the lucas prize awarded each year for nonfiction writing. this year's winners include susan southard for "nagasaki: life after nuclear war," and nicklaus boxman, for "k.l.: a history of the nazi concentration camps." also that evening in new york for math professor andrew hacker's discussion on if advanced mathematics should be required in schools x. next wednesday through friday booktv will be in chicago for bookexpo america, the publishing industry's annual trade show, where we'll be talking to authors of forthcoming books such as kareem abdul-jabbar and bill ayers as well as publishers and booksellers. that's a look at some of the author programs booktv is covering this week. many of these events are open to the public. look for them to air in the near future on booktv on c-span2.

>> crystal wright, your new book, "con job, requests who's being conned and who's doing the conning? >> guest: well, i think democrats are doing the conning particularly of black americans and women. i argue in my book, "con job," because they're kind of like -- the democrat party, in my view, is kind of like a used car salesman. it peddles all these promises and pledges to black americans, we're going to make things better since lbj, we're going to make you smarter, richer, more educated. fast forward to today, black americans are none of those things. in fact, i talk about in "con job" how the head of the congressional black caucus last year said that blacks were, in quote, a state of emergency. under the first black president, mind you. so it's -- i look at the democrat party kind of like a used car salesman in that they say, hey, they're really slickly dressed, and they want to sell you a great product. they say don't look under the hood, because you might not actually get what you're voting for.

and with women, you know, it's always the war on women, right? the abortion lobby is very strong in the democrat party. and they paint it under this veil of pro-choice. but when i did some digging on planned parenthood's web site and in their football reports -- financial reports, what i found is by the time a woman turns 45 in women, three out of every ten women will have had an abortion. and i don't know if that -- and they boast about that as something we should champion. as a woman, i find that -- it's nothing i, you know, women that i know who have made the tough decision to have an abortion, i don't agree with abortion, that's not something that we should be proud of, but that's a statistic that they boast about. i could go on and on, but those are some of the highlights of the book. when it comes to illegal immigration, you know, often times what i found in doing research for this book if you go on the dnc's web site, they have a list of 50 different constituents. and you know what my mother used to always tell me?

a person who tries to be master of many things or to many people usually are master of none of those things. so a lot of times they'll advocate for one constituent that cannibalizes another, and there's no better example than illegal immigration. illegal immigration is enemy number one of black americans. what happens when immigration increases by about 10%, illegal immigration? jobs decline for blacks to the tune of almost 6% and wages by about 2.5%. you have hillary clinton and bernie sanders -- because you're hearing hillary clinton say she's going to go further than barack obama did and use executive order to allow the 11 million people to stay here permanently. that harms black americans. so my book really, i wrote this book -- and the timing is perfect, 2016. my book came out a little over a month ago, to wake everybody up to say, look, you don't have to be a conservative like me, but know what you're voting for. has the democrat party really delivered on promises to blacks,

to women? and really liberals in general, you know, is what the book is about. that's probably more than you wanted to hear, peter, but a little bit about it. >> host: 96% of african-americans voted for barack obama. over time, 90% of african-americans vote for the democratic candidate. >> guest: yes. and i think that is a tragedy, because the lock, stock and barrel vote that blacks have given democrats over the last half century has not gotten us, i don't think, the parity with white americans that martin luther king wanted for us to have. and i think in many ways it has kept us -- i hate to use analogies about slavery, but i feel like it has kept us impoverished as a race. and when you look at in 1964 daniel patrick moynihan, i talk about this in the book, he said that he was disturbed by the fact that 23% of black babies

were born out of wedlock, and he joined president johnson in his moynihan report which is called "the negro camly: a case for -- family, a case for national action," he told president johnson if we don't do something about this, you're going to see generational poverty and crime developing within the black race. because at the same time that he found the broken family emerging in black america, he also saw an increased dependence of black women in single-family homes, you know, they were the head of the homes, dependency on welfare. fast forward to today. 72% of black babies are born out of wedlock. and you don't -- you can go to brookings institute or heritage, and all the data is the same on the left and the right. a child who is born into a single-parent household has about a 70% chance of growing up in poverty and not getting an education. so i really want black americans to think. this is an important election. who is really talking to you about what policies they're

