this afternoon, kathleen hicks testifies on sexual assault in the military. live before a house armed services subcommittee on c-span 3, online at c-span.org or you can lisson for free on the free c-span radio app. we're joined by adam brandon, the president of freedom works to talk to us about the midterm elections. what he thinks the republican party needs to do to prepare for that. a new contract for america. first of all, tell us about freedom works. who funds you and your organization.

>> last year we had a budget across our three organizations. we have a foundation, a o 1 c-4, and one off to the side. we raised a combined $20 billion and had 50,000 different donors. >> and your organization in the past had been founded by the coke brothers. is it still? >> i'm glad you asked that question because we've never been funded by the cokes. >> and so you said over 20 million donations and your primary midterm elections, what part of freedomworks handles that. >> so, that's where we'll do the door knocking, texting, hand-to-hand work you do in an election. the foundation can comment on

policies and pall esacies we believe in. and the c-4 side can talk about bills we support. the politics comes from the side called freedom works for america. >> we've seen your piece in news week talking about calling for a new contract in america. of course, the first, 1994, from nute gingrich was very successful for the republican party then. let's go through what you would like to see. >> i was in high school in 1994. and i remember hearing about the contract. and what i remember hearing is republicans stand for something. and if you look at what the contract became, it was kind of boring and procedural. it was about committee chair assignments and promises to vote on these issues. i think that clear explanation of what they were and going to do was very helpful for the voter.

if you look at congress, there's maybe 40 to 60 seats in any election. any midterm or general election, they're going to be up for grabs. most seats are either strongly republican or democrat. so, in those 40 to 60 seats in the middle, you need to talk to those voters. and for those folks, beyond talking to your base. dmgs like to talk to their base, republicans like to talk to their base. to win, you need to address the issues of folks in the middle. i think there's empowering parents with schools, defunding police. we have the scourge of violence going on right now. things such as the broken boarder and immigration. i would love to see an australian or canadian-style immigration with a solid boarder. i point back to a pole taken in september 2020 and it was yeah

hew news. their poll found only 22% of americans to be free and fair. that is a huge crisis we have. >> do you believe it was free and fair? >> yeah, i do. i'm looking forward to the midterms. i'm not looking forward to the past. but what upset me was you had set law and because of the pandemic, you had changes to the law. i remember working in pennsylvania, going up to the election, we didn't know what a ballot was. did you have to have a signature. >> and we have record turnout. as far as i understand, very little reports of actual fraud or problems with the election. the administration's own security team said it was the most secure election they'd seen. were there ilgsus you think prompted or made these states around the country say we need look at our election laws

because of -- and 80% of americans support some form of voter id when it comes to ballots. i believe it's a state issue, not a federal issue. that number, 22% of people before the election, didn't think the election is free and fair. we have to get that number where we have 80 to 90% of americans with confidence in the system. and there's few issues that voters agree on like that. i came to washington as a spending guy. i mean, spending is my biggest issue. i hope we spend the whole time talking about spending and things we could do there. republicans have not proven to me they're very good on spending at the moment. republicans have stumbled around on their visions of health care.

hopefully mccarthy and other republicans convince me on spending and health care. but those other five issues, i think are issues republicans can lean on in the next election. >> we've dipped our toe in. 202-748-8000 for democrats and 202-748-811 for republicans and 8002 for independents. do you think that was a missed opportunity for the party? >> i think the democrats platform was just not trump. and the republican platform was trump. so, trump verses not trump ended up being the election. i'm a spending guy. i'm a guy -- i'd love to break

out a bottle of wine and have this conversation. but it's pretty boring stuff when you get into how you're going to fix social security. but that's why i came to this town. so, the closer -- sooner you can get back to policy. you want 55/51% of the voters and you're going to have a heck of a mandate. i think americans want to see what you're going to do. i know in the previous segment you were grading. right now, i look at a lot of money being thrown into problems. and as that money goes away, the problems are going to be there. >> we talked about elections a little bit. and the areas you focussed on were education, policing and

community safety, election integrity and we'll talk more big tech and free speech and boarder security. where do you see a problem? what would you like the contract for america to say? >> i know that's an issue. i know what i would write if i was doing it. you look at our lives right now. you can go in a store and customize anything you want. you don't get a customized education. that's how you set up our system. the teacher sits at the front of the room. education is dynamic. i think we should embrace micro schools. i think it should follow the system. i think you should empower teachers. i would love 236 teachers could open a school that focussed on individual student needs.

