we will also take your calls, and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: good morning. with the party conventions now in the books, the political focus shifting to the fall campaign. sunday morning, august 30. the president in new hampshire friday, democratic nominee joe biden set to resume in person events early next month. we are about a month away from the first debates. early voting set to begin soon in a number of key states. we want to take one more look at the party conventions. did you watch them and did either the democratic or republican conventions change your mind it if you are a supporter of the president and

vice president mike pence, the number to call is (202) 748-8001 . if you are a supporter of democratic nominee joe biden and kamala harris, (202) 748-8000. for independents, (202) 748-8002 . you can also send us a text message at (202) 748-8003. and on twitter, we are at @cspanwj. on facebook, we are at facebook.com/cspan. we want to begin with some breaking news. the headline from the washington post. coastal towns nearly wiped out. the president yesterday got a firsthand look at the damage inflicted by hurricane laura. ,e covered many of his events his stops first in louisiana, later in texas coming two days after the category four hurricane slammed the gulf coast, leaving at least 16 dead in storm hit areas, many now with severe wind and flooding damage. authorities warned that some people could be without running

water or electricity for weeks, all coming in the sinlate augus. that is the president yesterday touring the damage in texas and louisiana. cnn is reporting that the president will travel to kenosha, wisconsin, that trip slated for tuesday. he is there to meet with law enforcement officials and survey some of the damage caused are demonstrations that took place blake, the african-american man shot seven times. all of this coming as fox news reporting violent clashes again in portland, oregon, the president talking about it yesterday. the demonstrations between those who support the president and black lives matter, leaving at least one person dead in a shooting that took place last evening. wereand police saying they investigating a homicide in the area where pro trump group

clashed with protesters. and these are themes the president talked about thursday night in his address as he accepted the republican nomination. here is part of what he said. [video clip] >> if the left gains power, they will demolish the suburbs, confiscate your guns, and appoint justices who will wipe away your second amendment and other constitutional freedoms. biden is a trojan horse for socialism. if joe biden does not have the strength to stand up to marxists like bernie sanders and his fellow radicals, and there are many, we see them all the time. how is he ever going to stand up for you? he is not. the most dangerous aspect of the biden platform is the attack on public safety. biden-bernie manifesto calls

for abolishing cash bail, immediately releasing 400,000 criminals onto the streets and into your neighborhoods. when asked if he supports cutting police funding, joe biden replied, yes, absolutely. when congresswoman it had omar called the minneapolis police department a cancer -- when congresswoman ilhan omar called the minneapolis police department a cancer, biden did not reject her endorsement. he proudly displayed it on his website, in big letters. make no mistake. if you give power to joe biden, the radical left will defund police departments all across america. they will pass federal legislation to reduce law enforcement nationwide. they will make every city look like democrat run portland, oregon.

no one will be safe in biden's america. host: that is the president as he formally accept it his party nomination. one of the headlines comes from johns hopkins university. a grim number. tony 5 million. that is the number worldwide of coronavirus. let's get to your phone calls p the issue of political party conventions and whether or not it had any impact on how you will vote this november. politico has the story with this headline, yes, we just saw the future of conventions, writing for a lot of insiders, ae virtual conventions where breath of fresh air. of what are the future lyrical conventions? in part, the answer will come as all humans across the globe gradually conclude how much in person business is necessary

after this pandemic. it is not as predictable is how major organize -- major parties will organize themselves in the future. certainly some aspects of the online presentations this august will probably remain. is joining us, your view of these conventions, did they change your mind in any way? good morning. we will try for bill one more time. we go to john in ohio. good morning. caller: good morning. host: are you undecided? caller: i am not on this up -- i am not undecided but i am not supporting either of those two. i voted for trump the last time and i voted for obama the last three times. host: he only ran twice. caller: i voted for him in the

primary and in the general elections, then voted for trump in the general. i voted for bernie the last two primaries. vote screeng to this time. -- green this time. i tried to watch as much of the conventions as i could. i was unimpressed with both. as a democrat who voted for bernie the last two times, they put up mainly all people -- they put up hillary, put up bernie -- -- only one i really liked it seemed like they were not especially trying to unify with the bernie people, same as the last time. they were trying to lure in republicans and shut us out altogether. they want our votes to come in the general election but they do not want them to count at the conventions.

thinks. one of our viewers saying that the trump kit speeches could have been given by anyone. there were so devoid of humanizing anecdotes. even worse, they were trying to sell a version of trump that was a total fiction. , support of the biden-harris ticket. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. with the article about -- ignorant, andpid, a whole bunch of other things i can think of. that is not really what i want to talk about. changedds to if these my mind, i imagine you can tell that i never detained the idea of voting for him anyway because he is a liar and i see through

him. in regards to this -- what i am except about -- upset about is what i am seeing and hearing out wonderfuld, with the the blackagainst lives matter group here that is what i am concerned about. that 17-year-old in kenosha, now they are starting to come out of the woodwork. my blacky suggest to arabers and sisters and my brothers and sisters, all people that,or -- i hate to say because i think you should call us the colorless people -- i suggest you all line up monday morning, at academy, and the states where you say you have a legal right to own guns, and a reporter will be out there and say why are you all lined up here?

and you tell them you come because you will purchase your guns so that you can stand your ground. that would end this gun situation immediately. have a wonderful sunday. i appreciate your allowing me to get out what i need to say. thank you. host: brenda from houston, texas. alan from scottsdale, arizona, supporter of the president. good morning. caller: good morning. i am a republican and i am voting for trump. if hejust reported that was elected president, he would enter into thecs game. as far as i am concerned, politicians are a dime a dozen, leaders lead, like donald trump. both the democrat and republican conventions. a marvelous position in

showing that donald j. trump brought in people that are americans. it was a wonderful four days. i really enjoyed it. the thing i'd like to say is people like myself, who are americans, who believe in the constitution, have one thing in common. we love america. and when you look at the democratic party, who actually started the civil war, who brought us the ku klux klan, who loved senator byrd and was one of that heads of the ku klux klan in the senate for years and years and named the streets after somebody who was a ku klux klan person, it is just amazing that they can get away with what they do.

they are totally trying to do one thing, and that is start a civil war. host: we will leave it there. the scene from baltimore wednesday and from the virtual convention that the democrats held a week before -- if you missed any of it, it is available in its entirety. we provided live, raveled to gavel cover of the conventions, now available on c-span.org. -- all becomeerpt of the president shamelessly used his powers to add drama to the convention. he transformed the white house lawn to a sensitive of a convention hall, although the white house was the third option for trump's speech after two other venues and cities did not work out. the president -- a president had not given an acceptance speech inthe white house since fdr 1940. amid all the words and the

speechn bluster, the hammered away at what will be the main lines of attacks against biden. he is the vessel of an increasingly radical democratic party and is softer on disorder and crime in the cities. and opening byp not condemning the looting and violence, and the gop rightly exploited it. that from the national review editorial. we go to james in west virginia, supporter of the president. good morning. caller: i appreciate you taking my call. i am for trump. a registered i am democrat, my whole family happen democrats, and the stuff that he has done and the things he has said, no matter what he does or what he do, there will be people who was that he has done it too

early, done it too late, they are trying to blame everything on the republican party. what people do not understand is when disaster hits and everything, he wanted to go in, he steps in. immediately jumps in to do it. i know a lot of people will disagree with me. i am a ford man. you might be a chevy man. but everyone has their own right to their own opinion. for instance, covid-19, real quick my back in 1918, they found out we had the spanish flu. over 20 million people died from that. not once did we shut down our country. not once did we have social distance. not once did we have to wear a mask or anything. up, with what is are goingow, things to happen. we have no control over it.

who has only one man control, the man above of -- up above. for us to call ourselves christians and do what we do -- in my opinion. it is only my opinion. we all have one. we all have the right to accept what other people say and feel. organization his did something for the country. quick, thee, real stimulus money for unemployment and everything. he did what he had to do, party -- a loter of democratic countries -- want of democratic states the economies go down. in myfrom brandy,

opinion, the black lives matter --ivists need to the president with the demonstrations here in washington not far from the white house in what is being called black lives matter plaza, the president with this tweet this morning, taking aim at the mayor of washington, d.c., that she should arrest these agitators and thugs. or the federal government will do it for you. enough. democratic vice presidential nominee, kamala harris. [video clip] >> we are at an inflection point. the constant chaos -- the incompetence make us feel afraid. the callousness makes us feel alone. it is a lot. and here is the thing. and deserve sor

much more. president whoa will bring something different, something better. .nd do the important work a president who will bring all of us together, black, white, latino, asian, indigenous. to achieve the future we collectively want. biden. elect joe host: that from senator kamala harris, her speech in wilmington, delaware. a couple of tweets. this from cynthia who said last week rebranded the gop as the party of donald trump, which makes voting for joe biden critical. his family spoke more than party leaders. the official platform is whatever trump wants. this from mark -- i did watch

most of the republican convention. very upbeat, positive. be doom and gloom. back to your phone calls. laura is next, supporter of the president from troy, michigan. caller: good morning. in watching the convention, i was really impressed with the president's ability to make a real show. really un-american concerned with covid and unemployment and 10 million -- they wantoyed to show off his ability to make a show. and i am sorry that i voted for him. it was a mistake, and i will correct it next election. does donald trump

have his ties made an error, since he is such an advocate for made in america? i am 80 years old. --m an avid political water water, and i participate as much as i can in a great deal when i was young. i've never, in my whole life, ever seen such a traveling roadshow. not concerned with the people that you are hurting as long as your name is out in the public. host: bottom line, who are you voting for? caller: well, if i am not voting for trump. host: ok. you phoned in on the line supporting the president, so we want them be clear that. from virginia, supporter of joe biden. caller: reports that say that trump's favorite movie that they

shot the white house all the time is the greatest showman, the story of p.t. barnum. he is famous for a quote that there is a sucker born every minute. this guy is the biggest conman. whit about anya of his supporters. he just wants the vote. he made it clear that the first thing he will do is remove the tax that supports social security and medicaid. , 63e succeeds in doing that -- trump will take that money and make sure that money is used for future tax cuts for his wealthy buddies. anybody who votes for this fool has got to have his head examined.

