us why he thinks republicans washington se and post opinion wrier joins us to talk about the mid-term election results and his book. nd mike debonus on the lame-duck congressal session and this week's gop leadership elections. >> good morning. lame-duck sional session officially gets underway today of. meet at 2 s set to p.m. with 6:30 votes, and the will -- the senate will meet at 3 p.m. and votes at 5:30. we begin with reports that the omeland security secretary is expected to be the next cabinet departure from the tum p administration. this would be the

second major cabinet change mid-term election. we ask for your thoughts on the uture of president trump's cabinet. who should tay and go? on can catch up with us social media. i am -- a very good tuesday morning to you. ou can start calling in now on this question. here's the story from the front page of today's "washington post." president trump has told advisers he has decided to homeland security secretary and her departure from likely to tration is ome in the coming weeks if not sooner. the story notes that president planned trip a

with neilson to visit troops at texas . boarder in south and told aides he wants her out s soon as possible the president has grum manied -- grumbled for months about her replacement.or a neilson, by the way, would mark anniversary as secretary as december 6. that story on secretary neilson less than a urse, week after president trump as attorneysessions general, and more cabinet depart way -- d be on the departures. that secretaryng sglingy is preparing to leave resident trump's cabinet, looking at potential roles at news, the energy industry, or other businesses growing signs that he is

on his way out. we're asking you this morning cabinet.sident trump's who should stay. 202-748-8000, 202-748, 8001, 202-7488002., congresswoman kiresten cinema be the state's first emocrat to win a senate election in arizona. the race was called monday night by the associated press. she's a winner over martha mc saleh. it took a week to produce a winner. it means that the democrats have flipped two senate seats and the epublicans three so far with the florida senate race still

utstanding and november 27 run-off election still to come in mississippi. won, and she will take jeff flake's seat. csally posted a video of herself on twitter. i just called congratulated her. i represent her all success as arizona.sents i thank everybody who supported me in this campaign. my staff, volunteers, and for me.y who voted wingo grateful for you, my man and wing women in the journey. state,ravelled around the i was so inspired by the many people i met. i am convinced that arizona is best state in the country

and our best days are yet to come and i will continue to pray success. thank you so much. outstanding the races from election 2018 later this morning. our question to start our focuses on the president's cabinet and who should stay and who should go. us a call and let us know your thoughts, democrats republicans 202-748-8001. gabe in clayton, south carolina. good morning. caller: good morning. looking at his cabinet. there are many in his cabinet boundary.rossed the i think sglingy is one, some of the things he has done with puerto rico and the

energy infrastructure and some of the companies that he has access to, the country to try to rebuild the infrastructure. it is just appalling. and then you see just more, unfortunately, and i say this not in any way, shape, or form not balancing both sides because it happened in both look atrations, but you people like scott pruitt who are he's a administrator -- gone now, but -- he's really not gone because the things that he in place and some of the deals he's made at the epa are uprooting the system that was put in place previously. i -- i think some elly ann conway is probably getting close to being on her way out. i think she can't sustain what been sustaining for quite some time. more to come on

the john kelly -- he's been kind radar, and i don't know exactly what is there other than ng him just being a good individual and service to this country. but -- so you would like to see john kelly stay. to see would you like stay? caller: yeah. so i think it is important that mattis stays.-- they are level headed, but i hawkish.y are i think that john kelly, thank god they are there. even though i don't agree with them 100%. i think should stay is robert mueller. sorry. a member of the president's cabinet, but the inly a part of conversation. robert is in creighton, missouri, an independent. you want to see

stay and who do you want to see go? john, good morning. how are you doing? doing well. caller: i remember when resident trump was running for office and he said he would keep least the best people, at half of those people have cost money and forced to tillis.like mr. ll of these people he had in his campaign have either been onvicted of criminal activity or are under criminal investigation. he said he is going to clean up swamp. well, he did clean up the swamp, the swamp with the new york city sewer system branch of utive government. i like mr. mattis. stay.k he is should

mr. kelly is doing all he can do kind of sanity. i never seen anything like this of life as an american citizen. robert, in craton, missouri. thoughts on president trump's cabinet. give us a call. interesting chart from the brookings institution to track historically and compare it to previous administrations. the trump administration from year to year departures the total from the president's cabinet in the first four years of their term. the comparison, the georgedministration, the w. bush administration and the clinton in administration. departures in his

first year. john kelly was homeland secretary. of staff.ed to chief that's because his previous that of staff left position. tom price also left as well, the health and human services secretary. those were the three departures departures in x trump o of the administration and counting, we expect more in the days and weeks to come. hear from you about who should stayed and who should go? who do you like in the who do t's cabinet and you want to see leave? jenny is in north carolina, a democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. jenny.o ahead, caller: yes, i think the president and his entire cabinet go.uld host: there's nobody you want to president's he cabinet? caller: no, not the president or his cabinet. house.

host: the president was asked in the post-election news about the future of his cabinet and specifically interior secretary as well, ryan zinke. ere is a look at the discussion. >> i'm very happy with most of my cabinet. at different people for different positions. you know, it is very common after the mid-terms. didn't want to do anything before the mid-terms. the most l you, for part, i'm extremely happy with cabinet. i think mike pompeo has fit in well. do want to study whatever is being said. >> is he in jeopardy? >> i think he's doing an excellent job, but we will look at that and probably have an about that in a week. host: that was president trump at his post-election news conference. 202-748-8000,

282-748-8001, 202-748-8002. is in wilo grove, pennsylvania. jimmy, are you with us this morning? caller: yes. his ot talking about cabinet. i'm talking about the president himself. a a vet and i think it is shame what he did over in france. i think it is a down right disgrace. never served in the service, right.think it is not that's my comment. host: that's jimmy in pennsylvania this morning. tweets as we had this conversation. mike writes in. matter point it doesn't who stays or goes. haley announced her

willture, so did those who not call him out. patrick says everybody should stay. likely the fired are ones keeping an eye on president trump. those leaving are likely the who created this mess and a sinking ship. jodi said that donald has had his way and will now have checks and balanceses. stand by for more fabulous trump tantrums. you can join our conversation on cspan wj.n larry, in new york. know who you think should stay and go. whole entire cabinet should go because it is all just -- it is -- it is disgusting. i've been here so many years and never seen nothing like it in my

wife. they are supposed to drain the swamp and the swamp is there. larry, there's nobody in the cabinet you would be they left?bout if caller: why would you? you see who he picks and why he picks. e picks deplorable people, mean-spirited people like him. he has to be sure they are the same as he has. i hate to say it, but i've never seen a president like this. marcus, somerset, california. good morning. caller: hello. host: good morning, marcus. you think should stay and go, marcus? caller: the host? hello. should i talk? host: yes, sir. caller: okay. sorry. i'm just kind of blown away by all the insanity that's involved with this situation lately. a huge -- huge wildfires

in california, and the man running the country says this is forestry's fault that we wildfires, uge there's no such thing as global warming. have crazy that we somebody like this running our country. concernedthe veterans in world war i, it is horrible what they went through in world and he doesn't have the guts to walk in the rain, and mud forople were in the years, horrible conditions. another thing that concerns me is with the immigration we're dealing with, everybody wants to blame mexico. f you're going to be fair with immigration, you better say there's no vacancies to anybody in the world. after 9/11, we really should said that, it doesn't matter what country you're from. figure out our own problems but we always single out mexico as if they are the people over sending to our country. that's not really fair when you think about it. marcus, you started by

talking about the wildfires in california. is somerset to the wildfires? caller: i'm far away from it. but we had some that have been catastrophic. ten 1970, we have had times as many huge wildfires as in 1970. is amazing, the statistics in looking at the global warming situation. in essence, the man is making these big, huge statements about drought, about water. he kind of reminds me of the or your old grandpa that has a one-line answer for everything in the world and isn't like that. you can't just make a statement all hen everything's solved. host: that's marcus in california this morning. wildfires, we e first hour on the

washington journal speaking about it. camp ath toll from the fire in paradise in northern california jumped to 42 making it the deadliest fire in california history. he reporting from the l.a. times noting that coming as president trump approved a major for the declaration state. afters move came two days he criticized california claiming that poor forest forest nt caused the fires and threatening to cut off had wide he comments spread outrage from officials. conciliatory more statement. he said he wanted to respond some of thelleviate suffering. i'm with you all the way. god bless the victims and affected. governor jerry brown sought that

declaration on sunday as the fires raged across the state. back to the question on president trump's cabinet. we want to know who should stay and who should go. our line forsas on republicans. lee, what do you think? caller: yes, good morning. i think the cabinet is doing and west and the east coast have to stop trying to rule the rest of us. best who do you like the in the cabinet right now, lee? doing the think is best job? caller: i think mike pompeo is cabinet members. host: why is that? aller: because he's behind rump's agenda 100%, and that agenda brought has from almost over the cliff to pretty much above water right now. lee, what are your the new acting attorney general matt witiker? think the democrats

will not give him a chance, and willing to give a pedophile or thief more respect than a real man. host: that is lee from kansas city. more reporting from matt witiker. maryland is expecting to ask a judge for an injunction whitiker is not the acting attorney general and the power belongs to stooinstein. he may not report someone to that office. a draft tiff said in filing obtained by new york times. schumer of new york, the democrats top democrat. why they didn't

follow the statutory line of opening.n for that the "wall street journal" noting that the justice department today is expected to publish a support of n in installation as acting attorney general. to support the position and that it is affirmed by guidance that the office 2003.d in at that time the office oncluded that george w. bush could name a nonconfirmed of oyee of the management budget. the department's office of legal counsel is expected to issue that statement today. his is an op-ed on matt is from adam shift, democrat of california. whitiker, we're watching. highly likely

that trump appointed him because f his open hostility to the special counsel. he has not only been critical of but also ller, suggested of starving his office of funds and that the special be prohibited from investigating the president's finances. column, ant to read his it is it in today "washington post." who should stay, who should go cabinet?esident's josephine is in cape canaveral, florida, independent. go ahead. caller: good morning. host: good morning. have several ly issues on my mind this morning agree one of them -- i caller, everything he said was right on the money. one of the things that disturbed is the caller who called about mr. trump not wanlting to wanting to go out in the rain in paris. ridiculous. i saw the most beautiful show on

c-span last night which told that mr. trump did. he went to this beautiful himself and it was at another cemetery and it was beautiful, and it was moving, and i was very proud president, and -- host: what do you think of his cabinet? his cabinet? of caller: so far, yeah. i think he's getting a lot of of there.out he has done good to get rid of some of those people. the dead wood, josephine? no businessions had being in there. that ad wood is comby and bunch in the fbi that got under bush senior, and cia is nothing but a operative.

host: why do you think that president trump appointed some to as people you refer dead wood? caller: what about the dead wood? think president trump allowed the dead wood in his cabinet in the first place? are you concerned -- has been attacked so much by everybody that he move.'t sessions had both feet on the being ts's side, always mr. guys guy. yeah, he -- mr. nice guy. friends.had a lot of e had -- they -- they've been hamstringing mr. trump ever since he got in there every way they could. it is obvious. you know that. josephine.s maryland, ll is from a democrat, good morning. aller: i would like to thank c-span, brian lamb, and the cable. show.eciate this

can't tolerate fox news or msnbc. at the risk of harming them, because i'm a democrat. kelly should ike stay on board. i think that general mattis board, and i am somewhat critical of and mind getting rid of matt whitiker. there are plenty of senate-confirmed people who would do an able and better job, my view, as attorney general, rosenstein, d brian menginkowski. host: why do you like john? i think he is level headed. like that keep -- i e crossed swords with the

national security adviser, who fan of.a big ost: the washington post story noting that neilson was selected kelly when job by she first came in and her departure is another indication his influence in the trump waned.tration has does ta concern you? her r: of course, he was successor. you know, look, i think that all kinds of problems with this administration. i'm not going to, you know, call the president names or anything that. it is just not my nature. of i -- any time he gets rid level-headed sober, sensible concern.hat's a i appreciate your time. that's really all i have. hannibel, thanks for the call this morning. more on the background of neilson's job and resume.

