emily on the trunk state department. then we talked to alex nowrasteh and time magazine sports writer sean get -- sean gregory. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] host: good morning. , 2017.aturday, october 7 is end of a very busy week in washington which created a flood of issues from the iran nuclear cash nd the future of it is not always a laughing matter, then -- the late-night hosts have also given emotional pleas on issues like gun control and health care reform. we are asking our "washington journal," are late-night

comedians too politicals -- political? republicans can call 202-748-8001. democrats can call 202-748-8000. an independents, 202-748-8002. you can also reach us on social media on twitter @cspanwj and on facebook.com/c-span. about how late-night comedians are taking on politics. stephen colbert took on steven mnuchin and rex tillerson. "the hill" reports he opened his show saying he is concerned about secretary of state rex tillerson and goes on to say colbert poked fun at tillerson's press conference where he denied he was considering leaving the white house, but declined to comment on allegations the president called him a "mo

ron." the comedian took jabs at the reported suicide pact tillerson has with defense secretary james mattis and treasury secretary steven mnuchin, with each party vowing to leave if one of them is ousted. "that's when you know things are going great at the workplace when people start forming suicide pacts," colbert said sarcastically. they've also agreed that if none of them are with someone by the time they are 70, they will marry each other. we are asking if you think late-night comedians have gotten too political. let's take a look at what stephen colbert said about drawn it -- donald trump's nfl comments. >> solidarity for our national anthem and our country, standing with locked arms is good and kneeling is not acceptable. bad ratings! first of all, locking arms

doesn't mean they are on your side and ratings are not the only indicator of importance. i hear nobody tuned in for the revolutionary war. to that terrible ad campaign, it was just one guy on a horse. not good marketing. today, donald trump was still tweeted this issue of kneeling has nothing to do with race. wrong. kneeling during the national anthem has everything to do with race, just like your presidency. [cheers and applause] those players are protesting racial injustice, not protesting the american flag. saying that kneeling is a protest against the flag is like saying gandhi's hunger strikes were a protest against snacking.

you realize civil rights activists were not sitting at the lunch counter for better grilled cheese. host: the president was also fodder for jokes made by seth meyers of nbc. "the guardian" reports that seth meyers discussing president trump's awkward visit to puerto rico turned between tensions -- to tensions between him and rex tillerson. trump's own government has been working through back channels to resolve it peaceably -- peacefully. trump flew all of -- through all of that out of the weekend when he tweeted over the weekend "i told rex tillerson he is wasting his time to negotiate with little rock it man." all the careful diplomacy and

bargaining just got out the window with one tweet. it's like everyone is playing an intense game of janke and trump theenga and trump is rambunctious golden retriever barking through the doggie door. we are talking to you about late-night comedians. are they wading too far into the world of politics? neil is calling from connecticut on our independent line. what do you think? caller: i don't think they are wading too far into politics. i think it's an appropriate thing to do and historically, it's what comedians have done and i think the problems are so serious and the administration -- particularly trump obviously is so over-the-top i found it more disturbing to watch the

comedians because i no longer find it humorous. watchingis actually washington journal and follow politics and concerned enough to get up in the morning and watch programs like this knows how serious these things are. this is just not funny anymore. every day is more and more serious. host: so how do you think comedians should handle it? do you think they should tell jokes? -- some of them have taken a serious approach to it. what do you think is appropriate for late-night tv? caller: i think the guys that are actually on late-night tv have a pretty good handle on how they should take their responsibilities and i think they do what they do. i just think that people who are watching what is hot -- going on to take these things seriously , but lookt humorous

more to serious news late at night now to follow because there is no real relief from it. i think the people that follow these things get up in the morning and watch the hard news programs and they think the people that take these things seriously are going to bed watching hard news programs as well. don is calling from california on the republican line. caller: these late-night comedians aren't comedians anymore. they are almost an extension of cnn and msnbc. i don't see much funny coming out of them. it's just pure vitriol and hatred against president trump and anything connected to him. is you take topics of the day and make jokes of them. what they do is they take everything trump does and try to make a joke out of it.

that. purely you can't really call that comedy. you have to call that propaganda. host: do you see this differently -- i know growing up , my parents and other people would watch johnny carson and other late-night folks and they talked about presidents and lawmakers in what was going on in washington. if anything do you think has changed? --ler: what is changed is johnny carson was more of a republican, but he would jive both sides of the aisle. maybe he would jive one side a little bit more, but can you even remember a comedian making fun of nancy pelosi or chuck schumer? can you think of one time on "saturday night live" or the late-night shows them making fun

of one single democrat? you don't see that. it's all propaganda is all they are and cnn and msnbc are not far behind. they take their cues from late-night comedians, sadly. they actually think president trump is like the alec baldwwin they see on "saturday night live." very it has become childish, very ridiculous, very open and in-your-face hatred and vitriol against the president and a thing connected with him. i dare anybody out there -- a caller please call and tell me when these late-night comedians had made -- have made jokes about nancy pelosi or chuck schumer or any democrats. it's a sad, sad state of affairs. the washington post talks about recent comments by jimmy kimmel about senator bill cassidy.

it says "i had an interesting day today," jim -- jimmy kimmel saw his monologue about health care go viral after he tore into senator bill cassidy tuesday night for the horrible bill he proposed with senator lindsey graham of south carolina as the senate repeal obamacare. the louisiana senator appealed on his show in may and said he would pose a health care bill with people -- where people with pre-existing conditions were protected. "but unfortunately and puzzlingly, they passed a bill to do the states do all the things he would not let them do." "he made a total about-face so he doesn't understand his own bill or lied to me. it's as simple as that." let's take a look at what jimmy kimmel said yesterday about the

shootings -- the shooting in las vegas earlier this week. [video clip] >> you know what will happen? we will pray for las vegas and some of us will get motivated and others of us will not get motivated. builds will get written and watered down and nra will -- we will get distracted and it did not even make a blip because this is a regular part of our lives now. we will pray for las vegas and some of us will get motivated getothers will be -- not motivated. bills will get written and they will get watered down and the nra will smother them and we will move onto the next thing and it will happen again and again. last night the white house press secretary said this is not the time -- it was this morning she said this was not the time for political debate. we have 59 innocent people dead, it wasn't their time either so i think now is the time for political debate.

president trump is visiting las vegas on wednesday. he spoke and said he is praying for those who lost their lives. in february he signed a bill that made it easier for people with severe mental illness to buy guns legally. mitch mcconnell, paul ryan, a number of other lawmakers who won't do anything about this because the nra has their balls in a money clip also sent their thoughts and prayers today, which is good. they should be praying for god to forgive them for letting the gun lobby run this country. host: larry is on the democratic line from memphis, tennessee. good morning, larry. caller: i love it. the comedians get the truth out better than the news. and they make it funny. it's hilarious. have a good day. host: from denver on our independent line, what are your thoughts? caller: i think people may be forgetting what humor is for. to speak truth to power. the comedians are holding up a

mirror to our society and that's what they should be doing whether we think it is funny or not. it's debatable. that is their job. host: do you think that it has gotten more political in the past -- than in the past? these are comedians, that we can see from the comments by jimmy kimmel in particular, he wasn't making a joke. he was making very pointed comments on issues like gun care and health can -- health care and gun control. caller: i think we are in a situation where politics are impacting our world more than ever. each and every person has a political issue that is now impacting their world. health care is one of those issues that is impacting everyone. i think that is why we are hearing more of it. we need -- i think comedians are trying to bring attention to issues that we are all focusing on as well.

some of these issues are so serious that if we did not laugh, we would cry. host: ok. david is calling on our republican line from denison, texas. what do you think, david? caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: first of all, it's about entertainment. sports, football is entertainment, the condit -- comedy shows or any shows on tv in a primetime position is there for entertainment. the lady that just mentioned that comedians are supposed to speak truth to power, that kind of ludicrous. the element of comedy -- the truth in comedy that makes it funny is there has got to be an element of truth in whatever the joke is to make it funny, but when you are doing nothing but making these absurd nonstop comments on one side of the political spectrum and ignoring

the other for all these years, all you are doing is isolating half your audience. the football players have an absolute right to do what they want from a standpoint of expressing themselves on the field other than how they are restricted by their contract or their employers and then it is toto them whether they want suffer the consequence of any action the employer might take against them, but yes, they have the right to do that. host: a me ask you a question about the comedians because you say it is one-sided. is that because it just happens republicans are in power right now? during the clinton administration there were a lot of jokes made about bill clinton. guest: there were more jokes made about him -- caller: there were more jokes made about him, that is true. certainly with the monica lewinsky issue it salt -- calls -- it caused that scenario. look at the topics they had available to them.

it follows the pattern and it's becoming more and more so over the years. for example, i was just -- trump got two newspaper endorsements to hillary clinton's 57. anybody that watched anything having to do with politics in the last election knows the clinton campaign had hundreds of millions of more dollars available than the trump campaign did and like usual, after -- the media will be kind to john mccain to the point where the republicans pick him as a candidate and then they treat any republican basically the same in any religion -- in any election from that standpoint. take chevy chase. 20 years after he made a point in every one of his shows to portray gerald ford tripping and falling, he acknowledged in an interview -- i saw it myself, he acknowledged he was trying to

get that across to folks. he wanted to depict him as a buffoon. take the more on thing last week. i was walking and listening to bbc. they can't get anything but negative comments in about donald trump. the whole point is to get donald trump's name with the word "buffoon" in whatever comment it can be. some "the federalist" has pushback against these late-night comedians. he writes what were once cultural institutions with a broad bipartisan audience are becoming niche players with a narrow fan base. they no longer view partisan politics as a dangerous move that will shrink their audience. they are using it as a lure to secure the laureate take -- loyalty of their audience or what is left of it. from north carolina on the democratic line, what do you think? caller: the only thing i have to

say is late-night comedians, i think, are the only democratic voice we have in this country right now. they are doing what the democrats should be doing. they should be screaming about health care and about gun control. they should be out there. scream thear them way the late-night comedians are. that is the problem. they are not fighting the democratic fight. host: why do you think that is? caller: i don't know. i have no idea. i have no clue. that's why the comedians are taking it on themselves to voice the democratic way and fight for health care and gun control. those are the main focus for the country is health care and gun control. i don't hear the democrats screaming against trump.

i don't hear the democrats -- i don't know what's going on with democrats, but it is time for new leadership with the democrats. host: gilbert is calling in on our democratic line from hyattsville, maryland. what do you think about late-night comedians? you think they are too political? caller: no, great, they are doing the right thing. later on said they are serious about the information you get in the morning and listen to c-span and the people at night just want to get your laugh in. these are serious times with trump. those people at night that don't listen to you in the morning can listen to kimmel at night and listen to what is going on. there's so much stuff with trump and another guy said there are no funny points. the funny point is trump. there's a reason they call him a more on and the other thing republicans sit on the flag with players on their knee.

