wi-fi enabled lists so students and families can be ready for anything. comcast supports c-span as a public service, giving you a front row seat to democracy. coming up this morning on "washington journal," progressive change campaign committee co-founder adam green talks about the midterm election results and what it means for the progressive agenda moving forward. then we are joined by washington examiner politics editor james antle to discuss how the midterm elections might impact the future of the republican party and former president donald trump's political future. ♪ host: it is the "washington journal" for november 15 tonight, former president trump

expected to announce plans for another run for the white house, live at 9:00 on c-span, our c-span now app, and c-span.org. there is internal debate in the republican party about her -- who currently influences it most. some say the former, some say ron desantis. perhaps there are others. in the first hour, republicans only. we want to hear from you about who you think currently leads and influences the republican party. the republicans only, eastern and central time zones, it is (202) 748-8000. mountain and pacific time zones (202) 748-8001. ,if you want to text us, (202) 748-8003. you can post on facebook and twitter, and you can also follow the show on instagram. politico has a story this morning that sends a warning

shot at the former president on the eve of of his expected 2024 campaign launch, indicating it might back the chief potential rival, ron desantis. this organization was a staunch trump ally but has broken with him. yesterday, providing politico with polling memo saying governor desantis lead in double digits in iowa and new hampshire, the first two states on the gop nominating calendar. surveys show governor desantis leaving the former president by wide margins in florida. and georgia, which is holding a runoff for one of the seats. you can find that on politico. on the tampa tribune, a story saying governor desantis may be playing coy about presidential intentions, but he has a super pac formed to give oxygen to the idea. ron to the rescue is the name of

the independent political action committee, organized by a trump supporter who is shifting to governor desantis because he says he is the future of the party. as much as people still like trump, they are winning more -- they like winning more, says thomas, the founder and president of the consulting firm thomas partner strategies. there are stories like this for the republicans in the audience you'd we want your thoughts on who currently leads and influences the republican party most. here is how you can reach us this morning. (202) 748-8000 for eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8001 if you live in the mountain and pacific time zones. you can text your thoughts at (202) 748-8003. on the sunday shows, several republicans talked about the end terms and the influencing of the

republican party of the former president. jim banks on fox talking about the impact that the former president has upon the party and what that means for the future. here is representative banks from yesterday. [video clip] >> donald trump remains a very popular figure in the republican party. in each corner of the country. remember, when he was on the ballot in 2016 and 2020, we won a lot more seats than when he was not on the ballot in 2018 and 2022. >> he has had a rough time of late. >> he also supported many and it it's on the ballot. he was not on the ballot in 2022, and that is something to remember. he supported many candidates who did win around the country. the 2024 primary is still in front of us, and we are still trying to figure out where our party goes from here. over the next couple of weeks, that will be our focus on

capitol hill, picking up the pieces moving forward. >> we support him or wait to see who else potentially gets in? >> up live donald trump is an effective president for the country. i believe he could be an effective president for the country again. i will save my endorsement for another place and time for the 2024 race. i am focused on what happened tuesday and how our party moves forward on capitol hill. host: that is republican jim banks of indiana on sunday talking about the influence the former president has on the republican party and its leadership. you may agree with him or you may have other thoughts. again, republicans only in this first hour. (202) 748-8000 for eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8001 if you live in the mountain and pacific time zones. that announcement from president trump, former president trump, tonight at 9:00. if you want to watch it as far as his plans for the future, you can see that on c-span, c-span now, and c-span.org.

let's start with paul in charleston, south carolina, calling in, republicans only. who do you think currently leads the party? caller: yes, good morning. definitely ron desantis. i think it is a big mistake that republicans do not pull away from trump after january 6 and all that went on there. i think there would have been a red wave event had not been for him. i am definitely for ron desantis. i think he is the future of the party. host: why do you think that specifically? caller: just watching what he has done in florida during the pandemic, during the last hurricane, ida i think was the name of it, how he handled that. putting everything back in order

very quick there, responding quickly to the emergency situations. he seems to be a great leader. he has my support. host: that is paul there and charleston, south carolina. the wall street journal highlights that in the last midterms for governor desantis, they highlight that the scale of his rally was stunning. the governor, who won with less than half a percentage point in 2020, beat charlie crist by 19 percentage points this time. he got support from democratic strongholds. he is a potential 2024 candidate. bob is next in minnesota. go ahead. caller: yeah, i'm one of the 30% or 40%, i will be sticking with trump. realistically, the gop is really going to be upset if they do not

back trump because there is just no way that we're going to be voting for people like mccarthy. mitch mcconnell is a disaster, a flake. we just can't keep voting for these people because they are not doing anything for us, so i have to stick with trump. the other ones are losers. host: what do you think sets the former president amongst those who might run in 2024, even those congressional republicans you talk about? caller: the biggest thing, trump is for the people. you know, you got his old vice president running around throwing him in the trash. it is like, you know, we are tired of it. we're going to stick with trump, winor lose. i am a veteran. i mean, it has got to be this way because this is just not working out for us. host: what do you mean by that? caller: well, we keep putting

republicans in, and it is mitch mcconnell letting the country slowly fall apart. so what is the point? we might as well go down fighting with trump. host: that is bob in minnesota. he did mention the former president's former vice president mike pence come out with a new book, talking on abc news, talking about a variety of subjects, including his former running mate donald trump. here is mike pence from the interview yesterday. [video clip] >> do you believe that donald trump should ever be president again? >> david, i think that is up to the american people. but i think we will have better choices in the future. the people of this country actually get along pretty well once you get out of politics. and i think they want to see their national leaders start to reflect that same compassion.

and generosity of spirit. so in the days ahead, i think there will be better choices. >> better choices than donald trump? >> and for me and my family, we will be reflecting about what our role is in that. >> will you were run for president in 2024? >> we're giving it consideration in my house, careful consideration. >> do you believe you can beat donald trump? >> that would be for others to say and for us to decide whether or not we would want to test that. >> if you decide to run and he is up there, so be it? >> [laughs] so be it. host: that is the former vice president mike pence. for republicans, we want to know who you think leads the republican party. let's hear from ray in north carolina. caller: hello, yes, thank you

for taking my call. right now, i believe trump has a commanding lead. however, desantis cannot be set aside. there are many leaders -- and i will say one thing about trump, ok, the reason he is currently so strong in leadership, he is not a politician, he is a businessman. he stepped in when, quite frankly, a lot wouldn't. and i think that is one of the chief reasons why he is the leader, and a leader now. because he has good ideas. being a businessman, he took charge. and the future leadership of the gop, ok, that is up in the air. but that is the reason why trump

is so effective. host: you said that governor desantis could not be egg nord what do you -- cannot be ignored. what do you think would have to happen with him to change status and the party, even yourself with support? caller: a very good question that i would be more than happy to answer. desantis and trump agree, they need to say how much they both agree and not appear to be going at odds with one another. now desantis has a strong record, strong record in florida, and people will see that. he said what he was going to do, and he did. so whatever trump announces today, he is going to announce something, we know that, but whatever trump announces, it is

going to be very interesting in the next couple of years. host: that is ray joining as per yes, that 9:00 announcement planned for tonight, watch it uninterrupted on c-span. coverage starting at 9:00, as well. let's hear from joe in georgia. caller: pedro, i love c-span. i have been calling your great network for years. i like donald trump a lot. right now, i was on the kennedy program yesterday supporting herschel walker -- on the hannity program yesterday supporting herschel walker, who is endorsed by trump. that will be a great race. i'm calling everyone i know in georgia and telling the to support herschel. i like trump very much. i am a stockmarket guy, and when trump was president, the stock market was booming. i just think he is a great leader and strongly support him and also herschel walker in georgia. host: do you think governor desantis is a player at this point? caller: yes, i like governor

desantis very much. i really do. he is young, only 44 or 45. he has got many years left, and i look for him to be president for eight years in the future. but right now, i think it would probably be better to go with x president trump. host: ok, joe in georgia. bernard in new york, you are. caller: yes, good morning, c-span. look, i think this is a lot of baloney. i am ashamed of the republicans. they are cowards basically. their vote has been weak. i voted for trump, thought he was one of the greatest presidents we ever had. now for the republicans to bail out and, oh, it is all trump's fault -- it is not trump's fault. the republicans did not use anything in their arsenal. in schools, they had a drag

queen party at a public school where the drag queens were actually going up to seven year old girls, pulling up their dresses -- do you like this? it was disgusting. republicans never used it. there's a whole bunch of stuff that they never used because they thought they were going to slide to victory. so there are weak challenges, and now they are all, oh, it is trump's fault. it is not trump's fault. it is the republican party, mitch mcconnell, the other guy, the republicans them selves. the ones that fought, that had the guts to get out there and announce his principles, this country is still in a mess. i do not think we are going to pull out of it. host: why do you personally think trump is still at the top as far as the republican is concerned? caller: why do i think trump is at the top? well, i think the guy from

florida is going to give him a hard time. and i would bet on either one of them at this point. but the other guy said something that is interesting. this is going to be trump's last turn if he should win. trump knows the white house inside out, but more important, he knows where the bodies are buried. even in this election, what is this corruption with, oh, the machines broke down -- what, are you kidding me? host: ok, bernard in new york. samplings from republicans in the audience as far as who currently leads the republican party. you can share your thoughts. phone lines for republicans, (202) 748-8000, if you live in the eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8001 if you live in the mountain and pacific time zones. you can text your thoughts at (202) 748-8003. if you wish to post thoughts on our facebook page, it is

facebook.com/c-span. our tweeter feed is @cspanwj. you can talk about the former president donald trump, talk about governor desantis, perhaps someone else as far as you feel leads the republican party. we will hear from another new yorker, this is james in hamburg, new york, about the republican party and who leads it. thanks for calling. you are on. caller: good morning. so i guess we are kind of in a little power struggle right now. i am a fan of trump, but i wasn't at first. what made me a fan of trump was the fact that nobody was a fan of trump, none of the political parties were. and kind of insight to see who is lining up with who. and i believe what a lot of republicans -- i guess i do not want to speak for them because i

am more of an independent -- really want to see is we do not want to see the next leader of the republican party being attached to all of the old people, the bushes and the paul ryan's, all of the people that stopped trump from succeeding the first two years. and i would imagine that would be what we want to do. so whoever that is going to be, we just want it away from this muck. host: do you think the power struggle is beneficial or harmful? how would you characterize that? caller: it is beneficial. what i do like to see is a power struggle because that means they are just not all falling in line. i do not like how they are like, hey, look at the democrats altering the same thing. yet, they are blindly doing the same thing. we're supposed to have discussion, supposed to be arguing amongst each other, figuring out who comes up with the best idea instead of just

saying, oh, yeah, there is a $5,000 thing that we are going to pass in here it is in a three-hour thing, just pass it. know what i mean, we're supposed to have in-party fighting. everyone is supposed to try to figure out what is best for their local area and what is best for everybody. isn't that what we're supposed to be doing? host: james in new york, thanks for the call. on facebook, this says i am more of a fence sitter, but i ride with trump or desantis. they need to team up. either would have my vote. more important to remove your state representatives in the house and senate one by one and putting in like-minded individuals to your values. this one says, no one, the party is broken. they have allowed democrats to stomp all over them. we need a new party. this says we are not led by anyone. we are asking who will be at the top of the ticket, well, that will be governor desantis. those are some comments on our facebook page.

