"this country." be sure to join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments, text messages and tweets. washington journal is next. ♪ host: good morning. the house and senate in session this week and the democratic sponsor devoting legislation facing opposition among republicans. senator chuck schumer expected to bring it to the floor tuesday. we will have live coverage on c-span2. over the weekend along the u.s.-mexico border at least 15 died in attacks. the news prompting this question on a sunday morning, what immigration reforms do you

support along the border and others coming from central and south america? phone lines are open for democrats at (202)-748-8000, republicans (202)-748-8001, if you are independent, (202)-748-8002. you can also send a text message at (202)-748-8003. be sure to tell us your name and where you are from. don't text and drive. from facebook.com/c-span and twitter @c-spanwj. first a very happy father's day. the washington post, at least 15 dead near the u.s.-mexico border. gunmen aborted number of vehicles stitching attacks -- aboard a number of vehicles staging attacks causing widespread panic. they began in the early afternoon in a number of neighborhoods in the eastern part of the city.

mobilizing the army and national guard, various criminal activity has been dominated by the cartel. the homeland security secretary was on capitol hill to talk about the budget but he was asked about immigration and border security. [video clip] >> the president's budget provides for more border security including a $655 million investment for ports of entry. it also includes $47 million to integrate detection capabilities in addition to investments in border surveillance technology. there is no request for additional border wall construction. the budget reflects the president's commitment to rebuilding our immigration system into one that is fair, efficient, and upholds our nation's values and laws.

it includes a new discretionary request for $345 million to tackle the backlog of applications and support up to 125,000 refugee admissions per year. to maintain this safe treatment of migrants at the border the request includes $163 million for medical needs at those importers and custom control. host: that was during a virtual hearing this past week. all event coverage is available online at c-span.org. the phone lines are open for democrats at (202)-748-8000 and for republicans at (202)-748-8001. according to migrationpolicy.org, the estimated size of immigrant population in the u.s. is at 11

million. 51% come from mexico followed by el salvador and guatemala. 60% have lived here for 10 years and 5% are unemployed. this headline from thehill.com, former president trump is going to the border next week. this is from the texas governor who talked about the situation in the state of texas. [video clip] >> the bottom-line is this, the biden administration abandoned its responsibility to apply federal law to secure the border and enforce the immigration laws. texans are suffering as a consequence of that net collect by the biden administration. in the federal government's

absence, texas is stepping up to get the job done. we will build the wall, secure the border, but most importantly, restore safety to the citizens who live in the lone star state. host: that was texas governor greg abbott and this is on twitter saying, the existing laws -- we go to robert first in oregon. caller: good morning. my comments will be rather brief. the analogy might be apt, when you encounter someone bleeding by the time you take care of the bleeding, you can examine the causes that led to it. i think the administration has it backwards. making an attempt to diagnose

the reasons and we have seen things from climate change to various things that kamala harris brought up in guatemala. but you have to stop the bleeding first. they need to do with the governor of texas is doing. let's take care of the completion of the wall to begin with and keep these good people on the others and take it from there. that is my message. host: thank you for the call. this from the washington post, u.s. customs and border protection with the numbers regarding the border. 180,000 migrants have been detained, 38% were repeat detainees and teens and children amounting to 14,000 from may of

this year. on the republican line linda is next from pennsylvania. caller: we need to do something about this immigration problem. we should be allowed to say who can and cannot come into this country. we shouldn't have to take everybody without doing any type of background checks. there is a legal and illegal way to come. my grandparents were immigrants. they came legally. maybe we need to work on the legal process. but forcing these illegal immigrants, dropping them off in the different states where the states cannot support this immigration -- i would love to retire early but i cannot afford

health insurance. if i was an illegal immigrant, i would get it for free. there is definitely something wrong with that scenario. i think building a wall is definitely a step in the right direction. having surveillance, additional money for surveillance, all that is going to allow us to watch them come in. there is not enough border patrol to stop them coming in, and for the poor people who defend that area some of the horror stories you have about finding dead bodies in your yards because they didn't make it. the whole scenario is very sad. host: linda, thank you for the call. the question is what immigration reforms or policy changes do you support? what would work, but would not work? this tweet from robert saying, the root cause of the border disaster is biden's border policies.

on the independent line margaret is joining us from texas. good morning. caller: good morning to you. yes, this subject interests mean that just because i live in texas -- me not just because i live in texas, but i taught in university. i taught the history of latin america. we have to understand people learn a little bit about the way this country has exploited the central american countries, not for decades, but for centuries. american business -- of the u.s. government has supported dictators, has just ripped up those nations. we owe these people to a certain extent. i'm glad harris went down to find out what was going on. as far as the border itself i

think we should have more courts and judges down there to handle went people come in for refuge. why they are coming. i think the people who were already here, the darker young people, should have citizenship. we need immigrants. if you read any of the reputable economists, they will tell you we need younger -- we need people coming into support the economy for this economy to grow. the economy in this country has always grown when we had a healthy immigrant group coming in. that is all i have to say this morning. as far as abbott is concerned,

he is a total failure and the wall is not going to do a thing. if he didn't get enough money to do it, people are going to go under it, over it, and already it has been stated over and over by the border patrol that illegal drugs do not come -- most do not come across the open areas. they come across ports of entry. host: thank you for the call. a number of you mentioned the vice president in a story getting a lot of attention. we find it this morning on the new york post website. 56 house republicans demanding the vice president be removed from the border crisis role in part because she is yet to visit the border. she traveled to guatemala and mexico earlier this month. paul is joining us from lancaster, pennsylvania on the republican line. caller: good morning.

all i have to say is maybe some of these people could have background checks. [indiscernible] host: thank you for the call. more from the hearing this past week with republican congressman ralph norman and the homeland security secretary in this exchange over the situation. [video clip] >> have you ever had a medical physical? >> congressman, i have. of course i have and that is quite a private question to pose. >> when you had the medical physical -- i'm not talking about what they found -- but they sit you down in an office and see what was going on and

was that effective? >> yes, sir. >> why then with the leader of this country and the vice president not want to go physically to the border, talk to the border patrol agents you say you want to try to recruit? why, if it applies in so many other fields, why does it not apply with this? in fact, is it fair you have a doctor that laughs that you let the vice president did when asked to come to the border? can you comment on that? >> i most certainly can. i consider that question to be quite unfair and disrespectful. let me be very clear, the president and vice president requested and directed me to visit the border, which i have done on multiple occasions, and i would like to cite my exchange

with ranking member catco and the direction i provided to state and law enforcement to visit particular scenes. if i may finish? >> i'm reclaiming my time. >> i'm sorry -- >> i am reclaiming my time. you made the statement my question was unfair. i am saying your words are unfair. i asked you a simple question and i would like you to answer simply. does it make sense for the leaders of the free world to see what is going on at the border? all i'm saying is we don't want words, we want actions. host: that was south carolina republican ralph norman and ella hundred mayorkas. from foxnews, 56 republicans

asking vice president harris to be removed from the border role. this from david saying, everything is a crisis. the southern border challenges existed for years. i believe the current policy of dealing with root causes in the home countries. the vp has been to the border many times. zach on the line from harrisburg, pennsylvania. we will try one more time for zach. we go to bill in stone park, illinois. caller: hello. host: go ahead. we go to alan in atlanta on the republican line. caller: hey, steve. good morning. host: good morning. caller: i'm glad you're back. i live in atlanta and mexico.

i'm in mexico and told my friends about this problem and these middle-class people make under $1000 a month. they are at the low end of the spectrum but people who come across the border are desperate and the reason they can come across the border and get across the wall we would build is because they want to make money. the solution to that problem unfortunately is going to be the same type of solution that you will have to have a national identity card, the same proposed for those vaccinated, to prove that you are employable. a foreign employer can hire anybody and you will have to show the card, scan it with the phone, it will bring up a

photograph of the person and they will say yes or no. if people cannot come to the united states to make money, they will not come. there is no point. with the children, i sympathize with the parents but the reason the children come here is not so they can be somehow living in the united states it so they can learn american english quickly. host: let me go back. that goes to the issue that those who are hiring these illegal workers, how do you deal with that part of the root cause of the problem? >> it is called being fined and going to jail. if you hire people when you have a process that would identify who is highroad bull and who isn't and you ignore that, you run the risk of being arrested for it. host: explain again why you are in mexico so often and what part of the country? >> i live in the yucatan right

on the coast. i have a beach house that is very nice. the people in mexico are really, really nice. they do sympathize with what is going on at the borders but nothing they can do about it. people from honduras, el salvador that go through to get to the u.s. the purpose of the border wall is to provide revenue for the manufacturers. i wrote an article on my website about this process and i included a photograph of the el paso border patrol center where they had huge numbers of ladders in their storage yard. because you cannot stop people coming to the united states by building walls. host: i will leave it there but

thank you for the call. this is from rebecca who says, there needs to be a path to citizenship for those classified as daca. another story continuing to get attention is the scorching heat out west. front page of the washington post, the historic water shortages spelling peril for regulators, farmers and politicians alike. here are some of the photos including the controlled burning to make sure the forest fires are kept under control. dramatically lower water levels across parts of arizona, california, nevada. the next caller is from claremont, florida. clay, how do you solve some of the problems on the border? we go to glenn in florida. good morning.

hello? i'm so sorry. barber in new york. we get feedback so we apologize. al in watertown, tennessee. good morning. caller: yes, sir. what you could do is every illegal alien in this country right now, you could make them a citizen. that would be great but with one caveat, you cannot vote. if you are in this country illegally, you can stay but never vote. if you did that, the democrats would have no use for you. the border would be closed today if the people coming across were c-span moderators or news media, but they are low skilled workers and potential democrat voters.

that is why the border is open. host: thank you for the call. we have been covering the border issue including this from arkansas republican senator tom cotton. [video clip] >> we hear terms we often hear about children brought here through no fault of their own. never known another country and that is why we need a solution like the house bill. the house bill would give a green card though to say, an 18-year-old, who arrived in december. that is very different than what senator kunz portrayed or the democrats pretrade, that this legislation would do. that is why this hearing itself is so ill-advised. we have a crisis at the border. illegal migrant flows we have not seen in a generation. the vice president gallivanting around central america last week looking for the root causes.

i could have saved the travel expenses. the root causes are at 1600 pennsylvania. it is joe biden and kamala harris running on an open borders campaign, that message being heard across the world, and hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens showing up at the border. not just from mexico and guatemala but literally across the world to include europe and africa and asia because they know our borders are open. as mr. ed low testified yesterday the fact we are here having a hearing on granting massive amnesty will simply exacerbate this crisis. it will be used tonight, tonight by traffickers and smugglers to induce more desperate parents send their children to our border, to encourage more people from around the world to make that very dangerous trip.