they are either racist, money grabbers, or they are anti-american. they are certainly not patriots. host: mother jones has this headline -- he ivanka trump's rnc speech was a preview of their future. here are some of the details. clinical conventions are showcases not just for their candidate being nominated for -- but for everyone who wants to follow in their footsteps. in that respect, the 2020 rnc was not just a preview of this campaign but was foreshadowing many republican campaigns for the years to come. and the politicians and wannabe politicians who spoke will not be going away anytime soon. you can tell a lot from the direction of the party, who was in attendance and who was not. there was no george w. bush, no dick cheney, no mitt romney, the last republican nominee before trump. over the course of the convention, we heard from the kinds of figures who actually are in good standing with the

party these days, people like florida representative matt senator tomsas cotton, future north carolina ,epresentative madison cawthorn mike pompeo in a taped address from jerusalem. that from mother jones. richard is next, from alabama. good morning. caller: good morning. host: you support the president? caller: yes, i do. if you will allow me to reflect back on one of the calls. i was in the military. i am a 100% disabled veteran. to call man who talked, me a fool and unpatriotic? i take exception to that. i support the president because he does have an america first agenda.

that is the sole reason that i support him. this country is the greatest country in the world. and anybody who is not for this to tear it wants down as much as joe biden does called thisa harris man a racist and actually thought he might be a sexual predator, and now he is the best thing since sliced bread? anybody who could change their mind like that, i couldn't support and 100 years. you: thank you, and thank for your service. another viewer said i watched the dnc, watched five minutes of the trump convention, hope the trump christians wake up and analyze if the man they support matches the bible text. -- if he is there

is too much offstage action for the rnc and dnc to be the newsing moments of such a heavy week. more from the democratic convention and this speech by former president barack obama. [video clip] withsat in the oval office both men running for president. i never expected that my successor would embrace my vision or continue my policies. of ourope, for the sake country, that donald trump might show some interest in taking the job seriously. weightcome to feel the of the office and discover some reverence for the democracy that had been placed in his care. but he never did. for close to four years now, he has shown no interest in putting in the work. no interest in finding common

ground. no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends. no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves. donald trump has not grown into the job, because he cannot. and the consequences of that failure are severe. 170,000 americans dead. millions of jobs gone. while those at the top are taking more than ever. ,ur worst impulses unleashed our proud reputation around the , and ourly diminished democratic institutions threatened like never before. that form former president barack obama, his speech in

philadelphia during the democratic convention two weeks ago. jeffrey on the phone from new york, supporter of the biden-harris ticket. good morning. caller: good morning. you are my favorite of all the moderators. i have a couple of things on my mind for the past month. the biden presentation of his family photos shows it all. you can contrast that with the trump photos of his family. i've never seen a more honest, loving smile, happy to be alive with his family, then joe biden. you contrast that with the phony hollywood new yorker smile -- he is just faking it. he does not really feel happy. he is not happy to be alive. he is not a christian. but i have a couple other things in mind besides body language. to educate the people who say

these black lives matter protests are full of violent people and this and that, if you look at the graffiti on some of these burned buildings, they are writing an "a" with a large horizontal bar across it. this is the symbol for anarchists, anarchy, "a" for anarchy. if you see that symbol, these are anarchists, not black lives matter protesters. and before these republicans call me a communist or socialist, i am a veteran. everyone in my family is a veteran. every man, every woman in my family has married a veteran, and we can trace our white privileged background all the way back to the mayflower, so do not call me un-american. what is un-american is trump manufacturing his trump 2020

flags in communist china, trump manufacturing his ties in communist china. his daughter manufactures her purses in communist china. were manufactured in communist china. if you do not believe me, i have a $20 bill for anyone on my street who wears a maga hat and i ask them if you look at the made in theit say usa, i will give them the $20. none of them will take the bet, that i will stomp on that flag if it says made in communist china. host: your final point? matter, allk lives lies matter, if you are a christian, you must believe that. can i end on one quote? quote abraham

lincoln. people fool some of the some of the time and most of the people most of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. host: we go to auburn, another viewer saying i do not know if the conventions have much of an impact, but they set the tone for november. the democrats showed as it is not about party, it is about people and country. the gop showed as it is not about people and country, it is about trump. 7:30 here in washington, d.c. another half hour of your calls. we are asking the question do the conventions in any way impact how you will vote in november, with early voting getting underway in many states in mid to late september. the other story inside the new york times, intelligence officials stopping in person briefings on elections for congress. here are some of the details -- the nation's top intelligence officials moved saturday to tighten the control of sensitive

intelligence on foreign threats to the election, telling congress they will no longer provide in person briefings about election security and would rely solely on written updates instead. informing the house and the -- following up with a batch of letters to congressional leaders saturday. in the letters, the chief of intelligence office, john ratcliffe, framing the move as an attempt to ensure consistency and clarity and a crackdown on leaks that have infuriated some intelligence officials. he said i believe this approach helps ensure, to the maximum extent possible, that the gives toon dni congress -- it goes on to say it will better protect our sources and most sensitive intelligence from additional unauthorized

disclosures or misuse. the president asked about that yesterday. he was in louisiana. here was his response. [video clip] >> director ratcliffe brought information in to the committee, and the information leaked. orther it was shifty schiff somebody else, they leaked the information before it gets in. even worse, they leaked the wrong information. he got tired of it. so he wants to do it in a different form. because you have leakers on the committee. obviously leakers who are doing bad things. probably not even legal to leak, but we will look into that separately. but they were leaking the information brought in. you do not have that in texas. you would not allow that in texas. >> no way. [laughter] >> he will not allow the leakers to do that. so he wants to make sure it does not leak. host: that was a president, bringing this response from former vice president joe biden

in a written statement, getting with this is not how democracy works but it is how american national security and sovereignty are violated. the tools of our government are meant to defend the american people and our system of governance against all enemies. and yet, at a moment when we know our elections are under threat from foreign interference and when the president has invited interference from russia and china, the director of national intelligence is failing to provide full information about the danger. there can be only one conclusion -- the president is hoping that vladimir putin will once more his candidacyost and cover his horrific failures. he does not want the american people to know the steps vladimir putin is taking to help trump get reelected. back to your phone calls. michelle from florida, supporter of the president.

how much of the conventions did you watch? caller: all of it. i watched all of the conventions, both of them. as i was listening in on the callers, the gentleman just before me, changed my train of thought. is total, also, military. all wars, all the way back -- i do not know about the mayflower, but nevertheless, my son was a ,0 year retired army ranger airborne, fought in iraq. and i want to go now to my point. as i am on the phone on hold, you played the obama speech. that is exactly why i am voting for trump this time.

because he was the most negative american president, against this country. that is number one. number two, there is a young teacher that just started teaching this year here in florida, and she is a first grade teacher, and we have been in school one week. youngere was a little lack avoid a little young black boy. he looked at her and told her i do not have to do what you say because you are white. so intimidating. this young teacher did not know where to go because of the union. trump is america first. i listened to my family, my brothers, my uncle who have served in the military.

i know my son, for example, wanted to put in more time in the military but changed his obama.cause of so anyone, like the lady prior to the gentleman, she really truth onher to seek the internet about what each in chargecontrol or of this great nation or research her bible, because we are living in the last days. god bless america. god bless every soul that walks this earth. we are a free country. if we were not, the people that said they would leave america -- do not forget, they are still here. host: thank you. a tweet from sam from georgia. i support biden and harris.

as far as being convinced of everything, i am completely convinced now that the republican party cannot be trusted at all. this from a viewer with a tweet saying the democratic convention was a ratings winner. the republican convention was a ratings leader. no one wants to hear the moron drone on and on and his fmaily of simpletons bleat their sickening vitriol. our next call, supporter of the biden-harris ticket. caller: good morning. i would just like to say america can be great if people would let america be great. you know what i am saying? we always hear america first, but this really means white people first. time is up for all of that. why can't we all be first? host: thank you for the call.

this from the dispatch -- conventions in name only. the analysis available at the dispatch.com. the party conventions are over, and i do. just me the 2020 conventions. in one sense, the conventions have been over for a long time. they were created to do two times. pick party nominees and craft a party form. convention has not actually picked a nominee. instead, they are foregone conclusions. pandemic,e that conventions had been turning into tightly scripted artisan infomercials for the coming election. make that what you will, but at least people still convened. they put on their silly hats, had their flare, -- flair, discussions and debates for that is gone this year as well. is they have been

mostly virtual, conventions in name only, for a long time. william is joining us from georgia, supporter of the president. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to correct the gentleman from new york who made a comment -- if you actually buy maga hats from the donald trump store, those hats are made in the usa. i bought them. it is clear they are made in the usa. this man from new york is probably seeing stuff made in china but was not made by donald trump. you have to correct these people. i also noticed there are lots of exaggerations and misinformation put out by your channel. i do not understand, furthermore, why you not have changed it from republican, democrat, and independents to this support trump, biden, etc.

calling democrats were in to support trump. as for what most -- host: that means they can phone in on the line that supports the president. caller: please do not talk over me. host: i was clarifying that if you support the president, you can call in on the line that supports that president. caller: but you used to do democrats and republicans. that night, after the republican convention, all of a sudden, you changed it from republican and democrat to support biden or support trump. host: we change our phone lines a lot to try to reflect where we are at. we do this also for those who supported mitt romney and barack obama, for those who supported -- caller: please do not argue with me. you never do it. as for donald trump doing his

speech from the white house, fdr did the same thing. host: you are right. we mentioned that. caller: why can't donald trump do the same thing as fdr? you people in washington, all you do is criticize, criticize, criticize the president. the people out here for further president. you people in virginia, if the president gets reelected, he should kick all of you out of washington and replace the swamp totally from top to bottom. host: we go next to john in nebraska. caller: thanks for taking my call. i just wanted to say i am still kind of undecided. i kind of really wanted bernie sanders to go out there and do it, but that is obviously not going to happen. i do not believe that biden understands -- well, i do not think he things it is important, but i do believe it is important that people who need help get help. there are a lot of problems in this country. people cannot get health care, cannot get a decent job.

jobs are going to china and mexico and all these other countries. i really think that whichever party you are voting for, they are just not progressive enough. i do not think they understand the problems that are down the road. i do not think they see what is going to happen. i think it will get a lot worse. but hopefully things can change still. host: we go to gabriel, joining us from omak, washington. where is that? north-central washington. thank you. host: january support of the biden-harris ticket? -- and you are a supporter of the biden-harris ticket? caller: yes, sir. i've heard some religious claims that are exclusive claims on metaphysical reality. i just want to be clear that i have no interest in making exclusive claims on metaphysical reality, whether they be christian or muslim or any other walk of life or anything else

like that. enjoyedally, i really the dnc. about onebe clear point in that convention. is that, throughout the convention, they asked us to be nonviolent in protest. nonviolent with the police. nonviolent with the national guard. have.s all i thank you for your time. host: thanks for the call. more from last week's republican convention at fort mchenry, a key location for the war of 1812 and where francis scott key came up with "the star-spangled banner." that is where vice president pence delivered his acceptance speech. [video clip] isjoe biden says america systemically racist and that law has, iment in america

quote, and implicit bias against minorities. when asked whether he would support cutting funding to law enforcement, joe biden replied yes, absolutely. down onn would double the very policies that are leading to violence in america's cities. is you will not be safe in joe biden's america. trump, wepresident will always stand with those who stand on the thin blue line, and we are not going to defund the police, not now, not ever. host: that from vice president mike pence. back to your phone calls. did the conventions affect how you will vote? rom west virginia, supporter of the president. caller: good morning.

i am deeply concerned about the violent nature of a lot of these protests. one thing that occurred a few days ago, several protesters threatened to burn down the white house. that is, in my mind, if that to burn down the white house is a threat against the president. now days and extremely violent act. these people should be arrested for making a statement like that. peaceful protests -- everybody agrees that everybody has a right to peaceful protest, that is in the bill of rights. but to violently make a statement like that, that really concerns me. that is something to be considered going into this election. if these people are willing to make violent statements, threatening to burn down the white house, that is terrible, and it should not be tolerated at all in this country. host: thank you. john smith has this tweet taking aim at the former vice president, saying that biden is like a puppet with globalists pulling the strings.

jeremiah from alabama, who are you supporting? caller: i will support the democratic party. i think they have a very good agenda. i am tired of all this hate speech coming from the republicans. of course, there have been -- of course there have been demonstrations. there was violence during the 1950's, during the 1970's. we are peaceloving people and protest peacefully. we will continue to do that. you have extremists on both parts. what concerns me is he seems to not have an agenda for the american people but only for himself. in fact, he has become the leader of the white supremacists. he called out this stuff about the extremists that set fire to stuff, but he never called out the actions of the ku klux klan

or any of these white supremacists. leaders to be there very in the republican party. he is taking over the republican party. host: thank you. from upstate new york, al myra, my first vote for president was david eisenhower. i only vote for people i respect and feel our leaders. this year, i support joe biden. let's go next to francis, joining us from tennessee. good morning. caller: good morning. the first amendment has the freedom to assemble and the redress ofk for a our grievances, but i just cannot understand how smashing an innocent business owner's property is asking for a redress of grievances.

how can anybody, especially these mayors, stand back and allow their citizens' property to be vandalized and destroyed? if it is not so bad, that them come to your house and do those same things. i just cannot get it. especially when the news media says these demonstrations are mostly peaceable, but they do not show it. all of the pictures. when you are doing that sort of stuff, destroying people's businesses and livelihoods, how can that be mostly peaceable? lord. do help us, this country needs your help. thank you very much. host: as we mentioned at the top of the program, one person is dead in portland, oregon as the demonstrations ramped up between pro-trump groups clashing with black lives matter.

also demonstrations here in washington, d.c. prompting a tweet from the president. and this from alan in west virginia with our question on the conventions. he says the conventions did change who i will vote for. i am voting for biden-harris. if you vote for trump, you vote for someone who is a danger to our form of government, and you are not a patriot. more from the conventions in wilmington, delaware. democratic nominee joe biden on how america is viewed around the world under the trump presidency. [video clip] >> i take it very personally --il valent -- a profound i will be a president who stands with our allies and friends and make clear to our adversaries that the days of cozying up to dictators are over. under president biden, america will not turn a blind eye russian bounties on the heads of american soldiers, nor will i put up with for an interference on our most sacred democratic

exercise, voting. and i will always stand for our values, of human rights and dignity. in common purpose for a more secure, peaceful, and prosperous world. host: that from joe biden, accepting his party nomination. we are told that he will be back on the campaign trail early next month as the president also continues to travel. he will be in kenosha, wisconsin, the site of the latest police shooting, on tuesday. joseph with this follow-up on the maga hats, confirming the fact they are made in the usa. thank you for that tweet, saying this is a copy of the hat made in the usa. we go to patrick in louisville, kentucky. good morning. caller: good morning. neville chamberlain had the same attitude and aptitude that biden

has now. he wants to give into the terrorists. he gave into the terrorists of germany and japan and italy. see biden's how he feels about life. been 61 million to 70 million babies aborted since in3, since he's been government. his governmental and political policies have murdered those little babies. if a baby was born in 1973, that baby would be 47-year-old now. if one in 1983, 37. on and in 1993, 27, so so forth. today, if he was born, he would not be alive. is willingat biden

to sacrifice shows how he feels about life. into the persons --t do not care about life let's put it this way. if you went to ukraine, you held probably get a job if was president. if you want to china, you -- financiallybe beholden to us because we gave them hundreds of billions of dollars. those went to one of middle eastern countries, we gave them uranium. it is ludicrous to think that

biden would be -- i am more democrat than biden is. host: and you are voting for president trump? caller: i will vote for president trump because he is more democrat than biden. political science professor in ohio says these two conventions have offered very different pictures of reality in terms of where our country is now and what our future may hold. in a tweet saying for everyone who says trump cares about law and order, two words -- roger stone. laura is next, ohio, supporter of the biden-harris ticket. caller: good morning. year, let me say i am a 10 army veteran, and i firmly believe in our constitution. one of our main constitutional rights is freedom to speak and freedom to protest.

i do not agree with the looting and violence in any way, shape, or form, but i totally support the right to protest. now i would like to know how anyone can explain to me how sending in law enforcement to enforce a curfew of protesters is ok and acceptable and equal, but yet trump held a rally in a state that has a mandated, same as the curfew, it is mandated, on masking. but yet not one law enforcement officer went in there to cite, not one individual in there, for not complying with that mandate, much less send in a whole shipload of law enforcement in there to violently enforce the masking. how is masking violating your

right but controlling protesters not violating your right? that is a double standard. this goes right along with supporting the issue and the mentality that trump said. he can get away with anything, and trump and his supporters are being able to get away with violating the law and not being held accountable as any of the rest of us are. host: thanks for the call. we go on to brad, joining us from pennsylvania, supporter of the president. caller: good morning. appreciate your program. tohard as it is to listen some other people's opinions, i think it is something that needs a civil way. i am glad you have this platform. i just wanted to say that i watched both of the conventions in their entirety, both of them.

i do not know how many people can actually say they did that, but i actually did. very secure in voting for president trump in a couple of ways. i listened to some callers talk about, you know, their reasons, but i would just take it down to look who spoke to you. you had a bunch of celebrities, a bunch of people who live in really a different world than the mainstream american dies telling us what we should think. i thought that was disgraceful, how they used their vitriol and talked about this president instead of just laying out their vision for america. i was very pleased to see so walker's,e herschel civil rights leaders guys mentioned that this america includes all, everyone. and the democrats do not.

envision isica i truly the tent got big. what i saw, for the first time in my life -- and i teach history -- i see the republican party is transformed, is changing. and it is a better party. i am seeing that that tent get really big and become truly a teddy roosevelt type populist party, and the working man and woman in america understand -- they have lived for the last couple of years and watched their paycheck increase, their freedoms not become infringed, and then if you watch the violent protests on television in these democratic run cities for decades and decades and decades, it just seems there is an awakening now. so i thought the conventions did anice job of showing that vast difference between these two parties. one party is not even talking

about america, talking about a transformation into a socialist country. if you actually watch both conventions, it became clear to me there is an america that wants to hold onto traditional values that made us great and one that is diverse and scares the heck out of me. host: i want you to stay on the line, it with a story from the washington post from a reporter traveling across pennsylvania, a sign from erie, pennsylvania. you are from latrobe, pennsylvania. the story talks about the battle of yard signs. what are you seeing in your neck of the woods? caller: you see a lot more trump than you do biden, of course, but you do see biden signs, a did more biden than you hillary signs. i would say that is probably a statement. we had a local neighborhood

scandal -- all the trump signs were taken out of the yards and removed in a midnight caper where i live. it just seems like the tolerance -- one side preaches tolerance, the other actually delivers. it just seems like the trump supporters are not shouting in people's faces, but the biden supporters tend to be much more militant and not inclusive as far as being tolerant of someone else's view. host: thank you for the call. our last word from st. louis, missouri, donna, supporter of the biden-harris ticket. your thoughts about the last two weeks of the party conventions. caller: i would rather have bernie, but i will vote for biden. two things. i think from's older sister knows him better than anybody, and she says he has no morals. the reason trump will do or say anything to get reelected is he knows the minute he has not

president anymore, he will be prosecuted for a whole bunch of crimes. secondly, the republicans have fought social security and medicare since day one, and with trump, they smell success, finally, because they will try to do away with the payroll tax, which supports social security, and spend us into bankruptcy. host: thank you for the call. for all of you, your calls, comments, and authorizations -- observations in the first hour of "washington journal." later, we turn our attention to america's space program. we will talk to sean trende in a moment to discuss where things stand not only in the presidential race but also in key senate races. later, the author of the book "winning space: how america remains a superpower." you are watching and listening to c-span's "washington journal ." it is sunday as we wrap up the month of august.