trump, who is a draft dodger with the senator -- that he is not a real hero because he didn't come back -- he got caught. host: let me ask you this question. what about the argument that we have news organizations or c-span at talk about policy issues, but at that end of the day when people want to relax or on wind, they may not want politics inserted into their comedy. what do you think about that? caller: we don't have a chance -- choice. you have a businessman in the white house that wants to use hotels as business when he should be doing it in the white house. he does it because he can use security people in the hotel to have them paid by us. obama left the white house maybe three times -- one a 3 compared to trump.

trump doesn't care what bills get past or anything. every bill that comes around he says i will send it back to congress, but by the way, i am going to work at my hotels so you can pay the bill and yet the republicans are ok with that. -- takes a look at this phenomenon of politics in comedy and says the unexpected appearance. former white house press secretary sean spicer at the firstthis past sunday laughsed shock and then and then cries of outrage. it goes to show how much donald trump has eviscerated our local and moral discourse, but how he has affected the practice of political comedy, too. as in so many of the destructions, he has inflicted upon us, he has wound up discombobulated folks. people do not know whether to chuckle, grown, or spotter in it sputter in --

indignation. joe is calling from massachusetts on the independent line. what do you think, joe? citizen, i don't believe in the concept of too political. everything is political from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed. my fellow citizens are upset with the low level of the political discourse, then they shouldn't have had elected a celebrity tv superstar. the man had no political experience, he doesn't respect the political process, and basically that is what i have to say. i agree with the other callers before me. is calling on our republican line from virginia. what do you think? caller: good morning. to be honest, i don't watch the

late-night comedians unless thee -- they are up on internet and there is a topic. jerry seinfeld said a couple years ago that comedy died. people like eddie murphy -- i can't think of others, but they started on -- at colleges and comedy shows. or cannot even go to college comedy shows anymore because it hurts somebody's feelings. it seems everything on tv now is about christians or white people and how racist we are. i did watch the kimmel you had and he talked about the stock things -- the rifles that shoot automatic and it was obama that let that go through. look it up, obama did that. thank you. is calling on our

republican line as well from lancaster, ohio. good morning. caller: good morning. i don't watch the late-night lot onbut i've seen a them in the morning when they repeat what went on. i think it's ok if you want to make fun of the president as long as we can all laugh together. story --u would have a the breakdown of the family because our society is getting so sick and everybody is into blaming everything for -- everyone for everything. there is only good and bad. it's not hard to figure out do the right thing. i think it is ok although i think a lot of these people that are famous seem to think their opinion only counts and not somebody like me because i am not famous my opinion doesn't count. i'm not stupid and a lot of them

are liberals. i bet other countries laugh at us and think we are not. -- nuts. host: "the daily wire" has a piece on the ratings of " saturday night live" something the president likes to tweet about, the ratings plunging and "the daily wire" says that is what is happening. with the election of donald trump as president, the liberal late-night show has brimmed with vitriol and hate. the 43rd season of the tired old show debuted saturday with the deep hatred of trump on full display. asfeatured alec baldwwin trump saying he had to "skip the back nine" to deal with hurricane damage in puerto rico. in the sketch, trump doesn't know puerto rico is a u.s. territory. it goes on to say the show -- the opener got low ratings this year in part because of the

focus on politics it has taken. sam is calling on the democratic line from chesapeake, virginia. good morning. caller: good morning. i just have a comment about the late-night shows and the political party in general. kimmel andth saturday night live, they don't want to put nothing positive on their the president has done. when we had the storm in texas and paris go, the first thing he did when he came over there was he provided provisions with all the people there and then they make a big stink about it like he is getting in an argument with the government and he wasn't. he is just trying to help the come up.en the storms as far as me being a democrat, i'm ashamed this time of year to be a democrat because we should be supporting the president, not bashing him. all these other democratic callers should be ashamed and

get on the bandwagon and help the president because he is here to help the people. he is here to help all people. i just wanted to see what you think about that comment. host: let me ask you this. what about having a sense of humor? we saw president trump when he was a candidate and he went on and hosted "saturday night live" and appeared on their, as did hillary clinton. do you think sometimes politicians need to understand that comedy and poking fun at politics is just part of the game? caller: yes, that is part of the game, but as the president before him, he didn't see all him iny just don't like general. i don't like everything he does, but as a president, we need to give him a chance to do his job and i don't think that has been given to him at all. no matter what he does -- you look at the news and the late-night shows, it is every

time they are bashing him free to the president before him and the president before that one, they didn't ever do that. as a democrat, i am really ashamed of that -- that they are doing that. they shouldn't be doing that to either party. they are just bashing them over and over. let this president -- give him a chance to do his job. is calling on our independent line from richmond, virginia. what do you think, curtis? caller: good morning, how are you, c-span? host: good morning. caller: i have to take the stance that if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen. this president is misogynistic. forguy is a drumbeater war. he is a white supremacist. these comedians i think are doing a better job than mainstream media. look at our congress. our congress is the best

congress money can buy. three quarters of these people are millionaires. they are not here for your interest. thumbs up to these comedians that come out at late-night when most people are sleeping and voice the truth about what is happening in this country or make fun of it -- it may not be funny, but they are making fun of it and i give a thumbs up to them. host: what about the argument another caller made that it is elected officials who are not doing a good enough job doing that? do you think it is their job to do it above comedians? amler: that is what i actually expressing right now, like the congress. they are not talking about any of this. nancy pelosi on one side, she is worth $100 million. most of the other guys on the other side are not doing their job either. from time to time, not everybody is a comedian. right now, the spotlight is in

trump. -- if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen. you want to talk about letting the president do his job, who is stopping him from doing his job? he can do anything he wants to -- he certainly says anything he wants to be president. we have a right to be critics of him when he isn't doing his job. host: let's take a look at what late-night host jimmy fallon said after president trump's comments about charlottesville. [video clip] >> even though "the tonight show close -- show "is in a political show, it is -- what happened in charlottesville was disgusting. i was watching the news and you nazi flagsot the -- and white the premises and i was six to my stomach. to my stomach.

my daughters were playing in the other room and i was trying to think of how i could explain to them this hate in the world. they go to the playground with friends of all different races and backgrounds and they play and grow up and have fun. as they grow up, they need people to show them what is right and good. they need parents and teachers and leaders who appeal to the best in us. the fact that it took the president two days to come out and clearly denounce racists and white supremacists is shameful and i think he finally spoke out because people stood up and said something. it's important for everyone, especially white people in this country, to speak out against it. --oring it is just as bad as people have given their lives to make sure this hate does not spread good -- not spread. host: from fort lauderdale, florida, what do you think? caller: i was going to say

something else, but that was the biggest line of bull i have ever heard in my whole life. all president trump did was replete -- repeat what the police chief of charlottesville set himself and the police chief said there was violence from both sides and that's all donald trump was talking about. he wasn't taking sides on who is right and wrong as far as the racial issue. he was talking about the violence and there was violence on both sides. host: let me ask you this though , this was jimmy fallon not making a joke or being funny at all, he was giving political commentary. what do you think about the fact late-night hosts are going beyond comedy and how they address politics? caller: they are cowards because they will not invite a prominent opposition speaker when they are doing their thing, so they are

basically cowards. this nation -- between the media and the comedians is becoming an insane asylum. thecan you explain repetitive obsessive nature with what is going on with these people? they are nuts. they have gone off the deep end. they are not funny, they are obsessive. why not make a joke about debbie wasserman schultz trying to keep her computer from being opened by the fbi? these people are liars and you repeated a liar today on your show. you said rex tillerson threatened to resign when he came out himself and said "i have never threatened to resign." you are part of it. by the way, i can now reveal the source of the news organizations for all these reports. wilson from the movie with tom hanks --

host: diane is calling in from upper darby, pennsylvania, on the democratic line. do you think late-night host our too political? caller: i think they are doing an excellent job. all in all of speaking truths to power. somebody has to do it. somebody has to do it. the democrats aren't doing it. they are fighting tooth and nail for democracy and our rights and they are criticized -- being criticized for doing nothing, which breaks my heart. host: what about the argument that people sometimes want their entertainment -- if we are so flooded with headlines about politics, when people watch a comedian they want to laugh, they don't necessarily want to be given -- caller: that's why they try to put it in a joking manner. some go too far, but they try to

put it in a joking manner. they have a right to say what they have to say. any opportunity that there is to do that, they should be allowed to do that, within reason. we are losing our democracy in this country and it's a constant battle to keep it. i am watching this, i'm watching voting and the representatives bill -- noa horrible clean air or water, no civil rights. who is going to speak out and say we don't want this? we are america. the people are america and the popular vote was for hillary clinton. some other headlines today, the front page of "the wall street journal" reports storms muddied and otherwise

strong jobs picture as the u.s. economy was mixed -- hit by two summer hurricanes in september, but showing signs of strength." the labor department said friday ending the longest stretch of drop -- job growth on record, but it was distorted by hurricane harvey and irma. the measures of hiring fell and another measure of higher -- on improvement -- unemployment showed improvement. michael is on our independent line from lakeland, florida. good morning, michael. caller: good morning. i was calling in about late-night comedians.

satire -- political satire has been around as long as politics, basically, so lately the viewership -- the age of their viewership for their particular -- they like that and as long as the viewership remains high enough that the owners of the shows and the networks or whatever are happy with their viewership's so they can sell ads, i think they should be allowed to continue making their jokes. i believe it's perfectly fine because it has been around as long as politics to make fun of politicians and they should laugh with us. from joe is calling in maine on our republican line. caller: hi. i tell you.

