press conference. that is live at 2:30 eastern. as a reminder, you can also online at c-span.org, and listen on the free c-span radio app. >> reagan is an intellectual. he is an intellectual. he is comfortable with our ideas and understands the power of ideas. with that kind of intellectual foundation, a political leader can do all kinds of marvelous things. >> author and historian lee edwards will be our guest on "in-depth." mr. edwards is the author of "just right," and also has a series of biographies on herbert hoover, goldwater, and ronald reagan. and be sure to watch our coverage of the international

book festival on august 31 on book tv, on c-span two. host: last night for the debate in detroit hosted by cnn. here is a headline from some of the major national papers. sanders and times, war in battle. accusations of very deal promises and interparty rift flares. fairytale promises and of interparty rift flares. they talk about sanders and warren fighting back against moderates in the debate. also from the washington post, in contentious democratic debate, divisions on health care separate liberals and moderates. and finally, sanders and more and take friendly fire on health care agenda. your thoughts, been in west virginia, a republican. caller: good morning. host: good morning, what did you think of the debate?

well, you know i have a republican. i see that this democratic process has been an ongoing -- , can you press mute on your tv? right. the democratic process, ever since the clinton days, has been a ridiculous freak show. they have nothing to do but wine and -- but whil had caughtmne -- whine and cause as much commotion as they can possibly come up with. it is an ongoing charade and it is getting worse and worse by the day. they have no plans, they have nothing tangible to go on. astronomers, factors.

i think president trump's agenda is doable. the southern border crisis, that is not our fight. us go home and solve our own problems. host: are you set as president -- on president trump is your candidate in 2020? caller: yes, i am. host: is it because of what he has been doing? i like what he has been doing. he has stomped through this democratic party coalition better than anyone else has, putting up with their rhetoric and harassment. he will not be deterred. i think his program is doable and i am all for it. host: ok, i will leave it there. in hudson, new york,

independent. caller: good morning, greta. i'm in castleton, not hudson. host: on hudson? caller: oh, yes. host: ok, go ahead. caller: it sounds very high class but it is very middle-class. i did not watch much of the debates last night. there was something better on tv, and i have more or less coalesced around a few candidates. my main choice right now. he is middle-of-the-road, he speaks to the middle class, and that was the problem with the democrats under clinton -- hillary, that is, not bill. thedemocrats forgot who middle-class work. she was always endorsing all these fringe groups, which is fine, but i am middle-class. raised ateran, i family, i worked for a corporation for 35 years -- i

have earned my retirement. i'm 70 plus right now. i still work a part-time job. i view this whole thing right peoplea stage full of selling books or running for, getting free advertisement for the office they are running for, just trying to get some notoriety. host: ok. and al, the name joe biden did not come up at last night's debate. mary, democratic caller. marian, what did you think of last night? caller: i have to agree with the brother from virginia. i am a democrat, but this is so disappointing. i cannot believe where we are right now. the democratic party needs to get it together. so far, with everybody on the number onemp is for me.

this stuff about people walking through our borders and doing whatever they want to, it can't happen. host: has immigration always been a single issue that you vote on year after year, or is it something new for you? honest i am going to be with you, i am not in arizona, nor am i in texas, but hearing from the brothers and sisters in hearing whatadherin and they have to go through, i feel bad, but i agree with the president. you apply in your country, then you decide to get a paper and come here. we will help you as best you can. but you cannot walk around our country and do whatever you please and then tell us what we should be doing with our country? i speak spanish. i know what these people are saying. i have to tell you, that cannot happen. that is this one issue,

how you are going to make your decision? caller: absolutely. absolutely. time those 20, 30 people on the stage start talking reality, until then, trump is my man. host: ok. bill isherwood, illinois, republican. sherwood, illinois, republican. caller: you talk about this crisis, we had clinton and bush, "is in this country. and obama -- i liked obama, i respected him as a president and voted for him. flight is over. all the whites moved to the suburbs. all i am seeing from these new candidates is wanting to start another white flight. where are white people going to move? i do not think that was too

