u.s., european, and nato responses to the ukrainian crisis. watch on c-span now, our new free mobile lab. join in with your calls, comments, texts and tweets. ♪ >> on our presidential rankings list, you will find warren harding's name at or near the bottom. in honor of president's day, historian ryan walter says while harding had his faults, his accomplishments are often overlooked, including bringing the country back to normalcy after world war i and an economic plan that led to the roaring 20's. in his book "the jazz age president," walter lays out his case for harding. >> he ranks last more than any other president. harding has come up a few notches in the recent years, but

what has been said about him is really in the realm of myth. there is a lot of myth about harding and falsehoods, and outright lies. i mean, if you look at his true record and what he actually accomplished as president of the united states, it's actually quite impressive. >> historian ryan walters, sunday on 8:00 eastern at c-span's q&a you can listen to all our podcasts on c-span's c-span now app. >> funded by these television companies and more, including charter communications. >> broadband is a source for empowerment. that is why charter has invested billions in building infrastructure, upgrading technology, and empowering communities big and small. charter is connecting us. >> charter communications

supports c-span as a public service, along with these television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. once again, this morning, we are awaiting to see what will happen in the rush ukrainian border crisis, an -- some of his strongest words about what is going to happen and what they believe is going to happen in ukraine. president biden, on friday, came out and spoke about the possible timetable of an attack on the ukraine by russia at the white house. here is a portion of what president joe biden said on friday. >> there we believe there is an intention by the russians to attack to ukraine in the coming week and the coming days. we believe they will target the ukrainian capital, a city of 2.8 million people. we are calling out these plans

loudly and repeatedly, not because we want a conflict, but we are removing everything in our power -- do anything our power to remove the opportunity for them to move. make no mistake. if russia pursues its plans, it will be responsible for a catastrophic and needless choice. the united states and our allies prepared to defend every inch of nato territory from any threat to our collect them security, as well. we also will not send troops into fight in the ukraine. we will continue to support the ukrainian people. host: the administration expects false flag operations out of the ukraine as a pretext for war between russia and the ukraine. washington post has a story that explains a little bit about what the administration is talking about. president biden said friday that

vladimir putin headed a decision to strike the ukraine after the administration warned of false flag operations orchestrate by the kremlin. they could be used as a pretext for an attack. hours after biden's remarks, leaders of two breakaway territories in eastern ukraine on saturday signed mass military mobilization decrees that put them on war footing. the head of the self -- self-proclaimed people's republic told all able-bodied men to take up response best take up arms in response to the aggression. biden said this stiffer information was being pushed to the russian public that ukraine was preparing a major offensive. it defies basic logic to believe that the ukrainians would choose this moment with well over 150 thousand troops arrayed on its borders to recs collate -- two x latest conflict.

they have blamed others to justify previous military action in chechnya, georgia, and the ukraine. we want to know what you think america should be doing with the russia ukrainian border crisis. are you following what is going on in eastern europe? how concerned are you about this entire situation going on in russia and the ukraine? let us start with terry in hagerstown, maryland, on the republican line. caller: good morning. how are you doing? host: just fine. caller: i think brandon should put those sanctions on today. we have been warned that gas prices will go even higher if he invades, so, he should not. host: i think we lost terry. let's go to chris in california

on the independent lined. . go ahead. caller: i am not quite certain that i understand just how concerned i am about it. personally, i think that we ought to have troops in the ukraine. i understand when the wall came down in berlin, and we saw the state of the troops in russia and its military, we wondered why did we consider it a threat? it was in bad shape. i was indoctrinated throughout the 80's to consider that russia had a system economically that did not work. what i concluded after so many years is that -- how communism works, if that is still a relevant term to russia, is like conquest. that's why it has an

imperialistic territorial takeover of different regions. the resources get depleted because communism does not prosper. it does not prosper for numerous reasons. many of them are relevant to society, family at the fundamental level. that has obliterated through collectivism, where you have such an influence of the party taking care of a fundamental unit, a family. i do not know that president biden is correct to assess that russia, president vladimir putin, is making a decision to war against the ukraine as a matter of choice. the economic sister -- system of russia is communistic and does

