>> we welcome back they can to meeting at her -- editor with the national journal. of the national journal has covered eight presidencies. the presidential coverage includes eight years with the ronald reagan administration. get set for we later today. what are your most immediate memories of nancy reagan. guest: i always thought that he never would have been president without her. i think history is going to conclude he was a pretty good he was laid back.

she was sometimes anxious. she was also very protective of him. i am one of those who believe he probably would not have been president without her, without her determination, without her drive, without her pushing him and focusing him. and taking care of him. i will tell you a very quick story, one of my favorite stories. in the summer of 1983, midway through his second term, an old friend came to visit them in the family quarters of the white house. he needed an answer whether reagan was going to run for reelection in 1984. at the time he was 72 years old. years after the assassination attempt against him.

nutshell, first leg, her power, her determination to take care of him. amebody once said they were team. and her job was to protect him from everyone else. she did that better than anyone else on the planet. and: and address ronald nancy reagan made together, the first ever national live address where she talked about her "just say no" campaign. what prompted her to get behind that? ♪ guest: every first lady wants a cause. michelle obama is working on childhood obesity and nutrition. up about been beaten all of her clothes, her spending habits and things like that.

she wanted to do something that was more noble and she knew there was an epidemic of drugs and she wanted to do something about that. host: how did your perception as a reporter change? guest: i had been covering the white house a long time and i covered campaign. i only covered the reagan camp for two weeks. stories thatll the she is the power behind the throne, if you don't want to get into the middle of -- you didn't want it between her and nick -- between ronald and nancy reagan. that in the early going were some of the first signs of ,er clout with her husband

ronald reagan's first white house chief of staff's appointment was not popular among the californians. is a loyalist among loyalists. nancy reagan concluded he was not right guy for white house chief of staff. jim baker, for a lot of the -- who a lot of the californians didn't like, because he worked against reagan in 1980, they thought he was a pragmatist. in this case and showed me nancy reagan was the pragmatist. -- it showed me nancy reagan was the pragmatist. host: a veteran washington journalist who covered the white house for newsweek.

your reflections and comments are welcome. keith is a democratic caller in chicago. is a sadertainly it day for many on the conservative side. and all first ladies deserve respect. would like to make a comment and ask a question. so many of us in the middle on , theset just remember people did nothing about a growing aids crisis.

reagan never said the words. .nd they didn't take action friends.s lost how do you explain the disconnect between nancy reagan and ronald reagan, and they are two adult children? their biological children? -- and their two adult children? their biological children? it was set upon ron's mother's death, the best thing i could say about her is she loved her husband. not that she loved her family, not that she loved the country, she loved ronald reagan. host: let's hear from tom defrank.

guest: i would never presume to get in the middle of families. i have aically 20-year-old son who was a sophomore in college. families are tricky. family had all sorts of other problems internally. there was a lot of estrangement between one son, michael, who was adopted. sibling who was the offspring of ronald reagan's first marriage, actress jane marriage tost actress jane wyman. their family situation was tricky. agos told this a long time and i observed it in those eight

years, every politician is centric circles of , aides. advisers, agent the central circle was ronald and there wasan, no room, including children. over the years there were stresses and strains in that family situation, like pretty much every -- pretty other family and the planet. host: our coverage from the ronald reagan presidential library and museum in simi valley california. they look at the ventura firefighters -- a look at the ventura county firefighters. nancy pitt -- nancy reagan's body has been lying in repose

since wednesday. james? caller: good morning to your guest and to c-span. i look at the nancy reagan's life and some snippets. african-american, what stands out in my mind, i wonder what folks are saying about michelle obama. she spent a quarter of a million dollars upgrading the chinaware in the white house. ronald reagan kicked off his visitingial campaign -- of whereworse three civil rights workers were murdered. thank you.

yout: i don't agree with about alzheimer's in the white house. did youple ask me, when ever suspect he had alzheimer's? i didn't suspect until a year after he left office when i had an off the record rick -- off the record interview with him. there are friends who say he has always been a little forgetful. , mrs.o your first comment obama would probably be peter upon that just like nancy reagan was. the notion anti-reagan got a free ride on all of that is not correct.

as a matter of fact, one of the reasons she was very serious about just say no and other things, in addition to it being on the merits for her what she was totally getting beat up on wanted to don and something to soften her image. host: the assassination attempt happenedry early -- very early in his presidency. the first lady played a bigger role after the 81 shooting. it's part of our american presidents series, discussing the aftermath of the shooting. .> we got to the hospital and they looked at me and said, he has been shot.

there were police all around and a lot of noise. there was one desk and one share. i kept wanting to see ronnie. they kept saying, he's alright, but you can't see him. i said, if he's all right, why can't i see him? he was lying there with that thing on his face to help him breathe.

