unfiltered view of government. c-span was created by america's cable television companies in 1979. today, we are brought to you by these television companies who provide c-span to viewers as a public service. >> today at 1:30 p.m. eastern, president biden will talk about health care access and affordability. he will sign executive orders addressing those matters, watch live coverage on c-span. also on c-span, watch white house press secretary news briefing and will answer questions about the president's health care at 2:30 p.m. eastern here on c-span. continues. host: joining us to talk about the future of the republican party is paris dennard with republican national committee, the senior communication advisor for black media affairs. let's begin with what you do for the rnc?

guest: first of all, good morning to everyone. thank you for having me on the program. i am honored to be working at the republican national committee as the senior advisor for black media affairs. my primary responsibility is to directly engage on a regular basis with the black media across the country. that includes television, radio, and black newspapers. when our chairwoman asked me to come over, she said i want to make sure the republican party is reaching voters everywhere they are, in particular, black american voters. we know they are not always watching c-span, they are not always watching other cable network news programs, they are not always reading the major newspaper publications like the washington post or the new york times. we know they like to read the black newspapers in their local communities.

when i was growing up in arizona, my grandparents subscribe to the arizona republic, but also the arizona informant, which is a black owned newspaper to get news more connected to our community. because of those relationships throughout the campaign, our chairwoman wants to continue the engagement effort, they want me to stay on and do this work and i am proud to now author a weekly column in the newspaper in north carolina giving my conservative opinion in this black newspaper. that is what i do. i am engaging with the black community through media to highlight the things that the trump administration that was doing that was positively impacting the community and republicans in congress that what they were doing was positively impacting the community. now this new season we are in

with the democrats controlling the house, the senate, as well as the white house, it is part of my job to articulate all of the things i think the black community should know that might be something not covered in the major news, that might not be of great benefit to our community from a republican and conservative perspective, as well as provide an alternative highlight of things the party is doing, highlight things republican members of congress and our senators and state legislators and things the rnc happens to be doing to empower and encourage and uplift. host: the former president has indicated he could run again in 2024. the rnc chairwoman on wednesday said the gop -- the rnc would state neutral in the next presidential primary. what went into that decision-making? guest: it is insider baseball,

which i am proud to explain to your audience. the rnc has rules and regulations like any other organization. part of the rnc long-standing rules and regulation is that in political contests across the nation, whether it is congress, the house of representatives, or the united states senate, if there is a primary, our position is to remain neutral. we do not weigh in on republican primary elections, meaning we do not support this candidate over this candidate. candidate a over candidate b, because we are the republican national committee. we support the republican nominee. therefore during the present election that happened, the republican national committee always had it we are to remain neutral, meaning we will not show favoritism, we will not give finances or resources or boots on the ground to support one candidate over the other.

that is the same going into 2024. if a candidate comes forward and says they want to be running for president and it happens to be former president trump, then the republican national committee would remain neutral in terms of our support and resources until we have a nominee. once we have a nominee elected by the republican party, then the republican national committee will endorse and support them in every way possible they also work around necessary financial resources. the decision is not just because it was reflective of former president donald trump. this is the case because that is our bylaws. this is not to be seen as going after or not wanting to endorse or support president trump or any other person who may or may

not be running in this upcoming primary. it is our bylaws. host: we saw testimony earlier this week in the senate on the question of whether or not to convict president trump for inciting violence at the capitol on january 6. it looks like there's not enough republicans to convict him. i want you to respond to democratic senator tim kaine talking to reporters yesterday on his efforts to censure the former president. >> i have been talking with a number of my colleagues, a handful for couple of weeks about the likelihood we would fall short on impeachment. by doing that, notably would we fall short but we would use time for something we could be using for covid relief, which i think is so dire. i've been exploring that. i think there has been some interest, but we have to do something with it. the vote on the motion yesterday

