eastern with walter mosley. his most recent book is down the river unto the sea. his other books include devil in a blue dress, gone fission, and fearless shown's. plus over 40 critically acclaimed books and mystery series. we'll be taking your phone calls, tweets, and facebook messages. walter mosley, sunday, live, from noon to 3 p.m. eastern on book tv on c-span2. >> coming up next on c-span, washington journal live. at 10:00 a.m., a hearing on the impact of the opioid crisis on children and families. after that, a forum on prescription drug pricing and health care innovation. and later, u.s. supreme court justice anthony kennedy presiding over a mock trial of shakespeare cozy hamlet, presented by the shakespeare theater in washington, d.c..

journal, on washington radio talk show hosts from around the direction of the country. ♪ host: do you think the country is headed in the right direction or the wrong one? we will share the results from the associated press in a moment, but for the next three hours, we will post that same question to you so you can tell us what you think about the direction of the country and where it is heading. if you factor in what is happening in washington dc, the ,orld economy, or other affairs or even what is happening in your neighborhood. is the country heading in the right direction or the wrong one. if you think it is heading in the right direction, call us at (202) 748-8000.

if you think it is going in the wrong direction, and you want to tell us why, call us at (202) 748-8001. you can post those same sentiments on our social media pages, on twitter at @cspanwj. and on our facebook page at facebook.com/cspan. is the associated press and a research organization based out of chicago that asked respondents about the direction of the country. overall, 32% of those respondents says that the country was doing much or somewhat better in its direction. said much or somewhat worse in direction. and those who say it is about the same, 22%. they broke it down into some specific categories, and starting off with matters of the economy, to be honest if you -- with you. 37% when asked about the direction of the country when it comes to the economy, much or somewhat better.

32 percent said much or somewhat worse, and about the same, 30% is how those registered. when it comes to individual and personal finances. when it comes to direction, 39%one it say -- some say their situation is better. 18% say the situation is going to become worse. 42% of those said it would stay about the same. that is just matters of the economy. you can factor in that when it comes to policy in washington. all of those things about that and more when you tell us what you think about the direction of the country. again, here is how we divided the lines this morning. if you think the country is going in the right direction and want to tell us why, (202) 748-8000 is how you do that. if you think it is going in the wrong direction, tell us at (202) 748-8001. and you can post on twitter and facebook as well. we will start off this morning

with robert, hazard, kentucky, the country is going in the wrong direction. good morning, tell us why. caller: good morning, how are you feeling this morning? host: fine, thanks for asking. go ahead. caller: i have been a loyal watcher of your show, pedro, for many, many years, ever since 9/11. i have been watching every morning, and i can remember during the george w. bush era that gasoline and milk prices and all those other things going up to five dollars a gallon, gasoline was and stuff. back here in kentucky at that time, we had no problem with buying five dollars of gasoline, because the coal industry was going good. it was booming. there were thousands and thousands of jobs available for everyone to work if you wanted to work in the coal industry, and make a good living for your children. they can afford those five dollars of gasoline. now the country -- back here now

in kentucky, i feel for the poor people here. the country seems like it is getting worse. it got worse through obama. it seems like it is getting better through trump, but i wish people would quit putting trump down. pedro, thank you for taking this call, and coal mining is what this country needs. thank you so much. host: but you are saying if the direction of coal and the mining were to changet overnight or drastically, you would say overall that the country is heading in the right direction? that is what you are basing that on? caller: basically, what i am saying is this country does need coal. it was built around cold. rockefeller, you can go back to the jd rockefeller days. coal will help this country. it will help with everybody's electric bill. china is still burning coal, they are wide open. obama has destroyed us, so coal help his country. thank you for letting me put

coal out there this morning. host: economics in coal is how the caller was basing his thoughts about the direction of the country. bobo to wisconsin next, says the country is heading in the right direction. good morning. caller: good morning, sir. yes, i believe it is going right . our president trump has to wade through all the garbage obama left and destroyed on the veterans side. military was slacking because of obama and the democrats. our economy went to hell underneath the democrats. we lost our home. he left it wide open for the mortgage companies to refinance. isway, president trump rough, people. he is a very different kind of person, but he is doing the very best he can through all the garbage left by obama and democrats. obama is the worst predator we ever had and an open racist in my opinion.

fact you brought up the that you are a veteran. overall, when it comes to this matter, what do you think about the president's treatment of veterans, particularly about the possible selection of his physician ronnie jackson to head the veterans administration? caller: i believe it is going to be a lot better. i am sorry to say our veterans were treated like garbage in a lot of the a's -- va's. i was lucky as a veteran in the the a veteran in the v.a. process, but when i first came out, our veterans were treated very badly by this country. football players make more money than our veterans. this admiral might do a better job, and i pray so for our veterans. host: bob in wisconsin this morning. again, right direction, wrong direction in the country. baltimore, maryland, tom says the country is going in the wrong direction. caller: good morning. i think it is definitely going

in the wrong direction. i think american leadership in the world has been greatly diminished. i also think that the country is really beginning to collapse ofer the weight of a lot money in politics, which is affecting how we are being governed. and i think that the president f -- i give him credit for what he has tried to do with trade, but i think his connections with those russian gangsters is really, really detrimental to the country. our: when you say that influence or how the world views us, i think that is how you were trying to put is diminished -- tom is gone. on twitter, this is robert. robert says the country is going in the right direction and consumer confidence is stronger. john says too many people have no desire to achieve and demand that achievers support them. that is a bad natural direction.

this is a widespread question. you can factor in a lot of things when you decide to tell us your thoughts on the questions of the country, if it is going in the right way (202) 748-8000 or the wrong way. -- or the wrong way. (202) 748-8000 if you think it is going the right way, (202) wrong way.r the ronald in boston, massachusetts says it is the right direction. good morning. caller: good morning. this is ronald. i was in the vietnam war also. i was with the hundred first airborne division and also my brother. i remember skydiving, and it was going in the wrong direction. i was timing the president. when i heard his speech, [inaudible] i have been watching c-span all night and all morning. host: you mean the speech from yesterday from the president? caller: from thursday. he brought out a lot of

things. his plate is completely full. all this stuff with a russian deal and coming up, it is running over. [inaudible] is there anything specific from the speech you heard yesterday that reflects, in a sense, that the country is heading in the right direction? anything specifically from the president and what he said? he is talking about vocation and technical schools. i graduated from boston trade high school. i have a technical education. these community college -- i do not know what they teach these students, but you have to have a trade, vocation, or technical college where the students can fall back on. we had a girl straight high school and a voice trade high school -- girl's trade high school and "playboy"'s trade high school -- a boy's trade high school. host: if you want to watch that

whole speech, you can watch it on c-span at our website when you go to our c-span.org website. we will show you a bit of it in the later part of the program, but more from you. elaine is next. the country is going in the wrong direction. she is from missouri. hello. caller: thank you, pedro. good morning, and thank you for this wonderful service the coun, providing a voice for the american people. i personally think our country is going in the wrong direction. i woke up this morning highly concerned about my telecommunications bill. i just reviewed it. it is plagued with nearly $20 in surcharges and fees that are forced upon me. when the president said that he was going to bring the internet

to the rural community, i thought about those surcharges and fees that i am being forced to pay in missouri. broadcast television surcharge, $4.99. i am living on fixed income as a retired teacher. have aion is good, but i lot of expenses and i just can't fees whencharges and receivingcretary is 24 hours security. those things cost, and they impact me. host: ok, let's go to johnny in boston, massachusetts.

go ahead. caller: good morning, happy easter to you. i have just a couple of things. i just listened to ronald from roxbury, which is a couple of towns over from where i am in boston. there are a couple of things that i thought the country is going in the right direction -- when you see these young people past weekhad this with their marching, there was a saying that i used to have, and i am a laborer. at one point, when i did have my desk, i had a sign on there that said if the people will lead, the leaders will follow. what i think you are seeing in this country right now is that we are bringing the thinking of the far left, and it does not have to go to the far right. if it just comes back to little bit so that people like myself, who has been a laborer my whole life, feels like they are doing and making progress.

just like ronald, i watched president trump yesterday. i saw all those laborers behind there, and it was a refreshing feeling. i would say that the country is going in a better direction. host: do you think marches like the one that took place in washington last week, do you think they have long-lasting impact and are they big drivers in the sense of how the direction the country is going to go? caller: i think that if the leaders listen to them, if they sit down with them and listen to them, it will go in that direction. slight changea from what -- i mean, to you or i sitting and watching what is happening to the school systems. i am 73 years old, so you will hear this again -- in my day, we

had so much pride in school, even though we did not have all the great things to use as far as books and whatever, we had an incentive to get educated. these kids want to get educated. they do not want to have to look over their shoulder. they do not want to have to look over their shoulder to see if some crazy person or whatever is going to come into their school or outside their school. it is an environment that we have to change. i could disagree with trump on a couple of things, but that is the way it is. i am a laborer. i could agree on something sent and disagree with other things he is talking about -- some things and disagree with other things he is talking about. but i think americans need to be proud again and what they are doing. giving his thoughts in massachusetts. on facebook, a couple of posts this morning. if the democrats would quit making all this white noise to distract and disrupt anything the president is trying to do,

it would go in a great direction. another says it is the wrong direction, but if polling holds true regarding degrees of capitalism versus socialism, the young people give me hope. there are a lot of things you can weave into this idea. we have split them right or mple way to do that. you can add your own nuances. (202) 748-8000 if you think it is going in the right direction. (202) 748-8001 if you think it is going in the wrong direction. jim in riverdale, georgia, the country is going in the wrong direction. hello. good morning, pedro. thank you for taking my call. i think the country is going in the wrong direction. listened to your previous caller from kentucky, talking about we need coal and coal bring us back. from pittsburgh, pennsylvania originally, and that was a steel capital for a

long time and helped fuel the industrial revolution in the steel industry. coal will bring back, it is going to come back here in the united states and fuel our economy, that is backwards thinking in my mind. , when was in pittsburgh the steel industry started to fall off and the coal industry, this was back in the 1970's, the late 1970's. and what the leadership in pittsburgh and the people, they decided to go in another direction and were doing things at that time that i did not really understand area they were talking about -- understand. they were talking about a school in pittsburgh, carnegie mellon university, and they required every student to have a computer. i do not understand with where they were going with that at the time, but they were forward thinking at the time. this was back in the late 1970's.

they started to do things to get away from coal and get away from steel, and get away from the things coal was doing to the environment in pittsburgh and that sort of thing. wouldn think that coal come back, to me, is laughable really. i think the country is going in a bad direction for another reason, because of the divisiveness of the top in our leadership. we have this mentality at the top, it is either my way or the highway, and i see things coming down the line -- trump, he appointed this guy, his physician, put him in charge of the v.a.. in my mind, he did that knowing that he is thinking -- he favors prioritizing -- privatizing the v.a.. host: i got you.