facebook.com/c-span. one of the people that is a supporter of president trump, his daughter-in-law, laura trump. she is talking about the potential announcement from the former president. also talking about governor desantis, as well. [video clip] >> i think that ron desantis is very smart. he is a young guy. there will be a lot of opportunities for him in the future, and he knows this, to run for president. i think he is probably waiting to see what my father-in-law does come and i think he is a smart enough guy to know that it would be great to have all the support of this party, of the america first, maga movement, whatever you want to call it, fully behind him in 2028, then possibly fracturing it in 2024, i can tell you, those primaries get very messy and very raw. we have experienced that before. so wouldn't it be nicer for him, and i think he knows this, to wait until 2028. >> sounds like what you are

would like him to do, will be interesting to watch either way. can the republicans unite behind trump? >> it is so funny because if you think back to 2016, that was really the question. if donald trump became the nominee, which no one thought was possible, he ran against 17 other very qualified candidates, people that had been in politics for a long time, and they said, gosh, if donald trump actually became the nominee, could we support him? of course, they ultimately did because they know that he has what it takes, not only to win the white house but to do incredible things for this country. so yes, absolutely, i think the party would be behind him. and i think that they know that the american people, by and large, behind him. host: that was on sky news. we are asking republicans in the audience on who leads and influences the gop most, the

republican party. you can call (202) 748-8000 for eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8001 if you live in the mountain and pacific time zones. in washington state, this is chris. hello. caller: hello. god bless c-span. i think you try to do a very good job as a network, and for that i thank you. that there is a difference between exposing a portion of a truth or telling a whole truth. i think a lot of the power struggles see in politics or about finding root causes, not picking or choosing narratives. a lot of the latter has been done. two days ago, it was world kindness date the kindest thing i can do for trump's follow his lead. that is what choosing greatness means. last thing i will say is a few examples. 9/11. research trump's take on it. he was downtown. he was on video. the news coverage. ask what he thinks.

you know about 2020 and what he thinks. in the financial fiasco with ftx and the fact that that person's mother is the founder of true the gap, is the root cause of what we're dealing with today. do you have any question for me? host: we will go to the next call, judy in a, alaska. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: well, i would like to say that i think -- i think that -- yes -- host: if you're listening to the television, you will have to stop doing that. just speak in the phone and ignore the television. she hung up. let's go to paul in arkansas. hello. caller: hello. host: go ahead. caller: yes, sir.

how's everything going down there? [laughs] host: who do you think currently leads the republican party? caller: well, i think desantis does. but i don't know -- i think donald trump, i have looked back and looked back, and he is the only president i seen that ever done what he said was he going to do. but he has a bad thing in between his nose and his chin. host: and you think that will impact him if he decides to take another run for president? caller: there is a good possibility of it. i think he would be the best. they was against him from before he got in there and until he got out. but he does have a bad problem with his mouth. [laughs] like everybody else, i guess, he

is not really a politician. host: do you think there are other republicans that could step up, as far as getting the influence the former president has? caller: desantis, there is good chance of that, because seem like he is a real good guy. he is awful young right now. host: ok, there is paul in arkansas. another arkansan, linda in mountain home. caller: good morning. i just have a couple things to say. i really believe trump is the leader of the party. i say that because he did what he said he would do. let's see if joe biden votes on abortion. let's see what joe biden does about colleges. let's see how many voted for biden because i thought they were going to get their way. because biden has already

reneged on abortion. and he already knew it was illegal for the student loans. so let's vote in somebody that does what they say they're going to do and does it. host: when you talk about the former president, as people who do what they say, what do you mean? caller: trump said what he was going to do and did it, promises made, promises kept. host: which promises stand out the most, do you think? caller: i think that he helped the economy. he brought back jobs. he lowered taxes. my money went further when he was president. i was better off economically when he was president. he did what he said he was going to do. he helped the american people. and he made us stronger. no one invaded anybody. you know, there was no big fights going on about guam.

everything was kosher. there was peace in the world, as close as it has ever been that is what i think. but i am just a hillbilly. but thank you for your time. host: a call from arkansas. many of you calling, the phone numbers will be on the screen. it is easier in the sense that it is for republicans only this hour, just pick the times on that best works for you. eastern and central time zones, (202) 748-8000. mountain and pacific time zones, (202) 748-8001. in other political news as far as the balance of power, top leadership elections today, not the full election that will take place next year should the republicans get power as furs who they plan to nominate. kevin mccarthy expected to be on the top of that list. currently 232 republicans voted in from the past midterms versus 205, 218 is the number for

republicans to officially take control of the house. those races will play out as many are still uncalled. here is the president's take on where things currently stand. gubernatorial, arizona's fifth female governor elected, defeating election denier republican kari lake. all coming out in the term -- coming out of the midterms, this debate within the republican party about who currently leads it and influences it most. is it donald trump? is it ron desantis? is there another republican with that much sway over the party? you can tell us. in alabama, we will hear from tony. hi. caller: how are you today? host: well, thank you. caller: my pick for the president is donald j. trump, the only president who kept his word, who took on the deep state

, which everybody knows there is. the government is too big. it is like a ponzi scheme, just like bitcoin, the thing that just went -- ron desantis, a good man, but he has got some time. i would like to see them both run together. i'm really disappointed that the republicans did what they did this last election. mccarthy and mcconnell both got to go they have been running it for how long already? 31 trillion dollars in debt, at a war again. it is ridiculous for they keep putting the same families -- i think there are, what, 1200 in descendant for the entire 200-some years we have been a country. crazy. as far as these elections, they are a farce. it is embarrassing. all they're doing is stealing the damn thing and everybody knows it, everybody. dragging it out, dragging it out. you should show your id, go in-person, and vote once and count the darn thing by hand.

everybody knows it. you guys know what you are smarter than hacking, been in the business for a long time, and so was the rest of the media. the media has tried to push trump out, throwing him under the bus. trump went for four years nonstop, 24/7, and it continues to this day if you watch msnbc, cnn, all they do is drag on him. host: you're from alabama, industry has been published about one of your representatives, mo brooks, turning against the president and calling him dishonest, disloyal, incompetent, and crude. caller: he did not get elected here because of that, those comments he is a little pissed off, i imagine a lot. count the votes. you have these forensic experts that watch the entire election, counts went up and went down.

that is insane. it does not go down. when you are adding, it does not subtract. host: that story is al.com, and mo brooks is asked about donald trump, and he says, no questn, i am displeased with donald trump. he says i challenge anybody to make the argument that you can trust the word of donald trump. ron desantis expected challenge trump, ron desantis or someone like him, said brooks, adding others that he would support our texas senator republican ted centucky senator rand paul. we need someone that is honorable,ne with good character, someone the ameri people respect. might disagree with, but they respect. ron desantis fights for the foundational principles that make america the greatest nation in the world's history. a one-time donald trump supporter, mo brooks of alabama. al.com. let's hear from donna in vero

beach, florida. hello. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i would like to see mike pence run for president. i think he's an honest man. i think he would do well for our country. and ron desantis as his vice president. ron desantis is a good man. i think he has done a lot for florida. but he is so young, i think if he steps into second place, you know -- but of course, donald trump has his powers. you know, there's talk that he might go in to be speaker of the house. well, at least that is not being president. host: before we go, with mike pence, is it a specific quality

he has? is it something he did well vice president or in his time in the senate that attracts you to him? caller: well, he stood up to trump and did not do it trump wanted him to do. and he is a good man. and i think that is what this country needs. just santos will have his -- just santos will have his heyday. i am sure he will make a wonderful president. but i am not so sure right now is the right time. host: donna there in florida, giving us her thoughts on who currently leads the republican party. the republicans in the audience, that is what we are asking you in this hour. gary in fletcher, north carolina, you are next. caller: i am going to do two things. i am going to make a confession, then i am going to teach my democrat friends a little something. my first confession is i was

kind of busy on election day, and all i heard is we are going to write on this big wave, and i was -- we are going to ride on this big wave, and i was really busy doing things and did not vote. but then i heard everybody said it would be this red wave, and i did not feel that urgency. that is my confession. my lesson for my democrat friends, donald trump got his feet wet learning to speak to the public when he was doing his casinos. he was kind of a circus parker for wrestling. if you ever listen to him speak, he speaks in that cadence at the wrestlers speak, right down to giving people names, nicknames, all the wrestlers get nicknames -- sleepy guide this, and this and that. so he just learned how to speak to the public working his casinos and promoting his business ventures.

so he took that into the presidency. just like he got the wrestling fans all excited, angry, happy, the democrats fall right into that, too. he gets people mad and unruly. his way of speaking maybe needs to change now. he has made his point. he may have to bring it down a notch. host: back to the original question, do you think he is the head of the gop? caller: yeah, i do. as a military man, he does what he says he is going to do, and as i said about that circus barker problem he has that worked in the beginning, might be time to tone it down. host: let's go to dorothy in florida, fort pierce. hello. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. i am a trump supporter, never felt as safe as when he was our president. i feel that he is wonderful, and

he is for the people, is honest. he is just what we needed and what we need in the future. we have so many rhinos in our party. it just makes me sick, really makes me sick to see what is going on in florida. i am 85 years old and have never seen anybody as wonderful as donald trump, and he definitely needs to be president again. in my eyes, he is still president, because our 2020 election was stolen. and it has been proven. that is what kills me. i do not know how this administration which stole the election can still stay in washington. not america. host: beside the claims you make, what about your own governor there as far as potential? caller: ron desantis is marvelous, terrific, and he is the future, too, but not now. trump is my man now. ron desantis, hell, he has his

time coming. he is a great governor and has done wonderful things. but donald trump, he is my man. i just love that man. and everything he says -- i don't care how he says it, it is what he has done. what he has done for this country. host: that is dorothy there in florida. washington times takes a look with the house and senate back in session. on the senate side, things to be watching out for, one of the things you will see on the senate side, according to chuck schumer, he has promised to hold a vote on a bill, codifying the rights of same-sex marriage, instead of relying on the supreme court decision that made it legal, saying democrats are worried the conservative majority will take a second look at the decision, and instruct on roe v. wade. the senate measure would need at least 10 republican votes to overcome a filibuster threshold. it would be clear that the democratic nausea would get the requisite support.

this is the president wants congress to pass a bill to codify abortion-rights in federal wall, waving the filibuster threshold. things to watch out for on the senate side, reported by the washington times. tom paul with the story. let's hear from tyler in baltimore, maryland. hello. caller: hi, good morning. i would like to hit on a few things the republicans really missed. issues like gay marriage, issues like abortion, issues like civil rights. they divide a lot of people, and i feel like a lot of republican candidates waste too much time and energy being antiabortion or anti-gay-rights or even anti-immigration to an extent, kind of building off that, i feel like ron desantis, as governor, he is sitting well for the future of the party. i am from maryland and i'm not really a fan of governor hogan. i think people like ron

desantis, governor kemp, mike dewine, marco rubio, they are the future of the party. i love trump's policies. people care about inflation. people care about high gas prices, care about energy independence. people care about world peace. and the democrats are not giving us that. at the same time, we nominate a lot of these candidates like marjorie taylor greene and others who are a little nuts. i think for republicans to win, they need to nominate people that unite us and not divides us. i fell ron desantis really is the answer. he had to focus on trump's policies, specifically in 2019. may 2019, the country was actually somewhat united before covid. the candidates trump-endorsed were winning candidates. this time around, you did not see that. also, i want to touch on arizona. i am not saying the election was

stolen or rigged from kari lake. it takes over a week to count election results. there's going to be questions that that could be a possibility. there's no widespread evidence of that, and there was no widespread evidence of that in 2020. host: ok, thanks for the thoughts. tyler's governor currently is larry hogan in maryland, a new governor now being voted in, governor hogan sitting out the rest of his term, but he was on sundays shows talking about the state of the republican party, particularly were donald trump falls into that. [video clip] >> look, this should have been a huge red wave, one of the biggest we have ever had, because president biden's approval rating was one of the lowest historically. more than 70% of the people thought the country was going in the wrong direction.

yes, they still didn't perform. i think commonsense conservatives that focused on talking about issues people cared about like the economy and crime and education, they did win. the people that try to relitigate the 2020 election and focus on conspiracy theories and talk about things the voters didn't care about, they were almost universally rejected. i think it is the third election in a row that donald trump has cost us the race. it is like, three strikes, you're out. >> do think that is true? because you have heard that after one strike and two strikes, to keep your analogy going -- >> the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. donald trump says we are winning so much, we will get tired of winning. i am tired of losing. that is all he has done. >> so you do not think this is just a blip and that republicans will return to being -- kind of still the party of trump, but embracing the party of trump?