former colleague of the ashington post who worked with neilson said they were astonished when john kelly at the o install her department of homeland security, ecause she had never led a large organization. neilson worked on disaster management response in the bush and then in the academics tor in before returning to the d.h.s. of staff r chief kelly. we are talking about cabinet changes this morning. to know who you think you should stay and who should go. waco, texas. think?o you hi. caller: good morning. arizona senate race. i was pretty appalled and that, actually, by veteran and it

is just crazy. the person -- any how, i think the next person to be kelly ann conway. think that because early on in the administration she had a feel likeation, and i possibly, i don't know, donald of the nd maybe a lot highs that he said possibly hurt her in a lot of ways. that's pretty much it. host: what do you want to see her do next? don't know, lly actually. to where she was polling. i don't know. rebecca.t's dan is in stafford, virginia, republican. go ahead. caller: good morning. olive like to offer an branch to the democrats who call in who say they at least general kelly and

mattis. that's fair for anybody to call and say replace the whole cabinet. i'm a republican. a ay without offering recommendation of who might better serve in the current position is just voting the and doesn't add anything constructive. i would like to say thank you to democrats. it you'd sounds like -- it sounds like you are fairly moderate. as far as the wildfires, you need controlled burns. rarely saw controlled burns. there's a lot of fuel. used to do mericans controlled burns and they managed the forest. is what president trump was recommending. fuel.ve to burn the it is like a 500-year floodplain, if you have -- you have to burn. if you don't burn, it will burn the least opportune time. that's what i have to offer. cabinet k to the

question. is there anybody you would like to see go and do you have a should dation for who replace them? caller: no. i mean, there's so much -- in an that, there's ke probably so many -- at least decisions made a day per department. so you have to really understand that there's -- there's hard decisions that have to be made, who is making deadlines. you don't see who failed to do what on time or had another ilities due to organization outside. so i think for me to make a without all of the facts, i can't even imagine theamount of decisions that president must make a day. he must make so,000 decisions a -- 10,000 decisions a day. i don't have all the information. the best they ng can. i don't think there are characters, i think they would have not been qualified to get to that position. so i think they are all doing a

great job as best they can. are on re's where we cabinet decisions. this, again, from the story last week from ""politico" -- haley will be ky departing and president trump sessions.ff other who appear likely to depart according to and whitetion sources include defense wil burr -- tis, and -- and that reporting is from the washington post this morning. on the story, trump tells advisers that neilson is fin irnd. perry, stevensville, michigan, a democrat. who should stay? go?should caller: hello. host: go ahead, terry.

caller: i have a few opinions on the cabinet. how anybody that agrees with his hoodz.d backs up false i'm the -- falsehoods. i'm the kind of person, the is the truth, a lie is a lie. here aren't any alternative truths. and number two, the caravan from mexico, they are poor people, needy people. it was your family. everybody born with a silver like trump, he should thank god that he had somebody man.help people, number three, i think that the democrats getting the house will him, and i think his ambition is to be a dictator like putin and that guy from orth korea and the way he disrespects our veterans and hillary clinton

and barak obama. man, that was two years ago. barack obama, during his speeches i've seen for the on idates, and what he said the veterans day when he was president, that's the president. a human being. i look at people not by their olor, but by their heart and compassion for their fellow human being. he worsest thing, and i end it with this, c-span, you are fair square. if our government were as fare and square, we would be better. i have been watching you, you a chance.body you you tell the truth and they don't want to hear the truth so jump on you up and you. host: our question in the first of the" washington journal ", it is just after 7:30. should stay or go. 202-748-8000,

202-748-8001, 2-748-8002. 2 to we have a few comments here. is about zinke, the daniel he has done will be long promoting drilling in wilderness. kevin writes in, wilbur ross must good.wilderness. we're talking to you this morning. we want to hear you thoughts. harrisburg, pennsylvania, republican. go ahead. caller: good morning. called in a long time because i have cancer now and i have treatments. but i believe president trump put more black people in

there as advisers. i would be willing to be an his icial adviser because -- his views need to be this countryecause is going down hill. longer want to follow the advice of california's or people from new york. a new day and we need to this country great again. host: rose, how do you think urban development secretary ben carson is doing at thejob and as an adviser to president? caller: well, i haven't heard oo much about him, and i usually keep up with everything, but i imagine he's doing a good because he's a man of faith and i believe he'll do the right thing. ost: that's rose in pennsylvania. debuke, iowa.

good morning. caller: good morning. your show every day, get most of my information. starting with the cabinet would be ross and zinke, and with staff it would be kelly con vai and his -- conway advisers.mily and moving down, this new he's ey general temporarily putting in and with concerning is very to me, and there has to be a vetting of this guy and that he can't touch the mueller investigation. the people have the right to full conclusion. i think he was brought in just and he fere with it, does not have a good history. so that's where i would start. on any of those folks, do you have a recommendation, somebody in the orbit or in the

republicans party or even the emocratic party that you think would be a good replacement for any of those folks for the president to pick? well, as far as attorney general there is protocol. o it should go to rod one.stein as far as that there's always been protocols, be i think they should followed. debuke, at's tom in iowa. cnbc s a headline from late last week, president trump saying he wants to replace ross by the end of the former d he is favoring -- and he is sing ray washburn.

according to one of the sources spoke to. we're talking about the president's cabinet. we want to hear from you about should stay and who should go. brooklyn, new york. good morning. caller: good morning. good morning, america. to nteresting to listen everybody. think that we need secretary pirit the f state -- sorry, secretary of education's job between academia vocational education. in our country is skilled tradesmen, and the idea apprenticeships, people businesses in the not sufficient.

we need vocational high schools to teach the eneral aspect of the tradings -- of the direction of what students need to learn can ultimatelyey pick the course that's suited for their r them but apptitude. business that -- ike plumbers that hire people s apprentices, their focus is asically on their basically on their business and not giving that trainee an ducation in the wide scope of plumbing. academia is very important, what we've lost track for vocational

schools. host: david, have you heard topic from that etsy devos and her role as secretary of education? caller: nothing at all. i'm business appointed. have a very poor notion trades adesmen, and the in our country and even though almost a it has emeaning con notation -- talk about hen we blue collar tradesmen. i'm a highly skilled trainsmen -- tradesmen. furniture maker and restorer, but i went to france where i learned my trade. and there i asked a -- you know, owner of a furniture shop in paris if i could just work for because i really thought

that that's what i wanted to do. well, perhapso me, if you earn your diploma and certificate of professional aptitude. if i hire you to we have er for me and to spend time to teach you this trade but in three or four you say, well, you know is not really what i reamt, standing on my feet all day, sweating, having, you know, dream, the romanticism furniture hought a maker was -- it?t: david, you stuck with caller: i did. virginia. alexandria, the president's cabinet. who should stay? who should go? first, i want to say

thank you to c-span. service great public for the country. would like to see john bolt oond the -- bolton and the secretary of state should go. it is good that nicky haley is gone for that reason as well. to see munchin go replaced by paul involvinger. voleker. to see -- like lastly, i would like to see he helped ecause implement the president's policy 1,000 troops in syria, which i believe is -- which i against international law and against national law, as a matter of fact. should go as well. host: before you go, john, who better secretary of

state than mike pompeo? i'd like to see it go back to tillison. i would like to say also is not getting the recognition that he should 2012, wrote back in death by china, which is now -- way an see that he was ahead of his time as far as announcing the difficulty that with chinang to have in the future, and now he's in a position, but i would like to elevated higher within the administration and get more coverage in the news. go.: quickly, before you what did you like about tillerson? he left in march of this year from the secretary of state's of course. caller: he had a more mature attitude toward international and he had a difficult job with the way that trump is run things.

i don't think he had a good chance at being able to carry secretary of state as he would have if he had a more for.le president to work host: that's done in alexandria, virginia. of w more tweets from some our viewers. seen as sane, he will be the next out the door. left in thisle are administration? there has been nine changes in he president's cabinet in the first two years. more expected in the coming and months.ps days we're asking you, who should stay and who should go? 202-748-8001, 202-748-8002. more of your calls with about 15 minutes left in this segment i want to keep you updated on the atest as we continue to look the final results of election 2018. and that keylorida

senate race there. his story from the sun sentinel. out of order, scott dropped machines in broward county after a judge said that no -- as legal and consider skirmishes over florida's governor and senator. to initiate recounts and we continue to look at broward county. state line deadline is 3 .m. on thursday, broward is sorting the first pages from ballots and has not started to the nt them as of publication of this story. the election chief continued to that hat it is possible she'll miss the recount deadline. three of the state's biggest governor, u.s. senator and agriculture commissioner in florida are close enough to a recount. all three races on the first hree pages of ballots that

voters filled out in florida. just north in georgia, of there's that open governor's seat and the race there.has not been called governor in that race, brian stacy abrams by 8,875 votes, 1.5% is the lead on this weekend, saturday kemp's abrams ignoring the will of the people and keep the numbers to race alive. this is the wrappup on the nine races which are uncalled by the associated press, three in california, one in georgia, maine, one in new jersey, one in new york, and one in utah. thoseicans led in five of races, if margins hold, emocrats would end up with 231 house seat majority. they had 193 before the election. would have 204 seats

in the house, that is down from 235. calls.o your laurence, thanks for waiting here in d.c., democrat. go ahead. first of all, i would like to thank c-span. wonderful program. the cabinet. first of all, his cabinet has een questionable from the beginning as far as their credentials and their hidden agendases. would get ridon i of it betty devos. way she should head the education department. she does not have the experience cutting programs that hurt students as far as loans. ike the gentleman commented earlier about programs that are, know, programs about carp enters -- carpenters, we need that now. i'm more concerned about a c ranch rpenter as opposed to having a degree in

philosophy. those are good skills that help build this country. recall historically, a lot of the old european to come over to this country because we were so short. up that base of -- of skills in this country. devos really hink has her mind focused on that. host: is there somebody you have in mind that would be good in that position who you would as secretary of education? caller: quite frankly, no, anybody but her. think she is only in that position because of her family's terms of money. host: how do you think that job in ncan did in that the obama administration? caller: i think he's a few steps devos really. he did pretty good. was much thinking more broad-based than miss

devos. host: james is in memphis, republican. go ahead. like to say as far as the democrats are concerned, it is total hypocrisy. trump is the president, as obama said, consequence, ave and trump has the right to whoever he wants. you know, as i said, democrats hypocrisy as far as loretta lynch. with lorettaroblem lynch meeting with bill clinton tarmac and all of rosenstein's conflicts of interest. he couldn't be appointed a.g. of his conflicts of interest. hey need to heed their own advice. host: if you were the one making the decision, would you keep everybody who's in the cabinet now? caller: well, you know, i'm not detailed to know how

