the podcast democracy in color, he will be here to talk about his program. all that plus your calls, tweets, and facebook comments. "washington journal" starts now. ♪ host: good morning. it is saturday, may 7, 2022. the un-employment rate stayed the same at 3.6%. today, we are asking you about your job situation. the phone lines are looking for a job, not looking for a job, employers, and recently retired. if you are looking for a job, (202) 748-8000. if you are not looking for a job because you are happily employed or if you dropped out of the

workforce, (202) 748-8001. if you are an employer and you hire people, (202) 748-8002. and if you have recently retired, call us at (202) 748-8003. you can reach us on social media , facebook.com/cspan, and send us a tweet at @cspanwj. welcome to "washington journal." before we get to your calls, we will look at headlines, hear from the president, we will talk to an economics reporter. here's of the headline from the wall street journal this morning. it says that the economy extends strong hiring growth. unemployment stays at 3.6 percent, laborforce declines and tight market for workers. the u.s. labor market extended a run of rapid job growth last month, despite increased economic uncertainty and jittery

markets as employers rushed to serve waves of consumers shopping, dining out, and traveling more. here's a look at the hill newspaper, here is the headline, economy as better-than-expected 420,000 jobs in april, unemployment holds at 3.6%. the president was speaking about those job numbers in ohio. take a look. [video clip] pres. biden: today's job reports shows the strongest job creation in the modern times of the american economy. today's report showed we created 420,000 jobs last month and that means we have now created a total of 8.3 million jobs in my first 15 months in office with the help of the -- behind me.

[applause] the unemployment rate stands at 3.6 percent, the fastest decline in unemployment in the start of a president's term ever recorded. again because of the guys behind me. black unemployment has been caught in half since i took office and unlike previous administrations, where the deficit went up, -- deaths when i'm every year -- deficit went out, every singly year we reduced the deficit. with everything we have done, we reduce the deficit by a total of $350 billion. that reduce the deficit. last year. this year, by the end of the fiscal year by october 1, we will reduce this year's deficit by $1,000,000,000,500 -- $1.5 trillion. never in the history of america has that happened before. host: we are joined now by a reporter for the hill newspaper, on zoom with us.

hi, silvan, welcome to the program. >> thank you for having me. host: put these numbers in perspective with us. was this in line with what economists were expecting? reporter: this was sort of in line with what economists were expecting but bottom line, this was another strong month for the u.s. economy. 420,000 jobs added at this point in our recovery from the pandemic is still really good. the unemployment rate is about .1% higher than it was before the pandemic and the job gains we saw were pretty broad throughout the economy. we saw hospitality in the way again but we saw pickups in financial, health care, really everywhere but public education, so all in all it was a strong month for the economy. host: you said there were gains in the only place it has dropped then was public education? expand on that a little bit. reporter: that's right.

there has been some unique issues facing state and local governments in terms of getting back to their full, pre-pandemic functions in terms of government workers. there was a big chunk for states locally and american rescue brian -- rescue plan signed last year. there are still concerns about getting the money where it needs to go but beyond those specific situations, there is a lot of, and the private sector at least, job creation. host: put the unemployment rate in perspective. i understand it is near 50 year lows at this point. reporter: sure. right before the pandemic it us, in february 2020, the on them limit rate dropped to 3.5%. that at the time was the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years. on april 2020, that shut up to 14.7% when the u.s. lost about 21 million jobs in span of a month when a pandemic it us but

ever since then, we have been rapidly adding those jobs back into say the labor market right now is -- the percentage of americans think for a job and cannot find one is about the same as it was before the pandemic, even though we are on a different economy in many regards. host: talk about the labor participation rate. what is it and why is it important? reporter: the labor force participation rate is pretty important because it measures how much of the american population is actually -- working age population is out there seeking a job or is in a job or wants to get in a job. policymakers want labor participation rates to be high as possible, that creates economic productivity and means a lot more people can get by better. basically what had happened was

during the pandemic is labor force participation fell sharply for reasons you can imagine. folks can i go to work because they were taking care of a loved one with covid or head over themselves, maybe their employer shut down and worked out an industry that it was hit hard by the pandemic. labor force participation has been priming since then but is about 1% below where economists would like it to be, or sorry 1% below where it was before the pandemic so a lot lower than economists would like it to be. host: what about wages? what is the latest report telling us about wages? reporter: wages grew 5.3% over the past 12 months. which is pretty strong and it is remarkably strong but is a little slower than it has been in the previous months. that is kind of a win/lose situation for the economy in some ways because you generally

want people to be making more money, especially at the lower wage and of the spectrum -- wage end at -- end of the spectrum. economists were hoping the pandemic recovery would help bring those back up. now we are in the situation where wages have been going up so fast for so long that it is one of many factors that is starting to feed into this inflation we have seen throughout the economy. so now the federal reserve and central bank is in a position to try to raise interest rates fast enough to bring wage growth and the general pace of the economy back in line with normal trends but slow enough that we do not hit a recession. host: i was going to ask you about interest rate hikes and how that impacts all of this. also, the stock market is not doing so well right now. reporter: that's right. the stock market has had a bad

week. thursday was the worst day for the dow jones industrial average and nasdaq composite since 2020 and markets are probably going to continue to have volatility as they get a sense of what these rate hikes mean for the economy. generally speaking, when the fed hikes interest rates, the pace of the economy slows as consumers and businesses are dealing with higher borrowing costs so they are spending less money overall. the issue is the fed does not want it to get to a point where the economy slows so much the u.s. stop setting jobs entirely. with 420,000 jobs in april, two hundred million jobs over the first four months of the year, the u.s. economy is in a good position, but at the same time, the fed faces a lot of different obstacles like the war in ukraine, covid chuck downs,

ongoing supply chain issues that are all putting pressure upward on inflation, and that will make their job harder. host: finally, what are economists expecting do you think for next month's jobs report? do you think it will be just as strong or will it start to level off? reporter: economists are expecting job growth to slow a little bit as we get deeper into this recovery and interest rates get higher. even a slowdown from april would be -- host: thanks so much, a reporter for the hell, nice to have you. reporter: thanks for having me. host: we will go to your calls now. we are asking about your job situation. first up is tom in west columbia, south carolina. good morning, tom. caller: good morning. let me give you some real quick demographics about me. i have 81 years old, noncollege, divorced, and i'm not trying to

be funny about this but i'm not a very tall individual. i'm looking for a job and i have some great training in my previous employment days. i call them my previous jobs that i've had, but when i apply for a job and show up for an interview and they see i'm short of statute, that i'm not college-educated, and i'm divorced, the door kind of gets shut in my face. host: what kind of job are you looking for? caller: i'm looking in sales and marketing, which is what i have done all my life ever since i started working when i was eight years old. and i am 81 now. so i'm pretty well educated in how to do that. host: and how long have you been

looking? caller: the door gets shot in my face. i'm sorry? host: how long have you been looking for a job? caller: probably three or four years now. i have been retired about 10 years and of course an employer wants to know what have you been doing those 10 years? i've been watching the prices rise and let's make a deal. nobody wants to listen to me. i think i'm not by myself in this group. host: so you retired but you needed to come back to work? why did you come back? caller: that's correct. host: so why did you retire in the first place? caller: i want to come back in a -- why? i got retired. my physical appearance did not fit the -- what the company wanted to present to potential customers. host: tom, best of luck to you.

that up is michael in north carolina. hi, michael. caller: hello. host: hi. caller: how are you? host: good. go ahead. what is your job situation? caller: currently employed and transferring over to a new job now, but i'm still employed at the end of the day, right? host: yes you are. why are you looking to change jobs, michael? caller: max lee separating from active duty and i just wanted to make a comment on the current job market. host: sure. -- i am actually separating from active duty and i wanted to make a comment on the current market. host: sure. caller: the numbers seem to be going down and down but realistically it is putting pressure on corporations that can afford to pay people a little bit more.

the american public is not willing to work for -- i think the standard was $10 even though minimum wages at seven dollars, the standard was $10, something amazing not five years ago and now to see companies like amazon , for example, having to bring it back up to $15, which is great still with the rising housing market and cost-of-living in states these days but i think we are starting to see pressure on some of these big companies to pay the american public what they are worth. host: that is interesting. do you think those rising wages are going to put more pressure on prices to go up? somebody has got to pay for it. caller: of course. i think that is the big fear, especially like i forgot the gentleman's name but the rising

interest on almost everything. i just got into a long-term loan lot too long ago and it is higher than i was used to but i know the past two to three months everything has been going up. i think that is the fear that, as our paychecks go up, so do the price on things. i don't know if it is something about federalization, i find it hard to believe big companies need to raise their prices and not just need to reallocate funds. give the american public what they are worth. host: thanks, michael. let's talk to tim in alabama. caller: that's right. host: hi, tim. caller: i would like to comment on the jobs situation for women in this country. the pandemic has really affected

the women being able to work because now they are able -- now they have to stay home and to some of them have to take care of kids, to raise their family, and the other part of the women's job market i am noticing is that when the laws are passed against abortion, then the women will have to stay home and work and raise the children and take care of the family, so this is going to affect again the job market for women and it will affect the advancement women have made in education, in politics, and in other areas. it is kind of like a comparison to me of women being denied

their rights like they are in some of the other countries like some of the muslim countries where they are not allowed to drive, they are not allowed to work, so what is happening with the job market for women is the advancements they made, the abortion ban will take all of the advancements away from them. host: there's an article here from cnbc about that, the job market for women headlines, more than half of april job gains went to women but one million women are still missing from the labor force. it's is april and march is the third straight month for job growth for women who gained about 65% of the new positions created. women gain jobs across major sectors last month including

leisure and hospitality, retail, trade, government, and the education and health services sector. yet women still lag behind men in economic recovery. 181 thousand women left the labor force in april compared to 131,000 men. there are close to one million fewer women working or actively seeking a new job than in february 2020, which is before the turndown. joe is next in maine. joe? caller: thanks for taking my call. i would like to point out one thing, the republicans keep talking about how they appreciate women and it is so important. the republican party would not vote for equal pay for women, so that is the end of the discussion. they don't give to hoots about women -- two hoots about women.

this abortion thing, all of a sudden mitch mcconnell is not working to end abortion with what he has done the last five years. the republican party is the republican of lies. so here we are in the job market, donald trump said he created the best economy ever, that is a lie. host: what is your job situation? caller: i am a retired firefighter from massachusetts. host: ok, and why did you retire? was it just time or are you happy in your retirement? caller: i have a bad back. i could not continue working. i was involuntarily disabled. host: joe, take a look -- joe is retired in one of our previous colors talked about the being un-retired, so this is the

headline from cnbc, un-retirement is becoming a hot new trend in the sizzling u.s. labor market. since the level of workers who retired then came back a year later is running around 3.2%, just about where it was before the pandemic, a thriving jobs market in which workers virtually have their pick on where to go coupled with soaring inflation and the fading of covid fears are all contributing to this trend of un-retirement. james is next in north carolina. caller: good morning. i would like to refer to mr.'s comments. he must have mentioned the pandemic at least 20 times so i'm retired. i'm a former adjunct instructor at a community college where i was teaching young students in the health care professions

about what i would like to encourage people, the pandemic has certainly affected it across the country. you have an ipad right there and you often reference the new york times, washington post, the wall street journal. i would like to to reference the latest edition of the new england journal of medicine, the most premier journal of medicine. many of the articles are free. we need to get to immunizing and vaccinating the country to 80% to have herd immunity. some of the major articles that are free, just let me list a few of them. efficacy request for kobe sars to vaccine, -- host: so are you saying really the jobs market is about getting more people vaccinated so the covid rates come down and more people are able to work? caller: absolutely. let me just go on for a moment.