racist, but a lot of people said that it was very racist, what president obama said. thank you. host: chelsea in alabama. good morning, chelsea. caller: good morning. i'm calling to make a comment. i did watch the debate all the way last night, and the candidate that stood out to me the most was mayor pete. i love mayor pete. i liked a lot of his ideas and a lot of the things that he was saying, but do i think america is ready for him? i don't know. now, i like elizabeth warren and as, i bernie, and as far was listening to a couple of the callers, the comments they were making about the border and everything -- i wish that people , nobody is saying that they just want to have the border open and for people to walk over and just walk through here. it wasn't a crisis until

president trump got in there and made it a crisis. they are telling me that obama deported more people under his presidency, that means things were getting handled and it wasn't the problem, but they were getting handled and people were still able to come over here and seek asylum and come over, and i think they need to go over there and maybe pick some of those places and stop people from fleeing. that is the root of the problem. host: chelsea, what do you do for a living in mobile, alabama? caller: i am in management. host: ok. what do you like about mayor pete's ideas? caller: i like mayor pete because, number one, i do think that sometimes we need to do something new and we need fresh ideas of their -- up there. he is the only candidate thus

far that is talking about doing something new. maybe reconstructing some things, you know, as far as the government? he was talking about some things, because maybe it is time we look at some things that don't work and reconstruct some withs, just like you have anything. i think that america is great and everything, but i am looking for someone that is going to tell me how to make it better for everybody. host: and something we want to show our viewers, mayor pete talking about his record as mayor of south bend, indiana. >> as an urban mayor serving a diverse community, the racial divide lives within me. i am not saying that i became racism, crime, or poverty ended on my watch, but in our city we have come together repeatedly to tackle challenges, like the fact that far too many people were not getting the help they needed in their housing, so we redirected

it to a historically underinvested african-american neighborhood. right now, in the wake of a police involved shooting, our community is moving from hurting to healing to make sure the community can participate in things like revising the use of force policy and making sure there are community voices on the board of safety that handles police matters. i propose a plan to tackle this issue nationally, because mayors have hit the limits on what you nationalless there is action. systemic racism has touched every part of american life, to holdsing to help ownership. if you are applying for a job and you are black, you are less likely to be called just because of the name on the resume. it is why i have proposed why we do everything from investing in historically redline blackorhoods to build homeownership stood supporting entrepreneurship for black communities. host:

the time limit is horrible tweeted one. i stopped watching when i realized no one could finish an answer to a question. another user added, this format is a disaster. one person said they quote, hate this freaking time limit. and then the week magazine on its website, took a look at another aspect of the debate, the start saying after a minutes long video sitting up the stakes for the night, the candidates were invited one by one onto stage but there was an elaborate

presentation of colors and the national anthem and then a commercial break. after 15 minutes, the candidates were finally invited to deliver their opening marks. only 10 minutes later did cnn finally dive into the suss -- the substance of the debate. sue ine -- host: florida, democrat. caller: i am calling because i watched the debate last night and was left terribly frustrated. i love mayor pete. i think he is the only one who made any sense. we have got to figure out as democrats, if we want to overthrow trump and 2020, how to coalesce and come together and stop making comments that are not going -- about that is not going to work, we will change the government, we have to appeal to those people -- i live in florida, ohio, minnesota, michigan, and figure out what it is they need to hear, and then we need to figure out how to

make them happy so they want to vote trump out. host: john in virginia, independent. and thanksd morning for having me on. when i think of who would be the best candidate to debate trump on stage, i think it is bernie sanders. long votinga record, he has been consistent in his messaging throughout the 2016 campaign and today. the idea of having health care for all or college education paid for, i don't think it is radical. when i think of my kids or grandkids, being able to have a better life, a better job, maybe longer in health because they have better health care, i don't think those ideas are impossible at all. if we can pay for four more

years, that does not sound extreme to me. host: eric in virginia, republican. can you start over? we missed the top. caller: i would like to comment on the democratic party's tactics in dealing with donald trump over the past couple of years and now this upcoming election. the problem is that donald trump can be radical. response should be even more radical and then completelyis ultra out of control faction of the democratic party which takes it more extreme but the bottom line is, what they are fighting for does not resonate with people. whatever what party -- no matter what party or profession you are, you can't do things such as