not work and does not stimulate prosperity. it forces vladimir putin under sanctions and his own economic system into a position that he has to resort to warfare to obtain resources. host: what do you think the united states and nato should do if vladimir putin crosses into the ukraine? should the united states and nato do nothing, or should there be sanctions? should there be military operations? what should be the response in the event he crosses into the ukraine? caller: it is difficult to determine constitutionally for the united states that there is an actual threat to the united states. it is said that he, president pruden, has violated treaties -- vladimir putin, has violated treaties. he has a nuclear capability with

a range greater than 500 kilometers, which puts a launcher in range of the united states. that would be a direct threat to the united states, which would justify a reaction of war against russia. other military movements through nato constitute movement when one or more of its members are attacked. i am unaware of -- and unfamiliar of which soldiers, which units, which means of transportation or communication such as railroads have been attacked or are currently imprisoned for violation against press, against russia. so, to say what exactly should be done is difficult. host: let's go to tina who is calling from richmond, indiana on the republican line.

good morning. caller: good morning. i just want to say that i don't under -- understand where we are looking at joe biden to handle a crisis in the ukraine we have a crisis right here in the united states of america on our border. our border should be more concerning to him then the ukraine and russia. joe trump. -- go trump. host: you don't think there should be any reaction to what is happening in the ukraine? caller: joe biden should be concerned about his own country. we should secure our borders and move forward from there. host: all right. she dropped off. let's go to stephen in new york on the democrat line. good morning. caller: i've got to agree with tina. joe biden should be concerned with the crisis right here in the united states. yesterday, a judge went from the

bench for a convicted murderer. and he sentenced a murderer to 16 months in a state with sense in doing -- sentencing guidelines of 15 years. that is the very definition of a crisis in the judicial system of any civilized nation. host: do you think the american government can do two things at the same time? we work on defensive issues and international issues at the same time? caller: i think the government can do a thousand things at one time, but they are not joe biden is not worth anything. nothing at all. have a good day. host: let's go to robert from frostburg, maryland. the independent line. caller: good morning. how are you? host: good. go ahead. caller: i am a vietnam veteran.

i just tuned into your channel, watching ronald reagan and jfk with the berlin wall. what i couldn't believe is these two presidents -- i am sorry, excuse me. these guys were standing up to free russia -- and i am sorry. god bless america. thank you. host: let's go to gerard who is calling from louisiana on the democrat line. morning. caller: what biden needs to do is [indiscernible] a little sense. host: what should we do as a country, the united states or nader do -- nato, do, if they

cross into the ukraine? should there be military action? host: we should have sanctions. we shouldn't even be over there. to start with. biden needs to get out of there and put someone in there who has a little bit of brains left in their head. host: let's go to thomas from spring hill florida on the republican line. good morning. caller: the way you start with this whole mess, the way i see it, the ukraine has had every opportunity to be part of nato. if they don't want to be part of nato, it let them defend for themselves. the nato allies should worry about themselves. this should give an example to them that if you don't want to be a part of us, this is what happens. you have to deal with the big russian bear knocking at your door. let's face it. this is bidens asked -- this is

bidens total screwup when he pulled out of afghanistan. he had no exit strategy, so he chomped to the waters. we have to get used to this. china will make their move on taiwan. thank you. host: let's go to john calling from corpus christi texas on the independent line. good morning. caller: the united states needs to quit being a war economy. united states is entirely a war economy. a few people ever heard of the military-industrial complex? not six months after we pulled out of afghanistan, we are stirring up trouble with china and russia and around the world. this is ridiculous. in 2014, the cia overthrew the democratically elected government of the ukraine and put in a puppet dictatorship that was friendly to the united states and nato.

