>> coming up live on c-span, the atlantic council hosts a conversation on the geopolitics of local technology standards. we will hear from the former white house counterterrorism head at 10 a.m. eastern. at 11 eastern, the house science committee looks at strengthening u.s. readiness for extreme weather events. on c-span2, a cashless economy on disadvantaged communities at noon eastern and a reminder come you can watch all of our programs online at www.c-span.org or use our new video app, c-span now. coming up this morning, author and university of baltimore law professor kimberly wehle on election fraud claims, the january 6 investigation, and

what she perceives as threats against democracy in the u.s. and washington examiner editor-in-chief hugo gurdon talks about restoring america website, which six to unify americans by promoting patriotic values. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: good morning. thursday, october 14, 2021. president biden yesterday sought to reinsure americans that he could alleviate rising inflation and supply chain bottlenecks, and he announced a deal to expand operations at the port of los angeles, a key entry point for container ships for love goods. this morning, we want to hear from you about this ongoing supply chain issues. let us know how you have been impacted in your part of the country. phone lines split regionally. (202) 748-8000 in the eastern or

central time zones. (202) 748-8001 for the mountain or pacific time zones. you can also send us a text at (202) 748-8003. if you do, please include your name and where you are from. otherwise, catch up with us on social media. on twitter, @cspanwj. facebook.com/c-span. a very good thursday morning to you. here is the associated press headline for president biden's announcement yesterday. biden tries to teem inflation by having the l.a. port open 24/7. [video clip] pres. biden: los angeles and long beach are home of two of the largest ports in america, among the largest in the world. the best way to make that point is that 40%, 40% of shipping containers come through these two ports.

today we have some good news, we will help speed up delivery of goods across america. after weeks of negotiation and working with my team and with the major union retailers and freight the movers, the port of los angeles announced today that it is going to begin operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. this follows the port of long beach's commitment to 24/7 that it announced just weeks ago. 24/7 system is what most of the leading countries already operate on now accept us, until now. this is the first key step for moving our entire freight transportation and logistical supply chains nationwide, to a 24/7 system. here is why it matters. traditionally, our ports have only been open during the week, monday through friday, and they are generally closed down at night and on weekends. by staying open seven days a

week, through the night and on the weekend, the port of los angeles will open over 60 extra hours a week. in total, that will almost double the number of hours that the port is open for business from earlier this year. that means an increase in the hours for workers should be moving cargo office ships, onto trucks and railcars, to get to their destination. host: president biden with that announcement yesterday after virtual roundtable with port officials and heads of major unions around the country and business groups, as well. the lead story on "the washington post," biden tested as a supply back lawns and inflation persist. on the inflation front, here are the numbers we found out yesterday, prices in september of more than 5% compared with the same month from last year. there is the chart. u.s. consumer prices rose 4% in

september compared to august, as the cost of new cars, food, gas, restaurants, and meals all jumped. from "the wall street journal" today, some numbers of individual products, the consumer price index showing that household energy costs up 9.6% over a year ago, new vehicle costs up 8.7%, furniture costs up 5.1%, restaurant costs up 4.7 percent, groceries up 4.5%, and shelter costs up 3.2%. plenty of numbers and charts to go through in this first segment of the "washington journal." we ask you, have you been impacted by these supply chain problems that we have been hearing about? regional phone lines this morning. (202) 748-8000 if you are in the eastern or central time zones. (202) 748-8001 in the mountain

and pacific time zones. let us know what you are seeing on the store shelves around the country, what price jumps you have seen in your shopping as you have gone about your days. more from president biden yesterday about the need to build more resiliency and to u.s. supply chains. [video clip] pres. biden: i want to be clear, this is an across-the-board commitment to going to 24/7, a big first step in speeding up the movement of materials and goods through our supply chain. but now we need the rest of the private sector chain to step up, as well. this is not called a supply chain for nothing. this means that terminal operators, railways, trucking companies, shippers, and other retailers, as well. strengthening these supply chain will continue to be my team's focus. if federal support is needed, i will direct all appropriate action.

if the private sector does not step up, we are going to call them out and ask them to act, because our goal is not only to get to this immediate bottleneck but to address the long-standing weaknesses in our transportation supply chain that this pandemic has exposed. i might add, one of the reasons why i think it is very important that we get the infrastructure plan passed, my infrastructure plan. the supply chain system is almost entirely in the hands of private business. the world has changed. prior to the crisis, we cheered the focus on lean, efficient supply chains, leaving no buffer or margin of error when it comes to certain parts arriving just in time, needed to make a final product. our administration, barack and ours, that was the focus at the time, and there was no pandemic at the time.

we need to take a longer view and invest in greater resilience to withstand the kind of shocks we have seen over and over, year in and year out, whether it is the pandemic, extreme weather, climate change, cyber attacks, or other disruptions. host: president biden yesterday from the white house. to watch his remarks in their entirety, you can do so at c-span.org. you heard the president talking about his willingness to provide any federal support to alleviate bottlenecks in the system. it was yesterday on fox news that former home depot ceo spoke about the supply chain issues, calling on the white house to call the bottleneck a national emergency and require a military response to help out with the supply chain issues. here is part of that interview. [video clip] >> talking to many of my colleagues, both in the public and private sector, are getting increasingly frustrated that we

keep reporting an increase in the number of vessels. we keep talking about gas shortages, talking about supply chain problems. we have one of the best militaries in the world, men and women who have the capability to unload cargo and transport cargo. look, i am not a lawyer and for sure not a politician, but it seems to me if we declared some type of national emergency, we would put these men and women on the ground and break this problem. it does not solve the problem by telling people buy early for christmas or tell people to go buy a chest freezer and stock up on meat and poultry. we reached energy independence. it just challenges common. natural gas is going to be short if we have a cold winter. it just continues to perpetuate these problems. look, i grew up with jack welch, a mentor, who told me see the world the way it is, not the way you want it to be, and it has served me well.

i am not an optimist or pessimist, i am a realist. look at these situations. they are not getting better. you talked about the airlines. it is not getting better. we need to be aggressive. we have the capabilities and willpower, somebody just has to make the decision to go fix these problems. inflation is going to get worse. host: bob nardelli on fox and friends yesterday. we are talking about supply chain issues, what you are seeing in your part of the country. are you shopping early for christmas or stocking up on certain goods? give us a call. regionally, (202) 748-8000 for eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8001 for mountain or pacific time zones. we will start in the middle of the country, kansas city, gordon. kansas city, kansas. go ahead. caller: that old man could not fix a bicycle chain. we need back. host: what are you seeing in

kansas city. we lost gordon. but this is greg out of mechanicsburg, pennsylvania. you are next. caller: i detect some drifting towards the middle by you personally and c-span. i hope that continues. the caller from kansas city is absolutely right, and so was the ceo of home depot. absolutely, both of their comments were exactly what i was going to say. that is what needs to happen. see the world as it is, not the way you want it to be. and somebody at c-span, let's find out who is writing the stuff that hunter's dad reads on the teleprompter every day. why doesn't he take questions? why doesn't somebody at c-span and investigate that or included as a topic? joe biden takes no questions. host: seeing the world as it is

-- what does the world look like in mechanicsburg, pennsylvania, right now when it comes to the supply chain issues we are hearing so much about mark -- so much about? caller: it is problem, but it does not affect me that much because i use everything until it dies and try to reuse it. i am wearing clothes of my father who died 20 years ago because my mother wanted me to have them. i am the oldest of seven kids here and i have their work ethic. i have the way they grew up in me, in my dna. so i do not need a whole lot of new stuff. unfortunately, most of the united states is consumer-driven, and i get that. if that is what they wanted to do, that is what they wanted to do. host: greg in mechanicsburg, pennsylvania. this is mike in north carolina. caller: good morning, john. well, i am just going to pile on.

i am pretty much in sync with the first two guys. i have to give the president credit though, and i am no fan, so let me say that right out of the gate, the one thing he recognized -- i worked in manufacturing for early years, his reference to what is called jit, something u.s. and global manufacturers have sought for decades, and that is carrying as low amount of inventory as possible. carrying inventory costs a lot of money. you have to have warehouses and fulfillment centers. so what you wanted to do is you want to design your supply chain to be as efficient as possible so products arrive when they customer wants them. this is tricky, and it is difficult to do but we have done it. unfortunately, no one planned for a pandemic. so i am going to cut the president some slack on that one. we were moving in a direction of jit and what is called lean

manufacturing for almost the last 40 years, going back to the reagan administration. so there was no way we could foresee what would happen. so now i guess u.s. manufacturers, global manufacturers, will start carrying more inventory for possible emergencies like this. but the ships off the coast of california obviously reflect we are not making enough stuff at home. ok, i'm not sure what is on those ships or how much is critically important and how much are just stuffed animals coming out of slave labor camps in china, i just don't know that. but i will end with the one core point i think everybody recognizes, and this goes to the statement about seeing the world as it is, not as you want it to be. it is one thing to have goals and aspirations towards something, but the biggest failure of this administration and the modern political left is

their failure to recognize how the world works and especially how manufacturing works with regards to energy. ok, they want to be green. i am not sure i understand their desire here, because i do not totally buy into man-made climate change. but the fact of the matter is, we use almost 20 million barrels of oil a day for transportation. natural gas, 26 trillion -- let me say that again, trying to 6 trillion cubic feet of -- 26 trillion cubic feet of natural gas every year to power our factories, heat and cool our homes, so on and so forth. this is where the biden administration is willfully blind because of their ideology, and that is what is costing us. we still need to build pipelines. we still need to drill. we still need to open up -- we were energy independent under donald trump, no one can deny that. and that is a good thing,

because energy prices are in everything we eat, we grow, we buy, we make, so on and so forth. host: thank you. mike in north carolina this morning. a snapshot of the supply picture around the united states, this snapshot from earlier this week. the daily with this graphic. on this chart, the green routes throughout the united states, the rail network. blue routes, major trucking routes. red dots, major ports. in los angeles, as of monday, some 63 ships were anchored off the port of l.a. and long beach with wait times perhaps up to four weeks as of earlier this week. savannah, georgia, 23 ships with 80,000 shipping containers stacked, 50% more than usual. ships anchored off of long island in new york city. when it comes to the rail network in chicago, the largest

real hub, trains have been backed up by some 25 miles at times. san antonio, texas, a major hub for southern texas and the busiest international land gateway in the u.s., a picture of the supply chain around the country. that is what we're talking about this morning. how is that supply chain and the bottleneck we have heard so much about, that the president addressed yesterday, how has it impacted you in your part of the country? gary, cedar rapids, iowa. you are next. caller: good morning. yeah, i have had a couple experiences by ordering stuff online and being told that it will be a few months, was my latest experience of getting an item, but it was kind of a rare item, not a commonly stocked item. but what i have also noticed is how, in my part of the country, how we are dealing with stuff,

we're just using more local producers, especially in the grocery stores. i have seen a lot more iowa products in my local grocery store. i live in downtown cedar rapids, and we have a vibrant farmer's market in downtown cedar rapids. we also have farmers markets in every surrounding community. we are lucky. we are in the middle of the midwest, farm country. but i lit -- but i believe most states still have some agricultural base, and i think people need to look at local. host: gary, the ports of l.a. and long beach do not matter if you are buying local in your part of the country? caller: no, i would say they do matter, but you can supplement so much by looking local. i just -- i think you need to be

