america and other news of the day. after that, republican strategist adam goodman joins us to discuss the house impeachment ♪ host: good morning, it is thanksgiving day and this is the washington journal. many will be gathering with families today and political discussions made -- may take place. so keeping an theme with the day, we want to hear from you in this first hour particularly about the topic of talking politics, especially thanksgiving. do you think it's a good idea or bad idea? we ask you to tell us either and tell us why. for us at 202-748-8000 those in the eastern and central time zones and 202-748-8001 in the mountain and pacific time zones.

if you want to reach out to us and tell us about it if talking politics good or bad, you can text us at -- text us at 202-748-8003. you go put out a poll yesterday when it comes to putting out -- put out a poll yesterday when it comes to political discussions at thanksgiving. the defined themselves as liberal, 11% were willing to start a conversation versus 47%. those who defined themselves of conservative only 8% of those willing to start a conversation on that. 44% of those trying to avoid that. among those who voted for hillary clinton, 7% of those say they would not talk about politics or start a conversation

versus 50% would avoid that. voters of those trump saying they would start a conversation versus 43%. that's just one pole. if you look at another poll, some other factors when it comes to talking politics. of democratshem and republicans both say they would discuss politics. polling saying that when it comes to initiating political discussions, it's only 26% of those who would initiate that likely to versus 54% bring a politics during thanksgiving. looking back at the archives we will take it an event that took place on this program five years ago. two brothers, both political operatives come on separate sides of local spectrum, what happens when they appear on our show and their mother decides to call in. >> good morning.

>> somebody from down south. >> you are right i'm from down south. and i'm your mother. i disagree that all families are like ours. i don't know many families that are fighting at thanksgiving. host: is this really your mother? >> it is. >> i'm very glad this thanksgiving was the year you two were supposed to go to your in-laws and i am hoping you will have some of this out of your system when you come here for christmas. i would really like a peaceful christmas and i love you both. host: let me jump in because this was not planned. she called in on the normal line. like to raise your two boys? >> it hasn't been easy. [laughter] no truer words of ever been said.

we love you mom. , their dadolitics and i both love politics, we , ilow the entire country know that we have to take responsibility for them and they are both very passionate about what they believe in it and i love that about them. but i hope they kind of get this out of their system today on your program. idea in the spirit of that talking politics of thanksgiving, good or bad, 202-748-8000 if you live in eastern or central. 202-748-8001 if you live in mountain or pacific. joining us from that clip you just saw, the continuation of what goes on, dallas woodhouse, good morning to you. happy thanksgiving, good morning to you. host: to start where your mother

finished, you guys got it out of your system it comes to these discussions of the holidays? >> i don't know how you get it out of your system, it's like in your blood. we aren't together this thanksgiving because mom couldn't take it. trump and i'm on team trump. is it ain't of it me and my brother that would have an issue this thanksgiving, it's me and my mother break host: -- mother. host: have you and your brother gotten together family gatherings and our topics does politics still a topic of discussion? >> yes. we were together last thanksgiving, we've been together most thanksgivings. we just happen not to be for this thanksgiving. carolina, it's

beautiful. walk this pretty old here by and my mother's of my brother in d.c. i don't know why anyone would want to be in d.c., especially over thanksgiving. the thing to be thankful for his people not being in d.c. because that -- nothing good happens there. host: as far as the ability to converse about these types of things, what's it like when you do get together? >> it's loud. i'm a loud person the volume keeps going up and up. most of the time it's pretty good-natured. i tell people here it's different when you have two people who have made a professional living at it and you have to have some ability to remove the passion in the moment from it. we are probably not a like a lot of people that our emotions gotten the best of us, but most

of the time we put it to the side. .y brother and i are very close we've talked about the impeachment stuff, some things we agree on, some things we don't. ,'ve never bought into this everybody has to know their own family. you just can't get around to talk politics. you can't do it. what a miserable existence. people.ound a bunch of my suspicion is if you can't talk politics is all bunch of other things you can't talk about. talking is good. what we do with countries that are about to shoot each other, we get them to talk. with people and alcohols anonymous, you get them in therapy, you try to get them

to talk. talking is good. what did ronald reagan say, all great change happens at the dinner table. i think talking about these things is good. whatever happens in the politics of the day, the country is in pretty good shape. one of the things the country really does suffer from in my opinion and the media to is recency bias. in other words oh my gosh it so awful, it's as bad as it's ever been. no it's not. we had a civil war. with the vietnam war. presidents killed people in duels. we had senators kane people on the floor of the u.s. senate. impeachments.r but not particularly good, we've been through it.

host: when you have the discussions. we hurt your mother's perspective, what about your respective families when they are together? how do they respond when say you and your brother are talking politics or another family member, do they get involved or what happens? >> they stay out of it. , tello to the other room us to go outside. usually we are wound up, we get like to and we go at it prize fighters and then we let it go. you go, we let especially since you joined us early, what advice would you give those in these types of discussions. good-natured to be bothhat i would say is

sides have some good ideas, i'll admit it, i don't see a lot of them out of the other side right now. i actually spend most of my time in public policy on the state people get into public policy and run for office, they don't do it to enrich themselves, they sure don't do it to make money. people in north carolina spend a lot of time serving in the state legislature for thousand dollars a year and everyone of them that does it could make a lot more money doing something else. they do it because of commitment to public service. i say that about people on both sides of the aisle and most things that are past are done in

a bipartisan basis. the things that are controversial are in fact controversial and they should be controversial. there should be diverse of opinion, that's our system. and we have a pretty peaceful country that works these things out. our politics -- politics is simply a system of how we organize our lives and how we organize our system together and that is no different than how we organize thanksgiving dinner. host: mr. woodhouse, we think of for your time today especially on the thanksgiving morning. >> i am so thankful for my the andwho is one of smart democrat political hacks

out there and my mother and all my family and my wife and my kids and thankful for c-span. host: so again if you want to see that exchange with the woodhouse brothers on the program you can go to our website and find that in the spirit of what he talks about again this idea of talking politics, good idea and bad idea. for those of you eastern and central time zones, 202-748-8000 . if you live in mountain or pacific, 202-748-8001 tell us what you think. let's start with jasper, indiana, leroy up first. go ahead. no politics at our thanksgiving dinner. thank you, sir. host: what keeps you from talking politics today? is it just not a matter of discussion? caller: i hate politics.

it runs our country and our country is losing whatever it comes with apollo -- because of the politics. host: so no discussions whatsoever today. caller: no discussion of politics whatsoever. leroy.k, that is wisconsin, youn are next up, good morning. caller: good morning. i think it's a bad idea, especially if the opposition is at your dinner. they pretty much have their minds made up, it's like you might as well talk to the wall or a garbage can. taking just aren't change their mind about this type. members of my family that like

trump oregon to be at the dinner . yet probably not a great idea to talk politics if you got the opposition there. they aren't going to change their mind. host: by the same token you wouldn't change her mind either about things? caller: no, i see with this guys all about so how can i change my mind? you at least be open to engaging in ideas or at least discussions with the idea of perhaps learning something about what the other side holds? i pretty much know what they hold. these people don't even believe what's right in front of their eyeballs, they are blind, deaf, and dumb. what can you say to someone like that? trina,arsaw, indiana,

hello. caller: good morning. happy thanksgiving to everyone. my thought is that there should be no reason as adults why we can't have discussions about issues, whether you on the republican side or the democratic side were the independent or libertarian or whatever you want to label yourself. or if you don't want to label yourself. there should be no reason why we can't have -- discuss political issues. for quite a few years now i just had a hard time understanding why we have to insult each other personally on a personal level. when we don't agree on political issues. especially in families, who don't -- especially those who don't feel like they can talk to

each other about politics because there is so much animosity between the parties and ideas. i just don't understand it. effort into being , all this stop this bickering and insulting each other like playground children. host: let me ask you this. if you're going to be with other family this thanksgiving, do you generally would say the people you're going to gather with our they have the same political mindset? caller: no. host: because if that's the case i wonder how you keep the ideals of what you said, how do you keep that in reality as far as ground rules or how it works out in real practice. caller: right. issues, wetalk about say what we think, how we feel and sometimes we agree with each other because republicans and

democrats don't have a corner on the just all the great ideas. you have to keep in mind everyone has a right to their opinion and its not a personal attack that someone disagrees with you. that's what we are going off the rails is we take it so personally when someone disagrees or says something and we just say -- and there's a place we say we've got to leave that and move on to something else because it gets kind of tense. host: happy thanksgiving, thank you for calling in. paul off of twitter says in our home the role -- rule is no talking politics on thanksgiving , we go straight to religion. jane in pennsylvania texting us this morning saying no god, no politics, we all need to come to the table, time to get the world

on track. at 202-748-8003. caller: happy thanksgiving. why in the world would you want to let politics ruin your thanksgiving? that should be the one day that you give thanks for god in your country and your family, your health, all important things. take one day off from politics and forget about it. i'm not allete donald trump and the rest of those guys ruin my thanksgiving and there will not be talk of that at the table. att: if it does get talked do you just stop it as a matter of you dictate it, how does it work? caller: we would just stop it so to speak. it's not gonna happen in hours anyway because like i say just

take one day out of the year and enjoy thanksgiving for what it is and for what it represents and forget the politics and stuff. just for one day. ust: this is arnie calling from grand island. caller: happy thanksgiving. veryt want to say it's difficult to say or not say something that's in your heart because scriptures say out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. that's what we do, we talk about what we are interested in. host: is that usually done civilly? caller: in our house we rarely -- i shouldn't say we don't talk about politics, but it comes up. it's pretty civil. host: what's the situation this time as far as family members, politically aligned door how does that work was to mark how would you define it?

>> i think politically aligned outside the political spectrum. host: what do you mean by that? caller: we don't talk about top politics much. host: that is arnie giving us a call again talking politics at thanksgiving good or bad idea. we've heard some of the opinions of the phone lines. it's notobert saying healthy talking politics, raising your blood pressure while eating. us and tweet us or text call the phone lines in eastern and central time zones. glendale, california is where kenny is. caller: happy thanksgiving. i think it's great if the conversation can be remained civil. and speaking to the number one rule, allow the other person to finish talking and give them a

chance to state their source of where they are getting their information buried when you look at politics on a large scale, it's really not a party situation anymore, it's pretty much where does the concentrated interest lie and who are controlling those interests. so if your main opening give the other person a chance to talk, i think you can speak politics any time on christmas morning, it doesn't matter. host: how much for the rest of your family is is politically inclined to talk about things as you are? host: not many. caller: do you initiate conversations? do you wait for conversations to be initiated? caller: i initiate the conversation but i still speak with the same rule. allow the other side to have their point of view. because if you do, i believe quite strongly eight becomes apparent if that view is television generated or a little

more in depth area but still giving the other person a chance to vent before you rush in because we all want to be correct. sportss is like speaking , everyone wants to be correct. it still can remain a civil conversation and rewarding at times. host: kenny from california giving us a call early. another californian joining us. susan from california, hello. >> happy thanksgiving. we never argue politics, there's about 25 of us, we are all republicans. republicansg all you agree on everything? >> we do. host: have you ever had discussion to situations where you had people different than you and engaging conversation that way? host: no. one of my daughters is bringing

a new boyfriend this year and if he isn't, i guess we will just have some strong debate. children,ildren, my everyone's spouses, aunts and uncles, i guess we just attract the same people. june from st. louis saying it's a great idea to talk politics on thanksgiving when you get both sides and a chance to get away from republican news, that's a quote, let them see what's happening in the world. a variety of opinions on twitter and our text service. you can make your opinion known on the phone line. it was yesterday on this program we featured david with an organization known as -- that brings people political strikes together to talk about politics and get an understanding where the other is at. talked about political

discussions during the holidays. >> thanksgiving is often a difficult time, lots of americans, it's a great holiday but sometimes lately you feel like oh my gosh. contentious potable arguments happened around thanksgiving table. here.s no magic formula one idea as you suggested to ask questions to make speeches and it's also better to ask lessons of clarification rather than got your questions. a question of clarification is tell me more about why you believe that, a gotcha question is how could you possibly believe this given such and such where you kind of smuggle an accusation in. ask questions, don't give speeches. ask genuine questions of clarification rather than contentious kind of accusation questions. day thatthe end of the

might be difficult. >> it does make it difficult. it makes it difficult for me and everybody. one interesting thing is based -- they've done studies about this. if you just write about argue the person, showing them facts you don't think they are aware of any just keep arguing, the only result is that both sides had more dog in. no one changes their mind as a result of that kind of argument. it's really pointless. it's much better to try and get to know them and if you can make it personal and the sense of what may be happens in your life to cause you to have this view. what experiences did you have. rather than sort of arguing information, you try to find out where the other person is coming from, that is much better approach to trying to find something you can have a good discussion about. host: here is rosetta from new

rochelle, new york. caller: good morning, happy thanksgiving to everyone. politics and we are all in accord with each other. we pretty much agree on what's going on. host: have you had situations where you been at social events on a holiday where you had people different than you? rare.: it is but like i said my family, we pretty much agree on everything. don from our text service saying you should lead by example, whoever the host is should facilitate the atmosphere add morality to every conversation.

saying when we visit relatives them out of the reason, leave the politics outside the door. and then another viewer texting us this statement saying i really believe well-informed intelligent people should be able to discuss everything without becoming confrontational. how are you doing? host: i'm well, thanks for calling us. caller: are you planning on having a happy thanksgiving today? host: sure, starting off here and goes on from there. what about you. our political topics on force for today as well is turkey? usual: probably, but as we will avoid them just to keep folks from throwing turkey at each other and stuff. i think it's a good idea to try and sneak snippets of information into the conversation. that it plants some

they may take and root and sprout. all in all we will probably just avoid the heavy issues. truth onharing some -- i'mk with some of my a democrat, support bernie , i posted some links to some documentaries, these are factual documentaries that contain scenes where they held congressional hearings about these facts in some of my friends said they were all lies even though the truth is right there before their years in their eyes and there is not much you can do. i also tried to throw in love

into the conversation that love is the answer and it's love that will get us through these difficult. we are in. i think the world is standing at a crossroads and we have to choose which way to go. carter posted president basically said this same thing that the world is at a crossroads. and we need to choose peace and i agree completely. i think love is the answer and that love is all that will save us. i also believe god is love. host: arnold in tennessee giving us thoughts on political discussions for the next half hour. we will engage in the same whether you think it's a good idea or bad idea.

for those in the eastern and central time zones. 202-748-8001 for the mountain and pacific time zone. a text this morning saying bad stronglyt people feel and you put in parentheses, even passionately, about politics. caller: how are you doing? host: good, go ahead. caller: i think it would be a great date is june experiment. gathered andmilies committed to revolutionary act to eat the entire meal in total just someaybe background music with no words. words, they get into arguments over politics and leveland just on a simple

, that can cause indigestion and ruin the whole thing. theou just explain ,ackground of the word politics and ticns many in latin ks are bloodsucking creatures. first of all you look great today. host: thank you. caller: i watch every morning and i was thinking this morning about all of the people all over the world that don't have anything. those of the people that will have thanksgiving alone this year. i wanted to wish them all a very happy thanksgiving. host: as far as talking politics today, what do you think esther mark caller: that is -- what do you think? caller: that is a no-no.

we should be thankful we have our own strengths of mine that god gave us and sometimes it's important to keep your opinions very quiet especially the thanksgiving table. host: is that a reality then when you gather with family, nobody talks about politics or argues? when it begins i usually say that's enough let's go to a different topic. rule thenou keep the in this case. caller: i sure do. we get a lot of snow in wyoming and colorado today, a lot of people are homebound and there's a lot of people that are going -- are going to be able to get home to their families. a lot of roads and highways are shut down. and i wanted to wish everyone listening a very happy thanksgiving. i'm thankful we are all in good shape this year. host: thank you for calling,

happy thanksgiving to you. mary in phoenix saying discussions should be about giving thanks for another year together. conversation should be humble and positive. no politics discussed. this is from miami, florida. pablo is next. go ahead. caller: good morning and happy thanksgiving to you. no i don't think we should talk politics, i think it's a little bad to sit at the dinner table and converse about anything besides life. i don't seeis democrats understanding or trying to understand what's going on, so that is definitely not good for today's events. host: you said discussion should be about life it isn't politics -- life?ife in mark

caller: i think maybe just events, birthday parties or upcoming events to the kids christmas and things like that. that's a little better conversation than politics. especially when the other side naivechange and a little on the truth. i wish everybody a happy thanksgiving, and peace on earth. david inwill hear from new york, good morning. waser: good morning, i listening for a while and decided to call in. politicsy can't avoid if you talk about economics you will talk about politics, if you took a but history is politics. if you talk about sports it's even invaded there. it's a hyper political atmosphere we live in today and it's probably frustrating and i

don't -- people ask me if i like politics and essay not really. be informed want to then you won't have discussions. you will avoid that. i don't know if that's a good idea. i think we should be informed. do you learn when you have these discussions the holidays. have you locked away from a discussion from someone who doesn't believe in this politically and you learn something. a lot of discussion comes from misinformation or no information or uninformed, this probably a problem. it's gotten so contentious. which is probably not good.

politics on c-span. and i come to that and i watch a lot because it is and i love the information comes from it, people are going to have to talk about it. they will have to face that. that's what i think. host: david is calling us giving us his ideas releases thinking when it comes to political discussion of thanksgiving. if you go to political fact.com politifact.com there was an article about how to fact check your family one said herscher correction, it can be tempting to jump in, but before doing so, how much you know about the topic. one of the easiest things to do is to practice that in a mirror. walk through exactly what you would say if you are struggling to come up with concrete evidence, there's a good chance you might not know as much about the topic as you thought you

did. it's hard to be effective in debunking someone if you can't articulate what you believe enough to detail and demonstrate the mastery of the concept. that's quoting an expert in the knowledge and representation is the topic you can find out more if you go to that article and read it for yourself. let's hear from glenn in jamaica, new york. you are on. that politics is not really a good discussion at the table. it's all about smoke and mirrors, obscuring the truth and everyone trying to insert their point of view when the truth is what we should be dealing with. is we shouldtruth try to be here to it. just going back and forth and

trying to assert there and points and views, that's not truth. host: how do you know for certain if someone is having a different point but it's a true point. i would say that because what we are getting -- i think we get some misinformation a lot and so it's hard to find the truth in the matter, that doesn't mean the other person may not be telling the truth, but how true is it in regards to the grand plan for the whole scheme of things. get to the truth of the matter. my opinion of my understanding could be false, i'm open to that. , with ally and time the lying and misconception and

misinformation, it's hard to find that. host: let's go to texas, bruce is next. --ler: host: one more time for bruce. caller: hi. host: go ahead, you are on. caller: i think our discussion will be about politics. democrats attempting to enforce the law and republicans trying to evade the law. , that republican lawmakers who have sworn an oath to honor and uphold and abide by spiritstitution in n despite compelling evidence of presence or wrongdoing continue to spout nonsensical gibberish in his defense is astonishing.

officeholder who believed him or himself -- letter to my a constituents reminding them while a steadfast supporter of our present -- of the present, the goal is to -- the national interest forces me to correctly conclude that i must place your interest in the nations first and foremost. i would assure them this does buy ton i've given a conservative values or legislate a priority. host: that is bruce, we will hear from george in california. caller: good morning, pedro. host: good morning.

caller: i want to wish everybody a happy thanksgiving. i would like to invite you all to our thanksgiving dinner inside the lyons hall or we will discuss -- where the discussion of politics is verboten. caller: talk about that -- host: is the dinner just with family and friends, how does that work? caller: it is a free dinner we put up for the community. anyone who doesn't know where to go is welcome in our halls for thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings. it's some that we been doing for years. host: how many are you expecting? caller: we are a town of about 3000 people, we usually get about 200 people and to deliver another 50 or so to shut ins. host: so during this time, politics are off the table altogether. caller: off the table inside of our hall.

no politics, no religion. host: are those dinners peaceful i would imagine without those topics? caller: absolutely. it's the time of year where you see people who never come out of their houses, it's a multi-joyful celebration. it small town living at best. number one is a person with a bachelors of science in marketing and 10 years as a sales trainer for major international corporation. it is infinitely easier to convince someone you are right than to convince them they are wrong. you all have a happy thanksgiving. giving some tips when it comes to the politics of thanksgiving. shirley in boulder says i would like to talk policy on climate, health and more cooperation. many areas of concern as blessed americans.

thomas in oklahoma, good morning, you are next. fact you arenk the at work this morning is a bad thanksgiving start as it is. host: it's all good. caller: happy thanksgiving. host: thank you. caller: i just want to let you know the politics i think should really,d about any day everybodyi think needs to just be made aware of what's going on in the country if they haven't been already. families need to get on the same page with each other as far as politics and choosing sides. fun.der to have is there no happy medium

for people who disagree politically to find some common ground. caller: i think you will always get commotion. .f you try to discuss it there's a disagreement. there will be arguments even if it's not related. everything needs to be settled .penly host: that's thomas and adams, oklahoma. the idea of political politically differing and coming together on common ground issues we've been talking about taking it back to last week. it was there former publican speaker the house to be honored at a portrait unveiling program.

our call not to say speaker --hner and i he always exercised humility and sense of humor. and compromise. you don't get 100% of what you want. sometimes he knew. whatimes you going to get you want from your side of the aisle. it's not hard to understand john's love of cigarettes, rainwater ash red wine and the occasional serenity prayer. i believe his interest in legalizing marijuana had started earlier he might've enjoyed a more relaxing speakership. [laughter] senator schumer: it's an easy subject you know. [laughter] senator schumer: speaker boehner was always a good, decent man.

