consistent, particularly for that reason. countries and other rions will learn lessons and develop their actions based o that. so that's all the time we have today. i apologize we didn't get all the questions. i think we have a little bit of time to harbor around if you want to ambush a panelist, go right ahead. first of all, thank you to our panelists for faceting conversation. please join me in thanking them. [applause] >> questions, until next time i think succumbing to the atlantic council. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

the white house briefing is scheduled to get underway shortly after 2:30 p.m. eastern. until then we wish i some of this mornings "washington journal." >> the author of the purpose one reclaim our conversation for a united america. good morning. >> good to be back. >> understates adverse of assassination of marty indyk ingenuous of us which remember him in this day and age? >> what comes to my for me when i think of dr. king is a patriot. he was a true revolutionary. what he said to this country was i want you y to be te to your documents. i what you should own up to whu said on paper. what do thomas jefferson right? we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men greater equal, endowed by the critter with certain unusable rights, among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. dr. king was simply saying there's a promissory note do.

when i think of him i think of a a man who up to make this country great because he'll is the to the front investment nature to do. they hold us to truth. they hold us to righteousness and goodness and community and brotherhood and sisterhood. that's who he was to me. >> host: if he dealt with topics of race relations, inequality, poverty, only 50 years later on those fronts? >> guest: well look, it would be wrong to say we have made progress. we've made enormous progress since the time the dr. king was assassinated, and rfk and the whole 1968 year was a difficult difficult year for america. we definitely made progress pic had an african-american president, and we're going to sit on the supreme court. we have made progress but not enough. we see young black men being killed in the streets at the hands of not only each other but law enforcement, and they are always under suspicious circumstances and there never seems to be adjudication or

justice for those who are unarmed and are victims of this. i think it dr. king were here he would be on the front lines with black lives matter and other organizations, and he would be challenging this government and the station to all of the civil rights that he fought for in his generation died for literally. >> host: where could we go as far as politically in fulfilling that? >> guest: we are in a difficult place right now. we are fitted divided. i think rest divided up ase've ever bee maybe more so in some ways because at least in the time ofe dr. king, there was a consciousness that there was right andus wrong, that this cod not stand. picky think of the famous jfk speech in 1960 three-way talks about the founding principle of this nation and you can't have half the population live in one way and the other the rest. i think that we think we're beyond that. because we had a black president we think we're over racism. it doesn't exist anymore. i think it's hard in many ways to get through because for many

white americans in particular the roseann america better by is talking about, those folks in weight, i'm disenfranchised. i'm out of work. i'm struggling. why am i worried about the rights of immigrants are women are minority, not that those things that matter, i'm struggling as a white american. there's this great divide now. we're not talking to each other. we're talking at each other and that's the problem. .. greatly. go to twitter. the president of the united states is a sacred trust between the president and the people. it has a standard of conduct that no president has violated, saved richard nixon, and he had to resign. impeached,presidents andrew johnson in the 1860's and clinton. no president in modern history had the divisive twitter in the way this president has.

yes used it in such an ugly way. there is no one safe from his feed. host: does that filter down to parties themselves? guest: there is minas. correct -- there is meane. rex tillerson -- what a wrong way to handle another human being. there is a callousness in washington, us versus them. that is the people's house. that belongs to us. they are supposed to represent us, engage in self-governing. that is what our founders saw for us and we're gotten far away. it is now name-calling. i am going to take i hate you i'm going to get you i'm going to take you out. that's not what our founders envisioned for us.hi she is the author of e pluribus unum one.

for those who don't know you give us your political background and where you come from. i've been in this town a long time. i was a house republican counsel. being a republican jack kemp inspired me. came late in the 1980s. i was inspired i worked for people like this. i'm a moderate. we are not too popular these days. but i think this country needs to strong parties. they need a good republican party and a good democrat party. i'm there a lot on msnbc. i had written a lot of books. what do you see things as.

the woman of color we still have a long way to go in terms of pay equity. if you look at the fortune 500 in this country. it tells you everything you need to know. maybe three or four women ceos. they aren't really doing well. women of color are very far behind. they seem to be more cavalier about this. we just don't care. i'm concerned about us going backwards. but dr. king was a true revolutionary. and what that means is like the founders he actually did something. people forget that this man marched.

he was doing things to move the ball. now we like to talk and we don't do a lot of ball moving. it comes through people living out our motto. we don't have to agree. i'm so sick of the notion that we have to agree. the founders in the colonies of the agreed on very little. what they did agree on was that king george was a tyrant and he needed to go. what we needed to start doing as americans is finding the things we agree on. we all want better schools. we all want better wages and better jobs. we all want to be able to worship freely and be able to exercise at the bill of rights freely in this country.

