and establishes them as literary destinations for reasons around the globe. >> cspan, partners with the library of congress, and has a profound impact on our country. tonight, we will hear another 1937 novel. our guest is tiffany patterson, a professor from vanderbilt university. this is the cspan encore presentation. books that have shaped america. 9:00 eastern on cspan. cspan .org/shape america. real qa

stranger to angelinos. real qa he's the anchor of abc seven eyewitness news at four and 6 p.m. he's produced multiple award winning documentaries, two of which have made their way into the smithsonian institution. we real quickly, he was here at 6:00 p.m. he had multiple rewards and documentaries. two of which were part of the institution. welcome, to our stage. serving as the united states house of representatives to 2023. representing illinois 60th

congressional district. during his tenure, he served on the house committee to look at the january 6th attack on the 9096 capitol. looking at the energy commerce and foreign -- we welcome you to the stage. >> [ applause ]. >> great to see you. you can hear our microphones, right? >> try it now. >> first of all, thank you for being here. it is an honor to be here with you. i have always wanted to meet you. >> i appreciate that. thank you. >> he had set this up perfectly. many of you are familiar with

what happened here during world war ii. they have been whisked off to concentration camps. this whole thing was wiped out. it was empty. this is a classic example of how the constitution was not the same. there were not enough people of courage who were able to speak up within these tiny communities. that is going to lead us to this. this gentleman's connection, is partly who had the courage to speak up. this is to the point where he eventually was ostracized.

maybe that is not necessarily a bad thing. thank you so much. >> yeah. >> i'm going to ask you a few simple questions. why did you write this book? >> it was funny. somebody told me when i was in this way, it is the inherent thing to write a book. i want to write something about me. the thing that got me to do it, i know that my story particularly, growing up, is my time in office. really in january, it is in microcosm. this was what has been happening. the reaction has been great.

i think it is helping me to shed some light to a very few amount of times. >> it is confusing. they love to pick your brain. what is happening to our country? i love your book. even before the tea party, you are making the extension onto donald trump. it is the connection between the two. i'm going to jump right into what i think it is. you are sitting there in your office, angry mob, descending on the capitol. you have your pistol out. he knows how to use a gun. he has done two tours in iraq. thank you for your service. >> [ applause ]. going out, on

your desk. knowing that they are descending on the capitol. you say you are not afraid, you are prepared. how did you get there? how did things get this bad? >> thank you for letting me fly your airplane. that was a really cool gig. this was actually after the election. it specifically on january 1st, you are on a conference call with the conference. i'm referring to the public and other comments. they have said that you guys gave this very compelling reason of why you have the most certified elections. kevin mccarthy, is talking about speaking for the whole conference.

that surprised me. typically, leaderships are taking the hard vote. most of this is being certified. i was the first congressman to go as the leisure presentation was right here. i'm looking at twitter. there are threats against it. people have talked about coming through it. you have convinced yourself and donald trump, a significant part of this country. truly, patriotic americans have had their patriotism abused. you can condense that. the election was stolen. his reaction to me, was that it was time for the next caller. on that day, i told them to stay home. i learned that i asked them to

stay home. i may have been born at night. i asked her to stay home. i just knew something was going to happen. i was looking at it around the capitol. i was still looking at what the groups were looking at. anyways, i get the sense that something is happening. i went back to my office. by the time i got back, all [ bleep ] was breaking loose. they had the initial lockdown call. they had the pipe bomb. i go back to my office, and i open my window. the window of my office is behind my desk. that west run, is where you solve the fights. i just heard explosions. it was metro police that had just shown up. there were using nonlethal

ammunition. if they had not shown up when they did, with those 600 officers, the capitol would have been destroyed. they are unsung heroes. i called my wife, and she said that we were going to cspan .org read i went. i saw that it was as beautiful as the original. this was just off of the big part of the house. i saw the first insurrection. this was with other clothes, and stuff. let me just fair warning. i'm a christian. i take my faith seriously. i don't feel the sense of evil. i did that day. i can describe it, and i can't explain it beyond that. i saw it happening. there was darkness that i just felt that i cannot describe. it was like a black male. that's when i pulled my gun

