opioid addiction in the u.s. politicos jenniffer have a report talks about the potential fate of the health care law preplacement bill if -- if lawmakers return from their july 4 recess. host: good morning. president trump back at the white house following his second foreign trip since taking office, and there's news this morning from syria where a cease-fire brokered by the president and russian president vladimir putin is now in effect in the southwestern part of that country. 300,000 syrians have died in this six-year-old conflict, another 11 million residents have been forced to evacuate. on capitol hill, congress is back in session this week. the budget and healthcare are leading the agenda. live coverage of the senate on c-span2, the house here on c-span. and we begin with your calls on the president's trip to the

g-20 summit in germany, his visit to poland, back on the global stage. tell us what you think about the president on the global stage as we begin the "washington journal" for this sunday morning, july 9. our phone lines are open. 202-748-8000 is our line for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. if you're an independent, 202-748-8002. join us on social media. send us a tweet, and we'll read them at cspanwj, or on facebook at football.com/cspan. good sunday morning to you. coming up, michael oh land lone will join us to talk about north korea, also the situation between the u.s. and russian president vladimir putin. we begin with the larger question of president trump on the global stage. there's a piece this morning available online at thehill.com, five takeways from trump's dramatic weekend with world leaders. among the takeway, the first one is trump seeks strategic partnership with russia using his high-stakes meeting with

putin to follow through on his campaign pledge to pursue better relations with russia. number two, trump's america-first policies resonate with conserve tiffs in the base of his party. the u.s. isolation is on full display. jonathan easley writing the president's stance on climate change and trade have rattled u.s. allies and partners from asia to europe, highlighting the extent of american isolation under the new president. ivanka trump stepping on the world stage is another takeway from "the hill" newspaper. and trump will not shy away from confrontation, writing the following, feuding is one of the things trump likes best, and he will not rein in just because the world is watching or because it upsets the political talkers on cable news. again, that's this morning from thehill.com. this headline from "the washington post," above the fold, the summit exposes trump's isolation. the demonstrations, which continued into the weekend, in hamburg, germany, where the summit wrapped up yesterday,

here's more from the president's speech earlier in the week in warsaw, poland. president trump: americans know that a strong alliance of free, sovereign, and independent nations is the best defense for our freedom and for our interest. that is why my administration has demanded that all members of nato finally meet their full and fair financial obligation. as the result of this insist ens, billions of dollars more have begun to pour into nato. in fact, people are shocked with billions and billions of dollars more coming in from countries that, in my opinion, would not have been paying so quickly. to those who would criticize our tough stance, i would point out that the united states has demonstrated not merely with

words, but with its actions that we stand firmly behind article five, a mutual defense commitment. words are easy, but actions are what matters. and for its own protection, yours -- and you know this, everybody knows this, everybody has to know this -- europe must do more. europe must demonstrate that it believes that its future by investing its money to secure that future, that is why we applaud poland for its decision to move forward this week on acquiring from the united states the battle-tested patriot air and missile defense system, the best anywhere in the world. host: the president in warsaw, poland. the full speech available on our website. the "new york times" with this headline friday morning, a warm reception for donald trump as he hits poland's most profound

notes. as for poland's government, which has been repeatedly criticized by the european union and others for moves they say erode the rule of law, the american president's visit was a chance to prove that poland has powerful friends who share its nationalistic vision. the full essay at nytimes.com. on our facebook page, many of you weighing in, including lou, who says he's the only leader, the rest followed. and then there's this from john, humiliating, he needs to resign. he is wrecking our legacy. and this is on twitter, donald trump does not belong on the global stage. his lies are transparent, and our allies have lost faith in our loyalist, thanks, trump. let's go to ron in bradenton, florida, democrats line, as we begin taking phone calls. good morning, ron. caller: good morning, steve. it is steve, right? host: it is, yes. good morning. please go ahead. caller: how you doing this morning? long-time listener.

i've called several times, and surprisingly, i had to call early this morning to get in. could you have brian lamb explain the call-in rules? do they flush out the callers between one section and another? that would be a question to him. if they let the people know, because believe it or not, i kept track. i called in 5,727 times before i got in. host: wait. you kept track of 5,702 times you tried call in? caller: sure. sure. i'm an avid listener. i love every subject that you put on, and i like the library that you take and have with everything when people call in and say that you don't do something, i know that you have. great subjects. but let's get on to mr. trump. being a marine, being somebody that's been told how to take and receive orders and how to

implement them, i would not implement any order that he gave me just because of the way that he lies. when he cannot tell another ountry that they have, indeed, interrupted with our security, and then he just let's them -- lets them do it again. i feel unsecure. now, people might come back at me about that, put i'm a different cat. i'm a liberal conservative, actually a progressive conservative, steve. host: you need to explain it. how can you be a progressive conservative? caller: how can i be -- i believe that we should take and pay our bills and take care of our people, both at the same time, and i believe we can do that. and i've seen it. i've gone through the medical