>> did the two of you ever talk about the danger you faced? nancy: you never thought about it. you never think about that. you never think he's going to be shot ever. guest: i remember that day very well. nancy reagan was totally dramatized -- totally traumatized by those events. i agree she became more protective. this was not a political event, this was taken care of her husband -- taking care of her husband. was the saying nancy ultimate body man, saying this as a tribute to her. there was nobody more ferocious in taking care of reagan.

this was at the white house correspondents association dinner. president reagan was to my left, mrs. reagan was to my right. the association was trying to get president reagan's attention, and he was as close as you and i are here. reagan zoned out. the president of the association not taking the cue, mrs. leaned in close and pokemon the right forearm -- and poked him on the right forearm. it was a small thing, by the luck of the drop i was sitting between the two of them on the dais.-- on the it is inside of how protective

she was on big things, small things, and certainly the aftermath. host: let's hear from our public in line. -- our republican line. caller: [indiscernible] it was entrapment. host: that is a little off-topic. we will go next to michigan, tim on the independent line. good morning. to me this is all wasted time. did not do anything to make the government function

and we could be spending more time on pertinent problems and issues that we face today. that is my comment. guest: first ladies are potentially the most powerful unelected people in the government. they have a portfolio without specific duties. that case, the one thing every first lady has in common called pillowally talk. they can influence their husbands throughout the day and put ideas in their head. i covered eight of them. i don't agree with the notion

and other reagan first ladies were a waste of time. >> where would you grade her as a role to an advisor and taking on special projects or causes, such as the noted anti-drug campaign. >> that was an important contribution to the system. very fervent for stem cell research. of ran into the face republican orthodoxy. i think she was pretty strong about that. in terms of her influence on her husband, she was not that much of a policy person. she really wanted to see the united states reach a deal with

the soviet union. i think she was in the majority. she was coming at it from a different angle. his advisers thought it would be good for the world. she thought that would be good for the world. it was the last thing standing in the way of ronald reagan getting a nobel peace prize. i don't feel like dabble in policy much. she demanded to see his schedule and if he traveled to hard there would suddenly be proposed events out of town on that schedule. goes back to my point of being the ultimate body man or body person.

she wasn't afraid. beginning atinder 1:30 eastern from the presidential library and museum on c-span radio. first lady michelle obama will be there. first lady rosalynn carter will be there. i understand former first lady will be there at the funeral as well. let's go to tennessee and it is an on the republican line. guest: -- caller: she ordered china because there was not enough for a state dinner. it was not paid for by the taxpayer. it was a war -- was paid for by the snap foundation.

airs equal to one hour on one. howink you need to add up much the obama is flying on two separate airplanes every time they go on a vacation. her china did not cost the taxpayer anything. >> let me just point out and i have heard questions like this , if people50 years knew how much it cost to transport presidents and first ladies, there would be a national scandal. it is all hidden in various department budget. every president and first lady i

have covered in recent years has done the same. i remember as recently as president george h w bush and barbara bush. at some point afterwards it was the clintons during the clinton administration. thes no different than clintons and george w. bush and laura bush before that. i'm not the one who said she spent $1 million on china. that is no different than their predecessors. >> another reporter giving her and memories. susan page of usa today, nancy reagan gave the personal touch

and usa today.com. this time it is riverside california, ginger. looks like we lost ginger. the final thoughts with funeral this afternoon of the nancy reagan's legacy? guest: she was tougher than her husband. she channeled that toughness into taking care of him. one of the most celebrated instances is she did not get with the former treasury secretary, the former ceo of merrill lynch. reagan came from the treasury to the white house chief of staff. nancy reagan decided early on that reagan thought that was

chief, not staff. a very powerful job, but it is still staff. she thought reagan was not serving her husband's interest. she was enraged after a comment about cleaning up her husband's loopers and gas. - and gap -- husbands bloopers and gaffes. thought he was not serving her husband well. one of my favorite quotes from eight years of the reagan's came from a senior aide. the senior aide said to me it is reagan --me, nancy save for me nancy reagan -- safer for me nancy reagan doesn't know who i am. ve was part of a

at the ronald reagan presidential library in simi valley california. first lady michelle obama, former president george w. bush and laura bush are among the dignitaries attending. nextreagan will be buried to her husband at the library. coverage tonight at 8 p.m. eastern. >> our road to the white house coverage will continue tonight. senator bernie sanders holds a rally in summit illinois. 182 delegates are up for grabs on tuesday. in the rally at argo community high school is live on c-span two.

>> campaign 2016 continues on tuesday with primaries taking place in missouri, illinois, and swing states. live coverage of the election the reaction begins at 7 p.m. eastern, taking you on the road to white house on c-span, c-span radio, and c-span.org. and leading up to next week's tuesday primaries, former republican candidate ben carson endorsed his former opponent donald trump at a west palm beach florida event today. [applause] donald: thank you very much. last night's debate was fun, it was different. there were a lot of good feelings in that room and i think it is something that the republican party needed.

today is something very special, because ben carson was respected by everybody. everybody wanted his endorsement and everybody loves him and truly admires what he has done. his life has been an incredible life. it adds total credence to what i'm trying to do and to what we are all trying to do. i want to introduce dr. penn -- dr. ben carson, a special person, a special man. dr. carson: the whole process of getting involved in the political process was something i never particularly intended to do. but i listened to the people. it continues to be all about

people. it is not about the republican party or the democratic party, it is about the people of america. and when i have been seeing recently is political operatives and parties once again trying to assert themselves and trying to thwart the will of the people. i find that is an extraordinarily dangerous place to be right now. peoplethe voice of the to be heard, i want the political process to play out in the way that it should play out, and i think the republican party particularly would be very wise not to., let's stop this guy and promote this guy policy, would rather start thinking about what are the things that are going to be helpful for america a echo we are in the process of going off the deep then, we are going off

the cliff. a house divided against itself cannot stand. we are failing to take a leadership position on the world's stage. some people said, why would you get behind a man like donald trump? i will tell you why. first, i have come to know donald trump over the last few years. a very intelligent man that cares deeply about america. there are two different donald trump's. very the one that is cerebral. you can have a very good conversation with him. trump you arenald going to start seeing more of right now.

he said terrible things about you, how can you support him? -- weof all, he buried buried the hatchet, that was political stuff. that happens in american politics, the politics of personal destruction and all that is not something i particularly believe in. i do recognize it is part of the process. we move on because it is not about you, not about mr. trump, it is not about america. i found there is a lot more philosophically and spiritually than there ever was. the that. that surprised me more than anything. personsize how some image can be distorted.

i understand it better than anybody. those who are helping that individual, i think you are going to be -- i think we are going to be cognitive -- be as ative -- be cooperative nation. our strength is our unity. people are always trying to stir up strife, and i'm appealing to some degree to the media as well. should be interested in strengthening our nation, not creating divisions.

if we start having that american attitude and spirit that makes us great, that took us to the pinnacle at no time at all, believe me, everybody will benefit from that. we are also talking about how can we make america a place that is successful for everybody. we will be competing with china .t 1.4 billion we have to develop all of our people. we are not doing people a favor by patting them on the head and saying we will take care of all your needs. what we need to be doing instead is concentrating on mechanisms to allow those people to climb out of the state of dependency. that is what america is about. it is not about dependency. and it is not about socialism. seem -- i think a lot

of young people think socialism is being concerned about other people. you let them take care of you, but you give them all your money, you give them control of your life. small groups of elites at the top controlling everything. a rapidly diminishing middle expended middle class. donald trump talked about making america a great. i'm going to be helping him. we have some incredibly smart people. when we begin to use those smart people effectively to accomplish the goals of america you are

going to see us once again. a much higher pinnacle than we have ever achieved before. thank you very much. [applause] donald: one of the things i realized is his great love is education. he was telling me things about so right ond it is and so important. good for our country. i just said, you have to get involved with us on education. our education, as you heard, were ranked at the bottom of the pack worldwide. we spend the most money.

so then is going to get very much involved -- so ben is going to get very much involved. -- then wasa class in a class by himself. ben was in a class by himself. he's a friend, and i really appreciate the endorsement, thank you. any questions? of all, did you guys gently or firmly apologize for the nasty things you said on the trail? donald: it's politics, it's tough stuff. i used to think real estate in manhattan was tough. this is a tough business. have been ings politics -- lot of things happen in politics.

>> has there been any promises you made in terms of running mate? donald: no. he didn't say, would you do this, would you do that? he just wants to help. i don't think there has ever been anything like it. --is on the cover of a free cover of every magazine. a big big to have part. maybe he doesn't know this yet, but he's going to have a big part. that kind of talent we want to keep. a is dr. carson playing it principal role -- when he says there are two donald trumps, do you agree with that characterization? donald: i think there is the public version, the people see that. i don't know what they see exactly, but it seems to have

worked over my lifetime. it is probably different than the personal donald trump. perhaps there are two donald trumps. somebody that is a thinker. i am a big anchor. typically they have worked out. the theme i have for this entire campaign is make america great again. we have so many problems, whether it is military, trade, borders, terrorism. we have so many problems. debt, goingk at our to $21 trillion in a short fashion. to straighten things out. >> policy for politics? donald: dr. carson is both. he was always strong on policy.

>> you have been talking about unity on the campaign trail. can you fill us in on any outreach effort you are making to capitol hill? we have been called by the biggest people in politics, the biggest people in republican politics. paul ryan reached out. terrific guy, i have always liked him. not necessarily agree on everything. i think he is going to have his views and i think certain things will change. but paul ryan reached out and we had a great conversation. i see people covering one person, saying donald trump must be stopped and the other day he says, donald we have to come together. we have been contacted by the is

people in republican politics. they see what is happening. we are getting millions and millions of people, additional people, people the republican party has never had any book -- never had before. the biggest we in politics is what is happening. we are having millions of people come up. they register republican. i have had so many people tell me, i have never -- i have never voted republican in my life, i left the democrats i can vote for you. ts, democrats, millions of people more. the republicans now want to embrace it. >> last night in the debate you talked about potentially sending 30,000 troops to the middle east. is more troops than george bush sent to afghanistan. donald: we have to get rid of

isis. it is going to be up to the generals. the generals are going to play their own game. i want to find out we have the right general. we don't want to have the loan general talking to us, but we are going to find the right guy or person. them are you prepared for a long glory echoed down -- >> i you prepared for a long war? -- are you prepared for a long war? donald: no, going to be very quick. -- i have such respect for ben. the cnn poll came out, 49-15. during this whole --ng nationally, ultimately ultimately it is probably the most important. cnn comes out 49 for trump and 15 -- i think the two others

were at 15. the one person who kept sneaking , i couldn't lose him, was dr. ben carson. i cannot lose that guy. ira member one it was 28 and ted was 18 and the next week it was like 22. i said what is happening here you go i don't like this. and then i had a pretty good poll where he took the lead -- where i took the lead. i believe nbc and wall street , -- you are so nice, thank you. sitting next to david. now she is embarrassed. i just want to thank you. there andn would be then we had one poll where ben

went ahead. said this guy was unbelievable. then i started going after been. ben.ing after i was impressed with the way he fought back, because he fought back with silence and strength. he has great confidence with himself. i could lose him, i couldn't shake him. up so study, up so solid. i fought back and i hit him hard. he handled it with such dignity, i friendly thought it was amazing. i gained a lot of respect for him. >> you talked that the two -- about the two donald trumps. when you say things like i want

face,ch a protest in the is it just politics, are you playing a character? donald: it is politics. let me tell you, we have had some violent people protesters -- violent people protesting. i get the biggest crowds by far, no contest. the one thing good about protesters is you have to going to these massive stadiums with putting 5000, 30,000 people -- the cameras never turn -- with 25,000, 30,000 people -- the cameras never turn. a protesterere is they turn. it is a negative instead of turning -- instead of a positive. it was a guy who was very loud and started swinging at the

audience and the audience swung back. it was veryt appropriate. he was swinging, he was hitting able, and the audience hit that. and that is what we need in the bit more of, and i'm not talking about protesting. this is a guy who should not have been allowed to do what he did. the police were very restrained. >> does the rnc ever come to you -- did they ever come to you and say this debate needs to be [inaudible] donald: i think it was time. i said before, it was a very elegant debate. it has gotten great reviews as a debate.