you think this time is different? >> if you lose over and over again, you have to reassess and rebuild. you have to go back and think, how do we have a more hopeful positive vision? how do we appeal to a broader group of voters? in the some cases, we fired up the base, but we turned off wide swaths of swing voters. that is why we did not perform. host: to carol in new york state, good morning. caller: good morning. the last gentleman that was just speaking is totally wrong. he needs to wake up and stop listening to the regular media. get brave and listen to other information out there. i am a conservative. i was a democrat almost my whole life. i am 74 years old. as far as donald trump goes, he does use colorful language, but did you listen to what our president calls people? nazis.

and everybody hears all the nasty stuff he says while he is looking at you screaming, and then he gives that toothy smile, and he is a liar. host: as far as it specifically, why do you think the former president is still the head of the gop? caller: because he has got all the rinos -- he has done what he said he was going to dupe the economy is great, did not have to pay all that money for gas -- he said and did what he said he was going to do. he is getting pipelines to people overseas and is putting our money for people overseas, the current president, and he took away afghanistan, he left our people there. they are still there. they are dying. they are getting hunted down like animals. what is wrong with him? any people better wake up, because he is coming for us. host: joe is next in san

antonio. caller: how are you doing, my friend? this is joe, and i am a black contributor. most definitely trump is the leader of this party. i was very impressed with ron desantis in florida. he took florida from being a swing state, a purple state, to a deep red state cometh very impressed with ron desantis. but i think trump left biden a winning hand. he could have just went into office and did absolutely nothing. the energy independent well was being built. and he systematically screwed everything up. you know, how can you do that unless you did it deliberately? you know? so trump is the leader of this party. those republicans who are the old guard who cannot get on board with the america first

agenda need to go kevin mccarthy, i cannot support him to be speaker of the house. he showed his true colors during january 6 with being called on the phone and up there talking about resigning to donald trump and all that stuff. he is a weasel. i don't trust him. mcconnell -- host: are you going to watch the president's announcement tonight? caller: yes. if he announced he is going to be running in 2024, i am down like four flat tires. but the point is that any republican that can't get done with the american first agenda needs to go. host: if i, may, if he does announce, do you think if he goes forward he does the things he did last time? do you think he has to change his approach? caller: i say people want to get on him for his verbiage and what-not, people need to get some thicker skin. look at the results.

the proof is in the pudding. he ran this country, and it was beautiful. i made money under trump t lowered the corporate tax rate. he redid that racist criminal justice bill that joe biden and bill clinton signed into law. he did more for black people in four years than the democratic party has done in 60. so the proof is in the pudding. he made this more of a diverse party, getting more blocks on board, hispanics on board. -- getting more blocks on board, more hispanics on board. host: got your point. who do you think currently leads the republican. (202) 748-8000 for eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8001 if you live in the mountain and pacific time zones. you can text your thoughts at (202) 748-8003. a couple of you doing that. steve in south carolina saying

that i don't think a leader has emerged. but on a national level, i like senator tom cotton, an attorney from harvard and was in the house, an officer in the military, seem to be very levelheaded. this is a furor in new jersey, sue, saying former president trump actually has redeeming qualities and ideas but allows his ego to get in the way of doing the job, saying he should not be the face of the republican party. e former president is expected to make some type of announcement tonight concerning his plans for the future when it comes to the whi house. you can see that announcement on c-span darting a9:00 tonight. you can also- starting at 9:00 tonight you can also follow along on our c-span now app. you can also watch on c-span.org . as far as his campaign announcement from mar-a-lago. teresa, hi. caller: i think donald trump is definitely the major influence

in the republican party at this time. but i think we're going through a big change in the country in both parties. in my opinion, mike pompeo and tom cotton and even darrell issa are strong individuals in a political system that could really make a difference in the country. but i have to respect the procedure. and if a majority of the people decide that donald trump -- his policies are wonderful and he's either going to have to change his personality or be defeated again. host: the people you listed, what makes them stand out? caller: mike pompeo, in particular -- of course, i left politics, but i think mike pompeo is extremely intelligent, energetic, and very experienced in terms of the cia.

intelligence is a real problem that needs to be watched and reformed a little bit. i don't want to be spied on by our government. and then the entire world is changing, and i think he is more of -- he is a globalist to an extent, but he is also very interested in populism. i think we need to balance this whole globalism versus nationalism, you know. there is a fragment of the country that thinks that, you know, one world global government type ideal is going to work, and i just don't think the world is ready for anything like that. host: ok. steve is next in arizona. hi. caller: good morning.

i think money is the top of the party. the one thing to get you to guarantee people to vote for you is by putting physical dollars back into the american people's pockets, no matter what party they are a member of. because when they go when cash their paycheck and they are losing out, it hurts. right now, prices on the shelf, prices at the pump, we have to pay for freedom, for voting, and everything. it is all way out of control. i believe that both parties are working together, and we're just the ball over the net back and forth. when i look at american politics, i see good people that had strong platforms on how to bring america back into the mainstream, american now, not the business street, people like ross perot and others, even gabbard, she had a good thing to say about what she would do to change this country. i'm your buddy deep down in

their hearts, they really love trump's economy -- everybody deep down in their hearts, they really love trump's economy. they don't like trump the man, i don't like trump, the man, but he was doing the right thing. he is the guy you need to have on a string like a marionette, because if you wind him up and let him go, he will go too far. host: ok. we will hear from the former house speaker, paul ryan, at an event in the wisconsin about the current state of politics, particularly presidential politics and former president trump. here is a portion. [video clip] >> republicans did not see that red wave as predicted. why do you think that is and what kind of lesson should republican leaders take away from it? >> we will have to do a lot of soul-searching and head scratching and looking at the numbers as to why we did not perform as well as we would have liked to have. >> why do you think it is?

>> i think trump is kind of a drag on our ticket. i think donald trump gives up -- gives us problems politically. we lost in the white house two years when trump was on the ballot or in office. i think he is a drag on our offices, our races. host: again, that was from a local television station, wisn. you can watch that for interview there. in new york state, this is peter. caller:. good morning i think they are putting too much emphasis on this election and with donald trump. because this election went in the traditional way, where the party in power, the democratic party, lost the house. the only time the senate was lost was in 1994 during the clinton administration, when the republicans won the house and the senate.

so it was just a matter of how many seats the republicans were going to win in the house. this country is very evenly divided. apparently, the american people like divided government. and i think by giving the republicans the house of representatives, that will put a stop on president biden's agenda. as far as ron desantis is concerned, i think the governor is doing a great job. if you remember, he basically -- president endorsed him in 2017. he actually ran a commercial where he was saying how maga he was, and he is very maga. the thing is, ron desantis did a great job, kept his word, did what he said he was going to do, and the people of florida responded. unfortunately, the republicans, the republican leadership, did nothing to put an agenda forward, like newt gingrich did in 1994, to say this is what we are going to do.

mcconnell ran on the idea that joe biden is doing such a terrible job that we need to put republicans in charge. apparently, it did not work, and that is basically the thing, that it is not donald trump, it is the american people and this is how they vote. it was a traditional vote. host: we will hear from cody in missouri next. hello. caller: ok, yeah. good morning to you. hey, desantis in florida needs to just wait and let donald trump have another term. donald trump needs to stop talking about the election that was actually stolen. everybody knows it was stolen. but he needs to repent and stop talking about that and repent to the american people. the american people are very forgiving people. so he needs to stop talking about that and just say, bygones

be bygones. and if he does it, it will guide the country. host: why not move ron desantis to the top? caller: sanchez is going to get his chance he is going to get his chance, ok. he is going to be president someday, as the lord don't come back before then. but he is going to get a chance. democrats are a bunch of devils and it donald trump don't repent and just let it go in everything and the democrats get in again, going to be a new world order and everything else. talking about that climate change and new world order and everything. s donald trump justo needs to repent -- so donald trump just needs to repent and forget that election a move on and he will probably win. host: got the point. let's get to west virginia. caller: donald trump is

definitely the goat, the og, the george jones. he wrote the book. he has the blueprint for what the american people want and need. he did everything he said he was going to do. the problem with donald trump is , why there are so many gunslingers out to hit him, is because in the democratic party, he sat with the democrats, he knows the democrats. he was two steps ahead of them. just like the walkaway movement, you don't hear nothing about it anymore. that is because the democrats were so afraid of the muck away movement that they opened up the border, we will bring in the spanish now. as far as the red wave goes, i went out and voted. a lot of people said, well,

somebody else is going to vote, let them vote for me. my wife and my son, i had to drag them out to vote, and i did drag them out to vote. but you can't sit on your haunches and let people vote for you. you have to go out and vote. you know, that is all i have to say. host: keith, pittsburgh, pennsylvania. caller: hello. host: go ahead. caller: yeah, i like trump. desantis is good, follows trump's policies, but you can't beat trump's foreign policy. when he was elected, seemed like the world all calmed down. and i think he needs four more years. host: do you think followers like yourself will support him enough to give him another term in office should he decide to run? caller: oh, yeah. with his foreign policy, right now the world needs him. host: do you think the impact of the midterm elections will be a

drag on him if he decides to run again? caller: if he calms down his rhetoric a little bit, i think people will still agree with him and vote for him. host: ok. let's hear from john. john is in louisiana, baton rouge. caller: hello, this is john. i have something to say about the republicans and the democrats. they are american people, the best people in the world. democrats are getting duped by the democrats in power now. they even voted for a man that sells drugs and promotes drugs. wake up. you are americans, 100%. not going to belittle democrats or republicans, all good people but the people i am calling out are taking over, destroying us. host: back to the question as far as who you think leads the republican party. who do you think that is? caller: [end of video clip] donald trump. host: [video clip]

why is that? caller: he is doing what he says. i cannot find anything he is doing wrong for the country, for the american people. if he runs again, which i'm not too sure about that, waiting to hear what he will say, but i am going to vote for him. host: are you a little hesitant about him running again? caller: not exactly. i'm hesitant about the people who are backing him up. simple as that. host: what do you mean by that? caller: the people that are backing him up are backing him up because of politics, which is wrong. republicans, they are going on the wrong side. just like some of the democrat people getting duped by the people and office right now. it is all about power. host: ok. one bit of news coming out possibly from louisiana, just to

add this, saying that -- washington times thing a week after winning reelections to the senate, republican senator john kennedy is looking at the 2023 louisiana governor's race. he said he will be announcing soon whether he will run for governor or not. senator john bel edwards is unable to seek a third consecutive term do determine leave it -- limits. that is the washington times if you want to follow along. two guests are joining us this morning to get -- give their takes on the parties after the midterms and what lies ahead. next, we will hear from the progressive change campaign committees co-founder adam what it means for the progressive agenda. washington examiner jim antal will talk about the midterm results, what it means for 2024 and particularly president trump's announcement later

tonight. you can see those segments coming up. the senate is back in session, the house as well. it was on the house floor yesterday senate majority leader chuck schumer talked about the agenda, particularly in light and what happened with the midterm elections. also, the control the senate now has in democratic hands. here is a version from senator schumer yesterday. [video clip] >> two things happened in the past two years. first, this senate and congress passed a huge agenda. the most comprehensive agenda affecting and helping american families that has occurred in decades. second, democrats won the elections in the senate and many in the house. those two statements are directly related. because democrats had a strong agenda here and did things for the american people, we won. despite the negativity and

divisiveness, the threats of violence and the violence itself that occurred with maga republican-ism dominating the country, the american people stepped back from the precipice and chose progress and getting things done, rather than the voices of divisiveness, nastiness and lack of complete truth and honor. those two things are definitely related. first, let's talk about some of the things we got done. it was an incredible two years. the list is a long one. the most significant bipartisan infrastructure bill in decades, making sure that millions of new, good jobs will occur. with union labor, i am proud to say. employing tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of people in good, working jobs. we reformed the post office for

the first time in a long time. we dealt with the issue of chips that were made overseas. now, we have said to the american people, we are going to make them here, creating thousands of good, paying jobs. we are not going to let any country, china or any other, germany, take away that dominance. we have developed the chips here, we are going to make them here. we have dealt with our veterans who was exposed to toxins from burn pits. when the v.a. would not help them, we said the v.a. must. we dealt with climate into ira for the first time ever. we will reduce the amount of carbon flowing into our atmosphere by 2030 by 40%. in the same bill, we took on the prescription drug companies and we are getting a $35 price for insulin on medicare and lowering prices of drugs for so many

