a political action group founded by bernie sanders. be sure to join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments, text messages and tweets. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: good morning. it is sunday, november 29. a three hour "washington journal " ahead for you, and we begin on the issue of climate change. joe week, president elect biden named john kerry to serve as climate his national security council. the move comes as biden prepares to rejoin the paris climate accord, a step promised to take on day one of his presidency. this morning, we are getting your reaction to the biden administration's focus on climate change, asking whether you think climate change should

be a national security priority. phone lines split up as usual. democrats, (202)-748-8000 is the number. republicans, (202)-748-8001. independents, (202)-748-8002. you can also send us a text. (202)-748-8003 is that number. otherwise, catch up with us on facebook and on twitter. a very good sunday morning to you. you can start calling in now. we begin on john kerry's appointment to a position that is known unofficially as claimant czar. -- climate czar. the role has been made cleared by the transition team to be a prominent role with carrie becoming the first member of the national security council to focus exclude -- focus exclusively on climate change. it was one of biden's first

steps on making good on campaign pledges. it was a sign of how the incoming administration is heating mornings that natural disasters in global warming will weaken u.s. defenses and spur conflict around the world. that was after john kerry was named to that envoy position. this was john kerry's tweet about it, writing america will soon have a government that treats the climate crisis as the urgent national security threat it is. i am proud to partner with the president-elect, our allies and the young leaders of the climate movement to take on this crisis. here is more from john kerry's remarks when he was introduced by joe biden earlier this past week. [video clip] >> no one should doubt the determination of this president, vice president. they should not doubt the determination of our country, that went to the moon, cured

supposedly incurable diseases, and beat back tyranny to win world war ii. this kind of crisis demands that kind of leadership, again. president biden will provide it. the road ahead is exciting. it means creating millions of middle-class jobs. it means less pollution in our air and oceans. it means making life healthier for citizens across the world. it means we will strengthen security of every nation in the world. in addressing the climate crisis, president-elect joe biden is determined to seize the future now, and leave a healing planet to future generations. att: john kerry, on tuesday, that event where joe biden introduced his national security team. reaction from democrat members

of congress, applauding the move. a couple of those tweets. debbie wasserman schultz, saying after four years of ignorance, the climate crisis will be a focus of this white house, with john kerry serving. mother earth could not wait a minute longer. this from the net barragan. the climate crisis is a national security issue, and a moral issue. as claimant envoy is an important first step in restoring american leadership and global partnership in the fight against climate change. just some reaction from members of congress. speaking of the paris climate accord, president trump spoke about the reasons why he withdrew the united states from the paris climate agreement, about a week ago. the president speaking in a recorded message for the virtual g20 summit that happened last weekend. here is a bit of president trump. [video clip] >> to protect american workers,

i withdrew the united states from the unfair and one-sided paris climate accord, a very unfair act for the united states. the paris accord was not designed to save the environment. it was designed to kill the american economy. i refused to surrender millions of american jobs and send trillions of american dollars to the world's worst polluters and environmental offenders, and that is what would have happened. since withdrawing from the paris accord, the united states has reduced carbon emissions more than any nation anywhere in the world. host: president trump in his recorded message to the virtual g20 meeting. plenty of news this past week on climate change, and we are asking you, should climate change be a national security priority? the phone lines are split up as usual, democrats, (202)-748-8000 . republicans, (202)-748-8001.

independents, (202)-748-8002. we are turning this first hour of "washington journal" over to you today. our first caller on the democrat line. caller: good morning. anwas so hopeful to have elite that is knowledgeable and educated. it is a problem that when you watched los angeles have a temperature before the fires of 120, that is not normal. been ine of us who have some of these extreme weather changes, it doesn't rain for months, it is incredibly scary. i was hoping that maybe they would do the roosevelt thing and put in a conservation corps of young people who need jobs, to go out and start doing hands-on

, roots to shoots, and then clean the rivers and wasteters, and making more recyclable. those things help quality of life and health for people. host: come back to the word elite, that you used at the beginning of your comments, and why you think having an elite in this position, i assume you are calling john kerry an elite, why is that a good thing? caller: we used to be proud of the elites. educated and knowledgeable. we wanted to be elite. we went to college and studied and learned,, so you could be a public servant. education, there is this

thing now, there are elites and that biden-- appointed for his cabinet and i'm like yeah, we are america of the educated. we are america, not only of the free but of not stupid. elites fromeed more everywhere. not anymore, ever of donald trump. please don't play him anymore when he says things. he doesn't know what he is talking about. host: that is margaret, in kansas. we will head to maryland. this is jean, republican. are you with us this morning? we will go to lewis on the line for independents. in georgia. caller: hello. that we have the solutions in front of us.

the cost of fertilizer is anding very expensive, alternative crops that don't use fertilizer are going to be necessary for the survival of this country. grows upa tree that the eastern seaboard, and it covers several different temperate zones. a swamp widecalled oak or a swamp chestnut oak. it produces acorns. it's got some problems, because it has -- in it, but those acorns have a cap, and that cap could be used as a biofuel to heat broader -- to heat water and roast the acorns. you don't need pesticides or herbicides or fertilizer.

and the middle number in fertilizer is a limited resource. it is in all of your detergents and cleaning products. we are going to have to change. host: do you think this country is ready to change on a big scale? you are talking about doing away with lots of fertilizers. do you think we are ready for that kind of change? caller: protein is what feeds the country, because proteins are fed to livestock. is looking at something that completely different. acorns have the same protein as corn. acorn.why it's called when you find corn weevils

inside and acorn, that tells you something. joel inis is massachusetts. should climate change be a national security priority? caller: i don't know about that question. discovered science. we've discovered that education isn't something to spit on. i kind of cringe when you use the word elite, because that is what the republicans have used, almost like socialism. i live in massachusetts, where we do have bluebloods. i'm not sure mr. carey is the -- mr.rson -- mr. erry kerry is the best person to lead this climate fight. he is a good statesman. i would like to see more

progressive faces and voices because if we stand with the status quo and continue to use fertilizers and high maintenance crops, we are doomed. thank you very much. host: this is alan in arizona, republican. caller: good morning, thank you for c-span. i would like to say i am for clean water, clean air, and all those things. but we need people to have an intelligent discussion, regarding several items. the first one is, and when john kerry can explain to me how he can control the sun, i am all in. without the sun, we don't have a planet, we are in ice cube. -- we are an ice cube. there are 16ng is

off alls actively going the time. besides what is going on underneath the ocean. to control been able volcanic eruption's. the worst one that could ever go off is yellowstone. if yellowstone explodes, you wipe out everything from the west to the east, all the way to new york. we already know what it is like off likelcano goes mount saint helens, and the amount of destruction it did. let's have an intelligent discussion. host: so one of the core promises of biden policy wants to achieve net zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050. that is the timeline that the biden administration is shooting for. past anybe long time

biden administration. is this an achievable goal, or are there to money other factors that those kinds of policy-setting is not something that is realistic? caller: just like the virus we have today, i think the most important thing is, we are getting statistics every day on the virus. why don't we have an intelligent discussion on that side of it, where we actually show the quality of air and water in every country and every city of the world, then have a intelligent discussion, because we know china, india, india 70% of then have -- people in india, in their own homes don't even have a toilet. let's talk realistically, with

actual knowledge and facts, every day, and show how clean the united states is, in comparison to the rest of the world. inwe are leading the world clean water, clean air, i can tell you when i moved here to phoenix, arizona and i drove from the east side to the west side of the city, i couldn't even see south mountain. within five to six years, we finally figured that out. we did so much building with dirt being flown in the air from construction that they came up , reduceimple solution the amount of pollutants from the ground itself. host: thank you for the call. you mentioned china. we showed a couple democratic members of congress, reacting to

john kerry's appointment as climate envoy. here is one of the republican members of congress, tom cotton of arkansas, saying john kerry will jet off to beijing in pursuit of a climate accord with the world's biggest polluter, the chinese coming just government. ifjean ping plays along -- xi jinping plays along, he will demand concessions. more reaction this week to john kerry's appointment as climate envoy. the question we are asking this morning, should climate change be a national security priority? john kerry will be reporting to president-elect joe biden, when his national security council meets. not will be his focus on the national security council. some reaction to that specific question. stephanie in michigan says absolutely, climate change should be a priority.

there is no planet b. paul says not if the rest of the world isn't going to address the problem. sally saying the pentagon published a report about the national security risks of climate change back in 2014. mary saying climate change affects all life on earth. if not addressed, it will kill or displace aliens. there are no vaccines to cure this problem -- displace billions. there are no vaccines to cure this problem. you can join in the conversation ext, (202)-748-8003. you can call like sally did out of new york, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. glad toi was just so see john kerry.

i hadn't seen him for a long time. talk with mr. gore, who should have won the election years ago. as far as i'm concerned, he actually did. climate change is the biggest thing on earth. we are not going to have unearthed. we are not going to have any animals or birds. we are not going to have anything, if we don't do something about the climate. places.ived in many and it has all been the same. that is sally in new york. former vicened president al gore, the former vice president tweeting about john kerry's appointment as

climate envoy, calling him a superb choice. passion is exactly what we need to restore american leadership abroad. florida,arlos out of republican. caller: good morning. here is the thing. what we have done with the climate sector in the government -- first of all, this is an issue, but think about the private sector and the government, coming up with covid vaccines with spacex. by reducing regulations, what we have done to this country as we have sold more new cars. people don't realize with gas lower and people buying newer cars, emissions have gone down. that is one of the big things by reducing regulations. -- we are 5% of the world in population and india and china have 10 times

the amount of people we have. elitists think because they are right, everyone is going to follow them. china and india are going to look after their best interests while we are left behind. i want to know where the $2 trillion are being spent, how much is being allocated to sign -- being allocated to china? we are not producing them here. host: let me ask you, you mentioned car emissions. do you think the federal government has a role in setting emissions standards? you talk about it like a good thing that car standards are being lowered. should that be done? is that example of -- is that an example of a good regulation? caller: by hitting it from a different angle and lowering the price, people will buy newer cars. a 2008 vehicle is going to produce much higher emissions than a 2020 vehicle. this year, we have sold more cars. this will be one of the best years for the environment ever, probably ever.

host: that is carlos in florida. this is david in illinois. democrat. caller: good morning and thank you for c-span. i am calling from windmill country in illinois. i recently learned, there are about 200 windmills in our county, and they have been around since 2007. climatey talks about and the economic issue being linked, and i can speak from experience that our county has seen an extreme boost in the tax base for our schools, our local highway commissions, and all of these local entities that are being impacted by the placement of this renewable resource. our local paper is called the bureau county republican.

