party with james antle. join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments, texts and tweets. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: good morning. it is sunday, april 4, 2020. easter sunday in the catholic church and we talk about politics and religion. we want to know how your religion impacts your political beliefs, how do they align, and are there places where they diverge? give us a call on phone lines split by political parties. democrats (202)-748 --

republicans (202)-748-8001, democrats (202)-748-8002, independents (202)-748-8000. you can also text us at (202)-748-8003. about three quarters of americans identify with a specific faith. 43% are christian, 23% catholic, 2% mormon, to present jewish, 1% muslim, buddhist, and hindu, and 26% say they don't belong to a particular faith. they say they are unaffiliated. those from the pew organization on the issue of religion in this country. gallup noting with the religion

as a whole is increasing or losing influence on american life since 1957. with the exception of three readings no more than half has seen it gaining influence. yet, just as americans' views were changed by 9/11 the pandemic has affected perception. 33% on average said the influence of religion on society was increasing. that is a 14 point increase from 2019. just some of the stats on religion in this country. one more from pew research. while the u.s. constitution does not mention god every state constitution refers to either god or the divine. god also appearing in the declaration of independence, the pledge of allegiance, and on u.s. currency.

asking you this morning about religion. does your religion impact your political beliefs, where do they converge, where do they diverge? phone lines by political party. we start on the line for independents. frank is out of new york. good morning to you, sir. caller: thank you for taking my call. i don't think you can really separate religion and politics. they overlap so a lot of -- i am no philosopher or theologian or political scientist so i have no expertise in any of these things -- however, they all are sort of connected i think. my understanding of religion or my belief is that it is something not comprehendible by

humans. it is just too abstract. that is really all i have to say. host: are you a member of a certain faith? caller: i was brought up catholic but over the years i don't really practice although i do believe very strongly in the teachings in a simple sentence. understand each other, show compassion, show love. it is a challenge, i'm not saying it's easy, but that is something i do have faith in. host: is there any place where you disagree with the catholic church stance on a public issue? caller: that's a great question. for example, abortion is the first thing that comes to mind. in that sense i am pro-choice. i believe politics -- i often

hear people say you cannot legislate morality and that is what the right tries to do to me. it is complicated. i don't really have a good influence but that is where i stand. host: thank you for calling into talk from new york this morning. happy easter. caller: thank you. you two. host: ted out of new york your next. caller: thank you for c-span. doing a great job as usual. the typical democratic -- pardon me. not democratic. left leaning but religion does not affect me politically at all. you will hear a lot of calls that will come in like that and people on the right are going to say that we are atheist or

nonbelievers or we are no good, but what right do i have to impose my beliefs on someone else? why would anybody want to impose their beliefs on me? whatever happened to live and let live? where does political action committees, political institutions, religious institutions get involved with politics to affect others in terms of their way of life as far as imposing your religious beliefs on others? absolutely insane. god bless you. keep your beliefs. go to church online with covid now but get a sense, pullback, live your life, and let others live their lives and don't push

your religion on others. it is the only way to live in the only way we are going to be a unified country and a better country is for everybody to take a deep breath and stop pushing your religion onto others. god love you. host: out of the new york times this morning here's the headline, this easter hope to rebuild flocks during the holy holidays. it is among the most well attended of the year and they offer churches a chance to begin rebuilding and regain finances but the question is whether people will return. that is a crucial one. if you want to read more on the impact of coronavirus and online church, that from today's new york times.

john from philly. caller: does political affect your religious beliefs? host: what do you think? caller: only if you let it. that is the answer. that is all i have to say. only if you let it do it to you. host: remember to turn your phone down when chatting with us. makes the conversation easier. phone lines split as usual. republicans (202)-748-8001, democrats (202)-748-8000, independents (202)-748-8002. does religion impact your political beliefs? this intersection of religion, religious freedom, politics, and legislation came up over the quality act last month in the senate judiciary. the quality act would amend the civil rights act of 1964 that

prohibits the discrimination on sex, gender, and gender identification. here is senator thom tillis setting out the issue. [video clip] >> our lgbtq friends, family still face discrimination from employment to health care to housing to homelessness. it is a very real problem with discrimination. i think it is wrong in any aspect. on the other hand we have millions of americans who are people of faith who have serious and legitimate issues of conscience. these americans practice their faith daily. they love their god, their church, and the community, and they strive to live biblical values. we have seen so many stories, even during the pandemic, about the very important role that they play. in our constitution it does

protect liberties and if anything, freedom of religion and free exercise of faith is the most important and sacred constitutional right. it is the reason our nation was founded. the challenge for us as legislators is to figure out how we reconcile the desperate, and in some case competing, interests. host: that was senator thom tillis. we will bring you more from that hearing last month. a lot of discussion on the topic of religious freedom and it plays into this question. does religion impact your political beliefs? we want to hear your thoughts from around the country on this easter sunday. mike out of south carolina, independent, good morning. caller: good morning. i would be -- religion has been a basic of how i have lived my life, the principles i live by,

and how i worked throughout my life. i would be hard-pressed to think it doesn't influence my political thought. it does. it forms the basis of my life. when i look at political issues i look at it through my eyes which are viewed with religious background. i would think most people who say they have religion play a role in their life would have to look at their political thoughts, their political leanings with that as the context in which i look at everything. i think it is a good question but for those who say it doesn't and it shouldn't, that might be for them if they are not religious based or faith-based.

but if you are, i think you would have to look at political issues in that context. host: how much do you think churches and houses of worship should get involved in this process? we just came off the 2020 election and every time one rolls around there's the question of whether a member of the faith should endorse or tell their parishioners or the members of their church this is the right person to vote for. this person is godly or to that effect. should that happen from the pulpit or the head of the church? caller: i think [indiscernible] but the issues yes. issues should be discussed but i

don't think it is appropriate from the pulpit to say vote for candidate x because we as a religion support candidate x. i think you can say remember, this is a very important issue and you ought to use your -- you ought to use the principles your religion has formed for you in making decisions about the issues, not necessarily "the candidate." host: thank you for the call. it is back to that pew research center on religion and politics. more than six in 10 americans say churches and houses of worship should stay out of politics and 76% say houses of

worship should not specifically endorse political candidates during elections. that according to a survey before the 2020 election. still, more than one third of americans say churches and houses of worship should express their views on social and political matters. that again from the pew research center. we will be reading through those facts as we continue to take your calls about the intersection of politics and religion. does religion impact your political beliefs? joseph out of boston, independent, good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. host: go ahead. caller: how are you doing? host: doing well. go ahead. caller: i am an atheist but i was raised roman catholic. i will tell you the problem and what happened in america the last 100 years is causing the problems with terrorism and stuff.

in 1929 where the teacher in tennessee said they should argue the theory of evolution, they ridiculed him. we went wrong. with the red scare and the rise of the soviet union, the first atheist country, they put god we trust on the dollar bill. number three where we went wrong was after 9/11 i noticed there was a change with are you with us or the terrorists? god is on our side. it changed the mindset of the american people. it is to convince your people your religion is right. people should step in when the people's rights are violated.

[indiscernible] when america is the beacon of the world, the gateway to the world of democracy, and what made our country so great was the founding fathers came up with congress. host: god is mentioned in the declaration of independence although not in the u.s. constitution. you also mention on our money and pledge of allegiance as well, but you go back to the founding fathers and that founding document has god in it. caller: but at the same time that was the whole idea because it was created to get away from england. the founding fathers didn't know what type of religion -- america is founded on christianity,

nothing wrong with that. but america is a country of immigrants. you have to make room for the hindus, room for the muslims. i was born in the trinidad and tobago and 80% can trace their roots back to india. we respected that but all that is changing because the people in power want to force religion on people. host: got your point. that was joseph out of boston. a few comments via social media. steve writing, no. this must be the rule, separation of church and state. if you want insurance in the afterlife, that is your business not mine. leave it out of politics. one can be kind and compassionate without guilt. michael in portland, religion essential to my politics. politics for me is applied

religion but this transcends and is prior to the done nominations of faith. this saying every time a republican gets defeated i thank god. from william out of connecticut, impact religion on beliefs is to be kind, have compassion for others, let bygones be bygones. other religious beliefs are not for me to judge. hopefully they receive guidance from their faith and do not use it for harming others. john, texas, republican, good morning. you are next. caller: how are you doing this morning? host: doing well, sir. caller: politics and religion should be separate. these past years priests should not be engaging in political activity and i think they changed the law during trump's administration.

the republicans i think past a law where -- passed a law where pastors can endorse certain candidates. host: a lot of discussion on this issue of religious freedom and as we talked about religious freedom what houses of worship can and cannot do in the public sphere was very much in the debate last month at the senate judiciary committee hearing. a hearing on the quality act, amending the civil rights act to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex or gender identity. senator cory booker took time to talk about this issue of religious freedom. his concerns about when in u.s. history religion has been used to overstep and used for discrimination. this is senator booker. this is about 3.5 minutes long. [video clip] >> i believe in freedom of

religion. i believe in free exercise. i believe in the fundamentals that our country was founded upon but i also know that for too long religion is used to discriminate and has been a painful part of the story of america. i really want to turn to the panelists to help me spell this out. we still live in a nation and i think we could join together as a senate and a bipartisan fashion. the state is wrong to deny somebody the ability to serve on the jury because they are lgbtq. that is wrong to deny a seat at the lunch counter because they are lgbtq. this is something we should be all working to end. we have seen this phenomenon of religion being used to justify

slavery, segregation, bans on interracial marriage. as recent as 1983 discriminatory dating policy was exercised by the free exercise clause. jefferson davis, the confederacy, said it was established by the almighty god and sanctioned by the bible from genesis to revelations. even after slavery was abolished we heard religious freedom argument. the two-time governor of mississippi helped build the antilynching legislation and used religion to justify racism. he wrote allowing the blood of racists to mix -- races to mix was an attack on the divine.

in 1960 mississippi governor barnett proclaimed the good lord was the original segregationist. president harry truman when asked whether he believed integration would eventually lead to interracial marriage responded by saying, i hope not. i don't believe in it. the lord created that that way. i do not understand that in this nation that believes and our faith traditions believe that you literally in the founding documents all people are created equal that we still have a nation that tolerates the majority of our states over discrimination no recourse whatsoever to be denied a seat at the lunch counter. to be denied public

accommodation. to be denied service on a jury. mr. david, there is a lot of vectors i hear of attacks on this legislation. but could you reiterate for me why this is so important that we don't mistake the valued and flaunted principal of religious freedom that i believe in to be any way a disguise for overt discrimination against the equality of all americans? host: senator booker, democrat from new jersey. that was march 17 on the quality act before the senate judiciary. if you would like to watch it, you can do so on our website at c-span.org. back to your phone calls. does religion impact your political beliefs? fran, jacksonville, florida, democrat. caller: religion does impact my political beliefs.

if you are religious, then you have certain standards. as far as racism is concerned and how things are divided i don't believe in that. i believe in the human race that started at least in the christian religion. it started in the garden of eden with adam and eve. everybody had to stem from the two of them. i believe in the human race, equality among the human race. we have our own idiosyncrasies, our own traits and characteristics and cultures, but we are human. we were created equally because we came from the same root. host: linda out of savannah,

georgia, independent. good morning. caller: hello? host: go ahead, linda. does religion impact your political beliefs? caller: yes it does, especially in georgia. our church just had a real problem. we had to have a major vote as to whether we would allow homosexuality to be in leadership roles within our church. it split the church right down the middle. it did hold the belief they were not allowed to hold leadership roles within the church and this is a methodist church. a large religious group. also it has become -- host: do you mind saying how you felt on that issue? caller: i was just going to explain why.

