your calls, and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: good morning. a live view of the walter reed national military medical center in bethesda, maryland, where the president remains hospitalized today as he continues his treatment for coronavirus. supporters of the president holding vigil overnight. on capitol hill, negotiations have resumed between speaker pelosi and senior trump administration officials, including the treasury secretary on another relief package. the senate in pro forma session for the next two weeks unless there is an agreement. do not look for any votes in congress until october 19.

ahead on "washington journal," your thoughts and reaction to the events of the last few days as president trump continues his treatment for covid-19. we are dividing our phone lines regionally. (202) 748-8000 if you live in the eastern or central time zones. those of you out west, (202) 748-8001. send us a text message at (202) 748-8003. you can join us on social media, on twitter, and on facebook. good sunday morning. thanks for being with us. a lot to get to in the next couple of hours, including this headline from the new york times, confusion and concern as the president ails. this headline, trump saying he is doing much better. he is not out of danger. that is from white house chief of staff mark meadows, contrasting a rosy picture

painted by the president's dr. on television. saturday evening, the president said he was starting to feel good. the video meant to reassure the nation posted on his website at realdonaldtrump.com. [video clip] >> i want to begin by thanking all the incredible medical professionals at walter reed medical center. i think it is the finest in the world for the incredible job they have been doing. i came here feeling so well. i feel much better now. i have to be back because we still have to make america great again. we have done an awfully good job of that, but we still have steps to go. we have to finish that job. i will be back. i think i will be back soon. i look forward to finishing up the campaign the way we started

in the way we have been doing and the kind of numbers we have been doing. we have been so proud of it. happened,mething that and it has happened to millions of people all over the world. i am fighting for them come and not just in the u.s.. we are going to beat this coronavirus or whatever you want to call it. it are going to beat soundly. so my things have happened. if you look at the therapeutics, which i am taking right now, some of them, and others that are coming out, frankly, they are miracles. people criticize me when i say that. things that are happening that look like they are miracles coming from god. i want to tell you i'm starting to feel good. if you don't know, over the next few days, that is the real test. we will see what happens over those next couple of days. i want to be so thankful for all of the support i have seen,

whether it is on television or reading about it. most of all appreciate what has been said by the american people by an almost bipartisan consensus of american people. i appreciate it. i will not forget it. i also want to thank the leaders of the world for their condolences. they know what we are going through. they know what i have to go through. i had no choice because i did not want to stay in the white house. i was given that alternative. stay in the white house, lock yourself in, do not leave. just a upstairs and enjoy it. do not see people. do not talk to people. i cannot do that. i had to be out front. this is america. this is the united states. this is the greatest country in the world.

i cannot be locked up in a room sayairs totally safe and whatever happens happens. i cannot do that. we have to confront problems. as a leader, you have to confront problems. there has never been a great leader that would have done that. i am doing well. i want to thank everybody. our first lady is doing very well. asked me to say something as to the respect she has for our country, the love she has for our country. we are both doing well. melania is handling it very nicely. as you have probably read, she is slightly younger than me. therefore, we know the disease. we know the situation. people, andounger melania is handling it statistically like it is

supposed to be handled. that makes me very happy. i am also doing well. i think we are going to have a very good result. over the next few days, we are probably going to know for sure. i want to thank everybody out there and everybody all over the world, specifically the united states. the outpouring of love has been incredible. i will never forget. thank you very much. host: that was the president late yesterday in a live view of the walter reed medical center in bethesda, maryland. the president continues his treatment today. joe is joining us from florida. good morning. caller: good morning. i just want to say now is a great time for all americans from all over the place to come together. this coronavirus has been a disastrous event, but want to wish the president and first family speedy recovery.

host: thanks for the call. chris in west palm beach. good morning to you. caller: good morning to you. i want to say that presentation made me puke. this man could not the opportunity to tell the american people to put on masks and to protect themselves. acknowledgedonce the pain, the sacrifice, the deaths of the first-line medical care workers all over this country, at least 1000 of which have died. how could he not? i understand the thank yous. that is wonderful. he could not in four minutes tell the american people to put on a mask to protect themselves, to be safe, and that we will get through this together.

host: thanks for the call. the headline from fox news, senator mitch mcconnell on twitter yesterday, following his conversation with the president, they discussed the pandemic and the nomination of amy coney barrett. here are the details from fox news, mitch mcconnell saying on saturday president trump sounds well and says he is feeling good after a phone call in which the leaders talked about the covid-19 pandemic and confirming judge amy coney barrett to the supreme court. the white house has said they president would keep working. house speaker nancy pelosi and the treasury secretary steven mnuchin have been working to compromise on a massive coronavirus stimulus bill to reinvigorate the u.s. economy. the president yesterday on about 1:46h this at p.m., our great usa wants and needs stimulus.

work together and get it done. thank you. the actor joining us from maryland. joining us from maryland. caller: good morning. i have a question for the democratic callers out there. some of you are calling trump the spreader because he got the wuhan flu. i would like to ask these same democrats, the rioters and the looters, when they were doing there -- their looting and rioting, where they wearing a mask? this is hypocritical. how come demonstrators and the like are not spreading the virus? when trying to get sick he is called the spreader. host: we are going to carolyn. good morning. caller: i'm fine.

my comment is i am pleased donald trump is getting treatment for his condition, but what worries me about that is we as taxpayers are picking up the tab for it while at the same time he is in court trying to take away the affordable care act for others. i do not think that is right. host: thanks for the call. joanna has this on facebook, happy for our president, hoping for a full and speedy recovery. scott in los angeles. caller: good morning. i just want to say with trump sick, and i have been watching how it is so partisan, i am hoping congress comes to an agreement to help the whole country. i see everybody so divided. that makes me very sad to see

that this is a great country. everybody really does love each other in this country. everybody does try to help each other. this country tries to help the whole world. trump beingthat sick and other people being sick, i hope they get better and this brings us together in a more bipartisan way. thank you for taking my call. host: thank you. also on our facebook page, janet saying, hopefully he realizes this needs to be taken seriously and for people to come together and wear a mask and stay home and social distance. as we sat at the top of the program, the senate in pro forma session, live coverage on c-span two. do not look for any for activity over the next week. hearings for judge amy coney barrett set to begin on the

12th. chuck schumer saying, the makes clear-- that the senate cannot proceed with business as usual as the virus continues to run rampant. if it is too dangerous to have the senate in session, it is too dangerous to have committee hearings continue. threatens the health and safety of senators, staff, and all who work in the capitol complex. their decision to move. ahead with a supreme court nominee who could take away the health care of 20 million americans a month before election day is turning an illegitimate process into a reckless and dangerous one. andrea is up next from washington. caller: good morning. call thet trying to

8001 number, but it rain through on this number. i live on the west coast. i'm calling to say that president trump probably would not be in the hospital if he had taken care of this virus back when he knew about it in february. he is such a liar. i was brought up where i cannot home, sogee or darn at there are words that start with the f that i want to talk about when i talk about trump because he is such a liar. i have no respect for him at all. i do not wish him ill. i hope he gets well. he does not take care of the american people at all. host: front page of the washington post, white house

message, leading physicians met at walter reed and mark meadows. trump have a team of 10 doctors while millions of americans can afford none? from detroit, jerome. caller: good morning. good morning, america. for the guy that asked about the rioters, straight up from the beginning, i am not biased. aboutan cares not a darn the american people. he stood on that debate stage and mocked joe biden for wearing one. he told his people early on in this situation pretty much like ame, something is wrong with you walking around wearing a mask.

of course we know he is a liar. let me just put it in perspective. onald trump has a hold people that i have never seen except two times in the history of this country come in this world, and that is jim jones and adolf hitler. if this were barack obama, donald trump would be calling this the obama virus. this is the trump virus. host: we will go to ken next. good morning. caller: good morning. host: how are you? caller: i am doing quite well. is everything well with you? host: we are doing great. what is your reaction to the events of the last couple of days? caller: my reaction is you cannot fix stupid. with hisen stupid

masks and saying people need to wear a mask. it is going to go away in march, in easter. you cannot fix stupid. you cannot fix arrogance. host: thanks for the call from california. at politico.com, this is the headline, the white house triggers questions and confusion about the president's coronavirus case. joining us on the phone is anita kumar, white house reporter for politico. thank you for being with us. i wonder if you can walk through the chronology of what happened yesterday and how things unfolded in terms of white house information. guest: good morning. we have been hearing a lot of people asking for more information about the president's condition, and so the white house announced there would be a news conference right outside walter reed with a small group of reporters with the

president's team of doctors. there was this press conference. there was a lot of frustration because the doctors would not answer a lot of questions. happy president received oxygen? they would not say. they would just say he was not receiving it at that moment. what was his temperature when he had a fever? that sort of thing. after that, the white house chief of staff undercut what the doctor was saying by speaking to those reporters that were present and telling them that the president was not doing as well in the next couple of days would be critical. that set off mass confusion, people not understanding how the president was doing. was it worse than the doctors were saying or why was the chief of staff saying something different? host: let me put on screen report what that pool

said, later attributed to mark meadows, former congressman of north carolina, now chief of staff. this was yesterday. the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care. we are still not on a clear path to a full recovery. here is part of what the president's physician dr. scott conley told the press yesterday in bethesda. [video clip] >> i recommended we bring the president to walter reed as a precautionary measure to provide state-of-the-art monitoring and any care that he may need. 72 hours into the diagnosis now, covid areweek of critical in determining the likely course of this illness. at this time, his team and i are extremely happy. thursday, he had a mild cough

with nasal congestion and some fatigue. all are now resulting were improving. host: that was new and. last night, the video with the president saying it was his decision to come to walter reed, that he could have stayed at the white house. guest: that is right. mark meadows went on fox news last night to walk back what he said, saying the present is doing very well. there have been some conflicting messages. i think it was important the president put out that video because there were people yesterday calling for the president to be seen. just so that people could see him and know that he was doing ok. he did do this video. host: this is a picture from the washington post. the events a week ago saturday in the rose garden, the official nomination of amy coney barrett, three u.s. senators, three