get on boardmed to with these windmills when they found out they actually made economic sense. host: the president, president trump been pretty critical of windmills over the years. what is your reaction to how the trump administration has treated renewable power? caller: like a lot of things the president talks about, the observable facts won't back that up. we have people in the county that go around and look for dead birds under the windmills like the president told them to. on the other hand, i have been in commission meetings where these things were permitted. , talkedd their piece about the effects of an up -- on animals and the environment.

the effect for people living on earth is much better. host: that is david in illinois. this is nancy, independent. caller: good morning. i believe that climate change is not a national security -- it is a problem, but unless you can get china, russia and india to abide without us paying them to abide, and that is what happened with the paris climate thing. we paid them, they were more than happy and then they didn't do it. what it becomes is he wants to go back to the paris climate thing. what is going to happen is americans lose again. we lose jobs, we lose anything. up until this year, i was actually a democrat. after this election, i can't be a democrat, because i'm tired, i'm tired of the american

people's interests not coming first. we are always the one who loses. we payoff or lose our jobs to china. i have a nephew that is never getting a job back because of everything going on. it's just got to stop. john kerry is the wrong person to do it. he proved he was going to choose other countries over america. it's got to stop. host: i assume you are not a supporter of john kerry's presidential bid? caller: i was not. host: as a former democrat, who was the last democrat you voted for? caller: truly, it was clinton. i have been independent for a while. this election just cinched it. i know there was cheating. i know cheating happened. it is not even to the point that if americans don't start

standing up for themselves -- and trump was saying things he shouldn't say, but at least i gave the man credit. he actually showed a love for our country that we haven't seen for a long time. host: as an election judge, you know cheating happened. how do you know? caller: it is the way our rules are. we're not allowed to ask if illegal immigrants are voting. and youre coming in want to register to vote, all you have to do is have one piece of mail with an address on it. whether they live in that address, we don't know, and you can't prove that they did or didn't. it is those issues. we need a better system, where we can actually check to see who is voting. id thingbody wants the but it is amazing how any people come and our district and they have their voter id card and

they want you to know. i don't see why there is an issue. maybe even a drivers license. it shows us exactly where you live. i don't know. that is my opinion. i have been an election judge for years and i have watched certain things. host: do you think you will keep on being an election judge? caller: as of right now, probably. we have an election coming up next year in one area i want to see what happens. host: why do you keep doing it? think it isnd of what americans are supposed to do. you are supposed to stand up for your country and do the right thing. i watch a whole group of different people and you see things that you are proud of. host: how many years have you

been election judge? on 11 years. host: thanks for the call. this is paul, in fort lauderdale, republican. caller: good morning. way to the intelligent approach climate change, i acknowledge that the climate is but it is the evolution of the earth that is the main source. caulking, one of the most brilliant scientists -- talking -- hawking, one of the most brilliant scientists we have ever had said the earth had about 1000 years of existence left. that was pretty shocking. it was not publicized, but he didn't offer any lifeline, that

would prevent this from happening. environmentalists need to take scientists like that into consideration. you can't find seashells in civilizationsried in egypt and not know that the earth has been evolving for billions of years. when people say the climate is changing, i think what they are talking about is spending $50 trillion trying to prevent environmental change, and the earth will keep evolving, and you will still have the heat -- still have the earth heating up. host: if you think there is nothing we can do, is it worth doing anything? it might have a very small effect, but what is funny is the real solutions, the real things that would happen, nuclear power and green

hydrogen, are problems for the democrat party. you never really get to the heart of what really would work. every time people try to do these things. more -- limited eliminated more -- and nobody talks about that it makes me so angry that the press is so invested in the ideology that is going on and using environmental arguments, and suppressing people like hawking and other great scientists, that speak against what the ideology is, on climate change. host: would you be for that idea, that core idea of the biden administration about a net zero emission of greenhouse gases by 2050, if it was

achieved through nuclear power and some of these other means you are talking about? not as focused on renewables or getting off of fossil fuel? caller: if we can get china and europe and all the other people to go nuclear, they are trying to go off of nuclear. germany is trying to close all of their nuclear plants. bute that would help some, it won't stop the evolution of the earth. host: that was paul in fort lauderdale. it is just after 7:30 on the east coast. this first hour of the "washington journal," asking the question, should clement change be a national security priority? a lot of news on the climate front. the biggest news being the appointment of john kerry to serve as climate envoy in a biden administration.

john kerry on tuesday after being introduced by joe biden for that post. joe biden promising more news on the climate front on the first day of his presidency, promising to rejoin the paris climate agreement on the first day of his presidency. taking your phone calls, the phone lines are split up by political party. democrats, (202)-748-8000. republicans, (202)-748-8001. independents, (202)-748-8002. members of congress being asked about it. this is senate minority leader chuck schumer of new york in a recent appearance on bill nine's -- bill nye's program. [video clip] >> we can do this, everybody. andhe good news is, more more people across america are realizing we can do it. they are realizing it is tied to good paying jobs.

they are realizing it is tied to economic justice issues. i have never seen more support or the kinds of changes you are talking about in brought american spectrum. whether it is transportation or heating and air conditioning or electricity or manufacturing. we are getting there. we just need to keep at it, to realize -- what you have is american optimism. beenerica has always optimistic about solving our previous problems, we should be optimistic that we can solve this. we just need the will. my job as an elected official is to make sure that will is harnessed to do the kinds of things you are talking about. host: the senate minority leader, recently with bill nye, talking about the issue of climate change. house minority whip ski -- steve

scalise was on foxbusiness, also talking about the issue of climate change and a biden administration, and the promise to rejoin the paris climate agreement. here is what steve scalise had to say. [video clip] >> here is why it was such a smart move for president trump to get out of the paris accord in the first place. we were losing manufacturing under the obama and biden years. those eight years we saw our middle class evaporate, we saw manufacturing leave america in stuff was still getting made. they were making it in countries like china and india where they don't have the kind of standards we already have stop a lot of these people that love beating up on america, they fail to recognize that we have really good standards that are unrivaled anywhere in the world. when you exempt china from these kinds of standards, the steel will still get made, it is just

in a country where they make four or five times more carbon than here in america. if you're are concerned about carbon emissions, getting into the paris accord will lead to an increase in global emissions because those things that are made in america in a smart and environment lee safeway will instead be made in other places where the team met more carbon. host: that was steve scalise on fox business on friday. taking your phone calls today. should climate change be a national security priority? our next caller in virginia, a democrat -- in west virginia, a democrat. caller: i agree with some people well all the people who have said china and india and russia .-- i'm sorry

i have sat on hold for so long. they should be in the climate agreement as well. alone.rica can't go we have to have all the other to push china and go for ad india to better climate. the republicans do not want that. they are afraid of president trump. i have no idea why. if you think about all the hurricanes, all the floods, wildfires and i can't even think , if you add all

and everybody is really ragging on this green new deal. maybe all of it won't work, maybe it will. i don't know. but if you add all those things up and what the federal government spends on all of those hurricanes, would it not interest to try to do something like the green new deal? maybe not the green new deal. debbie it will have to be piecemeal. i don't know. but why not try it? host: you talk about the need for india and russia and china to be a part of it. they are a part of the climate spirit -- the paris climate agreement. criticism was what their levels

of emissions were allowed to be, but they were part of that agreement that the united states has now formally pulled out of, that formal process finally ending and the u.s. is out of the paris climate agreement as of the day after election day, earlier this month. caller: president trump, does the person that has his own times,nd he lies 2000 well i am exaggerating, a day. you don't know what to believe. these republicans, i guarantee that every time joe biden sticks his hand out to ask them for

help, they are going to slap it like they did with obama. they are not going to give him any help at all. host: from the mountain state to the granite state. this is catherine in new hampshire, independent. caller: good morning. in iceland, yes to your question. and switzerland and other countries, they have been -- direct capture machines. --e of them have designed definitely work to remove carbon dioxide. perhaps these machines will be dollar practical, and easier to provide worldwide. wind and solar are good, but they have quiet times.

,he economist magazine september 19, 2020, in the special report on business and is morechange, there in-depth information on this technology, and it would be interesting if c-span's "washington journal" have experts in this field on your show and take questions on global warming and this dac technology. also out ofside, thatsity, i am pretty sure our next ice age could occur in 1000 or 2000 years. will our dollars -- it could be longer than that. will our dollars be needed for different environmental concerns? government,r

private businesses throughout the world should all work dac soundsnd this terrific. host: this is keith from florida willg biden's climate plan cost the average citizen the most. the elitists won't care if gas is six dollars a gallon. misty in ohio, if we do nothing about changing in the environment, we will all pay the price. scientists are pretty much unanimous about this. fightstop this political and please wake up before it is too late. this is george in montana, republican. good morning. caller: good morning and thanks for c-span. this climate change problem has nothing to do with the climate. it has everything to do with moving money from the united

states into foreign countries like russia and ukraine and other countries, so they can launder them and give them to the political elitists such as joe biden's son and john kerry's son that will reap the benefits and put more regulations on the middle-class in the united states, to keep our economy down. please expose the swamp. if the reporters in these new outs -- in these news outlets would do some investigative reporting and find out where this money is going, we would understand what these climate change priorities are all about. host: how do you think we are doing on the environment? caller: better than any country in the world, and these other countries are just taking our -- working to our political elitists to move money into their countries and they can blackmail them to make the political elitists the most richest people in america. host: that is george in montana.

back to west virginia. this is carol, an independent. caller: good morning. up, itstion you had brought me back to 2018. we were told for 2019 that we only had 12 years before we were at a point of no return. now we are hearing china is going to get good with us in 2050 and 2060. there are so many messages all over the place. i agree the oceans need cleaned cars,d these emission when they change them over to the electric and they put all of these stations and infrastructure, who is going to give us all of these cars? how are we going to get these cars to drive to cut down on emissions? we are just told this is what is going to happen.

