ourampaign 2020 -- watch live coverage of the presidential candidates on the campaign trail and make up your own mind. c-span's campaign 2020, your unfiltered view of politics. c-span's live campaign 2020 coverage continues today at 11:00 a.m. eastern. senator elizabeth warren in boston, watch the presidential candidates live on c-span online at www.c-span.org or listen live on the free c-span radio app. an hour, ap in columnist for the daily beast discusses impeachment and

campaign 2020. at 9:15 a.m., one american news networks discusses news of the day and her look at tipping points. ♪ host: good morning. it is the "washington journal" for the last day of 2019 and in keeping with the theme, for the first hour, we want you to tell us what you think the top news story of the year was. you can share with us what you think was the most important or significant story of the year. if you want to call us, 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8000 for democrats. and independents, 202-748-8002. if you want to text us this morning, you can include your name, city, and state and text

to 202-748-8003. post your thoughts on twitter at @cspanwj and on our facebook page, you can do so at facebook.com/cspan. the associated press compiled what they saw as the top 10 news stories of 2019 here is their list and maybe there is something on the list that is the basis of you calling in. it starts with the impeachment of president trump, issues regarding immigration at number 2. number 3, the trump-russia probe. mass shootings of the year was number 4 and 5, issues with the opioid crisis, the issue can -- it continues with issues of climate change. and the tradeu.k. war between the united states and china at number 8. maxng gets grounded for 737 jets at number 9 and protesters

in hong kong at number 10. immigration,es of which was number 2 on the list, we will take you back to january. the government in the middle of a government shutdown, president taking to the airwaves to talk about the shutdown, particularly blaming democrats for refusing to fund his border wall. ^ >> law enforcement professionals requested $5.7 billion for a physical barrier. at the request of democrats, it will be a steel barrier rather than a concrete wall. this barrier is absolutely critical to border security. it is also what our professionals at the border want and need. sense. just common the border wall would very quickly pay for itself. the cost of illegal drugs exceeds $500 billion a year,

vastly more than the $5.7 million we have requested from congress. deal we have trade made with mexico. senator chuck, who you will be hearing from later tonight, has reportedly supported a physical barrier in the past along with many other democrats. they changed their mind only .fter i was elected president democrats in congress have refused to acknowledge the crisis and they have refused to provide our brave border agents with the tools we need to protect our families and the nation. the federal government remains shut down for one reason and one reason only because democrats will not fund border security.

my administration is doing everything in our power to help those impacted by the situation. host: that was made in the middle of the government shut down which started in late december of 2018 with -- and carry on through january of 2019. it was over this topic of immigration. here is that response. [video clip] >> i appreciate the opportunity to speak directly to the american people tonight about how we can end the shutdown and meet the needs of the american people. much of what we heard from president trump has been full of misinformation and malice. the president has chosen fear.

the fact is on the very first day of this congress, house -- passed legislation to reopen the government and pass smart, effective border security solutions, but the president is rejecting bipartisan bills which would reopen the government over his obsession with forcing american taxpayers to waste billions of dollars on an expensive and ineffective wall. a wall he always promised mexico would pay for. president trump has chosen to hold hostage critical services for the health, safety, and well-being of the american people and withhold the paychecks of 800,000 innocent workers across the nation, many of them veterans. he promised to keep government shut down -- the government shut down for months and years. secureagree we need to our borders while honoring values.

that was from earlier in january. if you think that is a top story, you can talk about that and take a look at the course of the year. 202-748-8001 for republicans. democrats, 202-748-8000. 202-748-8002 for independents and you can text us at 202-748-8003. even the news of today, there are several concerning events in iraq happening, the president sending out a tweet saying it was iran killing an american contractor. is orchestrating an attack. it we expect them to use forces to protect the embassies and so notify. rotors -- royalties -- thousands of protesters as reuters is showing the video and militia fighters outside the gate announcing those strikes.

where guards would take visitors and their phones, all of that as of today. to your top news story of the year, kansas starts us off, margaret, you start us off this morning, go ahead. i think there are so many stories that marriage, but the big one is the climate and i it focuses on the war and i do not trust the american leadership anymore to be competent and you cannot believe the lies trump says, so it is very scary in the mideast, people are suffering everywhere and australia is burning.

places are burning and flooding and we don't have food security in our own country for some people and yet they keep saying the economy is good. you back to take your first point, the climate. why do you associate that among the things you listed? caller: that is the most important, there are places that cannot breathe and people are dying. we are not doing anything about it. that is very scary. climate issues or climate stories and related stories number 6 on the list of the top 10. independent line from michigan, this is iris. hello. pedro. hi, i hope you have a fabulous, wonderful, improved new year because we could all use it, can we -- can't we? jets grounded, the amount

of lives affected by defective airpower is devastating, not only in the air, but on the land i believe our government has gotten out of regulation. they better start looking after our interest because we are looking out for our own. i think they should start getting their resumes together because i don't think they will last. we are looking at things in a far different light. host: does the boeing story changer flying habits if you fly on a regular basis? caller: i will not get on a boeing jet for my life, i would rather walk. they show an indifference toward what they are producing and i

would like to know who gave them the contract in the beginning. host: rocky from florida, republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. climate is a big thing. all my aunts and uncles that --e died from cancer factories have a lot to do with climate. i have 17 aunts and uncles. everyone of them died from cancer. they all lived over my grandfather's house. climate is a big deal, but it is a big deal for everybody to recycle all their plastics and stuff. it is not the government's job. i agree with trump on a lot of things he is doing, trying to make a deal with china and stuff

like that. my family is dead because of pollution. films of my mother suffering from pancreatic cancer because they drank that water. that has got to stop. host: rocky in clearwater, florida, talking about the climate. it was in september. u.n. climate conference in september. [video clip] is that we will be watching you. this is all wrong. i should not be up here. i should be back in school on

youothers of the ocean, yet come to us young people for hope. how dare you. you have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. and yet, i am one of the lucky ones. people are suffering. arere ecosystems collapsing. we are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is the money and fairytales of economic growth. how dare you. host: we will hear next from michigan, democrats line. hello. caller: this is ron from michigan. host: you are on, go ahead. caller: okay, i am sorry. i was waiting for a response. thank you for taking the call.

you were asking about the top priorities. i think the last year, i would put impeachment as a top, economy at the second and the third, i would say ai integration into the workforce would be my priority. part of what got trump in was the economy along with other issues. democrats do not seem to want to address. they act like they are doing it, they are giving a lot of democrats lipservice, but their actions do not prove it and previous actions definitely do not prove it and things they are pulling out of the woodwork is coming back to bite them and making them look worse. it puts people in a position where you go as an independent, am i going to be a swing voter? i never thought in my life democrats would be where they are at today with no vision.

we need someone in office that is forward thinking. i think we need new, young blood. ideas.ughts, new it is not for me, it is for my kids and grandkids. i would like some of your thoughts on that. host: ryan in michigan. one of the things he brings up is the economy. the wall street journal highlights the stock market just to show you the headline from their publication. since had the best year 2013, bad as stocks in the technical market dominate. tom in virginia, republican line, you are next. go ahead with your top story of 2019. caller: caller: -- caller: i want to say first of all c-span is a national treasure. without c-span, the american

people would not be able to get the first-hand account information they need to in the united states today. calling in today is a great honor because i am a u.s. senate candidate in virginia and the number one issue i would say our country has faced over this last year and ultimately going is the impeachment of our president, donald trump. not the fbi, a lawyer within the fbi falsified emails from the cia to get a counterintelligence investigation. this is bigger than watergate and it will go down as one of the greatest travesties. i am an intelligence officer and captain for 10 years, so this is huge, something that will not

ever be forgotten. the second thing is i think people don't realize what is going on out here in virginia is a bunch of socialist democrats have gotten into office in virginia and they are making a big gun grab in virginia, passing laws on magazine capacity, red flag laws. they cannot because of hipaa laws. there is a huge second amendment threat taking place right now today in virginia. , this isbig pre-revolutionary war threat type stuff. host: that is tom in virginia calling. he mentioned that of impeachment. going back not too far in this recent history, it was speaker passedas the house articles of impeachment against

the president. [video clip] >> i could not be prouder or more inspired than by moral courage of house democrats. we never asked one of them how they were going to vote. you saw the public statements some of them made, we saw the result. the statements on the floor about patriotism and being very true to the vision of our founders. i've you this as something we did to honor the vision of our founders to establish a republic . the sacrifice of men and women in uniform to defend our democracy and the republic and of our or -- aspirations children.

we tried to do everything we can to make sure that is their reality. host: democratic senator from alabama, doug jones in an op-ed piece in the washington post taking a look at the forthcoming senate trial about the witnesses he would want to see. john bolton saying it is foremost among the witnesses that the national security advisor john bolton public ath revealedder o bolton abruptly ended a meeting with ukrainian officials, later characterizing discussions as a drug deal he wanted no part of. staff mick chief of mulvaney and gordon sondland were doing. anyone interested in the truth should demand to hear the answers to a number of questions . the first one is did you call -- more in the

washington post if you want to read that paris to the president tweeting about impeachment earlier this morning. it democrats will do anything to --id a senate trial wants no part of this message from the president's twitter account. the top stories of the year, impeachment is the number one according to the associated press. that was the top ranking one. maybe there is something else you want to comment on, 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8000 for democrats. independents, 202-748-8002. you can text us at 202-748-8003. jack on our republican line from michigan. caller: good morning. thanks, c-span, for taking my

call. i have a couple comments i want to make if you give me a couple minutes here. i used to be a democrat. the last democrat i voted for was john kennedy and john kinney -- john kennedy's democratic party is far from the democratic party of today. hisremember kennedy said in inaugural speech ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country . their country should be ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country can do for you. happy newrybody a year. another comment about jeff sessions in alabama. attorney general. my brother knows jeff personally

and we always tried to figure he knew when he ded himself- reclu trump was not guilty. he did not want to be on the campaign and he is running for senate again in alabama. host: robert in michigan, independent line. goodr: i would like to say morning, world, and god bless the world. happy holidays to you and thank you for c-span. my top story is the one you announced just now, the incident in baghdad. benghazi all over again and i hope it doesn't get out of hand. i believe what is causing this also is because of what trump

did when he pulled out of the iran policy. there was a lot of taxpayer went into that policy. they discussed that entire issue and they signed a treaty and i think trump pulled out of that treaty of spike -- out of spite .rom the past administration fires burningady in the brand-new embassy rebuilt in baghdad and now it seems like iraq is against this country, too. all they have to do is iraq and iran get together and be against the united states along with china.and host: that is robert in michigan.