out, and put it on the desk. i knew at that point, once they pierced the capitol perimeter, there were threats all over to come kill me. all they had to do was walk to my office. i barricaded myself in. for about a 30 minute period, i thought i might have to use it. that is a really crappy feeling. especially military officers that are involved, trying to stop this from happening. >> tell me about the others. there are all of these rumors. what is the fear because of what we saw later on? in the days to come, is this them suddenly getting amnesia to the awful situation that it really was? this is our constitution coming to a halt. we are basically ending our country as we know it. >> honestly, there was not a single person that was not part of it. this was funny when you think

about the fact that those things are the same people that are calling it whatever it is, and everything else. still, 138 of them were certified voters against. to me, it is the beginning of us learning our lesson from this moment. what happened, for two weeks, everything was quiet. i was here when this happened. you are in a fire. you see a fight. everyone was talking about it. that was happening for weeks. nobody knew what was going to come from that. this is until your native son came back to california. he showed up. as soon as him and a picture of donald trump came out, that is when i thought it was not

necessarily him. oh now. we have to support him again. kevin mccarthy, all by himself, had a really good chance. donald trump, was in the political graveyard until kevin mccarthy showed up. he was looking at the political ambulance. >> i do want to talk about kevin mccarthy in a little while. that's good. i also want to talk about your background too. first, i think it is important to understand who these people are. they wanted to make themselves into action figures. they had current events and american history. this included the constitution. you had a full assault.

i think it is important to understand who these people are, and why they did what they did. figure out what is wrong with america. get a deeper understanding of how we can fix this. >> some of this is part of the idea that i'm going to be the savior of america. some of them view the people's patriotism differently. they are convinced that there is a factual war that has been of course on the good side. that is what you need to keep in mind from the same conflict. they basically see it is part of it. when you hear about qanon, they believe that the country is being run by child trafficking blood drinkers. you saw what happened on

january 6th. you are not looking at too much of that kind of faith. you are looking at the symbolism that i saw. this is symbolizing other stuff. there was another march around the capitol before. people are looking at the failures of the pulpits of churches. this is a combination of people that had their patriotism abuse. they were like cops playing civil war. it wasn't hanging out with your friends by the campfire. they have this wonderful idea of a civil war. it has going to be used from the faith perspective. it is all of that. they feel left behind. quite honestly, that happens anytime you get an unstable society.

you get a majority racial group that becomes the minority. white is in a minority. it is just not over 51%. that creates a real concern among people. it is along those lines. >> you mentioned christian nationalism. you were trying to be raised a religious man. you made it very clear of this book, that you see a marked difference between christian nationalism, and your christianity. it is all part of this problem. christianity, as i have gotten older, this is what we are talking about. this is another example. what do you say?

it is this level. when are we going to overthrow it? you have to look at the other point of not overthrowing the government. this is what you see. this is directly from the january 6th stuff. this is part of the christian nationalism. christianity is about overthrowing the government. they have been making no difference from the taliban. they are trying to run through with the government. they were looking at everything that was doing that. this is all over the edge. this is fundamental. this is what they have done before it. i was raising the fundamentals. i consider myself protestant. it doesn't have any additives to the product. part of that was the control

and how you acted. it is part of this idea that somehow governments represent this more broad battle of good and evil. there is a massive difference between what i said, i want to practice now. you were trying to look at more values. basically, treat them as human beings. everyone is looking at all of that kind of stuff. if you love christian nationalism, you can hate anybody that doesn't agree exactly. i consider it a crusade. this is nothing from faith. you can identify who you are. this was christians fighting for donald trump. this is what christianity becomes. it is a synonym for white actions.

>> these racial inhibitions were obvious. >> i would not say it is directly like saying someone doesn't directly like black people. you will find black and hispanic's right here. they have been growing in numbers. it is a growing and evolving country. >> this is a different thing. >> let's get into why we say we don't know the truth. we have to bring it in. yes, i work for abc. fox news, lots of them have

been feeding this information. they know what they are finding out in various corporations. that is the only source of information. this is a different place from the internet. how do you reach people with the truth? they are looking at certain groups of people. >> i'm part of what they are looking at. what happens, people are going to look at the washington news. sometimes, they challenge my way of thinking. we are looking at different size of stuff. they're trying to present both sides, or just fax. personality started to realize

this. fear and anger, is a huge thing. this comes with fear and anger. we have been watching cnn. this is the more that you listen to him. you have created these different stories. you have clicked on them many more times. this is a scary thing. fox news said that. this was the pretty same, conservative action. politicians are looking at when it got out of control.