>> tonight on q&a, a historian on his book the presidents versus the press. stealing money from the treasury, indiscretions during the war, a lack of patriotism during the revolution. all kinds of charges that were unimaginable. later cut a paragraph by his editor alexander hamilton made it clear that one of the reasons he was not standing for a third term was he could not take the implications of newspapers any longer. q&a.span's on tuesday, steven mnuchin

testifies before the house oversight and reform committee on the need for additional economic relief for children, workers, and families. live coverage of the hearing beginning at 1:00 eastern on c-span. listen live where you are on the c-span radio app. >> washington journal continues. ohio is thes from senior elections analyst for real clear politics. that's began with the presidential race. we are 65 days before election day. early voting will begin. where does the race stand right now? we haven't have a lot of polling because of the conventions. the posters take a little bit of a break during the conventions and then try to measure afterwards. right now, it does look like joe

biden is in the lead with a very healthy lead both of the popular vote and the electoral college. it's not such a huge lead that it's impossible for donald trump to close the gap. what happens in the battleground states, with joe inen campaigning pennsylvania, wisconsin, arizona. those of the key states for him. the president was in new hampshire friday. florida it a must when state for the republicans. walk us through those key battleground states. now, we have joe biden winning all of those states. off the top of my head it, i'm not sure about arizona, but i'm pretty sure. florida is a must win state. it's difficult to see a path through the presidency where

donald trump doesn't carry florida. at the same time, joe biden probably needs to win wisconsin in pennsylvania. arizona is a new battleground state. from 2000competitive until 2012. in 2016, hillary can claim close to winning it. we see a situation now where democrats are competing for. that may be a way for them to offset a loss in wisconsin. host: the biden harris ticket did not see a bounce after the democratic convention. is that unusual? guest: it is. biden went into the campaign -- into the convention with a sizable lead over an incumbent present. that's not something we see very often. it could be that people who are going to vote for biden have already decided and there wasn't a lot of low hanging fruit for

them to scoop up. the president?t he is hovering around 40% in the national polls. where does he have to pickup ground? guest: the president possible strategy is what it was in strategy -- 2016. in 2016 was appealed to lou caller voters, one of the reasons why you see this huge push on civil unrest in the cities, to get socially conservative blue-collar voters back on his side. the other thing i think he has with rural and small-town voters is to convince enough therbanites that he is not most dangerous option in 2020.

that's what he did in 2016. it's why his victory cost so many people off guard. he is a known quantity. on some of the ads by the president, social critic, medicare, medicaid issues are on the ballot. this is one of the ads. cutoe biden tried to medicare for decades. >> we should freeze federal spending. i meant medicare and medicaid. >> i tried a third time. >> now, joe biden is promising your benefits to illegal immigrants. costsent trump's lowering and expanding access. so security is often an issue in every election. it is this one any different? bitt: it's a little

different than past campaigns thethat it's harder to hang albatross of wanted to cut social security or medicaid around donald trump. he has come out forcefully against it. i think what's going on in that ad, people are predisposed to think democrats don't want to cut social security. what's probably going on is convincing people on the left who don't like joe biden because they think he's too conservative that it's worth it to stay home. that is probably the target for that ad. host: will it work? guest: i don't think so. this is a 2016 where donald trump is the outsider with no track record. he's been president for four years. the far-left despises him. i think it's going to be hard to convince bernie sanders to vote

for trump this time. host: the lincoln project group led by republicans disgruntled with the president, spending millions of dollars on advertising. don't let it define you. you can do this. i can tell you what i used to do. you, you can do it. oli's, kids that make fun. i don't know what i said. i don't remember. >> not the crappy out of them. you, i will pay for the legal fees. >> it's time for decency.

it's time for joe biden. >> it's going to change. i promise you. project isoln responsible for the content of this advertising. host: your thoughts about the lincoln process -- project? i think they do a good job of appealing to a certain type of republican, to the extent that they are wavering at all in the election. speaking, those ads reinforce attitudes about the president rather than be persuasive or change them in my view. that is one of their better ads. it gets at what is donald trump's weakness among a lot of

republicans, which is some of the things he said. things of that nature. i think that is one of their better ads. they sort of preach to the choir. host: this is a tweet from steven green. do the posters ever ask could you change your mind before the election? guest: they do. the problem with that question and this is a problem with all survey questions, people don't tell the truth. , it's notn by that even that people are necessarily line. it's that people want to think of themselves as open-minded. you don't want to tell people your mind is made up. we don't think of that as a virtue. the people who could actually change their mind is much smaller than the 30% who tell the pollster there voters up for

grabs. your phone get to calls. forer: i will be voting biden as soon as early voting begins. -- i don't follow donald trump much, the physically handicapped reporter that he mocked a few years ago. ago, a gopew years congressman went off the record and said it's an evil forest gump. that's donald trump. we don't fully understand the supporters that see this guy who advocates policies against their interest. they should go down to mar-a-lago and see how many look like them. the answer is none. host: thank you. guest: i think for people who

make the character argument, there's a reason mocking the disabled reporter was in that lincoln project added. for a lot of people, that was the low point for donald trump. that hit hard for our family. i think what people need to keep in mind is there are policy stakes in the election. conservatives, there wasn't much of a platform, people know what donald trump is about. for people who care about sports, i understand the reason for voting republicans. dale is next from cincinnati. he supports the president. caller: good morning. about biden,ing

trump is probably going to win. curious thei'm that thed the vitriol democrats have felt for the last four years, will it stop? that's my question. host: how do you answer that question? do you think the country will come together? caller: i do believe so. i'm kind of curious. americans are looking for checks. will leave it there. thank you for your question.

we will go back to sean trende. obama in 2012, barack made it, about republicans, that maybe if he got reelected, the fever would break. that's not how things went. presidents disliked obama. that didn't go down at all in the second term. it escalated. something similar probably happens with president trump. seemed spookytion to a lot of democrats, it was reinforced by a reelection effort. people would not be reassured or relieved or combed down by that. host: henry is joining us from michigan. good morning. caller: good morning. it, of mistake about

vote for donald trump and a vote for any republican on november 3 is a vote for death. the death of our democratic ofublic, the physical death hundreds of thousands of more americans because of this pandemic. i listen to c-span, trump collars say trump was sent to us by god. that, you have to believe that this pandemic, this plague was sent to us by god as well. that thisling you economic catastrophe, this death and destruction is going to continue. host: thanks from michigan. also, kimberly guilfoyle who is

the girlfriend of donald trump, jr. addressed the convention. here is a portion. is fearless, who believes in you and who loves this country and will fight for her. president trump is the leader who will rebuild the promise of america and ensure that every citizen can realize their american dream. ladies and gentlemen, fighters for freedom and liberty of the american dream, the best is yet to come! host: what did you think of the speech? to take mymost had earpiece out while that was going. she's been doing this for a very long time. she's been involved in politics for a long time. that's the speech you give at a rally in you're feeding off the

energy of the crowd, the crowd is feeding off your energy. if we had an in person convention, that would have brought down the house. we would view it very differently than we view this right now. it just seemed very off key. there was no response. why it that's probably didn't work and what made it jarring in the context of the convention. cnbc,the headline from the director of national intelligence will no longer give congress in person briefings on election interference, claiming the information is being leaked. rebuke froma strong joe biden and speaker pelosi. what's the significance of this? thingsyou hate to say that are important are inside baseball.

i think it's important. the fact that congressional staffers may be leaking these things, which i don't doubt they are. that's not an excuse not to comply with congressional oversight. congressional oversight is part of what makes our system function in normal times and in the middle of a pandemic. as far as electoral implications, most people don't have a firm understanding of separation of powers, don't care about things like that. they care about the economy and .he virus a lot more that's where we are. host: the president talked about this in louisiana. this statement from speaker pelosi.

yesterday in louisiana, this from the president. he brought information into the committee and the information leaked. they leaked the information. what's even worse, they leaked their own information. he got tired of it. he wants to do it in a different form. leakers are doing bad things, it's probably not even legal to leak. we will look into that separately. they were leaking the information. you wouldn't allow that in texas. he wanted to make sure that it doesn't leak.

host: that was the president yesterday in louisiana. written briefings are more precise and less to interpretation. hasill find who in congress an issue with reading comprehension. i come back to yes, leaking is a problem and it's been a problem for a very long time. fromdoesn't excuse you congressional oversight. it's a wildly disproportionate response to a legitimate problem. good morning, a supporter of the president in idaho. caller: good morning. how are you doing today?

can you hear me? host: go ahead. bring: i would like to two things to light. when you open that one page on your smartphone, you will see -- ifden and barack obama you look at the second reference aid, they of foreign doubled up on foreign aid. this is why they -- glutted president trump do? .e cut that foreign aid

had a goal in 2019. they increased it from george bush and bill clinton. american taxpayer $2 billion a year. $250,000.t down to we've got to stop. president trump is putting money back into the hands of american taxpayers. host: a lot of numbers there. your response to foreign aid and how this president is dealing with our allies? guest: it's a little out of my wheelhouse. is therstanding cost-of-living adjustments are tied into the inflation rate. in the middle of the great

recession, we didn't have a lot of inflation. the economy was contracting and banks were trying to inflate. that might be part of what's going on. the foreign aid budget is not that much of the annual budget. there's not as much money there as you think. has cutdonald trump foreign aid. i don't think that money has been redirected to the cost-of-living adjustment. that is something that is built-in and keyed off various factors in the economy. host: let's turn our attention to the senate. republicans are dying a pickup in alabama. colorado is a swing state that could go either way in terms of control of the u.s. senate. cory gardner is running for reelection. he's been challenged by john

hickenlooper. let's look at some of the ads in colorado and get your assessment of that race. >> let's get down to some real differences. i just like beer. he admits he would not be an effective senator. >> it wouldn't bring me any kind of satisfaction. lines to getarty things done. count on me to get things done. i'm cory gardner and i approved this message. >> why is the trump administration in court to get rid of protections for pre-existing medical conditions? and i was governor, we get health coverage for 500,000 more coloradans. i want to lower the cost of prescription drugs and make sure you can't lose coverage if you get covid-19.

i approve this message because we've got to stop fighting about health care and get to work over the costs. race inat is one senate colorado. what to the polls tell you? guest: there is so much going on in those ads. it's not a well polled race. is thatdo know hickenlooper has been a popular governor in colorado. isknow that cory gardner widely acknowledged as an adept politician. at the end of the day, this is a state that leans blue. it's not a blue state. it's winnable in the right conditions. in 2014, gardner won by a couple of points. evenis an uphill battle, for a talented politician. host: john is joining us from

washington. go ahead. caller: can you hear me? my question is why are we so and concerned with what is going on in the streets when we have corruption and human people likeand epstein and maxwell that haven't and itvestigated pertains to some of the leaders of this country and other countries? why are those things not been investigated. host: thank you. guest: epstein was being prosecuted when he died. maxwell was only recently arrested. there will be a prosecution there, that will get a lot of attention.

violence in the streets of american cities is a big story. i hear my friends on the left say the violence is brought on proportion compared to the peaceful protests occurring. in columbus, things have been quiet since an initial outburst. an argument that the story is getting too much attention. a the same time, it's legitimate thing for news agencies to cover. host: susan collins is seeking another term. -- challengedrged by sarah gideon. when the coronavirus hit, i didn't think we were going to make it. the paycheck protection program was written by susan collins. it allowed us to pay our

employees. i don't think we would be in business today. i want to thank susan collins for the paycheck protection program. collins and i approve this message. >> sometimes you are made to feel small. >> there is no special interest looking out for us. wrote the law to help small business and support health care. >> she expanded job-training programs. she supported vocational education. >> no business in maine is too small for sarah. >> i'm sarah gideon and i approved this message. susan collins is wearing a mask, she is social distancing. the battle over who will do more for maine? what's at stake in this race?

this is another race, in 2008, susan collins one by 20 point in the worst republican year since the 1970's. barack obama won the state handily. it says something about how the country has changed. she is in a lot of ways tied to the president. she came out of the old republican coalition, which was moderate. the republican coalition has ierump more toward a side. she is down the polesr by a few points. i think you see that in the ads she's running. she is trying to bolster her record of independence. that is what her brand has been

until the trump years. she has a tough reelection campaign. you were talking about someone who has one multiple elections in a blue state. i think you'd be foolish to counteract. host: victoria is in wisconsin. good morning to you. caller: good morning. the obama biden administration, president obama was the first black president. him, the man who is wanting to be the next president of the united states. they had eight years to address divide, theracial racial situations. why didn't they do it? now, it is president trump's fault? it's his problem. i am a senior citizen.

i'm not worried about social security. i'm concerned about the coronavirus. like most people, everybody in my community is practicing the guidelines as they change. terrified of the racial burning, that i can't wear might trump pat or trump t-shirt without fear of being attacked in my community because somebody doesn't like that i am for president. host: thanks from wisconsin. reelection campaigns are always about the incumbent, whether you say that's fair or unfair. the race issue in america is something that goes back into the 1600s. it's not something that a president is going to fix in

eight year term. it's not something a president can fix in a four-year term. it's a deep societal problem. reelection campaigns are referenda on the party in power. it's difficult for a president running for reelection to say what about the people who were there before me. americans based their vote on what's happened in the last four years. what's the record of the incumbent? do i one another four years of it? host: senator doug jones is facing tommy tuberville, the republican has the edge in this race. this is just a very difficult race for jones. against a2017 accusedan who had been of sexually assaulting a

14-year-old girl. that's a very different race than the race he currently has, donald trump is going to be at the top of the ticket. people would be very shocked if jones won reelection. host: john from staten island new york. go ahead. i'm not so much a biden slogan is he's trying to lose. becauseo vote for him trump is attacking the constitution constantly on tv. executeis to faithfully the law and to protect our nation from attack, even when russians are attacking our elections. has: the trump campaign this new attic, taking aim at the radical left.

more andats are going more left. >> many of the ideas we fought for their were considered radical are now mainstream. implemented, it will make him the most aggressive president. >> the radical left has taken over the democratic party. joe biden is marching in lockstep with them. they are promising to crush middle-class families with children's and new taxes. promising amnesty and health care for illegal immigrants. down energy shut exploration, killing jobs and hurting the economy. in joe biden's america, the radical left get whatever they want and you get to pay for.

they've already taken over the democratic party. don't let them take over america. what is your overall reaction? as an incumbent without a hist job approval rating, path to victory comes from bringing joe biden down to his level, convincing people that i might not be the greatest thing ever, but you're really not going to like joe biden. coined thecientists term negative partisanship. it's a theory that people don't side,h like their own they really dislike the other side. caller'see that in the comment.

that's what trump is playing on. you may not like me that much, you are really going to dislike this joe biden guy. this is from greg in lexington. how do you rate the truthfulness of this administration based on your fact checking? weightto my knowledge, we don't do fact checking of administrations. we do fact checks on the fact checkers, sometimes they get out of line. trump, one ofd the problems he has is he will have a good argument and then he will put the sales pitch on it and puff it up 20%. even when he has good arguments, he gets caught in these accusations of what came out of his mouth. that it'sxaggerated

unrecognizable. it's an exhausting term to cover in a lot of ways. host: here we go again, it's all obama's fault. republicans pretend that the george w. bush wall street housing jobs crisis never happened. back to your phone calls. brian is in washington state. caller: can you hear me ok? host: go ahead. caller: you are spot on earlier when you were talking about honesty when they are questioned about their intention when they go to the polls. i wanted to call in on the undecided line. kudos to you. i have a question in regards to the election. in the most current news coverage, we've got trump's

sister and the perversions of michael: beingnd the lawyer for falwell and trump , his name would come up afterwards. my question is, has this recent dilemma of negative stories about trump affected the republicans? has it caught the ear enough to deter some of his supporters you some sign they are doing it? as an exampledaho we had a lotting, of mail-in voting going on, did the mail-in voting in conservative states have any issues with fraud? i will ask the state of idaho to be used.

inre primary was male balloting and there was zero fraud. host: sean trende? tweet, you see the issue with saying trump had these problems, what about obama? the democrats say he inherited his problems. that'sat endless cycle, part of why most people are more interested in the incumbent doing lately. thehe question of whether bad news is affecting trump, the people who follow elections closely, it's easy to get in the weeds, the back-and-forth of different stories. we consume a lot of news. the average american voter is going to vote their political

preference. for the actual swing voters, most of them are looking at big picture issues. how is the coronavirus doing it? going to have a lot more of an impact on the president's campaign then questions about the jerry falwell, jr. scandal. about last question fraud, that is such a dicey issue. i almost hesitate to answer it. i shouldn't talk more than a minute. fraudnd short of it is if occurs, it does tend to be done during absentee ballot. we don't have a lot of evidence that occurs on a massive scale.

it's not something i can stand here. the types of concerns we've heard about it are overstated. host: jamie harrison is trying graham.lindsey is this race and play? guest: i don't think so. i think there was a story to be told back in late june when president trump was down 10 points. it looked like things might be getting out of hand. you might've seen a state like be incarolina that might play for democrats. since then, we've seen the polls shift toward donald trump. there is a momentum that biden

and harris had in june. they still have a healthy leader. it is something akin to what barack obama had in 2008. it doesn't look like donald is going to lose in a jimmy carter fashion, or the floor completely falls out. websiteu can go to the where they trend all of the .olling, not only nationally the president has gained ground, especially after the republican convention. back to your phone calls. good morning. caller: good morning. another caller stole my thunder theturning -- concerning one about this?

number one, people have -- we will see about it. we will see what happens. that is a tell that he doesn't know what he's doing. the massive amount people who were not supporting trump? boehner's, the paul projectthe lincoln people, mitt romney, they are not showing up for the republican party. i know this may be personal to you, how do you feel in your heart? you said you had a child who had autism or special needs.

how did you feel when you see a guy like this he was supposed to represent all of us mocking people like children who have special needs? thanks. i will listen. guest: on that final point, there have been a lot of things from donald trump that i didn't like in 2016. the comment about illegal immigrants being murderers, the famous call where someone asked him to condemn david duke and he wouldn't do it. he said his mirror -- earpiece was malfunctioning. impact,s got wrenching making fun of that disabled reporter was really horrifying for me. it had an impact on my folk choices in 2016. -- vote choices in 2016. it's easy to get bogged down in polls that show this or that.

certain point, you learn to look more at what the parties are doing than what they are saying. started to see increasing pressure, you've seen numbers of democratic politicians condemning looting unequivocally. legs to thee argument that donald trump is , at the same time, the fact that you've gotten silence from people like john boehner, the lincoln project people are not so silent. this tells you something about the state of the republican party. a lot of people in the establishment don't like donald trump. is a symptom of a larger problem that donald trump has an

upper middle class suburbs that were once the backbone of the republican party. why he'sess there is trailing in the polls right now. host: let's go to clay joining us from north carolina. good morning. question, i have seven brothers and sisters. they have left the democrat party to join the republican party. obama -- donald trump davis opportunity. my question is do you do polling andndependents african-americans that have switched over parties? to clarify, we are not a

pollster. we aggregate and interpret polls. sponsoring aout polls, it's outside what we see as our mission. valid point.aise a there is a broader point. donald trump claims they are going to do better among african-american voters than any republican since george w. bush. there is something to be said fort. we have seen some evidence among young male african-americans that he has done better. whether that survives the storyline of the last month with --ck lives matter host: we lost the signal. we will try to get him back. let's hear from some of you. jeremy is in eau claire, wisconsin. milwaukee, i'm right

off line. i am close to the inner city of milwaukee. i heard the individual who is upset. which cap toe out put on my head when i exit my door. if the individual you are interviewing could express to us how this administration is so out of the loop as to oppose to other administration. nprst heard a comment on about how they've never been able to manage the situation from the executive branch. point, this is been bothering me for months. i take it personally when that

is said. i hope he can address my initial comment. signal witht the our guest. sometimes this happens. ann.is a tweet from promoted vigilante justice. a christian fundraising site has raised 200,000 dollars for the kenosha shooter. mark is joining us from omaha nebraska. himer: i want to have address, i think the polls are off. i think the silent majority is really silent on trump when they ask questions.

i think the polls are going to be off 10%. recently, i was hanging out with friends. i'm an older person. seenof us -- we haven't each other since high school. out when something came up, nine out of the 10 were trump supporters, which surprised us all. think trumping, i is going to blow him out. i think biden picked the wrong vice presidential candidate. biden is a likable person. he chose a very unlikable vice just with not republicans, even when she was running for president. she came in eighth or ninth place.