actually going to implement to get you jobs? not making promises like hillary clinton and bernie sanders on records -- you know, both of them have been in office a long time. they're promising all these things, you know, we're going to stop mass incarceration of blacks, we're going to bring black jobs, we're going to, you know, reform the prison system, all these things, but they haven't done any of that stuff over the last, you know, 30 years that hillary's been running for president really. she's had every job under the sun. they're pandering. what i say is they're saying that black lives matter, but for them it's all about black votes because what have east of them -- either of them done in their records to help improve the state of black america? that's what i -- and i think you have donald trump on the other side, while he is making some statements that i think he needs to clarify about white supremacists, the klan and david duke, at the same time he is actually uttering the words "black americans." he talks about how he's going to

ease black unemployment in his immigration plan by getting rid of j-1 visas which allow foreign, young workers to come over here. and do you know what he wants to replace it with? he has a great policy larynx i wish he'd talking about it more, he wants to replace it with a job bank where businesses actually are going to be forced to go to a jobs bank where young people put their resumés. i think this is innovative, it's more jack kemp, right, enterprise zones. and i want to hear him talk about that and really repudiate white supremacist voters which he kind of did on today show. so i was glad to hear that. because you can't talk out of both sides of your mouth. >> host: crystal wright, we hear from people on our morning program, on our call-in programs on c-span and booktv, black conservative, i just don't get it m. >> guest: yeah, they don't get it, they don't trust me, they

think i'm -- i get called uncle tom, coon, you know, you're working for the man. well, i don't get paid for -- virtually none of my activism is paid. i mean, i got paid to write this book, but it's a modest, you know, sum of money. i think the reason why though is because we do see, i would say my party, use a lot of black conservatives to their advantage, and they use them as puppets. i think at a certain point there were times when ben carson when he was appearing on a certain conservative network before he ran for president was saying things that weren't authentic to dr. carson i heard when he spoke at the president's prayer breakfast. so what happens a lot of times is i think black americans have a right to distrust some black conservatives, because the ones that you see sometimes propped up through conservative media outlets somehow lose their identity, and they are not -- they're no longer authentic in their voice. i would say to black americans,

however, there are many conservatives like me who i tell it like it is, i'm able to be introspective about my own party. when my party says stupid things like donald trump has said stupid things, like haley barbour who said he didn't remember the civil rights movement being all that bad when he grew up in the segregated south in mississippi. so i tell it like it is, but i also -- look, i don't paint all liberals alike. i know it sounds like it because my book is a critique on the democrat party, but i think for black americans what i would say is we -- do a little homework. there's a rich history with the party of lincoln, and i emphasize the party of lincoln, because that was a good party then, with black americans. lincoln and his republican party was created because they fundamentally wanted to break away from the whigs who wanted to expand slave states out west. lincoln wants parity like martin luther king for black americans, a republican party for the 13th,

14th, 15th amendment. so there's a history there. there's a reason why black americans like me believe fundamentally that the policies conservatives offer empower more than democrats. so i think some of that is going away because you do see, after president barack obama's nearly two terms, black americans are really frustrated. tavis smiley and others are saying, gosh, i don't know if he's delivered on the promise that he made x does he really deserve -- did we deserve to give him over 90% of our vote? so this is a good thing. i just think everybody should have their eyes wide open. just because i'm republican doesn't mean you're always going to earn my vote. black americans, in order to have political power in this country, we have got to diversify our political thought process. we've got to do it. no other race -- and i'm going to repeat this -- no other race gives nearly their entire vote to one party but black americans. and then we complain when

democrats don't deliver on promises. so i just think that's got to stop. that's the only way you're going to have real political power, and you're going to lift yourselves out of party. you've got to stop asking what a party can do for you, and what you can do for yourself. then the party can help you along, i think. >> host: is the republican party comfortable with you? >> guest: no. i think the republican party has a great uneasiness with me because they can't put me into a box. i'm not, i'm not going to use names about my peers that i like, but i'm not necessarily predictable. and i, frankly, don't think that any party should have patsies that are its supporters. and that's what we're dealing with right now fundamentally. the party wants to be controlled by the gop establishment which is, frankly, a bunch -- it's an exclusive club. i've taken great offense to them trying to rig an election that donald trump is winning -- not election, a nomination process