we had the best way to bring money. this included anger. if i knew that she was going to kill your family, and i say that facetiously, but that is what is happening. this is anything, including the fix, social security income. this is certain death for america that is part of it. politicians have to be raising a ton of money. >> they understand that. he's the governor of california. they have been incarcerated. is a little bit of history that receives itself. if you know your history, you can go through that. most people are.

that's why we see it repeated over and over again. what is part of the republican party today? this is your party. i'm sure you are proud on your first day. you were trying to become a u.s. representative. i'm sure you had giant dreams of what you can accomplish in that position. only to find part of what it is today. you are finding yourself ostracized. what is this? >> i could have been the start if i wanted to. i could have been the youngest member of congress. i was looking at the second book, post 9/11. i was proud of it. i'm a center-right person. i'm more proud of it. that is just the function

growing out. it seems to be done differently. this comes from a solid conservative progressivism. we are trying to pull that tension. we are moving the country along generally. this is not too slow. the republican party exists as an institution. there are no conservative movements anymore. the republican party doesn't believe in anything. this is only of president joe biden, is the president. are they not leaving afghanistan? they were when president joe biden was president. donald trump, is creating the situation anyways. josh hawley just tweeted that

president joe biden, has to answer questions, because there is this rumor that ukraine is using this for their pipeline. i don't know if it is good. he's also attacking president joe biden, for not being harsh enough against germany before this was canceled. there is no principle. the principle is, we surround donald trump. donald trump, is amen. this is a culture and a party. this is simply on a cultural bias, and not any other policy. this is a republican criticized party. i have much more authority to do that. once i shed that, people don't listen to me as much. there has to be a normal

republican fighting. i did not vote republican last election. i don't intend to in this election. i serve one issue on the ballot. that is democracy. that's the only issue on the ballot. >> [ applause ]. >> there's a lot to get through on that. this is another observation. this is the republican national convention. we had another ticker around the stadium. this is part of the national debt getting higher and higher. i remembered that. fast forward to her donald trump, is passing his tax cut. astronomically, going to raise the national debt. that's no big deal. >> we have come through the circle. it has become an issue. >> we have to recognize everything out of control.

we are jumping out of the bridge proverbially a plea deal. the republicans don't have a right for this. i was the least guy looking at the debt. it has been done under that administration. this is when it comes to it. >> they are evolving as politicians. would you ever look at it? >> i'm not stuck on the title. democrats are welcoming someone like me. i have nothing against the democratic party at all. i have no desire to be in the house of representatives ever again in my life. >> i only wish i could be here for ukraine right now.

i would run as a democrat. >> i'm looking at this online. a little bit of a wild go. you are talking about it quite a bit. he's not your favorite guy. >> you might be coming up is four years. >> that can be right here. he is such a loser. >> a bunch of charlatans. >> i have more respect for people who believe what they are saying. this is what he has gotten. he doesn't care about policies. >> if you could indulge me one more guilty pleasure, the elbow story that hit yesterday.

this is what i thought was interesting. your name kept opening up. this is from the pass as well. tell me about that. >> i'm not going to go there. that could get me in trouble. >> they should be really good friends. this is right with a january 6th committee started. they are leaning over the railing. how am i going to get hit? turn around. he's going to walk away. my first reaction, is where we were friends. kevin mccarthy and i, hate each other now.

this is just to be the tough guy thing. three weeks later, they were walking past each other. he hits me. what a child. what an emotional child. you are compromising yourself and your value. he knows he was done. donald trump, was his guy. when you do that, he's not angry or projecting himself. i was on january 6th committee. everything reminded him of how he was looking at it. i think that is what happened. three or four days ago, he elbows him hard. he tries to play it off like it must have been an accidental

hit. you know his book just came out. he said that he didn't know anything about that. i just made that up ironically. >> it is the inner workings of congress. we are looking at the january 6th elect committee. we are getting into the nitty- gritty of your identity. you may not be here in congress anymore, you are not part of our future. >> what was it like to be on that committee? he voted to impeach donald trump. you are going to vilify him. what was going through your mind? how are you going to participate, knowing that it was going through your mind? >> there was a moment in