ronnie jackson, nominated to become the next secretary of the v.a.. washington post in its business section takes a look at the sections of the area in the country where the economy is happening, and relates that to whether the sections voted for president trump or not. that 10% oficates americans living in counties that gave trump the most support in 2016 saw an average drop growth of 0.6% in 2015 and 2016. they saw an average job growth of 1% in trump of the first year. expand to counties that were home to the top 20% of his quarters, places he got over 60% itthe vote or higher, and was up 0.2 percentage points. meanwhile, the 10% of people living in countries that showed little support for trump, which tend to do economically better overall, saw job growth slow slightly going -- slightly,

going from one .9% in 2015 and 2016 to 1.7% in 2017. login, the- manufacturing of textiles and wood products, the prominence of mining and it support services on that list, in particular, hints as to why those territories are doing better. in jupiter, florida, michelle is next. saying that the country is going in the right direction. caller: hi, how are you? should i turn the television down? host: please do, because it makes the conversation that much easier between us. caller: you know, i could go on and on as to why the country is doing so much better, and why president trump is in office now. but i will just give you the reason, and it comes straight from my heart. what is making the number one problem in the world, and that

is reason, and it comes straight from my heart. [inaudible] the major problem is that the government and congress and the reason why all these people are trying to impeach president trump is due to all of these child sex rings around the world. it is an epidemic nightmare in america. and the lefties, george soros is funding these lefties to go out and protest due to the fact that and the government people and those people in congress -- i called them lefties because there are also republicans that are criminals, that are involved with these sexual child rings. one is my dear friend -- her son is named jonah and tournaments tammy, and he was kicked -- her name is tammy. wasas kidnapped when he granted custody in california,

and he did not even have , insdiction in that county california whatsoever. the sun had been living in alabama. ohio.we will go to joe says the country is heading in the wrong direction. good morning. caller: yes, i believe the country is going in the wrong direction because of all the and -- d all the lying, host: greed and lying from whom? caller: hello? host: greed and lying from whom, joe? caller: did you say from whom? host: yes. caller: when i say lying, i mean that he says he is not going to be at the golf course. is at the golf course all the time. he says he will not have his businesses included in the government.

his kids are out there going to india, china, making all these deals, and nobody says anything about that. it is just lying, greed, the depth -- the deficit is skyrocketing -- what more do you need to know that the country is not going in the right direction? host: joe giving us his thoughts. we haveome of the calls received this morning about the right direction or wrong direction of the country, however you see it. give us a call on the lines and let us know what you think. economics and economics are talked about in the wall street journal this morning. thatry about the tax bill was signed, those extra tax dollars that some are getting at home and what they are doing with them. that personal income reflecting pretax earnings and salaries rose 0.4% in february. meanwhile, personal consumption

expenditures, a measure of a household spending on everything from dishwashers to books, increased at a slower pace, rising at a seasonally adjusted 0.2% in february from the prior month. consumers have reigned in their spending so far this year. 0.2 percent increase in spending in january and february reflects a pullback from a 0.5 increased in december and 0.7 in november. the personal saving rate in february was 3.4%, up from 3.2% in january. the highest rate since august. baltimore, maryland is next. this is gary joining us, says the country is going in the right direction. hi, gary. gary from baltimore, hello? .ne more chance for gary maine, go to alan in according to him, the country is

heading in the wrong direction. go ahead. caller: how are you doing this morning? host: fine, thank you. caller: a great, great program, washington journal, very informative and allows input from people of all persuasions. yes, the people is -- the country is going in the wrong direction, and i will mention a couple of people who know -- i read pretty heavily. , in theirand page book "democracy in america?" harvard,rofessors from the other professors i mentioned were from princeton and northwestern. the two from harvard, their book is about how democracies die. both of these groups of professors are political

theorists. they are very well informed, and they indicate and documentary congressjust as our does on the other side, but they document very heavily that america is no longer a democracy. and the problem is that america is going from a country which, in our founding, began as part of the british empire, to a democracy. now we are going from a democracy back to an empire. -- ispire is one of york -- one of your callers said when you ask from whom, or who was causing problems, the who is not a who so much as it is a what. we are operating as a democracy. soviethe fall of the empire, the understanding of

people is that empire no longer exists. nazipanese empire, the empire, french empire. all the countries that went through the process of empire and learn from it -- it was devastating both abroad and at home. jewish political theorists said empire abroad in --les tyrrany at home entails tyrrany at home. host: this is a topic we will engage in during the course of our three hours together. your thoughts on if the united states is going in the right or wrong direction. if you think it is going in the right direction, (202) 748-8000. if you think it is going in the wrong direction, (202) 748-8001. you can also post on twitter and on facebook. during the course of the

morning, we will speak with radio talkshow hosts, opinion columnists, and other people to get their take on this very same question. first up this morning from new hampshire, already artisan, the whn radio.st at guest: it is a pleasure, pedro. how are you? host: good. overall, we have been asking people about their thoughts on the direction of the country. how would you gauge that for yourself? guest: i want to comment on the last caller, that he is absolutely right. democracy dies when you see incredibly gross inequality in america, and that is what is happening here. the reason why the country is going in the wrong direction is a result of donald trump's great success, his tax reform plan, the rich got richer and the rest of us got your. -- poorer. we have blown of our deficit, spend more on our military budget than we have ever spent

before. wanting tobout not embrace necessary wars, and brings in the hawk john bolton, which means we are basically laying a path for war. take a look at what has happened at the state department. the state department is missing 40 ambassadors. remember, we are part of the world. what are some of those ambassadors? they are ambassadors to south korea, egypt, germany -- how do you create a relationship with the world when basically your state department is a vacant lot? take a look at what prewitt is doing with rolling back rules and regulations that the epa so we actually have less clean air, less clean water, more toxins in the air, and what he did by firing shulkin -- i have been listening to your callers. does he really care about that's? this guy -- vets? doctor, buta nice he has never run anything as huge as the second-largest apartment in the entire u.s. government. if you look at all of these donald trump has a

misogyny problem. we are distracted by his twitter, the women, and all the things, but he is not investing in our infrastructure, improving inequality, starting trade wars, firing everyone, and is all alone in the white house. instead of reading his daily briefing, he gets all of his news and information from fox and friends. if that is a direction to take the country, it appears to be wrong to me. so if that is the case that you make, what is the correcting factor? the midterms coming up, do you see any hope that it is some kind of correcting force? guest: absolutely. here is what i see -- we have had black lives matter, but in america we are still a country that embraces its racism. while i started a conversation, itdid not go it -- while started a conversation, it did not go very far. and then we saw the rise of me too. and what is amazing about them is they do not have leaders, but they are popping up all over the country.

a conversation. that began to move people forward, and you are seeing a greater excitement, and you are seeing it in the special elections around the united states. and then you had parkland -- think about it. ark, young, high school students. -- parkland, young, high school students. they brought the velcro to these groups because they have the kurds to speak truth, speak truth to the one thing the and donaldparty trump are afraid of, the nra. it took 17-year-olds to show america how hollow the nra is. all it does is make us vulnerable. it does not make us a for, and who are they but nothing more than lobbying groups for all the big gun manufacturers. if you want to make america different, if you want to move it in a different direction, bring in black lives matter, me too, parkland. when you see the synergy of those groups, guess what?

democracy gets a chance to be revived again. host: you think that kind of energy will actually translate into the house or send -- senate going out of republican hands? guest: i am seeing that the driver of this will not be young people. there will be a lot more turning out, and i am grateful, and i hope you get the excitement, but watch the women. watch the women, that is where it is going to happen. we saw it happen in places like alabama, virginia, you are seeing women run everywhere. i was at the big event on a day when they had the take back our lives event, i was in concord, new hampshire, and it was run totally by students, but can i tell you what the space outside the students was? it was families and lots and lots of women. middle-aged women, old women, and it was amazing because you know what? they are fed up. we are seeing women move in a direction where they finally want a place at the table. they now have more women in law school today than there are men

today. what does donald trump do? he appoints a huge number of people to the bench, predominantly men, young, white, male conservatives. it does not embrace what is the change. i see change because i see the passion here, i see that the fact that inequality usually affects women and their families, and i see their outrage about what happened at parkland. i see their outrage about stormy daniels, and there are more of us than there are of them, and they are voting. host: when it comes to further see thee 2020, we president talking about opioids, john kasich is going back next week. talk about those visits, and you were quoted as recently saying even in light of those visits, the thing that was miss was mike pence. guest: donald trump comes back to the hampshire for the first time about a week ago monday, and he shows up to talk about

he wantsd crisis, but to revive this idea, new connection to new hampshire. our republican governor is running 20 points higher in approval ratings than donald trump. donald trump showed up, it was a tepid, nice event. he is angry that he lost to hillary clinton in the general election, but he wants to talk about opioids. and it is to not bring us money, but to talk about the death penalty for opioid traffickers, as if that is an answer to anything. what happens within four days, who shows up? , mike pencehows up and chris sununu have been spending more time together in washington, d.c. than anyone i could possibly imagine. downvernor has been going to washington, 10 times. who is he hanging out with? the republican party, not donald trump, but he is spending time with mike pence. mike pence shows up to remind republicans in new hampshire that there is an alternative to

donald trump. he is not offensive, he is a card-carrying republican, an ultraconservative, and guess what? he knows how to support the president without getting stained by the president, and he loves the idea of being able to walk arm in arm with chris sununu, whether it will be pence-sununu in 2020, 2024, but he is laying down a foundation to say i am ready and able. host: one more question for you, and this goes to 2020. cnn put out a poll yesterday, and we were asking about who might be a key contender as far as presidential candidate for democrat? joe biden are topping -- is topping the list, then bernie sanders and elizabeth warman -- elizabeth warren. i-71 had did a poll in 2015, would bernie sanders have been on the list? could you pick them out of a lineup? this is all about name recognition. i love elizabeth, joe is a good

friend, bernie, i have known for 30 years, but do you know who -- been cracked the sleeping practically sleeping in new hampshire? jason kander. he was the secretary of state of missouri. he is young, attractive, 36, a veteran. he'll most won his race for the u.s. senate about roy blunt -- against roy blunt. he outperformed hillary clinton. he is working on the whole voter isue with the nonprofit he using, and will be headlining a big event in new hampshire, our big 100 club event. is jason the one? know, trust me. to bench has hardly begun filled. we recognize these names, but i do not think they are the 2020 candidates. you have not met them yet. arnieyou can hear

on wnhn. show guest: between flake and kasich and trump and jason kander and the rest of them, they are all starting to show up. host: thank you very much for your time. guest: it is a pleasure, goodbye. host: we will go to gary in tennessee, the country is going in the wrong direction. thanks for waiting. you are on. yes.r: guest as the former speaker before me, already, i am not too sure of her name, talking about 17-year-old and teenagers, i am a 17-year-old myself watching the show at the moment, and i feel like the country is not going in the wrong direction because of the president. i think he is working his hardest to improve our country and finding the falsies in our

immigration system and all the things like that. i think our issue is the [inaudible] and socialism, and these people overg -- being butthurt things that don't actually matter. we are trying to fix our country, not empower women or empower men. we need to worry about as a country ourselves, put aside the social justice warriors, and they need to actually work on making money. host: what do you think about these events, like marches and things like that, and particularly those young people involved in them. do you think they have some sway? caller: i think that they are being just persuade by these views, and they find it, they can be more powering by being on that side because that side does get more,

they get more, they get more, their opinions get hurt more, like on youtube, which is taken over by that side. you see as being blocked off of republicans, stephen grauer, his videos do not get -- they are demonic side because of his cizedical -- demoni because of his political views. it is easier to get their word out like that. let's go to marcel, brooklyn, new york, the country is going in the right direction. hello. caller: yes, it is going in the right direction, because trump is all optimistic. work can make you, and it can break you. right orlieve in wrong, that is what is going to happen. then thatieve trump,

is what you -- that is what will happen. specificsou see any than just believing the president of the world or country is going in the right direction? do you see anything specific to that? caller: [inaudible] infrastructure, jobs, all the things that he promised, that is going to happen. that is what is going to happen. everybody has their worldviews and their troubles. speak andoung people tell the troubles and their worldviews, and [inaudible] go to houston,

texas. this is bill, the country is heading in the wrong direction. caller: [inaudible] i can giveran, and you a pretty good example is why the country is going in the wrong direction. the buyback stocks, the few people that did get a bonus from corporate america, use that as income for 2017 taxes. number two, the [indiscernible] i think that as americans, we have to look at the real issues -- [indiscernible] any increase in new wages is included -- consumed by the high prices we pay every day. host: the washington times

