adviser brian jenkins discusses the state of homeland security .7 years after 9/11 c-span's "washington journal" is live now. join the discussion. host: it is tuesday, september 11, 2018. you are looking a lot -- at a live shot of the pentagon in arlington, virginia, where an american flag was just unfurled on this, the 17th anniversary of the terrorist attacks. we begin today with a question for your -- for the viewers -- how has 9/11 changed america he yeah cap give us a call. our phone lines are divided regionally. if you are in the eastern or central united states, it is

202-7 48-8000. in the mountain or specific -- or pacific region, it is 202-748-8001. @cspanwj.r, it is you can start calling in now on this question on how 9/11 has changed america. phone lines are open. here is the schedule of c-span coverage of various commemoration events this morning. the events getting underway at memorial plaza at the world trade center site in lower manhattan. c-span coverage will begin around 8:00 this morning. that is on c-span2 if you want to watch it in its entirety. there is also the commemoration event at the pentagon. you can watch that beginning around 9:00 on c-span3. we plan to end this program around 9:30, a commemoration

event taking place at the crash site of united airlines flight 93 in shanksville, pennsylvania. the president is expected to speak at that event. we will take you there live when that event starts. until then, our phone lines are yours. 9/11 hasking how changed america. here are headlines from some of this morning. from "the washington times," "september 11: the date not forgotten." photo is of firefighters raising the american flag back in 2001 at the world trade center site. from "the washington times," the "and to charles lane -- u.s. -- to usa today. we will talk more about this later this morning. from "the washington times,"

"all these years: how safe are we?" phone lines are split regionally. if you're in the eastern or central time zones, 202-700 48-8000. carol is up first from ohio. how has 9/11 changed america? caller: well, it has changed a lot for me. i will never forget that day. my son had just moved to new york city and he was living in manhattan, and i could not get through to him. because the phones were down up there. terrible tragedy, and i will never forget the day it happened and how i felt. i have one more comment, please. host: yes, ma'am. caller: i found out this morning -- i was watching msnbc, and "morning joe" said the day that

happened, when the towers went i guess my said building is the tallest in new york now. i thought, man, he has always been that way. host: you mentioned joe scarborough. he has a column in today's "washington post." talking about america before and after 9/11. here is what he writes, "on the eve of bin laden's attacks, the american domestic product was 10 times china and 40 times russia's. despite those staggering outlays, washington was running a 125 billion dollars surplus. 17 years later, endless wars abroad and reckless policies at home have produced annual deficits approaching $1 trillion. president trump's republican

party will create more debt in one year than was generated in the first 200 years of america's existence. while the united states has been mired in endless wars and bloody occupations over the past 17 aggressivelyhas developed economic partnerships across asia, europe, latin america, and africa. perhaps that is one reason china will soon overtake the united states as a world's largest dunkirk, newes in york, good morning. how has 9/11 changed the united states? caller: it gave it a sense of paranoia. you do not know if there is going to be a bomb or you cannot call the police anymore. host: james, you do not feel safer? caller: no. i kind of do, but i kind of don't. you find something, you do not know if there is a bomb in it anymore. all: has that changed at over the course of 17 years?

do you feel any less that way 17 years later? caller: yeah, i'm afraid for the children's sake. host: the phone lines again, if you are in the eastern or central time zones -- 202-748-8000. pacific,and 202-748-8001. that ceremony is expected to begin around 9:00 at the pentagon. president trump issued a proclamation about september 11. theaid, "we pause to honor memory of the innocent people murdered by radical islamic terrorists in the brutal attacks of september 11, 2001. we come together to pay for those whose lives were forever changed by the loss of loved ones. we strengthen ours off to stand together as one nation, the evil attacks, intended to work our

way of life, instead strengthened our will and mobilize our volunteer spirit. the strength of our nation may have been tested in the avenues of new york city, on the shores of the potomac, and in a field near shanksville, pennsylvania, but our strength never faltered and our resilience never wavered cap rob, good morning. feel safer. not it has been 17 years, and nobody has still explained how building seven came crashing down into its own footprint. us in ever explained to the right way how building six exploded when the second plane hit the second tower. all we lost is our civil liberties. we do not have half the rights we did, and we have cameras on every street corner. they are listening to all our emails, our phone calls, and we lost our country. it is all because of bush, cheney, and the rest of the

neocons. host: talk to me more about why -- i assume you think this was some sort of conspiracy? caller: the conspiracy is the cover-up, i think. but things do not make sense. host: cover-up of what? watched building seven fall into its own footprint. -- nobody ever explained it to us. the 9/11 commission said they do theynd why it happened -- do not understand why it happened or how it happened. firemen said they were demolishing the building. host: what would it take to convince you that what happened is what the official version is, that these planes crashed into the buildings? asked that glad you question. it would take an independent investigation. i do not know if it will ever happen. we have lost so many of our rights since then. they said it was all because of

national security and they will not answer a question. i do not think things look good, and i am looking to the next big event that will be staged. host: from branson, missouri, good morning. caller: good morning. how are you this morning? host: i am doing ok. go ahead. dayer: this is a terrible for america that everybody should remember. we should stick together. it has been a very bad thing. i was listening to joe scarborough earlier, and he made some comments. understand, a lot of things have been given away to a lot of people. i know people in business who tried to buy from american companies that cannot do it. they have to go to china to buy everything. when did this all start? forget all that right now. everybody in america, try to remember and pray for everybody that is gone.

thank you. god bless america. host: a story from "the washington times." a new strategy to handle terrorism, the task force on extremism and fragile states. the inaugural report was on -- congress mandated the creation of that new tax force -- that new task force. it is cochaired by thomas kean and lee hamilton, a democrat from indiana. they worked together for more than a decade, heading the national commission on terrorist attacks on the united states, formerly known as the 9/11 commission. they say in that report the time has come for a new u.s. strategy, stop extremists from .preading u.s. policies billy resilience against violent extremism within their own society. wrote thatd kean

op-ed in "today -- in today's "usa today." if you want to read more on that column today, "usa today." daniel, indianapolis, indiana. good morning. how has 9/11 changed america? caller: thank you for taking my call? not feel safe in our own skin anymore. that is a problem. the bigger problem is that 9/11 was the worst terrorist attack on this country that there was, but it was not the first time anyone has attacked the world trade center's. it was the first time that they were effective in damaging and destroying the world trade centers as well as america's andt, and their military their infrastructure. but hats off to the first responders that showed up across peoplentry, and all the

who enlisted in the military immediately following the strikes on 9/11, 2001. it is not the only time we have been attacked. look at benghazi. .t was a hoax it was also an attack on u.s. soil, and nobody did anything about it. it changed security in our country. we are not equipped, we are not changed, we are not aware of how to fight without fearing for our lives. you cannot fight an enemy and intimidate an enemy who is not afraid to die, who worships death, and is willing to kill themselves to kill a bunch of other people. enemynnot intimidate an like that. the only thing you can do is try to reduce them with either force eat awayor financially

-- there is no immediate recourse. it takes time to re-strategize how america can protect its borders, its airspace, and how america can protect itself. host: you mentioned the previous attack on the world trade center before september 11, 2000 one. that commemoration ceremony that is taking place at memorial plaza there this morning will also commemorate the victims the february 20 6, 1993, world trade center bombing events. , 1990 three,6 world trade center bombing events. c-span's coverage is expected to begin around 8:00 this morning. events there at the world trade center site unexpected to go there throughout the morning. erik in ashburn, virginia, is next. how did 9/11 change america? caller: it changed america.

i think it changed the world. americans until then were going through with a sense of we were untouchable, and there was really no major attack on our soil. for the most part. -- what thee previous caller said, the first attempt on the world trade center. i think it was almost as if we were a championship boxer who actually took his first loss. once we got knocked out and we , wehow tolerable we were just never could recover. we have never been able to recover. i think it happened to the world as well because now we have seen that a major attack can happen -- if it can happen in the u.s., it can happen throughout. now we see the more frequency of ll attacks.e

i think it has affected the world. host: dan is in dayton, ohio. good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead, dan. yeah, it is a shame what happened. and the official story is bull. dan, what would it take for you to believe the official story? caller: nothing. host: you are never going to believe it? caller: there has to be an investigation. has to be. host: what about the 9/11 commission? why don't you believe that report? caller: it is all bull. the report could not explain how building seven came down. dan is inher

georgetown, massachusetts. good morning. caller: good morning. thanks for having me on. dan did not have many words, but he is right on. we as humanat beings are following the political narrative about what happened on this day when the science narrative is completely different. it is easy to understand how a great number of people can be but, you know, using a apparatus with unlimited expense to trick the american people -- it was done, and it was done successfully. who do you think these people are who showed up to honor their loved one to died on

9/11? you know, i do know know. there are so many questions about what happened that day, and the fact that always gets pushed to the side is science. 9/11 -- on 9/11, science should still be science in our world. as we said, president trump is expected to be in shanksville, pennsylvania, today for the memorial ceremony taking place there. he will be joined by first lady melania trump, vice president mike pence, secretary of defense james mattis, and the chief of staff. they will be at that pentagon memorial. speaking of the shanksville memorial, which you are seeing on your screen there -- american history tv visited the flight 93

memorial in shanksville and discussed part of the display that dealt with the passengers who were on that plane. flight 93 and american airlines flight 77 that hit the pentagon, they are both this model aircraft. the planes that crashed at the world center -- the world trade center are 767's, so they are center aisle aircraft. a senseportant to give of the back of the aircraft were a lot of those phone calls to place. we give visitors the opportunity to listen to three of the four record phone calls that were placed from on board flight 93. >> passenger phone her husband, jack, about 11 minutes after the hijacking began. leaving this message on their home answering machine. >> honey, are you there?

