on "washington journal," we look at globalism versus nationalism and what should be the role of the u.s. in the world? ♪ host: happy thanksgiving and thank you for spending part of your day with us. we are taking a different approach today. we will have no guests but you for three hours. what should america's role in the world be? this comes as president trump made the argument about being a nationalist and others countering the united states must remain connected with the rest of the world and when it comes to those ideas, where do you stand on that when it comes to america's role in the world? you can let us know for three hours on our phone lines. 202-748-8000 for democrats.

republicans, 202-748-8001. independents.or if you live outside the united states and want to give your thoughts on america's role in the world, it is 202-748-8003. as always, you can post on our twitter feed @cspanwj and if you want to post on our facebook page, about 100 people posting on this idea, you can do so at facebook.com/cspan. part of this comes from recent talk of days from president trump about the role he is taking when it comes to his position on being a nationalist, something he described himself in public appearances. went on fox news talking with laura ingraham who asked about this idea of nationalism [video clip] when it comes to the president [video clip] >>. the word of has taken on this connotation of feeling anti-semitism, hate, even violence.

do you think that is fair and do you want to further clarify what nationalism means to you? fighting for am the country. i look at globalists and nationalists. i want to take care of our country. for many years, our leaders have been more worried about the world and they leave us in a mess. whether it is the wars, economy, debt, everything they have done including putting in the wrong supreme court justices. we are proud of this country and i call that nationalism. i call that being a nationalist and i don't see any other connotation than that. anything --ou make any statement with the political correctness world, they make a big deal. i want to help people around the world, but we have to take care of our country or we will not

have a country. we have to take care of our country at the border. host: that was from fox news. to give you some dictionary definitions. merriam-webster says it is a sense of national consciousness exulting in one nation above others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of culture and interest as opposed to those of other nations. when it comes to this idea of globalism, the same source, merriam-webster saying the national policy of treating the whole world as a proper sphere for political influence. maybe you take one of those positions or maybe something in between and if you want to give your thoughts, what america's role in the world should be? 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. if you live -- i am sorry, .ndependents, 202-748-8002 if you live outside the united states, 202-748-8003.

you can always post on our twitter feed and our facebook page. the center for american greatness has a piece by henry olson that asked the same question we are posing as far as america's role in the world. some of the thoughts from the piece this morning saying today's global alliance system lacks an immediate threat. nobody seriously thinks russia -- china is not friendly, but its ability to challenge america militarily is decades away. iran is a regional power and north korea's threat is purely nuclear. it is not likely our allies would support a preemptive attack. in the absence -- in the absence of this threat -- spent soldiers blood and money on maintaining it. the nature of military power,

the nature of modern war, america has always rested comfortably behind the ocean-secured -- in a world where airplanes takessed the world and it four or five years to build one super carrier, america will not have time to build one when a clear and present danger materializes. more of henry olson's thoughts available at the website for the center for american greatness, the piece, what is america's role in the world now. a similar question we are posing to you. california starts us off, ron on the republican line. caller: good morning, pedro. happy thanksgiving to one and all. there is a couple of issues here. i hope you give me a minute. i don't call in that often. without customers -- companies cannot sell their products.

it is in the best interest of our country, of course, to have more customers than less customers. in that particular case, we are kind of at a crossroads. in a global society, you have times morely 6 to 8 customers at your disposal if you go globally. if you want to stay nationalistic, you have 1/6 or 1/8 of the number of customers available and as the well flows from one side of the world to the other side of the world. in this case, china has a tremendous amount of global power because of the economic engine it is running, then that is where the customers are going to be in the future as well as -- large central area to buy product from.

host: how does that impact current reflection of trade policy when it comes to the administration? caller: there is a great difference of opinion. the important thing is global trade pacts are important because that way you are able to move your customers -- acre customers happened sooner and quicker and it makes the whole world economy grow faster, the technology grows faster. andything happens faster what we can see with giant tech companies like -- one of the things i point out is tesla who has vision and everybody else is wearing bifocals. host: we will have to leave it. let's go to brian in illinois. independent line. caller: good morning. the other side of his equation workers.ers are also

this is the problem, workers. american workers are having a hard time making a decent living and that is why this issue has arisen. the thing we don't really talk about is the growth and worldwide -- in worldwide population. the population of earth has doubled in 50 years. we added 3.5 billion people in 50 years and the economies have to adjust to that. the united states has always been a place where countries with excess population, i have irish heritage. the irish left ireland because there were too many people living there so they float to the united states -- flowed to the united states. i think the great unreported story is what will happen in the future. this caravan from central america, it is the tip of the iceberg.

the projections are we are going to grow by another 3 billion if not 5 billion in another 50 to 100 years. we have a huge number of people that need places to work and with automation and computers and machinery, we are eliminating a lot of the demand for those workers. that is why the value of an average american worker has been declining and we don't talk about that. host: that is brian in illinois. he is talking about the economic side. if you go to the national interest website, there is a piece by michael o'hanlon, america's place in the world depends on conditions at homes and the middle class. he says i believe much of today's america, especially the working and middle class is angry and unhappy. the realities have implications for future politics and america's role in the world and given the irreplaceable role of the united states in

undergirding international security, the entire security of the global order and one thing i am sure in regard to the recent midterm elections, there are few -- few issues like economic importance played in the midterms. we need those of us who believe in internationalism and american leadership persuade american voters to continue to support the foreign policy engagement that is typified recent decades. those are some economic arguments we are hearing this morning. you can add that and other layers when it comes to .merica's role in the world from michigan in kalamazoo, this is rolf. good morning -- ralph, good morning. caller: i am worried about the racial's aspect of trump's "nationalism." if the policy is going to be to eliminate population growth and limit immigration and then even

limit certain racial groups, that is what i am sensing and that is what is dividing the country, that is what is increasing the tension. it is -- if the policy of nationalism is a shot off immigration -- this would be a change. our typical policy is to allow immigration and bring in new immigrants from different parts of the world, etc. if that is going to change , i don't know if it is good and i think it is increasing racial tensions. i am worried about the racial aspect of this "nationalism." int: that is ralph kalamazoo, michigan. indianapolis, indiana, steve is next. good morning. go ahead. caller: good morning. happy thanksgiving to everybody.

there has to be a mix between both with nationalism and globalism. we have to build up the world role- not that we play a -- in,ness owners have to buy too. they send jobs to other countries and that was a big issue, even in the election today, people worried about jobs . goes, he makes his nationalism with patriotism and gets it confused. all of his deferments and draft -- heg, but he, himself

is getting those two confused. idea when it comes to this you presented, the balance between our own concerns and the united dates compared to that of the rest of the world, you are saying it is out of balance because what -- of what is going on here in the u.s.? caller: we contribute to the out of balance, part of it. owners of major corporations don't want to pay a living wage. it has contributed to a problem. we also need to help. it has to be a balance where we also help. they are building up other countries and that is why their countries are suffering, too. int: that is steve indianapolis. off of facebook, missy says when it comes to america's role in the world, it is to mind our own business before -- because we

have problems of our own to remedy. kelly off facebook says it has and always should be to be the moral leader. jody skyler on facebook was saying it is not to be the world's police. you can post on facebook if you like. our twitter feed available as well. when it comes to other tweets, we will continue on with our thought of america's role in the world. the president on his twitter feed wishing all of those across the united states happy thanksgiving. when it comes to the president's plan and the military, there was the possibility of a visit with troops overseas. the local abc affiliate in philadelphia reports the president will spend the holiday as he did last year in mar-a-lago, also with teleconference with members of the military from the estate highlighting the fact he still has yet to visit those in iraq or afghanistan in person.

maryland is next. linda from capitol heights, go ahead. caller: been listening to comments, very interesting. happy turkey day. i am sort of a nationalist myself to some extent. i don't think we should be policing the world and globalism has gotten us in a lot of trouble. , -- the sad thing is the bill of rights should be enforced for everyone born in this country. so far, it hasn't because a lot of people have been able to do many things that put people born in this country at a disadvantage worried it should not be confused with patriotism. if that is the case, we should not be telling iran what to do. we are using saudi arabia to increase our military weaponry.

anyway, i just wanted to say -- my opinion about nationalism would not probably follow trump's definition. i just feel that we should take care of our own backyard. host: when does taking care of our own backyard extend to what is going on in the world? is there a connection? caller: absolutely. we are telling people what to do. i don't think we should babysit. host: from bruce in charlotte, north carolina. caller: good morning. statesve the united should be the leader of the rule of law that we are a nation of laws. we have had to interfere twice in two world where -- world wars because of authoritarian governments and i stand for the bill of rights which we

originated. before that, there was very little to protect the people against the encroachments of the privileged and the wealthy. host: so when it comes to all of that in terms of how we look at the world or interact with the world, what would you say? uphold that we need to the rights of the individual and the people against authoritarian governments which seem to be taking over the world. host: give me an example? caller: china. the technology they have gotten from us either stolen or given by our corporations is used to hold their population in almost slavery. it is an extremely bad situation

for the people of china. russia, the other countries are to holdng technology people in almost a virtual anti-individual state. host: from ohio, rick is next. rick from louisville. caller: the guy from north carolina just talked about china and slave labor. you are from the south. globalization. i grew up in detroit in the 60's and 70's. andprocess to capitalism democracy, you can follow it from the constitution. -- the midwest, the values that were created --

literally were tied to the constitution. , the kennedys, martin luther king, you go back to abraham lincoln and you see the process ends in them and it mid-1970's -- i grew up in detroit with a process called globalization. my first book was titled supply-side economics. what we have seen in the past 40 years is where, when we fought the south, we thought that horrible ideology of slavery and we won. the country was able to move forward through detroit, cleveland, pittsburgh into wisconsin through labor unions and whatever.

globalization allows the system to go outside the country and exploit the third world -- it is all backed by the state of texas, which would be your republicans and the states of california and new york, which would be so-called democrats or liberals. if you go to new york, you can see wall street and the federal reserve and the treasury. goldman sachs, citigroup, j.p. morgan, the guggenheim, blackstone -- host: so to the current role of america in the world -- how does that all apply? caller: our federal reserve and the central banks throughout the through financial engineering, literally trying to control the world through the american dollar. that is the financial engineering part of it. there is also social engineering

. radioschool, every station, newspaper, every mall, every retail is attached to google and google is attached to silicon valley and zuckerberg right now is being exposed as -- basically brainwashing, dehumanizing, desensitizing the people of this country. host: ok, that is rick in ohio. we will go to georgia, bill. hello. caller: hello. your last caller sort of rambled a little bit and i did not understand him. basically, the united states should pull back from countries .here we have no issues i don't know why we have american soldiers in chad or niger or yemen and why we involve ourselves in the politics of south america.

