video app, c-span now or online at c-span.org. >> this morning on "washington journal," we start with a look at the news and some of your cars. -- calls. later, ethics and public policy center senior fellow henry olsen is here to talk about campaign 2022 and what it means for congressional republicans and potential 2024 candidates, and the future of the party. after that, we examine things from the democratic perspective. jim kessler, executive vice president for the third way, takes part in that. you can take part with your phone calls, text messages, facebook comments, and tweets. "washington journal" starts now. ♪ host: good morning and welcome to "washington journal." president joe biden heads into

the last two years of his first term in better shape than he could have hoped for. his democratic party overcame historical odds to retain control of the u.s. senate while still in play for the control of the house of representatives. control of congress will make it easier for biden to push through his agenda, but the president is still struggling with low approval rating and questions, some from his own party, whether he should seek a second term. our question is, what, after the midterm election, is the president to -- is the message to president biden? we are opening their regular lines. that means, democrats, you can call at (202) 748-8000. republicans, your lines (202) 748-8001. independents, your number is (202) 748-8002. keep in mind you can always text us at (202) 748-8003. and we are always reading on

social media, on facebook at facebook.com/cspan, on twitter at @cspanwj. you can always follow us on instagram, @cspanwj. welcome again with the results in from nevada. the democrats have held control of the u.s. senate, which gives president joe biden at least one house of congress on his side as he goes into his last two years of his first term. but there are still questions of whether president joe biden should seek a second term. but the midterm elections may have quelled some of those questions. here is a story from reuters that talks a little about where we are right now. encouraged by better than expected democratic results, there are predictions that president joe biden would run again, despite exit polls prefer he not seek reelection.

while final results and several races were not in yet, democrats may have held on control in the senate and narrowed unexpected losses in the house, bucking historical trends for the party of a new president. president biden will and should run for reelection and he will win. he has led a tremendously successive -- successful administration, and americans recognize that. eight democratic structuralist -- a democratic strategist told reuters. another strategist said that midterm results mean biden gets all the time he wants to decide on 2024. once again, with the elections just about over -- there are still some candidates running in some states, the question is what will happen over the next two years when it comes for

president biden. the associated press has a story about what the next two years could look like, with president biden gearing up for a possible reelection. here is what the ap says biden and the democrats may do. joe biden's record was on the ballot, even if his name was not. no matter the final bottom line of tuesday's middle elections, his presidency is set for profile changes. biden watched from the white house to the early morning wednesday, making congratulatory calls and with advisors to watch incoming returns. he was set to hold a where press conference wednesday afternoon to discuss the results. in public, the president professed optimism to the end, telling democratic state party officials that we will surprise

the living devil out of people. in private, white house aides have been drawing up contingencies for republicans to take control of one or both chambers of congress, a scenario biden acknowledges would make his life more difficult. control of congress was still in the balance wednesday morning but returns to surprising democratic strength as the party notched victories in key races, including pennsylvania, where john fetterman took a republican-controlled seat. regardless of the outcome, the votes will help the remainder of biden's term after an ambitious first two years and will reorder his white house priorities. once again, there are questions in the democratic party, despite the midterm elections, of whether president biden is their best candidate to run for president in 2024. in fact, in an exit poll that

came out after the midterm elections, we find out that this is what people were saying. two thirds of midterm voters, including 43 some -- pce of democrats would prefer biden not seek reen in 2024, according to exit polls. 97% of republican voters do not think he should run. that is coming from the exit polls directly after the election. remember that president biden had a news conference directly after the midterm election. he was asked what he will do differently in the next couple years. here is what president biden had to say after the election. [video clip] >> he mentioned americans are frustrated and, in fact, 75 percent of voters say the country is headed in the wrong direction despite the results. what do you intend to do differently to change people's opinion of the direction of the country, particularly as you

contemplate a run for president in 2024? >> nothing. the more they know about what we are doing, the more support there is. do you know anyone who wants us to get rid of that change on prescription drug prices and raise drug prices again? anyone who wants us to walk away from rebuilding roads and bridges and so on? the problem is, the major piece of legislation we passed, which was bipartisan, takes time to be recognized. for example, you have over $1 trillion in infrastructure money. but not that many spades in the ground. it takes time. i was on the phone congratulating a californian recently, and someone in scranton, pennsylvania, a congressman who got elected, and he said can you help us make sure we are able to have high-speed rail service from scranton to new york, new york city? i said we can.

first of all, it would make it a lot easier, take a lot of vehicles off the road. and we have more money in the pot now, already out there. we voted for it. than the entire money we spent on amtrak to begin with. for example, i talked about, through the campaign, we will limit the cost of insulin for seniors to $35 a month instead of $400 a month. that does not take into effect until next year. a lot of things will kick in. the same in terms of environmental stuff. it takes time to get it moving. i will not change -- as a matter of fact, there are some things i will change and add to. for example, we passed the most i partisan, the most extensive gun legislation, rational gun policy in 30 years. but we did not ban assault weapons. i will ban assault weapons.

i said i ran for three reasons. i fully understand the legitimate concern that what i am saying is wrong, ok? one is i said i'll restore the soul of the country, treat each other with decency and integrity. it is starting to happen. the conversations are becoming more normal, more -- how can i say it? decent. the second thing i said was i want to build the country from the middle out, the bottom up, and that way, everyone does fine. i am tired of trickle. not a whole lot trickles down to hard-working folks. host: our question to you this morning, after the midterm elections, what is the message to president joe biden? once again, democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001.

independents, (202) 748-8002. and keep in mind, you can always text to (202) 748-8003. let's start with margaret, calling from kansas on the democrat line. good morning. caller: i would like very much to thank president biden. i mean, there is a lot easier things a person can do. i would like to thank him for the care and love he showed the 2 million people that had covid, were hardly mentioned. how he gave them that wonderful help at the beginning. i would like to thank him for keeping us out of war with russia. that is a dangerous stance, and he did it beautifully. he did it beautifully.

he was tried, but putin, to get in there and have a nuclear war. he prevented that. we still are not in war with russia, and he prevented that. i would like to thank him for his kindness. we needed that so much after the hate that goes through this country. we are americans. host: can i assume you're not part of that 43% of the democrats who say that president biden should not run for reelection? caller: well, who they got out there? do they have anybody who knows foreign policy and knows how to deal with russia? who have they got up there, you know? i do not see one person coming out with ideas how to feed people. i've gotten extra food stamps. now i can eat.

there is so much that happened that we got to thank. now if you just are in happy -- unhappy because of inflation. we had an epidemic. we had an epidemic and a war. we were so in bad shape. it will take probably another five years to get done with that -- what that other person did to us. i am proud of our country. i am proud we tried to stop russia, because they were not going to stop with ukraine. and north -- these are very serious problems, and this man knows things. host: let's go to anthony, calling from detroit, michigan on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i am an independent, so i really do not care what democrats or republicans do in their elections. but i hope biden steps down, because i do not think he is very well spoken, and he is kind

of embarrassing us, at least to the english-speaking world. maybe if you see a translation, it makes more sense. but the last caller said he stood up to russia, and i have the completely opposite opinion. i think he needs to retire because he is wasting all our money on ukraine. it is a terrible thing. he has provoked the situation with ukraine, he absolutely did. host: let's go to patrice, calling from new jersey on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i am calling in reference to the topic of your show this morning, and i hopefully believe that biden will step down. because we had enough of the democratic congress. they have destroyed this country, totally. there is not one administrator

in his administration that knows anything about policy, foreign policy, anything that has to do with the military. he does not speak of anything that has to do with america. he speaks locally, of local information, and we already know that. he does not form himself as president of the united states, not whatsoever. we have had it. the democrats have ruined this country, totally. host: assuming that president biden does run for reelection, of course the midterm election began the 2024 presidential election -- who do you think republicans should put up against him that can beat president biden in an upcoming presidential election? caller: i believe that donald trump and ron desantis from

florida can beat him. host: which one of those would you put up against him, or either one? caller: either one. host: do you have a preference? caller: either one. i have a preference of donald trump. he made a terrific, most perfect president. and this country was doing well when he was president. we were really doing well. we want to continue to do that, but we cannot do that with the democrats in congress. the democrats should just step down and forget about being in the white house, because they have made a shambles of the white house to begin with. host: let's go to cassie, calling from michigan on the democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning. the first two things -- student loan forgiveness needs to be taken care of. and national health care.

i talk to a lot of people in my community at work, and everybody supports national health care. host: now when you say national health care, what you mean? caller: medicaid, medicare for all, sliding scale, taxation. i talked to a woman -- i was sitting there at work. we were working with these residents. her two grandchildren, same mother, different fathers. one qualify for medicaid, the other does not have insurance. and these are little kids. what is wrong with that? a lot. we can do so much better -- host: now do you think president biden should run for a second term? caller: no. i want a young person. i want people of diverse background. no, i'ts time for him to retire -- host: who do you think the

democrats should run instead of president biden? caller: i really liked pete buttigieg when he was running. i like stacey abrams. i want to see a diversified ticket with men and women and just every day people. but i want smart, smart, smart. and who's not afraid. host: would you support him if president biden decides to run for a second term? caller: if he is the nominee, of course. but prior to that, i would look for someone different to vote for. he has pulled through a lot, but we have some things -- student loan forgiveness, he has been promising that. he needs to get on with that. and then the homelessness. there are no homes where i live to buy under $200,000 that aren't dumps. we do not have that kind of money. people do not make that kind of

money up here. we have a lot of problems still. host: let's go to patty, calling from connecticut on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i am calling about the promises joe made before the election. the student loan forgiveness -- that is how he got these young people to come out to vote. of course, we all knew it was illegal. even nancy pelosi said it. now the judge stopped it. to me, this is -- going against voters, what they do. and abortion. that brought out a lot of young girls. do not vote for what is important -- inflation, crime. go grocery shopping, see what you see -- host: now you started out by saying that president biden had open election promises. what election promised do you think he broke? caller: i did not say he broke

them, they are illegal. student loan forgiveness is illegal. he cannot do that with the pen. now it's stopped. but he did it just before they were voting, because this is how he will lure the young people, which i think is wrong. it is criminal, if you ask me. if we want to replace joe, put in -- the man was speaking yesterday over there where he was, and he was saying the next stop i am going to is colombia, going to cairo. he is getting things all fouled. what do you think these countries think of him? they are laughing at us. he cannot serve another term. he cannot even serve this one. host: let's talk to lila calling from massachusetts on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning.

