consider legislation promoting clean energynt of technology. considers, the senate nominations and on c-span3, robert redfield joins other public health officials for a senate hearing on the federal response to the coronavirus. in the afternoon, the head of aboutdget office talks economic projections before the budget committee. the supreme court holds a memorial service for the late justice ruth bader ginsburg at 9:30 am. following the ceremony, her casket will lay in repose for the public to pay their respects. up on "washington journal," we have a look at today's

headlines. later, we are joining -- joined by terry madonna of franklin & marshall to talk about pennsylvania's role as a battleground state this election year. we have an obligation under the constitution, should we choose to take it vantage of it, with a president of the same party as the senate to advance a nomination. >> republicans say we do not care about anything. senate, thehe institution. just move forward. everything americans value hangs in the balance. the looming battle over president trump's upcoming supreme court nominee dominates capitol hill come out with senate democrats warning they will retaliate if they win control the chamber and the white house on election day. we will talk with democrats only on this wednesday, september 3. what is the best strategy for

your party on filling supreme court vacancy? eastern,ve in the central part of the country, (202) 748-8000. mountain pacific, (202) 748-8001 . you can also join us by texting with your first name, city, and state at (202) 748-8003 or on twitter @cspanwj and facebook.com/c-span. yesterday, it became clear that senate republicans have the votes they need to move forward on president trump's nominee after utah senator mitt romney had this to say. [video clip] >> i recognize we may have a court which has more of a conservative bent than it has had over the last few decades, but my liberal friends have over many decades gotten used to the idea of having a liberal court. that is not written in the stars. i know a lot of people are saying we do not want that change. i understand the energy

associated with that perspective. it is appropriate for a nation that is center-right to have a court which reflects a center-right point of view, which are not changing the law from what it states but following the law and following the constitution. you know supreme court nominations take some time and there is not a lot of time before the election. would you support a lame-duck vote of democrats win the majority? >> i am not going to look at hypotheticals that might occur, but i have laid out what i intend to do. that would be the pendant -- not dependent upon timing. i do not know whether the decision will be made before or after the election. >> will it be alright if the final vote was before the election? >> my statement applies to the current circumstance, which the timing will be decided by the judiciary committee. have aenate republicans

slim majority of 53-47 and need .o keep four republicans with mitt romney, they could not lose more than three to four because of vice president mike pence breaking a time -- tie. the threshold has been lowered by senate democrats to a majority instead of 60 vote threshold. senate minority leader chuck schumer when he was asked about that yesterday. [video clip] >> return to a 60 vote threshold hade republicans would have democrats on this? theur first job stick majority back. everything is on the table -- is to get the majority back. everything is on the table. we are going to look at how we can produce change. host: that was the minority leader yesterday. he repeated what he told his

colleagues in a phone call over the weekend, nothing is off the table. the supreme court fight could reshape the senate. some of his colleagues and progressive groups want to the new york democrat to dismantle the legislative filibuster if vp -- vice president joe biden becomes president and they win control of the senate. schumer has not tipped his hand on the issue, but such a change would end a 200-year-old tradition and make the senate more like the house. other democrats suggest the party should move to pack the supreme court of the additional justices to dilute the power of the conservative majority. the hill newspaper reports this morning that some democrats are tamping down talks of expanding the court. senator dianne feinstein, who would chair the judiciary against ending the

legislative filibuster, which would be a first step to adding seats to the court. we are asking democrats only this morning. we spoke with republicans only yesterday. what is the best strategy for your party? rita and florida, go ahead. caller: good morning. the republicans have become lawless. they made of this rule about the president and the congress not being the same and they can do what they want. you know what? everything should be on the table. we need to keep america safe. we need to do what we have to. everything should stay on the table. do you mean? >> everything schumer says is on the table. if they want to be lawless, we should be as lawless as them. they make the rules, we play the game.

to hear morewant from former vice president joe biden on this? caller: i think he is trying to keep our country going smoothly, but he needs to hear from us. republicans are trying to change the rules of our country. we need to be the same way when we get into power. that is the only way they will learn. go, america. let's be free again. thank you for taking my call. this politico has a story morning, why joe biden is stiff arming the left on court packing and the filibuster. say, ratherle, they than threatening retaliation with changes to the senate, biden pitched himself as a voice of calm between two parties locked in a procedural arms race. the article goes on to say this

filibusterering the gained more ground after a big push by former president barack obama. he endorsed it during his eulogy at john lewis's funeral, calling it a jim crow reddick. others have jumped on board as well. d.c.ue and washington, caller: the democrats should come out like monsters. i agree with the caller before. we have been too morally set. we have learned to follow the on the high and when they go low, we go higher. right now, when we take back the senate and keep control of the congress and get the white house, we need to come out like monsters. everything they say we should not do, those democrats who are fearful of getting some of their

constituents upset because we are not morally right or perfect, blank that out. we need to make every move that is possible. it is time to play the game. the republicans had control of the senate for a long time. they packed the courts. i do not care about them nominating someone for the supreme court. let them have it. let them have the supreme court now. as soon as joe biden is voted in, we need to do the changes necessary so we can get control back. i am sick of the violence. i am sick of the n word being slayings as slang all over the country. it is time for us to come out as monsters. danny in south carolina,

go ahead. i think it is a shame that the president, lindsey , and republican leaders, mitch mcconnell, they can go by people havebut the lindsey graham on tape. host: how should democrats respond? caller: if they get the senate, they should put a judge on the bench. host: david in georgia, what do you think. -- what you think? caller: for the democrats, we notice one thing.

they have always supported the rights of the people. the question i have that the democrats should ask because, when republicans had control of the congress, the senate, and the presidency, their first deal that went through was an abortion bill. they never brought up this one thing, the most important thing about abortion that has never been brought up. who causes abortions? they need to ask the next nominee that question from every democratic senator to get them on record that they do not know who causes abortions. it is a simple question. host: are you a democrat? caller: yes. i'm an independent democrats because that is who the independents are supporting this year. they are supporting the democrats because they understand how they have been caught by president trump through all of this.

back to the question on the supreme court, they need to ask that one question. who causes abortions? there is nothing in 50 years answering that question. ,he conservatives, republicans evangelicals, none of them have asked that. there is only one person i know of that ever got pregnant without a man being involved, and that was mary. she mother jesus. the rest come a man was involved in getting a woman pregnant and forcing that woman to have to take a choice. does she want to have a baby to raise of this individual she probably got drunk or had an affair or does she want to control her body and control the future of what she has to do? they do not bring this up. host: heard your point. david in georgia. planned -- planned parenthood is

found to fight the president's pick for the supreme court because of the issue of abortion. here's the latest. [video clip] icon, a champion of women's rights. donald trump wants to replace comeagainst her dying wish up with another supreme court justice threatening coverage for pre-existing conditions and reproductive freedom. just like he said he what. -- he said he would we cannot let it happen, not her legacy, not to her seat, not to our health. not now, not ever. take action. vote. host: president trump at a rally in pittsburgh yesterday spoke about his upcoming supreme court announcement, which he is going to make saturday. he started by surveying the crowd. >> would anybody preferred that i pick a man? is there any man that has the courage to raise her hand?

