cyber security reporter examines russia's use of social media. as always, we will take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter as well. washington journal is next. ♪ .ost: good morning it is saturday, november 4, 2017 , the end of a busy week where president trump a lawmaker response to a number of issues from a deadly terror attack on threatil, to the ongoing posed by north korea and russian election interference, to domestic issues like the economy, taxes, health care. these issues according to a new study are causing americans anxiety. americans are more stressed out than ever about the nation's future, more so than during the vietnam war or the aftermath of the september 11 attacks. we are asking viewers, are you stressed out about the future of the country?

democrats call 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents call 202-748-8002. regis on social media on -- reach us on social media, on twitter @cspanwj and facebook.com/c-span. more on the new report from bloomberg news. it says that americans are officially freaking out. for those lying awake at night worrying about health care, the economy, and the overall feeling of divide between you and your neighbors, at least one source of comfort, your neighbors may be lying awake to the two thirds report beingor 62% stressed out about the future of the nation according to the american psychological association survey in august and released on wednesday.

the worry about the state of the union tops long-standing stressors such as money, work, and cuts across political proclivities. we are talking to you and getting your thoughts. let us know if you are feeling stressed out about the future of the country. here to tell us more about the evans, the ceo of the american psychological association. he is here to break it down for us. dr. evans, thank you for joining us. guest: glad to be here. host: tell us what the key findings of the study was? that: the survey reported two thirds of americans felt that they are stressed by their concern around the future of the country. and the other major finding was

that a majority of people found that they feel this is the lowest point in u.s. history may can remember. what was significant about that, it was reported across generations. people who lived through world war ii, the vietnam war, the 9/11 attacks, all of the groups reported that they felt this was the most -- lowest point in our history. host: were you surprised by these findings? guest: we were surprised by that finding. that across generations, a majority of individuals felt this is the lowest point in our history. we also found that the symptoms of stress that people are reporting have increased over the last year. anxious orke feeling your inability, or lying awake

at night -- irritability, or lying awake at night are reported by a larger number of americans. host: is there a specific issue that seems to make americans feel like this is the low point in our history? domestic issues like the economy or the threat of terrorism? came: social divisiveness up as a major source of stress for many americans. over a majority of people reported that. when we asked about the concerns about the future of the nation, health care topped the list. followed by the economy, and people's trust in government. people had specific issues they were concerned about. and they cited those as sources of stress. guest: talk about the divisive

-- host: talk about the divisiveness, it is not just be issues but the way americans are going about discussing them. guest: exactly right. the survey pointed out that many americans follow the news closely. around 95%. when we asked about how people were experiencing that, a number they are following the news was a factor of stress. when you think about the concert stream of information people are consuming, and much of that is of a political major. it tends to be a source of stress for many individuals. the recommendation is for people to manage that much better. host: how can americans manage

the stress they are feeling? guest: there are a number of things. managing the type and amount of media, social media and news media that people are consuming is very important. being thoughtful about that is important. we also know, and the report cited a number of things people are doing to manage their stress. more people are exercising. as a way of managing stress. people are beginning to take action in their community when they feel strongly about some issues that are causing them stress. they are participating in boycotts or signing petitions or letters. support is asocial very important way of helping us to manage support. that is, having people in our lives that can support us emotionally.

there are literally hundreds of studies that show when we are connected to people who can support us, we do better from a physical standpoint, we do better from a psychological standpoint, and generally do better in life when we have people who can support us. the good news is that there are things we can do to manage our stress. the survey pointed out that people are increasingly doing some of those kinds of things and taking active control. thesek being aware that bigger social issues are causing us stress and tried to manage that is very important. host: dr. evans, the ceo of the american psychological association, thank you for joining us to break down the study. guest: thank you. host: we are talking to our viewers today, asking you if you are stressed out about the future of america.

robin on the independent line from alabama. caller: good morning and thank you for having me on. i have a comment. i am stressed out over this government. republicans and democrats. and a couple of independents in congress. i think the president is not near the issue the congress is. they congress is -- has me stressed out. gun control, the second amendment. you have the second amendment to keep things like wounded knee, ruby ridge, waco, stuff like that from happening. people want to take our guns away and it stresses me out. they congress has me stressed out. they just fight, fight, fight and get nothing done. one thing is doing the other but they are not doing anything for us. --t: let me ask you

caller: hang on. there was a lady you have on c-span that made comments on thursday morning. she hit the nail on the head about racism. i would ask people to go to the archives of c-span -- it did not happen 30 years ago, or 30 minutes ago, this was thursday, and listen to her comments. i caller from alabama. host: jeff on the democratic line from pittsburgh. are you stressed out? caller: i am the most stressed out in my 54 years of life. i am an american. i am a white dude. i love everybody. this is ridiculous. since when the words not mean anything?

how many times can the president lied to us and we are supposed to be cool with it. .e are supposed to go on it is ridiculous. it is ridiculous. it is not just him lying. happened,azi thing cool people on both sides? it wouldily was nazis, not be cool with me. the article with them -- he is cool with them. i am a christian. he is leaving my christians by the nose -- leading my christians by the nose. he is bringing us down. i have grandkids and i'm trying to teach them to do the right thing. i am a c-span junkie. c-span is on all the time.

they asked if that is alright. it is not all right. host: what are you doing to manage your stress? have you been watching less coverage of the news? what do you do to protect yourself from the stressful situations? caller: thank you for asking. since i was 12 years old, i read the newspaper every day. until 45 got elected. i stopped because it is ridiculous. i want to know what is going on in my neighborhood and my town, my community, and my county. i am looking at a pile of newspapers. i am so far behind on my newspapers. i am trying to focus on my grandkids because they are so positive and hope the world will be better for them. this is ridiculous.

we are the united states of america. host: from pittsburgh, california to pittsburgh, pennsylvania, john is on the line. caller: i am not stressed out at all. host: why do you think you feel differently than two thirds of other americans? is doing ahink trump great job. i see help-wanted signs in pittsburgh and people with a better attitude. i am thrilled with the work he is doing and am glad he does not give up. i am very happy. if i get stressed, i will take a long walk and think. it works for me. host: you are not stressed out by the political environment, are there issues that may stress you out? the economy? the threat of russia or north

korea? are there specific issues that have caused you more stress lately that before? caller: no. i am 61. i have seen stuff worse than this. economy,omes to the more people are working and making more money. infighting is typical from what i have seen over 60 some years. i do not see a different. what is different is we have a man in the white house that puts forth the agenda i am looking for. no matter what the mainstream media says, he does not give up. he is a straight talker like harry truman. question -- if you take donald trump literally, but if you take him seriously?

the media take him literally but not seriously. i take them seriously but not literally. host: more from the study from the american psychological association. out,e doctor pointed feeling stressed about is shared among different generations. 56% of older adults say they feel stressed out. people who live through pearl harbor, world war ii, baby boomers, 57% report feeling stressed out. they lived through the vietnam war and the assassination of john f. kennedy and martin luther king. generation x lived through the gulf war and oklahoma city bombing are more stressed out today. millennials who lived through september 11 and high-profile mass shootings also feel more stressed out than in the past. howard is on the democratic line from indiana. good morning. caller: good morning, how are

you? host: i am good. are you stressed out? caller: i am stressed out but managing to feel ok today. host: what is stressing you out most? executiveinly our branch of our federal government. i think it is filled with ignorant, older men who do not know what they are doing. himself, i do not think he was a good businessman's. -- businessman. he had bankruptcies before he figured out the reality television show. he makes a spectacle out of everything to distract everyone from the lies he and his -- they go out and lied to the press everyday to distract the investigation by robert mueller. it is shameful.

the freaking response in congress from house republicans is worse because they saved to -- seem to sit there and take it instead of fighting back and seeing this is a real problem in our country. this man is unhinged. holders entirely to the and intensifies the fight with north korea, which worries me he is in asia. host: we have always seen this court in washington, the previous president has -- had a member of congress shout at him during the state of the union. what is causing you more stress than in the past? caller: mainly just that the indictments that rolled out on

monday, and there is no more shame coming from republicans, other than bob corker, john mccain, jeff flake. everyone else is seemingly not seeing this as a problem i personally think it is and a lot of the other people in the country think it is. and think it should be pursued to the fullest. i feel as if the gop is going to use the massive distraction that is donald trump to pass a harmful agenda onto our country. host: more from the study. it says that news is one of the sources of stress. looking at americans news consumption and social media habits can provide insight into why the state of our nation is uncertain. it has become a significant source of stress. americans care about staying informed with 95% saying they follow the news regularly.

82% say they checked the news want each day. ten, they have a news check in once per hour. 20% say they check social be constantly. an increase from the 70% in -- 17% in 2016. houston, democratic line, brenda. caller: it is such a pleasure to speak with you. -- this program when you are on and i live you so much. ishink the guy is an indiana turning the phone down, not sure who is talking but the guy from indiana said everything i could say. the ones calling in with rational thinking have expressed what i think. the guy who said he is doing a great job, i wish you could have

asked him, you do not want to aggravate him, what has he done? my question to republicans -- are you tired of waiting -- winning? you make the smartest decision putting that idiot in the white house. i apologize for being rude. i am frustrated. host: the current climate has you stressed out. what do you do to combat that? caller: nothing until robert mueller gets him out of office, nothing will call me down. calm me down. host: william on the independent line from chicago. are you stressed? caller: i am not stressed out at all. host: why are you in the minority when it comes to not being stressed out?

caller: i am a student of history and i read history. the events that transpired in the past of america, the civil war, the civil rights movement, the black power movement, etc. those were very volatile. how may i put it? more that the country it is now in my humble opinion. it is strange, as you brought this subject matter, i am reading information about the cold war. am i concerned? yes, i am concerned about health care because i have siblings, one is disabled and one just had a stroke. they depend on public assistance. i am concerned about that. i look at my mother and my

great-grandmother. on my maternal side. they went through jim crow. they went through the ku klux klan. they did not have a tenney -- pennuy living in mississippi. if they can go through the hatred, i can go through this and deal with this. that is how i look at it. host: the question is about the future, are you optimistic about where the nation is headed? caller: i am optimistic. , however.eyes host: bud calling in from connecticut on the republican line. are you feeling more anxiety than in the past? caller: not at all.

opportunity for getting our country back on track. leading thisma is country into socialism. he is the biggest divider as far as race and dividing the country , castrating our military so we have a lot of catching up to do. i think what is going on through the colleges over the last generation or two, the socialist people in the colleges talking that socialism is great. i would say, anybody not happy with what is going on in the country, they should visit in this way will a, cuba -- venezuela, cuba, and go to russia for a couple of weeks and see how the people live there. i think this is an opportunity -- hopper king time.