-- now inside the u.s. embassy. going on,of what is this is what we call a break. comingf information along. you can follow along with the latest happening today. you heard the last caller saying it was the past story for 2019. let's go to north carolina, independent line. --caller: hello, pedro, and thanks for getting me this opportunity. i think the top story of the year is the total loss of credibility of the national news media. when the covington boyd story

came out, that pretty much finished off the national media as a credible source. host: why do you say that? what did you mean by that last part? why do you think it finished off the media, as in your words? caller: this has been building for a very long time. constantly covering stories of why this is bad for the president and win the mueller came out, we saw there was nothing there. connected --e

media reported the opposite of how it happened and i believe the covington boyd .tory was the final straw host: that story not found on the ap list, but that is okay. you can text us at 202-748-8003. if you do so, include your name-city, and state. this is from our twitter feed, slotted spoon adding it is the third impeachment of the american history of the president because of its rarity. the hong kong protest because of their endurance and number 3, bipartisan bills not being passed in the senate. if you go to our website, a team

of people have compiled statistics taking a look at the just concluded congress when it comes to information such as the number of hours of the congress in session. if you go back to 2011, the house of representatives met for 1004 hours. when it comes to 2019, collective total of 798 hours. hours.ate met for 1100 2 when it comes to senators running for president who have spoken upon the house floor, some information about which senators spoke the most even though they are running for president. that followed by 9 days of senator cory booker.

sanders from vermont speaking for 4 days, kirsten gillibrand speaking for eight days and five days respectively if you wanted to see going over 34 days topping tlaib, the rashida freshman comes in second on the pressleyowed by ayanna , 16 days by bill han omar -- ilhan omar. we will show you more, but that is the information compiled by the people here as far as end of

year statistics. if you want to go to our information, we included a link.l from tampa-florida, thank you for waiting, go ahead. a couple things concern ares a democrat, that they openly communist, it hurts my heart and it is unfortunate, the way everybody is acting about this impeachment process, it is torible what they are doing trump. i would not that -- want that to happen to me in the court of law. i am concerned about this party drastically and radically changing. top: when it comes to a story, lit impeachment top that list for you, then? caller: the unfairness of it,

yes, and how they could make it more fair, especially with the injustice that has been made and the way it was held. i was watching the impeachment hearings and i felt, they are due process.hing i cannot believe this with my own eyes and it makes me sad for the democratic party and it really is a terrible injustice. i would not want that to happen to my worst enemy. from --host:lier you heard earlier from speaker pelosi. it was president trump that evening at a rally in michigan talking about impeachment, what happened and his reaction to it. [video clip] illegal,he

unconstitutional, and partisan , the do-nothing democrats -- and they are due nothing. all they want to do -- they are do-nothing. --laring their despain disdain for the american voter. this lawless, partisan impeachment is a suicide mart for the democrat party. have you seen my polls in the last 4 weeks? it is crazy. you know why? we have an election down the road. agonounced three months that i am running. i will give you a clue, i announced because i figured once i announced, they would never impeach, nobody would be so stupid, but they have been trying to impeach me from before iran.

-- i ran. host: democrats line, hello. chris from new jersey. hello? caller: how are you doing, buddy? are you able to hear me? host: you are on, go ahead. caller: sorry about that. oneebuttal was the number list, the impeachment of trump and my rebuttal to some of my republican friends across the aisle is we keep arguing process , process, process, instead of going to the facts of what is presented even without any "fact witnesses. what we are presented with now is more than enough and more than enough facts and i wanted to make this argument solid that we have requested, as far as the democrat side for these "fact witnesses for the impeachment hearings, let alone the senate trial we are getting ready for and it will ultimately be up to

mcconnell and his decision who he will allow during the process and i ask some of those republicans across the aisle will they make that push, will they make that vote, will they stand up as strong for the constitution? host: keeping with the theme of the question, the impeachment story is the top story for you? caller: yes, sir, definitely. host: in michigan, terry, independent line. caller: the highlight of this year is that nancy pelosi said she prays for the president. she says she hates no one, she says she is a catholic. therefore, i assume catholics read the bible and they adhere to what jesus said that when you -- she also says she has

been working against trump or this impeachment thing for 2.5 years. if i were to stand in front of her, i would ask her how she spells the word pray. word p a homonym to the -r-e-y. that is exactly what she is this -- oning for this man. host: heidi, go ahead. caller: the influence of the media and the social media in our lives is the top story speak to people about an issue and they can have an entirely different perspective depending on who they listen to and who they source information from. we were sitting at thanksgiving $10,000 -- about the

the other dollars it cost my cousin when they had their baby even though they have health care coverage and being deflected from the things that matter through the use of social media from tweets to facebook to russians and other countries providing false information to andmedia being inflammatory there are very important things being ignored because we get busy going trump said this and he is fabulous or trump said that and he is horrible and we argue for our side rather than focusing on getting legislation passed. we have bills sitting during the thanksgiving conversation, we talked and one of the people at

the table was not even aware there were hundreds of bills sitting in the senate waiting to be passed better not being processed. i was stunned because this is a pretty informed person, but listening to someone i guess who is not providing that information. -- look at how many pharmaceutical company ads are on the news -- newscast and you watch -- if you watch the national news, you are seeing time and time again in between your stories. host: because you highlighted it, has it changed your social media practices? caller: yes. i am actually not on facebook and i don't participate in twitter.

i also tried to read my news. i listen to c-span because i feel like you give a broad perspective. i go on fox news, i am a democrat. i look at what they are espousing. to look at everything and try to get more than one source. that fox newsgs and c-span -- not c-span, cnn, all of oure that own media, there are things they agree on and get us distracted from. health care is huge. that if theyear-old affordable care act goes under, she is not going to be covered with health care stuff. i just think it is a very sad

state of affairs. host: that is heidi in maryland talking about social media. from the team of people here that compile statistics for c-span, when it comes to activities of the house of the 116th congress, meeting for a total of 803 hours. when you break it down, it would 180ude 257 hours of debate, seven hours of votes, 52 morning order speeches and events, activities, 119 hours. one minute speeches, 61 hours of those and when it comes to procedural matters, 6 hours of opening procedures. if you are interested in seeing how any of that played out, particularly specific bills or things being debated, we invite you to go to our website.

there is a section called the congressional chronicle and it has all the statistics we told you about. you can see activities related to that for the house and senate and that combined. all of that available to you. nancy in texas, independent line, hello. concern is the media, how biased they are and the way they treat our first lady is disgusting. their bias is so obvious, it is absolutely amazing. i never realized how bad it was until president trump was elected and became our president. .hat they have done is shameful you can see every channel except for maybe 2 are so biased and it makes me sick to my stomach. arizona, republican line.

we hear next from alan. top -- top story of 2019. caller: thank you for c-span. -- is the biggest because it has affected every person in the country and the second thing is the climate. there are two truths nobody can deny and climate change. we cannot control the sun and we cannot control volcanic eruption . recently, they took a core sample out of the ground in egypt and they found during time was the highest level of salt forever recorded in that history in that area egyptianoured the

economy and everything else. i have been in business for 35 years. 22ad my first company at years old. the thing that is interesting that nobody really talks about actualactual brood -- beauty of doing business in this country with other americans, going and meeting people you have never met, offering what you have to to be of service to and what is interesting is i just turned 71 and people look at me and say you are about to beat it. in my heart, i am 25 because i am so grateful to this country for living in america. it is incredibly beautiful to do business in this country without -- anything people would be

so negative. his top story is of the year. as the year progressed, several leaders of industry appeared on capitol hill to testify on issues related to that. when it comes to business and the practices, it was the faa administrator, stephen dickinson testifying earlier this month about the boeing super max, the safety of the aircraft and the timetable for the return of boeing. [video clip] on behalf of the united states department of transportation and the faa, we would like to extend our deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims of the ethiopian airlines and lion air accidents and thank you for being here today. dan elwell and i that with family members and friends of those on board.

we have seen their pain, their loss, and it reaffirms the seriousness with which we must address safety every single day. we are working tirelessly to ensure the lessons learned from these losses result in a higher margin of safety with the aviation industry globally. with the 730 seven max return to service, the faa returns -- controls the process and is not delegating anything to boeing. we will issue airworthiness certificates for all new 737 max manufactured since the grounding. when it returns to service, it will be because the safety issues have been addressed and pilots have received the training they need to safely operate the aircraft. this process is not guided by a calendar or schedule. host: if you want to see more, that is available at the

website, c-span.org. the associated press rounding up there top stories of 2019 starting with impeachment of president followed by immigration. the trump-russia probe, mass shootings across the united states, the issue of opioids rounding out the top five and when you go to the others on the list, climate change at number at numbert -- brexit 7, the trade war number 9 and hong kong protesters at 10. tony in michigan, independent line. caller: good morning, pedro, happy new year's eve. i just want to make a couple of comments. one comment i want to make it, it was a lady calling a couple shes back from florida and called the democrats communist. i find that strange when the

president of the united states, donald trump is in cahoots with not only bottom a prudent, but a fan of kim jong-un. oft: as far as the top story the year, what is yours? caller: 15,000 lies from the president of the united states. the disinformation from facebook to fox news to america and then it is a certain group in america who won't even turn the channel from fox. i look at c-span, fox, msnbc and cnn because those are all different opinions. listen say i am going to to fox or i am going to listen to msnbc and that is it, you are defeating your own intellect. in illinois,

independent line, hi. top story of the year. caller: that would be immigration and the impeachment because they are yelling no one is above the law, no one is above the law, yet when it comes to immigration, they say are you zero-tolerance? then a bit confusing and they just had that representative on saying nancy pelosi has put the senate on senate on trial so it is a fair trial. i have a question, fair for who? host: issues of immigration and impeachment the top of that viewer's list.

it was in february the president declared a national emergency along the border of the u.s. and mexico, here is part of that from the white house. [video clip] >> we are going to be signing national registering emergency and it is a great thing to do because we have an invasion of drugs, invasion of gangs, invasion of people, and it is unacceptable. by signing the national emergency, something signed many presidents.y president obama. in fact, we may be using one of the national emergencies he signed having to do with criminal cartels. ourill use parts of it with dealings on cartels, so that would be a second national emergency. in that case, it is already a

pledge. what we really want to do is simple. it is not like it is complicated, very simple, we want to stop drugs coming into our country. we want to stop criminals and gangs from coming into our country. nobody has done the job we have done on the border. phil.the line, this is caller: how is it going, pedro? host: fine, thanks. caller: i am embarrassed right now to be a republican because what the president is doing is embarrassing the american people. host: the theme of the question, top story for 2019, what would it be? caller: impeachment. it should be the top story because he is going down as the face of impeachment for mount rushmore for impeachment.

