anderson. always, we will take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: good morning. today is saturday, august 19, 2017. president trump has ousted his chief strategist, steve bannon. he is out at the white house. he had been accredited with helping trump when last year's presidential election and is seen as the key architect of the president's nationalism policies. the last week was also marked by the president's contradictory who's to blamet for the violence in charlottesville.

the question we have for you this morning for republicans only, what is your advice to president trump? if you live in the eastern and central time zones, call 202-748-8000. mountain and pacific time zones, 202-748-8001. we are on social media, as always. on twitter and facebook. announcement ended days of speculation about bannon's future. even steve bannon himself wasn't sure how long he would stay in the office. here's the headline in "the washington post." trump's presidency floundering and his legislative agenda in shambles.

john f kelly moved to fire bannon to bring stability to a white house and risk caving under its self-destructive tendencies. it continues -- easily his ideas were batted away by other senior advisers in the white house. if he were to leave the white house, the conservative populist movement that lifted trump in last year's campaign would be at risk.

let's go to an interview that steve bannon gave the weekly standard on his way out. said "the trump presidency we fought for and won . we still have a safe movement and will make something -- we trump presidency still have a huge movement and will make something of the trump presidency." steve green joined us here on "washington journal." here's what he said about bannon's time at the white house. [video clip] guest: trump is not like having a costar. his worst experience so far came in february after time magazine famously ran a cover with

bannon's face and the headline "the great manipulator." elected this belief that president been "n -- that "president bannon was really in charge of things. now, he has worked his way back into the inner circle. my book puts them 's the cover and steve bannon trump's namefore rubs trump the wrong way. host: help us understand the relationship that existed between trump and steve bannon. guest: steve bannon came in toward the end of the presidential campaign and was credited with helping trump

reach victory. whether or not bannon deserved the credit for that or whether trump deserved the credit was a matter of frustration for president trump when he saw been in -- bannon a trivet it to delivering -- attributed to delivering his victory. on saturdaye sketch night live of president bannon pulling the strings. host: what do you think accounts specifically for his departure? is it a confluence of events with general kelly trying to instill some sense of discipline and order in the white house? the president didn't like the fact that steve bannon was getting too much credit? doesn't have anything to do with the legislative failures -- does it have anything to do with the legislative failures?

guest: as we have seen with so many recent departures, it takes a bit of time for the dust to settle. gave anes after bannon interview to a liberal magazine in which he undermines what the president has been saying about north korea. himself has said that he offered his resignation two weeks ago. there's some reporting to that effect. it also comes as john kelly is seeking to establish order in the white house. people are becoming more comfortable with using the word "fired." " the wall street journal" cut it in half and said essentially fired himself. it will take some time for the dust to truly settle. there are various contribute factors to his ouster. host: what does it mean for the trump white house?

there's a vacuum for a lot of former democrats. guest: i'm sure some allies of bannon will be saying we are now going to see democratic white house. wing saw himlist as the key influencer in the white house. journal"e wall street has this graphic of all the people who left the president's inner circle. steve bannon out the door as the white house chief strategist. what does this suggest about the trump presidency six or seven months in? or sevenr the six

months committee been characterized by the internal warring factions. it appears that period is coming to an end. the people who blasted kellyanne -- the more recently host: steve bannon is headed back to breitbart. what does that mean for the president? guest: in the immediate aftermath of the firing, there were some people speculating that breitbart would be targeting the white house and treating it as though it is the obama administration. it appears to be going to war for the president. host: stephen nelson couples the

white house for the washington examiner. thank you for your time this money. -- stephen nelson covers the white house for "the washington examiner." thank you for your time this morning. to florida. we have tom on the line. good morning. caller: good morning. i just want to say that trump needs an intervention on twitter. -- heds to keep his words promised the american people that all americans would get cheaper health care. that is not happening. he needs to denounce the kkk and like many

republican politicians. host: did you vote for president trump? caller: yes. host: do you think his comments this week risk branding the gop as a party that is open to racial intolerance? caller: that is his problem. that is the problem he has right now. he needs to come onto television like ronald reagan and the bushes and say we don't support your nazis. simple as that. how hard is that? i do not support david duke, i do not support the kkk. i don't like them, i don't want them, the american people don't want them. do i need to say it out loud? we all know the history, right? host: much like tom, senator bob