it doesn't mean we can't be smart. it doesn't mean we can't be safe can be safe about this. the free press how dare the president of the united states do united states do the things he is doing. going against a private company like amazon. those things are hurting at the markets. all of those things are interrelated. instead of going a while. it just is what it is. i'm okay with that. the first one is from athens georgia. independent line. you have. i really enjoyed on all of the different places i've seen you on. you really come across in such a time way. he was shot during trying to help people get a living

wage. iike t hear your opinn. great call amazing book everybody should read it. they are becoming the next largest group. we need criminal justice. we need to help communities and police come together. others in texas. they are doing that. they are bridging the gap in the divide so that people are

talking to one another so that they are working together. when our politicians understand that. when you have a large segment of the population in prison like this. it devastates not just that population but children don't had fathers. communities don't have economic ability so it is something that just rolls downstream in a very negative way. i think you for that. on the outside groups. is that changing to make those changes. you see people like that. libertarian more moderate leaning. i think at the heritage foundation has been tweeting about those things as an african-american woman who served in the bush administration she is a true conservative that cares about these issues. i do think you have a shift of

a mindset. republicans who should really care about this issue because of the foundation of the republican party. i think you're starting to see it. there you have to work together and stop fighting because we literally had large segments of the community that are incarcerated in we know the sentencings are just. and george zimmerman who shot trey von martin. there is a disparity from what one person does in another person does and how they are dealt with by the justice department. sophia, do you think it's time for a strong independent third party in america and if so would you please become our president. >> your very kind. i think we are at a place where were at a tipping point i think the american people

agree that washington is very open. the swamp doesn't get drained here. and things are more the same than they are not. and it seems like i said earlier. people are getting meaner. whether or not it seems to be an independent party. i know others had done this out there. it's difficult though because the two parties are so entrenched even if you we got an independent elected. that is why there's so there are so few of them. once you get into office. eva caucus with you. i don't think a third party is viable at the moment. but it could become so. and no i so don't want to be president. but thank you for that though. how are you all doing today.

you actually spoke on this. the libertarian party. do we need to start looking at the libertarian party. the democrats aren't doing anything. and you mentioned rand paul i'm a huge fan of rand paul. he has gone on tv and said it's all about how the war has mainly affected black and brown people. he always talks about majority of black people had ended up in prison versus white people don't really go to prison. he is very genuine about the subject even when obama was in office and i'm already telling my friends and associates. rand paul is the real deal. i actually believe if they were stronger.

he would break away from the republican party and then just be all out. he would just become all out. i was just curious what you think about that. here is how i would answer that. i think the african-american community has to do a better job of making both parties fight for our vote. we know the african-american women had pretty much been a model. they are voting for the democratic party. the issues that the democrat party has well fit more in line. they are single heads of households and unmarried which is not something that is necessarily by choice it's by chance. that is my first question. relative to the republicans you know the party has a glorious history. up until the 1960 election. and then going forward they

switch and become republicans. the literally split personality. but the gop i think is sustaining severe damage present trumps rhetoric has been not with the republican party and what they should be proud of. it has been divisive. it has gone along done let -- gender lines. they are going to pay a price for that. i think a new generation of republicans aga i c have to do some party rebuilding because that country's demographics have changed such that no president will win an election going forth with just white votes. brown and black people will be the majority. that is part of why we see all of this racial tension in all of this a people. with respect to libertarians. i like to think that i am closer to a libertarian than i am a republican.

he is one of my favorites as well. he gets it. we are in alignment even large segments in certain area the crime rates are going up. all of these things fit in with the use of drugs. i think the black vote needs to do a better job they say come get my votes. you need to show me something. we blindly click for the democrats and we hate the republicans and there are good republicans. there needs to be a lot more. they directly reached out to african-americans. he now helps the unemployment rate.

that kind of outreach to me is disrespectful that's a outreach. you need to go talk to people. relative to the unemployment rate. that is the obama rollover effect. is not increasing. we know that those numbers have a lot behind them. many people stop looking for jobs. their educated african-americans with a long way to go. republican line. this is jim. you're your uncle had. i cannot think of texas being a purple state.

they all have the idea that the republican party is dead. and the organist sweep the state in 2018. i would really love to hear what you have to say. i will listen. >> that is my second home. i tell you what. i saw an article where senator cruise and his opponent was raising quite a bit of money. it said he has raised $13.2 million. that is a lot of money for a challenger. texas again if you go back to the dixie era and you look at john f. kennedy going down there on that fateful trip to dallas. it was a democrat state. we are trending blue now.

i remember the days of george allen and others. it was a red state. it's no longer a red state. i think they will do very well in the elections i think it's an anti- trump vote. people who have never run for office but their name on a ballot and they were able to win because people just went innd they didn't like republicans. danny, go ahead. i would like to ask you what you think of the american civil liberties union. it was based upon. the negativity scenes. and taking down crosses and doing that. they do that and then they told us another teaching the

kids in the school we never were a christian nation. i would be thrown in jail for that. this is a different story. also, i notice now we take the statue down. and that stonewall jackson. by the way both of whom were opposed to slavery george washington's granddaughter but now they're going after william mckinley. thomas jefferson. the thing about it is said to me that i feel like as a white person that i've been the one discriminated against. discriminated against.