-- your hand? i got one. we found him. we are going to pick an incredible woman. watch the abuse that she will take. the decision will be announced saturday, 5:00 on saturday at the white house. you see we have tremendous republican support. two people. the two, thosee two. we have great support from the republican party, tremendous support. it has never been this unified before ever. in the fake impeachment, we had 196 to nothing republican a half in the and senate. who was the half? i cannot imagine. he was very good today. now i am happy.

thank you, mitt. very positive statement. host: president trump last night at a rally in pittsburgh. the leading contender according to the washington post is judge amy coney barrett. their headline this morning, she is the front runner but lobbying continues. look at her bio. circuit court of appeals for the seventh circuit since 2017, nominated by president trump and confirmed by the senate 55-43. three democrats voted to confirm her during that vote. three other democrats did not vote during that vote. asking democrats only, what is the best strategy for your party on filling this vacancy on the supreme court.

uaw member from upstate new york. and republicans change the 60 vote threshold for a filibuster, supreme court justices. harry reid changed the 60 votes for federal judges. know ifo -- i do not the democrats have a strategy. you cannot filibuster. the only thing i want to speak for a minute is the effect. upyou put in originalist like anthony scalia on the court, you will see a u.s. supreme court we have not seen since the early 20th century, when the courts were striking down minimum wage laws and it was illegal to form a labor union in this country. trade,a restraint in criminal conspiracy. i do not think the majority of

the people, no matter what party you belong to, knows the effect of what kind of court we are going to get. thank you for your time. should democrats, if they get the majority and the white house, add more justices to the court to balance it? caller: that might be an idea. senateould not end the rule to the legislative filibuster. we have that eliminated, mitch mcconnell, he and the republicans support a national right to work law. that would make it worse for workers in this country. i cannot come up with a strategy of what they can do to stop it. what is the argument for adding justices to the court? doing so would change the political makeup of the court and influence its decisions. congress and the president might decide majority is too far out of line with public opinion.

they also in this article looked at the history of this idea. the constitution says nothing about how many justices there must be on the supreme court. over time, the number has fluctuated. congress set the supreme court to be nine justices in 1869. if a president and congress agreed, they could change the law to expand the court or shrink it. ,he history of court packing other presidents have tried it. president franklin delano when the tried it court was knocking down parts of his new deal legislation. he put out an overall plan that would allow him to appoint a new judge in federal court for every judge earlier -- older than 70. people saw clearly what it allowed him to do set a supreme court expert. it was aims to appoint justices

-- ♪ -- on the supreme court. hit a wall inea congress. the court saw the majority imperiled and two justices began to support new deal legislation. it is called the switch in time that saved nine. they switched their approach to new deal legislation and changed -- save the idea of nine justices. what do you think democrats should do? caller: i appreciate the gentleman from new york. i learned something there. america, please. i love the disney movie "lion king," but i do not love lying king trump. wise all the time. virtually nobody has died. that is what he said the other day. nobody.

these 200,000 people are not nobodies. nobodies. that crowd sits there cheering when somebody tries to encourage them to put a mask on. what should democrats do about this vacancy in the supreme court? i understand what they are trying to do, but the spineless., if there is a motion here, a motion there, slow it down. we are voting. we are coming out, trump. not just your rallies -- people at the rallies. we are coming out and we are going to put you down and all you republicans. you cannot put a supreme court justice -- can't have this and that. they stymied obama's pick.

ok, we sucked it up. now it is their turn and they the to turn and doubletalk, same party. mcconnell, we are so sick. i am donating to the gentleman running against you. i am in philadelphia, but i am sending money in hopes that he crushes you. america, please. yesterday was registration vote today, sign up for registration. all my friends, all my neighbors, i do not see one trump person out here bragging about i voted for trump. not a one. shouldou said democrats slow things down. this is the hill newspaper. senate minority leader chuck schumer had invoked the so-called two hour rule yesterday, which can be used to limit the ability of hearings after the senate has been in

session for more than two hours. grantedity is routinely with little fanfare on the floor. senator marco rubio try to make an exception for the senate intelligence community -- committee to be able to meet. schumer objected to that. it caught some senators off guard. then there is this in the papers this morning. side.the house let me find that for you. we will go to a call. i will find that for you. crystal -- adam in taylor, michigan. good morning to you. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. what do you think democrats should do? caller: i think they should try to get republicans to wait. i do not think they should try to put a new justice in the seat yet. i think wait until elections are

done. there is too much going on. think they need to wait a little bit and let things get done first. keith in denver, colorado. good morning. caller: good morning. , for us democrats, i am a lifelong democrat, i have been engaged for all my adult life. i would say it is time to go macro. trump is not the problem. i know that is a provocative statement. it is always, since reagan, who "those blacks just started wearing shoes." that

gets pushed under the rug. trump is the frankenstein monster created by the gop. i disagree with biden on wanting to get along with republicans. they block all the judicial nominees. that is why harry reid had to do what he did. they blocked every -- that is why trump had so many appointments. they cheat on a macro level. host: would you say democrats -- when you say democrats should go macro, what you mean? caller: go hard after the white party. parties, theirth caucuses, side-by-side. one reflects america. theclearly reflects neo-confederate south. it has no diversity at all. guest: here is the article i was

referring to from politico. pelosi wrestles ahead of supreme court confirmation fight. not have tosi does worry about confirming a supreme court nominee, but she has her own drama to deal with. she is pressure to placate an animated liberal base eager to battle republicans overfilling the seat of the late justice in the weeks before the election. to appeaseso attempt moderate democrats desperate for a coronavirus relief deal they see as key to reelection. democrats are worthy supreme court fight could overshadow negotiations, not to mention make the party seem extreme. both priorities are key to delivering democrats power in the house, senate, and white house. if losey keeps her caucus from pelosi keeps-- if her caucus from splintering will be critical. mitch mcconnell locks down

support for a vote. activists and even some elected democrats have begun talking seriously about packing the courts or in end to the senate filibuster. historic changes that establishment democrats have long rejected. yesterday onse this note of spending in negotiations over coronavirus relief, the house passed a 10 359-67.yesterday amashicans and justin voted no and a casio cortez -- casio-corteztez -- o voted present. here's a picture in the washington post this morning. congress must approve more aid for recovery. if you missed that hearing and

the arguments they made, you can find it on our website, c-span.org. yesterday, we spoke with republicans only. today, it is democrats only. robert in maryland, you are next. caller: good morning, greta. what my american people do not realize is that this movement now is a resurrection of whites premises. 1950's,er back in the the majority -- minority voted primarily for republicans. he said these people are going to go and ruin the republican party. they did that. the bigger issue here is, in 95 startingite supremacy,

-- the same thing in the middle east and egypt and africa.d countries in host: what is your point? isler: what is going on now this same process started in germany when hitler's was chancellor. he destroyed democracy in germany and resurrected this the worldt eventually rose up and stopped hitler's. worldhow do you want the -- democrats respond? caller: democrats are not strong like they used to be a, like

truce and -- truman, kennedy. they are weak now. they cannot continue this. people will not allow this around the world. let's go to zach in iowa. caller: i would like to see the house democrats impeach the not tryt by filibuster, to get him removed, but just delay the process. if that does not work, pack the court, expand by adding puerto rico and d.c. as states. host: why do you think they should make that move and change the institution of the senate? caller: i am a person with pre-existing conditions. i'm afraid that, with a conservative court, the affordable health care act would be overturned.

