an eventual vaccine. we will also take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. "washington journal" is next. ♪ >> good morning everyone. as president trump and president-elect joe biden continue to work on a response to the covid-19 pandemic, cases are on the rise. we will begin this morning with your thoughts on the pandemic and what it is like where you live. u.s. deaths have increased to more than an average of 1000 today. -- an additional 47 to dine the next month according to the cdc. 400,000 see at least covid-19 deaths.

we want to hear from you this morning. what is it like where you live. if you live in the eastern central part of the country, 202-748-8000. mountain pacific, 202-748-8001. you can also text us with your first name, city, and state at 202-748-8003. you can send us a tweet at c-span wj or post your comments on facebook.com/c-span. start dialing in, we will get your thoughts in a moment. we will begin with yesterday's meet the press and michael osterholm, who served on president-elect joe biden's task force at this to say about the coming week. >> let me ask you this. we are seeing the accidental rise that you sadly predicted would happen in covid cases.

we going to plateau anytime soon or is this trajectory going to keep going up and up? >> thank you again and let me just say the outset that our future is in our hands. right now for at least the next three weeks, cases are in the pipeline, of these numbers are going to go way up. our job is to imagine what the world could be like if we do make the changes we need to make. we will be heading towards a vaccine in the next few months where we could start to imagine having summer baseball back. barbecues, etc.. in the meantime we are in the most dangerous public health period since 1918. , we aren't take steps going to see these numbers grow substantially. we are asking all of you what it's like where you live.

what kind of mandates are in place. would you like to see more restrictions? john in houston, texas. go ahead. caller: we have a pretty good mayor here. things in houston are going pretty well. restrict -- put some of these restrictions in place. michigan, i can't believe the trump administration is telling people to push back on these requirements just to wear masks. as far as limiting people restricting people going to bars and stuff like that. you can go two or three months without going into a bar or going to a football game. i'm fed up with the trump administration. host: do you think there should be a national mask mandate? not a national mandate,

every area should do it on their own. i'm tired of the administration pushing back every time these areas and cities want to put in mandates for masks just to protect people where they are having these massive outbreaks. mandatee i want a mask in the cities. host: what about people coming into the state of texas from surrounding areas? what do you do about cross-border transportation? caller: that's a good question. in.t of people, and i don't know what you do. but i'm pretty fed up.

i can't wait for joe biden to get in there and straighten things out. >> what are your thanksgiving plans? going around anybody else. i'm staying home. host: susan in florida. >> good morning. i want to say we have a serious problem here. people are refusing to wear masks. even employees in the local supermarket and i was even in domino's pizza on saturday and line cooks weren't wearing masks. host: did you continue to eat there? >> it was to go so i waited outside. but i said something to the manager and she was like oh no, we can't have that. but it's just rampant. customers basically.

men in their 60's, arrogant, people saying please stay away from me you don't have a mask on. oh it's too late for that. my mask is in the car. so we have a real problem with ignorantre just being and arrogant. host: what are the rules where you live? >> some stores have signs saying mass required. but you go in there and they're not on. you go into the store and you ask if it's clean. we aren't doing that anymore. clean it yourself and the point to a bottle. but nobody knows that. there is one supermarket chain that's really good here about cleaning -- they are the carts. but their competitor is not doing the same. >> do you know anyone who has

contracted this illness? >> people on my street, they got it at their church. the whole place got it because the ventilation system wasn't properly maintained. host: where they wearing masks during the service? caller: yes. that's really what freak them out. host: susan in florida. let me share some headlines. the wall street journal this morning, covid-19 is researching and this time it's everywhere. the urban areas, but they are seeing spread across rural areas as well. headlines related to that is usa today front page. rural u.s. hospitals ravaged by virus. there's not enough beds or medical staff for the soaring infections they are seeing. the front page of the new york times this morning, their

threat,, once a distant covid moves in next door. cases surgeon on most every part of the country. researchers say the u.s. is approaching what could be a significant tipping point. a pandemic so widespread that every american knows someone who has been infected. good morning. caller: good morning. and january we are looking at exponential rise in infections. hadproblem is we've already over one million diagnosed with covid, it's the ones that are carrying it and are spreading it that are asymptomatic. so that could be 2 million or 3 million in the month of november. host: what do you think should happen? caller: federal mandate.

and fines. the only way we are going to get this handled is by federal mandate and the local government finding people 25, 50, 70 five dollars. >> what are the rules in kentucky? >> basically we have the mask mandate and you are starting to see more and more people walking around without the masks. is --ing cured tb -- >> how do you do that when there is a symptom added people? require aat's can great deal of testing. the numbers on talking about, we

will need to produce at least 10 tests pretty -- preach person in the country. host: do you know what the fine is if you're not wearing a mask? caller: as far as i know there isn't one. i had my spleen removed and i also suffer autoimmune disease so i'm at risk. i wear any i go out of my apartment. i prefer to be off by myself doing something. people a lot of other bar across -- the the street is seeing more people going in there. you get drunk, you take off your

mask and all of a sudden you're spreading. you might be interested in this piece in the wall street journal. the big unknown is where people are getting infected. in germany, authorities say they don't know where 75% of people who currently test positive for the coronavirus got it. in austria, the figure stands at 77%. in spain, it was able to 7%ntify the origin of only of infections registered in the last week of october and in france and italy, only 20% of new cases have been linked to people who previously tested positive. even in the united states, a senior advisor in new york city mayor's office says 10% of the cities infections are due to travel. 5% from gatherings and another 5% from institutional settings such as nursing homes.

talking about 80% where they don't know how people got this disease. go ahead. if we had a commander-in-chief who gave a dam, he's not testing. he's not pushing tests. so we don't know how many are infected. they are doing testing over there and they don't know. commander-in-chief who doesn't want to test because he doesn't want the numbers to go up. trumpon friday, president talked about operation warp speed, his effort to get the -- created, distributed across the country. here is what he had to say. >> a national lockdown costs $50 billion a day and hundreds of thousands of jobs every single day.

ideally we won't go to a lockdown. this administration will not be going to a lockdown. hopefully whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration it will be, i guess time will tell. this administration will not go to a lockdown. it won't be a necessity. lockdowns cost lives, they cause a lot of problems. worse thannnot be the problem itself. i've said many times. when you look at what happens during a lockdown, i just say it very loudly, it's horrible what happens when drugs and alcohol, depression, loss of jobs, business closures, is a terrible thing. this administration will not go under any circumstances, will not go to a lockdown. >> president trump on friday. the washington post this morning, states impose tougher restrictions as u.s. virus cases

surpass 11 million. other states are enacting stay-at-home orders. on sundayhitmer announced sweeping new limits on gatherings for three weeks, including a ban on indoor dining at restaurants and bars and a halt to in-person classes. insleeton governor jay also laid out a slew of new rules which prohibit indoor social gatherings. atindoor service restaurants, bars and more. they go on to report state and local officials nationwide are reinstating restrictions to fight the virus. new mexico and oregon on friday ordered new statewide shutdowns love navajo nation, a devastated early on by the virus reissued at stay-at-home order for at least three weeks. the navajo nation said cases threatened to swamp the health system on the southwestern reservation without immediate action. , a north dakota governor

republican, on friday issued a statement on a mask mandate and businesses after the utah batrnor announced a similar -- mask order in the face of overwhelming hospitals. warning they might have to ration care. texas. what's it like there? we are doing pretty well so far. i think what it would take is the whole country, maybe even the whole world shut down for so many days and only go out to do essential things. because if we don't do this. when i go out sometimes in the city, most places will have a sign saying you have have a covering. said this isernor

schreier's was where face cover. they want so ignorant to do what they want to do. those -- i one of have underlying issues. if you get within six feet of me and don't have a mask, please stay back. i'm going to respect you, please respect my space. mask andeve wearing a social distancing and washing your hands, doing the proper thing will help us. to shut downeeds all at once to get it under control. borders,f we have open people coming in from other states or countries, they might be a carrier. they are not coming in and quarantining themselves 14 days before they see their relatives. i'm not having thanksgiving at my home.

do you have anybody in your household that you can share the holiday with? caller: i have children, grandchildren. -- he is aand i disabled veteran. we both have underlying issues. children live in the same area we live in. we can talk to one another. i know they are ok. they are younger people. wants -- you -- when most people get drunk or tipsy, they are not can have their mask. they are talking.

you don't know. i don't see what it would hurt. >> have you gone to a restaurant at all? caller: no. i haven't been in a restaurant. i can tell you the last time. host: what county is tyler, texas in? caller: smith. host: the new york times interactive map put together hotspots. these are the counties across the country with the highest numbers of recent cases per residence. you have jones, texas. that is on this list of the counties with the highest number. you can take a look at these other counties. north dakota, south dakota, kentucky, colorado, nebraska. you have three north dakota counties on here and iowa. countryeas across the where they are seeing the highest number of recent cases per residence. let's go to brad in kentucky.

caller: good morning. host: what's it like in kentucky? area.: 80's a rural is a ruralw -- it area. than 1%e been in less of u.s. counties. i think we need to quickly realize whether we intended it or not, we are essentially inflicting hard-core economic warfare on ourselves. do you disagree that we are at a critical time right here right now? moment i imagine every is critical. as far as the virus uptick, i'm very concerned that joe biden is

going to be pushed by his advisors into another lockdown and if people will look into the numbers out there. the virus is not what we thought it would be in far -- as far as damage. the economic damages not getting reported. i'm not complaining for c-span. mentalchological and damage this is doing to our children. combination,ngs in this is a self-inflicted wound that may end up being fatal. we cannot do this again. we will barely recover from this last lockdown that happened. we cannot make any ground back up we cannot do this again. joe biden, please do not do this to the american people. we will not make it back. host: listening to admiral brett

gerard, member of the white house task force. here is what he had to say. >> we all have to communicate very clearly that the science is clear, the evidence is overwhelming. whether you want to look at microbiological data or epidemiology. city by city, state by state, country by country, that masks do work. we also know it provides protection from getting it from someone else. not just the microbes, the droplets that they hitch a ride on. across the board, whether they are local mandates or public service messages, we have to have the american people wear a mask when we can't physically distance. we have to limit that indoor spread by limiting bars and restaurants, which are places where you are indoors without a mask and we know there can be significant transmission.

we do not have to close schools or major industries, but we have to be careful around the holiday time because even a large gathering can be a way that it can spread. if you just google cdc holiday gatherings, there are some easy tips to keep your family safe. abc: that was yesterday on this week. take a look at the headline from npr. cases with no end in sight. we are asking you to tell us what it's like where you live. greg is in tennessee. caller: hello. thanks for c-span. i appreciate it. was, i thinkfella the president should go to it. around here there's a whole lot of people wearing masks and i can go along with it at all. the cdc simply states the masks

don't do any good. so why even where it? even say it's a virus. this whole thing has been blown out of water. i agree with the caller before the last totally 100%. it's an economic thing. they had a nerve -- they had a form called 2001. and all the rest of the elites of the world had this big forum talking about how they have a big economic shutdown. this is month before it came. host: where do you get your news? caller: i search around for it. host: what are some sites that you go to? caller: you can go to cdc to find that out about 201.