i refuse to say time magazine, fox at 91%. we had a debate last night and i think i did what i had to do. we have enough debates in my opinion. ,hese debates have been like vince should have put them on because they were -- vince mcmahon should have put them on because they were wwe. candidates didn't speak about it, but it morphed into a dignified debate. >> you said in the debate last night you haven't decided whether you are going to accept -- whether you are going to raise money for the general election. doesn't it undermine your pledge to voters?

donald: if anything the party will be taking money. it is up to the party. that is up to them, not up to me. i self-funded my campaign. i brought in $60 million at a minimum. i am somebody who is a business person and even when i donate, the money is sort of irrelevant but i have a natural instinct to be careful. that is the way we have to be with our country. i expect to have tremendous amounts of money in this by the time we finish. you would know better than me, maybe 30 million dollars, maybe more, but people are in for $150 million and they are out of the race. i am proud of the race we run. i know the system better than anybody. i was on the other side of the system. thesehey talk about all

different things, i have been there. and i know it from the real side, not from the, politician side. -- not from the politician side. >> i want to go back to what dr. carson said this morning about the two donald trump's. people know you and like you because of your public persona, is that the real donald trump? >> it is an interesting question, i don't like to over our -- over analyze myself. i try to be who i am, i try to be honest. i know the politically correct business that are than anybody. we are at a point where we have to start being truthful with our country. like the question on islam, i'm answering the question. i could have given an answer that like to anderson cooper and

nobody would have been talking about it. but there is a problem and we have to find out what the problem is. i want to answer questions honestly and forthrightly. even if i'm on a big stage, i have to answer honestly. yes, go ahead. them along the same lines, why are there two donald trump's? do you make a conscious decision to behave differently? donald: i think there is one donald trump. you have all of this and you have somebody else that sits and reads and thinks, and i am a. perhaps people don't think of me that way. i thought it was nice what been said, because it is another side of me. i know what is happening.

>> if you can elaborate on that. >> i'm going to work with then -- donald: i'm going to work with ben unsullied different on so manyen different things. i was most impressed with his views on education. it is a strength and is a tremendous strength. is going to be involved with us as long as he wants to be. this toned about down version of what we saw last night, what dr. carson referred to as your cerebral side. do you plan to tone down your performances? didn't go there as a to own to down person. whatever happens happens, you

have to be able to swing with the punches. was hit inow -- if i would hit back. there are those people that said it doesn't matter, let them do whatever they want, stand there and take it. substantial lead, don't do anything. that., i can't do when somebody hits i get back. i thought they were very respectful. i thought it was a very elegant debate. felt weaid earlier you had enough debates, there is another scheduled on march 21. is your suggestion, guys, we have had enough? donald: how me times do you have to give the same answer to the same question? same answer, same question, same

people. i thought cnn did a fantastic job. i thought jake was a great moderator. offas a nice way to finish the debate season. getting bigare ratings and the democrats aren't getting ratings at all and our debates are getting a gratings. -- are getting bigger ratings. the networks very much wanted. been a phrase you have been using, you said embrace it to the republican party. forward and the contest starts to limit, what are you going to do? are you surrounding yourself with more people endorsing? saying theas republican party should come

together and embrace these millions of people that are going down and voting. south carolina, new hampshire, no matter what it is it is the millions and millions of people. uphave some states that are 102% from four years ago. there is something happening that is beautiful to see. in many cases, as i said last night, these are cases we have never heard of. people 40, 50,ut 60, 70 years old, so many people saying i have never voted before and they have a trump shirt on. they never put on a political shirt in their lives. they never had confidence in the people they were voting for. literally when i shake hands with people or sign autographs, people are saying i have never voted before, but i am so proud to be voting. some people go early voting.

what i said is the establishment , if there is such a thing, i'm not sure there is, i said embrace it instead of fighting it. fight me instead of these people like club for growth. these are people who came to my office asking for $1 million. i don't even know who they are. i said let me think about it, then i found out who they are, i said i'm not going to waste $1 million. they went negative on me. if i gave them $1 million they would be doing negative ads on the. -- i see negative ads and they are all wrong. we should embrace it and we will have the victory but the republican party has never had before. i will win michigan.