he worked under the most difficult of circumstances. we thank him for his service and we are glad to see he is so enjoying the next chapter of his life. host: anthony grady off of twitter saying speaking in irish family we've never had an issue talking. everyone is using sarcasm and if you show them something bothers you would only make s'mores, that's just how it is. kitty off of twitter saying -- happy thanksgiving everyone regardless of your political affiliations, enjoy time with your loved ones and keep politics off the table. catherine off of twitter saying with my family, politics discussion is allowed, civility is required. it's possible for adults to express kindness over difference of political ideology. learn to do with an interest in other people's perspectives. camilla from phoenix, arizona, you are up. griffith frommela

phoenix arizona and my whole thing is thanksgiving is a time for unity. if we don't have unity at our integritywill look at , you look at all the things that were being taught, yet we are looking at something that is very hard to deal with. american, i love that i can walk this earth with so many wonderful people and advocates and senators and house representatives and people that mean a lot to this country. what makes me cry is the fighting over nothing. we need to be a of honesty and civil rights and all the things we work for to be a better humanity.

with united we stand? where does that go? that's what i was taught and that's how i feel. next, james, hello. i don't believe it should be discussed at thanksgiving unless you have the type of family that everyone can talk about it civilly. i believe listening to other people's opinions and fact checking from more than one , each new station seemed to cover their own tidbits. host: but as far as the personal discussions you have around this you don't think it's possible to have an exchange of ideas on these kind of things in a peaceful manner at thanksgiving? caller: certainly you can, it just depends on your family dynamics.

i have a brother that's a staunch republican and a mother that is a staunch democrat. discussing things with either one of them can sometimes be kind of dicey and therefore just leave it out. host: will you all be together this thanksgiving? caller: absolutely. host: so at least when you go into it, first of all who is hosting it? is hosting ander we are all just bringing things for the dinner. host: i ask that because does the host or are there certain rules in place at the beginning keep discussions from going too far. >> it's been discussed in the past. we just know that in our family. politics isn't always a good idea. sometimes the facts don't really match the feelings on either side.

so we just avoid the discussion. it all depends on family dynamics. thanks for the call. another tweet of the family dynamics. there will be 10 people at thanksgiving, of all got together on previous occasions and we will not talk much politics. politics, ited will be fiscal issues. we have accountants in the family. from ohio, mike, you are next up. caller: happy thanksgiving. at our dinner table will talk politics because we are all quite moderate. we have republicans, but the republicans we have our john kasich republicans, not trump. there's a huge difference. democrats, all of us like tim ryan so we all get along well.

sports,about politics, fortunatehion, i feel to be from a family where all well educated. i went to some public schools of eighth grade. my relatives had some indications we are all very proud of what we've done and when i was a young kid in the 50's and 60's. the only thing we would argue about his ford or chevy. and uncle argued over ford and chevy. some people would argue over goodyear or firestone. no one would argue over pepsi or coke or red wine or white wine. a really always had good time at thanksgiving and moderation is the key. we all get along quite well. mike giving his take on

the family dynamic there. we frame this discussion, good idea or bad idea. make your comments known in the remaining minutes of this segment. bill in maryland, you are on. caller: happy thanksgiving. i just wanted to touch base on some of the past callers. , one of from boulder god's promises is there will forever be all four seasons. california, im hope they give thanks to god for their food. i figured they might miss saying that. host: we are talking about the idea of talking politics at thanksgiving. where you fall on that? next callat was the from texas is why you don't talk

politics because he just wanted to helpis point across divide people. host: what is your opinion? caller: i don't think you should. host: why not? caller: you should be talking about family things, how they are going in their lives and leave that stuff out. if you can't figure that out you got something wrong. there's no reason to bring politics to the table. host: colorado springs, colorado. caller: hello. host: you are on. caller: i just want to talk --ut thanksgiving no one talk about politics on the table. as a matter of fact my family, the politics --

my -- i tell my husband i say to talk about don't that, let's just enjoy the food together. host: another tip from colorado springs. marshall, -- marshall sing a group in a six and they always disagreed. becomed all have isolationists. it's ok to talk about politics and disagree, but remember the end of the day we are all family. happy thanksgiving. we will show this you one more time, this is an event that took place on the house. talking about -- johnny -- talk about johnny isakson. here's the exchange. >> you have been very good to

the people of the state of enough tod i'm lucky call you a friend and a brother .hank you so much madam speaker, it is a most difficult to yield back the time . thank you, brother for your service. i will come over to meet you, brother.

off of our twitter feed ais morning, we are going to friend for thanksgiving dinner and then locating back at our place for smallbatch berman -- bourbon and rum, we will not be talking politics. one says i've adopted to various forms of local discourse. happy thanksgiving. if politics comes up at the table, i find the best nonpartisan response is you may be right. let's go to rick in highland park, michigan. you are next up. caller: happy thanksgiving. to talkreat time politics especially for younger generations because the way we ,o it is at the end of the day

no party, no president, or anyone else is bigger than our family. whatever discussions we have whether we agree or disagree, nothing is bigger than your family. and kiss each other each other when we greet and depart. caller: that is written -- host: that is rick in michigan. jean saying enjoy time -- ifching up etc., pathetic only politics discussed with family and friends. enjoy the meal and laugh, it's better for your digestion. politics is nothing but propaganda so i want to make it short and sweet. you are fools for talking about politics of the table.

host: why is that? caller: it's propaganda, you guys are pitching against each other and then you will have a family feud. ideas in is discussing your mind propaganda? patrick, are you there? caller: it's just so complex and it's kind of like drawn out. host: give me one reason. it's two wings of the same bird. host: what do you mean by that? caller: it doesn't matter who you vote for, it's still the basically.t say you voted for hillary clinton and then you vote for john -- and you voted for donald trump if hillary clinton would've one that would've just been more conspiracies in all of

.his it doesn't matter, you voted for trump so you talk about trump now. host: seething it's impossible to learn summing about political perspective regardless of what the person voted for? caller: can you repeat that. host: is it possible to learn about theperson, regardless of y voted for? is it possible to learn something from them? concept wouldme have been put in place regardless of who you voted for. host: let's hear from cheryl in utah. last call for this topic. caller: hello. appreciate you taking my call. i think that our government is the result of what is going on in families in our country.

and to be be healthy able to communicate with each other and learn from one another. i think you can have a wonderful political conversation and just with respect for one another's views. host: how do you make that happen in your home, particularly today? caller: in my home there are family dynamics that are not i am suggesting that we need to be healthy and talk anyonet and not put down and their views or opinions. host: you come from a politically mixed family i would gather? caller: no, i grew up in a family that did not talk about and my parents joked that when they went to the

ballot to vote, they cancel each other's votes. you can see what happened because they did not talk about it. they were not as informed as they could have been. host: that was cheryl from utah on this thanksgiving day, the idea of talking politics at giving day. -- at thanksgiving day. two guests joining us. coming up next we will hear from syndicated columnist clarence page and talking about the issue along generations and later on in the program, republican media strategist adam goodman discusses efforts of impeachment and the issues of campaign 2020. we will hear from him later in the program. "washington journal" continues after this. ♪

>> watch an extended weekend of book tv this holiday weekend. here are some of our features. starting today at 1:30 p.m. eastern, nikki haley recalls her time as u.s. ambassador to the u.n. in the trump administration. >> i would make a point to ask but we go to an area to sit in a room with the group of women. no offense to the fellas in the audience but the women had a way of -- you could sit down with them and they could tell you what the problem was, how they got to that point and how to fix it. friday, pulitzer prize investigative journalist -- pulitzer prize winning invesco journalist ronan farrow.

-- investigative journalist ronan farrow. >> we were told to stand down and not to casing -- not take a single column on the subject. i was threatened that i would be exposed as having been terminated and let go from the company if i ever disclosed that nbc had anything to do with the story. >> saturday at 11:00 eastern, in his new book, fox news brian kyl need offers -- >> sam houston talks about courage. he felt he was impervious. he got shot three times and should have died. when it was time to get a commission, he goes to washington. ground.o the what does he learn? this country and -- is fragile and courage has to be calculated. >> sunday at noon eastern, in-depth is live with wall street journal columnist jason riley. >> the number of black elected

officials in this country has grown from fewer than 1500 in 1970 to more than 10,000 today. that is the voting rights act. eastern, sarah my love explores the political history of tobacco in america in her book, the cigarette. she is interviewed by david kessler. >> smoking at the turn of the 20th century was considered something almost an american. it was a vice of the foreign-born. the antismoking movement of the first two decades of the 20th century kind of rode that wave of nativism, thinking about what type of behavior is appropriate for nativeborn. healthy americans >> watch this holiday weekend and every weekend on c-span2.

"washington journal" continues. host: this is clarence page, a columnist for the chicago tribune joining us on this thanksgiving day. we appreciate your time. guest: glad to be here. host: i will read the headline of your column. although we still have to face our responsibilities someday, our first impulse is to turn our backs. someday we shall know for whom the bell tolls but for now the sound is covered by the sound of our hot rods and beatles records. who wrote that? guest: i wrote that in high school. how it has held up so well over all these years.

-- she was the one who put the bug in my ear about considering journalism for a career. i thought she was nuts at the time but i quickly grew to enjoy it. host: what were you hoping to accomplish? guest: my generation has been a cover story in time or newsweek. i thought this was a good article to talk about in our student newspaper. they were talking about how baby boomers were different from previous generations. we were raised on television and did not have to go through a recession or depression. little did anybody know how much more of an adventure. we already had dr. king's march on washington and numerous other events. , in the latter part

of the decade, the vietnam war and all the protests erected. it was interesting for me at that time. we were kind of cocky. we had the world ahead of us. .he economy was doing well optimism a sense of and also some trepidation that we weren't all that candid about at the time. i have a son who is now 30 years old. i call him grandma's revenge because -- a funny about parenting, you know that you are indeed a grown-up when you're here your own parents words --ing out of your own mouth when you hear your own parents' words coming out of your own

mouth. it was interesting for me to see this ok boomer remark has become the great retort of this new generation. the millenials and post millenials. they see the world differently than we did. host: how do they see it? guest: it is interesting. onsee in the polling going be --oung people tend to 10 devote democratic more than older voters who tend to vote republican. at the same time, i found that college,ce he got to seem to be a lot less patient than my generation about change. of course we were impatient compared to the earlier generation. as a result, we now see young

people having the cancel culture. unworthydy's speeches of being heard, they will just shut it down. was more of the free speech movement. they started campus activism in 64 on the berkeley campus. we have a different view of that today. i find myself talking to my son about how it is better to let bad ideas die from their own illogic then trying to silence the people who speak because then you make a martyr out of them. these are the chats that go around our thanksgiving table. host: clarence page will be with us for this discussion on politics and generational issues. questions, to ask (202)-748-8000 if you are under the age of 35.

andou fall between 35 -- 36 55, (202)-748-8001. -- between 56 and 75, (202)-748-8002. you can text us at (202)-748-8003. far as you see today as views held by those who are younger than you, politically. what are the differences that are interesting to you? guest: one difference is they don't have a draft. it hung over our heads throughout the latter part of the decade back in the 60's. i learned about drill sergeants when i got drafted. i was so glad when i graduated at 69 and started working at the tribune. it was such a big difference in activism. when the draft ended in 70, after the kent state massacre, that whole disaster, and also

the jackson state massacre. things got quieter. the danger of being drafted into the war really took the steam out of the student activist moment ash movement. now we see a new student activist generation rising up on a variety of different causes. not as centralized as things were back in those days but nevertheless, going people now are standing up to gun violence, for example. my generation did not worry about being shot in the classroom. sense among young boomers havet we to catch up. i don't blame them. why don't you guys get out of the way and let us take things over? that has not changed but the

trappings of it changed. i mentioned beatles records and motown, the culture of the 60's. , i knew i hade grown up when i was saying, turn down that noise and changed the station on the car radio to a golden oldies station. what are the things students look at, one is student debt. guest: it is one of my favorite examples. when i was coming out of high school, i applied to ohio university and was accepted. was $770 anduition with room and board it was about $1240. that was a big difference to when my son came along in the late 90's. it was like 10 times what it was

when i was going to college. student debt became as much of a factor in young people's lives as the draft was in our lives. it has not caught on as much as social security or medicare expansion because then people don't vote in the same numbers as older folks. in billhat change clinton's first race with al 1992.n young voters turned out in record numbers because the campaign went out and brought them out. the same thing when barack obama ran. i think that today, you are not seeing -- democrats have not gotten their act together for who their nominee is going to be but we also have a situation today where a lot of young people aren't property owners like older folks are. this is one thing they can make you a conservative, property

, being invested in the country in that way has a big impact on causing people to vote more conservatively. it is interesting to me now because i have told my son, you have to get out there and vote because if you don't play the game, you don't have any standing to change the rules. i expect to see a much larger turnout of young people this time around. part of the puzzle is that student loan issue. bernie sanders has been effective at promoting that, and the health care for all issue four years ago. i think that is a big factor for this generation. host: before we take some calls, that student newspaper you pointed out has a group picture. what is the importance of the picture? guest: that group picture on the front page is our editorial staff. my friends and

guess which 1 -- and say guess which one is clarence. i am not only the only black person in that picture but i am guys and i were the only on the editorial team. that was something of a harbinger of the way our profession has gone. many more women now. not only were black folks rare in newsrooms but so were women. nowadays, things have changed. not enough of course. people don't jump out of their seat with surprise at a female editor-in-chief or publisher. i have seen a number of them come along, all those factors make a difference in our generational changes. host: our first call comes to

you from georgia. this is eva between 56 and 75. you're on with our guest. caller: good morning and happy thanksgiving to our nation and thank you for c-span. theink that i come out of 65-69 graduating class, celebrating the 50th class year. what i have seen is, as it relates to the generational -- as a physician also, my husband is the same. i have two young people who came out of harvard. friends,ir multicultural in the context of india, chinese. we celebrated our columbia medical school graduation in new york at the 21 club and here we are, black folks from the cotton fields of georgia and yet we were there in a place where

jamie dimon -- with jamie dimon. i have seen progress in our country and i think we have much to be thankful for. we are seeing young people now with a conscience that is real and whole because they are seeing their lives are like my young people who come from the opportunities that a family, a community and hard work and perseverance as we think on thanksgiving today, there are many people in the world in our have --who are not -- do not have that foundation. -- youter those of us have been a voice of reason and i think pragmatic solutions. i read you online. and i were in chicago doing residency. we do have a problem in our country that we have not invested in our people.

i was listening to the gentleman from ohio who talked about the farming issue. there was a gentleman getting ready to consider running against jim jordan. when i think about how we came together as black people and jewish people and white people, the browning of the country came after the civil rights laws, the mid 60 laws. host: i hate to stop you there but you put a lot out there already. let's give clarence page a chance to take something from it. caller: multiculturalism makes sense -- guest: multiculturalism makes sense for this generation. in 65, the year after the civil rights act, the same year, the voting rights act and also the national immigration act was passed as president johnson --

at president johnson's urging which shifted our immigration quotas foring larger europeans. we flip that around so we had larger quotas from the rest of the planet. that really peaked earlier as europe got back up on its feet. becamesame time, we multiracial -- more multiracial as a country. now immigration policy is this big issue. because people are looking negatively at the impact of diversity. that is a big shift in the last few years and it all comes out of national policy being set in washington. you find that young people, saw the picture of my high 10% or 15%had about

or so of my high school was black students. my son is growing up in a multicultural world, ever since preschool. aboutmuch more relaxed social and racial diversity than my generation was. i think all of these things make a difference. one thing we older folks do is we can be too sanguine about the way young people get involved with each other across racial and ethnic lines. as we have seen in the last few years, from the alt-right and neo-nazis, all of these far right fringe groups and racial fringe groups, there has always well,ome on the left as

racial to -- racially discriminatory in their outlook. we have not talked about race enough with young people. might say are you we comfortable with our own diversity? host: this is from west virginia, mike, go ahead. caller: yes. i graduated in 1964. seen that that i have are really big changes. first of all, the military draft. you got out of high school, you either took the draft or even listed on the service -- in the service like i did. the other thing was, west theinia was 90% democrat in 60's, 70's, 80's and even early 90's. now it is 90% republicans. i attribute that to one thing, guns. when the clinton administration came out with gun control, west

virginians went from strong democrats, and they had senator byrd and senator rockefeller. they are gone and now it is 90% republicans. the whole state has changed based on the military draft plus firearms. host: mr. page. guest: you have a good point. i remember that well, growing up in southern ohio. he's right. west virginia was a great democratic state and the flip did come into thousand. gore oner because al of these id cards and the nra attacked it with a $25 million ad campaign talking about al gore wanting to take your guns away. west virginia flipped to a republican state and has joeined so since and even

mansion, a democratic senator from west virginia, the first thing he did when he campaigned was he had this commercial of at --ring his shotgun there was a proposal that the democrats had. he was firing his shotgun added on this tree, and it works. he is still one of the last remaining democratic senators in a state that votes predominantly republican. he is on the fence now in this whole debate about the impeachment. it is a good point. generationally we are more polarized politically than we were back in the early 60's when i went to high school.

-- folks thought the conservative wing of the republican party is dead. in 1980, one won and we saw the conservative wing is still alive and well and democrats are learning how to come back. that is a big generational difference now. mentioned, they are generation is pushing gun control -- the younger generation is pushing gun control. the: a gallup poll about grass they had for socialism versus other economic models. what do you think about that trend? guest: my son went through that too like i did through my grateful dead phase. this younger generation -- i think bernie sanders made the aoc made itnd

further popularized. young people aren't scared of the word socialism like my generation was. i remember on the debate team in the early 60's, one national topic was socialized medicine. should the u.s. go to a national health insurance plan? this is not a new issue by any means but at that time, the argument against it was it is socialism, forgetting that social security is socialism for a few years later, medicare passed in the same argument was made ronald reagan among others, quite effectively but it did not stop medicare from going into enactment and becoming one of

the most popular programs the federal government has today. generation, the bernie brose generation, bernie sanders has taken the fear out of the word socialism and now young people are looking at what can government do to make sure its citizens are covered in this country like they are in european countries. host: let's hear from somebody over 75. this is bobby in georgia. caller: good morning. i just wanted to say that i am a disabled veteran and i come from a military family. back in the 30's, when i was born and on up through my childhood, it was war after war and we got into world war ii and all of my uncles which came from a large family were in it also and i did not go to school with black, brown or yellow.

i went to school with whites and i had a different culture and later when i went into the military, i soon found that they were my best friends. they backed me up wherever i need to be backed up, and whatever decision i made, and i can't say that it was the wrong thing to do because it was time for us to come together, all of us, not just white people, not just brown people and not just black people. i think that we need to put aside our differences and work together. i think this world would be better if we forget all the niceties of life and look at those people that are not as fortunate as we are and as far as the generational gap, i see a lot of young people that need to be talked to. is need to be told what it to earn things the hard way.

if you ever learn that you have succeeded, it is because those that came before you showed you how. guest: a lot there. to say a couple good words about young people. i am very impressed with the student interns we get these days, they are a little less crazy than we are. smart, they have to be to understand all of these gadgets. i feel badly for them in terms of the cost of a college education, it has gone through the roof and that is the importance to americans development and it is going to

be important in the future and we need to work on that. caller forhank the her service. there has not been the need for a draft or even heavy recruitment nowadays because as the harrumph sold said -- as donald rumsfeld said, if you could replace people with computers, the next battlefield will be digital. i never thought i would be saying this because i tried so hard to avoid the draft, i sometimes wish -- i told my son it is too bad you didn't have the draft so you could learn so they cannot discipline and honor. that is when i knew i was getting old. host: an interesting conversation to have with your son. if you were offers this characterization on twitter, saying younger voters tend to

vote on emotion and ideals as opposed to experience an analysis. politicians who don't stand up to scrutiny have co-opted younger voters. says the people don't -- they don't agree with have been co-opted by somebody. we all vote on emotion when you get down to it. lot since ied a re-examined my own attitudes after donald trump's victory because most of us in the media were kind of gear to that idea that he was such a long shot. most republicans thought he was a long shot. let's not make a big deal out of attacking him. i look at the diversity of people in this country and those who have not been benefiting from change over the last few decades. those anxieties have been growing. they had to have a voice out there, somebody speaking for them or to them.

politicians must never forget that -- the first line i learned in political science was never forget your base. destructor campaign with your base and you and with your base. donald trump has put a base together out of people, many of whom felt they did not have a voice in government, that washington was not paying attention to them. thatve the feeling washington can be relevant. trump appeal to emotion anymore more than barack obama did? no, they both did appeal to emotion. it is also important to appeal to people's feelings because not everybody is a political junkie like you and me. they don't immerse themselves in politics in washington every day. folks who need to feel some sense of relevance to

washington, otherwise they will not take it seriously or will view it as one more tv show. if anybody knows tv shows, it is donald trump. host: do you think the democratic field gets that? what attracted voters to donald trump. guest: i think the democratic field -- for a number of different reasons. joe biden for example has been consistently leading. he has been slipping lately but he has been leading because people are accustomed to him, especially black voters. i don't think he has tried hard up-to-date with what young people's attitudes are. thus we have some of the gaps oft we have seen in terms sensitivity recently. in the last debate, about issues

affecting violence and women. hand, you have pete buttigieg who has been a great surprise in his success, also a centrist like biden but as my son says, he reminds me too much of my ra back in college. the ra is the one that comes to and says i know we are having a good time here but there is a odor in the air and we can't have that, blah blah b lah. he has this party pooper image. elizabeth warren has struggled with wanting medicare for all but she struggles with how to pay for it. bernie sanders did not let it -- does not let himself get caught up in things like that. do away with corporations,

corporate, private insurance. i likeienates me because my insurance plan. i don't want the government to come and say we have decided we have a better plan for you. you saw how much trouble barack obama had with that notion and his plan did not cut out the option of having private insurance. i think elizabeth warren is still trying to catch on to that. now her latest revision does allow private insurance. all of them have a problem one way or the other, whether it is cory booker or kamala harris. they all have problems connecting with voters. and whoevern well gets the nomination, you will see more consolidation of support in the party. they have some challenges ahead of them. host: let's hear from north carolina, larry. go ahead.

caller: let me put my two cents in. i just turned 64 and i have never voted. i register when i got my license renewed one time. i register republican -- i registered republican. i like my guns, i am a collector. this guy that is president right now, all you have to do is sit there and listen to him. that is all you can do is sit there and listen to him because he is really despicable. something is really wrong with him. that show you had on last night with those four guys talking, they was telling everyone that something is wrong with this guy. host: that is larry in north carolina, to the topic of donald trump. your experience covering the clinton impeachment, the

parallels you are seeing between then and now and the differences you are seeing. that at big parallel is this point in the impeachment process before, we were expecting the republicans to impeach bill clinton along party lines and then he had a good chance of surviving being expelled in office -- expelled from office by the democratic caucus in the senate. that is what happened. now we see the parties are reversed, and the same scenario seems to be unfolding. i think this is certainly a measure of discontent. -- ink the democrats thought it was foolish for democrats to push for impeachment but now i think it is going to be good for us in the long run in this country because somebody needs to throw down a marker and say this is not acceptable. i have talked to republicans

privately who would talk about his on a septa will behavior but they know if they criticize trump in any way, they endanger their own reelection. that is the one thing with a politician, no matter what party, they don't want to sabotage themselves. there is a level of character that we saw on display among republicans back in watergate and nixon himself at a certain point, 70 came to him and said it's time and he said -- somebody came to him and said it's time and he stepped aside. donald trump is not going to step aside. he is going to fight to the end one way or another. that is a big difference. i can't fault him for that because that is what bill clinton did. people were complaining about bill clinton, why didn't he just resign? he had won the public over to

his side and that is what trump is trying to do now. wherepolling tells you the public was with bill clinton compared to where they are now with donald trump. guest: one thing that strikes me right now is that donald trump's 50%oval hasn't gone above through his entire term so far. but as a first among presidents -- that is a first among presidents. swing back in of the clinton era where people thought maybe he deserves to be impeached but does this rise to the level of being kicked out of office? at first, trump was denying he had done anything wrong and now he has gone silent on that issue while his defenders have swarmed over to maybe he did something

wrong but it does not rise to the level of impeachment and that is an easier place to defend oneself, especially when the constitution has set up a process that is primarily a political process for kicking somebody out of office. host: clarence page is with us, a columnist for the chicago tribune, talking about various issues. our next caller in louisiana. caller: good morning. i want to say one thing to mr. page. , a veteran ofold vietnam. i am just surprised to see the big divide. they tell people make america great. caucasians have been in charge of america. what he talking about making america great? young people in the audience with that hate.

i have some friends i've talked to for years. [indiscernible] guest: thank you for your service. along about the same time seeinghink what we are attitude on the part of many folks that our system is in trouble and we need to take a good look at it and try to correct those ways we have drifted apart from the american ideal. the vietnam war followed by watergate left a lot of us fully cynical and sarcastic about the ability of government to do good or the value of the virtues that

we identified with. i hope we will build out of this period now with a new attitude of hope. host: mike on twitter as this to the conversation, the idealism is what attracts the youth to politics. do you think that is still there? guest: i see it all the time. we see very bright young high school kids eager to become part -- put down asn the deep state bureaucracy but that notion of public service is larger than soft -- than just yourself. that notion is fundamental. this is the land of opportunity, to be able to achieve your dreams and help other people achieve theirs. that hope is still there. -- asery excited about

much as my son and i argue about politics, i am comforted by what i am seeing generally as to what is going to happen to the world they inherit and they are inheriting it. i can complain all i want but they will but -- but i will be gone when they take over. in our 35-55ryland category. caller: thank you. i have to apologize, i called in on the wrong number. i wanted to share a couple things real quick on those generational issues. my first awakenings were back in the eighth grade. i was in my history class and my teacher told me, do you know what the definition of history is and i said it is when people have documentations that can back up the events. i was corrected saying no, it is when two people get together and

agree on the same thing. that resonates with me. i went into the national guard in 1966. i cannot quite figure out why it was we were going into sovereign to take on rice farmers so the corporate manufacturers to get wealthy and the politicians going along with it. following that all the way up to iraq and afghanistan, i've got four children who are all on the same page. where the beneficiaries of what it is we have done through our corporations and now our politicians? that is where the generational divide is coming. the country is so divided because of what is going on now to reunite and to restructure what we have. it looks like that is going to be a long road for these kids that are now coming up. that is what i had to say and i appreciate you giving me the time. host: thank you very much. guest: very quickly, i share

your feelings about what got us into vietnam and what is the legacy. i am so thankful for the vietnam series because after my service i am able to see just why -- the big issue here is a difference in perceptions. place toietnam as a push back global communism and the threat it posed to the united states and the vietnam -- and the vietnamese view it as the latest chapter in their century-old struggle for independence, first from france and the later from the states and other outsiders. you are in a much better position to fight when you are fighting for your own homeland then trying to take control of somebody else's that you didn't

even know how to find on a map a few weeks ago. that is the difference between the u.s. and the vietnamese perceptions of the war. burns, he hasen collected the amount of lying that went on from washington about what the war was about, how well we were doing. it really appalls me. talked to -- i talked to robert mcnamara before he died, secretary of defense back then, captain of our vietnam policy. about, he wrote -- he knew that in 67 the war was lost but did not know how to get out of it. that is where lbj was at and everybody else but they didn't let the rest of us know it. in 69.rafted

it struck me naturally. had half the names that you now see on the vietnam memorial. the war went on and we see now that all of that loss-of-life occurred. general.r in i could reconcile with myself saying that we at least learned a lesson that we will not repeat. some years later we have the war in iraq. i remember colin powell and other vietnam veterans were not as eager to go to erect as those who did not serve -- go to erect -- -- go to iraq as those did not serve. we ended up in another vietnam situation and we are still living with that disaster around the middle east that we see today. this is one of those generational differences that holds up because somehow the

same mistakes keep getting made in washington. host: if you had to send a message to the younger people? i remember advice my grandmother gave me after i finished high school and was starting college and she said just prepare yourself because some days the doors of opportunity are going to open up and you want to be able to step inside. that was a common saying among a lot of black folks who were colleges, of black that opportunities were opening up and that we needed to take advantage of them. i say the same thing to young people now. i say be flexible. especially if you are a journalism major. lee flexible because lives change -- be flexible because life changes. you want to be ready for when

change occurs. like my father used to say, there are two peoples in this world, the movers and shakers and the moved and shaken. host: clarence page serves as a columnist for the cup -- for the chicago tribune. chicagotribune.com as we can find his writing. coming up, we will hear from republican media started just adam goodman. he will talk about the push by house democrats and the impact on campaign 2020. ♪ >> here are some featured programs on c-span this. holiday weekend today at 10:00 p.m. eastern, bill clinton and jeb bush share stories from the 1989 education summit. boehnereastern, john

attends the unveiling of his portrait in the capital. at 8:00 eastern, sipping court justice elena kagan delivers the annual john paul lecture at the university of colorado law school in boulder. on friday at 3:30 p.m. eastern, spend a day in the life with three of the 2020 democratic hopefuls. centre michael bennet, mayor pete buttigieg and senator cory booker. at 8:00 p.m. eastern we will look at u.s. relations with iran and security in the gulf region with a panel of former u.s. ambassador's to persian gulf countries from the clinton, george w. bush and obama administrations. saturday at 10:00 eastern, a house ways and means committee hearing on the difficulties in caring for aging americans including the lack of reasonably priced long-term care for senior citizens and their caregivers. at 85 eastern, actor and environmental advocate ted danson testifies on the environmental impact of plastic pollution at a natural resources

subcommittee hearing. sunday night at 9:00 p.m. eastern, c-span speaks with provincial candidates deval patrick and michael bennet. former governor deval patrick talks about his background, his friendship with president barack obama, his aspirations if elected and his late entry into the crowded democratic yield of candidates. at 9:30, senator michael bennet on what he does -- on why he decided to run for president, his leadership style and his stance on various policy issues. watch c-span this four-day weekend. "> "washington journal continues. host: this is adam goodman. he joins us from st. petersburg, florida. he serves as a public -- as a republican media strategist. he is here to talk to us about the impeachment inquiry. good morning. guest: good morning to you. i hope everyone is having a good one. thank god the wind has died down in new york so that the macy's day parade will go on.

host: as a person who looks from viewer strategy as a media person, talk about what you have seen as the optics when it comes to media coverage of the impeachment inquiry. inquiryhe impeachment is really made for television for americans. show, youy series or quickly develop characters and caricatures at times that tend to drive not just a storyline but people's impressions. i think the impeachment inquiry today has put on the table issues that for most americans, they find it highly partisan, highly political. did the president do something he shouldn't have done? that is an open question. does it rise to the level of impeachment? that is a much bigger question. i fear for the country moving

forward if the partisanship that has taken a grip in washington and elsewhere is used to drive inquiries like this for any future president because if it is all about politics and less about due process and right and wrong, i think we move ourselves into a place where any future president could stand judged to be guilty enough to be impeached in washington will resort to doing all the things they shouldn't be doing which is investigating themselves 24/7 instead of investing in the things that will move forward for the country. host: you talked about characters and caricatures. what did you see out of those fronts, particularly from the public impeachment hearings we have had? guest: it all began when these things were launched. i think you could make the

observation that the democrats who were very eager to move rerward with impeachment we anyway prejudging the proceedings before we even heard from the first witness. as compelling a sum of the witnesses have been for certain storylines, i think there was a sense in america that this was a done deal, that the house was motivated to impeach, to be followed by the u.s. senate which is in republican hands, which will be motivated to exonerate and then on we go. the bottom line is that most americans, i hope would agree, that the biggest judgment we should render in this should not come from politicians judging politicians but from the public weighing in and judging whether or not they find this rises to -- in something called

.n election we are less than a year away from the 2020 election and i think the american people that should be judge and jury and not those from opposing sides in a partisan divide that has grown into a chasm, especially in washington. host: as you viewed the impeachment hearing, the democrats bolster their case when it came to the charges they want to lay on the president. the republicans have sufficient pushback to that. ofst: the simple kind messaging coming from the democrats leading the impeachment inquiry and the house is built around quid pro quo and around not following the will of congress which is a bad -- which is a badge of honor now given congress takei rating among the public. some of the witnesses have been very squared away. fiona hill and others were good examples of people that are trying to do their job and

trying to do the right thing. as far as whether or not this measures up to what has become a 24/7 political docudrama that has gripped the country and frozen any real progress we wanted to make in terms of immigration, in terms of our economy, and terms of health care, major issues that drive normal conversations in america, unfortunately they have been silenced or muted as the politicians have added. -- have at it. host: adam goodman speaking with us. if you want to ask him questions you can do so on the phone lines. democrats, (202)-748-8000. republicans, (202)-748-8001. independents, (202)-748-8002. youru want to text us thoughts, you can do so at (202)-748-8003. you can post on twitter and on

our facebook page. mr. goodman, the president's personal response to the inquiry. were they effective? guest: i think they have been effective. it took a while for the white house to get their sea legs underneath them and the counter narrative, what has become the prime and of -- prominent narrative coming out of the democratic controlled house. i think they have done much better in the last week. better, more effective spokespeople beyond the president himself. pam from florida, i know her very well. she has done a very effective job in the counter effective -- counteroffensive. jim jordan has been tremendously compelling, painting a counter point of view. a representative from the -- from new york has become a rock star overnight for her

willingness to challenge the process. i just hope -- there has been some suggestion that maybe these hearings will continue to drag on much beyond the house into the senate. the senate has the opportunity if they so chose to extend these hearings and bring their own witnesses into play which may include people like congressman schiff who led the house inquiry on the others of the aisle and hunter biden and others. i hope it doesn't go that way. i can tell you also that the democratic candidates seeking the presidential nomination don't wanted to go that way either because frankly as we move closer and closer to iowa and new hampshire and a vada in south carolina, that seems to be drowned out as well or mitigated by this conversation which seemingly is moving in only one direction. the house will impeach, the senate will exonerate. there will be split opinion

america about whether the president did or didn't do things he should or shouldn't have done and then we will have the most important verdict of all from the most trusted source, which is the american people. host: as a person who looks at media and optics and the discussion going on, what the president or his team should take part in the next round of public hearings, what would you advise? guest: that is a slippery slope. on the one hand, you really want to hear from the principal directly. we do, but not by virtue of sitting behind a bench and having politicians grill you but by courtesy of twitter and other social media. i think we would like to hear from the president more on this and on other issues but in terms of him actually testifying as much as he would like to, because they think he is very convinced that he did nothing wrong and certainly nothing that

measures up to the level of impeachment, but that is not going to happen. i think we will see a truncated process. i think republicans in the senate are going to be motivated , i hope to move this forward swiftly when it comes over there side of the aisle and then we get back to the nation's business and there is a lot of business to be done. host: our first call comes from lin for florida, freeratse -- line democrats -- line for democrats. caller: it is not the democrats who are providing any condemning evidence against president trump. that hes own people does so chronically and continuously that you can set your watch by it, he throws his own people under the bus. soldier, lieutenant colonel

, thean and dr. fiona hill ambassadors. these people work for the trump administration. many are republicans. when they got on the stand they were under oath and told the truth. but with president trump one minute you are the best thing since sliced bread. as soon as somebody tries to, i guess, be your friend by telling the truth, he totally dis acknowledges them. far asnd point is as concentrating on the impeachment instead of health care, nobody really has brought of health care for the last four years. people are paying more for their health care insurance that does not cover anything than they are for their mortgages.

brush with the health care industry for sickness or is getting to be a worse and worse experience all the time. yes, it would be nice if somebody -- that is why i like bernie sanders. he mentions health care. host: thank you. mr. goodman? guest: steve, thank you for your comments. let me address the second part of your statement, which is health care. we are going to have a healthy debate on this issue, clearly. you mentioned bernie sanders. that could include elizabeth warren and others who are strong advocates of medicare for all. that will help drive this. from the back burner back to the front burner of the national conversation. we need to have this conversation. whatever you think of obamacare,

thinkfordable care act, i the american public, even though they are largely ok with major parts of obamacare, they are not fully satisfied attic covering all the bases it needs to. that is where the ugly side of politics sometimes enters the fray. people get very hardened in their views. we should be open to taking a look at any adjustment that makes you and i feel more comfortable going to sleep at night. that her health care is covered and we will not have to worry about one major event becoming not only life-changing but perhaps for some blood once life-threatening. onesr loved life-threatening. theologically, for full disclosure, i don't agree with bernie sanders on just

about anything theologically. however i think people like that he comes off and has from the beginning of his entrance onto the national stage as someone that feels genuine. he is putting it out there and really believes what he is putting out there as opposed to trying to play politics with something that is so integral to the american experience. i think that is to be admired. survived sanders had the primary process in 2016 against secretary hillary clinton, i think it would have been a hell of a contest against donald trump in the fall. both of them are really outsiders to the process. both are taking on from different sides of the aisle and from different ideological planks. they are taking on the system. that was the key to the 2016 campaign. ofrote a column in april

2016 and made a prediction that of observation and my experience of nearly 40 years in the field that donald trump was well-positioned to win. he was the candidate that was tapping into the unspoken major issue of the cycle, which continues to this moment. a system that is letting a lot of people down. i still think that kind of anti-systemic populism will fatesa lot of political in the 2020 cycle and beyond. we will have a much more intense conversation about health care and about other parts of the national landscape that have been unfortunately delayed for the last couple of months as politicians have taken out after each other under the umbrella of impeachment. host: republican line.

good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call and happy thanksgiving to both of you fellows. i will try to be brief. it is hard to in this day and age but i will try to. number one, i would like to see both political parties deal with medicaid andre and social security, and then taking care of the national debt instead of fighting over power and which party is going to be the dictatorship over the taxpayers. how many years do we have left before social security and medicare go broke? thank you for your time. have a nice thanksgiving. guest: that is a great question.

we don't have all that much time. regardless of how you feel of the current administration and the administration that preceded it, it is proceeding faster than ever before. that bill will come in and have to be paid and the selfishness of pushing that question downstream onto our children, onto our grandchildren is the most unconscionable example of malpractice by political leaders on both sides of the aisle. i think we have to deal with this. i'm concerned about it, as i think we all are. there is a mentality in washington more so than the state capitals -- i'm in florida. the florida legislature is held in pretty high regard. it has been controlled in terms

of majority controlled by republicans for more than the past 20 years. there is a sense angst could get done here. in washington there is a sense nothing can get done except character access to nation, political assassination, etc., under the heading of whatever it takes, anything it takes to win. you have to ask yourself a question. what are we winning? at some point you ask, what are we actually winning? when we have a process that seems to have ground to a halt, we are not making great advantages on the biggest issues of the day. climate change for instance. it has become much more of a national crusade if we take our heads out of the sand and know it is something we will have to deal with. whether you believe it fully or not, the global climate change, i always say in the off chance those who are climate deniers maybe you are wrong, 100 you are

wrong, shouldn't we be doing something about this? the answer is yes. what it will take unfortunately dimthe parties is the munition of the parties and taking control of the process as opposed to representing them. -- things i've at it a lot advocated a lot, and i hope all viewers listening to this take we believe things can change under the current we will be living with for the rest of our lives and our children live with for the rest of their lives, we have to change the rules of the game if we want significant change to occur. the way to do that is constitutional reform. rewriting rules. number one, campaign finance. we have to find a way where our

leaders are not bought and paid for coming out of the gate. where they don't spend their time doing things that advanced their self-interest for reelection. we have to get to a balanced budget. we need to address things like citizenship, which i know is an uncomfortable subject for a lot of people. we have not really entertained that question in a serious way 1869 after the civil war when an amendment was passed that said basically we want to make sure future congresses do not turn their backs on newly emancipated african-americans. if you want change and to pursue things that really help, my opinion is we do it, the people do it through constitutional reform. host: gordon, go ahead. caller: i want to thank c-span

very much for your broadcasts. i heard a viewer last week say c-span is biased. messed uphave c-span for cnn. this is all about impeachment. do the democrats have anybody in mind that will take over this mess? if not, are they planning on impeaching the vice president? i want over the democrats are going from here. guest: i think the democrats are asking themselves that question. what is the next act? to be fair the democrats or anyone in that position -- this is a moving target in an evolving story. you have to remain flexible about what that proper next step is. andink it is fair to say, you can see it in the polls among swing voters and

independents, there is a sense of fatigue that is setting in over impeachment. that suggests it would be in their best interest to bring this in for a landing sooner rather than later. how best to do that i think it is what is consuming speaker schiff representative and others in the drama. host: pennsylvania, zach. caller: good morning mr. goodman. guest: good morning. caller: a couple of things. treated worse was than trump will ever be treated. 70% of the people were for the affordable care act, for obamacare, and then it dropped to 37%. when it comes to dems getting things done, there are 100 bills sitting on mcconnell's desk he refuses to take up. when it comes to the it ishment, in my eyes

basically republicans against republicans. the democrats are adjusting control of the process. they are telling us the dems want this. these are republican patriots coming forward to help us protect our democracy. -- democracy from what i call the acting zombie. most of trump's people are acting. they are not controlled by the senate. -- confirmed by the senate. fires power over them to them, throw them under the bus, tweet about them. we have a government ruled by tierney big -- tierney -- tyranny. anything from the white house can damage their careers. guest: i really appreciate the question. i also appreciate the tone of the question. i think you are sincerely interested in trying to find a

better way for all of us to move forward so i appreciate that. good point.raise a -- i'm sorry if i belabored that. it is america on trial here in my opinion. we ask ourselves, what is the right thing to do? this is really not a trial. it is a piece of political gamesmanship on all sides being played. it is a fairly certain end. in terms of president obama, i feel the same way as you do. took a president obama lot of criticism from the word go. by the time he left office i think he did a lot of things well. i think they were things president obama tried to do or validatedt really

american desire to seek change. one thing he did not do as well in ai think put us circumstance is as commander-in-chief, he was uncomfortable having to make certain decisions with the exception of osama bin laden. wherek we live in a time more and more people feel empowered to offer their opinions on everything under the sun. on one side of that, it's a healthy thing. it is nice an important and vital that the conversation goes beyond elected leaders and to the american people. on the other side i wish for all of us to become better informed. to the we should go back days of civics being taught in school. that should be mandatory. a lot of people are offering opinions about how to move the

needle in america, yet they are doing it at of near-complete ignorance of the process itself. thate you agree with me the motivation behind it. we the people should go back to the constitution, article five, which says as things change we need to change with the times. i think changes are mandatory if we want to cure the process of a winner take all mentality by leaders of both sides of the aisle as opposed to america wins all on every side of the aisle. host: mr. goodman, i want to play a little bit of it clip from the president. he appeared in florida recently talking about a couple of different things. then we will come back to you. [video] president trump: thank you to the great state of florida. thank you.

[cheers] president trump: less than one year from now i will join voters across the sunshine state, my home. polls and to the together we will win back the house, we will hold the senate, and we will keep the beautiful, beautiful white house. we will keep it. we will keep it. you saw that, right? the stock market just did another all-time in history high , meaning 401(k)s and jobs. everybody is getting rich. and i am working my ass off, let me tell you. arena makeleave the sure you registered to vote.

we can't take any chances. we are doing great in florida. you have a great governor. we are very happy with ron. he is doing a fantastic job. make sure you are registered to vote. as we gather together for thanksgiving -- some people want to change the name thanksgiving. they don't want to use the term thanksgiving. that was true also with christmas, but now everybody is using christmas again. but now we will have to do a little work on thanksgiving. people have different ideas why should not be called thanksgiving, but everybody in this room i know loves the name thanksgiving and we are not changing. host: for the first artifice statement about florida being his home, was his move their a political one when it comes to 2020? guest: i would like to say he likes the weather in florida a

lot better than in washington, but i think that would be disingenuous. florida has 29 electoral votes. it is the ultimate melting pot of american politics. the interstate between orlando and tampa is the biggest swing area, the most important face iner of political the country. it gets a little bit more difficult for republicans to put together the electoral map to win the presidency without florida than it does for democrats. florida with 29 votes. you have the other battleground states of wisconsin, pennsylvania, north carolina. increasingly arizona. all-important, but there is nothing like florida for testing out one's ability to carry a national campaign to victory. that is one reason a lot of

testing is done in the state of florida for consumer products. there is the kind of cross-section of america that best reflect perhaps within a single state's borders the will of america. the other thing he talked about, which is important to keep in mind is the stock market. i wrote a column a couple of months ago and tried to suggest to all voters across america that instead of getting bogged down on polling, who was up, who is down, it was going to win iowa, who was going to lose iowa, the most important polling number out there is the dow jones industrial average. in my opinion if the average, which is now around 27,500. if it is 26,000 or better, the president is in very good shape,

everything else being equal to win reelection. if it is between 22000 and ,6,000, they could be katy bar the door. anything below 22,000, he is in trouble. i would say you take a look at the dow jones industrial average and see how the mood of the country is economically. after all the passion plays of the primaries and the debates in the general, what i hope everyone in america wants a front row seat to, if the sense of the economy is relatively sound or better, that is have the that will president and very good stead at the end of the line. host: republican line, george. caller: thanks for taking the time to give us the opportunity

to express our opinion. i appreciate it. isly, this thanksgiving mired by the democratic party, the impeachment. another divisive action that is killing the american people, tearing the country apart. i have a couple of comments about previous callers. i thought obamacare was supposed to solve all the problems. plan, we juste got a bill for $200 for a mammogram. i thought that was covered. social security. all you have to do to corrected is eliminate the income tax. most people pay 100% of their tax on the income because most people make less than $135,000. i think that will solve the problem. democrats had control of everything when president obama was there. they did not do anything to secure us. people are starting to realize what is going on.

regarding the impeachment, when it goes to the senate trial the democrats will be in big trouble. then the republicans will have their day in court. that believe in impression of what is going wrong with this country. host: appreciate that. , what could the senate try out when he gets to their portion should it go that far? guest: it probably will go that far. what republicans have is an option, which i hope we don't play or maybe mishandle. they can call their own witnesses. one part of this story. if you look at the mueller investigation which happened over an ungodly amount of time, and then to a non-indictment of

the president but that was not good enough apparently for some. they are trying to revisit that. some things that were not covered in that investigation can be covered in a republican senate. in terms of ukraine, i think everyone wants to know what the deal is with hunter biden. whether you are a biden supporter are not, at least we should have some testimony brought to bear on that. no reasonable person could say that hunter biden was brought to the board of the ukrainian company at huge compensation for reasons of his personal skill, tact, fitness to help that company in that situation. it had everything to do with the connection with his dad, joe biden. i think that is worthy of theination and

republicans will present the other narrative, which explores things that have not been talked about. that should be a part of it. i would be surprised if hunter biden was subpoenaed would appear. i would be surprised if adam donor, aho had a major russian donor who would benefit greatly from military sales to ukraine, why that would not also be something that the senate would not bring to bear if they wanted to belabor the point. myself,aking for as enticing as that may be for some people and as a republican, i hope we don't go down that trail for very long because that's another x number of days, weeks, months that has very little to do with politicians attacking other politicians in washington. host: missouri, independent line. anthony. caller: your comment about

hunter biden is justified. the investigation into the corruption in the ukraine is justified. when barack obama was president he was caught on mic telling putin he would have more latitude. he did not supply ukraine with weapons was so the russians could attack ukraine and crimea. mr. obama made a deal with mr. putin to protect his iranian nuclear deal. -- shiite muslim connection through his father is proof. he was protecting himself from the investigation by the republican senate. thank you. guest: thank you for that question. off from something

you are suggesting that we have not talked about today, which is what does this mean in terms of the path ahead for joe biden or anybody else on the democratic side of the fence? i will give this more of a florida perspective then a national perspective. the national perspective has been very well covered. here in florida in a swing state that is very centrist if you want to typify us slightly right of center, we are looking for things we are not finding from the democratic field today. maybe we will find that over the course of the months to come. andrew gillibrand for governor, most odd makers that he would defeat ron desantis in the 2018 campaign. he fell short. most people would agree the primary issue in that campaign

was that in terms of the swing voters of florida was slightly if not more than slightly too far left and did not really want to try to get back closer to the centerline where i think most people in florida that determine elections are looking for. this is something of a challenge for the democratic party. they talk about centrist and progressives. successful,to be they will need to find their sea legs in a state like florida with someone that can race the centerline. i think the passion in this primary debate has not been in the center lane. i have great respect for the service of joe biden, and great commiseration with joe biden for all the things he's had to overcome and survive in terms of his family and other things.

that you have to at least admire. it has been clear from the beginning that joe biden is not the joe biden of old. he is just an old joe biden. he is not able to bring their case. pete from indiana did a so-so job overseeing a city in indiana. now he's rising up because a very good effort in iowa and possibly new hampshire. he is 37 years old, not overly accomplished, and he and the other centrists will have to address if one of them survives the process what the progressive left has put on the table. warren, not, elizabeth she has been on the table some very system changing ideas. bernie sanders has made a very aggressive case once again for trying to reform the american

system. i think instead of this being a referendum on the president, some of the democrats are making this a referendum on the system with a remedy that is fairly far left. if that's the way it ends up, there will be four more years of donald trump with a decent economy or better without russian. i think that is it -- without question. i think that is a problem the democrats are just now starting to grapple with. they thought maybe joe biden would be the answer. clearly i think you got tells you -- gut tells you joe will not be the one. host: st. cloud, minnesota, democrats line. caller: good morning c-span and good morning america. thank you for the comedy track. those are precious. mr. goodman, you are incredible. a republican who believes obama did a good job. that is a thanksgiving gift

right there. earlier you said the democrats already had everything lined up me,impeachment -- excuse but they were not able to look at anything else. as the evidence came through the republican leaders refused to look at the evidence. you were talking about the rockstar who was looking at challenging the process. it just kind of shows if you're only going to challenge the process and can look at the evidence and you will interrupt a process you agreed on, i don't really see how that makes a rockstar. i would love president trump to come out and testify in court. i think it would just be beautiful. great to stand him up there. host: we have to leave it there. mr. goodman? guest: a very quick response.

alicee a chapter out of in wonderland, it was verdict first. was heeachment approach is guilty and now we will prove it, which i think violates innocent before proven guilty standards in america in terms of spruanceents -- juden she has the conviction of her voice. you have to applaud that as well. this was not a fair process. the republicans were not allowed to call witnesses. they were not allowed to get information the democrats had prior to the hearings. suggestion the whistleblower had contact with the head of that committee,

which was not properly disclosed. it did not feel right. it does not feel right. i believe it is not right. this is not about whether or not you believe the president did something he should not have done or not. it is more about you have got to be kidding me that we will ourselves with a process that is basically a kangaroo trial and a process that already has a defined endgame and has a defined verdict before we even get involved. i hope as americans this thanksgiving day we step back and reflect on the fact we are all better than this and we move forward with the understanding. tot: this is adam goodman talk about issues of impeachment. we thank you for your time and thank you for joining us on this thanksgiving day. guest: really enjoyed it. host: we will finish the program with you telling us about politics at thanksgiving, good idea or bad idea. whatever position you hold, and

the eastern and central time zones it is (202) 748-8000. zones, --sis time mountain and pacific time zones, (202) 748-8001. we will take those questions when washington journal continues. >> c-span's studentcam 2020 competition is in full swing. all across the country middleton high school students are creating short documentaries on the issues they most like in the 2020 presidential candidates to address in their campaigns. take us behind the scenes and share your photos for a chance to win additional cash prizes. still working on an idea? we have resources on our website to help out. our getting started page at studentcam.org has information to guide you through the process of making a documentary. $100,000 inaward total cash prizes, including a $5,000 grand prize.

all eligible entries must --eived -- be received by >> you are never too young to have an opinion so that your voice be heard now. >> for more information, go to our website, studentcam.org. >> washington journal continues. host: as many of you are gathering around we are interested in hearing your ideas about talking politics on this day. if you think it is a good idea or bad idea, let us know either way. (202) 748-8000 for the eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8001 for the mountain and pacific time zones. if you text us, do so at (202) 748-8003. and our facebook page is also available. off in morgantown, west virginia, independent line.

rob, you are first up. caller: good morning and happy thanksgiving to everyone. atelieve talking politics thanksgiving can kinda be a mixed bag. i know for myself and my family they could be a little frustrating. i have a sister. she is a big facebook fan. i can remember several years back when she came to dinner one day. she looked at me and said barack obama was a muslim. it is just frustrating when you have to talk to people that don't search and verify facts. as an old american politician once said, we are all entitled to our own opinions but not our own facts. i think a lot of people, most people really should be attempting to fact check the news that they get and the things they hear. i think if we could all agree

upon a set of facts, discussions would be a lot more reasonable. host: that is from ralph in west virginia. sydney and alexandria, virginia, democrats line. caller: hi. my comment is that i don't think they realize it but in the history of this present time, well, you know, it's taking its toll on those politicians who are backing this president who is out of control. themselvesking appear as crooks to the future generations. host: and this applies to the discussion of politics at thanksgiving? how does that apply? isler: well, something that

--thanksgiving is part of our history. nt situation with politics in the u.s. and around the world is making history. i guess i can tie it in that way. host: brenda in washington state, democrats line. caller: happy thanksgiving to everyone. we no longer discuss politics because it has become so violent. i will be curious to know how it is going to go this thanksgiving. i told your screener i wanted to bring up -- i want to say how offended i am that the president's son will give an award to the best conservative. that just brings me to tears. the family is just a bunch of grifters. every member a guest --

host: we believe your statement there because we are keeping to the topic of political discussions at the dinner table. allen and washington, d.c. caller: happy thanksgiving. 55 million people will be talking about this thanksgiving is student loans. something congress has completely avoided with all this palace intrigue and impeachment nonsense. i do think the issue can wait much longer. when the pilgrims came over from the old world they were in deep debt to merchants. the founding fathers when they wrote the constitution called for uniform bankruptcy protections ahead of the power to declare war and raise an army. host: this is the topic that will be on your table today? caller: there are 55 million people in the country who either have student loans over are cosigned on them. the majority of them, 65% are

probably losing sleep over it. the republicans -- host: how many in your family have student loan debt? caller: at least three i'm aware of and probably more. it is such a shameful issue. people historically have not wanted to talk about that but it is changing. people are starting to see what big government monstrosity the lending system has become. if the republicans and former guest know what is good for them, they will embrace the issue and they can overturn bankruptcy rates as the founder intended. host: it could be a possible talking point amongst the thanksgiving table today. if you think generally talking politics at thanksgiving is a good idea and bad idea, call and let us know. joe from new jersey. caller: hi. we will talk about politics because that is our future. that is the future of our kids.

we have a con man in the house. gotti. john all of his friends go to prison. what kind of a man is that? at the same time he is lying over and over. host: among the people he will be talking to today, is this the topic of discussion you will have? caller: yes. even that guy nunes. i watched him the past two weeks. i am ashamed of congress. i am ashamed. host: will congress be a part of your conversation as well? caller: yes, and i am proud of my democratic congress. the republicans, i am ashamed of them. host: tom in west virginia. caller: happy thanksgiving.

host: thanks. caller: i don't see a problem with people talking politics. the problem i have seen, and i blame it on the universities in people have -- differing opinions and are shouted down. wind the clock back to the early 1960's. i wish i could've talked to clarence page. would goalcolm x that to oxford university or harvard university or james baldwin, another african-american. they were considered extremists and radicals at that time. they were allowed to talk to college kids, mainly white college kids, upper income, middle-class, of where they opened their minds and listened to these gentlemen with regards to what blacks were going through in america at that time. we no longer have that. if you have a gay guy who was a

conservative think goes to a public college in california, these spoiled brats start rioting. professors.ng from i look at my age when i was in college -- host: to bring you back to your home, when you have a gathering, do you have differing mindsets? caller: we have different mindsets. when people start raising their voice, that is when i say this discussion is ended. we can talk civilly and vehemently disagree with each other. that is what has happened in this country. i am voting for president trump again. i am a union member of 36 years. i always voted democratic up until mitt romney. when barack obama made the comment to fundamentally change

and transform america as we know it, that is not what i voted for in 2008. i voted for a man. i thought maybe he can do something to get this economy debacletrack after the of the savings alone mortgage crisis -- savings and loan mortgage crisis. that was bill clinton's deal. host: ed from warrington, oregon. caller: good morning, pedro. you are a very brave man. sayn old veteran i want to there are a couple of kids at the local high school that took on the task to join the u.s. army as an active duty troop. i want to say i shout out to owie who isgan b stationed in south korea, and another shadow to another oriented high school graduate, private bo reynolds who is in mp

training. i see a lot of people waste money for no good reason. as an old air force veteran that became college educated through the air force and they were paying the $88 a month to do it, i became exactly what i wanted to become. i was a union plumber and i retired when i was 56 years old. host: to the topic of politics at thanksgiving, what do you think? caller: all my elders are dead and buried. i never had any children. i would just as soon bake the cookies, bake the turkey, have friends around that just like to talk about anything but politics. host: arlene is next in charlottesville, virginia. caller: hello. i absolutely think that is a perfect time to talk about politics. you have your whole family together.

a lot of them have differing opinions. you can give your opinions. the republicans are the more godly party. host: heidi keep discussions civil when you have people who don't particularly agree with you politically? caller: just be nice to them. kill them with kindness. it is a perfect time to talk to them because they are altogether and they are eating together. could not be a better time. host: the president sending out on his twitter feed happy thanksgiving. all americanswish a happy and blessed thanksgiving. we will go to cody in alabama. caller: hi. as a young high school student myself i believe politics are very important. it may seem like a bad idea to

talk about politics at the table argument but a light never hurt anybody as long as it is just that. light and polite. i believe everybody deserves a chance to have their opinion respected. host: what greater you and? -- grade are you in? caller: ninth-grade. host: when it comes to your family, if you don't mind sharing, where you fall politically? caller: honestly it is kind of hard to explain. i share mostly the same political views as my parents. i don't how to put it honestly. host: when you have family members -- will you be with family at thanksgiving? the most share your political opinions or are there different opinions? caller: there are a lot of similar opinions. relatively onpoint

and together when it comes to our clinical views. talking toyou are somebody does not share your how do youviews, keep the conversation civil but make your point? about sellingall your point. it is all about being polite and acknowledging every person has a right to an opinion. that everybelieve argument is civil. into madness with yelling and shouting. host: when did you become interested in politics? caller: i have watched the news of my parents a lot. i have noticed how some of the things work around this country.

sometimes there is a bit of a haze but i can understand a little bit of it. host: i think you may the youngest person calling on this thanksgiving day. happy thanksgiving to you, cody from huntsville. tammy in fairfax station, virginia. tammy in fairfax station? one more time for tammy. from new jersey. good morning to you. caller: good morning. talk of politics at thanksgiving is a bad idea. people need to give thanks to where it belongs. give your thanks to god and be glad you are in this country. .ry to help people try to help the people that need

help and just give all your thanks to god. it is not the time or place to talk about at thanksgiving. it is the time to spend quality time with your family. host: when you have thanksgiving gatherings no political talk? caller: it doesn't happen. nost: from arizona, bill i tucson. caller: good morning. eah, i saw on pbs about 17% of the people really talk about politics on thanksgiving. i will probably try not to. in some ways i would rather look at the sanitizing of thanksgiving. how the indians befriended the pilgrims dan what happened to the indians and look at their perspectives. today a lot of times people make

look ats but they don't where they come from. person to look at each and their views but listen to the other party and see where they are coming and they need to have a better understanding. a lot of times people just stick to their point and don't listen to anything else. host: bill from tucson, arizona. if you talk politics at thanksgiving, maybe one of the points you will talk about is the recent firing of the navy secretary. he has an op-ed in the washington post today. "we are effective not because we have the best equipment but because we are professionals. our troops are held to the highest standards. we expect to lead our forces to have existential -- excellent judgment." began, ie trial

received two calls from the leftdent fro two gallagher'-- to lift gallagher's confinement. he ordered me to have been transferred to the equivalent of an illicit barracks. it goes on from there. you can find it online at the washington post. george is next in washington, d.c. caller: thank you for c-span. thank god for all the pleasures we enjoy. i think politics should be discussed broadly throughout society. we should definitely be teaching civics in high schools. part of civics is being civil.

thesek we can have conversations in a civil manner. the topic i would like to see discussed or hear about more is a monument -- emoluments. it seems the democrats are putting all their eggs in one basket and focusing on the ukraine, when the emoluments issue is staring us in the face. it seems like it is the elephant in the living room with trump tower and washington, d.c. and all the money that is pouring into mar-a-lago and all of his other investments. host: ok. we go to calvin in suffolk, virginia. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my tall. we do not discuss politics at all during thanksgiving dinner. i am so upset about what is and the in this country

different point of views people have. to me there is no middle ground. wherecuss it in a way people are presenting their point of view, one side of the other, i just would not be able to handle it. i believe there is a definite right over definite wrong as to what is going on. for people to sugarcoat it and try to explain intolerable behavior, i have no patience whatsoever. it would not be a good idea to discuss it with me at all. i would rather not talk about it at all. host: one of the things you might talk about today if you talk politics is the story in the new york times. the justice department's inspector general found no

evidence the fbi attempted to place an undercover agent or informant inside the president's campaign in 2016 as they investigated whether russia conspired. that is available at the new york times if you want to read that story for yourself. if you do talk politics this thanksgiving, you can weave that into the conversation. connecticut, mark. caller: hello. i am a 31-your combat veteran. combat veteran. we are soldiers, not politicians. it is great to talk about politics around thanksgiving. the most important thing in this country is keeping this country safe. that is what the servicemember does. i wish our politicians would all get together for the good of the country to keep this country safe. that is my comment.

have a happy thanksgiving. host: annette in queens, new york. caller: happy thanksgiving. thinky all means i discussions with family and differing views, i don't find a problem with it. but i think a lot of the senior citizens haven't talked about the issue of the part b premium 144.60ill be going up to $ based on deductibles up to $87 -- $87,000. i have not heard too many senior citizens talk about that issue. that is one issue i will bring up. i am not happy with the increases the social security benefits year to year has been

less and less. it makes a difference in people who depend on it. that issue i will be talking about. i think that i have to put this in. elizabeth warren, she is the one that speaks to be politically. you. thank we will go to alabama, robbie. caller: hello. yes, sir. polarizing. we have political differences inside my family. if we discuss it, it will not end well so don't discuss it at the table. host: dana point, california, martha.

caller: we discuss it around the dinner table because some of the anybodydo not like else but trump. i got on my grandchildren to vote this time. we discussed it privately, but at the dinner table we don't discuss it. host: ok. that is martha. no discussions of politics. paul from florida. caller: how are you doing? happy thanksgiving. in my house we will be talking about maybe this time next year we will have a different president, but also about how the republican party has let and arees be hijacked not just the conservative party or the military party they once was. i hope we can get the two political parties back in order. thank you. host: ernie from oregon, good

morning. caller: good morning. i believe it is alright to talk about politics. i want to comment on the guy with the emoluments clause. i don't understand it completely, but i'm not sure a person that comes in that made against the be held qualifications that come in with no money and go up with $30 million to buy houses and every thing else. that is pretty much all i have to say. from bill in minnesota. how are you? caller: happy thanksgiving. if everyone is calm when they're talking and no big arguments, that's fine.

but, you also brought up a couple articles in the new york times and washington post, and i don't member ever seeing a pro trump article, in at least the washington post. maybe the new york times, but are ther -- but those two newspapers i would never be reading, especially the washington post. if you can keep it nice and calm, i don't see a problem with talking politics at thanksgiving. host: that's bill in duluth, minnesota. thank you for calling from the eastern time zone. central time zone there. we appreciate all of the calls on this thanksgiving day. --now eyes you gather gather up your thanksgiving around your family, we have someone -- [listing names] all of those important factors, to bring this program to you

even on this thanksgiving day. a hearty thanks to you all. and the rest of those working at the network. another program comes your way at 7:00 tomorrow morning. see you then. ♪ announcer: the impeachment inquiry hearings continue next week. when house judiciary committee jerrold nadler holds the committee's first impeachment inquiry hearing into president trump, focusing on the constitution and history of impeachment. watch live coverage wednesday, at 10 a clock

a.m. eastern on c-span3. chairman nadler extended an invitation for the president and counsel to appear before the committee. read the letter from our president on our website, c-span.org/impeachment. and follow the impeachment inquiry live on c-span3, live on -- c-span3, on c-span.org, or live on the free c-span radio app. announcer: here is a look at what's ahead on this thanksgiving morning on c-span. coming up, bill clinton and former florida governor jeb bush -- jeb bush talk about education policy. then, the portrait unveiling for john bader, at this u.s. capital. following that, a look at the british house of commons mark warner later, discusses bipartisanship. you, if id to tell

hang my head in shame [indiscernible]and what i would say is very unfair personalized reporting of these fellows, and knownk that you ought to that opinion because you will be disappointed ion me down the road -- in me down the road if i didn't tell you that. i'm telling you frankly that i think your industry is wrecking all of us. >> that's pretty heavy-handed. you can imagine what it was like for the journalists the next day. the fact that they are wrecking the country, very disturbing. we are hearing that today. the press is not the enemy of the american people. the press is doing work for the american people. announcer: sunday, on