you can watch how they planned it out. host: greg there in tennessee. from that npr headline we showed you. the u.s. has added more than 184,000 confirmed cases on friday. the fourth day in the row the country set a record for daily infections. it's been about four weeks since the u.s. overtook india to see the most daily cases of any country in the world. indian case number spiked in september, they have been on a downward path since then. cases in the u.s. continue to surge. for the first time, the seven day moving average has passed 150,000. the article goes on to talk about hospitalizations. coronavirus hospitalizations are rising brought the country with more than 68,000 people in the hospital on friday. the highest number seen throughout the entire pandemic. surpassing the peak in july.

at the beginning, we showed you michael osterholm who is serving on president-elect biden's task force team. he suggested a national lockdown lasting up to six weeks in which workers would have their lost wages reimbursed. but other members of the president-elect force said such a major lockdown isn't nascent seri -- is not necessary. would you agree to a national lockdown for up to six weeks where lost wages are paid? related to that, is the wall street journal article with this , jobless benefits for millions near an expiration day. passed programs congress this year to expanded enhanced employment on insurance -- unemployment insurance will expire unless lawmakers can break a deadlock over a fresh round of pandemic relief.

that raises the risk families jobless workers will miss payment -- miss payments on mortgage and face foreclosure or eviction. just as rising tide of coronavirus infections threatened to undercut economic recovery. let's go to jerry in huntington beach, california. what sort of rules has governor newsom put in place? quite: he's put in place a few and some of them seem kind of silly. host: tell us about them. caller: if you go to a .estaurant to wear a mask i have doubts about the whole mask thing. limitedthey have a effective result against this virus. i went to the post office the other day, some guy was walking

out smoking a cigarette and the smoke got in my mask. it was so bad i had to take the mask off. the cigarette smoke and go through the mask, what you think the little virus can do? a lot of these things bandied about, what makes her think the economy is can open up its can come right back? is youhis suggestion shut it down and hopefully the vaccine is on its way to being distributed. caller: that would be great if the vaccine works. , there'sn the meantime a lot of things you can do. you can try maintain your health and be as healthy as you can. if you do get the virus you can find it off.

this should you contact tracing that actually works. we haven't done that. manycan it take how does deaths for that to take place. at 24 hour fitness, they read my fingerprint, why can't they have something like that where you put your finger there and tell us how many covid tests you had when you go to a restaurant. host: how do you feel about implementing nationwide rapid testing? where if you want to go somewhere, you get a test on the spot? caller: that would be fantastic. program, a lady talked about people in church getting covid and the all had masks on. that right there. he talked about germany and all those countries where they didn't know where they got the virus, this is scary stuff. is only way to shut it down look at these models of success

fighting this thing and copy them and do what they are doing. host: what is that? people contact tracer and if they come up positive, isolate them. it would take a massive undertaking. they would have to put people in isolation and monitor them and make sure they stay in isolation . that's the only way out of it. there may be other solutions. that's all i see looking at it from my world. anyone who hasow had the disease close to you? caller: caller: that my work, at least five may be more. -- at least five, maybe more. host: what do you do?

caller: i work at a retirement home thing and we have different departments. huntington in beach. ron in lancaster. ron, what is it like in lancaster? and i: it is rising, agree everyone should wear masks. i mean, the scientists are saying it will help protect us. down with the coronavirus. we had to put him by himself. we did everything they told us to do. my mother-in-law passed away from the pandemic. so i am listening to what the scientists say and not going by watching other people out there thinking it is nothing and having big gatherings and whatnot. to me, that is helping spread that. some of the callers, i do not know where they get their

information from, but i feel sorry for them for not -- it is like it is nothing to them. everyone i feel should be wearing masks, even in restaurants. we go away once a week. wered a gentleman where we came down with the coronavirus. i got a call the next day. i am on the board of that place. when you sit down, people that don't even live with them are sitting with them. it is still spreading. host: sorry to hear about your mother-in-law. your son, is he all right? caller: he is. he woke up one morning with a fever and sweating. have nothing to test for your temperature and he was tested that day. he came back positive, we kept him in his room, and myself and my wife, we have issues. so i had to be really on alert.

so we were thankful. host: you and your wife did not get it? caller: we did not. paranoid, so we wipe things down, hand sanitizer. and i wear at times even around my kids. host: do you know how your son got it? caller: from his work. and i raised heck with it. and they did the tracing and were not wearing masks. so it was between that and some other gentlemen he was around. he said it, oh yeah, we think we had it. so -- and they are not wearing masks. that is the biggest issue. host: do you have a mask mandate where you live? caller: we do not. i mean, if you are out, we wear them. outside, i pick my son back

and forth to work, i have one even in the car. i feel they would not have to shut down if they would pay attention and listen to the experts and everybody would still be wearing masks. i do not think it would be as bad as what it is. host: ok, ron. two former fda commissioner's are writing in the opinion page of the wall street journal. there piece is it is now up to governors to slow the spread. what they write is that governors should also work with local leaders to use new countermeasures that have only recently become available, including a valuable new treatment, antibodies better man-made versions of one's that neutralize the virus, but these are challenging to administer, requiring special sites for infusion and public education.

people in high-risk groups with symptoms should get tested and treated before their condition deteriorates. governors need to get their message out that covid is a treatable condition at the early stages and work to make sure the access to antibodies is available, especially in underserved communities. again, writing in the wall street journal this morning, two former fda commissioners. eva in brighton, colorado, what is it like where you live? caller: well, it depends on who you look at. our governor wants to shut everything down, but i have to forratulate you and c-span spending all night to try to find these negative items to talk about. people can wear a mask if they want to. do not demand that we all wear a mask. if it is a big crowd, i cannot

go, but i do mix with relatives. if everybody is getting it like they say they are getting it, there should not be any traffic on the highway because our highway is congested. i just think you guys are -- i know it is bad and i think you should be careful, but i also think you guys are taking it over the hump. use your own mind. i know there are a few women that come on there that somebody had to tell them what to do, how to do it. thank you. host: are you still there? i don't think so. moderna saysine -- it's coronavirus vaccine is nearly 95% effective. we will talk about vaccine distribution in this country and what it will take coming up. bob in massachusetts. good morning to you. it is your turn. caller: good morning.

i have not seen a lot of infections where i live. my wife works in the school system and yesterday they had two infections in the last month. i don't really see it. what i do see is the election was taken away from the country because of this pandemic. they put in hundreds of millions of votes. half were not even filled out with the people who supposedly voted. so i do not believe in it. host: bob, at your wife's school, what are they doing? what precautions are they taking? caller: shutdowns all over. any time someone comes up sick, they shut down for a couple weeks. the kids go back to homeschooling. have of our kids are in school, half are at home doing the home computer thing. so it seems like a giant waste of time. more work0,000 times

on the custodial employees. like you are supposed to clean every bathroom seven times a day. and there are only three maintenance workers. it is crazy. you are driving people out of their minds. i'm curious about one thing. the cdc put out there report -- put out their report about this and their numbers do not match the speculations. we are overplaying the heck out of this thing. the numbers for people even 70 plus our .027, something like that. host: let me talk to john, sina tonio, texas. hi, john. san antonio, that is a large city. what are you seeing? caller: we are really big. we are kind of mixed here in san antonio with about half the people fearing it and really believing in the masks and the

other half just going about their lives like they normally would. host: and so what sort of rules are in place? noter: you know, there is real strict -- you know, the governor is not real strict. inre are mask mandates grocery stores, things like that. our restaurants are open, bars are open. of course, bars have limited capacity, but restaurants are back open i believe 75%. half the city is going about their business like covid does not exist. host: do you think restaurants should be prohibited from serving people inside? caller: no. i have been eating at restaurants since -- granted, we shut down back in april, but they opened up. i have been eating in a restaurant every day since. we have immune systems and we have to let our immune systems

work and by masking and social distancing and washing your hands every time you do something, you are hindering your own immune system. i am one of those. i have watched sweden and compared them to us from the get go. herd immunity was key. it has been key in biting every virus -- key in fighting every virus in history. i am not going about this like covid is the be-all end-all virus that could possibly do us in. it is not that. host: do you know anyone who has had a close to you? caller: no. i don't know anybody that has had it. i am almost certain i had it in april, 2019. host: john in texas. this headline, the new york times -- doctors are calling it quits. read allison reports many other doctors are also. thousands of offices have closed

during the pandemic according to a survey of 3500 doctors by a nonprofit group. about a percent of the doctors reported closing their offices, which the foundation estimated could equal some 16,000. another 4% say they plan to shutter within the next year. are you seeing this where you live, doctors shutting down their offices due to the pandemic or the ramifications of the pandemic? james, arlington, texas. i have to push the button. hey. caller: can you hear me? host: yeah. caller: i have not seen any doctors offices closing in my city. i would like to say that i am just wondering if anybody is considering the massive immigration problem we have is a possible reason for the upsurge in cases. i am sure illegal immigrants are not self-quarantining in sanctuary cities.

and we probably do need a national mandate, because other than arlington, and everyone wears a mask here. in a up in dulles restaurant and half the people were not wearing masks. everybody wears them here. host: where is arlington located? caller: it is in the middle of the dfw metroplex, dallas-fort worth. host: and you traveled to where? eulis, which is five miles north of here. it is a border city. it is only like five miles away. it is totally different. half the people were not wearing masks and i was stunned. it is not that it bothered me, it is just different. host: do you think there needs to be some either statewide or national? caller: if they believe it

works. one of your callers was talking about in florida, where people were not -- i'm sorry, one caller was talking about how everybody in a church was wearing their masks and still got it. another caller was talking about how he had a mask on and smoke went in his mask, so he does not believe in masks. i am not sure on that. anyhing is i guarantee sanctuary cities, these illegal immigrants are not self-quarantining. aam not saying that is complete reason for the upsurge in covid, but that should be possible. [no audio] and september, it you had college students coming back. you saw a resurgence in october.

due toer noted that halloween gatherings and with thanksgiving around the corner, what will you do? caller: probably just at home. i live with my father and he is an older gentleman, so i take a lot of precautions. we will just stay at home. we are not going to get out for thanksgiving. host: ok. james in texas. another headline, when you have probably seen. the president has not attended a meeting of the coronavirus task force in five months. yesterday, on abc this week, brett bauer was asked about not attending. [video clip] not shoutingo is that message to the american public, and that is donald trump. the washington post is reporting that the president has not attended a coronavirus task or's meeting in five month. is that accurate? >> that's true.