millions of americans on many other drugs, starting as early as next year with the cap of $2000 that anyone must pay. we increased health care. we expanded the aca. making health care less expensive for many, and dealing with so many other, other health care issues to the benefit of the american people. it was a huge agenda. despite what some of the pundits and prognosticators say, that is what the american people wanted. >> "washington journal" continues. host: adam green is the cofounder of the progressive change campaign committee, talking about the midterms and things that resulted from that. thanks for coming in. tell us what your organization funds itself in and how it is funded? guest: we are a newly million member organization. we do half elections, half issue

advocacy. we have raised about 35 million dollars in grassroots donations through the course of our history. we have a lot in the halls of power, we do grassroots lobbying to try to connect to the inside and outside. this is mostly an economic populace. sometimes, we show up for democracy fights. the last two and a half years, our northstar has been democracy, trying to keep the train on the tracks. we are happy right now democracy has given the election results this week. host: that was the theme in this midterms. do you think that was an overriding theme, or other factors as a result of how democrats did? guest: not one issue, but a swirl of different issues. abortion was a signal for many

people democracy was going off the track. and increasingly illegitimate supreme court. the literal threats to voting rights and people running for secretary of state and governor were basically threatening not to certify the election in 2024 was a threat for people. i think there is a visceral sentiment of young people, a lot of young voters who may not normally show up in a midterm, i need to step up and vote to take my country in the right direction. this primal scream of the voters, let's put the breaks on this trump-ism. host: you talked about the money race. as far as who you supported candidate wise, how they ultimately fared in these elections. guest: secretary race work raised -- over 15,000 grassroots donations. for people whose names you may not have even heard of. folks in arizona did a clean

sweep. all the election -- in swing states, lost. the only place there was a competitive swing state election was georgia where we lost to raffensperger. in the senate races, we raised about $800,000 for senate candidates. mandela barnes came about a point shy of winning in wisconsin. we showed up in a big way for don fetterman -- john fenner and -- fetterman, rafael warnock. the theme is, keep democracy on track. we are happy the senate will be there to confirm judges, nominations. we will see what happens with the house. we feel like there will be good people fighting for democracy in d.c. host: how confident were you going into the elections before you saw the results? guest: last year, if you ask me

how i was doing i would say, besides the existential dread, i am fine. i did not expect to be where we are today. a lot of people woke up to a new world world on wednesday. because of the democratic agenda, a much better world will be expected. one of the biggest consequences of that, democrats have their mojo. there are not a lot of people second-guessing the decisions we made in the first two years. we will be wrong -- were we wrong to pass the biggest climate bill in history? the decisions made in the first two years of his presidency were validated. the signal to democrats is, go bolder, quicker, make sure the voters are feeling the effect of a democratic government. host: if you want in on this conversation, you can call in on the lines. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8002 for independents.

you can text us at (202) 748-8003. when you talk about the older approach, what does that mean for president biden? guest: elizabeth warren basically said, there were people in the entire first years of the biden presidency telling him to slow down. corporate aligned lobbyists were saying that to him. do not do the universal childcare. there is a lot of the biden agenda undone. we come back from war now, i would put childcare and the child tax credit as two of the top things. republicans, if they take the house, would have an opportunity to show if they are serious about governing. child governing should be a bipartisan issue. helping parents in blue and red states deal with childcare should be a bipartisan issue. there is real opportunity to do things like antitrust legislation that everyone from ted cruz to elizabeth warren and

bernie sanders supposedly support, taking on big tech companies getting too big, making sure consumers are being protected in the marketplace. supposedly, there are 60 votes for a klobuchar antitrust bill that would help lower prices. host: do you think the legislation in the senate has a chance with republican support? guest: absolutely. host: what gives you that confidence? guest: we were involved talking to people in the senate before the election. in this sense, republican votes for particular reasons did not want to vote before the lection. as chuck schumer said, they are there to show up. we feel confident in that. there is more that can be done. will rational republicans, if there are any, show up to codify roe? will they codify contraception as the law of the land? there are so many places if

republicans are serious and want to work in a bipartisan way, there is opportunities for them. one thing president biden has made clear, the progressives are making clear, we are not going to compromise our values. we are not going to cut social security. we are not going to reverse high prescription drug prices. host: phone lines are on the screen. if you have questions with adam green, ask him about where progressives are, where the democratic party is when it comes to going forward. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. independents, (202) 748-8002. you know the name norman salomon. he was quoted in the new york times sunday saying, when it comes to president biden, " might be counterintuitive absence of a red wave. the biden is an albatross around the neck of his party. in effect, he is promising to be

a drag on the party and its prospects heading into 2024." what do you think of those sentiments? guest: i think they are premature. right now, we had a fork in the road the wednesday after the election. what direction do we go, backwards or forward? i am happy the president said we will not cut social security and edit care benefits. we will continue going down the road we have been policy wise. with the lame-duck congress and as we enter a new congress, there is no one more powerful than the president in making clear what democrats and progressive values are and what republicans are trying to do. if they try to cut social security, there will be no more -- work sounding the alarm to the public than the presidency. we can get the 2024 residential politics down the road. for now, we need to make clear to the voters right here what republicans are trying to do and what we are trying to do, progressive priorities. host: do you think reaching out

to republicans and the new congress, even if they gain power, do you think that will be on the table, those kinds of concepts? guest: it is important to underscore something that the biden white house did right in the first few months of the presidency, which was redefined bipartisanship of the people, not the d.c. politicians p joe biden was saying his american rescue plan, which brought help to millions of people, was bipartisan. publican, democratic and independent voters voted for it. we need to have that be our northstar when it comes to bipartisanship. give the d.c. politicians to work with us. they will have to show whether they are serious. there are some things they have been on the record for, including antitrust legislation, the child tax care credit, and we will see if they show up in good faith. host: robert joins us in our line for democrats in

pennsylvania. good morning. you are on with adam green. caller: believe it or not, i am a moderate democrat. i do not believe this gentleman can legitimize anything joe biden has done in his first two years. everything he has done has been the opposite of what trump did. the tuition rebate we gave our youngsters in this country, that was just to get them back to the polls. that has been taken back by, i believe a texas federal judge. it is going to be deemed unconstitutional. we are letting the people from the south across our borders with impunity for two years. that has been bringing fentanyl across the borders. we have been killing our young people left and right with this fentanyl. all the young voters that we

have activated, they are going to realize they do not have the friends they used to have anymore because the hundreds of thousands of fentanyl deaths. that is going to blow up in their faces. i do not think you would call that progressive. in order for this country to succeed, we will have to move back towards the center, towards moderate democratic views. we are going to have to move away from a little bit of the trump views, back to moderation in the republican party. host: gotcha, robert. thanks. guest: i think the keywords you said work move back, advocating moving back to trump. i would agree. president wyden has not been moving in the direction of trump. how canceling student debt as a way to get to the polls, the way we govern people should inspire people to the polls. parents should come to the polls

after we help them with health care. seniors should come to the polls after they do not get ripped off by health care companies. yes, when my parents went to college back in the day, it was $50 a credit at a public university or private university. right now, it seems like we are fighting over the crumbs as big corporations are taking advantage of consumers, student and everyone. we in the democratic party are saying we are going to let people who graduate college by their first car, take their dream job, get married and not be shackled with hundreds of thousands of dollars in student debt. seems like a good policy. i think the president canceling up to $20,000 of student debt for some people will make a positive difference in peoples lives. i hope those people continue voting. do you think the president has options if the legal challenges do not shake out in his favor

there are many options. one, will be fine and court. if for some reason got -- that gets struck down, the power has been given to the president to cancel student debt. he didn't use that power. he has multiple options. the most important thing is, saying we are going to fight this in court. i stand by this policy. people like senator warren who put this on the map. host: are you saying executive order, given the president's power? guest: executive action through the education department. what he did was executive action. often times, there is numerous ways you can do something. i think it will be maintained. there are other routes, too.

we have a trump appointed judge ruling this down. we have some guy in texas who is one person. we have seen recent evidence of trump appointed judges being overwritten by -- courts. i think we will be fine. it was vindicated in the selection. young people realized this would impact a lot. i talked to somebody the week this past in the private sector and said, the young people in our young -- in our lunchroom never talk politics. all they were talking about after the president made this announcement was there student debt. wow, government can impact my life and make it more positive. i hope we can do that for everybody on different issues. host: new work, brought, independent line. caller: hey, guys. so glad to talk to you guys. shout out to our troops protecting us in our rock -- ira q. i want to talk about the shared

prosperity, which i think america's one of the things it is counting on. one of the things that has happened with this bipartisanship --there is bickering back and forth. there are unintended consequences. i think there are a lot of unintended consequences for a lot of the decisions that our congresspeople make, when they are trying to weigh the common good and the common goals. i also believe the law is the law. we should always follow what the law is. what i do not like is when people use the law to hinder progress. at the end of the day, i understand what he is saying. he used executive action, which i feel like is just used too much. we have to fight for common goals and common good. the fact he was -- president biden for so long, he figured how to -- to get the thing.

with the money being poured in from these lobbyists, that is another issue. going back to something i really feel like is important, there has to be accountability. if the american people do not feel like we have accountability , we need to be educated consumers. civics should be a show on tv, i was a podcast about it. people should know what the laws are in effect, when they taken effect. how they are going to affect you. host: got your point, brought -- brock. guest: accountability, yes. taking on lobbyists, yes. to be clear, when the president uses exec of power, it is power he or she rightfully has. congress gave the power over student debt. in other cases, it is to regulate rings around the climate or environment.

basic tax enforcement. we have to congress to have the irs to do stuff, they already have power. i do not think that is a contested space. a core point is right, we should not use the law to bog down process. -- progress. unfortunately, that is what is happening across societies right up. we have the supreme court, which is using a captured court including at least one stolen supreme court seat, two seat -- people accused of sexual assault making decisions on women's bodies, overwriting decades of president -- precedent. that is wrong. we have a miss apportioned senate. it takes away power from a lot of people. we have a senate filibuster. when -- i was moved by the shooting in texas, when little

kids were shot down in school. i thought to myself, what is the best case scenario, what is the sequence of events from which we finally do something about assault weapons in this country? it is hard to imagine because all of the systemic things against the will of the people, the supreme court, the electorate college, gerrymandering, money and politics. i agree, we need to stop using the procedures to block the will of the people. what i think that means is moving in the direction of progress, more of a progressive election. host: we are going to show viewers a list of the current divisions of leadership in the hous srting with nancy pelosi, speaker of the house. the majority whip, the caucus chair. if the house changes, if the house doesn't change, should those people still hold their power, or is it time for change at those top levels? guest: i think objectively speaking, even taking the

personalities out, having top leadership in their 80's or 70's is not the right look or m.o. for democrats. i think there is generally an appetite, i think among those leaders, for a generational change. there has been a signal they are willing to go there. things get tricky if we have a one seat majority. the question is, what do you shake up at that point? my guess is, we will see some version of generational change. we will see how much. host: as far as the top choice in that generational change, is there an emerging figure you would like to see their? guest: not right now. there is a lot of rising stars in this congress. we are pulling hard for katie porter, pulling for a tight race in california. -- jeffries is likely to take the top spot, he is someone who i think is underrated as having progressive values when he chooses to lean into them. he is someone who will at least

get -- out there and able to be a plug others can plug into in terms of being a partner on the inside. katherine clark, someone who was a big elizabeth warren supporter, would potentially be in the number two position. people like her are interesting to think about. host: a lot of news has been made about the election of the first gen zer, maxwell brock. what do you think he brings, or might bring to the current working? guest: maxwell frost one a competitive primary. he is a rising star. when people see him speak, they realize, wow. this guy has got it. he knows his values, he is authentic, he had an interesting upbringing. he is symbolic of that generational change. he is inspiring millions of

people and will continue to do that. other rising stars and taxes -- in taxes. maxwell greg, ramirez in illinois, there is a bunch of great rising stars. becca ballin, a state senate president in vermont. we have people with real gravitas who are entering congress. i am excited to see what this class of candidates will bring to congress rate i think maxwell frost is a great example of progressive leadership. host: read is in washington state, republican line. caller: i would like to make a couple of comets. i watch washington journal every day half for about 30 years. i think guest you have on today is a prime example of a guest who pretends like they are a journalist or an activist. that guy is an activist, that is

all he is. with respect to washington journal, you have a web format. i do software for living. you have a web format that shows video and sound. i -- when i click it, i can hear the sound when it is live. when it is in retrospect, if you are looking at a segment from the archives, it works fine. i do not know if you people are aware of this. if you are watching this program live on your browser, you do not get video. you only get sound. i have complained to c-span, it goes nowhere. the point i wanted to make that i think is important for maybe everybody to consider, we need a political revise all with respect to what i would term a bottleneck in our system. i would love to see the word and concept of veto completely go away. we elect representatives, hundreds of them in the senate and house, and as far as whatever they come up with after debate, after passing bills,

that should be what we get. regardless if the president, which is a bottleneck, once you sign it or not. the protocol should be, it goes into law, ok? that should apply to governors the same way as it states, as far as i'm concerned. it is a bottleneck. if the governor doesn't like it, the one person -- week do not have a monarchy. we have a representative government. one person, no matter left or right besides, i do not like that. i do not like what the congress and the state or federal level, what they came up with rate i do not like that. my last point, the serious bottleneck is when you have the vice president, no matter a democrat or republican -- bottleneck. deciding the fate of the country by one vote. i think this last election shows just how disgusting that is. i think i speak for a lot of americans that understand that we have to have truth. if there was not that fact that the vice president breaks the boat, what would happen?