it has become politically correct to accept homosexuality but the bible speaks against it. it is called an abomination. if you call yourself a christian, you can't accept it. you may not hold any -- it is a sin just like any other sin. i voted against it. the leadership role, because there is this fear that if they got into the leadership role, they would affect our children to become that way. it is a thing a lot of people are afraid of, children being gay. host: is that something you are worried about? caller: me personally? i don't have, any children small children, but i raised my son. i would be concerned if he were

gay because the problems associated with it because the bible said it was a punishment for people who were involved in idolatry. god made them that way. it is hard for you to change when you were raised that way. host: david is in massachusetts also an independent. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: doing well. go ahead, sir. caller: first of all i am a gay person brought up catholic 65 years. i think the big problem is people don't realize what the constitution says about separation of church and state. it just means you cannot establish one religion in our country to be the dominant religion. that being said yes, of course religion affects your vote.

this year is the first year, because of the abortion issue, which i'm very strong on, i have left the catholic church because a lot of people elected a man who is pro abortion and yet claims he's catholic. for me, hypocrisy is a big issue. this man shouldn't be allowed in the catholic church even though i no longer go. i just don't understand people who say you should believe what you want to believe. that's great but then don't get up and say, yes, i am a catholic and i am a strong catholic. you aren't if you believe in abortion. it's not just the abortion. in this country murder is against the law. it's nothing to do with religion. murder across the board whether you are religious or not is against the law.

host: i know you're waiting on hold as we were talking to linda from savannah, but any thoughts on the debate she was explaining happened in her church on whether to allow openly gay leaders to hold leadership positions in her church? caller: i agree with her in a lot of ways even though i am gay. my problem is with transgender. i think that is a mental issue. the bible says it is against god's law. the transgender issue for me is what i just don't understand as a gay person. i agree. i think if you believe in something, then believe in it and do not be hypocritical.

this is where i find mr. biden, and a lot of democrats -- i heard cory booker talk about this and that and everything else. he can't accept other religious beliefs because they are against his. who is right and who is wrong? host: david at massachusetts. now to the line for democrats this is edward out of florida. good morning. you are next. caller: good morning. i think religion has to impact my political beliefs even though i am an atheist. my problem is i don't like being compelled to support people's religious beliefs by subsidizing their churches. there should be a complete separation in every dollar in

tax i pay by them not paying their full share and having the tax exemption. it compels me to support their belief. i think i am a moral person, i believe they are, i believe in the free exchange of ideas, but everybody should pay their own right and that is not the case in our country. host: that was edward out of florida. just after 7:30 of the east coast. having this conversation for the first hour of the program on this easter sunday asking you does religion impact your political beliefs? republicans it is (202)-748-8002 , democrats (202)-748-8000, independents (202)-748-800 -- republicans (202)-748-8001, independents (202)-748-8000, independent --

20% say they are catholic, 43% protestant or other christian, to present moorman, 2% jewish, 1% muslim, buddhist, and hindu. 26% say they do not belong to a faith at all. the pew research comparing that with the 117th congress. when it comes to religious affiliation the 117th u.s. congress looks similar to previous congresses but quite different from america's overall. while a quarter of u.s. adults describe themselves atheist or nothing in particular just one member of the new congress identifies as religiously unaffiliated. nearly nine and 10 members of congress identify as christian compared with two thirds of the general public. congress is more heavily protestant and more heavily catholic than the u.s. adult

population overall. that from the pew research center taking a look at several of their numbers at the intersection of politics and religion this morning. the idea of god being referenced in every charter and showing how many times god is referenced in various state constitutions with north carolina and massachusetts leading the way with the number of mentions of god in state constitutions. there is the chart. the darker the color, the more god or the maker or divine is mentioned. william in atlantic beach, north carolina, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you, young man? host: i am doing well, sir. caller: i'm glad.

[indiscernible] it was the church that governed first. all the perversions and all your fakes and all your governments, preachers, evangelists, all the prime ministers, kim jong-un, even the dalai lama. host: that was william in north carolina. next out of ohio. go ahead. caller: my beliefs are the bible as interpreted by man so they probably didn't get it right in the first place.

when it comes to homosexuality i used to work for the state of ohio. i worked with the developmentally disabled. the ones that would find the one-year-old or two-year-old would want to be with someone of their own sex. they would be intimate. they would know the difference between what religion is. number two, growing up i was an abused child. i was in a children's home. they should always have abortions because there are far too many children even today being abused. when you talk about those particular things i know more than these people talking right now. host: that was diane in ohio. this is john out of florida,

republican. caller: my belief that there is a lot the governments using religion for things. when i was brought up it was god created everybody equal. yes. he gave everybody to arms, two legs, he gave the 10 commandments and said go forth and multiply. now all they keep doing is racing. white people hate black people for

>> i think people are losing the context of your question. the people that are calling in like myself, we are quoting our own personal religious beliefs. we are saying yes or no we don't agree with abortion, other social issues are whatever. but the bottom line is this.

as an accountant, which i am, if churches are going to use the pulpit to grandstand and campaign, then tax them like any other for-profit entity because they are violating the 501c covenant. i will leave it to you. that is all i have to say but thank you for taking my call. host: kevin from our text messaging feed, mary agree with you. churches should pay taxes if they want to be involved in politics. her response about the intersection of politics and religion. jennifer from oak park saying, from a woman's perspective religion is a huge reason we are considered to be below men. in fact, that is the exact region. religion in every single one. dave in orlando, churches should give us the word of god and we should use those words to guide us to choose a good person to lead our country. dave saying happy easter to all.

this issue of religious freedom of where the government should step in and where they shouldn't came up quite a bit in this hearing on march 17 in the senate judiciary committee. it was a hearing about the quality act, an act about algae btt rights and demanding the civil rights act -- lgbtq rights and demanding the discrimination on gender and gender identity. here's a bit tom cotton [video clip] >> 40% of charities in the united states provide $1 trillion in societal benefits every year. if this bill passes a bureaucrat in washington

, a letter will arrive in the mail and they will ask at the charity operates according to gender identity that were totally and completely novel until yesterday. when they become mandatory, even though they remained unpopular with the american people. if these citizens refuse whether out of faith or common sense or both, they will be punished. their religious goals will be cut off from federal aid. the battered women's shelters will be shut down for refusing to admit men. they will be threatened with lawsuits simply for believing that men are men and women are women. that is the heart of this so-called equality act. most americans believe this is

wrongheaded even if they are too scared to say it for fear of being kicked off social media or losing their job or losing their spot in school. but i am not scared to say it and i will say it for them. host: that was senator tom cotton last month at that committee hearing on the quality act. if you would like to watch that hearing, our website is c-span.org. raul is next in texas. does religion impact your political beliefs? caller: good morning. religion or the belief in a god has impacted my life in the way i choose a political person. that includes men and women. they should vote their conscience.

the fact government should not interfere with a church's outreach to any and all men, women, and children. host: should churches stand up and say, the leader of a church stand up and say, this is the right person to vote for? this is the moral or godly person to vote for? caller: the church that i attend, a hispanic church, the pastor does not go there. you are not supposed to go there. host: what do you think of churches that do do that and pastors that do go there? caller: they are not -- well, they can say a person is good or believes in abortion. that is a no no. you're telling the community and

believers that killing somebody, a person that is in the womb is wrong. there are ways of saying it but not toward people. identifying a person who condones that -- host: so they should speak to issues and not candidates? caller: that is correct. host: that was raul in texas. this is brenda out of maryland, democrat. good morning. caller: hello? host: good morning. caller: i am actually a transgender woman so i wanted to address several things. one, the gentleman from massachusetts who said he does not believe transgender people should be recognized simply because he doesn't understand them? 30 years ago heterosexual people didn't understand gay people and persecuted him. i am confused by his hypocrisy

or lack of empathy and understanding, especially for someone who claims to be religious. anyway, as far as religion impacting my billy i have been an atheist -- my belief, i have been atheist for several decades. i believe almost every religion has inherently based contradictions that religious people's refusal to acknowledge is beyond me. i don't understand why they refuse to think for themselves. then to use these beliefs to try and dictate the actions of others through political activity? i think that is insanely myopic and only serves their purpose. host: what is an example of one or two of those religious issues that you think people are speaking both ways about? caller: i think they speak out of both sides of their face and ever, this morning has done the same. they talk about religion being

sacrosanct to them but then cast down others for not sharing the religion. are you catholic except protestant, protestant and except muslims, oars catholicism the only way to go, or islam the only way to go? you cannot have it both ways. it is absurd. host: that was brenda out of elkridge, maryland. 15 minutes left in this segment as we talk about the intersection of religion and politics. where that intersection for you or is there an intersection? give us a call as we read through some of the various facts about religion and politics in this country from the pew research center. here are two based on presidential elections. almost all u.s. presidents including donald trump have been christian and many have identified as episcopalian or presbyterian, but two of the most famous, thomas jefferson and abraham lincoln, had no formal religious affiliation. most have been sworn in with the

bible and sealed their oath of office with the words, "so help me god." half of americans feel it is either very or somewhat important for a president to have strong religious beliefs. but only around four in 10 sages important for a president to share the religious beliefs. republicans are more likely than democrats to say it is somewhat important for a president to have strong religious. barbara out of alabama, independent, good morning. caller: good morning. i would strongly suggest this to you. if you are a true believer in your faith, regardless of its origin, christian, jewish, muslim, buddhist, if you are

truly a believer in your faith, then every aspect of your life is influenced by that faith and that would include politics. host: anything you want to add, barbara? caller: nope. that would be it. host: we had to the buckeye state. mike, democrat. good morning. caller: how are you? host: doing good. caller: charles darwin's all the religious teachings i believe i will ever need. i was wondering where was god when the caveman was? i think the question to kotten should be -- cotton should be

what is war and then show him the wikileaks helicopter attack and they put julian assange in lockdown. i have never seen anything so hypocritical in my life. the messenger, give us the truth on the wikileaks attack of that helicopter and here we are today. thank you very much. host: that was mike out of ohio. this is tony out of santa fe, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. you there? host: yes, sir. caller: i think a better question is how does it affect your constitutional beliefs? in this country the constitution is the law of the land. i take it from martin luther. i did come originally from illinois and i'm a non-affiliate. i believe they have separation of church and state. you go back to george washington

and see his letter on separation of church and state. people don't want to have -- [indiscernible] -- i said how about the corporate a portion of the air, water, and food supply? i believe in god, or a higher power. the spiritualness where there is only one race, the human race. [indiscernible] it says if you are not part of this group, you are less than an we can do whatever we want because you are less than a person. it is that ideology -- host: you are going in and out but i thing we got your point.

this is chris in buffalo, democrat. good morning. caller: i believe the people talking about religion and stuff that everybody is created equal but the bible talks about separation and division. here is a bible scripture for you. the holy people unto the lord thy god, the lord thy god have chosen the to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are on the face of the earth. i don't believe we should be integrated as a nation. host: you don't believe in integration? caller: now. . i believe that the bible says. host: this is greg out of north dakota, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i was thinking it would be more interesting to reverse your question around and ask how your

religious views are changed by your political views? if you are a religious person, things are going to be the same anyway. you're supposed to live your life that way. this is what god gives you and i think too many religious people are swayed by political views nowadays. host: you talk about switching the question wrong. this is doug from facebook, in other words it should be this. does your inward moral foundation and beliefs affect your outward decision-making? how would you answer that question? caller: it should. [laughs] host: do you think it happened enough? caller: no. there was one gentleman who said if you are a religious person, things shouldn't be said in the church. they should. god tells you not to be meek. if you see something you think is wrong or against his word,

you were to say something. host: the other caller said she believed that the leader of a church is ok to talk to an issue, and i think she used the abortion issue as an example, but not a specific candidate or person. saying this is an issue i can teach on but not this is the person you should vote for because this person is more godly than that person. caller: here is where you're running into a problem. there was never only, and my religion and other people may argue this, there was only one perfect man put on this world. if you are looking for a religious person to sit there other than one i believe in, other people have different police and that's fine. but if you are trying to pick out a human being and put them on a pedestal as a person to follow, there isn't one. we all are in sin. we all make mistakes.