that will put more stress on our border and our law enforcement agencies, lead to more crime in this country, lower wages and fewer jobs for the american people. host: that from the senate judiciary committee last tuesday and the comments of tom cotton. this is from bill saying, department of homeland security says the estimate 22 million illegals in the u.s., double of previous estimates. continue with your tweets @ c-spanwj. glenn from florida, democrats line. caller: do you hear me? hello? host: we can hear you. caller: yes. i'm at a point -- they talk about the border and it seems we have a short memory. we have forgotten we got

here. trump said he was going to build a wall. four years of saying mexico was going to pay for the wall he was going to build. he lied. we get the new administration, 4.5 months in office clearing up his mess, and all of a sudden we have a crisis of the border. republicans are doing this because they want to get voters to the pole and the midterms. they don't care about the wall. the texas governor don't care about the wall, they just want to win. we cannot get them on board to help. what is the point of talking about it? it doesn't make sense. that is the truth and you know that's the truth. there is nothing for them to do except criticize the new administration because they don't care about building that wall. they don't care about it. what did trump do? trump took money from different programs and the government and did not spend a dime on that wall.

he also took money from the military and did the same thing. we need to quit playing this game. we want the new president and vice president, in 4.5 months of being in office, to solve the problem he caused. host: thank you for the call. joseph with this tweet, every other nation used to restrict who was allowed to work and that people want to do that here. if you cannot find a job, it's because you are a bum. if that guy can do a job, so can any american. inside the washington post, a look at the congressional calendar. the headline with biden's agenda at stake. democrats will have to rip up the legislative calendar pointing out when the senate recesses thursday they will be out for the july 4 break and not returning until july 12. another break in early august.

there is nearly a 75 day run from late june through labor day whether current planning would have senators voting 16 days. that this money from inside the washington post. we cover the house on c-span and live on c-span2. ray joining us from clinton, pennsylvania on the independent line. caller: good morning. the guy from the yucatan said the mexican people are really nice people and so on and so forth. my sister lived in veracruz many years ago with her husband who worked at a nuclear plant. they were building a nuclear plant. she could not get a job. the government would not allow her to take a job because jobs go to citizens first. the only reason my brother-in-law was down there was he was building.

she was out one day shopping and they came in and cleaned out the apartment, took all the furniture in a loading van, while the police were standing on the street corner. she came home and reported it and the police didn't do a thing. they give you the runaround because it is so corrupt. the guy from yucatan must live in a, i don't know, must live in a place where he has hasn't been bothered. but as far as the border thing, none of these people should be made residents because they came here illegally. my father came from spain. i am first generation born here. he came legally through ellis island. they had to learn english, they had to be here five years, he had to go in front of a judge and recite english. they were not allowed to be words of the state -- wards of

the state. they had cousins here already working in coal mines. i'm getting tired of hearing all these people giving away things because i winter in myrtle beach and i can tell you this, there is a huge mexican population down there and they get on welfare, getting all the food stamps, and they go to the hospitals. if you have a real problem, you cannot get into the emergency room's. -- rooms. they don't have to pay a thing. host: new york times, june 19, 1865 marking the end of slavery in texas and around the country. now a federal holiday, juneteenth, and this was the scene in harlem. the expression of freedom as it has its 12th federal holiday commemorating the event signed into law by president biden

after was passed unanimously by the senate and overwhelmingly in the house. sophia is joining us from the bronx in new york on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning, steve. happy father's day. host: and to all the other dads. thank you, sophia. caller: all day yesterday i talked about the subject because i had a nice week last week. i am really following this politics thing. one of the guys, i forgot his name, because i always flip the television to hear what he has to say. he said trump is going to rally on saturday.

it is going to take 250 million dollars from taxpayers to build the wall. i went nuts. the other two callers, they said everything i needed to say. but i wanted to ask, why easy running? it is finished. we have a new administration. it is not fair for us. he needs to stop disturbing this

administration. thank you. have a good day. host: thank you for the call. president trump scheduled to travel to the border at the invitation of governor abbott slated for june 30. this is the headline from the associated press, advocates marking daca's ninth anniversary. immigration advocates into nevada marking the ninth anniversary of the obama era program shielding young immigrants from deportation urging congress to pass permanent protections. here is dick durbin on the legacy of daca since 2012. [video clip] >> more than 800,000 dreamers have stepped out of the shadows to enroll. the program has been a life changer. it has allowed them to work, pursue higher education, and serve in america's military.

daca unleashed the full potential of dreamers. august 15, 2012 is the date i will never forget. it was the first day applications were accepted. i was at navy. chicago for a workshop to help dreamers apply. we were not sure how many would show up and then what happened astonished us. thousands of young people showed up on that day and filled the entire boardwalk. some gathered with their parents at midnight before the actual opening that morning. some drove from neighboring states. that is how eager these young people where to officially become part of america even if on a temporary basis. that is what is the keyword when it comes to daca, temporary. when president obama announced it he said because this is temporary congress needs to act. there is still time for congress

to pass the dream act because these kids deserve to plan their lives in more than two year increments. that year has turned into nine years. over the years the dream act has been victim of a filibuster on the floor of the senate five times. as it languished in the senate hundreds of thousands of young people have been left with their futures and out. but that hasn't stopped them for fighting for their dreams and getting everything they can -- giving everything they can for this country. host: that from dick durbin on the daca issue. axios.com says the labor shortage has been exacerbated by immigration restrictions that have reduced the number of skilled and unskilled workers coming to the u.s. len from california on the

democrats line. caller: good morning. i turned you on a little after i checked the morning news on msnbc and cnn that led with the story about a couple of people getting run over at a gay pride parade. then i switched to fox news and the lead story was the border. this is a combination of trying to scare people about their jobs being taken away, scare people about others coming into the country, it is a white nationalist attitude that seems to be very politically profitable for republicans so they're going to lead with it. this morning and yesterday i had a lot of delicious fruits and vegetables picked probably by people who came over the border like they been doing the last 50 years during the season to harvest crops and try to make a

living. just like in syria there was migration because of the changing climate and people in parts of syria being unable to farmer the used to. the same thing is going on in south america. we've got to send some of our energy trying to figure out how to help those people grow food down in south america and central america so they don't have to come here to avoid starvation. you know, at the same time we have got to fight this white nationalist, christian fascist attitude about who belongs here and who doesn't. host: thanks for the call. richard logan on the facebook page, recommendations? securing the border and creating a guest worker program. create a path to citizenship for illegals here for years and raised families pay taxes. our question is what immigration

reforms do you support? another half-hour of calls and comments. this is the headline from the washington post but in case you missed it, at least 15 people have died in a series of attacks that took place near the u.s.-mexico border with some occurring yesterday afternoon. this is from larry from sondland, maryland on the republican line. caller: no reform. that man that just spoke a stupid. you need a wall. you have sex trafficking, terrorists coming across. they have contempt for america. this design is to collapse the system. that man made that stupid,. let the illegals have your house.

only socialists want to destroy this country. host: thank you for the call. stanley has this on the facebook page, provide with the legal status all those who have been here before 2010 with a clean record, pay their share of taxes, and show respect and love of this country. with regard to daca, as of december 2020 averaging 636,000 active recipients, the average age is 25 years old and nearly 90% are employed according to statistics from 2019 with the average hourly wage at $19.45. jim is turning us from pennsylvania on the republican line. caller: how's it going? host: good. caller: i am a firm believer in immigration but let's help them

in their own countries. but before we do that we have to get the united nations involved to go in and get rid of the drug cartels. we have got to get them out so we can help the infrastructure and you won't do that as long as the cartels are going. go in and take them out. thank you. have a nice father's day. host: thank you. the drug cartels believed to have been a factor in the 15 dead from yesterday. tom on the facebook page saying, finish the wall and follow the existing laws. next is mike on the independent line from ohio. caller: good morning. it just amazes me. people seem to not comprehend facts. we have a legal way of getting into this country. we have people coming in every year to pick our fruits and vegetables on visas. the guy from florida who says trump didn't put a dime, for the

border , 420 miles was built. but destroys everything that was working. let the men and then what happens? kamala goes down there and asks what's the problem? guatemala's president says you are. now what do we do? the whole plan is to get everybody in here so that they will vote democratic. if they want to come in, part of the deal is you cannot vote and we will turn around and tie the money we are pouring out to feed these people, house them, tied it to the congressional retirement package. see how fast things change. host: thank you for the call. tim in michigan on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning.

steve, i feel it is mystery bonus surprise sunday. you are at the helm and i got to hear one of my favorite callers margaret. host: she's wonderful. caller: i love her. it makes my entire day. [laughter] today is so good i got a nice hot chunk of mud in my mug, you're at the helm, i got to hear margaret, and we need these refugees. i see your lips moving but i can't hear a word you're saying but anyway, i have a question for my other favorite caller, splendid young man david. i believe he is from new jersey. i believe he is 97 and a world war ii veteran who did not just save this country but the world from the jaws of nazis and

japanese imperialism. i have a question for him. david, if you are listening, did you call in during the w administration on social security and how w would have succeeded in privatizing it? i don't know if it was you or not but this caller said if i would've invested in these companies, which were in norma's lease successful at that time -- enormously successful at the time, he said all reliance i will rely on social security. republicans complained there is jobs all over the place and nobody wants to work. guess what? we have got millions of people who want to come in here to work ok?

social security and medicare are in danger. it needs fortifying and the only way it's fortified is when people pay taxes because as we all know corporations and the wealthy don't pay any. i pay more on my lasley union machinist pension of $17,000, i paid more than trumpty dumped he did. host: i will leave it there. we did that story on who didn't didn't pay taxes as we looked at the 25 wealthiest americans including jeff bezos and warren buffett on our podcast "the weekly." coming up, dr. leana wen will be joining us on this new delta variant. she is coming out of the new book next month called

"lifelines." in the 9:00 east coast time chris matthews, author of his latest book "this country," is coming up on the washington journal. next is mary joining us from george on the democrats line. caller: good morning and happy father's day. this is what i see it as. i don't see it as a democrat or republican issue. i see it as a corporate and big donor class problem. what we have is a bunch of rich people who basically own our politicians who need cheap labor. that is one of the reasons we don't have, you know, the politicians are saying don't raise minimum wage. they want these people to come in. they want the cheap labor and if they raise minimum wage, they then have to give these illegal

workers they hire and they want -- don't think they don't want them to come in. both parties are complicit. to me, it is not republican or democratic. we should know who the 22 million undocumented immigrants are and we should have control over who is in this country. i agree with that and i'm a democrat but what i don't agree with his we do not put the emphasis on where the real problem is. have to find the queen ant and that is employers not being held responsible for hiring them. rand paul will say, well, let's go ahead and bring in three times more legal immigrants. what change will we have? even if we have illegal immigrants coming in, they will

still depress wages. let's get to the employer's. let's get to the bottom of where the problem lays. host: thank you for the call. 15 minutes left. (202)-748-8000 the line for democrats, (202)-748-8001 for republicans. we welcome viewers in great britain watching on the bbc parliament channel and if you are listening on c-span radio or sirius xm, thank you. lynn says, it is rich that republicans can't comprehend dac a is part of society. on the path to citizenship that was an issue before the senate judiciary committee and this line of questioning from texas republican senator john cornyn with the dreamer that became a doctor. [video clip] >> there is no question you have

made incredible contributions to our country as an emergency room physician and i think the reason you are here is because you are an exemplary of the type of young person who applied for and received daca. whose life has been cast into uncertainty because of the fact this is not something that resulted from congressional action and consensus building and i personally support trying to provide a permanent solution for people like you. i think you heard me say there is a number of different iterations of the dream act and daca starting with the original daca which has 640 active individuals. the bill before us today would build a pathway to citizenship for 4.4 million people.