host: we got a point, thank you. guest: [laughter] you talk about the role of the people, that is why i like c-span. it allows people like you to call in. happy to be here. it is interesting. first of all, i am an activist. the progressive change campaign committee, our website is advocacy. when it comes to, i believe there has been zero vetoes during the presidency. there is a legitimate version of that people should be outraged about. the house of representatives might be called today, we will see. i believe if republicans take the house, we have joe manchin to thank for that because of the functional veto he exercised over this nation and senate moving forward. steve karnak he was there election night, saying republicans basically -- five

districts. politicians choosing their own constituents. even if there were zero races won by them, they would pick up five seats. they are likely to win the house by less than five seats. which means if joe manchin had not put the kobach on a democracy protection bill, which would have allowed more district across the country, we would actually have a de congress going into next congress. if we have that, we would have a bigger democratic congress. he put veto on the president's economic agenda supported by 99% of congressional democrats. for over a year. the function of that was that we delay the impact of these popular things that would tangibly help people thrive past the election. if we passed them in 2021, would have been stumped by voters by lower prescription prices, lower health care, at the time, a lower -- a tax child credit. we won despite the veto that joe

manchin exercised over the democracy bill and before we could pass the inflation reduction act. that is the bigger thing people should be outraged that. my hope in this new congress, the voice of joe manchin is dramatically lower. hopefully, he represents the people of west virginia better and democrats can continue the unfinished business that the biden presidency should represent. host: a headline from the hill in 2024, republicans making joe manchin a top target. kyrsten sinema might face the same fight. would your organization work towards removing them from office? guest: i would absolutely support it. we saw last night with a democratic governor in arizona and the night before with a democratic governor in arizona, she is wildly not representing the people of arizona as she puts the kebab on many pieces of this legislation. we would not support a primary challenge to joe manchin. what i would rather have him --

a republican, absolutely. i think joe manchin needs to do a better job of representing the people of west virginia. there was a moment that struck me during the build back better fight, where bernie sanders and the president were pushing to have medicare cover vision, dental and hearing for seniors. there are not many seniors saying i do not want my hearing or dental taken care of. there was a specific out there, if you were to analyze all of the teeth in america, west virginians need the most help. joe manchin put the kebache on that provision. why? it would help his state. it would disproportionately help his state. it was a giant move for west virginia. i think he is listening too much to corporations, to the jamie

diamonds on wall street, to republicans like lindsey graham. we need him to listen more to west virginia. if he gets reelected, it is because he has done more to go back to his roots. he has been there. he has shown up in the past. to fend and expand social security benefits. that is why it was popular with older voters in west virginia. host: from pennsylvania, michael on the democrats line. caller: hello, how are you doing today? host: fine. you are on, go ahead. caller: i have been a cta for 35 years in western pennsylvania. i am telling you, the most incredible thing i have ever seen is that increase in that tax child credit. i read an article, up to 40% of people out of poverty. you compare that to give a tax break to the top 1%. i cannot begin to tell you what

a difference it made for my clients. the second point i want to make, the best to we could put out that would beat trump or desantis by 15 million votes would be westmore and josh shapiro. josh in pennsylvania has the law enforcement, loves him. with west, he was in the military, a rhodes scholar, they are both young. nobody would be a dead ticket, nobody. that is all i have to say. thank you. host: thank you. guest: yeah. again. this is why c-span -- it is great to listen to someone on the ground. the importance of the child tax credit. i should mention -- is another candidate who won a competitive primary in the pittsburgh, pennsylvania area. if we could have her in your neck of the woods.

one thing important to mention since you are a cpa, tax cuts for the rich. that is something republicans will try to put back on the table. one thing that was great about the build back that are planned, eventually the inflation reduction plan, it was funded in large part by -- billionaires, mega-millionaire's and giant corporations to finally pay their fair share in taxes. there are people like elon musk, jeff bezos, who would routinely pay zero dollars in income tax. part of the funding elon musk. for twitter was borrowing against his wealth as opposed to cashing in his stock and paying taxes on it. that is a gimmick billionaires do all the the time while accruing billions of dollars during the height of the covid crisis. there is more to be done. we were able to successfully tax billionaire corporations with the inflation tax, but were one been away from passing the

billionaires tax, which would have said every year, if billionaires are making more money on those stocks, they have to pay on their gates. their share of the tax burden wouldn't go down, billionaires finally pay their fair share. democrats will stand for, progressives stand for, and we will see if republicans stand for. host: one of the things congress will have to deal with is the debt ceiling going forward. what you think is the best way forward as far as everybody is concerned? guest: it is so consequential for every issue anybody cares about. right now, the debt ceiling, the amount of money the country can borrow, is set to expire around august. a lot of democrats right now are handing potential republican house a loaded gun to shoot at many programs. there is going to be an attempt in the lame-duck congress to

raise the debt ceiling. would hope through the end of 2024 so republicans are not trying to take us to the brink of disaster and use that as leverage to cut important progress. in the past, they have tried to use that to threaten the collapse of the economy if we do not pay our debts. use that as leverage to cut social security benefits, medicare benefits, medicaid benefits. food stamps, so many other programs. that is why i say, across every issue we care about, we can take that issue off the table for republicans if they have the house by raising the debt ceiling. i think that will be a top priority for many groups in the next month and a half. host: do you see interest in senators about removing the filibuster to get legislation passed? guest: it is possible to raise the debt ceiling through reconciliation. we will not need to eliminate the filibuster. the question is, will joe

manchin go along? i can see it going both ways. he can say, i believe in fiscal response ability, why should we pay our debt? debts that were already accrued, the trump tax cuts, that is what we are paying off. it is not new spending. my hope is somebody who has stood up for social security in the past, he recognizes that for any program that disproportionately helps west virginia seniors back home, he is doing them a favor by taking this ridiculous leverage off the table for republicans to have an honest debate on issues and not be forced to the economic cliff in august. we will see which way he goes. host: what do you think about the possibility of the filibuster getting removed? guest: john fetterman, he campaigned robustly on eliminating the filibuster. if we win the georgia senate runoff in december, december 6,

georgians, we have joe manchin's vote being less relevant and we are one vote away from getting rid of the filibuster. on to kyrsten sinema. she is probably facing a big primary back home. we will see how much she cares about constituents versus corporate lobbyists and her republican ted cruz-like friends in d.c. i think there will be new pressure with john fetterman winning. i think there is hope for that. we will find out. host: from taxes, -- texas, john on the republican line. caller: thanks for c-span. i am not sure where to begin. mr. green seems to think very highly of himself. i have never seen anyone lie so much in my life. republicans, first, two things. the americans believe we want

transgender's, talking in front of kids, open borders, we do not. he said right now that laws should not get in the way of progress. i thought there were laws -- that was what laws were for. this is america. this is not russia, venezuela. that is what the democrats hate. democrats hate voters. if you won't say it, i will. this election cycle was stolen by the democrats. there is no way kari lake lost to katie hobbs. there is no way the republicans didn't have a landslide with mail and votes. your ideal of a progressive agenda being what everybody else is not -- you lie like a dog. that is what i've got to say. guest: thank you. look, i think you need to do self checking here. last night, a couple house races were called for republicans. your theory that the election --

the election was not stolen in those areas of arizona. everyplace else in the america -- when democrats win their races, it is really, it is shameful. people like you are still -- not saying you are a bad person, but it is shameful you are perpetrating the big lie on the american public. that is a fundamental threat to american democracy. you have to concede when you are a loser. we love voters. i have never been more appreciative and i think many americans have never been more appreciative of voters paying attention to their democracy and standing up these past few days to protect it. every election denier, including one literal insurrectionist who was outside of the capital on january 6 running for secretary of state wanted to count the votes who believed two plus two equals five, those people lost.

thank goodness voters in arizona, nevada, michigan, elsewhere stood up to them. to be clear, i did not say laws get and the way. i said people abuse process to block the will of the people getting -- mitch mcconnell, the, -- the constitution says president obama had the right to a supreme court justice when -- died. it made it big difference in roe v. wade. i could go on and on. democrats and progressives are standing up for the rule of law and the constitution. you said the progressive agenda is not popular. it is overwhelmingly popular. yesterday, we released data polling of vots from washington pollsconcerned about inflation. we ask them, which of the solutions to inflation some of our proposing do you support or propose? one of the solutions is cutting

social security benefits by 15 to one, democrats, independents, republicans said no. we care about inflation, that is not what we are advocating for. we asked, should we cut food stamps? no. absolutely not. we cracked down on corporate price gouging. people abusing inflation to jack up prices on consumers. by huge margins, yes, let's crackdown on that. the progressive agenda speaking up for the people, challenging interests is the mainstream, is trans-partisan and it is sad to hear you say otherwise. i think we are confident in the agenda we have moving forward. host: john in pennsylvania, democrats line. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my calls. i hear this guy, a lot of baloney flying around.

the issue that changed this election was abortion. thanks to the supreme court, right before the election, biden being a brilliant politician, as much as they make -- they want to make him out of the yo-yo, he is very smart. well, we've got an issue here. women have a right to do what they want with their body. all the women hopped onto that. that was the women's vote. then, he comes out, we are going to give $20,000 to the students in university in this country. we will ride away the students and the -- right away the parents and the students, biden is their man. money, money, money. all this baloney. host: thank you, john.

guest: here is what makes me sad sometimes. when people like yourself, i am sure you are a good person, fight over the crumbs. what i do not hear you saying is, thanks to the trump tax cuts, which gave away $1.5 trillion to giant corporations that are political process was flooded with political money. people saw a return on investment in their political donations. you are not saying that. you are blaming college kids in debt for having that relieved, but saying, that was a political decision. you are not saying it was political to give money to corporate donors gave a fraction of that back to the republican party? you've got to stop fighting over crumbs. i am sure you are somebody who appreciates driving down paved roads. i am sure you are someone who has gone to a public library, or at one point has gone to public schools. that is not a giveaway. that is part of society. we need more stuff like that.

it is sad some people do not pay their fair share in taxes, primarily billionaires and billionaire corporations. if we have the ability to rectify that situation, i would hope people would be more supportive. host: where you go from here, particularly as we had done 2024? guest: a couple forks in the road. the next month and a half or so will be lamed at -- lame-duck congress. there will be over most -- a robust effort to possibly pass antitrust legislation. there are a couple must pass bills, and an attempt to raise the debt ceiling. that is a prelude to what we can do next year. fulfill some of the unfinished business of the biden agenda. i would start with childcare and the child tax credit. we need to help parents in a crunch right now. i am enthusiastic about what people like lena con at the ftc

and the consumer -- bureau have yet to do. there are these issues that people haven't heard about that impact millions of lives. did you know mcdonald's workers and burger king workers have to sign a non-complete -- noncompete clause when taking their job? if they mcdonald's worker asks for a dollar raise, and says, i will work for burger king, they can't because they signed that? it is not radioactive, not front page news. i would imagine that would empower people to get high wages. -- taking on junk fees, if i write you a bad check, and you cashed it, you would get a fee. why? because they can. things like that that are an abuse of power on regular people that the good guys can take care of. finally, we have people in the executive branch who continue to

-- and power. groups like ours will be working with numbers of congress in the lame-duck, the white house in the 2020 four cycle and the executive branch to go to bat for the american people. host: the website for the progressive change campaign committee is bold progressives.org. thank you for your time. later, we hear from the washington examiner's political editor jim mantel. he will join us later. next, open forum. you can participate in that. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. independents, (202) 748-8002. ♪ >> listening to programs on c-span3 c-span radio got easier.