politics, where i don't care who you are. there are compromises that you have to make. it's always going to be for something that you didn't vote for love. that's the nature of constitutional republican actions. there is a point. there should be a line in everyone's life. there should be a moment where you know you can go this far. i remember this. i was looking at congress. i had just gotten back. this was still from iraq in 2018. i remember coming back. i'm going to take another vote as a conference and that is going to send people to war and die for their country. this is really the ultimate sacrifice. young people are going to die for this country. as a member of congress, i have to be willing to remember to

put my job on the line for this country. i have to be willing to give my job. i thought i would end up looking at a special security action. i'm looking at democracy. it just came to the point. this is from january 6th. this is my biggest burden. democracy needed to survive. you have to agree that you can vote. your vote counts. the trust is destroyed. this is what you have to have. donald trump, is looking at the best thing to destroy that with.

how am i ever going to look at my six months time, or whatever he was then, or look him in the eye and tell him that he needs to do the right thing? i'm unwilling to do the right thing. his job is not worth my soul. i'm going to go out with a bang. i have zero regrets. >> [ applause ]. >> i remember you looking at the hearing. or was it like behind the scenes when you didn't get off of that stage? people are still talking. >> this is the most impactful.

they basically disowned you. we got a letter a couple of days after voting. this is because of the threat. we were trying to look at a different place in florida. you are doing all of this stuff. this is for my dad's cousins. 13 of them were signing it. this is a different disappointment. you were trying to look at it. my copilot and iraq, just one year ago, this is what we were looking at. this is because i told you the truth. this is the first part of that january 6th hearing. this is the first half of all

that. everyone was joking with me. a lot of people were amazed that you can come up and do it. these are the same people that could do it. thanks for doing it. i can do it. >> whatever. my district is not right here. by the way, you have taken an oath, not to the 700,000 people that you talked to, but the constitution. 700,000 people that you represent, they are absolutely irrelevant. if every one of the people in my district so that you demand that we have our condor -- conduct looked at, that makes it irrelevant. this is not of the constitution was a threat. i will tell all of my colleagues. he won't get re-elected.

okay, great. it was a strange thing. >> we are getting to the end of this. i wanted to touch on the fact that your district now hates you. your family hates you. >> my immediate family. >> this was my question when you announced it. i was not going to run for re- election. you explained it. your immediate reaction was no. why did you not? >> i used to have a couple in vietnam. at some point, you have done enough. the impact on my family was intense. they threw me out of my district, by the way. they were drawing me out of my

district. just as important, i was looking in that full long time. i was not struggling anyway. even january 6th. more important, i know i cannot make it through. this is what i have done. i have gone after the cheeto god. i violated this religion. from these people, it was the same if you were at church. go to a different church. whatever. that is what it is like. there is something heroic about saying you should have run, but i respect her for doing it. they were giving them the satisfaction of beating you. >> [ laughter ]. >> it is a great transition. i did want to talk to you about her.

she was super important on that committee with you. what was she like? you have a great amount of respect for her. she was living the same faith that you did. >> this is for two reasons. number one, her voice brought a lot of credibility. i'm a moderate republican. she made me look like nancy pelosi. she has a famous name. most importantly, the work she did, she understood the law. more than anyone i have ever met. she was working 19 hours a day from the day we form that committee until we went to the final import. we had different plans for the weekend. she was in every deposition. she saw the big picture. she can put everything together. some of us couldn't put this

together. we had an amazing staff. it was like god himself, formed the committee. they had a unique saying that they brought. hers was the ability to bring it all together. this is a funny story. i know he is a little guy. he rightfully gets to the committee. the first thing i did, i dubbed him adam senior. myself, adam junior. i wanted it to make him look older. you can't call me that. everybody on the committee from that point, is calling him that. i succeeded. that was the one thing that i wanted to do. everybody brought something unique. liz cheney, was the bulldog that caused this thing to

succeed. she was very intentional, just like her dad. she would relent, when she had the open point. you can see that her tenacity, is looking like 20 losses trying to get some satisfaction. i got so lost in all of these. that was great. the other one that was great was benny thompson. this was the only guy in congress that could look at the chairman of the committee. the whole nation was watching. she was okay, giving the spotlight to other people. any other person in congress would want to take spotlight themselves in the position. they recognize that they needed the spotlight as part of that

credibility. it is literally like god himself authorize that. >> the end result of that committee, you are putting out tons of information. this was so obvious. it's like turning a boat. it is still going to take me a long time. how do you feel about the outcome of all of your hard work? >> i was hoping that it would wake up more republicans. i think it woke up some. there was a small minority of republicans, similar to chris christie. i don't think we need to minimize that. for the country, this is the one thing that i know. my kid in five or 10 years, maybe 13 years or whatever, she's going to be proud of the last name. a lot of my colleagues are going to have kids that are ashamed. he's going to hear the truth.

it took them 40 years to get it right. this would be a complete synopsis of what went down. he's going to learn the truth. i think in 10 years, there is not going to be a single person ever that is coming forth. it will be like finding another supporter. it was extremely successful. the department of justice would not be dealing with what they are dealing with right now. donald trump, should still be in jail. >> [ applause ]. >> i want to get to your optimism. we are going to bring you to the dark side. what if donald trump wins? >> we do not stop at this.

this is even in the last few weeks. donald trump can win. i think people understand it. it is good. you have to recognize it. i really think democracy is a threat. i'm not proverbial. we have a very hard time holding the guard rail. donald trump wins in 2017. generally, they were looking at people. he knows what to do now. he's only going to put people around him that will agree. at the right time, they basically helped align with donald trump. he's basically going to put the opposite of it in. they were looking at the one

that said he doesn't care about the constitution. by the way, this is what they actually have from the department of justice. it is striking. he can demand that they do something. that's why i look at my democratic friends. be careful going after it. the supreme court has been held from these democratic norms. they are trying to keep that institution, even if you disagree with the policy coming out. we may have to weigh in on the supreme court under donald trump. it is a very frightening possibility. make sure that you vote. as much as i would love to have a third party, i'm concerned about third parties in this election. i'm going to vote for president joe biden, but they are going to take people like me, and get people that are not ready. that is very dangerous. the good news is, we could get

through this. i think 2028 is going to get marvelous. i think it is going to be an amazing presidential year. i think a new america is going to bloom from this. new generation, new ideas, all new candidates. >> that is a big if. >> new york times, came out a couple of weeks ago. right now, donald trump, is winning all of them. >> i'm looking at president joe biden, fans, that are looking very uneventful. people i know, they are talking about voting for donald trump. >> i don't know why. there is something going on underneath. it means we have to be on the offense on this. i think president joe biden, will do a good job looking at democracy being on the line.

>> democracy, in its most fundamental state, is the person with the most votes that wins. we haven't seen that. >> is the electoral college broken? is this against democracy? >> the problem, is the constitutional amendment. we don't live in a time where news travels. something happens. we are looking at the speed of light. a president is not the president of different states now. they are president of the country. this is the general vote. we are a long way off. >> this is not from the democrats. president joe biden, with his age, he's very close to the same age as donald trump. that is his vulnerability. is there anyone else out there

that will want donald trump as the next president from president joe biden? >> we are trying to look at chris christie. he is a truth teller. on the democratic side, i don't know the candidates. obviously, you are interested within the mix. i didn't understand why he went to china. they are trying to confuse them a little bit. there is actually a lot of talent on the democratic side. i think there is a lot of talent. i think donald trump has been disqualified. truly, they are looking at this from the ideas. i think the democrats have a fairly strong bench. at least in congress, the one things that republicans did, it returns them to the leadership position. go and get the chairman of the

committee for six years. as long as it is the next person in order, you have competed to be determined. that is beneficial to the democratic party to do that. >> i love this quote in your book. that's why i wrote it down. these are just words on paper. laws, are not dedicated to the rule of law. you are held accountable by a public that believes that oath smatter. also will matter more than tribalism, or scoring other points. we have demands and other politicians. all of these matter. >> bottom line, d.c. is not going to look at what we are in. ultimately, they will do whatever they need to do for the re-election. that is something i'm cynical in.

people don't go to d.c. with a moral compass. they just go and they try to get re-elected their moral compass comes from the demands of the people that put them in. if they have the moral compass, then they will act like that. just as the american people, if we get bought into the internet, or what is on the conservatives, we are looking at serious cut discussions. if we don't honor the oath, then this is the thing. i think people, beyond 99% of the republicans, they are disqualified in my mind. this is maybe 100%. no matter what the supreme court says, none of that actually works unless we have that contract that we were talking about earlier. these are the voting things. we understand that laws work.

we are going to obey a law because we have decided that society will obey the laws. that is what that oath is. you are committing that basic structure of government. we are just going to act accordingly. there is no law that you are going to put down that is going to stop that. that is what we have to look at. >> this is california. it is going to vote the credit for the president. as a final question before we opened it up, what can people in california do to help with the presidential election? >> that is obviously important. the one thing i would say, is take the weight of the world that we are trying to carry with all the bad stuff happening, and just put it down. that doesn't mean disengage,

that means that i am telling you that because we are carrying that weight. put it down. love your family. it is okay. they are not going to bite. put that down so that you stay engaged. stay empathetic, and you can actually be effective. the most important thing, we know how the election is going to go. that doesn't mean we are not impacted. of course, you have that within senators and congressmen. they are holding him accountable. >> we are one week away from big thanksgiving times, where it brings family together. the last few years, politics

have been big providers. even in your family, you have been disowned. what will thanksgiving be like at your home this week? >> mine will be great. i don't give a rats [ bleep ] about that, honestly. i really don't. i have forgiven them just for myself. it is always important to do that. i have zero desire to make up for it. that is on them. i'm not the [ bleep ] in the situation. my immediate family of course, is great. i would say this when it comes to thanksgiving. most people have this problem. it's going to take everyone, and put it in the health zone. it is great if you love this person. we all do it.

once you can do that, you are looking at other agreements. you enjoy being around each other. it is a problem in this country that we are looking at. we are separating ourselves in other groups of people that we are saying we needed left and right. >> this gentleman says, one of my biggest disappoint us, is with all of the ex-military participants. i would like to thank you restoring my faith in fellow veterans. what are your thoughts? >> that is really well done as well. the last institution and government, that is essential. i knew that january 6th was going down. this is the national guard, and the other federal forces. it was nice to know that they

were going to come in and restore order. states government that needs to include things like proud boys needs to include light papers, which i don't even understand fully what they are. but those groups that to overthrow the government. and then the other thing like when people come home from military, like being a a guy and being at war is like it feels like the height of like what you are built to do military service, like being a guy and being at war is like -- feels like the height of what you are built to do. and i got it. like you are fighting for your country, you are fighting with your brothers and sisters, and then you come home and it is

like you will never reach that high again ever, no matter what you do. and that is good, but -- and so, i think a lot of people would come back feeling kind of hopeless or feeling like they don't have a mission, and then somebody comes along -- it's the same way gains recruitment they put their arm around them and say we are going to give you a purpose. by the way, your government is under attack might want to keep fighting for americans? here is what we have got to do. and i think that is a big problem, people don't have a en mission after the military. >> i feel the middle is where most of america is, and that is also where i feel national politics is and the general position on many issues, yet the loudest voices of the democratic party and the republican party push agendas on the extremists of both sides. how can a centrist candidate or centrist positions get traction? that is a good question because i actually agree with the spirit i think most americans are moderate, generally. the problem is in a two party

system, it has boiled down our o understanding of issues to two positions. let's take the issue of abortion. there is pro-life and pro- choice. actually, that is totally wrong. there are actually like 50 positions on abortion, just so you guys know. are you for a van at this point? same with guns, samewith taxes, same with every issue. but we have been ingrained to believe there are only two sides, so that is a disadvantage, for instance with creating a new party. so, within the parties, i think structurally, a big change would be something -- you guys do jungle primary is here, which i think is really good your election system is good on that. the other thing is vote in a primary. i have an organization, country first, and in north carolina, we were focusing on turning