members of the white house press corps, governor chris christie, the president of notre dame university confirmed they have covid-19, and all were at attendance -- were in attendance at this event. guest: there are a lot of signs that point to that event as you mentioned. they are saying at the white house they are doing contact tracing and trying to figure out where that came from. there was many people there, many of them not wearing masks. the president had a busy week last week. he has been in multiple states. he went to the debate in cleveland. he has interacted with the number of people. i was at the debate. you were there as well. we know that the guests of the president, many of them were not wearing masks even though ohio calls for masks as well as the post was asking people to wear

masks. we do not know how many people were impacted. you are starting to see people positived and have results. i think we are going to see a lot in the next few days because doctors say it can take several days for that incubation period. today, whategard to are you looking for? what can we expect from the white house and the president? guest: i think we are probably going to hear an update from the white house. officials were saying they were going to give daily updates on his condition. what that form comes in, i am not sure. they are feeling pressured to do better than they did yesterday with that conflict. they could have another press conference at walter reed. i was talking to some people close to the white house, close to the campaign yesterday who

were saying they are urging the white house to let the doctors speak on the president's condition. it is a medical issue. we will see if that is the case today. host: let me go back to that news conference with the president's physicians, and it was moments later we reviewed that pool report that confirmed they came from mark meadows, just how unusual is that? guest: it is very unusual. not knowing at first that it was from mark meadows, we did learn that later, it was unusual because generally you do not see something like that right after a press conference. you also do not see something quote, basically a blind something that significant. it was not positive. generally the white house is putting out a positive message. that know from reporting

the only person that has been there with the president from the white house is the chief of staff. we know that he spoke to reporters right afterwards. there were cameras that caught him talking, saw him talking to reporters. you can hear him. that is how we know it is mark meadows. he said he wanted to say something more but without his name attached. later in the day, the white house did confirm it was mark meadows. i think pretty much everybody put it together. the president was not happy with that. he is a president that likes to show that he is strong, not that he is weak or sick. he wanted to project this image that he was doing very well. this undercut his message. host: we are a month from the election, four weeks from

tuesday. where does this put us with that? was talking to a lot of campaign officials yesterday. they do not know. the president is not available to do events for the next couple of weeks. they are hoping the final two weeks of the campaign he can be out there. that is unknown. it depends on how he is doing, what the doctors say. they did announce yesterday they will have some virtual events for the next several days, and the vice presidential debate is wednesday in utah. after that debate, vice president mike pence will start in person events again. he is flying to arizona to do an event, and then he will have a full campaign schedule. they are having members of the trump family who have tested negative, which is pretty much everyone so far, they will be out there. childrendent's adult

will go out as well. they are just continuing on. it is unclear what president trump is going to be able to do. associatea kumar, editor, white house reporter working for politico. thank you for being with us this sunday. guest: thank you. host: this is a tweet, actually text message, i am thrilled for 45. he finally realizes the hoax will bite you. back to your phone calls as the president continues his treatment. we go to jim from west virginia. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: fine, sir. how are you? caller: good. i believe this president is the greatest president we have ever had. he has acknowledged the first responders, police officer,

military. he has acknowledged all these groups. the lady that called in that said it made her puke just about made me. . puke.t about made me host: let's go to brett in maryland. caller: some of the speculation by your good guest you just had from the journalism area, and since i am an elderly gentleman in a wheelchair, and i had covid-19, i can say what has come out from the chief of staff from the president and the president himself, the difference is only the positive nature that the president would point no matter what. i like that about him. differentiate the two main symptoms that are scary. the first one, which most old guys like me might have,

shortness of breath. maybe that is why somebody mentioned something about oxygen, him being given a little. that is good usually. for most people it does not last very long. it is carried. the second one you can probably count on is having the debate schedule moved up, partly because the biden campaign will demand that the president stays in quarantine. the second symptom is possible tissue.sue -- lung the thing with shortness of breath it is attacking the brain. through, you were diagnosed with covid 19. how did you feel the first couple of days and then how did you feel the next three or four days? caller: the main thing for me was an upper respiratory thing. it did not feel that feverish. i had a little sweating at night. when a county health nurse

showed up to assess me from having called the v.a. dr. that said the.a. doctor shortness of breath thing could be serious. they see it as important. host: did they put you on oxygen? because it only lasted maybe 20 seconds. it is scary. it felt like drowning. tissue, this virus will make your cough painful. it is making lung tissue, scarring it, i don't know, i am not a med guy. it might be threading the tissue. the doctor will be screening him

on the lung tissue. i will say it will be seven to 10 days they will be looking at that. that is my guess. i will say your debate will be the last one in the campaign. it will be delayed. i am almost certain biden will demand that. the president's campaign will agree. quarantined 10 or 14 days. host: you sound great. caller: thanks. host: thank you for your service. from the dispatch, our best work from a surreal week. she writes the following, we can make all the jokes we want about 2020, how weeks feel like months and months like years, how the writers of this season of america are overdoing the surprise plot twists, how we did

not have murder hornets on our 2020 bingo card, but the events of this week, how president hadp and melania trump tested positive for covid-19 were no laughing matter. week'sdered most of this other stories forgettable if not forgotten, and that is saying something considering the bizarre spectacle that was tuesday's debate. joseph, good morning. caller: good morning. when these events happen, what came to my mind were the lyrics around the song from quite a while ago, so called vincent, starry night. now i understand what you try to say to me and how you suffered for your sanity and how you

tried to set them free. they would not listen. they did not know how. perhaps they will listen now. listen, i am a veteran. my brother is a veteran. but veryhis country, concerned about what is going on. i am also italian-american. about a month ago, i saw the video of the italian parliament giving a standing ovation for about 15 minutes to their president, congratulating him on the country. they practically have it under control now. they worked united. we must be united. this man, unfortunately, is a divider. perhaps he will listen now. we have to work together. we cannot divide the country. host: thanks for the call. the president up early this

morning. the scene outside walter reed in bethesda, maryland, pointing out that he is saying thank you to all the great american patriot that have come out tonight in support of the president. those demonstrations continue this morning. the live scene in bethesda, maryland. some of the flags and signs.earlier we saw signs.entpence caller: good morning. i have a statement i would like to make. the first one they said tested positive was hope hicks. donald trump has a history of putting his followers under the bus. how do you know that hope hicks did not get it from donald trump? that is all i have to say. host: thank you. ann joining us from germantown,

maryland. good morning. ann, please go ahead. if one more time for ann, you are on the phone. please go ahead. ann.nk we lost we will try one more time. i think we lost her. governor chris christie has also been hospitalized. he was in the rose garden this last saturday for the amy coney barrett event. he was reportedly in cleveland, ohio. he also participated in an abc news postdebate panel. abc news indicating that staffers who had been around governor chris christie have been quarantined for 14 days. getting your reaction to the president, who has been hospitalized. (202) 748-8000 if you live in

the eastern or central time zones. (202) 748-8001 for those of you in the mountain and pacific time zones. we showed you this tweet from the demonstrations and vigils that took place outside walter reed overnight. those flags showing support for the president. you,nt to also share with this is the headline from cnbc as the president is urging congress to get it done in terms of legislation. negotiation's continue between the house speaker and the secretary of the treasury as they work on potentially another stimulus package that can be up for a vote later this october. right now, congress is in pro forma sessions until they reach some agreement. we will go to oakdale, west virginia. caller: good morning. host: how are you? caller: i am fine. i want to make a comment that

the last two or three weeks, i have noticed the president has .een looking drawn his face looks like he has lost some weight. i wonder if this is other than his active, active program, whether he was really down in mental inlus mental, the hectic schedule that he had that he was, he was a candidate, plus his obesity plus his age for the virus. i was noticing how his face was different looking from the prior month and a half. i'm wondering whether he was ripe for catching the virus. i do not wish that on anybody. being, he is not really

in isolation. i have been in the medical field for over 65 years. it is hell being in isolation, not being able to see family. having blood drawn as often as he is going to have it done. i wish him well. seeingondering if i was a precursor to his being tested positive. that is my comment. host: thanks for the call. this is from lives in north carolina, text message. trump is the leader of our country, and he has been reckless in his leadership to the virus. is fortunate to be receiving such good medical care.

edward is joining us from rome, new york. good morning. how are you? caller: fine, thank you. host: please go ahead. caller: it is hard to muster any whoathy for the president has been so unconcerned about the health care of people in this country. that is my comment. host: thanks for the call. from the new york times sunday magazine, the attack on voting, how the false claim of voter fraud is being used by republicans to disenfranchise americans. presidentunbound, how trump and his attorney general use each other. from national review, this is where they had black lives matter sign across parts of d.c. against d.c. statehood as that .ebate continues

we saw that in the south carolina senate debate yesterday, the race between jamie harrison and lindsey graham. susan in new jersey. good morning. caller: good morning. can you hear me ok? host: we sure can. caller: i want on my phone to see how the president was doing, and what came up, there is a picture in the new york post. there is a whole bunch of supporters for trump praying for him, which is natural. what is not, if you look at the skelss,, everyone is ma except for one person -- maskless, except for one person, and they are all jammed up. where is your mask? why aren't you distanced? host: we will go to david joining us from maryland.

your thoughts on the president this sunday morning. caller: my prayers go out to him and his family and everybody that has been affected by this covid-19 all over the country. everybody said it was a hoax, they were not saying the virus itself was a hoax. they were saying it was a hoax that it was overblown. this is nothing but a bad flu. i had it. i was able to take the hydroxychloroquine with the z pad. when he said it was a hoax, it was a hoax that shut down our economy, which did not have to happen. have when did you covid-19, and how are you feeling today? caller: i had it toward the end of august. i feel great. i had no side effects whatsoever. i had it.