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republicans holding 200 17 seats versus democrats 205 seats. 218 to gain control in that. that will play out as those remaining election races get called during the course of today, even perhaps today, that might change. earlier today, the freshman class of congress gathered for their class photo, so to speak, on the steps of the capital. they are to give you the impression of the incoming class as they are in suits and dresses and various regalia as they prepared to take that class, memorializing their interests in the congress. stay tuned to c-span over the next few weeks as we try to interview these members of congress, particularly members of the freshman class so you can meet them and get to know them. on the house side, elections today for house leadership with kevin mccarthy expected to remain again as house minority leader should that change and congress changes power next year, that will determine if he

becomes speaker of the house. one of those people expressing support for kevin mccarthy in his process was georgia representative marjorie taylor greene. she was on steve bannon's podcast asked about several things, including support for kevin mccarthy. here is some of what she had to say. [video clip] >> we think that is a bad strategy when we are looking at having a razor thin majority, with potentially 291, we are talking -- 219, we are talking one vote. we saw republicans, liz cheney and adam kinzinger, crossover and join the democrats and produce a january 6 committee, with trump subpoenaing him and many others let me tell you something, here is the harsh reality. i am going to lay it out clearly for everyone watching. there are republicans at our conference now that would make a deal with the democrats and crossover. we have already seen the former

republican vice president of the united states. or do it. think about that. it is risky right now to produce a leadership challenge, especially for speaker of the house, when they are going to open the door and allow liz cheney possibly to become speaker. let me tell you something, that is who the democrats are throwing around. they are saying liz cheney. we have about 20 republicans in our conference, this is tragic news for everyone, that to this day, respect liz cheney for what she has done and how she has worked on the january 6 committee. those people got reelected, they are in our conference and will be serving next year. the danger is this, do we want to watch a challenge for speaker of the house simply because it is a never kevin movement? just like we have seen a never trump movement? do we want to see that challenge open the door to nancy pelosi

handing the gavel to liz cheney? is that what everyone wants, because i will not do it. there is no way in hell i will allow that to happen. host: first call in this open forum is ron, florida, democrats line. caller: good morning. host: you are on, go ahead. caller: we just went through a midterm election. we have 50 states. what about the people in washington, d.c.? isn't it reasonable to think they should have a vote for senators? i one to know what -- one to know what your listeners think. host: why do you think they should gain it? caller: yeah, i think they should. one person, one vote. i think d.c., call it columbia and all the city there.

i lived outside of washington, d.c. for many years. they can take all the federal billings and keep that independent. i think there are other citizens there that would like to have full representation, which would include a senator in the united states senate. host: ok. let's hear from wanda in california, republican line. hello. caller: talk about election deniers. they are always republican, no they are not. stacey abrams, hillary clinton, they are two democrat election deniers. there are more. also, did you know that the republicans won the popular vote in this election? i do not hear anybody talking about or complaining about the electoral college now. i think it is funny. host: the electoral college is not involved in a midterm

election. caller: ok. well. nobody is complaining about the electoral college when they when the president, either. host: that is wanda in california. let's hear from joe in triangle, virginia. independent line. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. i am so glad to be on c-span. i love your show. what i love about your show is it gives the people an opportunity to speak for themselves on the issues they actually care about. so much of our debate is driven by left-wing and/or right-wing media, exclusively speaking to their talking points which, half of them are fantastic on either side and half of them are terrible on either side. it would be fantastic if the people themselves got to debate those topics openly and honestly without censorship. a fantastic thing you guys offer. thanks for taking my call. host: appreciate it.

as part of our campaign coverage, as we look to 2024, tonight and expected announcement by former president donald trump concerning his plans for the future when it comes to the white house. he is expected to make, starting at around 9:00 this evening from mar-a-lago. if you want to seehose comments and see what he has to say about that, you can tune in at 9:00 for unierrupted coverage of that on our main chnel, c-span. if you want to follow along on our app, it is c-span now. you can watch online at c-span.org. let's hear from bob in ohio, democrats line. go ahead. caller: good morning. listen, donald trump, everything he done and he is not indicted yet? i do not know what merrick garland is doing. i do not know what the democrats are doing.

host: the lame-duck session of congress that would include funding for ukraine, disaster relief or hurricane damage in florida according to six people we spoke on the condition of anonymity. that request includes 8.2 $5 billion for covert response efforts, including a successor. operation warp speed that some call proud -- project covid shield intended to jumpstart development of covid perrine -- officials debating about $2 billion for other help efforts

including $1 billion for global covid response and about $750 million to combat diseases such as hepatitis c and monkeypox. from brenda in new jersey, republican line. go ahead. caller: good morning, america. i am calling in regards to hoping of when it comes time to vote in another two years. the president -- changes have to be made. president donald trump was good. he did a lot of good things to american people. listening a while ago two different people that have their say about how bad he was as a president and how it should be indicted, all of the above things are long -- are wrong. he was a good president, hopefully he will get in in two more years. tonight, i will be watching on c-span. last night, hannity had pence on

giving a promotion about his new book. let me tell you something. he is a wimp. i tell you something. if he were on and he gets in, we are in trouble. as far as my vote, president trump has my vote. host: why would president mike pence cause you concern? caller: when he was on with hannity talking about things that happened in the past when he was in the white house with president trump, different things did not pan out. he just did not come across as somebody as a strong man to be a president. as far as i feel in my heart, president trump was a very good president. did a lot of good things to the american people. thank you for listening to my call. host: he was the former vice

president, asked directly about his presidential ambitions by the abc news interview. here is a portion of that interview. [video clip] >> do you believe donald trump should ever be president again? >> david, i think that is up to the american people. but, i think we will have better choices in the future. people in this country actually get along well once you get out of politics. i think they want to see their national leaders reflect that same compassion and generosity of spirit. in the days ahead, i think there will be better choices. >> better choices than donald trump? >> better choices than donald trump? >> for me and my family, we will be reflecting about our role in that. >> will you run in 2024?

>> we are giving a careful consideration. >> do you believe you can be donald trump? >> that would be for others to say. >> if you decide to run and he is up there, so the. >> so be it. host: is ron, north carolina, independent life. we are in open forum now. caller: thank you for taking my call. if you or anybody can ask about -- of marriage equality in the details of estate get past what will it for the entire country, thanks for taking my call. host: he did address that during the interview. you can find the interview on

our website for our app. he was asked specifically about that. you can hear directly from him. carolyn in ohio, democrats line. caller: i want to thank a few people, organizations. i was pleased that the nba let everybody off to vote. i am not into sports. i do not know how i found this out, but i believe it was jim brown poops spent a long time -- jim brown who spent a long time talking about hate, how bad it was, antisemitism, and sandra -- etc.. and kerry washington going to all the different places when she could be doing other things.

i was impressed by a lot of that. i could never get on when you had your special about veterans, but i want to thank every veteran. my dad was a retired colonel in the marines. he has long since been deceased, but, while, did he teach us seven kids the value of voting. and he was republican and i was republican until 2008. i want to thank every veteran for what they did. it is amazing what all they have done. i cannot do it personally. but i just wanted to thank a few of the organization. i was impressed as a senior citizen with what they did. that is it. host: that is carolyn in ohio. walter, mississippi, republican line. caller: i would like to know --

when biden took the oath of office, he said he would protect the borders of the u.s., but he is not doing it. right there, he is breaking the law. schumer and pelosi are breaking the law by not bringing that up in front of congress and a vote on it. that is what i would like to know. host: that is water in mississippi. the new york times reported that the trump family is signing a deal with saudi developer. the project is set to be built in a hillside adjacent to the gulf of oman and will include two hotels. the trump family is teaming up with one of saudi arabia's largest real estate companies for the project. deals like this, the trump family gets a cut, used to be a

major source of revenue for the trump organization before he was elected, but the family agreed not to sign any new international deals while mr. trump was in the white house. since he left office, civil and criminal investigations have distracted the trucks. that is from the new york times this morning regarding business dealings with president trump when it comes to presidential dealings, 9:00 is when you can see the president tonight talk about his presidential plans. that is expected from florida. watch on c-span at 9:00. this is roger coming dependent line. -- roger, independent line. caller: i am a frustrated republican who sees what is going on in the republican party . i look at the democrats and, unfortunately, as much as i have

been forced to vote for them, and i mean forced in the sense that, unfortunately, in america, it seems lately that our choice of candidate is the better of two evils. to be the better of two evils is no way to run a country. we have a group of republicans and a group of democrats that want to straddle the line and be bipartisan. republicans want to wash their hands and believe in the donald trump maga gop party. i look at my din c as something that lets the republicans do that and then signals to the democrats that, hey, here is a group of republicans who want to

help and watch america go forward. there is a party of democrats that want to do that but the do it in such a backwards style that they do not get confidence. i do not have confidence in the democratic party, but i have to beg vote for them in the last several -- i have to vote for them in the last several elections because i have no choice. host: that is roger johnson. let us hear from andy in michigan. caller: hi. i consider myself progressive but in the dependent -- but independent, not within the democratic party. that last test says both progressives, but he is just a democratic operative. he is just for liberalism.

you talk about medicare for all, that is the aggressive agenda. representatives are not ready for that at the federal level. the house freedom caucus on the right, of course they are going to challenge mccarthy. pedro, remember that two years ago, a bunch of people said why don't progressives challenge pelosi? you said in operation? no. it was just an organic movement. host: let us go to dean in connecticut, democrats' line. caller: i have been watching for the last six months. your last guest, i would never consider contributing money to organization, but i will to his organization. i thought the man spoke the

truth. i thought when he was attacked viciously by republicans that he stood there and told the truth. i just got respect for him. that is all i have got to say. host: jet is dean from connecticut. -- that is dean from connecticut. host: --(202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8001 for independents. get our app to see the latest of what goes on in the house and senate. caller: i and wondering where the fiction has come up that hillary clinton was an election denier. i heard that from one of your

previous callers. hillary clinton the not try to seize power. he accepted the result of the -- she accepted the result of the election. i am in favor of the electoral college. i agree with a lot of mr. trump's policies, but he is the only president who put pressure on state officials to find votes where they did not exist, to send for collectors to the electoral college. i am in favor of the electoral college, but there were state officials who were pressured to go against the oath that they had taken to santa fe collectors. that is not white -- to send fake electors. that is not what the constitution requires. there was no evidence of widespread fraud. by continuing to spread the lie

that the election was stolen, that is furthering the divisiveness. that bothers me. i think we need -- both sides need to back off the extremism and realize that our fellow americans are not the enemy. we need to start compromising as previous generations were able to do. there is a case in cincinnati where somebody was allegedly murdered because his neighbor thought he was a democrat. that is ridiculous and has got to stop. host: victoria, connecticut, democrat line. caller: i wanted to make a comment about how the democrats ran the election in ohio for tim ryan. he did not receive the support i

feel he should have for his position in ohio. he did not have -- biden and obama were out there for him, but they should have given him money to go against money from the republican party for j.d. vance. i do not know why they just left him dry. that was disturbing. also, on bezos, i heard this morning that he was going to be giving a lot of money away, billions of dollars. my question to him is, why doesn't he raise the wages of his employees? why is he laying off employees went maybe he should think about taking care of them? host: in light of the president's announcement, the washington post takes a look at

what the operation of a reelection campaign will look like for the former president expected to be based in south florida. the post says the campaign is expected to be based there. according to advisers, instead of having a washington presence, mr. trump has said he wants to re-create the underdog five of the 2016 campaign. he faces a range of challenges, including criticism from republicans and unpopularity in many .24 states. top advisers include chris padilla, longtime republican strategist, susie wilde, a florida-based political consultant who helped the president when the state in his previous residential bids and has led his political operation for the last 18 months. susie wilde is the daughter of pat summerall.