i make a joke with younger people. dating apps like tinder, you can figure out who you want to meet. why can't you do that with education. my student is excelling in reading and falling behind in math. why can't i find a teacher in my area? >> do you support school choice? >> absolutely. but mine goes back to the dollars follow the student. >> what do you think the responsibility of the state is? >> to make sure funds are available for the student to get educated. >> and is there a federal role in that public education? >> in my dream world this would be pushed back the states. the problem is i live in reality where so many of these issues, even elections, i believe is a state issue, not a federal issue. but i think you could rework with the bureaucracy and the idea is it's pushing this back the states.

that's what yab would rather see. >> you point out you would like to see action on community policing and safety. there's been legislation passed on the george floyd policing act. legislation that senator tim scott. >> and i'm a big fan of his legislation. >> proposed in the last session of congress, but there's no further action on that. >> there's further things that tim scott has that addresses choke holds and things like that and how they should be used. living in kwaugs, there was a shooting outside the baseball stadium a couple nights ago. yrb remember going to the downtown cleveland in the 1980s. and i was part of the generation in the '90s that moved back into the city. and i love being in cities but we are seeing a spike in crime. you look at police. so many are retiring.

we have a crisis in police retirement. i think there's temperature that needs to be calmed down. i've seen polling indianaer city neighborhoods, they want more money on policing, not less because you have the scourge. the thing that worries me most about the boarder is the fentanyl crisis we have going on. just about every family in america is being effected by addiction. and fentanyl, you just get a little wrong in that dose and you're dead. that fentanyl is coming across the boarder from mexico. so, i look at the policing issue, compine booed with the issue you have down at the boarder. >> and we wrapped up the last segment talking about big tech and free speech, the president's criticism of facebook. of marjory taylor green being banned from twitter, at least for 12 hours, from posting. what coo you think republicans

should do in terms of big speech and the role of tech in our lives? >> they get paid the big bucks to figure these things out. my organization has recently had a problem with facebook where we had a post that was connecting joe biden's policies to low gas prices. you look at stopping drilling on federal lands. we're talking about scrub brush in places. that low carbon transition fuel, all of that. you start talking about the antigas agenda, yes, gas prices are going to go up. you could not make that assertion. >> how did you respond to that? >> we let them know, policy wise, there's a whole process you go through. that's one example. and we have multiple examples where we get flagged for our content. and that's a problem. i will always air on the side of

free speech in america. i believe that's so important. i remember the aclu would do things like defend people in the ku klux klan from marching. i think all what they were doing was abhorrent. but that's part of democracy is being uncomfortable. people are allowed to have bad, stupid, and silly ideas. the minute you start clamping down on free speech, the -- the chilling effect it has on society. that's one of the things that makes america unique is the commitment to free speech. >> how do you keep the bad, crazy, noisy voices in the mix of conversation? >> doing a better job of figuring out who the fake russian bots are and getting them off. we have 5 million folks on our facebook page and you see pictures of them in backyard barbecues and we've been able to

connect with so many of these folks. so, it's a great platform that way. people have to bear some responsibility. you have to treat everything with a certain amount of skepticism. that person from nigeria a, emailing you about the fortune if you give them your bank account, that's not true. you're going to have to take -- in all the freedom, there's a tremendous amount of responsibility. >> let's talk about the strategy for getting republicans and republican candidates to accept it and promote it as part of their campaign in 2022? what's your strategy there? >> i started talking to several of my allies about i think you should do a contract. that's why i wrote the piece. i know there's a lot of different conversations. frarsz three or four different working groups about what it could look like. my advice to them is don't make

it so policy heavy. make it more -- almost all issues today. we used to say cultural issues that used to mean things like abortion was a cultural issue. capitalism was a cultural issue. i think they should come up with -- things that cross party lines, things people are concerned about. people are concerned about what's being taught in schools and how their kids are moving through school. people are concerned about violence, the humanitarian crisis at the boarder. these are areas where they are cultural and they could cross into new audiences. >> do you think there's a clear message now of republican leadership, in the house in particular but broadly in congress? >> no, not right now. i think they have plenty of time and need find their footing. but i can't point to a certain document this is the house republican agenda or this is the

senate republican agenda. and as we look forward, i think that's critical or incumbent on republicans to figure out what the core things we stand on. i would love it if house republicans would adopt that. i don't think that's going to happen. i think there's tremendous areas of common ground. and my goal is to win the popular vote. and to do that, you have to campaign. rural areas and california and places republicans haven't campaigned before. but you end up heading into the next general election with 85, 86. >> does your orginization support individual candidates? >> we tend to focus more on house candidates than senate candidates. but we will make endorsements in certain senate races. >> he heads freedomworks.

