opposition to the proposed t-mobile-sprint merger. he is joined by another officer. >> we think it is a very bad idea. that it will destroy about 30,000 jobs in the united states . we do not see why the german government or the japanese billionaires should seek to make money off of american jobs. that is what the merger will do. >> watch the communicators tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span two. , senior editor with the federalist. 's work is available online. -- his work is available online. i want to go to a piece you wrote last week on the democrats and their problem as you put it with anti-semitism. guest: i'm talking about upper freshmen senators who have said anti-semitic things or people

think they are anti-semitic. i think there is a deeper problem than the troops they have been tweeting. i think there is a problem with israel and the ideas about palestinian rights the conflicts with what many jewish people in this country believe in some of us believe those ideas are somewhat anti-semitic. that rift between young and old in the democratic party is only going to grow over the next few years. from ane of those quotes freshman democratic senator who later apologized for her twitter remarks referring to jewish money is what is driving the political process. guest: the troops on twitter that people are mad about are a manifestation of something deeper that she believes and i think that is the problem. i don't think that she thinks there should be a jewish state at all. it is a debate worth having. host: she sits on the house foreign relations committee. guest: her opinions are not

merely just insulting, they will have something to do with policy moving forward. it is important to understand what she believes. host: will it impact u.s. policy? you have some loud voices out there. guest: i don't think it is yet, but we are trending in that direction. host: how so? guest: many of the progressive monday congressmen. for the investment bill israel was blocked by democrats. it is worth having a debate to understand and when you have young against old, you have to pay attention to the young people who are coming into congress and the senate. host: this is the headline from the washington post. while the president seeks to turn his failure into a campaign issue, i want to read what this part of the washington post is reporting, saying the president

and his team plan to make his ears long quest for a border wall one of the driving things of his reelection effort, attempting to turn his failure to build a project into a combative sales pitch that pits him against the political establishment on the issue of immigration. his campaign is fundraising off of his showdown with congressional democrats over the border, portraying the opposition party as more interested in political gain than public safety. faced with the fact that he has yet to build it into the concrete or steel wall he promised, trump is relying on a rhetorical wave of the hand. it largely assumes he remains popular enough to rely on the same strategy that delivered him to the white house through a thin electoral college vote even though he lost the popular vote by 3 million. it was a core idea of his presidency, or one of the core ideas.

will it be successful? it might be because democrats, for his most excitable voters, the wall is still a big deal in the idea that the democrats have once voted for that but have seemingly obstructed any sort of funding for it will be helpful for him. host: but for the guy who wrote the book the art of the deal, where was the deal with nancy pelosi or former house speaker paul ryan? guest: there is legitimate criticism of the president to say that he did not make this the first thing he tackled and that he dealt with taxes and things of that nature. but in the end, people want the wall or at least his core constituents want it. i don't think washington is like a business deal. nancy pelosi has nothing to lose in undermining him. the incentives are completely different and the art of the

deal does not work in washington. host: our guest, david harsanyi, senior editor for the federalist. here is the president from his rose garden talks. >> what do you say -- [video clip] two -- do you say to what do you say to some of your republican allies that said you are abusing your power -- not >> not too many people have said that but the courts will determine that. i expect to be sued. i should not be sued. very rarely do you get sued when you doing national emergency. other people say if you use it for this, what are using it for? we have to get rid of drugs and gangs. it is an invasion. we have an invasion of drugs and criminals coming into our country. i think we will be very successful in court. i think it is clear. the people that say we create

, 56 a lot of times, that creates precedent. many of those are far less important than having a border. you don't have a border, you don't have a country. before i got here, we fight all over the world to create orders for countries, but we don't create a border for our own country. is wek what will happen will be sued and it will go through a process and happily -- and happily we will win. host: the president hedging his debts at the end. will the white house win? i think congresswoman ago advocated -- abdicated much of ago-- i think congress long abdicated much of its responsibility. i think it is a terrible precedent because democrat presidents will use it and have

abused it. i think president obama abused his executive power in many ways. part of the reason that president donald -- that donald trump is now president is that many voters felt like president obama circumvented congress to do what he wanted. now that this president is doing it as well, it hurts his case. host: when you look at three coequal branches of government, if the president is successful, and that is a big if, it would fundamentally change the power of the presidency and delude the role of congress. this would allow the president to do whatever he or she wants by declaring a national emergency. is that not correct? guest: i don't think they can do whatever they want. this is talking about moving money around that exists. that funded subsidiaries -- with money that was not allocated by congress.

trump is not the first president to try and do this. there is a danger in declaring a national emergency because will have different ideas about what a national emergency is. even if it turns out to be legal, i think as a precedent, it is a dangerous thing to do. host: let's get to your phone calls. jim is up from georgia. caller: good morning. this, that our issues with central america are not recent. they go down -- they go back decades. if you look at the movie the good shepherd, you see how we treated central america as basically a colony. price ofe paying the not managing those relationships with those central american

countries properly. generations, even. it just seems like that is something that is not considered in managing the problem. that is my comment. host: is this in your wheelhouse? involved inve been central america for a long time and for a while we were fighting communism and other things. the blame -- to blame the united states 30 years later is not a great argument. there was a lot of corruption and poverty and it is not our fault that is happening. we have often tried to help countries in central america with things like that. that is part of it. was better in central american countries, we would not see as much pressure on the southern border. i am not sure how we tackle

that. host: your family knows about that, coming from hungary in the late 1960's. guest: my parents defected and came here. host: what were they facing? guest: they were facing socialism. poverty but not the kind they are facing in honduras. it was more a lack of freedom and the ability to do what you could do in a society here. they were running from something a bit different and they were not going to starve and they were not worried about their family starving. the president was up early this morning with a number of tweets. i want to share just one of them saying, 52% approval rating, 93% of the republican party, calling that a record. 93%ty amazing considering of my press is really bad. the people are smart. guest: not sure how smart the people are.

isot of the support he gets sort of partisan support any president would get. however i do think the democrats republicansto the see that the democrats have gone so far to the left that they don't have much of a choice. host: our next caller is on the democrats line. good morning. , mr.r: good morning president, good tweeting. hello to your just. -- to your guest. i have never been more ashamed and frightened to be an american. congress has allowed mr. trump's abuse of powers. we have known for weeks of this was a possibility.

how can an unrealized campaign promise from 2016 be designated a national emergency in 2020? i think republicans have been damaged and that damage will be a repairable unless they put our country first. this is a reminder to all those trump supporters. things that qualify as a national emergency or 33,000 gun deaths a year. climate catastrophe. thousands of kids locked in cages on our southern border. 47,000 people who died of opioid overdoses in 2017. 2200 veterans committing suicide every day. care or out of health undernourished. 2.5 million homeless american children. the list goes on and on. not to mention supporting puerto rico or california.

our border with mexico is not -- host: we will stop you there and give our guest a chance to respond. using a agree that national emergency to circumvent congress compounds something that has been going on a long time. congress has abdicated its responsibility in lawmaking and has given it to the executive branch. i don't think every problem we face is a national emergency, including all the problems he mentioned. gun violence over the last 30 years has dropped tremendously in the same way that border crossings have dropped. these are not national emergencies but his point of view is important because it shows what democrats are going to try and do if we move forward with this. host: this tweet from senator marco rubio in columbia. today,ed in columbia another huge delivery of

humanitarian aid will arrive for venezuela. i will meet with officials leading the effort. that is in the country with a big mess. -- that is another country with a big mess. guest: a socialistic disaster of corruption. to deal withhave in some way and most americans want to -- don't want to intercede in the business of other countries anymore but it is worth paying attention to. host: john in pennsylvania, good morning on the republican line. caller: good morning. i am from long island, not pennsylvania. we had eight years of a national emergency when we had president obama in this country. thank god we have president trump, someone that is standing up for law enforcement. i am a first responder from 9/11. i see what happens as a result when people come into this country and want to do harm to us. it is ridiculous.

you can go to an airport and you have to take off your shoes and be searched. you could go down to mexico and walk across the border, come in and do harm to this country. the democrats have gone so far to the left, these new democrats that were elected are so out of touch with the public that i feel it is going to be a walkover for president trump in 2020. as a policeman, there are no more riots in the street, nobody screaming should the police. now we have law and order restored, after eight years of no laura and order -- no law and order. mr. trump, if you are listening, do let them get you down. pollre 100% ahead in my and a lot of people feel the same. thank you for the call and i feel the president is doing a great job. he is on the right track. he speaks the truth when a lot of americans want to hear.