this has to stop. the united states has to stop warmongering and being a bully around the world. it must stop now. caller: what should the united states do right now if russia decides to invade the ukraine? caller: we shouldn't do anything. we have no business occupying europe for the last 70 or 80 years since world war ii. we are the occupation force. the united states military exists as a mercenary force for wall street. read the book, the war on iraq. this is a typical business, typical business propaganda. this is wall street profit, all for wall street to take over and control the entire world. that is the sole purpose of the united states military. host: let's go to jake calling from south carolina on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. good morning. i think that the president needs to stay out of this mess.

he is going to get us in another mess. i am a vietnam veteran. we have been a war country all my life. it seems like every time we turn around, we are going to start another war. we don't need another war. we need a president who is going to look at his own country and his own border and protect the united states and make us self-sufficient in a lot of areas that we are trying to be dependent on in other countries. host: the president says he is not going to put any american troops in the ukraine. that leaves sanctions and bolstering nato for his options. if russia decides to invade the ukraine. is that enough? caller: so we are not putting any troops over there? that's saying to vladimir putin that we are not going to fight you, but we will get everyone else to fight you. we are going to put the

sanctions on you. sanctions do not work. not with a person like vladimir putin. and another thing, we are going to start making friends around the world. not enemies. let's be real about it. host: are you saying that president biden should not commit to putting troops in the ukraine? should president biden say we are going to possibly put troops in the ukraine? caller: we don't need to put our troops in any country with a president like we have. he cannot even protect and bring home our own troops and americans from afghanistan. we need them to fight. if you get into the ring to box, you do not put a light weight against a heavyweight. you put equal balance to people, boxing.

it is the same as in war. you don't go in and jump into something that you know you are only going to threaten with sanctions. if you are going to send our men to war, you need to send them to war, you need to tell them, look, we are going to win this war and we are coming home. not another vietnam like we had in every other war like we had. i like what we did in world war ii. when we got in world war ii. we ended it. host: earlier today in germany, vice president, harris spoke at the munich security conference. here is a little bit of what she said about the situation at the russian ukrainian border. >> not since the end of the cold war has this form convened under such dire circumstances. today, as we are all well aware,

the foundation of european security faces a direct threat in ukraine. let us remember, from the wreckage of two world wars, a consensus emerged in europe and the united states. a consensus in favor of order, not chaos. security, not conflict. by forging relationships, forging organizations and institutions, love entreaty, we could get together and establish a set of rules, norms, that have governed ever sense. europe has enjoyed unprecedented peace, security, and prosperity

through a commitment to assess -- a set of defining principles. the united states is equally committed to these principles. that people have a right to choose their own form of government. that nations have a right to choose their own alliances. that there are inalienable rights which govern and protect, and the rule of law should be cherished. that sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states must be respected. and national borders should not be changed by force. host: later on in the hour, vice president harris will be holding a bilateral meeting with

president of the ukraine. we will bring you as much of that as we can later on in this hour, but later on in this hour, the vice president will be meeting with ukrainian president, and we will go to it if we can. let's go to our social media followers talking about the russia and ukrainian border crisis. here is a post from facebook that says the biden administration is distracting from the horrible economy. russia has all of the border voters and needs. -- it needs. we didn't place hot zones for fun. vladimir putin, no one is fooled. another facebook post says, stay out of it. here's a facebook post this is putin's board and purposely flexing his muscles. it is a power game for him, he cares about no one. one final facebook post says

line their border with minds and make their attempts a huge mistake. once again, we will ask you what you think we should do about the russian ukrainian border crisis. should america stay out of it and let ukraine falter russia, or should america bolster the nato troops that are already in europe? should america send aid to the ukraine? we want to know what you think about it. let's go to tim in ohio on the democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you today? host: just fine. go ahead. caller: we need to get our facts straight. russia is no longer a communist country. they were a communist republic that turned into a democratic republic and they turned into april a chariot government. we have to get our facts straight on the stories. -- a proletariat government. we have to get our facts

straight on the stories. the government doesn't want another debate. [indiscernible] what happened in the last four years. there is an authoritarian government, but we want them to stay that way. and as far as the ukraine, if i was, you know, if i was in a situation with history and all that, they would have a military exercise, joint exercises, and we would go into the ukraine and have joint military exercises with the ukraine. it's like a bully. we have to stand up to them. we cannot back down. if they don't, you have to be ready to fight. the other thing, i just want to throw out there that president biden is called brandon. if you are fist off at someone

coming don't resort to name-calling. you are not making that person look bad, you're making yourself look bad. host: let's go to aurora, indiana, on the republican line. earl, good morning. caller: i don't see how we can get into that situation over there when biden cannot even take care of our own country. look at the killings of our cops. our children are [indiscernible] he knows nothing about what he is doing, and kamala harris is nothing but a farce. she knows nothing. we have two idiots in the white house. that's what we have. we cannot take care of this country. , and we want to get other under -- under other countries. host: let's go to terry in the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning.

i agree with the earlier caller, john. we should stay out. we have no business getting involved with that. but i also want to say, and this is just my opinion. don't get mad at me. but honestly, i feel that this entire thing was staged or rig. whatever you want to call it. hear me out. i believe this man putin had this plan all along to do this. he was just waiting for the right time. i believe, this president, that we are supposed to pray for, and i pray for him but i do not vote for him. i believe this man has gotten to vladimir putin. i believe he is already given the ok, saying we will not put troops on the ground. i'm going to publicly oppose it, talk real tough, and that's what he is doing. this whole thing it's just, it is something that we should not get involved in.

i will say this before i go. call me a crack if you want, but things are lining up for the great tribulation and the return of christ. host: before you go, how would it be to president biden's advantage to let russia take over the ukraine? how does that help them? caller: sir, i cannot answer that question. i am an untrained -- i don't deal with politics a lot. i really don't. i have three grandkids, and i really don't. it is a good question. ask one of your more seasoned people who are into politics, but. host: you just said you believe that is what happened. why do you believe that, then? caller: i'll be honest with you. this man is the president, god bless him. but in my opinion, he is very dishonest, very deceitful.

there have been lies that have been told. and i think, he has done so much, and has gotten him elected. he is in the highest seat of the world right now. and i believe he is just one of those things where he is saying things to make people believe that he is against this aggression, and i pray that this invasion does not happen. i really do. but i just don't trust him. forgive me. you know. there are a lot of questions i don't know. i am a christian born again. i love the lord. i just trust in him. and, i'm going to keep serving the lord. i am just praying for missionaries, and the ukraine. i pray that the word will still go out, and people will still be able to get saved. that is my prayer. host: let's go to barry in north

carolina on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: go ahead. caller: i think we need to work on a couple things. one of them being, we need to get as much nonsense desk. --. host: are you there? i think we lost barry. let's go to lenora in dayton ohio on the democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning. i am so astonished by what i am hearing, and i can tell the people calling this morning don't travel. i am a veteran serving in europe , and when i went back, as a civilian independent, they were walking down, and there is a huge difference in the way that

the east and west live. however, president putin, on his own mission, i believe to reconstitute the reef -- former soviet union. you know, you have georgia, pramila, and now you have -- crimea, and now you if you look at the map, he wants to take apart the ukraine, and he is just further west, and it seems like on the border, all the way up the coast. so i have been in europe, during the cold war. basically, the height of the cold war. what i have seen is that we have to be there to support nato. we made these agreements to split up the so you -- soviet union, and each country has a right to determine its own destiny and self-governance. i am just not sure what people

are thinking about worrying about what is going on at home. i worry about what is going on as well. i see high gas prices and all of these other high commodities based on inflation, but we still have an obligation to support those countries who are our friends. those who believe that president biden is colluding with putin. when did we fall in love with russia? i don't understand this at all. had we, you know the ex-president trump in an office, who is trying to tear down nato, i believe, on behalf of putin, he might have been not understanding what he was doing, but in my opinion, the former president, if u.s. president now, he would have moved a long time ago.

