to discuss the history of the 25th amendment history. and, joy outcome of the heritage foundation discusses the u.s. supreme court information hearing and the robert ♪ host: good morning. a cloudy and rainy washington, d.c. on the sunday morning. the house and senate both back in session and the senate judiciary committee is scheduled to meet on thursday to take of a vote on the nomination of judge brett kavanaugh to serve on the supreme court, following four days of testimony this past week. we carried all of it live on the c-span networks. democrats on the committee likely to force a one-week delay on the committee vote, republicans valley to have him confirmed before october 1 when the new court term convenes. on this sunday, september 9, rosh hashanah is beginning at

sundown this evening. and we begin with the partisan battle over the strength of the u.s. economy which began friday when former president barack obama and illinois state of the recovery began under his administration but then trump quickly weighing in. for the next hour, your comments on this question. who gets credit for the strong economy -- president trump or president obama? open, democrats, call (202) 748-8000. republicans, call (202) 748-8001 . , call (202) 748-8002. us or reaches on facebook.

we want to get right to the question and how it's playing out in the sunday morning newspapers. this is from glenn kessler of the "washington post." trump aims to hide with claims the u.s. have in the greatest economy ever. we want to get right to the question and how it's playing out in the sunday morning newspapers. he points out the president can certainly brag about the economy, but it was doing better presidents dwight d. eisenhower, lyndon johnson, bill clinton, and ulysses s. grant. that's from the fact checker in today's "washington post." this ism the national review, it trump's boom, not obama's. at first, they tried to deny the existence, then they said it was a fool's gold and now they want someone else to get credit for it. that's the short history of the ofnstream media's coverage the good economic news we have had ever since donald trump one in the november 2016 presidential election. knowing covered it with certainty how long the positive trends will last, but it is absurd to claim the democrats were shy about claiming credit for every kernel of good news they could claim during the anemic at your recovery from the 2008 financial crisis.

the reluctance to give trump credit for the current boom is also absurd. financial markets took off the moment he was elected, despite some corrections, haven't really looked back. the economic optimism that is fueling both growth and the other strong indicators about employment and wages is the direct result of two factors that were utterly trump's response ability but the democrats fervently opposed. talking about deregulation and tax cuts. you can read the full essay at national review.com. president obama on friday in springfield, illinois, talking about the strong economy. who is from richard waters says we have an account of its adding jobs for 84 months. think about that? from the mississippi democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead, rick. caller: i just wanted to say that anybody that has any doubt recovery,started the

obama did it without a doubt. came in on the rear end of this thing and he likes to take credit for everything. there's no doubt who started it. host: we go to jerry from detroit, michigan. morning and greetings from motown. this is definitely obama's economy, especially when trump tries to lie and take credit for low black unemployment, which was definitely under barack obama, not donald trump and i would challenge any white person on the republican line who do is to say differently because in my opinion, this definitely was obama's economy, just didn't start to kick in until after trump took office and then tried to take credit for it. i will challenge any white person on the republican line who says otherwise. this is not trump's economy,

this is obama's. republicans say we lowered taxes and spurred economic growth and added more deregulation and that has actually spurred further growth, 3% or 4% gdp per quarter. caller: that's what they usually say. my issue is the black unemployment rate which trump tried to take credit for. untiln't start to kick in after trump took office and then tried to take over it. i know after i get off that a lot of the white people on the republican line are going to say otherwise. obama's, notd trump's economy. independent line, doug from silver spring, maryland. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm news junkie i look at all the charts and graphs in the new york times and washington post. the economy started recovering during the obama administration.

trump is kind of gone on a binge by doing some things with taxes and what have you, but that's very dangerous because he is going to blow the budget. i think the deficit is going to go to over $1 trillion. obama was more responsible. but obama started the recovery. you can argue with those facts. look at the statistics. -- you can't argue with those facts. look at the statistics. this is -- host: this is from jim, leading off with an opinion piece bashing president trump. we began with two opinion pieces one from the national review and one from the washington post. for mechanics, pennsylvania, good morning. caller: good morning. i am never been a full-blown trump supporter, however, the economy is one of those things i -- during the 26

elections, most economists were all saying that the stock market would crash and the economy would go into recession and that he should sell your stocks because it was all going to go to hell. host: thanks for the call. former president barack obama on on prison of the campus -- the campus of university of illinois as he jumped into the 2018 midterm elections. obama: 10 years ago this week, a price that resulted in the worst recession in any our lifetimes and caused years of hardship for the american people. for many of your parents. for many of your families. most of you weren't old enough to fully focus on what was going on at the time.

in when i came in the office 2009, we were losing 800,000 jobs a month. millions of people were losing their homes. many were worried we were entering into a second great depression. so we worked hard to end that crisis, but also, to break some of these longer-term trends. the actions we took during that crisis returned to the economy to healthy growth. and initiated the longest streak andob creation on record in we covered another 20 million americans with health insurance and we cover deficits are more than half, partly by making sure that that people like me, and have been given such amazing opportunities by this country pay our fair share of taxes to help folks coming up behind us.

and by the time i left office, household income was there is all-time highs in the uninsured rate has hit an all-time low and wages were rising and poverty rates were falling. i mention all this so when you hear how great the economy is doing right now, let's just remember when this recovery started. [applause] obama: i'm glad it's continuing. but when the job numbers come out monthly job numbers and suddenly republicans are saying it's a miracle, after kind of remind them actually, those job numbers are the same as they were in 2015.

in 2016. anyway. i digress. former president barack obama in illinois on friday. the full speech is available on c-span.org. twitter, obama tanked the u.s. economy and president trump has definitely improved to area another comment from karen, wives have to be one of the other? obama brought us out of the economic disaster to a strong and growing economy and trump inherited that growing economy and so far it's going well. we don't yet know the long-range effect of his policies. from david, the growing economy is based on financial facts, not fake news come only trump supporters can look at a straight line and say barack obama and save their guy did it. of the war on coal is over and the economy is growing.

from the new york times, prepping for the next crisis. three former chairs of the federal reserve the opinion of and mr. paulson and tim geithner saying incomes taken away tools that were crucial in fighting the 2008 panic. you can read the full essay at nytimes.com. on the republican line danny, republican line, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i would just like to say that this economy is running like a fine old machine and it's all to do with president trump's policies. voted for patn i buchanan, he wrote a book called the great betrayal, how american sovereignty was being sold out to the gods of globalism. jobsf our manufacturing

that were sold out by rino republicans and democrats who sell those jobs out and made it jobs of dollars by doing that were sold and all donald trump is doing is what should have been done by those who claim that they were for the american worker. argued once, al gore larry king live to put nafta -- for nafta, and it was bill clinton who signed nafta into law. thanks for the call. this tweet both and neither. trump has been great for billionaires with tax cuts and obama had 84 months of steady growth for everyone, but neither gave us good wages, yet wages are still stagnant compared to the rate of inflation. we've created a poll on her twitter page and 2.6 million people looking at the twitter question.

who gets credit for the strong economy. you can weigh in at c-span so far, 40% of the present dust accredited president trump and 60% give credit to president obama. city, from new york welcome to the conversation. caller: i believe that trump gets credit for keeping the carl the road, but he was giving a and onel car by obama obama came in, the stock market anddown unemployment was up the stock market was up and unemployment was down and if you say that if you give someone something good to work with, you should be able to hold it together. seen withmains to be these tariffs and all the other stuff he is doing is going to affect the country. but we are still a work in progress. this is not over with and we

just have to wait and see what happens before he gets out of office. i think we are going to have to clean up this mess that happens after he leaves. host: thank you for the call, tyrone. jeff has this tweet, obama gets justredit, how good -- think how good the economy would be if hillary were elected. in annapolis, maryland, harry. a different take, give credit to the federal reserve. the federal reserve went into debt $4.5 trillion in the creatively put all the money into the economy. veryder for it to recover those estimates run as high as $7 trillion. that's really what gave the big bump to the economy, not to listen what obama did, but what obama did was come he didn't prosecute any of the banks. avoided a lot of disquiet

in the economy that would have occurred if the bank prosecutions had moved forward. -- she, he waited cooperated with the fed, but he also waited to go after the banks until later in the way he went after the banks was to get them to pay money into the treasury for the various violations that they committed. but nobody went to jail, but the fed gets the credit. thank you for the call. obama tears in the trunk am urging democrats to get out and vote. the president -- the former made the speech. between says people are entitled to their own opinions but not their own facts. policies worthwhile to the economy and any comments to

the contrary are ignorant. who gets the credit for the economy? from philadelphia, good morning. caller: i did see some of mr. and one of the things he neglects to mention is that no president has ever had the benefit of for his entire to terms, 0% interest rates and trillions and trillions of dollars of stimulus pumped into the economy. terms, 0% interestno president t benefit. mention that the fomc, when it met every month, couldn't raise interest rates because there was not enough growth. every time the federal reserve got together and talked about raising interest rates, they knew they couldn't because there were zero growth. had was the crack of

borrowed money from the fed. if there was no growth because he had shackled the economy with regulation, overregulation, no president would never have the benefit of that so when he says he created such a good economy, it was created by the fed and the caller before me stole so my thunder. the fed essentially pumped the economy up with candy. now all of a sudden the rates are being jacked up because the economy actually is growing and there is growth in the economy. there is confidence amongst business owners and corporations , but there isn't so much regulation and there isn't as much fear for them to create jobs. climate to grow their

businesses in that part is neglected by him. businesses are more willing to do that under his term because he shackled everybody was so much regulation. wheresses see a climate they can actually grow and there is and the shackles of regulation. mr. obama needs to mention that too. thanks for the call. nikki haley, the u.s. ambassador to the u.n., former republican governor of south carolina has put this op-ed in the opinion section of today's "washington post," want to challenge the president? do it openly. we have enough issues to deal with in the world, it's unfortunate we have to take time to write this but i feel compelled to address the claims in the anonymous resistance op-ed, the author may think here she is doing a service to the country by strongly disagree. with the senior official in the trump administration has done and is apparently intent on continuing to do is a serious disservice not just to the president, but to the country.

you can read the full essay at cnbc'ston post.com and jim cox is writing about the economy, he wrote friday, quote, --mps economic achievements business confidence is soaring in part thanks to a softer regulatory environment. consumer sentiment by one measure is at its highest level in 18 years, corporate profits own in good part to last year's tax cuts are coming in close to setting records. is plenty to worry about, ballooning debt is only going to get worse, the increasing likelihood of a trade war that sparks inflation and punishes u.s. companies that depend on exports and a subtly slowing real estate market that could be pointing to larger issues at the heart of the economy. the final verdict in assessing the trunk performance is yet to come when president obama took cruises him for the performance during his ears, he often blames obstructionist republicans.

if the economy falters now, president trump will have no one to blame but himself. cnbc.com and the piece by jeff fox. thelyn is joining us on democrats line from brooke park, ohio. caller: i definitely believe attributed to obama building the economy in a given credit under two areas which is he incurred initiatives for stem technology and business, so he was able to grow the economy in that sector of business which involved a lot more research and advancements and definitely the second one was the auto industry. the time we had bush in 2008, we were having more problems of the auto industry at an all-time high, which they had to completely rebuild and we had to bail them out. when he did that, he crated those restrictions to be able to improve the cars we how the road today and many people by that

,ime desperately needed cars cars of the engine of our economy. if people don't have vehicles to drive, they're not revealed to work and that's what really built this economy and put it right back where needed to be. but far as the deregulations that trump is doing, that's a people toke because liberally did not hire people because they knew they would get their tax breaks during obama's administration which treated the people in their try to blame it on him. obama theinitely grievous economy and everybody else can't take credit for it. thanks for the call. some tweets from carol lansing at some point look at the facts, president obama is right, the growth started under president obama and the gop denied that growth until trump. they are delusional. this from truth teller saying how can this even remotely be obama's economy?

eight years and 2% is the new norm, remember? julie saying with huge tax picture businesses and wealthier americans, where the big wage hikes for the poor and middle class? thesenother viewer saying colleges saying there is no growth under obama, how they expand the stock market performance while obama was in office? send us a tweet @cspanwj. facebook.com/c-span. from chatsworth, illinois, steve, good morning. independent line. would president obama be $10 trillion in debt, which is $1 million a year for the next seven light years or 32,000 years? trying to say it's $1 million a 320,000 years.t

and anybody with that kind of gave $1 million to every person in america and said do what you want and spend it how you want and it's just ridiculous. with their spending. our representatives and are senators that represents the may comemerican who out $10 to $12 an hour, maybe $20 an hour is not watching out for us. they are watching out for the big lobbyist and everybody else. and it's time that we stick up

and stand up for ourselves. the last 17war for years, which is ridiculous. our spending is going crazy. i don't know. i really can't tell you which ones better or worse. host: we are now approaching a $22 trillion debt and some say could increase another $1 trillion in the next 12 to 14 months. the act, and understand that. and we can have it. plus, the auto industry is falling apart right now. this is from investors business daily, and editorial, the economic boom media rewrite the history to credit obama is that trump. in part nowl rights that the economy is outperforming everyone's really want, trunk to pretend that the current boom was already baked in the cake,

the fact is that optimism surged across the board as soon as the progrowth trump won the election over the state's stagnant course hillary clinton. mauger president trump deregulation and tax cuts are starting to take effect, we are seeing still more signs of stronger growth and polls show the public gives trump credit for what's going on today. they, not the mainstream press, have a right. john is joining us from alley in hawaii, of early on sunday morning. caller: good morning, c-span. how are you doing today? host: we are great. how are you? credit obama gets the for doubling the national debt. it's real funny that obama complained about inheriting the bad from president bush. i have to agree with him on that.

anything todn't do help the economy grow. he only causes more problems. messdent trump inherited a from president obama and he is trying to clean it up. said that the gdp would never reach 3%, but guess what, people, it's 4.2%? host: thanks for the call. tuesday marking the anniversary of the horrific attack on september 11 and in new york city, subway station that has been closed since the attack reopening, subway station was based, literally crumbled on the weight of the collapse of the world trade center. you can see a very sleek modern subway station in lower

manhattan reopening, it's the last stop in lower manhattan that has been closed since the september 11 attacks 17 years ago. it went coverage of the anniversary getting underway tuesday of this week. burbank,oining us from california. independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: pretty good. caller: it's 4:30 in the morning i'm still listening to c-span, so i must really enjoy your show. one thing i have to say, this is really, really important. i'm an independent, i'm not a republican on a democrat. the reason why i'm not a republican or democrat is because i do not like any of the politicians. i don't care who they are. they are all crooked and corrupt and they are all after their own monetary gain. about obama i wasn't sure about trump, but one thing i am sure about today is that trump has done a remarkable

job bringing this country back from almost disaster. what i see going on in this country and when they talk about obama brain jobs back, he brought back part-time jobs, people jobs were getting cut because the didn't want to have them working 40 hours so they didn't have to get benefits because their health insurance was running everybody. pay $1000 because she wasn't getting health care is a penalty. all those things have been stopped for a look at the coal miners, the drilling, the , the tariffs, the trade cover the taxes, the military, the regulations, the death tax, you name it, it goes on and on of the wonderful things that this man has brought, and he doesn't take the pay, and he's not looking to secure british like the democrats, like clinton and obama tried to do while they were in office.

for those reasons alone, i will vote again for donald trump, i think he's getting a great job, i think he's getting a bad rap from the media and from the politicians and i think even on the republican side, i think he's getting a bad rap from then i also think that he should be getting a lot more credit from the american people that he is working so hard to day and night for to dry clean up this mess, drain the swamp, and just look out for everybody in this country. it's not a black or white issue, it's not a hispanic issue, not an asian issue, not weight -- not a white issue. it's an american issue. people should be vaguely is working so hard to clean up this mess, and obama, please. life andre, enjoy your be respectful of the presidency, because you are making a mockery of the presidency right now. stop doing what you're doing, it's not nice. host: are you getting ever going

to bed now? caller: i'm going to continue watching you, that's what i'm going to do. host: thanks for calling from burbank, california. lindsay has this tweet, and try to figure out what it matters who gets the credit. just be happy that everything right now seems to be going great. from mark, no doubt the economy and stock market began to go up on obama was president, but when you hit rock bottom it only has one way to go. what pro-business agenda did obama has? barack obama haters will not give him one iota of credit, he saved the u.s. auto industry, and the stock market on us from the beginning. patricia olson has this comment economic upturn began under obama and is now trumps account. mr. is available at nytimes.com. she writes in part in the 18 month before donald trump moved into the white house, 3.7 million jobs were created, seven

in 10 americans said they were doing fine or living comfortably in the economy grew. in the 18 months since, 3.4 million jobs were created, seven in 10 americans said they were doing fine or living comfortably in the economy grew. stubbornly slow wage growth and white income gaps have spanned both periods. back to your phone calls. it was lyness, new mexico, good morning. caller: good morning. i hope you give me the same time you gave that independent picket fence sitter. mr. scully, president obama at a balanced budget. nobody is saying that. he established a foundation that trump is building on right now. withoutndation started a republican big businesses because they left and took the jobs overseas. he did this without them jobs.

now that trump is in office, the republicans are bringing the jobs back and now it's all great , fine and dandy. mr. scully, president obama had a balanced budget. thank you, sir. debra on theo to remote . -- on the republican line. caller: good morning. my concern is this -- i'm 67 years old and i do call every now and then. with obama's speech, now what to the letter, the envelope that he passed to donald trump and he said these statee keys, this is the

of our union? i was under the impression he was passing the torch. back anduld he come criticize? that is not how we pass the torch. the only reason that i could see for him coming out and saying of the mueller investigation into how they tried to stage a coup. this is not good. host: deborah from indiana. patricia cohen in the "new york times company, dr. began under obama is now trumps to tout, she

writes circumstances have also provided president trump of the tailwind, he has benefited from an additional year and a half of economic growth which can't the perception of the economy as resilient. the nine-year expansion is endured in the face of disruptions from global slowdowns to trade tensions and unpredictable policy pronouncements, republicans led by the president and his twitter feed have relentlessly reaffirmed his economic message with superlatives, capital levels -- capital letters, and exclamation points. in cleveland, ohio, good morning. i don't know what rock that lady from california came from under, y c is obama is the reason why this economy is in the shape it's in. the fed had something to do with it, but we were in a depression. and he hired the fed. he still had something to do with it.

had two wars, we he came into office with a depression, two wars, republican congress that would work with him and it probably would've been higher than that if republicans had blocked everything he tried to do. goes, he trump inherited a good economy. and has another trillions of giving an the deficit tax cut to the rich. they got their tax cut giving a tax cut to the rich. and people trying to get into the middle class, they get nothing. and what's going to happen is we are going to wind up back where we started because what's going they want to make the tax cuts for the rich permanent. all the environmental rules these people are talking about,

if you want to just drink badwater, this is what happens we take away all the controls to keep our water safe, air safe and hear these big corporations are running over everything. we wind up back where we started. twitter, ify from politicians will get out of its way, it is simple and trump is doing it. the president traveling to montana in north and south dakota on thursday and friday with his own make america great rallies and friday afternoon after president obama had his remarks in illinois, president trump had this to say in fargo, north dakota. president trump: a very popular guy here was just interviewing me, you know when talking about. great guy. of he said what you think president obama's speech?

i'm sorry, i watched it, but i fell asleep. i found he's very good for sleeping. i think he was trying to take some credit. he started take credit for this incredible thing that's happened to our country. if the democrats -- i have to say this to president obama, it wasn't him, but it would have been the same thing, if the democrats got in with their agenda in november almost two years ago, instead of having 4.2 out i believe honestly you have 4.2 down. you'd be negative. it would be a negative numbers. we were heading south. and you look at those bad numbers that were there in the last couple of years it was this way of going in the wrong direction. it was the weakest recovery in the history of our country

cents, to be to list specific, not sure that gone any further, since the great depression in the 20's. it was the weakest recovery we've ever had. it was barely recovery. and now this is called not recovery. this is called rocketship. and today,, numbers came out. the numbers were great, the job numbers were great, numbers have been incredible. almost from the beginning. took me a few months to get the engine started and we did that with regulation. we did that by freeing it up. the president, donald trump the campaign trail talking about jobs and the economy. economist, the transcripts don't believe it will last, the figure current boom will begin petering out as soon as mid 2019 and possibly end of the recession in 2020.

this is temporary. it's raising the odds of recession on the other side said mark zandi, chief economist at moody's analytics area the economy is now more cyclical because of the stimulus. you are doing a lot of near-term growth setting up for a tough time on the other side. that's why most economists think in 2020a recession because of these policies. on the facebook page, here is what some of you are saying beginning with democrats for liberty, considering president obama inherited the great the economyd turned around, creating 75 straight month -- with lost that. we will go back to it in a moment. otis and south carolina. caller: good morning. i appreciate you taking my call. sorry i lost the facebook feed. host: we'll get to a moment. caller: this economy started growing under obama. it would've done a lot better if the republicans have helped.

i would like you all to know, the republicans were in power for six of the 80 years that obama was in office. the congress makes the budget. therefore, the deficits that we are having was created by the republicans. you people ought to start thinking about that. go back to civics class, the only thing the president can do is sign bills or beach of them, sign budgets over each of them. and it's all because the republicans that we have such a large deficit. it's going to get worse now that everybody has got attached to it. i don't make a lot of money every year, but i would rather pay my taxes and pay my bills that we are creating a set of my son, my grandson, and his grandson. this is going to be ridiculous. we have to raise taxes, we

always wait till democrat comes in office to pay the bills and then we always elect a republican so we can get back in debt again. otis from south carolina. rebecca has this respond to an earlier caller. barack obama seeks to divide us? donald j. trump does this daily with his tweets about horrible dams and them parades them for not getting on the bandwagon. who to support, someone with an attitude about you? for is from democrats liberty, considering president obama inherited the great recession and turned the economy around crating 75 straight months of job creation and trump inherited obama's economy, president obama clearly deserves most of the credit. it takes a lot of golf obama to take credit for anything except all the riots he encouraged. what a relief that he is gone. heather saying trump economy all the way.

join us on facebook at facebook.com/c-span. yeah yeah is joining us chicago, republican line. caller: i just want to comment that under trump, we have seen u.s. commodities prices drop. we see that farmers are lining up to get the government to buy their crops like some kind of communist economy, they are lining up to get a welfare check from the u.s. government because they can't sell their crops, their commodities on the markets because trump has ruined that for them. tpp, it'sthem out of who have that farmers been putting years of investment into pork to get ready for those markets of tpp that was going to open up for them, trunk and certainly take credit for that. i also want to say that it's

bandling to see the trunk people tell the job numbers one years that obama had job growth, they denied it, call it fake, fake, fake and the moment trump steps in all of a sudden the job numbers are real. host: thank you for the call. let it go back to the facebook page and more comments, this is from justin. he says where was the economy when obama took office versus where he left office? simple math. eugene says obama's economy recovery would have been better if republicans did not instruct all the way. aaron says deregulation is what i'm choked the economy. democrats line, your take on all this. morning.ood the lady from illinois hit the nail on the head. the difference between obama's economy and trump's economy is

hype. when obama had those numbers, donald trump kept telling their supporters, don't you believe it. when the unemployment rate went from 17 points out down to four points, you told his supporters it's really 40%. he said don't believe it, people who were drinking the kool-aid for donald trump didn't believe anyone donald trump took office, the day he took office, he took credit for the same numbers and said see, i told you, things are getting better. things were always better, as just a matter of hype, it's about psychology. people who don't agree with the fact that obama is coming out and speaking against all trump, if i recall correctly, donald trump was speaking out obama since he got office. office he said obama wiretap me, obama did this, obama did that, it's obama's fault and now that obama has given a few speeches everybody is saying i wish obama stayed quiet.