welcome your calls 8000 for democrats, and republicans, 8001. for all others, 8002. on the democrats line. >> yes, hello. hi. by the way, what you did, i'm terrified by. you have done a lot and you've been hugely -- made huge changes in the american deasperrau. you aware the entire premise of libertarianism is based on false science and understanding of evolution. herbert spencer, and dalton, who coin the terms "survival of you genics." they pushed the concept that

competition leads to optimal outcomes. it does not lead to optimum outcomes. er for it's completely untrue. and in a universe of abundance, not scarcity, it's not a zero sum game. this is a huge thing. you're a hugely consequential organization. if you go to the think tanks on both sides -- because this is incredible. on both sides, far left and far right actually do agree on this false understanding of evolution, thinking competition leads to good outcomes. what this has caused is a ja gen, playing field. and the survival will win. what that leads to is -- and this is the question for you, very directly. right now we're suffering from a pandemic. and my question to you isn't a public policy of natural herd

immunity. by definition, we don't needed to involve politics or science, it's pure. isn't public policy, natural herd immunity for the pandemic, the definition of a genocide? >> what i'll agree with the caller on, i do come from the libertarian side of the movement is what he said about cooperation. when i look at the strength of cooperation, it's when people mutually decide, without coercion to come into the community. that is the strongest communities, not those compelled to come together, and this is what i talked about growing up as a cleveland browns fan. it's a natural community and made up of black, white, thick, thin, old, young and we've come together voluntarily around a sports team. >> independent line, go ahead.

>> so, i'm looking at their foundation. someone said you were a grass roots campaign. from what i found, that does not seem to be the case. most of your funding will come from seminonprofits. but not from individual, like, small individual donors. so, i'm confused by what you mean by grass roots and how do you adjust the definition to account for your campaign? >> again, i think i mentioned this earlier. last year we had over 50,000 individual donors. when i talk about grass roots, i talk about the individuals part of our community. we have 5 million folks on facebook right now. we're just about to open our fifth floor grass roots activist center, where our goal is to bring in more activists per week to do work on the hill. we also do work in the states.

we do about three events per week, ranging from a smaller group of 20, to sometimes up to a thousand people. so, when i talk about grass roots, they're the people who do all the work for the institution. >> pleasant vill, new jersey, also on the independent line. >> yes, hello, sir. i like to talk about the difference in the two administrations. president biden has been in six months. he did not care about the marecons. he did not care about the constitution. he did not even under what a militia is considered, which is a second amendment and the last word of the second amendment. it's never to be used against one's own people. and yet he had the nerve to want to kill his vice president. to kill and to maim and look what he did to the police when

he said anyone else, he knew more, and sir, how could he hurt 100 some policeman and have the audacity that they could not give him a medal, the one whose saved their lives. >> a comment that d.c. chair, congressman from new york on president trump, he said this, that the post -- post-trump republican brand is bad politics in the suburbs. they have embraced dangerous conspiracy theories, flat-out white supremacists and a level of harshness and ugliness not appealing to voters. your access -- >> i have to respond to the comment. i think what's unpopular in the suburbs is when you start calling people white supremacists because of their conservative views. president trump does suck up a

whole lot of media spotlight and attention. and that's why i believe for house republicans, and looking at midterm elections, they need to make sure they're clearly defined on what they believe and what type of agenda they're going to push when elected. >> is there a concern, particularly if they go to mar-a-lago or the president speaks in favor of them, that democrats will focus on that, in terms of saying he is the candidate of president trump and that candidate's message, whether the contract for america or whatever, gets drowned out? >> that may be. but donald trump has about an 80% approve with republican candidates. so, that doesn't make very good politics if you're running republican to distance yourself. it's good politics to align yourself. but when you get at the general election, this is -- i think if the democrats make this another ref endm on donald trump, i think they had their election on

that. the next election needs to be what are you for? for republicans, this is an opportunity to make a referendum on joe biden's pallacies and what you would do. how they're contributing to inner city violence, how they're creating a humanitarian crisis at the boarder. that's what i would advise republicans to focus on and show what you're going to do to fix those problems. >> from cincinnati, ohio, democrats line. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> i have a couple of questions. >> yes, ma'am. >> first one is a yes/no and then i have another. do you believe that president biden was elected legally and fairly? >> sure, yes. i'm focussed on future elections. moving forward. >> okay. then do you promote to your

followers that trump claim that the election was stolen, that that is false and the big lie? >> we do a lot of work on election integrity issues -- >> that's not question i asked. >> i'm just telling you what i do. >> caller: that biden was elected legally. >> we covered that ground. we do work on election integrity, yes. >> caller: i didn't hear when you covered that ground before. >> i think he responded. a question from sam in new jersey. isn't the price of gas determined by global supply and demand. the u.s. president has minimal effect on the retail price. gas price is increased determined by an economic bump.