host: we know the president watches the program. he has told us so. guest: i don't think president trump gets down over polls or anything of that nature. i think he is fine as far as that. i will think it is going to be as easy as the caller believes for him to win reelection. democratsinue to see tacking hard left, it will help him in that effort. tot: i want to go back venezuela because this is a tweet from one of our viewers saying venezuela's problem is corruption, not socialism. you cannot complete the two alachua willing to lie -- conflate the two unless you are willing to lie. guest: i can conflate them because when you centralize power to the state and collectivized your economy, it will always become corrupt. that is why we have the system we do. host: dorothy is next from new

jersey, independent line. are you with us? we will try ann in ohio. good morning. caller: good morning. about there isng no problem at the border. don't these people realize we paid for a wall 100 times over with all of the immigrants coming in here and all the things that they get moneywise? it is time for the american people to wake up. people, you-class don't have a chance in the world if the democrats get in. just bend over and kiss it goodbye because that is what is going to happen. this is the most corrupt government i have ever seen. host: from new carlisle, ohio. guest: there has been money allocated for the wall and we voted on a wall in 2006.

made them accredits voted on a walk -- many democrats voted on a wall. we are still in a system where it is very clear that the president is circumventing congress that clearly made its will apparent with the one point whatever billion they allocated. it is worth thinking about that as a problem, especially as president. host: randy from kentucky and you will have to help me with the first name of your town. where is that located? caller: just north of lexington. host: you are on the air, good morning. caller: thank you. thank president abraham trump for the wall. he has always been so independent as far as both parties. i feel like he is a third-party

because no onelf on either party wants to take on the wall or protect our country from the ills of abortion. why do we need immigrants into this country if we are not keeping up our population? that is why we need these people to come in and help keep up our social programs. president abraham lincoln wanted us to emancipate us from the slavery of socialism but have some control on our population in this country. he has been excellent at taking on his own party. he will need to continue to do that because the majority of the people that voted for him feels like he is a third-party candidate and then you also have the teachers. 85% of them are women.

host: thanks for the call. guest: he has a point. donald trump many ways acts as a third-party candidate. he ran against establishment republicans in 2015 in the primaries. atmany ways, when we look his actual policies, he has been pretty conservative, other than tariffs. the wall is an issue that is interesting because republicans have long talked about it but very rarely have actually follow through. host: kenny from arkansas. caller: i was wanting to talk about president trump and his tax reform bill. i have always been a republican and conservative but we voted for president trump because we was not wanting hillary clinton to be real elected -- to be reelected. as far as republicans being for

the rich, because on the tax reform bill, we got back an extra $1500 on our income tax this year and i only make $30,000 a year and i can't see how people call in and say republicans are for the rich and democrats are for the people, middle class and lower income. i just can't see how people can say that when i got a next for $1500 this year. that is all i am going to say. host: thank you for the call. guest: when you have an across-the-board tax, which people are going to pay more and are going to have a bigger cut. republicans have been trying to cut taxes and this is a good talking point for the dem -- for the democrats but i agree with the caller. host: here is the headline. the president's foreign-policy facing growing dissent in congress. 43 republicans

backed the measure. it was authored by the senate report leader mitch mcconnell who has been careful not to publicly split with the president. it was also backed by a republican of oklahoma who is the chair of the armed services committee and the chairman of the foreign relations committee. this resolution basically condemned the president's decision to withdraw troops from syria and afghanistan. guest: this is one of the biggest sticking points and definitely one of the biggest rifts in the republican party, what we are doing a broad. in establishment washington, many democrats and republicans do not want to remove troops from there. the president has more support that people believe. why are we in syria, while we still in afghanistan and iraq? that is something to watch that could help the president with many independents.

host: steve, democrats line. caller: good morning. i called both lines just trying to get through. i have a couple comments. guys take a film of hibbler and his speeches and trump and his, turn the volume down and watch their actions. it is almost the identical thing. has guide has -- this guy told over 8000 lies in his presidency. how can republicans sit back and praise this man? guest: sn's you hit hibbler, the discussion becomes pretty ridiculous -- as soon as you hit hitler's, the discussion become ,- hitler's, the -- hitler the discussion becomes pretty ridiculous. -- not as good at doing it as other politicians.

sometimes i think the press often focuses on it a lot more than they did in the past. i am not going to say he does not lie, he does. it is not as far out of the norm as people suspect. host: a tweet on the screen from senator lindsey graham, one of the president's closest supporters in the senate. i stand firmly behind president trump ticket decision to use executive power to build a wall, barriers we desperately need. i want to go to an earlier point because if there is a democrat in the white house and a democratic president issue some sort of national emergency, how do you think senator graham would respond? guest: he would probably say it is not an emergency. hypocrisy runs through both parties all the way through. host: we did see senate republican leaders supporting the president. this is taking power out of the legislative branch. guest: that is the real problem. congress does not like to make

decisions and they have let the president make too many for too long. if they want a wall or barrier, they should either vote for it or like more people who will. this is about moving funding and i am not sure that that is applicable to all issues that democrats have brought up, for instance guns and things like that. perhaps on a green deal, they might move money around but it wide a move as people are saying. host: and we know you tweet. how can people follow you? guest: just my name. @davidharsanyi, . host: our next caller is from mississippi. caller: good morning. i have a question for david.

how close is this country moving to the failed experiment of socialism? i will hang up and listen. host: thank you. guest: i think it is a problem because we see -- it has to do with the cold war ending and many young people understanding what communism and socialism was about. you see many younger politicians, specifically progressive politicians embracing ideas that would have undermined their election prospects only a few years ago. that is a problem. the american system is setup in a way that it would be very difficult to nationalize industry. i worry about the energy industry and other areas where americans might move in that direction. host: our last call is from indiana on the democrats line with david harsanyi of the federalist. guest: good morning and thank you for taking my call.

i have been listening the whole time and i think there is something very wrong going on with the president and with the republicans. it feels like they are trying to become a dictatorship. i don't understand why. we need to fight this. i don't think it is a good thing , how he is controlling, going above congress. host: we will get a response. democrats criticized republicans now and republicans criticize a democratic president. guest: none of this is dictatorship. obama bragged about using a pen to pass legislation. every party gets mad about it but it does get worse and worse as we move forward. it is not a dictatorship. he is moving around money to build a wall.

president trump is the many things to pull back executive power. i don't think it was because he does not want executive powder -- power. he was just rolling back obama initiatives. may be each president will roll the other president's abuses back and maybe that is a good thing. maybe the partisanship works in that way but we are not yet close to a dictatorship and when they areeak like that, undermining legitimate. debate we should be having. -- which limit debate we should be having. host: we learned that william is now back inside the republican party and gearing up to challenge donald trump. guest: i don't think it is going to make a difference. if anyone was going to challenge from, it would be on the right.

a more moderate candidate is going to hurt him because activist conservative voters, especially in the primaries are not coined a vote for someone less conservative. they might first -- they might vote for someone more conservative. host: do you see a more conservative candidate jumping into the race? guest: i don't. host: david harsanyi, senior editor >> c-span's "washington journal," live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. associated press' darlene superville and "washington post's" mike debonis. then we will discuss trade talks with robert daly, live at 7:00

a.m. this morning. join the discussion. the house and senate returns for legislative work today. this means the house will take up a joint resolution to terminate the president's emergency declaration to build a border wall with funds targeted for other measures. -- theyt will discuss will discuss gun buyers and closing loopholes. there be an farewell address, the men will continue work on abortion bill. later in the week, the nomination of andrew wheeler to head the environmental protection agency. c-span bus recently traveled to texas, asking folks -- what does it mean to be an american?

>> what it means to be an american, i am very passionate about projects and great things we can do in this nation. >> being an american is so much more than a nationality. it is an idea of who we are as a people and what we represent. i think the cross represents freedom and the liberty to do something and you are an american, you step up front of tople and allow yourself step up for what you are and you never fail to fight for other people. >> what does it mean to be an american? what does it not mean? it is kind of like punk rock, do your own thing. it is reinventing yourself. we all come together. not only did we do that in the past, we are doing it now, and

we are pointed do it in the future. >> voices from the road on c-span. >> now oregon governor kate , brown talks about efforts to improve voter participation and election security ahead of the collection at an event held by the center for american this is justnt under one hour.