host: did your church ever get involved in any issue in the 2020 election? caller: as far as personally going out in the streets and saying don't do this, don't do that, no. host: did it come up from the pulpit at some point? caller: i will be honest with you, i am a believer in what the bible preaches and i have left a lot of churches because they started preaching out of the bible, it is time for me to go. that is not what i am there for. host: thank you for the call. appreciate it. judy is next on baltimore, maryland. good morning. caller: good morning. i just want to say this one thing. i am an african-american, black woman, whatever you choose to call me but i know for sure that if you take the bible away from african-americans, blacks, whatever you want to call us, we

would fall apart. this language of the bible was forced on us. we really just go along to get along because we were made to. are you understanding that? host: i am not sure i understand. could you explain a little bit more? caller: when slaves were brought here we did not have the language of americans. we were made to speak english. the bible, we did not come here to the united states on a slave ship with the bible tucked in our garments. these languages here in the united states, we were made to speak them. if we didn't speak it, we were tortured. the bible was forced on us to learn the religion of the race here. we really don't have a religion here in the united states.

every time i hear black people quoting the bible sometimes it makes me sick. i stopped going to church because one sunday -- and i went to church with my mother and my six sisters -- the pastor said to us one day, we have to finish building this church. if you are saving some money to buy yourself a car, don't buy the car. take that money and give it to the church and catch the bus. is this religion? is this what people are teaching people out of the bible? to care more about a building than a soul? host: back to the pew research center. their polling on religious views, black americans more religious than the u.s. public overall. the question asks among all u.s. adults the question of those who say they believe in god or a

higher power and among all adults it is 90% and among black adults 97%. that prayer to ancestors can protect someone from harm, 24% among black americans, 33% among black americans. [indiscernible] our phone lines is when you can call and give your thoughts. like teresa did at florida. good morning. caller: this is something i have a lot of experience with. i am a democrat and almost 80. my brother is a republican. he started this nonsense of combining the church and politics almost 17 years ago

when he kept insisting that george w. bush was picked by god. this is an intelligent man my brother who went through a lot of college. then he started about three years ago with trump was picked by god. [laughs] no, no, no. as soon as trump took office he eliminated the johnson doctrine. they did not want separation between church and state. because if god is on your side, you have all these crazy followers that will follow you. host: do you think any president ever in u.s. picked by god? caller: excuse me? host: do you think any president in u.s. history was picked by god? caller: well, there was one i think came very close, abraham lincoln. one of his aides asked him once sir, do you believe god is on our side? president lincoln said, the

question is are we on god's side. there is no man out there -- they will mention got here and there where god picked me, i'm the best candidate -- i remember when he did this. yet when he was asked do you believe you have anything to ask god's forgiveness for, he said no. an arrogant s.o.b. host: this is andrea. good morning. caller: first of all, i am wiccan and they would put me on a stake if they could bring it back. going on with the question i do feel it is very difficult for the majority of christians to recognize religion and separate

themselves from politics. they might consciously think they are but subconsciously they aren't. many times i have heard being pro-life and anti-gay and all this other stuff and we can use ronald reagan as an example. it was the first time abortion was being challenged and they voted for that person regardless of the other things the person would view in our lives with bills or passing them or vetoing, etc. i do feel that i attempt to accept everybody on an equal plane. if you don't want to marry a gay person, don't. if you don't believe in abortion, don't have one. i believe the abortion issue is not so pro-life but pro-fetus

because once the light gets here that is another story of the unwanted child being supported. supported. i do believe as a general factor in this country and many that we need to all play a part in politics and i don't really think that i would be chagrined on figuring out how to make that separation. thank you very much. host: may be a conversation for another day. that is going to do it for this first hour of the washington journal but stick around, plenty more to talk about this morning including up next, we will be joined by dante for a deep dive into pandemic job losses and a look at what the post-covid-19 economy might look like. later, a political discussion with washington examiner politics editor jim to talk about the future of the republican party. stick around, we will be right back.

announcer: today, a live conversation with science writer and author harriet washington. her most recent book is cart blanche. >> when companies use profits to measure the success of the medical arena, the problem is that we can't expect the companies to care about us. we can't expect the companies to sublimate and make less money because they care about our health. they've already shown us they don't care about our health. but our government, the people that we pay, and that we should expect to care about our health, our government should be raining in these companies. our government should be forcing them to fit the public needs and it is not.

>> join in the conversations with your phone calls, facebook comments, texts and tweets. and before the program, be sure to visit c-span.org to get your copy of harriet washington's books. tonight at 9:00 eastern, former white house press secretary and fox news host dana perino talks about her book everything will be ok, life lessons for young women from a former young woman. she is interviewed by victoria clark for public affairs and the george w. bush administration. >> i am telling young women in this book you have to learn how to communicate. that means writing great emails. i started doing this thing called a night note.

>> surprises are never good. >> never good. announcer: watch at 9:00 eastern on book tv on c-span two. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government created by america's cable television companies in 1979. washington journal continues. host: in the wake of friday's job report,dante joins us, the

founder and director of the american community's project. explain first what you do at the american project and how you do it. guest: thanks for having me on. the american community's is an effort to try to better understand the country. we took like 40 different data points for every county in the country and we used it to organize the country into different types of place. we took 3100 counties in the united states and formed them into 15 types of communities and those 15 types of communities can be used to look at anything. political results, cultural data, or economic data which is i guess what we are going to talk about a bit today. host: why 15 specific? guest: that is a really good question. it could be more, it could be less. we were building something that was sitting between -- i am a journalist, i am a journalist by training. it came out of journalism.

you get to the point where you are doing a research effort or a journalistic effort. you could break it into probably 1000 different types, but we wanted something that you be used to understand the country that you can use in media and in research and we thought 15 was pushing the limit of what people were going to be able to follow. host: you can follow along in this chart that notes the employment change from the year september 29-2020. 15 communities, big cities, native american lands, urban, suburban areas. hispanic centers, college towns. rural-middle america, graying america, working-class country, evangelical, aging farmlands, and latter-day saint enclaves. those are the 15 communities that the american community's project tries to break this

country into to try to understand jobs in this country. we found out on friday that the u.s. gained nearly one million jobs last month, 915,000 jobs, the march unemployment rate at 6%. what did you read into those numbers, and where did those job gains mostly come back? >> we haven't done a big breakdown of the data yet because they are so fresh. at the county level, it will lag a little bit, however, i suspect some of that comes back to these big cities and urban centers where most of the jobs have been lost. any time you get a drop in unemployment, it is a good thing. but there are some things to really keep in mind. the unemployment rate is 6%. the unemployment rate is really

measuring the number of people actively looking for a job. there are about 3 million or 4 million people who have left the labor force. the fact that you get that down to 50%, always a good thing. but to get back to where we were, that is a different question. and whether we will ever get back to where we were in the same way that we were, these are all very interesting and important questions. host: and at least from september of 2019 to september of 2020, these cities have come down from where they were, 9.9% decrease in employment. native american lands, at section of the country down 8%. urban suburbs down as well. that compares to other parts of the country where there wasn't as much jobs lost. the communities with less than one percentage change in

employment, aging farmlands just under 3%, and the excerpts under 5%. explain why it impacted some more than others. guest: we think looking at the data, because we did another cut of the data that we did not include in this, and the thing we think we are seeing in the urban suburbs and the big cities is most of the job losses have come in leisure and hospitality. where are these things primarily located? primarily, urban areas. we think what we saw in those places is more and more people work from home, i work from home, this is increasingly my office, it has been for a year now. it means i am still employed, i still have a job. and a lot of people who serve the place i work, the bars, the restaurants, are no longer employed. you have a large concentration of both service jobs and then

you have people not coming into the office anymore. when that happens, what you end up with his massive job losses in places where people are working from home and it has created a very strange recession with some pockets of the economy and some pockets geographically getting hit much harder than others. host: the founder and director of the american communities project. american communities, their reports last week taking a deep dive into economies and job losses. if you are unemployed, (202) 748-8000 is the number. if you have changed jobs during the pandemic, (202) 748-8001 is the number. all others, (202) 748-8002. pick the best line and start calling in now as we continue to talk through this report.

the impact of covid-19 on jobs and wages as well is another topic that the american community's project looks into. at first glance, the wage change seems to have some fairly good news. wages are up across the board in all 15 of those communities that you study around the country. explain why that is. guest: as we noted, normally, these numbers would be very good numbers, these are huge increases, you're talking about 9% increases. but when you see these big increases in wages, why is that? these are average wages. so once you pull out the bottom, once you have a lot of people being largely unemployed, the unemployment is hitting the people who work the service jobs who don't make the kind of money that other people make, the average wage goes up a lot.

what we are seeing is actually a very bad sign in a lot of these communities because we know there are fewer jobs. you see this wage change, that is what we are looking at. it is what makes covid-19 so different. i am working from home, and a lot of people are working from home, they haven't into the office in a very long time, they have jobs. they are still getting paid. but they are not patronizing the places they used to be around where they work. but it really isn't the good news that it would normally be. host:host: we try to look or project a post-covid economy and we are fresh office friday jobs numbers. these are some of the main places where jobs came back in march. leisure and hospitality, 280,000 jobs added in march. public and private education,

nearly 200,000 jobs. construction, over 100,000 jobs. even the mining sector of 21,000 jobs. explain what those numbers could be telling us about where the post-covid economy is going to go. guest: the numbers really feel like the beginning of -- i know the economy, look, we had a real shutdown last year and then we came back and we've been operating for a very long time. the signs in those data, starting to ramp up. people are starting to travel more, people are eating out a little bit more. some people are going back to the office. it's important that kids go back to school. construction jobs. again, that is a good sign. i wonder how many jobs were pause for a while and are

ramping back up again. i don't know, that is a very good question. to me, i'm not sure what they say long-term. what they are suggesting is we are starting to come back in the numbers are starting to look a little better. host: if you're unemployed, (202) 748-8000. if you have changed jobs during the pandemic, (202) 748-8001. all others, (202) 748-8002. dante, i want you to hear from some of these folks and their stories, the stories behind the data that we are talking about. bobby is up first out of iowa on the line for those who have changed jobs during the pandemic. bobby, what did you do, what do you do now? >> summer is coming, the heat is coming. a lot of people are going to be getting work. but it is a false pretense because i think the people that

lost their places for restaurants and places, they had to close them down, i don't think they will be coming back soon. let me just set the record straight if i could as far as the one older lady called before. host: we are going to stick to the job situation in the country just because we got dante and he can help us take into these numbers. what line of work did you do, and what do you do now? caller: well, i used to drive for four years. but i'm handicapped, so now i'm disabled. but i just wanted to set something right for your listeners. the other lady called up and she said that ada me for the first person -- host: i know you want to talk religion, we had one hour on that, but let's focus on jobs now. dante on the job situation and the story about his concerns

that it might be a false jump here. guest: first, i want to say i did hear some of that conversation and that is really fascinating, soy understand what is motivating him. but on the job's point, look. there is a lot of talk whenever you talk about unemployment numbers of things being seasonally adjusted and you will see numbers released that are seasonally adjusted. what does that mean? that means there is a natural flow to unemployment in this country. and it is true. we are coming up for the summer, theoretically landscaping jobs come back, even jobs like amusement parks coming back. there is seasonal hiring for hotels and restaurants. he is right, you don't want to read too much into that, but the one thing i would say is the fact that they are coming back at all is a very good sign because the test will be the summer when those jobs are back and are closer to normal, what they look like compared to last summer? i assume they will be up.

it will be up compared to last summer. the question is what will it look like in the fall when we come back again? what does that drop-off look like? host: even in some of these communities, you talk about it but coming back will look very different. you make a comparison between las vegas and detroit. those fall into the big cities category. guest: absolutely. one thing about the big cities, it is counties around the 50 largest cities in the country for the most part. new york, but also detroit, washington, d.c., vegas. those are really, gated places. the one thing they have in common, why they are in this category, they are very diverse, ethnically, racially. sometimes economically. but when you get past that, there are differences. vegas is driven by leisure. hotels and leisure.

these are the things that make las vegas go. very different from detroit where you have got manufacturing really as the principal driver, and there are structural changes happening in manufacturing for 25 years, longer, where the bounce back in detroit is going to look very different. it's completely possible that vegas is feeling really good about summer if everybody gets vaccinated or we get closer to everybody getting vaccinated. all of a sudden, restaurants are full again in las vegas. we are going to have to wait and look and see kind of what happens to the larger manufacturing economy, consumer economy, to look at what happens in a city like detroit. host: talking the big cities, that category of the 15 counties that you break this country into. explain what graying america is. guest: graying america is a selection of counties that is largely as you go across from the maine through midwestern

michigan, there are some down in florida as well. the aging, retiree communities. places where you have a larger than normal group of 65 plus, 62 plus. they are small-town economies but a lot of them, when you look at where they are located, have a little bit of tourism in parts of them. they are other places where you could see things getting better. i'm from michigan, i grew up in michigan. these are communities great a lot of people who are older residents who have gone to retire in the summer, and people come visit. graying america is where things make it quite a bit better because people are vaccinated. host: this is what it looks like with all 15 of those categories.

breaking america into 15 different groups, you can find your county on this map. did you feel like your county fits into the grouping? we are talking through the latest numbers from the pandemic and possibly projections about a post-covid economy. this is david out of maryland. caller: yes. i've been retired for a number of years and my biggest problem is i don't get to see my family because we are seniors. and then things like going out to restaurants or just going to buy things. it just limits what you can do.

host: david, where in maryland are you? caller: i'm in southern maryland. host: thanks for the call. guest: david, are your children and grandchildren, are they close by or a little further away? caller: i have two sons that are close by, and my daughter is up in columbia, which isn't that far. but it is very difficult for me to get out and see anybody because of the restrictions. guest: i think the things that david is talking about, like being able to go out to restaurants, getting together with family, is easter. for christians, this is a big day to get together with family and celebrate. and i think there are probably some people who are vaccinated this year, some may be having a

celebration with family this year who did not have that last year. but maybe they would have had it in a restaurant if anybody were fully vaccinated. even on easter sunday, there is a question of will church look different, who is the church? where you go economically speaking? it is funny, it is all the little things that go into making the economy what it is. david's point, friends and family getting together this year, are they eating at home, or are they going out to a restaurant? those are economic differences that matter. host: this is rob, that line for those who are unemployed. rob, what kind of work did you do, and how long have you been out of work? caller: i have been out of work for quite a long time. i worked in construction, testing and inspection. but i believe that what is going to happen is that the democrats at least see a large building project that is going to take place in this country in our

foreseeable future, and the infrastructure bill, the large construction that is needed for transportation and for retooling the economy is going to take place in the near future, and with a look at what is happening in immigration with regards to the need for working people. this whole idea of blocking us, immigrants who do a large portion of hard work involved with construction projects. i think they are looking at it like we need people, we need people who are in a working age and who can add to the economy and i think that there is management in this country that sees a large, marshall plan to retool this economy. so i think we had better get ready for a new future that

doesn't involve all this kind of dicing up the problems -- host: i appreciate that. let me give dante a chance to jump in. two big issues, infrastructure and immigration. guest: infrastructure is particularly interesting because you talk about $2 trillion, 1.9 fully in dollars, that is a lot of money. -- $1.9 trillion, that is a lot of money. a lot of jobs coming out of that. there is a segment of the economy that has been hit very hard with covid-19. there was this feeling that during the trump years, and really in the obama years, there with this increase, things were getting better and better. but long term, there is a segment of the economy where they could not get the same jobs, the same paying jobs, the

job that paid as much. this is the same second of the economy that would be qualified to do things for a lot of these jobs with infrastructure. it is a real opportunity for some of these places. i don't know what the infrastructure bill is going to look like, but it has got to get through congress, which anybody who watches this channel knows is a lot of work. but it is something that when i look at it, it is one of those things that could really affect across the board. infrastructure, the way they are talking about it, this amount of money they are talking about would go to all ages. if it passes, it is going to be fascinating to look at what the employment numbers look like, what the wages look like in these places, you are really talking the next 5-10 years. if it passes, my guess is it is going to affect all community types. that is something we rarely see.

the one thing about these community types that we have identified his economic forces affect them very differently. infrastructure is something that, theoretically, could play across all communities and make a big difference. host: obviously we don't know what the final bill would look like, but we do know the cares act and some of these responses, these giant pieces of legislation. did they impact these 15 different types of communities equally? guest: the cares act will be interesting to see once the numbers come in. my guess is it will impact things a little bit more like what we are seeing from covid-19. the places they get the biggest bombs are going to be these urban places that have taken a lot of hits economically. the things in there that are designed to go to education, to try to get the schools back on track, to get them kind of ready

, that really is something that is going to have a thick impact on the big cities, the urban suburbs, maybe the middle suburb. my guess is that money is being distributed based upon needs and there are poorer districts in those places. my guess is we will have to wait to see the way the money actually ends up flowing through. i have a feeling that the cares act is going to mitigate some of what we're are seeing in these employment numbers at the community level, affecting these communities in different ways. host: about 15 minutes left with dante. american communities.org. if you want to join the conversation, (202) 748-8000 if you are unemployed. (202) 748-8001 if you changed jobs during the pandemic. (202) 748-8002 for all others. paul, silver spring, maryland, good morning. caller: i did change jobs during the pandemic, what i mean, i had

a career with nbc for 12 years, it is a lot of switching off between driving and cycling and i have been seeing this stuff happen at the capitol. after covid, i really don't know if i will ever delivered to a congressman again. i mean, there is a lot of money coming in, a lot of development. a lot of other people around the country. i'm looking forward to the future. as far as people walking to this country, it is a good initiative to work. i think a lot of people come to the country with very important values that i just think people in this country have lost.

host: thank for the call. guest: it is the issue that just doesn't go away in american politics. in terms of resolving immigration, so this is obviously not my area of expertise, but i can talk about how it plays out in these communities. the places that see the biggest changes from immigration are largely in the southwest but increasingly, you see these counties existing in kansas and iowa, the southwest corner of kansas. and in the big cities. and increasingly in the urban suburbs. so with the immigrant populations, the things we tend to see, they move near family or friends or places where they know there is going to be an immigrant population so they will be comfortable and fit in. you see that obviously closer to the border, but also in these urban areas. as immigration quickens, the

pace quickens, it does feel like things worked out, but they want to open the door a bit more. those places are going to change, and they are going to change more. it is really important for everybody to realize that with the shift happening, the shift looks very different in the big cities and the urban suburbs than they do in the aging farmlands, which are still 90 plus percent white. the nation as a whole is about 66% black and hispanic. it gets higher to the 90's and some of these rural communities. we are talking about places where it is a minority plurality. these are really important things to keep in mind because as the country changes, a lot of

what we are seeing in the country politically, economically is about these communities are in very different places and they are not changing in the same way. as this happens and as more immigrants come, what we are going to see is the big cities, urban suburbs, hispanic centers growing large, the immigrant populations growing a great deal and it is not going to happen for rural america and that does place tensions economically, and culturally to increase. because they increasingly see, what does the world look like not when you read the paper, but when you look outside your door? and life looks very different when you walk outside the door in washington, d.c. or wayne county, michigan or clark county, nevada versus when you walk out the door in iowa. they are very different communities. host: as roger greene points out on twitter, it is very different

state-by-state, too. roger says states like florida that did not shut down from the pandemic are faring far better economically and show no worse virus number thin those that did. k-12 students didn't lose a full education year, either. as we are looking to try to understand a post-covid economy, does your community model still apply when states responded to the coronavirus differently? guest: it is an excellent question, and something we are really interested in, as well. states do what states do, and counties do what counties do, but they can be very different. for instance, and a couple of weeks i'm going to be taking my daughter to go taiwan because she is going to college out in iowa. but i was city does want people to wear masks, and those a very different within the same state. through my perspective, that is the state of iowa versus iowa city which is a college town.

so for me, it is even more interesting, what it looks like overtime in the college towns or the big cities with the urban suburbs versus what we see in the state as a whole. and maybe the state recommendation, depending on where you are, has these very different, plays a very different role in the communities of graying america or rural america than it does in the big cities for college towns. the other thing i would say that is also fascinating, we've looked at infection rates as well. these places that we call the military posts, they have managed this fairly well. a lot of times they are fairly rural counties but is concentrated into military bases, people living close together. they have managed to handle covid-19 fairly well. host: another paul out of columbia, south carolina. caller: thank you for c-span.

i am a retail manager, i have been working since the pandemic struck. last march, we worked nonstop, 50 hours per week, working straight through. i noticed that families will eat at restaurants four times a week, but when the restaurants shut down, they returned to the grocery stores tenfold. we are on a full role and i have seen our numbers fluctuate 100%. it is totally amazing to see families come back to their homes and want to eat dinner now. that being said, i have friends that own restaurants. i try to patronize their restaurant as best i can to help their economy and keep them employed but i think overall, the retail sector trying to buy produce from local farmers, looking for different alternatives, we have outsourced to find everything to keep the

supply chain going, to keep those claussen pickles -- not to give than a shout out, but to keep them on the shelves. people can come to the grocery store, it looks normal. i know it is not normal, but even my employer is now giving our employees and associates vaccinations, we are trying to protect our associates as best we can. the mask-wearing is great. it is common courtesy. i live outside a large military base. i feel a lot safer knowing that the military base is out there because women and men, men and women really do protect the community. with that being said, i think that the economy is in small sectors and is actually starting to kolb -- come back. we just need to have faith in the system and keep the supply chain going, get the farmers protected, get the agricultural workers protected. in our economy will bounce back, we have just got to have faith in that.

guest: that was a great call because he touched on so many things that are very interesting. one of the things they grocery stores have done very very well is because people are not eating out as much. long-term, is that a structural change or not? have they discover they would rather sit around table with their family more than going out? the idea that a lot of people have been trying to buy from local restaurants and keep people working, keep restaurants in business, but i think the thing that is really fascinating is that is the kitchen staff, ultimately. waiters, waitresses, bartenders. those jobs, my question is how quickly does that bounce back? i don't know. the economy is going to come back. the question is when it comes back, will it look different? if we all get to work at home, if we work at home five days per

week, we will all be working from home. so what if you are allowed to work from home two days per week for three days police? what does that mean for your spending when you use go downtown? people think well, maybe. but the cheapest cup of coffee is still downstairs in the kitchen. and it doesn't cost anything. it might even be the right thing to do, what it has economic impact. host: focus on this two community types that the american community is physically focusing on religion. the evangelical hubs in this country and lbs enclaves. how have they faired during covid? guest: the lds enclaves have done very well. they are one of the youngest places in terms of average age.