go across the border and start campaigning. you can't go about -- talk about the rights of people from other countries over the rights of people in this country. you can't talk about just paying without thinking how you're going to be paying things. people may not be educated but they are not stupid. when you have someone like a central left person like john delaney getting shut down and attacked and the democrats i really believe, the candidates feel that donald trump was radical and people want what is radical so we have to be more radical but the problem is, they are going down a deadhead -- a dead end rabbit hole. your candidate? is it the president? caller: it will be the president and i tell people this. unless you can tell me that -- tell me something that has happened in the past two and a half years that has been detrimental to this country other than the social division

which is fueled by the media. we have not had an attack on the homeland. the wars in iraq and afghanistan are going down. the stock market is going up. are the lowestte in history. that is what people are looking at. unless you can show me something that says this person didn't do a good job, i know people don't like his style, i understand that. you have to look at the substance. i think at the end of the day, no matter what happens, people get emotional over certain things but when you look at it on paper, what bad has happened in this country? absolutely nothing. i guarantee you the overwhelming majority of americans in the country today are better off today than they were prior to the election whether you want to give it to the president or not. up in maryland, richard,

democrat. which of these candidates do you think could win the democratic nomination? caller: good morning. pete.e would go for mayor i think he did and exceptional job last night. , think that what we are seeing i believe the democrats have a much deeper plan in place than what most people realize. what weare seeking, -- are seeing, what we were shown last night was a clear generational shift. we have candidates like bernie whoers and elizabeth warren are longtime democrats and have these incredible ideas and they are almost think tanks, while we are bringing in the millennial

generation. i strongly believe that candidates like mayor pete or even some of the other younger candidates are going to help usher in a new age of millenials. host: let's show that moment last night because the moderators noted the age difference on the stage and here is how mayor pete responded. [video clip] >> i don't care how old you are. i care about your vision. i do think it matters that we have a new generation of leaders stepping up around the world. is good that the prime minister of new zealand got a lot of attention in democratic debates. she is younger than i would be if i take office. this is the kind of trend america might be leading instead of following it only if it is backed by the right vision and we can have great presidents at any age. we need the kind of vision that will win. we can't have a vision that amounts to -- feeling reason we

got this president is that normal didn't work. we have to be ready to take on this president and southern it has not been talked about as much tonight, take on his enablers in congress. ran for congress or governor, the republican party 20 years ago ran away from him. today, they are supporting naked racism in the white house and are at best silent. if you are watching this at home and you are a republican member of congress, consider the fact that when the sun sets on your career and they are writing your story, of all the good and bad things you did in your life, the thing you will be room ever for is whether in this moment with this president you found the courage to stand up to him or you continue to put party over country. [applause] pete is right. it is a question of vision.

whether you are young or old. my vision among other things says that if we are going to fight for health care, we don't take money from the drug companies or the insurance companies. i have asked all the candidates who are running to say they will not accept money from those entities who in my view are going to war against the american people in terms of health care. that is a new vision. must vision says that we debtl completely, student because the younger generation in this country today for the first time in modern american history will have a lower standard of living than their parents. host: 77-year-old senator sanders, the oldest candidate on the stage last night standing next to the youngest, mader -- mayor pete buttigieg. brian in michigan, independent.

caller: good morning. last night when i watched it, it seem like they were saying the exact opposite things they said last month. host: on what? caller: bernie sanders wanted a secure border last night and yet we were going to let all the illegals in. immigration, would you mention the senate bill where it is taking the camp off of immigration, would you mention the senatehigh-end immi? talk about the millions of doctors -- the same senators who were talking about lowering immigration are not talking that took senate bill off all the limits. hypocrites. being they are not even talking about that. i am in the detroit area and it was not even televised in detroit. you had to go to cnn to see the

show. they did not want local people to see the show. this is terrible. e-verify would eliminate all of it but not one senator or congressman once that because it would eliminate everything. host: pedro? guest: reaction from the republican national committee last night saying on the debate stage, americas witnessed a -- americans witnessed a doubling down on the radical socialist proposal. of healthnt takeover care, decriminalizing illegal immigration, they're out of touch priorities on full display. voters will choose four more years of this great american comeback rather than allow democrats to take us backward. a piece from last night's debate, the centrist did not hold is the title. the root flaw of the debate was that because of the lack of a draw, sanders and warren weren't