the vice president does share the coronavirus task force. we often have several cabinet members there. and the vice president briefs the president every day or nearly every day on the coronavirus. i am not concerned that the president does not attend. the scientific community, x, dr. fauci,ir we are all there, and work together. we put out 50 million tests, 8.5 million this week. >> sorry to interrupt you. the head of operation warp speed, who stood by the president on friday, is calling on the white house to allow his team to make contact with the biden covid transmission team, which is being held up by the president, who is not accepting the election results. do you agree they should be

given access and talk to the biden covid team? dr. flower.not from my point of view, the gsa controls the transition process. my team, all the doctors that work for us, we want to be transparent. we are extremely transparent with the media, outside experts, public health experts. >> is it important to be able to talk to the biden team at this point, yes or no? >> look, i want to be as transparent as possible with everybody. this is not a political issue. this is an issue a public health. i think there is nothing more important than that. host: from yesterday's sunday show on abc. about this reuters president-elect -- biden aide sees localized covid

restrictions, not a national lockdown after inauguration. with cities and states across the u.s. imposing restrictions, a senior advisor to the president elect said there were no plans for a nationwide lockdown next year. one of our previous callers urged the president elect not to do this, so he and others may be interested in this headline from reuters. fill in orange park, florida. where is orange park located? caller: about 500 feet from jacksonville. host: and what are the rules in place? caller: i don't know about the rules in place, but i have a real simple solution. host: ok. caller: uv lights kill the virus. tube uvput a three foot light on each side of a doorway whether you are going into a store or bar or whatever. they are going to kill the virus

when you walk in. if it is on you when you come out, it will kill it. why not put uv lights in the stores, the houses? host: are you not concerned about the long-term impact of that? caller: of that? host: of getting that uv light on you over and over again? caller: i work in printing. we use uv lights. it did not hurt us. i worked in it for 20 some years. host: all right. brian in las vegas. hi. caller: hi. host: good morning. caller: good morning. as far as the conditions right is, the governor of nevada calling it safer at home. it is a voluntary measure. they are asking people not to do unnecessary trips outside of the said if he has already

the virus numbers continue to increase that there will be more measures coming. and, brian, what do you do in las vegas? caller: right now, i am not working. i am recovering from surgery. i recently had surgery for cancer. so i have some time on my hands. host: right. do you know what it is like for the casino industry there? caller: it has been bad. i mean, they were closed for a long time, and the reopening is not going well. they are dependent on tourism. a lot of people just don't want to travel and really shouldn't be traveling. employed hotels thousands of people. -- employ thousands of people.

i believe someone told me that one employs 50,000. there are several that are very large. mgm,ogia,eol -- conventions and events like that. host: what is unemployment like? caller: there was a young guy that was going to come and stay with family here and they actually told him don't come here now because there are are no jobs. host: and do you know what it is doing to the economy there? people i think a lot of are ok still, but we are going to see more homeless people. now, there is a

restriction on evictions and things like that. you know, the money that people pay for rent is not just free money. payings to go towards mortgages, maintenance, and things like that. at some point, that will have to go back to normal, and a lot of people will be short. host: ok, brian. tina in kansas city, missouri. what is it like where you live? everybody i see out in public wear masks. i think it should be a mask mandate. i believe in the covid crisis that were having. -- that we are having. that is one reason i voted for joe biden because we have to get this under control before we can do anything. this isthe nonbeliever,

a health emergency. tocannot convince people take it seriously if they don't care about their own health, but this is about others, and i just if they don't think that there is an emergency going on with this crisis, there should be some type of list that they should not be a burden on the hospitals when they do come down with covid. they didn't believe. they go rushing to the courts and stuff and saying all this, and that's fine, but don't be a burden on the health care system when you do get covid. stay at home, take care of yourself. you never believed in the first place. don't rush in for those of us who are doing the right thing. just like the president. he didn't believe, but when he

got sick, he took himself to the hospital. for those who don't believe and don't want to do the right thing, they should not flood the hospitals. they are overrun. host: charlie, santa clarida, california. hi, charlie. caller: good morning, greta. i have two quick things. that guy talking about the uv lights. they put those in the air conditioning vents and they kill every pathogen known to man. who were put in the rest homes by cuomo when this all started all had one thing in common. they all breathed the same air. s --hey had those uv light because it kills those terms.

those uv lights are dangerous. and over time, they could give you skin cancer and hurt your eyes. tvber two, i was watching on someone giving a home for free. all the bigwigs were there with their suits and ties and everyone was wearing a mask. there were seven workmen putting up a special portion of the house that took all their strength to do it. these guys were elbow to elbow. not one of the workmen was wearing a mask, none of them. the masks work. they work excellently. i don't know why they don't enforce the law, but that's all i've got to say and i hope they start looking into this uv light stuff because they use it to disinfect airplanes, aisles in

the groceries when the stores are closed. but when i saw that on tv, habitat her immunity -- habitat for humanity, they were building a home in fullerton, i went nuts. not any of the workmen were wearing masks. i guess it will have to come down to a mandate. thank you for your time. douglas. host: all right. jerry in california. what is it like there? lines: i am along the that you need uv light on your skin. have beenoctors showing that getting your vitamin d level up, if you get range, about 60 nanograms per milliliter, you will be ok with covid and it comes around.

tosident trump, when he went the hospital, one of the first things they did was give him vitamin d to get his levels up. studies have shown that it reduces mortality greatly. --the united states, we are 70% of the population is deficient. in the winter, it will be more. taking in about 5000 international units per day of vitamin d will cut down on the spread. there are so many studies on vitamin d showing respiratory illnesses being reduced. for example, people in nursing homes do not get outside. they have low vitamin d. it is known they have low vitamin d. so bringing up the vitamin d level will help with any kind of respiratory illnesses. influenza, it would reduce influenza. host: what do you do for a living, jerry? caller: for the past few years, i have been reading research.

a number of years ago, my brother got sick. from that point on, i would spend 20 hours a day sometimes just reading research. vitamin d has been known for years. the reason people are going into the hospital -- and i have done my own research of calling doctors to find out what is their protocol for covid, and they don't have protocols for covid. they will just tell them stay home. if they tree early -- and i don't want to bring up the big bad word that trump said almost a year ago -- that works. but another drug works even better. if they have a protocol. you call your doctor, before you get sick, and say what is your protocol in case i get sick? they will say, just stay home and take an aspirin or something. get another doctor. call your doctor and find out if they have a protocol. host: understood.

scott gottlieb who just wrote that piece about the admiral in wall street journal tweets, great day for patients. we may have two highly effective vaccines if the pfizer and moderna trials are confirmed. the acute phase of the pandemic will end in 2021. we must work together to get through the next three months, he writes. another tweet from center marco rubio in florida, republican, saying covid numbers climbing again in his state. we have more options and better outcomes for treatment. the issue is that flu season will already fill beds. covid patients will add today and potentially strain hospitals. getting your thoughts this morning on the pandemic and what it is like where you live. let's go to mark in st. peters, missouri. mark, where is that? caller: maybe an hour outside of

st. louis. ouri am noticing that, in state, our cases are in the increase. they are spiking. mandate,r as the mask we have -- i don't know if it is a mandate, but most is this is say, in order to come in, you need to wear a mask. well, everybody that i have seen has been wearing a mask. here is the problem. nobody is really talking about it. mask, whatay wear a really constitutes a mask? my wife works in the hospital in the laboratories and she does stuff like bloodwork and things like that and i have been speaking with her. she told me it is kind of a false reassurance that wearing a mask is going to help you. mask thathat the only

would work would be something betters an n95 or because they had the filtration devices to kind of weed out those small, microscopic particles that the coronavirus consists of. when they say wear a mask, you think, what constitutes a mask? i see people wearing these little blue masks, you know. you see them all over the place . host: the medical ones, the thinner ones. caller: right. host: what does your wife say about those? caller: they don't work. it can stop some of it, but the bulk of it will get out because tose masks are not designed filtrate those microscopic particles like the coronavirus.

isil -- i see people wearing these things called gaters that they put over there mask or face. -- their mask or face. i see people wearing basically a t shirt. they pull a t-shirt over there nose or mouth. you see it in europe. they had a mask mandate or law and their cases spiked. host: i have to leave it there because i want to get greg in in chicago. caller: our mayor has done a good job, mayor lightfoot. even though i am a restaurant owner and she has been making it difficult. host: is it because it is too cold? you can have them outside? chicago becomes february

in february and goes february to june. so it is cold. decision. is a good it is a hard decision. i wish our governor, pritzker, would make a mandate of all the schools. chicago public schools did a great thing. they are administering school through zoom. it is a safe and smart thing for teachers and students. my wife is a schoolteacher, and district, say what but they are keeping teachers in school and it is crazy. it is crazy pants. host: how are you going to survive as a restaurant owner if you cannot serve people inside? caller: i will bust my button and probably not make it, but that is ok. you win some, you lose some. we are delivering food to neighbors we have never met before. -- you haveoing to

to try. there is a good trend in vaccines, in mask wearing. thewhat we really need is president to play nice with the president elect so we can take a good look at each other and work together on this. we have to work together. i will try as hard as i can to survive as a restaurant owner, but people are dying or -- people are dying. host: we will turn our attention to congress. coming up, bob q sack of the hill will talk about how the elections will affect congress, and another guest discusses state-level efforts to combat covid-19 and distribute an eventual vaccine. we will be back. ♪ >> tonight on the communicators,

we talk about the ways the election will affect the tech -- andication's communications industry. >> an issue i am watching is how a biden administration might try to regulate social media. obviously, this has been a major test of the integrity policies these companies have adopted. >> one thing the biden administration will have to figure out is if they are inheriting at the very least a google antitrust lawsuit from the doj. it,eople who talk about point at broadband. they point to people who cannot do remote learning and are struggling to have connectivity at home when they need to be home to be safe. that will be a huge thing to

watch. >> tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on the communicators on c-span two. ♪ president-elect. stay with c-span for live coverage of the election process and transition of power. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics. weeknights this month, we are featuring american history tv programs as a preview of what is available every weekend on c-span3. in the 2000 presidential election, texas governor george w. bush defeated vice president al gore and one of the most highly contested races in history. the outcome was not decided until five weeks until voters -- five weeks after voters went to the polls, when the supreme court ordered florida to stop a

recount. tonight, we begin with al gore's concession speech, followed by george w. bush's victory remarks later the same evening. watch beginning at 8:00 p.m. eastern and enjoy american history tv every weekend on c-span3. washington journal continues. host: welcome back and on your screen is bob cusack, editor-in-chief of the hill newspaper, here to talk about the impact of the elections on congress. i want to begin with the 60 minutes interview last night with former president barack obama. he is what -- here is what he had to say about gop leaders are reacting about the outcome. [video clip] >> the president does not like to lose and never admits loss. i am more troubled by the fact that other republican officials who clearly know better are going along with this, or humoring him in this fashion.

