concept of recognizing we are not a perfect nation, but we are the most perfect nation that's ever existed. and the founding documents and those principles is how we become a more perfect union. but they really mean something. we have to believe in them. paul: all right. thank you, congresswoman cheney. thanks so much, everyone. now we are going to hand off to david, foreign affairs columnist. [applause] [captis copyright national cable satellite corp. 2022] [captioning rformed by the national captioning institute, which is responsibleor its caption content and accuracy visit ncicap.org] >> tonight former president donald trump will make a caaign announcement at his mar-a-lago estate in palm beach, florida. he's expected to talk about his plans foa 2024 white house run. watch live coverage beginning tkpw*eupbg at 9:00 eastern on c-span. c-span now our free mobile video app or online at c-span.org. >> c-span is your unbuiltered view of government -- unfiltered view of government.

we are fund bide these television companies and more including mediacome. >> the world changed in an instant. mediacom was ready. internet traffic soared and we never slowed down. schools and businesses went virtual. we pou aerodynamic new reality. because at mediacom we are built to keep you ahead. >> it supports c-span as a publ service along with these other television providers. ving awe front row seat to democrat -- giving you a front row seat to democracy. washingt. 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, >> we'll leave this program here to keep our over 40-year commitment to live coverage of the u.s. house of representatives. members returning for legislative business. will consider legislation prohibiting nondisclosure agreements in cases of sexual

assault or misconduct. they'll also vote on 11 bills debated earlier including several veterans measures. now live coverage of the u.s. house here on c-span.