vaccine effectiveness against omicron in south africa, copperheads of covid-19 response, then looking at the falsity, ivermectin for early covid-19 does not work, convalescent antibodies after omicron infection. these articles are free. host: all right. appreciate that input, gil. let's talk to patty next in atlantic city, new jersey. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i wanted to comment and adjust have to do with the job market with women, about this roe v. wade case. i just want to say as an independent voter that mitch mcconnell and the republican want to make women secondhand citizens and have to answer to men about their bodies and i think -- i know this will be a

very big issue that 90-year-old women will come out of the corners to fight this. host: and how is this related to the jobs market? caller: it's related to the jobs market because, if roe v. wade is overturned and women become second-class citizens, it will affect the job market for women, for sure, because women will be tied down and forced birth and so on. they will not be free to make decisions about their own bodies and lives. host: all right, patty. we are asking today what is your job situation. you can feel free to give us a call. the numbers are separated by looking for a job, not looking for a job, unemployed -- an employer, or recently retired. those numbers are, if you are in the job market looking for a job, (202) 748-8000.

if you are not looking for a job, for whatever reason, you are happily employed or dropped out of the workforce, it is (202) 748-8001. if you are an employer and hire people, it is (202) 748-8002. if you have recently retired, (202) 748-8003. let us know what your job situation is. we have a tweet from some members of congress. take a look. this -- democrat senator from virginia, tim kaine says this. "that makes a record-setting 8.3 million jobs created since potus took office and one of the lowest on them point rates in decades. this is the american rescue plan at work. now let's build on that progress to lower costs for families." this one is also from democrat sherrod brown who says "don't forget the 473,000 manufacturing

jobs created since potus took office, a huge deal for manufacturing states like ohio." and this is republican senator ted cruz that says "the white house is blissfully peddling the jobs report. the american people can see through their strong economy spin. inflation is through the roof and wages cannot keep up with it." this is representative aged -- adrian smith saying "inflation is outpacing wage gains and the labor participation rate is unchanged from last month's. today's report puts a spotlight on democrats failed economic policies, americans deserve better." let's talk to steve next calling us from cornelius, north carolina. hi, steve. caller: hi. thank you for having me. i was a retiring doctor but the hospital basically said since were so shorthanded i could work

as many days as i wanted, as many days as i wanted, so they were very accommodating because of the shortage of positions. my second point was this worry about covid and whether that is having an impact on people coming back. at the last staff meeting, we have had numerous covid hospitalizations over the last few years, but we have, for the hospital, 743 beds, which they cover. and one of the hospitals, for the first time in two years, they have had no covid cases in the intensive care unit at our small hospital. we have local the case is currently. it is -- it has become a moving target, clearly let's purulent, less severe, -- less severe lint

-- virilent, less severe. we have asymptomatic covid just simply not being tested. just as an observation, we typically had flu cases in their a few in the intensive care unit but to have no covid cases, none of the intensive care unit, i would think the argument at least the current variant of covid in our small little area is less than the flu. host: do you have a high vaccination right where you are? caller: no, it is a pretty low one, about 50%. it's probably -- i don't know, previous people worry about herd immunity. i think it is hard to figure out. measles is the analogy saying it has to get up to what the measles rate is. that might have been true for covid in its initial presentation, but certainly what

is herd immunity now? i would have to say it is speculation whenever i hear people give number -- give the number. host: let's talk to john next in milton, georgia. hi, john. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i retired. i was a schoolteacher in pennsylvania for almost 30 years, i retired in 2019, moved to georgia. i was recently hired. i will go back into the classroom. my concern with all of this is i am 68, my health is good and my new employer currently is masked optional which is fine. i have no problem with that. what worries me is, if there is a surge in the fall or winter coming, i will have possibly a breakthrough infection.

i worry concern for myself but also my wife who is immuno compromised, so for me, it is kind of balanced where can i be safe and what level of risk can i tolerate? host: so why did you go back to work? caller: that's a good question. a couple of things. number one, i felt lost in retirement frankly. covid did not help with that. i moved to georgia to be closer to family and grandchildren, which is great, but again covid limited our contact with the grandkids, so just a feeling i still had a couple more years and me to contribute. my health is good. host: aside from being a little worried about covid, are you happy back in the jobs force? caller: so far because i seem to have had gotten my bearings back a little bit.

i think what happens to people in retirement more than they want to admit is they flounder bed. some don't and some do. i think i did. i had things to do, things i like to do, but i felt -- i think it is generally happening when you retire, you sort of lose your sense of purpose and have to find a new purpose. i am still probably transitioning there, probably going back the other direction at the moment but i know down the road two to five years i will probably be retired again and facing the same issues. so hopefully by then covid will not be one of those factors. host: all right, john. ken is in dimon, missouri. good morning, ken. kenneth. caller: good morning. are you talking about herd immunity? i had both modernity shot in the booster and i wound up getting covid anyway. so sometimes they don't work. host: what is your job

situation, kenneth? caller: i have been retired since 2012. i do not need to work. i had retired because my wife had cancer, but i'm fine. one thing i do not like about this program is the democrats get on there and accuse republicans of everything. when actually that is what they do. so just like the jobs report, the man said this morning, how many jobs were created but forgot to mention how many people left the job force. you never mentioned that. it is a one-sided deal and that is not right. you've got to mention how many -- how much increased and decreased. host: thank you for bringing that up. the president was talking in ohio, sherrod brown mentioned

manufacturing jobs. here he is talking about that. [video clip] pres. biden: i am tired of trickle-down economics. i've never seen it really work. i tell you what, i am a capitalist, i am wanting to boost the bottom up in middle out. when that happens the middle-class to find in the wealthy do very well, never get her when that happens. just the small manufacturers in ohio, illinois, florida, connecticut, virginia, they know what is going on. all of you know, everyone of you know that competitiveness and resilience of american supply chain rests on tens of thousands of small-sized manufacturers like the ones i met here today. that is where the supply chain america is. they account for nearly 99% of all manufacturing enterprises and more than 5 million american

jobs. every general electric, honeywell, siemens energy, lockheed martin, there are hundreds -- for everyone of them there are hundreds if not thousands of smaller suppliers that help these iconic american businesses compete globally. host: that was the president speaking in ohio recently about manufacturing jobs. let's talk to daniel in delaware. good morning, daniel. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. how are you today? host: good, thanks. caller: good. i am a retired -- and the pennsylvania area, work for big supermarket and was able to get out. this problem with the transportation and automobiles industry, etc., you pay what you get for an life and all like that.

the business is sending good jobs over to third world countries, the epidemic came in the virus came and we saw what happened. [indiscernible] a lot of folks right now are sitting at their house, supposedly working from their house. you cannot drive a truck from home, can't work in the supermarket from home. a lot of this was brought on by ourselves and i just do not understand how they go back and forth and nitpick over stuff and families here who play by the rules and do the so-called right thing in life are always the ones penalized. host: daniel is gone. let's talk to elizabeth next in lutherville, to loney him, maryland. caller: good morning. i'm a senior and i've been

looking for a job ever since i became retired. i had to quit my job in 2010 because i became ill. the last 40 years i have been looking for a job as a senior and cannot get one maybe because i do not have transportation. i do not have a car, my payment is a long way away, i and based an apartment in maryland, no buses where i live. if there was a bus why lived, i would take the bus to work. no one will hire me because i'm too old. i have a phd in cultural anthropology and masters degree nba, but no one will hire me because i'm too old. [laughter] every time i've had job interviews over the phone and every time i get a job interview they asked me when i graduated from high school. i say 1959 and then they hang up on me. [laughter] so that is really the reason i cannot get hired because i'm too old. i wish i could get a job so much because i cannot live on my

social security. i cannot afford to pay for everything on my social security. if anyone would give me a job i would be grateful. take my phone number over the tv i would kiss you and hug you. thank you so much. host: good luck, elizabeth. joe is next in eastlake, ohio. caller: good morning. how are you doing today? host: good, thanks. joe? caller: i've been retired for over a decade now and i have thought about going back to work , but one of the reasons that i do not is with my background and what have -- what i have done in my life i would have a hard time putting up with the ignorance that i see every day working for somebody else that is nowhere near as qualified or experienced as i am. host: that can be tough, joe. what field are you in? caller: i was former military

and national security working over -- in over 20 countries. host: have you decided to just not look anymore? are you going to stay out of the labor market? caller: pretty much. i spend some of my time doing charity work and promoting programs through some associations i belong with and otherwise i spend my time reading and trying to keep up on things, and i tell you it is frustrating. after everything i've seen in my life, in my opinion, americans are clueless. they have no idea what the real world is like and they live in a fog of stupidity. host: well stay positive, joe. speaking about the economy, senator roy blunt took the biden administration to task for spending -- for it spending

including money from the american rescue plan. here's a portion from earlier this week. >> all you gotta do to find out the economy is a problem it go to the gas station or grocery store. most americans do that and do it a lot. and when gas prices go up, when food prices go up, every family knows it. what we are seeing now is inflation that i think it is eight point 5% and it may be settling in at 8.5% but wherever all it -- wherever it settles in, it was higher than it was at any time during the obama administration. the highest month in the obama administration, that is not a year average, that is the highest single month was 3.4%. under president trump, the high single month was 2.9%. we are now at 8.5% and the producer price index has been in

double digits since december. that is usually assigned the other index is going to follow the double-digit scary number that is out there. so energy policies that produce exactly the result you would think they would, higher energy prices, spending policies. the american rescue plan, i thought at the time it was a final covid bill but when you look at the bill before we had a chance to vote on it and saw it, it really did not have much to do with covid. maybe 6% of the $1.9 trillion went to covid. the rest of it went to things that put money in people's pockets to help them recover in an economy that was already recovering. you cannot spend $1.9 trillion in short period of time, even in the biggest and most vibrant

economy in the world and not drive up prices. host: that was senator roy blunt of missouri, talking about spending in the biden administration. we are taking your calls on what is your job situation. let's talk to lewis in stanton, virginia. what is your job situation? caller: good morning. my job situation is unemployed on march 2020 because i have fourth stage cancer but i'm a healthy cancer person. i'm not someone who is on ivs or something like that, god bless them, but i have cll and it is stable. so i lost my job and career, 59 years in mental health. i worked at a psychiatric unit in a hospital which i loved much , i really enjoyed being with individuals who are in need of counseling and a good counselor and doing group therapy. since that time i have been

