host: is there anything you wish you would have done at speaker but did not? >> i wish i had done training for the house and republican part that would allowed us to become a continuously modernizing partied. i couldn't figure it out. host: biggest success? >> winning control. we changed the balance of wour -- power in this city in a way that's lasted now over 20 years. host: at what point in the campaign did you know you were going to win? >> september 17. we were leaving to go on a fundraising trip and dick armey's chief of staff was with us, myment osh and advisor and joe gaylord, who had been my political partner. i said ok, we were going to plan on the plane in between campaign stops. i said all right, we were just

leaving national and i said, are we planning speaker or are we planning minority leader? gaylord said well, you better be planning speaker because you are going to be. at which point dan myers said stop, we're not going a step further until you explain that. and for the next hour or so, joe started in maine -- excuse me, he started in maine, went every district from memory for the entire country, ended up saying he thought we would pick up 52 seats. we picked up 53. host: this is your latest documentary, called the first americans. let's watch. >> this way! >> if jefferson and adams went to william and mary and

harvard, washington went to war. war has his crucible. >> it's very hard to see anybody like jefferson arn -- or adams or madison getting on a horse and leading an army in the revolutionary spirit. washington was the indispensable american. >> for generations of americans, george washington was essential to undering -- understanding the create -- creation of 9 united states of america. commander in chief of the continental arnly, first president, father of our country. p >> the very principles that make us americans. he was a farmer. an architect. a surveyor. he commanded the continental army against the military powers of great britain. he lost more battles than he won, but he still won america's war for independence. >> the revolution was a marathon. he was on horseback for seven

and a half years. washington is the star of the american revolution not because of his cunning on the battle field, but he kept the spirit of the continental army alive. >> i, george washington, do solemnly swear -- >> eyes the father of our country because at a time when wre -- we were being torn apart, he held us together with his rectitude and his honor. >> he is more important for us in the 21st century as an example than he was perhaps at any time since he was alive. >> in eyes eulogy -- his eulogy, he was remembered at first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen. >> more than any other president, george washington enabled us to better understand what -- who we are as a people and as a nation. he remains the greatest figure in american history. >> if you don't understand george washington, you don't understand what's important about america. >> it is washington who makes the american experiment, as he

called it, a success. host: the film is called "the first american." besides the obvious, why george washington? >> oh, this is a great story. callista had been doing these books, we're both passionate about american history, she had been doing ellis the elephant for 4 to 6-year-olds. at one point he sees this young lady, i suspect a college assistant and he says, who is george washington? she looks at him blankly and says oh, i think he was a president. didn't he come right after lincoln? literally as we were leaving "fox and friends" that morning,

we said we have to do a film about washington. he is so central aged generation of young americans are so locking in knowledge. we have to find a way to bridge the gap. host: what did you learn about george washington that you didn't know? >> i though -- think the most amazing thing. the most famous american, he decides to go out west for two weeks by himself. there is an indian guide with him. after a while he sends the guide off. here is washington riding along and when he would see a settler's cabin he would knock on the door and ask if he could spend the night. imagine you are a settler, nobody near you, knock on door, here's george washington, who is physically huge for his time. you know who he is. and he says, you mind if i spend the night?

that level of relaxed and curious and comfortable. host: if he came back and sapp the system today, would he be happy, do you think? >> i think he would urge on both trump and sanders. it's the jefferson rule. every generation or so you need a revolution. i think all the foundings fathers would look at the current mess, the arrogance of our judges, our bureaucrats, the corruption of our system and they would say, clean it out. host: how often do you talk to donald trump? >> 0 keagsly. i wouldn't want to quantify it but often neff -- enough. host: what's he like off camera? >> first of all he's likable, a story teller. constant energy. i compare him to theodore roosevelt, constant energy. but he's really difficult to have any conversation with. partly because we know each --

each other so well. he's known me for i think a decade or more and we actually belong to trump national out along the potomac river. i feel like if there is something i want to get across to him, because he's a very good business executive, i can say look, there are three or four things i've got to cover and he will switch gears and go through linings -- things like a business. if we're just chatting, we'll talk about whatever is going on, just had a great rally or gret -- great poms coming in. this guy spent his whole lifetime selling. made billions selling. so his basic philosophy is 365 days a year you ought to go sell something. host: how do you think he would structure his white house? >> very lean. much smaller than the current white house would be my guess.

i don't think he believes in multiple layers or unnecessary people. he's very frugal. one reason esso wealthy, he doesn't spend. you look at the amount he's spent on this campaign compared to the people he beat. my hope would be he would say don't tell me about the bush and obama white houses. tell me what functionally needs to happen and let's see if we can get by with the fewest possible people. host: two final questions on the vice-presidency. if he offered you the job, would you take it? >> i don't know. we would have to talk about what did he mean by the job. host: if you likeds -- liked the parameters and the portfolio? >> i think you would shall hard-pressed -- my dad served 29 years in military. the president of the united states asked -- asks you to do something, very hard to say if he y hosting: and

doesn't ask you? >> there are lots of good people. toad -- ted corker, governor falone -- fallon of oklahoma. is a very attractive option. senator tim scott would be very compelling. african-american, cruyff republican, has done very well, very popular back home. i think trump has a lot of choices. host: and finally what does this campaign feel like to you? you've been through a lot over the years. you laugh? >> i have two parts of me. i'm a gemini so i'm allowed to have two parts. one is that politics is a sport in the same sense as football or what have you, and the other is this year as a historian, the two come together perfectly. this is the wildest, most unimaginable, unpredictable year i can remember in modern history.

i think you have to go back to e 19 -- election of 1824 and 19 -- 1828 with jackson. host: and that year's election year files like? >> wild and woolly. the number of friends i have who are very knowledgeable who say to me, "i have to forget everything i thought i knew about politics because it clearly no longer is correct," that's amazing. host: so how does donald trump win the election? how does he get to 2730? -- 270? >> he was to get more votes. pretty old strategy. one strategy is he has to be more likable the people in the end walk in, they have three real choices. don't vote at all. vote for trump. vote for clinton. so one of his strategies has to be to make sure that voting for clinton is so unacceptable that trump becomes the obvious alternative.

one of his strategies has to be to reach out as he did recently on the supreme court judges and offer people a vision of a presidency they would like. and i think you will see him did more and more of that. i think by the convention you will begin to see the shape of a trump presidency that has really compelling and interesting, possib things for people. host: you think he can win? >> oh, i have no doubt he can win. first of call -- all, he came out of nowhere, beat 16 perfectly com petent people. all of us thought last fall, boy, we've got a great set of candidates and they all just one by one disappeared. you have to say for a guy to come out of nowhere and win this decisively, give him a couple months to campaign and offer a plan to beat hillary, yeah, i think he can. ost: speaker, thank you.

joining us against from the wall street "post" is chris sill izza. let's turn our attention to the democrats and the choices hillary clinton will have to make once we move beyond the primaries on tuesday. one name mentioned most recently is senator elizabeth warren. the only neem senator to or rse either clinton sanders. >> i'm -- i don't think strategically it makes a ton of sense for hillary. the only female senator not to endorse former senator clinton. i don't think their relationship is particularly warm. elizabeth warren has been critical of hillary clinton for being somewhat of a late arriver on things like economic inequality, wage stagnation and clearly bernie sanders' appeal has grown out of the elizabeth

warn -- warren wing of the party. why would hillary clinton pick elizabeth warren if -- unless she felt there was a gaping ideology cal hole on her left that needed to be sewn up. could she possibly pick senator sanders? yes. but that might end badly. this is not if it's him it's no one. it would be a little bit of a hail mary by clinton. >> do you have any insights into the relationship or lack thereb between hillary clinton and elizabeth warren? >> not as much as i would like, is the answer. i wish they would call me and explain it to me. but it is not terribly warm. i also think privately many in the obama administration roll their eyes a bit at warren and her work at blasting some obama

administration officials about their closeness to wall street's tim geithner, for example. there is a shared mindset that -- there that sorts -- sort of views warren and sanders similarly as people who say and do things out on a fringe that have never had to work within a system like you would have to do if you were president of the united states. so i don't think it's a terribly warm relationship and i do think the fact that elizabeth warren is the lone female democratic senator who was -- has not endorsed hillary clinton tells you if not all you know, a significant other. -- amount about that relationship. host: and you have heard the saying in washington, those who know aren't talking and those who don't know -- based on that, how serious is it that elizabeth warren continues to pear as a