me and millions of other americans will lose their health care. host: that is an argument democrats are making. congressman he came jefferies of new york had this to say yesterday. hakeeming jefferies -- jefferies of new york had this to say yesterday. [video clip] >> before the country has a chance to mourn and justice ginsburg and send her off, they are already trying to jam a right wing conservative judge down the throats of the american tople as part of a scheme take away the health care of millions of americans. that is what they want to do. we know it because they have been trying to do it for 10 years. do not have an alternative

to the affordable care act. they are in court right now trying to declare it unconstitutional, and they want to put a justice on the supreme thet who will strip away protections that millions of americans, over 100 million americans with pre-existing conditions, currently have under law. more now having another pre-existing condition because of the coronavirus infection, in part because the president's response has been a disaster. host: democratic congressman from new york yesterday. front page of usa today, health care law faces another supreme court showdown, this time vote.t justice ginsburg's the death of associate justice ruth bader ginsburg could have a major impact on the latest challenge to the affordable care act. the latest effort by texas and 17 allied states to strike down

the law was considered a long shot because of chief justice ron -- john roberts's alignment with the four liberal justices in prior challenges. without ginsburg, there could be four votes on either side, which would leave a federal appeals court ruling intact. trump dominates and confirms a conservative successor to hear the case, that could tip the ballasts -- balance. what do you think? immediate, ie think they should slow the process as much as possible. whatever tactics the senate has. i do not have a great deal of faith in schumer's ability to do that. in the long run, i think if theng gets elected that

number of supreme court justices should be increased. population of this country being the highest it has is --een, if the senate if the number of senators is -- remains the same but -- i thinkives are the number of supreme court justices should reflect a , broader selection of the american population. we are more diverse than we have ever been. we have the greatest population we have ever had. to just have eight supreme court justices that do not really reflect the diversity of ideas that americans have, i think it

is not as reppo as it should be. happens -- not as representative as it should be. it happens to increase the number of supreme court justices , not just republican and democrat, not just the majority ethnic makeup, black, white, hispanic. host:d love to see asian eugene, oregon. what do you think your party should do? caller: restructure the supreme court entirely. it should be made similar to the appellate courts in which you have dozens of judges and several are picked a lot to decide any case. i think we should include puerto

and washington, d.c. in representation. antiquated,court is and it is not serving us well at all. it has not for years. it is far too powerful. to have nine people have more power than the congress is ridiculous. what i'm suggesting would eliminate a lot of these time-consuming, expensive fights . willhoping that democrats show some spark for a change. they have been too passive in the face of these challenges. my main concern is the supreme court needs total restructuring. i have to school do about one thing wrong on the air. i love your show, love the way you handle it. you have to stop saying etc.

it sounds like a headache medicine. other than that, you do a great job. i love watching you. , you saidre you go the supreme court needs reform. there is an idea for that in the new york times opinion pages today. northwestern and visiting professor at yale university, this is what he writes. the solution is for republicans and democrats to unite in supporting a constitutional amendment that fixes the size of the supreme court and its current nine justices, each of whom would serve an 18 year, nonrenewable term, staggered so one seat opens during the first and third years of a president's four year term. each two year senate session will consider a nominee.

term,the length of the longer than in the high court of any other democracy, the justices would be independent. presidents will no longer have incentive to pick younger nominees to project their influence decades into the future. justices would lose their power to pick successors who share their views by retiring strategically. in the case of early retirement or deaths, the president would nominate and the senate would confirm a replacement fill out the unexpired term with no possibility of reappointment. how about that? far toothat is complicated. it does not go far enough and it is too complicated. i think we should have term limits shorter than 18 years. maybe 60 years, as a senator hassan. we already have a functioning appellate court in the structure i described earlier.

-- evenhink that we are that scheme, and it is a good one, i have not seen the details , but i think that scheme still leaves the court with too much influence and power. what we really have no is power politics, unfortunately. powerk to balance that you are going to have to dilute some of the power of the supreme court. i do not think there is any way out of that. we are drifting here. the country is suffering. stabilizing sort of influence, and i think we need reform. that was a reform. i have not actually heard other comments about that. have you? host: i just put it on the table this morning. we will see what others have to say. we will go to steve in florida.

caller: good morning. should leaverats it alone. well respected, even though conservative. they should leave it alone because democrats could make a bad.ke and make her look host: are you referring to judge barrett? caller: yes. host: she has not been picked yet, but she is the top runner. caller: well, whoever they pick. they should just let it happen because there is nothing we can really do at this point with mitch o'connell having the senate. there is nothing. i know we have a president that is responsible for genocide in this country for 180,000 people , even though it

was really 200,000 people. 180,000 could have been saved. come november. that is all i have to say. host: here is the wall street journal editorial board's opinion. biden refused to say if you would go along with his party -- if he would go along with his party's court packing scheme. he also wants to duck the threat because they are not popular. of votersund only 40% favor packing the court if republicans confirm mr. trump's nominee. the issue of what to do with the of justice ruth bader ginsburg came up at last night's senate north carolina debate. the new york times on this race says a senate race to shape the

states, the nation, and the world. the gop may sway voters, but how? [video clip] lameesident obama was a duck on his way out the door. what we are talking about now is called advise and consent. president trump deserves to send forth a nominee, and then move for passage on the floor. i have seen the list. unlike cal cunningham's running mate with joe biden, joe biden will not tell us who he wants to put forward. that is because he knows he has to yield to the radical left and put forward justices that are not right for the american people. joe biden will not issue a list. joe biden would support radical left activist judges that would be wrong for this country. voting is already underway in north carolina, and i think we need to hear from people in our state. the next senate and next

president should take up the issue of a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land. as you point out, that is not what we have seen from senator tillis. within hours of the passing of justice ginsburg, who we should respect, 27 years of service in the highest court in this country him a within hours of her passing, he called not only for an immediate vote but that he would vote for whomever the president sends to the judiciary committee and senate. is an important role for a united states senator as a check and balance on the president of the united states. rather than act as a check and balance, senator tillis has written a blank check to the president. he has forfeited his right to independence of judgment on behalf of the people of our state. that is wrong. northfrom last night's carolina senate debate. you can see more on our website, c-span.org. we are talking with democrats

only this morning. what should be your party's strategy on the high court? take a look at this poll done in the days after justice ginsburg's death. 84% said the vacancy should be filled by the 2020 winner. 49% of republicans said that and 42% of independents agreed. let's go to carl in chicago. caller: good morning. there are two things we can do. the country right now is at an inflection point. what we have going on is that our democracy is at stake. not in anyit work is laws, not in the constitution. as a country, we decided that what we can disagree to disagree , but in order for that to happen, we accept we act in good

faith. right now, republicans are not acting in good faith. they have not for a long time. is the alternatives american people could go to the polls and hold them responsible for not acting in good faith. americans saidof they should not take place right now. they should make the republicans pay the consequences if they do this by voting them out for a number of cycles so they know they are here to do with the american people want. the other alternative for the democrats, and i wouldn't want to do it, if you are not going to act in good faith with me, all bets are off. we do whatever we have to do. you are not giving me any choice. pack the court, kill the filibuster, do whatever we have to do.

there will be consequences, but you cannot be worried about that because, if you do not do that, they will continue to take advantage of you acting in good faith and stab you in the back every time you put your hand out and say we can work together. republicans need to be held accountable. by thet way would be american people voting them out. i do not know if the american people have the realization that is the necessary thing to do, but those are my alternatives. host: eugene is next in salt lake city. good morning. caller: good morning. i think the democrats should and bring down as many republicans as they can. i do not think the next 20, 30 years will have much republicans in the government. host: you do not want them to

pack the court or you do? if they do not have to, i do not want them to do it. i want them to bring in some of the moderates. i know there are not many left. i know mitt romney came out and said some -- stuff. i believe we should get the republicans back in the party might get the shift going straight again. then let the chips fall where they may. good morning to you. the democrats are in a good spot. caller: let the republicans just go for the supreme court justice, be hypocrites in the whole thing. the economy needs to be focused on coronavirus.

