the united states congress, and our cable television executives who made this one of the more unique places in television after 40 years of service. announcer: live, tuesday, on the c-span networks. at 1:45 p.m. eastern, president trump joins a news conference .ith the brazilian president that is on c-span. on c-span2 at 9:00 a.m. discussion on corruption in venezuela. then, an outgoing administrator on his tenure. a.m., the, at 9:30 institute of peace holds a panel on crimea. in an hour, eleanor clift on campaign 2020 and the

democratic field. at 9:00 a.m., washington examiner read barnes talks about president trump's reelection process. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ host: good morning. it is tuesday, march 19, 2019. members of the house and senate are away from capitol hill as they continue their 10 day stayed work period. at the supreme court, justices are set to convene at 10:00 a.m. to consider cases and we are with you for the next three hours. we begin by asking you to consider all three branches of government and whether you think they are truly coequal. let us know what you think of the power and influence of the

branches. you can do so by calling in. in the eastern and central united states, 202-748-8000. if you are in the mountain and pacific regions, 202-748-8001. you can also catch up with us on social media. on twitter it is @cspanwj. on facebook it is facebook.com/cspan. a very good tuesday morning to you. you can start calling in now. having this conversation about the branches of government on the 40th anniversary of this network. for these deeper constitutional questions, we turn to a trusted source, jeffrey rosen. good morning to you, sir. guest: good morning. coequalis phrase, branches, does it appear in the constitution? guest: it does not, but the constitution does speak specifically about the three branches and, in fact, the best way to address the question of

coequal branches is to start .ith the first draft at the national constitution center, we have james wilson's original draft written on july 24, 1787. james wilson is an underappreciated founder and the first person to write the draft of the constitution. the very first words of the constitution in the wilson draft are not we, the people of the united states, but resolved that the government of the united states ought to consist of a supreme legislative, judiciary, and executive. that was what wilson and the other framers first wanted to say, it was more important than anything else that there should be three branches of government that should be coequal. the reason they wanted to signal that important fact was because they wanted to separate and divide power.

the next draft of the constitution has a preamble that the we, the people, of states of new hampshire, massachusetts, rhode island, providence plantation, so forth, do ordain and establish the following constitution of the government of ourselves and our posterity. to the point of that was to say we the people have the sovereign statesnot the themselves, not the federal government, not the legislative, not the judiciary and by parceling power among the three branches we ensure the people rule. the puzzle is solved in the next draft of the constitution and it's amazing how late it was, september 12, 1787, 5 days before the constitution was proposed, that we get the draft we, the people, of the united states, and that important shift

driven by wilson was to signal that we the people of the united states as a whole are sovereign, not the people of the individual states or congress, the president, or the judiciary separately. in that incredible evolution which took place in barely two months from july through september, this conviction, which is the central idea of american government that we, the people, of the united states of america have the sovereign power and no one branch can speak for , but that each of those temporarily exercise power, check and balance each other in order to ensure liberty as well as unity of the united states. separationu think and checks and balances have been eroded over time since the documents were written? guest: it is remarkable how

different each of the branches are. the constitution center has an exciting project asking what would james madison think of our current congress, presidency, and the media? no one would deny the current presidency is very different than the one the framers had in mind. they thought the president would be a very constrained, chief magistrate who would only have the power to declare war and receive ambassadors, but no power to make law. today, starting with the imperial presidency that began around 1912, we have presidents who ruled by executive order rather than asking congress to pass laws and are able to declare wars, not since world war ii has there been a declared war. congress is quite different than the framers envisioned and they feared it would be the most dangerous branch sucking all other branches into itself as an impetuous vortex as they called

it in the federalist papers. because of political polarization, congress is often reluctant to exercise the constitutional checking powers the framers had in mind. the judiciary has become far more powerful than the framers expected. alexander hamilton called it the least dangerous branch because it would have neither purse nor sword. today we see it central in all the questions of american political life and everyone from district judges to appellate judges to the supreme court ruling on important questions. listeners can and should debate and this will be an amazing three hours, about -- since each of the branches have grown in power, all have continued to check each other as framers intended. certainly they never expected efficiency to be a hallmark of american government. louis brandeis said it was liberty, not efficiency.

they would have a very different federal government then framers had in mind. the check and balance functions continue to operate as to the crucial role of the states and therefore we continue to live under james madison's constitution although in a very different way than he and other framers envisioned. today,f you take us to who is usually the loudest in making the arguments for coequal branches? guest: well, certainly each of the branches insist on its own prerogatives and we just saw last week the example of congress repudiating the president's actions on the wall, insisting they had constitutional responsibility to judge the constitutionality of the president's acts and that was a position congress took in most of american history. the president said this is

absolutely wrong and congress' judgment is incorrect and i will have my first veto. that was in insistence on his own coequal powers and we see the judiciary frank whitley -- frequently insisting on its power to review the act of the president and congress. to the importance of judicial independence and there are also times in history when the court insisted on coequal power, most particularly in a case called cooper and aaron when there were troops trying to integrate schoolhouses in mississippi and the governor was at the school door and president eisenhower sent the troops and the supreme court upheld his power to insist on integration and the supreme court in a decision called cooper and aaron said it was supreme in its interpretation of the constitution, which some people thought went too far because they believe the court

should have said it was coequal but had no stronger power to interpret the constitution then the president or congress. we are seeing all three branches insisting on coequal powers and that is certainly something framers hoped for. host: so much more to learn about the constitution at the national constitution center. we always appreciate your time, jeffrey rosen, thanks so much. guest: thank you. it was a pleasure as always. host: are the three branches of government equal? let us know what you think. if you are in the eastern or central time zones, it is 202-748-8000. if you are in amount or pacific time zones, it is 202-748-8001. having this conversation on the 40th anniversary of this network. it was 40 years ago today al gore said television cameras would change the institution of congress. here is that moment from 40 years ago. [video clip] speaker, on this historic

day, the house of representatives opens its proceedings for the first time to televised coverage. i wish to congratulate you for your courage in making this possible and the committee, who has worked so hard under the leadership of congressman charles, to make this a reality. television will change this institution, mr. speaker, just as it has changed the executive branch. the goodwill far outweigh the bad. from this day forward, every member of this body must ask himself or herself how many americans are listening to the debates which are made. when the house becomes comfortable with the changes brought by television coverage, the news media will be allowed to bring their own cameras into this chamber. in the meantime, there is no censorship. every word is available for broadcast coverage and journalists will be able to use and edit as they see fit.

the solution for the lack of confidence in government, mr. speaker, is more open government at all levels. host: if you are interested in learning more about this network , you can go to our webpage we have set up for the 40th anniversary, c-span.org/40 years grid you will find a brief account of our history, c-span wassince created in 1979. what we enjoy the most, hearing from you on these questions, these conversations we have. do you think the three branches of government are equal? daniel is first in indiana, good morning. caller: good morning to you, too. let me congratulate c-span for providing 40 solid years of transparent government. you allow us to provide our voice as american citizens to where we think our country is and where it should go and we can reflect on the history and briefly, i will note how i feel.

our three branches of government are equal although they have their differences. today, we don't get to see inside the supreme court. yes, we have transcriptions through voice coverage, no pictures in congress. we get to see all the hearings open to the public, not the classified sessions. we get to see parts of the cabinet meetings, the white house briefings. are they equal? yes, but they each make their own decisions based upon how the people feel, what the legislators feel. to mr. rose and's point, he spoke how things have changed since the early to mid 20th century, we are the same government -- the people are the same, the circumstances have changed. our government has been making choices impure really since

thomas jefferson exercised his choice to have the louisiana ,urchase and soon thereafter mr. president jackson went on to conclude with the trail of tears. our government is the same, it is the choices they are making that make it seem so ambiguous and large. host: one choice you bring up is the ability to view proceedings. you mentioned the lack of cameras at the supreme court. do you think having cameras covering the president all the time, cameras and congress have put them on a different footing when it comes to power and influence than the supreme court when we talk about the three branches of government here? caller: no, i do not. in court proceedings, you have a lot of sealed testimony that provides confidential information and other things that regular people don't need to know about the people in the hearings.

in the outlook that people have towards government, i think they are just as equal. i don't want to allude too much to the confidentiality of court cases, but those proceedings have different precedents involved with them. appreciate a call from indiana. is next from eastern maryland. good morning. caller: good morning. [indiscernible] host: we cannot really hear from you, we will work on that line with you. we will see if we can get you back so we can hear from you. as we show some of the tweets from social media and comments from facebook. we have a poll that you can participate in. the question is are the three branches of government coequal?

david saying by law, yes, by pratt this, not so much. another tweet from maximilian saying in theory, congress is supposed to make laws. in reality, the executive has been strong-arming that job away from it. one more from the libertarians saying they were not designed to be equal with the executive branch initially being fairly weak compared to the other two. congress has abdicated more and more responsibility to the executive branch. just a few comments from facebook. if you want to join, it is facebook.com/cspan. or you can go to twitter. c-span,com and search the do just --:

judicial side is altering everything. congress needs to take act their normal power from the power they are supposed to have against the judicial branch. host: we just saw a debate in congress last week and the week before about congress looking to take back power from the executive branch, the concerns over president trump's declaration of a national emergency on the border. we saw those two votes in the house and senate looking to revoke that executive order by the president. some of the conversation on the floor of the house included these constitutional concerns. mike lee from utah was one of those who raised his concerns and talked about why he voted for that resolution of disapproval. [video clip] >> centralization is not unity, it is surrender. surrender to exactly the kind of monarchical and abusive sort of

government our founding fathers were trying to protect us from. political elites often reassure other thatsure each these deviations from constitutional norms are somehow victimless endeavors. no one cares about the process, they insist. process,itution is all that's the whole point, process. the constitution doesn't resolve political differences, it lays process. brushing that process aside is not override this agreement, it intensifies and escalates to, ratcheting up politics into a war of outrage and contempt. my democratic colleagues, some of them would have us believe that this vote is about president trump and president trump alone. it is not. it is about much more than him,

much more than them. zeal foreral elites centralist power. host: are the three branches of government coequal? phone lines split up by region. it's 202-748-8000 if you are in the eastern or central time zone. 202-748-8001 a few are in a mountain or pacific time zones. you can join us on social media as well. as you are calling on the phone lines, a look around the three branches of government and the work they have been doing in the last 24 hours. this from the wall street neuronal, the supreme court said yesterday it would consider two pillars of criminal law, the insanity defense and the rule that only unanimous juries may convict. those discussions, constitutional questions will be heard in the next term which begins october seventh. the insanity case comes from

kansas, which eliminated the right of a defendant to claim they could not distinguish between right and wrong. death arguesed to he was denied the chance to argue he was criminally insane because of severe depression. the kansas law, he argues, violates the eighth amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment. that is some discussion at the supreme court, they are meeting at 10:00 today. from the white house and the executive branch, we noted president trump is at the white house meeting with the president of brazil. sent also sent -- he has eyes president mike pence to tour flooding in the midwest. levees were compromised in four states. president trump tweeting

yesterday he is staying in close contact with iowa governor kim reynolds and kristi noem about the flooding. he asked mike pence to survey the flood damage. reynolds touring for the second straight day says flooding will worsen along the missouri river. back to your calls. our question, we wanted to know if you think the three branches of government are coequal. joe in california, good morning. you are up next. caller: hello, how are you doing? i am jonathan in actuality. i believe the congress i think was meant to be the most powerful branch of government, the branch of the people, but they have lost their power. most of the power is going to the executive and judiciary.

to start calling up some of these digital branches because there is not enough check on the supreme court. the only check you have is the president appoints and the congress and senate approves. when they are on the bench, it is like they are the main man and do whatever they want. citizens united, a ridiculous decision to give our democracy away for the billionaires to decide who gets elected. is a problem. justice kavanaugh, he clearly lied under oath. now he is on the supreme court and their -- and is there until he is granted leave or dies. there needs to be more of a check on them. some of these federal judges are out of control.

maryland, is larry in good morning, you are next. caller: yes, i believe the three branches of government >> e. if they weren't, for instance, the executive branch, president trump, would get everything he wall, such as a border the health care change and then congress,, as far as if it was one-sided on congress, they would get anything they wanted. i look at the judiciary branch has more the referee of the checks and balances. whether the justices were in place by the trump administration, obama, bush, or clinton, we have to have faith that our justices will do the .ight thing

that is basically all i have to say. host: you seem to be talking about the powers being coequal. are they coequal in influence on the american public? media has aink the lot of influence on persuading the public hot opinion on the three branches of government, especially when it comes to legislative and executive. host: give me an example, larry. instance, we have -- the media, for instance, the conservative media and liberal media play sides against each other on the big issues, like i said, like in the border wall reform.th care, tax

if you wanted to say there is a fourth branch of government, you might as well say the media. they are the ones that play the put-and-forth and tend to at least two of our branches against each other. host: larry in maryland. scott in mississippi, good morning to you. caller: good morning. i want to weigh in on your debate this morning. yes, i believe the three branches of government are equal . however, what is currently in the american uponracy today all resides done togress has empower the presidency. congress has given president

trump the executive power to declare a national emergency. this is exactly what congress has legislated for the president to have. now that president trump has executive right to declare an emergency, now all the democrats in congress are whining and crying and all about the very right they gave him. what is your take about that? host: we have also seen debate about the separation of powers when it comes to the ability to declare war and whether congress has ceded too much of its power to the president on that front. what do you think about that? we lost the caller. john is in illinois, go ahead. caller: good morning. yes, i do believe they were

meant to be equal in their power . and there are issues that are going on at this time with these different -- southern district and other district judges that thesupport -- thwart intentions of the legislative branch, the presidential branch to use his policies. i think that is wrong. i think the legislative branch can change what he wants to do and ultimately, things are working with the judicial branch. obviously there are politics and everything. and apedor obama twice -- in october of his term when he started running for president, i immediately switched to trump, who i knew

was a womanizer. i started reading his book and had to put it down. he was a slumlord, but when he came down and said to the people all the things i have been saying as a businessman, stop giving our money away without equal investment and other things like obama has given away with the iran deal, trade agreement, i knew immediately i made a mistake in voting for obama. i am in independent, a constitutionalist and i believe we do have three branches and i believe any of these legislators from the house and congress need to be put to task and investigated for allies like chefs does and republicans do it, too. host: as a constitutionalist, same question as the last collar, do you think congress is

doing its job when it comes to declaring war to figuring out u.s. involvement -- military involvement around the world? caller: i think they need to have a check on the president. host: what do you think they should do? how should they do that? caller: he has to submit his proposal to go to war to congress. host: that is john in illinois. discussion about the president's war fighting powers. here is bernie sanders on that issue from just a week ago. [video clip] >> let's bring this catastrophic war in yemen to an end, let's focus our efforts on the a diplomatic resolution to end that war, and let's provide the humanitarian aid needed to protect the hungry and the sick in yemen. let, today, in a historic vote,

45 years after the passage of the war powers act, let us, constitutionalss responsibility in terms of lawmaking. host: having this conversation on the 40th anniversary of c-span. if you want to find out more about the 40th anniversary, a special webpage for that. c-span.org/40years. c-span continues to be your unfiltered source. we want to let you decide and we want to hear from you about the three branches of government, do you think they are coequal? 202-748-8000 in the eastern and central time zones. 202-748-8003 if you are in the mountain -- 202-748-8001 if you are in amount nor pacific time zones. charlie on social media says it

is lobbyist who run the clown show in washington. heather saying it's a trick question, yes, they should be coequal. at present, they are not. timothy saying they are not, but they need to be. jason this morning, they all have different delegated authority, i suppose it depends on the situation and circumstances. one more from jeff saying the greatest power is with the legislative branch, they must confirm members of the supreme court and have the power to impeach the executive. the people did not elect any supreme court justices. hector, lawrence, massachusetts, you are up next. caller: thank you, john. thank you, john, for taking my call. washington -- host: go ahead, hector. caller: yes, john. john, are equal powers the same? no.

if you look at the gorgeous structure behind you, there are democrats and republicans and investors. i can't -- i cannot lie to you. are there powers the same? no. it is split three or four ways. thank you, john, for taking my call. host: lakeland, florida. caller: thanks for taking my call. only in the united states with our form of government could a judgein hawaii -- liberal stopped the president from enforcing a law he legally can put in effect. i think, right now, i think we have a threat to our democracy. you have people running for president wanting to expand the supreme court and all of this has to do with power. all of it has got to do with power. nancy pelosi can stop anything

she wants to because they are in control and it is because she likes that power. i think if we get one party in that is too much power for one party to have and they pretty much do what they want to except for the republicans who -- i am a republican and i am really disappointed they did not get more done when they had control. and one other point, the framers also set it up so two states, california and new york, could not control the politics and the vote for the presidency. thank you. host: you mentioned the 2020 presidential contest. plenty of more discussion on

that, we will be joined by eleanor clift of the daily beast and fred barnes of the washington examiner in our 8:00 and 9:00 hours. for this first hour, just a discussion about the three branches. in facthink they are coequal? if their influence is coequal? owen in georgia, what do you think? caller: okay. i think they are and i was going to point out a few things, the guy before said the federal judge from hawaii can block the president's legal obligation -- i think that is the point he is making for himself, but i could make it for myself. i think that is exactly what aoves they are equal, that federal judge in the state of hawaii can block the president, .hich is exactly what equal is it was not legal, truly.

--rge w. bush brent in's go to charleston, west virginia. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i agree with some of the previous commenters that the branches should be equal, but they are not. i think the least talked about branch of government, the supreme court, is the branch of wayrnment that has grown too powerful over the last 50 years, maybe 60 years. what i mean by that is when they issue a ruling, everybody runs from the court saying it is the law of the land, it is the law of the land. thectually is not because supreme court does not have the authority to make law. what we have done in this

auntry is congress has ceded lot of their power not only to the executive branch, but they have ceded their power to the judicial branch specifically in making law. the supreme court is tasked with interpreting the constitution, period, that is it. what the congress hasn't done in terms of giving their power over to the executive branch i think it has been realized more in terms of the administrative state, the regulatory state where there are anonymous government employees in charge of regulating every aspect of american life and the american economy. they are not accountable. they are not elected and no one knows who they are. if there is a complaint, who do you send it to? that is one of the main problems with our federal government today, it has grown too big.

amused, butnt, i am also irritated at the same time at the people talking suddenly -- suddenly concerned about the constitution and concerned about the coequal branches of are -- theynd they are -- their concern magically began after election day 2016. they sat through 8 years of a president who literally said if congress won't act, i will. i have a pen and i have a phone and not a word was said about a too powerful executive branch, yet when donald trump simply in 1976, law passed rightfully calls the situation at the border an emergency and

attempts to do something about it, suddenly we are concerned about the constitution. that always amazes me that people who have sat silent for abuse, during far worse now they are up in arms and so forth. i think what we should do is go back to the constitution, go back to the source, the governing document or what should be our governing document and what does the constitution say about the three branches of government and let stop adding things to the constitution that aren't there. thank you very much. host: thanks for the call this morning. from west virginia. you were talking about the size of the federal workforce. a story in the washington times about the size of the federal workforce. it has grown to nearly 1.5 million, that is a record under president trump if you want to read that story. joseph is next in pennsylvania.

good morning. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. thaty, i think the problem i see with the deterioration of the system is that money has really taken over. the whole thing is about money. i believe even the seating of the authoritative by the executive -- to the executive by the legislative branch is all because these people in the legislature no longer work for the people who sent them to the legislature, but they seem to be in the pockets of the executive. i am sorry to say, but this is how it appears on the outside and i believe something has to sure that money is taken out of american politics. if not, i believe there will

come a time when the executive will really determine who goes to the legislature, who goes on the court, and there will be nobody to stop him. this is what we are seeing today . that is where the crisis is in american politics. thank you very much. host: one of those key moments where all three branches, together is for the state of the union address and c-span has been covering it over the past four decades. if you go to our website at c-span.org on the 40th anniversary page, you can see the key moments and key clips over the past years. one of those is president ronald reagan from january 26, 1982, recognizing one of the heroes of the air florida 90 crash into potomac river just days before. [video clip] >> just two weeks ago in midst

of a terrible tragedy on the potomac, we saw the spirit of american heroism. the heroism of dedicated rescue workers saving victims from icy waters and the heroism of one of ,ur young government employees who, when he saw a woman lose her grip on the helicopter line, dived into the water and dragged her to safety. [applause]

host: c-span.org/40years is where you can go to watch some of those key moments. and senate are away as the president is -- whether you think the three branches of government are in fact coequal. todd is next, good morning. caller: the answer to the question when you use influence involved in the question, absolutely not. ofhave at least 27 years well-documented history to prove that as true. should -- are they equal in

their responsibility? yes. where we have the larger issue is our congress. congress is not doing the legislation work that it is supposed to be doing and they are putting too much pressure on the supreme court, not being very successful, but showing success to legislate from the bench. they would work more aggressively to be equal in capability to apply responsibilities, they would be -- grandstanding. host: if government actually followed the constitution, they would be equal. jared in kentucky, your thoughts. seeing the last few months -- over the last few

years, them trying to find loopholes and trying to take less power away from the presidency. i would like to see people apply the same laws to one another whether they like who is in the white house or not and say this is our president whether they like donald trump or not and when a democrat takes the office, that the same thing doesn't start happening again that democrats are doing to republicans. that is what i would like to see , to apply the constitution as it was meant to be applied. thank you very much. host: one of the earlier callers talked about president barack obama and his efforts during his presidency to move his agenda despite congressional opposition. here is a clip of the former president from 2014. [video clip] >> we are not just going to be

waiting for legislation in order to make sure we are providing americans the kind of help they need. i have a pen and i have a phone and i can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions that move the ball forward helping to make sure our kids get the best education possible, making sure businesses are getting the support and help they need to grow and advance, to make sure people are getting the skills they need to get those jobs businesses are creating. host: the question this morning, are the three branches of government equal? in eastern and central time zones, 202-748-8000 is the number. mountain or pacific time zones, 202-748-8001 is that number. year tookarlier this up this issue in a column with the title congress is not a coequal branch of government, it is supreme. congress is the.

or, the notion of co-a quality of the branches is a myth that has been popularized over the last half-century during the rise of the imperial presidency as a way to boost the executive's standing in the eyes of the public. one of the reasons congress is superior is it can get insult -- itself involved in the actions of other branches, it can deny appointments to judicial branches. of the other branches are largely incapable of interfering with congress. members of congress are immune from arrest, they set their own pay, each chamber determines its own rules. ask yourself, if i get to tell you what to do, but you don't get to tell me what to do, who is actually in charge? patrick in fairfax, virginia, go ahead. caller: good morning. how are you doing? oddly, i am going to start off with the fact i am a little --

because i hear people say we should go back to the original constitution and now go back to what they originally said. not a lot of people had rights back then. it's scary to hear people saying going back to that hurried that is one person's opinion. as far as if they are equal, could you imagine if the legislative branch could get their shit together? they cannot agree on anything and that is why they are not overpowered because they never do anything, they never do. host: what will it take to get them to do something? caller: i think getting money out of politics will. they cannot make moves and decisions because they are paid by somebody. it's an unfortunate truth a lot of americans like to deny. they ask themselves what is wrong with our government and don't acknowledge the fact they are getting paychecks behind closed doors. that congresswoman that is getting eaten alive right now,

all she commented on was how much money we are giving to israel and there is nothing anti-semitic about pointing out one of the biggest money influences in our government system. just ringing that sort of stuff up is taboo. this bill won't pass to get money out of politics, i think the last caller -- one of the collars in the last couple minutes was right, i don't think there is a true fix until we get that settled. host: you are talking about the bill hr-1 with some changes to the campaign-finance system with how elections can take place. it was passed in the house, the first bill put forward, not likely to be taken up in the republican-controlled senate. mary is up next in ohio, good morning. caller: good morning. i am calling because the balance of power, let's do the balance of power. i am for we the people, not

democrats, not republican. should we, the people, take back the power, get rid of the democrat party, get rid of the republican party. if a democrat or republican should not even be able to run for president. we need to stop this because the people are paying for the democrat and republican parties and their disputes and let's take pack -- take back the power, we, the people. thank you, love my country. host: matt is next from virginia. caller: this is my first time calling c-span, good morning. host: good morning. go ahead. caller: there are a lot of people speaking a lot of sense the last few calls that understood the issues when it comes to whether or not there is a balance of power between the legislative, executive, and

judicial. i feel like we are looking at it the wrong way. how can we assume there is a balance of power when most of our government isn't really that democratic? and you think about it, for example. the legislative branch, congress , they are getting money on the back end. there are studies that show voting patterns, whatever issue the donors want, congress wants 99% of the time. we have the executive branch, which is weird because we have the electoral college, which is what decides the president and the vice president, they elect the cabinet andy judiciary. how can we even talk about the balance of power when we don't even decide to government, for the most part? we don't decide what laws get .assed

fix the balance of power, we need to make this country actually democratic. host: do you vote, matt? caller: yes. first-time voter. i just got register rated -- few years ago. i voted in the 2016 election and the midterm election. host: are you going to continue to vote? caller: i am thinking about it. in terms of smaller, general elections, those are important. in terms of the presidential election, until they do something about the electoral college where it is actually one vote, one person, it is hard to see the point. and the and vote popular candidate doesn't get the electoral vote, therefore all the votes just did not count. host: you think that has

disenchanted a lot of people? caller: i think it does. when you think about it like within the century alone, the 2000, the electoral college against the popular vote and everyone else who thought -- everyone assumed believing you elect the president just got shafted because some group of people, who we don't know about, who we have no say in, gets to decide who runs the country and we are given the illusion we do and it only matters when they vote with us. you can see why a lot of people noteople talking about voting, it makes sense when they see what is going on and they see they don't have a choice, not to vent and -- not to mention voter suppression. host: a few tweets as we have been having this conversation. it is surprising how many people

are comfortable with congress abdicating its constitutional role by passing laws that allocate its duty to the executive branch. richard saying each of the branches fills avoid the others create, no surprise. in clinton, indiana, you are up next. go ahead. caller: yes, i don't think the branches are equal. i don't think they should be equal. congressional districts are consistent with about 700,000 people. nancy pelosi was elected by 275,000 votes. with 150 elected thousand votes out of a district of 750 thousand people, that is 1/5 of the people in this district elected him. and his body of colleagues -- why should they have equal power to the president or a senator -- the senators were elected at least by the majority of a state vote

and the president through a national vote. how can 270 5000 people in california put nancy pelosi in a position of power equal to that of the president? host: how would you change how the house of representatives is elected? caller: you cannot really change how the house of representatives is elected. the change would need to be the power they have to hamstring a president's addenda. all presidents have agenda, democrat, republican, every one of them. for her to say she is serving the will of the american people, her job is into serve the will of the people, her job is to serve the 700,000 people in her district she represents. in job isn't to serve me indiana or someone in missouri or illinois or michigan or wherever. her job is to serve the 700,000 people in california. host: what about the majority of

the house that elected her to be speaker? haver: they have to leaders, obviously. as has to run that rat race because if not, you have 435 .eople doing god knows what host: however you define power, do you think the speaker of the house or nancy pelosi in particular is as powerful as the president? caller: at this point in time, absolutely. i don't think that has always been the case, but at this point in time, yes, i think she absolutely has as much power as the president and i don't think she should. host: in liverpool, new york, good morning. are you there? in california, good morning. caller: hello?

host: go ahead, matthew. kind ofi think we are comparing one apple to one orange to one peach. are they really all equal? think youink -- i raise an important issue, but it should be more like each branch should defend its own powers. congress has delegated so much power to the president, it has delegated so much power to the supreme court by writing vague laws that the courts need to figure out the ambiguities. branchwould say is each has to defend its power vigorously. host: were you listening to the previous caller and his concerns about nancy pelosi's power and what it meant for the executive branch? caller: yes, i did.

i am a republican. i totally oppose nancy pelosi policies wreck america. democrats won majority of the house, so she is speaker of the house. president trump has to deal with the house of representatives led .y a democratic speaker i hope they can keep her from going too crazy. host: speaker of the house in the 116th congress. not the first time she was elected speaker in the ash of the house. the first time was 2007. here is that moment. [video clip] >> it is now my privilege to present the gavel of the united eight south of representatives to the first woman speaker in our history, the dental lady from california, nancy pelosi.

[applause] host: having a conversation this morning on the 40th anniversary of c-span. c-span covering the house for 40 years as of this morning. 1979.14 -- 19th, if you want to learn about the history and the milestones this network has had over the years, you can go online at c-span.org /40years. are the three branches of government equal? bill in virginia beach, virginia. you are up next.

caller: i don't think they are as equal as they should be. strengthkful for the in the supreme court, but when it comes to voting, i vote for the candidate and not the party. parties spend too much time in character assassination to control the country and i needed to vote for somebody who could square this country away. that's the reason i voted for trump, voted for the man, not the party. susie in hawaii this morning, thanks for waiting. caller: thank you. all of the callers this morning have been quite accurate. i think nobody touched on the main problem of our government, that their pay is too high and the lobbyists are two of -- too

powerful. they need to be sure they don't get rich because they are in government and they need to be sure they love america and respect our constitution and bill of rights. thank you very much. host: what do you think of the cost of running for congress? is it prohibitive these days? at a time when million-dollar campaigns for house of our present lives are normal and senate campaigns can be tens of millions of dollars. caller: it is an insane amount of money that could be used in much better ways. common sense, look what trump did with less money. it should not be about the money, it has got to be about the people. get peoplebe sure we into every branch of government that loves america and respects the american values.

host: our last caller in the segment. we will turn to focus on the presidential campaign next. we will be joined by eleanor clift. discussiontinue the with fred barnes this morning. we will be right back. >> it's hard to believe that since the40 years creation of c-span. i just want to take a couple of seconds here to thank a lot of people for how we got here.

viewers,tart with the who grabbed onto this concept from the very beginning and popularized it over the last 40 years by spending time watching their government make laws, discuss issues, frankly give us an opportunity to find out how interested americans are in civic affairs. secondly, we want to thank the congress. they opened up the house of representatives to television for the first time in history. because of that, we were able to put together a concept called c-span. third and probably most important, we would not be here without private industry in the name of the cable television business. creating systems back in the years and we started.

they were saying it's time to do something other than movies and sports. that's how c-span was created. is private industry was creating a public affairs network for the people who are subscribers to their systems. stopped longuals enough to say let's try something unique and different, something that doesn't make money for us, but provides a service to our viewers. people around the world that want to see the american operate, thanks to our viewers, the congress, and thisr executives who made one of the more unique places and television after 40 years of service. >> washington journal continues.

host: we are glad to welcome eleanor clift to our guests. she was a longtime panelist on the o'laughlen group. -- mcloughlin group. donald trump can win reelection. here's how democrats fear he will do it. guest: there are a number of positive things he could do. he could get a deal with china, that could help them secure his base of support in the midwest. he could try to work with congress on infrastructure and immigration. nobody believes that's going to happen. he has basically burned a lot of bridges with the congress. he is determined to head to another showdown over shutting down government. in focus groups, even trump supporters say he should tweet

less or tweet differently. that's not going to happen either. there really isn't much he can or will do to improve his position. his future is in the hands of the democrats and the nominee they find in this crowded field. whether that person will be able to defeat the president. host: what you talked about the can-do, provoking democrats into nominating candidates who fit into the socialist frame that he wants to talk about. whatever proposals having to do with repairing the safety net or positive programs to improve the lives of people, he's going to call whatever the "socialism."pose some candidates fall more easily into that frame.

