a campaign issue in the midterm elections with michael cannon of the cato institute and frederick of families usa. and then, we will talk to foreign affairs contributor peter harrell about his recent piece about how the u.s. uses sanctions and how to prevent their overuse. ♪ good morning. welcome to "washington journal." has been arrested and accused of mailing bombs to a prominent democrats and critics of donald trump. president trump says the country should unify and come together. what do you think of the president's call for unity? tell us what is on your mind. eastern or central time zone, call in at (202) 748-8000. in the mountains and pacific time zone, call in at (202)

748-8001. you can always reach us on social media on twitter @cspanwj and on facebook at facebook.com/c-span. president trump immediately reacted to his arrest. [video clip] president trump: we must never allow political violence to take root in america and i'm committed to doing everything in my power as president to stop it now. stop it now. i have just concluded a briefing with the department of justice following the apprehension of the suspect. i want to applaud the fbi, secret service, department of justice, u.s. attorneys office

for the southern district of new york, the nypd, and all law enforcement throughout the country. credible partners. these people have worked so hard, and to have done it so quickly. it is a needle in a haystack. how do you do this so quickly? they have done an incredible job, and i want to congratulate them. americans must unify, and we must show the world we are united together in peace, love, and harmony as fellow american citizens. there is no country like our country, and every day we are showing the world just how truly great we are. call forsident trump's unity comes in the middle of a very stringent middle election midterm election season. around the country we have politicians calling for unity

and talking to each other as nexttry to achieve their political goals. we want to know what you think about calls for unity following cesar sayoc the arrest of cesar -- following the arrest of cesar sayoc for mailing pipe bomb's to prominent democrats around the u.s. we're breaking up lines from eastern and central. eastern and central time zones, (202) 748-8000. central, mountain pacific time zones, (202) 748-8001. we are waiting for your calls. john is calling from pennsylvania. good morning. caller: how are you doing? i just want to make a couple of comments.

we here at the democrats are -- you have kathy griffin holding up the severed head of a president. snoop dogg shooting the president on video. these people should be arrested. if that was president barack obama these people would be arrested. they have been harassing trump supporters cents a day one. every time you talk on the news, everything you hear, he has done nothing. they have to stop this type of rhetoric, because people on the other side are getting tired of being harassed. those people better start to settle down. law, would never break the but i know there are a lot of

people out there getting tired. everywhere you are getting harassed. what kind of person, like snoop dogg, would shoot a president on a video and leave it up? or carry the severed head of the president? murder.alking about this is total insanity. the democrats on the left became unhinged. i don't know why anyone would even think of voting for democrats the way these people are acting. they are tyrants. they are not politicians, these people are bullies, and they need to be stopped. host: from fond du lac, wisconsin, good morning. caller: my comment is i listened to the guy that just called, and i want to know who he listens to, because i'm listening to what trump says and his supporters say. this has to stop. saysnot believe when trump

he is calling for americans to unify, he doesn't want americans to unify. he has his base and that is all he cares about. what happened recently -- his andorters better wake up get him out of that white house, out of that oval office, because we have to have some sanity in this country. to blame it on the democrats is totally insane. they better stop listening to fox, because that is where it is coming from. hannity is a right-winger. host: anthony, good morning. everyoneood morning, all over the world. what mosttrump, americans do to unify? i would ask the president to

research new 10's 3 laws -- motion. three laws of the most important is the third law. for every action in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction. i was dropping off some food for my share of steam yesterday, and i shared a few things as we discussed what. is going --in the world i said discussed what is going on in the world. i said we as people of absorbency need to stop listening to the television and start listening to the radio. when we see something and hear about it, it has a different reaction than if we just hear about it. what are your questions? host: let's go to daniel from bellevue, florida. caller: i'm honored to follow

your previous color. god bless sir isaac newton. newton always said he didn't invent the calculus, he discovered the calculus. i could not have said it better, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. i did not know it was the third law of thermodynamics. i'm glad this came to a quick conclusion and there are no conspiracies involved other than there is a sick man out there. if i were his defense attorney, i would plead dementia. beyond that, if i can say parenthetically, i endorse c-span. i feel honored to speak to y'all. to thesolutely opposed idea of cameras in the supreme court. i know that has nothing to do with nothing, but after this

kavanaugh fiasco, why on earth would you want to perpetuate? thank you, so very much. host: william from baker city, oregon. you are on the air. caller: ok. except have a lot to say in 75 years i have learned something. toood leader should be able , but not be disagreeable. the unity the president is talking about is the kind where we disagree but are not disagreeable. dialogue is important. that is all i got to say. you, i've never done this before. i like your show.

host: president obama called on trump's call for unity. [video clip] i am hoping you think it is wrong to hear people spend years, months, vilifying people. questioning their patriotism. calling them enemies of the people. then suddenly you are concerned about civility. please. by the way, we don't need more sayymouthed politicians who they are disappointed by this bad behavior, but don't do anything about it and go along with it. we need leaders that will stand up for what is right regardless of party. leaders who will fight for you and what is that in the american spirit. up fors who will stand

anyone whose fundamental rights are at stake whether it is your health care or your kids being bullied in school because their last name is different, or your neighbor being harassed because of who they love. host: mark from newport news, virginia. caller: hi there. yet theyt for unity, are inflicting all of the hate speech. "they" you aree talking about? caller: all the president trump's critics. kathy griffin, the clintons, the florida.he democrat in all of the bombs were fake. they were all fake bombs. look at the bumper stickers on his truck, those are lithographs. this was preplanned. the whole thing. wake up, america.

host: you disagree when the fbi said yesterday they were not fake bombs? caller: the same sources the day before said they were. they are liars. they are part of the problem. host: manchester, tennessee. good morning. caller: good morning. i was really disappointed after the president came out and talked about unity and stuff, th juste news media, again, brought negativity. i thought this will be the one thing that will calm people down. i know the republicans have done n, but if you cut off the president's head --it is

fake, but someone should be picked up for that. they should spend jail time for something like that. bombing the white house, madonna, these people are out of control. there are not reasonable. everyone has a right to believe what they believe. most of us probably fall in the middle between liberal and conservative. i think the majority of americans probably are. ,his is just out of control because there is no respect for each other and the office of the president. i am really disappointed about how it turned out. calhoun,ry from fort nebraska. caller: good morning. let me take my speakerphone off. yes, hello? host: keep going.

this problem has happened for over 25 years now. i can remember watching the news, someone from the media or democratic party calling me a gotist, big it, home -- big , homophobe, xenophobia. when you watched the media when i was a little kid in the 1960's, walter cronkite, the media would never act like this. we knew they were liberal, but they did not push their agenda, their propaganda, they told it straight. like when the tea party was going, it was peaceful protest. they didn't destroy things.

not like the democratic protest where they burn buildings, overturned cars, went after people violently. you never see republicans rioting in the streets and burning things down, stuff like that. ok, you calls, -- me a racist and i am laughing it but after 25 years you can push people just so far and they just want to react. i think the media has to cool its jets or they are going to get someone killed. cnn and msnbc are going to get someone killed if they don't cool their jets. host: at a department of justice press conference attorney general jeff sessions and fbi director christopher wray were asked about the possible

motivations of the mail bomber. [video clip] >> why was he targeting democrat? s? a.g. sessions: i don't know. he appears to be a partisan, but that would be determined by the facts as the case goes forward. i'm not able to comment. >> is he cooperating? : we will not be discussing the investigation at this time. >> what role might the rhetoric have played and is that giving you more work? wrey: we are focused on the work of men and women in law enforcement and the work done over the last week should make every american proud and grateful. it is too early for us to be discussing motivation in this case.

>> are you concerned the nasty political rhetoric might motivate someone predisposed to violence to act out? wrey: we are concerned making axa violence under any motivation. host: let's go to kevin. good morning. caller: how are you doing? i have been listening to your callers talking about unity, but you can point fingers at the media all you want. arenews and sean hannity just as guilty. rush limbaugh has been spewing hate for 20 something years. i remember when he had a tv show in the morning in the 1990's spewing out hate. they don't like the muslims, the

gays, who do the people on the right like? we had cable news during world war ii, we may not have even won the war. i'm bouncing around, i'm a little nervous. i would love to see america be unified. i believe it starts with the man in the white house. he is the leader of this e.untry, and he spews out hat he gets his crowd into a frenzy. a manhard to understand like president trump in the white house. i wish the united states would be unified. i really love this country, and i've lived here 53 years. an american all my life. god bless, everybody. host: sherry, good morning. caller: i wanted to comment that the democrats in the media think

they are completely blameless for this division, they better think again. they got the country so divided. i am independent i vote independent. after what they did to kavanaugh, the hush-hush behind the scenes, i will vote straight republican and probably will from here on out until the democrat party can get it together. host: barry, fort lauderdale, florida. caller: i am a little disturbed with people. the total saying the nazi propaganda minister said, if you tell a lie over and over people will believe it. the founding fathers, when they formed -- they left england, one of the most important things they said, bill of rights, freedom of the press.

they realized without a free press you have a dictatorship. 's continue badmouthing and calling journalists the enemy of the people is riling up a lot of americans. this shows you the hatred and bigotry was beneath the surface. he has made it mainstream. he is the orchestra leader conducting the orchestra. people saying there is" blame, blaming-- equal blame, democrats and journalists, they are in denial of the facts. people don't want to face reality. they have alternative facts. i don't know where this will journalistsifying is what you have in dictatorships. it is one of the first things dictators or autocrats do in russia or turkey, what they did in cuba, is go after the free

press.without a free press we are nothing more than a dictatorship. host: after calling for the country to unified, president trump commented on the media's role. here is what president trump had to say. [video clip] pres. trump: the media has a major role to play whether they want to or not. [booing] they do indeed have a major role to play as far as tone and everything. [applause] we all say this in all

sincerity, but the media's constant, unfair coverage, deep hostility, and negative attacks -- you know this -- only serves to drive people apart and undermine healthy debate. an example, we have seen effort by the media in recent the actions of one individual to score political points against me and the republican party. [booing] when a bernie sanders supporter tried to murder congressional republicans and severely wounded a great man named steve scalise and others, we did not use that heinous attempt at mass murder for political gain, because that would have been wrong. it would have been the wrong thing to do.