to ink i have a chance new york. the six states you have to win. florida, pennsylvania, ohio. if you lose one of them it is over for the republican party. much more difficult for someone to get elected from the republican party. i have a lot of states that aren't even in play for anyone else. i own states that -- i will get states that are unbelievable, that are unthinkable for the republican party. them a you said dr. carson will be handling education. a lot of people are read about common core. the states to handle that. how would dr. carson deal with these issues? donald: he knows what is going

on. i am opposed to common core. -- ben feels the same way. there is great love and education. when you serve those schools with the teachers and instead of some bureaucrat in washington, you are going to do a lot better. >> [inaudible] donald: i have not yet. what is your reaction to the news that mitch mcconnell is advising multiple senator republicans on running away from you if you weren't the nominee? >> those that are in washington right now are disconnected from the republican base and the electorate. is that who you see as potentially dividing, uniting the electorate, and the party

leadership. donald: there is a big -- big disconnection from the so-called leadership. there is a big disconnect from the so-called leadership and the people. the people are important. that is why i am standing up here today. republican party lost its way. in the last election they should have won easily. in my opinion, much easier than the one we have coming out. the republican party lost its way. call it a miracle, call it whatever you want to do. millions and millions of people pouring into the republican party, not to the democrats, but the republican party, these were people disenfranchised.

these are people that say jobs go to china. every other country in the world other than us. it is all going to end. >> what are you going to say? about thehear democratic voters. one of the things we are going to do is we are going to get so many democrats. it has already been proven. so many democrats have signed registration forms, they said they have never done this in their lives. they had an expression for reagan years ago. going to get tremendous numbers of democrats. i have people in hollywood saying everybody out there is voting for you, but they are not going to admit it.

i have a tough stance on crime, i have a tough stance on borders, they all know i am right. they are going to vote for trump. >> if this comes down to a convention fight, what are you doing? donald: i hope we are going to do it without having to go down into the convention. i set it strongly, whoever has the most delegates at the end of this trip should win. i'm hoping to prepare. i think ohio should be great for me, we are losing tremendous numbers of jobs. i think i will beat john kasich. john kasich has been an absentee governor. he lived in new hampshire. absolutelytie said john kasich was there much more than him. to otherch went

states, different states, very big in south carolina. didn't win in new hampshire, didn't win in again. -- win in michigan. if i don't winid michigan i will drop out, but michigan is his neighboring state. he was living there. john has some problems. he is very much in favor of transpacific partnership. that will be the destruction of ohio. the budget of ohio went up more than any budget in the entire united states. oil was lucky because under their ground, as opposed to some states where they don't have the oil. oil is going to have a lot of problems. one more, to more.

you are not going to be in salt lake city on march 21? donald: i didn't know we had our next debate. i thought the next debate was last night. this has been a ratings bonanza. debates if the networks agreed to give all of the money to the wounded warriors or the veterans. the ratings for the debates are through the roof. i think it is time to end the debates. >> [indiscernible] donald: i have been hearing from virtually anybody in the republican party and they are congratulating me. embrace it, these are not stupid people. to do, takegoing

millions of voters? people are telling me this every time, when , peopleto nevada working in the polling areas have been there for 25 years. then you have lines that are five blocks long for you go ahead. said trade isyou one of the areas in which you - [indiscernible] differld you say you from hillary clinton? donald: she doesn't have business instinct, she doesn't have the energy to get the right deals made. you need strength, you need stamina, you need a lot to get these deals done area to do these deals where they wrap them

up and put 12 countries in one, ttp has an example, i want individual trade deals with individual countries, some will be made so good, some countries treat us better than others. tpna will take advantage of -- of ttp. they are watching it so closely. i have so many friends in china. i amnot angry at china, angry at our people. we have a trade deficit with china, $500 billion. it is unsustainable. we are going to change our trade deals. we cannot become a great nation until we become rich again. we can't afford social security. there are so many things we can do. it is going to go quickly, too. your decision to endorse mr. trump or senator cruz, you said you were open to

endorse one of the two. why not senator cruz? dr. carson: we had a lot of excellent candidates. any of the 17 candidates who are running could have done a fine job. what will happen if the to succeedperative in their endeavor to stop donald trump. i think it will fracture the party irreparably. they will get to the supreme court picks. that is the big picture. it is not about me, it is not about mr. trump. i feel that mr. trump is willing

to do what needs to be done. and the political class. >> are there any remaining feelings. they have one duty as a christian. >> you said throughout your life god has jumped you into your most important decisions. this truly is an important decision, did god lead you to donald trump? >> i prayed about it a lot. i got a lot of indications, .eople talking to me saying i had this dream about u.n. donald trump. i also tend to think the way god speaks used by giving you wisdom. we allow this attempt to disrupt

the will of the people to be successful, they will fracture the party from that wreck sure the party -- that will fracture the party. the reason i say that is because hillary clinton was a great friend. she was on a first name races with him. the kind of things that are recommended, to fundamentally change this nation from the great success we have to a socialist country. dedicated to lucifer. -- the original radical who gained his kingdom. >> you talked about burying the hatchet, did you have any conversation with mr. trump?

did he ask you for your endorsement? dr. carson: he didn't specifically ask for an endorsement, but he did he was not aware of what was going on. >> why, why mr. trump over ted cruz? >> you set over a week ago today that you are endorsing -- it sounds in that intervening time, you have evolved and your central focus is the emphasis to stop donald trump has motivated you to endorse them. him. is that his policies or the people against him? dr. carson: it is about we, the people. we have to empower the people. that will not be done through politics as usual. be that republican politics as usual, or democrat politics as usual. it requires someone who was a

somef an iconoclast, but of west the ability to listen and make wise decisions. have a lot of evangelicals coming out to rallies. do you think those people will be representative of the american people, and do you think you can bridge the gap between evangelicals and people of color now that you are with donald trump? dr. carson: i hope we can bridge the gap with everybody. all the policies i have ever talked about, and mr. trump will be on board with this too, we talk about things that are good for everybody. not for this group or that group. the whole concept of picking and choosing winners and losers is something that is antithetical to what we believe.