against -- weren't set against the only two moderates in their league, biden and harris. biting could articulate policies on the debate stage. elizabeth warren proved to be a skilled dunker when she went after delaney by saying quote, i don't understand why some he goes to the trouble of running for president just to talk about what we can't do and should not fight for. that cut to the core issue. the moderates were defined by what they opposed rather than what they supported. the only have -- the only had a negative ideology of naysaying and premature surrender. indiana, our next caller is a republican. caller: good morning. i watched a little bit. i only have one comment, these guys running for the democratic president,he u.s.

they are practically running for the illegal aliens and the people that come here illegally and the people that have to go to work4 and support all these guys and then give everybody free things. that is the only comment i have. host: are you voting for president trump? caller: yes. host: jesse in new mexico, democratic caller. who is your candidate? i just wanted to say that i am a teacher getting ready for this next school year and i think this idea of free college for all is really not a good idea. i don't think taxpayers should have to subsidize the tuition for kids going to harvard and yale and princeton and usc and ucla and berkeley, stanford. that is a horrible idea and i

think the democrats need to focus on winning some specific states. ohio, michigan, illinois, thinkia, new york, and i the three top people from last night would be from winning york,es, delaney from new number two would be tim ryan from ohio because we need to win ohio and number one, and i am going to vote for her, is klobuchar. i like her, she is from the midwest. host: amy klobuchar from minnesota. john delaney is a former congressman from maryland and he was asked about senator warren's wealth tax at the debate. here is what he had to say. [video clip] >> i think wealthy americans have to pay more. i grew up in a blue-collar family. first and my family to go to college. i became a successful

entrepreneur and supported thousands of entrepreneurs all across this country and i have done well financially. i think i. should pay more in tax. i think wealthy americans should pay more but we have to have a real solution. the real solution is to raid the capital gains rate. there is no reason why people who invest for a living should pay less than people who work for a living. that is ridiculous. it is the biggest loophole in our tax code. we act like wealthy individuals are endangered species and if we don't -- if we raise their taxes they won't invest. that is crazy. that is how we get more revenue, we roll back the trump tax cuts to wealthy individuals. the wealth tax will be fought in court forever. it is arguably unconstitutional in the countries that have had it have largely abandoned it because it is impossible to implement. a real solution, not impossible possible problem -- promises. raise the capital gains tax and rollback the tax cuts.

>> i have proposed a wealth tax. it is now time to do that. it is time to tax the top 1/10 of 1% of fortunes in this country. your first $50 million you can keep free and clear but your 50 million -- you have to pitch into sense. cents.h in two we can provide universal childcare for every child in this country. we can provide universe -- we can provide pre-k for every three-year-old and four-year-old. we can raise the wages of every childcare worker and preschool teacher in this country. we can provide universal tuition free college. put $50xpand pell and million into our historically black colleges and universities and we can cancel student loan debt for 95% of the people who have it and start to close the wealth gap in america. it tells you how badly broken

this economy is. cents from the wealthiest americans would let us invest in the rest of america. >> this is not about whether wealthy americans should pay more. i think we are in agreement on that. it is a question of if you have a real solution to make it happen. we can raise the capital gains rate to match ordinary income. the first is proposed doing that was ronald reagan -- the first to propose doing that was ronald reagan. i call for the extension of universal pre-k so every american has pre-k and i do it through an additional tax on high network individuals. we don't need to come up with new taxes that are arguably unconstitutional. host: back to your calls about last night democrat 2020 debate. it was the first of two. the second debate for the democratic candidates, over 20 of them running. who do you think was the winner?

ed in new york, a republican. caller: i watched some of the debate last night and i thought we closed down the circus years ago but now i know where the workers went. -- she hascare end, gone blind and she has a disease and every tribe -- meantime we've got people coming into this country that the democrats are more worried about and we have people that are americans here, suffering just for health care, that alone to survive and live in the state we live in. we can't we live in, declaw a cat but we can kill babies. there are a lot of things happening in this country that is not right and i will be voting for trump. host: mark in connecticut, democratic caller. caller: pardon? host: your turn. caller: good morning.

i would like to say hello america. just trying to calm everyone down for a minute. black, white, not a race, any color, not a race. when trump was going after the women, they did not look at them as women, they looked at them as race. they were saying race, race, sexism. it was actually host: did you watch the debate? caller: yeah. host: what did you think about it? they did not give them enough time to make the points they really wanted to make and

allow them to answer the questions that they were of like, so it was kind -- peopleeggs, it kind of understood a little bit but they still did not get to finish what they really wanted to say. they were interrupted to quickly. pedro -- host: pedro. guest: last hour we showed you and interview conducted with president trump at the white house. another portion, he was asked about others calling the president a racist. here is president trump's response. [video clip] cummingsssman elijah calls you a racist. what is your reaction? >> the racist -- the term has gone down a long way because everyone is called a racist.

her own party called nancy pelosi a racist two weeks ago. the word is so overused. i am the least racist person there is in the world as far as i am concerned. run use it almost when they out of things to criticize. they say he is a racist and in some cases it is true. , they have a hard time getting away with it and they don't get away with it and if you look at what i have done -- african-americans between look at criminal justice reform. president obama tried so hard to get it and he didn't get it. look at the opportunities, tremendous success, not covered but we did that as an experiment -- i think it is one of the most successful things ever done for the inner cities. tim scott of south carolina worked very hard on it. so many other people did. it has become a great success.

the biggest beneficiary are african-americans. it is incredible what has happened but between that, criminal justice reform and the biggest thing is the lowest unemployment rate in the history of this country for african-americans. the lowest in the history by far. and --u see those things the news, mainstream media or fake news, if it would be covered, but they don't talk about that. they don't talk about opportunities. i have not seen anything about opportunities. when i did criminal justice reform, everybody was saying -- i won't tell you names but the biggest names were there, on the others, the liberal and conservative side, very

bipartisan but they don't talk about it anymore. if president obama did criminal justice reform which is so good for the african-americans, so good, so important, letting alice out, 28 years left to serve, jack johnson who was so unjustly convicted, the great heavyweight champion from the early 1900s -- so many things we have done. if president obama did that, it would have been great. when i do it, people don't want to talk about it. host: you can watch the entire interview if you go to our website. did you watch the debate george? caller: i did. host: as an independent, would you consider voting for one of these democratic candidates? caller: no, because i don't understand what they are talking about. they're talking about how much everything is going to cost.

$82 trillion. where is that coming from? it is coming from my pocket. i am an independent and i make $50,000 a year and that's it. all of my money is going to go away? i don't get it. that is what my problem is with this whole thing. well here is about -- it is, we are just going to throw this out there, free education, free this, free that. i paid for my education. i went to school, my parents paid for the classes, trimesters and i paid for the books and the books cost the most and i did it. that is the thing that is frustrating. host: are you set on president trump? caller: i am not set on anything. president trump has issues. he has problems. he wants to spurt out all kinds of bad stuff or whatever but i don't think he is a racist.

i think he is a bit problematic. he is like your bad grandpa. he is there, he is 70 and he says i don't like you, that kind of thing. what if it is former vice president joe biden versus president trump and the general election? would you consider voting for biden caller: caller:? consider voting for biting? caller: -- for biden? caller: because i -- no, because i worked hard for my money. host: that is somewhat of the message you heard from others last night like john delaney. would you vote for him? one thate is the only made sense. he made sense. host: steve bolick? caller: now. -- no. delaney is the only one that made sense.

camedn't attack trump, he out with his first statement but i don't know how this country is going to get better if we have more trillion dollars. i know trump is not doing the best in the world but in the last three months i made $12,000 in my 401(k). no one has ever done that for me. host: what do you do for a living? caller: i work. right now i am on vacation. companyor an employment and unemployment is the lowest it has ever been. that is on. it is rare -- that is on. -- that is odd. that is rare. it is unbelievable. not since 1969 if we had that kind of unemployment. host: george in florida, independent.