host: when i applied for work, nobody is responding back, though the market in the hospital field is wide open. i still get the responses. why do you think that is? caller: i think it is because of my age. i have been in the field for 59 years in mental health. i want to continue that journey. i do not know if there is discrimination there or not. i'm not sure but i do not want to go that route because i had a lot of respect for my fellow coworkers. i was formerly employed. i have always had respect throughout the field. however, i am unemployed now and i live here in virginia and i am currently seeking jobs aggressively, and unfortunately there seems to be nothing available. i do not know if there is a freeze on jobs or what is happening but i live on social security. i've gone through my savings, gone through my retirement since

i've been out this 2020. i cannot collect unemployment, i am having a battle with them in virginia. it is a mess. host: have you thought about maybe switching fields to find a job in a different field? caller: i have thought about that. it has been a most recent thought. it is not something i have thought about for a long period of time because i was so dedicated to the feel of mental health. i started working with children with autism a long time ago and gradually worked up to becoming former director and supervisor, etc. i have had all my experience there and that is where my security lies, in my field of mental health. right now, they need me and i need them. mental health issues right now are on the rise. host: absolutely. caller: especially with the isolation withdraw from the covid situation and now the hardships people are going through with our ongoing falling

apart of our economy and high prices of gas and food and things like that that you are aware of. yes. host: best of luck for you, louis. al is next in maryland. good morning, al. caller: good morning. how are you all? host: good. caller: i have been working for a supermarket chain for 40 years now and currently my average rate of pay is about $22 an hour and that is a union job. still, with that kind of hourly rate, it is very hard to pay for everything that you need to average pay for. host: did you work through the pandemic? caller: i sure did. i masked up, we were required to wear a mask, customers were

required to wear a mask, got the vaccines, got both boosters, and i continued to wear a mask. host: all right. harry is next in georgia. harry. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: good morning c-span. good morning, everybody. i am a retired tool maker. i got retired in march 2020 when covid came around and i was at that time 69 is old. so i am right now retired, considering going back to work, and 71 right now. there are a lot of people out here trying to hire me, to makers down here get offered between $30 to $35 an hour right

now. host: why are you thinking about going back? caller: just to earn a little money, you know, what with inflation and all. but i really wanted to say something about inflation. you just played roy blunt, senator blunt, talking about inflation. all of these senators understand macroeconomics, so they understand when a monetary or fiscal policy is obligated, it -- is propagated, it takes 18 months to start affect the economy. so any policy of joe biden's that came in when joe biden started as president is only just now starting to affect the economy. so up until about now, we have been living with the remnants of donald trump's economy.

any macroeconomics -- economist -- macroeconomic economist will tell you that. i just wanted to get that in so people would understand. host: take a look at this article that says the great resignation is becoming a great midlife crisis. it is older, more tenured people that are increasingly quitting their jobs. it says higher paid workers are increasingly quitting their jobs as the great resignation, also known as the great reshuffle, enters its second year. earlier in the pandemic, the trend was led by younger, less tenured workers in low-paying industries like retail, food service, and health care. now the main growth and quit rate is coming from older more tenured workers in higher paid industries like finance, tachy, and other knowledge worker fields. that is accorded -- according to data from two separate data

analytics companies. governor larry hogan of maryland, a republican, but in predominately heavily democratic state of maryland, he spoke about efforts to improve jobs and the economy in his state. [video clip] >> marilyn raised taxes 43 times in a row, we lost a thousand businesses and 100,000 jobs and a gallop poll came out that said 40% of all marylanders wanted to leave the state. i was a small businessman who never got elective office but i was fed up enough to try to do something about it. i could tell you not a soul believed it was remotely possible for a republican to win a blue state in america. but i ran an underfunded, underdog, grassroots campaign that focused on issues most people cared about, and we were

able to build a big ten coalition of republicans, independents, and reagan democrats. i promised to get the government off of our backs and out of our pockets so we could grow our small businesses and put people back to work and turn our economy around. we pulled off the biggest surprise in america. then we did something that seems to rarely ever happen in politics, we actually did exactly what we said we would do, we changed the entire mission of state government to be pro-jobs and pro-businesses. we eliminated or rewrote thousands of job killing regulations. i was the only governor in america who got an overwhelmingly democratic legislature to cut taxes, and we did it a years in a row by $4.7 billion. we turn to 5.1 -- turned a 5.1 billion dollar deficit into the largest surplus in state history. we took our states overall

economic performance from 49th out of 50 states to number six, one of the biggest economic turnarounds in america. host: we are asking you what is your job situation for about the next 10 minutes here on "washington journal", and bill is in florida. good morning, bill. what is your jobs situation? caller: my jobs a situation is likely -- luckily i am retired. i am not an economic expert, but if our president would look around and see all of the help wanted signs, he might catch on. he just might. the reason we see it is that he talks about unions and high paced deals and we are going to build products here so we build a cell phone for $20 and overseas they build the same one for two dollars. the president does not get it.

the biggest problem is washington eunice opal workers union. when i walked around there, i'm telling you, it is terrible. and that filters out to the rest of the private enterprise. if this president was interested in jobs, he would stop talking union. i am familiar with the union between the teamsters and the longshoreman and i saw what activity was not there. somebody has got to recognize it to, but then he gave out this money and we have people sitting on the sidelines that belong in weight watchers. it is just not going to work. host: let's talk to karen next in littleton, new hampshire. good morning. caller: hi, good morning, and thank you for taking my call. i was calling to say i myself -- asking if i was retired, i said i had to go on disability and my

point of saying this is that i agree with the last gentleman and the gentleman i believe who said he was in the military and maybe the secret service and said how he was disappointed and did not go back to work because of the fact people do not know how to work nowadays. i agree with both of them. i heard president biden speak this morning from yesterday saying the people who worked the hardest are union job people and i just want to say that is just an outright lie because of the fact i've had to work since i was 14 years old and my last job was 19 years of working construction and i had hands on, loved it, and got hurt badly in 1997 doing it. the fact being people are not being taught how to work from their parents and then they are given all of this money and i had to go on disability anyway because i had to have a fusion and five surgeries and i cannot

get hired because the fact everybody says you will lose 40 pounds even at a dollar store and i can -- lift 40 pounds even at a dollar store, and i cannot lift more than 10. medicare, the disability is a farce. i wanted to go back to college. because of the fact they said where i live there was not any need where i'm living for me to go to college for what i wanted. i said well then i will go to college on my own and i will pay for it myself and they said if you do that, then you lose your disability and i said why? nothing is coming out of your pocket? my point with that is the fact the president is going to pay off all of these loans for people is not going to teach them anything. and i know people because i have nieces and nephews that went to colleges and they took out exactly every penny they could knowing exactly how to read what

they were signing and did not care and other people were right that they have really good jobs now. host: are you still looking, are you still going to look for a job? caller: i guess i have tried and because of the fact of the five operations i had to have, my neck and bone shoulders have been done with fingers, and because of medicare, we have disability, because i'm on disability -- if i was retired and just on social security, i would not have a problem. host: let's talk to mary in littleton -- in philadelphia, pennsylvania. caller: good morning to you. -- good morning, c-span. i am a retired state worker from pennsylvania. 45 years i was employed. i did investigations for the state, and the pandemic disclosed to us that we had more

unskilled workers because they were not in the union. people engaged in credential lying. the ones that stated they had the skills available to them and a lot of people were engaging in marijuana use. now you cannot have going to a person, for example, and he is on marijuana. so we need to be careful when we pass these laws in this country because it is not suitable for the average person and citizens in this country. we are getting people in from other countries that are unskilled, doing their own plumbing, electrical work, which is illegal. construction work. you know, you have to have a skill, licensed -- skilled,

licensed person to do these jobs and if people are doing this on their own, it is illegal. so i want people to think about that. and once you're in the union, they always look at your credentials first. host: let's talk to earl in idaho. caller: good morning. i just had a suggestion to add to our listeners. we are looking at food shortages coming up in this country, and if you have not got a job, start some gardens or co-op with the people around you and provide for your communities and self employ yourselves in helping this country get -- stay and get

back on its feet again is my thinking. host: all right, earl. nancy pelosi, speaker of the house, in axios is reporting she is going to be increasing the minimum salary for house staffers to $45,000. linda is next in lincoln, nebraska. hi, linda. caller: hi. thank you for taking my call. i have been retired for 16 years and i was forced out of work because i get the age of 60. i was supposed to work until 67, and of course i could not do that even with temporary work. i was 40 years in secretarial work, had my skills up for at least 20 to 30 years, and the minute i hit 60, that was it. even on a temporary level, at a

point where they did not have anything for me to do, that was the end and i am at the very bottom of social security to live on, which is not even $1000 per month. this country is worried about everybody being discriminated against, but ageism is awful. once you're there, you are stuck and cannot do anything. i have had health issues now and there is no way i could go back into the working force, but it is really bad. host: best of luck to you, linda. reuters is reporting wall street ends down on fears inflation will force tougher fed tightening. it says that the major indexes were down and also the nasdaq has registered lowest closing level since 2020.

let's talk to rick in new york. caller: how are you? host: i'm good, thanks. caller: i'm very fortunate. i'm retired, 69 years old. when i was young, i started 23 years in the military and then came out and spent 20 some years in the workforce. i am also on social security. we have a problem today with people not wanting to work. a good example is look at the other week there was a report about how many that just quit their jobs, 3% of their workforce just quit their jobs. it does not make sense. when you go in town and every other store has the signs up, starting 22 to $25 per hour, one of the problems as we have to give out -- stop giving out the freebies of people wanting to work. we have two generations of people that have become lazy and do not want to do anything. host: business insider is saying

here is the headline, fewer americans were working or looking for work in april, and it means the labor shortage has no end and -- in sight. that is what we're looking for the job situation and we have got other things coming up for you. up next is jessica melugin. she is with the competitive enterprise institute and joins us for discussion on the department of homeland security proposed this information governance board. later we will have open forum and take more of your calls. if you are not able to come in on this question, it you can talk about the jobs market -- question, you can talk about the jobs market. anything

next week on the c-span network, both chambers are in session of the senate planning to codify into law the women's right to an abortion. this is after the leak suggesting roe v. wade may be overturned. tuesday at 10:00 eastern, treasury secretary janet yellen testifies on an annual report on the stability of the financial reports. and on c-span3, the senate foreign relation holds a confirmation meeting including the u.s. ambassador to ukraine. wednesday at 10:00 eastern. dr. anthony appear before's a house appropriations committee on budget request for the national institutes of health. and then lloyd austin and joint

chief staff general milley testify. watch on c-span now and are free video act. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. c-span brings you an unfiltered view of government. our newsletter word for word recaps the day for you from the halls of congress to daily press briefings to remarks on the president. scan the qr code to get this email and stay up-to-date on everything out of washington. scan the qr code or go to c-span.org to connect anytime. c-span's weekly podcast brings

you 40 years of audio recordings from our video library comparing the events of the past today. some observers say presents the biggest challenge ever to roe v. wade. on the latest episode, hear how the members of the supreme court answered questions about roe v. wade during their confirmation hearing. >> john roberts said that roe v. wade is the settled law of the land, do you believe it is the settled law of the land? >> roe v. wade is an important precedent of the supreme court. it was decided in 1973 so it has been on the books for a long time. it has been challenged on a number of occasions and i discussed those yesterday and the supreme court has re-informed -- reaffirmed the

decision. >> in your opinion, is roe v. wade settled law? >> the court's decision reaffirmed roe v. wade. it is the president of the court and settled in terms of the holding of the court. you can find the weekly on c-span now are free video app or wherever you get your podcast. there are a lot of places to get political information but only on c-span do you get it straight from the source. no matter where you are from or where you stand on the issues, c-span is america's network. unfiltered, unbiased, word for word, if it happens here, or here, or anywhere that matters,

america is watching on c-span sponsored by cable. washington journal continues. welcome back to washington journal i have been joined by she is the director at the competitive institute. remind us about the competitive enterprise institute, its mission, its funding. we are a think tank in washington dc, we work on regulatory issues and lately, we do not do social policy we just do economic issues. we talk about the idea of being accountable of the regulations and what effect they have on citizens and consumers. host: we are going to talk about the disinformation governance

board and earlier this week, homeland security was on capitol hill and in addition to talking about border security they talked about the disinformation governance board. >> we are responding to something that is unknown and what we do know is that the disinformation coming from it, why should we not have suspicions? >> you mentioned that the department of state and the federal bureau of investigation already do this work. so does the department of homeland security. the department of security has been doing this work for years in addressing disinformation that poses a threat to our homeland whether it is russia or the cyber domain weather i it is the resources that fema provides in the wake of her natural disaster. whether it is addressing the

smuggling organizations and their disinformation but to vulnerable migrants who receive this information and are goaded into coming to the border under false pretenses. that work has been underway for years and years. what this group is to do is to ensure that that work is performed in a way that is consistent with the law and does not infringe on the freedom of speech, right to privacy, civil rights. it will establish what should've been established years ago. standards, definitions, guidelines and policies. host: alright jessica, what you think of that? guest: the devil is in the details. those things are true in the

consideration of civil liberties and the rights of the citizens will be respected in the process. getting safety information to getting migrants of the border, they have been told the wrong things it will cause problems to their health and safety on the way here. we don't want disinformation about if water is safe to drink or not. that is beyond objection to reasonable people. what we are talking about, or are we talking about the messier areas of free speech and is the government watching and flagging things that they perceive as unsafe things to say? that is a whole different can of worms. i think that is what you saw on the hill. the questions of what are we really talking about here? that is what we don't understand. we don't have that information

that we received at the budget meeting. that is where the controversy lies. host: if you would like to ask are guest a question. for democrats that number is (202) 748-8000, for republicans (202) 748-8001 you can also text us at (202) 748-8003 but tell us your first name and state. homeland security put out a statement, it says that is the department is committed to doing all of its work in a way that protects americans freedom of speech, civil rights, civil liberties and privacy. in fact, the disinformation governance board is an internal working group that was established with the goal that these protections were incorporated in the work and

safeguards are in place. what do you think of that jessica? do you trust them to put those rights him place? guest: i don't know if i should or not. the government does not always have the history of holding itself to the highest standard of telling the truth or protecting the civil liberties of citizens. this is congresses job. this is part of their oversight responsibility to make sure those standards are in place and being upheld. some follow-up from senators and congressmen would be the right idea. you are seeing calls to that on both sides. host: speaking of free speech, elon musk is trying to bide twitter and you were quoted in an article about that. you said that the deal will

solve all free-speech problems or turned the social media platform into an unusable hell scape of content. guest: no one knows what he is going to do as a practical matter with twitter. i am not sure that elon musk knows that right now. the great news is, if he does a terrible job, that is confined to twitter and he can change his mind. and it is just on twitter there are a lot of other places to speak on line. that is a much better solution and way to experiment then a top-down government regulation solution. host: that will cover every body not just a social platform. guest: we are grindingly slow on purpose.

my point was to say, no matter what elon musk says, a lot of people are upset with how things are being done often for opposite reasons. democrats are concerned that not enough dangerous information is being taken down while republicans feel that their information is being suppressed online. while there is not a political answer to this, he will probably shake it up and we have to see what happens. there can be good and bad outcomes and we will get better at this. social media is relatively new. people are learning how to deal with it as individuals and the companies are learning how to

give people a version of what they want online. host: what do you think needs to be done to ensure transparency on the disinformation governance board? guest: i am not political strategist. i will say that this rollout seems so bungled. it is hard to see how they can salvage the necessary amount of trust that they will need from the american people to take the recommendations seriously. i think it should've been rolled out differently. homeland security secretary has said as much. we just weren't prepared for this reaction. i don't think they anticipated the blowback they got. and that hurt this boards chances of getting it done in a way that makes sense and accomplishes their stated goals. the appointment of the executive director also turning out to be

a lightning rod for this controversy. she has expertise in this field, this is her specialty, she worked at the wilson center. i don't think anyone doubts or experience, but she has been on social media very vocal about her political slant on a lot of these issues. nothing against her, these issues are speech issues. it's hard to be objective about this. you have to take a hands-off approach. she has been seen as partisan to the left and that has stoked the concerns that people on the right that were word about this board and a less colorful choice may have been politically is due

from the biden administration. host: let's take a look from that tweet from nina ja nkowiz. a huge focus of our work and the key reason the board was established was to protect free speech. privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties. let's hear from our callers. we have thomas from texas. caller: governor hogan, the republican. as far as disinformation, we had a fairness clause that said you could not say that. people in russia don't believe

the war in ukraine is really going on. we have 6 million people who don't believe the joe biden's president and that is dangerous. reinstate the fairness clause and if it is the truth, put it on there. host: what you think? guest: you make a good point that there is not much consensus on a lot of these issues on social media. the most controversial things that we all want to talk about there is a magnet for that. and indisputable fact is not another's. another person's farce is another person skepticism. it is difficult to define, not just political speech, lots of things. even something such as black-and-white as scientific fact is controversial when you start speaking with someone

about it. that is what is happening on social media right now. i can think of many examples, you pointed to the election. climate science issues and how to react to that situation is another. these are not settled facts. these are ongoing conversations with changing opinions and new information. it is hard if we were to insert the fairness doctrine, president reagan got rid of that because it had unintended consequences. that would be very difficult because of social media, it is not set up in the same way. and it would still have those unintended consequences. and then who decides what is fair? we operate as if there is a left and right version. there are shades of gray and nuances on these issues in

deciding what is fair is difficult and it leads to this question which is at the heart of the governance board, deciding what is true or not. who is in charge of saying what is true or not? you really don't want anyone other than the individual in charge of deciding for themselves what is true or not. host: let's talk to anthony on the independent line in detroit, michigan. caller: i have always been against the department of homeland security because we will become the terrorists someday. she says that the job of this is to protect free speech but secretary mayorkas says it is to put accurate info about the dhs.

why can't they just put out a press release? we don't need the department of homeland security and i would like to say -- disinformation's origins are slightly less atrocious. host: did you write that yourself? guest: the department of homeland security has had their skeptics and what started out as concerns about the national security from outside of our country would have some blurry lines and this has come up

in other contexts that if you listen to calls that the u.s. citizen would get caught up in the information week. there were worthy concerns and the roles of congress is to take and responsibilities seriously. there is a lot of power in the department of homeland security and they do a lot of great work. there is always this overreach there, you have to be mindful of the civil liberties of our citizens and it is of paramount importance. host: the washington post had an editorial about this. we are talking about the disinformation governance board and this is what they said in the post. the board works as a coordination between the dhs that poses threats to domestic security. done right, this is a useful function.

sec. mayorkas talked about smugglers that talk to people about coming to the united states. what the board is not asked to do is to establish what is true and what is false. or to push internet services or to who to rely on. is this just hysteria, jessica? guest: depending on what the board is going to do it is or it is not. clarifying the border policy of the u.s. government. i don't think anyone has any problem with that. host: what is the best way to

counter disinformation online? guest: i think this has to be something that the individual takes on as personal responsibility. host: you don't see your role for government? guest: it is right there in the first amendment. congress shall make no laws against free speech. they have no magical powers when they are sworn in. you can be misleading, if you believe in your heart of hearts that you know the answer, that is still not enough. our whole motto is that free speech is best protected by more speech. the only thing i think pushes out bad speech is good speech. the central premise of this whole country is that we are

endowed with our right to pick our own leaders. if what we say is that we are not capable of discerning the truth, that has real implication of are we now capable of picking our leaders? there is a logic problem there. it is messy and problematic sometimes, but ultimately, the best and only true way forward is that we have to hash this out as citizens and we have to be savvy and we have to take the time to be skeptical and think about the source that we are listening to. neither should anyone tech

company b. what we really want is competing ideas, competing platforms. different politicians arguing, different newspaper editorials making their case for their positions. it is up to the individual to sort through that. you are free to do that. you live in a society where that is your responsibility and privilege. that means that we will disagree with each other but we do that and a civil, respectful way and it makes us all better and smarter because we are having those conversations. host: let's talk to oliver in virginia on the independent line. guest: good morning can you hear me? caller: good morning to you and the guests. i would like to say that it is worrisome that jessica would be

on television and say -- and talk about disinformation and it sounds like she is a trump supporter. i would like to say that trump is the most dangerous man who has ever led this country. it is amazing that conservatives like her would stand by and let trump lied to the american people for 40 years. he told out pardons. he is being investigated all over the country and conservatives kept quiet. they kept quiet while he is breaking the law and keep supporting him. it is amazing that jessica would get on and talk about misinformation. host: let's get a response from

jessica then. guest: i understand your concerns, these are important issues. i wish everybody was concerned about the stuff as you clearly are. i defend both sides of the aisle to say what they like and i also defend our rights to not believe it. i may be more of an accord with you then you think. that is not because of social media forms, that is because of human nature. like i was saying, it is our job to inform your own opinion, not just the conservative side of media. the social media platforms are

another traffic lane for that information. it is a net positive but it is our responsibility to stay skeptical and that is great. host: david is up next on the republican line. caller: i don't remember the last time a conservative spoke at a college campus without being shut down. it is a one-way street. i totally agree with the guests, the government can't have the responsibility, your own biased opinion is guaranteed to get in the way.

the biggest laugh has been that it just seems to get more ironic , no one in government has spewed more lies than sec. mayorkas. to say there was no crisis of the border, the administration did everything it could to undo policies that were working. it didn't matter what they were saying about migrants being returned when the actions were clearly working. the government was actually providing disinformation by saying that you would not be allowed to stay, when last year they allowed in then in the year