why we have any role in pakistan. host: what country should we focus on, then? caller: we should focus on where our friends really are and deal with our enemies, china, russia, -- respect their governments, -- president putin is the president of russia. he puts russia first. us first. should put why we are in places like chad or niger or libya, nobody has ever explained to me. this is matt this. host: that is bill in georgia. william on facebook says the united states needs to be a leader of the world's stage. isolationism only brings conflict and stagnation. alyssa off of twitter says to put america first and help other

countries help themselves. those are viewpoints when it comes to america's role in the world. that is what we are asking on our program today. we hear from you as we go along on the phones, facebook, twitter with highlights of stories as we go on. from ohio, bill is next, patriot, ohio. good morning. caller: i just had a slight comment on the merriam-webster definition you posted. that is fairly new. i have a merriam-webster dictionary from 2003 and it first --ys nationalism hold on, i have to get closer to the light. nation, to one's patriotism. advocacy of national independence and that is it.

i think they got to a relatively .ew speak definition it makes it sound like there is something wrong with being a nationalist and a nationalist is nothing more than being a patriot as far as i am concerned. host: when the president applies the word nationalist into his view of the world, you think that is a correct one? caller: yes, all he is saying is he is a patriot. there is an old saying that you cannot help others if you do not help yourself and this country is very generous. he has no intention of not helping those in need, i am sure. he has already demonstrated that. asis not national socialism adolf hitler was. you can use nationalism for good or for ill. i think trump is using it on the good side. host: what is the appropriate role in your opinion with how we

react outside the united states? caller: i think we should interact in ways that benefit the united states. if there is a beneficial aspect to -- for example, helping saudi arabia, which is in the news now, we should concentrate on how we can best interact with saudi arabia that benefits the united states. we are looking at a major purchase of military hardware that will mean jobs down the and for american citizens they are also an ally in a very difficult, troubled region of the world and we don't have very many outside of israel in that part of the country. i think he is doing the right thing. host: to your point about saudi arabia, when you hear from the

other side, particularly in light of the death of the journalist, what do you feel about those issues? caller: i think the president said it right. our dealings are with the kingdom, not one particular crown prince. we have lost, what? 30 journalists in mexico since january of this year -- 2018. i did not hear any complaints in the media about how terrible it has been. there -- countless journalists have died in iran and nobody said much about it. nobody should die the way this guy died. i don't think we should end our relationship over saudi arabia over one atrocity. host: that is bill in ohio giving his thoughts on america's

role in the world, bringing up the story about saudi arabia. a story by karen the young in the washington post, these are the thoughts of jim mattis on concerns about saudi arabia, adding in his first extended comments on last month's killing of the journalist jamal istanbul, agents and -- told reporters at the pentagon there has to be accountability for everyone involved in the murder, going on to say we are not going to apologize for our human rights stance, nor will we apologize for working with saudi arabia when it is good for the -- is for the good of innocent people. it was an american interest to work with the saudi's to stop the human catastrophe in yemen. he also credited the saudi's with assisting in stepped-up u.s. efforts to bring the governments together for reconciliation talks.

janice, good morning, go ahead. hello. i think we should be peacemakers, come home from the middle east, tend to our immediate neighbors in our hemisphere, stop supplying , be more friendly to our allies, listen to others more. practice humility. host: when you say tend to our neighbors, which neighbors are you talking about? caller: in our hemisphere first. in our hemisphere. host: is there a specific country that comes to mind? caller: below our border, central america, mexico, south america, canada, that is in our hemisphere. host: ok. that is janice in louisiana.

from minnesota, independent line , we will hear from gerrit. you are on, go ahead. caller: i think u.s. roles in the world is people would actually be schooled in history, they would know america's role in history has been nothing -- almost a nazi, white powered thing. america stole the land through war from the native americans and caused black people for slavery and nowadays, they are bombing in africa, in the middle east. they have murdered -- the united states military has murdered more innocent people than the nazis. they have caused more pollution than any other organization in the world. they have stole billions from south america, from haiti, from

africans, firm iran -- from iran. they have committed genocide all over the world. with the saudi's, they have been selling them weapons where they have been killing kids, starving kids to death and you have white people, white christians on your organization in the united states saying, that is not a big deal because white christians aren't dying. blacksn't give a damn if asbrowns are dying, as long the white power of the united states is doing good. host: if you are just joining us this thanksgiving day, thank you for giving us time today. we are talking about america's role in the world. what should that be? aspects,eard military economic issues, some advocating to keep within the borders of those concerns. some look -- some saying a look outside is necessary.

you may have a different thought altogether. give us a call and tell us what you think. 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. .ndependents, 202-748-8002 if you want to post on social media, you can join us on our .witter feed, @cspanwj you can also post on our facebook page, facebook.com/cspan. you heard president trump talk about his view of nationalism. it was emmanuel macron who condemned nationalism during a speech on november 11 during the anniversary marking the 100th anniversary of world war i. here is a little bit of that speech from the french president. [video clip] translator: let us remember, let us not forget because the remembrance of these sacrifices urges us to be worthy of those that died for us so that we may live free. let us remember, let us take

away nothing of what was pure, -- of ideas of the lofty our elder's patriotism. the nation of france as a generous nation, the there are of universal values displayed during the dark hours as the very opposite of the selfishness of a nation which only looks after its own interest because patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism. nationalism is a the trail -- l of patriotism. by saying our interest first, who cares about others, we erase what is essential, moral values. host: that event if you go to our website at c-span.org, you can see the speed from the french president and other leaders who spoke.

all of that available on the website. adore the is next in raleigh, hello. -- dorothy is next in raleigh, hello. saying when trump was since you all set it, nationalism, he is not for globalism. that is not true. he has capitalism on his mind. he has got his businesses all over the world and also inserting himself all over the world. he was in north korea telling them what they could build. he is looking at dollar signs. morality has completely left the white house. he doesn't care, he is looking at dollar signs. he is a capitalist and a globalist and when he says he is a nationalist, he is talking about what people think he is talking about, authoritarian and for the white race to be over any other race.

when he says nationalism, that is what he is talking about. he is all over the world himself with his businesses. host: that is dorothy in north carolina. michael off of twitter says when it comes to america's role in the world, interest or issues, what should be the deciding factor in u.s. foreign-policy? michigan is next, we will hear from wendy. areer: good morning, pedro it happy thanksgiving and to all the viewers, happy thanksgiving as well. host: thank you. theer: my problem is with united states, we spend too much time taking care of other countries first. if you have a family, you make sure they are fed, clothed, housed, and you are providing for them -- that their needs are taken care of first and if you have anything left over, you take care of others.

america doesn't figure it that way. we have people in our own country that are starving and homeless and have no health care , the immigrants and everything and now president trump was told he cannot stop those people at the border. we have got to take care of ourselves first. let the world see america takes care of their people really well and when they have anything left over, then they worry about foreigners. we have to make sure our people are taken care of. we are the americans. we take care of our families and our responsibility and then we take care of those that are left over. right now, we are not doing that. host: mark in maryland, good morning. go ahead. caller: good morning. happy thanksgiving. it is incredible how they speak about nationalism now. remember nationalism gave you hitler. it is like the lady before down

the line, trump is thinking about money, he is not thinking about anything else. another person made a statement, that guy in saudi arabia did order that killing, but that is how it works. authoritarian will come home. these people are going to allow trump to do what he wants. he is -- they are allowing trump to set up to do whatever he wants. host: to your view of america's role in the world, what is that? caller: i thought they had a biblical prophecy about it. much is given, much is expected. that was always the thought process. that is when you put somebody in the white house that went to church and new a little bit about the bible. this president has no concept of what the bible is and what it looks like and what is in it. host: give me your view. caller: my view as far as this

president -- host: your view as far as the role in the world. caller: as much as the world to whom much is given, which is us. americans made a lot of breaks, but took a lot of people's breaks. america gotten their financials in order from a lot of slavery, that.ey want to forget i'm not saying we should always remember, but don't forget where we got our wealth from. our role is to look out for others also, not just ourselves and let's give bombs to saudi arabia so they can wipe out another minority group in another place. host: let's hear from tom in vermont, independent line. caller: good morning. i think we need a bill that abolishes all u.s. aid to foreign lands until we can get

our budget under $1 trillion. it is insane for us to be borrowing money from china and other countries to give back to china and other countries. we borrow all this money, we paid interest on our national debt and we are borrowing money to give it away to other countries. it is bad enough we have to borrow money to run our own country. 202-748-8000 you are saying -- host: you are saying cut foreign aid altogether? caller: until we get our budget under $1 trillion. host: why that figure? caller: we cannot afford to pay interest on more than $1 trillion. host: that is tom in vermont talking about foreign aid when factoring in america's role in the world, you can factor those things as well.

pew survey did a look at the viewpoint when it comes to how the u.s. should interact with the rest of the world, just to show you some of the graphs saying when they were asked about partisan divides of use and cooperation with your -- with u.s. allies -- the u.s. should take into account the use of its allies, even if it means making compromises. most of those, 55% saying that. 38% saying the u.s. should follow its own national interest even when allies disagree. when it comes to other countries generally treating the u.s. as thaty as we treat them, poll in september of 2018 saying only 51% saying that. 42% saying it is other countries .ot treating them fairly then the percentage of those who say other countries often take

unfair advantage of the united states. 80% of those saying that versus 28% -- 80% of republicans saying that. 20% of democrats weigh in as well. in arizona, pete, go ahead. caller: good morning, pedro. i think our policy should be to have an american first foreign policy and also be a force for peace in the world because war -- it is basically like a wildfire that destroys all vestiges of humanity and civilization. it is truly a satanic force in the world. we have been at war for 15 years. a frog slowly being boiled in the pot and our nation is losing all sense of our humanity -- a perfect example is the war in yemen. we have been supporting a war in yemen where the saudi arabians

cannot win the war in yemen because they do not have enough ground forces. they have been trying to get sudanese mercenaries to fight the war. they are trying to starve the people. it is a country totally dependent on importation of food. they are trying to close the last port. host: in a broader outlook at the world, should we pull out of saudi arabia altogether? caller: no, what we should do is pull the hammer down on saudi arabia. we should stop any direct participation in this evil war. we should use ourselves as a lever to force and negotiate settlement in the war. host: off of facebook, couple of thoughts. this is kathy saying when it comes to america's role in the world, it should be about

finding a common ground. steve off of facebook says it is on minding our own business and peacefully trading with others and doug perry saying to maintain model and demonstrate for the perceivable future as --t we can how excellent and if we can continue to have people desiring to live here, we are doing something pretty darn right pre-facebook if you want to follow us, it is facebook.com/cspan. you can make comments on our twitter feed, @cspanwj. we have a line for our international viewers. if you want to talk about your perspective on america's role in the world, it is 202-748-8003. then we have the other lines as usual. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. aunt independents, 202-748-8002. massachusetts, mark is next. pedro. good morning,

i hope you are doing well. in reference to what you were talking about, i remember hearing a quote recently that said america is in trouble when people do not want to come here and they are not willing to risk their lives for a better opportunity. as far as the united states's role in the world, as far as trade is concerned, i think we should tell the saudi's to stop it. whisk -- when kuwait was invaded by saddam in 91, we saved the saudi's from annihilation. trump backed the wrong course. he should have kept with iran and he is in bed with some really ugly people. with respect to trade, i want to give a quick personal experience, history lesson. post world war ii, the silk industry collapsed in the north.