inis one more step delegitimizing not just the incoming biden administration but democracy in general. and that is a dangerous path. we would never accept that out of our own kids having that way if they lost. i mean, if my daughters in any and of competition, pouted accused the other side of cheating when they lost when there was no evidence of it, we would scold them. thisnk that there has been sense over the last several years that literally anything in orderis justified that is not, and unique to the united states. there are strong men and dictators around the world who think that i can do anything to stay in power. i can kill people, i can throw

them in jail, i can run phony elections, i can suppress is not who, but that we are supposed to be. and one of the signals i think that joe biden needs to send to the world is that those values that we preached and believed in and subscribed to, we still believe them. host: president obama from that 60 minutes interview yesterday. bob q set, i want to pick up on what he said about republican leaders. what are you hearing about how they will continue and what they have been saying about the november 3 elections? guest: thank you for having me. looking at the landscape of capitol hill in the postelection world, specifically with republicans and president trump, remember congressional republicans did well. they held onto the senate.

political handicappers said they would keep the senate. and they picked up house seats, which was unexpected, especially with the democrats cash advantage. moving forward, republicans do not want to clash with president trump. you talk to them privately, they know the next president is going to be joe biden, but they want to give the president some time to pursue his legal avenues and see where they go. i do not think it will be lasting that long. obviously, electors will be chosen next month. but they want to give the president some space. it is an unusual time. it is also unusual for a former president to criticize a sitting president. in that 60 minutes interview, it was interesting that president obama said he wrestled with the fact that he did not really speak out that much during president trump's term, and said

some of the criticism on that was justified. so i do think that congressional republicans, you started to see some of them say, well, joe biden should be getting in telligence briefings, but certainly most congressional republicans, including in the leadership, have not congratulated biden. i think the dynamic will change after thanksgiving as we see some of these court cases play out, which are being expedited, but right now, certainly most republicans on capitol hill are not basically calling on the president to accept defeat. host: how would you describe the relationship between mitch mcconnell, the majority leader in the senate, and the former senator, now president-elect joe biden? guest: it is a good one. they struck a number of deals. the relationship between

president obama and majority leader mitch mcconnell is not good and was not good when obama was president. really, the dealmaking came down to joe biden and mcconnell, and they struck a number of fiscal deals. now, president obama also criticized mcconnell in his new book. i do not think that means we will see a lot of kumbaya in washington, a lot of big, sweeping bipartisan deals. the deals that were struck between mcconnell and biden were avoidingust haves, government shutdowns and raising the debt ceiling and dealing with taxes that were about to expire. they were kind of deals that had to be made for the most part, so the relationship is good. mcconnell and biden certainly criticized each other on the campaign trail this year, but, at the same time, it never got personal.

it got personal between harry reid, the majority leader at the time, and the nominee, john mccain. they had been friends and during that election year it got very personal. so i think they have a good relationship, but at the same time, mitch mcconnell easily won his reelection bid and it looks like he will hold onto the senate, so there is not a huge incentive for mcconnell, who said his top political goal in the first term of president obama was to make obama a one term president. i am sure mcconnell wants to make biden a one term president as well. host: i invite callers to join in. if you are a democrat, [video clip] -- (202) 748-8000. a republican, (202) 748-8001. .n independent, (202) 748-8002 text us at (202) 748-8003.

your newspaper has this headline. democrats look to sharpen message after senate setback. explain. guest: democrats are disappointed. they have been trying to win back the senate for years and they thought this was the best chance in recent memory. two years ago, when they fell short, senate majority leader -- senate minority leader chuck schumer indicated that 2020 was a good shot. barring georgia, where joe biden has been declared the winner, but as far as other statewide races, republicans usually win. they are disappointed. there have been conversations in the senate and the house -- what did they do wrong? a lot of democrats we have talked to have been very upset, certainly the ones in battleground races who are more moderate. they were concerned that republicans seized the message of defund the police and other

messages like the green new deal and medicare for all, which had been championed by the left and bernie sanders and progressives in congress and used that against them in key races. so there has been disappointment and certainly there is excitement that joe biden is the president-elect, but, at the same time, what can get done, most ofen can get done, his campaign promises will hit a brick wall in a likely republican led senate. host: and as you said it, republicans picked up seats in the house in this last election cycle. there are democratic leadership elections this week. what could be the outcome? could there be a change in leadership? guest: there will be some changes because of vacancies, but really at the lower level. the top three, nancy pelosi, steny hoyer, and jim clyburn,

all at least 80 years old, are expected to get reelected. there are some races for the four slot as well as the campaign arm. and that really could set the stage for who replaces nancy pelosi. remember, she has said this will be her last congress. two years ago, she said she would either be speaker for two to four years. she has said she will serve her term, so this will be her last term as speaker. there has been speculation that steny hoyer, her deputy, and jim clyburn, could be their last too. so one of them is captain clark versus david cicilline. joaquin jeffries is already in leadership. he is the favorite to replace nancy pelosi as the top democrat, but that will not happen yet. so some of these lower tier

races could decide who is going to be the speaker or the minority leader, depending on how the 2022 elections go. now that said, while nancy pelosi does not have any challengers yet, she needs to get 218 votes on the house floor. remember, there is a behind closed doors vote for the caucus leaders. speaker, you need 218 votes, a majority on the house floor. and even though she had struck deals two years ago, there were a number of democratic defectors. she will have to minimize those public defectors in order to get to 218. she may have to strike a couple more deals, but she is expected to be the speaker in the new congress. but as we were discussing, republicans did well. they did better than expected and now kevin mccarthy, now the

house, is already predicting backrepublicans will win the house in 2022. host: what are these potential public defectors saying they want from nancy pelosi? guest: great question. two years ago, what a lot of them wanted was rule changes to the house rules, basically to give the rank and file more power. so that if a bill, for instance, got a lot of cosponsors, got two thirds of the house backing it, technically leadership can back it, but there was a rule change that said, ok, we will allow some of these to get voted on. there were a number of other rules that moderates pushed for in exchange for voting for nancy pelosi. that was actually a bipartisan group. tom reed, republican from new york, was willing to vote for nancy pelosi after nancy pelosi

vowed to -- for these house rule changes, which were implemented. pelosi said she did not want his vote, so he did not vote for her, but there is a bipartisan group called the problem solvers. they have not said what they want yet. but that will be something to watch. they may want rule changes. one of the rule changes that is kind of inside baseball, but significant, is the minority party in the house are allowed a certain amount of amendments and motions. sometimes, they will try to get a motion on a bill to basically kill the bill, and that is offered on the house floor. the minority has very few rights in the house, but that is one of the rights they have. as campaignuse that ammunition, it is a motion that leadership does not want but moderates do not want to vote

against because it could be used against them, whether it is on immigration or health care, whatever the issue is. there has been talk of instead of having that motion to recommit, instead of that just being a majority vote, it would need two thirds of the house to back it. so a lot of the moderates could end up voting for it but it would still fail. some people say it is kind of silly to have this motion anyway because if you're going to kill a bill, you should kill it before it comes to the floor. at the same time, republicans would cry foul. they are the minority party and rule change could pass. that is something to watch. rule changes on the house floor. because that would be significant as far as campaign -- as ion and as far as have been in washington, the rule has been, a motion to recommit by the minority would need a majority.

portland, oregon, democratic caller. good morning. caller: i just wanted to congratulate the president, biden, and the vice president, kamala harris. they need to start transitioning over. they won. nobody changes the rules. that is the way it is. host: what is the transition like, typically, between one administration and the other when it comes to congressional relations? guest: it is massive, really. first of all, government agencies have to prepare reports so that they are briefing the incoming administration. and we are talking about all government agencies. because of the president's objecting to the result, he has put those plans on hold, and certainly we have had the issue

of intelligence briefings, which are among the most important type of information that can be given to an incoming administration. as far as congress and its transition, you know, basically congress has been through this. they have been through a lot of transitions and we are not going to see a lot of change in power. the only possibility is the senate flipping if democrats can win the doubleheader in georgia. -- you, the issue is talk to most members, they want the incoming administration to have the intelligence they need on whatever topic, whether it is health care or immigration or trade, so they know what is going on and can hit the ground running. certainly, joe biden has a lot of experience, and that was used against him on the campaign trail, but he has been through this before. senator harris list so.

but certainly, i think over the next month you will see a lot of transitions speculation. also, who will be in the cabinet. that parlor game has already started. host: pennsylvania. tom, good morning. an independent there. caller: i believe that the biden administration is going to be the same as the trump administration. it is going to be illegitimate. in pa, there was a pile of fraud in this state. hopefully our state senators and congressmen will not award biden the 20 electoral votes. hopefully there is a special in andl if he does w hopefully the senate does not confirm his people the way they did against trump. host: let's talk about that.

the president-elect, when he is sworn and, has to get his cabinet members vetted through the senate and approved. guest: yeah, and that could be difficult depending on who joe biden pix. now, lindsey graham, the chairman of the jittery -- of the judiciary committee, has said joe biden deserves a cabinet. mitch mcconnell has not actually said that, but i think that will be the case. at the same time, if it is a controversial nominee -- there has been speculation elizabeth warren could be picked as treasury secretary -- the chances of that are less than 50-50. also, there is a republican governor in massachusetts, so that complicates the senate dynamic. the governor would be able to appoint somebody. i do think that joe biden is going to have to probably pick a

few people that the left and the progressives like, and there could be some senate confirmation battles, is there always are, but this will not be easy for joe biden. so confirmation. let's say democrats had one back the senate. -- won back the senate. getting confirmation would be relatively easy. you would have to worry about some moderates like joe mansion in -- like joe mansion in west and senator sinema in arizona. but these are things the transition are thinking about. we like this person, but can they get the votes? host: as you noted, we have to wait or the determination of who therols the senate once january 5 runoff for the senate races in georgia concludes. you at the hill had this story

that you have tweeted out. republicans seek to batter warnock ahead of the runoff. what kind of money and resources will be thrown at these races? guest: tremendous amounts. this is the balance of the senate here. so republicans are certainly using the message of you cannot give democrats everything. they have the house. they say the white house will be in democratic hands. so you have to have a roadblock. that will be the message. i think, honestly, democrats would of course love to win both seats, and both are expected to be competitive. there will be a lot of money. but democrats i think would be --py to set up 2020 to 2022. and senator purdue

were very close. neither could get to 50%. that was basically a couple points. and warnock and senator loeffler, she fended off an interparty challenge from doug collins in the house. collins was at one point the favorite and she was able to come back. it will be the center of the universe. joe biden, one the state narrowly. won the state narrowly. what will be his role? certainly republicans are using the message, do you want senator chuck schumer to be majority leader? and they hope that will resonate because they think most voters would reject that. that is something senator mcconnell used in his debate against his democratic challengers. overall, this will be a huge fight on both races.

