washington journal continues. host: our focus is the biden administration and the party. good sunday morning and thank

you for being with us. guest: thank you very much. host: let's start with the state of the republican party. as someone who has written books about ronald reagan and his political career, would he be comfortable in today's republican party? >> the answer, i think -- guest: the answer, i think is yes. he bent the party with the force of his ideas to his own service. the republican party became a taxcutting party. it had been a tax increasing party. he made it into a pro-life party. previously, it was divided. through the course, megan, the

party he inherited in the late 1970's became to his liking by the time he ran for president. the platform of 1980 is vastly different from the republican party in 1976. that was do to reagan and the conservative takeover of the party. host: did it surprise you that the republican party did not have a platform? guest: it did. a party has to stand for something. it has to have a concrete set of ideas. because we have two, it has to mean something for the american people. the democratic party --

it is not hard to state. because of internal warfare and battles, they do not have a party today. going into the 2022 election, what it stands for -- it is not enough to run against democrats. you have to stand for something and believe in something. host: a column that you wrote was published earlier this month. american governments stopped working for the people a long time ago.

they have become increasingly entrenched in blood would -- bloated political machines. as it worse today than 30 to 40 years ago? guest: definitely. every level of government is servicing the american people, more or less. the term civil servant is not being used anymore. they are working for us. we pay their salaries. we do not give them the power to the willy-nilly passed laws. washington is a corrupt city. less and less resonance with the american people today. a lot of state governments are the same way. state government in new york.

many died unnecessarily. vaccines were administered in a haphazard fashion. the government was supposed to be small and efficient. host: let's turn our attention to former president donald trump discussing the 2020 race, a vase that he says that he won. a demonstration took place in june of last year. mr. trump: you have seen over the last three weeks, the media and democrats are admitting that i was right about everything. the election is over and they do

not care. big deal, right? big deal. they lied about so many things before the election and it is not just what they said, it is what they did not say. where is hunter? the virus came from a chinese lab. hydroxychloroquine actually works. remember? i made a mistake on hydroxychloroquine. i should have said it is a disaster. please do not use it. instead, i said it works and now reports are coming out that it works. hunter biden's laptop was real. lafayette square was not cleared for a photo op. they tried to burn down the church the day before.

the russian bounties story was a total fake. the cameras are starting to go off. i better speak fast. they do not like this speech. host: a campaign rally that we carried live. your comments and reaction? guest: he certainly has lost his touch. i happen to think that joe biden won legitimately. there are always questions. i think it would be better for him and the country if he simply dropped the issue and looked to the future.

the best course of action is just for him to drop it. national media has grown increasingly biased and not always truthful about things. they regard it as a pain in the neck, but they also saw him as an ally of the american people. they fulfilled that obligation. they were a force against john adams. ronald reagan had to contend with and only in recent years has the papers and media of the current era firmly allied

themselves. that is to the detriment of the american people. the only solution that i see is to create alternative press as conservatives done -- have done with talk radio and the internet. that is really the only alternative. i do not see them reforming nbc or the washington post. host: our phone lines are open and we will get your messages in just a moment. speaking of former wright -- former president reagan. he spoke extensively about the events of january 6 where he was presiding as the president of the senate. >> january 6 was a dark day in the history of the u.s. capital

but thanks to the swift action of capitol police and law enforcement, the violence was quelled, the capital secured, and we reconvened congress the very same day to finish the work of counting electoral votes in every state in the union. there are those who believed that in my position as presiding officer of the joint session that i possess the authority to reject or return electoral votes, certified by the states. but the constitution provides the vice president with no such authority. the truth is that there is almost no idea more un-american than the notion that anyone person could choose the american

president. the presidency belongs to the american people and the american people alone. [applause] and i will always be proud that we did our part. on that tragic day, to reconvene the congress and fulfilled our duty under the constitution and the laws of the u.s. host: we have the full speech on our website. craig surely is joining us from virginia and there are divisions between the former president and his vice president, mike pence. guest: it is -- >> -- guest: it is unfortunate.

it is a mistake to keep emphasizing this. he needs to change the subject. he needs a signature issue like the panama canal treaty or various ideas that reagan proposed. it needs to be in motion. politics is motion and it is done and over with. she needs to stop going backwards. host: a lot can happen between now and 2023 or 2024. right now, is donald trump a

candidate in 2024? guest: donald trump? she is playing it wisely by not declaring one way or the other. if he says he is out, he is no longer a relevant factor. if he says he is in and treated differently -- the best thing to do is to talk about his issues, not about the election of two years ago. always about who controls the future. he needs to start talking about the future of the american people. host: a text message from dave. this new republican party is the most twisted radical group of

people and you cannot reason with them. do you agree? guest: no. they have gone through different permutations throughout the years. they used to be divided. i remember in 1972, a large tax cut was proposed to the american people. the nixon administration said, no. we need to prime the pump with more federal spending. arguing for more federal spending with senators arguing

for tax cuts. now that is completely reversed. the republican party of the tax cut. the republican party has changed positions on many issues. richard nixon made it into an international party. it is just going through a different iteration right now, trying to decide what it stands for. some of the parties have been more consistent. the democratic party has been the party. it has been the party of big government. it is interesting. a lot of reagan's policies and proposals.