was completely clarifying we will not get near 67 votes. i think there is more interest, could this be an alternative? i've drafted something, i've not filed it yet as i'm trying to get other people's ideas about what should be in it. i am hoping we might find it and it could be an alternative. host: paris dennard, does republican national committee support a censure of president trump? guest: aptly not. the republican national -- absolutely not. the republican national committee position is clear that this is a waste of time and resources for the senate to be trying to impeach or convict or do anything applied to someone no longer in office. president trump is no longer the president of the united states. he is the former president of the united states. why would congress choose at the

time of a global pandemic to focus their time and energy and the taxpayer money on impeachment trial for a censure vote. it is a complete waste of time. the democrats have said, joe biden has said they are focused on unity. if they want to be focused on unity, on bringing the country together, if they want to find ways to reach out to the 74 plus million people who voted for president trump, if they want to be focused on doing things the american people want to happen in this country, which is respond to the global pandemic, dress them of the economic concerns, get the country open so people can go back to work and provide for their families and put food on the table, he will not do that, he will not be successful in unifying the nation by pursuing overtly political things. ughts on a current member of congress. wana

current member of congress wanta current member of congress. politico has this headline -- representative jimmy gomez drops efforts to oust marjorie taylor greene from congress. this comes after green's facebook page featured several accounts of violence against democrats and federal agents. she said in a comment that a bullet to the head would be quicker than removing nancy pelosi from her leadership. she said removal or death for policy does not matter, as long as she goes. she responded to another commenter, who suggested hanging barack obama and hillary clinton by saying stages put in place and we must patient. this must be done patiently or liberal judges will let them off. she also suggests execution for fbi agent who were viewed as

working for the deep state against president donald trump. do you think she should be a member of congress? does the rnc think that? guest: i think ultimately, that is up to the voters who elected her to be put in that position. the republican national committee stands with the voters and we support the voters' de cision. i think if the voters who put her in office feel she is doing a good job, it is up to them. that is the way our system works. it is the same thing when you look at what maxine waters said in terms of getting in the face and pushing back and going and getting people that are republican or trump supporters, get them out. no -- those comments that she made, if people find those to be flagrant or aggressive, that is up to the voters. a black republican ran against

her and the people of the district voted to keep maxine waters in office. that ultimately is a decision voters have to make. do these people represent me? do they say things that i like or don't like? it's up to the voters. host: on the proposal by representative gomez, it takes a two thirds majority to expel a member from the house. his resolution is certainly to fail in a senate where democrats hold a razor thin majority. we want to take your comments. phone lines are on your screen, start dialing in now. you recently wrote an op-ed talking about diversity in the republican party. do you believe there is enough diversity? guest: i think that the republican party is diverse. can there always be more? absolutely. i would love to see a day where

the republican party , the republican president running for office can get 60%, 70% of the black vote. yes, there is always room to improve, but what we see under the leadership of chairman ronna mcdaniel, and looking at the leadership of president trump and the agenda that he had, there is no doubt that the republican party expanded, that we grew. our base is stronger, our base is bigger because we have more diverse americans from all walks of life and racial, ethnic backgrounds coming to our party, agreeing with the free enterprise systems, with lower taxes, with the agenda president trump put in place over four years that the republican national committee supported. in this election, in terms of opening up and hearing these

voices from black community centers and latino community centers and asia-pacific communities, it turned out to be a successful model for engagement because we were in the community. we did run ads and talk to people in their community, because it is important to do. i believe if you look at, which my op-ed talked about, the diversity that came into the congress, the unprecedented number of republican and conservative women that were elected, when you look at the black americans that were elected. congressman byron donalds, the op-ed i wrote about, has a majority-minority office. that is impressive. there has been a lot of talk that there will be people he can't identify, minorities or women to work in congress, republicans, where are they? he found them, because he was intentional about it. the republican national

