educational fund and later alabama representative mo brooks joins us to talk about recent tensions between the u.s. and the -- the u.s. and iran. [video clip] >> i stand before you to officially launch my campaign for a second term as president of the united states. ♪ host: president trump kicked off his 2020 reelection campaign in orlando, florida, where he spoke about his impact on the economy, immigration, health care, and went after democrats. in this first hour, we want to hear from republicans only about the president's desire for a second term. here is how you can call. republicans only and we have divided the lines differently. if you voted for the president in 2016, 202-748-8000. if you did not vote for the .resident in 2016, 202-748-8001

and if you did not vote at all in 2016, 202-748-8002. if you want to send something on our social media feed, you can do so on twitter at @cspanwj and our facebook page available to you at facebook.com/cspan. some of the pictures in the headlines stemming from that rally in orlando, the washington times saying when it comes to the president's speech, he declaring it a "defining moment." one of the themes emerging, keep america great. the new york times provides a picture from last night and the subhead saying a familiar list of grievances. if you go to the washington post again, one of those pictures and the headline for this when it comes to last night's familiar themes in campaign launch. one of those themes was the

economy. here is the president from last night talking about his impact. [video clip] a together we stared down corrupt and broken political establishment and restored government of, by, and for the people. country is now thriving, prospering, and booming and, frankly, it is soaring to incredible new heights. our economy is the envy of the world, perhaps the greatest economy we have had in the .istory of our country as long as you keep this team in place, we have a tremendous way to go. our future has never, ever

looked brighter or sharper. the fact is the american dream is back. it is bigger and better and stronger than ever before. host: that is the president from orlando. if you go to the orlando sentinel, there headline saying the president in orlando "we are going to keep winning, winning, winning." for this first hour we will focus on republicans talking about the president's desire for another term and what you think about it. if you wanted to call and you voted for the president in 2016, 202-748-8000 is the number to call. if you did not vote for the president, 202-748-8001. and if you did not vote at all, 202-748-8002. you can make comments on our twitter feed and our facebook page. that is @cspanwj and facebook.com/cspan. we will start off in rhode

island this morning. a republican viewer who did not vote for the president. this is jack. what do you think about the president asking for a second term? go ahead. caller: i am going to support him because when i first did not vote for him, i did not think he was a conservative. donald trump i have come to see is not a conservative, he is a populist nationalist, but he has conservative instincts. when my family came and they talk a lot about immigration, when they came in the 1880's from germany, here is the thing, they came with some skills, they were tool makers. and i am a retired engineer. the point i am making if we want to talk about immigration, the people coming in are very nice. i can tell because i am married to a colombian lady and their

family is fantastic. fantastic. to make a society or a nation stronger, you have to be able to do things. as far as the mass deportations, i disagree with that. i think people who have been here who are making contributions and working hard and part of society, you cannot uproot them. criminal aliens and others, they have got to go. host: if i am hearing you correctly, it is issues on immigration that will get you the vote for the president in 2020. caller: not that. it is primarily i have never seen the economy this good read host: let's go to linda. good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to say yes, i voted for him in 2016 after being a democrat for 48 years. i changed course and i would not

vote a dogcatcher as a democrat because i don't agree with what they are wanting to do with our country. host: what is it about president trump that caused you to change in 2016 and what keeps you voting for him in 2020? caller: when i hear him give his speeches, he is genuine, sincere, and saying everything i am thinking. to me, his words are just saying to me that he hears us and he is reminding us that he is reminding as how it is and he is letting us know that he will still continue to champion our cause. .ost: that is linda in florida republicans only for this first hour. we will open this up in our 9:00 hour, but we start with republicans only.

if you voted for the president in 2016, it is 202-748-8000. if you did not vote for the president in 2016, it is 202-748-8001. if you did not vote at all, 202-748-8002. richard calls from north carolina, did not vote for the president in 2016. richard, go ahead. caller: i wonder if you can tell me how is it that we have thousands of people waiting to get into that auditorium, stayed all night and we have this one african-american, the same guy every time right behind president trump on his right hand side? can you tell me, is this a hoax or a sham? host: i don't know the answer to that. as far as the president's reelection campaign, what do you think of that? caller: i want to know. i think it is a sham, number one.

number two, washington journal should look into that because -- host: you have major point. you called the president's reelection campaign a sham. if that is the case, why? caller: you know it is a sham because it is basically all about racism. from the beginning where there is no collusion to everything going on, it is about racism and you know it. int: let's hear from alfredo triangle, virginia, did not vote for the president in 2016. caller: i did not vote for him at first. i just saw trump as a celebrity at first. i was against hillary and trump. i was like, definitely not. after seeing what he has done the last four years, he is whatever he is. the way he talks, the things he says.

for me, he is a great president. he has been doing great things and i want to keep that going. he helped my fellow vets. i know how he is with hispanics. i am hispanic myself. even if he does not like hispanics, i believe he is still working for the best of the country. host: when you hear about efforts like you heard leading up to the rally like deportation efforts that will supposedly take place next week, even factoring that in, you would support him? alfredo, are you there? caller: hello? host: i missed the first part of your statement. caller: i came here legally to the united states and i believe everyone should. doing it illegally is not the way to do it. it will just hurt the country. int: that rally taking place orlando, florida.

in waukesha, wisconsin, a group of supporters talking about their efforts and they -- the milwaukee journey sentinel highlights the fact that activists gathered for mag meet ups. around 50 volunteers came to waukesha county, republican headquarters to listen to the president's speech and listen to the campaign. we are keeping america great. trump is the man, doing all the things he said he would do for america and our economy. the journal sentinel highlighting the fact that it was 2016 the president defeated hillary clinton in the state on the way to his white house. democrats are taking aim at the state, putting the 2020 national convention in milwaukee. justin up next from pennsylvania, voted for the president in 2016. caller: yes, sir.

i did vote for the president in 2016 and i plan to vote for him again. i think anybody who lives in my neck of the woods, central pennsylvania, can tell you the economy is booming. there are not enough people to fill the jobs out here. everywhere you look -- there are stories here about people lining up outside of jails to try and sign up people getting out of prison to get to work because they don't have enough people to fill these jobs and i think the president has done a tremendous job and i wish democrats would stop standing in his way and help secure the border and do what is necessary, doing the things they voted for in the past. host: do other supporters, maybe even yourself for support of the president since 2016, that has not waned at all? you have kept it consistent since you started? caller: he certainly did focus

on other things at first rather than the border wall, that has certainly been something he has tried to work with congress over the period of time he has been there. need 60 votes to get anything done in the senate. the fact republicans had a small majority right when he took office does not change the fact that you need 60 votes to get anything done and with democrats standing in his way, they can only do what 60 senators will agree on. host: do you get a sense pennsylvania will be a battleground state and what do you think about pennsylvania supporting the president? caller: we narrowly supported him last time crete i was surprised myself at that. how greatven the fact things have been going here, i cannot see why he would not win

again, especially given the fact that he is -- he supports everything that pennsylvanians want. he wants increased gas and coal exploration. those are great things for the people of pennsylvania as well as manufacturing jobs. manufacturing in the state is booming. next inmike is up illinois. it did not vote for the president in 2016. you are on. caller: the reason why is in fact, trump said yesterday -- he came right out and said it, that he is against any kind of immigration reform because those will become democratic voters. it is as blatant as can be, he came out and said it. how we are ever going to get immigration reform is beyond me because all republicans know if

it passes and you make the 20 million people here legal, they will vote for democrats and that will be the end of republicans as we know it and trump knows that and all the republicans know that. host: what did you think about the statement from the president and others about this mass deportation plan for next week? do you believe that will happen? caller: i believe it could are, like you say, millions of people who have not been contacted by immigration and they have been put on hold for years, 10, 15 years in limbo. there is a bunch of people he theirjust send ins to house and grab them. host: if you go to our website, the president's speech from last night in orlando, florida, is available for you to view. if you are interested in

democratic candidates, you can look at what they are saying in the lead up to 2020. the president spending part of his speech dealing on the topic of immigration. here he is. [video clip] shouldelieve our country be a sanctuary for law-abiding citizens, not for criminal aliens. always support and protect the heroes of i.c.e., border patrol, and law enforcement generally throughout our country. thank you. of morale ultimate act character, not one democrat candidate for president, not a single one, has stood up to defend the incredible men and women of i.c.e. and border patrol. the job they do is incredible. they don't have the character,

the virtue, the spine to do it. we have to thank them and we have to thank law-enforcement. what a job they do. law, time to pass cates end sanctuary cities, end catch and release, the port vicious gang members, which we are doing . stop human trafficking, stop illegal immigration, and establish a modern immigration system based on scale, contributions, and based on merit. we want people to come into our country based on merit. host: that is the president in orlando. if you go further south in miami, the miami herald writing an editorial piece saying democratic candidates will have to find themselves and their party because the president has in harsh, stark terms defined them for his base, radical, unhinged, and depraved.

the president game a shout out to republican senators in the audience. joe biden and bernie sanders could beat him in florida and the editors adding the polls were wrong in 2016. tim is next in florida, voted for the president in 2016. hello, go ahead. complaint i have is i am a trump supporter and i have been from the start even when he was considering. you have republican and democrat, one of those parties is out and out lying to the u.s., to the people. you have to figure out which one is lying and which one is telling the truth. i don't get how these democrats -- why does it have to be a and c. where is the middle-of-the-road

anymore? this country has gone from one extreme to the other and thank god for donald trump. host: do you think the president needs to change his strategy or themes leading up to 2020? caller: i like the fact he is always telling us what he has done. he is who he is. he likes to be outspoken, he says what is on his mind. i don't have a problem like that. i like the fact he is trying to clean up that swamp because there is a lot of republicans in that deep water, too. in my opinion, he does not need any of this. if he were to walk away defeated in 2020, i don't think it will bother him one way or the other. i think he is looking out for people like myself and those of us who want more of a conservative view in the united states. host: north carolina, this is terry who did not vote for the president in 2016. good morning. caller: good morning.

