presidency from fdr to trump." as always, we will take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter as well. washington journal is next. ♪ host: good morning. a busy week for the senate with votes on a number of presidential nominations and the expected passage of a short-term spending bill that funds the government through november 21. it is sunday morning, september andon the weekend presidential politics we will have the latest poll that shows senator elizabeth warren taking a numeral -- narrow lead over former vice president joe biden in iowa. we begin our first hour with iran. and this question -- whether or not you think military intervention is necessary. we are dividing our phone lines

between democrats, republicans, and independents. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. if you are an independent, (202) 748-8002. you can join us on social media 3,d text us at (202) 748-800 at twitter on @cspanwj were at facebook on facebook.com/cspan. about, including whether you think we should begin with military action in iran. we will get to your calls in a moment. here's the latest from the wall street journal. the yemeni rebels warning another strike soon. some of the details from the wall street journal. houthi militants have warned that iran is preparing a follow-up strike to the attack that crippled saudi arabia's will industry peer leaders say they were raising the alarm about a possible new attack after they were pressed by iran.

that is from the wall street journal. the washington post has this editorial. step back from the brink -- president trump's best way forward with saudi arabia and iran is to de-escalate. the full editorial is available at wsj.com. [video clip] clear and there is in a norma's consensus that we know -- and enormous consensus that we know who conducted these attacks -- iran. i do not hear anybody in the region who doubted that for a moment. iran isign minister of threatening all-out war. we are here to build a coalition aimed at achieving peace. that is my mission. that is what president trump wants me to work to achieve. already some of your

reaction on social media. doug says, "keep our troops out of the middle east. this is part of the reason we are so hated over there." -- from the wall street journal story we read a moment ago. who did iran attack? not us. this saying iran controls what happens going forward. we go back to the washington post editorial. according to the editorial, the president making a number of mistakes with regards to his handling of iran and then concluding with this. u.s. interests do not justify a military conflict with iran. the mr. trump may not want war, his errors have brought them to the brink of it. the iranian leadership is rejecting his offers. experts believe it will continue

to step up attacks on saudi and other targets in the persian gulf as long as the president's sanctions are in place. his best course is to find a way to de-escalate. let's get your phone calls, whether or not you support or oppose military action in iran. on the republican line for michigan, good morning. (202) 748-8001 i do not support it -- i do not support it -- guest: i do not support it. i almost lost my grandson in afghanistan and he will face repercussions the rest of his life. i think it is time the country starts fighting their own battles. i do not have a problem with supplying them with arms. when are people going to fight for themselves if we have to intervene all the time? host: your grandson served where? guest: he served in afghanistan. he was injured. host: in the army?

guest: marine corps. brain -- two his tbi's. he had to have his spine in a metal case. host: good luck to him. more reaction from the possibility of military action in iran from democratic senator. [video clip] >> we need to have a conversation as a country and congress about whether or not this is directly relevant to america's interests as to justify military action. diplomatic action is what is called for first and our president should come to congress and make that case if he is determined that this is what calls for military action. my concern is that iran is an that is clearly willing to use additional resources if that is what this intelligence bears out to carry

aremore erect attacks that to steve bullock -- destabilizing against saudi arabia. iran has projected into iraq, into yemen. this latest incident could well be the next step in the escalation of challenges. host: that from democratic senator chris coons. our question -- whether you support military action in iran. we welcome our listeners on c-span radio and the dsp -- in the d.c. area and every sunday morning we are on potus channel 124. we welcome our viewers and viewers innd our great britain. back to our phone calls. first, this tweet from a viewer saying no way should we get involved in any other military inaction -- military action involving middle eastern countries. we have spilled enough blood in

that part of the world already and it is all about oil. from batavia, illinois, democrats line. scully, anding, mr. to c-span viewers. not at this point militarily. asit comes to that, as far military episode, we should build a coalition. mr. trump is not competent enough to gather them together, a coalition of other countries who depend on middle east oil. boots on the ground is not necessary. for the foreseeable future. .hey can be handled withcan be handled

aircraft and drone strikes. that should not be too much of a -- do not reach for the button. i am making good points. host: i am reaching for the new york times. i want to make sure we can show the headlines. please continue. if donald trump can actually listen to his military advisors who are -- have the best idea of how to handle this situation, if you can consciously be thoughtful to do that, then this can be gotten through. we will not have to have any major disruptions in anybody's economy and certainly our own. host: there are three stories we want to bring to our attention. front page of new york times --

inside a deadly american summer. a look at the faces of those who died as a result of mass shootings and gun violence. next to that, ukraine becoming a contested point in the race for 2020. fallout from that july call. on the others of the front page of the new york times, the attack on iran shocking aids to president trump. an inside account on how the president decided against military intervention in iran 10 minutes before the strikes were about to take place. that surprising everyone, including his national security team and vice president mike pence. that story front page of the new york times and on its website. tyrone a new york city. guest: i hope that we do not have to have military intervention in iran. , peoplehe young people from the age of 30 on down, have to realize that they are the ones that are going to go out there and have to die for oil.

we should not have to have this situation to deal with. if we get off of oil and go to a more cleaner way of living, we -- the good thing about trump is that he is afraid of dealing with this lawsuit -- this situation. he don't like war, but he is the one that has to make the decision if these young men go out there and die. we lost thousands of troops in iraq. for what? and afghanistan. because they came into the united states. we could have dealt with that without losing the people we have lost. we need to think clearly before we go inside this iran situation , which is unnecessary. they do not kill anybody in saudi arabia. ,hen they bombed saudi arabia

the oil fields, that is what we are angry about, that they bombed the oil fields. now we are going to send people out there to die? think about this. host: this is a story from the guardian newspaper. it is available online. the headline is that iran is saying it will destroy any aggressor as tensions build in the gulf. iran has threatened to pursue and destroy any aggressor and says war a be unavoidable in the wake of drone attacks on saudi arabia and oil fields and the u.s. troop buildup in the gulf after the head of iran's elite republican guard said limited aggression will not remain limited. the armenian foreign minister telling cbs news he was not confident war could be avoided while denying iranian involvement in those attacks in saudi arabia. the question we are asking -- do you support any military action

in iran? from yuba city, california, republican line. guest: thank you for taking my call. i first want to say thank god president trump is in office. i believe he will be reelected. that being said, i support what the president is doing. i think he is very smart and careful. he is not afraid of anything, but he wants to do the right thing. and all arell know aware about what iran has done in past years. i feel and support military action. i think it can be done quickly i truly believe the president knows what he is doing . host: thanks for the call. from the cover of time magazine, the new american addiction -- how juul hooked kids and ignited

a public health crisis. from el paso, texas, republican line on the issue of iran, military action. guest: good morning. i voted for president trump. right now, i'm debating whether to vote for him again. believe i will put the country ahead of this man. i support military strikes, but not military intervention. war, but war want wants you. thisan keeps on doing after the drones and the ship attacks, our economy will be affected. a tweet that you are cocked and loaded and then you back down, everybody sees that, not just iran.

north korea, china, russia, cuba, venezuela. you are sending the wrong message. you are going to get americans killed. what happenedinto with those 737 boeing max jets. a look at what caused the deadly crashes and what is next for boeing and this popular jet used by a number of airlines, including american and southwest. maxine is joining us from michigan, independent line. guest: good morning. i think a lot of people are forgetting when we gave these terrorists the technology to be able to commit drone bombings. if we arenk that deploying in the middle east, the way i have seen it, the way i have read it, it is for defensive measures. measuresfor defensive

to save the lives of civilians in those countries. host: randy is next for michigan. i would like to thank you and all the other men and women it takes to bring us this great program. host: thank you for watching. we could not it without you watching. have, andhink what we my opinion, what we have now, right now, is a problem of somebody got their bluster called. somebody just called his bluff and that was the iranians. when you go around and threaten somebody when you do not know the history of the region, you are really asking for a lot of trouble. saudi arabia is the one in trouble. out theirran can take water supply. they have that deceleration plan. i know i did not pronounce it right. , you shook up a hornet's nest.

now you cannot get out of the problem you started. host: this is the headline from foreign policy current let me get your reaction to it. it says the real reason the president will not attack iran is that starting a war to protect oil markets will only backfire. agree or disagree with that sentiment? guest: i agree on the fact that if you look at the region, -- iran right now has the upper hand because they can , saudi -- and the straight. -- strait of hormuz. the are putting pressure on president because he threatened to destroy the country. how do you do that and then -- i negotiated before. you do not pull that card out of your wallet until that is the last thing that can be done. you dance every dance there is before you even mention that one.

you do not come out of the gate with it because now you have made the opponent -- first of all, you scared me because you threatened by country. then come after i've gotten over that, you made me mad because you threatened my country. host: with the president says we are locked and loaded, how do you decipher that? what is your impression? guest: to me, you just threatens to blow me up. we do not even talk. you just told me you are locked and loaded. are you going to shoot me right away? host: thanks for the call and thanks for watching. five options for a u.s. military response to iran. it is available online at forbes.com. brian, you are next from indiana. guest: yes. in anyan issue with war sense. any war in the middle east

especially because i am over it. i am more weary. i think a lot of people are. there has to be negotiation. i am with chris coons here. we need to negotiate ourselves out of this. war is not the answer. this is from defense news. the headline is senate republicans not ready for u.s. military action against iran. there is a quote from congressman -- senator jim rich. i think it is appropriate that all of us get together and exchange ideas respectfully and come to a consensus and that it should be bipartisan. i can tell you there will be different views per there always are on matters with complex option. the question is whether you support or oppose military action in iran. this tweet from the president. he wrote, "saudi arabia oil supply was attacked. we are locked and loaded

depending on verification, waiting to hear from the kingdom as to what they believe was the cause of this attack and under what terms would proceed." that from last week by the president. from tennessee, democrats line. guest: good morning. host: if you could turn the volume down on your set, we will hear you better. guest: ok. still with us? guest: ok. sorry about that. host: you are on the air. guest: ok. we ought to go to war because trump is not going to do anything except something in hisll embellish him family's pockets. all the conversations they have had with saudi arabia, i think it would be just for money.

the president also commenting on what, if anything, the u.s. will do the saudi arabia. here's what he said. [video clip] far the strongest military in the world. going into iran would be the easiest thing. most people thought i would go in within two seconds, but plenty of time. in the meantime, they have a lot of problems in iran. iran could be a great country, a rich country, but they are choosing to go a different way. there will be a point at which they will be very sorry for that choice. i think i am showing great restraint. some people say you should go in immediately, and other people are so thrilled that what i am doing. i would do it for what is good for the united states, what is good for our allies. very well.ng out

host: that from the president on friday as he hosted the prime minister of australia. we covered the state dinner as well on our website along with the ceremony earlier in the day. that news conference with the australian leader. this tweet saying the iranians could cause much more havoc by closing off the strait of hormuz and a good portion of the world because oil supply. remembers the usa is at the behest of british oil interests and overturned a democratically elected government. gunboat diplomacy may have worked in the 19th century. not today. from texas, on the republican line, nicholas, you are next. guest: good morning. i have been listening to a couple people's opinions and i heard somebody say they are totally against war and i heard somethingay

pertaining to that. i think it is unnecessary. i believe that is not our problem. we should not have to fight that battle and we have enough problems of our own that we have to deal with. , saudi opinion said arabia started that. they picked that fight. why should we have to defend them? if donald goes to iran to make war, will his coalition consist of north korea and russia? this past week, the secretary of state, mike pompeo, was in saudi arabia. well that was happening, vice president mike pence met with senate republicans at their weekly caucus tuesday. he did not say iran was responsible for the attack, nor did he outline possible

responses, according to senator lindsey graham. he did say the goal was to restore deterrence toward iran. the president is in houston today. he will be joined by the prime minister of india. we will have live coverage of that event at noon eastern time. this week, the president heading to the united nations as the u.n. general assembly begins its session starting tomorrow in new york. from illinois, independent line. guest: hello. thank you for accepting this call. i think. -- i think donald j. ignorant.xceedingly i do not know if i'm talking over you, but i do not think he understands international diplomacy. he has made many stupid mistakes.

he has made a few good choices. , i had an iranian roommate. they are not people to mess with. they are pretty crazy. for thewill be suicidal iranian people, the innocent iranian people who do not necessarily support their leaders' choices. just -- it isld just so ignorant and stupid because of the history. -- the time i had an iranian roommate was during the hostage crisis in the embassy. are -- they can be very, very fanatical. they can push the button and not

think ahead. host: thanks for the call. this text from one of our .iewers in maryland we sell saudi arabia enough weapons, let them defend themselves. and bloomberg.com with this headline. only congress has the authority to lock and load on iran. -- we are toying go on to jasmine from new york city. go ahead. the one -- hes sends innocent children to fight war. why he doesn't send his two boys -- supposed tong

be doing. host: this is the text we wanted to show you. should the u.s. intervene militarily in iran? , not unlesssays no actual u.s. military forces are attacked by actual iranian forces in the gulf region. attacks on allied forces do not count. veteranvietnam era texting from pennsylvania. good morning, danny. guest: thanks for taking my call. first, i support the president. i do not think he is trying to say we are trying to go to war. locked andstaying loaded means the same way teddy roosevelt said talk softly and carry a big sick -- stick. i think he is trying to tell people we are ready if we have to go to war but he does not really want to go to war with iran. i do not want to go to war with iran. in our constitution, we need to

get back to george washington's great rule. intoid we should not get wars unless we are attacked here upon our continent. when they come up on our continent, we take care of business. we take care of the british, of anybody that attacks us on our continent. also, the monro doctrine. tos ideal that we are going -- we do not need oil. they want to blow that oil up, let them blow it up. they can buy it from us then. i do not see the point in going to war, spending trillions of dollars, losing our blood and treasure come over in these countries where they share none of our values. they do not share our christian beliefs, so i do not understand. that would be my comments. debbie fromgo to

massachusetts, independent line. callanks for taking my guest: --guest: thanks for taking my call. the gentleman just onset a lot of things i agree with, but i would say i am grateful to president trump that he made us independent, energy independent. -- weise, we would be would almost have to go to war right now. i can appreciate the fact that president trump did not go to war right away. he is trying to talk to our allies, trying to rally people to get behind us. i agree with the other woman start bombing not and killing millions of people. i think people need to be patient. they need to put their trust in our administration. i do not think he is a man that

is going to back down if you need to go to war. i think the saudis, it is their problem, but they are an ally of ours. maybe we could help them fight this battle. we do not maybe need to put boots on the ground, but maybe strategic airstrikes if they come to that decision would be great. host: i am not sure how closely you follow massachusetts politics, but the announcement that congressman joe kennedy's went to challenge ed markey -- your reaction to that story. guest: i think it is a good thing. i do not particularly care for ed markey. towas one of the first ones support the new green deal, which i think is ridiculous. i do not know. challenge.efinitely carry the announcement

speech yesterday by joe kennedy outside of downtown boston. it has been posted on our website at c-span.org. this is a text message from carol in panama city, florida. no one should go to iran. saudi arabia is not one of our strong allies care they are the trumps' buddies. that is the reason they want to get involved. we were live all day yesterday with speeches in des moines, iowa and the arrival of the candidates as they made their way with supporters to the grilling area to flip stakes. one of the moments that got attention is former vice president joe biden spoke to reporters. hardeadline -- biden goes after trump after ukraine accusations. this is part of what the former vice president told reporters. [video clip] >> here is what i know. i know trump deserves to be

investigated. he is violating every basic norm of a president there and you should be asking him why he is on the phone with a foreign leader trying to intimidate a foreign leader, if that is what happened. you should be looking at trump. trump is doing this because he knows i will beat him like a drum and he is using the abuse of power and every element of the presidency to try to do something to smear me. andybody that looks at this says there is nothing there. ask the right questions. depending on what the house find, he could be impeached, but i am not making that judgment now. the house should investigate this. this appears to be an overwhelming abuse of power. to get on the phone with a foreign leader who is looking for help from united states and ask about me and imply things, if that is what happened, that

appears to be what happened. we know that is what giuliani did. this is outrageous. you have never seen anything like this. >> -- one of your concerns was about your family. are you comfortable running a campaign in which -- >> i know what i'm up against, a serial abuser. he abuses power everywhere he can. his power, threat to he will do whatever he has to do. this crosses the line. i'm calling the president to release the transcript of the call. let everybody here what it is and see what he did. that from former vice president joe biden in des moines, iowa yesterday. it has been posted on our homepage at c-span.org. why is the president at the saudi family's beck and call?

they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in his hotels. mainstream media is coming up with all kinds of predictions of what the president might do as if -- war with iran. you are full of it just like the left is. our troops should not be placed in harm's way. we should take our boot off iran's neck and allow them back into the global fold. that is a text message from north carolina. good morning. before i make my points, on lettary action with iran, me say i have followed c-span for many years and i know you have been on at least 25 years, but you never age. what is your secret? host: i don't know about that, but thank you. go ahead with your comment. guest: my comment is our

too smart to engage in military action in iran. he will come up with more severe economic sanctions, but here is the reason i do not think he will get involved in a military action. yes, we could carpet bomb iran. we could do terrible damage to their oil facilities and their nuclear facilities. has mobile missile batteries. they would close the strait of hormuz, where one half of the world's oil is shipped through. this would mean the oil per barrel price would jump to barrel it $300 per would ruin some countries' economies. president trump knows that. his presidential

quest for 2020 because the only way to eliminate those highly mobile iranian missile batteries would be to invade. now we are talking 10 or 20 american divisions. his presidency would be over. he is too smart to go for that. instead, it would be economic sanctions. please let us know how you do not age. we can make a billion dollars if we could bottle that. it is going to be three for nothing today. , miracles, when they play the patriots, do happen. host: we will be watching. thanks for the call. this is from south bend, indiana. the president through nato under

the bus. good luck getting a coalition together to attack iran. the book is titled "the glory & the burden: the american presidency from fdr to trump." robert schmuhl will join us in our final hour of the program. we hope you tune in for that. jenny in lancaster, ohio, republican line. guest: i agree with that man. you never age. you are good looking. -- pestmom says control. all you have to do is look in the back and see what the president's -- what the president promise. know -- why does everybody think this country was perfect until donald trump got in office? as soon as he started doing things, people are freaking out. that is what they wanted done in the first place. arepeople of this country blaming people for why they are

the way they are. all these countries do -- i started reading about countries three years ago. all they do is take turns being threats. money, power, and land -- that is it. donald trump does not do anything different than what all the other presidents have said behind doors. he is no more arrogant than them and you have to have arrogance. he has tough skin and i support him. not write you back like the democrats. the reason why that is -- democrats write you back because they are people pleasers and they want to get power. donald trump is trying to do what is right. when he is out of office, i want everybody to read the world almanac and see what he promised. i bet he will keep more promises than other presidents. host: this is steve, who has

this. inevitable.ion is does trump hope that wagging the iranian dog will divert our attention from this? are carried live on potus channel 124. we welcome our listeners on c-span radio and siriusxm. from arcadia, louisiana, democrats line. check out our free c-span radio app. guest: good morning. i do not support military action. saudi arabia attacked us on 9/11. i guarantee you trump is not going to war because this will guarantee he will lose the election. he is not that stupid. he wants to win. he wants to win at all costs. he will do whatever it takes. whatever he needs to do to win, he is going to do.

he is not going to war. this is a ploy he is doing. thank you, steve. host: from florida, independent line. first, pulling out of the iran deal was the stupidest thing we could have done. theses why france and countries are not going to back. we should never have pulled out of the deal. then you put sanctions on it. that is cutting off their money supply. then you wonder why they arepiss -- then you wonder why they are pissed? aey want us to get a -- in fight with iran and he is doing it. did the choice -- that was obama. he says he did it. veterans choice was done in 2014 president obama.

he keeps saying i'm the first president to get this through -- he did not get it through. obama, not trump. the only thing he has done is take money out of the military to build a wall, taking money from veterans. there are places where there is mold, where there are kids in school, and he is -- taking money mexico with going to pay for to build the wall. from pennsylvania, good morning. guest: i got a question. why you bring up this subject? there is no evidence that iran bombed saudi arabia. get the evidence first, then ask the question. -- go ahead. -- that iran bombed saudi

arabia. you need to do that first. you are jumping ahead of yourself. host: we are not jumping ahead. the president has indicated he is confident that iran did initiate those drone attacks. we are using this as a jumping off point. you think it is necessary? my guess is you say it is not necessary. we welcome your participation as well. we will go back to the washington post editorial. they make a couple points, including the president has compromised american interests in iran. he walked away from the nuclear deal, even though iran was observing it. it prompted tehran to step up nuclear activities. he sided with the reckless bombing campaign in yemen that has killed civilians and provided a pretext for attacks on saudi targets. he tried to withdraw u.s. forces from syria and beginning in april he saw to shut down iranian oil exports, leading to

last weekend's attack. the editorial is available inside today's washington post. from roebuck, south carolina, independent line. guest: good morning. my first comment is no, we should not be engaging more. given the corruption of this administration, it is not -- blackwater and whitewater and mercenary groups ,hat go in and clean up multimillionaires over dead bodies is one of the key configurations of this president's call for war against iran. i say no. host: thank you. we will go to robin in pennsylvania. guest: good morning. listen, i am furious right now listening to these people calling in. i am shocked.

first of all, trump will do what he has to do. it is not even decided yet what is going to happen. second, all these people that are calling in saying trump's administration is corrupt, what about obama? withnt an airplane billions of dollars to give to a terrorist country in the middle of the night. don't you tell me about corruption. why don't we find out where all that money came from that he did this with and why nobody knew about it and why it was in the middle of the night? they are going to call in and say that this administration is corrupt? i am disgusted with all of them. i just joined a group here in pennsylvania, northeastern women for trump. i am telling you now, pennsylvania is going to be trump country again. this state is voting for trump.