effective all of his cabinet the bottom line is if trump thinks that they are actually, he gh, his d have his own -- make own decisions on that. because, after all, look at the conomy, look at the unemployment rate. everything seems to be going in the right direction to me. host: nine changes in the cabinet in the first less than two years of his administration. was there anybody you were sad to see go? caller: not really. it, it the way i look at is a business. it is run like a business. to e see where someone need go and needs to be replaced, that's his call. host: that's james in tennessee. again, this chart from the on changesnstitution in president trump's cabinet compared to other administrations. matching in mp now less than two years the number that inet departures

president obama saw in his entire first four years in significantly more than president george w. bush, still bill le bit with behind clinton over the course of four years in his office. available at brookings point edu. beverly, clayton, alabama, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. wanted to say in regards to the cabinet member, that it stays really matter who or who goes with them because as is corrupt, the body will follow. nd to my sister who called in earlier and who has been sick and hasn't called in much when about ben n came up carson, she's not sure about his record. him.needs to google because he has been just as corrupt as the others. nd so we don't need to be promoting him because he's has had a ica -- he

in terrible record as well the administration. host: what don't you like about his record, beverly? he has the corruption been associated with. host: what specifically? caller: specifically, awarding rants, or whatever, to his firm, putting him in charge of grants in different programs. of the expensive furniture that it has been he was purchasing. host: beverly in alabama. texas ofile in houston, is next, republican. caller: i agree with you. his cabinet to see stay. but with the democrats, the business, elite, big and the news media, i can understand why his cabinet wants to go. it is just -- i won't take that abuse from the people. the people put the president in office. the president elects who he want to serve for him, and i think standerican people should

by him and should defend him. i mean, this onslaught is just caller before he the other lady. it is just hypocrisy. that they lostrt an election and they are doing to unseat an to try this president, and i find that just very, very disturbing that american people is allowing this to happen. host: did you like jeff sessions? i did. yes, i watched him for many years. i think he did an excellent job. is tiredne, his family of it. he is going to go back and try to run as senator. it.pe that he makes i think that kristen neilson did the boarder.job on i think they are doing a good job now. e can't have people coming up by the thousands to infiltrate this country and that's exactly what they are doing. infiltrating this country and they are going to take the jobs away and go back to what it was. if the american people can't see that, give it back to the democrats and let them have it.

i don't bant to live -- want to live in poverty the rest of my life. host: did president trump make the wrong decision when he asked sessions to resign? caller: yes. i don't think he had a choice. attacked by ntly the democrats and neilson was constantly attacked. did they are y constantly attacked by the four groups i mentioned earlier. of it. get tired myould want to go home, shut job and watch t.v. host: should the president stand by the cabinet members more? the resignations? is not standing up for his cabinet? caller: i think he walks a fine line. him.edia goes after yeah, he could stand up -- he has, but then he's attacked. mean, you wear us down to where, you know, we're just up.ng to give give it the -- it to the democrats. they seem to think they can do a better job. job during etter

obama, they did a better job during bill clinton, they did a really ob during jim carter. i mean, look at the history. ou can go back in history and see the downfalls of the democratic party. they actually started vietnam. fact, okay. and they are the ones who brought on 9/11. started en al gore challenging bush, look what happened after that. the history.at people -- host: that's michael in houston, texas. fort washington, maryland, democrat. go ahead. caller: yes. c-span.ning, i want everything to go. resident trump is going first, take the swamp team with him. keeper. swamp he has done nothing but make a wreck of everything. he is not normal. he needs to tax break a mental test and the last caller is so wrong. have a he reason why we problem, we have people like that who believe in trump.

i p don't know why they can't see he is evil. he hasn't done anything for this country. his administration is like a flash card, up and down up be down up and down every day. he firing today today -- today? neilson. 'm so glad that the house is owned by the democrats because we are going to make everything again. host: was there anyone you were sad to see go? caller: no. to go.l need he didn't drain the swamp. he filled the administration swamp.he the white house is nothing but the crazy house now and all of allies are laughing at us. did he not hear the speech from about his president word of nationalism. he's a nationalist. nd he's hitting on the reporters, all the black reporters, everything is wrong when they ask a question. someone's pass away for the press. i wish the press would stand up i wish the media

would stop reporting anything him because he is insane. if.: got jeff, wood bridge, virginia -- woodbridge, virginia. go ahead. caller: i love c-span, cnn in d.c. just for the last factor as far s whom i would like in the cabinet. i think the american medical list trump should a real illness. democrats sound unhinged. they lost a fair election and have been unfair to president trump and all of his cabinet positions. that, i did like eff sessions, but i think his firing what's of his own accord because he made the mistake of informing the president that

e was going to recuse from the mueller investigation. had he done that, i don't think he would be attorney general. i was president trump i would into ff sessions to move neilson's position because he is so stronger on the boarder and immigration. i think he's the perfect choice boarder.r southern host: thanks, joe. for waiting, in ashley. go ahead. aller: the guy in texas, i'm sorry, but he's blaming everything on democrats. e said that democrats attacked sessions. well, how many tweets did president trump put out? unreal. you turn around and this picture of these boys with their the nazi salute, he said they are just waiting. at the -- at the first row, the boy in the he is making an arion

ation sign, he has three fingers out and his thumb in a circle. is a gang sign. so this guy is saying he was waving? that was a nazi salute. is boy in the front row giving a signal. thank you, c-span. tony, memphis, tennessee, independent. you.k caller: i like your show but, boy, it is hard to get in on line. am i on the air? tony.you made it, caller: can you. everybody that trump appointed worked around him being indicted going to jail and this political guy that i -- that on been listening on cnn the news, he's under investigation, and -- and the was on out it is if you a jury and the people asked you a question before you become one majors is that have you

seen -- jurors is have you seen case or anybody talked about the case or had any influence on the case? guy has. why would he be appointed the when n the investigation he is part of the people being investigated. ost: were you sad that he let jeff sessions go? caller: i won't have let sessions go. because hee kept him recused himself. that was a good position for him ton in -- to be in. they need to take a dust pan and them all and sweep out. be ay needs to go home and loyal0 to her -- loyal to her house. -- to her husband. that's all i have to say. this morning,ound former republican congressman nd current president of the mcintosh growth, david

will join us and greg sergeant talk about his ook, an uncivil war, taking back our country. stick around this morning. >> sunday on q&a, california democratic congresswoman jacky spear talks about her memoir, "undaunted." >> i was on the airstrip of remote jungles of guyana, having just concluded a congressional , and we wereur ambushed by the airstrip. and congressman ryan was shot 45

times and died on the airship. members of the press died. one defector of the people's 10 -- temple died. my righting out of arm. a wound the size of a football. it was, oh my gosh, i am 28 years old. this is it. >> sunday night on c-span's q&a. c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable-television companies. today, we continued to ring you unfiltered coverage of the congress, the white house, the supreme court, 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. the: a week removed from 2018 midterms come we are joined by david mcintosh. how much money to the club for growth and its various arms spend on election day 2018? guest: for the cycle, the two years, all of our different $50ties raised almost million. of that come about 30 many dollars went into the elections. direct those we bundled contributions from our members to the candidates of 25 million of that was what they call super pac, independent expenditures helping various candidates. host: what did you get for that investment? guest: thank you for the question. we won 85% of our races. host: how many did you plan? guest: these are in the fall. 20. so 17 out of 20. i am counting the florida senate

as a win. i know that is being recounted. but we did very well. our candidates did well. one lesson i took away from this ranfor republicans, if you away from core republican principles, and he didn't talk or the need for more freedom and free markets, you ran into trouble. you democratic opponent defined the issues in the election. our guys stood by their principles and did well. election,y after the you talked about squishy republicans. to find that. guest: -- define that. guest: it is people who want the office more than they care about principles. they give lip service to conservative pencils or freedom, but when comes down to tough votes, for or against the tax is -- will iand excessp and say no to

spending, the squishy ones say no, that is too hard. i don't want to do that, i want to find a place to run and hide. host: dave brat of virginia, robert eyewall, would you define them as squishy? guest: no. i think it was cases where there were closely divided districts. dave brat fought hard. we spent half $1 million on independent expenditures to help him. he just got outspent. was hererat opponent in washington dc, touched a sliver of the district, it was too expensive for us to spend money on. mcintosh is with us. --

leadership elections in the house are taking place today and tomorrow. what did republican voters signal they wanted from republican leaders? i think they want to see a change in the house in terms of supporting president trump's agenda. it essentially means they want to see leadership for those proposals. when you are speaker of the he always came to whatever the senate came up with. at this point, what they need is back, it can'tes do that by cutting deals or playing small ball politics on the little things that voters don't really pay attention to.

it looks to me we're on the path to do more of the same. if you do the same thing and expect a different result. insanity. host: kevin mccarthy -- will bet looks like he the inside favorite being the majority leader and he has been at the table the last two leadership of the house. jordan and does jim up in all of this? guest: he is a fighter and would make a great minority leader. up, depending on whether he wins or loses, he will be able to bring the caucus back to a majority after the election. following the current path he is on, showing there are republican

to will fight. mitch had a tough year. many problems were in the senate. others, youhim or can do a lot of things. one or two people would object. hopefully it will be up to 52. will make it easier for him. the problem with mitch mcconnell is the process. i heard him bright we ran a wonderful appropriations process. problem with appropriations under republicans was deficit spending. everything we saw showed that was the number two concern among republican voters. you have got a most three -- and the leadership sides with the party.

that is a source of frustration that republican voters sought grow with this congress and wanted to see the change. , how longd mcintosh have you been president of the club for growth? guest: this is my fourth year. we are a free market small ,overnment political group organized as a nonprofit to advocate for positions, but the main way we do that is through our political groups, our super pac to elect champions for limited government and free markets. problems can be solved in private society and when you have economic growth, a lot of other problems end up being easier to solve and follow a. we look for republican

candidates who not only say that but you can tell from their life and voting records in the past that they will stand up and fight for it. host: some callers. upid, republican, you're first. caller: what happened in florida? why weren't these corrupt election officials done away with? rick scott has been here for and pam, iyears called her office friday and had a long weekend. they took off the weekend. this is ridiculous. we are seeing a repeat of 2000 all over again. i touched my friend of mine from florida who said in those counties, had rick scott removed the person who was there, the corruption was endemic and would have just bubbled up under whoever he replaced it with. least at this point he's

doing with people he knows who are not on his side and not the dark underbelly in the process that is willing to cheat and steal elections. host: do you think that is what is happening in florida? guest: the fact that they mix all of the votes, the one that should have been separate, it is a way of making sure many of the invalid votes are counted anyway, yes, i think that is an effort to try and steal the election. host: santa cruz, go ahead. caller: i was calling about everybody complaining about this and that. it is unbelievable. ,20 trillion in eight years gone. where does that go to? infrastructure in shambles. -- justention everything. the have a one train dollar deficit.

now. debt and deficit how big of an issue is it with this congress? guest: as we talked to voters in the last six months, it was their top issue across the board. democrats and independents, this congress has failed to address that. they keep spending more and removed restrictions that were there to try and limit the growth and spending. they think there is no political price for it. we are not yet at a tipping will but the experts always warn you we're getting close and need to do something about fiscal restraint. host: do you think that would happen with the white house being republican controlled as well, coming into this 115th congress? guest: mick mulvaney was the

head of -- for president trump. he put forth a immensely insightful budget and it was ignored by everybody. by -- theyst went are a group on to themselves. for many reasons. defense spending, increased a mistake and welfare spending. others said we like the programs, why are you spending more, to the trump administration. it is truly a disappointing issue. when i was there, we actually balanced the budget. wills hard, but it took power from john kasich and newt gingrich who basically told the

appropriators, you will chair the committee but only if you agree that we will cut spending. host: do you think we will balance the budget again? guest: i think it will take a long time and a political effort to gain consensus from the congressional areas spending i talked about. even more, what to do with entitlements. clear, i trump made it will not touch social security and medicare. that means you have to look at other entitlements. farm spending, food stamps, and the welfare part of entitlement programs. host: good morning to you are on with david mcintosh. caller: well, my issues are that actually pulled the worst out of americans. and the republicans cheat at

gerrymandering and others are blamed for the state of jobs. companies want to make bigger profits. they took the jobs to poor fortries to have them work wages. host: let's talk about some of the issues you bring up. jobs going overseas. guest: thank you for the question. everybody blames the other and yes, most americans, republicans and democrats, want to see some

effort to work together. it is very hard appear because all of the members remember the last time somebody did something to hurt them. it works both ways. jobs, we areon of in the best place we have been in a long time on job creation. an unemployment rate is at historic low, new jobs in the last 14 months have been at record highs. good chiefly with -- cuts and he entered industries like energy and health care energy that has let american companies invest and create jobs. we have a transformation in the economy on low-wage manufacturing jobs that have moved overseas. we have seen that happen if you look throughout history, all the time.

engage in trade, people buy and sell with each other around the world. the low cost producer ends up making goods that a higher cost producer really shouldn't invest in. we do well when our countries invest in jobs like the tech industry and research and and we can do those more effective than the entire world. focusingsident trump on the wine industry. france makesade, excellent wine. but they make it hard for the u.s. to sell its wine into france and sells us a tariffs. whereas the u.s. makes it easy for french wines and makes small tariffs. not fair and must change. what your thoughts on the president's use of tariffs?

a -- an attack on americans. a bad idea. it is very easy to sell french wine in america. but the people who enjoy french wine are americans. if the president with a tariff on them, americans will spend more because they get taxed more. was we saw in north america steel and aluminum tariffs brought a better trade agreement . as a temporary measure to rewrite some of the trade i can understand what the president is doing. there is a cost. now that he has got a good agreement with mexico, lift those aluminum and steel tariffs because it is hurting united states jobs and the car industry. in the end, tariffs hurt the country that put them on.

businesses cannot compete around the world. david, l.a., independent. byler: i have to start off really thinking david for his honesty. to go will further on my appreciation for his candor, when he talks about how much money the fund for growth has contributed to a particular type of candidate, and what the what they are contributed to the candidates, i think david, you make a good point, you demonstrate why it is you have to get money out of politics. you already have begun with how do we now balance the deficit after the koch brothers have already received all of these big tax write offs.

now you want to go to entitlements. what are entitlements? are you still with me? the entitlements are social all of thed so-called discretionary spending things that helped the people. but your corporations don't want to actually be good americans ,here you can pay your taxes you get all these tax write offs and billions of dollars, and you do your stock buybacks and he really do not invest in america, but you want the american people to believe that all of your politics is about the benefit of america? i think your honesty has demonstrated who your loyalties are. let's give mr. mcintosh a chance to respond. guest: thank you for the question.

essentially, corporate america are americans. many of them are international companies, so there are employees working overseas were other nationalities. but when general motors makes cars here and then has to pay a , so it will shift and make its cars more expensive and they cannot compete, that means americans will lose out, either shareholders who tend to the with theirple company and their 401(k) plan, or employees like my home state of indiana, they shut down a lot of plants over the last 30 years. so corporations are a way of people organizing themselves to engage in economic activity. work they can do together that are then separate -- separately. ist we see in politics today a lot of special interests on both sides. by the way, the big corporate entities in town to not particularly like the club for

growth candidates because they don't vote for subsidies to corporations. they don't vote for the special tax breaks. they vote for the general tax break that everyone could take advantage of. today, if you see -- if you start a small business, you will pay less taxes than you would have before our tax cut. decides theyl who want to go into business, that acentivizes people to take risk with savings. a lot of people run up credit card debts when they start a business. they are hoping their dream will come true and they will be successful and earn money off of that. if the government taxes it, it is harder for them to do it. you want to go to entitlements next. call themo not entitlements, i call them the welfare program we set up as entitlements, meaning congress does not have to vote to increase spending on them.

so we have to restructure those programs. oure is a huge problem in society of welfare being too rich because then people do not want to work in those entry-level jobs. social workers will tell them, don't go work at mcdonald's, you can get more if you don't work and sign up for food stamps. that is a bad deal in society. feel dependent and lose hope and we need to restructure that to channel people to endeavors that will let them be successful. club for growth, you can check them online. at the beginning about how much money raised and spent on election 2018. how much of that specifically was spent during primaries and republican on republican races?

>> a rough ballpark figure i think about one third of it was. to help the republicans ultimately keep the majority of the senate, and reduce their losses in the house, our guys for the mostes part. part of our whole goal is to the quality of republican candidates by looking for men and women who really believe in the things republicans say they are for, really believe in smaller government, less spending, lifting the heavy-handed regulations so people can pursue their lives in the private sector without worrying that they will hold them back. when there were so many close races, do you think one third of the spending in 2018 could be better used to take ?ore republican seats in several cases by

getting the right candidate at all. i would say is a couple of examples in texas, his nomination, didn't have to spend money in the fall for that one. guy in texas, those were races where it was very successful. taylor, another texas example. mark green in tennessee, they shored up the races before november. republicans squishy expect that you will play again in the 2020 campaign? guest: yes or we will favor seats where there will be one candidate or another. we are also looking at other races and saying, their voters want to see someone who is with the program. do you have a budget? guest: we are putting it

together now. it depends on the environment. i want to demonstrate how we decide that here we looked at the map and there were 10 seats won.president trump open tennessee for blackburn, we found kevin nicholson, we found rick scott, who really essentially found us, and by getting those candidates in the primaries, the country had a better chance of winning those seats. >> five main dollars was spent on that race? >> yes. a disappointment. primary, wethe didn't have any money we helped him win a tough primary. his credit, he did a good job and immediately started

attacking him. so the month of june, matt rosen negative ads on him, he was under water. he had more negative impressions than positive. that just hurt us from then. we demonstrated to everybody it would have been a good investment, because he was down 10 points in july and we narrowed it down to a tie toward the end. john run -- ran a good campaign. had we had more money in june, i think he would run. host: republican, go ahead, thank you for waiting. caller: i am 71 years old. just like this year, i am giving and his sample.

schoolteacher, they work for general motors and he was making close to $50,000 per year. she said she went to school for five years and could make that kind of money. you've got to work at general motors because it is only two dollars an hour and college is worth $100 an hour. the sad part is the american people don't understand the $10 shirt you buy at walmart, pay for a guys welfare, food stamps, housing, that shirt really bought $30. the american people came here today and say, we stand by trump, we have to pay more for our clothes. but an american would be working. i know that is the hope

and the dream. i grew up in indiana in car country. a lot of those jobs are not there. the textile industry today. i don't think even if we had huge tariffs on shirts coming in from around the country that we would rebuild that. case in a healthy economy that things turn over. successfulhat was for generations, someone else figured out how to do it cheaper and more efficiently. the business does not thrive anymore. look at the original mail-order catalog, amazon of 100 years ago. they were huge and went through a great cycle. we're facing the possibility of bankruptcy. that is the way good and healthy economy works. if you stay stuck with the old, you get beat by the competition. so you have to innovate and come up with new products or new ways of doing it and delivering it.

amazon is the giant today. if they do only what they are doing now, which happens a lot faster, 20 years from now, they will be like sears. it is a healthy dynamic. it is stressful for people like your friend who went to work for $50,000 and hoped he would do that all of his life, and over that lifetime, the economy shifted around him. we do have to find ways to help those people be part of the new economy. host: you mentioned amazon. any reaction that part of amazon's new headquarters will be right across the river here? guest: i think that is exciting. for amazon and the tech companies, they are kind of isolated in california and have a different view of what makes the world tick. i wish they depict one of the midwest or southern cities, if they had east coast west coast or somewhere in the middle,

amazon is a company would understand three different times of -- cut -- types of american culture. caller: my question is, i'm up in my 50's but i feel like the politicians, when you want to talk about people selling out the country, they sold it out when they did the nafta agreement. because they didn't really care it destroyed our manufacturing once nafta went into effect. trump came in and we renegotiated the deal with canada and mexico. i have a relative that is a farmer. i talked to him this weekend. in the shortat run, financially, it might be a little tough. but in the long run, the agreement trump made with canada would benefit big pharma in the

midwest. me isr thing that bothers you get politicians that leave office and once they leave office, they go to work for lobbyist groups. there should be a mechanism put in where if you are a representative, i do not care if you are a senator or in the house of representatives, you should never be allowed to lobby the government. they know all the ins and outs. that is where the money goes. they don't care about the american people. let me start with trade. that is nafta. parts jobs, they moved overseas, i think that would have happened whether or not we had nafta.

the companies could have basically in getting the same thing for less overseas. americans everywhere paid less for cars. nafta was good for farmers in your friend was right. i think the new agreement will begin for farmers and may help manufacturing. host: under the democratically controlled house, is that in limbo? only playing politics and not wanting president trump to get any victory. it was negotiated by an old , navarro, and it is very pro-labor. you would think they would want to go ahead and move forward with that. i am worried the whole two years will be played out under the shadow of the presidential election we will see good things get through. i think politicians are getting self interested. even more on the spending side,

and someone on the tax side. congressman to the working here in washington, is really to reduce the amount of money in the system. him him -- no one would pay them to lobby them they were threatening them with regulations and taxing them. if you scale them back, reduce all of that, and you don't need lobbyists. growth --for for youat are the rules back in 2001 and are those different today? when i was there, you couldn't go back and lobby -- lobby on the issues with the committees you served on. in indiana for

three years and then did come back and joined a law firm and was a let -- registered lobbyist. we had that cooling-off. .oday, we extended it a bit it is not much of a restriction. i know people are careful they do not cross the technical line and they have to register as a lobbyist. honestly, if the committee were spending -- weren't spending test their money, the company wouldn't hire them. the need to hire people who know how it works. could you walk into the capital to the house floor and talk to current members now? yes.: i'm not a lobbyist beard i may head of this political organization. the member of congress has the right on the house floor, he has niceking space, one of the

perks. no parking of the capital. i used to be able to go to the gym. i do not know if you still can. but yes, you have access as a former member. i am thankful for it. talk to mostf you lobbying companies in washington, they are reluctant to hire people like me. the honest ones will tell me, we know it was your staff that did a lot of the work. so we're going to hire them. you see that happen all the time. host: less than 10 minutes left with david mcintosh, club for growth president. waiting, a republican. go ahead. caller: the reason why the in the midterm was health care. they could promise health care to the voters. the reason they could promise health care is because they took

over the health care industry by passing the aca law. it gave those in power the ability to distribute health care. it is kind of like what the socialists did. the only one i see who is talking about giving health care back to the private sector is josh howley. right now come we have only got one-size-fits-all health care. it is terrible. what the democrats are doing is areible because they controlling everything and promising health care because they took over the industry and that is not fair. you are exactly right the democrats turned health care to a winning issue for them to i see that as a failure on the republican side. they failed to pass a replacement of obamacare in this

case in the senate. then their political leaders told all of their members do not talk about it. it was a failure. move on to other issues. that gave the democrats a wide-open opportunity to come in and talk about it. and i saw these ads against our candidates. they ran to people and said, so-and-so republican is going to take away my health care and i have a pre-existing condition. great, new fresh leader who knew how to take that on. he said of course we will protect people of pre-existing conditions but not the way obamacare does it where everybody else's premiums become so expensive they cannot afford basic health insurance. plans to dopublican that. the one i like best is rand paul's plan where you pull the people with pre-existing conditions out, and is government-subsidized, and you have a free market for everything else.