host: let's go to catherine in north conway, new hampshire, on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i have a comment, and it goes on -- russia does not want the ukraine to become part of nato. every country has their bad and their good history. the ussr had the berlin wall, stalin and lenin, but they also fought the nazis in world war ii, and 25 million of their people died. so, if you -- ukraine does join nato, why not ask russia if they would like to join nato. tell me what they say. do they want to end up working with china and iran? i would be very interested. thank you. host: once again, the president

came out on friday to say that he believed that vladimir putin has decided to invade the ukraine. in the story of the newspaper this morning, the new york times talks about the consequences of the president's comments, and where it puts the united states. here is what they said. the president's comments are the current indications of just how close the world may be to the largest conflict in europe since world war ii. it would be a highly unusual course of predicting the timeframe and parameters of the invasions. despite the risks that he could be proved wrong. we are calling out russia's plans loudly and repeatedly, mr. biden said. not because he wanted a conflict but because we are doing everything in our power to remove any reason that they may give to justify invading the ukraine and prevent them from moving. the president did not say how

the administration knew about mr. putin's decision, but to u.s. officials said that the assessment was based in part on new intelligence showing that nearly half of the 150,000 russian forces have moved out of staging and into combat formation, and they could launch a full-scale invasion within days. the force includes 122 125 battalion tactical groups, up from the mid-80's earlier in the month. some of the forces are reservists who are made up of an occupation force after an invasion. officials said. they asked for anonymity to discuss government assessments. mr. biden found that the united states and its allies were united behind imposing severe economic sanctions if russians or sins -- if russian forces crossed the ukraine border. he said that he held a call with democratic and republican lawmakers who express united support for the ministration during a visit to munich

security conference. that comes from the new york times this morning. what do you think about the russia and ukraine border crisis? before we get back to calls, on thursday afternoon, on the senate floor, republican senator james lankford came out and talked about trying to prevent another land war in europe. here is he had to say. >> we should speak clearly as a nation. we should speak clearly from the administration. we should speak clearly from congress with a unified, nonpartisan voice. the people of the united states want to do what is going to take to stop a war from starting. so europe does not see another land war. that's going to take focus from this body. what do we need to do? we should make it clear that we will provide energy to the rest

of the world, that if russia cuts them off, we should fill the gap. we should make it clear about our primary and secondary sanctions prayed we should make it clear about diplomatic channels and in public we will do. we should continue to work with our allies to build a strong coalition and reaffirm the nato alliance is there. we should continue to make it very clear to russia at that if they choose to move into the ukraine, it would not only be economically disastrous, but nato is well prepared to defend our alliance. we should stand with the people of the ukraine. we should continue to equip them as they work to be able to protect themselves. the people of the ukraine, in the times i've been there, and i have been there several times, the people of the ukraine will be glad to cs drive through the capital and point out the places where they fought for their independence. they are a proud people. they do not want the russians

taking over their country, and they have fought for their independence once, and they are prepared to fight for it again. they should know we are prepared to stand next to them. let us pray for the people of ukraine. host: let's see what our social media followers are saying about the russia ukrainian border crisis. before we get to social media, the ukrainian president has just tweeted, just a few seconds ago, about the situation in the ukraine. i want to read that tweet to you first. the president wrote, met with boris johnson in munich, and talked about security against the russian aggressive actions. agreed on joint steps. we remain united in de-escalation through diplomacy. grateful to england for supporting ukrainian cooperation for security and peace.

that was just tweeted earlier this morning from the ukrainian president. our social media followers are saying about russia -- here is a text that says why are we debating the subject when we are not being asked for help. are we basing our actions on speculation? are we complicating the situation more than necessary? a tweet says that biden was praising -- ember -- racing us for a bloody war in his speech. said after four years of world peace, were in war. another tweet says we are no longer in a position to dictate anything to any other country. a facebook post says, this is not really are concerned. let's not get into another war that is not ours. one last facebook post -- the

biden administration is handling this perfectly. if the conservatives had it their way, that nord stream 2 would have been destroyed and we would have zero leverage. we want to know what you think about the russia ukrainian border crisis. what should the united states do if anything? what should the biden demonstration doing? what should nato be doing? let's go to california on the republican line. good morning. -- democrat line. good morning. caller: what is happening on your show? most of these people do not understand that we have treaties with these countries in europe. that is what nato is all about. we are standing up to our responsibilities there. in world war ii, they made

treaties with the nazis. they betrayed the treaties. so, --. host: let's go to john in illinois on the democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning. i just heard the republican gentleman speaking grid it is really nice that republicans and democrats can get together in supporting the ukraine. i am a big supporter of the ukraine. i do not believe that we have the ground troops there. i believe that the ukrainians are willing to fight for themselves, and there is no guarantee that russia could even be them. especially when we are giving them, the ukrainians, military aid. can anybody guarantee that russia even knows what is doing? host: let's go to danny in north carolina on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning.

i think the biggest problem is happening now, and it is probably more of a target to the democrat party, within the ukraine, and russia, if there is a skirmish, if there is a war, obviously, we are not going to engage two superpowers. we would talk about massive destruction, but we will levy sanctions. we are probably overlooking that those sanctions are going to cripple our economy as well. the question is, how long will the american people put up with increasing the inflation as well as energy costs going through the roof? the american people will target the democrat party at that point in time, and there will be [indiscernible] dave were played by vladimir putin, and there will be consequences across the globe.

host: speaking of the economic possibilities coming from the russia ukraine border crisis, cnbc has a story on how the russian and ukrainian border crisis is affecting the board -- markets, right now. i want to read some of that story to you. the indexes fell with the second consecutive losing week, as the conflict put investors on edge. the blue-chip dow jones industrial average shed 232 points, or .7%. 34,079.18. the s&p 500 lost .7% to close at 4000 348.87. the nasdaq composite retreat 1.2 percent to 13,005 and 48.07.

the indexes each lost more than 1%. ongoing tensions between russia and the ukraine continue to drive market action. the wall street journal reported prices that were expected to tax russia. president joe biden is expected to move more united states troops closer to the ukraine. secretary of state antony blinken speaking to the united nations on thursday warned that the situation is at a moment of peril. investors are having a hard time holding onto risk as the likelihood of a standoff between the west and russia will ultimately lead to some ground conflict ed moyer said on friday. wall street will remain jittery until we see a major de-escalation. once again, that is coming from cnbc.com. talking about how wall street is dealing with the russia and ukrainian crisis. what do you think should be done

right now? let's go to herbert in rivers edge, new jersey, on the democrat line. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i just want to say that the president has a brilliant strategy which he is using in this situation. he is preempting the russians. whatever strategy they are using, [indiscernible] we cannot be deceived like we have in the past where we are using an excuse to start a war. the president has printed all of that, and anyone who's is interested should listen to the united nations speech that our representative made. he very clearly stated that we don't want war. we are not going to let you take over. remember this. while this is happening, our countries are watching. particularly, china. we have to be strong, otherwise china will go into taiwan.

thank you for taking my call. host: let's go to pennsylvania on the independent line. craig, good morning. caller: good morning. the last caller from new jersey, the first part of his comments were ridiculous. he ended fine. about china. there is no doubt that china is watching all of this, so he is absolutely correct on this, but many of the callers who think that joe biden knows what he is doing are wrong. these people and the rest of the world, the people have watched joe biden over the past 40 years. you have prudent and you have president in china. they have seen him. they have seen what he has tolerated with his son. they see what happened in crimea in 2014 when he was vice president. they have seen what he offered

by way of the mba kate -- nba caved to china. they have seen all of that. they know what he is all about and what he is likely to do. the wildcard and all of this is, i don't think joe biden is making these decisions. there should be a program about who is making the decisions. host: who do you think is making decisions? if joe biden is president, who is making decisions for him? caller: susan rice, and obama administration people in the white house. that is who i think are making decisions. that gives me some hope that they are not as clueless as biden. that they have learned, i hope, from what happened in 2014.