i wanted to make a comment. i did not vote for trump and i would not vote for trump. you had an earlier caller that how didn and he asked the black guy behind donald trump end up in the same spot he was last time. there has got to be something to that. host: i don't know the answer to that but if you are a republican who did not vote for the president in 2016 why and why we do not vote for him in 2020? caller: i would not vote for him . as a man does not have a moral compass. i want to tell you something else. . lot of people are hollering he is wrong, he is wrong. let me say this. the politicians are a bunch of crooks in my opinion, but i will

tell you something. a lot of problems is the american people. you have to many people who cannot separate fact from fiction. all it says to me is you cannot think for yourself. you listen to anything and everything donald trump says. host: when it comes to those polls taking a look at potential matchups the president might face in 2020, quinnipiac out with their latest findings as of june 11 saying if that contest took place with former president joe biden, esther biden would be ahead 53% to 43%. if it were against bernie sanders, that would be 52%. elizabeth warren from massachusetts would also beat .he president 49% to 42% the university of texas and the texas tribunal adds there paul l lookingt -- their pol

at matchups. 39% who participated said definitely. amongst republicans, 73% would vote for the president. 17% said they would probably vote for the president and 5% said they probably would not vote for him. if you break it down further when it comes to looking at it democratic politics, joe biden leading amongst the list of candidates as far as the choice to be winning the democratic primary. ahead of that, 23% and the next one, beto o'rourke at 15%. keith, good morning, from tennessee. voted for the president in 2016. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. i am going to vote for trump again and trump is going to win. the only problem he has right now is the fact the democrats will not pay attention to what

is going on in this country and give him a chance. if they would do 1/16 of what he wants to get done, we have it made. they are not going to let him accomplish anything. there is no way they will because they are jealous. they cannot understand the fact that he is doing good for this country. they don't want him to do good for this country. they want to keep everybody down so they can have a thumb on people. cohn fromed of tennessee. he should be ashamed of himself. they should never reelect that steve cohen again, he is an embarrassment. host: if you describe that resistance against the president, what convinces you he is going to win in 2020. caller: because we are fed up

with the resistance and he has a lock in tennessee. he is going to win and it will be an embarrassment for the democrats. all the stuff they pulled against this president. host: that is keith in savannah talking about 2020 the reelection campaign. we are asking republicans only to call and tell us their thoughts about the announcement yesterday by the president. 202-748-8000 if you voted for the president in 2016. 202-748-8001 if you did not vote for the president and 202-748-8002 if you did not vote . for the ones who did not vote for the president in 2016, 1 of those in fredericksburg, virginia, this is james. hello. caller: thanks for taking my call. i did not vote for trump, but if you look at what he has done, our nation is on its way to being where we need to go to pratt -- need to be to prosper. we are on a roll right now and

why would you stop it? what possible reason would you stop it? i believe the only region in my trying to drain the swamp. who is on the gravy train. thatdon't want to lose position. trump is going to knock them off of their boxes. i don't know what will happen. my only goal in life is what is good for our youth and what is good for our youth is for them to be able to gain access to good money so they can have a wonderful life. host: what kept you from voting for the president in 2016? caller: i needed to see what was going to happen. immediately our stock market soared from the 19,000 dow tilde dow00 -- to the 26,000

and we could see 27,000 or 30,000 in the dow. all your 401(k)s have shot read real estate, people that could get $48,000 for the homes will to $7,000o -- $6,000 for their homes. i needed proof. i have gotten proof now, it is just like driving a car. is theatthew editor-in-chief of the washington free beacon. a piece published in the new york times takes a look at what could work in the president's favor in 2020, the wave that could carry trump. only two of the nine elections -- haveeelection after lost. jimmy carter was plagued by setbacks. the united states is not engaged in a major war and the economic recovery that begin in -- began in 2009 continued with mr. trump

with unemployment at half-century lows. you can read more of that in the new york times this morning. dearborn heights, michigan, bruce voted for the president in 2016. go ahead. caller: thanks for having me on. i voted for him. it was a binary choice, i could not ever see voting for hillary. the two problems i have with trump now, i think he has done a is forob, but he fifth-generation internet and that will be a threat to our health, our privacy, and our literacy and i have a big problem with that. the second thing is i think because the congo, we are bringing in thousands of people from the congo and there is an

ebola epidemic and i don't think that is a good idea. on the whole, i have never seen such an energized president in my lifetime and i am 65. host: do you think he will get the same support from the base and could bring more people along as far as this reelection effort of his? caller: i think the democrats are shooting themselves in the foot. they don't want to solve the immigration crisis, they are pushing this lgbt agenda, which i don't have a problem with people's sexual orientation, but i think it is child abuse they are beginning to push this in our public schools. host: that is bruce talking about the president's speech last night, one people also giving -- one of the people also giving comment is bernie sanders . bernie sanders made thoughts of his own on facebook about last night's speech.

[video clip] >> trump talked about the booming economy. in truth, unemployment is low. he did not talk about the fact that half of the people in this country today are working paycheck to paycheck. they don't get paid next week, they lose their job next week, their kid gets sick, their car breaks down, there is a divorce in the family, they are in really bad shape because they don't have any cash in order to pay for the bills that are coming. trump did not talk about the half of america that has zero wealth at all. he did not talk about the incredible level of income and wealth inequality in america. trump did talk about his tax plan, but he forgot to tell you 83% of all of those tax benefits went to the top 1% over a 10

year period. under his tax plan, companies like amazon, owned by the wealthiest guy in america made almost $11 billion in profit and did not pay a nickel in federal income taxes. tax plan forgot to talk about that. host: a couple other people commenting on the president's speech. castro saying donald trump is kicking off his 2020 campaign the same as his 2016 campaign, fearing -- spewing racist lies about immigrants. trump launched his reelection campaign. it will take all of us working together to defeat him. mr. o'rourke using his twitter feed to make those comments. if you joined us in this first half hour for republicans only,

we will talk to you about the president's reelection efforts. 202-748-8000 if you are a republican who voted for the president in 2016. 202-748-8001 if you did not vote for the president. and 202-748-8002 if you did not vote. a couple other things taking place in the last hours in washington, d.c. one was the resignation from the nomination process of patrick shanahan, the acting defense secretary. he pulled out of the process because of concerns he had about previous family situations and how it would hurt his three children. the president nominating mark esper as acting secretary for defense. a highlight of him in the new york times. after graduating west point, he served in the army, army reserve, and national regard for -- national guard for more than two centuries. a series of jobs on capitol hill, he ended up at raytheon.

2017 confirmation hearing he said he spent an overwhelming majority of his time on the business end and several -- involved in raytheon contracts. piece of hardware used by the american military and allies including saudi arabia and south korea. both these gentlemen, the outgoing acting defense secretary and ingoing were on our newsmakers program that airs on sundays and they were asked questions by reporters on a variety of topics. if you are interested in learning more about their background and philosophy, we invite you to go to our c-span website. uper events will come featuring those men. this is michael in annapolis, did not vote for the president

in 2016. caller: my comment relates to foreign policy, which you touched on a minute ago. there were things last campaign i was skeptical about with trump. there were a few policy issues i was interested in because i thought they represented a change in the paradigm which both parties had been offering for a number years, maybe a couple decades. one of the big things was foreign policy. it seems republicans and democrats for 20 years have had a very aggressive foreign policy, what you could call a hawkish policy from george bush, obama, nothing much changed. in trump's campaign against other republicans, he stood out on that stage as being much more for more modest policy ambitions for having opposed or claiming he opposed the iraq war and that

was one of the few things i thought was interesting and refreshing about trump's original campaign. the thing which i wanted to propose to all the listeners today is trump, if anything happens militarily between us and i ran in the next year and a half for the election, i think that will be a disaster for the -- i think a lot of trump supporters, i was partial, skeptical, wanted to see what is happening tomorrow -- what is happening. if he doesn't -- host: michael in annapolis, maryland. caller: one thing i would like to talk about, the immigration thing. everyone should remember obama

was president of deportation. this plan of trump, all these people he is talking about supporting in the united states have been -- either did not go their trial and they sent letters to turn themselves in. if they do calm to turn themselves in, they are given 30 days to get their affairs in order. the press usually does not tell anybody that. host: your support for the president, was that based on immigration in 2016 and why you would vote for him in 2020? caller: i would do that and i would like to say one other thing. racism is the oppression of one group oppressing the other group , their thoughts and everything.

the democratic party has become the party of racism. they call everybody deplorables. they are on college campuses and they don't allow free speech anymore from the conservative side. and republicans aren't calling democrats names. it is democrats calling republicans deplorables. host: let's go to jacob from north carolina, did not vote for the president. hello, good morning. i did not vote for president trump at the time because i could not trust either candidate, trump or hillary at the time. the purpose of that being with the economy booming, it helps job creation. cutting taxes would help companies hire more people and

when companies cannot compete with each other, it helps us grow the country and hearing stuff about racism, that is ridiculous. that man loves all people. we care about helping all people. no matter what color or ethnicity you come from. p this man takes, as a minister, that helped me -- ato the conclusion least they know where we stand. i think that is what is going to help him take over the finish line in 2020 as well. host: that is jacob giving his thoughts this morning. one more piece about joe biden saying this from the washington post when it comes to his reelection efforts and fundraising saying he has taken enclosed $20 million or said that during a presentation on

monday. it was toward the end of his remarks the former vice -- averageaised contribution of $5,500 working million. in addition to the former vice president bernie sanders and mayor pete -- all expected to post high figures. an important deadline that will prove which of the nearly two dozen candidates -- which ones are rapidly spending money as they raise it. nancy is next, voted for the president in 2016. hi. caller: who is this? host: this is nancy in new york, is this you? caller: yes. i am so pro president trump. this man has set himself up for this country as a champion to get america back to what it used to be and the fact the democrats

do not respect him in any way at all and have treated him like this is nothing short of disgusting. in new york state, we live with the same thing, passing laws so illegal aliens can immediately have drivers licenses so they can vote in this next election is disgusting. it is disgusting. we watch every single day. i am an average working woman. this month i will be 70 years old and i am glad i have a job and probably would not if it was not for a man like president trump. this country needs him. it needs him to continue to do this. i would vote for him for 4 full terms. host: when it comes to those upcoming debates of presidential candidates with such a great number involved, some being left out of the process.

bullock saying he will be holding new hampshire town halls hoping to grab r sethion away from debate moulton. he is hoping to piggyback on the expected press frenzy surrounding the debate and planning to be in miami is the .ayor of earmark, florida virginia is next. we hear from justin in mechanicsville. did not vote for the president. caller: i am a third-party candidate voter. --elieve have an influence for foreign

places and on the left, you have a socialist democrat who wanted everything handed to them. having college tuition paid for and things of that nature. a third party think we need to come in to referee both sides because it seems to be the same rhetoric from both sides every four years. host: if that is the case, who is the ideal third-party candidate? caller: i am not sure there is one that is available. starbuckse owner of out now because of medical reason. host: what defines the ideal you?-party candidate for someone who is in for the working caller: class and has public service caller: experience, who made a career out of public service, honestly there for the people due to their career background and i am

not talking about career politicians, but a police officer teacher, someone in the military. a someone who dedicated their life to public service and knows the needs of the people because they surround themselves with the people. i work for the public. i am a public servant. i see it day in and day out, people thriving on tariffs. there has to be an equilibrium. the only way you have that is if you have a third party and having both sides held accountable. host: from beth in south carolina who voted from the president in -- for the president in 2016, you are next up. caller: thank you for taking my call. i voted for him in 2016 and i will definitely be voting for him again in 2020. i am upset people are calling in on the did not vote for trump in 2016. they are not republicans.

your last caller identifies himself as a third-party .ndividual there, republicans out democrats do not play by the rules, they cheat. they are going to use up our time and when it comes to democrats only -- republicans play by the rules. they won't call in and claim to be a democrat and you should have been cutting some of these callers off. host: he could have been a republican who prefers third-party candidates. that is the way we have to phrase this. since you are on, tell us why you will vote for the president again? caller: excuse me? host: tell us specifically why you will vote for the president again. caller: immigration, tax cuts, building up our military. most of all, he is exposing the corruption in our government, the swamp.