airlines are going to have to get bailed out soon. the virus is out of control. it is going to backfire on them if they just concentrate on the supreme court justice. morning onte this johns hopkins website, two hundred thousand dead in the u.s. from the virus, hitting that mark yesterday. this is the latest numbers if you go to johns hopkins university tracking website. randy in alabama. good morning. what are your thoughts on this? caller: leave the courts alone. they have been like that all my 65 years of life. they need to leave them alone. it has been too left-wing all my life. was a democrat, but she far-left judge.

she did not take up for everybody, just certain people. leave the courts alone. as far as the coronavirus, i do not think as many people have died from the virus. host: are you a democrat? caller: i am. not much longer. host: did you vote for hillary clinton? caller: i did not vote. either one, so i do not vote. host: how are you thinking about voting in 2020? caller: i'm going to vote trump in 2020. host: because of what issue? caller: because everything he has done is better than what my party has done in my lifetime. they are just too far. they need to go run another country and leave the united states alone. what we call democrats today is what i called hitler when i was a kid.

host: roanoke, virginia. caller: i think the tables are turned a little bit. we look more like nazi germany in the 30's -- 1930's now than we did when democrats were in power. regarding the supreme court, there is nothing democrats can do now. hello? host: they cannot do anything now, so what should they do? we need to focus on electing biden and as many democrats as we can in the senate. i will love to see us put term limits so we can get more legislators actually doing what is good for the country rather onn being reelected and work this gerrymandering so we can get real representative government. host: glenn in virginia. y in new york. caller: thank you for taking my

call. republicans have already engaged in a self packing of the court by refusing to even engage in a hearing on garland and now by stealing rgb seat. senate if we win the back and bided wins, for them to increase the size of the court. it will not be a packing of the court because republicans have already done it. it will just be balancing things out. the other thing people should look to is indivisible, which has been an effective group. this friday, they are proposing action by going to our own senator's office. you must go to your own senator's office, leave flowers or another momento in honor of emento in honor m of our bg.

if enough americans show outrage, it may help switch the opinion of mcconnell. it was indivisible that stopped aca, so i of the would say looked indivisible and stop saying we will be packing the court if we increase to the court. it has been done before and republicans have already done it. that is my thoughts. aboutwhat do you think reports in the paper and political observer that joe that he not saying would agree to pack the courts because his strategy is to not answer that question. otherwise, republicans would focus on that answer. wall street journal says he wants to run on the president's character and coronavirus. do you think the former vice president needs to make his position clear? caller: my understanding is he

has refused to state whom he would appoint if he had the opportunity to is i believe what has happened, not what you are saying. if you throughout a list of judges, it would influence those judges on the bench now. they would go through their background and that would be dangerous. he should not put out a list of justices that he would appoint, should he have the opportunity. that is a set up. that is a republican trick. monday in wisconsin, he was asked whether he was open to the idea of packing the courts. his answer is it is a legitimate question but let me tell you why i am not going to answer. it will shift the whole focus. that is what the president wants. this is a calculated political dodge and chris wallace should not let mr. biden get away with

it. would he veto court packing legislation? that is how he answered the question monday. the wall street journal argues the integrity of the supreme court and judicial independence is on the ballot and mr. biden has a duty to clarify his position. caller: it is a set up question. it is being asked in terms of whether biden would favor court packing. it is not going to be court packing because of the self court packing republicans have engaged in. i understand why biden is continuing his focus on the pandemic. we have the absolute worst record in the world. we are 4% of the population with 20% of the deaths. he does need to keep that focus there. and ia set of question, do not think you should answer

it. guest: -- in new york. mitch mcconnell said there is nothing in the constitution and laws to stop the republicans from appointing a supreme court justice. in, thereemocrats get is nothing in the constitution and laws to prevent them from packing the court, and i think they should. republicans have stolen supreme court justice seats, and the only way to make it even an equal is to do that. i do not think biden should have to answer that question. it has not been asked before, and i also think the republicans in congress are responsible for the death of thousands of americans. they have enabled and supported dictator trump to totally mismanage the pandemic, and they have done nothing.

they have the opportunity to impeach him. they knew he was unfit. i hold them responsible for the deaths of thousands of americans. host: linda in dallas. my comment is they picked the supreme court justice , now the democrats will not have a chance to redraw the districts. host: we are listening. we heard you. most of the time those judges what? caller: those judges redraw those districts to favor them. will not haveople votes counted because redistricting is going to be harder and harder to get your vote and things you need like .ealth care and everything

the abortion issue and all of that. it would be harder to get to because of the redistricting. they have now the opportunity to do that. host: eric in seattle. good morning. what should democrats do about the vacancy on the court? caller: the democrats should do nothing and let them put this pic on the court. once they get an office, if they want to do anything, they can do anything. obama up. they did nothing. pelosi was there. they do not want to actually help the american people. they could have passed minimum-wage. they could have raised minimum wage. anything they wanted. biden is not going to do nothing. what makes it so bad about these judges? the court has already been

packed by trump. the reason why the democrats do not care who gets on the court's it maintains white privilege. dot is the reason why they not hold the judges in high esteem and get judges elected. it helps everybody who is white. this is what -- the way constitution -- competition was meant to work. nothing is right, nothing is wrong. or not legal. nobody is right and nobody is wrong. -- canomported himself pardon himself. we do not know what he can do. he stole money out of the treasury. vague.stitution is so it is flawed and we are finding this out by trump. i am glad trump is the president because it showed the flaw in this constitution and in this country. trump is a dictator because he

he hasbe impeached and william barr to protect him. the constitution needs to be rewritten. right now, slavery is legal. it has been legal. anything can be legal. it depends on the judges. that is all i have to say. host: are you still there? how do you plan to vote in november? i have been not -- voting every year for democrats, and it has not helped my kids or grandkids. i even had a business that tried to get money for help but could not get none this is what i am saying. mying the stimulus package, business went out of business. democrats are not going to do anything. they are not going to pay health care. look at all the money they have spent. that could have been used to

help people. everyone is going to need health care. thank you. host: ben in springfield, massachusetts. caller: thank you for taking my call. i suspect the man who called .efore i did is a little upset i am as well. , at this point, democrats need to use our heads and gothan get excited off and go helter skelter. we need a plan. we may not have time before the election for the plan that we need, so we need to take some time, understand what is at hand . there are a couple gentlemen who called earlier, about three or four calls ago that i liked what

they were saying. you have to have a plan and you cannot do it when you're emotionally disturbed, excited. out what isfigure and how we want to do it. sometimes, you have to wait to do what you really want to do to make a major change. to not worryats too much about trump or what the republicans are doing now but the first plan is to elect biden . you have to elect as many senators as we can and bring them back to the house. let's go from there. thank you for this opportunity to express myself. host: robert in greenville, north carolina. caller: good morning. host: i think democrats need to

cannot do anything about it. we need to concentrate on the get biden in because donald trump, the only thing he's doing is campaigning, since he has been in office. he plays golf when thousands of people are dying from the virus. he doesn't care. he's using the government and to do aller dime these basically photo op's. he is using the office to run for office and take advantage of everybody, and everybody in the republican, they are all like a cult. it is a cult. it is disgraceful that no one is stepping up to the plate. paraplegic a mental running the country, and the republicans are going along with it because they are packing the courts and getting more power. host: robert, what do you think

is going to happen in your state, with the senate race, with thom tillis? caller: i think that north carolina will cheat and steal the state. burr and all the rest, they are all trumpsters, in plain english. they have sold their soul for power and maybe a little bit more money. they have sold their soul to donald trump. it is hard to believe that this crony is getting away with what he is getting away with. rallies, he is taking his voters out and putting them in unsafe situations, and he doesn't care. going to robert, i'm leave it there because we are at the top of the hour and we are returning to our battleground series we have been doing all week, focusing this morning on pennsylvania.

