confident in his own power and those of the american people. he was confident he would make the right decision in turn things around. people saw that confidence and it allowed them to feel optimistic. confidence in the president is important. mr. trump's speech was confident. phone lines lining up. some of the other things that happened, but first, steve from eugene, oregon on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. host: what is on your mind? caller: i wanted to comment on the overall state of our nation. i watched this show a lot. i am on the west coast, so i get up really early to watch this show. i really listen closely, especially to the open phones in the view of the people calling in. what i have been observing is this strong polarization, which i think has been around for a long time but it has kind of come out since trump has taken office. it seems to be building very

rapidly. to comment and asked people to take a step back on all sides of this argument and look at how we are all being fragmented and divided. there is an old saying, divide and conquer. what i see happening and what has been happening for quite some time is rich, the very rich andng control of our nation clearly there has been a power grab. one presidency after another. not just with the new trump administration. they exploit the general ignorance of the general public and that is how they manage to find their success. i would encourage everybody to take a step back and realize that this is what is happening to our country. the middle class is being eliminated and there is going to

be the very rich and we're going to have the lower-class and the poor. i want to encourage everybody to follow up on all the stories they hear, whatever the media source, ox news, c-span, hearver, research what you on news, and take time and you will find truth by researching and not by blindly following media. .ducate yourself pay attention to what is happening, people. thank you for taking my call. host: thank you, steve. our next caller from cary, north carolina on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. c-span. enjoy [indiscernible] people,on is that the the rich and very powerful, have [indiscernible]

and that was not supposed to put people out of work. of course, control is at the top and i think their economy is on the head of a pin and the more it grows, the worse off it is going to be. we are going to be in line for another bailout and i think it is coming fast. place now, iis in think it is out of control completely and rewrote be in worse and worse condition than we were since 2008. host: what signs in the economy d.c. that make you feel that way? economy make the you feel that way? that in reality at the same time, the packages are diminished [indiscernible]

of course, prices are going up and what you don't observe and actually, youat can get less and wait on what used to be. it is right before you eyes -- your eyes but you don't notice it. we are getting burdened by which explained to us that automation would never put us out of work, but if you are going to have a car or whatever going up in price, and for no reason whatsoever but no one is making your car through automation. are you still on the line? host: yes. caller: oh, yeah, and saving cost through automation is actually doing away with the

from a human being and that is what i am concerned about. there will be nobody working in factories and how in the world can you consume something is you are not able to work? the worka book out on and that the middle class will diminish and we will end up with just two classes. host: next, virginia, republican line. good morning. two things i are would like to tell scott pruitt of the epa. back in the mid-1970's, people were talking about how the new ice age is coming under "the washington post" had a picture of someone who left their volkswagen under the key bridge as the front page.

anyway, i was not buying it because i really did not like it at all, just being a." couple years from the tropics -- being up here from the tropics. noaa to come for not into the geographic survey -- we run up in our persona our sonar soundings and we would get in touch with noaa and we would find out what we had to compensate for the cold stream of water we were encountering. finally, they cannot and said, no, we are not going to have another ice age, but we are going to have, if anything, it was likely to get warmer. one thing you could be sure of is it would not become more

likeic, and it was just the three or four paragraph statement. it was in "the washington post," wewell now, that is what ended up with. the other thing i would like to tell scott pruitt is that if they just changed all the buses from portland, maine, to miami, that i-95 corridor to natural gas, they would get rid of that -black ribbon that on calm days, it hangs over the i-95 corridor. save 22 million barrels, not gallons, but barrels of oil that we would not have to import and we would do something reproduced in this country. that would be a good thing for the economy.

t by for letting me share. -- thank you. host: there is a piece in "the washington post" that says noaa basis for 17% budget cut. it says the proposed cut for the oceanic and atmospheric administration would eliminate funding or variety of smaller programs, including estuary preserve, and the coastal resilience. one expert says it could imperil weather alerts. you used to work there, what do you think? like they say, no sense in being stupid unless you show it. host: we will go now to charlie from roslyn heights. good morning. caller: hi. i think what we need to do is create a genuine progressive movement for the american people because we don't have one in this nation. what we do have is the ashes