2000. host: sec. mayorkas was saying that he did not want people coming to the border because of misinformation. guest: our caller makes a point about having the fox running the henhouse. like he was saying, the government is notorious providing disinformation. whether they were mistaken in this situation has changed, or there were political motivations for shading it a certain way. on both sides of the aisle, to put someone in charge of flagging disinformation is a problem. this is something that congress

should be watching agency to make sure they are setting the record straight. the facts align with what they are saying. that is a different dynamic than a governance board that is in charge of flagging disinformation. there is a role for that lie clarifying during natural disasters. the federal government is not the only source of information. we have media, there are lots of other ways that an individual can get the full picture for themselves. weapons of mass destruction, or you can keep your health care plan, there are no lack of examples on either side. i can make a case on the left or right for disinformation. the only way to deal with that in a free or open society is to debated and argue it and tested to see if it is true or not.

that can't come from a top-down agency that has to come with an exchange of ideas. host: let's go to jim from tucker, georgia. caller: thank you for taking my call. i was happy to hear you say to talk about the personal responsibility that civil liberty affords us and i think that is something we need to talk a lot more about and it does not seem to get the coverage that i think deserves because it doesn't sell commercials for the network. i was happy to hear you say that. let me back up and say, at the federal level, the federal agencies do a pretty good job of protecting our civil leverett liberties.

all of the trouble at the border, i think we have some leaders from previous generations that have done a disservice, especially dulles, he did not do us any favors by having guatemala overthrown. that is a whole another issue. aside from some people that do not service well, we have had good leaders of the federal level, a lot of this stuff is not federally driven. there are a lot of problems of the local levels, a lot of the stuff is politically driven

where it is like a money machine. there is a city in de kalb county that is writing citations because the grass is too high. host: let's get a response. guest: i think there are layers. but every layer, local, state, you can call c-span and say whatever you want about it. no one is fact checking you. that is part of the great debate. i hope that all americans want that exchange of ideas. how we sort through things, and that is what should be happening. the concerns of homeland security is that it would be an impediment to this process.

i do think that is the concern. host: tim is next in wisconsin on the democrat line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i would say that i don't really understand the media channel, the cable channels and radio channels, most of them people get their news from the right wing radio stations and certain news channels that have propaganda. i am 65 years old and that is where people get their information. that is why there a lot of elderly people, they get their

news from radio stations or tv channels that i talked to. host: what do you think jessica? guest: the social media platforms have gotten a lot of attention. it is not the only source of news. for so many people, that is not their main source of news. radio is a perfect example of that as our cable news channels. i hope what we will see on social media platforms, if you believe, as most people might, cnn was tilted to the left. the solution was not to make it perfectly objective. the option was fox news. more and more options have

proliferated. i hope that is the kind of thing we will see with elon musk buying twitter. all the cable channels and news channels, c-span, a wonderful source of information. all of these channels, are designed to let the individual come to their own conclusion and that is the process that people are protective of. host: do you think countering disinformation has become too partisan on both sides? it is a good goal, nobody wants there to be lies out there. guest: it is a politicized issue. free speech is not for the faint of heart. protecting the most outrageous speech is the hallmark of a free

and open society. it is a very unpopular thing to do. there is a whole bunch of speech that we referred to as awful debacle. host: there is awful but there is also disinformation which i considered to be different than having an extreme view. guest: depending on who you ask, there is the rub. if you make the connection that this is not true. ok, if you say it, it is not true. there is not an inherent harm in that. that is where it gets very messy. you have to connect it to something en masse for. it is best to air on the side of that to roam around on the internet or radio waves until somebody makes a reasonable

argument against it. it is about who is in charge of settling. and when it becomes dangerous. host: let's go to bob on the independent line. caller: i have one observation. big brother is watching. that is all i have to say. i hope you know what that means. host: the mention of the orwellian big brother. guest: how it was rolled out brought to my mind the ministry of truth and george orwell's 1984. that is the worst case scenario. i don't know if it is accurate yet, they say that it is not. i hope that is the case. i think there needs to be more

oversight and a closer look out what they are actually going to do there. they say we don't have any authority to do anything but we are just coordinating groups. but that means you are coordinating groups that actually do have authority to do things. what role does government play in free-speech issues? host: there is also the acronym, that sounds like kgb. guest: there isn't great marketing on this. host: let's talk to randall in fairbanks, alaska. caller: hi, how are you doing? host: good. caller: i called because i heard a gentleman and talk to jessica

and tell her that she was slanted to trump-like opinion and i just wanted to say that she sounded very open-minded and she was serving of both sides as far as i was concerned. what i really wanted to say is that i keep hearing the government. i know there are a lot of people who are down on the government. we need our government. and there are a lot of people who need the government on their side. if it is not the government than is it the big business? then big business then becomes your government? big business becomes the one who

make sure that things get taken care of. a positive note about joe biden, what is going on at the border, it happened to reagan. the economy was the same in the reagan administration and everybody is so willing to throw stones at joe biden but the economic process is the same as reagan's was. guest: there are a lot of parallels. as far as government being in charge, as far as free-speech, it is really important that there are guardrails up in both areas.

it is important to clarify how that works. the first amendment means the government can't abridge our free speech. it does not mean that we have a right to speak on property. i can't throw political rally in your living room without your permission, i can't say whatever i want on facebook and twitter because as it feels like the public square it is not actually the public square it is private property and that is part of our larger conversation. i think the differences with the government coming and making rules about that, that is the law of the land and that is much more repressive than individual platforms making the rules. you have options as a citizens

and you have an exit if you don't like what twitter is doing. there are options for you to speak elsewhere and that is a great development because right now, if you look at the most popular sites on facebook conservative pages dominate on facebook. the top 10 facebook sites are eight out of 10 conservatives. you never hear about the left, the perception from the right is that they feel discriminated against. i'm not sure the facts bear that out and the left also feels discriminated against and that is human nature. you feel the burn more than you

feel the advantage. it is not perfect in the marketplace and we are not there yet. we are working it out. there are more options for everyone. democrats and republicans will tell you that they are not happy about social media right now. host: section 230 and efforts to repeal it. remind us what that is and whether you support that? guest: it was a bipartisan part of legislation written about congressman chris cox and they hashed it out because there was a disagreement about how the legal system would treat third-party content. facebook was not a thing on 1996. this law was made before the

platforms existed. the question was, who is legally responsible for the speech -- i put something on facebook, is facebook responsible or mi responsible? here's the boring legal explanation. that is still true for facebook. they are still not responsible. it does not make them in the legal category as a publisher responsible for what they print. the explosion of these platforms, these third-party posters, as much as people feel upset by moderators, more people

are speaking more often than has ever been. that is how section 230 works it builds on the first amendment. the reason why platforms can take down, they have their own free-speech rights. you can't be forced to carry speech if you don't want to. that is what allows them to take it down. it speeds up the whole process and says, these platforms don't have to go through litigation when someone gets mad at them for something someone says on their platform. it is a lightning rod, republicans feel that conservatives have too much content taken down.

many on the left feel that what is said has dangerous consequences. host: jessica, thank you so much for being with this. guest: it was my pleasure. host: next, more of your cause on open forum. you can start calling you now and we will talk to you after the break. later, is our podcast segment. we will be joined by phillips. we will be right back. book tv every sunday on c-span features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books. from the energy conference debates and discussions on climate change with the author

-- natural gas, not less. introduction to moderate climate change. in the author of false alarm, how it hurts the poor. and afterwards, her first-hand account of the trump administration's response to the covid pandemic. watch book tv every sunday on c-span2. watch online any time at book tv.org. sunday on q&a the discussion about the life and career of

first lady jill biden with associated press white house reporter co-author of jill, a biography of the first lady. she talks about her career as a teacher and insights into her personality. >> last year, she took a trip on the flight home back to washington dc, she left her seat, disappeared for a while, and then out came a woman dressed like a flight attendant with a dark-haired wig and she walked through the cabin handing out ice cream bars. when she was finished, she revealed herself to be jill biden and no one recognized it was her. i am not sure why no one recognized that she was out of receipt but that is one example of the kind of practical joke she likes to play.

you can listen to q&a and all of our podcast on our free c-span.org. there are a lot of places to get political news but only on c-span do you get it straight from the source. no matter where you are from or where you stand on the issues, c-span is america's network. unfiltered, unbiased, word for word, if it happens here, or here, or anywhere america is watching on c-span powered by cable. washington journal continues. host: welcome back to washington journal, it is open forum so whatever you want to talk about

in politics or public policy you can go ahead and give us a call. (202) 748-8000 democrats can call republicans (202) 748-8001 and independence on (202) 748-8002 you can also text us on (202) 748-8003 but send us your name and state. the associated press is reporting that a judge finds representative marjorie taylor green is qualified for the election. the georgia secretary of state makes the final decision. this was based on a lawsuit alleging that because she was involved with the january 6 insurrection she would not be qualified to run for reelection. also, president trump held a rally and this is from the

pittsburgh post-gazette, trump takes the stage with the mixed review of dr. oz. if republicans want anything more than an endorsement it is an un-endorsement. he railed into dave mccormick who spent millions on ads against mamet odds. z. you can also take a look on at c-span now. let's talk to richard on north carolina on the independent

line. caller: can anybody tell me what disinformation republicans have put out in the last four years? host: you don't think they have put out any disinformation? caller: can anybody tell me what it is? i can tell you what the democrats have put out but can you tell me what the republicans of put out? russia gate, everything they have said has been alive. host: dr. mamet oz, mike pompeo cause him a security threat over turkey ties. mike pompeo alleged that security candidate dr. oz may be a security threat if he is

elected to office. he secured the endorsement of donald trump but trump administration veterans backed david mccormick. mike pompeo, former cia director , dr. oz must explain his relationship with turkey's government. he has elected and turkeys elections. . ken is next. caller: i really appreciate the show. this is in regards to the

department of truth. i remember, i like to listen to both sides of the story and i will decide in the middle what i believe is the truth. i don't need the government or any agency to say, this is the truth and disregard the rest. america needs to hear both sides. we don't need a government bureaucracy to do that. please stop this nonsense and let the american people hear both sides. host: alright 10. kathleen is next from navasota, texas. caller: i was just calling to ask how come democrats and

republicans are fighting so much against themselves and nobody is listening. they don't care. they can't remember what they said last week, a year ago. they need to stop fighting inwards together. how will they work together if they don't listen to each other. it doesn't make any sense. we are americans all of us. we need to speak together like americans and work the other stuff out and work together. and make no sense, work together. host: chuck is next in taylor, michigan.

caller: hello? host: go ahead chuck. caller: do you think it is a coincidence that this board for the truth that was created right when elon musk bought twitter? do you think that is a coincidence? host: i take it that you don't think it was a coincidence. caller: i think the democrats got twitter taken away and then all of a sudden they got concerned about truth. host: alright chuck. let's take a look at the front page of the new york times. it says the steering\the gop is quiet on abortion. republicans have spent decades attacking the landmark decision

that legalized abortion nationwide but with the overturning of roe v. wade eminent, they have grown suddenly quiet on the issue. they are trying to avoid a backlash ahead of the midterm elections. we wonder what you think about that. mike is up next, sorry hold on mike, i hit the wrong line but go ahead. caller: i caught the last minute or two minutes of the young lady you are interviewing. i wonder why government officials, mainly democrats, can't come to an interview without laughing. our vice president does this. everything is funding to them.

-- everything is funny to them. how can they appoint somebody. it is just so wrong. host: amelia -- cornelia is next on the republican line. caller: i love how you don't take a stand on anything. i have been enjoying the show. i want to wish all of the callers that are females happy mother's day. i wanted to bring up there is a guy named abraham bolden senior he was the first african-american secret service

agent. he just got pardon last tuesday. i wish people would look into the sky. is guy. the people then, they got him for bribery and stuff. this guy would be good for book tv or washington journal to interview. for 60 years, he has been trying to try to get his pardon. he is 84 years old now and he was in "usa today" two weeks ago and "the chicago tribune." that would be a great guest and maybe even getting the pardon people on to interview him and stuff like that. that is just an idea for c-span

to do. god bless you. host: thanks for the tip. the front page of "the washington post" about what is going on in ukraine. "pentagon reveals bolstered arsenal." the article says that the pentagon is expanding delivery of commercially available weapons and military equipment to you rain -- ukraine. $136 million in purchases of aerial drone, binoculars and other items set for shipment soon. these are the weapons and equipment to be purchased from u.s. companies representing a separate category of military assistance than the vast quantities of armaments in the united states already has provided ukraine from existing pentagon stocks. let's talk next to ingrid in pensacola. hello. caller: good morning.

i also would like to say early happy mother's day to all the women. i'm calling because i am 72 years old and i remember -- people are talking about the inflation and the prices and everything. don't they remember under reagan , there were gas lines -- my husband and i bought a home and the interest rate was 12%. i think it is what, 8% or something now? and there were gas lines, and he let the immigrants in and they voted him in twice. the hypocrisy on the republican side is just laughable.

talk about democrats laughing. no wonder we are laughing. thank you. host: kathleen is maxed from saint augustine -- from saint augustine. caller: i have not heard a side about the abortion issue that i guess i don't understand. with the exception of rape and incensed, the decisions -- incest, these ladies are saying it is my body and i could do what i want with it. i think that is fine and i don't think anybody is denying them the ability to have an abortion if they want it, but i think it should be treated as elective, and if they make that decision, they should be able to pay for. -- pay for it.

what i resent is people feeling like they have the right to make me pay for this decision that resulted in something they did not want, and now they want to cure that with an abortion and say to me, but you have to pay for it. that is what i think is wrong. if they want to do that, i think be free to go and do it, but they have to be able to pay for it. thank you for listening. host: alright, kathleen. randall is next from chevy chase, maryland. caller: good morning. the thing i wanted to bring up was the role of the media, especially with respect to the coverage of the war in ukraine. my feeling after watching -- i am mainly talking about the now cable coverage -- my feeling is

that they have great reporting about the war from the correspondence who are actually in ukraine and the area on the details of the war, but i feel that the media and pundits have done a very poor job in asking fundamental, critical questions about the war, and that could easily lead us into an escalation that could end up in a confrontation with russia. host: what kind of questions are they failing to ask? caller: i will give you a very good example. you referenced it when you were reading an article. a caller brought up a question of -- they were discussing how much aid the u.s. is giving to ukraine. a caller raise the question, how

much aid are other countries giving to ukraine? i have never heard another journalist raise this question. some producer on the show very quickly pulled up a chart and it was amazing to see how much -- i think it was something like this was a two-month period in which the u.s. had given over $4 billion. the next highest country was estonia at about $130 million. you can credibly see that the overwhelming amount of aid, and that is before this new package going out, is coming from the u.s., far more than all the other countries combined. but yet a journalist never thought to ask that question. even more fundamental questions like why does nato continue to

exist after the fall of the soviet union? why was nato expanded? what are the actual goals? i am afraid that this lack of more basic fundamental questions is doing a disservice and we can see that things are moving towards escalation. i just don't think we have the kind of journalists mounting the actual details of the war. i'm just concerned about that. and it is not just about the war, but i'm talking specifically about the war. i think it is across-the-board, and across all the cables, not just picking left or right. host: let's talk next to jean in park ridge, illinois. caller: thank you for taking my call. most of the callers have expressed their concerns about both sides, left and right,

democrat and republican,, work together. we need to sit down at one table. that is one point. my next point is, i think we need a better candidate from the gop side. president trump had his opportunity and that is over. let's move forward. we have people within our ranks like senator tom cotton, a great leader. we are ready to give $8 billion to the greenies in the u.n. to fight greenhouse gases. let's give that back to the people that need it. lastly, i am a marine -- host: we lost gene, there. illinois on the democrats line. caller: i am asking why there never was an investigation into the death of ruth ginsburg. i note she was very near death,

but i think it was very convenient that just six weeks before the election, donald trump gets to name another position on the u.s. supreme court. it is very possible someone could have come in under his instruction and pulled the plug on her just in order to have her out of the way immediately. it sounds ridiculous to many people, but donald trump would try anything. and just remember, the republicans enjoy hating the democrats. they hates. they watch fox news not because they want to get the news, but because they want to get the news that will make the democrats look bad. these are pathetic people who have been listening to rush limbaugh for 40 years -- host: but it doesn't seem like that is both ways. we don't want to becoming anybody names, so let's talk to

rose in north carolina on the republican line. caller: you asked this morning about the disinformation from the dems and people have not been able to give you a complete list. let me list a few of the things for you. first of all, the counting of votes at 3:00 a.m. then the denial by clinton that they rigged the election in 1995. then the denial of the ccp ties from those that start out with -- as politicians and then help china. then the denial of uranium fail. because we had a moratorium in the united states of america, we moved covid to china. playacting the covid relief. we just want to talk about the world economic forum.

then the denial of the hunter biden deal, selling to cobalt so china will then make electric cars and we will have to buy them from them at a very high costs. then the denial of crisper, the real reason the nih and fda need those late-term abortions. they make a lot of money topping up baby parts. then the denial of the bio labs in the ukraine as the real reason for prudent'ang -- putin's anger. host: roasted mention covid. "the washington post" is headlining "follow wave predicted to infect 100 million." the projection is part of the biden administration's pitch for vaccine and treatment funds. the article says the biden administration is morning the u.s. could see 100 million coronavirus infections and potentially significant wave of deaths of this fall and winter driven by new omicron subvariant

that have shown a remarkable ability to escape the immunity -- immunity. the projection made yesterday during a background briefing as the nation approaches a covid death toll of one middle -- one million. it is open for them and we are taking your calls. let's go to thomas in connecticut. caller: good morning to you and happy mother's day. this disinformation board, trump made this board. all the republicans made this board because they ran with this big lie the election was stolen. trump was in court for 60 ties with his own judges and there is no proof. look what the big lie did.

other secretary of state's changed all the rules on voting and all that. now, the voting election is rigged now on the next election. that is what this big lie did. you have to think trump for the scrap and hee haw fox news. host: next up is mary in louisiana. caller: hello? host: can you mute your tv and just talk in the phone? caller: yes. ok now. your name mimi, right/ host: caller: i am 76 years old. i hope you will allow me to finish this. i'm fixing to tell the truth because the truth about slavery is not being told.

they're making it look like the white people owned the slaves. i went back all the way back to 1619 when the first slave ship landed in jamestown, virginia. what made me do that, what i found out, martin luther king was not note democrat. he was a republican and his dad was too. i was a democrat for years from the time i was old enough to vote. let me tell you something. it was men, black folks owned slaves, bought slaves and sold slaves and a lot of them had worked as slaves themselves. not only that, i have seen pictures. there were some american indians that also owned slaves. and i want to say something to all the white people. you all need to stop being so scared of being called a racist. the peoples of that are calling you racist, they are the

racists. they are racists themselves. i'm going to tell you how to respond to that if a person calls you a racist just because of the color of your skin. you tell them they don't get to determine who you are because they did not create you. and what is so bad about it, look, you have so many white people scared of being called racist, and they use that term to beat you over the head to get you to do what they want you to do. what is so sad about it, you have white folks falling for it. host: we got your point. that is the last call for this segment for open forum. thanks to everyone who called. coming up next is our weekly spotlight on podcast segment. we will be joined by democracy and color podcast host steve

phillips. stay with us. ♪ >> american history tv, exploring the people and events that tell the american story. jeffrey frank looks back at the presidency of harry truman including the dropping of the first nuclear bomb with his book. next, on lectures in history, jonathan teaches a class about the mexican-american war during the late 1840's. he is the author of several books. exploring the american story. watch american history tv every weekend and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online any at c-span.org/history. ♪

>> c-span has unfiltered coverage of the u.s. response to russia's invasion of ukraine, bringing you the latest from the president, and other white house officials the pentagon and the state department as well as congress. we also have international perspectives from the united nations and statements from foreign leaders all on the c-span networks. our web resource page where you can watch the latest videos on demand and follow tweets from journalists on the ground. go to c-span.org/ukraine. >> c-span's the weekly podcast brings you more than 40 years of audio recordings purpose -- comparing the events of the past to today. politico reported on a leak draft of the supreme court decision on a major abortion

case. on the latest episode, hear how the current members of the supreme court answer questions about roe v. wade during their confirmation hearings. >> let me just ask you this, john roberts said that roe v. wade is the settled law of the land. do you believe it is the settled law of the land? >> it has been on the books for a long time and it has been challenged on a number of occasions and i discussed those yesterday and the supreme court has reaffirmed those decisions. >> in your opinion, is roe set in law? >> the court's decision in

planned parenthood versus casey reaffirms the court holding of roe. that is the president's of the court and settled in terms of the holding of the court. >> you can find the weekly on c-span now, our free mobile video app or wherever you get your podcasts. >> there are a lot of places to get political information, but only at c-span do you get it straight from the source. no matter where you are from or where you stand on the issues, c-span is america's network. unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. if it happens here or here or here or anywhere that matters, america is watching on c-span. powered by cable. >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back.

it is our weekly spotlight on podcast segment with the host of "democracy in color," steve phillips. guest: thanks for having me on. host: start by telling us about the organization itself. what is the mission and who funds it? guest: "democracy in color" is a political media organization. our podcast, we start every episode with a color conscience -- color conscious view on politics. we believe you cannot properly understand what is happening in terms of u.s. politics and contemporary events without putting in the context of the centuries long struggle around the racial identity of this country. is this -- this is a multiracial democracy or is it a white nation, which is what many people have fought for it to be

from 1619 to the civil war to the insurrection on january 6. we believe the feature of u.s. politics is a struggle over the identity of the country. it drives a bunch of conservative politics and many liberals and progressives are afraid to talk about let alone fight for racial justice. so we try to fill that gap. we provide news, analysis and information, a weekly newsletter and the podcast every other week. next week, the podcast will feature some release running in pennsylvania. host: if you would like to give us a call and talk to our guest, feel free to give us a call. one line for democrats, one for republicans and one for independents. how long have you had this podcast? when was it launched?