if it is politically unlikely for us to pass something like the american dream and promise act, which i believe it is impractical and unlikely to happen, would you support congress passing a bill that would provide relief for a smaller population that could be agreed upon by republicans and democrats alike? say, the 640,000 daca recipients? >> i can only speak on my experiences and i personally have watched the dream act throughout the years from the very beginning and i remember watching c-span as a highschooler when the dream act was being talked about and discussed on the senate floor and in congress. personally i would support such legislation if it meant a permanent solution for me and the other recipients.

it has been many years and frankly, we are all tired of waiting and having our life up in the air. i think we are ready for a permanent solution. host: that from last weekend the senate judiciary committee. we are glad the young boy was watching c-span. we go to the phone calls on the issue of border immigration and how to fix the issue. what are your thoughts, what are your recommendations? edward in louisiana on the republican line. thank you for waiting. caller: good morning. host: go ahead with your call. caller: i think the u.s. has to have a system that allows people to come in but people that speak english. number two, they have to have a plan. i know two people who came in through the system.

one was from monterey, mexico. he went to victoria, texas to college. he ended up staying in the u.s. and eventually he became a fighter pilot in the air force reserves. today, eventually he went back to mexico and he was a pilot for air mexico. it was a success story. host: thank you for the call. we shared earlier the testimony of ella hundred mayorkas -- a llejandro mayorkas, facing a

grilling over border security and immigration. the hearing is available on our website at c-span.org. i want to share these pictures courtesy about of msn. you can see the hunting that took place. you can find the video and the story at msn.com. the emotion of the moment as families were reunited for a brief moment along the border. would go to john in new york. good morning. republican line. caller: steve. host: good morning. caller: welcome back. are you there? host: i am. how are you? caller: good. welcome back. good to see you. i am first generation. my father came from italy when he was seven years old and it

was a tough time for him. during the 1920's you had to limit the number of immigrants coming into the country and there was a lot of bigotry, xenophobia and the like, but what i'm seeing now is unbelievable. this open border situation -- what has occurred is dangerous. it is enriching the cartels and we are getting an unknown quantity of -- these people could be terrorists, we could see sleeper cells, we could see more mollie tibbetts and it is dangerous. i think listening to your callers i think it is overwhelmingly, in my opinion anyway, the people are pretty much against the open border concept. joe biden has made a big mistake

and he is caving into the progressive wing of the party. it is sad to see such a small element take over a once great party. it is radical and i think it is going to create permanent divisions in this country. while i come from immigrant stock like a lot of your listeners i think we have really got to get a handle on this and adjudicate this in the best way for the families over here. thanks again and keep up the good work. host: thank you. this is a story from the sunday take available in the newspaper and online at washingtonpost.com, the summer could define the president biden sake. with the president back from his european trip, facing what could be the defining weeks of his first year in office, after a

fast and relatively successful start during the first 100 days he now confronts some of his biggest decisions in the second 100. hour next caller is from texas on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. host: certainly. caller: i am 82 years old, born and raised on the border in the rio grande valley. people up north and around, you have no idea what you're talking about and you should wake up. these people are, for the most part, good people but 18-year-olds are not children. what are you going to do with them? they don't speak english. the other thing is go back to the simple way we did it. we had green cards or they could come and work and then go home. we had people that came across the border and were immediately deported. what you are creating here is a

class of people that we have to pay for. they don't speak english, they don't have jobs, where they going to live, where they going to work? are we paying for all this? the food, everything? i know we want to help them but this is not going to work. and when you're alone on a ranch, a woman alone and you face 11 pairs of legs out here, all men, let me tell you, it isn't funny. i wish you would wake up. thank you. host: thank you. anthony says, the southern border is and always will be a problem used by both sides for political gain. is the headline from msm.com, an estimated 10% of new cases across great britain coming from the new delta variant with links to india. one of the questions we will post to dr. leana wen, visiting professor at george washington

university and author of a new book coming out next month. kurt from mount union, pennsylvania on the independent line. caller: good morning. happy father's day and belated juneteenth. host: thank you. caller: basically illegal immigration has turned into slavery 2.0. what it is is an influx of people, just like with slavery, that you can do with whatever you want because they have no legal rights. so big business is never going to allow either the democrats or republicans to take any firm action. it is too easy to have people come in, you can pay them three dollars an hour or whatever, you don't have to pay tax on them, you don't have to do anything. it is slavery is what it is. we ought to do something to stop it. host: thank you.

surely joining us from south carolina. good morning. . caller: good morning, steve. i am very happy to see you back and i missed you. happy father's day and many more. these people that call in and try to say you have no business there, they should turn the channel and don't look at you. that's what i do when donald trump come on. happy father's day and many more. host: thank you. peter from pennsylvania. caller: i could see these people coming in is beneficial to the country. we don't have enough people having children anymore in this country. we are losing a lot of valuable lives coming into this country to help us keep our economy going. china just changed their policy because they realize have to have new people coming in.

we lost 600,000 people this disease. who was replacing them? these are young working people. sure there are bad people coming in. who are the bad people that attacked the capitol? there was not one immigrant that whole bunch. they were real american people, born and raised in this country, that went and attacked our capitol. they keep seeing bad people are coming in. we have a lot of the bad people in this country. we have got to have these people replace so we can keep our economy going and all we do is make sure they are checked at the border and get rid of the bad ones and let all the good ones come in. we could use them. our country needs more people all the time. thank you. host: are you still with us? caller: yes. host: where is drums, pennsylvania? caller: it is north of hazleton in the mountain area.

host: thank you for the call. send us a text message or follow us on twitter @c-spanwj. james comer you get the last word from florida. caller: good morning. idler the epicenter of one of the -- i live in the epicenter of one of the multiracial parts of the country. just south of us is little brazil. folks come here legally, learn the language, obey the laws and then they can follow the american dream as it were. as the previous caller indicated

it is open border, neo-leftist concert that we should open the floodgates. my wife and i were in texas for a wedding. the people of texas, i'm sure the people on the borders, are sick of it. there is going to be a change come the next election cycle. the democrats are going to lose the house, the senate, and the biden administration will be over. the american people are fair, good people but we don't want lawlessness and open borders. ever governor here, desantis, is tremendous on this issue. i'm not a xenophobic, i'm not a racist, but you have to say that nowwhen you have a point of view other than the far-left. host: thank you for your call

send comments and messages on social media. thank you for weighing in on the border and how you would do with the immigration issue. coming up, we turn our attention to the latest on covid-19. concerns over the delta variant. our guest is an emergency room physician in contributor to cnn and the washington post, and professor at george washington university. syndicated columnist for bulwark.com. here to talk about the president's agenda. you are watching and listening to c-span's washington journal. we are back in a moment. ♪ >> c-span's landmark cases

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into the fight for public health." thank you for being with us. guest: thank you. happy father's day. host: thank you. i want to begin with the concerns over this new delta variant in great britain, accounting for about 10% of the new covid-19 cases. it has roots back to india. how concerned are you about that here in the u.s.? guest: very concerned. because of the experience in the u.k. in the u.k., they initially had the alpha variant that originated in the u.k. that was already more contagious than the strains that were already there. quickly the delta variant became the dominant. now the delta variant has supplanted the alpha variant. 99% plus of all the variants in the u.k. are now the delta variant. there are studies show that there are studies that show the

delta variant is 60% more transmissible and twice as likely to cause hospitalizations. we have also seen the delta variant takeover in parts of russia, now in the u.s. it is doubling rapidly here. the cdc director has predicted the delta variant could very well become the dominant variant here in the u.s.. it poses a particular threat to those who are unvaccinated. if you are vaccinated, you are well protected. those who are unvaccinated are at high risk. if you get something more contagious, it means those activities you may have gotten away with before and you thought well, i'm probably not going to get coronavirus, now something that is more transmissible means you are more likely to get it and more likely to become severely ill. host: let me ask a simplistic question, what is a variant? how does it spread? is it any different for many other type of pandemic? guest: good question.

these variants arise when there are mutations. viruses mutate all the time, so it is not a surprise. when they replicate, they mutate. the thing was certain variants is that they are a combination of mutations that render that particular combination to be particularly concerning. there are three things we are concerned about. one, if something becomes more transmissible. kate -- in the case of the delta variant, in this case they may accumulate in larger numbers. easily as a result. or, it may be more present in their nasal so with base these were brief, they expel more virus. the second is it ends up causing more severe disease.