headline talks about the attorney general jeff sessions rejecting, the headline suggests, the republican call for a second special counsel looking at the actions of the fbi. he says that he announced the decisions the day after the justice department inspector general said he was opening investigation into the fbi's use of the anti-trump steele dossier , which was used to gain approval to snoop on a trump campaign figure in 2017 -- 2016. says theons investigation is good enough and there is no need to resort to the extraordinary step of a second special counsel. the attorney general said the benefit of this approach is that the inspector general can, in some circumstances, make findings public at the end of his investigation, even if no criminal charges are filed. something a special counsel would not normally do. that is in the washington times. andrew mccabe, a name you have on this program, now has a

gofundme page to help fund his defense, legal cause. his team unveiled the legal defense fund, hosted on the website gofundme at around 2:00 p.m. yesterday, it raised $213,000 toward a $250,000 goa l. if you go to that page right now, the money raised is now $386,700. to say thates on attorney general jeff sessions fired mckay from the bureau ,bout to your -- two weeks ago just 26 hours before mccain could retire and begin collecting full retirement benefits. he will likely face questions from congress that will require an attorney to respond, it is

being represented by michael thursday, atte on 38 as a lawyer and 24 years and practice, i have rarely seen the kind of support anti-mccain is getting. he got a raw deal and people know it. he deeply appreciates the report. gospel still, arizona, the country is going in the right direction. it would be nice if i could get that much money for lying. it reminds me of an old quote that ronald reagan used to say -- it is not that our liberal friends are ignorant, it is that they know so much that is not so. i keep hearing them so much this morning, the caller from main talking about how we are losing our democracy -- america has never been a democracy. it is a republic, and the country is going in the right direction. our gdpomy shows that, shows that, building up our military, having respect around the world, and the democrats,

all that they can offer is conspiracy theories. you cannot nail them down on any one thing. it is interesting. this collusion with russia or trump is bought and paid for, the guy who funded his campaign is bought and paid for. the face of american capitalism for the last 30 years is now andidered russian collusion a communist? it does not make any sense. u says the country is going in the wrong direction. he joins us from highland park, illinois. good morning, go ahead. caller: good morning. i think the country is going way in the wrong direction. i think we were sacrificing short-term money for long-term failure. the tax cuts are almost like santa claus coming in and throwing money at people, but we need money for the future, for infrastructure, health care, and

other things. how are we going to raise that money? long-term, we will have to raise taxes and suffer from inflation because the interest rates are going to go sky high. and that caller from arizona is way off base. he does not realize that trump is using republican -- excuse me -- republican voters by giving them their guns and their short-term tax cuts just for votes. i really feel bad for the republicans who are being taken for a ride. host: we have had republicans on this program saying if the country sees 3% growth like it , thaten in some cases could pay for the tax cuts and other things. it is not something you necessarily believe? caller: look at all the proposals. the infrastructure proposal will be huge. people are losing their health care again because the obamacare . so expensive, because of

sonsactions -- obamacare got expensive because of trump's actions. the tax cuts will does hurt us in the future. host: off of twitter, a couple thislks giving thoughts morning. charlie says the president's domestic policies are taking us in the right direction, but the president needs to go back to a noninterventionist strategy on foreign policy he outlined during the campaign. says the midterms will be the telling point about the direction in the nation. if you go back to the twitter page really quick, there is a pull you can participate in giving your thoughts on the right or wrong direction. just a matter of opinion for people who want to give their comments. as of right now, at the time of this posting, 75% of those responding say the country is going in the wrong direction, 25% say it is in the right direction. if you believe the country is going in the right direction, (202) 748-8000.

in the wrong direction, (202) 748-8001. texas, sayswood, the country is going in the right direction. thank you for calling. caller: good morning, pedro. whether it is the right direction or not, the real word is confrontation. isht now, the united states mired in confrontation. callers, onetwo from arizona who was conservative and very reasonable and another one from illinois that was liberal and also reasonable. the two positions do not have to exist in opposition. the lady that you had on from new hampshire, she is one of our problems. she is vitriolic, spews this everything is trump's a problem when in fact, congress participates as well. we have a problem with communication and confrontation.

most of the media want to take down the current administration, and you just can't find the other position represented. we need more balance, and probably the biggest thing we need our people to work together . there is compromise. the daca situation, there is compromise that is possible. compromise, there is that can be made. we just need common sense to take over, that is the problem. host: would you say that the tree all goes both ways, particularly from those who hold right-leaning -- vitriol goes both ways, particularly from those that hold right-leaning views? caller: it does go both ways. both sides are yelling at each other so much they cannot hear the position. host: bob in texas, thanks for calling. he is one of those people saying the country is going in the right direction. we have heard from both of those this morning. we will continue to do so.

we had no sit-down guests on our program, we will mainly hear from you. along the way, we will stop and sts and getpinioni their takes. we have the senior political analyst for the carolina journal joining us on skype, also associated with the john locke foundation. good morning. guest: thank you for having me on, and a happy good friday to you. host: remind people about the carolina journal and the position you approach? the carolina journal is a publication of the john locke foundation. we are a free market, state-based think tank in north carolina. so we spent most of our time thinking about what is going on with the government in north carolina. obviously, a lot of national implications because we are such a big swing state, but we follow policy and politics from a

free-market perspective. a lot of folks that will be listening to you and watching the program will be saying oh, here is another conservative right-winger talking to you this morning. host: with that in mind in the position you take, we have been asking folks about the idea of right direction/wrong direction in the country. where do you stand on that? guest: i almost want to say let me check my twitter feed first, because it seems that something on twitter could change what you think about right direction or wrong direction at any moment. it is a mixed bag. when you see the appointment of textual list constitutionalist judges, when you see the rollback of dubious obama era regulations and executive voters , when you see a major tax reform that is going to help jumpstart the economy, you say ok, things are moving in the right direction. when you see the trump administration put forward these upiffs, which will end blunting the positive impacts on the economy, when you see a major spending increase approved

by congress and signed into law by the president, when you see congressional dysfunction and when you see these twitter wars with the president, announcing dismissals via social media rather than through the constitutional process, that makes you think things are going the other way. i think your last caller really had one of the most important comments in mind when you are looking at right direction and wrong direction, and it is that we seem to have a toxic, over politicized everyday life now. and i cannot see that anybody thinks that it is moving us in the right direction. it is a very mixed bag. i wish we could put government back in its proper place in our lives so that we could interact much more often without thinking about politics, but it seems like almost everything is becoming political these days. i cannot see anyone who thinks that means we are going in the right direction. you referred to

the on the spending bill and some of the concerns republican have about that -- republicans have about that. there was a story today --cussing that paul walker paul ryan and john walker are coming together to take another stab at a balanced budget on a federal level. do you think these approaches have any kind of traction? they shouldinly, have traction. i do not know that they do. we have such a dysfunction in congress, with both sides basically staking out a position and say we are not going to work with people on the other side. if there is going to be any time when you would see a balanced budget amendment have any sort of traction beyond that which it has had in the past, now should be the time, because we have set ourselves up so that we have a lot less revenue that will be coming in, i should say a lot less new revenue. we will still have plenty of revenue, trillions of dollars coming into the government, but with the tax cuts, you will see less of an increase in revenue while at the same time, we have ramped up spending.

that is not a recipe for long-term success. we already have a huge federal debt and will see much larger debt, and that is something that we have become accustomed to in dealing with politicians, is they like to cut taxes and like to raise spending, and in the long run you cannot do both at the same time. host: wasn't that the attitude thegh, as -- that was not previous attitude before. and what happened between the disconnect between republicans who are concerned about these things, but at the same time they support these things? guest: i think you have a mix of use. if you go back to the reagan era, there were also tax cuts. at the time, supply-siders were saying there is going to be such growth in the economy, but these tax cuts will pay for themselves. i do not like that particular language, but the idea is that the growth in the economy will cover for the fact that you are not getting as much revenue through the tax rates. it, but some merit to

when you continue to increase government spending to the degree that we are, that is not going to come to pass. a sickly, if you are going to cut tax rates, you also have to put -- basically, if you are going to cut tax rates, you also have to put a lid on spending growth, and our congress and administration have not decided to do that. they have cut the taxes and ramped up spending. you can't do both. and the people who are just behind people's names and say we will root for our team, those looking at it from a deficit hawk perspective say we are setting ourselves up for a long-term problem. host: on the terrace, do have a iffs, do you have a sense of how the north carolin ian economy will be affected? guest: companies that produce steel will benefit, because the tariffs are put in place to

protect certain industries, the steel and aluminum industry, but to the sense that you have countries that ally -- rely on steel and aluminum as inputs for other products, and you have consumers buying products that have these elements in them, they will lose. i think in north carolina, as in the rest of the country, the number of jobs that depend on steel and aluminum as an input rather than an output is much larger than the number of jobs in those actual industries, plus all consumers and up on the downside as well. i think north carolinians would that negative impact blunts to some extent the positive impact we will see from having much lower tax rates and the additional investment that comes from a lower corporate rate. the regulatory side, a story in the paper is taking a look at the trump administration, they might be debating this idea of fuel efficiency goals in the automotive industry, but when it

comes to the rolling back of regulation itself, is there a concern from you that if this is the approach, as a free park -- free market person, you look at the regulation and rollback. how do you maintain safety standards, make sure other standards are kept? where is that balance? guest: there is a balance. you do want to have regulations that promote public health and safety, and those are important regulations. i think sometimes people on my side of the fence will go overboard in saying/regulations. regulations.slash there should be regulations for things dealing with safety and health. i think we have seen too much regulation, and in the last administration, the problem was sometimes these regulations were put in place on a dubious constitutional ground. one of the things the trump administration has done is come in and say some of these obama era executive orders that seemed to have some overreach, get rid

of those. i think that is a good way to go , and have regulations move forward through the normal political process, the normal regulatory process rather than from the white house. you're right. there is a balance, and that will be something about which reasonable people will disagree, but the debate should play out in the normal regulatory process rather than the white house saying this is something we like, we will put it in place regardless of what congress says. host: before we let you go, your take on the upcoming midterms and how these economic factors, spending and decisions by republicans to spend, how they play into the final result as you see them? guest: i am not sure how much the things we have been talking about will play into the results as much as the reaction to the first two years of the trump administration. the first midterm of a new president, there is always a referendum on that person. i think we will see any impact of how people feel the donald

trump administration has been moving. if the economy is rolling along, that might be good news. dislikee so much donald trump and what he has been up to, i think it will be bad news for the republicans. what democrats need to watch out for, they need to have a message beyond being anti-trump. if they say we are not donald trump, we are not aligned with things will not turn out as well as they hoped. they need to have a positive message about how they will make things better. if they do, the historical trends that favor democrats might help them again this time around. host: our guest is a senior political analyst and columnist for the carolina journal. com is theurnal. website if you want to see his writing. what are you contemplating writing about? host: -- guest: this is something that fits right in. people look at our website on tuesday, they will see an

interesting column that responds to a recent speech we had in our office from the editor of national affairs, talking about how we have seen a breakdown in american institutions. he was talking about -- one of the keys to that is that institutions in our lifetime have generally been seen as formative. they help form the people within them -- the white house, the presidency, journalism, the military. all of these things are institutions, but people have lost trust in them because institutions have moved from being formative, forming the people within them, to being performative, people see them as a platform on which to speak and we all end up yelling at each other. this leads right into the conversation we have today about whether we are on the right track or wrong track. people look at our website this coming tuesday, they will see that column. kokai, thank you for your time. our first hour

asking you to give us your sense on whether the country is going in the right or wrong direction. we will continue on in our second and third hours. if you want to call us on the phone, it is (202) 748-8000 if you, if you think the country is going in the right direction, (202) 748-8001 if you think the country is going in the wrong direction. you can post on our media sites, make your thoughts known there. we will be joined by other columnist and opinionists as we go along the way. in washington, d.c., thinks the country is going in the wrong direction. caller: good morning. have you ever been a passenger in a car and someone was driving and you knew they were going in the wrong direction but they thought they were going in the right direction? that is what happens when you have someone who is incompetent, as this individual in office right now. when someone changes the tax code but will not show you their own taxes mother is an issue. for the voters like bob in

texas, the 17-year-old than anyone thatort him, blindly support somebody because of what party they belong to is really hypocritical. you already have a very new reminded perspective. i believe bob talked about confrontation as well. confrontation can be something like someone describing there being a confrontation between a suspect in the am. someone has been victimized. it is very difficult not to argue when you have the suffering from some sort of oppression or depression. it is very ironic because the same person in the white house is going to memorialize people that have an addiction. crisis.opioid has anyone memorialize people that suffered during the crack era in the 1980's, 1990's, people that suffer from alcohol addiction? for him, everything is a distraction. host: mike in new york.