democrats out to vote in the republican primary in madison hawthorns district, because we said, look, you are going to have a republican representative, right? you can either just vote for the democrats or whatever or you can vote for somebody that is not madison hawthorne. those are ways you can make a difference. >> [ applause ] >> so, i think if you are running for office and you are a moderate, be a moderate and express to people what you believe, but the real key on that is through the primaries. >> in your opinion, what percentage of the republican congress truly believe in trump as being good for our country? short of them being voted out and some of them are in very protected gerrymandering districts. is there any hope that they will truly see what is truly good for the country? >> oh, great question. t so, i think since this last election, there are actually people that ran because they

believed donald trump was a real god and some of them got elected. so, outside of that, the people that i served with, if you put them all on cia truth serum, there is not a single person that i think truly believes the election was stolen. there are only a few that may be believed donald trump was actually good for the country, but the rest of them like matt e gaetz and stuff, that guy, they're all about fame. that's all he wants, he wants to be famous. and i would almost rather be people that truly believe this in congress than the fact that there are people that don't that go along with it, because you now see how adolf hitler comes to power. how does he come into power? well, most of the people knew that he was crazy, but they were going to go along with it because they didn't want to lose their jobs. it's depressingly high, the number of people that know he is pretty bad for this country. what does the average american really need an ar-15 rifle for

personal use aside from the right to have one? >> no, i don't think. >> as a democrat, i consider myself fiscally conservative and socially liberal, i believe in a robust and healthy republican party where ideas can be shared and debated with democrats and vice a versa, in order to reach a compromise and pass a legitimate legislation. in the current political climate, i don't see republicans prepared to practice democracy in this manner. >> said no, they are not, they are just not. and here is the interesting thing. i told you, there is like a sick party and a healthy party right now. the thing i am worried about, and i want to make this point, is democrats have every right to kind of mimic what republicans are doing, you know, to be authoritarian, kind of like my way or the highway, i would just ask that they don't come because right now,

it is the only party that is actually holding up that flame of democracy. and so, keep holding that flame. becauset if the democratic part is succumbs to the anger that the republican party has, i don't know how you come back from that, i don't know if you do point so, in terms of the compromise, yeah, i don't think in the next year or so there is going to be any compromises like that. i will say to joe biden's credit, because i voted for a lot of this stuff, he has actually been one of the most successful presidents in terms of passing things. he doesn't get credit for it, but like i was only republican to vote for the chips act. it sounds weird. i voted for it. the republicans basically wrote the chips act. then when biden decided to go with it, they turned against it. that's what happened. i voted for the infrastructure bill, that kind of love. i think there is still room to get stuff like that done, but i think we have to get through another election cycle. but ladies and gentlemen, listen, that that has got to be

dealt with. we spent more this year on interest on the debt than on the military, which is a very frightening thing to think about. people tell me all the time, we spend too much on the military, i disagree, but i get the point. right now, we spend $800 billion on interest, which is a pointless expenditure. it's not's, the priorities are nuts. >> gentleman says, when i immigrated to the u.s. in the '80s, i was in awe of how the government works. i watched the debate from both sides, and when a bill passed, both sides acknowledged each other's efforts, and acknowledged that at the end of the day, they were working for the american people. i thought to myself, many countries in the world should learn from this. now i watch c-span and i'm not so sure. how has all of this impacted our reputation globally? >> okay, so i will answer that

question, then i want to hit you with something else. it is definitely hurting. this is something i would need 30 minutes to get into that and talk about, but i would just touch on it very quickly. i think america's mission in es the world is to be an example of self-governance to billions of people that don't have what we have, but are desperate for it. the veiron curtain came down because the third-generation had seen enough of america and decided they wanted that, right? we change lives, not just our own lives, we change lives around the world. yes, it's taken a hit, and it is very sad. but i said this kind of off-the- cuff on the very hefirst hearin on the january 6th thing, democracies are defined by the ideas. i mean, france has a riot every week, right?ly the yellow vest riot, then orange vest, then the purple hat riot, whatever. but you know, they are a healthy democracy. likely had an insurrection that was a really bad day and we were in a really bad moment.

what will define us historically is how we come back from the spring do we take inventory of this moment and do we make that like the low point, or do we just feel like it is too hard and we just give up and it gets worse? that is what is yet to be written. i will say that every generation in america has actually left the next generation better off than there is, and i don't think we are going to be the first generation to do the opposite, but that has yet to be written. so, i think the reputation has been hit, but i think we still can come out of this actually i have even a better reputation if we get this right. >> in an interview, you said the republican party is pretty messed up right now and i have been part of it. i am not going to sit here and say i didn't contribute at all to the slide of the republican party. any particular regrets you might share with us? >> yeah, i mean, i have regrets, i voted against the first impeachment, which i

regret point you know, like yeah, there is stuff like that i can look back on. i think it is important if you're going to talk about your prescription for the party, to admit your role in it, and i think the problem we have now is, you know, with all the people that are in power and donald trump, if i come out and admit what i did was wrong, instead of people listening, they are just going to be like you, you, you -- yeah, i get it. but i can look back and say there are a few things. but i will also say to my credit, it sounds weird to say that i was probably the most outspoken member of congress against donald trump for his entire four years, which leads to another thing where he was very obsessed with me because he couldn't win me over fully and he couldn't figure out why. but yeah, i certainly have some regrets.yo >> two more questions, here is one that says, um, and the person stresses, this is very hypothetical. let's say you were invited to

mar-a-lago. >> [ laughter ] >> and you had the chance to say a few words directly to donald trump, what would those words be? >> i mean, it is not something i haven't said to him anyway, let me make this him anyway, family-friendly. >> [ laughter ] >> i would call him a d bag. t i would just tell him that he has got to live with the fact that, you know, if i couldn't like appeal to him, which i couldn't, i would just tell him he has to live with the fact that his name will be seen as a stain on history. he has to understand that. people are not going to look back at donald trump with any affection, there are not going to be statues built to him, there is not going to be a trump library, not going to be a trump highway, because he is going to be seen as a national

embarrassment. and he has a chance to fix that, because he could come out and admit everything he did and tried to make amends. he won't. but ghe will be -- his memory will be a complete joke for this country. >> in the book, he does use the clinical term -- >> yeah. >> [ laughter ] >> final question, i am sort of combining a few together, and it is asking for comments about the candidates running on the republican side, and lastly, somebody asks, joe manchin -- it is just a question mark. >> welcome on the republican side, i mean, i think there are three people left really. and that is there is trump, there is nikki haley, and there is chris christie, and each of them represent a certain part of the party. obviously, trump is trump. haley represents kind of the

establishment, the old establishment lane. but it is like the ones that went along with trump, never really liked him, kind of went along with it to save the party. and then chris christie is like my guy. the ones that are just like, we have had enough. we are going to drop the grenade. so, i think those three are the ones that are left, and i actually want to tell you folks, i think that donald trump goes to jail. i think there is a good possibility that this spring, the most valuable player on the generator six committee was mark meadows, because he gave us some text messages, then quit cooperating. but those text messages actually gave us the entire road map for the rest of the investigation. he is not cooperating. so, every time donald trump went to the bathroom, like mark meadows knows. he knows everything he said or thought or anything, he is not o cooperating. when this is exposed, i do think there is a possibility mo that it is so bad and so

terrible that trump collapses at that moment. it is possible. i have predicted it before, so let's be clear. what i do think the evidence against donald trump is going to be so stark that that would be the moment where nikki haley or maybe even chris christie, if people are ashamed enough, can come back. but that is the optimistic view. it is not what i put my money on, but it is a possibility. in terms of joe manchin, look, i like that guy personally. he has got a very big ego, let's be honest. and any other time, if this was against clinton again, i would be like, yeah, let's let joe run, because bush and clinton are not that far apart. joe manchin is going to do is give disaffected republicans a place to go that is not biden go and that is not good for biden. he needs those republicans. antelope, what if joe manchin wins a couple of states? well, you know what happens, it goes to the house of

representatives to vote. if joe manchin wins two states and nobody gets to 270, the house of representatives votes for the president. and by the way, it is not like, okay, the democrats have the majority, so biden wins. it votes by state. whoever has the most in the state, that state both that way. republicans controlled 26 delegations, democrats controlled 24.' that was the whole plan on generally six, by the way, is to trigger the constitution to get the house to vote for the president and trump would have won '24 point. that's why it joe manchin can doing this if he is actually successful. >> well, with that -- thank you, congressman. >> thanks, everybody, thank you. >> thank you all for coming. like the book is fantastic, you're going to love the book.