we live paycheck-to-paycheck, and there is no way we can afford another car, just because it runs by electric. what are we supposed to do with all of these cars emitting food -- emitting fumes and stuff? we werest concern is, told we were going to hit the ice ages way before now. it is up and down. who is lying? that is my question. host: can i ask you before you go, about the coal industry in your part of west virginia? caller: in the beginning when trump took over, they were supposed to open up, but i believe there is a sinkhole. coal jobs come back, or have they gone down in the past four years? how has the coal administration -- coal industry done under the

administration? caller: i think a couple opened up. i am not sure on the situation. myon't keep up because grandfather was a coal miner and my dad was a coal miner, and i haven't really been into all of that lately, but i know there is a way to make clean coal. there has to be, because we hear about it all the time. thank you for c-span. you have a great day. host: you have a great day, too. this is jackie, new york, democrat. caller: good morning, how are you? host: i am doing well. caller: i would like to say that the climate control issue is important, but it is not top of the list. top of the list is dealing with this coronavirus. as far as the jobs and stuff, what they don't tell you is when these big companies were here, a

lot of chemicals and a lot of the waste that came from them had gotten people sick. systemle government failed to inform people of the land being polluted and people getting sick. they was one particular case, where a child got sick from the water, because of where they lived. no one was ever informed of that and because the mother and the child lived in the house by themselves, when the child died, the mother went to jail. when it came down to it, the evidence was the land being polluted and she was never informed of it. climate control is important, but right now we need to focus on real problems, and that is people dying. they say trump did a lot. trump did do a lot, but people fail to realize the real price mitch government and

mcconnell was able to accomplish a lot where obama and biden couldn't because mitch mcconnell was quoted saying that he would never approve anything that obama put on the table. host: this is richard in arkansas, independent. caller: good morning. they keep telling us to talk about the science when it comes to covid and stuff, but they don't talk about the science when it comes to climate change. there is such a thing out there called precession. it is a 26,000 year wobble of the earth. society the audubon field guide, for astronomers. it has major changes on the earth, because it affects the equatorial bulge.

our northstar, was in draco. it was not polaris. this has large effects on the climate. host: so, do you believe there tonothing humans can do impact climate change? caller: not to the extent of spending that kind of money. you must learn to live with it. it is going to take a lot of energy to get through this section of the wobble. itself, it flat out says this relationship plays a role in triggering ice ages. host: that is richard in arkansas. writes climaten change should be a national security priority. i suspect the same folks who did

not believe scientists about covid are now not going to believe the scientists about climate change. this is probably out of oregon. out of oregon. you are next. caller: thank you for taking my call. mi on the air? host: yes, go on. inler: i just wanted to say, relationship to climate change being a national security priority, i have read that there is a naval base on the east threatenedis being workers cannot get out to the base, because of flooding. that is one issue. the second issue is what happened in syria, i'm told is a result of climate change. there was drought and then food

riots, and then people went to food over -- went to war over it. i think continued drought, continued fires will -- will totally destabilize populations and cause chaos, which can lead to national security threats. it is a national security priority, as big as almost any threat to our national security. polly, out in oregon. trying to find the specific naval base you are talking about. i assume it is naval station norfolk, out in virginia. a navy times story from 2016, rising oceans will swallow parts of the world's biggest navy base by the end of the century,

according to experts who worn it will take billions of dollars to upgrade those facilities. and 17tation norfolk other military institutions are sitting on waterfront property and looking at hundreds of floods a year and in some cases could be mostly submerged by 2100. according to a report from the union of concerned scientists, they say a three foot sea level rise with threaten 128 u.s. military bases, valued at roughly $100 billion. that is a story from back in 2016, navytimes.com israel can find it. -- is where you can find it. randy is in wisconsin, republican. good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. is what is climate change? let's get the definition of that.

to me, climate change is mother nature. you are not going to change mother nature. you will have a bunch of hurricanes, and climate change is the cause of it but you will not change mother nature. changey, your climate should have something to do with pollution. should pollution be a national security priority? let's stop driving cars and have no more garbage and no more airplanes. this money that is supposed to be going for climate change, how is that money spent? where does that dollar -- whose hand does it end up in? that is the question you should answers to people can understand better, what real climate change withd how it is associated our security. that is my question. host: is it worth doing anything to try and lower greenhouse gas

emissions? percentoh sure, one her -- 100%. it is all helping our air. how about the rest of the world? the united states cannot take care of the whole world. you don't hear about this in other worlds, in europe or china. in germany, i believe. we've definitely trot -- we've definitely got to try and keep cleaner air and water. host: all the countries you brought up signed the paris climate accord. caller: and how are they doing? let's have a report. where is that money going and what are they doing with the money they get? those are the kinds of questions i would like to have answered. host: this will not be the last time we talk about this and

maybe we can do that for you, down the road stop about 10 minutes left in this segment. asking you, should climate change be a national security priority? the editorial in today's washington post on this issue. here is how the editorial board of the washington post begins today, the day joe biden became president elect, he listed climate change among his top priorities. last week he named john sec -- john kerry to be his climate czar. it is crucial they follow through. the united states has squandered too much time. the world has almost none left to avoid extreme consequences for generations living and those only just being born. the editorial board of the washington post today. a frequent guest on this program, his recent column on foxnews.com, on the issue of the biden administration and prioritizing the paris climate accord and climate change.

here is what stephen moore wrote. over -- world leaders are overjoyed that under a biden administration, the u.s. will enter the paris accord. why wouldn't they be? we pay the bills. we hang our economy on a cross of climate change regulation. we pretend the world is complying with their actions speak much louder than the world -- then their words. we trust but don't verify. firstis is one of biden's acts as president, he will announce to the world that putting america first has been replaced with putting america last. back to your phone calls. this is devon in pittsburgh, independent. go ahead. caller: i think it is obvious that the department of defense, if you would just look, they declared climate change as a major security threat to the united states. i don't think we have to ask. our own military understands that this is a major threat. i don't think we have to wonder,

because when we look at things like the over 30 hurricanes this season, a first ever, it is because the gulf of mexico is so warm right now that when hurricanes move in, they rapidly intensify into three and four category storms. we don't have to ask if climate change is happening. all we have to do is look at the wildfires on the west coast. what has happened is there is not enough -- not as much moisture in the soil anymore because the heat is baking the moisture out. that means all the trees get dried faster and that means when a fire starts, it goes really fast and gets really big and kills lots of people and lots of property really quick. when some of your callers are asking where is the money going, it is hard to believe that people could be this naive.

the money isn't going anywhere. what is happening as people are trying to get us off of energy sources that are destroying the planet that we live on. the money is to create jobs creating windfarms, like right now, farmers in iowa who had the derecho.hird, it destroyed so much of the corn crop in iowa, a direct result of climate change. those people could be putting in windfarms and some of them have. their was actually a special about that. we don't have to ask is climate change happening? all you have to do is look outside the window. we don't have to ask if it is threatening our country. all we have to do is look at the death toll and the financial cost. this is a real serious problem, and it is not some kind of liberal hoax, any more than

covid was a liberal hoax. someone that you read earlier mentioned that if we don't start accepting the reality of what is happening, it is going to be much much worse. host: you mentioned the iowa derecho. post, sort of postmortem on that storm and its impacts. it was the most costly thunderstorm disaster in u.s. history. estimating damage at $7.5 billion. rob is in california, democrat. caller: good morning. a newkind of hoping that awareness and movement forward to just completely restructure the way we think about the weources we have, packaging,

can save so much resources with reduction in packaging, and looking at how we use things differently, wind power, solar power, all of that is great. shift toeed a titanic realize that a capitalist system , there is a lot of money to be made to restructure the way we use our resources, to help save our planet and everything. host: you said you were hopeful that there would be this awakening on that issue. what made you hopeful, and have you found your hopes disappointed? caller: there hasn't really been any awareness. going to the grocery store, and piece of meat on a big styrofoam tray. things like that, there are so

many things we can do to reduce the amount of resources we use. that weeems to mention have to get grips on the population of our planet. it is kind of the root cause of a lot of issues, with just the ever-expanding population. we are an extremely successful species, and we have to start acting responsible in a way that we take care of each other. that is my two cents. host: it might be a whole other quotas -- argue for but are you for quotas for have any children you can have? how do you control that -- for how many children you can have? how do you control that? caller: you can't. you educate and make people aware of all these different things we can do, to >> it's a continual soft drum

beat of awareness. there are new ways to package things. there is a way to transport ourselves and get around. we need to be aware of that. the population, has increased fourfold. educate andsoftly give more awareness and education to people. call, ellen has been waiting in florida. thanks for waiting. caller: the last color was the one i most agree with about not looking out what the government can do, what can i do. inraduated from cornell 1972. i'm a nurse, a phd nurse.

i'm also an environmentalist. i studied ecology at cornell. everything that was predicted then is occurring now. the scientists were correct, are correct. it's too late to legislate enough change to save the planet. moneyt like the waste of and what goes back and forth between the politicians while nothing gets done. that money can go into creating local gardens, local distribution. we don't have to drive food all across the country. like a lot of people are setting up, local farms. personal choice, personal action, personally creating a world where we are not killing off every species. the rate of death of species is the highest it has ever been.

let's take self responsibility, not look to the politicians. they will do what we want when we are doing it ourselves. host: are you still a practicing nurse? how are you doing right now? caller: i cannot believe it. onan go either way depending the person involved. trump i think is an absolute horror. people in florida say to my face that this is a hoax. that it doesn't exist. that it's created by the democrats as a hoax. amazing, the consciousness that's going on. they say there is -- people are dying. that's the reality. host: we will talk a little more

later in the program about the coronavirus in this country. there are more restrictions. that will come up in the last half hour. up next, we will talk about the future of a post-trump republican party. we will be joined by pete wehner , the senior fellow at the ethics and public policy center. we will turn our attention to progressives and what they may what to see from a joe biden administration. stick around. we will be right back. >> 2020 was a historic year for women, if the election of the first woman vice president. it happened in the year we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the women's right to vote. journalist and author elaine women's her book, the

hour. >> it passes the house. it has to be two thirds majority. it passes the house by a very small margin. it passes the senate by two votes. after the house passes it in 1918, it takes until june 1919 before it passes both houses. the senate knew they were sending it out for ratification in the states. mosts an off year, when legislatures would not be incessant. -- in session. convinceagists had to 30 governors to call their legislators back into special session to consider the amendment. >> tonight it :00 eastern on

q&a. 8:00 eastern on q&a. topped nonfiction books and authors every weekend. open markets institute director sally hubbard and her book. you'd by david mclaughlin. judge douglasrmer ginsberg and his book voices of our republic. it looks at the constitution through the eyes of judges and legal historians. in-deptho watch sunday, december 6 at noon and chairest author of african-american studies at princeton university, eddie

glide junior. >> washington journal continues. host: a conversation on the future of the republican party. pete wehner worked in the reagan and george h w bush administrations. did you ever consider or want to work in the trump administration? guest: no. they wouldn't have me and i wouldn't work there. my tracker with donald trump has been on the critical length. host: why? he's a malicious force in american politics. i think he's a conspiracy monger. i don't think he's serious about governance. i think is a pathological liar. damage he is doing great

to the republican party and to the country. the reason i was critical of , that specific issue i was concerned about was he was peddling a racist conspiracy theory about barack obama not being born in the united states. he knew it was a lie. he peddled it anyway. my warning to the gop is don't play footsie with people like this. it will come back to haunt you. it is hot of the republican party, it's more of a concern that it did great damage to the united states. host: there is a lot of attention on joe biden's 80 million votes. trump got 10 million more votes in 2020 then 2016. guest: people like him and

wanted to vote for them. a lot of people who were hostile to the democratic party and to joe biden, it's a deeply divided country. since thelarized civil war. we are in a try ballistic politics. it.al scientists refer to it's a negative polarization. the ties that bind you to your own party are less affection and affinity for your own side then hatred and hostility to the other side. our politics really reflect that. donald trump is the cure for what ails america. a lot of them are good people who are badly mistaken in their judgment. actedd and did things and

in ways that appealed to millions of people. time thane votes this he did in 2016. on the other hand, joe biden got 80 million it, which blew away all previous records. host: what lessons should republican leaders take from election 2020? guest: i would say several things. an incumbentg is president doesn't lose reelection. did, heon the scale he was thoroughly repudiated. you've only had four incumbents in the last 100 years lose. to put something like donald trump whose temperament and and corruption at the top of the ticket is problematic. the republicans are leading

among suburban white voters in particular. it's a toxic party right now because of trump. on the other hand, trump geared his message in 2016 and to some extent in 2020 toward working-class white voters. there is an appeal he has had because of that. you have to figure out what are the parts of the message the trump foot forward and improve on it and refine it and try to figure out what it is that resonated with people. you have to jettison the worst aspects of who he is. the presidential level, the republican party did reasonably well. we will see what happens in the two georgia runoff states. seats.ined several house

if not all been decided yet. they were not wiped out. it wasn't a blue wave. the republican party speaks for a large number of americans. right now, more people don't like the party. i think trump has formed the party. it will take real effort to repair that damage. you expect trump a liver concede? guest: nope. i don't think he is capable of doing that. i think his narcissism among other things will prevent him from doing that. is as easy to read psychologically as you can find in terms of his pathologies. they've been playing out on stage for five years.

this isn't rocket science. host: what does that mean for what you are calling for, to jettison the worst aspects of trump. you wrote an article for the atlantic. what does not conceding for the ability to do those things? going to try to freeze the republican party and own it. this pathological need to be in the limelight. he has to be the center of attention, even if it's negative. he has to be there. i imagine he will try to freeze for 2024. maybe he will do it on inauguration day. he's going to continue to tweet from the outside. he will feed his supporters the stuff they like, conspiracy theories.

he's going to do a lot of work on the right wing ecosystem, maybe even supports a media outlets other than fox news. he's going to make his presence felt. he's got a lot of supporters. can they break away from that? with theave the people wisdom and the skill and the courage to go in a different direction? i don't know. the last five years have not been hopeful because the republican party has been supplicant to trump. they never really stood up to him. sanford,ey, mark justin amash. that's about it. everybody else has collapsed before trump. our guest wehner is on watchmen journal. we appreciate you joining us. he is at the public-policy

pender. we should mention his book. our topic this morning is the republican party after trump. the phone lines are split up as usual. democrats (202) 748-8000. (202) 748-8001 republicans. pete wehner will be with us for the next half hour. kenny is up first in virginia. good morning. you are going to get mcgill off off my chest. i turned republican again. you said some nasty things about trump, i can understand that. bush is undoubtedly the stupidest president we've ever had. my mother was cared for with health insurance. my dad retired to make sure he got the medical care from the

company she worked for. bush made that illegal. that was despicable. the stupid war he got into with a rack. -- iraq. i will never forgive him for taking that medical insurance from my mother did you are probably going to say it's not true. i am living it. guest: a couple of things. he is wrong about medicare part d. that was one of the achievements of the bush residency. i understand that his supporters like him. they consider ad hominem. when you say he is a pathological liar, that the description. this is a matter of public record.

the conspiracy theories that he peddles, that is a matter of reality. that is objective truth. is peddlingat he about the election being fraudulent is simply not true. if you say it's not true, it isn't a personal attack. that is describing the reality of things. because of my own criticism of donald trump, i think they are rooted in reality. i don't deny that he has done some good things if you are a conservative. supreme court nominations i think of been quite good. if we stick with policy, if you are intellectually honest, you should be honest and say she is ethically -- he has ethically

mishandled the coronavirus. tens of thousands of people are ,ead because of his mishandling from testing to mocking of masks and being indifferent to attacking the scientists like , the leading epidemiologist in the world. you can go through his record. it's mixed. trump, the donald way to understand him is not as a governing figure or a political figure. he is a cultural symbol. i think he is transgressive. i think he is corrupt. that's a matter of public record. i understand his supporters disagree. i think i have quite a bit of evidence on my side of the case. host: this is amy, a democrat. caller: good morning.

. have more of a comment it's an observation really. the republican party has shown anti-democracy. they do not have any belief in the constitution. of the republican party has to be that of a minority party. they can't govern. up -- a desire to wield power. joe biden will be wary. he needs to do them with caution. i would like to hear your comments about that. guest: let me divide it. i certain thing the republican party needs to be reformed. i think some of those charges about being illiberal during the

trump years is correct. take a step back. you had an american president since november 3 in a full-scale assault on our electoral system trying to undo election. the good news is our institutions of held up. he never had a chance of pulling this off. enoughd and not nearly national republican figures stood up to him. level, some state local figures in georgia and michigan did stand up. the courts have held up. i think the republican party a malicioushas been instrument in many ways. people who knew that were silent. others defended him. i think donald trump committed impeachable crimes and so forth.

parties can reform. they need to reform. america needs healthy parties. act, even a patriotic if you are a democrat or republican, that the other party is responsible. i'm hoping it happens with republicans. i am hoping when trump exits the people upt will free in the republican party to take things in a new direction. i do know that if you talk to a lot of republican lawmakers quietly, off the record, their views of trump are no better than mine. they are just afraid to speak up. they have made calculations it would be unwise. point, it's not a

minority party now. both sides have to jettison this notion that we hate the other side so much that we are going to vanquish it. neither party is going anywhere. the people on the other side are going anywhere. we have to navigate our differences and away. it's been impossible with trump. hopefully we can find some ground, butcommon to be able to get along and listen to each other and have american politics work as it once did. host: you say republicans should have spoken up. who specifically should have spoken up? whose silence most concerned or upset you? guest: gosh.

was a hugeham disappointment as a person who knew better. supplicant, so obsequious when it came to trump. he's an obvious example. ohio,d say rob portman of a traditional republican. he worked in the bush administration. responsible voice in republican politics most of his life. silent during the trump years. jordane people like jim in the house, mark meadows became chief of staff. republicans who are either silent or uncomfortable. , lamar alexander. everybody knows when an offense

donald trump had to of been. he wouldn't speak up until the very end. he nudged things along to say you need to concede. the trouble was a few people did it episodically. romney. they really need to stand up to him much more collectively. they didn't want to do it. they rationalized why they didn't do it. ultimately, i think those arguments failed. back, whatalfstep happened was the republican party through their hat over the trump wall early on. i think they thought they could control him, that he would grow in office. understand wast the fundamental thing you had to understand about donald trump.

he is a man with a disordered personality. from a person who suffers socio-the fee. if you understood that, you knew there was no line he wouldn't cross. do, nos nothing he would place he would go. because they made that link with him so early, it never broke. placesrought them to they never imagined they would go. host: san diego, california. richard is a republican. you a: i was going to ask question. what have the democrats done for the last 50 years? i live in san diego. herek at the democrats out

who are running the state. i used to go all over this country. i was in the military. i will be honest with you. i looked at other countries. when i pull into their ports, it looks like -- it's beautiful. it's bad. let me tell you something. california, i used to go home. me i wishused to tell i could go to san diego. weather,most beautiful the most beautiful place. now i go and they tell me they wouldn't come here if we paid them. guest: i'm not a liberal. i'm a conservative. conservative in spite of

my criticism of trump. i'm critical of trump because i am a conservative. if you're looking for a liberal who is critical of trump, you have to go elsewhere. i have worked in three republican administrations. i was in the white house for seven years. i have my differences with the democratic party. it's not as if they haven't achieved anything. both parties have achieved things that are good and bad. both parties have endorsed the earned income tax bracket. didought barack obama reasonably well with the financial crisis that happened. i'm not liberal. i understand california has problems.

modeldn't hold it up as a in many respects. that's part of the reason why the trump years have been difficult for some be like me. waset took a party who certainly not perfect, that he made it worse. he turned it from a conservative party to an ethnic nationalist party. it is consumed by his grievance and's. -- grievances. i think he has damaged the party. i hope it comes back. i hope it becomes more conservative. i think it's in the good of the country to have both parties responsible. the one thing i will say about joe biden is in that field, he was not the radical figure that bernie sanders and elizabeth

warren others are. his appointments may not have been mine, they've been pretty responsible on the 40 yard lines of american politics. withstandis able to the leftward pull of the party. there is a lot of energy on the left. steve is an independent in maryland. he tweets this question to you. guest: it's a good question. i think there will be eight trump allegiance test with some people. my suspicion is what you are outlines ofe early what this is going to be. i don't think there are going to

be a lot of lawmakers who do a frontal assault on donald trump. they are still afraid of upsetting his supporters. there are a lot of them. i think they will try and go yonder donald trump and not talk about him. i think somebody like marco rubio is the person you will see. supplicant during the trump years. he doesn't really believe in trump. politics and his views in light of the trump years. chartnfident he wants to his own path. i don't think there will be a loyalty test per se.

i think they will try to be cautious in how critical they are of trump. host: to michigan, this is linda. good morning. good morning. i am one of those deplorable's from the midwest. i have seen firsthand the devastation going on in michigan. how the in real time people that were at the polling .ites were left out they were putting up cardboard. how you can say that the elections are rigged and our afraid that our country is done because of the corruption that is going on. in a wayhe democrats

that is nasty, do you watch the hearings? how they treat the people they are asking questions. it's just ridiculous. kamala harris is our vice president. you saw how she treated kavanaugh. of being a rapist. it's a joke. that's what i am concerned about. i feel bad trump's had to fight for four years to get something done. host: i will let you jump in. guest: several things. isn't deplorable. she's a human being. she deserves dignity like everybody else. i think she's wrong. that doesn't mean she is deplorable. on the question of the elections, a two point reality

has to intrude. there is not a single instance of widespread fraud. they've been thrown up by republican judges, other judges, the trump legal team has produced no evidence. the kind of fraud claims they are note, there conditions of fraud. there are legal consequences to say things they know not to be true. thisnk you have to accept reality. i hope you accept this reality. joe biden one the selection. he won it easily. he didn't win because of fraud. that's a fact. i know facts can be inconvenient. facts are stubborn things. they are not going away. this is one of the real dangers we are in. there is no truth

or everybody gets to come up with their own script. this is always existed. i think it's amplified and accelerated by social media and the various platforms. self-governing country can't arvive if we can't agree on common reality. we have to come together on that last thing. idling the democratic party has acted honorably all the time. there are things they've said and done that are problematic. if you are attacking the democratic party on treating people poorly, at least use that same standard for donald trump, whose corruptions are boundless. is cruelty and viciousness

unlike anything we've ever seen an american president. theories,onspiracy he's peddled more than two dozen of them as president. many of them have done deep harm ,nd damage to innocent people the mocking of reporters with disabilities, mocking women. theou're going to use standard of corruption and indecency, if that matters to you, have the intellectual honesty and integrity to use that same standard against donald trump. don't be selective about it. it weakensselective, the case and that means that's not what you are driving your views. it is political tribalism and use whatever club you can against the other side. we've got enough of that going on right now. host: we are joined this morning by pete wehner, from the ethics

and public policy center. we should mention his book. topic this morning is the future of the republican party after trump. scottsdale virginia, thanks for waiting. it is so great to be able to call into washington journal. let's remember who took out a credit card to maximize tribal is asian after -- tribal is asian. the ronald reagan organization. it was the founders who said parties were dangerous. we are no longer separated by party. we are separated by people who and nature instinctually

people who view nature as through science. remember what john kerry said. we are going to view nature through god and science. tribalism through party is going to destroy this nation. we've got to start viewing nature through science and only through science. i'm all for viewing nature through science. i think you can view nature through the front ways. in terms of appreciating nature and reveling in the glory of nature, i'm all for that. it's an interesting question. didn't really

envision the parties we have today. edmund burke was one of the key figures in conservatism in the 18th century from england. he was born in ireland. politicalink tribalism that we have today is explained primarily by the parties. what the parties have become as an outgrowth of this tribalism driven by other things. if you consider the history of the united states and its falls -- flaws and glories, the united states has been by large a force for good in the world with some problematic times. malevolent of our failures. if you believe the has been the, it's a country that is

product of political parties. if you are a democrat or republican, they have impressed some impressive people. democrats can go to john kennedy and frankland roosevelt. -- franklin roosevelt. ronald reagan among republicans. the political parties can function. our friend jonathan rauch made an interesting critique, the gatekeepers of the party, ones that used to control the party cap people like bernie sanders and donald trump from gaining power. have grown. the primary system has opened up. with trump it turned out to be a wild west show. host: we talk about faith and politics. your observation on joe biden's

catholic faith, his relationship to that faith and its influence on his politics. guest: i'm not sure. let me start i saying i think the way to understand joe biden as a lifelong catholic, it's in his person. impressivemost quality about joe biden are not political, they are personal. is it's beeny that well-documented that he has suffered in norma's grief and loss and tragedy in his life. his wife and daughter were killed in an accident, his sons were badly injured. diedyears later, his son of brain cancer. blows toe tremendous anybody. this is a man who deeply love

these people and lost them that way. it was tragic. it's been said that parents shouldn't bury their children. that's not the right order of things. he's had to do that a couple of times. what struck me is how his faith has sustained him through processing grief and sorrow. he has never given up hope. i think it has changed him into an almost pastoral figure. at 60 given eulogies funerals. you can see from the accounts of his life that he is somebody who's empathy and sympathy has theloped because of suffering and how he is leveraged it. sayink he himself would that his christian faith has

been the primary reason he has done that. whatever you think of his being, heas a human is an admirable person. i think that temperament and disposition, that life story is what this country needs. our country is broken. it is exhausted. healing,a figure of someone to repair the breach. helps inis life story that respect. host: this is betty. good morning. pete wehner good morning. around thee been world for 75 years. the time when newt gingrich was a congressman, i

lived in georgia. went to to town hall meetings given by newt gingrich. i sat there and listened. cnn, they totally misrepresented what he said. fourhas been going on for years under president trump. everything he says is mischaracterized and it's not true. abouthat you just said the handicapped person. that was photoshop. my son does photoshop. misrepresentation again. liberals lot of closet that portray themselves as republicans. coming from maryland, i believe it.

that's all i have to say. host: what would you say to betty? guest: congratulations on 75 years. i appreciate the question. charge ofith the media bias, i think there has been a liberal slant to the media. i don't think that's a question. a lot of journalists have a liberal bias and that shows up over the years. it doesn't mean there haven't been terrific journalists over the years. the media has done a lot of good in a lot of ways. i think that explains how you ended up with the right wing ecosystem. frustrationlot of among conservatives that we can't get a fair shake. that, even as i

would say the right wing ecosystem is off the rails. to to thee injury country. i say that a someone who was originally supportive of that effort because i felt like it could bring balance. aboutms of the claim trump being misrepresented and mischaracterized, it's simply not true. i can soft pedal this. i'm not going to. it is simply not true. what he says is a matter of record. it's not misrepresented. you can watch them for two hours when he gave these speeches at his rallies. you can watch as debates. you can fact-check them. you can measure them against reality. mocking oft that the

the new york times reporter was photoshopped, it's not true. he really truly did that. he did it at the time. there were people there that saw it. about, what i'm talking this danger for the country this anarchy were people say any fact that is inconvenient to my case is fake news, the starting point is donald trump is a terrific president and he doesn't do anything wrong and anything that shows the mistakes he's done, the lies he has told is by definition fake news. that's a problem for the country. it's a problem for individuals. we have to live in reality. made to live in

different worlds. froms that are detached the reality of things. that's true if you're liberal or conservative. ultimately, objective truth exist. theuld also say that one of pains for me as a republican prior to trump is it was the republican that stood for objective truth. professor wrote a new york times best-selling book. that was the case for objective truth. thing you can be guaranteed of if you come across a student is they believe

truth is relative. conservatives argued against that. fundamentally rooted in the true nature of things. party have the republican as the vanguard for a person who is engaged in a full-scale is really aruth tragedy. this, i don't believe knows the individual full spectrum of truth. that's why we need people with different cultures, it's whiny to read old books. we are all formed and shaped by our experiences. they are going to cause a

stigmatism when it comes to how we see truth. we need other people to help us. truthoesn't mean the doesn't exist. we've got to double down and try to pursue it. if we don't, we will be in a bad way. we will have to end for now. a senior fellow at the ethics and public policy center. we always appreciate your time. guest: i always enjoy being on. host: we will turn our attention to progressives and what they can expect from a joe biden administration. that conversation with larry is just after this break.

>> monday night on the communicators, netflix founder reed hastings and business professor aaron meyer talk about the unorthodox workplace culture. you have to do what you think is right to help the customers and the company. you can't be trying to please your boss. you're not allowed to let me drive the bus off the cliff. you have to fight for the company. in general, don't please your boss. seek to please the customers and grow the company. we want people to actively think independently, not just to implement their boss's wishes. >> watch the communicators on c-span2.

>> american history tv on c-span 3, exploring the people and events that tell the american story every weekend. , we explore jfk assassination records from the national archives, including artifacts. that 8:00 on the presidency, a tour of the ronald reagan presidential library in simi valley, california. exploring the american story. >> washington journal continues. host: a look now at the progressive movement and what it should expect from the joe biden demonstration.

larry cohen is our guest. islain what our revolution and how it was born. the 2016 evolved from bernie sanders presidential campaign. the premise was we are building . movement that would go on there were groups across the country that helped run that campaign initially. those groups continued for the most part into the formation of our revolution. people. a board of 10 like activists, people hightower,on, jim also local leaders. issues,on three things, how do we have world-class

jobsh care, education, with the pandemic. issue work, issue campaigns. themose issues, you take into elections with candidates third,lot measures and party building. working within the democratic party for democracy. , buildingroots there and transforming the party itself. talking aboutbe the democratic party and what it's going to look like in the biden administration. democrats, (202) 748-8000 is in a vertical. .epublicans, (202) 748-8001 independent voters (202) 748-8002. you mentioned the sanders campaign is the genesis of our revolution. do you expect to see bernie sanders in a joe biden cabinet

post? guest: i think that would be wonderful. transitione how the folks feel about moving senators over and have senate elections for the most part. i think either way, bernie will continue to help lead the country. his ideas will be more and more mainstream ideas. harris ticketiden progressive? guest: it was a successful ticket, which for all of us, that was the key thing. we had to beat what we considered a dangerous time, dangerous president as we just heard from the last caller, even republicans came to believe that. we need to go back to a more objective time or we could look at things and talk to each other and not just name it and nail

it. from the headline outlook session, the price for getting rid of trump, a moderate president. i think that's definitely true. when you look at the democratic platform, what senate and the campaign controlled the platform, there is plenty in it for a better america. progressives, it's not about my team versus some of the team. it's about working with millions of people to change the world so continue toes improve and we can think about happiness again rather than just beyond defense. host: coming back to the creation of that platform, what do you mean? guest: there were 200 people and that committee. are mostlyeople

selected from elected delegates in proportion to the strength of the candidate. case, you had sanders delegates and a few others. the platform committee was in proportion to those numbers. the biden people or in control of what the platform would be. from my point of view, it was a broad-based platform that we can rally around. host: joe biden wins the election. democrats down ballot in the house and senate do worse than originally expected. what do the results tell us about the appetite in this country for aggressive politics? guest: i think they are mixed. that's obvious by what you just related. theink it is fair to say republicans, suburban

republicans crossed over to vote for joe biden because they had enough of trump. think also we look at things like the $15 wage when he was 60% in florida. we haven't dichotomy between issues and electoral politics. the challenge for us is talking to people about issues, not saying -- labeling people. some kind of permanent divide. we are figured how to speak to each other and figuring out together what we have the health care care that the rest of the world has? why do we have the kind of early childhood education or senior care that every comparable country has?

how do we get there if we are not talking to each other. there are starting points on issues that would bring us together. larry: is ourner guest. former president of the communication workers of america, representing members of the u.s. and canada. he is here to take your questions. patrick is in pittsburgh. --ler: host: are you with this? started our program today talking about the priority that the by demonstration his put on the issue of climate change. whileeen new deal mentioned in joe biden's platform, he specifically has

gone out of his way to say is climate change position is not the green new deal. what are your thoughts? guest: i'm a supporter of the green new deal. biden plan say the is fine. the question will be either we get a democratic senate based on winning two elections in georgia, we have to work around the senate super majority rule just as mcconnell worked around them. then we can discuss how we can implement the joe biden plan. the key planks of the wind plan will be stop will be stop new drilling on federal land, it will be a massive jobs bill tied to covid relief that focuses on renewable energy and green jobs. most importantly, it would be good appointments in energy,

in interior, in the epa commissioner. is fine,oiding labels because we need to bridge divides in this country. there is plenty of content to the biden plan as far as i'm concerned. host: do you think appointments so far have shown a commitment to the issue that you are talking about -- issues that you are talking about, that our revolution has been championing? asry: we see our revolution a broad alliance that encompasses most of the democratic party. the only one that gets at domestic policy so far is his internal appointments of chief of staff and deputy. the treasury secretary i think janet yellin does have a broad view of the economy having

been ahead of the federal reserve. i appreciate what powell has done at the fed and we will use our regulatory power to stimulate the economy when possible. biden's plan is fine and his appointments are fine. are you excited about the biden administration? larry: i am. first of all i'm a realist. second of all i'm excited that we beat donald trump. that was a little bit of a nailbiter, more than i expected. with whoevero work the leaders are in the executive branch, and from my point of view, more so the progressive caucus in the house, which is almost half the democrats in the house, have shown what a progressive agenda is in america regardless of what the outcome is in the senate. i think we have to show what we stand for so we can attract new voters and get to the focus on core economic issues as well as

peace in our time so we can speak to those voters regardless of how they did or did not vote in the last election. host: back to calls, this is dorothy from raleigh, north carolina a democrat. you are on with larry cohen. caller: good morning everyone. i want to make some quick comments about the democratic party, where we make a mistake, even the progressives. when we put bills on the floor to be voted on, we should not put a lot of stuff in it. we should let people see what the republicans are against. we should do social security, just that bill and put it through. move the cap and expand social security, and let people be able to buy into medicare before 65. i retired at 59. if it wouldn't have been for obamacare i would not have insurance. their andne bill on let the people see that republicans will vote against it

. i'm not finished. another thing, tax reform. pensionng with a small and i still have to pay taxes with the tax reform because he got rid of the exemptions. it put me into a spot where i now have to pay taxes. change, when he says security we should let them know what they mean. if all the land gets flooded where we going to plant food? we are going to get a food shortage. we are going to have water contamination from trump's friend you. nowhere to live because the land is gone because it is flooded. people want to get uncivilized because they need to eat. host: you bring up a lot of issues. want to give larry cowan a chance to jump in. n a chance to jump in. larry: you brought up some great issues. on social security, i totally

agree with you that we need to on incomeap based inequality as much as anything else. i don't think the social security fund is in jeopardy. in terms of bringing down the medicare age to 60 that is part of the democratic party platform that president-elect biden supports. to me that is a critical issue to put on the floor in the house, passing it in the house and bringing it to the senate. as you said, regardless of who the majority leader is in the senate which will be determined by the georgia elections. i agree with your basic premise, let's bring issues forward, they are simple and clear cut a $15 per hour minimum wage. it would change lives and stimulate the economy. it's the kind of thing we need. bring simple, clear issues forward and pass them in the house and bring them to the senate. can you talk about -- host: can you talk about the role you are playing in georgia? larry: our number one goal is to

reach voters by email because it's simple to click once and request a mail ballot. second, we are calling all of them and they are calling each other. we have lots of volunteers in georgia and around the country to encourage them to get and mail ballots. you can get a mail ballot in georgia and then we will shift to early voting. early voting starts two weeks before the january 5 runoff. you can do a runoff in georgia on november 1. back in the senate, early voting will be key. we want to maximize turnout of those 50000 and the folks in their household, that's our number one goal. host: joseph from fairfax, virginia. independent. you're on with larry. caller: i'm a first time caller. student, 2020y and this presidential election has been disheartening from racial unrest a constant's information. how can my generation be sure

that both parties are willing to work to benefit all americans? host: the mind saying what university you go to? caller: i'm a senior at george mason university. on that bipartisan question, i would really focus on voting rights. again, i return to this word, objective from the last program. if we are objective about voting rights in this country, we realize that we have blocked out tens of millions of people from voting like no other democracy in the world does. i think young people, all of us, but especially younger voters need to say "wait a minute, we need to get rid of the relics of jim crow. we need to go to universal voter registration so people are registered when they turn 18 and get a drivers license, when they use government in any way they are automatically registered." republican in the

state so-called like alaska where everybody who dissipates in energy distribution, alaska's sovereign wealth fund is registered automatically in order to get that check. i think we need those incentives. ofyou said one wish in terms what should young people do, focus on democracy. it starts with voting rights and goes to money and politics. it goes to senate rules where the senate actually legislates instead of putting everything on the shelf which is not in the constitution. it goes to judicial reform. democracy is the key. host: joseph, are you still with us? caller: yes. host: you said you are a first time caller, what makes you an independent? around foreignup service officers, so i was able to get both sides of the argument. i always thought there were two sides to every argument. i can't look at things in a biased manner. host: thanks for calling. hope you call in again down the

road. caller: from texas, a democrat, you are next. -- host: from texas, a democrat, you are next. caller: good morning, thank you to c-span. a city council person came to me and told me i could vote and i thought i could not. you have so many years to not vote. larry? larry: i think that's an important issue. our revolution was active in florida to get so-called ex felons, so-called return full rights to vote. that's absolutely critical for democracy that we consider everybody should have a right to vote and the issue of 4 million incarcerated people voting is

against a bedrock of any democracy. a topic we touch on is trying to pull up the map of felon voting rights by state. i will find that for you. specifically i wanted to talk about texas. the national council of state legislature is the best one i can find at the moment. in texas, voting rights lost until the completion of one's sentence than it is an automatic restoration after is how it works in texas. there are some states where felons never lose their right to vote, there are some states --re it is lost until while the person is incarcerated. we will find the easier to describe map for you as well and get that as we hear from mike from new jersey, republican. good morning. [indiscernible]

are you with us? caller: yes i am. i would like to ask the gentleman on tv, you are bragging about joe biden. tell me joe biden -- one thing joe biden has done in his 47 years in the senate. tell me that his faculties are there, that he is sharp in the brain and knows what he is doing. that's my comment. biden in thek joe campaign showed that his faculties are there. rantid not see joe biden and try to divide us up based on our race or our other beliefs. i think joe biden at every turn showed that he believes in bringing people together. he would be the first to say that it takes all of us. he is not saying he's a rocket scientist or that he is going to figure out infectious disease. he is saying that his best ability is to bring people together as he has done within the democratic party and now hopefully can help do within the country.

to that collar, i raised my family in new jersey and know that area well. let's figure out how to talk to each other and discuss some of the issues that might unite us rather than worry about one candidate versus another. the issueng back to of felony voting rights, the aclu with a map that shows it easier to read their, the states in red that all people with felony convictions are permanently disenfranchised, states in orange, people with felony convictions can vote upon the completion of their sentence. the blue states there on that map. recent ash people in prison cannot vote but everyone else can vote after they are out of prison. all available at aclu.org. issue of reform when it comes to prisons and felony voting rights i wonder your back,ts on the first step -- first step act, an act that

the trump administration touts. larry: not familiar with the details. if we are going to talk about prison as a way for individuals to get a new outlook, how can you possibly talk about that without citizenship being at the core? i think that is obviously a first step. i don't really know the details of that legislation. host: ottawa, iowa, randy, a democrat. good morning. caller: good morning, gentlemen. larry, i am a member of bernie's group. , and i havefor him known who he is and what he stands for for over 10 years. through the thom hartmann program.

it's going to raise taxes to help pay for things, and i think that's the right thing to do. that voices of normal

american tradition and caring for those, all americans. when i saw a friend of mine that i have known all my life talking about war against the communists and socialists who are just democrats who don't believe the lies, who don't like to be lied to and are tired of states like anducky, mississippi, alabama not paying anything in federal income tax but us yankee states with all the rebels, the insurgent party, are paying for them to steal jobs away from us so they can give tax cuts to corporations. host: that's randy in iowa. larry: randy, that was a lot. nice to hear a shout out to thom hartman there. i have spent a lot of time in iowa in the past five years. communities, river

the industrialized parts of iowa and i saw the tragedy there over the loss of manufacturing jobs due to u.s. trade policy from republican and democratic administrations. in iowa inlearned terms of the mix of the economy there. you said a lot of things. first of all, we have learned a new economic that in a time of this kind of unprecedented disaster federal spending is needed to keep the economy going and we don't need austerity at this time. what we need is federal spending to prime the pumps and stimulate the economy. u.s. can easily ask -- afford to expand the debt to save the country literally. i do think that president-elect biden will propose taxes particularly on billionaires, the new word we use instead of millionaires because of the wealth of the billionaires in

the last six months, i don't remember that number exactly but it is tens of billions of new dollars just for around 100 families that have been accumulated as the stock market ran up while unemployment was running out and so many of us faced the loss of our homes, loss of our jobs. i think taxes are about public spending and inequity and inequality. at all of will look that in the vita administration. host: a few minutes left with of ourohen revolution. what would you say to tony who writes in on twitter that "joe biden will harp on racial divisions at any opportunity. it is alive to say that his campaign was a unifying one." larry: i could not disagree more.

that is what we are getting rid of, what we are looking forward to is a president that will talk about black, brown, and white together and we'll talk about how we built this country with immigrants and native worn and native americans in recent years together, that we built this country in the last 50 years based on the milla -- illuminating segregation and racial hatred and that is the path to the future. most importantly that our children will fall in love with people whether they are black, brown, or white and if we have regards to our own children we better understand this is a multicultural society and that if we have some religious foundation in our lives that is based on love and not hate. is mary in las vegas, a democrat, good morning. caller: for the record, i have voted for republicans as well. i have some things to say. i don't see trump as a republican at all, he is a

full-blown authoritarian. his mission statement was to deconstruct our government, and we don't even know what's going on in our government. many have been so institutions that have been gutted and he has fired all the watchdogs, the inspector general's. we don't really know what is going on. my problem is with our bills. we have hundreds of bills out there, bipartisan bills that bench mcconnell does not bring to the floor. obstructing legislation for about 12 years now. we don't even know what the parties stand for because the bills don't make it to the floor. we hear the same old stuff on the media. rather than listening to the hearings and seeing what they are voting up and down against. host: mary, i want to let larry jump in on that about the bills

on the floor. you mentioned that you have voted for republicans in the past, who is the last republican you have voted for? we lost mary. larry: mary, you bring up a major point that needs way more focus which is how the senate functions. the good news would be that from oregon and others are trying to work with republicans, hard to do in the mitch mcconnell years to talk about the senate that functions basin -- based on majority support not a senate where a bill never comes to the floor for a vote and less it has 60 votes for initial closure. i am confident that senator --umer, should really will help reform the senate muchdure so that it is more typical for bills to come to the floor for a vote with a majority for debate, amendment,

and discussion. in the last 12 or so years with mcconnell as majority leader where if he doesn't support a bill it never comes to the floor for a discussion, amendment, or debate. you never hear from it again despite the fact that went through the house of representatives and hundreds are not more cases. we need to look more globally at what the rest of the world is doing, not just looking internally at ourselves and say no other democracy in the world functions like this, not only a half senate and executive branch and judiciary that acts like a legislature but with senate rules that prevents legislation from coming to the floor for discussion, debate, and amendment unless they have 60 votes or 60 -- a senate that has constituted a way where a very small of the population elects that 40% of the senate that can block

legislation from coming to the floor. host: from bills on the floor to bill in florida, and independent. bill, go ahead. caller: good morning. to help the prior collar and suggest that when your government is so vast that you don't know what is going on in it than it does need some deconstruction. over 70 million people voted for donald trump. how do you think -- what would be the best steps for the biden administration to take in order to unite those people with the more than 70 million that voted for joe biden? larry: great question. if i may, sorry, i jumped in. i think that the key is to look for issues that unite us. and to talk about, start with the pandemic. hopefully an issue that unites us. manyuffering of so

families suffering. how do we address that and how do we address the unemployment that resulted from it? how do we look at the health care crisis in a pandemic, one of the reasons why we have had more people die per capita than any other comparable country is the fact that millions of americans have no health care. that still the case, despite obamacare. particularly in this pandemic we should have been able to extend medicare and medicaid to all americans. we are spreading this disease from those who have no health care to others. we should care about them as human beings as well. i think the key is to start with issues. the $15 minimum wage directly affects the pandemic in terms of people possibility to survive. also those people below $15 are the same people with no health care.

i think we need to look at the issues that unite us and where we can quickly get an understanding that if we address those issues we will all be better off, we are all in the same boat on most of those issues because they are court our own happiness. host: those issues could come before the supreme court, could be struck down by the supreme court. where do you stand on the idea of packing the court? host: i think court reform is important, packing is a word that is going to turn off many people. i don't mean to be disagreeing with the word you use. i think judicial reform is essential. where the only nation in the world that i know of, the only democracy where the judiciary acts like a legislature and the congress can act to change that. that is not in our constitution. i think the judiciary is way out of line in terms of what it does and how ed looks at its role in

government. i think congress needs to address it. federal -- president carter expanded the federal judiciary. i think in terms of the supreme court we need to look at it down the road. that's where we start off -- i don't think that's where we start off at all. i do think we need to look at ourselves globally. do we really want a judiciary that acts as another congress? host: how far down the road, what would need to happen for you to consider adding seats to the supreme court? think a judiciary that eliminates the economic progress, economic, domestic legislation would start to signal that. again, we talk about medicare for all. there is no way that our founders believe that the federal judiciary should play a role in whether people have health care or not, nor could they have anticipated what health care would be like 250 years ago, nor should they.

i think that would be a classic issue that is before the court. we need to expand health care for all and not go backwards on it. the pandemic shows that. we have people that don't have health care and they will spread it to all of us. guest: jim wants to know more on the issue of health care. how do you extend medicare and medicaid to everyone? talk about what you would add? fory: what i would advocate we are likely not to see in a biden administration. i would extend medicare, biden medicare and medicaid is the wanted ministry to function. the administrative cost of medicare and medicaid are 3%, ivan insurance is at 20%. isare paying 17% for what being -- 17%, the average of other -- every other country is 4%. i would expand medicare and medicaid to cover all of us and

private insurance to go beyond that floor, similar to what candidates and many other countries have. that is a way to be sure that even in a pandemic we are all in the same boat and we don't have people who can't help but inspect other people. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans (202) 748-8001. independents (202) 748-8002. this is robert from randolph, massachusetts. a democrat, good morning. i like the temperament as you speak, mr. cohen, this is why we are saying that we cannot lead by power alone. we must lead by power of our example. this is why biden [indiscernible] shows people what qualifications

that can bring the country back, that keep us safe and a proud legacy. it's just like mr. alejandro. he said the only insect -- have the division that we have to stay as a power. we cannot got all of our agencies and all the people that work for us who disagreed, and we call them all kinds of names, dumb as a rock. this is what we had for four years, and this is why most people cannot even celebrate new year's this year. wait until january 21 until we can breathe the fatigue of the gas lighting and the fighting. we need this country back. anybody who thinks wrong of

biden, he can't run the country by himself. we need the world and our allies. the people who listen and disagree. we cannot go on like this. that guy calling in saying biden can put two sentences together, we have -- i couldn't agree more with that premise, that across the world we are growing closer together. that's not just the internet, not just transportation. grow closer together, more dependent particularly in terms of climate change on each other. we need to realize a basic objective truth that wherever we live in the world, whatever we faith,ke, whatever our 90% or more of what we believe it is the same and instead of

focusing on what divides us we need to focus on what unites those. i'm hopeful that the new government that we welcome in on january 20 will have that philosophy and that each of us as individuals will do our own part in listing -- i led the union for 12 years. have two ears and one mouth and need to listen twice as often as we talk. by listening and then speaking we found out how we built that unity, whether we live in rural america or in urban america or in suburban america, if we listen more and figure out what we have in common and act on that we will increase our happiness and that should be the goal of the political process. host: georgetown, kentucky. this is fail, good morning. caller: i got a comment, a question, and hopefully follow-up question. you lie about president trump,

you say he is divisive and biden is not. biden is the only one who kept telling the blacks and the latinos that trump was coming for them and all that stuff. you told lies about that. where do you stand on the second amendment, and do you really think you can take the guns away from us out here? and then i have a follow-up question if he will answer that. larry: i live and vote in rural maryland and i would never start from a premise of taking away guns. at all. i think there is an issue between taking away guns and gun safety, and again this is an area where we should listen to each other and find common ground. that when we look at mass shootings in this country there is no reason why we can't have background checks on guns. and gun owners. the is not an invasion of second amendment. the second amendment was not based on at all first of the

notion that everybody should have whatever armaments they want to have, automatic weapons or not. i think we need to look for common ground on issues like gun safety. we are not going to agree on everything in this country. we are never going to have a congress or a senate or anyone else, even in my family we don't agree on everything. i think the key is not to take a single issue or a couple of issues and say i can't talk to -- we can't talk to each other anymore because if we agree on that we can't find anything else to agree on. when he to look at the things that we do agree on and change those things. host: we are running short on time, quick follow-up? caller: i believe you are lying and need to read the second amendment again. it is based on us being able to protect ourselves from the government. people like you who will come take our guns away so we can't defend ourselves and we become little sheep you can control. host: did you want to respond?

larry: no, that's ok. host: we go to jane, democrat in illinois. caller: i was a member of the cwa in 1957, i was on the picket line and my husband was picketing. i found him in the picket line. my question is, 70 million , ande voted for mr. trump i am wondering how we can reeducate those people so they don't vote for an unfit man and unqualified person? thanks for the phone call. what was it about your husband that stuck out in the picket line for you? caller: he was very handsome. host: what is his name? caller: i'd rather not say. host: that's ok. larry: that's a great story for me.

i think that we have to talk in every community where we live across those political lines. i think particularly in terms of local government where we live, rural, urban, suburban, we have to look for issues that unite us like better education that we can work on together, like how we can take care of our seniors if they need long-term care and need to be in a nursing home after all their resources are used up and only then qualify for medicaid. there are many issues across this country that unite us and where we can say to each other we can disagree on certain things. we could listen and hear each other on certain things. let's focus on things where we agree and let's look for our government at the local, state, and national level. even locally to do those things that can increase our happiness

and can increase -- when we get make ad we can difference and improve the lives of our self and our children. host: thank you for your time. about 25 minutes left in our program for today and for the remainder of our program we will be hearing from you, our viewers come about business and government closures across the country due to covid-19. a headline from the washington post "health experts fear the thanksgiving aftermath could bring a spike in infections." we want to hear what is happening in your town, you're part of the country. here are the phone lines. in the eastern or central united states, (202) 748-8000. in the mountain or pacific regions (202) 748-8001. in the wake of yesterday being small business saturday, we want to hear from small business

owners and employees about closers and restrictions impacting you. start calling in now and we will be right back. ♪ ♪ >> on thanksgiving weekend, we want to thank our c-spanners working remotely and in the office to continue to provide you with an unfiltered view of government and politics. ♪

♪ >> washington journal continues. about whatnt to hear

is happening in your part of the country when it comes to covid-19 closures and restrictions, having this conversation at the end of the thanksgiving holiday. today expected to be another heavy travel day around the country for those who did not abide by recommendations of public health officials to stay home for the thanksgiving holiday. millions expected to go through the airports once again this sunday at the end of thanksgiving. here are some of the latest numbers on covid infections and hospitalizations and deaths. some 4 million americans have been diagnosed with the coronavirus in this month alone, twice the previous record which was set last month. more than 2000 people dying every day. over 2 million people past three u.s. airports the day before thanksgiving. on thanksgiving day, hospitalizations in the united states exceeded 90,000 people. the following day the country hit 13 million cases, at least

nine states have seen one in every 1000 residents die of the coronavirus. in the wake of those numbers, the ongoing spike. we want to hear about what is happening in your part of the country when it comes to new closures or new restrictions you are seeing. in the eastern or central united states it is (202) 748-8000. in the mountain or pacific regions (202) 748-8001. small business owners and employees (202) 748-8002. want to hear from folks on that line in the wake of yesterday beings small business saturday. what you are seeing in your stores and what sort of restrictions or closures might be impacting you. several of the major papers today also focusing on tiptoeing back into classrooms as the new york times puts it in school districts around the country,

the efforts to get children back in school to get schools opened again. the washington post also open -- focusing on this topic as well. they write in their story that the question confronting many school districts that offered in person learning this fall weeks before the coronavirus surge start whipping before the united states, as more data suggest that schools do not appear to significantly's -- significant fuel committee spread, elected and school officials who favor open classrooms are contending with the spiraling virus threatening to overwhelm the threat joe staffing systems and contact tracing that keeps the -- let us know what is happening in your part of the country when it comes to closures and restrictions. this is frederick from florida, good morning. thank you for taking my