he says the country is going in the right direction. caller: good morning. i hear all of this right, left, republicans, democrats, but you are not going to find perfection this side of heaven. isis is gone. he decimated isis. jobs are back. everyone has their opinion but it is the facts that matter. i have so many thoughts to tell you. look at the economy. again, isis is gone. host: take the economy. what is it about it that proves the country is going in the right direction? caller: the jobs are back, companies are coming back from overseas. i remember when carrier, when wasa was president, trump running, he says i will bring carrier back. what are you going to do, snap your fingers and carrier will come back?

it was not that easy but he had dealings with him and people are coming that. apple is investing billions of dollars. i am not like you on tv but i read these things and it is not what i or you think, or what the other colors thing, it is facts that matter. this guy just said that people vote because i'm a conservative. i'm not black. i listen to facts. you are not going to find perfection this side of heaven but at least the ideology of this guy may bring a summer to where we have not been. host: gavin. darien, illinois. says the country is in the wrong direction. caller: happy easter. host: thank you. caller: i would like to say that we have our priorities in disarray at this point. financing the military industrial complex, we neglect

weapons programs and that sort and we are neglecting our basic economy, our education system, our infrastructure, small business. basically, with the last 10 reserve, byederal printing -- i don't know the estimates -- i don't know, $13 trillion and taking the free market economy away because people, especially corporations can get free money at the fed window, driving 0% interest rates to the point where nobody can make any money on cd's or anything like that anymore. host: boston, massachusetts. billy. he says the country is in the

right direction. we finally reduce the corporate tax rate to be competitive with other countries. unfortunately, this also comes with a new tax under the auspices of a tax cut, university endowments. going to cut taxes while you impose a new tax on university endowments, that is the foundation for the investments of our future. if we are going to drill in anwar, we need engineers. host: as far as this approach, you talk about -- billy is gone. wilbur is in dallas, texas. country is in the wrong direction. becausea lot of it is [inaudible] if you disagree with him, he is out of the cabinet.

if you disagree with trump, you are out of the cabinet. you don't need yes men in the white house. host: isn't it common to surround someone with people that you want to do? caller: not necessarily. host: give an example. i cannot think of one right now but we need people who are experts in their field that do not necessarily disagree or just expertsump, in their field. we need more education. trump up to listen. if he just says no, give me some yes men. wilbur in dallas, texas. he mentioned education. story in the wall street journal looks at paying for college by students. , students andtime

more than half of all u.s. states are paying more in tuition to attend public colleges or universities and the government contributes. the privatization of public education has been underway for decades but this inflection point was hastened by deep cuts states me to their education appropriation after the 2008 recession. funding level since have only that of the recovered, according to a report released thursday. the story goes on to say the average annual tuition of a four-your public college or 6514.rsity was $ public spending per student declined between 2000 seven and 2012. appropriation began picking back up in 2012 but the recovery has been uneven across the country. after the great recession, appropriations increased 14% but that is now going down and it

now seems we are coming to the end of the recovery. robert in hudson, florida. country is on the right direction. go ahead. caller: hang on one second. sorry about that. host: go ahead, you are on. caller: the country is in the right direction. jobs., we have bountiful everything is going well. my son is in the construction business. to 14ent from $8 million million. what is wrong with the economy? did they see that increase in the last year, over a period of years? caller: no, in the last year. host: so strictly in terms of economy, this is the right direction? caller: exactly.

they have to give the guy a chance to do his job. that is all my thing is. no matter what he does, i watch the news. says, i don't care what he does, we are not working with him. how do you run the congress? you can't. host: that is robert in florida. one of the reactions by the decision by the president to nominate ronnie jackson as the head of the v.a. is getting reaction from various veterans groups. the new york times this morning, the issue has been pitted against almost every major group, advocacy groups funded by the koch brothers and their allies, at the center of months of intrigue as the department of veterans affairs coming which is charged for caring for the united states 20

million veterans. mr. shulkin's departure and the elevation of dr. ronny jackson to the top job at ray's new fears among democrats and groups , worrying that they will push for major changes in the veterans health care and that they oppose. the end result would effectively bleed to death the network of hospitals and clinics that have taken decades to build. dr. shulkin, who was dismissed wednesday evening body tweet and anin an op-ed interview thursday that a radical restructuring of veterans health care would not work. path that hedle tried to pursue, investing in their own health care system while offering veterans more although not unfettered access to private doctors were rejected by trump administration , in favor of rewarding private individuals and companies. that is on the op-ed page of the

new york times. from ohio, country is in the wrong direction. rick. caller: 50 years ago, we were the number one country in the world in education, health care, and on and on. today we are right at the bottom . anybody who says we are going in the right direction, they are not very smart. pedro, i have written three books, and i also have my own radio show. have been invited to speak and universities. fromas been responsible taking us to the greatest civilization in the history of mankind to where we are now? the answer is easy. it is called liberalism and

conservatism. what is that? the democratic party has been taken over by liberals. that is connecticut, new york, and california. that is wall street, the federal reserve, treasury, that is high .ech, trade, deregulation ed our corporations at 90% when we were the number one country in the world. are the state of new york, connecticut, california, three of the riches states in the world. conservatism is the south, going back to the civil war, and the main states are texas, georgia, and florida. what do these six states have in common? they have the disney corporation, time warner, msnbc, radio.t&t, clear channel

so when you look at the midwest, which has been completely drained, and you look at california, which is the fifth-largest economy in the world, connecticut, the richest state in the country, new york with the trillions and trillions of dollars of fraud, california has the facebook's and the apples, texas, you have your exxon -- rick, the point you are making is what? caller: host: we are going to leave it right there. caller: as far as i'm concerned, i'm a veteran myself. earlier,bout the v.a.

they are doing a fine job. this idea are right or wrong direction, you say it is right. is that one of the things that factors into your decision or other things? caller: there are other things, too. there has been a drop in crime since donald trump has been in there. he wants to bring that the death penalty and stuff for -- hello? host: you are on, go ahead. caller: he wants to bring back the death penalty and a lot of the stuff or these guys that are pumping drugs out here. i am all for that. bring back the electric chair and let's get rid of these people. and that is a good deterrent because people start thinking twice before they start going out and doing this stuff. as far as his policies, i'm well satisfied with them. otherthose are some

thoughts from our viewership when it comes to the idea of the right and wrong direction of the united states. you can make your calls at (202) 748-8000 if you think the company is going in the right direction. if you think it's in the wrong direction, (202) 748-8001. you can make your callsas we hal morning, joined by there is opinionists on these matters. joining us by skype is laura belin, the editor of the blog bleeding heartland taste out of iowa. good morning. guest: thanks for having me. viewersuld you remind about the purpose of your blog, the things you write about? guest: bleeding heartland covers primarily iowa politics, so a lot of state-level news related to campaigns, elections, state , the governor's policies. we also write about what i went in congress have been up to, social and environmental issues are another thing that we cover.

sometimes local politics but primarily state-level. host: first, let me get your personal thinking based on what you write about, who you talk to , as far as a sense of direction of the country, where you think it's going. guest: i don't know how we could be going in a worst direction, honestly. it is terrifying almost every day the news coming out of washington. we are on track to run a trillion dollar deficit in a good economy. you wonder what will happen when the economy goes bad. we just passed a completely unaffordable tax cut that primarily helps wealthy people and corporations. there are so many officials who are either not qualified for their job or are not doing the job. the epa administrator scott pruitt is trying to roll back or delay practically every environmental rule he can get his hands on. the secretary of state, who got the order of friendship from the russian president, apparently

was not pro-russian enough. so now we have a new secretary of state and possibly his replacement is somebody who supervised a dark site where there was torture going on in the last decade. i could go on endlessly. the housing department is not in forcing the discrimination rules like they are supposed to be. the interior secretary has had scandals. it seems like everywhere you turn in this administration exert going terribly. i don't know why you would fire the veterans administration director and then hire someone who has absolutely no administrative experience. in the white house dr., he may be a fine doctor but is not qualified to run the v.a. the country is is headed in a terrible direction and i'm very disappointed in my representation in congress. don't feel the republicans in congress from all you are holding this administration accountable like they should be.

host: one of the discussion points is this idea that ,errorists --tariffs particularly to china, how that plays out in iowa. what is the connection? guest: there is a lot of concern here. i find it funny that some republicans in congress, steve king, joni ernst him have been talking about how terrible this will before i went agriculture. it was clear along that the trade policies donald trump fororted with not be good the farm sector, which is a huge part of the economy. right now they estimate the pork arrifs that china has announced will cost iowa producers $224 million. the ethanol tariff will also be costly because a third or more of the corn crop goes toward ethanol production. the one thing people are waiting on holding their breath here is to see whether china does anything on soybeans. so far they have not. most of the grain farmers in

iowa are rotating between corn and soybeans. more than half of the iowa soybean crop goes to china. onchina were to put a tariff soybeans, that would be devastating. this was entirely foreseeable in iowa, a trump administration pushing a tariff policy would have bad consequences for iowa. host: you talk a lot about politics there in iowa, so i want to talk about things currently going on. the iowa governor's race, a lot of shakeups. us a sense of the major issues and who was involved. host: this is a very unusual race in iowa for several reasons. guest: the incumbent governor was in the lieutenant governor. she gained the governors powers after our previous governor became u.s. ambassador to china. as has been elected lieutenant governor but has

never been at the top of the ticket herself. she had a challenger in the formercan primary, the mayor of cedar rapids, the second-largest city in iowa, who also used to be a state legislative leader in the 1990's. he has been running against her for a year now but he just found out that he did not qualify for the ballot, the republican primary ballot. so he will appeal the decision in court. it is hard to say how that will shake out. right now, it does not look like she will have any kind of challenge in the republican primary. her is good news for because he has been trying to make the conservative case against her leadership, that she mismanaged the budget, mismanaged several aspects of state government, partly because she doesn't have the experience. on the democratic side, we have six candidates for governor. that is more than i can ever remember running before. it will be an interesting race.