situation with regular insurance and lost everything when i had open-heart surgery. now that i'm poor and the v.a. accepts me, i get some of the greatest care in the world, and when i can see that the medication costs $8 no matter what the medication is, and i hear these horror stories of $1,200 and $1,300 for one medication, and they changed one of my medications from the tablet deprashe a capsule to a tablet, and i asked why, and they said you save two cents on it, and they multiply that by the millions that they buy, they're dealing with the pharmacies. host: i'm going stop you there, because we're going to move on to other calls. t for the 5,701st times to tried to get through, we appreciate you phoning in, and don't be a stranger.

caller: i won't. host: thank you very much. let's go to john in san antonio, texas, republican line, president trump on the global stage, what are your thoughts? caller: yes, well, i think that president trump is doing the right thing with president putin, and i think that he needs to be firm and strong with president putin, but at the same time, i think he's doing the right thing by making him our friend and trying to be friends with him and build, you know, partnerships with other nations, and our media is doing a disservice to our country by trying to tear him down, and this is really -- to me, it's embarrassing to even see that, the media doing that to him. but the democrats need to see that our country is in debt with many other trillions -- promises already been allocated by congress. they need to -- we need sacrifices to balance that budget. host: john, thanks for the

call. this is from jan, again, a story that got a lot of attention yesterday, ivanka trump sat in briefly during one of the sessions in hamburg, germany, at the g-20. i have a question, is it illegal for trump to leave the g-20 table and have his daughter, who is not an elected official, sit in? pugh research has put together a study on how the u.s. image suffers as people question trump's leadership. the he is cey is available on the website, america still wins prail. donald trump's presidency has had a major impact on how the orld sees the u.s. ratings for the u.s. have declined steeply in many nations. according to the new pew research center, spanning 37 nations, 22% of those surveyed have confidence, only 22% with confidence in donald trump to do the right thing.

that stands in contrast to 64% who felt that barack obama would do the right thing on the global stage. again, that's from pew research. we'll go to al, joining from us chicago. good morning. welcome to the conversation. the president on the global stage. tell us what you think. caller: good morning. first of all, i just don't think that zrump up to the job. i think he's in over his head. he doesn't do homework. he's not knowledgeable about what's going on. and for him to sit down with putin and throw softballs, putin is our enemy. he's not for america. d for anyone to interfere in our affairs, he's not a friend of ours. and i don't understand what planet this man is coming from. i mean, that's my basic comment. thank you. host: thanks for the call. national security advisor h.r. mcmaster yesterday officially confirming the cease-fire from the u.s. and russia brokered -- that involves southwest syria.

the story is available online at politico.com. the national security advisor is saying, "the u.s. remains committed to defeating isis, helping to end the conflict in syria, reducing suffering, and enabling people to return to their homes." the agreement is an important step toward these common goals. the agreement, which has included jordan and israel, was reached friday after the president met with russian leader vladimir putin for the first time. details of the arrangement first reported by the associated press late on friday. again, the headline, general mcmaster touting the syrian cease-fire as what he calls an important step in combating terrorism. dorothy is joining us next, democrats line from philadelphia. tell us what you think about the president on the global stage. caller: well, good morning. host: good morning. caller: i just wanted to say -- i did not like what he said in poland our e criticized

, telligence organizations especially the cable news. i felt that it was unpatriotic to go outside the country and when ide our institutions he's in another country. and i feel like, as our president, he should speak highly of all of our organizations and just -- if he want to be helpful, try to help our organizations to do a better job. and i feel like, as the president, he seems to be trying to turn our country into a dictatorship. because he has ways like a dictator, and that's all i wanted to say. host: thanks for the call. and bill king has this tweet,

trump supporters could not care less to what the world thinks of us. it's part of that america first nonsense. on our facebook page, here are some of your comments. max says lonely, embarrassing, and friendless. one other says a disgrace. one says embarrassing. peter sullivan, global flop. dennis says bravo. chris also says embarrassment. and jorge says vastly impressed with him. tell us what you think. your comments on our facebook page at facebook.com/cspan. latoya joining us from georgia, democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning. let me say something, i've never seen a president so disrespectful of our intel here. and really, he really went against -- went with russia in saying that fake news. he was the first one started bringing up fake news before the video of him came out --

after they saw -- all those emails on hillary. right now, right now, at this very instant, hillary, the emails -- all the fake news, you couldn't see it then, but you can see it now. you can see all the people that saying untrue, that look like the truth. but have you ever seen so many people -- i'm talking about our people against our own countries. everybody that support trump is almost like they're the people that that never voted in an election because they didn't like john mccain, them didn't like romney, they didn't like nobody. but look at this man right here. e has no feet from the first beginning. this man has capped on the situation. all the things that -- this man has been in the gutter all his life. host: thanks very much for the