he will be the face of mount rushmore for impeachment for the rest of his life and there is not nothing any of us can do about it. he made this bed and he is going to lie in it. it is america -- embarrassing to be an american citizen to have a president who acts like this. host: barney is next from florida, you are next up, hello. top story is the constant lying coming from i enjoy andump that watch the american people enjoy and the constant lying we are going to get next year. host: lie do you choose that as a top story -- why do you choose that as a top story? people -- listen to theen to this man lie to american people. crazy.he cannot be this

i have one more comment. he will never be the president barack obama was. in illinois -- i am sorry, damascus, virginia. i apologize for that, go ahead. caller: i don't know where to start, first time caller, thank you for c-span. i did not know the country was this divided. i would like to see the senate get to the bottom of this. if trump has not done anything wrong, call witnesses. let's find out. host: why is it a top story for you? i would like to know who this president is. is he for the country or is he for russia. call the witnesses and let's find out. john bolton, he knows it all, that is who they need to talk to. poll gallup conducted a

looking at the rankings of free bs and current president then they found it is the current president barack obama and president trump tied as the most admired man. it is president obama's 12 time first top spot versus the time for president trump and michelle obama listed as the most admired woman for the second year in a row. gallup asked americans to name which men and women -- men and woman living anywhere in the world they admired most. this poll was done in early december from december 2 to december 15. the choice for the admired man party lines.ong chooseely few democrats president trump and few republicans picked obama. independent choices are divided equally between the two men. there is more when you go to

gallup. in illinois, democrats line, high. . caller: i think one of the biggest stories is the stock market and i think people ought to realize president trump inherited an amazing economy. when president obama came into office, the stock market was at 9000. when he left, it was almost 20,000. that is what president trump inherited. same thing with employment. it was way down, obama brought it up. the lady that called and said we treat the first lady badly, she is not a queen. ex model x model -- who used to pose nude. with different

women. int: this is john wilmington, independent line. caller: number one issue in my opinion is the opioid issue, but not for the reasons why most people think. in my opinion. the reason has to do with the fact that donald trump's emergency medical declaration in june of 2017 took away pain pills from patients like myself. i was cut off from getting 250 milligrams a day to nothing until i could prove i was still dying after spending outrageous amounts of money. this is part of an overall plan unfortunately to eliminate the disabled population in our country. i know it sounds sad to say, but

it is a modern-day version of t4 plan where hitler used sick people as experiments. donald trump said you could have all kinds of new pharmaceutical experience except for the ones working for you. we have had a doubling of suicides and overdose deaths from a legal drugs. even though the cdc came out in april saying the mandating of the dosage guidelines was taken out of context and the administration said the same thing of october this year, i still cannot get in -- and millions of other patients cannot get the medication their doctors are prescribing. host: that is john's reaction to the opioid crisis. it was earlier this month dick durbin of illinois held a

hearing or there was a hearing held about the government's response to the opioid crisis. [video clip] at thiss june of 2016 very table that i learned for the first time when the acting director of the drug enforcement administration revealed on the thatd it was the dea approved the annual quota of opioids to be produced in the united states. opioid addiction starts with made bytion painkillers pharmaceutical companies. dea was slow to respond to the dramatic increase in opioid -- dea permitted far

above -- formal to produce opioids each year even though they could set quotas limiting .he production the drug minute -- deadline allowed pharma to produce 13 billion opioid doses to be put on market. how much would that be? it would be a three week prescription for every adult in america approved by the drug enforcement administration. host: there is more to that and a lot of information regarding the opioid crisis we took in this year. we invite you to go to our website at c-span.org. if you are interested in this everythingill show related to that. tom, you are next. hello. good morning.

my top story is that the harebrained extreme ideas of the thisrats have prevented nation from moving forward on several different topics. we can all agree the environment needs to be looked at and measures need to be taken, but democrats think the environment is like a water faucet and all z ande to do is x, y, and the water faucet can be turned off. that is harebrained and stupid. do you remember the ozone layer and how if only we closed up the ozone layer, the arctic would stop melting. billions and spent billions of dollars to

illuminate the hairspray chemicals being used. gas what? the ozone layer has been recorded as being completely repaired and the arctic is still melting. this is the kind of harebrained stuff democrats and extremists get us into. host: that is tom in fort lauderdale, florida. you can call the lines if you want for the remaining minutes and you can text at 202-748-8003 . when you do that, include your name, city, and state. we will hear from karen, republican line. host: thank you for taking my call -- caller: thank you for taking my call. my top issue for 2019 and the entire decade was the intelligence agencies trying to overthrow the presidential election and that is exactly

what i believe they did and now they have a criminal probe looking at all of this. now they are going to go to jail for it. it doesn't matter if it is trump or whoever it could be, the fact they are trying to do that is a big deal, should be a big deal to everybody. democrats do whether investigating with impeachment, nobody believes anything they are doing anymore. a farce and they are trying to get him out of office because they don't like them. host: democrats line, greg is next. a quick response for the guy to florida, he said the ozone layer is fine, but he did not mention the report. let's go from stupid to dangerous. in sacramento, california, a trump campaign official was holding a speech and said

republicans have to come up with ways to win votes because voter suppression and voter you can non -- .onger use those tactics what more important when you talk about dangerous is voter suppression to take both away from americans who are entitled to vote. it somehow our votes are not counted. that is dangerous and the lady from alabama says what she believes. i say believing and knowing are two different things. sometimes facts get in the way of our beliefs. calls before the end. ronald in las vegas, nevada, republican line. caller: yes. by the way, i am 85-year-old. i've been around for a while. i love c-span. you guys do a terrific job.

i am finding i am watching c-span more than regular tv lately. but more importantly, a lot of your callers are calling in saying impeachment is one of my priorities, but a lot of your -- by the way, impeachment is one of my priorities. a lot of your callers are calling in, and they are really far-fetched as to what they believe. here is what is going to happen. this is doing more for country than any other president in the history, possibly, except for lincoln and washington. i have been in business for myself for over 65 years, and i still work. and, more importantly, this .conomy is so incredibly good my son is a developer in reno. we developed in california, reno, and arizona.

to say is that, factually, the president is going to be reelected, and not with 63 million but i predict over 70 million people -- host: ok. sorry about that. lynn, last call in new york, independent line. caller: oh, wow. good morning. i had to think long and hard about what was the most important thing in 2019. originally, i thought the thumbs which was ar mccain saving of the health care system, but then i realized that was in 2018. and then i thought about the because ofo marched the gun control issues, when they had been almost killed and they decided they were going to take matters into their own hands, because the adults had not taken care of it, and then i

discovered that was in 2018. so i guess i would have to say that, in 2019, what really affects me the most is to realize that our immigration system for children and families in cages and, worse than that, , neveroke up families kept records of which child belonged to which parent, and they still cannot figure out how they are ever going to reunite them. we have just created orphans. and, to me, that indicates a level of cruelty in our government that is unacceptable and is inconsistent with christian values. it is just appalling. host: lynn in new york finishing off this hour of top story of 2019. we will let you have a chance to take one more look at that later

on in the program. we have two guests joining us. first off, eleanor clift of "the daily beast" as she talks about campaign 2020 issues, impeachment, and other issues coming up. later on, we will be joined by one america news network and author of "tipping points," liz wheeler. plus, we will let you talk about the top story of the year as well in this last day of the year. "washington journal" continues. ♪ ♪

>> this week, american history tv is on c-span 3 every day, with primetime features each night at 8:00 p.m. eastern. tonight, the year 1969, with woodstock, free speech, and the gay rights movement. new year's day, the 30th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall. battles, the forgotten of the civil war. and friday, the 75th anniversary of the battle of the bulge, where adolf hitler launched a surprise counteroffensive against allied forces. watch american history tv all this week and every weekend on c-span 3. live campaign 2020 coverage continues today at 11:00 a.m. eastern. inator elizabeth warren boston. watch the presidential candidates live on c-span, online at c-span.org, or listen

live on the free c-span radio app. " mugs aregton journal available on c-span's new online store. go to c-spanstore.org. check out the "washington journal" mugs and see all of the c-span products. "washington journal" continues. clift,his is eleanor columnist for "the daily beast," joining us this laughter of the year. thank you for joining us. we have been talking with folks about top story for 2019. is there something that rises to the top for you? guest: obviously, president impeached, and only the third president in u.s. history. i grew up in queens, new york, and the local newspaper, "the queens daily eagle" i think, put impeachment on page 15.

impeached. queen man former jamaica states resident donald trump impeached, only the third president in u.s. history and the first from queens. [laughter] kind of put it in perspective for me what people are interested in. they are interested in what is closest to home. host: with that in mind -- guest: when i say closest to home, i am thinking the planet. this is the first year that the planet has gotten the attention it deserves, with the rise of the young climate activists, get a tom barrack -- greta thunberg. and in new york city and new climateve tonight, is it. we are finally getting serious about the dangers famous -- facing the planet. host: and overshadowing this is

the pass climate given and all that. in the future, business administration done with climate or will it continue as far as criticizing -- guest: no. costinginistration is valuable time, but there will be an administration after this one, if not in 2021 -- president trump will not be president for life. whoever succeeds and will have more realistic views on that topic. host: do you think americans generally care about the impeachment story as much as we cover it or here in washington, d.c.? guest: not as much as people in washington, who are interested in every little one in -- in and out of the topic. but i do think people around the country understand something historic is happening, and there are real issues at stake. that is why the senate is now going to have to come to grips with the fact that they are going to have to have a real

trial. they cannot just conduct a show trial. there is too much evidence coming out. on republicanure senators as well to hear from witnesses -- i do not know how it will resolve itself, but i do think, you look at the polls -- 70% of those polls say that we should hear from witnesses. so these kinds of numbers, i think, are going to impact how the senate conducts that trial. host: ultimately you are convinced that senator mcconnell will go along with that. guest: i am not convinced he will go with anything. i've learned one thing about senator mcconnell -- usually makes these year-end deals. you made a number of them with vice president biden. if there is something he wants, he figures out a wait to get it. the republicans, donald trump in particular, need a trial sooner than later, because they see it as exoneration.

no matter how many witnesses are heard from, the likely result is still -- it probably will not be a conviction. i think mcconnell wants something. if he wants something, the other side gets to dictate some terms. host: our guest is with us until 8:45. if you want to ask questions, (202) 748-8001 for republicans, (202) 748-8000, for democrats. independents, (202) 748-8002. and you can text us at (202) 748-8003. make sure to include your name, city, and state as well. post on our social media sites as well. are there historical lessons to compare and contrast with what we possibly see playing out in this version versus, say, president clinton's impeachment? guest: one big difference is president clinton was impeached in his second term. he had already been reelected a this is new territory of an president -- a president being

impeached in his first term and running for reelection. so even if he is exonerated, in his view, if there are not the seven senators to vote for conviction -- if they are not 67 senators to vote for conviction, will that damage him in the election? will some have thought about giving him another four years? and hisd blaze followers that they will turn out in even greater numbers and give him another four year term? i do not know how that is going to play out, but that is a significant difference. that, withference is president clinton, his party condemned his behavior. there was not a single democrat defending what he had done. but they drew the line and said they did not think it rose to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors. and this president does not want anybody to say that what he did is anything less than perfect.

republicans,ve basically, defending what, when you hear the facts and you look at where the constitution requires, and you look at the separation of powers, they are defending, often, the indefensible. i think they worry about how history is going to view it. he has not given them any maneuvering room. and with clinton, i do not member what the numbers were -- i do not remember what the numbers were, but, in the senate, they did not get the super majority. they couldn't even get a majority. and that was a republican senate voting on a democratic president. so i did not think there was all that much great interaction between the parties then. but compared to now, it was reasonable. i mean, there were people on both sides willing to look at the facts and make independent judgments. host: who are the republican senators to watch for, as the

process plays out in the senate? as my sparring partner on the block with a, "wghy don't you look at mitt?" the usual suspects. mitt romney comes from utah. he is fairly newly elected. he is not up for reelection. utah is not a big fan of the president, and mormons especially do not like this president. you would think mitt romney has nothing to lose to stand up and really put country over party. a number of people are calling on him to do that. he has never been an especially courageous figure, so he may say some of the right things, but he may stop there. and then you look at the senators up for reelection in states where -- swing states where they need democratic votes. that is true with arizona,

maine, colorado -- there are a number of states. charlie cook, a highly regarded political handicapper, over the holidays, for the first times said the senate is in play. sevenk he listed republican held seats that are now competitive. into thisitics, going year, are going to be quite fascinating. host: we have calls lined up for you for eleanor clift of "the daily beast." and how long do you publish their? guest: generally once a week, maybe twice. host: you can find the daily beast website -- find out on "the daily beast" websites. our first call is from karen, republican line. caller: good morning. i was actually wanting to talk about the prior topic, but i will take on this one.

i do not think that the impeachment process has been fair on the democratic side. i was raised democratic, and i've tried, you know, looking up both sides of the issues, and i really do not think that the president has been treated fairly. there have been a lot of good things he has done, like the very first day of hanukkah -- he signed a presidential order against hate crimes against everyone. -- you know, he is against people discriminate against the jews, the blacks, the hispanics. he signed an exec at of order the first day of hanukkah this year -- i watched it on the tv. nobody covered it. nobody. yesterday, they had a

guestspeaker on, and this speaker was saying that the president was against the jewish people. i just do not think he is being treated fairly -- host: ok, we will leave it to that point, this idea of being treated fairly. guest: first of all, impeachment is not about covering the things he does well, or good, as a caller suggests. it is about allegations of abuse of power and also obstruction of congress. he has basically ordered everyone in his administration not to risk born to -- respond to legally issued subpoenas to the way impeachment works, the house kind of acts like the grand jury. they bring the charges. and then the trial happens in the senate. now the president was invited to present witnesses in the house inquiry, and he chose not to. so he has basically called a

process unfair while refusing to participate in it. has become a talking point on his side. the democrats held depositions behind closed doors. the republican members of those committees were all welcome to be there, and most of them were, and they asked questions. yet other republicans complained somehow they were shot out. -- shut out. so it has become political hot potato, these calls of fairness and unfairness. you now see democrats claiming that the senate trial, as it is shaping up, is unfair. so now that she was on the other foot with the other party saying that the process is unfair. host: as a matter of strategy, what are your thoughts on nancy still holding the articles of impeachment? guest: i think it is working beautifully for her and the country, frankly, because more information is coming out. but i think more of it is made then is actually the fact. right after the house voted for

impeachment, steny hoyer, the number two democrat, from maryland, said on television that there were some housekeeping matters that had to be dealt with before the articles went to the senate. because as soon as the articles go to the senate, then all other business must stop. according to the constitution, they have to deal with it. and the house and the democratic leaders and a lot of republicans, too, would like to get the usmca trade deal passed. and mitch mcconnell, the senate leader, has said he will not take that up until after the trial. so i think the democrats, and republicans, too, would like to show the voters that they can do something other than impeachment. they would like to pass that trade deal, which is a big victory -- the president wants it, and sodas nancy pelosi. earlier i said mcconnell makes deals when there is something he wants. so that is a piece of leverage nancy pelosi has, in terms of

understanding the rules for the senate and trying to get some legislation passed. it is hard for me to think she can hold them beyond, say, february. ble thatecomes thinka she could put a little pressure and spotlight on mcconnell. withse the democrats, bipartisan support in the house, have passed something like 2075 bills having to do with health care, pension reform, voter reform, gun violence. and mcconnell, who proudly calls himself the grim reaper, has not brought any of that to a vote. that has not broken through to the country. the president calls the democrats the "do-nothing democrats" -- they have done quite a lot, and it has stalled in the senate. this gives her an opportunity to shine a light on it and maybe even get the trade deal past before they go into the senate

-- passed before they go into the senate. host: from california. caller: i am one of your fans. i want to thank you so much for continuing to carry on the tradition of just the facts. facts and reason. again, i am a huge fan, because you have a lifetime of staying to the journalistic pursuit of just trying to find out, objectively, what the facts are. i have a question for you. charles koch says her race is a tossup. 30%.illary won in 2016 by i am curious what you think. if mitch mcconnell tries to just railroad this process right on evidenceithout any new or winces coming forth, what

does someone like susan collins who, if she votes to acquit under that kind of circumstance, she will probably lose her seat is what i think. i was curious what you thought. and again, thank you for carrying on the journalistic tradition. guest: thank you for the kind words. i grew up as a reporter at "newsweek" magazine, so you put it as just the facts, but i do like to go out and gather the getrmation, get the quotes, everybody's perspective. that is my style. susan collins has been walking a tightrope for her entire political career. she had significant problems when she voted for brett kavanaugh for the supreme court. not so much the vote she cast votehat she held open her for quite a long time and then went to the senate floor and ofe a half hour long speech

all this agonizing and, in the end, she supported him. and a lot of women say, well, she goes through all this, but then she is not there are us. she has lost some support among women. but she cannot win if she does not have the truck base with her either. and the president, he is courting her and others, because he needs to keep his republican support together. , ibasically endorsed her think in a tweet, a week ago. he will be going to maine and holding a rally. will susan collins appear with him at the rally? she is a republican, he is the party leader, the president. she has to appeal to both sides. convict,f she voted to she would also lose a lot of points with supporters. so i do not know how she resolves it. i think it is important, if we could actually have a semblance

of a trial, with some witnesses, maybe some minds may be changed, one way or the other. so susan collins is one of those -- i imagine she would like to get this over with as quickly as possible. but she cannot go ahead and forthrightly campaign to be whatcted if she is part of the other side will characterize just givee cabal to the impeachment articles the bum's rush. host: let's hear from rick, democrats line. caller: happy new year, c-span. anyway, why can we not wait for the next congress? i mean, it is not that many months away. keepr two, why don't you it in her pockets of the supreme court justice, in case we need to have another one, the leader

in the senate cannot just pass somebody through? we could use the teach mint -- impeachment as a roadblock. guest: that is playing some pretty hard politics. i do not quite see that happening, but it is intriguing, because -- i hope we get through the next year without any supreme court nominations, but that is of great concern on the democratic side, because it is a conservative majority in the court right now. and justice roberts will be presiding over this senate trial. the constitution really does not spell out what the role of the presiding officer will be. chief justice rehnquist, during the clinton trial, basically said afterwards that he got a lot of rave reviews for doing nothing and playing solitaire. he did not make any big, definitive rulings.

i am sure justice roberts would like it if you could get away with that, too. but this may be a different period. but the congress comes back next , and i think that pelosi, the speaker, will hold onto the articles as long as that tactic appears to be working. it could shift. ofi think we are in a period all options open on both sides, as they try to maneuver their way through this very strange land of impeachment. how much do you think the iowa caucuses at the end of january factor into a decision on when these trials will play out? guest: originally, all the pressure was on the democrats. they needed to get this over before the iowa caucuses began. now i think the feeling is pressure is on the republicans, because the president really wants this to be behind him. think, areblicans, i

feeling heat more than the democrats. if you hold the articles until after the first four contests occur, maybe that is not such a bad thing. you do have, also, the speaker invited the president to deliver this date of the union on february 4. i was thinking that may be a deadline of some sort, but i have been told by the people i spoke to as do not count on that as a deadline. people are wandering the president, when he delivers the he be able to resist turning around to nancy pelosi and saying something he probably should not say? somebody reminded me yesterday, i am not sure the quote is entirely accurate, but president clinton delivered a state of the union in the midst of impeachment proceedings and basically said the state of the union is sound. so you do not personalize it.

but this president tends to personalize everything. so, again, another unknown that we will know how it comes out, which is the nice thing about this political season. host: this is eleanor clift of "the daily beast" joining us. next call from rob in new york. caller: hi. guest: happy new year to you. caller: you too. thanks. by the wayothered the mainstream media talks about on every -- cnn, msnbc, abc, cbs, nbc. all the talking heads and all the commentators, they, the way they talk about impeachment and trumpis to always bash and condemn him, no matter what. and they think that we do not

notice. that is ridiculous. they pretend to be neutral. and it is obvious they are not. it is so obvious it is funny. just, really -- that is me. and that happens with all issues, not just impeachment. and for nancy pelosi to be it isg back the articles, just playing a really evil game. impeachment should not be played with. articlesaying with the , seeing whether she can use, it tends like it is a big game. host: thanks, robin. guest: let me pose a counter question. does it matter that mitch mcconnell is not acting on any of the legislation that the house has passed that addresses

the needs of real people? and yet he seems to think that he could whiz through impeachment trial with no problem? i think that is the contrast the democrats would like to draw. i do not think that is evil. i think that is appropriate. host: from north carolina, independent line. caller: good morning. happy new year. guest: you, too. caller: i really want to say, like your last comment, you think that he is not -- mcconnell is now passing things in the house. well, impeachment, you act like it is a run-of-the-mill thing, and it is the biggest deal there is. like i texted nancy -- if trump is guilty, biden is guilty. they both did the very same thing. one never sees the light of day until biden said it himself, and

the other is all over everywhere. but -- that is what my problem is. i am an independent. i like to pick the one who will do the best for our country. and what i see, in this administration, is good things for the country. everybody does not want to put that up. the man does not have the best character, and that is all known, but never in my life -- and i am 60 years old now -- civilized people, we call ourselves, treat our president so badly. you do not have to like him. there are a lot of people who do not like both sides. but our country is getting so divided because of this nitpicking and dishonest and just guest: i don't want to get into who started and who is making it

worse. i hardly think this president is getting picked on when you look at the way he treats other people and other politicians and other groups of people. has made the divide in the country worse. host: let's switch to 2020 politics. where do you think the strength lies for a leading candidate? guest: it's early in the process and then suddenly it isn't. are ending the year basically where we started, with joe biden as the front runner, bernie sanders as a very strong possible co-front runner. belooks a lot like it could a replay of 2016 with the divide in the democratic party between the more centrist establishment

views and the more progressive views. beingernie sanders hillary clinton and trump of course being trump again. bidensitant to predict will be the nominee because i think there is a long way to go with that. he is in a strong position because of the support he gets mainly from the black community. bernie sanders has worked hard to attract minority support and he has come a long way. he made a remarkable recovery after heart attack. he has gotten all of these letters from cardiologists saying his heart is stronger than ever. these are two people, both in their 70's and they represent the ideological divide any democratic party.

,ou can find pollsters government scholars who make the argument that the democrats can only win if they get somebody who can appeal to independents and peel off republican votes. you can find credible people who say the 2018 election showed there is a turnout capability on the democratic side if repeated in 2020 collective progressive. that's the battle going on in the party. you have other voices, mayor , it's hard for me to see him going the distance in this election. he will be around in our politics for some time to come. andrew yang is an interesting figure. he has stayed in this late -- race because he is talking about jobs and he is talking about the nature of work and what kind of work will we have in the future

with driverless cars and robots doing everything. of not sure i like his idea the thousand dollars a month to everybody. he is looking at the future. people need work, the country needs productivity. he is a big thinker. i don't see him getting the nomination, i would like to see him had of an initiative or an agency for the future. i think he is very good. think he won in south bend, indiana with 8000 votes. ran and lost by 20 points statewide. has tried tohe come into the race on the progressive side, now he has navigated over to the more

center side. he is taking a lot of heat tactics,f fund-raising which i think is unfair. you work with the system you have. i think people in the end are going to think he can't defeat donald trump, in large part because he doesn't have any traction in the black community either. host: you don't have to go through the details, i will read you the headline. guest: the main theme is the economy. normally when an incumbent president has an economy the way this is, they would be a shoo-in for reelection. along with all the business beneaths, if you dig the big numbers on the economy, growth is basically on the two

coasts and in certain cities. many of the places that were lagging in 2016 are still lacking. there was one statistic that caught my eye between 2012 and 2016. there were more jobs created in queens than in wisconsin, michigan, and sylvania, ohio combined. he does not really addressed that issue. that ier historical fact learned in reporting that column was after every impeached president, the party that is out of the white house wins. that has been true with andrew johnson, richard nixon, bill clinton. doing very well and al gore lost because clinton's behavior opened the door for george w. bush to run

on restoring dignity to the oval office. times now.ifferent if that analogy holds, the democrats have an even chance to get the white house. host: sherman oaks, california. hello. caller: i am thrilled to be able to talk with you. are being treated more fairly on the mclaughlin group. newsweek. used to get i was intrigued by something. there was a postelection article talking about the process of what newsweek went through. they wrote victory articles for all three candidates, including wallace. i wonder if those are still available somewhere? news alerts and nothing comes up.

guest: that was standard procedure. you wrote the cover story for whichever contender. that should be available in the archives. newsweek does have an office in new york. print publications of taken such a nosedive because of the after the gore bush election, we had two separate covers prepared. they prepare cover for each contender. we had a bush cover and the gore covered. then the election was unresolved. printing a composite of gore's face and bush's face combined.

i think it was one of the memorable covers. that is the tradition, you've got to be ready for everything. candidates right their concession speech. hillary clinton confessed in 2016 she was so confident she was going to win that she did not have a concession speech. that was one of the reasons the vote tallying went on. she did not appear until the next day. she hadn't written anything. thank you for taking my call. i wish you a happy news year. think the impeachment right now stands from an invalid standpoint. we don't operate on precedents.

that theecedented speaker did not send this over to the senate. since it hasn't been sent to the senate to be viewed by the senate and i'm looking at all of the information that the democrats have gathered, they were had enough information. why not send all that over? it's unprecedented. we should operate -- operate. we operate on wants constitutional. there is nothing in the constitution that says they have to go over right away. there has been nobody home in the senate for the last couple of weeks anyway. it's kind of pointless. it would be nice if the senate

could do what it is supposed to do, which is passed legislation and address the problems facing the american people that democrats and republicans together, these are 275 pieces of bipartisan legislation, including the violence against women act. i think it's perfectly appropriate within the bounds of thevior and norms between branches and between the two houses of congress. from we will hear next rate in tennessee. caller: hello? host: you are on. this whole impeachment thing, they gathered in the house and they got their way of doing everything. now it is supposed to go to the senate. this, i am 70s

some years old. i've seen this country go from taking care of their own politiciansties to running for office wanting to give everybody everything they can. most problems are things they bring on themselves. these politicians are feeding that. we are going to do this for you. dependentking people like you did the indians. you put them on a reservation. they turned into alcoholics. it's not common sense. guest: i wonder what the caller has in mind that he would take away. old, he is years probably on medicare which has been a very successful program which a lot of politicians were

opposed to, ronald reagan was campaigning against medicare back in the day. he came around to appreciating it as well. there is a sense that people have it everything they get is deserved, but nobody else deserves it. i've always thought when i worked in an office and the secretary paid for every sandwich she ate at the executives were getting their expense account lunches. if you areset up to successful, society makes you more successful. it's very hard when you are on the bottom rung to get a leg up. i am grateful we have a government that does care about that. host: this is from our line for democrats in new jersey. hello. caller: good morning.

straight set something about the constitution. article one section two, the power forthe sole impeachment. article one section three, the senate has sole power to try the impeachment. when donald trump tells his constituents that it's unconstitutional, he is not telling people the truth about that. is, they keep saying donald trump is being treated worse than any other president. does anybody remember barack obama and how we as treated? -- he was treated? happy new year. guest: thank you for pointing

that out. impeachment is what the constitution, it's the tool that the other branches of government have the hold the president accountable. you may disagree with the findings. that's ok as long as we go through the process. barack obama took a lot of badgeism and wore it as a of honor. he wore it with a lot of grace. there were calls to impeach barack obama, george w. bush. pelosi was the speaker. she was in power when president bush was in office. resisted calls to impeach. depute --is as a

dispute over policy, the iraq war. it was not an impeachable offense. called toaw those testify that did not show up. what makes you think that won't happen on the senate side? guest: they would be defying a subpoena. i would like to see what justice roberts has to say. you are not supposed to defy a subpoena. we would show up. if we didn't, we would face possible jail time. why do elected officials get treated differently? host: republican line from new jersey. good morning. caller: let me mute my tv. respond to a to regarding ther impeachment of president clinton and how the congress appeared to

be reasonable. i just wanted to point out that the jig is up. everyone knows that it's an act. when president trump became president, it was because he is exposing everyone for the thieves you are. the republic sees what's going on. i'm talking about politicians. this is what we see. 2020ll win again in because of that. thank you. guest: i think the caller sees what she wants to see. i will leave it at that. host: david is in michigan. hello. caller: i wanted to follow-up. it's been interesting.

i am 66. think it is such a mess. the vice president was from another party. the political system, the campaigns of turned into what looks like for most people a bribery system, whoever can bribe the most gets their man in power. i find that really disturbing. thank you so much. have a wonderful year. thet: he is touching on role of money in politics. it's been a problem for some time.

the late john mccain was a bringon of trying to campaign-finance reform. the supreme court took the lid off. now money flows from every which direction. we see in the democratic primary with michael bloomberg and tom steyer spending a lot of money on television advertising to see if they can buy the nomination. i don't think it's going to work. the caller does raise a problem we need to address. right now, most of the politicians of come to terms with the system we have that if we want to win, we better raise money where we can get it. the trump campaign is going to raise $1 billion. they have been spending a norm us amounts. -- enormous amounts.

it's a war of money. host: how might this play out in the campaign? what are you thinking in terms of how much it will cost? guest: there are so few undecided voters. the battle lines have been hardened. those undecided voters who would label themselves. they are probably going to decide the election. a few persuadable voters that are left, this president was elected with 46% of the vote. he cannot get 50%. that leaves an opening for democrats. it puts a big warning sign up iat anybody runs third party, don't care if it's a progressive or a conservative, it would lower the threshold that the

incumbent president would need to win reelection. surprised if republicans were encouraging a third party. host: the independence might go to andrew yang or pete buttigieg? be an upset could in new hampshire. i think new hampshire has had a flirtation with people who are out-of-the-box. not necessarily to win, to show. andrew yang i think will be that person. pete buttigieg has gotten so much publicity, he's not going to have a surprise showing. andrew yang i think is moving up a the point where he could be surprise second or third in new hampshire. havew hampshire, you bernie sanders and elizabeth

warren from neighboring states. in 2016.ll host: charlene is from columbus on the democrats line. caller: i would like to say how much i admire eleanor clift. i have watched her for years. there is a is tremendous influence. wife is involved in business in china. does that have anything to do with wants going on in this administration. every rock we'd turn we find something. i would like to know what her connection is. see who this president is. he should see that as well.

grandsonsomment is my are in their 20's. they are following andrew yang. i admire what he is doing. i would like to have your comment on mitch mcconnell. more thanation is what we expected. host: thank you. --st: mitch mcconnell's life wife is the secretary of transportation. she was in an earlier republican administration. her parents were born in taiwan, i'm not sure about her origin. there has been a lot of investigative work about whether the department of transportation that she heads has done any special favors for certain

shipping companies in china which she may have some family connection to. that has been well documented. you can look that up and find out more about it. mitch mcconnell, he is a very adept legislator. i said this earlier, look to see what he wants in certain bills. the omnibus bill that the president just signed funding the government, there were a number of goodies in there for kentucky, which he always manages to get. s.is is how our system work they used to call them your marks. they did away with earmarks. now they are back in another form. it's how you court votes, how you put together legislation. you have people with so we different interests.

you shouldn'tthat watch the sausage being made, legislation is often like sausage. att: you can find her work the daily beast.com. guest: happy new year to you and all of your listeners. stay safe and prosperous. tot: we are going to go back the theme from the start of the forram, your top news story 2019. you can let us know. for republicans, (202) 784-8001 four democrats, (202) 748-8002 four independents . >> this holiday week, book tv is on c-span2 every day with prime

time features each night. steve scalise with his book back in the game. bernard and any shapiro talk about their respective memoirs. the cigarette. friday at 8:00, donald trump, jr. and his book triggered. watch this special airing of book tv this holiday week on c-span two. >> washington journal continues. we will get your thoughts on your top story of 2019. if you want to make a comment, you can do that on our social media site. you can tweak there and post on our facebook page. at.can text us

reuters is reporting that the prime minister warned against aggression toward foreign embassies in baghdad, asking protesters to leave. thousands of people have gathered in front of the u.s. embassy to condemn airstrikes in iraq. is under minister pressure from street protests. any aggression against foreign embassies will be stopped by security forces and punished harshly. that may be top story. there could be other things you want to talk about as well. the president commenting on what's going on. iran killed an american contractor.

you can choose that is your top story or others this year. if you want to call us, it is (202) 748-8000 for republicans. democrats, (202) 784-8001. .ndependents, (202) 748-8002 you are on. go ahead. caller: the top story this year has been the boom of the economy that doesn't get enough of leslie by the makes -- publicity by the mainstream media. from where i live in texas, there are no people out of work. our unemployment rate is 2.1%. up around 9% when obama was in office. the tax bill and

he cut all the regulations, he allowed the american business people to go back to work. he set up the factories here. i am talking about 700,000 manufacturing jobs. that's not the end of it. democratsme that the can't focus on the successes of this president. we needed a businessman and we got one. host: the front page of the wall journal, when it comes to the stock market, the market is on track for the best year since 2013. gregory is up next in indiana.

i think one of the main issues overlooked is foreign policy. i don't understand how we have a fair foreign policy when trump is so obsequious to dictators such as vladimir putin, the chinese president just to name a few. specifically, how do those impact current foreign policy? example, thefor missiles that kim has been launching and trump says, it is no big deal, they cannot reach the united states. our japan and south korea under our umbrella and are we supposed to be a good? ally in that respect? a good ally in:

that respect? president back in october made an announcement abu ailled the leader l-baghdadi. [video clip] pres. trump: he died while going into a whimpering tunnel, crying and screaming the whole way. people either surrendering or being shot and killed. 11 young children were moved out of the house and are uninjured. remaining were baghdadi in the tunnel. he had dragged three of his and theyldren with him were led to certain deaths. tunnelhed the end of the , as our dogs chased him down.

his vest, killing himself and the three children. his body was mutilated by the blast and the tunnel had caved in on it in addition, but test results gave certain immediate and totally positive identification. it was him. who tried so hard to intimidate others spends his fear,oments in utter in total panic and dread, terrified of the american forces bearing down on him. host: let's hear from patty and ugusta, georgia. caller: i have a basic statement. i am 60 years old and i have been voting since i was 18. children andour

our families and the pastors preach to us about human decency. that is what my concern is. where is the human decency? when you see something that is not right, you know it is not right whether you are representing the constitution or you see it as a rule in a schoolbook. how have people got where they just do not understand the difference between right and wrong? host: how does that relate to our top story of the year? caller: ok, you have a president or a senator -- you have someone that stand up and tells a lie, or you have someone that represents you in a negative way. in the old days, it is like the deficit. it was always talked about that we were going to leave this deficit to our children, they were going to have to pay,

and now it does not seem to matter. you talk about global warming -- it does not matter. as long there but he can buy a if you ared attacking president trump or attacking nancy pelosi -- where is the simple right and wrong? where do you stand up and say, this is not right. host: we will hear from louise and fredericksburg, virginia. story thatfavorite was not on the front pages was the end of the two and a half year nightmare called the mueller probe. that to me should be the top puty of this -- what they america through for 2.5 years, and the accusations of lying against president trump. all you have to do is watch the

news and you see a lie every minute. the lady that was talking about the deficit and debt, i hope you remember that president obama added $11 trillion to the national debt. a wonderfulo have a year. i had a wonderful year this past year and i hope you do, too. host: robert mueller appeared in front of the house intelligence committee back in july to talk about his report and here are some of the exchange. [video clip] >> apart from the russians wanting to help trump win, several individuals associated with the trump campaign manager trying to make money in transition, is that correct? >> that is true. f: michael flynn trying to make money from

turkey. >> true. schiff: donald trump trying to make money from the hotel in moscow? >> yes. chair schiff: numerous trump associates lied to your team, and to congress? >> a number of the team did lie. chair schiff: mike flynn lied? >> he was convicted, yes. hiff: paul manafort went as far as to encourage others to light? >> that is accurate. president's: the lawyer was indicted for lying? >> true. chair schiff: he like to stay on precedent with the president? >> allegedly, to him. your investigation

is not a witchhunt? >> it is not a witchhunt. host: let's hear from betty, illinois. caller: i am glad you played that behind that lady the that just said behind the mueller report. my topic is impeachment. when you have a president that said that he could shoot down the middle of the street and nothing what happen to him , and you have a president that mocks people with disability -- my eight-year-old great-granddaughter said the president looked mean, he does not have a pleasant face. to get thing is president trump out of office. they say out of the mouth of babes comes gems, and that is what my great-granddaughter believes. thank you, and happy new year to everybody. host: the impeachment of

president trump topping the list of top stories for "the associated press," followed by immigration, the mueller probe, the mass shooting that occurred this year, and the opioid crisis. climate change, brexit, u.s.-china trade war, the grounding of boeing jets, and the protesters in hong kong. number kratz line from louise in washington dc. line from louise in washington dc. caller: hi there, happy new year. the most important thing to me is the burning of the rain forest in brazil. it is heartbreaking and it is doing horrible, irreversible damage and the reaction from the people who can do something about it has been so weak. the united states should do something about it, and they can do something about it, and they ignored it. this, thefied about

man who governs brazil. i think it is just dreadful. host: ron from kentucky, republicans relate caller -- kentucky,from republican line. caller: hi, i'd really like to talk and discuss the compound instruction in iraq and the protesters. host: sure. what doesrst off, america really want to do with a country that we were at war with in iraq, took over the country, rebuilt the country, kicked out all of the political people in iraq that were taking advantage of the other countries around iraq, and taking over the whole area.

then, we rebuild iraq, and we put back into place people that were as corrupt as the ones we took out, and now we are reaping the same rewards as benghazi. and now we have a president that says, you will be held accountable for your actions. c-span forthank playing all of the past democratic operatives, especially adam schiff's lying in front of the public about our president. thank you c-span and have a happy new year. host: everything we take in is available in arbiter -- in our video library if you want to watch on c-span.org. we have talked about top stories of the year, and highlighting a couple of things.

chelsea manning leaving the courthouse is one picture in connection with the wikileaks investigation of julian assange, and damage from hurricane sandy, and the testimony of christine blasey ford when it came to the supreme court nomination of brett kavanaugh. it was brett kavanaugh testifying before the senate judiciary committee. [video clip] >> listen to the people i know. listen to the people who have known me my whole life. listen to the people i have grown up with, and worked with, and played with, and coached with, and dated, and talked, and gone to games with, and had beers with. listen to the witnesses who allegedly were at this event 36 years ago. listen to ms. kaiser. she does not know me. at the party described by dr. ford. confirmation process has

become a national disgrace. the constitution gives the thete an important role in confirmation process. you have replaced advice and consent with search and destroy. july,my nomination in there has been a frenzy on the left to come up with something, anything to block my confirmation. host: that is also available if you go to the website, c-span.org. lindsey graham commenting on issues when it comes to iraq, a series of tweets saying, very proud of the president acting decisively in the face of our enemies in baghdad. he has put the world on notice, there will be no god sees on his watch -- there will be no benghazis on his watch.

president trump, unlike president obama will hold you accountable. choose your battles wisely. eighting up with, iraq -- iraqi allies, this is your moment. you will not regret it. let's hear from catherine in new hampshire. caller: good morning. c-spanton journal and are excellent. i appreciate your show. there are a lot of top stories, three all have to do with health. the first one, there should be weekly updates on autism in the u.s. the research being done, numbers cured. for example, why does south korea have higher autism rates than the u.s.? the second one has to do with the rise in suicide. , oftennot heard much of

physical illnesses like hyperthyroid and king george's bad blood, and medicines contradicting each other and causing depression, which would result in suicide. they should be promoting good ,ealth checkup physicals also the cdc and all. newby'sd one is chris is aboutten" government super biological weapons testing and possible sick tick diseases, and this should be looked into. thank you. host: dallas, texas is next on the independent line. caller: hello. host: this is ashley. caller: hi! i am a republican.

nextt wanted to -- i live to the field and everything weird happens in dallas. we have a good economy, so we love that. the fact that there is a wall being built at our border, people got so upset about, but they did not understand, there was already a wall built, so this was a bigger wall. we had people trying to cross over the wall, and i did not think it was a big deal. i really did not. i support the wall on our borders. in texas, i support our entire andomy, woman's rights, happy new year, merry christmas. host: david in north carolina, democrats line. caller: good morning, how are you? host: fine, tahanks. caller: one of the things i was listening to, the economy is great in some people's minds,

and the stock market is doing ok, but they have not said one word about the children that are dying of these mass shootings. the church is that are suffering -- churches that are suffering, too. if that is not a top priority, where are our morals and character that this country was built on -- if those things are more important than our children dying. host: that is david in north carolina. he will be the last call with his topic. joining us next, we will have an interview with one america's plus atwork liz wheeler, book by the same title "tipping point: how to topple the left's house of cards." she will join us next on washington journal. ♪ i am a 2018 c-span studentcam winter. i am here to encourage you to continue to wrap up this

competition as the deadline is getting close. you still have time. this is about the time that i started filming my documentary the first year i entered. offices rightc. now and c-span studentcam was an incredible opportunity for me to express my thoughts and views about the political climate in the current day as well as connect with local and state leaders in the political office. i am extremely excited that you are interested in this and pursuing this, because it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. >> there is still time for you to enter the c-span studentcam video competition. you have until january 20 to create a five to six minute documentary to explore an issue that you want the presidential candidate studen -- candidates to address. we are giving away a grand prize of $5,000. for more information, go to studentcam.org. journal"ngton

continues. host: joining us from san diego is liz wheeler, the host of the show "tipping point" and also a book "tipping points: how to topple the left's house of cards." liz, thank you for joining us. guest: thank you for having me. host: a little bit about your network for those not familiar, tell us about it and doesn't take a point of view or what perspective? guest: i work for one america's news network and a host of the show "tipping point." we are about five years old and for 21 hours of the day, we do straight news, almost old-fashioned news we call it, where we do quick headlines. we have three times as many headlines in every 15 minute block as any of the other cable news networks which you know, tends to stick to one topic for a long time. there are three opinion

talkshows in the evening in the evening and primetime hours. i host one of the opinion talkshows so i am very openly conservative as are the viewers and the readers of my book no. the rest of the 21 hours are straight news, no bias. host: you choose the topic, tipping point, for the show and your book, what are you trying to say to that title as far as the book is concerned? guest: i wanted to let people know that there is an urgency and fighting for the values and principles that made our nation great. traditional conservative values. speech,government, free a right to worship the god we choose, right to free press, individual liberty in general, and there is an urgency and fighting for those, but it is also not something that we have to feel cynical about. not something we have to feel hopeless about. there are things that all of our viewers and all of my readers can do in their every day lives, even if they do not run

for office are working government, things we can do to fight for these values and ultimately, defeat the radical leftist ideas so that liberty and freedom and prosperity can prevail. host: the way that you described the book as a handbook. what do you mean? guest: i wrote it as a response to another handbook for the left where they get all of their tactics. once you have read that book, which i highly recommend to your viewers, you can recognize the tactics that the left is using in everyday life because they use the same template of tactics, the same strategy and all of their political endeavors. alternativegive an to conservatives and republicans that have the same go to set of strategies to be able to use to defend our own principles, defend our policies, and debunk the lies we hear on a daily basis from the left. everyone who listens to democrat leadership and mainstream media

knows that is one of their main .actics, misinformation they package it in this is really palatable and memorable talking points so people who may not be as informed believe it, or believe that it might to be true. i get people in chapter four actually, i get people 11 verbal tactics you can use in your college classroom, with your high school friends, and your workplace, with your family, on twitter to combat these arguments and misinformation, lies from the left. it is debate tactics. host: you can talk to our guests by calling (202) 748-8001 republicans, (202) 748-8000 democrats, (202) 748-8002 for independents, and you can text (202) 748-8003. post on twitter and on facebook. you start the book was talking about your home state of california. you say " think of california as patient zero.

the first person infected with the plague will infect 10 more people and so on until the pervasive illness, we will call it liberalism --is rampant sweeping the nation, leaving strewn and its past victims formally of life, liberty. why did you start that way? adoptive homey state, and i moved to san diego several years ago. as a transplant, i have seen the policies in the california state government that have caused the destruction of our state. human francisco to the feces and drug needles on the streets, the homelessness, to the high taxes, illegal immigration crisis, social, authoritarian tendencies of the left codified into law -- if you look at california, and as i say and my book, press the mute button on the rhetoric of the democrat, you can see what their

actual agenda is. actions speak louder than words. the actions of the left in california are clear. they are not trying to pretend they are moderate. radical enacting leftist policies whether it is gun control or punishing nurses for ms. jen during patient patients,gendering these absolutely insane, absurd, anti-liberty policies, and what happens first in california does spread to the rest of the nation. california is a laboratory of totalitarianism. host: liz wheeler joining us and if you want to ask her questions, you can call the lines or post on social media. how did the book, bow as far as your need for such type of a handbook? what convinced you? guest: great question. one of the most popular emails i get from viewers after my show every night, they say to me,

i agree to what you are saying and i am shocked and horrified, but what can i do to stop it? these are everyday americans. they are not people that necessarily work in the media, not people who work in washington dc. these are moms, dads, small business owners, students, young conservatives, who want to know what they can do instead of feeling helpless. it is very easy to feel helpless watching the news every day, watching the democrats, feeling like your vote once a year does not make an impact. it does, but people still feel that way. i thought, i know how people can take part in this and i know how people can mobilize. everyday american people can take part in fighting for our country. i wrote them a handbook. this is an expanded version of an email that i wish i had time to sit to every person. this is the expanded version of my answer. host: we have some calls lined

up. we will start off with tim in toledo, ohio. democrat line, you are on with our guest. there we go. i just want to say, i am a news junkie and i consider myself kind of a conservative democrat or a liberal republican, because i think some people have valid points on both sides. youthe one american news, are like dealing with my ex-wife. you say a half-truth to perpetuate a lie. say -- trump does some good things, too, but he tears this country up part with his hate speech. -- country apart with his hate speech. one american news seems to demonize the one-party and elevate the other, and compromise is the magic word.