many other examples could be brought up. nor do we blame the democrat party every time radical leftists destroy public property and unleash violence and mayhem. from let's go to linda ohio. caller: good morning. the inability to have dissent is what is fueling this. if we don't agree, then what we say -- not only what we say is invalidated, the person is invalidated, the group is invalidated. the president has only served to increase that divide. it started before his election, and now it is living and working out in every spectrum of american life. in workplaces, in restaurants,

and in every spectrum of american life our president has caused us to not have any ability to dissent and still be civil. we have always had that. we had the ability even through dissent.s there was the incivility now i've never seen in my lifetime, and it is growing rapidly, and it is making us as a people much worse off. host: what you think we can do to change the conversation? caller: we have to have the ability to speak and not be vilified. and to teach. we have always been able to say this hurts me, this bothers me, and this is why. we are no longer saying that. we invalidate the people. the people, the lifestyle,

theever it is we decimate entire group and attach it to a person and not the concept or what is behind it. if i'm a christian and i don't cannotith abortion, i agree with abortion and love people, love women. i can even have both opinions that they have the right to choose. i don't think we have that ability, we don't believe we have that ability to understand both sides of anything any longer. i can honestly be a woman and understand why people are against abortion, and understand stil why womenl have the right to choose. that is totally lost in our society now. host: connie, good morning. caller: thanks for having me.

linda to know that i appreciate some of her views. my point that i would like to msnbc, if they would cover all of the news instead of just of the parts they like, i think some democrats would understand why republicans are so hurt. i am an independent and more moderate. i don't think people give us any credit -- i think we are the common sense party. we listen to both and try to on ther own minds up good and bad of each. lately we have been out trying to choose the lesser of evil. there have been many times prior to president trump when under the obama administration people i am having trouble pulling upwards for it. beat for people were

wearing a trump hat. stones and hit with rocks trying to get into a political rally. we have folks that are calling themselves antifa, when they are the fascists. people don't know what socialism really is, but it is different, so they jump on the bandwagon. we need to teach all history. it is not right. back off, let this man have a chance. let other ideas have a chance. listen to each other. i have been unfriended and blocked on facebook for having a different political view by people i've known for 40 years. the world is circling the drain,

and trump didn't do it. thank you for letting me have this moment. thank you for what you're trying to do to get everyone out there. we need to listen. we need to listen and remember it is not about race. it is the human race. if we don't stick together -- what do they say? united we stand, divided we are going to fall. what is out there may not be perfect, but we got it better than anybody else. host: good morning. caller: i think you are a great host. i and shaking. it is what our country has gone through. i do blame obama. during the last 8 years how he divided this country starting with his trayvon martin, the

michael brown hands up don't shoot, that was black lives matter. -e-s, all based on a fake story. i feel side for people who becauseo cnn and msnbc these people have brainwashed you for decades. john is also a host and brings up topics, but can we bring up the fact that obama was our first gay, black muslim. why do you think he pushed the whole transgender thing? michelle obama is not a woman. she is a man and that is not their kids. we have been duped. host: good morning. caller: i'm calling to say, when

i put the news on it is like halloween 24/7. i see wolf blitzer, joe cuomo, the, chris view, sports, everyone is talking politics. when you put on television, you want to watch a game, a variety show, it turns into politics. the things they say is unbelievable. i can't believe how they get away with it. trump has the right to retaliate. even ted turner, who started cnn, he said cnn is getting away from the news. it is disgusting what is going on. host: you said trump has the right to retaliate. what do you mean by "retaliate." him,r: with they say about

you come back and say it about them. when he says cnn is fake news, he is right. i watch different stations to get an idea, and i can't believe the things coming out of their mouths. they never talked about any president like that, not even nixon. they loved obama. that woman forgot about the cambridge police when they called him stupid. that was the start of the division. host: we have seen incivility at its worst this week. we must not let our political disagreements get to a point of violence. we have another tweet from a think aho says, i call for unity is the right thing. let's try to come together. julie from pennsylvania. good morning. caller: good morning.

my comment about unity is you can't have unity when you have these 3 people speaking. clinton, we can't be civil. holder, kick them when they are low. get up in their face. i wonder if they would say these things if steve scalise was in the room. they are taking the lead. thank you for listening. host: ed from anaheim, california. caller: unity is not supposed to be part of what we are made of. an founding fathers set up adversarial system. first off, the other lady was right. fight.arely starts a is courteous until someone picks a fight with him. it shocks them when he fights back. if you want to point fingers, go

back to bozo obama. if you disagreed with obama, you were a racist. we're tired of being called racist.we are not racist just because we disagree. our system was designed to be adversarial. the only thing i can unify us is another pearl harbor or 9/11. i heard stories from my older relatives about when pearl harbor, all of the bickering disappeared and everyone was unified. the day after 9/11, even in the horrible cutthroat driving in southern california, suddenly everyone was driving slower. if someone had a blinker, everyone slow down to let the person in. they did not cut them off. my point is our founding fathers designed our country to be adversary, because the

alternative is a monarchy or totalitarianism where you cannot have a difference of opinions. but all of the physical violence, i observed it. even as people really hated bush, no one really got physically violent about it. and ifzo obama came in, you disagreed with obama or a democrat you were a racist. i am tired of being called a racist. having grown up in the streets of camden, new jersey, i can tell you no other group of are gleefully, more violently racist in the african-american community in the 1970's. beingtting tired of called a racist if you disagreed with the way obama tried to do things. because of there

way people were being treated if you disagreed with obama. i am sorry, i'm getting upset. i will hang up and listen. bellevue, from illinois. caller: i would like to see what the trump supporters think about the white nationalists being arrested on the east coast and west coast for violence against people protesting. they don't seem to acknowledge that. my other comment is i would like to see trump's for certificate, because i think -- birth certificate, because i think he was probably born in russia. tin might be his father. host: violence cannot be the answer. on everyone tol

condemn the terror attacks and return to civility to help heal our nation. political differences aside, we are all americans first and foremost. jonah, good morning. caller: good morning. happy saturday. it is distressing to hear these rolors, because -- these calle , because i can hear there is a disconnect. you can hear the rhetoric in the campaigns, the valleys that trump is holding. you did not feel this hostility when obama was president, or even bush or clinton. sense ofg get the harmful energy in the real world. we are all saying the media is to blame for this.

when? example. for when obama was president, i read and heard all sorts of things. that he was a demon muslim. now, this man was treated way worse. this is exactly what trump deserves. he has been an actor. didn't have much of a is this bottle except for scheming -- of a business model except for scheming. says,nstitution even treasonous against the united states. he is inciting violence even against the democrats. even against people on tv.

we have never seen anything like this before in our country. to continue blaming previous presidencies, previous know, this is you what our country has been cizing. fanati what are they going to do when they grow up and see their parents in the background ies and saying who are we for voting for something like this? i will leave it like this. this is how dictators take power. host: diane, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my

call. i am shocked. maybe not shocked anymore. i hear these callers calling in and defending trump. he has already divided the country. i don't even know if we can come back together. i feel like sometimes when i'm listening to the news, i feel like this is maybe germany before hitler. trump is trying to turn this country upside down -- he has turned us upside down. he is constantly referencing president obama, who really brought us together. who really try to unify. who gave us health care. these people are trying to take, the republicans and trump are taking away the health care. they are giving tax benefits to the rich.

they are working with the russians, working with our enemies, turning a blind eye to murderous saudi arabia. flabbergasted that seemingly intelligent people are listening to his rhetoric and believing. fake news? really? fake news. fake news. i am terrified of what is happening. the protesters, this woman was modwed down in a protest by a car. these people are out of control. they arethe reason out of control. he has damaged our country to your verbally. i pray to god someone can talk

sense into this man, that maybe he has a change of heart. this is an america i don't recognize anymore. there is the hatred, the division, and the divisiveness is staggering. i can't even get my head around it. that is all i have to say. gerald, from louisiana, good morning. caller: i don't get what is going on. the truth is not the truth, but the lie is the truth. what is going on with america? what is going on with our constitution? thingnstitution, the same that the republicans used to stand up for, they are ripping it up. they're dividing this country.

it is like the good old days, going back to the good old days. i lived through the jim crow era. it don't make no sense, man. where trying to kill our own people with bombs? and this is acceptable? what is it going to take for the american people, the republicans, to stand up and be men, and being women? women?be this man has said so many disgraceful things about women, about grabbing them by their private parts. this is acceptable, but blowing us up is good? mean0 hours didn't nothing. the bombing in oklahoma didn't mean nothing. these people died for nothing. you have people standing up, and it don't make no sense.

host: thomas, good morning. caller: good morning. how are you today? host: just fine. go ahead. caller: capitol hill, we have democrats and republicans. then you have the american people of the land. the reason why we are divided is because nobody wants to misrepresent the documentation, which is the laws on the books. , andve laws on the books one party wants to go along with the law on the books and the other party doesn't, if the whole world operated like that that is why you have a divided country. most of the people go by the laws on the books and don't misrepresent the documentation. they don't go to jail for fraud. the politicians don't respect

the law on the books. host: let's go to deborah from south bend, indiana. good morning. caller: good morning. this,look at it is like ey do not respect the laws on the books. what happened in 2016, we had an election. voted and folks protested. we did everything we possibly could to get our candidate in there. well,t so happened, donald trump was appointed.

the president. am -- i'm not going to say tormented. i am amused at the behavior of that wetical process constitutional dealing with how we elect presidents. wee reelect president -- elect president, there is protocol. the loser is supposed to come on stage and give a concession speech. if hillary clinton do not give a concession speech and say donald

trump is the president of the ,nited states for all of us includes anything in the united states of america. i don't care what it is living and breathing, this woman has on a concession speech. that's why we fighting. wewe could have that, maybe could get on to the business of, well, what is donald trump doing? bad, or whatever. let her get out here. noate no turkey -- we ain't

turkey. host: go ahead. caller: good morning. you are on the air. go ahead. -- the lady who had illed earlier on the phone, am a baptist minister. givingas an giv the president respect for the office. you78 years old, how can

receive respect from someone when you're not giving respect yourself? what a man thinketh so is he. he is using profanity and name, notll the bad standing up for the national anthem, and the only thing he is saying is people applauding him for all these things? is going of president to talk about obama and hillary clinton? i'm not worried about obama and hillary clinton. they are not there no more. i'm worried about who is there now. they don't make sense. -- it don't make sense. host: brenda, good morning. goes, ias far as unity

agree with the previous caller. well, i am so disappointed because i am a democrat. i voted not as a democrat, republican, but as an american. if i had a choice i would've voted for john kasich. he was what the country needed at that time. we have to remember all of this division is wrong. it is wrong. we came to far as americans to conduct ourselves like this. even with the bombing, i heard previous caller's call like they didn't believe the bombing was real. a previous caller talked about 9/11. what did it take this week? for someone to die for us to come together as a country? i'm so disappointed. what i can tell everyone that is

calling and listening, we have to go back. inre not in control anything. who has faith and control in donald trump? he is not in control. god is in control. whatever destiny is going to be, that is how it is going to be. we have to set an example for others to follow. i am praying for america, because the america we have today if it does not change i do not know what will become of us. host: good morning. caller: how are you doing? host: i am fine. go ahead. caller: i am calling because of the record. -- the rhetoric. the president of the united states is supposed to be a unifier. he is supposed to be there for all the people, not just the 1%