some of the other variants we have seen, the ones that originated in south africa and brazil, there is some thought that those also result in more severe disease, but may not necessarily be more transmissible. still, if it causes more severe disease, that is of concern. the third thing we are worried about if it somehow evades the protection of the immune system, in particular the protection afforded by vaccines we already have. it does not appear that any of the variants we have this far may do so. it may be the infections made -- the -- but they are still very protective. you ask a very important question about transmission. so far, all of these variants look like they are transmitted in the same way. if someone is coughing or sneezing, or even if someone is breathing, they are expelling these microscopic droplets and

that could also lead to transmission of the virus. it spreads very easily which is another reason why vaccination is so important to protect people against these developing variants. host: you have been writing extensively about vaccinations for young children. i want to share with the audience part of what you wrote, "imagine there is a new contagious illness spreading among children. more than 400 kids have died, tens of thousands have been hospitalized, some who only had mild initial symptoms are affected with lasting effects such as headaches, heart palpitations and the inability to concentrate. many of the infected children were previously healthy and it is impossible to predict who will fall ill and who will be spared. the effects of covid-19 on children have been overshadowed by the much greater impact on adults just because older people are more likely to suffer severe consequences does not mean the coronavirus is not a danger to

kids." could you elaborate? guest: there is this fallacy that somehow coronavirus is not a problem for children, that kids can get it and they will be mildly symptomatic, somehow they won't pass it on, they think kids are immune to coronavirus and it is not a problem. i just wanted to address this by giving the readers and viewers a thought experiment, imagine if this disease did not affect any adults but only children. i think what has gone on is we keep saying well, children tend not to get as severely ill as adults, which is true, but just because that's the case does not mean we shouldn't pay attention to coronavirus and its impact on children. there are children who have died from coronavirus. they have been hospitalized. there are also kids dealing with

long-term side effects, many of which we don't understand. there was a preprint paper that came out this week from the u.k., a study looking at the effect of covid-19 on people's brains. they looked at adult brains and they found that there is a loss of gray matter, even in people who had mild covid-19. we don't know the significance of this or whether this happens in children, but there are potential long-term effects in children as well that we cannot dismiss. we cannot dismiss the impact on children and the over 400 kids who have died, disproportionately african-americans and latinos children. all of this to say that it is important for us to emphasize protection for children. not to say that kids shouldn't go to school or shouldn't socialize, but we should be developing safe and effective vaccines for children. we should be emphasizing mitigation men -- mitigation

measures including wearing masks in crowded settings. for me, as a mom, i have a four-year-old and a one-year-old. my husband and i are not going to be able to turn to our pre-pandemic normal activities until our children are also vaccinated. for us it is very personal, but it very much applies to many other parents out there trying to make complicated decisions about risk. for us, getting the vaccine for children and continuing mitigation measures is important. i imagine the thought experiment of this disease that only affects children. if this only affected children, i think we would be having a different conversation. i don't think we should neglect the impact, not just the potential impact but the real impact on our kids going forward. host: we are talking to dr. leana wen, joining us from

baltimore. let me take that one step further from your column available on --.com, one study found 20% of children still have at least one persistent symptom 120 days after diagnosis. there are more variants emerging that could lead to a surge in infections especially in parts of the country with low vaccination rates. those on vaccinated are stuck in an in-between place because we are vaccinated but our children are not. you made that point just a moment ago. among states with low vaccination rates including wyoming and alabama. guest: that is right. and we are seeing that even though the number of infections overall in the u.s. is declining, thankfully, we have gone through such a difficult time as a country and have lost more than 600,000 americans,

thankfully we are in a better place and i do not think you're going to see nearly the type of hospitalizations and deaths that we did in the months passed. however, there are parts of the country that are actually going through surges right now. npr did a report this week about missouri, where their hospitals are getting billed again with patients with coronavirus. the majority of them are on vaccinated, therefore unprotected. there are surges happening in other parts of the world. the u.k., for example, where the delta variant has become dominant. they are reporting that the latest surges driven by younger people, including on vaccinated children. this is not to say we should somehow be locking down and not going back to normal, certainly those who are vaccinated should go to pre-pandemic normal within their comfort, but i think there are some people who may be living at home with those who

are unprotected. my family, with on vaccinated younger children, or other families with immunocompromised family members, they may not feel comfortable going back to work if they are going to be elbow to elbow with others in a crowded conference room with no masks. on vaccinated people around. the delta variant, but also the fact we have not been able to vaccinate children, has a lot of implications on what our work laces will look like and maybe we will have a chance to address this, but the issue of workplace requirements for vaccinations, that is something that will make a lot of people more comfortable and more ready to come back to work in person, and make workplaces a lot safety -- a lot safer for employees and customers. host: that requirement is facing a lot of pushback. guest: it is, but it is also very popular among certain circles as well.

health care institutions are beginning to add the covid-19 vaccine to their list of varmints. we are health-care workers, we have an obligation to our patients. again, this is not out of the blue and unprecedented. we already require flu vaccines, hepatitis, chickenpox, all kinds of other things, so adding covid-19 to that list is not unprecedented ended is the right thing to be doing. other workplaces are considering this as well and we are seeing an overwhelming majority of employees support this. i would add, if there are employers considering it and may not have come -- may not want to do a requirement. one other way to do this is to say you have an option. either you go through twice-weekly surveillance testing, or you have proof of vaccination. i think that is a way to not make this a requirement, in the sense that there is an easy opt

out, but at the same time that is actually pretty burdensome to have to go through twice-weekly testing and may nudge individuals on the fence to get vaccinated. while at the same time, if you really don't want to be vaccinated, there is an out for you that protects others around you as well. i hope that can be an option that workplaces consider in the interest of their employees and customers. host: give us a phone call, (202) 748-8000. for those of you out west, (202) 748-8001. our guest is dr. leana wen, fellow at the world health organization and health commissioner of the city of baltimore. her work is available at washington post.com and is a contributor to cnn. her forthcoming book entitled lifelines, the message in this book is what? guest: there is a saying that public health save your life

today, you just don't know it. that's because public health usually works when we are invisible. by definition, it is about prevention. if we have prevented a child from being lead poisoned, or prevented someone from getting covid-19, you will hear about -- because our work is invisible. the problem is when you can't see public health, it becomes the first thing on the chopping block when it comes to budgets did we have seen local and state public health, our public health infrastructure at large being decimated. funding is cut, infrastructure is dissolved, then we see what happens when we face a true public health catastrophe in the form of covid-19. in this book, we tell the story of public health including my own experience as an immigrant and what public health meant to us has a family growing up. even though i did know the words, or the topic of public

health at the time, but i also talk about how public health saves our life today and every day. this book really is a celebration of public health and all of the positive things that public health contributes to in ways that people may not think about. host: your own story, you came to the u.s. from where? guest: in my family immigrated from china just before i turned eight. my family in many ways had a typical immigrant story. my parents worked multiple jobs to make ends meet, and we still relied on public services. in my sister went to public school. we depended on medicaid for health insurance. at times, we depended on snap and food stamps to help us with our nutritional needs. i think that is very much a part of our story and the american story in a way.

again, i wanted to share this and the story of public health, a positive story of public health through the work of -- through the lens of our work in baltimore. host: let's bring in our viewers and listeners. andrew from ohio, you are on. good morning. caller: good morning. great to see you back. great to see you dr. -- on the program. you have been a great voice of reason during the pandemic. i just had a few questions. your resume is very impressive. you are a rhodes scholar. emergency room physician. i just had a few comments about issues i see in health care. doctors spend nearly twice as much time doing administrative work as seeing patients. in my opinion, democrats have waged a war on doctors and it should be the other way around, when dr. spend your time with

the patients than doing paperwork. annual spending on health care is $10,000 per person. that does not sound very affordable to me. 18% of our gdp is spent on health care, more than twice the average compared to developed countries. studies estimated that 30% of health care spending is considered waste. there's another study that 600,000 patients underwent treatment they don't need. this prevention opportunity totaled $55 billion. host: you put a lot on the table, thanks for your call. first on the issue of paperwork, which has been the source of complaint for -- from many doctors for many years. guest: there are numerous studies about how doctors are spending much more time on administrative work and checking boxes on a computer rather than speaking with patients.

that is not something that anyone wants. there is no physician who has -- i have ever spoken to, but i have not talked to any health care provider who would rather be doing that, who would rather be doing paperwork instead of helping and healing and treating. i read a book that touched on this topic of how we need to return to the healing art of medicine. actually being with our patients. there was a study done that looked at how soon do doctors interrupt their patients once they begin speaking. there were studies that find that doctors will interrupt patients in as little as eight to 10 seconds. that is not because the doctor is callous, it is because of this overwhelming crush of paperwork that is there.

i fully appreciate and agree with andrew's point. i think we as a society really need to emphasize our values when it comes to health care. those values need to include the privacy of that provider-patient relationship and needs to go back to the healing art of medicine and we also have to critically value prevention because right now our system is skewed in favor of reimbursement for procedures when someone is very ill. of course, when someone is ill they need to be getting the best care possible, but we have this reimbursement system that is backwards. we need to be investing in preventing illness from happening in the first place. the incentives are misaligned and i hope that the story of covid and the lessons moving forward will include a realignment, a reimagining of our health care systems that we are focusing on health and wellness much more broadly than simply treating people once they

become very ill. host: this tweet from one of our viewers, "i like her we need more of her." let's get to mike in maryland. caller: gerace phil, maryland. good to see you back, steve. here's the deal, she is politicizing science. she is the queen of medical politicization. she said quake in your boots over variance. that's what she said. but she says you're ok if you are vaccinated. but then she said you may not feel safe if you're in a conference room with other people who are not vaccinated. i mean, this is the back-and-forth politicization. the scientific method, at either his artisans. she is taking this -- listen, i

am from maryland, we know her. that's why she's a george washington right now. it is not how you feel, it is what is medically sound. host: let's get a response. guest: i appreciate your comment and it brings up a broader point about the gray area. especially in medicine. there are few things that are actually clear-cut. i say this as someone who very much values science and data. so often we say, follow the science, and leave it there. when actually, there could be multiple interpretations of the same numbers. let me explain what i mean. we know that the vaccines we have are very protective against getting ill, and i certainly would recommend getting vaccinated because that protects

you and the people around you and helps end the pandemic faster. right now, it is not 100%. another way to think about vaccines is that also very much depends on how much virus is around you. think of it as a raincoat. if you're in a rainstorm, there is a huge storm occurring and you are wearing a very good raincoat, you don't get wet. on the other hand if it is only drizzling, you are probably well protected. it is not clear-cut that you are 100% protected, there is still some level of risk. at that point, people's interpretation of risk is going to differ. that is not because we are somehow playing games or politicizing science, this is the nuance of medicine. for example, you can say to someone that you have a small chance of getting coronavirus if you are vaccinated. you have a small chance of

passing on covid-19 if you are fully vaccinating. someone could hear that and say, if that's a really low chance, i want to take that chance. it is more important for me to resume my pre-pandemic activities. i want to travel. i have no issues going back to work in person. i want to do all of these things and go to restaurants, that is important to me. someone else could also look at those exact same numbers and say well, i don't want to take that chance at the moment. i live at home with somebody with a kidney transplant whose immuno compromise. even if it is a 0.01% chance of passing covid onto a family member come i do not want to risk that. that is not saying we are playing around the science. that is saying the recommendation for each patient, each person is different. as a clinician, and i am sure all clinicians listening things will differ depending on their values, their preferences when

it comes to risk. how they view certain activities and what the risk tolerance is going to be. this is the in between time we are living in where yes, we have the data, but people's interpretation of that data is going to be different. that is not politicizing medicine, that is valuing medicine to be nuanced and complicated. host: we are about 65% of adult americans vaccinated. the president setting a goal to have 70% by the fourth of july. we are less than two weeks from that deadline. based on the latest from the cdc, we may not reach that deadline. why? guest: there's a lot of vaccine hesitancy. i think it is important to address people's different concerns. sometimes there is a tendency to put all of those who have not yet been vaccinated into the

bucket of being anti-vaccine is. people who are never going to be vaccinated and have conspiracy theories. certainly there is a group about their who is vocal, very much against getting vaccinated, but that is a pretty small percentage of the group that is on vaccinated. a lot of other people are not vaccinated for a number of reasons. some might not think that covid-19 poses much of a threat. there is this narrative that is pervasive, that somehow covid is over and we don't have to worry about it. people are dying every day in the u.s.. covid is raging in many parts of the world still. but some people may think well, it's not going to affect me. another reason is people may be thinking, i am a young, i am healthy, i am not going to die or be hospitalized if i get it. chances are, that's true. chances are you're not going to die.