the tit for tat garbage, that is what you people are perpetuating. guest: first of all, it is so great you are from ohio, i am from cincinnati. fellow buckhead, nice to talk to you. you have af-truths, certificate example of a half-truth? host: he hung up. guest: that is one of the tactics i talk about in my book so this is a perfect opportunity. a lot of times from the left, they make vague accusations or allegations, and one of the best things to do is ask for a specific example. allegation, i am happy to correct if i make an error, but typically when liberals make accusations, they do not have the facts to substantiate it. what he was saying was clearly has opinion. obama, and the same with president trump.

i show specifically, although have full confidence in my network as well -- i am openly conservative, that is true. i think the policy that president trump is put into place is wonderful for the american people. he is protecting religious liberty, he is protecting individual liberties in general, and he has done amazing for our economy and our jobs. the divisive rhetoric in our nation was not started by president trump. anyone who things are problem started with president trump need to pick up a history book. the left has been levying unfair attacks against president trump. if the president right now were butpresident trump another nameless, faceless person who had enacted the policies, he would be considered a centrist president. many of the policies are things that the democrats in the past have gotten on board with. even trump'sion, president

immigration policies from the border wall, daca, deportation, sanctuary cities -- all these things are things that the democrats previously not only supported but appropriated money in congress for. if you want to talk about so-called hate speech or divisive rhetoric, you should look at what is coming from the democrats and see if they are being intellectually honest about the opinions and policies they support or maybe they are just suffering from trump derangement syndrome and hate what is going on because they do not like the president. host: are you asked if your network is a pro trump network and how do you respond? most of the people are part of the left mainstream, and we are glad that president trump watches our network and enjoys it, but we do not cater to one politician, one party in anyone shape or form. i am openly conservative. i voted for president trump. unbiased and the

mainstream media wants to do anything they can to discredit a competitor or anyone who is standing up for the principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. host: let's hear from the independent line. trent, munro, louisiana. caller: liz, you talk so fast. slow down, i am a southerner. i appreciate what you are talking about. i raised seven kids and i am an old guy now, but i remember a time when theology was felt to be the queen of the sciences, that we presupposition elite= look at that first -- we presuppositionally look at that first and then applied that to our problems. stophing that says how to a civil war in america, this past issue's magazine about new tariffs, nationalism, and

populism. give me a slow answer here, because i feel like the real terrorists, the ruling class, the managerial elite, the the new world order people who have smashed the idea that the presuppositions of revelation from god our anything to look at, and that they -- what trump has done as he has said the news media is full of and if we keep applying that across the intellectual spectrum, we may see that the financials are a bit of fake thigns, no one understands it. host: you put a lot out there, let's let our guest respond. guest: you sound like my grandfather in the sense that he always tells me to slow down and that i talk too fast. i will do my best. in regards to theology and religion, i am a practicing catholic, so i do not buy into

the doomsday apocalypse, i think that is nonsense. faith in god is fundamentally important to what i do and who i am in politics. i recommend that you read a book about the founding of our nation called "did america have a christian founding." it is a fabulous book about the crossover between theology and politics in our nation and what the founding fathers actually intended our nation to be. how wet is in regards to integrate our religious values, into-christian principles, the statutes, the legal structure, and the government foundation of our nation. it is really, really good and i think that will be eye-opening. i caution anyone to be careful about conspiracy theories. there is no doubt that the mainstream media is very bombastic. they have gotten to the point that they have pulled their own lies so many times, that they

believe them. the democrat politicians, adam schiff comes to mind, has done the same thing. he has repeated his own falsehood so many times that he believes it. it is incumbent on you and me to call that out in a calm, rational, blunt, polite way that the american people have a chance to see the truth. host: you recommend in your book, pretend you are a strength. guest: yes. -- host: pretend you are a shrink. guest: yes. a lot of people come into an argument with five or six butlanned talking points, in an example, and i will use abortion, when it comes to debating abortion, you will have pro-abortion activists, spokespeople, feminists coming to the table with five or six talking points about abortion and if you hold back, exercise

self-restraint, and do not do a data dump of all of your facts and information, but let them get all of their arguments out first, they will data dump you, which means they will use not one or two, but all of their talking points in their first two minute spiel. in response to your response, they will not have any more arguments left. if you do not let them have does say, then it not matter what you say to them, they will just respond with one of their preplanned talking points. host: this is liz wheeler, the author of the book "tipping points: how to topple the left's house of cards." show of the same name on the one america news network. joining us in san diego. line, we have a caller. caller: honored to be able to speak with you today.

just recently in the past ashley started listening to "tipping point," and that is why we love you and why we love the president. we speak directly to the people and you do not have all of this -- we do not understand, you are telling it like it is. they get caught up on the msnbc and the cnn's, and their mind is twisted in such a way that they cannot to look through to a bit of a person like yourself and the president, who is trying to speak to us as an individual and on our level. i would like to thank you for being on the air. this is great for c-span to have you on. this is the best of every way to and the year and start off -- to end the year and start off the new year. host: do you have a question for our guest? caller: just, keep it up, i would love to see you more out on the scene like on the

c-span's and different things. no, i would just like to tell her i appreciate what she does. thank you. host: william in north carolina. do you have any response? guest: i am so flattered, thank you so much. i do not mind the flattery. i do have a quick comment. when you talk about me talking directly to the american people which is what i try to do, i have the privilege of being in your homes every evening to talked to the issues are most important, but it is interesting that he mentions that phrase of talking directly to the american people. it is what we as the voting electorate, the populace of the united states crave from our elected officials. we do not always want them to talk in highfalutin talking points or press releases, or in a more controlled manner. we see president trump doing that same thing. he uses twitter, which the left

demonizes as they call for more press freedom, we see him talking to the direct american people. host: when you exchange ideas with people who do not agree with you politically, do you ever learn from them and does it change your opinion? lot,: people ask me this a have ever changed my mind on any policy. i would say, yes, about 90%. there is one issue i have changed my mind on over the course of the past five or six years. this will come as a shock to a lot of listeners, especially changing my mind on the death penalty. i used to be pro-death penalty, pro-capital punishment for crimes for which that seemed to be deserved, but i've changed my mind looking at statistics, facts, analysis, not because i am soft on crime. but because it is not necessary anymore. the reason we implemented the death penalty originally in our country was because that was the only way we had to protect other

innocent citizens from being harmed, from the right being violated by the criminal. we did not have the capacity to incarcerate them in a safe way that would protect other people. now we do. we are not living in the wild west anymore. we have the capacity to house individuals, and when you combine that with the financial aspect of the fact that the aath penalty actually costs lot more than life in prison given the appeals process and all of that, i have changed my mind on the death penalty and i do not think for the most part, it is necessary. host: bernie in deerfield, florida. caller: good morning. i have a question for you. youhe last 60 years, can name the only two presidents who lowered our deficit? it is now over $1 trillion. respond?you want to

guest: actually, i cannot to name the two presidents that lowered the deficit. but here is what i will tell you -- conservatives and republicans and congress have neglected to do their duty when it comes to fiscal conservatism. it is strange to think about the t a couple of years ago, the tea party movement was based on the idea of fiscal very few people actually are speaking out about this. very few republicans are speaking out about this. this says something and not something flattering about the state of our politics because the only reason that conservatives who are supposed to be fiscal conservative, would not speak out about this is because they are afraid of losing their seats. we have allowed the democrats, some republicans, to give away so much free stuff and expand our welfare state so much that it is now politically untenable

for politicians to address their constituents and say hey, vote for me, i want to take away some of your free stuff. even republicans and conservatives who allowed the big government welfare programs to expand the way that they are are afraid to tell their constituents, i stand for fiscal conservatism. it is something i think they're a publican party as a whole needs to do some serious soul-searching about because it is not just irresponsible in and of itself to spend the level we are spending, it is actually a national security threat for our nation to sell our debt to countries who are adversaries. host: independent line, pat in georgia. caller: hi, i am an educator of the youth in our country, and i teach our students that our democracy has nothing to do with democrats and republicans. i can currently view for myself the divisive language that seems

to be spewing out of people's mouths, of individuals like you, and the bakr seat is unreal to hypocrisy is unreal to me. it is difficult for me to go into my classroom and teach my students about democracy in this country and see the leadership of this country. i do not care if it is a thatlican or democrat -- they may set an example for our country. it is shameless. it is hypocrisy. it is sad. and it makes me want to cry. i am tired of the divisive language of people like yourself or others. we have to do better to bring our country together. thank you. guest: ok. nobody likes divisive rhetoric, and i am sorry that you are feeling emotional about it. i am sorry to hear that. you accuse me of using divisive language, do you have an example of divisive rhetoric? because taking a political

stance is certainly not divisive. i am treating it very respectfully, whereas you accuse me of divisive language. if you have an example, i would love to address it. a quick note, when you teach our democracy, it is a constitutional republic. caller: this is an example of what i am saying. most people like ms. wheeler, they do not listen, they just come back with something that does not make sense. i respect you just as you said you are respect me, but i am telling you that our children are dying because they are being told and they are living a lie because of the hypocrisy of the leaders in this country. andeed to stop and listen, see what we are actually doing. this country is divided because of the language you are using, even the term -- guest: can you give me an

example and i will be happy to address it. caller: you are dividing this country like most people, they talk about people in terms of democrats and republicans. we are all americans. absolutelyyou are correct. we should not even identify as americans first, but as first, as a christian, then american, then whatever party represents your political views. i agree with you. i also agree that it is time for our country to tone down the bombastic narrative, and take a chill pill. our political environment, and try to cool it back to where we do show each other dignity and respect. youn, i would just ask, if are going to say that i use divisive rhetoric, and it is not divisive to call someone a it isat or republican, how they vote, people are comfortable with that. that is not a defensive term.