president biden has really failed to recognize, and the public as well, 100,000 people dying, the number one cause of young people of drug poisonings. i will call them poisonings because we know now many of these people are not suicidal. his lack of focus on this and not caring, and even the public not caring is outrageous. when they talk about how much of a heart they have four students who are burdened by loans that they decided to take out and walked right over the bodies of over 100,000 americans a year is just horrifying. he does nothing about the border. we all know about that. his focus really is on how to secure just complete democrat control for life. he is not for democracy, he is

for a supremacy, supremacy of the democrat party -- host: now who do you think the republicans should put up against president biden, if he runs for a second term? caller: i am rry, say that again? host: who do you think republicans should run against president biden, if he runs for a second term? caller: my thought is desantis, because i think we just need somebody new up there. for whatever reason -- i think trump did fine. but for whatever reason, the democrat sector of this country went wild on his personality. i understand it was not appealing -- i am not sure desantis will be that much more appealing. he says he is a fighter. but they are fighting for the right thing, not the wrong thing. again, i will just lay out the over 100,000 bodies coming in every year, and the number one cause of death -- democrats are saying they care about health

care, but they are voting for more death in this country. i know five people myself that are dead from this poisoning. host: last week, president biden delivered remarks at a political event here in washington, d.c.. what i am a show -- what i am about to show you, he talked about the midterm elections -- he talked about his desire for bipartisanship following the 2022 election but also his determination to oppose republicans if they pursue certain policies. here is what president biden had to say. [video clip] >> i also think the american people sent a message, that they want us to work together. i've always done that. i know i got criticized for that when i ran. i said i was running for three reasons. one, to restore the soul of america, two to build from the

middle out and bottom up, and three to -- they expect republicans to work with me as well. folks, i will always vote for any good idea, whether democrat or republican, to move the country forward. but if there were public tries to repeal the power to restrict drug costs on medicare, i will -- if republicans try to walk away from the deal to restore the climate, i will not let that happen. if republicans try to cut social security or medicare, i will not let that happen. if they try to cut taxes again for the super wealthy on the biggest corporations, like they did the last administration, i will not let that happen either. as we look at tax cuts, we should be looking at taxes for working people and the middle class people. i will keep the commitment we both made, with no one making

less than $400,000 a year will never see a penny go up in taxes as long as we are in power. and i love the republicans talking about big spending democrats -- we will keep working to keep the federal deficit low. we cut the deficit, in two years, by $1.7 trillion. we are the ones bringing down the deficit. they are the ones who blew it up over four years. and one more thing. if republicans pass -- and i do not think we can do it now -- a national ban on abortion, i will veto it. we need to codify roe v. wade as the law of the land. host: let's see what some of our social media followers are saying about what is the message to president biden?

here is one tweet that says the gop-lighthouse can make progress difficult if they behave as they have been. i do not think they got the memo that the people are sick and tired of the gridlock they are so famous for. we will see in january. another tweet that says, one, biden, the best midterm results since 1934. two, he welcomes republicans to the table, but they do not come. three, he supports the welfare of all americans, not just the wealthy. four, he recognizes planet earth is in wants to save planet. another tweet is to continue strong and continue fighting for the american people. we are tired of potus 45 politics. we remember the january 6 attack on our capitol. another tweet that says keep doing what you are doing. democrats just retain control of the senate, and if they lose the house, it will be to a tiny and

fractious gop majority that no speaker mccarthy can corral. another tweet, message to president biden, keep doing what we, the american people, hired you to do. last tweet, republicans overreached, got crazy, voters reacted. our question to you is, after the midterm elections, what is the message to president biden? democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. let's talk to steve, calling from florida on the democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning. my message to president biden is keep doing what you are doing, and i will vote for you if you run again. and i think what he needs to do is attack inflation.

at its very core. there are a lot of people out there who say they know what inflation is. i believe it is cost, right now, by the concentration of just a few corporations that run every industry. the way he can combat that is to initiate a repeal of what is called the carried interest tax law, which enables private equity firms to treat their gains as capital gains instead of income. if you can do that -- and i really believe he can tackle the inflation problem. and i would like to make a comment to the lady from massachusetts, talking about the border. the republicans have made this an issue. for the last three or four decades, the corporate controlled republicans have been dragging immigrants across the

border into the united states in order to provide their corporations with cheap labor and to undermine the american wage and labor standards. one day, they wake up and they say that we need to control the border? give me a break. host: let's go to michael, calling from ohio on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you today, sir? host: i'm doing fine. go ahead. caller: i just want to say that one would wonder, by the last gentleman on the phone made that statement about the borders, when everybody in the whole country knows that our highest border -- it is overwhelming. it is ridiculous. for example, let me give you an example -- if you vote for that and you know -- everybody knows right from wrong in this world,

let's be honest. if you know they are bringing the drugs, the cartels, and the danger to our country, one would wonder why you would support something like that? it just doesn't make any sense. it tells me -- i asked myself that question every day. it is just ridiculous, you know. it tells you that half the country is out of touch with reality -- host: now, michael, who do you think the republicans should put up against president biden, if he runs for a second term? caller: ok, fair enough. we all know that florida likes desantis. a lot of people like the santos. but let's keep it real. donald trump mate desantis who he is. if it were not for donald trump, desantis, would people like him? he probably would have did good, but donald trump -- i think what donald trump is upset about is

the santos bites the hand -- let me give you an example. the raid. they went to his house. desantis went on tv and try to say it was not a rate. had it been his house, would we have this conversation right now? it is just a lack of respect, i think. a lot of people do not like donald trump because of his, you know, his strong personality, we will say. you got to ask yourself this question, and i want everybody to do that. if you were donald trump and you went through everything him and his family went through since the day he became president, would you -- how can i say this? would you think he would have a reason to be the way he is? they put him in that position. everything has been unfair to him. is he right all the time? no.

could he be more humble? absolutely. but they knew that when they hired him. they put him in that position to be the way he is. why? the tax -- you have to ask yourself, in his position, would you be the same way? host: let's go to freddie, calling from indianapolis on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. if the government remains the way as it is today, two years from now, i will be voting for him as president. if i were to give him advice come along with democrats in america, this is what i would suggest. look, the women have gotten control from republicans, when it comes to women's choice. if they do what they do now, two years from now, likely, they will have their rights restored.

when it comes to the border, this would be my advice, to all democrats, to urge the democratic house and senate -- work with the republicans to secure the border. now, the republicans, we will not allow the young folks to have citizenship, young mexicans, kids to have citizenship until we secure the border. i believe that most americans, whether they are republicans or democrats, want the border secured. so i am saying to the president, let's secure the border. let's take away all of the arguments on which the republicans are relying on in order to stay on power. a third suggestion i would have, if i could make it to the president and the people of the united states, would be this -- let's nationalize a small amount of oil and gas which belongs to the american people and sell it at a lower cost solely to the

american people. i would bet you everyone in the united states would be voting democrat for eternity. host: let's talk to jerry, calling from florida on the independent line. good morning. caller: hey, that previous caller -- i am an independent, but that previous caller reminded me of lyndon johnson try to make negotiations, keep blacks voting democrat for hundreds of years. there is nothing more racist in my mind that everyone coming to the country illegally is mexican, but that is what happens. joe biden has failed in various ways. one of the main ways is unify the country. he vilified a whole population of people over the issue of mask mandates. he gave the ok to his support base that it was ok to chastise those people, and even people

who supported donald trump to be radical extremists. that is not always the case. just because you vote for somebody does not mean you automatically agree with everything he do. my advice to president biden if he runs in 2024 is key pull to what he said he would do, and that is unify the country. be someone who welcomes republican ideas. some people are saying women will have their rights restored about abortion rights. abortion is a state issue, it is not an issue of whether or not women should have the right to an abortion. the issue is whether or not to have federal taxes to pay for that abortion. so from an independent standpoint, i have voted democrat, i have voted republican over the last five years. i would encourage everybody listening to this, though few people will actually adhere to

it, is to start looking at the candidate and not the party. when we look at the party, we are in this ugly divide. despite the media narrative, the democrats did in fact lose ground, because they will not control the house, they may lose the senate. and one last thing, we have two black men who can shape the whole entire course of both political parties can i wish to god those two black men will work together and come up with a list of checkmarks for the black community, to say this is what our party will give us, or we will vote on the other side. we hold that power, but we are sitting here listening to them adhere to their party side. host: let's go to lee, calling from arkansas on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you this morning? host: i am doing great. go ahead. caller: to be honest, i've never really been into politics all my

life, never really cared. but when i see biden, the president of the united states, stand up for people and say he took over one of the worst that he has ever had -- before he took over president, i was paying $1.89 for gas, and milk and groceries and everything has gone up sky high. and the way the border is right now, i am just afraid that somebody will come over here with a dirty bomb and blow up new york or someplace, and biden will stand up to the public and say that was one of president trump's getaways, and blame it on somebody else. last thing to say is the world, through my life, kind of looks up to the united states.

the most powerful, the most independent -- we have done very well. but since biden has taken over, to me, it seems like the whole world right now is in chaos. to me, it looks like biden is doing a bad job. he needs to go ahead and run for president, and that way when trump goes up against him, he is out, and we can get our country back to the way it was. thank you for giving me the opportunity to call in and letting me tell people what i feel. i am 66 years old, and this is the first year i have voted. thank you. host: on thursday, house minority leader mccarthy appeared on fox news. mccarthy discussed his phone call with president biden

earlier this week after the poll had closed, and here's what mccarthy had to say. [video clip] >> the president called you on the phone? how did that go? >> it was kind of short. he congratulated me. for anyone who thinks we did not win the majority, joe at least believes we did as well. >> was it a civil conversation? you guys will really turn up the heat, he must know that. >> it was short. he just wanted to congratulate me, talk about where we work together. i said i will work with anybody who wants to put america first and move us in the right direction. we have an economy that is failing. we have a challenge where we not have energy independence. we should not only be energy independent, but we should be selling gas to our allies and adversaries. we should make china into -- we should make china dependent on our oil. host: once again, the democrats

secured control of the u.s. senate yesterday with the election in nevada. the washington post has a front-page story this morning explaining exactly what happened in nevada and where the senate stands. here is what they say. democrats were predicted to retain control of the senate saturday, clinching a narrow majority as they showed strength in battleground states in a daunting midterm year that handed president biden a major victory as he looks to his next two years in office. the final blow to republican hopes of retaking the chamber came in nevada, where saturday, senator catherine cortez masto was projected to win reelection, edging past adam laxalt. cortez masto's predicted wing insurers democrat a 50th seat, with a runoff election still to come in georgia on december 6

that could pad their slim majority. with 97% of the vote in, cortez masto led by half a percentage point. control of the house was still up in the air saturday as vote counting continued days after an election that started with democrats expected to sustain heavy losses. these midterm elections have historically favored the party out of power. but democrats have held their ground and even made some gains in many key contests, leaving many republicans unnerved. in winning back control of the senate, they dashed gop hopes of a full takeover on capitol hill. that comes from today's washington post, with the senate now in democrat hands following the win in nevada. what should president biden take from the 2022 midterm election? what is the message to president biden? let's start with danny, calling from missouri on the democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning.