i quarantined for 14 days. it was over in seven because i got retested. host: no long-term implications? caller: none whatsoever. host: good for you. caller: for those who have had it, god bless them. i hope everybody understands this isn't a virus. it is the flu. host: thank you. good luck. stay healthy. the is section three of 20th fifth amendment -- 25th amendment. it was put in place after the assassination of president kennedy to have a line of succession, used when vice president spiro agnew resigned. whenever the president transmits to the president pro tem for of the-- president pro tem of senate and the speaker of the house his written declaration

that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits them a written declaration to , such powers and duties shall be discharged by the vice president as acting president. fromlle is joining us commerce, texas. caller: good morning. the first thing i would like to say is i am kind of shocked in the video that the president gave last night that he invoked the name of god. the very got this man that he is. another shocking fact is he is at walter reed army medical. i am a veteran. i live in a state where there are many veterans. i'm surprised he would allow himself to be treated by what he calls the losers and suckers. wouldlmost appalled he

even call for after his words thisomments that country comes together. it is blasphemous. host: how does the country come together? what are your thoughts? caller: i think he has missed that opportunity three, almost four years ago, to bring this country together. it started with his inauguration speech. the american carnage he has called for again by failing to is a as he feels he dictator, but to bring this country together to point out things that need to happen. i'm healthy. praise god for that. you sit there and take some of the best medical care to world can give and try

take medical care away from people by bringing the obamacare act to the supreme court to have it disenfranchised? it is just too much. host: thanks for the call. more with dr. sean conley yesterday outside of walter reed army medical center in bethesda, maryland. in exchange with reporters. [video clip] >> the president has been fever free for over 24 hours. we remain cautiously optimistic. he is doing great. one other note, it should be plenty of he has got work to get done from the chief of staff, and he is doing it. there is a couple of questions about the president's health the last couple of days. >> can you tell us the presence oxygen saturation level? >> the last saturation we had

walking around is 96%. he is not oxygen right now. that is right. >> he has not received any at all? >> he has not needed any this morning, today at all. >> do you have an estimated date when he might be discharged? >> i do not want to put a hard date on that. he is doing so well. known course of the illness, days seven to 10 we get concerned with the inflammatory effects. advancedt we gave him therapy so early, it is hard to tell where he is on that course. every day, we are evaluating does he need to be here? what does he need? what is the probability he will need supplemental oxygen going forward? >> i do not want to put a

percentage on that. all indicators are that he will remain off of oxygen going forward. >> in terms of blood clots, bacterial infection, what do you see as the risks on that front? >> we know all of them are risks associated with the condition. he is receiving all the standard of care and beyond for routine in our international covid protocol. we are monitoring for that. at the moment, there is no cause for concern. >> you said he was fever free now. what was his fever when he had one? >> i do not want to give any specific numbers. he did have a fever thursday into friday. since friday morning, he has had none. i'm sorry? >> y remdesivir? >> remdesivir works differently from antibodies.

we are maximizing all aspects of his care, attacking this virus in a multipronged approach. i did not want to hold anything back if there was any possibility that it would add value to his care and expedite his return, i wanted to take it. >> what was the date of the president's last negative test? >> i'm not going to get into the testing going back. as he has said, he was routinely tested. >> what was the ppe protocol for president's visitors and doctors? hospital.same as any we have an area that is clean that you put your equipment on, and beyond that, everybody is gowned up, masks and gloves. we are protecting ourselves and him. >> have there been any signs of lung damage?

>> we have been tracking all of that. i do not want to get into any specifics. >> has he ever been on supplemental oxygen? >> right now he is not on oxygen. >> you keep saying right now. should we read into the fact that he has been? >> right now, he is not on oxygen. he is not on oxygen right now. outsideat was yesterday the walter reed medical facility in bethesda, maryland. from the new york times, confusion and concern as the president ails and accounts conflict. scenes from outside the walter reed national military medical center where the president is being treated for covid. his supporters staging rockist raucus gatherings saturday.

bruce. i hear a lot on your show about how people doubt the honesty of the present. have they ever been in a position where they have to please some of the people all the time and not all the people all the time? or however it goes. him. behind host: thank you. from johns hopkins university, we have been keeping track of the covid-19 numbers. the total number of cases around the world approaching 35 million. the global death toll just over one million in 188 countries. the hotspots particularly in the south, west, and upper midwest. washington,, elaine. good morning to you.

caller: good morning. minutes, 50 minutes now, it seems to me like most of your people who have absolutely no intention of uniting this country. they are so much anti-trump. the other point i want to make, for thel against him rose garden when every last d wasn in that crow temperaturetheir was taken. that does not happen in the protests. nobody brought that up. nobody brings up the fact that people go out in the streets, and they yell and scream in people's faces. they are not tested. their temperature is not taken. they let that go. that is what is causing division in our country is the dichotomy of what people are saying and

promoting constantly. i would rather just not even listen to the people who are doing this. i do not think it does our country any good. it cannot do them any good to be with so much hate for one person who has done so much for this country, and they will never see it. this is from the president earlier this week, doing well, thank you to all. love! patrick, missouri. caller: you are the greatest of all time. i was watching president trump, and he was doing an interview. he says, who knows how i caught it? theuld have caught it from meetings that i have with my security council. saidhe switched past and i'm with a lot of police and a

lot of veterans, and they all want to come up and shake my hand and tell me what a good job i do. i do not know who was interviewing for that. maybe you can find that, steve. dance.s used to be a it should not be a war. we are not out to kill the other guy. soare, you know, it's divisive now. your last caller saying i do not want to listen to the other side. you have got to listen. you have got to talk. if you do not listen and talk, it is just not going to work out. one more thing, good luck on the debate. debatet know if a zoom might be a good idea because that might be the only way you time because keep

cutting off the microphone to trump, i have seen it. he just talks louder. host: what is that line? it's a dance, not a war. caller: yeah. host: i can attribute that to patrick from missouri. caller: thank you. host: we wish the present all the best as he continues to recover. the path forward remains uncertain. we go to tim. caller: i could not agree more with your last few callers, especially olivia. i think you guys have a great show. you personally sound a lot better than a lot of the other guys on there. i think your channel is guilty of a lot of the thinning of the flames. also, i send prayers to the president and his wife. they are sick.

that story from the atlantic and so many people calling your station talking about the losers, everyone knows that was unsubstantiated garbage. in the old days, that stuff would have never reached the front page. there has never been one person that has come forward to take responsibility for this. allegations. it is horrible. you guys are guilty of it, too. fanning the flames by perpetuating these false stories. it used to be a dance. now it is a war. you are out to get this guy. he does not have to seconds to take a breather. i have never seen a press room like now. it is absolutely insane. everybody knows what it is all about. republicans are trying to put this guy out because he is

running their game. host: how do we get beyond this? you are right. we are a divided country. what does it take to get beyond the partisan divisions we are seeing? caller: stop doing what you're doing. you all are believing the propaganda. you are perpetuating the propaganda. we need to go back to truth. and not commentating. i know you are not a news channel, but you should be. think about it. you are sitting there. you are supposed to be relevant, balanced. you are certainly not balanced anymore because there is 95% of propaganda. you have got to start talking about the news and not commentating. what you believe is true a lot of times is just propaganda. you have got to get the facts. it is the math. you have got to do the math. when you do not do the math,

everything sucks. you are doing a disservice to our country. just look at the german people during world war ii, what goebbels did to them. after the war, they found all and place is full of dead the me seated gypsies and jews and polish people, and people said we had no idea. they knew. that is exactly what is going on. host: thanks for the call. the only thing i would add is that what we try to do every day is try to present you what is being talked about, what people are saying. a lot of opinion pieces, stories from around the country. it is a chance for you to express your point of view. we are an open forum. we cover all points of view and all of that's. -- all events.

front page of the washington post, somehow are horrible year keeps getting worse. dan balz joins us in 45 minutes. catherine is joining us from kansas. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. trumpd like to ask a follower to explain to me in a way i can wrap my head around it how on god's green earth you can still support him after what he has done. can know from the reporter bob tapeard's work and his own d message, he knew how deadly this virus was, and he did not prepare the american people. everyone says why? why didn't he let us know earlier so we can prepare? he said he did not want to create a panic, which is how

this man operates. that is all he does is create panic everywhere. he knew, and he did not warn us. look how far this has spread. the science says, science, man was talking earlier about facts, going by the facts. the science, cdc and everybody has told us how to stop this spread by wearing masks. his own followers get up there and do not wear them and make fun of everybody that does. it is so sad. it is not going to change. do you think this man is going to change his tone one bit? he is afraid it is going to make him look weak. his idiot followers are still going to be out there not wearing masks and spreading this virus. i have children who are unemployed now.

now what if they get it? what is he going to do? he is getting top medical care, and all his followers and white house staff do. my kids, what if they get it? at least i have it, fortunately, but they do not. all these poor people who do not have it that are dying, and he does not care. host: we will leave it there. we are short on time. we will go to terrance from new jersey. caller: how are you doing? host: how are you doing? caller: fine. i want to say president trump has done nothing for the african-american race. if him and his wife are really sick, i believe this is a political stunt so he can say he took a vaccine and make everything better so his base

and supporters, because he knew he was going to lose the election. i think it is a joke now that he was making fun of joe biden at look at yourying campaign, nobody wants to come out and see you at your rallies. he was staying safe and following the guidelines of his own people. you see where he at now. 2020. been a crazy we need a president that is going to bring us together, and we need a president that is for real change. donald trump is not. we know that our own history of our country with white supremacists, white nationalists, they have not been out, but as soon as donald trump came, they all coming out. i heard a story of a guy in west

the statement really resonated with a lot of people. if donaldsister that trump loses, we might go into a civil war. i don't want to see that. we need a new leader at the top. at least joe biden knows what he's doing. somebody in the public office is supposed to be the most powerful man in the world that doesn't know what he's doing. it is 8:00 here in washington. host: we continue our conversation it the headlines from the washington post. is join us in just a moment. later, we will be joined by at the ethics and

public policy center. you are watching and listening to washington journal for this sunday. we are back in a moment. the u.s. supreme court begins its new term monday, hearing arguments very it conference call. listen live or on-demand at c-span.org. tonight, the cato institute's talks about supreme disorder, the history of supreme court nominations and confirmations. >> roe v. wade and the issue of abortion didn't play a larger role after it came down. that was 1973. president ford nominated john paul stevens, who was a moderate

day, to then his left judas potentially. playa day o'connor, didn't that large of a role. it wasn't until bork that it assumed a huge role that it plays in all of our supreme court discussions. >> the book supreme disorder tonight at 8:00 eastern on q&a. american history tv on c-span three, exploring the events that tell the american story every weekend. up, a series of archival films on wildfires, firefighting, fire prevention.

watch the 1984 vice presidential debate between george bush and geraldine ferraro. exploring the american story, watch american history tv today. >> washington journal continues. join us from his home in washington dc is political reporter dan balz. good sunday morning. thank you for being with us. only october 4. what a year it has been it. guest: it's been an unbelievable year. nobody could have written the script for this year. as though not every week but every other day something dramatic happens that shakes the country. we've had unrelenting bad news for most of the year.