inventive, you know, if there is a certain product that you are always using, there's lots of alternatives. host: thanks for the call. a call from high rock, north carolina. good morning. caller: yes, i hope every box store in the united states goes broke. they are filthy, they stink. our supply chain was much better when it came locally. the man ahead of me is exactly right, it is not biden's fault, it is corporate america's fault. this is their choice. need supplies, let them go broke, too. bye. thank you very much. host: more from president biden yesterday on the role that top retailers in the country will play here in unclogging the

supply chain bottlenecks. [video clip] pres. biden: walmart, our nation's largest retailer, is committing to go all-in on moving its products 24/7, from the ports to their stores nationwide. specifically, walmart is committing as much as 50% increase in the use of off-peak hours over the next several weeks. additionally, fedex and ups, two of our nation's biggest freight movers, are committing today to significant increase the amount of goods they are moving at night. fedex and ups are the shippers for some of our nation's largest stores, but they also ship for tens of thousands of small businesses all across america. their commitment to go all-in on 24/7 operations means that businesses of all sizes will get their goods on shelves faster and more reliably. accordingly, according to one estimate, together, fedex and ups alone are responsible for up

to 40% of packages in america. other companies are stepping up, including target, home depot, and samsung, that have all met it to ramp up their activities and utilize off-peak hours at the ports. so the commitment is being made today, as sign of major progress in moving goods from manufacturers to a store or to your front door. host: president biden yesterday from the white house. we have been talking about the u.s. supply chain bottleneck. it is also a global picture, of course. this cnbc news story touches on some of the global bottlenecks that are affecting the united states appeared the headline in that story, start your holiday shopping now. here are some of the goods that may be running out of stock. it notes the energy crisis in mainland china and europe causing problems, and the number

of ships outside chinese ports have jumped in recent weeks. factory shutdowns in vietnam's, where many firms moved manufacturing, have also affected production of many goods, impacting the end users here in the united states. some of the global issues. we want to hear locally what is happening with you and what you are seeing on store shelves in your part of the country. joel, mountain home, arkansas. good morning. caller: good morning, sir. i think that the secretary of transportation let joe biden down, president biden down. he runs the secretary, and he should have kept president biden informed, sir. that said, i am retired military. i served under the 37th transportation group in germany, was in the 28th transportation battalion. we had five truck bureaus, and i

could take that battalion today and have that port cleaned up in 30 days. that would be 300 trucks moving that cargo. the union is causing this problem. they will not work. the army can get it done. and i do not know why they have not called on the military. as far as christmas gifts, i do not send packages. i sent a check, $100, to the grandkids. thank you for taking my call. host: how many grandkids do you have? caller: well, i have to count. i am 80 years old, and i would hate to leave one out, but i have several. the wife are asking me that question. they are working. that is one thing. i got a 17-year-old grandson working, and he is making $13 an hour. they want him more, but he goes to school. host: have a great day. james is next, rome, georgia. caller: yes, thank you.

this is all of trump's fault. when trump started getting the terror of texas outcome a lot of the businesses and supply chains -- getting the tariff taxes out, a lot of the businesses and supply chains were destroyed. paying farmers, cruise lines, airlines. that is what happens to the supply chain. he destroyed all of them. every time a republican president gets in office, the economy is destroyed. then a democratic president has to come in and straighten it out. also, nobody makes anyone go to china to start a business. these people are sellouts, greedy, and they are crybabies. they go there to china and cry about what china makes them do in their businesses and things. bring it back to the united states. all this started up under reagan.

it is the republicans shipping out the jobs. slavery was over with, but what do they do? they shipped the jobs to the slave labor. this is republicans. ronald reagan granted amnesty to all those people. el salvador, ms 13, look it up. host: that is james and they georgia. the caller before james with criticism of the transportation secretary. the transportation secretary catching heat in some of the major newspapers on capitol hill. this is "the hill" newspaper, an opinion could trip with this headline, amateur hour. pete buttigieg inexperienced, exposed as supply breaks down. that is from yesterday. lester in sandy, oregon, your next. caller: good morning. how are you today? host: doing well.

caller: all right, i love your show. you know, i am always calling you. i am sure you remember me. anyhow, i feel that things should be made in america, and i grew up that way all my life. and so i have spot imported stuff, and it did not last very long. and the problem is, in america, we should create more jobs like they did during world war ii. and so i feel that what is going on with this shipping stuff, people do not understand nobody wants to work because they are getting unemployment money, and what is happening is there is nobody that wants to work. it is really, really hard.

a friend of mine at a gas station down here in sandy, oregon, he tried to hire and hire people, but people would not want to work for him because they get more money collecting unemployment. we need to put america back to work. we need americans to fight for our country instead of fighting into their over racism and stuff. but we need to stop shipping into the united states, and i feel if we make things here in america -- [inaudible] to make houses, and that is why our lumber is up. host: this is mark in northwood,

new hampshire. what are you seeing in northwood? caller: good morning. i am retired now, so i really do not have a personal effect other than the price of gas and the price of food going up. my son, however, works for an auto parts store, and they have a serious, serious shortage of basic maintenance products, brake pads. just the other day on our local news, we had a report of a serious shortage of snow tires, here in new england where everybody goes through the snow, a shortage of snow tires. one guy said that he has got one million tires sitting in a container waiting to be sent to us here in new hampshire. it is intolerable, absolutely crazy. as a career, i worked for

motorcycle repair, mostly harley davidson. and the antique bikes, we can only get offshore replacement parts. as a mechanic, i can tell you, virtually 50% of the offshore parts we get are no good. even in the auto parts industry, windshield wiper motors do not work right out of the box. everything has to come back to america. america first. and the people who call in and whine and complain about what trump did and did not do, get real. really, get real. like the first guy said, look at what the world is, the way it is, not the way you think you want it to be. because pie-in-the-sky does not work. host: you say you are retired. do you collect social security? caller: yes. host: i do not know if you heard yesterday on what is coming for social security checks, a 5.9%

increase. caller: personally, i think that that is the only campaign promise that biden made that will be fulfilled. however, a 5.9% increasingly my social security, how much of that is going to be taxed? speaking of taxing, my son deceived one of those stimulus checks from the government, and then they took it back out of his tax return. he gets a $1200 check, stimulus money, and then they take it away from him on his tax return. where is the balance in this? was that money given and then taken back? how many other people across the country have been hit with the same thing, of paying back the stimulus? because they are working. host: who do you blame on that? former president trump very much touted the stimulus checks that

came out during his time in office. do you blame him for the taxing on that? do you blame congress now? caller: i blame all of them. in my opinion, trump was one of the best presidents we have had. i know it is divisive and causes anguish and problems with some people, the way they think. but he came out and promised to drain the swamp, and the swamp fought back against him so much over five years that he really cannot do anything. his hands were tied. but really, the reality is people are complacent and basically lazy. i know so many people with different businesses and industries that are crying for help. host: that is mark in new hampshire. coming back to the issue of social security checks, that 5.9% increase in benefits checks that will be starting next year,

the largest boost in benefits in close to four decades. "washington post" notes adjustments will be made for close to 4 million beneficiaries and eight mental supplemental -- 8 million supplemental ones. roughly $92 per month for seniors. it was noted wednesday that prices rose 4% in september compared with august. overall, prices up 5.4% over last year. so the cost of living adjustment that determines social security payment hikes is based on a different measure of inflation, but they both capture a similar phenomenon going on in the economy. prices have risen throughout the pandemic, diminishing the value of government benefits beyond social security, as well. and this now and increase tied to the cost of living adjustment, the cola adjustment. back to your phone calls. chris in tennessee.

what are you seeing? caller: first of all, good morning. how you doing? host: i am doing great. go ahead. caller: cheryl and beeped -- bp in tennessee, and it is the marathon economy with gas stations everywhere else. they got lots of gas stations. they got a lot of gas stations, the economy. joe biden and donald trump, i gotta put a mask on in the morning to get the paper. you know the economy, like cars, trucks, and harley-davidson motorcycles. host: all right. don in california, you're next. caller: this supply-chain problem is affecting everybody. there is nobody -- i don't care

if you buy local, you are being affected by the supply chain problem. i wanted to know why joe biden waited until you could walk from los angeles to hawaii on top of cargo ships before he decided to do anything about it. do you know that the biden administration is more interested in keeping people from working if they have not had the jab than he is in getting those ships unloaded? and that is a big part of the problem. we have truck drivers that wanted to drive trucks. they cannot because they haven't got the jab. we need to unload. and anyone pretending that it was unemployment benefits that are keeping these ships from being unloaded, do you know that the longshoreman out there make like $100,000 a year? they are going to give that up for a $300 a week unemployment check that isn't even coming anymore?

when are people going to wake up and realize we are being lied to? we have an administration that just don't care. they don't care how high gas goes, don't care who gets a job and who don't get a job. first, you have to do when they tell you to do, and then you can get a job. we need to wake up here. i have got to ask you, do you want your stuff delivered or do you want someone to have the jab in the arm? i am asking you that. host: here are some of your comments from social media and our text messaging service. lynn writing, this is a global problem, not just a u.s. problem, more demand than supply and it has been like this for over 18 months. we need to give all the immigrants coming to this country work permits and truck licenses to help unclog the ports. janet says, no, there is nothing i have been unable to get, saying the supply chain problem does not appear to be affecting

janet in central florida. this from someone in virginia, yes, it impacted my business. trucking companies normally take three days to deliver products from chicago, now taking over a week. steve in the buckeye state, in south ohio, supply chain problems are having a minimal effect on our lives, prices are increasing in quantities of products are sometimes limited in availability, just a few empty shelves. we are a senior couple and our needs are easily filled. we both got our booster shots yesterday and feeling fine. this is john in pennsylvania. good morning. caller: thanks for having me on. try not to cut me off until i get my point out for once, would you, please? number one, what happens -- this is what happens when you steal an election. number two, the guy calling about blaming everything on donald trump, ronald reagan, racism. ok, i have been a democrat since

i was 18 years old. i am 58. i tell you this right now, democrats are good for one thing. tax, spend, inflate, and start foreign wars. if you do not hang up on me, i will read to you supply chain is backed up. host: what are you reading? caller: i am reading from the post. one of the 3 million truck owners and trekkers, he is one of these owners. i will tell you right now, if you don't hang up on me, truckers got refused the jab. refusing to drive into mandated states and cities, that is why the ports and rails and where houses are all locked up. the shipping crisis is a crisis because those ports and rail

terminals are in blue states. 1.4 million of the 3 million truck drivers, including those that were from the company i own, simply drive elsewhere. host: is that a facebook post you are reading? caller: it is a post a friend sent me from the owner of a truck driving company. host: all right. cliff and minnesota, you're next. caller: good morning. i find it interesting to listen to monday morning quarterbacking . 1985, when we invited china into the world trade organization, and then shortly thereafter, we look at it today and argue, well, we gave away 7 million or 8 million jobs. but the one thing i never hear about is that the cost of living

over in china is equivalent at $15,000 to $20,000 a year, equivalent to $60,000 here in america. so what are we paying for when we look at value and quality and price? and we have the arrogance here in america to think that we are the best. yet, we are on this planet together, and economic development is not just exclusive to one area, it is exclusive and not just interdependent upon that trade. as soon as you start waving the flag of tariffs, those are preludes to onsets of economic troubles. and here we are looking at it four years later and trying to blame it on an existing administration and not looking at the succession from when we went into the middle east four years ago.

it was not a democratic administration that brought that forward, the mass of where we are today. we still have not figured out the solutions for the economy because of the inequities. what the answer is the necessity to have more conversation without the pathos but the logic. the emotional name-calling, every time you hear that, have to say, ok, you really understand that position, but backed up and asked for questions and have the discussion, which we are not doing, for many years. guest: thanks for the call. pat in new jersey, you are next. caller: good morning, john. a couple of people have touched on what i want to say, which is basically, this is a long jab -- a logjam created by the obama administration. [inaudible] pilots and people not going to

work because of the vaccine. and with yesterday, which i was not aware of, is in california, you're not allowed to have nonunion operators at the ports. everything is union. and how much of this is because of people who do not want to get the jab? basically, it is a combination of the biden administration and the people that run the ports. host: on the southwest issue, something that has come up a bit this week, both southwest airlines itself in the pilots union pushing back on the idea that it is a sick out, saying there is no formal sick out circulated by the union there and that these were delays caused by weather and other issues. caller: well, that will have to be proven to me. no winter storms.