-- hopper king time. opportune time. he has people in the congress, john mccain, susan collins from maine, i do not know what is with these women but they are out of it. host: what about other factors. ? do they have your stress levels up? the threat from north korea, or the rise in opioid use? do other things give you concern about the future? caller: it is a concern. north korea is something we have to deal with. it is something people never dealt with. going back 25 or 30 years. when bill clinton gave them a ,eg up on nuclear technology

that was a serious mistake. a teasing north korea -- a g north korean whenever they get mad, now dollar trap is matching them. he said, you make a move and your country will not exist. -- donald trump is matching them. he said, you make a move and your country will not exist. the man with the bad haircut does not know what to do. one of the things dividing the country is the media. a news item will happen. during the last election, the democrats -- hillary clinton took over the result, party and, as a

any money that came in was going to her. very little to let's say two bernie sanders. -- to bernie sanders. i am not fond of bernie sanders, he is a socialist though claiming independent, the fact russiae uranium going to and hillary had to sign off on that. -- i cannotstigator think of his name -- the guy doing the big investigation. host: robert mueller, the special counsel. we have jackie from philadelphia on the democratic line. are you stressed out? caller: i am very stressed out. i am tired of the lies i hear from the president.

the main thing stressing me out is that they are doing away -- they want to do away with the medical deduction. about one third of my income goes for medical expenses. host: the gop tax plan? caller: the tax plan is going to hurt me. i know it is going to hurt a lot of other people with medical expenses that are large. beingot see the congress interested in a regular citizens. most of the tax plan is going to support the rich. they can afford to give some of their money to the support of the country. i am very concerned about korea. i do not think our president is able to negotiate, or even think

about negotiating with north korea. i do think something terrible will happen. that is all i have to say. host: more from the report from the american psychological association about what things are stressing out americans. it says this year americans express feelings of uncertainty and resulting stress. concerns about a variety of issues. when asked specifically about they face, their loved ones face, two thirds of adults, 62% said they are stressed out about crime with terrorism, 60%, gun violence, 55%, and hate crimes, 52% being most commonly reported. we have anthony calling in on the independent line from newport, tennessee. good morning. caller: good morning. i do not believe i am stressed, i am more mad.

i fought in the vietnam war. all, the person from vietnam the other day told me a story. after we left, she says it was not the vietnam war, it was the american war and her father had lost because he was fighting with us as our ally and he was put in prison after we left. brought -- he bought a vote to support family. -- boat to support his family and the kkk burned his boat. been -- thate have were was about communism. we -- war was about communism. we had the president, we have

the philippines, russia, red china, now iran, turning radical and putting their missiles back together. it took a lot of presidents to get it to neutral. , thead part is that president is in the middle of new york city, not against anybody, showing up, says he can kill somebody and nobody will bother him. why? because he has money? he lies. it gets me so aggravated. you heard guns, guns, guns. i fire a machine gun that shot over 1000 rounds per minute in vietnam. in 15 minutes, we could kill 10 people to 100 people. that is what they are trying to get rid of. there is no reason for an american to have a machine gun.

they are not trying to take guns away. it gets people aggravated. when he says take it to the bank, that means he is lying. host: frank on the republican line from myrtle beach, south carolina. caller: good morning. localization concerns me. -- globalization concerns me. it is part of the development of technology and the internet. we can buy a dozen eggs from a fromer -- for a quarter china but will not buy them down the street for one dollar. there are some good things about the inner set -- internet, research and development, it but technologye, is losing so fast i do not think we can deal with it. -- as they set about --

said about the terrorists in this country are receiving their and our organization from the -- indoctrination from the internet. overseas. when will censorship start censoring stuff? there is a responsibility with freedom of speech, and it includes the media. the media reports this stuff. we probably do not even need to know about it. when china that has 2 billion people, 3 billion people, they tend to control their population because they censor stuff. host: do you think that is a good around for the united states -- a good route for the united states to go down? caller: government is all about control. you cannot control people if you are not censoring stuff.

you can let it run wild, if you want. i do not know. we will see. you can see a lot of what happened in the last two years had to do with media. all of a sudden, riots broke out. i kind of think that you have to be responsible. host: ok. in some headlines on the front of the "wall street journal" -- jobs are rebounding but wages are still standing still. it says the u.s. economy rebounded from recent hurricanes and said the jobless rate to a 17 year low in october and drove up the pace of hiring. while good news, it could pose a challenge for policymakers at the risk of economy or financial markets overheating as labor becomes more scarce, stoxx march 2 18 record highs and stimulate -- stocks of march to record highs.

the federal reserve is widely expected to raise short-term interest rates in its final meeting of the year in december. that is the newly announced fed chair jay powell is set to take over for janet yellen. joe is calling in from florida on the democratic line. are you feeling anxiety? caller: good morning, stephanie. the onet taxes for present, $1 trillion in medicare and almost half a train dollars for medicaid and social security. -- trillion dollars -- half $1 trillion for medicare and social security. when he ran for office, jobs will go overseas. i am tried to understand the -- a whitefrom

person killed 89 people with a machine gun that killed 59 people with a machine gun, a person on the street killed one person and injured two dozen. they were protesting donald trump's idea. presidenthat, the said we are good people. the nazis had good people? now: are things different -- you are pointing out times in the past where the ku klux klan or jim crow, other protests that happen in the 1960's. what is it about now or do you

think now is worse than then? caller: he kind of like -- he -- the person that killed the female. he defends him. like it is all right. the other side are good people. there are some good people. really? it does not make sense. they do not want brown people, black people. they just want to roll. -- rule. they want to go back to the slavery era. pennsylvania,lle, independent line, kathy, are you feeling stressed? caller: not at all. i love trump and everything he is doing. sohas got idiots that are

big-hearted. it is fine to have a good heart, but give me a break. these people have their hands out. everybody wants this and that and do not want to work for it. telling -- tell them to get a job. that is what he is saying, and i agree. nancy pelosi and the assassinate her clinton should disappear with chuck schumer. and the mayor of new york, -- host: we will go on to michelle from michigan on the republican line. are you feeling stress levels that are high? caller: i am not, not at all. i think donald trump is doing a wonderful job. much in just the first four months in office.

they have been remarkable. what makes me so comfortable is the fact that we do not have a politician in office. that would make me stressed. host: why do you think so many other americans are feeling stressed out, if you are not? caller: to be honest with you, every time i am talking about this with another politician that is stressed out, when you get down to asking them why, what they say is -- i just do not like him. that is their answer. i have not been able to come up with anybody to give me a good reason other than the fact they just do not like him. host: why do you think it is so different now? every president we have ever had populationof the that does not favor him.

what do you think it is about right now that has two thirds of americans saying that they are more stressed out than they were at other times in the past, were times, orat -- war after terror attacks? caller: your callers are a good example, they do not have a good reason. i have not heard it. host: brian is calling in from oak lawn, illinois. are you stressed out? caller: very much and thank you for c-span. i heard that lady, i will give her a reason i am stressed out, i am a democrat, liberal, a veteran of the war. it is a parker seen going on -- a parker see going on from -- have partners in -- hypocrisy

going on from republicans. i have post-traumatic stress disorder. try to process how they can let the cup are busy past -- hypocrisy past. they were all over obama for his golf trips and donald trump not spent one full week as president without going on some kind of golf resort. and he owns all the golf resorts. , hes not only golfing more is making the money off of the golf trips he is taking. republicans and all of his supporters are online and social media. they are giving it a pass. veiled in this very weird paradigm shift where we can blame each other. there was a couple of callers that said our words do not matter anymore. i feel that is a big thing.

people do not feel they have accountability for what they put in motion, the things they say, the consequences of those things happening. -- are youu have optimistic for the future? do you think the current climate is stressful but things will get better? caller: i think that, with all the avenues we do have for discussion, i think we need to let the emotions out of it a little bit. , am optimistic for the future if we can use that in a more productive way. if we keep going back and forth with fake news this, and your guy is an assassin, and your woman is a killer. all of this jargon and nonsense. i am not optimistic for the future. i think where going straight for a path into another civil war. it will not be as clear-cut as last time where it is the north versus the south, it will be

brother versus brother. it will be every state, along -- aligned along parties instead of states. we need to talk to each other in a more respectful way. even if it is wrong. i voted for obama twice. ofo not agree with his acts 2012 and a lot of the stuff he did. i will be the first person to say it. republicans need to look at some of these things and not blow it off as fake news but hold it accountable. host: other headlines today, the new york times says children's health care bill has cleared the house. there is a fight over how to pay for it. the house passed the bill on friday it would provide five years of funds for the popular children's health care -- insurance program over objections by democrats who oppose the way it would be financed. the vote came a month after funds for the program expired.

the senate plans major surgery on the legislation to avoid partisan strife with the house. it says to offset the cost of the plan, the house bill would increase premiums for medicare beneficiaries with incomes of more than $500,000 per year and remove some lottery winners from the medicaid rolls, and cut $6.35 trillion over 10 years from a fund established by the affordable care act to pay for public health initiatives such as prevention diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and opioid abuse. tom is on the independent line from a vermont. caller: good morning and thank you for c-span. i do not suffer from stress because i meditate and pray. my sister worked for a hospital. she handled it well. she laughed through it.

there are so many people collecting bills. it is a powerful job. they must be under stressed. doctors, mostly those that do not practice the hippocratic oath, a lot of them do because health care is so controversial. they must be under stress. maybe they are under stressed from the american medical association, who controls the number of students that go through medical school. we could use all of the doctors that we can train. this is leaving into what i am saying is to single-payer. single payment health insurance. if we had that, we would eliminate 80% of the bill collectors and we may increase the number of doctors, double the number. do you have any questions for

me? i am only kidding. thank you very much and have a wonderful day. host: tucson, arizona, republican line. are you stressed out, deborah -- are you stressed out? caller: i am a little because i have a lack of faith in the justice department. i have a lack of faith people are being held accountable for the things -- very egregious, activities they are involved with. am -- there is not a lot being done to curb the corruption going on in washington. host: what kind of things are you talking about specifically? --ler: i am talking about the news that came out about hillary clinton rigging the democratic primary. people talk about donald trump lying. he says a lot of dumb things. but the type of activity hillary

clinton is involved in is egregious. it is corrupt. there are so many different scandals and things going on. you want to talk about lying. she lies through her teeth about all of these things. faith that sheny is being held accountable. they have a big -- robert mueller -- they have a big investigation, 20 prosecutors investigating donald trump's associates and their financial activity going back dozens of years. they cannot investigate hillary clinton? you have to be joking. the type of stuff wiki leaks came out with and the type of stuff we have seen from her emails is insane. you want to talk about russia rigging an election? she rigged the election against bernie sanders. i think it is ironic. we cannot get one investigation

on it? donald trump gets 20 prosecutors against them. i do not think it is fair and republicans are getting equal treatment by the justice department. there are more things, like the irs scandal. office, obama is out of we finally get an apology from the irs that they were targeting republicans and have to pay these republicans and conservative groups millions of dollars. that is coming from the taxpayers. people are not angry about that? democrats are not angry, i do not get it. host: arthur on the democratic line from memphis, tennessee. are your stress levels higher? caller: they will be high and told all trout get out of office. -- until donald trump gets out of office. hillary clinton is not the president. trump is, and he is the one

lying everyday, not hillary. wet: are there issues -- lost him, we moved to eddie from baltimore on the democratic line. caller: how are you doing, c-span? host: i am good, are you feeling stressed? caller: i was but jesus is my refuge. comment is that corruption -- absolute corruption corrupts absolutely. said --very -- how do i civil war is about to jump. you can pressure people so much. right now, the politicians -- i am 65 years old and have never seen what i am seeing in america today. people coming out with boldness of the racism. around universities where we send our kids for a decent education, the hatred you are

seeing. in high schools and middle schools, none of the started until donald trump. absolute corruption will corrupts absolutely. john kelly, i thought i had respect for him, his racist comments are coming. we are heading down a dark path. civil war is at the end of it and those laughing now will be crying later. host: on the front page of the "new york times" -- it reports a new climate report is being embraced -- by the white house even though it has contradicted it in the past. record contradicting much of the trap administrations view on -- donald trump administration climate change. a report that says humans are the dominant cause of the global temperature rise that has created the warmest times of civilization. years, global115

average temperatures have increased 1.8 degrees fahrenheit , leading to record-breaking weather events and temperature extremes. the global long-term warming trend is unambiguous and there is no convincing alternative explanation that anything other than humans, the cars we drive, the power plants we operate, are to blame. tony is calling in on the independent line from sera vista, arizona. are you feeling more stressed that in the past? caller: let me preface that response with knowledge is medicine for the body. that is my own, personal quote. becauseon i use that is you cannot get stressed until you feel pressure. if you know what is pressuring you, you can take counteracted measures. when you do not know what is

pressuring you, all of a sudden, you have pressure left and pressure right, pressure center, pressure top, pressure bottom. guess what, then you are stressed. we are in an information society, internet of things. where you can be connected to anything you want. guess what? if you cannot connect to the person next to you, you are stressed. do you have any questions? host: what are you using these techniques on? thatare causing you stress is forcing you to think in this way? caller: again, i am not stressed. i have seven retirement checks. i am 58.

