representative from newsmax discuss the future of the trump presidency. and later rebecca zimmerman joins us to talk about the u.s. strategy in afghanistan. >> flags at u.s. capitol are flying at half-staff today in honor of u.s. senator john mccain, who died saturday at age 81. mccain was a naval academy graduate, vietnam war aviator and prisoner of war, a congressman, senator, and republican presidential candidate. he will lie in state inside the u.s. capitol before being buried on the grounds of the u.s. naval academy in nearby annapolis. we want to know your thoughts on senator john mccain. republicans, call in at 202-748-8001. democrats, call in at 202-748-8000. independents, call in at

202-748-8002. you can always reich us on social media. @cspanwj. and on facebook. senator john mccain passed away yesterday, and we had -- we got a statement from senator mccain's office that reads this -- senator mccain: what greater cause could we hope to serve in helping keep america the

strong, inspiring, inspiration beacon of liberty and defender of the dignity of all human beings and their right to freedom and equal justice. that is the cause that binds us , and so much more powerful and worthy than the small differences than divide us. what a great honor and extraordinary opportunity it is to serve in this body. it's a privilege to serve with all of you. i mean it. in of you have reached out in the last few days with your concern and your prayers, and it means a lot to me. it really does. i've had so many people say such nice things about me recently that i think some of you must have me confused with someone else. i appreciate it, though, every word, even if much of it isn't deserved. i'll be here for a few days. i hope managing the floor debate on the defense authorization bill, which i'm

proud to say is, again, a product of bipartisan cooperation and trust among the members of the senate armed services committee. after that, i'm going home for a while to treat my illness. i have every intention of returning here and giving many of you cause to regretted all the nice things you said about me. and i hope to impress on you again that it is an honor to serve the american people in your company. host: senator mccain's wife weeted this out yesterday -- host: let's go to jerome, michigan, on the independent line. good morning. you're on the air. caller: good morning. you know, i wasn't a big fan of john mccain, but i like people who stand up for their values. here's what i want you to pay close attention to today, and

you your audience. watch the hypocrites come out of the wood work. mr. trump likes winners, not people that get caught. they st -- the -- christened a naval vessel, would not sight man's name. i mean, don't worry about him, he's dying anyway. you know, i would not invite this guy to the funeral. i wouldn't accept him coming to the funeral. you know, i was raised that you either are what you are. don't be a hypocrite. and don't be a phony. if this guy goes up there and he stands anywhere in the rotunda when it comes to john mccain, he's a phony. you're going to get the republican callers. semicalled him everything but a child of god, and you know that. and it's going to be very

interesting. don't forget, he likes people that didn't get caught. he doesn't like people that got caught, that were p.o.w.'s. you know, they just two weeks ago, like i told you before, they christened a vessel, the name of the vessel is john mccain, refused to say the man's name. thank you very much. just listen out for the hypocrisy. it's coming. host: here's a tweet from president donald trump on the assing of john mccain -- host: let's go to silver spring, maryland, democrat line. joan, good morning. caller: good morning. i'm calling in regards to senator mccain. host: yes. caller: he was absolutely a person who works for his country. he is a god-sent man, and i hope everybody could be just like him in the senate.

host: let's go to luke, calling from long beach island, new jersey, on the republican line. luke, good morning. you're on the air. caller: hi, yeah. is this joey's pizza? host: luke, you're on the air with c-span, "washington journal." let's go to jack who's calling from providence, rhode island. jack, good morning. you're on the air. caller: yeah, hi. good morning. senator mccain was a man of endurance, he endured torture and surviving under those conditions, being a man of endurance. he was not a war hero, he was simply shot down. he didn't have any battle going into the machine gunfire or anything like that, even though he was being shot at by anti-aircraft fire. i know warfare quite well. but he's a man of endurance,

but he did do some bad things, too. like on the senate floor, he said he would want to get rid of obamacare, obamacare, then he voted to keep it going. that's not really discussed. but overall, you got to give him, i would say, an a, because he was a man of endurance. and i have a question for you, sir. is his mother still alive? host: i actually don't know the answer to that question. caller: yeah, maybe you can find out, because his mother really, you know, i think she's still alive, i think. host: ok. here's a statement from senator mitch mcconnell, who is the leader of the republicans in he senate --

host: let's go to steve, calling from advantage aville, california, on the -- calling from vacaville, california, from the democrats line. caller: good morning, c-span, and all my fellow americans. i am 65 years old, a labor democrat, 32 years retired teamster truck driver from northern california, very active. and i have the utmost respect

for the republican american hero. this is a genuine american hero. yeah, i disagreed a few things with senator mccain. i watch c-span regularly. i've seen him on the senate floor. we're going to have disagreements, but i am going to drive my car to arizona, wherever they lay that man down, and i will sleep in my car if i can't find a hotel, to respect him and his family for their service, and his father and grandfather to our country. i never had the pleasure to serve our country. i would have. i have a big american flag in front of my house lit all night long for those veterans and their spouses and children when they were killed serve our country. i do it out of respect. and president trump, i won't disrespect him or the office, but i have never been more

embarrassed to have a person like him leading our country and all the things he said about senator mccain, and now he tweets out this nicety that one of his handlers printed for him, and it's ridiculous. but the mccain family, america's heart is broken, and i'll be there, and it will be say california, labor democrats, rest in peace, senator mccain. thank you. host: the answer of previous caller's question, senator mccain's mother is still alive, and there's a story actually in "people" magazine about senator mccain's mother. she's aware her son is stopping treatment, people have render. roberta is 106, so she's spunky, a family friend tells "people." she knows he's ill. the caller who asked previously about senator mccain's mother, yes, she is still alive, and she was aware that her son was

stopping treatment for his breast cancer, but we don't have any more information after that point. let's go to ralph, who's calling from michigan on the independent line. good morning, ralph. caller: thank you for taking my call. i would like to see people from both sides try to emulate the dignity that mr. mccain demonstrated throughout his life. stop calling people idiots, stop calling people losers, stop calling people nazis or white supremacists. do that for a week, and respect the other person's right to have a different viewpoint, and maybe in emulating senator mccain for that amount of period, maybe they can discover the dignity within themselves. host: thank you much let's go to ralph, who's calling from eagleville, missouri, on the democrat line. i'm sorry, this is james calling in from eagleville, missouri. james, are you on the air? caller: yes, i am.

host: good morning. what do you have to say? caller: hey, i served on the force. i wonder why we're not showing the picture of the for stall when it explodesed when john mccain was sitting on the tarmac on that thing, you know? i'm sorry, this president hid behind his daddy's dress so that he didn't have to go, and john mccain is a great american hero. this man put up with a lot, a lot and survived. all i got to say is, hey, i love you, machine. on the farr stall navy, i spent time in the air force, navy, and in the army, and i'm very proud to say i served on forestall, the same aircraft carrier that john mccain served on. i thank you very much. host: thank you. we have a treat from senator lindsey graham of south carolina, one of senator mccain's closest friends in the u.s. senate, and senator graham

eeted -- host: let's go to freddy calling from port huron, michigan, on the independent line. freddy, you're on the air. good morning. caller: yes, how's it going? host: i'm doing fine. what do you have to say this morning, freddy? caller: well, you know, john mccain, he caused a lot of trouble in washington. you know, with that thumbs down on the bill. i actually think he was like a double agent, you know? host: which bill are you talking about? caller: about the -- the -- medicare and that, you know? the healthcare. host: the obamacare bill?

caller: yes. and as far as him being lost and that in the war, they should have made him pay for the plane he lost, as far as i'm concerned. you know? he wasn't no hero. he was a joke. host: freddy, did you serve as well? caller: no, i was in the marine corps, yes. host: the marine corps. what do you think about his time in vietnam as a prisoner of war? do you think that counts as being a war hero? caller: no. no. he got caught. that's what's going to happen, you know? they should have -- they should have joust done him in, you know? that would have saved this country a lot of grief with him getting involved with everything, you know? , screwing things up. that's the way i feel about it. host: thank you, freddy. let's go to las vegas, nevada. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you?

host: i'm fine. what do you have to say this morning? caller: support for the family of senator mccain. may his soul rest in peace. it is so sad that he is into this state right now. the country needs him, but then one only regret that i have for him, we voted for him against barack obama. that's the first. that's what we got from democrats to be a republican. and then what saddened me is the fact that we were waiting for his vote on the floor at 2:00 a.m. and then he stands up for the obamacare. on ow before the obamacare, my medical with my husband, with the obamacare, i cannot even choose my healthcare. $400. paying close to

that's the only regret i have for our dear senator. may his soul rest in peace. this says only because of the hatred for trump and that's because of his service for the american people. that's the only regret i have for him. again, may his soul rest in peace, and god bless him. thank you. host: thank you. in a speech in july, senator mccain talked about why he wasn't voting for the repeal of obamacare and called for a return to order. here's what he had to say. senator mccain: our healthcare insurance system is a mess. we all know it. those who support obamacare and those who support it. something has to be done. we republicans have looked for a way to end it and replace it with something else without paying a terrible political price. we haven't found it yet. i'm not sure we will. all we've managed to do is make more popular a policy that wasn't very popular when we started trying to get rid of

it. i voted for the motion to proceed to allow debate to continue and amendments be offered, i will not vote for this bill as it is today. it's a shell of a bill right now. we all know that. i have changes urged by my governor that will have to be included for my support for final passage of any bill. i know many of will you have to see the bill changed substantially for you to support it. we tried to do this by coming up with a proposal behind closed doors, in consultation with the administration. then springing it on skeptical members, trying to convince them that it's better than nothing, that it's better than nothing? asking us to swallow our doubts and force it past a unified opposition, i don't think that's going to work in the end, and probably shouldn't. the administration and congressional democrats

shouldn't have forced through congress without any opposition support of social and economic change as massive as obamacare, and we shouldn't do the same with ours. why don't we try the old way of legislating in the senate? the way our rules and customs encourage us to act. if this process ends in failure, which seems likely, then let's return to regular order. let the health education pension and committee under chairman alexander and ranking member murray hold hearings, try to get a bill out of committee with contributions from both sides. [applause] something that my dear friends on the other side of the aisle didn't allow to happen on your ebate.

let's see if we can pass something that will be imperfect, full of compromises and not very pleasing to either side, tpwhaut might provide workable solutions to problems americans are struggling with today. what have we to lose by trying to work together to find those solutions? we're not getting done much apart. i don't think any of us feels very proud of our inandaft. merely preventing your political opponents from doing what they want isn't the most inspiring work. there's greater satisfaction in respecting our differences, but not letting them prevent agreements that don't require abandonment of core principles, agreements made in good faith, that help improve lives and protect the american people. the senate is capable of that. we know that. we've seen it before.