that donald trump is winning fairly and squarely. and what this really is about is the establishment in washington very concerned and disturbed they have lost political power, influence and money. and it's made up largely of white males. and the very people like mitt romney today who gave a speech, and i couldn't hear it all, he gave a speech condemning donald trump -- who, by the way, in 2012 he praised for supporting his campaign -- i find it really repugnant, because romney ran one of the most whitest campaigns that i can remember. i wanted to help his campaign, volunteer. i was shut out at every turn. i was a gingrich delegate. i went on national television when my guy was not winning anything besides south carolina, and i got behind our nominee, mitt romney. the party stayed very white under mitt romney, and what happened? mitt romney lost the black, asian, hispanic and woman vote. mitt romney is a failure, the establishment has been a failure to grow this party.

donald trump is doing these things, and that's why they're mad. their power -- my party deserves to be burned down and built anew. >> host: in "con job," two people who appear in your book, allen west and cornel west. what's the difference between the two? >> guest: well, allen west actually endorsed my book. allen west is a republican. he was elected as a member of congress in florida. a great friend of mine. i've learned a lot from allen west. did, you know, just was very friendly with him when he was a congressman. and cornel west is a professor at princeton. i think cornel west has come out to support bernie sanders. cornel west, i mention, i think, throughout the book because cornel west, in my opinion, is part of the race hustle movement. and i put him in -- i lump him in a category with al sharpton because cornel west is always trotted out by the mainstream

media when we need, quote, black spokespeople. and, you know, when i was growing up, my parents never gave me a memo that i had to have black people speak on me by half. my parents grew up during the segregated south, and they were called the n-world, my parents had to sit in the back of the bus in richmond, virginia. so they a always taught me to speak for myself as a black woman. so i take great offense between, you know, when the media wants to reduce black people to voices in a collective box that have to be relegated to spokespeople. peter, you don't have a white spokesperson that speaks on your behalf, do you? maybe you do and i don't know about it, but i think i missed that memo. so when you look at cornel west, he's making a lot of money writing books about what black people should think and do and how he's the voice of black people. he teaches this stuff at princeton. allen west, on the other hand, is telling people speak for yourself. he was a loud-mouthed, in a good way, congressman.

he tells it like it is, and he is much more of a hero and a champion to me than cornel west will ever be. [laughter] so there. >> host: a little bit from crystal wright. her new book, "con job: how democrats gave us crime, sanctuary cities, abortion, profiteering and racial division." you're watching booktv on c-span2. >> you're watching booktv on c-span2, television for serious readers. and here's a look at what's on prime time tonight. we kick off the evening at 7:30 eastern with annette gordon-reed and jefferson scholar peter to to enough's discussion on the maturation of thomas jefferson. after that charles kessler talks about the claremont review of books based at claremont college. and then at nine, former economic hitman john perkins uncovers the reality behind corrupt financial practices. and on "after words" at 10 p.m. eastern, peter marks reports on

the late aig ceo's strategy to revive the company after the financial crisis. and we finish up at 11 with edina hoffman. and that all happens tonight on c-span2's booktv. >> host: ed morrissey, in your new book, "going red," who are the two million voters that you talk about in this book? >> guest: the two million voters refer to voters in seven key counties in seven key swing states that republicans won in 2004 but lost in 2008 and 2012. so we're looking at bellwether counties in places like florida, virginia, ohio, north carolina, new hampshire, colorado and wisconsin. wisconsin's actually kind of an interesting case, because republicans haven't9 actually quite won wisconsin yet. but because of some of the changes that have occurred over the last few years in wisconsin,

i think they have a pretty good understood the there. -- opportunity there. the idea is to find out who those voters are because the key thierry in this book is the reason why republicans win local and state elections but not presidential is because they have lost -- the national level has lost touch with who the voters are on the local voters. >> host: who are some of the voters, in your view, that the republicans have lost, and how can they get them back? >> guest: hamilton county's an interesting case because it's the only county that had a net population loss. the challenges are more about population growth, people coming in from other parts of the country carrying maybe what you'd call their native political predilections with them. hamilton county is where they've had a pretty significant poplation decrease over the last 30-40 years. so the people who are left are the people who didn't really have the economic mobility to