very unlikable to democrat constituents. thanks for making that. ust: sean trende is joining from columbus. there could be an undercount of trump supporters? guest: that's a common argument out there. in light of what happened in 2016, it's an understandable one. i don't know that it's right. the polls can be off by random chance 1% or 2%. when you get to a point where the swing states are within one or two points, donald trump can definitely win. error, 10a systemic points would be huge. it would be unprecedented. i don't think i would count it. host: we've got this message from florida. what did you think of nancy

pelosi urging joe biden not to debate? know exactly what the strategy is with what she's been doing lately. if she's trying to rev up the democratic base, if she's just had it with this president. host: we apologize. we are having some technical issues with our guest in columbus. this is another tweet from anthony. lincoln gas think the project could become the lincoln the lincolnst think project could become the lincoln party? caller: i just want to make some comments. there are three things people are not talking about. time,is no wikileaks this

there is no hillary clinton. hillary.dn't like i just think it was locked. he didn't know he was going to win. they say he was shocked that he one. i think he got a lot of help and 16. the media is giving him a lifeline with these protests going on. they keep bringing it up. it's peaceful protest going on. i understand to get some violence here and there. the media are trying to throw him a lifeline. host: ingrid is here in washington dc. good morning. caller: is that me? great. forally have a question your fact checkers or your gas. people are talking about lies

the president makes. it his speech the other night, he talked about covid and how our country is doing better than all of the developed countries. yesterday, i had not understood that. i've been looking at the rate of death per capita. that's not the number he's talking about. he's talking about the percentage of cases, people who are diagnosed and then recover. i haven't done the math. you have to get a different set of numbers then water on the charts. the possibility exists that he might be right. host: thank you for the call. speaking of numbers, another covidilestone, 25 million

cases worldwide. johns hopkins has been keeping track of coronavirus. exceeded toll has 840,000 locally in 188 countries. mary is joining us from washington. go ahead. caller: good morning. i watch you guys all the time. crazy, time for biden, definitely not for the president. the thing was, i didn't really watch the show or whatever they want to call it. biden wasn't there, that's our house. that's not the trump white house.

that is the american people's house. the other thing i was going to can they fire the postmaster general, the one that's causing all the trouble if they do have mail-in ballots? change ifould only there is another administration. joann is joining us from pennsylvania. good morning. --ler: host: we will go to regina in pennsylvania. caller: i took a little issue with the last guest that you lost. not ationed something is big deal, republicans and big -- trump are making a big deal. sometee voting it requires kind of application from you to be sent back in with personal

information to get the application back. that's not they'll in -- mail-in voting. she basically said when you have wholesale sending of ballots, you have no way of knowing if it was ever livered. public interest legal fund. she knew what she was talking about. i think this man should listen to her. balloting is more credible than mail-in voting, which is dangerous. we werean trende talking about you while we lost the signal. about malin versus absentee voting? in versus absentee voting? guest: we have some states that

are 100% malin. colorado, oregon, washington, especially colorado being a swing state. there is not a lot of evidence of massive voting fraud. say it never to happens or the concerns are completely unjustified. it expand suddenly nationwide, the people who are thinking this is going to flip millions of votes, there is not the evidence to support that belief. we do have states that have done widespread absentee voting and it's been scrutinized heavily. , we apologizende for some of the technical issues with our signal in columbus. we appreciate your time and hope you will come back again. guest: thank you.

host: we will turn our attention to the space program and our role in the world. we have a new book looking at winning space, how america remains a superpower. washingtontening to journal on this sunday morning. we are back in a moment. >> monday night on the communicators, texas republican congressman will heard talks about cyber issues facing the u.s. and why he thinks china wants to pass the united states as a superpower. to pass49, they want the united states of america as the sole superpower in the world. by 2049, that is 100 years of communist rule in mainland china. the way they surpassed the united states is by being a leader in future technology.

5g. that is why they have been stealing intellectual property. that is why they have been bullying other countries in order to buy their products. that is why they are trying to be a leader in technology. >> congressman will hurt monday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span two on the committee caters. -- communicators. on tuesday, steven mnuchin testifies before the house oversight reform committee on the urgent need for additional coronavirus economic relief for children, workers and families and the administration's implementation over key stimulus ed earliermplement this year. watch on the c-span radio app. washington journal continues. host: joining us is rendon why shirt -- brandon weichert.

thank you for being with us on c-span. guest: thank you for having me. host: how do we remain a superpower? guest: we will need to have a coordinated strategy that high-tech strategy in the bellman, specifically related to the human spaceflight program in nasa. and a large, dedicated investment into the new united states spaceports. host: you write the following quote. the situation between russia and the united states is far more akin to that of the united states and imperial japan, leading into the second world war. the strategic cultures are distinct. what's more, they are separated by geography and time. but the rationale is eerily the same. can you explain? guest: basically, we see this also with china. with russia, they have a very explicit strategic aim. that is they basically want to create buffer zones around what they think is weak and permeable

borders. and we see this with their current attempts to reclaim parts of ukraine. you see this with their attempts to meddle in eastern europe and evenpoland and moldova or finland or norway as well. and the reason is because the historical objective on the part of russia, they want to create a buffer zone on the western border with europe and they want to be able to basically kind of have a safe space if you will. and we saw this with japan in the previous century where the japanese were interested in in asia. and in order to have their dominant position held, they needed a thought to push the americans out of what they ansidered to be, to use russian term, there near abroad. something similar is that play in russia, particularly in eastern europe. china has a similar thought.

i focused in the opening chapter on russia because russia is actually deploying systems in space that could destroy our satellites. host: you say that the u.s. is risking what you are referring harbor, in order to prevent this from happening, which should be washington's primary goal, washington must take action today. time is not on america's side. when you say a space pearl harbor, and attack from who? guest: it could be russia, it could be china. they have similar capabilities. in the book, as i said, russia is deploying what are known as, technically they are called co-orbital satellites. -- wessians refer call them space talkers. russians say hey, this tiny satellite is a repair drone.

if our communication satellite goes down, we can use the time your satellite to repair -- the tinier satellite to repair our system. it is dual use in nature. in a time of war, the russian could use -- russians could use the tiny satellites like a james trailillain and behind one of our sensitive satellites like the constellation or the immuno os -- muos. they could knock those systems out of orbit which would render our forces at sea, on land and in the air and cyberspace blind. it would give the russians or the chinese, it would give the russians in this case an advantage over armed forces defending eastern europe. host: how big or how real of a threat is that? guest: it is a significant threat, i think.

we know that they have been watching the systems, the russians in particular have been watching the systems in orbit for several years. there are many who would claim, overstate the threat, but i think these people tend to underplay or downplay the threat. too much to our weakness. just like pearl harbor, we did couldlieve the japanese use their technology, particularly aircraft carriers in that case the way they did to go so far away from their homeland and attack in such an unconventional way and do so much damage to our key strategic base in pearl harbor. something similar i think could happen with the space talkers in space. also, the chinese are developing systems to knock out our satellites as well. we have to keep our eye on china. there is a longer -- they are the longer-term threat. in this specific case, the

russians are sending systems in orbit that can and will be used to knock out our systems in orbit. host: i want to frame our next question in terms of where we are today with training scientists and engineers and mathematicians, especially in light of covid with so much virtual learning on the high school and college level. 63 years ago in the book, you quoted dwight david eisenhower who in november of 1957 said the in the combined category of scientists and engineers, a greater number than the united states and they are producing graduates at a faster rate. the trend is disturbing, we need scientists in the 10 years ahead. plus years ago. where are we today? guest: obviously we still produce some of the world's best scientists. if you look at countries like, in this case, china, they are heavily committed to sending their young people to learn

stem. science technology, engineering and math. in china, they had a plan. they wanted to become a workshop of the world and we let them. but they did not want to just be a workshop of the world. they did not just want to be a manufacturing economy. all of the money they have made over the past 30 years from becoming a manufacturing hub and a logistics hub from the world economy reinvested and they reinvested in the knowledge economy and the economy of stem. they have been sending people, for 30 years now, abroad to learn from the top universities and scientists throughout the west. those people come back home to china and they then become the nucleus of indigenous scientific research innovation. as they build back infrastructure, that knowledge infrastructure, in this case in china, the western scientists and western businesses see that infrastructure and they say we want to do business over there.

and so ultimately that is why you have these companies like google which is very much an american creation, having no problem talking about going over to china and doing artificial intelligence research over there. that is why you have companies looking to do business in china for biotech research and, yes, for space technology development. obviously all high-tech sort of undergirds the country's national space program. they are connected. 50'seisenhower said in the -- 1950's, i think the united states is in a similar position today. we need to start ramping up investment in the beginning into r&b and into the stem-based educational field to stay competitive. host: let me follow up on china. you said china wants to harvest the resources from the moon. i am curious, what does the moon have that we want or potentially have? guest: the moon, we believe has

a bevy of what is known as rare earth minerals. these are minerals that we need to develop advanced technology. your laptop, your smartphone. they are built with rare earth minerals. this is one of the reasons why china has been so hot and heavy in developing. africa has a lot of rare earth there. we know that just sitting near the surface of the moon, there is a lot of rare earth there harvest, could use, sell and dominate the rare earth market. in 2010, the chinese attempted to take over the rare earth mineral market. they have a lot of advantages there. just imagine if they were to go to the moon, where it is a lot of rare earth everywhere and be able to monopolize those resources. there is also an isotope known as helium-3, which they think could potentially be used in a

few nuclear fusion developments. china is heavily invested in alternative energies, not just nuclear fusion energy but also space-based solar power which is different from the solar power we have. with helium-3, they think they could power a city like shanghai cleanly with a canister of about keepig and be able to themselves energy sufficient so that they would not have to import so much oil across what they think are vulnerable maritime supply lines that the u.s. navy could cut off at any moment and they could instead bring it in from the moon and from the asteroid belt as well and sort of do indigenous energy production and become the new great power in energy. host: our guest is joining us the assume -- via zoom. his book how america remains a superpower.

give us a call at (202) 748-8000 in the eastern times and. for those of you out west, (202) 748-8001. we will get to phone calls. you say president trump's various remarks in the 2016 -- about ae 2016 campaign more robust presence in space are heartening. it indicates a strategic seriousness that the last four euros private -- four u.s. presidents have liked. -- lacked. guest: that is correct. i looked at the last four presidents and there has just been a decline. they make great speeches about being able to do all of this wonderful stuff in space but they never follow through. i understand you have to blame congress but it requires presidential leadership to get

some of these big ticket items done. this is not a question of could we be spending that money on more earthbound issues. the issue is, our society in particular when it comes to satellites, our society relies completely on function, not just the military. you cannot log onto facebook anymore without signals going into space. atm ornot access your purchase gas at a gas station if you are using your card like i do without having your signals go through space. if we lose satellite, we go back to a pre-1970's era of existence. our society is frankly not conditioned for that type of existence. president trump is the first president in my life who is -- has not only talks a big game but he has actually followed through on resolving a lot of strategic vulnerabilities, specifically with our satellite constellations.

go to victor, joining us from silver spring, maryland. caller: good morning. i am 73 years old area die am legally blind. i have been for the space program practically all of my life. talked about it all the time on talk radio. and some of the spinoffs have helped me as a blind person. i saw the first talking calculator in 1976, when my father had to come up with a calculator for his blind daughter to take a science course. i saw the first talking calculator in 1976. around that time of year, the first reading machine for the blind came out.

only talked a big game but has followed through. we should give credit where credit is due. i am sorry you feel i am not being honest but i'm complete honest. caller: on military spending, we are spending 36% of military spending. we have military bases in 80 countries. homeland security is another.

i wanted to hear opinion on the national nuclear security and ministration within the department of energy and why the to part one of energy is when the military should be doing that. guest: they are doing a lot of research with nuclear technology. in terms of the military budget, i'm somebody who says there are areas we can probably find agreement with our friends on the left in terms of maybe we should cut some things. maybe we should not have so many bases around the world. the one area i'm serious about is we need to be more robustly involved in space. space defense, defending our satellites, creating -- finally

getting space-based missile defense, which we can do. we have not had the leadership since reagan to do it. the technology has finally caught up with the rhetoric. it is just a question of willpower. if you look at what north korea and iran are doing, no matter how any trips north korea we may make to make a deal, we cannot ever seem to put that nuclear genie back in its bottle. we see with your own as well, no matter whether we have a deal or the surge capacity to ramp up a nuclear weapons arsenal. we need to be spending less money on bases in iraq and more money on developing systems that will defend our homeland from a nuclear rogue states and possibly from rival great powers like russia and china. ofterms of the department energy, that is a separate issue. i understand what you're saying, and i do think the military should have a greater role but

that is not related to what i am talking about. from let's go to jan california. caller: i would like to tell you you are doing a great job at your station. is telling me absolute truth and such good information. is i disagree that russia may be first. you have to watch out very much for china trying to get the entire world. are aware of that and frightened. i am frightened of biden. he is going to have the football and he does not talk to us. he does not come to see us.

that he should have the football without anybody else making that decision. careful.e should more the higher ground is a dangerous place. in the book, as i said earlier, i spend probably 70% of the book talking about what china is doing. it is not just in the military round -- realm. with china, everything is a military battleground, the economy, technology and innovation. spectrumd of a full there, what the israelis referred to as the gray zone. with russia, the reason i talk about russia is because they have been launching systems for the last two or three years into orbit that will physically threaten our systems in orbit.

it is not as easy of a fictional china. -- as easy as with china. we cannot let that happen. that is going to require a more robust way of meeting the threat. russia is launching systems in orbit to threaten ours, to hold ours hostage because they want to keep us back from eastern europe. space force needs to focus on sending up our own satellites to our early missile warning systems. that way, it is harder for ourian space to threaten systems. we would have our bigger

satellites how a secret services jumps in front of a leader if he is being shot at to dive at a bodyguard satellite. we also provide greater situational awareness. and it would provide a new form of retaliatory capability. in terms of that, the more that we keep pushing moscow in front of -- over syria or ukraine, the more they get closer to china. they don't like china. they also don't want to be pushed around by the united states. what we are seeing in terms of the last couple of years is that the russian and chinese space agencies are getting closer and closer together, doing joint cooperation missions. that is something we should not want to do. what i propose doing is maybe do a limited new partnership with nasa and the russian space program. we want to be involved in another major project with nasa. it should be conditioned --

contingent on them not offloading technology to the chinese. threat can be illuminated if we have a better diplomatic stance toward russia. if we start taking into account some of their concerns. i think that can be mitigated. with china, it is very different. china wants to knock us out. they want to replace us, not just on earth in the cosmos as well. that will mean we need allies and we need a greater level of resources and funding available to combat that threat over the next 10, 20 or 30 years. host: if you are listening on c-span radio or channel 124, we are talking with brandon weichert. he is talking about his book, winning space, how america remains a superpower. this is from michael, the u.s. has much ground to wake up -- make up. the government should hire you on. muska understands how to motivate and how to lead -- musk

understands how to motivate and how to lead. i believe china is going to moon to -- the moon to obtain helium-3. helium-3 is very rare on earth but abundant on the lunar surface. on both of these points, your reaction? guest: you have very smart viewers. they are correct. musk is a visionary in terms of what he has been able to do. i wish we could give him more resources because he has an objective of getting human beings, specifically americans to mars. and he wants to do it asap, as soon as possible. giving him more. if we would leave it up to the government of bureaucracies alone, they have proven after 30 or 40 years that they can't do it. we have to rely, until recently,

on the russians to get people into lower orbit. we don't leave leo anymore. we should have been going back to the moon from the 1970's onward. we should have a base on the moon. we should not still be talking about it in 2020. it is a strategic imperative now. the chinese are there. they have a rover on the dark side of the moon testing the soil. the lunar lander will be launched in the next year. it will be a sample return mission. take the u2 to rover and they will bring it back to beijing and they are hoping to determine that there is enough resources available to warrant the investment into a lunar colony by 2024. the democrats in congress have already said to nasa that your mission plan is to get to the moon in 2024 and it will be scrubbed. we will not fund it, no earlier

than 2028. that is not good enough. china is licking their lips, saying the americans will be out of the game. just like the americans were out of the game with the south china sea. i have to point out, the head of the chinese lunar program said to audiences in 2018 that china views the moon as the south china sea. off view mars as an island the philippines coast. that tells you the chinese have a geostrategic objective for taking the high ground of space. --is not just wrecking taking out satellites like the russians want to do. it is to take space, the moon, the asteroid belt and mars and go beyond. we, as a country, i don't think would be able to live with ourselves or be able to prosper in a world in which china has monopolized the high ground. it would be akin to our forefathers letting the wild west beat monopolized by britain or spain or another country. we would not develop along the

way that we have and we would not have the same kind of security or opportunities i think that we have today because of that. host: which is what you say in your book, another excerpt. clear, the united states cannot afford to leave things as they are with the legal regime governing space. the world will move on without the u.s. at the helm in orbit and beyond if washington continues during on this matter. they would go from superpower to middle power. rob is next from independence, missouri. good morning. caller: good morning, gentlemen. brandon, i'm sure your book is nice. i probably would not use it. because of the references you put into donald trump. trump only cares about one thing and that is ratings. he does not understand science. redid thesharpie and

path of the hurricane which basically conflicted what the national weather service was saying, which, i'm sorry, i rely on that more than donald trump for the weather. you are completely wrong and this whole space force things is a space farce. it is baloney is what it is. my real comment or my actual comment and recent call is i wish c-span would get rid of this 30 day call policy because, especially this close to the election. secondly, people have multiple phones in the house and they can call on several phones whereas i have one phone. it is unfair to people like me who can only place one phone call every 30 days while others get to use multiple phones to place phone calls. maybe mr. lamb can look into that policy. i would appreciate that. host: thank you for the suggestion. we will get a response on the earlier point.

guest: if you want to use my book for a prop, you are welcome to. i will commute to purchase it and i might -- welcome you to purchase it and i might sign it for you. the fact you don't like president trump is irrelevant to the conversation. he is doing it. whether he believes in -- i was critical of the noaa thing that happened last year. i wrote about it. that is irrelevant. the point is he is doing something that will benefit the country in the matter of space. and if you don't approve of that because you think orange man is always bad, that is on you. i feel very sad that we would negate the progress that has been made. the previous administration did very little in space. they made a point of doing very backward looking mentality that we need to focus on earth. earth is part of the solar system. system, asof the

much as our environment is part of a system on earth, the earth itself is part of the system. i believe that mankind, specifically the united states, have a greater and more proactive role. elon musk is certainly not a trump supported. he has been very positive about the space policy coming out of this administration. it is a concerted, coordinated strategy. it has a long-range view. this is the stuff that we used too presidents to know how to do. strategy.ong-term whether the president has done it, people like scott pace have done it, they are doing it. we should be applauding them. this is something frankly all americans should be brought together and it should be a ratings getter. this is awesome. i don't know how you look at a rocket launch -- i don't know launch ontch a rocket earth and return

guest: you are right about the parts being shipped overseas. what i was talking about earlier with russia's space program is we have a tendency to pop up our -- prop up our enemies. this has been a failing of the last four or five presidents from both parties. this is another reason i think president trump has the following he has is because he is talking to these issues as well. but, when it comes to the space program, we used to invest at a federal level into r&d. my libertarian friends think that silicon valley is a libertarian paradise. it was u.s. tax dollars used in the 1940's and 1950's to invest in things that now the silicon valley took. into things like computer technology. what happened was when the investment was made, venture capital came in and said the risk has been reduced. we can now start investing and innovating. that is what happened. that is how our system has worked and that is how it is supposed to work. we get in return, there is an argument to be made that maybe we should be getting more dollars in return from these fields. that is something i think that should be discussed as well. in terms of how the system has worked, we have invested in the creation of the infrastructure that has allowed for investors

to come in from the private sectors and to innovate. -- the how you had internet was a small dod project that after it became -- after it was built, the private sector came in and expanded on it and created this thing we now know as the internet. it required a partnership. keynes met adam smith. that is how it works. there has been an imbalance. i agree that maybe the private sector or the parasites as you refer to them, maybe they take too much. the bottom line is now that we have seen for 30 or 40 years that the federal are indeed budget has been declining. the risk is too high. of a is a great example new alloy that google likes invested in. x invested in.

it would require an additional $200 million investment to see if it would work. google killed it. if this were china with all of the state funding they have, they would have thrown the $200 million at it. if it works, they have a new strategic advantage and they have a new thing they can sell to the rest of the world and make dependent on their product. and so we need that goose from the goosing of the system from the federal government and from there, allow the private sector to innovate spinoff technology. host: let me go back to what we were talking about earlier with regard to the alarm that president dwight eisenhower gave the american people. you said today that the u.s. finds itself in a similar position that it found itself on october 4, 1957 when the white house and our -- dwight eisenhower gave that speech. the only difference is that most americans today have failed to recognize just how dangerous a position the country of the u.s. is in. thet: basically, back in

1950's when sputnik happened, americans pretty much were panic stricken about, my goodness, the reds have the ability to control the high ground. what does that mean? it was a shock. we had known just a few years before that that we had won world war ii because of our air dominance. if there is space that is higher than the air, maybe they can control that and threaten us and they can put nuclear weapons up there. who knows? encouraged us and it leaders from both parties, eisenhower and jfk especially came in and said we will take space and we will get more competitive in space. we will throw the money we need to and over a decade, we will allow things to mature with this extra funding and extra leadership and committed leadership and we will leapfrog the soviets. that has not happened yet in terms of the new space race,

specifically with china. that has not happened yet. the chinese launched an impact satellite missile in 2007. they did it without warning anyone and it was in violation of international law. international agreements maintain that a country that is going to do something like that has to won the world because there are 70 systems and it could damage -- so many systems it could ricochet and damage them. they just did it and they created the world's largest brie cluster that is still in -- debris cluster that is still in orbit today. why did they do that? it was a signal to the americans that we will not follow your rules, we do not respect you, we do not care about collateral damage, we are going and we are going now and we are going to take it. that was a sputnik moment. a military sputnik moment. nobody paid attention. -- haveese have made

managed to get quantum internet going. that is a sputnik moment. we have had a few sputnik moments in space and high-tech rnd and we don't take heed. that is a problem. that is why i talked about the need for a $1 trillion or more investment in the space program, in the high-tech rnd field and in the education field. the book, winning space, how america remains a superpower. our guest is brandon weichert. he is the author of the weichert report, world news done right. this is what the website looks like. he will go to crake in tulsa, oklahoma. good morning. good morning. i appreciate your book. spaceerican that says exploration is a waste, they don't understand what is happening. preston trump is positioning ash

president trump is positioning us toward the second industrial revolution. -- president trump is positioning us toward the second industrial revolution. when mining is brought back, it will be the equivalent of giving every american arrays in income through lower energy prices. it is very possible that this will be a huge room and the public-private partnership that nasa is doing is not for no reason. why would private industry be interested? there will be a great income increase for americans. we are basically ahead of the russians and everyone else on a land run. we can claim areas that are ours and there are russian probes up but we are capable of having manned areas. an organ space station as well as a station on the moon. we are getting ready to prosper. trump andk president

americans should for promoting that. guest: we would still be talking about it 20 years from now. there is a real chance with the leadership that has been given and the resources and priorities that have been given to this program that this goldrush, you are absolutely right. i talk about this extensively in my book, the space mining boom. when i worked on capitol hill, we passed a law in 2014 that basically said any company that can reach an asteroid for instance and mine it, the mineable resources they can turn around and sell to the people on earth. it is predicted that a minimum, minimum of $1 trillion -- a $1 trillion face economy is waiting to be had. -- space economy is waiting to be had. the chinese know this, the russians know this and we know this. as the caller had, -- caller said, we have had the ability to take these resources and we have not done it. it is because of bureaucracy and a lack of leadership over the

course of a decade. we have not focused on it and now we are in a position where the chinese are catching up and russians are doing things to catch up in specific areas and to complicate our plans. we need a major leapfrog moment. because we need to take those resources. of $1 trillion, it is significant lee morgan. a minimum, think of what we could do with $1 trillion -- significantly more. with of what we could do $1 trillion. we should be spending on more terrestrial pursuits. darn it, if we had space mining, that money we get from taxing the space mining activity can be used to fund better social safety programs. interest that would arise in young people when young people start going more into fields that pay more like science, technology, engineering and math and start dreaming of

a better tomorrow. it is not pie in the sky. our rivals are thinking like this. there is such a thing as national prestige and nationalism in space. our rivals believe in this and they are pushing hard to catch up and leapfrog us. we have a finite window where we can stop them from catching up and then leapfrog them and stay in the lead. space mining is a key sector. joining us from morgantown, west virginia. go ahead. caller: i wanted to preface my question with a quote from stem in the u.s.. the quote is asians are over ed.resent 17%.f -- with second and third generation

asians, the rhetoric of us being in competition and china being i amnemy, at least what hearing from you in terms of the state policy you are advocating, it seems a little under socialized. i don't want us to go backwards in time in terms of the discrimination the japanese faced in world war ii where every japanese was question about their loyalty -- questioned about their loyalty to the united states. i am not saying you are saying that but i will raise that as a question. host: thank you for the call. guest: i am not advocating racist policy in the slightest. i think one of our problems with this has been that we don't talent talent -- retain when they come over here to train. they end up leaving the country and going back to china. there is a discussion to be had changee -- how do we

certain things to make sure we remain competitive. i am not talking about racist. i am talking about china the country. it is not me saying they are an enemy. they have made it clear they are in a competition with us. all you need to do is go through and listen to what the president has said since 2012. he views this as a competition. we need to respond accordingly. i take what my rivals say at heart. if they say they are coming for us and they want to displace the americans, if they want to say writethey want to historical wrongs, we have to be aware of this. historical wrongs, we have to be aware of this. person before he died told graham allison, he was a great singaporean leader, a personal icon of mine. somebody i think is one of the

great leaders of the 20th century, he said to audiences that the year before he died, he warned the chinese audience of divide thee, do not wolf's milk of nationalism. in china, they educate their young people to never forget national humiliation. they educate young people to actively view western countries that had assorted -- a sordid history in china. they educate the young people. they have a sense of grievance toward those countries and we have to be in. we have to do to them on some level that which they did to us. i think that is a very unhealthy view. i don't think it is the way things should go but that is what they are doing. we in our country have to respond accordingly. i'm not saying we should go to war with china. i am saying we should baton -- respond in a competitive manner. we should be aware of the

threats they have imposing. they have been trying to blind american pilots from their face -- face in djibouti. they are doing things to directly harm americans. what is the threat? it's capabilities plus intent. they now have capabilities that they did not have five years ago. that is what i am talking about. so, we need to stay competitive. yes, we need to look at certain things with the way we do stem education and the way we retain talent. we need to educate our own indigenous foreign populations better. i had an air force general asked basically we do about wanton anti-americanism. he said they are mostly your age. mostly millennials. i said that is a department of education thing. a curriculum problem. you have a lot of political

education going on for the last 30 years. it is a problem. we should focus on the basic s. it is sort of the bobby knight version of strategy. bobby knight took a basketball team of ok players and he would make them competitive i sticking to the fundamentals. that is what we need to do. stick to the fundamentals. host: quick question, quick response. kelly from washington, go ahead and be brief. caller: i thought it was funny how such a nonpolitical subject can be so politicized in the united states. if anything can bring back the

together, it could be this. host: we will go to woodbridge, virginia. caller: it doesn't matter what a democrat or republican proposes. the obama administration proposed protecting satellites. the u.s. and china were trying to find a way to bring it down. the obama administration proposed the russians were jamming our signals on our destroyers. sayh mcconnell republicans trump is going to have a space force and every thing is ok. it doesn't matter who proposed the idea. it has to be done. we need to protect our satellites. we don't have a choice. host: thank you. guest: i agree in principle with your previous color. obama was briefed on many of these issues. but in terms of the presidential notership, he did prioritize it. it was not listed as a priority until the last year obama was in office.

the chinese were building lasers to knock out satellites at least as early as 2013. our satellites are being left vulnerable in 2012, 20 13 and 2014. when i worked on the hill, that was what inspired me to work on this project. they were getting briefings. our previous presidents, not just obama, they made these great speeches about what we are going to do in space and it was never followed through. it is fair to say that the republicans in congress did not prioritize this. the point is now we have a president who is using the pulpit to get congress to do what he wants them to do which is good for everyone in this case in space. jack davenport in iowa, good moring. we are brief on time. caller: how much of a threat does this post to our technological development? host: thank you, jack. guest: it could be.

we know that there are some who do end up becoming spies and we need to be aware of that. ultimately, most of the chinese who come here do not want to go home. we make them go home. we will have to have a discussion on how we balance the need for tougher integration -- immigration policies with the need that if we are going to bring people from arrival country to be educated in high tech, we will need to figure out a way to keep them and not have it where they go back and become the founders of the next great threat to us. when they go back to china, china wants them to become the leaders in their country and treats them like they are kings. we want to be able to stay competitive. if we are going to train them up, we have to keep them. it is not just a foreign student thing. when my wife was at yale, her cohort, american students as well were being targeted by chinese companies to do genetic research. you will get great money and all

the things you need. you will have financial needs met and student loans repaid. just come to china and build a genetics lab. that is not just going to asian students. that is going to students of all backgrounds at elite universities. what we need to do is start being aware of the threat that all of our well-trained young people are being targeted and we need to figure out how to keep them here and we need to figure out how to stay competitive. that is the big thing here. that is what we need to worry about in terms of education at the higher end. the: you mentioned potential of a modern-day paul harbor, space -- pearl harbor. space pearl harbor. what is the challenge that we face? ourt: they are targeting satellites for everything we require from military projection to basic communication. if those satellites are knocked out, we lose the ability to have a modern society and the enemy, russia, china or even north could runiran

roughshod over our military and allied forces or could devastate the american economy i making us unable to do transactions and unable to committee kate with each other's. . we would be a pre-1970's culture in a 2020 world and that cannot work. host: winning space, how america retains its power, brandon weichert joined us. a reminder all of our convention coverage is available on our home page. book tv on crrn span 2 today and american history tv all day on c-span 3. enjoy the rest of your weekend. have a great, savel safe, and healthy week ahead.

>> book tv has top nonfiction books and authors every weefpblgt tonight at can the eastern yale university professor on his book life of a clansman which looks at white supremacy through the lens of his great great grandfather a member of the cue clucks clan. interviewed by cheryl cash m. professor of law, civil rights and social justice. then susan eisenhower examines the leadership style of her grandfather and the important decisions he made.