meadow died." at 9:00 a.m., nation magazine editor d.d. guttenplan on campaign 2020 and the candidates vying for the democratic nomination. host: good morning. it's tuesday, october 8, 2019. we begin this morning on president trump's decision to withdraw troops from northeast syria. the president defended the move on monday as a step toward getting america out of endless wars and bringing u.s. troops home. critics on both sides of the aisle called the decision an abandonment of commitments to america's kurdish allies and warned of further destabilization in the region. this morning, we want to hear what you think. do you support the president's pullback in syria? if so, the number is 202-748-8921. if you oppose, the number is -- and we've set aside a special set of lines to hear from

active and retired members of the military. that number, 202-748-8002. you can also catch up with us, via text. 202-748-8003. if you do, please include your name and where you're from. otherwise, catch up with us on social media, on twitter. on face books. host: very good tuesday morning to you. you can start calling in now. in terms of how this all has unfolded, the pullback announcement came late sunday night in the form of a statement from the white house. this is what it said. turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation in northern syria. the united states armed forces will not support or be involved in the operation. united states forces having defeated the isis territorial caliphate will no longer be in the immediate area. the statement went on to say that turkey will now be responsible for all isis fighters in the area captured over the past to years in the wake of the defeat of the

territorial caliphate by the united states. that led to a lot of questions for president trump yesterday. reporter: on withdrawing forces in syria, why are you siding with an authoritarian leader and not our kurdish allies? president trump: i.a.p. not siding with anybody. we've been in seer for many years. syria was supposed to be a short-term hit. we were supposed to be in and out. that was many, many years ago. and we only have 50 people in that area. that's a small sector. i don't want those 50 people hurt or killed or anything. i don't want anything bad to happen to our people. i told that to period erdogan. i said -- president erdogan. i said, don't let any of our people get hurt, big trouble. now, a couple of things. i think there's a lot of pressure on turkey. they've been fighting with the p.k.k. for many years. they're natural enemies. if you read today a couple of reports saying that when president obama started this whole thing, as you know it was

started by president obama, he created a natural war with turkey and their long-time enemy, p.k.k. and they're still there. and they're still hating each other beyond anybody's belief. but i've told turkey that if they do anything outside of what we would think is humane, to use the word a second time, we talk about hock congress, we talk about this -- hong kong, we talk about this, they could suffer the wrath of an extremely decimated economy. host: that was president trump yesterday at the white house. he would go on to defend his decision several times via his twitter account. here's just a couple of his tweets on this topic yesterday. this one that got a lot of attention.

host: several tweets from the president yesterday. here's some of the headlines this morning. in major national papers. from the front page of "the washington post" -- trump decision on syria brings dire warnings. then from the front page of "u.s.a. today," this morning, syria pullout called reckless. one of those calling the decision reckless was speaker nancy pelosi. her statement yesterday saying that this reckless misguided decision undermines the efforts by our brave service members and our allies to end isis' tyranny. once again, president trump is desserting an ally in a foolish attempt to appease an authoritarian strongman. speaker pelosi going on to say that the decision poses a dire threat to regional security and stability and sends a dangerous message to iran and russia, as well as our allies that the united states is no longer a trusted partner. one more headline on this from

the front page of the "wall street journal" this morning. g.o.p. allies blast trump on syria exits. and leading the republican response, the senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell. here was his statement that he put out yesterday. host: the republican majority leader, mitch mcconnell yesterday. we're asking for your thoughts this morning. spending this first hour of the "washington journal" on this topic. phone lines for those who support the president's pullback of troops in syria, 202-748-8000 is that number. f you oppose the decision,

202-748-8001 and we set aside special lines for active and retired members of the military, 202-748-8002. we'll start on the active and retired line. allen is waiting in maryland. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my comment. i'll keep it brief. i'm a retired senior u.s. military officer. i've worked with the kurds before. been to iraq three times. just want to say this. no, i would not have supported the idea of saying you're withdrawing, but i do support the idea of withdrawing for the following reasons. we're talking about doctor we are talking about endless war. if they want to preserve the kurds from the turks, and i just returned from greece where they have a very good muscle memory of 400 years occupation, i would suggest that they use the united states peacekeeping force. but be ready for it to be like the sinai peacekeeping force, again, an endless commitment. let soldiers from fiji and the

far east, whoever wants to participate from the u.n., let them do so. these endless wars are bankrupting our country and the truth of the matter is, i do think the kurds are noble individuals and i think they fought very hard. but they clearly have their agenda. final comment, israel has its agenda as well. for us to be engaged in combat operations with iran or to continue to be a buffer in the middle east, completely remains in their interest. it's no longer in our country's interest. host: stick on the line for a second. i want to get your thoughts. we showed you the statement from the president and the statement from the white house. this is the statement from the secretary of defense for public affairs at the pentagon and i wonder if you see any daylight between what we've heard from the president and from the white house and the d.o.d. on this. they focused specifically on turkey, saying the department of defense made clear to turkey, as did the president, that we do not endorse a turkish operation in northern syria. the u.s. armed forces will not support or be involved in any

such operation. we heard that from the white house in conversations between the department and the turkish military, we have consistently stressed coordination and cooperation were the best path toward security in the area. i wonder what you think about that. caller: i think the same thing i say whenever i get a chance to call in to c-span. i'm a behavioral health officer and former special forces guy. and i can tell you the turks are only going to understand losing something they value greatly. my minor, when i went to command general staff college, was genocide. and the bottom line is, they're not going to understand anything but severe public sanctions or the possibility of losing their status in nato. period. drop the microphone. host: are you worried about -- caller: turkey is a great threat. host: are you worried this is where this could be going? genocide? caller: well, there's some history, if we want to go back and the idea of genocide. p.k.k. is definitely one of theired a never tears --ed a

err -- their adversaries. what we can't bring ourselves to do, thank you for giving me this time, we still have the cowboy idea. we want to defend the little old tribe that's getting the bad deal. we need to look at our resources, let the united nations, which is pretty good on passing resolutions, let them step up to the plate and let them send a peacekeeping force. it's -- host: you still with us? i think we lost allen. got your statement there. appreciate the call. a little more history on this. some recent history of u.s. pullbacks in syria. this from the "wall street journal" today, noting that it was last year that president trump abruptly ordered a full withdrawal of u.s. forces, triggering the resignation of defense secretary jim mattis, amid that outcry, president trump reversed course, decided to keep some u.s. forces in syria to prevent a resurgence of isis and to challenge iranian and russian influence. the story notes president trump revisited the issue this week after that phone conversation

with president erdogan of turkey, when he raised the subject of a turkish incursion into northern syria. the turks consider the kurdish w.p.g. military unit to be terrorists. u.s. officials consider the turkish fighters vital allies against isis. you can see the region we're talking about in syria. the northeastern region, the green in this map there. the kurdish forces and allies in that area, the orange parts, the part of syria controlled by the syrian government. these blocks on the map, publicly known u.s. bases, the two red blocks on the map here, they note are, are the locations where the united states is known to be leaving in this pullback. the story noting that u.s. officials played down the prospects that this is a wholesale withdrawal of the roughly 1,000 troops that are in syria. but of course president trump with his statements yesterday via twitter saying he wants to bring u.s. forces home. it's time to end these endless

wars. carl, objectioned for, massachusetts, supports the move -- oxford, massachusetts, supports the move. why is that? caller: good morning. thank you for speep -- c-span. i like what your first caller said. he sounds like a very smart man. i just wanted to say this is a lesson for all of us, for the entire world. it shows people all over the world, we can't be trusted. we're always there for you will tear yor motives. it's -- alterior motives. it's a lesson for us to not get involved. if we get involved in someplace, if we use the united nations properly, the way it should be used, i think that would be a very good avenue. basically that's all i want to say. thank you for c-span. host: milton is next out of philly. opposes the move. good morning. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. what this does is, i don't understand how trump supporters keep still supporting him. the kurds were there fighting isis for us.

thousands thousands of them died because they took the fight to isis. and as a result we didn't lose service men and women. -- that many service men and women. trump has a history of undermining our allies and benefiting putin. i don't understand how people keep still supporting him. the kurds are the ones that ser died for us. and we just going and abandon them. the turkish leader is going to go in there and he's going to wipe out them kurds and them christians over there. why is there not an outrage behind this? ook at what he just did to the britains. britain says putin poisoned a father and daughter on british soil. the trump administration recently undercut them and said, no, russia wasn't behind this. when are people going to wake up that he's in putin's pocket. that's my comment. thank you. host: milton, to your comment about casualties in syria. a column in today's "the

washington post", he has been in touch in recent years with commander of the syrian-kurdish forces and had a phone call with him since this announcement from the white house. just on the numbers you were talking about in terms of casualties. the syrian kurdish forces commander saying in that interview, in a more -- a later interview, one from july, that his forces suffered 11,000 killed and 24,000 wounded in fighting the islamic state. that since 2014. u.s. deaths in that campaign were fewer than 10. in terms of the concern over the isis fighters that the kurdish forces currently are in charge of, those who have been captured and currently held in various camps and prisons, he was told that those prisons are holding some 2,500 foreign fighters, including about 1,000 europeans, in addition to 3,000 iraqis. there's a possibility that because of lack of security, they will be out of control and

they will escape. that was the warning that came yesterday from the commander of syrian kurdish forces. again, in that interview with david ignacious that he writes about in "the washington post." jose in california. active, retired member of the military. good morning. caller: good morning. i just wanted to remind everyone that he knows more than the generals. also, i want to tell everyone that this is a man that does not keep his promises. how many promises has he broken? ask his ex-wives. ask all the people he betrays. that's all i have to say. thank you. host: david, virginia, supports the move. why is that? caller: i think it's a very wise move. yeah. these people will fight constantly amongst themselves. plus, we're 2,000 miles away. russia is close. believe it or not, russia is our ally. russia has become a christian

country, which it is. putin is our ally. and there's no reason for us to be bad to him. and this whole thing that we're in, we need to get out of this mess. this is the first place we need to get out of. we need to get out of here and then iraq and then syria, bring all of our troops back, put them on the border, take that extra money, build a wall, be america. the monroe doctrine. protect -- host: when you say russia is our ally, how did you feel about russia fighting to prop up the assad regime? caller: well, he made a decision that way because he ad two military bases there. yeah, assad is not a nice guy, no question about that. but then again, he's like all of the other people there. they fight amongst themselves

constantly. it's been prove sized. was written when -- prophesized. it was written, when the parole separation happened in the bible between the arabs and the jews, this was 3,000 years ago much it was told that they will have -- ago. it was told that they would have many princes or kings or whatever, and they would constantly fight amongst each other. host: bringing it up to date when you say russia is our ally, how do you feel about russian interference in u.s. elections? caller: this was not good. but then again, you have to understand that we have been interfering in the ukraine and in russia for a long time. host: that's david in virginia this morning. here's a few comments from twitter, from facebook and from text messages as well.

host: getting area thoughts this morning on president trump's pullback of troops in syria, in northeast syria. that announcement coming from the white house on sunday. a lot of reaction that you saw yesterday. we'll take you through some of it from capitol hill. but we also want to hear from you in this first hour of the "washington journal." greg opposes the move, out of michigan. good morning. caller: good morning. i feel very strongly this is

erdogan's decision, not the president's decision. he's good friends with erdogan. erdogan wants us out of there. the president has hotels in turkey. this is the same old-same old. he's doing the bidding of authoritarians and i don't like it one bit. to say for some of your callers to say that russia is an ally and russia's a christian nation, boy, that one's news to me. so i oppose giving up on our allies and the kurds. this is a very, very big mistake. and so does the republican senate disagree with the president of the united states. we don't give up on our allies. no marine leaves another marine behind. we're being -- this is so ridiculous i can hardly speak to you. i'm sorry.