call. comments on a couple of the -- the past couple of guests you have had on. first of all, a political comment. that theyks saying are hopeful that the trump supporters will become more politicse and approach from a more accepting open-minded standpoint. i think it's going to be hard trump see them and the supporters and trump himself nonstop attack for the past four years and then to quote unquote forgive that and behave differently is going to be really challenging and difficult. , your as covid goes speaker, your last guest was commenting on how bad we have handled things in the united states and why our mortality rate is not the worst in the country -- in the world per capita, but is certainly not

anything to be proud of. one thing folks don't realize is our behavior and our overall health in this country is obesity, type two diabetes. we also treat our elderly different than they do in you can countries receive dialysis or go on a ventilator if you are 80 years old or 90 years old in this country. we keep people alive much longer by supporting them, and we don't see that in other countries. these folks are very vulnerable. see not unexpected that we the mortality rate in a country and we look at -- you can look at infant mortality is also terrible in this country. it's not because we don't do a good job in our neonatal intensive care units, we have a huge problem with drug addiction in mothers. it's complicated and it's not being a physician. i feel offended when we are

criticized about how quote unquote terrible health care is in our country when we are fighting an overall battle because of the general health of our population. host: what kind of doctor are you? caller: a gastroenterologist. host: what is happening on the ground in milton, florida. caller: it's right outside of pensacola, a suburb of pensacola. a have a 700 bed hospital and 750 bed hospital. we have a lot of folks getting tested positive nowadays. you can look online and look at the statistics of our area, the mortality rate is about average with the rest of the country. working in the hospital every day, the people that are dying, there are exceptions to that. yesterday, onet of our recently retired anesthesiologists who is very fit and healthy unfortunately passed away two days ago. there are exceptions to what i'm

saying, i don't mean overly generalized, but if you look at the folks that are dying in the hospital, most of them are very unhealthy people and they are challenging for us even before covid. they spend a lot of time in the hospital and we take care of the complications associated with their chronic illness that is primarily due to the choices they make in life, either too much food, too much smoking, too much alcohol, or too much drugs. host: a few other folks waiting to get in. heading to the land of lincoln, this is james, a small business owner. what kind of business? caller: good morning. number one, thank you for what you do and god bless america. i own businesses and have been an employee of them. i've been my 70's. i did dignitary security for the greatest people in america.

number one, i want to tell you, performance, your it's fantastic. people need that, and americans have to come together as one. i have risked my life my whole life as a bodyguard for the greatest people in the world. and for the average guy and woman. as one.to come together there is always going to be anger, there is always going to be differences. you wanto choice, if to keep america we have to come together as one. james in illinois, this is casey in oregon. what does it look like in that area of oregon when it comes to closures and restrictions? restaurants are

closed and the schools are mostly closed. host: what about mask mandates restrictions when it came to thanksgiving? per house, people nobody from outside your home. mandated supposedly when you go into businesses and most people are wearing them. host: you get a sense that people are ok with the restrictions that have been put in place? caller: no. i don't get that sense. i get a strong sense people are not ok with it. they are going along with it for now. hopefully it ends soon. there is a lot of controversy over these masks and mandates. host: how much longer do you think people in your area will be generally ok going along with it? caller: not much longer i

wouldn't think. there is a lot of controversy over this from what i've been hearing from people. it does not help that you go on the cdc and they state that they have never once stated that masks do any good for you. that doesn't help things. there is a lot of controversy and that's to be expected. that is casey with a view from oregon. this is ken from golden valley, arizona. caller: good morning. i don't believe we should ever shut down the country because of the covid, businesses or schools. i don't think anybody really knows from what i have listened to i don't think anyone really knows how covid spreads completely. outink we are going to find that shutting the schools and shutting down businesses in the country has done far more damage

than probably the covid ever will. thank you. host: we have that special line in this segment for small business owners and employees. , the day after small business saturday. if we talk about covid closures and restrictions on the local and state level, let us know what is happening in your community. yesterday in d.c. vice president-elect kamala harris was visiting some businesses in d.c. and chatted with reporters about the issue of small business closures. here's a bit of what she had to say. here with a great mayor of washington dc, marriott bowser to celebrate the small , but toes that are here celebrate small businesses all over our country. they are suffering and we want to support our small businesses. they are an essential part of

the lifeblood of the community, part of the civic and social fabric of the community. started one and for small businesses in our country have closed. we know that we are going to get beyond this virus and we want to make sure that we sub stain the small businesses that help through this moment so they can continue to do what they do which is about being not only business leaders but civic leaders. they are part of the culture and part of the vitality of communities. we are here to celebrate our small businesses and we want to thank the mayor for hosting us. vice president-elect kamala harris in washington, d.c.. back to your phone calls, let us know what closures and restrictions look like in your part of the country at the tail end of the thanksgiving holiday. this is sandra from florida. good morning. caller: it is pompano beach. host: i always get that wrong.

i apologize, i will do better. to make a quick comment on your guess that you had when the caller called in and as far as the division between different parties. i wanted to let you know that he never addressed the one, the color did make as far as with biden saying about, if you're not a democrat -- supposed black you are to be voting democrat. fault as farare at as dividing this country. now for your topic as far as the covid, i went out on black friday, and i'm in south florida. it's very sad. the mom-and-pop shops are closed up and boarded up. the only things they have to offer are the big-box and franchise stores that are open.

than a quarter of what we are used to seeing every year for black friday. . we are doing such a disservice education --in the they have probably been put back a year or two years in learning, it's really terrible. they are depressed. i work with special needs children. it's affecting the kids who are not special needs and the adults. we need to stay open. i'm a firm believer in that. if everything is shut down, what is going to happen? host: are you talking specifically about school staying open or in general? caller: small businesses, schools, we have to keep going. we have to, we are america for crying out loud.

we cannot just shut everything down and expect the government to be paying a love our bills. i understand the people who have lost their jobs and they are in dire straits, i get that. going. to keep we cannot just shut down, and i'm not trying to belittle all the deaths in the united states and around the world. that people find are trying to wear the masks and trying to socially distance when they are out? caller: in my area, yes. when you go in the store we do wear the mask. like myself and many others, as soon as we hit the exit door those masks are coming off. you have to figure, we are in florida. it's warmer here than up north. it's not there to keep our face warm. florida isno beach, where sandra is. a few more folks want to get in

with less than 10 minutes left in the program. fulks sending text messages as well. albany, banks did not close, real estate did not close, landlords are going to get a tax cut for the money they lost on rent, all of them have their hands out for government money. this is bill from ohio. good morning to you in the buckeye state. caller: morning. there is nothing here i have noticed that has changed. want to doything i and go anywhere i want to go. i have not seen a store close. host: are schools closed? caller: no. no. host: what about mask mandates? they haveeryone says them, but what are you going to do? get in a fight with someone? about 75% of the people wear them, but you will get the ones that just refuse.

you can't say anything, what are you going to do? host: still with us? caller: yes, are you there? with the college football situation, i happen to usher at a major college football venue. we have fans at the games, not a full crowd, then there is the big ten, i watch the michigan game and it's pathetic, there is no one there. there was no one there. what is going on with that? why is there no uniformity to that at all? that is bill in ohio this morning. to the land of enchantment. this is rod and gallup, new mexico. a small business owner. what kind of business? , c-span.ood morning i'm a small business owner. i'm a one-man shop.

and --re commercial tire repair. host: how is business going? downr: business is up and due to covid. i am classified as an essential business because of the work i do. i work with the city and the county to do repairs and stuff. for: what has that meant you and your employees? what sort of precautions does that mean you have to take or changes to how you do your business? caller: i don't have any employees. i'm a one-man shop. precautions i deal with people that come off of i-40, it's a major thoroughfare. i have contact with people all over the country. i have found that i wear a mask.

i take care of myself and i work alone a lot which is helpful. because of the shutdowns, everything is reduced. i live near the navajo reservation. we are a border town out here. they have been doing what they call the lockdowns from the beginning. there is really not any lockdowns. people are getting really tired of it. stores andown the small businesses and construction sites and things like that which has a direct .mpact on what i am doing it makes it more difficult. now and i it is right would like to see people use some common sense here. i have been working every day since the beginning and i take the precautions necessary when they are necessary.

if generally people would do that you will be all right. host: when is that, just wearing a mask, washing your hands, social distancing? don't go to crowded indoor facilities? caller: basically. i wear a mask, you take the normal hygiene that's always good, it doesn't matter if it's cold or anything else? it is difficult with the lockdowns here. the governor just did another one. the problem being it's not because they are funneling people into places. walmartot a big city, is the biggest store. home depot -- all of the smaller shops, everybody cannot go in there now or they have closed them down, but the box stores like some

callers have mentioned they are full. there are 50 people standing in line before you can even get to the store. everybody intoed that one location instead of leaving things open and letting the business owners take the precautions they feel are necessary and spreading out people. host: thank you for the call from new mexico. kenneth is in florence, oregon. you are next. caller: i would like to comment on the doctor that was on earlier about that we have requirements in the united states and we keep people alive a lot longer. what are we supposed to do, let all of our old people die? kenneth, do you want to

add anything about what you are seeing in your part of the country? caller: yes. in oregon, every time we try to open schools two to three kids get infected, and they are in ,ontact with their whole class and before you know what there is no one there to go to school. host: that is kenneth in florence, oregon. time for one or two more calls. ellyn, illinois. caller: the gentleman two calls the point.ting near what is happening here is you have the globalists and the oligarchs stand to benefit from the demise of small business. small business is the engine of this economy and it's quite an impediment to the oligarchs and

the globalists. and donere shut down away with they stand to gain the most. you can see the pressure coming down from on top. we have a billionaire governor in this state, he is all over shutting everything down and it makes total sense, the more they can shut down the more they stand to gain. it's pretty simple. from barbarae call in north palm beach, california. everything is working fine. the closing businesses and schools is not the answer. why can the big stores be open and the small stores not? it makes zero cents. it's a way of destroying the country and destroying the education. kids are never going to get up -- catch up. it's ridiculous and it's never

going to improve. i'm a former democrat and i changed when it became obvious that the democrats don't care about the people. i don't understand what their motive is, children need to be in school and people need to keep working. the country will be destroyed and go bankrupt. it's not a solution. host: barbara from florida. our last caller, we will be back here tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern. in the meantime, have a great sunday. ♪ >> coming up today on c-span.

if you missed any of today's "washington journal," you can watch it again next. after that a hearing on prescription drug pricing. later, we hear from african-american business leaders on race and economic opportunity. ♪ c-span, yourtching unfiltered view of government. cabled by america's television companies and brought to you today by your television provider. >> 2020 was a historic year for women. firsthe election of the woman vice president, and it happened in the year of the 100 anniversary of the woman's right to vote. journalist and author elaine weiss on her book "the woman's our," about the ratification of the 19th amendment. >> and it has