call. let's go to national review, which is writing about the president's trip to poland, no american first president to indict has so honored the sacrifice that donald trump did this past week, and there's a reason, because of the west failure to stand with the insurgents, it's a stain on our own history. pointing out that on the 70th anniversary of the polish uprising, winston churchill tried to enlist president franklin d. roosevelt in pressing josef stalin to refuel on soviet air bases after stalin rejected their first appeal, churchill telling roosevelt they should try again and send their planes anyway. but roosevelt replied, i do not consider it advantageous to the long-range general war prospect for me to join you in the proposed message to uncle joe. so churchill decided to send his own planes, 360 british, polish, and south after men died in the skies over warsaw. poland never forgot the heroes in the uprising. but in the west, it was easier brush them under the sandrug

forget them, because remembering them would only remind us of our own moral failure to stand with the freedom fighters. again, the president paying tribute to those insurgents during his speech in warsaw. again, it's on our website. here's more from his speech this past week in which he talked about north korea, also our alliances in europe and russia's meddling in the election. president trump: agree, i think it was russia, but i think it was probably other people and/or countries, and i see nothing wrong with that statement. nobody really knows. nobody really knows for sure. i remember when i was sitting back listening about iraq, weapons of mass destruction. how everybody was 100% sure that iraq had weapons of mass destruction. guess what, that led to one big mess. they were wrong, and it led to a mess. so it was russia, and i think

it was probably others also, and that's been going on for a long period of time. but my big question is, why did obama do nothing about it from august all the way to november? he did nothing about it, and it wasn't because he choked. i agree. i think it was russia, but i think it was probably other people and/or countries, and i see nothing wrong with that statement. nobody really knows. nobody really knows for sure. i remember when i was sitting back listening about iraq, weapons of mass destruction. ow everybody was 100% sure that iraq had weapons of mass destruction. guess what. that led to one big mess. they were wrong, and it led to a mess. so it was russia, and i think it was probably others also, and that's been going on for a long period of time. but my big question is, why did obama do nothing about it from

august all the way to november? he did nothing about it. and it wasn't because he choked. host: the president and part of his remarks at a news conference, also his speech in warsaw, poland, with the polish leader. we'll get back to your phone calls of the president on the global stage, also comments on our twitter page. this is from mark. let's be clear, putin interfered in our affairs when obama was president, and did he nothing about it. james in texas, good morning. caller: good morning, sir. i want to thank you for your show first. you there? host: i sure am. good morning. caller: yes, sir. i'm a republican. i want to state like they do, and it just hurts my soul, i'm 55 years old now, and it just hurts my soul to see a part of the left, the democrats, whatever, that is using the language they do. , spent eight years of obama

eight years, and they won't even give this guy a year. and the bashing and the bashing, and to hear these people come -- it just -- it blows my mind to see the vulgar nguage and the despair, it's just sad. this world has gotten crazy. we had to deal with eight years. why can't they be nice and accept it? they'd get more done. they just keep digging a hole. i'm not saying he's perfect, but this man is american, standing up for america. jobs are rising. taxes -- he's doing everything behind their back. all they want to do is complain. why don't you try to help make america better? i mean, you see my point? eight years of him. but here's my point right here. every time they get in a bind or need money, they say, well, you give back to the states.

but for eight years, they wanted the govern to run it. but now it's like every time california or anybody gets in trouble, well, if you give it to the state, if you give it back to us, or if you let us take care of california, or if you let us take care of this, but if you ever talk about anything else, it's not the state, it's they want the government to run it. they don't have a message. there's my point. they don't have a message no more. host: james from texas, thanks for the call. kevin lipman posting this on our website, no words, just a gif on how the president is viewed on the global stage. you can see the smoke firement that's his opinion. from the weekly standard, trump caves to putin, trump's meeting with vladimir putin tells us about the future of russia-america affairs. if secretary of state rex tillerson's read out of donald trump's meeting with vladimir

putin is a preview of the trump administration's approach to russia, it's going to be a rough 3 1/2 years. in a diplomatic -- it will have repercussions far beyond russia. the comments did more to further russia's interests and russia propaganda outlets could have possibly hoped to accomplish themselves. you can read the full essay at weeklystandard.com. on our line for independents, don is joining us from glen burnie, maryland, good morning, don, welcome to the program. caller: good morning to you, steve. i think trump is a genius. host: why so? caller: well, he uses -- he exacerbates the divide in the country. uses weapons of mass distraction, you know? and then trump can laugh all the way to the bank. while we're sitting here arguing over russia and all