pandemic, terrible economic collapse, a recovery that is uneven where the people were stuff are having it the worst at this point. ande had racial protests violence in the streets. violence from both sides in the street. we had the death of john lewis, ruth bader ginsburg, now we learned just a couple of days ago that the president of the united states has tested positive for the coronavirus. get aoes the country ever break from any of this? we are 29 days from the election. it's an unbelievably important election. they see it and almost apocalyptic terms. we've never gone through in my

memory -- many of us live through 1968. this year is difficult for everybody. host: here is how you frame it this morning on the front page. as you look ahead based on all that has happened so far, has this changed the dynamic in the election? guest: nothing so far has changed it.

perhaps the president's illness will have some effect. i don't know which way that will go. he might get a sympathy vote or there would be a backlash against him because of the way he has downplayed the virus. none of the big events have had any effect. vice president died has led the national polls for months with a decent leader. the key battleground states, many of them tilt toward biden. tossup's, states the trump won the last time around. we get these events and we think that something will change things. they haven't so far. the president's illness came so quickly on the heels of the debate the other night. we are dealing with both of those and trying to understand politically what impact they might have. i think it's too soon to know

what kind of impact the president's illness will have. the debate was not a good site for him. i don't think it's going to change any minds. touchhave you been in with either of the campaigns and how they are adjusting to this? guest: i have not been directly in touch. our team has been doing that. i have had some contact with the biden campaign over the last few days. the presidenthat is going through is difficult. the biden campaign took down negative ads. the campaignpaign, ,anager has contracted positive these campaigns are navigating through what everyone else is navigating through. they have very large staffs. people know what they need to do.

think what happened to the president is a reminder that it's almost impossible to do politics in the normal way. has been campaign trying to be on the ground. campaign went all virtual for months and months. they are beginning to start to do some traditional doorknocking. the kinds off serious campaigning we see, the trump campaign has done some of that. i wonder what that will be like. which ther in campaigns of set their course and are now executing.

certainly, the president's campaign needs to find a way to change the dynamic or change the directory. -- trajectory. campaign moved late in his direction. 2016body who went through is mindful of that. point, the biden campaign feels as though they are in a pretty good place. they are not slowing down. host: the october surprise came on october 1 when the president was transported to the hospital for treatment. extensively,tten it's a fight for the house and senate. i want to share you some overnight developments. senator graham and jamie harrison meet for the first

senate debate. these are some of the details. they have destroyed fundraising records in south carolina, accusing each other of being in the pocket of powerful special interests. they remind voters of their meager upgrading's -- upbringings. this exchange in a debate the we carried live. >> sometimes listing to senator

graham reminds me of playing monopoly with my son. he changes the rules every time he gets. you said you my words against me. you set it after the kavanaugh hearings. that nomise was judicial nominee should be considered or proved in the last year of an election. you even made president -- named president trump. manrandfather taught me a is only as good as his word. how good is your word when you made a promise to the american people. you made a promise to the folks in south carolina that you wouldn't be doing what you're doing right now. that's the problem. you can dot heresy is a public servant is to betray her at the trust of the people. be a man instead of and say

i changed my mind. don't go back and blame it on somebody else. if an opening comes about, we will see with the market will bear. she's going to get confirmed because the president has the authority to do it. when president obama was president i honor the fact that he won the election and i voted for two people i wouldn't have chosen. i've watched the party try to constrict -- destroy one conservative judge. he chaired on the destruction of brett kavanaugh. amy barrett is highly qualified. i'm the committee of the committee. the president has every right to do this. you can count on me. from last night.

the senate races surprisingly close. guest: it is surprisingly close. i don't think anybody anticipated lindsey graham would be in the fight of his life in this campaign. raisedarrison has amazing amounts of money for a challenger. south carolina is not a state we look to to be a battleground. the fact that senator graham is in such a tight race and he is literally pleading for contributions to keep up with his challenger. that is one of the surprises of the year. there are a slew of competitive senate races. host: what is the strategy of senate democrats? three have coronavirus. the senate doesn't meet until

october 19. a week from tomorrow, the confirmation hearing will begin. guest: the democrats are going to do whatever they can procedurally to try to slow the train down. it's not clear that they have the wherewithal to do it. if the republicans can get everybody in the chamber to vote , that's the key issue at this point. we will have to wait and see what the medical condition is of people to decide whether that's possible. that's the only hope that democrats seem to have right now, that the republicans will not be able to get everyone in the room to have the vote. thoughainly appears as this confirmation is going forward. host: a native of free point, illinois. the is one of the sites of

lincoln doublets bates. (202) 748-8000 if you are a supporter of the president. (202) 748-8001 if you are a supporter of vice president biter. we will go to howard in florida. . caller: i didn't see the phone lines. the 01 number. i have two points. positivityne, i see out of the president getting this. there is so much confusion in the media. let's step back when this first happened. trump spoke about it and closed down the country. that, youas saying had all of the left saying how he was wrong.

even de blasio said this is no worse than the flu. that's true. 98% of the people that catch covid recover with no problem. that 2% are the vulnerable people with low immune systems that are already sick anyway or have problems. made a statement about this being no worse than the flu. how me decades have we gone through with the flu, we all get it. we all get over it. this is the same thing. sense,look at it in that go get well. you cannot sit back in a corner in your house and be afraid to walk out the door if you catch it. host: thank you for the call. guest: i think we do know that

deadlyonavirus is more than the normal flu. i think that's one point that his been proven by the experience the country has gone through. this virus is killed many more people then died during a normal flu season. the second point is there are flu vaccines. falle get flu shots every in order to protect themselves as much as possible against the latest reign of the flu. there is no vaccine for covid-19. those are two important points that people need to keep in mind as they think about the risk factor. host: i want to go back to your column. we talked about this earlier.

my question is as we hear that from you, why has this remained status quo? guest: i think we've known for several years that this election would be a referendum on president trump. is toreelection campaign

some degree or another a referendum on the incumbent. every income it seeks to make a choice between himself and his challenger. in this case, the president has not been able to do that. most people in this country have made up their minds about what they think about president trump. very loyal supporters who are enthusiastic about supporting him for reelection. they will do everything possible they can. he has as many or more motivated too are do everything they possibly can to deny him a second term. if you talk to the people in the if you talk to friends , whatuaintances or voters

you find is people have very firm opinions. there are very few people who have not made up their mind about what they want to do. the percentage of undecided seens is as small as we've in any recent campaign. that's the reason it is so difficult for any event to move the polls one direction or the other. the lead has been fairly steady. the problems for the president have been out there for some time. repeatedly and with different strategies to go after vice president biden. he's used different lines of attack.

none of them seem to stick in the way that trump campaign hoped. settled country with people already voting. see if there is anything in the last 30 days that can move the campaign significantly in the direction it hasn't already. host: you have written four ands, including the 2008 2012. if you were to write a title for campaign 2020, what would it be? think about that. we will go to illinois. good morning. caller: good morning to you. quandary about whether to attack trump or to tell you why i am going to vote for biden.

i get an angry feeling inside when i hear these trump discounts totally truth. i recently wrote on facebook why face.th so hard to recently, a friend of mine who was a trump supporter watched the debate. when we were talking yesterday, she said i'm not even going to vote. i can't even vote for trump now. she's a republican. was it the policy? if said i don't even know there is any policy left. host: thanks for the call. guest: i'm hearing the

frustration of a lot of people who are biden supporters about what they see on the others as a denial of truth. we've heard this repeatedly. we sought in the debate the night when the vice president went after the president for the way he is handled the pandemic. this is part of the discourse. argumentart of the going on. there are people who are distinctively different about the severity of the pandemic and the nature of the disease. that cuts across in all kinds of ways. there are distinctly different views of the what the state of the country is.

you see again going back to my thoser point, people have positions and feel them passionately. they are looking to vote with that in mind. host: in talking to so many of your colleagues, you've been working from home since march. guest: that's correct. to go to our homes on march 11. we've basically been here ever since. there are people who are out and about. there are reporters who are working around the country. people travel with the president when he goes out. people travel in the joe biden pool. we have some people who are out on their own in different places. we are not in the newsroom. i've been in the newsroom once

to do a taping with their video people. i've not been in the newsroom. i've walked up to the main floor. it was like a ghost town. it was kind of sad. daily zoom meetings. we are in communication with one another. it's a different way of operating. both done a lot of presidential campaigns. it is frustrating to do a presidential campaign from my home. reach voters by telephone. it's a frustration. my guess is we will be out of the newsroom much longer. let's go to anthony in las vegas. caller: good morning.

yourread a few of articles. i used to be a democrat. i would like to know, i'm sure you consider yourself an honest journalist. have you ever written an article and admitted that you used to work for joe biden? i don't hear people talking about that. have you ever written an article that admits this? guest: that admits what? scully used to work for joe biden. host: i can take that one. caller: i read his bio online. week i had a six internship in the mailroom 42 years ago. it was a class for credit. i worked in his office monday and friday in the mailroom

sorting out constituent mail. sents back when people letters to congress and you would split them up. let's go to mark in california. caller: good morning. question really pertains to your previous caller. i think he was going on both of you guys. is more general about trusting the media. 34% of americans have a great deal of faith in our media institutions. if you look at the other polling data and you see joe biden leading in the polls and others are 55% of americans

expecting trump to win. shows joeg data that biden is across the country. shows they data that expect trump to win is across party lines. as far as the lack of faith in the media, how do you feel about that? how do you address that? host: thank you for the call. it's a very good question and one that is when we get constantly these days. i think we start with the idea this is a divided country. informationet their from specific news sources that tend to reinforce their view on politics or the world in general. that has contributed to a

division in the country. there is a perception the media is unfair if it doesn't conform to the view people have. this is something that has changed over the time i've been in journalism. i think the country was more united in the way they received information years ago. we have a more fractured media environment. we have more places people can get information. a reality thatbe there is a conversation people have among people who are like-minded. is one of thent functions of the free press is to hold people in power accountable. one of the things we are prideful of is we try to get to the truth. i know on any given date we don't get the full story. we keep digging.