he is setting up that's who is going to run against. he's going to find nicknames for everyone. the democrat is going to have to know how to punch back. i hearken back to the days of fdr when republicans called his programs socialism. he said i wear it as a badge of honor. democrats will have to aggressively defend their positions. they will have to know how to counterpunch and get back at this president. they have to figure out ways to counter attack. you talk about the history and where it can be instructional, especially since 1972. guest: everybody has their own theory. amy walter with the cook political report says this is going to be 1972 or 1992.

mosthe democrats found the left candidate in their field, george mcgovern. twoad been a world war bomber pilot. he was somehow portrayed as week , like he was a flower child. he lost rather hugely. 1992, bill clinton was able to navigate a center position that restored the democrats to the white house after 12 years in the wilderness. he was the candidate who matched the moment. i think democrats will have to find which candidate it is that matches this particular moment. at least the democratic voting electorate is to the left. capitalism has taken some hits. young people are very attracted to socialism because they don't

think they've gotten much benefit out of capitalism. that's going to be an ongoing debate in the field. host: how much room is therefore moderates? who is the moderate who would be best positioned? guest: the democrats would not have taken the house if they didn't win a bunch of districts with moderates. the progressives have gotten a lot of news attention. they won seats that any democrat would of one. they won the primary and one the district. these are not swing districts. the bulk of seeds came from districts that had been held by republicans. are not as vociferous. they don't get the news headlines. you would if the governor are stepping into the field, jay inslee. o'rourke is abeto

moderate. he is in the moderate faction of the democrats. in, heen when he gets has called themselves the most progressive. he is talking in terms of accomplishments and legislation delivered. he's probably accurate. work atu can read her the daily beast. you can call in and talk to her. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 784-8001 four republicans. (202) 748-8002 four independents. good morning. you are on with eleanor clift. caller: if republicans would have done or said a third of the stuff coastal elites like you are saying to president trump,

the media would have gone crazy. ok for you to do this to president trump and not to obama? i would turn your question around. manyesident obama had said of the things that president trump has said, republicans would be outraged. a lot of this is in the eye of the beholder. i think what you describe as coastal elites, i was born in brooklyn. my parents were immigrants. my dad owned a delicatessen. i hardly think of myself as a coastal elite. has offended many people. he would not have the low approval ratings that he has. he's never hit 50% as president,

he didn't win the popular vote. he is a weak president going into the election. any democrat who thinks he's going to be a pushover is not taking correctly. we are in for a fight. it's a crowded field. i think politics is the best and worst in human behavior. we've got a lot to deserve -- observe. host: do you think joe biden will jump then? guest: it looks that way. he's not very good at keeping a secret. like he is getting in. he has wanted to be president for at least 35 years. this would be his third try. i think he regrets he didn't get in in 2016. this is his last chance. he's taking the third time's the charm. at least he can say he tried.

my colleague at the daily beast had an interesting piece in the new york times over the weekend saying just about everybody thinks joe biden could be president trump. hardly anybody thinks he can get the nomination. the primary process can be brutal. they find every flaw. nobody is perfect. democrats, the primary quality for anybody should be can they defeat the president? host: we heard from joe biden over the weekend. froms a little bit of him saturday. >> we don't treat the opposition is the enemy. word whenay a nice they do something good. think we do this because we are a small state and

we will run into that person on the other side of a debate again, or the grocery store. that's all true. i think it's more than that. barack used to kidney because i asld repeat things to him michelle writes in her book. barack'sjoe is like big brother. when he asked for a device, i do what i've always done, pass on the advice i got from my mother and father. politics is personal. one of the reasons why things get on better here in delaware, if you know one another, as much as you disagree with the matter woman across from you, you also know they may have a son or daughter that is ill, you may know that someone's wife or

husband is suffering from breast cancer or prostate cancer. you may know they've fallen on hard times. it makes it hard to dislike them. when you know the struggles they are going through, it makes it hard to dislike them. guest: he spent 30 years in the senate. that used to be a very clubby institution. friendships would lead to legislation. --t's how a let representative democracy works. that joeed recently biden delivered the eulogy at strom thurmond's funeral. i got some tweets saying that's not going to help joe biden. southernrmond was a segregationist.

they were colleagues on the judiciary committee. were making deals. this is how government did work. i think he will run into some problems on the campaign trail, he has an impatient group of activists that think this is giving into the other side. he got a lot of criticism. michigan for an democrat. he was at some of that and he singled out fred upton for praise. that was used in a campaign ad by the upton campaign. costrats feel he may have him a seat. work, want government to you have to deal with the other side. you don't want to turn them into enemies. that is an in -- eternal debate.

parties, nobody wants to give anything to the other side. it's a perpetual state of gridlock. host: we have a few democrats. jerry is waiting in new jersey. caller: good morning. i did want to comment. who shenting to ask the nominee. be what will take the democratic party down? what they tried to do to trump about this collusion thing, you will find out, i hope c-span plays it, it's going to come out what they did to trump. party, the republican what it is is treason. what they tried to do. i hope they get charged.

there is either going to be a special prosecutor or william barr will look into it. everybody be prepared. host: you called in for the line on -- for democrats. caller: i am a registered democrat. i vote for the person. i do not vote party lines. i voted for obama. he was such a disappointment. i hate bush. i voted for obama. trump, i love trump. i think he is going to get reelected. you've got to remember -- host: we've got your point. guest: i think most people agree that robert mueller is a straight down the middle person. he's a republican all his life.

he's going to deliver a report, everybody wants to see it. the house voted unanimously a week ago that they wanted that report to be made public. it will go to the justice department. the attorney general can decide what to do with it. he could decide to stick it in a drawer somewhere. i don't think he could politically get away with that. heavyre there will be redaction's. , havengress will decide there been significant crimes committed that they should embark on investigations that might lead to impeachment. we are a long way from that. since the president has less than two years in office anyway and any congressional time, iation would take don't know if impeachment will ever get underway. host: do democrats need to bring

back somebody like our last caller? i think you saw in beto o'rourke, he went to counties in ina that had voted for obama 2008 and 2012. in 2016, they voted for trump. he is aggressively seeking out those voters. every democrat who is running has their theory about how to get back those voters. elizabeth warren thinks it's to their pocketbooks. currentan explain why policies are undermining their financial health, she thinks she can win the back. bernie sanders is talking about for thesystem is rigged people who supported trump. if they thought he was going to fix it. he has broken virtually every

promise he made. the budget the white house released last week, trump said he would not cut medicare and medicaid and so security. there are cuts for all of those programs in that budget. every democrat has their theory of how to win back voters they didn't get. they want to energize the voters that are looking for new leadership. host: go ahead. caller: good morning. i am old enough to remember you on the mclaughlin group. it would be interesting to see the o'rourke release donations. joe biden is correct here at all politics is personal. the architect of the crime bill,

the monstrosity crime bill under bill clinton, he should be automatically eliminated from any consideration for office. all of the black lives, communities, communities that that bill destroyed, any talk of criminal justice reform is result of his doing. i don't know why he gets a free pass. he would do it again. for passivethe time aggressive behavior or insanity. guest: i don't think he's getting a free pass. he has to explain that. he has to explain how he handled the chairmanship of the just -- thery committee judiciary committee with anita hill. this is what we call baggage.

that if you're old enough to remember the crime bill when it was passed, it was signaled as a positive piece of legislation. it included one program that the right wing ridiculed, called midnight basketball. open soommunity centers teenagers had a place to go as opposed to hanging out in the street. ever programs for children. -- there were programs for children. senator biden championed the protection of women act. we have to put things in context. i think the crime bill aspect of this boomeranged and made things worse. people recognize that today. i am sure if he becomes a candidate, he will have to address that had on.

he's not walk into a field where everyone is going to welcome him. he is popular now. you can watch her popularity plummet. host: when will the field start shrinking? guest: we will see how many of the 16 have money enough to stay in the race to get to iowa. i think it will thin before i would. iowa, there were three places. i think there will be six. ,v finish nine or 10 in iowa there will be some winnowing after iowa. if you can't recover in new hampshire, you will be gone. i think will happen quickly. host: pensacola florida, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call.

me that she can sit there. i've watched her on and off for years. moreed to consider her elites of the left. she is a conservative to what the democrats have become. i want to question the moderator. why have you taken such a hard swing to the left? the cableuse of companies? host: we try to give it to you unfiltered and let you make up your own mind. that's what we've been trying to do for 40 years now. caller: i've been watching since you been on. i've never seen such consecutive number from the left. over the weekend, you had peter baker, a truck hader. .- hater

i want to get back to what this previous caller talked about here and the attempted coup against this president. she deflects it. the proof is coming up. you've shown some of it. if you look at what being revealed now, transcripts from the private hearings, there was a coup generated by the democrat law firm. dnc ands paid by the the clinton campaign to trump.ow this is coming out. it's going to be so embarrassing for the media who been trumpeting against this president. host: let's let eleanor respond. all comes outis

and is proved to be true, we will talk about it. category ofn the conspiracy theories. of his supporters would like for us to believe this. i look forward to the mullah report. i think he's a straight arrow. we will have the facts of a table. host: how about this poll? it came out that showed trust in robert mueller is eroding. half of americans agree that he is the victim of a witchhunt. support for impeachment has dropped since last october. guest: people confuse impeachment with removal. president, that just means you take it to the

next level, a trial in the senate. the senate today is controlled by republicans. they will not convict this president. it's nice to understand the process. i think the president and the white house have the bully pulpit. they have said witchhunt over and over many times. there are people who want to believe the president. it seems to them the investigation has dragged on a long time. beennk the president has effective in making that case. host: two peter in massachusetts. i don't agree with the caller who said you were swinging to the left. i think you are very balanced. theyurpose of my call is talk about the deep state, it's a waste of time. comes, we are not

going to see donald trump running for reelection. i think his presidency has been filled with so many surprises, once this begins to bear down on ivanka and jared and donald junior, he will take a hard look at what's going on. remember, if you run, you are going to win. that was a big surprise. he can only take so many surprises. the surprise in the southern district is something we have no clue as to the nature of it. we know there is a lot more going on than what we know about. guest: the caller is right. he has a lot of legal issues apart from whatever comes out of

the robert mueller probe. the trump foundation, the inaugural committee and how those funds were spent, some of his business practices going back years. deutsche bank has left the -- lent the money- president. he's not the kind of person who walks away from a fight. if he runs and wins, that protects him from being indicted in some of these areas. i think there is a possibility he might not run again. the caller could be right. we've got to assume that he is in the ring and he will be actively seeking reelection. host: this is what on the residence mind as of --

fourdent's mind as of minutes ago. when the history books are written after this is all over, his attack on the media places him in the company of past dictators and people who tried to undermine democracy. i prefer to go back to the dining fathers who knew the value of a free press. host: we've got about five minutes left with eleanor clift. democrats (202) 748-8000. republicans (202) 784-8001. independents (202) 748-8002. caller: i appreciate you guys. i will make two points. donald trump should be in jail.

said, i want to know what the democrats are planning -- even if there were rules and said he had to have a competency test and certain things, he wouldn't follow them anyhow. nobody would press them or for some to do it. are going to be rules in the future for presidents. exam,ave to have physical they have to have a , they have toexam show their taxes. they can't have lawsuits against them that could be criminal. these have to be shown before they can become president. passed thedemocrats

reform of government act. it's not going to go anywhere in the senate unfortunately. it concluded a provision that candidates must release their income tax. theashington state where governor is seeking the democratic nomination, they are looking to impose a rule that any candidate appearing on the ballot in that state would have to release their income tax returns. i am looking forward to those tax returns. we haven't seen them. he promised when he was running that he was under audit and we'd see it. what is he protecting? if there is nothing there to see, why don't they just release it? that's a mystery i'm looking somerd to, finding where dead body is buried after all of these years. i wonder what your thoughts are on the age of the

candidates running, especially on the democratic side. biden and sanders are too old? agree that 75 is not necessarily the new 45. i think the rigorous campaign schedule reveals a lot about people. if they are running out of steam, they recognize that. we do have a vice president. if they pick a vice president who could instantly step into the job. john mccain was on the older side. one of his fatal mistakes was picking sarah palin, who most people did not see as a instant president. there's a reason why we have people run in tandem. i will leave it up to the voters. i don't know which way the voters are going to go.

generally, they pick well. not always. we have had some exceptions. this is a wide variety of candidates. what people like about joe biden is they have seen him as vice president for eight years. they can imagine him stepping into the job. it's not simply who needs on the job training. if he picks a strong vice president, that could be a commanding ticket. host: two rockford, illinois. caller: i would like to go back and talk about the democratic field. it kind of four is me. a scares me that these have far left mentality. it's about who will be able to take out donald trump. we are not preparing for that. i am a left-leaning independent. i feel like we are not preparing

to take donald trump out of office. that is frightening for me and a lot of other people. i think you are exactly right, the electability is the number one characteristic. is beinged socialist tossed around without people examining what it means. medicare, social security, safety net programs are all socialist programs. whatever a democrat proposes will be labeled as socialist. have fought against every one of these programs that the american people love. obamacare is popular. democrats have to define what they mean by these programs. the green new deal has been savaged.

it's basically asking the country to prepare for a future that could be sustainable. troubleet is in serious , the environment has to be taken care of. i think democrats will make that a primary history. host: this is the last call, from new hampshire. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. thank you to c-span and all of the journalists who do the work of the american people. it discussed me when i hear the president say those things about the media. curious, why do you think it is that there hasn't been more attention to the emoluments clause and how the president continues to break that part of the law? that democrats aren't using the words of donald

trump more often in their fight toward 2020? everything out of his own mouth. it does not seem to hurt him a lot of times. if people are reminded of all said,ings he has done and that could be a tool for a victory. guest: i think the democrats the they did well in midterms because they didn't really talk about donald trump. they talked about health care and what they would do. they are trying to avoid mentioning his name. in, he's talking that using the budget as a roadmap to what this president wants to do. that includes cuts to traditional programs.

you don't want to make trump the centerpiece of your campaign. you want voters to understand this is what you would do if you got in. there is a lawsuit that is proceeding brought by the attorneys general in d.c., maryland, and virginia through the courts. it could be quite effective in unveiling the extent to which he has basically stolen from the u.s. government. there will be some oversight on that in the congress. all of these things take time. everyone looks at it through their own prism. in, maybe hegets can make that case. maybe we can have some honest debates. that's what i'm looking forward to. host: we are looking forward to having you on for those debates. we always appreciate your time. guest: happy birthday to c-span.

at the top ofp the hour, another perspective on campaign 2020. we will be joined by fred barnes on this 40th anniversary of c-span. we open up the phone lines to you, asking what issue you would like to see us cover more. if you are in the east, (202) 748-8000. if you are in the west, (202) 784-8001. start calling out. we will be right back. believe that it's been 40 years since the creation of c-span. i just want to take a couple of seconds here to thank a lot of people. we want to thank the viewers who

grabbed onto this. they spent time watching their government make laws, discuss issues. it gives us an opportunity to find out how interested americans are in civic affairs. we can thank the congress. housengress opened up the for the first time. we were able to put together and involving concept. third and probably most important, we wouldn't be with ine without private industry the name of the cable television business. executives were creating cable television systems back in the years we started, they said it's time to do something other than movies and sports. that's how c-span was created.

private industry was creating a public affairs network for the people that are subscribers to their systems. individuals stop long enough in their busy schedules to say let's try something unique and different and something that doesn't make money for us, it just provides a service. people around the world want to see how the government operates. , the congress,rs to where industry executives who made this one of the more unique places in television after 40 years of service. >> washington journal continues. host: 40 years later, seasick has threepan

channels. minutes, we 25 don't want to look back. we want to look forward. what issues should c-span cover. let us know. equal in central time zones, (202) 748-8000. if you are in the mountain or pacific time zones, (202) 784-8001. we will look for your tweets and facebook messages as well. barb is in pennsylvania. i love it c-span. all you have to do is watch it. they have speeches on both sides heardnd my comment is i though i don't describe to twitter that the president put out 50 tweets.

supportake reference in of the kids on friday that were demonstrating about climate change? he encouraged the exploration. i just wanted to know if you could clarify that. host: i will make sure to tell steve hello for you. the tweets i don't have in front me. a question, do you think they get too much coverage? do you think that is something the media pays too much attention to? caller: of course. it's a big carnival. i am worried about the climate

change. is this steve? host: it's john. that's ok. i will tell steve you said hello. do you think climate change gets enough coverage? caller: no. it is so essential that we address it right now. my problem is with the republicans for going on without acknowledging this crisis. i wanted to know if some it could check to see if he isn't knowledged those kids. thank you very much, john. i love c-span. host: carol is next from georgia this morning. go ahead. caller: i wish that c-span would cover donald trump. you try to cover for

him. i think if you really want to know what donald trump is all what you have mother jones on to tell how trump and his butler in 2015 were trying murderke up a coup to president obama. i do think donald trump was responsible for the nine deaths of those blacks in south carolina. all of his supporters are white supremacists, nazis. an agenda tohave kill every black person. host: why do you think every cup supporter is a nazi? caller: they talk about liberalism. they are white nationalists. they are skinheads.

they are out to get us. we have to protect ourselves as black people. he won't be erected on my blackbaud. christina in west monroe, louisiana. what issues should recover more here on c-span? i believe the ,nvironment and global warming we have a democratic governor in this state. it would be interesting if you would teach more about him. to runbraham is trying against him. host: for people who don't know much, what should they know? caller: edwards is pro-life. he and his wife have a

compelling story about why they chose to have their daughter. she has spina bifida. it's a very moving story. he is pro-life. things with medicaid to help more people get health care. the republicans hate him. he is popular. his wife is a good figure. i think it's going to be interesting. you never hear him mentioned. host: we had our capitals tour. the bus visited all 50 capitals in the states and tried to talk with leaders in the states about the issues. what state issues would you like to see more of on this network? what is something in louisiana we can talk more about?

>> i grew up in wisconsin. i've lived here for 22 years. i've never seen so much private and public corruption. sheriffs, people working at the coastline, the justonment, how big oil is , they get whatever they want. that's a big story. denise is in las vegas. go ahead. caller: i would like to have you guys address the fact that interviewing the people who vote for donald trump, especially the women who have no self-respect and idolize a man who cheats on his wives and pays them off.

that is not something most women should be proud of. i don't understand how they could. look at all the trouble in this world going on. i believe he's creating it. they should take him down for the emoluments clause. i think he will go down for money laundering and tax evasion in new york. femalee've had plenty of trump supporters come in. do you feel like you learned from them when you hear that? caller: no. i don't think we learn a thing. if he is such a religious man, he breaks all the 10 commandments. every time his mouth opens, he lies. host: jane is next in new york. good morning. because iam calling

feel like it's important for you ons to educate the people making decisions and choices. something and run away, to really understand that you can't be blinded by words. you have to look at actions. i feel like proper education will help. host: do you mind me asking how old you are? caller: i'm afraid if i say my name i won't be respected. host: why not? caller: the older generation knows better. me mentioning my age will likely

do that. host: do you think the younger generation is going to be more involved than we saw in 2016? caller: yes. we are waiting to realize that to respect the freedom of choice and hold on to our morals. host: the older generation doesn't respect the younger generations? do you think the younger generation respects the older western mark caller: we do. but we are tired. of -- whend something is new, it's refreshing and it works better. new inhat is something the policy realm or somebody who is refreshing that is an example

of that? caller: it has to be someone with an opened mindset. someone that has morals. someone who is really cool. they understand things. host: is there anybody like that right now? caller: i am going to keep watching. i don't want to steer anyone in the wrong direction. host: we hope you do keep watching. thank you for the call from new york. you call-inle is once a month. you do have some viewers who colin once a month every month. one of those is robert on the line in arizona. you have watched this a lot. what would you like to see us cover more? i've been watching this

thing for 40 years. i saw the start. what we work toward his justice. , givehas not been justice me three minutes and i will show you a plan for justice. host: we don't have three minutes. caller: i've been watching. , 40 yearsain to you is a lot. i also pay my bills. the reason, the preamble of the constitution is never adhered to. it's all an account of

republicans getting to buy off the government. idea of't adhere to the what you might say is promoting the general welfare. the specific welfare of corporations. that's not fair, that's not just. black people are not treated justly. native people were not treated justly. europeans became americans. the people here in america, they are indians now. let's get back to eisenhower. he started shipping steel jobs overseas. -- during the sin

when they did away with the gold standard -- nixon, he did away with the gold standard. our standard of living was 18 times stronger. which one from 2019? 2019, whatmple from should we cover? caller: wide we have somewhat property? why do we have so much gunplay? why do we have so much police brutality? why do we have so much bought off government? is that justice? host: thank you for the call from arizona. john is from pennsylvania. what would you like to see us cover more? caller: i would like to see you

cover socialism more, how it's going to be paid for, how they are going to pay for free education and free health care for all of these illegals. explain how you to to pay for socialism. and to explain that the scanty of them -- scandinavian socialism isn't true socialism. to see you show people what it's about. host: did you watch the debate on the green new deal and the vote on the senate floor? caller: i didn't. host: we covered something that is available. ,f you go to our website 200,000 hours of programming is available in the c-span archives. up a special webpage

for our 40th anniversary this year. but the history of c-span. you can check out the 40th anniversary video. that's all available on our website. host: good morning. with an issue we should cover more? how c-spanon't know could be better than it is right now. i depend on it. i do have a suggestion for book tv, which i listen to every weekend. it made me feel more optimistic. the current administration has me down in the dumps. world, itstory of the has me feeling optimistic because i realize now what a

wonderful country we have as we compare the current state of 300 bc.to neededime a country something, they went next door and stole. takes a hard look at religion. its evolution. thatthe earliest accounts they were able to access. i am at about the 12th-century right now. what a wonderful country we have. it is so much better than what i'm reading about. host: you say you watch book tv every weekend? thanks for tuning in. joseph is in ohio. go ahead. caller: good morning.

congratulations on 40 years. mostly have a minor suggestion. show, it is 7:00 on the east coast. most people are on their way to work. they are busy. they don't have time for c-span. the west coast, it is 4:00 a.m. it's a great show, i'm not getting up at 4:00 to watch. maybe you should have an evening edition? maybe a single topic? that might not be so skewed as the morning crowd is, mostly retirees. today, i had the day off work. it's unusual i had time to watch. it could be on one of your other

networks. it gives the opportunity for people who can't watch the show have a chance to call-in and participate also. host: we used to have an evening edition. it became difficult with congress in session. we never know when they're going to go out of session. often, this is a time that they come in the morning. it's usually 10:00. our commitment is to cover gavel to gavel. a good place to go for wrapups of what happening on the day, our podcast on c-span. steve is one of the hosts. he does a wrap up. that would be a great place to point you to. at can watch any time online

www.c-span.org. thank you so much for the call. we appreciate it. that's going to do it for this segment. we returned to the conversation about campaign 2020. fred barnes joins us from we will be right back. ♪ announcer: it's hard to believe that it's been 40 years since the creation of c-span. i just want to take a couple of seconds here to thank a lot of people for how we got here 40 years later for start with the viewers. who grabbed on to this concept from the very beginning and popularized it over the last 40 years by spending time watching their government make laws,

discuss issues, and, frankly, give us an opportunity i doubt how interested americans are in sitting affairs. we need to thank the congress because four years ago the congress opened up house of representatives to television for the first time in history and because of that, we were able to put together over the years a concept called c-span. third and probably most important, because we would not be here without it, the name of the cable television business. creatings who were cable television systems back in the years when we started were saying it's time to do something other than movies and sports and that's how c-span was created. there is no federal money in this network or these networks that we have. there never will be. the idea is that private

industry was creating a public affairs network for the people that are subscribers to their systems. stoppede individuals long enough in their busy schedules to say let's try something unique and different and something that doesn't make money for us, but just provides a service to our viewers, and people around the world now that want to see the american government operate. so, thanks to our viewers, the united states congress, and to our cable television industry executives who made this one of the more unique places in television after four years of service. -- 40 years of service. host: we continue our discussion about campaign 2020 with fred barnes. this time back in our desk, congratulations on your new role by the way.

another week, another expansion of the democratic primary field. we saw beto o'rourke, we saw joe biden move a little bit closer. who should donald trump the worried about in 2020? guest: i don't think it's joe biden but i do think be is more excitingto and maybe he will be able to develop and do something. he can certainly raise money, very impressive, his first 24 hours he raised over $6 million, that's remarkable. and i've even heard some republicans from texas who saw and almost beating ted cruz and the senate race worrying about him and thinking attractive,ic and somebody the democrats might hold onto other than the 76 or 77-year-old man. host: why the low opinion of joe biden? man, and a very nice

he has run twice very unsuccessfully, back in 2008 he got 1% of the vote or something like that and dropped out. look, he has been vice president. an awful lot of people like him, but i just don't think he fits the mold of the democrats want to fit somebody into in 2020. host: one kamala harris? is their karma for kamala? her,: i was very kind to just because i thought you had gotten off to a great start in her campaign in the first couple of weeks. i don't think she has done quite as well since then. but we will see. she's got to do well enough in iowa and new hampshire and then really score big in california. it's still possible, but she

really hasn't soared. host: you talk about the obama model that could hover over her campaign. what is that? obama, you know, they are both african-americans. and you have to get that vote, but you have to go beyond it. i think in obama's case, obama scored early with iowa. it was just remarkable after that. repeathard model to because obama was such an extraordinary candidate and had such a great campaign. she doesn't have that yet. role as senior columnist of the washington examiner started earlier this week. here with us this morning to take your calls and questions as we talk about campaign 2020.

(202) 748-8000 if you are a democrat. (202) 748-8001 if you are a republican. guest: what i wanted to mention and kamala harris is an example, one of the things that's exciting is so many new candidates. usually i've met all the candidates. make thisis going to an interesting race which will really begin in june with the first official democratic debate. that fieldu look at if you are trump looking at that field, how does one strategize what he should be doing with a field that large? told he thinks that elizabeth warren was going to be the nominee and he would like to run against her. maybe that's why he hopes she's going to be the nominee. he made fun of for and all these things. she's probably not going to be the nominee and he ought to start thinking about other people. host: is he worried about bernie

sanders? guest: i don't think so. i think he believes he can beat bernie sanders. of ars is too much socialist, too far to the left. the debateat republicans want to have? socialism? guest: absolutely, that is going to be there big issue. we've got a long ways to go. other things can happen and probably will. but that's what they want to run against. and: taking your calls questions, phone line for democrats, republicans and independents as usual. stephen is up first, democrat. caller: good morning, happy birthday, c-span. host: appreciate that. caller: i've got a gentleman here, he's a mayor. indiana. man is intelligent, he's not committed yet, he's still

doing the exploratory thing. i think money might be an issue for him. but when you listen to him, this man has brilliant ideas. he's middle of the road. he's somebody trump should worry about. there you go. guest: he sounds like he's got a great career ahead of him. i really did not know anything about him until three or four months ago in the washington post. there was a long piece about him and i read it and found it to be very interesting and i've heard people say good things about him. i don't think he could be the nominee, but you can get your name around, you can run for senate, obviously he's going to run for president. he can really make a name for himself and if he does that, he's going to have a great career ahead of him. host: he's probably going to need to help people learn to say

and remember his name. guest: i will have to remember your pronunciation because i did not have one. host: hot springs national park, arkansas, democrat. caller: yeah, i just wanted to like aething and i would fair and open answer from people about trump. i've noticed every time he makes a speech, he will hold his right hand up and make a circle with and hold forefinger his other fingers up. i did not know what that meant until i saw this guy in new zealand in front of a judge make the same signs that trump makes. they said it's a white supremacist sign. i'm not saying he's a white supremacist but i would like an open answer, what do you think, is there anything to that? guest: i can give you an open answer, i don't know.

i don't know about the sign. and that trump would be doing the same one as a killer in new zealand, i don't have an answer for you. host: these charges of white nationalism against the president came up again on the sunday show with mick mulvaney going on foxnews. here's the exchange that he had. >> the president is not a white supremacist. i'm not sure how many times we have to say that. you simply ask the question every time something like this happens overseas or even domestically they say it must somehow be the president's fault, it speaks to the position of everything i think is undermining the institutions that we have in the country today. let's take what happened in new zealand for what it is. tragic act andl, figure out why those things are becoming more prevalent in the world. is it donald trump? absolutely not.

there's something else happening in our culture where people think today, i'm going to go on tv and livestream me murdering other people. may, all i'm saying is the president speaks out about a lot of things that he's not responsible for any does not feel that there's any link. terrorism, why not make a speech and make it clear that there is no place in america for this kind of hatred? >> i think you saw that yesterday. i'm not sure what more you want a president to do. you may say you want to give him a national speech, maybe we do that, maybe we don't. you get down to the basic issues, the president is doing everything that he can to prevent this type of thing from happening here. the president is doing everything he can to make it clear this has to stop. the work that we do to prevent this happening is a very central part of defending the nation. thata tragedy and i get and we are in a hyper partisan

time in the country and i get that, but that does not mean we need to marry these events. asked, dohat question you think trump should make that kind of speech, would that be helpful? guest: i think that would be a good idea. do you think he will? guest: it did not sound like it from his chief of staff. he sounded, mick mulvaney, anyway, sounded like the president thinks a tweet which he has already done is enough. i think a speech would be very helpful. to what thes back president said after the events in charlottesville. have both been to the university of virginia and we know about charlotte's will and that event were the president said there were good people on both sides. one of the sides with the white nationalists side. that was a huge mistake, he has never overcome that remark. it has dogged him since then.

host: texas, independent, good morning. caller: good morning, nice to meet you. i have a question going back to when we talked about joe biden. and i'ma young voter from texas so obviously i'm kind of partial to beto o'rourke, but i feel like they don't talk often about who would be a better running candidate against trump when he runs for reelection. more --anted to share to hear more from mr. barnes about why that's not a good option, i guess? host: what are two reasons why you think he would be awful? caller: who? host: joe biden. it's too just think liberal? and i feel joe is more centered, but that's just my opinion. host: thanks for the call. caller: guest: you probably saw

this quote from biden the other day saying he's the most progressive candidate of all. he wasn't calling himself a candidate. host: that was the moment that he almost dropped that he was running. guest: we assume he is running, and more power to them. joe biden is a lovely man. whenever i would run into him when he was a senator, he was always just wonderful to talk to, other senators like him. he's a lovely guy. he's not an exciting candidate and you need to be able to andrate some excitement have a real following. reagan peopleere and someone? candidates have huge followings often and i don't think he has one. i think that's sort of necessary. host: today's washington post, writing and sanders are too

old. do you think they are too old? guest: i do. biden is 76 and sanders is 77. they are too old. andgetting around that age i think you don't have the same energy among other things. -- it don't think they think democrats want somebody different this year. 2008 withebody in barack obama. when they went back to somebody, hillary clinton in 2016, old hat, it didn't work. host: what do you think this idea of a pledge to serve one term? guest: terrible idea. host: why? guest: why restrict him? why say that? i don't think you gain anything and it's particularly designed to say you can vote for me now because i'm only going to serve one term and i will be 80 my

fourth year and i won't stay around anymore. i don't think that it's any votes. host: diane is next from maryland, democrat. by whati'm alarmed appears to be a media blackout on joe biden's career. he was chair of the senate judiciary committee. is responsible for putting clarence thomas on the supreme court, despite evidence that when thomas had the equal employment opportunity commission, he led more than 13,000 age discrimination cases. the man had a track record of incompetence and biden trashed anita hill and also elizabeth warren was very critical of the legislation that biden passed congress because it puts

corporate interests above those of the consumers. there are so many reasons why biden is a terrible candidate and nobody talks about that and i am a strong supporter of bernie sanders. host: barnes? guest: i remembered the hearing with clarence thomas nominated for the supreme court and joe biden was chairman of the senate judiciary committee. but i remember a bit differently. i don't remember biden being really mean and rough with what turning, who accused -- host: anita hill? being whatsed of would you call it, he did not lay a hand on her, but she said he had been nasty and abusive in a sexual way and so on. remember, democrats

tending to take her to testimony very seriously and liked it. and we are glad to have her there. you know, thomas, i don't remember this thing about these cases that were supposedly, he did nothing age discrimination ,hen he was head of the eeoc that he did not do anything on. the truth is thomas now has after allredibly these years, and incredibly influential supreme court justice on a lot of issues that we know now. he actually intervened with trump in the case of naomi row who had been nominated, was working in the trump white house and had been nominated for brett kavanaugh's seat on the district of columbia u.s. court of appeals. and she won.

one issue that did not come up, was the fact that when we started the weekly 1995, sheagazine in was my first intern. she had just graduated from yale, had not been to law school. left asr a year, she interns frequently do and went to law school and became a really spectacular lawyer, which catapulted her to the u.s. court of appeals. host: you talked about the weekly standard, what was the reason for its demise? guest: there were a number of reasons, i think, and there's some disagreement among us at the weekly standard. i thought there was too much criticism of trump for a

whosevative magazine clientele, whose subscribers were mainly conservative. so some of the circulation declined and so on. hand, phill andrews had another magazine that he was more interested in promoting. and that is the washington examiner where i am now working. , it has takeno over the weekly standard subscribers who still had time that they paid for. it's doing pretty well and i'm glad to be there. host: you talked about the criticism of trump in that magazine. trump bringing the criticism right back to the weekly standard, a tweet from the president back in mid-december when it was announced that the weekly standard was folding, he called it pathetic and dishonest and run by a failed prognosticator who never had a

clue about business. how did you feel about that? i thought it was highly inappropriate and unnecessary. what does trump get out of that? was no longer the editor, he did not have the influence. you know, it is comments like that that i think trump needs to stop doing because they don't help him. and i'mhink they do sure you've heard this so many times, this is who he is, he's not going to change, he can't change, it's impossible for him. of course he could change, he just doesn't want to. host: what would make him want to? time he would be cleaning up his act, and let me say, i think as president, he's

been very successful. as a man, that something quite different. what would make him stop doing it? he stopped after the hollywood thing came out in the last few weeks of the campaign. he cleaned up his act completely in the last the weeks of the campaign. reading from prepared texts and so on, did not make a lot of comments that might have hurt him. he needs to do that again. host: about 10 minutes left if you want to join the discussion. phone line for democrats, republicans, and independent. jenny is a republican from north carolina, go ahead. caller: i have a couple of things that i wanted to say. they had brought up the charlottesville, and i'm pretty meant to there's good people on both sides, maybe democrat and republican, whatever. i hate that people jump to that because that's all they have

against trump. hasknow, everybody something that maybe they said it wrong, but did not mean it wrong. that's true, that can happen. but he said it in a way that made it sound like he was accepting of these white supremacists and they were good people. a mistake, that was whether he meant something different or not. i don't know, but he said what he said and it has haunted him. host: michigan, independent, go ahead. caller: yeah, happy anniversary to you, c-span. i just have got to think, as we pulled up to the election cycle, we should start really

considering going back to john kerry. he was my man. a lot of knowledge and as he lost the election, we put him out as secretary of state for us. people draw ast lot of international attention, a lot of familiarity, and they are familiar with our reputation and our believes and someone in the united states. with that said, i really pay attention a lot to the running mate is. john kerry, i forgive him. mate who say his running a the time -- i pay attention lot to that, i am sure it's not just a yes person behind the scenes as a vice president as a

running mate. i pay attention to that. and also, the international community, i would like to see more ratings on what the international community may have something to say about the final. guest: certainly had a lot to say about donald trump the washington post in particular has done stories about how much they frown and disagree and fear trump. particularly, the leaders in europe, not the traditional allies of the united states, they have trouble accepting that trump is different and he has a anderent view of the world how the united states fits in and it certainly clashes with what they found and liked in presidents over the years. and trump is not changing.

and they are just going to continue not to like him. think, as someone like biden who obviously knows leaders all around the world and he can talk about that in the campaign and so on, i don't think that would help him. i just don't think that's what people are really looking for. particular, inn 2020, i mean, we are moving into a different time. ad i think they want somebody generation or two younger. host: what are the best qualities to have if you are that running mate? i think what you need to have is great discipline, and you need to have that as vice president because you want to be able to give the president the best advice you can possibly

give him on any number of issues not let the press find out what you are actually saying. if that happens, the worst thing that could happen to you as vice president, and even as the vice presidential candidate, is if you have some thoughts that would endanger your relationship with the president, you have to keep the post from coming out. the press would love to have those things. i think he was, which made him a pretty good vice president and he is. some presidents are good but not wonderful man, he's a wonderful man and i think he was a fine vice president. being elevated to the presidency at age 76 is going to be hard. host: california, melanie, a

democrat. caller: good morning. i have a question for this gentleman. thatwhite racism thing trump is pulling, this nationalism, it's very apparent that is what he's doing. he's surrounding himself with dictators and my worry about this election is the whole addressing the socialism of bernie sanders. we have two guys that are supposedly front runners, when joe biden puts his feet in his mouth and cries on tv and the other guy is a socialist. i think the democratic party is in trouble because they are wrapping their arms around people who aren't really representing us. they are not going to be able to stand up for us. does that make sense? host: who do you support? caller: kamala harris. i'm not sure exactly what the question is, but if you believe that someone who's a

devout socialist would be a hard candidate, it would be difficult to win in the general election, i think you are right. republicans certainly would want to run against that. if that's bernie sanders, he's got the age question as well. he certainly has a dedicated following. i think we are going to discover that it's a little smaller than it was four years ago. let's wait. you have to have a little patience. this race is not going to begin to define itself until we have this first debate among how many candidates, 16, 17? and we will see. remember that these debates are important. in the first republican debate for years ago, -- three and a half years ago, who emerged as the strongest candidate? donald trump.

unexpectedly, i certainly did not expect it. inbe somebody will emerge that debate in june, and it will be sanders and biden will be able to benefit just from the name recognition. host: in terms of how democrats what you to me about write about in the wall street journal and the downside of antitrust rage? guest: they have overdone it, the so-called resistance with a capital r. it has been a mistake. achieving them from some things particularly in the tax bill they could have gotten, but if they compromise with republicans instead of just opposing them. they are just having hearing after hearing, it's hard to imagine trump as someone who is being picked on but democrats

act like that's what they are going to do, and that won't help them. host: time for just a couple more calls. republican, good morning. caller: good morning. here are my questions. bidenve twice called joe a lovely man, so you know him. you said he knows leaders around the world, so you know all about him. two eventsyou about in his life and asked if you have ever written about these in your previous magazine, weekly standard. joe biden flew on an official united states troop while vice president to china and arranged fundchina a $1 billion business with his son and a partner with a chinese national bank. did you write about that privilege that joe biden took? biden's wife and child were killed in a car crash, his wife was at fault anyone for 20 years telling people that the man driving the

truck was drunk. you ever write about either of those joe biden infamies? guest: i didn't, and i have written over the years very little about joe biden at all. i'm trying to think of any story in particular in which i did write about him. others wrote about him. wrote --whether i ever i'm not sure whether i ever wrote a single piece. in any event, certainly not either of the things that you mentioned, i did not write about that. host: that all important primary state of new hampshire, tyler is waiting period. caller: i want to talk about elizabeth warren. i think she's been lining up for it'ssidential candidate --

--t looking like [indiscernible] host: you are a little blurry there. let's just talk more about elizabeth warren. know, to be a candidate, here's what i think is her biggest problem. has what many people would call, and i would agree with, lived a life for a lot of years, and that's the question of being a native american, which it's clear that she was not. she took that dna test and yet she was writing that on documents and so on. i think that's something that's going to be very hard to overcome. that she'so the fact someone is pretty far to the left. trumphe whole thing that has made it a deal out of, calling her pocahontas and so on, which is pretty nasty, but

it's there, it's not going to go away, that question. host: one last call, bethlehem, pennsylvania. caller: good morning. mr. barnes, do you think it is important that we see the president's tax returns, and when do you think the nation will see them? guest: i think probably never. i think it would be interesting but i don't know that it is all that important. it's certainly important to democrats and they are going to try and legally i know trump is and people areit going to think he's hiding something. well, maybe he is. now: you can see his work at washingtonexaminer.com, always appreciate the time. guest: i enjoyed it. host: up next and for our next

25 minutes, a question for you on this 40th anniversary of he spent. what you watch on c-span and why? phone lines open regionally. you can start calling in now, we will be right back. announcer: it's hard to believe it has been 40 years since the creation of c-span. i just want to take a couple of seconds to thank a lot of people for how we got here 40 years later. whot with the viewers grabbed onto this concept from the very beginning and popularized it over the last four years by spending time watching their government make laws, discuss issues, and frankly, give us an opportunity to find out how interested americans are in sitting affairs. congress, 40nking

years ago congress opened up for the first time in history and because of that we were able to put together an evolving concept called c-span. third and probably most important because it would not be here without private industry , in the name of the cable television business. executives who are creating cable television systems back in the years when we started were saying it's time to do something other than movies and sports. and that's how c-span was created, there's no federal money in this network or these networks that we have, there never will be. the idea is a private industry was creating a public affairs network where people that are subscribers to their systems. , took timendividuals from their busy schedules to say let's try something unique and

different and something that does not make money for us, but does provide a service to our viewers. and people around the world that want to see the american government operate. , thehanks to our viewers united states congress, and to our cable television industry executives who made this one of the more unique places in television after 40 years of service. washington journal continues. the point of our last 25 minutes this morning is to learn from you. we are asking you what you watch on c-span and why. let us know your viewing habits on this network on this 40th on marchry of c-span 19, 1979 was our first broadcast. you can learn all about our special c-span 40 years page on our website at www.c-span.org

/40years if you want to check out some of the milestones. please do visit that website on this 40th anniversary. we want to hear from you for the next 20 minutes or so before we end our program at 10:00. the phone lines are split up regionally. (202) 748-8000 in the eastern or central time zones. if you are in the mountains for pacific time zones. missouri, what you watch on c-span and why? independent, i have been so since 1974, register that way. more ofuld like to see the investigations on trump and his businesses and i believe that the mullah report is going to bring a whole lot to light about that. host: tom, have you been

watching the committee hearings that have been held already by democrats in the 160th congress? do you find that helpful? caller: very few. i keep it on c-span all day long. just as background so i can listen to it. i'm not impressed with most of the questions in those hearings. i don't think they are inside of, -- they are insightful, they are not delving into the actual trail of money and i'm very disappointed, i'm hoping mueller will correct that and bring some things to light. from they is calling bronx, what do you watch on the network and why? caller: i watch your program every chance i get. i think it's really a disgrace, i was watching c-span a couple days ago, but anyway, i think it's a disgrace how the people

run these colleges are really bad for people of color, especially people of color but any color is bad when you pay $66,000 in debt. when you get out of college, i wonder how the hell you pay that, i wonder how the hell, what kind of job are you going to get that you can pay almost $10,000, $50,000 in debt? it's really a disgrace. host: have you had a chance to watch some of the debate on the cost of college and those issues? certainly something that is, in recent years on the floor in the committee hearings as well. caller: yes, but i wish you would talk about that more. i really do. it is really sad when these young people get out of college, they are stressed out with debt. that should really be something to talk about. it's sad.

you have parents who try to send their kids -- but when they come out of college, they have debt. thank you. appreciate the call, always looking for suggestions for future topics on the program. we have talked about college debt before and there's certainly plenty more to talk about, so thank for that. larry is in california, good morning. caller: good morning. happy anniversary and thank you for your service. i served 30 years for this country. i startedired, watching c-span, i was working for the government so i wanted to see what was going on behind the scenes and i saw c-span, my cable company had all three of them. you guys are still good. i heard some guy today talk and it wasening

tough to get up early but it was part of my exercise so it kind of work together. but an evening for us people on the west coast and as far as conversations, you guys do a good job. sunday's you wake up early and you are not interested in that, but you still listen and some days you want to call, that's why you've got to hope that you don't waste your call on something, but i really wanted to say happy anniversary and thank you for your service. host: farber is next in new york. good morning. years, i'vemany religiously watched washington journal every morning. at since you no longer have democrat and a republican on simultaneously, the program has become less interesting because they just sit there and lie and there's nobody to put a chip on them. i still watch book tv on the weekends, i love that and i love q&a, i watch that most sundays.

and i watched the senate almost every day. that's what i watch on c-span. and happy anniversary. host: we appreciate that, we try as much as we can to get a result congress to come on together. certainly we will keep trying because that's something we have heard before from our viewers. hagerstown maryland, good morning. caller: good morning. i listen to c-span every day that i can. whohad a guy on before really needs correcting about charlottesville. so many people can go back and listen to what donald trump said. he did not say any about good people or white supremacists. he was talking about all the tople who were protesting take the statue down.

donald trump is still buying that live, that donald trump said anything bad or said anything good about the white supremacy bunch. i hear all the time on your program, if somebody were to go back and see that donald trump just said there was good people among the protesters, not the white supremacist group. host: you can go back and see what the president said in that press conference and others on the c-span website, our archives, some 200,000 hours of programming in the c-span archives at c-span.org you can see the website specifically set up for our 40th anniversary. among the things you can find, some of the milestones in c-span history. 1979, the first

day that the members of the house allowed television cameras to film the floor debates. our first colin took place from the nash -- our first calle in from south dakota, 1986 that c-span 2 began televising live proceedings of the senate. c-span 3 came along several years later and you can see all of the history of c-span on our website. catherine is next trump maryland, good morning. caller: good morning and happy anniversary. i appreciate that because i think it's very educational. , i like listening to the senate, i like the programs when you see the supreme court. but the one thing that i would

like, i would like to understand donald trump, the president, is becoming more accessible. when thiske to know barnes who was on earlier theioned the fact that leaders in europe do not like donald trump. mr. barnes seems to feel that he should be accepted just because he is a little bit different. now, i personally do not find donald trump acceptable, and i am very curious to hear more about why we are finding him more acceptable, i want to understand why my views are so different from the people who

vote for him and find them acceptable. is it helpful to learn from those supporters who call in, when you hear them talk about why they find them acceptable, why they voted for him, why they support him? guest: well, caller: i don't think that makes them acceptable. know, i am to assuming that republicans in congress are going along with his wishes because of his supporters. they are revolted by mr. trump the way i am, but they are just ofng along with him because the support that he has. host: larry is up next in

irvine, california. what are you watching and why do you watch it on c-span? ladyr: yes, i heard the who asked for more debates between republicans and him a kratz, and you said that you can't get enough senators were congresspeople to debate on c-span, which would be nice, i would love to watch that over and over. when they are on a specific caucus together where they are pushing for a specific issue, whether it's a certain health issue or something like that, that's the time we usually can get them to come on together. but like i said to the caller before, we certainly would like to have that debate right here so you can actually hear it on altered yourself. i know what you say but i

also have an answer, a suggestion. you cannot get a debate, speak about the issues. debate teams to have been the fact that donald trump said that there are good people on both sides, meaning that there are good people on the white supremacist side. i don't really believe that. a black gentleman, a musician called darrell davis who called kkk members many times and became friends with them by speaking to them like a human being. they argued in the beginning and then they became friends. you can find mr. darrell davis, a musician, i don't know where he is from, he could speak about white supremacism from the middle-of-the-road, not from the sides. host: this is dwight in fairfax

virginia. what do you watch on c-span? c-span,i watch a lot on washington journal for sure. by watch the white house briefings, i watch a lot of the committee hearings as well as attending some of them from time to time. but i also have a suggestion that i want to quickly make c-span that is that could do a big service to all of us by having some of the presidential candidates on the left and right, and have a and haven media panel the candidates come on and face the panel. that would help us get some information about these candidates and see it rather

than having it on some of the other channels. but i thought that c-span could help us out a lot by helping us to learn more about each candidate. host: you are talking more about an individual town hall event versus a debate set up. this,: no, i hate to say but the old meet the press having members of the press ask questions of the candidates. kind of like a debate, but i don't want a debate concept. i just would like to hear the candidates be questioned, have questions asked by the media so that would help us to learn more about these candidates. if you don't mind me asking, why would you want to hear from the media versus the viewer: which is something we focus on?

do you think that would be helpful as well or do you find that less helpful? caller: i find that less helpful because i don't think -- it will be kind of a soft answer. i would like to have it more so that there could be follow-up questions from the media, from the press to that candidate. so if the candidate says something, when we ask that question of a candidate or a guest, there's no follow-up. i would like to have that follow-up session, the follow-up question to that candidate so that we hear the truth, we get to the truth. a use of the press as well. host: appreciate the call. this is mark in seattle, washington. what the watch on c-span and why? i thank you for c-span 40 years and your work on it.

bit andbook tv quite a what truly amazing as you can get two or three hours of listening and viewing and also the fact that you take comments and questions from america. that's very unique and it makes c-span very special. host: what format do you like the best on book tv? well, i like the book fares quite a bit, that is extremely wonderful and i have to say that your c-span 1 is the one that has been the pioneer. by covering the lewis and clark expedition, that was award-winning journalism. and you guys are on the brink of that lots of times, but don't fall into mediocrity now when we need you. the main problem is that you

have shifted too much to the center and to the right. make sure you know the difference between left and right. that,ivers have to know and that requires history studying, what the left actually was, what the right became. you are doing a great job, keep it up. 41 years now. that, iappreciate promise you goal is to continue to be your unfiltered source where we let you decide. up next in arkansas, go ahead. happy anniversary. what i like best is washington journal, but the live coverage of live events that c-span , most recently both the funerals for president bush and this is bush and percent of mccain and any other live coverages for instance for the

states of the union, they are so good because you don't have to listen to the network talking heads and they give full coverage without any bias at all. but the other thing i had was a question for you. how old were you when c-span was born? host: i was not born yet when c-span was born. jessica is in florida this morning, go ahead. i just wanted to say i really like watching washington journal, probably the only thing i watch on c-span. it,: what do you like about what is the format that works best for you, is there something we can improve on? aller: i just really love the crazy phone calls you guys get in the morning and how well you are able to eat a straight face. it's really entertaining to me. host: do you feel like you learn from callers? caller: i guess you could say i

do, some of them. i don't know. listening to the crazy people calling, i find that entertaining. host: what kind of work do you do? i'm a stay-at-home mom. host: what issues are important to you? um, well, i guess probably just getting a lot of these politicians out of office because they are all a bunch of and taxation is theft and 911 was an inside job and i think that needs to be looked into more and hillary needs to be arrested and all of that stuff. ist: this isann -- this anne in california, good morning. caller: i love the washington journal, i love to call in for the point of view. andally enjoy the callers

in future shows, i hope you will consider doing credit cards. people don't realize that credit -- in delaware, and that is joe biden's state. they are only illegal in delaware, thank you. host: you could explain that more, rates are illegal? caller: my understanding, my attorney told me that credit card rates are illegal in every state but delaware. any credit card company, will see in operates out of delaware, and that is joe biden's state and that's interesting to me. host: we appreciate the suggestion on topic. good morning. caller: every morning i wake up, i'm home and i wake up to find out what the callers are saying.

some of them don't have the knowledge for the understanding they juste topic is, maybeased information, you love a president, a president who lies. i think the c-span community for sharing their views because you can to hear the people who label themselves. thank you. host: one last call this morning in south point, ohio. caller: good morning. i do watch c-span, love washington journal. i just had a comment, it's very

important that as a nation, we start realizing that this isn't just a congressional problem about the leaders that are running in this country, but it's about the people who are having these same opinions and outlooks, that people like trump had. this is a deeper problem. we have a small minority of people in this country that are out to divide and to fill this country with hate, they are trying to destroy us and we need to come together. the people who believe in freedom and tolerance, we've got to come together and we are going to have to overcome these on dividingre bent this nation and keeping these hateful things in the forefront. host: was one way to bring people together? caller: i think that the best

way is by organization. we need to be in contact with one another, we need to set up a community group and we need to be more interactive with each other. we need to act in one voice and try to be louder than these hate withs that are dominating this president in office. host: our last caller in today's washington journal, but the conversation continues tomorrow as it always does at 7 a.m. eastern, 4:00 a.m. pacific. in the meantime, have a great tuesday. ♪ ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] ♪

>> president trump today will hold a joint news conference today scheduled for 1:45 eastern. life here on c-span. today, outgoing food and drug commissioner discusses his tenure at the agency starting at 2:30 eastern on our companion network, c-span2. >> it is hard to believe it has since the creation of c-span. i want to take a couple of seconds here to thank a lot of people for how we got here 40 years later. whot with the viewers grabbed onto this concept from the very beginning and popularized it over the last 40 years by spending time watching

,he government make laws discuss issues, and frankly give us an opportunity to find out how interested americans are in civic affairs. secondly, we need to thank congress. we were able to put together over the years and evolving concept called c-span. third and probably most important, because it would not be here without private industry and executives creating television systems back in the years we started, we are saying it is time to do something other than movies and sports. and that is how c-span was created. inre is no federal money this network or the networks we ha