you've got this negative running very well. hello? host: go ahead, go ahead, joe, you are on. all right. this negative narrative, you guys are running a very bad. this is like black supremacist tv you are running here. sudden you are bringing it up and it's the worst thing i've ever heard in my life. host: i want to make sure we are talking about late-night comedy. caller: you sure are and they are running a big, negative thing. they are following a black racist thing. i can't understand how you don't see all thing. it is horrible what you think you are doing. c-span is really bad now. the big cover-up on las vegas. wait until this all comes out and you find out basically this whole thing -- this whole black

thing right now is going to come into this. it's all racist than it has some think to do with the guy was radicalized by cnn, you guys, msnbc, and all of those. this is what happens to our country when statues just ain't enough. host: some other headlines today. "usa today" reports the president's tease about "you will find out about the coming storm" is still a mystery. when reporters asked president trump about his cryptic comments during the dinner with military leaders, maybe it is the calm before the storm, trump again to mirrored -- demurred. he has not revealed whether it is the pending decision on the deal, north korea, or nothing at all. let's take a look at what sarah

huckabee sanders said. [video clip] >> can you clarify the president's comments? know the president has, as i have from this podium on quite a few occasions, were never going to say in advance what the president is going to do. as he said last night in addition to those comments, you will have to wait and see. >> how seriously should the american public or american adversaries take these comments? i think you can take the president protecting the american people always extremely serious. he has been very clear that is his number one priority and if he feels action is necessary, he will take it. host: we are talking to our viewers getting your views on late night comedians. do you think they are too political? roger is on our democratic line. caller: first of all, aren't we supposed have freedom of speech so that anybody can say anything

they want to or a mild the wrong planet? if they decide to talk about this nut we've got in the white house -- you all put in their, i didn't put him in there. when obama was in there trying to do something, they didn't want to do nothing with him and now they have a nut in there they can't do nothing with and he's about to destroy the earth. he's about to destroy the earth. it is over. let's be real. so hard about that? what doesn't he understand? -- at the endut of the day, late-night comedians , comedians.t what do you think when they are talking about politics and not making jokes, not poking fun, just making political comments? do you think that's their job? caller: i will reiterate,

freedom of speech. is that supposed be one of our rights? host: hello. you are on, i am listening to you. of speech soom they can say anything they want to say. it's up to you how you take it. like they are putting all this stuff on the side of this present is doing -- president is doing right. charles is calling from pennsylvania. do you think comedians are too political on late-night shows? .aller: yes, ma'am i appreciate you having me on today. my name is charles and i am appalled by late-night comedians, especially jimmy comments he ishe making. we live in the best country in the world. we elect our president and senators and congressmen. i think our president is doing a fine job.

i am just appalled -- they are supposed to be professionals. they are supposed to be doing just their comedian job, not a political job and i wish they would it -- quit it. i think you very much from having me on -- for having me on. host: glenda is calling on our independent line from minnesota. what do you think? caller: i think i would be crying all the time if i didn't have the satire of late-night comedians. they have always been making fun funny things and this president is constantly giving them the material. come out in early mornings when he should be getting his rest and you wonder when does he sleep and the comment that obama was responsible for the modifications of the shoulder stock of that rifle -- we should

atf don't doam anything with parts of like silencers and those types of things. they do the firearm rules and they have had their hands tied by the nra. i would like you to have a program on why those parts are and why don't we have a national statistics? why doesn't the federal government collect all the data? they haven't been able to because nra has just allowed -- probably made -- they aren't allowed to tell you how many people are killed nationally, adding all that stuff. through the newspapers always try to find that data is that of the government finding out the statistics. anyway, that's what i have --

host: we are talking to our viewers about late-night comedians and asking if you think they are too political. republicans can call 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000 and independents, 202-748-8002. caitlin flanagan had this to say about late-night comedy. it says aimed at blue state sophisticates, these shows are an unintended, but powerful form of propaganda for conservatives. when republicans see these harsh jokes which echo down through the morning news shows and the chattering day's worth of viral clips, they don't just the handful of comments -- see a handful of comments -- comedians mocking them, they see exactly what donald trump has taught them, that the entire media s them, theirthe

values, their family, and their religion. that was from "the atlantic" magazine. michael is calling on the independent line from stanford, connecticut. good morning, michael weston mark -- michael? caller: good morning, how are you doing? host: what do you think about late-night comedians -- are they to -- too political question mark caller: they are doing a great job. news --cerned -- fake it used to be "the inquirer" or those newspapers in the grocery -- trumpil drop brought it up. it has people saying can't -- why don't we give him a chance. can't you see this guy -- what he really is. he is a buffoon he acts like it. he looks like it and he says stuff that doesn't make any sense at all. why shouldn't they make fun of him question mark why shouldn't

everybody make fun of him and if you really think he's telling the truth about everything, then we are really in a rough spot if he is telling the truth because what he says like loose lips sink a ship, where are we going? this is not going to go good. all you republicans, look what you've got. there you go. congratulate yourselves. have a good day. other headlines in "the washington post" it says democrats are giving away donations they received from movie mogul harvey weinstein and shedding contributions after he was accused of serial sexual harassment this week. , the democratr from new york, and several colleagues will send money weinstein gave to their campaign funds to women's charities and groups that combat sexual violence.

the democratic national committee said it would donate over $30,000 to groups that help democratic women win elections and took the opportunity to slam president trump for making lewd comments about women and facing his own allegations of sexual harassment in the past. debbie is calling from gainesville, florida, on the democratic line. do you think late-night hosts are too political? i am a registered nurse, so all behavior is motivated. we no longer have journalists what iorters, we have call the global corporate media entertainers themselves. when we don't have politicians that are doing their jobs, we need somebody to be a voice because the corporate global media is not a voice. they are just interested in selling advertisements and democratsod fights against republicans.

i think it's a good thing comedians do this and the ratings will show who they think is funny. personally -- out of all of them i only watch jimmy kimmel and the rest of them to me are not funny. host: let me ask you this question. you say media folks are looking cks and thatand cli is what they are concerned about. aren't comedians concerned about the same thing? caller: not in the way our entertainers that are supposed to be reporters. they make millions of dollars, not like $100,000 a year like they used to when we had walter cronkite. if you turn on the news today, aey are trying to pit democrat against a republican and all we really have in washington -- it is a whore house. they are all in bed with the nra, wall street. they are really not representing the people and the people know that. as an example, we have legalized

theft in washington for insider trading, meaning our elected officials go to washington with a few hundred dollars and within a year they've got millions of dollars because they are allowed in insider trading. the rest of us would go to prison for that. we heard it with bernie sanders. we heard it with ross perot that nafta -- we would be left with people begging and now we have entertainers that say they are reporters and they are trying to create this food fight. these are just symptoms of the disease and we know what the disease is. when you have corporate funding of elections -- the politicians are no longer accountable to the people. host: ok and we have anita calling from riverton, wyoming. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you this morning?

host: i am great. i would love to hear what you think about late-night comedians. caller: i don't like them. i think they just cause trouble in our world and we have a troubled world anyway. i do not like them. i think they shouldn't make fun of our president. i think he has done a very good -- and i think that it's the if the democrats don't like him, that is tough. we voted and we got him in and that is the way it is. i just think it's wrong to have -- these people just put him down and put him down and put him down. i think it is wrong. host: ok. we are talking about late-night comedians and whether they have become too political. republicans can call 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002.

in some other news, "the hill" reports and a people about the president's approval rating. it has sunk to a new low. researchlican affairs survey, 32% of americans say they approve of trump's handling of his job in office nine months into his presidency while 67% say they disapprove. frompproval rating is down 42% in march and 35% in june. cara is on our republican line from north carolina. good morning, karen. caller: good morning. i just want to say the real tragedy of what has happened to late-night comedy is now comedy has an ideology. it never used to be that way. i am 64 and i remember johnny carson and jay leno, david

was farn, and comedy ranging and free. now it has a narrow ideology and that is all i really have to say. host: ok. helen is on the democratic line calling from lake michigan. hi, helen. caller: thank you for having me. you are really pretty, by the way. is ii wanted to say thatlly love the fact jimmy kimmel, jimmy fallon, too. are all people they are human beings. people like you or i. i was dismayed by so many -- there were a couple callers that really said that people were of trump.e hell out

well he gives them an awful lot to laugh at. i don't understand how on earth in this world that we could look at this man and not see him for what he truly is and i just find in a sensemost evil and i just don't comprehend it. host: do you think it is the job of comedians? caller: yes. i think it's a job of anybody who is on tv to talk to the havee because he doesn't -- like nothing for an approval rating. he's not really presidential at all. look what he did to the people in puerto rico. of this is ridiculous. what because they are not all his color of skin is? what is

this? like russia? need that dictator. call that one guy a rocket man -- we'll just call him tater tot because he wants to be a dictator, but he is a tater tot. host: ok. other news on the front page of the "washington post" has a story saying to drain the swamp, president trump's base is fundraising. the republican party is on track to raise more money from small than it hasbutions collected in more than a decade. the influx of cash is helping the gop a mass a major advantage as parties prepare to battle for control of congress in the 2018 elections with the republican

national committee pulling in almost twice as money -- as much money as the democratic counterpart this year. base,ws how trump's angered by the sense the president is being treated unfairly is helping to redefine the party that has long cultivated rich contributors. the president has reacted on twitter to this story tweeting "i can't believe i finally got a story -- a good story in the washington post." enthusiasm ofhe trump voters through campaign contributions. tweetesident's unusual where he is pleased with "the washington post" this morning. what do you think about late-night comedians? caller: i think late-night comedians have the same rights everybody else have, the right

to express their opinion. are notwhat people seeing is the bigger picture here. what has been resurrected is globalization -- they want to globalize the economy and what is taking place here is throughout our history of theern civilization, from egyptian empire, the babylonian, the persian empire, the roman empire, the british empire, in whitest 95 weeks supremacy, racism, and control has been run out of every country in the far east. i want to keep this on

late-night comedians. what do you think their role is in all of this? caller: i think late-night comedians are exposing flaws in our capitalist system. in my lifetime, i have seen communism, fascism, colonialism all fail. if history is an indicator, i am going to think capitalism -- these paranoid corporate greed people are going to trash this country. it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where this is going. host: ok. a rene is calling on our republican line from green valley, arizona. good early morning to you, rene. caller: good morning to you as well. host: what do you think about late-night comedians? you think they are too political? caller: i do. i think the greatest irony is

becomeurnalism has comedy. have anative journalist ideology right and the comedians theire ones putting ideology out there for all to view and it's not comedy. host: do you think it is different than, say, in the past of billedians made fun clinton or jimmy carter or richard nixon. do you think it is something different happening now? caller: yes, i do. poking fun in a comment is one thing, but these comedians today have made it an ideology. host: ok. eric is calling in from compton, california, on the democratic line and a very early good morning to you as well. caller: good morning, america.

i am starting to see giants in this land. we've got giant entertainers, giants here -- giant politicians. all of these giants are trying to control the giant we are talking about when to saudi arabia and did a dance with the arabs. then comes back and claims to kill millions of innocent people. this is us, america. host: let me ask you this, eric. how does this make sense with late-night comedians? caller: it is just entertainment. these are entertainers. they made themselves big and that is why they get the microphone. it is the small man as donald giantsust said, they are and we have to realize and a biblical sense, these are biblical giants. the giants have taken over the country because this is how we

look at them. but in a simple sense, again, we have come up in this culture of violence and we have allowed violence to be normalized. even in the comedians' sense, we don't complain about rush limbaugh. he has been doing this the longest, complaining and making jokes about politics. it is not a problem -- he got president trump elected. host: we have to leave it there. up, we'll talk about rex tillerson. later on, there was a major deadline for daca recipients. about dreamers and of congress will find a way to keep them in the united states. we will be right back. ♪

>> this weekend on american history to be on c-span3, tonight at 8:00 eastern on lectures and history, a university professor discusses the evolution of the national park system. >> this was not a case of setting aside an already natural landscape and leaving it alone, which is what we think of when we think of part protection. what he was doing was making nature out of what was mostly old sheep." 's meadows. >> sunday at 6:00 p.m. on american artifacts, a historian on saving slave houses. >> one type of documentation is preservation. slave houses are disappearing

from the landscape. so by documenting them, that is one way of preserving them. and through my database, it is also a way to share information and learn from them. >> on oral histories at 7:00 p.m., we continue our discussion on photojournalism. >> a woman named sandy who ended up on the front page of "the post." yelling attos of her student police. that photograph went everywhere in the world. that the story help me get a job at "the post." only oncan history tv c-span3. >> washington journal continues. host: joining us now is emily tamkin, the staff writer at

"foreign policy," here to discuss the inner workings of the state department and rex tillerson and president trump. thank you for being with us. guest: thank you for having me. host: you wrote a piece about the frustration that secretary tillerson has been feeling in his role and administration. what have your sources been telling you? guest: i think there are two things. we have to look at the nbc report that started this car carfuffel.his the was a july 20 meeting at the pentagon were tillerson called , and the secretary of state was deeply dismayed by the boy scouts of america, at

which he used as a campaign event. more recently, days before the report emerged, the report being that tillerson had said this and tents said please don't leave us , tillerson had said, we have multiple channels open between washington and pyongyang. then trump took to twitter saying, wrecks you are wasting your time on rocket man. past, presidents and secretaries of state have disagreed, but not on twitter. i think people were surprised by what asked to listen -- i think people were surprised by rex tillerson's press briefing. he was clinging on to dear life. of the scene in the movie "gone girl," where the

accused man gets an interview and it is just directed to the person who accused him in the first place. what i thought was that tillerson would be gone by yesterday, by friday. that seemed to be the day that white house officials are told to pack their belongings and go, but i don't know how long he will hang on, but it seems quite clear that tillerson, despite the on the outs with trump is trying to stay in the game. host: let's look at that unusual press event that secretary of state rex tillerson, calling this press conference. [video clip] >> to address a few specific that have been erroneously reported this morning, the vice president has never had to persuade me to remain a secretary of state because i have never considered reading this post. i value the friendship and the council of the vice president,

and i admire his leadership within president trump's administration to address the many important agendas a president trump, both from a foreign policy perspective, and the diplomatic, i'm sorry, domestic objective. limiting what i have learned about this president who i did not know before taking this office. he loves this country. he puts americans and america first. he is smart. he demands results were ever he goes, and he hopes -- and he holds those around accountable to the job he has asked them to do. accountability is one of the bedrock values that he and the president -- that he and i share. host: one official says we all and itat he was fed up is apparent through the way he has been running the department, that never thought it would get out like that once an official

-- then he made a statement. what was your reaction to the statement? if you are going to hold a press briefing about a report in which you called the president a moron, it is important to say at some point, i did not call the president a moron. rex tillerson said, i don't think i am going to deal with petty stuff like that. apparently, trump was even more frustrated that he had this press briefing and did not dispute that he had ever set this. if you are going to hold an apologetic press briefing, make it two days news. host: we are talking to emily tamkin, staff writer at "foreign

policy." we are talking about the alleged frustrations that the secretary of state is having between himself and the president. republicans can call 202-748-8001. democrats can call 202-748-8001. an independent you can call 202-748-8002. say thatt explicitly he did not call the president and name, and later on, the state department spokeswoman came out and made this statement. [video clip] >> as he said yesterday, two days ago, and as i said yesterday, nothing has changed despite what you may read in the media or watch on tv. i would certainly trust the president. my comments are of those of other reporters. host: sorry, that was white

house spokesperson sarah huckabee sanders. saying that the secretary of state did not use you those words. -- secretary of state did not use those words. host: the press briefing had already happened. there is another story out in "the new yorker" saying that the secretary of state hates the u.s. ambassador nikki haley. the first report was on wednesday and it is on saturday and we are still talking about tillerson versus trump. what we have learned is that trump does not like it when his etc.et members, his staff, stay in the news over him. guest: patricia is an art -- host: patricia is on our public in line. caller: thank you for a perfect example of fake news, emily.

rex tillerson also said it was a bunch of nonsense. he wasn't going to comment on it. this is all speculation. you have zero proof. you know, it is really a shame that c-span is leading you expound on this fabricated story . zero proof. it has been denied all over, and here you come with all of your speculation. that is not news. that is not reporting. host: let's let emily explained that her sources are. guest: patricia, thank you calling so early in the morning for minnesota. second of all, my coworker and i in writing this piece did speak to state department officials who told them in particular the quotes that were read office morning. i guess i would just say you don't have to believe me. you can believe it is

speculation, but one nice thing about being in washington, you can speak to people in washington. you don't believe me or who c-span brings on, but that is the best i can do. -- but this is the best i can do. i cannot speak to the truth of the nbc report because we were not in the room for that. host: but you are talking about the tensions between rex tillerson and the president? guest: right. host: what was the ultimate flashpoint that ignited the tension that you have been talking to officials about? guest: i don't know -- certainly, it supports -- serving, reports -- certainly, reports are the boy scout meeting was the breaking point for tillerson.

i think the state department since the beginning of the administration has been sidelined. you see not just with the north korea tweet, but throughout this administration. beenr, tillerson has not allowed to make the hires that he wants and has not been front and center of the foreign-policy decisions, etc. in part, that is because, coming from exxon, is not quite familiar, i don't want to see public accountability, but going to the press as often as john kerry or hillary clinton did. there is some -- there are some in the trump white house that say that this is part of the problem. thing fromustrating going to an exxon ceo to being sidelined in this administration. host: i want to show the clip of

the spokeswoman at the state --artment after secretari after secretary tillerson made his speech. http://twitter.com/cspanwj clarify that. the secretary does not use that type of language. the secretary did not use that type of language to speak about the president of the united states. he did not use that language to speak about anyone. i hope that clarifies that. he did not say that. host: is there any sense that that clarification has done anything to allay the concerns of the president, or clamped

down the tensions? guest: the press briefing was the one to watch in this. we are still speaking in washington about trump and tillerson. i don't know it was enough. host: robert is on our democratic line from nashville. morning. caller: i agree with secretary tillerson as far as not dealing with those kinds of reports, even if he did say it. everything is taken out of context. this is an example of the lowest common denominator. , and you know, washington and, you know, the media. and really, what is important are major issues. this is just a silly side issue. like for example, is there anyone in the state department for the defense department of the white house who was trying

to take a more balanced approach towards israeli governments keeping in mind that they are the ones that are sabotaging the piece process, yet they make it seem like it is the palestinians. i am wondering if people are frustrated? host: let's discuss the intrigue. guest: to the point of you agree he is right, robert, and not dealing with the reports, the question is to why hold a press briefing to deal with reports? that was my point. if you are going to hold a press briefing about calling him this word, you think you would address it. number two, i agree, i would hope we could just discuss cuba or iran, but the reason people

are so fixated on this is the relationship between the president and the secretary of state and the morale of the state department. that affects their ability to work on all of those issues. so, you know, number one, sure it is gossip, but on the other hand, there are far he legitimate impacts -- there are very political impacts, and it is not just the state department that you alluded to. the report from cbs news talks about nikki haley. the: in order to refute negative report, and tillerson's tenure has been storming in recent months, and while he did not knock down the report on,ling the president a morn

he faces other tensions, including national security advisor h.r. mcmaster. in july, the two argued over certifying the iran nuclear deal for a second time. nbc news reports. there are major issues facing right now. the ongoing threat to north korea. how difficult is it of the diplomats from the u.s. diplomats to do their job amid these tensions? guest: i mean, one, very difficult for the u.s. diplomats to do. they need to know what the policy is a are expected to execute all over the world. --o, it is fargo difficult it is difficult for all others. when you say what you think of the policy? ? what policy? what policy? we are waiting for them to irn tify the elan deal --

an deal. tension between tillerson in the white house and nikki haley. i get the frustration, but on the other hand, again, for both diplomats here and elsewhere, it is quite a thing. host: generally speaking a secretary of state, it is his job to speak on the half of the united states. -- behalf of the united states. do officials still believe that tillerson is speaking on the half of the united states? on, you wrote a story know, washington's key allies around the world and what they think of policy and what one european diplomat said for that piece is even when we can get a meeting in the state department because it is quite understaffed right now.

they are still filling positions. even when we can get that meaning, at a certain point, we don't know if that person is speaking from their own opinion, or if this is the view of the trump administration because that person doesn't necessarily know. host: sharon is calling on our republican line from kingston, illinois. you are on with emily tamkin. caller: i don't think you guys understand how immature all of this sounds. when people are at work, there are things said all the time. if you are responsible and mature, you don't repeat something like that. there is no one who works with anybody in the whole of america that doesn't get in a fight sometimes and have worked sometimes. be quiet about it. it is immature to bring that out. even if he did call him a name, it doesn't matter. no one is worried about that. there are so many other important things to worry about. and i don't think you should

make gossip news. gossip is it news -- gossip is not news. personal things happen all the time. people are people. they have big jobs. they have high-powered jobs. and anybody he would even let them into the news, something personal that goes on between two people, anybody in the room that would've heard that, or if so and so said that, so and so called him a name, i don't think you guys understand how immature this sounds. guest: sharon, i take your point that i have said things out of frustration about my coworkers and even my boss, but the difference is if my boss find out, it won't change my policy toward the onion -- it won't change the policy toward pyongyang. if you said something not so nice about your coworker, you are right, that would not be

news. host: what is the mood within the state department right now? how do they feel about the secretary of state and his management style? guest: this is from before this happened, but months ago, my colleagues published a piece that said that state department morale was at an all-time low. that was before all of this happened. you know, i think they are saying how poorly, or how uncomfortable their boss is in dealing with the press in dealing with attention, and advocating on behalf of of the state department and the policy with the white house. i would not describe morale in the state department as superhigh. in addition, they are overworked. it is still not a full state department. on top of that, they have this. host: and what sort of policies

has secretary tillerson proposed for the state department? you are talking about it being understaffed. seems like administration wanted to streamline the state department a little bit. what other policy of the secretary in this ministry can have been having an impact on the state department? guest: you can look at the times that trump or someone in the trump administration overruled tillerson. one is the paris climate decision. we are still dealing with the consequences of that. that was an example of the tillerson state department did not have an impact on. another example is the gulf state crisis. in early june, various gulf states were cut off from qatar and making accusations about what their government was doing, giving them a list of demands that the qatari government was never want to fulfill. tillerson was going back and