we are looking for facts and reality. when we are accused of making up stories or using people who don't exist in our stories, that's not the way we operate. we take a lot of criticism. we keep doing the job we were trained to do in the way we've tried to do it in the past. we are in a much more contentious environment. it's harder to do the work the way we normally do. what are you looking for wednesday in salt lake city? guest: it's a very important debate for the obvious reasons. interestld always be firstebate for the african-american vice presidential nominee is on the ticket.

illness and the fact that both nominees are in their 70's is a reminder that the two people debating it could end up as president of the united states. tension thiss the debate is going to get. given what happened in the debate in cleveland last week, which was noisy and a lot of people turned away from it. christie said he was too hot in the debate. given the tone of that debate, people will be looking for more of a real debate about the issues and the ideas the two campaigns have about where these nominees and their running mates want to take the country. we didn't get as much of that as

you might have hoped. vice presidential debate gives an opportunity to have that happen as well. coverage gets underway at 8:00 eastern time. the debate itself will begin at 9:00 p.m. is joining usdy from ohio. caller: i had a question for you. you are a journalist. i just wanted to know if they are going to be investigating when he tested positive or new he had been exposed. i've heard that he went to a fundraiser at his golf course. of people.a lot is he going to be liable for that? is there any specific drill down time when he knew he was

positive and what he did after that? that plays out today in the front page of your newspaper. question as you know in terms of the timeline, when did he know he was ill? guest: that's a very good question and the lighthouse did very little to answer the question. they modeled that. thestatement the came from doctor was contradicted by the chief of staff. there was another description of what happened. there are many things we do not know, including when they knew he was testing positive. we got that word late thursday night. went to thefore he

fundraiser in new jersey that hope hicks had tested positive. there were some people who were on the manifest who were supposed to go to that fundraiser who did not go. they pulled some people off that. -- we don't know know if they knew the president had the coronavirus at that point. they say that didn't happen until he got the test thursday. one of the things the doctor was asked yesterday, when did the president have his last negative test. doctor would not answer that question. we don't know. what we do have clear suspicions of all is the rose garden ceremony for the unveiling of judge barrett's nomination appears to have been an event

where the virus spread. any number of people have tested positive. the president was at that event. there were events inside the white house that day where the virus could've been transmitted. there are people who were in the debate preparations ahead of the cleveland debate that tested positive, including governor christie and the campaign manager. one would think the president exposed in those events. when they actually knew and when they were taking tests that showed him to be negative, we don't know the answer to that. we did not get an answer from the doctor. oxygen atent was on some point friday. of being forthcoming has been significant. having said that, this is not

the first time the white house has been protective about information about the president's health. this goes back years and years. in this environment, there are basic questions they weren't willing to answer yesterday. your question is excellent and we are trying to find out. in 1918, president wilson had the spanish flu. have you given any thought to a book title for 2020? about i had a book title the campaign. title was stress test. host: let's go to al in georgia. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. do offer myhat i thoughts and prayers for the

well-being of the president and the first lady. voted anything except republican. i am 54. i'm really struggling. mehink the primary issue for and it's very personal to me is been isthis virus has handled and mismanaged from the get go. isave an elderly mother that in a long-term care setting. you to ask the two of use your platform to look into the politics. in the last week of these facilities opening up their south ifknow in the

i'm not mistaken it, the governor of alabama, georgia, month of thethin a election have relaxed restrictions. the facility my mother is in has been in the midst of an outbreak since the end of july, the total is 100 25 plus if you factor in the staff. it just seems there is no clarity. we hear from the task force are taking care of the vulnerable. families have been stressed. able months without being to see their loved ones. host: good luck to you and your

mother. saying,ear what how is this is front and center in the minds of voters. guest: i would echo your comments about his mother. is good andything will continue to be that way. we are in the middle of a very difficult time. people have different views about how much should be open or closed. some of that has become highly politicized. that's exactly what one would not want. we would want this to be done in a more dispassionate way. we are in an environment in which almost everything becomes politicized. what should be open and what should not, those decisions are

primarily at the local level. different political leaders have chosen different paths. thoses been criticism of who have opened too soon and had to close back down. there's criticism from the president of states that have been more cautious about keeping things close in an effort to prevent the spread of the virus. facilities are highly vulnerable. everybody wants to make sure .eople who are in those these decisions are made not uniformly. there will be continuing controversy as we go through the fall and winter and get back to the regular flu season with the coronavirus still on top of that and the absence of a vaccine. , we getu mentioned zoom

to see where people work and live. is this where you do most of your writing? guest: this is where i do all my writing. this is my office. it's on the second floor of our house. we live in bethesda, maryland. where -- the room where it happens in terms of the writing. host: your wife is downstairs. she is in charge of bringing the coffee. in minnesota. thank you for waiting. caller: i'm glad to be able to get through to you. i want to thank c-span for being here. this virus is real. in january.k i was getting some antibiotics and sent home because they

didn't know what i had at the time. president informed us that the virus was here, they would have checked me for that. i have scars on my liver. i have stomach problems now. i can't smell a thing. i haven't smelled anything since january. now, i'm handicapped. that's a sad place to be in. it's about 30%. are 13% of the population. we don't get the treatment we need it, even though i paid for my health insurance. can barely help my grandkids who have underlined

health care. they can't get their diabetes medicine. the insulin costs $700 a month. i do blame this president for not doing what he was supposed to do. knowt you to let people this is no joke. myave to go out and shop for mother. my daughter has a kidney transplant. not wearing are masks or anything. that's just what i want to say this morning. i thank you for giving me the opportunity. i asked the washington journal to keep letting them know there are those of us in these desert islands in the city. on top of each other.

i just thank you very much. good luck to you and your family. my wife who is a nurse can attest to the long-term implications of this. what you are hearing from her and the president and others who are dealing with this, your overall thoughts? guest: one of the points she highlights is the degree to which this is a deadly disease. it has long-term implications even for those who contracted and recovered. they may recover for the most part, they can have long-term implications. aspect that's another that we've learned more about over many months. this is not just a question of who that's and who recovers. what are the consequences of

having contracted it? is other point she makes this disease has disproportionately killed african-americans and latinos. think it's recognition that we have disparities in our health care system. this, weet through will need to be looked at and dealt with. careof the chronic health problems and the lack of health is something as a country we will be needing to address. you can hear that from members of congress and governors. you can hear that from public health officials. this has exposed the multitiered health care system we have. there are terrible consequences to that. the: the headline to

washington post, somehow are terrible year keeps getting worse. what you looking for? guest: we are looking for what happens to the president. everybody hopes he has a speedy recovery. we are hoping to see the degree to which this has changed his ability to campaign. the points i make in the piece, this has affected the short-term trajectory of the campaign. as we watch more and more people be trying toll discern whether there is any real tightening in the race. we may begins to happen, have a different race than it looks like today. that's the thing we are watching. we are watching the battleground state polls.

we are watching the national polls. threshold in of a terms of a national vote margin which would make it nearly impossible for president trump to win the battle grounds and the electoral college. both poles are relevant. we are trying to talk to voters as much as you can. this is a very intense time. it's a very consequential election. we've got a lot of work to do over the next month. , his work isz available online. you can follow him on twitter. thank you very much for being with us. guest: it's always a pleasure to be with you. host: tell your wife to bring the coffee. we are going to continue our conversation. henry olsen will join us to talk

about the trump campaign and what's next. later, we will turn our attention to the president and his immigration record. and listening to the washington journal on this sunday morning. ♪ watch live coverage of the senate confirmation hearing starting monday, october 12 with opening statements by committee members and judge barrett. listen live on the c-span radio

and and be sure to visit c-span.org. >> the contenders, the men who ran for the presidency and lost, but changed political history. he helped found the national republican party and the whig party. henry clay. the contenders, on american history tv. >> the competition is on. be a part of the c-span studentcam competition. it'll and high school students can be part of the national conversation by making a documentary, exploring the issue you want the president to address in 2021. show supporting points of view.

the winter. there is $100,000 in total cash prizes. is january 20, 2021. you will find competition rules and other information on how to get started on our website. >> our campaign coverage continues with candidates campaigning and debating. c-span a, your unfiltered view of politics. >> washington journal continues. host: henry olsen is a senior fellow. thank you so much for being with us. not only do we have the final month of this campaign, we have

the senate battle over the hearing of judge barrett. the senate will be in session for the next two weeks. what are you looking for? guest: i think we can expect the majority to move forward with all deliberate speed. they will conduct hearings remotely as they have been doing with other nominees. the members who have tested leadive won't need to their quarantine. i expect we will see democratic opposition and republican support and the movement forward confirmation sometime this month. host: you think it will happen before the election? happeni think it will before the election, presuming there are enough senators who can physically come to the floor

to cast ballots. that would be the one factor that could interfere with that. it does not look like there will be an issue with that. issuedhis statement was by chuck schumer. they are trying to slow down the process.

your reaction? good: they've got a very spin dr. who is writing this. the committee hearings don't have to be in person. they can be dealt with remotely. what has to be done in person is a floor vote. there's nothing that has to be done with a floor vote. this is posturing for a democratic electorate and is not something that a serious observer should take seriously. host: what is the state of this race with the president still in the hospital. there will be a time of quarantine. the vice president will continue to campaign. there is the debate on wednesday. guest: it's possible to see how the president and vice president

pull this out. ofwill require a reversal fortune that will be near historic. the president needs to have a job approval rating north of 47% to have a chance to win. he is sitting around 45% right now, which is high for him. it would foretell a significant defeat in the polls show that. i'm not saying it will be that way five weeks from now. it would require a recovery in the last month we've not seen since 1940. host: we are cautious to show national polls. it's the state polls. that showsnew survey the biden campaign with a 10 point lead over president trump. guest: reuters has tended to

have worse results for the president. points as the0 touchstone. i take the average. other polls tend to be more positive for the president. this would be in line with i expect to be an eight point national advantage. the president needs to lose the national vote by no more than three percentage points. go before long way to he can get to the point of inside strength he drew to win the electoral college. in cleveland,te did you watch? what was your assessment? guest: i was shocked and

horrified like a vast majority of the viewers. the initial polling data that has come out demonstrates that many people watched. most registered voters watched. it didn't move numbers very much. showed york times polls two thirds of respondents were disgusted or disapproved of the president's performance. changed to heads didn't very much from where they were before the debate. that suggest there is a lot of dismay. we have hardened lines in this country. that's one of the great things the president hasn't been able to break through.