no, it's about time you said something. donald trump has been touted obama's name more than one obama was president. from the "new york times," sunday magazine, teachers just want to teach, but the classroom has become a battleground. the cover story of "time magazine," the persistence of nancy pelosi, looking at the democratic leader so if the house is regained by the democratic could very well become speaker again. from the weekly standard stuntman looking at republicans are the new punk. sailorally sell out or -- savior, senator chuck schumer. kerwin joins us from texas. collarsa lot of the already said what i had to say. americans for all our

open their eyes [indiscernible] to open their eyes and sides, exactly what going on in their life. we getting a little feedback but i think we are the callingof what you were about. randall is joining us from springfield, missouri. good morning, republican line. caller: the economy absolutely belongs to trump. the economy was stagnant under obama, he couldn't make it go anywhere. trump lowered taxes of the economy absolutely belongs to him. you can't raise taxes on a company and expect the company to give back to the people also. again go both ways. you have to give it to the government or give it to the people.

lowered taxes, companies are able to give more money to people work for them. the rich you can raise taxes on a percent is still will only pay 15% because they don't work of job. wages are on taxes or taxes are on wages. the rich live on capital gains from investment which is 15%. the raise taxes on the wrist to 100%, they're still only going to pay 15%. how can people not understand this concept? fox.com -- let on thehost: letn me go toare they really that st? vox.com, i will give the president for not steering the economy into a ditch from aaron sojourner, labor economist at the university of minnesota mostly tracking economic trends. that's the main accomplishment. donald trump inherited a strong economy, strong trends after a campaign of telling us the economy was terrible and awful and we had to make america great

again. and now he has declared victory. let's go to glenn madison, illinois. good morning, welcome to the program. caller: good morning, steve. thank you. i've got to give it to obama. trump has got something going in the white house and i think he has got to get straightened out there. he can't have a parade in d.c. because the tanks are too heavy, so we're going to open up the potomac salute and an aircraft carrier in there. now that's a little bit of fake news. thank you. thanks for the call. cnbc looking at the u.s. economy from 2017 through today and the growth of the u.s. economy with

a couple of downturns with the trajectory has been all the way up the last nearly two years since donald trump was elected president. tuesday is the anniversary of 9/11 and we will have coverage of the ceremonies taking place in washington and new york and also on thursday, the senate judiciary committee meeting expected to be a vote, although democrats can block that prejudge brett kavanaugh to serve on the u.s. supreme court and thursday is primary day in new york, the directorial primary grades in this challenging andrew cuomo, who is seeking a third term. we go back to yesterday, president obama was in anaheim, california campaigning for seven house democrats, primarily in orange county in southern california. these races likely to be key for the democrats if they want to retain control the house thank you for of elegance to keep the house in public and hands. here's former president obama. [video clip] president obama: if we don't step up, things can get worse.

where there is a vacuum in our democracy, when we are not participating, we are not paying attention, and we are not stepping up, other voices fill the void. but the good news is, in two months, we have a chance to restore some sanity in our politics. [applause] we have a chance to flip the house of representatives and make sure that we have checks and balances in washington. and i cannot tell you all across the country, you can feel the energy. you can feel people saying enough is enough. we are going to kick off our bedroom slippers and we are putting on our marching shoes. we're going to go up and start taking some clip towards out. we're going to start knocking on some doors. we're going to start making some calls. we are going to volunteer. you're going to talk to her family members.

we are going to talk to folks who have been sitting on the when being a little lazy it comes to their responsibilities and duties as citizens. and by the way, we are reaching out not just to trueblue diehard democrats. independentsk to who may have felt cynical about politics generally, but now you've got candidates here who regardless of party affiliation you can say that person is going to fight for me. that person is honest. that person is in it for the right reasons. i trust that person. i want to reach out to some republicans who hearken back to the values of a guy named abraham lincoln, the first republican president. themselves on a recognize what's going on in

washington right now, that's not what i believe. that's not who we are. as a people. as a country. that's former president obama in anaheim, california yesterday. m, inis from vox.co employment rate from 2012, it was a .3% steadily going down -- 8.3% steadily going down under the obama administration and now under president trump and 3.9% and dropping even further. who gets credit for the strong economy, president trump or president obama, we go to you bond joining us for manchester, tennessee, on the independent line. caller: good morning. i will say it was in decent shape of the obama but i don't believe it could have gotten where it is right now without trump. trump,ess i give it to but the one thing that is

disgusting is both the democrats and the republicans and it's got to the point where none of them are working for the people, they are just fighting each other. and i know it's always been that forth,'s been back and but sometimes when they all stepped up to the plate and work together and work for the people. obama is no better out there badmouthing trump than one trump does it to him. but obama also didn't take your didn't helpons that of jobs and the tax cut has helped with jobs and trump has been the strongest present the first scene is going to your -- the strongest president that i have ever seen. he's going to get our money back. if people try to be patient and allow this to come in, we're going to be a whole lot better off rather than giving people money constantly. host: thanks for weighing in. this is from the national review to jonathan tobin.

he writes the chief reason for optimism that trump in jenin wasn't so much his advocacy for lower taxes, promised that was ultimately dedicated by congress can't pass of a tax reform bill and 2017 as it was his dedication to regulatory reforms. the new york times conceded in a january 2018 the article, the enormous burst of business confidence that began in 2017 and carried over into the current year was primary the current year was primarily result of trumps rollback of obama's overregulation of businesses during his eight years in office. you can read the full essay at national review.com. is joining us next from eastern north carolina, independent line. good morning. thank you taking my call. it looks like you have an overcast -- i have a frog in my throat. an overcast day in washington. host: a lot of rain of a storm coming our way later this week. this is just from a

common man's perspective, i'm 64-year-old i have been in business for a long time in life and it took a lot of economics. let me give you my general view. in 2008, 2009, we got to appoint where there was going to be a run on banks in the united states and mr. paulson realize this,ke it was late in one week and there were people calling them and calling other people alerting them to this fact, when at, they a good look got all the vendors together and they told him there going to take hundreds of millions of dollars, billions of dollars and pump them into the banking system. and there would not be any prosecutions, but they saved all the runs on the banks. mr. obama, during his presidency, the treasury was going through qe1, 2, 3, 4. they were having so much money into the economy, the world

economy dollars, that the printing presses of the treasury were smoking. there are three things obama did very well during his presidency that i should give him credit for. increase discretionary spending in the united states by a great deal which bumped a lot of money in the economy especially through lower income people that needed it. he did the cash for clunkers thing and he didn't step on the federal reserve. as far as the stock market going up from the time he check office the time he left office, if anyone has studied her knows anything about stock markets, if you have tons of money, dollars andg pumped in to bankers corporations worldwide in an interest rate that are around zero, and if they could have gone below zero, they would have , that's a perfect recipe for a continuous rise in the stock market. everything the mr. obama did that i have to get him great a veryfor, he was

passionate speaker that spoke to the people and gay people hope about things. but three things i think mr. trump is unwell so far is he has deregulated and untangled a lot of red tape regulations so you have simpler types of things when you want to start a business, built of infrastructure. he's trying to work on that. that's very good. helpedt thing is he has reduce our business taxes compared to the other countries in the world and there is three in multinational corporations that were traditionally mostly centered here in the united they and have brought back into our economy and he is trying to do a pact with mexico, canada and the united states to make us of eu type of unit. host: quickly wrap up. caller: when they have this

money come back in and we can get our deal done with these three countries, we want a manufacturing base here, because nafta -- it was a good intended type thing, but it turned out to be very poorly executed. host: thanks for the call from north carolina. obama ande ministrations 1.3 million jobs created, nearly 3 million jobs 2.3, 2.4nd an average million jobs in 2017 and 2018, jacqueline says the c-span chart just made a liar out of the republican caller. obamas this tweet saying inherited an economy in a freefall and the courageous action taken by obama and endorsed by strong democrat leadership to guess from the brink of full depression. trump like his life inherited money and is burning through it. is from schenectady,

new york. david, independent line. caller: good morning. why can't to be both? they were with american presidents and i assume they're both working to help in our new people. as far as the economy, and look comment on my own. of june couple of years ago i was working saturdays and i got a few races here and there. the last two years, no raises, no overtime, my economy is not doing so well. i don't know who's is, but not mine. host: what do you do? caller: i'm a construction worker, i do i go i'm a lectureship. am an electrician. says "new york times," president trump has been able to it in a fight himself with economic success. he made the same as a celebrity tycoon that up till that aired about donald trump that existed for a longeconomy, but he knowso make money -- that he knows how

to make money. the full essay is available at nytimes.com. we're going to turn our attention to the midterm elections. what can we expect in the house and the senate? table, us here at the two pollsters to talk about what they see in the 2018 midterm elections. later, we discussed the history and viceth amendment president weighing in on this issue. newsmakers follows the washington journal at 10:00 eastern and our guest is sonny perdue, the secretary of agriculture. one of the questions, the anonymous op-ed in the new york times. a portion of that interview is up next. >> what has it been like inside the truck administration with

both the op-ed in the new york times and the woodward book and what can you tell us about your own experience working in this administration? >> i must be pretty isolated. we just do our business and i think that is what the president wants us to do. the president has freed me to run the department of agriculture and i was in the oval this week talking about agricultural policy and things like that, but these other issues don't really come up and i don't really bother myself with that. i did not see the activity that was described over there. it was a fairly normal day at the roosevelt in and we were in the oval with the president. he did not seem distracted at all.

he was very engaging on the issue. host: there was a discussion in a particular piece by whoever wrote it of early whispers among cabinet members about possibly invoking the 25th amendment. you're a cabinet member. did you ever find a whisper? >> i feel left out. i never heard those. i remember reading it early on when the 25th amendment was brought up. i never heard it then and i have not heard it since then. i don't know who was whispering to, but i never heard it. away,just be too far giving my head down to worry about that. host: newsmakers airs every sunday at 10:00 eastern time following the washington journal. you can also listen to it online any time at c-span.org. be sure to check out our free c-span radio app. the washington journal continues in a moment. >> tonight on q and a -- tonight

on q&a, assistant editor of the atlantic talks about his book uncensored and growing up in a troubled home. >> my phone starts ringing and i go in ticket up and i see it is my mom and for some reason i have a sense this is not going to be good. i don't know what it was. i answered the phone. calmpoke and she was very . she said child protective services is here, please come home as soon as you can. i knew that tone in her voice. child protective services is here. i'm asking myself and my going to live to see the next day? that is what is going through my mind. if she has a moment alone with me at any point and i make it through whatever happens that i get home and talk to them

, lord knows what she is going to do. , tonight onood c-span's q&a. " continues.journal host: our sunday roundtable focusing on the midterm elections. ben winston is a democratic pollster. thank you for being with us. guest 1: good morning. , republicanm hobart pollster. guest 2: good morning. to consume --ook some concerns, especially among republicans in texas. ted cruz. guest 2: it was an interesting story with a member of the trumpet administration commenting that he may be in trouble because of electability. i am not going to speak to that, but the reality is ted cruz has still led in every poll that has been released in texas. texas is still a red state and for us to romantic --

charismatic as his opponent has proven to be, he still has some issue positions that are out of step with the general electorate. ted cruz is still the favorite. host: we heard this past week the president trump will travel to texas to campaign for ted cruz. in 2016, he called him lyin' ted, was every critical of his wife and even trying to link his father to the assassination of john f. kennedy. guest 2: a lot of republicans have come around to the president since he has been in office. president trump has similarly come around to a lot of republicans he has said negative things about. campaigns are campaigns and i'm sure ted cruz is going to be welcoming to the president when he comes. host: tennessee right now showing -- is ahead slightly over marsha blackburn. both -- other polls have it dead even. it is an open seat with bob corker retiring. why is it so competitive? guest 2: it is competitive

idause he has statewide name where marsha blackburn is still in the process of getting herself. -- a very popular former senator came in and let in the polls but on election day, he was beaten pretty handily and you will see marsha blackburn win in tennessee for similar reasons. tennessee is a very republican state. host: ben winston, let's talk about florida. this is a state that democrats need to keep. rick scott, the outgoing governor racing a challenge by bill nelson and many democrats saying that rick scott is running a better campaign. guest 1: rick scott has been a lot of money in this campaign already. this is going to be one of the most expensive senate races in the country. but as weht race talked about in texas and tennessee, all of these are very important for the democrats to

win. host: give us a sense of what this campaign is all about. what are democrats running for versus running against? guest 1: that is a good question. the big thing democrats are running for is change. a lot of people are dissatisfied with the way things are going these days in their states and communities. people are responding well to the democratic agenda which is offering people concrete solutions in their communities, particularly in the economy and jobs, on getting money out of politics and a whole host of other issues. host: what are republicans running for, not against? guest 2: the economy. unemployment is well below 4%. job numbers are as good as they have been in a very long time. the stock market is going up. the economyou want to continue to go in the direction that it is, that you will want to vote republican. host: bill rucker and ashley parker, the midterms becoming

all about the president, his rash behavior more than his policies taking center stage. guest 2: midterm elections are all about the president, especially the first midterms after the president is elected. in 2010, the midterms were about president obama and this year they are going to be about president trump. that is not so much about who the president currently is, as much as what the midterms are. that is going to hold true in this cycle. we will see how that plays out. host: how big of a factor will donald trump be on a campaign ballot? guest 1: he will be a major impact this year. i agree with jim that the midterm elections are a major check in on how the president is doing. president trump's numbers are historically unpopular by historical standards. that generally spells good news for democrats in november. host: but the economy is strong and people vote the economy. guest 1: that is true.

somewhat divided on whether they give more credit for the strong economy to the obama administration or the trump administration or to a mix of both. host: what do you think of the former president's speech friday in the illinois? guest 1: it was interesting. over the past few years he has refrained from getting involved many publicand into speaking engagements. it is interesting to see him back out on the campaign trail, speaking about the issues he cares about. it will be interesting to see if he keeps going out there over the next couple of months before november. host: we want to get your reaction to the chair of the congressional campaign committee , he responded to the tweet that president trump had last week criticizing jeff sessions and the justice department for going after the republican house members, chris collins of new york and hunter of florida.

here is what he told the christian science monitor friday. >> i don't think that they were targeted because they were republicans. i will say that the fbi lost a lot of credibility with the american people and it looked very political in 2016. it does not matter whether you are republican or democrat. what jim thome he did where he was on-again, off-again in the late stages of the general election, clearly allowing the fbi to be seen as a political football and the investigation of hillary clinton to be seen as a political football and that is a bad idea for america. we need to keep that in mind as we move forward, especially in the last 60 days, but i don't that they have to do that all the time but when you're in

the late stages like the last 60 weirdif there were to be things from the justice department in the last 60 days, that is bad for america and bad for the trust that people have in our justice system. you can't let that be seen as a political football. i don't see that as a -- i don't see that on collins or duncan hunter. don't think the justice department should have avoided until after the election? >> i think on those two they should have waited. if there was something else going on i don't know about, i think when you're in the last few months of something, then that is different. those investigations have been going on for a while. that is what i am told. jim hobart, as you hear his response refuting what the president sent out on twitter,

what do you think? guest 2: i think he is right. investigation into duncan hunter started under president obama -- excuse me, under trump. it was not something that was just begun during the obama administration. the same was true of collins. currently under investigation and was triggered -- which was triggered for something he said under president trump at the white house. it was not of something -- it was not because of what attorney general sessions at -- sessions chose to do. i do agree with a long point that for a long time, james komi was almost any -- was almost a electiond in the 2015 and now democrats are big fans of komi because of what he said about president trump. it is troubling that there has been a bit of politicize a show of theoliticization fbi. host: our guests on this sunday,

jim hobart, a republican pollster and strategist and ben winston, a democrat ulster and strategist. our phone lines are open, (202)-748-8000 for democrats. (202)-748-8001 for republicans. looking at the house map, does it favor the democrats in 2018? democrats are favored to take back the house and it is hard to argue against that. . that said, there is certainly a path for republicans to keep the house but objectively, who his favorite right now is the democrats. host: that path is where? guest 2: you look at a lot of republicans who just for the demographics of the district, one district should be the most in trouble, you look at someone like will hurt in texas.

he is looking really well because he is running a really good campaign. -- host: do you agree with that? guest 1: not to the same degree that the house now favors democrats. i read that 60 of the top 64 competitive house races are held by republicans. 11the senate map, the top most competitive senate races, seven of them are held by democrats. democrats are on defense in the senate. a lot of close races in the senate. i think all of these races are really close and could go either way. we have big tests on whether there is a so-called democratic wave or not.

the republicans could hold the senate. -- this race is going to come down, college-educated working-class, suburban women and college-educated men. mostly women in the suburbs. guest 1: that is a very key battleground for this fall. we have seen a polarizing nation or a dividing along educational lines in the past two years. noncollege voters who become more likely to vote republican over the past two years. at the same time, college-educated voters, particularly women are becoming more likely to vote democratic. if they show up in big numbers this fall, that is a good sign. host: let's get to your phone calls. steve joining us in ohio, independent line with jim hobart and ben winston. caller: good morning.

i hate to tell you the race is over. it is going to be a red wave. one thing they have not factored in is both parties base their opinion on the stupidity of the american people. the american people are not stupid. they know who caused what. they know the democrats are a problem. they have no ideas. all the can do is find fault. but they have no ideas. barack obama was a disaster. i am 75 years old. they want even talk to these guys on the phone. they have no idea what we think. let me tell you about my group. they vote. the minorities are either going to show up to vote republican or they are not going to show up to vote at all. this thing is over. it is going to be a red wave in both houses. these guys have tough jobs but

frankly, i would bet both of these guys called hillary clinton the winner in 2016, which means they could not find their ass with -- host: we will go to ben winston first. guest 1: there are parts of that i would agree with and parts i would disagree with. the caller makes a good point that older voters are more likely to show up in a midterm election. in 2010 and 2014, the electorate was much older than in presidential years. he mentioned voters of color and turnout. , particularly african american women as we saw in some of the special elections this year, are more motivated to turn out this year -- this fall and vote democrat. host: can i say to the caller, we appreciate passion but we ask for civility especially when it becomes personal or profane language is used. we will cut you are others off immediately.

there is no room for that on this network. florida,o to john in republican line. caller: thank you for taking my call. how come with all of the conflicts of interest and people lying under oath, how come nobody has been held accountable and nobody has been arrested? they raidedds cohen and manafort and get everything real fast but all of this time has passed and with all of the dirt that is coming with the doj and hillary clinton and all, how come nothing has been done? it is blatant, right out in

front. host: we will get a response. guest 2: the answer to that is the attorney general's office is doing what they think is correct under the law. it is a public and run department of law and justice. sessions, a longtime conservative, one of the first people to endorse president trump, doing what he thinks should be done under the law. --iously he is someone obviously paul manafort is someone who was convicted of what he did by a jury of his peers. people coulde that be arrested done the line? sure, but so far they have not been. i don't see any signs that it is wrong that they have not been. host: you have been getting these questions a lot, especially after 2016, why should any cretin -- credence be given the polls when so many are wrong? you cannot measure sentiment. guest 2: it is true that it is

difficult to see the future. what polling does is it takes a snapshot of how voters are feeling at any particular time. there are cases where polling gets it wrong. the race moves a lot after the latest poll is conducted. in 2016, we saw issues with polling across the board. a lot of pollsters were not calling enough noncollege voters and noncollege voters turned out at a higher rate. that said, the results of the 2016 election were not beyond the margin of error of what the polls got correct. there were a few individual deferredere the race -- differed. that causes a difference in the election overall. hillary clinton won the national

popular vote by a couple points which is what the polls predicted. host: jim hobart? guest 1: why should i believe the polls? they had never called me. it has its challenge but i think sometimes polls are misinterpreted. if a poll comes out in october and it shows an incumbent winning 45 to 35, that means that incumbent is in big trouble. he is not winning by 10, he is five points below 50%. that gets misinterpreted a lot. the polls had some challenges in 2016, but there was a belief by a lot of people that hillary clinton was a lock to win. that informed a lot of the coverage of the election and instead of looking for reasons in the polls that say maybe here is a path to victory for donald trump, the way people look at polls was how does this reinforced what i believe which is that hillary clinton is going to win. but ihave some challenges

do not think that they are as inaccurate as the sentiment has come to be. host: a senior political writer for the washington post has a piece, it questions for the midterm elections, a blue wave or not and the first question is focused on that, is there a really a bluehere wave about the crash on the house or are democrats overconfident? guest 1: that is a good question. i don't like that it is posed in such a binary way. there are a lot of shades of gray. i think what we have seen from national polling this cycle is that democrats are in a strong position to pick up a lot of seats in the house and maybe the senate as well. whether you count that as a blue wave or not, i am not sure. the national generic vote has democrats ahead by eight points right now. that differs depending on the poll. that is good news for democrats. whether it ends up democrats

winning the national vote by six points or 10 points, it will make somewhat of a difference. it is a binary choice whether it will be a wave or absolutely won't. host: jim hobart, this is a tweet that point out, crunching the numbers, we have never seen in the 64e overlap competitive house races. this suburban versus role by men -- versus rural dynamic could have long-standing consequences. that is interesting about all of the talk about the blue wave because the house and senate maps are so different this year. we have never seen this type of disparity between the types of states that are competitive in the types of districts that are competitive. you could have a reality were democrats win 35 seats in the

house and republicans picked up three seats in the senate. that is very much in the realm of possibility. is that a blue wave? yes, they took back the house but republicans through in the senate. -- grew in the senate. five democrats running for reelection in states that the president won by more than 20 points. that is not something we have seen at any time in recent history. host: take us to election night. the senate will be a very good night for democrats if? guest 1: if they win back the senate. texas would be the big one i think. that would show the democrats across the country, low turnout democrats are showing up at numbers greater than expected. that would really show that democrats are going to have a great night. host: and a very good night for the republicans if? guest 2: holding arizona and trunk fivethe big

which is montana, north dakota, missouri, indiana and west virginia. if they hold the seats we are closely competitive on and pick up at least two to three of that big trump five. host: henry joining us from michigan on the democrats line. caller: good morning. i would like to send a shout out to my friend michelle in atlanta. i want to say keep the people strong and get them out to vote to make stacey abrams the next governor of georgia. i would also like to say to the democrats, all you need to do to win the selection is to keep showing that tape in helsinki reporter asked vladimir putin point-blank did the russians want president trump to win the election and he said yes. did the russians helped donald trump win the election and he

said yes. title trump is a traitor. let's move -- donald trump is a traitor. you have to ask one simple question to motivate your base. did the republicans for six years of obama's a administration make people suffer economically with sequestration and with austerity measures where they turned down medicare for all, they did all sorts of things to blunt the economy from obama but he still succeeded. host: thank you for the call. guest 2: i think what henry said is that is a lot of what democrats are going to try to use to motivate their voters, those types of talking points. what republicans did to obstruct obama while he was in office and the feelings about what trump is doing in his office. from a get out the vote perspective, that is a motivating message. host: alan in washington, d.c.,

independent line. caller: good to be with you. -- first of all, under president obama, $1 trillion in student loan debt was added. in the last presidential election, neither candidate addressed the issue for current borrowers and there were 30 million people out there highly distressed by their student loans. this election could go either way. if the democrats were to champion the return of bankruptcy protections for student loans, they would of this rate the republicans. on the other hand, if the republicans sitting in congress right now were to railroad that through, i think they would mitigate that blue wave. host: thank you for the call. guest 1: that is a very good point. student loan debt and more broadly the cost of college and higher education as well as career training programs are those who don't go to college is a huge issue these days.