jack, pick up, sweetie. ok, i just want to tell you i love you. we are having a little problem on the plane. i am totally fine. i just love you more than anything. just know that. know, i am uncomfortable, and i am ok for now. so i is a little problem, just love you. please tell my family i love them, too. by, honey. this is the answering machine in california that is capturing the message that she has just left for her husband. host: if you want to watch that inire tour of that memorial check so, pennsylvania, you can do so at c-span.org. .his is a live shot

president trump is expected to be there around 9:30, speaking later this morning as well. we are speaking with our viewers as well this morning. the question we ask -- how has 9/11 changed america? phone lines are split regionally. the748-8000, if you are in central or eastern time zones. if you are in the mountain or pacific time zones. caller: the three past callers who explained that it was a 9/11 conspiracy theory -- they are the ones who have the old. -- the bull. convinced that if -- if they are so convinced, building seven did not fall down into its own footprint. it fell down on surrounding buildings. it did not fall down at full

speed. host: what about this question we are asking? how has 9/11 changed america? caller: i think a few of the people covered this. it changed how secure we feel. jumpy when touched by other people. that is how we feel about it. host: go ahead. that is dan in florida this morning. the conspiracy theorists touching a nerve. jack writes, "stop the stupid conspiracy theories. it is a time waster." not"let's make sure this is devolve into a conspiracy theorist nut-fest." good morning.

caller: the thing nobody has brought up is the traces of explosive in those buildings, nanothermite. 9/11, bush stayed at his ranch in texas. at that time, louis freeh, the head of the fbi, and james baker iii, the family lawyer, set up offices in the middle east. it going to take for you to believe that what happened is that the planes hit the towers, and that all these york, ined -- in new pennsylvania, shanksville, pennsylvania? caller: well, if they investigated through truth and not a cover-up. and the other thing is, before we were toldw, this and that.

the patriot act is what we got out of this. -- we are all criminals until all proven innocent. this is co-authored by the patriot act. i think we should look at how this was all set up, especially with louis freeh. saudi arabia, united arab emirates, israel, and all these other countries get attacked. host: jason is in alabama. good morning. caller: good morning. these people who are conspiracy nuts, i think they are getting their information from "fahrenheit 9/11." i served in the military, was in basic training on 9/11. i met people who were at the pentagon, the soldiers who were

going in and out, who helped people out. i am not sure how it changed america, but i know it changed military training. it changed to urban guerrilla tactics. host: why do you say that, jason? with the rising threat from nationstates? caller: yeah. if we and up having a country-on-country fight, i do not think that the military would be able to do it to the standards that they used to. when i first went in for the first three years after the , we stillf iraq thought force-on-force at the national training center. when i last got out, when things were supposed to be spinning

down, they were still doing guerrilla tactics. , spent over a decade in there and halfway through we stopped training force-on-force, simply because we did not have time. host: that saying that we sometimes hear when it comes to military training -- always prepared to fight the last war -- would you say that is true? caller: i would definitely say that is true. lce i first went in we had and campaign couches. now there is so much gear, if we did force-on-force combat, nobody would be will to do sustained operations, in my opinion. afghanistan people are saying they will be marching up and down mountains right now. host: thank you for the call, this morning.

a few stories about afghanistan in today's papers, one from "the washington post," looking at the recent attacks in afghanistan, 52 killed in taliban attacks in afghanistan, the attacks on security forces and civilians as well. the other story on the same page of "the washington post." 52 -- foul and other hopefuls state violations. jb, toledo, ohio. good morning. caller: good morning. the gentleman speaking about all the different countries that were effected -- that were affected and what happens to them relative to 9/11. , the structural materials that were destroyed during 9/11 were all shipped to

china without examination by the united states of america. george h. w. bush issued 240 billion dollars of bonds, september 11, 1991. they were to come due september 11, 2001. on september 10 and told us about $3 trillion missing from the department of defense. it seems to me that would obfuscate all 9/11 prior to it happening. caller before when we were talking about conspiracy theories was guessing as to where people get their information from. caller: i am not talking about

guessing. i am talking about actual evidence, that these things actually happened. you keep alluding to these issues being in defense of what happened. ifm trying to tell you that you really want to know what is 1991, the bonds -- an unidentified individual, and coming due on 2001. ist: fred from maryland next. how did 9/11 change america? caller: i will never forget it. i really do not think we have learned much. the fbi failures of intelligence back then, they committed these murders. no profiling.

we are still not able to do that , so i blame it on the democrats, not having us on a war footing. i blame it on the same situation. president trump is trying to straighten us out. he understands the seriousness of what could happen again. ofould ask the families these victims -- how did they feel about getting more stricter and more strong about what is going on? how would they think about what is going on these days? mentioned ongoing intelligence issues. in a speech earlier this month, the director of national intelligence, dan coats, talked about those issues that still need to be faced by the intelligence community. [video clip] coalition ined

aggressive counterterrorism actions against isis has resulted in the group losing nearly all of its territory in iraq and sudan. but despite these attacks, despite these setbacks, isis ability to launch an inter-surgeon see in syria and iraq, and the group's ability has been significantly diminished. the last challenge is developing a more efficient intelligence collection and intelligence cycle that allows us to take a revolutionary step forward in providing full and timely, accurate information for our policymakers, diplomats, and war fighters. we showeo clip] host: you a live shot of memorial

plaza in lower manhattan at the world trade center site. events are getting underway. c-span's coverage of those innts, expected to start about a half hour at 8:00 on c-span2. we will be with you until it is then set shanksville, pennsylvania, get underway at this morning. also, commemorative events at the pentagon are expected to start around 9:00. we will be showing you those live on c-span3. jim in kansas, good morning. go ahead. caller: hello. well, it has allowed the police departments across the united states to militarize to a great extent for no apparent reason. our civil rights has suffered. we are becoming a nation of being stopped and showing your

papers. 9/11, to a great extent, contributed to trump being elected, i think. as far as the conspiracy theories about what happened on 9/11, we all know the buildings fell. you can look at youtube and watch the movies of the buildings, and how one building, that shorter building, whatever number it is, it sure seems to fall straight down for no apparent reason. i do not know about that. host: james in texas, good morning. caller: yes, sir. this is james. i want to open up with, jim from kansas, the three dans from ohio, ignorant. 9/11 was me wrong, horrible, the most gruesome attack on modern day history to americans. but it has been the catalyst for technology. --would not be half where

halfway where we are today if it had not been for what happened on 9/11. it was horrible, but do not sit here and tell me that it would -- that it was an inside job, a hoax. thermite -- we would not be anywhere today without the events that occurred today. as a young man, that day changed my life and the trajectory of dozens, thousands after myself. people lost their lives that day. if there were a cover-up, don't you think there would have been a more definitive proof to come out? you are searching for proof. the proof is right there in your face. jim from kansas -- go look on youtube. go look on info wars. het: an earlier caller said

did not feel any safer today, 17 years later, than he did right after the events of 9/11, 2001. what are your thoughts on that? on peoples feeling of safety 17 years later? caller: personally, i feel fine. the thought looming in my head 9/11. it was in the back of my mind, but i did feel safer going to the tsa. there was a gentleman on the startedde, and he raising his voice and, boom, right off the bat, tsa came around. security took him off to an isolated area. at that point, that is when i felt better. getting on the plane, i know there is somebody at least on

there, because of 9/11. host: bill is in stony creek, virginia. good morning. caller: good morning. that day vividly. i was in tv repair. morning reason -- that i caught it late. how much change it has had for me, but i always wondered over the years why did 9/11 happened. why did it happen? he to me- can some but why did it happen? host: frank in phoenix, arizona. good morning. guest 2: good morning.

say we havet to lost freedoms as a result of 9/11. on the other hand, i think america has not got it about what really happened there. we look -- it was a political act. it was not a religious act. iraqcans -- we went into and afghanistan as a result of this. these are just two humongous tar babies we stuck our hands in and we cannot get out. my favorite story -- i am 70 years old, so when i was in college back in 1966, i kid you not, i got on an airplane in flew to new york.

i went to the airport, walked on the plane, walked to the laboratory and smoked a joint and went back to my seat and no one said anything. .ompare that to nowadays i would never get on the plane. the thing that america did not has been atislam war with the non-islamic world for 1400 years. trump has said -- he is barring certain islamic nations from sending their people over here. that is in recent years. people are all upset about that and jumping on trump about it. america did not get 9/11. they think it was terrorists.

they did not get the fact that it is islam, which is a political entity. the religion is just another funny -- religion. host: we showed you some of the headlines in today's papers, on the 17th anniversary of 9/11, 2001. here are some of the stories americans were waking up to that morning. here is the front page of the new york times from september 11, 2001. some of the stories being discussed, key leaders talk of possible deals to revive the economy. president bush under pressure. stories about tax cuts, scientists urging a bigger supply up stem cells, and city voters in new york having heard it all as the campaign din nears an end. that front page image from a twitter account -- from a