i oppose, i oppose, i oppose this. host: let me run this by you. stay on the line for a second. you're concerned about the president's relationship with erdogan. this from "newsweek" yesterday, they cite a national security source with direct knowledge of the discussions, the phone call between president trump and president erdogan, that apparently prompted this. that source saying president trump was rolled by the turkish president in that phone call. the source saying president trump was definitely outnegotiated and only endorsed the troop withdrawal to make it look like we're getting something. but we're not getting something , that source told "newsweek." the u.s. national security has entered a state of increased danger for decades to come because the president has no spine and that's the bottom line. "newsweek" granting that official anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak on the discussion. the source said it would be surprising to see -- not be surprising to see a turkish incursion in the area sometime

n the next 24 to 96 hours. greg, your thoughts on that? caller: ok. look what we've done in syria. look what we've done with all these negotiations. we're going nowhere with any of our negotiations. where's our military input on this? he said he met -- the president said he met with the military in his -- and his advisors. i don't think he did. i don't think the republican senate believes he has gone into this seriously. he's making a unilateral decision, in my opinion. this is not good for the country. we don't give up on our allies. we don't leave the kurds to go on their own and have to fight a million turks. this is a mistake. we've got to do something about this and reverse this. our own allies in europe, what about that? they know we're not supporting allies. we're -- host: that's greg in michigan this morning. trisha is out of warsaw,

indiana. opposes the move. good morning. are you with us? go ahead. caller: hi. the statements i was going to make were pretty much taken by everyone else. i wholeheartedly 'groo -- agree with everyone opposed to this for the reasons they stated. the only thing that the last gentleman touched on that i had a question about too, how much input did he get from our military generals? how much advice did he get from the people who are there, who know what's going on, and -- because if he talked to president erdogan, who he has a hotel in istanbul, turkey, yeah. trump towers, plural, that's a problem. if he has not, you know, gone to his advisors and said, you know, how can we do this in a safe manner, to protect our

allies? and speaking of allies. did england have a heads up on this? , canada, france, germany snrks -- on this, canada, france, germany? did our allies around the world know that we were doing this? maybe you know. could answer that for me. but i haven't heard, you know, if the other countries were taken by shock as much as we are. host: here's the reaction from some european officials to the news yesterday. this from the french foreign ministry, an official statement from them saying any unilateral action here by the united states could have significant humanitarian consequences and would not provide the conditions for the safe and voluntary return of refugees to their areas of origin. said it would undermine the stability of this region and our direct efforts on the ground and then there's norbert , head of foreign affairs in the german parliament, the statement from him saying the

u.s. troop withdrawal from northern syria constitutes another abrupt and destabilizing foreign policy move by the united states. this damages u.s. credibility and stability in the entire region. the planned turkish offensive is contrary to international law and further militarizes the kurdish conflict. that wrapup of european reaction in the "the washington post" today. caller: that's pretty much the question i had. and that's my quhent. i just think it's a horrible idea. , e kurds fought with us and yeah. we call ourselves a christian nation, some of us do. as christians, i mean, you have to -- i mean, i'm just -- like the other gentleman, i'm a little bit frustrated, a little bit -- yeah. shaken by this. host: trisha in indiana this morning. here's what the president's allies on capitol hill, his

usually allies, republican members of the house and senate, several of them speaking out forcefully against this move. liz cheney in the house, republican in the house saying, withdrawing u.s. forces from northern syria is a catastrophic mistake that puts our gains against isis at risk and threatens u.s. security. this decision ignores the lessons of 9/11, terrorists thousands of miles away can and will use their safe havens to launch attacks against america. host: some 15,000 fighters are in iraq and syria.

host: majid is in reno. active and retired military. good morning. caller: good morning. i am for the pullout out of syria. we should never have been there in the beginning. it was all based on a lie by the obamas and clintons and we're working with saudi arabia and the c.i.a. and we're working with terrorists in syria. it's been noted. ask tulsi gabbard. she even made the same statement. so our mainstream media has been blinding the american people so much, that it's like -- send your own children there.

a lot of the people in the democrats and republicans, they all have connections to the military complex. they need the wars so they can get more money for their own families. they don't care about the troops. i do. i fought in vietnam. and that was based on a lie. we have to stop this kind of war sensations. it's not helping anybody. we're destroying the whole middle east. a lot of it based on lies and a lot of it fighting with -- for the saudis. host: that's majid in nevada. this is cornelius, also on the active and retired military line. caller: thank you, c-span, for taking my call. i was an active duty military police officer in the national uard from 1979 to 1994 and i almost went in the iran situation when they took those

hostages and stuff. we need more military people. we need to draft -- the draft back and everything. but we shouldn't leave those kurds. i support the president and stuff. but i'm hoping he'll have, where the air force will bomb those turks and stuff if they attack the kurds and everything. but the kurds have been very loyal to us. if y'all remember president bush, the first one, when we went in iran and iraq, i mean. he led the -- let the kurds down too. he told the kurds to rise up against saddam and everything and they got gassed and stuff. so i hope and pray that our air force will be able to defend the kurds. i know the army has pulled out of different areas over there. so i'm hoping the air force will defend the kurds and stuff. host: do you think there should be a residual presence in the area in the form of air force but not troops on the ground?

caller: yes, sir. because the kurds can take care of themselvesment they're great fighters and stuff -- themselves. they're great fighters and stuff. i haven't fought with them and stuff but i heard other people fight with them. so they're great fighters and stuff. they'll fight. they'll take the fight to the turks if it has to be. but they need air support and stuff. host: how long would you be willing to keep that commitment of air support? is that something you'd be ok with an open-ended commitment? caller: yes, sir. because, see, just like in afghanistan, we're having the same problem there. those afghans are going to have to stand up and fight for themselves. everybody has to stand up and fight for themselves. if we put a no-fly zone up there, the kurds will fight. that's one thing i know. and so as long as they have air support, they'll be fine. host: that's cornelius in louisianament more from david after his phone call yesterday with the commander of syria's

kurdish forces. this is how he ends his column in today's "the washington post." host: bob is in baldwinville, massachusetts. good morning. active and retired military. caller: good morning.

all i'd like to say today is that i don't believe that mr. erdogan is a very good human being. he should not be part of nato. and if we're going to pull all of our stuff out of syria, then maybe he could sign the agreement not to attack the kurds before we pull out. that's pretty much all i have to say. host: jack. falls church, virginia, supports the president's move. why is that? caller: i don't support the president on very much. i think he's jeopardizing the country with the debt that he's incurred, with a silly tax plan. but he's driven by his ego. but in this case, i believe we had no business being in syria. i think it was -- and we do not need middle east oil. and there's no reason to appease allies there. and we need to get out of these type of military actions and stay out of them. thank you.

host: randy, rome, new york. active and retired military. good morning. caller: good morning, john. thank you for taking my call. i just have a couple comments. i've been listening all morning and listen to people talk about our allies. does everybody understand that turkey is our ally? or not? in -- or not? part of the nato alliance of 1955. so, president trump, we're talking 50 guys inside syria that don't need to be there. host: what about the reports of about 1,000 u.s. troops that remain in syria right now, should they come home? caller: that's something for a different day. president trump is talking about the 50 u.s. service men that he said, and i told erdogan that he didn't want our boys or women to be hurt with what is going to happen over there. so, president trump has made a decision to save american lives

and he's pulling the 50 people out of the north. he's not pulling -- host: president trump is also talking about bringing american troops home, it's time for us to get out of these ridiculous, endless wars, many of them tribal. of them tribal. we need to bring our soldiers home. we'll fight where it is in our benefit and only fight to win. i realize that he's talking about the troops along the northeastern border and that's the pullback that was announced on sunday. but president trump is clearly signaling that he wants american troops home. he wants to end these wars. caller: you disagree with him? what's our purpose of being there? we have 1,000 men and women in harm's way that shouldn't be there. president trump cares about americans. as we should all. host: that's randy in new york this morning. david also supports the president's move. out of denson, texas. good morning. caller: good morning.

i do. one small criticism of the show this morning so far that i've heard, and i haven't heard it also, perhaps i've missed some of it, but most of the reporting i've seen on this is not 100% of it. has only shown senators and congressmen who oppose the move. there's congresspeople and senators that support it. mike lee gave a tremendous -- gave a lot of really good reasons to support the move. so not all the senators from utah are -- host: and rand paul was another voice yesterday that came out in support of the president. here's his tweet from yesterday -- caller: he did ramp up the activity to get -- to kill the caliphate. that was his goal in being in

syria. he had -- he defined the mission, the mission was over. he tried to pull out of there months ago. that cost him his defense chief. he's not changed his mind about it. you've got russia, syria, iran, iraq, turkey, it's a tribal war. the thing dates back forever. certainly since before world war i. when the turks and the armenians and such -- i mean, there's -- these tribal wars over there, how many of them over the last 70 years, since world war ii, how many tribal or regional air wars have we successfully pulled off? you can't even say that we successfully pulled off korea except to stop the north from taking south korea. vietnam, iraq is even now pretty much under iranian influence. afghanistan, the taliban is a fraction of the size of the

overall population and yet without us being there forever, it looks like afghan school girls aren't going to be able to get an education. the rest of the world pulls back and lets us do it. how many countries does china have an active military engagement going on in? how about russia? but china's the main issue, not russia really. russia's economy is so small. china, we're bleeding ourselves economically. i don't disagree with the idea that if we -- if we had all the men we needed to not have to have nonstop deployments, they had a thing yesterday of suicide rates of soldiers. it's up again from 20 to 21. we're deploying our men too often because we don't have enough troops. we have a 9 -- $974 billion budget deficit forecast for next year, they just announced that. we're being bled dry from an economy standpoint. what trump wants to do is fight

with economics. look how well that's doing in china. he's raised issues about china that we haven't been title of the bill talk about ever. -- been able to talk about ever. host: a lot of discussions yesterday centered on commitments made to america's kurdish allies who fought and died over the past five years alongside u.s. troops. this was hillary clinton yesterday saying the president has sided with an authoritarian leader of turkey and russia over our loyal allies and america's own interests. his decision is a sickening betrayal, both of the kurds and of his oath of office. is what hillary clinton says. caller: can i comment on that? host: yeah, go ahead. caller: to take hillary clinton's comments about anything is just totally laughable. for one thing, you talk about the kurds. there's a lot of different kurds. you've got -- you literally do have kurdish terrorist attacks in turkey. it's a real thing. now, there's different factions of kurds, just like there were

so many different factions in syria. obama, from what i understand, although i'm not sure what the truth is anymore, but obama supposedly had an opportunity at the beginning of assad's attacks on his people, to have supported what really amounted to a syrian free army. by the time obama did anything, they were all dead. so don't -- for her as part of that administration to talk about supporting friends -- half a million people at least died -- have died in syria. think about it. the iraqis were calling for american air strikes when isis was coming out of syria into iraq. think back to the days when isis was on the move out of syria into iraq. there was a vast open space where they could have been bombed back to the previous century. and obama did nothing. during that time frame, that's

when isis exploded its caliphate and took over about 30% of iraq. they were within 10 miles of the iraqi capital. so for hillary clinton or anyone from the previous administration to talk about these things, i mean, -- i mean, it was the obama administration, -- obama administration that let russia back into syria in the first place. when he didn't hold the red line, the next thing you knew, we had russian jets flying in to the airport, to that airbase, they had fighter jets, literally, you can check the facts on this, their fighter jets were tucked up so closely behind their larger planes to hide their radar signature that was a fate acombli with their fighter jets on the ground ar for the first time in 30 years, russia was back in the mideast. trump has been given all these circumstances, whether it's with trade, whether it's with the middle east issues.

because other presidents haven't dealt with them. host: that's david in texas this morning. you mentioned the humanitarian crisis in syria as part of your comment. this from today's "wall street journal" about it. host: darryl is in belleview, michigan. opposes the president's move to pull back troops. go ahead. caller: thank you for c-span. i think one of the amazing things i've listened to over the last half an hour is how many u.s. veterans don't even realize that turkey is a member of nato. that they're an ally of the u.s. another thing people seem to forget is the red line in the sand when obama was president. when assad was bombing his own people.

and the republicans had their hands up in the air about him not doing anything. we've had special forces on the ground in syria for a very long time, working hand in hand with he kurds to fight back isis. there's always been a political deference between the kurds and turkey. and they've been fighting for a very long time. for their own independence from turkey. but i think to turn tail and run from our allies that have fought shoulder to shoulder to fight off one of the most heinous groups that we've seen this century, it's astonishing and i can guarantee you that pressure from putin and erdogan have forced trump's hand. in syria. host: this is how the editorial board of the "wall street journal" puts it -- -- puts it

today. host: that's how they start their lead editorial today. here's how it is in "the washington post" today, their editorial board calling it a blunder in syria. host: getting your thoughts this morning for another 20 minutes here on "washington

journal." phone lines split up differently this morning. if you support the president's pullback of u.s. troops in syria, it's 202-748-8000. if you oppose it, 202-748-8001. and setting aside special phone lines for active and retired members of the military, 202-748-8002. brian, summerville, pennsylvania. good morning, you're next. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i really enjoyed listening to the last two callers on this difficult situation. you know, i'm not an expert in this at all. but to my understanding, weren't the terrorists who destroyed the towers from syria, wasn't the bomber in boston had ties to turkey? if these countries are our allies, then i think we need to rethink it. what strikes me is this global citizen, you know, the global movement. and when it comes to stepping

up and taking care of your own problems, the european union has, you know, difficulty with that. i support what the president's doing. i admit, erstand, all the political and moral aspects of it. but these other countries in the european union and nato have to step up and take care of their own problems. how many centuries are we going to take care of the world's problems? you know, it's frustrating. and really, that's all i have to say. when there's balloons and doves and daisies, you know, the global citizen movement is a wonderful thing. but when it comes up to the devils, demons and problems of the world, they seem to run and hide. host: before you go, how would you describe the trump

doctrine, the trump foreign policy doctrine? if you had to do it in a few words, how would you describe it? caller: again, it's america first. are we actually helping these situations? you know, i believe that these conflicts are a way to drain us and make us weak. not, you know, here come the americans. it's, let's involve the americans in as many futile attempts as we can to drain their resources. trump's foreign policy is one, think, founded in economic disciplines. and i think that might be a way to do it. because, you know, the almighty dollar is what the world seems to worship. so if we can tie economic strength with our diplomacy,

that's much better than using military might. host: that's brian in pennsylvania this morning. robert on twitter also talking about the trump foreign policy doctrine saying -- st: getting your thoughts on twitter. @c-spanwj. if you want to text us, you can that, 202-748-803 is that number. sylvia, -- 202-748-8003 is that number. sylvia, louisianaville, kentucky. you're next. caller: i think when trump's -- r's office was [indiscernible] -- all his medical records, i believe trump has -- is insane. i hate to say it.

but he's got a mental problem. host: what do you think about his foreign policy? our last caller was talking about the trump foreign policy doctrine. how would you describe it? caller: well, i've lived -- i believe the whole thing is him and putin go way back -- i go way back. i'm very old. him and putin's always been close friends. i believe he wants to get putin whatever he wants. and he's afraid he's going to get kicked out of office. so he's in a hurry to do whatever putin wants. he wants to drain the american, have them fighting with each her, the whole thing is to destroy the american way. and i believe that's what he's doing. he's not fit -- he has no morls. he's disgusting -- morals. he's disgusting. host: we'll stay in kentucky with brenda in campbellsville.

good morning. supports the president's move. why is that? caller: good morning. i just want to say i can't believe that last caller was from kentucky. yes, i do support trump and what he's doing. i have never believed in these little wars they've been putting on for us. i just think it destroys our military, to tell you the truth. we don't have protection here. if she wants to know, it is adjoining hese countries now in the new world order. when one of those countries that are allies go to war, we all have to go to war. that was not trump's doing either. host: would you like to be out of nato? caller: yes, i would. yes, i most certainly would. he has -- it has done our country no good at all. it has hurt us badly. and i just don't think mitch

mcconnell is a faithful republican. i believe he's more mad at trump over china than he is syria. and this is just his way to express his hatred toward trump . his resentment toward him. they started to put something in the news about his wife making profits off of those ships that's coming in here from china and i kept waiting to hear, i just got a brief thing of it and they didn't tell that much of it. host: you have been a mcconnell supporter in the past in kentucky? he's been there for several years. caller: no. host: you never supported him? caller: i think he hurt us right away. we were disappointed in him in his first term in office. it was all in the news and all of a sudden it got stopped. host: that's brenda in kentucky this morning. a few more comments from members of congress.

host: rose in renton, washington. you're up next. opposes the move by the president. why is that? caller: good morning and thank you for accepting my call. it's a shame to hear all the discourse and divisiveness of us americans. i thought we were patriots. people have to be -- and understand the fact, president trump had a chance to defend america. he had five times. but he was a coward and he said

he had a spur. all of my uncles served from world war i -- grandfather, world war i and uncles, world war ii, korea, vietnam. and they weren't always treated good when they came back. but they still believed in the idea of being a good patriot. number two, i think he acts like a little kid. he has to show his taxes, oh, wait, i got to show my taxes, i'll throw another bomb to the american, i'll start another thing, i'll pull these troops out. he was advised against it from real military heroes who actually went and signed on to defend this country. and they told him that wasn't a good idea. but all of a sudden a federal court judge said, you need to show your taxes. oh, here he goes, sewing chaos again. he does have a mental problem. i don't know why people can't see that. i don't know if people are so unhopeful or so hateful that

they can't see that. this is commonsense stuff. this is real -- this is part of our national defense. our troops go and defend us and the u.s. -- people say they want the u.s. to get out of nato. people don't study history. we are here to make sure there's no world war ii. because i believe that world war ii, the good lord is not going to -- world war iii, the good lord is not going to let any of us be here if this is how we behave. host: pam opposes the move. caller: good morning. yeah, my comment is, a lot of times, i'm 57 years old. what i've learned is a lot of times what you think something is about isn't really the truth. i believe a lot of this is about that russia wants us out.

i think it's like -- wants to sell, i think it's like $4 million worth of missiles to turkey. that opens that up, that sell, because now turkey has a reason to purchase those. i just think that that's really what's behind all of this. host: where do you think this ends? caller: i would hope that president trump gets enough shback that he at least does something different than what he's done right now. people have to realize, where would america be if france and -- france stepped in for us? host: on your first comments, the "wall street journal" today taking look at what you bring up, saying the budding relationship between turkey and russia has been based largely on turkey's decision to purchase russia's s-400 anti-aircraft missile system, despite the threat of u.s. sanctions.

that decision has worried officials at the north atlantic treaty organization, of which turkey of course is a member of the see -- member. seeing it as a step that will push turkey into russia's orbit. did you want a follow-up there? caller: i agree with that. host: that's pam in pennsylvania. little bit more on turkish efforts here and this planned offensive in northeastern syria. just a look at that from the "wall street journal" as well. that planned offensive, which president erdogan said could begin any time, designed to fulfill what turkey has long outlined as a strategic security objective, preventing armed kurdish forces that the turks view as a terrorist threat from getting a foothold along their southern border.

host: phyllis is in elgin, texas. active and retired member of the military. good morning. caller: good morning, it's phyllisy. i'm opposed to this, himming pulling troops out. we're there to serve until they bring us home. and the man that spoke from pennsylvania doesn't have a clue. there's no such thing as economics with trump. i'm just appalled at the way some of these civilians just alk about their, you know, they're for us being pulled out of different places because they've never been to these places. we want to support these people in their home so that they

don't come -- they don't have to come over here and be treated as second-class citizens. that's what they don't understand. that's what a lot of civilians don't understand. host: you have been to some of these places? caller: yes. host: where have you been, if you don't mind saying. caller: i don't care to say. host: ok. caller: but we need to understand that. if you've not walked in someone's shoes before, you know, kind of keep your comments to yourself. what i'm saying is that he's wrong for doing what he's doing. of course he doesn't have a clue and of course he's a puppet. we all know this. and i feel for my brothers and sisters that are in arms right now because they're having to serve this man and go places where they may not want to go or know that it's wrong to go. but having to be there in arms and do what they have to do.

host: jacob in chicago supports the president's move. why is that? caller: perfect. so in response to the previous caller actually, and i agree with what she's saying. i do think that the president, it's a good thing he is pulling the troops because it's removing, like, our presence in the country, which we really shouldn't be in the first place. militarily, we don't have to. but i'm actually wondering your take like when it comes to, humanitarian and aid solutions, like addressing global poverty, should we keep troops in those countries? or should we pull out like we are in syria? host: what do you think? would it help? caller: it depends on what legislation's on the table in the u.s. and what other

countries are doing. it depends, right? like, how bad is the conflict, what's keeping, like, poverty there or, like, these injustices. host: there's a lot of folks who call into this program who worry that we spend far too much money on foreign aid and that it's money that could be better spent here in the united states to help the people who need help here. what would you say to those folks? caller: so actually i have a good answer to that. a lot of the foreign aid that we send out into the world is, like, not going to be reciprocated in the exact sense of funding but at the same time when we support economic development and ending conflicts which leads to economic development in other countries, we are also -- you know, it opens markets for u.s.

development which really only serves to help us by opening up job opportunities here in exports and there too. host: jacob, thanks for the call. this morning from illinois. arnold is in wilmington, north carolina, active and retired member of the military. good morning. caller: yes, good morning. host: go ahead. caller: yes. i was just calling to, you know, give the president my support on pulling the u.s. forces out over there. we have a u.n. that i thought had a peacekeeping force that would go in there and do whatever policing needs to be done. the kurds need a place that they can call their own. so i'm all for supporting them and doing that. host: how do we do that, arnold? is it in the form of a no-fly zone -- caller: [indiscernible] host: i'm sorry, go ahead. caller: it would be nice if we

had an economy we could start over there. instead of guns and weapons and fighting, you know, if we could get an economy started, it's all about keeping the dollar over there right now. i just think we could help by just building an economy. host: is that economy peace in the region necessary to build that economy and if so, how do you keep that peace in the years to come in such a united nations would do that, they would take the lead, but it should not be america only. it should be a united front. i think we need to be over there to support these people and give the kurds a piece of land that they can say, this is ours. host: thanks for the call. ,organ out of washington opposes the move by the president. caller: hello, sir.

is we wereon point the ones to destabilize syria. maps, look at electrical satellite maps of electrical outlets in that country, since trump started his bombing campaign it is only down to about 3% of what it was before. takingld be the ones care of the problem to reestablish it and secure the borders that they had fought to try to control and secure with our security forces. host: for how long? what is the commitment we have made if it is a, you break it, you bought it model? caller: two years. host: two years from now? why do you put that expiration date? caller: that leaves enough time

to do proper negotiations with the u.n. rather then, we are pulling out and it is your problem. host: what if we do not have an agreement by the end of that period? caller: we will have a different president. i am a republican. i flipped just because yang has good policies. we have someone who does not understand the grand scope of the world stage. never pulledus has out this quickly out of a country, and left them pretty much helpless. was flooded with people from iran, iraq, and syria, opponents of the government. twitter went into a frenzy trying to pull these videos. i watched somebody die on the streets. host: you say you are an andrew

yang supporter. what do you understand has policy to be in this region? overr: we are investing $140 billion a year into war campaigns. let's not sugarcoat it, it is more campaigns. ,aybe put out security forces we are still sugarcoating it. a joint bases at who have had boots on the ground and they said, if we pulled out it would be a problem, and here we are. i have those same friends tweeting and texting me saying, this is some really big problems we have caused because we are sitting here from the safety of our homes making judgments, while people on the others of the world are dying, because of the actions of one person who is truly responsible. wellesley,ut of

massachusetts, supports the president's move. turn down your television and listen through your phone. we will let you figure that out. florida,n davenport, opposes the president's move. caller: i do not support him at all. i totally oppose this. i believe we need to support our allies. we don't turn our backs on them. we are in a lot of places sometimes it feels like we shouldn't be, but the reason we are is because we have been the world leader, and when we got attacked on our land and had other world leaders come to our usp and fight to us -- for in afghanistan and iraq. and rather fight on that land rather than here in america.

we have to stand for something or we will fall for anything. we do not surrender, which is what trump did. i believe yesterday happened for two reasons. thinks thatieve he way would be proud of him for pulling out, but the reason he get their minds off this impeachment, they will say how great i am because i pulled people out of the war. the other reason i believe he -- he said in would like to start off by wishing a very happy birthday to -- abe.nister i did not want to say it wrong. is, has birthday is

september 21. do you know whose birthday it was yesterday? president vladimir putin's birthday yesterday. trump.n he is looking out for his own interest. anything that has to do with money in his pocket. they are our allies, but he has his own compound raise in s-10 --l -- compiled raise in campadres in istanbul. has murdered one person and chopped him up two pieces and he will stand by them , but our guys in syria, if they touch one person, they will be hit with sanctions. they will be so sorry. last caller inur

this first section. plenty more to talk about. we will be joined by andrew pollack whose daughter died in the parkland mass shooting. we will discuss his new book, "why meadow died." plan will joinn campaign.uss the 2020 ♪ >> sunday night on q and a, historian jeff gwynn discusses his book "the vagabonds," about henry ford and thomas edison. >> the idea was that they wanted to go out and have fun. they wanted to demonstrate, get in your car and do these things, but they were not going to have

to light their own campfires and eat cold beans out of cans. they had all these different amenities. they had a refrigerated car powered by edison batteries so they could have fresh dairy. chefs would prepare gourmet meals. in the morning, they would dress in freshly ironed clothing, but they were so famous and america was so grateful it did not matter. the point is, we are out in cars traveling and seeing these things. you can do it too. >> sunday night at 8:00 p.m. on c-span's q and a. ♪ order.house will be in has been years, c-span providing america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, supreme court, and public

policy events from d.c. and around the country, so you can make up your own mind. created by cable in 1970 nine, c-span is brought to you by your cable provider. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. "washington journal" continues." us,: andrew pollack joins the father of meadow pollack, one of the 17 people killed in the shooting at marjorie stoneman douglas high school, and authored a book "why meadow died." the shooter was never going to be a model citizen, but it took a village to raise him into a school shooter. i cannot say he killed my daughter. they killed my daughter. who is "they"? county, theard

mental health facilities, school district, the sheriff's office all played a big role in allowing it to happen with policies they had in place at broward. host: what policies specifically? caller: the policies came from the superintendent, who came from chicago, who was tied to arne duncan. that was the education secretary when obama was president. he wanted to and the school to prison pipeline, and suspensions and expulsions. by doing that, it created a culture of leniency through broward where kids were not getting reported, arrested, held accountable, no consequences. what happened was this killer expelled arrested or for the many crimes he committed, and was able to

purchase a rifle when he turned 18 and never was arrested. we have records that in middle school he wanted to kill -- the teacher took notes, he was skinning animals. wasas so dangerous, he walked around from class to class with security. they let him in the school with my daughter. in high school, they allowed him back in high school. dangerousut he was so that they had to frisk him every morning before school, and was not allowed in with a backpack. that is how dangerous he was. the police went to his house on 45 occasions, never arrested. -- broward are sheriff's office was tipped off and never did anything. after he was a shooter, he trespassed at the school, still

never arrested. these policies are throughout the whole country and they are very dangerous. it creates a chaotic environment. my daughter would want everyone in the country to know who failed her, and the policies that were in place that allowed her to be murdered that day. that is what this book is. host: if you want to join the conversation this morning, phone lines are open for you to do so. we are talking with andrew pollack. max eaton is the other author. what is his role, and how did you meet him? caller: max was down in broward county. everyone shooting, including the superintendent, sheriff, every media outlet was blaming the gun. i did not jump on that bandwagon.

i wanted to know the facts, how this happened, how i could put my beautiful daughter in school and now i will never see her again? if it was that, i would talk to you about it. i started to get phone calls of how dangerous this kid was. max, who works for the manhattan institute, is an expert in education policy. he came down to broward to write a story and see what happened, could these policies from the obama administration have led to this parkland shooting? we started talking and getting so much information and so many failures in the system that we ,aw that we put it into a book which i call a manual that every parent should read, to see what happened to my daughter in parkland and see if these policies are in your child's school. that is how we started. it was just going to be an

article, and it was too much to be put into an article. it was jaw-dropping and we decided to put it into a book so every parent can know the truth about what happened in parkland. host: phone lines for parents and students (202) 748-8000,. educators, (202) 748-8001. for all others, (202) 748-8002. coming back to the book in your research, part three of your book is entitled "the politically correct school district." you go through a list of some 42 what if's of counterfactual's where if someone made a responsible decision, your daughter and her classmates might be alive. which of those do you want to highlight? arrestedhat if he was when he came to the school for trespassing?

what if they put him through a fall baker act when he said he act when he baker said he wanted to kill or commit suicide. host: what is a baker act? guest: it is when they are committed against their well and go before a judge. it would have went on his background where he would not be able to purchase a rifle. a lot of people you see on the news are always talking about background checks, but when you have policies like this in place, that don't allow for backgrounds, background checks will not work. it never would have worked on this killer because he had a clean background from them never having him arrested. 45 times to his house. he punched his mother's teeth out and was not arrested. he threatened lives at the school and was not arrested.

the guy at the gate allowed him to walk in the front of the school with a rifle bag. that was not reported. another monitor, his name is david taylor, he ran into a closet and hid with his radio and cell phone. while he was in the closet, he heard the principal told the other students to evacuate the building because he thought there was a fire going on, while david taylor was in the closet. he did not warn anyone to stay in their rooms, so this monitor let the students go out into the hallway where they knew there was a shooter. a lot of this stuff i uncover and would not be uncovered if i did not want to honor my daughter and do this investigation. it would just get swept under the rug like mass shootings where they are quick to blame the rifle or the nra.

host: you say you do not blame the gun because it lets too many people off the hook. what do you think of the gun debate? guest: i don't really go that texas, youe even in have beto o'rourke saying he wants to ban semi automatic rifles, but a couple of months after the parkland shooting in santa fe, texas, 10 people were killed at a school with a shotgun and a pistol, so why doesn't he care about those victims? why is he just coming after semi automatic rifles? if you arrest these people, it is more of a solution. the dayton shooter, when he was in high school it was similar to my daughter's shooter. he was never arrested for threats. if he would have been arrested, he would never be able to

purchase a rifle. the same with my daughter's murderer. if he were arrested for his many crimes, he would not be able to buy a rifle. a solution is when people make threats, they need to be arrested. when people are mentally ill and violent and a threat to themselves and others, they need to be committed so they have a background. just pointing the finger at a gun or background checks does not work. i just foundi just found this oy investigation, and it is really just common sense if they wanted to get things done and make the community safer. host: the book is "why meadow died," andrew pollack is with us. educator, laura is out of rockford, illinois. caller: hello. one of the things that the

shooters across the country have had in common is mental illness. here is a group of weak bang minded people -- weak minded people that can be highly influenced. another thing they discovered mentally ill shooters have in common is that they are doing hours and hours of playing video games. you can communicate from anywhere in the world on these videogames, and they could be sending some liminal messages. -- subliminal messages. i don't know. they should research this out further. did arobinson in britain story where he followed a guy that was threatening to kill him. they found out he was part of a community, he was going to a

church or a mosque, and they were feeding him hate information. host: andrew pollack on violent video games and mental illness. guest: in middle school, we came across records from his teacher and the teacher said he was violento differentiate videogames from reality. there is something to say about some of these kids. also, he was emotionally disturbed and they mainstreamed him in with kids. that is a big problem when you take emotionally disturbed, vian -- violent individuals and label them special needs and put them in with kids who want to learn, that is something i uncovered while looking into the investigation on my daughter. host: charlotte on the line for parents and students from houston, texas.

caller: good morning. i am very sorry for your loss. i was an educator, and teachers for years have been telling the public how violent the students have become. health wouldntal be taken care of on an outpatient basis. we got rid of institutions. the two words young people do not seem to have a grasp on is "conscience and consequences." we want to make excuses for every behavior, bad behavior they have. their mother did not eat broccoli when she was carrying them, stupid things, instead of handling the problem exactly the way you are saying. bring it to the attention, bring it to somebody's attention so that there is a record and somebody can follow up on it.

that is not happening. gun want to blame it on the and it is society that is causing this. thank you very much for writing the book and i definitely will purchase it. guest: thank you. i think you said you were a teacher. just to prove my point, in california, gavin newsom just signed into law that it is against the law to suspend or expel disruptive children. these policies are throughout the country. if you can believe that parents will send their kids to a public school where kids have no consequences. when it comes to these policies, teachers need to be more vocal. teachers need to band together and tell the public and parents what is going on with these policies. a lot of them, you see the teachers unions a four -- scharf

for these policies -- are for these policies. all of the teachers, if you are listening, you are the ones we should be listening to, and you need to educate parents and tell them about these policies that make your jobs much harder. she gets it, she was a teacher. host: who is kim? teacher.m was a she is in the book. she was on the third floor unfortunately, kim came to the school district from another city where she was trained properly on what to do if there was an active shooter, and in my eyes, she is a hero. she saved every child in her classroom. daughter,r for my

after hearing 90 rounds, the smoke alarm went off and he ignored the rifle and put her out because the smoke alarm went off, and told her to go in the hallway where she was shot nine times. then she locked my daughter out where she could not get back in the classroom. that is where she was shot, trying to shield another student . a lot of the policies in the schools are terrible. that is why parents, i urge you to read my book and do not make the mistake i did and think that every school is safe. look into these policies that your child's school. i tell parents if i would've read my book two years ago, my daughter would be alive because i would have had her at a private school, charter school, or home school because those policies are mostly in public schools. not all of them, but it is up to

parents. you are responsible where you put your child. you take them to the bus stop or the school. don'te responsible, so look to politicians to be the fix all for these schools, because politicians cannot help at a local level. it is your community that controls your local school board. host: the book is "why meadow died." picture is on the front. what was she like? guest: meadow was a fighter. like i said, she fought on the third floor. she tried to shield a freshman and got shot five more times. the bullets went through my daughter and killed the freshman underneath her. she was wonderful. she was the most like me.

she was my baby. she was going to be enrolled in college in the fall. that never happened. she wanted to be a lawyer. she was always kind to people. she was gorgeous, beautiful young lady. she would fish. she could be like a supermodel at night and during the day go out with the boys. i miss her every day. when you lose a child, you cannot explain it to anybody because it is probably the worst thing that can ever happen to a parent. i live with that, and at his torturous. i -- it is torturous. i suffer with it every day. host: did she ever worry about school shootings growing up through elementary, middle, or high school? guest: never. that is part of the problem in

america. people think it is never going to happen to you until it happens to you, and then they see all the failures. that is why i would never put my daughter in a school like what is going on in broward county. broward county, the enrollment is down by 2000 students. charter schools have a waiting list. private schools are hard to get into. i see that is the future. parents will explore their options. why would a parent want, like in california, put their kid in a disruptive, chaotic environment? chances are your kid will not get shot, but you should not put them in that environment. mostenvironment is not at charter schools or private schools. why isn't there shootings at private schools? they do not accept this type of behavior and they do not accept

this type of emotionally disturbed children in their schools. i urge parents to read my book and don't just take it for granted that your child's school is safe. host: milwaukee, wisconsin, on the line for parents and students. caller: i would like to say that i admire miss meadow. i believe she was a beautiful young lady, and i am sorry for mr. pollick's loss. this young man, the superintendent from chicago, was he the superintendent when this young man's troubles began? guest: no. it started when he was in nursery school. he was biting kids, scratching kids, got kicked out of nursing school. -- nursery school. he wanted to kill.

he was infatuated with guns, skinning animals. they had to walk him from class to class. the superintendent brought policies from chicago where it was ok to do certain things and it was not a problem. it is called the promise program and it is a failed promise -- policy. he was the superintendent in middle school and high school and he is still in broward. host: is it called the promise program elsewhere? guest: no, just here. it is called different programs. kids need consequences and to be held accountable, so they are set up for success when they are adults. if you don't show kids accountability when they are younger, you set them up for failure and that is what goes on and a lot of these schools by not helping kids who are disruptive. virginia., sterling,

caller: i am a parent. do you know if the parents of the young man tried to get mental health for this person? guest: they got a lot of mental health, all the time, but his mother is also the one that drove him to the store and allowed him to purchase a rifle. his mother pushed for him to go back to the public school. his mother allowed the police to come to the house 45 times and did not have their son arrested, where he would not be able to purchase a rifle. his mother was about 50 years old when they adopted the killer from a drug addict mother, and brought that kid into their life. the kid was a problem since nursery school. like i said, she brought him to

the gun store and let him buy the rifles. she was part of the problem. host: chris in florida, tallahassee. caller: good morning. i just wanted to say really , thanks for speaking up for the teachers and the teacher unions. i believe teachers should have the right if they are trained properly, to protect their students in their classrooms and their schools. i just wanted to say to you, sir, i remember you at the white house speaking compassionately with the president and your sons. and i bethero to me, your daughter is really proud of you. thanks for everything, friend. i love you and blessings. guest: i really appreciate that.

a new fan from tallahassee, a lot of the teachers are --tunate under governments governor desantis. teachers, depending on their county, are eligible to go for about 150 hours worth of training to defend themselves and their students in the classroom. here in broward at ground zero, we have superintendent rumsey where my daughter was murdered, teachers are not allowed to go through that program. governor scott, when he was the governor, he put together a commission to look at all the failures so we could avoid another mass shooting like this. videos ofhing the what happened inside the school, 14 out of the 15 commissioners recommended teachers to be able to go through this intense program, and to defend

themselves at school. when seconds count, first responders are minutes away. it is a voluntary program, for all of the people who will be in a huff. it is voluntary and it is intense training. we are doing it in florida in counties that can put their ideology aside, and put the safety of their teachers and students first. i know in a lot of other states, i have gotten message -- messages they are allowing other teachers as well. host: when you were at the white house following the shooting, can you talk about your work with the white house on these issues and school safety? presidentet with the a few times over the last year. one thing he gets no recognition

for, he started a federal school safety commission with his cabinet members, secretaries, and they came up with over 100 recommendations for best practices for schools throughout the country. the one that meant a lot to me and my family and a couple other families was he rescinded the obama era leniency policies. it, heooking into realized his policymakers, it is a terrible policy to have in school so he rescinded it and did not get any credit for it. that is why i go back to the politicians. the president did so many things for school safety, more than any other administration prior, and does not get credit for it. it does not matter what the president or senator says. it boils down to your local

district and that is why it is so important, these local elections. host: mark is on the line for parents and students, norfolk, virginia. caller: good morning. so my father of four heart bleeds for you. ,his is such a multifaceted problematic issue. as i engage in the local school boards, the bureaucracy is what really kills, and i do not use that word lightly. it is almost like a big, fat cruise ship and you are trying to turn, and when the problems arise, it is not built to be able to act fast enough or quick enough. one thing i learned is with children, if they don't have the benefit of time, so if you have

someone that is maybe scholastically or academically delayed or has issues, we don't have the leniency of time of a year or two years for school board members who are almost like quasi-politicians to get things right. we talk about consequences. we have to be honest and say the consequences have to start in the home. it has to start with the parents , and then to add onto that, given the situation where i looked at a lot of these shooters who were in more affluent areas, not only did the shooter -- or killer, as you mentioned appropriately, able to get five because it was not on his record. you are in a perfect position to talk about parents of affluent judgehen they get there

or attorney friends who both their kids off or do not let them go through the scenario, it hurts not only the child but also the community. guest: correct. it is multi tiered. it starts in the home. they are getting away with it at the house and they get away when they go to school. it is a two-tier failed system. you are 100%they are getting awt the right, at starts at home with the parenting and it goes further in the school district when they allow it. it is kind of tough to deal with these bureaucrats. that is why if i had to do it all over again, i would've sent my child to a private or charter or homeschool. i disciplined my children. kids need consequences. it starts at an early age, and

it needs to be reiterated when they are in school. host: fairfax, california, this is annie. caller: i would like to say, i really feel this gentleman's pain and it is just awful. quickly. questions how did you choose the name meadow? what do you feel is the right treatment for some of these slopping outat are of public schools, or kicked out , where do they go? guest: i got the name meadow from the sopranos. igrew up in long island and had a lot of friends who were similar to the characters in the sopranos. i named my daughter meadow after that. what we should do with these kids, when i say special needs, i don't mean a kid that has

dyslexia or a learning disability who is not disruptive. we want to help those kids, and they can be mainstreamed. it is when they take kids who are emotionally disturbed or have opposition defiant disorder, they are mentally sick and should not be in the schools with our kids when they are untouchable. there need to be special programs for them, where our kids' environment, they do not suffer having to deal with these kids. they need to be in certain programs. some kids cannot be mainstreamed. some are just people, like the one that killed my daughter and the one in dayton, they are just evil people. our children should not suffer because they label them special needs. host: fairfax, virginia, rosa is

an educator. caller: i am sorry about what happened to your daughter. i am a teacher here and i don't believe the teachers should carry guns or go through training. we are here to teach the students. we take care of the special with emotional disabilities, behavior disabilities. -- was the governor of virginia, that is when the shooting happened. single security in every school. we don't need guns. host: on teachers carrying weapons? guest: it is voluntary. no one is asking her to do it so she doesn't have to do it. if someone wants to do it -- and

what she doesn't get as it is and she did not haved not a child killed in a school where a murderer was able to reload five times and walk from room to room killing people. it is voluntary and if teachers want to do it, i am all for it. if the lunch lady could pass this program, she should be able to go through it. talk to me when your kid was murdered in a school. special needs kids, emotionally disturbed kids, oppositional defiant disorder children should not be in the classrooms with kids that just want to go and learn. learn. i could not understand half of what she was saying. put those kids in a special program. host: how many other people let marjorie stoneman douglas had a weapon? actually, about eight

deputies from the broward sheriff's office pulled up to the school and did not go in with the shots going off. deputy peterson was the resource officer on the scene. he came nine feet from the door going in when the killer was still on the first floor, and he did not go in. i daughter was on the third floor. retreated and hid behind a wall. was the last few months, he arrested on felony charges for child neglect. the captain that showed up who was in charge of the command, she resigned. jordan, andnt, jan another lieutenant, he resigned. three or four more deputies have been fired for not going into the building while they listened to the shots. overs in that building for

eight minutes by himself. he could have had a musket and killed 17 people. he could have had an ax and killed 17 people. it does not matter what he had. no one went in to save him. the people that went in to save my daughter were coaches and they were unarmed and they were murdered. host: you say it is astonishing that the shooter only took 17 lives that day. why do you say that? guest: he was in the building and no one went in. he did not realize when he shot through the glass doors into the classrooms, after he shot through the glass door, if he would have reached in and opened the door, he could have shot everybody inside the classrooms, 30, 40 kids. no one was coming in. they did not get to my daughter

on the third floor for about 40 minutes. failedeputies, these deputies let the killer walk out the building and escape down to the walmart about a mile away. host: dan is on the line for parents and students, in the louisiana. caller: i am sorry to hear about your daughter. that is horrible. i have got a question and i have also something to tell you. my wife is a teacher. we talk about this all the time. she teaches behavior disordered children and all the cases we know of -- we are from a small place so there are not that many -- it is always the parents. the child will do something and they will have a meeting at school. , stuff likese hell

that, you know. so if they expel a child like send himhatever, they home, what is causing the problem. that is just my opinion. my wife has been teaching for about 40 years. but not there at school, one thing you said, get these teachers guns. most teachers would rather get killed then kill one of their students. guest: i did not say give all teachers guns. you misunderstood me. the teachers who arethe teacher- they got to go through psychological testing. it is very intense what we do in florida, so those teachers that you think will never pass and they will not volunteer. it is really moot. those teachers will not go through the program and pass it, and it is voluntary. host: how many other states have

similar programs that do this intense training? guest: i don't know all of them. i know in texas, indiana, georgia. i am sure there is more. those are just the ones i hear from people. i know how hard it is to pass it. 50% of the teachers washed out from it. it is really moot when i hear stuff like that. those teachers are not going to volunteer that cannot do it, will not volunteer to go through a program for 150 hours. host: about 15 minutes left with andrew pollack and the book "why meadow died." phone lines are split up a bit differently. parents and students, (202) 748-8000.

educators, (202) 748-8001. all others, (202) 748-8002. eric in d.c. on the line for parents. caller: i am so sorry for your loss. i have five kids and one still in school. a lot of the stuff that i hear from you, the longer i listen to you, the longer i listen to you, you are making it politics and you are blaming president obama. that is what you should not be doing. this is my opinion. i understand. i have a large family and i do feel for you. it seems that you are making this more politics because you are praising president trump. host: andrew pollack, your chance to respond. guest: those policies started with his administration and

spread throughout the country. it is a fact. those leniency policies that were put into place in broward county came from the superintendent who worked for these people in chicago, ending the school to prison pipeline. i don't blame anyone. i report on the facts. i want our kids to be safe. to me, it is just to write the book and explain to parents what happen. i want discipline in the classrooms. i want kids to have a consequence and i want programs in place that set kids up for success. not holding them accountable sets them up for failure. host: do you still live in broward county? guest: i will not live in a county like broward. it is a political cesspool run by unethical bureaucrats. host: where do you live now and

what do you do after writing the book? guest: i moved to oregon, rural oregon. i am nowhere near portland. i am in the mountains near jackson county, oregon, two and half hours from where my wife's family is in california. i won't live in a state like california. andrked on this book lately, i am looking at taking it easy. i have a bunch of things going on in tallahassee. they are looking to reinstate that failed sheriff in broward, so that is on my plate, and i am looking forward to getting back to my ranch in oregon. that is on you say " your plate," what does that mean? guest: he failed my daughter miserably and for him to be

reinstated would be a miss justice for everybody. i will be in tallahassee making sure this guy does not get reinstated, because they have a great sheriff now in broward who puts the community first. what will happen in the state of florida, it is a vote with the senators, and i'm betting every democratic senator will vote to reinstate the sheriff because they will put their ideology ahead of the safety of the community, which is disgraceful. your sonyou -- does still live in florida? guest: he lives in tallahassee. he worked with senator scott all summer in d.c. my other son is in boca raton at fau studying finance. iam happy being in florida, get to see my sons, but i am looking forward to getting out of here. calls,aking your phone

kingsley out of georgia. i used to live -- now i am down in palm beach county. i was in one of the school shootings around 2000. with that being said, with the teachers being able to carry, i totally agree. that is the reason why left. once i was able to have my kid and get out of florida, that is the reason. and it is getting worse. they are agree, if going to all the classes and things like that, once you have been in something like that and have been able to survive, my best friend's mom was a teacher who had gotten shot so it is kind of terrifying to everyone i grew up with. done inafety is multiple tiers.

arming people at the schools is one part of it. these policies of letting emotionally disturbed kids into our schools and not holding kids accountable for crimes is just as important. i have said that, and a lot of say "armce you teachers," that is when they get in an uproar. to put your kid in an environment where there is an emotionally disturbed child, or in broward, the children when my daughter was murdered, these sick kids were loud four misdemeanors -- were allowed four misdemeanors before being introduced to police. you could sell drugs, assault a teacher, have a fistfight, steel a cell phone -- steal a cell

phone. that would be in ninth grade. they put you in a healing circle with teachers and when you come back in 10th grade, you have a clean slate and are allowed another four misdemeanors. what the superintendent robert runcie brought to broward county, they have use that as a model to push those programs throughout the country. california, it is against the law to suspend a disruptive kid. host: stacy, mclean, virginia. caller: thank you for hopping me. i -- having me. i am so excited. i am honored. he touched on some things that were very important. the oppositional defiant disorder, a lot of people are not talking about -- i'm sorry?

guest: i said tell the audience. caller: it is basically kids that don't respect authority, don't respect their tears -- peers or their family, and they are very violent. emotionally disturbed children are children who have emotional problems. are drugginghey these kids with antipsychotic drugs that are used for schizophrenics and giving these to these kids, and expecting them to learn when they are high off of drugs intended for schizophrenia. these drugs have the equivalent to lsd, pcp, or acid. or an emotionally disturbed -- it is a toxic

cocktail. murderer daughter's was on medication and they change the label so that it says, it increases homicidal ideation. if you are a parent and you have a kid that is violent and they are getting medicated by these type of drugs, amphetamines, which is what they are, it will increase homicidal ideation and your doctor may not be telling you. my daughter's murder was on it. odd andthe mix of emotionally disturbed and they want to put them in the mix with our children. parents need to wake up to you, do you really want to put your kid in that type of environment? angeles, of los nathan, and educator. caller: i am a school bus

driver. i am against all gun laws. i would like to see them repeal these gun free zones. veryman on the tv, i am impressed with his whole being, the way he presents himself. screener, i think more good guys with guns will stop bad guys with guns. that letngs from obama these policies go into effect, i will trade off a teacher may be overreacting and shooting somebody because they felt threatened, i will trade that of those or five across the nation every year versus mass shootings where they are sitting ducks and do not have a chance. i am very glad florida has passed this law. i drove a couple of years ago

juvenile delinquents, and these guys were hardcore gangsters. the things they talked about on the way into school and stuff, nine out of 10 of them will not change anyway. i want the second amendment intact. that is all i got to say. guest: i would like to touch base with people with the second amendment. i am a big proponent of the second amendment now, more than ever, because people say you should not handle things yourself. you should call 911. when my daughter was murdered, there was hundreds of calls to 911 and no one went in to save my daughter. she had to cower on the third floor and beg and no one came to help her. i am never going to let that happen to one of my sons or my

friend or family. i will handle it myself, and if my daughter was on the third floor and armed, she would have been able to handle it. 911, no one came to rescue her. why should i give up my rights and think i am going to call 911 and someone will save me? i am not calling 911. i am such a proponent of the second amendment because 911 failed all those people that day. host: time for maybe one or two more phone calls. to visithave a chance the princess meadow playground? can you explain? guest: i wanted a place where people and i can go that was not so depressing, like the cemetery. i wanted a place to go and see kids playing like i remembered my daughter playing on the

playground. it took a while. over playground to on my daughter and the other victims here in coral springs a mile from the school. that should be done within a a memoriale will be where people will remember my daughter forever. host: tony is waiting in maryland, good morning. caller: hello. good morning, i'm sorry for what happened with meadow. i do have a question. it seems like there are only two solutions here, either our kids teachersor we aren't m teachers, you don't see things like this at places where there are metal detectors and law enforcement to make sure

these kind of weapons are not getting into the school. it seems like an obvious solution, a good step forward that no one seems to be talking about. a lot of people in those school system seem to keep resisting. guest: you are absolutely correct about that. i getting a neck of, hold on. -- an echo. when i first got into this i wanted school safety, i wanted the kids and the teachers to be safe and i wanted solutions. i was labeled a conservative republican because i did not want to bring the gun debate into it. debateu bring the gun into school safety at the flex from what we can accomplish. i don't understand it but it is democrats can differentiate school safety from a gun debate. that is what i came up with over the past year. but i cannotit

deal with it. you are 100% right. when we fixed the airports there we fixedn debate, when the airports there was no gun debate. stadiums we fixed but when it comes to schools democrats have to throw in the gun debate. safe. want kids i'm not an expert, i want kids safe and i want those policies removed. they labeled me a conservative. i will hold onto it, i am ever serving of -- i am a conservative republican. is thendrew pollack author and the father of meadow, we appreciate your time this morning. guest: thank you. host: up next we will be joined of the nation magazine to discuss the impact of progressive candidates on the campaign in 2020.

we will be right back. ♪ >> thinking about participating in c-span's 2020 competition but you have never made a documentary film? we have resources on our website to help you get started. started" our " getting and " downloads" pages. teachers can find resources on the " teachers materials" page. >> my advice to anyone who wants to compete is find a topic you are truly passionate about and pursue it as much as you can. asking middle and high school students to create a documentary on the issues they would like presidential candidates to address during the 2020 campaign. prizes.ill award cash >> get a camera and a microphone

and start filming and produce the best video you can produce. for morestudentcam.org information. ♪ >> campaign 2020. watch our live coverage of the presidential candidates on the campaign trail and make up your own mind. c-span's campaign 2020. your unfiltered view of politics. >> washington journal continues. we are joined by d.d. editor of the nation magazine for a conversation progressives in the 2020 campaign. we do not have to choose between warren and sanders yet. how long can progressives go before they have to choose two? n the two >> --

>> the piece was about the infighting that has been taking place since the working families and someorsed warren segments of the left treated that as an outrage. we are very blessed to have bernie and elizabeth warren running at this time. defined they have issues that have dominated the conversation in the democratic primary. it has been lovely to watch the two of them and the way they had each other's backs. i think we can expect that to continue and hope that continues for some time to come. it is true that only one of them can win new hampshire, and only one of them will win the iowa caucuses. when we get closer to those points in the beginning of the year people will have to decide which they prefer.

there are plenty of people out there, particularly among progressives who think they are both fabulous. host: explain the widening the theylane process and what have accomplished by being sort of on the same team. if you think back to 2016 when bernie sanders stood up and says it is a disgrace that america is the only industrialized company that does not provide health care for all of its citizens as a right or that he would say it is crazy to make students who dare to go to college live under a mountain of debt he was treated as some kind of lunatic. these were treated as fringe ideas and now they are the center of the democratic primary debate. that is partly because bernie has been consistent and articulate for decades on some of these issues. it is also true that in part it is because elizabeth warren who nobody can do pick as a fringe

figure said she agrees with bernie that medicare for all is a good idea. she thinks it is crazy that students should struggle under a mountain of debt. i think a government that can afford the kind of tax cuts this government has afforded could afford to provide childcare for any woman who is working and needs it. ideas that were once dismissed as fringe ideas are now very mainstream. progressives and campaign 2020 is our topic. republicans (202) 748-8001 democrats (202) 748-8000 independents (202) 748-8002. when that split inevitably does occur what issue do you think it might be over? what is the fault line between the two?

>> that is an interesting question. i don't know if there is a fault line. maintain he isrs more forthright on medicare for all and his medicare for all, it is very clear it would replace private insurance and eliminate private insurance whereas elizabeth warren leaves a bit of on the edges as far as how far she will go in supplying medicare for all. i don't think there is a lot of daylight between them on many issues except that bernie describes himself as a democratic-socialist and elizabeth warren says she is capitalist to her bones. for people for whom socialist is still a dirty word they will go for the people who will never elect a socialist they will go for warren and for people who want more fundamental change in the economy and far-reaching change in our social arrangements they will go for sanders. that comes an issue

between them. i think it is more about personality and electability and the sense of who will do better against donald trump. " we the piece is called don't have to choose between warren or sanders yet" and you argue that maybe the media wants to see a throwdown between the two members of the democratic party. where have you seen that? >> i have seen that all over. ,n politico, the new york times every month brings a story -- from june onwards that this supposedly truce which probably was never a formal truce. before she decided to declare her candidacy elizabeth warren went to see bernie and they had a discussion. the two of them have conducted themselves with great consideration towards each other

and trail. i don't think -- each other on the campaign trail. i think they quite intelligently concentrated their fire on donald trump rather than each other. , thehe centrist media media who rely on advertising and corporate funding and who are afraid of the changes to our economy that sanders and warren have said they are in favor of, things like breaking up monopoly corporations, regulating huge corporations more heavily, they would love to see them firing at each other rather than at trump. >> democratic candidates will be on the main stage next week in ohio. will the moderators try to incite that fight between the two? a certaine and to extent that is their job. it is good television but probably bad politics to have the moderators continually telling them to fight. that is to be expected.

what is less expected and more political is to try to effortally make an extra to insight battling on the left of the party. host: jerry is up first, democrat out of north carolina. you are on with d.d. guttenplan. caller: i would like to ask the gentleman why each and every one of the democratic party, and we have been democrats for decades, are trying to go in to socialism? if they want socialism they can go to venezuela or the honduras. if that's what they want they can do it. vietnam and it is socialism and communism. ever go to one of them and stay in one of them then you don't know what you're talking about. host: on socialism?

guest: i have to say i will fess up, i am a socialist and i'm in favor of socialism. i don't think most democrats are socialists or they want that. i think what democrats want and the appeal of bernie sanders is someone who faces the fact that neoliberal capitalism where we export jobs overseas and we see people left with nothing in their communities but clinics pushing oxycodone pills, that is not working. pills, that is not working. capitalism has not worked for most americans in the form that we have it. there are capitalist countries and this would be elizabeth warren's point. she wants a more regulated capitalism. she wants what franklin roosevelt who i hope if you are a democrat you consider to be a great president. to talk roosevelt used about having public power as a a birch rod.ck and

he wanted government run power companies so private power companies could not rip us off because we could compare rates with the public power company and know we are getting rid off. as the government has gotten out of the economy what has happened is that billionaires and millionaires have taken more of the economy and put it in their own pockets and most working people have not had a raise for two or three decades. capitalism as it exists is not working. we may disagree on how far we should go to change that. i am in favor of more radical reform than you are but if you and i cannot agree that capitalism has not worked for most working people in this country you are not paying attention. host: how and when did you become a socialist? guest: i lived in england for 20 years and i had two kids born on the national health system and one born in new york. billked at the size of the

for the one born in new york and the two born in england which is not a socialist country but does have a national health system. the bill for one was zero dollars, the bill for the other one because we wanted to have a private room and we felt we would do better with that so we had to pay for that, that was the only thing we had to pay for so it was about $150 as opposed to the thousands having my kid in new york. host: in california, steve, independent good morning. caller: i think the last caller was unfair. things are changing. when i was growing up we had unions and we were being paid a reasonable wage. i look at these cable companies is not even news anymore it is just political commentary. you have these people out there gmthe picket lines for

trying to get a reasonable -- i voted straight republican from reagan onwards until obama. things have changed. unions are going to start seeing automation and we are going to start losing good paying jobs. -- i am looking at biden and warren and only biden because i know him. host: how do you know him? no, i mean i know of him. let me put it like that. he has been in politics for such a long time that i trust him.

warren, i like her ideas and we need new ideas. automation is coming and we are going to start losing these jobs. i would not disagree with you except we have already been losing these jobs. lordstownwent out to where they used to make the uz and gm announced they were shutting out one shift and now they have shut the whole factory. big american corporations, particularly manufacturing corporations like automakers and steelmakers have been shifting jobs -- shipping jobs overseas for decades. it is true that there will be more automation and fewer jobs if youe but the point is manage an economy to maximize profits for shareholders and that is all you care about then the people who work and make things for a living and rely on

those jobs to feed their families and put food on the table and cover medical bills, they are getting shafted and they had shafted. getting shafted. i'm glad you're taking a hard look at the candidates. that is what we need to do. we need to take a hard look at what people's ideas are and who we think will do better against a very unscrupulous opponent as we have seen with donald trump. >> one headline on an issue we have been tracking " negotiations between gm and uaw take a turn for the worst, union strike enters its fourth week and settlement seems unlikely." mike in ohio, democrat. caller: thank you for taking my call. i belong to a union. >> which one? >> the plumbers union in

cleveland. researched the theressional act -- democrats ability to pass acts that benefit workers in terms of making it easier for workers to organize or to protect striking workers, some of these bills have either lame ducks on desks , like the striker and theing clinton employee free choice act that , it did notto push even go through congress or make the cable networks for national debate on right to work.

if you look at taft-hartley the way the law is written it basically creates the term open shop. right to work states have exploited that, do you think that the pro-act could pass congress? think is, if you look at the legislation that has passed, the house of representatives even in the last two years has passed some important legislation that would strengthen the rights of workers and protect your right to organize and go into a workplace and organize and restore things like -- they cannot get through a republican senate. one of the points that is important to make, we are here to talk about the 2020 the senatel race but

race and which party controls the senate is in some ways more important than it was in the white house. if the democrats take back the senate and they have a house they can pass legislation and if they have sufficient numbers they can override a presidential veto. if elizabeth warren and joe biden -- or joe biden becomes president and mitch mcconnell is still the majority leader of the senate it will be tough to impossible to get progressive legislation in. you pointed out that when there are pro union bills in the path they do not make the cable shows and are not covered by the media. of issue is never considered sexy by the national media. putting in a plug for my employer, the nation magazine you will find us covering things that are important to working people. if you have not read the nation you should take a look.

not payingedia is attention corporations are always paying attention. lobbyists are always paying attention and making campaign contributions to congressman who are willing to hold up legislation that would make it easier for people to organize and work. it is an important question that you raise and all i would add is that we have to look beyond the race for the white house and look at control of the senate, the house and state legislatures. what scott walker did in was the playbook for the republican party nationally. they try this out in a state than they went big with it nationally and democrats need to do the same thing. passed to progressive legislation in state legislatures and point to how it works and do it nationwide. host: 15 or 20 minutes left with d.d. guttenplan, editor of the nation.

you can find them online at thenation.com. on twitter andem keep calling in with your questions and comments. news breaking about the impeachment inquiry. this is the headline from the new york post. " u.s. ambassador sondland barred from testifying in the house impeachment inquiry." that was expected to be behind closed doors with three committees today. talked insue, you your article about the 2020 election and the idea of a primary. i wonder how much you think the candidates can continue to have a primary about ideas and how much they should talk about impeachment and how much that should dominate the conversation happening in the course of the past month and in the coming month? guest: those are lots of different questions. out from theme ideas primary a few years ago

and the point we made then was that while we all love to look at the horse race and talk about candidates, what really matters is getting bold ideas out there. people about how to provide health services and health coverage for everyone. ideas about how to provide good green jobs that will we know away from our addiction to fossil fuels and move us towards renewable energy, union job that will pay a good living wage that you can support a family on. how to solve the problem of theent debt and end epidemic of police violence against people of color. these are important issues and we want to make sure that those issues got talked about. the ideas primary is still important. warren'sen elizabeth response to the ideas primary that has lifted her from single

digits to one of the top three contenders for the nomination. nobody says it is because she can sing and dance or his charismatic but she has these ideas. her slogan is " i have a plan for that." primaryridden the ideas far, will he continue or will impeachment suck the air out of the room? last week it sucked a lot of the air out of the room and dominated some of our coverage, it is a struggle. it is important and it is happening. i don't think it will dominate the debate this week -- next week. i think all the democratic candidates agree that trump should be impeached. some of them care about it more than others. should beem think it priority one and others think there should be other priorities as well but i don't think they will spend a lot of time arguing about it because the candidates are pretty close on this question.

you may have democratic legislators in swing districts or red districts who are leery of saying they support debate or but nobody who has reached the point of running for president will stand on the stage and say they think donald trump should stay in office. the fact that he has tried to use the power of his office for political purposes to pressure a foreign government is fine, nobody running for president as a democrat will say that. host: the candidates will be on the debate stage in ohio next week and they will be on the stage in where they -- in the order they appear to the polls. the national average of polling for the democratic presidential primary. as of the end of last week joe 26 .3%, elizabeth warren 26%, bernie sanders 14.3%

, mayor pete with 6% and senator kemal us -- kamala harris with 4.8%. taking your calls, d.d. guttenplan the editor of the nation. independents,r california. caller: i was a registered democrat for over 30 years and in the last few years this widening of the left lane is exactly why i am now independent. economics continued to be unchallenged in the policies presented by the presidential candidates, but also social issues, environmental issues. for me it is too far left. i didn't leave the democrats i say they left me. -- i am a union member and everyone in my family is a union member. we are proud union members. my private health care through my employer paid for the birth

of two of my children. i had to breast cancer operations and i paid zero. my grandson was in nicu for weeks and my granddaughter paid zero. there are ways for private insurance companies to accommodate and the progressive lane is frightened me. i will not be voting democrat. guest: you say you are an independent but if you think it is ok that 20 million people in this country have no insurance at all then you are either a pretty funny independent or you are actually republican. i am sorry to question you like that but i don't think that the fact that you have good insurance means that most people in this country are happy with their insurance or their coverage. this country live one serious illness away from bankruptcy. , i'm suregood for you it is good for our congressmen and senators because they have great health coverage.

in a fair society everyone should have good coverage and nobody should have to go bankrupt because their husband, mother or father got sick and that is the society we have at the moment. the truth is that the republican party has no proposal to deal with that. if you happen voting republican either you don't care about it or you are ok with it. host: you mentioned republicans. tony in houston texas, good morning. caller: hello there. guest: good morning, it is nice to talk to a real republican. caller: i doubt the republican line because technically -- i have been a democratic voter since jimmy carter. i voted for every democratic presidential candidate since then. >> so you are a romney republican? i have been a democratic voter all my life. i am 63 years old.

i am not a child. i have been voting democratic for years. ir the first time in my life will look for a republican candidate and i will tell you why. american, we as black people have always been of separate economic status. we are not part of the same economic status that you are. when america gets cold we get pneumonia. we have been fired or relegated to the segment of society where we can eat out a living. the democrats want to restructure the entire economy. this restructuring will not benefit us. they want to increase higher taxes for everything, african-americans already pay high enough taxes and we cannot afford to pay more which means we will be the ones suffering from the effects of not being able to enjoy any further

economic benefits in this country. you talk about a student loan crisis. is a crisis because white middle america and millennials incurred hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loan debt to pursue whatever educational women they please and now they find out not only can they not earn the money they were promised but they don't want to pay their debts back. it becomes a crisis. you mentioned police brutality to people of color. i am black, i am not a person of color. i am a black man. the way that can be cured is to -- enforce thes laws against harassment, the laws against murder, the laws that exist on the books that the white judicial system ignores. host: tony can i jump in and let dd respond because we are

cutting the segment short. we are waiting for adam schiff to speak to reporters after reports about ambassador gordon sondland being barred from testifying. we will talk to dd got in plan until then -- d.d. guttenplan until then. guest: i think you are misinformed about most democrats plans for taxes on middle and low income people. than 100rn more $50,000 a year your taxes will probably go up. if you earn less than that they will go down. every democratic candidate tax plan i have seen has that. maybe take another look at that. as for enforcing the law i am all for that. i think you are misinformed about student debt. if you look at the people who hold debt from for profit colleges the majority of those students with that debt are

either hispanic or african-american. the student debt crisis is not a crisis of just white middle-class snowflakes that don't want to pay their bills. there are plenty of people who went to college because they wanted to get ahead and work are and they were ripped off by for profit colleges or they went to college but the economy has changed and it is much tougher to get a job. i went to college and took out loans to pay for my college because my parents did not have the money to send me to college. my total debt was $6,000. $150,000 which is what some people come out of college with today. i'm only one year younger than you and i think the world has changed an awful lot since we were in our teens and 20's. host: we started the discussion with your article " we don't have to choose between warren or sanders yet."

if you want to read that article you can go to thenation.com. we will take our viewers to the capital, adam schiff speaking to reporters. >> we were informed about an hour and a half ago that by the attorney for mr. gordon sondland that the state department would refuse to allow him to testify today. this was after conversations well into yesterday afternoon and evening with the state department legal advisor in which there was no indication that the ambassador would be a no-show. beingly is the congress deprived of his testimony, the american people are being deprived of his testimony, but we are also aware that the ambassador has text messages or thats on a personal device have been provided to the state department. we have requested those from the

ambassador and the state department is withholding those messages. those messages are also deeply relevant to this investigation and the impeachment inquiry. publicto explain for the the significance of this witness and the significance of the decision by the secretary of president or both to withhold this key witness testimony today. text messages that ambassador sondland was in discussion with ukrainian counterparts, hello diplomatic personnel, and the president as well as at least one u.s. senator about the course of events we are investigating. those text messages the diplomatic personnel raised a concern with him that military assistance was being withheld to secure health from ukraine in

to secure health from ukraine in investigating -- help from ukraine in the president's reelection campaign. in a u.s. presidential election and we are looking into the issue of whether a meeting that ukraine desperately sought with the president at the white house was being conditioned on the willingness of ukraine to investigate this bogus conspiracy theory about 2016 and

investigate the bidens. we are looking at whether -- whether military assistance that was desperately needed was being withheld until they make commitments to do these political investigations for the president. questionoking into the of whether there was an effort by the president, secretary of state and others to cover up this misconduct. but he is not and the only important witness. today, consider this act we have had members flying in from around the country to hear the testimony, as well as the withholding of documents and efforts that may be made to effectage poor have the of discouraging other state department witnesses from coming forward and testifying as they have agreed to to be further

acts of obstruction of a coequal branch of government. the fewone of impeachment inquiries in the history of our country. it goes to the core of whether officesident abused his to seek political help in his reelection campaign and did so to the detriment of our nation's security. officedid so by effectively coa company that has been invaded by rival to investigate a and condition the relationship between this country and that country on whether they were willing to play ball. that is the gravity of issues that we are investigating that this impeachment inquiry is looking into. set ofard to imagine a facts more damaging to our national security and our world but also world

more of a fundamental breach of the president's oath of office. the american people have the right to know if the president is acting in their interest and the interest of the nation with an eye towards national security and not in his narrow personal political interests. they have a right to know and a need to know and through this impeachment inquiry we are determined to find the answers, thank you. [indiscernible] host: we are back on the washington journal. we will spend the rest of our program getting your reaction to that news and that press conference that you just watched with house intelligence committee adam schiff. after we hear from the house intelligence committee republicans, this is jim jordan. >> based on the unfair and partisan process that mr. schiff has been running, think about what the democrats are trying to do. impeach the president of the united states 13 months prior to an election based on an

anonymous whistleblower. the guy running the process, chairman schiff did not even tell us he met with the whistleblower prior to the whistleblower while in the complaint. the way he treated ambassador sun one last week -- ambassador voelker in this interview last week, that treatment is the reason why the administration and the state department said we are not going to subject ambassador sondland to the same treatment. we were looking forward to hearing from him. we thought he was going to reinforce exactly what ambassador volcker told us last week. but when you have a speaker of the house that says we need to strike while the iron is hot and a chairman of the committee so biased against this president that he would not even tell us he met with his staff and the whistleblower prior to the whistleblower filing the complaint -- this is a pattern with mr. schiff. the same thing, the first

figuring the democrats did in this congress with michael: he did not tell us his staff admitted met with mr. cohen before testifying. he didn't tell us last summer he met with -- we were hoping to hear from the ambassador today but we understand exactly why the administration and state department has chosen to say " if you are going to selectively , 67 pages ofsages and not give the full context and not release the transcripts, we understand why they made this decision. [indiscernible] says hesador sondland is disappointed he was not allowed to attend this deposition. >> i said the same thing. when you are going to have a

chairman release certain parts of what was said in a closed-door interview and not release the entire transcript and give us context you can see why they did not want to about subject him -- [indiscernible] >> if there is no wrongdoing isn't that all the more reason why he should be able to come up and testify and answer your questions? >> there is no wrongdoing. ambassador volcker was clear. he says he was as clear as can be, no print -- quid pro quo. the democratic chairman after they read the transcript said no quid pro quo but adam schiff does not want that information out there so he is holding up the transcript and he continues to have this bias against the president. i do believe we will actually get to hear from the ambassador. we will only get to hear from him when there is a fair process.

this is not fair! we spent more time last time with ambassador voelker then adam schiff did. all to the here press and what did he do? he gave this benign thing then raced off to a fundraiser. here is what we have to understand. this has to be a fair process. when you have a press release being drafted by democrats with text messages when the full text of the testimony last week would have exonerated this president, let's release it. i am all for bringing the ambassador in but let's only do so -- have any concerns about the president asking members of ukraine to investigate joe biden? and the president saying last week that china should investigate joe biden? do any of you have concerns? >> the president is doing his job.

when you're talking about tax dollars of the american people going to a foreign government the president is going to make sure there is no corruption there. he's doing his duty as the president of the united states. [indiscernible] >> do you have concerns about this process? >> we will see. >> we would like to see the voelker testimony released before we continue the depositions and transcribed interviews. what we see in this impeachment is a kangaroo court and chairmanship is acting like a malicious captain kangaroo. he lied about the russia investigation, about meeting with the whistleblower prior to the was a lower's -- whistleblower's writing of the complaint and we would like to unpack the last set of lies before we go to the next set of lies.

>> we have been asking for it since we had it. [indiscernible] are republicans upset with the contact -- >> we think there are real concerns there. i know you have done some reporting, there are concerns that over time the american people will be able to see. we can't get into all that but we have real concerns. will you try to unmask the was a lower at any point? >> -- whistleblower at any point? >> i think the american people have a right to know. >> why would the state department canceled this after the ambassador had flown back from brussels? >> the hope was we would have the voelker testimony released. >> give the majority the maximum

amount of time to release the testimony. we have that information out there and we know in good faith that they will release the testimony for the american people to see as opposed to parsing out little pieces that support their narrative. if they are willing to do that than the administration will be --ling to do more >> you are all journalists, is there a single journalist here that does not want to see the full transcript of ambassador voelker's testimony? i agree and the american people agree with everyone of you, let them judge for themselves. is an argument against releasing the voelker transcript before all the other witnesses testify? >> you mean adam schiff? >> there is an argument against releasing -- >> i have not heard that argument. >> there is an argument against transparency?

ofre is an argument in favor cherry picking selective releases of texts? favor ofan argument of only telling the american public what is best in the interests of wanting to take down a sitting president? maybe you should ask what was said inside the deposition? during his transcribed interview with regards to adam schiff's charge that aid from the united states to ukraine was being linked to an investigation into the bidens. why don't you ask what ambassador volcker said about that? the reason why that question was so important is for many things. he was in his room for several hours and during several hours of testimony he talked about how the ukrainian president had no idea there was a hold on aid during the call. the ambassador testified about how the readouts of the phone call made to him that there was nothing in the readouts about there being a hold on u.s. aid

or a quid pro quo. this was in the transcribed interview. i'm glad we are having this discussion. the next day the ambassador meets with the ukrainian president and in that meeting there is no reference to a quid for the ukrainian president having an there was a hold on aid. over the course of ambassador voelker's next several weeks engaging with ukraine ukraine makes no reference to there being a hold on aid or there being a quid pro quo. do you know what ambassador voelker testified to -- the entire time that aid was getting released. it was going to get released. the 80 got released. -- aid got released. this whole thing is a fairytale. adam schiff is misleading you and you are playing along with it.

the american public is getting deceived. that's what we would call an inconvenient fact. saying thathas been he had no contact with the whistleblower. he would like to but he did not have contact, he lied. he lied when he gave his opening statement as to what was in -- and for the world as far as what the transcribed interview said. going back to the transcribed interview, we were here ready to do our part. if anyone is going to testify behind those closed doors we will make sure we are there to ensure the story is being told. if we were not there last thursday he would have no idea of everything ambassador voelker

said to obliterate the quid pro quo charge. as far as the administration, if they don't want to send the , because there has not been a vote to launch an impeachment inquiry. rights fory has no subpoenas, the president does not have the right for council president for having questions and subpoena powers to present evidence, this entire thing is a political charade. we are here and ready for whoever will be testifying but we have to be here. all he has to do is release the transcribed interview. he won't because it destroys his narrative. it undercuts it and blows it up. gerry connolly comes onto the show on cnn at 7:00 on thursday and they have a backend forth, they play a clip from jim

jordan and me where they are whatg " you didn't hear jim jordan and lee selden said?" they have this back and forth dumbing down their audience. what is not pointed out in the back and forth is that gerry connolly was the last person to show up, the first one to leave instantly. he was not there for any of it. what is important is that we are here. we can answer to what the ambassador said. you're not asking the most important questions. what did you hear last thursday that we don't know about/" adam schiff one answer. [indiscernible] president -- the white house has refused to hand over documents. now the administration is blocking a key interview. doesn't that imply they are

trying to hide something? >> no. i don't think anyone can say it better. >> are you encouraging people to defy congressional subpoenas? >> we would encourage adam schiff to run a fair process. [indiscernible] which americans would go on trial without their counsel? [indiscernible] >> we will take a couple more. >> would you support a vote on the house floor to give yourself a fair process -- >> he is the one who strikes while the iron is hot. >> i would vote against that. [indiscernible] the section about congressional solicitation. -- doesnot impact the that impact the credibility of the whistleblower? --there has been reporting

>> i think that is a big problem. there was a preliminary investigation done by the --pector general >> frankly i think the american people have the right to know who the whistleblower is. i think that is important. all i'm saying is i think it is appropriate for the american people to know who the person is behind this charge that the democrats are pursuing, removing the president of the united states and the leader of the free world, i think the american people have the right to know. [indiscernible] >> i think it's also important to point out that you all know the american public knows more than the whistleblower does. whatwhole thing about " does the whistleblower know?"

they know less than you. we should talk about what we know now and how to go forward. this is going to be a staff led transcribed interview. jim jordan pushed back and adam schiff reluctantly said he would allow members to ask questions. he was strongly discouraging from asking questions. >> it when he so bad for adam schiff that he jumped in for 25 minutes and he's bullies was cracking when they started to look into it. ambassador volcker was not giving them the answers they wanted. acting tale you that this he is nothing more than -- and shift talked about for acts. they havepoor acts -- reached a conclusion for the

-- for adam schiff. at the american people find out what the final act will be. when the truth comes out you will see that this president did not withhold aid to influence a foreign country to do anything. >> one last thing that is really important to point out is that another show put out on sunday, -- that showxts did not follow that text with the response that absolutely says unequivocally that there is no quid pro quo. what that show did not say after from thehe context ambassador's transcript with regards to the text. allwould then know if we had the transcribed interview in front of us, it has been out there in the public, he said it because he read a politico story and he wanted -- he saw a

politico story and he was concerned and then he was corrected. why is it that the coverage is only going to show the text and not show the response correcting it and not provide any context whatsoever? i am pissed. countrygress, our across the entire country there are people watching this who are disgusted. why are we not working together to pass usmca next week? jobsow it will grow and increase investment in the u.s. and increase gdp. why are we not working on a bipartisan basis to lower prescription drug costs. why are we not working together in a bipartisan process in order to pass all these different priorities that are important to our constituents.

insisting on resisting, impeaching, imposing and obstructing anything and everything. we are all as a country being held hostage. members of congress have leveraged congressional primaries against the democratic leadership and committee chairs and they instill fear in their own conference and they are preventing us from standing here for all of us to be able to spend 100% of our energy works -- working together to pass bipartisan legislation for our country. if we sound pissed we are. the american people are getting screwed. they don't care what the evidence is. [indiscernible] >> thank you guys.

host: that was the scene at the capital this morning. we have time for a few phone calls. your reaction before the end of our program. u.s. ambassador gordon sondland barred from testifying by the white house in the house impeachment inquiry. you just saw adam schiff, the chairman of the house intelligence committee come out and talk about it followed by republican members of the three committees leading the impeachment investigation, the house intelligence committee, the foreign affairs committee, and the oversight committee. five republicans at the microphone. jim jordan, mark meadows, matt zeldin.cott perry, lee the president tweeting about this within the past half hour. here is what he wrote. " i would love to send to testifysondland

but unfortunately he would be testifying before a compromised kangaroo court where republicans right have been taken away and true facts are not allowed for the public to see. his tweet which she reports stated " i believe you are incorrect about no quid prots -- quo anytime, that says it all." a few calls and your reaction before we end washington journal. from san jose, california, democrats. caller: these guys have no shame. my wife and i were watching a movie and at the end of the movie where he was on the stand he is donald trump. the similarities are frightening. the writers of the supreme plaisted their homework. -- the republicans care about everyone else except for about trump's mental stability.

watch the movie and watch the end when he is on the stand when humphrey bogart is on the stand. host: joanne in milford, ohio. republican, good morning. caller: good morning. i am here. host: what was your reaction? caller: i agree 100% with what they all said. i think democrats are ruining this country. they are making fools out of us all over the world. why don't they do what they were elected for? they're so envious that trump won they cannot get over it. that is pretty sad. else.t do anything host: donna is in hampton, virginia. independent. caller: good morning, very interesting. i wish i had more time.

we are going to go over a couple of minutes so go ahead with your comments. caller: o good. i have been watching c-span since it started. daye the desperation every of the democrats. adam schiff looks like he is about to explode. and the lies are going to catch up with them. the callers that call in every day, it makes my heart happy. democrats are turning against the democrats. movingican-americans are for mr. trump, and it is due to the democrats. they are never going to accept they did this to themselves when the election comes around. time,re going to lose big probably in congress and the presidency. it's because it's their own doing. america -- i talked to people fedthe time, and they are

up with this constant do not -- do nothing bunch of democrats. reaction tocratic the news this morning that the barredouse has fromessman don buyer testimony. big mistake. bill pascrell said trump admits to obstructing congress and any oversight of him by the article one branches illegitimate. we are moving forward with our impeachment inquiry and we are taking your calls on the "washington journal" phone lines as usual. demorats, republicans, and -- democrats republicans --

democrats, republicans, and independents. >> my name is karen and i'm sick of what the democratic party is doing to this country. i'm sick of it. indianapolis, indiana. good morning. >> good morning. i would consider myself none of that, not affiliated with any party, but i would like to say between the two parties that just spoke, the one truth out of all of this is somebody is lying. [laughter] and we don't know who's lying because there's so much lying going on on both sides, but somebody's lying, and i would like to say that the people supporting trump, it's hard for me to believe they are conjuring up this stuff to set donald trump up. that's all i have to say. >> frank in california, he democrats. good morning. your reaction to what we just saw. >> i'm a government employee,

and there's a reason why there are investigations. i think both sides have to let the investigation play out and let the truth come out. that's all i really have to say. >> a few tweets and comments on social media as you, our viewers, were watching what just happened over the course half -- course of that last half-hour. kate torch writing in the democrats are following the rules and the republicans are out of line. marie said while democrats are busy with fake impeachment hearings, at least they aren't passing more bills to help illegal aliens. larry is a republican in cincinnati, ohio. your reaction? talking about this impeachment over and over. this is the only thing i have to say about it. to the best of my knowledge, the constitution says any laws that affect those laws in itself are illegal. the democrats are going after these.

you cut me off. >> i did not cut you off, go ahead and finish your comment. >> the democrats are going to slowly take everything away from us. why are we not demanding they are removed from office on still ofuntil -- office instead going on with impeaching trump. >> larry in ohio this 20. the lawyer releasing a statement this morning saying his client had no choice but to comply with the white house request that he not testify. from cnn,statement also reported elsewhere for the lawyer for investors arlen -- four ambassador sumlin -- sonlin. he previously agreed to volunteer