forth trying to mediate. and trump tweeted something regarding to terrorism. this is not necessarily something you would tweet out, particularly if it undermines your secretary of state's diplomatic efforts. host: we are talking with emily tamkin, a staff writer for "foreign policy." she has been there since the fall of 2016. samuel is calling on her independent line from florida. good morning, samuel. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call, and thank you for c-span. good morning ms. tamkin. guest: good morning. caller: good morning. what is the agenda driving this story right now? other people who don't like president trump's foreign policy? is it that they don't like secretary tillerson's management

of the state department? and another question is, how can the public trust your anonymous sources? thank you. guest: thank you for that question. in terms of the agenda driving the story, i need, as i said -- -- ink, as i said [no audio] in order to prevent -- in order to present a full picture to the

public about jeopardizing the career's position. they cannot keep doing the work they were doing if their name appeared in my paper. and they did not feel that they want to jeopardize their work. i have my reasons for using anonymous sources. it is on journalist to decide when we test your trust. but it is up to you to decide to trust them or not. host: it is important to reiterate that the sources are not anonymous to you. guest: correct. host: sometimes they are put forth by the administration and administration knows they are. is calling from georgia. caller: good morning. host: you are on. go head. caller: i will give you several examples of how liberal media people view their sources, and

view their, you know, the way they produce their media. the thing about it is when you have president obama in the office, and he was talking about affordable health care before it passed, he said you could keep your doctor and keep your plan. and after it got past, all that went away. if you're going to sit there and tell me obama did not lie in that rex tillerson lied, well rex tillerson hasn't given an example of line like president obama did. therefore, i don't think you can trust your sources. i don't the you can trust medial, progressive because they are just out to destroy the president's ability to do their job -- ability to do his job. i am not a very strong trump supporter, especially with some of the tweets.

when he talked about the calm before the storm. media is hard to trust these days, mainstream media, liberal media come and conservative media because you are getting all of these different facts. host: i want to give him a chance to respond to that. guest: thank you for your call. i would clarify and say my publication is not progressive-liberal. we try to do objective, unbiased reporting. i don't report on obama or health care. and i am telling you sort of what we heard, what we know, what is going on in washington. as i said, we try to be critical as journalists. it is totally ok for you to be critical as a reader host: and viewer of the program. we want to get to more calls. reporting theon beingt cia director, is reported as a potential

replacement if rex tillerson steps down. what are you hearing? kelly,you also hear john chief of staff, that he is frustrated with the process. example of is an palace intrigue. but pompeo could change the flavor and execution of the diplomacy. host: in the vacancy at the top of the cia. al is calling on the republican line. al is calling in on the republican line. views as share similar most of your callers and all of the colors i have heard this morning. that is, the subject matter is so trite. it reminds me of high school "omg,y discussions about,

did you hear this?" your sources could easily be disgruntled employees who say one thing. and the citizens listening to the news are pretty confident the news hyper-stories this comment. as you pointed out, dirty laundry. you already have the presupposition rex tillerson has dirty laundry and these people have pointed it out to you. now you are going to tell the rest of the world because it is your obligation to share this trite, trivial information. host: i want to give emily a chance to respond. guest: i do think if it is dirty clean,, and it could be is relevant if it impacts

whether the u.s. is able to keep two or three direct medication channels over to north korea. thank you. host: emily tamkin of "foreign policy," thank you for joining us. alex nowrasteh will be her to discuss the dreamers who face deportation. we will our spotlight, focus on the multibillion-dollar kids sports history with sean gregory. he will be right back. -- we will be right back. tv is ineek, book prime time on c-span2. monday night, finalists for the 2017 national book award.

tuesday night at 8:00. wednesday night at 8:00, a look at the 2016 election with ,illary clinton and her book the authors of "shattered." thursday night at 8:00, books made into movies featuring the figures." hidden and on friday night, highlights from book fairs and festivals at , theational book festival book festival, and

freedom fest. what book tv in prime time on c-span2. cspan3ican history tv on is in prime time. next week starting at 8:00 eastern, from the national constitution center in philadelphia, discussions on .andmark supreme court cases tuesday night, the life and influence of buffalo bill cody on the 100th anniversary of his death. wednesday night, the 60th anniversary of little rock high school's integration with former president bill clinton. thursday night, a discussion to the lead up in response to the 1967 forced desegregation of little rock central high school. friday night, interviews with prominent photojournalists who documented major events throughout american history.

watch american history next week in prime time on cspan3. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us now is alex nowrasteh, the immigration policy analyst at the cato institute. is here to talk about this week's deadline for dr. daca recipients and what happens if congress does not find a legislative solution since the president rescinded the obama era order. explain what deadline happened this week and what it means for those enrolled in the daca program. guest: in early september, jeff sessions announced the doctor program would be winding down and is -- the daca program would be winding down and those people had a month to renew their work permits, by october 5. an beginning october 5, the

government would not be accepting more rain you'll for moreno also for the program. it would be expiring in march of 2018. it was for them to renew them before that happens. talk about what the program is and how many people are affected by it. according to pew research 000 young,0, unauthorized immigrants have received relief since it was created five years ago by president obama. how many people face this deadline and what impact will it have on them? guest: the number of people who have gotten relief are different from the people who are on it currently.

the number on it currently is about 690,000. so were goingor march 2018. about 77% of those folks have renewed by the deadline. about 36,000 will not make it. beginning march 5, and you will have the remainder, which is about 654,000 that will start expiring at an average of 33,000 per month. they will be kicked off of daca. they will lose their legal work authorization and be eligible for deportation even if they do not commit a violent crime. host: abc news reports tens of thousands have yet to submit those daca renewals.

it's as tens of thousands of itng people eligible for -- says tens of thousands of young people eligible for extension have not filed. administration was finalizing details of a wish list that could jeopardize thousands. let's talk about whether or not these applications are filed. as of now, the president has ended this program and set a sunset on it but directed congress to act. we mighthe likelihood see some congressional action? what happens if we don't? guest: the likelihood is pretty good because it is such a popular program among voters. over 80% of republicans and democrats like the program. kidserage, daca

injured the united states when they were six years old. they are basically americans. members of congress like the program a lot. that pushes in favor of there being permanent legalization. what pushes against it is there is a strong group of members of congress, primarily republicans, as well as members of the administration, that want certain trade-offs in favor for a daca legalization or dream act. would cut legal immigration in half. there is the idea we need to build a border wall that needs to be combined with it. that is a nonstarter for democrats. you have e-verify meant to exclude unlawful immigrants in the workplace. senator grassley has said he wants that to be part of the deal rate but that is also a nonstarter unless you have comprehensive reform. comprehensive reform is not going to happen.

daca is popular. legalizing these folks is populardaca what is not is the other pieces of legislation may want to combine with it. host: what do you think of the president's decision to rescind the obama order? guest: i think the decision will not play well lyrically. y, it willtant tl hurt americans. related tot people the people brought here as young kids. it will hurt their families. it will hurt their employers. there are high turnover costs to having to replace these folks. i think we have just begun to see the backlash. in march with 33,000 people a month will be kicked off the program, we will really start seeing some of the bad activity come to light. to the cato talking institute's alex nowrasteh about

what comes next. we also have a line for daca participants. if you are a participant in the program, we urge you to call. phone from south carolina. good morning, john. caller: thank you. i have a number of things i have been waiting to say to colin. i am sensitive to the argument that these people have been raised in america. their parents did bring them illegally. but i think there is a failure issue, thend the primary issue that elected president trump, was the immigration issue.

to base is totally committed if the president were to abandon his base on this, republicans would get killed next year. i am a member of the base. i know exactly. when you are talking about legislation, he don't give up. obviously, democrats want this issue and they want it bad. obviously, legislation requires compromise. there are so many issues. there's the issue of birthright citizenship. somebody walks over the border and delivers a baby. entitled to all the rights of american citizenship. and can bring in brothers sisters and parents. it is ridiculous. host: i want to get alex a chance to respond to the different points that you made. you are right that

immigration played a huge role in president trump's election in 2016. i do not think it was specifically the promise to deport the dreamers that got him elected. i think it was the emphasis on border security and trying to secure the border which are more secure as far as we can tell since the early 1970's in terms of people across any number of unlawful immigrants entering has been down year-over-year for a decade. it is a security issue, not deporting the dreamers. situation willcituate help more with border security than hiring thousands of border agents. host: what about people concerned about related issues of chain migration, birthright

citizenship? should these all becomes with at one time? it is important to keep doc up -- daca separate? in an ideal world, i would love to deal with them all at the same time. what emerged from debate was a consensus among republicans that deal with this issue one that time. otherwise, you get a bill thousands of pages long and a giant mess it the problem influence each other so much, you cannot come to a rational solution. rays act mentioned the that would create a merit-based system of immigration. i want to read something to you. it says it is proven to work.

it is modeled after the immigration systems of canada and australia which have attracted highly skilled workers for decades. we need an immigration system that meets the needs for our economy. the current system is not achieving these goals. guest: i agreed to current system is a mess. it does not select for skilled workers. that is a problem. the problem is the rays are does not do that. compared with the rays act would do compared to the canadian and australian system and it is nowhere close. the canadian system allows more ton twice as many immigrants canada annually as a percentage of population than the united states does. the raise act cuts and in half

australia allows in four times as many annually. a huge number of workers, lower skilled. when you compare the number of skilled workers who would be allowed in under the raise act to the number of skilled immigrants with a college or a year above that into the united states currently, the raise act would cut those numbers. on the republican line from illinois, good morning. caller: good morning. i am in the construction industry so i deal with immigration on a first-hand basis all the time, legal and illegal. i would support the daca program but i would like to add a caveat. i would say, josé, you been here since you were five. we will give you benefits and legal status -- but your parents are going to tell us who they work for. we need to throw light on the american employers cheating,

skirting the law, they are basically criminals, employing all the illegals. they are the big part of the problem nobody likes to talk about. i see it firsthand all the time. it is like an entitlement program. certain american industries think they are entitled to have immigrants come in and work it s.ally low rate and then these workers are subsidized of the federal government. it is a sham. we have to talk about the employers breaking the law. host: what is your reaction? guest: the reason ingress -- immigrants come here is because of wages. the american economy and employers demand their work. the problem is the legal system does not allow the vast majority of people who come here lawfully who want to. thus, you get people who come here breaking the law working

under the table. think the way to fix this is not to crack down on employers or the unlawful immigrants but to create a system going forward so these folks who came lawfully, today they could have come legally. they can work legally. we did it in prohibition by cracking down on alcohol producers. we ended it on legalizing alcohol. need to legalize the folks here unlawfully and make it so feature people can come here just like our ancestors did lawfully to work in any industry to work competitively, legally, and above board. host: georges on the democratic line from philadelphia. good morning. caller: good morning. , where is hes going to get the money to pay for texas and florida and puerto

rico? and he hollering about building the wall. gethe don't have money to the money for social security increase as well for the military. that is my question. guest: the government has a large number of fiscal obligations it will be unable to meet in the near future, including a lot of programs you mentioned. social security and medicare. the government is running a deficit and has a huge debt. the border well is estimated to cost $43 billion to build and maintain over the next decade. that is to stop a flow of unlawful immigrants across the arder that is at 40-year low. if anything will budge, i think it would be the border wall constructed to deal with problems great the reduced over the last decade. is with theowrasteh

cato institute and the book that came out in 2014. we are talking about the daca program and what comes after it is to expire. we have will on the republican line from peoria, illinois. good morning. caller: good morning. i think the conversation about immigration and the daca program acceptance of transitional racism. caucasian american wants to have a beautiful tan. i have a problem with that. here is my thought. the daca program, something else will replace that program. the people will be here. if the folks we are talking about had a much darker tan then wall wouldow, that vot

have been built along time ago. i was sitting in the doctor's office. i heard one of the guys say i married one of the girls down there. on cue someone said you must have beautiful children. host: how does the issue of race play into the debate over daca? guest: races been part of the debate for a long time. history,call american the first blanket exclusion of people was the chinese exclusion act of 1852. labor unions supported it because they did not want to have to compete against chinese workers. nationalists thought having workers from asia would dilute the united states. you had eugenicists supported for a number of reasons. i do think race was a more prominent issue prior to the 1950's when it comes to the immigration law than it is today. i have no doubt that there is a

small minority of people to whom race is important issue. but i think it is a small percentage on both sides. i think the primary concern almost everyone on the issue is on theact of immigration american economy and culture. i have no doubt there are a handful of people upset about race. i get them right emails and hate mail occasionally. it is truly rare. it is few and far between. i think that is positive. we need to deal with the complaints about immigration as well as those for it on the best terms possible and interpret the criticisms in the best way possible and not assume people have bad motives when they say these things. today oneis reporting of the potential roadblocks to legislation to address. the might be coming from the white house.

it could derail congressional efforts to find a legislative solution. a source tells cnn stephen miller has injected himself into talks between lawmakers and is making the issue more difficult with unreasonable demands on behalf of the white house. says miller is adding a bunch of stuff that will be nonstarters with democrats and divide the g.o.p. what is your reaction? guest: that is consistent with what i have been hearing the last few months. stephen miller works for senator jeff sessions for a long time. senator sessions for years wanted to cut legal immigration in half. real interest's is to cut legal immigration going forward. he has various justifications that i think fall flat. but that is the number one goal

he and a lot of his supporters wanted to cut the legal system. what is interesting is if you do that, i cannot think of a single democrat who would be in favor of cutting legal immigration and at least half of republicans would be against it. it really would be a poison pill. perspective, it is has he wins -- it is heads he wins and tails everyone else loses. and theget some state -- if they get some amnesty, they get the wall and they can take that to their base. that would be a poison pill. host: kathleen is calling on the independent line. caller: good morning. this is an interesting topic i focus on. it is interesting to see and

hear all of the american black colors calling and who do not know the data. for every 10% increase in immigration, black america loses .3% of their wealth. since the 1800s, black intellectuals such as dubya boys dubois, booker t. washington, and frederick douglass talk about the impact of immigration on black america. complainricans who about trump do not know the history. finds angeles, you cannot one black man working construction. host: let's let alex nowrasteh respond. guest: the academic evidence on competition between americans and immigrants is pretty one-cited in that americans benefit in terms of wage gains

because immigrants not only increase the supply for labor but the increased demand for that american net workers benefit. whether disagreement is americans with leslie high school degree face competition from illegal immigrants. those with less than a high school degree are more likely to compete with those who come in and illegally to the united states. the decline in wages have been exaggerated a lot of people. wagesppose it increase in are cutting immigration would not be seen. the center for global development looked at when they canceled the visa program for farmworkers in 1965 with the purpose of raising farm wages. we saw wage growth slowed after that because farmers replaced

these workers with machines. i want to make a point about a lot of black intellectuals in the late 19th century. frederick douglass did right and talk about immigration. about chinese immigration, he reached down into fundamental american principles based on rights and liberties saying it is more important to allow people of every race and background to work and try to be americans and build themselves up. he was against the protectionism of any one race in the united states. his writings need to be more highlighted in debate because there is an ethical, moral component to immigration that needs to be considered. is on the line from

the bronx. caller: good morning. i'm concerned about the redistributive aspects. an expert from harbor has -- hovered has founders massive redistribution to low skilled employees who benefit from immigration. isn't that correct. hist: his main findings in 2003 paper and in his recent book published in 2014m he looks , what he looks at is the wage decline for groups of americans as a result of immigration. he finds every group of find relative wage

increases due to immigration with the exception of workers with less than a high school degree and about 1.6 percent relative decline in their wages since 1990. to put that in perspective, americans with less than a high school degree who are workers make up around 8% to 9% of the workforce. meanwhile, the other 92% are in an educational category that face wage increases. it is the more skilled and mid-skilled workers that see the wage increases, not rich businesses. host: i want to get to more callers in the limited time we have left. if congress does not act, what options does the president have to address daca? guest: the president does not have many. he has walt himself off -- walled himself off. unless he says it is

constitutional and restarts it, there is not much he can do. can tell the immigration agencies to not emphasize these folks. there is some prosecutorial discretion he has implementing deportations. he can limit the role of some people in the united states. you cannot really pardon them the way the law is construction. you cannot really be pardoned for that because you are here unlawfully and that is the offense. he has himself in a corner if you want to address this in an administrative way. pat from michigan on the republican line. good morning. you said the average age of the daca kids when they were brought to this country was six. i am assuming today they are in their 20's and 30's.

when they reach a legal aids, why have we not heard more about those who file for extension? guest: fantastic question. thank you. the average age is about 25. the reason is american law does not allow them to get a green card or file for citizenship. there is a provision added in 1996. basically, if you have been here illegally for more than a year and you leave the united states for any reason, you are barred from coming back for 10 years. in order to get your green card, you have to leave the united states to go to your consulate abroad to get the green card if it is even possible to do so. by leaving, they would block themselves from coming back. if they try to reenter, they are usually locked for the rest of their lives matter what -- blocked for the rest of their lives no matter what. system closednd

down a very long time ago. there is no green card category for low skilled worker unless you're closely related to an american. it does not exist. for the majority of people, there is no green card category for them. wouldf there was, most have to leave the united states to get it. that means they would not be allowed back in. host: walt is calling in on the independent line from wisconsin. caller: good morning. i have noticed people here somewhat illegally by the parents bringing the men. -- them in. we need to know who these people are. if they commit crimes, we do not want this those people. children brought here illegally, i have feelings for them. if they want to be a u.s.

citizen, we should have some immigration reform. there is no doubt about it. i would go as far as saying the let ourwould be immigration reform mirror the immigration policies of the country of origin. if their country does not want to allow americans to become citizens, why should we allow their citizens to become americans? host: alex, i will let you address that. guest: i think we should reach for a higher level in more traditional level of american citizenship and immigration than that practiced by other countries. we have a proud history of immigrants coming in and assimilating. almost all of us are the products of that. i do not think the immigration policies are poor countries with authoritarian governments have the traditions of classical

liberalism and free-market. i do not think it is right to copy them. i think we should stick to an american standard which is to allow more immigration and legalize people here as we have done numerous times in america's past. of the catoowrasteh institute. you can find him online. thank you for joining us today. next, we will talk to sean gregory about his piece on help w kids sports has turned into a multibillion-dollar industry. we will be right back. >> it became clear my personal breitbart is having an influence on the 2016 election was an understatement in the extreme.

according to research, write part was the driving force on the right side of the political spectrum. , he talks about his feature story. >> i think this is what gets to the disparity that i heard people talk about and continue to talk about breitbart is this hysterical, shabby machine for creating offense. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern on "q and a." >> the c-span bus is traveling across the country. we recently stopped in richmond, virginia asking the most important issue in their state. >> i'm a virginia resident at

the university of richmond. i am concerned about the department of environment to i to thenot limite natural gas pipelines to our state. oure are going to threaten land, wildlife, and people. it is a waste of time and money as we move toward renewable energy. west carolina has come out against it and virginia should, too. >> i'm a millennial voter in virginia. i have focused now on what happened in congress with the fair and equal housing act. gillespie wered elected, he would find a bipartisan approach to implement similar legislation in the commonwealth of virginia. the fair and equal housing act prohibits dissemination --

discrimination with regards to housing. i am passionate about this. i am wondering from the candidates what their position 1447.h.r. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us now live from new york city is sean gregory. he is a senior sports writer at "time" magazine. he is here is part of our spotlight on magazines series to talk about his recent piece about how kids sports have turned into a multibillion-dollar industry. thank you for joining us today. you are writing about this topic of kids sports, particularly these private clubs becoming more popular and costing parents a lot more money than it used

to. how did you come upon this topic? i am living at a little bit. i have an 11-year-old son into sports. i have discovered a lot of things i did not realize. there are so many options for parents in sports. the old options 20 years ago that you played three different sports in a year. little league, your local soccer , your town soccer association, and maybe a church league basketball squad. those are very old-fashioned now. now there is a business athletesng tenure old 10-year-old- athletes were kids are almost expected to specialize in a sport early. you are expected to spend

thousands of dollars year for travel teams where you travel to different towns and cities across the state and country. that is where the "elite players" are. there's this keeping up with the joneses effect. if you are doing the old-fashioned things, you are not keeping up. i think that dynamic spurs this industry which is by one measure a $15 billion industry across the united states. host: the piece is entitled "how kids sports became a $15 billion magazine.in "time" you say this is not your parents' little league. you say kids of every skill level are getting swept up by the youth sports economy that resembles the pros and increasingly early ages.

host: explain why these privatized and expensive clubs have been on the rise. guest: i think there are a few factors. withs the world we live in technology and social media. more information is available to parents. parents know what each other are doing. it is easy to see on your social media feed there is this and that travel team. hire are apps we can private coach for your withyear-old soccer player the push of a button. "coachis one app called for coaching.

there is a technological revolution that has fueled this. a lot of companies are putting money into this. funding a cowboys are company in dallas, blue star sports, and they embraced something like -- raised something like $200 million to buy companies that do things like roster management, payment processing, all of the stuff that makes your son or daughter's youth sports team more professional. that has been a big fueler of this. host: we are talking to sean gregory about his article. we have special lines for this discussion. if you are a student athlete, you can call the line. -- ou are a parent or coach

all others can call the last one. i want to read an excerpt from your piece about the cost. he right that the cost for writes is steep -- you that the cost for parents is steep. host: how many people are participating in these expensive clubs? in the several millions.

there is the financial cost to families. there are public health costs. there are studies that show if you spend more than eight months on your primary sport as a youth athlete, you are much more likely to hurt yourself. and then there is the social cost. because this is a pay-to-play system now, there's a stat that says 41% of households making $100,000 or more, 40% of those children play team sports. in a household of $45,000 or less, only 19% of those kids play team sports. in the paper play systems with little league's -- with the pay for play systems and little leagues in decline, that has long-term health consequences. there is a real incentive to get more kids playing and make

sports more acceptable to a broader swath of the population. host: chad, good morning. caller: thank you. my children are grown. look at and hernandez. the story got lost in last week. look at air and hernandez. at 24, he had brain damage. what about these young kids? they have violent football teams. control having them hit each other at seven and eight years old. i work with a lot of guys that have bad knees and backs from plain high school football. askedmber when someone president obama if you would let his son play football and he finally said knows. people are doing it.

advanced brain damage. you cannot get your brain back. you only get one. it is sad. that story got lost. host: you have written about this, right? guest: yeah. the football issue is a huge issue. we have covered that extensively as well. the evidence is clearer and clearer that the younger you are when you start suffering hits to the head, the more risk to your brain long-term. we have seen numbers that high school football participation declinedd go -- slowly across the country. in football, there has been a little retreat because of safety. likeme of the other sports

baseball, basketball, soccer, the youth economy has exploded a little bit. the safety issue is not as prevalent. where you are seeing a lot of the economic growth is in sports besides football. host: in a separate story unrelated to the story about these private clubs, you wrote if children play tackle football before they are 12 and continue to high school they may be putting their brains at risk. that is a key take away from a new study published in the journal, "nature." that is a report you wrote last month as a side point to the -- side note to the point the caller made. mike is on the line from virginia. good morning. you are on with sean gregory. go ahead. caller: thank you. i appreciate this topic and want to relate my experience. i have been an athlete a good

part of my life. i played football in college and wrestled in college and in high school also. mention is the personal decision i made in the fifth grade. i was talked into going out for little league football. it carried out i did not enjoy little league football at that time, football at that time other than maybe flag football, that type of thing. the best decision i made was the next few years i got to enjoy being a child. school,ent on to middle i started playing football. and then in high school, i played football and wrestled. i did not start wrestling until high school. i did three sports a year including track. i was at ant is,

age that i could make that decision. a lot of these young children are at an age where their parents are living vicariously through their kids. host: mike, i want to give sean a chance to respond to that issue. do you find this is something parents are pushing their children to do? guest: for sure, definitely. that is part of it. not in every case. theyight on the surface they are spinning so much money, they must be crazy. a lot of them have a healthy perspective. they say we are doing this because my son or daughter wants to do this. seems thatances, it is the case when you see the family dynamics. without question, there are many parents with unrealistic expectations of their children,

living vicariously through their children, not behaving well on the sidelines. the other big driver i failed to mention before is the college scholarships. there's $3 billion in college scholarship money available from the ncaa across sports. the cost of college rising as it is, that is a pretty attractive thing to go after. a lot of parents see this as a potential -- almost like a lottery ticket. precollege. let's start playing basketball we are eight or nine years old. three college. the problem is only 2% of high school athletes going to play division i sports where most of the scholarship money is. the odds of you getting that scholarship are very long. clubsare these private regulated in any way? guest: not really.

it is a wild west atmosphere. andhave to do your research see who's is in charge, why they are charging so much. there is little regulation. there are organizations that organize tournaments. as far as regulating individual clubs and teams across the country, it is a patchwork system. the coaches and the entrepreneurs recognize that. they will charge prices the market bears. if you are in an area where parents will pay a decent chunk of money to get the kids on one of these teams, they will charge it. 10 or 20 years ago, the travel teams were where the elite players went. at some point in time, if you were good enough, it woul you wd

go play for one of the travel teams. now it is more pay for play. if you can write a check, you will be on the team no matter the level of your son or daughter's athletic ability. host: to reiterate the point you viewersut scholarships, were twitching questions about that, you wrote that the odds are not in anyone's favor. only 2% of high school players inon to play division i these clubs are not putting a dent in that. maryland,ling in from a parent. good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to say what a great topic. as you can imagine, things are kind of out of control with regard to travel teams and select teams and private coaches. from my kids playing soccer, we said let's play recreationally

because the point of this is not to help my seventh grader get into college or play professional sports but to hang out and meet kids from the neighborhood, maybe other middle schools, and to learn sports and teamwork and enjoy yourself. and, that is the bottom line to it. we completely rejected all of this. she has tried out for some of these teams because her friends justand said not doing it, laying recreational -- just playing recreational league. guest: it is a very personal choice. any way onerespect family goes or the other. it is a personal thing. the scholarship money is hard not to chase. what is also interesting is ucla

did a study a few years ago where the student studied their student athletes and found 80% of them played two or three showingdrying up -- growing up. -- the evidence shows more college coaches are looking for athletes that played multiple sports growing up. specialization might backfire if you really want the college scholarship. host: we are talking to sean gregory about his "time" magazine piece. ifyou are a student athlete, you are a parent or coach, and everyone else. are their kids

disadvantaged by the existence of the specialty clubs? guest: definitely. it costs money. if you do not have the means to orticipate in the system your parents are working and you cannot shuttle all over the place to get to practices and games, it is hard to play for these teams. all of these teams are taking over youth sports. if you don't play for these accessyou might not have to keep things going. it advantages higher income families. there are philanthropic efforts to try to increase access to local leagues, but that is a

long fight and you are resisting these economic pressures. you are fighting these economic pressures to change the way youth sports is structured right now. a lot of people think the train has left the station. the business is up 55% in the last six years. projections short going up and up. there are towns and cities across the country building mega-complexes to attract youth sports tournaments as a local economic development tool. we profiled a town in indiana which issued $70 million in bonds to build a huge mega fields, 30h 26 soccer fields, and indoor basketball facility. the thought is hotels will spring up.

health centers will spring up. there will be economic development around these fields to help the economy. a lot of towns and cities are making big bets as well. ont: a quick question twitter from joe. talk about who runs these groups. patchwork.s a a fair amount register as nonprofits. the bigger organizations, some of the salaries are eye-popping. for example, this is not a single club but the united states specialty sports usssa, started out as an adult slow pitch soft the organizing body in 1970's.

in the 1990's, they figured out he is where it is at. they are a registered nonprofit. the head of their organization makes $860,000 a year in compensation. a lot of them are nonprofits. however, generating healthy returns for the folks involved. host: a haron calling in from atlanta. good morning. are you there? we are going to move on to sandra calling in from attleboro, massachusetts. withr: i have been dealing warner sportspop since my children were very the less grandchildren were very young. grandchildren who went into it are banging heads like they told him to. one of them goes to the high school sport.

and they letussion him sit. and then he woke up and .urned around i think they sent him back on the field. before that, he had an injury when he was younger doing the sport and spit up loved -- blood but nobody did nothing. one got into alcohol. the other one got into drugs. the other one was into alcohol. help us. my grandchild is dead. what is wrong with this world? thank you. goodbye. guest: yeah. tough --tball, the is it is tough. deathsear, you hear of

by head injuries. they are not unbelievably common, burt you hear them. we heard a story of a healthy young man with one hit to the head and he died on the football field. the science is clear. stories like that are clear. footballay pop warner and the coaches are having little kids hit heads, you've got to watch out. people are still taking the risk. this country loves football. but stories like that make it clear the head injury issue is very real. if your son is playing football, you are taking a risk. host: nancy is calling in from sherman, new york. good morning. caller: good morning. i need to take my phone off -- host: go ahead.

caller: i am there. i have a degree in human performance. to tie in with the last caller, i'm very concerned about the with youth sports getting younger and younger in age. can get fractures and the bones of not even ossified and they are playing contact sport's and things like that. a euros playing full contact football. -- eight year old playing full contact football. what happened to flag football? then we have the practical defu nding of the chip program with insurance. injuryy concerned about

with young children playing sports. in future injury as adults starting everything younger and younger. host: are there ways to makes are there ways- to make sports safer? guest: are there things that districts can do? guest: concussion experts recommend no head-to-head contact until 14. you can learn the basics. flag football is one way. girls are a lot higher risk than

boys of hurting their a.c.l.'s because of youth specialization. early specialization leads to more a.c.l. injury. john surgery's on kids have gone way up because there's baseball leagues that go all here and kids are pitching way too much. how do you prevent that? there's all kinds of stretching mechanisms and physical activities you can do to try to reduce those kinds of risks, but also playing less. less impact on your knee, on your head. it is an intuitive, scientifically backed way to lessen the risk of injury. obviously, something that can happen, but playing less will put you at less risk.

author of "how kits sports became a billion-dollar industry ," thank you so much for joining us today. be taking yourl calls. tell us what is on your mind. but first, this week's "newsmakers" interviewed congresswoman linda sanchez of california. the full interview airs tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. she talks about leadership of house democrats. >> who is the leader of the democratic party right now? sanchez: there's named leaders, leader pelosi in the house and chuck schumer in the senate, but each individual number of congress is a leader

of their own district. we have a lot of talent, and we need to help develop that and give people opportunities. i don't think there is one leader of the democratic party. i think there are many people who try to move the country in the right direction, and, you know, it is incumbent upon democrats across the country to be part of making that change happen. win back thets house in 2018, will you keep the same leaders? representative sanchez: our leadership does a tremendous job, but i think we have this ,eal breadth and depth of town and i think it's time to transition 20 generation of leaders, and a want to be part of that. i want to see that happening. i think we have too many great leaders that do not always get the opportunities they should. i would like to see that change. pelosi win ay

caucus leadership fight right now if she were challenged? representative sanchez: i don't know. there are a lot of leaders and our caucus. i just don't know what the answer to that is. >> by saying it's time for a generational change, what you are suggesting is win or lose next year, it's time for her to go? representative sanchez: i don't want to single her out. i think it is time to pass the torch to a new generation. they are all of the same generation, and their contributions to the congress and the caucus are substantial, but i think there comes a time when you need to pass that torch, and i think it is time. host: we are taking your calls for the rest of the show. you can tell us what policy

topics are on your mind this morning as we look at some of the headlines from our nation's newspapers today. "the los angeles times" talks about lives cut short, focusing on the victims of the horror if ,t this week in las vegas saying from a broad swath of society, they came together for music and were killed by a sniper who did not discriminate. in "the seattle times," it focuses on a couple of initiatives that focus on faith.