[inaudible] host: i apologize, your phone line is going a bit out. but i think we got your point. about 20 minutes left in this segment of the "washington journal." we are hearing from you about supply chain problems. president biden addressing that issue yesterday from the white house, talking about efforts to alleviate supply chain issues, his administration saying that is the reason for the inflation we are seeing around the country. here is a little bit more from the president yesterday on the idea of alleviating supply chain issues by creating more of these goods in the united states. [video clip] pres. biden: we need to invest in making more of our products right here in the united states. never again should our country and our economy be unable to make critical products we need because we do not have access to materials to make that product.

never again should we have to rely too heavily on one company or one country or one person in the world, particularly when countries do not share our values when it comes to environmental standards. i have said before, we are in the competition for the 21st century. we are america. we still have the most productive workers and the most innovative minds in the world. but the rest of the world is closing in, and we risk losing our edge if we do not step up. in order to be globally competitive, we need to improve our capacity to make things here in america, while also moving finished products across the country and around the world. we need to think big and bold. that is why i am pushing for a once in a generation -- generation adjustment in our infrastructure and our people in my infrastructure bill and build back better act. these bills will transform our ports, millions and billions of dollars for ports, highways and rail systems that sorely need

upgrading, and it will bring products faster and more efficiently from the factories to the store, to your house. let me be clear, we are proposing to make the biggest investment in ports in our history. the bill would also make investments in our supply chains and manufacturing and strengthening our ability to make more goods from beginning to end right here in america. the bottom line, we have seen the cost of an action in the pandemic, the delays, the congestion that affect every american. but it is fully within our capacity to act to make sure it never happens again. this will take a little time, and we will unlock the full might and dynamism of our economy and people. that is what we are going to do. host: president biden yesterday from the white house. we have talked a bit about president biden's falling job

approval numbers. when it comes to those numbers, various groups out there poll on various issues related to job approval, including president biden's job approval on the economy. here is the latest on that specific polling data. when it comes to his handling of the economy, the average of recent polls has the president underwater by some 44% approving, 50% disapproving on how he has handled the economy. it was in the spring when that polling average was in the mid-double digits, now down 6% in the latest average polling numbers. holly is next in bristow, virginia. what are you seeing when it comes to supply chain issues? caller: good morning. first, looking at the world as it is, when i look at the world as it is, i am looking about jobs being shipped to china, i

am seeing soldiers being sent to afghanistan. we live in a country that we have a lot of unvaccinated people. and also, we have a lot of -- i am losing my thought here. so this is the way i see the world, and i agree with the president, we need to start manufacturing things back in the united states. the manufacturing stock in the united states, we would not have all these ships just sitting there in the ports. that is my point. host: blackbird, south carolina, good morning. caller: yes, the supply chains, just like the grocery store that i go to, you can tell that the shelves are getting empty. as far as jobs -- [indiscernible]

hard, hard. even a bank, i seen it. no reason nobody can't get a job because there's a lot of places, restaurants is hiring. and everything is going up, just like going out and eat, well, people, if they don't make money, they going to close up. and people can't afford to go out and eat because -- i noticed when i went out to eat yesterday, the place used to be a lot of people, but they wasn't. there wasn't people much. host: why do you say even the bank is hiring? they do not usually do a lot of hiring at the bank there? caller: well, i just seen signs

that say hiring. i thought, well, i never seen that before. you know, the banks need help. i mean, you know? just like everything -- i mean, everything he is doing. i mean, i don't see why people don't see because, i mean, i see. and there is a lot of intelligent people i know, just like you. i think you are vili -- i think you are very intelligent, but you don't see. everything he touches -- you know, if he come in and done what he is supposed to, i would not say a word about a democrat. you know, not say a word about him. but this time, the american people, this country not going to be american people. it just looking worser and worser. everybody want to demand everything, do this, do that.

just like taking a shot, it is not his duty to tell us what to do. host: betty in south carolina. paul is next in virginia. good morning. caller: good morning, john. listen, i worked as a merchant marine, and the supply chain thing is a world thing. i have been watching some of bbc, and they are having some serious problems with the trucking industry and fuel and all that. of course, part of that is brexit, but that is neither here nor there. but anyway, all the ports that i have pulled into throughout the world have been working 24/7. and as far as the manufacturing goods for the supply chain in the united states, that is a novel idea. yeah, right, who has not thought of that?

on the flipside of that, when you start talking about things that are needed to manufacture these materials, especially green energy, ok -- with green energy, you're going to need the raw materials to mine. what happens when you start mining? you see what has happened with the pipeline. but what happens when you start mining, clear cutting trees to put up powerlines and things like that. i am not against green energy at all, but there will be a lot of protests on the mining. host: how long were you in the merchant marines? caller: 25 years. host: what should people know about the merchant marines if they do not know much? caller: well, anything you cannot put on a plane -- [laughs] -- you know, you're

going to put it on a shipping container and put it there. a lot of our foodstuffs come from overseas. i was in the grocery store the other day and one lady was looking for pineapples. that usually comes from hawaii, right? one lady had been to five stores and cannot even find pineapple slices. but again, the shelves are not totally bare, and i have seen delays in shipping to the grocery store. ok? host: paul, did you pilot one of the big container ships, going back to your time in the merchant marines? caller: oh, i did not pilot. i just steered it. they told me what direction to go. [laughs] host: when these ships are

waiting outside these ports, and sometimes, as we have seen this money, the waits are weeks at a time, up to four weeks or more, what does that mean for a merchant marine crew? are they not making money if they cannot get the containers off the boats and to the next place to pick up the new containers? what happens down the line, and how does that affect the merchant marines themselves? caller: well, the crew is still making money. the issue would be, over time, in the overtime on the port. so the crew is still getting the money. the problem here that we have right now is moving the stuff out of the container holding areas. that is the biggest problem we have right now. and i do not know what can you done about that. and again, you showed president

biden talking about opening 24/7 and we have got to get these things moving and we need to improve the infrastructure. well, if they want to improve the infrastructure, then congress -- the senate has already passed it -- the house just needs to go ahead and pass that infrastructure bill on its own and stop linking it to the other $3.5 trillion. and you were asking about the $3.5 trillion budget, people need to remember, that is not a budget, that is a standing bill. the budget has already been approved. if i could, one more thing, you brought up the social security, and yeah, it is great that it is going to be five-point-something percent. but people do not realize that

my medicare premium will go up 5.5 percent, too. medicare is not free for seniors. they are still paying out of the social security. thank you. host: thanks for chatting. about five or eight minutes left in this first segment of "washington journal." david is here in washington, d.c. are you seeing the impacts of supply chain problems here in d.c.? caller: yes, well, i am driver, and i seen it because we cannot find drivers. almost anyone cannot find drivers. everybody out looking for them, including myself. they do not pay. most of these truck driving jobs are underpaid, overworked, and they talking about training people. we got the guys coming out of

colleges, taking the truck driver classes and courses. i am going to work that hard for no money? and the bosses are taking home all the money. that is the problem. everybody talking about this jobs, jobs, jobs look at what they are working for. working for nothing. midas will go to china and work for slave labor. -- might as well go to china and work for slave labor. host: so are you driving right now? caller: yes. host: what do you deliver, and where are you headed? caller: propane. i deliver locally, deliver propane. we are underpaid. host: how long you been delivering propane? caller: six years. host: you talk about pay, have

you seen a raise in those six years? caller: oh, yeah, pennies. a quarter here, 50 cents there. on top of that, there is differential pay. i do not want to get into that because then i would be talking about something else. host: finish your thought. caller: it is hourly, nighttime, and companies are not paying the differential pay. they keep the juniors out -- they keep the unions out. if you holler about a union, they want to fire you, let you go. a whole lot of unfairness -- a whole lot of nefarious things going on. host: thanks for chatting, and stay safe as you make your deliveries today. a few were calls. mark in hyannis, massachusetts.

good morning. caller: morning, thank you. a lot of great calls this morning, good topic. thanks for playing that biden speech from yesterday, because this will play right into his hands, the supply chain backup. personally, it is affecting me not in my work because as a competent, a builder, i'm waiting on materials, and a lot of them do not necessarily come from china. a lot come from south america. it is impacting me there. i think one of the biggest things that biden did not really touch upon was that, and the merchant mariner kind of talked about it, a lot of these ports, they cannot get the stuff out of there because there are no trekkers not enough real infrastructure -- there are no truckers and not enough rail infrastructure. i worked at one on the east coast that had one tiny rail

bridge, and it was not utilized. part of the intercoastal waterway. so i think utilizing underserved ports. the railroads are not going to invest in more rail. i think a lot of it has to do with -- host: the merchant mariner said let's move that spending bill, the one being held up in the house. we do you agree with him, that it is time to do that with the $3.5 trillion bill and move the heart infrastructure bill? caller: yeah, 100 percent. the $3.5 trillion, they can keep that separate or whatever. i wanted to mention this, too, this has been an ongoing issue for years, before covid. backups in l.a. and whatever port, long beach, right next to each other.

down on the east coast, savannah, they got like 20 ships off the coast there. savannah is basically the southeast quarter to atlanta -- southeast corridor to atlanta and all that. the ports, they need to get a lot of these trucks off the roads because they are creating a real mess everywhere. host: what is the wildlife in the background right now? caller: crows right now, but i got roosters, got everything. host: are you on a farm? caller: not much of a farm but somewhat of a farm. host: thanks for the call for massachusetts. mark in new york city, you are next. caller: hi, morning. i checked the daily mail every day. daily mail, fox news, the hill,

you making me a believer, know what i mean? host: a believer in what, news? caller: what is the question? host: have you been impacted by supply-chain issues in new york city? caller: [inaudible] garlic powder, that has been gone for several weeks. that segues into other problems. [inaudible] host: i apologize, you're going in and out. tom has been waiting in baltimore, maryland. caller: good morning. i was listening to the speech by biden, and he said we should start making things in the u.s. again and we should have local governments start buying from the united states. in baltimore, the maryland port authority just made a purchase of huge containers, made out of

chinese steel, not five miles away is a shipyard, steel plant, largest steel plant in the world at one time. so those could have been made right here in the united states and we would not have to would t have to buy them from the chinese. host: that is our last caller. speaking of baltimore, next, we will be joined by kimberly wehle to talk about congressional investigations into the january 6 attack and president trump's continued claims of election fraud. later, hugo gurdon discusses his publication's new initiative "restoring america" and how he views this issue. stick around. we will be right back. ♪ announcer: coming up live on c-span, atlantic council hosts a

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announcer: washington journal continues. host: university of baltimore law professor kimberly wehle is back with us. she is the author of the book "how to read the constitution and why." in your latest column in the hill, you focus on president trump's actions when it comes to the justice department in the months after the 2020 election. reminding viewers what that judiciary committee investigation found. guest: on nine instances, the former president tried to get the doj to investigate alleged fraud in the election. implication is that was in effort to potentially use the justice department in a political way, that is, have the

department help him stay in office. traditionally, doj has separated itself from elections. the policy has been is if there has been election fraud, it has to be resolved before they investigate fraud. the point i make in the column is if we see donald trump run, which many people believe, and if he were to get in the white house a second round, we will see probably a more blurring of the lines between the president and the justice department and that is a really big deal not just for a trump presidency but for the presidency in general. i talk about the fbi director, the first, j edgar hoover in office for 48 years, basically used the power of the fbi within the justice department to spy on, to bully, to intimidate

people all the way from eleanor roosevelt to martin luther king jr. that kind of surveillance police state is a scary state of affairs. the judiciary committee's report on donald trump's attempt to use the doj to his own ends is a chilling thing to keep in mind when we are talking about the integrity of democracy and the next presidential election and frankly, the midterms leading up to that. in my view that will dictate what happens to the presidential election. host: that judiciary report issued last week. what we found out during this eight month investigation, how close do you think we came at the end of 2020, beginning of 2021 to a full-blown constitutional crisis? guest: we absolutely were probably there. we were there.

i live outside washington dc. i was appalled watching people literally climbing over and desecrating the capitol. we have elected officials running for their lives, as well as those of their staff, many republicans still met and what was a ceremonial process of recognizing the state's certifications of their electors. that is something states do, they hand it to the congress. the january 6 moment is largely ceremonial. it is not up to the congress. we saw many republicans refused to recognize the legitimacy of the state.

it is not so much about joe biden. it is about the process. that is a constitutional crisis because it takes the power away from the people. whether you like how your state certifies electors are not -- or not, the point is you get to choose that at the ballot box. if politicians can snatch that from the state on january 6, that is a problem. we are no longer a democracy. the midterms are so important. if the house and senate shifts to really what is the mainstream republican platform right now, which is what many call the big lie, and it is, and i know we will get into that, even the former attorney general under president trump, bill barr certified it as a legitimate election, what we will see is republicans potentially dominating the congress and deciding in january, 2025 to

pick their own president. they will say, listen, look what happened the last time, there was a big lie, excuse me, a lot of fraud, so we will write that wrong and choose our own president. that is really scary. it is now, we the politicians and we the powerful. even if you like that party, if you destroy the system, one day you will be in a position where you don't like who the politicians are picking to be your leaders. that is no longer democracy. we owe it to our children to preserve it. host: kimberly wehle with us for the next 40 minutes on washington journal. you can join us on phone lines split by political party. (202)-748-8000 for democrats, (202)-748-8001 for republicans, (202)-748-8002 for independents. kimberly wehle, as folks are calling in, that judiciary committee investigation, the republicans on the committee

said president trump was informing the justice department about claims of election fraud, that he did not apply undue pressure. this is the ranking member chuck grassley on the floor of the senate last week. >> this truncated investigation doesn't support the long-running democratic narrative that trump used the justice department to try to overturn the 2020 election. it is truncated because we do not have all the records. this committee only interviewed three witnesses. the available evidence shows president trump didn't use the department of justice to subvert the 2020 election. for example, one witness testified president trump had no

impact, i repeat, no impact, the words no impact come from that witness, on what the department did to investigate election allegations. in fact, the evidence shows president trump listened to his advisors and to the recommendations and that he followed those recommendations. the witnesses also testified president trump didn't fire anyone at the justice department relating to the election. records from this investigation indicate president trump's focus was on "legitimate complaints and reports of crimes." witnesses testified president

trump's main focus was on making the department aware of the potential criminal allegations and to ensure the department did its job. it wasn't president trump directing or ordering specific investigative steps. host: chuck grassley on the senate floor last week. kimberly wehle, those comments and the republican report that came out. guest: i encourage people to read the report itself. we are in an age of misinformation and disinformation. the way to sort through that is to read the document yourself and make your own judgment. you can link to it in my piece for the hill or you can google it. it speaks for itself in terms of what witnesses said including

jeff rosen, who according to the report was threatened he would be fired and replaced by someone in the civil division without that expertise which was behind this notion of using the justice department in a way not traditional. it would be a violation of the hatch act to use the power of the federal government to win elections. that is plainly a crime under federal law. secondly, as chuck grassley himself, the irony himself, is 88 years old, has decided to run again for the senate in iowa -- after the january 6 insurrection, he declined to vote to remove donald trump from office. if you recall, the rationale then was not that this was not a problem, it was that it does not make sense in terms of timing because he is no longer in office so we cannot technically

remove someone not in office. even republicans did not argue then that his actions were not impeachable. chuck grassley said he lost. it is clear donald trump lost. i'm paraphrasing but that he bullied election officials across the country in that process. that is an important thing to keep in mind for viewers. elections are run by regular people, our friends, neighbors, teachers, colleagues,, older people who are retired. these are not people committing fraud or wanting to sway the election. a lot of them are volunteer. they came out by the thousands in a pandemic to achieve a goal that is stunning. we should all celebrate them and thank them. this constant refrain that they somehow committed fraud is really inaccurate.

chuck grassley has a political agenda in this moment frankly that blinks on the reality, the truth of the facts on the ground which is that donald trump did what he did which is make efforts to get investigations going into an ongoing election. that is verboten under justice department policy, just to make it clear, because what we don't want is someone in the office at the white house taking the massive law enforcement authority of the justice department and fbi and saying, i do not like that person politically. i will use that against my political opponents. that is authoritarianism. that is less like democracy. that is this split between the justice department and the white house. there is very limited authorized communication because the idea is we want law enforcement, the police, prosecutors to make

decisions based on facts and law, not based on who is in the inner circle and being blessed by whoever is in office. that is a really scary america. that is what i object to regardless of political party in this moment. host: our collars are interested in chatting with you. dallas, texas, democrat. host: you still there. caller: yes. host: go ahead. caller: i was listening to president biden's speech and i was really impressed with the fact maybe that he could help me -- [indiscernible] -- host: we did talk about president biden's speech yesterday. we are now talking about the ongoing investigation into the

president's action, the former president's actions after the election, donald trump. steve, anaheim, california, republican. caller: full disclosure. i am not a trump fan. my question is did you investigate the ballots being mailed to other people's houses, being mailed to voters? 125 ballots. i got four. [indiscernible] you can check out any of these by looking up -- [indiscernible] put a k in front of any new station, you can see november to october of last year. this year, when i went to vote,

they told me i had already voted because i had multiple ballots sent to me again. this is what makes us mad. yes, i understand trump did something crooked. the people supposed to be investigating fraud, they say there is not enough to overturn the election. host: stay on the line in case kimberly has questions for you. guest: on steve's last point, there actually has not been much finding of fraud. not fraud that would overturn the election. something prominently jumps out of florida where fraud happened by the candidate. the candidate, in a state race, put on the ballot or had someone put on the ballot with a similar last name, and opponent. that was fraud. if fraud happens at all, it is probably by politicians. not regular people. the fact california rejected

later ballots and said no, you already voted. that is a good sign. what it means is on the other end, when it comes to counting the votes, there are very careful audit procedures in place to make sure one vote gets through. that is something we should feel good about. the extent to which it is still a problem, i completely agree with steve this is confusing for people, that it scares people that there are mistakes made. the answer is, first of all, let's fund state election officials processes. the federal government have not given money in many years to state and they are having to use their very narrow budget to run these massive elections, multiple ballots. it is complicated and expensive. if we want any of that inconvenience to stop, we should give them the money to run the program properly. number two, there is no reason

congress cannot streamline some of this stuff and make some of it consistent across the country. in canada, for example, you get one form of ballot. it has circles and you x it. everybody from the first to the last vote, it is the same thing. in our country, it is totally confusing. depends on what county, state you are in. this makes it harder for people. it should be easy for people to vote. i agree with that part, steve's comment that this is frustrating and not ok. the answer is not to overturn elections and claim fraud. that is a fraud on the american people, frankly, to be sending that message. let's fund elections and streamline them to make them current with 21st century technology to make it easier for people like steve to vote with confidence. host: this is mark in philly, good morning. caller: where's merrick garland?

where is this so-called attorney general we have? in my opinion, the worst attorney general i have seen since john mitchell. host: what do you want merrick garland to do? caller: i want him to investigate trump's actions after november 3. he called election officials in the states and told them to commit perjury. where was merrick garland? what is this man doing? absolutely nothing. how useless is this guy? guest: i am coming to a similar opinion, if the opinion is, listen, we need him to step up. i agree these are serious, potentially criminal allegations or problems. keep in mind, we have seen hundreds of regular americans

who showed up on january 6 and physically stormed the capital. they are being held accountable. they are being criminally investigated. some of them are being sentenced. they are having to hire lawyers or get public defenders that are overworked. they are having to pull into their own pockets and take from their family budgets to provide criminal defenses. that is on the backend, the people that showed up. what about the people inside government? that is what the judiciary committee is looking at. i agree merrick garland should be doing that. the window is closing politically. i am not a political pundit or expert but the midterms are going to change the entire story here. if, as many in washington expect, the control of houses go to republicans, some people think it will happen based on gerrymandering and the new

census data regardless of voting. all these investigations in congress around january 6 will shut down. we have a bout a year. garland is presumably investigating. the question is, will it produce indictments? federal and state prosecutors are really careful to make sure they can win criminal claims before they bring them but this may be a moment where that kind of level of 99.9% certainty may be democracy itself, for lack of a better word, to perceive that, and i do not mean that around donald trump that supersedes that in the moment because i am very concerned we are seeing the twilight of american democracy. host: you argue in your column that congressional democrats should take legislative actions now to brace for what might

happen if republicans win in 2022 and if donald trump were to regain the white house in 2012 for. watch should the legislative priorities be now for 2024? guest: post-watergate, congress put in a bunch of legislation to make sure the nixon break-in that led to the resignation is not allowed to happen again. it is sort of the rules of the game. you have to have personnel rules. people will steal. likewise for government actors. one, there is an old statute from 1887 called the electoral town act that is really squishy. that is what allowed the potential, january 6, for the congress to take the election away from the american people. that needs to be clarified. if the american people vote, that counts, not what members of

congress decide for themselves. there is not in this moment any legislation to fix that. democrats need to do that right away. the second is the freedom to vote act that amy klobuchar and joe manchin, there are many people on board, that would do some things steve mentioned. streamline things across the country and congress has that authority under the constitution. that would make it easier for people to vote and stop this nonsense to make it harder. we are seeing it in texas and georgia. republicans and democrats, it should not be so hard to vote. the third piece is the john lewis voting rights act. 1965 was designed to implement the 15th amendment which gave formerly enslaved people, black men mainly, the right to vote. that was taken away through cute maneuvers in the state. voting rights act fixed that. 2013, supreme court gutted an important provision of that. we have seen a lot of these

