ben bradley, the washington post editor, and the state of the news media. as always, we can take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. ♪ morning.d the tax debate moves back to the house with a scheduled the tomorrow. we will have it live here on c-span television as it goes to, it's. the bill could go a number of ways. there are for individual tax brackets. the corporate rate takes effect bill.8 in a house 2019 in the senate bill. democrats say this will blow a hole in the nation's debt which is where we begin this morning on sunday, december 3. the debt growing, and does it

concern you? republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independent callers, (202) 748-8002. a number of you are weighing in on our facebook page. thank you for being with us. we want to talk about the tax debate in the house and the senate and what it means for the nation's debt which doubled andr president barack obama it is expected to double again over the next eight years. the debt is $20 trillion and growing. hope republish the -- i hope republican congressman and jim says "crickets when obama overspent and screams of outreach with a tax will that adds one $.5 trillion --

focusing on the democrat. here's the front page of the new york times. , the geo-pre-is sprinting to send the tax overhaul to trump. yesterday before heading to new york, the president said this. >> we have passed the largest tax cuts in the history of our country and many other things along with it. tremendous tax reform. the biggest package in terms of tax cut ever passed in our country. and something beautiful will come out of this. people will be happy. tremendous tax cuts. from 35% anddown

20%. it could be 22%. we will see. conferenceo the where the house republicans and are going toicans fix things that will be truly spectacular. these are the biggest tax cuts in the history of our country. host: those were comments from the president before heading to a series of fundraisers in new york. let's go to facebook page. a number of you are commenting.

host: those are some of the comments on our facebook page at facebook.com/c-span. andrew joining us now, he has been following this for politico. yesterday for the president was a victory lap, in some ways. for the first time, he addressed tax reform bill passed in the senate. he got to brag about the bill

and he said it was the largest in history, by far. he praised republicans for passing the bill and he didn't mention bob corker for not voting but he suggested that they won. and he did his usual song and dance about how much and how far he won in the election. we did witness five minutes of the conversation and that we were ushered out of the room. they want to send a message publicly that they are thrilled about what is going on. host: all of this coming with michael flynn and his guilty plea. where does that put the administration? the guilty plea in the morning and saturday morning, passing the tax bill. guest: a split screen moment,

another one. on one hand, you had, by most accounts, one of the biggest victories we have seen legislatively but it has not crossed the finish line yet. it is now a conference between the house and senate bill. that then you have the bombshell news about michael flynn. people in the white house were not given a heads up about what would happen friday morning. they suspected that something could happen that they didn't know that was going to happen. they are planning for the white house christmas party with the media and are focused on tax reform and then, all of a sudden, that was their entire day. host: the white house christmas party, a subdued trump speaking for a couple of minutes and then departing. guest: yes, i wasn't at the party because i was writing the michael flynn story but that is

what i have been told by those who attended. host: let me ask you about the debt clock. senate democrats used this as an argument yesterday, some calling it hypocrisy under obama when the debt doubled over eight years of a democrat in the white house? guest: right. both republicans and democrats are speaking from both sides of their mounts on this issue. republicans have made lowering the debt a huge part of the policy platform. and this will add $1 trillion to the debt according to the committee. republicans say it would do so much more. it will be a huge amount of growth but it will actually add $1 trillion after you take into account the economic growth

impacted by the tax cuts. so it will be an issue for republicans through the conference and afterwards. host: we get word from the white the focus in 2018, will be reducing government spending and taking aim at welfare programs. do you know anything about that? guest: i have written quite a bit about the welfare reform issue. you will potentially see an executive order coming from the administration and we don't know exactly what it will do but the underlying goal is to undo some of the obama era welfare programs and they have been quietly speaking with house republicans about a potential bill on welfare reform as well. it is very early stages so it is unclear what the substance would be that it will be an issue that both congress and the president tackle next year.

host: andrew's work is available online at politico.com and thank with us much for being here on this sunday morning. we have tweets coming in. we want to share you, these are the comments from two thousand 13, critical of democrats and obama white house for spending practices, he wrote the following. "president obama's tie-in that policies will give an enormous financial burden to future taxpayers in the form of interest expense projected by congressional budget office to approach $1 trillion annually by 2023 at

they will reduce personal income. it gets worse. it will cut into future economic growth rates which means lower future growth of government revenues, growth in government revenues will slow to leave less avail. such as economic security, education and innovation driving research. that was from jd foster been 2013. let's get to the phone calls. first up is terry. your thoughts on all of this? yes, yes. how are you? host: fine, thank you. call code i haven't heard anybody talk about the $9 trillion that will be added with

just the current projections of current spending. they seem to be only concerned about the $1 trillion and not the $10 trillion. and for people complaining about keeping more of their own money. if 10 people go to dinner, one person picks up 40% of the tab thenour people pay 80% and people pay nothing. this is the tax system. we have a tiny sliver of people paying taxes. the tax cut should go to people who pay the tax. why democrats have a cow about this, i will never understand. democrats, i have two questions. if you get a tax cut, will you keep it and send it act? and what is the 401k statement this morning? host: thank you for the call. we go to wilmington, delaware.

good morning. caller: i went and grew up on welfare. i grew up in an orphanage and went on to a masters degree. if you want to cut from somewhere, cut the military budget. you can help palestinians. and usem food and care rockets. for food, not help them. make sure it gets spent the right way. and we have people in 180 countries now. i heard that on tv. look what we did in afghanistan. do you think that is a good thing? in northd kim jong-un korea. i did a paper on north korea in high school.

remember the korean war. -- nuclear warfare isn't a game. they ought to make it mandatory in every social studies class -- and i am a retired social studies teacher -- host: i'm we areo move on because getting off subject but when were you on jeopardy? caller: half a century ago. i didn't win anything. i competed against two men, twice my age. host: alex trebek wasn't the host then? i am a symptom of the american dream. host: thank you for calling. steve is calling in.

does the debt concern you? caller: yes, it concerns me. republicans seem to be under the delusion that this is going to be generating tax revenue because they feel it will create jobs. mid-80's, has supply-side economics ever resulted in creating jobs? ourselvesen digging out of the same recession. we dig our way out and then we follow way back in. there is no incentive for corporations to create jobs. if there was something in the tax bill to tax revenue that is generated overseas then maybe they might have -- give it a year -- and maybe they might have an incentive to bring jobs back to the united states but

there is no incentive. and i feel that somebody who tweeted a comment that other countries are investing in ,nfrastructure and clean energy we are doing none of that and my last comment is, as soon as the tax bill passes, republicans say oh, look at this deficit. we have to cut social security and medicare and medicaid when they have been wanting to do that all along. that is my comment. that we should point out it will likely be the next target as republicans look at the nation's debt and the size of spending with entitlement and making cutbacks. they will cut back two thirds of the budget -- medicare, medicaid and spending. saying a tweet "republicans don't care about

the debt, just their voters." caller: i have one word about the debt. says -- the rich get richer and steve, you still look young. than 50.m older from the hill newspaper this morning, the headline in the opinion piece "the biggest political scandal of our time is the national debt writing the following. "welfare spending is the largest item in the budget. as they ban excessive government handouts, does it incentivized americans to remain jobless? a whopping 45% of americans pay zero income tax. 45 million americans are on food stamps. sinces a 70% increase

2007. half of households receive benefits. spending in the face of the debt is reckless. it is young americans who will bear the burden of the fiscal irresponsibility but many remain clueless. the biggest political scandal of our time, debt. that is an opinion piece from the hill. caller: through all of this, no one has given thought to the i rememberomething from the 1996 election, republicans out there, when they promise you all of the tax cuts, here is what they are doing. they are trying to buy your vote. thecrats out there, when maturity of the ones on the hill want to raise, they are trying to buy this from the other end.

neither party ever talks much about the debt except for a select few. and what it is doing to our nation. it has suddenly become no longer shameful to be in debt. every citizenen would be carrying so much credit card debt and we wouldn't be running these big deficits either. and having this big debt that neither party wants to talk about. they say there is nothing to it and it will go away. out there, everybody, democrats and republicans and independents, it will ruin the nation. think about the unfunded liabilities that no one ever talks about. host: thank you for the call. thiss in september when piece was written. the headline "the debt soars past $20 trillion for the first

time." oregon, does this concern you? .aller: absolutely absolutely, it concerns me greatly. possibilitysee any of this changing until we address campaign finance reform. on how muchbased money you need to get elected and until that is changed so that it is reflected by the who can beare voting our so-called representatives, it's not going to change. you are a republican? i have to confess.

i couldn't get in on the democrat line. so i called in on the republican line. and i do believe that is a reflection of the fact that there are so many democrats out there who feel so unrepresented completelyne was blocked. host: thank you for being honest. , we ask you to call in on the line that represents your view. we go to nancy from florida. are you a democrat? caller: yes, i am. good morning. i wanted to comment on the discussed people sitting at a table and paying 80% of the bill. if i am making millions of dollars and i am sitting at a table with someone who is making minimum wage, i'm going to pick up the tab. because that is what decent

people do. i have been through hard times. and i am grateful for everything i have now. to haveorked very hard everything i have achieved. but as a young woman with children, i did experience hard times. and it was so appreciated when i soe the opportunities for me it is so hard and difficult for here theseere and programs being taken away. i don't know what is going to happen. i don't know what is going to happen to the elderly with the meals on wheels. or the young woman who unfortunately goes through a divorce and is going to have food stamps to help. to help feed her children.

so i am heartbroken. and i don't know what the next step will be with taxes but i hope something happens. that it doesn't go through. host: thank you. you cut taxes can for people who don't pay taxes." -- this from michael ampaign finance reform is pipe dream. the front page of the washington post focuses on what is next with the tax debate. writing that hours after the predawn passage of the trillion dollar tax cut, trump suggested for the first time saturday that he would consider a higher corporate rate than the one the senate republicans had just endorsed which could complicate sensitive negotiations for the bill. the president did tell reporters

that the corporate tax rate in the gop plan might and uprising to 22%. the front page this morning of the washington post. let's go to ohio. good morning. caller: good morning. hello? yes. the debt. that is what i am calling for. it is early and i have just gotten a. this is a big concern of mine. i am 62 years old. it is in for me and my future that i'm sure as others may have but earlier, i don't know, for my children, the youngest is 17 so we had one child late. but for their children, and this is just a big worry. and it is abstract. it is hard to understand.