that is because they have a lot of kids which bring the average age down. more average age, less likely to be this severely impacted. so they have done very well. they have done very well in terms of not losing wages. when this is over, there are still businesses to hire people. the enclaves, from september to september, which is the latest available data, the quarterly census of employment wages, from september to september, they were up almost 6%. during the pandemic, they added about 6% more. those are absolutely fascinating, incredible numbers.

very small, primarily located around utah. but they've done very well. the even? hubs -- the evangelical hubs are really more around the south. they haven't faired quite as well. they have had less of a hit in terms of employment and less of an increase in terms of wages, which in this particular case, increase wages is a sign, not necessarily a great sign. but they haven't been hammering those things. they are not doing great either. they're providing a middle way. there are not of office jobs. there also aren't as many restaurants and cafes, things like that. but they have done ok so far. the lds enclaves really stand

out, fewer job losses, more establishments created. the evangelical, a little more in the middle. they have taken a little bit more of a hit from what has happened economically speaking. host: this is matt in ohio. morning. caller: good morning. i actually have several questions and i was hoping to ask them and get an answer and then follow-up. it is kind of a follow-up based on what the guy was talking about earlier with immigration, infrastructure. the difference between organic growth and forced growth is a concern of mine that we have. i'm a small business owner. i have not missed a day of work.

i have one employee with just a small operation. construction has been my livelihood. i saw it in 2008 when the economy tanked, construction basically carry the economy the entire time. there wasn't a recession. the investors came in, bought up all the houses. construction has been a relatively recession-proof industry, i would say. guest: depends on where you live, but for the most part, it has done better in some places than others. host: and i would jump into say that construction added 110,000 jobs in this country just last month. but go ahead, finish your question. caller: so, organic growth. is that more important, less important the economy? guest: i think what you are

meaning is growth that has survived investment in any way, right? caller: we have a lot of pent-up capital not only at the individual level, but also the corporate level. interest rates are low. guest: i would argue that they are both very important. gannett growth is obviously important because it is agents within the economy, private industry. however, inorganic growth, some of the stuff about infrastructure, there is no way to have organic growth. there is really no way to have organic growth for upgrading fridges, things like that. at some point, the government has to do those things. i know we want people to make the decision to do those things,

but people don't tend to vote for tax increases for themselves, they just don't. however, i think i understand where you're coming from, that somebody has to decide to spend that money for the john just doesn't get done. host: maybe one or two more calls. this is rick, he has been waiting in louisville, ohio. go ahead, rick. caller: 50 years ago, 1970, 1% of the population had 2% of the wealth. i grew up in detroit in the 60's and 70's. corporations taxed 70%, 80%. health retirement benefits, stock market went up one point. one point in the 70's. that was called capitalism. the guy that worked at general

motors may $20,000. the ceo makes $100,000. today, the ceo of amazon made $25 billion while the work is made $15,000 per year. i just wrote a book about the bailout attached to this virus. $100 trillion. if you go to -$40 per barrel in oil, $60 per barrel, i think that is $50 trillion. if you go from the stock market going to go to 5000, is 35,000. that is 30 trillion. host: let me let dante respond to a point you brought up. guest: the wealth gap is obviously a big discussion in the country overall. there is a huge gap between what companies make versus people at the bottom. i would say that the country

made a decision in the 70's and 80's along different kinds of tax policies and they may be starting to make a different kind of decision now. my job is not to evaluate policy, my job is to look at what looked like in these places and try to get a handle on where the country is going. the most interesting question to me, if the country changing his attitude about these things? and the answer so far is i don't know. if they want to increase taxation and kind of change these questions, 2020 is not an answer to the question. it is a partial answer to something we are going to be answering over the next 15, 20 years. host: let me have you and with responding to this, talking about your view in the overall data. this is from manhattan. i can't believe the unemployment rate including those not looking at 10%, i don't recognize the

city. all the mom-and-pop shops are gone, even the chains are closing. i don't see the city coming back for many years. guest: so, the one thing i would say about new york, i have faith in new york and for the ability for it to heal itself. new york, this dynamic, can look one way at one point in six months later look very different. i have a funny feeling that new york, for all the talk of everybody leaving it collapsing, i have a feeling new york is going to turn around. we have seen in the data is lots of people looking to move into new york now because prices for real estate fall, people are interested in moving. when they move back, everything changes. but i can imagine see what happened in the city is probably very difficult. host: if you want to dig into the data, if you want to check out a map and find your community on the american community's project, go to

american communities website. he is the director and founder of the american community's project. i do appreciate your time on this easter morning. guest: thank you for having me. host: up next, sunday political discussion. we will be joined by the washington examiner's politics editor. we will talk about the future of the republican party. stick around for that conversation, just after the break. announcer: book tv on c-span two has top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. today, at noon eastern, a two hour conversation with science writer and author harriet washington, joining the conversation with your phone calls, facebook comments, text and tweets.

and at 9:00 p.m. eastern, former white house press secretary and fox news host dana marino talks about her book everything will be ok, life lessons from a former young woman. she is interviewed by victoria clark for public affairs in the george w. bush of ministration. watch this weekend on c-span two. tonight on q&a, a conversation about education policy and the importance of having several discussions when different opinions are involved. our guest co-opted the book a search for common ground. frederick hess and pedro noguera. >> we have too many kids languishing in too many schools who are not challenged and no one is troubled by it.

we know that if we are going to use education to promote mobility, promote opportunity, to address poverty and inequality, that we are going to have to empower kids as learners, make sure they get the skills and education they need. >> pedro eloquently talked about some of the inequities in american education, and i think given that those of us with the resources to move into communities with good schools or to attend private schools have strategies for making sure our kids get something. school choice is a way to empower those who don't have those resources. announcer: tonight at 8:00 eastern. you can also listen to q&a as a podcast, where you get your podcasts. c-spanshop.org is c-span's new online store.

go there to order a copy of the congressional directory with contact information for every member of congress, including bios and committee assignments. order your copy online. every purchase helps support c-span's nonprofit operation. announcer: washington journal continues. host: a conversation about the future of the republican party. first, a name from the gop past. former speaker john boehner in a column from his upcoming book published in politico on friday. within into the wavering media and what because the crazy caucus in his own republican party. how is that going over? guest: it is very indistinct. i think we saw the rehabilitation of george w. bush where a lot of people who had

previously regarded him as a failed president, a little bit of a pariah, based on how things ended, he kind of was in a position to improve his reputation a little bit in contrast to some of the things that came after, and i think that is where john boehner is to some degree doing this now. he is trying to rebuild the impression that people had of him as a speaker and as a publican leadership in the house. but based on the sort of dysfunction, that has followed him. he certainly presided over the transition, i think, of when the republican establishment had a pretty firm control over the party and its presidential nominating process, and a lot of how governing was going to go, to the point that in the transition.

host: doing that rebuilding on the backs of some of his former colleagues, this is an excerpt from his upcoming book. i may have been speaker but i didn't hold all the power. now, they had a new head lunatic leading the way who wasn't even a house member. there is nothing more dangerous than a reckless man who thinks he is smarter than everyone else. ladies in german, meet senator ted cruz. >> it is no secret that he was not a ted cruz fan, either during his time as speaker of the house were subsequently. he said during the 2016 primaries that he could much more easily see himself voting for donald trump than ted cruz, but it is absolutely the case that a big part of why his

speakership did not end well was that there was a core group of 30 to 40 house conservatives egged on by some allies in the senate and conservative media. they did not have the votes to pass things and do things themselves, but they certainly have the votes to stop anything that they didn't like or to sort of disrupt whatever leadership plans were. john boehner clearly has some bad memories from that and really, neither he nor anyone subsequent to him, from rallying the rest of the caucus for leading the party, it remains a problem and i think that is why there is such a big audience for what he is saying right now. host: ted cruz, a name that comes up when 2024 gop primaries

talked about. as of today, we are actually 1002 days away until calendar year 2024. is it even worth talking about? guest: for the non-big-name presidential candidates, certainly if you are not talking about it now and thinking about it now, even though the voters are not yet ready to hear about it, you may not have anything to talk about in six months. for the people who are not in the conversation right now or may the asterisk candidates, this is the time where you have to start your planning and trying to make a name for yourself. certainly, given the speed of the news cycle today and the fact that we don't really know what donald trump is going to do , it makes this really early conversation about it less reliable than it might have been

even at early points in the cycle in the past, where at the same time, this is really winsome campaign started get going. host: the column in the washington examiner, trump is a tough act to follow for 2024 republican hopefuls. that is from just a few days ago. we are talking of the future of the republican party. phone lines split as usual. (202) 748-8000 for republicans. (202) 748-8001 free democrats. independents, (202) 748-8002. one of those republican to his talking about 2024 or at least going to a very important place for 2024, senator rick scott, the head of the national republican senatorial committee. he was asked about iowa's role as a first in the nation caucus state. this is his response. >> i've got to ask you, senator,

what do you think about this whole process starting right here in this state? >> it has worked, so why would you change it? [applause] >> i have moved around the country, i thought companies. every state is different. every state is unique. what you have actually works for iowa, but also works for the country. if you look at the result, clearly the individuals that come through on her publican side, you helped give us really good candidates. we actually have generally done pretty well the presidential races. it is not perfect, but you guys are done a great job, so why would you change it? host: as part of c-span's campaign 2024 event coverage that you can watch online at c-span.org. that visit out to iowa. guest: it is first in the nation

status among republicans. the problem that has occurred on the republican side at times is that maybe some of the candidates that prevail skew more toward the evangelical vote and then are not very well represented among other demographics in the party, while the primary has been very good at resenting -- preventing for that. the democratic side, i think there is a lot more concern about the lack of demographic diversity in the state compared to other states they could be earlier in the process. as it happens, however, iowa was very important to barack obama within the democratic presidential nomination of 2008. these things can have kind of unpredictable effects. i think that's a big reason why some democrats would like to see i will lose its first in the nation status and maybe get some other more diverse, more represented states involved in

the process earlier on. host: rick scott, not the first republican to make the trip to the hock i state. part of the potential campaign 2020 forb -- 2024 bid. here is a minute from his event before a group of republicans out in iowa. >> this requires a boldness and a fearlessness. and i think the last four years, we had that. i think the last four years, we had a real fearlessness. that was willing to go across the world and looked leaders in the face and say, not happening. for here is how i can help make that happen for you. here is the way we are going to work together. to do so anyway that was in the finest tradition of america. i ran the state department, right? very different from my time in the united states military.

what i tried to tell these folks, we were diplomats. but i reminded them every day that you had a duty not to get in the room and go yeah, you are right. it is not that we think we are perfect, we make mistakes. but never forget who we are and why we are and to boldly proclaim it. and if we do that, if we elect leaders that do that, and we don't let people off just because they are from our party, we stand a far better chance of doing what it is that you all got out of bed on a saturday to come here and talk about. host: from the des moines measures her -- the des moines register. jim antle, to his point about not letting people off, even though they are from our own

party, who do you think mike pompeo was talking about there? guest: that's going to be a major theme of the republican primaries. people are going to try to out-conservative each other. people may try to out-trump one another. there are a lot of intraparty rivals pompeo was going to have. he's clearly somebody whose resume from a presidential campaign perspective was greatly enhanced by the trump administration. he has now served as secretary of state, director of the cia. going into the administration he was a congressman. this is a better position from which to run for president, you are going to see a lot of republican on republican violence, at least rhetorically speaking, because everybody's going to try to position themselves as the ideal successor to president trump. while we wait to see if donald

trump wants to run again himself. host: who do you think did their first iowa visit letter? guest: -- visit better? guest: rick scott has a more difficult job in the sense that i think he is going to largely be judged by how he does running the campaign arm for the senate republicans. so, republicans are not very far off from having a majority in the senate, and it is not necessarily the greatest next year. how republicans do, i think that is going to have a much bigger impact on rick scott than anything he says or does an iowa this far out. pompeo, i think, is a guy who clearly needs to build a rapport, to establish a rapport with rank-and-file republicans. he has built up a resume, as i said, and i think he obviously has raised his profile a great deal through his association with trump.

i still don't see him as having the same logical connection to the base as a somebody like ted cruz has. i think he has got to take this time and build it. to hear a crowd sound like it was pretty happy to spend a morning with mike pompeo, i think, is a good sign. host: it is just after 9:00 a.m. on the east coast. jim antle is our guest. a great guy to talk to if you have questions about politics. we are talking about the future of the republican party, campaign 2024. trent, munro, louisiana. go ahead, you are on with jim antle. caller: was that bohner's six or seven glass of wine on the cover of that book? speaking of wine, since it is easter, i think trumpians, so many of us are christians that we are in a position now where in the appointed hour the power

to do the work we have to do will come. my big question for jim is, sam francis turned me onto the term managerial elite. i guess the ruling class or billing there -- billionaire managers of the oligarchy, but can you break that down? i think that's going to be increasingly important as we go into the future. guest: well, a lot of francis' work in that area was derivative of james burnham, who was an early senior editor of national review and really introduced a lot of class theory to conservative thought, which is typically -- has typically not pay -- not played a big role. other than through burnhamite disciples. it heads -- it has had a new

relevance in that you have had the radicalization of medical america as a self-conscious political base that is rebelling not just against perceived rivals in politics and government, but also corporate structures they view as not sharing their values. wealthy people and economic and political elites not sharing their values. so you see the whole concept of woke capitalism and companies threatening to boycott states with republican legislatures that pass controversial bills that are supported, in many cases, by social conservatives. that threatens to jumble the traditional republican's big business alliance that has always been a cornerstone of gop politics. it is going to be a fascinating development to see how this plays out. host: greg in lexington.

with men like bill kristol and george will rejecting the republican party of trump, do you think are the intellectuals that speak for the republican party? guest: it's very interesting. george will is still probably the most widely syndicated conservative columnist in the country. maybe cal thomas rivals him. but as the dean of washington conservative columnists, i think he is still influential, that he did not have much impact in terms of rallying republicans away from donald trump, though he tried very hard to do so. i think you are probably going to see people look at new things and for new voices, and for new intellectual leadership. who individually that might end up being, i'm not sure. there is certainly interesting

debates happening on the right in terms of how much should our economic policies still look like ronald reagan's, or has the world changed since the early 80's, and the policy needs change, and shook the party adapt to that? what role should business play in the republican coalition? you know, how do you implement social conservative agenda? should you move away from a social conservative agenda or lien much more heavily into being a traditional values party? i think there is a lot of debate going on about that, i think a lot of people feel that some of the intellectual class of the republican party dates back to a generation that doesn't really speak to the current events. host: to clarksville, tennessee. this is dave. good morning. caller: hello. don't you think trump -- if trump had a better running mate, somebody who had a better

personality, a vote-getter? a lot of my democrat friends told me the only reason they voted for biden was harris. host: jim antle? guest: i think mike pence's role was to reinsure evangelicals who are an important voting block. he might have been able to hold onto those voters in 2020, because he had a track record with them, in 2016 did not. a multi-divorced, profane, brash businessman from new york with no record of social conservatism . the access hollywood tape. hence, i think, was viewed as indispensable they are in 2016. rewarded to some degree for his loyalty in 2020. even going into 2020, pence was good at assuring a class of republicans that like the

policies, but were uncomfortable with the president's tweets, personality, and pence by being a more normal politician kind of reassured them. yeah, obviously there were a lot of people who thought that maybe he needed somebody who would balance the ticket more demographically in 2020, or needed a change to shake up the race. i think the reason kamala harris was important to the democratic ticket was she was significantly younger, so it is alleviated some of the age concerns related to joe biden. and two, yeah, there was a little bit of an unspoken thing about perhaps biden being a transitional figure, as you needed a younger politician to transition too. i don't think that's how they are talking now. like to talk about biden being a transformative president. but certainly the idea of transition was big among

democrats at the time biden won the nomination. host: tillman on twitter says ron desantis is the 2020 front runner. ron desantis with several press conferences last week, not afraid to chat or mix it up with the press. one of the things he did on thursday was take on the biden administration, especially on the issue of immigration, focusing on the idea of the biden administration not doing more to remove illegal immigrants who are being released from prison. here is 60 seconds of that. >> he made really troubling change of policy with the federal government. it used to be that when somebody was in the our prison system, the federal authorities would have what is called a detainer on them, notifying the state that this is somebody here illegally and was subject to removal. when they came up their sentence, there was a transfer

that was effectuated and the federal government would work to return, repatriate the criminal alien to their home country. now under the biden administration, they are basically dispensing with this idea of accepting the criminal aliens. they are not honoring ice detainers and they are halting removals of even criminal aliens. we have already had, in florida, a handful of terminal aliens that have finished their sentences, and the detainers were removed by the biden administration. normally they would have been transferred into federal custody and removed. now the federal government is effectively releasing them into our communities. we think that is problematic. that is not the way to guard public safety. host: jim antle, on ron desantis and the issue of immigration in 2024? guest: since the border crisis has unfolded have seen among

republican voters immigration rise to the top -- maybe the top two or three issues of concern. we have seen the tripling of the percentage of republicans who say that immigration is the issue that most concerns them. clearly anybody trying to run for the republican nomination is going to take up this issue. it is also the issue in which president biden has some of his lowest job approval ratings right now. it is a clear weakness for the president, at least for as long as the chaos on the border is unfolding. of the three floridians who i think are contemplating a 2024 campaign -- marco rubio, rick scott, ron desantis -- i think desantis has positioned himself to be a sort of trump-like candidate, without the -- a sort of decaffeinated trump, maybe.

on some of the issues trump may have highlighted, having run against critical race theory and public education, having gone after big tech, having raised some concerns about immigration, having championed economic reopening in florida during the pandemic, i think these are issues trump was associated with, without some of the personality things about trump, other than the fact desantis is imitating trump in tending to always be on offense, which i think is a big thing and can file republican voters liked about trump. they viewed him as a guy playing mainly offense. host: plenty of calls lined up for you. michigan, democrat, go ahead, you are on with jim antle. caller: if i examine the facts of our situation now, the last four years of the trump administration were an unmitigated disaster, with his russian connections and how many

people in his campaign were adjudicated. with the department of justice now looking at conservatism, which is basically nothing more than white supremacy, as the greatest threat to american democracy. all of the voter suppression laws that are being passed in 43 states, over 300. one million people -- versus 74,000,004 trump. host: that is henry out of michigan. caller brings up election laws. a lot of focus this weekend on the georgia law in the wake of mlb pulling the all-star game out of atlanta. thoughts? guest: it is clearly a major issue. it is a real flashpoint. i think there is a lot of more heat than light generated in a

lot of the discussion of these election laws. i think, really, on both sides, but it is clearly something that animates the democratic base, that feels that republicans are not playing fair and are trying to suppress their vote, while at the same time a lot of republicans are very invested in the idea that there are a lot of votes being cast that potentially should not be, disadvantaging their candidates. i think both of these points of view are very exaggerated, but they are very widely held by a lot of people. on top of that, with what has happened in georgia have the old -- the whole question of the republican party's relationship with big business. republicans passed laws that businesses don't like, these business entities are not necessarily supportive of the gop. what is that going to mean for

their relationship going forward? if democrats remain the party of organized labor, how do republicans compete if they are not the party of business? there is really a lot going on there, in terms of election laws in 43 states. republicans don't control 43 states. host: jim antle this morning with the washington examiner. republicans it is (202) 748-8001 . democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. you were talking about the future of republicans on the presidential level. i wonder your thoughts on matt gaetz and his future? guest: matt gaetz is an interesting character, but in terms of somebody who positioned themselves in the trump era, you may argue that matt gaetz is the biggest-spectrum trumpist in

congress. he is not only embraced a trump agenda on immigration, as a number of republicans have, and on trade and business to a certain degree, as a josh hawley has, and some of the economic thinking there, but gaetz was big on changing the gop's foreign policy, having fewer foreign wars, getting out of the middle east, and being more consistent on that front then trump himself, floating against the trump administration on yemen, on iran. but at the same time, gaetz is similar to trump and that he is a cable new star. to have this kind of a scandal potentially taken down and do worse than take him down does sort of potentially take a real

trump successor, may be, or trump imitator at the congressional level of the board. host: mike in ohio, republican. your next. caller: good morning, jim. good morning to my fellow americans. how can the never trumper wing of the republican party -- how do they recover the party that provided such an emotional and vehement, and entertaining, sense of attachment to his tens and tens of millions of voters? thank you. i will take my answer off the air. thank you for c-span. guest: some of them probably can't, because some of them have positioned themselves so far out of the republican party at this point that it would be hard for them to go back, but, you know,

there certainly are openings. if people perceive after 2020 the republican party to have not done well, they will be people willing to consider alternate approaches. i think as 2020 turned out, you know, republicans came close enough in both houses of congress, trump was once again more competitive than the public polling indicated that he would be. i'm not sure that rank and file republican voters are there yet. i think the real opening is to, maybe -- and you are saying -- you are seeing romney do this to some extent, even though i don't think he is somebody people will look to, romney has championed e-verify, connecting it to a minimum wage increase. there are some populist proposals.

i think what they will try to do is divorce some of the issues from the man himself. i think that is the most obvious path forward to somebody looking for a post-trump gop. there are republicans who want the substantive issues related to trumpism to not be what the republican party is about. host: stay on that republican line. this is sarah, good morning. caller: i was wondering why you guys always have on their about the republican party. i do not get that. i listen all the time, and i don't know. i don't get it. host: sarah, can i explain why? a couple of candidates already heading to iowa for election 2024. if you can believe it, even though we are over 1000 days away from calendar year 2024. that, combined with john boehner's essay getting a lot of attention on friday. he thought it would be a good

time to talk about. is that ok? caller: i guess so. i just -- i get so aggravated every day. host: don't want you to be aggravated, sarah. caller: yeah. i don't understand the american people can't see, you know, what the democratic party is doing to this country. and one more thing i want to say too. you guys always talking about covid. i live in indiana and we have went the whole time everywhere -- we went to restaurants, the american legion, everywhere, and i have seen my grandkids, you know, i try to be safe. i respect and i wear a mask and all of that, but all of these other states and stuff, i feel sorry for you. host: jim antle? guest: that is definitely an

undersold aspect of even the politics of the pandemic in that there is a real divide in the country over how people have lived throughout the outbreak. i think clearly the three months this time last year almost everybody was pretty locked down, but at this point you have large parts of the country that are still living basically modified versions of the lockdowns that we saw in march, april, may of last year. in large parts of the country they are living relatively normal, if somewhat modified lives. that has contributed to very different impressions of how this should be handled. i think there is even not a lot of understanding, as with many issues, of the opposite sides of the divide. for most people, if you lived a certain way and you have not gotten sick or gotten sick we flee and you survived, you believe the way you have handled the pandemic is the correct way to do so. host: to gail in new jersey.

good morning, you are on with jim antle. caller: good morning and happy easter to you all. what i wanted to say was, the crisis we are having at the border, we should all realize that joe biden is responsible for that. he has invited them over. he told them he has made it much easier for all of them to come over. and look at the money he is spending. i mean, the money, the tax dollars. we are all paying for that. the billions of dollars he is spending on these immigrants coming over here, putting them up, feeding them, clothing them. that money should be going toward the american citizen who has worked hard all these years. we deserve it more than they do.

host: jim antle, the immigration issue again. guest: this is the issue, immigration and border security are issues where president biden has his lowest job approval ratings. what the caller is talking about is a good example of why. certainly this has deteriorated as the situation at the border has. it is not very easy to see how the administration gets out of this. i think a lot of their planning involves diplomatic overtures to mexico, maybe keep more people from coming into the united states, retain more of them there, and also the hope that some of the source countries will, over time, create conditions that make more manageable numbers of people want to leave. but that is obviously something that even if it can be made to work, take time. in the political campaign

cycles, you don't always have a lot of time. host: up to illinois. this is keith. good morning. caller: i would like to say i think the gop really is the insurrectionist party. they don't believe in science, they don't believe in masks, they don't believe in climate change. and they don't believe in democracy. a lot of these voter suppression laws have elements in the law where they actually give state legislatures the ability -- if the boats go the wrong way they can discount the votes and vote a different way in that state. that is so undemocratic and that is not democracy at all. host: jim antle, let you jump in. guest: i'm not sure what the caller is referring to there, other than some initiatives have state legislators be able to see alternate electors in the

electoral college, but, you know, there is not really much of a move there distinct from the 2020 campaign where there was some dispute over how certain states went. i don't really see that going anywhere. at least at this time. who knows? it doesn't look like something that has much legs to me. host: back to florida. this is and in fort pierce. caller: good morning, gentlemen. my, concerns the nomination of governor desantis for the presidential candidate of the republican party in the 2024. i don't think that gentleman is a very good choice. i live in florida currently, and what he does here is disgusting. he has reduced the covid restrictions so that there are more people at risk. he continues to undermine the government of the state of

florida, and i really would not vote for that gentleman. regarding the immigration problem, i do believe it is the first problem we are faced with in this country. it has been around for 50 years. no politician has had the guts besides donald trump to do anything about it. host: before you go, could i ask you what republican you would vote for besides donald trump? you just said he is the one who has done anything about it. is there any republican you would vote for? caller: at this moment i am not certain. i don't think donald trump will run again as i think he will be too old. i look for a candidate who is on the strict conservative style and leaves in fiscal constraint and strong defense. host: jim antle? guest: ron desantis hasn't won anything yet other than the

governorship of florida, so there is going to be a long time for republicans to debate all of this. certainly i think for governors in particular, what their states looked like during the pandemic, how they handled the pandemic, what the death rates and infection rates were compared to big democratic states like new york and california, i think those are going to be major parts of their campaign and major areas that get scrutinized and anybody runs. assuming that president trump does not get back into it in the 2024, you could see a real free-for-all. there is a real vacuum, i think, of leadership in the party, and you are going to see a lot of people running to fill it. host: the column from a jim antle from just a few days ago, trump is a tough act to follow for 2024. one of the republican hopefuls you focus on in that story is christine of south dakota. guest: kristi noem is someone

whose record is going to be a major focal point of scrutiny, should she run. i think she has discovered very early that you don't have the same leeway to take whatever positions you want with the base if you are not donald trump. this bill about transgender athletes not being permitted to compete with biological females and -- in girls' sports, she did not want to sign it in the form in which it was passed. did not want to invite a boycott into her state. a lot of conservative activists reacted in a hostile fashion. her initial four-way -- initial foray into presidential politics shows that it is not going to be easy for a lot of these candidates and that there are a lot of minefields to navigate. that does not mean she is done. it is early. don't know how representative

some of those concerns are of the party at large, but i think it is a warning that donald trump had a certain degree of flexibility with the base that maybe the people vying to succeed him or not going to have. host: two minutes left. this is jerry out of chicago. republican. you are on with jim antle. caller: thank you for taking my call. i'm glad another media outlet is out there that is taking both sides, not like the mainstream media that is with the democrats. the problem at the border is atrocious and biden or harris have not gone down there. the mainstream media reports that everything is fine down there and everything, and you know it is not, when you see people going down there, all of the republican senators and stuff and you see it on their stations, but they don't show that on the other stations. and the democrats have such

dirty tricks up their sleeves to try, you know, the stimulus checks, and the long run they are going to be paying high gas prices, higher taxes. it is going to be a lot of inflation. country is just going downhill. host: jim antle, i will give you the final minute here. guest: definitely the spending issue is something to watch. in the immediate term, doing a lot of government spending tends to be popular. do we get to a point where we have an overheated economy? we get to a point where we have -- do we get to a point where we have different costs servicing the debt? do we have to pay higher taxes at some point? that is when these to be less popular, but the hope among democrats is that people will like the spending and that the economy is going to improve as the pandemic comes to an end and biden will get credit for the economic expansion if it occurs under his watch. that is going to be something to watch.

host: in something we will continue to watch and talk about with you, jim antle, and something you will cover at the washington examiner. politics editor of the washington examiner. always do appreciate your time on the washington journal. guest: thanks for having me. host: about 30 minutes left. we found out over the weekend that a number of leading georgia-based companies critical of that state's new election law. usually baseball announcing it has pulled its all-star game from atlanta because of that election law. we are asking you, should major league baseball have moved its all-star game from atlanta? phone lines are on your screen. republican, democrat, and independents, as usual. ♪

>> listen to c-span's podcast, "the weekly." this week kimberly strawser on the filibuster's future and the long-term ramifications of modifying senate rules when majority control changes sides. >> democrats right now are thinking of blowing up the entire senate as an institution, even with the knowledge that by next year they might be in the not -- be in the minority. in four years from now republicans could be in a place to put through an agenda that would be terrifying to democrats. this is one of those moments where people ought to sit back and try to remember that these kind of big actions could have real consequences down the road. >> find "the weekly," where you get your podcasts. ♪

>> american history tv on c-span3, exploring the people and events that tell the american story every weekend. today at 2:00 p.m. eastern, on oral histories, milton jones recalls his experience in the vietnam. -- in vietnam. today on the civil war, the depiction of slavery in hollywood films. at 6:30 p.m., the assassination attempt on president ronald reagan. on the presidency, we will look at the president's first address to congress, ronald reagan and clinton. exploring the american story. watch american history tv today on c-span3. >> tonight on q&a, a conversation about education policy and the importance of

having several discussions. our guests, frederick hess, american enterprise institute's director of policy studies cap, --, and pedro mcgarrah. >> we have too many kids languishing in too many schools who are not challenged and no one is troubled by it. we know that if we are going to use education to promote ability, to promote opportunity, to address everyday, that we are going to have to empower kids as learners, make sure they get the skills they need so they can contribute to their families and communities. >> pedro is eloquent -- has eloquently talked about some of the inequities. high thanks, given that those of us who have the resources to move into communities with good schools or attend private schools have strategies for making sure our kids get

something. school choice is a way to empower those who don't have those resources. >> frederick hess and pedro mcgarrah, on c-span's q&a. you can also listen to q&a on a podcast. >> "washington journal" continues. host: in these final 25 minutes, asking you, should major league baseball have moved their all-star game from atlanta? that is the question in the wake of that georgia election law that has garnered so much attention. there is the headlines from this morning's atlanta journal-constitution. the fallout of mlb's decision to move the all-star game. that is what they dive into. this is what we are diving into in this final segment. the statement from major league baseball commissioner robert manfred. i have decided that fast way to demonstrate our values as a sport is by relocating this

year's all-star game and draft. major league baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all americans and imposes restrictions to about rocks. in 2020 mlb became the first professional sports league to join the civic alliance to help build the future in which everyone participates. we probably used our platform to encourage baseball fans in the communities throughout our country to perform their civic duty and actively participate in the voting process. fair access to voting continues to have our game's unwavering support. commissioner of unwavering -- of baseball. and the reaction from brian kemp. here is what he had to say. >> yesterday major league baseball caved to fear and. -- analyze. they ignored our new integrity law and ignore the consequences of their decision on our local community. in the middle of a pandemic,

major league baseball put the likes of stacey abrams and joe biden ahead of the economic well-being of hard-working georgians who were counting on the all-star game for a paycheck. georgia and all americans should know what this decision means. it means cancer culture and partisan activists are coming for your business. they are coming for your game or event in your hometown. and they are coming to cancel everything from sports to how you make a living. and they will stop at nothing to silence all of us. they don't care about jobs, they don't care about our communities , and they certainly don't care about access to the ballot box. because if they did, major league baseball would have announced that they were moving their headquarters from new york yesterday. in new york.

[applause] in new york they have 10 days of early voting. in georgia we have a minimum of 17, with two additional sundays that are optional for all counties. in new york you have to have an excuse to vote by absentee. in the georgia you can vote absentee for any reason, and you can do it securely. it is easier to vote in georgia than it is new york. host: georgia governor brian kemp. this is the headline from the hill this morning on reaction from obama. raising mlb from pulling the all-star game, this is the quote. congratulations to mlb for taking a stand on behalf of voting rights for all citizens. there is no better way for america's past time to honor hank aaron, who always lead by example. that was obama on saturday.

the hill noting that among the restrictions governor kemp signed into law, the mets on alec dropbox's, shorter periods in which residents can apply for balance, and new photo id requirements for absentee voting. those new measures coming under withering criticism from democrats and some private companies. your thoughts on the mlb pulling the all-star game from atlanta. this is barb in the iowa falls. a republican. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. i feel like sports and politics should not mix at all. am i on? host: yes, ma'am. why don't you think they should make? caller: they just shouldn't. i think my grandchildren watching baseball, basket all and all of that and they see somebody kneeling, now we're going to pull this mlb, they are going to pull their game out of georgia. just let sports be sports.

let's have fun with sports. but the politicians argue themselves. let's listen to governor kemp. he had a wonderful speech. then what is obama interfering? host: when you say let's let sports be sports, should we be playing the national anthem at the beginning of sporting contests? caller: let's have our stalls -- star-spangled banner, just like we always have. if the players don't want to let them in the locker room, i just don't go along with this. the league should let sports be sports and keep politics out of it. i think the mlb game that they are taking out of georgia, maybe some of them players won't even want to play. be they will be against this. -- maybe they will be against this. host: former trump against this, and sent out a couple of statements on it. here is his latest statement, saying, or years the radical

left democrats have played dirty by boycotting products when anything from that company is done or stated in a way that offends them. now they are going big-time with cancer culture and our sacred elections. it is time for republicans and conservatives to fight back. he said, we have more people than they do, by far. boycott coca-cola, citigroup, cisco, and merck. go back to the products. the president said the radical left will destroy our country if we let them. adding, happy easter. a statement from yesterday. bill, florida, independent. morning. caller: hi, good morning. the two comments that preceded me, the woman about the baseball as a unifying thing, i wholly agree. i must say, i agree with president trump.

that i would add another thing. i believe that you have a sacred economic duty, if you oppose them moving the all-star game. not only should you not watch that all-star game, but you should never watch the all-star game again. i was watching -- just one comment. i was watching an interview with scholl sinise and before he died. he said at the end of world war i, the russians were tired, they wanted to put down their guns, and basically that is how the bolsheviks took power in russia. this is not about voting rights. this is basically a core fight. you have to be willing to -- if

you love major league baseball, you love the all-star game, but you don't believe in what is being done, you have to turn that thing off and never watch it again. host: steve, noblesville, indiana. democrat. you are next. caller: good morning. i think that there should be a lot more people boycotting the georgia results, because you let the republican party keep going the way they are going, they are taking your rights-of-way -- your rights away. there should never be any long lines for voting. you ought to be able to get in there and get out. and what they do is create longer and longer lines every time, you know.

and when the democratic party does actually change the fact in georgia, then they turned around and they want to take more rights away from you so the democratic party can't get back in. host: mike in norwalk, ohio. independent. good morning. caller: this last caller from indiana didn't even read the bill. biden is lying, the democratic party is lying. if you read the bill it says nothing about giving water to people dropping in the line. you are allowed to bring your own water. doesn't people have since anymore? as far as companies, this is the cancer culture -- cancer culture the democratic party has stirred up. if coke, pepsi, anybody else gets into a political party they should lose all of their tax

exempt. that means they should pay the same tax as me and you. we are tired of this. it seems that if you are a trump supporter, you are the enemy now. people, you had better wake up. we are in trouble. host: mike saying that president joe biden earning four pinocchio's from the washington post fact checker this morning for this statement on the georgia election law, saying back on the 26th of march, it ends voting hours early so working people can't cast their vote after their shift is over. the washington post fact checker diving into that, saying listeners might assume he was talking about election day. as for early voting, the law made a modest change, replacing normal business hours presumed to be 9:00 to 5:00 p.m., to a more specific 9:00 to 5:00 p.m. time. under the law counties have the

option to extend their voting hours so voters can start casting their boats as early as 7:00 a.m. and as late as 7:00 p.m. an additional day on saturday was added and two days on sunday were codified as an option. the fact checker giving the president four pinocchio's for his statements on this bill. gordon in california, republican. the next. -- you are next. caller: i want to know why you don't compare the great state of georgia's voting laws with delaware. we all know what is right. biden is a liar. period, man. host: that is gordon. this is david in flint, michigan. morning. caller: good morning. i would like to say happy easter to everybody. i love all of the people of the

united states, but i think -- think the baseball team for doing that for us. we black people, descendants of slaves in america, we seem by our self. all we want is the right to vote. i am a hard worker, i am a taxpayer. all i want is our people to have an equal right to vote. in the suburbs where the whites live, they had short lines. they walk in, walk out. in the atlanta ware governor kemp close to the polls and closed up voting places, the blacks were in lines some 10 hours. this was the two elections. they are coming up with all of these excuses of everything is the same, but they are lying. they don't want my people, the black people of the united states to vote. host: that is david in the michigan. some of the headlines. a tide of social activism rises

in sports leagues. taking a look at previous efforts before mlb, top leagues and their stars have, forcefully and publicly against police brutality and gun violence. and just as strongly and support of lgbtq causes. players have spoken at protest marches and leaks have supported marches. from the front page of "the new york times," and the opinion pages of "the washington post," kathleen parker. in georgia republicans are keeping the biggest lie alive. according to some of the issues she has with the law, among those that will add a greater inconvenience for voters. absentee ballots are more difficult to obtain, drop boxes will become nearly nonexistent,

photo id required, potentially prohibitive requirements. sunday voting hours are left to local election boards, though saturday voting has been expanded. and food and water can't be offered to people standing in line who are waiting to vote. host: karen is next out of connecticut. independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i think it is find that big organizations or corporations boycott, because the republicans have been using their cancer culture to cancel out all of the democrat and independent belief that public schools is good, social security is good, you know, fema, and our insurance doesn't cover our house blowing down. they call these socialist. i think there is a lot of people that truly would want to keep public schools. they are just being fooled by

the republican party. host: that is karen. this is dorothy out of raleigh, north carolina. go ahead. caller: good morning. i want to make a suggestion for c-span. you should have a program where you have people that actually work the polls. the judges, go into the process and everything. for some reason people think that there is one party running it. it's not. host: dorothy, i appreciate that. i will say, it was last week on this program on sunday we ended up talking to a poll worker who was a caller who called in and talked about their experience over several years working the polls. it wasn't georgia. we get those calls a lot, but thank you for the idea of a specific call-in on that. caller: thank you. my comment is this. you had a guest that said georgia was going to make it so that if you did not vote in every election that they would pull your name.

i don't think that is fair. what is the purpose of that? i shouldn't have to. host: i'm not sure, i haven't heard of that provision, dorothy. i can certainly take a look while we continue the conversation here this morning. caller: ok, it was two guys on your show a few days ago. one was talking about the voter ids, and the other one was talking republican. he said they were making a law that if you didn't vote in every election in georgia -- i don't know if he said georgia. host: got it. this is joe in georgia, covington, georgia. good morning. joe, are you with us in compton? -- covington? we will go to pompano beach, florida. this is john. good morning. caller: yes. thank you for having me on.

i just don't understand two items in this escutcheon. one item is vote -- in this conversation. one item is voter identification. i need a license to see the doctor to prove that the insurance i have is my insurance. and i go flying at an airport, i need my license to prove that i am the person i am. so, in order to vote, i think it is valid that we have identification to prove who we are. those are my comments. host: that is john in florida. here is the comments of several members of congress in the wake of major league baseball's decision to pull the all-star game out of atlanta, georgia. instagramming with this tweet on friday afternoon.

what a pathetic decision by mlb to give into the radical left's false attacks on the voting laws. this is an insult to the people of georgia trying to create a robust voting system and maintain integrity. i promise you this will not go unanswered by legislative bodies and millions of americans. also from the republican side, marco rubio, the florida senator saying, mlb creek caves to pressure and moves the all-star game out of georgia on the same week they announced a deal with a company backed by the genocidal communist party of china. why are we listening to these corporate hypocrites on taxes, regulation, and antitrust? senator rand paul saying, your sports league might be too woke if it will do business with commune -- with communist in cuba and china wants -- kevin mccarthy. i have been a lifelong baseball fan, mlb's decision to cave to a

misinformation campaign is absolutely wrong. no mistake, the community of atlanta is who mlb is hurting here. from the democratic side, chuck schumer in the senate. racist voter suppression laws are hurting george's voters in its economy. georgia republicans should be ashamed. we welcome and lobby to come play the all-star game in new york, where we are making to -- are working to make it easier, not harder, to vote. this from senator raphael warnock. it wasn't the people or workers of georgia who crafted that voting law. it was politicians seeking to retain power at the expense of georgians' voices. today's decision is the unfortunate consequence. some of the reaction from capitol hill. hearing your reaction, asking you if it is something major league baseball should have done. john in california. republican. go ahead. caller: could not have done

that. i don't know why these corporations -- starbucks, nike, now coke -- have to take it upon themselves to decide politically -- and i have a couple of issues if i have a net. -- a minute. earlier a caller said the conservative movement is just another name for white supremacy. the guy from the washington examiner and you, nobody called him on that. this is the new game of the democrats. they are going to convince minority voters that oh, the republicans don't want you to vote. no, we want to make sure that this invasion on the southern border are not going to end up deciding our elections. that is what it is all about if joe biden and kamala harris thought 40% of those people that are starving and being raped and murdered on the border because of their misguided policies, if

they thought 40% of those people would vote republican, they would be down there helping to build the wall themselves. the idea that republicans are white supremacists are asinine. that is john and the -- host: that is john. this is stephanie. good morning. caller: good morning and happy easter. just quickly, the last guy stunned me, but the question as to why the corporations are acting so woke lately -- it is not lately. when amazon pulled out of new york city and everyone blamed aoc, the gop cheered. they thought it was great she got slapped back. in chick-fil-a with your anti-lgbtq. the gop never said a word about it being discriminatory, and they said they are a private company, they have a right to do

that. the same with hobby lobby, and hobby lobby did not want to provide birth control. not a cricket. now you have something that is happening where corporations are saying, wait a minute, this is a discriminatory practice you guys are doing and we are not going to give our money to it. if they have that right to do that for all of the things the conservative gop supports, they certainly have the right to do it for other things too. host: bruce is next out of georgia. good morning. caller: good morning, how are you doing today? host: doing well. caller: i would like to say that this mlb woke deal is really hypocritical. in georgia you have to have a photo id to walk down the street. when you go into this ballgame they want to see your ticket. what is the difference when you go into the voting booth? host: karen is next from philly. good morning. caller: hello.

thank you for having me on. i can respond to that last guy. it is not a right to go to a baseball game. it is your right to go to the ballot boxed. also i think it is a great thing that we have companies that are reflecting the values of people in georgia. you have a majority of people that do not support the bill. for all of the people that want to say that it is victimizing minority communities about voter id laws, it is the fact that they don't have access to them as much. whoever they are, they complain that people victimize themselves, and in reality they don't look at accessibility, and education. they don't look at the statistics. we have people that need to get to the ballot boxed because it is their right. that should be made easier. they are talking about election security and there was no significant evidence of fraud. they are making a law that was based on something that was trump's lie.

these people are fulfilling that lie by making it harder and trying to get raphael warnock out of office. host: andy is next out of california. independent. good morning. caller: happy easter. host: same to you. caller: i am for pulling the all-star game out of georgia. i am beside myself when listening to how many people call joe biden a liar when trump was in there for his many years as he was. how many lies he throughout there. i guess, for the republicans, if they were to keep it in georgia, they might as well have matt gaetz brought -- throughout the first page. at would sum everything up. host: last call this morning. john in beaverton, ohio. good morning. caller: either. it is beaverton, oregon. host: sorry about that. caller: i just did some more

research. federal law requires a new registrant to provide either a driver's license number or the last four digits of his or her social security number at the time of registration. let's just follow the federal law and let's cut out the games. this is politicians on both sides. let's follow the federal law. very simple and move on. this is important, but let's move on and just follow the federal law. host: that is john, beaverton, oregon. we will be back tomorrow. 7:00 a.m. eastern, 4:00 a.m. pacific. in the meantime, have a great easter sunday. ♪ [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2021] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

♪ >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government, created by america's tv companies in 1979. today we are brought to you by these television companies that bring c-span to you as a public service. ♪ >> the trial of derek chauvin, charged in the death of george floyd. watch today beginning at 3:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. here from charles mcmillan who spoke with george floyd during his arrest. the trial of derek chauvin today getting at 3:00 p.m. eastern on

c-span. congress returns from their holiday recess next week. the senate returns monday, april 12 at :00 p.m. eastern -- at 3:00 p.m. eastern. later in the week, senators will begin working on more nominations including wendy sherman to be deputy secretary of state and gary gensler to be chair of the securities and exchange commission. the house returns tuesday, april 13 for legislative business. speaker pelosi announced she expects the house to work on equal pay for women legislation as well as the 2% suspension across the board cut to medicare. the infrastructure and jobs package is not expected on the floor until late spring or early summer.

follow our congressional coverage anytime on c-span.org or listen on the free c-span radio app. >> former house speaker paul ryan and former senator heidi heitkamp join a discussion on the state of american democracy hosted by purdue university. >> good evening and welcome to the latest in purdue university is a presidential lecture series. we have welcomed scientists and other business leaders, renowned journalists and a number of esteemed public officials, but rarely have we hosted guests more significant than those joining us for -- tonight for a topic timely to our future. i have a cosponsor for this program, a