both races are expected to be relatively close and that is why there will be a lot of money going into them. host: dixon, tennessee, democratic caller. caller: i have a lot of concerns about the republican party. are we going to expect four more years of them ignoring laws like they did during the impeachment hearing, like when they made up their minds and refused to listen to evidence? want?s it that they what is the in game for the trump supporters? do they want a dictatorship? do they even realize that is the direction we are heading? potus has made it clear from the beginning that he wants to be a dictator. he really is a dictator already in everything but name. so what is the in game for them? -- what is the endgame for them? and what is the difference from what is happening now, where they are trying to overthrow a legitimate election with false

, a fewwith no evidence examples of fraud, but not ,nough to overturn the election and trying to overthrow a democracy? president trump has changed the republican party. he could run in four years. he would basically be the same age joe biden is now. certainly, i think privately he has indicated he is thinking about that. he could potentially be the first person -- the only other president other than grover cleveland to win back the presidency after losing. so the republican party knows that. and that is part of the reason they are yielding to trap. -- yielding to trump. even if joe biden is going to be inaugurated as the next

president, barring something really unforeseen in the courts, president trump will not be going quietly. there is speculation he could be starting his own tv network, that he will be setting the stage for running in four years, that he would continue to hold campaign rallies. so republicans are -- and they protected this president. other than mitt romney on impeachment, they were all united against it. they thought, republicans thought, that impeachment would be a huge campaign issue. even though congressional republicans did well, it was overshadowed by other things, including the pandemic. but overall, this is a very polarizing time, and usually, it used to be the victors would say the losersown and would say, ok, now we need to govern and work.

but the next campaign starts. we are seeing it in georgia. but even after the georgia races, we will be looking toward the next election, and that does hurt bipartisanship. so i do not think it will be -- given that we will have divided government -- you will not see sweeping changes. remember, the affordable care act was passed with no republican votes. the trump tax law was passed with no democratic votes. it used to be, like in 1997, i covered the balanced budget act. sweeping reforms to the budget into medicare. it was a bipartisan bill by president clinton and newt gingrich and others. and of those days of big, large bills passing -- sometimes that happens. criminal justice reform did pass the last congress, but that is not as big as some of these fiscal bills. when you have fiscal or

immigration matters, difficult to have bipartisanship. host: jane, good morning. caller: good morning. i don't really have too much to that ijust wanted to say voted for donald trump and i'm an 85-year-old lady. i loved him. i don't care what anybody says or does, he has done a lot for our country. a lot of the older people voted for him. do,things that he did to they don't really say too much about. just all the bad things he is done. he is not a politician. he may have some money, but joe biden has money too. he's probably a billionaire two. i don't know about what he's going to help our country because i don't know whether we are heading for socialism. i don't know what's going on in their minds. host: let's talk about the

agenda for the incoming administration. what have you reported? guest: one of the big things that has been kind of hold throughout the trump administration has been a big transportation infrastructure measure. these bills in the past have been bipartisan, or you are spending a large amount of money , hundreds of billions of fix roads,etimes to crumbling infrastructure, which experts say must be fixed. it's also a job creator. think that's a possibility in the new congress. get wrappedat can up into environmental issues and climate change and then that is a stumbling block. think that's one area of possible compromise. more criminal justice reform going further than the last bill which attracted bipartisan support.

a bill in the house by hakeem jeffries and collins who ran for the senate. thatnk those are two areas you could see some bipartisanship. you will have to on averting a government shutdown. as well as deadlines that have to be met fiscally. other than that, i think you will have to look at executive orders. we saw president obama use executive orders extensively, sometimes they were rejected by the courts. we saw president trump who criticized obama's executive orders, use a lot of executive ,rders on immigration and also the president has an enormous amount of power even if he can get his agenda through congress. certainly trade is a big issue where you will see some change that would be significant.

you will also see change in a number of areas. foreign policy, joe biden has already been talking to allies you'll see a lot of differences and a bite and administration. ,s far as sweeping legislation i think it will be more incremental unless the democrats window seats in georgia. host: what about before january 20? , youwill congress be up to have to avert a government shutdown on december 11. theyave to decide how far will have to pass, there's been talk of passing for many months. they will likely do some version where they are not doing individual bills, appropriation bills.

passing big omnibus bills and then the other agenda of course is congressional elections. it's all eyes on georgia. host: here in maryland, democratic caller. caller: thank god for c-span. good morning to you. mcconnell seems to be the worst person in washington. suffered from polio as a child, i don't understand why he has no empathy for the people suffering from covid. states have to balance their and continually refuses to give money to the state.

they are laying off people and helps structures collapsing. the raw power he demonstrated pushing through judge amy's nomination and denying america garlands from nine months out. i don't understand. senator mcconnell is someone, he doesn't talk a lot. keeps ategy -- he strategy to himself of the most part and rarely makes any type of verbal gaffes. mitch mcconnell is a campaign animal. popularity back home has never been skyhigh. but he is able to win election after election. he has also been very good to the state of kentucky as he has noted. i think as far as covid relief,

mitch mcconnell wants a more narrow bill. there is some concern in republican circles that if you pass what house democrats want to or maybe $3 trillion plus bill, that could hurt the base showing up on january 5 in georgia. mitch mcconnell is the only politician i've ever covered that called himself the grim reaper of what passes in the house. democratic bills. and he is proud to have that label. has the respect of his colleagues. downs ofhe ups and senate republicans over the years, he keeps getting reelected as caucus leader. he is not a back slapper. he is a tactician and he struggles -- struggled to become majority leader, which he did in 2014 in president obama's second term. there has been some close

elections. maybe he's going to be minority leader again and he has held onto that majority. they have been more frustrated by mitch mcconnell. that's why joe biden and other democrats at least hinted at getting rid of the filibuster. need toion, they would vote past that. virginia, aest state that goes heavily for president trump. host: in the house, was the balance of power? guest: a number of haven't been called. it looked sick a lot of those pending seats which are a handful now are looking like they would go to the republicans

, a couple will go to the democrats. depending on that. you are looking at a margin that is in the range of 10 seats. if it is 10 seats, that's five votes. that is such a narrow majority. that's the narrowest democratic majority since the early 1940's. dennis hastert, the former speaker had a narrow majority in 2000 that was comparable. this is going to be one of the biggest challenges nancy is ever faced. it will be her smallest majority. it's a good problem to have. but you are going to have to keep your troops together. the democratic party is not unified. they are frustrated, they are angry. that they didn't pick up more seats. nancy pelosi indicated they would pick up more than 10 seats. theperson you headed up democratic committee also promised they would pick up

seats and they've lost seats. that is guaranteed. this majority is very fragile. tool at the republicans disposal is a discharge petition. toyou can get a popular bill the floor, you can get 218 signatures, you would need the minority party to sign on to whatever the petition is to bring a bill to the floor. and if you picked off a few moderates, than the bill has to go to the floor even over the objections of leaders in the house. so this could be a very rocky two years for the house democratic majority because moderates are very concerned that those who survived in very close races, including congresswoman spanberger and virginia, when you think about

historically and the rules have changed in recent years, rules are thrown out the window. and expectations and predictions are often wrong. democrat like joe biden is in the white house in the midterms -- the midterms are not usually kind to his party. host: donald in montana, republican. caller: good morning. do you think they are going to have some investigations about hunter biden's laptop? a question are senate reporters have been asking because if the investigations are going to happen at least from a powerful majority subpoena level, it would likely have to be in the senate if republicans do hold that majority. up.johnson, who is actually he is a republican from wisconsin who was expected to lose the last two elections and ended up winning both of those

contests. up in 2022 andbe democrats will be targeting him. ron johnson has been outspoken on the hunter biden issue. lindsey graham has been as well and there has been -- there is some appetite to do investigations on it. --on't think that's a whether that's in the house or senate. certainly less so in the senate. but ron johnson, who does have a heel in the new congress, will also have an investigative body that will have subpoena power. don't think those headlines are going away. hello. i don't call in all that often.

i know c-span is free. how come i only get 70% of the picture on my screen? host: it's not free. you have to purchase -- caller: cable, yes. it comes with the cable which i'm grateful for. host: it depends. you should contact your provider. you should ask them to broadcast in hd. it's up to them. caller: the house represented zone 1979. thank you very much. host: i want to go back to

hakeem jeffries. who is he? guest: he is a democrat from new turned 50.is august he is a member of leadership technically, the number five position. powerful, which is going to be vacant, the number four position. he is next in line behind pelosi and hoyer and cliburn. he is well spoken. we have interviewed him. he tried to keep the cost -- caucus united. he has been a very good lieutenant for nancy pelosi. nancy pelosi has been looking for her successor for a long time. at one point it was thought maybe chris van hollen, democrat from maryland could be that successor.

is aakeem jeffries, who member of the congressional black caucus, he is an adept while someand democrats are either viewed as progressives or centrists, he doesn't really have that label. he's able to talk to both the progressives on the right and certainly the betting money is on him to replace nancy pelosi. the question is if he were able to succeed nancy pelosi, would he be the speaker in 2023 or house minority leader? his strategye capabilities for keeping the house or preventing mitt a -- a midterm loss. what about fundraising prowess? >> he's a very good fundraiser.

over the next couple of years because people see the writing on the wall. anything can happen. but he is also -- when he was pushing criminal justice reform, that bipartisan bill i was talking about with doug collins who is a fervent trump supporter. race, he's senate been playing a key role in theing the president fight election result in georgia. when he was pushing that bill, there was a lot of opposition, certainly from the left, that it didn't go far enough and we need to go more. there was initial concern from senators. theyere kind of indicating were not crazy about that bill. senator mcconnell was cagey on it. it was a tough bill to get through even though it had broad

bipartisan support that changed sentencing laws and a number of other things. jeffries was able to get it through congress and meet with people at the white house. i think it showed some dealmaking abilities. from dealmaking, dealing with friction in the caucus, he usually is trying to tamp down concerns and not let the media know about friction. sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't. politician,i tool that is why people are looking at him as potentially the first african-american speaker. host: you can follow all the reporting in washington. we thank you for the conversation. guest: thanks. host: we will talk with marcus, the chief officer for the state

and territory health officials about state-level efforts to combat the virus and plans to distribute an eventual vaccine. ♪ >> tonight on "the communicators." 2020 election will affect the tech industry. isthe big issue i'm watching how a biden administration may try to regulate industries. it's been a major test of the election integrity policies these companies have adopted over the past few years. >> one thing the administration early on is going to have to figure out is they are

aheriting at the very least google antitrust lawsuit from the doj. helpople who talked about point to broadband, to people who can do remote learning. who are struggling to have connectivity at home when they need to be home to be safe sometimes. i think that's going to be a huge thing to watch in the weeks and months ahead. >> tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span two. ♪ with c-span for live coverage of the election process. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics. ♪ >> weeknights this month we are featuring american history tv programs as a preview of what's available on c-span.