if you get covid-19. but, you could be at risk for long-term consequences. that is something we need to bring into the full more, and talk about the potential for long-term harm in patients. for example, individuals -- we know of so many people who have -- who got mild covid-19, were never hospitalized, but still months after our suffering from such significant fatigue that they have trouble working. where headaches, palpitations, trouble breathing, hair loss, loss of smell and taste that is persistent. it is important to explain that these long-term consequences are things people should be concerned about even if they only get mild illness. and then there are people who are concerned for other reasons. they have questions about long-term consequences. some of the things they may have read on social media, that is incorrect. at this point, tapping people to

get vaccinated requires a strong ground game that is definitely going to involve health professionals, advising patients who already trust them, debunking myths, addressing concerns people have, but it also involves each and every one of us. all of us are a trusted messenger for somebody. it may be a family member, friend, coworker, somebody who may have concerns. it is up to each of us to address these concerns with compassion and not judgment. host: back in april, you wrote, "the vaccinated will make different choices, so how will people navigate this uncertain period? we need to acknowledge there is no one-size-fits-all answer. though vaccines are extremely effective, they won't protect us 100%. i would encourage vaccinated people to consider three factors , the medical risk of your household, personal risk tolerance, and circumstances involved." let's go to and from louisville,

kentucky. good morning. caller: first, i would like to say that the guest, she keeps speaking and speaking instead of letting people get in the call. i have seen other people do this in the past when they don't -- what callers have to say. i find it concerning that she is basically advocating for employers to coerce their employees into getting the vaccination against their will by making their lives miserable. third, i would like to ask a quick question, weren't you the president of planned parenthood? also, if you were the president of planned parenthood and you are speaking about children and her concerns about children, how can any believe anything you have to say when you were president of an organization that kills i don't know how many millions of children each year? host: thank you.

a couple of points here if you want to address them. guest: well, i certainly would welcome years to be asking additional questions. i would say here that i see reproductive health care and women's health care as an integral part of health care. that addresses the issue of planned parenthood. for me, i still see the organization as one that provides comprehensive reproductive health care, which is an essential part of health care to individuals. with regard to employers and what we should be doing, at the end of the day, we need to look at what our values are as a society. right now we have people who are immuno compromise, patients who have received kidney transplants , cancer patients on chemotherapy. these are individuals who have not developed immunity, or may not mount enough of an immuno response even after they are vaccinated. it is our duty to protect them?

or to protect young kids because the vaccines are not yet approved? what is our duty to protect them? right now, we have made life less safe for them by opening up without having vaccination requirements. i think at this point we as a society have to decide who it is we are catering to. i see this as being similar to the arguments about smoking. at the beginning when there were rules being imposed about indoor smoking, a lot of people said well, what about smokers rights? there's another argument about the rights of non-smokers who don't want to smoke in their face. we know about the effects of secondhand smoke. i think the analogy in this case applies because it is not just about you and your life. it is about other people around you who could be exposed to a deadly virus you could be carrying. at some point, we need to

decide, are we catering to 70% of people who are vaccinated? or, are we catering to the will of the small percentage who do not wish to be vaccinated for whatever reason. host: what is the likelihood that those who have had the vaccinations, the one or two shots, will need a booster shot this fall or winter? guest: great question. i would see at this point that we do not know. the cdc is meeting with their independent advisors next week and part to address this question. i would anticipate that at some point, older individuals, those who are immuno made it booster sooner than later. so, they've had the vaccine for longer, and also for this group immunity might wane sooner. that is something we are waiting for, for the cdc and other agencies for further guidance.

host: the vaccinations for children are right now between the ages of 12-18. what is the likelihood, in your case in particular, that we could see a vaccination for those under the age of 12? infants? guest: the best predictions on timelines, based on what we know by company reports and with the makers of the vaccines have said , is that we probably, for the 6-11-year-old group, will have vaccines, ideally -- again, we don't know for certain but i would hope we get vaccines approved and authorized for emergency use by mid fall. so, maybe not before the start of the school year but hopefully soon after. for the younger group, 3-5, it might be late fall. for six months to two years, it might be late winter or early 2022.

host: donna is next from st. louis. you're on the phone with dr. leana wen. caller: it is great that your back, steve. as for the doctor, she gray they great -- she gave a great explanation for why we need people vaccinated. first, biden got in there and ramped up vaccinations, the cases the hospitalizations and the deaths have gone way down. secondly, we are not going to get to herd immunity, 70%, unless all of these people who have been brainwashed by trump, they wouldn't even wear a mask in public, he got his vaccination behind closed doors. these people need to look in the mirror. they are the problem. thirdly, in israel you need a pass to prove you are vaccinated to get into public places. we people who have done all of

the right things all along, we shouldn't have to be around these deadbeats who don't care about anybody but themselves because the vaccinations are not 100%, yo-yo birds. we wear masks still because of all of these deadbeats, and they've got the new variants, we are protected somewhat, but we will get the booster when it is out there and i am confident they will come out with a booster. it's all of these people who are not getting their shots that are going to cause this thing -- it won't quit spreading because of you, don't you understand? thank you. host: i want to go back to the -- you said the cdc has gone from one extreme to the other, from over caution to throwing caution to the wind, saying new guidance could have been exactly what we needed to encourage the vaccination but it skipped a key

step in should be revised to say that fully vaccinated people should have no restrictions on public activities, if vaccination status can be verified. so come if you can elaborate on those points. guest: i was one of the people pushing for the cdc to be much clearer that the vaccines protect you very well from getting ill and spreading it to others. i was glad to see when they said fully vaccinated people can now take off their masks if they so choose. the problem is, there is no way to differentiate between somebody who is fully vaccinated and somebody was not. we know that many of the people who have not gotten vaccinated might also not be wearing masks. in a sense, by the cdc removing -- they essentially removed mask mandates and removed the ability for local and state officials to continue enforcing the indoor mask mandates.

by doing that, i think they actually made life less safer those who cannot be vaccinated, like children, or those who are immunocompromised and don't get the full benefit of the vaccines. i think it comes down to an issue of what is revaluing society. look at new york state, the excelsior path. you either have to have proof of vaccination, or a recent negative test. i would certainly feel safer dining in a restaurant, or going to a movie theater or event where everybody there has this kind of pass. i would feel safer and i think other people would be willing to pay more to be on a flight, especially a long haul flights where everybody around them is known to be vaccinated or had a recent negative test. california is doing something similar. i hope more states will follow. i think this was a key mistake of the biden administration. i think president biden and his

team have done exceptional work to get 300 million doses of the vaccine administered within a hundred 50 days. they have done so much great work prioritizing equity and ramping up the vaccination program and getting supplies out globally. they have done so many things well, but there was a major mistake by the cdc and i think they made a major mistake to not assist with vaccine verification. right now, the cdc carts that prove you are vaccinated can be so easily forged. i am not talking about some kind of national passport or federal ids, but rather a voluntary system for people to show that they are vaccinated because i think a lot of individuals would rather be around others who are also proven to be fully vaccinated for their own protection. going back to our previous conversation, different people have different tolerance of risk.

i would understand individuals who really don't want to get covid-19, being around others fully vaccinated is the surest way of getting there. host: let's go to florida, pamela has been patient. good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to say kudos to dr. wen regarding all this criticism she keeps getting. i have heard the last four callers i think and, not knowing the subject matter, but my concern was, i have a grandson who is 18. he is vaccinated now, but our school system kept changing. they would be off a week, than

they had to go back a week later for three days, you know. every state in the u.s. governor was setting the schedule and i kept being so concerned because yes, it is wonderful for all of us to get this, but when the children go to school, even when they can be vaccinated, there is no way to know that they might have two grandmothers and her grandfather that is elderly that live with them. host: let me add to that, returning to school in the fall, but also summer camps this month into mid august. guest: a few things here. one is that we know that even

before we had vaccines, schools could be -- and i emphasize "could" -- be some of the safest places from a transmission standpoint. if there are mitigation measures in school, if there is strict indoor mask wearing. if there is some level of distancing, separating kids in pods. pre-vaccine, even when there were major surges going on we saw transmission rates within schools could actually be substantially reduced. probably not zero, but very low rates below the level of transmission for the community at large. the second is if you combine that with vaccinations. if teachers and staff, parents and grandparents, even older children are vaccinated, we can make schools very safe. i certainly agree that children can be reservoirs for coronavirus. another reason why it is really

important for us, when these vaccines are developed, that we are sure they are safe and effective, why getting younger children vaccinated is important too because we have seen already the way that covid-19 rips through multigenerational families that live in the same house. thankfully, we are able to get people more vulnerable vaccinated, but i still worry about children becoming reservoirs of covid-19. this is the reason why -- your question about summer camp -- my son's camp requires strict indoor masking. i think we should continue with these indoor mask mandates when we are talking about a lot of fun vaccinated children getting together with one another in close quarters. older children if they have the opportunity to get vaccinated, they should be as a co-additional level of protection. if all these children are vaccinated ends -- cdc guidance

actually says this. if everyone is known to be vaccinated, they can do away with mask sandisk sing. that's a big incentive for vaccination. on the other hand if kids cannot be vaccinated, it makes sense to keep on with indoor mask mandates. that will help keep them and their family member safe. host: how long will we be dealing with this pandemic? with coronavirus, as we move into the fall and winter, what will that look like? guest: i do not think we know. if anything covid-19 has taught us it is to be humble about our predictions. it is possible be will see another surge in the winter when more people are indoors. also, with the threat of variance around the world, as long as this virus urges globally, it is going to be a threat for us in the u.s.. if you are able to be

vaccinated, please do so. that will help us end the pandemic faster and will protect you and those you love around you. host: dr. leana wen, contributor to washington post, cnn medical analyst, nonresident fellow at brookings, and the author of the new book, "lifelines: a doctor's journey in the fight for public health." the book comes out when? guest: july 27. host: thank you for being with us. when we come back, we get the perspective of a syndicated columnist and policy editor. later, veteran journalist and former host of hardball, chris matthews. his new book, "this country: my life in politics and history." we are back in a moment. ♪ >> monday night on the

communicators, competition policy in digital technology markets. >> we are off the charts in terms of where we have been for the last 40 years, in terms of competition policy and monopoly. in the last year, we had five antitrust lawsuits against google and facebook. we have all kinds of actions against amazon. we have people talking about new philosophies and competition policy. this is all radically new. this conversation is -- can be transformative for the united states. >> the communicators with analyst -- huddleston. monday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2. >> i remain of the view that the worst arguments made for the lockdowns for the initial ones.