i hear you and i spoke to you earlier when a lot of white americans feel like the country that they grew up in and understand is changing. it is. to his point let me say i agree with you. congress starts every day with a prayer what would dr. king think about the aclu. i think dr. king in his time the aclu was very pivotal to helping civil rights. there seems to be an overreach which is why i wrote this. i wanted americans to understand that the religious liberty cause as important as it second amendment is critical to who we are our founding fathers and those who imposed their religion on people. they killed people if they weren't catholics or protestants or whatever. we are a christian nation.

it doesn't mean that muslims aren't welcome here. of course they are. to say that we aren't founded upon those principles it's on our money or our documents. i quoted jefferson talking about those unalienable rights. that simply means rights that no man can give or take away. i hear you. i understand and i think dr. king would be someone who would be concerned as a pastor as a man of faith on how they have really become enemies in the sense of if they're not pc i think you raise a good point. i think that's one of the issues that we need to talk about and we need to have respect for one another that some of us are firmly rooted in our faith in the is and is critical to us and how we live. others might not see it that way and that's okay. soviet nelson the ahor among

the credentials. 77% saying that major news outlets report fakeness. someone who is in this world. if i tell you something enough and i keep saying you will start believing it. president trump has sent a very effective job of saying fake news and modifying this term and other outlets and having journalists read from a script that fake news is it dangerous to dangerous to our democracy. like taking a free press and telling the press that they have to read a script in order to be employed by your network were wink and a nod. if i'm up young journalists maybe i can't say i'm not

doing that go back to your documents america. this is not okay. the founder said that given the choice. any person that made a speech condemning the free press you're looking at a tyrant. jefferson felt very strongly among adams and washington in washington and the other founding fathers that that free press was really at the center of who we are as a nation because that presses job is to keep a watch on the government to inform the people when something is awry or they need to get engaged in something. the press needs to let be left on fettered. they are saying ironic that we would be aacke f messag specificly aing the public to hold our newsrooms accountable. they keep our audience trust. they clearly identify commentary.

the problem is they are deciding what is fact-based. you say they give you fake news again to a populace who is not will informed and the local news particularly if you get out into rural america people don't watch the stuff that we watch. they watch the local anchor. if they begin to tell me that there is fake news out there. and someone i need to be afraid of. i'm going to believe it. we have never seen these kind of attacks before on the free press any president and arguably george w. bush i would say took the most heat from the press of any modern president they did not like him. they were unkind and stories. universal him attacked the press that way. gary, your next step. going back to dr. king again. on his 50th anniversary and

the assassination. i understand they tend to ignore that part of the philosophy. he was very against the vietnam war. it made a lot of enemies he saw them going into that war. my father being the first in the first to die.

he saw something that troubled him. as it is referred to. spent billions then. they spend billions and trillions now. they became very wealthy companies out of the vietnam war. that troubled him. like gandhi and jesus before him. they were not men who agreed with that. good morning. here is my concern. the republicans and emma kratz. immigrants. we have more in common than we have differences. what you're saying about the media.

fox news is grossly misinforming i would like to know if there's something we could do is there something we can do as americans to stop the flow. i think you should be writing to members of the congress. you should be calling, you should be e-mailing. you should get in groups in your community whether you are in the qantas club or a member of a sorority you should be writing in groups and saying to your representative hey this is not what we do in this country do something about it. write to the president.

it affects the stock market. it affects the morale of the public. i think our voices have to be heard and then there is the ballot box. given opportunity to vote for the people into the party of your choice. when you're not pleased with the way things are going that's how we americans express that by using the power of the ballot. good morning mr. nelson. i have a point to make about your demographic. in fact it is going to change like you said and as far as i'm concerned growing up in a mexican family in california where i saw in the 60s how the shift is things we used to see as a society. as we move east one of the things that scares people as convincing people that somehow

we are going to take stuff over. he is partially true. things are going to be like there can be. nothing has ever been done voluntarily. they have always been a struggle. we are tired of asking. and people either get on board with it and play nice or or maybe there might be time for a little payback. thank you. i don't agree with payback. but thomas jefferson would've said that the tree of liberty needs to be refreshed from time to time. and revolution again doesn't have to meet that we are pointing weapons at each other. revolution is in your mind. it's a movement and a power. and i think for latino americans and immigrants in this country california has certainly been estate.

and things have changed a lot in 30 years. i think you are right there is a shift if you listen to the language our country what is our country mean. i want someone to call and explain that to me. because it's all of our country. immigrants are a part of this country. and they have always been and for the rule of law. we have lost in have to honor them. they are just punting. this is not how this is supposed to work. we pay them to do a job up there every day. things are changing. and for latino brothers and sisters it is a new day. i want to see more of you in corporate america and law firms in places where i still see zero or one and that nds

to change. we need to work on not just that domestic jobs in things like that. the latino community is where the black community was 50 years ago. or more meaning that we were domestic they were working with sanitation and et cetera. the author of the vision. i am soviet nelson.com. if you want to reach out to her and find out more about her. >> we are still waiting for the white house briefing to get underway. when it starts we will bring it to life. until then we will show you more of this morning's washington journal.