texas governor george w. bush defeated al gore in one of the most highly contested races in u.s. history. the outcome was not decided until five weeks after voters went to the polls. when the supreme court stopped a florida recount. it ultimately awarded the electoral votes and the presidency to governor bush. we begin tonight with al gore's concession speech followed by george w. bush's victory remarks. watch beginning at 8:00 p.m. eastern and enjoy american history tv every weekend on c-span3. "washington journal" continues. host: caller: we are back -- host: we are back with marcus. what does your organization do? guest: we are a professional organization who represents the anderships of state

territorial public health departments across the state. -- united states. guest: in every state the public of department has a commissioner health official and they are main constituents. ,hey have leadership teams running things on a day-to-day basis. >> what would be your role or what has been your role during this pandemic? guest: states have been very involved in this pandemic. they have been the frontline and so the organization of been working for has been working closely with them while researching issues for them and also one communicating -- also on communicating with others. what are your thoughts on recent headlines about the spike in covid cases?

the wall street journal described it as everywhere. guest: it is very concerning. it's something we knew that the likelihood could happen. knows we are seeing levels of infection we have not seen before in this country. particularly when you look at what happened on the east coast back in the spring and how close where we situations will almost went over the capacity we had. for that reason we can't let ourselves get to a point where we have the ability to take care of people who get sick and require more hospitalization for advanced care. host: we are getting reports about vaccines getting to successful levels, of the hill newspaper as this headlines. saying the coronavirus vaccine is 94.5% effective. and then matthew dalton, who

writes for the wall street journal tweets out not only does moderna's vaccine work, it's also stable and normal fridge temperature for 30 days compared to previous estimates of seven days. that would be a big advantage over the pfizer vaccine which has to be stored at -70 celsius. what do you think about this news? guest: this is really good news. we want to make sure -- i thing we are still following this. we need an effective vaccine. vaccines with effectiveness in the 90th percentile is very good. that's the kind of thing that would encourage more people to get the vaccine as well. something that works really well, people are more likely to participate in. see the data, there's more to come on this.

this good information upfront. host: what role which are organization play in the distribution of any vaccine, how does it work? distribution will be by each state and public health department. vaccineal providing the in different settings will be done through the cdc. it has a contractor who will deliver that where you go. in a position to provide. figuring out who is can he the vaccine, how many doses. the vaccine will be provided directly. my role is to just help with that with technical assistance. researching and helping troubleshoot problems.

is done by each of the states. host: do you need a federal position to oversee all of this? something like you've seen people put in that role to respond to hurricanes in certain areas. that that would be more efficient? guest: yes. that is useful as far as trying to make sure the response is across the nation. the centers for disease control generally plays that role and certainly that's their expertise. that's what we hoping to see more of. to oversee chance what's going on. all the states just submitted vaccine plans of how they are intending to build this.

within itself will help consistency issues. the: pro public a rights problem with waiting for details on the vaccine to be revealed is that mass immunization is a multilayered process involving public munication campaigns, ordering of equipment, hiring of staff. and the added complexity in this pandemic of making sure all vaccine sites are safe and will contribute to the spread. operation warp speed has said its goal is to begin shipping the day vaccine is given the green light by the fda. states need to be ready at any moment. are they? guest: i think states are in a very good place. the first part of that statement is correct. the more we know about the vaccine the better. there are some things we won't know about. if vaccine is effective in

people over the age of 65 and people under. that makes a difference in how we prioritize who get the vaccine next. states know that they're preparing for that rollout. withwould be ready then whatever the next priority is. every state i talked to says they plan, they will be making changes. you have to realize this the first time in the pandemic we have the chance to get out in front of something and get ready for it. host: your group wrote a letter to congress saying states would need more than $8 billion in -- in funding. why? guest: this is huge scale. ask knitting hundreds of millions of people, the scope of

that is enormous. also being able to do this quickly and as soon as the vaccine is ready. we need to get it out and administer it to people. we don't have the capacity to do that. we don't have people sitting around with nothing to do. they need to bring more people in, have people work overtime. all of that is going to cost money. we need to upgrade our system to make sure we are tracking carefully. communications campaigns. vaccine that further make some of the disparities we've seen worse. we need to find ways to reach that -- reach out and build trust. especially populations that have been resistant to taking vaccines. host: what will cost $8 billion? guest: a range of things.

a lot of the cost is having the personnel and capacity to administer the vaccine to people. systems, we are in the process of developing those. those are the biggest ticket items in that $8 billion budget. i want toant -- host: run this by you who tweets out this is getting worse. dr. fauci just set on nbc this morning that he is worried the stalled transition could mess up the prospects for a quick vaccine distribution. your thoughts? i think we are in a very good place. states have laid out plans. you're talking about the presidential transition. think it's good to be

challenging in the midst of rolling out a vaccine at this scale and this speed. the people in the administration who are ultimately the ones with the expertise and ability to do this. a lot of them will stay on through the transition. their civil servants who move through. even some of the people higher up in the leadership. they are very committed to making sure this is done and done right. there will be some challenges with this. most of them will be communication challenges. we are anticipating that. into the states who are taking the lead on getting the vaccine out. thatll be much more and will get beyond some of the transition issues. it --like to know where what it is like where you live.

and also vaccine distribution. we divide the lines recently. if you live in the eastern or central part of the country, 202-748-8000. mountain pacific area, your number is 202-748-8001. medical professionals, we want to get your thoughts as well. 202-748-8002. gloria is in maryland. good morning. caller: good morning and god bless america, god bless c-span. first of all, everyone has serious concerns about allowing a president who has lost an an entireo hold nation in danger. pastor, ily ordained walked with the lord for 72 years. i'm not a young lady but i'm pretty familiar with the bible thei abhor everything about

murder of our pre-born. we know it as an abortion. host: let's stick to the topic. michael. caller: you asked in our regions down here in florida, our unfortunately in full denial along with the president. so when we consider things like vaccines, other serious concern. concern is serious because heard immunity is basically genocide and they are both promoting that. , he -- hisically outfit does research on support and i wonder because it's been a history at the cdc. there's questionable history there. tracing,inimized masks, distancing, testing and

i'm concerned they are minimizing air filtering because the cdc has come out and said it safe to travel in airlines, which is a confined environment for a couple of hours which is very similar to classrooms. they say it's only safe if you do roughly 20 to 30 times air filtering in the cabin. that's probably you can do in a classroom or a home, but you could if we weren't keeping things on the download like we did with the masks. solutions appear. to takehose would be the air filters, you make them into a box and put them on one end or the other with a fan and you can get really high airflows through those filters. kids could build them. so there are solutions.

the time of maximum effect. we focus solo -- solely on vaccines, people downplay other solutions and if you've got ,olutions that address that together you almost have an ideal 100%. if we were trying to implement tracing, masks and distancing in addition to the wonderful thing which is almost a panacea of having the vaccines. that the time of maximum effect. particularly important if there's a slow rollout. host: let's let the doctor jump in. guest: i could not agree more with what michael was saying particularly towards the end. cannot see the vaccine as a cure all and the soul way out of

this pandemic. we will have to use the vaccine together with many of these other interventions michael went through. it's very important people continue to wear masks until we get to a place where we have widespread immunity. it's important people continue to be careful. it's very important we have more testing capacity. important that we continue to test out some of these other things like air filtrations. we are still learning about that. and if in you -- an official answer on that. we want definitive answers on what to do and sometimes we have been slow and say masks worth -- work. to makey on we need

sure that's true. things that are going back and forth. until you come out with a more firm recommendation. i think it's been very challenging given the scale. herenk the important thing , it's very encouraging. we've got to make sure we use everything we've got to help us get through the pandemic. >> cnn is reporting on this moderna vaccine. 94% effective. theye testing they did, gave 15,000 people in the test the vaccine, only five got sick.

what do you make of that? think the more people that have been infected with covid during the trial, the better. most of the to see people getting affected, people who didn't get the vaccine versus did. , five thatyou right got sick overall. or the five who got sick who receive the vaccine. host: the five who received the vaccine. guest: i was more familiar with the five -- pfizer trial that came out a week ago. almost 100 people got sick, very few of those who got sick were the ones who got the vaccine. that's why it's looking about 90% effective.

in case we find there are glitches. again i would caution everybody these are media releases. over time we start to see the real data coming out. we will be diving in closer. they are not still looking at some of the safety here. this is a very -- vaccines that will be effective is really encouraging. will go to luis in fredericksburg. caller: from what i can boxrstand, pfizer has a that could store this at the right temperature to ship it to the drugstores in the doctor's office just like they do a normal pneumonia shot.

that thei understand asective rate doesn't mean dr. fauci said or jake tapper yesterday -- on jake tapper yesterday, that means five out of 100. would get it. but that's not what this means. this means that everybody who gets the vaccine is 95% effective in each person. that's how that works. from what i can understand, the distribution problem is already fixed, they are going to the drugstores and to the doctors offices, they are going to prioritize the vulnerable first and then it will be given to us, we go to our local drugstore, go in and get a shot. and if it's two shots, i get two

shots. so i don't know what all the fuss is. host: what do you think of what she outlined? optimismappreciate her . there's reason to be optimistic. hereffectiveness, i think explanation of that is accurate. we need to see some of this data before we totally get behind it. for the vast majority of people who get this vaccine, they will be protected from covid. need a second to dose to get full effectiveness. there been concerns about the logistics of leaving it around. the pfizer vaccine has to be cap doubled 100 degrees below zero. your average freezer is not to do the trick.

but the vaccine is actually shipped in a box where it's shipped in dry ice. the box will keep it at that temperature for days. we will be able to make this work. we may not be able to get the pfizer vaccine out into really rural remote areas as easily as we get the moderna vaccine that doesn't have quite -- there will be some challenges around the temperature. there will be other challenges we don't know about. that's the nature of doing something to scale. up with aizer came very ingenious solution to that. i think there is a lot of reason for optimism. , we are in right now

a bad time with rates getting very high and in some communities we are getting to that place where hospital beds are getting tight and we don't want to get to a place where if you are sick and you need care, there's nowhere to go. to takebe necessary stricter mitigations. host: would you like to see a national mask mandate or a lockdown for six weeks? guest: i don't know if it's possible to have a national mask mandate. theyack and forth whether have the ability to do that. i'd like to see more and more things really move towards mandated mask use. i think it helps people see this is serious and something they have to commit to. states where the rates are going up.