he hasn't been able to break through and get new supporters. that's what he needs. host: this is what you wrote in the washington post. guest: biden was dismissive and atry, calling him a clown one point. the memes floating around were of two old men fighting. that's not a good look for the vice president. tried tonce, he distance himself from the left of his party. he demonstrated a fealty to many

of their ideas. it would be far to the left of where many people who don't like the president are. that's what i was trying to get across. democraticate from a packing the supreme court. he was against it. now he won't tell people where he stands. he is running to be president of the united states. the american people should know where he stands. he is less likely to be a leader and more likely to be a vessel. that scares many people. host: our guest is henry olsen. donna is on the phone from st. louis. good morning. caller: three things.

debate, mostthat people on the planet would have a hard time not calling him something worse than a clown. i thought biden showed great restraint. it would have taken me five but to talk about how trump has mishandled the virus crisis. as far as the debate, there's a good reason why trump interrupted and talked over biden. everything he says is a lie. -- trump couldn't take a chance on letting biden speak. yet that we can have a real debate is a mute button for when trump tries to take over biden's two minutes. countryle of this deserve a real debate. i wouldn't call that a debate. thank you.

most people would agree with that. i think most people would agree with that last point. it was not a debate. a shouting match. whether or not they would install a mute button, i think the president would be well advised to not do this again. if there is going to be another debate, he needs to be more respectful. the fact is trump is on the defensive are merely because of his behavior and his character. on his policies, there are more people that agree with him that agree with biden. even today, he gets majority support from people who they trust on the economy. the president should be told loudly from people that care about him that he screwed himself up with his behavior, and when he goes forward, he needs to let biden speak and obey the rules, and if he does not, he runs the risk of losing

some of those soft supporters of himwho tend to grow sour on . that is the last thing he needs. he needs to gain votes. host: supporters of the president coming out in force last night. this is a tweet from nbc news, last night, dozens of supporters of the president honking horns with american flags, all in support of the president. as you hear that, henry olsen, your thoughts? this is a live view from the facility. guest: the president is loved by tens of millions of people. it is something his opponents do not want to acknowledge or here or dismiss. the fact is he has many fervent supporters. the fact that they are coming out in his moment of need, his physical impairment, is kind of

heartwarming. they have to recognize there are not enough of them right now. there are not hidden armies or secret majorities. millions of people, and it is a couple million to view for him to win the election if it was held today. host: justine. caller: good morning. thetched the other night debate. i must tell you one thing, and i wish c-span would play it over. president, id the saw something physical that i never saw before. his eyes were so bloodshot. i thought this is a man who does not think. i mean drink, sorry. that is peculiar to me. how is it possible? that aside, the other thing that saturday,hink twice, they had a presentation of the

candidate for the supreme court. i thought very nice event. later on, the priest from notre dame had the virus. i said something is wrong here. that event became a spreading event. what saddens me is there are a lot of people like you have heard this morning. i do not have to point that out. who just do not believe. he even said it was by accident i got it. no, sir. not with any disrespect, it was not accidental. you have chosen to take a particular conduct by not following what they have suggested to do, to wear the mask. you ridicule biden on it. i hate to say it. it is like karma. please tell your people that they need to wear masks. is it patriotic? sure is.

i do not want to see people suffer. 000 people dead. how can you ignore that? host: josephine from new jersey, thank you. henry olsen. guest: it is clear that the president has been less than cautious in how he has personally conducted himself in the face of this. this is far from the first time that they have gathered on the rose garden lawn in the last noth with many people wearing masks. i understand that he does not want to wear a mask when he is speaking. ido not wear a mask when speak because it muffles your voice. it is something that makes you hard to hear. he could have had everyone wearing masks coming up. he could have insisted on temperature testing. he could have had people seated appropriately. he did not do that. hopefully, no one will die from

the large number and presumably larger number of cases we will discover that arose in the aftermath of that event. has ally, the president hospital conversion to adopting the guidelines of his own cdc and uses the last couple of weeks to demonstrate a more cautious and appropriate sense of behavior toward the coronavirus. it is serious. it can be fatal. he should be communicating that and not disregarding that evidence. host: there is a new nbc news wall street journal poll just released a short while ago. mark murray of nbc news with some of the headlines. let me share what he is reporting. the headline is that former vice president biden is up 14 points, and expansion of what the september poll had at 51-43. the president at 39%.

in terms of the debate, 49% saying biden doing better. .4% saying trump did better. -- 24% saying trump did better. 73% said the debate made no difference in their vote. your reaction to that? that is the first bit of strong national evidence of what republican strategists have been privately talking about, which is an erosion of support for the president in the aftermath of the debate. that would be consistent with what we have seen in the past, going all the way back to access hollywood and before, when the president acts inappropriately on twitter or national television, soft republican support fades away. hollywoodt in access

when his numbers went down four to six points. away, thatews goes support tends to come back. this is the last month of the election. if his behavior drove that support away, there is not much time for him to get that back. even if he gets it back, he still needs more people to win. find this is something that put him in a hole that is too deep to dig out. host: a breakdown of the numbers as we listen to jeff from new york. good morning. caller: thank you, steve. thank you, mr. olson. this question is for both of you. been -- toe has date, there has been no discussion about pandemic preparedness response. we have been warned about it for decades. why isn't this a top issue,

especially considering covid is at the fore? we should be discussing what are we going to do to prevent this catastrophe. host: thank you. we will get a response. guest: that is an excellent question. it is something people have talked about. scare, 2003 to 2004, which was another covid but fires that did spread was not as easily transmittable. 16 years later, we have it happen, and the entire world was not prepared. it was not just us. the only countries that seemed to be compared were countries close to china south korea, taiwan. that should be on the agenda for the next president, which was what sort of things can we have in place to deal with a virus

pandemic, to identify when it arrives sooner and put things in effect to minimize its spread. do likee things you can south korea did to quickly identify and limit the spread of something that could have pandemic like qualities. the fact that it is not just the united states but almost entire developed world. we need to move that to the forefront of public policy. host: good morning, richard. welcome to the program. caller: hello. good morning. host: good morning. caller: i am just feeling that this spread that has happened with the president has come from the nomination and her family possibly still being contagious with the virus. another comment i would like to make, it seems to me the

, generally if you are a multimillionaire with business. it seems like if you are a business or corporation or multimillionaire, to give billions of dollars, but if you a regular person and unemployed, just cut off early on receiving part of the stimulus by the end of july, but the corpulent she was -- but the corporations went until the end of september. it seems to me the cares act should have gone until january for the ppp and an extra $600 a week because we are in a consumer driven economy. that money goes back into the economy from the consumer. i believe the republicans have messed up on this.

it is going to cost them a good chunk of the election. i'm independent, but i would never vote republican. most likely, i am voting for jo jordgensen. independento see an candidate was not on the debate stage. it is a shame. the viewers that are not familiar, jo jordgensen is the libertarian candidate for president. argued whatblicans the democrats were trying to do spending tocessary necessary spending. they have countered with a $1.4 trillion bill that would extend extend unemployment insurance, not at the $600 a week level. this is a partisan dispute.

democrats want to have money that goes to support state and local governments. republicans think that is too generous. i think it is sad the two parties cannot come together and find common ground for the american people. it is one reason why so many people, regardless of whether they lean democrat or republican, are fed up. our guest henry olsen, who has been on this program anytime. we always appreciate his perspective. he has been affiliated with the american enterprise institute. we will go to florida. thank you for waiting. welcome to the program. caller: good morning. i just want to ask a question about the polls. i saw one last night. trump lost by five points. now, i'm close to my end.

winink trump is going to this state by 10 points. i do not believe in polls. host: thank you. florida is critical. as tim russert said 10 years ago, florida, florida, florida. poll he is referring to is the new york times cno poll. the cuban community in miami is one where he is likely to do quite well, and it could be that the area in which the caller is from is an area where trump will win by 10 points. in floridapolls suggest the president is running behind. he is running behind because seniors are not as republican as they were more prone from as -- pro-trump as they were

4 years ago. people who are older know they are likely to suffer serious effects from the disease and much likelier to die from it, and so they received the message of not wearing masks were taking risks much more differently than of people whoages are around the president who are 20 or 30 years younger than he is. that is a signal that has been costing him potential support. if the president were to change course on things like the pandemic and say he has been chastened by his personal experience, that would be something that could drive that miraculous last month recovery. the polls are consistent that it by aident who won

little more than one point in 2016 are behind there. host: just to be clear, you support the president, correct? guest: i am generally pro-trump policies. i am dismayed by his behavior. i have considered voting for him. i am unsure who i am voting for. i will not be voting for vice president biden. confirmeds christie he has covid-19. the president's campaign manager , the chair of the republican national committee, three u.s. senators, and this morning we learned that the president's personal assistant, they call that person the body man, confirmed he too has tested positive for coronavirus. hope hicks when this story first broke, it was confirmed she has covid-19.

the president at walter reed in bethesda, maryland this morning. the president has obviously been taking risks with respect to the coronavirus in terms of having close meetings, having public events, and it has apparently come back to bit he him. the viruswho brought into his circle, but it has clearly spread through his circle. the president is 74 years old. he is somebody who is significantly overweight. physiciansident's said yesterday, days seven through 10 are the worst. depending on when you believe he contracted it, he is still not even into the worst period. let's hope that the president recovers from this because all medical evidence suggests things

will get worse for him before they get better. that is what is going to dominate the news this week if that is correct. 45 is what they are calling it, trump diagnosed on wednesday? ctals very oncerning. we will go to rudy in california. caller: good morning. i hope you get a chance to wear your referee outfit for the debate. is foren, my question the supreme court nominee process. i'm hoping that the democrats do not participate. it is going to be a sham. i just did not like the process of what they are doing compared to what they did in 2016. i have already called my senators in california, and i am definitely going to call the

other seven or eight senators across the country. i want to tell them, please, do not participate in this process. thank you. host: thank you for the call from california. guest: i think it is entirely possible that what democrats will decide to do is not provide rum, and that will put pressure on the republicans to produce healthy bodies because they do not have a remote voting system in the senate, which would be if there are republican senator suffering from the virus, they would have to be physically present, 51 of them at least. i would not be surprised if at least one democratic senator were to rebuff that. joe manchin is a democratic senator, but he is from a state that is overwhelmingly pro-tru mp. it would be politically reckless for him to participate in a

democratic walkout in a pro-trump state. nonetheless, that is likely to be something chuck schumer is considering. they cannot stop it if republicans want to move forward. the one way they can stop it is not to allow 51 senators to be present to constitute a quorum. their absence would force the um,ublicans to produce a quor and that could have an election backlash. host: the negotiations some of the contract between house speaker nancy pelosi and treasury secretary steven mnuchin yesterday. saying,ident on twitter our great usa needs stimulus. work together and get it done. let's go to andrew in ohio. welcome. caller: thank you, steve. about the debate,

when joe biden said the green anddeal will pay for itself a couple lines later he said i do not support the green new deal. crescent dunes was a solar energy failure. they always say the affordable care act. the average american pays over $10,000 in health care costs. that does not sound affordable to me. universalry with health care, we can win around these issues. when you have chuck schumer threatening kavanaugh on abortion restrictions, we can win. we can use these tactics against them. host: henry olsen, another reminder that by every standard, health care is a dominant issue in this election regardless of what side of the aisle you vote.