-- author and presidential historian pretty the washingtonian magazine with happeningout what was in the news before september 11, 2001. they note the biggest stories of the day and the entire summer leading up to that point were the more immediate concerns of state of shark attacks along atlantic beaches and the disappearance of the capitol hill in turn, chandra leavy, and the suspicion around gary condit. hitk and pearl harbor were at the box office and many were eagerly awaiting the november release of the first film in the harry potter series. washington did not have a baseball theme -- team, but players were -- fans were fixed on very bonds. attorneys were wrapping up the antitrust lawsuit against microsoft. media giants and -- the largest

corporate merger and history and at the patent office, final approval for a method for node ranking in a linked database had been granted to large page cofounder of the three-year-old search engine google. those were the stories happening 2001.ber 10, thosehat has changed in 17 years? caller: the fact that the narrative hasn't changed. there are two polarizing sides, one that believes it happened .nd one that does not in regard to the government, a number of things have changed, especially foreign policy. the government decided to go aggressively after other cultures and put terrorism with islam and terrorism is just another form of violence.

you can call it political violence. a lot of people call palestinians terrorists or slaves in the rebellion were considered terrorists. i personally worked that day at the navy yard and i am a first responder. imfs preparing for the demonstrations. after the attacks began, or whatever it was that began, we were sent to different places, capitol hill and across the water to her gin yet and i was at the pentagon that day and i seeo virginia and i did not a plane. when people talk about conspiracies, what they are failing to realize is the conspiracy is two or more people who decide secretly to perform an unlawful act. one of the callers mentioned the patriot act and other things that happened since then.

informationk the given to us is accurate. i know it isn't. that caller was talking about the building in new york and that building did fall in on itself. there was a plane that struck a building new york four years ago in world war ii during a training exercise. a plane hit the empire state building and we know today it still stands. host: to kathy and ohio, good morning. caller: good morning, thank you. i am a little bit nervous this morning, but i think september 11 has changed our country, america, in two different ways.it has changed our perception of america and it changed our functionality as a country. i think the root of the problem is that we, as a people, and we, as a country, do not sow seeds of peace. we are a country of people, but

also a country of what we do as a country both internally and internationally. all these people are talking about september 11 today. the world wasn't like that before september 11. my sister was in the army and close to the event and it affects me personally every year. i have a difficult time and i think we have to be honest with ourselves and have lots of conversations about what we are doing as a country and what we are not doing. what to make -- how to make the world of better place as a leader and how to fix our country for spending so much money on war and not enough on keeping our country intact. thank you for taking my call. host: thank you for the call from ohio. on the issue of foreign policy, this story on the front page of the washington times. national security adviser john bolton put some meat on the

bones of president trump's america first foreign policy saying the u.s. is ready to sanction anyone cooperating with investigationrt's of the military mission in afghanistan and announcing the palestine liberation organization diplomatic office in washington was no longer welcome, a favorite of washington conservative mr. boltonnt -- offered a robust and expensive defense of american sovereignty during his first appearance at the federalist society. here is a bit from john bolton's speech yesterday. >> we will ban judges and prosecutors from entering the united states. we will sanction funds in the u.s. financial system and prosecute them in the u.s. criminal system. we will do the same for any company or state that assists in icc investigation of americans. we will take note if any countries cooperate with icc

investigations of the united states and its allies and we will remember that cooperation when setting u.s. foreign assistance of a terry assistance, and intelligence sharing levels. we will consider taking steps in the un security council to constrain the court's sweeping powers, including ensuring the icc does not exercise jurisdiction over americans and the nationals of our allies that have not ratified the rome statute. this administration will fight back to protect american constitutionalism, our sovereignty, and our citizens. no committee of foreign nations will tell us how to govern ourselves and defend our freedom. we will stand up for the u.s. constitution abroad just as we do a home and, as always, in every decision we make, we will put the interest of the american people first. host: we are taking your calls this morning on this september

11, 2018, the 17th anniversary of those attacks in new york and crash ofn, d.c. in the flight 93 in pennsylvania. we are asking how has 9/11 changed america? al, in new york, what do you think? caller: good morning, c-span. thank you for taking my call. splicer ago i was a with verizon at the recovery and i worked there for about a month. i can always remember that 1000 yard stare on a lot of the firemen's faces because they were there 24/7. how has it changed america? i never thought i would see policeman or soldiers on the -- our of our accounts towns, especially new york city with automatic rifles and armored cars.

i think, over time, we have started to heal as a people. administrationst we have got now has picked that wound open again. there is kind of a funny sensation about picking a wound. sometimes it tickles and sometimes it hurts, but it is almost like an addiction. i wish the american people would come together more than we are, us versus ourselves. we are good people, in general. iraq was a big- mistake and we are still paying for it. those things just help our shortcomings. like i said, we are good people. it won't take one president to make it great again, that is

baloney. i think america needs to let the nerves heal and it is time to let the next generation become more self evident and encourage them to do the best they can do, like our parents did to our generation, the baby boomers. i think america -- it is going to take a long time to mend. this is not the kind of thing where you just roll over and go to sleep on it. we still have enemies in this world, whether they are wearing some mantle of being religious or whether they are some political group. we are here and we are going to stay here. host: thank you from the call -- for the call from new york. you started by talking about the first responders, a story on the toll 9/11 continues to take on first responders in today's usa today.

nearly 10,001st responders and others who were in the trade -- world trade have been diagnosed with cancer. more than 10,000 deaths have illness.ibuted to 9/11 many expect more people will have died from toxic exposure from 9/11 than were killed on that terrible tuesday morning. the rate of some cancers among 9/11 first responders is 30% higher than the general populace. matt in washington, d.c., good morning. caller: good morning, john, and good morning, c-span. good morning, america. this is a tough day for us all as people and i think the biggest thing that has changed over the last 17 years read i was very young when 9/11 happened. i was in seventh grade. one thing i notice is its -- it seems like words and emotions trump physical evidence when it comes to what really happened on that day.

a few years ago, someone encouraged me to watch a video of the towers coming down and noticed the time it took for the towers to collapse. we understand the plane hit the towers, but the fact that 110 towers -- floors of steel and concrete could disintegrate into dust just defies physics. it is troubling as a citizen to look at that and still be torn apart by the official story and understanding what happened. it is tough. you asked some really good questions of the guests, like what would make you believe the official story and what would help me believe the official story, especially with the pentagon attack is seeing a plane of the pentagon hitting the video -- seeing a video of the pentagon -- plane hitting the pentagon. there is no evidence that happened. -- wereally tough and

could go on and on about the different physical evidence of steel melting at 2750 degrees. host: eric in compton, california. go ahead. caller: good morning, america. i want to start off by simply saying the not afraid. i would like to start this story off with 2000. two thousand was a jubilant year for america and we did not celebrate it correctly by bringing our troops home. -- they considered it holy ground and we had american infidel troops on holy ground, so they decided to attack america. eventwe see this tragic happen. then, because we did not

celebrate correctly and bring our troops home, we got attacked and we have been suffering behind this effort ever sense. lord and the hold, 2016 was a jubilant year, called by the church to show mercy and compassion. host: what is a jubilee year? defined that. caller: jubilee is defined biblically in the bible. it's also on the liberty bell, every 50 years, we are supposed to come as a nation, start over. debts, let slaves go, let freedom ring. if you study it, the united states has never done it. it is on the liberty bell. that is why the liberty bell is cracked. until we do this, correctly, this is what we get. host: francis in oceanside, california. good morning. caller:caller: good morning.

i just wanted to -- i just want to say hello to all of america -- echo one of your callers several of your callers' sentiments that we need, really, to come together and hug each other today and hold each other. i am a psychologist and i was watching television when that happened. i have a history major from we, as a country, have been very protective from until 9/11.n we had fought in foreign wars, but except for the attack, really, on pearl harbor, we had ever seen, firsthand and up close, the devastation and the horrors of war and our american

heroes who came home, our fathers and grandfathers, were very careful not to subject the rest of us to too much detail. they were very quiet about it. it was somehow sanitized to protect our psyches. that day, every one of us in america had our psyche shattered. to watch those towers full of dust gavemble into every single american, even the took it, if they only in from the energy of their elders, gave every single one of us a kind of ptsd, which we in helping addressed each other recover from. and fearat came fear

is what drives us in politics. it drives certain people who are conservative to go into conservative ways of thinking. to use theirberal fear in other directions to support other things. others to go into conspiracies and think it has got to be something afoot. makeup will determine how we deal with fear. us, it has been, , but we haven't, in a national way, tried to have about the facton that we discovered, on that day, that we are actually vulnerable. host: thank you for the call

from california. a few tweets. kevin writes in the failure to take care of 9/11 survivors is one of this country's great shames. hard to believe the air was tested and given the all clear, but that is the story. helen says 9/11 showed americans the depth in destructive u.s. foreign policies in the mideast and the resulting deadly backlash from the arab world. the world shifted its focus of power on 9/11. writes forget -- the past, rewrite the past, follow the greed, money, power. you livehowing pictures from the world trade center site in new york. thatessman pete king is at site, at that ceremony and here is the picture he sent out is lifting asg people gather. god bless america. barry with a tweet this morning

on the anniversary of 9/11, let us remember the innocent lives lost and the first responders who go to work every day to protect us and one more tweet from senator gillibrand of new york writing, our job is not done. as we near the expiration of the 9/11 victim compensation fund, we must work together to renew this essential program without delay. we have a moral obligation to continue to stand by every one of these heroes. a few tweets from members of congress and you can follow along throughout the day on our c-span twitter page. list you can follow. we have a few minutes left in this segment, getting your thoughts on how 9/11 changed america. we will shift gears and talk about campaign 2018. we are 8 weeks away from election day 2018 and the campaign season continues with primaries taking place today and tomorrow. time for just a few more calls.