they said well, we have to protect the hospitals from overflow. wait a second, who would need to be forced to avoid the behavior that would result in hospitalization? at a time when hospitals release staff, allegedly. but then, the imperial college said 2.3 million americans will die unless we take away freedom. what if they predicted 30 million? ask yourself the question, what amount of force from the government would have meant anything at that point? >> author john tammy, director of the center for economic freedom on his book. what impact the pandemic lockdown had on the economy. tonight at 8:00 on c-span's q&a. you can also listen to q&a as a podcast. find it wherever you get your podcasts. >> washington journal continues. host: we want to welcome back

mona charen, author, syndicated columnist, thanks for being with us. guest: my pleasure. host: i want to begin with this headline from the economist that looks at the president's agenda. after a quick start, joe biden's legislative agenda hitting a brick wall in part because of party factionalism and the filibuster that could imperil his democratic ambitions. your response. is that a fair headline? guest: there have been a few -- of bipartisanship. in the past week, we saw the practically inanimate -- practically unanimous adoption of juneteenth as a holiday. that was unexpected national unity, which was unusual. we have seen a bipartisan group of senators get together to talk about a compromise on

infrastructure. we don't know where that is going to go, but that is a possibility also of bipartisanship. and regarding voting rights, that has been a little bit more difficult. senator joe manchin, the one who has most prominently said he opposes changing filibuster rules -- although it is understood in washington that he actually speaks for a great many democratic senator. he is sort of the front man. anyway, he has said he is against changing the filibuster but he did come out with his own voting rights bill as an alternative to -- it immediately got the attention of stacey abrams, voting activist. unfortunately it was shut down by mitch mcconnell.

host: there is also this headline following the summit that took place in geneva, switzerland. the bar was pretty low for the president meeting with vladimir putin dan asking the question when and how we will know whether or not that summit was a success. what is your timeframe? what will be your measurement in terms of whether or not relations between the u.s. and russia have approved -- have improved? guest: my stance is not so much that we ought to be about improving relations with russia. over the last several decades, each administration seems to have come into office hoping to improve relations with putin only to be disappointed. i think our goal should be clarity, to make very clear to putin where we stand on some of his destructive and undermining

efforts vis-a-vis the west. whether it is about hacking mother voting, interfering in our election, and further about his maligned influence around the world. supporting dictators and extremists. attempting to undermine the whole world really come it's undermine people's confidence in information. he is a multi prong threat. the best that we can do, it seems, is to be very clear about our position and not give him any more attention than necessary. but, just set clear boundaries. i think president biden did that. i was pleased that there was no joint press conference.

though i was a little confused about one aspect, president biden, in one -- in what was otherwise a pitch perfect meeting, he did make a statement that was a little odd. she said we gave putin 16 segments of our u.s. economy where if there is any hacking, that would be a serious problem. 16 realms of agriculture and water. i thought well, what's the message there? if you attack or hack anything other than those 16, it's not a problem for us? i thought that was a strange way to put it. host: our guest is mona charen. we are splitting our phone lines between democrats, republicans and independents. you can also join us on twitter or facebook. policy editor for the relatively new website the bulwark.com.

where does the name come from? what is the mission of this site? guest: the name comes from the idea that that seem to have been -- among republicans and on the right generally and that we wanted to stand and be a bulwark against that decline. that we still stand for the traditional virtues, we believe in civility and persuasion in the political world's, that we are not partisans of one side or another, but rather we uphold the highest traditions of journalism and of the search for truth. host: mona charen also a former senior fellow at the ethics and policy center, a regular

commentator on capital gang, and worked in the reagan white house as speechwriter for former first lady nancy reagan. there is a new pullout conducted by the hill.com that says 30% of self identified republican voters believe donald trump will be reinstated as president later this year. what is your reaction? guest: polls have to be taken with a grain of salt because you don't know how much is signaling. when people -- people, especially republicans, have a great deal of distrust for pollsters and are inclined to mess with them. if they sense that this is a pro-or anti-trump, they want to signal they are pro-trump.

a screw you pollster. there is that possibility, but the other thing is that -- so, we do not know if it is 30%, but there is a significant percentage, no doubt about it, of the republican party that is getting disinformation from the right wing infotainment networks. being fed a lot of propaganda and a lot of lies. so, if your diet consists of only those sites, you might very well believe some crazy stuff. we have seen that in not just this poll, but many polls. the number of republicans who think there might be some truth to the cuban on conspiracy -- q anon conspiracy. republicans showing they believe former president trump did win

the 2020 election, it goes on and on. host: mona charen. (202) 748-8000 free democrats. (202) 748-8000 -- (202) 748-8001 for republicans. you can send a text message to (202) 748-8003. another story getting a lot of attention, the president was asked last week, the headline from the new york times, " targeting biden, catholic bishops advance a plan that would deny the second catholic president communing because of his views on abortion." your comment. guest: i am not a catholic. this is somewhat of an internal catholic matter, but i would say it does reflect the divisions we find in all of american society. regis i -- we just saw a vote in

the baptist convention where the sides were pitted against one another. politics has inserted itself into every nook and cranny of american life. our religious institutions are no exception. i would note that the catholic church also has a strong stance against capital punishment. i have not seen a big push to deny communion to people who are for the death penalty. as an outsider, it is interesting to see that the pope opposes this move. it will be interesting to watch how this goes. from what i understand, the decision of communion falls to the local bishop.

that is in the parish or whatever that biden attends. if the local bishop chooses to withhold communion, i believe the pope can overrule him. the church is very hierarchical, but the divisions within the catholic church, along with many other churches and religious organizations in the u.s., are deep. host: you are a multi platform journalists, including your podcast "egg to differ." guest: it is a weekly pot cast -- podcast, we call it centerleft to center-right. i am host, we have linda chavez on the center-right, me, david linger, william gholston. every week we have a guest.

the guests have been outstanding. they bring tremendous intellectual that halliday -- intellectual vitality. we discuss the issues of the weekend the issues of our time with civility, information, without shouting, without curse words, and it is a great hour. it drops friday's and you can get it on any platform. we have a lot of other podcasts at the bulwark, including charlie -- we also have others that are behind a pay wall. so, if you -- you can join for a very small amount of money and get access to a bunch of other great podcasts. host: george joining us from

florida. guest: beg to differ remains free. host: go ahead george please. caller: i want to say that i missed you. i did not know about the podcast. i always appreciate your opinion. because i value her opinion, in this new cycle for the last six years we had russia investigations, trump clearing out the church area for a photo op, all of these things, now we have fbi agents unindicted co-conspirators. is there any validity to that?

i just turned from a channel, these people are nuts, want to kill people, is there nothing or something to this? guest: you reflect the feelings of a lot of people. i do not know who to trust. i turn on cnn or msnbc and it seems like the trump administration could do nothing right and i turn on fox and it seems the biden administration can do nothing right. that is too mild. the voices tend to catastrophize and make it seem as if people on the others are dangerous, traitorous, threats to the existence of the republic. i sympathize that it is hard to get a sense of what is real.

what i would suggest is staying away from the most partisan voices. looking to people in the center. also looking for people who are willing to criticize their own side. one of the things you never see on fox news is see them say we were wrong. we promoted a story about the young man that he might have been responsible for the attack of the dnc and it turned out to be baseless. they did not apologize. they did not to retract. -- not retract. that is how i judge news organizations. do you admit ever-- error?

if not that is not trustworthy. the idea that the fbi was behind the insurrection, preposterous. there may be people of the fbi is questioning about the events who have been unindicted because they are cooperating. that happens all the time. the more outrageous, crazy and allegation seems the more it should tickle your skepticism. i recommend the bulwark. we pitch down the middle as best we can and we admit error.

that is where i will leave it. host: you mentioned seth ranch. -- rich. the parents of the slain staffer settles with fox news, he was shot and killed in 2016 in what police site was a botched robbery. let's go to lakeview, arizona, good morning. caller: good morning. other than the fact that he was not responsible for hacking the computers, whoever's saw the computers -- whoever saw the computers? they were not surrendered for fbi analysis but the guy is dead. if you say things enough times, even if it is outrageous, like the media did about russia

collusion or trump's ukraine issues which are biden's ukraine issues. we know that biden did with all the money until his son got paid. guest: how do you know that? caller: it is on hunter biden's laptop? guest: how do you know what is on his laptop? caller: because i watch the news. guest: which news? caller: the ones that will tell you about his laptop. guest: can you be specific? caller: like jack dorsey who purposely hid it. guest: i am asking [cross chat] caller: why was he hiding hunter biden's laptop? guest: i am asking for your sources. caller: c-span.

i watch a lot of c-span. c-span had coverage of january 6 that showed the people fighting with the cops were fighting with the cops before donald trump finished his speech. c-span had footage of capitol police leading people through the building like they are on a tour. use our trump supporters walking through the building inside the lines. inside the little ropes. guest: there was no violence by trump supporters at the capital that day? caller: can you tell me who was a trump supporter and who is not? maybe it was antifa? they fought with police all summer long, they tried to burn down federal buildings all summer. host: we will leave it there. guest: sorry about my voice this money, do not know why i have a frog in my throat.

the caller is an illustration of what i was describing, people are in their information silos. they are sure that they have information. this man believes he knows what was on hunter biden's laptop, i do not know how he can be sure. when people get sources of information that confirm biases, it feels good to be angry. and righteously angry at the other side. this is headed to a dark place. i a lot of it is brought, made -- -- rot, made up. it is encouraging an apocalyptic mentality where anything goes because these people are enemies.

we must not be enemies but friends. we have to live together. we have to try to take down the temperature, be more alert to being fed disinformation. be more skeptical about stories. i am worried about what this is doing. host: if you could put a percentage, 16 months before the midterm elections, what are the chances house republicans regain control? guest: 55%, 60%. there is history. the president's party nearly always loses seats in the first midterm. we are so divided in terms of geography and gerrymandering.

the number of seats that are necessary is tiny for the republicans to gain control. it is eminently possible. it looks less likely for the senate. host: from california, susan you are next. good morning. caller: good morning. host: good morning susan. caller: are you there? host: we sure are. go ahead. caller: i am here. okay. hr one, hr four, f1 are scams to nationalize our voting rights. host: we are getting some

feedback, s1 is coming tuesday. that is democratic efforts to federalize state election laws. what is going to happen? guest: i do not know what is going to happen. hr one, s1, bad idea. overreach, written before january 6. does not address the emergency we are in. much more pared down voting rights law such as joe manchin is promoting, allowing early voting, gerrymandering reform, i hope congress finds a compromise. that is not as overreaching and broad.