guest: it is a significant issue. it is more significant to democrats. it is one reason why president trump talked about trying to bring prescription drug prices the executive order, which many people does not believe have much affect, but sends the signal that he wants to control prices. republicans should be more active on trying to bring health care reform to bring costs down and provide access. givingack of action is democrats more room to make charges like the one chuck schumer makes on a regular basis. the washington post yesterday saying that hillary clinton campaign criticized for not even making an effort to reach out to the evangelical votes, the biden campaign trying to do so with this new ad.let me show it and get your reaction. [video clip] >> joe biden's faith has carried

him through the dark times. the loss of his wife and daughter. the death of his eldest son, beau. but he has never lost hope because joe knows what it means to be your brother's keeper. right now, that is exactly what we need. remain forlls us we the night, but joy comes in the morning. i am joe biden, and i approve this message. host: your reaction. guest: that is a nice ad. of points on a lot that would resonate across faith traditions. it is nondenominational. the biggest aspect that the democratic party has to do with with respect to traditional manytian americans is that of them view the democratic party as hostile. their positions on abortion, on

lgbtq issues, their positions with respect to what conservative christians call religious liberty are things thata bother them. ad does not address those fears and overcome those fears. unless joe biden is willing to way that demonstrates to a certain segment of evangelical or conservative churchgoing catholics that he has for them on the issues they care about and he is different from the people and his party who scare those voters come i do not think this is going to move votes very much. it will assure more moderate evangelicals that they have a role in a democratic coalition. host: we are talking to henry olsen joining us via zoom.

we will go to maryland, pamela. exposedthis virus has the disparities between the common man and trump and his minions. he did not believe in this hoax virus, and now it has jumped on him despite being in close in enclosedorld -- being in his own world. to do away with health care for millions of people while the president has access to state-of-the-art care is unconscionable. to try to suppress the right to vote in the midst of a pandemic that has already claimed over 210,000 souls, and it is going to claim more because of the president's mismanagement and denial. i would like to ask c-span if there is any way you can get the young man fighting in the

pennsylvania state legislature right now against republicans who are trying to do a sneaky tactic who want to create a last-minute committee who would have oversight power during the election. if they can get away with this, all the other legislatures in swing states are going to join the movement. host: we will write that. thank you for the call. expressedhink she has what many democrats believe and feel. it is one of the things that drives the enthusiasm of their voters and one of the reasons why we are going to have a huge turnout election. she summarized what many people in the democratic party believe. host: we will go to barbara, oklahoma city. caller: thank you. good morning to you.

i'm just curious why these people that are for trump, he has been there for years. he is still saying the same thing. he is going to make a health care plan. he has never made one in four years. know he is in the white house? he is president right now. do his followers not know that? this is not someone who is going to go in there for the first time. he has been in their four years. he has done nothing for the poor and working class. he has done nothing but work for the swamp. it gets me that he keeps saying he is going to. do it today. cleanup the streets. these are your streets that are in chaos. you are timeless you can do better than this. well, you are the president. do it. host: thank you.

we will get a response. guest: i think the president's supporters would say he has done a lot of things. before the pandemic, employment was at a record high. wages were going up faster for people at the bottom, and the income distribution. surveys showed that people were more optimistic about getting a good job in the neighborhood in the trump administration than they had been at any time during the george w. bush or barack obama administration's. s. i think they would say the president was doing a lot for the working class and the poor. the president has not put forward a comprehensive health care alternative. he has done little things here and there. done what he said he would do, which is totally reform health care. i think that is a blemish on his presidency that he has not

tried, and his party have not tried to address serious health care issues in a comprehensive way. host: would you say health care has been the president's greatest missed opportunity? guest: i think it is one of his greatest missed opportunities. i think one of the greatest missed opportunities is his behavior. had the president -- the president can be combative. people recognize what he says, that he has faced an unprecedented assault of vi triol. he often crosses the line. that has repeatedly prevented him from gaining support throughout his presidency. he found a middle way lquetoast get a mi along person, which is how his supporters perceive previous

thinkican presidents, i he would be on his way to reelection. on policy, the lack of a health care solution, the lack of serious messaging opportunity and alternative that provided vision, that is a serious missed opportunity. host: we have about a minute left. richard from texas. quick question. ethically it responsible for the media to be d if we are constantly tearing ourselves apart as a country? i think that just contributes to it. host: thank you. think there are a lot of people that see the media as being biased in one direction or another. some networks being perceived on one side and others on the other side. behoove all of us to think more as americans and less

as partisans. it is great for ratings in the short-term, but we have to live with each other as a country. that means finding some common ground and ability to talk. if we cannot see each other as fellow citizens, we cannot have a shared nation. 4, andt is only october it has been a year like no other. what are your thoughts about that? guest: i wish this were the old soap opera dallas where i can wake up and it is the dream season that 2020 was just a dream. this is arguably been the worst year for the world since 1939 or 1929. let's hope that our world leaders here and elsewhere are able to react better to the challenges that are before us. host: henry olsen, you are always gracious with your time, coming on c-span on many occasions. we appreciate it. thank you for your comments.

guest: thank you for having me back. dechalus will be joining us. she writes for cq roll call. we are taking your phone calls. we are back in a moment. ♪ >> today at noon eastern on a live conversation with harvard university professor joe lepore.

other titles include the secret history of wonder woman, these truths, and the book of ages. join the conversation with your tweets.lls, texts, and watch in-depth with jill lepore on c-span2. talkedtv on c-span2 has nonfiction books every weekend. at 9:00 a.m. eastern on after words, lou dobbs talks about his century."trump watch booktv this weekend on c-span two.

>> tonight on q&a, the cato shapiro talksya about his book on the history of u.s. supreme court nominations. >> historically, roe v. wade did not play a large role in the first few nominations after roe came down. president ford nominated john paul stevens, a moderate republican in his day, but to the left judicially. he was not asked about that case that have been decided two years earlier. sandra day o'connor, he did not play that larger role. in 1987ot until bork the huge roleed that it plays in all of our supreme court discussions. >> tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern

on c-span's q&a. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us from washington is camila dechalus. she covers immigration issues for cq roll call. thank you for being with us. guest: thank you for having me. host: i want to begin with comments this past week as the president was on the campaign trail in duluth, minnesota. [video clip] >> another massive issue for minnesota is the election of joe inundate youro state with a historic flood of refugees. pb[booing] biden and crazy bernie sanders have agreed on a manifesto. they found out he had made a mistake. slight mistake. they pledged a 700% increase in

refugees. 700%. congratulations, minnesota. congratulations. host: that from the president this past wednesday before being admitted to walter reed in bethesda, maryland. what is the president saying, and what is this all about? guest: the president has, on a number of occasions, threatened that if joe biden does become president, that he will open and actually increase the annual refugee program that allows refugees from all over the world to come into the u.s. he has threatened, saying he will increase how refugees resettle here and how that is a bad thing. it is important to note that since president trump has come into office, he has consistently lowered the annual refugee cap.

in 20, he lowered it to 45,000. the next year, he lowered it to 30,000. the year after that, he lowered it to 18,000. just a few hours later, the white house put out a statement that they were going to lower it toin for fiscal year 2021 15,000, which is the lowest it has ever been. 45,000 in 2018 20 estimate of only 15,000 in the year ahead. what is the significance of that? guest: there is a huge significance. it is not just saying we are only going to let in, for fiscal year 2020, we are only going to let in 18,000, but there is always a trend, even though they put the number at a lower cap,

they let in a lower amount of people to come into the country. this has impacted refugees from all over the world. a lot of lawmakers have pushed for the administration to theease the cap, seeing how novel coronavirus pandemic has displaced thousands of people worldwide. in the final year of the obama atinistration, the cap was 110,000. that is a steep decline. the administration has defended their positions repeatedly, saying how it is necessary to lower the cap and put restrictions on how many people can be admitted from certain countries. it is a big disappointment from certain activist groups. the u.s. has always been a staple of receiving refugees. for the cap to become lower, it

has shown that even though they put the cap at a certain level, the number of people that actually come to the u.s. through the program is even lower. host: this has renewed the debate on the issue of sanctuary cities. what are they? what are some of the leading sanctuary cities in this country? we know san francisco is one of them. guest: sanctuary cities is cities and municipalities that prohibit their local law enforcement from cooperating with federal agents in carrying out immigration enforcement efforts, whether that is notifying them if somebody in their custody is undocumented or giving them a heads up or cooperating with them when i.c.e. says they are going to carry out an operation. they put up more e. to carryor i.c.