i've seen it happen many times, and the times when i was involved, even in a modest way with working on a bipartisan response tie national problem or threat are the proudest moments of my career and by far the most satisfying. host: tributes are coming in from people on all sides of the political spectrum today. senate democratic leader chuck schumer of new york tweeted his out earlier today -- host: let's go to kevin, who's calling from virginia on the democratic line. kevin, good morning. you're on the air. caller: yes, i vote democrat,

and i disagree with john mccain, but i think america has been blessed by this man that served this country, and i hope god blesses his family, and he served america very well. the guy that said he should pay for his airplane, how about maybe the soldiers during world war ii that got shot down over nazi germany, maybe they should have paid for their airplanes too, huh? that's ridiculous. his country sent him to vietnam, and he served his country well, man. we've been blessed by this man, and i got all the aberration for this guy. people just want to run him down. i can't believe that. no respect, it's ridiculous, man. we need to come together as americans. that's all. and i hope god does bless his family, take care of him. my prayers are with them. thank you for having me call. host: let's go to sharon, calling from indiana on the democratic line. good morning. you're on the air. caller: good morning, thank

you. i disagreed with senator mccain on a lot of things. but the day that he stood up during his campaign and took the mic away from that lady and said that obama was just another man like him, that showed me the kind of man he is. he isn't just a war hero, he's a hero. and i want to give all my blessings to his family, thank you. host: let's go to howard, calling from florida on the republican line. howard, you're on the air, good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. i'm a republican. i guess i'm really not anything, you know what i'm saying? i'm like out there in the middle. i know that we all make mistakes, you know? we all regret them. and i'm sure that john mccain has his own mistakes, just like everybody on the planet has their own mistakes that they

deal with in their life. john mccain was a great man. he might have done things, he might have said things that weren't approved by other people. that's ok. that's what makes us different. until we figure out a way to stop blaming people for things, we're never going to be at peace. i mean, we're always going to be fighting. let today be the day, the beginning. let this be the steppingstone to peace. we don't need to bash people because of their differences. we don't need to blame people for our differences. let's come together, find a twy make solutions instead of making enemies. i mean, without that, we're going to hate each other for life and always going to be bashing one side or the other. it's time to stop this. you know, donald trump is the president. nobody else is going to be able to do anything about it, what you know i'm saying? let him finish his term. if he makes mistakes, so be it.

you know, john mccain did the same thing whenever he went through the deal. he did what he had to do, whether he made a mistake or not. i respect him for that. god bless john mccain, his family, and may your soul rest in peace. god bless america. host: let's go to a call from columbus, ohio, on the independent line. good morning. you're on the air. caller: good morning. thank you, c-span. i really appreciate what you do. but more than that, i appreciate john mccain. i voted for him in 2008. i was an army brat. my dad served two tours in vietnam, born the same year. i feel like part of my life has been walked through with this man. and my heart goes out to his family, of course, and the suffering that they're going through this morning as my dad died from cancer, too, when i was 36 years old, so especially his daughter. but more than, that i just wanted to say that he espoused

to integrity, to honor, and he was a true patriot. and i'm very offended by anyone that can get on the phone this morning and demean this man. but you know what he would say? that's ok, because this is america. they're allowed to say what they want. that's what we fought for. so that's all i have for you this morning. and again, god bless john mccain, and god bless his family, and my prayers are with them. thank you. host: let's go to a call from compton, california. good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. thank you for journalism. i want to say i appreciate his time served for our country and also for his dedication, not just having a career, but a family, and be able to be a living ledge, asking him to

onquer what he did, and also to have the pass a message to another, even though it's undergrad student. and i appreciate that. i'm -- i appreciate -- i never served in the military, but i would imagine that somebody went through that type of trauma and still have the ourage to carry on his goals and be able to have that growth. and i want to serve families, and good or bad. he set the standards for a lot of people, and he was more than

a leader. thank you. host: thank you. senator john mccain ran for president at least twice, first losing in the republican primary to president george w. bush, and then losing the presidency to president barack obama. and here's what barack obama had to say about the passing of enator mccain --

host: few of us have been tested the way john once was or required to show the kind of courage that he did, but all of us can aspire to the kind of courage that put the greater good above our own. he showed us what that means, and for that, we are all in his debt. michelle and i send our most heartfelt condolences to cindy and their family. let's go to c.j., calling from baton rouge, louisiana, on the independent line. c.j., good morning. caller: good morning. host: good morning, c.j. caller: i just -- i'm laughing about the hypocrisy, particularly from the media, who when senator mccain was running for president, was said be mean, spiteful, and just a bad person, and now they're coming out and saying how

wonderful he was. just usual news media emocrat-loving news media. host: let's go to john, calling from chicago, illinois, on the democratic line. good morning, john. ller: yeah, this is john, on behalf of american legion post 272, we send our deepest sympathies and prayers to the mccain family. and to freddy and this knucklehead from louisiana that just got off the line, come to american legion post 272 in chicago, and we can have a great discussion about this great man instead of you two ridiculing this fella on public telephone. thank you, america. host: let's go to kim, calling from georgia on the itcht line. kim, good morning. -- on the independent line. kim, good morning. caller: hello. good, bad or indifferent,

p.o.w.'s regardless survived for a reason. thank you for your service. host: let's go to louisiana on the dome i can line. caller: hi, good morning. i'm an african-american, and don't you know, i did not alza gree with senator mccain. he was a man of integrity. i just remember when they had the 2008 election, presidential election, how he corrected this elderly caucasian woman who was afraid of barack obama because was an aarab, but he told her, no, that else a good family man, and he's just, you know, he's just the same as me. the only difference is that we just don't have the same politics ideas. you know, that is just really how it really should be.

it's nothing wrong to be a republican, democrat, independent, but we should all be able to disagree as the man once called in and said that we should too. and i just have, you know, great respect for him, and also, you know, can you imagine this -- and i'm sorry, sir, this vile thing that we have number 45 in the white house now, having such integrity. and i say this, sir, because trump is a racist, a bully, a liar, and that is not acceptable. i will never accept that from any person. thank you, sir. host: thank you. before serving in the senate, john mccain was a member of the house of representatives. we have a statement from house speaker paul ryan on the ssing of senator mccain --

john mccain was a giant of our time, not just for the things he achieved, but for who he was and what he fate for all his life. john put principle before politics. he put country before self. he was one of the most courageous men of the century. he will always be listed among freedom's most gallant and faithful servants. our hearts are with his family, his wife, his children, and his grandchildren. this congress, this country mourns with them. let's go to john, who's calling from massachusetts on the independent line. john, good morning. caller: good morning, c-span, for all the good work that you do on the recognition of john mccain's passing. itself to call the attention of every active duty military personnel and military veteran, as well as their families, to a meeting that john held in 1983

with the gentleman that is also fellow vietnam veteran, edwin h. crosby ii, who is calling to john's attention, as well as joe biden, who was also a senator at that time, about the in codes associated with the dd-240 discharge papers. a terrible tragedy has been caused to military veterans who were active at the time. it needs to be looked at. so as we reflect on the passing of john mccain, we should call into account every present congressional representative and senator to look into the status of the travesty that was caused to military veterans on the spin codes associated with their dt-240's that prevented them from having the employment at the level that they should,

their insurance premium, as well as stolen dollars and the trillions. so that's what we need to remember, because john mccain backed out on the promises that he made to edwin h. crosby iii and all other federal fellow veterans to look into the matter of funds being and benefits being withheld from those who also served this country. host: let's go to a call from connecticut on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you guys doing this morning? host: just fine. what do you have to say? caller: i have to just comment specifically on just the negative comments that my fellow americans have just called in. i mean, john mccain has passed on. and there's no way possible for singly alone do any

significant damage to his country whatsoever. he was a patriot. he was a p.o.w. i just am appalled by the has t of disrespect that been shown. it's awful. my heart goes out to his wife, cindy. my wife goes out to his daughter, meghan, and the rest that family, and anyone he's touched, and he's certainly impacted this world in such a positive way, and to only sit back and, you know, claim that he's singly responsible for a bill that didn't pass or that he thinks he promises and all of these negative comments, it's just so appalling, and i just really appeal to all callers and all americans to have some dignity and respect for themselves and

have the respect that they need to have and show for this american hero. he was an american hero in every single way. i just wanted to say that. he's just an american hero. thank you very much. host: do you think that -- there were people out there who disagreed with things that john mccain said and did. do you think there should be a grace period before they renew their criticism of john mccain? caller: yes, absolutely, absolutely. and, you know, we're not going to alza gree on things, and that's what makes our country what it is, and that's what gets us our freedom, but absolutely. there should definitely be a grace period. my heart is broken and hasn't been 24 hours that he passed away, so i'm hearing these things, and i just had to call. i'm a first-time caller.

i watch you guys all the time. and i'm a first-time caller, and i have to pick up the phone. i even called on the republican line, and i'm independent. that's how passionate. host: do you think should people wait, after the funeral, two or three days before they renew criticism of senator mccain? caller: you know, i can't -- i don't know the appropriate time. but it's certainly right now does not feel like the right time. it really doesn't. it feels so heartwrenching. it just feels wrong on every level. maybe a week, maybe, you know, maybe a month, i don't know. but it just right now feels so -- it feels hard, and it really feels un-american. host: let's go to andy, calling in on the democrat line from new york. andy, good morning. andy, are you there?

andy from new york, you're on the air. are you there, andy? let's go to a call from torrance, california, on the independent line. ood morning. i think -- andy, are you there? can you hear me? andy, are you there? caller: yes, yes. can you hear me? host: i can hear you. go ahead. i can hear you, andy, go ahead. let's go to steven, who's calling from gainesville, florida, on the democratic line. steven, good morning. caller: mccain of 2012 at the grand canyon, and he was coming out of the men's bathroom at

the lodge. and when he opened the door, there stands john mccain. his infectious smile was overwhelming. all i could say was thank you for your service in vietnam. he's a true american hero. thank you for your time. god bless. host: sympathies are still coming in from people from all parties. house democratic leader nancy pelosi tweeted this statement his morning -- host: let's go to ed, calling from winchester, virginia, on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call.

my first comment is it didn't take long for donald trump's swamp people to come out and start criticizing a great american, john mccain. a i'm a fellow vietnam veteran. i served in vietnam. i fully respect john mccain. he's a man who's moral compass has never -- whose moral compass has never waivered. i think the fact that donald trump disparaged that man and said he's not an american hero, he likes men that don't get caught. obviously he was referring to people like his buddies that are being all over the place, all the president's men that didn't get caught. that's who donald trump respects. i hope his daughter meghan picks up his mantel and runs for his senate seat. i think it's interesting that to two people that he asked serve and deliver his eulogy are the two men he opposed in two presidential campaigns, barack obama and george bush.

all of my respect go out to john mccain and my deepest, deepest sympathies to his family. we have lost a true, true american heat radioed to. god bless you, john mccain. you will always be in my mind and in my heart. thank you. host: let's go to rhonda, calling from new jersey on the democratic line. rhonda, good morning. caller: good morning. good morning to all of my fellow americans. i am so heartbroken over this man's death. i have never loved a man like john mccain. and he will go down in our history books of being one of the most greatest american patriots and that our country has ever witnessed, and we are so blessed to have had him

serve for decades in our senate. to represent our war heroes, and our true patriotism. it breaks my heart to see people criticize such a great man. but i blame that on the man who doesn't have half the integrity of mccain sitting in the white house, who would sit here and divide us in this matter. guys, we need to repenalty. we need to come together and love one another. because if he has taught us one thing that jesus taught us, it's to be long suffering, and this was the long suffering man i've ever witnessed in the history of our country. and i want to say, give my condolences to his wife, to his

daughter meghan, which is a great idea for her to run for his senate seat. what a way to honor him. and that a monument or something in this country be named after senator john mccain. god bless all of us and all those americans out there. bye-bye. host: let's go to west virginia on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning, sir. i'm a marine that served during vietnam. and i was not going to call in today, but i listened to the guy that claimed to be a marine that said john mccain should be made to pay for his airplane. this guy is not a marine. he's a fake. he's a phony. and i'll say it to his face, he's a phony. and i think john mccain is a man among men. he served with distinction, and i would just like to say, the

guy that called in claimed to be a marine. he made my blood boil. and i thank you, sir. host: let's go toeth he will calling from massachusetts on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i am sitting here listening to all these lovely accolades for senator mccain, and i was wondering, why is it that all this hatred for weeks and months about poor president trump, and when somebody dies he's a hero. you're driving mr. trump to the grave, hurting his family like you are, it's terrible. what kind of hypocrites are we all that when somebody dies -- my father chased in world war i. he was in france all through the war and the army of occupation. he come home and drank himself to deaths.