do i keep all of that money for myself? no. 20 plusbought three, pounds turkeys homegrown from a local farmer at the area market guess what? they are going to the first responders here in my town. the county sheriff's office. i will drop some off with the military police. i retired as a military intelligence officer. they call military intelligence an oxymoron. it is saying, do you have the ability to think, if i have to survive, what do i need? who can help me? i know who can help me. that is understanding first responders in our community can help me, understanding there are

individuals who, if they know i have an income of a certain amount, they will take advantage of that. shareou take the time to what you know. and then know how to turn things off that are not of benefit, then you immediately send the stress away. host: i am sure the first responders appreciate your efforts. phil,ican line, chicago, are you feeling stressed? caller: i think i am stressed out because i think when a president comes into office they should let the president do his job. do what he has to do, rather than harass them. i think it goes for all presidents. they should an act some sort of -- an act some sort of wall that says you can do whatever you want to be president after he gets out, unless he commits a high treasonous crime.

otherwise, let him do his job. when barack obama was in power as the president, nobody harassed him. they went against them like other presidents but nobody harassed him like they do the current president. i do not agree with everything he does. --o agree that he is going taking the country in the right direction. that the tonehink the president takes is sometimes adding to the anxiety that americans are feeling? caller: it may. everybody says things that starts people thinking about toer things and gets people go against the grain. but i do not think that is the only reason. i think that the fact that people are pulling the race card is wrong.

because the first person that pulls the race card may be a racist themselves. i do not see that this is going anywhere good. i think we are more divided than ever. we need to come together. we need to straighten this out and let the man do his job and vote him out of office if he cannot do the job. that is all we have to do. host: more headlines, the washington post, it says donald , it says heprotocol repeatedly called on the justice department and fbi to investigate the democratic political opponents, a breach of the traditional executive branch boundaries designed to prevent the criminal justice system from becoming politicized. he urged federal law enforcement to do what is right and proper by watching criminal probes of former presidential rival hillary clinton and her party, a

surprising use of his voice will put, considering he -- bully pulpit, considering the knowledgedd -- heat -- including the joint fundraising dnc that with the effectively gave her some control over the parties financings, strategy, staffing, before the primaries began. charlie is calling in on the democratic line from south -- virginia. in on the is calling democratic line from virginia. caller: i am not really stressed out because i am a christian and i trust in jesus. this is what is bothering me. people arethat black being shot and killed. and others are not prosecuted for that, it bothers me. -- when theddiction

crack was rampant, people got locked up. now they are offering opioid people that are addicted counseling. it is a problem. i am in chronic pain every day. i am the same age as the president. i do not claim to be educated. i feel i could do a much better job at expressing myself that he does. this supposed to be from very easy to school. the way he talks and the way he lives. -- lies. jesus put him office for a reason. all of the problems and racism that is taking place, he is adding to the problem. i am stressed out but this is what is supposed to be happening. all of this chaos in the world.

people need to understand that jesus is in charge. , my heartd addiction is compassionate for a lot of people but people are using it as a crutch. why can't they control their own problems and pain? why can't they put up with it, i do. i am not a drug addict. i am 70 years old and am bothered by pain every day. it bothers me that one race of people, you get locked up, the other race of people, it is a problem, it is an addiction. community,elping the if we do not help out people. come on, people. get a grip and pray. host: nebraska, republican line, gary, are you feeling stressed about the future of the country?

caller: i am not feeling stressed. --s is typical trum phate trump hate syndrome. .hey blame trump for everything he has been in office less than a year. the news media's against them. 99% of the news media is against them. -- against him. this is typical dollar trump hate -- donald trump fake. -- hate. this show is a perfect example. host: cheryl from memphis, tennessee on the independent line. are you stressed? caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i would not say i am stressed but i am bothered by a lot of things going on. the young man that just got off the phone is a prime example of why i am bothered. people are so hypocritical.

it is amazing how one person can get up and say things, you hear it and you see what they tweet and still go to bat for them. if somebody else said the same thing, people want to jump all over them. it is amazing how many hypocritical people there are. we do need the nation -- the whole nation needs to be pray for and that is what i will do, continue to pray. god is not happy with a lot of things, a lot of racist stuff coming out. people are more hypocritical and they want to be christians but they are hypocritical. i will not say i am stressed by it but i am bothered by it. that a lot of people are hypocritical and you can see when someone is lying or telling stories. you can actually believe them. it is amazing. other people get mad because we

can see what is really going on. on. people can love trump. it does not matter. at the end of the day if you know he is lying, he is lying. don't try to justify what he does. i know a lot of people are stressed about things going on. ask people that are truly christian and not hypocritical christians to constantly pray and ask god to rain down on everything going on in the nation right now. we definitely need prayer. host: richard from the democratic line from worcester, massachusetts. caller: hello, good morning. thank you for taking my call. sense, yes.nd a bothered? i've heard people use that kind of phrase. i have been following politics

all my life. i am 73. i remember when the today show went back on the air in the 1950's with dave galloway and that crowd. i was just 12 or 13. i have been following politics for years. i have never seen anyone in government like this individual. given license-- by his base to do the things he does. even though he does not tell the truth when the facts are clearly on the table that it is not accurate, it is not fair, there is no justice involved in a lot of the stuff he says. he has a huge following. base to me says that his -- and this could be a nasty way to put it -- but the racists and bigots refuse to look at the truth. the healing of the country, the

unification of the country, the prosperity of civility is very obvious. i actually could see this coming years ago. i would turn on the radio and all the disjunct ease -- a lot of love music and fun music. radioiscarded the entire network and put on this right-wing extremist from one end of the dial to the other. brainwashed and actually contributed to this factor of stressful nature of what i feel in this country today. also the technology has a lot to do with it. he has taken advantage of it. host: we are running out of time. coming up we will talk to abraham denmark. he will talk about the goals and significance of president trump's trip to asia. newkirk joins as

his recent piece about how hurricane maria worsens the environmental crisis in puerto rico. we will be right back. ♪ >> join us this weekend for big tv -- book tv at the texas book festival in austin. coverage begins at 11:00 a.m. eastern and includes liza munda , kevin young,rd allen,addam, danielle llman --, and alae

ellen allman. coverage starts at 3:00 p.m. eastern with carol anderson with her book "white rage: the unspoken truth of our racial divide." "the true story of a drug cartel, the fbi, and the battle for a horse racing dynasty." exposing rape at yale university -- baylor university." the texas book festival, today and sunday on c-span2's book tv. the house ways and means committee began work on the tax of one plant on monday before sending it to the full house for debate. watch live coverage monday starting at noon eastern on c-span2 and c-span.org. listen live using the free c-span radio app.

washington journal continues. host: joining us now is abraham denmark, the director of the asia program at the wilson center. he is here to discuss the goals and significance of president trump's trip to asia. thank you for joining us. briefly explain what the wilson center is. is a: the wilson center congressionally created think tank. we were created in the 1960's as a memorial to president wilson. we are a public institution focused on research on international affairs. asia-pacific, which goes all the way from afghanistan to hawaii. it's a broad -- host: a big region. what is the significance of this trip to asia for president trump? guest: it is a very significant trip. the stakes are very high. there are many important issues in the region. he will be addressing a lot of

them. it is also a long trip. the white house is saying is the longest trip by a president to asia in 25 years. he will be traveling to five different countries. south korea, japan, china, vietnam and the philippines. and addressing a wide variety of different issues. the main ones being north korea and international trade with the broader overly of what many see as a general competition between the u.s. and china on who will be leading the region in the future. host: the wall street journal today as the headline, "north korea to dominate the agenda." president trump's anticipated trip starts on saturday. pyongyang's desire to be considered a global nuclear power. the rest of the developed world attempt to undermine been

envisioned will be the theme of every bilateral. meeting -- bilateral meeting. guest: it will be on top of the agenda for every meeting, especially for the first few meetings in tokyo and beijing. the other key actors in this drama. we have seen in recent years north korea conducting more and more nuclear tests, ballistic missile tests, and the pace has accelerated which is pushed this to the top of the agenda. host: talk about that. what are the potential risks of the president and going over there? we know he is not planning to go to the demilitarized zone. are the risks about what might happen in north korea does another test while the president is over there? what is the potential pitfall? guest: to answer your question, there is always a risk of north korean provocations. the motto of u.s. forces in korea is fight tonight because

of that ever present risk. the primary that falls the president is facing are mostly political. while in tokyo he and the japanese prime minister abe are very much on the same page with these issues, there has been a lot of disagreement behind the scenes between president trump and south korean president moon, who initially saw to engage north korea and seems to prefer a much more engagement oriented approach to north korea, different than president trump's more hard-line approach. although president moon has endorsed president trump's pressure strategy. and then and beijing there is seeking to restrain american action as concern about american use of military force. there is a lot of concern and pitfalls for the president when he talks about north korea. host: we are talking with abraham denmark, director of the asia program at the wilson

center. we are discussing the president's trip to asia, which he left for yesterday. democrats can call (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, -- (202) 748-8002. you mentioned the south korean president. paper -- the new york times, it talks a bit about that. it says he won the presidency promising a shift towards dialogue with north korea. he argues sanctions and pressure alone would never persuade north korea. no to the to say americans if necessary. six months after south korea's -- return the nation's liberals to power, his plans to ease tensions on the peninsula have gone nowhere.

president trump is doubled down on sanctions in the standoff with the north. he dismissed talk to the waste of time and stepped up military drills that rattled the region with five ignatius threats. talk more about the role of south korea. how do you expect that the play out over this trip? guest: south korea is a very important ally. it hosts 28,500 american service people. it is a treaty ally of the united states. president moon -- i thought it was a good article. he came to power just a few months ago seeking more engagement with north korea. unfortunately for him, president trump was more oriented toward a more hard-line approach. at the same time north korea has not been terribly interested in engagement with the south. they are seeking engagement with the united states. there is a difficult position for president moon to be in.