if you want me to address so-called divisive rhetoric, i am happy to, but you need to give me an example. host: this is liz wheeler, the author of the book "tipping points: how to topple the left's house of cards." she has a program on the one america news network by the same name. this is from michigan, republican line. carol, hello. caller: hi liz, what a breath of fresh air. oh my gosh, you are wonderful. guest: thank you. caller: i have a saying that you cannot to be a catholic and a democrat. so many of my catholic friends hysterical. however, they will not admit that what they stand for is totally against their catholic religion. also, can you help me with this daily, in to c-span love everyone on this show. there is nothing like c-span except maybe yours. black people,l of

all they do is accuse president trump of lying. to then does not lie amount that they say on a daily basis. and they will not admit what president trump has done for the black race. can you talk about this? guest: let me address your theological argument. i am a practicing catholic and i would agree with you to a large extent. i am not here to judge the state of anyone's soul or their sincerity of faith practice, but the policies perpetuated by the democratic party, especially those that are anti-life, assisted suicide, abortion, euthanasia -- those are antithetical to the catholic doctrine. the catholic doctrine calls abortion an egregious sin. i do not understand how one can

be a practicing catholic and when theocrat, policy of the democratic party including the 2020 contenders support, celebrate, and champion abortion up until the moment of birth. women nine months pregnant to want to abort for any reason whatsoever, the democrats think there should be no restriction on that. you do not have to be a you docan, conservative, not have to be christian alone catholic to know that is wrong, but catholics ought to know that is wrong. i pray for catholics on a daily basis that they would understand the gravity of the abortion agenda in our nation. i think a lot of times, catholics can be suckered in either social justice talk coming from democrats, because the catholic church, unfortunately, some individuals in the leadership, they mistake government welfare it for personal charity, so given that

mistake, they support big government programs. that is versus encouraging individuals to take action, and that is a fundamental mistake. he wants us to make the choice to do good. he wants us to make the choice to donate our money to charity. he wants us to make the choice to give freely to our time. he does not want the government to compel us to do that. entirely different things. mistakethe catholics those two things. part of that responsibility lies with the leadership of the catholic church who conflate those two things. i would caution you to be very careful not to generalize an stereotype based on the color of someone's skin. if there are individuals who are not acknowledging the truth regardless of their demographic who accuse a politician of lying when you believe the politician, go ahead and call them out for and tell them the truth and let

the american people know the truth. aboutd i know the truth what president trump has done for our entire economy, our unemployment rate, job creation, and yes, the unappointed rate of african-americans -- the unemployment rate of african-americans. host: to that, the president sent out a tweet about the u.s. ivan china trade to deal saying, i will be signing our trade deal with china on july 15. the ceremony will take place at the white house. representatives from china will be present. then at a later date, or talks will begin on phase ii, i will be going to beijing. issue of the title of your saying,h someone "the title of your book screams us versus them." how would you respond? guest: and a sense, it is. i talk about the compromise

because our previous caller talked about how we need to compromise, and this has been an idea in our nation that a compromise is inherently a good thing and it means that people are getting along. and i reject that premise for this reason. i do not thing that compromise is a virtue in and of itself especially when what is on the line and on the negotiating table are fundamentally contradictory principles. for example, we can go back to the life issues. we can talk about the economy, we could talk about abortion, we can talk about guns -- these are not issues where there are some middle ground because the premise of what we believe is very different. let's use the second amendment as an example. republicans support the second amendment and they think that each individual has a constitutionally protected inherent right to keep and bear arms. the democrats think the government has the right to

restrict and dictate who can own what firearms and when, and can take the right away. those are two fundamentally contradictory ideas. if we compromise with the left on our second amendment for the sake of compromise, then what we -- what have we achieved? the answer is we have given away some of our inherent rights. there is no virtue in negotiating away our inherent rights just for the sake of compromise. host: there is a chapter of your book dedicated to books that people should read and it is a variety, can you explain? guest: it is about 50 books i included in this chapter, but my original list was 200, so you can thank my editor for cutting that down. that is also one of the emails that i get on a very regular basis is asking me what books to read, how do i educate myself so i am able to talk about xyz topic, how do you know this fact

or that fact, so i give people a list. this is not a comprehensive list or the only list you can use to achieve that knowledge. it is a list i use. it is books that were very fundamental or instrumental in the formation of my political principles, and it is basically everything. there are fiction books on their, history books on there, founding documents are on there, policy related books on their, everything you could want in a list that i believe will help you understand our nation in a deeper way. host: you include rules for tale," as"handmaid's well. guest: it is important for people to listen to democrats and to read democrat ideology. how can we defeat their ideology if we do not know what underpins it? basically, you have to know your enemy in order to defeat it.

the enemy not being the individual but the principle that is antithetical to our constitution. read democrat books all the time, and the more you understand, the more you can anticipate their responses and the more you understand the flaws in their logic and the formation of policies. read as many democrat because you can. caller: this is from -- night host: this is from michigan, carol. yes, why are you demonizing the democrats and saying all this stuff about us? just because you are pro-choice does not mean you are pro-abortion, and as a catholic, i just want to keep my women's health rights to myself and i do not need to have people go in and i ad -- a doctor, have a miscarriage, have to check me out to make sure that i have a miscarriage to have an abortion. what do you think of that? guest: first of all, that would never happen.

there would be no provision under the law that if you had a miscarriage that you would be forced to undergo an exam so you can rest at ease. that is a fear mongering tactic from the left and there is no truth behind that. i do not think that one can be pro-choice and also against abortion. we have to go back to the heart of the matter and say, what is abortion? what does abortion do? abortion ends the life of an unborn baby. another talking point from the left is that it is just about a woman's autonomy and a woman's body, but we know that it's fundamentally unscientific because we know that an unborn baby is a separate human being with separate, individualized dna from the mother's body. we are not just talking about the mother, but we are talking about two people, the mother and the baby. it is not just a matter of the mom making a choice for her body but do we want to allow people to end the life of a separate,

distinct, unborn baby simply because they want to, and if abortion ends human life, what right do we have to do that even in the name of choice? host: we will go next to our independent line, we will hear from james in oceanside, california. caller: hi, this is james. hi liz. guest: hi james. caller: a few callers ago, you trump -- things that or sets of the about trump lying and you wanted some facts. guest: i think they accused me of lying, yeah. caller: i am not accusing you of lying, but i could take it back to some of the simple stuff of who was going to pay for the wall? obviously, we are paying for the wall now. the other thing with the tariffs, the chinese were supposed to pay for the

tariffs. but anyone with common sense knows that the taxpayers will pay for these tariffs in america. those are facts. when you are on a show and you are claiming that you want facts, i heard with my own ears and while i was following trump that mexico was going to pay for the wall. guest: that is accurate. caller: we are taking money out of our military to pay for that wall. why is that? guest: the democrats will not find or appropriates any money for border security and american citizens are being killed by people who are crossing our border illegally. it is true that president trump said that mexico would have paid for the wall. you and i agree, there is no reason to deny that. it would be ideal if it was paid for like that. but the president does not have unilateral power, he has to cooperate with congress and the legislature to do that. you have to ask, why isn't the

legislature doing that especially given the fact that in 2007, democrats appropriated money for the same thing? now the democrats are saying no, and you have to ask, why? is it so that president trump appeared that he is not following through on a campaign promise or doing it for the good of our nation? i would argue that they are doing it that president trump does not have the capacity to follow through without the cooperation of democrats. oft: our guest is the host the show "tipping point" and the author of the book "tipping points: how to topple the left's house of cards." as one time, use served as commissioner of the board of zoning. guest: i did. i was the youngest person to serve in that position in my hometown which is a suburb outside of cincinnati, ohio, so that was quite an experience. host: how did you end up in television? guest: around the time that i served as a commissioner on the board of zoning appeals, i

collaborated on a book. 13self published, me and other young conservative activists around the country, and the original book was called "young conservative: why it is smart to be like us." i went on a small speaking tour where i talk to different groups about the book about the perspective of a young person who is conservative, and why i was conservative. why it worked for me, why it was best for me. touch with i got in "one american news network" and the ceo who had seen my stuff and offered me a show. host: let's hear from tennessee, republican line. byron. hi, this is nn is one of the best conservative networks available to us, and the reason i like

president trump is because he sounds just like me. i would like to ask you a question. i have noticed that women are targeted by the democratic party, and they use the same philosophy that advertisers use on tv, that targets women because 90% of the advertisements target women. the democrat party uses the same tactics to apply their propaganda. i say propaganda because i think they are as selfish. guest: thank you for watching one american news. i think it is the best networker, but i am biased. i understand the point you are making about democrats targeting women. i findung woman myself, it fundamentally insulting that democrat politicians think the issues i care most about our

free birth control and celebrated abortion. democrats call those women's issues, but i call women's issues the economy, national security, individual liberty, prosperity, the protection of our constitutional rights, including the right to life. when democrats look at women and only see a commodity or a sex object, it is fundamentally demeaning to women so they use fear mongering tactics to keep women under their thumb. they tell women that they are going to be oppressed and going to be like the handmaid's tale, they will have to resort to back alley abortions. they use all of these very demeaning and insulting tactics -- political tactics to keep women subjugated and voting for the democrats. i fundamentally reject that and so do a lot of young women. host: from lisa, charlotte, north carolina, democrats. hi. caller: i have something to say but i have to go actually, i'm sorry, thank you. guest: good to talk to you, lisa. bill will be next on the

independent line. caller: i like what you got to say, and i am in wisconsin. i talk just about as fast as you, so i will try to make this fast. i am 63 years old, former marine. in the sixth grade, my teacher said that russia would gain rights, and every right they gain, we would lose one. i have seen that come about in my lifetime, and i think it is sad. two questions for you. how long do you think it will be before we talk about something that is politically incorrect that nobody wants to ever talk about, before the people of the united states take up arms and turn against this country and there is a violent revolution like we have had in the past, that one of our great president said was overdue in 20 years.

do you see that as something that will happen because of the feeling of, we cannot do anything about this, like i feel and what you are talking about? people feel that we cannot overcome this. it has gotten so far out ahead of taking our rights away. seatbelt laws that do not apply to students on school buses. the straw thing you brought up. buying property and you have to pay taxes on it. you cannot cut down trees. it is widespread everywhere. taking our rights away. host: we will let our guest respond. guest: my short answer, no, we are not anywhere close to a physical revolution. your feelings of hopelessness are just a feeling. revolution is only necessary when there is no recourse politically and peacefully to our problems, and we have just a myriad of resources. we have the right to run for office, we have a representative that we can talk to who are supposed to listen to us and what we want them to do in the

legislature, we have a free press, we can talk to the press, we can get involved, we can get involved in protesting, we can get involved online and talking to our family and friends, there are so many things that we can there are so many things we can do to have recourse to political policy, even if we disagree with someone strongly enough to consider them to be cut -- violations of our constitutional rights, there is no need for revolution. where theyd people can find you on the network. guest: i am on one american news network every night at 9:00. tipping point.ed you can find my book tipping points anywhere books are sold. search my name on any of the other networks. thank you, happy new year. host: that is our program for

today. we have another program coming to you tomorrow morning at 7:00. we will see you then. happy. -- happy new year. ♪ >> in some news this morning coming from the white house, president trump says iran will be held fully responsible for the attack on the u.s. embassy in iraq. he tweeted "iran killed an american contractor, wounding many. we strongly responded and always well.

now iran is orchestrating an attack on the u.s. embassy in iraq. they will be held fully responsible. in addition, we expect iraq to use its forces to protect the embassy, and so notified" the quote came after iraqi iranian protesters entered the u.s. embassy in iraq. -- talks bush grandson about his grandparents influence on him. c-span is live in boston afterwards where elizabeth warren will give a new year's eve speech. later, here the georgia congressional delegation give senatorto retiring isakson. firge