that something would not happen with the donald trump administration. looking at ways to do things that benefit all americans, that create an equal playing field. equality of opportunity is what we are looking for. that does not mean that we are not sensitive to p[eeople who are downtrodden. we will be putting in place things that will allow those people to ascend. many people have been placed in a position of dependency for generations. they don't even recognize what is going on. we have to change that. >> dr. carson -- >> what are you doing to reverse the situation? we are fighting in the middle east and they are now in our neighborhoods. i will let mr. trump answer that. >> dr. carson, do you see a

future for yourself and politics? even if there were no promises made, would you be interested in serving in a potential trump administration? dr. carson: i'm interested in saving america. my concern is our posterity. all the people coming after us. we are destroying any possibility of the american dream for them with the policies we are doing. i would be very interested in ofping to achieve the goal saving america and making it great. >> you talk about -- dr. carson: i didn't notice it was you. the donald about trump we see in public and private. orry you for the american voters? fought on. trump have a number of issues. are we seeing a second

dr. carson with this endorsement? dr. carson: i don't think so. my point being is there is a different persona. people have gotten the impression that donald trump is, you know, this person who is not malleable, who does not have the ability to listen, and to take information in and to make wise decisions. that is not true. you might get that impression from looking at debates and looking at some of the public appearances, but he is much more cerebral than that. and a much more reasonable person than comes across. as you will know, because you have heard me talk about it a lot, in the media, they are very skillful at painting people certain ways. it may not be who that person is at all. that person can spend all of their time trying to change the media or they can just move

ahead. i think he has decided he will focus the oand attention on the american people, not so much on the media. i think that is the right way to do it. >> will you be hitting the campaign trail with him? dr. carson: absolutely. last question. being a part of a potential donald trump administration -- have you been promised anything? dr. carson: we have not talked specifically about a role other than being involved and helping formulate policies and trying to make america great. that is the real key. as was said by many, it is great, but it is nowhere near as great as it can be. a lot of the things that are in place and that have been in place and growing over the last to aecades have led us

place of incredible stagnation. we'll need to b don't need to b. if we begin to embrace those policies that will create the atmosphere for entrepreneurial risk-taking and capital investment, you will see an explosion like nothing you ever seen before. we simply have not been doing that. i don't think it will be that hard. i don't think donald trump thinks it will be that hard either. mr. trump: thank you all very much. great honor. go outside. we have coffee and drinks. enjoy yourselves. thank you. [applause]

>> we will have more coverage of donald trump tomorrow at a rally in ohio. meantime, the dayton daily news is reporting senator marco rubio is telling his supporters in ohio to vote for ohio governor john kasich in the states primary on tuesday. the story says the strategy comes from ohio being a winner take all state republican delegates and to try to stop mr. trump from reaching the 1237 delegates he needs to clinch the nomination. donald trump holds a rally in ohio just outside of dayton. that is coming up live saturday at 10 a.m. eastern on c-span. more road to the white house tonight with senator bernie sanders. you hold a rally in summit, illinois. it is scheduled to get underway from argo community high school

live at 9 p.m. eastern on c-span two. tomorrow, hillary clinton will be in st. louis. her campaign says she will talk about economic opportunity. live coverage begins at noon eastern here on c-span. >> campaign 2016 continues on tuesday with primaries taking place in missouri, illinois and ohio, north carolina and florida. live coverage of the election results, speeches and reaction begins at 7 p.m. eastern. taking you on the road to the white house on c-span, c-span radio and c-span.org. a discussion on efforts to combat the outbreak of the zika virus. it is spread by a particular kind of mosquito called -- only a handful of cases have been confirmed in the u.s. world health organization has declared a global emergency

because the spread of the virus in brazil has been accompanied by the rise of a number of children being born with unusually small heads. posted by the bipartisan policy center, the global u.s. coalition and the health institute, this event is one hour. >> producing an event on global health issues. the short answer is that pandemics and health threats have been allowed to fester long enough, spread globally, and become threats not just for wherever they started, but for our own u.s. national security.

it is a well-worn cliche in washington that washington never acts until a crisis forces hand. prevention is usually cheaper than intervention, and secondly, if you are dealing with a crisis, you tend to think that everything is unique, you are doing something for the first time is that of learning lessons from past examples. two recent reports highlight the importance of not waiting for crises to evolve and global health. the first is the case for strategic health diplomacy and accept that far, and the second but by the harvard global health institution looks that what we can learn from ebola, the pandemic we were dealing with last year. this year, and today, we are talking about zika virus, and hopefully we will learn from our esteemed panel about what lessons we can learn from past

interventions with a real threat is, and what the u.s. can be doing to help at that threat today. on our panel, starting on my left, we have a bbc senior adviser -- bpc advisory trade he worked at the department of health and services. next to him, ambassador carl hoffman, the president and ceo of a nonprofit global health organization. he served as ambassador. on the side, the director of the harvard global health institute advocates ely at the school public health. as moderator for discussion today, serving to try and tease out the difficult issues is the director of government relations for the u.s. global leadership coalition. thank you all for joining us, i

look forward to engaging discussion. thank you. >> thanks everyone for being here today. this is a really important conversation at a timely conversation we are going to be having. i just saw a report yesterday that 200 zika virus is -- 200 individuals within the u.s. have been identified as having the zika virus very most of those folks are in the southern states, florida, puerto rico. the really important conversation to not only discuss the virus, we learned from ebola, and how they can help us with future pandemics. i'm really excited to be here with our distinguished group of panelists. let me just set the stage quickly for you. over the last several months, the world has been watching and paying attention to the zika virus, which is spreading throughout central and south america.