corker spoke in chattanooga thursday and also criticized the president's handling of the racially motivated protests in child's bill. [video clip] the president has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful. and we need for him to be successful. the nation needs for him to be successful it doesn't matter whether you are democrat or republican. we need our president to be successful. he has not demonstrated that he understands the characterizations -- he has not demonstrated that he understands

what makes this nation great and what it is today. he has to demonstrate the characteristics of a president who understands that. without the things that i just mentioned happening, our nation is going to go through great peril. i want to do everything i can. in spite of the fact that people are polarized in our nation right now, people have to understand that we should hope and does somes -reflection and does what is necessary to demonstrate stability and demonstrate competence and understandsthat he the character of our nation and

works daily to bring out the best in the people of our nation , helping inspire the visions because it generates support , it isur political base not a formula for causing our nation to advance and overcome the many issues that we have right now. host: kentucky, we have alan on the line. caller: my advice would be to have a catastrophic health care plan where every american had all their health care paid for after we reached a threshold of $10,000. however, it paid for nothing up until that time. private insurance could be sold

at that time. you would also have clinics that would allow people that support it to go to those clinics. host: what you make of the president's and a the charlottesville protests -- handling of the charlottesville protests? caller: the problem with our countries the far left and the far right. -- with our country is the far left and far right. we are never going to be able to work together. host: josh calling from connecticut. caller: good morning. my advice to president trump is listen to the people who elected him. i don't understand -- bob corker is spouting off hot air. trump got elected. i don't understand how that makes him not understanding the people who supported him.

follow what people voted on you for. -- i'mhe had some great going up to the protests in boston today, not as a neo-nazi, but as a trump supporter. -- they'rewho thinks going to paint us as racists anyway, so there's nothing that we can say to placate the other side. so, keep going. there's no other option. came up during the protests in charlottesville when the president said there were fine people on both sides. how can you find yourself marching alongside not to's and white supremacists -- neo-nazis

and white supremacists? caller: they are american like anyone else. his black lives matter not american? president trump said nothing factually wrong in his statements. nobody knows which side started it. , but the factsle are the facts. host: las cruces, new mexico. we have j on the line. caller: good morning. trumpice for president would be to hang out with more minds like rand paul, the more libertarian leaning republicans in the senate. he needs to take more advice from people like that. host: why is that? do you particularly align yourself with libertarian views?

caller: i agree with senator rand paul when it comes to health care. we need to listen to the doctor when it comes to health care. to provide an opportunity for everyone to get health care, not as equal outcome, but equal opportunity. allow the free market to work. host: what do you make of what the president has done so far as it relates to immigration? he has the proposal to cut legal immigration and half. -- in half. there are those who see that as the right direction. caller: he is the president. i voted for gary johnson, but i'm still a registered republican. i disagree -- we need to have an like anigration policy

ellis island approach. security check, disease check, done. host: we have a tweet from carol who writes -- libera let's go to arkansas we have tim on the line. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i'd tell him keep doing what he's doing. i agree with some of the callers. i'd like to see him leaving more conservative than populist. the amount of fighting he has to do with the entrenched deep state obama holdovers in the is come inunny thing charlottesville, neo-nazi stands national socialists -- we

have our own brown shirt fascists. all the media does is blame trump for it. i agree, when charlie bill charlottesville happened, he said the right thing. it's never enough for fools like .ob corker corker should be gone. mitch mcconnell should be gone. these old holdovers who can't do their job legislating -- people want trump to do so much, but he can't legislate. rand paul messed us up the first

time by not putting the same bill through that they put through the 50 times in the .eginning guess who lets us down in the end. mccain. another one who's been there for 100 years and shouldn't be there trying to legislate anymore. all they do is stop around and fuss and have their own agendas. i'm looking forward to the next election cycle. weak out who these republicans are who are really democrats in disguise and vote them out. host: it wasn't just bob corker. it was also marco rubio and ted cruz. also, tim scott, republican from south carolina. the only black republican senator in the country. [video clip] >> what words do you have for

his performance? >> initial response of rejecting hate and bigotry and racism was a good response. it was not good enough. monday, he obviously came to the same conclusion and decided to clarify his comments. his monday comments would have been perfect on saturday. his tuesday comments and racing parts of his monday comments. parts of hisasing monday comments. why should people believe the comments on monday were something that he believed? >> i'm not going to defend the indefensible. i'm here to be clear and concise and to sink. his comments on monday were strong, his comments on tuesday started erasing the comments that were strong.

moral authority is compromised when tuesday happens. we should all call that on the carpet. >> does the president have moral authority now? >> he's losing it. we gave him moral authority. in the last three or four days, we've seen that authority compromised by a lack of clarity by what we've seen as a pivot backwards, which is very unsettling for many americans, including me. host: tim scott speaking to vice news. we have a tweet from robert simpson -- let's go back to the phones. louisiana. good morning. caller: hi. i think we've had some very, very good speakers today.

but, this is what i seriously think. since the borders are open, we've had a lot of antagonists which just egg people on and feed the fire. this poor man gets no cooperation at all from his own republican people. don't talk about fake news. i know it's fake. it is. if you would jump through the hoop, they would say he jumped the wrong way. he's trying to use a businessman. he knows how to do it. -- he is trying. he is a businessman. he knows how to do it. and take everything everything out of context. the poor man is trying to do his job. , gettelling these people

the work done, but they are too busy fighting him. and all the mess that they caused -- i really believe with the open borders, they are coming in from mexico, i will support the wall. i will put money in. i supported him and i believe this poor man is trying. what obama did is an abomination. plus, they've already proved that he and his wife are not who they say they are. host: what do you mean by that? caller: his birth certificate is fake. host: ok, we will let you go. that is entirely baseless. let's go to south carolina. we have mary on the line. caller: good morning. trumped to tell president

to go ahead with his agenda. get the tax thing done, get infrastructure started, because this country is falling apart. get the health care bill that. he needs to start going to every one of their states and have a big rally and let them know, you will be up for election -- host: he's going to phoenix on tuesday and nevada on wednesday. caller: he needs to go to alaska, too. look what happened -- we don't know who's coming across that border. i really don't believe that. statutees in charlottesville, virginia, i'm sorry that crazy little net

illed that girl -- little , i believethat girl in equality, but i think robert e lee was a great general. he stood by his principles and joined the wrong side of the war. i would chain myself to that statue and i'm a 70-year-old little woman. i don't think donald trump believes in any of those kinds of people. . host: mount pleasant, texas. we heavily on the line. -- we have lee on the line. caller: the president called out all these republicans that said they are republican but they are

actually democrats doing with the democrats want. and that's it. host: some of the republicans lee would say are standing in the president's way, there's also a hell republican governor john kasich. there's also ohio republican governor john kasich. [video clip] >> what should republicans do? what do you do if you work in the trump white house? i don't work in the trump white house. i didn't endorse the man because i felt he was a person of division. and i've been hoping and i've been restrained in wanting him to be better. the presidency is being reduced to another ceo job. the presidency is the most

important job in the country. there is a bitterness setting and that may not be able to be removed. i want him to do well. i want donald trump to understand it's not about winning the argument, it's about bringing the country together. it's not about having some argument try to justify these people on the left who went to a sweet town like charlottesville for purposes of bringing violence. this and fix republicans have to speak out. who cares what party you are in? host: mary from south carolina , theoned heather heyer 32-year-old woman who died in the violence intro it's will -- in charlottesville. says she will not talk to president trump here's the story from "the new york times."

thisuote that she gave was -- another tweet here --

let's go to mount pleasant, texas. we have lee on the phone. caller: they need to give him a chance. host: what do you see as the president's greatest opposition? caller: the republican party. do you recommend a course of action for the next 3.5 years? to, signaave executive orders. host: oklahoma. we have billy on the line. caller: good morning. i agree completely with the last person that was on there. biggesthting the

opponent any politician has ever had with his own party against them. he can't maintain a majority. the thing about this interview thing -- i've been sitting here listening to this while i been on hold. everything that's been on here that influenced this c-span has been from the liberal side -- yet, you ask the people you're interviewing whether they are republican or not. i don't think that is fair. are you a republican? host: we are trying to get a view from republicans about your view of the presidency so far. do. you recommend he caller: my point is you are the one whose unmasking the stuff you're putting in here, besides the interview you do with me.

i'm asking you come are you a republican or democrat? host: let's head to south carolina. we have jeffrey on the line. good morning. caller: my advice for president trump is stick to his guns. he came into office on a particular platform, drain the swamp. he needs to stick with that. regarding the charlottesville groups,, both of those the kkk white supremacists and the progressives, they are both two prongs of the democratic party. back withr history having more ins common than they are different.

host: we have don on the line from virginia. are you there? you?r: hi. how are host: i'm all right, thanks. caller: here's a major problem in our government. they seem to not be able to put two and two together. i'm saying released the crack in the -- the kracken. that being marijuana. the hell out of these people. host: let's go to virginia.

we have ralph on the line. caller: good morning, c-span. host: what's your advice to the president? caller: my advice would be for him to go ahead with his agenda. everything he promised us on the campaign trail. quit being a schoolyard bully. we all have known for years that fake news is fake news. that is what pays the bills. fake news, advertisements. what trump is trying to do, he's trying to do on his own. the republicans are not wanting to help him. just like the wall agenda. people don't understand how in the world he got voted into the presidency. if they would open up a nationwide donation line to help build a wall, every red-blooded american would send money to that account to help build that

wall. they will see how many americans are opposed to all the traffic coming across the border. stay off of twitter. upt's what misses his agenda more than anything is being that schoolyard bully on twitter. the president decried fake news and says twitter is his one way of getting people around the establishment media. how else should he do it? what every other president did. 8:00 andey come on at knock a tv show off to talk to you? --t: another tweet

echoing what we heard from ralph. diane is calling from hartford, connecticut. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: hello? host: you are on the air. caller: i watched the press conference that donald trump had on tuesday. he had a very nice message about infrastructure. when he opened it up to the press, they -- he said specifically, anyone have a question about my infrastructure , and they bombarded him in a way i've never seen before with these questions. number one, he should stop using the term "fake news." stop that just call on people.

once they said something about just say i'vee, given my comment, i oppose the and if noku klux klan one had a question about infrastructure, he should have walked away. the media knows they can goad him into this and that's what they did. and that just say stop they don't ask a question relevant to what he's talking about, walk away. i could see him getting angry. on television the next day, no one i mention infrastructure. -- no one mentioned infrastructure.

stay on script and stop using the term "fake news" when calling on people. job. trying to do a good kelly is doing a wonderful job with him. the media knows if they can rile him up, thehe will say something i inappropriate. kkkentioned he opposes the many times. host: the white house is a communications director spot open. i would submit your resume. what do you think? caller: sometimes, i sit and think i could go on and give an opinion. then, i would probably close my mouth and not say anything. how much does it pay? host: good question. let's go to gillette, wyoming.

we have richard on the line. good morning. caller: good morning. my opinion is coming he should probably resign before this rush -- my opinion is beforeld probably resign this rus russia investigation. host: you think it'll implicate the president himself? caller: oh, yes. and steve manna four. fort.eve manna it was pretty easy to take control of the presidential campaign. businessweek had an article during the primaries, how to

hack the election. that was when it all started. we heard from a number of callers today who say one of the reasons the president hasn't been able to stack up as many legislative agrees as he would like is because of obstruction from republicans on the hill. caller: sure. the way his campaign was run, he would attack and rub their face in it. what goes around comes around. the campaign costs billions of dollars. if you're hacking these people, they've lost millions. go back to jeb bush, $300 million. look at ted cruz, the millions he lost. putin is over there -- host: a tweet from the president.

let's go to the phones. pennsylvania, we have michael on the line. good morning, michael. caller: good morning. a beautiful day here. about trump. i think he's getting off track with a lot of his advisers. , i thinkg steve bannon he's losing his original that some people who voted for him were addressing. steve bannon is not a white supremacist. i saw an interview about the all woman, this black professor said she's interviewed

both sides and people get the two things confused. they get the kkk and the alt-right confused. there's really no similarities. not a whitet is supremacist group. they have some legitimate grievances that trump has been addressing. now, by getting all these as advisorsthere and losing steve bannon, he's losing a lot of the message that brought him to washington in the first place. it's diluting his strength. host: let's go to kingsport, tennessee. we have john on the phone. good morning, john. caller: you mean roy? host: it says john on the

screen, but if your name is roy, i will call you roy. is doinghe president the job he can do with what he's got to work with. my messages to the house and the senate, especially the republican party. republicans of this country put donald trump in office. my advice to the republican start get ready to finding jobs cooking hotdogs on the corner. you are not doing the job we sent you there to do. you are not doing it. bob corker will not get my vote if he keeps obstructing the president of this country. host: what do you think of mitch mcconnell?

mitch mcconnell is supposed to be the leader of the republican party as far as the senate goes. mccaingot him and john saying no and these other two who voted no on the health care bill. i guess you didn't know how to twist the arms hard enough. maybe he needs to start taking money away from the states. we've got three or four of them were not doing their job. host: mitch mcconnell put out a president'sout the comments on charlottesville. he said this --

we have another tweet here from charlie, who writes -- we have steve on the phone, calling from pasadena, maryland. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i'm from pasadena, california, but now, i live in pasadena, maryland. host: imagine that. caller: trump is an outsider. he doesn't come from d.c. he wakes up every day and he sees how awful and corrupt the system is. he's fighting the media. ,he democrats and republicans they push for the same agenda.

they don't want to be exposed on either side. he's trying to do things and they are just blocking him at every avenue and it's difficult to get something done. he could walk on water and they would say he doesn't know how to swim. it's an attack on everything he does. it's frustrating because the there in their -- put him and he won. they are not looking up for the folks, the politicians are looking out for each other. we put him there to get things done. maybe he is not the most eloquent spoke -- maybe he does things a little different come up but that's what we like. we don't want the same politician standing out there feeding us a bunch of stuff, going behind doors and doing something different.

he is who he is. not everyone likes every president, but you try to pick out what you like and hopefully it is more than what you don't like. i hope he does a good job and takes care of us. he's what we have. right now, he's the president. instead of trying to destroy him, we should spend more time on trying to get things together here while we can. that's what we have, we have trump. host: let's take a look at what vice president mike pence said in chile on wednesday about his the president and his comments. [video clip] >> the comments alarmed many americans come including republican supporters. do you agree with the president that there were good people among the white supremacist protesters and that there was

blamed to be had on both sides? do you believe confederate statues should be removed in many cities across the south orange do you agree with the president that robert e. lee should be considered in the same pantheon as george washington? >> what happened in charlottesville was a tragedy. the president has been clear on this tragedy and so have i. i spoke at length about this heartbreaking situation in colombia. i stand with the president and i stand by those words. , while i am here in chile, our hearts are in charlottesville. ago,a few short hours

toily and friends gathered say farewell to a remarkable young woman, heather heyer. praying for god's peace and comfort for her family and for friends and her loved ones. that inre also praying america that we will not allow the few to divide the many. the strength of the united states of america is always strongest when we are united. around our shared values. and so it will always be. host: the vice president making a tour of latin america this past week. there is a few survey looking at countries all around the world and the confidence they have in

president trump. look at the number one country that has no confidence in the president. that would be mexico, 93% of those polled. one would assume because of president trump's crackdown on immigration. if you scroll to the bottom, the country with the most confidence in the president is india. let's go to south carolina. we have elliott on the line. good morning. caller: hello. my name is elliott. i want to point out to the people of c-span that during our american revolution, tom paine used the media to push the revolution. he made templates. now, we have twitter. all these people who think we shouldn't use the most important

can and thatch we is through twitter when the president can speak to the people as tom painted -- as tom paine bit. -- as tom paine did. the emotional leader of the democratic party said a party find a useless piece of information and push it. republicans must point out that democrats are using the destruction of these statues to hide their slaver past. the democratic party is a party of slavery. host: another tweet from the president. he writes -- robert is calling from illinois. good morning, robert.

caller: good morning. i just wanted to say that i don't believe in slavery. if it wasn't for slavery, the black race wouldn't be here. host: let's go to florida. we have surely on the phone. -- shirley on the phone. caller: my advice, my comment to president trump, thank you for your patriotism. thank you for standing up for middle-class america. we want to talk about a rush investigation -- russia investigation? how about hillary clinton providing 20% of our nuclear material to putin? that doesn't justify an investigation? soros and a lot of the hard-core liberals are the real threat to america. host: linda calling from new

york. caller: good morning. --t a question for everybody do you remember when the republican congresspeople were shot, did you hear president trump say it was a communist bernie sanders porter? -- supporter? will you play the clip of obama when the police officers in texas were killed by a black lives matter? you guys are being totally unfair. thank you. host: back to twitter, we have a tweet -- back to the phones. we have dan calling from illinois. caller: good morning. trump, this isnt

to find out if he got the letter. define the word income as the congress already has and the job will be done. income is gained and derived as the result of a privileged relationship with the federal government. excise is synonymous with privilege. the constitution refers to an excise tax as an indirect tax because it does not fall directly on a person. the obfuscation of this one word income has resulted in the theft of america's heritage as enshrined in the declaration of independence and the constitution. this confusion brought about by selfish interests has caused most americans their freedom and prosperity. host: floyd calling from tennessee. good morning, floyd.

advice to the president is start cleaning house in the senate. get rid of lisa murkowski and susan collins and john mccain. host: let's go back to twitter here. we have another tweet that says -- nick, callingm from florida. caller: my advice to the president would be used steve

bannon to go out right now and start working on primaries for all those people who haven't been backing him and get new candidates who will support trump and get his agenda through. i'm sick and tired of all these rhinos. we are coming for you. i want to get rid of them and go with his agenda. i don't care what the news media thinks or what the democrats think or with the rhinos think. host: here's what steve bannon set himself on an interview with the weekly standard. he says the fight is just beginning. now, i'm free. i have my hands back on my weapon. i'm going to crush the opposition. there's no doubt. i built a machine at breitbart. he said he can be more effective

without the constraints of the white house. on thefight better at the outside." let's go to sam calling from washington, d.c. caller: how are you doing? my comment is we need to determine, what are we trying to do? are we trying to tear down or build up? if we determine that, we can see where we need to start in order to improve this situation we have right now. that's what i have to say. host: our last call for this hour comes from springfield, massachusetts. we have ed on the phone.

caller: good morning. i think donald trump needs to be working with the senate. senators have six year terms. tos not going to be around change everybody in the senate. if he doesn't like republicans, he shouldn't have run as one. he should resign. i am a republican. i supported ted cruz. thank you. host: here's what we have coming up next. we will talk with a "reuters" health care correspondent, yasmeen abutaleb. later on, we will speak with robert woodson and bernard anderson. they will talk about race and the legacy of the civil war and the president's comments this past week. stay with us. ♪

>> we've been on the road meeting winners of this year's studentcam video documentary competition. at royal oak high school, first place winner jared clark won a prize of $3000 for his documentary on the rising cost of pharmaceutical drugs. the second place prize of $5,000 to a- $1500 went documentary on mass incarceration. the third place winner won a prize of $750. and honorablen mention prize. thank you to all the students who participated in our 2017 studentcam video documentary competition.

to watch any of the videos, go to studentcam.org. studentcam 2018 starts in september with the theme "the constitution and create a video illustrating by the provision is important. coverage of the solar eclipse on monday starts at 7:00 a.m. eastern washington journal live at nasa's goddard states fight center -- spaceflight center. a nasa research space scientist and jim garvin, chief scientist at goddard. at noon, we join nasa tv as they provide live views of the shadow passing over north america. at 4:00 p.m. eastern, viewer reaction to this rare solar eclipse over the continental united states. live all-day coverage of the solar eclipse on monday starting at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span and c-span.org.