laura is next, spokane, washington, republican line. caller: i am calling because i wanted to refute the idea that hillary clinton did not -- was not an election denier. by the way, i am an american citizen. i have the right to question any election meant to say what i want to be able to do that without persecution. this marxist idea of election deniers, but hillary paid for -- where this country went through three years of health over a false and fake dossier and a russian collusion scandal. three years, hundreds of millions of dollars and it was all fake. none of it had any merit. i am disgusted that we are not

looking at what the problem is today. look at the major issues we have today because of the types of politicians in office now. biden is partnering with china to distribute food and health care worldwide. what is that about? it is time for the democratic party to look at what it is that they are doing to this country. host: scott, pennsylvania, independent line. caller: hello. i have been trying to get through four years. i have been watching for 7-8 years and i wanted to say that our country is not mr. rogers neighborhood. it is not the land of make-believe. this is the real country. when donald trump got in there,

he continued after he was elected by the people to have hate rallies. he brainwashed people to hate nancy pelosi, to hate your opponent. to question the elections, none of that was happening until he brainwashed his people into believing everything he says. he cannot do nothing wrong. that tells you you are brainwashed if you cannot figure out that this guy is not qualified to be president of the cub scouts, let alone the united states. when you cannot open your eyes when somebody does kamil activities, and whatever -- does criminal activities, and whatever he does -- host: we got the point. thank you to all of you who participated. one more guest during a this morning.

this is washington examiner's politics editor james antle. we will talk about the midterms and donald trump's political future, but first the senate is back in session. minority leader mitch mcconnell took to the floor with reaction to the midterm elections and showed that the narrow margins showed that the united states is a divided nation, but america is not divided when it comes to the biden administration. here is mitch mcconnell. >> while this election underscored some of our divisions, it also highlighted areas where the people are speaking overwhelmingly with one voice. the american people are not divided over what democrats reckless policy decisions have done to our economy and to their families. exit polls show three quarters of voters say the economy is

poor or not good. americans are not divided over whether the current trends in inflation, crime, open borders, drug addiction are acceptable outcomes for the greatest country in the world. everyone knows they are not. americans are not especially divided about whether they want president biden to keep governing like he has been or change course. at this point in their presidencies, every one of the last 13 presidents had higher approval ratings than the biden administration. one state where it democrats' policy failures have hit especially hard is georgette. georgia families have seen inflation of 14.7% since january of 2021.

both of their senators cast a deciding vote to rubberstamp the spending that made that happen. households are paying a hidden democratic inflation tax that adds up to thousands of extra dollars per year. the nationwide breakdown in law and order has hit georgia hard as well. atlanta now has per capita rates of homicide and assault worse than chicago. the people of georgia saw their state attacked, called racist, called jim crow 2.0. they were boycotted by major corporations over the voting law that just facilitated historic ballot access, record turnout, and low wait times for georgia voters. where do georgia taxpayers and

small businesses go to get our money back after the liberal smear campaign that led to the boycotts? the day after the election, president biden took to the podium and triumphantly promised that he plans to learn no lessons and change nothing. here is the quote -- i am not going to change direction. end quote. 13 plus percent inflation over two years, historic levels of dissatisfaction at america's kitchen tables, and president biden says he will keep doing precisely what he has been doing. >> washington journal continues. host: james antle serves as politics editor at the washington examiner. good morning.

your recent piece took a look at the contrast between how president biden approached this campaign season and how president trump approached it. could you compare and contrast those? guest: president biden cut a low profile on the campaign trial. he was active, but he tended to go to bluer states, states where democrats found themselves in surprisingly competitive races but were still favored to win. the big exception to that, the one swing state where he did make a lot of appearances was pennsylvania. john fetterman, because of his medical condition, was in need of campaign surrogates than some of the other senate candidates for -- candidates. the president usually made an official appearance where he would talk about some initiative of the administration, trying to

tout the benefits for that state, area, city. then there would be a more or less closed-door democratic national committee reception where you do actual campaigning. all of that is covered by the press. he could still get his message out there, but in cases where the candidate would not and if it much from a photo op, there was not one, which is a contrast with donald trump. he was on the campaign trail for candidates a lot, maybe not spending much money on them, but certainly lending his appearance for them. the white house defended the current president's approach by saying when donald trump and barack obama held a lot of rallies for their candidates during the midterm election cycles, those elections did not go well for their party. under trump, republicans lost 40 seats.

under barack obama, in his first midterm, 63 house seats. they viewed it is they were not repeating a strategy that had failed for the previous two presidents. it looks like that went well. come in a of cases ended up upstaging candidates he was supportive. there were rumors when he did his last rally for j.d. vance that he was going to announce his did for the presidency that night. even though he did not do that, that ended up being the headline. biden's low-key approach, which suited him well in the presidential campaign and worked well during the summer when they had their flurry of legislative action after a period where they had a lot of difficulty getting things passed, that low-key approach worked well. he knows when to get out of the way. host: when it comes to the end result, what do you think was the main cause for the republicans showing and the

democrats doing as well as they did? guest: independents did not shift as heavily toward republicans as expected and was seen in public. -- polling, instead, they split down the middle, slight republican. republicans were hoping that they would get a big advantage with independents. president biden is not popular with independents, but the big difference maker work voters who only somewhat disapproved of the president. they did vote for republican candidates such as brian kemp of georgia but they split amongst trump-endorsed candidates who were more controversial. herschel walker ended up not carrying those voters even though brian kemp did. that was a difference in some of

those races. younger voters had heavier turnout then some polling indicated, but the structural disadvantage republicans have is they have difficulty energizing their own base and motivating swing voters at the same time. that is predated president trump and has been at least a decade in the making. they have won some elections over that decade but also lost some. not being able to get swing voters or getting their base enthusiastic enough to turnout. host: if you want to participate, (202) 748-8000 for (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8002 for independents. here's a bit of what he had to say. >> when republicans knew what

leadership has done since last year and our candidates have to be frustrated when republican leadership caves in on the debt ceiling, the gun belt, a fake infrastructure bill, we make it difficult for our candidates. we have to do it stephen miller said, give people something we hope to get done and fight for. that is what we do in florida. i did it as governor. that is why we have big wins in florida. we stand for something. host: that was rick scott. what do you think? guest: republicans have difficulty keeping the base engaged at the same time as they make overtures to swing voters. they have had some big election wins in the decade since the republican governing class has had difficulty maintaining the confidence level of the base, which ultimately culminated in the nomination of donald trump,

this crisis of confidence in the republican establishment. they do not have credibility with rank-and-file republican voters. that said, you saw some conservative candidates who were not for any of the things that senator scott just mentioned, you saw them at some trouble closing the deal in these races. they were competitive. republicans were competitive in the number of races, but it is one of those things where we were expecting a red great - red wave. it was expected that a lot of republicans would win by small margins. you only need to underperform somewhat in order to get that election results. that is what happened. a lot of us expected that most truly competitive senate races would go to republicans. they would either sweep those races or only lose one or two

but a split that -- split them. they held in wisconsin, ohio, north carolina, went to a runoff in georgia, but they lost in pennsylvania and did not have pickups in nevada and arizona. you ended up with something closer to a 50-50 senate, maybe 51-49 based on the georgia runoff. we saw the same thing in the house. they should in the next day or so clinch the house majority, but the fact that it is a week afterward and we still do not know who controls the house for certain shows how much they underwhelmed. host: the senate majority and the house, what does it mean for kevin mccarthy as far as strategy and we heard a lot about what they want to do economically. do those things stick? guest: they should be able to do investigations that they want.

a more positive governing agenda becomes difficult because you are dependent on different factions within the house republican caucus. the freedom caucus becomes important. maybe even some of the surviving moderates -- house speaker kevin mccarthy legs john -- like john boehner is going to have to do a lot of navigating to keep the conference together. when they thought they might have 230 seats, he had more margin for error. now he is not an will probably face some kind of challenge for speaker. you've got to forget your way to 218 your majority is hovering around 218 -- figure out your way to 218 when your majority is hovering around 218. joe biden is not likely to sign many bills out of the republican

house. the senate is closely divided. republicans will still be able to filibuster most legislation. republicans holding the house means that reconciliation, the main way they were getting around filibusters to past weeks ending bills, is effectively off the table. not much can happen aside from 2020 for messaging. over the next couple of years -- the big thing for the president retaining the senate is viewed should be able to fill vacant seats in the cabinet and dish area as long as he can get unanimous democratic support. host: brenda, pennsylvania, democrats' line. caller: i wanted to talk about donald trump's campaign strategy. his strategy in 2016 was to spend months condemning the electoral college at rally after rally, he called the electoral college a rigged system. it was unfair, should be done

away with one person, one vote. his supporters jumped on the bandwagon. they called for the electoral college to be done away with. they were complaining so loudly that washington journal actually had at least one colin showed dedicated to that topic. every republican caller said the electoral college was rigged and should be done away with. days before the election, donald trump said that if crooked hillary clinton gets in the white house by the rigged, unfair electoral college system, i am not sure i will accept the results. after all of that, when donald trump got in the white house by the rigged system that he condemned, hillary clinton graciously conceded. his campaign strategy in 2020 was to cast doubt on that

election before a single vote was cast. he trashed mail-in ballots and encouraged his supporters to vote in person. mail-in ballot thing was fraudulent and great that the same -- and rigged and at the same time, his postmaster general decided in december of 2020 that that was a good time to start dismantling and discarding mail sorting machines. host: that brings us to this potential announcement tonight. guest: it was central to their campaign strategy in 2016 and 20 trying to win the electoral college. i have ever seen a national campaign more than the trump reelection campaign that was so focused on battleground states. it is an electoral college based system, but most national campaigns have operated on the premise that as long as they are

covering their bases and the battleground states, if they win the national vote, they expect they will be fine in the electoral college. it was clear that the trump reelection campaign was placing all of its efforts on pennsylvania, wisconsin, michigan, georgia, arizona and ultimately into georgia, arizona, wisconsin, those were the states that decided the election. trump ended up really losing in the electoral college by 43,000 votes in those states, winning by 70,000 in the three states in 2016. clearly, that was a big part of their strategy. tonight, he is expected to get in for the third time. it is going to be an interesting dynamic. he has survived january 6 politically. he has survived the molar

investigation, survived the access hollywood tape. the former president is more resilient in the face of adversity than any candidate i can remember, but he also creates more adversity than a typical candidate. he is talented -- he is like a talented but interception prone quarterback. he toys keeps both teams in the game. that has historically been true, but after the midterms and after his attacks on other, up-and-coming republicans, are people tired of him? host: bill from texas, republican light. -- line. caller: i am going to be opinionated. with the next three presidents,

they will beat tom, desantis, and then nikki haley -- they will be trump, desantis, and then nikki haley. a plane goes down every day filled with youngsters on this fentanyl situation. fentanyl is killing our young people. get with it. worry about you all day -- uvalde later. i have great empathy for the people of uvalde, but think about all the people in that plane that goes down every day with 300, usually young people who for some reason get hooked into that deal. host: that is built from texas. he talked about trump, desantis and nikki haley. let's talk about desantis.