the sewing industry went south and what happened was they wanted lower wages and people did not want to do the hard work, they went from central america into asia. people do not want to make t-shirts in america. it is hard, physical labor. maybe they were crying about it, but you have to move on and look at what you -- look at what you are doing right. we cannot go back in time. thank you, pedro. host: from fort myers, florida, tom, you are next. hello. tom in fort myers, go ahead. caller: yes. --m from florida and however, i went to college in d.c. and was a classmate of donald trump although he was four years older than me. i served in the army as a m, but was during na

never deployed overseas. my point is it is not our responsibility as a country to let everybody in without any goingications or actually through the system. this caravan from mexico is just a most absurd thing i have ever heard of as a citizen of the united states and i think we --uld the point -- the point force to stop that from happening. host: we had a caller questioning why we have such a large military presence and shouldn't that be pulled back. how would you weigh in on that? i would not disagree

with that if we are talking about europe and other countries, but there are a lot of countries that use the u.s. as a target and we have to defend ourselves. host: you are saying that presence is necessary, not necessary, only not in europe? where would you redraw the lines? caller: i really could not say that. i really could not -- that is not for me to decide. that is for people in d.c. and all of that. host: then why did you say europe may not be such a concern? caller: i don't think europe is. host: why not? caller: because our citizens go to europe and don't suffer any harm and europeans come over here and don't suffer any harm. we have trade deals with europe and are logical and fair these other countries don't have that situation and now they are

really attacking us. tom, fortthat is myers, florida, giving perspective on america's role in the world. he talked about immigration policy and ended up talking about military policy. you can bring those factors in, economic factors as well. vermont, independent line, this is nick. caller: good morning. 1945, henry wallace .as vice president at the democratic convention in 1944, he was about to be nominated again. everybody knew that fdr was dying and the person who was going to nominate him was blocked five feet from the podium at the democratic convention in 1944.

was harry truman pointr history at this extends from that time. and the people who were responsible for putting him in the vice presidency in 1945 and the presidency had policies and advice to create the national security act in -- i think it was 1947 and since then, our country has been on a post world war ii military trajectory. today, we are celebrating -- not are honoring- we

democraticf our last president, in my opinion. subsequently, over the years, i have watched a few tapes as we of have and there is a tape secret service guys on kennedy's vehicle being told to get off. is waving hiss why? like, host: ok, we will leave it. robert in alabama, democrats line. caller: people are confusing the united states with america. the united states is in the americas as far as i am concerned. the united states is controlled

by european dissenters, different ethnic groups from european, but still led by african descendents. 200 years ago, the trouble started in the world when the group from europe's called themselves white. there are no white people in the world. that means you have no blood in you. if you look and see white shade, then they are red or some other color. the problem is the so-called white europeans feel they are not going to be able to oppress people of color all over the world, so the young, progressive ones are changing their mentality because the old europeans or caucasians think they can control the world and their -- there are the fewest people who look like them in the world calling themselves white. host: how does that directly impact america's role in the world? give me an example. caller: you have people with the army they glamorize the

around the world and take resource from other countries. let them come back to this country at think about this country rather than take the resource from other people. there are people in charge of the united states army. it teaches the doctors and lawyers and workers, they talk about the war, the army all the time. .y brother was in the war he never talks about how the army should go kill people. we glamorize killing other people. that is wrong, in my opinion. host: that is robert in alabama. cnn posted a -- the president's view of nationalism and how that impacted other issues in the world. it highlights several things starting with intermediate range nuclear forces trading in 1947. then the soviet union to -- thete ground launch

trump administration believes the treaty puts the u.s. at a strategic this advantage with china and they threatened to pull out of that when it comes to the paris agreement of 2015. it included nearly every country in the world, the obama administration -- curb the use of fossil fuels and the president said -- the current president said the deal was poorly negotiated. deal -- ve trade unfair to american workers and he pulled out of that. he goes on to talk about the south korean trade deal. the president saying he renegotiated the deal to cut down on a trade deficit with south korea, the koreans put them it's on the amount of steel they would sell to the u.s. and the u.s. exempted south korea from the steel tariffs the president imposed on many other countries. it highlights nafta of 1994.

reminding that congress must ratify what ever is renegotiated. that is the cnn piece taking a look at the president's view of nationalism. bring those into discussion if you wish. steve burns said we are the united states of america and we should show the world we can be united as states and we put our country and citizens first. -- not to be a model for authoritarian demagogues, disregarding the rule of law. sam off of twitter says when it comes to america's role in the the worldp giving weapons to destroy itself. terry, good morning, you are next. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i think the world is a cruel and pretty tough place. i think until we are open and honest about that, we will

continue to have these debates. i think the united states has to take care of itself first because if you look at the evolutionary pressures of life, of humans, we tend to put ourselves first. i think whether you like trump or not, he is basically telling the truth because this is a reflection of how we have evolved. then we can decide what rules we want to put on ourselves once we truly understand what the human condition is. we are aggressive just like every other species and we take care of ourselves first. that is the way it is. that is the reality of biology and evolution. host: republican line, gina joins us from mississippi. caller: good morning. happy thanksgiving. i would like to say i believe beforeat the gentleman me said that it is a normal thing to take care of yourself

and your family first. all the other countries in the world does it. nobody comes over here and takes care of ourselves before themselves. -- takes care of us before themselves. democrats in this country live for fun just like the lady -- the lady in the previous call who said trump is a globalist. anybody with any political knowledge knows trump is not a globalist. the lies being told by the democratic party on president trump is embarrassing, shameful, and i believe it is a sin. host: when it comes to your current view of america's role in the world, you are saying it first, butit america when do we start paying attention to what other countries are doing? caller: after we get our country taken care of, that is when. just like the gentle man before, debt and trillion in

we are turning around -- borrowing money from other countries and turning around and giving it back to them. breitbart, the website when it comes to the president's view -- nationalist view, they cite a poll done by rasmus saying half of american voters share president trump's nationalist worldview and the interest of the united states and its citizens should be put ahead of the interest of the globe. when there are international problems, you are most interested in finding a solution that benefits the u.s. and american citizens rather than a solution better for the world. 44% of americans say they are more adjusted in finding solutions that benefit the globe rather than the u.s. and american citizens. north carolina, this is william, democrats line. hello. caller: hello. happy thanksgiving to everybody.

i am going to tell you right now, this guy lies like the drop of a hat. he can lie and try to cover it up with a lie. other countries don't want nothing to do with us. my mother used to tell me, when you lie, you have to cover it up with another lie. my father used to tell me you will lie and you will swear to it. allies been with the since 1945. they are pulling away from us. and this tax scam, everything he has done is for the rich, it is not for the american people. host: when you say other countries are pulling away, give me an example? caller: look at england, look at france -- germany, they really don't want nothing to do with us. they are starting their own military right now. a european military. we have always dealt with these

people. we have always got along with these people. as soon as humpty dumpty came into office, he destroyed everything. host: that is william a north carolina. joe in pennsylvania, independent line. caller: happy thanksgiving, pedro. c-span you need to take and the bully pulpit you have and anybody who refers to any of my brothers and sisters from other mothers to a color, you should automatically hang up on them, don't give them another second to talk. the point i want to make is about this nationalist. i have merriam-webster collegiate 11th edition. nationalist, and advocate for -- of or believer in nationalism. go to the definition of nationalism, loyalty and devotion to a nation, a sense of

exaltingconsciousness one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interest as opposed to that of others. other than that, i am a pretty reasonable guy, i cannot believe andle take those words twist them into such derogatory statements about my president and my government. host: that said, give me your personal take on america's role in the world, as you see it. fromr: we need to withdraw 90% of these places we are at and our defense policy should be -- we will treat you as you treat us. you threatened to bomb us, we are going to bomb your ass first. we will be reciprocal, whether that means being altra high

respectful -- ultra high respectful level or we will deal with stuff if we have to. we us. host: if you are just joining us, we are a three-hour program. we have spent our first hour talking about america's role in the world. we will spend the following two hours talking about the same. you can call us, tweet us, facebook us. if you want to call us, (202) 748-8000 for if you identify as a democrat. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. if you are outside united states, give us a call at (202) 748-8003. maybe you want to reach out on social media. that is totally fine. @cspanwj is our twitter feed.

facebook.com/c-span. people have brought other examples. if you can tell us in essence america's role in the world. that would be great. we will continue with calls and other news that you have seen over the last 24 hours, including the president and the chief justice of the supreme court john roberts. -- positionsissues courts have taken on the president's policies. president in his most recent tweet when talking about john roberts, saying when it comes to the idea of obama judges, here is the president's tweets. " you do indeed have obama judges. it would be great if the 9th circuit was indeed an

independent judiciary. this is why there are so many opposing views. the numbers are shocking. the ruling 70 are country unsafe the rulings have made our country unsafe and unwise. the 9th circuit is a complete and total disaster." the chief justice, after putting out a statement from the supreme court about the lower court judges, saying, "we do not have obama judges or trump judges, clinton judges or bush judges. we have extraordinarily dedicated judges doing their best. the independent judiciary is something we should all be think before." that is from the supreme court. our focus for this hour in the following -- and the following is america's role in the world.

we will start on this second hour from albany, new york. taylor, republican line. caller: how are you doing, pedro? happy thanksgiving. i wanted to mention we as a nation have pulled back from places like afghanistan and iran, and places like niger and libya. a previous caller mentioned we need to pull out of those countries. i don't feel like it is necessary or proper to be in isolation-type country. 1 do you think -- host: do you think we are an isolated country? caller: i don't, and i think we should stay that way. future ofar as the the viewpoint you take, what is the proper line between taking care of things in the united states versus the concerns we should have about what is going

on in the rest of the world? what is the fine line? caller: our interests. our calculated interests. people, and those by those people aiming terrorists, people -- people like terrorists, people with nothing but hate towards this country, and allowing them to just grow into these powerhouses where they start making pacts and different treaties with countries like south korea -- north korea, excuse me. and other countries that are promoting that hate towards america. know what i mean? does that make any sense? host: tracy in virginia, next up. independent line. caller: good morning.

these people want to keep hollering about the caravan, the caravan. people, i would jump over the fence too because we have the bill of rights and rule of law. -- theytitution states wrote the constitution because they were doing the slaves so bad. abraham lincoln. to give the slaves the right to citizenship. anybody that comes to the united states is automatically a citizen. citizen, butthem a they are doing the same thing to those folks right there. trump, we like trump and you like trump, but that don't mean

he right. don in southgo to carolina. caller: happy thanksgiving, pedro. you got stuck with the duty? host: i chose to do it. caller: america should reject the values of law and order, fairness and justice. our foreign policy should be compassion. if people can't identify with the feelings are talking about, turn on the movie "casablanca" and watch the scene where the germans stand up and start singing and then the free french. bogart tells them to go on and the band plays the national anthem. that is the feeling i'm talking about. as far as trump is concerned, i

would say i am shocked, shocked that gambling is going on. host: how does that work itself practically in your opinion? he valuesy projecting t justice.ss and all those need to be applied to countries throughout the world. dhere is no fairness an justice in russia, china, north korea, and our diplomatic efforts should be to put the world in that direction. so that everyone is treated equally. the country is founded on e umum.is it doesn't matter what color or religion you are, all that

matters is you commit yourself to the ideals of being an american. host: if we show that as a best example, exemplify that, other countries will take hourly? caller: yes. the righteous people will choose offollow and want to be part a fair and just world. there is a hunger for it, a longing. that is why there is so much immigration going on. people choosing to want to come here. they still believe in what i just talked about. them allpiring to throughout the world. host: that is don in south carolina. gideon on twitter -- vivian on twitter. "full americans out of all countries. in defense of the world who is going to fill the void?

she had questioned marks behind most. let's go to arizona. that is where jack is in scottsdale. independent line. caller: happy thanksgiving to you. thank you for taking my call. first of all the woman from theissippi, let's look at first basic thing. we are in debt $21 trillion. we started helping since world war i. helping, helping, helping. war, war, death, death. we have done our part. all these people saying, help this. what trump is doing is put america first. this has nothing to do with globalism, nationalism. we have 30 million people costing us billions of dollars

for 30-40 years now. illegals are costing us billions of dollars. i'm not saying just mexicans. they can be chinese. this is very simple. this is what will happen. if we do not start getting our where we haveoint all americans taking care of , we will notst, ok be americans. of course we are based on laws. look at the war of 1812, everything. everything is based on war and power. we built this country on our power, our blood. the bottom line is simple. get it together. we need to worry about america does in our interest, period.

the other woman that called like, how are they looking at us? you better believe one thing. we are still the greatest country in the world. host: by the way, we have a line for those of you who live outside of the united states. it is (202) 748-8003. iraq calling us. good morning. go ahead. we will try one more time. mohammed, are you there? i think he is not. let's go to randy in michigan. go ahead. caller: good morning, pedro. i want to thank you and the other men and women working today to bring us this great program. it is a national treasure. you could not have put it better question up today for this

61-year-old if i have wrote it. this is something i battled with my whole life. do i want to be a nationalist or globalist? area, i started and went to a one-room schoolhouse until third-grade. without a tv and started watching the vietnam war when i was 10. than a heavy opec oil crisis. i thought i don't want to be involved in the world. all the way through the lost 1980's. then clinton and all the money we made from being involved in the world. when it comes down to it, no matter how much my heart might can't ignorem, i the world anymore than i could ignore my neighbor if he is in trouble. with live out here in the woods. did his house is burning down and i don't want to do nothing, and watch it burn

but my will probably burn too. there has been good and bad. i got lucky enough to make it through everything. i have also see what happened to all the folks i got in after 1978. it has been that way all the way through my whole life. i guess it is the good and the bad and i guess that is life. that is what it amounts to. i have seen the good side of it and the bad side of it. 30 years of stagnation in wages. host: do you think we achieved some kind of balance when it what we have to be concerned about with the rest of the world? caller: at times i think that pendulum swings in this country too far one way or another. we realize when you to be involved and then we throw everything we've got added.

then we get to the point for you kind of ignore your own folks, and then we throw everything back this way. i think we are in the process of trying to get to that balance. i don't know if i will see it in my lifetime. maybe. we keep making mistakes. we have to keep learning and improving. we have come a long ways. we are better than being in a cave. i appreciate the time. host: that is randy in michigan giving us his thoughts on america's role in the world. cordellia, you are next up. caller: hey pedro, and all the callers and listeners, i hope everybody has a happy and blessed thanksgiving. we need to stay first in the world. i listen to you. i really enjoy you. what i was trying to emphasize

is i am 57 years old. the other guy is 61. as an african-american and republican i have seen a lot of things go right and wrong in this country. but we need america first right now. we need to take care of ourselves first and then take care of the world and everything. i used to be a military police officer. i have been in country and out of country. it is just amazing. people usually love us because of our freedoms and because we are so great. i love trump. i know a lot of people hate trump, but we need to take care of ourselves first. thank you, pedro, for having me on. everybody have a happy and blessed thanksgiving. host: that is cornelius. if you are joining us on this thanksgiving day, discovering this program for the first time, this is washington journal

brought to you by c-span. normally we have guests, but we get to talk to you that you are and you get to give your thoughts on a wide variety of opinions. today, america's role in the world. what that should be. we will have no guests today. if you want to call us, it is (202) 748-8000 for democrats. if you define yourself as a republican, (202) 748-8001. if perhaps you think you are an independent, (202) 748-8002. if you live outside the united states, it is (202) 748-8003. also if your joining us for the first time and don't know about the website, it is c-span.org. not only can you watch programs that we have taped over years, we also have something called our video library in which you can find a wide variety of topics, including a debate that took place between the former president's advisor steve bannon

debating david frum. bannon was talking about nationalism and what he thinks it is getting a bad rap. [video] >> why is the nationstate that has been with us since the scorned?hy is it so wife has it turned nationalism whycorned and demonized -- has it turned nationalism so scorned in demonized? people want as much control as they can have as citizens. that is through the nationstate. donald trump day that back to the american people. i know you may ridicule him, but the economic turnaround did not come from obama. everybody in the united states knows that. [applause] the most progressive president in the united states and he can't defend this.

flooded his own and bailed out the elite in our country. we have socialism in the united states for the very wealthy and the very poor and a brutal form of darwinian capitalism for everyone else. that is with the future entails if we don't get this right. if we don't bring out the benefits of capitalism, if we allow the millennials -- they are nothing but 18th century russian serfs right now. they are better fed, better clothed, more access to more information. they don't own anything and they are not going to own anything. -- because ofwhat what obama did, they are 20% behind where the parents were. there are no pension plans, no careers. debate, you that can see it unfold at c-span.org.

kelly in west virginia. go ahead. caller: yeah, i am glad to see a lot of people calling in and talking about america first. i don't see how any politician or a lot of these people can say we ought to help the other countries when you have older americans that are making oodisions on whether to buy f or their prescriptions. thing saw the immigration , that people are flooding into tapeca, it was the same that showed 500,000 people in california that are living in tents an squalor conditions. before the politicians,

you help these other countries, you need to get your own act in order. host: jack in eden, north carolina. republican line. caller: hello. happy thanksgiving to america. was -- itn the world was basically in the right place pre-world war ii. when we decided we would stop immigration, our country became much stronger. reason europely does not speak german today. because the united states was in a position to save the world. not because we allowed all these people to come here and convert our constitution and warp our

laws to further their goals in our america. america's role in the world should be directly in proportion to what countries choose to treat their citizens like we did, with the representative elective nationstate. countries that do not follow our prescription for society should not turn around and demand that we help them. and the world condemns us only don't -- when we don't. when the countries asked for help but burn our flag, i think it is ridiculous for people to say we owe the world anything. host: that is jeff in north carolina talking about america's role in the world. less try again from ira mom --

iraq, mohammed. caller: i am mohammed. i think the u.s. role in the world should be for making peace. not waging war. look at iraq, afghanistan and syria. can you bring peace or even want to do it? look at the effective uranium on iraw and the effect on children. i had a question. s. [indiscernible] answer?not receive an -- can you answer me? is it ok to use uranium and defense or not? host: dorothy says the u.s. role

should be promoting peace for future generations and looking for other green options, cleaning up our waterways, extending medical knowledge and promoting humanitarian ways and democracy, and sharing innovative new ways. saysd off of facebook there was a time not so long ago when the united states was for peace. now we have a lot of corporations that control this country. we have become a warmongering state where peace is economically unsound. terry from homestead, florida. caller: thank you, mr. pedro, and happy thanksgiving to america. the answer to your question from a couple of previous scholars -- callers, in where it is

"democracy." the role ought to be towards peace and equality. --the way, the quality equality, the opposite of that is nationalism. exulting oneself over another, and that is not equality. i would like to challenge you. could you show the definition of democracy? o meansderstand it, dem people. it is greek for people. cracy is greet for power -- greek for power. that is what america's role should be in the world, to give power back to the people. terry in florida

giving his thoughts when it comes to the idea of nationalism. "globalists and nationalists have deep roots in racism and fascism. rants against george soros and the elite. such words serve as a signal to others around the world they share a common cause and understanding in the various countries. nationalism is said to have a common meeting, white nationalism. when the president uses it to describe himself and globalism to describe his opponents, racists at home are thrilled. he sees it as a sign he is one of their own. the president and some of his supporters the night this is the president's intent, defending

his rhetoric by expanding he does not use those words in the same sense of fascism and racist right. n froms from jay bookma the atlanta journal-constitution. the problem of nationalism. from rochester, new york, democrats line. caller: how are you doing? the united states is supposed to be a beacon of light. if ec wrong in the world -- if you see wrong in the world -- we are one of the richest countries in the world. so, it is just a bunch of baloney. we all are immigrants. the early people that should be here are indians. and south american it should be the aztecs. our ancestors all came from somewhere from the east. they can here to decide of the

world. it is crazy. point, how do you see the world and america's role in it? what should america's role be? caller: it should be the police of the world. if we see russia and china doing wrong, step in. we only have one planet. the united states is a beacon of light. i don't know where it is coming from. host: you would apply that police state to the whole world or just certain parts of the world? caller: certain parts. third world countries. whoever. -- if youg, step in see wrong, step in. not everyone is financially stable flight united states. we have the three biggest powers, china, russia and the united states. texas, republican

line. caller: good morning and happy thanksgiving. i have very encouraged to see you are showing clips from the discussion with steve bannon in canada that was played on c-span2 last night. that was extremely interesting and really insightful. and not just his comments, of the other gentleman also. host: we will show those comments in a bit. caller: that is extremely intelligent between the two and i was amazed to watch that. i have been very fortunate. i have spent lots of times around the world. i have been there, done that. things are not black and white. i wish it was. just this morning i've heard a lot of comments that brought of the conflicting issues that seem

to have surfaced. when we look at what this country has done, we really are a guiding light in spite of everything people want to throw at it. --trump doesld go not have an easy job. it is easy to throw rocks when you don't understand the political situation. ethnocentric to think you know all the yes there's -- to think you know all the answers. thosentral america, people really do need jobs for the governments don't have the vision or understand what they are doing. lots of moneyng out of this country that is going to politicians' pockets. when you see kids still in diapers and horses are riding up and down the streets, decant blame them for coming this direction. wete frankly, in california,

definitely need a control issue. when you look at states like california, some people call it a country with their thought processes, why don't we just take the fence down across california and allow them to come in and actually become a sanctuary state? there are lots of jobs with maxine waters and nancy pelosi and others. if that is what they want, give it to them. host: that is ken from texas. ookman withrom jay b his criticisms of nationalism. it was marco rubio who had a recent op-ed in the wall street journal on november 13. "the president is right about nationalism." here is a portion he wrote. "president trump is right.

a true american nationalism isn't about national identity they sunrays, religion or ethnicity. it is on our identity as a nation committed to the idea all people are created -- he goes on to say with the god-given right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. there will always be neighbors with whom we never agree on many things, but because we must live together we have to figure out things as a nation. there is no other way." that is a portion of the op-ed published on november 13. it is by senator marco rubio of florida. if you are joining us, we have been talking about america's role in the world. that is what we will be focused on the entire show. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. independents, (202) 748-8002. if you live outside the united states, it is (202) 748-8003.