that is for voters in both parties. he makes a good point that if either party really championed this issue, they would find a very receptive electorate. host: james has this tweet. don't forget new jersey and florida, adding the senate is going to be a shellacking for a -- for the democrats. -- is in more trouble than the democrats would like him to be. they are spending money there and that is not where they had any anticipation of spending money. it is one of the most expensive states in the country to play in. not only is it expensive, but there was a lot of wasted money there. there is no doubt it is -- it is a state for the republicans that even three months ago was not anticipated to be. host: let's look at some of the house races. this is an ad together by the national republican campaign

committee in pennsylvania's is congressional district. >> north americans deserve a congressman who does not make excuses but goes ahead and pays taxes. cartwright failed to pay his own taxes, racking up thousands in penalties. he joined his liberal party boss in supporting higher taxes all while failing to pay his own. >>. americans deserve a congressman does not make excuses but goes ahead and pays his taxes? >> we deserve better than tax raising hypocrite matt cartwright. host: we should point out that the cover story of time magazine this week, the persistence of --cy pelosi is storied by how much is nancy pelosi dickey name on the ballot and your reaction to that ad in pennsylvania? guest 1: it is something republicans are trying to do which is tied every democratic candidate to nancy pelosi. this is less about pelosi herself and more about her status as the leading of the

party. more americans are unfavorable towards her than favorable but you could say the same thing for paul ryan, mitch mcconnell, whose ratings are actually far worse than nancy pelosi. it is a tactic republicans are using, trying to tie candidates to nancy pelosi when in many cases, it is quite a stretch. many of these candidates have said they would not vote for nancy pelosi as leader of the party. republicans are really trying to use that lane of attack to make voters think that candidates are too liberal for their electorate. nancyjim hobart, is pelosi a factor? guest 2: there is a reason why all these democratic candidates are making an effort to say they will not vote for her. she is incredibly unpopular. a big reason republicans won the house in 2010 and are able to keep the house in 2018. there is an argument that she will be the reason because she is just that unpopular,

especially with the types of swing voters that republicans need to persuade. int: we will go to wayne mississippi on the republican line. jim hobart on the republican side and ben winston on the democrat side. caller: thank you. i just want to say a few comments. i have been listening in and it seems like a lot of folks are educated about what is going on in 2009. it was the destruction of how -- of our nation by barack obama. i just saw his speech in illinois. not one time did he talk about anything that was going on in chicago. they killing blacks in chicago's like flies and that is the barack obama i knew. that is why my put -- that is why my people put trump in the white house. they are sick of being $23 trillion in the hole. people are sick and tired of it.

washington, they sit around and they think they know what is best for the american people. you look back over the years that -- let's talk about john mccain and being in the senate and house for years, decades. somebody explain to me what have the republicans or democrats done for anybody? most, who isme the going to pay for this stuff? host: are you going to vote? you have two senate races down there. caller: yes. let me explain about that. -- going to be perpetrating and that is who they give us. they give us the candidates they want us to vote for. it is clear that voters

in both parties are dissatisfied with washington and with incumbent politicians. that probably benefits democrats more than republicans considering that republicans are in power right now but there is a strong desire for change from all sides of the aisle. host: in new york, this is an ad by a democrat to give you a sense of what is happening in some of these key house races. ied,ter my vehicle hit an one of the generals told me five years ago you would be dead. he was right. if congress had not put armored vehicles in the field, i would not be standing here today but now politicians like dan donovan who sell out the corporate pacs and kick anything done. i have a message for the lobbyists and corporate kingmakers. keep your money because it is not you i am working for. host: jim hobart, as you look at

that ad, see a lot of military veterans running in opposite -- in offices, democrats and republicans. guest 2: i think the iraq war generation is coming to an age where they are wanting to run for congress and on both sides you are seeing a lot of veterans which is a great thing for the country i think. we need more veterans in congress. another thing it says is i am not taking money from special and that isrom pacs becoming a powerful message on the democrat side. it is not just a congressional candidate. elizabeth warren has said it as well. it is something that on the democrat side is becoming quite the campaign theme is not taking money from what they term corporate special interests. host: does it appear that judge brett kavanaugh will be confirmed by the senate? guest 1: that is what a lot of

the prognosticators have been saying. public opinion is it -- is in a different place. isroval of judge kavanaugh about split right now among voters. want to reprove him, 39% did not want the senate to confirm him, which is very polarized. republicans are very much in favor of confirmation and democrats are very much opposed. the process has become more polarized over the past few years. nominees of the past had much higher approval ratings. kavanaugh, views towards kavanaugh are more negative and they have been to a lot of previous nominees. what actually happens is we don't know yet, but it is clear that voters are very protective of the supreme court choice.

it is a big issue and people think about this. ifwill be interesting to see the senate acts on public opinion or goes its own route. host: the supreme court was not a major factor in 2016 for democrats. will brett kavanaugh be an issue for democrats in 2018? guest 1: it very much could be. choice is not something that has been at the center of national campaigns recently, but some people are saying that roe v. wade is essentially on the ballot. that is something that the majority of americans want to keep in place and therefore would be very concerned about if judge kavanaugh were confirmed and there are a number of other concerns people have about kavanaugh. it could be one of the key issues in the fall. host: another 25 minutes with our guests, jim hobart and ben winston.

can you give a sense to your audience of who you are pulling for and who you are working for? guest 2: a whole host of candidates. i am working for a man running to -- running for the governor of georgia. i am working on some outside efforts in arizona and wisconsin. host: ben winston? guest 1: a number of candidates in organizations around the country. michigan, a very competitive congressional race in michigan's eighth district. also working with some independent senator races as well as the national effort to retake the house. host: have either a -- have either of you said a figure on how much both will spend this term? you mentioned florida is going to be the most expensive senate race. guest 2: one of the most.

texas is, i'm sure. it will be significantly less money than what is spent on halloween candy. host: on that note we will go to donna, st. louis, independent note. -- independent line. caller: kavanaugh got the nomination because he does not think a president should be prosecuted while he is in office. i wonder what he got that nomination. becausecut happened rich republican donors threatened to cut off the campaign contributions for the 2018 elections. since social security and medicare got past, the republicans have fought them every step of the way, but now they have finally found a great way to get rid of it. you add $1.5 trillion to the

national debt, 83% of it going to the rich and then you make it go bankrupt a lot sooner. it is simple math. secondly, trump is more worried about an anonymous writer who then checking out the russian interference in our last elections. lower income jobs are reducing unemployment, but it would be honest to show charts that show how stagnant wages and raises have been for decades during obama and trump and why the working middle class can hardly make ends meet. host: thank you. jim hobart. guest 2: i am not quite sure if donna is really independent. those were some good democratic talking points. that is a case that democrats make. the economy is doing great but wages are not going up as

quickly as many american workers would like. we are going to go up. in some industries they go up quickly and in others they stagnate but with any type of look you take at the economy whether you look at macro factors or micro factors, the economy has been doing well the past few years and that is the biggest advantage republicans have in november. host: joseph joining us in new jersey on the republican line. caller: good morning. i think there is another elephant in the room that is not being discussed and that is the possibility of impeachment proceedings should the democrats take over the house of representatives. can you imagine the chaos and distractions that would cause for the nation if that were to occur? the possibility of that happening is certainly a threat and that would be incentive for

republicans to get out and vote in this cycle. many 2: there are democrats who are talking about impeachment and i think there are republicans who find that a very motivating factor. both the president and his dedication's office have said that themselves. they said the only thing the democrats want to talk about is impeachment and if you don't want that to happen, you have to vote republican. host: let's take another house race in virginia 10 which is part of fairfax and loudoun county. barbara comstock seeking reelection. abandonans beginning to doomed house candidates and one of the names mentioned is in virginia 10. one poll has her down by nine percentage points. we should point out that congressman stivers saying he is still in this race. at what point does each party say we're going to cut our losses? guest 1: republicans do have to

triage a bit. we have talked about competitive house races a bit and the number of seats republicans have to defend. there are a number of districts that hillary clinton won in 2016 that have republican congress people right now where the incumbents are in trouble and is strategically make sense for republicans to cut their losses in a way and almost given up on some of these races to invest in other races that are more republican leaning and they have a chance to hold onto the seat. guest 2: that is always a challenge for the people who decide with the money is spent. the good thing for republicans is both the and rcc and the super pac paul ryan is affiliated with has reason unbelievable amount of money. congressional leadership had $65 million in the bank going into september. there are going to be a lot of republicans who can come in and help out. they are already doing it and a lot of races and you will see more come on board as we enter october.

because of that fundraising strength, there'll be a lot fewer republicans were going to see money try up -- dry up. host: talking about the senate races, a good night for republicans if -- give me one house race that the republicans either hold or pick up. guest 2: if they are able to pick up a couple seats in minnesota, they don't have a lot of targets but the right dose kovaly target -- really good targets in minnesota, both seats that trump won. if you see republicans win those seats, that is a sign that the night is going to go better for them. host: and for the democrats? guest 2: michigan's eighth -- guest 1: michigan's eighth district. that is a seat, a suburban district in summerall parts. a republican incumbent who is

not particularly popular and it is a testament of the democratic candidates who is a strong challenger, a national service background and his fundraising and out raising the incumbent -- and is fundraising and out raising the incumbent. that is a sign that the democrats are going to do well. host: ben winston is a democratic strategist and pollster, jim hobart on the republican side and linda is joining us from illinois, democrats line. caller: i was just hearing this whole thing and i just wonder -- that if we don't get together as a nation and we are mathematically going to fall, a nation divided is going to fall all stop we had the republican up there it -- even though she said she was independent.

i think americans are going to realize things are going to get bad, worse than they are now and if we don't come together as a nation and stop whining about your parties and start worrying about your own country, then we are going to fall. they are not going to come to help us. i think everyone needs to start getting together and stop worrying about me me me. when did we become a nation wein, together? -- when do become a nation again, together? host: can that type of candidate win in today's environment? guest 2: you are already seeing candidates on both sides of the aisle where what they're running on is reaching across the aisle and saying i will be the candidate who compromises. especially in general elections, that is a very effective message. washington is more partisan than it was 20 years ago but i do think it is a deliberative body that functions fairly well and i

more we will hopefully see working across the aisle and i think it is a message that has a lot of resonance, especially with voters who quite often decide who wins elections. expect the impeachment talk to become the top topic of the last month of this cycle guest 1:. will it? guest 1:-- of this cycle. will they? guest 1: i don't think so. i think in most of the swing districts where democrats are looking to pick up seats, they won't be talking about impeachment. they will be talking about the concrete agenda that democrats want to bring to congress. they will talk about what the last caller talked about, which is bringing people together, working together for the country. i they are going to talking less about impeachment and more about

what the democrats can do to help people. host: mary has this tweet, the combination of president trump and his rubberstamp congress means we will be safe from republican role for a very long time. guest 2: guest 2: republicans -- guest 2: republicans are very likely to hold the senate. they're going to hold the majority of state legislatures in the country and trump is going to be president released two more years if not six. they're going to have a big secret the table going forward regardless of what people may think is going to happen with the president currently. host: in 33 of the last 36 midterm elections, the party in power has lost seats. do you think that will happen? guest 2: republicans are certain to lose seats in the house. the question is how many. host: we will go to richard, democrats line. caller: thank you for c-span.

these guys are pretty fair in their analysis. i am just going to say that you can't possibly compare this election to trump's popularity in 2016. he is losing all kinds of groups. , minorities, independence, moderates -- independents,, moderates. anyone who is disgusted by his abuse of power and erratic behavior and possible conspiracy with russia to affect the election for him. the republican strategist is very optimistic because those people are outraged now and they are not as vocalist somebody like me that they are going to show up at the polls. i would like to talk about kavanaugh. there is possibly some kind of conspiracy between justice

kennedy, trump and kavanaugh in regards to why did kennedy just resign? of the loan --d the bank at deutsche bank that helped orchestrate a million dollars in loans to trump. he was going to have to recuse himself. there was a deal being made with kavanaugh because he is somebody that will probably support not subpoenaing or indicting him while he is president. host: jim hobart, we will get your response. guest 2: one thing that is interesting about the president's approval rating is we ask that question on our polls and then we ask a follow-up question to those who disapprove. we say do you agree with some of the policies and actions he has taken? when you combine those numbers, it is between 40% and 45%

approve but when you add in people who approve of some of the actions he has taken, he is always over 50%. when you remember in 2016, is favorable numbers were right at 40%, pretty low, and he was still able to win. there is something unique about the president's approval rating because there are a lot of people who dislike him personally but like a lot of the actions that he has taken. that is one thing that is more different than other presidents we have seen. winston, this is from the washington post, the democrats regain the advantage in the midterms, based on the generic polling. does that mean anything? guest 1: it does to some extent. it can give an indication of how the national mood is. it is basically asking would you support the democratic candidate or the republican candidate. as the candidates become more defined, it becomes more useful

to ask the actual horserace. you say the candidates name and see how the voter reacts. once the candidates are well-known, unless one candidate is very good or very bad, it tends to reflect the generic vote. it is telling that the democrats have such a substantial lead in the generic vote. host: we will go to robert from maryland, independent line. him at the -- you're at the table with jim hobart and ben winston. caller: good morning. veteran, im understand something that every american president who ever served in combat and war you have tothat is do onto others as you do unto yourself. every empire, failed empire during the last 5000 years of western civilization, whenever they felt invincible, they had the best military in the world, at the height of their power but

when they got on the illusionary path as i see some of our republican party members are doing today, every single one of those empires fell. they became vulnerable. i agree with the lady from illinois. until we get back to dealing with the truth like those presidents who actually served in combat and war, and those presidents elevated this president take the image around the world where it was unchallenged, we have these delusionary people who run our , it will cause this country to fall. we have got to get back to being principled and being rational and stop this insanity that is going on that creates this division in this country. a country divided against itself cannot stand. host: how do we get there?

caller: we're going to have to do like those presidents that served in the war. roosevelt, truman, eisenhower, kennedy, gerald ford, bush one. rich or poor, republican or democrat, those people elevated this country jiggy image with principles. you cannot keep running this illusion every bs -- this delusionary bs. history shows 100% of the time. host: either of you want to respond? guest 1: thank you for your service, first of all. you make a good point about ethics, generally. one of the reasons that president trump's approval ratings are so low is the question of his ethics among voters across the aisle. that is an opening for democrats

to run on bringing good government back on stronger ethical candidates and that is an opening both for this november the election as well as for 2020. caller: good morning. i have three subjects i would like to cover. first we have the corrupt gop led by trump's friend of corruption -- party of corruption. republicans have been in control of congress since 96 and democrats -- here we had trillions of dollars in debt because the republican policies. judge kavanaugh has perjured himself four times. 2006 and004, once in here within the past couple of days. i don't think this man should be seated on the supreme court. we should start impeachment

hearings and remove him from the d.c. court of appeals. there is no red wave coming. it is more like a red tide like down in florida that everything it touches, it kills and it smells. we need to get rid of the corrupt gop and we need to flush out the corrupt gop swamp when the blue wave -- with the blue wave coming. host: let's get a republican on the line. hear from washington, d.c., gary on the republican line. caller: i just wanted to make three points. the midterm elections are going to be a win-win. democrats are going to win and republicans are going to win. there is not going to be one that totally demolishes the other. point number two, the country has always been divided and it always will be divided. it was just as polarized and

divided under obama and that is not a bad thing. that is what makes our country great because we all have different ideas. it will always be division. there has never been a time where there was not division. he was going to fundamentally change the country and he did that, he really destroyed the chances of hillary ever becoming president. 45 comes after 44. he was in office for eight years. the black vote has doubled, black support for trump has doubled in the last year. that speech obama gave, the gentleman that called earlier hit the nail on the head. maybe he will mention the chicago ballots now -- violence now. he did not mention one thing about it. he has not even given lip service to it. it is rhetoric. even the thing he said about the

kkk, how hard is it to denounce nazis? trump tripped by not doing that but he is on record in the 70's, 80's, 90's totally denouncing the kkk and totally denouncing david duke. it is all really rhetoric and then he had the nerve to try to take credit. fromn have some but to go a one point gdp to a 4.2 and it is still rising? you will see. i appreciate you allowing me. host: it sounds like you are listening on c-span radio in the car. caller: yes or. -- yes sir. host: we appreciate that. that is available on the free c-span radio app. both callers are implementing of what is happening on both sides of the aisle. guest 2: i think on both sides of the aisle, we have an incredibly engaged base.

total trump is among the most popular presidents ever with the republican party and i think that on the flipside of that, he -- he isthe most least among the least popular presidents on the democratic side. host: disapproval is at a high rate for donald trump. guest 2: the president's approval rating has been above 50% since he took office which is not something we have seen before. i think it is a sign of just how polarized the country is. i think had hillary clinton been elected, her disapproval rating would have been over 50% for the entire time, too. guest 1: i am most impressed by our callers remembering three distinct points. trump, ission of national approval rating is at about 42% which is low. disapproval at 54%. the number of people who are unfavorable with him, 57%.

and ons on the ballot the whole, i think that is a drag on republicans. host: if people want to follow you, ben winston, how can they? and jim hobart? democratic and republican strategists here at the table. thank you both for being with us. guest 2: thank you so much. host: when we come back, we want to ask the question, what is the 25th amendment? the background on this amendment to the constitution was put in place in 1957 following the assassination of john f. kennedy. is ang us of the table georgetown university professor, heidi li feldman. john malcolm will be here. you are watching and listening to washington journal on this sunday morning on the ninth of september.

we are back in a moment. >> tonight on q&a, assistant editor of the atlantic zachary would talk about his book uncensored. >> my phone is ringing. for some reason, i have the sense this is not going to be go od. i don't know what it was. answer the phone. she spoke. she was very calm, curt. zachary, child protective services is here. please come home as soon as you can. i knew that tone in her voice. child protective services is here. i ask myself, am i going to live to see the next day? that is what is going through my

mind. am i going to live to see the next day because if she ever has any moment along with me and i make it through whatever happens and get home and talk to them, lord knows what she is going to do. >> zachary would, tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's q&a. is travelings across the country on her 50 capitals tour, visiting all 50 states capitals. this summer, the bus left the mainland and traveled to juneau, alaska, and honolulu, hawaii. join us on our 50th. in des moines, iowa and our guest, charles schneider. monday night on the communicators, the roundtable discussion with tech freedom

associate aaron freedom. we can have a debate about twitter. it is not a political discussion. debatehave an ethical about that, just like we have ethical debates about how we behave towards each other. i would certainly be upset if that happened. i don't think that is going to happen. twitter and facebook have been very reluctant, especially twitter, to take down users. they have taken people down, it has been extreme examples like alex jones. the fact that the president is continue to allow to use the platform illustrates how much twitter has erred on the side of allowing people to use the platform despite with their terms of service strictly say. we are not heading toward the world where people are regularly taken down. >> what are the ground rules?

how do people know how to behave and what are their rights to appeal if they feel they have been banned by mistake or if they have a particularly important if controversial point of view that ought to be heard? >> watch the key indicators monday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2. "washington journal" continues. host: we want to welcome heidi li feldman, a professor at georgetown universities law center. theory, basic elements of american law, and tort law. host: today, we want to talk about the 25th amendment, section four. whenever the vice president and a majority of the principal officers of the executive departments or such bodies as provide present to

the president pro tem of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives their written declaration that the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the vice president shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as acting president. explain why that was put into the constitution. guest: originally when the constitution was written, has some provision made for what happens in the event of the death or disability of the president, but it was very general, and it did not specify that the vice president would step to office. to 1841, that was one president harrison died -- when president harrison died, and vice president taylor

decided he would be sworn in as president. there is some controversy as to what the procedures should be in this straight up death of the president. some of this was resolved informally after that event with ther, and preceding into 20th century, people worrying about this problem about lack of clarity of what to do if the unable towas an exercise his or her duties was during the eisenhower administration. eisenhower had a heart attack in his first term and a stroke and surgery in his second term. nixon talked about what might happen, but nothing was resolved. when kennedy was elected, the conventional wisdom was now we

have a young man as president. his health problems were not publicly known. prior to this assassination, because of expenses with eisenhower, members of the academic community has started talking seriously about the urgent need to amend the constitution to deal with the problem addressed by the section you mentioned. , it wasnnedy was shot dramatically brought home to need forat there was a constitutional procedures, which formalize what happens in the death of a president. this is an earlier section of the 25th amendment. since kennedy was shot, it was not immediately clear to the public that he was dead, nor was it clear that lyndon johnson was

safe. it was the cold war, and the world was nuked up. people realized it was essential to address problems that might not have seemed to need formal solutions before. congress, after studying the the 25thssed amendment. host: we are about that because of this anonymous op-ed in the new york times. the administration saying they have narrowed their search to a handful of people who could have written that op-ed. this individual rights the following, given the instability that many witnessed, there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th amendment, which would start a complex process of removing the president, but no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis. so we will do what we can to steer the administration in the

right direction until one way or another it is over. on cbs this morning and face the nation, in an interview with vice president mike pence at the naval observatory in washington, d.c., take yesterday, this issue came up. [video clip] >> the writer of this anonymous op-ed identifies himself or herself as a trump appointee. who do you think wrote this? >> i would not know. what i can say is it is a disgrace. i think the author of the anonymous editorial and the new york times should be ashamed. it seems to me to be an obvious attempt to distract attention from this building economy and president trump's record of success. >> one of the claims made in the op-ed is that there has been discussion of invoking the 25th amendment to remove the president from office. have you ever been part of a conversation about that? >> never. why would we be?