you wrote recently that the president needs to not use the strategy he used against jeb bush towards ron desantis. guest: one of the big things that broke trump out of the pack is that he made jeb bush a foil of his. he encouraged him to go after him in debates. it reinforced a lot of what trump was saying about the republican establishment in week, not effective fighters, not representative of the base. bush represented dynastic politics, a point of view on immigration that was not popular with the base at that time, that was associated with failures in iraq. trump was trying to differentiate himself from that and bush was past his prime. bush, at one point, jeb bush,

many thought he would eat president rather than his brother. that did not happen, largely because he did not win in florida in 1994. george w was by 1999 a two-term governor and his brother was not , but jeb bush had been out of office, was resting on the campaign trail and was a good punching bag for trump. not sure the same strategy works for ron desantis, incumbent governor, coming off a landslide reelection win and a very popular figure among that only republicans in general, but among the same size of the republican electorate that has spent close to trump navy you could analogize a bit to ted cruz who was also popular with the base at the time and trump had success taking him down. but this is the first time trump has tried to go after an ascendant figure who appeals to

his own supporters in the same way without an argument other than i endorsed this guy in 20 and he owes me. i am not sure that that is great for the former president. i cannot think it will have the same effect as when he went after jeb bush. host: laurie, ohio, independent line. caller: i heard a couple of times how hillary clinton conceded. yes, she did concede, but let's not forget what happened in the primary with bernie sanders. i voted for bernie, but i knew he was never going to get near the oval office. i knew that would never happen that would not be allowed cuts he -- because he cares about the people. yes, she conceded, but we went on about how russia, russia and

trump -- and i cannot stand trump -- polluted with pu -- coal looted with putin. that is a lie. people believe it and they beat the drums and now we have a proxy war going on between us and ukraine and russia, which putin had no right to invade, but there is a lot of history there. and a lot of people do not know it and they are just waiting their blue and gold flecks. i feel bad for the people of ukraine, but the bottom line is politics -- probably about a third of the population is really engaged. we have a two-party system that is correct. they are really friends. it is just kabuki theater. they are not kidding me or a lot

lot of people. i do not believe that a letter people who voted for bernie turned and voted for trump. host: any reaction? guest: a lot there. if you look at every residential election since 2000, with the expression -- exception of 2008 and 2012, where you had the birther conspiracy which is a roundabout way of contesting the legitimacy of the election. there have been some activists questioning the results of the election. george w. bush selected -- there was a smaller group of people that raised questions about voting machines in ohio in 2004. the role of russia in 2016, hillary clinton saying that donald trump was not the legitimate president. none of their supporters attacked the capitol, but we

were headed down the road of questioning of election results. that can lead to a dangerous place. it did lead to a dangerous place. we have seen a steady escalation. so far in the midterm elections we have not seen right as much of that. we will have to see what happens with kari lake in arizona, but by and large, republicans in close races have conceded when they have lost. stacey abrams, who is also questioned election outcomes, conceded rather quickly when she lost to governor kemp. maybe we are moving away from that. host: trump's announcement tonight. the question is why now? why so early? any thoughts on the timing? guest: i think he is trying to freeze the field and deter others from getting in.

it might not work for ron desantis but it will work for others. the calculus and that a lot of republicans are going to make is, especially if they are younger, is if i get in and trump dries up my negatives with the republican base, i may not win, he made eat meat, and i may be damaged in the future, or he just drives that might negative so much that even if i win, the nomination is worthless. he will not be a team player, might not endorse a nominee. all those things are running through the minds of prospective candidates. trump wants to get that in people's minds are they, wants to limit the playing field. i do not think it is a sign of strength for the former president. he is a because i incumbent declaring this early. it is a sign, at least a fear of

weakness. he knows people are contemplating ids, ron desantis chief among them, but he is also gone after glenn youngkin. he really believes that he needs to strike now to keep other people from getting in and if you can establish himself as a front runner early, maybe the field involved any way he thinks he can keep it to himself. if it is trump versus larry hogan, somebody whose position is a never trumper, that is a favorable field for him. the problem is in ron desantis, you have somebody who made up the deterred and -- who may not be deterred and cannot be classified as a never trumper. host: where do you go from there as far as strategies are concerned? rallies? television appearances?

how do you keep your name out there? guest: donald trump is good at keeping his name out there. the problem with this strategy -- i think it worked well for him was a businessman building his brand is the idea that there is no such thing as bad sleep. in politics, it is more, k. however, he has made it work for him. it has helped him in terms of not having spent a little money because he gets free media coverage. it is going to be four of the same. he is going to try to do what is work for him in the past, which is the dominant topic of conversation. he is clearly the central focus of democratic messaging whether he is on the ballot or not. he was a central focus in the midterms in a way that was probably to the detriment of republicans. i think he will try to keep that up.

the news may unfold in ways that whether it is favorable for him or not allow him to do that at obviously, the are lago investigation, rick from nations -- recriminations about the midterms, who is to blame, trump will feature in that trump, as he tries to make a comeback against figures are not ready to overtake him but seem to be threatening to do that as a large portion of the republican base. most of the republican governing classes looking elsewhere for leadership. host: because of the results of last tuesday, is president biden emboldened for a second term? guest: i think so. joe biden has been running for president since 1987. most people who aspire to be president for as long as joe biden has never get it.

-- historically, we treat them as a punchline. joe biden got elected. it is going to be difficult for him to walk away, even though at the end of a second term, he would be close to 90. he is turning 80 later this month. it is uncharted territory. ronald reagan left office shortly before his 78th birthday. we are in uncharted territory. a lot of democrats, whatever the opposite of a silver lining is, a lot want generational change in leadership. it is not just a president, but congressional leadership is very old. democrats see themselves as a young party and that is not reflected in their leadership. if you look at polling and at exit polls in the election where democrats did better than expected, a lot of people do not want president biden to run

again, but the bottom line results of that election are that should he want to, and i think he does, it would be hard for someone to dislodge him. it is less attractive to launch a primary challenge against him then two days before the midterms when it looked like a democratic disaster. even though that underlying sentiment of wanting to move on is still there, it is going to be a harder argument to make and i think biden is in a good position should he want the nomination. host: james antle of the washington examiner. this is ed from chicago, democrats line. caller: i had five uncles served this country, all at the same time, between 1940 and 1945. they were drafted.

they served their country, they came back, thank god they are going today. i do not know why all americans are so behind a man who has stirred up so much hatred in this country. my grandfather had a thing that hate is so thick you can cut it with a knife. that is back. trump is not fit to clean the toilets in the white house. wake up, people. we have a right to vote. we never had a problem with voting until trump came along. why are the people in power allowing this man to destroy our country? good day, gentlemen. guest: obviously, the factor that trump is such a polarizing figure is going to feature prominently in even republican decision-making about who they want to be the 2020 for nominee.

one of the advantages republicans have, perhaps especially after a disappointing midterm election is that we saw in 1984 and 2010 they made big gains. and that had no bearing on the presidential election two years later. what is central to how democratic incumbents adjusted for reelection, in the case of bill clinton, he moved toward the center, worked with republicans in congress to balance the budget. he worked on tax cuts, welfare reform. with barack obama, it was a different course correction. obama moved away from no red states, no blue states, all one america rhetoric and joined the side he was on. it was a polarized country.

it is a polarized country. he represented when specific pulp -- pole. he decided to take on that leadership role of that half of america against congressional republicans. even though there was some compromise between the two, mostly it was a very adversarial relationship. joe biden's position to do a bit of both, but democrats and the president do not see there being a need for a course correction. for republicans, the question is do you want to nominate a polarizing candidate against somebody who has already got problems with the fundamentals in terms of their popularity? or would a fresher face give you a better chance? host: from north carolina, republican mine, marcy. caller: i do not think the american people know what is going on in the country. for 50 years, the republican

party has been the go along, get along party and the democrats have taken over schools, the news media, social media, government control. then we elected the president who said it is time to put america first. we had a president who said americans were smart enough to run their own lives and quit depending on the government to the swamp is losing their control and they do not like it. when i was growing up, my brother would pick on me and i would go along with it. when i had finally had enough, i fought back. i was the one causing the problem. what we are seeing now is the american people, we are reminded of we the people and the politicians and the bureaucrats that are unelected and who

failed -- to fail in their power do not like it. nancy pelosi told us the most honest statement when she said we have to vote on a bill before we know what is in. the bills are hundreds of pages of vague language. congress votes, then we turn it over to unelected euro credits to interpret -- bureaucrats to interpret it the way they want and to ignore what they want. host: thank you. guest: a big part of proms appeal with the idea that -- trump's appeal was republicans like to see themselves as lovable losers. they believe grace in defeat should be there defining characteristic. the trump line about you will be tired of winning was appealing to republican voters. and also the idea that the

administrative state has grown, that trans-nationalism in corporations and governments is gaining power at the expense of the american people those were big parts of trump's appeal. the question is can ron desantis begin to replicate that appeal, perhaps creating -- with a greater discipline and lack of baggage? or can trump recapture the magic of 2016 where it lot of things came together for him that seemed improbable at the time? is he capable of that kind of second addict? host: there is a report that speaker pelosi has said she is not giving up on another reconciliation bill this year. votes planned for friday there is also a question of what happens with the debt ceiling. what do you expect to see from

congress between now and january? guest: the debt ceiling was a big part of president biden's messaging. he warned that if republicans took back control of congress commit they would not improve -- approve an increase in the debt ceiling, we would risk default and there would be an economic catastrophe. that was the campaign that biden honed in on in the final weeks of the midterms. given that democrats over performed, maybe that message work. republicans find themselves in the bangs that they were in under obama in that they are trying to impose some kind of discipline on the budget, but their leverage is limited. under obama, in light of the things they did to try to be fiscally responsible ended up looking very irresponsible. government shutdowns, debt

ceiling brinksmanship, ending up with the whole sequestration of the l -- sequestration deal, spending cuts. mitch mcconnell and kevin mccarthy are going to have to try to find a way to deliver for the base without frightening off the swing voters that they had difficulty winning over in the midterms ahead of 2024. and to not disappoint the people who elected them without also not validating item. -- biting. host: roger colon to independent line. caller: why do democrat areas take weeks to find votes, whereas in republican areas, they tend to get them within hours? i have another question. with all these razor thin races, doesn't it seemed corrupt?

what are the cause that all these races would be razor thin, being that florida was not? guest: what is interesting is that in 2018 when ron desantis was elected governor and rick scott was elected senator, those were close races. desantis needed a recount to be elected. clearly, this time around, it was not close. he any bank almost 20 -- he won by almost 20 points and marco rubio by almost as much. florida is famous for taking a long time, hanging chad, all of that, taking a long time to decide their elections. but it was not arizona, it is remarkable -- but it was not close.

arizona, it is remarkable that they have the problems that they do. they have been doing mail-in voting for years. the fact that in competitive races it is such a struggle for them, and in some counties, they seem power of how long it takes to count votes. it is a big reason why a lot of people do not have confidence in the process. it is going to need to be addressed. the hostess is not surprising. -- the closeness is not surprising. we have been on 20 plus years of a very polarized electorate. we have seen wave elections for both parties during that period, but more often, they fight it out to a virtual type. that is essentially what we saw in this election. host: north carolina, democratic line, tonya. we have got a couple of minutes until the house comes in. caller: first of all, i would

like to say it is bad for trump to even put his name in the ring right now to become the next president because he has so many things against him, lawsuits and stuff. it shows how you did not do what he should have done. he did not want people to oversight while he was in office. also, he was so much with china, he has ties and staff. why are so many people for this man who is corrupt? >> getting in front of the investigations, legal problems, that is a big motivation for declaring so early. everyone, is before another

negative development in the news cycle can happen that can touch and make people look elsewhere for somebody to support. also, if the investigation of him at mar-a-lago proceeds to a certain point, if he is already a declared candidate, it looks like the biden administration is going after one of their main political opponents. whether that is legitimate or not, the optics become trickier. that is a motivating factor for him to get in this early. host: tell me what you're looking for tonight from trump's announcement. guest: number one, does he disappoint us? does he make the national press corps traipsed to florida to announce a tv show? with him, we never know. we expect he is going to run for president. i will be surprised if he was not from but with him, there is

police this element of surprise. i would be interested if it is as expected, what is his message? can he do something forward-looking? or is he going to relitigate 2020 or at the election that just past and tried to point the finger at mitch mcconnell or other figures in the republican party 40 votes? host: james antle serves as politics editor for washington examiner. thanks for your time. do not forget the president's announcement at 9:00. you can see it live on c-span. we now take you to the house of representatives.