the polls right now have shown about half of volume was think is doing a good job at only a third of them would vote for her if the election were today. 49% in the last full set it is time for someone new in the governor's office. i'm expecting a very competitive governor's race either way. whether or not him reynolds has a republican primary challenge, i still expect the race to be competitive. when it comes to the midterm elections for the house of representatives, some shakeups. can you explain? guest: we have four congressional districts in iowa, we have nonpartisan redistricting, so we don't have gerrymandering. our congressional districts are more competitive than in other states. right now we have three republicans and one democrat representing us in the house. the democrat is probably fairly safe. steve king is probably fairly safe. two of the republicans are going to be in targeted races by both

parties. , a few david young months ago, we had seven democrats running against him. that is my district which includes the southwest part of iowa. more recently, several of those candidates decided not to continue. one of the contenders, teresa greenfield, was not able to qualify for the ballot. she did not have enough ballot signatures. triedcal democratic party a maneuver to nominate her as an addition candidate anyway but the attorney general said that this was not designed for that situation and should not be added to the ballot. so right now we have three democrats. i think very highly of all of them. i think any one of them would present a strong challenge to david young, our incumbent here in the third district. i think that will be interesting to see how that race plays out. host: one of the things we have

been talking about over the past three weeks is this shooting in parkland, florida particularly because of the march for our lives rally. one of the issues that came up were the student protesters and what happens if they get involved, as they are going to college. you spent time after that calling colleges and universities in iowa. why is that? guest: i was interested to see what the policies were in place. i have not heard about any iowa high schools harshly disciplining students for participating in walkouts. several in the des moines area -- my own son's high school, they sent an official photographer to take pictures of the students walking out and were posted on the district website. i don't know of any discipline for students protesting. i thought since it may happen, when more of these walkouts occur, i was interested. what i heard back from our state

universities and a number of private colleges was that it would not affect the students admission status. , ithey had been admitted would not affect their chances of enrolling. if they have not applied yet, it will not affect their future chances of being admitted. i have not seen any problems with that. i should say our iowa controlled legislature is similar to congress in that they are completely resistant to any reasonable regulation on guns. they have been rolling back our regulations on guns. since the parkland massacre happened, republicans in our legislature took a step toward passing what would be a very extreme state constitutional amendment that would make it very difficult to have any regulation on guns. the one thing i would add in this area is, one of the democrats in iowa house has been trying to get legislation passed that would make it easier -- like an emergency system if you

knew that someone come a loved one was having trouble, would make it easier to get a gun removed from someone who may pose a danger to themselves or others. the iowa house of republicans blocked even a vote on that amendment, threatened to pull a large bill on mental health from the floor completely if a democrat did not withdraw the gun safety amendment. that was disappointing to me, and this was after the parkland massacre. host: laura belin is from bleeding heartland. what are you working on for publishing? guest: i'm working on lots of things right now. there are so many things going on with the state legislature, passing a budget soon. there are a few bills, some good but mostly bad, that i've been working on, something related to lobbying, a local politics issue that i think is interesting. the governor's race and congressional races are always

news to cover. eventful --a very last year was very eventful in iowa politics. with this election, we are going to have so many competitive races. also because of our nonpartisan redistricting, we have a huge number of competitive races, so i try to follow the most interesting of those as well. host: thank you for your time this morning. back to your calls. greg, manchester, new jersey. says the country is going in the wrong direction. caller: good morning. i just want to complement laura belin on her comments. i think she is very well knowledged. i appreciate that. i believe we are going in the wrong direction because if anybody has seen the frontline show, a news show, which ran during the primaries for the theident, they would see

biographies of both triumph and hillary clinton. anybody who saw that show would see that trump's ray neidl is himmler. andnybody sees what he does compares them to what hitler's did, they will see that he is a dictator. i think that this country, the citizens should go out, like the kids today, championing gun control, they should all go out and demand his removal. he is a dictator. that is about all i want to say. if nobody can see that, they don't see anything. host: scottsdale, arizona. jack is calling on those who say the country is in the right direction. caller: thanks for taking my call. i hope that you give me the correct amount of time that you gave laura from the bleeding

heartland liberals in iowa there. first of all, let's start out with facts. number one, the economy is the greatest it has been in a number of years. unemployment is lowest. they just released in the unemployment, lowest in 45 years. african-americans, the best it's been in a number of years. and mexican employment. is very encouraging with the economy. now let's also look at policy, ok? isis is justut, about wacked out. he is the first president to talk to north korea, put them back on their heels, in our history. we have the strongest defense

with mattis running things to get things corrected and put america first. host: tyrone in new york. country is going in the wrong direction. caller: hello, pedro. we are not paying attention to the fact that we literally have billionaires running this country. being a billionaire, they had human desires, like everyone else. they don't want to be told what to do. they will do whatever they feel will be better for their bottom line. these people are not thinking about the small people out here. they are thinking about themselves. they still believe in the trickle-down theory. talking about the tax cuts or are there other ways that these billionaires are affecting policy? if so, how specifically? caller: my understanding is the tax-cut goes better for 87% of the 1%.

the is more for the 1% than other 99%. industries, your gun industry, pharmaceutical industry, they are making their money off the miseries of others, and they know what is going on. but because they're are able to do it and not be held accountable -- and this country has gotten so weak, they cannot -- these companies are too big to jail. you have a country that is supposedly built on laws and rules and regulation. when these people break the laws, like the pharmaceutical industry, when they pump these drugs into these communities and are found guilty of doing it -- they did a dateline story on it -- they said they cannot jail these people because their lawyers are too powerful for the government. host: the previous caller

mentioned syria. the los angeles times reporting the u.s. military said on friday two personnel have been killed and five wounded by a roadside bomb in syria. the military did not say where the incident occurred but it came hours after a local syrian official said a roadside bomb exploded in the arab-kurdish town not far from the border with turkey. the military statement said the incident occurred thursday night in the new wounded personnel were being evacuated for treatment. he was coalition statement said details were being held pending further investigation. warren, michigan. ron says the country is going in the right direction. caller: i think we are going in the right direction. everything trump has done is good. everything he tried to do, at least you tried. he is trying to do everything he said he would do. -- that one guy was

talking about billionaires, everyone getting in the mix. how about bloomberg and these other guys? democrats have millionaires pouring out more money than we do in the republicans. in fact, about nine times as than what is in going into the republican cause. as far as these people hollering about guns. when i was nine years old, i was making guns. this is a bunch of b.s. host: the new york times talking about a new policy from the state because -- department. the department will publish new rules this week to require most visitors and immigrants to the united states to diebold and the recent social media history, caring and one of the key security enhancements from the president's executive order.

travelers would also be asked to and phone numbers for international travel over the past five years and to detail any immigration problems they have had with the u.s. and elsewhere. asked aboutso be potential family connections to terrorism. in a striking move, with me immigrants from countries where female genitalia mutilation is prevalent would be directed to a ensure that they are made aware that the practice is it illegal in the u.s. charlie says the country is heading in the wrong direction. he is from roslyn heights, new york. caller: how are you doing? all of this terrorist threat is overblown. are dying more today from the lack of single-payer health care than terrorism. our country has become very exploitative in the past few years and people cannot even live anymore. we need a revolution, i'm

talking about an american bloodless revolution. i'm not talking about identity politics. rich corporations have taken over both the democrats and republican parties. that is what trump is all about, getting people to run to the democrats who are not too much better. right now they are trying to divide young and older progressives. that was done in the 1960's, they would call it the generation get. host: so then how do you write that, correct, change the direction? needr: the american people ways to communicate with one another. the democrats are not much better than the republicans. corporations have taken over both parties. when you say they need to communicate better, what do you mean by that, why do you think they are not communicating in the first ice? caller: what we see is the corporate media. everything is being controlled by very rich corporations.

the american people themselves cannot communicate too well with one another. it's a big country -- host: even with social media this day and age? caller: it helps but not enough. we need more. we need people to really communicate. the man who called before saying you have these millionaires in the democratic party. he is right. but we need aoo, real revolution in this country. we need a bloodless, real revolution in this country. host: barbara is in kentucky. she says the country is going in the right direction. caller: i am just a regular citizen from the state of kentucky. i think it is going in the right direction because president trump did not come into office with all the things that are going on right now. they were there when he got

here. he has been blocked at every corner. , thentucky right now teachers are going through, right now, they are in penny mode because of some backdoor dealing, the teachers are going. barbara, back to the united states as a whole, you said the president came in with a lot of resistance. particularly, what has changed since he has been in that convinces you that the country is going in the right direction? the country has more jobs right now. more opportunity. there are so many people on welfare, everybody on food stamps, things like that, that was there before. it is starting to change. but he is blocked at every corner he goes to. no matter what he does, it is always wrong.

give him a chance. everybody back down. give him a chance. host: paul ryan, the house speaker, in the washington post this morning. questions about whether he is going to leave that position. the house speaker not about to retire anytime soon, take it from two men that know him well and are familiar with the burdens of political leadership. the idea that he will walk out there in the middle of a fist fight is ludicrous, that is john boehner, rice predecessor. absolutely not, said eric cantor. the notion that iran is going to abdicate in leave is prosperous. telephonen separate interviews yesterday reacting to speculation about ryan's future about a rank-and-file republican told media that the wisconsin republican could resign within 60 days. telephone interviewsryan is only 48 yearst has been in office for 20 years. he never really wanted the job and was drafted into the post.

his biggest policy goal was to overhaul the tax code and ended in victory in december. so valuable to republicans, their chief spokesperson and respected colleague in most corners, that an early departure would likely propel other lawmakers to have the exits before a brutal midterm election. he is going to be the leader of the team through the election, according to john boehner. birmingham, alabama. , thinks theins us country is going in the wrong direction. caller: how are you? host: fine, thank you. go ahead. caller: well, my problem with donald trump is, the first thing after gate, he says he is going to make america great again. who you are,ds on whether america was ever great. they are always talking about immigrants.

everybody in the united states, other than the american innocence -- indians come is an immigrant. host: let me back up so that we can start with where wast are starting this morning, your sense of why the country is going in the wrong direction, is there a specific reason? caller: it is going in the wrong direction because it starts with leadership. lying, youership is know, tweeting, just out of control in the first place. congress that is basically republican. we used to have checks and where the executive branch,congressional and then you have the judicial system.

all of those should have been checks and balances. now you have so many things. nobody is held accountable. you can tell me what ever you about how things are going, how things are better, but they are not better. they are better for some people. as far as the black and the brown and the yellow people, it is not going our way. is --k what the paranoia himself saidsident yesterday he looked at the african-american on a plumbing rate and it was the lowest he had seen, but that does not convince you? caller: no, it does not convince me. it is not what you say, it is what you legislate. host: what do you mean by that?

theer: ok, as far as, like, opioid epidemic. it is like the crack epidemic. either one of them is an epidemic. arehe one hand, you warehousing all of these black people over here as far as the crack goes. , you know, issis an epidemic. clearwater,n florida. says the country is going in the right direction. caller: i believe the country is going in the right direction. if you look at the way things were for the last couple of presidents, we are doing a lot better.