stick -- fascist exploited takes everything out of the american people. this is classwork against the american people, whether we like it or not 20 to face up to it. we cannot run away. everything in a nation that we on by progressives, social security security, unemployment, whatever you talk about, this was from the american people who are struggling against the class were waged against us and i think we have to focus on a genuine progressive movement, which is something we don't have. we have identity politics, late -- taste on black nationalism or feminism, which is antiwhite and and seamen. anti-men we need to focus on something genuine. host: what would that be in your

opinion? would be up to the american people. we need a to talk these things out. there are a lot of knowledgeable people out there who know what they are doing. i'm listening to your callers like the guy from oregon and the others. they are thinking outside the -- and we need to go for it with the system. next, richard from miami, florida on the democratic line. what is on your mind? caller: i am a democrat, but whether you are a democrat or not, you have to understand ally is alive. i'm talking about jeff sessions in front of the congress when he nomineeg vetted for the when they asked him if he had talked to any russians or diplomats are officials and he answered no.

he actuallynd out did, he plays the game of, well, i did not know -- they did not ask that question. this is what you get away with when you get caught in a lie at work on your application. you didn't ask the right question. it,swered where you asked or you are in a deposition and you get caught lying under oath. that only affects the handful of people. this affects the hundred 20 million people. authority lawhest enforcement job in the country and he should be totally transparent and not play. new games with the vetting -- play vettinggames with the process and he did. they have a new word for lying, communication error. he did not lie. he made a communication error like the waldrep -- like a wardrobe malfunction.

democrats -- the reason i say i am a democrat, but who cares, they are all out to themselves. my sister said we need a lobbyist for ourselves. i said, for what? she said for the people. that is how far we have gone. legislatures,ur and we called marco rubio's office and you only talk to a machine 24/7. they never answer the phone. maybe it goes with what they said in mind by his own republican party that he doesn't show up for work. i don't understand why there's not a major protest from the russians infiltrating our electoral system. isn't that what the electoral college is really developed for, that we were a small country and we cannot communicate effectively like we do not question mark -- do now? so if someone got into office

that they could be talking to a foreign entity that we could this spanishr like or french or british person who got elected and said, we will secede to spain, isn't that what the electoral college is for? to protect us from that? it is a matter of people don't care anymore. that is not comment for today. next, sandra from alabama on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to answer this dos, i havedeck on lived in alabama and you -- that just got off. i have lived in alabama and you jeff sessions for years. [indiscernible] that was just to that was just about gentlemen, but i would like to sit couple things. and i to be a democrat left them when they started losing their [indiscernible]

twice, not once, and they tried to cover it up, they had turned to nothing but people [indiscernible] and they are trying their best to tear the country down. they think they are the only ones capable of choosing supreme court justice or anything. they just make me so angry. they are going so far to the left. [indiscernible] mr. trump, bless him. [indiscernible] he is talking about all these things been made in america and that is what will make america great again. hermine 10 years to be one of the biggest basis for workers -- birmingham used to be one of the biggest places for workers.

democrats, i am telling you for the next one, you better start changing ways and stop worrying about the left-wing crazies and go back to the middle where real people are or you will go to nothing. thank you. i'm sorry. second to promote the c-span cities tour that stops in san jose, california. we take book tv and american history tv on the road. all of our offerings appeared together in a blog featuring some of the city's best nonfiction authors, including the book "not so golden after all:. the rise and fall of california" -- all: the rise and fall of california." california, you is soe that this state topsy-turvy. it is like a roller coaster gone bad. state be a boom economically one year, it can be

hole $30 billion the next. it can in brace immigrants like in the past, it can be the state that it says it has been -- done everything to make them feel uncomfortable. flowing water, enabling everybody to grow, and it can be a state with five years or six years later with nothing to drink. there are so many extremes in california. just when we think we are getting on top of things -- [laughter] we fall down. that is it is the rise and fall. it comes and goes, and down. at the end of the day, it is the most exciting place to be. host: that is larry gersten, part of our hour-long feature on san jose at noon today.