is one of thember ones we endorsed immediately in the primary. money thereto spend because we pushed everybody else out of the race. but did spend money for his general election. maria, westville, new jersey, independent, good morning. caller: i have three questions. number one, our founding fathers warned us against entanglement spirit ever since world war ii, we have been taking britain's place in the world. we are in secret wars that used and inolonial wars, yemen and now israel, that they would destroy the palestinian people, those are not our wars. we should bring all of our people home to guard our own borders. a second thing is about thatlements, who stole all money for social security? where does it go? does a black budget for the defense department?

nobody will count for the arms we give everygive new weapon we have to israel. it will never end until he come back home. host: you brought up to big topic spirit let's let david mcintosh answer them. guest: defense, we do not have that, we focus on the economic policy. that leads me to the second one. social security. and they put taken it in an iou to cover it. it was taken to spend for all the deficit spending. we have been doing it for several decades to one of the biggest regrets i have from the , introduced as part of the balanced budget, that you would take social security out of that. had we not allowed them to borrow to cover for all of the deficit spending, we wouldn't be

worrying about social security going broke. didn't. for decades, governments just used it as a secret way of funding all of the run away spending that we have. that has to stop at some point. it essentially ends up being like a government run ponzi scheme where you put your money to but it is not invested pay you back later when you retire. it is used immediately to pay retirees. but also to pay for everything else. thatey vote alert is a way club for growth signals to members of congress that we think this is a key economic think, the position, we is yes or no. is a formal way of telling key votehat this is a that we think impacts the economy. we urge you to vote yes or no. then we keep a scorecard.

at the end of the year, we tally up the key votes and rate members of congress. 100% and some have zero or close to it. i look at it roughly the way my high school students get graded be, ands in a, 80 is a below that, you're probably failing. host: the congress probably has to come up with a deal to keep it funded, unless we are part of a shutdown. do you think whatever deal that comes together will be a key vote alert? guest: about half of those that we do would be on economics. spending,he deficit then we would support it. if it is business as usual, but they are in a big fight about immigration policy, that is not an issue we get involved in and we stay out of it. host: a couple more calls. caller: i was saying how do we

get cheap strawberries? how do we get all the produce that goes to florida, virginia, like everywhere across the country, you know? they invited europe. i have been to spain. they buy our like walnuts. talk about the trade. guest: one of the good news is i have seen the strawberry fields in southern california. it's a great example. we have a wonderful and bountiful country and we grow great agricultural products that are that -- that go around the world. trade were, other countries will put tariffs on those. suddenly, strawberry growers will lose half the markets. wayurts us, it is another to trade wars hurt americans.

we have got great agriculture in california is in the center of it. they have to work on some of their own issues. environmentalists, we are seeing the results of that environmental policy with fires, they would manage the forests so the fire might have been contained and it suddenly goes out of control and people die. we have got to get the right balance between protecting the environment and managing the resources. host: clayton is a republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i have three questions. the first question, the environment and climate change, you have like free market solutions or an economic approach to how to solve issues facing the nation. how could possibly [inaudible]

out: you are going in and but i think we got the first question. is there a free market solution? david -- guest: for many, there is. if you have a problem with pollution, and i'm skeptical about defining everything as pollution and that is what climate change does. you and i breathe carbon dioxide. that has been defined as pollution. on real toxic chemicals and sulfur into the air when you but a property right on that and say you have the right to buy and sell so much and that creates this marketplace that drives down, we have seen it successfully done a couple of times and some of these carbon areas, the market

will drive down the use of have ants, and we will much cleaner environment. environmentalists are skeptical because they do not want to give property rights to polluters and would rather shove them all down. but then you don't have any industry or economic growth. about one minute left we were talking to viewers about president trump's cabinet and we're asking their suggestions on who should stay and who should go. i wonder how you would answer the question. couple whome point a are doing a fantastic job and should stay. head of hhs, a tremendous job of actually correcting many of the problems in obamacare through regulation. you can fix them all through regulation but he has to a great job. he and the fda have opened up the number of new drugs that go through the approval process. under the radar, fantastic job for people's health, and for the economy.

and then a cost a, secretary of labor, has also helped address some anomalies in the health care area. he does a really good job. we are looking forward to more of them. is there anyone you think should go? guest: we aren't calling on anyone to leave p or we get frustrated at the trade rep, but i understand they represent a viewpoint the president has and they are being faithful to him. i just hope they end up unwinding the tariffs, when they have got new and good agreements. >> david mcintosh is the president of the club for growth. always appreciate your time. up next, we will talk to washington post opinion writer greg --greg sargent, talking about his new book, "an uncivil ."r

we will be right back. ♪ >> sunday and killed, california democratic congressman jackie speared -- talks about her memoir. having just concluded a congressional delegation tour with then congressman leo ryan, we were ambushed on the airstrip. and congressman ryan was shot 45 times and died on the airstrip. there were members of the press are died. one defector of the people's

temple who died. and i was shot five times on the right side of the body. a bone jutting out of my right arm, a wound in my leg the size of a football. it was, oh my gosh, i am 28 years old, this is it. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q&a. >> c-span, where history unfold daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public us -- public service by television companies. today, we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress. the white house. the supreme court. in 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: c-span viewers likely

already know the work of greg sargent, who is out with a new : takingn uncivil war back our democracy in the age of trump he and disinformation and thunder dome politics." what are thunder dome politics? two things, first the zero sum death struggle that results in politics when all rules and norms and standards of fair play go out the window. you and your viewers have probably seen the movie in the thunder dome. two men enter and one leaves. it is a reference to that aspect of our politics in an euro of norm shredding and so forth. crudecond is the tenor, bloodsport entertainment tone that trump has dragged us all down to her thunder dome politics puts those two things together in an effort to encapsulate pre-much how everything feels now.

host: how much is donald trump to blame for thunder dome pommel -- politics? guest: i think it is pretty clear that he is a major culprit. in many ways, he is -- he has taken a definite approach to political warfare that i think a lot of people on both sides of the aisle have decided is pretty distasteful. on the norm shredding, when i argue in the book is in many ways, there is a fundamental disconnect at the core of everything right now. and that is, it took a figure , so menacingrump and openly hostile to democratic values, to focus everyone on the health of our planet system. but a lot of our problems, especially from the perspective of norms, predate trump and will outlast him. back biggera step picture look at some larger deterioration's that were

underway before trump came along. host: one line from your book in the opening chapter, the current -- occupant of the oval office deepresult of serious structural factors and problems that go well beyond trump and long predate him. those problems both helped produce trump's rise and are an essential reason this trump moment is so perlis. take us back to the beginning them. when did it start? not easy to put an exact date on it. for the narrative of the book, i start during newt gingrich as speaker. it a lot of people, represented a new sort of politics, a nationalization and a level of scorched earth warfare that at least two people at the moment, seemed like something new. there had been previous times in american history where we had seen that in various forms, but i tell the story of deterioration from newt gingrich to the president.

greg sargent is the author with us. if you want to join the conversation -- define the term democratic backsliding? it can mean different things for political scientists. there are overt and dramatic versions of it like coups and military takeovers. the type i'm referring to is more incremental and subtle. for political scientists, when there iscurs a level of partisan capture of the rules of political alarmingon that seem and undemocratic. these are subtle things and they are hard to measure.

for instance, the advent of partisan gerrymandering during the last decade, where voter suppression. those represent democratic backsliding because the rules were captured for the purposes -- they were manipulated for the purpose of entrenching the power of politicians. how about the backsliding since president trump took office? guest: a lot of what you see with his attacks on our institutions come one could argue it is a slightly more overt version of democratic backsliding than the stuff we were saying before hand. the constant undermining of the news media's's institutional role in our democracy, endless attacks on law enforcement and constant attention of law enforcement as corrupt and because they are carrying out a legitimate investigation into russian interference into our elections. while we don't know what the long-term impact of those things

will be, i think we can be they --and worried that those types of attacks could really have a dealer tereus and undemocratic effect going forward. americans60 million voted in the midterm elections, a turnout rate of 49.2%, the highest since 1914's 15 points -- 50.4%. the you take from that? we have to posit that this was a big reaction to trump. in some states like the red states where republicans majority, ie senate think you saw a positive reaction to trump. he polarized the electorate and could portend a new realignment. he is essentially german the republican party into a position where it is more reliant on noncollege whites, which is why

they were able to boost of their majority in red states. at the same time, he has alienated college educated and suburban affluent whites, particularly women who delivered the house to democrats. it is worth pointing out that the one national election we had was for the house. won by ap forces sizable popular majority. host: you talk about your concern about declining state in free and fair elections. there are 116 million people voting, does that represent a declining faith in the electoral process? guest: i think it was a reaction to efforts to erode faith in our elections. i think it is fair to understand a lot of from to tax on the legitimacy of our put a consistent such as the ones we are seeing in florida and georgia, where he is out there essentially saying if we count all the votes, the outcome will be illegitimate.

call it for republicans already. a lot of social edge of the ground has shown that a lot of energy among the anti-trump a reactionriven by to trump's his attacks on democracy. a lot of people consciously see their suspicion right now as a reaction to that, a reaffirming of our democratic values. tweeting president that large numbers of new ballots showed up out of nowhere and many are missing or forged. an honest vote count is no longer possible. dallas massively affected, must go with election night. that was the president yesterday morning. guest: it is an extraordinary thing for the president of united states to be doing. he is telling the country from the bullet pulled of the presidency that if we allow our processes to unfold the way they are supposed to, if we count our votes, the outcome must be illegitimate.

message to send to the country about our democracy to her we should be clear on just how undemocratic a sentiment that is. host: call is at first, kentucky, independent. good morning. caller: i want to comment on how this guy is two-faced p or he is talking about president trump and others don't respect democracy. the democrats had their out.shirts at -- they have never accepted the selection. call every name against him in the book. then he defends himself and he's the one causing the trouble. who will notocrats listen if they lose. there is certainly a problem of mob action on both sides. we have seen the activity on the right and the left and i will concede that. at the center of the conversation must be the fact that the president spent the

last 18 months in a concerted and deliberate effort to stoke conflict on as many friends as possible. it is mystifying to me that people would be able to deny that when it is right in front of their faces. host: david, athletic city, democrat, good morning. caller: i have just one comment. the last for the club for have had one democratic caller, a couple of and all of colors, those desk callers -- callers. big one.a pretty he was patting himself on the back. they got walloped. they got walloped in the midterms. it was a blue wave.

kept calling on all republican colors and all republican colors. some democratic caller's wanted to get in. i appreciate that. you are on with greg sargent. what is your question question mark -- question? caller: i think greg is telling the truth appeared donald trump is a joke in the american people know it. just have a good day. thank you. thoughts on the president? guest: i think it really is important to keep pointing out how unpopular he is. i sympathize with the caller to the degree that sometimes it feels as if, and i will generalize a bit and i'd missed that, but it sometimes feels as if the coverage overall is a little reluctant to his knowledge just how deeply

unpopular he is. host: what are some examples you have seen in the past week? guest: that the past week but the last month, there was a slight uptick in the polls p republicans went very hard to tt that the kavanaugh hearings were a fatal mistake for democrats. -- whate flown there could have been an easy election. that whole thing turned out to be completely false. and the press coverage i will admit,ain, the tone was wow, the president is coming back. and there was just no evidence of that. the polling was really clear, it was a slight uptick. guest: host: what was the impact of the capital hearings? -- of the kavanaugh hearings? guest: it might have helped him in some of the red states, but at what cost? clearly, if anything, we saw the\intensifying in some of these educated urban districts

where college-educated whites and suburban white voters, particularly women, were driving the backlash. look what happened in the house. , the racemocrat take called for christensen of -- kristen sinema. guest: one interesting thing about that, arizona really is ground zero for trump. in 2016 when trump made his a statement on immigration, his big speech before election day, it was in arizona. he pardoned joe arpaio, a local hero. to a minority, i would suspect. and remember, senator jeff flake was hounded out of the senate for being too anti-trump. that seat was vacated for that reason. and a democrat picks it up. even in the trunk the state where trump tried to stoke

conflict to the greatest degree around his signature issues, democrats emerged on top. host: new york, john is a republican. caller: good morning. this is one of my fourth phone calls. how are you doing? we have a little delay but go ahead. are you greg sargent? host: you are on with greg sargent, what is your question. caller: you are an author, that's excellent. one time i wrote a story in grade school and the teacher said i was a good writer. i don't know if i'm a democrat or republican. i'm a disabled veteran. 70707 as i watched the officeise take the overseas. i signed on for six months so that i could do the six-month cruise, because everybody said, why did you go to duty for two years and then a shipyard? nobody is democrat and nobody is

republican. we are just human beings and we have to stop labeling it. i'm a mule or an elephant. are if i'm happy or you sad, because we do have a problem and it's called immigration. youave a president that, know what, he might be a little bit unfair, but he speaks his mouth and when he came into this -- i will go off the teleprompter. i hate that word. they got rock's. and they can't wait to throw them at this poor man. host: sergeant? guest: there are all kinds of problems with immigration in this country, i think i understand the argument you're making. my argument would be that the for approach would be comprehensive reform which will deal with the millions of undocumented immigrant in this tontry by providing a path legalization and getting right on the law. we know they are not going to get supported.

the choice is clear. legalize them. comprehensive immigration reform can be structured in a way that addresses can learns like this color. we can put more money into border security which, by the way, we have done. the border -- a lot has been invested in recent years. in terms of there being a immigration crisis, in historic terms or at least in terms of recent history, the flow is actually somewhat down. i do think trump is exaggerating i wouldee to which -- strongly urge callers who are hearing him say that we are facing an emergency at the border to just do a little research and you will find that, the crisis is exaggerated and there are actual solutions out there. host: independent -- independent, good morning. are you with us? james, democrat. go ahead. caller: hello.

you are right on the money. timesmber back at those and i remember i really thought it was getting strange when reagan got in office and they blamed carter and then the old man george, then he blamed carter. going.n it just kept on and now we have another republican that takes another democrat to fix up this country. and it keeps on going and keeps on going. yeah, i remember. people, it is amazing that these people -- i live in missouri, now. and i just can't believe these people are that dumb. you know? they keep voting against themselves. , traitors to their own

country. it went past me -- the point of being a republican state. you know. host: your thoughts on the news media? guest: i understand your frustration, sometimes it does seem like fox news is really deceiving people in a major way and i'm sure it's -- it presses itself upon you in missouri, having just thought that senate race. but i would point out that the house has now been picked up by democrats and we will have divided government and you will have some representation in the national government now. these things swing back and forth and it can feel there a , yes, theg and polarization is soaring at this point and so is negative partisanship in which we face our political choices on the

rise. party won some power and now there will be a real back in worth between two parties and hopefully, you will feel more represented. host: you offered some suggestions for becoming better consumers of the news. what are they? guest: one thing that i argue in the book is that we really need to reaffirm the core liberal and of the newsalues media at the time when it's under pretty for us is fault. i think it's important to recognize that donald trump and the movement he represents, it's really trying to, essentially, do tremendous damage to the institutional, the fundamental institutional news media in our democracy. i tell the story in this book about how he is doing -- he is taking this to a level we haven't seen before, although there's a long history and

context. what i argue for in the book is that we can all become a better news consumers and we can all encourage journalists to reaffirm this faith in the professional core values. this is the way back to essentially restoring the profession -- the confidence in the profession. host: the book, and uncivil war, taking back our democracy in disinformation. the author with us for the next 20 minutes. taking your calls and questions. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. you dedicate this book to the memory of robert schmidt, who lived from 1928-2018. guest: robert schmidt is my best friend from childhood's father who passed away a few months ago. guest: host: up next, colorado, a republican.

caller: morning. thanks for taking my call. i don't mean to seem insulting, but i'm just saying, this guy, what country is he from? because the movement that trump represents is the one that is abiding by the law. i think the only true election was probably the montana election. everybody either called in after feinstein held all those senate committee hearing. we know, we know that she would have never been elected. all the calls that came in after that said that even democrats, they were all lifetime democrats. guest: i'm not sure what the argument is, but i guess what i would say is that if i'm not allowed to criticize the president, then why am i the one being told that i'm not from this country? host: for our viewers you aren't familiar, what is the line.

it's an opinion section of the washington post, a liberal leaning blog that i wrote . host: where did you get the name? guest: it's a cross between pluumbbook,d the an old-fashioned reference to d.c. host: on twitter, can be found at theplumblinegs. or give us a call. indiana, independent. caller: good morning. you just touched on what i wanted to talk about, i think trump's single greatest success ,as been to prevent his base lies, andbc, cbs tell the only truth comes from him and fox news. and they believe it. i mean, they really believe it.

we were discussing it on facebook the other day and a lady i went to high school with, she said you guys have to stop believing the lies from the left. and i'm like, the left? i was watching nbc. he has really convinced his base. returng is, how do we people's faith in free press? and walter cronkite, let's go back to walter cronkite. he was the most trusted man in america. back? we bring that i will hang up and listen to your response. thank you. guest: if you are interested in that subject, the degree to which trump has persuaded his base that the " mainstream news media" is corrupt and dishonest

and that only fox news and trump tell the truth, then i hope you will buy this book because i do tell that story. i think you touch on an important point, which is that, in many ways, the declining faith in the news media is largely a republican phenomenon. i actually cite a fair amount of data which goes into this and what the polling has shown is who it's mainly republicans have turned on the media and there are various metrics to measure this, but that's really what has been very clear in the data for some time now. for instance, i will cite one poll that i think is quite alarming that i discussed in the -- who doh is that you trust more to tell the truth about important issues? president trump for the news media? and the majority of the overall american people take the news media and only around 30 something percent say trump.

but when you pull that question only among republicans, you get startlingly high majorities of republicans who trust trump over the news media. years,ory goes back many the conservative movement has spent many years trying to discredit the mainstream news organizations and silo off its audience from them, and i discussed this in the book. it's not an easy question to answer, what you do about that. the best answer is to continue to reaffirm faith in the core liberal democratic values. can,supporting where you engage reporters in a constructive way and try to recognition ofrd the errors that they can accept. there are various ways that we can support good journalism that i hope will essentially continue to maintain majority faith in the press as an institution in

our democracy. guest: host: the president uses the term fake news less than 45 minutes ago in a tweet this morning. in response to some of the criticism he has received for not going to the world war i cemetery over the weekend. and the weather conditions that were happening that day. why do they, the president said when the helicopter could not fly to the first to carry in france because of almost zero visibility, i suggested driving. secret service said no, too far from the airport. the next day at the american cemetery in the rain, they reported fake news. i'm sure the secret service was thrilled by that. the exposure of the president gave them. of know, the level victimization that this president is capable of feeling and the notes of victimization he sounds for himself are pretty much endless. i mean, he's the one who did not go to the speech and he wants us all to blame everybody except him.

it's puzzling how he refuses to take responsibility for his own actions on one front after another. host: baltimore maryland, democrat. caller: i just want to make one comment and ask your guest a question. opinion, i believe this president has very little respect for the actual office of the president and he has very low regard for the decency of the office of the president. guest, becauser eventually, we will elect a new president. does he believe that this president is doing long-term, structural damage to the democratic institutions of this country, or will we be able to recover from this just with the next president? guest: in the book, i argue that

you can see very is ways that we get through this with a fair amount of damage but more or less not as bad a level of damage as many predicted at the outset of the presidency, i think. and a lot of people were talking about a full onslaught into autocracy. host: what were you talking about at that point? was pretty worried. i tried to stay optimistic at times and i wrote some pieces in 2017 which sounded a fairly strident alarm about the authoritarian threats the president presents and i will own up to that. i think in retrospect, sounding the alarm was a good thing. it engaged millions of people in our political system. another story i tell is how civil society stepped up and really essentially provided the american people who were concerned about trump with real

resources to think about what was happening. host: what are some examples? guest: well, i mean, you know. if you look at the law fair blog, they provided a running legal critique where lots and lots of law professionals were explaining what was happening in a way that i think are really was quite illuminating. it's almost impossible to pick any representative example. you saw civil liberties organizations mounting losses lawt away, you saw professors going much more public with their critiques of what was happening. i think what happened was that there was a level of engagement on the part of the voters that i hard and theyly were given the tools to think about what was happening and to byct to this presidency

expert. it also was quite heartening" a response if you think about it. host: maryland, republican, good morning. caller: good morning. i feel like i need to give you a history lesson, especially how we suffered through eight years of the obama years. it was miserable. i just stopped at a gas station and paid $2.23 per gallon. were paying, we four dollars and five dollars per gallon. during the carter administration, i was in seventh grade, and listen, democrats, during the carter administration, i was pumping gas right outside of a resort town. i was in the seventh grade, and people had to get tickets, every other day to buy gas. you could not even by gas when you want to do. you want to put that in your book. you really need to put that in your book. let me tell you something.

we can't afford another 8 years of obama gas. my investments are booming. you are talking about polls? how do you feel about the polls when they were claiming that hillary was up during the presidential campaign? they were wrong, right? guest: i don't think the polls were wrong about the house this time, right? they were right on target. it sounds like the viewer who just spoke to me missed what just happened. there was a big election. a majority voted for democrats to take over the house. that just happened. the polls being misleading and so forth, i think it's a little hard to argue that that happened this time. secondly, i would point out that the price of gas seems like a very limited metric to judge the health of the country by. thirdly, i would point out that obama took office in the midst of the worst financial crisis in