it's the first step, it makes the most sense. i know it become controversial. it doesn't effect the economy the way some of the other things too. the thing we can do to help each other get through this. i wish there was more cooperation around that. mandate drivesa home this is serious. i don't think we will have -- i hope we will not have two go through these kinds of shutdowns like we had in the spring for six weeks. states want to see is begin to do some of the measures . limit the size of gatherings. 75 people coming together for gatherings. in some of these places we need to drive home to people getting together for a large thanksgiving is not something

you want to do. thinkt thanksgiving, i will be in a different place. it's those kinds of things. and they may be some instances with the risk of having people come in. restaurants and bars have been harmed by this. these may be some places where we have to make interventions. hopefully by making those interventions we can stem the more severe like we had in the spring. it doesn't have to be all or nothing. we can start doing some of the things we know are most effective and really see some of these things begin to get things back under control. host: what is your reaction to some governors saying when it comes to your thanksgiving gathering, no more than three different households getting together?

guest: i would urge the public to be careful around thanksgiving. thanksgiving is the time traditionally when families come together and that means you have multigenerational families coming together which means you've probably got some people who are older in the age range over 60. covid, it could be very serious and severe. know,you often do not people may have underlying medical conditions. publicreally urging the to do a more quiet stay kind of thanksgiving. it's very disappointing. i love thanksgiving with my family. i'm sorry to not be able to do that. but we are going to limit that. looking forward by next

thanksgiving we will be in a different place. we can get back to the way we want to live our lives. right now, it makes sense to be cautious. make these changes because we are looking out for each other. we are looking out for family members. host: richard in massachusetts. caller: good morning. vaccinete the throughout the country. likeave people to apply it they did in the army when i went in. people righte the through. host: i think he's asking about the role of the military. guest: i think he's asking about being efficient. he had fact -- the vaccine administration and they

had a lot of people up and could very quickly administrate it. doing things as efficiently as possible. so far, i think we have a system using health departments. shoteople get their flu every year through a doctor's office. maybe 20% go to pharmacies. we have a good system out there that people are used to. i don't think we need to have the army come in and administer the vaccine. the army is very efficient at doing things. but some people might be frightened by that as well. i think we can do a very efficient job of vaccination. throughwe can do that medical care providers were very skilled at giving immunizations and it's also familiar to people

where they are used to going for other vaccinations. >> let's go up to new york. good morning. caller: good morning. if i could ask two questions. the manufacturing -- the manufacturers of pharmaceuticals i understand mostly are out of our country, they are not here in america. i know president trump was going to try and get them back so we can manufacture drugs there. i know for example most medications, china holds 97% of the ingredients and india may have all the raw material. how are we set up? i understand there's three places pfizer has in our country, how are we set up here? before i forget, they say to give it to the people at risk first, but my doctor was telling

me that people with heart disease should wait until they see how it goes and then administered to them. i will take a shot at each of those. this issue, i think it's a good question. we were frustrated early on with the fact we couldn't get test because so many of them were made elsewhere and the reagents. the same with personal protective equipment'. much of that is made abroad. i think the advantages with the companies toave manufacture for us. they know what they are working towards. they have a significant investment to begin not just experimenting with the vaccine, but producing it. they are ready to start scaling

up. they are already trying to scale up. they hit the ground running the minute they get the green light. they probably already have some of the vaccine they've made. i think it will be a different kind of situation. it is important the rest of the world get relief from the pandemic as well. if we don't improve the situation everywhere, things like travel will be impossible. international travel. that's the first part of the question. the second thing about who should get it. think we will have more information in the coming days as we start to see some very specific data in those phase 3 trials. be confident to that this vaccine is safe before they get it. we don't want people doing things they are anxious about.

the benefit of getting the vaccine early if you are higher risk is those are the people who when they get covid, they get severely ill. vaccine,testing the not just on the general population, they are testing it with people who have underlying conditions. and assumes the data shows us it's equally safe. that should be reassuring for people. the cautious approach is what your doctor is articulating. i wonder if your doctor may end infeeling more confident recommending that you get the vaccine early if you have an underlying condition.

we still have to see how that pans out. host: pat in clayton, north carolina. caller: good morning. opinion, wait -- the way things are going right now, i do take in the can to proactive from my health. i've done my flu shot, my manoa -- my pneumonia shot, and i'm on a vitamin regimen. i have not been sick for the last three years since i've been doing this. covid,like that if i get so be it, it's the lord's will. thank you for your time. host: darlene in las vegas. you are next. caller: good morning. good morning. quicklyrried about how

they are pushing these drug trials. there is a reason drug trials take so long. how many drugs have come out that the fda has approved and then turn around and yelled bad drug, recall? there is a reason they take so long to get a drug to market. it is because of safety issues. who gotof those people an injection and my doctor told me it was perfectly safe only to have a whole bunch of bone in my jaw die and have to be surgically removed. again, the fda telling me it safe doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy. think this is an issue. it is true, people are anxious about the vaccine moving so fast. it does usually take longer.

i understand that. that may bethings will be reassuring to you. these are big -- these phase 3 trials which is the last big trial where we are testing things out. we have tens of thousands of people participating in this. pfizer has 40,000 people in this. that's a lot of people to test things out. we have a lot of vaccines. we've done vaccines for a long time. generally, if it's good to be a problem, we know quickly. impossible,ng it's but most vaccine side effects turn up pretty quickly. so we can see them in those trials as those trials go forward. taking so long to get a vaccine out, the process of developing a

vaccine is very lengthy the way we used to do it. these are using different methods, methods the deal with the genetics of the virus. medical advances has allowed us -- have allowed us to move faster. there are a couple of vaccines that have been developed using these that appear to be very safe. -- of these methods that appear to be very safe. i understand the apprehension. i do think that there is a good strong process. we will monitor the vaccine from the moment they start giving it they connect quickly. host: your question or comment. caller: i have a comment. for the last month i've been mye in temple, texas because

brother has contracted the virus. these people in texas are going on like there's nothing wrong. they just opened up a huge resort. last weekend, it was packed. you go to the stores, people don't have masks. you go to the restaurants, people are not doing what they are supposed to. you can have all the vaccines in the world. but if the people in the place don't believe there's nothing wrong, they are not going to take the vaccine. host: let's take that point. guest: i'm sorry about your brother, i hope he is doing ok. it is very challenging in this pandemic. say i think we just have to be patient with each other. it takes time for people to make changes. most people wear a seatbelt now.

there are many things that require change that takes time to get people to come around to that. i think we really need to spend a little bit more time trying to communicate why these are important. we need to get to the point where we are all chipping in together. you wear a mask yourself and to protect other people. that's the part that makes us a strong society. we need to keep working at people. most people have it in them to do the right thing. i think wearing a mask right now is the right thing to do. host: on distribution, how are states determining which populations get this vaccine first? group calledis a the advisory council on immunization practices that's made up of top scientists and public health professionals,

experts in vaccine use who, cgether and provide -- who ome together. group that will put out recommendations for who should be prioritized when the vaccine is rolling out. traditionally, the advisory council, that's where i go to for information -- for everything. i think we will see most providers follow that. most states will follow that as well. they are also autonomous. these are scientists who generally work in hospitals or in research or academic settings. that's where we will get the recommendations from.

we will have more data from the trials before they begin. acip. advisory council on immunization practices. host: and they have a website. for viewers who want to learn more. appreciate the conversation. up next, we will turn our attention to race in america. the former president barack obama on 60 minutes had this to say. we can all do better. democrats 202-748-8000. republicans 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. your calls up next. ♪ >> tonight on "the communicators." election will020 affect the tech and tillich munication's industries. -- telecommunications

industries. >> the big issue i'm watching is how the biden administration may try to regulate social media companies. the 2020 election has been a major test of the election integrity policies that these companies have adopted over the last few years. >> the one thing the biden administration pretty early on will have to figure out is they are inheriting at the very least a google antitrust lawsuit from the doj. >> a lot of people who talked about help point to broadband, to people who can do remote learning. they point to people who struggle to have connectivity at home when they need to be home to be safe. i think that will be a huge thing to watch in the weeks and months ahead. >> tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span two.

>> joe biden as president-elect, stay with c-span for live coverage. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics. >> weeknights this month we are featuring american history tv in the 2000 presidential election, george w. bush defeated al gore in one of the most highly contested races in u.s. history. the outcome was not decided until five weeks after voters went to the polls. this ultimately awarded the electoral votes and presidency take president bush. tonight, we begin with al gore's concession speech, followed by george w. bush's

victory remarks later the same evening. watch and enjoy american history tv every weekend on c-span3. washington journal continues. host: and we are back for our conversation on race in america. barack obama was asked about this in a 60 minutes interview yesterday. we will show you that, come back, get your thoughts on it. here he is. is that we have a criminal justice system in which ,e ask often times very young often times not very well to go intoicers communities and just keep a lid on things. and we don't try to get at some of the underlying causes for chronic poverty. so if we are going to actually

solve this problem, there are some specific things we can do to make sure that our contracts with police officers to completely insulate them when they do something wrong, putting money into budgets for training. more police officers effectively q. week teaching police officers not to escalate, but to de-escalate. but it is important for us not to let ourselves off the hook and think this is just a police problem because those shootings, that devaluation of life is part and parcel with a legacy of discrimination and jim crow and segregation that we are all responsible for. and if we are going to actually put an end to racial bias in the criminal justice system, we are going to have to work on doing something about racial bias in corporate america and bias in

where people can buy homes. and that is a larger project in which the good news is all of us can take some responsibility, we can all do better on this front than we have been doing. host: the former president. what do you think? we wanted to get your thoughts on race in america today. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. at (202)lso text us 748-8003. justiceto change the system prevailed across the united states. george floyd's death in may found a wave of protests decrying police. several months later, voters in several cities approved measures

that would increase how local police departments are scrutinized and investigated. in columbus, ohio, voters passed an amendment. sandy aikins supported replacing a police review board with a commission that would have subpoena power and the authority to investigate police misconduct. in philadelphia, which was rocked before the election they were calling to end the practice of unconstitutional stop and frisk. and another supporting the police oversight commission. these proposals have not passed without controversy. a ballot measure creating an oversight board in oregon which has had protests nearly every night for months, passed with about 45 voters backing it.

the union rep is any police officers filed a grievance saying that they must -- first. democratic collar, what you think about police in america and what number president had to say? absolutely agree with what president obama said, that we all can do better, we all have responsibilities. people in the black community and every other community, they have a responsibility in that as well. however, i do feel like they have this tendency to deflect and distract whenever police brutality is brought up. they talk about defunding the police, or it becomes about not supporting the police. it deflects and distracts away from the point altogether instead of actually dealing with.

until we can stop that, we are not ever going to get to the root of the problem. it is not just about black lives matter and now everyone hates that movement because then they are anti-this, that and the third. root ofto deal with the the problem which is police brutality. host: bob in california, democratic caller. caller: hi, good morning from california. caller, ith the other am a retired police officer from california. in california, we have what is inled police officers training. this is a group that mandates all the training for police officers. officer, i actually had in the late 90's, early 2000 that dealt with race.