president biden, he should stop wearing about the war in ukraine and worry about the economy. the problem -- it is about thing for everybody. host: let's go to thomas, calling from north carolina on the independent line. good morning. caller: hi, thanks for taking my call. i think the president -- i think the message to the president from the american people was keep on keeping on. keep an even keel for the ship of state. the previous president had us on a roller coaster, up and down, up and down, except fired by january 6 -- exemplified by

january 6 and many of his policies. the basic tenets many americans want is a steady ship of state. that is what he is giving us. that is why people voted for him. and could you tell me how many people overall voted in the election itself, the total? i appreciate it. thank you. host: all right, we will see if we can find that for you. let's go to jenne, calling on the republican line. is it jenna or jeena? caller: jeena. good morning. i hope you will give me a moment to say what i want to say. i want to congratulate president biden for pulling off, yet again, what he bragged about previously after the other election. that the democrats had pulled off a great farce.

not exactly his words, but you can look it up on the video. and another thing i want to say to the democrats is, ok, if you want to make abortion your priority for america, then you will suffer the consequences. for instance, this winter, when all you people who live north are freezing to death, and you have to pay that electric bill, let's see how important abortion is to you then. host: what part of mississippi are you in? caller: i live in the deep south, near the gulf coast. host: ok. it gets cold down there every once in a while, doesn't it? caller: it certainly does, but it does not last long.

we can put blankets and everything on. we don't have enormous electric bills like people in the north do. one more thing i want to say, and i appreciate you letting me talk, is i've been an avid watcher of c-span for, i don't know, 25 years. and i watched the democrats crucify and lie on president trump from the minute he walked down those stairs, and now they want to call him the most evil man on earth. we all know the truth out here, what the democrats did, along with the liberal media. i want to tell you, you are one of the more fairer hosts, and i really appreciate you. but it is wrong, what happened.

the media, along with the democrats, have fooled half the country, and it is a sad state of affairs in america. we need to pray to god to put some reality back in america and in people's minds. host: let's go to hannity, calling from virginia on the democrat line. good morning. caller: yes, good morning. host: go ahead. caller: yeah. you know, this is really getting funny now, because the republicans are calling in because they are so upset about this wave they didn't get, this red wave they didn't get. but they only have a couple people to blame for that, and that is the supreme court and mitch mcconnell. and trump still didn't turn over classified documents. they want to get this guy back in the white house again,

really? host: all right. let's go to kenny, calling from georgia on the independent line. good morning. caller: all right. so imagine, if president biden holds a press conference, and he says, ok, so the republicans' major issue is immigration, crime, and inflation, so i am asking for the resignation of my three secretaries, homeland security, and treasury, and i am appointing to those positions tom cotton, mike lee, and rand paul? and let's see if they take him up on his offer. thank you. host: let's go to kent, calling from illinois on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. now that the people have given joe biden the go ahead with his programs, i think we can look for more of the same and rejoice.

we will have millions more people coming across the border who we do not know what they are about. we will not be able to afford energy in this country anymore, because president biden has convinced people the god almighty did not create the planet, but the democrats and constituents can actually control it. so why don't we just pray to the democrats from now on, get god out of the picture if they want, and we can have more of what is going on today? i think biden lied to the people, especially the young women. he told them he was going to get their student loans forgiven -- he knew that was a lie. the people who voted for him didn't know it was a lie. it's amazing to me that people, in this country, actually believe that human beings -- we did not create this planet. we don't control it. god does.

we can destroy it. we can't destroy the planet. we can destroy the people, which we are doing. we're gonig t-- we're going to send trillions of dollars to countries like indonesia, foolishly believing they will do something about it that god almighty controls. millions and millions of dollars going to these people. host: now who do you think the republican party should put up against president biden, if he runs for a second term? caller: donald duck. for goodness' sake, how can people possibly think things are going the right way in this country? they can talk about trump all they want. he is boastful, all those things. but he was the most effective president -- host: so you meant to say donald

trump and not donald duck? [laughter] caller: donald duck or donald trump. either one would be more effective than this fellow is. people, they vindicated -- or they vilified trump to the point where people who don't pay attention won't look at all the wonderful things he did. host: let's go to clayton, calling from north carolina on the democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for answering my call. first of all, everybody is blaming biden for his choices. biden came in on a rough road, and biden has straightened it out a lot. for me, it has always been a struggle. and a lot of people have been pulled down to that struggle because of trump. but they don't see that.

i would put in kamala harris as another democratic party, if biden decides not to run. thank you. host: last night, senate majority leader chuck schumer called the midterm elections a victory and a vacation -- and a vindication for democrats after the nevada u.s. senate race handed control back to his party. here is a portion of what senate majority leader chuck schumer had to say. [video clip] >> with the races now called in nevada and arizona, democrats have a majority in senate and i will once again be majority leader. this election is a victory, a victory and vindication for democrats, our agenda, and for america and the american people. there are three things that helped the senate secure the majority. one, our terrific candidates.

two, our agenda and our accomplishments. and three, the american people rejected the antidemocratic extremist maga republicans. and i am making a plea to my republican colleagues. we can disagree on so many issues. that is fair. but let's not have this kind of divisive negativity. let's not have the condonation of viciousness and even violence against poll workers, against so many others. let us try to come together. host: let's see what some of our social media followers are saying about their message to president biden after the midterm election. here is one tweet that says, if republicans take the house, nothing will happen until january 6 of 2025. another tweet says i think the more important question is what is his message to us?

so far, he has been the divider in chief, and it seems that will continue. another tweet says, dear president biden, please avoid world war iii. one final tweet is it's more li ke alito responsible for the best midterm since 1934. once again, our questi to you is, following the midterm elections, what is the message to president biden? let's talk to doreen, calling from louisiana on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? i always like watching you. host: thank you. go ahead. caller: hi. what i want to say to america and to the president is we are all the same in this country and in this world. it is not about being a democrat

or republican, it is about does anyone, really truly living on this earth, especially in america, want an open border, not knowing who is coming into our country after what we have been through and 9/11? i just do not believe that. i know in my heart that people do not want an open border. that is what bothers me about president biden. and the school boards and the price of gas in the price of food. we all stand for our families and what we can do to support our families. i would tell president biden we can't afford $7 gas or $4 gas here in louisiana. we cannot continue this way. and he has to do something to help us. host: now, if president biden decides to run for a second

term, who do you think the republicans should put up against him? caller: anyone that can help us. i say that from my heart. anyone that cares about a mother of four children, like my daughter, that cannot afford $7 gas in california. someone that cares about the people and our border. host: you do not have a particular preference right now? caller: i would vote for president trump he cared about prices. i might have not liked everything about him, but i sure liked $1.99 gas here in louisiana and food i could have afforded and a border that was not like this. host: let's go to jamie, calling from south carolina on the democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning, c-span.

good morning, america. a beautiful time to wake up early this morning and see a brighter future. are we on? host: you are. go ahead. caller: ok. people keep forgetting about the past. the past, it teaches us. and this is what i want to say. the past should teach us to make a better future. and the vote we had in this election has been about democracy, about bringing people together, unite. and talk about the border, about abortion. people need to hold politicians to the fullest accountability. accountability has the fact and the truth, and we cannot continue to have somebody like donald trump corrupting the system, number one.

two, turning people against each other. and like i said, the past should teach us to have a better future. host: now do you think president biden should run for a second term? caller: i believe that he should run for a second term to really bring the country together. this should not be about democrats or republicans, you know? they talk about these drugs -- drugs have been coming into this country. host: all right. let's go to oliver, calling from falls church, virginia on the independent line. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: we can. caller: ok. give me a minute. real quick. i will be straight to the point. i hear a lot of callers calling for donald trump to come back in the white house. i can't believe it. i cannot believe -- i'm 69 years

old, and i cannot believe americans would want a man like donald trump back in the white house, who was a liar, a cheat er, a tax -- draft dodger, and stole secret documents from our government, to take them to his residence, where every other american would be in jail for what he has done. it is amazing some americans have turned their back on this country like they have. the attack on the capitol -- how can they want that man back, and he is the one who did that to this country. i've lived in the metro d.c. area all my life, and people in d.c. and the metro area know and people in new york know that

donald trump is a con man and a grifter. all he wants is these stupid people's moeny. host: before you go, do you think president biden should run for a second term? caller: believe me, i believe joe biden is a god savior. he has turned things around immediately. he is a good man who wants to work with everybody. the republicans are the ones who do not want to work with him. that is why this vote, this midterm blew up in their face. they were talking about a red wave, and that blew up right in their face, because the american people realized that the republicans mean us no good. they will not help people who are senior citizens like myself, who worked 25 years for the marriott corporation and had to retire after i had a heart attack.

i am telling you joe biden is a god savior. donald trump i consider the antichrist. thank you. host: let's talk to mattie on the republican line. good morning. caller: hi. i just want to say that that guy -- biden is not a god saviour. this election is a joke. biden -- mr. mcgoo, i call him -- is a joke too. he's falling for everything harris and obama and them are saying. they are counting the votes, they are saying they are counting them, but at the last minute, they will slip it up so republicans cannot get to the house. even if they have to go to the cemetery again. host: who do you think the republicans should put up against president biden, if he

runs for a second term? caller: trump. he was building walls. we are all god's children, but he put us where he wanted us to be, and for them not to care about the american people -- if they are going to get fed, if their kids will be able to go to school or whatever. if biden stays in there, he will not be in there long, because macgoo, he has no common sense. they know he is on his last leg. he's not going anywhere. you will probably be out before '2 -- he will probably be out before '24. nancy pelosi, let me tell you. host: we'd like to thank all of our caller who called in for the

first segment. coming up next, columnist and senior fellow at the ethics and public policy center is here to discuss what it means for congressional republicans and gop contendeds for the white house in 2024. and coming up later, jim kessler will be here also to weigh in on results and what message president biden and congressional democrats should take away from the election. stick with us. we will be right back. ♪ announcer: tonight on q&a, former boston globe reporter and biographer looks at the life and political career of the late

democratic senator from massachusetts. he talked about the kennedy's political dynasty and the tragedies that surrounded them including the 1969 car accident at chapel place. >> the following morning, he was having breakfast and they said -- mary joe driving the car. still they did not go to the police. they went to talk to other advisors and while they were doing that, they saw the ambulance go over and they realize that they had about 15 minutes to get to the police to make some kind of report which, in its own way, wa candid.

announcer: tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q&a. you can listen to q&a and all of our podcasts on error-free c-span now app. stay up-to-date on the lin publishing with opd's podcast about books. with current, nonfiction book releases and bestseller list, interesting news, and trend through insider reviews you can find it on error-free mobile app, or wherever you get your podcast. >> there are a lot of places to get political information. but only at c-span do you get it straight from the source. no matter where you are from or where you stand on the issues,

c-span is america's network. unfiltered, unbiased. if it happens here, we are here, or here, or anywhere that matters, america is watching on c-span. howard by cable. washington journal continues. host: we are back and joining us this morning is ethics and policy center and senior fellow henry olson, who is here with us this morning to discuss campaign 2022 and the future of the republican party. henry, good morning. guest: good morning. host: you are one of the few colonists that i have seen, you might be the only columnist i have seen who said i was wrong about the midterm elections. so what happened? guest: well, what happened was a lot of people thought, me included, that republicans were going to have a good night. instead they are having one of

the worst midterms in the last 90 years. what happened, independents who were upset with joe biden turned out to choose democrats rather than republicans because they would rather tell the country that they don't want donald trump and the republican party then tell joe biden that they don't like the path he is putting the economy on. host: do you think this was not approval of joe biden, but disapproval of former president trump? guest: that is in exit polls show. joe biden had a 44% job approval among people who voted. the thing that happen, usually, the people who don't strongly disapprove of the president, but mildly disapprove of the president end up going the party by 20 or 30 went. this time, they voted for the democrats. if you were upset with joe biden you didn't hate him, you voted for the democrats. that can only be interpreted as

a vote against the republicans and against the sort of candidates that donald trump had on the list. host: so be specific. are you saying that this was a vote against the republican party, or with this a vote against the trump members of the republican party? guest: i think it was largely against the trumpet republican party and that those members settled other people with the burden of having to defend that. you take a look at certain areas of the country can you solve big jumps in the republican party like laura. ron desantis won by 20 points in the state that never elects governors by more than three or four points. not only him, marco rubio. people down the road gained vote share on a very close election in 2020. in florida, all of the independence came out of the woodwork to vote for republicans because they knew it wasn't a donald trump republican party. host: so in your most recent column, you say this.

this is something no one has done in decades. do well with voters who somewhat disapprove of the president. how did democrats do that? guest: they set out from day one to create a choice, not a referendum. you have a choice not just to say no to me, to say yes to the other side and you don't want to say yes to the other side president biden talking about the ultra maga republican and alleged republican plan to cut social security and medicare. there were any partisan campaign and tried to settle republicans with the image of trump and where they didn't have a clear person to point at like laura, it didn't work. but into many places they did have a clear trump-friendly candidate to point at. and those places it works extremely well and that is why the republican party didn't gain the senate and why the republican party did not pick up more seats. host: let me remind our viewers

that they can take part in this conversation. we want to open an irregular lines. that means democrats, you're at (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independent, you can call (202) 748-8002. keep in mind you can always text us at (202) 748-8003 and we are always reading at social media on twitter and on facebook. now, henry, does president biden come out of these elections weaker or stronger? he still has those bad approval numbers. guest: become that much, much stronger particularly with his own demographic. whenever biden looks like he was going to leave the party to a midterm, you saw maybe he shouldn't run again, democrats aren't excited about him you saw -- he started to see that we weekend before the election.

but look. this is a guy who has just guided his party to the fourth or fifth-best midterm in the last 90 years. how could he not come out stronger with his party? he still has a lot of ground to make up with independents and he still has a lot of ground to make up with the rest of the country but i think he has solidified his feeling with the party and i think he is going to run again. host: we know now that the democrats will maintain control of the senate. we don't yet know how the house is going to fall. how does that affect the next two years of president biden in the white house, and how does that affect any potential republican who wants to run for president? guest: first of all, if the democrats do somehow contain control of the house, that means we are back to where we were the

last few years. extremely narrow control of both chambers and can't lose one or two people or that will make aggressive agendas very difficult. it will make modest agendas relatively easy to push. if the republicans do get control of the house, the legislative agenda is healing. the republicans are not going to approve most of what would get sent down. that means he is going to have to resort to executive action. with respect to have an effect the republicans, this takes congress out as a player. if republicans had what they thought they were going to have which with the 40 c house majority, 2-4 seats senate majority, which meant that they could be aggressive in pushing legislation on joe biden, that would help the party. they can't do that now. if that means that they will be resorting to blocking the president, that means the presidential contenders --

trump, presumably, ron desantis, and others, will set their own course free of whatever baggage the house or senate republicans might settled in with. -- saddle them with. host: does it hurt potential republican candidates in congress that republicans don't have control of both houses? that republicans won't be pushed through republican agendas over the next few years? guest: i don't think so. let's assume that the republicans have narrow control of the house. i think with a would be very well-served to do is doing limited things, being slow-moving in the things they do. they represent majority opinion on immigration, i think they should focus on that. they should focus on responsible dealing of the white house on the annual appropriations fund and i think they should be very limited in this of oversight that they would perform, which

is to say that things that should be investigated, particularly the crisis out of order, but let's not turn a four seat majority into a witchhunt at the white house. that is not what independents. want. host: we've already heard some republicans say if they take the house they were going to open investigations into the border, into the withdrawal from afghanistan, into the presence some. -- presidents son. are you advising them not to do that? guest: i think they should open investigations at the border. in the united kingdom, they are in fury at 35,000 illegal migrants coming in per year. we get over 35 migrants a week. 35,000 a week. what is going on at the border is totally symbolic. was going on with hunter biden, that is something that needs to be investigated at this time. with respect to the withdrawal

from afghanistan, i think it was the right thing to do but it was handled terribly. i don't think we need to relitigate that. let's focus on solving the nation's problems now rather than going back and trying to you the power of congress to bring absent negative talking points for the election. host: is there anything president joe biden can do or suggest right now that you think the republican-controlled house would back? guest: would have to talk to republicans as equals and admit to some of their priorities. republicans want an end to the crisis at the border. if joe biden wants to engage on that, you could find republican agreement, but he has to be willing to engage with republicans on terms that republicans agree with, rather than setting democratic terms and saying how much of my agenda are you willing to buy? jamie dealmaking requires something from both sides. democrats priorities and republicans priorities. host: let's get some of our

viewers into this conversation. but start with zachariah calling from danville, virginia on the democrat line. zachariah, good morning. caller: good morning, sir, thank you for taking my call. i'm just concerned because republicans seem to be out of touch with reality, what was going on on the ground. do they really expect for a country that is full of gen z and millenials, they really expect them to keep them in office when they are designing policies such as don't say gay? they are becoming more and more restrictive to the american society which comes off as anti-american. there is no way that you are going to accomplish her agenda by restricting people and telling them what they can and cannot do with their own bodies.

do you really expect to win in that type of situation? guest: i think that republicans have a lot to say about issues like that. i think with respect to things like abortion, republicans are pro-life, they want to protect the unborn child but they also need to balance that out with the right of the woman to control her own body. we saw a lot of people who didn't go extremely ron desantis who passed a bill in florida with the help of republican legislature that said we are going to ban abortion after 15 weeks, but not before that. again, a state like florida where you have reasonable, responsible, center-right policies give republicans a massive landslide. and i think that is what people and republicans are going to need to look at. which is to say, incrementally,

leaf people where they are. host: former president trump came up several times in erfurt segment asking who do they think republicans should put up against joe biden if he runs for a second term. just like i asked you about, is former president trump stronger or weaker following the midterm elections? guest: dramatically weaker. it is undeniable that the push on the republican party were duds and losers. virtually every one of them lost in swing states that he pushed on. republicans did not pick a majority in wisconsin. the republican senator before trump won the election. republican nominee for governor who he pushed lost by four points. most of the candidates in arizona.

even safe republican seats like the one outside of portland in washington for the democrats yesterday. these receipts that republicans held for decades. trump pushes a guy named joachim. he narrowly gets in the primary and independent republicans said we don't want this. ron desantis'florida was a landslide for republicans. donald trump republican party went backwards. host: the report that former president trump is proceeding with a tuesday presidential announcement. is this good or bad for the republican party? guest: i think donald trump is going to do what he is going to do. he thinks he is an oracle of one, and that is himself.

the fact is that the republican party has needed to move on from donald trump for two years. that donald trump helped show republicans that they were out of touch with their own voters, but republicans now understand that they need to talk more about culture and less about tax cuts for the rich. republicans understand that they need to talk about aspirations and not simply anger. and that means that they don't need donald trump. donald trump already lost the races. he doesn't understand what the voters are. if it means there has to be a primary spike to move on from donald trump, let's bring it on. host: let's go back to the phone lines and talk to richard calling from texas on the republican line. richard, good morning. caller: good morning. i'm really battle the direction the country is --.

i came from a family that was democratic. for the longest time, african-americans believed if you are black you have to be democrat. but i was able to educate myself and read and learn about politics. i was able to understand the agenda of the different people running for different offices, and i feel so bad for my people because a majority of them did not do that. but the democrats stand for, it's not the party for black people. individuals running for office, i'm a staunch donald trump supporter. i don't like all the things that he did but i like most of the

things that he did. he had a different way of doing things. and that is what scared a lot of people because he stood up for what he believed in and he did what he said. and most of our presidents like joe biden don't have our interest in their head. i see the difference in my paycheck now than when trump was in office. i see the difference in the gas prices. a month or two ago, i was paying five dollars a gallon for gas under joe biden. joe biden is ruining our oil reserves. i'm sad at what is going on and i hope that trump can make it back in office. host: go ahead and respond.

guest: i think there are a lot of people who agree with the caller. a lot of african-americans to adjoining the republican party now. the exit polls show one of the stronger republican showings among the african-american voters, although less overwhelmingly democrat than it was four years ago. there are four african-americans were going to be in the republican conference in the house of representatives, record numbers since reconstruction. the republican party's becoming a multiethnic, multiracial party with record numbers of women in that has republican conference. i think if there probed in does that, it will find more support across the board like it did in florida where we had a latino, black, white, all backgrounds representing those aspects of florida.

host: the one thing we have not talked about yet this morning is the runoffs in georgia. herschel walker vs. rafael warnock. are you willing to give a prediction on what is going to happen in that race? guest: absolutely not. host: [laughter] so what is going on in georgia right now? guest: we are already spending tens of millions of dollars. the question is going to be twofold. about 49.5%, and we have herschel walker getting about 48.5%. who is going to be more energized to come out, democrats or republicans, and how are the people who didn't vote for either candidate going to decide? there were some polls that suggested that a lot of them were disappointed republicans who would like walker to win, but who aren't going to endorse him. now they are going to decide whether they care enough about making a 50-50 senate which gives republicans a little more leverage to swallow their turns, or they can sit out this race.

i have no idea how it is going to turn out. host: does a presidential run announcement from former president trump health or hurt herschel walker in georgia? guest: i think it depends on what trump does. it is one thing if he announces but doesn't make himself a big item of news to the next three weeks. but if he does what he typically does which is try to do something like coming in and making it all about him, then it reminds people who voted for brian kemp, the republican governor with a republican secretary of state that voting for rafael warnock, it reminds them of the reason they didn't want herschel walker, which is that he is tied to closely to donald trump. if trump cares about herschel walker, he will stay out of the

race. if trumpcare is about trump, he will come to mess things up. host: iola, independent line. good morning. caller: hi. i used to be a democrat. i can't be the only one that knows this stuff but two or three days ago, it was like they were tied going for the senate. republicans had 211 to 182 in the house and all, they changed the vote totals of arizona and nevada and we've got all these house races that haven't been decided. i said to myself, my god, they are going to steal it. and here it is.

there republicans are up to 49 now. the democrats have regained the senate. they are up to 50. republicans are still at 211 and now, the democrats are up to 205. and if i could make a prediction, i think what is going to happen is they are going to end up, you wait and see, they will take the house, the democrats, and they've already got the senate. kari lake isn't going to win the governorship in arizona, either. so i don't know. i can't see that i am the only one that sees this. host: talk about this a little bit. we have a lot of voters out there who still think something fishy is going on with the election even though there has not been any proof and the 2020 election. guest: no, i don't think the democrats are stealing the

election. i follow voting trends extremely closely. there's nothing surprising coming out of this. but i understand how people who don't spend their lives studying voting trends would see this as something concerning because they are used too one day count the votes and know who is going to win. i think this prolonged vote counting, which is legal and there is no suspicion that illegal votes are being counted, will undermine state and our elections. it is something we should deal with her bipartisan legislation where possible, which is to have some kind of uniformed vote-capping rules for federal office. that the states do the ones for states, but why not have requirements that for federal office, you have to have all the votes in on election day that we can have a winner on election day? that is what florida does, that is what new hampshire does. a lot of states do that and there is no dispute over what happens.

i think republicans are going to lose control of the house. it will be narrow. there's enough republican seats out there that haven't been called because people are being cautious because everyone knows the seats are going to end up in the republican column, so i think it would be a good thing to talk about bipartisan legislation. host: so are you advocating that the federal government take over voting for senate house? guest: no. what i'm saying is you can set certain rules for several reasons. i don't think they should take over the voting administration. i don't think they should take over the federal counting and i think there should be a federal election commission.

the federal government can set various rules with respect to the congressional elections, which is why we require that the federal elections, we allow people to register their cars at their motor vehicles. not federalize in all elections but creating stronger rules to improve public confidence in the outcome of our elections. host: in the thing that always worried me when we talk about changing mail-in voting, what happens to the military votes from overseas? guest: that is the kind of thing where you make reasonable exceptions to having something in by election day. but most of the votes we are talking about are not these exceptions. most of those that are coming in are in states that allow mail-in ballots to be delivered after election day, that allow mail-in

ballots to be dropped off on election day, willy-nilly all over the place, and it simply takes time to look at all the signatures and to validate that these are legal votes and not fraudulent votes. and that is why they take 3, 4, 5 days. that is what creates the delay. that is what creates suspicion and they think what we should do is provide access like florida does with massive amounts of in person, early voting, but you have to have it in the central office by 8:00 on election day. what happens in arizona is you could drop these ballots anywhere. so they don't even start to collect the ventilated clock p.m.. in florida, they have been in the central office where they can be counted. but you don't have three days of

verifying signatures. you have days where they verify the signatures before election day and the ballots dropped all on election day to verify on election day. host: i know i put in your name. florida, democratic line. pronounce your name for me. go ahead. caller: i'm a native floridian since a long time ago. and 65 years old. and i've seen the changes of florida. he talked about how the republicans are getting better down here. have you seen that the republicans have done to our state voting things? they should give the republicans a message i think that you cut us out on the home front but we've still got a say on the federal level. you are not going to win, period.

that is all there is to it. i want to say to the most veteran callers -- guest: i graduated from ole miss, and this is my fraternity tie, but this is neither here nor there. so florida, what do you think about, how does desantis match up against trump in a potential gop presidential runoff? guest: the majority of polls done by you guys show that desantis leads trump by seven points among republican voters. there's other polls that showed him doing well before the selection, but desantis matches up well against trump, meaning that he has a shot. because he has credibility with trump voters. a lot of the establishment types like mike pence are good people

and they could make find presidents, but they don't have the credibility with trump-voters who are willing to look for a new face. ron desantis does, and that makes and the person best situated to be able to take them donald trump by basically saying let's move on. you want a fighter? i'm a fighter. you want a conservative? i'm a conservative. thank you donald trump for your service, it is time to move on. host: if former president trump announces he is running for president on tuesday, does that force desantis to announce early as well? guest: that is a great question and i've gone back and forth in my mind about that. i think what he has to do is indicate his openness to it. he can't play it coy anymore. i'm not sure he has to get in. one of about trump, he's increasingly becoming even more erratic.

and in order to consolidate his support, it might actually be a good idea to let trump go out on his own, show people that he is not as smooth as he was six years ago, he has got a lot of baggage, and also give deceit is a chance to have a great legislative session in florida. i understand that it might also be good to start it right now, but then the focus will immediately be on desantis, does he have it? it might benefit him to say i am grateful for the interest, but i have more than i want to deal with and i think donald trump has a lot to talk about, let's see how voters was on. -- respond. host: let's talk to ron from indiana on the republican line. good morning. caller: i just wanted to talk

about how florida could take such a good win in florida, and it's things like this. it's amazing to me have every one of these races, these key races, all these democrats. and also, the money out here, the free money biden promised all the college kids that really isn't even going to happen, it is just a big live. a big lie about social security. all the people on social security are going to lose their social security, and all the big

lies. thanks for summing that up, really come on this election. guest: the biden administration plated tough. they set out to win, they said things that weren't necessarily sound, but welcome to politics, boys and girls, as not the first time stuff like that has happened. it will be interesting to see. eventually, joe biden is going to have to run on his record and if the republicans nominate donald trump, they will certainly know what the biden campaign is going to be. vote for me to save the country, but it for publicans don't

nominate donald trump, what we've seen is that if you're not donald trump, a non-donald trump candidate will force joe biden to actually defend his own record. right now that is a record that a large majority of americans do not think is very good. host: let's talk about the u.s. senate. democrats have control of the senate. it is either going to be a 50-50 or 51-49. does anyone have the courage to take on mitch mcconnell for senate republican leader? guest: it wouldn't surprise me if somebody took him on, but they are not going to win. i've gone down the votes in that conference in my head multiple times and there's not 20 54 26 votes to remove mitch mcconnell. he's got too many friends, he's got too much success moving and i think a lot of people in the senate say it wasn't his fault that we had these candidates, it

was donald trump. mitch mcconnell is going to be in his mid-80's after the 2024 election. perhaps we see a change coming after that election. after 2024 or 2026, mitch mcconnell will step down as leader and the republican caucus will take a significant turn, but i don't think you will lose a challenge for the leadership this year. host: let's say something crazy happens and mitch mcconnell decide he doesn't want to be senate minority leader again. who in the republican party is the choice if mitch mcconnell says i'm going to just not do it again? guest: john cornyn would be next in line, john cornyn of texas.

and i think a lot of the people behind mitch mcconnell's back him. then you get to the question of the alternative. i don't think rick scott, who has been talked about, did himself any favors with the way he conducted himself in the campaign. is josh hawley the alternative? a lot of people might like him, but might not think that somebody who raised his fist on january 6 is the best face for the republican party. then who else might there be? there are alternatives who i think could do the job. if it were john cornyn and something else, you might be able to put those together. host: phone lines. upper marlboro, maryland on the democrat line. go ahead. caller: good morning.

yes, this current version of the republican party has no long-term future. the republican party has no choice but to see white racial fear and resentment. in terms of racial demographics, younger people just do not buy into that. there republican party is overwhelmingly young and white. -- old and white. that doesn't happen by accident. there is a choice being made. if they fail to act after 2012,

make the same choice, being reduced to voter suppression laws all over the country, they can only win if nobody votes. guest: as ronald reagan said in his 1964 speech to paraphrase, there is no voter suppression going on in this country. turnout in georgia was extremely high. rafael warnock came in first, and then republican voter base is less than it has been in my lifetime, record highs of latinos, of blacks, record high numbers of minorities who are part of the conference in the senate and in the house. i understand republican have

their talking points, democrats have their talking points. there is no voter fraud or voter suppression. it is just something that people talk about to put even voters on the others. they don't want elections in florida because they don't represent a majority of floridians. republicans don't win elections in nevada because they don't represent a majority of nevadans. i wish people would understand why they lose rather than create fictional stuff of them of any responsibility. host: we talked about the senate. if republicans take control of the house which they are predicted to do, if kevin mccarthy in the next house speaker? guest: it is the same thing with mitch mcconnell. you can't beat somebody with nobody. steve scalise said he is not going to challenge mccarthy. i don't think jim banks, the ambitious republican committee chairman is going to challenge mccarthy, at least in the senate.

jim jordan is on his side. all of the big names who could be alternatives are not presenting themselves as alternatives. so i think what you have is mccarthy the speaker but on a short leash that people want to see how he performs. and if he doesn't perform well, who knows what is going to happen, but i think kevin mccarthy will be speaker. if republicans don't get a majority, i would not be surprised if he is not leader because he will not have led them to the promised land. but if republicans do get a majority i think he will be speaker. host: so if they don't, who becomes republican leader of the house? guest: i think then you have steve scalise stepped up. there's a lot of people who like him.

and think steve scalise would be the easy compromise choice to have a quick transition. but again, i believe all the data suggest that republicans will have a narrow majority, but not in the house as nancy pelosi has presided over these last few years which means kevin mccarthy will likely be the speaker. host: let's talk to georgetown, massachusetts on the independent line. good morning. caller: thank you for having me on. i will stick with something that ronald reagan said because you brought up something he said that is very important. trust, but verify. and this is the problem i have with our election system. story over the years, they have

been legitimized the use of exit poll data. so as your guest well knows, exit poll data is collected in real time when people are going into and leaving the polls. there's a series of questions they ask. those questions are related to voter sentiment. that data is released real-time to the networks who pay for that information. the information about how people actually voted is held secret by one company, and the other company is a group of nbc, cbs, and cnn. they have another group. they own that data. they are sworn to keep the data about how people voted secret until the official results are

let out. then, they manipulate their own data to match what the voters, what they say the voters did. what i'm saying is if we've got florida lined up with the exit poll data questions, and we have all these others, 75% of people thinking we are on the wrong track, 70% of the people interviewed, and these are professional exit poll papers, 70% said they voted republican we have a massive discrepancy. we have no verification about voter sentiment and how that is shown in the results. host: let me just stop in there. henry, do you think the election was called fairly and do you think the vote counts are correct? guest: yes and yes. host: all right.

really quickly, you pointed your columns to republican losses back in 1978 as a reason for optimism. tell viewers what were talking about. guest: in 1978, republicans were very optimistic. they had a president who wasn't as unpopular as joe biden but wasn't terribly popular. he had a tax-cut revolt that was sweeping the country. they raised a large tax cut. and yes, the only picked up about 15 seats in the house and a couple in the senate, and that was from record lows after the watergate crisis. and so you look and you say what can you do? two years later, ronald reagan wins in a massive landslide, first republican control of the senate since 1954. highest number of republicans in the house of representatives since 1958. massive 44 states week.

-- suite. batty -- sweep. that elections happen. good elections can follow. republicans need to wake up, take stock, know that they are likely going to win house popular vote. if hillary clinton had got more votes, she didn't win the popular or the electoral house vote. time to wake up, get a few more votes, and win the next election. host: we would like to think -- thank henry also for being with us this morning and walking us through election 2022. henry, thank you so much. guest: thank you. host: coming up next, jim kessler weighs in on what message president biden and congressional democrats should take away from tuesday's results. and after that, we open up our phone lines to you for our open

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a variety of compelling podcasts. c-span now is available at the apple store, google play. download for free today. your front row seat to washington. washington journal continues. host: we are back in this time we are going to talk about campaign 2020 the democratic party. joining us is jim kessler, and he is here to discuss with us what this election meant for president biden. guest: great to be here. host: tell us what third wave is. guest: it is a think tank in washington, d.c. founded in 2005. we do economic policy, national security, and we occupy the more centrist frame of the democratic party. host: how are you funded? guest: we are funded mostly by

foundations, some private and some business. host: let's jump straight into what happened in the midterm elections. to what do you attribute the success of the democratic party in this midterm cycle? >> this was a victory of mainstream. democrats voted for mainstream candidates particularly. republicans had candidates mostly that were election deniers, followers of trump. that has not been a winning formula and really came to roost in the 2022 elections and democrats vastly over performed what you would normally see in the midterm elections, so i think democrats are walking on air. i know i am. i think republicans are kind of drowning in tears. host: so to what do you attribute the fact that

president joe biden still doesn't have great approval numbers, but democrats did well in the midterm cycle anyway? >> bidens approval numbers did not create what a lot of presidents have two years into their run. what i saw this time as i was watching over the last several months was i've never seen a greater dampen candidate quality than i've seen in this election. democrats, they did have mainstream candidates, they did have mostly moderates and these races. they were stronger, some of them were elected official. a larger public candidates that won, they were really the outlier, they were the extreme candid in that race. and look at these candidates, you match them up with a democrat and you think wow,

there's just a gap here that you don't normally see. republicans in the paid the price. if you were a normal republican, a traditional republican in this election, you actually did well. they just want enough of them and the crash. host: how much did config portion in the january 6 insurrection of the democrats in this cycle? guest: abortion was thex-factor. -- x-factor. it was proof that republicans are really extreme on the things and they can really happen. a for sure energized women. if you see the democrats have been doing well lately, since 2016, it is suburbs. a lot of suburban women, suburban white women, abortion is a very important issue. and the january 6, just a

reminder how far off the being a lot of the republicans already went. i think this two issues, one that is really visceral and you can feel it in your home, the abortion issue, one that you watch on television, january 6, they came together to paint a picture of extremism on the right. host: earlier this year you wrote a column that offers suggestions to democrats on the house to just survive the midterm elections. remind us whether advice was and did the democrats follow it? guest: i actually think that they did follow it. not because of me, but i'm glad you read the column. the first piece of advice is if you look at midterms, general midterms, the party in power loses a vast number of seats and you lose about 12 points off of your vote total between the

presidential year and these first few years. if you win by 12, if biden won by 12 or less, you have to put yourself in the category of someone who is going to lose, and you have to run like you are behind, and i think democrats did that. you also have to go on the offense on cultural issues like abortion. and the other was pastor agenda. make everything gets passed. by august, all of those things had really gotten to the president's desk. >> right now, we know that the democrats will hold the senate with either 51 or 50 votes. but the control of the house is still up in the air. my question to you, it democrats don't control the house, is

nancy pelosi still democratic leader, or democrats turn to someone else? guest: i think nancy pelosi will stay as leader. i may be wrong. but the choice is going to be hers. i think if democrats lost 20 or 25 states, which would be the norm, she would've left. she would have left on her own. in this situation, it is a vindication again for her. since 1995, democrats have had nancy pelosi. republicans have had more than half a dozen. this ability within the democratic caucus has been really hallmarked. my guess is she stays. there are a group of democrats in the wings rate to take that spot.

host: so if she doesn't stay, who take that stop that spot? guest: my guess is hakeem jeffries. right now there would be a battle between him and adam schiff of california. he probably has done a better job of rounding up votes at this point and that is what you need to do. so he would be the next leader is my guess. host: let me take time to remind our viewers that they can be part of this conversation. we are going to open up our regular lines which means that democrats, you can call (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents (202) 748-8002,. keep in mind, you can always text us at (202) 748-8003. and we are always reading on social media, on twitter, and

c-spanwj. now, can president biden claim any kind of mandate following the 2022 midterm elections? historically, his party would have been swept out of power in both houses of congress and it didn't happen. can he claim a mandate? guest: i think he can. he can claim the mandate of trying to get rid of extremism, making sure that election deniers don't get into places the power. now, he has got a very, very closely divided congress. the betting money is that the house is going to go republican, just barely, but this is a

president that right now, he has got the wind at his back, he should feel very good and feel like i can move forward, i don't need to make a lot of changes. host: that brings us to my next question. should there be any changes that president biden should be looking at given the results of the midterm election? once again, his party was not swept out of power but going into the last years as president, he had not stellar approval ratings. any changes he should be looking at? making some changes, or at least making an effort to raise awareness of what they are doing. immigration, crime and on the economic era, i think they done a good job they probably need to bring some folks in outside from the business area as they are battling inflation. in the business area, that is

when they understand inflation and supply chain. you get to see that on the economic team. it crime is definitely an issue that worked against democrats unfairly, crime rates in republican places are are higher than democratic states. inflation took place. i think democrats should be looking at that and says this is a place we need to sure ourselves of. host: is there anywhere you can immediately work on republicans quickly? guest: i think you'll see something in the electoral count act and may be something along same-sex marriage. if there is going to be republican leadership and the house, the house republicans are going to have to figure something out.

are we going to lean towards the marjorie taylor greene of the party that is very extreme, very strident, very conspiracy theory focused. or are they going to look at the new seats in places like new york where to keep them they will have to have a moderate agenda and work with the president. if you want to keep your majority, you have to take care of your moderates in the swing places. if you want to get had wings on redwing media, you go to conspiracy theorist. in a certain sense, this is going to be up to a potentially new house republican leadership, should they take the majority. host: let's get some of the callers in this conversation. let's start with chuck on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning, gentlemen.

i finally got in to talk to jeff kessler. first thing i like to say is, biden did not win on anything. what have bidens candidates -- one of bidens candidates is the fact that the republican party did not offer anybody anything. they are only interested in the money that they can get because trump gets all of the money. that is all he has done for them. plus, now he is into protection for his own neck because of what he has got himself into with all the court cases and everything else that is going on. i am a democrat, of course as we all know. two things. number one, fear. which is something hitler's had back in world war ii.

the republicans wanted to put it into our minds, plus abortion, they are going after all of the rights. people, most of women were fearing if the republicans get in and trump runs again then they are already attacking, throwing books out of our libraries, banning them. hitler's did that in world war ii. he put fear in people's minds, chaos, fear, that is what republicans are going for. the candidates say they offered up with trump backing his candidates. guest: i think chuck has a point. normally midterm elections are a referendum along the president of power. this became less a referendum

and a choice between the two parties. voters got a chance to look at them and say, ok, i do have a choice. it is not just, how do i feel about inflation and other things that make me feel a little sour. when they look at what republicans are putting up, they were noncompetitive candidates in semi-competitive states. you look at somebody in new hampshire, maggie hassan, margaret democrat. so, you have the situation. even if joe biden's relatively unpopular in that states, it does not matter if the republican candidate is so bad and so mismatched. that is one of the reasons why republicans lost and they will continue to lose if they put out candidates like that. host: michael: from saint

augustine, florida on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i am a independent voter. i like being independent because i have a open mind. i just want to see who is the best candidates and go from there. i have been seeing a lot of hype. i want your opinion on this. i'm seeing a lot of hype with this ron desantis character, basically, i supported and voted for. i have voted for democrats as well. this is a situation i see in the media that the national media ignores. a ron desantis did not get the majority of the republican votes . some republicans did better than ron desantis.

so, it is like to me when the media says on the local florida media that you have a white suburban educator voter clause ron desantis, i do not understand when they say they want to pick ron desantis for republicans. why would they push trump to ron desantis when it sounds like they are pretty much the same. guest: michael, i think it is very interesting. there is a wing of the republican party that wants to get rid of trump. they have come cited the way to do it is we really need to elevate one candidate in particular to make it a one-on-one match. they have a ron desantis.

you can see that coming over the way over the last five to six months. he got some big numbers. the race was not expected to be that close. in the end, voters are going to decide. in 1980 41 a lot of the media was anointing john glenn was going to be the democrat, he did not get out of new hampshire. i would just think, beware of candidates that are peaking 18 months before the first primary vote is cast. i think ron desantis is peaking early right now. host: speaking of 2024 presidential election coming did you think president biden should run for a second term? guest: i think he should run.

he has earned the right to run. he had one of the most successful legislative two years of any president, going back to ronald reagan. huge wins on the international stage. he basically stripped the bars off of vladimir putin. what is going on in ukraine, though a tragedy, is a major loss for russia because of what joe biden did. he is the right candidates. he is a moderate. obviously, the one thing people worry about him is his age. he is about the same age as donald trump. who is a republican nominee. i think you should run. i think he could win. host: in this exit poll we have coming from the midterm elections, two thirds of midterm voters, including 40% of democrats would prefer that

biden would not seek reelection in 2024. this is from edison research. even on election day, 43% of democrats say biden should not run for reelection. guest: i do not want to discount that completely. at this point in 1982, the same amount was saying ronald reagan should not run for reelection either. he was unpopular. it was 10% unemployment. he was considered too old. he ended up winning 49 out of 50 states. let's not take these polls to seriously. what are people really saying when they are giving that answer. they might be saying i am a little bit dissatisfied with the country where i am concerned somewhat about age.

that is a portrayal they are on it. i think in the end, voters are going to come around. on the democratic side if he runs, there was not going to be a challenge. it is simple. host: let's say he does not run, that opens up a completely different world. who becomes the presumptive nominee or is there a presumptive nominee? or will there be a democratic convention? guest: i do not think there is a present of -- presumptive nominee, the favorite would be, harris and she would be a --kamala harris. a request do not do coronation very well. the few times that we have been trying to do coronation's, we lost the general. it was sort of ate attempt to clear the field and have her

really not run against anybody. bernie sanders came in and beat her. al gore was a coronation, he lost to george w. bush. i think kamala would be a favorite. if she won a nomination, she would have earned it and come out as a stronger candidate. i guess there would be others that would run as well. the key to when a democratic primary is winning african-american voters in the south. who is the candidates and who can do that. right now i think it could be kamala. host: let's talk to patricia in tennessee on the republican lines. caller: yes. i was a lifelong democrat up until this election.

i did not vote for biden because i did not think biden knew that much when he was a vice president. what would make him a good president? so far he is frail, i do not mean that to be disrespectful because i am 76 years old. i just feel that he is just not only ball. he does not speak up like he needs to speak up. he stumbles. he stumbles when he talks. her i find that re-disturbed -- really disturbing. guest: joe biden stumbled when he talked when he was 32 years old.

he is overseas right now. you see him on the international stage. he is definitely the leader of the free world. he is strong, stable, he has outmaneuvered vladimir putin and has recited over a very difficult point in the united states and economically through covid in a effective manner. i think the reports of him having a few miles per hour off of his fastball, i think that is overrated somewhat. he has a beat donald trump in the debates. he has passed his entire legislative agenda through

congress. these are the things that presidents do when they are at the top of their game. he is not a young man, but he has been extraordinarily effective, both domestically and internationally. i think he has proven he is well up to doing this job. host: one of our social media followers have texted in a question. which congressional district are still undecided that could when if democrats control the house? what races are you looking at that could win democratic's the control of the house? guest: there is a couple in california. if i say the numbers i would get them wrong. california, 23. california, 41. do not quote me on that. although you just did. host: california is 41. guest: they are neck an

d neck. the one in arizona is very close. host: colorado eight? guest: the reporting would go through those seats in host: particular. what chances do you think democrats have a hold in the house? is this something that is a dream or something that could happen or something that you think democrats come back and control both the senates and the house? guest: 20% chance that democrats get to 218. if you look at the way that these tight races happen

breaking, the smart money said it was going to be 222 or 230. we can see that. the state that we just won in washington state, that was on some people's vehicles card -- bingo's card, but it was not on many. host: let's talk to jerry from chester, virginia on the democrats line. good morning. caller: i am listening to this and i have to laugh. these guys from the corporate wing party. come on, man.

you are now fully nobody here. you know? you said joe biden's legislation was the best since ronald reagan ? i have to laugh. joe biden 12 raise the middle range $15 an hour. get rid of all student debt. he did not do any of that. he did not even pass those build back better. he did not pass any of it. i do not know what the hell you are talking about. guest: i think joe biden had a pretty successful two years. the bipartisan infrastructure bill was successful and groundbreaking. we have been trying to have

infrastructure week for about three decades, we finally had it. the build back better bill, which became the inflation reduction act had climate revisions in there that we should be thankful for and provisions to show off the affordable care act, chips bill will create manufacturing jobs throughout the u.s. and other parts of the country and will help us compete with china with many technological areas in which we are falling behind we managed to even pass a bipartisan uncontrolled bill -- gun-control bill. gun-control legislation is not easy to pass. nothing has been passed previously. joe biden had 50 democrats in the senate. a 50-50 split. and a majority in the house

. to get those, it is the narrowest majority that any president has ever had and he managed to get major pieces of legislation to congress. host: one of our social media followers pointed out that there were not 50 democrats in the senates and they want to bring this up. i believe there are two senators that are independent currently. how does that play into the count for control of the senate? bernie sanders is the independent. how does that play in control with the senate? guest: when they are running at home, they run on a independent line, sometimes on a independent and democratic depending on the state. . while in the senate they are democrat. host: back to our phone lines and talk to jane who is calling

from south carolina on the independent line. james, good morning. caller: morning. as a democracy, we can't be all things to all people. some people would expect as to be that. my question is, these initiatives from the state they can get the federal government or the state through their legislature, is that the increase for direct voting representation and by having valid initiatives increasing? guest: you know, it varies by state. states have very different laws about how easy or hard it is to get a ballot initiative on the ballot. what that valid initiative -- valid initiative is allowed to do and whether -- ballot

initiative is allowed to do. certain states in california is really a ballot initiative. other states, southern states, many fewer ballot initiatives they are that are allowed within state law. i think it is a positive trend, where we are seeing in some places, we are seeing raising minimum wage, protecting abortion rights. it is a good trend. i would like to see more of it. host: leonard in graham, washington on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i am a first time caller. i have been watching washington journal for a while. it is the first time i have called. how this man can sit there and tell all of these lies in front of those people just really outrageous. biden is not fit to be

president, he was not fit to run for president. thank you. guest: thank you for your call. one of the things i think is interesting with our media is, if you watch certain channels, you are good to see a depiction of the president looking a certain way and looking bad. if you are looking at other channels that are more to the left, you are going to see depictions of republicans elected officials that make them always look ridiculous or doddering or whatever. all i would say to viewers in both places, get a more broad view of what you are watching and seeing. vladimir putin may have thought, joe biden does not have it all together. what joe biden did to putin by the classifying information predict the -- in ukraine,

months in advance, public-key warning -- publicly warning the world, getting nato ready. when people were saying this was not going to happen, there was a genius move. that is the ability that this president has. it is not going to be on every single thing. just the way he completely outmaneuvered vladimir putin, shows that this guy is playing at the top of their game. i do not care what you are seeing on other networks. host: cracks will control the senate. they will control the presidency. is it time for several supreme court justices to retire while

the democrats hold the presidency and the senate? guest: can i pick which justices? host: i suspect justices on the conservative wing will not consider this a time to retire. there are talks about justice sotomayor is thinking about retiring. perhaps others are thinking about retirement during the democratic senate. guest: justice sotomayor , i think she is my age. it is so critical in confirming judges, all the way down to the federal -- is very important. i know that is super important to my formal loss and a of -- boss and top of mind for him.

i do not think the supreme court are at a retiring age. i want to be real about that. it does mean, if one of the older conservative judges on the court retires or passes away, democrats would be able to fill the seat. host: back to our phone line and talk to georgia who is from marietta, georgia on the democratic line. good morning. caller: i am calling because i wake up every morning happy, very happy that joe biden is our president. we finally have the most experience -- experienced president we had in a long time. age does bring wisdom, and i cannot be happier.

i get so angry when i hear these jokes about his speech impediment, him messing up the language. maybe he messes up a little bit. i could not be happier, because he knows what he is doing. the last time we had a president, he did not know anything he was doing. this is a professional man. we should think our lucky stars and quit making fun of him and appreciate what we have. guest: georgia, you look at the record, he looks like a guy at the top of his game domestically, internationally and i agree with you. he has been making verbal stumbles for as long as he has been in public life. he will continue to make verbal stumbles if he runs again next

term. he seems to be a president who is playing the game at the highest level. host: product that you once worked for chuck schumer, what type of legislative challenges will democrats face if the republicans take over the house? if anything gets passed between now and at the presidential election? guest: i think things will get past. it will not happen right away. i expect the first 10 to 12 months of a new congress to be rather ugly. then there's going to be a point where house republicans will be thinking, if we are going to keep our majority, we have to show we can get something done and a compromise that we will get something to be president and we will sign. you need to take accomplishments for voters. if you look at where republicans

won the majority, it is in places like new york where they picked up a bunch of seats. they are going to have to deliver to keep those seats. i do not have high hopes for 2023. i could see the first half of 2024 of things getting done. the happen under clinton in 19 95 and 96, the dam broke. host: dallas texas -- dallas, texas on the republican line. caller: good morning, america. i love america. make sure you get your college paid for. i would hate to hear that he is promising college people -- that is why they voted.

my sister in law, she wants her college paid for, that is why she voted for joe biden. thank you, sir. guest: that student loan debt forgiveness. i do not know how much that is really effective. it may work for younger voters in some places. it is now in the hands of the court. we will see if it happens again. host: one thing we have not talked about is the one major senate race left. raphael warnock versus herschel walker. what does he need to do to win the race and give the democrats they edge of the senate? guest: you know, some of herschel walker's votes where the people who voted for brian kemp, the republican governor.

herschel walker while in the booth was going to vote for herschel. this is the gap between candidate equality is the greatest throughout the country. raphael warnock, top-notch candidate, very accomplished, herschel walker, i will be polite. several abortions, other domestic violence background. the enthusiasm for him is not going to be that great in my feeling about this, especially the fate of the senate does not hang in the balance. he knows how to win a runoff. he will raise the money and get his team out there.

host: we would like to thank jim kessler, the vice psident for the third wing from being with us this morning and discussing campaign 2020 what it means for democrats. coming up next will be our open forum segments, where our viewers can talk about the most important segments and topics of the day. we will be waiting on your call. stick with us, we will be waiting in just a moment. ♪ >> there are a lot of places to get political information, only at an do you get it straight from the source. no matter where you are from and where you stand on the issues, c-span is america's network. unfiltered, unbiased, word for word, if it happens here, here

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middle and high school students, it is your time to shine. you are invited to participate in c-span student documentary competition. feature yourself as a newly represented member of congress. show the importance of your issues. do not be afraid to take risks, be bold. cash prizes and a $5,000 grand prize. visit our website at studentcam.org for competition ru resources and a step-by-step guidance. >> washington journal -- "washington journal" continues. host: our viewers can call in

and talk about your most important political topic of the day. we will opened up our regular lines. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can always text us at, (202) 748-8003. we are always on social media and twitter at facebook.com/c-span. let's jump straight into our calls and start with barbara from cleveland, ohio on the republican line. caller: good morning. first time caller. i am calling in regards to the last election. i was really surprised how it went, considering the shape that the border is in. to me, that alone, i can't

believe that people would vote democrat. that is all i have to say. host: let's talk to myron from norwalk, california on the democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. i would very much support president biden if he chose to run for a second term, if you chose not to, my choice would be amy klobuchar. my message to president biden, to provide secret service protection for immigrant senators served in states rolled by republican governors i am going to leave it at that. i do not want to give the wrong people any ideas. i know it is a bit off-topic. i wonder if i can make a comment

about torture. what -- twitter. whether that be ok? -- would that be ok? i would like to see a new social media site. a good name for it would be --. host: let's go to john on the independent line. good morning. caller: that last guest -- i am not a fan. he says he has from the center from the democratic party. the one caller says that is a corporate wing. i do not think the democrats have much to run on. he started the inflation reduction act. i do not think that has reduced inflation in my eyes.

that is his whole third wing democratic thing, they do not actually want to give us health care in the country. did you really improve the aca? chips act, the corporate thing we are talking about. they're going to lose ground in the third party. if you look in michigan, they lost by 2000 votes. host: lori who is calling from arizona on the republican line. good morning. caller: thank you so much for doing this. i am calling because i am completely disillusioned by what

is happened in our country. the polling and everything is showing that america is going the wrong direction. the democrats are pulling off wins all across the states now. do we really believe this is happening, or don't we believe in our hearts that there is just people going on. people are cheating in every single state. i believe our transparency is gone. host: do you think it could be possible that the polling is wrong? caller: no, i do not. i think how could the polling to be so far off. all of these laws that these democrats have put into place counting votes for days did not used to be like this. when i was a kid, we would know immediately, at least the evening on the next day who

won. they have probably been cheating for a very long time. it is concerning because everyone is ready to check out now. what does the american people do to get back the country? host: bobby calling from west virginia on the democrat line. morning. caller: yes. ok. i would like for you to give me a moment or two. first of all, we live in god's country. most of the laws of this nation was based upon god's law of the 10 commandments. a lie now seems like it is the gospel proof, that was proven by the prior president.

i just think that we are looking for a red wave. they were looking for a major red wave. i think god put it into the souls of america, just like joe biden said. he was doing all of this for the soul of america to bring america back. i think independents in the democratic party have come to their senses and a our nation was about to lose our rights and democracy, i just think it all comes to a head. god bless the young people. i watch you guys. i like to listen to all of use and watch all networks.

when something very serious is going on, the fox network, they are talking about some other kind of thing that has happened. they are not educating the people. the more you get educated, the more you know, the more you read, get involved in. it does make a difference. god gives us a whole mind to think. host: let's go to daniel who is calling from texas on the republican line. good morning. caller: ok. the last president. before he was elected, they try to impeach him. for four years they try to impeach him. the this first two years of office we have the best time in

the world. bidens first day in office. right now, all sups is out of gas, walmart is out of gas. north korea is not even our allies. they wanted freedom. they are trying to steal our freedom from us. the democrats want to take our freedom and turned it into a socialist driving this country. host: let's go to britt, who is calling from washington on the democratic line. good morning. caller: there really -- who

really won the election was the millennials and gen z, which i am thankful for. as far as the republicans, what is it that you stand for besides being mean? you always have a shot in the object. when you -- about things going wrong like stolen secret documents, you just ignored the facts. you got exactly what you deserved. that is all i got. host: president biden is overseas right now. he has a upcoming meeting with

the president of china. the hilt newspaper has a brief story about what is expected to happen in that meeting. -- hill newspaper has a brief story about what is expected to happen in that meeting. discussions during his upcoming meeting with chinese president, his first face-to-face meeting since biden took office. he is scheduled to meet on monday. the discussion expected to include a number of voting issues. human rights concerns and ukraine. i think i always have a straightforward discussion with him, biden told. there has never been any miscalculation about what each of us stands. that is critically important in our relationship.

xi has had multiple calls to biden since the start of his presidency. i know him well. he knows me. we have very little misunderstanding. we just got to figure out what -- where the red lines are and what are the most important things to each of us going into the next two years. that is from the hill newspaper. where biden is saying he is expecting a trade for conversation with china's president. we want to know what you're most political topic to talk about this morning. let's go to fort lauderdale, florida on the independent's mind. caller: i am not prepared to discuss what we just talked about. host: you can discuss whatever your most political topic is.

caller: people listening to both sides, which is why i love your show so much. i appreciated the caller who just spoke about when republicans are showing real facts, they ignore it, like stolen documents or a insurrection, or the thousands of people who died from covid. i am an independent. to labor -- labeled democrats as the ones who are trying to steal the freedom, that is incomprehensible to me. thank you for taking my call. host: let's go to johnny in atlanta, georgia. independent line. caller: i want to speak on the behalf of the 90-year-old man after years of trying to get

through the line on c-span. i would beg for people to be respectful of that man and not to tie up the line by saying a good morning back and say how are you doing today. i think if he stream live at your show, you say go ahead, johnny in atlanta. do not require the person to be polite and say good morning back to you. skip that part. skip the part about them asking how are you doing today. we already learned how you are doing today. i wanted to hear what the 90-year-old man on hold have to say if he could ever live to get through all about the talk that people that had to get through today. right. people call in and they have me so nervous because they are unsure if they are going to be uninterrupted. i love c-span. host: let's go to april in rock

island, illinois on the republican line. good morning. caller: i have anxiety from that one caller. my big issue, you are getting a lot of phone calls from people that are really passionate about how they feel about all of these subjects. they do not know the facts, they do not know anything about anything. i am independent, i do not know anything. the republicans on fox news ron and they lie. thank biden and his cronies are going to be very careful because we will get the house a couple of days. just like they impeach trump, we will impeach a bunch of people. maybe not the descendant, but through the house like they did -- maybe not through the senate,

but through the house. just like they did with trump. caller: i just wanted to make a few collars about how the young lady before said how uninformed people really are. if they really like propaganda by fox news and listen to eight radio, the republicans own the radio waves, 80%. it started about 30 years ago. i watched this happen. the infantry waited -- infiltrated the radio and had a hate radio. they got people who lie to them. now they are bleeding fox news lies to them. i have a mother in law and father in law, stop watching fox news. they are lying to you. it is propaganda. i just do not get it. i do not know why they do not

spend 10 minutes to watch another channel to gain the knowledge or gain some other opinion. more opinions are better than one opinion. host: let's go to greg who is calling from ohio on the independent's line. caller: people calling in. i'm not sure -- people are calling in about whether this election was rigged. biden was campaigning in his basement. he said him and obama have the biggest coalition of voter fraud. right before this election, he said it on national tv . you tell me what is going on. host: let's go to mary, who is calling from michigan on the republican line.

guest: it has been very interesting. caller: i am a republican, i am a trumper, i think the election turned out exactly as it should. they could get some investigation into hunter and president biden. macconnell is such a slumber. i am glad we are not getting the senate back. he has got to go. host: lindsay from lexington, kentucky on the democrat line. good morning. caller: i am a young mother in kentucky and i have a 13-year-old daughter. my biggest issue is that the abortion bands, they are banned in kentucky for any reason.

we have a valid initiative that they were going to amend our constitution -- ballot initiative that they were going to amend our constitution say that kentuckians have no right no matter what. kentuckians came together during the midterm and voted no. republicans cannot independents -- republicans, independents, all across came together. malcolm our republican attorney general -- and now, our republican attorney general is fighting the voters on that and says he wanted to be up to the general assembly. we have a meeting before the supreme court on november 15, that kentuckians in the planned parenthood are going to go up against daniel cameron and how he wants to ignore the will of kentuckians. host: let's talk to tanya, who

is coming from miami beach, florida. caller: good morning. 60 years in this country. i never seen what i have seen now. two years ago, delaying the counting. now, can you tell me having have to count everything. no, my dear. they are trying to find whatever balance they could find -- ball ots they could find. this is a banana republic. this is not the usa of america. host: let's go to derek on the

republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i judge parties by the way the leaders speak. democrats are always talking about how hateful we aren't. it is always about degrading us. that is all. host: let's talk to eileen, who is calling from st. petersburg, florida on the democratic line. caller: morning. i am a proud democrat. i live in florida over 70 years. i am terrified of desantis, he in my opinion is the trump 2.0. i think the democrats did a great job, america did a great job on tuesday with keeping the senate.

malcolm our mission is to make sure desantis -- now, our mission is to make sure desantis is never the president of the united states. host: arlington, virginia on the independent line. jim, good morning. caller: happy come sunday. what i would like to highlight, immigration. the issue that has not been talked about. no politician has been brave enough to tackle this on for 40 -- 50 years. it kept piling on until it turned into a crisis at this point. there is a border crisis, there are also 15 million people who are undocumented in this country . on average, they have been living in the country for 20 years. i hope the republicans can keep their politicians accountable, all of the ones who have been

elected into the house and on the other side as well. that is a really important issue. one other thing. just going back to president biden's, whether he is going to run in 2020 for or not, --2024 or not. he is three times at my age. i have known people who are -- i have no problem are people who are experienced. you should have a max age limit. i thought about the same for trump. what i dread the most, in two years time for joe biden and trump going at each other. host: let's go to brian who is calling from louisiana on the republican lines. good morning.

are you there? caller: i called on the wrong line. i am a strong cold liberal. being in louisiana, my boat does not count --vote does not count that much. host: let's go to sharon calling from new york. democratic line. caller: i am a democrat in new york. i am a democrat, not a progressive. i am disgusted with the party, it is horrible, i can't believe some of their crazy lunatic ways. people talk about insurrections and all of this. why is it that we can say such things like kamala harris during the most peaceful protest would say things, i hope they continue

on until they get what they want. that is the same kind of thing. we need common sense. we need to start making sure our votes get counted right away. there should be no computer involved. it is easy to offset. look cap -- look at how often your visa card get stolen. it is the same thing with votes. host: let's talk to charles on the independent line. good morning. caller: my concern was the anchorage close to 400,000 acres being -- by communist china and russia. i would like for you to give agricultural people involved in your show on this and have that discussion.

host: what do you mean? what do you think the government should do about foreign property in the united states? caller: i do not think they should, unless it is farmland. now, we have communist countries . host: we would like to thank all of our callers who called in. we would like to thank all of our guests, social media followers and all of you in the viewers who spoke with us throughout today's "washington journal". everyone have a great sunday.

hands, and stay safe out there. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] announcer: washington journal. every day, we are taking your cause live on the air, on the news of the day, and discussing policy issues. monday morning, scott wong and bloomberg news congressional report eric watson discussed the balance of power in congress and its impact on both the lame-duck session of congress and the new congressional term in january. then, robert daly discusses president biden's face-to-face meeting with xi jinping and the state of u.s.-china relations. watch "washington journal" live monday mornings on c-span, or on c-span now, our free mobile video at. join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments, text messages and tweets.

we will not blame the capitol police, we will not blame law enforcement for donald trump's

mob that he sent to the capital to try to stop the electoral count. but you will see additional information in that report, and i think what we've done as a committee in terms of their hearings, has been to put forward for people the evidence about the multipart plan that donald trump himself oversaw and directed. each element of that plan in order to stop the peaceful transition of power. there is so much information that i think it is really important for people to go back and watch the hearings, if you haven't. and when the report comes out, to stop and think very carefully. we need to make sure we don't become numb to it donald trump did and we need to make sure we remember that and we also will be proposing legislation, and we

will have additional recommendations as well. and possibly criminal referrals, too. >> say you are still waiting to hear from donald trump. do you think he will respond to subpoena, and what will happen if he doesn't? >> he has a legal obligation. the committee has been in discussions with his counsel. he has a legal obligation like every citizen to appear and if he doesn't and he has failed already to produce documents by the deadline, the committee will consider possible next steps. announcer: the vice chair and liz cheney talked about her legislative career, the future, the midterm election results and the republican party a discussion at the university of chicago.

we