we are joined by terry madonna of franklin & marshall college right after this break. announcer: watch book tv's coverage of the 20th annual national book festival this weekend. this virtual event, hosted by the library of congress, featured online author discussions, plus live call-in segments. saturday at 7:00 p.m. eastern, author gail collins with her book, "no stopping us now." just theof right now, 1970's, there has been this transformation of the economic goal of women in america. usouncer: at 7:45, she joins for a live discussion, taking your phone calls. then historian john meacham with his book "his truth is marching on." inn: here is a man born 1940, who repeatedly in the american south, 50 and 60 years ago, acted in the tradition of

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announcer: "washingon journal" continues. host: this week, "washingon journal" focusing on key battleground states, with reporters on the ground, what has changed, what policy issues are motivating this year. and clues about how people might vote in each state in november. today we turn our attention to the keystone state of pennsylvania, and franklin & marshall college professor and poster terry madonna joins us from harrisburg this morning. let's begin with what happened in pennsylvania in 2016. 2016, then candidate donald j. trump carried the state of pennsylvania by 44,000 votes. he won the state because of the turnout and the high proportion of votes that he got in central

pennsylvania, and also in the southwestern part of our state, in the old mining and mill towns. i call it small towns and rural pennsylvania, and in the northeastern part of our state, largely because he developed what has generally been referred to as the rustbelt strategy, ofre he campaigned in parts pennsylvania, ohio, wisconsin, and michigan, making the argument that the obama administration had done bad tree deals. nafta, the trans-pacific partnership. and that he would -- had done bad tree deals. nafta, trans-pacific partnership, and that he would bring back: steel. natural gas. that would bring back coal and steel. natural gas. that continues to be an

important aspect of pennsylvania elections this year, which we can certainly talk about. now, he just didn't win by these old mining and mill towns by five or 10 or 15 points. or 20 points, 19 and in a couple of the counties, he won them by 19, 20, let's go , and these are% basically white working-class voters that literally helped trump get to the 44,000 vote edge in the commonwealth of pennsylvania. is the race shaping up today between the president, the former vice president joe biden? guest: it is shaping up to be pretty close. the real clear politics average is about 3.9%, 3.9% lead for joe biden. it was a couple of points higher weeks ago.

if you take all of the battleground -- the six battleground states that we watch, pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin, florida, arizona, and north carolina, as we speak right now, president trump is trailing in every single one of them. example,lorida, for biden is leaving less than 2%. in north carolina it is less than -- by not it -- biden is leading less than 2%, in north carolina is less then 1%. every one of the six in 2016, biden is leading. the margins right now -- you know, they range from in wisconsin, about six percentage points. in arizona for biden, about five percentage points. as i said, in pennsylvania, 3.94 percentage point lead.

trump has to really do something in those battleground states if he wants to win reelection. showed himolls trailing in 2016 as well, and he was able to eke out a victory within that margin of error. guest: that isn't correct. there isn't any doubt about it that in some of the battleground states, including the fnm pole, the first time in our long -- f inpole, for the first time our long history that we were not on target, so to speak. in pennsylvania a significant number of voters made up their mind or changed their mind in the last 10 days of the election. we were not doing interviewing in the last 10 days, and that is a significant explanation. there is something else that went on and some of the states as well, and the fact of the matter is then trump voters were

reluctant to admit, to talk about the fact that they were supporting president trump, and i'm sure you have interviewed people who fell into that category. terry madonna, you said that pennsylvania has always played an important role in presidential elections, but you said this year the state is the center of the universe. why is it playing a bigger role? he has been referring to it, to pennsylvania as the tipping point. what does that mean? it means that whichever candidate wins the state's 20 electoral votes, that that will 270them up to the magic electoral votes. that is what that pretty well means. i will tell you something, you can't believe how this state has been inundated by the

candidates. by one count, the candidates and their surrogates have been in this state 40 times. president trump was just out in the southwestern part of our state yesterday. he is traveling into the east later on this week. the fact of the matter is that these candidates are all over pennsylvania. joe biden's headquarters is not in wilmington, delaware, where he lives, but in philadelphia, pennsylvania, to indicate its significance. if you take a look at the number of visits and the attention to candidates are paying to the state -- and their surrogates, donald trump, jr. was in the state capital a week ago. erie.scheduled to go to kamala harris was in the state just recently. i think if they are here any longer, we could give them the right to vote in this state.

host: we are talking to terry madonna about the battleground state of pennsylvania. we want to get your thoughts on that this morning and we are dividing the lines by the candidates you support. if you're supporting the dial --ris ticket, our first call comes from stephanie in huntington, west virginia. supported joe biden. good morning to you. caller: i wanted to say that we need to have term limits on all the positions such as the congress and senators. no one should be able to serve over 12 years in congress or the senate. and also, speaking of presidents, we need somebody with integrity. out of the heart, the mouth

speaks. we have a president that has spoke so much negative, he has helped divide this country. so in his heart he doesn't have love or justice for all. it is only for a few people, and he thinks -- he has all must put himself in, i have done this, i have done that. it's not about i, it should be we the people. i think we need someone who will bring us back closer together, and biden will bring us back closer together as a people that love one another and compassion and empathy towards one another. with the supreme court, i believe that the supreme court should be a representation of all people, not just caucasian people but all people. all people, asians. we are a melting pot of a country, and we need weresenting that we need -- need it to represent all people. we need to sit together and talk and reason together and come to

a conclusion instead of just democrats and republicans. when you people that love one another. are: terry madonna, there two issues there, wondering how they play in pennsylvania. the supreme court and the president's character. guest: let's talk about the -- the fact of the matter is that there is a big debate going on about whether the debate over president trump moving forward with a nominee to the supreme court, which he has indicated he will give us a name on saturday. the fact of the matter is that i think it is going to have a on theing effect campaign. what does that mean? i think it is going to help motivate, stimulate, and create more excitement in the face of both parties -- in the base of both parties. in the base of both parties. both parties are going to use the issue to try to galvanize their base, their supporters.

it is unclear yet whether it is going to move undecided voters one way or another. are relatively fewer undecided voters this year than in the past, somewhere around 13%, 14%, 15%. i think it is going to help create enthusiasm and excitement. some think it is going to have sense, infect, in a other words one party will not see an advantage over it. although some democrats argue if he appoints a pro-life candidate to the supreme court that that will cause some moderate republicans to move away from president trump. we are going to have to wait and see. but more enthusiasm, or excitement in the base for both parties. host: what about the president's character? guest: well, that is obviously

an issue, and that is going to continue to play out. the way i view this is, it is not the debate that democrats have with the president over policies. but it is also the president's style and personality, which is very unique. in this age of social media, what he puts on twitter and how he conducts himself, and the public scrutiny of it is remarkably intense. remember that until modern history, candidates for the presidency did not campaign himself. it was considered unseemly to do that. if you look back through american history and look at the personalities of the other 44 presidents, it's hard to find someonepersonality and style the president has. so i think a fair amount of the opposition comes from the way that the president conducts on the issuesust that democrats and republicans

disagree on. mayville, in michigan, you are undecided. why is that? forer: i voted for trump the last election, and i thought he would really do us a lot of good. i was really kind of hoping that everything would start going better, but the last year and a half or so, no. i have to work two jobs in order meet.e ends even though the jobs are there, they are not paying anybody in order to support themselves. so you have to work two or even have three incomes because you have a spouse, in order to make it. in order to pay your taxes and do what you've got to do. i watched his speech last night in pennsylvania. that really did it for me last night. i don't understand why somebody that is supposed to represent our country will stand on a podium and start downing some other woman that is on the

supreme court that is not may be born here and say that she is not american. i think he needs to look in his own house. his wife was not even born here, but yet he says things about other people. he needs to look in his own backyard. i'm not going to vote for him this year. i have changed my mind as of last night. that was horrible last night, and i'm tired of him walking around this country saying there is no virus when there is over 200,000 people dead. he needs to take responsibility for something. china might have started it, but he should be finishing it, and he's not. host: terry madonna? there isll, again, this personality and style factor in the way he approaches issues that -- and events that are very controversial, that the

individual just pointed out. there is absolutely no doubt about that. that is at the heart of it. now, it is important to note that his firm supporters like that style and personality. obviously you just heard from an undecided voter that it is apparent that that has turned her off, obviously, and that continues to be the case. covid-19, for the longest period of time, was the single most important problem the president had. early on, just after it broke, it came to our country, the president's job performance on handling coronavirus was about 50% positive. right now, the last time i looked a day or two ago in real clear politics, it was about 41% positive. that is incredibly important. the guest talked about the

economy, and that, believe it or not, is donald j. trump's strongest suit. again, on the real clear politics average, he is at 50% positive on the economy and continues to stress that in speech after speech after speech, where he gets up and talks about the economy before covid-19. thatlks about the recovery is taking place right now, and he argues, for example, that in the third quarter there will even be fewer people unemployed, employmente on compensation, and that gdp growth will go up. and so he is going to continue to stress the economy, the economy, the economy. again, we are going to have to find out if two other things emerge in the last couple of weeks how relevant they are. and that is unrest, obviously important.

trump has been criticizing democratic mayors and democratic governors that they are not doing enough to put down the burning and the looting and the violence taking place. the democrats are certainly concerned about that. at the democratic convention, they did not mention the civil unrest. joe biden didn't in his acceptance speech, but about 10 days or so ago, he was in allegheny county in my state and made it a point to condemn the violence, the writing, the burning and the looting. -- the rioting, the burning, and the looting. at the same speech, he repeated several times, "i do not want to ban fracking." he is opposed to it on federal lands, and that has great appeal because -- to the base of donald mining and mill towns in pennsylvania and the other battleground states. host: here is politico's recent "michigan,

minnesota, and wisconsin will decide the election. we will have to wait on them in 2020 do you agree and why? what we are talking about with the states that politico mentioned is that they are states that trump won. we could throw florida in there, which is very close. florida has 29 electoral votes, pennsylvania has 20. that is 49 electoral votes. have the states largest number of electoral votes, but i don't necessarily disagree with that. i think if the president loses two or three battleground states, that i have been talking about, i don't know how he can get to 270. it is going to be virtually impossible for him to do that. host: politico argues "huge

surges in voting will change how theseen in 2020, and in three states we might none know the winner on election night." guest: that is a great point, and there is a big controversy over mail-in ballots. i think all of your viewers know the president has referred to it as fraud, fraud, fraud, fraud, and makes the point that republicans should vote in person. by the way, in the polls i have seen, more republicans say they will vote in person than democrats. there is not any doubt that mail-in voting benefits the democrats more than it does the republicans. let's take a look at the point you just made about when we are going to have the results. in pennsylvania, in pennsylvania if a ballot is postmarked by november 3, currently -- and this is under challenge -- three days the balance can be -- the

ballots can be counted three days after november 3, on the friday of election week. so you are exactly right about this. we may not know who won the presidential election. some say days, some say weeks, some say months. onre is not any doubt that november 3 we are not going to know who won the presidential election. there is a big debate, as i indicated a moment ago, over whether these ballots will be served. on pennsylvania, the june 2 , 1.5 million pennsylvanians cast male in her absentee ballots. 1.5 million, almost half of the total turnout in the state of pennsylvania. most of us believe that that by november 3. election officials in the state

are hiring personnel. like to openwould the ballots and sort them and run them through the scanners before november 3 so that we don't have this long wait that we can expect. again, in pennsylvania, there are elections on june 2, the primary. they were not fully certified for two weeks, for two weeks. so who knows what is likely to happen? many folks think it could be sometime before we have the results for these states. host: gary in young would, pennsylvania. hi, gary. caller: thank you for c-span. go ahead, gary. we are listening to you. caller: i am in southwestern pennsylvania, and i'm surrounded older much by democrats,

white catholic democrats, been voting this way for a very long time. it is going to be interesting to see how the supreme court nomination -- and if it goes through the same process as kavanaugh to how it is going to upset a lot of these longtime democrat voters. hillary sides and were up, it was about 7-numeral three for hillary. what i am seeing now -- it was about 7-3 for hillary. what i am seeing now, it is about 7-3 for trump over biden. it is getting ugly. it is getting tribal, really. when you look at some of the energy stocks in the energy sector, even some of the african-americans will pick up 15% of pittsburgh, which is like area,mocrat turnout this

,% to 10% of the population democratic is 85% voting wise. are the democrats going to vote against their financial interests? interesting to see. thank you. waiting for your comments. host: terry madonna. guest: he makes a good point. if you go into the southwest with these working-class families, as i indicated before, it is -- they overwhelmingly supported trump. here is what is fascinating about it. we go out there and take a look andreen and washington washed moreland -- west moreland and fayette. the fact of the matter is, every single one of those counties in 2016 had a democratic voter registration edge over the

republicans. let that sink in a minute. every single one of them, and trump carry those counties again, not by five or 10 or 15 points, but by 19, 20, 30% in those cases because of the rust argument that i mentioned earlier. that trump would bring back coal and steel in the old industries, get rid of the bad treat deals, etc. the fact of the matter is that that is critical in 2020 for trump to win the election. basically, the working class voter began to move away from the democrats for a variety of reasons. those voters out there tend to be cultural conservatives on issues like abortion and gay marriage and gay rights, whereas the democratic race in the state and in the suburbs tend to be cultural liberals. also, many urban democrats,

suburban democrats, want gun control. the voters in the region, we are talking about, don't touch the second amendment. and we have climate change, which is a big issue for many democrats in urban and suburban america. of the we know out southwest? what about fracking? deep wells in which natural gas is extracted from. so you do have some huge differences between rural and small-town democrats on the one hand and urban and suburban democrats on the other hand. in lansdowne, pennsylvania, you are next. caller: good morning. you know, i'm voting for biden and harris. i have been a supporter of biden for many years i have been following him. i'm just so hurt and saddened in my heart about what is happening in this country.

all the deaths, people are dying, and then this man, this woodward and talks to in the book and that he lied to everybody. he called it a hoax. he went on and on and on, not that he is responsible for the deaths, but he could have done something. and all the lies he has told in the people just follow him. i don't understand it. what i'm hoping for a victory. when he first started, when he got on national television and said what he would like to do with his fingers with the ladies. if that had been barack obama saying something like that, coming into the white house with prostitutes, what would have happened? but these people follow him so blindly, it is really said. and he does a good job with saying that the news is fake news stop so i'm excited about biden and harris, and i think

they will win. but you never know. are: for you and others, we going to be talking with bob woodward tomorrow about his new "reach," 8:00 15 -- 8:15 eastern time tonight a click a.m. you thinknna, what do of the comments from ricardo? guest: there is not any doubt about it come at the beginning of the outbreak, president trump dismissed it. he wasn't crazy about masks. he made it clear that it wasn't a serious problem, and a couple of weeks ago he reversed himself and said this is really hurting you politically, so what did trump do? it is going a mask, to get worse before it gets better.

he started the task force briefing on covid-19 that he attended a couple weeks before. so i think the president's campaign now realizes how wenificant covid-19 is, and have heard this from a number of your guests this morning and numberpoint of it, and a of points that were made about why they are supporting vice president biden. i might also point out that in pennsylvania -- remember, biden the senator is 36 years from neighboring delaware, and biden spent many, many days campaigning in pennsylvania during his senate career, and even as vice president, for democratic candidates, and he visited the state white frequently. doing seminars and speeches. because delaware has one small commercial television station, his senate career was covered by

philadelphia media. philadelphia radio, philadelphia television, which not just reaches philadelphia but the suburbs in my state as well. and so that also is a and if it to biden, as i indicated before. he also has his headquarters here. election night, where will you be watching across the state for turnout to make a difference? going to look at the suburbs. the democrats hammered the republicans in 2018. they won 41 seats in the house of representatives for a net of 40. that's why nancy pelosi is speaker of the house. it was largely because of what occurred in the suburbs in a number of states. in my state, the democrats won three of the four congressional seats in the philadelphia suburbs.

fourth, the fifth, and the sixth congressional district in my camry, delaware, and chester county's. they won another seat in the lehigh valley north of the suburbs. before 2018, there were 13 republicans and five democrats in the congressional delegation, the 18-person congressional delegation. 9-9. chat right now, it is one of the big reasons is that the democrats have been making inroads into the suburbs because of college-educated women and millennials. two were -- two problems that the republicans have. so if the democrats have a problem with working class voters, republicans have a problem in the suburbs. when you take the suburbs and the city, across the country, that a large percentage of the vote in many of these states.

host: we will hear from elizabeth next, in englewood, colorado, supporting the president. morning to you. caller: good morning. yeah, this is elizabeth, culling to make the quick point that i support president trump because he has had an america first attitude. order, haswith law & been tough on terrorists. the isis terra advantage that was going on, while obama .nd biden were in office and also, i like that he is , whating immigration

legal immigration. also that he is pro-life. i just think he has the more bidenplatform, and joe just seems too old and low integrity. i don't know, i just find him somewhat phony, just to listen to him. host: ok, elizabeth. terry madonna, do those issues, those elements of the president that she went through, do they play in pennsylvania as well? could that give him the edge in the state? the pointdoubt that she made a very significant in terms of support. no doubt about this. many of the voters and some battleground states became very antiestablishment. the democratic blue-collar workers, white and blue-collar workers, believe that the democrats walked away from them when they became much more of an

urban-based polity -- party. the fact of the matter is, very significant as to why, you know, president trump, candidate trump won the state of pennsylvania. so if the republicans have a problem in the suburbs, the democrats have a problem in rural and small towns. and the problem for the republicans is there is a lot more people who listen -- you live in the city and the suburbs then live in the rural and small towns. we will have to wait and see which base of voters turn out. that is where the election hinges. which party has the enthusiasm, which party can turn out on election day. both parties are diligently we chat thisat as morning. host: jaclyn in philadelphia. caller: hi, greta. biden is say that joe

just as sleazy as donald trump, if we want to get down to brass tacks. we don't have to look in his background. donald trump got caught, i guess. greta, i am the woman that you asked me to sing my donald trump song on the air. i was so shocked. old, and i got two letters in the mail to vote. i said what does that mean, i can vote twice if i was a bad person? i don't understand. vote by mail, i'm scared to death to vote by mail. what isrry madonna, going on with the mail-in voting in the state of pennsylvania? guest: if pennsylvania is not one of those states where a ballot was sent to a mail-in ballot was sent to every registered voter.

we have it in half a dozen states right now, neighboring new jersey quickly comes to mind, you have to apply for it, then there are certain procedures you have to follow with the envelopes and other aspects of it. but again, you heard an expression of concern about the counting of the ballots and how that will all work. there is no evidence that there is widespread fraud, to be certain, but again, the counting of the ballots and how that is all handled is important. we are going to have to wait and find out how it all works out, but again, we are not going to i think -- i think the earliest would be the weekend after the election, but if we took two weeks to do the mail-in ballots counting in a second primary, even though election officials are prepping and doing everything they can within the law, in pennsylvania,

they cannot count ballots before november 3. they cannot in theory touch them. the other thing is, the mail-in ballots, if you apply you get one. thatnor wolf has indicated there will be a stamp, some kind of postage situation where you don't have to pay to mail in the ballot. back at alexion headquarters in various counties. -- back at election headquarters in various counties. what are the rules for a recount? certainly there have been, and a number of people have gone to court over it, and sometimes there will be technical difficulty, sometimes they involve other considerations, wish the courts

ultimately have to hear. host: bill in nicholson, pennsylvania. how do you plan to vote? caller: i will vote for joe biden. i am going to use the ballot -- i don't want to go to my polling place because i am a retiree and i -- my wife has pre-existing conditions. the bottom line is that trump is a liar. you cannot believe one word he says, and asked far asyou the coal jobs -- as far as the coal jobs in pennsylvania, and the steel -- five steel mills he said were going to be built in pennsylvania. i tried to get information on that. there is no information on this deal mills. i'm on my third congressman since dash's there is no information on the steel mills. congressmanird

since then. he is a liar. he cannot tell the truth. host: let's hear from mike from harrisburg, pennsylvania. mike, you're up. caller: i will be voting for biden definitely. host: why? years old, and the last thing i want to do is get this virus. i have already had encephalitis in my life when i was 28 that killed me -- that almost killed me. i am not interested in fighting off another dangerous virus. i have been separated pretty , allfor my entire family trump backers and trump voters, and they don't take the coronavirus seriously. so i end up ducking not only out of the covid idiots that i call them, who walk around without

masks on, i have to duck them in family. it simple thing like wearing a mask to try to protect each other. i'm really upset about it. a stranger on a desert island. host: ok. down theonna, break demographics in pennsylvania. guest: the pennsylvania population tends to be a bit older. we have about 10, 11, 12 percent of the electorate who will be african-american. about 4%, 5%, 6% will be hispanic. hispanics are the largest minority. the effect of the matter is in my state, that is certainly nothing case. though we tend to have an older population, and you have heard

from a couple of them and their concerns about covid-19. conductsw that repeatedly. then there is the other factor that is also relevant, and again, we heard it throughout questions with a guest, and what is it? it is president trump's style and personality. notice a lot of it comes out -- he is a liar, he doesn't tell the truth come he boasts. all of that i think has played a very significant role, probably more than in any other presidential election, as to the style and the personality of a president that is this controversial now. harry truman certainly had his way, but then we did not have social media, and the press didn't report a lot of the interactions that they had with harry truman, unless it had

something public, a bigger public issue or public concern. we will have to see. diane, ino next to reading, pennsylvania. diane? caller: hello. i'm going for trump because first of all, i have been following trump like a shadow on the wall. i have been following every statement, everything he's been saying, every rally he has been to, and all i have to say is this man is the only one that is doing anything. for covid-19, he was the first out there with ventilators, with masks, helping out in new york state. cuomo, who sent everybody to nursing homes to die when trump had jacob javits center all open, sent over a ship, a red cross service ship, one of the anybody and hardly

would get there. why? this is the democratic party. i was one of the biggest democrats as far as the grassroots. i knew that they were great. what happened to them? did they go so far left that they fell off the darned mountain? i don't know what happened. but i am definitely for trump. i have lived in new york, i saw what he did, and he doesn't lie. he tells the truth. that is where i'm going, and i know a lot of people in the state of pennsylvania are going that way, too. guest: yeah, i mean -- host: terry madonna? guest: there we heard the arguments used by trump supporters. i hear that all the time. there is something else that i want to bring up, and that is the deep polarization that

exists. if you take a look at the approval for president trump, republicans, 85%, 90% of them give him a positive job performance. if you go to democrats, it is in single digits. single digits. and so we have this extreme polarization between the trump supporters, and we heard exactly the arguments that the trump sorters make -- trump supporters make as to why he should get another term. and the democrats, the folks voted for joe biden on the program this morning, state the exact opposite. this polarization could mean more straight party voting. i'm not saying there will not be ticket splits and that some states might go for a democratic serb -- democratic for biden or elect a united states senator. i'm not selecting that i'm not saying that can't happen. but the polarization is so

extreme, i think we will have a larger number of straight party votes than we have had in the past. host: here is one of our viewers who texted us with this comment and question. i am an independent voter. if i write in a candidate, what would be the result? i am told that i would be throwing away my vote, but i cannot vote for either candidate in good conscience. guest: well, i understand that. i have heard that before. it is not a new argument. i guess you can take the view that, you know, if you are not going to vote for either one, then you are not playing a role in determining -- actually, maybe you are playing a role in determining who wins and loses because you did not vote for one or the other. but this is not uncommon to have right now the dissatisfaction with both candidates. we will just have to see, again,

how this all plays out. host: jupiter, florida. angela is watching their in support of the president. -- watching there in support of the present. good morning. caller: good morning. the only thing i think diane left out is that president trump stopped china travel early on, and biden said he would not have done that, and that saved lives. jupiter,ite woman from florida. i voted for hillary clinton and i was very depressed when she did not win. now i am going to enthusiastically vote for president trump because i have watched how the media covers him and they do not cover him fairly. i look forward to four more years. host: what do you like about his record? caller: well, i like that he puts america first. i think he has done very well in the mideast with the start of agreement.

the economy was doing fantastic prior to corona, and i think dr. fauci has said that he did not represent anything that he was told in the meetings, and just so many more things. host: ok. terry madonna? guest: well, florida right now, biden sen. lee: does under two percentage points, so it is nip lead is -- biden's under two percentage points, so it is nip and tuck. as you know, one of the potential supreme court -- barbarais barbara ago, acumen america -- cuban-american. she was on the florida supreme court before she was on the appeals court. going to do very well in florida with hispanic voters. that might well determine who wins the state, but it is very

close down there. as i indicated before -- 29 electoral votes, it is a family important in the presidential election. host: don in pennsylvania. caller: hi, terry. your columns are printed in my local paper, and they are always very informative and i appreciate that. what i want to talk about is this issue with the supreme court. it just shows -- a caller in an earlier segment said that the institution needs to be torn up and rewritten. when republicans spoke about filling the supreme court vacancy back in 2016, they said we wanted people to decide. well, the people decided that they wanted hillary clinton to pick that nominee, not donald trump. but the electoral college decided that donald trump should pick that nominee. that wyomingnsane

has the same representation in the senate as texas or california. i'm sure at the time, there was a very good reason for these things. but now it is just insane. i don't know what kind of adjustment needs to be made, but i believe there should be something done about this. thanks, terry. guest: you make some very good points. let me talk about the supreme court nomination for a moment. two big points. number one, the president of the united states has the constitutional authority to do an appointment in his first year and his last year in office, and if you go back into the past, more than two dozen presidents in the final year of a term made a nomination to the supreme court. happened inwhat barack obama's final year with

the nomination of merrick garland. democrats favored doing that then. republicans obviously opposed it. with majority leader mitch mcconnell. having said that, the democrats have every right, as a second point, to oppose the nomination. the arguments that i hear, the words that i use most often, "abuse of." "abuse of power." let the people decide. what we don't know yet is whether this issue, how it will play in the presidential election. some think it could help move undecided voters. we will have to wait and see how it plays out. what is fascinating about it is that if they try to hold the vote before november 3, that means the debate over the nominee will go on week after week after week after week,

including a senate judiciary committee where the candidate, the nominee, i should say, will be vetted. trust me, this nominee will be vetted. that's why i think president trump has put forward the names of several individuals who already have gone through the vetting process by virtue of their appointment to the appeals court. daniel in connell's ville, pennsylvania. caller: good morning. host: good. you go ahead, daniel. caller: my big concern is the mailing votes. my mom passed -- the male-in votes. my mom passed away two years ago. let's say mickey mouse was running for president. she would have voted for mickey mouse. so if i had got her ballot in the mail, let her make her mark,

sign my name, and vote for who i wanted to vote for. in a way, that is mail fraud in my book. how many other people are in nursing homes that don't know which way is up, their kids or their grandkids are giving them ballots and voting the way they want to vote for, and not the way their parents vote for? an indication of voter fraud? host: terry madonna? all, inell, first of you cannotf florida get a ballot and unless you apply for it. you cannot just get a ballot as other states are doing, but that is not the way it works in pennsylvania. i'm not suggesting that some but it could not apply for somebody, but there are checks that you

have to go through before you get the mail-in ballots. i don't know that that's going to be a significant problem. we are going to have to wait and see. i think the bigger problem will be, again, getting these votes securelygetting them handled by the post office. and there are drop boxes that some counties are going to have where you can drive and drop your ballot into a secure dropbox. the supreme court said that is perfectly permissible. stunned -- i would be if we get out of this election without multiple lawsuits in various states over aspects of this election. one of which will certainly be the male-in voting -- the mail-in voting process and how it all unfolds. i would be stunned if that were the case, particularly in states where the election is close.

host: explain the naked ballot issue. guest: the what? the naked ballot issue in pennsylvania. guest: what do they mean by that? host: the double envelope. guest: oh, sure. what happens is, when you apply for a mail-in ballot, you will get a ballot and it will have two envelopes in it. the inside envelope is where you actually stick the ballot. you seal it. then there is an outer envelope with the address of the place in the county, where the election officials want the mailing votes -- the mail in votes to be delivered. so you have two ballots. there is a big debate about what happens if the inner envelope is not there, and the ballot is stuck in the outer envelope, the one with the address of the

election officials, where that is to go? there is a debate over that as .ell in the state again, i am not going to tell you that i don't think some ballots are not going to be counted. there may be difficulties with the naked ballot, as you point out, and we will have to see, again. we are not totally in uncharted territory because we have the june 2 primary balloting, which election officials are acutely aware of. host: terry madonna, what are you watching for in the weeks leading up to election day? guest: i have been saying this for some time. right now we know with the issues are because the voters have told us. what we don't know, which would come out of the blue -- and by the way, i said that before justice ginsburg passed away, and we have that issue unfolding -- so something again could come out of the blue that could

materially affect the election. point number two, we have the first -- three debates, the first one coming september 20 nine. historically debate have not decided who wins or loses a presidential election. you get a little bit of a bum, but the fact of the matter is, i think the clinton-trump debate million, 8483 million viewers, a record. and it looks to me like that will even be increased this year . so we will have to see if in realthe debates have some -- i don't want to say determining outcome, but i will say have an effect on the election, something that we will all be watching very closely. and who knows what could occur between now and november 3? i keep saying november 3. but look at how many millions of

americans are going to vote before november 3. again, republicans will vote more in person, democrats by mail. so we might have a different view of who won or who lost days later than we will on election night. you, terry madonna, thank as always, for your time this morning. guest: it's my pleasure. thanks for having me. host: later this morning, we expect the casket of the late justice ruth bader ginsburg to lie in the supreme court -- to arrive at the supreme court, where she will lie in's for the next few days. learning this morning from the white house press secretary, jeff bennett is reporting that the president will pay his respects to the late justice on thursday at the supreme court. after she lies in repose there, she will be given the honor of lying in the u.s. capitol. a private