theas emphasized despite theological differences he and president trump are on the same page or committed to maximizing pressure for now on north korea. there is certainly a wide gulf. president trump has criticized president moon publicly on twitter for his approach. president moon has expressed a lot of concern about unilateral american military action. states saying the united should coordinate and consult with south korea before launching any sort of military attack against north korea. that is right now one of the main concerns in south korea, that the united states would either intentionally or unintentionally begin a conflict without consulting with south korea first. host: landed on the republican line from williamsburg, virginia. good morning. caller: i'm glad to be able to speak to mr. denmark.

is how does south korea feel -- host: can you meet your tv -- mute your tv? caller: yes. good morning. host: you are on live now. caller: how does south korea -- yes.ut the threat how does south korea feel about the possibility of japan militarizing? host: talk a little bit about japan and how it plays in well linda deals with your tv. guest: japan, as you probably know, had a very difficult history with korea before and during the second world war, with a lot of terrible human rights abuses. korea has the years

thought to address and overcome. most recently between japanese prime minister abe and south korean president parpk. -- park. those historical concerns and animosity remain strong and certain parts of the south korean public. yet if you look at public polling, japan pulls quite well in south korea. in south korea, the public is a better perception of japan then it doesn't china recently -- then it does of china recently. there is concerned with some revising itsjapan constitution and expanding military power, which is one of the objectives of prime minister abe. it is not a broad and widely held view in south korea, rather the view of a certain part. generally there has been efforts more recently to enhance will be

called trilateral military cooperation between the united states, south korea and japan. es couldtari cooperate against a potential north korean threat. previously deputy assistant secretary of defense for east asia during the obama administration. we are talking about the president's trip to asia where he is en route right now. a very big trip, his first major trip to the region. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. we remind you all you are waiting on the line to listen through your phone and mute your television. reporterster briefing about what to expect from this trip and touching on whether the president's fire and fury rhetoric still stands. [video]

reporter: will he be meeting putin on the sidelines and will he be bringing up human rights? h.r. mcmaster: the president will use whatever length which he wants to use. what the president has done is clarify and all of his -- in all of this statements on north korea our determination to ensure north korea is unable to threaten our allies and partners and certainly the united states. he has done that with a great deal of clarity in the past and i'm sure he will do that during the trip as well. a great been reassurance to our allies and partners and others in the region who are literally under the gun of this regime. reporter: do you expect modulation in the language? h.r. mcmaster: i don't think the president modulates his language. have you noticed him do that? he has been very clear about it.

i have been aware of the discussions about his -- what is inflammatory is the north korean regime and what they are doing to threaten the world. would be a great danger if the regime did not understand our resolve, the president's resolve to counter north korean aggression. and the president has made it very clear. host: what is your reaction? guest: i think they are speaking about the president's remarks in south korea. he will be addressing the south korean legislature, the national assembly. it's really an opportunity to explain and clarify the administration's approach towards north korea. i think general mcmaster is right. north korean actions and statements have been very inflammatory and problematic. the president is in a difficult position when it comes to north korea. this is not a crisis of his making. this has been a building crisis for decades.

especially for president trump, it is coming due during his administration. north koreans are closer to developing a nuclear capable icbm. it has been the policy of several administrations the u.s. without accepting north korea capable of striking the united states with nuclear weapons. ont i disagree with mcmaster is that the president's administration has been clear in its approach to north korea. if you look at statements for the president and other senior officials, there have been various endorsements of diplomacy, criticisms of diplomacy, saying the united states seeks regime change in that it does not seek regime change. when he speaks with the national assembly, is a key opportunity for him to clarify his position and make the case for time we need to find and other way towards

denuclearization. host: andy from kansas? caller: good morning. how are you? host: go ahead. you are on with abraham denmark. caller: i am sitting back and seeing all this and i'm wondering to myself if it is not just one big trigger to start world war iii and everybody is scared about that. who is this a north korea is not scared, too? ok. my advice to president trump would be to tread lightly. i will tell you one thing about mutual self assured destruction. it is not mutual. host: what is your reaction to the advice? guest: i think he makes a good point. first being that it is a scary situation.

the congressional research service came out with an wa onsis and a general a the korean peninsular could lead to the deaths of up to 300,000 people in the first few days. our military leaders have talked about how the conflict on the peninsula would be something to be concerned about. north korea, if you look at what is motivating them, is also concerned about american attempts to undermine their regime. fact, north korean officials will often refer to saddam hussein in iraq and qaddafi in libya as examples of what happens when a country abandons a nuclear program and cuts a deal with united states. a few years later the united states either a taxable or allows the regime to collapse. they see nuclear weapons as essential to preserving their

regime, preserving kim jong-un's leadership. the concern is that with nuclear weapons a north korea would be able to act more aggressively against south korea, against japan, against the international community. demanding withdrawal of american troops, demanding a reduction of sanctions. potentially demanding unification of the korean peninsula. complicated in these scenarios. that is why american presidents for a while have saw to avoid the situation we find ourselves in. host: mike from charleston, west virginia. caller: hi. love c-span. thanks for the guests today. i live in japan during the 1980's and south korea during the olympics in 1988. i would like to comment on the historical question, even though

we don't live in the cold war anymore. the signatories on the armistice, china was a signatory. i believe they are playing very coy and have been because of their interest in the region. so, could you comment on china's agreement?kering an the other comment i would like to make is america nuclear rise the korean peninsula. i think the armistice originally said there were no nuclear weapons on the peninsula. when i was in south korea the snuckans stuck them on -- them on. the north koreans may see things in a different light. i'm looking forward to hear in the comment of the expert here.

guest: you bring up two very important issues. the role of china on the korean peninsula is absolutely critical. china represents 90% of north korean trade. acted as a defense attorney for north korea. watering down international sanctions and making sure whatever sanctions are placed through the un security council, there is enough loopholes and openings so as to not cause too much economic pain and north korea and potentially triggering a collapse of the regime, which is one of the things china is concerned about. i expect this will be the top of president trump's agenda when he meets with chinese president xi jinping. recently china has been doing more to book our pressure on north korea. they have been enforcing andtions more aggressively

allowing stronger sanctions to go through in the un security council. there is more they could be doing. more of the united states will be looking for them to do to maximize that pressure on north korea. you are right. china is essential to any resolution of this issue. it called for what they referred to as a freeze re-freeze, in which north korea would freeze the nuclear and missile testing. united states an the south korea would freeze military exercises. becauseon rejected this they see these exercises as stabilizing and legal under international law, were north korea's actions are neither stabilizing or legal. china is seeking a doubl diplomatic way out of this. in terms of nuclear weapons on the peninsula, north korea did join the nonproliferation treaty

before it broke out and started building a nuclear weapon. there is a growing discussion in asking the about united states to deploy nuclear weapons to the korean peninsula. there is concern that this reflects diminishing confidence in the american alliance and american extended deterrence guarantees. southis also concern korean discussion about american nuclear weapons coming to the peninsula would also be a bit of for south korea developing their own nuclear capabilities, which would be a concern if north korea did develop a credible weapon. those are two challenges very much on the front of everyone's minds in washington. host: in today's wall street journal it ends by saying mr.

trump's message should be the u.s., south korea and japan will ramp up military spending and cooperation as long as kim jong-un retains his nukes. the u.s. will consider applying tactical nuclear weapons to the peninsula. they could also challenged china to more directly in the south china sea -- challenge china more directly in the south china sea and increase contact with taiwan. u.s. does not letting confrontation with china, but only the cold logic of national interest will change calculations in beijing. do you agree? guest: somewhat. somewhat. logical pieceis a to enhancing ourselves in defending her allies. as the north korean threat increases we would naturally do more to enhance our ability to defend ourselves and our allies. towards the end of the obama administration the united states and south korea deployed

terminal high-altitude air defense system, a missile defense system to the korean peninsula. on effortseflection to ensure we are able to defend ourselves and our allies. i think it makes perfect sense for the united states to work with its allies to ensure it has what it needs to defend itself. abouther part of talking the south china sea, it becomes complicated and dangerous when you start making issues together. -- linking issues together. our policy with north korea is linked with china's actions in the south china sea. we have tried to deal with these issues individually, but it does speak to a broader issue. below the surface in this trip i think it colors every interaction the president will be having, especially in china

but also in vietnam in the philippines. that's a broader competition between the united states and china. south china sea, taiwan, north korea, trade issues. there is a lot to be done. speaksn issue is when he in vietnam only present a vision for what they call an open and free pacific. the future of american trade strategy. these are the things asians will be watching to see whether the american vision for the future. host: independent line from orlando, florida. caller: good morning. prevail aser heads far as north korea goes. millions of lives are at stake. people are talking about world war iii. the world as we know it will

end. i hope cooler heads will prevail and we step back and preserved our world for all the human race. that is it. host: william from virginia on the democratic line. caller: how are you doing? good morning. thanks her having me. i would like to say one of the problems we have is our own leadership right now. it is somewhat erratic and unstable, which does not help in situations like this. but even a broken clock can be right twice a day. in a situation like this you have to think not so much what should we do today, by 10 years from now what we wish we had done. stabilization, no indication from north korea that they plan on changing their approach, it may be a better decision to do military action

now. which we will undoubtedly win and at a high cost, rather than be forced into a later at a much higher cost. it's an unfortunate decision. host: i want to get abe's response. guest: i think you make a very good point. the military calculations over time don't get easier. there is concern -- i have concern that if north korea believes they will successfully deter us without a nuclear icbm, they may feel emboldened to be even more aggressive and problematic. of have one answers this question turns on how you believe a nuclear north korea would act. if you believe deterrence would hold and they would rejoin the community of nations, if you believe we would be able to find some sort of stasis with a nuclear north korea, that does

argue for deterrence. as nationaloncerned security mcmaster once said that north korea is not the terrible , it does argue for military action now rather than a worse military scenario in the future. host: i want to get to at least one more call. but first, the new york times points out today vladimir putin will be part of this trip. a second meeting between president vladimir putin of russia and president trump on the sidelines at the asian economic summit next week in vietnam. pro,about how the russian how it all -- the russian p robe plays into the trip. guest: the first thing is understanding where political leaders are coming from domestically. prime minister abe from japan is

coming up with a resounding electoral victory with his recent election. president xi is coming very strong after their 19th party congress. yet, president trump is coming to asia with this cloud over his head. that will certainly affect the dynamics in the room. presidentfically the is traveling with a press corps that will be asking him questions and basically every stop. as always happens with these japanese press, the korean press, will be asking about local and regional issues. usually the american press will have to about domestic issues. i certainly expect that will include questions about the russian investigation, which is not just specific to president trump, but always frustrating but for the president and his staff who want to stay on message and keep focused on what

the are doing internationally. the questions about domestic challenges continue to arise. host: peter from provincetown, massachusetts. good morning. and i: i talked to c-span am enjoying this very much. i have a couple of quick questions. the appeal a crisis -- opioid crisis is looming large for president trump. i would be curious to see as president trump arrives in beijing how he will insert a discussion about opioids and fentanyl coming out of china in such great quantities to the united states and what will be done about that. the second thing is the awkward timing. for the very first time, two chinese nationals have been indicted by the u.s. department of justice in the last two weeks promotion andir

successful penetration. of the markets this seems to be awkward in its timing. i'm wondering if mr. denmark sees this as the justice department trying to send its own powerful statement. host: the wall street journal reports today the chinese narcotics officials are playing down china's role in distribute -- this and that ago opioid. this synthetic opioid. guest: it is an awkward position for beijing. they are very hard line against drugs, and in their statements beenolicies it is also proven difficult for them to enforce these hard-line policies. highect this would be on the president's agenda for a way for the u.s. and china to cooperate. it is in their mutual interest of fight the spread of drugs and

opioids and fentanyl coming out of china. host: ibrahim denmark. you can find out more about the wilson center at wilsoncenter.rorg. you can follow abe and the wilson center on twitter. up next, more of your calls. democrats can call (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. first, newsmakers interviews senator ben cardin, top democrat on the foreign relations committee. they talk about the committee's efforts to write a new authorization for use of military force. [video] >> do you have any sense of what the timeline is going to be for trying to draft a new authorization and how brought it should be? sen. cardin: out with a

competent secretary tillerson and secretary mattis. i thought they were very direct in their answers and very helpful to us. it is clear to me we cannot 2001 authorization that was passed by congress immediately after the attack on our country on september 11 aimed at terrorists in afghanistan to be used for worldwide military campaigns against terrorists. we need to update and replace that authorization with one that makes sense considering how much we know now about terrorists globally. we certainly don't want to have an open-ended authorization for american ground troops to go basically anywhere in the world. it is important that congress replace the 2001 with an authorization that makes sense. senator corker and i will try to work together to come to the agreement on this.