out their operations or detain individuals. that makes it harder for i.c.e. to carry out their enforcement. host: if you are undecided or support a third-party candidate, that number is (202) 748-8002. you can also send us a tweet @cspanwj.what about the pandemic or how it has impacted ice operations around the country? guest: they said they were only going to go after individuals that pose a direct threat to the public because the coronavirus, the pandemic, and then wanting to make sure their officers were safe and that they would conduct operations in a manner that minimizes impact because they were trying to be more understanding because of the pandemic and how that impacted

their operations. then they reversed their decision a few weeks ago, changing their website and putting out a statement saying how they are going to resume their operations and still carry d the pandemic ami , still focusing on people that have criminal records, but going back to their old policy and target people who are undocumented. host: we will go to pat, joining us from council bluffs, iowa. caller: good morning. host: please go ahead. we hear republicans constantly saying socialism, communism, marxism, sanctuary cities. we cannot take care of mexico. with this coronavirus, i would

think universal health care youd be important and that cannot just cover a certain class of people. you have to treat everybody. if they are sick, i want everybody to go to the hospital and get treatment. i do not care where they come from. i don't think we need to put a woman on the mode right now. we need to give people health care in this country. by putting a woman on the moon, all you are doing is research for mining companies. dechalus, your reaction. onst: i think a big focus why so many lawmakers want ice to go on the record saying how they did not pose a direct threat because amid the pandemic, there is worry that immigrants would not go to the

hospital or seek treatment because they are worried ice would go after them even though they had not done anything wrong. when they are conducting these immigration operations, they are going after people who pose a direct threat and not people who merely want to get medical help. posed thisc challenge of how do they carry out their mission and operations but still be considered that deteray did her -- immigrants from coming forward and receiving medical treatment if they are displaying covid symptoms or if they are in dire need of medical assistance. there has been a big push for halt their down or operations that target undocumented workers or immigrants because they realize this causes a consequence where

people do not want to step forward and receive medical assistance. now that they are reversing , communities are saying it is not safe to go outside. there are going to be dire impacts now. host: what is the status of the wall along the u.s.-mexico border? guest: the trump administration is continuing to build and reconstruct barriers in existing places where there barriers.y been they want to do construction in areas that are not on public land, private land. it is an arduous process in the rio grande valley where a lot of the areas they want to construct new barriers is on private land. they have to go through this process of eminent domain where

they go to court and argued that it is in the best interest to take this land from the individual and build new barriers. earlier this year, president trump touted during his state of the union address that he was going to build more than 500 miles of barrier along the border by early 2021. now they are still making the way since september 1 that they have built more than 300 miles of barriers, but it is unclear how many of those barriers are new or reconstructed in place of the existing barriers. host: we are talking to camila dechalus of cq roll call. steve from san diego, california. thank you for waiting. caller: thank you for taking my call. i want to start off by saying i personally am and was against the wall being built.

dollars, our taxpayers the wall was more of a symbolic gesture from this current administration because the wall has been breached before by simply tunneling under the walls or using taller letters. i think it was a waste of taxpayer dollars. on the other hand, regarding the refugee and illegal alien migration to the united states, dechalus are not telling the public is that the consequences of that is we have now experienced in our schools and cities diseases which have not been seeing for many years. they have been cropping up in the elementary schools now, such as whooping cough and the like. the thing of it is, we have been

in the senseonized that if we have not accepted these people such as mayor faulkner and governor gavin newsom have declared california a sanctuary state, it is illegal to come here, how they are sapping our welfare system. who are the ones paying for it? we are the ones paying for. thank you for taking my call. you can go ahead and comment further on it. host: thank you. your response? guest: it is a very complicated issue in the sense that to say the trump administration has not put policies in place, for example the public charge rule. this rule says that if they government official deems that someone who wants to apply for permanent residency, a green

card, if they are deemed a public charge, that they are likely to use public benefits such as food stamps when they do receive permanent residency, that would negatively impact their ability to get a green card. they have rules and policies in place that basically say that if you are going to be likely to use these public benefits, then this might negatively weigh against your application to receive permanent residency. a lot of lawmakers have tried to tell the trump administration that they should halt this rule during the pandemic when immigrants are scared that if they go to the hospital that this will negatively impact their ability to become permanent residents. ofhink the situation immigrants bringing diseases, there is not much factual data

behind that, but in the sense of where you have immigrants in this country who are scared of going to the hospital because there are policies in place that deter them from going. host: you can follow our guest on twitter @cdechalus. caller: good morning. thank you. the first thing that really strikes me is your collar keeps calling them immigrants. we are talking illegal aliens. illegal immigrants. i don't know why she is carrying the water for the left by calling them immigrants. there is a strict difference. they are not enforcing immigration law on legal immigrants. stop. i lived in el paso on the wall since the early 1980's for about 20 years. we did not have a wall.

you could walk across el paso into suarez, the rio grande, back then. back in the 1980's, they put more of the fence. it did make an immediate and change. there is a deterrent. is going to stop coming, but they slowed down. just by enforcing immigration law, that is a deterrent itself for people coming. for people that are going to go get medical attention, they are still going to go if they are legal aliens, legal immigrants, legal and illegal, legal. illegal, that is not our responsibility. illegally, that is on the person

that came illegally. you're not supposed to be in any country illegally. if they are enforcing them, that is what they are supposed to do. you are supposed to get in line with the rest of the people and come to our country or any country legally. please stop using immigrants like they are targeting immigrants because they are not. forthright bynot saying that. stop with your reporting. obviously, you are a liberal. you can see it coming out of your lips and your actions. stop and be unbiased because you are not doing anybody any good. host: we will leave it there. thanks for the call in the comment. do you want to respond? guest: when i went to the southern border wall and went to and variousmcallen cities across the southern border on the u.s. side and on the other side, a lot of the

border patrol agents were telling me that it is not just the wall that is deterring migrants from trying to enter the country illegally, it is place,licies they put in if you want to find a silent, asylum, to -- to find you have to wait in mexico while your case is being processed. there have been various policies thatn place on the border has actually been impactful in deterring people from coming. looking at the numbers of how many people have tried to enter unlawfully has declined amidst the pandemic. putting in place an order that gives border patrol officials

more 30 to turn away people if they have entered the country unlawfully. it is not just the border wall. the trump administration has put so many policies in place on the border that has impacted a number of people that are not coming and that has contributed. on the second point, i think it is important to point out that when a migrant does enter unlawfully, that action is illegal, but they themselves are not. you: how big of an issue do think this will be in the remaining four weeks of this campaign? to be ahis is going crucial issue. in 2016, president trump, he really used immigration as one of his main platforms. on not only legal immigration as you have seen in

the past months he has issued proclamations that has targeted foreign workers coming into the country, restricting the number of people or suspending it, saying he wants to help american workers just because this economy has declined because of the pandemic. on illegalked down immigration. ice is going to continue their operation by going after people that pose a direct or not a direct threat. it is going to be more policies he is going to roll out that are going to either target illegal immigration or legal immigration. host: anna is joining us from south windsor, connecticut. caller: good morning. i wish the president and first lady and everyone the best of luck this morning. i trust vice president biden and

whatever he does regarding this topic. i noticed on 60 minutes, they showed the wall deteriorating. i think this money could be used toward stimulus for everyone. steve, we would be interested to know if the temperature of president trump on tuesday at the debate, it would be interesting to know what his temperature was. he seemed to be very red in the face. he seemed to be involuntarily interrupting, like he had a high temperature. does anybody know if the building in cleveland was used for covid patients? i think i heard that. i would never want to go in a building that was used for covid patients. host: it was part of the reserved clinic facility, and it was a temporary covid facility from march until april. it was basically an atrium that was used for the debate hall

itself, which housed about 70 people in the audience and the president and former vice president and moderator. camila dechalus, did you want to respond? on the front of what joe biden would do if he was elected on immigration, he has repeatedly stated he is going to roll back a lot of the policies the trump administration has put in place, everything from making sure that dreamers on the daca program have a pathway to citizenship. he has stated he will not allow any more money to go into constructing the border wall. he has not gone on the record saying he would dismantle it. i think he has said he would just leave it alone. implied heat he would do is roll back the policies the trump administration has put in place. host: our guest, camila

dechalus, she covers immigration for cq roll call. ice in theep for coming months is what? you will see ae lot in the weeks leading up to the election and going forward. if the trump administration continues to be an office, you will see them conduct their operations. they have stated clearly that despite cities in california and new york city declaring themselves sanctuary cities, they will still conduct their immigration operations, and that will not change. one of the statements i got from the agency was that even though continuemic, they will to keep in mind that they will try to minimize the risk to their officers and the people that they are going after to make sure that they are doing it in a safe way.

that is crucial to keep in mind. there is a pandemic. thesehey conduct operations, their officers are also involved and the communities they are going into. i expect that lawmakers will start asking them more questions on what that will look like, how they will ensure the safety of both their officers and the people and communities that they are going into to make sure that they are not at risk of spreading the virus were contracting the virus -- virus or contracting the virus. a lot of detainees in their custody have contracted covid-19, more than 4000 people. this is a problem they are seen in their facilities. while they are going out and conducting these operations, how are they going to do it in a manner that is safe for the community and officers? host: your work available at

rollcall.com. thank you for joining us. guest: thank you for having me. host: snl is back. jim carrey playing joe biden, alec baldwin playing president trump. the opening sequence from snl last night. [video clip] >> the following is a rebroadcast of tuesday's presidential debate even though tuesday feels like it was 100 years ago. we thought it was important to see it again even though it might be the only presidential debate. it was pretty fun to watch as long as you do not live in america. ♪ >> good evening. i am your moderator, chris wallace. i think i'm going to do a really good job tonight. first, i want to lay out the rules, which both parties agreed to in advance. each candidate will have two

minutes uninterrupted. >> boring. >> mr. president, i have not even introduced the candidates yet. >> told that to my overall, chris. let's get this show on the road and off the rails. >> you did take the covid test you promised? >> absolutely. scott's honor. >> president trump has already introduced himself. let's welcome the democratic candidate. >> boo. here comes the booing. >> former vice president of the united states. >> allegedly. >> and senator from delaware. >> not even a real state. >> joe biden. [cheers and applause] >> mr. vice president. >> just one second, chris.

[laughter] >> it looks like you are ready to debate, joe. >> absolutely not, but i have the beginning of 46 fantastic ideas. we may or may not have access to. let's do this. hold my courtesy of nbc last night as s&l made its debut of the new season. c-span2 beginning at noon eastern time. we are back tomorrow morning for another addition of washington journal. available any time at c-span.org. thank you for joining us and enjoy the rest of your weekend. i hope you have a great and healthy weekend ahead. ♪ (202) 748-8003 --

[captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2020] ♪ >> today at noon eastern on in-depth, our life to our conversation with harvard university professor jewelry -- lepore, whose nose -- most then."book is "if join in the conversation with your phone calls, facebook comments, texts, and tweets. on book tvon eastern on c-span2. tonight, the cato institute's schapiro talks about his book, supreme disorder, on the history of the supreme court nomat