there was a coup. every american should be extremely concerned there was an attempt to overthrow a duly elected president and even before he was elected, spying on their campaign. this should send shivers down the spine of every single american in this country. host: that is beth in north carolina calling and talking about the president's reelection efforts. the president kicked off with a campaign rally in florida and for the next 15 minutes, we will continue with republicans only. if you voted for the president in 2016, 202-748-8000. if you did not vote for him, 202-748-8001. if you did not vote at all, 202-748-8002. a few more tweets about the president's performance. jay inslee interested in the office. trump is portraying himself as a

patriot. less than a week ago he said he would conspire with a foreign government to win an election. andrew yang saying when i am president i will be too busy solving problems to have reelections -- campaigns for my -- to have rallies for my reelections. trump rally made it official, the worst president in u.s. history will be on the ticket. he encouraged white, fueled hatred, and more. we must fight him with all we have and we will. steve bullock making comments saying if we are going to beat this guy, we need to give folks a reason to vote for us and win back the places we lost. i am the only one in the race that has done it before. only have one thing to say about the president, game on is how he finishes up his tweet on this topic. paul is next in new york, did

not vote for the president in 2016. caller: how are you? i held a gop position once and i donald trump is a hypocrite, conman, and liar. brainwashed.are i have never met him, so i know. i met ivanka. just like daddy, both fakes. i don't understand why democrats do not use me. if they are smart enough, they would vote for biden. they are embarrassing the party. i only vote democrat now. not one republican replied or helped me. i wanted to say thanks for taking my phone call. host: last night during his

speech, the president took time from it, talked specifically about democrats. [video clip] >> republicans do not believe in socialism, we believe in freedom and so do you. we will defend medicare and social security for our great seniors. we will defend it like nobody else. we will always protect patients with pre-existing conditions always. always. virtually every top democrat also now supports taxpayer-funded abortions right up to the moment of birth, ripping babies straight from the mother's womb. leading democrats have even opposed measures to prevent the execution of children after birth. you saw that. .n virginia

republicans believe every life is a sacred gift from god. that is why i have asked congress to prohibit extreme late-term abortion. it day by day, we are be -- rebuilding our country at home, restoring america's standing around the world. we are -- respected as a child -- we are respected as a country again. host: voted for the president in 2016, hi. caller: good morning. yes, i voted for him and i will load again. will vote again. illegal immigration needs to be stopped. demoting -- to ice

deporting people. i am retired from ice and they do a great job. under obama, there was no respect for anything. he went around the world bowing down to everyone, everyone took advantage of us. at least he is doing something about it. i will vote again for him and so will my entire family. host: why is emigration on the top of the list of things you support about the president? caller: it is not the top, but something every day now i see in the news and like i said, i am retired from ice. now a-- have congresswoman that represents us . she spends more time in the circles with jerry nadler than anything else. everything will, out.

people will see what the democrats did and what they were up to. i hope it turns around on them. host: let's hear from allie in maryland. we are asking republicans to call in on this first hour. go ahead. him.r: i did not vote for i did not vote for obama either. independent in one way. i voted for republican prior to that. the only question i have in -- and comment is if you listen to the media, please listen to it and go research it. the lady called and said in new -- holdore they can their license. that is not true. i was an immigrant and for 6, 7 years, i could not vote with my

license. that is not true. host: when it comes to the president's reelection, you will not vote for him again, i am assuming? caller: i like the things he has done, but he is getting credit for more than he has done. unemployment with obama was 12% 4%.when he left, it was i did not vote for obama because of foreign policy. i like trump in one wafer tax policy, immigration policy. also, i disagree with him with the way he handles his personal and behavior. if you are a president, you

represent a country. when you pay for a prostitute, i would not trust that person. host: one of the things that is going to take place on capitol hill, hope picks appearing in an interview -- closed-door interview about various aspects of the president's activities. the judiciaryay committee will conduct a that interview. a white house lawyer will be present to keep picks from answer request -- keep hicks from answering questions they think should not -- speaking only about the campaign. democrats have laid out topics they hope to engage with hope -- they plan to

ask about the president's attitude to jeff sessions as well as what she knew about the campaign time hush money payments according to a campaign official who spoke on anonymity. hope picks expected on capitol hill for that interview by the house judiciary committee. david is next, voted for the president in 2016 from new york. caller: good morning. pedro, how are you? hosti voted for trump in 2016 because i did not want hillary. i did not want a bunch of people wanting one thing. they were blaming trump for cheating an election and he did not cheat. he became president legitimately. i think the people should have supported him and democrats in congress should start legislating.

they should start governing the country and when trump started to govern, they started resisting and stopped governing and stopped legislating. we have a mess. we have a mess at the border. democrats know it, but they refuse to help trump. it's all about them and trump. all about their messaging and .genda they have not done anything for legislation to prevent anything. host: what will get you to vote for him for 2020? caller: if he can, in the next two years get the border settled, the wall built, any type of security they need to get legislation for immigration done, if they can start enforcing the laws and bring the country back to prosperity, nobody in this country, democrat

or republican hates people. there is a right way and a wrong way and democrats are doing this for their agenda. they are not doing this to help poor people around the world. host: are you saying if those things don't happen, will that at least cause you to question whether you will vote for the president in 2020? caller: it is not the president that legislates, it is congress. host: sure, but we are talking about the president's reelection campaign. caller: he is trying to stop people from coming into the country illegally. butslation would help legislators are resisting. host: let's hear from lee in pennsylvania, did not vote for the president. caller: good morning. the reason i did not vote for president trump was because 1% do 99% of does not

america. 99% of america pays federal taxes. 1% of america, the richest part, does not pay federal taxes. dissolving all over the country. theseny republicans have kids i see all over the place -- have they adopted? nobody. host: when it comes to the president's reelection campaign, is it tax policy that will keep you from voting for him? caller: exactly. the tax policy and women's rights, they have none. they have absolutely none. the poor people -- live paycheck to paycheck. people like amazon, they have

paid absolutely no taxes. absolutely no taxes. you see in each and every pay tech -- paycheck, federal taxes come out. amazon's paycheck, zero. host: let's go to trent in louisiana, voted for the president in 2016. go ahead. caller: okay, man. . am 61 i have been watching the media for years intently. i have never seen anything since the last three years like trump. across the board, it has been hateful. last night, the way she was treated like a princess. there was uproar when he

introduced her, trump did to the crowd. think christian, white males, heterosexuals, their churches are combined with the christian black males and their families -- hispanic christian male hetero pham -- heterosexuals -- sure thisng to make guy continues on and if they lie, cheat, and steal his election, i think there could be civil defense, civil militia uprising. let me finish. host: let me ask you this because we are running short on time. when it comes to specifics of why you would say to vote for the president again, what would you point to? caller: because he is moving into the historic position the christian republic that this

country wants to become -- is wanting to become. host: let's hear from just in georgia, go ahead. voted for the president in 2016. caller: when obama had control of the house and the senate, pelosi and chuck schumer approved that uranium deal through the senate and the house. host: how does that deal with the president's reelection campaign announced last night? for him and id would vote for him again. i campaigned for him at the flea markets. two different flea markets, i campaigned for him. host: when you talk to people, what do they say about the president? caller: they shake my hand. they don't know what is going on, they don't know -- they don't listen to the news. host: if they ask why we should vote for the president again, what would you say to them?

i would tell them if they want to find out what goes over in iran if you want to find out what they are trying to do here. host: let's hear from david in concord, north carolina. he is the last call, good morning. caller: good morning. it is ironic these people down this man for 3.5 years. we have prospered. when you go onto the media, nobody covered that last night news. foxconn -- fox everyone was down on him for every station. every late-night chauffeur three years, they got paid off his name. this man has changed the front of every human being on this earth. they look at him and say -- look what he has done in this country for three years. i am 56 years old and i cannot

imagine not having him for the numeral for years because tomocratic party, 27 one, if he would have run last night he would have won the election last night. host: ok. ok. you mentioned one network. we covered the program and the event last night as well. ours is different because we didn't interrupt it with commentary of anything. you can watch it start to finish and judge things for yourself. if you want to see that from last night, go to our website at span.org. the entire reelection speech is there at the span.org. -- c-span.org. we will hear from arturo vargas with the national association of the tino elected and appointed officials, they are known as --

latino elected and appointed officials, they are known as naleo. on current brooks tensions between the united states and iran. collins with the republican senator from maine castor 7000 consecutive vote and members of the senate took time to recognize that and that presentation also included a speech from susan collins. president, i just want to thank the majority leader for its very generous comments as well as acknowledge the good wishes and congratulations so many of my colleagues including my colleague from maine, senator king. this is a momentous occasion for me. a real milestone. i'm proud of the fact that i've never missed a roll call vote during the time that i've been privileged to represent the

great state of maine in the united states senate. some close calls over the years. fortunately i have been able to be present for each one. i realize i have been blessed had good health and when i broken ankles that required surgery, it fortunately took place over the christmas break. i was able to come back and not miss a vote. the embodiment of how seriously i take the responsibility with which i've been entrusted by the people of maine. senator's most solemn responsibility and i feel strongly about making sure that on each is represented and every roll call vote that we

take in this chamber. easy, butalways been it is such a privilege and honor to represent the people of the great state of maine. leader,nk the majority senator mcconnell for acknowledging this milestone in my tenure in the senate of my service to the people of maine and this nation. thank you, mr. president. journal continues. host: arturo vargas is the ceo of an organization known as the national association of latino elected and appointed officials, no leo from short. leo -- naleo for short. what brings you to miami? 36th annualaleo's conference. it is the largest gathering of latino officials.

we convene individuals who serve from both political parties. it's an opportunity for folks to review what are the policies that are working to advance latinos in the united states and ensure that latinos participate in our democracy. naleondamental mission of is to increase the participation of latinos in american civic life. --ing sure they get vote vote and get counted in the census. that they have the information and resources to be the best city councilmember, legislator that they can be regardless of party. we want to make sure the people participate. host: this friday at your one is asian hosting an event with democratic presidential candidates. what are you hoping to learn from them?

>> this is the eighth time that we have had a national forum with candidates for the presidency of the united states. the last time we were here in florida for a meeting in 2012, we hosted than president obama and governor mitt romney and we are very pleased that eight of the democratic candidates have agreed to join us on friday morning for a conversation with the latino public servants who are on the front line of america's challenges. we also extended an invitation governoresident and seeking the nomination for the republican party. both declined. we will hear from eight of the candidates running for their party's nomination on the democratic side. i think it's important that whoever sits in the white house has an engagement with those individuals who are leading america's school districts and cities and dealing with what's happening on the streets of america. host: when it comes to policy

issues, what do you think those you represent want to ask these candidates? >> because of the way things have developed i think what the candidates proposals and principles are on immigration have risen to the top of the list of priorities. we know that there are many other issues that latino policymakers are very concerned about. very stronga economy. we know that many latinos are not getting the kinds of wages that others are so there is still a gap in terms of earnings and there is concern about that. there's a concern about access to health care. even though we have a new law in place that has made health care insurance available to latinos like never before, latinos continue to be the most uninsured population group in the country. are particularly concerned about the state of public education. a much larger share of latinos our children.

so anything that affects children affects latinos more. toward public education is always a top priority for latinos. in essence all issues that affect america effect latinos. joining us until about 8:30. if you want to talk to him about the issues he has highlighted in the latino population especially as the 2020 election comes up, you can give us a call on the lines. republicans (202) 748-8001, democrats (202) 748-8000, .ndependents (202) 748-8002 if you are a latino voter and want to give us your perspective, (202) 748-8003. -- these potential mass efforts when it comes to immigration that the president highlighted earlier this week? >> i'm sure that issue will be discussed.

we want to hear not just to react to the rent of the day -- nts of the day. officials with regard to immigration policy that these officials believe in and how they would carry out immigration reform under their administration should they be elected. we want to hear from these candidates what's the future going to look like under their administration. we know that we are experiencing today and in many immigrant communities around the country there is great fear of their own federal government. change we want to see a in the kind of climate that latinos are enjoying and there's a sense that they really are part of america because of their hard work, having been born here. being u.s. citizens. patriots of america. serving in the military. i think there is a sense of latinos that they want respect from whoever sits in the white house.

host: does your organization endorse an ideal immigration reform and what elements that should be? , weur board of directors are both a membership organization and a nonprofit organization that carries out the programs i described. they are made up of republicans and democrats and they have formed a series of principles around immigration policy that represents consensus across party lines of what we believe is humane, constructive immigration policy. and we will share that with the candidates. we have shared it with the white house for many years. i think people are very clear that where naleo stands. this country should have sovereign borders but should also have humane immigration policies to ensure that we keep families together and contribute to a strong economy.

host: how do you make those choices of who is participating? field is so large that we can only accept so many. when we got our eighth confirmation we had to close the reservations. and stop accepting more invitations. have eight democratic candidates that will be with us friday morning. each will have an equal time on stage. there can't be more than one candidate on stage together because the dnc is prohibiting that format by an independent group so this won't be a debate. this will be in engagement and exchange of questions and ideas between the candidates and the members of naleo who are elected officials at all levels of government. you are to have a conversation of peer to peer. host: who are the eight candidates?

>> senator klobuchar, governor hickenlooper, mayor buttigieg. senator sanders. secretary castro. host: is joe biden on that list? >> joe biden is not on that list and we are very disappointed that the front runner has elected not to be with us here. that's a missed opportunity. we are also disappointed senator harris isn't here, being from california. she represents the largest number of latinos and latino voters of any other senator along with senator feinstein. we think that's a missed opportunity there. with thery pleased eight candidates that are going to be here and have the opportunity to engage with them and discuss one of the most important issues on the mind of latino public service today. host: the first call is from maine on the independent line. vargas.t is arturo

you are on with our guest. go ahead. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i just want to ask both of you actually and i would like to get your opinion pedro. mexicans rapists, drug dealers. he talks about women being taped up. right? taped up and dragged across the border. he talks about the coyotes. i haven't seen any arrests of any coyotes. he's made this immigration crisis because of his inactions. his separating families. and putting them in attention centers. no practicality of treating these people, taking care of them humanely. so i would just like to ask the both of you, don't you think it's time that he stopped calling them names and calls them what they are?

joe from maine. we will let our guest to direct the question. think it's time we had a white house that believes in humane immigration policies. the callert referenced to what's happening on the border does not represent the best of america. i think it is really the dark side of the country when we separate a child from her mother in the name of immigration enforcement when these people are coming to seek asylum and coming as refugees. we want to see an immigration system that focuses on how can we share this country has sovereign borders, that we are able to have families reunited and immigrants come and contribute to the economy and do what immigrants have done for years.

up and build a country be able to enjoy the american dream by contributing to building what it has been. the strongest best country in the world. tom, independent line. go ahead. caller: good morning. ask mr. vargas how he feels about should we start letting in communists from china? should we start letting the iranians in with nuclear weapons across the border? this is so outrageous. why doesn't our president put this military where they belong protecting our country on our border? we have the technology to take anybody out but the democrats and the republicans have sold the american people down the road. you talked about sovereign borders. inour organization believes

border security that any sovereign nation has the right to maintain its borders and know exactly who comes into the country and those are the kind of principles we believe in and those policies should be implemented in a humane way. host: from washington, d.c. in the independent line. go ahead. hi.er: my comment is in reference to leaders for more latino and i think mr. vargas maybe be can speak about this. we don't have as many leaders who can then essentially address this immigration issue versus just focusing on what's going on the border in mexico. i had covered the white house as a reporter and julian castro seems to me like he is a genuine

legitimate latino leader. how does he take his position and then turn it into legislation that's going to address this issue. thank you. >> thank you for that question. we work very hard at naleo to be able to prepare those who have taken the extraordinary step and sacrifice to seek public office to help them be successful. julian castro has been a member for many years and it really is a sense of pride that somebody from the ranks of naleo is running for the presidency. it's not the first time. .e had others from naleo run governor richardson for example. hisre going to be following campaign very closely. we do not endorse any candidate. i think the fact that you have someone like julian castro and

his brother, stanford educated, harvard educated represents a generation of american public servants who are ready to serve all americans. we want to hear from secretary castro on friday as well as all the other candidates who will be joining us. we want to make sure that president of the united states has a partnership with the public servants who are on the front lines of america's challenges. districts,ool running cities and making sure they meet the needs of the american people. influx of women being elected into office. is there a similar effort to representation and helping people train in order to run for office and win office? >> that's a component of the work that we don't do as a nonpartisan organization. it's pretty hard to prepare candidates for a partisan office

and remain nonpartisan. it's not a space we occupy. once somebody does get elected we want to make sure they have the information, the resources and the support to be the best legislator possible. republican or independent. we want to make sure that latinos and latinos in public seeing a larger number of latinos winning elected office. about a third today although 6400 latinos in elected office, about a third are women. we are seeing a significant increase in parity growing between the genders. we need to have more latinos and latinas elected. there to support them. that's the kind of activity we will be engaging in for the next

three days in miami. having professional development seminars. we want to learn from what's working here in miami. from texas and california and illinois and washington state take back to their home states so they can try to replicate the best practices we are seeing here. your organization is making a substantial case for the citizenship question on the census. tell us about your concerns over the question. it should be that as complete and accurate as possible. it should be a fair and accurate census as required by the u.s. constitution. very4th amendment speaks clearly that all persons should be counted in the census. hasyou conduct that census significant applications for response rates and to add any

question at the very last minute that is untested in which you don't know what the impact is going to be because you didn't have the kind of testing that the census bureau does for years before adding the question or changing the question on the form has serious consequences in loweredesult response rates and that's exactly the potential that we are seeing with the question on citizenship. it only makes the situation worse because it's a topic during a time of very significant anti-immigrant sentiment in the country, hostility towards immigrants. for the government to be asking every single person in the country today are you a citizen it's going to scare people away from being counted to the point that three federal courts have ruled that this question will result in lowered response rates

to the point that two of those reports said it would be a violation of the constitution enumeration clause because it would prohibit the counting of all persons. host: it was the commerce secretary who said this. while there is widespread belief among many parties that adding a citizenship question could reduce response rates, the analysis did not provide definitive empirical support for that belief. how would you respond to that last part? >> we know that is not true. we know wilbur ross has not told the truth when it comes to this issue. truth tot tell the congress. he has not told the truth to the american people or to me. i had a conversation on march 13 2018 with secretary ross where we talked about this issue and why it would be a bad idea to add a citizenship question. there is empirical evidence that is replete in the court filings

in the three lawsuits that have been filed. the census bureau itself was publishing information and data on lowered response rates that it was seeing from immigrant respondents to its surveys. information with the secretary. it recommended to the secretary don't add this question. these are the professionals. the scientists. the resources. but the secretary overruled them in order to add this question. it's hard to really take anything the secretary says at this point with a grain of salt because we know he hasn't told the truth about this issue so far. we know it would be a less accurate and less fair 2020 sentences. host: if the question shows up on the senses what happens with your organization? >> we will do everything we can at the layout to make sure

everything person is counted in the united states. that's our mission. that's our job. we are going to do everything we can. it is not naleo's job to count everybody. the census bureau staff is running scared. they are scrambling. beenhis crisis that has developed artificially. they are conducting another field test that is unplanned, was unbudgeted. but because they have no idea will happen with the citizenship test they had to do one last test that is happening right now throughout the country. they won't get the results of that test until the fall and it won't be then they will able to make adjustments to their nonresponse procedures for next year. withnever happened before the bureau scrambling at the

last minute to figure out how to get their job done. we are going to do everything we can to kate and inform our how there isut communal harm that comes to somethingunity when isn't counted. your community does not get its political of representation or the funding that is tied to population data. for everything from schools to clinics to highway construction. naleo.rturo vargas of he is the ceo. you are next. caller: thank you for taking my call. i watched the president last night on fox news. i will be tuning into the democratic debate come happen a few days. here's my concern. no one is talking about the

deficit. we have a great economy. and it's growing but we are growing our economy by borrowing money and corporations are pouring money to buy back stock and putting debt on their books and no one is talking about this. as ii'm concerned with listen to republicans talking about how great the economy is, this is a talking point i heard during ronald reagan and walter mondale. of course the economy is great because we are borrowing money. we know looking back on history we had deeper sessions. granted the deficit by itself was not accounted. we also know during the turn of these republican presidents -- the reagan we had regulation of savings and loans.

host: thanks for the comparison. we will talk with matters of economy. >> i think latino workers are looking for good paying jobs that provide them with health care where they are able to provide for their families. many latino workers don't experience that yet. the are not sharing in prosperity of this economy yet. many of them hold more than one job. i think we want to make sure that if we have a very strong economy where there is prosperity all around let's share it all around. let's make sure that all america's workers are able to share in that. i think that's what latinos are looking for as well. host: here is stan from pennsylvania. republican line. go ahead. ourer: i'm concerned about lack of security on the border. advocacyate your

group. but latinos are not the only illegals that we have in america. shadows andk in the all these talking heads and you crafted polished and narrative that you are presenting is not what we need in america. we need action. the groups for the criminals that are conspiring with all of the people coming across the border, this is a crisis and thanks for taking my call. >> we strongly believe that every country has sovereign borders. we also need immigration policies that are humane. exit anding able to enter the country and that we

keep families together and with regard to immigrants who come to the united states that they come with the best purposes of living the american dream. whenis what my parents did they came to this country and we hope it continues to be the america of the future. host: there are reports from npr that jared kushner is working to come up with legislation concerning dreamers in the united states. are you hopeful about these efforts and what ultimately should be done? wewhen it comes to dreamers have seen so many stories of young children who came here who were brought here through no fault of their own and who have succeeded. there have been valedictorians k-12 andxcelling in this country has invested in

their minds and how do we keep that human capital here in this country and use it to our benefit? how do we allow them to fully develop their human potential? that is something we should be looking at as americans. because these children know no other country but the united states of america. and they want to live here and prosper here and contribute to our country here. if there's any way that we can have bipartisan support for making sure that dreamers are able to get on the path towards no longer living in the shadows or ambiguity about what's going to happen to them but have some clarity and confidence that they will be able to prosper along with everybody else in the only country they've known i think that would be good for the country. host: let's hear from washed -- walter on the democrat line.

caller: the first question i have is i didn't hear anybody have a lot of issue when president obama's administration was putting these children in cages and they were being treated inhumanely. trump is not the only one that did it and i am not a trump supporter. the second thing regarding immigration, do any of y'all think about the total impact that you have on african-american people? being that slave labor built immigrantry and every is coming for unearned benefits, black people built this country and you are benefiting from the fruits of their labor. you can't keep getting above black people and everyone else doing better than black full. we built this country and you basically are benefiting. that needs to stop here altogether. end with illegal aliens, y'all have no rights to begin with. .'all need to shut the hell up

host: you can address that as you wish. >> we want to make sure everybody is able to prosper in america. to the experience of african americans, let's remember about the senses. african-american slaves were considered to only be 3/5 of a person. that was written into our constitution. that was changed with the 14th amendment when it said that the u.s. house of representatives shall be apportioned to the respective states according to their number of persons. that was an important change that was made in the constitution of the united states that provided true equality to everybody. we at naleo want to make sure that we promote a fair senses that everybody is counted equally as the full person that each of us is and that all of us are able to realize our full

potential. host: from our republican line in florida. this is cecil. go ahead. caller: this guy that's on here now, i don't think he's a latino. but anyway, he's supposed to be a democrat. what i want to know is this country was based on immigrants. germany, italy, poland. they went to work. they learned to speak english. hear around here is spanish. are we going to have to start to learn how to speak spanish pretty soon? what's going to happen here because these people are not even trying to speak english. you go places and there's groups of them speaking spanish. there's a place at work, there's

more spanish latinos working there and i'm a foreman -- host: we got your point. go ahead. that thects are americanization process that previous immigrant generations experienced is being experienced today here in the united states and is probably being short-circuited by the presence of social media and media and technology. by the third-generation, english has replaced spanish among immigrants from latin america and i see this in my own family. where my nieces and nephews are largely glitch monolingual's. -- englisho study monolinguals. they have to study spanish in school to have a conversation with their grandmother who speaks only spanish. it's the american experience

today that latinos are acquiring english at the rate of previous immigrant groups. because of technology, social media, that english language is probably being acquired much quicker than in other generations today. more call from maryland on the independent line. go ahead. caller: i have to put myself with walter from d.c. you have put yourselves way ahead of everybody. accurateposed to be an counting of everybody in the united states so you are fairly represented. you are not being very pragmatic here. it's going to happen. why don't you focus your energy on trying to convince the latino population just to answer the damn question. we are not going to send 35

million people out of the country. why don't you focus your energy on convincing the population just to answer the damn question? vargas?. >> naleo is going to focus its energy on promoting a fair and accurate count of all persons of everybody who lives in the country and we will be encouraging latinos to fill out their census forms because we know that being counted in the census means that your community will get its fair share of political representation as required by the constitution but also the fact that every year $800 billion are distributed to states and localities from the federal government using census data to determine how much goes to every state. we want to make sure that all states get their equal share and the only way that happens is by everybody being counted.

we will be doing everything we can to make sure all latinos are counted. host: the background is naleo -- acronym is naleo. arturo vargas is the ceo of the organization and we thank you for your time. >> thank you. host: we will have a conversation with representative mo brooks, republican of alabama about issues concerning defense but also tensions between the united states and iran. that coming up on washington journal. >> sunday night on afterwards. in her latest book, former cia intelligence analyst offers her insights into the innerworkings of the agency and her work in tracking terrorists. by congressmaned

andre carson of indiana. >> most people know who osama bin laden is. there was another figure that you had a connection to with your service. tell us about your experience tracking him and those around him. ati was charged with looking and evaluating whether or not iraq had anything to do with 9/11 and al qaeda. as an analyst we had been writing products for policymakers and briefing them in our bottom line was that iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 and al qaeda. connections not the there. after the invasion when i became a targeting officer and he rose to prominence because he had been attacking targets inside of a rock and then eventually joined al qaeda and created al qaeda in iraq at my job was to dismantle his network and his

organization and his leadership. >> watch book tv on c-span2. >> the complete guide to congress is now available. it has lots of details about the house and set it -- senate. about every representative and senator plus information's about committees, state governors and the cabinet. the 2019 congressional directory is a handy spiral-bound guide. order your copy from the c-span $18.95.tore for washington journal continues. host: representative mo brooks serves the state of alabama. a member of the armed services committee and the freedom caucus. good morning to you. the president talked about immigration last night and the idea of some type of effort concerning illegal immigrants next week.

do you think those things are going to pan out? >> i hope so. let's be real clear. i just saw the interview with your previous speaker who seemed to be for open borders and as many immigrants as we could possibly get. i had serious disagreements with him on a number of fronts. the u.s. has the most open lawful immigration system on the planet. what's the highest honor that a country can give? citizenship. we give more citizenship to foreign individuals than any country on earth and almost as many citizenship as any other country on earth put together. i don't understand why he's complaining so much about our lawful immigration system given how compassionate it already is. on the illegal alien side of the coin, he didn't focus it all on the damage that's being done to our country to hispanic americans, asian americans, african-americans, caucasian americans. 2000 homicides per year by

illegal aliens on american soil. that's 2000 dead americans each year because we do not have a secure southern border that has allowed eagle aliens -- illegal aliens into our country. or the southern border and its effect on drug deaths. according to the cdc and the dea we have over 30,000 dead americans each year because of our poor southern border. drugs that are illegally shipped across that border that result in overdoses. is overse factors alone 30,000 dead americans. and yet he seems to want to open it up even more. that's before you get to the lostmic issues like the jobs. the president's efforts gone farther? >> i encourage him to go farther. the main problem has been the united states senate. the one thing you can count on is that's where good wills go to

die. meaning if the house had just passes legislation that is good -- we pass good legislation and mitch mcconnell and before him harry reid kill it. hundreds of bills each session. of the reasons we brought you on was to talk about the current tensions between the united states and iran. what is the best way forward? >> do you want to talk in the context of uranium or tanker attacks? let's start with the uranium first. >> that is a serious concern. the iranian leadership is composed of devout muslims. they believe that it is appropriate for them to sacrifice their selves if necessary in the name of allah by taking out the great satan and little satan.

the united states of america and israel and that's troublesome when you've got a regime that suggests they are willing to sacrifice themselves in the name of their god in order to take out the united states of america and take out israel. you give them nuclear weapons and nuclear missile capability where they can deliver those nuclear weapons, they may use them even if it means the destruction of their own state. fact many highlight the they would if we have stayed in the deal, the deadlines would have been extended. >> the deal guarantees that iran will have nuclear weapons and capability. then you are just postponing the inevitable. we will see how it works out. whatever happens it should not be the united states of america being the only police cop on that corner of the world.

the united states of america should not participate. we cannot afford to be the cowboy coming in by ourselves ,nless there is consensus almost unanimous international support for that kind of engagement and the same kind of commitment from our allies that our allies are asking out of us. host: our guest with us. republicans,0 (202) 748-8001 democrats, (202) 748-8002 independents. do you believe went -- say they don't want conflict with iran? >> the president has made it clear from the day he was announced that one of his strategies is to create some uncertainty. that his foes don't really know what he's going to do and he believes that uncertainty gives him leverage in a bargaining process and i respect that. you have to give credit where credit is due. he won the republican nomination

against some pretty stout republican candidates and did something no one thought he would be able to do and that's be to hillary clinton. he has an internal strategy that has worked well for him. the surface it looks like we are going to have mexico helping us to some degree. before they were helping illegal aliens cross in the united states of america. host: the secretary of state in florida making the decision to send more troops to the middle east. >>'s been our mission since the beginning of this administration to convince the iranian regime not to move forward with their nuclear program and not to engage in all the activities they have been engaged in around the world. it's why we put in place the pressure campaign that has now been ongoing for a year and a couple months.

it's been very effective and now we need to make sure that we continue to do that so that we ultimately get the opportunity to convince iran that it's not in their best interest to behave in this way. host: should more members of the military be involved in that action? >> to the extent they are a satisfactory deterrent. yes. but for emphasis we should not engage in a military conflict with iran unless it's part of a major international f where we are a team member, not the only person on the boat using the oars. host: do we have those allies? >> at this point in time i don't think so. tax oncently we have had tankers and recently we have had two attacks on tankers. all six tankers ended up with

whole breaches from explosive devices that were either attached or otherwise hit. the nations that own those tankers norway, japan, saudi arabia. united arab emirates. recipients of that like singapore or japan. wherever all these tankers were originally going to hit. they have not stepped up to the plate and offered to use their own military resources to reflect their own moral production or shipping on the import side. we should not engage because of unless tanker attacks those nations that have a more substantial interest in this issue than we do first step up to the plate. and wethose are allies should be in a position where we are willing to help.

they have a much greater national security interest than the united states of america does. host: our first call is from robert. you are on with our guest. go ahead. caller: you mentioned about muslims and iran. i wondered what did you think about devout muslims in the united states. they are law-abiding citizens. they are proud of their country. at the same time you are saying about muslims are committed to the description of america -- destruction of america. >> different muslims have different belief systems. some are willing to respect our laws of the united states and some are not. witness 9/11 where thousands of americans were killed. you have to judge each one individually based on their contract. host: sandra in new hampshire. independent line. caller: this is for

representative brooks. referred to our allies. i guess i'm a little concerned that our allies aren't with us anymore since we've had president trump in office. himself withlign dictators which is very frightening to me and do we have our allies? who are they now? that was my question. thank you. ifi would have felt better you had itemized a particular ally. the very absence of your identifying one suggests to me that what you are doing is parroting a general political statement that the socialist demo rats use that is not wasted back. we have strong relationships with western europe. that doesn't mean we are always going to agree we have never always agreed. we work together when circumstances dictate.

have strong allies in many parts of the world and i have not seen any adverse effect on how we actually conduct fitness with each other with respect to international affairs. with respect to trade where a lot of our allies and a lot of our geopolitical photos have taken advantage of us such that with china you have a 400 plus billion dollar a year trade deficit that's hemorrhaging of our wealth to china that they are using to build up their military capabilities. then you've got other nations like japan and mexico that still have a close allied relationship with that the united states of america. we have trade deficits with them that are over $50 billion a year each. that's not good for our economy long-term. there is always tension as we compete with each other at a trade level. our it comes to military

long-term international allies are right there and we are right there with them. host: the best way to deal with russia and china particularly? russia and china as a long-term nuclear threat based on history. we have had in place a mutually assured instruction doctrine. therefore neither one of us want to engage in that kind of exchange when both are going to be guaranteed losers. that kind of deterrence has worked with russia and china. they are rational. they don't want to commit suicide.

[no audio]

brooks. good morning. caller: i agree with some of the things you said about we

thatdn't do this alone and we shouldn't be policing the world. the lady called and i think she has some weight to in regard to our allies. you mentioned china and russia and if push came to shove would china and germany -- with iran? bolton got in administration, i said to my friend, there's a war that john bolton has never -- has always liked. i think he has wanted to go to war with iran for a long time. host: we will let represented of brooks respond. and matched some

countries that i don't believe are on the same playing field. with china and russia more often than not they are geopolitical foes and we are working with our allies to try and contain them. china and the south china sea. canunited states and russia work together and we do work together. same thing with china. i wouldn't consider them our closest allies. germany on the other hand has been a long-term ally and many european nations have been long-term allies of the united states of america and continue to do so even to the point of assisting with military support in afghanistan and in other parts of the world. i haven't seen any degradation of international support with respect to national security issues hours or theirs with our allies in europe and the middle

east. i can't name a country where i believe that there has been a degradation of our alliance, international relations, military since donald trump has been president. for that matter since barack obama has been president. host: on the line for independence. hannah. >> good morning. thank you for taking my call. that we cannot do this alone. we did have an agreement with say alsos and then you that our allies are with us in a way they are not because they did not pull out of the deal. we had a deal. maybe it wasn't a good deal it was a start. that versus on throw it up in the air and try to start over. and i keep thinking, you can't go on the playground punching

people in the face and then invite them to your birthday party and expect them to come. clear about the iran nuclear agreement. the united states abided by it. that agreement was not a treaty so it didn't bind the united states government. was an executive agreement by the president of the united states and barack obama that was only good during the terms of the administration. theaturally expired after obama administration left office and the new president had the option of continuing to ratify and abide by it or not. a treaty where the united states senate had ratified it then it would have and subsequent presidents but it was not that kind of treaty. we did not violate the agreement. it expired by its natural terms because it was limited to the term of barack obama. our allies and they knighted states of america are not always going to agree on the best

solution. i can understand that. we are having -- their own opinions as to the best way to try to contain iran's terrorist aggression and also more militaristic aggression with respect to its neighbors. hopefully whatever we coalesce on will ultimately work to the good of the planning. nobody knows for sure what is the path going forward. we are all struggling to try to come to an agreement on what is the best path. it's like you and your family. every now and then you are going to have disagreements. on irondisagreements bowl day in our household. otherwise we work together. host: outcast is a member of the armed services committee. -- what do you think about that choice? >> i don't have an opinion on

that. i don't have a vote on the confirmation of these nominees. i tend to focus more on the policy issues. if i were in the senate i would give it three weight and deference to the president's choice on who he wants to .ominate apparently there are senators that disagree with that kind of deference. focus as ae to united states congressman on all these details about someone's past history. what i do is once the senate somebodyern -- confirm i'm not in that selection or confirmation process. host: what do you think about the idea of an acting defense secretary versus appointed or confirmed? >> we do need someone who is fulfilling the need of a secretary of defense until such time as we have one that has been nominated and confirmed by

the united states senate. i'm comfortable with whichever path the president wants to take whether it's an acting or non-acting. but a secretary of defense is supposed to be at the pinnacle of our national defense structure second only to the president. and i'm comfortable with whatever the president thinks is the best way to handle this interim issue until we get the president nominating somebody and the united states senate confirming that somebody that we have somebody long-term as secretary of defense. host: did you have any impressions of patrick shanahan? >> i was happy to work with him while he was there and i will look forward to working with whoever replaces him. host: let's hear from the democrat line. caller: represented of, i took offense to your comment about socialist democrats. i'm a democrat and i'm not a socialist. i know that's an rnc talking point, but you really need to

rethink that. you also misstated with the gentleman who was on before you stated. no one wants open borders. we just want things done humanely. another thing, i think it is absolutely ridiculous that we withgone almost forever just an acting secretary of defense. if this was barack obama or anyone else, republicans would have a album with that. is -- didst question you read the mullah report? let's work -- mueller report? guest: let's work our way through this. if you don't want to be a socialist, don't be a member of the democratic party. some are more open than others, like bernie sanders is unabashedly a socialist and he says it. but i don't know of any democrat serving in the united states congress that don't support socialist ideologies to some degree or another.

i'm sorry if you are offended, but if you are offended you need to quit the party you are in because they are the socialist party of america. with respect to my use of the phrase open borders, i don't know of any democrat who is willing to support border security. they are not willing to support a wall, they are not willing to deport illegal aliens whose first act on our soil is to's it on our laws. what is the definition of open borders? socialist democratic party because that is what they support. if you find a democrat willing to help us secure the border and prevent illegals coming in on top of the lawful immigrants coming in, let me know, but as you mole this over, just remember the 30,000 dead americans each year that will die because we have open border democrats preventing us from securing the southern border. bear in mind the millions of americans losing their jobs as their wages are being undercut i

you legal aliens because the democrats are pushing open borders. also bear in mind of the american citizens who no longer can make ends meet in their own household because they are not earning enough figures of the huge surge in the labor supply wherellegal aliens, employers are hiring cheaper illegal alien labor and when they hire american labor it's at the cheaper illegal alien labor rates. a lot of damage is being done to all ethnicities in the united states of america because of our open border policy. is people that would be alive a year from now but 30,000 dead? lost jobs, suppressed wages, or from hundreds of billions of net tax losses to american taxpayers at the city, county, and state federal level because of the large influx of aliens. another data point that i'm sure will offend you, 70% of households in america that have any illegal alien in them is on

welfare, siphoning off money that is gone. host: clyde, texas, republican line. want to say that over the past few presidential administrations, why have they allowed india and pakistan to acquire nuclear weapons? because they were completely ineffective, they were failed leaders. they just completely dropped the ball. why did they allow kim jong-un to get nuclear weapons? barack obama was the biggest mistake is nation ever made and the only reason he got elected is because millions of illegal aliens were given citizenship by reagan and bush that they had no away to give our country to foreigners, ok? they had a sworn duty to uphold our laws and to send them back with a came from. now those 8 million people that they gave amnesty to have had children. these foreigners have diluted my

american vote. barack obama was an illegitimate president not elected by the american people, he was elected by illegal aliens. host: caller, we will just leave it there. guest: i don't know which thing to respond to, let's go to the next caller. host: pennsylvania, rob. or bob. go ahead. caller: good morning, thanks for c-span. , as an independent voter, there is so much talked himt what i will start at from this point. america will never change as long as we have a two party system. republicans that want the democrats to have a good point and the democrats don't want you to have a good point and you just sit there and you mockup america. muck america. you know what bothered me more

question mark the little children in yemen that are nine months old, three years old and older, they look like they are one month old and they are starved to death with flies crawling all over them while the mother's hold them and she is starting, too. having a reporter murdered and chopped into little pieces and put in bags and sent out, it bothers me more than a ship i can be repaired. guestse will let our respond to those things. guest: he does not have a question but i hope you will open of his heart and wallet and health of four people he was talking about in other nations with his own money. wisconsin, gom ahead, you are on. caller: mr. brooks, what you said earlier about these allies should, they should respond to these tankers being hit, you are absolutely right. now i'm a democrat and i think you are right and is very seldom

that i think someone is right that the democrat, but you are right on the money, you are absolutely right, they should go out there and show that you are not going to do that to us. as far as the other stuff that you were talking about with democrats not wanting the borders closed and all that, that's not right, that is totally wrong. guest: name one. host: caller, you still there? guest: name one policy that promotes border security that the democrats as a body support maybe i have missed it but i have not seen it. the democrats have a problem with republicans that they don't want to pass laws like other countries to keep people from coming in here. these people that are going to get thrown in jail or something like that, they would come in the country, they just wouldn't do it. host: you did not name a policy

that the democrats of or the promotes border security. and if you are familiar with one, these let me know, because i am not. things, on theof armed services committee, where did you stand on that will? i voted against it because at the same time it was stripping the president of the united states of some of his border security capabilities and we have already, as i have itemized, had a real problem with the debts occurring in the united states of america because of our poor southern borders, lost job, wage suppression, net tax losses to american citizens and for the democrats to stick into the national defense that already act reduces protecting americans and borders that i disagree with. you have got a healthy debate over whether the suspending amount should be 700 and 33

million or 750 billion. the gap, republicans generally 733.750, republicans want that will kill the research and development efforts that enabled us to have the weapons that helped to turn our geopolitical foes from taking advantage of us directly or indirectly in different parts of the world. host: is sequestration still part of this? guest: sequestration is always an issue and has been since the budget control act and think it was what, 2011, going back that far? by example, i voted against sequestration then he has there was a disproportionate hit on national defense. 15%, 16%, 70% of government expenditures depending at you count, they were taking about two thirds of the cuts under sequestration and i didn't think that was appropriate because

national defense is the number one priority of the federal government, i hope we can all agree on that. i am concerned about the sequestration limits on our defense spending. i think both the democrats and republicans have agreed that we are not going to abide by that. now at the same time we have a $22 trillion debt and close to $900 billion in deficit this year, our long-term financial outlook is really poor. basically we are heading to a debilitating insolvency in bankruptcy that will cost millions of lives in the united states of america if you play it through as they are doing in venezuela right now. we have to in my judgment find nondefense areas where we can arece expenditures or if we going to have military cuts, then the military cuts need to be in the form of a reduction in our presence around the globe where at the same time we are encouraging our allies to build up at own military capability so that they can defend their parts

of the world, thereby making our allies stronger militarily, which in turn makes them better allies and collectively a stronger force. host: couple of quick questions before you go, the president announced efforts for reelection. what do you think he has to do? guest: i'm not in a position to give donald trump sound campaign advice in as much as he came out of nowhere in 2016 and he beat 16 other stout republican primary opponents. he beat hillary clinton. if anything, i should be asking him for campaign advice. host: you will vote for him again? guest: oh absolutely, when the choice comes down i won't hesitate to vote for donald trump based on border security threats and based on the big adult between free enterprise and socialism. socialism has failed in every nation that has every tried it. protect euro borders plus adequate safety nets.

if that's the definition of success, it has failed in every nation in history. of course we have deficit and debt, i cannot vote for any democratic nominee for president because i believe they are wrong on all three of those issues. if we lose on one of those three, we may lose our country areas host: about the mueller report -- country. host: did you end up reading the mueller report? even -- do you think it will the election? guest: i did not read it, i was satisfied that this was up a glide that socialist democrats assistanceth some from the news media. there was never any evidence, any evidence of collusion between russia and the trump campaign. and it was a waste of $40 million in that regard. with respect to the obstruction allegations, i'm an attorney who's been on both sides. i was a district attorney,

assistant district attorney. you have to understand what the law is. was no of there structure and by president trump. i can go into the details with each one of those so-called accusations, but if you get into the details and apply the law to the details, there was no obstruction and that was good enough for me. guest: reports that roy moore a senates considering run. should he make that effort? guest: i cannot second-guess what he does. the information that i have is that he's likely to say yes he's a candidate for senate. i do want the people back home in alabama to know this, no matter who the republican nominee is, that nominee is going to win in 2020 against doug jones. there's going to be a whole beingent dynamic with it a presidential election, donald trump on the ballot, democratic nominee on the ballot, there will be a lot more people voting guy, but hees, nice

has voted for abortion, voted against supreme court justices, voted for open borders, he will be able to masquerade as a moderate any longer. he's clearly a chuck schumer left-winger. host: serving the fifth district, member of the freedom caucus, thank you for your time. guest: my pleasure. host: we will return to the question we started to this morning with the president's reelection effort. we want to get your thoughts on the following lines. if you voted for the president in 2016, it's (202) 748-8000. if you did not vote for the president in 2016, it's (202) 748-8001. if you didn't vote at all, (202) 748-8002. we will talk about the presidents reelection efforts when "washington journal" continues. ♪

[video clip] >> i look at political cartooning as advertising on television. you only have a few seconds. with political cartoons you are selling an idea instead of a product areas >> sunday on "q&a," pulitzer prize-winning cartoonist michael ramirez on his career. clintons are probably my favorite political family and i got my first pulitzer in 1994 on the back of the administration. when you take a caricature of someone in political cartooning, you are changing the dynamics of their features not only to make them into a cartoon, but to show sort of the dynamics of their personality as well. >> sunday night at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span's" q&a."

name -- 1979 a small network with a big idea had a big movement to open up the doors to washington policy, c-span brought to unfiltered content from congress and beyond. a lot has changed over the years , but it's more important than ever on television and online, c-span is your unfiltered view of government so that you can make up your own mind. brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. >> "washington journal" continues. host: the president launching his reelection effort last night in orlando, florida. if you voted for the president .n 2016, (202) 748-8000 if you did not vote for him in 2016, (202) 748-8001. if you did not vote, (202) 748-8002. you can post thoughts to twitter and facebook as well about the reelection effort.