what the consequences are going to be and how long it is going to take before the reckoning comes. as has been written and most cbo saidow that the that if we stay where we are with the current policies and spending taxes, we add $10 trillion more even without the tax bill. we will be at $30 trillion in 10 years. we have republicans who have been talking about their concerns for years. saying, oh my gosh, we are adding deficit. but they come up with a tax cut topbusinesses and the 10%-20%? fund thisre going to through deficit spending. host: me follow-up with the headline from time magazine because yesterday, mitch

mcconnell said this would be deficit neutral. it will pay for itself. he said it would award $2000 a year to an average family of four. and saying that ultimately we can look at the nations's performance to determine whether democrats were right with the tax debate. saying that one year from now, you can make an assessment of which one was right. the proof will be whether things pick up and get better. what is your response to that? ago, going back to arthur laffer and reagan, the supply-side economics, you can cut taxes and we will boost growth and revenue will increase andit is counterintuitive

reagan had to raise taxes through the 1980's because deficit piled up. he tripled the debt. and people were worried then when the debt was $3 trillion. the supply-side thing that they keep pitching, it has been proven over and over again that resolved with big boost to gross and boost in revenue. a very easy experiment. kansas in 2012 with the governor cutting the personal income tax from 6.8% to 5% -- i will make it up. they said it would boost growth but it did not. if restated around them did better without doing that. they had to cut programs. social programs. and finally they had to kick republicans out of legislature

to get new people in there. they had to vote on a $1.5 billion tax increase. they destroyed their budget. host: thank you for your call. we go to gym from ohio. good morning. caller: i am republican. but as of today, i think i am independent. mitch mcconnell and paul ryan, i have listened to them for years. putting this deficit on our kids and grandchildren. paul ryan, running for vice president, he talked about cutting social security, even then. get ready for changes. and they wouldn't vote for taxes and they talk about how taxes.ts vote for look at what they've done. creating jobs, these

corporations, until you change our codes, they will take the extra money and come up with another plan in china. not here. corporations are not going to take this money and create new plants and jobs. they're going to give themselves and their ceos million dollar golden parachutes. plenty of raises. they will buy back stock and that is what they will do with the money. most corporations pay around 15% right now with all of the loopholes so if the you drop them then they will probably be paying 3%-5%. mitt romney's tax returns he paid 13%. these people don't need the cuts. yes, they have millions and they pay taxes that are higher monetarily because they make

millions and billions. host: thank you for the call. a failure in governing." $20 national debt is trillion and rising. the highest it has been since 1950. the senate approved a tax plan that would make the problem substantially worse while widening inequality and reducing access to health care coverage. the current generation will pay but the next one will pay more. " republicans cut taxes in the midst of an increasingly strong economic expansion that requires no intervention. is aill centerpiece corporate tax cut which could be worthwhile but only if it were financed by illuminating corporate tax loopholes and if it were revenue neutral. 101.op failed governing

the full editorial is today inside washington post. joe is joining us. good morning. you hear me? host: we can. good morning. caller: great. the national debt thing and the new tax bill they have coming the excuses they make for it, i want to address that. which we aredebt, all used to seeing now at $20 trillion, that is a direct cause of inflation that we have been living with in this country for the last 45 years. 45 years ago, the national debt wasn't even $1 trillion. andnow it is $20 trillion one of your callers just talked about the unfunded liabilities.

the national debt causes inflation. it is a hidden tax. whenever politicians spend money that they don't have and they have to print up the money, all they are doing is devaluing money at hand. so when they talk about the lower income group's don't pay income tax as if they are cheating or getting away with something, the reason they don't is because they pay over 90% of their income in indirect taxes like sales tax and gas tax and so much taxes that the upper may be pay a few million dollars in income tax isn't even paying 5%isn't even of their income. so that isn't an argument. about theargument corporate income taxes so we can compete rod and get more jobs

because we will be able to raise wages, that is the reason the jobs are going abroad. because wages are too high over here already because of inflation. that is forced on us by spending all of this money that they don't have. so those are the problems. they're making up stories about lower income groups not paying any taxes. they are paying 90%. i can remember when gas was $.29 a gallon and bread was $.19 a loaf. i'm still alive. that is in the last 45 years. host: thank you for the call. we move on to tweets.

host: a look at some of the newsweeklies and sunday magazine to getting with this coverage of sean hannity. how far will sean hannity go? he does continue with his radio program. -- gq weekly -- running on empty. the weekly standard raising you look at roy moore and his campaign as voters go to the polls and a look at the governor .f illinois and time magazine "we are not frayed at the edges, we are ripped at the damn seams." back to your phone calls.

ron is next on the republican line. good morning. caller: the deficit doesn't mean anything. because we get money from social security and other things that people have. entitlements, are you going to make social security into an entitlement? especially baby boomers. we pay double for our parents and us. that isn't an entitlement even the republicans call it an entitlement. as far as democrats go, they won't win an election. millennials or 79% didn't vote and you defend them and then you have bernie sanders running to split the ticket? democrats just aren't going to win because everything is don't knowed and i

how they won in virginia or new jersey. it is absurd. and the jewish lady who talked about the korean war, are you aware that during the korean war, we napalm every korean village? wouldn't you want to have an atomic bomb to protect you from us, our napalm? look what happened with gaddafi. with the muslim extremists. went in there and slaughtered him. one of the best allies. host: are you saying the elections in virginia and new jersey were fixed by the democrats? caller: not at all.

republicans are obviously slipping in new jersey and virginia. we have to tighten that up. by stealing the election even harder. we own the voting machines. it doesn't make any difference who votes. it is the person who count the votes. host: stealing the election, is that our democracy? caller: according to the republicans, that is democracy, isn't it? if the tables were flipped and it was democrats? to my gunsould go and bible. host: ok. caller: i don't think we can

talk about the $20 trillion in debt without reminding people put the twont obama unfunded wars that both of the bushes put on us on the books. quit blaming obama for that. and we've been talking about this for a year now. this isally believe lavishly slathered with lies and deceit, sitting on a bed of theld trump not processing russian sanctions. and i'm gratified to hear that to republicans this morning, it sounds like they have seen the light. host: debbie from michigan. thank you for the call. the $20 trillion debt and growing, does this concern you? this topic was part of the weekly update on saturday night live. to pass aate voted

$1.5 trillion tax reform bill that experts say will add over $1 trillion to the national debt. i knew that trump would run the country like a business but i didn't know he was going to run it like one of his businesses. huge taxit will give cuts to households making over $1 million a year. all that money will eventually trickle down from rich parents to their kids and from the kids to their dealers at coachella. >> once republicans get the tax bill passed, they won't need donald trump anymore. they got what they wanted. it isn't like they like you. is odd thatink it they passed the bill at 2:00 a.m. when they found out that michael flynn was going to snitch on you? it is like a family member showing up at your house saying, sign this will tonight.

host: it bit of political humor. we are asking about the debt. j is joining us from lexington, south carolina. caller: good morning, how are you? good, thank you. caller: good. on what to piggyback the previous caller said about doubling the debt and that came from bush, the bush administration. when he stepped in office, this was already a $10 trillion deficit. -- when he became president i'm just saying the unnecessary wars that created so much debt so they are trying to blame him for the deficit. let's get the facts state. it didn't go under the obama

administration. good morning. caller: good morning. i am calling in reference to the caller who called in about sitting at the table. thes a great example but question is, are those people eating the same thing? it doesn't deflect -- it doesn't reflect reality. the maitrey gets d'at the front, the red carpet, the best service. the middle-class, maybe they can afford it or maybe they can't but the poor are eating be free bread that comes with the meal. ceviche guys are eating and filet mignon and everybody else is not eating the same thing. it isn't reality. look at how the rich are

treated, as far as harvey weinstein even, he isn't in jail. he isn't the hind bars. -- he isn't behind bars. it isn't an example that reflects how society treats the rich and the poor. we are not eating the same thing. host: we seem to be having a scene this morning about who gets the bill. they do for the call. we appreciate it. from the new york times, benjamin appelbaum, saying that take at concerns backseat to tax cuts. writing the following that in 2009, almost every republican in congress opposed a stimulus plan in the midst of an economic crisis because they said it would cause a dangerous increase in the federal debt. everyears later, almost republican in congress support

to tax plan that is projected to cause an even larger increase in the debt. politicians of both parties have lost the fear of debt. it has grown much larger than was once considered wise or possible. but federal borrowing imposes real economic costs and it restricts funding. the u.s. is on an unsustainable trajectory particularly because an expanded population of older americans will outstrip tax revenue. debt concerns taking a backseat to tax cuts. we go to thomas. we look at a live view of the u.s. capitol on this sunday morning. line, goodts morning. caller: good morning. i have a comment. i want to give a good example or idea of what this tax cut that corporations are receiving and remind you that it isn't all

corporations because from my understanding so far, there are different categories or -- i don't know -- ways for them? the one thing that is an easy way to look at this as a tax break for the corporations, they look at this as the bottom line. has provided a product or a service, they have ifspend time spending money they're going to add more or do more of the same thing. they have to spend money and time in getting more people and workers to facilitate this to willt in operation which cost money. and it isn't always a guarantee they will make their money or profit off of this. if you look at the tax break, this is something that is a guarantee. they don't have to do anything.

it increases the bottom line. add workersave to or make more plans or do anything else to get more money. that is just an example to look at the other way to look tax break for corporations. thank you, very much. schlapp will be joining us from the american conservative union. in the next hour. and the new york times is reporting more on the robert mueller investigation. saying special counsel robert mueller removed a top fbi agent this summer from his investigation into the russian after theyddling began examining over whether an agent sent text messages. one of the most trusted counterintelligence investigators.

he helped lead the investigation into whether hillary clinton had mishandled information on her private a bill account. thise was reassigned summer. people briefed on this case say this followed the discovery of text messages in which he and a colleague reacted to news of events that appeared critical of candidate and now president trump. the full story is in the new york times. theing us now from independent line, talking about the $20 trillion debt and whether or not this concerns you. caller: good morning. tell the stupidity of the country -- [indiscernible]

following the stripes of the american flag, the u.s. flag, the left and the right are not in the middle of the road. follow the stripes of the american flag. also, they must follow the constitution. because this affects the fifth amendment. [indiscernible] host: in reminder, booktv today with our in-depth program appearing at noon, eastern time. be sure to check her out our full coverage of american

history on c-span3. everyrs of history on weekend. check it out anytime at c-span.org. jody has this tweet host: gary, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. it is important to point out that the national debt and the deficit are two different things. it seems like a lot of people are using them interchangeably. i never realize the difference until a few years ago. and i would like to point out that the $20 trillion that we

is in debt now, i think it of grave concern to our kids and grandkids. i am 52 years old and a might not live to see the repercussions but i'm sure that our kids and grandkids will. the other thing i would like to point out is that a lot of people say oh, the evil republicans are adding $1.5 trillion to the debt but i didn't see the outrage when nationaled more to the debt than all other presidents since george washington, combined. so it is unfair that there is no outrage over that. and another quick point i would like to point out is that a lot of people say well, corporations --e bernie sanders, millionaires and billionaires with obama and the democrats trying to tax these people out of the country. and during the obama

administration, we did see a mass exodus of companies leaving the country. what we get out of that? nothing. to point outrtant that when you tax corporations too much, they moved to ireland where the tax rate is very low compared to hear. that is all i wanted to point out. host: thank you. we love when viewers and responders respond to others. responding to an earlier comment -- obama ran up the debt $10 trillion. like i said, obama is immune from response ability in myland's world. one sane people believe the numbers they want to believe. no politician will make a handout cut. it has proven suicidal. brian ross has been suspended without pay after shoddy reporting.

he was suspended over a bombshell that incorrect report on trump and michael flynn. saying "we deeply regret and apologize for the serious air were we made yesterday. the reporting conveyed by brian ross had not been vetted through our editorial standards. that was from abc news. brian ross reported on friday that as part of the plea deal, the fbi breaking the story that brian ross incorrectly reported that michael flynn would testify as candidate trump directed him to make contact with russians. but they say that it was only after the election when that took place. $20 trillion and a growing debt if you're listening on c-span radio. xm, we wouldus love to hear from you.

let's go to kelly. good morning. caller: yes, i am concerned about the national debt. to me, it is not just republicans or democrats all of them. tax cuts are great. but it is going to take responsible spending. i saw on c-span where they were talking about people coming into the country, immigrants and they were providing them with housing and food and finding them jobs and helping them to start as mrs.. so the american people are tired, not just of one party or the other at all of them. and it will take responsible spending. you can't keep giving money away. if cuts, they are great that you get more money in, you can't keep giving it away.

that is the national debt. host: the president is up early this morning and tweeting. "painted? dishonest. a review that led clinton in and in milk probe. clinton money going to wife of ."other fbi agent in charge that tweet this morning from donald trump. good morning. you are on the air. caller: i wanted to make a comment that the right wing conservatives, they keep blaming obama for the deficit but they don't understand that republicans ran the country for the last 10 years. to put usbama tried

on the right track, they keep overriding his bills and they said that obama couldn't do anything because they wanted him out of office. they said that, plain as day. need aublicans, they reality check. they are the ones that created the deficit. are supposed to be deficit hawks but they are making it worse for us. $20 trillion? we will never get out of debt. we are going into bankruptcy. and when you go to the store and you try to buy any kind of items, inflation is so far through the roof that you can't get anything. but they tell us that the wealthy and the writ, they are our saviors and they will make the economy better but no they are not.

they are rich for one reason. they poured their money. that is what is going to happen. they will not bring jobs to this country. they will not bring money. it is selfish. they have never done anything for the common good. nothing. theseey keep voting people in. it is likely are self-destructive. "i have been concerned about the debt bush sent out rebate checks in 2001." nearly 600 have weighed in already on our facebook page. some of these are the comments.

host: that is facebook.com/c-span. your comments and calls and observations. let's go to victor in maryland on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i am not that concerned about the debt. it is the spending that has to be put under control. i wanted to answer that question from a caller who wanted to know why virginia went democrat.

eight themaryland, blue state. we had governor o'malley who imposed a rain tax. every time it rained, there was a tax. and what happened was, a lot of liberals moved to virginia to escape the rain tax. virginia wenty blue. mostlyn virginia is democrat now. and they are the "refugees from maryland." joe ine go next to nevada. good morning. democrats line. caller: good morning. all right. i wanted to explain to the american people who need to wake up.

either party, stop giving foreign aid to foreign countries. this needs to stop. and all of this stuff about the debt and social security, taking out of my check once a week and now they pay you on your birthday and they tax that when it was tax already. this is why it is out of control. host: that is less than 1% of spending. if you look at the budget as a pie, two thirds of it is the entitlement programs like medicare and medicaid. is that where cuts need to be made? yes.r: it is totally out of control. host: looking at the other looming debate. saying time is running out from the new york times, the federal

government will run out of money and close it stores this month unless congress can agree on a new spending bill. one of several important pieces of business left unfinished during the frantic drive to complete a tax bill. here are the others. 9 million children covered by the chip building cap awaiting for congress to renew the program. to0 young people born undocumented immigrants await legislation for the daca program . victims of wildfires and hurricane harvey are still waiting for the liens of dollars in federal aid and opioid addiction continues to kill hundreds of americans every week. congress has yet to approve any significant new money to fight this epidemic. up next is joe. on the independent line. good morning.

ander: i am an independent i get a little tired of the blame game as an independent. got us into aush war in iraq that we shouldn't have gotten into. obama, the affordable care act was a disaster and still is and the individual mandate was a big problem and from a fiscal standpoint it hurt companies all over the country. we have a debt problem and we have to deal with it. howw a while ago that someone is going to profit from this. you hope that somebody profits or else we will get business elsewhere. we have boeing here now. we have a bmw plant here now. we have a michelin plant. we have another plant being built right up the road for me

right now. we have a toyota plant being built right now and this is because they give them a break. wisconsin -- what is the name of the company that created the 4400 jobs -- host: the apple supplier. caller: right. the health of our economy depends on people spending money and buying goods. and those goods disappearing off the shelves of various stores and suppliers. ground some other company in the u.s. produces that project, has employees, has two stock that those -- as an independent, i supported the gm bailout. think of all the industries that gm affected. leather, steel, paint. to the guy who screws in lightbulbs at night. revenue will increase if we have

money. i do not trust the cbl. if money flows, revenue will increase. usually, people are happy. joe, you get the last word. but the conversation continues. you can continue to send us sweets -- tweets. errol kimball joins us next. we will look at north korea and whether or not the latest development of its intercontinental ballistic missile is a game changer. he is from the arms control association. matt schlapp from the american conservative union at the bottom of the hour. our "newsmakers," representative adam smith on speculation there may be a new secretary of state, being replaced by mike pompeo. a question we asked adam smith program.newsmakers"

[video clip] >> my biggest concern in that grouping is we state department. whether secretary tillerson or a secretary pompeo, the state department has not been engaged. diplomacy has fallen off significantly. more row is terrible. i think they have a third less people there. there just is not seem to be a diplomatic focus. we are a diplomacy governed by the president's tweeps, -- tweets, and the secretary is forced to react. right now, i am very concerned about what is happening in the state department. >> do you think that is an administration cultural issue and that it would change with someone else at the helm? i doubt it would change. i do think it is a cultural issue. i think it reflects the

president's lack of desire to employ the state department, for whatever reason, whether because he wants to control all of the messaging or because he does not believe in it. rid of the afghanistan pakistan working group at the state department. a critical piece moving forward to achieving some sort of solution instable afghanistan and pakistan. we made no progress in the middle east. understandink they diplomacy. with congressman pompeo. i do not think he is a significant upgrade from secretarypalm -- from tillerson. he knew he had to work with other countries. smith, agressman adam democrat from washington state, ranking member of the house

armed services committee. he is our guest on "newsmakers" at 10:00 eastern. you can listen to it any time -- our free c-span radio app and all of our programming posted online at c-span.org. daryl kimball, the executive director of the arms control association, with north korea again making headlines this week. how concerned are you? guest: i am increasingly concerned about the situation. what we saw this week was the test of a more powerful intercontinental ballistic missile. what koreans have achieved the president said they could not achieve earlier this year. but they have. they have a powerful liquid icbm that can hit any target in the united states. they have also conducted a theear test explosion, largest, back in september. about 200 kilotons, which is

more powerful than the weapons that destroyed hiroshima, nagasaki. this means the north koreans not toy have the capability strike south korea and japan with a small number of nuclear weapons, but probably, within ability, they have the to the united states with a very capable missile. we are in a different relationship with north korea that i think requires an adjustment of the u.s. strategy. the president's strategy over the past year has not worked. it has not forced the north down, to come to the negotiating table. the threats and maximum pressure is not compelling north korea to back down. i think we need an adjustment in strategy. thised to recognize that is a capability that exists. we do not necessarily have to accept it.

we certainly do not like it. but it is something we have to deal with. host: for our radio audience, we will put on the screen this graphic that shows the capacity of these north korean intercontinental ballistic missiles. as you look at this graphic, what does it tell you? guest: what this traffic tells us is the north koreans have conducted three -- what this graphic tells us is the north korean are sending these missiles very high, into outer space. they are coming almost straight down. it is helping them understand the capabilities of their engines, how accurate these missiles are. a reentry vehicle, to some extent. if they were to end these missiles on a normal, flatter trajectory, it means that missile couldhis

fly about 13,000 commoners, give or take, depending on how heavy the payload is. there are independent estimates enoughssile could carry for a nuclear warhead. that is what this graphic tells us. that is what this information tells us. this is all accounts, country described as a "hermit kingdom." you cannot feed many of its people outside major cities. who is giving north korea this technology and why? guest: north korea has been working on its ballistic missiles in nuclear program for decades. at this point, they have the indigenous to the ability to build more sophisticated intermediate range missiles. intercontinental range ballistic missiles.

this technology may have come from the russians 20, 30, years ago with less capable ballistic missiles, but this is now north korean technology. they have acquired the skills to help them manufacture these missiles, probably from china and other countries through their black-market network. they have this capability. there is nothing we can do, at this stage, to blockade them or prevent them from getting the know-how and materials to build them. host: let me get your reaction to what secretary mattis said. he said the following -- [video clip] >> a little over and to another hours ago, north korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile. thennt higher, frankly, any previous shots it had taken. it can threaten anywhere in the

world, basically. it in response, the south koreans have fired some pinpoint missiles out into the water, to make certain north korea understands they could be taken under fire by our ally. tois a continued effort build a threat curve, ballistic missile threat that endangers world peace and the united states. host: what do you think is happening inside the trump white house and inside the pentagon? guest: that is hard to say. i think they are evaluating the technical abilities of this latest test. we do have some information. i think they are also trying to find a way to talk to the north koreans. the policy of the trump administration, to this day, has been that we need to exert more pressure through sanctions to bring them to the table. we have also seen threatening

statements and some reckless tweets from the president. but i think they are, behind the scenes, trying to find a way to sit down and talk to the north koreans. of until this point, they said this is not the time to talk. my understanding is that the north korean have rebuffed some of these offers. i am not sure of the details. i think they are looking for ways to reduce tensions through dialogue. but they are also likely going to be seeking ways to increase the pressure again p and we will likely see nikki haley at the un security council working with her chinese and russian colleagues, trying to find a way to tighten the screws more on the north koreans. that strategy has not worked yet , but i think that will be the natural response. they are probably looking around for a different formula. i think they need to adjust in order to get a more effective approach. are talking with daryl

kimball of the arms control association. our phone lines are open at (202) 748-8001, our line for republicans. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. we have a line for independents. we are taking your tweets at @cspanwj. and join our conversation on facebook at facebook.com/cspan. bbc has this graph that gives you a sense of what type of technology and weapons north korea currently highs. if you look at this chart, what does it tell you? the northtells us koreans are improving their capabilities. it tells us they have short, medium, and long range ballistic missile can abilities at this stage. they have, for many years, had short range capabilities. they have accelerated their ballistic missile testing of intermediate and longer range systems. we just saw these three intercontinental ballistic missile tests this year.

they will likely want to conduct further ballistic missile tests of this icbm range system. there are reports that the reentry vehicle broke up coming back into the atmosphere. that is a critical technical achievement they need to overcome. a hurdle they have to overcome. they have to have a reentry vehicle that can carry a warhead to its target. we will like you see north korea testing the hwasong-15. it is possible they could decide to pause and see what the united states does. the north korean propaganda, after this hwasong-15 test, was interesting in that north korea said we have achieved our capability that we have been seeking for a long time, which is a deterrent capability. a missile and warhead that can hit the united states.

host: a quick follow-up. does north korea understand the invocations of that and what they face if that were to happen? guest: i think they do. that is why i say the threat is not an imminent threat. the north koreans are not planning on and out of the blue strike of washington, d.c. or los angeles or san francisco. they have been pursuing this capability for years in order to the terror -- deter what they fear, which is an attack on north korea or a decapitation strike against kim jong-un. they have a choice, if there is sync between a strike against washington, d.c. or decapitating the north korean regime. that is what they are after. deterrent capability. that is why we have to learn to live with this and reduce the possibility that the north korean have a more numerous

nuclear arsenal. darylwe are talking with kimball of the arms control association. our first callers from ohio. mike, independent line. caller: good day, steve. i do not know if my memory serves me right, but several years ago, our nuclear secrets were stolen. it seems like it was a cia-israeli spy. he said he stole the keys to the kingdom. to.where that led but on the approach to the north korea nuclear capability, i think we should use a more positive approach. i think, instead of a nuclear race, we should treat it as if it were a nascar race. hiswelcome him like he won first race. now he is part of the club. try to workl

together and congratulate the guy, like he really made and a call punishment. after all, the secret is out. it has been spread around the world. i do not know how many countries are armed and have missiles that can reach this country, but let's look at our foreign policy, the state department, and how that worked out. host: what about that approach? guest: i think our goal still needs to be the denuclearization of north korea. that may be a long-term goal at this stage. i do not think we should necessarily congratulate them. this is a very dangerous program. it violates multiple un security council -- u.n. security council resolutions. vote doing is the international community has to be careful not to goad north korea into testing more and to do it more provocatively.

if we deny the fact that the north korean have at icbm capability that can hit the united states, or a viable nuclear deterrent, that may encourage the north korean to conduct tests in a more provocative fashion to prove they have that capability. they threatened that they may nuclearan atmospheric test explosion over the pacific ocean, just to prove they have the capability of actually delivering a nuclear warhead on a ballistic missile. we do not want them to do that. we need to recognize, acknowledge through words, that they do have this capability. i think we need to find a way to engage in direct talks with them in order to reduce tensions, avoid risk regulation, and find a way to halt and eventually reverse their capabilities. host: let's go to chad, independent line, tennessee. good morning. caller: yes, i was just

wondering -- host: are you still with us? i feel threatened from them. it is getting very surreal. host: part of it was he feels threatened and worries for his family. guest: it is worrisome, that this country, led by a despot, the north korean country has this capability. remember, the united states has been living under the threat of nuclear war for many decades. this was the situation we have had with the soviet union and now russia, for many years. russia and the the united states have far more nuclear firepower. 5050 nuclear weapons can be fired within 30 minutes or so.

small nuclearve a arsenal. we had a similar reaction to the chinese acquiring nuclear weapons and icbm capabilities in the 1960's and 1970's. i think it is possible to continue to deter north korean aggression. what is different is that the threat of war on the korean peninsula, right now, is higher than it ever has been. if there is a breakout of hostilities on the korea peninsula, -- on the korean peninsula, it could easily lead to nuclear war. it is not just the u.s., it is the tens of thousands of korean u.s.e tens of thousands of service people over there. the worry is -- we need to focus on dialogue with north korea to avoid making

the north korean think we are about to attack them, which could trigger kim jong-un launching an attack. that. host: late last week, the president with this tweet -- of the chinese envoy, with who just returned from north korea, seems to have no impact on little rocket man. hard to believe his people and the military to with living in such horrible conditions. russia and china condemned the launch. referring to him as "little rocket man," this personal name-calling -- how hurtful is that? guest: for the north korean, it is extremely insulting. it is something they feel they need to respond to. i think -- i feel that name-calling has provoked the north korean to pushing forward with this program. that does not help you that may be something that makes donald trump field personally satisfied, but that is not how

you speak to the leader of another country that has a nuclear arsenal. so we need to be very serious and sober about this situation. wouldthink the president be wise to allow rex tillerson to take the lead in speaking about this, and the professional diplomats who have met with and spoken to north korea in the past. mcmaster, and this story -- the potential of war with north korea increasing every day. read details at cnn.com. josh, republican line. good morning. caller: i think a lot of these so professionals have zero credibility really -- could ability. -- credibility. they have been in charge. guest: you have a point, but i have not worked in government.

there have been successes and failures over time. the united states has been trying to deal with the north korean nuclear threat for about a quarter century. at times, when there has been the right, nation of pressure and incentives and double medic engagement, we have had some success in curbing north korean 's nuclear and missile programs. there were two agreements, one under bill clinton, one under george w. bush, that halted north korea's nuclear programs for a while. but then, those fell apart. a very difficult situation. i think they professionals need to reevaluate, the professionals who are in charge right now, need to reevaluate the approach and i just said it is less dangerous. host: if you are listening on series xm or on c-span radio, our guest is daryl kimball. we are talking about north korea

and its threat to the united including our allies, japan and south korea. terrance from south carolina. caller: good morning. i am curious why all of the fear mongering -- north korea truly tos not have an incentive launch an icbm towards the united states. also, america is the only country to ever use this type of kid against another country. statesyeah, the united is the only country that has ever used in -- a nuclear weapon in war. i am not trying to sow fear. i am trying to explain the heart, cold reality of what the north koreans have. they do have, i think we need to recognize, a capability to send

a nuclear intercontinental oflistic missile to parts the united states. the reliability may still be relatively low, but they also have a nuclear warhead. that has been proven. this missile can carry that warhead. if they do not have a given ability today, to deliver a warhead to the united states, they will have it soon, with further nuclear testing and listed missile testing. that is why it is critical we find a way to halt their further ballistic missile testing. this program could be improved. the number of warheads they have to be increased. they probably only have about two dozen today. that number could increase to maybe 100 and 3, 4, 5 years. so this is not an imminent threat. the north koreans are not about to launch a nuclear pearl harbor attack of any kind. they had this to deter the united states from threatening them or attacking them or decapitating the leadership in

pyongyang. we need to recognize that is what it is probably for, and we need to avoid situations in which we might fall into a conflict with the north koreans that could escalate to become nuclear. host: and this headline -- of the north korean is confirmed to be an icbm. what is that? guest: icbm --intercontinental ballistic missile. one that can travel across the ocean, from one continent to another. in this case, this ballistic missile has a range of about 1300 kilometers. that is what it refers to. it has to have two stages. this particular missile is more capable than the ones the north koreans have tested. it has two more rocket motors. there are only a few countries that have intercontinental ballistic missiles that can carry a payload as large as a

nuclear warhead. russia and china and the united states are the only ones with intercontinental ballistic missile capability that is now deployed. host: we welcome our international viewers, including those watching and listening on the bbc parliament channel in great ringtone -- great britain. we are joined from england. caller: i have what may seem to be a crazy idea. i wonder what you thought of it. if south korea produced millions of dvds with long batteries and we dropped them all over north korea, showing life in south korea -- they are really 20 years ahead of the west and some aspects. and we dropped it all over north korea. do you think the people there may rebel against the leadership, and we could achieve a revolution from within? host: thank you, daniel. guest: all of us have long hopes

for a regime change from within in north korea. the unfortunate reality, however, is that the north korean regime has a pretty firm grip on power. there has been a consolidation of kim jong-un's power within the regime over the last few years. he has been in power little over five years. taking over from his father. it is very unlikely that we will see that kind of transformative change in north korea anytime soon. term, this isong the kind of gradual change that can alter the reality in north korea. but any such change would not be smooth. it would not be a velvet revolution. it would be a very difficult conflict from within. but that does not appear, according to all of the north korea watchers i talk to, to be something that will happen anytime soon. host: from florida, democrats

line, jean, you are next. caller: hi. i agree with the man a couple of believe --said we who said we should kick back. the best way to prevent war is to be prepared for it. i remember in the second world war reading about having a when the japanese were buying our scrap iron and the germans were building their tank division. i want to be prepared. we know north korea's getting better and better with their armament area i am hopefully -- with their armament. i am hoping we are getting better and better. that is what i have to say. host: thank you. guest: we have to be prepared for aggression from north korea. the united states has been prepared for decades of that

possibility. the 1953 armistice has frozen this conflict. the two sides are still facing ,ff across the border, the dmz the demilitarized zone. the united states works very hard with our japanese and south korean allies to fortify their defenses and to be prepared. the problem here is that north korea also has a very powerful conventional military force. they have tens of thousands of artillery pieces. seoulorth of the city of in the south, where there are 25 million people. even in a conventional conflict with north korea, the possibility of casualties, the number of people who could die in the first few days, is probably in the range of 300,000 , according to the congressional research service. if you factor in nuclear

weapons, we are talking about millions of acts in south korea and japan. we have to prepare, but we have to recognize that a war on the korean peninsula is not going to be like anything we have seen over the past five decades. we also have to recognize that north korea is not expansionist, at least not at this point. they are trying to protect their regime from outside threats. they feel isolated. i do not think that they are going to attack unless they feel as though they are being provoked or unless they feel they are under an imminent attack from the united states. host: you mentioned the united nations holding an emergency meeting this past week, based on what happened in north korea. here is what our u.n. ambassador, nikki haley, had to say. [video clip] >> the dictator of north korea made a choice that brings the world closer to war, not further from it. we have never sought war with

north korea. still, today, we do not read it here before does -- we do not seek it. if war does come, it comes from continued acts of aggression like we saw yesterday. if war comes, make no mistake. the north korean regime will be utterly destroyed. host: what more can the u.n. do? you said earlier so far these sanctions have proven to be ineffective. effective, have been but they have not been sufficient. they have made it harder for north korea economically, but the north koreans have proceeded with their nuclear missile programs to they have focused a lot of their energy on their nuclear missile programs. it has not stopped them from continuing forward. one thing about one nikki haley just said i think is somewhat disturbing. it is another indication of the different messages coming out of the trump administration at this time.

rex tillerson, after the hwasong-15 test, made it clear diplomacy is still an option. yet here you have nikki haley mentioning the word "war." the message is if the united states does not see north korea pursue aown, they may military option. there is no viable military option. we need diplomacy. unfortunately, talks are not happening right now. one of the ways in which the trump ministration needs to adjust and fine-tune their policy is they need to align the statements coming from rex the president, h.r. mcmaster, nikki haley, to make sure the north koreans are getting it to your message that the united states does not seek regime change. it does not paint us into a corner that says we will initiate a military attack.

that is not something we want, our south korea and, japanese allies want or need. host: our guest is daryl kimball. john joins us from illinois. good morning. caller: good morning. guest: morning. caller: i agree that i do not think north korea wants to fire anything. what gets me is the technology leads the united states indirectly and ends up in china and russia and those places. one man on the radio say that the clinton administration gave china the complete intercontinental missile system. they had one rocket they shout over there. over, andreally fell they took the guidance system out. build these portable missile launchers for north korea. why would they send those over

there? there has been a lot of espionage over the years relating to nuclear weapons related technology. there was some espionage in the 1990's that led the chinese to have some u.s. information. korea.s is north the chinese are unhappy that the north koreans have moved in this direction. one of the things we have to remember is that the chinese-north korean relationship is not a very good one. you mentioned the north korean -- the visit to north korea by the chinese envoy a few days ago. that chinese envoy was denied a visit with kim jong-un. so the chinese ability to influence north korea is more limited than i think we think, and the chinese are more aligned with the united states at this point in time in trying to combat north korea's nuclear missile pursuits than they have been in the past. host: i will ask about russia in a moment.

but first, our last call from jack in illinois. caller: good morning. i am not very first in this -- versed in this topic, so i apologize. it seems to me he is strengthening his missiles just so he can sell them to other countries, because they need the money. guest: good question. been a concern that the north koreans, have an extremely weak economy may sell nuclear technology, nuclear material, to others. that is something we need to be concerned about. we need to guard against. we need to be watchful for. but at this stage, the north koreans have put a lot of national treasure into developing intercontinental nuclear --intercontinental ballistic missiles.

they are doing this for their national defense, as they see it. i do not think they are about to transfer this. they do not have a great excess of this, thankfully. but down the line, this is something we need to guard against. this is one reason why we need to engage better with the north koreans, to understand what and how they are doing. and they -- we need to make sanctions at the u.n. more effective. the approach is not necessarily put more sanctions in place, but make the existing sanctions more effective. the requires the united states works very closely with those countries who are on the frontline of the black-market nuclear trade and the black market economy that north korea uses to sustain itself. host: can you briefly touch on the relationship between a -- vladimir putin and kim jong-un? guest: the russians have been working with the united states and china in an effort to hold

back north korea's program. the russians, however, have a different point of view of how this situation should be handled right now, russia and china do, then the united states. the russians and chinese have been suggesting there should ea -- be a trade between the two sides to reduce tensions, that the north koreans should stop all nuclear missiles testing in exchange for a modification of the u.s.-rok military exercises that take place on a regular basis. that could be a good starting point for negotiations with the north. so far, the trump missed ration has not been interested in thinking about modifying those exercises. that, i think, is one of the main differences. the russians are concerned about the united states pursuing a preventative military action against north korea. they want to see a more robust poetic effort. they have been looking for ways to find an arrangement that may be suitable to both sides.

we always kimball, appreciate your expertise here on the c-span networks. the executive director of the arms control association. thank you. guest: thank you very much. host: we want to turn our attention to politics. that's left will -- matt schlapp will join us. later, columnist richard cohen about a new film that debuts tomorrow on hbo, looking at the "washington post" editor ben bradley. first, our c-span cities tour. and this week on the tv and american history tv, we travel to kansas city, missouri. [video clip] >> the legacy of the pendergast family has been beat up and think today's

kansas city does not really understand who he is and what he did, both good and bad. the pendergast family came here his other siblings were from ireland. when you follow the trajectory of kansas city and this economy and its growth with burgeoning immigrant groups coming in, people looking for work, tom kingdom, political kingdom, on serving underserved people. he knew, on like politicians today making it can juggle promises, tom, through the years, delivered tangible things

for people who needed them. he learned early on the way to a person's heart is through his dignity. with a job comes to. especially when we got into the bestssion era, he knew the thing he could do for anyone, for a lifetime of favors returned, is help that person get a job. kansas city, missouri, ons weekend on book tv, c-span 2, and ministry tv on c-span 3. we welcome back matt schlapp, the chair of the american conservative union. you can check out his work at conservative.org. we begin with the senate tax bill that passed early yesterday morning. will you be on the president's -- will it be on the president's desk before christmas? guest: i think it is a 90%

chance. first of all, this vote in the senate, as a partisan republican, it was great for the party and for the president. the majority leader deserves a lot of credit. importants to an congress. we will have it good, old-fashioned conference to bring together the house version and the senate version which has major differences. host: among those, the corporate tax rate. why the difference? guest: the president would like a 15% corporate rate, if he had his choosing. but paul ryan and others decided that the best course of these taxes would be to try to make as much of a permanent as possible. in order to make it permanent through the budget

reconciliation progress -- process, you have to find pay for it. it is an overall tax cut, but there will be deductions taken away. they are trying to find a little more revenue to get republicans who are worried that operates may go up in a final package. and republicans are worried about the loss of a deduction for state and local income and property taxes, which had been talked about as a new york come in california problem, but more americans who pay income taxes in their state realize it will hit their tax returns as well. i think republicans want to make sure the final package does not raise anyone's package. -- taxes. host: the alternative -- will that stay in place? guest: that is a real question. back on the corporate peace, the

only reason to raise it to get the revenue is because the underlying question, would you make everything permanent? i think the better course is make less of a permanent, make more of a cover a 10 year window. then you can do things like eliminate the amt. you can restore people's reduction -- deductions for the taxes people pay, so they are not double taxed. anyone who gets their taxes increased, it is a bad policy. corporations in this country face competition from around the world from companies that pay less corporate taxes. keeping taxes competitive is important to you if you raise it two points, you are making america less competitive with the globe. have seen inversions where corporations leave america for lower tax havens overseas. host: this tax bill will increase the debt, it is said.

? will it guest: this is the old question. was reagan right or was reagan wrong? i posit.hat the main focus of this bill is on the fact that american corporations are no longer competitive with overseas competitors, because our tax rates are way too high. withve this problem repatriation, where there are trillions of dollars overseas, locked out of the american economy, because of our tax structure. that alone, the fact that u.s. corporations will be competitive , makes it so americans can get more economic activity. tremendously positive and optimistic and will have a great impact on our economy. i do not believe this tax cut will affect our economy at all.

host: in terms of reducing government spending, -- guest: one of the things democrats and is used to agree on was the idea that welfare should be temporary and order to get the government best benefits. you have to show you are working to get your life back together. what happened since bill clinton haveoffice, democrats gravitated to this idea that welfare should be permanent. republicans are really hell-bent on the idea that welfare should actually help people. host: this is from kristin h -- the biggest political scandal of our time is the national debt paid she makes the point that welfare spending is still largest spending item.

it incentivizes many americans to remain jobless and in poverty. americans pay zero income tax. over 45 million americans are currently on food stamps. that is a 70% increase since 2009. half of u.s. households receive government benefits. federal spending in the face of the debt is shockingly reckless. it is young americans who will bear the burdens of this fiscal response ability yet many remain clueless. poverty hasar on been a failure. it was well intended to help people. -- they find themselves welfare has come a way of life. ofas with several members the trump administration the other day. i think they are focused, next year, on doing something about this problem. i think it is a mistake that the

approaches we have to do something so we can take that money and use it for something else. it is about these peoples lives. uni, when we came to work, probably passed the mitch snyder home was center. the saddest thing when you come to washington, close to union station, you see the sadness of people whose lives are broken. was a mitch snyder center temporary place, you would feel better about the system. what it seems like his once someone's life become so desperate, it seems like they stay there. not encouraging them with tough love to make good, responsible decisions in their own lives is not something that will help them. host: we will turn to some news of the day he of the u.s. senate race in alabama very close. one poll has done jones up by three percentage points. clearly within the origin of error. what will happen? think judge moore has a

chance to win this race. i think voters are struggling with these horrendous allegations that i take seriously. desire, byre is a people who do not consider -- whoves elite, who not do not consider themselves part of the beltway inside game, they do not want to hear from those folks when it comes to who they will vote for and who they will elect. what you heard from a lot of washington republicans is condemnations of judge moore, which, if true, are right. but the voter has to decide if they believe unsubstantiated allegations, whether there was enough of them that they see a pattern. it is for that voters are aside, in alabama. i would just caution people, in my own party, -- it is almost like a moral question that they have to unlock in their own

soul. are these allegations so serious that they cannot possibly vote for him in light of the fact that doug jones is way outside the mainstream for policies, especially for alabama voters. host: who would you vote for? guest: this would be the rare circumstance where i would take every moment between now and election day to ascertain whether i thought the allegations were true. if i thought there was any plausible case that the allegations were true, i could not vote for judge moore, even if the senate was in the balance. girls. i have i have a 14-year-old. if someone called me for permission to date my oldest girl, i would take out the key to my gun closet. host: let's get to your phone calls. from california, republican line, don. good morning. good morning. first off, trump is a crook.

i worked for him in 1979. he ripped me off. i have to take his company to court. i still have not gotten the money to this day. host: what was your business? caller: construction. he is a thief. a scumbag. i am a republican. he is the worst president this country ever had. figure out trying to what your point of view is. i understand there are these people who did business dealings with donald trump. ofsomeone who has done a lot repair work on my house is sometimes there are disputes about what a contractor is trying to charge a business owner and homeowner. i can understand somebody, sometimes, saying i think you are charging me too much for the services. host: from michigan, carl, democrats line. caller: good morning.

i have a couple of comments. your article from "the hill" that you have shown twice says that welfare pays more than minimum wage, that should tell you something. as far as jobs coming back from overseas, based on this tax bill -- jobs are not coming back from anywhere, when there is cheaper labor to be had elsewhere. that is a fact. as far as the tax bill, i find it hilarious that we get the tax bill passed and then trump is off to fundraisers to get thanked for the efforts of republicans to get the donor taxes lowered. which mitch mcconnell stated, and from the -- in front of the press, that the donor class would think them for it. so this is the problem that my party, the republican

party, faces. essence, they are, in raising the effective tax rate of people in the top 1%, these class warfare argument are still portrayed. republicans are doing nothing but benefiting their rich donors -- the fact is the house bill made the top tax rate move over 46%. if you look at the small business passed through rate, it is higher than the rate for secor. a lot of these -- are disgruntled that it did not go lower. the fact is people at the very top of the economic ladder -- i do not think -- do better under this tax frame. they would do better, potentially, under the current tax frame, not under this bill. it is completely wrong to say this benefits the wealthy. but i do think that this is

something that the party has to confront. is it ok to raise taxes, even slightly, on those on the upper end of the income bracket or not? in the end, the republican party will decide, as much as a possibly can -- you cannot know the scenario of every tax payer -- to make sure everybody sees a tax cut. most of those donors are not frustrated or happy about a tax bill. what they are frustrated at -- most of our donors are frustrated now. they want a more progress on the trump agenda. that includes taxes. that was why this was a big vote. the "newn hannity in york times sunday magazine." the fox news hautes willing to at any cost it how far will shed -- sean hannity go? how much influence does he have among the trump base? guest: a lot.

chair for about three years, and sean hannity came to the first cpac i chaired. he is dominating the ratings of all of the primetime shows on cable. show.he has his radio he and the president have a good relationship. i just talked to the president about him the other day. he has a high regard for sean. he is a new yorker and scrapper and toss, in your face. he rubs some people the wrong way. he definitely has an important voice. host: whether it is sean hannity or rachel maddow, do you worry about the course nature -- guest: did you read my tweet before i got on? i said i would have a civil conversation with steve scully on c-span. i do a regular appearance on pbs. pbs provides a very important

question on the question of, if there was a liberal sitting with us, could we have a civil conversation? there are studies that show it could be done. shawn does it on his show. i do not watch rachel much, but she does it. it is important for producers to bring right, left -- i do not mind disagreement. it should be done in a way where the viewer learns something. they do not learn some things when it is trumped up for the setup is not done in a way where the people can listen and learn. host: people can follow you at @mschlapp. follow my twitter feed, you get it all. host: we go to wayne in nebraska. caller: -- host: we missed the first part of your question, if you could repeat it. caller: i think the irs should

arrest people because -- host: we really cannot hear you. can you speak up one more time? caller: the irs has the taxes raised -- guest: the president donates his salary every year. the deputy of secondary of the aged just said trump would donate his annual salary to fighting the opioid crisis. he has given it, i believe, it to the department. he has also given it to the department of education in other places. like john f. kennedy, the president is not taking his salary. a lot of senior members of the president's senior team have not been taking a salary either. that is an important thing. if you have the financial resources, and you can allow more of this money to go to other things aside your own

pocketbook, that is a wonderful example. host: we go to philadelphia, our democrat line. caller: first of all, the allegations against roy moore, there is idea substantiation. i do not think you need much more. however, people see what they want to see. that is the sad state of affairs we are in. -- why do we not get rid of the corporate tax and start taxing capital gains as normal income? i am not an elitist. i am a working person. just because i am a democrat and live on the east coast, i am not an elitist. and i resent that, always being slapped on people. it's total b.s. born with a silver spring in their hand for have money in the stock market, let

them pay their millions of dollars. let them pay a they are supposed to pay. how is that, for a start? and then we will not need a corporate tax. that is my comment. host: thanks for the call. guest: for those of us who believe in a flat tax, everything would be taxed at the same rate. so your income -- by the way, it corporate income tax is really just a jobs tax. in the end, it just means we have fewer jobs in america. fewer promotions, lower salaries. we have been facing that for already a decade. that is a terrible policy. i agree with part of what you're saying. on capital gains, we always think it is about rich people, but remember, that capital gains rate, many times, is lower, because it is a working man or woman who buys a rental property, who has to maybe flip it, and that is how a lot of people make a little extra money. so capital gains is not just about people on wall street with

big financial deals. sometimes, it is regular old americans trying to figure out how they can increase their economic prospects. i come from wichita, kansas, which israeli a cradle of entrepreneurism -- which is really a cradle of our journalism. what i found in wichita and is true in america, everyone had a job, then they had something else on the side to be that successful arch partner 1 -- entrepreneur one day. host: this is from cq weekly. low-scoring first half. few gains in the first session. congress could greatly affect the final score. what is your bigness -- bigest concern? what we just talked about. there is an economic malaise in this country, a hangover from the obama years. i think the tax bill and

stopping all of these insane regulations that were really not balance in any way really could help the men and women across this country. my biggest concern is that does that medicine kick in fast enough? having a good job, there is more value to that for people. can america still lead? can we still be the number one economic power? is this the place to come if you have great ideas and want to put them in the marketplace? that is what is being tested. next year will determine it. host: we will go to sam, republican line. caller: basically, i would like to make a comment, that as far as tax has been going on, i do not believe in mitch mcconnell and all those things because they are all out to do harm them

president trump. democrats have been damaging this country and they have really ruined this country by sending jobs that. people who do not realize that, that is very sad. i have not talked about , irything, and roy moore helped his campaign, whatever i could do, even if it is little, but anybody comes and they are after him. look at all this sexual harassment, i'm glad this is coming out. this is what it is. read the first time, we have somebody like president trump who is really trying to save this country from the mess. i am a muslim person, too. and my husband is christian, but i tell you that this is very sad what is happening because you really open your mind and see this man does not need to be on

the television on the time that he is saving this country and i know he will succeed because god is there. host: thank you from florida. guest: i get this all the time and i do a fair amount of television. it is often the camera operator or someone will whisper in my ear on the set that they think president trump is doing a great job. i was doing home repairs the other day, a theme of this interview, but i had to go to a place with employees whispered in my ear how much she thought -- she -- thought from was doing event -- trump was doing a fantastic job. the reason the polls seem weaker is because there are a lot of people who feel ashamed or they are ashamed for supporting the president. 90% of the coverage is bad, he is a hater, racist, anti-muslim. the caller is muslim and likes the president, which is another

example i do not think it is properly shown in the polls. election night showed that. most of us knew the race of the close but most polls showed he would lose in a landslide. i think this is a phenomenon in the country. donald trump is a unique political figure. host: you predicted in early october last year president trump would win. guest: i did. i woke up and had a terrible sense of dread we were going to have the second iteration of the clinton's, and i got worried throughout the day. i thought -- my political experience showed me what i was saying, his support was not well captured. i think that is a real question for polls, especially in alabama. when somebody is considered radioactive, will they tell a pollster what they think? host: from new jersey, independent line, good morning. caller: first, i would like to send love and support to our

veterans and soldiers protecting this home and abroad, first. guest: absolutely. caller: thank you. second, i am a millennial, i was born 1986. i just want to speak on the fact that first, i feel like our economy is undereducated. we have a lot of fiscally irresponsible people at the helm. i find it ironic that i can have student loan and debt the bow, and meet linda government isn't trillion dollars of debt -- me when the government is in trillions of dollars of debt. i think it is unfortunate that as a millennial, we have people more or less who will be dying out to 20 years who will be responsible for how the finance s are distributed. -- mostee the president

of the bills and laws have already been in place and on the books for years, and that is what a lot of these people have, foresight. the fact that the economy is undereducated, these people cannot do the jobs. i believe that is systematically done. it is to our own detriment. host: thank you, brock. guest: when i talked to ceos, i get recurring themes. on the tax bill, they are not asking for permanence. they just want 10 years to lower the rates so they can make the investments in the country. the second thing they tell me is that one of the reasons we have a jobs problem in this country is because our education system, public education system, colleges, community colleges, they are not necessarily thinning out gradually. there are a couple of republican business leaders in silicon

valley and you hear they are starting their own schools because what they are getting out of our system isn't working. my mother was vice mayor of wichita, kansas, on the city council. you realize the number one expense in state after state is system.ersity we are spending more on that them protecting our country. with due exceptions, the academies are amazing. i think there are great public schools and private schools, but by and large, we cannot continue to spend all this money on a public school education system that is not preparing graduates to take the jobs american companies need to compete and win on the globe. this could be our problem of the country. host: front page of new york times, by peter baker, looking ahead and over his shoulder, writing that success in scandal is creating a roller coaster for the president. president trump responded to questions yesterday about michael flynn. [video clip] president trump: what has been

shown is no collusion. there has been absolutely no collusion, so we are very happy. frankly, last night was one of the big nights. >> [indiscernible] president trump: we will see what happens. thank you very much. host: matt schlapp, the president yesterday, what is going to happen? guest: i think that point is important, which is -- michaeltely flynn, unfortunately, had a lack of judgment and lied to the fbi. , but even under oath if they are interviewing you, you cannot lied to the fbi. i think it is important to know that what he lied about, which is making calls overseas to russian officials, was nothing illegal or unethical about that. there was nothing even wrong about that. i think you fee -- i think he felt he needed to live because

he had not had these interactions publicly, which is why the vice -- after the vice president had went on national television and said the conversations had not occurred. these were all after the election comes of the president is saying there is no collusion. there's no evidence they did anything to change the election. there is a little bit of question on the other side with donna brazile's book that the other side was reading their process and there is evidence the clinton administration was working with people close to putin to figure out dirt on donald trump. what i find ironic with the clinton's, is what they accuse their opponents of they are sometimes guilty of. program hasmueller to look at the series of things. general flynn used to work for president obama and was fired by him because general flynn was pushing the president to be more aggressive on the war in terror

-- or on terror -- war on terror and then, he switched to work for trump. what does president obama and of doing? abusing the power of the government to spy on michael flynn. out, found out their information, and then went to president trump and trashed general flynn and said do not hire him. this got petty between obama and flynn. it is a part of the story i think deserves more attention. host: when is cpac next year? guest: edward 21st through 24th at the gaylord hotel -- february 21 to 24th at the gaylord hotel. anyone is welcome to come, even if they are liberal. go to our website, conservative.org, get tickets, ask questions. we have a lot of liberals were invited to speak. it is the third or fourth most

covered political event of the calendar year, the biggest conservative conference of the year. it is a great thing to go to and we would love to host you. host: we will be there covering it for c-span. matt schlapp, thank you. the film called the newspaperman, and richard cohen will join us next. a look at the life and career of ben bradley. it debuts tomorrow on hbo. we will talk about the washington post and media in today's political environment. you are watching and listening to c-span's "washington journal." is a sunday morning, december the third. we are back in a moment. ♪ >> today, live on "in-depth," cornell west and professor giorgio be our guest. to betime i have a chance

in dialog with professor george, we go back 13 years. we share a fundamental commitment to the world of the ideas we have had the chance to teach, so when i see him, i do not see him first and foremost as a conservative thinker, catholic philosopher, one of the major political figures of our day. i see him as my brother. i seem as my friend, and someone who has a right to be wrong. [laughter] >> if you are going to work together in conversation, even , thee, to get at the truth people involved in the conversation first have to recognize they are fallible, frail, fallen human beings. they have to recognize that they could be wrong. each one has to recognize. even about my most cherished beliefs, i could be wrong. one has that

attitude and understanding, not in a merely notional way, but a deeply appropriated way, then one will begin to develop a virtue that is indispensable for truth seeking. >> among the books mr. west has written is -- are race matters and brother west. mr. george's books include making men moral and conscience and its enemies. we will take your calls, suite -- tweets, and facebook questions. watch "in-depth" live from noon to 3:00 p.m. eastern, today on c-span2. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us from new york is richard cohen, a columnist for "the washington post," and served as executive producer of a new hbo film "the newspaperman ," the life and times of ben

bradley. the begin with an excerpt of the film. [video clip] >> i think it is lacking, and not with the administration is in the country. there is no respect for the first amendment. >> the first amendment was really about religion in a way. he was worried about journalism and about the country. ben felt that if they did not make a stand then, they would start their freedoms would start being eroded. to tell you what you cannot read -- [applause] this documentary, which premieres tomorrow on hbo, and richard cohen, one of the individuals behind the, what did you learn about and bradley that surprised to the most? guest: i did not learn. yearsed with him for many

and knew him personally. it is not like i learned anything but i was reminded about how zealous he was about the first amendment and truth. he sort of lived by truth, and that was most important. that was his passion. there at an age now where is such a thing as alternative facts, where truth does not seem to matter, and there is broadly saying resolutely, truth matters in this is something i live by. it's sort of stiffened my spine. i thought it was great to see ben reminding us of the importance of truth with the pentagon papers first, and then watergate. what host: led to the product -- host: what led to the project and why? guest: the inspiration ofben's son, who ben's thought, why not do a documentary of my father? he called the chairman of hbo and pitched it.

ed he said, i want to do this. they contacted me and others and got us on board and we did it. i was the executive director, executive producer, which i am not the director or producer, but i put in my two cents here and there. hbo was terrific in getting this going and making it work. host: based on the words of ben , i want to his book share one excerpt because there will be a new film next year starring tom hanks, for train ben bradley, on the pentagon papers. in his book, ben bradley wrote -- we did not know that the pentagon papers experience had forged forever between the graham and newsroom essence of confidence within the washington post, a sense of mission and agreement on a new goals, and how to attain them. and that may have been the

greatest result of the publication of the pentagon papers. can you elaborate? guest: ben used to talk about that a lot. watergate coverage, everything that followed followed the pentagon papers because the pentagon papers, after all, it was the new york times that printed them, which was a history of american involvement in vietnam. american involvement in vietnam callhatever else you may it a tissue of lies, lies about what was going on, lies about troops, casualties, whatever was happening there. withfter another, ginny johnson and maybe john f. kennedy, the continuing through the nixon administration. when the post got the chance to publish them, the new york times had already been enjoying and stop the court from publishing it. the post was in the position where it may technically have been breaking the law. it was about the corporation about to go public that was issued stock on the new york or

american stock exchange, so there was -- the lawyers were saying, you cannot do this. if you break the law and challenge the court, you have changed the conditions under which banks are financing the washington post going public. it was a scary proposition for katharine graham. she was going to throw the dice about the corporate health of the washington post, about its financial future, which might have cost are plenty, in addition to if you are were found criminally convicted as a corporation, you cannot own broadcast properties. it was important to the bottom line of the post. katharine graham, as the owner, then, went ahead anyway because it was important to the post to print what it had, not cannot print. that was ben's rule. print.always easy not to it is difficult to continue to

say, we will print the truth because we have it and the american people deserve to get it. the washington post, then and to this day, is the publisher of the people, not for the government officials, not for anybody else. it is for the customer, so to speak. of mission after the pentagon papers are published and catherine -- katherine graham did what she did was important to the post. they continued to watergate and to this day. the papers back to where it once was. it is exuberant. it is vital. when you go into the building company can feel the buzz. it is on a mission. it is having one whale of a good time reporting the truth. host: let me ask you about a recent headline with the justice department going after the proposed merger between time warner and at&t. time warner owns cnn. the president has been a fierce critic of cnn, calling it fake

news. is there a connection? guest: i do not know what there is a connection -- if there is a connection. you read the works of some economists on this merger and they say it will be too big. i do not agree because they are not in competition with each other, so they are not limiting the amount of competition in the sphere. on the other hand, the president has said he wants to kill cnn and its fake news. he is totally out of line. i have never been and never seen a president go to war against so you havetity and sa to wonder about the justice department taking the president side. i'm not saying it is for political purposes it looks bad. i think it is the obligation of the president to keep his mouth shut but he said during the campaign that he did not want this merger to take place and he is the president and disappoint the justice department officials

. and smells bad. whether it is, i do not know. host: this is the front page of the washington post today -- democracy dies in darkness. who came up with that and why? guest: [laughter] i do not know who came up with that. at first when i looked at that, it did look like when you look up in the sky is a batman movie but i think it is a wonderful slogan because democracy does died in darkness. we are supposed to shine a light on what is happening in the government cannot close it down, which is what pretty much donald trump wants to do. he has conducted himself, the net worth the press, and -- been at war with the press, and it has not been about facts. it has been about you do not have a right to report what i do not want you to report. it is belligerent and antidemocratic attitude on the

part of the president. it is unparalleled and dangerous. host: this new hbo documentary film titled "the newspaperman: the life and times of ben bradley" premieres tomorrow, monday, on hbo. here's another excerpt, courtesy of hbo. [video clip] >> behind-the-scenes, nixon himself was plotting hard boiled revenge against the paper. >> i wanted very understood that from now on, no reporter from "the washington post" is ever to be in the white house, is that clear? >> absolutely. >> that is in order. if necessary, i will fire you. you understand? >> i understand. >> ok. host: that exchange between ron press, the president's secretary, and nixon, and the voice of ben bradley, based on his audio from this book "a good life." guest: yeah, well, that was -- always wonder what would've

happened had nixon been able to tweet. [laughter] i think the people would have discovered much earlier on that he was losing it. he is a little crazy at this point, and he was obsessed with "the washington post." it is kind of scary, he knew from the very day that he knew he was ultimately responsible for the watergate break in. directing the cover-up, other agencies of the government to cover up this crime and what has led to this crime. he pretended all the time this was something "the washington post" was making up. he used other government agencies and the cover-up. this is an example of what the president can do in week explosive, we, being "the washington post," my colleagues, who were brave and determined to get to the bottom of the story. for a long time, they did not know what the story was. we did not know that richard nixon was at the bottom of that

story. i certainly did not. i was sort of sitting right next to carl during most of this. carl i think sense this. i did not. guest is richard cohen, a columnist for "the washington post," and executive producer of the new hbo film. 202 is the area code in washington, d.c. 748-8001 for republicans. (202)-748-8000 for democrats. mary in bakersfield, north carolina, on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to address what you guys were saying about fake news , and i have the morning joe station, cnn, and i do not have the fox station. i cannot watch the stations because i listen to what the president says, and they changed the words, they turn everything into a lie. when you change a few words, everything changes.

watched thetion, i inauguration on television. he had a packed house. and they cut his picture to the picture that was the very first one they took when they started filling up the place where everybody was standing, and that the later on picture, it was totally full, and they never showed that picture. they chopped it. thinkat -- you know, to all of america is stupid, imagine the people who watched it, solid with their own eyes that the media is making an ass out of themselves. i am sick of the news media. they do nothing but lie. have you ever heard anybody badlyabout -- talk so about the present your whole life? the news media is democrat. henry complained about it and two days later -- hillary

complained about one, two days later, he was off the air. that tells you who owns the news media. the democrats. host: we will get a response. guest: do you want me to respond? host: if you would, please. guest: well, she is quite wrong. i do not know really what she is talking about. first of all, the news media is not owned by democrats. fox news, which is owned by republicans, very much in trump's corner. most major businesses are owned by republicans. most rich people are republicans. the news media is rich, like "time" used to be, it is usually owned by republicans. we go after the story. if i had the time, i would sure you numerous photographs of previous inaugural crowds. president trump said he had the largest inaugural crowd in

history. he did not. you can look over and over and see. he was just posting, as he always does. if you had another 1.5 hours, i could list the lies of donald trump but it goes on. did week, he insisted he not say what he said on that access hollywood tape about grabbing women in the genitalia or however you say it. he said it. he admitted he said it. he'd knowledge he said it. he apologized for saying it. he is on tape for saying it and last week, he said he never said it. these are the statements of a -- attached are reality detached from reality, who buys whenever he feels like it. for him, the truth is as useful as lies, whatever he feels like saying. it is that the news media doing this. ma'am, it is donald trump doing this. host: this morning, your newspaper reported the code others had given new spirit

tests 1 -- an organization one point $1 million to fund it. what is it that you learned after this -- $1.7 million to fund veritas. what take your news organization thereinafter you found out? guest: i thought this was very good reporting on part of "the washington post." this was an attempt to deceive "the washington post," pretend a witness had come forth, regarding a sexual harassment case in alabama, and she was going to accuse judge more of -- i forgot what it was -- that she was a fake. host: she was going to claim she had an abortion. >> writes, and -- guest: rights, and he had been the father. and it was a fake, so she was going to set up "the washington

post," and after they printed the story, they would pull the string and reveal it as a fake. and that is not the case. we were never so anti-judge moore. are reporters were doing the political story. when some of them had heard allegations about his sexual behavior, romantic behavior, years ago when he was dating young, underage women, and they reported the story. they had not gone down there to do that story. when the story came at them, they reported it, which is what they should have done. here is an example of an organization that set out to sabotage "the washington post," and deceive them. we do not fall for it. it is a rancid, poisonous environment out there, where you are dealing with people lying to you constantly. you have to worry about that. it is like being in espionage agent in some sense.

host: we will go to michael and saint, florida, democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning. the only thing i would like to say is i hope you journalists keep doing what you are doing. you are doing a great job. you need to keep reporting the news to the american public. i hope nobody tries to stand in your way. that is our right as americans to hear it and we want to. you keep doing the job you are doing. you're doing a great job. thank you very much. guest: thank you. host: let me go back to the words of ben bradley. he was right and about watergate and wrote -- "some stories are becausesee, generally, the clues are hidden or disguised by accident or on purpose. other stories hit you in the face, like watergate. you would have to be richard nixon himself to say it was not the story." guest: yeah, well, this was relating to when the burglars, the men who had burglarized the democratic national committee headquarters at the watergate

office building in washington, d.c., when they were arrested, the next day, they were brought to court and it rained. one of the -- arraigned. one of them, asked by the judge, what do you do, where do you work? he said quietly, tia. -- cia. and bob woodward was standing there and heard it. journalist said, what in the world is somebody working for the cia burglarizing the democratic national committee? if that is not the story, we do not know what the story is in we went after it. that is how the watergate story unfolded, again to unfold. host: robin's next from alabama. our line for independents. caller: i have a question for the guest. does he believe that trump [indiscernible]

also,xt presidency, and does he believe the doj is crooked and's or anything we can do to fix it? no, when richard nixon said your president is not a crook, i look back and say, he was not a crook in the sense he was stealing money. when he has done is allow a cover-up of a crime and allowed -- and i don't think he knew about it at the time -- but he enabled the republican national committee to commit a crime, a burglary, an attempt to steal information from the democratic national committee. i do not know when you come to the trump administration if there is that kind of corruption. have not seen evidence yet of somebody making money off the government are taking bribes.

i think at the white house, there is a consistent attempt to lie to the american people. there is an attempt to lie to the american press and therefore american people. that is something we have to worry about and why. you have the indictment of flame, -- michael flynn, manafort, a couple others, we are basically one year into this administration and you are ready got the watergate scenario, where a number of high officials are under official investigation by the special prosecutor. you have to keep an eye on this. i am not yet sure i know the crime is. what michaeln -- flynn has been accused of an manafort, but these are not crimes that have to do with donald trump necessarily. we will have to wait. i am not yet ready to indict this president for some crime. i do not mean indict in my own

mind. we are seeing what in folds. right now, it looks perilous. host: in his later yearshost:, ben bradley suffered from dementia and alzheimer's. when was the last time you saw or spoke to him? i stayed in touch with them through that period. there came a time when he was bedridden. and deeply into dementia. i do not see him then, i do not believe, but i saw him in dementia and it was tough. it was sad to say. nobody had the kind of energy and charm ben bradley did. he was extraordinary in that sense. to watch them decline and go into dementia was awful for him, of course, sad, and terrible for sally, his wife.

it is tough. who are intos now dementia. this is becoming an american epidemic. when you get into your 80's, i think you have a 50-50 chance of getting alzheimer's. ofs is the coming because the population boom. as more and more people get into their 80's and 90's, alzheimer's is going to be an epidemic and it will cost a fortune. it will be a trillion dollar expense, with nothing at the end of it. you will not make these people better. you cannot cure it right now. this is why we have to devote every nickel we can to find the cure for the disease. it really is going to cost the american people a numerous amount of money -- an enormous amount of money and you have awful tragedy after tragedy. host: the hbo film is called "the newspaperman," and richard cohen, the executive producer,

it premieres monday on hbo. richard is joining us from spokane, washington, republican line, thank you for waiting. caller: good morning. here's what cnn is doing. they take the debate were hillary clinton said that he protested the outcome, and that makes him the most dangerous person in the world. since he won, we have to protest the outcome because he is the most dangerous person in the world. during the debate, they deleted two of his words and they keep telling the country over and is therump said mexico worst of the worst. the worstmexicans are of the worst. now, his candidate said the mexican in san francisco is guilty, he is a racist. the guy in charlottesville refused to call that guy guilty of murder of terrorism until he goes to court first.

cnn to the two american presidential candidates. the american president cannot get a room of american politicians to work a deal. host: thank you. i do not know where to begin with you. i do not know where you get your facts, i can imagine, that they are not right. twoto not delete those words. what trump said about mexicans, he can go back to numerous transcripts of what he said. he said some bad stuff, and it was -- i was appalled by it. you want to go to the san francisco case of that shooting. he made a big deal about that. guy, whot defend the should not have been in this country to begin with, i mean, it was a bad scene. gun,he guy picked up a and shot it, which he should not have done, and the bullet ricocheted and hit this woman.

he was not trying to shoot the woman. it was clear from the facts, the facts in the courtroom were clear, it was a ricochet. so for trump to say this was a homicide, it was not homicide. it should not -- if should not have been accused of murder. he should have been accused of manslaughter or something less. trump's facts are wrong and the jury knew it because the acquitted him. this was the jury, not some immigrant who did it. this was a jury of americans. host: julie from virginia beach, virginia, independent line with richard cohen. caller: hi, mr. cohen. into trying tos make everything right, from a woman's point of view, if they were into it, why didn't they investigate harvey weinstein? why did it allow the sexual abuse of people in the white house? if the democrats are trying to be such just people, while they

are allowing this to happen? and from a woman's point of view, i look at it as americans do not like bullies. i do not understand how come this has been happening and nobody has known about it. are you guys not doing your job? people putting blinders on when they want to? i would not -- i do not care what you do it donald trump. on both sides. harvey weinstein and all these other people were democrats. if you are going to treat people the right way, i am glad they got republicans and democrats out. i am glad they are finding this sexual abuse. from a woman who has been in that situation with no recourse, glad. there are good men out there but i do not understand how come it is only one-sided. i used to be a hillary clinton democrat. i voted for donald trump. host: thank you. guest: well, first of all, it is

not just democrats. o'reilly was fired. larger hails was fired. the ziplocs republicans. second -- these were fox republicans. the reason you know about harvey weinstein was through the press, the new york times and the new yorker magazine. these are entities described as democratic or liberal. that is how you know about these stories, most of the stories, through the press. it has nothing to do with political party. yeah, harvey weinstein contributed to democrats. he had the money to do so and did so. nobody protected him as democrats. there were people who protected him in the entertainment industry, who apparently knew the guy was a beast and was doing bad things and looked the other way because he was an important producer and they were in business with them, but that is not what the press did. we exposed him.

for a long time, people i know, who were working on the harvey weinstein story, or unable to get it printed because the women were not come forward. it is difficult to write a story unless you have a name attached to a woman making a complaint. these are serious complaints, complaints about rape, you cannot do it anonymously in the press. it is hard to do that. you have a person's or b tatian at stake. you -- you have a person's reputation at stake. but in the end, it was the press that brought harvey weinstein down. it was the press that expose these people. they have done the right job. host: let me conclude with the words of ben bradley from his book "a good life," -- criticism had regularly forced me to thinking about our business. the best newspapers were still involved in the pursuit of the truth of conscience, but at the

bottom of the barrel, the stain of the tabloids was spreading into what could be called kerosene journalism, the flames that can result from arson, not journalism. your thoughts? well, i do not know exactly when he wrote that, but we had the beginning of tabloid journalism, which was imported from britain by rupert murdoch in the new york post, and it is a different standard. they're not as stickley concerned with the facts. they have a political agenda very often. we never did. don't knowten -- i -- several thousand columns for the washington post and not once was i told not to write something or was i told to write something. i never felt that it would be told. i wrote columns critical of the washington post, critical of democrats and republicans. and i am sort of left of center

in some issues, right of center on some issues. nobody tells me what to do. this is the standard ben bradley set for the washington post and what it continues to it here to. i think their standards -- there are standards that have fallen throughout, some standards on the internet. i read breitbart and think, what the hell are they talking about? they have a political agenda. i listen to fox, i try not to do it while i'm eating because a get sick. they have a political agenda and they know it. there are political operation and in the tanks of donald trump. this is not the journalism i respect my one to practice -- or i want to practice for that ben bradley said as an example.i am proud to say that the ben bradley standard still applies to the washington post and elsewhere but not universally. host: the film called "the newspaperman: the life and times of ben bradley," what will be was learn?

when did you think they will take away from the documentary. -- one being you think they will take away. guest: his obsession with the truth. this was all he cared about, and the right of the press to print it. i want the american people to be reminded of how important it is, to see the importance of the pentagon papers, which will once -- will betrate illustrated in a film coming out. these are examples of the government lying to the american people. the american people had a right to know what was going on. but the pentagon papers, the american people had a right to know why their sons are going to vietnam and being killed and killing. why they were involved in war and what led up to it. all we were doing is printing the truth. that is all we ever want to do. host: richard cohen from new york. his work is available online at washingtonpsot.com, the executive producer of this hbo

film. we thank you for being with us. host: now, we will open our phone lines. tell us what is on your mind. open phones on c-span. the headlines dealing with general michael flynn and his guilty plea on friday, the tax bill, which passed the senate yesterday and goes back to the house for conference. any other topics, our phone lines are open. you are watching and listening to the c-span "washington journal" sunday program. we are back in a moment. ♪ >> monday night on "the communicators," matthew prince, ceo of the internet company cloud flair, who successfully booted a neo-nazi group off of the internet, joins us to discuss those actions, hate speech and the first amendment. >> once you start down the path of saying that this invisible deep infrastructure company that is running the network gets to make decisions, i do not think

you might like where you come out at the other end. it is a little bit akin to if the phone company were listening in on the conversations that you had and decided they did not like your tone of voice or the language you are using or the topics you are discussing and they pulled the cord and shut down the phone lines, that violates the social contract, which we have had with the company for quite some time. what i think is happening is there are a number companies that are thate deep infrastructure that run behind the scenes in the data network. the core question is whether or not we are the right ones to make the decision on what content should and should not be allowed online? >> watch "the communicators" monday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span2. where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's

cable television companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. "washington journal" continues. host: our phone lines are open. tell us what is on your minds with headlines outside the beltway, the boston herald -- sealing the deal. mitch mcconnell saying the bill will be on the president's desk by christmas, slashing the corporate rate by 20%, dropping the obamacare mandate, and cutting across all brackets, the most sweeping overhaul since the reagan years of 1986. and the star tribune, the gop makes a big tax bet. from california, republican line what is on your mind? caller: i am a realtor. i have been going to governmental meetings for years and years. i have been finding out for many years there is a selective

reporting going on. report thealism's story, who, what, where, when, and why? i am seeing the same thing in the national media today. certain things are reported and not reported, only one side is given. i do not know if this is good for the country. has not know why the media allowed -- of course, we have free speech -- to do selective reporting. it is not serve us. it is not serve the country. we need to have good people. when he to have good information. we need to have accurate information. and i think c-span helps a great deal. though, sometimes, some of the people who call in, i think you need a stiff cup of coffee. host: [laughter] or maybe two. we are a reflection put the

country's thinking and feeling, said thank you. ," a feud with the president may have caused flake his senate seat but he is not done fighting with the soul of the gop. from virginia, good morning. caller: i was listening in to mr. cohen. if you want to analyze the situation and the washington post, especially him, if you look at the political contributions by members of the press, it is over the democratic. if you think about trump saying bad things about mexicans, they asked him the same question and said -- he said that he belonged to radical mexican organizations like la raza. he was asked the same questions about 30 times, then he said he is mexican. with the billy bush thing, they never brought out the fact that they said, they let you do it. there waiting for a little soundbite to crucify the men,

but they do not look at the left msnbc, if youe look at it, the reporting is obvious. if you look at the political contributions and to the press people vote for, it is overly left. that is all i have to say. weekly, running on empty, republicans looking to 2018 with you bragging points. john, democrat in fairfax, virginia. good morning. caller: good morning, steve. i think you should run a segment weekly on segments not been covered so everyone knows about them. takenry is that they have the credentials away from an organization i rely on from the international news and that is rt. rt produces really good

programming and they are being shunned and discriminated against. it is a shame. i think that rt deserves to be heard. people want to know what is going on in the world and they should listen to rt. i do. i think it is a disgrace they have taken away their press credentials because what? they republicans from russia? cannot from russia. they are all americans and they produce great programming. thank you. host: the weekly standard -- praising mean it out, looking at roy moore and alabama senate race. it outs, looking at roy moore and alabama senate race. the poll shows the races essentially that even. doug jones with a narrow lead and within the margin of error. bob from tyler, texas, republican line, good morning. caller: good morning, steve.

i appreciate everything you do. i tweeted comments on political group, the first, is there anything that can be refuted on moretruths.us, are you familiar with that? host: no. like 15 pages of the roy moore campaign, every attack on his character, and if you expand the links, it probably goes to dozens and pages, and itmore seems like a thorough reputation of all this hearsay and innuendo and it just plays out the facts. couldhoping richard cohen roy mooree of those

responses to all those allegations. -- host: tell us the website. caller: it is such a great website. it is just mooretruth.us. host: thank you. brent page of "the washington post," robert mueller drilling deeper into president trump's circle. the corporate tax now 22%. right now, it is 35%. let's go to scott in new york. independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i consider myself a human christian. i think we are in troubling times, especially people who , who to be religious ignore the truth. [indiscernible] ally is a tool it -- a lie is a tool fof satan.

we are comparing moore to the stepfather of jesus. mary did not get pregnant by joseph. i believe that jesus was the son of god. i am a human christian. i believe in christ as a human being. [indiscernible] just like ms. huckabee the other day says it really did not matter whether trump was telling the truth or the things he tweeted was true or not, it is more a statement. no, the truth is the truth. a lie is a lie. the american people need to wake up. simpson with the o.j. and all of that, that is my own personal belief. god bless you. we will talk to you in a couple of months.

thanked god for c-span, "washington journal," because this is where you get unfiltered humans. talk to you later. host: from upstate, new york. this came out and about 8:15 a.m., he said, people who lost money when the wall street went down 350 points based on the following dishonest reporting of brian ross at abc news, he has been suspended, should consider hiring a lawyer and suing abc for damages, this bad reporting has caused many millions of dollars. at the end of the day, a closed down more than 40 points. indiana, welcome to the conversation. get in look, i wanted to with mr. schlapp, but i had to calm down. [laughter] look, we will go after "people on where phil -- "people on

welfare," and you were highlighting that thing from "the hill" about welfare and everything. i have to go in read that. but here is what i am upset about. look, people in this country, there are people out there who want to work, who are working, and they are getting assistance have,e the job that they they are making minimum wage and it is not enough. it is not enough to raise a family on. now, the republicans are going to get back, and they do this every time. they go back and now they're going to attack people who are getting public assistance. ok, how do we solve this

problem? if we can. host: how do you solve the problem? saidr: well, i have always , more like a joke, if the republican platform was an actual platform, like a deck outside in the backyard, it would be built with two by fours, four by fours, it would be a mess. they do not want to raise minimum wage so people can at family, you know, while they are working. they do not want to do that. people say, ok, i will go back to school and get training. funds,e do not have the the republican congress will say, to let people have loans to go back to school.

host: we only have one minute or two minutes left, so thank you. from the new york times, emails extending -- painting a different picture offlynn, -- of flynn. a team of reporters at the new york times. ruth from jackson, mississippi, democrat line. what is on your mind? caller: good morning. i have been listening and it is very, very into it -- very interesting how the united states has been turned by the british and other countries. i am 72 years old. i have been around for a while. i cannot understand why poor people listen to what they say on fox news are what the and even though they can see that they are

against what they are trying to do, and they want to say that all the news media are against mr. trump, and they listened to what he says and they do not want to believe what he says or dismiss what he says, and say, he did not mean that, he is not a politician, but all the other politicians are wrong, and me, myself, i have been in this world 72 years, and i have seen what they have done all over the country. to me -- i am an african american -- and i can tell you what they have done to the african-americans because i lived it. i've been and watched them why lie. i watched how they killed african-americans and lied about it. they had parties when they

killed african-americans. they said we had tails. we did not, but they said we did and they wanted to believe we were not human. they put that out there in the news media and people wanted to believe it. they still want to believe we are the animals of this world and they the ones that did all the killing. it is crazy. host: thank you. many have weighed in on her facebook page, the question, whether or not you are concerned about a $22 trillion debt? last word from england. caller: thank you for your program. we watch it every sunday. mosti have got to say is of my cousins are americans, so i'm not anti-american. your president in the last week has caused distraught in this country by forwarding the twitter's of a neo-nazi party in this country. that neo-nazi party is

responsible for the murder of a young member of parliament at this time last year. your president promoted that through three tweets. how can we work on this man to london next year? i am of 70 years of age and normally moderate. mr. president, you are not welcome. host: kevin from london, england, thank you. a reminder from last night's saturday night live, the opening skit with alec baldwwin. [video clip] >> don't you see, mr. president, any of these spirits can bring you down, but the scariest is yet to come. it approaches. ♪ >>, it is steve bannon you are here to save the day. how are you? -- who are you? >> [indiscernible] [applause] is, hillary rodham

clinton. you, donald, have given me the greatest christmas gift of all, sexual gratification in the form of your slow demise. you have no idea how long have wanted to say this, lot came up -- lock him up! [laughter] [applause] >> no. >> are you all right? >> >> i need to erase seasons 1-3 of the apprentice. new york, it is saturday night. morning.back tomorrow our guests include ken tomas of the associated press,