>> if you go back to recent history, what is causing the split in opec, the panic over in saudi arabia? it was u.s. fracking and natural gas. that was the game changer. that is what was driving prices down. so, yes, gasoline and oil are global goods. but in recent decades the change was u.s. fracking. so, when you start moving away and being hostile to fracking and shut down new permits, you're taking the new global supply off line. and who's strengthened by that? all this talk about trump and russia. when we pulled out of that and biden gave the okay for germans to build a natural gas pipeline from from germany to russia, i can guarantee you champagne corks were cracking all over the kremlin. by taking u.s. supply off line and allowing them to build a direct line to germany, which

the trump administration opposed, natural gas prices are going to go up around the world, artificially and then the second part is -- who's the big beneficiary? putin. crazy to me. >> tim on the independent line. go ahead. >> caller: good morning. the last comment you made. the last comment he made, i 100% agree. there's a lot of people in america who don't see that. but my question to you is you said that you believe that the voting issues is a -- the states should be in charge of that. did i hear you correctly? >> yes, sir. >> caller: we've seen what happens when the states are in charge of voting, education, and so on. the federal government has to step in because they have a track record of denying those of color the opportunity to vote.

that's why we had the voting rights act. i want you to elaborate on that. >> sir, i think you and i agree 100% on this issue. especially if you go to jim crowe era south. there was a federal role to step in when people were being denied the right to vote. and let's take that georgia piece of legislation. it's saying there is going to be mandated weekend hours, expanded opportunities for mail -- there's going to be this expansion be this expansion. and just putting some gird rails on what you can and can't do, that's up to a state if they decide to want to do it. colorado wants to do all mail and have a system for that. i'm fine for colorado to decide what colorado wants to do. i just think it's a good idea to centralize this all in washington. but you're absolutely right, and i think these issues get confused. there has been troubled history and that's where it's right for the government to step in.

where you're having that happen obviously nobody is being denied the right to vote, but what we want to make sure is that going back to the original premise that we had in the '60s, i am a man, one man, one vote. i think it's ensuring everyone has confidence in that system. >> back to comments on checks. and by the way you can send us texts. sheila says until and unless congress gets back to people over party it makes no difference who it is in control. >> i have to admit i love term limits. i love term limits. and the reason is you hear a lot of talk about the swamp here in washington. and so much of the swamp in washington is based on these mutually exclusive relationships between congressmen and lobbyists and all their interests. and i do think turnover is very, very good for the system. the thing i'll add for the caller is the only way you're going to get that is through a

massive grass roots effort. politicians are scared of their voters. if their voters demand something, you will see the politicians respond. real change in america will not come from washington. real change in america comes when people get together back at home and in their districts. that works at federal, state, school board, everything. >> mark in hampstead, maryland, republican caller. go ahead, mark. >> i want to say i agree with most of what you said. my only problem is i seem to be noticing that the one thing republicans don't do very well is culture. and actually it's kind of funny while i was waiting on hold you had a call a few back from an independent caller who was mentioning the federal government having to step in because different states had discriminatory voting laws. and the whole point of my call was to point out that

republicans, we need to be embracing our history as the party of emancipation. >> absolutely. >> and when a caller calls in and says something like there were these jim crow laws in the south, that was a missed opportunity right there you to point out to him that it was actually the democratic party who wrote these laws. and the thing is most people in this country under the age of 50 actually think that hitler was on the right. and that's a big problem because we can talk about tax cuts and, you know, sort of normal things all day long, but a lot of younger voters, they vote on emotion. and unfortunately, for 60 years the media and the left in this country has been pushing this narrative that america was somehow to blame for slavery when in fact it was actually their party that was to blame for slavery. if there ever was systematic racism in this country it came