thank you, steve. have a good day. host: robin from pennsylvania. mark with this tweet -- this policy to go after iran has been in the works since trump took office. they just need a good reason. are we to believe that smart bombs are not smart enough to change direction and appear they came from iran? where are the radar images? jim is next. guest: who is going to pay for his stupid wars? they got us in six wars now. they want to cut medicare and medicaid. do noteney said deficits matter. my whole life, i grew up with a republican saying how much deficits matter and all of a sudden they want to send us into oblivion. they do not want to take care of any of us. netanyahu will not concede his election and he wants to go bomb everybody in the middle east. what is going on? pay for these wars. wars,erican pay for these

send their children to these wars -- --t: this is the headline the headline from the des moines register showing senator elizabeth warren is moving ahead in iowa. come ourp of the hour sunday political roundtable looking at the iowa caucuses. we were live all afternoon. it is on our website at c-span.org. howard is joining us from colorado. guest: good morning. it is great to be on your show. i think just based on the -- i am a black american independent. i love our presidents. he is a great man. he has done quite a few things i never would have believed a couple years ago. i would have laughed in my own face thinking i would have voted for the men. , he needs to biden

retire. we will deal with that. we will see how it all turns out. with regards to iran, the iranian scenario, i think trump wants to keep boots off the ground, do what is ever -- do whatever is necessary. he is a good businessman. ittom line with trump -- believe in jobs, prison reform, police, the wall, and unborn children. host: this is that headline from the des moines register. elizabeth warren leading in the poll, besting joe biden and bernie sanders. from alexandria, virginia, you are next. guest: first, i want to say thanks for c-span. then i have three points i would like to make. one is that iran is a nation of 86 million people. of 26 millionon people. they have sophisticated weapons that apparently can elude our

satellites and are very accurate. iran --nd point is that the houthis in yemen are surrounded by sunnis. were the caliphate, which also extended into syria. in syria, iran supported the shiite and the christians and druids and other small groups of religious people that were not sunnis against the sunnis, which was the basis of the uprising. we need to know where the lines are being drawn. sunnis anda is all all the people involved in the attack on the united states, the

the towers in new york, and in pennsylvania, those are all sunnis. host: we will leave it there. photograph available at politico.com with this headline. the iranian foreign minister saying the u.s. is posturing by sending troops to saudi arabia in the wake of the attacks. here are details at politico.com . sayingforeign minister the u.s. is posturing by sending in response to attacks on a major saudi arabia oil facility. face the nation i think it is posturing. it is all in the wrong direction in addressing this issue. the trump administration has blamed iran for the september 14 attacks by the houthi rebels on saudi arabia's oil fields. it adversely affected up to half of the supply from the world's

biggest oil exporter. from tyler, texas, good morning. guest: i have been watching since 1979. hurtnly time i was really -- this year, this election -- it is a sad sight that our country is in. only congress can declare war. this is all about money. everything about this man is about money and his buddies and cronies. his family is ruling the country and getting their pockets filled with it. somebody needs to do something quick. the man is a terrible person. i pray hard for him when i go to church this morning. host: this photograph of the and aent, peter baker, team of reporters from the new york times. an in-depth look at what the president was thinking on june 20 when he decided to retaliate against iran for shooting down

american surveillance drone and then backed away from it, including surprising his national security team, his secretary of state, and vice president mike pence, who arrived at the white house expecting a long night, only to be surprised by the president's decision. it is available online and front page of the newspaper. richard is joining us from florida, republican line. guest: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i think everybody needs to take a step back for a minute. mi for trump? i am. he told everybody what was happening and why he had to build a wall. the democrats said there is no emergency. , we are looking back and saying there is an emergency and they do not want to spend the money. the democrats spent the money down there with a could have spent money helping the poor american people instead.

yes, i agree, we are all immigrants, but we all came in the right way. that is the way it should be done. america needs to sit down and think it out and quit watching. too much is coming out wrong. this is from another viewer saying americans should saudifor troops sent to arabia. do not let your guard down. you can send us a tweet @cspanwj . democrats line. are you with us? you're on the air. guest: this is robert from massachusetts. host: good morning. one thing about c-span right now -- i miss open phones.

.ou used to have open phones host: are you still with us, robert? i think we lost him. but we try to do is to direct some of the questions to have a thoughtful conversation. often with open phones we go all over the place, but we do that from time to time, especially on mondays with events in the news. we hope you keep watching. a reminder that we are live at noon eastern time with the president as he travels to houston, texas. he will be joined by the indian prime minister. it is a form taking place -- forum taking place. a live view of air force one getting ready to depart from joint base andrews. we are going to get more of your phone calls. do you support military action in iran? (202) 748-8000 for democrats current (202) 748-8001 for republicans. if you are an independent, (202) 748-8002.

i want to share more from the new york times. this is an abrupt move that stunned aides. inside trump? aborted -- trump's aborted attack on iran. some of trump's allies fear the failure to follow through is giving iran a sign of u.s. weakness, emboldening it to attack facilities. this is trump arguing the decision was an expression of long-overdue restraint by a nation that has wasted too many lives and dollars overseas. imperial, missouri. on?t: mi on -- am i i have two things i would like to bring up. one is there was a fellow who went bankrupt sony times in the united states that he had to look to other countries in order to find some loans. he went to russia and he liked

how those oligarchs looked. if you can only have that in america. then there were people who were dumb enough to vote for him. said obama gave back a lot of money to iran, the money that obama give back to iran belonged to iran. it was money that we had frozen when we had put sanctions on them before. done,he nuclear deal was their own money was given back to them. misrepresented so many times, and the a moments clause -- he moments -- emoluments clause has been so abandoned that we now have what could possibly be the worst president in my entire lifetime who wants to be the dictator of the united states.

all those people who say give him another chance -- please wake up. thiser chance will put republic down the drain. please think about it. anybody is better than trump. will go to ocala, florida, debbie, democrats line. guest: how are you? host: fine. how are you? guest: i am pretty good. all i want to say is we should not be bombing iran. we should not be doing anything to iran. iran did not hurt any of us. we just do not belong. that is all i want to say. host: we will go to james from new york. good morning. caller: good morning. host: good morning, james.

go ahead. caller: i would like to say that i support donald trump and any decision he makes in this regard been very, very good president that has stood up for the united states, which a lot of other presidents did not in the past. i think he has been doing the best job he can. some of the people that are always against him should really let him alone, let him do his job. i support any decision he makes in regards to iran. host: thanks for the call. philip's neck from new hampshire. good morning. next from new hampshire. good morning. go ahead, please. caller: can you hear me? i will keep it short. i support donald trump, but i do not think we should be doing anything in iran.

that is not any of our business. we should stay out of it. we should cut back on foreign policy. worry about the border. host: john, you are next from chicago. caller: i agree with the previous caller. we should be concerned about our own country and not about -- especially since most of the hijackers were from saudi arabia. what i'm really concerned about is the fact that the president is going to be at this rally in houston given the fact that there was an attempt to pass a bill on thursday that would dump all this foreign labor into our 386 -- s386.as sent a wrongmp message. going to houston with all these foreign nationals in houston is a wrong signal given the fact that he signed that executive first.higher americans

senator lee is trying to dump foreign labor into the country. i wish trump would focus on that instead of helping a country that we know most hijackers came from. caller: you can watch the president -- you can watch the president and make your own decision. he will be in houston, texas. we will have a live for you at noon eastern time. we are covering the u.n. general assembly, which begins tomorrow. week atoughout the c-span.org. the president departing joint base andrews for houston. let's go next to joe. good morning. good morning, steve.

i am from new york. here's what i want to say to the american people today. when in syria there were children that had masks on their face. syria told the american people and the world -- did not do that. mr. trump said he did. i do not believe him. -- donald trump went to the foreign country and said to america putin tells me he did not interfere in the election and i believe him. there the place where he did there now coming not do it. yes, he did.

steve, here's what i want to say today. i say with deep regret every country that is majority black and brown countries, this is what-- -- this is america wants to tell the black and brown people. i'm not going to say anymore today, but what i wanted to say was to ask america, to listen to what i say and think about it. have a good sunday. host: thank you. it's 8:00. we are going to take a short break. when we come back, the sunday roundtable, looking at politics including isla politics and the first of the nation caucusers, julia manchester from the hill newspaper and daniel strauss of politico will be joining us. in the book is called the glory and the burden, the american presidency from fdr to trump. but first on these makers program, the ranking republican on the house national resources

committee, are congruent -- our conversation with congressman rob bishop on a number of issues, including climate change. [video clip] if you look at the number of bills introduced by republicans, we have talked about that, we most recently did one for entergy policy that was all the above actions that would encourage energy production at if -- in an effective and efficient way, and we will partner with the states to make sure that they had a say in what was going on in their area. those are the areas that we are looking at. there's a whole range of options and opportunities if people try to be bipartisan and allow us to have some kind of say in the process. and i hear that republican say that democrats are going along when it comes to their policy and there bipartisan ways to address the issue in congress earned him a house. you will recently a cosponsor on the american first energy bill that you introduced a couple weeks ago.

can you talk about what's in the bill, and why this might be a bipartisan solution to climate change? ironic when we drop that bill, that was a democrat energy week when their proposals did nothing to actually have a comprehensive energy policy. we were attempting to do, is to come up with a policy that does have an overarching emphasis on making sure that we have in all of the above energy policy and that we are putting emphasis into fossil fuels as well as renewables and giving incentives and states to be partners. the ability of states to have the royalties is something that we are doing and the last administration decided to take 2% out for their administrative costs, taking from the state and rather than the federal side. allowing states to be part of

the permitting process is one of the ways in which we can move forward, not only towards traditional forms of energy but alternative and new forms of energy. have our newsmakers program, our guest is rob bishop, the republican of utah and the ranking republican member of the house natural resources committee. it's available on the free --pan radio app and heirs and is on there as well. for our sunday roundtable we want to welcome julia manchester and daniel strauss. with you both for being us. let's begin with this headline from the des moines register, elizabeth warren leading in the new poll for the first time, besting joe biden. here are some of the details. she has surged and i were, nearly ever taking joe biden and distancing herself and fellow progressive party's and. guest: it's important to point

out that this was within the margin of error, but it is notable that this is the first ball where she has surpassed joe biden. it shows that all of her groundwork setting up that infrastructure, those town halls and laying out the policy is helping. one thing helping is that there is a white progressive base in iowa that's very fired up about not something by does necessarily have in iowa or new hampshire. vice president biden is popular in south carolina due to that more centrist democratic vote or that african-american democratic population. bidenk you'll see team pump up infrastructure in iowa and new hampshire to get the momentum going to south carolina. doing another campaign this, notably kamala harris, she's doing well in polls in iowa and she's pumping up infrastructure. host: she said she will be living in iowa, though she used

some choice words, but senator harris will be spending some time in iowa. guest: it's not necessarily the best time for campaign. i can think of example after example of the campaigns of the past two said they would go all usuallywa and that presides the end of the campaign. we also see a boom and bust with kamala harris, she had that good debate where she went after former vice president biden and her polling jumped. since then it has declined. detailst's go to the from the des moines register and the latest poll which shows senator warren holding a two percentage point lead with 22 percent of likely democratic caucus-goers saying that their first choice. this is the first time she has led into the pole, former vice president biden who led the three poles previous follows her a 20%.