committee has been intentional about engaging and finding those minorities who want to work, who want to have a chance in the rising stars program, which identifies young americans in indiana. the gop has a diversity initiative which has the support of their governor and their entire party, and they are growing the gop. you look at the successes we had in california with congressman mike garcia and others, michelle parks steel, who was elected, these are asian american women. these are positive indicators that the party is going in the right direction. having over 60 some odd black republicans run for congress this past year and having 29 of them become our republican nominees, these are positive indicators that the party is going in the right direction. i am proud to be a part of it and help move it in that direction, because it is a priority of the republican national committee and a

priority -- it was a priority of our former president and is something that will continue. it will definitely continue and our party will grow. host: let's go to shawna, democrat, california. you are up first. caller: good morning. my question is, what is it that the republican party can do is a whole for them to reunite and bring our country together and for democrats also to come in and reunite with republicans? we are all really not looking good as a whole for americans. i watch c-span every morning. i am very discouraged some of the stuff that i hear, but it does not discourage me from watching. i would like to know, what can the republican party do as a whole to unite, because it

doesn't sound good when you are talking about having a patriot party outside the republican party. as a democrat, i am willing to work with uniting with republicans so we can bring our country back together as a whole , because america is one of the best countries in the world. well, is the best country in the world. host: does the rnc support a patriot party? then you can respond to her question about unity. guest: no, the rnc does not support a patriot party. we believe the republican party is the home for the most freethinking, independent-minded, free enterprise focused people who want to continue on fighting for the america first agenda that president trump has put in place on the conservative principles and values that we hold and have held dear for many years as the republican party. we believe it is the home for many more americans, but we have

to earn the trust of people like shawna, who says she is a democrat willing to work across the lines, across the political aisle to get things done. that's what we want. there are people like vernon jones, the state representative out of georgia, who was a democrat and now became a republican, because he said the democrat party left him. i believe there are a lot of democrats out there, especially in states like california, that are looking at the state of the democrat party and saying, i don't recognize it. i feel like they are more radical, liberal and i don't think the agenda items reflect where i am as a voter. i think more of them are saying, what can we do to move the country forward? yes, the republican national committee and republican leaders in congress stand ready to work to bring people together to have positive and possible response to legislation that does not

hurt the american people. we are going to put forward things and support things like lower taxes. regardless of the party that stands up for the rights for the unborn, we are going to be the party that fights for parents to have the right choice in school, because we know it is good. we are trying to remove barriers to entry, barriers to minorities and women and others trying to advance, any american. we want to have those regulations removed. if there is policy out there, like we saw with criminal justice reform, like we saw with opportunity zones, if there is good policy, let's come together and work towards the end, which is to ensure that the american people have a fighting chance to survive and a fighting chance to thrive, because in a global pandemic, we have to look at our foreign adversaries and ask

them, what are they looking at us to fail? are they looking at us to slip? i saw a report that showed that china was the only major country that had an uptick in gdp. we can't take our eye off the ball. we have to have the america first agenda, but we have to be united around goals that make sense for the american people. i believe that is a lot of conservative principle, goals and policies, and i hope we can have more people like shawna in the democrat party and the democrat white house that have the same reflection on how we can move forward. that's what we have to do together. host: edward, keyport, new jersey, or republican. caller: i have not voted since 2000. it seems like your parties are full of demagoguery and no policy. it was a good segment, what you

are saying about your policy. you should stick with it. it bring something forward for 20th-century -- 21st century people. things like the climate, democrats don't need a demagogue to sell people on the idea that hey, the environment is dying or hay, poor people need health care. all these different policy issues they have. they get up on stage and just mention something and it is accepted because -- that's my things. drop the hollow patriot rhetoric and more policy. thank you. guest: look, we are the party of ideas. we are the party of sound policies that work. we want to engage, democrats want to engage with the biden administration, but we want to talk and have a look at these policies. i think people are tired of hollow rhetoric. i think people are sick

and tired of people coming on camera, going before the podium, and saying things that are just not true. like i am not going to get rid of fracking, and months later, come out and confirmed that they are going to prevent fracking from happening. i think they are tired of people engaging in things that are hypocritical. that's with the republican national committee is going to do when democrats controlled house in the senate, we are going to highlight the differences that are happening. we are going to look at the policy. you want to get rid of the keystone pipeline, we are going to ask those people that could have benefited during a global pandemic from having this keystone pipeline go through, because no matter what they say, no matter how you spin it, the policies to help the american people and help our nation remain energy independent and to be an energy producer, and have

us create jobs will not happen when you get rid of the keystone pipeline. it will kill jobs. it has already had people laid off from the opportunities to work on it. we will highlight those policies. it's not about the people -- see, to my friend who called, that is what happened the last election. they made it all about the person. it was all about the past. the american people are tired of that. let's have a vigorous debate on policy. let's look school choice. is it valid to have school choice? is it something that can empower parents and uplift students of all races and all economic backgrounds? let's have a conversation about whether or not the school should be open right now. if we want to look at the data, the science, the doctors and medical professionals that have all been looking at these trends and these stories and research people that show that schools should be open, let's have a serious policy debate on whether

or not we should continue to keep them closed or continue to give more and more money, when we have given the millions of dollars in the last round of covid legislation that came about. where are we going as a nation? the republican national committee and republicans are going to have serious policy conversations with the american people. host: sandra is a republican in georgia. thanks for waiting. go ahead. caller: hi, i would like to make a comment to paris, just a comment. you talk about honesty and doing right. my thing is that president, former president trump should be held accountable. what should we say to our children when they look to leaders, they say they want to be a president one day, or they want to be a congressman or senator, and then you have this vileness, this dishonesty

that has been shown. would you want your children to see that and model it that way? just a quick comment, if your child that something four days ago in school and it was a bad thing, do you not punish them because of what they did? no, when you do an action, there is consequences. i think they need to go on with what they are doing with president, former president trump, and he needs to be held accountable. host: mr. sanders' campaign -- mr. dennard? guest: first of all, i love your name. sandra is my mom's name. thank you for calling. i think you are right. when we talk about the need to have elected officials that we can look up to and be proud of, i am raising a nine-year-old son right now and he loves president trump. he understands what he did for

the country, and i have no problem with supporting a -- supporting president trump and the republican party. it's also about accountability across the board. if you ask me what president trump -- was president trump held accountable by the congress when he was a sitting president? the answer was yes. they had an impeachment vote and he was impeached. what do we do now? impeachment is an act to remove somebody from office. donald trump, the former president, has been removed from office by means of an election. there is now an impeachment route that is null and void, and some have questioned the constitutionality of it because he is no longer in office. it is not that he hasn't been held accountable by congress, he has. they took that impeachment route. they did that. but when you look at cancel

culture, that has been permeating the country from the left, they have been going after a series of people that appear, banning them off twitter and social media platforms and trying to get them kicked off corporate boards and all these other things that have been done as it relates to the work that happened. host: does the rnc believe the president cited an insurrection on the capital? guest: i don't know if the rnc has taken a specific position on that, but i would defer to what our now minority leader kevin mccarthy said, he does not believe president trump incited a riot. if you look at this objectively, if you hold donald trump to the same standard that you would hold maxine waters, for the things that she is said, in terms of going after people, getting in their face and doing things, you would say, anything

that happens to a republican after congressman maxine waters said that, she should be held accountable. i think that what we are having here is a debate that is not honest, fair, objective. it is filled with hypocrisy and it is vindictive. host: did anything happen to a republican after maxine waters? guest: sure. republicans were harassed. you can look at examples of republicans that have been spat upon and have lost their jobs, been run out of restaurants. yes. there is evidence of that. there was a black man who was a trump supporter who was shot and killed in cold blood, standing in front of his small business. that happened. yes, there are examples of that. i will also bring up, all the cries of people going out in the

streets, make your voice known and get in their faces and take back the city and to do all these negative things, they happened during the black lives matter protest, when you saw a lot of violence and you saw death. officer dorn. that occurred. we have to be honest about how we look at this and the slippery slope we are going to go down by saying, if someone has an event and someone acts independently of it, are they held responsible? i think the vote that was taken in the senate clearly articulated where they are. i think senator kaine, the democrat from virginia, his sentiments rarely show where they are, where the senate is on this issue. i think we have to remember, the pendulum swings both ways. the minute you start trying to double down and have more harsh penalties and things applied to

republicans just because you don't like them politically, which is what cancel culture is an does -- remember, this can turn around and go the opposite direction in a heart beat towards the democrats. it's a dangerous precedent that we are setting, but i don't believe president trump incited a riot or incited the violence. let me be crystal clear. any form of violence, any form of destruction of property is one hundred percent unacceptable, unjustifiable, wrong and should be denounced. i saw that happen with republican national committee, we released an immediate statement that our winter meeting. -- at our winter meeting. we are a party that respects authority, we are a party that pushes law and order, public safety. we are a party who stood against the violence that we see right now in portland, and with almost

every day by the white house press corps, white house press secretary jen psaki, she will not talk directly about nt for. she will not call them out by name and denounce what they are doing and hold them accountable for things not that happened months ago, because they've been doing things for several months, but things that are happening right here, today. you've got to be consistent. you have to be fair. she does need to circle back on that. wrong is wrong. call it out. do something about it. host: we will go to jan in georgia, an independent. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. first of all, i am from georgia. marjorie taylor greene is an embarrassment to this state. people have not noticed over the past few days, weeks, whatever, what she has said in the past and what she has done. they are not going to hold her

accountable. it is the house of representatives, people that she works with, that she needs to be held accountable for. they have a right to have a member that is going to be a legitimate governing person that will give on honest and fair answer. she is not one of those. mccarthy put her on the education committee after just saying that the shootings will fall flat. she is an embarrassment. the other thing, my head is dizzy from this spin that is going on about the republican party. it is unrecognizable. it doesn't exist in the same way that it did prior to donald trump four years ago. this was a party of law, order, family values, everything went out the door with him. it did. his presidency started in 2017 and where we are today, this is an unrecognizable country. host: jan, were you a republican?

caller: i am an independent, but i voted for joe biden. i have never voted for someone of a moral caliber like donald trump. it is amazing to hear that popper see about how we need to hold people accountable, democrats are not calling out antifa. call at this criminal. they would not have rallied on january sixth if donald trump and his cronies had not stood up there and talked about the illegitimate election. capitol police men would still have been alive had that not taken place. do not tell me there is not some responsibility and that he did not incite that. i apologize for the passion, i am just so tired of hearing republicans talk about what they are and then look at what they are doing now. he needs to be held accountable. you have to have that and move on. don't talk about unity, don't talk about how the democrats aren't doing anything. and as far as tim kaine talking

about censure, if they can't get him convicted in the senate, which they won't, there are too many chickens that won't do that, they can make it so if they censure him, he cannot run for another office. that would be some blessing we have in the hopes that it would never be donald, but it might be unfortunately donald junior or his daughter. thanks. guest: those are the things about people who masquerade as independents and are really radical liberal democrats. they can't let it go. her point about trying to articulate where the republican party is, what we are doing and where we are and she is not even a member of our party, it is interesting area i think the listeners and the viewers can come to their own conclusions about that. i would point out one thing. had there not been the riots in the looting that were happening on the west coast, congress -- officer dorn would still be

alive today as well. we have to focus on where we are as a nation and where we are as a party, we are the party of ideas. we are the party of policy. we are the party of moving things forward. we do not want to have a nation that resembles any socialist country. we don't want to be venezuela. we don't want situation where lawlessness abides. that is why we are working every day to elect people who understand that, and to elect people who want to advance policy, that are going to uplift, empower, encourage, and not make it difficult for people to thrive. right now, the biden administration is saying that climate change is one of the top four issues they should be focusing on right now. i don't know a lot of people around the dinner table that are small business owners or single

moms that are trying to keep food on the table or pay their rent, and they can't work because they don't have a job that allows them to work from home, so they are dependent upon unemployment temporarily and these benefits that are coming, well, that haven't come because of the democrats can't get their act together, but they are saying oh my gosh, i need to get climate change under control. if we can get climates under control, then i can work. then i can get food on the table. then we can beat the global pandemic. this is not where the american people are and this is not what we should be focused on right now. we should be focused on doing the things that are going to help the american people, and i think we need to elect people that understand that raising taxes right now is a bad thing. killing jobs, like canceling keystone, is a bad thing. having policy that does not

uplift, empower, and strengthen the american people, all-americans, is a bad thing. the republican national committee and republicans across the country are going to highlight the differences and create the contrast of what that ms. administration -- of what this administration and the democrats in this country are doing to advances forward and not a positive way socially, economically, and on every metric. we have to hold them accountable and we are going to do that. host: earlier this morning, we asked the viewers whether they support or oppose president biden's climate change agenda. we will go to that conversation in just a few minutes, but let's go to fill in baldwin, missouri, a republican. hi, phil. caller: yeah, hi. i am calling with a concern about the format of your show here. first of all, we will talk about

the nasty last caller who was a product of the mainstream media. there's not one thing she said there that has been proven. then you have this nice democratic lady who gave us a backhanded compliment. paris, how are you going to change the republican party so they are like the democrats? that's her concern. then there was a republican, it's suppose it republican that said trump had no policy. no, he had policy, you just didn't like the policy. then someone else jumped in, it was supposed to be a republican, truly was not. then the moderator jumps in and was rude enough to ask the rnc if they think trump incited the riot. ok? this is like a tough debate here.

you get six people jumping on this great rnc representative, and you want to know if trump incited the riots? you are part of the cancel culture, my dear lady. yes, you. yes, you. that's right. quit making faces. quit making faces and just do your job or get another job, because you are not any good at what you're doing right now. host: ok. mr. dennard, do you have any thoughts? guest: i think the american people want to have objective media. i think they want to have objective journalists. want to have honest journalists. they want people with the same passion, vigor, almost obsession for president trump. do that for joe biden. do that for the democrats. let's not pretend this is not hypocrisy going on. if you believe that donald trump

incited a riot, which i don't believe and i don't think anyone at the republican national committee believes that, you would ask the same questions about maxine waters and others, some of the comments others have made in the democrat party. i think if you look at if -- joe biden said, we are going to have a federal mass mandate. if you are on federal property, you must wear a mask. that is the law. that is my mandate through, i don't know, over 30 executive orders that he signed. every time you appear in the capital without a mask, you are breaking your own federal policy. how serious are you taking this issue of covid-19? or mandates? you know, that is what the american people are talking about. it's fairness. it's accountability on both sides. and being hypocritical.

i am not saying you are, i am saying the feeling that i think americans are just fed up with is the feeling that there was a one-sided focus on paring down, attacking republicans, trump supporters, and the former president. now we have joe biden in office as president of the united states and the democrats are in control, we give them a complete pass. i think they want to see media, they want to see journalists be fair and be honest about it. host: paris dennard with the republican national committee. we appreciate your time and the conversation this morning. thank you. >> you're watching c-span unfiltered view of government. it was great by american television companies in 1979.

where brought to you by these television companies who provide c-span2 viewers as a public service. >> today at 1:30 eastern, president biden will talk about health care access and affordability. he will sign executive orders addressing those matters. watch live coverage on c-span. also what the news briefing, the white house press secretary will answer questions about the health care policies at 230 time eastern desk at 2:30 eastern on c-span. -- at 2:30 eastern on c-span. the mississippi governor gave an update on his plans to raise teacher pay and eliminate the state income tax. he also talked about covid vaccine distribution. >> thank you lieutenant governor