and off-topic as hr one. there are all kinds of things in that bill, the do not address the emergency we are in. host: among the books by our guest, useful idiots, how liberals got it wrong in the cold war and blame america first, how modern feminism lost touch with science, love and common sense. from louisiana, anthony you are next. caller: i would like to make a comment, i agree with your guest this morning. one color-- caller said something about what happened in the state captiol,-- capitol,

this started before january 6, there was information filtered out, where trump said to come to the state capitol. those people were going into the building during the time period that trump was speaking but if you go back, trump made the statement he was going to meet them there. let's all go down and he made a statement about certain individuals. host: that was the u.s. capitol in washington, d.c. guest: one of the challenges we face as a democracy is alternative facts. the late, great senator patrick

monahan said everybody is entitled to their own opinions not facts. the feeling of entitlement is in the saddle and writing. -- riding. the president called the mob to the capitol, tweeted that it would be wild. there was no reason to call his supporters to washington. no good reason. the election was over. the electoral college voted. it was a ceremonial occasion where the result is certified. with the vice president presiding. the president was responsible for what happened that day, not just that date but similar attacks in other places around the country.

in oregon, michigan. the president incited violence, political violence. he attempted to steal the election and the democratic process -- and the work-- thwart the democratic process. it is frighteningly successful. host: columnist, author and podcast host, long time guest on the network. glad to have her back. thank you for being with us. guest: my pleasure. host: in just a moment, chris matthews, he has wrote a couple of books, a book on kennedy and nixon and his newest book looking at his life's journey, this country, my life in politics and history. joining us in a moment as washington journal continues. we are live on c-span radio and

the bbc parliament channel. ♪ >> american history tv on c-span3. i explained the people and events that tell the american story every weekend. today at 4:00 eastern on reel america, the film who was out there with orson welles and carl sagan exploring the possibility of extraterrestrial life. today at 6:00 eastern on american artifacts, see a world war i trench and reconstructed german bunker part of eight living history exhibit by the u.s. army history and heritage organization. today at 8:00 eastern, here how first ladies worked to preserve

the historic nature of the white house. exploring the american story, watch american history tv today on c-span3. ♪ >> dan glickman's autobiography laughing at myself, my education in congress, on the farm and at the movies. he served in congress for 18 years. a wichita kansas -- a wichita, kansas resident, he served as agriculture secretary and in 2004 he replaced jack mullaney as chairman and ceo of the motion picture association of america until 2012. we spent time talking about his interest and humor. >> on this episode of book notes plus, listen at c-span.org/podcasts or wherever

you get podcasts. >> washington journal continues. host: joining us from massachusetts is chris matthews, his newest book my life in politics. guest: happy father's day. big day for all of us. host: what did you learn about chris matthews in writing this? guest: life as a way of going around, what goes around, comes around. in my generation week rub under world war ii hiding under our desks because the russians were coming. i found myself at the end of the cold war in budapest and berlin watching the fall of the iron curtain. i was in africa in the peace corps on the border of south africa during the apartheid and i was there for the election where nelson mandela was elected

president. a lot of the things you think that will not change, will. many times for the better, i am optimistic about this. look at gay-rights, marriage, that will never change, but it did. i think we made progress, not enough. changes the story. host: let's dig in. guest: -- host: let's dig in. the battle between right and left will not fade, we needed, we must battle for the maximum liberty of the individual americans after all of these years trying to get it right. where are we getting it right? guest: i like c-span because you get the left in the right, journalists do not tell the whole story.

i cannoti cannot think anybody , they tell part of the story. they don't not -- they don't tell the whole story, at the federal government spent a lot of money will fix a lot of bridges, roads and put people to work that we might inflate the economy. guest: black lives -- that begin to behave like my the safest way is to not go into any club or situation, they pull back. that is not good for anybody, the criminal people know it is safer to conduct a bad business. everything has this push me, pull you aspect.

and it takes a debate to bring out those sides. they are always there. there are always costs. people who bring us into war say we have to get rid of saddam hussein, what about the people who are going to die? tell us about that. debate and democracy are tied together. host: you write about that in your previous book, to pen the gipper when politics worked. could you imagine the picture here, it is ronald reagan, could we see that today with president biden at the house republican leader? -- and the house republican leader? guest: i wish we could. back in the 80's, you would see a picture of bonilla and the

republican leader at the time -- to o'neill-- tipp o' neill and the republican leader at the time sharing friendship. they worked together, they worked in the same building, chamber. they had lunch together. they are together all of the time. my with an upbeat natural friendships? i think they are afraid to do that's because the donor base does not want to see that. if you're giving somebody lots of money, you do not want to see them hanging around with the other side. because you believe the other side is wrong. that has gotten out of hand. you do not want to have friendship spoiled by having the person you're voting for hang around the other side. it comes from the base, people

do not like the opponent. they do not just resist them or oppose them. they do not like them. that has gotten ridiculous. you cannot assume that everybody who disagrees with you has the wrong motive. every republican is not rich. that is an absurdity. democrats like to say that we are against the rich or repose, there are a lot of republicans, up with are also regular people just who believe in less government, less taxes, more personal freedom. what is wrong with that? host: we are talking with chris matthews, his first book was called hardball, his latest my life and politics in history. (202) 748-8000 for democrats, (202) 748-8001 for republicans, you can send us a text message or join us on social media. you talk about the president who you interviewed and moments in your life including post 9/11.

"before the month of september was out i began worrying about where the american reaction would take us. i feared our actions could only lead to something worse, what a large u.s. response lead to more recruitment, i worried george w. bush was being encouraged to go further." explain. guest: i had a contact who was a close friend with colin powell, who told me that dick cheney was talking up war with iraq. other people were pushing for more. we are going to war with the country that had nothing to do with 9/11, why? the last four months of the op-ed pages, the argument for going to work with iraq -- war with iraq. you do not hear that opinion

more, because that war was pointless and made us more enemies. those who are worried about israel, it took away that buffer state between israel and iran. we backed saddam hussein and his war against iran. imagine if we still had him there, instead we have a vacuum that is the number one strategic concern for israel, iran. i do not know why we removed what was in effect in light of israel? that is common sense. we sided with the soviets during world war ii, we do not like them but we needed them. you do not want to stand against your enemy alone. those who supported the war, blew it. host: let's go to roberts in greenville, texas, you're on the air. caller: good morning. what a pleasure to hear chris.

i want an opinion about something that after these last four years would greatly enhance this country if we were able to transfer control of various branches of government that we consider part of the judiciary that are working for the department of justice such as the fbi and the investigative arms of government and put them under the control of the judicial branch. namely the supreme court. figure out a way to structure for the judiciary to be independent of politics. and run the investigating arms of this country to weed out corruption, illegal lobbying.

do campaign financing investigation. a lot of the corruption that goes into politics and separate it. host: thank you for the call. guest: that is a great challenge. what is the name of the building that houses the justice department? robert f kennedy, you have an attorney general who was close to his brother. you could not be closer. they did a good job for civil rights and taking on big companies. partisanship works its way in. a clearly does -- it clearly does, wiretapping that has been maliciously misused.

prosecution and justice are different. prosecutors go for indictments, most cases conviction. that is the name of the game if you are the fbi, it is getting the bad guys. the purpose of the judiciary is to find justice between the case for the prosecution and the defense. you have a big thumb on the scale if you have them as one. you are up to something. i think we try to get at it with the inspector general system. i was part of that with the carter administration. independent of the governor, capable of earning cases against bad behavior by their own department. you try to isolate them so the

prosecutor or investigator does not feel loyalty politically. we are still experimenting. you are onto something. some presidents including jack kennedy believed that the attorney general worked for him. yet they are supposed to be looking for all kinds of bad behavior. they are the country's lawyer. i do not think your solution is the right ones but your mother is perfect -- motive is perfect. host: you mentioned senator robert kennedy and you wrote about him in a book. would he have received the democratic nomination had he lived? guest: under the old system of selecting nominees it would have been hard.

very few primaries, california was one of them, he had another coming up. he had a big battle with eugene mccarthy who was strong in new york. that would have been a real tussle. hubert humphrey was backed by the establishment of the party. i do not know where to would have been gone -- where dale what have gone. -- would have gone. i think he could have. the convention in 68 was controlled by the bosses and old system of governors picking delegations. it would have been hard. it would have been better for the country to help bobby kennedy walk into that tall and

red ligh-- rally the antiwar forces. it would have been great to have a real battle in the convention instead of on the streets of chicago. i am thrilled at the prospect that he would have lived and there would have been a debate over the war. it might have gone the right direction. it would have been a battle which we needed in the party and country. i hoped he would win. i can only predict -- i am pretty good at predicting elections thursday following tuesday. 2022 is going to be a cliffhanger. 2024 is going to be a cliffhanger. in our current situation, the

50-50 elections, we have to get voting rights straight. i believe, this is not the democratic field, i want the result election night. maybe for people serving armed dutch in the armed, overseas maybe have deadlines. allow pallets to be in the hands of the countries that day, evening so people can go to bed and know who the president is. if we do not do that we will have questions of skepticism. why does it take a week? the magnum people know there is an election every four years, they need to be told that there must be a deadline. that is your responsibility. get it on time. that is the republican argument and i think they are right. host: a number of statements that cannot begin counting until election date which delayed the count by weeks. guest: let's fix it.

election night i would love concession speeches, trump robbed the country of that. he refused to give a concession. even in the case of nixon and kennedy, jack kennedy needed richard nixon to throw in the towel, they did it in that wonderful meeting. in a little cabana place. there were drinking together and makes a made clear that kennedy won. you need the gentleman or gentlelady to say the other person won. the founding fathers did not anticipate saying -- anticipate somebody saying that they won when they lost. host: you wrote about that in your book about how that by 40 shaped postwar america. who got the upper bunk and lower bunk when the members of the house were traveling from d.c.

to pennsylvania? guest: they were chosen by frank new canaan of western pennsylvania to come and debate near pittsburgh. booming steel town and the time. on the way back they stopped at the diner for hamburgers, they talk sports. they got back on the train and took it to d.c. overnight train. they talked all night about the cold war. they drew straws for topping, bottom bunk. nixon got the bottom bunk. kennedy was up top. think about the scene of these young guys talking about the cold war, the battle for the future. chatting away like they were.

they started out as friends. that is a good story. host: gary and atlanta, you're on the error, -- air. caller: good morning. i am calling about january 6, we stopped teaching civics in this country. that is one of the main things kids do not know about. if you were still teaching, we would not have happened. host: you are about that in washington magazine as a former capitol hill police officer. guest: that is a good word. people do not get the history of the country away we got here, the progress we made. -- the way we got here, the progress we made. we have been holding elections

in this country every two years. no other country has a record like that. where the first republic -- we are the first republic. the electoral college works in the same way all the time. trump won in 2016 and 2020 by the same states that change their minds. it is a system that has been there. it is conservative because it favors smaller states, less populous states. the idaho's, dakotas, montana's, they do very well in the college, senate. it is in the constitution and it has always been there. once you understand the system,

you see it is fair. it depends on the american voters. the constitution is tilted to the right. if you're a democrat, yet been able to beat that. kennedy beat that, johnson b 30, clinton beat it twice, barack obama beat it twice. if americans wanted democrat president, they will get one. i think we have to understand the system and stop complaining about it. if you are a democrat, belly up, try to win more states. the states that are going to decide it are the ones in the middle like pennsylvania. they are complicated states. big states and rural areas. conservative people, traditional people and state-of-the-art people. they're to have cultural flights -- fights over abortion rights and guns. i like these debates.