and then finally, in new orleans, "the new orleans advocate" focuses on the hurricane -- yes, another hurricane -- that is bearing down. evacuations are already under way as tropical storm nate versus toward the gulf coast and is expected to make landfall as a hurricane. has orderedeu evacuation. louise is on the line from ormond beach, florida. good morning. yes, good morning. i've been observing this administration, like everybody has. we are being played. we have constant gossip. it's like a reality show. trump twitters. workings ofliberate

mass distraction that the media gets suckered into, and then .hey report it every day meanwhile, my belief is that the general and corporate powers are running everything and trump is just an empty suit, pretty much the way george w. bush was. today, there's a report donald trump called democratic leader charles schumer for help on health care and that worry folks in the gop.

word traveled fast among republican lawmakers on capitol hill. this morning, the president tweeted, confirming that report. eye on that, if the president works together with democrats on some health care plan. meredith calling in on our democratic line from ohio. good morning. i just want to say this. 1885, over 132 years ago, otto von bismarck put national healthcare in germany.

they should want them to know that germany has had national healthcare for over 132 years. why doesn't the united states have it? thank you for taking my call. host: we are taking your calls for the rest of the show. let us know what is on your mind in terms of policy. you can also reach us on social media, on facebook and twitter. meanwhile, in some other headlines, roll call reports that a congresswoman has decided not to run for reelection. new hampshire democrat congresswoman carol shea-porter announced she will not seek another term in congress. she said she felt the child of family. "you gave me the honor of

representing our state and being the first woman ever to be elected to office from new hampshire, the first democrat to represent new hampshire's first district in 22 years." she said, "while i certainly would enjoy continuing to be part of that, i felt the tug of reunion." ur robert is calling from waldorf, maryland, on our independent line. hi, robert. caller: good morning, ma'am. what's on your mind? caller: the gentleman who -- well, i should not call him a general in. the guy who shot up the people in las vegas was a professional gambler. that means he's good at picking odds. the office were the majority of the people in that audience would be a conservative

audience, an audience of republicans for an audience of trump supporters. that's why he chose that audience. these people were killed for their political beliefs. it's reported he also cased locations in places like boston, fenway park, places like grant park and chicago that would draw people from a broad area of political spectrums. caller: and that shows you exactly that the odds would be greater than if he chose that audience, he would be picking a more liberal and more democratic and more hillary clinton audience. plus, how would he get his guns from las vegas to boston? he could not do that. this audience was chose for their political beliefs. this is why those people were attacked. conservative people,

republicans, trump supporters are being attacked in this country. the fbi, the government is hiding that from us. they were able to say within hours it was not isis but were a motive.o say common sense tells you we are under attack. conservative people, trump supporters are under attack, and they do not want to admit that. that is an act which is going to start a civil war. when you start attacking people in the thousands, you've got a serious problem here. the conservative movement, trump supporters are under attack in this country. the government is hiding that from us, dear. host: kathleen is calling in on our democratic line from mississippi. good morning. know will the to republicans bring back up the chip program, the children's

health care program. host: you are referred to the children's health care program that has expired. what would you like to see? bring it back up for a vote. i've heard nobody else saying nothing else about it. host: all right. in some other headlines today, the associated press called the move by the trump administration to roll back protections on transgendered workers and to limit -- or give employers greater ability to refuse to cover contraception under the health care plan -- calls it a one-two punch. punch, in a one-two conservatives,ous issuing sweeping religious

freedom directions that could override protections for lgbt people and others at a time when from finds himself in battle on many fronts. the directives issued almost simultaneously on friday demonstrated the president's eagerness to maintain the loyalty of social conservatives. calling in from illinois on our democratic line. what is on your line? caller: i have two comments. youirst is i agree with late-night comedians, and like another lady said, that they are speaking and saying things that the democratic party should be saying. presidentomment is trump commented on how many people died in katrina compared .o puerto rico if only one person died, that's one too many. thank you.

have a good day. i like your hair. other news, "the hill" is reporting the treasury is reporting improper , reporting the department intelligence division has been illegally looking at private financial records of u.s. citizens. employees of another treasury branch have reportedly warned federal officials and congress banking and financial information belonging to u.s. citizens has been searched and stored illegally. the report is calling the action domestic spying. john is calling in from myrtle beach, south carolina, on our republican line. good morning, john. caller: good morning. i was just listening to your

last comment. just this past week, the attorney general stopped a program which was implemented by the obama administration called chokepoint, which was set up to intimidate and also harassed gun shops, pond shops, payday lenders, certain people like that, and they basically used what they had with the banks where these groups could not get bank accounts. there you go again. not only do you have surveillance of american citizens, private citizens, you also have the government being used to intimidate people for a of what needs to be done, but my main point was i think what we're seeing in the a lot of people are frustrated on the street, and when i say on the street, when you get out and talk to people, that there is an unequal application of the law.

everybody is going after donald .rump for the first time ever, we are in the middle of a special investigation trying to find a crime, where in the past, there was an evident crime which was investigated and then prosecuted. whereas you also have other actors who are being caught up in these investigations that have clearly committed crimes and they are not even being prosecuted. they are not even having grand jury's being convened. i'm talking about the hillary clinton, the unmasking, and the tarmac, and all this stuff. they are not even going after. so, you know, you have an unequal application of the law, that is kind of in contradiction to our country -- me ask you this. the investigations undertaken by congress and the special prosecutor, they are looking

into russian meddling into the election. is that an issue you are concerned about, given what the intelligence community has said? ok, well, if you want to get into the russian meddling, let's look at the fabricated dossier that was created. that was the thing that kind of precipitated them to be able to say "look at the russian meddling." if you want to get back to that, there were instances where the clintons, the clinton campaign and wasserman schultz were talking to people overseas as well. if you are talking to -- talking about trump colluding with russia, what about them colluding with foreign actors as well? "the financial times" talking about trump has plans that business has

turned against him. the u.s. chamber of commerce said yesterday that u.s. proposals laid the groundwork for withdrawal of the u.s.. that would re-catastrophic for its economy. we're increasingly concerned about the state of play and the negotiations. we see the proposals as highly dangerous, said the senior vice president for international policy. this will do harm. we have lewis calling in from salisbury, north carolina, on the democratic line. caller: thank you for taking my phone call. was toirst dl --eo allow people with mental illness

to buy firearms, and we find this gentleman, this guy donald trump would not even call a know. -- we still do not what was his motive or anything. they cannot find the man insane or say. all i'm saying is that if they under so many children the age of eight years old and still did not do anything for gun control, what makes people that this incident is going to do anything different? i feel that it's going to take more than that in order for whenca to find out that -- you got over 40 guns, come on. you cannot shoot all 40 guns at one time. i think it's just crazy.

united states is crazy. we got a crazy man in there, and this world is going to get even crazier. note -- thisming weekend, our c-span cities tour "booktv" explore south carolina. coming up at noon, all of our programs will air together in one time block. of "theanderson, author control recklessness," talks about his book and the role cattleman ed limited played in the development of south carolina. >> the book i wrote is called andtrolled recklessness," is a story of a lemon in the development of south carolina. cowboy, a cattleman. he had an 865,000-acre ranch in the early 1900s.

he was involved in the expansion of the railroad into western to koto, also at the same time in the early 1900s, and was one of the gears that was really essential to the growth and development of western south dakota. and a lot of people think of south dakota as a corn and beans farming state. certainly, south dakota is more than that. have almost five head of person.or every host: make sure to tune this weekend to book tv and american history tv as we travel to south dakota and to watch video of pr -- pierre and all the cities we have visited.

go to c-span.org/citiestour. from california on our democratic line. hi there. good morning. good morning, america. i always find it strange to leave it to a conservative and conservative leaders to threaten violence like civil if they don't get their way. jihad donald trump is not making anything better for america. now i have to go pay some taxes, so everybody have a good saturday. some other headlines today, abc news reports on the vice president's tour of puerto rico as the island continues to devastation ofe a direct hit from a category four hurricane a few weeks ago. it says, if you are going to help us, it has to be now, a

bearded young man told pence. vice president pence is also traveling to las vegas to meet with families of the survivors. ,e's expected to speak their

and we will air it. check c-span listings for that coming up later. steve is calling from st. louis on our independent line. good morning, steve. caller: good morning. i'm calling about youth sports. in this day and age with everybody working, parents are looking for a babysitter, and this legitimizes it. the good times of playing in the neighborhood are over. that's my comment. host: ok. the democratic senate leader, chuck schumer, has responded as well to that report that he and donald trump talked about the possibility of a deal on health care on twitter.

that is senator schumer giving his side of the conversation he had with president trump about health care, a conversation that reported to have made some republicans uneasy. tyrone is calling from alabama on our democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. -- to theke to add united states have units that ? otect the republic if they do, they should investigate trump and take him out of office because you cannot have a madman and office like that that has his finger right on the nuclear weapon. the republic should act and act now. host: all right. and another tweet, this one from congressman steve scalise, who is recovering from being shot at

a baseball practice in june. a nice moment for the congressman there. and on ouralling independent line from springfield, massachusetts. doing today? u god bless everyone that is hearing me. theomment is i am all for second amendment, right? i am also all for the nra. is -- what reason would an average citizen need with a semi automatic assault rifle weapon? that is all i have.

calling in on our democratic line from washington. what's on your mind? >> good morning. thank you for taking my call. to my want to speak feelings in general about the trump administration. i feel like the whole agenda is about taking away our rights from all of the decisions that have been made. the attack on anything that obama created, and they are just on this role to take away everything. as a female, as a social worker, and appreciating diversity in our country -- i feel like that is what conservatives, at least from my perspective, keep missing that. we have to appreciate our country as diverse. it's not about one small section

getting their white male rights with what they want to do and throw us back into the 1960's. so i hope that we get to keep some of those, but we have to keep advocating for ourselves to appreciate diversity as well. we have to have some peace on this planet. thank you for taking my call. host: ok. coming up tomorrow, "the washington examiner's" todd shepherd will be here to discuss the senate intelligence committee's initial findings in their investigation of interference by the russian government in the 2016 election. we will also be joined by harvard university researcher t to discuss newly released violent crime statistics. be here to mora will discuss tensions between the u.s. and cuba after the u.s. forlled 15 diplomats

unexplained sonic attacks on u.s. citizens living in cuba. that is all today for "washington journal." we will be back tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. until then, have a good day. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> next, a look at the 2018 federal budget making its way through congress. first, debate from the house floor, then senate budget committee meeting and later, a senate banking committee hearing on wells fargo opening unauthorized bank accounts.