during his presentation, which you can still find on our website, he talked about the topic of health care. [video clip] expanding affordable health care, korea 60% cheaper than obamacare. we passed the something of very proud of. they wanted to pass it for 45 years. all of the gentleman that are sitting here from congress, your congressman, your senators, you helped us. it's called right to try. the greatest medical labs in the world. we have incredible things under advisement. and our people, if they were very sick, if they were terminally ill, they couldn't get anything because people said no, it might hurt them, they are from the lyons. so i said that doesn't make sense. these people, if they were rich or had money they would go to asia, europe, they would go all over the world looking for a cure because the fda would not

call right toe try. what a beautiful name, right to try. i got it approved after 44 years, i got it approved. talk about the reelection campaign from the president, this is roger in virginia. did not vote for the president in 2016. you are a first. caller: -- you are up first. caller: good morning, can you hear me? host: you are on. there theyt i got said my name wasn't down and i couldn't vote. what i wanted to say about the donald trump campaign is that the republican party said no to obama for six years on anything. donald trump comes into office, our country was attacked and voters don't care. because their party one.

it earns me up that they don't care. care?ow, how can they not it's the same thing as if they fired a shot. they attacked our country, america. host: roger, you said you didn't vote in 2016 because of voter id issues. have you resolved that for the 2020 election? troublei'm having coming up with three forms of identification to get an identification. they don't want people to vote in virginia. in hurley,s roger virginia. skip is next in washington, d.c. , didn't vote for president trump in 2016, hello. i didn't vote for him then and i of course will be voting for him again, but the biggest question is, what will the rest of america do? i believe in the next election. i believe a lot of people, no matter what you feel about the policies are just tired of

seeing trump rile people up, call people names, lie, compromise the constitution, and they just don't want to see that .veryday on their tv set as compared to the last president, who did not present who was an upstanding person, lived a decent life, great family man. versus the president we have now? no matter the disagreements on plenty, ad they are lot of people in the middle, swing voters are just sick and tired of donald trump's antics and lies. host: when it comes to policy issues, what kept you from voting him -- voting for him in 2016 with specific policies? well, health care for example, i think that obamacare has created health care

insurance for more than 20 million americans. ok? the republicans, no matter what they say, donald trump lied again by saying that they have a plan that's going to reduce plan i 60%, nobody believes that. there's no fact checker that would say that that is true. not have a plan to replace obamacare. the best thing to do would be to improve it. don't believe in going as far as medicare for all because i think the country is ready to give up their workplace insurance. i would say improve obamacare. that's one of the biggest issues that led to the democrats winning the house in 2018 by a huge margin and i think that reflects a lot of swing voters, especially in the suburbs, some of whom may be voted for trump in 2016 and won't next time. host: ok, let's hear from bill, alabama, voted for the president

in 2016. you are next up. caller: hello, hello, yes, i voted for him and will agin because i'm tired of somebody going around the world apologizing for the way america is doing its business. it,i'm tired of taking taking it in the face with these uspid trade deals that give billions and billions of dollars in trade deficits. nobody seems to care. either party, really, in congress, they don't seem to care. as long as they are not getting hurt, let their family start getting hurt. let their businesses start getting -- they will change her mind. issue,immigration slipping across the border, they are killing americans. they are killing americans.

who knows what kind of diseases they are bringing with them. edwin is next, did not vote for the president in 2016, talking about his reelection efforts, go ahead. >> i watched last night's rally in orlando. the president donald john trump .s the most divisive president he does everything that tries to get at him, nothing sticks. this is way before he was president, while he was doing real estate deals in new york city. from the central park five to the white supremacy to tax cuts that didn't benefit me. the cost the government trillions of dollars, how he treats federal employees, i'm retired by 40 years. he has tried it -- treated federal employees like garbage,

ok? other people are going to -- their eyes are going to be open on the election coming up next year. president trump inks that he has got in the bag to win the election. if a strong candidate appears on the democratic side, millions of americans are working three jobs to make above $15 for our, ok? i want him and ben carson to go down to my old neighborhood in see the dilapidated high rise housing products -- projects where rats and water are tripping as we speak and are not being fixed. that their tax money. host: dan, michigan, hello. caller: i voted for president trump last time.

mainly for two reasons. and this policy on pro-life number two, the lack of a strong i would be considered onindependent simply because policies is what i vote. vote based on whether i like or don't like the individual. pro-life is a very important issue to me. think that even though they seem divisive, both parties on a lot of these issues, they are really not. when obama was in there, the a comprehensive immigration bill for quite a long time. the senate wouldn't send them one. mitch mcconnell basically instructed anything obama tried to do. now that the republicans are

strong on immigration side, no the democrats are sort of pay -- playing payback, that's my opinion. host: to clarify, if a strong pro-life democrat emerged, you would over that person? very likely come yes. $28.8 million raised in less than 24 hours running to the national committee. adam in richmond, virginia, didn't vote in 2016. tell us why. i didn't think that trump was the kennedy for me. in the for birdie primaries but did not vote for hillary. i thought that hillary was -- i voted for bernie in the primaries but enough over hillary. i thought that hillary was to

establishment. trump in his own way is to establishment. but it's different, it's elite. centrist. host: who are you looking at for 2020? caller: i'm looking really at this time andrew yang. he's the a live coming up with solid solutions. no one else is addressing the issue of automation like him. democrats probably need to catch up on this platform because they backingonly ones universal basic income. it's almost inevitable at this point in my opinion host: all right, let's hear from louise. go ahead. caller: yes -- [no audio]

on the core values of a person to make the right decision. to me trump is solely for trump. his degree of malignant narcissism is incredible and i think he is a danger to our country. he's also an embarrassment the way he has treated our allies and the played up to dictators. i think he wants to be one of them and i out salud we will not vote for him in 2020. host: the president making his himself in 2020, talking about policy and the mullah report, here's what he had to say. host: --[video clip] >> we have been under siege and .ith the mullah report, we won and now they want a do over? they want to do over? let's do it again? they want to do over.

no president should have to go through this again. it is so bad for our great country. a hoax. the great hoax. our patriotic movement has been under assault from the very first day. we accomplished more than any other president has in the first two and a half years of a .residency and under circumstances that no president has had to deal with before. because of this great and illegal witchhunt, we think that nobody has been able to accomplish -- we have done things that no one has been able to accomplish. not even close. no one has done what we have done in two and a half years. we went through the greatest witchhunt in political history.

collusion was committed by the democrats. media, their operatives, and the people that funded the voting dossier. crooked hillary clinton and the dnc. it was all an illegal attempt to overturn the results of the ,lection, spy on our campaign which is what they did, and subvert our democracy. the insurance policy, just in case hillary clinton lost? remember the insurance policy? host: we will hear next from in illinois, voted for the president in 2016, hello. caller: good morning, pedro. i really appreciate this

opportunity. i have been watching a morning. i'm home recovering from some surgery. i noticed that you are voters for more specifics on why they wanted trump back in and why they voted for him. i have got a list here, if you will let me expound on it. would appreciate if you would use the same amount of questioning on some of the him anti-drivers. there's a lot of trump hatred there other than they does the like his personality. immigration. host: go ahead. caller: we have a great country. we need to have our borders sovereign to know who is coming and going. he has been working hard to copper something on that. he said he would stop isis. he did that.

when we sit there for the previous years, it was a weekly thing, we see people getting her hands cut off. he said he was going to stop that. ok question mark he did. sand. a line drawn in the nothing happened, no backbone. what happened? he come in, he took care of that. we have seen all of this in thesen in libya places. there's more turmoil there than ever. taxes, doing something on taxes. i know that people think they didn't get anything on their tax return, they are fitting it in their paycheck. host: ok, thank you for that and thank you for the list. bta, new york,dou go ahead. aller: i hope you give me chance to expound especially after your last caller.

i'm going to ask you a question. have we seen any american president in the last 50 years that lies as much as this man lies every day? secondly, let me ask you another question, pedro, and i hope he -- hope you answer this one. when mitch mcconnell set up this idea of opposing everything obama does and going to make sure he's a one term president, and then when trump was going around the country with chance of lock her up, lock her up, no republican ever said anything. host: ok, caller, aside from that, would you think of the president's reelection effort? pennsylvania, wisconsin,

and michigan, he is losing to joe biden and all of those states. losing to bernie sanders and all of those states. losing to kamala harris in all of those states. i bet you my last bottom dollar on this, he will lose that election. let's hear from a michigander, chris who voted for the president in 2016. go ahead. caller: thank you very much would take my call, i will appreciate it. divisiveness, everyone says the president is divisive. he won the presidency, so anyone not willing to follow him are not art -- or the ones being divisive. coal, we should open up all the coal plants in the country make a side deal with korea, because they run the country on coal and money is money. i think that we should sell cold to korea.

the electoral college, if there is one american citizen in california and one trillion illegal immigrants, then california should have the lowest electoral college points, not the highest. my last point is the best one, i thought about this three months ago for his new campaign slogan. i like cap, i love mag a, and his new slogan should be make america greater again. thank you very much. host: chris, michigan, giving us his thoughts on the presidential reelection effort. you can find that rally in florida online at our website, c-span.org. if you want to see that whole presentation, you can go to that. capitol hill, hope hicks is on the hill in front of the house judiciary committee. a closed meeting to be interviewed by members of that committee. he you see videos of her coming onto capitol hill. nbc and others reporting some of the issues that will be examined is that democrats went to

question her about the presidents conduct and attitude towards the former national security advisor michael flynn, his reaction when jeff sessions recused himself from the russian investigation, and the firing of jim comey among others. again, you saw there, hope picks on capitol hill being interviewed by members of the house judiciary committee. j, woodland, tennessee, did not vote in 2016. did not vote in the first election because i wasn't sure that i could trust president trump. he, the the things that statements that he has made, his sayises, i will have to that out of that the president i have been able to vote for since ronald reagan, he has come through more than any president since then.

for that reason, i will vote for president trump again. i believe he believes more in ,his country than any democrat regardless of what they say, what they promise. three quarters of what democrats say they want to do, this country is not ready for. it will never go through. if it does, it will be destroyed in this country. things will be 100 times worse. that's if their policies were to go through. host: let's go to tim, flat rock, michigan, go ahead. caller: -- host: tim, flat rock, hello? you are on, go ahead. caller: hello.

i did not vote for president trump. he's just a disaster, he has had a track record of failings. everything from trump airlines to trump steaks. you don't want someone who has that track record to be a president. with the way that he's handling these things, it's uncalled for, it's not humanity. even the pope called him out for the stuff he is doing. it says a lot. voted for the president, rodney, good morning. caller: good morning. i did vote for the president and i would vote for him again. but what's alarming is that people who oppose or reject the president and are not going to vote for him, they're not being, they are just, they just seem to be regurgitating what they hear

and what is being told to them without checking the facts. i hear a lot of i believe he's a liar. but you can believe a lot of things. you can believe people went to pluto, but there is no factual evidence that people did that. it's alarming when people say that. people stumble and stutter about why they reject him. i think that this president, the other gentleman that called from tennessee, he was truthful and honest. you have doubts about what you can do but you have never met him before, but his track record, he's been successful. host: so give me the number one reason you would vote for him again. caller: because -- host: a specific. caller: specifically? the economy, the economy is doing better. is it doing great, astronomically for me question mark no.

but for the american people it's doing better. there's more opportunity, there's jobs out there. companies are often looking for -- you can start your business, personally that's what i wanted to do. there's more opportunity for now. i believe that there is a chance will, an opportunity and that's what it's all about to make something for yourself and your family. ok, that's rodney, new york. this is democratic presidential candidate bernie sanders from vermont on facebook yesterday, commenting on the president's reelection speech from yesterday and highlighting some of the elements from it. [video clip] >> a president who is a racist, xenophobe,ophobic, a his strategy to win reelection is to divide the american people up based on the color of our

skin, based on where we were born, based on our sexual orientation. is not to allow him to do that. our job is to bring the american around an agenda that works for all of us. not just wealthy campaign contributors and the people on top. there is something profoundly wrong in america today when over 1% hast 30 years the top seen a $21 trillion increase in wealth, while the bottom 50% has getting aeen seen decrease in their wealth. and the gap is growing wider. host: other comments, andrew yang saying -- when i'm president the plan is to be too havesolving problems to

rallies for my reelection. from jay inslee -- tonight the president for trace himself as a patriot and less than a week ago he said he would conspire with foreign governments in order to win an election again. cooley and castro -- donald trump -- julian castro -- donald trump officially kicks off his campaign by spewing racist lies and fear mongering over immigrants, we must fight act against this agenda. that's or rourke, texas -- -- iteto o'rourke, texas will take all of us to defeat him. let's go to conrad, from plainville, new jersey. did not vote for the president. what do you think about his reelection efforts? did not vote for him the first time and i would never vote for him. for four years after barack obama signed the treaty with a was that part of the world

pretty quiet. things were pretty calm. it wasn't until a year ago that the president pulled the u.s. out of the treaty. why question mark barack obama was successful signing the treaty and this president has always been envious of the success of barack obama and he decided to rip up the treaty because he thought he could do a better one. he hasn't. he said we would have better health care. we have no health care, he's trying to undermine that. what i think is really sad is that if we wind up going to land war in iran, it will be for national security, will be because of the interests we have to satisfy the ego of a self racist,, narcissist, sexist homophobe, like bernie sanders said. by the way, the man lies constantly. saids rally yesterday he that we have got more people covered with health care now. we don't. no, i would never vote for this

man again. he's catastrophic, hundred, no curiosity about the world, which we are in the position we are now. i would never vote for his man, he's been a horrible president. ok.: many, next, did not vote in 2016. caller: hi, how you doing question mark host: fine, thank you. caller: first time calling, longtime listener. i'm an illegal -- i'm illegal immigrant from india. i moved here for graduate school in 2003. i have been years legally waiting in line and this or i will be applying for citizenship and hopefully i will get it so next year it will be my first chance to vote. me a long time to understand the u.s. political legal immigrants fall into the immigration debate . this president has done more for legal immigrants and the economy

and i'm very excited to be a first-time voter and also u.s. citizen. next 15 minutes or so, your thoughts on the presidential reelection campaign. you can wash his whole speech on www.c-span.org. if you voted for the president in 2016 and want to make comments on his right -- reelection campaign, (202) 748-8000. if you did not vote for the president, (202) 748-8001. and if you didn't vote, as some people have indicated this morning, (202) 748-8002. rob is next. independence, missouri, did not vote for the president, good morning. morning, pedro. good morning, everyone. used to be we had republicans and democrats, strong in each column and they voted for their candidate. with trump we definitely have a thatof cultlike following

no matter what he does, no matter how many wrongs he does or how many mistakes he makes, people still want to follow him. when clinton was impeached, i didn't oppose the impeachment. i said he deserved it for what he did. but what trump has done is far worse than what clinton could have imagined, commit treason by allowing foreign influence into the election. he's inviting them once again in the 2020 election. that's very disappointing, that so many of my fellow americans are going to be voting for him again. i think they should really rethink that strategy. thank you. this is christopher. christopher, from florida, voted the 16.president of -- in 2016. caller: whenever expect monarch residents to be more just. we have never dealt with that. we need to move -- move forward. more politics in america. mitch mcconnell, married to a

chinese nationalist. think about that relationship. host: hold on, christopher. hold on, the president's reelection effort, you voted for him in 2016? yes or no? caller: sure did. host: will you do it again? caller: no, i don't think so. there are better candidates like john marshall, alexander hamilton, james madison. host: who are no longer considered for the presidency at this. all right, this is nat, baltimore, maryland. caller: hello, i'm a democrat, world war ii veteran. i first voted for harry truman. i wavered with ronald reagan. i went for perot. i liked clinton. i didn't like trump. ornery.ust too anyway, i changed my mind. he said he's to do things and he

did them and now i'm going to vote for him this time. did: when you say that he things, what specifically did he do that changed your mind? caller: well, the border pressure against the republicans who like the cheap labor coming in. calling nato to task to pay their share. israel through the embassy to jerusalem and the clearing that the golan heights was good. it seems to me that he is driving everything that he said and he certainly is 100% trump for america. host: what prevented you from voting for him last time around? caller: just my new york and the momentum. york heritage,ew

some people say that because they say they know donald trump because of the donald trump of new york? i was born and -- caller: i was born and raised until i went into the army in -- in world war ii, a new york jewish boy and by definition a that meant i was a democrat. host: got you. baltimore,t, maryland, changing his mind for 2020. you can make comments in the moments that we have left before we go to our next event. richard, maryland, voted for the president 2016. go ahead. the supreme court is the main reason i would vote for him again. host: the work of appointing judges, a president nominating them, that kind of thing. caller: that's correct. host: why is that a top issue for you? well, i think the

supreme court and the judicial system has been liberal for a few generations now, since the 60's, really. i would like to see it come around and be more -- i'm somewhat conservative. host:4 does the president have to do anything -- host: does the president have to do anything to change? caller: i don't think so, seems to be working for them. i love how everyone is still talking about polls this early in. did them no good last time. you just can't count on the polls. let's hear from dave, who did not vote for the president in 2016. he's in irvine, california. caller: i didn't vote for donald trump, i would never vote for someone who is mentally ill. you have had doctors calling in describing him as a for terry and. he tore up that one guy, who called in and said about the

iran deal, they will get a nuclear missile and the next thing you know, they are going to attack us as they hate us. he should not have tore up that deal. he's the worst kind of president . he's un-american and he should not be president of the united dates. he's a racist, he calls mexicans murderers and rapists. he doesn't like muslims, he hates blacks. he's still going on about barack obama. there's something wrong with this guy. the people voting for him, do they know what 1984 means? a police state? he's a lawless president. host: all right, that's dave in irvine, california. part of his speech yesterday dealt with what he caller claims of progress that he has made with the african-american community. his comments. [video clip] >> the same far left politicians that ravage our great citizens and crush the dreams of the

african-american middle asked. the same people who threw open our borders and allow drugs, gangs, and illegal labor to devastate our poorest american communities, you know that. our political opponents looked down with hatred on our values and with utter disdain for the people whose lives they want to run. that is the way they have been doing it. and if you take a look at the african-american community, how much progress has been made, the lowest unemployment numbers in the history of our country. host: again, that whole speech available when you go to the , c-span.org. maria, go ahead, you are next. caller: hello, i'm a legal citizen here.

i married an american guy, i came to this country so i could marry. this is the first time i'm going to vote 2020 and i'm going to vote for trump because i made everything legal and it's not fair that legal people are coming here and they do what they want. that's not fair. we have to wait a long time to become citizens. presidentte this because he is giving jobs to the people. he is in courage in the people to work. that's how america was built. it's not fair that the democrats are trying to put that down. my former country was starting to be socialist. , am originally from ecuador that have socialism is starting. i don't want that for this country. where are they going to get the money from? we are going to lose our dignity

. i'm going to be proud to vote for this president. it comes to the topic of immigration, there's a story in "the new york times" talking about potential arrests from immigration and customs enforcement made by the president. this from the -- this report, senior ice officials were blindsided by mr. trump us tweet on the topic -- i have signaled for weeks that the agency would conduct raids targeting thousands of migrant families and thousands of communities, something that they confirmed on tuesday and ice has requested that agents in the branch of the agency that conduct long-term investigations into drug insist enforcement and removal operations deporting undocumented immigrants or into and thatsecurity agents were not clear what he was referencing in his tweets on monday, which came less than 24 hours before he was scheduled to appear in florida for a rally in

2020. lynn, portland, oregon. hi. caller: i will vote for him in 2020, but i wanted to comment on that one lady who thinks that he dictators.'s to my opinion is that he massages their egos so that he can get them to come to the table and do things that they wouldn't ordinarily do. they are used to people that just make orders and do what they want. that is ableebody to stand up to them at the table and gives them the little things they need to come to the table. another guy that called right after that calling trump a liar every day, i think that people don't listen to him. the way that his speech is, he speaks in hyperbole a lot of times and sometimes that is

reported as lies. and if that is all you listen to , some of the stations that reported that way, you're going to think he lies every day. but it's just the way he speaks. host: when it comes to voting for him again in 2020, what's your number one reason why? caller: his stand on pro-life. there is no other, even in the ballpark, person that comes close to that for the democrats and i wouldn't vote democrat anyway, i'm not a democrat, but i'm just saying, there's nobody that stands up for life the way that he does. if you have ever looked at a 3-d ultrasound, there is no way that you could call that not life. and when you have people who are surrogates, they just consider their body a house for this baby . not a part of themselves. is lynn from portland, oregon. steve, ohio, did not vote for president trump in 2016, go

ahead. hi, i just wanted to say little history lesson. the former soviet union got busted up and they blame the , for that historic event. now they are returning the favor and they are trying to stop the u.s. we have a president to is willing to go along with it. is to haveution those states that want to be living in a democratic society to form their own country. and those people that want to be ,nder an authoritarian person they would have their own country and they will be the solution. ok? host: kathy, morrisville, north

carolina, did not vote in 2016. hi, kathy. caller: i didn't vote because i couldn't vote for hillary or mr. president trump. i didn't know that much about president trump. i did know that i felt like hillary was a crook. i was born and raised a democrat. -- i'm embarrassed to democratit -- i was a because of the move toward socialism. but if any democrat and think about what's really going to happen if they decide to vote democrat and gets a president in that once socialism, what's going to happen to this country, it's just very -- host: what changed your mind in the last two years question mark three years? caller: it changed, it changed because i could see president trump doing what he said he was going to do.

and then just lately because of all of the democrats talking socialism. i cannot, these democrats that are listening to this, no matter what's happening with acialism, we would become third world country. host: julie is next in connecticut. brantford, hello. caller: hi, i want to say i'm a lifelong registered democrat, come from a long history of family democrats. volunteered for the democrats in my state and in my town. i just want to say that i voted for trump. i will vote for him again. he really wants what's best for our country. he's doing everything he said he would do. and for some reason i can just longer identify with the

democrats. it seems like they just identify with america. host: meaning what? they don't have any plans for americans. they don't care about americans. it's all about illegals. they spent $30 million on an investigation that they knew was unnecessary. they just, they want to have all of these investigations into election interference, but then they want to have illegals vote. how is that not election interference, i don't understand the thinking. host: ok, we'll hear from her. herb is in florida, house about to come in, go ahead. caller: hey how we doing today? host: fine, thanks, go ahead. caller: there used of the a lady in a wendy's commercial who said where's the beef, she was a jewish woman from new york. where's the beef, where's the beef. lately, i've been saying where's

the blacks? where's the blacks? you are theephen, last call for the house. make it quick. caller: i wanted to make a comment about the confusion between individuals and what america sees as a relative issue that we have in this country. no one is looking at the gop and its internal curve -- criminality of the policies they have read it in this country. between nixon, we all low what happened to him, there have been 91 criminal investigations of the gop through trump. that's not even including the trump investigation going on right now. i hope americans would get away from the factions that they belong to and start looking objectively at the policies the parties need to create for this country to be successful. that's stephen, illinois, last call for the segment and last call of the