sanders has fallen to third place with 11%, and pete withgieg follows at 9% senator harris at 6%, senators klobuchar and cory booker at 3%. those details definitely show that it's going to go into saying whose going to stay in this race in the long term. you see cory booker's campaign put out a memo saying if they cannot raise enough money they will be dropping out of the race in the near future. it will be interesting to see where these candidates go, especially the bookers and klobuchars, and buttigiegs. he wrote this, senator warren appears to be growing her share of support from black voters who have been slow to warm to her campaign, three new polls showing that senator warren is getting a five to six

point vote among black voters, biden dominates the field and he is the favorite to win the nomination unless that changes but warren is showing signs of life and senator sanders is feeling defeat as allies worry that he is getting eclipsed. guest: it has to be concerning for the biden campaign now that elizabeth warren is starting to go past her white progressive on and goingnclave of into a diverse population which biden has continued this lead -- continuously dominated. he will push infrastructure in new hampshire and iowa, and the should be concerning to biden's campaign. i think they realized this would happen at some point, especially in the past couple of months. they have seen warren kleiman the polls. -- warren climb in the polls. but i would say this is mostly concerning for bernie sanders.

this is where he should be polling well and doing well with these white progressives but he's falling behind warren, he's makinging traction or pathways into the more diverse side. sanders for a while was seen as the runner-up in this race. host: and this is a headline, the d&c set to squeeze the dem debate stage again. here are the details, as the head -- presidential candidates still into fall, they are looking for the most important events of the campaign, as they brace for another round of strict new debate criteria from the d&c which has already -- dnc which has already have the list and could trinket drastically within weeks, even a month in november could spell the end of a number of campaigns hanging onto the debate stage. we saw bill de blasio drop out this past week. guest: this is what tom perez

really wanted to see happen over , that there would not be a large number of democratic candidates polling near the very , and showinge pack no serious viability. i'm a little surprised with how steep the climb has increasingly become. at the same time it seems to be an effective way of narrowing the field to the candidates that they seem to be responding to. host: but is it effective? at these belts have not been cast, there based on national polls. guest: and it's still very early. this is why you have a lot of campaign say we have time to build infrastructure in the states. when you look at these debates i'm not sure how big of an on votingates have decisions go in. there's so much that could and thattween now first iowa caucus. so we have to see going forward,

and i think president trump plays a role, and how candidates are able to react to him. we know that top concerns were democratic primary voters is who can be trump. so how these candidates react to president trump, he will constantly be in the news making headlines and stirring controversy. their reaction is going to play a huge role. the criteriae of is who can -- look at amy klobuchar's photo, they took their turn at the grill flipping steaks and delivering speeches. it's on our website and there was a moment before the grilling began and the speeches began in which joe biden spoke to ,eporters about president trump the chretien leader, and his son. [video clip] [indiscernible] >> here is what i know. i know trump is nervous to be

investigating. he is violating every basic norm of the president. you should be asking him the question, why is he on the phone with a foreign leader trying to intimidate a foreign leader if that is what happened? you should be looking at trump, he's doing it because he knows i will pay him like a drama -- drum, and the abuse of power and use of every presidential power to try to smear me. everybody has looked at this and said there's nothing there. ask the right question. and depending on what the house finds, he could be impeached but i'm not making that judgment. the house should investigate. this appears to be an overwhelming abuse of power, to get on the phone with a foreign leader who was looking for help from the united states, and ask about me and imply -- if that

could happen, that is what appears to have happened. we know that's what giuliani did. this is outrageous. [indiscernible] one of her concerns with your family being involved in this race. are you comfortable? >> i know what i'm up against, a serial abuser. that's what the years, he abuses power where he can and he sees he threat to power -- if sees any threat to power he will do what he has to deal with this crosses the line. release of for the the transcript of the call, let everyone hear what it is, let the house see it, let everyone see what he did. host: the president assad, depending upon what he did or did not do in a call to the ukrainian prime minister, there are questions about the vice president's son, ukraine, and then he biden connection. is what the trump

election team would like to see, ethical questions lobbed at democrats and that would take the discussion away from the gop and the trump administration. and really since the beginning of this campaign we have seen the potential for biden's opponents to weaponize his son and his ties to foreign countries. i'm still skeptical about how effective this will be, because it's not something you can put on a bumper sticker, but it seems to be something that president trump is interesting in following. guest: whenever you see candidate get that agitated, that's not good. that he is spending his time explaining this to reporters is not good. i assume he'd rather be focused on kitchen table issues like health care, the state of the economy, how he can improve this. i'm not sure how effective this could be, to daniel's point.

also americans are fatigued by constant investigations, president trump tax returns, the mueller report, both sides are going to have to be cautious in how they approach this. host: how do you think congress will respond? guest: it's hard to tell. i don't think there will be any immediate action because congress is usually slow to react at all. that there will be movement in the house or the senate. host: this is the headline from the washington post, ukraine calls infused impeachment talk, there is this, when joyce when he first congressional testimony to robert s mueller deflated impeachment hopes from

democrats, he -- president trump claim vindication from accusations, and the next day he allegedly sought to collude with another foreign country in the coming election, the push by trump and his personal attorney, giuliani, to influence the newly revealsukrainian leader a president convinced of his own invincible, fairly willing and eager to taint a political flow and with confidence that no one could how him that whole tobacco. -- to hold him back. this illustrates the expansive view of executive power and what appears to be a cavalier attitude about the legal limits of his conduct. is that a fair assessment? guest: it depends on who you speak to. democrats will be going gung ho on this, especially those progressives in the house and those pushing towards

impeachment. they will want to investigate this but i think this puts nancy pelosi another more monic -- moderate democrats in house leadership in a precarious spot. they don't want to move towards impeachment, these constant investigations are not topics the american people want to see focused on right now according to polling. but you will see democrats wanting to appease that progressive base and looking towards impeachment and investigating president trump further. so they are in an awkward situation. also questions from republicans on joe biden and his family. guest: and they are eager to pursue those questions. i don't think there will be an end to the drumbeat as we continue. host: daniel strauss and julia manchester are here at the table as we talk 2020 politics. we were and i will yesterday for the steak fry, let's go to steve on the republican line.

good morning. caller: good morning. everybody thinks that trump won the election and he did not womb the election. he lost -- he did not win the election, he lost. and they're going to switch from lean -- lenad lead moderate in the future. i think that's what you will see the polls showing, as long as he keeps playing to the base of both parties, the polls will be up and down but we are waiting for them to get into the middle of the election to get to the more important issues that affect everyone and that's what everyone's waiting for. host: thank you. let's go to the democrat line with juanita in ohio. have two comments to i think mr.of all, biden is upset because his son's

name was brought up. don't know anyone who doesn't children about their being brought up, even donald trump. number two, i'm quite old. i want to keep my energy up. the president of ts must understand that if biden becomes president, he will have some answering to do and the only way that ukraine has ever gone along with russia, they have learned to play both sides. host: thank you. your reaction to either call? guest: in terms of polling and how this impacts polling now, to the first call from steve, i think democrats are very much catering towards democratic primary voters, which can be concerning. more moderate voters are

independent voters. i spoke to a number of voters from my hometown of florida -- of orlando, florida in their critical i-4 corridor. you see their reactions to watching the debates. they don't like trump, but they don't necessarily like all of theircandidates raising hands to support the green new deal or more progressive initiatives. so there are concerns about moderate or independent voters about how the democratic primary candidates are swinging towards the left. but that does change with the general election as we see a pull towards the moderate voters. steve was definitely right in that regard. on the ukraine situation, this is something that biden will have to answer for in the future , despite whether he had a direct role in this or not. you are going to see republicans continuing to press this issue. if biden becomes president, it

depends on who controls the house or senate. ifause i think republicans they control either chamber, they will be pushing for investigations into this. manchester, our political reporter for the hill newspaper, previously with cnn. and daniel strauss, graduate from the university of michigan. fry,ere live at the steak among the speakers, 17 of the democratic candidates, senator elizabeth warren was one of the speakers. [video clip] upi'm here today to stand for the constitution of the united states of america. law, not above the even the president of the united states.

out the mueller report came , it showed three things. foreignhat a hostile government attacked our 2016 election system in order to help donald trump. thend that donald trump, candidate, welcomed that help. president, when the federal government tried to investigate those activities, donald trump did everything he could to obstruct justice. i read all 448 pages, when i got to the end i called the impeachment of donald trump. congress failed to act, now donald trump is shown that he believes he is above the law. he has solicited another foreign

government to attack our election system. it's time for us to call out this illegal behavior and start impeachment proceedings right now. we're hearing from the democratic candidates, but also from more moderate house members who worry that the impeachment drumbeat will cost them the election. guest: this is a bit of a residual impact of impeachment efforts in the 90's. but i really think the situation is different. the critique of the president is different than it was in the 90's. isthe same time, the fear the battleground for control of the houses in the moderate districts. it's understandable that moderate members of congress would worry going too far towards the impeachment effort would lose them control of that chamber. and i don't think were going to

any change in that hesitation or fear in the coming months. host: and i mentioned this a moment ago, but julia, your colleague warned that the end is without aory booker fundraising search. guest: i have not seen a campaign released a memo like this saying we're almost out of money. at the same time, senator booker has struggled to gain traction in the primary, it's understandable that it's going to get even harder in the next few months unless he can prove that he's competitive and viable. the democratic electorate has not seen him as a viable option to nominate against president trump and the general election. so far there has been an agreement between the warring campaign and the sanders camp -- the warren campaign and the sanders campaign knots go after each other.

but at what point will the sanders campaign go for supporters? guest: that's what we are all asking. i believe it was the second debate when they were on stage together there was some question as to if they would -- when were the gloves coming off? but nothing came off and even during the last debate when they were flanked on either side of vice president biden, they were civil and they were defending each other's policies on medicare for all. in his strategy is that he needs to be the godfather of these issues, medicare fraud, universal free college tuition. i saw times article the other day and the headline was something along the lines of young progressives still feel they are nott necessarily feeling bernie sanders. he is very much been inspiring to alexandria because your cortez and other progressive

primary challengers who won in 2018. so he needs to establish himself as the creator of these policies and push this idea that he will absolutely follow through because he's being eclipsed. host: steve, on our independent line. good morning. caller: i have to say, i'm wondering how hunter biden got , especially after he was addicted to drugs and and after his brother's .eath from cancer it's just funny. and about climate change, the thate out in the country two-- we need gas at dollars a gallon because these windmills are coming into our

area and its tearing up our roads and our cars, our total infrastructure is being demolished from these windmills. host: thanks for the call. this is a story from the new yorker that came out this past july, will hunter biden jeopardize his father's campaign? he opened up to the new yorker talking about his own addiction and personal story. he was injured in an accident in boy, he datedung the spouse of beau biden after beau biden passed away and was married for second time. but clearly the biden campaign knew there were stories that would come out. guest: they did and i'm sure they have assembled their talking points on how to deal with that but i think what biden needs to do to try to reverse ignore these-- or more personal questions is very much focused on these issues. i think they have very much been

running this two-way race between him and trump. it seems like he is very much in a general election mindset. he needs to be prepared to answer these questions from we know thate president trump will absolutely bring up these questions in the gloves will come off when it comes to personal family issues. host: daniel? guest: we've seen him go after -- we've seen president trump go after family issues before and it seems to be a strategy here as well. i don't think in the primary former vice president biden has to worry about attacks from his competitors. it's really going to be a republican chorus that's going to keep highlighting hunter biden. host: let's go to dennis, in indiana, on the republican line. caller: i would add to the reporters to speak to the fact