that was part of the reason why he was elected and was thinking about tax cuts. the democratic president before the congress and said the era of big government is open. he was flexible, which is good in politics. host: our guest is craig shirley. he has written many autobiographies. -- autobiographies for ronald reagan. let's get to the democrats line. caller: speaking of reagan, seeing megan on a phone call recorded, reagan was a monster

and increased payroll taxes on the middle class repeatedly. he did/the top bracket. reagan was crushing the middle class. he was talking out of both sides of his mouth on election issues. on one hand, biden was legitimately elected, but then talking about voter fraud. host: we will get a response. guest: reagan left office in january of 1979 with an approval rating of 73%. he virtually had all of the republican party supporting him. there was no denying that he was a great unifier, unlike joe biden who has been mostly a great divider. you can say all you want, there

will be people with different opinions, but the vision is pretty clear among historians and the media that reagan was a successful president. he did restore national morale and eradicated interest rates and created over 18 -- millions of jobs. by any stretch of the administration, there were dozens of other accomplishments. he did not -- it explains why the reagan library is the most dissident presidential library, even today. this is 20 years after he left

office. it is more out of the way. it is not more centrally located like kennedy library. the american people still revere him as their president and history has judged that he was a successful president. host: how critical was nancy reagan? guest: nancy reagan would have made sure that he was the best salesman in the world. she was going to ensure that he was going to be president of the u.s. she never got involved in policy.

she took a shine to jim baker. reagan had the final say. he said, nancy does not make these decisions. i make them. she had the advantage of position and she made her thoughts known on issues -- not all issues, not nuclear disarmament. she made her opinions known. she was very important to the reagan presidency. she was a trooper. making sure -- i have been there

many times. it is, in my opinion, the best of all presidential libraries. you can see it out in the distance. it is really beautiful and well designed. i urge viewers to go visit sometime. there are also special features. there is a museum and a exhibit. host: what is the disney museum? guest: they also had one on american baseball, which was fantastic. the disney museum, a lot of

memorabilia and displays, cartoons and costumes from the disney company, over many years. mickey mouse and various movies and they set up a special area. they were on display for about a year. i was there for the baseball exhibit and it was terrific. also doing ancient, archaeological digs, ancient egyptian statuary and jewelry, things like that. now they are planning on a world war ii exhibit for next year. they do a good job of keeping the story fresh and devising new ways to attract people to the library. host: actor ronald reagan --

dedicating the opening -- let's get back to the phone calls. republican line with craig shirley. good morning. caller: good morning. i just called in. i heard he is a historian and he is pretty spot on with his history. i appreciate that. that last reply on the election results, he is going to have to be eating those words. he did not listen to this age by president trump. he went through a list of things that he said were facts. they had to be at least 20 of them and he reminded everybody that those people who said those things weren't facts had to eat

their words each time come in a spectacular way. it would be pretty obvious. i do not think it will be long when he will be eating those words on the election. guest: first of all, i love those tears from my hometown. he referred to eating words several times, but i do not know which words he was referring to. i would be happy to eat my words if i am proven wrong. i do not see all of donald trump's speech. i did see snippets on c-span of him talking about the election in 2020. if i was advising him, i would advise him to move on and focus on the future.

it is ok to talk about the vaccine and the successes of your administration, but do not keep wallowing in the election of 2020. we have had contested elections before but not one that was overturned. his people are his people. they are energized. they need to hear more about what he would do if he was in office now or what he would do -- to alleviate their concerns and their pain. she needs to look to the future. host: katrina is next. good morning. caller: thank you very much for allowing us to speak freely. our speech has been centered

tremendously over the last few years. the worst in history. i would like to address the speech about what he stated. he contradicted himself in saying that there was no election fraud and we should not speak about it. he needs to get his ducks in a row because we, the people want truth. we deserve that. we, the people, as he stated in his first statement and contradicted himself. we want these audits. we want truth and transparency. we have been ignored and we want the truth. we want good things to be done for the people.

this has to do with everyone. i am a mother of six with 13 grandchildren and i am tired of sitting here, listening to all this political, bloated rhetoric that every mainstream channel has on it. they are mimicking each other and nobody wants to look at the real situation. i like your speech is that you have been doing and i follow your readings and writings, however, if you really want to be for the people and you want more people to listen, please speak the truth. we all know what the truth is, and i know that you know what the truth is. my last message, all of you need to be leading the pale horse. if you have not read that book, you are missing out. host: thank you for that call from vermont. guest: i would say, so if you're

colors are a little juiced up this morning. i do not know what she was referring to as far as eking the truth. i did say that i think joe biden did win legitimately. nobody has presented proof that the election was fraudulently stolen. this has never happened in all the years of the republic. especially for conservatives, i am not in the business of being a political advisor. but i would advise conservatives and republicans to suck it up. teddy roosevelt said --

i would advise the republican party to set their face towards the future and tell the american people what they are going to do to make the future better for all americans and stop this debate over the election. it is over with and it is pointless to keep talking about it. host: good morning, kevin. caller: good morning. i am actually in arkansas now. thank you for taking my call. i want to go on and state that i am a liberal, bleeding heart democrat and i think that ronald reagan was the last great president of the u.s. the reason he was a great president was that he could pivot on important issues, mainly on issues related to the soviet union. he came in vowing to destroy the soviet union and came to a deal

with the soviet union to dismantle large stockpiles of nuclear weapons. that is what a great president does is that they can adapt in these situations, but one of the things i wanted to ask you about, i have a comment before asking my question, but i am a historian myself. there is a long history. the reactionary right was opposed to the alliance with the soviet union. there is a lot of continuity to the present day from the 20th century reactionary rights. today, our contemporary republican party has been taken over by the reactionary right. when it comes to former president trump, who is not really an intelligent person, given his public statements, if

we go off of his public statements, he does not strike me as someone very intelligent. one thing he has been very effective in doing is turning the republican party into the party of white grievance, which is very concerning to me because white people in this country, for the most part, control the wealth. they control the power positions, and when i look around my arkansas community, they have everything that they need. they own their homes, their golf carts and guns. why is the reactionary right of the republican party becoming the party of white grievance? host: thank you for the call. guest: i do not know where to start.

you should drop the phrase -- we do not look backwards. we look for words. we are always challenging the assumptions of corporations, always challenging the assumptions of government. we champion the individual. establishing this independent republic. at the end of the revolution, one of the framers wrote a letter, thomas payne. he wrote, the revolution is -- the war goes on. it is important for us to keep challenging government because

that will make for better individuals. as far as -- i think he is reacting to a bunch of newspaper clippings and tv shows. the vast majority of republicans wake up in the morning and think about racial issues. they want to get along with everybody. because the republican party is the party of the individual, that means that they treat everyone as individuals, not because of their skin color. that is the ideal that i grew up with, as a republican, and as a conservative in the 1960's and 1970's. reagan was the ultimate individualist.

one thing that struck me in reviewing speeches is he did have the best speechwriting department in the history of the white house. that is saying a lot. reagan had probably the best group of speechwriters ever assembled. how many times in his speech he spoke about the individual. how many times he spoke about political -- no joke. speechwriting, you go back to the history with lyndon johnson and dwight d. eisenhower. most presidents do not talk that way. reagan spoke that way and spoke differently. every one of the speeches for this individual was in education.

reagan wanted to bring -- he wanted to build up the american defenses. he wanted people to see america as serious about the environment and the cold war. he did all those things. and at the end, he signed the treaty with gorbachev to reduce the nuclear stockpile. on the soviet side and the american side. both sides were drawing their missiles from western and eastern europe. it was all verified, but he forced the issue by first

building up arms. that is exactly what he said during the campaign. he called for elimination of the salt treaties and the beginning of the stark treaties, which he implemented successfully. host: our last color is from illinois. good morning. caller: i do not think much of ronald reagan. all he cares about is money, he and his wife. the republican party is now leading the u.s. into revolution. they hate the black people, brown people, anybody who is not white. all they care about is the white people. they want to make this country a white country.

they despise all other races, apparently, and they cannot fathom the idea of another race taking over america and being in charge. host: thank you for the call. your response? guest: my first response is to laugh. it is like she is reading a script. they are not open at all to debating things. they are completely closed. there is no discussing with someone like that. this is what is happening in america. we have become so polarized over the last 30 to 40 years, that there is no overlap between the two parties at all. they used to be overlap, but it changed. eight years later -- those are

the beginnings come the first stories of the increased polarization. prior to that time, civil rights legislation which lyndon johnson proposed, it was passed by republican senators. not democratic senators. states rights -- they were against more discrimination and for barriers. not just from the south either. from other states around the country. it was the democratic party, unfortunately. they finally came around to the republican position and the republican position has pretty

much been the same as it has been since the days of abraham lincoln when the party was first founded in 1856. the republican is for the individual. the campaign slogan in 1956 was freemen, free soil, free money. that is pretty much the sentiment today is that all men and women, the individuals, they are free. it is the only way to move forward and for the party to survive. host: a bacon biographer and longtime friend joining us from virginia. >> washington journal continues. host: