public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> the world's first general-purpose electronic computer was a top-secret u.s. army product during world war ii. it weighed 30 ton and took up 18 square feet. sunday night on q&a, kathy kleiman, and the author of proving ground talks about the six american women who programmed and her efforts to get their work known to the larger public. >> she was a visionary and he worked to build it together. it was a team that led to the construction of building. who were the women and what were they doing in the pictures? i wanted to know because if they did something technical i wanted to know.

and i took the photographs to my professor. he sent me to the co-founder of the computer history museum and she told me they were modeled. and that they were not in the captions because they were just models. i didn't think that was right. i went looking for the people in the pictures. i found them. they weren't models. all six of the original programmers were young women, hired by the army during world war ii. >> kathy kleiman in her book,, proving ground sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span q&a. you can listen to q&a and all of our podcasts on our free c-span now app. >> at least the six presidents recorded conversations while in office. here many of those conversations during ceased into c-span -- season two of c-span podcasts. >> at the nixon tapes, part

deliberation, and 100% unfiltered. >> let me say that, the main thing is, it will pass. my heart goes out to those people with the best of intentions were overzealous. i'm sure you know, i will tell you, if i could have spent a little more time being a politician last year and less time being president, i would've -- i didn't know what they were doing. >> find the recording on the c-span mobile app or wherever you get your podcast. host: good morning and welcome to washington journal. we are closing out july on a busy news week here at the nation's capital, with the congress on the white house making fast and furious moves before the august recess. president joe biden is looking at wins and losses on the

economy and his domestic agenda as he recovers from covid-19 and fights poll numbers. congress is pushing deals on social spending and climate health bills while continuing to investigate the january 6 right. with all of this are question for you this morning are what is your top new story of the week? we are going to open up our regular lines. democrats, you can call (202) 748-8000. republicans, your number is (202) 748-8001. independents, your number is (202) 748-8002. you can always text us at (202) 748-8003. we are always reading on social media, facebook and facebook.com/c-span. on twitter. @cspanwj. you can follow us on instagram, @cspanwj.

what we want to know from you, our viewers, what is your top news story of the week? here are a few options for what happened in this previous week. you have the economy, with fears of a recession coming in for the united states and the fed raising interest rates again. you can look at congress and talk about majority leader chuck schumer and joe manchin's deal on climate taxes and health. former president donald trump and former vice president mike pence came back to washington and gave dueling speeches on politics in the united states. once again, you have now the department of justice congress that could be investigating former president trump's actions on january 6. we have talks between the u.s. and russia on prisoner swaps for wnba star brittney griner and other u.s. prisoners in russia,

and you have house speaker nancy pelosi possibly heading to asia with warnings from china. all of those topics. tell us what you want to talk about this morning. before we get into those topics, let's talk about breaking news that happened yesterday with the u.s. house passing its first assault weapon ban in roughly 30 years. here is the story from today's "washington post." house democrats pass an assault weapons ban for the first time in roughly 30 years friday, on a politically fraught issue that tested the unity of the caucus. the historic legislation passed 217-213, largely along party lines with only two republicans voting in support. the bill faces virtually no chance of passage in a evenly split senate. that is the story out of this

morning's "washington post" with the u.s. house passing a assault weapons ban. for many people, the topic of the day is the economy. and, fears of the united states going into a recession. on thursday, president joe biden came out and addressed the new gdp numbers, and explained why he thinks the country is not in a recession. here is a portion of what president biden had to say. [video clip] >> chairman powell and many of the significant banking personnel and economists say we are not in a recession. let me give you what the facts are. in terms of the state of the economy. number one, we have a record job market, record unemployment of 3.6% today. we have created 9 million new jobs so far, since i have become

president. businesses are investing in america at record rates. farm business, sk and others are investing in america. hundreds of millions, trillions of millions of dollars paid 100 billion -- 100 billion dollars in semiconductor investments announced. more than $100 billion electric vehicle battery investments by ford, general motors, hyundai, tesla and more. just last week, sk corporation republican announced a $22 billion in new investment in semiconductor batteries, chargers and medical devices, creating another 16,000 jobs in america. this is the strongest rebound in a man u -- american manufacturing in over three decades, creating 613,000 manufacturing jobs.

passing the chips will is going to put another $72 billion for incentives and tax credits to expand semiconductor production, and the inflation reduction act will add another $370 billion in clean energy tax credits in reconciliation. including, incentives to -- domestic production of solar panels, batteries and critical cheerios processing. that does not sound like a recession to me. host: despite with the president is saying, some economists say we are already in a recession. cs -- cnbc.com has a story about what the metrics are. i will bring a couple paragraphs of that story to you. the u.s. economy contracted for a second straight quarter from april to june, hitting a widely accepted rule of, for a recession. the bureau of economic analysis reported thursday, gross domestic product fell 0.9% at an

annualized pace for the period, that follows a 1.6% decline in the first quarter and was worse than the dow jones estimate for a gain of 0.3 percent. officially, the national bureau of economic research declares recessions and expansion, and likely will not make a judgment of the period in question for months, if not longer. if a second straight negative gdp reading meets a long-held basic view of recession, despite the unusual circumstances of decline and regardless of what the in ber decides. we want to know what your top news story of the week is. you see the numbers on the screen. call in and let us know what you are thinking. before we get to our calls, i want to go to senate republican leader mitch mcconnell, who on thursday, came out to the senate floor and criticized democrats economic agenda as we face this

possible recession. here is what senator mcconnell had to say. [video clip] >> democrats inherited a economy from a historic comeback, and promptly ran it straight into the ground. of course, working families did not need any experts or statistics to tell them today's democratic party is a walking, talking economic disaster. democrats failures are causing working families deep, personal pain on a daily basis. americans know democrats cannot be trusted. they know every time they fill their gas tank, every time they check out at the supermarket, every time parents stay up late at their kitchen table trying to figure out which bills they can afford to pay, this particular month -- because democrats spent us into inflation. 90 million american households say they are having a hard time

meeting expenses. 90 million american households. the average household in this country is having to pay an extra $5,300 and climbing every year just to tread water. democrats inflation is stealing more than $5,000 from the average family per year. like a super majority of americans already knew before this morning, it is now driven the country into a recession. a few years back, our colleague and senior senator from west virginia said, "i do not think that during a time of recession, you must with the taxes or increase any taxes." alas, yesterday, washington democrats announced they plan to do exactly that. the democrats who robbed american families with inflation, robbed the country a second time to a gigantic, job killing tax hike.

apparently, our democratic colleagues do not want to be responsible for just skyrocketing prices alone. they want americans to be faced with skyrocketing prices and higher taxes, and fewer jobs. all at the same time. host: let's go to our phone lines. let's start with mark, who is calling from new york on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. i am very unhappy, because the economy is so bad. we are having stagflation, which is a recession and inflation at the same time. so, everything is costing more. the gas, the produce, shortages of baby formula. it is all depressing, i am very unhappy about it. host: what do you think congress and the president should be

doing about the inflation problems right now, and the recession problem? caller: i would probably try to cut taxes. let people keep more of their own money. i would cut taxes, and i would try to increase the labor participation rate. everyone is all upset about the unemployment rate, but -- everyone is happy about the unappointed rate, but no one realizes that the participation rate is drastically low. host: all right. let's go to ray, calling from aurora, colorado on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning, thanks for taking my call. how are you? host: i am great. go ahead. caller: actually, one of the stories i have heard in the past few days has related to monkeypox. listening to d.c. last night coming across this washington

post, the first monkeypox related death outside of africa. spain and brazil. it is personal for me, because i am just recovering from covid. host: right. caller: one thing i would hope. i am a registered libertarian. i would hope that our government here and around the world will not be as rash as they were early on in the covid pandemic. host: ray, make sure you stick around for the second hour of the "journal." we will have dr. preeti malani to answer questions about monkeypox. if you have questions about monkeypox, we will be talking about that in the next hour. let's go to kelly, calling from cromwell, connecticut on the independent line. kelly, good morning.

caller: good morning. good morning. honestly, my comment has to do with the gas lighting, the lies come from both parties, to be honest with you. it has turned our country against one another. -- seems to be the only narrative that the politicians that are doing most of the lying, they are the ones destroying our country apart. as far as inflation and the prices and all of that, it is totally understandable that people would pay attention, they would realize that this is a global recession. every country is in turmoil. it is not just the democrats that are ruining the country. pay attention, stop listening to the lies. we really need to do something in regards to allowing

politicians -- no consequences. host: give us one specific example of what you are talking about when you say politicians are gas lighting the american public. give us specific examples of both the left and right that you think you are seeing. caller: i wish my brain works properly, so i could do that. i have a traumatic brain injury, so i am not able to pull specifics out. on the general basis, mcconnell saying the policy they are trying to put forth. i cannot recall the name of it, for the climate change, the economic rebirth -- it is going to destroy us, in actuality. it is going to put more people to work, it is going to make us more independent. there are so many things that are said that are confusing the

american public, rather than just coming out and being honest , infatuated with the power and money. the lobbying needs to stop. these power packs, where all the money -- give as much money as you went to the pack, the pack can spend it any way they want with no appropriation to it at all. where does all that money go? host: let's go to rick, calling from georgia on the republican line. i think we lost rick, we will go to michael who is calling from byron, minnesota on the democratic line. michael, good morning. caller: good morning. i have an idea, i do not know if it would work but it is worth a try. i believe that, not only should we have a minimum wage, we should have a maximum wage.

just like japan does. i believe the extra money could be used to clean up our national debt, and do other things that will help everyone, instead of the greed by the wealthiest americans. it is a disaster, how much money some people make. there is no way they could spend that money for things they need. host: michael, how do you convince ceos, politicians and millionaires and alien heirs to give up their salaries -- and billionaires to give up their salaries? caller: i have no idea. [laughter] i think it would jumpstart our economy and send us in the right direction. host: let's go to sandra who is calling from walnut grove, missouri on the republican line. good morning. caller: morning.

i was just calling to give you my opinion. i think biden has ruined this country, i do not know if they will ever get back right. what was sent by that one senator from ohio, everything he said was true. only way to kill is if someone picks someone up and starts shooting. it won't ever hurt nobody. it is nuts out here. we need to start getting a hold of it. i've thank you very much. host: let's go to glenn, calling from madison, illinois on the democrat line. good morning. caller: hello, jesse. let's talk about the ar's to stop with. a five shot magazine, that is all you need. any deer rifle, that is all they got. so, let's go with a five shot magazine.

anybody with more than five magazines, thousands of dollars of rounds. next thing is the grim reaper and their senate. something has got to be done with him. he has got to go. he ain't done nothing but tear everything down that they try to do. he has got something to say. host: glenn, are you a hunter yourself? caller: yes, i am. host: i am sure you know like i do -- i come from mississippi. there are a lot of people out there that hunt. how do you convince hunters, people legally using their guns for sport, that they have to limit themselves to the number of shots they can take before they reload? how do you convince them of that? caller: you do not need all of

them rounds in a gun. if you take your time and pick your shot, you can do it in one shot. i have done it. these clowns, they think they are going out there and just shoot up everything. i have seen them in the field. if they want to shoot, put them in the range. make anything caught out of a range, that is where the fine comes in. host: let's go to robert, calling from georgetown, south carolina on the democrat line. robert, good morning. caller: good morning. the thing i would like to add first, if someone calling in could tell me, how much did it cost to redo the capital?

to make it back like it is. the second thing is, i always hear the republicans talking about what biden is not doing, but i never hear them say what they would do if they was in there. put a name and number on the re. host: robert, would you say they should put a name on -- a name and number on that, what do you mean? caller: it should say, if i was in charge, i would do x, y, z, and it would cost $4 million or $5 million. say something that you can put your hands on, do not always criticize the other person. say what you would do if you was in charge. put a how to it. host: i was able to find an answer to your previous question.

a story from npr says the architect of the capitol outlined $30 million in damages from the january 6 violence at the u.s. capitol. caller: $30 million, thank you. host: let's go to rick, calling from eerie, pennsylvania on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. $30 million, what about the $2 billion in the other riots all summer long? we are getting off the subject, this is supposed to be about recession. to be honest with you, i do not know if you have filled up your gas tank or if you use public transport or not. i filled up my truck yesterday, it was $100. they are happy it went down $.40. god bless our president, he is trying to do the best he can. he is taking our strategic reserves to save $.20 on a gallon, and this new build back

better, or whatever they want to call it this time -- how come none of that is in there for the regular working person? they took out the child credit, they did not lower the lower people they figured, the rich people, let's go after them. they always think the businesses are -- i am a small businessman. i have no clue what they are going to do to me. i know they hired one million more irs agents to come after everybody. i just do not know. host: to answer your question, rick, it took about $70 to fill up my truck yesterday when i had to stop at the gas station. as prices are still up there. caller: how much was it last year? it was like $50. even the grocery store, i go to walmart now. god bless walmart, no matter if

you are saving $.10 on a gallon of gas or you go the rewards, you cannot be the down to earth -- beat the down to earth prices. god less the democrat party, they speak a good trick -- god bless the democrat party, they speak a good trick. biden has done nothing for the working man. the working man is the one suffering here. somehow, they just do not see it. host: our topic of the morning is not the recession, but it is what you are most important news story of the week is. what is your top news story? on another front, senate majority leader chuck schumer talk to reporters on thursday about the passage of the chips for america act. he also was talking about the bill that the previous caller was talking about, the bill that used to be the old back at her act -- build back better back is called the senate -- reduction

act. here is what senator schumer had to say. [video clip] >> it has been a momentous 24 hours in congress. a legislative one to punch that the american people rarely see. a little while ago, the house voted to approve the largest investment to lowering costs, increasing manufacturing, investing in science and helping fix our semiconductor crisis. the chips in science bill, after three long years, goes to the president's desk. and, last night, senator manchin and i announced an agreement on a reconciliation package. the inflation reduction act, that would finally deliver on some of the biggest challenges facing the american people. lowering costs, fighting inflation, fighting climate change and making health care more affordable in this country. again, the past 24 hours have

been a legislative 12 punch that americans rarely see, and will benefit them immensely -- a bill to supercharge american industry, fight inflation and rk turning point in our fight against climate change. for years, decades even, many in washington have promised to address the biggest challenges facing our nation, only to openly fail to deliver. with the inflation reduction act of 2022, this senate democratic majority will finally take on pharma and -- big pharma and lower prescription drug costs. the senate democrat majority will climate -- tackle the climate crisis with ernest d -- with vigor. they will ensure wealthy corporations will pay their fair share in taxes. this senate majority will reduce the deficit.

by a wide margin, this legislation will be the greatest pro-climate legislation that congress has ever, ever passed. this legislation fights the climate crisis with the urgency that the situation demands, and put the u.s. on a path to reduce by roughly 40% emissions by 2030. that is a very strong role. this legislation puts us on the path to do it here at all the while, creating new, good paying jobs in the near and long-term. this morning, i met with my democratic colleagues to discuss this bill and discuss the path to passing it in the next week in the senate. i expect the remaining work with the parliamentarian will be completed in the coming days, and the senate will vote on this transformative legislation next week. host: let's see what one of -- some of our social media

followers are talking about this morning and say is their top news story of the week. here is one tweet that says, "my top story is the almost two decades wasted on alzheimer's research because of fraud from researchers." another tweet that says, "top story this week is po j likely opening investigations into trump's coup attempt, at a minimum, insurrection to disqualify him from holding public office. the endless lies are undermining trust in our election." another one says, potential presidential candidate trump says we do not know who is behind the 9/11 attacks. in 2016, he told sean hannity it was the saudis, not iraqi, that pool up the world trade center. another tweet says, "our response to monkeypox should be more solid than the ones that released covid on the land. our response team on the place, it would've made a big

difference if trump had not replaced it." one final tweet that says, the biden administration democrats are trying to run off the clock until the midterms. it still will not work. we want to know what your top news story of the week is, our regular lines are open. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. let's go to mike, calling from magnolia springs, alabama on the independent line. mike, good morning. caller: good morning, how are you doing, sir? host: just fine. go ahead. caller: i want to state a simple fact nobody seems to be pointing out, and offer a proposition, as well. one thing nobody seems to be stating is, the ar-15 platform

that everybody is crying about is functionally the exact same firearm that every 10-year-old country boy gets for his first rabbit gun or squirrel gun, it functions exactly the same. there is no difference in it. the caliber of the ar-15, which can be two to 3, 556, 308, 30 off six, same as the m1 grand, those calibers are more deadly than the two to three round is. the platform is exactly the same, functionally, as a 10-year-olds squirrel gun. it works exactly the same. host: let's go to barney, who is calling from zephyrhills, florida on the democrat line. good morning. caller: -- this golf tournament.

he wrapped himself in the american flag. host: you are still on, go ahead. caller: oh. do you see how trump stuck a thing in the american people's eye at the golf club and this event, instead of telling the american people that the saudis did not take the world trade center? this is absolutely ridiculous. america got just what they deserve. at the world trade center, laughing out america because of this so-called president we have. it is $2 billion for the saudis,

they want this man to be president again. these people got to be stiff, i just do not understand that. host: let's go to rick, who is calling from georgia on the republican line. rick, good morning. caller: i just wanted to speak about the ar-15. i really do not understand the thought hind banning guns, when you had -- he hind banning guns, when you have somebody mentally ill that is going to kill children. anyone can do that with a handgun, and more properly then a ar-15. look at the oklahoma building bombing, they did it with fertilizer and a bomb. you can kill people with a car. what is it going to help, banning an ar-15? it makes no sense. host: rick, what would you say to the argument for people doing the mass shootings lately, what

they are doing becomes easier with them -- for them with weapons like ar-15's? people are not saying it is impossible to kill people without an ar-15, but would you agree it is easier for people who want to do mass shootings if they are able to have a gun, a weapon like the ar-15 that allows them to shoot a lot of bullets at once without reloading? caller: no, i would actually disagree. if i went into a school with a handgun, i would be more accurate with a handgun then i would be within ar-15. host: you think the accuracy -- let me make sure. are you thinking that shooters are less accurate with high magazine weapons then they would be with weapons like a handgun, which hold fewer bullets, but you say are more accurate? caller: it takes no time to

reload a magazine of any gun. my point is, i do not want to sit here and argue which gun can kill people more. as far as loading a gun, if you can shoot a gun, you can kill as many people with either in any amount of time. it does not matter. if you kill one person, it is too many. host: right. rick, do you think there should be any regulations on guns and weapons in the united states? caller: sure, yeah. there should always be regulations. we need more mental health regulations as far as checking people's backgrounds, things of that sort. as far as actually banning the guns, i think it is ridiculous. i just do not think it is going to solve anything. host: all right. let's go to sharon, who is calling from minna penny, enzo vania on the -- pennsylvania.

caller: it is my hope and he. host: go ahead, sharon. caller: senator schumer took everything i wanted to say. finally, we are doing something about the environment. we all know it is well past the time of, that we had. we thought we had leeway. we are 30 years ahead of where they thought we would be right now. that is my main thing a wanted to talk about. you did take my, answered all my questions and spoke eloquently about what is happening. i would like to discuss misinformation for a moment. the gentleman ahead of me with the ar-15's and the hunting guns, my husband is a hunter. he has a whole wall of 10 pointers and more, that he shoots with a bow and. he doesn't even need a gun.

secondly, and ar-15, the bullet and amount of bullets you can shoot out at one time can cut a person in half. cut a child's head off, this troy a body in seconds. other guns do not do that, they are not made for that. the ar-15's are made exactly for that reason, to kill as many people as possible. it is ridiculous to equate that. my own grandson just turned 11, he is getting his shooting skills from his grandfather, who is teaching him the proper way to use a gun to hunt with, or shoot here he is great at it at 11. the misinformation about the keystone pipeline, i heard somebody say -- an elected official say, why doesn't biden just restored the keystone pipeline?

first of all, canada cannot refine that gas in canada, it is not allowed. the process is terribly bad for the environment. not one drop of that keystone pipeline oil is coming through this company, not one drop of it was stopping in this country, for this country. it was all going overseas because it is such a dirty process to refine that. host: before you go any further, i know what the answer is, but for our viewers who do not hunt, tell them what a 10 pointer is. caller: a 10 pointer? host: yeah. caller: it is a large dear with a very large rack here we eat all the venison. what we don't eat, we give to a local organization that takes the venison i am not going to use. host: i will tell you, i have

several relatives who bow hunt in mississippi. my brother teaches archery. i know how skilled your husband must be to take down a deer, a 10 pointer with a bow and arrow. let's talk to patty who is calling from atlantic city, new jersey on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. there is a myriad of issues going on right now, but the most important one to me is what the supreme court did by overturning roe v. wade. the republicans want to make criminals out of women, that is what is going to happen. they are going to be jailing women, they are already investigating doctors who performed abortions on a 10-year-old. basically, what the far right republican party are saying is that women are just too stupid to control their own lives and

their own bodies. i think it is a travesty to women, i think we answered an amendment to the constitution saying women have equal rights to their own bodies. host: one thing we have not talked about yet this morning is the war going on between russia and ukraine, and how it affects the united states. there is a story in cbs news today that talks about the war with ukraine and russia, and the prisoner swap being offered by the united states. that affects brittney griner and paul whelan. i will read a couple of paragraphs of that story. secretary of state anthony blinken spoke with sergey lavrov and a frank and direct conversation of the substantial proposal that the u.s. has put forward in an attempt to secure the release of wnba star brittney griner and former u.s.

marine, paul whelan. lincoln said friday during a press conference, -- blinken said friday during a press conference. this is the first time they have spoken since russia's invasion of ukraine. blinken said he prints -- pressed the kremlin to accept the proposal. it was important that he heard directly from me on that, this as negotiations over brittney griner and paul whelan. we find out that the u.s. and russia for ministers, the secretary of state and foreign minister, have not spoken since the start of russia's invasion of ukraine. we want to know what your top story of the day is. let's go to reid, calling from ocean shores, washington on the republican line. reid, good morning. caller: good morning.

i would like to make a comment about what i feel are the most important issues in the news. i wanted to say to c-span, it seems like censorship when earlier today, earlier this morning, jesse, you take a call from a democrat and you go to a republican line, barely getting out the words, republican line and, oops. we lost him. host: let me stop you there before you come up with a conspiracy theory. that caller, just talked to him. his line asked delhi dropped. there is no censorship, i was about to pick him up. somehow between the time, his line got dropped. just talk. go ahead. caller: i'm not saying there is a conspiracy that you cut him off. what i am getting to, the policy should be is, if they caller is dropped or if you have to cut them off and they are doing something wrong, you go back to

that same line. host: stop the show and wait for the person to call back? caller: no. it can be any republican, you have a republican line and democrat line. if something happened like it did with the republican line, you go to a republican caller to get the republican point out. god bless you, but i am saying that should be a policy. you always go to the same line in that case. the comment i want to make is a story i believe, is this. biden once build back better, which people need to know that was a policy of 11 years ago created by the world economic forum. he is just a muppet for the world economic forum's, just like trudeau is, just like many leaders in countries. that is a strategy created by the world economics form, and it -- an organization of

billionaires trying to run the world. they can rename it, whatever they want. they can call it the inflation reduction act. the real kicker is, you cannot make this stuff up. here is biden saying he wants to spend $7 trillion more on the print presses for the federal reserve to reduce inflation. in fact, all the spinning the democrats did -- i am not saying republicans are complacent and spending does not need to happen. all the spending they did since biden took office, 21 trillion dollars, that is why we have inflation. you cannot make this stuff up. biden's resolve to inflation is for the government to spend more money. host: let's go to frank calling from reno, nevada on the democrat line. good morning. are you there? caller: hello. yes, i am here.

i just want to say, the republicans are gas lighting, and they stop anything that will help the average american, like mansion in west virginia -- machin in west -- manchin in west virginia. as far as -- and his speech about tax errs, they want to raise taxes -- taxer, they want to raise taxes -- not on the working people. to try and take over the boating stuff there, they are destroying america. destroying the voting process.

thank you. host: let's go to quentin, calling from evansville, indiana on the republican line. good morning. caller: yes, i would like to get on two issues. the chip and abortion. first off, all these people in office are worth millions of millions of millions of dollars, with a thousand dollars salary. when is enough for these people? second of all, if a father has a one night stand with a woman and she ends up pregnant, he do not want nothing to do with the baby because he is a deadbeat dad. the mother can have an abortion without a say so. why should the father be able to opt out of child support? host: all right, let's go to hilda, -- calling from gloucester, virginia on the democrat line. caller: good morning.

host: go ahead. caller: my concern for this week is that pfizer and madura have a new vaccine coming out in november -- moderna have a new vaccine coming out in november for the b5 -- ba.5. instead of getting my second boosters this week, i will just wait until november. host: so, you are going to wait and take a new vaccine instead of the booster from the current vaccine? what you think is going to be the difference there? caller: i have no idea. that is a good question. i do not understand why madrona and pfizer -- madrona -- moderna and pfizer are coming out with a new vaccine. every quarter, we need a new vaccine for the different corona viruses that are coming out? host: i will tell you, i put my

second booster this week, as well. this is the first time i have gotten sick from the booster. the first three shots i took, no effect at all. this time, it knocked me down for a little bit. caller: i think i will wait until november when the next vaccine. moderna, that is the when i took. for the next vaccine, for the omicron ba.5. host: i had side effects for just about a day, achiness, cold symptoms. i was right back up one day later. caller: i run to the grocery store at 6:30 in the morning, so i am not around people. i still wear my mask, i never remove my mask despite the fact that i have been boosted one time and got both shots. never remove my mask in public. i will just continue to do that

until november. host: let's go to john, calling from washington, d.c. on the republican line. good morning. caller: hi. i was a pedicab, a tricycle taxi operator on january 6. i was there, i was in the downtown d.c. area pretty much every day for five years prior to that great i saw everything. i saw them trying to burn the white house all summer long, i saw the whole town boarded up with plywood. i saw them throwing bricks at the police. i saw them trying to burn down st. john's church. i saw them firebomb the bathroom in front of the white house, which still hasn't been repaired. it still got a fence around it. you would think with a two trillion dollar infrastructure bill, they could at least fix the toilet when you've got 30

million visitors a year and there is no toilet. anyway, i was there generally six. i came down the tip -- i came to the capital a.m., i saw no no security. i told my buddy, they are going to get in. i went to the washington monument, saw 200,000 people. i predicted it, there was no security. i came to the conclusion, broadway, hollywood, california, washington, d.c. is all theater. that was done on purpose. that was a staged event. host: let me stop you there and figure out what you are talking about. are you saying the violence on january 6 was staged, and if it was staged, it was staged by who? caller: when i am saying is, it

was corralled. there was not even a three foot fence. meanwhile, we've got a 10 foot fence around the white house all summer long. host: the white house has a fence around it when he 47 -- around it 24/7. i know you have been here for five years, but that fence has been around the white house for ever. caller: i am talking about the temporary fences that went to h street. the whole town was boarded up. we watched the whole thing all summer long. someone is going to say that, there might not be violence when there is 200,000 people? i was there friday night, the night before. there was 20,000 people at freedom plaza the night before. 20,000. how could nobody know that tomorrow, the next day, was going to be an and event -- an enormous event?

you cannot have 20,000 people in no security, somebody did that on purpose. host: all right, let's go to angela who is calling from indianapolis, into -- indiana on the independent line. caller: thank you. i am calling in regards to the assault weapons ban. i am interested, i know they can probably have a lot to do with future per -- purchases of those types of weapons, banning those purchases and the future. how will there be the ability to remove them out of the current population, when people have already purchased those types of weapons illegally, and have passed all background checks and all of that and owned these

weapons illegally? host: under the bill passed in the house, all weapons purchased legally are grandfathered in. they will not be taken away, you will just not be able to buy more. caller: exactly. how does that solve the problem with the violence we are experiencing by those weapons that are still currently going to be in the general population? obviously, they are not going to go door to door and remove those out of people's hands. they are not mandating that every american citizen that owns those type of weapons go through some mental health background check, because they are already saying those weapons, they can

legally owned them -- own them. a mental health check is a snapshot in time at that moment. anyone can pass a mental health screening, and even lie about it and say they are fine. or, they could be telling the truth, they are absolutely fine, but no one at all knows from one moment to the next when a life event of any kind can affect an individual mentally. and, something just makes them go to another, darker place that they decided to inflict harm on not only themselves, but others. host: let's talk to daniel, who is calling from birds town, tennessee on the democrat line.

good morning. daniel, are you there? caller: good morning, jesse. jesse, it is a privilege to speak with you and an honor. it does not matter what the subject we are talking about, whether it is climate change, abortion, gun rights, whatever the subject is. under education, it is the brainwashing. once you are brainwashed, you are susceptible to denialism. mitt romney wrote an opinion piece in the paper a couple of weeks ago about denialism. once you are in denialism, you are -- that will lead you to delusions. i do not know where we are in this country, but i would say

about one third of my class back in 1993 should not have graduated. they should have went to school another year or so. but, this is where we are at. we all need to watch this program more and more. thank you, sir. host: let's go to arthur, calling from fulsome, california on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i have a couple of issues. the first being, we had two callers earlier in this segment regarding the ar-15 style weapons. they made some gross exaggerations between handguns and ar-15's. there is nothing that kills people more accurately than a 20 round magazine and an ar-15. i am a combat war veteran from vietnam, i am 74 years old. i carry they are 15 and i know

exactly what it does -- the ar-15 and i know exactly what it does. you cannot compare any handgun to that ar-15 long rifle. there is a lot of misinformation and lack of understanding, under education in our country is a systemic problem. people without proper -- they do not even teach government in school anymore. my other issue is this wealth tournament, and the -- golf tournament, and the saudi players association. this is a great tragedy in this country. to see our former president, no matter what you think about him, backing this kind of thing is a wholesale profit making venture for donald j. trump. he could not care less that those saudis knocked down the

world trade center and killed 3300 americans. host: let's go to david, calling from alabama on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning, jesse. how are you today? host: i am doing great. go ahead. caller: i wanted to ask your opinion on something. i wanted to see what you thought about this and the current state of affairs in our government. if all political seats were held by ex military, active military personnel that have served their country and been willing to die for their country, do you think this would be a better country as it stands now? host: this show is about y'all's opinion, not mine. i will let y'all debate. what do you think, david? do military service should be a requirement to serve in congress, be president and be a supreme court justice? caller: i most certainly do.

you are a structured person, and your motivation is not about money. you cannot write a bill that makes you richer, just because that is what you have the power to do. you have proven yourself that you want to protect your country more then you want to make a dollar. host: do you think you can learn that as a civilian without military service? caller: what is that? host: do you think you can learn those same things you spoke about, those same values, without military service? caller: ed is not the matter of learning, it is the fact -- it is not the matter of learning, it is the fact that you've committed your life to serve this country, rather than being a career politician to make money during the course of it. it is the fact that you respect what you are standing for, versus getting into it to become

rich. host: all right, let's go to john, who is calling from sherman oaks, california on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning, jesse. i'm calling because i am concerned about brittney griner's mental health, i think the best thing we can do for her is to leave her exactly where she is. she is so upset by having to listen to the national anthem, i think that where she is in russia, at least she will not be in danger of that. host: all right. let's go to claire, who is calling from west virginia on the republican line. claire, good morning. caller: good morning, jesse. host: good morning, claire. caller: my concerning story of the week is the gas prices and utility prices. the small tourism businesses suffer as americans cut back on spending, and wait for change. is there anyway that a small

business welfare could be developed so that, when small businesses are hurt either doors and bells on their phones not being ringing, that they still need to make their income to keep their utilities paid? i do not understand why utilities need to go up in our best time of need, that small businesses would need a break and other people in our world. a small business immediate welfare would help with utilities, and help seniors such as mom and pop businesses keep eating healthy. some of the fruits and vegetables are out of control on pricing. it just seems there is no way for small businesses to get help, unless they go to a bank and apply for a time-consuming loan, which has a lot of paperwork involved. after the pandemic and many other things in our lives that changed their credit reports tenacity, --

host: didn't the government do that during the pandemic? isn't that what the ppp lawns were for? caller: my husband and i had a small business so our business was not able to apply for anything at all through the government and our family just by selling yard sale items was able to keep our utilities paid. they put us on a 12 month payment plan to keep the business open. the doors were open to construction but there were no other travelers moving around to gamble or even funerals or weddings. that cap the phones from ringing and the doors from opening for tourism. if we could call someone and say

hey, they want to shut off our electric can we keep it on? does our door have to close because people are traveling. i know that being in the tourism industry everything revolves around spending and our area in the northern panhandle of virginia was affected when the legislature borrowed money all in one lump-sum and they only trickle it back. the horsemen that were coming to this area, i could have eight trucks for lodging at any given time in a week. once they borrowed that money and they only trickle it back to them, casino itself does not come back to full operation. host: we would like to thank all of our collars. keep in mind, we will be going back to the top news stories later on in the show. if you want to talk about your

side of the story we will be back with that segment. coming up next dr. preeti malani a professor of medicine at the university of michigan will be here to answer your questions on the rise of monkeypox cases. and later on our spotlight on podcast, we will feature bruce carlson and his program "my history can beat up your politics." we will talk about the news of the day with a historical twist. stick around, we will be right back. >> next week on the c-span network wednesday morning with the upcoming midterm election, the senate judiciary committee hears about threats on election workers. main republican senator susan

collins and joe manchin testify before the rules committee about their bill on presidential election reform. on thursday morning, fbi director christopher wray goes before the judiciary committee. the house reviews a bill on climate change in taxes. watch next week live on the c-span networks. head to c-span.org or to stream video live or on-demand at any time. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> the world's first computer was a top-secret army project during world war ii. it weighed 30 tons and took up 1800 square feet. sunday night on q&a, kathy

kleinman and the author of proving ground talks about the six american women who programmed eniac. who were the women and what are they doing in the pictures? i wanted to know because if they did something technical i wanted to know because i could use role models at that point. i took the photographs to my professor. he sent me to the co-founder of the history museum and she told me they were models but they were in the caption because they were posed. i did not think that was right and i went looking for the people in the pictures and i found them. all six of the original program owners of eniac were women.

you can listen to q&a and all of our podcast on our free c-span now at. pp. c-spanshop.org is our online store. see our latest collection of products, apparel, and accessories. there is something for every c-span fan. shop now or any time at c-spanshop.org. "washington journal," continues. host: we are back with dr. preeti malani who is a professor of medicine and infectious diseases at the university of michigan and she is here this

morning to discuss the rise in monkeypox cases in the united states. i am just going to call this monkeypox 101. what is monkeypox? guest: monkeypox is an infection that is caused by the monkeypox virus. we are hearing a lot about it in 2022 but it is not a new infection or virus. it is closely related to the smallpox virus, it is in the same family. host: is monkeypox a nickname or is that what it is actually called? guest: it is what it is actually called. if you look at the early history of monkeypox, it was first isolated in monkeys in 1950's copenhagen and that is where the name comes from. host: it was isolated in monkeys in copenhagen? guest: that's right. host: how did it get from

copenhagen to the united states today? guest: [inaudible] host: we may be having a little problem with the feed. guest: sorry about that. host: how to get from copenhagen to the united states in 2022? guest: the first human case was identified in 1970 and in recent years it has been endemic in areas of africa for many years. it has now spread throughout the world and it was rare in human cases until this past year. this type of infection can spread from animals to humans. almost 20 years ago, there was an outbreak related to prairie

dogs. this outbreak that we are seeing now is very different and that is the reason why it is concerning that we are seeing so much human to human spread. host: for our viewers, how does a virus spread from animals to humans? guest: let's take the prairie dog example which was from the united states in 2003. these were pet prairie dog so a lot of children got infected. they were in close contact with the animals. it can vary a little bit. there are lots of infections that can spread this way. with monkeypox it was often different types of animals and not just paradox, gambian rats and other animals that are good host for monkeypox. host: how does monkeypox spread?

we are hearing a lot in the news today about how this could be a disease that affects only certain segments of the population. explain to us how monkeypox's spread from human to human? guest: it has been spread among men who have sex with men. the idea of close contact, it can spread in other ways. the emphasis is not that it is a certain group that is at risk. the idea of direct contact with the rash, the scabs or body fluids. it can also spread a few other ways that are less common but are important. touching items that are contaminated. this has happened over the years in health care settings. if there are contaminated linens or bandages. it can spread in pregnancy from the pregnant individual to the fetus. that has been seen.

less common, it can spread with a lot of direct contact with respiratory secretions. it spreads differently than covid. the majority of it will be direct skin to skin contact. host: we have all seen the pictures of the scabs in the sores that happen when people know they have monkeypox. is there a way to tell if you have monkeypox before the visible evidence of the scabs in sores on the skin? guest: that is a good question we are learning more about minimally symptomatic monkeypox. the rash is what is typical in the rash can look different over time. it might start off as a pimple or blister but then it can grow and change and eventually it

will scab. the way we figure out if it is monkeypox is by testing. again, it has a typical appearance and if you have had that rash after exposure or have risk factors that might put you in higher risk of monkeypox. the way you make the diagnosis is through testing. host: let me take a second here to invite our viewers to this conversation. we will open regional lines. if you are in the eastern or central time zones your telephone number is going to be (202) 748-8000. if you are in the mountains or pacific time zones your number is going to be (202) 748-8001. keep in mind, you can always text comments and questions to (202) 748-8003.

we are always reading on social media at twitter http://twitter.com/cspanwj. and on facebook facebook.com/cspan. host: do you classify it as a sexually transmitted disease? guest: i would classify it differently. it is important from a public health standpoint to make sure that your prevention is focused on high-risk activities. the risk factors we are seeing, particularly men who have sex with men is important. this is not a traditional sexually-transmitted disease. it is skin to skin contact. it could spread to other people who are not engaging in sexual acts. host: we have seen a lot of comparison in the news between

monkeypox and the beginning of the aids/hiv crisis? guest: i also hear comparisons with covid. i was pretty young at the beginning of the aids pandemic although i remember it. i think there are comparisons. the obvious comparison is that there is a group who is at a much higher risk right now. i feel like we can do all of these things. we can address the specific education needs of the population who is at high risk but we can also look at this the way we look at any other medical health emergency with a layered approach. there is no denying there are vulnerabilities in the group that is currently at risk. having compassion and being sensitive to those needs is very important.

i think you can do all of these things at once. host: the center for disease control is tracking the number of monkeypox cases reported to them. i want to put some of those numbers on screen where we can see in just the last couple of months, the numbers go from below 50 to more than 400. what are the trends we are seeing here in the country? is this because people don't know about it? is there a vaccine that is not working? why are we seeing these numbers jump like this? guest: the numbers that i saw were at 5000 yesterday. i think those numbers will continue to grow. worldwide, you are approaching 25 thousand with a lot of activity in europe. it gets at the fact that this is a contagious virus. if you have the type of skin to skin contact. it doesn't mean it is contagious

if you are walking through a building or going through your everyday life. you asked about vaccines, should we talk about that a little bit? host: sure i would love that. guest: there was a vaccine that people got several years ago. i got it as a young child, the smallpox vaccine. there are not a lot of people, particularly young age groups who would've gotten this vaccine. the smallpox vaccine is quite good protection against monkeypox. many health care workers got the smallpox vaccine when there were concerns about bioterrorism. the vaccine people are talking about now is different than the vaccine being distributed. what i think is important to recognize, this is a different

infection. you can give a vaccine after exposure. if you give it after that you may not prevent infection but you may prevent severe infection. it can be given up to a couple of weeks after exposure. this is the vaccine being distributed more widely and it was developed as a vaccine against smallpox but it also protects against monkeypox. it is not sitting on the shelf at your doctors office or pharmacy. it is in short supply. local health authorities are deciding who gets it and it is mostly a close context of those who have already contracted it. people who are at high risk of monkeypox. they live in an area where they are having a lot of contact with

people who may have monkeypox. the number of vaccines is not adequate right now. there are effort to bring many more vaccines into use. there is a second vaccine that is stockpiled in the united states called ak 2000. it is more like her traditional small pox vaccine and cannot be given to certain individuals with health conditions. so far, that one has not been used but it is available. host: i want to make sure that our viewers are clear before we get to the calls. when you say a vaccine, does this mean that if you get the vaccine you can't get monkeypox or does this mean that if you get the vaccine and you get monkeypox it will not be as severe. i have heard a lot of people get

the covid vaccine but they got covid anyway. what kind of vaccine is this? guest: this is a different kind of vaccine, a better vaccine in terms of protecting. if you were to get this vaccine without any exposure. health care workers for example, someone working in the lab with monkeypox. these are the groups that have been considered until the current outbreak breaking day by day. this individual should have excellent protection against monkeypox. if you get it after exposure, it depends on timing. up to four days, it will help with the development of the monkeypox. if you get it later, it might be that you have a milder infection. it really depends on whether you have had exposure or not.

this vaccine is an outstanding vaccine. it is a live virus vaccine. from a medical standpoint, that is the best type of vaccine you can get. this is modified so that it does not replicate in the body and cause infection. that said, people are only getting one dose of the vaccine because of supply. the goal right now is to try and contain this growing epidemic and not so much wearing about getting second doses by getting those first doses. if you recall it similar to covid, but quite different. host: we will start with bridget from north carolina. caller: good morning.

let me just get this straight, the number of people who have had the chickenpox vaccine, will that affect it? guest: thank you for the question. will the chickenpox vaccine affect monkeypox? they are completely different vaccines, completely different infections. the chickenpox vaccine is important because they can affect children but it does not have any effect on monkeypox. the only vaccine that would help is that smallpox vaccine. host: we have a question from social media, they want to know about pregnancy in monkeypox. when a fetus is affected by

monkeypox is that fatal? what manifestations will there be in the fetus? guest: pregnancy is one of the high risk categories. if an individual is pregnant and develops monkeypox. i think it would depend on when in the pregnancy. this is not we have seen a lot of but these are individuals who would qualify for treatment. we do have one particular treatment that is being used in larger numbers day by day in the united states. you have to get it from the cdc. pregnancy is a group where you want to avoid affection, whether it is monkeypox, covid or chickenpox for that matter. there will always be a higher vulnerability for the individual who is pregnant as well as the fetus. host: let's go to sammy coley

from maryland. caller: i think we need clarification. you said monkeypox was spread with men having sex with men. heterosexuals have sex too? why is it not happening among heterosexual couples. we need clarification there. guest: it is not a particular demographic that has skin to skin contact. part of why it is being seen in the communities of men who have sex with men is because people have multiple partners and engage in high-risk activities.

that is a community that we need to make sure education and prevention gets into that community. this virus does not care who you are if you have skin to skin contact. host: something you said earlier has me concerned because i am a big animal person. you said earlier that one of the cases that came to the united states came through prairie dogs . is that something we should be worried about with animals as pets inside our house? can animals get it and bring it into the house? guest: it is a little bit of a theoretical. one of the recommendations is to avoid contact with animals, including your pets. host: is it a specific type of animal, or could it be any warm-blooded mammals? guest: we haven't seen it in

companion animals but it does not mean it could not happen. the animals they get this are squirrels, rodents and other things that we don't have as much contact with. the prairie dogs were a special situation where a whole batch of them got infected from a gambian rat. host: cdc director was asked about the rise in monkeypox. in a recent discussion with the washington post, i want to play what she said and i want to get your reaction to it. [video clip] we are standing on the shoulders of decades of research that have happened here at the cdc. we had a test for that was already approved. we were able to do 6000 test per week, scale that up to 10,000

tests per week. now we are up to 70,000 tests we are able to do. to give you a sense of where we are. we get 3000 samples a week to test. one of the things that we had to do in addition to being able to scale up is to do some teaching to tell patients how monkeypox will present so they can go for care and teach providers and clinicians what to look for. i do want to articulate that we have never seen the demand for testing that has taken over our possibility to test. we have more testing we should be doing and we are doing a lot of clinical outreach to do so. there is one important similarity between covid and monkeypox and that is the inability to see the data in

real-time. i have been struck as we are now conquering another public health challenge as to how little authority we at the cdc have to receive the data. i can tell you that while we have been working with our colleagues to get those vaccines out to jurisdictions. we currently have no data on who has been vaccinated. when people are asking where these vaccines have gone and how it is working? we have no authority to receive that data and have not received it. case data is coming in, more than 2500 cases around the country. we have a 50% rate on our data, we very much want to get as much

information as informed decisions out to the american public. yet again, like for covid, we are challenged by the fact that we have no authority to receive that data. host: so how is this cdc doing when it comes to reacting to this monkeypox threat? guest: i am just reflecting on her comments and i think it is important for people to understand. there is a sense that public health has this robust structure in the united states and there is not a robust public structure. we saw that with covid and we are seeing it here. her point about the lack of data is important. how do you know what demographics are affected most? some of the caller questions

reflect this. we are focusing on these communities because of local data. i am hoping we can get this information soon. i was looking to see if the cdc had even put out a datasheet. the last one was several weeks ago when there were just a small number of cases. but to understand what is happening and how vaccines are working, how they are being tolerated. the idea of equity and vaccines going to the places where they are needed most. there is a lot of stuff that has to happen here. there is the prevention piece. there is the exposure piece. there are the people who have exposure to infection. the cdc has established a call in mind where people like me can call for help on how to deal with things.

the medication we used to treat, a relatively small number of people who need treatment. as we see more cases, that number will increase. that process is burn some and we have to get that treatment from the cdc. it depends on what type of approval it is. i think the cdc is trying to improve that process and just the point about data, when you request treatment you have to provide a lot of data. where the lesions are, what side of the body as well as demographic information. my hope is that they will feed that back to us so we can learn. host: one of our social media followers has a question and they want to know has aerosol spread been ruled out? guest: my understanding is that

that is not a high risk of spread. droplet spread has happened with sustained contact. it is not in the matter of minutes, it is the matter of hours in that case. we asked people that if they have monkeypox to wear our mask and to stay isolated from people. does it mean that it could never happen? i am not sure. the hospital setting is different. we treat this consciously. we try to use equipment like we use with covid, but that is not the primary mode of spread. completely ruling it out, i don't have any information on that. but my understanding is that is not a consideration at this point. host: i have learned never to

ask a scientist to say never. guest: every day we learn more and this is something that a couple of months ago started popping up on our radar and all of a sudden, it is taking a lot of energy for a lot of people in public health and in the hospitals. meanwhile, there are people who are worried and anxious about this. host: are the precautions that we have been taking over the past two years or so for covid adequate for monkeypox? wearing masks, social distance and will that work for monkeypox as well? guest: if you social distance and mask that will help keep you safe but that is a difficult ask of people. i will say one thing i am pleased with the cdc, they have put out detailed information in

terms of what activities are high-risk, low risk and minimal risk. i will refer people to those activities. if you are not in close contact with anyone, this will not spread to you. it is not good for you to not be around people. host: let's go back to our phone lines and let's talk to robin colling from alabama. caller: thank you for taking my call. would it not be wise for people to sit on their asked and keep their mouth shut and they would not get this. host: we don't condone or deal with callers who call in with those types of comments. let's talk to pat from new

jersey. caller: you said that this disease is endemic in africa? should we consider resurrecting the small pox vaccine and consider doing it globally? guest: that vaccine i mentioned, that smallpox vaccine, it is given in a special way with that needle. the problem is that it has side effects. particularly of people have compromised immune systems. if you have very young children who by definition, their immune system is less mature. they can get a secondary infection from that. those are the types of planning

and discussions that people would be having in terms of what would happen if this continues to spread and becomes more endemic. i don't think there is any thought about doing a widespread global smallpox vaccination. there are a lot of people who have already been vaccinated for smallpox but the scale of vaccination with this janus vaccine is on a smaller scale. host: i want to read this out of politico earlier this week and biden calling this a public health emergency. the biden administration well declare monkeypox a public health emergency in the next few days. the declaration made by the department of health and human services will follow a decision

that was made by the world health organization. they will access new money and new personnel according to the law of how and when the federal government can declare such an emergency. should the biden administration declare it a public emergency? guest: i think it is a matter of time. that who declaration came last week. does change what happens day-to-day? but by bringing in resources and personnel i think it would go a long way. everything from needing data, needing testing, to needing people to get vaccines in the right communities as well as

just tracking this epidemiological you. putting resource behind this would be very helpful. i am hopeful that we will see that declaration soon. host: do you think we can contain monkeypox in the united states given what we know now and our experience with covid-19 in the united states? guest: i am hopeful that we can contain monkeypox but it will require a lot of work, a lot of cooperation and a lot of resources. it needs to happen now. i feel like things are shifting a little bit just from the people around me and the conversations i am hearing where access to testing is better. access to treatment is getting to be more simple. the vaccinations are going to be very important. not just to people who have been exposed but those who are at

high risk of exposure. it is not that other people can get this, but if you focus on the high risk communities first you can slow down the spread enough to get this under control. what we do in the next few days, and the next few weeks will determine whether we can contain this or not. host: let's talk to melvin from jackson, mississippi. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have a question, my question is, why are they saying it is affecting two men having intercourse? host: what is your question melvin? caller: why can't we admit that it is coming from men having sex

with one another. i know we don't want to say that, but it seems like the same thing that happens to two men. that is not something that god wants. the bishop said these things would come about and we are having that. host: let's talk about that directly. is this a disease that only affects homosexual people? guest: no, not at all. right now, the individuals getting monkeypox in the united

states in europe are predominantly men who have sex with men. that is important from a public health standpoint to acknowledge that factor and address the spread in the community. but it is by no means something that cannot affect other people. we can do multiple things. it is education, getting vaccines into communities where they are at higher risk. it is treating people who have severe illness. i don't think we should think of it as only affecting a small group and certainly we have to be careful about stigma and a group that is already very vulnerable and may not have access to health care. the more we can do that is evidenced base and taking a public health linens to this, the better we will all be. host: let's talk to billy who

was calling from crockett, texas. caller: thank you, thank you. i want to say that god has america and joe biden will handle this problem. he handled the covid crisis. i don't think it is not just homosexuals, everybody can be affected by this virus. president biden has been strong in helping our nation. we can handle this problem. there will always be diseases popping up. by the end of the day, with a great president and the majority of americans being people of god. we can handle these problems. i just wanted think c-span for doing what it's doing. guest: i am hopeful we can marshal all the resources needed at the federal level and at the

state level. getting the resources in. making sure there is adequate testing, that will require commitment and again, this is something that the cdc has plan for. every day we are not moving forward it is harder to contain i am hopeful that things are moving in the right direction. host: let's talk to joe from pittsburgh, pennsylvania. caller: quick question, are you a phd, md or both? guest: i am an md. caller: i really love the way you articulate your argument and i am very happy that we have

professors like you in universities teaching our students whether it is monkeypox or covid or anything like that. i appreciate the group of people like you who articulate well and really care about our health and education and that is all i have to say. guest: well thank you. that is kind, thank you. host: as we wrap up dr. what can the ordinary american do to make sure that they don't get monkeypox? guest: people are going to be in higher or lower risk categories and i would say for men who have sex with men this is a time to minimize risk and to get good information. i would say that for everyone, get good information. i worry that misinformation can be very confusing.

if you have concerns that you might have monkeypox, please seek care. there are places you can get tested. i worry that some people are not connected to the health system but this is an important time. for all of us, as we think about monkeypox let's also think about other public health issues. we have been talking about men who have sex with men, i hope we talk to prophylactic protection. for other folks, keep the worry where it should be. be thoughtful and be aware of what your risks are. have compassion with each other. i have read the stories over the past few years but we just need

to make sure we are kind to one another. host: we would like to thank dr. preeti malani who is a professor of medicine at the university of michigan. thank you for coming on and explaining the rise of monkeypox. thank you so much for your time. guest: thank you for having me. host: coming up next, we will go back to our question of the day, what is your top news story of the week? you will see the numbers on your screen. we want to know what your top news story it is. and then we will do our spotlight on podcast when we will talk to bruce carlson who will talk about his podcast "my history can beat up your politics." stick around, we will be right back. >>

>> american history tv, exploring the places and events that tell the story of american history. goodman talked about how presidents like abraham lincoln, theodore roosevelt, franklin roosevelt and lyndon johnson sought refuge from the pressures of their job with sports, fishing, theater and even poker. on the presidency, a biographical author on her book, a woman of adventure, the life and times of lou henry hoover tells the story of the former first lady who was a trained geologist and joined herbert hoover in his world war i relief efforts before moving into the white house in 1929. exploring the american story, watch american history tv every weekend and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at c-span.org/history. >> live, sunday, august 7 on

in-depth, coldness and talkshow host larry elder will be our guest to talk about political correctness, the left and racial politics in the united states. he is the author of several books including 10 things you cannot say and america, what's race got to do with it and a lot like me, and memoir about his turbulent relationship with his father. join in the conversation with your phone calls, facebook comments and tweets. in-depth with larry elder live sunday on book tv on c-span2. >> be up today and the latest in publishing with book tv's podcast about books. with current nonfiction book releases, plus bestseller lists as well as industry news and trends through insider interviews. you can find about books on c-span now, our free mobile app or wherever you get your

podcasts. >> c-span has unfiltered coverage on ukraine. we also have international perspectives from the united nations and statements from foreign leaders all on the c-span networks, the c-span free mobile app and c-span.org/ukraine where you can watch the latest videos on demand and follow tweets from journalists on the ground. go to c-span.org/ukraine. "washington journal," continues. host: for this segment we want to know what your top news story of the week was we have had a

busy news week and there are plenty of options that we have what we want to know what you think the top story of the week was. let's look at some of the options that we have to talk about this week. you have the fears of a recession in the united states with the fed interest rate hikes coming earlier this week you have democrats reaching a deal on climate taxes and health in the senate. you have former president donald trump and mike pence coming back to washington for the first time and giving dueling speeches in town. you also have the department of justice opening an investigation into former president trump's actions on january 6 during the insurrection and you have russian and american prisoner swap talks. you also have china worrying -- warning nancy pelosi against

visiting taiwan. we will begin with house speaker nancy pelosi who is supposedly going to asia this weekend with a possible stop in taiwan despite warnings from china over her stopping in what they consider a renegade province of their country. the wall street journal has a story about what is going on that i will read of couple paragraphs from. how's speaker nancy pelosi is meeting with major players in asia. with arrangements for possible stops in taiwan that has drawn warnings from china the trip by pelosi and several other members of congress which is scheduled to begin this weekend includes stops in singapore, malaysia, south korea and japan. the difficult preparations are

underway for a taiwan stop in case a decision has been finalized. speaker pelosi came out on friday and talked about the significance of her coming trip to asia. here's what she had to say. >> i don't ever talk about my travel because as some people know it is a security issue. for the speaker, it is an additional security issue and for those traveling with me. the president earlier in this term talked about a strong emphasis on the asia pacific. he has visited there is vice president and we want the congress of the united states to be part of that initiative. of course as a west coast person

we see the pacific as part of that as well. that is not to diminish the importance of our transatlantic relationships. i am very excited if we go to the countries we have mentioned. you will hear along the way about those conversations. earlier this year a couple of months ago, we had nine leaders of the south east asian countries at the house. it was bipartisan, we invited some of the senate to participate and have a conversation and hear their presentation. we have global responsibilities

to security, economy and governance. this will be part of that. host: let's start with bonnie who is calling from alexandria, minnesota on the democrats line. caller: good morning, i guess the thing that got me this week was watching tromp and that silly golf tournament but the thing that really made me upset last night was watching when the republicans sunk the bill for the vets i just can't even believe it and i will go to all the vfw's in my area and talk to the vets in see how they feel about it. host: let's talk to stephen who

is calling from paris, new york on the republican line. caller: so my comment is very simple unfortunately for this president. we don't have to do all of these tax incentives and hurts our entire economy and brings down the entire company -- country. if we go back to the tromp policies they actually help the economy and that is what i have to say. host: speaking of former president trump, he gave his first speech in washington earlier this week since leaving the white house npr has a story that touches on some of the things that president trump talked about during his return

in washington. i will read a couple of paragraphs from that story. hours after his former number two and 2024 rival gave a speech outlining a roadmap. donald trump gave a rambling speech about violent crime in his first appearance in washington dc since he left the white house. we need an all-out effort to defeat violent crime and be tough, nasty and mean if we have to. he gave these comments at the conference trump speech echoed things from his 2017 inauguration speech where he

talked about american carnage. our country is now assessable of crime. we have death and suffering on an unimaginable scale because the democrats have destroyed law enforcement all across america. we will read another portion of president trump speech that focused on law & order when he spoke to the america first policy institute. >> under the democrat role -- rule and democrat run cities, states and federal government the criminals have been given free reign more than ever before . there has never been a time like this our streets are riddled with needles and soaked with the blood of innocent victims many of our once great cities from new york, chicago l.a. where the middle class used to flock.

they are literal war zones. there are stabbings rapes and murders and every kind of crime imaginable. bloodied turf war rage without mercy. parents are upset their kids will get shot on the way to school or the way back home. sadists who prey on children are released on bail but there is no bail and there is no bond. drugged out lunatics attack random victims at random. mobs of thieves walk into stores and walk out with whatever merchandise they can carry. nobody tells them, don't do this. put it back now. homeless encampments are taking over. every public park and every

piece of green space in urban centers and the dangerous and arranged roemer streets with impunity. we are living in such a country for one primary reason, there is no longer respect for the law and there is certainly no order. our country is now a cesspool of, crime. we have suffering and death because of the democrats parties effort to dismantle law enforcement. it has to stop and it has to stop now. host: let's go back to our phone calls and talk to deborah from california. caller: i want to add some context that i am in old gal. i was born in 1955.

my concern is inflation and the financial condition of our country. i have been through a few recessions myself, including the 70's. i am concerned, not enough to damage my psyche, but i see people reacting in a different way. i see them reacting with violence instead of trying to find ways to work through it and even work with your local officials. it can be frightening. it has affected everyone's quality of life here in terms of when you go to get gas or go to the grocery store or go out to dinner. this is hitting home and it is hitting home deeper as our

spending power has been reduced. what it is turning human beings into is really frightening and with that said, i am glad i am an old lady. host: let's talk to john who is calling from wisconsin. john, good morning. caller: hey good morning. can you hear me? host: yes i can. go ahead john. caller: first of all, i think our nation is a house divided cannot stand.

i wanted to mention nancy pelosi's proposed trip to taiwan and the president's call to president xi in china. people don't realize how close we might be to either a war in the area on the way to nuclear war. i am not sure our president is open to calming the stone -- this down. i would like your opinion. host: let's go to louise calling from freeport on the independent line. good morning. are you there? let's go to bob, calling from

new york, new york, on the democrat line. good morning. caller: yes, hi. i am calling because i am wondering why c-span has not brought up this particular topic. this is the topic of, why did the republicans not vote for the health care of the veterans who are suffering from burn pits? they had actually voted down the entire bill. veterans are not going to get there due process of getting benefits from this. why is the republican party not doing this for the veterans when they wave the flag and say we are true americans? they are not true americans. that's who -- vets who vote republican have got to understand this.

the republicans are not for the vets. it was demonstrated this week. why did c-span not air this, this week? host: let's go to -- just so all of our viewers know what we are talking about, let's go to a story from "the military times" i what happened with the bills a caller was talking about. i will read to you about what happened with the bill the caller was talking about. a surprise deal on health care and environmental policy announced by senate democratic leaders wednesday afternoon produced an unexpected casualty, the comprehensive toxic exposure legislation. the promise to address it had been up for procedural vote in the chamber with the expectation of final passage before the end of the week. the measure is a combination of years of work i advocates to

improve health care and benefits for veterans suffering injuries from burn pick smoke, engine orange, and other military contaminant exposure. it has been widely celebrated as landmark policy. the measure passed the senate by a comfortable 84-14 vote in early june and by 342-80 votes in the house two weeks ago with significant republican support. wednesday, after technical corrections sent the measure back to the senate for another procedural vote, 41 senate republicans blocked the measure leaving its future uncertain. that is from "the military times," their explanation of what happened to the burn pit legislation the caller was talking about. before we get back to our calls, i want to remind you former vice president mike pence was in washington earlier this week as well and gave a speech on the same day as former president

donald trump. former vice president mike pence spoke at the young americans for freedom conference and answered questions from students. here is a little bit of that interaction. [video clip] >> president trump and yourself are both speaking this week in d.c. do you think this divide extends to the rest of the general public and what can we do to alleviate? -- alleviate it? >> i could not be more proud of our administration. for four years, we advanced the policies i described to promote a growing economy, to secure our border. we appointed more than 300 conservatives to our federal courts at every level, including three for pre-and court justices. we rebuilt our military. all of what i described. i will always be grateful for

the opportunity to serve as vice president. i don't know that our movement is that divided. i don't know that the president and i differ on issues. but we may differ on focus. i truly believe elections are about the future. it is absolutely essential at a time when sony americans are hurting, so many families are struggling, that we do not give way to the temptation to look back. but i think the time has come for us to offer a bold, positive agenda to bring america back. and i will continue to carry that message all across this nation. [applause] host: let's go back to our phone lines and start with tremaine. good morning. go ahead. caller: i wanted to talk about

government as a whole, left wing, right wing, it is wings of the same bird. it seems we work for the government. the people work for the government. the government does not work for the people. it seems like it is a bunch of lies and buffoonery going on trying to whitewash everything. i think it needs to be overhauled and start dealing with the truth. we do not want to do that because when we have to start peeling that onion, you have to peel away a lot of layers. i don't think america is ready to take on that challenge. you have to start with the truth and be truthful. thank you. host: all right, let's go to richard calling from malden, massachusetts. richard, good morning. caller: hello.

i'm calling about going over to china and all of this with pelosi and those people going over. we have to keep our nose out of people's business. people do not know why russia did that in ukraine. this country wants to put missiles in ukraine. that is what they want to do. hello? host: you are still on, richard. caller: yeah. that is what we want to do. that is why they are in there. we cannot keep out of nobody's business. i am a veteran. i was in the army in 1965 with the flying divisions. it was propaganda then.

i cannot believe it. that is all i have to say. host: let's go to nicholas calling from louisiana on the independent line. good morning. caller: yes, how you doing? host: just fine. go ahead. caller: i want to say to everybody calling that democrats /republicans, do we remember what legislation passed between parties? most of the legislation has been passed by democrats. i am an independent. i think all of us should stand together. together we stand, divided we fall. why do we sit here and lie about what we are doing? i think president is doing a very good job because of the things he has to go through.

the pandemic, those things like that. we are going to work through some hard aches. every family goes through a heart ache. that is why we should be standing together instead of being divided. those things do not do anything. the republican party has never been doing anything for a person. they always blame division between all of us. host: let's go to lynn calling from vermont on the democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to make a comment about the piece you just showed about vice president pence. he mentioned bringing america back. i would like to ask him, bring america back from what?

he should be specific. i want you to ask him that. when trump says make america great again, what does he mean by great? i would like people to describe what they mean by great and back from what. host: let's go to donna calling from fulsome, louisiana, on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. one of the top stories the news media and also c-span has ignored is, and they continue to harass trump, but the whistleblower revealed fbi wrongly labeled the information as disinformation in the hunter biden probe which was brought to a halt by officials. the news media continually wants

to investigate trump but turn their heads on biden corruption. thank you. host: well, "washington journal" actually covered the hunter biden investigation on wednesday. do you want to see what was said on "washington journal"? go to c-span.org and look for this past wednesday's "washington journal." let's go to robert calling from lynchburg, virginia, on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: yes, we can hear you. go ahead. caller: i wanted to comment on former president trump's statement he made that we have never seen the country like this. he is the one that tore it up like it is now and has got everybody fighting against each other. nobody can get along with each other. we are supposed to be united.

if we could get along with each other, we would have the best country in the world. i just wanted to make that statement. bank you for taking my call. host: let's go to george calling from oregon on the democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning. the state of the nation in my opinion is really bad. when we get down to the underbelly of what has taken place, america has basically tried to decimate the black race. i came up a time in oakland, california, when we had our own neighborhoods come our own record stores. my grandfather was a doctor. there were black doctors and lawyers everywhere. we owned a grocery store also. it was not until they put the cheap heroin and crack cocaine and decimated us.

really, it seems like it has never gone away because when trump came into office, you know where the problem started, it started when we got obama in office. we thought we had arrived. this is a great country. we finally have our first black president. but right when that happened, something shifted. they do not want a part of us. trump has stoked the division. we see the hatred and the anger. from my perspective, it does not look good. host: let's go to paul who was calling from germantown, maryland, on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. during the insurrection, vice president pence was the one who called the military for help in

the capitol. my question is, is it legal for the vice president to make calls without the president? host: that is a good question, paul. let's go to annie calling from saginaw, michigan, on the democrats line. eddy, good morning. go ahead. caller: i wanted to make a comment about -- hello? can you hear me? host: we can. go ahead. we can hear you. go ahead. caller: hello? can you hear me? host: yes, we can. caller: i wanted to make a, about the abortion law that was just past. i feel like because of the white birthrates being low and they

are concerned about the population of white people not being a majority in this country , they are using roe v. wade reversal to make sure white rates stay up and they are controlling white women to get the birth rate up. it has very little to do with christianity or the right to life. they want more white births in this country. that is why they wanted the supreme court to make that loss of they can control white birthrates. host: we would like to thank all of our callers who called in for our segment. next, it is our weekly spotlight on podcasts segment. we will be joined by bruce carlson who is host of the podcast, "my history can beat up

your politics." stick with us. we will be back in just a minute. >> next week on the c-span networks, wednesday morning with the upcoming -- upcoming midterm elections, the department of justice and cybersecurity officials on threats to election workers. susan collins and joe manchin testify before the senate rules committee before their bail on presidential election reform. on thursday morning, fbi director christopher wray goes before the senate judiciary committee. the senate remains in session one more week to debate a bill addressing energy needs, climate change, health care costs and taxes. watch next week live on the c-span networks. head to c-span.org for

scheduling information or stream. video c-span, your unfiltered view of government. ♪ >> book tv every sunday on c-span2 features leading authors talking about their latest nonfiction books. at 8:00 p.m. eastern, a journalist talks about his latest, securing democracy, about freedom of the press in brazil and liberal media outlets in the u.s. at 10:00 p.m., former george w. bush white house secretary ari fleischer on how the mainstream media has a leftist bias in his book. why the press gets so much wrong and does not care. he is interviewed by a fox news senior political analyst.

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app or wherever you get your podcasts. >> "washington journal" continues. we are back. for our spotlight on podcasts segment, we are joined by bruce carlson, producer, creator, and host of the "my history can beat up your politics" podcast. he is here to talk to us about his podcast in the political news of the day. good morning. guest: good morning. great to be on. host: first, let's talk about where you got the name from. what are we trying to say with the title? guest: it is a long name. it does not always fit on internet directories and things i have to fill out. i was told when i started the podcast to pick two things that you like. i really like history and continuously read history books and biographies of presidents

and other people and the like. and i also like to watch and follow politics. i started the program in 2006. i came up with that name, a little snappy and a little tongue-in-cheek to be honest, "i history can beat up your politics." i still believe history, the reading books and the knowledge about presidents and what happened in the past maybe can get people to think less rigidly about their politics. i do not think it changes people's persuasion. it does not turn republicans into democrats or democrats into republicans, but maybe it gets people to reconsider things if they think about the past. in a lot of cases, we have been through these things before. things that we think our novel have happened before. host: you have been doing this podcast since 2006 which would make you one of the earliest

adopters of that platform. guest: you know, you certainly had others. dan garland is a big one. "this weekend" is big. at the time, it was novel. i don't want to say it was two cups and a string, but it was newer. there were a number of podcasts. not many of them have stayed so you have some ghost town podcasts that were around in 2006 that have gone away. we were one of the few history podcasts. i would say we were one of the few that would actually talk about history but not just in the way of a history professor and just talk about it in isolation, but also bring in, if we are talking about this presidential election of 1796 and adams' and jefferson's fans

are going at it like wolverines, that has something to do with today's politics. we also bring in the politics. that was rare and is still a little rare. there are a few more folks doing it now. host: that was going to be my question exactly. with all of the podcasts today, where do you fit in the ecosystem now? guest: it is harder, but i think this is a great thing. it answers one of the questions when people address cancel culture and if we have freedom of speech today. we just had a professor from syracuse talking about free speech. it is a hard thing, but we do well describing some of the rules of it. when you think about the number of podcasts, maybe hundreds of thousands of people speaking, there is incredible free speech going on. that has only increased over time. there might have been a few thousand podcasts when i started

or maybe just a few hundred. and now, i know my former podcast host said something like they have 40,000 alone. and that was a few years ago. there are lots of history podcasts. i still believe most podcasts fit in one box or the other. they will either talk about history and say this battle occurred here or lee's army was chased over here or the russians fought the germans, or they are going to discuss politics in a very spearheaded way of taking one position and trying to make their argument. we are doing something a little different, which is talking about politics, what is going on today, we have inflation, how did gerald ford deal with inflation during his presidency? how did carter deal with it? how did reagan deal with that?

his first term, that was a problem for him as well. for gerald ford, it was mailing seeds to people and telling america to create inflation gardens. i don't know if we will see that again. maybe it is a good idea to grow tomatoes to cut down the cost of groceries. you see different approaches to the problem. maybe after studying some of those things, some of the heat around our political thoughts might reduce. we can hope, anyway. host: how do you choose the topics you cover? do you follow the daily news and base it off of that or do you have long-term ideas that you are getting to one at a time? guest: great question. initially, i was very much like, what happened this week? i still do some of that. but it takes time to research history. for anyone, particularly me, you have to go to books. always secondary books. i should say at the outset i'm

history podcaster and not an historian. i read hundreds of books over the time of doing the podcasts. for any topic, i will try to read both books, journals, and other articles from the past. it takes time to delve into that. i find i am doing both. there might be a hot topic like inflation i can catch ahead of the curve. i was talking about inflation when it was only 6% or 7% it just looked a little high and said this is what might happen. during inflation, the american people get punished. the president starts telling us what to do like producer oil use and grow a garden. look out for that. have not seen as much of it this round, but we will see. for instance, i am doing one on congressional committees. i am still researching that now.

it will take a few weeks to get it out. on other issues, i just find a big topic that i know will hit sooner or later. give you a perfect example. we talked about the spanish flu and 2017. i had a guest on with the influence of 1918 and the protective measures and the fast you have mask wearing in san francisco and an anti-mass committee that was against the mayor and regulations and things like that in 1918. we also talked about things like i looked back and found we used social distancing in 2017. you find some topics that may not be relevant today but i end up having to rerun those. and i can do that because i have about a 500-episode archive at this point. a lot of it just comes to me. also, i am very grateful to have a nice listener base that have

followed me for many years. they suggest topics and ask me questions. among them are history teachers which i am just over the moon about. host: let me take a break here to remind our viewers they can take part in this conversation. we are going to open up regional lines. if you are in the eastern or central time zones, you can call 202-748-8000. you can always text questions and comments at 202-748-8003. we are always reading on social media. let's start talking about the political issues of the day. first, a more general question.

has our country ever been as divided politically as we are now? guest: i have been getting that question since 2006. my show started during the bush administration and that tells you a little bit about where i might answer. as a person that looks at the long slot of history, i am not as enamored by arguments this is the worst time ever for politics and that people are more partisan now than ever. i recognize that there has been more immediate change in which social media allows people to express themselves, directly to one another, sometimes in a very negative fashion. there are certain political actors on stage who are using that aggressively. that might have changed, but really, over the long swath of

american history, the american presidency has never not been contested. it has never not been something that one party or the other wanted. what has happened is one party or the other was beating the tail off the other. things are at parity and they have been since the 2004 election. you just do not see as many blowouts. maybe you can say 2008. but things have been a bit tighter between the two parties which increases. but, i mean, i am thinking about 1858, a speaker election in the house leads to a melee. the future speaker of the house, the congressman from pennsylvania and a southern congressman had it. the one says i will not be with you, you slave driver and that is enough to set them off in

blows in the house. we know about the story about charles under who was beat in the senate by a man whose uncle, he felt he had insulted in his speech. where he just used shakespeare to make fun of him, beat him senseless. not only that, the senators never held back anyone from stopping the beating from taking place. this is one or 405 instances in the 1850's of violence in the capitol. sometimes they get broken up. in the veil it -- the melee, i refer -- the fighting continues until one man's to pay -- toupee is pulled off their head and the humor of that moment stops everyone fighting. but we were not always that lucky. that same man, who was toupee was removed will end up being a

colonel in gettysburg and would lose his life. we always have to remember that when we think about the 1850's and all of that, extremely partisan. look at the beginning founding's of the republican and federalist newspaper wars where you have newspaper sponsored by jefferson, outright sponsored, taking some of the state budget and funding a newspaper and hamilton. they had their favorite newspapers attacking each other. the recipients of this is none other than the hero, george washington, who described the things as being -- he was being described as a common pickpocket or emperor nero. it really let him to want to quit after four years, he was convinced to stay on. he asked them to stop this fighting. they do not. key is sure to -- he is sure to retire in 19 -- which it sets up

one of the most underrated partisan presidential elections of the time. gosh, you can go to so many areas of history. a lot of people think that maybe the 19th century after the civil war is a calm time because mostly republicans were winning the presidential elections. the garfield, grants, harrison's, and all of that. but when you start thinking about intra-politics,, intraparty politics they were as nasty as anything. james blaine and roscoe going at it in the senate. then spending their lives beating the heck out of each other, get involved in the middle of that was garfield. and his assassination which brings about where people -- if anyone knows about the two factions of the republican party

were fighting through the 19th century, they know that incident. but, those battles to me resemble anything you can see today. the more you enlarge your view, the more you see things. that is not to say, it is pretty choppy out there, i will admit. host: let's go to our phone lines, and get our viewers involved in the segment. start with keith. caller: good morning. i love this conversation. i'm not familiar with your podcast. but i will follow you now. because i am a history buff. also you mentioned suri cruise, i am a graduate. my question, i don't think we have too many battles over the 19th century history. because we are far enough removed. i think temporary history is what sullies our politics.

it is not taught. i'm 63 years old. i have lived a portion of history. i hate when people tell me that my life experiences are false. because we have people that can testify and speak to it with her oral history. an example, can you speak to people that deny that the southern strategy existed in the parties relined? guest: absolutely. so, so much there. one is the life experience question, with the caveat that even our own life experience, for me i like the 80's, i did the 12 part reagan series. the reason i did that was just to be sure that we are not just like, i hate when people talk about history and it goes from 2022 to boom, just to the

founding fathers. i refer to them as the framers. as if nothing happened in between them. there were adjustments in the year of 1812 that changed america in dramatic ways and the next generation after that. we have to be careful to look at contemporary and modern history. maybe modern might be 40 years. i look at nixon a lot. i look at -- i did the reagan series. when you talk about the southern strategy, what do you meet -- what he means is a lot of people will point out about democrats that this was a racist party, why would you want to be part of a racist party? you have to go really far back, for that is a significant chunk of the party and it changes dramatically during the time of the new deal. there's a time in the 19th century with a democrat parties

associated with people and ideas the most americans now one not want to be -- would not want to be and that is true. their part -- not just in 1960 by 1928, they were -- there was something to say about it. the republican origin stories a beautiful one. it is an idealistic party that started in wisconsin in a schoolhouse on noble ideas. but it has associations, directly or indirectly with people like know nothings and anti-catholic groups. everyone has their political origin stories that have issues. that is a long way around the question. nixon engages in a southern strategy when he runs for president in 1968. it is so clear, that he sees what is happening in the election before 1964. barry goldwater runs. it is a landslide that we have not seen much of sense. he wins his home state, arizona,

and some southern states, which were with kennedy and a half pulled away from lyndon johnson, even though he is a southerner. nixon sees, in 68, an opportunity. you have to remember george wallace is in the picture. that is a key, here. george wallace is a segregationist governor from alabama. he starts as a liberal but we don't have time for that. nixon tries to appeal to people who might have segregation, or people who are mad about the brown versus board decision. he changes his politics and who he is courting to adjust that. so, since then, republicans have been interested, there are a lot of votes there. nixon would have been wiped out if he didn't try to appeal to the south because of the wallace situation. jimmy carter in the same way,

has to do things like adjusting his view, because he doesn't want to anger the previous wallace voters. he wants to keep wallace out of the 76 election, so he doesn't get a three way, which he things might be trouble -- thinks might be trouble. that is a very negative side of the republican strategy in the late 60's, nixon appealing to the worst ideas. using coded language and then changing the courts and trying to adjust the court so it wasn't the warren court that had authored the brown decision. the positive thing you can say about the republican is right before that, everett dirksen worked closely with lyndon johnson and against some of his more conservative members to help pass the civil rights act. that vote is often, his work on

that, is often not given the credit it is due. whether dirksen would be a republican today, we don't know. maybe, maybe not. host: let's go to martin, who was calling from dayton, ohio. good morning. caller: hello. thanks for having me on. i love history as well. i left the check out your podcast. -- i will have to check out your podcast. the question, we have been of the most split we have ever been in the society, most of us in the center we hear the fringe groups a lot and they get all of the noise and the pr. i think most people are somewhere in the middle. that is where i am. i call myself a centrist. i would not, self anything else. i had an argument with a friend or debate. he is a pro-trump. he did not even realize, the 2000 election, he does not remember it. he is my age, 52 and he had no

clue about it. i said, there are elections that are closed, gore conceded, there was one of the best things he ever did and he never understood it. there is a huge illiteracy in history. i sent him the picture of an old button that was a reagan button that said, let's make america great again. a lot of the pro trump people think this maga was an original slogan he came up with, when i had a button with reagan and bush, with make america great again. there's a lot of illiteracy of history. the question i have, who your favorite historians? i love met gordon reed, i love hwb ran. he is such an entertaining historian. i also love david mccullough. those are my favorite. who are some of yours? guest: i would add to that because i read a lot of older books as well. i need to include ellen evans in

their and his biographies. he is a great one of grover cleveland that enabled me to penetrate that president, was often unknown. this odd mixture of a democrat, also fiscally conservative, but on certain issues, say consumer prices, very, almost liberal in that sense. somebody who just had a norma's -- enormous fortitude. he was a president we would respect today. there were partisan battles then too. we had a people naming their kids after grover cleveland in democratic states and you have other people think he ruined the country in the economic recession of 1893. there's fights over all of those things. you mentioned hw brand. a big source for me for the

reagan series. i did that 12 parter. the constitutional encyclopedia, a through z, which is great for going to the actual constitutional convention. what were people speaking out about when they were making this constitution? being careful, not to go too far. doris kearns goodwin is another one. all of the lyndon johnson i focus on, how could you not? those are just some. i end up reading like a grad student. i read indexes and parts of books that i need. but those are some authors that i find myself going back to. hw brand's, just to give one book plug, heirs of the founders is a great one to learn about.

webster, clay and calhoun in one book. host: now, how far do things have to go back in history before people start forgetting them? for example, there's always this conversation about the southern strategy and whether democrats actually changed to republicans. but i am like, you don't remember the longtime democrat who became a republican? how far back in the past to do things have to get before people start claiming, i don't remember that happened. guest: i want to be careful. the term literacy was used. i want to be careful of not being a smarty-pants. podcasting, we are not a college. you want to keep it by its nature, we have to talk to people, just like c-span. i've been watching it for very long time. but, you have to engage.

so, we don't have the history knowledge in this country to the level that it should be. think -- then carlin alone and podcasting might be helping change that. we may have to refresh our stats on historical literacy. it has been pretty bad. it is only tied in high schools for some historical knowledge. you do a quick textbook view. often, those viewpoints are just. not well developed enough. so, you have to look at the polyhedra of issues. i don't find myself making a lot of broad, quick statements anymore. you start investigating things and find, wow, that is a neat little trick. the other day i found someone called the democrats the grand old party the past. so, just as the brief example of the things you find when you start looking into things. i do believe that unfortunately,

if you're looking at newscasts in pollock asked -- politics, they're barely looking at 2008 at this point. then they go all the way back to george washington and thomas jefferson. so, we have to look a bit at the in between. for me and what i cover in the show, i spent a lot of time in the 80's, the 70's, especially now with inflation and midterms and the cost politics going on. the 70's are in a born period. host: let's talk to michael from beacon, new york. caller: good morning. i wanted to make a comment. i think the republicans of today, like president biden says, are not anything like the republicans in the past. the republicans today are for higher gas bases, human trafficking, four contraceptives, for taxing

families with kids and for nationwide abortion. they are against the police, health care for veterans. they are against baby formulas. they are against defendant ukraine. they are overall against democracy. i think the republicans of today need to study some history, because i'm a democrat, but in the past i would not worry if a republican was nominated to be president or a governor, because he would think that they would be on the side of america and the side of democracy. the problem today is that i am scared, out of my mind, about who is going to be nominated if trump comes back, we are finished. if republican governors come into power, there is no truth. truth has to be part of what this nation is about. if the other side -- a fox news

and -- if they don't tell the truth to people this country cannot ever come together, ever. guest: great comment. i want to say at the outset, that is the line that i draw. something like the events of january 6 is horrifying. as so many americans, i would hope, on a wide swath of politics that something like that that could happen, someone was visited congress many times. those are the things have to be on the lookout. this book, which admires, from afar, or for his readers in france, admires the american democracy, points out several things needed to keep a democracy going, free media, associations, things we may have lost some track of, associations

between all of us in advocacy groups. people being free to speak. so, some of it is still present. i talked about the number of podcasts on their. but we also have to watch that we have fair elections and democracy. to the point about the changing republican party, i think that is clear. i think also you used to have conservative democrats, where there is a lot less of that than there used to be. the democrats control the congress from 1954 to 1994, from television to the world wide web. for both of those technology and being used, that entire time the democrats controlled congress. it was never democratic party that was always direct united. they could get united on some vote sometimes. speakers would force the members to vote a certain way and make it a party issue. but it was always a very divided group. and the republicans are also changing.

you have the rockefeller republican. i suspect that rockefeller would be attractive to a lot of modern democrats. it might be a problem, to be more modern -- moderate or centrist democrats. i will say one thing, people pined for the days when things were a little less partisan. the other thing that we have to remember is that parties have gotten better, at the states that they are in. it has been a long time since my state of new jersey has had elected a republican for senate. it has been a long time since south carolina elected a democrat for senate. you used to see more of a mix. you have somebody like in el d'amato in new york taking up what now democrats may not be so happy if republican had that seat.

there are times when it republicans could easily win california. you talk about recent history. california up until 1992 was probably more of a republican state. it is the state that made nixon and was reagan's electoral base. so, at the same time, we might pine for a time where we were a little less partisan. we have to remember that you have to give up some of your treasured senators and except that he might have a moderate public and in new york and you might have a conservative democrat in south carolina. that is what has really moved in my opinion. host: two of the last political campaigns are covered before coming to washington was strong sermon in south carolina and fritz holling, a democrat. i think fritz holling has been the last democrat in south carolina, elected to the senate. let's go back to our phone lines

and talk to henry, who was calling from virginia. good morning. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. i would like to ask the guest, about this critical race theory they want to take all the books and all the stuff from the school. how are kids nowadays going to ever learn about the history, if anything that is offensive to the white folks will not come to light? they can't read books about it and lay school and stuff like that -- in school and stuff like that. that's part much all i have to say. guest: i think it is right when people criticize critical race theory, that they are asked, what is it that you mean or where is it happening and be specific about it? those criticisms are right. if we are getting to a point where we're not talking about slavery in a critical way. i think they will always have

slavery in the history books. what if we're not talking about it, if it's just a passing reference. if were not talking about the reconstruction and the other battles over it there is something wrong. leaping into it and what is a good book, i like this what he halted -- this book, liberty is sweet, where you are starting to see a way you can take disney research and put it into the story of the american revolution, you can take -- you can take this history and put it into the story of american revolution. it is a factor. there were attempts in great britain to use that, to use the fact that people were enslaved here to assist to their side and things like that. you have to bring this up. can it be weaved into the story, while still telling what the story is? that i think is what is going on in the real history, the books. but you are saying the fight out

of schools. my only answer to the larger point is i still believe that people can be educated as adults, anything the school system is forced not to teach we hope that podcasts and books will make up the difference in adults need to also will need to have responsibility for their historical education, just like they would for business and math education and learn more about their history and be good citizens. it may not all be possible, at the school level. but that's my opinion. i'm a little biased. as a history podcaster. host: let's talk to charles was calling from fallbrook, california. caller: good morning. i am calling quickly for bruce because i hope he was still awake on the night of the elections. i was. i was watching john king do the online live at about midnight.

at that moment, he was in shock. i carried that shock until now. the trump system was way ahead. all of a sudden i -- nationally. the count reversed by over 350 votes -- 350,000 votes from trump to biden. that clip has been removed from the archives of cnn. have you got a copy of it? guest: no i don't have a copy of it. i think -- localities do not report all of their votes instantly on election night. it is time to come votes. that is what you saw only 2020. just as you saw in the primaries in pennsylvania earlier this year. it is pretty common.

2000 was an example where things went the other way. 2004 was an example where you had a few democrats in the house, getting a senator, barbara boxer to express an objection to the counting of votes. of course, that didn't happen in a riot situation. it was quickly dealt with. al gore, going back to 2000, al gore was the one who quieted down any objections to that election. in 2004, the counting was dealt with without any violence. i point out there was some black box voting and some democratic fringe websites that were talking about the 2004 election being a robbery, where it was about 100,000 vote result in ohio that would have been needed to even carry for an election. disputed elections have happened. close elections have happened. look at 1968, 1876, which is the

historical example of a contested election that had to go to a congressional committee and almost came to blows. but, like one little gotcha clip is of that much importance. this is why c-span is great. we don't restrict anyone from their opinions. we express it. you have helped educate others on the thing you are concerned about. host: "my history can beat up your politics", here in america. maybe we can let people figure out the whole thing about mail-in ballots and how all 50 states have different rules about when they count and when they send in vote tallies. let's see if we can squeeze. in one more caller. let's go to doug, from palmer, alaska. good morning. are you there? caller: good morning.

i was wondering -- can you hear me? guest: yes. caller: i was just wondering if your guest could comment on the democratic convention. i think it was in chicago, the year johnson decided -- [inaudible] guest: 1968. yeah. i don't know what specifically to comment on except it was a convention of -- the worst convention for a party in history. convention lost the democrats election, no doubt. it wa -- it had a lot to do, i have a draft johnson special podcast where we learned that maybe johnson, even though he said in the beginning of the year he would not run for president, when not accept the nomination, he might have

accepted a draft and even took steps to maybe make it happen, including up to the day that humphrey is nominated. that may have put humphrey with one hand behind his back. and having a difficult time to win that election. you had ferocious protest. i was just in chicago. i was staying hilton, where a lot of this happened. what the story, very quickly, there, i don't think people are is aware of it. in my research i did a podcast on that around the time he started the occupied movement in 2011 to talk about protests of the past and how those protesters would protest democrats and protest republicans. they were after humphrey. they threw fake lead on his wife at one point -- blood on his w ife at one point. what really happened, was mccarthy and some of the other democratic candidates told her supporters don't come to

chicago, there's a lot of police here. it was a small group of hearty protesters that came, outnumbered, by mayor daley's police force. what you see on the tv cameras is them attempting to go from the park, where they have realized they would have been beaten and slaughtered and trying to get where the cameras are, the whole world is watching, so they can be safer with the cameras on them. he was also taking steps to block the footage from showing up on networks. there was a delay because of a strike that all of a sudden happened under his watch. i think that is a fascinating elections. there been times where a lot of unrest during an election, 1968, the election result came down to the last hour. host: fortunately, we can talk all morning.

but we are going to run out of time. i would like to thank bruce carlson who was the host of "my history can beat up your politics" podcast, for being on with us this morning and talking is through history and politics. bruce, thank you so much for being here. guest: thank you it has been great. host: we would like to thank all of our guests, callers, social media followers and all of our viewers a for another great washington journal. we will be back again at 7:00 a.m. eastern tomorrow morning. everyone keep watching -- washing your hands and stay safe and have a ♪ announcer: c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these

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while on the job. they urged members of the senate judiciary to adopt legislation that would lead to better data collection on the use of force against law enforcement. the committee also heard testimony about the dangers of anti-police rhetoric and civilian access to assault weapons. to order starting a couple minutes early because we have a vote scheduled early and