and most of the other soldiers from world one war drank themselves to death. now these accolades? we're all trying to survive. but why are they doing that to mr. trump? they're going to kill him, and then they'll have a funeral for him, and there will be flowers all over the place and he'll be a hero. what's the matter with america? host: well, last october, senator john mccain was awarded the liberty medal for his lifetime of sacrifice and as much as here's some of what job mccain had to say at that ceremony. senator mccain: we live in a land made of ideals, not blood and soil. we are the custodians of those ideals at home and their champion abroad. we've done great good in the world. that leadership has had its costs, but we have become incomparably powerful and wealthy as we did. we have a moral obligation to

continue in our just cause, and we would bring more than shame n ourselves if we don't. well built drive in a world where our leadership and ideals are absent. we wouldn't deserve to. i'm the luckiest guy on earth. i have served america's cause, the cause of our security and the security of our friends. the cause of freedom and equal justice all my adult life. i haven't always served it well. i haven't even always appreciated what i was serving. but among the few compensations of old age is the acute of hindsight. i see now that i was part of something important that drew me along in its wake, even when i was diverted by other interests. i was, knowingly or not, along

for the ride as america made the future better than the past. and i've enjoyed it, every single day of it, the good ones and the not so good ones. i've been inspired by the service of better patriots than me. i've seen americans make sacrifices or our country and for our causes and for people who are strangers to them, but for our common humanity, sacrifices that were much harder than the service ever has to mean. and i've seen the good they've done, the lives they've freed from tyranny and injustice, the hope they encourage, the dreams they made achievable. may god bliss them. may god bless america. and give us the strength and wisdom, the generosity and compassion to do our duty for this wonderous land and for the world that counts on us, with all its suffering and danger, the world still looks to the

example and leadership of america to become another better place. what greater cause could anyone ever serve. host: senator john mccain is being honored around the world for his lifetime of service. british prime minister theresa may recently tweeted this about enator mccain -- host: let's go to howard calling from west virginia on the democratic line. robert, good morning. good morning, robert. you're on the air. caller: good morning. how are you? host: i'm doing good. caller: good. i'm an african-american, and i was a military veteran. but senator john mccain was a

giant. he's the type of person that you can believe in, trust, and he showed the honor as a military veteran. even though his father had a high ranking, john mccain did not let that release him. he was a proven veteran. and i want cindy, his daughter, to take that pen that senator john mccain always carried around in his left hand, and in the future, i'm looking for her to sign off in arizona as the senator of arizona. god bless the family, and god bless senator john mccain for his service. host: let's go to the democratic line, evan. caller: good morning, good morning. i battled with lung cancer stage three in the last past two years, and when john mccain walked on that floor to make that vote that day, without scrapping the obamacare

affordable care act, it was a ay that saved my life. saved many people's lives who were under the medical part of this affordable care act. one thing i found with the democratic, i'm an african-american female, i'm from montgomery, alabama, in my martin luther king voice, my of part voice, in my state montgomery, alabama, who did not extend medicaid, when john mccain walked on that floor that day and made that vote, he volumes to many people, many people, that he was a person who looked at the cause and had the power to vote, and he used it. god bless him. god keep him.

and i hope -- i'm praying for his family and his loss. as an african-american female, from the state of montgomery, abama, god bless you, john mccain. god bless you. god bless you. because you did something as a war hero, as a republican, and as a vote that we should get . t and vote host: let's go to florida, on the democrat line. caller: good morning. i am calling on that line, but i'm a registered democrat. i just want to say to the american people this morning, this is a morning when it shouldn't be republican, democrat or ipt. it should be a morning when we say goodbye to a man, a human

being. so i can hear a lot of people calling in and saying about him and that about him. i just want to say to his family, they have my deepest sympathy. and i know john is at a better place this morning, because the angels welcome you home. i just want to ask americans this morning, as jesus asked when they were stoning that woman, he without sin cast the first stone. so my fellow americans, let's put differences aside. e have lost our integrity. we are not even americans anymore. come on. put all our differences aside to morning and pay respect a person who has given his life

so that we can have this talk this morning. have some decency. because this is what this country has come to, where everybody talk like this premises in the white house. come, be americans this morning. may god have mercy on our soul. thank you, sir. host: let's go to robert, calling from griffin, georgia, on the independent line. robert, good morning. caller: good morning, sir, and thank you for allowing me this opportunity. say of all, i'd like to to the family of mccain, i understand their sorrow. but i have something else to say about mr. mccain, and that is while i'm a african-american myself, i think we need to study history. he was one of the persons that fought martin luther king in arizona from having a holiday. he fought it to the end. first of all, we should stop jumping on board with everything they say about

heroes, ok? first of all, i'm a ex service person myselfed. i served in 1968, i was in vietnam, all righty? i don't see no heroes coming back here. you know where the heroes are located? in arlington national cemetery in the cemetery around the united states and those that didn't come back here. we need to stop making everybody a hero. just like me. i wasn't drafted. i en enlisted. i went to vietnam to better my life. it wasn't for no country, ok? just like the draft dodge there's burnt their cards rather than go to war that ronald reagan pardoned, those are the ones back here now calling everybody a hero. they're not no hero says. we went over there, we did a job. we didn't even want to go, ok? our age went because we tried to make money for our families. and the draftees didn't want to go and they had to go.

we weren't no damn heroes. stop calling us heroes, ok? another thing, stop thanking march for my service. i didn't do it for you. i did it to help my family because you wouldn't give black people a job in america, ok? like i said, the draftees did it because they had to do it. and that's all i have to say. host: let's go to mark, calling from california on the democratic line. good morning, mark. caller: thank you so much for taking my call. as a disabled vietnam veteran myself, i will call senator mccain a hero. i say that for what he's done for this country. he's always been a uniter and ot a divider like some people. feel so bad for his family.

i can imagine what it would feel like to lose a great husband and father. and i just hope that maybe, just maybe this person that we have in the white house would learn something from mr. mccain, senator mccain. 's always -- when he xpressed to everybody that alled senator obama a muslim nd a bad person, he stood up and said no, he's not.

and that was the type of person that he was. i just hope that this person that we have in the white house would get it together and start bringing this country together, or else we need to get rid of him. i hope he possibly does have a -- attack and just host: we have tributes coming in from around the world for senator john mccain. a tweet from french president emmanuel macron just came in, ich reads -- host: we also have a tweet coming from the canadian prime minister, justin trudeau --

host: geets go to fort washington, maryland, on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning, sir. how are you? host: i'm fine. how are you today? caller: good. god bless america, and god bless c-span. i want to give my deepest condolence to john mccain's family, and i want to say for those who are calling in and say negative thoughts about him, you should keep your comments to yourself. let jesus christ be the judge, not them. and i wouldn't say that thank john mccain for serving our country and may i rest in heavenly peace. thank you, c-span. host: let's go to david, who's calling from west virginia on the independent line. david, good morning. caller: yes. john mccain john mccain is the d senator to die in office

recently. we had two democrats. byrd ofedy and robert west virginia. he has a life-sized statue in the capital of west virginia. a clan member and a man who said he would never serve in the military with a black man. have john mccain, who served 23 years in the military and is a hero. we need to get that statue out of the building and put a statue of john there. we have teddy kennedy, that killed that woman, and they praise these two people who have never served a day in the military. and who is the true hero? obviously, john mccain. 23 years of military service. you think youwhat did in congress, praise him for his military service. thank you, and god bless the

mccain family. host: sender john mccain is the 301st senator to die in office. frankns senators like lautenberg and ted kennedy. another interesting fact is that senator mccain died on the nine year anniversary of the death of senator ted kennedy. facts about his death. coming up, we are going to talk longtime white house reporters who will discuss what is facing the white house now, in light of the recent legal decisions in the ongoing mueller investigation. christian science monitor's linda feldmann and newsmax's john gizzi is next. situationpdate on the in afghanistan with rebecca zimmerman. this week's newsmakers interviewed the president of

washington's best-known progressive think tank. -- center for american progress. on the neera tanden prospects for impeachment. >> how should democrats respond to paul manafort's conviction on financial crimes? he was president trump's former campaign chairman, and the ?uilty pleas by michael cohen how should democrats respond? >> i think there are two issues at play. i think both of these cases see the idea of a culture of corruption in washington. i think democrats have been talking about that culture and challenge of corruption. we have these two incidents, obviously the news around duncan hunter, and chris collins, two members of the house who were

indicted for basically self-dealing. so i think a full picture of the swamp that is invading washington, i think the public rightly feels that people are helping themselves and not serving the public. alsoiously think this is strongly connected to the russia investigation, writ large, a situation where news seems to be accelerating and getting closer and closer to the president. people should really talk about what is happening in washington. i think the russia investigation is an important one, about what is happening with our democracy. , and thek it is vital mueller investigation seems to be picking up speed. >> is it usual for them to talk about impeachment, or is it honest for them not to talk about it if it is in the back of their minds? >> i think the issue here is,

what are the facts? that the president himself is talking about impeachment and its impact on the market. my view is that the impeachment process is one that starts with an investigation. we learned this week that the house and senate are incapable of holding the president accountable in republican hands. and absolutely, if the democrats take the house and senate back, they should start an investigation. the impeachment process is the end. investigation is what starts the process. and absolutely, i think the american people are wondering why no one in washington, neither house of congress, is willing to even look at these facts in front of us. host: you can see the entire withview with neera tanden

the center for american progress on c-span, and you can watch it online on our website. we are talking with linda feldmann. you covered senator john mccain. what are some of your favorite memories of him? >> i interviewed him several times, had the privilege of writing to him during the straight talk express during the first and second presidential campaign. guest: but i was just thinking about this. in 2007,terviewed him i wasfaith profile that preparing to write about him, and we did this for all of the candidates, talking about the role of faith in their lives. his publisher's office, and he had a book in his hand, lonesome dove. he said that he identified with -- theracter what

character of gus, this rakish character who was nevertheless a fighter when the moment called for it. that, i think, perfectly captures his essence. newsmax's chief political correspondent, what are your favorite memories? guest: he was one of the most focused individuals i've ever covered at all. i was trying to think last night of the first time i became aware of john mccain. it was in december 1980, a little over a month after ronald reagan was elected president. captain john mccain with the u.s. navy, he was billy as an -- he was the liaison to the senate. the buzz around the club dining room was that captain mccain is telling everyone that he and his

wife will move to arizona, where she was from, and he will run for a congressional seat that is yet to be created. well, he did move in a few months. the district that opened up was that of an incumbent congressman, john rhodes, who had been there for 30 years. he wasn't going to let a few blocks stop him. there was someone who was focused like a laser beam. host: it has been interesting for the trump administration. what was the impact of the pleas and convictions that happened with the trump administration and the associates? guest: i don't think there is any question that the white house was shaken by the news. whether it directly involves the , the fact thatt

his former campaign manager, and his personal attorney, and then the chief financial officer of ,is operations, mr. weisel berg were either convicted, as in paul manafort's case, or got deals or immunity. in other words, the so-called is now of trump world being listed. again, this may not have anything to do with his presidency. but the fact that the arms of the law are coming so close to him is a bit disturbing to trump washington. host: do you agree? guest: i think it was striking, most of us reporters wake up in the morning, i think, we look at the phone and see live-tweets from donald trump. there were no tweets the following morning. i think he was in shock, his white house had to take a step