from jim in georgia, democrats line. caller: good morning. happy thanksgiving to you and all the other c-span listeners. what itlling about means to be an american. we have a very rich history. we have given the world the holiday of thanksgiving i believe. i think that is a great thing we have given to the world. as far as our country goes and we have a fourth branch, the media. it is not official. it is not in the constitution other than freedom of speech. i think that is another really great thing we have provided to the world. a lot of people say we live in a

democracy. i disagree with that. we have a complicated government. the legislature runs as a republic. we have a president that enforces the law, and a judicial branch that judges the law when there is disagreement. i have heard a lot of legislators say the judicial is bad because they the issue laws from the bench. that is what they are supposed to do. i don't know why some of these legislators get so uptight. even the president as well. host: that is jim in georgia. --ly in new orleans shirley in new orleans. caller: we should make peace with our allies. germany, france, england. and let russia, who is our adversary, know their place.

instead the president decided that russia, china, saudi arabia, these will be our allies. the european allies we have always had since world war ii will become our adversaries. host: what convinces you those european countries are adversaries? caller: no they are not,. host: what convinces you that they are currently? caller: the way trump treats them. and he to these meeting acts as if he is the most important person there. with ourot interact allies like france. as soon as he saw putin at the meeting, his face lit up like a christmas tree.

and acting mean. as soon as putin came into the picture, you would've thought the man had seen jesus. what america should do is get rid of trump. goodbye. usa saying the putting america first must include accepting reality. ast notably, we live in global world and cannot dilute ourselves into believing we can ignore the facts. adding, look at mark zuckerberg and tell me that is not true. steve brunz. show the world we are truly a united states and put our country and citizens first." lynchburg, virginia, from robert on the independent line. ourer: my definition of

world today is not a democracy. one of the guys still a little bit of my thunder. democracy means the majority rules. when you have the senate and rule,ss with the majority when people vote for the president the majority rules? when you get rid of those 270 votes -- we areust to clarify, talking about america's role in the world. speak to that. be we: our role should help the countries we need to help. like a lady just said, president trump is making our allies are adversaries and set of our friends. he is treating them like

adversaries and treating the communists, the north koreans and the chinese and russia like they are our friends. they are not. ahead.o when it comes to countries that need our help, what should we focus on? caller: i would help the israelis. i would help africa. we need to help those people over there. then we need to cease this war in yemen. help people like that. we also need to look at the american infrastructure and build that up. look at china. their go to china, infrastructure but better than america's infrastructure. they have nice railroads. germany has nice railroads. we have these antique railroads from years ago. host: parkville, maryland, nate.

good morning. caller: how are you? host: go ahead. goodr: america should be and lead by example. we should present more empty hands to the world and set of closed fists. when you talk about her leadership, rather than a petulant child that we have is a so-called leader now. i want to address of the people saying we should put america first. we should look to the early 20th century to see -- you showed the clip of steve bannon saying quite as nationalism have a bad name. in the early part of the 20th century, you can see why nationalism has a bad name. host: what is the point? -- if youtionalism

look at the rise of fascism in germany at the earliest part of the 20th century. that is my point. host: from michigan, republican line. steve, good morning. caller: thank you so much for your time. happy thanksgiving. i want to say -- i am talking about immigration. what is going on right now is we have a record number of immigrants in this country, as far as percentagewise. i am thinking right now we should take a step back globally as far as the wars and who we will protect and take care of. we have had some problems going all the way back to the bombing in lebanon at the marine barracks. sometimes we need to step back, and talk to our friends, see what is going on. let's take a step back and make sure the people here are ok first. people talk about wage stagnation. these things are important to a lot of americans. host: looking back through

history, how did you feel about america's interaction with iraq and afghanistan? caller: i don't like it. i don't like meddling in the middle east so much. when the people were talking about the debates for the presidency they were saying, what would you do in serbia? i in the detroit. let's take care of the people in america first. we are having all kinds of problems here. host: until those issues are fixed in the united states to hold off on looking at issues or concerns across the globe? caller: no, we should always look at these concerns, but we need to talk to our friends globally before we go off half cocked. a couple of colors have mentioned that we go in -- callers have mentioned that we go in way overboard. going way back to when we first started meddling in the middle east. know whon we did not

we were supposed to be fighting. they were attacking the wrong people. we do this all the time. we don't know what we are doing. globally, financially, we have spent tons of money that is cost our citizens. we don't know who our friends are. we don't mind turkey. those people hate us over there. i don't understand why we can't take care of our people first. around talk to everybody the world about the problems in the world and come to some kind of conclusion. we don't need to be the police of the world. we need to get together with the police of the world and try to solve these problems together. host: jimmy in north carolina on the independent line. caller: happy thanksgiving. what america's role should be in the world -- for me, personally, as the son of an immigrant who survived world war ii and snuck into this country but did come here to become a citizen, is a

beacon of hope. it is a beacon of light. this is a place where you can come and you can become whatever it is you set your mind out to be. personally it is a beacon of hope. i am standing on this ground in this country because of the sacrifices that my parents went through. i am thankful for the judge to gave my father a chance when he was outed as an illegal and saw the record my father had built up to that point of a hard-working individual who was grateful for the opportunity to come into this country and make his life when he made. host: given your experience,

what would you say when it comes to issues of immigration and the current immigration policy? should it be changed? caller: the immigration policy needs to be tweaked an reformed because with time things change. so, obviously i will have a soft spot for illegals. i just a.m.. at this -- i just am. at the same time that i don't know the particulars of the process, but it seems the hard, so, so, so long, so, so expensive. between thatto -- to be tweaked. we are all immigrants. host: do you apply that what is

going -- apply that similarly to what is going on with the caravan? caller: yes. how do we know for sure? yes, you can walk up to the border and say i am seeking asylum because back home they are terrorizing my family, terrorizing me. i am fearing for my life. how easy is it to prove? how hard is it to prove? the system is gigantic and it is hard. i understand it is hard, by the have to make sure that people coming in to this country are who they say they are and mean what they say they mean. host: that is jimmy in north carolina. immigration is part of his the point when it comes to america's role in the world. point one it comes

to america's role in the world. we showed you steve bannon earlier. here is his debating opponent, a former speechwriter for president bush. senior editor at the atlantic magazine. he spoke about nationalism. david frum talks about the benefits of globalism. [video] >> we have talked about globalism. ungs freerican l chinese pollution. russian missiles shoot down european airlines. thisnly way we will stop planet from getting too hot is if we all work together. it is one planet. [applause] we love our countries. only three countries can be exercised democracy. but we work with friends and partners. how did trump get nafta?

by bullying them. he is never been able to negotiate a win-win deal in his business career. in the past america always said even though that was true, we can work cooperatively together. hus idea of america first or ngary first were france first becomes less attractive as we name the other countries who want to put themselves first. we left that behind to say we will build a community of democratic nations who understand of course are clashing interests, but we are stronger always when we work cooperatively. to billwill go next in georgia on the democrats line. caller: good morning. happy thanksgiving. i want to make something clear. ebt.re in d

debt soared not by giving money to other countries. our national debt has to do with cutting taxes, cutting the income. that is the reason we are in debt and we have to borrow money from china. let's be clear about that. it does not come from giving money away to other countries. role inard to america's the world, i believe -- the irony is amazing. we should promote truth, justice, and the american way. that has been our role. host: how does that practically work itself out? caller: say that again please/ -- please.

host: how does that practically work itself out? caller: by sticking with our friends and understanding who our enemies are. china,mies are russia, you know. that as he our enemies are. are. who our enemies the head of the kgb who was the head of russia just realizes that if you appeal to our current president's ego, you can do anything you want. our can try to get into elections. have been doing it, does it. our leader does not believe our cia, our national security, it doesn't leave -- who does not believe anybody. host: what is he specifically the russia as an enemy? caller: because china, they

steal from us, technology and so on. they steal technology and that sort of thing. they buy very few things made in america echoed other countries to buy. that that go to other countries. very few things made in america and buy her mother countries. host: the president flew to florida to spend time that merrill -- mar-a-lago. a teleconference will be at 9:00 this morning. that he is planning to see the coast guard patriots and thank them for the job david doing, especially with the hurricanes. also adding a happy thanksgiving to that latest tweet from the president. david in ohio, go ahead.

caller: good morning and happy thanksgiving to everyone. we speak about why our leadership has fallen. this mission was -- nation was made great because men left halfway around the world to come here and be a godly nation. we have thrown away that and now we're dealing with our feelings they don't have no moral value, for leadership. --or leadership. ow.are reaping what we s host: how you view america's role as i from leadership? what example should we be providing? caller: we had people come from spain. i live not too far from lake erie. they brought those little ships here.

i would not go across lake erie and they came halfway around the thed to make this nation great nation it is and can be. new jersey, independent line. kurt, go ahead. caller: happy thanksgiving. america shouldy be the truth to the world, of the world is evil. it doesn't have anything to do with democrats and republicans. host: why should america be the truth to the world? give me an example. caller: the last man talking about reaping what you sow. i found a little bit of truth in christianity. that is coming from a recent atheist.

you find this truth. you love your neighbor. youdon't know what left hand is doing. you don't worship politics. there is a higher power to the whole scheme of thing. it might not be scientific but it is the truth. you follow the money. toionalism to me has nothing do with race. the only thing that stirs up race is politics. when we beat hitler, put him to death in history, don't bring him back. we were strong and we did stuff. china now makes our computers. there is a switch that could shut them off maybe. where would that leave us in a war? we can't give our wealth away if we don't have wealth. the world is a tough place. host: that is kurt in new

jersey. carol joy. "we should clean up our own affairs now and do the world a huge favor." michael daniels just with the word "decency." those who have posted on our , and you can also go to our twitter feed. from pennsylvania, michael is next. caller: good morning, pedro. happy thanksgiving to you and god bless america. i am looking at our future in the world. -- ithe nationalism issue just went to touch on this for a second. gave nopresident macron service our gratitude to the french patrons of resistance in world war ii that saved france, worked with us.