anti-voting laws come back. supreme court says you know what congress? you can fix that and spend as many years, the john lewis voting rights act would fix that. the supreme court told congress to do that. that would be another piece. the democrats have problems with the filibuster, with joe manchin and kyrsten sinema who have issues. these other priorities, infrastructure and other things. my argument is if the ship sinks in a year, these other priorities also go by the wayside. things people care about, lgbtq rights, immigration, health care, climate. all of that will be at the whims of whoever is in power if the voters no longer matter. democrats need to step up and use their tiny majority in this moment -- it is not a mandate -- in the next year to shore up democracy for the people of america, all americans,

republicans, democrats, independents so that we can still decide our own leaders. host: john, ryan lander, wisconsin. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have no problem voting in wisconsin. that usually takes me 15 minutes. i drive to my polling place, stand in line and cast my ballot. i come back home. we need to have 50 separate state voting -- [indiscernible] -- the easier you make it, the easier it will be to hack into it. [indiscernible] -- finally being answered. in wisconsin, there was some stuff that went on in wisconsin. maybe i will go to your website and read the findings from the

election commission. there was definitely stuff going on that were not with the state constitution in wisconsin and pennsylvania. do you agree with that? did that happen? did it not? there were some shady stuff happening in this election due to the pandemic rules? i don't think we should have all the same rules. guest: great point, john. i appreciate the opportunity for clarification. i am not at all suggesting we water down rules to invite fraud. absolutely no way. i am not suggesting we somehow have a universal federal system of voting, absolutely not. if you think about it, we can do our banking transactions on our phone. , we can manage our health care very personal private things on our phone. i am not saying we should vote

on our phones. maybe we have to physically vote . i am not against voter id. there are ways of voting that is not a headache. in other states it is very difficult. during the pandemic, for example, if you were a student, there was one state, i cannot remember the state, forgive me, if you were a student in college he would have to find someone else in your state, in a pandemic, on campus to vote. things like that don't necessarily help with fraud. they just make it harder to vote. i don't think that should be the case. with respect to wisconsin, i do not have my finger on all these investigations but i do teach law school, a course called civil procedure, which is how do you bring a case from the beginning to the end in a federal court? what are those rules? what i teach my students is federal and state judges are bound by rules of evidence. they are bound by procedural rules.

what they do goes on appeal to a higher court. they have much less discretion to make descriptions -- decisions if there is not hard evidence. there were 60 plus lawsuits filed across the country relating to fraud. none of them went anywhere. there wasn't any there. we have seen in michigan, some of the lawyers that brought these lawsuits have been sanctioned because they were so lacking in fact. rudy giuliani lost his license into states because he made arguments and filed lawsuits that were lacking in fact. if you and i are sued, we want to make sure the judges don't let people sue us based on bogus allegations or made up stuff to bully us. that is in place in the court system. i am less concerned about audits in arizona -- the audit found more votes for joe biden -- what

politicians are doing to find alleged fraud and what happens in the courts. i have confidence that the rules around courts make it really hard to not do the right thing frankly when it comes to basic, should you go pascoe in a lawsuit and those lawsuits were attempted. lots of people on republican side are trying to find fraud. none of it was found. i am happy hour election was so secure, as bill barr mentioned. host: we are chatting with kimberly wehle, author of the book "how to read the constitution and why" taking your phone calls as usual. this is jean on the republican line, park ridge, illinois. caller: good morning. thank you, professor, for your insights and education. i am from illinois. we have been going through

public integrity issues for many years. to understand the future, we have to circle back to when john f. kennedy was elected, when he phoned in and asked mayor daley how many votes do you have for me/ he said how many more do you need? public integrity is everything and not just in illinois. this absentee ballot seems to be the linchpin for not only mine but other cities where there could be corruption involved. last but not least, i would like to see the u.s. attorneys get more involved, especially in illinois to make sure we have a strong legal and clean election process. thank you. guest: i agree. public integrity is crucial. i think we have lost sight of that frankly in america. you are going to make sure that whoever watches her children are

ethical and has a value system. you're going to make sure your teachers and friends follow certain levels of integrity, that they are honest, reliable, kind of maybe? all of these things matter. we seem to have checked it at the door when it comes to politicians. red versus blue, i don't care. politicians are not our best friend, certainly not more than other voters. it is we the people, not we the politicians. john makes an excellent point. we need to be skeptical across the political spectrum. this voter integrity issue is very important. the thing that is shifting now is not so much casting ballots but counting ballots. the counting part affects everybody. when the u.s. was established, the constitution, the only people who could vote where white males who had money and

owned land. we have had a fight since then as to who gets to go into that. it was african-american males under the 15th amendment. then it was women under the 19th amendment. we are still fighting who gets to cast ballots. what is happening now across the country after january 6 is that the laws in the states are being changed to give politicians the power to count the ballots. this, based on my understanding is new to american history. you could be a white male landowner in 1887 and the next round politicians could say, we think your vote was fraudulent. we are going to cancel it. this was a red flag moment. the house was on fire. let's say we agree we will have the most stringent voting laws across the country, banning any conceivable concept of fraud. fraud is already a crime. a lot of people have a reason

not to commit fraud. it has been a crime for many years at the state and federal level. what is happening now frankly in the republican party across the country is that republicans are saying, we get to decide who's vote counts, even after you cast it. that is what happened after a lawsuit brought by the texas attorney general which went to the supreme court saying before other states, we want to cancel all those. this is not just democratic or republican voters, not just white voters, male voters, brown voters, black voters, this is a problem. we the people should be able to pick our own politicians. we should be able to hold them accountable. right now, this sneaky thing happening across the country, 18 state so far, are passing legislation to say politicians ultimately gets to decide who wins. that is a scary moment for american democracy. that is why i am ringing the bell here.

i hope we can hold hands across political parties and realize this is about our children's well-being and the existence of freedom and liberty itself for anyone in america. if politicians get to pick and choose who they like and don't like, that is not liberty. that is not a good picture for the future. host: 10 minutes left in this segment. our conversation about merrick garland sparking a big discussion on our twitter feed at @cspanwj. matt writing in, apparently not a crime. dr is concerned he is not suited for ag at this stage of our history. could there be any more blurring of lines between the biden administration and ag merrick garland? rick saying, what will he get to replace him? trump and his crew will get through this unscathed. comments from social media.

dorothy on the line for democrats, raleigh, north carolina. caller: good morning. i would like to make a suggestion. i was an election judge. i know what goes on when you go to vote. i want to express that and give you suggestions, c-span. about the laws republicans are making, you don't need 300 laws. why do you need so many laws for id? if there was all this voter fraud, how come no one has been charged? if i saw you robbed a store and no one gets arrested, nobody has been arrested. people who said they seen fraud -- you know it didn't happen. no one is locked up. trump was the president at the time. the doj never pointed to anybody

because there never was anybody. in order to make the voting better, we should have all paper ballots. this is my suggestion. you should go wherever you go to vote -- schools can seat 40 people at a time in a cafeteria. you can feed ballots into the machine. you have that paper and you have a body with it. that is how you stop these long lines. two is, i do not understand why trump hasn't been arrested for trying to bribe the secretary of state, what was it, in georgia? he was on the phone trying to bribe. that is against the law. host: you bring up several points.

guest: a lot of great points. the paper ballot point, my understanding is european countries have gone back to paper ballots. it is a little arcane. i think it is a great idea. these voting machines are not controlled by the government. they are controlled by private parties. let's make it really easy to trace the stuff. totally agree with that. as far as fraud, she makes a great point. there have not been any prosecutions. also keep in mind, those of us who voted, the presidential election is at the top of the ticket but there are lots of people below that including members of congress who got in office claiming the top of the ticket was fraudulent but there part was not. we have to bring common sense to this. if the ballot was fraudulent, and maybe we have members claiming fraud who are in their fraudulently, it is time to move on. let's talk about the issues that bother americans.

people are struggling to put food on the table. worrying about climate change, the pandemic. we shouldn't be looking at this fraud stuff. we should be arguing around issues. as long as politicians talk about this fraud stuff, we are not in a position to move forward to things that matter for regular people. host: paul, myrtle beach, the palmetto state, independent. caller: i am in charleston actually. one quick question. just went through the 2020 u.s. census. the federal government did that online mostly. why can't we do the voting online? guest: i have asked experts at m.i.t. about that. my understanding is the most recent technology, they are still not entirely sure about whether it could be fraud free. i am not an expert in that. we do a lot online. we bank online.

that is pretty important. they are working on that. it is a good point. keep in mind, we are not rushing in that direction because of potential for fraud. many multiple multiple experts have said, government experts under donald trump, that this was a very secure, probably the most secure election in the history of america. that is a reason to celebrate. we have other big things we should be worrying about. i wish we were not having to worrying about it but we do. host: has there ever been a concern about the census and fraud? guest: i don't know so much about fraud but the problem this last round is people who have access to computers, it is easy to fill out the form but there are many americans who don't. traditionally, there are census workers that go door-to-door, under bridges, to get the people that are without homes, they go

to get people english is not their first language or they are elderly and do not have access to technology. because of the pandemic and donald trump's indecision, that process was cut off prematurely. a lot of people didn't get counted that would have gotten counted but for the census. the census numbers are set in stone, once certified, for 10 years. those numbers are used to determine how many members of the house of representatives each state gets, number one, and how much money each state gets. regardless of whether you have access to a computer, your state still needs money and representation, for all people, regardless of how much access they have to technology. that is the sad part of the census. the pandemic probably truncated it in ways that created inaccuracies. host: willie, republican, texas.

caller: good morning. welcome back to the washington journal. got the best party host right there, john. three quick questions. was it a constitutional crisis in your mind when the congressional black caucus, they all objected to bush, bush again and trump's election? also, how much have you done your own inquiry into the massive election irregularities in these key states starting with the blackout of counting ballots in the middle of the night and the large discrepancies and duplicate votes and chain of custody issues? the last thing, you talked about the blurring of the lines between the executive branch and the doj.

have you met the garland-biden team? seems to me garland has his hands in a bunch of investigations -- i would wonder how in the world, i have never seen the do that type of thing, the fbi get involved in investigating parents in schools. check that out. have a great day. guest: one in particular? host: take up the one you want. guest: the last point on garland, i have not seen reporting he is blurring lines between joe biden and him. i have seen reporting of joe biden saying i need you to do this so i can be secured in my second term. that is the problem. if i saw that i would be just as hawkish on it. the first point, yes, you're right, the electoral count act, the old statute, does allow members of congress to object to

state certifications. that has happened in the past. it has still been ceremonial. no one expected there would be enough votes to trigger a process where the congress would pick the president. that is what shifted in january. if you watch the footage, there was death, destruction, widespread desecration of the capitol building itself -- this was a historical moment, there is no equivalent to the history of america. there should be in the statute a trigger. if you are going to object, you need to have actual admissible evidence beyond a reasonable doubt or some other standard. clear and convincing something like that. i agree. we need standards for republicans and democrats to make sure the people pick the elections. i do not have the army and

expertise and infrastructure to investigate fraud. the republican party does. they have not found any yet. georgia, for example, hand accounts multiple times. we should feel really good about this. we should not be pointing fingers where there is no evidence. i have not seen it. it has not been produced. if it were there the political machinery would show it. i feel good about the fact there was no serious documented fraud in the 2020 election. host: garden grove, california, kelly, democrat. caller: good morning. thank you so much for having this platform. i wanted to thank the professor for bringing us to the point where it is very important that our elections are secure. i feel very secure that our last elections and the previous election was secure. i have been an absentee voter

for 30 some years in the state of california, which i understand there are several states which have complete absentee ballots that have been secure. it is preposterous that we are sounding these false flags. we are going to lose our democratic system of electing our officials if we don't all get on point. i have a question. in orange county, where i reside, we are able to go through our register of voters. they have a wonderful app you can logon. they say we got your ballot, you can go on, check, and say where you voted, who you voted for in current and previous elections throughout the tenure of your voting. i was wondering if that is something that is regular throughout the u.s. or is that a

privilege we in orange county, california have? not just orange county but you know, a richer area? thank you so much for your time. i appreciate listening to you. guest: california also sends out info in advance about what the ballot will look like. that varies across the country. this is a weird wrinkle in our democracy. the right to vote is not in the constitution affirmatively. that is shocking to people. if it were, things wouldn't be messed around with. because of the sacred right, it is the foundation of all our other rights. we get to fire people if we do not like how they are acting. that varies across the states. first amendment rights are the same in new york as in california. the other point i wanted to make in response to the call is this

idea of misinformation. people that are wondering about fraud, i really encourage you to go get original sources. get on your secretary of state's website and find the facts yourself. we are in a digital age where algorithms by big companies, these big online media companies, big data companies, they are feeding information into your facebook feed based on your clicks. this is not like 30 years ago where everyone picks up the newspapers and reads facts. we have to train ourselves, like sherlock holmes, to find facts. go to original sources. everyone watching, whether you are concerned about fraud or you think there was no fraud, go find your own original information and draw that opinion. don't listen to politicians. there are too many allies out there now and it is too important to rely on politicians who have another agenda, that is

to stay in power when it comes to something as sacred as the right to vote. please please please pay attention to how important it is to save democracy itself. the window is closing. we have about a year. after that, politicians could very well be in charge of all our rights. that is a red light moment. it is not a republican or democrat thing. it is in everything thing. thank you for listening. could not be more important. host: not bad to read the u.s. constitution. there is a good book on that. "how to read the constitution and why." the author, kimberly wehle. thank you. guest: love being on. host: next, we are joined by hugo gurdon to talk about his publication's new website "restoring america" and how he views the debate over election integrity. stick around. we will be right back. ♪

announcer: weekends on c-span2, bringing the best in american history and nonfiction books. saturday on american history tv, 2 p.m. eastern on the presidency, a look at the legacy of woodrow wilson in an age of racial reckoning, by the woodrow wilson international center for scholars. at 8 p.m. eastern, programs on the reconstruction era in america. first, from citadel military college, joseph riley and professor taylor who teach a course looking at why the new international african-american museum is being built in the city of charleston. henry louis gates junior talks about his work with pbs on the documentary, reconstruction, america after the civil war. at 8:50 p.m. eastern, abaco cooper teaches a class on

african-americans americans during the reconstruction era and how former slave strove for economic rights and full citizenship, including the right to vote and to choose where they worked. book tv features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books. on sunday at 8 p.m. eastern, featuring current and former members of congress discussing their latest and favorite books including mark sanford with his book "two roads to verged, a second chance for the republican party." kansas democratic representative davis, "a native kid becomes a congresswoman." mitch mcconnell shares his reading list. at 10 p.m. eastern, ben nelson of nebraska talks about his book "death of the senate, my front row seat to the demise of the world's greatest deliberative bodies."

his recommendations to restore it, he is interviewed by ben sasse. watch american history tv and book tv every weekend on c-span2 and find the full schedule under program guide or visit www.c-span.org. ♪ announcer: c-span's online store has our latest collection of c-span products, home to core and accessories. there is something for every c-span fan and every purchase helps support our nonprofit operations. shop now or anytime at c-spanshop.org. announcer: washington journal continues. host: washington examiner editor in chief hugo gurdon is back with us to talk about "restoring america." what is it?

guest: it is a new product we have launched. we launched it with an issue of our magazine entirely dedicated to it and it is the new section on the examiner. wherever one goes in the country, one hears concern about where the country has arrived at and where it is going. people use different phrases like saving the republic or getting back to basics. it all amounts to the same thing. they are very concerned about the condition of the country. there is a pew research poll back in march that said 60% of people thought america would be a less important country over the next 30 years and 65% said it would be more divided. a state of grave concern. what we wanted to do was address this. our idea, with restore america,

is to report news and analyze and give commentary and use video to encourage people to stand up for traditional values of the u.s., which are embedded in the constitution and bill of rights. the country is, in our view, and under the view of many people, undergoing an extraordinary cultural revolution at the moment. there seeing the country being pushed radically to the left, in which they do not like. call it the reformation or whatever you want, it is a dramatic change. people are suggesting they cannot recognize the country they grew up to love. what we want to do is report on these things, analyze these things and give courage to people who want to stand up against the forces moving the country in a direction they dislike. we agree with them.

we want them to know they are not alone. we want to make sure over the next months and years we are doing our bit to make it clear to people that the traditional values of this country, this is a great and wonderful country and has much to be proud of and it used to be the envy of the world and people used to be proud to say they were american. we want to revive that spirit for the success of this country for our children and their children. host: if we are restoring america, what are we restoring into? was there a specific moment in the past that is worth harkening back to? guest: this is not a backward looking campaign. the thing about any country which wants to be stable and to evolve and develop is constantly in a negotiation between the past and the future. respecting the past without snuffing out the hopes of the future. this is not about finding some

time in the past and freezing america in that place. that is certainly not what this is about. we have a conservative view of the world. right back to edmund burke, pretty much the founder of the conservative movement as a check to unchecked liberalism. acknowledge the need for constant change. that is something we entirely approve of. we wanted to be done in a way where the majority of the country feels they can go along with it. one of the features of change at the moment is that legislation and policies appear to be proposed that are dividing the country. we have an extraordinarily divided country. one of the big divisions, this is something we want to address, is that there is a substantial minority in this country who repudiate the idea of america itself. they think this is an oppressive

country. it cannot be saved. there propagandizing children and schools, for example, with this idea, that it is a history of racial oppression, etc. there is a sense they do not want the country to succeed. what we want to do is not go back to the 1950's or anything like that. it is to maintain the idea the founding values of this country embedded in the constitution and the declaration of independence, held this country in good stead for more than two centuries. they made this country the most successful in the world. they still can. these are not things to be abandoned. they are things to hold fast to. that is a foundation for further development. host: hugo gurdon with us for the next 40 minutes on washington journal, taking your calls as we talk about this new

initiative, restoring america. you can find it on the washington examiner website. there is the website on your screen. phone numbers, as usual (202)-748-8000 for democrats, (202)-748-8001 for republicans, (202)-748-8002 for independents. . as folks are calling in, you mentioned americans hopes for the future. a recent poll we talked about on monday, want to get your thoughts on. it finds 33% of american adults now say america's best days are in the future. that is a decline from last november when 47% said the best days were still ahead. does that surprise you? guest: it doesn't. it is one of those pieces of data which falls into the

category of shocking and not surprising. it is alarming when you see the lack of confidence in the future of this country that is spreading across the country. it is not surprising because, just to take what is happening in government now -- at the last election, the republicans gained seats in the house. the senate was evenly divided after donald trump wrecked republican chances, president biden was elected and president trump was thrown out. there was a narrow mandate for president biden who ran as a centrist. since he took over, he has allowed the left to dictate policy and we are now faced, for example, with a $5.5 trillion worth of social programs for which there is no mandate. a lot of people are looking at the country and thinking, my

goodness, we are $30 trillion in debt already, inflation is we really have to get serious about making america strong again. do not see the current administration as they did not see the last administration, fortifying america's position in the world, being determined at the mess would be the preeminent power in the world, that it would use its considerable economic and moral persuasion to continue to be the preeminent leader in the world. it is not surprising that more and more people are worried about the decline of this country. they can taste it. there is a sour feeling in our politics and culture. it is getting worse. it is to revive the things that made this country so successful. they realize that the power is

in their hands. they have to stand up and demand the things that made this country great, make sure that they are restored and not be bullied by a minority of radicals. host: how would you respond on twitter? he says, i'm pretty sure that the people you are talking about are the white people who do not like the browning of this country. constant change is what progressive democrats are all about. guest: i would dispute that. i'm sure there are some people who dislike the changing demographics of the country, but it is not about the demographics that we are writing. it is about the principles of government. we knew that when we set this up, that by talking about the founding principles of the country, about the ancient

documents of this country, there would be those on the left who would say this is a backward looking campaign. it is not backward looking at all. we know that the country is changing and we are perfectly happy with it continuing to change. the way that it needs to change is a way that continues to keep the people united. out of many one, it used to be a fact. but right now, it is rather difficult to sustain the idea that hundred 30 million people across the country are on the same team and that they have any common purpose or culture. what we are arguing for is that change should happen. it should happen at a pace by the majority of people can go along with that and not feel

like they are being pulled apart, but that they can do this with a common purpose. host: aurora, indiana, republican. good morning. >> thank you -- caller: thank you for letting me call in. i am 84 years old and i remember when we went to school. my ancestors had colored people working for them. they ate at the table with us. they visited with us, they participated in all of our activities. we have lost the love of this country. we have lost the love of the people. there is so much hatred. god is going to strike soon, i can tell you that because he is getting tired of these people not believing in him.

they took him out of our government and they are teaching our children crazy stuff like what gender they are. guest: right at the top of our first principle of restoring america is one of the six pillars that we had in this campaign, the call for patriotism and unity. children should be taught to respect and love their country. this is not a whitewash of the past. that is not to say that slavery is not a grievous stain on our past, but it is to make sure that somehow or other, -- this country cannot afford a civil war. children need to be taught to love their country, to respect

the flag and those who have fought for it and to participate in increasing perfection. to live up to our ideals without pretending that the ideals that we have -- we have a god-given, all-natural right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. they are absolutely fundamental to the human condition, and we want to revive them. i think that the caller is right. much of what was taught in the past, based on the founding principles of this country was appropriate. a lot of what is being taught to children now is highly divisive and controversial. it is more propaganda than education. host: you can read more about them online, but the value

categories, you can read about them. courage, strength and optimism. equality and not your elitism. you can read all about restoring the initiative. we'll hear next from terry, an independent. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i think that we all need to start getting along better. after 9/11, everybody seemed to come together and realized that this is a serious thing. whether you are republican or democrat, we need to find a way to get along in this country and take care of our problems because it will only get worse. kids need to be taught at a young age to have respect.

the parents do not need to buy their kids cell phones. they need to be reading to them, learning how to ride a bike, the things that they used to do, getting back to the family. he cannot just blame the school when the kid has a problem. it starts at home. the kids need to be taught by somebody. kids need to learn respect and how to treat others at home. guest: the caller makes extremely good points. i we go back first to what she was saying after 9/11, where the country came together. that was an extraordinary moment. i remember reading about that time, when suddenly, all sorts of differences and controversies were set aside. we all felt like we were on the same side.

the u.s. appeared to, and it is true that at some extent it did face an existential threat. when a people, when a nation faces such a threat, there is a pulling together. the problem now is that there is an existential threat to the nature of the country. instead of being an explosive threat, it is much more like the water being turned up and eventually the frog keels over and dies in the water. it is coming on as rapidly. all over the country, you are seeing traditional ideas and values being undermined. the family, which is what the caller was calling about to some extent, it has been regarded as the most important building block of our society.