have those options to leave. and so you're talking about blue collar workers, people who work hard, they don't work necessarily in high-priced firms. they're working with their hands, they're working to put food on the table. and republicans have an opportunity to make a case for economic liberty based on knowing who those particular people are in hamilton and what their particular issues are. the problem that you have though with republican party -- and hamilton, i should mention, by the way, was at one point one of the most remin counties in a republican state. even when ohio would occasionally vote for a democrat, for instance, with bill clinton, hamilton county was very republican. and it was a very red county. and over the last two presidential elections, they voted for barack obama. became a very blue county. and so one of the reasons is that republicans will message

on, say, the economy by using an ideological, philosophical argument that's what i say is pitched at the 30,000-foot level. you know, free markets, lower regulation, but that's all. they don't talk about fact that, for instance, in cincinnati the epa is requiring the city of cincinnati to separate their sewage system from their storm drain system. it's a very expensive project. this is something that they've been doing with other cities around the country as well. these are older cities that had sort of a merged system, and they want them separated out. the city of cincinnati put together a plan to comply with the epa, the epa accepted it, and after that they discovered they could do it for about 40% less and still meet all of the epa's goals, and the epa refused to reopen the issue. so as a result, you have people who are going to pay hundreds of dollars a year in extra utilities costs in a city where people don't really have that kind of dispose able income just

because the epa are not go back and reopen that process and allow the city of cincinnati to do it, you know, less expensively, more efficiently. so if you're going to come in and talk about regulations stifling local economies and taking money out of your pocket as a presidential candidate, you should know about this, about this issue with the metropolitan water district and why it's costing them hundreds of millions of dollars more than it should and why that money's going to come directly out of the pockets of the constituents there. if you talk about that, that makes the economic issue, the economic argument much more personal. there's a much greater economic connection. now, that's what barack obama did in 2008 and 2012. he learned about these communities through this fabulous organization, this fabulous network of people that he rolled out across the country. and so when they were talking about issues like the economy and talking about issues like making government work better, they would look to these local issues, they would get their ambassadors to talk about this and say these are the types of things that i'm going to fix when i become president.

and that's the reason -- one of the reasons, not the only reason, but it's one of the reasons why people had such an emotional connection to their vote for barack obama in 2008 and why it sustained for 2012. >> host: now, the states you've picked and looked at here are all, essentially, must-wins for the republicans -- >> guest: absolutely. >> host: -- to win the presidency; florida, wisconsin, ohio, colorado. why is wisconsin a special case? >> guest: it's interesting, because, of course, republicans haven't won wisconsin except in huge landslide election victories. for instance, ronald reagan won wisconsin twice in his elections. normally, this is a state that stays pretty blue. scott walker got elected in 2010 and put in place the act x reforms. it's paid a lot of dividends. in fact, one study that just came out in march -- excuse me, late february, showed that the state and local governments have

saved about $5 billion over five years thanks to the act x reforms. so they were a able to stay away from layoffs, they were able to use money wisely. that's the type of message, of course, that republicans are talking about usually when they're talking about trimming government and trimming regulations and making things work more efficiently. so there's an opening there for the republican message that scott walker and the wisconsin republicans have opened up. that's ten electoral college votes. so that's better than colorado, certainly better than new hampshire. new hampshire's four electoral college votes, usually a pretty key state for both parties to win because it says something about the reach of their national message. wisconsin, if republicans could take wisconsin and put it into their column -- and i really do think it's feasible to do that -- then that really resets the whole midwest and rust belt for republicans in a way.

and winning wisconsin would show that kind of strength throughout that entire region that would be very difficult for democrats to counter. >> host: ed morrissey, what is your day job? >> guest: i work at hotair.com, i'm senior editor. i do a, i do a twice-a-week podcast on politics and culture and also write columns for the fiscal times and for "the week." >> host: in this election season, have any of the candidates done what you're suggesting here in "going red"? >> guest: you know, i think if you take a look at the primary races so far, i think ted cruz has actually done a very good job of getting on the ground, in iowa especially, but also in texas. he knows texas very well, it's his home state. apparently, oklahoma as well. we're hearing a lot of things about ted cruz's organization that tend to make me think he's on the right track in terms of what we're talking about here. with the exception of iowa which is kind of a purple state, oklahoma and is pretty easy. these are very red states.