. what i dislike is mitch mcconnell. the republican party continuously from day one when obama got into office mitch mcconnell said we will not do anything for this president. that meansd that, the american people voted him in. in by thevoted american people, same as this president, but who controls the senate and everything for the people? what obama tried to put through, the republican said no. lost, and itpeople

is still going on today. losingrican people is over and over again. it is like a dictatorship. if someone gets in front of you, whatever station where listening to, what man where listening to, after a while it becomes he is the president it has to be true. but people are not listening. stations are saying one thing. you're telling me it cannot be true. the truth is the truth. it never changes. host: san jose, california. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? i would like to say that i think trump has divided this country.

it seems like no one is any good if they do not agree with him. i would like to make a comment about the lady who called who said obama was the first gay, black, muslim and michelle was a man and that was not their children, that is the mentality of trump supporters. have a good day. host: good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. when sandersto say said this is not the support i want, we have not heard that from trump. at the white house he said unity, then went to his reality and spewed hate and division. up, andd yelled locker he did not -- lock her up, and

he did not stop them. trump is a manipulator. the lady who said she lost friends on facebook from 40 years, i'm sorry but i see it in my family, my husband's family. it has become a cold following. -- a cult following. abouthas never been unity. he ran for office because he wanted to build his brand. of course, he loves power. the caller who does not believe the fbi, that is because you have been programmed not to believe that the fbi. there is so much that i can say. i wanted desperately to support donald trump as i do every time someone gets elected that i d id not like. bush.not vote for

i could support bush until the war. bush was not a hateful man. we have never had a hateful man until donald trump. please, wake up. from new jersey. good morning. caller: i was calling to let you know, i am listening to this divisive talk. ess of thisven country came before oh obama was in office -- before obama was in office. it came from back when we had slavery right up to today. our churches, our youth are being gunned down in the streets, being killed. the first thing they do is look at our youth and say he smoked a joint at three years old. these other kids are going out

here and shooting up churches parties and up everything else. they say they are troubled youth. the divisiveness has not come from obama. obama told the truth. now they're looking at him and they are calling his wife a man, calling him gay. so what if he was. that has nothing to do with your reaction and the way you have been treating us for the last 200 years. if you treated us equally and fairly we would not have black lives matter, the naacp, any of this. the reason why these programs are in effect is because they are a reaction to your action. that's all i got to say. don't overlook the fact that you guys created this problem, not us wil.

>> good morning. caller: i have listened to all of your callers. they all put the trump supporter down.r i went to five rallies of donald trump. i did not like hillary clinton. in the service and i did not like what happened in benghazi. all hatred that has come out of every supporter of the democrats. hate. with everything donald trump comes out and says? no. i used to be a democrat voter. now i am a republican voter will stop i'm going independent. hatred.l maxine waters, get up in their face. what would happen if some of

your listeners were in a restaurant and i would get up in their face and run their kids out of a restaurant. how would they like cory booker, go to a senator, get in their face? i would like a caller to tell me when they heard donald trump say that. he has not. does he put hillary down? yes, that is politics. bush down ran, he put to no end. that's ok. it was his job to win the office. butd not like bush either, that is ok. it is politics. they're doing it now for governor or mayor. debates youf the guys give. gilre in florida, look at

lum and desantos. your callers need to know that. it is not just donald trump. look at melania. theye ellen degeneres show tweeted out something about malani at. wallonia has done nothing to elania. -- about milani melania has done nothing to that woman. they worry about what she wears. how would they like people to do that to the obama or bush family. host: good morning. caller: good morning. i tried for the longest to get through on the other line. they have it blocked. callers 10 republican back to back. as a matter of fact, i know the

only reason i got through is because i called on the republican line. i know that you don't say anything, but they talk about, supposehost: let me tell you 'e doing regional lines. caller: i know. i get that. lines, ifo regional you do not let a democrat through, you get all republicans. you know what you are doing. i know it is not fair. watch msnbco not and cnn. what do you get when you watch box? a lot of crazy people. i watched msnbc last night for the first time in two months and mpve seen a group called tru

and they were beating people and breaking their ribs. you will not show that. you let these people say the democrats are antifa, what ever that means. they get out in the street and burn things. his own group, they are wearing his shirt, they carry his flag and you know that. i know you know that and it is not fair. this c-span is an extension of fox. it always has been. host: let us go to colorado. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. thank you for c-span. in problem stems from back the white house when roger ailes worked there. tv idea was to create a gop

and then he went to work for i think thech and prime minister of australia just wrote a piece in the newspaper complaining about australian politics getting so out of order news, the right organ where the politicians are afraid to speak befor fear they will by murdoch's propaganda organ. the reason brexit passed in england was a lot to do with putin.'s empire and

here, a thing going on cult of personality has formed got bigox news and fox back when limbaugh was going strong on radio. to this day, there are no liberal talkers on a.m. radio. hate radio takes up 90% of the spectrum on the am frequency. is, it is all a thing got all thesee breitbart,ones and real extreme right wing stuff and people watch this because fox news stimulates their

confirmation bias. it tells them what they want to hear rather than getting a full diet of news, like listening to .bc and democracy now a full spectrum of everything. they like that confirmation bias because it tells them they are doing the right thing, whether or not they are. religion into it and they have created god in their own image. if their religion is not creating love, it is not religion. it is not a good religion. mark twain said it best. he said it is easier to fool people than to convince them they happen fool. host: coming up next, with health care major concern for midterms, we look at the future experts,ith two

michael cannon of the cato institute and frederick isasi of families usa. harrellp later, peter will discuss his recent piece on the u.s. use of sanctions and how to prevent overuse. first, this week on newsmakers, newsmakers interviewed kim phillips of american prosperity. discourse inut campaigns and general. deteriorated without question and i can tell you. we have looked at every ad that we have done in recent years and every digital ad and we are working to have a different tone and manner. you can disagree on important issues in a civil way. we think that is important so we're trying to hold ourselves to a higher standard. it is a bad state at this point.

i can tell you, one thing we are doing when we look at who to support, i mentioned it earlier, we look at the tone they take. we want people who try to bring the country together and that is one criteria. it is are they leading, genuinely leading on the k-1's -- key ones? do they try to bring americans together and not use rhetoric we are seeing too much on all sides now. is it possible with the leader of the republican party? >> we have said before that the president goes too far. at the same time, folks on all sides go too far. some of the rhetoric and the kavanaugh hearings was extreme. -- in the kavanaugh hearings was extreme. it did not have a place in the supreme court setting or any

political or government setting. there is plenty to go around. the president out and said, let us have a different tone. we are called out chuck schumer, folks across the board and we try to hold ourselves to a higher standard. that is part of it, saying if you're in this arena, whether you are a member of congress or the president or in the administration or an outside group, start at home and make sure the way you are carrying yourself sets the right standard. our network is trying to do that. this weekend on american history tv on c-span3, tonight at 8:00 eastern, university of delaware professor tiffany gill on the role of african-american women in the civil rights movement. at 10:00 p.m. eastern, the 1960 8 p.m. broadcast the nixon answer in michigan.

on sunday, the 30th anniversary of the tenement museum. at 8:00 on the presidency, former first lady barbara bush's grandchildren reflect on her life and legacy. "washington journal" continues. are talking about health care in the midterm elections with michael cannon of the cato institute. what will health-care be? it is -- is that one of our top topics? >> it is. gets surprise bills you that you were not expecting. makerats are trying to health care a top issue by emphasizing protections for people with pre-existing conditions. there is a fight over who is going to protect people better.

frederick isasi, what do you think? is this what we're talking about? >> it is. families usa has been around for 40 years and our mission is to ensure that health and health care are equally accessible to every family. folks in the state, folks nationally, this is the number one issue. families are having a terrible time affording health care and they want to make sure elected officials are creating a system and to afford it and have financial security. host: which party is going to benefit more for the midterm elections? >> the polling is clear. the american people are concerned the republican leadership and the president have taken many steps to

undermine the ability of americans to get affordable health care and coverage. it is the number one issue and it is the thing that is going to drive voters to be paul. host: -- to the polls. host: do you agree? democrats have been able to use obamacare to their advantage for several cycles. to repeal it,led they're having a harder time. iron he is-- the even though democrats are trying to make previous conditions their issue, they did hold a vote in the senate where they voted for a bill that would have thrown people out of health insurance and left them with no insurance. they call that a vote to protect people with pre-existing conditions and the media reported it that way. the legislation would have medicaleople with

conditions out of their insurance and left them with no insurance for up to nine months or more. host: is the future of the affordable care act still up in the air? is that what people are voting on or is that a done deal? let me say, i admire michael. he knows a lot about what is going on. that vote was not about throwing people off of their coverage. democrats and republicans voted against it because they did not want to allow insurance companies to play tricks. in terms of this election, i want to give you a few stats. this is not a democratic issue. we work across the country and what we know is that 44% of the public are saying they do not go see a doctor when they need care

because they cannot afford it. that is not a democratic issue, not a republican issue. that they cannot get medical care because it interferes with their ability to pay for housing, basic necessities. that is a crisis. that is about what families in this country need. it is time for officials to address that. host: you have a response? michael: i agree. i respect him. the families usa care about this issue. we have different perspectives about how to address these needs. the cato institute published a waysthat details all the the u.s. taxpayer and consumer gets overcharged for health care.