host: specifically how so? how are we doing a lot better come in compared to the previous presidents? caller: like i say, the economy is better. andre actually standing up the world is starting to respect toagain instead of we bowing them. my father was a veteran. when obama went around the world and was basically apologizing to other people in the world that we were basically at war with and then help to restore, he was ticked off. he passed away before trump got in but he would have liked trump . i like trump. he says of the way it is. he is not a politician, so you cannot expect him to talk like a politician. he is there to drain the swamp. the swamp is full of a bunch of swamp monsters. what about the recent act

by the republican congress supported by the president, the omnibus spending bill, which introduced more spending and the tax cuts as well? are those concerns to you? caller: that is about the biggest thing that he did wrong which i totally disagree with. nobody should have signed anything that big in that short amount of time without reading it. especially with him being a businessman, like you say, he should've read the contract. i guarantee you, probably, if trump's construction company had a contract that day, he would not have signed it that quick. but that is the main thing i disagree with. but there is no bipartisan work. we are basically we the people, not we the partisans. washington is a partisan system. trump is as close to an independent as we are going to get. host: that is todd in clearwater, florida. the daily beast highlighting a new policy by immigrations and

customs enforcement. it is ending the practice of automatically releasing pregnant women from detention, according to communications inside. this is because of president trump's order enhancing security in the interior which requires stricter enforcement of immigration laws. previously the practice was to release women who were pregnant. now pregnant women will be able to get release if an officer determines so on a case-by-case basis. pregnant women are sometimes detained under the previous guidelines. immigrant rights advocates say the practice is dangerous to women, their unborn children, and that pregnant women are more likely to miscarry if they are free. this means that more pregnant women will spend time in detention. charlene is in norfolk, virginia. the country is going in the wrong direction. caller: i feel it is going in the wrong direction because,

number one, plus american people, we cannot find a place to live. the reason why we cannot find a place to live -- i am not trying to sound racist or anything like but they have everything sewed up. if there is a place that is vacant, and you know it is vacant, they will tell you it is not, to move their own kind in. innow a lot of people section eight who cannot find a place, they are from here. there are a lot of people who do not have section eight, and they are working people, and they cannot find a place. when they talk about discrimination, it is discrimination. so what can be done about that? -- i am notoved originally from virginia.

i am originally from new york. when i moved back home to find a place, i could not find a place. but did have empty places, you know, they told stories, saying there are no empty apartments, there are no empty houses, but you're looking right at it. i have a best friend living in a shelter because she cannot find a place. she filled out applications, they never called her back. eight,ned up for section she is waiting for that, and she has been waiting for years. you tell me if it is going in the right direction or the wrong direction? you have working people, hard-working people, cannot find a place because they will say, the place is rented, but it is not. host: charlene talking about the housing situation. you can factor that into your

decision-making as far as whether the country is going in the right or wrong direction. again, if you think it is going in the right direction, (202) 748-8000. (202) 748-8001, if you think it's going in the wrong direction. someone who takes it's going in the right direction is jacob in oxford, pennsylvania. caller: thanks for having me on c-span. i think the country is going in the right direction but actually more slowly but surely, more ironic reasons behind that. listening to a lot of your reason -- callers today, things that you discussed with some of the stores you are sharing, i think a lot of us, not just as people, but americans in this country, have to realize that we live in the digital age, and a time period where we are trying to figure out with how we interact, how we elect. you are starting to see if extreme is an take over on both sides, the left and right.

one thing to point out, the reason we are going in the right direction, slowly but surely, is because for almost two terms, no matter how you view the previous president -- i supported him the best i could, i have criticisms as well. but for two terms we had a republican side do their best to make sure the affordable care act could not survive, derived. when they finally have the microphone, when they finally had a torch passed their way, the election of donald trump, majority in the house and senate, they had no plan. they were scrambling to make a plan. that frustrates anybody of any race, of any demographic. what i'm getting at is, i believe as more people vote, as more people vote for their actual personal beliefs, what they think is not happening when it comes to the elected officials, realizing that there is extremism on both sides, they will realize in any democratic nation you can disagree as much

as you want but you have to compromise. so i think one day we will see that we don't need to elect an outsider like donald trump who, frankly, seems like he is just as correct as the next corrupted clinical official. in pennsylvania. james on twitter says trump is the most independent president we have had since jackson. mary says that we are so lost right now. no sit-down guests formally today. we will be talking to the opinion folks throughout the morning as we take on this idea about the direction of our country. getting your thoughts on it. that is the plan for today. as you have heard already during the course of the morning, we have heard from several people in the opinion market, dealing with ideas. joining us from charlottesville,

virginia, another radio talkshow host, joe thomas of wchv radio. good morning. guest: thank you very much. thank you for having us back on. we appreciate your opportunity to share some time with your viewers. direction,is idea of mr. thomas, how would you rate that, how would you gauge that? caller: [inaudible] host: i think we are having some audio issues. let's see if we can fix that a little bit. .et's go to a call jim in pittsburgh, pennsylvania. go ahead. jim in pittsburgh. mitch in delaware.

hello. caller: good morning. mitch in delaware, i'm a tea party democrat. one of the quote president's greatest spokespeople ever in regards to the economy. it is the economy, stupid. thank you for c-span. happy easter, everyone. host: let's try joe thomas again. mr. thomas, the direction of the country? back to 1789,go what was the direction of the country done? if you are judging it right this second, pedro, you say, am i happy with the tweets, with some of the bluster, some of the rhetoric that is being used to perhaps push people to negotiate that we never thought would be possible five years ago, two years ago.

that is a movable feast. you may not be happy with the way it's done, it may not be the way that you would do it, but i said to a guest earlier this morning, having grown up in new york city, i can very easily remove the name kim jong-un and insert ed koch and know that i have seen donald trump do this before where he has found some intractable moment and said, i have a way to get these folks to the table. here is how we will do it. and he has done it. it may not be the way that you are i would have done it, but we are not president of the united states. the question is what is the overall goal, protecting our liberties and freedoms and making sure we have the opportunities to feed our families, pay our bills without having to worry about who is the elected official in office so that i get the best benefit check at the end of the month. care of thate

myself. that is the way donald trump road in in michigan, ohio, those working-class communities who said that is all i want. host: one of the things, according to your twitter feed, what i have seen over the last couple of days that you been focused on is the signing of the omnibus spending bill. give us your take on actual republican support for this bill , tell us who you have been talking to about it. guest: two of our congressional representatives are tom garrett and dave brat. both of them were no votes in it, very frustrated with discontinuing use of parliamentary procedure to push the ball down the track. as dave brat points out, he is on the budget committee, they passed all of the appropriations bills assist very to have a traditional budget. it has been since 2009 the last time congress actually acted on a budget in the traditional sense. , as happens ino so many other governmental

addtances, ad spending -- spending on to the quarter or year or month before and it goes further down the pike. a hostagees is situation where you say, if you don't sign this, the military will that get funded. that is actually a disingenuous argument. is awill be funded, that guarantee. social security payments will be made. it is the exchequer's office that falls into issue. that is where the hostage situation really gets driven. and really in periods a lot of people. trillions of dollars in washington, d.c. why can't you make do with it? i heard the fellow from delaware say he was a tea party democrat. stood for, taxed enough already. don't tell us you cannot live without it, cannot live within that means. do when you need to do with that.

that is where people get most frustrated around here and around the country. ultimately, the president signed it, suggesting that he may veto it. what do you think is a long-term effect just for that, particularly as midterms are coming up? guest: he said things to the congress that i don't think i have ever heard. he sounded like a parent after a bad report card coming home. i'm going to sign this but this is the last one. is that an idle threat? is that one of those don't make me turn this car around threat? it been my experience with donald trump that he does not make threats like that, so one can only imagine and wait and see. in this case we are looking at a situation where i don't think he will sign the next one. host: the virginia senate race is also something you are keeping an ion, -- keeping an eye on. talk about the potential for the reelection of senator tim kaine, who might be the strongest challenger? guest: we have already seen how

polling can be used to push a there it is sometimes. tim kaine and the polls out there, when put up against any of the republican candidates, is far ahead. corey stewart, in the christopher newport poll, was ahead of the gratis. found out that someone failed to qualify for the ballot. another candidate necessarily have the signatures in yet. of the three candidates here in charlottesville, here on wednesday having a debate, it was very well taken, very different candidates. nick has come across as the more polished governmental figure. however, the experiences of a corey stewart, who is elected as a countywide official in a county that went for barack obama and hillary clinton, is certainly something that i don't think a lot of conservatives are looking at in virginia.

if the black community in prince william county is ok with corey stewart, why is the narrative that he is such a horrible person? i think that is what's happening in the media in general. we are losing our ability to say so and so is this, that, or the other thing, because we are being seen -- in this case with the march for our lives, that what we are reporting is not necessarily what is going on anymore. you and me, all of our brothers and sisters in the media, need to get that high ground back. host: one more thing i want to talk about on very local levels in charlottesville, the process of electing a mayor. you are involved with a group of people that talks about how to elect the mayor. what changes would you like to see? guest: like many areas in the country we have an at-large election amongst citizens for city counselors and then what we

have called a strong city style manager of government. the city manager is really the executive branch. who has theer, title of mayor, elected independent outside of the political party structure, she doesn't have the executive branch authority that the mayor of new york has. so what we want is for the city to go into a war or district system, so that each area of the system sends their own representative to city council. ideally, but we would also like is an elected executive. if you are a city manager, the process is not doing what you want, which is very labor him tenses. you have to change city counselors and then change the city manager. on top of that, loretta lynch's department of justice during the obama administration found a city just north of detroit was in violation of the voting rights act because it has the

same form of government. i know charlottesville does not want to be in violation of the voting rights again, as they were in the 1960's. host: this is joe thomas, a talkshow host for schv. -- wchv. do i understand that you are simulcasting as we are doing this? guest: yes, and i apologize for the audio problem before. host: how can people follow you? wchv.com. we are also on social media. host: thank you for your time this morning. guest: thank you. i promise not to press that button next time. hourswe have spent two asking about your thoughts asking about the direction of the country, if you think it's going in the right direction or the wrong direction. we will do so in the last hour of the program. think the8000 if you

country is going in the right direction. (202) 748-8001 if you think it is going in the wrong direction. we will be joined by guests like mr. thomas, we will start in l.a. in new york. thanks for calling. caller: i believe it's going in the wrong direction. i believe the division is getting worse. i would like the viewers to think about it. donald trump became the president with no experience in government, had 3500 lawsuits, times,ankruptcy seven he's not a good it businessman it. he's a con artist. he has lowered our standards

because half of us, he talks about the swamp, but he brought the swamp with them. they are all corrupt. the countryt says is going in the right direction. caller: i think it is. it's like a buffet at a restaurant. i'm not going to like everything, i think he's doing a pretty good job. i don't like the spending bill at all. is hands were tied. donald trump could walk across the potomac from washington dc into virginia and msnbc, the washington post would report he can't slim. thank you. maryland.imore hello. caller: thank you for c-span.

is goingry financially around. that's how you determine what right or wrong. , emotionally, anything rationally, we are going in the opposite direction. i've seen so many people who claim to be christian who make excuses for some of the things that donald trump says. in, it was all about balancing the budget, now they are busting the budget and it's ok. saidobama was in it, they negative things about him. he was a person that had morals. he was a person that had values

and he demonstrated that with his family. low, we arene so morally bankrupt. they said the affordable care act was bad because it raised premiums, but 20 million people got health insurance. is money important? are people important? inyou value people, we are the wrong direction. from facebook. that is some of the postings on facebook this morning. you can make those comments known on twitter. stephanie is in california.

good morning. caller: good morning, pedro. it's scary with happening now. we are spending money like drunken sailors. when the republicans are out of office, when they're not in control, it's budget budget budget. office, taxe in cuts, wars, etc. a fully have operational government. all the positions are not filled. it is scary once going on with this russia thing. goingd say the country is in the wrong direction. we are spending money we don't have. we are giving tax cuts to corporations and we are borrowing from china to do it.

nicole is in houston. caller: i think the separation between rich and poor is detrimental to us surviving. there is nothing new under the sun. i have an idea i think would solve our issues. single mothersay to stay home and raise their children, we would annihilate , we could require them to buy a house and pay for college. i think nurture is what the new generation needs. it would open up the economy. idea, why not?s if you are a single mother raising two kids, you have to work two jobs to do so.

someone else's raising your children. they join gangs. if i can afford housing, i live in a poor neighborhood. paid to raise our children and required to buy a ultimately we would be reinvesting into our own well-being. host: that is nicole in houston. people have brought up the president trump is making that same case while an appearance to talk about infrastructure and ohio. . >> the results are in.

sinceion new jobs election day. if i would've said that to you during the campaign, where we had tremendous support in this great state, if i would have said 3 million jobs, they would have said he's exaggerating. unemployment claims are at their lowest level in 45 years. african-american unemployment has reached the lowest levels ever recorded. said what do you have

to lose? i'm so happy about that. hispanic american unemployment rate has also reached the lowest levels ever recorded. and wages are rising at the fastest level in more than a decade. people are making less money than they made 20 years ago. now wages are rising. host: that speech is available to you on c-span.org. this is jeff. hello. is going incountry the right direction. a lot of people are going in the wrong direction.

to be specific, i'm talking $3.2 the handouts that trillion. that's when the country is going in the wrong direction. host: are you saying that should be reduced? caller: totally eliminated. people need help. i need a helping hand before. i understand, people do need help. there are people out here taking advantage of the system. there are people robbing the system. the system is flawed. fix the system. not the leadership. the democrats demonstrated they are not for americans. host: virginia, this is worn.

he says the country is going in the wrong direction. sometimes people get on the phone and they start talking like the gentleman before me. who do they consider american? maybe the truth would come out. a lot of people keep -- host: as far as the wrong direction, why do you think that? caller: simply because it is. said americae me is for americans. we need a clear i do they consider americans to be. african-americans aren't -- unemployment is lower than ever.

at fulls a time we were employment. now it's an issue. it'stter how low it is, double the rate of white unemployment. that's the problem. you have this lobbyist grover norquist, he has a blueprint on how they were going to take over america. governmento get the small if they can kill it in the sink. government is the people. that was their plan. the second part was to get something in there to sign all the legislation they want. all of these people that trump put in place, the heads of these organizations, they are there to

destroy those entities. minutes we, for 15 will hear from you. you may have to wait a little bit. we will take as many callers. fromve another opinion us sirius xm. he is joining us the escape. guest: thanks for having me on. host: you bill yourself is the first muslim americans oppose the talk show. radio,i got involved on i was on as a guest and then got hired and worked in writing for the daily beast and cnn. i was appreciative they would give me a chance to share my point of view with people. most americans don't know a muslim.

those that do have a more positive view of muslims. we are about 2% of the country. media, you can talk to people and answer questions and have a conversation. we are no longer the caricature you see in the media. we are human beings. i am glad to have this opportunity to have my show. it's not a religious show. politics of the day. host: from the point of view you come from, how do you view the direction of the country? guest: i think it depends on what good or bad. overall, i've never been more optimistic about the direction of the country. i say that in spite of donald trump because of this amazing activism we are seeing. i think many americans were asleep. i think donald trump has woken

people up to the consequences of not voting. now you see the women's march, is young great activist from a florida and across the country who are standing up and saying enough is enough. that's what it's about. the politics of old is not acceptable. struggling --ans disapproving of donald trump. november is not just election day, it's judgment day for this country. for those who don't want donald president, this is your day to come out. i've never been more optimistic that people care about the country more than ever. .any of us realize how much

i'm optimistic. i think things are going in the right direction. i think you're going to see a big wave of voters making their voices heard. the result will be the republicans swept out of the house, maybe the senate. a piece for nbc about the election. the democratic party and this idea of purity tests. make the case for us. year, there were still these hillary bernie fights going on. the middle of last year i kept hearing it over and over. i realize i make it worse by talking about it. flash forward to last year, we saw the election in virginia. he was not the most progressive guy.

democratsrogressive voted for him. we saw the same thing with the roy moore election with doug jones. doug jones is more of a centrist and progressive democrats didn't care. in pennsylvania, the democrat is centrist on certain issues. were burningwho supporters said if you've got a d after, i'm voting for you. for 2018, that is the formula for success. republicans have their fights and put aside their purity tests. i think donald trump has made the democratic party great again by unifying us and the enthusiasm i've never heard of. it's off the torts.

-- charts. host: did that play out in pennsylvania? is that a case in point? lamb criticized nancy pelosi. imagine republican running an ad against donald trump in that district. i'm sure some republicans would be turned off. even the most progressive from moveon.org demanded they support conor lamb. they listened to the grassroots. i think you are seeing awaking of the grass roots on the left. i think sometimes the media elites, the people you see on cable news who will say the , i want to know

the last time they talked to the democratic base. the same is true on the right. patriot channel listen to the republican base. i think that would be so much better for immediate to listen to the grassroots rather than having these pundits say what the base is thinking. host: on matters of foreign bolton and mike pompeo? if you want a war with iran, you are going to love these two. if you liked the iraq war, wait for these two. that they have anti-muslim they do trait.

mike pompeo is a man who is been celebrated by the biggest anti-muslim groups in america. the southern poverty law center -- he got an award from them. if you are a practicing muslim, you can't be a loyal american. that's what the organization has said. john bolton has butted up with another anti-muslim bigot. we are troubled with that. we are troubled with their idea of advocating an end to diplomacy with iran. we are committed to around not getting nuclear weapons. it seems the first two are gone

we're heading toward a potential war. i hope americans pay very close attention to the words of john bolton. bolton doesn't need to be confirmed. let's not do a replay of 2003 again. host: your show airs when? 9:00 p.m. on the serious progressive channel. we will talk about news of the day, the stephon clark shooting in second mental. we will talk about donald trump praising roseann bar. she has mainstreamed some hateful views. abc is giving her a pass. host:we will talk about donald p dean of radio is the website we have. is that the correct site? guest: we are on twitter.

hope -- that is my show page. host: thank you for your time. let's go to carry in durham north carolina. she says the country is going in the right direction. caller: good morning. years, thet 30 country has been going in the wrong direction. i am seeing the republicans overspending tax dollars. if they are allocated in the wrong direction. the democrats want to bring a bunch of foreigners to this country. we are really on the short end of the stick. there is discrimination in housing and employment.

look at all the shopping centers, they are owned by foreigners. we are forced to buy from them. when are americans going to take their place back in this country? we are forced to buy from foreigners. we are forced to buy from them. i don't think that's a good thing. i would like to see the president deal with the issues the average americans are going through. there is too much homelessness out there. saidf the previous callers people are working every day, making good money. they cannot get housing because foreigners on the buildings and they move in their own people. host: let's go to linda in

texas. have a c-span, first. i say this with respect. behavior when i watch the show, i've watched it for many years, it always seems callous toward collars and you don't care to hear what they have to say. it seems arrogant. i don't know if you are bored. you cut people off that are giving an intelligent conversation. it's interesting sometimes. you've finished your sense, i will take it as it is. caller: i think the country is

going in the wrong direction for many reasons. the president serves as a role model and he is serving a poor role model to people, people are taking up as bullies. the divide has become a huge chasm within this country. he is appointing people to positions who are antithetical to those positions. at the epa, and anti-climate change person. that's been well documented with the people he's appointed. he's allowed in the religious hist to influence him in choices for judicial nominations. they operate on an exclusionary platform. a baton ond as

people who do not believe the same way they believe. hate crimes have increased significantly according to the southern poverty law center. i don't see a very happy country. host: i have to leave it there. one of the things we have to do with balance, this is from donald trump. he was campaigning for conor lamb. appearance, former vice president gave some thoughts on where he saw the country going. here is some of that. >> i been doing this my entire career. i was referred to as a young idealist, an optimist. fear, theyithout know this about me for the last 35 years, they would talk about biden is an optimist, as if i'm

a new guy. i am more optimistic about america's chances the world today than i ever have been in my career. let me tell you why. we have the most productive workers in the world, three times as productive as asia. we have more great research universities because of a guy named dwight eisenhower and the rest of the world combined. every major breakthrough from google to every fundamental change in the way we do our lives and do business has come out of a research university. they've all come out of america. we have the most agile venture capitalists the world. we are better positioned, we are energy independent. be the largestl producer of energy in the world.

have the ability with guys like conor lamb to move in the direction that by 2030 we can have 40% renewable energy. we've got to stand up. we've got to get out of our own way. we have to lift our heads up. we are the united states of america. there's not a single thing we can't do. i mean that. host: this is jane from ohio. good morning. lover: i love trump and i vice president pence. central ohio. speedountry is going full to the american my family

thought four. that's what we need. i only midwesterner and russia did not tell me to vote for trump. i decided myself. russia didn't tell me. god bless america and thank you for having me. host: another caller from ohio, this is dave. caller: good morning to you. calling,e other people i'm doing something about it. i'm liquidating all my assets. the reason i'm doing this is congressman,ve 274 54% are millionaires. have isrm that we basically going to businesses and the rich.

it's making us more unequal. debt that$21 trillion sooner or later we will go into austerity. i don't want to be here when that happens. i used to be a republican until this last omnibus budget. it seems the republicans are responsible when democrats are democrats but when are in office they are centrists. host: if you are liquidating your assets, where are you going? caller: i plan on going to a small city down in the southern yucatán. i hope the mexican people are more welcoming to me than we are to them. host: that was dave in ohio.

he said the country is going in the wrong direction. us from iowa is a talkshow host. good morning to you. guest: good morning. host: your sense of the direction of the country? guest: i know we have binary choice questions because we like to keep it simple. i don't think the binary choice questions are good at. measure, theive economy is better. we are growing at a healthy clip. .ages are still stagnant a lot is trending well. if you look of the overall direction of the culture, were not trending in a good direction. , now theys tribalism

think it's a tough job and he needs a break. the same people who said that about the previous president thinks it's insane that a president golf too much. really think that's indicative of the overall relativism that has invested our culture. there is more money in our pockets, but there's less virtue in our people. host: when it comes to this idea you've heard this about stormy daniels and the relationship with the president. what do you make of all of that? how do you factor that into the direction of the united states? caller: i just want to say is someone who is a christian on this good friday, i get paid to speak up. i think we owe an apology to the country for the sad state of christian leadership.

theink you seen it emulated entire time of trump's ascendancy and now on the stormy daniels story. today is good friday. it's good because this is the day that god sent jesus christ to the cross to be tortured and executed to pay the penalties for all of the sins of mankind. christ pay that debt for us and his final words were it is accomplished. we are all talking about whether we think trump should be castigated or condemned on the basis of whether or not we agree with his policy. he is 70 years old. is approaching a moment where he's going to meet his maker. ,here are the christian leaders

trump is said he never is asked god for forgiveness, where are the christian leaders. if you need to model that as president. evangelical. he is surrounded by christian leaders who are doing the man a disservice. , uppresident donald trump until that point he is done well for the faith community. he's defended religious freedom. i think believers should be grateful for that. that does not absolve him from his sins.

you don't consult by a fewer policies are good or not. on this good friday, it would be nice if a few christian leaders stood up and called president trump to repentance. we don't see that. all the culture sees from christian leaders is what they think about political issues. there is merit to both of those positions. in the end, we have to repent of our sins. host: because you didn't bring up the omnibus and the passage of it, does this have long-lasting implications? is there a backlash coming from people who support the president? guest: i don't think there's any question about it. always elections are turn up your base elections. the dimmick credit base could base couldemocratic

not be anymore lit. they're all going to vote. base is the one of his struggling to get excited. anti-cnnnly so many games you can contrive to fire up your base. he can't go into a midterm and with this congress have your only a compliment be tax-cut in two years, the lowest line flute for -- fruit for any republican congress. i don't believe they want to win. i think they hate trump more than the democrats do. democratsine with the impeaching trump next year. they can lay the whole thing on the democrats. if i were in donald trump space, i would urge him to get on

message and the bully pulpit of the presidency to pressure republicans to do something with their majority while they still have a chance. i think on the trajectory the house is gone. it's an uphill climb for the sentence, but you will see impeachment hearings for the president by valentine's day next year. host: you recently wrote about policy matters, you wrote a piece for conservative review on guns. guest: i thought it was ironic to see him tweeting about democrats being honest with the march. we've always known i want to repeal the second amendment,. doing exactly what he was a few weeks ago. he wanted to raise the age where law-abiding citizens could purchase firearms.