we have those who think we should get our military open-ended authorization. we have others that want to make it much more restrictive. we will do our best to try to come together with an authorization that's in the best interest of our country. america is stronger when we are united. congress should be with the administration, a clear message to our men and women wearing the uniform that they have a total support in carrying out the mission. i think passing an updated authorization for use of military force in the in our national interest. >> washington journal continues. host: we are taking your calls right now. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. s independent, (202) 748-8002. getting what is on your mind today. usa today reports that robert mueller is causing some conservatives to call for his resignation.

this week special counsel robert mueller's investigation jumped back into the spotlight with the first charges in the case. unsurprisingly, conservatives and liberals media reacted differently to the indictment of president trump's former campaign manager paul manafort, and his deputy rick gates, as well as a guilty plea by george papadopoulos, a former foreign-policy advisor for the trump campaign. some call it proof president trump's campaign colluded with russia. other suggested trump should firing mueller and focus on allegations against hillary clinton. alice from washington, d.c. on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. a conversation about opioids? host: you can talk about whatever is on your mind. caller: i would like to talk about the politicalization of

violence in this country. when the las vegas thing happened it is like everyone on the right was talking about it is too early to talk about this and never, ever called the situation he terror attack because it involved an american. now it is come out that person in the las vegas shooting was a trump supporter. before fox news and those in the right were accusing the person of being a democrat and going after trump supporters. cityas now in new york because it is involving someone from isis and terror, the right is up in arms. this is not right. i think the media these to do a better job of calling out the sources for their hypocrisy. thank you. host: the washington post reports today the justice

department is vowing to speed up the deportations. they said friday they are aiming judges,- by adding upgrading technology in refusing to tolerate repeated delays in deportation cases. officials who greet reporters on the condition they not be identified by name, it is part of the trump administration's brought plant to handle undocumented immigrants to 11 -- wh total 11 million worldwideo. caller: thank you for taking my call. the reason i am calling is i have had to take medication for quite a while now. the reason being is i have had a lot of surgeries. wondering -- i am retired

now. i am almost 67 years old. i never thought i would have to , but itn medication happens. the people that are against it, i don't understand. -- ify they are going they do away with all of it, they will have to have something. if they have surgery, they are going to cry out. kidney problems. they are one of the worst you can have. i have had those. i have been for years. not those only, but other problems also. i don't understand why they want to take that from people when people need it. i understand people overdo it, but there are those that don't.

and they take it as they need it and they do it right. and it helps them. just't understand why they want to take it from everybody because the people that don't have to have it now, they will have to have it when they have to have surgeries. these bodies get old and they are going to die. they are going to be some kind of medication. it, i that are against feel sorry for them because when it comes their time, it is going to be sad. i had no idea what the are going to do myself, but they will cry -- a lot of the young people that work for the dea, it is terrible they will have to have it one day. jerry is, from the

democratic line from detroit. what is on your mind today? caller: first of all good morning and greetings from motown. everthe last few months, since this administration came into office i'm a 52-year-old black man. i have heard a lot of older white people doing two things. they always blame former president barack obama for all the racial tension in america, and they seem to forget that this problem proceeded barack obama. yet time and time again i hear the same older white people calling on the republican line. they are always claiming barack obama divided the races. setaid race relations -- race relations back 100 years.

ask every single older white person calling on the when it comese, to race when was this magical glorious period before barack obama when the races were united? when was this period when blacks and whites got along and were together? i would like to bring up what other thing if you have time. host: quickly. caller: all the time i hear the same white people complain about, why are you always picking on donald trump? where these same people -- these are the same older white people who were slamming barack obama all throughout his presidency, yet hypocritically they are always complaining about how poor, innocent donald trump is being put upon. that is the question i would like to ask all the old white people on the republican line.

host: brandon is calling on the independent line from dover, delaware. caller: good morning. how are you? three quick things. one, i don't understand if everybody that calls and is against trump, why is trump still the president? i think he should be impeached today. 95% to 98% talk to, of the people i say don't want trump. number two is i don't think our opioid problem is with china or japan or any of those places. our opioid problem can from our pharmaceutical companies. it is our pharmaceutical companies who pushed the opioids on the streets. my last comment is the social service system has things backwards. they give help and give money to people who need, but a lot of

times, 90% of people in my area who should be getting it don't get it. they give it to the wrong people. i think that system may need to be explored a little bit more. those are my three things. we are -- host: we're taking calls from our viewers. just for a moment we will ask you to join us this weekend as c-span's cities tour textbook tv and american history tv to sioux falls, south dakota. today at 6:00 p.m., are segments will air together. here is a clip from "broken landscapes: indians, native tribes in the constitution." >> they have the authority from their pre-constitutional existence as self-governing sovereigns. that is the positions that tribes take.

collided withas the dominant society, with the federal government's point of view. the struggle for tribes is to maximize their sovereignty, to maximize their zones of authority on and in indian country. and to do that that means the approval of the united states congress and the united states supreme court. sometimes both sides seem to be going in the same direction and there has been an appreciation and recognition of tribal sovereignty and historical context. at times it's easy going the opposite direction or the government is in fact hostile to tribal sovereignty. host: at 6:00 p.m. you can also catch our c-span cities tour citiestour.-span.org/ anna from blackwood, new jersey. caller: i want to tell jerry on the older white women person he

is talking about. number one. number two, we have to put up with barack obama for eight years. all we wanted was a fair chance with donald trump and we are not getting it. the media, the liberal media is nothing but talking about russia and their scandals. what about hillary clinton. what about the dnc scandal? when will that be brought up on the news. it is very unfair. it has been a very tough year and it is very unfair to the people that back donald trump. there are more people that back donald trump that you realize. he is not a racist. this racist stuff started with barack obama. this is how i feel and how a lot of us feel. jerry, i don't know where you are coming from but you are just as racist. you are the racist, not us. i wish the media looking into hillary clinton's scandal.

host: jesse from rosedale, maryland. democratic life. what is on your mind today? are you there? we will move on to david from michigan on the republican line. good morning, david. caller: good morning. i am calling to say i agree with the fellow speaking about the opioids. we do need those painkillers at times in our lives. i woke up one day because i'm crippled with pain. i felt like chopping my legs off. nobody was giving me anything to kill the pain except some strong aspirin, which was not doing a very good job. what i wokemighty up with was a virus that left me in a month.

but for that month i was unable to walk because of my pain. my legs hurt so badly. issued,onald trump people are rendering -- wondering why after we were complaining about barack obama but not complaining about donald trump. obama to say this, barack could not fight his way out of a wet paper bag. we were losing the issue in the middle east. we were getting cleaned out. our house was getting cleaned and we were not really doing very well. we were threatened all over the world. we felt helpless with him as president because he seemed like he would rather take up with the muslims then with we americans. ern people aret not americans that he would favor them. he was for them and not at all for us. when he went over to iran, he gave them $150 billion of our

money just because he felt like it. and then he also handed them a billion dollars -- $8 billion to free some of her hostages. i just think the men was a very, toy weak man that was unable make a friend in this world. it was obvious. nobody had respect for him. they were not afraid of him. they just walked all over him. host: and some other headlines, the new york times reports that risenys drug deaths have significantly. they surged last year by more than 17% over 2015. another sign of the growing addiction crisis caused by opioid according to a report released friday by the cdc. preliminary data from the 50

states show from the fourth quarter of 2015 through the fourth quarter of 2016 the rate of fatalities of overdoses rose nearly 20 people per 100,000, from 16.3 per 100,000. that now makes overdoses the leading cause of death of americans under 50. jack from oklahoma on the independent line. i would like to talk to you about -- host: i can barely hear you. can you speak more clearly into your phone. ok. we will move on to see it was calling from phoenix, arizona on the dem adaline. -- on the democratic line. caller: earlier today on this program you had a military veteran that said he was going to go out and buy turkeys for

first responders and the police, etc. me and my wife are talking and we cannot help but notice that is the real difference between conservatives and liberals. the man stated he was going to go buy turkeys in case he ever needed help. in other words the police. he was going to basically pay them off. buy als make a lot and turkey because they want to feed a hungry person. that is the real difference. it is not good or bad, right or wrong. one group of people looks at kindnessin general is and generosity is helping people. others look at it as a opportunity to invest in your future. i think that is the real discomfort level between those people. some people want to do right because it is right, other people to find right as will benefit me. i think that is the real rift.

that is what president trump gets a hard time for. he stated he did not pay taxes because he was smart. and people wonder if that is true. finding a way around it? it is hard to argue that, too. you hear it in the tax policy all the time. can i spent my money better than the government can? it is that way and everything. it is not we are more separated or different from before, it is just a simple matter of how we look at the good we can do with our money. cleveland,n from good morning. caller: i want to talk about the opioid epidemic. our children have no self-worth. you have to nurture your children, teach them they are somebody. our kids are lost.

there is nobody home. the breakup of the family. no fathers in the home. mothers going got work in putting kids in daycare and coming home and they are on the phone and getting the kids a phone. these kids need help. children.h i worked with little kids and they asked me -- i work in a foster grandparents program. kids in the first and second great when asked me if they could come home and live with me. there is something terribly wrong. you want to take a life at 17 or 18 years old, you have no self-worth. that was the last thing i wanted to do. i would never think about anything like that. iings have changed so much, can't believe what is going on with our children. can't we see what happening since the breakup of the family? my goodness.

host: some other headlines today. the washington post reports the gop is considered using a tax bill to repeal part of obamacare. house republicans grappled friday with the difficulty of turning their new tax plan in the law, making a change them and make the proposed tax cuts repealse the tax bill to a central element of the affordable care act. republicans changed the tax overhaul, which was announced thursday, ticket $81 billion from the tax breaks it would provide individual taxpayers. may as they realize their efforts would run up to $1.5 trillion in borrowing that congress authorized the finest the tax-cut plan. rudy is common for the democratic line from california. caller: good morning, kimberly.

support this morning is the kids across the country in colleges and universities. protest.llow people to the steve bannons and and coulters, letn him come on the and speak to hate they want to spew. then, when they come back out of getroom where they are at, out there and laugh at them. all those types of people are a joke. they don't represent the vast majority of americans. one other small note. trump will not be running against hillary clinton so for any people that are bashing hillary, she was not the greatest candidate but we will have a better one and everybody

will be surprised how good we will win this next cycle around. thank you. host: in today's wall street journal, the effort to push v.a. care is getting a push from the koch brothers with a conservative goal of opening up more of the department of veterans affairs medical services to the private sector. it is getting a push from the well-funded koch brothers, charles and david koch who are planning to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to advance his conservative agenda across the government and protect the vulnerable congressional republicans who will mobilize several affiliate and subgroups the battle for its vision of the future of the v.a. you areentative says seeing the conservative movement awaken to this issue. rachel is calling from california on the independent line.

caller: good morning. it has been a fabulous show and a lot of great comments. my concern today is really about maintaining the integrity of the different divisions of our government. tries toat trump co-mingle and absolutely everything and hires people and fills positions he can control and manipulate as he has set himself. anybody didn't come up with a policy but a december decides everything. that speaks to his autocratic personality. i really think he is a putin one of the -- wannabe. i think he fawns over him and the president of china. these are strong, wealthy men. all the things this guy sees as success. everything is about him. nothing is about the government. and the people, not the

government. he is absolutely ignorant of history, of government, of how it works. i really do believe we should going forward come up with a -- anybodye someone can apply to try to run to be a candidate for president. they should have to prequalify they should have to prequalify with some understanding of how our government work. physical and mental health checks to make sure we are not hiring a loony tune like i believe we have in there now. tripsome to me is this because, as other guests have pointed out, it is a big game of chicken. who is the more macho, manly guy double blank? -- that will blink? i am in my late 60's and i was in the 1960's and as crazy as it

was then, this is more worrisome and back then. host: kim on the democratic line from florida. all right. im on our democratic line from florida. caller: hi, good morning. host: what is on your mind? caller: i want to make a comment about president trump and north korea. i have been worried since day one. there are so many people way more qualified to do this. instead of him letting the experts handle it, he just keeps saying things. saying thatd to him he was going to keep his strategic positions quiet? please go back to that theory. thatw so many local people are way more qualified, and i really thought when he was elected president that there

would be new laws, like qualifying candidates. not just at the presidential level, but at local levels. go through so much more qualification process than the president did. also the people he appoints. host: ok. that is all we have for this segment. coming up, we will talk to ,atlantic" writer vann newkirk looking at his piece talking about how hurricane maria worsened the crisis in puerto rico. fromater, dustin volz reuters talking about russian interference in the 2016 election. we will be right back. ♪ "q&a," theight on

author of "alexander hamilton" on his new book about ulysses s. grant. away was dashing and in perfect for musical. laconic andain and the charisma of ulysses s. grant was he did not have dramatic. the drama was very often he was not dramatic. it is fascinating. no less deep than hamilton -- george washington had a similar kind of reserve. -- similarquality kind of reserve, enigmatic

quality to grant. on"q&a." tuesday on "washington journal" will be live in baton rouge, louisiana. tom schadler will be a guest. ington journal" continues. host: we are joined by vann newkirk. thank you for joining us today. guest: thanks for having me. you to go toompted puerto rico and do these pieces? guest: i had been covering puerto rico for about a year and

a half. the debt crisis, the public alsoh issue, the grid, and their consideration of statehood, independence, voting. so, basically, i have been developing our puerto rico beat for two years. and of course, when hurricane irma and maria a hit, it was no question. i was going to go down and see what happened. so, yeah. host: ok, and you describe the situation in puerto rico as "in environmental catastrophe." how much does this have to do with situations before the landfall of hurricanes irma and murray at, and how much is due to the storms? guest: the important thing to understand about mariko, infrastructure, debt, those things were crippling the island the storms. people were saying, any storm

would bring the great down. any storm would cause problems with debris and trash. there is justfor trash. the roads are already bad in the mountains and hospitals were already closing. mostly depends on diesel fuel for its energy and anything that could disrupt supply lines could cause a problem. a lot of it was the unusual strength of maria, but it was also the situation on the island and infrastructure. host: ok, we are talking, again, fromvann newkirk, a writer a series ofc," articles on puerto rico in our spotlight on magazines.

if you are in the eastern or , you canime zone's call -- if you are in mountain or --ific, you can call on thes an issue health-care crisis and on the power issue. you write "maria blows through the island in a matter of hours, but what was left behind is not just traditional hurricane damage. the storm uncovered an intensified long-term environmental challenges that have long blighted puerto rico and now threaten its future, and securing a viable future for the island will mean more than just rebuilding from the wind and , it will require addressing those challenges and sustainable ways." talk about those challenges. guest: one of the biggest challenges on the island is the

fact that so much of its energy comes from fossil fuels. on the southeastern part of the island there is no place to put or other --coal ash waste, so they built a big mountain. the landfills are overflowing. there is no place to put hazardous waste. no place to put trash caused by a hurricane. hurricanes cause so much waste. you think about things that will , runoff going ash into the water supply --puerto already hasrto rico the worst water supply in the united states and hurricanes are notorious for making water supplies worse. i think now we have upwards of 70 cases of leftist process --

an illness caused by contaminated water. the stripping of foliage from the trees creates tons and tons of debris they go into the water. , andthis is a water crisis those things on the ground now, even today, even six weeks after the hurricane, are still intensifying crises that have not yet abated. ever was before the storm to address some of these environmental challenges that were already there? there were, but there is a disconnect between the government of puerto rico and the government of the united states and the people of puerto rico. is government of puerto rico sort of hamstrung by his incredible debt issue. the major player in that debt crisis is the puerto rico power

source. their problem is they cannot move to more sustainable energy structures because they do not have the money. they do not have the money or the management capacity to keep the grid anywhere but where it is. it is already 50 years old. that is 30 years older than most theage power systems in united states. all they can do is maintain. when you are only maintaining and 1970's era power grid built on fossil fuels, there's not much you can do. the people of puerto rico -- i spoke to many people involved in making micro-grids, solar power, solar power farming, and they were truly interested in building sustainable communities. but the only way they can ineive reliable power places, even before the storm. host: our caller from washington, d.c. -- you are on with vann newkirk. caller: thank you for accepting my call. i'm interested in the six weeks

we have been discussing puerto -- the lack ofck help for it. what happened to the listening station where there were rows and rows and rows -- this is an awfully expensive thing for america. yet no one has said anything about it or the condition of those -- what is the condition now? host: -- at "they colleagues to them" reached out after the storm and they were still fulfilling their mission requirements and objectives. that has not changed. it was considered critical infrastructure. they have power. territory,ding surrounding municipalities, they are struggling, especially drinking water. but the observatory is still online. host: you talk about working

toward a sustainable future for puerto rico. what does that look like? when i was -- especially in san juan, what i saw was people trying to put together a micro-grid. communities, neighborhoods that reinforcesl power other. maybe you have one place that has a lot of panels and another has batteries. and they can reinforce the micro-grid. and people have been thinking about that for years. now people are using the storm as a way to maybe implement these things. nowle are using batteries whateate what artifact -- artifact of micro-grids. they are ad hoc. you have communities relying

solely on their own powered generator -- their own power generation. -- people are using batteries factoo create what are de micro-grids. talked lot has been about the government response, the federal response to hurricanes. how do you think the federal response has affected the situation on the ground now when it comes to the environmental situation? guest: i think there is no doubt, even among some people in the federal government, that the federal response was not adequate, that it was not quick enough for the people, and there are some disconnects about just who was in charge, what the protocol is for relief and some of, and basically the most basic areas of recovery, getting transportation networks back on line. those are things that just baffled federal relief efforts.

again, puerto rico is a difficult situation because of the underlying infrastructure issues, but fema, the army corps of engineers, there seems to be overlap of authority's there, who was in charge of doing what, and that -- overlap of authorities there, who was in charge of doing what. that hampers everything else. people do not know when you transfer patients to the military hospital, people going to the military hospital do not know where else they can go for basic health care services. so there is just so much miscommunication, lack of communication. some of it is the existing state of the island. host: we are talking to vann newkirk about his pieces on

puerto rico as it recovers from hurricane maria. if you are on these central or iftern time zones, call and you are in the mountain or pacific time zones, you can call another line. howard? caller: good morning. commentant to make a about the puerto rican people. they are not allowed to vote in our elections, and that is why they are not getting the attention they deserve. that is my thought on it. thank you for taking my call. what about their political power? guest: that is something brought up several times. when i spoke to people on the island, even before hurricane ofia, they link there lack federal power to their status, and it is likened to colonialism in a lot of ways.

you can make a case for that. you can make a case that puerto rico did not get the same type attention and response that, say, texas did. a lot of people did not realize that the puerto rican people are american. it is hard to say how those grid onffect the power a day-to-day basis, but i definitely think they matter in terms of the long-term support, the long-term response and how many eyes are on the situation going forward. host: what about the increase of puerto rican people moving to the mainland? what impact will that have on the island as it is trying to recover from this hurricane? i think all of the experts now are saying this will cause one of the biggest movements of people in american history. you're looking at -- you have already seen puerto rico lose

something on the order of 10% of its population over the last 10 years. you have a diaspora that is bigger on the mainland than on the island, and you have historically seen an exit is -- especially people looking for jobs. people who have children. younger families. they are leaving the island, and they are leaving with older people, people more vulnerable and that is a situation where it makes the island more and more vulnerable, and our ability to respond becomes more and more strained. that, in turn, creates the impetus for more people to leave. a storm like this, you can definitely see that 10% number in the course of a year. already 10,000 children who have gone to florida just to go to school. there are people who have a family member who have taken themselves to the mainland just so they can have school, a house, basic surfaces -- basic

services. they think about coming back. but they have one-way tickets. the longer the crisis goes on, the fewer reasons there are to go back. host: i want to read from your second piece that focuses on health care. you said "primary care was already a bottleneck in the puerto rican health-care system before the hurricanes, before the mass exit us of doctors to the mainland, and the increasing concentration of children, women, and elderly people back on the island. but now, with many doctors offices and smaller facilities closed, people with chronic health needs often have to go without care or seek it in emergency rooms, which can mean sitting entry us for hours. the shortage exacerbates the burden of with chronic and acute conditions as patients compete for space and resources." talk about the situation now. thet: the situation now -- hospitals, most of them are

online. they have power either by generator or central grid, but they undermine the smaller emergency rooms, clinics, the doctors offices people would go for their first point of care. a lot of them are still not online and may never come back online peer review have people who are sick and because of the storm itself, who have mounting issues, going to a system that is completely tertiary. focused on acute illnesses, emergency rooms. and it cannot deal with the more basic, everyday health care needs of people. they need prescriptions. they need checkups. pregnant women need their monthly checkups and vitamins and prescriptions for them. and people who are more on the margins who need dialysis, who are elderly -- they seem more and more strain of their ability , and that healthy basically compiles at the top of

this tertiary structure now. ok, we have a call from homestead, sort of. good morning. good morning. i want to tell you guys that you are doing a real great job and i appreciate it, the service that you provide. and i wanted to call in and comment. --question is [indiscernible] it, when you first started talking about the situation, that the island was bad shape. that any hurricane, any storm would have knocked out the whole system. , how much of the system in the island itself and the people contributed to it?

if they are not doing anything to prepare for -- that it is a good example of what is going on statewide in america. vann a want to give chance to respond to that. is their responsibility for the puerto rican people? guest: i would say there's a difference between the puerto rican people and the puerto rican government. there are leaders of the state who may not be doing the things the puerto rican people are asking. to major issue for her recover for years has been the debt crisis. part of that is the government.

part of it is state owned corporations. but also, part of it is relationship with the federal government, and inability to undergo some of the same protections that mainland cities and municipalities have. and there's the inability for congress to make laws that are coherent for the puerto rican government to actually deal with . i think at multiple levels of government, there are people, there are policies that are partly responsible for the situation now. from ok, we have a caller florida. good morning. caller: i think this guy is being really fair. i was curious. you spoke earlier about statehood and how long have they voted against statehood? i know it has been quite a while. every so often they vote for statehood and it did not seem

that they voted for statehood. i do believe the place was run down -- it is like you said. bad management by politicians and whoever elected them, i guess. so, they did vote for statehood, and pretty overwhelmingly so, but there were concerns about the nature of that vote. so many people did not vote. and again, this is an issue that sparks pretty much all conversation in puerto rico about this relationship with the mainland united states, with the federal government. people believe what is happening factor what is a direct in what is unfolding after hurricane maria is puerto rico is in a state of, sort of, colonialism. it does not have self-determination. congress basically has control over it, and it exercises that control only a critical junctures and only in ways that

further undermine self-determination. so, there is a morass there of different issues about sovereignty and about status of puerto ricans. host: in your third piece, you focus on the power situation there, and you write, in addition to the situation with firm that the puerto rican electric power 30 gave that contract and they had to resend the contract, there was another contract, a $200 million deal with an oklahoma company that has also come under scrutiny. what is happening there? d.l. --he white fish there is no actual allegation of wrongdoing in that contract. , theasically what happened electric company needed to contract out with people to

rebuild the power grid. to put up lines, polls, and strangely, they chose this very toll company out of montana do this work. it seems they chose it mostly because they did not require a down payment. the bigger names require a down payment. puerto rico does not have any money, and they need assurance up front. whitefish was going to do it for free upfront. so, they chose white fish. lots of language in that contract that basically there will not be any federal oversight. they were charging something like $300 on the day for lodging. and on sunday the power company canceled the contract in response to scrutiny. it turns out in the federal congressional inquiries, two other oversight organizations, they are looking at other contracts, including the $200

million one with cobra, a subsidiary of mammoth energy, and that contract as well -- just trying to figure out what the contracting process is and why these no federal oversight contracts are being made for a -fiananced operation -- federally-financed operation. host: good morning. caller: my heart goes out to the people of puerto rico. i am sure every american feels the same, despite what the white house is saying. we also support their search for solar energy. i think solar energy could deal with this new climate. i don't know exactly what to do. withw that cuba is dealing climate change. , you are i have read

15 times more likely to die in puerto rico or the usa from a hurricane then in cuba. of puerto ricans are moving to cuba. if they stay, if they get the solar energy, that may be the way or moving over here, but i think it's impossible to live over there without some serious thought. guest: well, so, there is -- part of that is puerto rico has not been hit by the number of hurricanes that it should have been, statistically, in the last couple of years, but there was maybe a sense of resilience to the weather. i think people on the island to not want to leave. they think if they continue on to path, there are ways build a resilient enough island

so people can stay there. they can stay in their house. i think the number one priority of the federal government now, of the territorial government is to make it so puerto ricans can live in puerto rico and they can have access to the same amenities and quality of life that people on the mainland have. that is the goal. host: color from minneapolis. you are on with vann newkirk. caller: thank you for taking my call. good morning to you all. i was listening to "democracy they did a story that the rest of the news media didn't. to -- theistening neighboring islands whining to come in and build, but the federal government -- neighboring islands wanting to come in a build, but the federal government shunned them away. think some of this

people would go to those islands instead of coming to the united states? since united states is not acknowledging them as a viable part of the country they are paying attention to? yes, i think what you are referring to is the jones act. so, there is an act that basically says that shipping to any port in the united states usually isone -- done, and that is the only way to do it free -- with ships that have u.s. flags on them. basically united states- originated ships. for most of the mainland, that does not really impact the mainland. but for puerto rico and the caribbean, where there are lots of neighboring islands and nations, the people of puerto -- there were some he

people that could have given recovery. the rupee people from venezuela's worsening sending goods, supplies, shipments. there were people from surrounding nations who were coming to coordinate some of the disaster response on the ground. what i can say from what i have seen, there is a pretty's wrong -- a pretty strong international commitment to helping puerto rico. and waving the joint -- waving thejones act -- waiving jones act is helping. host: good morning. caller: good morning. i have made an observation after watching your programs. i truly believe the russian inernment is very involved cuba, and that is why some of our diplomats have been having hearing problems, because we have been directly attacked by russia.

and it's important for puerto rico to be under control of the , and they should be looking into helping puerto -- more host: phyllis, are you there? caller: i am here. i was listening to my voice on the tv. host: i will put the question to vann in the few seconds we have left. after a natural disaster, is there a greater threat of other governments routers adversaries other advantage of the -- governments or adversaries taking advantage of the situation? i don't know about that, but every natural disaster is a national security issue. every natural disaster creates

instability. when you have people on the ground who fear for their safety, you have increasing crime, just the breakdown of the structure that makes everyday afe possible, it becomes national security issue. you don't need rush at all to make it one. a rider atnewkirk, "the atlantic." you can find his atlantic.com. thank you for joining us. guest: thank you. ont: coming up, dustin volz testimony of capitol hill about russian air vents in the 2016 election. we will be right back. ♪ he has been called one of the our age.hroniclers of

michael lewis will be our guest sunday on "in-depth." --was all of the books have what all of the books have in common is there are interesting characters and interesting situations. you attach the leader to the character -- if you attach the reader to the character at the beginning of the book, they will follow that character anywhere. realize these lives turn on knowing what collateralized debt obligations are. it is a very, very powerful device that is the origins of literature. the author ofs several books including "mining l" and his mostal

project."e undoing we will take your calls live noon until 3 p.m. eastern sunday on c-span2. day withy is election key governors races in new jersey and virginia. watch live coverage of the tree and concession speeches on c-span networks. jersey -- in new virginia is republican ed gillespie and lieutenant governor rolf northam. watch on c-span and c-span.org. journal" continues. host: joining us now, dustin volz, these cyber security reporter for reuters.

he is joining us to talk about what facebook, twitter, and google had to say to lawmakers as they testified at about the use of social media in the 2016 election. thank you for joining us today. guest: thank you. lawmakers bring these executives and attorneys from social media platforms to washington. .uest: it is really simple there are unanswered questions about russia's use of social media during the election, the broader cyber influence campaign, and republicans and democrats both wanted to bring these companies forward and ask what happened on their platforms, why it has taken them so long to disclose some of the figures that we are now seeing about the tens of millions and hundreds of millions of people seeing russian content on their platforms? there are questions still to be answered. a couple lawmakers -- this is , senatorbeginning

angus king said. we will have you back. heard about ofsia's influence in use social media. one thing that came out of these hearings, we saw for the first time some of these ads purchased on these platforms. reuters, lawmakers asked questions about facebook ads and politically charged content allegedly spread on social media by moscow ahead of the trees 60 elections. some of the ads criticize candidates, while others sought to organize or promote simultaneous rallies for opposite sides of divisive issues. of the sample posted on washouse committee website pulled from roughly 3000 ads facebook provided congressional investigators last month. talk about the ads. guest: it was jarring for people to see these ads. they are very vitriolic in many

cases. one basically compare the election between democrat hillary clinton and republican donald trump to a battle between satan -- likening clinton to satan -- and trump to jesus or holiness. other ads, trying not just to influence people's opinion, but to spread messaging online but organize real-world events. we saw this with senator richard burr, the top for public and on the senate intelligence twoittee, disclosed different russia pages organized simultaneous and competing events in houston, texas last year. one that was pro-islam, solidarity with muslim america, and another saying this is a problem, we do not need muslims in america. they brought these two groups -- for less than $200 -- this was actors andy russian what it lets you were real world

events where americans were in the streets arguing over political issues. that is just one ad that came out this week. it is not just a digital information campaign. it is broader than that. ok, we are talking with about thisustin volz hearing where executives from facebook, twitter, and google testified for hours before several committees on capitol hill. -- andts can call republicans -- independents -- what the talk about members of congress who held these hearings, one message they were sending. they weressage sending. senator dianne feinstein of california, what she said about

the responses of social media companies. [video clip] because iinstein: have been very proud to represent the tech community of california. i do not think you get it. i think the fact that your general counsels, you defend your company, but what we are talking about is a cataclysmic change. what we are talking about is the beginning of cyber warfare. what we are talking about is a major foreign power with the sophistication and ability to involve themselves in a presidential election and andlictsow -- sow conflict discontent across this country. we are not going to go away, gentlemen, and this is a very

big deal. i went home last night with profound disappointment. i out specific questions. -- i asked specific questions. i got vague answers. and that just won't do. you have a huge problem on your hands. and the united states is going to be the first of the countries to bring it to your attention, and others are going to follow, i'm sure. because you bear this responsibility. you have created these platforms. misused.hey are being and you have to be the ones to do something about it. or we will. is this exemplar of what lawmakers had to say to these executives this week? guest: it really was. this was a bad week for silicon valley on capitol hill. congress, again, democrats and will continueth, to ask them questions. there were some that were very

agitated we did not see the ceo's. in that we sought -- we saw the general counsels defending the copies. others want to look at legislation to make online ads more transparent, require you to have a public file where you can show on the platform who is buying these ads, how they are being targeted. the companies say they are taking proactive ads team -- steps to make the ads more transparent. lawmakers are saying you need to do more. even though it was a very bad postedrically, facebook earnings at record revenue and profit. bottom lineting the of these companies. they are still well-liked and have favorability across all of america, republicans, democrats, independents, and until they feel it more on the business level, they will be dragging their feet most likely. host: all right, matt is on our

independent line from baltimore. good morning. caller: good morning. there seems to be a very simple , to this i believe problem of these questionable ads. .amely identifying them before each ad, it should be stated, the following is an advertisement by a private source. then you know you are not listening to news. you're listening to somebody's opinion who is paying for it. the second thing is on russian hacking -- hacking is very ample when you only have digital firewall. the solution to that, as many is ae know, and as i have, digital and an analog firewall. if you don't get the two at the

same time, you cannot get into my email. i would like to hear comments on both of those items. host: i just want to say before dustin starts, the honest act, one thing being proposed would do the first point he is making. it would require internet give copies of political as and information about media bias and intended target audiences. it would be very similar standards to what we see for television and radio ads imposed on the internet. what you think about that? guest: that is something that lawmakers are very seriously looking at, from senators warren and klobuchar, republican senator john mccain. they are trying to get into this idea of transparency, labeling ads that are clearly political or issue as, making it clear where they are from, who they

