coming up on washington journal, 2016 trump campaign advisor corey lewandowski talks that his new book, "the corrosion of conservatism: why i left the right." ♪ host: hurricane michael hit like a bomb. that is the headline of a florida newspaper. the most powerful storm in nearly 50 years. more that 375,000 people urged to evacuate. it continues as a tropical storm to georgia and the carolinas. we want to get your take on the costs of these national disasters and who should pay, how the money should be spent. if you have experience with disaster aid, your phone number is (202) 748-8000. central park the country, dial in at (202)

748-8001. mountain pacific, (202) 748-8002 . orn us on twitter @cspanwj facebook at facebook.com/cspan. hill"s from "the newspaper. with disaster costs rising, states do not know what their spending. are too many federal disasters. the stanford act expects states to be under prepared so that even small disasters are beyond the capabilities of the state. from the new york times, as storms keep coming, fema spends billions in cycles of damage and repair. newspaper article, they note that from coast-to-coast, disasters are becoming more severe, expensive, and frequent. approved $140

billion for hurricanes and wildfires. the bill from this year's event continues to pile up. the money comes from federal to the department of urban development, health and human services, and defense. it is just one part of the complex system for dealing with disasters. local governments play key roles, as does the private sector. i saw this interplay firsthand when hurricane hugo hit in september 1989 as we dealt with evacuations, emergency shelters, and the rebuilding of our roads and neighborhoods. this is by joseph riley. he writes that he saw as mayor of charleston the interconnectedness is an important -- is deciding how to more effectively manage these

rising costs. the ultimate decision is sure to affect the relationship between federal and state disaster spending and in turn, spending by local government. most federal funds blow through the states, counties. as the cost of these natural andsters continue to rise become more frequent, who should pay? the costliest hurricane in u.s. history, hurricane katrina, tops the list. hurricane harvey last year, $125 billion. $90 billion for disaster response and recovery for hurricane maria. $71 billion for hurricane sandy in 2012. hurricane irma, $50 billion. and thefrom foxbusiness noaa agency. president trump met with brock

long as the secretary of homeland security. here's what they told reporters about hurricane michael. [video clip] >> we have teams, equipment, personnel with and embedded in the florida staff and county emergency managers. we have a permit teams in maxwell, orlando, atlanta once we can move in. then we can move in and attack. -- 14 states, different utilities from 14 states are ready to help. >> electric companies from all over the country are lined up. as soon as a goes by, they are going to be working. we have food supplies, food chains. we are working with all of the states. this started innocently a week ago. and ans a small storm area they never thought it would grow into a monster. indications from

the national hurricane center came in saturday. they picked it up and started raising the flag that this system is going to go from a wave to a depression and could rapidly intensify. unfortunately, that is typical of the gulf coast. this, citizens have less time to prepare and heed warnings. we are concerned that citizens chose not to heed warnings. we are prepared with search and rescue teams to do what we can. that was yesterday as hurricane michael hit the panhandle of florida. a local newspaper saying it hit like an atomic bomb. we want to know from you this morning about the cost of these natural disasters, not just hurricanes but wildfires on the west. who do you think should pay? philip in orlando, florida. caller: what a privilege to speak to you and c-span's

that is on the topic most important to all of us as human beings. i am an author of a race relations book, in which i predict all of this issue we are facing. here's the bottom line. planet.hare the for some of us, we have control of the planet beyond anyone pawn-like. there are other people who have high power industry. they bring that industry at the expense of the planet's health. we have now, most scientists agree, we have gone too far with carbons in the atmosphere and intensify the heat of this planet, causing major storms and other issues.

floods, major hurricanes, tornadoes here in the united states. fracking. a shakeet is going to off of technology. we have gone too far. what we have to try to do now is rebrandld, retool, and new ideas on how we are going to cope with this carbon emissions and these intense storms. rebuilding is going to be throwing tools -- money down the two. -- tube. host: what about taxing companies who put out carbon omissions to pay for -- if you believe climate change is to blame for the severity of the storms -- absolutely. most scientists agree it is climate change.

so much carbon in a short time that we have increased the cycle of how we go through these periods of new weather phenomenon on the planet. it is coming so fast. we are not going to be prepared. something, there is that is so germanic happening with the weather. -- dramatic happening with the weather. host: should companies be taxed to pay -- help pay for the cost of these natural disasters? caller: absolutely. that is a great way to start. it is going to take a tremendous change in all of us as americans lookn the world in how we at this situation and what our habits are and what we can and cannot do. host: in usa today, the editorial, hurricane michael and you. after a united nations

report demanded urgency in the fight against climate change. a category four hurricane slammed into the panhandle. did global warming cause hurricane michael? its rapid intensification consistent with predictions of stronger storms? absolutely. the u.s. panel on climate change warned a window of opportunity reduced the harshest consequences of global warming, food shortages, sea level. is the situation hopeless? nations like china the united states, two leading emitters, must aggressively switch away from fossil fuels and soon. -- conduct an energy audit of your home. cut back on red meat. vote. tom in ohio. caller: you know when you go to

court to have something called -- circumstances? it is what you do to try to prevent something. , think the federal government especially the southern states that do not believe in climate should rate the amount of help they give that state on what they do and how their theressman vote to change effects of industry on climate. would determine how much money the state would get in federal response dollars? caller: yes. host: why do you think that is important? you live in ohio. are you saying that because you do not want your federal tax dollars going to the states -- these states? caller: my son lives in florida.

my daughter lives in georgia. there are people from texas who voted against having aid to new jersey as then they came wanting aid when they got hurt. my federalt think dollars should go to those people if they do not do something to help change it. thoughts.s we will hear from rick in idaho. this is rick. what i think is what i know. our government should have to pay for fema. the other side i will like to bring out is -- you can pull it up on your laptop or write it down. -- which identifies how much money we are spent since 1946 to

america,n other words, -- natural disaster, you have been paying for that since 46. -- my federal dollar back to payment. the only country that ever offered america help was in hurricane katrina and that was japan. they offered their help and bush said thank you. texas, puerto rico -- those natural disasters. tax are using my federal dollars, america's federal tax dollars -- foreign aid, other natural disasters taxet's redirect federal dollars to be victims of fema and cut down the refugee program because we have american refugees on the east coast in shelters.

remember, america, -- you can pull it up on your laptop. -- if theect their director of fema's listening, i'm asking you to go to the president and shutdown federal spending. i do not care what you use it for but do not spend my money on federal spending. forbless president trump making america safe, wealthy. redirect the funds from foreign aid and put it into fema. the heritage foundation, their report on too many federal disasters like this. in recent decades, such disaster declarations have proliferated, leaving the federal emergency management agency spread then and strain. tothe government is going meet the challenges of catastrophic events like need to retunell

its approach to smaller disasters so it can focus his attention where it's aid is needed. through fema, the federal government covers 75% of disaster costs when he president issues a disaster declaration. wentquires these payments a disaster is up severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capability of state and local governments. unintendedan consequence. rather than ensuring states are fully prepared, the stafford act incentivizes states to be underprepared, so even small disasters are considered beyond the capability. even local disasters costing less than $5 million can be considered a disaster worthy of federalization. federal money of with a low threshold has sparked an increase in the number of disasters federalized.

w averaged 48 .5. bill clinton, 48 and a half. george w. bush, 129.6. barack obama issued 107 declarations a year. vivian in alabama. who do you think should pay? caller: i think everybody should be responsible for their own .ossessions i got hit by a tornado in 2011. i have insurance on my home and car. everything was paid for by my insurance company, but some of the neighbors did not have insurance and fema came and replace everything they lost. -- point i want to make is 1.5% of the earth's area and

there is a lot of area in the united states that you can drive for miles and not see a soul. when we talk about contaminating our air, we are forgetting about the hundreds of thousands of our waters,ng polluting our waters, which could cause the waters to warm and melt the ice. the amount of airplanes flying over us all over the globe is fueling their residue off of our air. ship andds out our are causing most of our problems with the air, are they going to cut back on the ships crossing with cargo ships from china and everywhere and the amount of airplanes flaying over -- flying overseas? it does not make any sense that

you can blame a coal mine for pollution when we have hundreds of thousands of airplanes. host: would you support your tax dollars going to a federal research that would show where the emissions -- what impact each industry is having on the climate? it is hard to say. i am tired of my tax dollars going to people who are your responsible. if you build the home next to the ocean and you get switched -- swished away, whose fault is that, mine? of paying for people who are not responsible. the government should control ships and airplanes but they will not because it all means money. let them pay for it. host: vivian in alabama.

shot by ak at footage local abc news reporter in panama city. it gives a sense of the damage in the aftermath of hurricane michael, the worst hurricane to hit the florida panhandle says the 1800s according to fema. thoughtstting your this morning on the cost of natural disasters. who should pay? if you live in the eastern part of the country, (202) 748-8000. --ntain pacific, those who have received disaster aid, (202) 748-8000. -- by three professors in february. a look at the numbers. the response to events -- congress has passed two supplemental spending bills in october 2017, appropriating $34.5 billion in disaster funds

and forgiving $16 billion of debt in the flood program. congress approved a two your budget that included an additional $90 billion for disaster rebuilding. overput the response it $130 billion, a record. -- at over $130 billion, a record. disaster supplemental appropriations by department. where fema is housed with the most in supplemental appropriations. these are emergency funds for disasters. in billions of dollars, the housing -- department of housing and urban development after that. the army corps of engineers, etc. it impacts all parts of the government. some things to note about these appropriations. while fema and other agencies provide some funding after an event, most of the dollars are

for long-term rebuilding. insider the $90 billion disaster funding was appropriated six months after the event. by the time that funding works its way from treasuries to the agencies and state and local government and is applicable to residents or businesses, it can be months or years after the disaster. while there are funds were households, much is for repairing public facilities and infrastructure. dhs funding from 2013, the program accounted for 47% of their obligations, the largest category. , 25% ofrogram obligations are poor households. much of the aid is for immediate $34,000, with an average award of $5,000 per household. the primary post disaster support for households is a loan from the small business administration.

let's go to ron in ohio. the reason we should pay for this funding is complicated. you have to divide the funds in so many ways. the only way this can be taking care of his everybody pays. i may interject this, this country has to change. the morality has to change. i'm going to say something on the air nobody has said. you have to stop programs in america that are illegal but are legal. faiths it issome not right. i just read a chapter of the book of job. god sends rain and flood. people have to change their attitudes and morality. we're not going to solve this problem. it is only going to get worse. host: peggy in washington state. what you think?

-- what do you think? caller: i think the government should pay for it. this is beyond any state -- state's capability. trump should start -- stop taking 10 million dollars out of fema to put into the i.c.e. program. you think the federal government bears responsibility to pay for these disasters? caller: absolutely. this is beyond the capability of any state. the government should step in and help. host: what about categorizing these storms? you can declare any type of disaster a federal disaster as therefore the federal government comes in, but their point is that there is too many. it is too frequent and fema is stretched then. why not have the state responsible for smaller natural disasters? depend onch one would

each individual situation. happening, what is should the government step in. if the state says yes, i need help, i think the government should help them. the washington post notes that other states felt the storm's impact of hurricane michael. the alabama governor closed state offices and buildings in a dozen counties. royh carolina governor cooper declared a statewide emergency. he said the storm could damage an area still reeling from the flooding hurricane florence caused in september. housing repairs are in the early stages. a plan for 1.5 billion dollars to cover part of the estimated $13 billion cost of hurricane florence. he is requesting legislators approve a down payment for the recovery package when they

return to raleigh next week to resume a special session. of thisthe total cost storm is likely to surpass the cost of hurricane matthew n 2016 and floyd in 1999 combine. .- combined he's looking at an estimated cost of $13 billion from hurricane florence in north carolina. sam, new york. caller: the government should pay for destruction because people have nothing to do with this. governments are taking money and everything. i think it is their duty to pay. -- i want to want

say something about the congress election. want. to say who i you say to others who have called from ohio who say they are tired of their taxpayer dollars going to people who build on the coast, who build their homes that close to the ocean? your voice is not coming out. could you repeat what you said? host: how do you respond to people who say they are tired of taxpayer dollars going to people who build their homes on the coast? caller: how do i respond to them? host: yes. -- to fix these problems. host: we will go to thomas in illinois. about: you are talking who should pay for this disaster problems.

i think the question is more who is paying? we the people are the ones that violence, the the systemic violence in our culture filings atnging back us. what goes around, comes around. in our systemic system, such as the violence to people, the violence to animals, the violence to the environment, is coming back at us with in severaleverity dimensions, such as violent weather coming back at us. violent -- is increasing. from the heritage foundation's piece about too

frequent are these declarations. they write fema's current in ministry to, brock long, is looking for ways to incentivize -- the agency is experimenting with turning over to texas he for running the housing recovery program to rebuild houston. while the feds will fund the work, it frees up fema. under the obama administration, ama considered charging disaster deductible to encourage states to be better prepared as more financially invested in disaster recovery. recognizes that expecting fema to be engaged all the time everywhere and fully prepared is unrealistic. administrative action is difficult. fema's hands are tied by , as the stanford --

stafford act requires it to pick up the tap. -- incentivize's state and local fairness -- preparedness. responsibility among federal, state, and local governments. do you agree or disagree? denver. caller: this seems to be another one of these intractable problems we will not solve. we will just keep running into it. is of the concerns i have you have states like california that spend a lot of money and their people pay a lot of taxes to have strict gas emissions in their cars and even trump tries to reverse that. they should not be able to do that. they spend money trying to cap the amount of toxins going into the environment. is it right to make those people in those states, that are trying to take preventive action

against global warming, have their tax dollars go to places they do notwhere even believe global warming exists? int is going to be a problem 10, 15, 5 years from now. people are going to say we are trying to prevent global warming. you have people who say it does not even exist and then they need dollars to help them with their natural disasters. that is going to become an argument in this country in the coming years based on the amount of dollars it is going to take because of country cannot even agree that global warming exists. until we do that, i am not sure we will find a solution. host: what do you do? --you have a natural national referendum to see where people come down on climate change? caller: ok.

isbe a national referendum the right solution, but the starting point would be -- it is at the presidency. if the president -- obama worked hard to try to elevate this as an issue, knowing that 15 years out this was going to be a problem. one of the first things trump does when he comes into office is say this does not exist and reverses all of those policies that were in place to move us in the right direction. to set on the president the tone, saying this is a problem. i will give you an example. the dollars out of solar energy and battery technology and it goes to china. the biggest industry of the next 50 years, like automobiles were to the early 1900s, the next 50 years of the industry of the future is battery technology, solar technology.

everything to combat global warming. who has those industries now? china and india. theave handed them automobile industry of the future, the size of it, because we had -- we will not galvanize behind a policy saying this is a problem and we need to do something. this is one of the worst things trump has done is to reverse those policies obama was working to put into place. people who live in states like california have been paying the price. they believe this is happening. they have 40 million people. curbare trying to pollution. it is criminal that you have a portion of the country, predominantly the south, that is and weis does not exist are plowing billions of dollars into trying to protect their shorelines. people will not be happy about

this down the road. host: more of your calls coming up. first, joining us on the phone is congressman out lawson of florida, representing jacksonville, tallahassee, and quincy. it is the fifth district of florida. you can see the northern part of the panhandle there. congressman lawson, tell us about the impact of hurricane michael. it has been an impact -- the worst impact we have had in this area since the 1800s. damageaused a lot of throughout the fifth congressional district and area's i used to represent on the senate, such as panama city, apalachicola, jackson county, mexico beach, all of those areas. we have never

seen a storm like this before. the impact that it had on this -- survey. one person lost a life. a tree fell. soare a tree loving area trees are down, power is out. power people are without in the tallahassee area. 90,000id you say 80 to -- 80,000 to 90,000 without power? caller: yes, in the tallahassee area. this is more of an impact somewhere in the neighborhood of 100,000 to 150,000 people are without power. congressman, what is the response on the ground like in the aftermath?

,here is the federal government where is the state, where is the local officials? how will it all work? host: we have all of them working together. -- benefits to make sure people got their benefits early to get hot meals competition the governor to make this happen because they're going through the hurricane last year. that was in the doable area. that was a big issue. you cannot go to a grocery store or hotel. -- mcdonald's. we were able to get that waiver. it was slow coming. the devastation was pretty

great. trees are down. they are working around the clock, significant groups. have emergency groups and hospitals and everything is on call. doctors. ithave quite a bit of damage --even more devastating damage. it is even more devastating on the coastal area than here. we are inland. think about how that would feel to be on the coastal area. as soon as we can -- a little needore -- people in dire that we can help. things something no one -- no one was thinking michael would be the category storm that hit this area. after theressman,

cleanup and everything, before it even starts, what will be your message to your colleagues here in washington, d.c.? what you think the state of florida is going to have to ask for forum -- from the federal government? caller: -- a lot more resources to help the people that have been devastated by this. and some of the rural areas, people do not have the experience that some of the other people -- you have poor people in this district -- the fifth congressional district, a lot of poor people there. resources and i was telling my colleagues -- israel -- global warming is real. ever since i've been in congress , vote after vote -- related to

global warming as the environment. -- and the environment. -- now we see it. you see the highest october we have ever had down here and you see it coming with climate change that is so significant. d.c. tome for people in stop playing politics and it is time to -- for the general public to make sure they .epresent their interests the president or anybody other that is the reason why it is broken. if the people -- big money to

-- itl of the elections is time to have government restored back to the people. lawson,ngressman al democrat of florida. thank you for your time. congressman lawson representing the fifth congressional district out of florida, impacted by hurricane michael. not on the coast. panama city in front of it. take a look at the footage of the damage in the tallahassee area. splintered trees, downed lines on east six avenue in tallahassee. local newsm reporters in that area. you can see the damage it did to his district. we just heard from the congressman it is much worse in panama city and the areas along the coast before his district. damage,ess, doing some to especially poorer residents

of his fifth congressional district. he will be asking washington for help for those folks. hurricane michael is not done. to georgia,its way the carolinas, and up the east coast. this is the second big hurricane of the season. 2017 set records for fema spending. we want to know from you who should pay the cost of all of these. let's hear from robert in baltimore. the people who live in those areas should be forced to pay. the climate deniers, they do not believe that the climate is changing and they built their houses in the area. they know a storm is going to come through. here wonderingng while i was winning free to answer the phone, what if a big tornado came there -- through

would thatore up -- make that fool believe in climate change than? -- then? they need to make a bill because we do not believe in climate change bill. they can call it the we are stupid bill. and need to make a bill make the people who live in those areas pay for it because they do not believe in climate change. host: let's go to dan and stafford, virginia. -- in stafford, virginia. caller: i like what vivian said about the response to where you live. host: -- i would not generalize anybody believing in climate change or not. caller: the guy that called the california, california has a lot of texas -- taxes.

they have their high-speed rail which connects somewhere to know , nothing against bakersfield. my point is that california, the folks who live in the coast of florida, there are a lot of folks who live in wooded areas in california and they just had a bunch of wildfires in the mountains. that are very local folks have influence in our policy, get on tv and say smart things about climate change. elected to live where there was a high threat. power lines that go down, these are private property. the cable man and cable companies, they had to wrest their polls from the telephone companies. i have been in the service. i do not have to buy a home. i elected for insurance because of where we live. that was extra $2500 a year.

did it because i did not know that fema would come in. i did not want to bank like most people in the neighborhood would that fema would come in and save the day. every business and every person has the responsibility. if you live somewhere that has a -- that is a high threat to disasters, natural there should be a tax just like a businessman. no one is going to save the day for a small business owner or homeowner. that people choose to live there, some people do not. i do not think the government needs to not help. i think there is community help as far as facilities, water, power, electricity from the grid.

-- grid beyond what the small local power companies are getting. this needs to be a merger. let's share some tweets this morning from the national weather service out of columbia. tropical storm i go will pass over north carolina and eastern georgia. the primary concern will be wind gusts at 55 miles per hour, tornadoes, and heavy rain up to four inches. floridaone of a reporter's images that was especially shocking. go to his feed to see more. sampson.rom zach it is a building in mexico beach in florida burned to the ground. no one was there to fight the flames. you could hear the fizzle of the wood over the waves crashing to shore across the street. this from rebecca.

heads up from georgia. we would hate for you to slam into this. ands down, power outages pockets of the metro. join us now on cbs for team coverage of the storm. it is setting to georgia and the carolinas. we are getting your thoughts on the costs of these and who should pay. kate in wisconsin. wisconsin, you do not build below a levy, you do not build in a swamp, and you do not build in oceans. you are going to get hit. -- many times do these key guys get their houses remodeled in our name? if you have to listen to a movie star or rock star to make your vote, you do not need to vote. you should not vote. fema or is not just the homeland security agency that response to these hurricanes

across the federal government. the pentagon plays a big role as well. yesterday's department of defense briefing on hurricane michael, journal of tennessee was asked why the federal was asked if the federal government was prepared. [video clip] starts at the local level. the local level response. based on the magnitude of the storms, it sometimes exceeds their capability and we have the federal system in place to augment and help the states work their way through the challenges they are faced with. the intent is that these states, florida, georgia, are going to handle the initial response and we are going to augment in coordination with fema their capabilities. host: the pentagon briefing e thatday on the rol agency plays in responding to national disasters like michael.

we will get to other news. the washington post front page this morning has this story. -- saudi plan to laura a missing journalist. the crown prince ordered an operation to lure jamal khashoggi back to saudi arabia from his home in virginia and then detain him. anording to intercept of official. it is another piece of evidence implicating the saudi regime and jamal khashoggi's disappearance after he entered the saudi consulate. teamity officials say a laid in wait for the journalist and killed him. you can find two pages of oferage of the disappearance -- the suspected death of this prominent saudi journalist. we share the headlines with you

this morning. this is from the washington post. disrupts.hoggi case jared kushner's relationship with the crown prince. -- suspects he died in a -- gone bad. that is the story from the front page. on the next page, turkey allowed -- alleges lack of saudi cooperation in their investigation. finally, activists, congressmen urge a probe of saudi. a bipartisan group of senators from the foreign relations committee checkered an investigation by sending a letter to the white house calling for the u.s. government to look into what happened to this journalist. his fiancee writes in today's washington post the story of a disappearance. jamalites about why

khashoggi was at the embassy. he was there to get documents he needed for their upcoming wedding. he was increasingly worried about an unprecedented wave of arrests in his country and about going to the saudi consulate. the saudi'sot think could force them to stay even if they wanted to arrest him. he did not mind walking into the saudi consulate because he did not believe something bad could happen on turkish soil. it would be a violation of international law to harm, arrest, or detain someone on a diplomatic message and no such thing had happened in turkey's history. i implore president trump and first lady melania trump to help. , especially arabia the crown prince, to show the same level of sensitivity and release cctv footage from the consulate. although this incident could fuel a political crisis, let us

not lose sight of the human asset -- aspect of what happened. he was a singer and courageous man. i do not know how i can keep living if he was abducted or killed in turkey. that is in the washington post this morning. in fresno, to dee california. natural disasters, the cost is adding up. who should pay? believe it is time california stood up. i heard the other caller talking about the fires. those fires were preventable. managed theave forest. they could have done so much. you have a political climate over here where we cannot get clean water. we cannot get anything from the state. we are going solar, doing this, doing that.

they do not have any plan. out here.o plan i have lived here all my life. state to right for one sit back and take all the federal funds because they could have managed those for us. street -- own for a forestry told them this. your people saying the sierra not want to take responsibility for their own actions and see it is failing. it is going to continue to fail. illegals, but not for anything we pay taxes into. bridges, dams, everything is falling. i would love everybody in california to understand this. california needs to take responsibility for its own action. ex in north

carolina. caller: we should have a privilege tax for the nfl, the nba, and pro baseball to pay a certain amount of privilege tax and also the fans on the because a lot of people do not have the means to go to these games. you're talking the climate change. i think they contribute a lot to it. i think there should be a privilege tax on all sports and anyone traveling over 1500 miles a year on jet airlines or whatever. michelle, west virginia. a lot of callers have been right -- have had good ideas about politicians.

i feel like some of these issues and become political issues that is unfortunate because on both sides you have private industry selling their line. butlieve in global warming, i think that when any issue becomes political, people stop looking at facts and start driving based on emotions. some of the callers saying the people in the south should pay for it because they do not believe in global warming, the problem is that when something becomes political it is about punishing the people. disasters,ural tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfires -- they happen all over the country. if we start a political battle that we do not want to pay for that people's disasters, is going down the wrong road. our government agencies, federal all taxpayersor

and they should be responsible for examining individual states and how they handle issues. do not haveinia, we tornadoes, but we do have flooding, flash flooding. in theon an island middle of a river. when the river comes up, basements get flooded. way higherpay insurance on our houses because of that potential for flooding. in the states where people do choose to stay there, live there, what kind of insurance they have to pay. i have to pay flood insurance. it is high. there is no damage unless of your house gets washed away. you're paying for something you are required to have, but does not -- cover anything. host: on twitter, the united

states should buy insurance policies like all the insurance companies do. that is why they do not lose money. -- possible destruction with high insurance rates. if homeowners want to live in risky areas, let them pay. common areas could be paid for by the federal government. phil says how come we hear about turning things to the private market? why should the government be in the flood insurance business? you take your chances. jason says isn't this the reason insurance companies exist? tina says the government is supposed to be in the risk management business. if we collected taxes from corporations, we could handle this. although insurance taxes come at contributions, and we should. -- make it hard to prove your claim or interpret benefits and your policy. we are getting your thoughts on natural disasters.

we have a few minutes left. this is from the new york times. the fbi chief, christopher wray, was on capitol hill yesterday. asked by the senator from california about the review the fbi did on judge brett kavanaugh -- justice brett kavanaugh. his response was that it was limited and he could not give the details of it because it remains classified. if you missed it, you can go to our website at c-span.org. it was during a committee about threats to our homeland. there is this from the washington post. chief justice john roberts sent kavanaugh to a colorado court -- 15 complaints related to were initially filed with the federal appeals court in washington, where kavanaugh served for 12 years. askedonth, a judge

roberts to further the courts to theher court -- further complaint to another court. judiciary rules on misconduct do not apply to supreme court justices. the circuit could dismiss the complaints as moot. yesterday, many of you saw the stock market plunge. this is a story by bloomberg. on the impact of the drop in the market led by tech industries on the world's five richest people. jeff bezos lost $9.1 billion yesterday. you can see the other losses that the nation's wealthiest took yesterday with the stock market falling. charles in colorado. we will go back to you and our question. this cost is -- cannot

be covered by insurance. continues,ing, as it disasters are going to get worse, more prevalent, and more costly. anybody who thinks they live on a coast, move off the coast, or out of the forest, that would be all of california. can you imagine the whole east coast moving to ohio and indiana and kentucky? it is unrealistic. ,f you look at the u.n. report as one gentleman said, do not listen to the movie stars. i agree. do not listen to the politicians either. listen to the scientists. read the u.n. report on monday about how devastating this is going to be in the next 12 years. if you think it is bad now and costly now, give it 12 years.

colorado, the forest because it is warming up, pine bark beetles are killing the trees, which are causing massive forest fires. same in california. i used to be a forest fire guy in california when i lived in tahoe. you cannot handle it. i look at the forest around here and they are dead. the whole mountainside, dead. all it needs is one spark. nobody can handle that. the people should be more concentrated on alternative energies, getting rid of oil, and all of this. you see politicians like chuck grassley holding up a snowball saying global warming is not real, go see where he gets his money from. host: i want to clarify.

and half -- -- jim people who are pro-oil. host: andy from new york. i do not know -- point of view about who should pay for natural disasters -- lots of who should pay for -- [indiscernible] -- i do not know who wants to answer and to us to put talking about -- is important problem --t is our in the near future this console

problems -- yemen. thank you. host: we will leave it there. we going to take a break. november elections. we will talk with president trump's former campaign manager corey lewandowski, the president's role and railing the base. later on, foreign affairs author max boot talks about his book "the corrosion of conservatism: why i left the right." we will be right back. >> friday morning, we are live in providence, rhode island 40 45th stop on the c-span bus 50 capitals tour. rhode island education commissioner ken wagner will be our guest on the bus never washington journal starting at 8:30 a.m. eastern.

c-span's video competition is in full swing. this year's question is what doesn't mean to be american? students and teachers from around the country have taken to social media posting about their entries. awaiternment teacher mrs. tweeted celebrating dual and cooperative federalism with a with ap gov. john tweeted special thanks to our middle school showcasing studentcam project. fourth grade students kicking off their project, answering the question what does it mean to be an american? harrisburg academy ms. bowman says, took my students for an outing. the students were able to get some pictures for their c-span documentary.

year, we are asking middle and high school students to produce a five to six min documentary. we are awarding $100,000 in total cash prizes including a grand prize of $5,000. for more information, go to our website, studentcam.org. >> booktv is live from the wisconsin book festival in madison. saturday at 11: 30 a.m. eastern with former wisconsin governor tommy thompson and his book. author rebecca tracer. kaufman, author of the fall of wisconsin. ,arol anderson on her new book have voter suppression is destroying our democracy.

our live coverage of the wisconsin book festival saturday morning at 11:30 a.m. eastern. host: we want to welcome to our table corey lewandowski, former campaign manager for the, co-author of a book, "let trump be trump." what is your role in the matrix -- midterm elections in 2020? guest: i serve as a senior adviser to the great american committee. informally, i spent some time with the president and vice president traveling around the country, encouraging them to tell their successes so that people could see what has been a compass in the first few years of this administration. host: what do you think they should be talking about on the campaign trail? think back to the mid-90's and george stephanopoulos and george carbaugh when they said it's the economy stupid.

when you look at where we are today from where we are two years ago, 3.7% unemployment, created 4 million new jobs, we have seen hispanic and african-american unemployment at the lowest in history. the question you should be asking yourself, in my opinion is, in my better off than i was two years ago? if it is economic security, it is yes. if it is national security, it is yes. if it is homeland security, is our border stronger, then yes. if you like the direction of the country, in just under four weeks, you should go and vote and return the republicans to the majority so they can continue on that path. host: where is the president and republicans vulnerable in november? fact thatbably on the they have not finalized the completion of the wall, which has been a significant campaign promise the president made. money already in the budget for the building of the wall on the

southern border but it hasn't been finalized. i also think the issue of purchasing health care across state lines is a campaign promise the president has made but has not been fully fulfilled. those are two significant things in the first two years of the administration that they want to accomplish but have not been able to yet. op-edpresident writes an on medicare. senate leadership yesterday during their weekly news conference on capitol hill on both start out with the issue of health care and what their parties want to do. what do your polls show you about that issue and how it could impact the 2018 boat. guest: health care is very important. the notion of what they refer to as obama care, something that he campaigned on, really the preeminent success of his first two years in office that took place in february and march of his second year in office is when they had complete control of the house and senate.

what the republicans have now done in gotten rid of what they call the individual mandate. you are required to purchase if you do not want to be penalized. that being said, we can do better. there are people on the exchange who have to go through the obama care system that don't have great options. i think there are people who cannot afford to go through obamacare. do i think health care is an important factor? absolutely. do i think people should have the opportunity to buy it across state lines? of course. everyk it is something american should have? absolutely. but you cannot make it so it is so expensive that individuals who are trying to make a living have to make a choice between putting food on their table and purchasing health care for their families. that is not a fair choice for them to make. we should find a way that everybody is covered. i'm not saying universal health

care, a system like great britain, but what i am saying is health care should be affordable a everybody so, barring catastrophe, you can take your family to well visits and checkups so you can make sure you have a healthy lifestyle for the long-term cost of the system. host: are you concerned about the president's poll numbers? approval ratings have dropped in every state. rating has dropped in every state since he was inaugurated and in three states fell from 50% to majority disapproval. how can the president rally the base for republicans in the midterms to keep the senate and house with those numbers? the rasmussen survey last week has him at 51%, as opposed to a lower number. i would caution any of your listeners, watchers to believe the prognosticators. years wherefor two they said donald trump would never be a candidate, he will never run for office, he could not win a primary.

if you remember election morning of 2016, i remember it vividly, said major media outlet donald trumps's chances of winning are approaching zero. today he is the president. i would caution listeners, readers from believing too much of the polls. the poll that was the most accurate was the investor business daily poll, which showed at the time, donald trump was going to win by two or three percentage points. that was an historical trend. what i would say to people watching, go to real clear politics, look at the trend of not just one snapshot but the trend of where things have been historically. and remember, many people, when they are pulled, don't say they are supporting donald trump. but when they go into the ballot box, in the sanctity of that

location, they vote for him. at least they did two years ago. i think you'll see more of that coming up. host: are you concerned in the midterm when he is not on the ballot, they are not voting for donald trump and there could be, as her have been in previous cycles, people wanting more checks and balances, the other party to control congress. guest: the historical precedent obama's firstk midterm election, he lost 63 seats in the house, bill clinton, 54. the anomaly to that was george w. bush. by and large that was because of the 9/11 tragedy. the country was unified and thought it was important to keep the members of the electorate who were in place. .ut this is what i think republicans hold a 23-seat majority. there are three seats in the house that they will increase. 26-seathem a 20--- majority right now even though

the number is 23. that being said, look at the individual districts. donald trump was in the erie, pennsylvania yesterday. he and the vice president have been campaigning for specific members of congress in those tough reelections. those individuals embracing the trump-pence agenda will do well. those running away from the agenda, those members of congress saying we want to keep our distance from president trump are going to have a harder time at the ballot box. when you look at the u.s. senate , there is a 51-49 majority for the republicans. i could envision a place where there are five new republican members of the u.s. senate when you look at the races taking place. a 56-44 majority for the republicans. include keeping the two very competitive seats, one in nevada, one in arizona. if that were to occur, because

of the way the map is, the fact that 10 democrat incumbents are in states running for reelection gives thed trump won, republicans an opportunity in this cycle to expand the majority in the senate. host: before we get to those calls, those five states? dakota, montana is an opportunity, indiana, missouri, and i would say a tossup between new jersey, probably west-- virginia. those three are tossups. you have candidates in those three locations that could win if they break toward the republicans. the other four are fairly well along where they have the opportunity to window seats if the election continues to go in the direction it's going. host: in addition to your political work are you also representing clients? guest: this is the amazing thing.

i have become an author. i have no clients, i do not lobby. everyone says corey lewandowski cells influence. i don't have clients, i don't lobby. i write books. i have a great book coming out on november 27 and it will talk about the people and those inside in ministration that are trying to thwart the president's agenda, whether they are in various government agencies come or part of the administration. the reason for the book -- when i look back at what bob woodward wrote, he wrote about individual staffers who were moving things from the resolute desk. to me that should constitute high crimes and misdemeanors. the american people did not vote for the staff, they voted for the president and vice president to move their agenda forward. when individuals think it is their obligation to take things off the president's desk, to me that is a real problem. the book that i have written is

going to talk about the fact that there are individuals in the government who are subverting the president's agenda, and his agenda of america first and making america great again, which is what the american people voted for. host: any ideas who wrote that piece in the washington post? the new york times? interesting, i don't know. i asked the president about it directly. he said the qualification of a senior administration official -- is how they couch that person. there are a thousand people that qualify. he may or may not even know the individual. what we saw from the new york they had to verify the authenticity of the individual. it was sarah huckabee sanders, john kelly, a well-known official, they would not have to authenticate who that person is. they would know that person is just because of their position.

so this to me is probably someone working in a government agency somewhere who feels it is their duty or obligation to protect the american people from the president and for the will of the 60 million people who voted for donald trump and mike pence. i think this is a low-level staffer who decided they wanted to make news but didn't have the courage to come out in front of the cameras and have their conversation. let's get to calls. wayne in hanover, pennsylvania. corey, that man has a book. i have to tell you right now -- i don't have much time. i will tell you the way i see it. that man has lied from the day he was running to this point. i have no regard for him or pants, and i'm sorry. jesus that therd democrats get in. this is ridiculous the way this country is being run. and by him mostly.

that is my opinion. host: what has the president lied about? caller: are you ready? ? what has he lied about? to touch social security, we are not going to touch medicare. we are going to make it stronger. we are not going to take away disability. just three things i can think of right off and there are many more. republicans --he i'm not saying him only. he says that and the republicans say they are going to do this and that. debt. we have a heck of a he wants to say there is no global warming. what about these storms? where is this money going to go to?

i only agree with one thing that trump said that was very nice. jerome not want to see powell keep putting the interest up. that makes sense. the only thing that he did good. guest: let me say this, wayne. a barack obama supporter when he ran for office, i supported mitt romney, prior to that john mccain, but i love my country and i think you do, too. what we want is for america to be strong again, unapologetic. we want to reassert our dominance on the world stage because we are the greatest country in the world. what i think this president has had the opportunity to do over the first two years of his administration is to reassert through the united nations, our ambassador nikki haley who is now leaving -- she did a phenomenal job -- traveling across the world, to reassert our dominance as the most important global power.

, i did not support barack obama but i wanted him to be successful because i wanted my country to be successful. when i look back on what donald trump and his administration has been able to accomplish over the we havemost two years, seen unappointed drop to historic low levels, african-american, hispanic unemployment dropped to the lowest levels in recorded history. that is a good thing. is there more work to do? of course there is. is let's give him the opportunity to continue on the path forward of creating jobs, over 4 million new jobs created. let's give him the opportunity to reassert our dominance and draw those red lines in the sand when our enemies like bashir al-assad or using chemical weapons against innocent men, women, and children, there will be a response from the united states, allies to make sure that they understand that is unacceptable behavior.

that allomething americans can agree on. i don't think any dictator should use weapons against innocent men, women, and children. this president has said he will not tolerate it and will join with our allies around the world to go in and prevent that from continuing to happen. could we have our differences? of course we can. but from an economic side, we are a country that is growing. the atlanta federal reserve says we will be growing at 4.7%. two years ago, the average growth rate for our country was 1.2%. we are fighting in a global marketplace. we are fighting countries like china who are subsidizing their companies, dumping their products on our soil, and they were growing at 8%, we were at 1.2. china is in a different position because this president has taken a hard line on them and that is good for america. host: gary is in indiana. democrat.

caller: good morning. , you mentioned mr. trump's declining support. that may sound encouraging for democrats but there is one problem. who is going to run against him? i have yet to see a strong that may prove to be a formidable opponent. as far as the campaign voting, i think it is a shame and tragedy that nowadays when people vote -- those that do vote -- they are not try to vote somebody in as much as trying to keep somebody out. the last thing i want to say, i'm sick and tired of people saying that republicans are out to destroy this country. that is a vast misconception. we are trying to make things right in the way we see fit. thing substantial

about that line of thinking. i'm sorry. you know, gary, you are exactly right on a couple points. who the democrats will nominate, we don't know, but it will be a very lively discussion on the left. you will likely have u.s. senators, governors, essentially from your state in indiana, the mayor of south bend is someone many are talking about for the presidency. in addition to that, michael bloomberg is a serious candidate , a man that has accumulated enormous wealth, was the mayor of new york city. we will have a lively discussion. that is how democracy works. to gary's point, i hear it all the time, it is the lesser of two evils of people are going into the ballot box to vote for. that is such a sad thing. we have such an amazing country, people that have american success stories, people that

only in this country could have achieved what they achieved. we are the greatest country in the world. we should put our leaders up and give them the opportunity to tell us what they want to achieve and not vote for the lesser of two evils but the best person on the job. host: on that point, the president is on the phone with fox and friends and he just said he would welcome running against any of the rumored possible 2020 candidates and ads, i hope we don't get any stars or good thinkers coming out of nowhere. a viablel bloomberg challenger to the president, do give the that he could president a challenge? mayor bloomberg ran the largest city in our country, new york city, 8 million people, he put $100 million into his own campaign, his name recognition is high, and he is a man of high wealth, north of $20 billion. that gives him the definition to

bypass the standard process are raising money in small increments or putting together a super pac. he is progressive enough that the democrats will support his ideas. he is very much for gun control, very much for gay marriage, and that is perfectly fine. those are the issues the democratic party wants to put a litmus test on. that being said, he does not have a clear path. i think you'll see elizabeth warren and kamala harris, cory booker, and others, bernie sanders potentially who want to get into that race, talk about the issues they think are the most important. we have seen the story. middle america, what many people called flyover states. the democratic party, unfortunately, has given up on some of them. they have given up on those middle states of the hard-working men and women and they have become a party that is

bicoastal, far left and far right on the country. massachusetts, california's. it is not the way to win an election. i have been here, they said hillary clinton won the popular vote, which is true. but it is not who wins the popular vote. i am a football fan. brady is my quarterback, i am a patriots fan. it is not about how many yards he throws for during a game. it is how many points did you put on the board? the way to win the presidency is through the electoral college. for democrats to understand that, they have to campaign in places where they have historically forgotten. states like pennsylvania, ohio, iowa, wisconsin, north carolina, florida. all the places that donald trump won. this was not the hanging chad in florida that allowed him to win. he had 307 votes to hillary clinton's 232.

that is such an enormous victory that people don't talk about. he could have lost the entire state of florida and still won. the democrats have some work to do in middle america if they are going to be successful. host: juliet is in colorado, a republican. caller: good morning. i called to talk about health care. name is juliet mclean, and i do have a book out on the market on this very subject. a point -- my book has been on the market since 2009. guest: what is it called? caller: "purpose driven thieves." the book was on the market long before donald trump was ever thought of for the united states. that is not the issue here.

i am not trying to run on somebody else's curtails like donald trump is now riding on curtails.obama's my book is about single-payer health care. my book is the only book on the market that you can buy that includes cost. i gave a free copy to congress. .ongressman have not touched it they didn't know what it was -- cost.cause it has been in my book for years. i gave them a free copy. i don't want to hear from any congressmen we don't know what it will cost. and i also don't want to hear from congressman who have recently been traipsing up your on top of the mountains to tell us all that it will cost too much money. i have called them boldfaced liars to their face. this: i think we have seen

in a number of countries around the world. it doesn't work. is -- we are the most economically strong country in .he world our people -- i don't want to say have a right to health care -- but deserve health care. their families deserve it. we need to do better. but is notntails -- limited to -- purchasing health care across state lines. i can buy my car insurance from any carrier i want to. i can buy my home insurance from any carrier i want to. i live in new hampshire. my options for health care for me and my family is very limited. if we open the market place up, the free market works. what does it matter if i want to purchase my health care from a company that is a provider in california or nebraska? let's give everyone the opportunity to do that. competition works. it lowers the cost. it is like airfare.

buy from have to jetblue or american airlines or delta. you can shop what you want to. if one is cheaper than the other , the basic product is the same, you can choose what you want to. in health care we should have the same opportunity. rightt think we have it now. it is a system that by and large benefits the big health care companies, whether that is blue cross blue shield or whoever. they have a monopoly by and large and some of the states. opening that up to competition and letting people choose where they get their health care is good for everybody. the alternative to so-called obamacare is opening up across state lines? guest: i hope so. it is something the president campaigned on. do that.ongress to it is not that hard to open up across state lines. the people that don't want that to happen or the individual companies that have a monopoly in their respective states.

if you are in california and have a monopoly, you don't want something else coming in. georgia. lindsay is in waycross, georgia. a republican. caller: i am not a republican, i'm independent. host: sorry about that. caller: regardless, what really bothers me is the mandate has not really been removed. you can ask anybody that does your taxes for you, and they will tell you it still exists. when we do our taxes, if you don't have health insurance, you will be fined. that work has not been done. they talk about it. they want people to believe that they have done it, but they have not. just like a lot of other things. they are good at talking but no action. they are very good at lying. host: how are you going to vote in november? caller: i am voting for a

democrat this time, ok? georgia is a red state, they vote republican. but we are a very poor state. we also get no help. all of our money seems to go to atlanta or something. i live in a very poor county in georgia, and we are forgotten about. yes, we are part of the flyover states. put these people in. georgians helped put him in but they continue to lie to us. this year, they are not going to be a total red state, georgia, i hope lives. -- flips. she doesn't like the mandate but at the same time republicans have not gotten rid of it, so she will not vote for republicans. first of all, i hope that you and your family and everyone

else is safe from hurricane michael. i know there are a number of people who will be affected by that. , lindsaydition to that is right. we need to do better. need to do officials better, fulfill the promises that they made. that is not an unreasonable thing to ask for. when people run for office and the outline what their agenda is and they say this is what they are going to come to washington whether republican or democrat's, there should be accountability for that. every two years we have this great thing called an election. we hope people accountable, whether they are successful or not. should be accountable. i think the issue of health care is a very, very important one. but it is one of many. i know what my health care costs are because i have a family of four children that are all young and every time they sneeze, i pay the co-pay and then the next

thing i get a bill for the difference between what my insurance company -- it is a fortune. the average person cannot afford it anymore and it is not fair to people that have to make the decision whether they want to put food on the table or take care of their children. not fair for people that have pre-existing conditions. it is not fair to our veterans. when this administration did which is often overlooked is, if you are a veteran and you have your papers that say you served our country and you want to get health care anywhere because the v.a. is too backed up, you have the ability to do that. that is a significant change and something we should've have done a long time ago. the system has been so broken for so long, our veterans have not had had access to health care but this of ministry should is changing that. everybody in the greatest country in the world should have the ability to make sure their children and their health is secure and safe. and preventative care is so important. theannual checkups so

doctors can tell you what is taking place. one of the best way to do that is to provide a portal health care bipartisan health care across state lines. that is what we should hold congress accountable to make sure they are implementing. host: jerry in huntington beach, california. it is early there. we are a 20 47 state. anyways, i find all of these, somewhere between funny and absurd. spinninghis living things to the republicans advantage, that's fine. everyone needs to find their career. claimstake one of his that the economy is so much better under president trump. trump is taking good for taking credit for that. i remind him that when obama took over, the economy was in a tailspin.

everything was going wrong. slowly but surely, the economy started to pick up here we had low unemployment, growth, we had all the good things you want in an economy. and now that is continuing. now this cloud in the white house is taking all the credit for it. he can spin all he wants but the happens is is what before trump took office, not after. guest: actually, that is not the fact. under barack obama the average growth rate was 1.2 percent. unemployment was nowhere in your the historic lows. there were not 4 million new jobs created. at some point, you have to understand the reality. you can blame george w. bush for the bad economy, and that is what barack obama inherited. but at some point you have to understand that for the eight years he's in office, he makes decisions which impact the outcome of the economy. you can say that when he came into office the economy was in

the tailspin, which may be true. takingy large recession place, probably the largest we have had since the great depression. but six years later, the economy when barack obama was leaving office was grossing at 1.3%. that was the new normal. his position was, how is donald trump is going to create these new jobs? today, 4 million new jobs created, the stock market is up 17% since election day, the growth of our country's north of 4%. you cannot have it both ways. host: what policies did this president put in place? guest: the tax cut was the single biggest benefit to individuals and custom -- companies. if you are in the highest tax bracket, you are paying 40% of your current income in taxes. today you pay 32%. that 8% difference means companies have the opportunity to reinvest into growing the jobs,y, creating new creating long-term capital dividend for their employees.

amazon havegreens, put on a hiring spree since donald trump has come into office because they have the consumer confidence because of the tax cuts that donald trump and his congress passed to understand that the long-term benefit -- look -- i'm not a cpa. they used to say to her, defer, defer. now they are saying you don't need to do that anymore because the tax rate is so advantageous for everybody, whether you are a w2 employee or you have an llc, single practitioner, plumber, whatever, you have more money in your pocket today which gives you more opportunity to hire more people because of the tax cuts that this president put in place. that, coupled with the regulation -- this president said for everyone government regulation i'm going to cut two. he didn't fulfill that promise. for every new regulation, he cut 22.

that meant tens of millions of dollars of deregulation on small business owners from an overburdened some government to give them the ability to go and expand their business. we have seen that at historic levels. to jerry's point, i fundamentally disagree that barack obama created millions of new jobs. the statistics out of the federal reserve do not show that we were growing at 4.3 and 4.4%, which we are now growing at. the statistics don't show african-american and hispanic unemployment are at the lowest levels ever under the obama administration as they are today under the trump administration. host: hillsdale, new jersey. edwin is a republican. caller: mr. lewandowski, i wanted to call you to thank you for helping mr. trump win the election. with aretired teacher doctorate in early education. every week i used to get my -- host: i'm going to move on

because the feedback, the people around you, it is very difficult. guest: thank you for your service to the public school system. it is one of the most difficult jobs there is. host: kimberly is in washington, pennsylvania. republican. caller: good morning. , mr. lewandowski, i appreciate you helping mr. trump. i wanted to -- i don't know, educate. i want the people in the country to realize that donald trump is a whole bunchinst of corruption. so if you are all mad about what is not getting done come you can look to the people who have been there for 20, 50 years. you will have to just drain the swamp. there are a lot of people on the take. a lot of reasons why things are not changing. a lot of reasons why they say one thing and do another. host: let me ask you, corey, how

president done a good job of drain the swamp? guest: donald trump came to the white house as a change agent. he has fundamentally disrupted the way washington works and i love it. i tell the story often but during the transition, after he was elected, before he was inaugurated, the president received a phone call from the president of taiwan, and she called to say congratulations. there were a number of people from the state department, foggy totom, as i like to refer it. they said you cannot accept the call from the president of taiwan. we don't recognize taiwan as a country because of our diplomatic relationship with china. a second, id on cannot say hello to the president of taiwan? absolutely not, it will throw the world into a tailspin. hello. he does things differently.

we have had or more bureaucrats and unelected officials driving our country in the wrong direction. donald trump has come to change that. maybe the best instance, best example of that might be the fact that he met with kim jong-un of north korea. no american leader has ever met with a leader of north korea. now that meeting took place four months ago. what we have seen since that time is not one nuclear test, not one missile has gone into the air. the world is safer, we are dino arising the korean peninsula. is it finished? no. only getting our mains back of the american left behind during the korean conflict? is that a value? you bet it is. he is taking our foreign policy in a different direction. for 30 years, our country has unfortunately -- our bureaucrats have done the same thing, and it has not worked.

let's try something different. if it doesn't work, they have the ability to go back to the ballot box in two years in november and put things back to the way they were. thewhat we are seeing is resurgence of america. america first. jobs being created, the economy growing. our friends and our allies around the world thanking us for our global leadership once again. host: mike is our last call. laurel park, new york. democrat. caller: hi, greta. i am stunned at c-span for having this man on. he is just spinning out lie after lie. nobody respects us. as far as the economy goes, when obama got the economy, the u.s. economy just lost trillions of dollars in home ownership, what our homes were worth. stock market.

it took eight years to get that back. the economy -- he just passed a $2.3 trillion tax cut. 80% of that went to the super wealthy, corporations. it will wear off in six months. cia.s broken the fbi, when the mother report comes out and they find out about all of the money, shenanigans he has been playing, the outfit bank, it will be falling down within six months. they will want to kick this guy out of office. corey lewandowski, are you worried about the special counsel investigation? guest: i am more worried about what we have now seen from the leadership of the fbi from jim coming to andrew mccabe, jim baker, right down to lisa page, peter struck. -- ive seen the most

cannot even describe it. you could not write this story as a spy novel. senior leadership of the premier law enforcement agency in the ,ountry has an insurance policy and spying on american citizens courts, spyinga on american citizens on domestic soil to go they were part of an opposing political party. this is what takes place in third world dictatorships. andrew mccabe, rod rosenstein gps,a peter orr, fusion there has been no account ability whatsoever. the american people deserve better. jim komi was fired, andrew mccabe was fired, jim baker was fired. lisa page resigned. these individuals with the highest levels of the fbi. this story is not over yet. when the inspector general horvitz has his reports and he is referring criminal

indictments against a deputy director of the fbi, that should give every american pause of not only these people spying on american citizens, but they were doing it with a badge and legally. that should give great's to every american who should be concerned that if they can do this to a candidate running for president of the united states, they can do it to anybody. host: have you been contacted by robert mueller or any part associated with the special counsel? front oftestified in the house committee on to the below occasions, testified in front of the senate committee. i left the campaign -- host: house and senate intelligence committee? guest: yes. i left in june. left, that seems to be the focus whether that is gratuitous or lucky, i don't know. i didn't communicate with any russians, coordinate with any russians, collude with any russians.

what i know is, when i was at the campaign, to the best of my knowledge, nobody did that. said so many times, if anybody, regardless of party and attentive to materially impact the outcome of the election, through illicit means, i hope those people go to jail for the rest of their lives. our democracy is too sacred to allow that to happen. whether republicans or democrats, working for hillary clinton or donald trump, if they try to do something to impact the outcome of this election, the last election or future election, they should go to jail forever. host: do you think donald trump, jr. handled the emailed that he got that said they had dirt on hillary -- did he handle that properly? guest: i think what donald trump, jr. wanted to do -- he got and him and it said we have information. he wanted to do with that information was because he wanted to help the campaign to the best of his ability. that is not unlike what anyone else would do.

that being said, hillary clinton has been such a public figure in our country for the better part of 25 years. i don't think there was ever a silver bullet that was out there that said if we only had is one additional piece of information, this will sink her campaign. i don't think that exists. everybody knows who hillary clinton is, the american people know who she is and what she believes in. this piece of information that -- that being said -- i was never a part of those meetings that he had with russians. if it was asked of me, i would have recommended against it and referred it to the campaign counsel to make a recommendation on whether the meeting should of ever occurred. host: corey lewandowski, author of "let trump be trump: the inside story of his rise to the presidency." -- i was never a part of those meetings that he had with russians. and a new book coming out in november "trump's enemies." when we come back, we will open up the phone lines and get your thoughts on politics issues.

republicans, democrats, independents. we will be back with those calls. during the final u.s. tennessee debate from the university of tennessee in knoxville, marsha blackburn and phil broadus and were asked whether they believe the border wall was an effective tool in fighting illegal immigration. i do not believe it was an effective tool, and whatever it is affecting may or may not have been, i think it amounted to child abuse, was a stain on our country's reputation, it is the sort of thing that will be studied in future years by school students as an inappropriate period of american history. i hope we can read night those children as rapidly as possible. believeo say, i strongly in controlling our borders, no question about that. when i was governor, we were one of the first states to send to thel guard troops

arizona border to help in that process. but i think there are much better ways of doing it than building a wall. in today's world with the technology to the arizona border to help in that process. we have, we can do that more effectively and quickly and less expensively wearied i think a wall is just political theater. but i think we need to control our borders, no question. it is something that we ought to be able to do together in a bipartisan fashion. you believean, do this was an effective tool to discourage illegal immigrants from coming into our country? >> no one want to see family separated. actually, this is an issue i raised in 2014 when i visited some of these facilities. the attention the problems with the daca program and the problem with some of these families. i tell you where zero-tolerance policy is working. we have found there are fewer drugs coming across the southern border. this is news that was released today. had his way if phil

and hillary were president -- he wanted her to be president, he gave her $33,000. the democrats have advocated for open borders, for abolishing ice. we need to secure the border. he thinks building the wall is political theater. letthe democrats have advocatedr me tell you something, tennesseans want to see that wall built. open border policies have made every town a border town in every state. certainly in tennessee. >> governor, 30 seconds to respond. >> you seem to have a crystal ball, talking about what i'm going to do when i'm a u.s. senator. , when i'm a act me senator, as i did when i was a governor, independently. i was an equal opportunity offender of both parties. i need -- i think we need some of that independents looking at the issues and trying to decide what the best solution is and stop with all of this ideological stuff and trying to

set people against each other on these kinds of issues. it is time to get beyond that. immigration is a perfect example. host: we are back on this thursday morning in open phones until the top of the hour. then we will talk to max boot who has left the republican party, written a new book about , also on the president. we will talk to him coming up. first, your thoughts on public policy and politics with the midterm elections, 26 days away. there is this in the washington times this morning. democrats, when i'm a bid to scuttle obamacare change defeated. president trump lasted democrats for trying to overturn his administration's push to give consumers an offering from obamacare warning their defense of the 2010 laws. he and fellow republicans are

hoping to reverse the omen to him democrats believe they have gained in their defense of obamacare. as would prepare to go to the full text month with a healthy debate once again front and center. gop center has managed to defeat the democrats attempt to scuttle the offramp which would allow obamacare customers to buy short-term plans to skirt the law's strict coverage rules. the democrats did failed on a 50/50 vote with only one republican, susan collins joining them. the measure needed a majority to advance. the vote was chiefly for show, the role that would not see action in the house but democrats say it gave their senators a chance to portray republicans as it different to people with previous and conditions who could end up paying more under mr. trump's move. medicare forn to say all plans have been promoted by self-proclaimed democratic socialists such as bernie sanders and others but also have been embraced by mainstream establishment democrats such as former president barack obama.

the idea pulled relatively well and is getting traction ahead of the november election. still, a single-payer bill is nowhere close to becoming law. republican to occur in the control congress loathe it, and centrist democrats would rather defend obamacare an attempt a more limited extension of taxpayer-funded experience. let's go to stand in florida. independent. what is on your mind this morning? caller: we have the biggest flimflam or president we have ever had in our life. he says he is a millionaire, his daddy gave him everything they got. i hope new york times for his back taxes. we found that when he was two years old he had money. at eight years old, he was a millionaire. he says the reason people elect me is because i know how to run businesses. daddy seem to know how to run the business, not him. the stock market went down 800 points yesterday because of the debt. it is going down again today. this guy goes out on these

rallies when it is flooding outside, he is in a rally in pennsylvania. he goes after obama. going to a rally one week after sandy. he says he plays more golf than tiger woods. he is at his clubhouse every weekend either in virginia or gas andplaying on our bills and now he is putting us in debt. $2 trillion in the next 10 years, and they are still not happy. they want to make this permanent. every state test a boost in their state and local taxes they are blue states. he is disgusting. his approval rating is below a cockroach. let's show the president yesterday when he landed in the area, pennsylvania. he addressed holding this rally at the same time that hurricane michael was pounding florida and

the states beyond. this is what he had to say. >> there are thousands of people lined up. we wanted to make the stop. it would be very unfair. you have thousands of people that started coming last night. we have a lot of happy people. in the meantime, we haven't very well covered in florida. we will be on the plane and be back shortly. it would have been very unfair to thousands of people. that was the president yesterday ahead of his rally in pennsylvania. the wall street journal has a headline about the market reaction yesterday. tumbling.ends stocks the dow industrials extended their steepest october retreat since the financial crisis wednesday posting an 831-point decline that raises fresh concerns about the health of the nine-year-old bull market. the selling was led by technology shares that have fueled much of the 2018 advance in stocks.

netflix dropped eight point 4%, amazon declining 6.2%, apple 4.6%. combined, the three companies shed $120 billion in market value. selling accelerated toward the end of the day and spread well beyond tech stocks. bank stocks were pummeled as well as companies exposed to global trade. likelyr turned to shares to do better in tougher economic times such as utility companies. that rotation out of tech and other growth stocks has been sparked in part by the recent jump in government bond yields and the federal reserve's interest rate increases. ricardo in pennsylvania, democrat. what is on your mind? caller: the guy that you had on earlier, corey lewandowski, he has a bromance with the president. i don't get it. to everyone listening, we all have different opinions, but arizona one set of facts. this man is a liar, he is lying

for the president. when the president says drain the swamp, the president is the swamp. -- and i a democrat have voted republican before -- but as a democrat i hope that we can take a house back and hopefully get some of this straightened out. this is a disgrace what is happening to our country. host: the washington times front page says democrats see hope for house in pennsylvania. redrawn district map backs of predictions for election victories. way democratshe hope pennsylvania alone could account for more than a quarter of the 23 seats they need to win control of the house. if you are paying attention, you should be watching these house races in pennsylvania, as well as in minnesota. is this story in the hill newspaper, democrats hope are for minnesota suburbs, hopes for majority run through minnesota

suburbs. other races that you should be watching as well. noel is in new york. republican. good morning. caller: good morning. great to be on c-span. donald trumpo say is doing every single thing that he ran on, which is really unusual. he is not a politician. he is a great businessman, great resident. i am so happy he is in there instead of hillary clinton. she is such a criminal. i just appreciate the fact that he is in there doing exactly what he ran on. they arerats can -- done, as far as i'm concerned. host: tony in texas. democrat. hello. first off, i am a proud texas american democrat. i know what is right and i know

what is wrong. i know that donald trump has not fulfilled his promises. these things that he is doing with north korea, it is nothing. iran, he is handling that ridiculously. it doesn't matter if they are democrat or republican. you look at their record. look at their past record. if they have worked for american people, then they deserve to stay in office. if they have done nothing for us, we need to look at all of the records. if they have done nothing for us, they need to go. these drugs, this is ridiculous. we don't need the wall. we don't need this billion dollar wall when all we have to do is control the businessmen, the crooked businessmen of the united states. that's right, i live here, and i

know what is going on. i know what is right and wrong. we have to do what is right in our own backyard. we don't have a republican or democrat representative. we need a third party, we need a fourth party to get out there and run for office. these people are letting us down. --y are -- they are hurting all of our representatives are hurting the american people. ,hat is going on in israel israel is destroying us. they are running our country. use -- why what do do you say that, what proof can you point to? netanyahur one thing, is bringing out these ridiculous drawings and is expecting us to go to war with iran? i am not for or against israel, but i can see with my own eyes they are killing children out

there on the border. we, as americans, should not allow that to happen. we have an american base in israel. that makes israel and american base. i don't like that. host: tony, we here to point. fox news has this headline on their website, top fbi lawyer baker offers expose of testimony on abnormal handling of russia probe into truck campaign. the fbi's top lawyer james baker gave extensive testimony on wednesday detailing for congressional investigators how the russia pro was handled in an abnormal fashion reflecting political bias, according to tito republican lawmakers present. that weree things shared were explosive in nature, mark meadows said. this witness confirmed things were done in an abnormal fashion. meadows claim the abnormal handling of the probe into alleged ordination between russian officials and the truck campaign was a reflection of

inherent bias that seems to be evident in certain circus. the fbi agent who opened the case, peter struck, lisa page, and other sent politically sent politically charged texts and have since left the bureau. baker left the bureau earlier this year. the lawmakers would not provide any specifics about the private transcribed interviews citing a confidentiality agreement, but they indicated that baker was cooperative and forthcoming about the genesis of the russian case in 2016 and about the surveillance for application for carter page. during the time the fbi was putting the doj -- the fbi and doj for putting together the -- there was another source giving information directly to the fbi. we found the source to be pretty explosive. they would not elaborate on the

source or if the source was a reporter. they stressed the have provided to the russia case. the president on fox and friends says this about the. justice department "-- about the justice department. "devin nunes should get a medal of honor." it has recused himself from the house intelligence investigation as chair. ian in oceanside, new york. good morning to you. caller: that is great because we know what he did to him and he does deserve a medal. maybe baker gave some great and tell -- intel on james comey. john brennan -- these people will pay a price. i would love to see their doors kicked down at 3:00 in the morning.

that would mean jeff sessions is the person i talked he was. i called in on trump. the v.a. years and gets it straightened out. the inept people that are running from tel aviv to jerusalem, moving the embassy. $250,000 to get that moving done when these politicians who don't know building, and i run a construction company -- merchant marine officer for 18 years. building, $250,000. politicians, $1 billion. he gets it done. ahead of trump style, schedule, under budget. it is his life, like the skating rink in central park. did not cost new yorkers nothing.

could not get this thing built year after year, excuse after excuse. donald trump steps in, ahead of schedule, under budget. people are ice-skating in central park in new york. he has done more than tpp, harris accord. -- paris accord. bernie supporters, remember with the democrats did to you. right from the get-go. donnahe questions with brazil given to hillary and up to him. remember how they did you wrong and just look at what is going on in america. do you want to hand this back to a bunch of ineffective people who in 44 years can not healthy vet? both sides, the rhinos and the democrats. host: we will take a break. willwe come back max boot be at the table with us talking about his new book, "the corrosion of conservatism: why i left the right."

♪ >> sunday night on "afterwards," fox news guest analyst and number of beachfront 2020 campaign media advisory board on keeping " mad politics: your sanity in a world gone crazy." is president trump crazy? >> crazy like a fox. i believe narcissism is on the spectrum. most of us who put ourselves out there in the public eye have an unusual sense of confidence. if you want to call that narcissism, i don't have a problem with that. is that a dangerous sort of narcissism? i don't think so.

are there dangerous sorts of narcissism? absolutely. i don't think our president fits into that category at all. "afterwards," sunday night at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2's book tv. >> fox news host tucker carlson discusses his book "ship of fools: tally selfish ruling class is bringing america to the brink of revolution." >> it is about why we elected trump. -i get past the idea that the country voted for donald trump. why would you do that? it is not an attack on trump? on ank trump is right fanatic since about bunch of different things. that you would not elect trump unless you really, really wanted to send a message. happy countries don't elect donald trump. desperate ones do. the people in charge on both

sides, all of them hated him. they screwed up. >> sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's "q&a." >> washington journal continues. host: max boot is that our table this morning. he is a senior fellow on the council of foreign relations, and also the study of this new book, "the corrosion of conservatism: why i left the right." -- you write right "i left the right." guest: i am a political independent. i could not be a republican after the republican party was ownedformed into a wholy subsidiary of the trump organization. it has been appalling to me and i cannot be a part of this.

i have friends who remain republican and are fighting to reclaim the good name of the republican party.i just want to make clear all these awful, egregious things trump does every day, not in my name. i don't want to be a republican after a lifetime as a republican and a conservative writer and activist. host: when did you make that decision? caller: i've reregistered after the election were donald trump won, one of the saddest days in american history. host: "it would be nice to think donald trump is an anomaly it came out of nowhere to take over the movement. but it just is not so. unique force in american politics and merely the culmination of the right's ruin. upon closer examination it is obvious the whole history of modern conservatism is permeated with racism, extremism, conspiracy mongering, ignorance, isolationism and no-nothingism.

-- know-nothingism. guest: i was a moving conservative since my days as a conservative columnist at the university of california berkeley. i worked at major conservative publications like the wall street journal editorial page. i wrote for the weekly standard. adviserforeign policy to three republican candidates and i was blind to the way the conservative movement and the republican party for transforming themselves. -- were transforming themselves. the racism, the xenophobia, protectionism, all that kind of stuff. now it has moved to the center of the movement. with the rise of fox news since 1996, sarah palin, the tea party. all these trends that culminated in the election of donald trump. was the election of trump that

many say this is not something i can be a part of. i am kicking myself for not getting to that realization sooner. fingerhere you point the at this becoming fringe undertones and then getting to the main part, the central part of the conservative party? guest: i put the blame where it belongs, on the people in the republican party embracing and espousing these ideas. it is shocking that donald trump came along and took over the republican party, but on reflection maybe it should not be so shocking because in some ways i think it is people like john mccain and mitt romney, whose campaigns i advised them are good people, moderates and very much incongruent with my own thinking. i think for a lot of republicans they were to moderate. they did not engage in this

crude bashing of liberals that donald trump does every day. they did not pander to prejudice and bigotry. they did not attack our allies. it turns out there was a much larger constituency for all of those views out there than i realized. party is not what i thought it was. host: "the death of the never trump was probably inevitable. and never had a leader or proactive vision. shared dislike for donald trump is not a political cause. the people who are contrary and enough to stand up to their own party's nominee or perhaps not likely to agree on anything." guest: i was talking with the 2016 primaries where various candidates talked about never trump, including marco rubio. ultimately they could never unite against trump.

one of the most dismaying things that happened in my lifetime is to see people like ted cruz and marco rubio and rand paul and 70 others who casting -- and so many others that castigated trump, said he was a cancer on our country, and lindsey graham this iswas a cook. -- not politics as normal. i disagree on a few issues. you said he was unfit to be president and he is unfit to be president. he proves it every single day. host: is there a republican they could beat him in 2020? guest: that is very doubtful. donald trump's polling 80% to 90% among republicans, which is a terrible indictment of the modern republican party. i think there is some dissatisfaction and places like new hampshire and is possible some like john kasich or jeff flake could do surprisingly well. they could at least embarrass and perhapsrt him

cause them to lose in november, which is the effective previous insurgencies we have seen. kathy kennebunk against george h.w. bush in 1992 -- patty cannon run it -- pat buchanan against george h.w. bush in 1992. certainly given what we know now, far in some radical shift in the political climate. example, a blockbuster report from robert mueller that could force trump out of office. barring that, whoever runs will not win but it is a race worth doing to affirm conservative principles and acute that flame alive that can to keep that flame alive for future generations. host: would you rather have a democrat then president trump? guest: absolutelyguest:. i voted for hillary clinton in 2016.

the first time i ever voted for a democrat in my life. i'm certainly not going to vote for donald trump. i open to alternatives. -- i am open to alternatives. i would hope they would nominate someone like michael bloomberg, and i would not be happy if they nominate someone like bernie sanders or elizabeth warren. i have vast disagreements with bernie sanders and elizabeth lauren, but i would vote for them over donald trump because they do not view them as a threat to american democracy. i think the are well-intentioned people whom i have deep policy disagreements. the problem with donald trump goes the on policy agreements. i truly think he is underm ining are democracy. host: we will see what our callers have to say. maybe you can lay out where you think the president is unfit. let's talk to kevin in chicago,

a democrat. caller: good morning. see aot, it is so nice to conservative with conscience. years followed you for and usually i'm annoyed at reading your stuff, but it was always thoughtful. the problem right now is the republican party. i have been saying this since the primaries. this goes back to pay when -- palin and the real american things. it has always been about race. you know that. the republican party new that. it is race, class, gender. these are the things that animate them. there is nothing wrong with conservativism in america. it is needed. conservativism is good. there is something wrong with the republican party.

please speak to the influence of fox and right-wing media, particularly talk radio. guest: i agree with the caller when he says there is nothing wrong with conservativism but there is something run with the republican party. it has really become a white nationalist party. a lot of that has to do with the influence of fox news in the right-wing media. there is nothing wrong with conservative media. i spent a lot of years writing for alternative publications. the problem is with the rise of fox they are not just offering a different opinion. they are offering alternative facts, alternative reality, which is not the same as normal mainstream reality is ordinary people understand it. they are pushing this far right, nationalist propaganda line. they don't care about reality. they don't care about decency. they are basically -- they have

become a propaganda arm of the trump white house. not only is fox influenced by trump, but trump is influenced by fox. this is a dangerous and unprecedented nexus. i'm afraid of the consequences of fox news channel because they have millions of viewers and they are living in this isolated bubble where they don't believe the same fact that normal people who read normal mainstream news sources believe. donald trump encourages that because he says the facts are not the facts. he says believe me, knowing you see or read, and a lot of people do in fact believe what trump tells them, sean hannity, tucker carlson tells them. that is very dangerous, that we don't have a commonly agreed-upon set of facts. that is very harmful to the long-term health of our democracy. host: how do you respond to people who say they voted for president trump, not because of

the reasons he said, that because they wanted to send a message to washington. they hate washington, d.c. and how it operates. they wanted someone to shake it up. guest: the problem with that is donald trump said he would drain the swamp. instead he is filling up the swamp. he is more corrupt and dishonest than anybody he denounced. if you've read -- if you read the blockbuster expose the new york times had accusing him of massive tax fraud, defrauding the government of hundreds of millions of dollars, we knew enough. we certainly knew about his dishonesty. this is so mccue lies eight times a day on average according to the washington post. he was doing that during the campaign. we knew about corporate bankruptcies. the way he traffics in bigotry and prejudice. we also knew he was deeply complicit in the way government works because he is somebody that has given lots of money to

politicians on both parties, including the press that he now denounces. i don't know how anyone could imagine this quintessential slum dweller would drain the swamp --swamp dweller would drain the swamp. he is running the most corrupt administration in our history right now. derek, question or comment? caller: good morning, c-span. somet your viewers to know of these words that max is using is so not -- it is not even ethical speech. it is not obviously very kind speech. as an independent you should know the council on foreign affairs is out for themselves. they are a big part of the deep state and part of the state department and our military. what he is saying he is a republican voted for hillary clinton. that is the first tell.

the second tell is i have never seen so many people from the council of foreign relations on msnbc, cnn. he will not even go on fox because he gets beat up so bad because this is purely disinformation because of the power structure, and these people -- that is max. he is on that team. that team is about power and controlling our government outside of our electoral system. host: let's take his point. guest: i don't believe the caller is independent. he is obviously a strong trump supporter propagating crazy conspiracy theories. the council on foreign relations has no relation to the state department. we are not part of any conspiracy. we have been an independent organization since the 1920's whose only goal is to promote public understanding of foreign policy. people who work of the council have many different views on the

issues. there is no one party line. sadly, this is typical of the way politics is conducted in america today, especially by the trumpian right. they try to denigrate people who disagree with them. i would hope they try to focus more on the issues. host: what about the argument that people in washington who make a living off of how everything operates one to keep it the status quo? trump,asn't president are you arguing we need to go back to and retain the institutions and bureaucracy and however they operates here? guest: there are certainly problems in washington. there are a lot of bureaucratic of self-interest seeking. a donald trump is making the situation far worse, not far better. let me speak of for the decent date -- the deep state, this

crazy term to denigrate the bureaucracy of the united states government. to my mind people in the u.s. government who are the civil servants who are faithfully carrying out their duties and uphold the rule of law despite the trump o -- despite the pressure from donald trump to break the law, they are heroes. they are part of the branches of the u.s. government upholding their duties to the constitution. in particular people like rod rosenstein, jim mattis. thank goodness they are there to protect us from the president of united states. they are doing their job, which is to protect the constitution, protect our country. the biggest threat to the constitution right now sadly come to the president of the united states. host: tommy in tennessee, independent. caller: good morning. i would like to

invite you to the libertarian party. we represent the best of the democratic party and the best of the republican party. am againstst -- -- i fascism. when you combine big business with the government to get fascism. perhaps wering if could get a wealthy family tobacco libertarian ticket, or -ticket with mr. biden or mr. kasich. have a blessed day. guest: i think a unity ticket between a high-profile democrat and republican could actually be a great idea. i don't know if the libertarian party is the right platform. the party has never taken off because it is hard for their party -- for a third party in america. if the republicans keep drifting to the right and democrats to the left, i do hope we might see

a more centrist candidate emerge. not necessarily with a party affiliation, but just an independent in the way they merged in france. i would love to see someone like that emerge in the united states. i don't know who that would be but i think it would be healthy for our democracy because the number of democrats and republicans is smaller than the number of independent voters. there are a lot of people not being represented in the current system, including me. it would be great if there was a movement or a party giving voice to the center of the political spectrum, which i think is increasingly neglected by both parties. "if the modern, history of conservatism is any guide, trump's successes might be worse than he is. if he has a saving grace, it is he is so ignorant and impetuous. that is a frightening thought

given how much the scattershot trump has done." guest: the republican party keeps going to the right. that people used to be considered at the right-wing fringe a generation ago, a generation later are known as rhinos. ronald reagan was thought of as being a far right winger, yet he is much more liberal than anybody associated with trump. ronald reagan favored a ban on assault weapons in 1994 -- 1984. the it industry to undocumented immigrants. i'mhe trajectory holds, frightened about who will succeed donald trump in the republican party. guest: what attracted you to conservatism? guest: it has a lot to do with my life story. i came here as a refugee from the soviet union. like a lot of people i was naturally drawn to the most anti-communist party in the american political system, the republican party. imagine my shock today when i

see a fan of vladimir putin is sitting in the white house. about other reasons i became a republican was because in the 1980's ronald reagan called out the evil empire. he stood up for democracy and freedom. open, inclusive version of conservatism. it was optimistic, which is different from the pessimistic conspiracy mongering rhetoric of donald trump who divides americans and set up bringing them together in the way ronald reagan did. host: myra in new york. caller: hello, max. mr. boot. i used to live in new jersey. i remember a republican i voted milson the time named

fenwick. you can look her up in the archives of c-span. what i realized is she went against frank lautenberg, he had money. that's the problem with the parties. the money gets involved and she was so good. i could not understand how she did not get in. loutenberg had money, that's all. those parties need to get out of the money. i just wanted to know what you thought. guest: i don't know if it's about money. allison fenwick is part of a liberal group, the rockefeller republicans. there were a lot of them out there. they had disappeared. that is part of the movement i am talking about. the republican party has gone further and further to the right for it is not possible to have a centrist liberal officeholder anymore.

they got squeezed out and were challenged by conservative activists and if he did by democrats -- and defeated by democrats. they are in desperate need of revival. there are a few centrist republicans left in blue states, like governor larry hogan in maryland or charlie baker in massachusetts or john kasich in ohio. i think we need more of them. as a counterbalance to the far right sentiments that donald trump channels. host: vinnie in tennessee, a republican. caller: i have a couple of comments in a quick question. when i see mr. boot on television, it seems to me he does not just present his argument as disagreeing with the president. he actually comes across as if he despises president trump. i don't quite understand that. i look at our economy that is humming a long.

we are safe as a country. we have a conservative 5-4 supreme court. i don't understand how someone who claims to be a conservative could vote for hillary clinton, encourage others to do so, and plan to vote the democratic line in november. i would like for him to explain that to me because i just don't get it. guest: i am happy to explain it. i will be the first to admit from a conservative perspective donald trump has done a few things a lot of other republican presidents would have done like a pointy supreme court justices. to me you have to weigh in the balance. that that far outweighs the good. tofired the fbi director stop an investigation of his own campaign. he daily denigrates the attorney general for not stopping the investigation. with the help of republicans on

capitol hill, he is trying to obstruct justice. that is a shocking abuse of power that no republican or conservative who claims to believe in our constitution can possibly applied. -- cans that -- applied possibly applaud. has locked upthat children of undocumented immigrants. he is somebody that has used crude terms to refer to african countries. he is somebody who is traffic and anti-muslim prejudice. he is someone who divides america, who is erratic in his conduct. just look at what happened to kavanaugh. even if you think kavanaugh should have been confirmed, look at donald trump mocking christine blasey ford for her story of being sexually assaulted, which even

republicans do not doubt. this is not the kind of conduct you expect from a president. he claimed george soros was paying for the protesters protesting against justice kavanagh. this is trafficking and anti-semitic cannard, which is also beloved by strongmen like vladimir putin. by the way, donald trump has a strange love of dictators. he says he is in love with kim jong-un, one of the most odious dictators on the planet. he has praised vladimir putin while running down our allies. he has done great damage to american standing in the world. we have never been more unpopular and less respected abroad. the president is literally laughed at at the united nations. i don't doubt he is done a few good things, but the negative far outweighs the good. i think he is debasing the presidency. he is assaulting the rule of law.

he is hurting our country. host: max boot is our guest. author of the book "the corrosion of conservatism: why i left the right." woody in monroe, michigan. caller: how are you doing? i want to let the american people know that barack obama created 4.9 million new jobs in his last two years of office. credits getting all the for creating 4 million jobs in the last two years, but that is from what barack obama created in his last two years. why is he taking the credit for the economy when the economy is actually not doing any better than it was when obama was in office? in fact it is doing a little less what it is doing. i think everyone should know that around election time. guest: it is similar to the way

donald trump takes credit for his business success even though -- even though we know he received over $400 million from his father. he was bailed out by his family but he takes credit for being this successful, self-made billionaire which is flatly false. he takes credit for the economy, which is flatly false. president obama took office at the height of our worst recession in decades. he led the recovery and created a lot of jobs. donald trump has taken over. the was trashing the economy during the campaign. as soon as he takes over he says the economy is great. there is no question that trump and the republicans have added -- have turbocharged a stronger economy with a massive tax cut, but that's in the responsible thing to do. they are piling up trillion-dollar deficits to make

sure a strong recovery is slightly stronger. --will rack up huge countless billions of dollars in debt, that will hurt long-term prospects. that is something republicans used to be concerned about. these to talk about the need to balance the deficit, balance the budget. they don't talk about that anymore because the presiding over record-setting deficits after having attacked president obama for his deficits, which i agree were problematic. they have vastly increased the deficit. trump's rhetoric bears little resembles to reality. host: you sound like you despise the president. are you personally offended by this president? guest: i am personally offended. not only in my offended, i am offended there are people who don't of -- who are not offended. is not most offensive

the fact he is sympathetic to isolationism and protectionism. not even the fact he is undermining and badmouthing american allies like the prime minister of canada. what really offends me is the way he traffics in prejudice and bigotry. for example, he has used the issue of african-american football players kneeling to protest police brutality. he is basically using that the bash those rich african-american athletes to the delight of much of his base. the way he constantly refers to latino immigrants as animals who are breeding and infesting our cities. the lots of latino children in cages. he referred to african countries as shit holes. this is the most openly racist --ot since george wilds george wallace, but george

wallace did not become president. trafficking in the worst impulses and elevating them to the white house. he is somebody who has the bully pulpit and is using it like a bully would. host: what is your opinion of mike pence? guest: anybody who thought mike pence was a principled conservative has to think otherwise because he has been an enabler of donald trump. he has given him some " conservative cover." he has been a trump sycophant. i can't support mike pence in the future. host: john in cleveland, ohio. independent. i neveras an immigrant, -- anything nice from this he has no respect for the office of the presidency. republicans don't have any backbone.

even with 3-d printing you can't make any backbone for them. he has separated families of the border. i don't know what this country is coming to. there is the maturity from the occupant of the white house. he is running a family business. do likewhat he used to a burger franchise. democracy, that is not capitalism. it is cronyism. guest: i agree. caller: good morning. i would like to talk about guilty until proven innocent. trump -- president donald trump -- guest: are you going to denounce president trump? guilty until proven innocent. caller: i am talking about the global initiative, that you

voted for and george soros. guest: i did not vote for george soros, my friend. caller: you voted for hillary clinton. guest: and i am proud to have done so. caller: she threw them under the bus during an election. this fake narrative about the russian collusion. guest: it is not a fake narrative. the u.s. intelligence committee has proven the fact he interfered in our election. obama's mouthck out of the election. crimea right after that. if you really want to talk about it. guest: there was no uranium scandal. that was made up by fox news and donald trump. in virginia, independent. caller: i am honored to talk to you. i like that you contradict these claims that people make

on-the-fly rather than letting them go unchallenged. the other comment i had was i like what you said. i'm offended more people are not offended. there is a saying people are --trump is a symptom of a problem, not the cause. i'm wondering if you have any thoughts on when this all parted. was it with the religious right or was it mccain and palin? guest: i think it goes back further than that. the more i trace some of these issues back to the foundation of the modern conservative movement in the 1950's. i went back and read some of the foundational texts, like phyllis schlafly's book. it was a huge bestseller. is full of crazy conspiracy ofgering about this cabal new york financiers that of taking control of the republican party and are sabotaging the

republican party. it is exactly the same kind of conspiratorial plot trump traffics in. i read "conscious of a conservative." it made me realize people said -- accused barry goldwater of being an extremist. looking at what he actually said, he was an extremist. he opposed the civil rights legislation in 1964-1965. he did not think the government had any business desegregating segregated schools. he is someone who suggested if there was another revolt in eastern europe, the u.s. should go in militarily with nuclear weapons and make clear to the russians we were going to risk world war iii to liberate the countries of eastern europe. barry goldwater said we needed to overcome our craven fear of death. this really was extremism and it's the foundation of the modern conservative movement. i don't think this defines the entire republican party.

we've also had an awful lot of leaders who are very modernist. you think a president a w bush for candidates like john mccain and mitt romney. their a moderate, sensible people. there has always been a dark underside to conservatism. what has happened in the last two years, even before trump, that dark underside has become the dominant part of the republican party. that has become the republican thought of the republican party. the republican party used to be a conservative party with a white nationalist fringe. now it is a white nationalist party with a conservative fringe. host: san diego, jason is watching there. caller: good morning, sir. i have two comments. maybe you can give me some insight on it. that,ecently -- prior to donald trump is always talking about the media is the enemy. the enemy, the enemy. just recently, a washington post

journalists went back with his wife to get some papers in saudi arabia. they murdered him, cut him up in the little pieces. i would think they feel it is ok because of the weight they are reading -- way they are reading trump. fox news is talking about mob rule. i hear trump say mob rule. the republicans talk about mob rule. were walkings through charlottesville and murdered this girl -- people.d them good sir, i can see what you're upset. this mob rule thing is a canard. there are some uncivil protesters on the progressive

side. i don't agree with jason government officials at of restaurants, but this is not mob rule. supremacistswhite in charlottesville where donald trump said they were good people on both sides. they are at trump rallies for he is announcing mob rule, but he is leading his crowd or inciting his crowd into chants of "locker up," first about -- "lock her up." to your other point about the horrible disappearance of a contributor to the washington post, he disappeared at the simpleonsulate in is -- istanbul. this is a shocking crime for we must punish the offender's. we must make saudi arabia pay a price for this if in fact they did this. we have every right to be

concerned that saudi arabia may have thought they could get away with it because of the kind of hateful rhetoric from donald trump who talks about the media as the enemy of the people, which is the way dictators have spoken. donald trump has also been basically given a blank check to the saudis. he has backed them on a lot of questionable decisions. you can imagine how the crown prince, the effective ruler might have thought he could get away with kidnapping or even murdering a journalist he writes red american newspaper because he thought president trump and crown prince jared kushner would not care about what happens to this reporter. disabuseto congress to -- to make clear there will be a price to pay for this shocking crime. host: how should congress respond? guest: there are sanctions that can and should be imposed.

any individual found should be responsible should face sanctions. that includes the crown prince of saudi arabia. when he did look at the overall relationship with saudi arabia and ask if we should be giving them all these weapons. should we be supporting the saudi war in yemen? this is not acceptable behavior. saudis planept show to lower the journalist -- lure the journalist back to saudi arabia from virginia and then detain him, according to u.s. intelligence intercepts. is no evidencee implicating the saudi regime and his disappearance. guest: this is so heinous and shocking. journalist in your consequent in a nato country --

consulate in a nato country. to see it from one of our friends is truly unconscionable. host: lonny, a republican. good morning, you are on the air. i have to move on. tim in michigan, independent. greta.: hi mr. boot, sir, welcome to the resistance. you are a true american patriot. i wish he would join now the man's on the stephanie -- malcolm nance on the stephanie miller show. i made bernie sanders socialist. i can to be close to niger to dollars -- $900. you are more of an american that i am. guest: i would not go that far. i'm not a bitter america --

better american than anybody else. caller: you are a better man than i, but i will tell you a story about my uncle frank. he was in the battle of the bulge in world war ii. guest: is a better american either one of us. caller: he was in the battle of the bulge. they were under heavy mortar fire and heavy machine-gun fire. half of his unit made it across this river. pineapple frank -- my uncle wam like a bowling ball. river, carryd that a rope across the river. he could not swim worth a lick. they get that rope out. pulled it to the other side. and helped get those guys back.

he got a bronze star and a purple heart. when i would ask him about what he did in the war and if you got gotmedals, he was say i the purple heart. detaily finger on k.p. with a potato peeler. if he was alive today and those people -- i can't even call them that. in charlottesville. uncle frank, to you think any of those torch carrying nazis were fine people, i think you know the answer to that. i want to thank you, sir, thank you for joining the resistance. guest: thank you for those kind words and thank you for that tale of his world war ii heroism. that is someone who truly was a great american. host: margaret from fayetteville, arkansas. democrat. caller: good morning.

i want to thank mr. boot for his comments. i think i will buy his book. my question has to do with churches. it seems to me from here in the bible belt that our churches have been kidnapped by the extreme right wingers. some of them with lots of money. i feel like the churches are being used. . you comment on your knowledge of what is happening to our churches? thank you so much. guest: i think that is a good point to raise. it is truly striking to see that donald trump's strongest support is a month white evangelicals. you have to ask yourself why would a churchgoing people who believe in the bible support somebody like donald trump, who paid off a playboy playmate and star, hasstar -- porn

an horrible in his conduct towards women, of these is the bully,abuses the weak, a a braggart who lies incessantly, to cheats? -- who cheats? he does not a simplified christian virtues. i remember when evangelicals were so offended by bill clinton's behavior, and rightly so. and conservatives he represented -- who represented the moral majority wing were talking about the importance of character in wasce and help loow bill clintn the basing the office. debasing theis office 100 times more and evangelicals have nothing to say about that. they are fine with his egregious

immoral conduct. that is to be dismaying. they are putting their narrow political goals -- a justice on the supreme court, they are putting that above the larger issues of right and wrong. they are turning a blind eye to what i believe is a fairly egregious misconduct of the oval office. that is something that has offended some of my evangelical friends. people like pete wainer and mike courson. it is a tragedy so many people who profess to uphold what is right are backing a president who does not care about right or wrong. host: nancy in big bear city, california, a republican. caller: hi. boot's remarks are just a typical democratic propaganda. guest: i am not a democrat.

caller: well, you are on their side. guest: only temporarily because they are standing up against donald trump's abuse of power. caller: obama abused power, passing daca. guest: that was not an abuse of power. caller: can you be quiet? guest: i'm just trying to counter your statements which are not accurate. host: finish your point. 20,939 american children were separated from their parents they committed crimes. list -- yount to want to throw elizabeth warren in there. she said now we have to think about important things about

separating children. -- the billions of dollars they cost american taxpayers every year, that is not right. host: we will take those points, nancy. guest: i don't agree with much of what the caller is saying. suggesting somehow the obama administration was separating children the way trump has done. that is something not true. these immigrant children are being separated from their parents who at worst perhaps committed a misdemeanor, which is being in the u.s. illegally. that is not a crime for which he should be separated from your children, have them undergo trauma of being locked up in cages and taken away from their parents. if it happened in other countries it would be a human rights abuse. there is certainly some crimes committed by illegal immigrants, but the weight donald trump has this isn -- harped on

catering to nativist sentiment. if you look at the facts, which is something trump does not do, they are actually more law-abiding and the nativeborn population. there is not this rampant epidemic of crime by illegal immigrants. this is a statement of the imagination that donald trump and fox news -- yes, there is some, but there is more committed by nativeborn americans. there are many minority americans that are the victims of crimes themselves that are never featured on fox news, never talked about by donald trump. the only focuses on a few high-profile crimes. that is part of his campaign to demonize all immigrants, legal or illegal to reduce not only illegal immigration. he was to reduce legal immigration. that is anathema to every day i believe and stand for. i am an immigrant myself. my family would not be here.

millions of other americans would not be here either. he probably would not have let in his own grandparents because they do not meet the test he wants to meet for today's immigrants. betty from high point, north carolina. democrat. caller: i just last night picked up "witness." i am reading about robert novak. by ms.an article written 1952.a witt back in i'm looking at lyons in here -- lines in here that are the same that is happening with us. she is writing about it in 1952 which talks about the national

institution insecurities. this was something that has a going on with the communist party back in the 1930's and 1940's. because itzes me just seems like we are finally have been able to catch up with what they were trying to achieve for probably 100 years. host: max boot? guest: "witness" by whittaker chambers is a great book. it influenced me as a young person. it is part of the recent i became a conservative. whittaker chambers was a time magazine editor who had previously been a communist and agent of the soviet union. he broke with the communist party because he understood ultimately it was an evil institution. it promoted crimes.

it was a painful thing for him to do but he broke with the communist party in fear for his life but spoke out for freedom and democracy and liberal institutions. he saw the united states as a force that would counter this communist evil. that spoke powerfully to me because i own family came from the soviet union, from a communist country. is one of the foundational texts of american conservativism and one of the basic ideas is fighting for freedom. it is sad and shocking to see donald trump is so interesting fighting for freedom. he praises dictators and does not talk about human rights. that is not what conservativism should be about in my opinion. host: wade in south carolina, independent. caller: if this guy thinks we don't have mob rule going on in the country, what about the inauguration and they were destroying property in

washington and destroying property and setting fires at theyolleges because did not want a conservative speaker? this week, chasing a guy through an intersection, beating on his car because he is white. if that is not a mob, what is? guest: look at what happened in charlottesville on august -- in august of 2017 for you have these neo-nazis. one of them drove his car into a crowd of people and killed a woman. i heard donald trump say there are good people on both sides. i did not see any mob rule during the trump inauguration. there were large, peaceful protests and probably a few instances of violence. that often happens in political events. if you want examples of violence, look at some of these rallies for he was inciting attacks on antitrust processors.

anti-trump protesters. if anybody is inciting mob rule, it is donald trump. i don't agree with all the tactics that progressive activists practice. it is not right to harass them. it is uncivil and counterproductive. but donald trump has no standing to complain about mob rule when he engages in it more than anybody else. host: tim in fairfield, connecticut. democrat. democrat. caller: i think it needs be a unilateral condonation. i am rewinding back to next ax spears or julian assange. we can't just pick and choose right now who we celebrate. host: sorry to cut you off. guest: i don't know the

connection is to julian assange. he is not a journalist. he is someone used by russian intelligence as a conduit for information warfare. that's an entirely separate issue. i agree they should be condemnation of saudi arabia if they murdered jamaal yusogi. , author of his new book, "the corrosion of conservatism: why i left the right." there it is on your screen. he is a senior fellow for the council on foreign relations. thank you for the conversation this morning. that does it for today's show. we will not bring you up to the senate judiciary committee. they are considering foreign interference in u.s. elections, and lynching. as well is nine judicial nominations including jonathan coles. a committee has given him a not qualified rating. it is the sixth such rating for

one of president trump's nominees. with coverage here on c-span. --

>> the senate judiciary committee gathering for a full agenda, looking at nominations and marking up hills. eight different appeals court nominations, and they will mark up a bill that defines lynching as deprivation of civil rights, making it a federal crime and a bill that commends immigration law that bars in the foreign individuals who interfere with the country. a tweeted this morning, full steam ahead. last night, the white house announced two second circuit and

three ninth circuit nominees and the judiciary committee had a hearing on two dominates to the six circuit. they also tweeted that brett kavanaugh's confirmation to the supreme court creates another vacancy on the u.s. court of appeals. judges, opponents more the political balance may begin to shift. we have some votes coming up the day today on nominations. follow the senate lies on c-span 2. follow the senate live on c-span2.