tell me why we should stop debating these issues. it is american, we argue >> -- we argue. host: you're at that you saw the same sense of national violation as all of us, it is available online. let's go to barbara in massachusetts, good morning. caller: good morning. i want to thank you for creating the space for msnbc to become what it is today. i credit you with that. not you alone. i sent a text to c-span because i did not know if my call would be taken. i will redo this. great to see you, your answer to the first question was perfect

because change is the constant. i would love to see you make a new podcast or tv show called softball for this era where the list of remaining issues is shrinking daily. we resolve so much, with no idea how much we result and we need to communicate to them. i would love to see go to somewhere and do a series like school of rock. when you get together and tell the people about civics. people, be healthy and do not go away. guest: you are very nice. good ideas. i think we need -- i love the idea of the space because i think we need a figuring out the consequences of everything we do. we have a conservative system.

our system is not let the good times roll, the constitution was built as a basic civic document but to be a conservative one. to make possible an enduring democracy or republic. something that will last, meaning through the current debates. there are issues that are intractable. abortion rights are different value systems. women's rights are paramount for some people. these are tough issues to say this over with. -- it is over with. there are issues likely term abortion we can get closer to agreement on current issues. we need to talk about who is

safe to use a gun, there are restrictions about driving a car. you have to be a certain age, not drunk. these are reasonable. they are not taking away your right. if you are in good sense. i know everything is the slippery slope argument because of what he is afraid -- everybody is afraid of the other side rubbing control. the anti-gun guy would like to get rid of all they can see be careful. the other extreme is whatever you feel like. we are a smarter society than that. we can be very free. what i write about is whenever we build a new program we have to be guarding freedom. this is still america. people still want to get into their own car, they like public

transportation, i like rapid rail. there is going to be touch cowboy that wants to be our own person. we better not get rid of that. this isn't sweden. we have a different mentality. a little bit of the wild west we have to keep that. as well as keep social equity. that is the job of smart legislators. to find a happy medium on these issues. host: you mention abortion, the headline getting attention from the new york times, "catholic bishops putting together a directive that could restrict president biden to receive communion because of his views on abortion." guest: that is an opinion poll. it reflects conservativism.

it reflects the concern about the more conservative, traditional people in their dioceses. it does not matter because it is up to each bishop to decide on matters like that. whether young girls can be altar boys or not, those issues are decided in the diocese. the archbishop of washington has made clear where he stands which is against this weird i expect -- is against this. i expect the same in williamston. this is instructive about the mentality of bishops and retired bishops but will not matter. absently convinced he will be able to go to communion. host: rhonda is on the phone, thank you for waiting. good morning. caller: good morning.

i am so happy to see you. i feel blessed. i miss you so much. i used to watch you every day. hardball was my politics. it gave us a conservative view. we do not have that on msnbc, cnn, only in the morning with the morning joe. who i love as well. the lady before me stole my thunder because i was going to ask are you going to start a podcast or something. we need you back. you have to come back. you cannot retire and write books. [laughter] caller: we need your opinion so you can calm us down. all of my brothers are educated.

we pay high property taxes in new jersey. we are looking out all of the school districts because we have a lot of immigrants and we are a sanctuary city. we love them but we believe in legal immigration. we need these people to do what is best for the country. they should have a custom worker pass. they are here anyway, at least we can get them to pay taxes which will lower property taxes. we need conservative views like you. you have to come back. to help straighten out your republican party. what hurts me about the maga su pporters, the republican party represents the church. they have allowed donald trump to corrupt them which corrupts the church. host: thank you for the call.

guest: there is a lot there. i am 75. i have a last act somewhere in the end i am devoting myself as a professor. talking about changes and ironies in history, we are at a horrible war with vietnam and now i am a professor over there. i like doing that. i like teaching about american culture and politics to people who are going to be our allies against china. one of the strange redefining of the sides. like choosing sides in sandlot, different team every once in a while. we are on the same team as vietnam. i am a writer and director of washington monthly. i write books. i hear and appreciate that.

i am a conservative compared to other anchors on msnbc. i am a progressive on a number of issues like war and voting rights, not so much others. i see the other side on other issues. we might be getting somewhere with the middle-of-the-road on voting rights to budding on how far manchin comes out. i do not see 60 votes for the elimination of the filibuster. even though he has taken a strong direction, talking about making election take a holiday, allowing for early voting i do not see at passing -- it passing. what i worry about is dysfunction, the inability of the nine states senate to get anything done. -- of the united states senate to get anything done.

going into an election all negative is good for the country. [cross chat] i wish i was 40 and i am not and i have to recognize that i have responsibilities to my family. i was doing six shows per week and i was exhausted. that is a personal thing. these guys get up and play golf on saturday morning surprised me. i am tired. i am having a good time. i will find a way to get my voice out there. i do not know if i will go through writing or guest shots. i do not have any plans for a return at all. host: john from pennsylvania, good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to ask you a question. what if your heroes you mentioned is john kennedy, he

was one of mine. in 1961 he did a speech called the presidency and the press. he talked about the importance of informing the american people through the press and not having a biased press to the people what is going on -- tell the people what is going on. you had a great career in media, what do you see happening in terms of media, you have six or seven corporations that own all of the tv and radio stations. you have the social media, you have left, right. the media is important to inform the people, educate them so they can vote what they want. where do you see this going? i see it defining a fractured country because we have media from the corporate world and not

a lots of people informing the american people about what is going on. a lot of noise but not information. that is what the president was talking about. guest: i do not know about the influence from the corporations. i never got directives from comcast or ge. it is wise to take that into consideration. try to figure out if there is a wall between the people making money and people speaking values. ratings are a powerful drive in the business. people want highly rated shows,

provocative, saying things that are striking. ignite feelings on the part of the viewer. what is that about? who gets the most excited? probably left and right, most extreme in both cases. they get excited about what is said on television and radio. if you want to zig up those numbers you be provocative. you cannot do that as effectively or easily in the middle. is that what the business is about? igniting righteous indignation? this will get you anxious, getting on the highway and pound about this.

you're not going to sleep at night because you are so excited by your anger. that is what is going on. the simplicity of it, telling people on the left that they are right that everything would be wonderful. come on. the right saying that if we only ran the place everything would be wonderful, you would have notional -- no social security, medicare. no support for everybody unless you can win the rat race. on the left are you going to stop spending money? what would make republicans into reasonable people? the democrats force them to accept social security, one person said the nation's concert

if they want to conserve the new deal. it is going to be a conflict between both sides. both sides are lying when they say if we won everything would be great. who's going to tell the republicans to show some humanity and demarest to stop spending money? the other side. that keeps them reasonable. it is how the system works. it is not listening to fox or any other network this as a yes, you're wonderful, do everything your way. give me a break. host: the book, my life and politics and history you talk about media and cable tv. "people like what you say, your take on the news becomes your audience. it is the human connection of television, knowing the audience becomes your company.

that bond of trust is the best part of the job." you're right about a moment in 2004 that continues to get attention. [video clip] >> what was the question? >> it takes a few words. >> get out of my face. [indiscernible] >> i wish we lived in the date where you could challenge a person to a duel. do not pull that stuff on mate like you did that young lady. -- on me like you did that young lady. i am not her. [cross chat] >> the only reason you are doing it is because you are standing over there. host: that moment continues to resonate.

guest: i did not know that was going to happen. i took the senator seriously. he was very angry with me. he accused the democratic party of leaving the country defensive force -- country defenseless. i asked him why you said that derek because want to fight with stick boss, he said it was a metaphor. a metaphor for what? he said it wasn't a question of their patriotism, it was their judgment. all i can say is this, before he died i wrote a note saying that we all have bad nights, another one of us looked good that night. i want to salute your patriotism , your time in the military, as governor.

he wrote me back the most wonderful note. i have it in my stuff i saved. what happened to him was he [no audio] host: we lost them for a moment, he is joining us via resume. let's go to ken on the phone, hopefully we will reconnect. go ahead. caller: that stinks. i wanted to wish him a happy father's day. i want to question the left media in promoting the fact that trump never declared he lost. hillary clinton spent the last 4.5 years saying that she did not lose and she still has her social media access. trump's has been removed because he has been spewing the big lie.

who had the first big lie? host: hopefully we will reconnect with chris matthews. john is next from ohio. good morning. caller: good morning. i noticed a lot of the problems we are talking about boil down to polarization. especially in the house of representatives. i think everybody agrees a lot of the causes gerrymandered districts and i would like to get his thoughts on what can be done to make it more democratic. host: do you think that would fix the problem? caller: i think it would go a long way. if you look at the districts in ohio, they are so gerrymandered,

this is true of every state. you have districts that look like snakes winding through different counties. just so they can catch all of the republicans, in ohio it is more to catch red advantage. the reasons for polarization, this gerrymandered thing, if you're an gerrymandered district you do not have any say in who is going to the house of representatives. host: randy next in ohio, good morning. caller: i was hoping to talk to chris matthews. i am a prolabor independent from cincinnati. i am seeing wages to low-- too low. if $300 is a race for the people struggling, there is a real problem. it has to be solved by

corporations, not the government, because of inflation. when i throughout -- grew up, a workingman did not need food assistance and now you see it so much of that. we have to concentrate on that and leave the petty stuff behind. i am not saying january 6 was petty. there are more important things we need to work on. if we didn't know, the future would be better. host: what is the responsibility of corporations? caller: over the last 40 years they have done away with unions. if you want a union job it has to be through the government or contractors. who can make it on $10 per hour or even $15?

my son works at fedex, they cut a race because they're threatening to raise some nonwhites, when corporations raise wages, and increased taxes on corporations, do like we have to do with our money, they have to earn their money. make sure they bring wages up, jobs back to the united states. help with health care and maternity leave. if they started with the working people, we outnumber the rest of this country. 90%. you have to move on. that is what i would like to bring up. and the disinformation thing. you do not have enough time. host: thank you very much. our apologies, we know with assume that the technology can freeze and break up. we are unable to reconnect, his book is titled, "by lies in

politics and history." he has been a frequent guest on this network. wishing dads, grandfathers, godfathers, caregivers and very happy father's day. we are back with another addition -- edition of the washington journal. have a great weekend. ♪ [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. we are funded by these television companies and more, including charter communication. >> band is a force for empowerment. that is why chr