they learned what happened in trying to appease china. i hope they have learned that. i don't think biden has. i have more hope and what they do. it is time that people just tell the emperor he has no clothes. senator lankford had many excellent points. many excellent points. but my personal opinion is, you go out and you be aggressive. this slow diplomacy thing -- we have been talking about an imminent invasion for a month. after a while, it was a month. he is making millions of dollars every day. the longer this goes on. host: let us go to want in new jersey on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning.

no one seems to be talking about what i feel is the real issue. that is the nuclear threat. there are 27 nato nations armed with nuclear weapons, and they are not rockets. they are cannons. there is no time for russia to act if one accidentally goes off. we could be in the middle of a nuclear holocaust. all of these nuclear bombs and rockets have a chain of command, if the president or vladimir putin presses the button and it goes off. there is a whole chain of command. the ukraine is the largest country without one, and vladimir putin does not want another country armed with nuclear weapons. the only safe weapon is one that doesn't exist.

when obama was president, they reduce the nuclear arsenal from about 12 or 14,000 to 1600 weapons. they would only take about 250 of today's sized weapons to make the earth it uninhabitable. we have to start stocking -- talking the truth. not be asking around all of the other issues. host: let's go to eddie on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i've been watching the news, and i think biden fell asleep doing a conference. host: please turn your television down and keep going. caller: i would like to speak on the ukraine.

i don't think biden is competent to make any decision on war because a man that falls asleep when he is having a conference and stuff, i have a 10-year-old grandson that is more able to make a decision than he is. host: let's go to jeff who is calling from clintonville pennsylvania on the republican line. good morning. caller: first time caller. i am scratching my head at this whole thing. you have biden, when he first became president, shutting down pipelines. almost at that point, maybe a month or two later, we started buying gold. now gold is going up, and he just takes a little tiny piece of that country, our stock market, which is already falling, he continues to make money. he just shook hands with china.

a week ago. how much import do we have from china? all of the sun, china says, i am sorry, but i have a -- more friends with russia than you have right now. you are all alone. try to make your chips because i'm selling my to russia. i don't know. i see this as a bigger picture, and vladimir putin is playing a chess game, and our president is playing hopscotch. they are two different kinds of games going on, and i don't think we should go to war with them. i think we need to put our energy back in the way we had it, and just back out of this. that's basically all i have. thank you. host: let's go to salsberry, north carolina, the democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning. good morning to america.

it is so ironic to hear how america, essentially republicans, and don't get me wrong, white people, saying, we don't have -- we should have nothing to do with that war. biden is not the right person, but it you can remember -- if you can remember trump, he abandoned them, and all, nobody said anything about it. then you see trump join the argument, know what to say anything about that. i'm sure vladimir putin is working on what trump is telling him off-line. he is telling him that, this is what trump is telling him. i will tell you what trump is telling prudent. he is -- what trump is telling vladimir putin. the ukraine will not be part of nato. and he got pulled into the uproar thinking that is true. trump is right now, sitting back, negotiating with vladimir

putin, trying to tell him the strategy of america with someone whose documents he had at mar-a-lago. we all need to wake up. this is about voting rights, and this is about getting everything with proof against the insurrection. this is about trying to divert us from what we need to do in america. vladimir putin is not going in. but if he does going, it's the ukraine that is going to have to live like afghanistan, and let him in. host: let's go to terry, honolulu, hawaii, republican. good morning. caller: hey, look. there's absolutely no evidence that biden knows anything about what he is doing. we need to examine the conflict of interest about what his son was doing in the ukraine before he got to be president. there seems to be a serious conflict of interest here. so far, the biden administration

has shown no proclivity to be anything but corrupt. incompetent, stupid. there is no reason we should be over there doing this until we know what the biden family and administration has been doing in the ukraine. host: let's go to written in new jersey on the democrat line. good morning. caller: i want to talk about vladimir putin's problem. this is due to much of the soviet union. he has been doing this using a two-pronged approach. he uses that military, but he also uses other means to cause this in the west. he is using propaganda, he is using the internet, and as he