back and think about what his next for us. but after that cause, we saw the same old trump. no collusion, no russia. and the situation we are talking about now has to do with his alleged involvement with women, financial misdeeds of people in his inner circle. we haven't yet gotten to questions of collusion or obstruction of justice, as potential aspects of donald trump's behavior. me to the nextes question, is the president in legal jeopardy? guest: potentially. in the plea deal by michael heen, they talked about -- implicated donald trump in the issue of paying hush money to two women with whom donald trump allegedly had extramarital

relationships. that is about donald trump. kind ofnvolved in some illegal activity? but he is a sitting president, and what people need to know is that the justice department, for decades, has operated under the guidance that says a sitting president cannot be indicted. is he in legal jeopardy? if special counsel robert mueller follows that guidance, which people expect him to do, he will not be indicted anytime soon. once he leaves office, all bets are off. but what i think we are in the middle of is a political process. the idea is that mueller will write a report when he's finished, give it to rod rosenstein, the acting attorney general on the matter of the russia investigation, then rod rosenstein makes a decision on what to do with the report, hand it to congress, then it goes to

them to launch impeachment proceedings or not. guest: i agree with pretty much everything you said. at the one thing i would say is, one political reporter, thing i find is that things like this, as outrageous as they are, the base ofbother supporters that stood by this president. i had a fascinating lunch thursday with a gentleman who did polling and political analysis for donald trump's primary and caucus campaigns. he found that every time candidate trump made an outrageous statement, or something about him came out, including the notorious access hollywood tape, leader in the campaign, there would be a time backersroup of trump would say, i'm not supporting him anymore. he is no good.

then after a few days, they in these come back different groups, for different reasons. then they would never leave again. interesting,ery after the process but linda describes so well, to find if the formula still applies to team trump. guest: i was going to say, the thing to know about donald trump and public opinion is that opinion about donald trump, i think, is already baked into the equation. getting into it, especially as regards donald trump's a legend -- donald trump's a legend -- a weged extramarital affairs, know that clinton was impeached for lying under oath about that. that really boomeranged and fired on republicans.

as long as donald trump has the core of support, which i think he does, he's got that shield. dons often called teflon when it comes to the support. host: we want you to join the conversation. if you are a republican, please call us on (202) 748-8001. if you are a democrat, calling on (202) 748-8000. independents, we want to hear from you on (202) 748-8002. and you can reach us on social panwj, and on facebook. we have a call from illinois on the democrat line. good morning. i guess, in light of john th, i found out that senator kennedy died of the same thing on the same day. maybe at this point, we could

come together and do like they did and go across the aisles and try to bring people together at this point. it seems like russia is trying to tear us apart. as far as being torn apart, we are working right into the russian playbook. i think somebody has got to come together and bring this country together, and try to bring the trump crew in with us. and trump is guilty, and he has done some bad things, and that is all going to come to terms, and they will finally come and do what they have to do with him. , if he can just come together and say, we need to bring this country together and work together. maybe up in washington, they could go out and have a beer like they used to. host: how is the rest of the trump administration handling the news?

honestly, those who are there and have hung in for this long with him tend to say it is business as usual, and they will stay around. he has had substantial turnover, not only in his white house staff, but in the cabinet and subcabinet level, that has been well reported. i would say that, as corey at a breakfastd hosted by linda's publication, you will see a number of people either leave right after the midterm elections in november, or if they are staying, they are going to stay for the duration. they have enlisted until the 2020 election. host: do we now -- do we know vice president mike pence is handling the situation? the color reference to him -- c aller referenced him.

>> the interesting thing about mike pence is that he is usually in the background and is not usually a vocal public presence. the role thatng donald trump needs, which is to be there if necessary, and to be helpful, but not to overshadow him. so we haven't had a statement, for example, from mike pence, about the passing of john mccain. we hear about his schedule and all the campaign events that he's doing, but he is not in the headlines. and mike pence is actually an important player in the midterms. around theling country on behalf of house candidates, which is a chamber that could slip to democrats in november. so he is an important member of the administration, but you are not reading more about him. >> he will become more important until a new senator in arizona

is decided. let's go to max, calling from new york on the republican line. morning, thank you for a great show. i have a general statement to make that is related to all of this. the democrats have yet to accept the outcome of the election, and that is the reason for all of this other stuff. the president is being investigated for things that no other president would be investigated for, for things that hillary clinton is actually guilty of. the establishment doesn't like him, and the democrats don't like him. big surprise that the democrats don't like a republican candidate, and they think that because they dislike him so much, they can stomp their feet and remove him from office, and the american people who put him there won't stand for it. host: the caller brings up the political implications.

how does this affect midterm policy for democrats and republicans? guest: for democrats, it is obviously a gift. -- culture ofted corruption. manafort, the, plea deal. tax evasion, bank fraud, most things that those of us who pay taxes, we are happy that they got caught and are facing prison time. the recentve indictment of two members of congress, chris collins of new york and duncan hunter of it happens, the two earliest house supporters of donald trump. this is a ready-made message for the democrats. they need more than that. they need a message that is more proactive about what they would do. thatt feeds into the idea

the democrats have a very strong chance of taking over the house after the november election. host: are democrats talking impeachment if they take over the house? are they using that as a campaign strategy? the younger and newer democratic candidates are, and they will talk about it quite openly. the samethey had tactic during the so-called watergate midterm election. cooler and older heads, heads in ther democrat party, you might say, ae a little wary of removing president when, so far, there has been no evidence of wrongdoing, high crimes or misdemeanors, while he is in office. so i think you will hear it on the campaign trail, so when it comes to -- but when it comes to

drawing up articles, there will be a hold and wait attitude. host: is there anything changing as far as the house or senate composition? guest: i know there are polls that show democrats gaining in forgeneric ballots candidates for congress, particularly in the house of representatives. if you talk to any democrats, they believe confidently that they are going to win the seats to win the house. republicans, on the other hand, point out that when a president is able to activate his base -- in other words, get them to vote for him by proxy, when he is not on the ballot, they do better than excepted -- than expected in the primaries. inn kennedy gained seats congress, bill clinton in 1998

when republicans started impeachment's, he made historic penultimate house and senate elections of his term. and george w. bush in 2002, in the wake of 9/11, gained tremendously for the republicans in the midterm elections. all of those were because the base was activated and turned out to vote. host: do we see any shift in the senate? guest: i actually think the republicans will -- i hate to make predictions. host: this is what is dangerous. guest: republicans could gain seats in the senate. democrats bad for the . there are 10 up for election in states where donald trump won. that would, in itself, would be historic. if the democrats retake the house and republicans gain seats in the senate, that has never happened where one house flips majority is gained

by the other party. it is partly an accident of the kind of shows that divide in this country. you have individual districts that are really right -- really ripe to flip. it is hard to see democrats taking over the senate or even holding where they are very -- where they are. the common man in the house is that 23 seats are needed for democrats to capture the majority. 47 republicans seats are open at regardless of whether the incumbents lose, they will make gains in open seats, because they are suddenly vulnerable. i submit that the bulk of those 47 seats are districts that are republican,"afe

and that republicans can hold on. i predict itdo, will be the tightest division between the parties since 1957, which was a handful of seats. since then, it has been pretty substantial. have a call from fort washington, maryland, on the democrat line. caller: what the guy said, the color from new york that -- the saidr from new york who democrats are against the president, and we are doing things to him that caused him to be implicated or impeached, that is poppycock. but i didn't call about that. i called to ask, if the president cannot be convicted while in office, can he be convicted once he is out of office? host: that is easy, he can. once he leaves office, he can

the legal process of being indicted and standing trial. i'm not saying that is going to happen, by custom, that is the process. host: could robert mueller just hold the report until president trump's term is over? >> i'm not sure. remember, his office is funded by the taxpayers. andeeds to turn in a report justify his performance, and the expenses he submits, not to mention the salary he gets from the government. and i would remind you that, as someone who's been watching special prosecutors for decades, i remember an interview with lawrence walsh, the special iran-contran the investigation, he went on for years with his investigation,

and in the end, he produced indictments, but said he was disappointed he never tried to indict george h w bush and test it legally. him, chuckrviewed wolfe was nearly 100 years old at the time. let's go to mike, calling from minnesota on the independent line. caller: good morning. i heard both of your guests commented on the fact that no clinton was impeached because of lying under oath -- that bill clinton was impeached for lying under oath. the man in the office right now, hen't he take an oath before got the presidency? another thing i'd like to make a comment, for the people listening. we need to start being very careful about our local elections. statewide, congress, senators .nd whatnot

because the congress and senate that is in there right now is not working for the people. and givewe pay them them their cars and dinners and everything else, they are not working for us. they have their own agenda, working for the corporates, and so is the electoral. i would probably never vote for president again because of the electoral vote. hillary clinton, who i didn't by over 2er, won million votes. the constitution says "we the people," where has that gone? guest: on the question of the oath, yes, you are right, the president does take an oath of office, typically with his hand on the bible, but that is different from testifying under .ath in a legal proceeding

so, the president has yet to make any statements to the special counsel or his team -- and if he were to lie in that setting, that would put him in legal jeopardy. once he leaves office, it could feed into possible impeachment proceedings while president. issue of congress working for the people, i think i'm going to challenge -- the channel a little bit of john mccain here. i would say that, after having spent 30 years in washington as a reporter, that most members of congress are working for "the constituents, the people of their state if they are in the senate. there are a few bad apples, but i would say that in the main, these are hard-working people doing the best there can -- the best they can to represent their district and state and to do good.

guest: i agree with what linda said and would like to make the thet, she brought up indictment of congressman duncan hunter junior of california. i don't know how that will play out, but i know this. his father was emblematic of everything linda said. duncan hunter senior was a brown star winner in vietnam, legal services lawyer in the hispanic , and went oniego to serve and become chairman of the armed services committee. let anyone so much as pay for lunch or coffee. he believed strictly in ethical purity, and when he left office, he had enough in his pension from the service and from congress that he did not have to lobby or try to influence his former colleagues. i tried to reach him a couple times, but he is usually pretty busy playing with his

grandchildren, playing golf, or hunting. host: we have a call from florida on the democratic line. morning, how are you doing? host: i'm doing fine. what is your question? caller: i have more of a statement. but i would say, where is the real leadership on the democratic side and on the republican side, the ones that need to grow a backbone, since we lost john mccain. who is going to stand up for the people? and yes, there are good republicans and democrats on both sides working for the people, but the majority is still being affected by this. it is not a party line, it is an american side. we, as americans, need to stand up and vote in our local voting process and help each -- and

hold each member accountable. that is the accountability that is missing here thank you for your time and you can answer questions when i get off the phone. like to addly, i'd an additional question. we already see jockeying on the democrat side for the 2020 election. is there anyone on the republican side possibly thinking about a challenge to president trump for the republican nomination in the next presidential election? guest: the name that comes to mind is john kasich, governor of ohio, soon to be retiring from that office. he is a pretty regular critic of the president, ran against donald trump in the 2016 election. i have a hard time seeing anybody displacing donald trump for the 2020 race on the republicans side. as far as this larger question

of leadership, it is an excellent question. we are seeing it on the democrat site, nancy pelosi, who has been the democrat leader in the house for many years, getting on in years. lady,an energetic, smart but people are looking at the democrat leadership and saying, what is next? they are all in their late 70's. i'm not suggesting people can't be effective at that age, but i ofnk that one of the faults democratic leadership, and i would include barack obama in this as well, is that they have not really are. the next -- have not really prepared the next generation. however, the election of donald trump has really energized democrats of all ages. women. theink we are about to see possible rise of the next generation of leadership, particularly on the democrat site.