avery has been waiting in athens, alabama. how has 9/11 changed america, avery? caller: good morning. 2001, is september 11, worked at metcalf on the 43rd floor of the lincoln building across the street from grand central station, 42nd street and park avenue. with panoramic views of the city, me and my coworkers stood and watched the second plane pass our building. with a birds eye view from the 43rd floor, me and my coworkers watched a dark gray, matt garay, ray,shiny at all -- matte g not shiny at all, windowless, plane flyby like a kite and accelerate into the

world trade centers. we are told that was a commercial airplane. united or american. had that been a commercial airplane, that plane flew by our building so close -- host: we have done the conspiracy theories quite a bit this morning. tony is in district heights, maryland, go ahead. caller: why do you keep calling people that don't believe the official story a conspiracy theory? do you have any evidence what they are saying is a conspiracy theory? the official story is a conspiracy theory. you need to cut that out because you don't have any proof the official story has any evidence to suggest the official story is actual reality. host: where do you go for your evidence? tell us where you go and what sites you believe? caller: the videos of all that happened that day is evidence. there is a lot of evidence out

there. was held he -- nobody accountable for 9/11. -- there were promotions during the bush administration over this nonsense, you need to cut it out with that conspiracy. nonsense. host: we will go to andy, in brooklyn, new york. caller: thank you for c-span. i wanted to discuss what happens to america after 9/11. i'm a first responder, i witnessed the most chaotic and disastrous effect ever. the tobacco industry was sued for hundreds of billions of dollars and so there was a rule respondersg first

the ways to experience the -- which is now given to corporations. and only pay a fraction of what they have stolen or damaged. ,he other thing was the gold gold for over 300 years has never been under $150 an ounce, all the gold the disappeared from those buildings was worth trillions of dollars. a lot of people don't know this, but the world trade center does not belong to united states, it was the largest financial institution in the world. gold does not just disappear. the third thing that happened was the amount of money that was missing from the world trade reassess-- we had to everyone in america to cover

those debts because they don't go away. by doing that, it caused the financial crisis of 2008. host: that andy, in brooklyn, our last caller in this first section of the washington journal. we will turn to the 2018 election and we will join stephen shepard, a campaign editor at politico, to talk about today's and tomorrow's primaries and the road ahead over the next eight weeks during election 2018. ther on we will return to topic of the safety of the united states, 17 years after 9/11. we will be joined by brian jenkins of the rand corporation. we will be right back. ♪ >> sunday night on q&a,

historian richard norton smith, discusses his biography of herbert hoover. >> he said when all was said and done, accomplishment is all that matters. when you think about it is rather unsentimental. the thing you would expect from an engineer to say. that's one of the keys to understanding his life, his success in everything but the presidency. >> sunday night at eight eastern on c-span's q&a. c-span, where history unfolds daily, in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television company. to bring continue unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events in washington, d.c. end around the country.

-- and around the country. c-span's brought to you by or cable or satellite provider. woodward's are washington journal guest on monday at 7 a.m. eastern, talking about his new book, fear: a trump in the white house. star -- 8:30,kim can a star joins us to discuss his book, contempt, a memoir of the clinton investigation. washington journal continues. host: today marks eight weeks until election day 2018 and the last primary days of the cycle. joining us to talk about it is steven shepard, the campaign editor for politico. before we get to the house and senate landscape ahead of the election, i want to talk about the news yesterday of ron for governor in

florida, resigning his seat in the house to concentrate on running. how unique is that for the congressman to leave early go -- early? guest: we usually see it for those congressmen who have longer travel to get from washington to their home states. ron desantis lives in north sort -- florida, and it is not want -- that long of a flight -- flight. we are in september and congress will be in session for another seven to 10 days between the midterm elections, at least in the house. we are not talking about a huge commitment but i think this speaks more to the politics. a nominee for this in large part because of his job as a congressman. he got a key endorsement from president trump against adam putnam because he was able to

get on fox. congress is really unpopular even though the house has been controlled by republicans in 2010 and the senate has been controlled by republicans and 2014 14, but republicans do not like congress to write the fact they've had control for dr. years.- four you don't want to be involved in washington to the -- and the swamp, even though republicans have been in control. host: are using democrats already going after him for this? guest: summer pointing out that he already missed 54% of his votes since july on the house pointing out are that the artemis 54% of his vote since july and the house floor. house -- as the already missed 54% of his votes since july and house floor.

even in a lame-duck period, when he could come back to congress whether he wins or loses, the people of that district will not have any representation, which is another side of this. it's a political ploy, let's call it what it is. stephen shepard will be with us until the top of the hour, talking about election 2018, all of the house, senate, races.ernatorial a great time for you to call in with the races you are interested in. for democrats (202) 748-8000, for republicans (202) 748-8001, and for independents (202) 748-8002. there are primaries today in new hampshire and in rhode island's, what are you watching? democrats are picking a

replacement for the new hampshire congresswoman, there are 11 candidates in the democratic primary, it's a solid democratic see, we will reevaluated after tonight's primary. there's also a race for governor , where the first-term governor, a republican is seeking reelection and democrats have two candidates. in rhode island we are only watching the race for governor, gina remind of, the first time sent democratic senator is not terribly possible -- popular, she won without the support of ae progressive base in fractious race. her numbers in a general election don't look great and man who isbeat the likely to become the republican nominee. and to round up primary season in new york, we have the democratic primary for governor

between andrew cuomo and cynthia nixon. cuomo has a 41 point lead and we are not expecting that to be competitive. and the state primary for attorney general features a number -- a member of congress who is running there. if he wins that he will withdraw from his congressional seat, democrats would have defined a new nominee in a hurry and they would be on defense in a year were they need 23 seats to pick up the house of representatives and if you lose one seat you need 24 seats. that plays into that. host: as we come to the end of primary season, can we say what the lessons were? , first i think the two parties are operating on different planets. on the democratic side, it's interesting the kind of candidates they have been nominating. we've seen more progressive candidates doing well in a number of races, but not

universally. there have been a lot of liberal candidates who have fallen short in some of these races, but one of the broader lessons for me and we have the story unpolitical.com buy our house reporter, democrats have nominated far more women for congressional races than we have ever seen before. roughly 180 nominees so far are seats, thate 435 shatters previous records. we will see in new hampshire's first district, one of the woman, one is a man. seeill be fascinating to that play out. regardless of that outcome it has been good for democratic women this cycle. on the republican side, we started talking about ron desantis. like a lot of things i'm sure on your show and here in washington, a lot of it's about president trump. having his support in some of these primaries has been so critical for some many of these

candidates he is essentially undefeated. he endorsed foster freeze in the wyoming gubernatorial, too late to move the needle. but he was able to elevate ron desantis who is getting clobbered in the polls by adam putnam and elevate him to a commanding position. not gottene has involved, the candidates are talking about him on the trail, in their advertising. the arizona senate primary, all they wanted to talk about was president trump. and even though the president did not endorse one candidate over the others, he was a key issue in the republican primary. those of the two track lessons we have. the problem for republicans is yoking themselves to a president ,ho is at a 41% approval rating may be generously. it might be a great strategy when he has 90% approval among

republicans but i'd not sure it's a great strategy this fall. host: the names that have popped up this primary season, has this been a cat -- a bad season for incumbents? it roughly hits the average, the difference would last cycle we saw incumbents who lost were people like corinne brown, they had scandals and indictments leaning over them. this year we did not see that, mark sanford had his scandal when he was the governor of some carolina, there was ethics issues in north carolina but that's a past him. there were no hint of scandal and they were clearly felled in their primaries. i think there are lessons to draw but we are also talking members.r out of 435 a few dozen decided not to seek reelection, you're talking four

out of 400 incumbents who sought to run for another term and were denied in their primaries. that's not a large number. i think there are lessons to draw, but i also would caution against over reading. host: steve shepard is the campaign editor at politico. the race ratings pages came out last week, currently predicting the house leaning in favor of democrats and the senate likely to go to republicans. if you have particular races you want to talk about in the house or senate, now it be a good time to call in, the phone lines are split as usual. we will get to your calls, michelle is in atlanta, georgia, a democrat. good morning. , i am happy morning ,hat we have a black woman stacey abrams, who is running

for governor here in georgia. stacey abrams is going to clobber that white nationalists brian camped --kempt. you talk about his -- youth -- you talk about president trump's 30% base, but african-americans have been turning out in record-breaking numbers. we are going to show you in november, we are running against the grand wizards of the clan --klan, and i'm so glad when we defeat him. host: we got your point. let's talk about the georgia governors race. guest: it's one of the starkest ,ontrasts on the midterm map stacey abrams, a former state house minority leader running against the secretary of state brian camped --kemp. he talked about what primary

candidates -- primary races are about and he talked about the issues that president trump talks about and being a big supporter for him in georgia. theot endorsed by trump final make of the campaign and surged over casey cable in that primary. this is going to be a fascinating race to watch, stacey abrams has focused her candidate -- her candidacy about -- a campaign about turning out people to vote, so many people are african-american and live in the rural areas. it will be interesting to see i think pays off, and that racial issues are going to be front and center in that campaign for better or worse. host: politico is currently ranking the governor's race in georgia as one of the seven gubernatorial tossup races. is waiting in virginia, on the republican line.

caller: i agree, republicans tend to hold our own. i live in virginia, and the gravy train, we don't want the gravy train interrupted. we need a reliable republican that will fall in line and keep this going for us. -- mostly around me as a security state, and the national security apparatus. is goingnow what trump to do, but we want things to be status quo and i apologize for not talking about race. you want to talk about some of the issues that he is bringing up and what republicans are trying to appeal to? genia is fascinating, we have three tossup house

races, the second is -- virginia is fascinating we have three tossup house races. we actually have barbara comstock in the 10th district as leaning democratic. this is in the fairfax county , it in northern virginia has most of loudoun county all the way out towards winchester. this is a district that has been held by republicans for decades, a longtime incumbent retired in 2014. barbara comstock managed to win reelection in 2016 by six points even though hillary clinton carried the district by 10 over donald trump. this is a lot of well-educated white republicans who do not like president trump. when you look at the polling, it looks like they are poised to whatarbara comstock, but does not help them is their senate nominee at the top of the ticket is corey stewart, the caller said he did not want to talk about race but corey

stewart has ties to the white nationalists group and has made a number of controversial comments in his past. it looks like that race against tim kaine is going to be a blowout. that could cost republicans in these down ballot house races. host: could you define wave election? this ine argue about the newsroom and we argue about it all the time. a lot of people look at the wave in terms of relative position. democrats after the 2008 election had does co-waves in a row in 06 and 08 where they built his huge house majority and it was washed away when republicans one 63 seats in 2010 -- won 63 seats in 2010. and the republican majority of 2010 was resizable but not as big as it was after 2014. it was the net change, the delta

between 2008 in 2010 that marked the wave and this year, if democrats are able to net 30 seats, even though they would be a narrow majority, i think those people would regard that as a way because of the stark change between this congress and the new congress that will be meeting on january 3. need 23mocrats only seats to take the house and 60 seats are in danger, define that? asst: we have that defined leaning towards democrats in our tossup range, or just leaning republican. seats that may be opportunities for democrats to pick up. of the 65 seat described, 60 are currently held by republicans. battle for the house, we will talk about the senate at some point, the battle for the house is being fought on republican turf in district. we started this cycle talking

about built-in advantage for republicans that has slowly whittled away for 18 months and one of those is the way the districts are drawn, some of that is intentional in terms of that isdering, some of population patterns. there are urban districts where democrats win 95% of the vote. those same districts don't exist on the republican side, republican voters are distributed in a way that makes it easier at the house level. but some of those advantages , we are even away seeing in districts that have voted republican a long time that democrats have real opportunities to make gains. host: sharon is in california, an independent. good morning. caller: good morning, i'm calling from california, i'm a former democrat. partylove the democratic and i associate is an independent now. i will be voting for devin nunes in my area of california.

i'm hoping to see republicans , ie more seats in california think for people who look around and to live here we know that the liberal policies are not working for this state. i think we're seeing high rates ancrime, homelessness, increase in gang violence and i don't think that has been waters, ory maxine by other democrats that have been in control of the state for a long time. i also found it interesting when obama came to california that rather than choosing to go to or of the sanctuary cities look at a homeless camp, or go to maxine waters cost district -- maxine waters district, he chose to have invited attendees

in orange county, one of the most conservative and wealthiest areas in california. host: you bring up a couple topics. orangelet's talk about county. sharon makes a great point, orange county is traditionally one of the most conservative parts of california which is what makes it the electoral battleground this year. hillary clinton one orange county, the first him a win their in decades. in decades. we talked about voters who moved from over -- for obama to trump in 2016 there was a countercurrent of the voters who went from voters who moved from mitt romney to hillary clinton because they were repelled by president trump. a lot of those voters are in orange county and democrats have a lot of opportunity to gain house seat. the seats of ed royce or darrell issa, and people like steve

knight are very much in danger. held thatsident obama event which supported a number of these challengers. opportunitiesbest among democrats and they are a republican beachhead for the 2018 midterm elections. late atprobably be up night unless it is a huge democratic way of, trying to see what happens in the southern california seats and whether democrats can make up the 23 seats they need. their strategy hinges on winning between three and six in california this cycle. and if they can, i think they will take back the house. and if republicans can hold them they have a good shot at staying in the majority. host: another key status the rogers, inate, pennsylvania, and independent. go ahead. caller: i think it's important

that we place this particular election in the context of 9/11. unfortunately, a lot of people don't have the pieces of the puzzle to put that together to know what actually happened. going to give some information that's very important. -tech, a software company and the other is p-nac, -- host: could you bring us to campaign 2018? --ler: host: one more time on campaign 2018. caller: america, you have been hijacked and deceived and lied to. jordan, inll go to durham, north carolina.

go ahead. about why comment is are democrats struggling to win midterm elections. that is my comment and questions? host: are they? guest: they certainly have in the last two midterm elections in the simple explanation is that it's a lot easier to motivate voters when their party is not in the white house. the coalition that former president obama brought out for him in 2008 and 2012 did not show up in large part in these midterm elections. but the one thing that 2018 is not lacking for, and we are seeing this in primary after primary and special election after special election is democratic enthusiasm. republicans are also jazzed, more than you would see than those obama midterms for

democrats. ,'m interested to see how these the unstoppable force and immovable object collide. host: take us to senate rankings, the senate is likely to go towards republicans, not even in the leeds category. guest: even though the senate majority for republicans is a lot mourn arrow, 51 to 49 with jon kyl joining the full last the from arizona, here's reality. of the seats up for election this year, 10 are currently held by democrats in states that donald trump carried in the presidential election. but republican seats, only one in a stateght -- is that is hillary clinton kerry. carried. you had people like heidi heitkamp in north dakota, joe manchin in west virginia, claire mccaskill in missouri, joe donnelly in indiana.

these are democratic senators reelection in seats that were carried by donald trump in double digits. ,ome are holding up pretty well heidi heitkamp is not holding up as well, claire mccaskill is essentially tied with her democratic opponent, joe donnelly might have a slight lead over his republican opponent. these are places where democrats are on defense and the idea of trying to win the majority while defending those seats without as many offense of opportunities is going to be hard. holdingse joe manchin his own in a conservative state that donald trump one in 2016 -- why is joe manchin holding his own in a conservative state that donald trump one and heidi heitkamp can't? guest: she has favorable numbers, but she was a candidate , thatfice as a senator has really been rolling opportunity to build your profile. joe manchin has been building independent maverick

democratic streak going back to his time as governor and into the senate in 2010 after the death of robert burr, the longtime senator from west virginia. he's taken on his own party in a more public way and heidi heitkamp has. yesterday he released a new television ad, which called to voters attention in the 2010 special general election. he shot a bullet through the trade bill that passed the house in 2009 that was never taken up by the senate and never went anywhere. protecthat i'm going to west virginia's energy industry against the regulation and action coming from a democratic-controlled congress and democratic president. using a firearm, which also speaks of the gun culture there. it was a novel idea. this time he is doing it to attack his opponent, patrick morrissey, who is suing to have the remaining provisions of

obamacare stripped away. gun: you mentioned the culture, the nra hitting joe manchin for his support or lack thereof the second amendment, here is what they had to say. >> he wants to oppose your gun -- the world wants to oppose your gun rights. >> i don't think you want your second amendment taken. >> joe manchin is part of the problem. >> joe manchin always voted for obama, i like joe, but he does not vote forth. >> the national rifle association gives him a grade of d. >> we must elect patrick morrissey. we need him. it's always fun to see the -- host: it's always fun to see the call and response. so joe manchin put out his own and. >> i was born and raised in west virginia. this is what i'm fighting for.

a strong military, securing our borders, and keeping our promises to our veterans and miners. technical training for good paying jobs, decent and affordable health care, and the second amendment always. i approve this message because i will work with both parties and any president who wants to get things done for the people of west virginia. host: your thoughts on those ads? guest: it's a lot of what we see from joe manchin and his political career as governor and senator, he's walking the fine mind running for reelection in a state that donald trump carried by 36 points on election day. that's hard. politician,skilled that thou he's gotten elected summary times and he is currently leading. one thing that interesting about the nra ad is that it features scenes from a trump rally in west virginia, and this is where you will see the president on the trail this fall, he will go

to the states. particularly the five senate states i mentioned with democratic senator seeking reelection that the president carried by double digits, he will carry the clips from those rallies and he will motivate the base because they will pay attention to the rallies, they will be motivated to vote and they will take clips from those rallies entering them into television ads. that is the game plan for republicans to keep the senate, and perhaps even expand the narrow majority. that may not work in some of these house districts because these are places where the president struggled. gym, a republican in washington is next. i don't think we really have a choice to vote republican , you have to or the democrats are talking impeachment. if that's what they're running on his impeachment, that would turn the country inside out.

it would lead to civil war from the inside out, that's my belief and i don't think you have a choice. host: on the idea of running on impeachment. guest: it's true that some democrats are talking about that, but by and large most candidates are not. it will be interesting to see if democrats to take control of the house it only takes a simple majority to pass articles of impeachment and send them to the senate. it will be interesting to see if, depending on the conclusions of the special counsel and democrats win cap -- win back the house, if the majority will come to see some of the things alleged in there. they will want to send that to the senate where it requires two thirds of the senate to remove a president or anyone else from office under an impeachment trial. the senate is likely going republican, even if senate -- democrats are one -- win back

the senate it will be by the narrowest majority. the most extreme of potential crimes could be alleged there and it would be difficult to imagine, and maybe even democrats who do think in the house the president should be impeached depending upon is conclusions might see it as not resulting in his removal anyway. host: sean, in maryland. an independent. good morning. caller: i disagree with you when you say the republicans will likely take the senate. if you look at nevada, dean is arizona,is is up in joe manchin is up in west virginia, the tennessee race is pretty much tied. with thes tied governor down there. i think the democrats could

possibly pull it off, and i think a lot of people are sleeping on the democrats when it comes to the senate. i think the senate will go democrat and also people like joe manchin are playing it smart. they don't want obama coming to the state which is a good move, and on top of that, with the kavanaugh vote about to come up. they might vote for him and that could play well in their states. i think when you look at people like them, billy democrat i see really moving is heidi heitkamp -- the only democrat i see luke -- losing is heidi heitkamp. i think democrats have a good chance of winning. host: sean has a good handle on the landscape. guest: that was my view. let's talk about the democratic path to control, we talked about the races they are on defense let's talk about offense.

nevada, polls show that he's roughly tied in hanging in there but short of 50%. jacky rosen is the democratic nominee was in tossup right now. she might be in a slight favorite to knockoff dean heller but it's close. , a recently minted democratic nominee is running against martha mccallie. that's a tossup. there's a reliable -- there is not a reliable pullout of that district yet. it's definitely a good opportunity for democrats, there is also a seat held by jeff flake who is retiring, as well as bob corker. phil radisson is performing well and he might have a slight lead over marsha blackburn. to become more republican overtime and we have that leaning republican but acknowledging that radisson is holding his own and if he is

still there among from now or early to mid october we may have to move that to a tossup. host: what's the secret recipe sayrace ratings when you toss up orleans this orleans that. and how does falling -- polling factor into it? guest: it helps but we also have people reporting live, and we monitor the resources that are being deployed, we're not just counting on what they tell us that we watch how they act. see where the parties are investing in where they are not, y think they may be in such deep trouble it's not worth investing, and they are not spending time and resources. we have the following, -- polling, we put this together solid, likely,of

leaning, and tossup races in the middle on both sides. it's a conventional way and we are trying to provide more insight for our readers, and contacts about where the races stand. therefore hundred 35 elections for congress this cycle, 36 senate elections, 36 governors elections, that's a lot for people to process and this is an important context as people look into the races and how control might shift and know what to look for. we will be watching these 500 contests, trying to figure out what it all means. ratings andose interesting charts are available at political.com. steve shepard is the campaign editor there. our next caller is in atlanta, georgia. a democrat. caller: good morning. the state of georgia, i'm 64 years old and a senior. in the state of georgia, you

cannot compare it to any other state. each person running for office needs to know what their constituents need, you cannot compare it to nevada, california , we have our congress and our senate and our governor. they should know our needs because our needs might be totally different from the rest of the country. we have a lot of rural areas, hospitals have closed, we have no doctors in these areas we don't have grocery stores, the income is at $7.25 an hour. we need to work on the constituents in georgia. looking out for your people and making sure they have what they need in the state of georgia regardless of if you're a democrat or republican. the state of georgia needs to know and we need to know that our representatives represent our needs. host: we have your point. guest: in georgia we started

talking at the governor's race, there are a couple of interesting house races as well. you may remember a year ago we talked a lot about the special election in georgia sixth , tom price had resigned to become health and human services secretary he did not last long in that job. karen handel, the republican very narrowly won an expensive special election and she faces a different opponent, lucy mcbeth, that's a fascinating race. and a race we did not see coming district, robring woodall, republican nominee who is really easily won reelection is now in a district where internal polling shows a close race. these will be something to watch. a stacey abrams can perform well at the top of the ticket and perform welles not under republicans these are places where democrats have opportunities to get out the house state. the bluegrass state,

gary is in kentucky, a republican, go ahead. caller: i would like to address the statement that many democrats are running on impeachment, trump, kavanaugh, etc.. but that is all we see out of them every day. that, because on it sure looks like that's all they are running on. it's interesting. if you watch a lot of cable news , or follow what the news is out of washington every day, it is a lot about trump, the investigation, the supreme court nominee last week, but if you actually watch democratic advertising the number thing at -- they want to talk about -- the number one thing they want to talk about his health care. they are competing in a lot of republican territory where the

president is more popular than nationally. but it's interesting to see, not only are they talking about health care but they are talking about obamacare in a way that you cannot have imagined is unpopular this was a to six years ago. times about the word pre-existing conditions. and the efforts to repeal obama care or have it struck down in talk about inthey west virginia. the frame they are using is that they will take away coverage from you if you have a pre-existing condition. that's the number one message of the democrats. and when they go on television, or what they are asked about in the hallways of congress, but when they are spending money on the air to talk about issues, that's what they are putting their resources behind and what they think is their best argument and if you told me this eight years ago, the people like joe manchin a conservative state

like west virginia were going to be running on this argument of pre-existing conditions and defending obamacare i would have been surprised. also wanted to talk about the sixth condition -- district of kentucky. guest: amy mcgrath has run an impressive race against andy barr. the race has changed over the last couple of weeks. there is a cheap republican super pac that had a poll in june that showed andy barr, in a district that went for president , lena towardsints amy mcgrath. -- lean towards amy mcgrath. they released a new poll last week showing her down by four points. host: let's shows viewers what kentucky voters are seeing.

liberals want to raise our taxes, pass a government takeover of health care, and open america's borders to illegal immigration. -- how is she different than the democratic party? >> i don't know she's different than the democratic party nationals. >> higher taxes, bigger government, opel borders. you mentioned amy mcgrath's response to those ads, here is one of the ads she has put up since the first ad started playing in her district. someday i will tell my children about flying combat missions, about working at the pentagon. i will also tell them about this time, where attack ads tried to make me someone i am not. andy barr things i'm too far

left because i want every family to have health care and i want safety checks to help prevent school shootings. i'm amy mcgrath and i approve this method -- this message because defending the country is about protecting those we love. host: stephen shepard? guest: it appears it works, andy barr is ever so slightly in the lead in their internal polling and that's a big shift from where the race to an earlier in the summer which is why we had the race leaning democratic at one point. this is going to be an interesting election to watch. one of the other reasons i will be watching it is because polls close early in the night at 6:00 eastern. we will get an early towel on the national environmentt --tell on the national environment at it is otherwise republican leaning condition -- district in kentucky. host: to missouri, steve is an

independent. caller: as a true independent christian, iive can't vote for any republicans. there are only a couple of things i agree with them. willhe problem is that i vote democrat because democracy is at stake with this election, but they will lose us on the next election because obama took us out of left field and bernie sanders will take us out of the ballpark. it's getting to where we need an ,ndependent party so badly nobody is honest or working for us. it's all how much money they can get, and the universal health care is a big factor. i'm for that. all we need are the urgent care places in a main town in hospital. we are already set up for that. host: who could lead an independent party?

buter: i have no idea, someone coming out of the blue, you would have to be a billionaire to start a party so we need a billionaire that loves we will set up a person is a christian that stands on his word and won't back down. host: we have your point. guest: i think he makes an interesting point, you need to be a billionaire to start a political party. the entrenched money on both foreclose an does independent lane. but if we are ever going to see get more thanuld and have a chance to win a national election, you would think coming out of the election that featured the two least popular nominees in our

modern politics, hillary clinton and president trump, would be the opportunity to do that. we will see. i'm not convinced that that is something that is even remotely likely, but if it's ever going to happen it's going to be at a time when the american people are so disgusted with their politicians. host: about 15 minutes left with stephen shepard of politico, we are taking your calls about what races you want to talk about as we expand eight weeks to election day. for democrats (202) 748-8000, for republicans (202) 748-8001, for independents (202) 748-8002. brian is an independent from michigan. good morning. caller: what bothers me about governor's primary in michigan, this is the very first

time that i've seen a democratic as their play racism campaign seen, to get wit -- get rid of the white races in washington. i've been a democrat all my life until hillary clinton kicked me out for being a white heterosexual male. seems that theit democratic party will not admitted it but there's a war against white heterosexual males, and i can't go anywhere without being harassed. i had to move out of detroit with my grandchildren, to a whiter community so they will not be harassed and you will -- and i understand that politics is about rasul hit -- racial hatred. where thes is a place liberal ling of the party actually felt a little bit short bit short.ittle

we saw a number of liberal activist, people like bernie sanders and alexandria cassio campaign forn and a milla that he -- for a candidate who is running on a very left-wing platform. frederick kramer who it served in the state senate was the establishment pick. a liberal background but not as far as her candidate. wide margin.pretty she's probably my favorite to thethat race against attorney general in the fall. it will be one to watch. that are no questions there are number of voters that shifted from president obama to donald trump in the fall. whether the state snaps back to the democrats will be interesting to watch, and it's

also interesting that rick snyder, the outgoing republican governor is very popular and he has not gotten behind the republican candidate yet. i will be watching that closely on election night. , in dayton, ohio. an independent. caller: my comment is that the american public should not allow mr. trump to appoint a supreme court justice before the election, he is indicted and we should see what happens. let's talk about brett kavanaugh as a motivating factor on one side or the other in election 2018. i think have and i will be a motivating factor in that will be diminished if he is confirmed by the end of the month which will give a five-week window between his confirmation and the election.

he would not have a chance to render any decisions so the idea that he would change the game, i'm not sure i see that. but he does put the heat on some of those democratic race as i talked about earlier, joe and joe donnelly, claire mccaskill, heidi heitkamp. these are people who are on the fence, still on the fence on on theavanaugh, where fence, neil gorsuch got three democratic votes a year ago, these are people to watch. republicans are trying to apply the pressure, josh holly is putting a lot of pressure on claire mccaskill to vote for brett kavanaugh. i'm not sure how much that will matter in november but it's working for him now. she has yet to decide or yet to announce a decision on the vote. this is an issue to watch, i'm

less convinced it will be an issue in late october. host: we mentioned the arizona senate race and i want to come back to that, especially on 9/11, the republican running in released an ad invoking 9/11 and what she was doing on 9/11. here is that. >> everyone remembers where they were on 9/11, i was deployed to the middle east leading air strikes against the taliban and was the first woman to fight a -- fly a fighter jet in combat. i know the price of freedom. pinkas protesting us in a tutu and denigrating our service while we were fighting for our freedom. we need leaders who understand the threat and respect our troops. she failed the test. and again with the call and response of a campaign ad, kyrsten sinema released her own ad. >> about member of a military

family doing whatever it takes to keep us safe, kyrsten sinema fought for pay raises for service members, billions for missile systems in combat operations, cyber security, and air force base and her fight for our veterans is unquestioned. she the scandal broke, demanded resignations and accountability. security and strength, whatever it takes. kyrsten sinema, senate. race,on the arizona stephen shepard? guest: you mentioned 9/11 but i want to talk about the dominating thing in arizona, the late senator john mccain. you can see with both of these candidates fighting for the mccain mantle. mcnally does have military experience like john mccain. -- enters in cinemas career was as an activist liberal, but as a member of congress where she has -- and

and theinson a -- opponents career was as an active liberal, but she has built a career that doesn't involve supporting veterans and they are jockeying for that over the next seven weeks. it will be interesting to see how that plays out. john mccain was such a dominant force in arizona politics for so long. it will be interesting to see. 1988 since a democratic senator had been elected. -- since 1988 since a democratic senator had been elected. i'm watching this one closely. call,time for one more john, a republican in pennsylvania. go ahead. states, there 50 are only 4 states where whites are the minority. mexiconia, hawaii, new

vote the way you expect. the other state is texas, and it votes like the reddest state in america, can you tell me why democrats cannot make any progress in texas? guest: i'm not sure the democrats can't make any progress in texas. follow politics or must you been living under a rock, you have probably heard about the big senate race between ted o'rourke.eto this was a race i was skeptical of for a long time. but it is clear that republicans are taking it really seriously. there was a story yesterday about how the lieutenant governor, dan patrick came to

washington sounding the alarm saying republicans like ted cruz. trouble thisbe in cycle. even if they do win, ted cruz could win narrowly, i will be ,atching three house districts two definitely john culberson in the houston area of the seventh district and pete session in the .allas area these are areas where democrats can pick up some of those much-needed house seats, especially ted cruz at the top of the ticket is weaker than expected. the governor, gray abbott, is expected to win reelection easily but that doesn't make -- mean democrats can make gains. host: we will check back in with you as we get closer to election -- election day. and you for your time. up next week will be joined by brian jenkins, a terrorism expert with the rand corporation to talk about how safe america is 17 years after september 11,

2001. before that we will take you to memorial plaza, there at the world trade center site in new york where the commemoration ceremony continues this morning. marbella.illiam >> victor daniel barbosa. barbosa.ine johnna >> colleen barco >> david mark ray. >> matthew barnes. >> alyssa barnes. >> edward barron. >> sheila barnes. are june. >> arthur berry. >> diane dairy. >> maurice berry. >> scott barth.

>> scott bartles. i know the piscina. >> alicia nikki --bosnik ci. host: that ceremony continues on c-span two and we will be with the washington journal now on the 17th anniversary of the september 11, 2001 terrorist attack's, we are joined by michael jenkins of the rand corporation. 17 17 years on, where art -- years on, where are we on the war on terror? guest: it would be a balance sheet of pluses and frustrations. you certainly succeeded integrating the operational capabilities of the jihadists.

we have gotten most of the territory that was taken by isis , it has been recovered. we have truly degraded operational capabilities. reticular lather ability to carry out large-scale and particularly their ability to carry out large-scale and vicious attacks. they have been largely reduced to exhortation, to inspire homegrown terrorists to cure her out -- to carry out attacks here and in that regard they have had some measure of success but not a great deal. there have been about two dozen jihadist attacks over the 17 period.riod -- these have resulted in unfortunately over 200 deaths, about six a year.

9/11, immediate shadow of we were concerned about further 9/11 scale attacks. yet in the most recent communication by the leader of isis, he called on his followers here to carry out attacks with automobiles. with still a threat, still potentially lethal but far down the register. in that sense, we have had a measure of success. success in less countering the narrative of the jihadists. we are not very good at doing this. we are a lot better on the battlefield then we are in ideological warfare. we have not dented the determination of our jihadist foes who continue the struggle.

they will carry this on, this conflict will continue for the foreseeable future. host: to that point as we sit here in 2018, do we have any better available -- ability to say when this ends or what victory in the war on terror actually looks like? guest: we can't say when exactly it will end. historically, those who were in the middle of the 30 year war or the 100 year war in history know that they were in the middle of a 30 year war or 100 year war. this was goingay .o be a very long struggle

the leader of isis or al qaeda are not going to come out on the decks of a nevada -- of an american battleship & a surrender. what we face is a continuing .onflict of varying intensity on the other hand, we can say every day that we hold on to our values, that these terrorist foes are not able to cause this country to collapse in fear and alarm. that is a continuing victory. host: we are talking about terror threats and the war on terror. after september 11, 2001. brian jenkins joins us from the rand corporation, a terrorism expert. if you want to join the conversation, democrats can join in at (202)-748-8000. republicans, (202)-748-8001.

independents, (202)-748-8002. viewersing to be taking live to the commemoration ceremony in shanksville, pennsylvania when that starts, expected around 9:30 this morning. we may see live images from the commemoration ceremony at the pentagon in this hour as we are talking with brian jenkins. feel free to start calling in now with your questions and comments. 9/11, we have not had another attack on the scale of 9/11. believed that was possible back on september 12, 2001? guest: i think it was possible but there was extraordinary concern. clearly intelligence had failed to identify the 9/11 attack. idea how that time no

many more attacks or what the .pecific scenarios might be it was certainly a desperate time. we could not run the risk that and notof doing nothing responding immediately with every measure we could to prevent a repetition of that attack. as it turned out, we were able --quickly dispersed al qaeda disperse al qaeda, scatter them and reduce their capabilities. we were able to quickly mount a major intelligence effort worldwide that has continued since then. that is one of the developments that people are not entirely aware of. the u.s. intelligence effort and the creation of alliances across

the planet have made the terrorist operational environment a lot more hostile for them. the kinds of movement of people, movement of money, movement of operatives we saw in the run-up to 9/11, i am not saying it cannot take place today, but it is a lot more difficult for them. cooperationgence has extended beyond our usual like-minded allies and brought in some participants that would perhaps have preferred to stay on the sidelines, but al qaeda tunisia,in indonesia, egypt, saudi arabia convinced a lot of nations that this was not simply a battle between al qaeda

and america, that this was a global campaign. host: richard is up first on the phones from missouri. a democrat. caller: good morning. 9/11, i remember it well. real tragedy looking back and thinking about it, the tragedy we have had since then with all the wars, the gold star they got toave had, us bad and we turned around and made it worse for ourselves. having all of these refugees from iraq everywhere. i guess in a way, they won we just tried to get even and i think -- i don't know. it has been a disaster ever since.

host: mr. jenkins, your thoughts? i don't know that we were simply trying to get even. time,was concern at that --faced the most around us certainly the subsequent invasion of iraq complicated things. that is still highly but whatever the wisdom of the decision to invade iraq, we know that the jihadists were able to quickly take advantage of the chaos that followed. one of the things that comes with the very long struggle is

there were going to be events, some of them of our own making, others like the political turbulence that accompanied the so-called arab spring that is going to change circumstances and gives space to our jihadist foes. foes, weg with those have to make sure that we are not going to do things that are ofng to fuel the animosity others in the world and in fact complicate our own mission. host: we still have al qaeda, taliban, now isis. is there a terror organization that most concerns you? guest: we should not become too wrapped around the identities of .he organizations it was al qaeda and then we saw

division within the jihadist movement between al qaeda and isis. we continue to see something far more fluent than most people imagine. there are doctrinal differences in al qaeda, differences within isis. there are some within isis in fact that think -- himself is an apostate. movement complicated looking ahead. both possible to envision continuing divisions between al qaeda and isis and yet in some parts of the world, they are cooperating and it is not inconceivable to see some kind of merger, at least at the local level. .he movement will continue

host: jeremy is an independent. caller: i would like to put some facts and some sources in the nature of international terrorism which what had to do with what the previous caller identified, that these wars have not been good for the world and that september 11 in terms of the constitution which is what our military is supposed to defend had article three section three. who werepeople actually arrested as suspects on september 11 were operatives of israeli intelligence in white man's. if people want information on that, they should look at veterans today.

the fort lee mystery. , written the 28 pages by jeff smith. a high-level u.s. intelligence. people also might want to go look at the lawyers committee for 9/11 that just submitted a document to the southern district of new york earlier this year about what actually happened in the trade towers. host: we got your point. do you want to respond? guest: i don't have a great deal of time for these conspiracy theories. there are people who contend that the planes did not crash into the towers, that these were staged operations. i think the weight of the evidence points to exactly what we saw, that this was an odd -- us -- that this was an audacious

and unfortunately successful plan by a terrorist enterprise and we have gone after that terrorist enterprise to .ismantle it say, therely, as i is always a swirl of these various theories and contentions and they just get in the way. has nothingomment to do with party affiliation. i am calling specifically about united airlines flight 93. i do not understand why it is not referred to as united airlines flight 93. that flight was not a mystery flight. the people on board that flight were not mystery people. they were americans and other people as well.

i knew the captain. i flew from new york to san francisco with him and he was a real captain and one of the best. i am very unhappy that it keeps referring -- being referred to as 93. it is united flight 93 and i would prefer that in the future that you would do us a favor and call that united airlines flight 93. thank you and have a nice day. host: the commemoration ceremony for united airlines flight 93 taking place in about 15 minutes out in shanksville, pennsylvania. we will take our viewers their live when that starts. john is in herndon, virginia. a democrat. caller: thank you for taking my call. -- most ofa person arevictims of terrorism countries that are majority muslim and we see that if you

look at the problem right now, they are stronger than before. when he to find a way to fight terrorism because it looks like terrorism caused by economic issues. the terrorists train young people who have no future where they live. we have no accountability. when you look at what is happening right now, in yemen, the government destroying this country, there is no accountability and people expect the united states to do something about it when something goes wrong but if we -- they don't pay responsibility and this issue will never stop. it becomes a symptom that keeps coming back. host: mr. jenkins? the unitedt of all,

states is blamed for the world problems and for not solving the world problems. the united states cannot take this on and has not taken this burden. exclusive increasingly realizing that this is a long struggle, united states efforts are determined to deal with these local issues. in some cases that may be to improve governments -- governance. it is mainly to improve their abilities to legitimately suppress these terrorist organizations. this is not a fight simply to be waged by a the united states alone. host: you have been at this a

long time, studying terrorism issues with the rand corporation. can you talk about the nature of terrorism when you started this work compared to today? guest: some differences. certainly the major developments over the past half-century have been beginning from the early 70's, the late 60's and early 70's, the spread of terrorism to become a global phenomenon. point, one would have to to the standardization of a terrorist repertoire of tactics and its development as a strategic weapon. third, one would have to point to the very dramatic escalation in terrorism we saw, particularly between the 1970's and 9/11.

the worst incidents of terrorism measured in fatalities in the 1970's, saw deaths in the tens. in the 1980's, this increased to the hundreds. online 11, we crossed over into 9/11, weands -- on crossed over into the thousands. there were real concerns we would see terrorist incidents with tens of thousands of casualties. this could be achieved only with the use of weapons of mass instruction, which was a real concern. instead of the vertical escalation, but we have seen since 9/11 is kind of a horizontal escalation. that is, where these terrorist organizations through the internet, through social media reach out directly to inspire attacks in other countries. most of these attacks are carried out by individuals with

very limited capabilities. they carry them out with guns or knives or drive vehicles over people on sidewalks, and that is arelevel but those attacks so random, a kind of pure terrorism, that they nonetheless increase alarm. the final biggest developing we have seen over the last half-century is the normalization of terrorism. in the 1970's, we were still trying to think that we really offibit, could we close terrorism as a mode of armed conflict? we have not been able to do that and looking forward, terrorism certainly would persist as a mode of political expression and is -- and as an element of armed

conflict. host: 10 or 15 minutes left with brian jenkins of the rand corporation. commemoration ceremonies taking place both at the world trade center site in lower manhattan, you can watch that live on c-span two. also the ceremonies have gotten underway at the pentagon this morning. we are showing that live on c-span3. here on c-span, we will take you to shanksville, pennsylvania for president trump's friend marks in the ceremony that is set to take place there starting around 9:30. with mr.n, your calls jenkins from the rand corporation. pete in phoenix, arizona, republican line. -- if you don't believe me, there were two articles that everybody must read currently on antiwar.com.

trump going neocon in syria, pat buchanan on protecting al qaeda and the other is why is the u.s. siding with al qaeda, rand paul on proxy wars in iran. everybody must realize there has been a fundamental change in u.s. policy. we are going to attack syria if they go in and try to take over a province dominated by many al qaeda forces. everybody needs to read these articles and call your representative and demand a vote to stop this war. host: mr. jenkins? guest: there is concern about -- thetle of it live battle of -- i don't think anyone is particularly interested in protecting al qaeda or isis.

about thee concern is vastness of her's of civilians in the area -- fast numbers of civilians in the area who will either be casualties or will be numbers ofst civilians in the area who will either be casualties or will be sent streaming out of the area as refugees. france andkingdom, the united states have voiced concerns about the use of chemical weapons which are prohibited internationally. in terms of participating in the conflict, i would have to say that the united states is really on the sidelines now. syria,ave some forces in but they are not playing a role in this offensive. i don't think there is any

fortite in the nation involving the united states or sending a war combat troops into syria. this is something that i don't think this on. host: oak ridge, tennessee, independent. caller: good morning. thank you for this opportunity. i am retired military and it is sad to say that we have failed to understand as to why 9/11 happened. once we understand that, then we can begin to resolve this problem that we have with terrorism. source is the holy bible to understand. we can learn a lesson as to what happened to israel. they put their trust in their

military might and oppression. we did it back in 1991 and 10 years later, we had 9/11 take place. .od control the storms host: have we done enough to understand the causes of the attacks? guest: do we understand all of the causes? this is an area of a tremendous amount of discussion. as one of your previous callers had pointed out, is this driven by poverty, is it driven by political expression? the evidence on that is pretty weak. modern democracies can suffer from terrorism as much as

developing countries. when you asked earlier about the difference between now and 50 years ago, in the 1970's, we were dealing with 50 to 60 terrorist bombings a year. fortunately we have not seen anything like that since 9/11. or is it driven by ideology? is it driven by religion? there are a lot of different .heories about motives that is an interesting area of study. we do want to understand it. at the same time, the fact is we have to provide for the common defense of this country and deal with the threats, regardless of motive. i am still very much in favor

when terrorist attacks occur in this country, that we treat these as crimes and that motive is not an issue here. murder is murder and if you pretend to be an army or pretend that god is whispering in your ear, it makes no difference. we are dealing with criminal activity. in these large-scale terrorist enterprises, we are dealing with it on a global scale. i am somewhat bemused by the fact, and i understand the the call and democrat and independent. i don't see terrorism as a partisan issue and i hope i am not being naive when i look back to that moment right after 9/11 democrat,nation,

,epublican, independent religions right across the board , we looked at 9/11 and we mourned the losses and we resolved to prevent this kind of thing from taking place. unfortunately, that kind of considerably as everything has become a partisan issue. host: when did it start? what are the main causes of that erosion? guest: there was a long-term trend that precedes 9/11 toward partisanship in this country and i am not saying that different political philosophies and political parties are not going to contest ground on the basis of how they think the country should be organized and run. has is the way a democracy

worked. what has happened in subsequent years is that terrorism increasingly has become a opportunityue, an for a party to attack the other occurs, anan event opportunity to propel political of fear andhe basis apprehension which can be a very powerful political tool and that is unfortunate. at the end of the day, it is not going to be how many concrete bollards we can erect around government buildings and how many jersey barriers we can put up to protect bike paths and how many surveillance programs and

big data programs and artificial intelligence programs we can facilitate intelligence collection and analysis. in the final analysis, it is going to be our own courage, our own self-reliance, our own sense of community, our own unity as americans that is going to againstully defend us the terror and division that terrorists are trying to create. host: viewers on their screen seeing vice president mike pence just laid a wreath at the memorial at the pentagon as part of the commemoration ceremony taking place. you can watch that live on c-span3. in commemoration ceremonies shanksville, pennsylvania couple minutes from getting started. pennsylvaniae in

is also featured on the front page of today's metro newspaper in philadelphia, voices of heroes is the headline. president trump and others will visit shanksville to honor the crew and passengers of united any three -- of united 93. time for just one or two more calls. texas,in lagrange, republican. caller: good morning. affect like to know what do you think that allowing dual citizenship has on a potential terrorist attack. guest: i did not quite understand that. could you repeat that? caller: what effect allowing onl citizenship has effects potential terrorist attacks. what kind ofng citizenship? host: dual citizenship. guest: i am sorry, i did not

hear you correctly. i don't know. view, not theal product of analysis. i am always somewhat skeptical of dual citizenship. i think you can only be loyal to therefore i am not a fan of dual citizenship. if people come here as immigrants, they have an opportunity to be u.s. citizens and that should be the goal and that means severing ties as my grandparents did on both sides of my family, from whatever country they came from. to move tokably were another country and swear