that what they are now trying to accuse donald trump of, abuse of power, we have the video of joe biden admitting that he threatened to with hold money from the ukraine about firing a prosecutor. host: thank you for that point. guest: i think we're going to hear a great deal more discussion about vice president biden, ukraine, and president trump and ukraine. the: one more moment from steak fry. it rained in the day but it held off for most of it and the crew did a terrific job showing you what it was like. here's mayor pete buttigieg, pulling in the single digits in the iowa caucus courtesy of the des moines register. [video clip] >> lite by one of the best moments on this campaign, i was in the backyard and the girl came up to tell me what my campaign meant to her. she said because of her campaign

i feel like i can be myself. i can go to school and talk about what i believe and i don't have to be ashamed of who i am. i thought i knew what she was about to tell me but i didn't. she said i don't have to be ashamed just because i have autism. and i thought now this campaign is getting somewhere. [cheering] >> answering the crisis of belonging in this country means making sure that everybody knows where they fit in america's everybody needs absolutely everybody. that's what the presidency can do if it is in the right hands. that's whatthat's what i'm happg for your help with. we could be proud of what we did in 2020. we can look into the eyes of the same kids showing up at events with tears in their eyes asking us if we are going to keep them safe from gun violence, or do something about climate change, and tell them i'm sorry it got

that way but we got together and we changed the trajectory in 2020. that is my hope for our future. i know hope went out of style for a little bit in american politics, but are you ready to spend a -- spread a sense of hope required to stay involved in politics and make the country better? host: that's from pete buttigieg. julia, based on the polls, he seems as if he is stuck in the mid to high single digits. especially in iowa. guest: that's very concerning to his campaign. he should have higher name recognition in states like i would because he's a midwestern mayor -- in iowa because he's a midwestern mayor. see that you did pianist and name recognition and there was a lot of media interest in him. but he has been eclipsed by vice president biden and especially elizabeth warren.

people judge did an interview earlier this week, he called elizabeth warren answer on her expedition of medicare fraud scheme basis. .o you are starting -- evasive so you are starting to see the gloves come off as to how pete buttigieg will address progressive standpoints. he's not necessarily a moderate but he's not a progressive and he will continue to cater towards that section of the democratic primary electorate but i'm not sure how good that strategy is. we saw the iowa poll yesterday with elizabeth warren, progressive, leading. host: and the mayor of south bend is weakest among african-american voters, he hired a strategist but is it enough? guest: this is the latest example of the buttigieg improve hising to standing with african-american voters and he has not seen much traction. he released the douglas plan on black improve

entrepreneurship, and it has not really helped him at all. ins very interested improving his numbers with that constituency. host: well he has to. guest: everything they have tried so far has not worked. augusta,'s go to georgia, lewis, on the democrat line. say is what i wanted to that the pelosi position to hold off on impeachment, based on poll numbers, will historically be viewed as a major mistake. we already sell reports on your show that trump is emboldened by the fact. -- most criminal investigations will be following

this president through his administration and the republican party. the other issue i want to cover is that there are too many candidates in the democratic process. i would love to hear from the governor of new york, california, and some of these individuals polling in the single digits. these people are not the best in the democratic party. the position of going after corporations, and having these programs, medicaid for all, who will pay for that? how many workers will be lose when these industries are broken up and dissolved? those are questions that need to be answered. i'm not a big bernie sanders fan , simple because of the negative impact he has had on the democratic party process the last time around. host: thank you you for the call. guest: this is a concern i have

heard from democrats in the south very much on these progressive candidates that have been gaining traction, like elizabeth warren. we are making a big deal about this iowa poll, but i what is the first in the nation contest, but how is just i were going to matter going forward after this? democrats have been gaining traction slowly in states like georgia, north carolina, it's an uphill climb but they are trying to gain traction and i think that's exactly the fear much of the party has right now about these progressive policies. one difference i would say between elizabeth warren and bernie sanders and maybe why elizabeth warren is more palatable to more moderate democratic voters is that she calls herself a capitalist. bernie sanders calls himself democratic-socialist. i've spoken to people close to his campaign who said they don't like that label, it's not necessarily the best.

we know it might seem silly to democrats, but a lot of is aboutn platforms calling them socialists. and it makes those democrat fears that seem weird but it's a good messaging point to get their base turned out, and potentially persuade independent voters who do not find the green new deal or medicare for all feasible. , this isia and daniel a story from the washington post, congressman kennedy announcing a primary challenge to senator ed markey. joe kennedy the third was two years old when ed markey was first elected to the house of representatives. wisely challenging him? guest: his argument is that it's time for new leadership. ed markey has been there for a long time and joe kennedy is one of these democrats that the party finds exciting. he sort of the next generation. they are not actually that

different, issue wise. they are both in the same part of the political spectrum, so this is a fight over name id and the sense that voters either want someone there familiar with, or change of leadership. host: senator warren has endorsed ed markey but has good things to say about joe kennedy who was a former student when she was teaching. guest: i think this race is going to be very awkward for progressives going forward. you are seeing a number of progressives wanting to stay out neutralace, or staying at this point. i think that's important because they are in an awkward position. but on the point about name id. ed markey is known as a figure in washington, d.c.. he is very much a washington institution, he's been here forever, he's worked to get proposals passed through, he's essentially another creator of

the green new deal along with alexandria because io cortez, but one area he could be attacked is his presence in his home state. some massachusetts democrats say that ed markey is not necessarily a constant presence in visiting the factories in lowell, or going to western massachusetts. so i think you will see joe moredy try to do that traditional campaigning, face-to-face, making his name id known. but there was an interesting article that i read earlier this week. it had joe kennedy and pete cover and itthe was entitled the rise of the entitled millennials to minutes so telling. you see a lot of progresses looking at joe kennedy and saying really? >> and senator markey has challenge -- host: and senator markey has challenged his opponent on the debate based solely on climate change.

before.e's a whole year melinda is joining us on the republican mine from ohio. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i think it is sad what this whistleblower stuff has come out. biden was the only democrat chance, he would only run one term. i don't think people caught that. that's his business. but i think it is sad, whoever started this whistleblowing thing, they've got so much against this president that this country is in such a mess. i used to be a democrat, i'm so upset, they left me, i did not leave them. i think people need to calm down, quit watching one side of the news, quit reading from the left ring, make up your own mind . these two people you have, they are smart people, they ought to be able to figure out to do both

sides of the news instead of beating on one side. c-span does real good, but you need to quit reading so much out of the left-wing newspapers and do more of both sides. which you are doing, you are a good station and you do a lot of good news. these two people are smart, i just wish these people on the hill and these newspeople would do both sides a little more. thank you very much for taking my call. host: linda brought up the issue of the whistleblower, here's what the president said on friday as he was joined by the australian prime minister. [video clip] whistleblowerisan , it should not even have information. i have conversations with many leaders that are always appropriate. highestppropriate, the level, always appropriate. i fight for this country. i fight so strongly for this country, it's another political hack job. that's all it is.

[indiscernible] >> it doesn't matter what i discussed, but i will say somebody ought to look into joe biden's statement because it was disgraceful when he talked about billions of dollars that he's not giving to a certain country unless a certain prosecutors taken off the case. somebody ought to look into that. and you would not because he's a democrat, the thickness does not look into things like that. it's a disgrace. host: julia? guest: this is president trump's usual reaction. you are seeing his allies and supporters very much say this is a case of the deep state left over from the obama administration, or the fake news media pushing the story. on the democratic side of the isle you are seeing more the same thing, he needs to be investigated and it shows he's unfit to be president. we are seeing more of the same reaction, i was not surprised by anything the president said on this.

to thing i'm looking forward is how this will play, if the story continues, and i think the democrats in the house will launch this to continue and let it be a major storyline in the news, how this will play on the general election stays -- stage between president trump or joe biden. it could be a younger person like a buttigieg or harris, they might not have as many skeletons in their closets, if you will and it will be harder for president trump to go after them on those issues. but if it's biden and trumpets going to get ugly and personal. host: let's go to north carolina on the democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning. that whenmention people call in and they make a statement that's not true, and you have the information, that you could read them at the time. one person called in and said

moneyiden had withheld with an investigation. those are two different points. the vice president did visit ukraine and threaten federal dollars, and the call that the president reportedly made involved hunter biden. they are separate issues but they are being combined because of the politics behind it. caller: but other news reports are saying that biden was becauseing that money there were several countries that wanted him to do that and because of individuals not doing investigations. behindthe motivation discussing this is very much that there is an election coming up. the fact that both president trump and vice president biden are hoping to face each other in

the general election. and i think we will see more discussion. host: let's go to new york on the republican line. caller: good morning, thanks for taking my call. i want to say, i'm a proud trump supporter, he's doing an excellent job of being our president, these democrats are mad because he won the election. get over it. as far as what's going on with it is truekraine, that he made the statements and he's trying to protect his son don'teing prosecuted, why you reporter start turn around and investigate each and every one of these democrats, elizabeth warren bernie sanders, pete buttigieg, kamala harris, you will find out there so much corruption behind their baggage and what they have to hide. as far as biden, he should not even be running, because he's as

corrupt as obama and hillary clinton. and i'm tired of you one-sided reporters are attacking our president the way you are not going after and investigating democrats. once you start doing that you will have a lot of people respecting the news media and start watching the news media and start coming back to it. because i'm telling you now, the democrats are so fixated on trying to get their power back into the office, they will lie and say anything they want to get back in there. it will never happen, because their own parties turning against them. guest: i respectfully say that the news media has definitely looked into the histories of kamala harris and a number of the other candidates. i'm sure they harris campaign and a lot of the other democratic campaigns have not necessarily been thrilled with the coverage they've gotten due to some research. but i think the issue of corruption is a point that both

sides are very much making. and something that a lot of americans outside of washington, and the coastal bubbles are concerned about corruption, whether it's republican or democrat. and that there is a major disconnect between the establishment elite and the every day american. i think that is something president trump masterfully ran on. even though he is a millionaire, he is seen as part of the elite and was very much able to connect with blue-collar voters and voters who are not necessarily part of the elite. of are going to see a lot other candidates on the democratic side trying to distance themselves from the elite, even though vice president biden is very much a part of the democratic establishment, he's done a good job of trying to align himself with the blue-collar groups from scranton, and to visit communities that are more

blue-collar or less elite. you are going to see democrats paying more attention to states like michigan, wisconsin, and pennsylvania. states that hillary clinton ignored in 2016. host: and the c-span campaign 2020 buses making its way across the midwest to a number of key states. the battleground states that will likely decide the election of 2020. tomorrow we are in wisconsin and we hope that you tune in. lansing, michigan, is our local contact vehicle. but the bustle be in wisconsin tomorrow, making its way through ohio and into pennsylvania. we hope you tune in. mike is joining us on the republican line in texas. julia, i wanted to follow-up on something the gentleman from new york said. media andats are the the media are the democrats.

chris matthews, chuck todd, george stephanopoulos, there are so many, there must've been about 11 or 12 journalists who joined the obama administration. donnelly,las, john they have a mission, they have a political agenda, and any time something positive about trump, there is a mission. it's bias by omission that you are neglecting. and to the empirical evidence of their bias, julia, their financial donations. if you cannot believe your eyes with what you see on tv, believe the donations that the media gives to don lemon to cnn and so forth. they are a political action committee for the democrats. i think there's definitely feeling on both sides of the aisle that there is political involvement from the news media.

i think it's important to differentiate don lemon or chris matthews, who are very open about this and are opinion hosts , they are liberal hosts. on the trump administration there is also a revolving door with conservative media like fox news. maybe this is an issue that's all encompassing, and may be the news media needs to work out whether it's conservative or liberal media. the media obviously has to be careful with how they pursue stories going forward. but as i said, being a campaign reporter in 2020, and this is my perspective, we get a lot of backlash from the democratic side as well. so i think this is an all-encompassing issue. there is a revolving door not only in democratic administration but also republican administrations. host: let's turn to the gun debate.

i want to share a clip from beto o'rourke. [video clip] >> the people of el paso the one to gain the voice to say hell yes, we're going to buy back every ar-15 and ak-47 and get those off the streets and out of our homes so no one has to be her that again. -- to fear that again. [cheering] >> and people ask us, they will say, beto, aren't you afraid you gone too far? that you've really paced off the thethis time -- pissed off nra this time? i'm not afraid of that, i would be afraid if i was a schoolteacher in the kindergarten classroom, and for those kids, for whom i have already sacrificed so much, were up against a gunman with an

ar-15 because we did not have the courage to stop and while we had time. for the congressman o'rourke doubling down on taking away assault weapons. guest: this is really distinguished him in the primary field, a lot of candidates try to take a step back from criticism that they would go too far on gun control. o'rourke has stuck out as someone who has said yes, we were there -- limit the availability of certain guns and assault weapons. that has endeared him, to an extent, to activists who are really active right now in the primary. host: this is an advertisement that has been getting a lot of attention, it runs a minute and is put together by parents thatved in sandy hook, shooting that resulted in the deaths of 26 people, including 20 children from the kindergarten and first grade. [video clip]

my mom got me a perfect backpack for after school. >> these binders help me stay organized. >> this is just what i need for studying. and the sneakers i what i need for the new year. >> this jacket is a must-have. >> it's just what i wanted, it's pretty cool. [screaming] >> this could be a real lifesaver. ♪ >> this will help me stay in touch with my mom. [footsteps] ♪

host: the organization is called sandy hook promise. guest: absolutely chilling. matterer sandy hook, no what side of the gun debate you stand on, a lot of americans were left wondering why more wasn't done after kindergartners were killed in that horrible shooting. and we have seen shooting after shooting happen after this. -- a good jobt that shows how these shootings have almost been normalized in american life and society. we were going to see when it comes to the politics of the gun violence and gun control debate is the senate and those campaigns playing a huge role. we know that a number of different gun control organizations are targeting senators who are facing uphill reelections like cory gardner in

colorado, or susan collins in maine, they are running ads and tying them to mitch mcconnell and accusing mitch mcconnell of inaction on this issue. you will see it become much more political. i would not be surprised if you saw more ads like this play as we get closer to 2020. new york times has an headline, looking at the faces of those who survived mass violence and -- violence and gun shooting -- and mass shootings the summer. we have a call from scranton, pennsylvania, from rosemary. caller: i have initiated want to speak about, with regard to gun .iolence, i don't understand if people can't get behind background checks and with the red flag laws, if it's due process, they should have that. the comment that i wanted to talk about was with regard to mr. kennedy running against

senator markey. if you look at new york, look at how highly respected representative crowley was, and he was defeated by aoc. host: thank you for the call. guest: it's true that it's not unheard of for incumbent politicians to lose a reelection to insurgent candidates. differencere's a big between a causal cortez -- oh cortez, and- ocasio andley, versus kennedy marquis. the gulf was a little wider, and alexandria because you cortez was completely new to the political scene and has introduced yourself. i think there's a difference, but kennedy does paul

competitively even now, which is unusual for a primary challenger. moment in iowa from kamala harris. [video clip] >> the fight that we have is to get the current occupant out of the white house. that, iuccessfully do suggest that we successfully prosecute the case against four years of donald trump and it will take a prosecutor to do it. and i think we are working with a pretty good long rap sheet. because let's think about it. joe has got ago -- go.-- got to here's a fellow who came into the office, talking about making america great again, and that

because a lot of us to ask again exactly for whom? and all of us realized he was talking about going back to something. back to what exactly? before the voting rights act? the civil rights act? before the fair housing act? before the ada? wade? roe v. because we are not going back. we are not going back. and he came in making a lot of promises to a lot of folks. he made promises to farmers, to working families, and he prayed people. it's look at what happened. he betrayed our families when he said i see you, i've got you, i will take care of you and honor your hard work and he taxes a tax bill benefiting the top 1% and the biggest corporations in america. spike inator harris, a

the polls after the first debate that she has fallen back. guest: her campaign calls this a sugar high after she fun race so much after joe biden. spoken to a number strategists who have said that she is in an awkward position. biden is already seen as the establishment candidate and you have elizabeth warren and bernie sanders were progressive. ownneeds to carve out her lane to differentiate herself because this is a crowded field and it seems she's gotten lost. the next debate is in mid-october, and walter is next on the republican line from indiana. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. always appreciate opinions without being thrown under the bus if you disagree with someone and people call each other racist and the white noise comes in. so a quick story.

i'm a disabled u.s. army veteran. ,hen i had to go to the v.a. because of the overbooking i would have to wait weeks. one time i had to wait six weeks to get in there. now because of donald trump and his presidency, about nine months ago i had to get into the v.a. and they were saying they were booked really bad and i went to my local doctor and they took care of it and they found out what was the problem and everything was taken care of within five days. i want to speak to what's important for americans, the average american, not the people in the bubbles and the white ivory tower. the regular joe of all colors. we want jobs. in indiana you trip over the help-wanted signs. you want low taxes, property taxes are superlow, we want secure borders and a safe community. i watch the democratic debate and it's embarrassing for all of them. the first night when they asked

who would be in favor of giving to illegall services immigrants, everybody raised their hand. who would be for taking illegal immigrants and making them not a crime. everyone raise their hand. host: i'm going to stop either because we're short on time. we give our test -- just a chance to respond. guest: walter makes an excellent point when it comes to jobs and the economy. that is something president trump has hammered home, from his argument from the macroeconomic level you are seeing quite a bit of growth in the economy. he constantly tweets about job numbers, stockmarket booms, but on the democratic side, they essentially said that you are not necessarily seeing that movement on main street and the microeconomic level. depending on probably going

to get a different perspective. i think walter makes a good point in saying the focus should be on jobs. to see whatt senator warren does with this new poll numbers showing her head in iowa. i want to see what former vice president joe biden does in response. i want to see if cory booker can raise that money that he is hoping to keep this campaign going. host: last word? guest: i think this week i'm going to focus on the u.n. general assembly. we know president trump is slated to meet with the president of ukraine. i think, given the whistleblower controversy and the news surrounding that, there will be focus on that meeting. there will be hearings in the house on that issue. host: we will follow your work. julia manchester and daniel strauss, thank you for being with us. it is going to be a busy week ahead and we will have live

coverage of the u.s. general a simile coming up. -- assembly coming up. we are going to introduce you to a professor from notre dame. robert schmuhl is the author of a new book, "the glory & the burden: the american presidency from fdr to trump." city tour traveling to lansing, michigan, looking at the history and life of michigan's state capital. here is part of our programming. [video clip] >> our state capital was constructed starting in 1872, completed in 1879. we are celebrating our 140th birthday. about when he five years ago, the was fully restored. the goal of that project was to make that building look as it did when it first opened in 1879. michigan achieved statehood january 20, 1837. our territorial capital and

first state capital was in detroit. detroit served as the capital for 10 years, until 1847. wasfirst state constitution 10 years down the road. the legislature would have to approve a permanent site for the capital city. there were a lot of cities competing to become the state capital. theing was picked as capital city because no one really wanted to pick lansing. it was offered as a compromise location. the legislature built a small wooden building which they used for about 30 years, until our present capital was constructed and finished in 1879. ♪ >> the house will be in order. beenr 40 years, c-span has providing america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and

public policy events from washington, d.c. and around the country so you can make up your own mind. created by cable in 1979, c-span is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. c-span -- your unfiltered view of government. >> monday on the communicators, one of the nation's top telecom market analysts on the future of television, video, media, and internet industries. >> you will see the live tv model only survive for sports and news and almost everything else will move toward on-demand models. live entertainment content or stream real-time entertainment is to young people an oxymoron to begin with, the idea that there is a time of day for a particular show is an odd concept for anything other than

a sporting event. monday night, 8:00 p.m. come on c-span2. host: the book is titled "the glory & the burden: the american presidency from fdr to trump." robert schmuhl is a professor at university of notre dame. guest: good morning. host: why did you write the book? guest: i wrote the book because i thought after 38 years of teaching a notre dame and teaching mostly about the american presidency and the media that i might have a few larger thoughts to offer. as i was working through it, i thought to myself, "we tend to focus on the individuals who are president, but we do not look at the presidency as an institution as much as we should." i found a number of things that struck me as being interesting.

for the first third of the 20th century, the republicans were dominant. for the second third, the democrats were dominant, but really in the latter portion of the 20th century we kept going back and forth between the republicans and the democrats, democrats and republicans. that got me to thinking. also, we changed the kinds of people who were elected president. withreally begins in 1976 the election of jimmy carter. , someonen outsider from outside washington, who is taking over as president. when you think about it, who did he succeed? gerry ford,- richard nixon, lyndon johnson, president and senate majority leader. john kennedy, a senator for a number of years.

we moved from the insider to the outsider. there will all sorts of larger questions that i thought deserved exploration. you write,e book "early in the 1976 campaign, newspaper headlines asked a two word question. jimmy who? at carter's triumph again significant trend in presidential history. the six presidents who proceeded carter were washington insiders or well connected. presidents who followed included clinton, -- reagan, george w. bush, obama, and trump." guest: yes. i think we can see, and you just devoted an hour compartment andsed on the iowa caucus, jimmy carter did well on the iowa caucus. host: he did not win it, though. guest: he did not.

day on the today show or c-span or anywhere else -- he did well enough. that was the springboard for his potential nomination. ,ther candidates followed suit put their emphasis on the early contest, whether it be iowa or new hampshire. we ended up with a much more participatory and selection process. tohink that has contributed the rise of the outsider in the trumpency, with donald being the opinion me of the outsider, someone who had never served a day in government or in the military. an unconventional and unpredictable president produces a future of unknowable's and at

times unbelievable tomorrow's. the most import question to ask but 2020 is this -- will trump fatigue play a decisive role in the final outcome? let's go back to his inaugural speech, january 20, 2017. [video clip] >> for too long, a small group in our nation's capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost. flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth. politicians prospered, but the jobs left and the factories closed. the establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country. their victories have not been your victories. their triumphs have not been your triumphs, and while they

celebrated in our nation's capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land. that all changes starting right because thist now moment is your moment. it belongs to you. [applause] it belongs to everyone gathered here today and everyone watching all across america. this is your day. this is your celebration, and this, the united states of america, is your country.

what truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people. january 20, 2017 will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again. [applause] >> the forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no more -- no longer. everyone is listening to you now. as you hear that from 2017 and as you work on your book "the glory & the burden," what stands out? guest: something i talk about in an earlier book. 1990 called in

"statecraft and statecraft." the subtitle is more important than the actual title. "americanle is political life in the age of personality." i think that, in part, donald trump's appeal throughout the 2016 campaign was his personality. he was someone who knew how the media operated. he knew how to deliver a message effectively. continued to do that. ofcertainly has taken hold on aibuting his message number of platforms. pointou see in the larger is the personality now is just as dominant if not more so than the party. thatnk from a speech like

and from subsequent speeches and statements, we see that over and over again. host: you have a checklist of people shoulds take into account before going to the polls on election day. they include credibility, character, courage, conviction, curiosity, and creativity. aest: that list comes from class exercise i used to do with frequency during election years. i would have students examine the candidates and try to evaluate them in the context of those particular classifications. all of us as that citizens should try to do something like that, to come to terms with who is running for the highest office in this land

and the leader of the free world. to me, one of the potential problems with the current time is that we have created these information silos where people mediao gravitate to the that they tend to agree with, that bolsters their own opinion. what i would like to do is open the windows, open the doors, have them look at all the candidates in a critical and comprehensive way before they make a decision. conversation with robert schmuhl. the book is called "the glory & the burden: the american presidency from fdr to trump." we will get your calls and comments in just a moment. there is one part of the book that may be reminiscent of others, including jimmy carter and barack obama, deciding to run for the presidency. you quote a book.

it seemed to me that the most important thing about kennedy was not a great political decision but his own political ambition. he did not wait his turn. he directly challenged the institutions he wanted to control. after him, no one else wanted to wait either. we came across from march 1962 this event with then president john f. kennedy. theakes a reference to at time the democratic senator from the state of florida. [video clip] >> 1952, i was thinking about running for the united states senate. i went to the then senator and said what do you think? he said, bad year. 1956, i was at the democratic , so i said george, what do you think? this is it.

they need a young man. so i ran and lost. wondering whether i would run the west virginia primary. don't do it. actually, the only time i really got nervous about the whole -- george just before came up and said it looks good for you. host: a little humor from then president john kennedy but also some reality to that. guest: a lot of reality. people tend to forget that john kennedy was really a national figure largely because of a book he wrote at that time. -- he is oncourage the cover of time magazine and

appearing all over the country, trying to get out the word about what he had written and to get out the word about himself. he did it a different way, and by doing it a different way he is one of those who opens the door to a different kind of presidency. host: we hope you join in on the conversation. (202) 748-8000 is our line for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. lily is on the phone from alabama, democrats line. caller: good morning. mostt wanted to say that trump.re sick of donald we have him for breakfast, for

lunch, for dinner. if you aren't careful, you will have him for bed. democrats need to impeach this man and get him out of our house. he ain't fit to be there. that is my point of view. i hope the democrats and american people will wake up. he sucks the air out of the white house, of the people. if you are not careful, he will suck the air out of our country. host: thanks for the call. some have referred to him as the reality presidency. guest: reality show presidency. he is on the record as saying that every day of his presidency ought to be like that in terms of drama, in terms of having vivid characters. .e in particular

performing, if that is not too vulgar a word, but making presentations about what he wants to do as president. interesting, very for somebody who has taught about the media and politics forever, to watch this presidency. ofhave moved in the course the past few years from the regular press briefings and now we have a situation where the president himself caller: is largely -- the president himself is largely his press secretary. tother it is an invitation reporters to go into the oval friday withappened the leader of australia sitting next to him, or to the more formal press conference a little bit later, he himself is running

the message, delivering the message over and over again. i think probably we are going to continue to see that through the also,gn of 2020 and should there be a second term, into that. host: the 1960 primaries were ash -- instrumental by then senator john kennedy. from jimmy who to jimmy carter the nominee. -- point out the expended expanded influenza primaries and caucuses has had an impact on who ultimately becomes president. let me share one of those moments from 1976, the republican convention, kansas city. the former governor of california, who lost the nomination to gerald ford, then deliver. [video clip] these remarks[video clip] -- delivered these remarks.

[video clip] >> their arsenic to say the party platform is something no one bothers to read. whether it is different this time, i believe the republican party has a platform that is a banner of bold, unmistakable callers with no pale, pastel shades. we have just heard a call to --s east on that platform based on that platform at a call to us to be successful in communicating and revealing the american people the difference between this platform and the platform of the opposing party, which is nothing but a revamp and reissue and running of a late, late show of the thing we happen hearing from them for the last 40 years. host: you have studied this moment. guest: i have. i have used it in class a number of times.

what is interesting is it came impromptu come off the cuff. they call him down for the gallery to speak to the convention. in reality, it had all been planned ahead of time. there is the wonderful shot of back reagan holding him and saying you cannot go, ok, i will go. i will speak right off the top of my head. ,ell, as with so many things right off the top of one's head might have been thought about a little bit before the actual event. host: massachusetts, mark, and dependent line. caller: good morning. can you hear me?

professor schmuhl. up in hyannis. i'm aware of the kennedy legacy. i figured it is interesting. you played those speeches" from him. quotes- speeches and from him. i recently quoted part of his inauguration. wesaid south of our border offer a pledge, a special pledge to convert our good words into good deeds. i figure it is ironic where we are now.

unfortunately, i was supporting representative moulton for presidency and i saw a lot of similarities with jfk. i want feedback about that. guest: what is interesting -- you quoted one of the sections of his inaugural address -- earlier in the inaugural address , he makes the statement, and i suspect you have heard it, as many viewers would have, about the passing of the torch to a new generation. host: we have that. let's watch it. from january, 1961. [video clip] >> let the word go further -- forth from this time and place. to aorch has been passed new generation of americans, born in this century, tempered

--war, disciplined by a hard proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed and to which we are committed today at home and around the world. let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any hardship,et any support any friend, oppose any foe to ensure the survival and success of liberty.

it from theyou have u.s. capitol, the inauguration of president john f. kennedy. you know that speech well. guest: i know that speech well and i'm particularly interested in that statement about passing the torch to a new generation. john kennedy was the first president who was born in the 20th century, the first of our presidents. the previous ones, eisenhower before him and truman and roosevelt, all born in the 19th century. it got me to thinking, and it goes back to your original question, why do this book, and i said larger trends and patterns of the presidency, the people who were of his generation, of john kennedy's generation -- you go through kennedy and johnson and nixon reagand and carter and

and george herbert walker bush -- all of them were of that generation. host: world war ii. popularlyld war ii, called the greatest generation. see it might well have been the greatest generation, but it was not the greatest generation for presidents. except for ronald reagan, not one of those completed two terms. all of them had difficulties of one kind or another. john kennedy assassinated, lyndon johnson decides not to run in 1968 because he is afraid he is going to lose, richard nixon is elected twice, but he has to resign. because of watergate. gerald ford becomes president. 1976 against in jimmy carter. jimmy carter wins once but is

defeated in 1980. reagan, two terms, has iran contra as one difficulty. ends with george herbert walker bush, who is defeated by bill clinton. -- was it that porch a torch or april -- poisoned chalice to the men of his generation? what is fascinating to me is in ,he broader stroke bill clinton george w. bush, barack obama, the next generation. termsree of them one two and served two full terms as president. if donald trump is reelected in 2020, it would be the first time in american history that we would have had four two term presidents in a row. talk about the

22nd amendment in a moment. using the 1984 campaign is basically a model and how to win reelection, including this ad campaign. [video clip] today, more men and women will go to work than ever before in our country's history, with interest rates at half the record highs 1980. nearly 2000 families today will buy new homes, lower than at any time in the past four years. 6500 young men and women will be married. with inflation at less than half of what it was four years ago, they can move forward with confidence to the future. americarning again in and under the leadership of president reagan our country is stronger and better.

i would we ever want to return to where we were less than four short years ago? host: excepted the very end, we do not see ronald reagan in that spot. guest: no. they are trying to create an environment of the positive , that whatontinuity we have accomplished in the first term we will continue into that second term. what is refreshing about it is there is not the negativity that we tend to see so often in our political commercials today. us have a let referendum on this president and continue what those policies have done. host: our guest is robert schmuhl and the book is called "the glory & the burden: the american presidency from fdr to trump." our next call is from california, gary, independent

line. caller: good morning, c-span. thank you for taking my call. the state offrom jefferson in northern california. we are proud of that. my comment was i was watching recent news brief with sayer and candidate was happy to hear him utter those magic words of congressional term limits. could you comment about that them up please? host: i think you are referring to tom steyer, running for the democratic side. caller: correct. thank you. guest: certainly congressional term limits have been talked about at length in recent years. themd to be an opponent of for one reason in particular. that is that i would worry that

staff members who would be working for members of the house or for members of the senate over continue to work many, many years and thus control, have power that the individual members would not have. to put my cards on the table even more fully, i am someone who thinks that we should not continue to have the 22nd amendment, which is the two term limits for a president. i think that, if you look at what has happened since that amendment was ratified, it has radically changed the presidency and in some respects it has hurt the presidency. host: the 22nd amendment established a two term limit for a white house occupant put in

place after fdr's election and reelection. it serves as a formal mandated check on the chief official of the executive branch. a president becomes a lame duck chief during a second term, until the limit came into effect , the country's leader could exert influence with more robust and meaning. guest: yes. what i am suggesting here, and i know it is probably not a , what happensint with the 22nd amendment is it to only limits it president two terms, it also imposes a specific calendar on an administration. all you i mean that have to do is look back at our the recent president and major initiatives of their presidency take place over the

first year or 18 months of their time in office. they run up against the midterms. that changes the calculus and activity here in washington. then come after the midterms, the president is thinking about reelection. that skewers things. if the president is reelected, and in most cases they have been in the 20th century and since then, what you see is that that president becomes a lame-duck. lyndon johnson come and i jotted it down, said you have got just one year when they treat you right and before they start worrying about themselves, meeting the members of congress, those in the house, those in the senate.

amendment was not popular early on. in fact, one of the people who was opposed to it, although he was not really someone who had to serve under it, he was exempt, was harry truman, who went in front of a senate theittee and argued against 22nd amendment. he argued against it in 1959 with dwight eisenhower finishing his second term, a republican president finishing his second term. in 1995, mitch mcconnell presented proposed legislation to repeal the 22nd amendment. he, a republican speaking at a time when bill clinton was president, said the 22nd amendment was a ill-conceived,

hazily -- hastily executed and partisan response to the tenure of president roosevelt. well, that was mitch mcconnell back in 1995. i will like to see some sort of investigation today into what the effects have been and whether or not we need to rethink this. our guest is a graduate of the university of notre dame, part of the american studies department and a journalism professor at the university notre dame. i would be remiss -- and i think i know the answer to this question -- robert costa from the washington post said we need to talk with you. what kind of student was he? guest: great students. if i had students like him all the time, i would not have had to work very hard because he

brought as much to the classroom as i did on most days. host: he is a great friend of this network, so our thanks to robert costa, who was with us last monday. anthony joining us in newport, tennessee, independent line. (202) 748-8002 i -- caller: i have a couple things i do not really understand. i am in independent. presidentous when our is friends with nothing but dictators. he has stated that he wants to make our presidency where it is for life, like putin's and all the rest. he is the first president i have heard that goes out to talk to his people -- it is we the

people, not his people. guest: that is interesting. suggestions i propose woulds book is that if we repeal the 22nd amendment that we would also have a rule that someone who is 75 years of age or older could not run for the presidency. tos making it impossible have a president for life if someone was elected in his or her 60's and then continues to win two or three terms. basically, what we have to formber, is the environment our politics has changed in recent years. c-span, for example, comes online in 1979.

cnn comes online in 1980. since then, we have had this liberation of various sources of information of political content. i would argue someone like franklin roosevelt, who in 1944 is running for a fourth term as president, that his frailty, weakness,llness, his would have come out much more vividly during the course of the campaign. the public would have seen that. the public would have questioned that and possibly would not have voted for him for a fourth term. what i'm suggesting is that we have a number of different ways to evaluate the candidates who are running for president. i think we have to be observant

of the various sources as they come to us. host: from the book, no person's objective. all of us her number prejudices and biases. and their facts context specifically words and actions. the often asked question about my favorite president -- i would respond with one last name but two figures, theodore roosevelt and franklin. let's go to nebraska. linda, you are next. caller: nebraska or maine? host: maine. caller: thank you very much. i was just wondering your feelings on -- to me, it was not that president trump was so good . it was that the choice of hillary was so bad. , anded for president trump

seeing that earlier clip of his speech during the inauguration, we were so hopeful. the saying, a be once, shame on you, fully twice, shame on me -- you promised no more entanglements. he promised to hire the best and this is what we have gotten. in closing, i wanted to say we -- i am watching the first lady series on c-span. i was watching eleanor roosevelt last night. , sheafter pearl harbor gave the first speech over the radio about it. she mentioned her husband would go to congress the next day for the war authorization. thank you very much. host: thank you. guest: you mentioned eleanor roosevelt. i am writing a new book about winston churchill and the times that he lived in the white

house. there were seven different times under franklin roosevelt and under dwight eisenhower that he came over. the reason i mention that is franklin roosevelt did not tell eleanor that winston churchill was coming to the white house in december of 1941 until right at the very last moment. he is coming, he is staying three weeks, he is coming for christmas. so the communication between the president and the first lady at that time was a little bit spotty, but nonetheless fascinating in all respects. host: the president hitting back in real time on twitter it. i want to get your reaction to that. ,f you moments ago, he wrote the real story involves hundred biden going around the world and

collecting large payments from foreign governments and foreign oligarchs. laura ingraham saying hunter made a fortune in ukraine and china. he knew nothing about energy or anything else. what is going on here? guest: i do not think we know yet. i think in some respects people in terms of the commentary about it. i think we need to know a lot more about the whistleblower's complaint, what was in it, what did it charge, what was the basis for that. it is a complicated story. one that i would offer to you this one small reflection, which is that for a president who promised an american first philosophy, i do not understand

the involvement of foreign countries potentially in a campaign. that is my bottom line. we do not allow foreign money in our campaigns. host: you have the president pointing 200 biden and the biden family. hunter wideno the and the biden family. is the finger-pointing going both ways? guest: it is the finger-pointing. in your previous hour of washington journal, there were callers who said at what point do we get on with the business of government, the business of the presidency? the business of congress? i think an awful lot of people are going to be asking that question as this unfolds. that does not say that this is not important.

host: our guest, dr. robert schmuhl, the book "the glory & the burden." caller: good morning. my 30 days is up. first, i have a comment. c-span asks the questions -- why are you a democrat and why are you a republican? old, bornm 80 years and raised in greenville, south carolina. know what is so you endured in those times. the reason i'm a democrat -- the democrat party looks like the country. when i look at trump's rallies, i do not see -- very few people in there that looks like me. that is why i am a democrat. -- is thereis another president that has held

as many rallies as president trump? thank you. have a good day. host: we will talk to you in 30 days. very diligent. they keep track and 30 days later they call in. we appreciate that. guest: that is great. i would say that we have never like this.idency in the book, i talked at some length -- the longest chapter in the book is about donald trump. i tried to explain why he was elected. there is about him this absolute those the handling of rallies. he is in his environment. he is totally in control. he is an entertainer. he is a performer. now, heallies even

brings backs kits and routines he used in 2016. my guess is that we will continue to see this right through election day. that you do not see people at those rallies who really would be as diverse as our country might be, i think what we have to remember is that communicating with the people who are supporting him and he is hoping that the people to whom he is directing his message, that they will be motivated to bring out their neighbors, their friends, their family members to help him win reelection. i think that is in part the basis of what he is trying to do. host: our next caller on the

republican line is joining us from illinois. good morning. a comment.ave public financing of campaigns would solve a lot of our problems. i am a never trump republican. i do agree with the professor on his term limit opposition. -- how would him term limits be affected if barack obama would be chosen as a vice president on the democratic ticket with joe biden? what do you think of that idea? guest: it is original. it is creative. i would suggest that it would than thetake longer next few months before we could see the repeal of the 22nd amendment. creation of the 22nd

amendment -- it was proposed in 1947, finally ratified in february of 1951. beguess is that there would language in that repeal that would say this is not -- does not apply to anyone who has already served under the 22nd amendment. just as there was language in the 22nd amendment that said it would not cover someone like harry truman, who was the sitting president at that time. the 22nde is what limit states. no person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice, and no person who has held the office of president or acted as president for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected president shall be elected to the office of president more than once. ,hat would apply to gerald ford who could not run again in 1980.

the caller mentioned barack obama. here is part of his inaugural address. [video clip] that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. we are a nation of christians and muslims, jews and hindus, and nonbelievers. we are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this earth. because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation and emerged from that stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass, that the lines of tribes shall dissolve, that as the world grows smaller our common humanity shall reveal itself and america must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace. host: january 2009. , at theemember democratic national convention

in boston in 2004, he gave that remarkable speech where we are not red america and blue america. we are the united states of america. i think that an awful lot of themselvesght to you're going to move beyond the that has taken hold in this country. in the book, i make the connection that donald trump, in his election campaign, kept talking about how he could be the dealer. he could be somebody who could broker the conflict between the .epublicans and the democrats two of our last presidents have made their appeals to the american public -- bring us together. , andg their presidencies this is not judgmental on either

side, but they seem to have to a morend and partisan way of thinking and acting. there is a whole chapter and hear about how does this polarization develop. i think there are a lot of americans who would like to see -- let's bring us together and not divide us and continue to divide us. this earlyentioned in the conversation, but i want to put it on the screen because it is in the book "the glory & the burden." during the first third of the 20th century, six candidates of the republican party winning the white house. woodrow wilson was the only democrats to interrupt a gop sequence. untile next 36 years 1969, four democrats occupying the oval office. there was only one republican, eisenhower. from then on, the presidential pendulum has continued to swing regularly between the two parties.

we will go to richard, joining us from ohio. ohio is still considered one of the home state of the presidents. caller: hello. remember our past history. we waited too long in world war ii until after the japanese attacked us at pearl harbor. we knew it was coming, but nobody believed it would happen. i think we are in the same situation today. i think history is about to repeat itself. we are not going to take any action until after we get attacked. ourink we have to maintain any belief of keeping conflict overseas and not let it come here to our country. host: thank you. guest: you are correct in saying we were slow to get in.

ofgely, that was a result the very strong sense of isolationism that existed in the country. franklin roosevelt was trying to help the british through lease and other actions. in saying it took pearl harbor before we got involved. when you think about it, we were slow to get into the first world war. this reluctance to engage in military action abroad is strong. how this will all play out in contemporary terms -- it would take someone much smarter and in this whole dimension to answer that. host: you have written how many books? guest: 15, edited and written 15

peer the 16th is the one on mr. churchill of the white house. host: let's go to new jersey. good morning. caller: after listening to all of this, president obama, we never had a president like him. he would be the reason why we should have a one term. what he managed to do -- the debt of the deductibles -- because of obama, we really have no health care system at all. the deductibles are so high. it is like having no insurance whatsoever. if you're deductibles $20,000, you never go to the hospital. the debt means none of the things democrats want to do now can be done. we cannot have medicare for all. we cannot have free anything because of the debt because of obama's $20 trillion -- $23 trillion more. d's, what we need

disciplinee d's -- to make sure nobody like obama ever gets elected again. not only do we need discipline, we need desire. we need a desire to love and not hate. what we have because of obama is hate and more hate. we love. we need unconditional love. not only do we need love, but we need merciful forgiveness and to go back to notre dame we were always in favor notre dame but since they invited obama to their campus at one time they do not even want to the notre dame football team to win any more games. discipline -- the opposite of debt and the opposite of deductibles or what we need. host: thank you, harold.

response? guest: i have no comment other than we would like you back as a football fan. host: let's go to dave, joining us from goose creek, south carolina. caller: good morning to everybody in the country, regardless of your political nature. the decision that citizens united that allowed money contributed by corporations to be free speech our the flavor of corporations now -- we already have interference from foreign entities. host: how significant was that decision? guest: your caller is putting his finger on one of the aspects all. that should bother us i would go beyond that and say it opens the door to much more in the way of the spending, the

gathering of the spending of campaign money. i think over time it is something that all of us ought to be looking at and questioning. let's see if we can come up with another way of doing it. one of the older -- earlier callers talked about federally financing campaigns. let's face it. we tried that in the wake of watergate. the candidates themselves are the ones who blew past those limits and boundaries. area that you raise is one that is open for discussion and i would argue reform. host: the message in your book is what? guest: the message in the book is to take the presidency seriously, to look at the

individuals who are running, and evaluate them as methodically as one can come it to look at the purpose, role commerce wants ability -- role, responsibility of the presidency. i was struck in reading the c-span book, the presidents. ranking,ased on the the best and the worst of the presidents. the 15th president emmett james buchanan, is listed as the worst three times in a row, three surveys in a row. the very best american president is the 16th president, abraham lincoln, three times in a row. an individual can make a huge difference to this larger

institution of the american presidency. the book is called "the glory & the burden: the american presidency from fdr to trump." thank you for being with us. yesterday, we carry live the funeral services of cokie roberts. she was 75 years old. she appeared on this network on a number of occasions and we sat down with her last year for our podcast the weekly. if you want to learn more about radio app. we posted the funeral on our website, c-span.org. this from her husband and partner of more than 50 years from st. matthew's cathedral here in washington, d.c., steve roberts. >> judith was another nurse who had two small children at home. and was pregnant with a. thirdcokie kept bugging her -- i want to see pictures of those children.

last saturday, in the last hours of the last day that cokie was conscious, judith finally relented and showed cokie photos of her two children on her phone. cokie's face just lit up with we haveandescent smile all loved her so long. "what, she exclaimed, beautiful children." and the two of them just embraced. moment captures the cokie i'll remember most. caring about someone else. helping them feel good about themselves. heart and her