the truth of the matter is, over the last eight years, despite what we heard from president obama on friday, this country was struggling. it was the weakest economic recovery since the great depression. host: vice president pence on face the nation, which is one of the five sunday programs we air on c-span radio app beginning at noon eastern. that will be airing later this morning. your reaction? guest: vice president pence is caring on in the tradition of s both beforet and after the 25th amendment in publicly discussing no interest in secession of the presidency. that is not unusual. the statements elicited is

unusual, this op-ed. in general, particularly related to the provision that you started the segment with, where we are talking about presidential disability, that the president himself or herself does not recognize or invoke or temporarily step away from the office, the vice president plays a critical role in triggering the 25th amendment along with the rest of the cabinet. amonge president, even all the ones that are yearning to become president, want to be seen as your name to be yearning to- be president. statemente of pence's very, verywould be unlikely for him to acknowledge,

not only that there had been any discussion of the 25th amendment in the white house, but even past precedent where presidents and vice presidents have informally agreed on arrangements in the event of the president's incapacity. host: the 25th amendment , andion for removing trump as way of background, it has been used on three separate occasions. first in july of 1975, when president ronald reagan underwent surgery. .he vice president, bush under president george w. bush, when he underwent surgical procedures. john from silver springs, maryland. good morning.

caller: thank you for taking my call. i would like to ask the professor. i think this 25th amendment is based on politics. i think most of the democrats, they are not happy the way the presidency is operating. i may not be a lawyer, but my understanding is to know the president cannot do his job, first of all, people around him have to let the congress know about it, that the president cannot operate based on whatever they can prove. i think this 25th amendment is really democrats started it a year ago just because they disagree with them. talklly believe it is just that does not go anywhere. the 25th amendment is a high bar to reach to prove the president is incapable of doing his job.

i don't know how the democrats have that burden of identifying. the only thing i can say right now is, donald trump, you might not like what he is doing, but the only people that can prove this issue is the people around president is incapable of doing his job. thank you for taking my call. host: thank you, john. guest: a number of issues are raised by the caller's comments. yes, int point is that, the first instance, i totally occasion whereny the 25th amendment is discussed or considered, considerations that drive that are, in large part, political. that is partly because section

four has never received any constitutional interpretation by any court. it would necessarily be in the first instance of the politicians who are specified in the amendment to decide whether to trigger it. the way the amendment is set up is meant to, in serious way, depoliticize its application or make its application less partisan because the idea of removing a present on grounds -- president on grounds that the president is unable to conduct the duties of office, the process for removal is triggered by the president's own vice president and cabinet members. it cannot be triggered by the opposition party, or even a congress that is hostile to the executive.

the mechanisms within the amendment give the president an opportunity to reassert his ability to be an office, and then there are various procedures whereby congress can override that. as i said, that does not make the process less political, but it does make it less partisan. i will simply add that the historical locations that led to the development of the 25th amendment included some major crises around the health of, not only republican presidents, but democratic presidents. that is including fdr and woodrow wilson. host: we are talking about the 25th amendment because of this essay from the new york times entitled, i am part of the resistance, that anonymous essay

ofwhich you have the graphic anonymous individuals essentially saving the country from falling off the cliff. the 25th amendment, why was it put in place back in 1967? texas.s next from independent line. caller: good morning. hello. thank you for your history of the 25th amendment. it is a good thing that you are letting us know the details about it because the way we hear it from the media and elizabeth warren, everyone else, they just pull is which, and all of a switch, and all of a sudden you can get trump out of office. this is just one more desperate attempt of liberals and

democrats to get trump out. you have an anonymous source that supposedly came from the white house, the new york times -- you know, their history is shady anyway. the senior official, according to reports yesterday, it could be anyone within hundreds of people that work for him. it does not have to be a senior official. it could be an assistant to an assistant to an official. they make it sound like it is an important person who is behind this resistance, and yet no one really knows. day one that trump began running, no one had anything against trump until he became a threat. suddenly, he is a threat, and they are reaching for anything to get trump out. they don't have a message anyway

except to hate trump. host: thank you. we will get a response. again, this caller has raised a lot in his comments. i want to emphasize two things. first of all, i have no idea who wrote this op-ed. i'm going to take on faith that .he author is a trump official maybe wrong. the caller is skeptical. what i think is interesting is if you take the idea that the author of the op-ed is in the truck industry should, realize -- the trump administration, you which thee way in 25th amendment can become political without necessarily

being partisan. if you have a concern that trump is a drag on the party, not saying that he is, but the author may have that concern, one concern i have as a lawyer and legal theorist is this idea of floating ideas of presidential disability anonymously in an op-ed is not in the spirit, i would say, of the rule of law. rather, the op-ed writer says we talked about the 25th amendment, and we think it is too much of a bother. he says constitutional crisis, but it is a constitutional crisis to have people in the white house essentially making the decisions for the president, that theis an issue 25th amendment was meant to

provide a process for avoiding. host: is that what happened in 1919, 1920, in the last year and a half of the wilson administration? this is a picture of a very frail woodrow wilson during the final year of his presidency. report then only historical understanding of what went on there. there is a consensus amongst historians that president wilson suffered a massive stroke, and certainly physically quite incapacitated. the belief is that he was cognitively seriously affected. what essentially happened is his wife, edith wilson, and his personal physician, who was a

longtime physician to wilson and wilson,f his, secluded prevented people from seeing him, controlled who could go in to see him. the cabinet was highly concerned that wilson was not running the country. there is a lot of evidence that he was not actually functioning as president. i think the most pithy way to make that point is 28 bills became law while wilson was after his stroke without any presidential review just because lapsed. .hat is very problematic the idea of a family member and personal physician running the executive is something we would associate with an entirely

undemocratic government. host: from massachusetts, republican line. good morning, eddie. caller: good morning. i am glad that judge kavanaugh was not specific about in beating a sitting president. fbiard nixon had the investigating the pentagon papers, impeached for watergate, trying to figure out where illegal money was coming from. do you realize we were in the ar, and we tossed out the president? isn't that ridiculous? host: thank you. we will get a response. guest: nixon plays an unusual role in the history of the 25th amendment. just to step back, it was president eisenhower's age and

health problems that began to precipitate the modern discussion of what should be done if the president were temporarily incapacitated. nixon was his vice president. eisenhower had great concerns gue,t leaving the issue vauge and nixon who was quite ambitious for the presidency did not want to be seen as overreaching for it. eisenhower and nixon made a private agreement that designated the circumstances under which richard nixon could act as president. the caller asked about president nixon himself. no one talked about using the 25th amendment for purposes of h

aving nixon set aside because he was mentally not capable of exercising the powers of the presidency. there was some discussion when he was being impeached that he himself should invoke section three of the 25th amendment, which allows the president to aside to temporarily step , and this is sometimes referred to in this situation where the president is not mentally disturbed but is massively distracted, is called a matter of political disability. surprisingly, being considered for impeachment, absolutely dismissed that out of hand. we know what happened in terms

of impeachment. agnewof course, spiro stepped down because of his own problems, and gerald ford became president. --will go to hell and in helen, in michigan. democrats plan. caller: hello. hello to your guests. hello to america. she just stole my thunder on article three of amendment 25. i knowwas wondering is impeachment is extremely hard to do to begin with, but the vice president would have to be part of that along with the house of representatives. they would have to have it in writing, and within a 21 day period, and wouldn't he have to go through some sort of psychological testing and all of

see if we canto come to any conclusion? your vice president would have a lot of power, not just the party. host: thank you for putting that on the table. two very different issues, the 25th amendment when it comes to cap and members and the vice president -- cabinet members and the vice president in the impeachment process. they are very different issues. trying to keep this precise, it is not clear just from the text of the impeachment provisions compared to the text of the 25th morement which process is onerous because the 25th amendment is triggered, the provision we are talking about, section four, is triggered by

the vice president and cabinet. it requires a majority of the cabinet along with the vice congress to notify that the president is unable. there is no provision related to that part of this or the process when congress might get involved if the president asserted his ability to continue to function, there is nothing in the text of the amendment that requires any medical consultation. ultimately, the provisions wind up requiring two super majorities in the house and senate to make a final determination of the president's fitness to serve if the president is disputing what his cabinet is saying.

begins as a quasijudicial process and requires bringing charges in the house of representatives. depending on how the house is made up, that can be extremely difficult to do because, obviously, if the president's party is in control, it is difficult to bring those charges. there are two different processes. what they are trying to do is needce the country's for an honest, noncriminal, high functioning individual to occupy the office of the presidency against the reality that not every individual lives up to those standards, but we don't want to have presidents removed to easily because that

would lead to a lot of casting dysfunction. host: based on that, when you know having observed this process, should the 25th amendment be invoked? guest: i am going to refer to something that one of the callers mentioned, which is that it is very difficult to know whether the amendment should be invoked without having personal day-to-day interaction with the president. we are talking about invoking, in this case, on the grounds that the op-ed writer discusses that the president is erratic and not thinking straight, especially when you have someone like donald trump, whose personality has always involved a great deal of bluster and not necessarily involved a great deal of consistency in his

positions. it is difficult to tell from the heart. -- afar. it is different from the wilson case in which he secluded himself for a year. it is difficult for me to say as an observer that yes, the 23rd 25thment should be -- amendment should be invoked. when you have a president who is complicated has a relationship to the truth and seemingly reality and compared to his younger self is less coherent to some observers, that begins to race, should raise the himtion among people around of whether they should be considering this.

i hope that vice president pence was simply being polite when he has said that there is no talk about the 25th amendment. a responsible president and vice president would be discussing any the get-go among administration the possibility that the president could be incapacitated without realizing it and whether or not, what signs the vice president might look for. do i think it is going to happen politically? absolutely not. host: heidi li feldman from georgetown university, thank you for breaking this down. guest: my pleasure. host: we appreciate it. when we return, we will turn to the kavanaugh nomination and the robert mueller investigation. at the table will be john malcolm of the heritage foundation as c-span's

"washington journal" continues. final half-hour coming up. >> tonight on q&a, assistant editor at the atlantic, zachary would, talks about his book uncensored and growing up in a troubled home. >> my phone starts ringing. i pick it up and see it is my mom. for some reason, i have the sense that this is not going to be good. i don't know what it was. this is not going to be good. i answer the phone. she spoke. she was very calm, curt. zachary, child protective services is here. please come home as soon as you

can. i knew that tone in her voice. child protective services is here. i am asking myself, am i going to live to see the next day? that is going through my mind. am i going to live to see the next day because if at any point she has a moment alone with me, and i make it through whatever happens and talk to them, lord knows what she is going to do. >> zachary would tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's q&a. is travelings across the country on our 50 capitals to her, visiting all 50 state capitals. this summer, the bus travel by ferry to juneau, alaska, and honolulu, hawaii. join us as we visit des moines, iowa, on monday with our guest, i was in a president charles

schneider -- iowa senate president charles schneider. ust: we want to welcome with john malcolm of the heritage foundation. good sunday morning. guest: pleasure to be with you. host: you said that the kavanaugh nomination is another home run for donald trump. why? guest: about a month and a half after justice scalia died, i have prepared a list myself that was published of eight people that would make outstanding supreme court justices. judge kavanaugh was on my list. in addition to serving in a variety of positions, working for a sprinkler justice, that supreme court justice, white house counsel, staff assisted to president bush, he has also served for the last dozen years , hehe d.c. court of appeals

has offered 307 opinions, joined 391 more. they are all thoughtful and thorough. byis well respected democrats and republicans around the country. place to arguments for you. guest: i think it is nonsense. my involvement and white the president gave -- why the president gave the heritage foundation some credit is because of that blog i published. i published these names. seven of the eight names i published made their way onto trumps list. myt was the limit of

involvement. it was is available to bernie sanders as it was to donald trump i have been involved with the federalist society for a long time. it is a conservative legal organization. they have an extensive network of people that know a lot about judges around the country, but don mcgann, the white house counsel, has his own set of networks, former federal elections commissioner, a .artner at jones day he has his own mind about these things. i have no doubt that he received input from the federalist society personnel, just like he received input from me, but those decisions were made by the white house counsel and president. host: republican leader mitch mcconnell very critical of the democrats who refused to meet with the president's traditional

nominee -- judicial nominee for the sprinkler, and yet it was mitch mcconnell who blocked any hearing for merrick garland, refused to bring his nomination to the floor, did not meet with merrick garland. is there a bit of hypocrisy? guest: whether the democrats choose to meet with brett kavanaugh or not is entirely up to them. they will have to vote. the merrick garland situation was unusual. you will not hear me say anything negative about merrick garland. he is a fine judge. this was an election year, a very long time since a vacancy had occurred during a presidential election year. who nominates people to the supreme court matters because these people can go on to serve for a long time. when george h.w. bush was in

office and joe biden was the chairman of the senate judiciary committee, he announced to the president that if there was a vacancy on the supreme court during a presidential election year, don't bother sending us a nominee. we will not consider. they are supposed to provide advice or consent, and they can withhold that advice or consent. host: do you worry that this sets a new president that if the democrats have control of the senate that the same thing will happen to the republicans? guest: i don't know if i worry about it. if that were to happen, i think one could say ok, that is the rule you lived by, and that is the rule we will live by. host: we are talking about the 25th amendment and the robert mueller investigation. our guest is john malcolm of the heritage foundation.

let's go to sue from carolina. good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: i just wanted to come in on the kavanaugh hearing. i think he is extremely well-versed for the seat. the only thing that i was embarrassed about, the democrats, the way they acted. that was not proper. i know the gentlemen of -- up there, i would like him to comment on kavanaugh. host: thank you. we will get a response. guest: thank you for the question. i will give some brief comments about the kavanaugh hearing and then i am happy to elaborate on the merits of the nominee himself. the democrats, it has been characterized as a service. i would say that was accurate.

the chairman of the senate judiciary committee chuck grassley literally got 13 words out of his mouth before a choreographed series of interruptions happened trying to postpone the hearing. i'm not sure what their objective was. if their objective was to delay the hearing, they failed. if their objective was to persuade any republican senators to vote against the nominee, they failed at that. if their objective was to show indignation and try to persuade their base that they were fighting against this nominee, they may have succeeded at that. in addition to the over 100 protesters who were arrested, i was jotting down some of the things that brett kavanaugh was accused of during these hearings. he was accused of using documents that have been stolen from democratic senators in which they discussed strategies

to deal with nominees from the bush administration. he was accused of using code language, that abortion on demand was somehow sending a signal that he was going to vote against roe v. wade. he was accused of giving the president assurances that he would rule in his favor if an issue of subpoenas were to come up. he was accused of perjury during has 2006 confirmation hearing. he was accused of using coded language that white supremacists use by referring to a racial spoils system in an email. about accused of lying talking to anyone the castaways pw firm about the mueller

robe. i believe he was also accused of lying about his knowledge but sexual harassment that was committed by a judge for whom he had clerked a long time ago. they were certainly not handling the nominee with any kind of kid gloves. host: from western pennsylvania, jay on the democrats line. good morning. guest: good morning -- caller: good morning. i was wondering what the difference between the 2016 election and his 2018 election was that mary garland could not get -- merrick garland could not get his go-ahead, but now we get judge kavanaugh? guest: simply, one was a presidential election. election.midterm it is about who is making the nomination.

barack obama was a lame duck president. we knew we were going to be getting a new president. supreme court justice nominations don't come along very often. they have a large impact on our country. placing antonin scalia at was important, as is replacing anthony kennedy. it is not that it was an election year, but an election year that was going to decide who is going to make the nomination. the supreme court, for the very first time in a long time was on the ballot. it was also quite a gamble by leader mcconnell and senate republicans. everyone expected until election night that hillary clinton was going to win. it was entirely possible that had she won, she would have nominated someone much younger and more ideologically aligned with her. host: from senator kamala harris, the president is an

unindicted co-conspirator in federal crimes, and he has nominated someone to the supreme court who believes that a sitting president should never be indicted. i want to get your reaction. [video clip] >> my question to you, will you commit to work using in any case recusing in any case involving the civil or criminal liability of the president that nominated you? >> i cannot commit to deciding any particular case or a recusal issue in any direction. if i answer that question, i would be violating my judicial independence by committing in this context. >> with all due respect, i have shared with you that other nominees sitting at that desk or a desk like that have committed -- recusing.

is it your opinion that they violated some ethical code or rules? >> i don't know all the circumstances. i believe those are circumstances that required recusals and they were simply indicating their required recu sals. a discretionary recusal or discretionary non-recusal to get a job in either direction would be violating my independence as a judge, as a sitting judge and nominee to the court. >> it is clear at this point that you are unwilling to commit to a recusal. host: what was that all about? guest: the president is under a legal cloud. the mueller investigation is ongoing. michael cohen, who faced a lot of legal trouble, they tacked on

this election law violation, in which there is no question that the president is an unnamed co-conspirator. i would say a few things about this. brett kavanaugh is not personal friends with president trump. fort kavanaugh worked george w. bush, and there is no love lost between george w. bush and brett kavanaugh. it is believed that they had a .iscussion it is an outrageous suggestion. brett kavanaugh or any of the other people being considered by the president, if something like that were to happen, they would have immediately stood up and said thank you for the consideration, but i am no longer interested in being considered. i don't know where the mueller investigation is going, but one thing seems clear.

indictot and will not the president. that is because there is a legal opinion by the office of legal counsel, which is the body within the department of justice that provides legal advice on such matters. that dates back to the nixon administration and was amplified during the clinton administration that a sitting president cannot be indicted. an independent counsel might reach a different conclusion. bob mueller is guided by the rules of the justice department. that lots of appointees to the supreme court have had no trouble being fair and independent. when the nixon tapes case came to the supreme court, it was a unanimous opinion but the spring court written by chief justice warren burger, appointed by

richard nixon, and that opinion was joined by three other justices, rehnquist, blackmun, and lewis powell, who had also been appointed by richard nixon. when the paula jones case came up of whether a sitting lawsuit -- a lawsuit could come up against a sitting president, it was a unanimous ruling against a byting president including ruth bader ginsburg, who had been appointed by clinton. you heard nothing about that when ruth bader ginsburg and stephen breyer were appointed to the spring court, even though the whitewater investigation were ongoing at the time. there were suspicions surrounding the president. i have no doubt that if there were an issue, if it were to

come up to the court, brett kavanaugh would make a well reasoned decision in accordance with the law and only the law. back to your phone calls. byron is next, tennessee. caller: good morning. list ofy published a all these demonstrators that were in the confirmation hearing? i would like to see a list andished that were names sex, whether male or female. it appears to me the majority were women. i want to know why women are so go forpersuaded to

socialism. host: thank you. wereow a majority women. guest: thank you for the question. i have one thing i wanted to add to my last answer, which is that brett kavanaugh wrote a legal article suggesting that congress law preventing someone the president.g he did not say this was unconstitutional. with respect to your question, i have no idea. the protests were continuous, andtting, indecorous, although it did not succeed, prevented the american people from getting a real civics lesson of what it means to be a judge. ticketsople were issued

, if they came back a second time, something more serious happen to them. there is probably a record of names somewhere, but i don't know what those names are, and i don't think they are going to be made publicly available. host: we know each received a fine of $50. all to go back to this i am part of the resistance inside the truck administration. is this a valid argument? guest: i don't work in the white house. i know what the public knows. i see his tweets, public comments. i will say this about the 25th amendment. it is highly unlikely to be used . here is what the 25th amendment does. it is separate from the impeachment process. if the president is lazy or impolitic or has that judgment, the 25th amendment is not

to reach that. the impeachment process is available for abuses of power. amendment is available when a president has lost his mental faculties either permanently or temporarily and is incapable or unwilling to admit this. if the president got into a car accident and suffered brain damage, he would be incapable of ceding control. on the other hand, if he had a schizophrenic or psychotic break and refused to knowledge he had lost his mental faculties, then the 25th amendment could be invoked. here is why it is easier to do impeachment. impeachment requires a majority

vote in the house of representatives and then a two thirds majority in the senate to convict. it does not require the vice president, the cabinet, the president himself. it is entirely controlled by congress. once the president has been entirely impeached, he is removed from office. the 25th amendment, section four, would require the vice president and the majority of the cabinet to send a letter to the speaker of the house and the president pro tem saying that the president is incapable of acting. the president could then respond to that and say that essentially this is a coup d'etat, and i am not incapable of being president of the united states. that would throw the matter back to congress where they would have a trial or examination of

the issue. that would require a two thirds vote from both congress and the senate. both the house and the senate to remove the president. it would only be temporary. the president could come back. he could say, you think i was mentally stable, but i am fine. they would do the process all over again. require a super majority in both houses of congress. it has never been invoked. section three, which is when a president cedes power to the vice president for a limited period of time has happened on three occasions, under president reagan and twice under president george w. bush. for the time that they were under general anesthesia, they theirarily ceded power to vice president.

invoking section four is radical and difficult to do. line, goodrats morning, jane. caller: think you for the show. i appreciate it. mr. holcomb, let's admit out of the gate, first of all, ck wasent obama's pik urged on by republicans, and they withheld it for 10 months. we now have a documentation process where thousands of documents are withheld. when they are late, they happen to be about kavanaugh talking pout roe not being recedent. he has lied under oath about emails. out of the gate, that should disqualify him. he is a radical.

who has ben vetting these documents is a republican operative. host: we only have a few minutes left. we will give you a chance to respond. guest: there was a lot there. i don't know anything about the republicans urging the president to nominate someone less mayor carolyn goodman -- merrick garland. i disagree with all respect to the allegations you made. wade, heect to roe v. op-ed innding to an which he said i don't think all isal scholars believe roe settled law in addition to the fact that at that time there were three justices on the

supreme court who had toirmatively called for roe be visited and overturned. i cannot remember all the other emails. pickering, judge kavanaugh made it clear as a staff assistant in the white house counsel's office, he was involved in ve bushll of thetting nominees, he did not have primary responsibility for judge breyer. -- pryor. i think he was being truthful. host: howard, you only have about a minute left. republican line. caller: during the hearing, it seemed like the democrats were painting heritage and the federalist society as right wing kooks.

i was waiting for someone to stand up to them. i wonder how the guest felt about that and why nobody came to their defense. guest: we have our fans and detractors. that is ok. we are a public policy organization. we lay out our positions. i laid out my list for supreme court justices. the federalist society, i believe, was defended by senator orrin hatch, who is on the board of governors for the federalist society. that is ok. if people want to take potshots at us, that is truly democracy in action. host: from your standpoint, do you think we will have a full report before or after the midterm election? guest: of course, i don't know, but i don't think there will be a report before the midterm elections. you are hearing he is preparing a report. he has charges pending against

people. paul manafort has another trial pending. towill submit that report deputy attorney general robbers inside. what he chooses to do with that is anybody's guess. host: thank you for being with us. guest: thank you. host: we're back tomorrow morning with another edition of "washington journal." we will turn to the midterm elections and the push by african-american candidates 2018. clinton james will be joining us. charles schneider is joining us from des moines, i'll, president of the senate. -- iowa state senate. and chris curry will be with us to talk about hurricane preparedness. a major storm set to hit the east coast later this week. that is all tomorrow morning to

newsmakers is next. check out all of our programming on c-span.org. thank you for joining us on this sunday. have a great week ahead. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] announcer: next, newsmakers with sonny perdue. inn they look at testimony the senate confirmation hearing for judge brett kavanaugh. and after that, president trump at a campaign rally in south dakota. susan: