>> we are going to leave the british house of commons as they consider other items. not expected to pass, we will update you on the brexit debate as it develops. if you missed any of this debate on brexit today, it will be available to view online shortly at our website, c-span.org. sure to watch our weekly broadcast of prime minister's questions, low-end stays at 7:00 a.m. eastern. you can see it on c-span two. president trump is expected to take part in a white house announcement of federal grants to help states with their opioid response shortly. 2:15.due to start at we will take you live when it gets underway. philip klein the state

executive editor of the washington examiner here to talk to us about republicans. we want to go to an opinion piece you wrote about the president. trump still has not realized that being president restricts what you should say and do. you wrote that regardless of whether one believes the actions outlined in mother's report amount to obstruction of justice, it is clear that he would've had significantly less work to do had trump recognized his words havent more gravity. tweets were clearly improper even if one does not believe they were legal. as he enters the 2020 election, his biggest vulnerability may be his utter inability to grasp the gravity of the office. specifically, the ways in which it limits what you can say or do. give us some other examples of that. main issue you have

on twitter the constant bombardment of insults. you have the comment where he referenced disloyal jews in reference to jews who vote democratic. a debate got into referring to disloyalty to other jews. that when youe is are desperate trump -- a celebrity, and he had an active twitter profile, and that benefited him in that the ,andidate -- as a candidate created the ability for him to dominate the news cycle, and always make the race about him. a crowded field -- once you become president even though you gain certain powers, it comes with certain limitations. people expect a certain

restraint. hether big example was when started tweeting out thoughts about trade war with china, , andking chairman powell -- after that the market tanked. and then he joked about the market tanking. things that she could move markets, create andrnational incidents create problems just through his words. i do not think that really set in. i think he thinks he can just fire things off as if he is a celebrity just commentating. host: do you think that he out -- it does not have effect among his supporters? if you canlook that look at some reactions, and both of them? let --that is one of the

one of the legacies of the weighty one. obviously bombastic -- saying bombastic things as a candidate. all of the altsere saying he could never win. first that he was never going to win the nomination, and then he could never win the presidency. experts were proven wrong, so that in a sense -- he obviously felt vindicated that his gut instincts and saying what comes to his mind, and trying to get a rise out of he won-- that politically, and so he see status as a successful strategy. it might not be successful in all cases. host: as the democratic field narrows, and traces become

-- his in his protect potential rival becomes apparent in early 2020. do you think his campaign approach will change? do you think he will tweet more in theis accomplishments first term as opposed to some of the attacks against other candidates? guest: if there is one constant it is that trump is not going to change. this is who he was when he was a candidate, it is who he has been as president. the idea that some people -- we he mays so now, where give a speech will be relatively calm on twitter for a week or so and people would say he is growing into the presidency. is this the day that he became president? et cetera.

therely, you wake up and is a storm of tweets about something or other attacking someone and so forth. is who he is.e he is a grown man and that is who -- the personality that he has is not going to change. bexpect that it is going to a brutal campaign. host: now executive editor of the washington examiner, commentary managing editor as well. you're talking about 2020 election issues. independents, (202) 748-8002. we welcome your comments on facebook as well and on twitter at host: and the most recent washington gang examiner weekly, legacy? story -- what

hardly a shred remains of obama's late unlimited presidency is the piece by david --. the president -- president trump , barely a day or week goes by where he doesn't reflect on what obama did. guest: also what has been interesting is -- if you look at the way the democratic primaries peopleying out, is that -- other candidates other than biden who is clearly trying to wrap himself in the obama legacy. a lot of the other candidates are trying to play this game of attacking the problems with the obama legacy. issues such as immigration. it is quite remarkable in the if you compare that

to ronald reagan and how decades -- for decades candidates seeking the republican nomination would always try to , so it isgan interesting that these -- basically a lot of the attacks on biden at a lot of the policies that are being outlined indemocrats are really going a different direction than the obama administration. who ran as candidate a transformational candidate, but a lot of his policy approach was more incremental than what the democrats are proposing now which is much more radical change. been an interesting developer. host: lots of calls waiting. get to matthew and -- ohio.

matthew, go ahead. caller: i believe that president trump is one of the most divisive and one of the worst residents in history. presidents in history. he has eroded our democracy. all he cares about us dividing americans on the basis of race, wealth, class. he has shown that that she has the comment that jews were disloyal if they vote against him which is so offensive. just ridiculous. really disgusting. i hated hearing that. i have friends who are jewish and -- it reminded them of a really dark place. all of the stuff that he has done from when he took office,

he is not doing anything at all to help himself. he is putting us together. being from the area, i did not really want him -- to be honest, to come to dayton after the shooting. like he got a lot of photo ops. it did not seem to help. , and local mayor politicians did a much better job healing the community. i think that -- i never voted for them in the first place, but i knew coming in once he got elected that -- host: thanks that. guest: thank you matthew. i think that it is definitely true that president trump is very polarizing. that she invokes

passionate feelings among both his supporters and his opponents. a lot of the things that he does that his court supporters like -- i think there are different categories. there are certain people that feel like trump is a brawler and that is a great contrast from republicans who preceded him who they view as trying to play by the liberals playbook and always getting beaten. they like the idea that trump is this bareknuckled brawler. there are other republicans who may winds at some of the things he says and does, but have a more transactional relationship. they see the direction that the democratic party is going and they say, well, trump is the less bad.

clearly some of the things he says, if you are a democrat who does not like what he says and sees him pursuing policies that he hates, clearly trump is going to be extremely unpopular. host: on the direction of the democratic party, this from maverick on twitter saying, radical changes what will be needed in order to save our economy and planet and regain our souls. guest: i think that this an interesting contrast. that is essentially the question facing democratic voters. i think that joe biden is presenting himself as the comfort food. you aree person when having a bad week and you just want macaroni and cheese or ice cream or whatever, something familiar. i think that is what biden's appeal is. not the idea that we need this radical change but the idea

that we could go back to normal. it does not have to be this president treating insults to people and waking up and feeling like what is the president -- what are we going to be fighting about today? on the other hand, you have these other candidates, elizabeth warren and bernie sanders currently leading the other non-biden candidates. we need a more radical goes -- noton that goes -- take us back to the obama years, but goes radically beyond that. if you listen to bernie sanders, it is revolutionary change. the rhetoric from elizabeth warren is a bit different, but is -- it is certainly radical policy changes. that is the question of democratic voters. ,r want to go back to normal

reset the clock with biden? or do they think that they need to crush the system. move in a tolly different direction. that is the choice that some other candidates are offering. host: we go to the republican line next. caller: [indiscernible] host: go ahead, you're on the air. i work in kansas city both timeso work donald trump was in town speaking on his campaign. he did a venue up the street from walmart. the supporters are somewhat angry. hopeful thinking you're going to help them. actually, the ones that support him -- he is hurting.

i do not understand his supporters. what is he doing to actually help? shootings, is, mean, it is ridiculous. what is his priority? is it the hotel? golf course in florida? ireland? what is his main priority ec? guest: thank you. you mention a few things there. issue, in the guns think that there are a lot of who areho support trump unnerved by some of the rhetoric coming out of the democrats. talking about confiscating guns. upbeto o'rourke brought

recently. that gunives believe ownership is a constitutional right. it has been recognized by the supreme court. it is in our second amendment. that is a fundamental freedom that is about self-defense. it is a bulwark against tyranny. when people talk about gun ownership, that sounds totalitarian to them. some of them on that particular issue would support president trump. host: hears michael in california. caller: good morning gentlemen. mr. klein, my question is about the republican senate. seems to havel

his whole campaign in kentucky -- which is a population of 4. million people -- in california we have 40 million -- his whole campaign is -- he is going to let the russian oligarch build in kentucky. we sanctioned this oligarch, and then mitch mcconnell relaxed at. my question is, do you know how many kentuckians will see a job from that traitorous act to win reelection? i am going maybe a thousand out of 4.5 million. he is going to base his whole campaign on the fact that he has given 1000 kentuckians a job. how do they fall for that? i am not familiar with the plant. one of the big issues that i know mitch mcconnell will be emphasizing his judicial confirmations.

clearly, that is been a massive priority. for a lotg priority of voters -- republican voters. certainly kentucky is very republican. that is one of the other big issues. host: back to the campaigns. one of your most recent pieces was about joe biden. a podcast he did with jonathan k part of the washington post -- your headline joe biden says almost anybody could beat rob and proof goes a key argument for his candidacy. -- theree biden has are liabilities in his candidacy. there are certain positions he took in the past that are at odds with a lot of current thinking among democrats.

he is much older than other candidates -- not bernie sanders. he would be the oldest president . host: how old would he be elected? guest: 78. that would be older on inauguration day then ronald reagan was when he left office in989. 80's roughlyn his midway through his presidency. i think the issue -- there are a lot of liabilities that biden has. one of the things he has had going for him is the idea that a lot of democrats can't stand the idea of four more years of trump and they are desperate to see him out of office. them, they want to go for what they perceive as the safer choice. ofn it comes to perception

who is the most electable, joe biden has been pulling while amaq never crowds. democratic voters perceiving him as the most electable. big argumentis a for him. if you want to beat trump, vote for me. but there has been a number of recent polls suggesting that other candidates do also -- are comfortably ahead of trump. it seems as though biden is pivoting away from the electability case. in this interview he kind of downplayed it a bit and said, well, almost anybody could be trump. in my view, that is risky ofause one of the benefits biden is you may not agree with me on everything but if you want

to be trump i am your guy. suddenly, nearly everybody could be trump -- maybe you start to look at o other candidates am ideologically closer to someone else. host: trent on our independent line. you're on with philip klein. just become a subscriber to the washington examiner. i enjoy it a lot. trump.g about i thought he was just going to be a transitional figure. i am now beginning to think he may be transformational. i thought he understood that in a machiavellian sense he had all -- that he was going to have to be the lion two. media, education, technologies, bureaucratic and hollywood. now i am beginning to think he is a fox too.

back to the previous conversation about -- it is always with the left, climate change, climate change. ted couple wrote a book. he is a marvelously respected man -- called lights out a few years ago. surviving the aftermath. urbed by leon panetta. they think there's a problem too. crisis, there could be a certain sense of we are not just having a crisis because of stupidity of man, it could be our moral beings. -- from the cornwall alliance who wanted to work from the heritage foundation, he is the major thinker against all this b.s. and says it is probably more of a spiritual problem for

america. likee american christians me are piling on into your publication because it is so well written. thank you. thank you for that. think that there are clearly a lot of issues facing america. aboutk that when we talk mass shootings and so forth, and -- is that are happening think that the deep polarization -- i think that there is an of people feeling disconnected. host: let's go to our republican line. caller: good morning.

i just want to comment on president trump. why is everybody blaming him for everything? president trump is -- for everything we have in this country. can anyone see it and defend him? callsnot a -- because he the united states to be the country that he wants to fight at present. why they blame him and everything? host: i will ask you. in 2020, one of the issues the president will run on? guest: i thick he is going to -- iabout the economy think he is going to talk about the economy. there are jitters in the market about whether we are heading for a recession.

if there is, it will complicate it. as of now we have historically low unemployment. growth has been solid. is a big issue he is going to talk about your there are also going to be a lot the election is going to be about him, trying to turn out the base in a number of different states. we are going to see issues such as his protection of gun rights. appointment of conservative judges. a lot of those issues. i know that for many republican voters who were -- maybe did not love a lot of his rhetoric -- rhetoric, they voted for him in 2016 because of the fact that he

was committed to appointing conservative judges. now that he has followed through talk -- toutan that. another thing will be attacking democrats for holding radical positions. that depends on who the nominee is, but if you have elizabeth warren who has called for the elimination of private health , whichce, and so forth would kick a hundred 80 million people out of their health insurance and put them on a government plan. i think that you will see a lot of that idea that is -- it could be an interesting contrast rhetorically says a lot of bombastic things. he is taking a lot of positions on issues, immigration and trade

being the outliers. judges, taxes and so forth. his positions are fairly consistent with what republican presidents have supported for a long time whereas the non-biden candidates are calling for a radical break with where democratic presidents have traditionally been. rhetoricalave this radicalism versus policy radicalism. host: philip klein with the washington examiner. read more at washingtonexaminer.com. thanks for being with us. >> at the british house of commons moments ago, members voted on a bill that would block a new deal brexit. leaving the european union without a plan. the deadline to leave the eu is october 31. 329-300.tally was a series of amendments are now being debated.