jerome in california, republican. caller: good morning. -- the gentleman who called in earlier and said what has that president done to hurt me, well he is a man with no integrity and less compassion for the american public. he has stolen, lied and cheated the american public. he only passed one bill and that is the tax cut. everything else he has done has been through the edict of the crown and not the people. he has written nothing but executive orders to get his stuff passed through. he is ruining a majority of our relations with foreign governments. he has brought this country to the highest deficit on record with recent headlines proving that. the myth --ased military industrial, purchasing overpriced jets that were overpriced for the time it was only -- and he has harmed the farmers with these tariffs.

he also made that great statement that there is a sucker born every minute, once again true in this country. host: you are a republican. have you always voted republican? caller: i am not a republican. i am a person that does not have a party. i don't believe in parties. i believe in voting for the person and so when i hear these people talk, i close my eyes so i don't listen to their bias, i hear their voice and right now, to tell you the truth, i see a lot of great secretaries and only a very good -- only a few presidential candidates and that is what i am looking for. i don't like kamala harris because she is an executive order person. i want our next president to have to do what the will of the people say and the will of the people is the house and congress. sometimes i don't like either party having all the control but

i don't know anymore. i am so frightened for this country. i am frightened for the soul of this country. host: maggie in virginia, democratic caller. caller: hello. there are great candidates. i wish there was a magic potion we could mix parts from each candidate and make one great candidate but that is dreaming. the thing about the debates yesterday, i believe in my heart and basically, mr. delaney ms. klobuchar where the winners. they were went -- they were middle-of-the-road people. --y can bring the ideas from and they can govern better,

rather than going to the extreme right or extreme left. steve in missouri, independent caller. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. is, being an independent, there is nobody to represent us. there are some good points on each side. it is so extreme, the closest one that i could think of voting for is elizabeth warren. best and least at the i like bernie sanders in some ways but he is too far out there. if you raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, just a blanket across the whole country, that isn't going to work because a lot of small businesses are going to go out of business. we should help immigrants. we've got extra food in this country. food to ship the extra

these countries to improve their lives without giving millions and millions of dollars to the corrupt crooked government and trump is off his rocker. everything he says that other people are doing, if he calls somebody a racist, he is the racist. if he says they are corrupt, he is corrupt. if he says fake news, he's got fox news. host: what issues are the most important to you that you want the candidates talking about? caller: there are two issues at the very top, the budget and health care. bernie sanders got that down pat. you've got to get the insurance companies out and make it a nonprofit thing. saying keep the insurance companies are the ones getting paid off by the insurance companies. the other one is the budget. the overblown military, the health care and the tax cuts.

we have to get the electoral college out of there. i live in missouri and whether you are red or blue your vote doesn't count. we have to get that out. host: judy in michigan, republican. who is your candidate? is it the president? caller: yes it is. it is trump. host: did you watch any of the debate? caller: i watched the whole thing and even taped it. host: which one of those candidates on the stage do you think could pose a challenge? caller: i would imagine it would be warren. not because i think she is going i guess democrats might listen to her.

bernie sanders is angry looking and i don't need an angry president in our white house. i just don't. one issue that came up according to politico 25 times was climate change last night. here is an exchange between senator sanders and representative tim ryan and governor bolick. [video clip] >> i get a little bit tired of democrats afraid of big ideas. republicans are not afraid of big ideas. they could give a trillion dollar tax break to billionaires and profitable corporations. they could bailout the crooks on wall street. so please don't tell me that we cannot take on the fossil fuel industry and nothing happens unless we do that. here is the bottom line. we have to ask ourselves, what do you do with an industry that ofwingly for billions

dollars in short-term profits is destroying this planet? i say that is criminal activity cannot be allowed to continue. >> congressman, your response? >> i did not say we couldn't get there until 2040. all i'm saying is, we have to thing our way out of this and if we are waiting for 2040 for a man to come in on gasoline -- a band to come in on gasoline vehicles, we are screwed. get a chief manufacturing officer, align the environmental incentives with the financial incentives and make sure that people can actually make money off of the new technologies that are moving forward. ase is what i will do president, cut the worker in on the deal. make sure these are union jobs to make announcer: