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let's go to the nominees. p tag seth. what is -- pete hegseth. what is the latest on his nomination? guest: the last few days of the week he closed strong. no new allegations of wrongdoing, allegations denied. they believe the longer the nomination proceeds and the longer republican senators do not say no at least publicly, the higher the chances are that pete hegseth gets a favorable vote and becomes the next secretary of defense. host: who are the republican senators who could still say no you are watching? guest: joni ernst is the one to watch. there is lindsey graham to a degree. the likelihood that lindsey graham winds up bucking

president trump on a secretary of defense nomination is small. ernst is under incredible pressure from the grassroots, the right wing. that is the state, iowa, he won by 13 points. she is up for reelection this cycle. the likelihood of her saying no politically speaking is low but we will have to wait and see. she has not said no, she has not said yes. on friday she and pete's sake -- she and pete hegseth said they had a second productive meeting. if that gets thought it is hard to see how he winds up without a majority of the republican conference. it is expected right now that susan collins of maine and lisa murkowski of alaska and senator mitch mcconnell, the former leader are no votes. that is expected. that is enough with three no

votes to get confirmed. they feel relatively good about it. the trump transition team does. they believe time is in their favor as long as they can keep grinding the clock. on december 20 republican senators leave town for winter break or holiday break. if there is one thing senators hate it is republicans -- asking about controversial nominations and whether they will confirm them and that goes away december 20. that span of time with pete hegseth does not withdraw and there are four no votes in the republican conference, then the chances increase closer and closer. the bottom line is the trump

transition team, the trump base believes he has a mandate, he won the popular vote for the first time for republican since 2004. he won a majority of the electoral college vote. there republican majorities in the senate and house and they expect his nominees get confirmed by the republican senate. it is an understandable position. host: if the nomination falls apart for whatever reason, is ron desantis the next man up? guest: it looks that way where we stand now. one of the dangerous things is predicting what donald trump will do. it is what makes him a unique figure. it is confirmed donald trump did call ron desantis when the initial crush of bad headlines started to tear away at hegseth and in that conversation trump

had mentioned the possibility to desantis of being secretary of defense. this is a conversation he started having in june. it was not really in june, trump had not been elected yet. in conversations just a few days ago, trump has dangled this possibility and ron desantis signaled that he was interested in it. that does not mean he will necessarily do it and does not mean it will be offered. there are a lot of things that have to happen in between but the main thing that has to happen is hegseth needs to withdraw one way or another and right now he is saying he will fight like hell, donald trump has told other people he likes the fact that peter hegseth fights like hell and he is starting to publicly push him more. things are looking ok for hegseth in the minds of the trump transition team. that can change on a dime. host: about 20 minutes left with

marc caputo. if you want to join the conversation come easy to do. democrats (202) 748-8000, republicans (202) 748-8001, independents (202) 748-8002. you can see his work at the bulwark. magaville is the name of his sub stack. one of his recent pieces, the two nominees donald trump is prepared to go to war for, that includes tulsi gabbard and rfk junior. caller: those are the two who were a feature of the trump campaign. they traveled the swing states together, they appeared in these joint events where they drew 1000 people in places like dearborn, michigan and las vegas, nevada and trump featured them as being part of his new

coalition, his new political coalition, and now implicitly's new governing coalition. they are both former democratic candidates for president and they both left the democratic party. they are representing the actions of the canceled. more to the point they are antiestablishment figures whom trump wants to burnish his record with, his legacy with. there is certainly a lot of controversy over both of them from the health establishment. kennedy would be the hhs secretary. from the intelligence community. kelsey gabbard would be the director of national intelligence. in the trump view, the more you have the establishment criticizing the picks the more it indicates how valuable they are. the opposition to hegseth largely are on personal matters.

his behavior, the same with matt gaetz, the now withdrawn attorney general into a smaller degree cash patel, the fbi pick donald trump once delete the agency. whereas gabbard and tennessee -- and kennedy are more on policy grounds and that is something the trump team tells me trump intends to fight for. host: you mentioned kash patel, what is the latest of him on the head of the fbi? guest: not a lot. cnn just did a piece on how he grew to loathe the d.c. establishment and that makes the republican hearts at mar-a-lago go pitter patter. i have not heard what his count is yet. while there are opponents on the left, the media, critics, and a few on the right, there's a feeling in trump world he will

probably make it as well. host: marc caputo is with us another 15 minutes. bruce out of kentucky. independent. good morning. caller: hello. host: are you with us? this is donald out of hawaii. independent. you're on with marc caputo. caller: good morning. i would like to ask you, i hear all of these politics on tv and you hear first black president and you hear this person. why isn't halsey gabbard, -- why isn't tulsi gabbard, her record, not being pushed like every

other thing that is going on in our country? why is that? guest: i cannot answer for why the rest of the mainstream media is not talking about how she would be a historic first, a woman from hawaii, a woman of color. i guess what the caller is getting at is the perception widely held, and i'm not saying it is wrong, of media bias, where a lot of the mainstream media will spend time touting someone is a historic first because of their race or gender they are not doing this with tulsi gabbard. i think it is a fair criticism. it is a good question for nbc, abc, cbs, new york times, washington post. host: another media question for you from x, saying are any of the nominees not qualified to fill their positions and why are so many in the media upset the nominees are not members of the swamp. it appears most of the u.s. does

not feel the u.s. government is working well so why not stop the insanity and have a new type of nominee? guest: i meant is well-made. -- the comment is well-made. the harvard kennedy's full institute of politics at the heads of the trump campaign and the heads of the biden-harris campaign talk about the election and there was an interesting comment from rob flaherty, who was deputy campaign manager for biden and harris presidential campaign who had said that for the left, for democrats, the amplification systems of the mainstream media and hollywood comp and pivoting off of my comments from the last caller, that is a clarion call for the rest of us in the mainstream media to start analyzing how we cover republicans and cover these issues going forward. in the eyes of democrats, the

mainstream media is part of the megaphone. while it is our job to report the news, there is a lot of risk there if we are continuing to be perceived as favoring one side. host: what is the amplification system for the right? guest: in that conversation, they discussed that the right has a bigger wealth of alternative media. elon musk owns twitter. there are all of these podcasts that are starting to eat up major amounts of market share from the mainstream media. guest: this is -- host: this is samuel out of colorado. independent. you are on with marc caputo. caller: can you hear me? i wanted to say that most of the

people trump is picking are these rich white guys. there is babel a woman. -- there is maybe a woman or two. people will have buyers remorse when it comes to donald trump. also i would like to know if you voted for him. a lot of men are whining about trump and most of these men voted for him. guest: i am not whining about trump but i think you're accurate in saying the voters might have buyers remorse. i think you see that regardless of who is at office. we elect president and we elect congress and then the american people wind up not happy with them. look at the polling. it happened to biden, it happened to trump, it happened to obama before him, and when they leave office everyone is like they are great. host: another question is what is the role of vice president. caller: -- guest: that is a

great question. that is a story i've wanted to write for a while but i do not have enough color. from what i'm being told from folks around trump's he plays an important advisory role and he is being used currently as the sherpa and congress for some of these more controversial nominees. he is trump's eyes and ears in the senate, he is making the case for jd vance as vice president elect, he is talking to his fellow senators trying to get these nominees across the finish line. in one case with matt gaetz there just were not the votes. with these other three more controversial ones or four controversial ones, the question is still open and the jury is still out and vance is working. host: the advisory role capacity is it just the senate or are there issues where jd vance is advising donald trump? guest: i don't specifically know

that but the two have a very good relationship. trump is well known for taking advice from everyone and soliciting every possible opinion. bob woodward's book war just released -- i would not recommend reading it. there is a great anecdote in it in which he discusses how trump was in a meeting with keith kellogg, one of his generals while president. he solicited opinions from all of the officials in the room. a general and high-ranking official in the person there, low level after taking notes and asked person of their opinion the person was like no, in the room, you heard it. what youai think? information and soliciting it.

>> why didn't you recognize it? >> it's relative, co-authored by lincoln. it went out of its way for foreign policy. did a good job explaining why but time in afghanistan. ... specifically on the middle east and october 7, eight days before october 7 jake sullivan was boasting about how

there was peace and quiet in the middle east in eight days later that wound up not being true. that is something that deserves little more exegesis and a book about that topic yet it was completely absent so it read like a biased account. nevertheless there good nuggets in there but bob woodward has written better. no shade to him. he is a fabulous reporter. that is not a book i would recommend. host: what is a book you would recommend? guest: i am reading the demon of unrest by eric larson about the civil war and i'm reading another book about the united states from 1870 to 1878. what is relevant to me is that donald trump walks out of that

period of history, the frontiersman. the growing nation. he seems to be more of a throwback to that time than we have seen in the recent era although he is more modern iteration. i could probably do a better job explaining this had i thought i was going to talk about the books i was going to read. host: if you want to watch books rather than read them c-span's book tv cover the demon of unrest a couple of times. eric larson speaking about his book. back to calls. i know we only have a little bit of time. this is david in new jersey. good morning. caller: thank you and your guest. i have a larger question about human beings and change. i would like to reference the comment by my wife's cousin, a friend of rfk junior, and probably the most renowned security analyst in the country.

in the sunday new york times he talked about how people change and gavin, himself, i know through the family, had an excruciating life growing up and is now probably the top security analyst in the country, a major advocate and security analyst for some of the most famous people. gavin commented about rfk junior's troubled past and how he had changed and learned and become stronger. i think the meta question with selections like pete hegseth and others, who has done things none of us would be proud of, can people change and can they become stronger through their life and through very bad choices? i think that is the question. i would like to know what your guest thinks and i think you both for considering my comments. guest: that is a thoughtful question. my answer is yes i think people can change and learn. i think i have.

i don't know pete hegseth's character and the degree to which he has learned from past mistakes. he says he has but that is a question to be answered by the united states senate. sorry to dock that but that is the best i can do. host: john in massachusetts, independent, good morning. caller: how can you explain that when the trump presidency was ending all of the legacy meted speculated that trump would pardon his family members and cabinet and now they are justifying it. another question is the democrats want to resist, and then they complain that nothing got done. should they be popping champagne and saying we do not get anything done, we resisted everything trump wanted to do that was good for the country? everyone says bidens son should have never had that gun charge because there was no other crime committed. his brother's wife took the gun because she was scared because

she was having sex with hunter and they were both doing >> going the way to cross across theit schools and that ws another crime given with them and the cia seems to get it. i'n pardons and resistance there. guest: i do not think the mainstream media and itself is celebrating joe biden's pardoning his son but this is a recurring theme in this discussion, i think the caller represents a great frustration in the way in which the media covers and amplifies those voices on the left saying donald trump is so bad he will pardon himself when he leaves office, that did not happen. then there is not as much coverage of hal norm busting it was that joe biden did this pardon with his son. that gets back to us in the mainstream media who might want to listen a little more to some of those voices. i'm not saying those are always correct about anything but

there's a lot of criticism and concern. host: talked about several of the nomination so far. what is the most interesting one we have not talked about? guest: that's a great question. i am a florida person and i have covered marco rubio since 2003. more than 20 years. marco rubio will occupy a unique position in that he is the first cuban-american secretary of state, bilingual, he was basically that effective secretary of state for the western hemisphere under trump when he was still in the senate. how he executes the trump policy regarding only latin america but the middle east and assad will be a fascinating thing to watch for guys like me who have covered him or a while. his nomination should probably sail right through the senate. host: is this a position marco

rubio wanted? how long you think you thought about this post? guest: he definitely wanted to be president in 2016. out of all of the positions in the trump white house that marco rubio would leave the senate for , secretary of state was up there. i think he might've gotten cia director. he is on the intelligence committees and that cloak and dagger stuff deeply fascinates him and he has a very thorough background and knowledge of. host: what are you writing about this week at the bulwark.com? guest: i am floating at the moment. i think hegseth, we might do another iteration of hegseth with the situation in the middle east. the question is how is trump going to handle this? syria poses a very unique puzzle

because of the roles of turkey, israel, saudi arabia, and iran. i would like to know more about that. the book i am reading, which i would recommend everyone by his alan taylor's american civil wars: a continental history. that was the title of the book i am reading. guest: always appreciate the reckoning date -- host: always appreciate the recommendations and recommend you would go to the bulwark.com

the research going for the universities that produce with a difference maker and it's our house of likely>> going for

that and actual cost that people pay and going for them and >> permission itself. sticker price going up and what people pay is the sticker price. >> starting wh