these other situations. his family is becoming more wealthier and wealthier, you know? host: denise from cincinnati, ohio, your take on this. good morning. as the president boards air force one back at the white house this morning. go ahead, denise. caller: good morning. my comment is that, when i look at this and listen to this, i just cry. because this president, he doesn't know protocol. he doesn't know how to exhort himself. he doesn't -- comport himself. he does not know when to keep his mouth shut. the fact he's on foreign soil speaking against every entity that we have, and then to sit down with putin for as long as he did, who knows what they gave him to drink. he is controlled by putin. and i just think that all of this action, all of his actions, is just to bring

america down, and eventually he's going to leave america, and he's going to move to russia most likely. host: let's go to our facebook page and some of the comments. max says get off the stage. one says impressive success, a refreshing change. and carl says what the media presented or the real thing. sure your comments at facebook.com/cspan. more from his sneach poland and his discussion on north korea. president trump: as far as north korea is concerned, i don't know. we'll see what happens. i don't like to talk about what i have planned, but i have some pretty severe things that we're thinking about. that doesn't mean we're going to do them. i don't draw red lines. president obama drew a red line, and i was the one that made it look a little bit better than it was, but that could have been done a lot sooner, and you wouldn't have had the same situation that you have right now in syria. that was a big mistake. but i think we'll just take a look at what happens over the coming weeks and months with respect to north korea.

it's a shame that they're behaving this way, but they are behaving in a very, very dangerous manner, and something will have to be done about it. host: "the washington times" in this editorial says trump lassos the spirit of america. you can read the full essay at washingtontimes.com, praising the president's performance on the global stage. we'll go to michael on the democrats line from new york city. good morning. caller: good morning. i think the best thing that i heard about this trip, an art on "new york times," that the united states was the dominated force at the annual gathering of the leaders of the world's largest economy. but on friday, when president trump met this other leader at g-20 conference, he found the united states isolated on everything from trade to climate change.

and faced the prospect of trump issuing a statement on saturday how the united states stand alone. i think this trip would damage the united states' face and maybe he destroy our values. and somebody should do something. i'm begging for our senators to do impeachment. thank you. host: michael from new york city f. you're just joining us, if you're listening on c-span radio or this president carried live on the potus channel 124, we're talking about the president's role on the global stage. ur calls and comments, 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. ur twitter page is @cspanwj, or share your comments on facebook.com/cspan. the death knell for america's global leadership, he writes the following, under the slogan of restoring america greatness, they are destroying it,

promising read there's they want to restore confidence in american leadership, they instead threaten and bluster in ways that may persuade partners that america has ceased to be the leader they once respected. but an unpredictable and dangerous force in world affairs itself to be contained and deterred by a new coalition of ex-friends. david looking at president trump and his team, including secretary of state rex tillerson. we'll go to willie joining from us jacksonville, florida, good morning, welcome to the program. caller: good morning. good morning. how you doing? it is rare about how obama did nothing. where are these people in 2008 when the country fell off a damn cliff? the republican regime -- ok, and as far as trump getting out here talking about the russians cking, did he not put more

sanctions -- by the way, the first sanctions wrecked the soviet economy. the second that he put on for tampering with our democracy. he closed 35 embassies, kicked some of those people out of the country. he got donald trump talking about he did nothing. what has trump done except attack? buddy-buddy one putin, who's our natural enemy. host: do you have a final point? caller: excuse me? host: did you have a final point? caller: you know, i understand that you don't see anything when these people come out with these -- when they say obama id nothing, when trump says -- one of the callers said obama did nothing. even the president. you don't say anything. host: well, clearly that is -- that's an opinion.

and we will correct facts if they're wrong, but that's somebody's opinion, and we're not here to do that. this is really a forum for you to express your point of view and other points of view. if we get into a tit for tat with everyone where they express an opinion, we're really going to take away from what the purpose of the program, is which is to hear from and you not hear from us. caller: yeah, you do have a point. you have a nice day. host: ok, thanks for the call. let's go to frank, joining from us myrtle beach, south carolina, democrats line. good morning. caller: hi. how you doing? good morning. i think someone has hacked your system, because all you're getting is democrats. when i did call on the republican line, i got stwoiched a democrat. so maybe we should investigate that. that should be a national catastrophe. host: so, frank, are you a democrat or republican? caller: well, i'm i'm going to till, i'm a republican. i'm going to tell you, pat frost 60 years, europe has been living off of us, in terms of