guest: we started the podcast -- it was really the latest iteration of trying to affect progressive and democratic strategy of thinking and plans. we believe too many people in leadership, the progressive movement, are frankly bad at math. they don't understand the new america majority in this country which is people of color, almost three quarters of people of color and what i call a meeting -- a meaningful minority of whites. it is the majority that elected and reelected obama and thriving in politics. i wrote about in my first book because i was concerned people did not understand how and why obama had won. there was still too little appreciation for these dynamics and what the right strategy would be. that is what led us to create "democracy in color," and the

podcast which has been running since 2019. host: your latest book is called "how we win the civil war." what civil war are you talking about? guest: the civil war. people still don't actually get the math. i lay out in this newest book, we opened in the fall, there are two parts to it. the first is how the confederates never stopped fighting. i did not even really know all of the background. everybody knows lincoln was assassinated, but we don't know how and why he was assassinated. lincoln was assassinated five days after the supposed surrender by the confederates. the whole first part of the book is showing how the confederates never stopped fighting, from assassinating the president to overthrowing reconstruction and

reinstituting white nationalist governments and segregation for 100 years in the south through attacks on the civil rights movement and the backlash to obama that led to the election of trump. that is the whole first half of the book is the actual civil has never actually ended. the second part is how we win and looking at places where we have won. formally right wing conservative places that have gone from red to purple, and in some cases, red to blue. looking at those case studies about how we win and that is what we lift up in the book. host: you wrote a piece in "the guardian," you said "unless democrats start fighting like they mean it, they are going to lose congress." what do you mean? guest: they are really bad at math, unfortunately. just 18 months ago, democrats won the white house with a historic turnout in support of

biden. democrats flipped congress, the senate with a historic voter turnout in georgia. before that, arizona. georgia, the runoff elections. we don't actually believe the majority of people share their view that this is a plural of a multicultural nation and we should lean into that. on the other side, we have this really conservative backlash view that this is fundamentally a country for straight white male christians and others can kind of be in it, but fundamentally, it is for them. for everybody who is not that is coming under some level of attack. the democrats are afraid to engage that fight because they're afraid they're going to lose support and lose. what i argue in my piece is that is not correct and that biden should lead into these -- lean into these. he should go to florida where they passed this don't say gay

bill and host a we say gay conference and bring people and relay celebrate the lgbtq movement and communities. he should go to texas and go to a school and read some of these banned books they are trying to read. read toni morrison's book that talks about african-american identity. he should have a summit around reproductive rights and choice. what is happening is they have these attacks, what i call the neo-confederate, and you have too much silence. the key to winning is enthusiasm and mobilization and high-level participation of the new american majority. host: let me ask you specifically about black voters and what you think democrats should do to get those voters to the polls. what issues specifically they should focus on. guest: fundamentally, there is

the reality that this is getting back to how the civil war never ended, there is a profound gargantuan racial wealth gap within this country. the whole issue of economic equality is fundamental. one manifestation of that is student debt. there is this whole debate around should they forgive student loans and student debt that is out there. if they took more bold action toward promoting economic equality, such as forgiving student debt -- you did not have to take this debt to get a college education. this is a function of reagan's work to make higher education less accessible. so you can even take student debt and sort of extrapolate

that to college should actually be free and we should make that available to people. there is that and then the whole issue around democracy. all of these attacks and voter suppression around forbidding people of color, making it harder for people of color and african-americans to vote as well as fund education. there is the tax from the right around critical race theory. we should be saying we understand the full toll of this history which includes a very bloody civil war and a history which most of the time in this country has not been a democracy because they banned a larger sum of the population from voting. to really embrace that notion that we are a multicultural, multiracial nation through policy or education and economic housing and lean into that is what i'm advocating, and that is how you support -- gain support from other people with color. -- of color.

host: let's start taking calls. guest: good morning -- caller: good morning. this guy is a political hack. let's go back the last three years. they have been horrendous. he can say all he wants but all i have to say is in the midterms, you are going to see the american people uprise. black, white, you name it. see what happens. you can keep driving this whole -- you are living in a fantasy land. i don't admit there were problems in the past. people are trying to change that. all you are doing is dividing. it is not going to work, man. you can keep your spiel host: -- let's get your reaction.

guest: it is an important point people rising up that i don't think money mccright or progressives properly understand. the arguments that we lay out in our podcast and have been in our writing is there is a new american majority in this country. it is very quantifiable. through obama's elections, bidens elections, raphael warnock and jon ossoff in georgia, mark kelly in arizona. it is roughly the ratios of three quarters of people of color and 35% to 40% of whites. that is a majority of people within this country. that is the majority that elected and reelected obama and gave hillary clinton more votes than donald trump and the majority the ousted trump from the white house. the question in the midterms is is that majority going to come back out and vote? if democrats do not in fact win

in the midterms, it will simply be because they did not inspire and organize and invest in getting their people out to vote. every presidential election since 1992, with the one exception of 2004, the national popular vote has been won by the democrats. there is a multiracial majority which is why the right wing response and their strategy and tactics, i collect confederal -- confederate battle plan, is fundamentally about suppressing democracy and suppressing voter participation and having fewer people about because that is really the only way the right wing can ultimately prevail because they did not command majority support the way confederates did not command majority support in the original civil war and have not up until this moment. host: let's talk to mike next in texas on the republican line. caller: good morning.

i guarantee you after i hang up and during the rest of the program your guest is on, it will be almost 0% of conversation about black fathers and the value of father's. zero because it does not matter. he can talk about equality all he wants. you know what matters? ideas. you know what else matters? father's. when you don't have a father in the house, i ask anybody listening right now, what has their father meant to them? father's matter. you know where i'm going to go? down to covenant house. you know they house 18 to 21-year-olds in their homes because they don't have stability in their homes, they don't have fathers. 61% of the residence of the 65 that are there, 61% are blacks. and they have fathers that don't even know the colors of their eyes. you are going to sit here and tell us about equality when you have 17 and 19 and 20-year-olds

who don't even know what a father is. host: we got your point. steve? guest: calling from houston, my 90-year-old dad lives in houston. hey, dad. talking about fathers in terms of houston and whatnot. there is a lot of lack of appreciation in this country. it is not even just the scholar, it is the news and analysis, that we look at effects and not causes. we have a situation -- we have a history in this country where a grouping of people was brought from another country, brought from another continent, placed in slavery in this country, held in bondage, and you had 10 years of attempted reconstruction against great resistance. and then, you had another 100 years of legal, racial, economic exploitation.

and then, when you have things such as the new deal, and then, when you have things such as the g.i. bill, where the government handed out money to about one quarter of the population, veterans and their families, they explicitly reserved that to white people. my family, my father could not buy our home in cleveland heights, ohio because a white family would not sell it to us. we had to get a white lawyer to buy the house and beat it over to my parents, and then that house gained equity might family could then use to send me to higher education. most people don't have that opportunity. all of these conditions -- when you don't have resources, when you have a profound 10 to one racial wealth gap, when you cannot make ends meet, and when you have a very hostile and ineffective education system, for housing, hostile law

enforcement communities, those are conditions that any family and any father is going to have a difficulty navigating. the flip side of his point is that the tenacity of the strength of lack families in the face of all of -- black families in the face of all of that is something that is far too little appreciated in this country. i could actually take everything he is saying and flip it on its head and say black people are both the most family-oriented and loving and tenacious in this country and trying to make it a better place as well. host: let's go to jane in high point, north carolina. caller: this is unreal.

republicans are not being racist. some are racist, probably, but the democrat party, they own the kkk, and they shot our president in 1864. and also, eisenhower republicans, when he was in office, he demanded that the reconstruction would happen. he wanted the schools desegregated. the democrats did not want that. the democrats -- host: let's get a response. steve, some history there. guest: that is an interesting

point, and it is a confusing point for people to understand if you just look at the labels of the party, because that is entirely true that the confederates were democrats. the people who went to war against this country and even went to war to defend slavery were democrats. the republican party was created as the anti-slavery party, explicitly. people don't even realize -- i started writing my book around the origins of the civil war was that the confederates, the democrats, could not accept the outcome of the 1860 election, very similar to the way people could not accept the election results in 2020. it is not helpful just to look at the labels. we have to look at the composition of the parties because what happened in the 1950's and 1960's is as the

democrats began to make some tentative steps towards embracing people of color, towards lifting up this notion that this is a democracy in color, then white people fled the reppo -- democratic party to the republican party. now, the underlying composition of the republican party and driving fuel and force of that party is white racial fear and resentment. there is a huge article in "the new york times" about tucker carlsen and fox and how he stirs white nationalism as a basis for his popularity with his television show. there's nothing new there. that goes back through the history of this country. "gone with the wind," "birth of a nation." those films are all about celebrating confederacy. white nationalism has been fundamental to this country and

we are in full fight over critical race theory, which is also a battle over what is the identity of this country. are we in fact a multiracial democracy, or are we primarily straight fist white male christian nation where others are allowed to exist. that remains the driving fight and struggle within this country. host: let's get another caller in. larry is in north carolina on the republican line. hi. caller: how you doing? host: good. caller: the woman prior to my call about answered what i was going to ask. what i want to know is like when abraham lincoln died, grant, his first year, restored the south was working well than the democrats got control and it was all kind of under the table

deals. i have a lot of democrat friends and we can agree to disagree, but you cannot do that now these days. why the media and liberal writers tell half-truths. in wilmington, north carolina, 1898, they had a democrat coup . they ran white and black leaders literally out of town. the news reporter reported angry white men. if it had been a republican man, they would have said the republican party. beau biden and senator byrd -- but biden and senator byrd were literally racists.

biden said he did not want his kids to grow up in a jungle. majority of the democrats pacify biden. by promising this and promising that and keep him down. host: let's get a response. guest: the history of this country, in terms of this fight over our identity and who we are as a country, is not a partisan one. the racial shame is bipartisan, in terms of the history of how this has played itself out. that, i think is just one of the realities. the only thing i would add is that there is a lot of sensitivity whenever you address directly the realities of racism and make it explicit and not implicit. i do want to make this point that the reason -- there are two

reasons of the new american majority. in the democratic revolution, we stopped excluding people of color from emigrating to this country. it used to be illegal for a person of color, for an asian, in particular, to become a u.s. citizen. there are supreme court cases to that effect. the definition of a u.s. citizen was a free white person. that was one of the first laws passed in this country. there is a meaningful minority of white people who are progressives and have historically stood for and fought for racial equality, for this to be a multiracial nation. with the democratic revolution, that meaningful minority of whites and people of color are the new majority. that is the group we are focused on in order -- in terms of being able to lift up those voices and strategies for bringing those

communities into the political process. that is what we are proposing and what we do with our podcast and what we are laying out in my new book is that those communities, embracing them and investing in them are the ways to change this country and make it a better place. host: let's go to the democrats line. caller: good morning. thank you for having us. i have to say to you, i have never read your book, never heard your podcast, i've only heard your information this morning. the problem is this. we as americans only hear what we want to hear. you are espousing fax. your theory -- facts. your theory about the conservatives have had a plot going on since the assassination of lincoln and the end of the civil war up until the insurrection or however you want to deem it, the offensive january 6, that is far-fetched,

but believable. if you look at the events that have occurred throughout history. but we as americans don't look at facts. you are stating things like well, there is a new majority developed from our various minorities and a car jury of white americans. that is just numbers. any person can look at that and see the demographics of america has changed. those are just facts and people will argue that but you cannot argue facts. you state things like america is basically a melting pot of different ideologies and people come on and say things about fathers. you made no statement about father. i love the retort that your father is in the same city that person made a statement about. i happen to be a father with two young black sons and hopefully one of my sons is going to college this year. it would be gratefully

opportunistic of me as a black working male to seize upon free education for my student or my young man as many other people in this country of a different race have seen favoritism in their students going to school. it has helped them with their wealth and accumulating wealth. as a person who holds a degree as well as a higher education degree, it would be great if i did not have to pay off the entirety of my debt because what i was promised and what is available is not exactly available, in all honesty, as far as the job market is there. i'm not going to complain, but continue to espouse this information, but i would suggest to you for all of the people who may not be so receptive as i am, you may just want to come on with bulletin boards and facts and numbers so they cannot dispute it any longer, because you are not telling stories, you are only speaking facts and truth and we as americans don't necessarily like facts and truth. we like stories all-out

president 45. you are doing a great job. guest: i appreciate that that is what i try to do in my next book. it is in the whole first part one of the book, facts about the history of this country and the efforts to squash and deny it becoming a multiracial democracy. and then, the conclusion, the epilogue is called "a new social contract." i argue the current social contract we have has really been a series of compromises with white nationalists and what we can actually get them to agree to. what if we really stepped back, what kind of society do we want to have? do we want to invest in everybody across the whole demographic spectrum and let their talents flourish rather than be driven by suspicion and

punitive measures and attacks the way we currently are? if we did so, we would then invest in people, we would provide and make education much more available. we would make economic loans and grants available to people because we would believe in them and want them to succeed. right now, we are very much driven by fear and anxiety and suspicion. that does tieback to this question around what is the identity of the country. host: pennsylvania on the democrats line. looks like we lost that line. let's go to ohio on the independents line. caller: i have a problem when i hear people discussing when martin luther king was a republican.

back in the day, they were republicans and they all looked like martin luther king. when you have your history, get it together and get it right. you have people who are still republicans but don't work with this party because they are dixiecrats. your progressive on certain things and then other things you are nott because progressives are very fearful too. we need to wake up or we are going to share or be in a country where someone else rules because that is why we have laws. host: host: go ahead. guest: i appreciate the reference of the dixiecrats. that is a reference i make about the 20th century, that there has

been this evolution. thurman, the senator from south carolina who was the predecessor to current south carolina senator lindsey graham, was a democrat and ran on this explicitly segregationist platform in 1948 for president as a backlash against the steps toward racial equality at that time. he then flipped in 1960's to the republican party and helped to lead the exodus of whites out of the democratic party to the republican party. that is a useful bit of history that she shared to understand the composition and orientation of the parties to the country racial population. host: new york on the democrats line. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: this is great because your book is exactly what i have

been telling my wife and other people who i can talk to about this is just like you said, the civil war has never ended. most of the states that wanted to outlaw abortion and voting rights, they are former confederate states. the other thing that i noticed -- first of all, i am the son of a jazz musician, so i grew up around multiracial people, miles davis and jimi hendrix and these people were heroes. i never quite understood the racism. it occurred to me when i heard you talk, and then people calling in, that it seems like they are upset by a very intelligent black man being there, and right away, they are criticizing you. i'm just wondering what they are angry about, what rights do they not have, and why would they want to take those rights away from other people. i look forward to getting your book and hearing your answers. thank you. host: go ahead.

guest: i appreciate that. one of the people i reference frequently in my book and was an inspiration to me was isabel wilkerson who wrote this book "cast." she writes that we are all actors on a stage that was built long before we arrived. the roles are reserved and we know who plays the leading role, who is the hero, who is the sidekick. i appreciate the comments -- hopefully, i am somewhat intelligent in terms of here. when civil rights leader was called "vernon can lead." the role of who is the intelligent person, who is the leader, who is central, is usually reserved for a white man. there is a reason why everything all president has been a man and

45 of the 46 have been a white man. that role has been traditionally reserved for white men, not reserved for black women, like stacey abrams, not reserved for women period, latinos or asians. there is some cognitive dissidents from a cultural standpoint when people encounter people who come from a different background to be in one of these roles. that is why people in england said idris elba should be james bond. that is what we are going around in this country of people having to expand their perception of what a leader looks like, what an entrepreneur looks like. all of these leaders in these key states, trim one in virginia,. michelle in texas these people created organizations from scratch. they build them into multimillion dollar electoral powerhouses.

those are entrepreneurs but they don't look like mark zuckerberg so we don't think of them as entrepreneurs. that is part of the dynamic we are dealing with. host: you mentioned black women in leadership. of course, we have a new supreme court justice, judge brown jackson. what do you think was the significance of that, the implications of that? guest: one of the things i was saying was that the fact that it is historic in that routine is a real indictment of this country is that there are so many talented people -- there is a woman from selma, alabama, rose sanders. she is a historic civil rights lawyer and had gone to harvard. she said we did not get into these institutions because we are so smart. she said if that were the case, her mother would have gotten in a long time ago. can you relate tell me in the

history of this country -- can you really tell me in the history of this country there has never been a black woman smart enough to be in the supreme court? it is more our conception of talent and what talent actually looks like. that is what the implications were to be able to see that talent comes in all colors and all stripes of the rainbow, and to my point around how democrats need to win, it inspired people, it was broad support. when you move towards equality and justice, a majority of people do support that. host: it's talked walter next in indiana on the republican line. caller: good morning. good morning, steve. how are you doing today? guest: good, how are you? caller: better than i deserve and i am blessed for that. i am an old man now and i've seen and done a lot of things. served in the military, born and raised in new york and i have come to an epiphany.

we as individuals, no matter what color, race, creed, we are all children of god, number one. number two, tragedies and bad things have happened to millions and millions of people their whole life, in the past and up until now. but here's what we want to do. do we want to be victims, we want to make money and stir the pot of racial divide so that we can line our pockets with money, or do we want to say each individual is completely responsible for his or her actions, no matter what the adversity. there is a latin phrase which means love the struggle, love your faith. i submit that when i was in the united states military, i was side-by-side with mixes of everything and we had one purpose, to serve and protect our country. wouldn't it be a wonderful world if all of the race haters on both sides, al sharpton, everybody, color and all of this nonsense realize that when we are laying on our deathbed, none

of this matters. did we make the world better, were we kinder, gentler, did we love our fellow man? and that a lot of people would be out of work. until we do that, i pop on the tv every once in a while and there is, and you know what politics stand for? poly is money and tics are bloodsucking creatures. guest: ultimately, you said the heart is the final frontier. the ultimate agenda, mission and vision, i think there is a lot of commonality in what he was saying. that we can all be together. you also have to look at the current reality and how it came to be. the inequality is not a function of individual failure. the function of governmental policy and systemic action -- there was a study done around resumes where you have the same

resume had black men put on it and wight -- white men. the white names got called back for more interviews. that is not a failing of the individuals. we have widespread, long-standing systemic racism and sexism in this country. until we address that, we are not going to be able to have the kind of inclusive, embracing, loved base society that we want to see. host: let's talk to perry next in florida on the independents line. caller: hi. the gentleman that called previously about fathers i think hit the nail on the head. i am 93 years old. i have seen quite a difference in the advancement of the black

people. being jewish, we have been racially divided years, for thousands of years. the main thing that i see between that and myself is family pride. many years ago, i did not see that family pride as much as today, which i enjoy to see more black families having that pride. but i still feel that they, the blacks, have an unusual amount of families that are not led by fathers, therefore, the children do not grow up with that pride and want to do things and grow.

host: let's get a response. steve, do you have anything to add to that subject? guest: i agree with the premise in terms of the point that the resilience, strength, love, connection of the families in the black community is remarkable and has been a fundamental feature of this country. how do you hold together your family relationships when your child is literally being taken out of your arms and sold to another family? which is the history of this country. in the face of that, to have a community that has persevered and has maintained family connections to the best they can in this system and country that has been hostile to the very existence is a real testament to the strength of the black families in this country. host: we will take one more call

from pamela in maryland. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. steve, i want to say thank you. thank you for the facts and the information and speaking truth to power about the founding of this country and how we as black people are resilient in spite of everything. i'm going out and buying your books, both of them, and i listening to your podcast. please, can you give us the information again? guest: podcast is "democracy in color" and is that democracyincolor.com. host: thank you so much for being on the program. he is the host of "democracy in color" podcast. guest: thank you so much for having me on. host: we are going to be back again tomorrow at 7:00 eastern time.

happy early mother's day to all of the moms. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2022] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more. >> you think this is just a community center? it is more than that. >> comcast is partnering with 1000 immunity centers so students from low income families can get the tools they need. ask comcast supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy.

>> sunday on q&a, discussion about the life and career of first lady jill biden with darlene super bill, co-author of jill: a biography of the first lady. she talks about dr. bidens involvement in joe biden's political career, her role as a teacher, and insight into her personality. >> last year, she took a trip. on the flight home to washington, d.c., she left her seat, disappeared for a while, and out came a woman dressed like a flight attendant with a dark haired wig, and she walked through the cabin handing out ice cream bars. when she was finished, she revealed herself to be jill biden. nobody on the plane recognized it to be her. i don't know how the staff did not realize she was missing from

her seat. that is an example of the kind of practical jokes she likes to play. >> sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's q&a. you can listen to q&a and our podcasts on our free c-span now at. -- free c-span now app. >> book tv every sunday on c-span2 features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books. at two :00 p.m. eastern, from the steamboat institute conference, discussions on climate change with alex epstein, author of fossil future, why the future requires more oil, coal, and natural gas. the author of false alarm, how climate change panic cost us trillions, hurts the poor, and

fails to fix the planet. at 10:00 p.m. eastern, dr. deborah birx provides her first-hand account of the trump administration's response to the covid-19 crisis. she is interviewed by the director of the institute for national and global health law. watch book tv every sunday on c-span2. find the full schedule on your program guide or watch online at booktv.org. host: good morning. it is saturday, may 7, 2022. the un-employment rate stayed the same at 3.6%. today, we are asking you about your job situation. the phone lines are looking for a job, not looking for a job, employers, and recently retire