other cities on the tour, go to our website www.c-span.org \cities tour. presidentking about trump's weekend policy issues on your mind. let's go to laney on the democratic line from california. caller: hi. i have been waiting a long time. i was reacting to john's program before this one about the changes in background check roles, and what i would like to say is the whole program of the that is what president trump is for, and this speech at advocating the new law been has been proposed by the senator, which is mandatory concealed carry, which is a terrible lot and it was up before the congress a few years ago and failed but this is what it is. every state now has a concealed

carry ability. some states have strict regulations, like they require registration, background checks, permit, training, and also a good cause for kerry, like -- ry, like california has the. other states have hardly any regulation. they don't need a permit, which is called "constitutional carry. " they don't need a good cause or , buting or whatever anyway, this new law says that want to bring a gun to another state, you cannot bring it across borders because each state has their own laws, good or not good. now this law says that person has to be able to carry guns anywhere in the country and he is honored in any state.

say if the person is from a bad gun laws, we have to the knowledge and because that is the law. it nullifies the states good laws basically. we are only as strong as our next neighbors laws because if they bring them through, what good is that? it is a terrible law, and nra law, it is trump and their agenda to have guns anywhere by or veryith little little reasonings. and then one other thing that i mr. john saiday, background checks are not effective. they are effective in the save lives. it is a simple thing, so he said all that stuff, he is not time the truth. thank you. i appreciate it.

i love your show and i think you are the very best station on tv. allison from burlington, north carolina, independent line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i just wanted to reiterate what the lady from arkansas was saying and i want to make this really quick. i used to be a democrat. i am an independent because i voted for donald trump this past election. me and my boyfriend -- i just came back from the barbershop -- there is a place they were the barbershop and beauty salon is beside each other. i went in, he went in, and we decided to see what was going on because we wanted to talk to the people and we watched the news. i brought up with is going on, and he, too, and we came back places --f them, both i am telling the democrats, you

have to stop this because there are a lot of democrats that are up in the election. whatever this process means and trying to get jeff sessions and russia and all this mess, i'm telling you, nobody is talking about this. everybody is talking about how gas prices are going to go up again, how they can pay their their sons, cousins, nephews can't find jobs. this is what people are talking about. nobody cares about russia. nobody cares about what happens to jeff sessions, or whatever. nobody cares about that. so if you guys want to make sure that you lose in 2018 and in 2020, you keep this up because people are going to remember in november. they're going to remember this. you, -- i amng

telling you, it came from the beauty shop and barbershop, and nobody was talking about this stuff. they're talking about, why are they going out there -- why these people have all this time to protest? i have got to go to work. dana got to go to work. you hear what i'm saying? if democrats want to make sure they lose, keep this mess up. thank you. next, julius from north carolina in greensburg the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. delusional. is i was listening on tv the other day that they can really get him justf the presidency by calling him delusional, and i don't understand why the people don't go ahead and just get him out of there. and the lady from wherever she just called from, lady, people

are talking about jeff sessions, ok. you are delusional, too, and the rest of you trump fans are really delusional and it is time to get this fool out of office. thank you. we has illinois on the republican line. caller: good morning, c-span. i have been watching every day in your clinic kitchen with everybody. informwanted to everybody about immigration law. after 24 years, my brother finally came to the u.s. that is how our immigration is very slow. the one thing that i think everybody should understand, those officials that have been elected and provide shelter and protection for illegal

immigrants, they should probably be held accountable for their actions. they were elected by the citizens of the united states, not by the leaders from different countries, so they should be stopped. they should be given a punishment for doing against or that president and all the other administration is trying to do, enforce the law. for those that are proposing rallies and everything by the democrats, i think these rallies distract what is being done to improve our economy, jobs. why don't they focus on bringing more jobs? time, i think the administration should look into the anti-predatory law. i used to be a mortgage broker. our jobs disappeared like and another law was

enforced, and a lot of programs were eliminated under that obama administration. i think c-span should consider subjects that are all important and not to the start and listen to every media that they just want to cause harm and slow down the process of improvements to provide better economy, jobs, and for the citizens and legal immigrants of our country. and i support the enforcement of this immigration law. it should be fair. you should not side with somebody and worse, those are mostly illegals whose purpose is to harm and kill our citizens. host: and that is our program for today. we have a quick look at tomorrow's show. robert dixie with the concord

coalition and sam kolender will be here to discuss president trump's 2018 budget outline release this past week. will take antin look at the annual list of 10 breakthrough technologies, as well as the expected impact. that is tomorrow at 8:00 a.m.. enjoy the rest of your saturday. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] >> next, gold medalist michael phelps testifies before a house committee on