seats and the gop's control of the chamber. and hear fromults the candidates in these final races of campaign 2020. live coverage on c-span, c-span.org, and the free c-span radio app. >> with covid-19 relief legislation approved by congress and coronavirus vaccines being administered, use our website, followorg/coronavirus to the federal response to the coronavirus outbreak. track the spread with interactive maps, all at c-span.org/coronavirus. ed by a familiar face, syndicated columnist clarence page on this christmas morning. also, they tend list on the mclaughlin group, available on youtube and select pbs stations. clarence page, welcome in merry

christmas. guest: merry christmas to you, bill. host: we started asking our viewers and listeners about this christmas day 2020 at how things have changed over the past year. politicsandemic and affected the gatherings and celebrations on christmas 2020. what are your thoughts? guest: we did not have any idea a year ago what kind of impact the pandemic was going to have. it would be a pandemic. it wasn't until mid-march they shut down borders. we realized this would grind our society to a halt. nachos here but across the western world. -- not just here but across the western world. it changed the election prospects a lot. president trump was doing well. he had not reached 50% as far as

approval, which is kind of a distinction of has among modern presidents. he was scoring well on the economy as an issue. on his way to possibly a victorious contest, but look what happened. the way he handled the pandemic, whether you approve or not, had a big impact on how people perceived his presidency. i think that was the biggest issue, the handling of the pandemic. thebiden was a return to old. even those who were aggressively pushing for the new nonetheless are willing to compromise and put him in the office. it did change a lot of perceptions. host: what are your concerns about the final 25 days of the trump administration?

this weekend for the uncertainty over the passage of additional covid relief and the uncertainty over the outcome of the vote in congress on the electoral college on january 6? day fort's a great complicated questions. i will try to simplify it. me anda big surprise to other folks when president trump turned around and decided the compromise bill hammered out with such great effort was not good enough for him. he wanted more money and direct payments for folks put out of work by the -- to working america. he wanted $2000. he democrats were delighted because that is what they wanted all along. trump decidedent to do that?

president trump never really was a republican. i was saying this all along. record was closer to democratic politicians then republicans. -- than republicans. he put his own party and something of a box because either the bill -- he already vetoed it. will he get his veto overridden? something the democrats are in best position to decide. overridehe republicans his veto? to -- that's a big question.

if they don't, or if the democrats do pass it with $2000, that will make trump look good in people from his own party look like they were weak as far as supporting working-class americans. he put his own party into a box here. we will see what happens. host: have you seen a president and members of his own party -- he put them in a box. has there ever been the sort of president andn a members of his own party on the hill? no,. not out in the well, no, not in the open. a lot of republicans were displeased by president trump's policies and his moves. his solid support, almost

rocksolid, 80% or more among republicans. that has been the story. mitch mcconnell, the republican leader and other republicans don't want to get between trump and his supporters. democracy in action, hardball democracy. that is what makes him a popular politician. working-classd to and middle-class americans, struggling middle-class. you use the term "middle-class," you are talking about 90% of americans. most will say they are struggling is well with the economy these days. hero ofpears to be the that group. and as a leader in that struggle. it has not been consistent as far as his actions in favor of the tax breaks.

they mostly benefited the upper, upper income. image ofess, his shaking things up on behalf of working-class americans has been very successful. especially among white americans. host: we are talking politics with clarence page. we welcome your calls and comments that (202) 748-8001. that's the republican line. democrats use (202) 748-8000. her independents and others -- for independents and others, (202) 748-8002. a couple of pieces he wrote after the election. in "theion piece chicago tribune." time to lose the labels. more embarrassing for democrats in the year of racial reckoning, the share of black, hispanic, and women voters won by joe biden and kamala harris went

down compared to four years ago. the message from voters to democrats seems to be no, we might not like trump but we are not crazy about you guys either. --t message do you think what failed with democrats in terms of losses you were talking about in the u.s. house? failed goes back to the reagan days. ronald reagan successfully persuaded a lot of middle-class swing voters, especially white and some black folks that he was the advocate for them in their struggle. , you held him here conservatives talk about it. workingme gap between class americans and upper-class has widened and widened. i use the example of growing up in southern ohio i was able to work at a steel mill to pay my

tuition to ohio university. when i started school it was only $750. drop now but the last time i checked tuition was about $14,000 to $15,000. that's a good state university. same thing across the country. that was my avenue into the middle class. that i was from a blue-collar family. after college i was able to have entry into the middle class. the group that had the only despited real income inflation has been those who have at least two years of schooling past high school. that is different than it used to be. we saw this coming intellectually but it is here and it has been here for years.

a failure to address that is a big reason why democrats are beginning to lose working-class americans and they are attracted to the republicans. -- successfully reached out to both groups and was able to put together a coalition and reelected him later on. barack obama followed a similar pattern. obamas where you have the -trump voters who voted for --ma twice and ist: do you think joe biden in a position to reach those middle-class americans? -- whatcifically helices do they have to propose and get passed? the highest ranking

democrat in the house who endorsed biden during the primaries. his victory in south carolina after losing iowa and new hampshire, nevada. that turned around the campaign n in the end.e wo why were they attracted? they said we know joe and joe knows us. love joe biden or hate him, he was the guy who has been identified with working-class americans in the union vote throughout his career. that really helped him a great deal in terms of the public's impressions of him. joe was coming into a world of media, where media and politics wee been married to a degree

have our first former reality tv show president. he has been very effective at using the media. trump has been effective at using media to build his image and put pressure on certain politicians and praise for others. biden, because so many people know joe biden when he walks into a room or peers on the scene, he was able to pull together folks he wanted away from trump and those who were ideologically driven. what difference will he make? issues like infrastructure, infrastructure repair, which the nation is long overdue for. that has been boxed in gridlock for years. republicans and democrats had difficulty moving legislation. if anybody can do it, joe can. that's an issue where he can have a positive impact as far as bringing both sides together.

mitch mcconnell expressed -- joel of joe biden's biden being his bargaining partner. they have known each other for so long as well. we will see what the result of that will be. host: back to the presidential race. the washington post with analysis. democrats large gains surpassed their losses. the area the democrats gained in votes was the syrups beyond the suburbs, military posts, college towns, urban ngburbs, middle suburbs, grayi america and rural america. they lost lds enclaves, hispanic centers, big cities, aging farmlands, native american lands, evangelical hubs, working-class country and the african-american south. are you surprised democrats lost votes in big cities? guest: two things here.

votes.tioned evangelical it's interesting that donald trump, who violated seven or eight of the 10 commandments, has been so popular with evangelicals. he's been very effective at pushing the issues they care about. they care about the supreme court much more than liberals. the supreme court mean something. that is what i was able to go to a desegregated school after brown versus the board. as a ring court has always meant a lot to black folks. -- the supreme court has always meant a lot to black folks. boat, joe biden -- urban vote, joe biden was not as effective to reaching out to black voters as he might have been. he was not another barack obama. he was barack obama's vice president so that was a big help for him.

the turnout could have been a lot lower if it wasn't for the fact he was barack obama's vice president and he played that tremendously well. i think it worked for him. divide and the inner suburbs, outer suburbs and rural areas, that divide has been very important. . biden turned around a lot of swing vote areas in his favor simply because people trusted him as being a more traditional kind of democrat who was not pushing unpopular issues. column how the defund the police was a good example of how liberals can lead a slogan get out of control. it was something mentioned by the french left but embraced by left but -- fringe

embraced by the right. that was the biggest burden joe biden and democrats had in the swing vote areas, the obama-trump areas. that is where biden was able to overcome that. if bernie sanders won the nomination, i don't think he would have gotten that kind of result. sanders said too much over trump with the s word, socialism. you saw how that worked in miami with refugee hispanic families fascism.n american that would've been an uphill climb. the democratic party has moved in a more progressive direction. that's another thing we will seek reemerge in the future. host: let's get to your calls. ron in west chesterfield, new hampshire. caller: good morning, washington journal and mr. page. i am honored to speak with you,

sir. guest: thank you. caller: merry christmas. you mentioned the evangelical christians which came out in droves to elect donald trump. i have got to say they have got to be some of the biggest hypocrites out there. seriously. how anybody could claim to have announced of religion in them and for donald trump is beyond me -- an ounce of religion in them and for donald trump is beyond me. he's a gambler. they are a bunch of hypocrites. they must have sold their souls to try to get some of their legislation through to look for donald trump. donald trump is a disgrace. where is he? we have a rating pandemic killing people by the hundreds of thousands. we have russians hacking and everything. these data mar-a-lago golfing? seriously? this is a president?