nothing that anyone is talking about in congress right now is going to address problems. colleagues emphasized that if you want to get the prices down and bring health care within the reach of people struggling to afford it now, you need to make the consumer conscious. the wrong people are spending money so there not careful about how they are spending it. if we gave that money to consumers, you would see falling prices. there is example after example of this happening. brings how we're going to health care within the reach of the people we're talking about. no one is talking about those sorts of changes. host: let us let our callers get involved in this conversation. if you want to get involved, we

going to open up special lines. have affordable care act insurance, we want you to call (202-748-8000. if you are on employer insurance, we want you to call (202) 748-8001. if you are uninsured, we want you to call (202) 748-8002. if you do not fit in those categories, we want you to call (202) 748-8003. you can always get in contact with us on social media on and on facebook at facebook.com/cspan. will the fact that republicans , orrolled the house democrats controlling the house make a difference with health care in congress? i have to say i could

not disagree more with michael. i agree on his point on health care costs. and there iswork work going on around the country trying to bring costs down. this question of the election is clear. the last year and a half, president trump and leadership have done many things to undermine the quality of health insurance that families are getting. like toe done things create the ability of insurance companies to start playing games again. this is the ability to do things like say you have cancer, i'm going to charge you more or not give you coverage. these are key issues. today, it is clear republican leadership is going to go after medicaid program -- medicare programs. health care is the center of this election. it is important that the

american people left their voices and tell officials they deserve high quality health care and financial security. nobody should lose everything they worked for because they get sick. the difference is not that one side is compassionate, the other is not. they have different views about how to make health care more affordable, more secure. say you canhe act issue a government guarantee that says you have health insurance. harder to deliver on that guarantee and make that care accessible. there are examples of the affordable care act plans $43000-$45000 a year for people who do not get any

subsidy. the most popular provisions, the pre-existing provision conditions, penalize care for the sick and force insurance companies to make coverage for the sick worse. there is research that shows that is what is happening for patients with expensive illnesses. andrage is getting worse opponents of the actor saying no system is perfect but the one we had before the affordable care act, where people bought directly from insurance companies, that made health insurance more secure for people with high cost conditions. did the government come in and get rid of the less secure? the government outlawed the kind of insurance the provided more secure coverage.

that was what the trump administration tried to bring back with rules about short-term --ns, which was the vote which was what the vote dealt with. have something that exists alongside the affordable care act. if you want that secure type of health insurance, you could buy it. , youu cannot afford that can enroll in the affordable care act. betweenhe differences -- difference is between how do we make health care better and more affordable and not one side wants to do that. frederick: to be clear, the example is terrible. that is extreme. it happens in virginia, one of the worst markets in the

country. the reason it happened is and therepublicans trump administration were doing things to create instability, stop paying stubs of these -- subsidies. they stopped seeing payments to make sure coverage was affordable. the insurance companies pulled out of the market and only one was left. they said this. they said the reason we're doing this is because of the uncertainty being created. it drove premiums up. there have been efforts over the last 18 months to make premiums unaffordable. that people who were ill before the affordable were affordable. you cannot charge people more because they have been sick.

they are doing better under the affordable care act. before the affordable care act , americans declared bankruptcy. this is a statistic that captured -- about 80% had health insurance and the insurers did not provide them financial security. that is what this is about. no family should be paying premiums and they get sick and get stuck with a bill they cannot afford. insurance should provide security. that is what people look at. are going to make sure you get subsidies and coverage that is affordable and everyone participates so all of us together putting money into a pool. that is the key. there are examples where states are doing that and coverage is affordable and comprehensive. host: quick response.

are due toe premiums affordable care act provisions. those are the drivers. those are the provisions that penalize quality coverage for sick. prior to the affordable, insurance companies provided that allow people to pay premiums even after they fell ill. it provided security there was more secure than employer-sponsored insurance. like your plan, you would be able to keep it. that was not true. the plans available before the affordable care act were outlawed. that is what opponents were trying to bring back. if they cannot repeal the act, they want to provide insurance. host: let us lead america join this conversation.

we start with kentucky. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm a vietnam veteran. i go to a va hospital. the v.a. has not improved. chief does notin act like [indiscernible] veterans quit -- who quit going to the v.a. and said the v.a. is so bad when you go to the hospital, they act like they do not care about the veterans. thank you. host: how will this affect veterans? i want to say, thank you for your service.

what has happened is unforgivable. theirfolks have given lives in service to the country and we are doing a terrible job providing health care. we are fighting hard to make sure you get the care you need. there are points to make. the struggle with the veterans health care is the fact that to fightr, they have with congress to get funding. the reason the system does not work is because there is not enough funding to support needs. every year, they have to fight for it. they geto make sure the care they need by changing the way we pay for it. there are examples around the country of veterans who enroll in coverage, coverage created through the in portable care act , that gives them the ability to get affordable care. an example of the kind of person

who we're trying to make sure has high quality coverage. michael: i think the problem is worse. thank you for serving our country. wish we were doing better by veterans. the v.a. is the homegrown version of the british national health service. it is government run, whether the government provides such .nsurance all the employees are employees of the government. this is the ideal of people who want a single-payer system. performance -- the problems that frederick is talking about our problems that showed up yesterday. these are problems that are persistent, of waits for care that have gone on.

it is not getting enough funding. is veterans care an issue in this election? i do not think so. that is the short shrift this program gets. are some things the veterans health administration does well. there are a lot of things it does poorly. the worst part is they congress does not pay the bills. -- is that congress does not pay the bills. , we willcome disabled take care of you through the v.a. we will provide you the care you need. congress makes that commitment when you accept the commission. it does not fund that until the bill comes due. when congress is trying to make ,ecisions should we go to war

should we authorize the use of military force, there is this huge cost. the cost of veterans care is one of them. road for it down the years. instead of funding that cost up from. if congress had to fund that up -- they wouldd be be more reluctant to engage in military ventures we have seen in recent decades and we would not stay in military conflicts as long as we have. the problem is that the way congress funds it creates more veterans. it makes us more willing to go to war. host: a response? frederick: we need to fund the veterans health care system. s an example of a

block grant. there is another program called medicare. it is the most popular program. that is government run. the second popular program is medicaid. that is government run. michael is picking the most difficult example, the veteran system, starved for funding, and saying that represents government health care. said that 70%ts of our families believe the government should get involved and make sure health care is affordable. it is too complicated for families to navigate on their own. most of the spending is in the last couple of years of life where you have complex care. it might be your mom, inpatient. consumers -- this

idea, let consumers bear the financial risk. , youyour doctor tells you should send your mom to this hospital, you do it. we need the government to help, not to take over, but to help families navigate the system. host: let us go to ohio. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i want to touch on a few things. the affordable care act is a lifesaver. it keeps families from going bankrupt. the pre-existing conditions is a must. that keeps us covered like a blanket. anytime you want to do away with things like that, you get back to the old system where you get make-believe coverages that companies are supposed to beginning you and each year they keep going up. the republicans are all about the money.

they are wiping out pre-existing conditions so they can get a benefit. have ahe republicans bill on the table trying to liquidate the affordable care act. they keep playing these games where they tell you they're trying to help you and rob you on the other end. if you listen to this conversation by these republicans, you end up confused. , social security, all these benefits by the government need to be reinforced. you have got this that came about. mitch mcconnell told you to your face that his next plan is to cut social security, cut these other benefits the government is doing so they can compensate for

this tax break. you keep playing these games that the republicans keep telling you we are helping you but we also put money in our pockets. two dollars for them, one dollar for us. it is obvious. wake up. look them in the eye and tell them, tell me the truth and stop giving me soundbites. thank you. host: michael? ,ichael: one of the responses there is this interesting to wo-step. we have the veterans health administration. it russians care. there are -- it rations care. it has a terrible reputation. say, everybody likes medicare.

medicare is unaffordable. frederick knows medicare is unaffordable. the prices are high. it is the main driver of our growing deficit, the debt. medicare penalizes quality care. number 3 -- the number three cause of preventable death in the united states is errors. it penalizes health-care care providers if they reduce errors. we wonder why we have 400,000 people dying every year from medical errors. the choices, do you want and unaffordable program that punishes quality care or do you want a more affordable program that punishes quality care question mark people deserve -- quality care? people deserve another choice.

the choice of a health care sector that makes health care better. we see those things happening at the same time. the reason they happen in other sectors and not health care is because in other sectors, the consumer has the freedom to control her decisions and producers have the freedom to compete to offer her something better. we do not have the freedoms and health care now and that is why prices keep rising. that is why quality is not what and the quality is so poor, it is deadly. is adequate toit the challenges we are facing to say do not focus on the liabilities of the system. you have to look at the benefits and the costs of all systems.

the market system outperforms any government system. say, i thinkwould michael and i agree on a lot of things. we are troubled about the quality of care people are receiving. you think that medicare is unaffordable, take a look at what is happening to employer-sponsored coverage. rates are going up faster. in some cases, it is 600% of what medicare plays -- pays. understand, we have a problem but medicare is not the heart of it. we have an inefficient system that is not caring for families. to the point about that this idea that somehow america's families will do better if you let insurance companies charge them more if they been sick, exclude the things they might get sick with,

nobody wants that. we believe the same thing. in his home state, the plans that michael is talking about, plansalf of these special that the president has allowed to be sold, over have to not cover mental health services. third have no -- provide no substance abuse disorder treatment. about one third provide no prescription drug coverage. none of them offer maternity care. you buy coverage and figure out, are you going to need mental health coverage care services, maternity care? that is an unfair position to put families and. they should be able to get real coverage and have financial detections.

-- financial protections. this is an interesting illustration of the differences. frederick complains they do not cover mental health care. half of them do. frederick does not want you to have the choice to turn down coverage. we see fights here in washington over what kind of coverage people should have to buy. decides whatrnment kind of coverage you have to of, it violates principles catholics and others who do not want to buy contraceptive coverage. the government is forcing people to do that. the new rules that the that they issued is give people the freedom to choose whether to buy comprehensive coverage or catastrophic, whether to buy contraceptive coverage or not. reflectth plans

preferences. if you want mental health coverage, you can. what frederick wants to do is take that choice away and that is what makes health care unaffordable. when the government makes decisions, every health care provider lines up, makes campaign contributions, gets your member of congress to take away that choice for you. host: let us go to denise from new jersey. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. this, weike to say have been debating these issues over and over, regardless of who gets in office. the major thing is congress. we do not need congress. we can do this ourselves. we do not need campaign donors. it is ridiculous, from housing, to medicaid.

they have gutted every program. all of these members are corrupt. there are $23 trillion unaccounted for from hide and the army. -- from hud and the army. this is our congress. our congress has sold us out. there might be maybe five of them that will stand up and do anything for you. that is how bad it is. they have the power of the purse. they passed the dod budget for 2019. they went behind closed doors. there is no accountability. scandal under obama, do you know what that cost -- scandal under obama, do you know what that cost? and the opioid crisis, it is not new.

the billions they have spent for the past 10 years , none of it works. it is not meant to. the mental health and the programs, it is to make money. for the insurers, the hospitals, the pharmaceuticals. look it up. every plan they have for the opioid crisis does not work. it has been in place for 10 years. look it up. host: your response? frederick: thank you for the call. we cannot agree more. we have a crisis. our system is not working. that is what we are hearing. think about what has happened. trillionending $3.3 every year on health care, more. over $10,000 per man,

woman, child in this country. it is not working. what michael was saying about that you should be able to choose if you want prescription coverage. all, i do not think there is any color out there or outfamily -- any caller there or any family who trusts insurance companies are going to give you good information for you understand what is in that policy. for decades, we lived under this. the notion that the insurance company is going to be clear and help you understand this is not the experience of families. secondly, the idea that you in advance i'm going to get hit by a bus is not the way health care is needed or used in this country.

we need to make sure americans have access to high-quality, affordable coverage that protects them financially. one of the best examples now is in massachusetts. the lowest premiums in the country because you have a state working across the aisle, doing a good job with managing the insurance market, reaching out to people, getting people enrolled. they have got a vibrant level of coverage and they spread risk in a becomes affordable for all families. -- risk and it becomes affordable for all families. host: your response? michael: it makes premiums lower by taxing. they're shifting the premium to taxpayers in one way or another. agree that we do not need

congress involved in health care. when it does get involved, the price goes up and the quality goes down. , are youion is not able to predict what you need? of course you are not. i agree with frederick. before the affordable care act, people did not have the experience of insurance companies competing to operate better deal. why is that? -- offer a better deal. why is that question mark congress -- why is that? congress. it is a government program. a tax code andd said either you give your employer earnings and let them choose your health plan or we are going to tax you. when someone else gets to make your health decision, that is a

government program. and i would like to see opponents of the affordable care act would like to see is what i mentioned, where consumers get andontrol their decisions where insurance companies have the freedom to compete to offer a better deal. if some insurance company is not being honest, that is an opportunity for another company to offer me a better deal and be more honest. they will do better. i have a colleague who likes to say insurance companies like to do anything for money. host: let us go to pennsylvania. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to thank you for taking my call. i appreciate what you do to inform the public. first of all, we have a son who has had kidney cancer.

he is on the affordable care act and my husband and i pay for his insurance from pennsylvania. blue cross blue shield offers excellent -- offers a excellent plan. it costs us less than a thousand dollars a year for coverage. i would like to -- less than $8000 dollars a year for coverage. disingenuous when he points out the v.a. is equivalent to the national healthcare system in england. if this gentleman is representing his organization, he must be aware there are different forms of universal coverage. we have the insurance mandate in the united states which equals what is in massachusetts. there is a form of england, the v.a. system. we see in form

germany, france, and switzerland, who have better outcomes than we see here. if we're going to have an intellectual discussion about health care, we have to start with being honest. suggest that mr. cannon, when he points out the flaws of the the a system, he looks at other countries who are successful -- of the v.a. system, he looks at other countries who are successful. we take care of those who are most bondable, who cannot access health care. i go to our philosophical and moral basis. host: a response? calling thank you for and i hope your son is getting the care he needs. i am glad he is able to get that. you are right that there are different kinds of universal coverage. in the united states, we have about every kind there is.

we have a single-payer government run system. we have a system where the government pays the bills directly, that is medicare. we have a system, medicaid advantage. -- medicare advantage. like germany, we have an employer-based system the government created. all of theset systems, what you will find is what i mentioned, the quality is going down while cost is going up. ask if her son had coverage before the affordable care act and what kind? an example of quality going down is when the government created this employment-based insurance, it created a system where if you get sick and cannot work, you lose coverage. you have a pre-existing condition. the government has been making the problem of pre-existing conditions worse.

congress we are supposed to trust to make this better. congress was making this worse. innovating in order to solve that problem, to make more coverage secure. even as congress is debating the affordable care act, market innovators found a way to protect people with employer-sponsored insurance from being in a position where they lose coverage. they take off their parents plan , toomething like that provide them protection from unaffordable plea mimas -- unaffordable premiums. the affordable care act obliterated that and any hope for further innovations. quick answer?

frederick: we have so many stories about people that have the same problems michael mentioned. sponsored --oyee employer-sponsored coverage and they got sick. they lose the coverage because they cannot work anymore. we have a woman named deborah. she was a public servant. she got sick. to michael positivist point, she michael'sle care -- point, she got terrible care. it was affordable care that stopped her from losing deaths she almost lost her house -- this stopped her -- she almost lost her house. we want to make sure you get affordable coverage. or medicaid that that stopped people from losing

everything they worked for. hearing is there telling elected officials, do not take this away. we deserve this. trillion.nding $3.3 we deserve more. this woman had employer-sponsored insurance and it caused her to lose coverage when she needed it. the medicare program and the employer-based system penalized efforts to reduce medical errors. health care care is more dangerous than it needs to be. after the government does things, it injures patient after patient. i have forgotten her name. it injures patient after patient, like deborah, we are supposed to think the government for giving us the affordable care act, which is making

insurance unaffordable and reducing quality of care. there is a better way to go about this thing government program after program. host: let us go to dave from michigan. good morning. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. i want to throw something at guests.your how do we differentiate accident from health? , now wegot auto, home have health insurance. is there a way to come up with a slush fund where we can take care of these outpatient patients at a certain percentage

rate like a separate benefit? everybody ought to have an accident policy that could be spun across the board so you know you're covered. every time you want to use insurance, you do not have to take money out of your pocket. this is what is killing everybody. they might be able to pay it further insurance but they cannot afford to use it. i will hear your comments. frederick: thank you. it is one we have thought about. , one point, which is what michael said about government hurting people. it is the opposite.

we have the least amount of intervention of health care. onare at the bottom preventable medical injuries. the countries that have the government working harder are doing better when it comes to outcomes. that argument ignores the data and research. i would say, we are with you. the affordable care act created what dave is asking for. you decide, do you want coverage that covers everything or something that is going to make sure if something happens, you have got coverage. that is the different levels of coverage. yous intended to make sure pay for the level of coverage you want. the coverage michael has been ,alking about, short-term plans

that play tricks with people. unitedhealth group is selling coverage called the golden rule policy. they have a plan that says it is for catastrophic coverage. it provides coverage for one day in the hospital. if you get cancer, if you get hit by a bus, it will leave you devastated. we have to have flexibility to decide how much coverage they want. inre has to be a framework place so that when something catastrophic happens, you have protection. michael: the plans frederick is , you should have the freedom to buy a plan like you mentioned. thatnk frederick knows that is not the majority of plans on the market.

the congressional budget office is the nonpartisan authority, what they have said is they expect under these rules, the short-term plans available to consumers will be more comprehensive than they were under obama. it made short-term plans bare bone coverage. under the new rules, those plans will be more comprehensive. they will resemble plants that existed under -- before the affordable care act. ans that existed before the affordable care act. people who are hurt he those plans can stay in those plans. -- who are in those plans can stay in those plans. it gets back to what i mentioned. who should be deciding what goes

into your plan? it should be you. lots of people think it should be congress. who is going to do a better job of that? people will make mistakes if they are making decisions. when congress is making decisions, those same human beings are making mistakes that affect millions. mike is calling from new jersey. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? thanks for taking my call. your turn on the tv and i hear thingssh, people lobbing that one another. you're talking about a situation that affects every one of us. companies, they are the fly in the ointment. they are the ones who drive up

the cost of health care. for a free market argument. i know what yours is and i understand the. insurance companies are for profit. other point i would like to make about the affordable care act is when president obama did push aboard, there were flaws. -- did push it forward, there were flaws. i would like to thank you for the next going conversation. excellent conversation. frederick: thank you. you cut thethat heard of this. -- the heart of this. you cannot have a free market when you have distortions like

asymmetrical information. we do not know of this is a good hospital or bad. monopolies. prescription drug companies can charge whatever they want for drugs. these are distortions that do not allow for the free market. economist, the government has to come in and create rules. michael was talking about the idea we should make sure that employer-sponsored coverage and the quality of health care, that is government in prevention -- government intervention. we are for that. point, insurance companies now are under rules that would try to create a fair playing field. michael wants to take us back to

a time when they could play tricks on you. they could exclude coverage. that is not fair. insurance should provide financial security. host: michael? michael: government politicians play tricks. i want to thank you for your call. cost.nce does drive up you're paying for something with insurance, you are spending other people's money. insurance creates this moral hazard problem. this is a challenge that markets face. if you have a market where consumers are controlling be dollars, they keep that in check -- controlling the dollars, they keep that in check. if you are spending government money, that is why we see costs going up. one of the things i want to stress is when people have the freedom to choose their own health care and insurance, they

will have not just the choice of purchasing insurance for the plans we see now. thattalking about reforms would need to take affect before this happened. you will have the choice of , you will have the choice of enrolling in a private sector version of the veterans health administration where you get integrated care through a plan. those plans to practice safer care because incentives are lined up to do that. betweenave a choice that plan and other plans, those have to compete to offer a better product and to keep from driving up a cost the way insurance can. this is a fundamental difference of opinion between frederick and

me about who does a better job of grappling with challenges. congresspresents -- possesses some sort of -- does congress possess some sort of theial wisdom or is this same sort of asymmetries the rest of us are? does that provide a better guarantee of access to care. host: one more quick question. michael from south carolina. michael? caller: i was in the insurance business when i was young. it is a racket. they do nothing but take. they mislead people and what they have and what they do not have. i mostly get my insurance under the veterans.

i believe medicare for all is the way to go because first of all, the majority cost of medicine is doctors, insurance companies, and hospitals. and they are all linked together, and the all set the price. the people in the united states do not have the extra keys -- expertise in medicine in order to pick a liable policy for themselves, nor will the government offer it. they offer a smatter of this good thing, a smatter of this policy, and when you go to the hospital, you find out your problem isn't covered. and the insurance companies themselves are racket. doctors make five times as much as they should. hospitals are outrageous. the pharmacy companies -- it is all taking on society. taking, all predators

and taking, and they are not getting. they are bringing up this persona like they are for everybody in america. no. they are for themselves. they are greedy sob's. guest: i would say thank you, michael, for your comment. you are paying attention, sir. you are seeing things clearly. we have a system where the tail is wagging the dog, health care has become a business and is not serving the interest of american families. we need to make sure it is clear. it is not a republican or democratic issue. it.ust said we need to make sure that when families need health care, there was someone there making sure we are leveling the playing field. that prescription drug companies cannot charge whatever they want. that hospitals cannot charge whatever they want. and that people who are sick do not get charged more because they have pre-existing conditions. it is really important to say this. that is every family in this country. everybody agrees on this point.

it is time for elected officials to understand it is not a political football. republicans need to stand up for american families, and democrats who have been trying to do this, this collection is a really important one. host: michael? guest: i think the caller is right, the definition of a racket is when you sell the solution to a problem that you yourself created. the biggest racket in health care run right now was the one run by congress, where every time congress does something to make health care less affordable or less safe, the solution is always, we will give congress more power. congress says, give us more power and we will fix the problem this time. congress is not fixing the problem. we have done polling on this at the cato institute over and over again. we find that support for obamacare's pre-existing provisions starts out two to

one, but when you ask about quality of coverage, it lips. even democrats -- it slips. even democrats oppose it. guest: it sounds like our caller s agree with michael on that one. host: coming up, i weekly spotlight will look at the effectiveness of sanctions against the country. joining us will be foreign affairs contributor peter harrell. we will be right back. ♪ >> new york times best-selling author jodi pea coat -- jodi guest. is our her most recent book is a spark of light. others include small great things, the storyteller, lone wolf, less 20 more novels. she has also written five issues of the wonder woman for the

comic book series the dc comics. edition-depth fiction sunday, november 4, from noon to 3:00 p.m. eastern. be sure to watch next month on booktv, on c-span 2. ,"unday on c-span's "q&a john's mann talks about his biography of president george w. bush. >> i am not really worried about my legacy because i am still studying theodore roosevelt, or harry truman, and there will not and objective history done on this administration for a long time. >> it is not too soon to judge some aspects of his legacy. it is not too soon to judge the war in iraq. why? because it did not accomplish

what he thought it was going to accomplish before he started the war. a cost 4000 plus american lives. it cost $1 trillion. and i do not book think this judgment will change. that it was one of the biggest strategic blunders in american history. easterny night at 8:00 on c-span's "q&a." ♪ >> next week on "washington journal," we are looking at battleground states. the most competitive races of the midterm elections in minnesota, new york, california, pennsylvania, and florida. join us for our live campaign 2018. call in during "washington journal" at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. c-span, where history unfolds

daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by american cable television companies. today, we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court's, and public policy events in washington, d.c., and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. "washington journal" continues. host: our spotlight on magazine series continues with a look at a foreign affairs piece on the use of sanctions. joining us is the author, peter harrell. guest: good morning. host: define what are sanctions? guest: a sanction is an economic tool that the u.s. government, or another government, uses to achieve a foreign-policy outcome. we basically take the target of the sanction, a country like iran, russia, or an individual,

like a terrorist, and we cut them off from the international financial system and they you cannot do business with them as a way to put pressure on them to do something we want. like to clean up their act or stop attacking this or something of that nature. host: which governmental entities imposed sanctions? can they come from anywhere in the government or is there only a certain government entity can say these sanctions will be put on? guest: that is a great question. u.s. government is a complicated beast, so you will not be surprised to hear the different parts of the u.s. government are involved in this process. states, thed treasury department is primarily responsible for implementing sanctions, but the decisions are fundamentally made by the president and the state department. host: who decides whether these sanctions are effective? is there aa catch or way we can figure out, this sanction worked, but this one

did not? guest: that is an area where there isn't and a fork on. the u.s. government has 28 or 29 sanctions programs now, different countries targeted i sanctions, and i do not believe the u.s. government has published a single study in the last five years formally analyzing, is this program working or not? you see a lot of outside offers writing on that, a lot of people in the think tank working for different scholarly publications and universities, they will try to write about the question. but there actually is not a lot of systemic government analysis to that. host: you wrote in your article that the use of sanctions has exploded over the last decade. why? i think the reason we are seeing the use of sanctions explode this because we do see some anecdotal evidence they are working. i just said there isn't a lot of systematic analysis, and that is

true. but over the last 10 years, we have seen the very breath of sanctions, the first that the obama administration put on iran, have economic impacts, and we are now seeing the trump administration really in position of sanctions on iran, with real economic impacts. we saw the sanctions on russia and north korea over the last years having economic impacts. so it is not a surprising you see a tool that at least economically seems to be forwarding -- hurting the country's abilities to raise money, so the commodity resources, but policymakers are looking to do more. host: we want you to join this conversation about the article, is the u.s. using sanctions to aggressively? we will open up the phone lines. if you are a republican, called in at (202)-748-8001. democrats called (202)-748-8000.

independents, (202)-748-8002. you can always reach us on social media on twitter at atpanwj and on facebook facebook.com/c-span. this is a great question and something i am increasingly worried about. you asked me about the growing use of sanctions. we have seen a very explosive growth of stations in the last couple of years. 2017, the trump administration sanctions more than 1000 individual companies, pieces of government, and that was a new record high, but that was a growth rate that had been growing steadily the last couple of years prior to that. we had seen rapid growth and targets, and we have seen more and more countries, not just more individuals sanctions, but the number of countries been

sanctioned is growing. we have seen more sections of north korea, iran, venezuela, .urkey, yemen, russia more and more countries are being sanctions. i think we are seeing big policy impacts and benefits because of the use of sanctions, but we are also seeing more and more growing challenges and costs. there are two kinds of costs, andis short term costs, number two is potential long-term cost. an example of short-term, we imposing sanctions on iran. a lot of good reasons to do that, put pressure on them online activities they are doing around the world. if they take the oil exports off the market too quickly, you see global prices increase. and global oil prices are up since trump announced he would reimpose sanctions on iran in

may. you have to think carefully about what are the costs to us, the consumers, other countries when you are imposing more and more stations. the other risk i see is more of a long-term risk. the u.s. is able to use sanctions effectively because we control the world's financial system. almost all trade around the world conducted in dollars goes through banks in new york. that gives us enormous amounts of economic leverage around the world and benefits the u.s. economy. i do think there is a risk that if we use sanctions too aggressively, we finally create enough incentives for other countries like china and russia to get serious about creating an alternative to the u.s. financial system that might eventually erode our dominance. that is something i worry about not in 12 months, but five years, 18 years from now, i think that is a worry policymakers need to take seriously. host: let's go to jennifer from

cincinnati, ohio on the democratic line. caller: good morning. the gentleman just hit on what i was going to talk about. the way we use sanctions as a hammer to beat up on other countries. if i was the leader of a country, i would definitely create another problem for the americans and not use their money at all. i think that we are doing things wrong. we should try to get along with these countries instead of trying to destroy their financial systems. that is the way it looks like our sanctions are to me. guest: thanks for the call, and thanks for reaching out. as i was saying, i do think we need to be judicious in our use of sanctions. the world is going to want to use sanctions. a country like russia attacks ukraine, or when it attacks the election structure in the u.s., i think it is understandable land appropriate to use sanctions in a tough, but

sensible manner, to kind of hit them back in response to the attacks they have done on us. but i do think we need to be careful in how they use them, and how we use sanctions, and we need to make sure we are not using them willy-nilly around the world in a way that creates lots of incentives for these other countries to kind of extricate themselves from the u.s.-led global financial system. let's go to ste -- host: let's go to stefan in new york on the republican line. caller: good morning. i am in favor of these sanctions because we need to get tougher with people who are sponsoring terrorism, and illegal acts all around the earth. a pretty sad state that it has got to this point where people are dying in syria because we have not done what we

have needed to do for many years. i might be calling on the republican line, but i am called a humanist, who cares about others, and we need to do what we need to do, whether with russia, iran, or other players, especially to sure up our own system and defenses. it is a tough world out there, but i think we need to really put our foot down, and that is what is going on now. a different course might be needed, if that is needed, and i think the responses are showing. guest: thanks for calling in. i spent six years working at the state department a number of years ago, and i think i have to agree completely with your statement that it is a tough world out there. it is a tough world out there. there are a bunch of countries out there doing things that challenge the u.s. and our interests.

you see that with your karelia -- with north korea, and the development of their ballistic programs. you see that with russia, which we discussed. you see that with iran. you also see instances were countries, like venezuela, where in aas maduro has engaged massive campaign on repression of his own people. it might not direct the u.s. directly, but it has resulted in the assailants having to flee -- resulted in venezuelans to leave. we have to respond in a way that a short of a military intervention. in a way that does not require the u.s. to actually go and use military force. it is another reason sanctions have been so popular over the last decade or so. i talked earlier about the

efficacy of sanctions and they do have economic impacts we have seen. clearly, another reason sanctions are popular is i think policymakers are looking for a tool that lets us have an impact in a way that does not require us to use military force. sanctions kind of hit that sweet spot of something that can ost on anal c adversary but does not require us to send our young men and women into battle. host: we had a question that was tweeted to us. -- aren't sanctions an act of war? guest: [laughter] i could give a very long answer on that as an international lawyer, but i don't need to get into too much detail for the viewers. i would say generally speaking, we see sanctions used in cases where we are either not quite prepared to go to war. they are clearly a hostile acts

and used to co-hearse behavior change by a target, but we see it used in a lot of cases where we are not quite prepared to go to war, but we need to put cost on the target. the other place to seek sanctions use this kind of a long side military conflict. to give an example, something i worked on a government, isis. i think the most effective part of the u.s. government's campaign against the isis terrorist group since 2014 was military campaign. no doubt about that. all of the military strikes, and the building up of forces in iraq to fight isis, the most important part of that campaign. we also had an aggressive sanctions campaign against isis, to prevent them from selling oil. sellingnt them from looted antiquities in syria, another big piece of their revenue. in addition to being used in cases where we are not yet ready

to go to war, they can be used alongside military forces as a way of cutting off the economic toenues that adversary needs maintain their combat operations, in the case where we are actually going to war with them. host: let's go to thomas, calling from humble, texas, on the democratic line. caller: you are talking about sanctions. i noticed china is working with japan to avoid our sanctions here. as far as the oil is concerned, if americans cared more, it would be illegal for us to sell on the open market during war, that is why we have not declared war. is that true or not? and how many jobs have we lost due to sanctions, starting now, maybe a year ago? guest: thank you for the questions and calling in. let me start with your second

question, how many jobs have we lost? that is an excellent question. i had said earlier in my remarks we have not seen a lot of systematic studies of that. i think that is something that is well worth studying. i also know that that question onu.s. jobs is very much congress' mind, the executive branch's mind as they look at more sanctions on russia. i think we all agree, russia, given their attacks on the united states, needs to experience some costs, but russia is also a big economy. u.s.a buys a lot of airplanes and other u.s. goods. i think the policymakers are thinking about how do we weigh the cost of sanctions as we look at more sanctions on russia, and how do we come up with sanction options to maximize cost on russia while minimizing collateral costs on us?

what are the economic levers that would put a lot of economic and fiscal pressure on russia, while making sure we do not see this kind of job losses in the united states? that is a very important point. we have not seen a lot of rigorous economic analysis, but i know that policymakers are thinking about that issue as they look at increasing on russia, in particular. you also asked about oil. that has beendity impacted a lot by sanctions over the years, sanctions on iran, libya, russia could potentially impact oil. i would say two things. policymakers u.s. to think seriously when we are looking at sanctions on oil flows about what would be the price impacts of oil is coming up the markets? what would be the supply impacts? were countries have a harder time buying oil as we look at

more sanctions? i would say one issue that has sanctions targeting oil easier for the united states over the last couple of years has been the huge growth of oil production inside the united states. over the last decade, because of shale, fracking booms, and oil production, you have seen u.s. oil production basically doubled . we are not essentially the world's largest oil producer. the fact that today, we, the united states, are producing billions more barrels of oil a day that we were 10 years ago, exit easier for us to get iran to sell less oil because it means there is more oil available on the market as iranian oil comes off the market. host: let's go to joan calling from brooklyn, new york, on the democratic line. go ahead. caller: two things, thank you for pointing out the sanctions with russia.

it is very important they have felt the full effect of what they are doing, interfering in our democratic process. the problem is congress voted for sanctions, and there has been the thing said about them. the second case, north korea -- we had been trying to denuclearize then, and there have been talks to that effect, but there has been no set of benchmarks, decisions on sanctions, and the last few meetings, the north koreans have not even bothered to show up. then we have iran. iran has been in a denuclearization program for several years. they have met all of their benchmarks. they have agreed to all inspections. they have complied in every way, and trump has slapped sanctions on them, saying they are not anymore, andll oil persuading europe not to do business with them. first, it looks like a weapon. we are nice to our friends in

russia, vladimir putin, and north korea, we are nasty to people we do not like, iran. and then we are also trying to bully other countries into agreeing to our sanctions, and helping us impose them. europe has their own drum that they listen to, and so it is actually making our government even weaker than it already looks because we are basically aggressively imposing sanctions as an economic war but not doing it in a fair or evenhanded way. it seems to be arbitrary, with no policy other than, i like this guy. i do not like that guy. an, thank you for the call, comments, and questions. let me take them in kind of order you put them out there. first, we are talking about russia. as you alluded to last year, 2017, congress passed a tough

new russia sanctions law. tookrump administration some time to implement. they did begin implementing that law in april of this year in a significant way, when they sanctions a couple of very wealthy, very prominent russian oligarchs who are quite close to vladimir putin. it inflicted a couple of billions dollar losses. we have seen this year some trump administration with that law. given russia's ongoing attacks in the united states, including electionsling in the coming up in 11 days now, it does next has to to take a tougher line on russia. i think you are seeing a number of members of congress on the republican side and democratic side coming together to pass

another law to try to force the trump administration to take an even tougher approach on russia. i would be surprised if congress does not pass additional russia sanctions sometime in the first part of next year. i think we are seeing a cross of communityng, recognition, that we do need to take a tougher line on russia. i think you are likely to see congress enact additional sanctions on russia sometime in the first part of next year. iran is anthink interesting case. i was involved in the iran issue under the obama administration when there were negotiations with iran. i think on iran, you are really seeing a different strategic by the two administrations. the obama administration made a calculus that we were not going to be able to get iran to

fundamentally change the nature of who it is, a regime that represses its own people, intervenes in syria, yemen, and across the middle east, but the obama administration made a calculation would the nuclear program -- with the nuclear program. if the united states could negotiate a nuclear deal with iran that cap their nuclear weapons in check, that was an incredibly valuable outcome, and then we could then try to deal with all the other problems that iran causes. so you saw a real focus on the nuclear issue, and a real desire to get the nuclear agreement out of the sanctions. has aump administration different approach. i think they worry about the nuclear issue, but they worry equally about the other things iran is doing. so they are we imposing sanctions and basically saying to iran, we are we imposing sanctions. we are not against negotiating

with you, but it is not just nuclear negotiations. you will have to get out of syria, yemen, stop doing various other malign activities in the region, and we want a bigger iran.ith i personally have not worked on iran for a long time, and i am skeptical they will agree to this. i worry iran is instead going to restart their nuclear program, so i am skeptical of this policy. but i think it is a different strategic approach the trump administration is taking. the final point i will talk about, joan, on your questions, with what you characterize as bullying other countries to impose u.s. sanctions, this is a big difference between the obama administration imposed sanctions and the trump administration imposed sanctions on iran. the obama administration worked and encourage,

the europeans and other countries to join us in implementing their own sanctions on iran. so you saw the european union agree in 2012 that they would stop buying iranian oil, and they basically made decisions in their own law to stop doing that. the trump administration is taking a different approach. they are saying, europe, we are not worried about what you do under your love, but if you keep -- under your law, but if you oil, therting iranian u.s. will sanction your european oil companies for doing that. as you say, essentially trying to coerce the european private sector into going along with the united states, even though european governments do not want to. thishrase i would use on is i think the trump is building a coalition of the unwilling to reimpose sanctions. they have been pretty effective on that. i give them a certain amount of credit that they are getting

most european companies to stop buying iranian oil. the are getting most european banks to get out of iran. it is interesting to see, just as an analytic matter, this very heavy-handed approach. though very heavy-handed, it does seem to be working at getting companies to stop trading with iran. host: let's go to mark from las vegas on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. andn and thomas -- joan thomas took a lot of questions i was going to ask regarding jobs, and i just want america -- this is my question. has there ever been a time when the u.s. imposed sanctions on a those who weren hurt by the sanctions in the united states have been paid off have?he farmers

i have not heard any of those people from the little farm countries who were upset that obama help save the auto industry, so i wondering if these farmers in the midwest that were so upset with obama helping the farm industry, if they will get back the money that the trump administration has given to the farmers? how many billions of dollars, but the auto companies have paid all the money obama gave them. by the farmers going to do the same? guest: i do not know what is going to happen with the agricultural assistance program the trump administration has launched in terms of the trade war with china. when it comes to sanctions, , libya,on iran, russia or iraq, generally speaking, the u.s. government's approach has been it there are private sector losses, the private sector bears the losses. you do not see the u.s. government wanting to spend a lot of money helping the people hurt by sanctions. --hink that that is a

creates an incentive for the u.s. government to overuse sanctions. one thing we see from a u.s. government policymaking perspective is that sanctions --k really cheap to you suppose you are dealing with a situation like ukraine. back in 2014, russia has invaded ukraine. we are looking how to respond to the situation. if the u.s. government wants to provide assistance to ukraine to respond, whether military or economic, the was government has to come up with the budget to do that. they have to find appropriated money from congress, the taxpayer, to help ukraine. that kind of forces the government to think about, do we really want to spend this money or not? whereas, if the government imposes sanctions, the cost will fall in the private -- the cost will fall on the private sector. as a result, sanctions look, as

i say, artificially cheap to policy makers because it is not their money at risk. it is private sector money. this is why i think the u.s. government should be required to periodically say every year, every two years, evaluate what those costs of sanctions are, to force the u.s. government to factor those costs and policymaking so that sanctions stop looking free to the u.s. government, and start looking like something that does have some costs. it is not to say we should not use sanctions. i am a big advocate of using sanctions when it makes sense to use them, but we need to understand the cost and trade-offs if we use them effectively. host: from alabama on the democratic line -- caller: [tone] host: we lost them. ne on theto lorrai republican line from new jersey. caller: good morning.

thank you particular call. host: go ahead with your question. caller: my question basically, i want to make a comment i have been listening all morning about sanctions and health care. i am not a political science major. i find what you are discussing very interesting, but i wanted to make a statement, if i may, about the sanctions, and the direction that trump's administration has gone this far. i am in favor. i think that he has -- is in progress of giving us strength again in various different ways. the cost of sanctions to our theyry, and making sure are used effectively is interesting to me. one of the things i would like to comment, someone emailed me a copy of a publisher out of wall street. i read it, and it gave me a

better understanding of where we so inhere we are going, saying all of that, i don't have a question, but i observe c-span and it is interesting. i think a lot of people focusing on one thing, and there is just a lot going on in our country. i am in favor of where we are going with donald trump. thank you. host: quickly, how can we curve over the -- how can we curb overuse of sections? -- of sanctions? guest: i think it is getting more real about the cost-benefit analysis. if we brought more rigorous empirical analysis to this question, you begin to change the way in which they are used, and we change the way we don't use them excessively. host: we would like to thank peter harrell, the author of the

foreign affairs' article. guest: thank you for having me on. host: we are going to open the phone lines again, where you can call in and talk about any public policy issue or anything we talked about earlier in the show. the lines will be open when we come back. we will see when a few seconds. ♪ -- we will see you in a few seconds. ♪ >> the c-span buses traveling across the country on market these capitals tour. weing our stop in boston, ask folks, which party should control congress and why? >> and i like the house to remain republican because i like the way things are going right now. i like the way the economy is going. if it were to switch to democrat, it would create a lot of dreadlocked and not a lot would get done. i think the way things are going now has been one of the best runs in recent history. i would like it to stay that way. >> i would like the house to slip in november.

i want to see a democratic majority in the house because i do not like the way washington is going with this republican-led house. i feel like it should be changed and it would be for the better. >> i want the house to remain in republican hands because i am tired of gridlock and things not getting done. if it flips, i'm afraid it would be another session of no change. >> the issue i think is most important relative to this coming campaign is for there to be balance in the house of representatives and u.s. senate. i think it will offset of it, currented the administration to govern from the center, which i think is important. the centerern from -- i teach my students this as a history teacher -- it is important to do that because it teaches us to have empathy for the other side and to be able to recognize other people and issues important to them. ♪ from the states, part of c-span's 50 capitals tour.

>> "washington journal" continues. host: once again, we will open the phone lines, where you can call in and talk about any public policy issue, or anything we have talked about earlier on the show. lets give out the numbers. republicans, you can call at (202)-748-8001. democrats, you can call at (202)-748-8000. independents, you can call at (202)-748-8002. and you can always reach us on social media on twitter --@cspanwj, and on facebook at facebook.com/c-span. from tucson,arl arizona, on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning, america. it is the things we do not talk about. host: like what question mark

keep going -- like what? keep going. caller: there are a lot of things we don't talk about, and they are things that have occurred in the last few years. i am 85 years old. ed world war i, the propaganda and stuff that was newsreel, going to the movies every weekend, and you see the newsreel, that was the only way you could get a little news, and you see this thing is replaying again. we left mr. trump -- we let mr. trump sit there in the white ause, and the man is -- he is con artist, and nothing he says is factual, and how can we allow him to sit there? we are the voters.

people ofr thing, the , they were voted into office, and then they turn around and manipulate the elections. be?can this we live in a civilized society. we need to do something about that. somebody needs to go to jail. you or i, or were somebody, we would not have a case. we need to do something about that as we cannot go on this way. something is going to hit the fan and it is going to get on everybody. host: let's go to margaret from new york on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. it is too bad that mr. harrell is not still there, but i do not understand how you can sanctions somebody from buying oil from a

particular country since i hear in other discussions that oilless traded on the world market, mixed together in one big pot. i do not understand how that works. how does it get paid for that? from let's go to kathleen chester hill, massachusetts. good morning. caller: i am a little nervous. i have not called in a long time, but about unity. this is why i feel optimistic. i usually do not, but i look back at the 1990's, and i look at south africa. rule they're all those years, and then nelson mandela gets out of prison -- he does not seek retribution, he wants unity. he sets up a system where it is not about who was right. he tries to make peace. if they can make peace in south all thatter white rule

time, where black people could not vote, then i have hope for our country. also, i go to england on business a lot, and the brits say to me, what is wrong with you americans? what are you doing over there? we are not -- you know, the other thing i wanted to say, when obama was president, all the europeans loved him. they do not like donald trump because they see him as divisive. that is my positive thing, and then there is my little bit of seeing how the rest of the world may be, in democracy, and in european countries, australia, they do not like what they are seeing. they used to hold us in such high esteem, and now they think, what is going on? there is a segment in our population that has gone haywire.

i am sorry i did not stick with the positive but to upper listening. i have not called into years because i did not want to get emotional but thank you. i pray for peace. host: during last night's ohio senator debates, jim are not see -- they called for one person to step down at the debate in oxford, ohio. here is what was said. [video clip] a look, the democrats set standard of conduct where they have unsubstantiated claims. meansing of substantiated any individual cannot serve on the supreme court. i have said this time and time again. if you set that standard of conduct, you better said it on yourself. that is what i have said, we have a senator in ohio who has not even met that standard of conduct. no man should ever raise their hands to a woman, number one. number two, forgiveness does not mean it did not happen.

number three, when you have court documents, documents that substantiate things, like abuse, that tells a story in and of itself. number four, when you ask another senator, like senator brown did, to step down because of sexual assaults, the senator needs to look at himself. he does not get grandfathered in for his history. he has asked others to step down. he should be stepping down, too. domestic abuse -- >> please, do not interrupt. >> domestic abuse is a public issue that because people want to make it private is what causes it to continue. >> senator brown, i know you want to respond. you have 30 seconds. >> you said, you bring up time and time again. you toer wife has asked stop attacking my family, our family. she is a supporter, newspapers all over the state cap asked you

,o stop running these kinds of and have asked you to stop making these attacks in every single debate. you should be ashamed of yourself. [laughter] -- [applause] host: watch the rest of this debate and follow along with our campaign 2018 coverage at www.c-span.org. let's go to kathy, calling from mustang, oklahoma, on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. my comment is i think our within is power struggle the government, the democrats and republicans. i think they have this power struggle because they are not ruling or governing for the benefit of the people or country. they are governing for the benefit of themselves, like nancy pelosi's husband they federal contracts, and feinstein's million contracts. there is big money involved, and that is who is controlling our

country, the big-money people. until we can get the money out, we are not going to happen the country until we can make it to where no senator or representative can benefit, or the family can benefit, financially, and get all the lobbyist money out. we are without hope. host: let's go to rick from mesquite, nevada. good morning. caller: how are you this morning? i just want to make a comment about the aca. those, to get in one of where they were talking about the payments made to the government insurance companies, and i did not get a chance to. i just wanted everybody to look into that, to see what part of the aca, if that is still happening, or what? i wish i could have gotten in and talk to the guy, but it is i asked about their

insurance companies and what happens if they don't make their quota or what. thank you. host: let's go to betty on the independent line. caller: how are you doing? host: go ahead. caller: i want to talk about donald trump. everybody that he has called out, he criticized. it don't take a rocket scientist to know that he started this, but he is not man enough to admit that all of that came from him. he is not man enough to call obama and clinton. the man is crazy. he is a liar. he is a manipulator. and he is awful. he don't know how to tell the truth is that slapped him in his damn face. he is a sick s.o.b. thank you. host: let's go to donna from

virginia on the democratic line. caller: good morning. good morning. know,want to say is, you there is so much stuff going on that it is kind of hard to keep up with everything. watching high school in real life all over again. school,u went to high and you know everything that took place in high school, it is like the different characters that you meats and encounter and dealt with on every day basis. this is just on a higher level, with thegentleman bombings or sending the bombing packages need to be careful of people like that. it is like the callers that call and that are so angry, they have so much hates, and even as they are speaking, you can hear it in the tone of their voice. they are filled with so much hates.

it is ridiculous. all of you on the together grip. get a serious grip -- all of you need to get a grip. get a serious grip. all of you need to drink a margarita and chill. host: let's go to bob calling for missouri on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. say that as long as we have donald trump for president, our country cannot be dailyed because he is out on a taxpayer-funded mission, spewing, just hates, and discontents, and he is the president of the united states. the president of the united states is meant to be a president for the whole country. they are not supposed to be spreading venom. as long as things like the kavanaugh hearing, you know, you put the sexual assault aside,

then you come down to kavanaugh boldfacely lying in his hearings. and the republicans pushed him ahead anyway. with things like that happening, donald trump lying and spewing his hates, the country can never be unified. until we get rid of donald trump and all of the lying that the republican party has come to to cover for him, this country will never be reunified. they lied on the senate floor saying kavanaugh was backed by the aca, after they had withdrawn their backing. as long as the republicans are lying and doing whatever it takes to get their way, this country cannot be reunified. host: let's go to kimberly calling from new york on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning.

as a registered republican for more than 25 years, i have to tell you i am ashamed, disgusted, and i cannot believe what is happening with people in my community that i know. first of all, betty, the previous caller is 100% right. trump is inciting violence and it needs to be stopped. but what i want to the commandant was that there was a comment by newt gingrich about trump's tax returns and his ifment was, you know, that the democrats did take the house and they had to subpoena his tax returns, newt gingrich said we into thetracked supreme court, and we would see at the kavanaugh fight would be worth it. the kavanaugh fight was not about if he was a great guy, but the republicans know what he is doing is wrong, illegal, and it

has become a criminal organization. that is my opinion. thank you. host: let's go to morgan, calling from reading, pennsylvania, on the democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. itust want to say that mystifies common sense, a sitting president doesn't even call the two x presidents who received bombs in their mail, doesn't even talk to them and make sure they are ok. that tells you everything you need to know about donald trump. and you know what, these trump supporters really used to get me upset but listening to them, i feel sorry for them. they are so blind, so full of hate, you cannot see the truth any longer. pray for them. they need jesus. host: let's go to tanya, calling from cleveland, ohio, on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i am a little nervous and upset.

i am just tired of all of the hate that is spewed from both sides, but i am very upset on how come when democrats spew hate, and get into people's faces, and shout at them, kick , burned of restaurants down stuff, and nothing is said by the democratic party, but then you have this whack job ,hat does the bombing crap which i do not support that, but they are driving people insane. i mean, on both sides, it has to stop. we are better when we are united. our economy, and everything is doing so well right now, and if we would work together, oh, my god, we would be the best country ever. i don't know. i am just upset.

i wish people would just get along. i am tired that i have to listen to everybody else's opinion, but when i voice mine, or if i back my president, then my yard sign gets burned. or i get ridiculed. or i am afraid to go anywhere because i support my president, and they want to beat me up for it. obama, i supported barack , and i had to listen to it for 18 years, now let's give our president a chance, and -- host: president trump will be delivering remarks later today at the future farmers of america .onvention in indianapolis live coverage of president trump's comments will start at 2:45 eastern on c-span, so tune in on c-span, www.c-span.org, and the c-span radio app. let's go to dan calling from georgetown, massachusetts, on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning.

thank you for having me on today. i think what we are leaving out of this conversation is the influence of the government, so we have the democratic party and the republican party kind of at each other's throats right now, but grinning and smirking behind the scenes, we have the government. in the united states constitution that be maked the people to the government accountable to us , our government has been so empowered over the last two people dotions that not even realize. i will give one indication of how they have abused their power. national defense

authorization act, the -- something called the smiths mundt act was rescinded. this act protected american citizens from propaganda emanated by the united states government. now, the united states government can use propaganda -- people, soamerican we wonder why we are in this state of confusion. i have asked so many journalists about this. i have been on this program so many countless times talking about this smiths mundt act, and how the government can use propaganda disseminated domestically through the media, right? this is where we are. this is the situation we are in. we have a third party. the third party is the government establishment.

they have seized so much power that american people are so confused, they do not know which way is up anymore. smith monday act -- smith month ndt act wash mu rescinded. our government is out of control. host: let's go to mark from chester, virginia, on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning, how are you doing today? hadtatement is that when we the issue with the police officers being shot down, and five were assassinated by black americans, nobody blamed obama further anti-law-enforcement statement, and when they talk about the president, some of those guys were sick individuals. our not blame either of politicians for that, but with obama, they always talk about the things he would do for the

identity policy. trump, heisten to says we all bleed red, white, blue. all races, all genders, all of the subgroups benefit from the positive. i would just like america to think about. we do not identify individual groups. we want to help the whole country. help everybody -- we want to help the whole country. help everybody. i do believe that. host: let's go to marcia from georgia -- marshall from georgia on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for letting me have the opportunity to speak. we need to try to remember what dr. king says, and a lot of people forget dr. king. the first thing, also, is that our politicians forget the obligation they took when they

raise their right hand. a lot of them have violated that. especially president trump. see our country attacked, and trump did not respect americans in the vietnam veterans. i feel like we need to come together, republicans, independents, democrats, and all sit down at the table and deal with race relations. we can go far to understand ourselves better as who have bes country. trumpdon't do so, will sink is the real thank you, >> we'd like to thank all of our callers and our guests for being here today. make sure you tune in again tomorrow morning is for brand-new washington journal. have a great day, everyone. ♪

(202) 628-018 >> this morning on c-span, we feature several debates from around the country. we begin in virginia for a debate on the second district race. then later, the new york's 21st district area afterwards, florida stupid for the 26th congressional district. until the midterms come c-span is your primary source for campaign 2018. in the virginia second district race, incumbent republican representative scott taylor and democrat elaine luria participated in a debate. the co p