you have to understand the dynamics of the history of policing. when you look at policing in southern california, you have what is known as the white aryan that as part of the goals that they had and that they were looking to do was to implicate law enforcement as well as institutions. when you look at race, there is not just a policing problem. look at the demographics of here.sors that teach look at the educational institutions as well. host: capital heights maryland, independent. joseph. caller: how are you doing today, ma'am? just --e that racism is i'm a black man. i believe that racism is just taking control of the masses.

i don't understand how blacks -- they don't understand that biden was with reagan with the tax bills. host: 1994 crime bill? '86 with reagan. and then the crime bill. jail. did nine years in the whole time i couldn't unders tand, i had one gram of crack. you cook up 100 grams of powder, you don't get 100 grams of crack. it took trump to come into verye and fix that, that thing that helped me today to get off probation. , thenk what the problem is democrats or whoever else wants to be in power is using racism as a tool.

they can do whatever they want. burn up, break up. as soon as somebody else do something, that is a big problem. i think new york should get there shouldause be a conflict of interest because -- host: i'm going to leave it there, we will stick to the topic, race in america. arkansas. caller: good morning. this racial problem we are having, if you look at the majority of blacks that complains that walk around with a chip on their shoulders all the time. anyone killed is a disaster. but the news media does not cover the true facts of a lot of

claims. in arkansas, we had an officer that just walked up and shot, and they were both black men. if you get that kind of result in the news media never says nothing, i never heard them speak about it on the local news. the world news don't never mention when an officer gets walked up and shot just one or two months. but only if one black man gets everyone tears up and destroys stuff. what theyty of time destroy is another black man's properties. if you are going to complain against the whites and the blacks, let's do it equally. let's don't just pick one side and scream and holler about that. had thei think trump

election stolen from him. you have a good one. host: the new york times has a story about a minneapolis suburb that turned blue. and they are focusing on chaska, minnesota. change representative of that they say played out against the country. when hefall from 2016 beat hillary clinton in that city by six percentage points. although mr. trump captured the county, he did so by just five percentage points, down from a 14 point margin of victory in 2016. the ship was so dramatic that it helped mr. biden easily when minnesota. -- itt mirrored his 6 mirrored his success in suburbs across the country where voter turnout in such significant number that they helped fuel mr. .iden's rise to the presidency

that, featured in the new york times this morning. mark in new york, democratic caller. what do you think about race in america? don't think there is any more racists, i think it is about the people. they was coming close to the white light and then they went away. joe biden, he told me this is the most crisis i have watched to have to dominate the president to try to steal the election from him. trump, he on donald that the coronavirus

would not remove. i'm going to move on. alan, wisconsin, independent. caller: i appreciate this conversation, i lived in los angeles during the riots. it just occurred to me that when it comes to a point where people are burning stuff down and so forth, there is something really wrong that happened way upstream. i can appreciate president obama's words, but i just have to say that on president obama's watch, literally $1 trillion was added in student loan debt to the entire country but this disproportionately affected people of color. words, bute the kind when you save black lives matter on one hand but clearly, lack livelihoods are being absolutely decimated, it's like, come on, man.

same for joe biden. the president has the power to cancel all federal student loans by executive order. he could do this without needing one dime of tax money from congress, without congressional appropriations, without adding anything to the national debt. that would help 44 million people in the country, many of them people of color, and i think that would go a long way to preventing some of the strife we are seeing today. host: i want to share a headline with all of you about daca. a judge has ruled that the dhs daca move was invalid. a federal judge in new york ruled that chad wolf assumed his position unlawfully, a determination that invalidated his suspension of the deferred action for childhood arrivals program which shielded young people from deportation.

a month earlier, the supreme court had ruled that donald trump failed to follow procedures when he tried to end the program but the justices kept a window for him to try again. 650,000 people are part of daca. back to our conversation. andrew in ohio, a republican. andrew, good morning to you. you heard what the former president had to say, we can all do better. caller: thanks for taking my call. i'm tired of the democrats playing the race card. live inlack families do poverty, but only 8% of black married couples live in poverty. replacedrat party has it the government welfare state. criminal justice reform, 97% of federal cases, 94% of state cases.

be having a plea up -- plea bargain if they were completely innocent. we have got real problems in 2019, thery, but in u.s. was ranked at the most generous country in the world, so i'm tired of the democrats hating on america, it is just absurd to me. host: sam is a democrat in georgia. you are next. caller: good morning. [indiscernible] host: we are listening, are you there? i think we lost sam. tucker in fairfax county, virginia, independent. caller: yes. can you hear me? host: we can. caller: just a little background, i'm a 56-year-old white christian civil rights oil. this whole race thing is just meant to divide. last time i did vote i voted for barack obama.

he was black and he is still black. i heard on the radio these leaders, there is no good white christian judges. inre is no qualification white christian about being a judge. you are simply a lawyer that has a politician as a friend. looking at barack obama, i'm very disappointed. there's still more white people in this country than anything else. and a lot of those people voted for him. he was black. later, wefour years are a country of white supremacists that hate our neighbors, hate everything god created. they just simply want to spit on the grave of our neighbor. it is a way to divide and conquer.

senator kaine from virginia, the rest of the background for my story. i run up and down the united states being chased by the cia. host: gilbert in texas, republican. yes, i want to find out why obama didn't say anything cops or there were no anything like that that was black, how come there are so many cop shows on tv? host: another headline for you. senator from iowa and staunch reagan ally is dead. , who served one term in the senate before losing a 1984 reelection bid after it was revealed that he had joined a private health law that was later shut down died on friday in iowa. he was 91.

an iowa state senator and lieutenant governor, he became a dedicated supporter of ronald reagan's conservative agenda of tax cuts in his defense buildup is a sonrly 1980's and and grandson of danish american farmers. kim in california, democratic caller. caller: how are you this morning? host: good morning. caller: good morning. chicana by california. i understand that when you have power like obama does, and most people that he probably associated with has some sort of intellectual or economic power, that he might feel that we could all do better. as a working-class person, i worked for the post office for 27 years and 11 months. many of my fellow essential workers that are people of color

died because of covid. systemic white supremacy and racism in our country that keeps us impoverished. when he says do better, very few people of color need to do better. i think that we need to address colonization and slavery once and for all and defund the police definitely. host: i just want to share this headline with you related to what you're saying. surpasses 11 million infections and black and latino americans still shoulder an outside share of this. kim? caller: i'm crying because of it. the will we understand people that serve you every day, the people that you don't ever think about that are suffering the most right now, this isn't an accident. poverty is preventable for all races but it is systemic in our

cultures and we have to fight so much harder for education, for health care. it is a travesty. we can do better, but we have to understand this comes to colonization and slavery and until we recognize that, how can you ever move beyond it? don, iowa, republican, you are next. caller: i want to call about what is going on with people's conscience. what obama said. hello? host: we are listening. what are you referring to? caller: i'm referring to all this election, all this whites against blacks. god made everybody equal. why don't we realize that, and realize that god has got control

anyway, no matter what goes on? you take all your information from the paper. what is the paper? take it from the truth. who is the truth? god is the truth. why can't people realize that god has a story, he has a plan. virginia,andria, democrat. caroline, your turn. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have to agree with the man has spoken. i have to say i have not experienced racism when i go out when i go to the store. people are so kind and nice to me. it started when trump got in office. racist, but not like it is now. blacks got to realize and whites are not the only people in this country. we have got different nationalities, different

cultures. states what the united has to start thinking about. we've got so many different we are used to two cultures, the black and white. it is not only blacks and whites now, it is all cultures. that is what people are not really grasping, but i have to say that people coming into the , they are coming from another country, but they are bringing their culture and everything with them, not realizing that all of their culture is clashing with the people in the united states. just like you go to the grocery store. you go to the counter to get something, the person who serves you can't speak english, they tell me they don't know what i'm

saying. so why are you behind the counter taking care of customers if you don't understand what i'm saying? and a lot of people get mad because when i go to the grocery store, cashier is telling me something she can tell me. now you go into the store and ask for something, they can't tell you. host: heard your point. mary grace, florida, democratic caller. caller: thank you for taking my call. i live in a very republican county, they still have trump signs up. i do believe what president obama says, that we all need to work together. but how do we work together when you have one side who really thinks they want it back to the 1950's? they want their coal mining jobs, they want the black people in their place.

i feel the oppression for people of color in florida. host: in what way? caller: everybody. yes, ma'am. no, ma'am. i don't know. i feel like they can't express themselves. even the mexicans that are here. i mean, this is outrageous, it is so indoctrinated here. i am from up north, rhode island. very democratic state. i understand the culture is different here and there are nice people. i just feel down south there is this underlying, like, you had better stay in your place. even for northerners like myself, free thinking. you can't really have it. religion isn't everything. lily in georgia, democratic caller. what do you think about race in

america? caller: yes. if you are a christian, you are supposed to love everyone. color isn't supposed to be an issue. we treat everyone like we are supposed to. host: i heard your point. a reminder to you and others, you have got to turn down the television. listen and talk through your phone. portland, oregon, independent. marcia, are you there? one last call. all right. linda, good morning to you in florida. democratic caller. thank: yes, good morning, you so much for c-span. i just have a comment for c-span. white fragility. white people. please, listen with your heart

and not your head. the first time you start talking about the social construct of race, most white people cannot even explain it. white and black is a social construct. you don't see anywhere else on the census of red people were yellow people or blue people. added for thely oppression of black people. with slavery to justify it. jesus said don't beat your slaves too bad. let me just say this to c-span. ,hite people and black people if you really want to know with your heart, there is a book that the author,son is please read the book, i will buy it for you. it is called cash: the origins of our discontent. please read that with your

heart. these things are not just happening in america just because. the criminal justice system does not have a majority of black people just because they are black and committed crimes. the police, my neighborhood, we make a quarter million dollars a year, but my eyes will blank. if you went to a white neighborhood, and did this very same thing, you will eventually find something. people are in their ways but because we look at the statistics that have been given to us, people want to say all black people murder. all black people do this. they tear up their own neighborhoods. listen to the voice of people crying out. if your heart is in the right place, listen with your heart. we don't want to stay in a place that we were years ago and we are not going to. we have to take it back because people are not going to give you

your liberties. speak out of love when you speak of god. read that book and your heart will see why this has been created this way or by black people are still oppressed in this nation. fort collins colorado, republican. ted? caller: good morning. i just wanted to say that everybody needs to wake up. hatred in every race in the united states. nobody seems to... are you there? host: were listening. caller: nobody seems to get it. race, itaters in every has been going on for a long time. what has fueled everything, and

i hate to say it because i like c-span, but the media has pounced on pounced on everything critical. host: ok. so you think this is a problem the media has heightened? guest: i do actually. i think they jumped on everything they can -- caller: i do actually. i think they jumped on everything they can. things go wrong. host: stephanie in huntington, west virginia. caller: hello. one thing i would like to say is if we say and god we trust and we say god formed this country, god is a god of love. what we have to do is love everybody and walk in love,