70 years. we were losing 400,000 jobs per month, hundreds of thousands of jobs per month. it is endlessly mystifying to me how this history is just airbrushed out with so many republicans. host: indianapolis, indiana. democrat. caller: i was struck by how close some of the elections were this cycle. it reminds me of the importance that so manys me citizens did not vote and i will pray for the president regularly. at one point, i think he said we are all created by god. and i think he needs to look to god and resign the presidency. thank you. i wouldn't say that he

needs to resign the presidency. i'm not sure what the question trumput i would hope that would look at the last election aat happened and take from it recognition of just how deeply dismayed with his leadership and majority of americans who voted in this election was. crueltyeeing a level of in his immigration agenda, a constant level of belittling and frankly, racist attacks on journalists. we saw a new round of those the other day. certain point, i understand what the viewer means. it would be nice of the tosident tried to aspire lead us to a better place, but he seems to take solace and enjoyment and, in his mind,

political gain from stoking civil conflict wherever possible. of elections and how we vote, the lead editorial in yesterday's new york times focused on a proportional representation system. why you advocate for it in your book? guest: ranked choice voting, you do away with one member per district. up would have a state carved into a few larger districts rather than many smaller ones and you would have numerous representatives from each one. and the reason that innovation is interesting, and i urge your callers to check out fair vote, just google that. this is all described in great detail. but the very short version is that if you allow people to choose more than one representative in order of preference, scramble the ideological lines a little bit and allows for individual politicians and representatives

to become more ideologically appealing to first place people who will become as first choice and people to who will pick him as a second choice. ofs has at least the chance undoing some of the polarization and partisanship in congress. host: what are some of your other suggestions for undoing the polarization? guest: i don't know if these would do that necessarily but some of the things i advocated for our nonpartisan redistricting commissions. come to think of it, if a nonpartisan redistricting commission can actually have the effect you're talking about if it's on properly. the basic goal is that rather than have politicians draw the lines to entrench themselves more deeply, which entails deliberately wasting the voters of the opposition which is a , we havething to do commissions in which all stakeholders some have -- have

some sort of say in what the final map looks like. it's a complicated and difficult thing to pull off but if we can set up an ideal in which --ryone feels to some degree and everyone feels like there is ofe sort of standard fairness, potentially, we dial down the polarization that way. host: just about five minutes left with greg sargent. the book, and uncivil war, taking back our democracy. morning,ur calls this cindy has been waiting in connecticut, a republican. caller: hi. thanks for taking my call. ason't like labeling myself a republican and i was a democrat, independent. i'm an american first and i don't even know where to begin with you. newsn, you could blame fox like republicans aren't supposed to have an outlet, only democrats are supposed to have

an outlet. and i used to be an big fan of morning joe and now i can't even watch it. we throw around words that i don't hear on fox news quite frankly. but i think you don't give american people enough credit. get my news from all different sources, not just fox news, but msnbc, i read different newspapers, liberal. i think we are intelligent enough to make informed decisions, despite trump's rhetoric. we can discern and decipher. we are intelligent people. you don't give us enough credit. a country, misogynists, those are all words i hear on liberal media, nonstop. and those are words we were very careful in the past not to use. and now, we throw them around like everyday conversation. and that's really what is polarizing america.

you know, demonizing trump voters area they are just looking for something different. and the reason why trump's president is because there's so much misinformation all around. you should not just put it on one side. it's wrong, it's divisive, and it has to stop. host: got your point. guest: i would not quarrel with that in some ways, of course especially in the liberal media, -- i the way, i would say by liberal media i don't necessarily count news organizations, i mean left-leaning outlets. there's a fair amount of throwing around racism and at times, one could certainly find examples here and there where it's recklessly thrown around. but i think it's important to there's ae idea that division in the press between the republican media, fox news,

and the democratic media, every major news organization. that has been an argument that conservatives have made for decades and its just not really true that in some basic sense, the major news organizations are aligned with democrats. sometimes, if they have a more liberal opinion, sure. but in a general sense, much of on places like the new york times, washington post, and the major networks is really fair. justn, if you doubt that, look at how hillary clinton was treated. it never ceases to amaze me that republican news consumers don't see that she was treated really, quite savagely. in some ways, appropriately so. had a much if trump

tougher time in 2016 than hillary, that's just a fantasy. host: virginia, line for democrats. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i want to think the guests and the lady who just called. look what she says. i'm an independent. it was not even close to the way she was talking. the reality, you just said it. fox news is fake tv. they want to tell you whatever they want to tell you. --a human being, technology when you are attacking the reporters who tell you exactly was going on and you tell them it's a lie, it doesn't happen, they should ask themselves -- are we better off to listen to this kind of garbage? donald trump, the first thing he did when he was president, he attacked the media. he attacked every way possible to stop everything. and again, i have a lot of respect for some of the

republicans because they want educators and they seem right from wrong. caller: justous says we are americans. yes, we are americans, but attacking each other is not the solving the problem. donald trump is using everything to tell thes american people i am right, they are the enemy. it's the same when i saw the white house what happens area guest: i would like to say that i really agree with the basic point you are making, which is that the central factor in our politics right now is trump; divisiveness. i don't understand how anyone can look at what happening and ignore that basic fact. i mean, even if you were to conclude, as the previous caller did, that the press is unfair to trump, which i don't think it is. but even if you were to conclude that, the notion that it somehow justifies trump: the press the enemy of the people is just

ludicrous. this is a guy who continues to use language about the press, even after a man was alleged to have threatened and murdered reporters, used the same language. the continues to parent the conspiracy theories that deranged people have now fixated on to do heinous acts. to somehow say trump is fighting back -- first of all, the press unfairreally uniformly to him in the way that i think a lot of republicans ink it is. were, of all, even if it how on earth would that justify this type of presidential behavior? guest: -- host: independent, thanks for waiting. i think trump is one of the best presidents we've ever had. i think the media -- look out

they did not criticize obama, did not criticize bill clinton. they will go down as two of the worst presidents this country ever saw. i think people ought to suck it up and get with the program. donald trump's president, let's get behind him. fff --espect and fff guest: i would just .1 more time to what just happened in this country. there was an election in which donald trump was on the ballot, according to his own devices. and a majority shows a democratic house. and all the polling, or much of it showed that the american people, the majority of the american people wanted a check on the president. it'so callers to think somehow unfair to want a check on this president, please note that a majority of americans want.it now, he's going to get it. uncivil war,k, and

taking back our democracy in an age of trumpian disinformation and thundered on politics. i appreciate your time. guest: thank you. host: up next, more of your phone calls in open phones. you can start calling it now. line for democrats, republicans, independents. as we show you the scene in the navy yard session of washington, d.c. a few miles from capitol hill. of congress members are gathering for orientation at a hotel. they will receive briefings tomorrow and thursday on everything from setting up offices to ethics training, these will be introducing new members as we approach the opening day of congress on january 3. we will be right back. announcer: sunday, on q&a. jackie spear talks about her memoir "undaunted."

>> i was on an airstrip in the remote jungles of guyana, having just concluded a congressional delegation to her with leo ryan and we were ambushed on that airstrip. he was shot 45 times and died on that airstrip. there were members of the press that died. i was shot five times on the right side of my body. a bone jutting out of my right arm, a wound in my leg the size of a football. -- oh my god, i'm 28 years old, this is it. announcer: sunday night on q&a. c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a

public service by america's cable television companies. today, we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, he supreme court, 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: you are looking at the d.c. down in washington, where new members of congress are gathering this week to begin the orientation for when they come to capitol hill to be part of the 116th congress. c-span will be working to introduce those new members of congress to you as we move toward opening day on january 3. for the rest of this morning on the washington journal, it's open phones. any public policy issue that you want to talk about, because lines are yours. democrats can call at (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001.

independent, (202) 748-8002. one member of congress who won't need orientation but will be taking over a new seat is congresswoman kristin sinema. that race called by the associated press last night, declare the winner over martha mick sally. she becomes the first democrat to win a senate seat in the state in 30 years. will take that seat being vacated by senator jeff sessions. last elected democratic senator in 1988 and a presidential contest has voted for republican candidates every year since 1952 with the exception of democrat bill clinton and 1996. for the rest of our program, what is on your mind? florida, a democrat. caller: good morning. how are you? host: doing well. caller: i would like to comment

on the last two gentleman. it's interesting, the republican gentleman was talking about taking people not based on whether they are good for the constituents or not, just whether they win or not. the last gentleman spoke about something that should be a legal thing, we have freedom of speech. i agree with one of the other people who called in. this stateike it is channel. ago when i was a young girl in college, i got to go to some of the eastern blocks and i remember hearing state television and it -- state radio. it sounds very similar.

candy is next in alabama, republican. go ahead. caller: yes, i would like for that -- i can't call him a gentleman, but greg, i would like for him to know that nobody tells me how to think. i know exactly what i think and trump only got up there and voiced i was thinking. don't put everybody in that category because it's not true. i don't like abortion. to be where iing can stick to someone without having to have my head took off because i like trump. whereyou explain to me the republican mobs are? i have never seen one. host: to walter in massachusetts, independent. walter, was on your mind? caller: good morning, how are you doing, everybody listening to c-span. i would just like to say that

watching these last two elections, when obama was president, watching the election with obama and watching the presidency with trump, i just realized as americans, in general, i know a lot of people are engaged and care, but i don't think americans have really put in the effort to be educated, politically. time,en to c-span all the to hear what the american public really thinks. and it's crazy to hear some of the comments that some folks make. some people come in and make a good sense. but some folks just seem like we lost. i'm sorry, some of your comments, that you make, you really let people know where you are at morally and where american values really are. i think americans need to do a greater effort to understand the weitical process, because

deal with a lot of misinformation and a lot of lies and cheating because a lot of moneypoliticians have involved, power involved. we are going to get lied to and misguided and we need to be more responsible. real responsible. we forget that there's children involved, policies, laws get passed. we need to get more politically educated and that way we won't have the s goes like this administration today. america, get educated. host: that's walter in massachusetts. ma told you about kristen sine in arizona. several more races have not been called one week after the midterm elections, including the governor's races as well. here's the front page of the

constitution, pressure for final results builds. talking about that gubernatorial race between stacey abrams, brian kemp. with about a 59,000 vote lead, about 1.5%, although the race still has not been called. the front page of several florida papers, this is the miami herald. startts get an uneven noting that as republicans and democrats continue the legal tug-of-war for florida's recount , a judge urged both sides to tap down the rhetoric and reserve whatever public confidence may remain in the one official revealed he had let residents displaced by hurricane michael to vote by fax and email. it's in the miami herald and one more from florida, this is the headline.

recount ongoing, judge calls for the end of sliding. you can see one of the protesters holding a sign monday and congressman ted deutch speaks at the supervisor of elections office. that recount continued this week and results are due by thursday. i want to keep you updated on some of the house races. the roundup in usa today, nine house races still uncalled by the associated press. three in california, one in georgia, one in new jersey and two in new york. republicans led five of those hold,area of the margins democrats will end up with a majority in the house. they had 193 before the election. publicans would have 204 seats down from 235. stephen michigan, thanks for waiting. democrat, go ahead. caller: high, thanks for c-span.

i'm just wondering, how long america is going to put up with this lying guy we've got in the white house? up,e's so, you know, open why don't we cite an executive order released in his past so we can really find out what this guy is up to. republicans, because they never said nothing, they allowed him to meet with the enemy for two and a half hours. what going on here? some democrats have expressed an interest in getting the president's tax returns. are you confident that democrats will be able to do that when they take over the house and get subpoena power when it comes to the chairmanship of some of those investigative committees? caller: that's right. that this guy put his cards on the table. if he can't, he can write an

executive order releasing his taxes. let americans know the truth. i'm sick and tired of this guy lying. he lies on a daily basis. i don't know how people can back a guy that lies. he lies nonstop. host: we got your point from michigan this morning, we appreciate the call. we will continue with open phones until the end of our program. more of your phone calls in just a minute but a reminder about the congressional schedule today. the house is set to meet at 2 p.m., boats set for 6:30. the senate at 3:00 with vote set for 5:30. the beginning of the lame-duck session in congress and for more on that, we turn to congressional reporter for the washington post joining us by phone -- or, will join us in just a second. we will have that conversation with him. first, let's listen to ronald in virginia, republican. go ahead. . caller: i would like to say to

people that say they are against if a 2000 bomb drops are zone, abortions performed, too. it's not just what you are thinking about. with these weapons that you are spending your taxes on to create dropping those bombs and when women are pregnant, those are preventable abortions. for you people that keep coming in to talk about how you lost elections, you lost the war, so you get over a. guest: host: that's ronald in virginia this morning. post,he washington wanting us to talk about the lame-duck session. the lame-duck is session expected to go for and what are the must do's on the schedule? congress's unclear the scheduled until mid-december,

but there's one key deadline coming up right after the first week of december to finish the spending bill for the remaining agencies that have not been funded for the fiscal year. that is some talk that if gets done ahead of the deadline, everyone can leave early and go home. host: you talk about the remaining agency. a shutdown come december, it would be a partial shutdown, is that correct? which agencies would be open and which would be closed? guest: it would be a partial shutdown. not all ofd some but the spending bill already, they got the department of defense out of the way, health and human services. just when the branch. other things. those departments would be completely unaffected by a shutdown. there are many others that certainly would be affected. one among them is homeland security because the main issue

that's going to be thought about in the next few weeks is border security, whether the president's border wall gets funded at the level that he wants. and that is what really is going to consume most of the energy and conversation in that time. hope for some sort of deal? democrats looking for legislation to protect robert mueller's probe. is there movement toward having some sort of deal when it comes to the wall funding? guest: that's going to be something that gets discussed. people are throwing a lot of things on the table, but often what happens is a lot of the more contentious things like the russia probe and things. there's some talk of turning to a more comprehensive immigration deal that would address the dock acasituation -- d situation. these sort of things get cast aside and i think that there's a

there's going to be an interesting few weeks as things come to a head. host: also of interest in the next couple of weeks, leadership elections for the washington post. take us inside the capitol. let's going to happen today and tomorrow among house republicans? guest: it's actually going to be fairly predictable. postsf the top leadership are actually unopposed, people running without any competition. the exception is the top leadership post for what will be minority leader, but kevin mccarthy, the existing majority leader, is expected to win that race against the conservative firebrand who is a member of the founder of the house freedom caucus. mccarthy simply needs a majority of those voting and he's very

confident that he has that. slate, thethe expectation is that steve scully's will remain in the number two post as minority whip. cheney from wyoming, the daughter of president -- former vice president cheney is running unopposed. a member of minnesota to be the campaign committee chair and a number of other jr. posts are also going to be filled without a competitive race. if jim jordan loses the minority leader race as it sounds we are expecting, is there a place for him somewhere in the house republican leadership? guest: he is expected to become the ranking member of the government reform committee that isopposed -- that top post something he has had his eye on for a long time that he's also had his eye on the top post of

the judiciary committee as well. the expectation is that the republican committee is going to cap collins for the post. jordan will likely get the oversight post. that will put him in a much more prominent position to combat democrats as they start their aggressive oversight into the trump administration. had his, he jordan would want the judiciary post because it has a wider -- you can get into issues like immigration, criminal justice, oversight of the fbi and the department of justice. those are things that jordan is very much interested in. oversight has a broad jurisdiction itself. obviously, and the minority, he won't have subpoena power, but he will have a pulpit to highlight concerns and the sickly cast a tension on two

issues he's going to want to bring to the forefront. host: the headline of the washington post today, policy rallies support with opposition still taking shape. feedback on that story in our last two minutes or so this morning. walk us through with the latest. is pullingy pelosi out all the stops to return as speaker of the house. she is facing some opposition from a coalition. democrats, that includes folks who have been critical of the past inside the caucus as well as a number of incoming leadership. some of them went as far as to say they would not vote for nancy pelosi to become speaker, that's expected to take place in january. looking at the math right now, it's going to be very close. democrats are on track for maybe 13 to 15 seat majority.

members who sitting have said they will oppose before, we have another four that are in the freshman class or coming in. it's going to be really tight and it's going to be a lot of members wanting to cast that no vote. what pelosi is doing right now is gathering all of the -- the things that she has built up over the course of 30 plus years in democratic politics, calling at major unions, major interest groups, friends inside the caucus, incoming chairman of major committees. forof them are going to bat her. she's trying to get people on the record in support of her. thedemocrats don't have internal leadership elections until a week after thanksgiving and of course, you know, the

four votes for speaker does not happen until the -- january so it could be an issue until that moment. host: mike is a good person to follow on twitter if you want to know what happened. easy enough to find. we always appreciate your time on washington journal. guest: my pleasure. host: now, back to your called this morning and our last 10 minutes. we want to hear from you, any public policy issue on your mind. darlene and oregon, line for democrats. caller: thank you. i just wanted to let people know that the constitution guarantees us the right to protest. you can call a group of women that were protesting against a vote on women a mob if you like, i prefer to call it people protesting against a policy. i also want to say, if you look at all these votes, how this country is almost 50% divided, they are within one or two

points of 50%, these people being elected. it says to you that even the presidential race that mr. trump that close, the electoral college put him in office. for all these people who say that the rest of us have to get behind this president, he's not a king. we are all entitled to criticize this president as any other president. when they are talking about getting behind this president, they should remember how many said theym the get-go would not support him or anything you try to do, they would block. and that was mitch mcconnell from the republican party. telling everybody to get behind the president just because he won the election does not mean anything. he's not supporting the constitution as he promised to do, he could not even be bothered to go and put a wreath on the grave of these soldiers who died in europe, fighting for our freedom.

yes, when he comes back here, he talks about how much he loads veterans. well, the veterans should see him put his money where his mouth is, because a little bit of range -- host: got your point. the president tweeting about of the issue that you bring up, just about one hour ago this morning. saying "by the way, when the helicopter could not fly to the first of a terry in france the cousin almost zero visibility, i suggested a driving. the secret service said no, it's bigfar from the airport and paris shut down. speech next day in the pouring rain! little reported, fake news!" we have been showing you the inne outside southeast d.c. the navy yard area. southwest d.c. just a few miles away from capitol hill. that's where new members of

congress are gathering to begin their orientation process for the 116th congress. one newly elected member of congress spoke to reporters a few minutes ago about the 116th congress, the upcoming republican leadership elections. he was elected earlier this month to represent pennsylvania's ninth congressional district. here's what he had to say. morning, i will be representing pa nine, pennsylvania's ninth congressional district. a lot, there's a lot on the table. we need to understand rules, we knowto be sure that we what direction we are going when it comes to offices and staff. certainly, some briefings on policy. you've got to respect the level of information that will be helpful in order to be able to do the job well and run your

office properly. for 25en in business years, served as secretary for commonwealth. i feel i'm ready for this that hey, more information, the better. [inaudible] it a lot ofn thought, they are both outstanding people. i've had conversations with them the past weekend asking what their plans will be since we will be in the minority over the next two years. they are discussing those plans now and waiting to gain more information and make a final decision. i think very highly of both of them. i would say i would have not made a decision yet. i've gotten close with kevin mccarthy. i think very highly of him, he's a very good conservative showing a lot of leadership. he has certainly earned the position. smart, jim jordan is a tough, focused individual. i respect him as well.

we will see what the next couple of days. host: we are expecting members of congress together and that hotel to speak with reporters, including one is happening right now. >> members of congress are working on a massive reform overhaul bill that i gladly will support. i served in local government during a very tumultuous time in the mid to thousands. mid-2000s. a few of my predecessors pled guilty to corruption. i have learned you have to build public trust if you want to get anything done. that's how we did it in el paso really, was through some pretty significant, robust reform in local government that we gained tremendous local public trust. i think that can happen. i'm an optimist, but we have to do a very good job of policing herself. thank you all so much.

c-span will work to introduce you to those new members of the 116th congress as we head toward opening day on january 3. , thoseembers of congress newly elected members gathering this week for the beginning of their orientation process. we've got a few minutes left in the washington journal today. it's open phones, bill has been waiting in michigan, republican, go ahead. caller: high, how are you? host: doing well. caller: i have a few comments to bashersut all the trump that you have on the show today. i think he's doing a good job. i had to walk away from the democratic party because they are weighed too far to the left. i was very disappointed in the election in michigan. i think we should have term our elected think

officials should have the same health care benefits that we have. you never hear them talk about that. i think the president is probably one of the best presidents we will ever have. host: when did you leave the democratic party? caller: i left because they are too far to the left. host: when did that happen? caller: pardon me? host: when did you make that decision? caller: i made that decision when trump got on the ballot, that i was going to vote for somebody different. and i voted for obama twice, he was going actually nowhere. underhandedoing deals with the wrong iran. host: did you ever vote for a republican before trump? caller: no, i never have. host: do you think you will ever vote for a democrat again? caller: no, i won't unless they change their ways with this open

border. we need to secure the border. the average michigan taxpayer is paying $8,000 per year for illegal immigrants. gary is in kingwood, west virginia. democrat. good morning. caller: hello. host: good morning. caller: i would like to thank you for what you do. too bad you cannot have him on longer because we talked about redistricting in regards to gerrymandering. i think the take back of democracy would be just straight out grid, political district. spnspn nice square blocks. get rid of the lobbies nice square blocks. things and take

back our democracy. host: go ahead. caller: like to give a shoutout for repudiating the attempt for growth and dark money subsidiaries who have been attempting to buy that state for the last 10 years. and montanans, give you a shoutout. maine tester is not the greatest guy that lived but not on the take. good job, people. host: referring back to the earlier segment, had it on montana where they spent $5 million in the general election on matt rosen dale who ended up losing to john tester. gary, woodbridge, virginia, independent. go ahead. caller: good morning. how are you doing? host: doing well. caller: i appreciate this every morning.

i'm an avid listener in the morning. i want to touch on something quickly. i found it quite interesting that prior to the midterm elections, we were just inundated with information about the migrant invasion, yet at the election an those outlets, there's been no word mentioned of that which makes you wonder, was that really just a political ploy just for votes and there's really nothing to it because even the president has not mentioned one word about this migrant invasion ever since. i'd like your opinion on that. host: we want to hear your opinions this morning. from north carolina, democrat. go ahead. caller: good morning. i am calling because i'm disturbed about the proposed cuts to social security. the ince lloyd pepper have seniors had a voice at the congressional floor levels. and $278 billion proposed cuts

to social security is ludicrous especially when baby boomers are retiring at record levels. more people, less money. it doesn't make sense. and politicians are not talking about it. and i wonder why because it would devastate employees like yself who are not large income earners. social security is money that i am dependent upon and what is the advantage of cutting it? i've told mitch mcconnell and the republicans are saying because they want to shrink government and to pay for the tax cuts that were given to the 1% which i absolutely disagree with. and as a senior citizen, if you cut my social security, that will be one of the most inhumane acts that the

politicians can do. host: caller 2 on the washington journal as we wait for the senate judiciary committee to get underway this morning. they're considering the nominations for several different judges, including one on the u.s. third circuit court, senators starting to file into the room there but we'll take your calls until that hearing gets underway. patsy, san antonio, texas, a democrat. o ahead. are you with us this morning? one more try for patsy? patsy, got it stick by your phone. we do appreciate all the calls this morning on "washington journal." we'll end it now but be back here tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern, 4:00 a.m. pacific and take you to the hearing on the nomination of paul maddie to be circuit court judge for

the third circuit but also some other district court nominations taking place today. that hearing getting underway in just a minute. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp.2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] . .

>> i'll let you talk and then i'll give my opening statements. >> thank you, mr. chair. >> chairman grassley, ranking member leahy and senate colleagues, thanks for being here on a cold, wet monday morning to allow me to voice my support for louis