they think we invaded europe twice. they want an army. maybe they should. our nationalism enables our participation in the global community. leading from behind, strategic patience did not forward this interest. as an example of leadership, i'm looking outside. it is 18 degrees right now. the high in las vegas will be what, 66? phoenix might break 70. the planet has gotten really cold in the last 18 months. they are hanging onto this climate change. they are hanging onto their science. objective truth is it is getting cold. host: mark in indiana. america's role in the world? go ahead. role should ber

about jesus. that is why we came to this country. caller before talking about the federal reserve system, which is a private central-bank. it is part of the communist manifesto. i will give you a quote from the world leader to summarize this. some rebuttal to the smut about george soros half an hour ago, and the quote from 1990. "it would just replaces with persons of the same class. it does not matter what you do. america is a golden calf. we will suck it dry, chop it up, and sell it off piece by piece until there is nothing left but the world's biggest welfare state." host: how does that apply to

america's role in the world? caller: we will create and control. why? we will destroy countries very slowly. this is five benjamin netanyahu of israel. war makes the most money for the banks. host: harry from pittsburgh, pennsylvania. caller: this country started from nothing and became the best country in the world. you keep using white. let's look at the last guy. he wrote a book about his dad. the black caucus and black lives matter. that you have the information bureau. cnn.nbc, cbs, and the cbc, they can't tell the truth. up until yesterday they did not say anyone was coming here. and now mexicans don't want them

there. they are running around with bullhorns. host: to the point of what we are trying to talk about, america's role in the world. spell it out for us. caller: we are leaving and trying to get people to hate us -- who get people who hate us to agree with us. that is a mistake this country has made for 60 years. they took them on as adversaries and try to talk to them to see if we can destroy each other. that is what trump is saying. rather than apologizing to everyone like obama. host: give me an example of where that is working. caller: it is starting to work in korea. he is going after iran. obama and the democrats gave wanted to $50 billion to them. yeah, they will not use those for weapons. they have done that for 10 years. we had clinton who did korea --

north korea $8 billion. they will make factories and grow food. look where they are at. he is going to be exact opposite and i think it will work better than the last two guys. for about the last two hours this has been the focus. people bring up a lot of examples. military, economic, immigration, other aspects. you can bring your thoughts to our table on this thanksgiving day in this last hour. you can call us on the phone lines. it is (202) 748-8000 free democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8002 for independents. on twitter, it is @cspanwj. program twohis hours ago taking a look at what

president himself said about this idea of nationalism, which a lot of people brought up this morning. we will show you that and go back to your calls. [video] >> the word nationalism has taken on a connotation of violence.- and and hethink that is fair went to further clarify what nationalism means to you? president trump: it means i love the country and i'm fighting for the country. i look at globalists and nationalists. i want to take care of our country. haveany years our leaders been more worried about the world and about the united states. they left us in a mess. the wars, the economy, de bt, all the things they have done including putting in the wrong supreme court justices. i call it being a nationalist

and i don't see any other connotation than that. as soon as you make any statement nowadays with the political correctness world, they make a big deal. i have not a globalist but i want to take care of the globe. first i have to take care of our country. world. we have to take care of our country or we will not have a country. we have to take care of our country at the border. host: there is the president's definition. people have brought up their version of the definition of nationalism. this is merriam-webster. a sense of national consciousness, exulting one nation above all others. pursing primary and thinnest -- placing primary emphasis. with that definition of nationalism. there is also a definition of mobile is him, which states that national policy of treating the whole world as a sphere of

political influence. let us know how that interprets your view of america's role of the world. michael in texas on the democrats line. your first up in this third hour. caller: how are you doing? i am a veteran. i have two kids deployed right now. the thing that is wrong with the united states is they want to control the market of the world. there --dent over [indiscernible] they get goods into china. the united states made a bad deal with the soviets. now, they are suffering. china is still moving on. made a good thing.

what happened? germany signed with russia. the united states got mad about that. you cannot treat people wrong. you have to work with them. if they are allies, tell them they are allies. not try toried -- do throw them up under the bus. do like china. open the market up. they say they want free-trade. use free-trade. the word -- the world will open up. host: that is michael in texas. here is david. he is in south carolina on the republican line. caller: i just want to make a couple of quick winds and thank you for working today. an earlier caller talked about majority rule and how the majority of the population should elect a president.

something very basic seems to be forgotten. we are the united states. receivesal government a collection of states. each state has a stake on who the president is. we should not eliminate the borders of all states. the argument to have a majority to elect the president is to do away with all the states and have a separate state, which is without individual state. host: america's role on the world. your thoughts on that? caller: we have to prioritize. we have to protect our national interests. -- there is a rule a rule of law for human rights. we should address genocide when we can, where we can. we do not always -- that would transcend natural interest.

i want to make one more point. we do not have unlimited strengths. we have to maintain our strengths to play any role in the world. we were talking earlier about the borders and immigration. a myth propagated that the president is anti-immigration, but he is not. he never said he was. he never acted like he was. he is against illegal immigration. there is a huge difference. i would put this challenge out to anyone listening. that on one side of the argument, it never makes the distinction between illegal and legal. everything they say would call for open borders. you cannot maintain a nation without borders. host: let's go to john in

california. the independent line. caller: how is it going? you have a nice thanksgiving. is about our military being around the militant -- being around the world. we need to bring it all back here and surround this country so that we do not get a little visit from another country and get slaughtered one of these days. host: are you saying that america's role in the world should be a more militaristic one? caller: well, no. we just need to protect this country right here. we are going to get a little from another country and get slaughtered one of these days. we do not have enough military surrounding this country to protect us. why are we always in other countries? giving them military aid?

we need it right here. host: ok. eddie is in the bronx. eddie is on our line for democrats. caller: like i said, i do not agree with satan trump. you have one point. you have no close -- you have no choice but to close the border in texas. you have a legals. you do not -- you have illegals. we do not know where they are. they arrested the leader of ms 13. said, we may have to change immigration policies, but right now, if we let these people in here, with what they see now with what is going on, i live in. new york. . . it is like third world central. i do not think you even see them in georgia. host: if we change the immigration policies, how do you think that will impact america's

role in the world? caller: hopefully we will be able to stabilize the country. art -- our technology is becoming so advanced. by 2030, we are going to have driverless car's. where we bring in more people when our technology is outpacing -- we are reaching a point where we will not need surgeons no more. why are we bringing more people into this country? host: let's go to rusty from hot sulphur springs. caller: good morning, pedro. turkeys are good. allegiance pledge of is our best description of what america is and how it plays out throughout the world. as ao think or i view it family unit. unit andeing a family every citizen being subordinate

to the president and the person we elected. host: when it comes to the pledge, give me an example on what it says about america's role in the world. caller: one nation under god, indivisible. the beacon that people have spoken about. the beacon of liberty. freedom. that speaks tremendous to other nations who have no freedom. like the previous caller -- of our president. that is like a child in a family unit saying that to their dad. host: you spoke about the family unit. what do you think about the strength of a family unit that is going to make an impact worldwide? caller: we have a very weak family unit. a very ununited regardless of your beliefs or your liking of

our president. by all means, on that family unit, it is not very strong to encourage that freedom throughout the world. i think it is very important everyur president is in -- our presence is in every portion of the world. host: from new york, we will speak next to scott. independent line. caller: good morning, pedro. i used the word last time i called. it was not a bad word. we will talk about that another day. god bless all you humans in america. whether you are christian, atheist, muslim, and the rest of them. the pleasure on friday, april 13 for six to eight minutes. away atwas passed

heaven's gate, they did not ask -- my muslim,im, and my german? no, my belief got me there. i've been pondering for six months, why did god send me back to earth? the number one reason, i found out about it a couple weeks ago. we need to start fearing god. that does not mean pray to god. that means fear god. host: aside from your experience, as it was, america's role in the world, what do you think it is? caller: our experience should be, people do not know about history because the french helped the americans fight the english in the war that we become american. what do americans a sickly do? not the pledge of allegiance but -- how about the lord's prayer?

amoral beacon like they say. beacon we be a moral when we basically set up the atheists to have an excuse to prove that god does not exist. let me tell you something. god does exist. host: we will go to keith in louisiana. independent line. if it is not within the united states's strategic interest, we do not need to be there. we are not a democracy. host: what do you think is the focus when it comes to the strategic interest idea? what countries should be in that focus? caller: we should be concentrated on what is our strategic interest. that is a little above my pay grade. host: you talked about it, so you clearly have some idea what parts of the world will serve as our interest. caller: i think that russia

getting a deepwater port in syria might be in our strategic interest. gulf is islands in the within our strategic interest. host: is that because of a military thing? caller: there are other aspects. one is free train. -- free-trade. that is within our strategic interest. we are a constitutional republic. not a democracy. democracy is mob rule. the rights of the many trample the rights of the few. a republic is where the rights of the few are as great as the rights of the many. host: illinois, democrat line. caller: good morning, pedro. i am a 79-year-old african-american born and raised in greenville south carolina --

greenville, south carolina. the back of the bus. the black-and-white water fountains. we have a president, donald trump, he is a teleprompter president. and then, he is the donald trump president. the donald trump president is the one i am very afraid of. i tell my children and my grandchildren, i told him. my great-grandchildren could not believe that was done to me. in america. --far as they used my family, my ancestors until they could not use them for free. hispanicsuse the until now they cannot use them

for free. host: we are talking about america's role in the world. give us your thoughts on that. you talked about america as you saw it growing up. what you think america's role in the world is or should be -- what do you think america's role in the world is or should be? caller: we are gonna have racism. america is never going to change. we are going to have racism. host: ellen is in indiana. republican line. caller: before i say what i plan to, i want to comment to the last caller. i am going on 84 years old. people came over here from africa and there was a lot of slavery, it was the christian white people that make sure they were going to be free and equal to everybody. as a christian nation, which we

havefounded on, we do not difference of opinion regarding your skin color or whatever. host: again, america's role in the world. what do you think it should be? caller: my main point is that i agree totally with what donald trump just said that you played. what he means by nationalism. when he went over to the other countries, one of the first things he said was, not only do i want america to be first, but i expect everyone of you to put your country first. i went to work with you to do that -- i want to work with you to do that. instead of fighting between other countries, whether it is north korea or china or russia or the ones that are already our friends, he wants to make

everybody better so we can stop fighting. god bless him. he is doing a great job. host: mel from new york. independent line. caller: pedro, i feel like we should follow the advice of john quincy adams who said america is to be the well wisher to the freedom and independence of us all. we are to be the champion and vindicator of our own liberty. that says to me that we are not to be interventionist. neither are we to be isolationist. interact into do is such a way that we show the world that we are the exception and not the rule in which we make the citizen larger and the government smaller. that kind ofform role in the world, we will do the world good. i feel like donald trump is on that kind of track.

host: do you think that we are currently interacting and if so, give examples. caller: interact. yeah. let's not be so interact -- so interventionist like with nafta and the trade deals that have happened in the past. i feel like donald trump is trying to engage the world economically said that america's interest our first while we also continue on with trading and doing commerce with the world as our founding fathers suggested. host: that is primarily through trade that is achieved? caller: trade but also foreign policy. that does not get involved in foreign words -- foreign wars. i appreciate what donald trump said back in the campaign where the war in iraq was not a good war for us. having that kind of reference point is the way in which we ought to be operating as a country. host: when it comes to issues of saudi arabia, you probably heard

the debate over our interest and connections in saudi arabia in light of the death of the journalist. do you think the president is right in the stance he is taking with acknowledging the death and the larger interest of our connections with saudi arabia? caller: to be honest, i do not know enough about that to really comment on -- in a substantive way. what i am concerned about is -- who is a true minority being persecuted as she has been in pakistan. she is the kind of immigrant and refugee the united states should take into the country. host: that is mel from new york. we have shown you the past couple of hours the debate that took place between steve bannon and david from on nationalism versus globalism. a will show you one more time bit about donald trump's economic nationalism as he

defines it and as he sees it. what he sees as a benefit. [video clip] nationalistist method and its policies are working in the united states and it is spreading. the revolt in europe and now in latin america. i get contacted every day from asia, from africa, from the .iddle east we are at the beginning of a new political revolution. that is populism. the only question before us, is it going to be a populist nationalism that believes in capitalism and deconstructing the administrative state and break this crony capitalism of big corporations and big government or is it going to be a jeremy corbyn and bernie sanders type of populist socialism? because, the elites have blown

too many calls. events, thestential rise of china. the$7 trillion spent on wars in iraq and afghanistan. the deregulation that led to the financial crisis and 2008. how the financial crisis was bailed out. where we are today. as you know, most of you in this room that work in finance, we are heading to another financial crisis. host: if you went to see more of the debate, go to our website at c-span.org. we will show you a little bit of the response. james off of twitter says america should not get involved in european conflict. derek on facebook says the inescapable role is that we influence the world greatly. says says the -- donna america is falling apart and needs to attend to her own citizens first.

republican line, go ahead. caller: happy thanksgiving. i would like to say that we fight the good fight. whatever that is. whether that would be one reagan had to use troops to get aid. or for all the politicians that for years said they were going to do the right thing but never moved from tel aviv to jerusalem , which president trump has done. that is from president to president the president that we fight the good fight. we are to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god with liberty and justice for all. that is the best part of us. half of white america that fought the other half. -- not everybody believed in that junk called slavery. we abolished it. military.our

the ones where our -- the ones whose bases are painted. you do not know who is -- whose faces are painted. you do not know whose white and black and spanish. they love each other like brothers. worry in the world is the color of their skin. they go into battle together. they die for each other. they die for us here in america. i am thankful on this thanksgiving for everybody in the military. i am in the coast guard. i am a merchant marine officer. i do not fight overseas battles. the vfw is not for me. that place is like hollowed ground. a lot of heroes go to the vfw. host: let's hear from steve -- from steve. the president says he will speak to members of the coast guard later today. withr as a conversation

troops overseas, on this thanksgiving day. washington, d.c., independent line. this is steve. caller: morning. happy thanksgiving. host: good morning morning. go ahead. nationalism,ut they would be no such thing as america. you have to have a national identity to be able to have a country. you have to have borders in order to have a country. againstant to be nationalism, you can stop cheering for your country during the olympics or the world cup. -- if you are our -- if you are viewed as a globalist, and you want illegal immigrants, you can invite them into your own house. take a whole illegal immigrant family into your house. open it up. let's see what is going to happen.

let's see if you're going to like it. from your own money for their schooling and health care. host: do you view yourself as a nationalist? if so, how should that affect america's role in the world? nationalist i am a because i belong to this nation called america. i am also an immigrant. first generation. i am very proud to be an american. close toeel somewhat my ethnic origin. i am an american because i live here. i am a legale sure person from every single point of view. host: let's go to mark in new york. baldwin, new york. caller: happy thanksgiving. i like the suit.

you are always dressed so sharp. you are the best dressed man on television. as far as what this country needs, i have to tell you, i am a little disappointed you cut off the gentleman from new york talking about being at heaven's gate. we do not often have an opportunity to hear that kind of testimony. that is exactly what we need. we need people who have had that experience explaining to us that what we need is god and faith. other than that, pedro, you are a great job. host: happy thanksgiving. host:before you leave, your view of america's role in the world. caller: we need to have testimony that god is real and that we have to be making sure we are a beacon of that truth. host: what about other parts of the world that do not believe in the same god that you do? caller: it is god. that gentleman from new york, it

is not about whether you are muslim or christian or jewish or hindu, it is that he was welcomed because he lived right and he did the right things. that is why i wish you let him speak a little bit more. it was not just one god. it was not his particular god. it was everyone's god. host: he did have a chance to present plenty of that. i displayed to get the thrust of what we are talking about today. caller: i respect that about you pedro. i think you do a great job. i just think that gentleman had a little more he needed to say. host: let's go to richard. richard is in ohio on the republican line. caller: how are you doing? host: fine, thanks. caller: i have been thankful today for thanksgiving. i am thankful for this country. i am thankful for president trump. this is the first time in a long time that we have had a president that it's america first. i am thankful for that -- that puts america first. i am thankful for that. host: what do you think

america's role should be? caller: we should be a leader. i like president trump's idea of not letting everybody push us around. i do not think we should push anybody around. as far as the other nations, we should trust and verify. i think that is what the president is doing. host: we had a previous caller talking about the current relations with european countries. maybe there is some stress between our relations with those countries. is that something that concerns you? caller: like i said, we should put america first. that is what america is doing -- that is what our president is doing. what we need to do is make sure that our interest comes first. , you havewith anybody to make sure that your family is taking care of first and then you can take care of your neighbors needs too. your household has to come first. host: what should we be taking

care of first and what internationally should we be concerned about? caller: i heard a lot on the immigration issue. we need to put the wall up. we need to make sure our people are vetted. president trump is not against immigration. is when i say trust and verify. we have a lot of immigrants right now trying to be vetted. we have the caravan. i asked about the caravan. i believe president trump is doing the right thing by sending the military down there. we do not know who is trying to come across the borders right now. host: look kind of message do you think that sense to the rest of the world -- that sends to the rest of the world? caller: we are saying that we should protect our borders. look at what is happened to the other countries that have not protected their borders. there is nothing but chaos in there. we have the right to protect our country. that is what the president is

doing, putting america first. we are not supposed to be taking a public opinion poll. we are defending our country. host: that is richard in ohio giving his thoughts on america's role in the world. from idaho on the independent line, darrell, morning. caller: good morning. the is better, democrats or independents? union or nonunion? lawyer,better, a welder, and engineer. cats or dogs or rabbits? host: i do not get how that applies to america's role in the world. caller: that is what i am leading to. our lives are complex. here is where we are right now. we still hate and kill and steal. -- we aret of this headed in one direction no one wants to believe in. the scripture says there will be

a war -- we have the power. russia has the missiles on the power. the chinese, the same thing. we are all going to be part of the destruction of the entire race of human beings because we have an automatic desperate attitude of killing each other. look at the guy in saudi arabia. if you would have -- if he was a carpenter, nothing would have been said. journalists control the television. they have the propaganda. we have to listen to this story about cutting off all of our gasoline from saudi arabia. in reality, if you think of those areas as a factor, how about if we would've showed how many people died in the gangs, car wrecks with drunk drivers, just one day. compared to the one guy in saudi arabia. host: if those are the issues

with these countries, do you think changes need to be made within those countries? caller: you cannot tell this country to give up their weapons. when i was in the marine corps, i got out and i never wanted to see another gun again. we have these weapons and we just look to hate each other. the whole world hates each other. everyone saying we won world war ii -- we did not defeat the germans. the russians lost 15 million people defeating the germans. united states forgets its entire history. alaska given to us by russia for $7 million. my attitude is one where all of this country is like the role of the other countries. we are on our way to the end. int: let's go to marsha wisconsin on the democrats line. caller: good morning, pedro. happy thanksgiving to you and your family. happy thanksgiving to the c-span family. host: thank you.

caller: to answer today's question, what do i think the united states's role should be in the world, what it should always -- what it has always been and what it should continue to be, which is an experiment. if all those books note programs i listened to our true, -- are true, the united states started out as an experiment. in everybody was included the constitution or even in the amendments when they started. little by little. , we have improved. . i think we should continue to be an experiment and little by little, ups and downs, nothing moves in one straight line, we will hopefully include more law, acted under the

by the law. allowing for differences. if we only find one small common ground thing, perhaps we will get along better. withan find common ground anybody about almost anything. in green bay, wisconsin, we find common ground to talk to which chicago -- to talk to with chicago bear fans. it ain't easy. again, you can give us a call in the last half hour. this idea of what america's role should be in the world. we have been doing this for two and a half hours. democrats, (202) 748-8000, republicans, (202) 748-8001, independents, (202) 748-8002. line, go ahead.

caller: happy thanksgiving. thank you for taking this call. i think america's role in the world should be something that moves toward a greener future. we need to focus on climate change as a whole and honing in on how to take care of that. that is the biggest thing we need to deal with. all of the other places in the world are starting to get on board. we seem to be regressing from that. i feel like we need to readdress that. globale way that the political climate is, it is so testy, i am not sure why. there are obviously reasons for it and i am hoping we can move forward and pressed forward and focus on the climate. that is the biggest thing. the situation with the trump administration. it is what it is. they just do not want to acknowledge it. host: you are saying that pulling out of the paris

agreement did have an impact worldwide. caller: absolutely. if they see america who industrialized at a much faster rate and got to where we are today, for us to pull back from that seems absurd. why would we do something like that if we knew about these things back in the 1960's and 1970's. you know? host: california. oliver. go ahead. caller: hey, pedro. happy thanksgiving, everybody. thanks for c-span. thank you, brian lamb. i would love for brian lamb to be president in 2020 if he ever ran it -- if he ran. what is the u.s.'s role and the world, what i'm hearing from everyone is so cynical and dark. so uneducated. host: what is your opinion? caller: my opinion is we are a

country of immigrants. it would be nice for us to stopwledge our past and referredt gore vital to as the united states of amnesia. it would be nice for us to acknowledge and deal with. we are a country of democrats. for people to be demonizing emigrants is one of the -- demonizing emigrants is one of the most dark things i've been hearing. it is pretty disturbing. there is immigration laws and we could enforce those better. we could put more money towards that. managing that better. to be sending military down to our borders and talking about it ,n the way that our leaders do i just think that hearing this

stuff, america first, make america great again belieber bymple, you would be leading example by having compassion for each other. that is what i always thought this country was about. welcoming people, treating each other as equals, having respect and being tolerant. other forafter each our views and where we come from. our beliefs. i just do not think there is total chaos. i think brushing aside things like the killing of the saudi demoralizing so for our kids. host: that is oliver in california. we will go to missouri. the democrats line. caller: good morning.

happy thanksgiving. host: you are on. go ahead. caller: ok. i think our role in the world right now is not as strong as it should be. i think it is due to the president showing weakness around the world because he does not want you to stand up to people when they do something that deserves some type of accountability. journalist of that is one issue where he did not want to see the evidence. he just wanted to take the word of the leadership over in their country. they adamantly stated they had nothing to do with it. he just went with that before he got the evidence. when ourus look weak intelligence agencies if an evidence and then he wants to go

with what saudi arabia says. with our same thing border. he sends the military down for those to fight the homeless people. it does not show strength at all. it shows a weakness. it shows he cannot win an election on his own. he cannot do it without trying to distract or send a message to journalists by saying, saudi arabia killed this guy, we do not care. the same could happen to any journalist. it sends a message out there with all the things he is doing. theykes russia look like are not so bad. int: that is benton missouri. this is gerard from georgia on the republican line. caller: how are you doing?

tariffs.art with the tariffs protect jobs in this country. they supposedly make you pay more for a volkswagen. he did not have to pay more for a pulse wagon built in america -- for a volkswagen built in america. , the people trying , they arer the border just creating competition for higher votes. they come up here with a one interest agenda. it is like in california. california has so many immigrants, they watered down the votes of the people that live there. that is what they should be able to see. it is not about empathy.

what else do i want to say? the world bank. reserve, the federal is controlled by three banks. they are controlled by rothchild. host: ok. that is gerard in georgia. on this thanksgiving day, we are getting various tweets coming in from the various branches of the military. those who are still serving. this is general dave goldfein of the air force. happy thanksgiving to all of our airmen. i am honored and thankful for being part of this team. leading the world's greatest united states air force. from the dod itself, dana white saying happy thanksgiving. we give thanks for our military. they stand vigilant and ready 365 days a year. thanks for all you do to this great nation. and the u.s. navy sending out a tweet of thanks on this things giving day. those are from the various armed

branches. the president is said to talk with troops in iraq and afghanistan. that is supposed to take place around 9:00 this morning. donald in texas. happy thanksgiving. i was sitting here and listening. i always thought about what you put up as the truth. that is what i thought america should be doing. we send the truth all around the world to help educate people. i listened to a lot of these people calling in. we are a country of immigrants. i listened to some of them praising trump for the things he is doing. i am trying to get a grip around my mind and understand where these people are coming from. he sounds like a dictator. host: back to the military for a

second, you say you support the idea of our military presence in the world? there --es, they are if we do not try to secure those neglected, has been people do not understand that if we let things keep growing like the way they doing, they are going to escalate. around the world, our troops -- host: sorry to hang up on you. here is a little interaction with president trump's talking to our troops. >> our nation is doing better economically than anyone in the world. it is nice to know you are fighting for something that is doing well. i want to begin by welcoming colonel stephanie barton and the men and women of the 101st airborne division. these are real warriors.

support,the resolute sustainment brigade, they are joining us from bagram air force and afghanistan. our soldiers are providing invaluable aid throughout afghanistan. you are doing an incredible job. a lot of progress has been made. your courage truly inspires us all. we know what you are doing. often times, we are watching it every night on the news. we know it is dangerous. we know you have had an unbelievable impact. joining us from algebra are air force in kuwait is the central command response and crisis response. special-purpose marine air ground task force. lieutenant colonel sam how we, you are a great marines -- you are really great marines. you are the embodiment of commitment. it is incredible the job you're

doing. i want to congratulate you on the job you are doing. you crushed ices from the air and on the ground -- you crushed from the air and on the ground. they are close to being gone. we like it that way. you have showed incredible courage. i have to say you have shown great leadership. thank you very much. and lieutenant colonel, thank you very much. will be talking to you in a little while. topy thanksgiving as well all of the sailors aboard the uss ronald reagan. a great ship. your ship's motto is one we embrace every day. peace through strength. that is what the motto is. we have that motto at home. seventh fleete sales, the uss ronald reagan is an enduring symbol of american might, american strength, and really american goodness in so many ways.

from the united states air force, we are joined by the 455th air expeditionary wing, which is supporting operation freedoms. lyons,er general david thank you very much as the commander. onant to congratulate you every minute of the 455th for your outstanding work. not only have you destroyed hundreds of isis and far more than hundreds, and many taliban targets, but you protect coalition ground forces throughout the region. you protect them like nobody else. it is incredible, the job you do. i just want to thank you all. i have to say, general, it is great to speak to you by teleconference and by phone because your reputation is an incredible one. representing the u.s. coast guard, our crewmembers from six

coast going. that are support teams part of patrol teams. southwest asia, the largest coast guard unit outside of the united states. i am in palm beach, florida. i am going over to your local coast guard station. we are going to spend some great time with the men and women of the coast guard. they have from a lot of standpoints, you can call it whatever you want, the job they have done on hurricanes, they have saved thousands of people. in texas, they have saved over 12,000 people. think of what that means. over 12,000 people. they went into areas no one else would go into. it was incredible what they have done in texas. what they did in florida and in puerto rico. the coast guard has really become a symbol of strength and perseverance and toughness and genius, actually.

purely genius. say hello to lieutenant nicholas hartman who is the commanding officer. i also want to congratulate seeman wilson for being selected to the best. that is a big deal. that is like going to the wharton school of finance if you happen to be doing what you do. want to thank you all for serving today. we thank god for the blessings of having you people be our heroes. you really are our heroes. your families are back here and they love you and respect you and they look forward to seeing you. you are the ones who keep america safe and strong and free. you do a job like nobody else. it is really great respect that we all have.

you are very much appreciated like you would not believe by the american public, by the citizens of our country. i want to start with the air force. i know that brigadier general david lyons is on the phone. david, tell me a little bit about what you are doing. our mission here, -- host: the president of the united states teleconferencing with members of the military around the world. several of those branches being mentioned. the first lady of the united states sending out a tweet of allown saying, wishing you a happy thanksgiving. judy from ohio. republican line. thank you for waiting. talking about america's role in the world. go ahead. countryi think if this would show support to our

president from both sides of the , we are a country that has amountessed beyond any from our lord and savior and this country has been so divided since this man has come into office. this man is a light to this world. both parties need to step up to the plate. and the media needs to stop thrashing him. host: how do you think all of that influences the rest of the world? caller: i think they look at us and see how we are fighting. we have been more blessed than any nation around. we have been blessed because we have been a godly nation. illinois.h from democrats line. caller: happy thanksgiving, everyone. republicans, independents, and

democrats. i am going to say something. we are an ideal to the world. we are a beacon. but, there is something very disturbing that we have to acknowledge. liners on the republican are scary as heck. they are frightening. i am looking at the pew research poll of public opinion around the world. at 52%.erkel macron at 48. xi jinping at 34. vladimir putin at 30. trump is at 27. these republicans are claiming america's ruined global prestige. , under clinton,

prestige was high. under bush, it was devastating. some --ick with do not allow those people to call in with anti-semitic, anti-black, slavery. . just cut them off do not thank them for the call. we do not need to mainstream that. host: al from ohio. republican line. caller: good morning, pedro. million led one immigrants in a day. you understand? hello? host: america's role in the world, what do you think? he is gone. let's go to kathy in washington state on the independent line. caller: happy thanksgiving, everyone in the world.

i am native american. i walked the beaches of normandy. i think we need to take a step back and look at how world war i and world war ii impacted this world. what the nations came up with. a league of nations and the united nations. the whole point being that nations need to come together. i do not mean the leaders so much as the people. people need to take personal responsibility for being in this world and what it means. whatever their religion. really have ato spiritual identity. you could be an atheist and have a spiritual identity. just a good spirit and to take personal responsibility for that. she putroosevelt,

together the declaration of human rights. person i think the only and definitely the first person where there was a spontaneous standing ovation from all the representatives in the united nations. they knew her heart was good. my point for this thanksgiving muchat we could invest so in peace. military, could you imagine, if we did not have war, what they could be doing with other militaries? a be working together with irrigation and fighting fires -- ? what could we do to help each other? that is the whole point. host: that is kathy in washington. gary in florida, you are next good morning. to wish americans

a happy thanksgiving. what we are doing in the world as showing we have strength. people are respecting us now. they are not walking on top of us know more. maybe they will take our lead and start taking care of their own countries and stand up for their rights and fight for their rights and their own country. we do not have to support everybody in this world. they can help themselves if they would stand up. i just want to thank everybody. happy thanksgiving. let's eat some turkey. host: before you go, you are showing -- you are saying that we are showing strength and the rest of the world is respecting us. how would you demonstrate that? what example would you point to? caller: we are not getting missiles fired overtop of japan, are we? host: let's go to susan in fort myers, florida. caller: happy thanksgiving to

everyone. thanks c-span. i have been watching all morning. there are so many things i can say. the thing i think concerns me is in the world,ole but i think we also need to step back. -- every country, if you are citizen of a country, you are going to have an allegiance to your native country. i think that is normal. what concerns me is that there are those entities that are trying to divide and conquer. brexit, ice, like -- the victims of the

propaganda without realizing it. there are those entities that are trying to split the european union up. this is not a good thing. steve bannon, who is steve bannon to be all over the globe spreading his marxism because he is a student of marxism. that is very scary to me. host: that is susan in florida. let's go to janet and north carolina. -- janet in north carolina. aller: i do not agree with of the tweeting my president does, but i am so thankful he has my president because he loves america and our military and policemen and firemen. he is doing everything he can do to keep his promises and keep us safe. host: when it comes to all that, what is america's role in the world? caller: america's role in the world is to keep us safe and to

help those in other countries but not bring them all into our country. host: how do you help others? what is the best way to help other countries? caller: it is because we send our military over. we sent our food. we send our missionaries. everyone over to help them. we do it on their land. host: that includes foreign aid to other countries too/. ? caller: we have to be careful how we do it and give it to the right ones. host: let's go to virginia. last call is from riverside, california. caller: happy thanksgiving, everyone. this is a thought for everyone as long as there are people in this world, there are more of us who think of kindness and goodness and do not separate some peoplehood been making dates today. i think -- making digs.

we are so fortunate to live with america. i am very happy to be an american and able to help others. we have fires in california. we have people who passed away in california. the flooding in texas. just a small donation from everyone in america, just a better place this would be. again, happy thanksgiving. host: that is virginia and riverside, california -- riverside -- richiegoing to have rob of the organization fair about tomorrow. he he is going to talk about their efforts on electoral reform and discuss the potential of ranked choice voting that is going nationwide. the heritage foundation and the mponomics.of tru we cannot do this program without the support of our team

members 365 days he year. you don't see these people a whole lot because they are in our control room. you should think them. wave, it is ok. all those people put the show on every single day. they are spending their thanks giving day here. their efforts to bring that program to you. and to the rest of our c-span family. our program resumes tomorrow morning at 7:00. we will see you then. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> president trump is in florida for thanksgiving.

he tweeted about chief justice john roberts remarks about an independent judiciary being something we should be thankful for. we will show the chief justice's remarks tonight at 8:00 eastern. here are some of the remarks. i have great respect for our public officials. after all, they speak for the people. that commands a certain degree of humility from those of us in the judicial branch. we do not speak for the people. we speak for the constitution. our role is very clear.

to interpret the constitution and laws of the united states and ensure the political branches act within them. that requires independence from the political branches. the story of the supreme court would be different without that sort of independence. there is nopendence brown versus the board of education. there is to know west virginia versus barnett without independence. the court held the government could not compel schoolchildren to salute the flag. without independence there is no case where the court held that president truman was subject to the constitution even in a time of war. remarksan watch his tonight in their entirety at 8:00 eastern. we will be featuring two events with supreme court justices are lena kagan of georgetown

law school and the chief justice at the university of minnesota as they discussed public perceptions of the court. and the importance of an independent judiciary. >> who was martin van buren? good question. a lot of people need to ask that question. van buren was the eighth president of the united states. , his often forgotten presidency was only four years long. >> sunday on cue and day. ted witmer on his bad fee of president martin van buren. >> he spent a lot of time with erin burke, hamilton's murderer. rumors persisted throughout the life of martin van buren, so consistent that gore but all planted them in his that martin van buren may have been the illegitimate son of aaron burr.