he's not a president. he is a clown. that is all he has ever been. i would never vote republican. you could not pay me enough to vote republican ever. host: clarence page? you.: thank it is true. i shared that confusion and surprise that trump got as much evangelical support as he did. talking to evangelical friends and newsmakers, this is across the country. especially since the early reagan years. that was when the christian vigorously on the republican side. especially around the issue of abortion. we start dealing with life versus choice in this country, there is nothing that strikes more deeply in the heart of americans, whichever side they

are on. that is one issue that can help a one-issue candidate like trump. inwanted to appoint justices the antonin scalia a model. that resonated -- antonin scalia model. they were willing to put up with soiled resume, the controversial resume of donald trump to give her they wanted out of the court. you see what has happened now. three justices he has been able to put on the court and his model image of the scalia justices. where he got the surprise was chief justice roberts and the other conservative appointees he

made did not back him up in his bid to overturn the election. all.pressed betrayal and the rest of us, a lot of us expressed rate delight our institutions held together. the fact you appoint somebody to be a justice does not mean they are going to always give decisions in your favor. chicago-style hardball politics. i grew up in this profession with that. it has not happened in washington. that is the one thing that keeps us from becoming a dictatorship. caller: good morning. i have family that graduated from athens, ohio. i had this conversation with you on c-span several years ago. donald trump was nothing. he was just a guy he would make

these boring speeches until he went on the view and made his comment about barack obama's birth certificate. he shot to the top of the polls precisely because of that. when you talk to trump man, they sayo a they hated barack obama so much that they were willing to attack him because of a lie. republicans were willing to support donald trump because he won the republican nomination based on that lie. republicans 90% of think donald trump is not a racist, but 85% of democrats do. we as a country do not care about facts, so long as partisan identity politics are part of the discussion. they cannot accept he is a racist. that is why you have people like paul ryan saying, yes, the man is a racist but at least he is not hillary clinton. at least he is not a democrat. host: all right, terrence.

guest: that is something i have observed as well. i like paul ryan. i have written columns about some of his ideas. he's a thinking conservative. and not against compromise in order to push the ideas forward. fromis quite different tribal conservatives. our politics have become more tribal lysed on the right and left. -- tribalized on the right and the left. the first question is republican or democrat? they will base on the answer to that question their vote. that is voting with the tribe. there is nothing new about that but it does mean a lot of other good ideas can fall by the wayside because nobody is pushing the idea.

maybe we have been doing this wrong. maybe we should try a new approach. as a columnist who i'm looking for reform ideas for housing, education. other say you can't trust the fill-in in the blank party and that's the way they decide to vote. there are some evangelicals who use biblical examples. cyrus who wasng not jewish but when out of his way to protect the jews. that was symbolic of what donald trump, how he is viewed many evangelicals. he is not one of us but he goes with us -- votes with us. i feel like among the upper

midwest they try to be more pragmatic, less tribal. ohio was a great swing state for most of my lifetime. now it is recently getting redder. result of these issues i've been talking about. >> you're watching c-span, your unfiltered view of government. c-span was created by america's table -- cable television companies in 1979. these companies provide c-span2 viewers as a public service. >> on tuesday, january 5, the balance of power in the senate will be decided by the winners of the georgia runoffs.

republican senators purdue and leffler are defending their seats. the crack -- challengers are jon ossoff and raphael warnock. follow the results and hear from the candidates in the final races of campaign 2020. ♪ >> registration is officially open. >> every year, short films are made showcasing disability.