us today for the congressional debate. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] >> with the control of congress in question this election day, see the competition for yourself on c-span. watch the debates from key house and senate races. make c-span your primary source for campaign 2018. >> coming up in just a few minutes here on c-span, president trump presenting the medal of honor to army medic, ronald, who was treating critically wounded shoulder soldiers while under fire in afghanistan in 2008. we'll take you to the white house live as soon as the ceremony begins. joining us is juan williams, the author of "what the hell do you have to lose? trump's war on civil rights." also serves as a fox news political analyst. good morning. guest: good morning. host: it seems i have heard this phrase before from the president.

is that where you got the idea? guest: exactly. this was the president on the campaign trail in michigan. the way it is reported is that he is making an appeal to black voters. but he was not in a black community, not speaking to a black audience. blackat he says is these immunities are filled with poverty, filled with violence, they are worth then -- they are worse than afghanistan, so what the hell do you have to lose? the reason i chose the title is it is a response. here is what we have to lose. i am 64. he is 72. but in my lifetime, so many have -- games -- gains taken place for civil rights and equal rights for blacks, latinos, asians, women. that is what we have to lose.

when i look at my lifetime and say i have seen a black secretary of state, a black president of the united states. a black billionaire. you think of people like bob johnson, oprah winfrey. you think of these tremendous changes that have taken place, increases in terms of high school and college graduation rates. we can talk about mayors, about in the building behind you, the capital, we have a record number of african-americans and latinos today. this took place as a result of a great movement in people striving and making sacrifices to achieve these gains. that is what the president should know. when you say "what the hell do you have to lose?" host: you said he intentionally put blinders on because he sees -- he wants to see black failure and misery. some might say it is racism. he locks eyes on the worst of

latin america life, because -- that is what i think was happening. recently, he has even used this phrase in reference to native americans. what he is doing is pushing a button -- a "fear" button in white america, especially people who do not live in the city, who live in suburbs of the country. it is a distorted edge of the reality of black america. 20% of black americans live in poverty. and there is a high level of violence in areas like chicago. but in terms of the broader picture, 40% of black americans earned between something like $50,000 and $100,000. if you add another 12%, they earn between $100,000 and $200,000.

so the majority of black americans are either on the edge or in the middle class or beyond the middle class. but trump does not talk about people who get up every morning and go to work and are trying to get their kids through school, despite continued racial bias in society, despite a history of everything from slavery to legal segregation in american society. and he does not talk about the fact there is a great differential in terms of wealth between white and black america. instead, he focuses on the poorest and makes them the direction of all black people in the way he does to immigrants. all immigrants being numbers of gangs who are killing white people as opposed to people striving, working two or three shifts, to try to make it in america, people who believe deeply in the american dream. host: he looks at the

president trump uses that as a cover when he is accused of racist behavior. he says what kind of thing is that to say about me? look at the unemployment rate. the unemployment rate in the black community is still twice what it is in the white community. i think you just have to look at this. he's not about programs and efforts that encourage the growth of that black middle class that i've been telling you about. istead what he is saying is, don't believe in these programs, everything from financial aid programs in terms of people going to college. programs that are intended to boost black onto the nurse,

black employment in the country. or for community development programs. >> if you want to ask questions about his book and the writing fornd it, (202) 748-8000 republicans, (202) 748-8001 for democrats, (202) 748-8002 for independents. who are these people, why are they important to the context of the book yucca guest: -- of the book? been a verysay he's polarizing figure. they say you're a snowflake. the president speaks about people in that way all the time. he calls omarosa a dog. says a congressman has an

extraordinarily low iqs. or lebron james is so dumb he makes don lemon look smart. nothing to do with race. but i think it's important to he is sendingt racial signals, playing the racial stereotypes in terms of lower intelligence, lack of patriotism, all that. very pernicious. i think it's important to understand he is ignoring so much history. when you talk about someone like bob moses, i think it's important people understand if i say there's a real effort at voter suppression in this country, and people in the past had the money to establish the right to vote or minority, one of those people is bob moses. went tos is someone who

mississippi in the 1960's and was going into very rural, difficult situations -- got beaten in jail frequently -- to find a way to help black people vote, defying authorities who were trying to limit the hours for them to register. present them with impossible tests. here he is, working. he was there as one of the advance people in terms of freedom summer in 64. people were killed by the klan and police. they were part of what bob moses , to get people to register to vote so they could have a political voice. we were talking about how this was a record moment in american life. ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states, accompanied by metal of honor recipient, staff sergeant ronald j shurer the