women, saying to young you can go in the military at you weren't yet 21 you couldn't buy a weapon to defend your self from a predator. that is an asinine position. it's morally incongruent. it's reactionary. i think the president watches shows all day long and just -- reacts to what he sees on fox and friends. somebody needs to tell him to turn off the television set and be the president of the united states. remember the people who put you there, who defied conventional wisdom because they thought you were the best option to preserve what they believe in. listen to them more. listen to the shows less. the show.s host of how can people hear your program? ways to go tot

see our tv.com. happy easter. thank you for having me. ian. we will go to caller: good morning. to say from deals -- neil gorsuch, hillary had to pivot away from that. .he pivoted the paris accord the extorted, we need 4% of our gdp. we put our boys everywhere and our precious blood. jerusalem, tel aviv to jerusalem, we can go on and on.

we've got one place in america that makes that steel. china, that'son what we use in our transformers. we can't he reliant. us that going to sell to rebuild our infrastructure? let alone tanks, planes, you need industry. soybeans, 3 and the billion they threw on us. soybeans, they are going to be going back over there. it will straighten people out. clinton gave them the past, barack did nothing but put iran on a path. they work together. president trump is doing a very good job. i agree with steve a lot. leave it there and

we go to andrew in new york. thank you for the great moderation. i fear the country is headed in the wrong direction. amazon are the latest tweets which sent amazon in a dive. up my family was involved in the trump university swindle. i think they may be involving themselves in insider trading. that's to the detriment of honest investors. fear thisr issue, i is sending the message to young people and people in this country that it's cool to be crooked. thanks very much. host: from joe in new jersey. caller: it's in the right direction.

it's millennials taking over the country. the country in 20 seconds or less. everybody wanted bernie sanders to be president. they are going to go back and vote for him. host: what specifically is about millennials you think will change the direction? we go out forsay a cup of coffee. i want a specific cup of coffee. they look at politics very specifically. the country in 20 seconds or less. is millennials are more intelligent than the baby boomers. thank you.

llama says the country is going to the wrong direction. caller: hello. the reason i think the country is going in the wrong direction is politicians keep holding it up. for cap to take this in hand. we believe he can do it. they can come up with plenty of policies, but nothing ever gets finished. we need somebody like president trump who will finish it. president is in the white house and you have a republican congress, why do you think things still can't be done? i think you are mistaken.

there has to be a certain amount of votes. you are misleading. you've got a forked tongue. we will just leave it there. robert is in brooklyn park, maryland. am very delighted with the idea of tariffs. steel and aluminum are great. i wonder when the steel mills and aluminum mills are going to open daca in maryland. we had the biggest steel mill around. it closed up. i want to wonder what opens back up. host: what you think about a trade war because of these actions? caller: we've been in trade wars for the existence of america. it's always been one thing or another.

that's capitalism. all countries use tariffs. one of thing i would like to say is the money we gave to iran for them billions, that was the right thing to do. that was their money. thatelse will be holding money for? that was their money. what they did with it is the wrong thing to do, but it was theirs anyway. host: that was robert in brooklyn. this is from the new york times this morning, a planned leadership between north and south korea.

tammy is in minnesota. good morning. you are next. caller: thank you for taking my call. i think it's going in the wrong direction. today is my 60th birthday. this is my 30 or market the school district i worked at. are 12, 13, 14. since trump has been elected, it's been very difficult. ages 12 andree boys

14 that of an suspended for grabbing young girls. recently, we can't get this 13-year-old girl back to school because of the stormy daniels thing. she's a 13-year-old girl than most should be. she's getting teased because the boys are coming in with pictures of stormy daniels. and the first lady. 16hink it's up to suspensions we've had at our school since this man has been president. i can't even call him a man. he is a pathetic excuse for a man. that's what i have to say. host: the usa today highlights the fact that russia is calling back 60 diplomats. that is just the headline.

journal, nicolas sarkozy is suspected of using his influence as the head of state to help a court official seek a journal job in monaco. allege he looked for a separate inquiry into whether an heiress illegally financed his presidential campaign. he faces charges looked for a separate inquiry of influence peddling and corruption. trial has not been set yet. in the wall street that -- that is in the wall street journal. this is harold. caller: hello. of course i think it is. the way, i am a 95-year-old veteran of world war ii. a couple ofe talk minutes, i will get to the young

people. the $19 trillion is unsustainable. problemwo, our biggest is judicial activism. the supreme court is passing law after law after law. that is not their job. congress should pass the law. the supreme court should really resign, especially the one who will leave the country. she should be impeached with the others. they do not follow the constitution. host: that was harold in new jersey. our final opinion as to join us the a skype is john phillips. he is a talkshow host in los angeles. good morning. thank you for having me. host: do you accept that is

right or wrong? guest: i think there's a lot to the happy about. i'm happy where the stock market is. i'm happy about the tax bill. i'm happy about neil gorsuch on the supreme court. i'm happy the federal courts have been filled with people who see the world the way i do. fact thatpy about the the wall has been built. that was the one thing that separated donald trump from the other republicans in the primary. the stage was pretty crowded. the most common phrase you heard at trump rallies was build the wall. we are a year and a half into the administration, we still don't have the wall. if he hopes to win reelection, he's going to have to hold the wall. i think congressional republicans have a different agenda when it comes to

immigration than donald trump. for him to keep his crowded happy, he'ss voters got to come through on that. host: we saw the president inspecting the prototypes. he will choose one of those. we saw the attorney general travel because of sanctuary cities. as their progress on those? guest: you'd like to think so. on variousking tires models. the proof is in the pudding. we are a year in several months into this and we don't have a wall built. if i was working for him, i would hold his feet to the fire on that. host: you wrote a piece for the orange county register. when you look at the actions of , on the work of

saint you are cities, tell people about this. guest: the attorney general and brown haver jerry decided to go full on john c calhoun. they are big federal supremacists when there side is in charge. now they don't like what donald trump is doing on the immigration front. cannotid the state follow whatever rules they don't want to follow. they don't have to, operate on immigration or with ice. passed a sanctuary state law, which says california police officers don't have to comply with the that when it pertains to immigration. they're not stupid. they know what they are doing is wrong. they know it's nakedly political. they are doing it because california voted against donald

trump very heavily. they think they will move up the political wrong. convinced jerry brown will retire after he completes his fourth term. the attorney general has his eyes on higher office. they think this will make of the leader of the resistance. i think they will lose in court. term, they're hoping to get a big political thing out of this. i think it's bad policy and bad for the state. the leadership there passed a law that would resist the sanctuary state legislation. guest: i think that was the smart move. they signed on with the attorney general, the u.s. justice department instead of going at it on their own.

their interests are in line. orange county is a battleground for the midterm. seats being played for in orange county. these locally elected officials know what their constituents want. the board of supervisors is a minority board where there are three asian members of the board of supervisors who voted for this. they are republicans. they are hearing from their constituents. they know whether their voters want them to do. the fact that jerry brown is pushing this side and california democrats i think makes them vulnerable in places like orange county. we'll give the democrats to get elected in orange county, they are conservative democrats.

if you go back in time, the mayor of garden grove supported prop 187 when that was on the ballot. this is an issue that while it may play well to democrats statewide, is going to hurt them in orange county. host: you've heard about this idea of the citizenship question added to the 2020 census. how does that play out in california? guest: who knows. there's always the law of unintended consequences. they think will benefit the democrats just republicans. texas has a lot of members of congress who have demographics similar to california.

question on the form it would not be the first time it happened. in the 50's the 50's they used to ask this question. it's a question i was asked when i served on jury duty. it's something you have to answer when you registered to vote. it's something you have to answer when you are a pass -- get a passport. who knows what will happen when the courts weigh in. host: we have about one minute left. arnold schwarzenegger is making a pitch for john kasich if president trump doesn't succeed. it's an exercise in futility. john kasich thinks the rockefeller republican brand is going to have a resurgence. is a guyhwarzenegger who went in that direction after he lost ballot initiatives that would restrict some of the

public employee unions. like pardons someone who participated in a murder. tradened a cap and legislation. i do not think there's an appetite for that brand of republican politics in california. i will think there's an appetite for that nationwide. host: our host is john phillips. the website if you want to check it out. thank you for your time. guest: thanks for having me. host: nancy is in nebraska. caller: thanks for taking my call. i would like to say the country is going in the direction. i would like to hear these radio

commentators instead of negatively using the term tribe to talk about factions, they might use the term. the country is continuing in that same reaction. when you talk about the wall from this last commentator, we have a white superiority complex problem. that's the wall. it's already built and well-established. the good thing about what speaker huckabee said about the murders of black men by law enforcement is a local issue. we are talking about feudalism and counties and sheriffs. boots on the ground, women are paying attention to their local governments. that's the direction we are going in. host: anita in st. louis, missouri. caller: i feel like there is a

long-term thing. pedro, thank you for c-span and the work you do. over and hour of the cambridge analytica interview with christopher riley yesterday. we need something like that here. we need citizens united overturned by our congress. done, we are going in the wrong direction because our citizens can't see what all the dark money is occurring. we also need to do something about gerrymandering. the person on from iowa who said their districts are not gerrymandered. i wish we could have something throughout the united states. those of the two things i think

are taking us in the wrong direction. we may need a citizens referendum on citizens united. you don't hear anything about it on any news. host: one more call, this is i was city, iowa. you are the last call. caller: thank you. i appreciate c-span. this is a great program. i've been watching it since the 90's. he was the host with the most. the nation is going in the wrong direction. it has never been in the right direction. for the things him done to the native american and the african-american. it's never gone in the right direction. the things happening right now

with the marches the kids are when african-americans are getting killed and brown people are being killed, they were trying to bring it up around how the gun lobby, the manufacturers,n people were not rising up. but with parkland, the kids rose up and it became an issue. host: we will have to leave that as the next. i'm hosting a q&a program on sundays if you want to check out a program on c-span.org. others of you at -- that is it. another edition comes your way at 7:00 tomorrow. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018]

c-span,r 1: tonight on arthur laffer, white house advisor to president reagan who also advised president trump on the tax bill. he spoke to the leadership program of the rockies about what he calls trumponomics. >> you know, it is really, really true that are consequences to taxation, and those consequences are the same across the whole spectrum. you cannot tax and economy into prosperity -- an economy into prosperity. a poor person cannot spend himself into wealth. i hope i am not going over your heads. you guys should be lecturing me, your so wonderful but if you tax

people who work, and you pay people who don't work -- do i need to say the next sentences? don't be surprised if you can't not a lot of people working. jack kent put it beautifully. you cannot love jobs and hate job creators. it just doesn't work that way. not working. if you tax rich people, you give the money to poor people, your going to get lots and lots of poor people and no rich people. the dream in america has always been to make the poor richer, not to make the rich poor. lafferer 1: economist speaking in colorado springs. you can see it tonight at 9:30 p.m. eastern. sunday night onto a

day -- students were around for the united states senate east program. we met with them at the historic mayflower hotel where they share their thoughts about government and politics. >> i am real passionate about daca. it is unfair that women and men taken when they were children cannot find an issue -- it is a humans rights issue. to me isue important climate change. the notion we are the only country in the world that is not in the paris climate records is a travesty. every other country has recognized the detrimental impact of climate change and has taken a step to address it. >> we are the richest nation in the world, yet we have citizens who go bankrupt trying to cover basic health care costs, and i think that is an outrage and that we should be ashamed. announcer 2: sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-sn'