said, he hopes to get trump elected, which he did. he thought trump would vote well with his project. and of course, if trump was president now, do you think you would be allying nato to fight russia? i don't think so. he has a problem, because trump did not get elected, and now he has biden and nato being rallied against russia. that is the problem. this is why trump got elected. it was part of prudence plan. thank you very much. host: let's go to dave on south carolina's independent line. good morning. i just wanted to say that there was a real estate dealer. for all we know, he could have sold vladimir putin the entire country of the ukraine and got away with that.

that is why he is hiding like this. we are in deep trouble. that's all i have to say. host: let's go to diana who is calling from halifax, pennsylvania, on the democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning. i watch your program, and i haven't watched it for years, listening to different voices from different areas in the united states. my concern is of course what is going to happen in the ukraine. mainly, my concern is the divisiveness in this country. i have never seen anything like it in my life, and it is not a matter of having to join together to back the president of the united states in his decisions, it is still

republicans versus democrats. that is the problem in this country. it is republicans versus democrats. thank you. host: let's talk to gloria in warren, ohio on the independent line. good morning. caller: how are you? host: fine. go ahead. caller: you need to show that republican senator from a few minutes ago. maybe people might listen to what he said. biden is doing the right thing and trying to keep vladimir putin from taking over that country. vladimir putin once the power of being in control of all of that area, so he can be more dominant and have more strength, and if people don't pay more attention to what is going on in this country, we are going to be in a deep mess.

this world is on its way out. this country is. vladimir putin is just as dangerous as trump. trump is a dangerous person. he wants the same kind of power that vladimir putin has. trump is taking over this country. host: let's go to eric in new york on the democrat line. good morning. caller: thank you very much. i've done a little reading and research about the ukraine, and over the past years, what i don't here in the c-span coverage of this is the minx treaty that has 14 nations, were among them, the eastern province of ukraine is largely ethnic russians in proportion. they want independence, and they want to be independent, and that is a provision of the treaty.

i think the resolution to this, i could be wrong, and i don't understand the treaty thoroughly, but those two provinces have a right to elections to determine whether they want to be independent and all i themselves with economics in russia, or those two provinces want to remain part of the ukraine. i think it is part of the treaty, and i hope, maybe you could expand the c-span coverage to bring in the treaty that it has provisions and its interpretation of it, because, i could be right, but i think, that would expand it and be more informative about this whole matter. host: let's go to james and luther, oklahoma on the republican line. good morning. caller: hello. i would like to know why i was becca stand and all of that, afghanistan, it cannot be handled like this can. russia went into afghanistan,

they try to do it, they couldn't do anything. america went in 20 years, and did it. they couldn't do anything. i would like to know why they can't sit down and figure this thing out. that nord stream 2 pipeline, that -- trump opened it up, and now they are going to use that as age shut to the new. -- as a shutdown to the e you. -- there is no reason that people should hurt over this. it is a big decision. it is a big decision on the countries around them. belarus, all around. just like us pakistan was around afghanistan. -- i was pakistan wawashington " continues. host: we are back with dan caldwell, a senior advisor for concerned veterans for america, and he is here with us this morning to discuss public policy and defense issues impacting veterans. good morning.

guest: thank you for having me. host: first of all, explain to our viewers exactly what concerned veterans for america is and how does it get its funding. guest: sure, it is a veterans grassroots advocacy organization whose mission it is to advance policies to preserve the freedom and prosperity that we fought and sacrificed for a while in uniform. we are focused on reforming -- reforming and fixing the department of veterans affairs, reining in national debt, and advancing a foreign policy rooted in realism and restraint. we are part of the larger stand can -- stand together community a group of philanthropic organizations that aim to help individuals break down their own barriers and realize their full potential. we are funded by individual donors across the country and we are grateful for their support. host: what is you