entirely from the democratic party. they founded the ku klux klan. >> mark, we'll let you go there. >> sir, i've got to agree with so much of what you said. people like frederick douglas, there's an incredible person from american history. if you've never heard of him, robert smalls, google him. one of the most amazing stories coming out of the civil war. and we fail to share our own legacy on these issues. the civil rights act passed because of republican votes, period. the whole party was founded on abolition. there is a tremendous opportunity, you're absolutely right on so much of what you said there. to me spending is a moral issue. to me this is what's absolutely nauseating about washington. no, what you're doing is robbing future generations. that money is coming from our children and grandchildren and a diminished quality of life and diminished opportunities they're

going to face. so i look at this debt burden spending as a moral issue. >> the fifth issue we hadn't covered is immigration. you write vice president kamala harris is finally visiting the border after ignoring the crisis for three months. her ill-fated trip demonstrates her administration's ineptitude in side-stepping the issue. what would you like to see republicans have in their plan -- their platform for 2022? >> my dream plan would look like i think that australia and canada have a fantastic immigration system. it's merit-based. it fluctuates with the economy. it creates opportunities if you have legitimate humanitarian reasons. they can process. it's quick. it's very humane. you get married, it's easier. our system is backwards. it's based on familial ties. it's not based on what the country needs. so i would fix that problem.

you need farmers, there's a guest worker program you could easily do that could all be above board. you do these things you're going to start taking that pressure off the border. most of the women who have been coming across this border have been sexually assaulted. we have little kids, what's going to happen to them? this is very inhumane. and also the fentanyl crisis, besides the other part to this is that short-term fix. you need to get the border under control. that fentanyl is coming across our border down there in mexico. >> the vice president went to mexico and guatemala and this is obviously not just a biden or trump administration problem, but those triangle countries have been the source of so much southern immigration. what should the u.s. role going forward be in this? >> you know what happens to that money? probably within minutes it's in

swiss bank accounts by the elites in those countries that control it. you're not getting to the problems of what's happening there. in your country you can control your border. every other country in the world, they have these basic systems where they know who's coming in and who's going out. i think that's a smart thing to do. we can control our border, and we can also have a rational immigration system that's good for the american economy, we have a demographic crisis in this country right now. we are aging faster for the first time in our history. i love having the world's best and brightest come to this country. they can contribute from day one, they can get here. and again if you have a humanitarian crisis, i think the one thing that the biden administration has done right these interpreters in afghanistan that volunteered to help our soldiers, we need to get those folks here. >> let's here from steve oakerage, tennessee. next up democrats line. >> good morning. i want to make a comment about one of the previous callers with

the democratic party being the former the ku klux klan, all the stuff. and that's exactly true. however and this is based on my life and my family. when civil rights came into existence every member of my family in mississippi on both sides switched from being democrats to being republicans. if you look at a state now, every southern state now is red, and that's why. so it's totally disingenuous to say, you know, that the democrats created all this problem, and it is true that democrats started this, but they all became republicans after civil rights. okay, i'm done with that one. next thing, i read you and you say your kind of libertarian but here's one thing i found this morning. things adults shouldn't believe in anymore. there's a picture of santa

claus, there's a picture of the easter bunny, the tooth fairy and anthony fauci. and what you're doing -- everything on here is right-wing and the dems are out to get your money, the dems are out for this, and that's absolutely not true. you're just coming on there and you look like a really -- and you come across really decent guy that looks at both sides. but when i read the comments and the posts on your site, they are not anywhere but far-right. >> thanks, steve. >> i think i like to try to be a decent guy. i do run an organization that does have a political -- a political side. and one of the things we like to do on facebook is we find the humor is a great way to get a message across. and so specifically we've been very, very critical on fauci and some of his recommendations on what to do about the economy. i think keeping the schools shutdown was a horrific,

horrific thing that we're going to spend a generation recuperating from, so we have criticisms, yes. >> on the members that you're supporting your organization is supporting mo brooks, i want to ask a couple callers have mentioned this. the headline mo brooks pushes falsehood that trump won 2020 election, claims unlawful votes for biden. you say i'm behind mo brooks as a candidate? >> we endorse mo brooks. when i look at who we need to solve big problems -- so the problem we faced before is we've had great candidates that get elected and they come in and start towing the party line. i look for people who are going to take on these issues like spending and mo brooks has historically been a fantastic person. >> his own leadership. if it's a go along get along deal and we're going to spend a trillion dollars, i'd like to have a few senators i can rely

onto say, no, we can slow down the spend. >> bob from philadelphia on the republican line. go ahead. >> caller: good morning, c-span. thank you for taking my call. mr. brandon, thank you for your efforts. i do appreciate what you do and what you stand for. i live in the city where you are just greatly outnumbered by democrats here. and these people that scream equity are the same people that will look at you cross-eyed in a store, threaten violence to you and then purport to be in favor of equity. there's such an imbalance in this country, and quite frankly the megaphone is being controlled by big media and the tech companies. so, you know, we have -- we have

a great way in order to get our message out. so i do appreciate what you do. more power to you. >> well, i want to talk specifically about your issue inner city philadelphia there. yes, and a lot of the issues where we could be outnumbered. when you look at the schools issue i think just about everyone in philadelphia is going to look around and look at their schools and realize we could do a whole lot better than this. and i look at that as an issue to reach nontraditional audience with our value sets as talking about, look, we're the folks that want to make sure your kid has a choice not between one school that's failing, not a choice between two failing schools, but you be a choice between a hundred different options you can customize for your kid. if your kid is dislexic, let's make sure they can get an education with that. if your kid wants to go into the trade schools, i think that's

something that republicans could embrace that could cross party lines in a city like philadelphia. it is amazing how much you can earn when you do things like plumbing, heating and air-conditioning. these are quick jobs you could be making 80, 90, $100,000 and live a middle class lifestyle. in a city where you're outnumbered if you can find that 20, that 20 is so incredibly powerful. and i think it'll go talong way to show folks -- look, i think our positions are the moral high ground. i think these are the positions that enhance moral dignity, and i think giving people the opportunity to work. no one wants to be dependent on the government, and that's what our policies are about is breaking those cycles of poverty and violence. >> david basse also served as deputy campaign manager for trump in 2020. in an opinion piece in the washington times with the headlines the gop must advance a new 2022 contract with america. he says this, a unified platform

in the trump-gingrich tradition for america exceptionalism offers a lot of promise. and he says it starts with providing job creators with some iran clad certainty by making some trump tax cuts and deregulations permanent. your thoughts on that? >> i agree 100%. i put utmy five issues. i'm hoping this is to jump start a conversation. like i said before there are issues very important to me like spending and health care. republicans are going to have to earn a lot of trust with me, but i hope when you start talking about the boom, that 2019 economy that we had, it was lowest black unemployment, lowest hispanic unemployment, highest job creation. the numbers were incredible. i want that economy back. yes, you have a jump right now from this post-covid world but this is being fueled by cheap money, free money. this is distorting the economy. it's all going to come back again. when the inflation kicks in and

takes that money back plus some and then destroys -- who's getting hurt the most in a lot of this, small business owners. talk to a building contractor right now, the cost of materials. their businesses are struggling and going out of business. this economy is really benefitting big business, not -- i go back to 2019, those cuts he was just mentioning, that benefitted those entrepreneurs who was investing in main street. >> let's here from olivia, birmingham, alabama. good morning. >> caller: good morning. how are you this morning? >> thanks for calling. >> caller: i'm going to say this right here like you just did to brandon when you made this statement -- see that's what bothers me. nothing is free. nothing is free. president biden had to do the act where he was taking everything to help boost the economy. see, let me tell you something. i'm invested in politics.

i don't want to hear lies. i want to hear truth. and also this critical race theory, that's what really bothers me. don't tell black people about racism. we do not need not one white person in america to tell us about racism. through discrimination, through the laws that are passed. we know racism. it's about us learning about black history in school. and we need to wake up with this mess the republicans are trying to -- >> olivia, give mr. brandon a chance to respond. appreciate your call. >> i'm a huge -- i love to consider myself a historian with what i've read. and i think it's very important that we understand our history both the good sides and the bad sides. you have to understand the unique circumstances that black america has gone through, but i think it's very important to understand this is the most

successful multiethnic country in world history, and we have a long way to go, but i look at progress being made at i think a very rapid rate. and i look forward to the country my kids and grandkids get to live in. when i go back when i was being taught in school it was all martin luther king, jr., and i think there's been in recent generations, recent decades incredible breakthroughs there. i'm really looking forward to a country as we continue to move forward. >> thanks for being with us this morning. >> it's fun to be here on set. >> glad to have you back here in person. >> and it is open floor on washington journal, your chance to weigh in on political stories, making news you're following as well. following the story on the infrastructure package on capitol hill, this is politico's headline this morning in the print edition of politico. bipartisan deal has no chance on wednesday is their