it popped up here in the u.s. most worrisome is the potential link between the virus and the serious, sometimes deadly birth fax -- birth defects, such as microcephaly. the world has begun to respond to this. the u.s. government is ramping up its domestic preparedness and helping countries most affected by the disease. most everyone in this room knows that the administration were quested -- requested lebanon billion dollars -- $1.5 million to fight the zika virus. about 375 million dollars is for the state department and u.s. aid to really assist those countries most affected by it in central and south america. and our international organization, the world health organization, the pan-american health association is already working to combat the disease at its source.

two years ago, the world was facing a similar disease, countries in west africa were being decimated by ebola. the disease was running across borders. as easily as someone getting out and they're playing to the u.s., disease popped up here on our shores. the questions we need to ask today are quite simple. what lessons did we learn from ebola, and how would they help us respond to seek out with the next pandemic and how can we better utilize existing platforms and partnerships to build resilient health systems, so if at all possible, we are not dealing with emergency situations all the time? at of course, what more needs to be done today, tomorrow and next several months to combat the good -- zika virus. to help us unpack all of that, i'm really pleased to be here with everyone. we have microphones throughout the audience, it we are hoping for a dynamic conversation with you all.

and going to start out with a i'm going to start out with a couple of questions, and we will turn for you, just look for a microphone we get to that point in the conversation. you recently co-authored the report willie bullet change the game, 10 essential reforms for the next pandemic, here we are with the next pandemic. what were those key lessons, and how can they inform the zika virus strategy? >> thank all of you for being here. i'm excited to be here, a beastly, the ideal of his circumstances, is facing another pandemic when we had a panel about a year ago, 14 months ago, we thought this is not just about ebola, it's about preparing us for the next one. no one expected the next will be 14 months later. if you look at the global

response to ebola. the big lesson in my mind is that we failed miserably to do what we had all agreed we have plan in place for responding to pandemics like ebola. it didn't work. almost no part of it worked. the national systems that were supposed to have disease surveillance, public health response -- those didn't work. and the regional response from who, the regional office, that part didn't work very well. certainly the global response that was supposed to be cornered by who out of geneva failed miserably. the bottom line is that if we had responded even somewhat well based on a plan we had in place, it would have prevented 95% of the deaths that occurred in west africa. this was a preventable disaster.

it didn't work. the question is why and what are the big lessons we can learn. i have alluded to a few of them, and how to get into more details as we go on. at a high level, the key things are you need countries with basic health systems to be able to identify and respond to disease outbreaks. we are only as safe in america as the weakest country in the world in terms of having basic public health infrastructure. that is a lesson we learned 15 years ago with terrorism, or we learned that failed states can be -- for attacks that ultimately end up on our homeland. the bottom line is epidemics work very much in the same way. we need to think about where the vulnerable spots, because there are lots of them around the world. the second is we need a global system that responds effectively. you cannot prevent everyone. we recommended a series of reforms for who, we thought hard about should we just recommend that we get rid of who or stop

supporting it. we realize if you make to be a way to go away tomorrow, you have to create another one. you need an agency that can correlate across borders, you need an effective who. we laid out a series of principles to do that. the last set of recommendations were around research and development. each of these diseases reminds us that it takes is too long to develop diagnostic tests. it takes is too long to develop vaccines. the key point coming out of ebola and zika is that we have gotten lucky on both of them. ebola is not that contagious. and zika started in a country that had a pretty good health system, and we identify the problems early. i'm not confident that on the next one, we're going to be as lucky. and because we can't predict where it will begin, or what disease it will be, we need to start preparing. there are a series of things we

need to do to get going. the time to do that is now. ms. plack: we say we, it's very much a collectively. it's just not the u.s. government proposition at all, it takes partners -- partnerships with the civil society and have it sector to create a comprehensive strategy. i would love to ask you about these partnerships, and how they complement government programs. what you've seen from your work in the field of how we can do it better and what is the right mix of partnerships? >> thank you everyone for being here today. i think ashish laid it out copper handsomely. we shouldn't underestimate the scale of the challenge that you articulated. what we're talking about in the case of west africa is the part of the world where every institution is weak.

public institutions are weak, private ossetians, civil society, tremendous strain on every answer to the society. i think the fact that we're talking about the zika by currents in the western how mr. makes it somewhat different. obviously it's a place with stronger institutions and stronger leadership. obviously, the two viruses are different. and represent themselves in different ways. i think we have a better shot in the current context than the context of ebola. but partnerships -- from my perspective, when we look at an effort to mobilize all the actors in a particular geography or market to respond to a public health challenge, we tend to look at this through the lens of a we call the total market approach. we try and understand where the failing exists in each market place. we could be in terms of government policy, or in terms

of the health sector. it could be in terms of civil society actors within the health sector. it could be in terms with what the private sector is doing to be engaged. everyone of those is subject to failure, market failure if you will as we try to orchestrate all of those actors to respond to a public health challenge like this. as i said, in the context for zika is much more promising in terms of all of the different players that can be brought to bear. that said, one of the perpetually challenging faultlines in that environment is between the range of public sector access, society, governors, donors, and the private sector. the private sector can have a huge role to play. in the immediate context for zika virus, we know that even as all the research is underway, and a day doesn't go by where we don't learn something new about what this really means, right? we select to focus on in particular, the women who are pregnant now, who are considering becoming pregnant,

remembering the fact that half of all the pregnancies in latin america and the caribbean are unintended. what are the practical steps that can be taken right away to help protect them? we know insect repellent as part of that, private sector is the one that is manufacturing insect repellent and marketing in all of these markets in latin america and the caribbean. that is a conversation that needs to take place rapidly as we talk about practical steps to help women deal with the consequences of this threat right now. ms. plack: i want to ask you about the report that he mentioned, the report of this strategic diplomacy. can you tell the audience what you mean by this? what it is, and how it can be used in terms of the response to zika? >> thank you for that question. it's great to be here.

the concept of strategic health diplomacy is essentially that by addressing global health, we can also advance our national security interests. it is trying to bring global health and national security closer together. when we do global health work, we look from different perspectives. we tried to see if that far, which was a tremendous global health success, supported in a bipartisan way i started by president bush and continued by president obama, we know that it was immensely successful in terms of reducing morbidity and mortality, increasing education for health care workers, but we wanted to see whether there were any second order effects that were related to the global health initiative. we compared recipients to

non-recipients. we looked at public opinion and found that in these countries, public opinion of the united states was significantly higher than the rest of the world. when surveys were done and residents in those countries, they were asked if this hasn't come in, what would your perception be of the united states, it was always lower. we also looked at social economic status, or religion average output for worker, and a macro economic perspective to look at human development. in both instances, these countries are performed over the course. and then we looked at state stability and governance, which in vulnerable populations and the prevalence of hiv in military personnel. we looked at aids and orphans and found significant reductions versus non-participants. and then we looked at rule of law, absence of terrorism and also found substantial improvements.

the conclusion of the report is essentially that we weren't trying to prove or demonstrate causation here, but that there is a correlation, there's something here, an important connection between health improvement and global health initiatives. and our national security interests. i think the lessons learned from ebola for strategic health diplomacy initiatives and for zika are one, initiatives need to have clear goals, and these need to be understood by all partners. they need to be to find, going back to clear goals. i think the focus here is really on ensuring that pregnant women do not get infected by zika, and also childbearing women of the

information, education and resources they need for family planning. there have to be clear goals. the need to be defined interventions. we need to be implement it in a way that is sensitive to local contacts and culture. i think he will talk about this in perspective ebola, but understanding local context is critical for the success of any initiative. we need to be in it for the long term. you need to build capacity, and you need to be transparent and accountable. think these are all lessons learned, which we will probably talk about. these are things that when we looked at this to demonstrate why was successful not only from a global health perspective, but also these potential second-order impacts -- these are the things that bubbled up. i think these will also be important for zika as well. ms. plack: i want to follow up on your lessons learned, particularly with the regional and international responses and some of the international partners. someone said that the speed at which the who declared zika a public health emergency was a direct reaction to the chris's and they received over the

response to ebola. as of now, what do you think about the international response, does it reflect our lessons learned, and if not, what war needs to be done? dr. jha: great question. if you think about the timeline, in the end of march 2014, doctors without borders said we are overwhelmed, this is obviously in the context of ebola, they said we are overwhelmed, this disease is out of control, we need help at the end of march 2014. it wasn't until august that the who declared a public health emergency of international concern. by the end of march, about 300 people have died. my august, when the who finally responded, the disease have become far more widespread. that delay is what a lot of us

have focused on. i have asked hard questions about why was there that delay and how do we make sure that doesn't happen again. i do think, as a response, who has been far quicker. there have been some people who said it was too quick to declare this time, it's not the same disease, it doesn't spread in the same way, it's not clear. who did a very narrowly, in the context of microcephaly. they said this is a public health emergency of international concern. i don't think they have overreacted, i think it's a personally reasonable call. it doesn't reassure me, i will tell you why. right now, there's a spotlight on who. and there is a real question about whether who can play the role that we all needed to play. in that context of their being far more responsive, this is not the stress test that we are looking for. the question is what happens two years from now when the spotlight is off and people aren't paying attention. will who have put in the kinds of changes it needs to respond to the disease when it is not in the headlines? that is what we need to the way joe to do. we don't need them to tell us

where problem when it's in the headlines every single day that we have a problem. i think it was a perfectly reasonable thing with who did. it has not offered me reassurance. there are important structural reforms that who needs to go through that it has not gone through yet, including being far more transparent, having a lot more accountability -- we lay out specific things, which i'm happy to get into. but until those things happen, i'm not going to sleep any better at night knowing that who has learned its lesson from ebola. they are doing what any of us would do, which is if you mess up the next time in the spotlight, the same question comes up, they're going to get it right. but it's not clear the you've learned the lessons for the long run. ms. plack: and when asked you about this idea of international cooperation. we spent a lot of time at the department of health and human services, and now at bipartisan policy center, what are the critical areas of international cooperation?

what are we doing well, what do we need to do better in terms of the international response? dr. parekh: i was at hhs from 2005 to two dozen 15, four h-one, h1n1 at 2014, and ebola. the pillars of what people think about, this is the global security agenda, that every country in this world ought to be able to prevent, to detect, and to respond to outbreaks as emergencies. when you think about the key areas that we need international cooperation on -- i think we are seeing into a certain extent here with the zika response, first, surveillance and laboratory capacity, which is critical. there has been good cooperation here thus far, you have u.s. scientists in brazil right now running case-control studies to better see the association between zika and severally. the ability to detect is