they are inspired, upset about what happened in 2016. i think this is a new opportunity for new leadership and skills. on the republicans side, i used to believe that donald trump was just a phenomenon that , and last a brief time that more traditional republicans would come into power. yet i see all of these trump keyrsed candidates winning primaries, and i can think of a number of governors and senators, or likely ones, who would follow in the tradition of the current president or it on the other hand, i also see people such as u.n. ambassador nikki haley, who seems to be everybody's choice for vice president, but i know many people who say, forget vice president, just nominate her for the top job. on the democrat site, what linda says is accurate about the

democratic leadership. nancy pelosi and minority whip steny hoyer are very capable people, but when i start thinking that i covered their initial elections, in special collections, i might add, that in the day when i had old black hair -- all black hair. time has marched on. it is not about their age or anything against them personally. but in the television age, you need a new star on tv and that is why i believe congressman tim making ahio, who is concerted effort to bring blue-collar democrats into the party, will rise up as a leader in the house. ryan was supposed to be one of the next leaders in congress, but he is retiring. who is going to take his spot?

linda: i'm going to defer to john on this. john: i don't know if republicans will hold the senate or the house. said, great philosopher never make predictions, especially about the future. what it seems very likely will turn to the next in line, kevin mccarthy, the majority leader. might and up speaker or minority leader, believe me, he'll take either. him will be congressman steve scalise of louisiana, who became even more of a beloved figure after his near-death in a shooting during baseball practice. >> one potential republican ticket in the post trump era could be nikki haley and steve scalise. to this can come back script a few years to come and say they called it. who knows. we have a call from new

jersey on the independent line. -- goodod morning area morning. say, the angryto of the hillary supporters and the fake news media against our president is really sad. this president has done more for our veterans, more than mr. mccain has done, in the sense that he has allowed our veterans , instead ofal care dying because they had to wait , has happenedths in the last administration. he has also, by the way, not in millions of jobs, improve the -- host: i think we lost him. but he brings up a good question. the relationship between president trump and john mccain was rather -- what was that relationship? guest: during the presidential campaign, president donald trump

thattedly, famously said john mccain was not a hero because he got captured. that was a pretty bracing statement for an american figure who is generally viewed as a war hero and an overall inspiring person. that image of donald trump saying that has really carried and the whiteay, house positive response to the passing of john mccain, has not been all that impressive, i might say. they have mainly sent condolences to the family. john mccain and donald trump are larger-than-life figures who held firmly to their beliefs. donald trump never back down. john mccain, of course, one of his last memorable moments as a senator was him voting against

the repeal of obamacare. donald trump, i think, will never forgive him for that. and mccain giving the thumbs down on that. it is kind of sad, actually. at a moment when i think most americans are coming together and remembering a great american, that the current president can't quite get there. host: senator mccain did not have too many kind things to say about president trump over his career. matter of fact, after giving him a perfunctory endorsement when he became nominee, with drew the notorioust when the access hollywood tape came out, yet another one of the slights, if you could call it that, that president trump never forgive john mccain four. it is kind of sad to watch any hold these kind of grudges, and that they not be

forgiven, even after death. as a student of history, i noticed it is very different from the past. president eisenhower had a fight with senator robert taft of ohio, where taft took it very personally when he lost, felt he was robbed of the nomination, closely together after eisenhower became president, and when senator taft died, the president said, i don't know how i can go on without him. robert kennedy and president lyndon johnson had a bad blood between them, but the president morning -- amily in in mourning. host: jeremy is calling from washington, d.c., on the independent line. caller: good morning, thank you for the opportunity. takingciate your guests time to discuss this critical issue. you addressed the freedom of

to america, this great country of ours. i want to talk about the president and the future. -- greater all of time to talk about john mccain. he was a war criminal, civilian facilities. supporting every disastrous war america was ever involved in. he had no judgment and little decency when a campaign the samely led -- vomit inducing -- when he dies, aat the monster is actually mortal being and not a bloodsucking vampire, just because we live in a society that thinks -- worth bombing

societies for years, starving yemeni children to death and creating slave markets in libya, doesn't mean that the -- and as much as i disagree with -- of the gop party, according to mr. trump, at 4:00 p.m. -- golf on fridays, so his work week is four days, 20 hours including lunch. this is a part-time president. he is a disgrace to the u.s. and the countries around the world. even our allies don't seem to like him much area -- like him much. host: that is an interesting view of senator mccain's time in the military. comment would my be that we have a rich and varied public opinion in this country, and i applaud our

ability that we have the right to say what we think on national television. guest: i agree. daniel webster once said, i don't agree with a thing say, but i defend to the death your right to say it. host: we have a call from milwaukee, wisconsin, the democrat line. caller: thank you. donald trump -- because he was rich. the man didn't know anything about running a country. going tocause he was discard everything obama put in. i don't know one thing this man has passed as he has been elected -- he criticized women, ballplayers, everybody. the man was elected because he had money, and they thought he was going to do away with obamacare. but thank god he couldn't.

people, get out and vote so you can have a voice. you don't have a voice if you don't vote. host: what has been the top or policye achievement of the white house, coming into the midterms? guest: you are going to hear a lot about this on the campaign trail, the tax cut that the president put in. and the credit that he takes for the booming economy, certainly the market last week is something that white house spokesman will say is directly president'she economic agenda. in addition, another issue that is near and dear to a lot of the conservative backers is the judicial record of the president. i can remember so many people saying, i voted for gorsuch, referring to his appointment to the supreme court. now of course, the issue has

been underscored with the appointment of judge brett justiceh to success anthony kennedy. that vote will be something that will be watched by the entire country, and if justice kavanagh is confirmed, it is going to enhance the president's support among his early backers. legal troubles swirling around the white house have any effect on the possible vote in the senate on justice kavanagh, and will senator mccain's death and the loss of that seat until a new senator takes it, have an effect on the judge kavanaugh vote? regarding the legal issues surrounding the president, i don't see the kavanagh domination suffering from that. republicans have a tiny majority in the senate already. i suspect the governor of aizona will appoint

replacement ascender mccain soon -- replacement to senator mccain soon. answer is the short no, i think kavanagh will be confirmed. host: i know we hate predictions, but do you have any idea of who will be appointed to senator mccain's seat? i know it is early. guest: cindy mccain, the is the namedow, most often mentioned. sources in the grand canyon thee say will get appointment in the end. she will fill out her husband's term until 2020 and then would likely not run again. she is a respected businesswoman and community leader in arizona, contributor to many republicans, has a good relationship with governor ducey. and the governor did meet with senator mccain and mrs. mccain

while the senator was still alive. another thing, if you look back at senator hubert humphrey, and before that, center he we long -- senator q we long -- huey long, they both had -- powers extended beyond their lives. john and i are friends, and john has been saying this for a long time. expect cindy mccain to be the next senator from arizona. and i have are members of her, too, writing on the straight talk express, very much on his side and supportive of him, not overshadowing him in any way, but a lovely person, terrific helper to her husband, a great mother. she tells a compelling story about adopting the baby from , their daughter,

bridget, and how they saw her, felt for her and brought her home as a baby and said to her husband, bringing home a baby, meet your new daughter. i don't know how many spouses who would have the guts to do that, but she felt really strongly about things like that and is very compassionate. from we have a call carterville, illinois, on the republican. i was calling about the peaceful transition of power that has yet to happen within our nation. i have never followed politics closely until president trump was elected, and i have followed .ery closely since then very disappointed in the media, the onslaught of the negative media is really what is pushing the poll numbers, which of course, we should not believe

the poll numbers anyways, as the last election showed us. 1800, it revolution of is like, my gosh, they just, the democrats just don't want to let go of the reins of power. and people calling in about like, whene, it's did people forget what the constitution and what the electoral college is? because without that, california would be choosing our president. and i work, by the way, at a university that, about 12 years ago, decided that their main stride would be diversity. and i know that is all the democrats take about his diversity. my university is about ready to go under because of the racism of the democrats and all of their pushing of all of this illegal alien population. i swear, we probably educate

thenforeign-born americans, because i don't know getmany illinoisians educated in the illinois school system. i would say very few. that is my comment, and thank you so much for your time. host: some things we haven't talked about yet. the possibility of pardons for paul manafort and mr. cohen. from the president. and we haven't talked about the situation that jeff sessions seems to be in with his war of words with the president. let's start with jeff sessions. is he going to make it to the midterm elections as attorney general? guest: yes, because who would get -- who would the president get to win the job, and win conversation -- confirmation? the sessions looks like most unhappy person i've seen

whenever he's around. he's going to fill out that job as long as he can. the president is going to continue to say he regrets of hunting him -- regrets appointing him, then after the election, i think it is only natural he would try to put someone in. of theess of the outcome elections, when things become difficult, politically, for a president, and the confirmation process seems a bigger hurdle than normal, presidents usually secure someone who can confirmation and win over conference -- win over congress. nixon during watergate was able to get gerald ford, bill saxby from ohio as vice president and respectively,al because they serve in congress. it wouldn't surprise me if the president turned to someone such as senator mike lee of utah, and

accomplished legal scholar, and said, do you want to be attorney general. will seeyou think you any pardons from the white house for manafort or cohen? guest: i don't think he will pardon michael cohen, with whom he's madee serious, that clear. the manafort situation is fascinating. the man has been convicted on eight counts of bank fraud, tax evasion, financial misdeeds. and if it were not for one juror , would have been found guilty on all 18 counts, according to the one juror who has spoken publicly about this. paul manafort, however, has not turned against the president, and the president has expressed sympathy for manafort for having to undergo this legal process, he called him a brave man. donald trump, by many accounts, has been advised by those around

him, do not pardon paul manafort. it would look bad, really bad, to have the president pardon somebody for what he did, particularly before the next trial, another manafort trial coming up. as we know,rump, does what he wants and knows he has the power to pardon. we could eventually see a manafort pardon, that it would be the height of foolishness to do it anytime soon. in fact, the one juror who spoke out is a trump supporter and said she will vote for trump in 2020, she, on national television, warned the president, do not pardon paul manafort. as he listens to anybody, maybe , who listen to that juror is an average voter and not one of his inner circle. from we have mark colling woodstock, connecticut, on the independent line. caller: i don't think cohen and

convictions will have anything to do with the next elections. people seem to forget that mueller was supposed to look the how russia influenced 2016 elections, and he has not even looked at the democrats yet. the democratic side is the one that was colluding, and the biggest example of that was barack obama on the open mic, telling vladimir that i'll be more flexible. i mean, the american people see what is going on. and they aren't going to stand for it, and as far as the polls go, those are going to be just like the other election. people don't want to admit that they are voting for donald trump. thank you. tom from atlantic highlands, new jersey, on the independent line. good morning. sort of the exact

opposite of the last caller. ist i'm seeing is manafort being held under this pressure as a result of the russian elements they cannot prove. so these are all just the low hanging fruit that they use as pressure. that is what all this is about, with cohen and all of these people, so they can have that kind of pressure and conviction for these people. what i am more concerned about, newsmax has already been running stories like "what is wrong with collusion?" thing is, president trump received help from russia, whether he was joking when he asked for it publicly or not. and once he got the help, he kept it private. then he goes to russia and says nothing about it, when all sorts