it is a health-care block, social and emotional support. it is extremely important. what is happening now, parents are in uproar over what is being taught in their schools. the governor, terry mcauliffe says the parents should not be telling teachers what they can teach. the authority of parents is being undermined and families are being undermined. black lives matter is a misys organization that is supported by an enormous amount of people. it used to proclaim on its website that it wanted to undermine the traditional family, which it regarded as a racist structure. it removed that when people noticed it and started

criticizing it, but that is sub stacks -- subtext. that is the motive behind a lot of it. to undermine all the things that made this country the envy of the world. the family is the most important unit of all. one of the great things about in is that family is a bulwark against increasing control of the central power. the left is wanting to have more power and family staff last -- less. host: do you think terry mcauliffe will win that race? guest: i think virginia has trended very sharply blue, very quickly. if i had to bet, i would bet that terry mcauliffe will squeak out a victory, but he has blundered, perhaps catastrophically come in the way

that he has taken sides with the left, against parents. the evidence is that schools and education are issues. there are many people in america who did not pay attention to politics. they will see squabbles going on in washington. they will see person a claiming ask -- x. but when it comes to their children, when it comes to the propagandizing of their children and what they are being taught, that is what the left pushed to. perhaps -- all across the country, our natural instincts as human beings is to protect our children, and we do not want other people interfering with

how they develop. host: kimberly is a democrat. the morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. when i am listening to mr. gordon, i am reminded of the quote. when you are accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression. i would love to the share a logical consistency from a conservative point of view. women want abortion rights. suddenly, conservatives find body autonomy through the covid vaccine. you say you hold true to the ideals of america, but when we have a president who attempts to subvert the democratic process, he is still supported. if i viewed the constitution, i love america and i am from a military family. i would never have anybody?

patriotism. it is so antithetical that this would be a position that you could hold. i would like you to speak to that. guest: sure. in a country have to hundred 30 million people, there will be people out there, who still admire and love the past president, despite the appalling way that he behaved after losing the election. i do not support what he did and what he said. i cannot speak for everybody who might profess themselves to be on the right were conservative, but i think that collar is right -- caller is right. she mentioned orderly autonomy. as a much more complicated matter than she is suggesting

about bodily autonomy, but there cannot be consistency amongst millions of people they will disagree. some will hold one view and some another. that is not to say that they all agree with themselves in this camp. you are going to get all sorts of inconsistencies. i cannot speak for the hundred 50 million people that are said to be in the conservative camp or on the right. host: a few more minutes left with hugo guarding. good morning. caller: good morning and thank you for having me on the show. it seems a little, especially when you are addressing history. as an african-american from

rochester, new york, i did not meet a speech or hear anything outside of frederick douglass until i went to college. when we talk about the history and understanding what america is and what it was, we have to include african-americans. we built this country. we are part of this country. we fought in every war and we want to hold this country of -- country accountable. to say that we do not care about this country or that we are rebelling is an old trope. the tulsa race riots was caused because they thought it was a rebellion. they thought african-americans were going to raid the white side of tulsa, so they burned it down to a crisp.

that history has been oppressed. people are not mad. david -- why is nobody being held accountable? we have a judge sending black girls and boys to detention centers, causing all kinds of trauma and nobody is being held accountable. that is the frustration and anger is coming from these groups because that is what is happening. it is not something that is allowing people to be held accountable. our judicial system shows that it is ripe with inefficiency and inequality. how can we address that and create healing? as african-american, i love this country. my grandfather fought for this country and my great grandfather fought for this country. i worked and served at the arlington cemetery and

participated in thousands of -- i remember a 21-year-old who died in 2003 in the war in iraq. there is a gravestone, a headstone that i had to see on a daily basis. i understand and i know the sacrifice. i worked at the tomb of the unknown. i just want you to understand that it is not any anger or rebellion. it is more or less, as an african-american, we want to see people held accountable for their actions because we live in a country where there are a numerous amount of black men that have been locked up for crimes that they never committed. to this day, nobody is being held accountable. that is what is being set forth today. now that we can see george floyd

with somebody kneeling on his neck, now we can hold that person accountable. if we did not have cameras or access to information, people would not know about it. i'm going to let him speak. sigh. guest: as you -- sorry. guest: as you say, the officer who kneeled on george floyd's neck has been convicted of murder. people are being held accountable, as they should be. but i do want to go back to the point that you make about -- i think you said it was your grandfather, but certainly, black people throughout generations have fought for this country. they have contributed enormously . in the earliest stages of this country, they have been treated with grave injustice, all of which should be acknowledged and

should not be covered up. the fact that they fought for this country and they love this country, and they want it to succeed, i think it endorses that argument that we have making to restore america. we want the country to be united and patriotic. those african-americans did not fight because they wanted the country to fail but because they wanted it to succeed. the trouble with what is happening now is that there are people who appear to want the country to fail. i'm not suggesting that that is everybody on the left, but there is a vertical movement that blames america first. it explicitly says that it is irredeemable. that we are old-fashioned. i would endorse a lot of what the collar has jet -- what he just said.

there have been grave racial injustices. in a country of 300 million people, you can find anything, good or bad. there are continued injustices that need to be provide -- rectified, but we need to do it a framework that does not say the country is irredeemable and is not worth fighting for. they are ideals to which we can continue to give allegiance because they are the ideals that will create a free and just society. host: who would you name as the leaders of the movement that you are concerned about? guest: certainly, black lives matter has taken the role. it was under their banner that cities were trashed and there

were riots. antifa is another organization. the thing is, there are a lot of people who contribute to this. if you want to go to the theoretical background, there are some who believe -- who want a race -- racist future. counseling discriminations against whites can help make up for discrimination against black people in the past. there is a wide movement on the left. there are a number of different areas. it seems extraordinary that someone with such a crackpot theory could be -- his books are being bought by school districts to distribute to children. the new york times is trying to rewrite our history.

they wanted to take over the curriculum of schools, even though eminent historians have said it is poorly put together and the declaration of independence and the revolutionary war was not simply about retaining slavery, which was what the 1619 project argues. there are different influences of this all over the country. host: you are on. caller: good morning. if i could begin with a story about the late fred thompson, who was a republican congressman , first in his life. he became an actor. in the years of his life, later, he became a spokesperson for a movement called national popular vote. he was asked why he took that

position and he responded with a story saying, i got sick and tired of trying to explain to my grandchildren, 10 and 12 years old, how someone in our country, who gets less votes than the other candidate can win the election. national popular vote, just google does three words. national popular vote. it was explained that this is a movement that has been afoot for decades, trying to change the electoral college system. when they do surveys, more than 70% of people are in favor of a national popular vote system as opposed to the electoral college system. most people think it would take a constitutional amendment to change it, however these intelligent, insightful people have figured out a way to use the constitution to actually

overturn the electoral college system and create a national popular vote system. if they get enough states to vote for a particular loss, they will get votes to whichever candidate win -- you do not need not -- you just need enough for 207. host: thank you for explaining it. your thoughts on the electoral college? guest: it seems to be an elegant way of retaining the authority and power of the various states. if it was simply a national popular vote, what would happen is the candidates would ignore the smaller states and focused their attention on a handful of the biggest states to run up massive geordie's.

there is an argument for simple national popular vote. i knew fred thompson a little. he was a good man. people's motives for doing this can be entirely proper and good, but i think that hillary clinton, for example, won 4 million votes in california then donald trump did, but 3 million more than he did nationally. there were more votes for him outside of california then for her. all you have to do is go to the biggest states and vote their -- and campaign there, and run up the score there. smaller states would get marginalized. i do not think that is good for the union. there is enough division already between small states and big states.

i happen to think that the electoral college is are a good system. there will be differences. there are differences, and there have been since the debate of 2020 when al gore won the popular vote and george w. bush won the electoral college. host: candidates do ignore most of the country. they focus on new hampshire and battleground states. guest: they have a good point. you get a lot of momentum if you win iowa. that is the first caucus and the first primary is new hampshire. if you win both of those, people will suggest that you are assured the nomination. it is a good argument for the system that we have being flawed.

i suspect any system that you put in place will have considerable flaws in it. sometimes, they have toyed with the idea of making sure that they go first, to grab more influence over the primary process. i do not have a solution to it. i'm not sure that there is a solution but until there is a compelling solution, i will stick with the system that has been put in place. host: this is mary, a republican. good morning. caller: hello. host: you are going in and out a little bit, but we will try to get it. caller: what is going on in this country is that now, you got black people trying to make white people pay for something

that they had nothing to do with. the whole truth is not being told. it is not being taught. black people owned slaves to they owned and sold slaves as well. some of them had been slaves themselves. host: let's focus on that. we were talking about the debate over reparation in the country. guest: this is actually something that we stated in the program. that we would oppose reparations. reparations would be a form of collective punishment of people who did not ever owned slaves, and it would be to pay people who never were slaves. it is a way of dividing, rather than uniting. i do not know that i could save a much than that. i do not think that reparations

for grievous ills that were perpetrated -- a lot of the things that are being suggested by the left, it seems to me, are not designed to unite. they are designed to continue to divide and make sure that the wounds of the past do not heal. for a long time -- they continue to improve. it has become -- the acquisition -- accusation of racism is an

extraordinary and vile accusation that is used in a shocking debate. racism is not -- it is a difference opinion -- of opinion. what would you -- host: to unite america, what would you say about one-sided surrendering their morals and beliefs? and that is why they will never be a unified america. guest: i do not know if it is true or not. what you need to do, constantly is having a negotiation. without snuffing out the hopes of the future, whether that is possible, i think it is possible, which is why we are trying to help restore america.

i think it is possible. host: an independent in philly. good morning. caller: you are going to say, well, let's not talk about slavery or discrimination. then you say that thing about, our forefathers came up with this. i have been arrested quite a few times. i have no criminal record, but you are going to sit there and tell me that everything is wonderful. one thing i will say about donald trump -- you have

different parties and everything. but donald trump brought out the old america that had been hiding in the woods for years. they showed up and let everybody know how they felt about anybody who did not look like them. guest: it is absolutely untrue that we think that the country is marvelous and we should not acknowledge the past. the dark history of the past, which included slavery. some people may be advocating that, but we certainly are not. host: brandon, good morning. caller: good morning. good show. one of the best shows you have had in a couple years. i feel like c-span is one of the tools that the gentleman is actually talking about, to keep us divided. to have a show to talk about us coming together and what we can do to come together, posted

talking about the differences, i think that is a start. one point about the black lives matter, most black people do think that white people are traditionally racist. i would venture to say that your father or grandfather was racist. not saying that you are or that it should have been up there, but most black people feel that way. for reparations, if we are still being dealt that way and feeling the economic loss, i do feel that we should have a little bit of gain because we are losing and still losing from slavery, and so forth and so on. host: we will give you the final minute or two. guest: we do not approve of

reparations. we do approve of genuine freedom and equality. we think that the only enforced equality should be equality before the law. everyone should have a shot and the american dream should be available to everybody. you should be able to improve the condition of yourself and your family. that is what this is all about, allowing a free people to thrive. we believe that the traditional values of this country are those that will of how it to do that. host: restoring america. you can read more about it on their website. hugo is the editor in chief there. we appreciate your time. about 45 minutes left in the program today. we will be ending with the open

forum, letting you lead the discussion on any political issue that you want to talk about. go ahead and start calling in right now and we will get your cause after the break. >> coming up live on c-span, the atlantic council hosts a conversation on the geopolitics of global technology standards. we will hear from the advisor starting at 10 :00 a.m. eastern. at 11:00, the committee watches -- discusses extreme weather impacts. a house panel examines the potential impact that a cashless economy could have on disadvantaged communities. a reminder, you can watch all of our programs online or use our new video app.

♪ >> in the fall of 2018, a historian, his wife and their dog set out on a road trip to retrace george washington -- what came from his venture is his latest book, titled travels with george come in search of washington and his legacy. the u.s.'s first president said his goal was to bring the country together. he traveled as far north as maine and as far south as savannah, georgia. >> you can want -- listen to book notes plus on our new c-span app. ♪ >> washington unfiltered.

c-span in your pocket. download c-span today. washington journal continues. host: it is our open forum to end our program today. we want to hear about the topics that you want to talk about. republicans can call in at (202) 748-8001. democrats at (202) 748-8000. independence can call at (202) 748-8002. we will be taking you on to the atlantic council, giving you a look at global technology standards. you can watch that come alive, here on c-span, on c-span.org, and you can watch and listen on our app. some news out of congress. looking ahead to what is

happening next week. senate majority leader chuck schumer has a procedural vote. all democrats are on board, but it needs 10 republicans to succeed. we have been talking about it recently. the ongoing effort ahead of the off year election. the first week of november, a lot of focus on what is happening in that virginia governor's race. heavy hitters to aid terry mcauliffe, the former democratic governor of virginia.

they are mobilizing in what has become a close race. president biden won by 10 points. barack obama will hit the campaign trail later this month as part of an effort to boost turnout. first lady jill biden will be stopping for him as well. one name conspicuously missing from those who have announced their campaign events. terry mcauliffe campaign said that joe biden would be there to stump for the governor by the second. they left the door open. terry mcauliffe is campaigning.

there is a quieter approach. duncan has embraced trump but had sought to tone down his support during the election. in north las vegas, a republican. go ahead. tracy, are you with us? go ahead. caller: what do you want me to say? host: what do you want to say? it is the open forum. caller: i was listening to the stuff before and i am really tired of this country and people expecting to get things that they are not working for. i worked my whole life. i was in the military. i was a police officer. i worked hard and i do not care what color you are, but these

people expect these foreigners coming into our country -- black people who do not want to work -- they expect everything to be handed to them. i do not agree with that. host: why do you focus specifically on foreigners and black people? caller: more like illegals. those who come into our country and expect us to give them everything. host: thank you. caller: this last caller, i called to say something else, but this last caller who said black and foreigners expect everything, to her point, the last speaker that you had -- he said he did not believe in

reparations. it is the same concept. black people who work and indigenous people who were slaves and built this country for no money, for nothing, they got nothing for it but mistreatment. now when we ask for something, all of a sudden, we are lazy and we do not want to work. we have worked. we worked all of our lives and did not get paid for anything. we never had any bootstraps. we were working in the cotton fields with no shoes on. what boots are you talking about? we just want equal rights and equal pay. we want equal everything. we have done as much as anybody else for this country. why can't we have equal rights like everybody else? host: a republican, good

morning. this is our open forum. caller: i had called in for several years. i just got one comment. after the 2020 election, there is so much talk about fraud. there was a guy descended like he was from the south. i cannot say he was african-american or white, or whatever. it looks like a football player for the chicago bears. he was an african-american. the one reason, when he asked him about why he voted the way that he did -- he did not vote for donald trump. what donald trump said about the military. donald trump did nothing but try to build up the military. he has gained the respect, above

and beyond any other president, aside from ronald reagan, yet the one reason about why he voted against donald trump was what he said about the military. there was a news thing that came out on the left that said he had desecrated the name of the military by saying that -- i cannot repeat or remember the names that he called them. even if he did not hear it, you -- if you did. and did not like it, he would never believe that. that is why this one guy said he was not voting for donald trump. that was a boldfaced lie. a c-span host did not call him on it one time. host: good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. i wanted to talk to your last

guest about these left-wing radicals and left-wing groups. when his people who he represents our ku klux klan, nazis and hate groups -- i wish he would name one left wing group that has a herstory -- history of murdering people because they are white or murdering a white man because he was so that a black woman. i wish he would name a group like that accused of killing women, men, children and families. caller: i want to talk to the people in government -- virginia voting for governor. when they send out their big guns like obama and abrams, whoever they are stumping for

has no moral compass at all. did that in florida with andrew gillum. the lord he lost. he was -- thank the lord he lost. he was later found in south beach florida with a male escort. the guy had no moral compass. there is a story behind it all. host: how do you think you're governor is doing in florida? caller: my governor is doing amazing. he has to fight a few left-wing activists that are firing people for mask mandates or for going against the vaccine. that is a freedom of choice and people need to fight back because it will not stop there. host: hazel township -- hazel township, pennsylvania. good morning. caller: one thing is, for many

years, i have said the problem in america is 12 hour shifts. people do not go to church anymore. one week, the father is there and the mother, maybe next week, just the father and mother because you do not have time with your family. go back to eight hour shifts. even if you have to work a weekend or two, what is the problem? i left my job at 6:00 in the morning and got back to the house at 8:00 at night. i think that is a big problem. host: do you think that we should have less than a standard error 40 hour workweek? caller: i think a 40 hour work week is fine, but make it for everybody. if you want to work overtime, that is up to you, but to have a 12 hour shift -- sometimes they

do not let you out of the place until 12 hours. i have heard a lot of horror stories. host: some people work 312 hour shifts as their 40 hour workweek. caller: i understand that. but if there are three days off and three days on with your spouse, what kind of family life is that? host: good morning. caller: yeah. i think one of the biggest divisive issues is, when i was in high school, everyone was telling me that we should go to college and rack up our own student debt. all the ideology being pushed -- i did not latch onto that. i just feel like i am better for having gone my own way. i have been investing in this

stuff and i have been financially better off than i would have been, taking out a student loan. i think a lot of people and friends of mine might have done the same thing. i think other people should embrace that as well. host: what do you want to talk about? caller: it was a great show about patriotism. i think this is what most of america would like you to keep talking about. the reason we do not have the scholars who are theological on, i do not understand. we have every other kind of academic person talking. within the religious right, we are divided between principal laurel is him and maybe a soft the accuracy. that would probably be a good thing for you to talk about. most of middle america feels like most of our disciplines --

i think that the intellectual framework, spiritually and intellectually has been bought and paid for. it is very impressive to a religious people with systematic theological beliefs. it is likely are living in two different realities. i hope that you continue to mind that territory and not be afraid of it. host: we talked about the off year elections and that virginia gubernatorial race. a look at the 2022 elections coming up. we often stay on top of the ads that people are seeing around the country. a big add, a republican group with close ties to senate minority leader mitch mcconnell will launch a new front in the ad wars over the demonic -- a $2 million campaign targeting three vulnerable senators.

-- a 10 million dollar campaign targeting three vulnerable senators. they will all face voters. disclose donors describe the potential democratic bill as a multitrillion dollar spending spree and the largest tax increase in decades. here is the one nation ad running in new hampshire against a democrat. >> nancy pelosi has once again gotten what she wanted here. >> a very long list of tax hikes. >> they are pushing a multi trillion dollar spending spree. after spilling trillions already, it will cost you.

crushing small businesses and making family pay more. help oppose speaker pelosi's outrageous agenda. host: that outside group won a washington post story. the one nation ad grad -- is added to the group already flooding the country. the democratic onslaught funded by groups like build back together has spent nearly $15 million in key states, according to their spokesperson. they stand for children, climate power -- they are among other groups that expanded their social media ad spending as well. all of that in the washington post story.

more than a year out from election year 2022. sharon in west virginia, good morning. it is our open forum. go ahead. sharon, are you with us? caller: hello. how are you? host: i do not think this is sharon. go ahead. what is your name? caller: my name is jim from florida. my first comment would be ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. i think the democrats would explode, if they said that now. it is a thomas jefferson quote, beware of politicians offering you free money, free gifts with

your money. it is terrifying. we have $30 trillion in debt. host: this is surely in columbia, missouri. caller: good morning. i want to go back to the comment about blacks do not like to work. we have worked all of our life. my ancestors, the slaves did not get paid. this other lady talking about the man on the beach with the prostitute woman. donald trump paid thousands of dollars for a prostitute. oh well. another guy talking about the football player and why he did not vote. donald trump has never served in his life. get it together, republicans.

caller: good morning. my problem is that these top -- these colors are talking about how the blacks this country, well they contributed, but they did not build the whole country. a lot of white people put their time and effort into it as well. the other thing was -- i was listening to your guest before. why did you censor him? i was listening and when he was talking, it was muted when u.s. saying certain things. i could not hear what he was saying. host: i would check your feed. we were talking to hugo and we did not meet him. good morning. caller: i am calling to make a

few comments. the previous guest is -- it is odd that he had this foreign accent, talking so much about american idealism. everything was the left this and the left that. he was talking about divisiveness, but he was always taking shots at the other side. instead of trying to understand where the other side is coming from. they are talking about how much money the democrats are spending , but never once thinking about the trillions of dollars that were spent in the previous administration. that is all i have to say.

host: republican. good morning. caller: i'm just calling to say that all americans should be worried about our future, when we talk about what is coming this winter. you see the higher prices of everything. we will not have things on the shelves when we go to buy them. the vaccine mandates for the police, the fire, the doctors and nurses. those who do not get shots are getting fired. he will not have a hospital to go to. you will not have a fireman to come to your house. you will not have policeman. then you add the immigration. these people are coming and started bringing guns with them. there is a caravan of 40,000 coming.

what is that going to be like when they all come at the same time? we do not have a military or police. they all quit because they could not get a shot or did not want it or need it. host: where are you reading about the caravan of 40,000? caller: that has been out for a couple weeks and it has grown to 60,000 now. i heard it on a couple different places. but it is a group -- big group. the cartel have started boarding, shooting across the border at the auto control agents. they have bigger guns than the border patrol. host: good morning. caller: listen. i would like to commend you for that question that you asked the last guest. he said, could you tell us the best period that america was great?

i thought it was funny that he could not name it. during the bill clinton era, the democratic party did not really help with working people's interest. now that they are both in the tank, it is obvious that both parties receive donations. they serve the wealthy. it is no big secret. i suggest anybody still listening, that they go on youtube and type in george carlin's piece. i think it is called, it is a big club. that will explain it. it is funny and it describes the pickle that we are in. thank you for accepting my call. host: about a minute or two before this atlantic council event begins on the politics of global technology standards.

that is what you will be seeing if you stay on after c-span. baltimore, michigan. good morning. caller: good morning. i have a question. i am 81 years old and i have been for the last year and a half, we cannot get any kind of shells in michigan. i tell my wife, if there is a revolution in america, they better think. 90% of the people have guns. that will make a big difference where these other countries have a revolution, citizens don't have guns. host: do you think it is bad enough that we will have a revolution in this country again? caller: you hear it on tv, if someone gets elected, this could happen, there could be violent outbreaks. i guess my main question is, why

is there no ammunition? i went hunting last year for deer and i only had four shells, and it's been a whole year. host: that is max in michigan. we will stay in michigan with one more call. this is jamaal. good morning. i apologize, we are actually going to hold off. this event at the atlantic council is getting underway. we will be back tomorrow afternoon -- morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern. [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]