their national defense. they don't need a defense budget. because we've been providing it for the whole world. we have a catastrophe on the rise here with north korea and a nut with napalm that they would never have had one had not not been for the democratic party. i just can't believe some of the stupidity that i'm hearing here. it's time to shut up, get in line, and be patriotic. and support our president. because, you know, europe can have the freebies when you don't have -- or japan, they can have the freebies when they don't have to have a defense budget. host: thanks for the call. from "the times" of i can't, there is this piece, donald trump cuts an isolated figure on the world stage. the president during a difficult visit to europe, donald trump appeared out of sync with traditional allies, struggling to show that unorthodox strategies towards rival powers of russia and

china can deliver results. at one point, the canadian prime minister, justin trudeau, and german chancellor angela merkel exchanged a knowing glance as the u.s. president veered off on another tangent. throughout the meeting, there was a sense that the president of the united states, leader of the so-called indispensible nation, has shifted positions, leaving everyone else struggling to correct. in one of those moments, when he talked about his daughter, ivanka, from hamburg, germany, yesterday, here's more with the president. president trump: i'm very proud of my daughter, ivanka, always have been, from day one, i have to tell you that, from day one, she's always been great. [applause] she weren't my daughter, it would be so much easier for her. might be the only bad thing she has going, if you want to know the truth. but i'm very proud of ivanka, who's been a forceful advocate for landmark women entrepreneurs. and she worked very hard for

the women entrepreneurs finance initiative. so i want to thank you, ivanka, for all of the great work you do in so many ways, in addition to the great work you've done over the last few weeks and months, working so hard to help everybody, helping women all over the world, and i want to thank you. thank you very much. host: the president yesterday in hamburg, germany. and again, some reaction from the the times of india, writing about that. and cnn has this, at cnn.com, it wasn't quite the g-19 summit, but president donald trump approached the foreign affairs is severing stable global cohesion on climate change and free trade, exchanging an aggressive traditional american leadership for the isolation in a&a club of one. don't expect him to apologize. the lonely u.s. role, a form of the world's most powerful economies that washington once dominated, is exactly

consistent with what donald trump seas as his mandate, america first. as trump boarded air force one in germany for the long flight across the atlantic, some g-20 leaders were left to reflect that their fears that he would be disruptive on the world stage have unarguably come true. you can read the full essay at cnn.com. michael from florida, republican line, good morning. caller: hi, steve. good morning. that last caller was on to something. as far as obama. this deal with iran, this filthy deal with iran that he's created, paying off iran to release our soldiers. i mean, paying off north korea, not get nuclear weapons, which, by the way, they just tested one the other day. i think it's very refreshing to see president donald trump on the horizon that's not out there apologizing for the united states or ring kissing other foreign leaders. it's just something refreshing to see after what we've been

seeing over the last eight years. host: thanks for the call. we go to jack next, good morning, joining from us north carolina, also republican line. caller: yes, good morning. host: good morning. caller: i'd like to know why we complain bitterly about north korea being, for lack of -- enduring the g-20, i read that american b-1 bombers along with japan and south korea fly along the north korean border. isn't that provocative? host: thank you for the call. we'll go to deborah, joining from us chicago. good morning to you, republican line. caller: hell snow host: good morning, deborah. caller: good morning. i am very disappointed in angela merkel. she hosted the g-20, but she knew that there were going to be protests and everybody was going to be very uncomfortable. she had it in a horrible place, and she did that deliberately.

she purposely did that, because she does not like my president trump. host: deborah, thanks for the call. another story that will likely dominate the conversation today is below the fold, this is the headline from the "new york times," the trump team met with a lawyer tied to the kremlin amid the 2016 race. the story is available online at nytimes.com. let me read a portion of how the story begins, written by a number of reporters, include joe becker. two weeks after donald trump clinched the republican nomination last year, his eldest son arranged a meeting at trump tower in manhattan with a russian lawyer who has connections to the kremlin, according to confidential government records described to the "new york times." the previously unreported meeting was also attended by mr. trump's campaign chairman at the time, paul manafort, as well as the president's son-in-law, jared kushner, according to interviews and the documents, which were outlined by people familiar with them. while president trump has been dogged by revelations of

undisdisclosed meetings, this episode at trump tower on june 9, 2016, is the first confirmed private meeting between a russian national and members of mr. trump's inner circle during the campaign. it's also the first time that his son, donald trump jr., is known to be involved in such a meeting. representatives of donald trump jr. and mr. kushner confirming the meeting after "the times" approached them with information about it. in a statement, donald jr. describes the meeting as primarily about an adoption program. the statement did not address whether the presidential campaign was discussed. trump tower meeting was not disclosed to government officials until recently, when mr. kushner, also a senior white house aide, filed a revised version of the form required to obtain security clearances. again, the full story is available online at nytimes.com, also want to share with you the statement from one other point about john brennan, the former c.i.a. director, according to the "new york times," he testified in may that he had been concerned last

year by russian government efforts to contact and manipulate members of mr. trump's campaign. russian intelligence agencies did not hesitate to use all of their private companies and russian persons who are unaffiliated with the russian government to support their objectives. again, that's more from the story available online at nytimes.com. then there's this statement from donald trump jr., it was a short, introductory meeting, i asked jury and he had paul moan afort to stop by. we discussed a program about adoption of russian children that was active and popular with american families years ago and has since ended by the russian government. it was not a campaign issue at the time, and there was no followup. i was also asked to attend the meeting by an aquantityance, but was not told the name of the person that would be meeting before hand. again, that statement from donald trump jr. again, the headline, the trump team met with a lawyer tied to the kremlin during the 2016

race. let's go to ralph from tennessee, our line for democrats. good morning. caller: really, i called in on the democrat line, but i voted for ronald reagan twice. i voted for bush sr. once, junior once. i voted for republicans in the past. but donald trump is running this country. he's the biggest liar that's ever been elected as president. i thought we elected donald trump, not his daughter and his son-in-law and his family. want to do the job that people put him in there to do. but you people that are donald trump supporters, i want you to know, the check's in the mail from mexico, so go to your mailbox and wait for it to get here to build that wall. and if you need another education, all you got to do is open up trump university so you'll have some spots to get a better education. he sells one lie after another. when are you people going to wake up?

he's not really a smart, brilliant man. any smart, brilliant man does not declare bankruptcy four times, and nobody in this country will loan him money, and he has to go outside this country. i appreciate you letting me vent. i've been wanting to do this for some time, thank you. host: ralph, we're glad hear from you. "washington post," u.s. agrees russia did meddle. and the london telegraph, six times donald trump was snubbed on the world stage. donald trump's transition on to the world stage has not gone smoothly. u.s. president has only been in office since january, but already a trail of awkward encounters and apparent snubs lies in his wake. you can read the full he is avenue on the london telegraph. now florida, good morning, welcome to the program. caller: hi. i really appreciate you taking my call. host: sure. caller: i think it's very important that we understand that the federal government,

our federal government, has become an extension of the trump organization. and proof of this is that the amount of money he's receiving from foreign governments. that needs to be investigated. in addition, it's important that we understand that from the beginning of this administration, trump has waffled on many occasions from saying that russia was not involved in our elections, to 400-pound fat man, everybody has repeated that. we know who tainted our election process. it was russia. there's no ifs, ands or buts about it. but donald trump has waffled even on that, when all of our intelligence agencies has said repeatedly that donald trump --

that russia meddled in our elections. so donald trump is, as i say in the headlines of your show, he's -- the united states is on an island all its own, believe it or not, because pulling out the paris agreement and insulting many of our friends in the international arena, from australia, angela merkel, and so many others, mexico, and it's interesting that on two different occasions donald trump went to mexico during the campaign, and just recently, on the world stage, at the g-20, he never even said that mechanics psycho going to pay for the wall. how weak is that? it's important that -- we just n't continue to overlook donald trump's lies. host: thanks for the call.

"fortune" magazine, has drumped creeded global leadership to china? there was a changing of the guard, columbia university economist charged that in pulling the u.s. support out of the paris accord, president trump was not only forfeiting global leadership, but leading america right out of the civilized world. in the "l.a. times," tracy wilkinson saw the president's withdrawal from the climate deal as the most concrete sign yet that america has -- of his america first foreign policy has begun to disrupt the global order that ultimately could cede u.s. in its dominant role to china. david sanger saying the climate decision was a strategic gift to the chinese who are egg eager to fill the void on everything from selling the rules of trade and environmental standards to financing the frain structure project to give beijing that influence. back to your calls. michelle on the republican line in maryland, good morning,

michelle. caller: hi, good morning. mr. trump has taken the united states' reputation and dug a commole buried it. he has made everybody look like idiots. his leadership skills are for the billionaires. everybody on the world stage, his back billionaires, they do not understand the world. only in their -- only in the higher -- hierarchy of money, money, money, money drives this man. when he said staying fair and watch as turkey ambassador stand on the steps in our country and send his thugs out to beat on our citizens that

are demonstrating against them, and he says nothing, he says nothing, he thinks it's ok for these governments to control the press, to beat up people who are against them, who demonstrate against them, because that's what he would like to do. host: thanks very much for the call. the president tweeting just a short while ago and writing about the g-20 summit. let me read you the tweets. the g-20 summit, he says, was a great success for the u.s. explain that the u.s. must fix the many bad trade deals it has made, and it will get done, writes the president. he went on to send another tweet this morning, we negotiated a cease-fire in parts of syria, which will save lives, and now it is time move forward in working constructively with russia. that from president trump. and one final tweet that we have from him, he wrote the following, i strongly pressed russian president vladimir putin twice about russian

melingtsing in our election. he vehemently denied t. i've already given my opinion, writes donald trump, i strongly pressing, vladimir putin, and again, you can follow that. those tweets came out about 20 minutes ago. gleets to frank from pennsylvania, independent line. good morning. welcome to the conversation. caller: thank you very much for taking my call. the point being, the right thing is not always easy to do. but it is always the right thing. this president has tried to do so many things -- he's done more than the last five presidents put together. i'm sorry, but he's a businessman. he did you not have to do this, but i think he cares about america. you know, we were going -- the other thing, he's right. how do you make deals where you lose money all the time? that don't make any sense. that's number one. number two, something like the v.a. i go to the v.a. for everything. and they charge me, which is fine.

and it's no lie. but why don't they use my medicare? it's my money, but they tell me i can't. so there again, he goes for the v.a. he gets people who have the ability -- he's a businessman. and we need somebody, not a politician who's going to buy and sell us like all the politicians in the world have done to us, you know, every time you get a guy, i'm very sorry. but these guys get elected, and to me, when i see a politician is what the destruction that the party is doing, just trying to fight him, because this is ridiculous. these aren't human beings. the trouble with politicians, they're like prostitutes. give them money, and they do anything you want. host: frank, thanks for the call. this is from "the washington times," as the president lassos the american spirit. she says president trump from poland put to words what courses and drives greatness, the never-ending quest for

freedom, not as a government grant, but as a god-given right. this is why his remarks resonated with the rate and were late by the left. the left wants to believe that individuals, families and communities and nations cannot survive or thrive without government control and intervention. the full essay at washingtontimes.com. james joining us next, good morning from akron, ohio, you're next. caller: yes, you know, it's a few things that concerns me about president trump. one thank conditioners me, i don't hear anybody talking too much about, it i'm concerned about him selling off assets that belong to the united states that we will never be table give back. he's using his office as a business for his family. another thing, people demall and say we gave iran money, and

they they continue. you know, we paid iran the money that was owed them, and i'm sure it was some type of a deal that was made in order for them to get the money. but we got what we wanted and didn't give up anything but what we owed them. but these are the kind of things that concern most people out here, and he's making a mockery of the country. people in the street and everybody, even his supporters think that he's not competent to do this job. toe ople are trying to the republican line. this isn't about republican or democrat. this is about the country. at some point, i think the people here in america should wake up and say, look, we have to do something. if we don't, we're going to be in worse trouble than we were in 2008, and it's going to be just irrepairable. thank you.

host: thanks very much for the call. senator joni ernst likes marching, and senator bee keeper is a bee keeper. susan collins enjoys bake. angus king is an amateur photographer, and heidi is a certified yoga instructor. these track senate hobbies. it's a full page story, page 11 of the a section of the "new york times," also available online. if you want to know what some of your senators do in their spare time. derby, wayne, pennsylvania, good morning, welcome to the program. caller: yes, thanks for taking my call. just as a caveat, the bee eeper, how ironic. he -- bee keeping family. that's not my reason for calling. some of your -- i've been

enjoying some of the listener comments regarding mr. trump and highway he's running his administration. number one, climate change is something that was enacted that didn't take overnight. and unfortunately, by him allowing the united states to step aside or not be included, that excludes american future jobs. you read a recent article with china, stepping up solar energy ere we could be in first position, that's unfortunate. that's jobs lost to the united states. host: thanks very much for the call. we're going to move on to this piece from "time" magazine, which writes about the paris climate accord and the discussions at the g-20 summit, available online at time.com. the u.s. withdrawal from the paris agreement minimized frour address u.s. concerns allowing the other countries to draft

more robust statements. the document notes the u.s. is currently in the process of reviewing many of its policies related to climate change and continues to reserve its position on this document and its content, still a stronger climate action plan does not make up for the u.s. leaving the paris agreement. the u.s., the world's largest economy, the second largest emitter, played a key role in shaping the 2015 climate deal. the paris withdrawal meant that the u.s. did not have to haggle -- that the other countries did not have to haggle with the u.s. that was good, says an official from the obama administration. would i rather be in a u.s. stayed in, and he said yes. time.com has the piece. we'll go to karen in north carolina, republican line. good morning. caller: hey, good morning. i was extremely proud of president trump on his overseas trip. i thought he did a great job. but my big question for you, for anybody out there, is to explain to me how our

intelligence agencies can come to the conclusion that russia hacked the d.n.c. server or podesta server when they never -- not one sickle one of those intelligence agencies ever did a forensic check on those servers. they never got their hands on those servers, not one of our intelligence agencies did. clinton was al loud hire a private company to do the forensic research on those servers, and we're supposed to just believe the company that they hired? i mean, can anybody explain that one to me? host: karen, thank you for the call. the group of 20 summit, who is the real donald trump? he writes in his piece this morning, president trump's trip to poland and the group of 20 summit in germany is yet another reminder that his presidency qualities of a three-ring circus with activity coming from a variety of directions all at the same time, and with no easy way in the moment to decide what else

the most important or credible. that's this morning from dan balz in "the washington post." rick from tennessee, independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm 100% for donald trump. i voted since the 1960's with kennedy, and everything that i see as far as everything going on, they want to talk about zprump his many wife's and many bankruptcies. let's look around at the politicians who sit in the house and senate over there. their approval rating is less than the president, and it has been that way for years. i think they should all go back home and be forced to live in their same communities, gut them out of washington, send them back home, and then we'll see what they're really made of. they're running from us. president trump is not running. he's saying this is the problem -- he's not a republican, and he's not a democrat. he's for the country. and for people to look down on him because he may do this or he may say that is wrong. because when you look at -- go

back all the way to governor clinton, to president clinton, and you just keep on and on and on, and you'll see where the real corruption is. thank you. host: rick, thanks very much for the call. michael o'hanlon, out with a new book on nature sandote look at eastern you're, he'll join us in about seven minutes. later, jennifer haberkorn of politico on what to expect as the senate returns. will the senate take up its republican healthcare bill? does senator mitch mcconnell have the votes? will democrats sit down at the table? that's later in the program. democrats line, good morning. caller: good morning. i it will you, just listening to those republicans, they are some very shallow-minded people. they just -- i don't know what's going on. donald trump is an obnoxious, arrogant, vain, extremely self-centered habitual liar. he just burns bridges

everywhere that he goes. do you think for one minute that putin didn't have a time with this guy? he ran up and down this guy. let me tell you something, donald trump doesn't know what tough is. what he did, he ran to a tough guy's tough guy, and the guy just made him look like he is a narrow-minded fool. thank you. host: thank you for the call. steve has this, trump is winning on the world stage, exclamation mark. international press off and oning all over him, all this winning, please stop all this winning. we'll go to sam. wesley, massachusetts, independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. hell snow host: yes, good morning. you're on the air. caller: i'd like to have a quote by a respected professor who has spoken for many years

about the special interests that controlling a government, and i saw him in a program called "democracy now," and they asked him the question about russia interfering in our election, and his answer was this, we have become the laughingstock of the world. when we openly interfere interfered in russia's elections, especially supporting yeltsin. we interfered in everybody's election, and never mind the regime change. and he says, i don't like donald trump, because he's put the special interests up front, instead from the back. one thing donald trump is orrect, it's crazy not to have -- not to speak to the russians, because they're a major nuclear power. we've tom nuclear war more than

once. -- we've come to nuclear war more than once. even when the russians were controlled by the communist system, we had decan't. in iraq, ust like beating that -- excuse me. i'm sorry. trying to collect my thought. host: that's ok. caller: the russians are our enemy. well, they're a major power. this was his answer. and as far as as far as the russians interfered, they showed the shenanigans of the democratic party dipping the scales for hillary instead of being neutral and basically cheated sanders the election. host: thank you for the call. russia growls over putin's trump meeting. the piece also available online at nytimes.com.

there was a certain degree of exulting in the russia capital on saturday in the wake of the first meeting between vladimir putin and donald trump. mr. putin himself saying that the american president seemed satisfied with his answers on the hacking issue, and that the talks had set the stage for improved relations. we'll go to skip in california, independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. thanks for calling -- or thanks -- host: you're the one that called, absolutely. i know what you meant. caller: anyway, i wanted to make a comment about, in general, what's going on with our country. it valley very disturbing where we're headed. i think our country needs to go back to teaching civic lessons in high schools, because i think that's part of the problem. there's loft people don't even understand our own constitution. and one of them is trump.

i mean, he said so many things that have been outrages. but the most outrageous one to me is when he said the media is the enemy of the country. that is just unbelievable that a president of the united states can say that. and nobody gets disturbed by it, very little. most of his supporters think that's just great. that's just unbelieveable. we need to understand that this country is the rain it's been so great, because we have a free press. that was amendment number one. that was the top thing our forefathers decided should happen in this country, we needed a free press. freedom of speech. and here's trump up there telling us that's not what we should be doing. host: thanks very much for the call. we'll go to dave, joining us on the republican line from michigan. good morning, dave. caller: yes, good morning. that fellow just spoke, this

country is not that great anymore. and it's because it's not that great because we've been lied to by much of the media. that article that you had just a while ago, ago with the pictuf the wife of the polish president avoiding mr. trump's hand, she did not avoid it, she went to shake melania's hand and then she shook donald's hand. but nobody shows her shaking donald deposit and. i saw her shake his hand. she said that was fake news. what was being put out there. disgusting the way the media has manipulated the facts and the videos, etc.. host: the video is on