of people are implicated for that purpose, so he has a reason stop doingm to say, this, russia, and he doesn't do it. thenow that is what american people see, because he is involved in shady business dealings. that is why people want to see this brought to manafort because he is a shady businessman. i will let mr. rizzi respond. >> what different perspectives they are. guest: i would say to the previous gentleman, the name is mr. gizzi. but that is my father and he is 97 years old. i'm john. i would just point out that all of this, whether there is collusion, whether there was russian involvement to a great degree, is going to be resolved one way or another, and in all likelihood, before the year is out. i don't want to say before the

election. mr. mueller is not a stupid person. he knows he has to justify the office of independent counsel, special counsel. that that law is under fire over time, and when the papers print the plots of what is involved, you usually see the enraged cry to shut the office down and let the congressional investigating committee look into it. theself have been against special prosecutor law for a long time, no matter who they were investigating, because it also gives unlimited authority, virtually, to continue to pursue someone without a set amount of time. my perspective is that this will all be over with in a short time. one postscript, if you want to criticize president obama for his remarks to the then , thenent medvedev

criticize george w. bush as well. he saw a reset of the putin government, and it did not work after the georgia strike in 2008 . the image that is frozen in my mind, the president of the united states, and the then-premier of russia having strong words during the olympics of china, and president obama did indeed say that. end of thisd at the term, the strike against ukraine and the seizure of crimea. every president has tried a reset on outreach to russia, and they are sadly disappointed, and they will be until there is new leadership in the kremlin. guest: first of all, this issue , the thing to know about the mueller investigation is he is operating under a mandate from rob rosenstein, the assistant attorney general, who has given him broad scope to investigate not just the

interference and potential collaboration between trump but anye and russia, other crimes. this is why we've got the manafort situation you have michael cohen, mueller determined that didn't really relate to the investigation, so he handed it off to the u.s. attorney in manhattan. is important to know, i think, as regards the issue of collusion, that so far, there are no indictments that go directly to the issue of collusion. this is what donald trump is clinging to, as he tells us every day that there is no collusion, it is a witchhunt. it has the feeling of a never-ending, expanding investigation. but i think that as john says, robert mueller is a smart man. he knows what his mandate is. he is doing an honest job, by all accounts. center of thist

whole situation. he doesn't speak in public, he's not going to write a book, unlike james comey. so i think we need to let mueller finish his job and see what he has to say. let's go to john from silver springs, maryland, on the democrat line. caller: i want to send out my condolences to john mccain's family. i'm going to miss his smile, always a brave man. america lost a good politician who speaks out his mind and knows what he's talking about most of the time. having said that, i think donald trump is the president in the wrong country. he should be somewhere in africa to be president. you can have three wives, get rid of the justice department, send the military guys wherever you want. but obviously, he's not in africa. i respect the, media.

without the media, i wouldn't know a lot of stuff. the wrong with relationship with the washington post and new york times. i want to ask a direct question to mr. john. i know that you deal with sarah huckabee every day. how do you always get a right answer when you ask a direct question, and you don't get the answer that you are expecting? or she is avoiding your questions. supportsi know he donald trump, the newsmax ceo. do you wonder about getting in trouble with the questions you ask? i watch you every day when you are in the white house, watching the very difficult questions. and i will take my question off the air. questiont caller's before -- ok, answer the question. how do you survive the daily briefings? i did about as well as

under josh earnest, president obama's press secretary, who always called on me and gave me sometimes even if i didn't like it or was not satisfied. sarah sanders, and she does not like sarah huckabee sanders, she goes by sarah sanders, she answers with the information she has at the time. please me,oing to but then again, very few press secretaries please me. so i would just leave it at that. for why like her answer she calls on me so often. she can hear me in the back of the room. host: one quick answer. the government still has the run. where will the white house focus its policies after labor day? guest: well, the main thing is to keep the government running. donald trump said he wants a shut down. donald trump does not want a

shutdown. with the republicans in charge of both houses in congress they don't want a shutdown on their watch. that will be the main thing. other than that, i don't think we get a whole lot out of congress. host: do we see anything coming out of the white house? guest: no he will be on the campaign trail. when he meat that tweet about the government shutdown so few republicans rose to take the bait or said he was right, he backed off completely. no one wants that because the white house won't win. host: all right. well like to thank both of our guests for coming in for the fascinating conversation. coming up next we'll be talking with rebecca zimmerman about with the rand corporation. stay with us and we'll be right back. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018]

>> our current artificial intelligence is in the cloud, kind of like model t's. they're pretty good. they're viable. they're useful. but model t's are open to the air, pretty uncomfortable. in 1918, the forecast of the future of the car and one of the forecastses is they believed it would be fully enclosed and weather proof. so obviously it's not so great but it started the car age. that's where we are with artificial intelligence. the t comes to c 3 po, general purpose robot, like a

general purpose computer we're essentially in the 1890s. >> he never learned politics. he never learned politics. he told his aide who served both roosevelt and taft as an intimate aide, i will not play a parcel popularity. if the people wants to reject me that's their prerogative. his heroes are madison, hamilton, and marshall. madison and hamilton believed that majorities should rule but only slowly and thoughtfully over time so that reason rather than passion could prevail. taft believed that the entire system is set up to slow the direct expression of popular passion so that the people can be governed in the public

interest rather than through faction, that is mobs that favor self-interests rads rather than the public good. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we're talking with rebecca zimmerman about the status of what's going on in afghanistan. it's been 16 years that the american troops have been in afghanistan. what's the status today?

guest: well, that's a great question. unfortunately, the status is in many ways the same as it's always been. militarily i think we are still stuck in a bit of a stalemate where the afghan national security forces are having trouble standing up to the that we need them to do. but politically, the situation is really dynamic and really fluid. so when we talk about a stalemate we're sort of misstating a bit the politics o of the situation, which is that we have a very fragile national unit government in afghanistan and there have actually been just in the last 24 hours some big changes and big drama on that front. that government is now trying to make peace with the taliban but first it has to make peace with itself. so the u.s. has a really difficult task both militarily and diplomatically and politically to both operate and ort of advise in trying to

bring matters to a peaceful negotiated conclusion. host: what's been the trump bring matters administration's strategy and how does it differ from what the obama administration did and the bush administration? guest: in many ways the strategy in afghanistan is the ame as it has been since 2001, nce president bush first addressed congress and said we're going to make sure that terrorists cannot find nctionry in afghanistan addressed congress ever again. so it has been a war to fight terrorism and prehaven't the resurgence of terrorists but it has been done through the means of what we would call counter insurgency, where we're not just trying ever again. so it has been a to go in and k the terrorists. we tried to do that, it frankly doesn't work. you can't kill all the straretses. but also try to build up the legitimate government of afghanistan and try to come to a negotiated peace. so that part of the strategy is

is the same as it's always been and that's important because there's a central sort of ill logic there. we're fighting terrorists by fighting insurgents because we differentiate the taliban from the terrorists which are auks and now isis. -- al qaeda and now isis. so there's always been a little bit of an assumption gap. where we assume that we can fight terrorists by fighting for the government of afghanistan. so that's part that's the same as it's always been. what's different now is that much one there's a greater emphasis on fighting against the islamic state, fighting isis. so we see actually many more air strikes and much ground operations against the islamic state. and then another is the focus and ese forces on training advising versus operations. and that has to some degree been in flux, where we're now

trying to do more ground in the way of nst operations with fewer forces actually on the ground. host: if the trump administration strategy in afghanistan -- is it successful? do we see any difference because of what the trump administration is doing now? guest: i think we have to look at how to evaluate that strategy. one way is by looking at actual acts of violence and the level of safety on the ground in afghanistan, or the way that he u.s. military is evaluating it. it's based on the percentage of the population that is under the control of the it. government. that's one way of evaluating it. another way is how close are we to something that could be a peace agreement in afghanistan. on the first score, i think it's really hard to argue that there's been dramatic progress. just the other week, we saw a major city in eastern

afghanistan that the taliban was able to lay seige to for a number of days. then just yesterday in the afghan press there was a report that in afghan there's a military unit that's been eating grass. they have no food, they haven't had bread in 45 days because no logistic system that is functional that can actually get the food to them. so it's hard to argue that from a security sense that the afghan military has stood up and is able to take care of the country. in the political sense we've seen a lot more progress. politically we've seen the musetull ceasefire which was really unprecedented in the history of the war. and that's been i think a real bright spot. but it's been hard to sustain that. we haven't actually seen that progress continuing beyond just a few fits and starts. host: we'll be joined from

afghanistan by the bureau chief. pamela, can yeah hear me? >> loud and clear. host: what's the situation on the ground in afghanistan right now? > well, of course it's a big country so i would start with kabul. and i would say that things are realtively peaceful here at the moment. but there's a lot of political turmoil with the resignation of the top security adviser to the president. just yesterday with the embarrassment of rockets being fired while the president was giving a speech in his palace, from a few blocks away, there's a lot going on right now. people are very concerned about it. of course, as your previous speaker mentioned, the country is still in shock from the attack the most serious attack

on an urban area since 2015. so that's very much in people's minds right now. relatively speaking, the past couple of from a few blocks away, days has been pretty quiet. but the pace of violence -- violent attacks both by the tall bans and is over the past several months has been almost unprecedented. they are really on a roll and ow the taliban of course has basically ignored the president's second truce offer and instead going off to moscow to talk with the russians. so it's a very confusing moment. i would say it's a somewhat unstable moment. and we really don't know what's going to happen next. host: basically ignored the president's second truce offer the latest attacks in kabul? >> no. the taliban denied it. some government agency said they thought it was the islamic state. and some other groups. but they didn't present any details or evidence of that.

there are other analysts who say that in fact the taliban did it but didn't claim it for their own political reasons, and that in fact even though they ignored the ceasefire formally they actually observed it for several days. and they've been sending out a lot of mixed signals in recent weeks and they may be one of their mixed signals. we don't know. their leader sent out a very strong message at the beginning of this in which he not only said we're going for victory on the battlefield, but he also was very heavily critrl of the afghan religious leaders who have all come together in the past several months and very strongly denounced the war as unislamic and called for it to be settled through peace talks as soon as possible. so that's a very worrisome divide when you're seeing that split between what is already a very conservative sunni majority clergy and the

taliban. so as i said, things are a bit unsettled and unclear right now, and we really don't know where the chips are going to fall. host: you mentioned the cabinet reshuffle and resignations this morning. there's been some conflicting reports that the entire security cabinet was asked to resign and then this morning we heard no they've been told their resignations are not accepted. do you have any idea what happened there? guest: well, i o obviously was not inside the palace and i don't know who did what to whom. but i do know that because he's said it himself, that the national security adviser did that he esign and said was basically in serious disagreement with about almost everything you could think of. so that must have been building for a very long time. it looks as if these other resignations sort of followed from that or attempted resignations followed from

that. it's not clear what the final outcome of thats going to o be whether the security leaders are going to stay or not. but there's two factors behind it which i can speak to. which is political. political season is coming up. mr. atmar is strongly believed -- the national security adviser is strongly believed to want to run which is political. for president.n is there's a lot of pre-presidential politics swirling around in the palace that certaintly had something to do with this. the other is the fact that there is a deteriorating what appears to be deteriorating security situation. lots of disappointments, no follow-through on peace tauk plans, on truth plans. it's also a moment of change. you've got a new american military commander, for preside. a new a american special envoy coming in, a new government in pakistan next door. so i'm just adding these factors in as context to what of have been a sort

microcosmic complicated dynamic as a result of a lot of uncertainty and changes taking place. but i do think a lot of it has to do with both personal loyalty and political competition as well as the actual security situation. host: it's been more than 16 years since the war in started. started. do you see the afghan army being able to defend their on country any time in the near future? >> you know, it's a very gad question. i think the answer could be yes. i think it certainly should be yes given all the incredible amount of support, training, money, everything that's been poured into the army. the army is still the best security entity in the country by far. it's done very well. in some cases it's improved

greatly, i think, in the past several years under some of the additional help that they've been getting from the united states. and of course their pride and joy are their special operations forces which have gotten a lot of extra help and a lot of training. they have been brought in to save the day in a number of situations where the regular army and police were not able to handle it, were not as your previous speaker mentioned not getting supplies or even food. that had become a serious problem in terms of the will to fight. but these commandos have really proved to be very skilled and people look to them to a lot of these situations. in the long term, i do think that the afghan national army should and will be able to defend afghanistan, but still e have a very, very determined domestic insurgency, and we have this terrorist group which is obviously not domestic but is very active and has been

doing huge amounts of damage particularly against the afghan shiite community. but not only. and of course they don't have any of the local ties or any of the sort of religious ties and ethnic and social ties that ind afghans together as was so amazingly evident during that three-day ceasefire in june where you actually saw taliban fighters hugging army officers and civilians in the street. when they were all of a sudden sort of rediscovering each undermined y much some of the taliban propaganda and may even have jolted the taliban leadership to see their own fighters suddenly being und some of the taliban bombarded by lf and peace, which was really quite something to witness. host: we would like to thank pamela constable, the "washington post" afghanistan and pakistan bureau chief, for

calling in to us today and giving us an update on what is going on on the ground. thank you, pamela. >> it was my pleasure. host: if you would like to join this conversation about what's stan we'll afghan open up the lines. if you're a veteran of the conflict in afghanistan we want you to call in. right now we're going to talk to mark. good morning. caller: good morning. my quess is after all these years why are we still in afghanistan?

years is a long time to fight a war without inclusion. but then, again, i don't think the american military has had any victory since, what, world war ii. you read a guy like thomas ricks, he talks about how the leadership in the military responds to perhaps different stimly that just mere victory. so i would just like to hear your response. thank you. guest: starting with the easy ones this morning. it's absolutely the most fundamental question and it's something i literally ask myself every day. i've had friends who have been killed in afghanistan, i've spent a lot of time there myself, i have friends there right now. for me, when i think about the strategic logic of being in afghanistan i do think that there is still a valid reason to be there. i think number one, if we were

to leave, and particularly if we were to leave suddenly, you'd have a real vacuum of power where not just the taliban but a whole lot of other actors would be able to find these pockets of what we call ungovered spaces -- places where there is no rule of law, there is no sort of writ of government. and in those spaces who knows what can happen. the other reason that i think it's important is afghanistan fits and pam constable was talking about the russian peace talks. afghanistan fits in a funny place where you have russia, iran, it touches china, it touches pakistan. so it's flush up against many o of those countries that are major challenges for the u.s. and that are places the u.s. really cares about. when you think about the biggest challenges that the u.s. sees in the national security space, those are the challenges. and afghanistan touches all of

them. so first of all it's very valuable for the u.s. to have some form of presence there. but second, all of those actors are concerned about what happens in afghanistan but none of them is willing to actually have the presence in fghanistan to ensure afghanistan has some small level of stability. the u.s. and its nato allies are really the only ones who are willing to do that. russia wants terrorist threats in afghanistan to stay well inside afghanistan, not come up through that jeek stan, afghanistan has some small level of stability. for example. china wants the uighers from sort of joining in to this global conflict. all of them have these inrests but they don't actually have enough of an interest to want the come in and secure afghanistan. that's really only the u.s. that will do that job. so for me, that makes it really important that we keep a presence there where we can continue to have a say in what happens there. host: you brought it up.

one of our viewers tweeted this question. est: this is the eternal question. there are differing views as to the degree of pakistani involvement, and particularly the degree of official involvement. some think the government is directing a lot of o these attacks. some people see that involvement being much further down in the food chain or being less official. i think what we do know and what's important to say is that the government of pakistan is not one question. there are differing views as to the single entity in the sense that every action that it takes is coordinated at the central level in the nation's capital and they are sort of a puppet master pulling the strings. in fact, the government of pakistan is pretty fractured in terms of a lot of its internal

entities. so what the internal sort of security forces, the intelligence forces, what the military do is not necessarily centrally directed. and that's actually been a really big challenge for the united states, because when we interact with pakistan we talk to the national government, but the national government may not have complete control over what all of its security actors are doing at all times. that makes it really difficult to know the degree of official involvement and it also makes it really difficult to change that. we've seen some periods of hope that the pakistani government would crack down on support for miltancey inside the government, particularly after the attack on a school in la hore where the nation was scanned liesed at the level of brutality and violence against children. but if the end it's not as easy as the national government just saying stop doing this. the interests are very entreavend trenched there. host: let's go to jim.

good morning. caller: good morning. i have two questions. one, it seems like a good deal of the conflict is sparked over our making opium, and can bass production, illegal in afghanistan. i noticed this when we were surging there a number of years ago, and we were fighting in a place called marjah. why is anybody fighting for marjah? turns out it was an opium consolidation plant. i think it wulled take stress off the farmers. secondly, i think after 16 years we're going the way of the la vapt, palestine, financing both sides of wars and this war has become a cottage industry. any time business slows down, any side that needs more capital can do a terrorist act

r a bomb and let it be a mystery and everybody goes nuts trying to kill somebody else. what do you think? guest: to your point on opium production. first o of all, i'm going to refer you to probably the world's leading expert on the narcotics trade in southern afghanistan, david mansfield, active on twitter. he is a great person to follow if you want to get really detailed analysis on what causes the narcotics industry the all, i'm going to continue afghanistan. so the i will legality or gality of it is an interesting point, and one of the things that we found is initially the sort of first phase of counter narcotics effort in afghanistan was all about make it illegal, slash and burn, get rid o of it. and they found that what actually ended up happening is they were destroying longtime

livelihoods of local farmers and just insent vising them to join the insurgency. so sometimes i refer to myself as a student of unintended consequences, because it feels like i spend a lot of time saying well we had the intention to do this and we tried it and what actually happened was these three other things that we didn't predict were going to happen. so there's been a lot of tension in a year since then in trying to control narcotics and control narcotics production without destroying livelihoods and sending people over to the insurgency. what makes that challenging is that it's really important that e do something about the opium industry because it is such a source of revenue for a number of -- not just the taliban but a number of actors who are acting outside the law in afghanistan. so you probably know afghanistan has tremendously

high levels of corruption and so the opium trade, because it a large illicit industry, actually fuels a lot of that sort of gray market/black market economy that we really want to tamp down actually fuels a lot of on so t government can actually stand up and start providing services. host: democrat line from the united kingdom. good morning. caller: good morning. just a quick question to your guest. i with worked for the m army when the vietnam war was on and it was an interesting perience because the think they can move into these small countries and most of them have very low educational rates, they're very tribal, which is i think one of the most important factors in most of these countries is the tribalism. we have a few people in power

-- this is why they don't want education to happen. we the super powers think we can move in, throw money at it, throw soldiers, armies, whatever we think is necessary to change things. but with we have massive med eefl thinking, first of all. islam we use -- use as a weapon. like a lot of religions. and we ourselves as human beings and as countries are not all that far behind where they are now. if you think about america fighting the civil war, if you think about with the civil wars they had in the united kingdom all these things are slow progressive -- we think in human terms but we need to start thinking in more societal terms. and it takes a long time for a machine that's going in one direction to stop and slowly turn into the correct, which is the democratic movement, to

lp the people of the countries involve. i'm really glad that we have all these wonderful human beings who really commit themselves completely to countries involve. understanding it. but i think that we are up against first of all education, trablism, corruption, money, and power. guess what, that is what has caused most of the wars in the world today. and if you look at syria what we need to start doing is trying to see what would help those people stay in their own country and fight for their own democratic reasoning. and right now we on the outside -- you can only change a past pot if you are making a pot out of clay. you have to go in and change the shape of the pot. sticking handles on and putting patterns on doesn't change the shape of the pot. that's what needs to happen and that has to be an incentive by the people of those countries, not outside.

host: go ahead and answer her question. guest: so there's a lot to agree with in that and there's a few things to disagree with this that. first, i think it's important to say i don't think there is anything about islam inherently that is incompatible with a healthy, thriving, modern society. likewise, i don't think it's accurate to say that there's a large portion of the population that is anti-education in afghanistan. we have seen tremendous strides in that regard. it doesn't mean it's easy. it doesn't mean for example girls education is universally supported but there is actually a lot of support for it in afghanistan. so many of those things. but to the larger point. i think the u.s. went in to afghanistan and has something of a history of going into places like it thinking that bring one we can

democracy and sort of gift it to a country. and you're right, we're talking about long evolutionry processes that will evolve in their own locally appropriate ways so that democracy in the u.s. looks different from the democracy even in canada. they're different systems rooted in place. and so it's difficult to think you can expedite that, you can up time. also, i think there's been a persistent problem of short-term thinking. so when the u.s. went in to up afghanistan, you know, i think initially it really did think that it was as simple as getting the taliban out, instaling a new government, giving them a little bit of financial assistance to help them on their way, and then stepping back. and now i think we understand had we known 16 years ago how long we would be in afghanistan for, we would have set up our presence in a profoundly different way. we would have i think from the

start thought about building inside the government to level. but i think it was really insid to provide these kinds o of services, like the education a tem down to the grassroots triumph of short-term goals and short-term thinking. and i don't know how we break that cycle. there's a lot of reasons why we tend to think in the short term. host: ed from a triumph maryland. good morning. caller: good morning. i have a question. a while back it was mentioned that afghanistan has over $1 trillion worth of minerals underground. that should be an incentive for afghanistan. we have private contractors who want to go in and of course extract that $1 trillion worth o of minerals. who in this country, what puppet master or who -- maybe a texas oil person.

who is going to benefit the most once we steal or take those minerals from those people? and where do we as a people do to make certain we have the right reason for being in and staying in that country -- or any country fror that matter? guest: this is a great question and the question of afghan's minerals has come up again as eric prince, founder of lackwater's plan keeps keeping action to replace military forces with contractors. so it's thought to have a massive quapt of minerals in the ground, ones that could reshape the international market and pricing structures for some minerals like for example. first for example. first it's important to understand those are not america's minerals, those are not nato's minerals. those minerals belong to afghanistan. the u.s. can advise, but it's

not something that we can control because we do respect the sovereignty of afghanistan. the way afghanistan has proceeded is that they have tendered a lot of these minerals as contracts. so they've actually written contracts for companies to bid on to get the mining rights to those. for the u.s., the u.s. private sector can bid on them as can international consorsha. the ones that have been bid thus far, for the the u.s. has not -- i think the u.s. has actually bid on them. but not successfully, and not -- and when i say the u.s., i mean private companies in the u.s., not the u.s. government. the way that those contracts are structured, they are very high risk contracts. companies tending to a little more risk averse than what the afghan government has offered as the terms of the contract. so a lot of those mining rights have ended up going to china

which is something that geopolitically is interesting for the united states. we're fighting a war, china is in there buying up minerals and the land rights to those minerals. they haven't actually produced on those lands in large measure so they're kind of still sitting there underground. and most of the mineral contracts have not been let. could 's a question of afghanistan change the way in which it tenders those contracts to make them more attractive to nonstate-owned mining companies? yeah know, that's an open question but right now that's ir interest. that's not what they've preferred to do. host: a quick answer to a question from one of our twitter followers. when to you predict the war in afghanistan will end, or will it? guest: wow, that is a great question. i have not actually attempted

to make a prediction about that. go on it could easily for another 10 years but not in the same form that it is today. and i wouldn't recommend that it maintain the same form that it is today in perpetuity. i think the u.s. needs to think political gain than the military gain in afghanistan and i think it needs to recognize that as the afghans's political envarmente stands up and has it own dynamics and as the military does stand up, that the u.s. is rightly so losing the absolute ability to say that the afghan government should do this or do that and political gain than the military gain in afghanistan expect the afghan government to sort of follow along and do those things. i think as go forward and as the government stands up, we should be thinking about what are our red lines? that e are few things

matter to us to have happen or thot happen? and we focus on those red lines rather than this sort of broad-based voice in afghanistan's affairs? host: rebecca zimmerman that matter to from the rand corporation. thank you for being here with us. guest: thanks for having me. host: next we'll open up the phone lines. we'll be right back.

host: once again, flags at the u.s. capitol are flying at half staff in memory of senator john mccain who died yesterday at age 81. we are going to open up the phone lines so we can continue to hear your thoughts about senator mccain, his life and his legacy. once again the numbers are on your screen. democratic line.

good morning. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. i just want to make a comment regarding the conversation that you were having earlier regarding john mccain's service. i wanted to offer my condolences to his family and also to all of the republican party as well as other americans who saw john mccain as a leader, as we all did. were discussing john mccain as well as the trump administration and with that i did want to make a comment on linda feldman. she had stated earlier that as far as indicting a president, there was reporting that stated that under special circumstances that trump may be able to be indicted. i'm not calling for the indictment of trump or his impeachment but i did feel like if there are special circumstances, like what is the purpose oo of russia's efforts in order to attack our country? i just feel like in that situation that would be

considered as such circumstances. i had other comments but i don't want to take too much time. thanks for taking my call. host: we're still getting tweets and memories from people around the world about john mccain and his life and legacy. wayne good morning. caller: good morning. i just want to say that i voted for him for president when he ran. i think he was a good person. i was in the military so i respect anybody who's in the military. as a senator i remember when he lost the presidency to barack bama he -- when they had the

health issue thing, he tortured the poor guy, i think. but that's ok, because as we know what happened later on, republicans have been in power nd i still think they'll be in power regardless of what the democrats think this time, i don't think there will be a blue wave like they're predicting. host: you say you voted for senator mccain against president obama. did you vote for senator mccain as we will in the republican primary against bush? who did you choose? caller: i took george w. barb not because of mccain -- i didn't like mccain, i thought that bush was a different person, somebody that had ran in texas and won against a strong governor, you know he said he wasn't born with a silver spoon and all these things. and then he ended up coming out

o of the blue and winning the primaries against everybody. then he barely -- i still think that was a crazy election because the democrat, gore -- they had four different ways of voting in florida. that was the democrats' fault for losing tha democrats' fault for losing in florida. host: david from maryland. independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. talking about re oipt questions but i also want to mention about john mccain. far as the opioids -- the speaker who was talking about afghanistan talking about oipt. i guess my question was, why is the opioid crisis running rampant when we've been in afghanistan and that's where a lot of the opioids come from?

but mainly i wanted to talk also about john mccain and the comment i wanted to make was that i feel as though john mccain -- because he was considered the maverick and very much for , that was the order of the day when president obama won and i felt as though president obama tried to be bipartisan because of john mccain. i also feel that i think that john mccain should have won against president bush. i think he would have made -- i think this country would have been much different if he would have won against bush. also, when he did go

against president obama and then he made his speech -- his concession speech, it was really -- it just showed the character of john mccain and how great of a leader he really was. hank you for taking my call. host: we have a statement from president george w. bush on the passing of o senator john mccain. host: john from wisconsin.

ood morning. mccain's final wish was that donald trump does not need to attend his funeral. that's saying a whole lot. need to change their ways and impeach bush -- i mean, trump. that's what they need to do. this is terrible. i never heard of such a thing in my life. a man's final wishes is the not allow someone to attend his funeral. that's all i've got to say. host: jerry, good morning. of respect ve a lot for john mccain.

all these democrats and independents calling in saying how great a man john mccain was after he passes away, where were they when he ran for president? if he is such a great man now, why wasn't he great man back then? thank you. host: helen from jacksonville, florida. caller: i would like to say i appreciate all the concerns and wishes for john mccain. but also, i want to say one thing and i want everybody in the whole u.s.a. and the whole world to hear. i want you old and donald ow but god put . ump in the office up there and if john mccain give his

heart to god he would let him go to the funeral. take e going to let god over now. you all will see everything god says he does. thank you. host: talking about the life and legacy of john mccain. we'll go to new jersey, democratic line. good morning.

caller: good morning. i would like to extend my sympathies to the wonderful family of john mccain and would like to say he served his country well. we admire and we loved him. he was a man of honor and integrity. his family sacrificed time with the man who was the husband and father, and they sacrificed many dinners, many wonderful vacations so that man could serve our people. we, the people of the united states of america. he believed in integrity and honesty. he was a man we admired. and none of the other republicans who are totally losing this country to money people to billionaires who are not serving our country well. they are going to crash worse than clinton did.

host: mike from indiana. caller: good morning. this is really simple. as a black man in america, i have never really taken hold of the republican message. it's about greed like the woman just said. but i do want to say this much. john mccain-donald trump. it's clear, integrity, war veteran -- a liar. simple. so if any man tells you that he -- i never heard someone say i don't want that person at my funeral, because he knows he's eel. god bless brother mccain. he was an honest, decent man. the world will be a lot better -- america would be a lot better if there were more folks like him. t the good old boys, white

which is just a wing of the republican which is wing of the republican party. i look at it -- lived in this country a long time. john mccain was an honorable man. host: james from south arolina. caller: i find it total lunacy o of these people calling bashing our president as something like senator mccain passing away, as we all expected. i just can't help but see that all this hatred for a man that has done so much for this country. i'm an independent, i voted for obama. i voted for a lot of democrats. but this president with all the obstruction and hate from these people, he's still doing more for this country than any other president than i've ever seen. i'm 55 years old. but i find it really appalling that these people are so

uneducated, calling in and all f a sudden they're political science. whatever they think they are. but they don't even know the man but yet they hate the man, talking about president trump. anyway, thank you for taking my call. host: during an interview last year senator mccain actually talked about his experiences, 50 years after being shot down while serving as a combat pilot in the vietnam war. here's what he had to say. >> when you are in i believe a-4 taking off from forest tall the carrier, how apprehensive were you when you were flying into a place like northern vietnam that you get shot down? > well, i was on board the uss forest tall where we had a tor risk fire and hit by a missile and all that on the flight deck. then i transferred over to the uss or is can i.

i was flying off that when i down.ot what was i thinking? i was a young fighter pilot. >> how old were you? >> 28, something like that. dow. what was i thinking? listen, that's what i wanted to do with my life. i wanted to go to combat. i wanted to go against the enemy. and it wasn't so much that they were the enemy as that, you know, that's what i was trained to do all those years. i wanted to do it. it wasn't as if i was oh, no, i don't want to have to fly this combat mission. it was like i'm ready to go. and my contemporaryies and squadron meats were the same way. and we took a lot of losses. one of the great things about being a fighter pilot is you're sure that everybody else is going to get shot down and not you. >> when that happened, how many vietnamese were around you in the water in that lake? well, when i first went in, -- it's a long story but i was

barely able to get back to the surface. but then a bump of them jumped in. and there's a picture which i'm sure you'll show of them pull me out of the lake. you can see my arm is broken and up high. then, of course once they pulled me out they weren't very happy to see me. >> why not? >> because i had just finished bombing the place. and so that it got pretty rough. roke my shoulder and hurt my knee again. but, look, i don't blame them. i don't blame them. we're in a war. don't -- didn't like it. but at the same time, when you're in a war and you're captured by the enemy, you can't expect, you know, to have tea. so they pulled me out -- long

short pulled me out of the lake, beat me up a little or a lot and then went to the now famous hanoi hilton prison, which was just a short drive away, five-minute drive away. and then it's a very long story the lake, beat me up a little or about how they found out who my father was and they decided to give me treatment and two wonderful americans they moved me in to finally who thought that they moved in in to die. they took care of me, nursed me back to health, and then after they saw me in better health they put me in to solitary confinement. look, i don't hold a grudge against the north creams. i don't like them. there's some that i would never want to see again. but at the same time, i was part of a conflict. ok? they were some of

the meanest people i've ever met in my life and i never want the see again. but there were several that the he were gad people and that were kind to me. so that's why it was much easier for me to support, along with president clinton and others, the normalization of relations with our two countries, to were gad heal the wound of war. host: one of our twitter followers. nancy, republican line. caller: hello, everybody. i just want the say that -- he was a good, decent man. i agree with that. but he was called a maverick for a reason. he sided and voted for

legislation more on the democrat side than he did with the republicans. president trump very much. as everyone knows. that's why a lot of the democrats and independents who were once democrats are calling in and giving him praise. that's the only really reason. now, mark my words -- listen to what i have to say -- that's why a lot of the democrats and independents who were there's going to be a red wave in november and president trump is going to be reelected president in 2020. now, why do i say this? it's because god wants president trump. thank you and good-bye. ost: robin from west virginia. good morning. caller: good morning.

i just wanted to say that john mccain should be considered a national treasure. he always brought out what was good in humanity and what was great about diversity. the previous caller voted that what he ith the -- believed was the best for the country. and i think at a time that we have right now in this country we need more people like him a. we all need to want what's best choosing sides. we're all americans for the country. and i just it really just breaks my heart to hear someone say something like that about him considering he gave his life for this country.

that's all. host: john from illinois. good morning. caller: thanks for having me. john mccain was a very honorable man. he fought in the vietnam for this country. he represented this country to the best of his abilities. he represented what true bipartisan is. the previous two callers ago has no clue what she's talking about. 'm a strong democrat for years. i thought john mccain was a great person and i'm calling because he's an honorable man. he understands true bipartisan and had respect for president obama. that means a lot to me. the man was honorable. that's all i have to say. i'm sorry he died. host: robert from charleston, rhode island on the republican line. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. yes, it's ashame that he passed away but i'm not sorry he's gone.

he really thought too much of himself. he thought too much that he was above everyone else and that his decisions were the right ones and they really weren't. when he pulled that stunt over to england to get the goods on that dosesier on president trump which was phony, that was terrible. over to england but worse off, he was a terrible candidate when he ran for president. he was -- you see movies of him. he didn't know how to talk. a lot of times he looked like a deer caught in the headlights of cars. he thought too much of himself and that's what bothered me all along. host: we would like to thank all of our callers for calling in today. make sure you join us again tomorrow morning where we're going to talk about the 2018 political landscape where democratic nd

consultants. then we're going to talk about the cost of -- a new report about the cost of incarcerating consultants. then we're going to talk about the cost of -- a new report about the cost of incarcerating immigrants. so make sure you join us tomorrow morning for another "washington journal." have a democratic consultants. then we're going to talk about thanks for joining us. >> here on c-span this morning, "newsmakers" is next with neera followed by vice president pence talking about the nomination of brett kavanaugh to republican lawyers in washington, d.c. after that susan collins and dick durn