are targeting, how they're being used, similar to radio or broadcast platforms. absolutely national security is important element to this. it is important that nothing that the russian actors did on facebook, twitter, or google required hacking of the platforms. certainly that was an element we saw during the election -- the hacking of democratic emails. what happened here was done openly on the platforms. in many cases it was consistent with terms of service on facebook, on twitter. so, that's only one small piece of it. it's a much broader story about what happened in the election. elizabeth on the wind from dust on the one from pennsylvania. caller: hi, hon. i do not believe a word he is

saying. this is a control thing for the media. the media's ratings are gone. the only way to control it is to go through facebook, and they figure they will put their propaganda out and nobody else can do anything. now black lives matter, last time i checked, was not with russia. so how did that add even happen? black lives matter put it out. now this is a mess. then you've got hillary, who has already said she rigged to the election. somehow -- how does russia have anything to do with it? host: let's give us in a chance to respond to that. for yourank you comment. those are broadly different issues in some ways. certainly there are material ads from groups like black lives matter that are authentic and shared on facebook or twitter .ast year and we have pretty strong digital forensic evidence that

russia created fake pages -- was one of them, for example, on facebook, where they did try to promote events as though they were americans or social organizers or other individuals, and doing so under that veneer, but it was a canard. it was someone in russia or st. petersburg or moscow on the computer pretending to be those people. has 2 billion people on it service and it has admitted as high as 200 million of those people are actually fake accounts. twitter has acknowledged that they have fake accounts on their platform as well. they say 5%. others say larger. there has been a mix of real and fake content on the internet and in the election, what occurred is a reflection of that. going forward, people need to understand what you see on the internet may not be from who it

appears to be. journal"" wall street advised that there is a political aspect to this investigation. it cars them with the russia brush. -- a free freezing society is a tempting target for authoritarian propaganda. facebook is an excellent way to fight back. is there a political aspect to what is going on here in the investigation? guest: it's washington. there's a political aspect to everything, as you are well aware. it is interesting. while both democrats and republicans say they are very concerned, democrats are much more leaning in and being critical of the tech industry, which has long been a strong ally. certainly during the obama admin -- the obama

administration. many senior officials went to google and other companies. the democrats are on the leading edge of proposing legislation and being critical. republicans, while they have expressed concerns, too, sums are trying to disassociate this issue from the russia specific thing because there are concerns about this undermine the legitimacy of the president and that being used as a weapon against him and his agenda. certainly there are political obstacles to what lawmakers may want to do in this space. ok, david on the independent line from new york. good morning. good morning to you and the viewers. the ever-expanding proliferation of the use of social media is inevitable for good, bad, and the ugly. that will remain with us in a more expensive way. having said that though, what russia is doing in terms of reinvigorating its historical

is not too far, with a different set of tools, from , after have done triumphing over fascism, by interfering in other governments, or setting up puppet governments. this is the same strategy, different tools. find we can really sovereignty for countries and nations -- including ours in russia -- and try to decipher the fake news versus the realistic, honest, objective news on social media, these two hand-in-hand might possibly propel us forward to having a renewed commitment to a dignified family of nations. absolutely. there is a long-standing history of countries trying to take active interest in the domestic affairs of other nations.

in that aspect, what russia did is not necessarily anything new. there are questions outstanding about, of course, the russian investigation, the investigations in congress about whether there was collusion between the trump campaign and russia. those are questions that we are get more of and look at going forward. other nations have historically done this as well. this is what happens on the geopolitical level. but the way that these u.s. companies were leveraged, the way that u.s. individuals -- had mills hacked their emails hacked reverberated during the election and continues to a year later. from virginia, you are on

with dustin volz. forer: hey, think you taking my call. dustin, do you have any idea why it has taken so long for congress to finally get involved in this? that is basically it. i know before president obama came into office, there had been a whole lot of backwards activity on twitter and facebook and google. i just wonder why it is taking them so long to get to the bottom of this. thanks. guest: that's a great question. means to question that be asked of congress and the people investigating this. congress asked this week of the technology companies, which came forward and said, facebook said we had 126 million people who may have seen russia election political material during the an enormousich is revision upward of what they previously said, and that was after the ceo mark zuckerberg said it was a crazy idea that it happened at all.

these investigations are complex. there is a lot that takes a long time. but absolutely, it is something that can be aggravating to people that, more than a year later, we're still talking about just what russia did. we are still learning how certain accounts on twitter, for example, that appeared to be real and had hundreds of thousands of followers were not. they were operated out of russia. certainly the obama administration has been criticized by people in both parties eating slow to react to the russia cyber threat during the election. part of that was they felt hillary clinton was likely to wasthe election and there the concern about escalation that if you respond in kind, russia will respond back. there were also concerns about what do we really want the internet to be? for a long time, twitter, facebook, google, these companies were tech libertarians

. we want people to basically do what they want. but over time, as these companies have matured and there is more concerned about certain issues, we are now seeing them pull back and reassess, and lawmakers for the first time are looking very, very seriously at regulating what used to be a nascent technology industry that they thought did not need much regulation or oversight, now they are looking at it and saying you made a lot of money. you have been around for a couple decades, a few decades. maybe now it is time to think about how to regulate you as well. prospecth that looming of regulation, some of the platforms are offering their own solutions. facebook may move to increase transparency for people who see and by political ads. executives for the companies say they will verify political ads,

requiring correct names and locations and create new graphics where users can click on the ad and find out more .bout who is behind them more broadly, rob goldman, facebook rolled vice president in charge of ad products, said the company is building new transparency tools in which all advertisers -- even those that aren't political -- are associated with a page, and users can click on a link to see all of the ads any advertiser is running. is this a roost -- is this a response we will see from other platforms as well? guest: absolutely. they are all looking at what they can proactively do to take steps forward, in part because they want to preempt regulation. senator klobuchar said these are nice, but we need a clear-cut regulation. we need some sort of enforcement mechanism on top of that so we can really hold these standards true, and there are disagreements about whether or not we want to deal with transparency of being specific campaign ads that talk about a

certain candidate and they need to be revealed publicly, or if we wanted to be a broader issue-based thing. so, political ads might touch on divisive issues, which russia did during the past elections -- issues of race, religion, those require more transparency requirements, to disclose where they are from, how they are being targeted. this is an early process. legislation does not pass easily in washington. it often takes many years. this is just the start of the conversation there. a republicancy, on line from the bronx. good morning. caller: good morning. i have a simple question. it is -- i know we like to blame russia for everything. believe me, i don't love the russians. but with the cyber, first of all, i believe espionage has been around a long time, no

want to gof you through the internet or cables underwater and what have you. my question is, since we seem to be blaming russia for everything , is there a way for china -- i know the answer to this already -- is there a way for someone like china or north korea to send emails, like they are posting from russia? is that possible to be done? guest: yes. in cyberspace, attribution is very difficult. the issue of false flags is one that researchers encounter all the time, where someone is pretending to be a certain actor, posing as someone from a certain country or certain entity, and is actually someone entirely different. there is a certain level of unknowing this -- unknowingness

online that makes verification really difficult. in russia, the evidence is rather overwhelming and we have what the u.s. intelligence community reports, as well as several cyber security firms and social media company saying this russia-enabled, russia-sponsored attack on the election. but absolutely. this actually came up during one of the hearings this week asked by aook was senator, could china do this? could north korea do this? would he want to this question mark and the answer is, we do not think they did this last election. certainly that is a possibility. any nation that wanted to try to weaponize information online, hacks emails, spread propaganda, could do so. this is a russia issue in context of what happened in the 2016 election, but it is in a broader issue of what people are able to do online and the cloud

of confusion and mystery and uncertainty about who is doing what online, that extends far beyond russia's borders. host: a couple minutes left. george on the republican line from clark so. go ahead, george. caller: hi. dustin touched on this a little bit. there is one undeniable fact. as far as pressure from use of socialized media and whatnot in the influence of the election -- it happened under president obama. why didn't he do anything? they are crying about it now. host: all right, go ahead and address that -- guest guest: i have a little trouble hearing. host: why didn't obama react sooner? receivedesident obama

criticism from democrats and republicans in congress that he did not react more quickly to the cyber threat from russia. former senior intelligence officials who served in that administration said they were trying to get the white house to pay attention to this, to issue a statement sooner that russia was attempting to interfere in the election, that there were deep concerns about appearing to favor one side during the election. you did have a candidate at the the current president donald trump, saying the election was going to be rigged, and the white house did not want to lend any credibility to that by coming out and saying russia was trying to influence this. doubtat cast even further on the process. there are factors for why the obama administration did not react sooner. certainly they received criticism for that. host: mike on the public in line . just a few seconds, mike. what is your question? caller: thank you for the forum we have here.

i'm very grateful for it. lz, irespect to mr. vo twittered my representatives. i watched the whole proceedings. -- i wouldure request that the president of facebook, the president of facebook, the president of twitter with his counsel appear so that we, american citizens, can see how the presidents of these companies, respond to the questions. host: a few seconds. what is your reaction to bringing in these executives? guest: your frustration is shared. there were senators, including main's angus king who said he wanted to see the chief executives come before congress and testify -- including maine's

angus king. host: all right, dustin volz, cyber security reporter from readers. you can find his work on reuters.com and you can tomorrow, we will be joined by the former white house advisor who will discuss president trump's national security priorities. we will be joined by norman solomon who will be here to discuss a report he and other activists released this week on how the democratic party can revitalize in 2018 and beyond. by the doctorned to talk about his explains with opioid addiction and the role of the medical community to combat the opioid crisis. that is all for today's "washington journal." we will be back tomorrow morning at 7:00 eastern. have a great saturday.

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] next, we will look at the situation in afghanistan. then, defense secretary james mattis and secretary of state rex tillerson testify on military authorization powers and how that relates to ongoing missions abroad. and later, a look at president trump's trip to asia which will include stops in japan, south korea, china, vietnam, and the philippines. weekend, c-span takes you to sioux falls, south dakota, named for the falls of the river. we will highlight the history and literary life of sioux falls. today at 6:00 eastern, a look at the history of native american citizenship in the u.s. with the author and his book.

tribes have what is known as sovereignty. they have authority from their pre-constitutional existence as self-governing sovereigns. that is the position the tribes take, that they are self-governing sovereigns within their territory. >> and the author about judge shannon and frontier justice. >> if you were caught stealing a horse, particularly away from any settlement, they would hang you. that happened frequently. that was what you would call frontier justice or rough justice. >> on sunday at 2:00 on american history tv, we will tour fort dakota to explore the u.s. military's role in the west. >> it was called fort dakota. it was one of many forts established throughout the region.

it was established to provide a sense of safety and security for those settlers. >> we will take a driving tour of sioux falls with the historian. >> we are on one of the main thoroughfares of sioux falls, south dakota, named for one of the first settlers of the dakota territory. cities tour of's sioux falls at 6:00. cspan3, asat 2:00 on we explore america. next, a look at reconstruction efforts in afghanistan with special inspector general john sopko. he discussed some of the lessons learned over the last 16 years. he also talks about